Rudynate

Agree with qualifications. More nature than nurture.

Well, then you could just change your mind and go straight. Why haven't you done that? It's an easier life. Could it be that you're more comfortable being gay? That it has more appeal than being sraight? That it's what you're predisposed to?

That is incorrect. Twin studies show exactly the opposite. Among identical twins separated at birth, there is a high concordance rate for sexual orientation.

The first colonoscopy I had revealed three polyps, the precancerous kind. The gastroenterologist recommended another procedure in seven years. I later read that the standard was three years, so I insisted on repeating in three years. The second procedure showed no new polyps, so they said I was good for 10 years.

Not necessarily a bad thing.

And don't forget the jawline and the formidable package. I wanted to hire him. A guy I worked with who had lived in San Francisco and knew quite a few of the stars from that time said that that was very doable.

Gordon Grant is my eternal favorite.

Like it or not, it's the health care delivery model of the future.

A corollary to the manifestation of systemic racism at the individual level is that, being a product of his/her society, it is not the fault of the individual. Thus, it is unnecessary to feel guilty about it. Not feeling guilty about it doesn't mean that it's OK to feel complacent about it.

One can, of course, make a conscious decision to be racist or not. Structural or systemic racism is another matter. I don't think most would have an argument with the idea that we are at least partially products of our society and culture. Thus, it is perfectly plausible to me that a racist society would create racist members. It is baked-in by the society at large and is only subject to choice when a person becomes aware of it.

I don't agree that you're bipolar. You're nowhere close to being out of control. I've known some people with bipolar disorder. When they're in a manic phase, they're loads of fun to be around. But then then manic phase ends and they're physically incapable of getting out of bed. It sounds like you've lived sort of a buttoned-down life and you're experimenting. You're doing exactly what you say your doing: wildly flail[ing] about looking for anything that will make me [you] feel better. I don't have an answer for you. I'm a hog for self-help books. Even if I don't implement a single word of what I read in any particular book, when things aren't going well, they improve my mood, increase my sense of being in control, tell me something about myself that I didn't know before, etc., etc.

I had a CT angiogram. I wouldn't do it again. Don't remember how much radiation, but the exposure was enormous.

The med(s) used for the sedation vary between practitioners and facilities. At Kaiser, I think they use a combination of versed and fentanyl.

German doesn't rely on abstraction that much. Everything has to be expressed. So they end up with these absurdly long words. That simple short word "nurse" for example, is loaded with layers of abstraction. In German, they lack a similarly abstract expression, so they need a multisyllabic word that is essentially a functional description. It's like the difference between assembly language and a modern object-oriented language.

I have seen some Romanian men who are simply stunning.

To me there's a wonderful continuity to them all - English, German, Dutch, Danish. Norwegian and Swedish not as much.

When I was a little kid my father took me with him to go see the foundry at the International Harvester plant in our town. We were there at change of shift and all the guys who were just quitting were showering together in a big open shower room. I was astonished to see all those naked men laughing and yelling and kibitzing.

I read not long ago that Dutch is one of the easiest languages for a native speaker of English to learn. The only easier one is Frisian, and how much good would that do you?

It was just one of the things that men did-they weren't self-conscious about being nude around other men. In locker rooms, men walked around in the buff in front of each other without a thought. Guys who were self conscious were sissies. I think it's just a prudish age. Men's locker rooms in health clubs always have individual showers now. It's another legacy of therapeutic parenting wherein parents try to spare their kids as much stress and discomfort as they can.

The wisdom and good sense of PKs advice momentarily took my breath away.

Who cares?

As good as the Germans are, I think the Dutch are even better. Most Dutch speak English with no more than a trace of an accent.

I would say that a lot of Germans welcome opportunities to speak english

In general, the French don't speak English very well, at least not nearly as well as the Dutch, the Germans, the Scandinavians, for example.