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The thread Telling It Like It Is made me remember this story. A man was on a business trip and called back home to find out if all was well. His brother answered, “No, the cat died.” The other man said, “Oh my god! You don’t just blurt out something like that with no lead-in! You have to soften the blow! You say, ‘the cat got out on the roof.” Then you say, ‘a storm came up with heavy rains and strong winds.’ Then you say, ‘the cat was swept away and died.’ You’ve got to be careful telling this kind of news, understand?” The brother said, “Yeah, I understand.” Then the caller asked, “Is there any other news?” “Yeah. Mom got out on the roof ...”

I would love to contribute to the galleries, but I am an idiot, and I have several (so-called) friends who will confirm that. I have only posted a handful of pics in the old Legacy galleries and have had to relearn the process each time; I have no idea of how to do it the new galleries. This is an aspect of the old-dog-new-trick syndrome from which I suffer. Is there somewhere here (which I haven't found), and if not, can there be made a somewhere, that could, in a step-by-step fashion provide me, and others of like disability, instructions to post pics in the galleries? I would suggest, if such an effort is undertaken, that it be called PIc Posting for Dummies; it is what it is. One item such instructions should include would be where and what kind of site should or should not be used as a source for the pic so that it does not (a) disappear after some time or (b) constitute "bandwidth robbery" or some such thing. Like a parrot, I can say things I don't understand, but unlike the parrot, I would like to know more. Assistance in this, as well as crossing the street, is, as always, appreciated.

MEDIC!!! Incoming! (I hope)

Love this thread! I tell my partners, "I can't read minds, but I can follow instructions."

Link? Country? State? City? Clue? You're more likely to get responses if you provide more details about the provider. And welcome to the site. It's a nice place; hope you enjoy it.

His GoFundMe is already almost half-a-million -probably more by now- and he deserves every dime of it. Hats off to a brave and gallant man!

Excuse me, Miss, but is this still Kansas?

In the absence here of Captain Obvious, let me state: "That boy can dance!!!"

Back in the days when I smoked, the store was out of my preferred cigarette brand. The clerk said, "But we have x-brand, instead!" I said, "No, thank you." Then the clerk said, "We also have y-brand, if you'd like." "I wouldn't," I replied, "but thank you, anyway." When the clerk moved on to z-brand, I stopped her and said, "Look, there are two things -and there are only two things- you can't sell me. One is what you don't have, and the other is what I don't want." It's your money, your tastes, and your preferences; you have a right to satisfy all three with your selections and spending. You can ask for what you want and walk away if it's not available. You can ask about the nail polish, or the beard, or the tats, or the whatever -none of which were displayed in the ad you saw and none of which had occurred to you before the in-person meeting. But people aren't cartons of cigarettes and shouldn't be looked at or treated as such. If the provider is agreeable to an on-the-spot modification to suit your sensibilities, fine. But, if not -and over an issue not previously discussed- sending him on his way without some level of compensation for his trip and lost income opportunity, is graceless.

I cringe at the thought of a $50 hotel room in NYC, if such a thing even exists. Sweet of him to offer the discount, but I'd rather pay for a better -cleaner and safer- room.

Well, not completely shut, I would hope.😉

Is that what it means to "cop a feel?"

AEBN lists only these names for the cast: Nick Harmon Grant King Hawk McAllistar Jon Vincent Bill Crane The top in Scene 6 might be Nick Harmon, but I'm not sure. Now I must go to rest "ze little grey cells."

An anti-monarchist politician in Australia once complained that the Queen had visited the country. "I wish she wouldn't do that." he said. "Every time she comes here, she sets the movement back 10 years." Yes, there is a portion of the population in every one of the 16 or so countries over which she reigns as queen that would rather see her and the whole monarchial structure simply go away. Perhaps they see it as divesting outdated structures and becoming more modern. But in reality, it wouldn't make any practical difference in their governance. The UK is a parliamentary democracy, with the Prime Minister chosen by the majority party and then invited by the sovereign to form a government "in my name," consistent with the style of a constitutional monarchy. It's true, technically, that the Queen could dismiss the PM and dissolve Parliament, but that would create a crisis of such scale as to likely lead to the end of the monarchy altogether. No monarch has been so stupid as to do that, except Charles I. You see a number of "monuments" to Charles throughout England, called King's Head taverns and depicting the king's head on their signage. His head was free for such work after Parliament cut it off in 1649, thus putting an exclamation point after "actions have consequences." While the Queen is the head of state in all her realms, the head of government -in the UK, the one with a finger on the button- is the Prime Minister. And an unpopular PM, such as maybe Boris Johnson, can find himself out of a job overnight by losing a confidence vote in the House of Commons, thus sparking a search for a replacement or even occasioning the call for new national elections. There have been times I'd wished the US had a similar simplified device for removing an unsavory executive. My point is that without the Crown, Britian would simply become a republic like France or Italy, with an elected President (a strong office in France, weak in Italy) who appoints a prime minister from the parliamentary majority. There would be no real change in governance nor uptick in liberties for the citizenry. Just the loss of a lot of tourist dollars and the spectacles of royal events, done by the Brits best in the world.

Would that be a case of word of mouth? I'm sorry; I couldn't resist.

I now see we need a new emoji for this sort of situation: one for a deep, deep, from-the-gut groan of perhaps grudging admiration and appreciation. Well done, sir.

To quote the Warden in Cool Hand Luke, "What we have here is a failure to communicate!"

As regards her possible abdication, one of her core principles seems to be pragmatism. If she gets to a point when she senses she is unable to do the job, she might consider abdication, but would, I think, be more inclined to a Regency era, wherein Charles becomes Regent and essentially reigns in her name. This would require both her assent and an act of Parliament. I don't think she thinks she is queen by God's will, but I do think she sees her role as a kind of religious calling. Kings and queens of Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, etc., just get crowned. But in Britain, the sovereign is first consecrated with holy oil, as is a priest or bishop when ordained for their office. She believes her duty to her people is also her duty to God, and she seems to take both rather seriously.

From stories I've read, she's never much liked riding in the Gold State Coach even when she feels fine. The coach was built in the 1760s, weighs four tons, moves at a snail's pace, being pulled by eight large walking horses (too heavy for them to trot), which makes the unpleasant trip even longer. The suspension was state of the art -in 1762- but is extremely uncomfortable and hard on the bones. She spoke some years ago about her experience with the coach on Coronation Day in 1953, when she was 27. She didn't like it much then and I doubt she would today.

Who on earth writes his copy? Somewhat over the top, I'd say.

Handsome boy, nicely muscled body, impressive appendage. BUT ... I'd suggest his next tattoo read, "I've made some poor choices."

"Meet in a neutral place ..." Given the less-than-ringing endorsement provided in your comments, why would anyone want to meet this thug in any place, neutral or otherwise?

Best wishes for making the life you want to have as you move on.

When you amortize the cost per hour over the later days, weeks, months, and years of happy memories an encounter with this amazingly handsome man would bring, you'd be a fool not to make the investment. Hoping he'll one day cross the Pond for a visit.

Not only are you very good looking (😋) -and in a delightful clean-cut way- I also love that you can string multiple words together to form complete and lucid sentences, a talent many others of your profession appear to not be so blessed with. If your travels ever bring you back East, please consider a stop in the Washington DC area. I would look forward to making your acquaintance. Gentlemen, the line starts here.😉