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I would love a drink from his hose!

Instead of Barbra, why don't we talk about something seemingly less volatile and controversial? Like Trump or abortion, maybe? Sheesh!

I know I'm Gay because sometimes -just sometimes- when I'm looking at a photo of hot, handsome, hung provider sprawled across a sofa, I'll think, "Wow! I wonder where he got those throw pillows." I just can't help myself.

It doesn't take that to get into the White House. Apparently.

My condolences on the long ago loss of your mother. I lost my mother 29 years ago; she left far too early. As I'm sure you know, although the pain of loss subsides, it lies always just below the surface, ready and able to still bring forth a tear or two if given the right prompting. I was touched by your reminisce and it coaxed out a tear for both your loss and for mine, but also a smile for an unexpected occasion to remember. Thank you and be well.

I don't know. But you might find your answer in the upcoming Part XXXVII, due out in Fall, 2026. BTW, I very much like your tagline: To succeed in life, you need three things: a wishbone, a backbone, and a funny bone. Well said.

One finger salutes. I understand them in traffic, have seen my share, and know what they mean in that context. But I don't understand such displays in ads the purpose of which is to entice the viewer to want to share time with the ones displaying the digit. Is there some other meaning to be conveyed and understood in such a gesture, one I'm not aware of? Is there a context in which it's intended as cute, friendly, or acceptable? Is it an attempt to be seen as rough or tough, or a nervous impulse that just falls flat, at least with me? And it's not just having posed for such a photo in the first place. It's also the ill-considered choice -in my view- to include it an ad. When I see it in a provider's ad, I find it immediately offensive and impossible to overcome. Recognizing that I may be extreme in my reaction, I would like to learn of others' views of and insights into this practice.

Same here. My first thought was, "Busy Boy!"

To Coriolis, I saw your post, which now seems to be deleted, and I looked into the possibility you raised. However, it didn't apply. The change in Edge seems to be a legitimate upgrade to the program. Also, and to my embarrassment, my reaction, including initiation of this thread, must now be consigned to a cause best described as "someone moved my food dish." Being an old dog, this is almost always a problem for me. I have noticed that, on occasion, an image posted in the Gallery cannot be saved unless it is left-clicked so that the image opens in a smaller version which can then be copied. When the smaller version is closed, you are returned to view the larger version. Most images are not like this, but the one I picked was. In the previous version of Edge, an attempt to Save the larger image was simply ignored, clueing you into the need to left click. In the new Edge version, you are given the option to Save the image as a WEBP in any one of three options. If you do this, you only magnify your problems. The appropriate action is to left-click as before, then Save the smaller version (JPEG) as before. Those images not formatted in the forum in the way necessitating the left-click are Saved in the same manner as before. To add to my chagrin, I had worked on the "problem" for 40 minutes before posting my plea for help. And to FrankR, I agree Edge is cantankerous concoction, but having made my adjustments and concessions to it, I can hobble along better with it, I think, than with another "newfangled" nuisance. This will save me from another of my Dorothy Parker imitations of "What fresh hell is this?" But I do thank you for your response. To others who may read here, feel free to chuckle at my folly, and accept my apology as you return to a lower level of drama and hysterics. Bonne nuit.

I recently underwent an unsolicited upgrade to Microsoft Edge. In the gallery forum, I can no longer save an image as a jpeg, even though that's the image's format. Please tell me (a) I'm not the only one afflicted with this, (b) somebody here knows how to fix this, © they will share that fix, and (d) all the people at Microsoft have died their well-deserved deaths. And, yes, I'm working on my anger issues. But this didn't help.

I followed the link to the Supreme Court site and read the opinion in this decision. In the first paragraph, I read, "An employer who fires an individual for being homosexual or transgender fires that person for traits or actions it would not have questioned in members of a different sex. Sex plays a necessary and undisguisable role in the decision, exactly what Title VII forbids." (my emphasis) Then, I cried. Just a little. And then a little more when I thought of why I'd cried. Sometimes, the Court gets it wrong. The long-ago decision in Dred Scott, wherein the Court essentially held one man can legally own another, was one of the wrong ones. Today the Court got it right. At last. These things usually take a while to happen. Brown v. Board of Education (school desegregation) took a while. Lawrence v. Texas (sodomy statutes) took a while. And God knows that today's decision took a while. The wall of freedom is built of single bricks. Today that wall got stronger. Today humankind took a step forward. Today history was made. And I cried a little in celebration of this day, and that it came in my lifetime. Grab a Kleenex and join the party! [i know this thread touches on politics and maybe should be in that forum. But this -for us- is more about life and liberty and history. And maybe it deserves a larger stage in this forum.]

What do you plant to grow that kind of tree? I would love to pick its low hanging fruit!

I'd happily serve as his ballboy.

At some point I fell in love with Kurt Thomas but, sadly, he never knew it. I did see him once when he appeared in Louisville as part of a touring gymnastics exhibition. I even got his autograph on a program. He was adorable: cute face, captivating smile, great hair, amazing muscles - a real boy-next-door type. He never knew how happy he could have been had things worked out differently that night. That this man should die so young after a life of athletics and what I would presume were good health practices is a tragedy that seems so awfully unfair. As unfair, perhaps, as being denied his chance to win Olympic Gold when Jimmy Carter decided to pull the USA team from the 1980 Moscow Olympics in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. How awfully tragically unfair! Rest in Peace, Dearest Kurt. I hope it was a good and full life.

Just out of curiosity, what sort of office do you work in?

I once read a medical journal article about the ill effects to your health of drinking alcohol, and which went thorough all the horrible diseases and conditions it causes or contributes to. It made me sweat a bit and caused much fear and apprehension. I decided right then and there to give up reading.

Like many men, I harbor a desire to have two women at the same time; one to cook, one to clean.

You know what would make this sex even better? If I had something to read.

A man told a friend he'd been fired for asking a customer "Smoking or non-smoking?" He then added, "Apparently in that industry the correct terminology is, "Burial or cremation?"

A penguin’s having trouble with his car and drives it into town so the walrus who owns the local garage can take a look at it. The walrus says he’s a little backed up that day but will get to it as soon he can. “It’ll probably be about an hour,” he tells the penguin. It’s a hot day and the penguin decides to walk over to the diner for some ice cream; he loves vanilla ice cream! Having flippers instead of hands, the penguin makes a mess of the ice cream, getting it all over his face and dripping down the front of him. After about an hour, the penguin’s headed back to the garage. The walrus, having now checked out the car, sees the penguin approaching and calls out, “Well, it looks like you blew a seal.” Looking down and wiping away, the penguin protests, “No, no! It’s – it’s just a little ice cream.”

One advantage of growing as old as I have is that younger men are more plentiful. Willing? Aha, there's the rub!

An almost Channing-esque quality to him, which I absolutely love. Hope he's real, but does seem an odd time to enter the marketplace.

The great Greek statesman Pericles was speaking with his nephew, a young man named Alcibiades and who would later become a great Athenian general and lover of both men and boys. Pericles told his nephew, "When I was your age, Alcibiades, I thought and spoke just as you do now." Alcibiades replied, "My Dear Uncle Pericles, if only I'd know you when you were at your best."

At a time in my life -from 35 or so on to early 60s- I dreaded birthdays and saw them as reminders of declining function and an unavoidable mortality. Those aspects of function and mortality haven't changed, but my view of them, and of my future, have changed. Because of a long history of smoking, I remember thinking when I turned 60 that I wouldn't get out of that decade alive; I would be dead before 70. But I wasn't. A heart attack at 62 got me to finally quit smoking and I haven't had a cigarette since the day after my doctor told me of the attack. I feel to be living now on gifted time, each day the opportunity to enjoy being alive, seeing friends, and having a drink or four. The current pandemic has, of course, put a brake on that, but I have hope of better times to come and am taking precautions to preserve myself for them. The object of life, it now seems to me, is to die with a smile on your face, and I'm intent on doing as much as I can to make that happen, however hopefully long it takes.

I think the "generational thing" aspect is a quite accurate observation. Those of us of a certain generation, as well as the ones before it, quickly became aware of the need for discretion in our choice of watering holes, the most common of venues to find like-minded others. One of the best friends a gay man could have in those days was Bob Damron and his guide books listing all the gay places in cities all across the country, and in some editions, the world. These listings even provided info as to the type of establishment, such as "drag shows" or "RT" (rough trade, sometimes also called "downtown types"). These categories also include my personal favorites of "Hustlers" and "Go-Go boys." I suppose in a way gay bars became a little like churches of different denominations. True believers don't just walk into any building with a cross on top, but need to know that others inside will be of a persuasion like unto their own, will be birds of the same feather. Going into what you knew to be a gay bar, and even sometimes into one of a particular fetish, such as "leather" or "drag shows," allowed you feel you'd be more readily and naturally accepted by "your own kind," that you'd be with members of your same tribe. It promoted a sense of acceptance, comfort, and security. That young gays are comfortable in mainstream bars, and accepted by their non-gay friends and fellow patrons, is welcomed evidence of a greater acceptance of gay people by the general populace, a thing to be celebrated and encouraged. For me, however, I miss the clarity of former times, if not the bigotry of a world waiting outside.