DynamicUno

I haven't had any negative experience with RM. Personally, I'd be more suspicious of any restaurants you might have been to recently where they take your card from the table, since they have the opportunity to skimthe magstrip and CCV, and the data is sold to criminal rings that distribute the lists. I wish the practice of bringing the CC payment terminals to the table would catch on in the US. Also card skimmers on gas pumps, ATMs, and other automated devices have been found, sometimes with cameras to capture the PIN numbers as well.

It's not just air travel. Toronto's Union Station has prominent signs warning rail travelers going into the US against taking any cannabis across the border. Best to purchase and consume locally!

I've been using Google Fi for some time. They run it as a no-contract MVNO mostly over T-Mobil and US Cellular's towers. The Pixel phones and certan others can network hop based on the strongest signal. They also have a very generous international data plan. Since there's no contract you can change up your plan based on your usage patterns. It's naturally heavily tilted towards android phones but iPhones can be used on it.

I almost always sleep just in underwear; I find pajamas too uncomfortable as they twist or bind if I turn over and I have to keep adjusting them. I'll keep a fleece bottom or shorts and a t-shirt near the bed if I have to get up and it's chilly.

I might have a chance to go to Vancouver and he's been on my "must try to see" list if I ever got out there. He used to be pretty active, but he doesn't show up in RentMen anymore so it looks like he may have retired or is no longer seeking new clients at least. Does anyone still keep in contact with him?

I've never heard "womance" used. The portmanteau isn't as natural sounding and it's not even etymologically parallel to "bromance". There's just not a strong feminine equivalent to "bro" in common usage. "Sis" just doesn't get used the same way and "wo-" feels forced.

That would be my cue to pointedly head to the front door and announce that we would be decamping to the nearest Waffle House for better company and hospitality. Older sis can suck an egg.

I happen to like a good pumpkin pie, but I'd have no objections to a host going a less traditional route with something like an apple or berry pie. It's nice if it's seasonal, but I don't really care if someone deviates from the traditional menu that much. That said, if you bring out a neon green custard pie and tell me it's key lime, I will judge you.

You could just say "local guys only" or something like that....

The restrictions during the games are among the least of the issues surrounding this WC, which probably would have to wait until the politics forum to reopen to discuss in detail. It seems like the Qatar authorities planned to demand restrictions on alcohol and impose dress requirements on players and spectators at the last minute when there was no way for FIFA or the teams or the sponsors to negotiate around them. One would hope this would lead to reforms at FIFA, but....

I've had a recent experience where a escort I wanted to see was visiting a city near me that would require a bit of a drive to get to. I reached out to him a few days before he was going to be there to try to set a time during the weekend, and it would be doable if he could host and meet in the afternoon. He kept saying it should be doable, but never could get him to confirm the time. Even the day before, he just said to "check in with him tomorrow". Since I could never get a committment on the time (and if he could affirmatively host), I just stayed home. I'm not sure why he kept deferring, but it was more than a little frustrating.

The weird approach I see nowadays is the "wrong number" text where they send you a message and play it off like a an acquaintance gave them a wrong number. They'll usually follow on with a photo of a younger Asian woman and try to keep you in the conversation from there. I never follow it to see where the scam is going. I have screwed with them a few times, saying I'm a relative of the person they named for, and that they were recently killed. I'm demanding to know how they knew my dear departed "sister" and if they know anything about how she was killed...blah, blah, blah... The scammers really don't know how to deal with being thrown off script. The poor saps who call about my car's extended warranty sometimes also get taken along for a ride...

Crypto is a relatively new angle. For a long time I was getting the "army guys", who are just waiting to come back home to my welcoming arms. They followed a pretty predictable script, and I could throw them off just by asking which unit they were in.

The season finale epside dropped last night, and it definately paid off. The final confrontation felt like something pulled from history books like the Irish occupation or the labor strikes in the early 20th century. It's sad that it will be almost 2 years before the second, final, season is ready.

That's scary. Are you likely to be called in to testify?

If I'm travelling and want to meet someone during the trip, I only reach out when I know I will have a block of open time. I'll also try to confirm the day before that everything is set if I contacted in advance. I've only had one issue over the past few years, I contacted the guy a couple weeks before and I didn't confirm until the day of and he had something come up that took him out of town. I felt he should have let me know, but I also could have reconfirmed a day or so before to be sure things were still on, so I figure it was a mutual screwup. I managed to meet him on a different trip a while later and had a good time.

Places with extraordinary concentrations of wealth attract people wanting access to the those who hold it, not sure why that is surprising.

I've been watching Andor and have been thoroughly impressed how well Tony Gilroy has built up this story. Stellan Skarsgård was fantastically cast as the spymaster role, but almost all of the casting had been superb. The 2-3 episode arcs allowed the writers to develop the characters and build up to the action scenes. The best thing for me has been the almost complete lack of fanservice. No gratuitous cameos, lightsabers, Jedi, comic relief characters. It gives everything a grounded human feeling. The sets and locations are also nearly perfect with 70s aesthetics tying back to the original Star Wars. Londoners might recognize Brutalist complexes like Barbican and Brunswick Centre creating the cramped undercity of Coruscant. A tiny apartment room was modeled from the Nakagin capsule apartment tower in Tokyo. The set for the prison/labor camp was lifted from 70s scifi visions of a sterile future life (like Lukas' THX 1138), but still felt grounded in a practical reality. There's so much more in the filmography, writing and music that shows yof Gilroy's talents. I've researched episodes just to see how different scenes were shot and framed.

I've known about Mastodon for a long time, but I've never tried it. I've wondered if the self hosted, decentralized/federated model could ever replicate Twitter's vast community. I've always assumed it would end up being balkanized where you have clusters of interest groups that don't interact consistently. The software itself appears reasonably robust, it's been used by several Twitter wannabe sites (like truth social) to fork their own instances.

I doubt thisvid's tech support team monitors this site. Have you tried contacting them?

I don't recall having to fill in religion the last time I applied for a Vietnamese visa, but that was in 2018. But the most likely reason I can think of is that the communist government is worried about foreign religious organizations sending missionaries in claiming to be tourists. I don't think they care if you're Catholic or Baptist or Mormon or whatever, but they might want to know who you will meet while in country or monitor your movements more closely. They probably won't care if you have a single Bible, but just like dildos in Texas, having more than six is "intent to distribute" and a reason to send you away.

I think they send all the mean Canadians to work the Blue Water checkpoint. Anyways, the custom in both the US and Canada had been payment at the end of the session in my experience, with a few rare exceptions. I haven't lived in the big cities like NY or LA, however. Maybe working in the bigger cities leads to guys having issues with settling up at the end, but sending payment up front usually feels like starting off on the wrong foot. I've also never had anyone refuse cash before. The only reason I can think of a guy refusing to do that is if they are traveling and don't want to carry large amounts of cash through airport (or border) security. In the US cash can be seized by law enforcement without a warrant or charges filed under civil forfeiture, and TSA has been known to coordinate with local LE to seize cash.

Very true! I deal with technical sales, and my favorite customers are those that can provide clear and concise specification requirements, decide what they need quickly, and have realistic ideas about production leadtime, and can provide reasonably accurate forecasts. The worst are the ones that need to sample a half dozen varaints with mnor changes of the same item for the same project, spend months evaluating it, require pointless conference calls, and decide at the last minute which one they want to use in production (usually getting upset when I tell them how long it will take for delivery at that point). Or that "inventor" who coming in with a gmail account and no identifiable company, but tells you he's done some huge business in the past, requests techncial documents, then drags out their decision as they call over the next several weeks with questions that indicate they have no idea how to interpret the charts or numbers shown in the package. There's a lot to be said for customers who know how to say what they want, listen to your feedback on their requests when necessary, and keep their expecations within reason.

No, If you delete a thread it doesn't delete the other party's copy. I think they can see it even if you block them, they just can't send you new messages.

For $1k/hr, the golden showers better be 24 karat.