Lookin

http://news.bme.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/black-ass.jpg Bikini Atoll After The Bomb



- ink on skin, unmounted . . . . . .

Hey BVB, please don't construe this as bragging but simply an explanation: What happened in my case is that a certain very active poster here said, in answering one of my posts, (and I quote) 'You should be named "Mister Congeniality of the Realm" because you're always nice to everybody.'
 
Deej followed that with, "So it is said, so it is done. (We applaud the thoughtful effort.)"
 
...and I received the title. No one was more surprised than I was!
 
Truhart1

With an occasional boost from the odd bootlicker . . .
 

With an occasional boost from the odd bootlicker . . .
 

Would anyone here take a self-driving Uber car on a trip?

Google's self-driving cars are hitting the open road in Austin, Texas.
 
The company has selected the city to be the next testing location for its autonomous Lexus SUVs, Google said in a Tuesday Google+ post.
 
But don't expect to spot driverless cars whizzing past your favorite bar or BBQ joint in downtown Austin. Like in California, Google's self-driving cars will have a human onboard, ready to take over if there is an incident. It will also be contained to a few square miles north and northeast of downtown Austin.
 
"It's important for us to get experience testing our software in different driving environments, traffic patterns, and road conditions—so we're ready to take on Austin's pedicabs, pickup trucks, and everything in between," Google said. "Keep it weird for us, Austin, and visit our website to let us know how we're driving."

Google already has a presence in Austin; it rolled out Google Fiber there last year.
Google has been testing its self-driving car technology using Lexus SUVs and Toyota Prius vehicles for some time now. Since Google tipped the project in 2010, its cars have driven over 1 million miles.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2487322,00.asp

As AdamSmith said, I think their greatest contribution is in lifting the conversation. My Safeway didn't have many organics before Whole Foods came to town, and they just started carrying a really good local dairy brand that Whole Foods had for years.
 
Better options will come along for more knowledgeable shoppers and perhaps Whole Foods will also get better as they try to win over customers like you.
 
I'm glad more attention is being paid to our food these days, and further hope that more of what we eat will come from small local farms. . http://www.boytoy.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif
 

As AdamSmith said, I think their greatest contribution is in lifting the conversation. My Safeway didn't have many organics before Whole Foods came to town, and they just started carrying a really good local dairy brand that Whole Foods had for years.
 
Better options will come along for more knowledgeable shoppers and perhaps Whole Foods will also get better as they try to win over customers like you.
 
I'm glad more attention is being paid to our food these days, and further hope that more of what we eat will come from small local farms. . http://www.boytoy.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif
 

I hate how they pretend to be a health food store.
 
People think it's healthier there and it's a lie. I still have to read the label of every damned thing in there when I buy it.

I mostly stay out of such places, but now and again, I like to splurge. I kind of like Cal-Mart in the Laurel Heights neighborhood. Down the street from them, there's a place called Bryan's that sells esoteric stuff like real Japanese Kobe beef.

In San Francisco, there are high-end grocery stores that make shopping at WF feel about like Safeway or Luckys.

As promised, here is my not very dramatic update: The doctor asked some excellent questions, used the tongue depressor, and then told me he had never heard of anything like what I described. I have to give him credit though: He said it didn't sound like muscle tension due to stress either. He referred me to an ENT who can do a more appropriate test, which will probably be that barium swallow thing.
 
While I'm glad it's nothing serious so far, waiting in doctors' offices is going to get old fast.
 

 
The health plan nurses? I though their main purpose was to keep people from coming in with colds and other complaints that don't require a doctor.

And a welcome sight it was, no doubt. . http://wapkaimage.com/3009/3009670_689ee82a25.gif

Their cashiers are definitely a breed apart.
 
I stopped in for some ice cream on my way home one evening and found an open line which I made a beeline to. The cashier was next door talking to another cashier and it took me a little while to coax her back to her register. She finally rang me up for $3.99 and I handed her a fiver, thinking I was pretty close to being on my way.
 
The penny came out of the change machine OK and the receipt popped out and I didn't need a bag, so the only thing left was to get a dollar out of her. I put my hand out, but it remained empty for the next few minutes while she fiddled with the dollar bill. She eventually explained that she'd had a couple of dollar bills stick together earlier in the day and she didn't want to take any chances.
 
She spent another minute or so on it and I finally asked her if she could just reach in the drawer and give me a different dollar bill and work on that one after I was gone. Or maybe turn it over to the night crew and see what they could do with it. She finally convinced herself it was really just a single bill and handed it over along with the ice cream.
 
Which, needless to say, was pretty soupy by the time I got it home. . http://www.boytoy.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif
 

And a welcome sight it was, no doubt. . http://wapkaimage.com/3009/3009670_689ee82a25.gif

My crack was particular to that portion of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts consisting of the Boston metropolitan area, and especially the...

People's Republic of Cambridge
An independent state just north of Boston, with two universities and one way of waging war: writing nasty notes and putting them on people's windshields. Has enough organic grocery stores, indie bookshops, and other college-town fripperies to satisfy an army of Sartre-reading undergrads.
 
Newbie: Why do they call this place the People's Republic of Cambridge?
Native: Because more people voted for Nader than Bush in 2000.
 
Cambridgeite 1: You wanna go down to Bread & Circus and pick up some pine nuts and kale?
Cambridgeite 2: But that's really out of my way, I was planning to head down to Harvard Books. If only we had public transportation we could solve this problem.
Cambridgeite 1: What do you think this is, New York? I am so sticking a note on your car for your thought crimes.
 
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=People's+Republic+of+Cambridge
 
P.S. I (AS) should add that the proper term for a denizen thereof is of course 'Cantabridgian.'
 
P.P.S. Disclosure--I was one myself for 28 years.
 
Does it show?

Demonstrating my point.

Their cashiers are definitely a breed apart.
 
I stopped in for some ice cream on my way home one evening and found an open line which I made a beeline to. The cashier was next door talking to another cashier and it took me a little while to coax her back to her register. She finally rang me up for $3.99 and I handed her a fiver, thinking I was pretty close to being on my way.
 
The penny came out of the change machine OK and the receipt popped out and I didn't need a bag, so the only thing left was to get a dollar out of her. I put my hand out, but it remained empty for the next few minutes while she fiddled with the dollar bill. She eventually explained that she'd had a couple of dollar bills stick together earlier in the day and she didn't want to take any chances.
 
She spent another minute or so on it and I finally asked her if she could just reach in the drawer and give me a different dollar bill and work on that one after I was gone. Or maybe turn it over to the night crew and see what they could do with it. She finally convinced herself it was really just a single bill and handed it over along with the ice cream.
 
Which, needless to say, was pretty soupy by the time I got it home. . http://www.boytoy.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif
 

In Cambridge, MA, Whole Foods definitely has a hiring preference for neurotic nut cases.
 
Of course to do otherwise, they would have to recruit from the western half of the state.

Their cashiers are definitely a breed apart.
 
I stopped in for some ice cream on my way home one evening and found an open line which I made a beeline to. The cashier was next door talking to another cashier and it took me a little while to coax her back to her register. She finally rang me up for $3.99 and I handed her a fiver, thinking I was pretty close to being on my way.
 
The penny came out of the change machine OK and the receipt popped out and I didn't need a bag, so the only thing left was to get a dollar out of her. I put my hand out, but it remained empty for the next few minutes while she fiddled with the dollar bill. She eventually explained that she'd had a couple of dollar bills stick together earlier in the day and she didn't want to take any chances.
 
She spent another minute or so on it and I finally asked her if she could just reach in the drawer and give me a different dollar bill and work on that one after I was gone. Or maybe turn it over to the night crew and see what they could do with it. She finally convinced herself it was really just a single bill and handed it over along with the ice cream.
 
Which, needless to say, was pretty soupy by the time I got it home. . http://www.boytoy.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif
 

Glad things are better today! . http://www.boytoy.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/thumbsup.png
 
I wouldn't be embarrassed at all. Much better, in my opinion, to think about the worst case and be pleasantly surprised than to do the opposite.
 
It doesn't sound like you weren't fully functional during all of this. You were just tossing around some hypotheses. Heaven knows, all the info available on the internet makes that easy to do.
 
And you sure didn't act like a hypochondriac. Those folks, so I hear, still believe they're sick even after they get the all-clear. I doubt you'll be doing anything like that!
 

http://thefunnyplace.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/When-you-lose-your-phone-in-the-bed.gif

Glad things are better today! . http://www.boytoy.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/thumbsup.png
 
I wouldn't be embarrassed at all. Much better, in my opinion, to think about the worst case and be pleasantly surprised than to do the opposite.
 
It doesn't sound like you weren't fully functional during all of this. You were just tossing around some hypotheses. Heaven knows, all the info available on the internet makes that easy to do.
 
And you sure didn't act like a hypochondriac. Those folks, so I hear, still believe they're sick even after they get the all-clear. I doubt you'll be doing anything like that!
 

http://thefunnyplace.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/When-you-lose-your-phone-in-the-bed.gif

Glad things are better today! . http://www.boytoy.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/thumbsup.png
 
I wouldn't be embarrassed at all. Much better, in my opinion, to think about the worst case and be pleasantly surprised than to do the opposite.
 
It doesn't sound like you weren't fully functional during all of this. You were just tossing around some hypotheses. Heaven knows, all the info available on the internet makes that easy to do.
 
And you sure didn't act like a hypochondriac. Those folks, so I hear, still believe they're sick even after they get the all-clear. I doubt you'll be doing anything like that!
 

http://thefunnyplace.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/When-you-lose-your-phone-in-the-bed.gif

Thank you to everyone. The posts were extremely helpful. I'm embarrassed to say this, but when I woke up, the swallowing pain was nearly gone, after having been there for nearly six weeks. I can still feel a lot of tension in that area though.
 
Regardless I made an appointment with a gastroenterologist whom I'll be seeing soon..

Yes, BVB, her lack of integrity bothers me, but not so much that I'll ignore the good things she's done.
 
Honestly, when it gets right down to it, I'm a little sad that racial identity is as big an issue as it is. It would be nice if one day those lines were a little more blurred than they are today and folks could have a bit more flexibility in their self-identity.
 
A pipe dream, I know.
 

http://cdn.teen.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/alice-in-wonderland-caterpillar-smoking.gif

Yes it is sad that racial identity is such a big issue. If it were not a big issue she could have turned up at the NAACP, done the good work she apparently did without having to say what her racial identity was, or having anyone consider asking.