BSR

Yikes, civet poop coffee sells for $100-500 a pound ($500 for beans from wild civets, less if it comes from civet farms). I wonder how any buyer knows for sure that real, honest-to-God civets pooped out the coffee beans they're buying. I can just picture some scamster selling regular non-pooped coffee beans for $500/pound and laughing his ass off that some sucker with more money than sense is actually shelling out such a scandalous sum.

What a beautiful dog. He deserves so much better than getting kicked to the curb by his former owner. I pray that you can find a no-kill shelter for him and that he eventually gets adopted by a great family. And yes, I also hope that karma comes back to bite his sh*tty former owner in the ass.

Margaret Court's record of 24 Grand Slam titles is a bit skewed because, as you point out, she won 11 Australian Opens back when few non-Aussies played the tournament. Also, most years that Court won the AO, the singles draw was just 32 players (Slams all now have 128-player draws). One detail that boosts Court's CV is that she gave birth to three children during her playing career. Compare that to Serena's struggles to win a Slam after having one. Court retired when she became pregnant with her fourth child.

Yes, non-Aussie players used to skip the Australian Open more often than they played it. Bjorn Borg played it only once, skipped it 10 times. Chris Evert played it 6 times but skipped 13. Martina Navratilova complains that had she known that she would be judged on how many Slams she won, she would have made the schlep (played 10, skipped 12). Borg, king of clay before Rafa, even skipped Roland Garros once. Queen of clay Evert skipped RG 6 times! I'm not sure exactly when or why the Slams became the be all & end all of professional tennis. My guess is it started in the early 1990s when Pete Sampras became quite vocal about his goal of breaking Roy Emerson's record of 12 Slams. The 4 Slams also started to increase prize money by eye-popping amounts, always a motivator. Adjusted for inflation, Chris Evert won about $150K for winning the 1978 US Open. In 2019 (prize money took a hit due to Covid), Bianca Andreescu's winner's check was $3.85 million!

As a die-hard Novak fan, I am tickled pink by his victory. Wow, 6 Wimbledon titles and 20 Slams, tying rivals Roger & Rafa. This looked pretty unlikely 10 years ago. Before the 2011 Australian Open, Roger had 16 Slams, Rafa 9, and Novak just 1. After the 2018 Australian, Roger had 20, Rafa 16, and Novak just 12. The Serb caught up in a hurry. Everyone was talking about Berrettini's serve and understandably so. His average 1st serve speed was 126mph, and even his 2nd serve averaged an eye-popping 108. Novak fell far short on pace (1st serve 111mph average, 2nd serve 88) yet was arguably more effective. 1st serve percentage was pretty close -- 61% for Novak, 59% for Berrettini. Despite a much slower 1st serve, Novak won 79% of 1st serve points vs. 76% for Berrettini. The gap in 2nd serve points won is even greater: 53% for Novak, just 38% for Berrettini. The quality of play from both players was pretty scratchy in the 1st set. Both improved in Set 2, although it still wasn't great tennis. Novak got much better in Sets 3 & 4. Matteo was pretty decent, but you got the sense that he never had a chance once Novak found his groove. The Big 3 all go to the US Open seeking to break the tie & grab Slam #21. Hopefully Roger will be 100% physically and will be able to play plenty of matches in the lead-up to get match-sharp. I'm pretty sure Rafa will be fully rested (he cited exhaustion for his decision to skip Wimbledon) and hopefully healthy (he didn't mention it, but he injured his foot in the RG semi). I know Novak will be raring to go. All three will not only be trying to beat each other but also will be fending off the NextGen (players 25 & under). Even though Novak won the first 3 Slams of 2021 and is on paper the strong favorite in New York, the pressure of the calendar year Grand Slam will weigh on him like an anvil. Oh, this should be damn good.

Yeah, once you get past the Chippendales gimmick, you can see that they're not very good dancers.

Yes, Macallan 18 is wonderful, but the one time I was lucky enough to have Macalllan 25, it was a religious experience. The 18 is expensive ($375 on astorwines.com) but the 25 will make you do a Tom & Jerry jaw-drop (out of stock on astorwines.com, but around $2000 when available). For a "bargain" single malt, I like Glenlivet 18 ($140).

On the subject of betting, the odds for some of Novak's matches were a bit nutty. For example, against Kevin Anderson in R2, Novak was at -7000. That means in order to win $100, you would have to bet $7000! What I hear around Las Vegas is the cardinal rule of sports betting is never risk a lot to win a little, yet apparently Europeans do it all the time. Against Berrettini in the final, Novak was just -450 (to win $100 you have to bet $450), which actually aren't bad odds because I was so sure that Novak would win. Still, I'm glad I didn't make the bet because I would have had a heart attack after the first set. I didn't pick Berrettini as early as you did, but once Zverev & Medvedev lost, I expected Matteo to make the final. Roger didn't have nearly enough matches under his belt to make the final (a bagel against Hurkacz, first time Roger's ever been bageled at Wimbledon!).

Shapovalov played far better than Novak for 90% of the match, but unfortunately played like **** in the most important points. Although Denis's physical game is top-notch, his mentality is Challenger-level. Novak wasn't playing great, but he didn't have to because Shapo totally gave away the match.

A very interesting foursome of semifinalists: Novak is playing his umpteenth Grand Slam semi (too lazy to look it up - 41st?), Berrettini in his 2nd, and Hurkacz & Shapovalov in their 1st ever. I haven't watched the DVRs of the matches yet, but I'm a bit stunned by the bagel in the 3rd set between Hurkacz & Roger.

I recently put two forum members on ignore, first time in my decade+ here. For one of them, I put him on ignore because I stopped reading his posts years ago. Since he often responded to my posts & mentioned me using the @, I noted in my signature that he was on my ignore list as a courtesy to him, so that he doesn't waste time writing posts directed at me that I'll never read. For the other board member, I just felt like he was far more interested in trolling than any honest discussion or debate. I got fed up with the trolling, and gotta say, I've been enjoying my visits to this board so much more ever since I set him to ignore.

On men's tennis forum, the Roger & Rafa fans are going berserk over Novak's easy draw. Even as a die-hard Novak fan, gotta admit, this draw almost looks like Novak hand-picked his opponents. Since the 4 most dangerous players for Novak (Berretini, Zverev, Federer, Medvedev) all landed in the other half of the draw, Novak will have to face only one of them in the final to win the title. In the more mathematically likely scenario where 2 of those 4 ended up in Novak's half, he would have had to beat 3 of the 4 to win the title. I'm afraid that Novak's draw might actually be too easy because a player needs some challenges before the final to get match-sharp. Shapovalov looks like he's improved a lot under coach Youzhny's guidance, but I don't know if he's mentally strong enough to handle the pressure of the projected semifinal against Novak. None of the other players in Novak's half (Garín, Fucsovics, Rublev, Khachanov, Korda, Bautista-Agut) pose much of a threat. I think something kinda crazy has to happen for anyone other than Novak to win the title next Sunday. Who makes the final from the other half? The romantic pick is Federer, of course. As much as Fed has improved over his first 3 matches, he's not the player he was 2 years ago, when he outplayed Novak for 5 sets yet still somehow lost. I don't think the 2 supertall Russians Medvedev & Zverev (yes, I know Zverev was born & raised in Germany, but his family is Russian & he grew up speaking Russian at home) have quite mastered grass enough to challenge Novak. Novak's biggest threat, imho, is Berrettini because his serve is such a monster weapon, but serve alone won't be enough to beat Novak.

60+ deaths, how tragic. I wonder why more weren't able to get to a cooling center. Maybe some didn't know about them or know where they were (many seniors don't use the Internet). Perhaps some didn't have transportation to get back & forth (many seniors no longer drive). Whatever the reason, it's so sad. If transportation were the issue, I'm sure plenty of volunteers would gladly offer to drive people to cooling centers.

I first saw Almodovar's "Law of Desire" in its initial release back in 1987, and I watched it again just now after a 34-year gap. Whereas I loved it 34 years ago, so much that I saw it several times at the artsy NYC cinema where it was playing, I didn't particularly enjoy it today. Back in 1987, the film was groundbreaking. A film with a gay protagonist was pretty much unheard of, especially one who lived so openly & unapologetically. Portrayals of gay sex and male nudity were pretty racy stuff anywhere, especially in Spain just 11 years after Franco's death. Almodovar's nutty, unconventional style and dark sense of humor were so different from any movie I had ever seen. 34 years later, plenty of gay-themed movies are made, and a gay protagonist isn't groundbreaking stuff any more. I've lost my taste for Almodovar's style because, as a friend correctly pointed out, once you've seen one Almodovar flick, you've seen them all. They're all kind of the same. At least "Matador" and "Women on the Verge" were a lot funnier. Who else has seen "Law of Desire"? What do you think of it?

I don't know how I'd react in the heat of the moment. It looks like the poor cyclist might have been too injured to go after the spectator. But once I've been treated and have a clear head, I would follow up with race officials and law enforcement to make sure that spectator is charged with assault. Since she caused a chain reaction, she should be charged with multiple assaults. If you multiply the prison time for assault by the dozens of cyclists involved, that spectator is looking at a veeeeeeeeeery long sentence. Hopefully law enforcement catches her & throws the book at her.

Las Vegas is the straight adult playground. The gay scene is rather lacking. I've never heard of an Asian spa with male masseurs here.

"I also had two different cliques openly make fun of me whenever they saw me. I finally had to confront them to stop and it went up to to the Ships officers who basically told them to knock it off." Behavior like that would be unacceptable coming from a bunch of middle-schoolers, albeit somewhat expected (cuz that's what middle-schoolers do). But for a bunch of grown men (I'm assuming all in their 20s, maybe even 30s) to act like that is truly disgusting.

I don't know enough about college football to form an opinion about Michael Sams but did read a great analysis of his talent. The author was an ESPN guy who knew college football like the back of his hand. His conclusion was that Sam just wasn't that good. Plenty of players have great college careers only to fizzle out in the NFL. Sam just raised more of a stink about it and tried to make the gay issue the reason he was cut.

I think another difference besides a few decades is that the photos of these stars in their youth were studio publicity shots, done with perfect makeup, perfect lighting, and the best professional photographers in the industry. Even in their youth, I doubt these stars looked quite so ideal in candid moments.

I don't follow soccer, nor do I understand the dynamics at play with the governing bodies. FIFA, the sport's international governing body, sanctioned the Mexican team by fining it $65,000 and not allowing any fans to attend its next 2 home matches because Mexican fans repeatedly chanted a homophobic slur at the opposing team. Absolutely, that was the right thing to do. Yet FIFA gave the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, where homosexuality is illegal, punishable by a fine & up to 3 years in prison. So according to FIFA, calling an LGBT person mean names is unacceptable & will not be tolerated, but throwing them in prison for the "crime" of being gay is OK.

Thanks for the info about Smith & Kopay. Wow, those two were about as subtle as a sledgehammer, LOL. Not to trivialize Nassib's act, but it seems he is the first active player to come out via official press release. Smith & Kopay were about as OUT as you can be.

Thanks for the info. I don't follow the NBA much & mistakenly thought that Collins came out only after retirement. Wow, it turns out that Collins was the first out active player in all four major sports leagues (MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL). I'm still waiting for a male player to come out on the ATP (tennis) tour. Plenty of women (Martina Navratilova, Amelie Mauresmo) have come out, but no guys yet. Tennis journalists like Jon Wertheim are a bit puzzled that no one has since they're pretty sure the first out ATPer would be very much welcomed in the sport.

Wow, it finally happened, an openly gay active NFL player. Some players have come out after retirement (like David Kopay) or after getting signed (like Michael Sam, but he was cut before ever playing an NFL game), but Nassib is the first active player to come out. I liked his statement and greatly appreciate his generous donation to the Trevor Project. I don't know if an active player has come out yet in baseball, basketball, or hockey. To the fans of those sports, can you tell us?

Apparently you & I view the escort-client relationship very differently. I'm a bit baffled by your statement "It is personal." How? The escort provides a service; the client pays him for that service. Granted, the escort provides physical intimacy and sometimes sessions involve emotional intimacy as well, but in the end, if you're paying for the escort's services, it's business. It was nice of the OP to help the escort out with his grad school essays, but unless the OP stated up front he expected compensation for his help, then all the escort owes him is a heartfelt thank you. Greed? If an employee quits his old job to take a higher-paying job elsewhere, is that greed? To me, that's just being smart and knowing your worth. My old boss can call me greedy all he wants, I'm still taking the higher pay. I would expect anyone in any line of work to do the same, including escorts. As for naivete, the escort is naive only if he's not getting enough business at the higher rate. The OP mentioned that he thinks a few clients are paying the higher rate. If "a few" is enough for the escort, I would say the escort is a smart businessman.

I don't understand why loyal, longtime clients feel that they should be grandfathered in at the old rate. Businesses increase their prices all the time. As a regular, longtime customer at some places, I can't say that I'm happy about the increases, but I don't expect the business to make an exception for me either. As for this escort's "inflated" rate, his recent rate increase is only "inflated" if not enough clients are willing to pay it. If he's getting the amount of business he wants at the higher rate, then it's not inflated -- it's right for the market. If he's not getting enough business, then he'll (hopefully) figure it out & adjust accordingly. In either case, decide for yourself if he's worth the higher rate, or not. If indeed your area has plenty of other providers who charge less, find one or a few you like & move on. It's just business. When a client expects an exception to be made for him because of past history or a nice off-the-clock relationship, he's making it personal.