Phaedrus

Complaining on the boards is by no means useless. I can't comment on paying a B&S provider rather than walking out for the simple reason that I've never been in that situation... because word gets around. The warnings section here, and CK's diary, are invaluable resources to us all. The problem with this is that most people will probably never drop anyone a mail to say, "I was going to see X, but I saw the warnings and now I'm not, so thanks for that", but that doesn't mean that this never happens. I'm sure it happens all the time. And while the scams may work in the short term... I suspect any SP who's in for the long haul is going to have to be honest. Nichole seems to be a case in point: does this thread exist because she's suddenly realized the error of her ways from an ethical standpoint, or have the warnings simply forced her to cut out the B&S? I've never met her and have no idea what the answer to that question might be, but it strikes me that the mere fact we're having this conversation illustrates the fact that the cause is not entirely hopeless. So maybe there's more money at the bottom of the pile. But there are two things to say to that. First, I'd love to know how sustainable this market is. If people use BP exclusively and get burned often enough, then one of two things will happen: either they'll give up entirely, or they'll work out that more reliable sources of ads and information exist. And when that happens, sites like EC are there to pick up the long-term, sustainable business. Secondly, the fact that there's more money at the bottom of the market doesn't mean that being at the top end of it isn't a good thing. Wal-mart may be hugely successful, but not everyone shops there all the time and there's still space for a viable business serving the top end of the market. I know that's not a perfect analogy as Wal-mart aren't openly dishonest, but I think the point still stands. Perhaps the solution would be to kick off some other advertizing site that could compete directly with BP for that end of the market and rake in the $$$, and keep EC as it is... Finally: I know that I've kinda conflated BP with ethics-free advertizing in this post. I know that's absolutely not the case in general and that there's many very good SPs who advertize on BP, so please don't construe this as an attack on anyone who does happen to advertize there...

Amazing what you can do with a rake. And I love the fundamentally ephemeral nature of it.

Hope you recover soon, Sami!

It seems to be dying out, fortunately. Perhaps because people started to realize that the security theatre at the airport was more about theatre than security... Now, can I have my bottle of water back, please?

Never. Imagine walking down the street with your SO on a hot day when there's plenty of hot ladies in summer dresses... you'd be single by the next intersection. You might as well just walk down the street naked :)

Sounds awesome! I just wish I'd had to do less editing to get there... :)

It's all fun and games... until the dress doesn't turn transparent when the client thinks it should... :)

Mmmmmm... "Red Labial"...

Perhaps that's the root cause of the problem then? Maybe the entire family has just become so used to owning the place (and therefore doing what the hell they like with impunity) that they failed to adjust when elsewhere?

Way to fuck up everyone else's vacation, guys! Flight to Caribbean diverted due to smoking family A Sunwing flight from Halifax bound for the Dominican Republic was forced to land in Bermuda Friday night because three passengers refused to stop smoking on the plane, CBC News has learned. The Bermuda police service said they were called to the airport around 9:55 p.m. local time to meet Sunwing flight 454, which was on its way to Punta Cana. Police said they boarded the plane and arrested the three smokers. "It appeared to be a father, a mother and a son. The parents appear to be in their 50s. The son, I believe, is around 22 or so," said acting Insp. Paul Simons. Dave Shellington's wife was on the plane. He said she texted him to tell the story. "They were smoking in the plane's washroom and when they came out they got into a little bit of an argument with the attendants. They couldn't say where they put their cigarette butts and that caused a bit of a commotion, I guess. From there it kind of escalated with the father, the mother and the son," said Shellington He said his wife said there was a lot of screaming and swearing. Simons said he couldn't confirm the family's nationality or if they had also been drinking, but said they were co-operative when they were removed from the plane by police. They were taken to the police station and have since been released on bail. The flight was grounded overnight and the crew and passengers were put up in a hotel. "The flight was also grounded so that a Canadian-trained mechanic could inspect the aircraft for undetermined reasons," Simons said. The flight was rescheduled to leave on Saturday. The family has been ordered not to leave the island and their passports and travel documents have been seized by the Bermuda police. They have not been officially charged.

Awesome. Just... awesome.

Or maybe you do. Who knows? :)

Thanks for that! yes, I'll definitely check it out... I guess if you're paying for the service, you're no longer the product being sold, right? :)

+1 on Al Jazeera. They've made a real effort to become a serious news source, and hired some big-name journalists from well-established western news organizations. They're very good for just reporting the stuff that's happening in the world - especially the Middle East, since that's their back yard. However, the BBC is still the name to beat on world news. Bear in mind that what really matters with this stuff is not so much an organization's politics or editorial line, but the simple question of whether they've got journalists on the ground wherever the news happens to be. The ones that take this seriously maintain permanent staff worldwide, because you never know where the news will happen next; these organizations are always several steps ahead of the ones (like the big US-based networks) that just parachute in people who don't know the background to the story after the news has broken. Also worth considering are the press agencies that actually supply the stories broadcast by many other news sources: Reuters, AP and AFP. Consider cutting out the middleman :) Finally, for a combination of news and intelligent analysis and general cluefulness, you can't beat The Economist.

So, I'd appreciate a little advice from those in the know... I have a domain that I currently just use for email. The registration runs out soon, and I was thinking about abandoning my current domain hosting/services company (who, while not that bad, aren't that good either) for another. What I'm really concerned about is email, and in particular I'd like a decent webmail interface in the browser, and some sort of encrypted MUA access (current incumbent only does wide-open POP, which isn't great, except when I ended up doing password retrieval with wireshark... :) ). And preferably not costing an arm and a leg... A couple of other things... this is nothing CERB-related, so companies' attitudes to adult content and activities aren't relevant. And although I'm aware that Google is good at this and you can run your domain through them, I'm sure Google knows enough about my life already and I'd prefer to not to give them more data than I have to. Yeah, paranoid.... :) Thanks in advance, all!

I have heard that the only truly effective aphrodisiac is celery. You don't eat it... you use it as a splint :) (Disclaimer: I have never actually tried this, and take no responsibility for the results if anyone else does...)

So, it's happened to us all. You're in your car, trying to get somewhere... and you get stuck behind someone who's idling along veerrrry sloooowly. They're clearly not bothered about getting anywhere today, or even this week, and oblivious to the idea that anyone else might have somewhere to be. Ahead of you there's a green light, and they cruise up to it, oh so slowly... it turns yellow, and the horribly slow person ahead of you rolls through it, and you have to sit and wait until the damn thing turns green again. Well, that happened to me today... but Mr Oblivious in front of me was too slow even for the yellow light, and trundled through it after it had turned red. And there were two big flashes from the camera behind us... BAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! I laughed all the way to work. Hey, nobody said these highlights had to be nice :)

I had been meaning to see EmJ for quite a while, but for some reason I'd never actually got round to it. Well, that's my loss... I finally managed to meet her recently and... well... I should have done so a long time ago! Booking was very easy, and Emily was very accommodating of my desire to see her a bit outside her normal times. Her incall is easy to find, and in no time at all I'd have been knocking on her door if she hadn't opened it before I had the chance :) Emily is every bit as lovely in person as her posts would lead you to believe. There was a little bit of chat, but that was interspersed with kissing and getting nekkid. And then the fun really started... suffice to say that if you read Em's posts here, you'll probably have a good idea of where her interests lie. And I think I can safely say she's a world authority on the subject. The details are left to the reader's imagination... So, after a demonstration of Emily's expertise, and some conversation (she's an awesome person to talk to, as well as everything else) it was time to go. Until next time...

This might be a good place to start looking. Also older threads here and here.

I still disagree, I'm afraid. Even if ED meds didn't exist, that only rules out penetrative sex for those affected. SPs offer a huge amount more than just that... and all those activities are still available. And while I've heard many thing about ED, I've never heard that it removes the desire for intimacy.