@vmalar said in American circumcision:

@bi4smooth In a way I get it: If you are a parent you are happy/ecstatic/scared all of that and more and some nurse comes along and asks you 'do you want to circumcise your child?'. And of course! You want the best for your child and it's payed by the healthcare insurance so why not? Yes! you say! I want what's best for my son!

There! In that simple arc of a story is where the parent is being EVIL. Did you catch it?

You invaded the personal freedom of a new person! The fact that you are his parent does not give you the right to invade/impose on his freedom. That's EVIL.

If later on the kid wants to do it. Great! More power to you!

You're obviously not a parent

What-if that child grows up to be a VEGAN and you've fed them MEAT and DAIRY all through their childhood!

EVIL!

What if you raise your child a "good Christian" and she turns Atheist at 14?

EVIL!

You can play what if-s all you want... if you, as a parent, are doing what you feel is best for your child, then you are decidedly NOT EVIL

And your self-righteous, judgemental soul can deal with it... and may your God have mercy on your soul!

@tazns-0 said in Linux:

Good day everyone, I have recently switched from Windows 10 to Linux Mint 20.2. In windows I was using utorrent (v.2.2.1),, because that was the one that would allow me to force seed to maintain my ratio. I am trying to find a good one for Linux. At the moment I am trying KTorrent, Transmision and Deluge. So far they are not seeding.

Any and all help would be appropriated.
With Thanks & Stay Safe

Somewhere on the forums is an article on using qBittorrent on Linux...

@john32123666 said in BitTorrent stuck on "Finding Peers" with 11 Seeders Feeding Torrent:

GUIDE on > How to Fix uTorrent Stuck on Connecting to Peers:
https://helpdeskgeek.com/help-desk/how-to-fix-utorrent-stuck-on-connecting-to-peers/

OTHER WAYS:

1. click on Options/Setup Guide [Run Tests]
   

2. click on Options/Preferences [Connection]
   change your port > 6881-6889 [default] port or use random

3. click on Options/Preferences [Bandwidth]
   default > [200] Global / peers per torrent [50] / additional slots [4]
   However you can modify these settings to allow all peers
   
   If it does not solve the issue Uninstall & re-install your client software or do a web search ...
   Hope this helps ...

I often find changing my VPN server and/or port assignment helps....

@raphjd said in State Street Global Advisors will need permission to hire White men:

@bi4smooth

Nope, I never said anything about it being the government.

Diversity is more important than hiring who's best for the job.

Again, you conflate the argument "it's a private company - they can do what they want" with "what they're doing is he right thing to do"...

I do NOT think this is smart - and time will tell. I will say this: I'm glad I don't have any holdings under the control of this company....

The Big Sleep (1946 - B&W)

Film Noir: Bogey (Humphrey Bogart) and (Lauren) Bacall at their best

Private detective Philip Marlowe is hired by a wealthy family. Before the complex case is over, he's seen murder, blackmail, and what might be love.

IMDB

YIFY

@drkind said in BitTorrent stuck on "Finding Peers" with 11 Seeders Feeding Torrent:

"Tracker gave HTTP response code 404 (Not Found)"

How do I fix this?

Sometimes you just have to wait. The site does have to undergo maintenance from time to time.

I think it's good that you post when you're getting errors (if it's not "site maintenance" then the admins need to know there is a problem)... but it's also unreasonable to assume that a "dark web" service that is free to you is going to have 99.999% availability!

@raphjd said in State Street Global Advisors will need permission to hire White men:

https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/state-street-global-advisors-permission-hire-white-men

I would love to know the exact figures that are being demanded for this "diversity" quota.

Will it be like Tony Blair's 35% rule for non-white representation in media, despite that figure being over 3.5 times the non-white figures in the UK population? Now the 35% rule is just under 3.5 times higher than the UK population.

You post this as-if this were some Government rule or law.

This is a company who is challenging their own hiring managers to hire with more diversity.

Is it ham-handed and overkill (IMHO)? Sure! But they could decide to suddenly stop advising people to buy stocks and bonds and invest in Girl Scout Cookies if they wanted to - it's their business! They can run it into the ground if they want to! (No, I don't think hiring minorities and women will run the company into the ground - but I don't think "quotas" are a good start either).

@looselips said in copyright infringement:

I post a torrent that is DVD quality but yet other torrents that are the same titles stay up? Who do I contact about that? And what's the issue with mine but not theirs?

The in's and out's of DMCA reports are complicated - because they're set out - literally line by line - in law.

A "properly formatted" DMCA take down request has to have specific language in it, we well as links to the offending material. The site is under no obligation to "expand" any search for similar materials. (And to be sure, we wouldn't want that!)

So, if you got a note that your torrent was taken down for an DMCA request, then know that whoever sent the request supplied a link to your torrent... but not links to other torrents that may indeed have the same general content.

A friend of mine is a moderator on a different (non-porn) site, and they get a good laugh over some DMCA take-down requests - because they'll reference a DUPLICATE but not the original. So, they have to take down the duplicate, but they do not have to take down the original. (It's up to the "requestor" to identify any and all offending material... whatever they leave out, the site can leave in!)

I don't like DMCA takedown requests any more than you or anyone else - but they are a fact of life. In my (relatively long) experience, different sources go on DMCA "kicks" for a while - which is annoying, to be sure - but then they die down when they realize they're fighting a losing battle!

Both Sean Cody and Corbin Fisher studios once attempted to track down and PROSECUTE file sharers (both seeders and leechers)... they charges a few & even won some cases... but in the end it was too expensive to continue (in other words, their expenses with lawyers outweighed their losses from the illegal sharing).

@vmalar said in American circumcision:

@eobox91103 said in American circumcision:

But the guy who was circumcised is not wrong. He had nothing to do with the decision, and he has a right to enjoy his sex life--and his penis--to the fullest. Telling him that he is defective and mutilated serves no purpose.

You are trying to put words in my mouth. The practice of genital mutilation in newborn babies is archaic and wrong. No matter how much you try to justify it.

There is a custom in the Philippines I believe in which circumcision is a rite of passage of sorts. Teenagers want to have this done. Fine! You are 10 years or older, you can consent to this.

But to do that to a new born is evil.

Circumcision for religious belief is not a reference solely to "Old Testament" Judaism (that would seem a very Christian-centric view!).

While is it a common practice among ALL of the Abrahamic religions, it is also a religious rite among many African tribal religions, it was practiced on-again, off-again in Ancient Egypt, as well as Hellenistic Greece.

In many of these societies, the circumcision was NOT performed on infants, but rather on pubescent males - as a rite of passage into manhood. It was (esp in Egypt) also done to slaves to inhibit sexual activity as well as prevent disease. It was considered a mark of a "real man" to "endure circumcision" stoically - with ancient writing containing "bragging" about not "hitting out, screaming out, or scratching".

The practice of performing the surgery on an infant is something new-ish (last 2-thousand years or so?) - and done primarily to bypass the intense pain caused to older boys & men. (In other words, "if you're going to do it anyway, do it to the infant so there is less - at least memorable - pain" - which doesn't sound so "evil" after all).

Alternately, in some ancient sects, it was ONLY done to the priests and/or wealthy - and it was both a "secret" (how to do it safely) and a sign of great power and/or wealth.

Also: Egyptian heiroglyphs, when they show penises, show them as either erect (when you can't really tell - at least not in an artist's rendering) or as circumcised. They are never depicted without clearly showing the glans, and therefore not as "uncircumcised".

But all that proves is that it is an ANCIENT practice - not that it isn't time to stop it!

I'm with you on the desire to stop it (in general, and in non-religious circles). Where I'm not with you is in the characterization of it as something that is vile and evil.

I agree that it is medically unnecessary in the VAST MAJORITY of cases, and while there are reports en-masse that both support and decry the practice, some 5000 years of the rite hasn't shown that much of a difference, in either sexual promiscuity or masturbation.

As for whether it makes your journey into heaven any easier, we'll have to wait to know that - on an individual basis.

But I'm not prepared to enforce my beliefs on others in this case. Why? Because it's got a 5,000-year history of being benign ... essentially "cosmetic"... I would prefer to convince others that it is both unnecessary and painful to the infant - that is: convince with facts and science; than to try to force my beliefs onto others. (ESPECIALLY lest they, later, try to force their beliefs on to me!)

There is a word to describe that.... ah! yes! I've heard it before!

FREEDOM!

Do I personally want to end the wide-scale practice of circumcision, yes!

Am I willing to call parents who choose to circumcise their male children EVIL because of the decision? Certainly not!

@vmalar said in American circumcision:

@davis94 Read 'The Banality of evil' by Hannah Arendt in which she discusses the holocaust and how was a society blindly oblivious to the extermination that was going on behind the scenes. What you are asking the gay community is a similar thing. Why?

Really?

Comparing the holocaust to the practice of male circumcision?

Someone has gone off the deep end on this one...

Is it unnecessary? I believe so (Hasidic Jews might disagree)... but "child abuse"? Again: someone has gone off the deep end here.

One of the stated goals of the religious purposes of circumcision is to reduce masturbation - it goes to the absurd religious belief that all sex - outside of that intended solely to procreate - is bad.

Whatever happened to tolerance of people and beliefs that differ from your own?

@raphjd said in ILLEGAL: NJ Election Worker: ‘I’ll let you[Non-Citizen/Non-Registered Voter] fill out a ballot.':

Youtube Video

Another example of: Look! The SKY is falling! When it's actually just raining.

In most states, anyone who shows up at a polling place can claim to be a voter and obtain a ballot... it's called a "PROVISIONAL BALLOT" - and its validity is determined later - often only if the race is close enough to where the provisional ballots would "made a difference".

The acceptance of provisional ballots hails from a time where we were more interested in making sure EVERY VOTE COUNTS vs. "finding every way to throw out votes"!

@pwnlvr said in How many times do you jerk off in a week?:

@hottie124 I'm 54 and I average at least once a day, more at weekends. So I would say 10-12 times a week

I'm 57 and also try to keep my prostate healthy through frequent (daily, if I can) orgasms...

That said, I have a bf... we don't live together, but some nights I reach orgasm "by other means" and some (most) nights I reach orgasm "by my own volition"... but MOST nights (or mornings) I get off! I strongly believe it helps (and will help) me keep my "bedroom vigor" as I age...

Use it or lose it!

@davis94 said in American circumcision:

@vmalar 'The way they portray this movie is a lie. They don't look at both sides evenly or objectively. They spend the hour and half film demonizing circumcision and those that do it. I feel as if I've spent the length of this film watching a propaganda film about the joys of being uncircumcised and how anyone who has done it is evil and a horrible parent. This is trash and it's pathetic. I am sad to have seen it.'

perfectly fits this biased documentary. Once again people always thinking they know everything better and condemn when people don't agree with them.

I'm cut, I accepted it, I have no problem with it, so neither should you. How about we focus on more important things?

The fact that the gay community is so obsessed with 'foreskin' that they would purpsoely discriminate and leave out those that are cut from a community that should know best how horrible intolerance and discrimination is.

Male circumcision is a deeply cultural, often religious ritual. I haven't watched the video - the link above does not work for me.

But I will say this: In the US, male circumcision rates are plummeting... because, in part, the cultural "stigma" of being un-cut is going away... so, mostly it is the religion and the "but I had it done to me" folks who are still doing this to their male children. In my home State of Fla, the current rate of circumcision (on infants) is just 35% - probably influenced by our large Latin and Asian populations. (Source)

When I was born (early 60's), it was virtually assumed in the hospital that your male child would be circumcised... if you DIDN'T want it done, you'd have better have made that clear BEFORE the birth!!! (Source: my mother LOL)

When I was about to have my (our) first child, I did considerable research, even though we didn't even know the sex of the child yet (while THAT child turned out to be female, we would eventually have 9 kids, tho some of them were adopted from foster care - 4 of whom are male).

Of the 4 boys we either had, or adopted as infants, NONE were circumcised at our request (one had the procedure done at the insistence of the biological parents - whose rights were terminated a few months later).

There is nothing WRONG with the typical/normal male penis - the way it comes "from the factory"... there are claims, and counter-claims galore about everything from circumcision being a panacea of male child wellness, to it being the root of all evil (both are just a bit hyperbolic!)

The truth is, the practice (as I noted above) is societal in most cases (and the US is/was RARE in the Western World at circumcising a majority - previously a HUGE majority - of male infants).

But even in areas of the world where religion is the primary reason for the practice, rates are falling.

But, given that the OVERWHELMING majority of circumcisions are done on infants, there is ABSOLUTELY no cause to discriminate against people with or without a foreskin! Virtually NONE of them had a say in the matter!

For what its worth, my bf is uncut (Asian), and as noted above, I was cut as an infant. We have no issues with this difference...

Hi DandyLion - Good luck on your training! This is my FAV torrent site (I belong to 3)! Glad you're volunteering to keep things good/make things better!

Most "Staff" (other than @raphjd on the politics boards) seem keep a very low profile - it might be interesting to have a staffer who mingles with us commoners

@adamamin said in unregistered torrent and ratios:

@serenity no, because you're not uploading anything to anyone since the torrent doesn't technically exist.

Essentially true..

Technically, while you may actually be uploading or downloading data (because those are site-to-site connections - without involving the tracker or the site), when that UL or DL data gets reported to the tracker, there is no torrent to assign it to, so it doesn't count - in either direction.

@rhaskal said in Hello:

Greetings from Turkey. It is so nice to be accepted.

Welcome from Florida, in the US. You are not alone! You are special, but not UNIQUE! There are LOTS of people LIKE you, even though there is ONLY ONE you!

@lololulu19 said in What is MORAL?:

Actually, the word "Morality" comes from the word "mores". Mores are mereley behaviors practiced by the majority of society - which is hardly a credbile way to govern one's life. For instance, at various places and times, the majority of populations accepted slavery, bigotry, cannibalism, infanticide, incest, Barbra Streisand, etc.

Indeed - morals are "societally agreed upon acceptable behaviors"... In Greek times, older men had younger boys who "helped" them sexually - though neither orally or anally - the older man would "fuck" the boy between his legs, never penetrating any part of his body (which would have been "unclean"). In Roman times, older men had a collection of younger men and women he could do with as he pleased... even killing them... without legal penalty (the crime of murder only applied to Roman Citizens, not mere slaves!).

The issue with "morals" is not one of society - society's rules change - sometimes quickly (when I started out my professional life, I could have lost my security clearance by simply admitting that I had ever had sexual relations with another male! Now, 35 years later, my employer is not allowed to discriminate against me over the issue - I'm a "protected class" because I suck dick!).

The issue with morals is that some people refuse to follow the "morals" of their times. Even when they know something is wrong, they do it anyway. Children who steal candy - knowing it is wrong - are acting "amorally" (or immorally, if you must)... which takes you to the "strength" of the rules that make up morals:

• Is the crime the same if I steal a bottle of water than if I steal a car or an expensive piece of jewelry?
• Is the crime the same if the person I kill is "beneath me" - or was trying to kill me - or was an illegal immigrant - or was on my property?

There often are not easy answers there.

A human with a functional brain should realize what is right and what is wrong.

As you just said in your first paragraph: the ideas about what is right vs. wrong are societally put there! While it is fictional, read "The Lord of the Flies" sometime!

For instance, I am not proud of the fact that I eat meat, but I realize that as a human, I must eat meat as sure as I must breathe. We can eat LESS meat, and as fully grown adults are not as dependent upon it, but we need to consume other animal products to develop.

So, depending upon who you ask, eating meat is just part of nature - we (humans) are omnivores - we can subsist on any combination of plants and animals, though we are "healthiest" when we consume a mixture of both.

I know plenty of "vegans" who would argue that eating animal protein at all is "immoral" - and I would disagree with them. A classic case of how individuals can have "morals" that do not agree!

Now, getting to sexuality.
What is sexuality? Frankly, it is overwhelmingly a behavior which elicits pleasure - and even then overwhelmingly in the form of masturbation.
When it comes to genders.. what is worse?

1. two males stimulating each other - essentially as a form of masturbation - to achieve a sense of pleasure and satisfaction?
   OR
2. a male and female stimulating each other - with the risk of producing an unplanned, unwanted offspring - 24% of which are intentionally aborted in the USA, and quite a few more lost in miscarriages - and quite a few more who are born and neglected, unloved, and unsupported?

I'm with you there! Too many unwanted pregnancies! But I think you'll have a rough time convincing straight men they should be fucking each other solely for the purpose of avoiding unwanted pregnancies!

Mind you: I'm all-in on trying to convince them!

But let's get something straight here (no pun intended): the desire to have sex (more specifically, to orgasm) is PRIMAL - which is why, when there is no one to have sex with, we do it ourselves! The urge to "get off" is a basic biological one - tied DIRECTLY to the biological drive to procreate!

Still, what "turns you on" is entirely mental - but not on a conscious level (at least, not that we've been able to discern yet!) In general (and I teach my kids this) your body will tell you what you're attracted to: your dick gets hard, your pussy gets moist! You - as an adult human - have to figure out what to do from there!

• If you're attracted to boys, find boys who are attracted to you!
• If you're attracted to girls, find girls who are attracted to you!
• If you're attracted to both, apply BOTH rules above!

But keep in mind: your being attracted to someone is only 1/2 the equation! You only have a right (these are morals here!) to ACT on those attractions when the attraction is mutual - and even then, as humans, we also have the right to act counter to our attractions - so there must also be consent!

Also consider that in biblical times, birth control was virtually unavailable other than to take poison risking the death of the woman.
If someone asked JC "I have decided I am going to seek sexual stimulation instead of living my entire life as a virgin. What should I do, have sex with a man which will not result in a child OR have sex with a woman - doing everything possible to avoid a pregnancy - and hoping it does not happen - and if it does, killing or neglecting the baby?

You are trying to impose the morals of THIS society onto a historical figure 2000 years in the past. This isn't then, and then isn't now.

In the times of JC, the bible told you that you must "be fruitful and multiply" - there was no such thing as an "unwanted" child! Children were the PURPOSE!

Biologically speaking, that is exactly right! As with all other animal and plant life - our primary purpose is to procreate the species!

That said, as we've already pointed out - societally, we've come a long way baby! With nearly 8-Billion people on the planet, we can focus on things OTHER than making more people! And that brings into play the whole morality issue again: some religions (societies) continue to believe that it is the moral obligation of every woman to find a husband and to have (and raise) children. Other religions (societies) have other, differing views: that women can have other roles to play, and that we don't really need that many MORE people! (And there are an INFINITE number of other "moral" viewpoints out there - and that's the crux of the matter again: your "morals" may not be the same as my "morals" - they are not universal!

I realize that at certain times with young people in their 20's and 30's, they actually want to have children, and that is wonderful. However, realistically, that motivation for having sex is EXTREMELY RARE.

I suspect you just don't see them... check out your local listings for fertility clinics and OB-GYNs! There are LOTS of people TRYING (in some cases, DESPERATELY TRYING) to have children!

Even then, when this rare motivation for sex IS practiced, that makes women virtual breeding receptacles who spend their entire lives popping out more children and nursing them like cows - without having any other purpose in life other than propagation. Somehow, I don't think women would like to live their lives that way.

Biologically speaking, that is the female role: provide the vessel into which new lives grow, and feed the infants until they can subsist on other foods.

SOCIETALLY, (which, we you've pointed out - that means morally) we have agreed that we're above all that now... but you can't ignore biology either!

Interesting points!

@raphjd said in Pfizer Confirms COVID-Vaccinated People Can ‘Shed’ Spike Proteins And Harm The Unvaccinated:

https://www.nationaltimesaustralia.com/health/pfizer-confirms-covid-vaccinated-people-can-shed-spike-proteins-and-harm-the-unvaccinated/

What a piece of shit "reporting"... this is a right-wing Australian publication who is twisting a report of "all claims" as somehow a "confirmation" from Pfizer...

Once again, just a little "critical thinking" debunks some of these baseless claims:

• Your body is bombarded with billions of random "spike proteins" (and with certainty: deadly bacteria & active viruses themselves!) every minute of every day. But you have a natural protection barrier: your skin (though I suspect your's is so thin as to offer little, if any protection IRL!).
• For the COVID-19 spike proteins to cause a reaction in your body, they have to be INSIDE the body - where they themselves are completely harmless!
• The way the vaccine works is that these spike proteins trigger an immune response - that's the inflammation people report.
• You could literally drink a QUART of the vaccines and it wouldn't harm you... your digestive system is well accustomed to killing off bacteria and viruses, and digesting proteins - which is why this isn't an ORAL vaccine!
• The vaccine doesn't "course through your body" - it pretty much stays put in your arm muscle (where its been injected), which is why the inflammation and soreness typically linger there - at ther injection site.
• IF the vaccine NEEDED to "course through your body" to work, it would be injected into your blood stream, not a muscle - the way most antibiotics and drugs (not vaccines) are administered in hospitals. (IV drug users know the difference!).

Vaccines are not DRUGS - they are "cheat sheets" for your immune system. YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM HAS TO DO THE WORK - which is why the vaccines don't work well (in some cases, at all) for immuno-compromised people.

Really people: take - just a little - time to learn HOW these things work, and the fucking magic disappears - and with it, the booga booga attempts to scare you!

LOL - I am that hot (?) Daddy!

Personally, I like the smooth, lithe types who love to FLIP, but especially the ones who don't go soft instantly after orgasm! (Cumming twice is a super bonus!)

Anyway: Aiden Garcia is a regular favorite (who gives as well as he takes), and his current b/f, fellow Helix porn star Seth Peterson is pretty damned hot, too!

They can come hang out at my Florida pool anytime!!

@raphjd said in Teen shreds school board over mask mandates:

@bi4smooth

You can't read.

I was saying that the school board trusts the science when it goes their way and doesn't trust the science when it goes against them.

And I agreed with that - completely.

"No Shirt,....." rules are by business choice or by health code for food safety.

"No Shirt...." rules are for public health... the same as mask rules during a pandemic where the pathogen is aerosol spread