at9

@Shyheels has got it spot on in his last post. Unless you're an experimenter by nature you need a good reason to use something new. I'm sure some people have very good reasons for using cryptocurrencies but I don't yet. I experiment with various things, both new and old, but don't often bother unless either I'm fascinated or have a practical need.

I was on the Tube (Subway to you guys across the Pond)  the other day and saw a woman wearing exceptionally high heeled clogs. She was probably in her 30s, nicely dressed rather than flamboyant, except for the shoes. The general style was like these:

https://www.thefryecompany.com/emily-clog-d-70415

but with much higher heel, probably 6" with a 1.5" platform. Heel was a little narrower and tapered a little towards the tip. Colour was tan. She walked very nicely in them. I love my Dr Martens "Una" clogs which have a 4" heel (example:  http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dr-Martens-Una-Womens-Leather-High-Heel-Mule-Clog-Brown-/200957433958

but the ones I saw were dramatically higher. Any ideas as to what brand they might have been?

PS: Possibly more like this, but with closed toe: https://15minutegoddess.wordpress.com/2010/07/20/current-obsession-clogs/

All money, except perhaps for commodity money, is a kind of con trick. It works because we're all willing to believe it works. The consequences of that going wrong are horrible - look at the hyperinflation periods in Germany, Hungary, Zimbabwe for example. Commodity money is relatively stable because it's based on something of intrinsic rarity (gold is the usual example) though this can be undermined by the discovery of large new supplies of the commodity.

As has been mentioned earlier in the thread, most current money is what is called fiat money. Fiat, from the latin "let it be". In otherwords it's decreed to be of value by a trusted authority, usually a central government.

Cryptocurrencies, of which Bitcoin the most famous, seem to belong in a category of their own. Commodity up to a point because of the cost of "mining" which is analagous to mining gold. Certainly not fiat, as there's no central authority decreeing that it shall be legal tender.

This focus on types of money can easily overlook what money is for. A means of exchange - I make phones and Fred makes high heeled shoes. It's a lot more convenient for both of us to transact in $$$ or £££ etc than barter phones for shoes. A store of value - whether as notes and coins, in a bank account etc. A handy way to hang on to our wealth to use in the future.

I'm not a professional economist or historian of money. The more I look, the more complicated it seems to get. I'm not talking about credit cards, online payments etc. It's the underlying psychology of acceptance and what causes that to fail on occasion.

I won't be using Bitcoin just yet. Not because I'm scared of it, more because I don't have a real use for it. Yet. When there is a compelling reason to use it I will probably do so. My partner held out against having a credit card for some years. But she does a fair bit of business travel and ran into problems when booking into hotels overseas. In many cases you need a credit card as a guarantee when checking in. A debit card isn't always accepted. So she had to get a credit card. She's set up a direct debit to pay it off in full every month. By contrast I got a credit card in the 1970s not long after I was legally able to do so. I found it a convenient way to manage expenditure and cashflow. And always pay in full every month.

Finally a little story about the futility of economics. Two guys are shipwrecked on an island. They make each other fabulously rich by taking in each other's laundry:-)

A report published recently: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-40777046

You will note that this rather cute gerund is not wearing high heels:

About a year after the Nicola Thorp case: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-36264229

comes this report on the pros and cons of wearing HH: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-40779617

Some of the comments are amusing such as: "But my wife makes me wear them "

Some years ago (10 or more?)  there were a couple of high heel meet ups in London. I even met Tech at one of them.

I can only speak for the UK (the EU has similar provision) but not for the US or elsewhere. In the UK the company selling it would definitely be responsible for return post.

Very good guide to UK consumer rights: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/consumer-rights-refunds-exchange

A few months ago I was speaking to a young US based engineer. She was working on instrumentation for steam turbines. I asked about units and yes, they still work with degrees Fahrenheit, pounds of steam etc. Because that's how their customers expect to see the kit described. For science and engineering I just can't see any reason to use non SI units. In the UK we're largely metric apart from a few customary uses, such as pints of beer and miles per hour. Being a little older, I can work fluently in both imperial and metric units.

Steve, if you've got a problem with your metric hammer, just go down to the stores for a long weight. That'll fix it:-)

As for shoes I really don't care whether it's a 4" or 10cm heel. There's only 1.6mm or about a sixteenth of an inch between the 2. Well within ordinary error margins for the intended use.

This is actually a UK based forum with a lot of UK members.

Going back to the original post, while I can fit into some UK9 women's shoes it's not universally true. For those unfamiliar with UK sizing, men's and women's sizes are MEANT to be the same. I normally wear UK9 men's shoes so UK9 women's ought to be OK. But women's shoes often seem a bit smaller. Sometimes, like Aldo, a lot smaller. At the other extreme I have some UK9 women's boots from Next which are a bit big on me, easily solved with insoles.

All of which goes to show that sizes can be rather approximate.

Thanks. I'm sure I've heard the Phantasy Quintet but am not familiar with it. I'll have to look it up.

What was the work by RVW? His Tallis Fantasia is one of my all time favourite pieces and I love a lot of his other works.

This topic has been discussed on several occasions here at HHP. Shyheels correctly summarises the situation. I can remember a time when the rule of "no guys in the girls forum" didn't apply. Guys used to post often inappropriate comments in the girls forum; we have precious few female members at HHP and they deserve to be well treated. There was never a problem with girls posting in the guys forum so no rule was needed.

I suspect that there is little day to day moderation of HHP at present as Tech (the forum owner) has many other commitments and there are no other moderators at the moment.

Having been to a number of Bar Mitzvahs, including my own, I don't recall seeing any footwear of special note. Neither on men nor women.  Perhaps I mix in the wrong circles. 

http://www.dsquared2.com/gb/boot_cod11075673pj.html

Looks like very limited availability.

Short length of chain run under the sole and round the ankle. Plus a small padlock. Cheap, simple, effective.

Well done. It's unlikely that anyone will even notice that you're wearing those heels. Loads of women wear heels like that with jeans and you'd not notice them doing so unless you were really looking.

There's no need to push on to higher or more noticeable heels unless you really want to. There are some HHP members such as CAT and TBG who happily wear much more obvious heels out and about. Kudos to them, but you're not in competition with them or anyone else.

Best of all you have the support of your wife so you're not trying to hide anything from anyone.

This is the thread to which Spikesmike refers. Most of it is about Fabulously Fetish. If you read that thread I doubt you'll order anything from them.

You can see the video here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-4181446/Filipino-man-struts-six-inch-heels-viral-video.html

And probably in a thousand other places.

HeeledSteve, welcome to HHP. There are plenty of us from the UK. It's a UK based forum too.

I too wear modest heels out and about with male clothing. For example I went to the theatre this week wearing 3" block heel boots under trousers. I have no wish to go public in high stilettos or to present as female. I have every respect for those HHP members who push the enevelope much further than I would.

http://www.lyricsfreak.com/t/tom+lehrer/national+brotherhood+week_20138394.html

Notably: " I'm sure we all agree that we ought to love one another and I know there are people in the world that do not love their fellow human beings and I hate people like that. "

Assuming you paid by credit card and the transaction is within the EU (which is appears to be, even though the compnay itself is in China) the card company is jointly and severally liable, hence you can get a refund from them. Technically this is only valid for purchases over £100 but in practice the card companies will often pay up for smaller amounts. As will banks for debit cards:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/section75-protect-your-purchases

If you paid by Paypal their dispute procedure should cover you. If you paid by bank transfer or Western Union then tough. The alarm bells should have rung very loudly. They were ringing pretty loudly anyway, the place is obviously a fraud as I noted in an earlier post.

Absolutely the right thng to use on suede. Both footwear and clothing.

I have one a bit like this: http://www.afinepairofshoes.co.uk/products/saphir-wire-suede-brush

Readily available, Here's a UK example: http://www.shoepassion.co.uk/shoe-brushes/brass-brush-html.html

Plenty more if you google brass suede brush.

4 minutes ago, maninpumps said:

Why would America want to go back to British rule ?  Just sounds like sour grapes to me .

I think somebody has failed to spot the joke. We'll even include some tea in the deal

This reminds me of the Gog-Magog Mountain Rescue Society which a friend told me existed man years ago.

For those unaware of the joke, the Gog-Magog hills are a range of VERY low (under 300 feet) hills near Cambridge, England which is in a very flat part of the country. I suspect it was a Cambridge University drinking society.