MikeL

We are occasionally informed that another professional athlete has come out as gay...but a country music singer? Is this a first? Singer Herndon reveals he’s gay Ty Herndon had three No. 1 hits in the 1990s. Ty Herndon, who topped the country charts in the mid-’90s with “What Mattered Most” and “Living in a Moment,” has come out as gay. “I’m an out, proud and happy gay man,” the singer, 51, told People during an interview Tuesday. Herndon says he began coming out to family members when he was 20, but he tried to keep it a secret during his music career. “My mother probably knew I was gay before I did. I remember sitting down with her and having the conversation,” Herndon tells People, adding that his family “has seen me struggle with being gay my whole career.” In 1995 Herndon was charged with possession of methamphetamine and exposing himself to a male police officer in a Dallas park shortly before he was to perform at a state police chiefs’ convention there. He entered a “plea in bar” of no contest to the indecent exposure charge, allowing it to be erased from his record upon completion of probation. He topped the country charts two more times after the arrest, in 1996 with “Living in a Moment” and in 1998 with “It Must Be Love.” His last single to reach the country top 40 was “Heather’s Wall” in 2002, and his last album was 2013’s “Lies I Told Myself.” — Brian Mansfield, USA Today

Happy Birthday, Mikie!

Hey, WW! Welcome to the land of the living.

Sounds like Igloo's marketing department is much better than their customer service department.

I do believe Doc has the formula pretty well nailed down.

I agree that no novel is "gay" in its own right. I have, however, read some novels that were pretty lame.

Welcome, Richard! It's always encouraging to have someone older than I as a newbie.

Happy 24th Birthday, Lacey! (♫ ♪ ♫ ♪ Arpeggio ♫ ♪ ♫ ♪)

This is our third year in our new home. We have never yet had one trick or treater. If any show up, we will give them a pencil and send them on their way. Don't go to Lacey's.

Happy Birthday, Bee!

Welcome to GA, Trees.

It was sad to hear this news about Jack recently. He was a great author and I have read all his stories (http://www.gayauthors.org/forums/user/2978-jack-scribe/?tab=stories). His latest story, Baked Beans, was published in August 2011 and he was last on-line at GA in February of this year. A few years ago, while he was writing That's the Chicago Way, we had an exchange of e-mails discussing the old days in Memphis and, more importantly, the reasons why his stories were not getting many comments from readers. He indicated that he was not discouraged and would continue his writing. There was no indication of any health problems. I miss his stories.

Excellent work, Jonathan! And a lot of it for my favorite sports network, NESN. I'm a longtime Red Sox fan...great team...most years.

Hi, Lake! Welcome.

Actually, the discussion is about the app being used to spy on you, possibly steal your identity. The only thing the flashlight has to do with it is its an attractive free app that sucks in the unwary.

If you read the article, you will find: The flashlight app pre-installed on the Apple iPhone appears to be safe. However in both the iTunes store and on the Windows Phone app store, 3rd party flashlight apps access various hardware ports. The ports they access while they are running includes Webcam, Location Services, using your GPS and other coarse location based internet. In addition, they use your internet connection. The good news is that on these two operating systems apps like this cannot hide in the background. The bad news is when you run downloaded Flashlight Apps on these two platforms, they are still building up a profile on users including your location, and are able to send and receive information over the internet – totally unnecessary for a flashlight.

Actually reading the report may alleviate your skepticism.

His flashlight app is free as is other software.

The information you are looking for is available free of charge at http://www.snoopwall.com/threat-reports-10-01-2014/ This page lists the Top 10 Android Flashlight Apps and the questionable permissions they require. If it's too much trouble to click the link, you can do without. Just kidding. Here it is:

Me too. I really love my 3G phone and my talk only contract. I don't even text.

If you have one of the flashlight apps on your smart phone, you really should watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Q8xz8xKEFvU

Q. What exactly is a fart? Is it, as some surmise, a burp gone wrong? Is it a relative of the hiccup? The sneeze? And is it not healthier to vent oneself than to squelch? A. Your question comes at an opportune moment — I've just been reading up on the subject in the Harvard Medical School Health Letter. Harvard is a veritable gold mine when it comes to flatulence. Intestinal gas, we learn, is made up mostly of five gases: nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, hydrogen, and methane. The first two you get from swallowing air during eating, while the last three are generated in the large intestine. From this we deduce that burps and belches, which emanate from the stomach, consist mostly of air. Hiccups and sneezes, of course, are wholly unrelated. Hydrogen and carbon dioxide are produced by bacteria nibbling on undigested food in the colon. Beans, for instance, contain complex sugars that can't be broken down by the body's digestive juices. Upon arriving in the colon, these sugars are set upon by the resident microbes, and the resultant fermentation produces the cheerful calliope effect celebrated in such masterpieces as Blazing Saddles. Methane, another digestive byproduct, is responsible for the blue flame that has absorbed the attentions of college freshmen for generations. It's recommended, incidentally, that persons contemplating experiments in this line wear fireproof undies when doing so. Unca Cecil speaks from experience. A friend of mine, who has reason to worry, has inquired whether there are any cases on record of persons exploding as a result of smoking in bed after a bean barbecue. To date I haven't been able to find any. However, internal detonations have resulted from careless use of an electrocautery device inside the bowel. The eating of beans before surgery, therefore, is definitely contraindicated. The characteristic fragrance of the fart is produced not by any of the aforementioned gases but by "minute amounts of volatile chemicals formed by bacterial metabolism of residual protein and fat," we read. Persons whose flatulence is especially notable in this regard may be suffering from dietary maladjustment — for example, people with lactase deficiency who drink a lot of milk. Other foods said to produce farts of unusual pungency include broccoli, onions, cauliflower, cabbage, radishes, and raw apples. Not to give anyone ideas, but those seem like the perfect salad ingredients for an eventful sorority lunch.

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Happy Birthday, Elijah!

Hi, Duncan from Australia. Welcome to GA.