Merlin

But back to the real discussion, how sad was that for Jordyn Wieber?? That rule is horribly stupid. It's part of this ridiculous movement to "give everyone a chance". This is the Olympics, it's about celebrating exceptional people.

I just signed in to share with you all how excited I was when I heard "Veuillez-vous lever pour sa Majesté la Reine". Also, "There isn't a single male U.S. athlete that's out. Kind of crazy." What? Why are you assuming some of them are gay, and that those same have any obligation other than winning medals?

No we use that to flush our toilets. The showers run Blingh2o.

Well you know, it's the little things. I get sentimental And right now it's off to the last time I'll ever do laundry here

There's a lot of shame in working at Subway. But thanks! I'm graduating this weekend, and right now it's just a lot of thinking about "this is the last time I'll ever shower in college" or "this is the last time I'll ever get my mail here"

They're gonna be in Louisville in June. I'm very geographically challenged so I have no idea how far that is to Georgia

Dunno if any of you guys have ever seen Billy Elliot (2000). I just saw the musical in London and the movie again...and it was so moving and so sad... Especially this scene (you have to follow the link to Youtube): Someone should write a story about them

Oh God please not this... I will refrain from saying what's on my mind lest I get banned.

Soooooooooo emo.

HOLY JESUS SO MANY NEW STORIES

Absolutely. These parents (and that ridiculous couple in Canada who named their kid "Storm") should not be allowed near children and give ammunition to people opposed to gay parenting in general.

I remember reading his stuff when I still had dialup more than 8 years ago...

Gone From Daylight could probably make an Showtime series.

I'm fine any of those days.

1.) People who take pictures of their food when eating with me. 2.) White socks + Black pants/shoes 3.) wHeN pPL tYpe lYk dYs 4.) Vegans.

In today's world, it matters very much who you love. There's still a great deal of emotion involving inter-generation, inter-class, and inter-race love. This is not something that can or, I would argue, should change overnight. I would like to bring in a very old perspective on this (on homosexuality in general) proposed by Patrick Devlin, a follower of Edmund Burke, who was a very famous conservative English member of parliament in the 1700s. I believe that today, Devlin would have argued against this law (which was discriminitory to homosexuals), because society has clearly changed. We are moving toward a world where more kinds of love are thought of as OK. This is inherently a slow process, but by all accounts it is moving in (what we would say is) the right direction. So this small episode shouldn't be thought of as the harbinger of a new era of discrimination, but it (and the response to it) shows that Romance Writers Ink's point of view is becoming challenged, when just 50 years ago, it would have been the norm. Stay positive.

In the finance world, we aspire to be hedge fund managers, masters of the universe of the the highest order. In medicine, (I suppose) we aspire to run hospitals and become like the woman Dr. House likes. In law...we aspire to be megafirm partners. Though money is pretty much capped and you don't get to be a master of the universe, you can still make it as a major-domo of a moderately-sized galaxy. These are their stories. (all anecdotes taken from abovethelaw.com) Disclaimer: I still haven't gone to law school yet, so I can only dream from far far away. Don't ask me for career advice. *************************************** For starters, aspiring young lawyers, please work hard and get those firm jobs, stay the 100-hour weeks, so you can make partner and send emails like this: From: (Chicago Partner) To: All Firm Lawyers Subject: Financial Advisor In St. Louis Message: I am looking for a financial advisor in St. Louis to provide advice to a friend who is about to receive what, to her, is a huge amount of money (some $500g). Any recommendations would be appreciated. Let's ponder this for a moment and visualize the golden fantasy of having so much money that $500,000 is something you can throw away at a casino or at a homeless person. ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Or how about this. Susan Webster, the head of Corporate Practice at the ancient and most noble house of Cravath, Swaine and Moore (one of Wall Street's top law firms), gives her associates huge cuts in spring bonuses but does the following. While attending a meeting, Webster introduces herself to another Big law partner. The other partner says, “Oh thanks for the bonus, it really was great.” Susan smiles and says, “Yeah I know.” She then complains about associates who want spring bonuses. ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Finally, remember it doesn't have to be all work and no play. A megafirm partner was seen at the "classy" Larry Flynt's Hustlers Club recently. This partner is in charge of his firm's summer associate program, is said to bill over 3,500 hours a year. Apparently, he told the club manager to "take care of my friends"--associates from his firm who spotted him sitting with other regulars of the club. So it's not all bad up there in the clouds. Put in your hours, stay those Saturday nights. Hell, sleep in the office. Apparently, when you make it, you make it. All of them have boats bigger than your house (probably).

Evil is a very strong word. Google is a company existing in a (thankfully) thriving capitalism. It's good when it returns profit to shareholders, it's evil when it does not. It's really as simple as that.

I love watching virtual fights. But back on topic, I dunno if I was much of a geek myself, but I think it can be really cute.

I was the author of this review. I apologize in advance for the controversy I seem to have caused. I did not ask for, nor was I told that my name would be withheld. Lugh only told me tonight that he posted the review anonymously. To clear up some of the confusion and conspiracy theories. I had already been halfway through reading this story when Lugh suggested that I review something (anything) for the newsblog. Since I was already reading the story, I volunteered to review Desert Dropping. Because of the timing of the situation, it was not possible for me to have been influenced or coerced into writing negatively about any certain author because management wanted him slandered. About the review itself. The opinions, of course, are my own. I agree with many of the comments (and indicated in my review) that the fact that you cared so much about the characters as to want to hurt them through the screen was a sign of strength and maturity in a writer. However, my other thoughts on the story stand, and certainly you are entitled to disagree. I apologize if the writing seemed harsh or criticisms undeserved, as this was never my intention. I wrote in the style of a critic, and surely an author as great as DomLuka could withstand being read with a critical eye. No one, least of all me, wishes to challenge this writer's status and place in this community. I never said, not did I mean to imply that I could have written the story better. I wished only to present my own view on the story, as was requested of me by the newsblog team.

On one hand I would've probably been bullied in school. On the other hand, this might have toughened me up. I've always been of the mind that children "need a mother" to some extent, so this is a tough one. My mom is really one of my favorite people in the world, and I don't think I would give her up for anything.

Well personally I think there's no such thing as moral or immoral. "Billy" needs to do whatever will yield himself the best result. But if you wanted to be philosophical about it, there are two broad ways of thinking about this, from the utilitarian and deontological perspectives. From the utilitarian perspective (which stresses consequences and tries to maximize happiness), Billy telling his parents would result in lowering his own happiness (he's thrown out) and his parents (they hate his son). So he shouldn't do it. From the deontological perspective (which stresses rules and intentions), it's a little more complicated. One way of thinking about this is using the "universalization rule", which states that we should only do things that are universalizable. So...stealing wouldn't be universalizable because if everyone stole, society would fall apart, etc. From this way of thinking, Billy should only lie if everyone in his situation can lie and it would be ok. I think this test is passed. If every closeted teenager with homophobic parents chooses to not come out, the world wouldn't fall apart. It gets more interesting if you generalize it. What if everyone who had something to lose from telling the truth withheld that truth? Is that universalizable? I would say it is (I think people already do that), but you may think differently. Some deontologists are against any kind of lying, even in the case of the classic thought experiment, where a little girl hides in your house and her would-be murderer comes to your door with a knife and asks you where she is. Obviously it gets more complicated than this, but this is the simple version at 2 AM.

Never ever ever. Isn't it transmittable even by kissing? (A LOT of kissing and/or if you have a cut in your mouth)

This can happen. Must hit Filomenas though or no deal.

Oh my god you two need to get several adjoining rooms so people don't hear your loud sex.