Graeme

I know I'm hijacking the thread, but, hey, it was my thread in the first place and I got the answer I was looking for Do you (or anyone else) know of what racing (cars or bikes) will be done in Florida in April this year? We'll be there and we'll have a car for about a week so we can travel to see something. My eldest boy wants to see bikes. My youngest boy hasn't said so, but I'm sure he'd like to see cars. We'll be staying in the Orlando area, but I don't mind driving if it's to something interesting.

WOO HOO! That's fantastic news. I'm sure you'll be a great auntie: "Auntie Krista! Auntie Krista! Will you read me another story?"

New H.I.V. Cases Drop, but Rise in Young Gay Men This is an article from the New York Times. It may require registration -- hopefully not. Registration at the NY Times is painless and I've never had any spam from them.

My little boy is already powersliding through corners in NFS. He also likes to reverse at 69MPH (the apparent maximum reverse speed the computer can generate). He also likes doing 360s, which he says some people call donuts.... Hmm... Can I ask why you've been chatting with my son over the internet? The clues are adding up that way

I agree with the strategy, because socially, a civil union is marriage. However, legally, it's not. Legally, it is only treated as marriage for state purposes. For federal situations, they are not considered married. Once people see that the sky hasn't fallen in, that it's not making difference to "traditional" marriages, attitudes will change. Not everyone's -- some will never change their minds -- but enough (hopefully). We're talking about a long timeframe, though. I would say it would take at least a decade or two before civil unions are accepted enough that when people ask 'why not make it marriage' that there won't be enough of an outcry to stop it from happening. Politically, it's currently a dynamite issue and I don't see that changing for many years. It will change -- I'm confident of that -- but not quickly.

They didn't say, but given that Eric started his rappel early, I suspect Chase was stuck, hanging from the cliff (cliffhanging?) while everyone worried about Eric's fall. Zeke and Steve probably talked him back down before the ambulance arrived.

Ummm... what sport is this? I'm guessing gridiron (American rules football).... If so, I'll give a cheer for Hawaii -- you're a bit close than Georgia

Happy Birthday!

Robbie.... when you get one of those, I know a little boy that would like a ride. As you correctly guessed, he's been playing NFS Underground 2. He slowly working his way through it, but he loves crashing into other vehicles. I'm assuming you're not the same... because if you are, I'm not sure I want my little boy riding with you.

Happy New Year!

You're right, Carl. This is a community, but only as long as people participate and interact. The anthologies are one way to do that. I know I don't read enough of the stories here, but I make an effort for the anthologies. That was even before I started doing the reviews. Feedback is always good to receive -- and while everyone likes positive feedback, it's the negative that helps us improve. It's just so damned hard to give negative feedback in a way that doesn't risk offending a new author. Once you know them, you know how they'll react, but when it's someone new, it's tough. Having said all of that, I enjoyed this anthology. The mix of stories was really interesting.

Thanks for the suggestion, Lugh. What I hadn't said is that after we told them what we were doing and why, the two boys put their heads together and then came back to us with a piece of paper showing some strange diagram. The older boy tried to explain it to me, but the only thing that I could understand is that they want to play against each other and therefore they both needed to get the same thing. It looks like it'll be Nintendo DS (or probably Nintendo DS Lite) for both boys.

Definitely, but keep a chain on him so he doesn't run off before he completes chapters 21, 22, 23, ..... Is it scary that you know how the goat thinks? I will admit that I didn't pick the situation with Steve and Wilde, but it's consistent with what was written earlier. Eric's read of people is just a lot better than mine.

I didn't know that I hope it does get completed and in a way that's faithful to the original author's vision and style. From what I read, it was only two or three books away from completion. My problem is that I can't think of an author who I would trust to complete the story appropriately....

Both of those are decent machines, but it's hard to make recommendations without having some idea of what you want to do with the laptop. I asked a similar question in the Members Q&A section, but I know what I want to do with it (travelling, including using it on a plane), and hence wanted lightweight as the primary requirement, and long battery life as the second. For many uses, those requirements aren't relevant. What are YOUR uses going to be?

There are numerous examples of other authors continuing the work of someone else. However, in the majority of situations, it's someone who is related to the original author and could be "deemed" to have inherited the rights to the story. I don't know if the situation was discussed prior, though -- I suspect it was. eg. Brian Herbert continuing Frank Herbert's "Dune" series. Also the recent new "Tolkein" story. This is why I said it can be ethical for the story to be continued by another author, if the original author gave permission. I appreciate Snowy's view and I can't disagree with him, but he's using a lot tighter definition of "ethical" and "continuing" than I am. I'm looking at it more as completing something that was left unfinished, as a sort-of tribute to the original author. My problem with the second question was the word "should", and that's why I answered "It depends". If someone asked me (as an example) to continue the work of a deceased author, I don't believe I "should". If I admired the deceased author's work, and their style was one that I was comfortable with AND if there were notes on how the original author had intended to the story to go, then I would seriously consider it. Unless all of those conditions were met, I would almost certainly politely decline. I think I would be obliged to try to match the style of the original author if I was continuing their work, though it's possible I could slowly morph it towards my own style (if the continuation went long enough -- eg. a series of books). I remember one series I read where the first books were written in third person, and the last one was written in first person. That last one really grated with me -- it felt wrong. That's an example of how a change of style isn't appropriate (though in that particular case it was the same author all the way through -- I still don't know what they were thinking of....). EDIT TO ADD: There is a distinct difference between MIA and deceased. In the later case we know that the author is not going to continue the story, and there are probably kin who will know the author's wishes on the matter. In the former we don't have either of these. I would never consider continuing a story for someone who is MIA -- it wouldn't be right.

Happy New Year!

Okay, I don't need to book a flight to the USA. That wheelchair is going to cause a lot of pain to a lot of people....

Yep! A very pleasant New Year's Day surprise Now I'm off to read it....

Need for Speed is available on Nintendo DS? *Quickly googles to confirm it* He got Need for Speed 2 Underground for Christmas -- we're having to limit his computer time to stop him from playing it all day, every day.... Thanks, Robbie!

Technically, he's not providing spoilers. He's merely pointing out potential clues (or red herrings) in the posted chapters. If this was a mystery story, that would be a spoiler (since it ruins the possibility of the reader working it out for themselves), but as this is more an action/adventure story (at least that part of it is), and because it's New Year's Eve here, I'm feeling generous and not declaring it to be a spoiler

I think The Bastard Queen of the Evilest Cliffhangers is trying to weasel his way out of his promise. Well, I'm here to inform him that weasels and goats are only very distantly related, and the Honourable Society of Weasels have forbidden him to weasel.....

I suspect the next chapter will be posted before the voting is concluded -- which is good. Keep the pressure on The Bastard Queen of the Evilest Ciffhangers -- also known as C James.....

And what's your definition of lurking, then? And don't ask CJ for his definition, because it doesn't match anyone else's definition.... That's true. I think you've posted over half your posts in the last 24 hours.... It would be interesting to find out. I'd like to see someone out-lurk CJ....