Graeme

Cruel and vicious person... er... goat. I'm just about to get on a plane and won't be able to read this until tonight or tomorrow night at the earliest....

And here I was thinking it was a car backfiring.... Of course, CJ said it may have come from a gun, so there's still a chance that I'm right. That sort of thing happens. Tony and Tristan in my New Brother story weren't originally planned -- they just grew out of some ideas I had as the characters took certain actions with certain consequences....

That's why I said that either Eric has done a switch with ANOTHER datastick of the same type, or, as others have suggested, he grabbed the datastick, used it to copy off the contents, and then put it back.

You forgot -- the hidden program on the datastick has been activated.

Congratulations, Kevin As has been said before, quality is better than quantity, and your posts have always been quality. Thank you for adding so much to the community here.

The difference is that the patrons KNOW it is who they have been fantasizing about. In this case it is two guys in a public place with NO confirmation that they are the people they have seen on the internet. Oh, and given that these were minature cameras, I'm not expecting that they will be production quality images, either. The optics usually determine picture quality and minature cameras don't have great optics. As for something else that has been mentioned, Eric has stated he has friends who have been helping him. He may be bluffing, but I think in this case it is likely. Obtaining all the equipment required AFTER his dad has effectively frozen his account implies financial backing. As Chris's apartment was also bugged, and it is remote from the house, that implies some electrical/electronic skills, since he would have to either regularly change batteries, or somehow conceal the connection to the power supply for the camera and wireless router for the images to get to his computer for routing to the internet. The camera's in Steve's room could have been powered by the USB cable from the computer, but not the ones in Chris's apartment.

Hi, Kevin, I'm sure you won't be shocked to hear that others have thought about what you've said, too. The following link is an essay by Drake Hunter (author of Finding His Own, A Place To Live, The Last Word and A Royal Thief, as well as several excellent short stories, only a couple of which are still available, unfortunately). http://www.themailcrew.com/dhunt.html It's heavy going in parts, but it talks about words and language, and how they are interpreted. You might find it interesting As for me, personally. I grew up in an era when the usual insults in the schoolyard were "homo", "poof" and "poofter". They no longer mean a lot to me. "Faggot" is something I've only really read in stories. The only time I can think of that I've heard it was in a positive context: in Dire Strait's Money For Nothing. When I grew up, a fag was slang for a cigarette. "Bumming a fag" was asking for a cigarette from a friend or acquaintance. For me, the tone and intention is more important than the word itself. I've had someone (online) call me an Aussie poof -- I just smiled. If someone said that to me when trying to insult me, though, I would be offended. The sexuality of the person isn't relevant -- it's why they are using the word. I don't see queen applying to myself because there is a connotation that the target is effeminate. The same applies to some of the other words used.

Happy Birthday, Camy! I hope you have a great day and an even better year ahead.

Cues CJ to come in and tell everyone that Eric is just misunderstood....

I sincerely doubt that there is a microphone to the website because otherwise it would have been very clear that the boys names were NOT Shawn and Chase. Yeah, it would have only been while someone was watching that they would have heard their real names, but I don't think Eric would have taken that risk. Still, I agree that the boys and the cops had to be cautious and assume the worst.

A good chapter -- though I am amazed at how many guys would comment to a complete stranger that they thought they recognised them from a gay porn site. The risks if they got it wrong would be too high. I know none of them mentioned it was gay porn site, but still.... Two options on the data stick -- Eric used it at home, or he did the same thing Dex did and got a copy As for the ending, I'm happy to wait to find out what happened.

Somehow, Kevin, you never struck me as the sort who would show everyone your underwear....

I'm in the same situation as Altimexus and that is the ONLY reason I would consider taking it. Before I did so, I would ask my wife's opinion and I honestly don't know what she will say. She's stated that I'm a lot happier person and we have a better relationship now that I've accepted my sexuality, but was the stress beforehand due to my internal conflicts? If I was by myself, the answer would be a definite NO. I am who I am, and I don't want to change that. It is only because I'm married with two wonderful boys that I would even contemplate it... and I can't say for sure if I would take it or not.

Happy St. Patrick's Day Especially for the Irish cricket team at the World Cup -- Ireland Rules!

Considering what CJ could have done, this is minor.... Minor is a relative term, after all.

Happy Birthday, Philip! I hope you have a great day and an even better year ahead.

I thought everyone in chat was an invisible friend....

Ian's right about the danger you appear to be in -- take steps to protect yourself. You may not be able to drive, and you may not have the resources to get away yourself, but you can ring your grandmother. If you want to go back there, contact her and see what she can do -- she may be able to drive to get you, get someone to go get you, or send you the money so you can get out of there. If you are concerned about your safety, your belongings aren't important. You can replace them -- you can't replace your life. The other thing that struck me is that your boyfriend probably needs professional help. He sounds like he's suffering from a mental illness of some sort. Honestly, though, that is your SECOND priority at best -- your first priority has to be your safety.

I agree with the others -- Chris and Steve are on a website somewhere under the names of Chase and Shawn. That's why everyone who says something immediately clam up when the boys deny it. It isn't necessarily a porn site, but that's the most likely possibility. The reason I'm hesitant to say it's a porn site is that there have been too many people come up and say hello -- I would think that most people would be too worried to do that. Some would, but given the number who HAVE, I would find it exceptional if there were that many people who viewed them on a porn site AND were confident enough to approach them. Look at the ones in this chapter -- "Good choice, Shawn" -- that's not what someone would easily say to someone they MIGHT think is a porn star. The other possibility is a TV or other media campaign that is using their image. That's probably more likely, especially given the last one in the chapter, "Chase and Shawn in the flesh!" UPDATED: Eric had access to their personal details for some time. He would have been able to sell/license their images and done it in a way that would make it appear legitimate to a media outlet. Exactly how their images are being used (since they've never posed for photos) remains to be seen.... ANOTHER UPDATE: I just an idea -- Eric is clever enough to have gotten to the data stick and copied the contents. From what we know, he may not believe that he has to have the original data stick -- just the contents. Given that it's encrypted, he and whoever he is working with may believe it is safe for Chris, Steve and Mr. Williams to have a copy of the encrypted data -- they just want THEIR copy.

If you can't laugh at yourself, then I'm sorry for you. I looked at the above exchange and a lot depends on the way things were said -- body language and intonation. I could easily read it as teasing, which I don't think is wrong. It's like teasing someone who is a womaniser -- it is not meant to be a condemnation, but is playing with a single attribute of a person in a way that is supposed to be fun, not offensive. However, if the way it was said was sarcastic, then that moves the exchange into insulting, which is wrong. It is TOO easy to get offended on behalf of other people. It is also true that almost every joke can offend someone, but that doesn't mean we should stop telling jokes. Just my opinion....

We have a towel rack that we have placed over the central-heating vent. During summer they dry naturally. During winter, the vent dies them out (and makes them nice and warm when it's time to use them). Because we own the place, we attached the towel rack to the wall, but you can buy free-standing racks if you're not permitted to make alterations to the apartment. I have nothing to do with it but we normally change the towels about once a week.

If you were Australian, I would suggest with the landing at Gallipoli during WWI or the seige of Tobruk during WWII. Both of which were pivotal events in Australian military history. The first link in particular has lots of research references for you to chase up on. The second was also a pivotal event during WWII.

I have to disagree. Sexual orientation IS a major part of a person whether they are gay, straight, bi etc. It is not however, a definitive explanation for someone's personality or existance as a whole but the fact still remains that alot of what we do as people, as sexual beings, in life, is driven by our sexual orientation. My turn to partially disagree. The degree that sexual orientation matters to a person varies from person to person. This is because the sex drive itself varies -- and varies over time. It is certainly a bigger thing when a person is a teenager and in their twenties. For some people that never goes away. I know of one guy who couldn't keep it in his pants and left his wife just before the birth of their third child because he'd found a younger woman to be with. Clearly, for that guy his sexuality was more important to him than his family. How often does my sexual orientation mean anything to me? Honestly not that much. Most of the time I'm at work I'm not thinking of it at all (okay -- all the younger girls and guys can laugh, but there aren't many hot guys where I work so it's not something that is constantly drawn to my attention). Equally, when I'm with my boys it doesn't matter at all -- I'm a father first, being gay comes a long way behind that fact. The main time it matter is when I'm writing, or thinking about a story. Just my observations....

In Australia there is no explicit law against cruising around. However, because of problems in certain neighbourhoods from excessive or inappropriate cruising (such as kerb-crawling while checking out the local ladies-of-the-night), the police and local councils can act to try to discourage it. If you did the same thing in other neighbourhoods, you wouldn't have a problem.

Happy Birthday!