jfalkon

Fascinating topic! I find that I usualy decide if I like someone long before I get close enough to smell the person. That part is mostly visual for me. On the other hand smell can tell you many things about a person if you pay attention. For example a person with a fever usualy smells a little different. Respitory infections have a smell. Various other physical conditions may be charecterised by a smell. One's smell can give away one's age as well. One's diet can affect one's smell. It also seems to depend on hereditery/genetic factors. For example, I have noticed that many blond guys have a particular quality to their scent. I think a person's scent can give you simmilar information to what you can get from looking at that person. For example, bad hygene both looks and smells bad. Poor health can adversly affect both scent and apearance. The list goes on. So I guess what I'm trying to say is go ahead sniff people. It's interesting.

Besides the cultural reasons I think some of this may come down to economics. If an industry is dominated by one gender there could be a great advantage to having same sex couples. Both parties could work in the same place. Back then comuting was not what it is today. The option may not have existed for men because there probably was no industry like the silk industry where men were isolated from women. The millitary comes to mind but it is probably too difficult to keep up a mariage in the middle of a war. There have been cultures which allowed same sex maraiges for men but not for women. One of these was a Native American tribe that lived in what is now the San Francisco Bay area. (Something in the water? ) In their case two women would not have been as able to support each other because of the division of labor. I think the reason why one of the partners was assigned the role of husband while the other was asigned the wife role was just to fit into the social structure set up by straight people. By this I mean the little things like who's last name the new family will fall under.

CJ, you are AWESOME!!! I am happy to see a sequel to any of your stories. Personaly I would be happy to see one story at a time. I'm easily confused. Just write at your own pace. It's worked well for you so far.

I think I was listening to Nine inch Nails the last time I was reading a story. Music seems to keep busy the part of my mind that would wander to other things. Hearing music I like keeps me focussed on what I am doing. I never thought of it as multitasking. As for the thoery, if it took a rigorus scientific study to find these differences they are probably boardering on the statisticaly insignificant. The other fact to note is that whenever a study comes out claiming a discover it is often followed by one that casts doubt on that discovery. The debate will continue for years and in the end the bias will likely be so small that no one will be able to blame their abilities/disabilities on it. I wouldn't loose sleep over it. Granted its still irritating as all hell to hear this stuff on the news.

Happy Birthday! Have a good one.

Happy Birthday!

This chapter was certainly written to set up future action but still interesting. I like the part where the kids find the body in the trash. Good work goat! Now let's bring on the blood and guts!!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Mom's Day!

Interesting topic. I'm almost a complete omnivore. I'll eat almost anything -meat, vegetables, grains, eggs, milk, blood, guts, whatever- as long it is not too greasy or drenched in sweeteners. The only exception to the rule is chocolate. I ate too much of it as a little kid and now I can't stand it. I have to agree that vegetarianism is trendy these days. It seems like a way to rebel against your parents without suporting your younger sibling when s/he says,"Vegies are gross! I don't like pees!" Of course there are many people who are doing it for serious reasons but there are a fair number of posers. The moral side of it is interesting to me because I find that I don't nescesarily like animals any better than plants. I see no reason to kill one and let the other live. The thing that sickens me is the general waste of food. If people were really so conscious of the fact that they are eating something that was killed, I don't think they would be throwing leftovers away so often. Many people probably have not given it any thought. Others may think that vegitation is not worthy of their consideration. I guess that's a matter of opinion. The health aspect is tricky. While it seem possible to get all one's nutrition from plants becoming a vegitarian dose not guarantee good health or weight loss. It probably takes some number crunching to figure things out. There may also be some differences in individuals' nutritional needs. That may acount for certain natural inclinations. I once heard that people with o type blood need more meat. I'm not sure if it is true though and I can't remember where I heard it.

I don't mind PDA. It can be pleasant if the couple is atractive but as with all things its good only in moderation. If it starts to feel like I'm living inside a chick flick I look away.

I'm really late to this discussion! The cliffhanger has really reached new hights! Now where did we leave all that tar and feathers? Seriously though, great chapter. It does look like an imposible scenario. The only way out I can think of is if a large part of the plane came off. For example there was once an incident where the roof came of an airliner (Aloha airlines I think). Despite the gaping hole there was only one casualty. In our case the front of the plane is already damaged so it is possible that a large peice of the body may fall off. In that case what do the misiles follow, the piece that came off or the rest of the plane? They are not designed to follow anything that falls apart. A piece of falling debis could possibly be mistaken for an evasive manuver. If that happens the part of the plane still holding together could escape. If at that point it was too close to Las Vegas to justify the use of more misiles they could have a slim chance at an awkward landing. From what little I know of aviation I don't think it is inpossible for an untrained person to land a plane. The main problems are knowing what speed to do it at and keeping the nose of the plane up. The title of the next chapter doesn't tell us anything. With corpses piling up everywhere there is death on the plane, on the ground, and anywhere else you can think to look. Bad Goat!

I was watching a show called 20/20 tonight. For those not familar with it, it is a weekly show driven by recent events in the news. You can have a look at http://abcnews.go.com/2020 Tonight they tested people's reactions to different situations. They looked at how people would react to gay couples kissing, lost children, and bad singing. I think it gives a good perspective on how Americans react to gay couples. Some people were happy to see a loving couple. Others were clearly disgusted.

That was some chapter! I liked the long description. To me it had the same effect as slow motion in a movie. It gives you a moment to cringe before the disaster while at the same time giving you more details. I think it works better in writing than in movies though because we could hear sound as well. Some long description bore me but this one did not. I think part of the reason is that I find the subject interesting. The other reason is that it helped build tention as well as insight to the characters. I also loved the use of "let the music play". Nucleomituphobia: fear of nuclear weapons. Nucleomituphilia: love of nuclear weapons??? Nucleomitumania? (like piromania) I think I would call CJ either a nucleomituphiliac or a nucleomitumaniac.

Another great chapter! What would we do without our favorite goat? Now we get 50% more! I'm wondering about the goose. Is it realy a goose or is goose some kind of euphamism? I guese he could be planning his dinner but why would we need to know about that? I like the term tri-sexual its almost like omnisexual.

I don't like body hair at all. It's not revolting or upseting to me. I just don't find it atractive. I have never liked hairy men. In fact I am happy with a guy's hair being limited to his scalp. I have never liked a man with a mustache or a beard. When it comes to the guys I like, the smoother the better. I don't really care how much hair is on my body. It's like looking at a relatives body. Since I would not be atracted to that body anyway I don't care about its hair. I don't shave or wax anything because it's too much of a bother.

Great chapter! I loved the part about the pancakes. Jerry loosing what little sanity he had is great. I'm surprised no one has gone looking for the old road boss. He must have some friends or relatives who are wondering why he is not returning phone calls and emails. When it comes to the drunk kiss all I can say is I loved it!

Another great chapter! I can't help wondering if the roast goat isn't some kind of wierd forshadowing. Do the beta readers know something we don't? Maybe there is an evil clifhanger on the way. The way the story is going It looks like Joe will have to make up with his old band-mates. That should be interesting. The bomb may have a shelf life of 10 years but there is no way a dead bush will go unnotuced that long. Someone would eventualy do some inocent gardening and meet a very bad end.

Happy Birthday! (Whichever day it is)

I can only speak for myself here because I don't know many transgendered people and can not guess what they might think. In the case of the pregnant man, I think he is still far from being completely male. I would not consider him a normal woman either although for the purpose of having a child he is. I think the best lable I could give him/her is 'a work in progress'. People who undergo gender reasignment have to follow a certain procedure. I believe they first have the hormone treatment. Then, for the FtoM case, they have the breast surgury. The last step is to fix the genitals which has now become more difficult because the hormone shift has altered the flexability and thickness of the female parts. If I were making the rules I would start with the removal of all the female parts and then work on creating male features. Biologicaly it makes more sense, but the doctors do not want to be sued if someone changes her mind. I think that is why they leave the lower body until the end. This is all based on what I have heard and read. I have not done any of this myself (It's expensive) so my description may not be perfectly acurate. In terms of how someone may feel about their body I'm sure it varies. I think most people feel like they are pretending to be someone else before they have any medical treatment. After the changes have been made I think most people try to live a normal life not dweling on the past. There is some fear of exposure in most cases because it is hard to tell how people may react if they suddenly find out about your past.

Since I'm the one here with gender identity isues, I can see both sides. In a way the headline is misleading. Like most headlines it tries to sound like a bigger story than it is. When I first heard the news it did sound like some kind of medical miracle. Being the sceptic that I am I was imediately wondering what the catch was. Even so it was a little disapointing to learn that the "man" was in a rather awkward state between mom and dad. If I were the pregnant guy I think I would be a little hurt if someone called me a woman after all the hormone treatments, plastic surgery, etc. It's weird living in a body that does not seem like it is really yours. Looking in the mirror is strange. Interacting with others is even stranger. It seems like you always have something to hide...until you are pregnant and the whole world is talking.

I believe DST was Ben Franklin's idea. I think it is the only truly stupid one he had, that I know of anyway. In terms of saving energy it is not effective at all. The savings is less than a percent. The reason is obvious. Even when the sun is shining every business and goverment office keeps its lights on. It does not matter if it is so bright that people keep their sun glasses on in doors. The lights must stay on. I am not surprised that having people make their afternoon trips in full day light reduces acidents but what about the morning commute? It is darker and people are more tired. That can not be conducive to good driving. I think that it is all a big pain. I only hope that they keep pushing the "spring forward" day back until it meets the "fall back" day and the two cancel each other.

I think the reason they used fruit flies is that their DNA looks very similar to ours. They were probably looking to find a genetic signiture for homosexuality and then went of on a tangent. If genetics was involved I can see why it got funding. Anything, no matter how trivial, that is discovered about DNA is considered useful because it is a piece of the larger puzzel. If we did find some medicine that would change a person's sexual orientation I don't think it would be a disaster. If anything it would be used by the curious who want to see how the other half lives (loves?) There is no way the vast majority of people in the Western world would want to force this "cure" on anyone. In places where homosexuality is looked apon as evil gay people stay in the closet anyway so it would be hard to find and medicate them.

I think the saying that "money is the root of all evil" is a misstatement of "greed is the root of all evil." Money evolved as a way to simplify trading. If you have money it just means that you have given something and not yet decided what you want in exchange for it. It is like saying "I will give you that bag of candy you want but when I want something to eat tomorrow you will give me what I want." I don't see anything wrong with that. The problem is when people collect money just for the sake of having it. If you let any activity become a pointless obsesion you are likely to have trouble. I think that's why greed can lead to so much evil. It is human nature pushed to an unhealthy extreme.

You have a good point about the problen with estimating time. I prefer honesty too. For some reason medical people take a look at me and assume that I will scream so they usualy tell me something is going to hurt a lot more than it really does. Then they go and tell someone else that the same procedure is only going to hurt a little and that person screams. Why can't they just say "for most people this is a five on a scale from one to ten"? Here's another euphamism: "big and tall" = fat.