W_L

Yellowcard for today: This song makes me cry a lot

Just had an interesting point for people to ponder, why do we "still" use "ownership" in connection with people, i.e. spouses, children, or in the BDSM world, a sub? This isn't about slavery, which is a political topic out of bound for the Lounge, but a question of language and terminology. There's a weird object relationship creation in our use of "owning" certain terms, rather than perceiving them as individuals with their own feelings, thoughts, and desires. This might be a literary nitpick on my part and some social commentary on our societies' values, but it is an interesting question of language choice. But hey, my avatar is a Pikachu, a symbol of ownership relationship (Gotta Catch'em all ) To Clarify this topic: Look no further than parents of athlete or the parents of gay kids. As they "own" the child, their success is reflected positively on them,power from i.e. praise, Free stuff from scouts, and of course money. Then, their gay kid's disgrace (in the parent's eyes) is enough to toss innocent kids out on the street due to fears of persecution, homophobia, and a lower social standing. There is valuing of people as objects

Yes, I am working on its recovery right now. I should have at least 3 chapters ready by next week. Also, I am really glad that my story is getting some word of mouth treatment, thanks Dark and everyone for sharing this among other readers. I've started getting fan mail again from first time readers I know everyone wants to hear a few spoilers about Book 2, so I'll give you some character directions: 1. Hunter- Following Book 1, he's lost a lot of direction in his fight for justice. He also has a lot of questions for himself and his relationships. Kevin's sacrifice for him has a deep emotional impact, but it also serves as a double reflection on his inability to save his dead boyfriend, Ryan. These facts along with a forced change in venue will lead him down roads that he'd never contemplated before; even to the point of surrendering to his fears. 2. Kevin- Yes, he survived, but he has some very interesting scars now from the shooting. Kevin also has an interesting road ahead of him in Book 2, serving both as a conduit of ideas and a conscience. I won't let the kid off the hook with an easy happy ending, he has to work for it and along the way, I think readers will understand why Kevin is my first creation. 3. Benji- He's getting a nice long story arc in Book 2, separate from Hunter and Kevin's journeys, until half way through the Book. Benji wll learn some new truths about people and relationships, history and ethics, and what it means to be gay in both action and identity. Old characters from Book 1 will appear again, plus several new ones as the scope increases and widens. I am adding 3 female LGBT characters in a "poly" relationship, along with new villains behind the attack on the School and even open doors for a few plot holes that I intentionally left to be filled (If you read Book 2's first 3 chapters carefully and reflect on what happened in Book 1, you will see a symmetry forming). The fight in this story is not just a traditional battle between LGBT vs. Christian bigotry, it goes deeper and the characters are not uniformly equal in belief or attitudes. I am going to spend some time with my villains and anti-heroes in this book as well, not merely faceless killers or masters of the universe plotters, they are human like John Milton and Jesse Heron, or new villains from different vantage points within the larger conflict. Also, in my big reveal in Book 1, this story is told from the future about 100 years after the "Cyber Wars", an information war over ideology has real world applications and what we call cyber-bullying/cyber-terrorism may be indistinguishable if the scope and goals are tied together. Intimidation and psychological destruction are integral to both. Lastly, a few readers wondered, what distinguishes C.I.S.S from other extremists groups that seek to destroy the LGBT in fiction? My answer, they're not out there to destroy us, if you read "Rising Inferno" from book 1, their main aim is based on Islamophobia, we're secondary targets of disruption to shore up a social weakness, a nature of empathy that we by nature hold and shift society towards a more open setting. My fellow writers have stories of evil Christian leaders in the mold of Phelps Westboro Baptists, but my C.I.S.S is more like the modern Christian Right (the one that Donald Trump is drawing part of his influence from): more data driven, more technically skilled, and more aggressive in long term goals against an older and more powerful enemy, Islam itself (I won't hide the reality that these people imply). This modern group don't exist in a vacuum either, world events have made them more powerful in the silent policies and positions within government just like C.I.S.S is in my story. A tragedy is that I was writing months before San Bernadino and Orlando in escalating fashions. I hope Book 2 will not turn into another nightmare with real world parallels.

Starts a Chips and Coke Rebellion! In the end there can be only ONE

Let me share another one:

Okay, I just finish picking my team this year for the office League, so I thought it would be fun if we can share our picks: SLOT PLAYER, TEAM POS ACQ QB Carson Palmer, Ari QB Draft RB Devonta Freeman, Atl RB Draft RB Matt Jones, Wsh RB Q Draft WR T.Y. Hilton, Ind WR Draft WR Brandon Marshall, NYJ WR Q Draft TE Travis Kelce, KC TE Draft FLEX Randall Cobb, GB WR Draft D/ST Chiefs D/ST D/ST Draft K Adam Vinatieri, Ind K Draft Bench DeSean Jackson, Wsh WR Draft Bench Philip Rivers, SD QB Draft Bench Ameer Abdullah, Det RB Q Draft Bench Martellus Bennett, NE TE Draft Bench Jay Ajayi, Mia RB Draft Bench Michael Thomas, NO WR Draft Bench Rams D/ST D/ST Draft Anyone else want to share PS: I am switching Jones for Abdullah for game day

Sometimes you just come upon a quote from reading something random, an email, a blog, a news article, an actual book, or your GA favorite stories. I'll start with one that just caught my eye, while Einstein was straight it makes relativity easy to understand for me if I were sitting next to a cute boy:

If the experimental satellite succeeds, China will have a technological advance equivalent to creation of the Printing Press (a Chinese invention originally as well, among gunpowder, paper, and compass). The satellite was launched last month successfully: http://qz.com/760804/chinas-new-quantum-satellite-will-try-to-teleport-data-outside-the-bounds-of-space-and-time-and-create-an-unbreakable-code/ http://www.wsj.com/articles/chinas-latest-leap-forward-isnt-just-greatits-quantum-1471269555 This could make a communication system impossible to hack, unless you're God himself (Not the Higgs Boson ). Politically/militarily, this is something earth shattering, but Americans and Western world won't realize its importance for a while as a technological advantage. (I think as writers, we can figure out what this could portend for the future or at the very least I am doing it). The reason I am sharing this is more for inspiration purposes to near future Sci-Fi writers or modern fiction writers with a strong tech/military/politics bent It's also an important step to developing the ultimate goal, Star Trek-styled Transporters.

Drew, I think I've seen your pony form: Aww, my little blueberry pie I'll be the trailblazer then, the yellow electric mouse will beat the 100 year old Disney mouse

Well, Mickey and Bugs are throwing down right now: Reminds me of this thing from youtube

Currently, there are a few Cartoon/Anime Animal Characters, who have been around for at least 3 decades and star in their respective series. Who do think is more popular? And yes, I am bias towards the electric mouse

Well, if we can create one that size and it doesn't collapse due to Hawking Radiation, then we should think about making wormholes for instant communication Travel might not be possible immediately, but instant communication is a good idea. Still this is a good first step, Here's another article, by the way another team from Ottawa is testing another technique to compare the results from Israel with astrological black hole data with an article published last month. http://www.sciencealert.com/physicists-have-created-a-black-hole-in-the-lab-and-it-could-finally-confirm-the-existence-of-hawking-radiation

Graeme, we would need a massive implosion to get a real Black hole created, which would be very unsafe for any human being within an AU. At least now, we can test out black hole theories without getting ourselves removed from existence Negative energy is the most important thing to uncover, it would put us on the path to create interstellar spacecraft eventually, not to mention resolve some long standing issues in Quantum mechanics/General Relativity

http://www.nature.com/news/artificial-black-hole-creates-its-own-version-of-hawking-radiation-1.20430 Technically, they are cousins to the giant black holes of the universe, but with the recent discovery of potentially observable Hawking radiation, we may finally have an experimental way to test out theories on a lot of thing black hole related, chief among' them is a concept of negative energy (the stuff of dreams and FTL drive theories, including the Alcubierre Warp Drive theory).

They'll get really confused by humans too: http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/30/health/aliens-strange-world-customs-trnd/index.html

I thought I read that 11 gigahertz is usually a Military broadcast for short burst transmissions in ultra-high frequency when it is terrestrial in origin. How long did this signal last is a good question and if it starts up again, then get ready for this moment: Classified communications is possible as well and more likely.

Still, we will never know the full truth If this is really the message of an advanced alien Civilization, Governments would fear it's release due to the problems it could raise on social issues: i.e. many World religions may as well collapse or fear of invasion could spur rapid militarization for "love of Earth". If this is an alien civilization at Type 2 level, I doubt they want to invade, most likely they just want to see if we're ready to join the galactic map destinations, like a truck stop on the way to Vegas They don't need to contact us for any reason except just to say hello like we are doing or just accidentally broadcasting interstellar news, or worst case scenario, they could be "Space Mormons" preaching about the Alien Savior and the "good Word" that Earth can be saved.. If not, 11 gigahertz is a weird and powerful broadcast, potentially we're talking sensitive government data from US, EU, Russia, or China being accidentally revealed or even the existence of such high powered equipment.

SETI is also getting involved. If this is it and these little green/gray aliens really are Type 2 Civilization, I wonder what is their power source? Artificial Singularities would mean a mastery of gravity, space, and time so they wouldn't need conventional signals. Anti-matter sounds cooler than practical applications, Anti-matter can't practically be created and annihilated at enough ratio to generate that much power for constant use based on our current manufacturing methods. Controlled/Cold Fusion is fine, but you need a lot of reactors running at the same time for the same purposes; basically generating a mini-sun's worth of power in H-bombs. Way too dangerous for any safety conscious civilization that has passed a nuclear age of near Mutually Assured Destruction.

We've heard about the Best colleges and the best programs, so why not the list of the worst colleges for LGBTQ students: There are colleges on the list that promote "Gay Conversion therapy", "Christian discipline to remove homosexuality", and the allowance of "rape" by same sex members of campus against LGBT, because the school rules that the victim is the one in the wrong for engaging in homosexual behavior. (Not even joking on the last point, BYU) https://www.campuspride.org/shamelist/

I concur, putting acid in a lubricant dispenser at a gay club is low! Homophobia is extremely likely. This is why you should always carry some lotion with you (moisturizing is always good) or have a pre-lube rubber in wallet :- If it was Ben-Gay, I'd say the guy was playing a prank or getting people to try a new kind of kink

RIP Gene Wilder, may he live forever peacefully in "a place of pure imagination"

MEEKO! :hug: Missed you so much that I changed species twice!

True Like most scifi and western seem to forget the most obvious You make fewer enemies with blankets filled with smallpox than you would with an army of gun toting grunts Hopefully in 150 years we are more enlighten on interspecies relations.

This is awesome news that might escape most people's radars with the struggles and conflicts in the world: http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/24/health/proxima-b-centauri-rocky-planet-habitable-zone-neighbor-star/index.html Being only 4.2 light years away near Proxima b in Centauri binary system, 1.3 times the size of earth, and with average temps potentially with atmosphere at 86 to 103 F degrees, it should be under observation for future exploration. Plus, the ultraviolet radiation could make for some interesting biological differences, if there is life (a Blue skinned 6 legged man, maybe, ) Of course, if like most human history, when we get there, it will end up like this: https://youtu.be/xM_RnDxn5rY Who's with me in calling this planet Pandora

Okay, just added several acronyms, FB, FWB, NSA, and LTR: http://lgbt-dictionary-for-old-words-and-new-terms.wikia.com/wiki/FB Also just added Absexual http://lgbt-dictionary-for-old-words-and-new-terms.wikia.com/wiki/Absexual