Former Member

One ninth or 11% by population – or 14.17% by GDP! ;–)

Still as sour as ever. Geoff and Tony go way out of their way to help her and she barely thanks Tony, but not her own son. She counts on Geoff even when they’re not speaking to each other. She seems unaware of the irony… ;–)

You got it! ;–) Drift contains occasional peeks into their current life. ;–)

Stuart & Cyril first appeared in Hold the Elevator. Their second appearance was in Before I Wake. Their third appearance was in No Escape. This is apparently their final appearance. ;–) Joel & Lucas appear in the Hot and Cold series: Thaw (premium), Frost (premium), and Drift. ;–)

California public schools are legally required to include LGBT history in their lessons. ;–)

I went through a Le Guin period in the ‘80s. I think I read everything that was in print at the time. I enjoyed the PBS adaptation of The Lathe of Heaven and was thrilled when The Beatles With a Little Help from My Friends rights issue was finally resolved so it could be released on DVD. ;–)

Jealousy is definitely not a logical emotion, if any emotions are logical. I was afraid this story was going to end up with either infidelity or a fourway. I’m glad the situation was resolved, unfortunately with a fight and ban from their favorite venue.

I don’t have a problem with a partner who is attracted to others because I’d still be attracted to other men myself. My only problem would be if he acted on those attractions. But it would work both ways and I wouldn’t act on my attractions either. ;–)

Ursula Le Guin’s The Lathe of Heaven imagines a future where George Orr (aka Jor-jor) dreams of a world without racism and everyone’s skin becomes a uniform gray color, a dream to resolve overpopulation creates a plague that wipes out most of the world’s population, and a dream about peace on Earth means there’s an alien invasion that unites the Earth.

I’m glad that Cyril is finally reporting Fred to the police! The nightmare is ending. It will be difficult for Cyril if/when he has to testify in court. But maybe they can get a plea deal… ;–)

I feel so stupid! I didn’t recognize Lucas’ name. I still didn’t recognize Joel until Lucas mentioned that he was a Swedish cop! So, so clueless! ;–) I’m always complaining that we don’t hear from Joel & Lucas and then I don’t recognize them when they show up! ;–)

And in Culled II, they send back a reprogrammed, friendly android to protect Loy and Kee… ;–)

Who knows, maybe they’ll discover a gene linked to susceptibility to superstitions and fairytales (probably linked to excessive fear of the ‘other’ and various antisocial behaviors)… ;–)

I would not be able to live like that. I’m too far up the Kinsey Scale to be able to perform. I could never be happy. But that’s just me. ;–) There are lots of men who are more in the middle of the Scale. How they live their lives, and the choices they make aren’t for me to judge. Unless one was my husband. ;–) There are heterosexual men whose wives allow (with various degrees of approval) their husbands to wander outside their marriage with other women – there are numerous famous examples even in the puritanical US. I might not think that’s right, but who knows what sort of agreement is in place between them? Some husbands think they have permission only to be served divorce papers when discovered. ;–)

Reminded me of Pan Am in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Or Reebok and Caterpillar in Aliens! And then there are the two hour product placement ads that feature the James Bond character (Aston Martin, Sony, BMW [in the past], Sony, Ford [in the past, when Ford owned Aston Martin], Sony, Volvo [in the past, when Aston Martin and Volvo were both Ford brands], Sony, Lotus [as submarine], Sony, and cigarettes)… ;–)

A little Italian sunshine for everyone's December day... Stefano Innocenti performs Ferdinando Paër's Concerto in D for Pipeorgan and Orchestra.

How odd to think that 2018 would be better than the future, but then again, time-travel isn’t needed to find places where things are either better than St Louis* in 2018 or much, much worse! * No offense to anyone who lives in the St Louis area. ;–)

I’ve PM’d a guy here on GA who lives in a rural part of his state. I don’t think he’s a farmer, but he did get married to a woman because that was what was expected. He doesn’t identify as straight, but I don’t think he’s had much if any experience with a man. I’m glad that I never got hetero-married. ;–)

Inanity is in the eye of the beholder? Or are you suggesting my inane comments arrive in groups? Or are you confusing inane with odd? ;–)

@Valkyrieand others, for getting an internal feel on metre, I recommend finding, reciting and learning by heart one of the many poems by this artist. Who, you ask...? Let me put it to you thus: If you want to learn metre, No tutor’s sweeter Than Geisel, a Doctor by name. Revived ‘twas he the cold dead flame – Via Cat, Hat or Who – Of Rome’s old ways, with words through and through.

Like @Headstall, I was crying by the end of the story. Even though I knew what Allie had wished for. It seems as though their mother knew too! ;–) I was lucky that my father was onboard a ship heading to Japan during WWII when the war ended. He was discharged from the US Army long before we came along, so we never had to deal with him being deployed. But it was an experience he never wanted to talk about.

Welcome @Clancy59! Whether you were born in 1959 or you are 59, you’re my age! I hope you continue to post comments because my author friends keep telling me how much they appreciate them! If you’re Commenting too, my inane Comments won’t seem so frequent… ;–)

All I can say is that these guys are very unusual. Few people of any age would be so obsessed with the esoteric high-end audio formats. Most people are really not very picky about exactly how good their music sounds, just that it’s their favorite music. I am repeatedly assaulted by people who think that their distorted and poorly amplified music must be shared with everyone within a mile of their vehicle. Vibrating sheet metal rattling with un-dampened harmonics and all. And that’s not even considering the questionable lyrics and musicianship… ;–) The masses were satisfied with AM radio, then 8-Track, cassettes, MP3s, and now AAC. Price, availability, convenience, and having the same thing everyone else has trumps the relatively minor advantages of exotic and expensive formats. $1500 might cover one month's rent for a one bedroom apartment in the Bay Area outside San Francisco or Silicon Valley.

hugs all around, for all of us

Jeff observes Woody so closely that he memorized his locker combination. Connor observes Woody via cam and recognizes his identity. Lucas observes Woody in the church restroom…