Former Member

I’ve never tried doing it on my Android phone. Postscript (one of the technologies under pdf) is built into the foundation of MacOS X and doesn’t require using any Adobe products to use. Unless the application prevents it for some reason, the built-in support allows pdfs to be ‘printed’ from any appropriate documents. I’m sure there are free alternatives on Android for pdf creation. But I’m not sure about the security of using them. Unlike Apple, Google doesn’t test or vet anything on its app store. I don’t know if the Amazon app store is any better. Google believes in free – it refused to pay license fees for the Java technology it stole to create Android.

If you’d like to donate money, but want to support an all-volunteer LGBTQ-based charity, Rainbow World Fund is one to consider. A certain red-kettle religious charity has an anti-LGBTQ track record. Others have a better history. RWF’s US Disaster Aid Fund is working with their partner, Feeding America to provide clean drinking water and food assistance through a network of local food banks. This is a more efficient method than building something new from the ground up every time there’s an emergency. And it doesn’t take resources away from existing programs. My only connection to RWF is that I’ve donated a tiny amount to them in the past and they are my chosen beneficiary in the Smile.Amazon.com program.

If you ‘print’ or save the chapter as a pdf, you can open it in the Kindle app. I used to do that in order to read the stories in a nicer format. These days, I find the Reader View in Safari (also available in Firefox, it cleans up what you see by removing extraneous junk) gives me most of that with less work.

I do want to point out that Jayden’s Aunt does not exist in isolation. Jayden’s cousins heard the messages repeated and amplified by their friends and mentors as well as the music they listen to and the movies they choose to watch. Basically, every possible direct influence on them other than teachers who they probably mistrust tells them the same thing. Authorities don’t have much credibility in the hood. The police are often rightly seen as antagonists who indiscriminately target People of Color. City officials are seen as ignoring the very real problems that exist (like extreme unemployment; lack of infrastructure maintenance; non-compliance with housing and other regulations; ignoring the dumping of mattresses, sofas, and hazardous waste; homeless encampments; and other signs of neglect and poverty) or attempt heavy-handed, top-down ‘solutions’ that don’t address real-world problems. If Jayden’s Aunt and cousins were able to get some of the few jobs that they qualify for and exist within a realistic distance of their home, they’d probably have to work three or more minimum wage, part-time jobs with no benefits. They’d be running ragged, sleep-deprived, trying to deal with their 60-80 hour work weeks. The alternatives aren’t legal, but much more lucrative, more prestigious especially in the eyes of their peers, and much less time-consuming.

Happy birthday! ;-)

I have a problem when an author writes frequent, very short chapters. It’s sometimes difficult to remember important details like ancillary character names and situations. And there are times when a minor cliffhanger is less important than the continuity of the story itself. If I’m finding a story, its characters, and situations interesting, I don’t need tricks to keep me reading future chapters.

I see problems with Jake's approach. I’ve never even had a drop of alcohol, but I’ve known many alcoholics (mostly from when I was homeless). There are reasons why doctors are discouraged from treating themselves… ;-)

But isn’t that part of what they have in common? Women are often more intuitive about relationships than men because they notice the subtle changes and emotions that most men are oblivious to. Due to culture (and possibly biology), women tend to be more in tune with feelings. In our culture, men are discouraged from expressing their feelings (‘real men don’t cry’, ‘man up’). A man being (too) emotional is closely tied with negative stereotypes of Gay men – especially as a object of scorn, ridicule, and humor.

I was hoping the gap in new chapters was a better sign, one that you were beginning to be able to do other things and that prevented you from writing more… I’m sorry things weren’t as I hoped. I’d forgotten they’d had a serum gun! ;-) It sounds like they could probably use Buddy’s 3-D printer to make a bunch of the guns. And of course, Devon is getting even more attached to Repetate and Iustina. I’m starting to think that Eric has a couple of very exotic pets in the house that Daniel built! There are probably several secret rooms that no one else knows about… ;-)

You had to go there! ;-) And, yay, Ian & Adam finally have a date! ;-)

So your face is perpetually covered with ‘really light pink’ streaks? ;-)

If it’s invisible, how can you tell you’re running out? ;-)

Auntie Hoe? Really? She’s going to be telling that story to everybody as long as they’re both still alive – and it’ll be told at the funeral of whichever one of them dies first! ;-) I’m guessing that won’t be the last time Alex wakes up in the middle of a nightmare. How will the three boys all fit in Alex’s bed at the same time? It’s going to be quite a squeeze! ;-)

Wow! @LitLover is really making us wait this time!

Harry already has a son-in-law even if Teddy doesn’t seem to realize it yet. A son-in-law who will remain a relative even if Ryder and Teddy ever break up! Harry and Ryder have bonded in a way that many in-laws never do. ;-) My parents only wanted to get to know my friends before they figured out that I’m Gay. They barely said “Hi” to a man I was dating before they coldly left the room, telling me later that it was ’too difficult.’ He was literally the kind of guy you want to take home to meet your mother: a research scientist, tall, blond, blue-eyed, extremely polite, and clearly very intelligent.

The last thing Troy needs to do is ‘straighten out’ his life! ;-) There will always be a few small children who will stare and ask awkward-to-their-parents questions. Maybe one or more of the ones here today will ask cousin Troy himself later. He’ll have to get used to them at some point, his refusal to have doctors do more to disguise his disability makes that certain.

Can I restrict or block who views a blog that I create?

Or wine?

The very first question! And the hardest for them to answer! But I would have thought the question would have been how are Mom and Joey? since they were all in the accident together…

For this Sunday, György Ligeti's 1953 Six Bagatelles for Winds I. Allegro con spirito II. Rubato. Lamentoso III. Allegro grazioso IV. Presto ruvido V. Adagio. Maestro -- Belá Bartók in memoriam VI. Molto vivace. Capriccioso

Is that a cliffhanger? Where you’re the Cliffie Queen is making us wait until you she posts ‘Scrawler’ tomorrow? ;-) Does that make the second sentence clearer @Page Scrawler? ;-)

For some reason, this seemed more appropriate. ;-)

Happy Birthday, @Page Scrawler! Somebody had to make this announcement for everyone to see! I made sure to remember what you wrote a couple days ago! ;-) I hope you have/had a great day! ;-) It’s all @sandrewn's fault! ;-)

At first I thought Jake was taking Andrew home to meet his parents or something. ;-) I once dated a guy in San Diego who was from Somerton, Somerset. (His father was embarrassed that he was Gay and shipped him off to stay with business associates in the US.) He invited me to visit him in the UK, but I couldn’t decide, so he invited a mutual friend to go with us in an attempt to sweeten the deal. I eventually decided I couldn’t afford the trip, but SG couldn’t rescind the offer to MF and MF went. Somerton guy was not happy and was a lousy host. SG took MF to Bath, but refused to go on the tour of the Roman Baths. SG was driving down the motorway and asked MF if he wanted to see Stonehenge. When the reply was yes, SG pointed out the window and said ‘There it is!’ SG took MF and one of his other friends camping. Along with a tent and sleeping bags, SG and his friend took their makeup. They went to a pub out in the country, SG and his friend wore makeup. SG got MF a job working for SG’s father. Things got so bad that MF moved out to stay with someone he met at the job. MF returned to San Diego as planned a few weeks later.

I keep meaning to comment on the magazine’s title! Sporting Men Magazine sounds like a Gay erotica/porn title focused on men in (and out of) jockstraps and singlets!