Hoskins

Quicktime can't really convert anything, though, it can just play them, and I think it's clunky to post stuff to the web in .mov format because you can't really control file sizes or anything. What you are looking to do is "transcode" your .mov video to another format, like flv (youtube) or mp4 (aka h.264 - iphone). Without trying it (I'm downloading it to play with it though), this one looks pretty decent and pretty easy (also free): http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html - the download page is here: http://www.erightsoft.com/S6Kg1.html Looks fairly straightforward, but make sure you click the little radio button in the upper right to the top one, so the screen reads "select the output container" instead of muxing. Then you set the output file type you want and drag the mov file onto the window, and it converts it.

See, I was looking for deeper motivations than that, and I am glad that I was wrong, now I will enjoy the dirtbag's comeuppance without guilt sic em with some old fashioned Crampton style justice. (and will JP really come out to Stefan with his deep dark secret heritage? Inquiring minds can't wait to find out...)

I'm going to hypothesize and get into character motivations, and in that sense, I don't know much about much. But I can understand Bruno's motivations very easily - he's an addict. He wants his party buddies. Marcel is alone and pretty well in the depths. With a lot of dough - an easy target. Bruno, acting as an addict, has only his self interest at heart, and he's going to take any opportunity to keep the party going (by addicting others) and also to protect his own interests - access to the drugs. Ergo it's in his best interests to get Marcel addicted, and, more importantly, make him dependent on Bruno for his supply to more dope. Marcel is simply the shortest path to those goals. There's no question that Bruno is a dirtbag, but I don't think his motivations involve destroying Marcel - I'd bet that if Bruno cleaned up his act, he'd feel incredibly guilty about what he's done to Marcel. it's just that his own self interest makes Marcel easy to sacrifice to his own ends. Marcel has been hurt and abandoned, from his point of view, made worse by the fact that he knows he created the situation. It doesn't take much to get a depressed, lonely man with a very dim future (from his point of view) to just take a few hits - and that's all it takes to start the addiction going - a few parties with just a couple of hits rapidly turns into a lot of hits on the pipe. So Bruno took an opportunity and went for it. Pretty sad.

I hated it. Actually that's not true. I thought it was a great story, well told. I liked it a lot. Will the next one take us into the War of 1812?? That could be quite a ride I've been pretty busy IRL but these stories are a fun way to forget. Also, lard.

I believe I now know more about Mark than ever before

Did you ever leave the house ? sorry

I think if HIV/AIDS were no longer an issue, and as tolerance for GLBT people continues to improve over time, there will be less need for gay communities and gay "ghettos". Of course I live in Michigan, where the idea of a gay community ends at the door of the community center (unless you count the bars. I don't). I really hope to see a cure for HIV in my lifetime. I've (We've!) lost too many people to it.

Watching him rotate his shoulders out of their sockets when he was handcuffed... OW

Yeah, I know what you mean. I was kind of dancing around it a little. I have a buddy, we will call him "Chet" since that is his name. Chet is the classic example of a 60s-70s era salesman. Polyester suits, smoked, drank, cheated on his wife, just a real classy guy. He is a sleazier version of the guys on "Mad Men". When I talk to Chet, it's all about how good things were in those days, America's goals were clear. His classic line is that "you knew where you stood on things". And he's living that 50's dream, but you DID know where the US stood on things - the USSR were the bad guys, the Berlin wall was eeevil, oil was cheap and those 'Arabs' weren't even on the radar. The threat to the US was very, very clear. Today, the world is not so black and white. When I talk to Chet about current events he gets all wound up, because he wants a clear, sharp divide between right and wrong, wants to know who the enemy is, and wants to be assured that things aren't going to change much. But they are changing. (this youtube clip blew his freakin mind). So I think maybe he has a point - we Americans really *don't* know where we stand on things anymore. Our place in the world is changing. The Soviet Union fell, the wall came down, the terrorists flew into the buildings and - even since then - there is a big divide between pre- and post - 9/11 thinking. *tries to find reading glasses*

Excuse me, that's RandI Jackson to you. *aHEM*

Why do people look back at the good ole days? Because they were the good ole days, to them. You get to look at it through the lens of memory, where the bad is filtered out. Memory can be very selective. To a white, Christian guy in the 60's, blacks didn't exist in their white neighborhood. They were down on the south side of town, with the rest of 'those people'. These days, that neighborhood is probably a lot more diverse, it's all different. Gays didn't exist, they were all in their closets, you never saw two dudes holding hands or any of that stuff. Now, the fairies are parading in the streets! What's the world COMING to? And what's this about my nephew having a boyfriend?? And Lisa is taking Karen to the prom?? **shakes fist** Get off my lawn!!! Of course, to me, I was born in the sixties but my brain didn't really start working until the seventies, and then there were all those drugs, so really, the eighties were where I came into my own. I have a lot of fond memories of the eighties. I was in the Navy too, and it sucked. But when I look back, it was a crucible, and now I miss it. It's the same crucible that people go through in college - lots of stress, being on my own, etc - but it is a fundamental part of who I am. I don't like to remember that it was the middle of the Reagan years and his thousand ship navy, with Cheney as secretary of the Navy and being deployed to the Indian Ocean for months at a time. But when I think about the Navy, all I really like to think about are the friends I made and what they're up to now (and then you see them on Facebook and yeah, I look that much worse now too). I really like the movie "Pleasantville" because it really brings home just how much has changed and just how unrealistic our current view of the past is. **wanders off to find some suspenders**

I am a fan of the Google Docs. That way I can get to my stuff from anywhere...as long as I have a connection, anyway.

I prefer to talk. I also like to keep the darn conversation short, please. We can talk about your mom's birthday party when we meet in person. It's not really that important, is it? Texting takes the emotion out of the message, it's really hard to convey that my short, abrupt texts aren't because I don't like you, it's because I can't use an iPhone touchpad for crap. If you text me, I'll probably just call you back.

I'm online constantly. It drives me NUTS sometimes. And I never knew HOW much I was online until I got an iPhone - that battery charger gets a lot of use.

I like to look at the dudes. If I was straight and was looking at the dudes, people would look at me weird. Since I'm gay, it's no big deal. What?

I do computers for a living and I have quite a few various and sundry virtual and physical machines with different OS's and configurations. I get asked "which one is the best" a lot. The answer to that question is best answered with a question - what are you doing to do with it? On the personal side, my favorite OS for home use is a Mac running Leopard. It's so easy to use the OS is transparent. I write a fair bit and I use Pages. I don't get bothered by little paper clips or handy tips or annoying "ribbons". So yeah. I can't wait for SL to come out. It will probably kill my Mac mini though. I hate HATE HATE trying to get printing to work on a Mac tho. I end up making PDFs and sending em to a PC to print. Frustrating. My workhorse OS is Vista 64 bit. Its stable, I've shut off all the annoying bits, and it runs VMs like a champ. I tend to run systems hard, lots of apps open and lots of strange programs. Vista lets me do this and crash programs out when needed without stopping anything else or getting shaky. It handles virtualization much better than XP does, also. I've been running Windows 7 as a virtual machine and it seems fine and has some definite improvements over Vista, I need to spend more time with it. So to sum up: I like Mac over PC for ease of use and Vista when I need to get serious about working some systems. I like the idea of Windows 7 but it's too early to form an opinion, except for one: IE 8 stinks.

*waves from the corner* Hi everyone!

Look waaay down at the bottom of the page, you will see "mark board as read" - that covers the whole enchilada.

Reading this on my iPhone - just thought I'd mention that the mobile skin works just fine.

Well Myr, I've messed around with forum software some in the past, and I'm quite impressed that you got it to *here* from *there* in as short of a time span as you did. I could tell from the "in process" errors I saw occasionally through the day that you've customized the software some, and that makes these upgrades a bitch. So well done, from someone who certainly would have brought down the site, forums, a tree, kicked a display or two, and had choice words for the software folks, and all you did was said "that sucked".

Well, to put a more uh, personal note on it, I'm about half out of the closet because of work. And my mannerisms are masculine, most people are pretty surprised that I'm gay. People are people. Some of those screaming, hopping, bouncy skippy queens at the Pride celebrations can certainly make my skin crawl. Mainly I feel embarrassed about their behavior. I also get embarrassed by the leather daddies in collars and harnesses on a public street.. I guess it's just "extreme" behavior that bugs me. Who knows? But if I ditched friends because of the way they are, I'd be one lonely man. I am not (usually) attracted to effeminate men, although both of my boyfriends were pretty effeminate - which just proves my point I guess. If you put out, you're in! Or maybe it's because my boyfriends were friends before we got together. I think people that put others down for their mannerisms are wrong for doing it. I also think gay people shouldn't look down on bi or TG people, lesbians shouldn't look down on gay guys, etc. Can't we all just get along? *hugs forum*

I think that a large percentage of people on Craigslist that are looking for a hookup are deeply closeted. Maybe a non-"straight acting" or effeminate male is a problem for them. *butches up*

In the game Bioshock there is a scene where you are searching a bunch of cabinets for booty. As you are engrossed in this task, a splicer (genetically modified crazy psycho humanoid) sneaks up behind you. As you turn to search elsewhere, ITS RIGHT THERE IN FRONT OF YOU. First time this happened I threw the controller and almost launched myself over the back of the couch. - The scene in Alien when the guys chest explodes (I was 15, I was in a strange kid's basement (i was trying to get in his pants ahem), it was very very dark, we were alone, watching a grainy bootleg of it and I was completely FREAKED) - There's a movie with a crazy dentist in it, all you see is John Lithgow in a dentist chair, and the camera cuts away as the drill starts up. - Anything with Victoria Jackson in it.

Good for you! It's good to hear you're going to "make the leap" into fitness. It can be hard. Here's what worked for me, posed as advice to you: 1. If you have a medical condition, talk to your doctor(s) about what exercises are appropriate for you. I have a bad back, I have to be pretty careful about strength training. 2. Do you have a morning routine? Incorporate exercise into it. It should be as fixed in your routine as bathing or brushing your teeth. After 1 week of routine exercise, you will miss it when you don't do it. This is where good results are born. If a morning routine doesn't work, then at least set aside an exercise hour, every day, and stick to that schedule. 3. You must eat breakfast within 1 hour of waking up. Blood sugars, and therefore appetite, will be all over the map if you don't. This is the most common reason for me to need a candy bar at 2 PM if I don't eat breakfast by 8 AM. A stable metabolism will make mealtimes predictable and you'll eat less too. 4. Change your diet to a healthy one - low in fats and empty calories, stop buying boxed food. Fruits, meats, veggies, some grains. Don't fall for a fad diet. All you need to change is calorie intake. A healthy diet will do this for you. But exercising doesn't help if you don't make calorie intake less than your energy output during exercise. 5. Don't fall into the trap of not eating - as you lose weight, you may actually eat more because you're using more calories. 3 meals a day. 6. Go for walks. Every day, after dinner, at least a mile (1/2 mile there and back). Even if it's mall walking. 7. Don't work for, and don't expect, instant gratification. Weight taken off quickly comes back quickly. 8. You will notice a rapid weight loss as you begin exercising and eating to lose weight - I lost ten pounds in a week. This is water loss. You will plateau as the real pounds come off. I lost 30 pounds in about 3 months and people were telling me it was too fast. Thank you for asking this question. I have gained weight back because of an illness and now need to get back on the elliptical. Have fun! Want to have a weight challenge? H

I drive a 1998 Mercury Mountaineer with a big fat v8, crappy tires, beat down suspension and an exhaust leak. It's got a pretty good stereo though. And I can't kill it - it's like Christine or something. SUCK IT HATERZ