JamesSavik

from the article: FREDERICK, Maryland If you read Twilight, you know what is there.

The problem occurs when a great many people have it and medical facilities get overloaded. AIDS is a poor metaphor for flu because it is so slow and its spreads via blood and fluids. Flu is airborne and can infect anyone. People with pre-existing conditions are at special risk. A bug that is only 1% fatal still kills 10,000 people when 1,000,000 people get it. When that number rises to 10 or 100 million cases, so do the numbers of fatalities. In the case where medical facilities are overloaded and supportive care is unavailable, the fatality rate could easily rise up to 5-12.5%. The problem with epidemiology is that if you do nothing, you get blamed for the results. If you do something and forestall a serious problem, you get blamed for over-reacting. It's a no win situation for politicians that aren't known to get excited about sticking their necks out. My fear is that with people going back to school and being housed in dorms, this thing is going to take off in numbers that will be serious. In the 1918 outbreak, the groups most susceptible to Swine Flu were young people under thirty. It killed so many that it hastened the end of World War I. Today the population of humans are so large and interconnected that this could be a very serious problem.

Be Ready for Another Wave of Swine Flu Cases

Analysis: This time of year, schools are either starting or will be starting shortly. There is no better an incubator for a virus than a school and there are very few viruses that are more contagious than a flu. Biowarfare experts call the process of many people in an enclosed environment like an office or a school viral amplification. In this environment, a virus that isn't even very contagious will spread geometrically. Viruses move through schools rather quietly at first. Before you know it, 20-60% are infected. Those that are infected are contagious before they are symptomatic. Children take it home and spread it to butchers, bakers and candlestick makers. Before you know it, there is no tracking it and its completely out of control. H1N1 virus is one of the worst possible flu viruses. It can cause the immune system to over-react and cause the lungs to fill with fluids (pulmonary edema) which can cause rapid death as was seen in the 1918 pandemic. I am afraid that we are about to see a very serious public health emergency. As of 8/20, Mississippi State University is reporting 100 cases. MSU FluWatch If one of them have it then ten of them will have it and if ten of them have it a thousand of them will have it then we're in deep f**king shit. Influenza type A, subtype H1N1 CDC H1N1 Flu Page US Deaths from H1N1 as of July 17 US H1N1 Deaths 436 as of Aug 5 Australia's Worst Case Scenario 6,000 Deaths

Analysis: This time of year, schools are either starting or will be starting shortly. There is no better an incubator for a virus than a school and there are very few viruses that are more contagious than a flu. Biowarfare experts call the process of many people in an enclosed environment like an office or a school viral amplification. In this environment, a virus that isn't even very contagious will spread geometrically. Viruses move through schools rather quietly at first. Before you know it, 20-60% are infected. Those that are infected are contagious before they are symptomatic. Children take it home and spread it to butchers, bakers and candlestick makers. Before you know it, there is no tracking it and its completely out of control. H1N1 virus is one of the worst possible flu viruses. It can cause the immune system to over-react and cause the lungs to fill with fluids (pulmonary edema) which can cause rapid death as was seen in the 1918 pandemic. I am afraid that we are about to see a very serious public health emergency. As of 8/20, Mississippi State University is reporting 100 cases. MSU FluWatch If one of them have it then ten of them will have it and if ten of them have it a thousand of them will have it then we're in deep f**king shit. Influenza type A, subtype H1N1 CDC H1N1 Flu Page US Deaths from H1N1 as of July 17 US H1N1 Deaths 436 as of Aug 5 Australia's Worst Case Scenario 6,000 Deaths

I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, "Come!" I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth. You can smell it can't you? The fear, the dread- something is coming. What rough beast, its hour come round at last, slouches towards Bethlehem to be born? TURNING and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity.

September 8, 2001: Was an ordinary Saturday. I worked on my truck. I grilled some burgers and had some friends over for supper. My next door neighbor Lori and I sat on her front porch and talked about nothing until midnight. I went to bed and had one of the worst f*ing nightmares of my life. I still remember fragments of it. I saw a face I can only describe as cruel and hateful. His eyes were dark and the face was angry. I could see the eyes as two pinpoints of red light. Then I was with a crowd of people- I don't know where. I was surrounded by shining glass and people. Suddenly there was fire and breaking glass everywhere. There was blood and screaming and people were ripped to shreds. I woke up in a cold sweat at a quarter to five fighting the sheet that had wrapped itself around me. There was no going back to sleep after that. It was like no dream that I've ever had experienced. Later in the day I called Aunt Mae and went out to see her. She was still alive at the time but very old and wise in the ways of things that modern people such as myself like to think of as superstition. I told her about the dream and she closed her eyes and shook her head. She had it too. I asked her what it meant and she told me that the four horsemen were about to ride. War is coming. Things like this don't happen to me. I am a scientist. I believe in what I can see, hear touch and quantify. I told myself that it was just a stupid dream and that I should forget about it but that face gave me a cold chill. I had seen evil. I went about that Sunday in a daze. I couldn't concentrate. I tried to rest but every time I closed my eyes there was that face. When I went to bed that night I was scared. I didn't want to know jack about the horsemen or the maniac that I kept seeing. I drank Canadian Club until I passed out. Monday came and I was able to throw myself into the work. I had hardly a thought of what I had seen. Until Tuesday morning Sept. 11, 2001. I knew exactly what I had seen. When the face of Mohammad Atta was put on the screen of the television set in our office I nearly shit myself. That was the face that had been haunting me. I went home about 2:00 because I was so shaken I was afraid that I would make mistakes. I went home and drank myself into a stupor. I never talked about it. I locked it away in the back of my mind. It was something that I didn't want to know about. A nameless fear that sits waiting somewhere on the verge of your subconscious. There it has stayed for all of these years. Until a few minutes ago. The nightmare is back.

So has Mississippi and Louisiana. I don't know about other states. Mississippi tore down rest areas all over the state and rebuilt only a few of them with 24/7 security. That is a pretty big public policy commitment for a state like Mississippi. Completely rebuilding these rest areas for a few million a pop, a grounds staff and a couple of certified law enforcement officer. That equals out to adding (I'm guessing) 25 million per year state wide in maintenance, salaries and benefits. When the legislature authorized this, the state passed a law the same year that gave judges the opportunity to charge cruisers caught having sex with a felony but I've never heard of anyone being prosecuted under it. A lawyer friend of mine says that they are afraid that it won't stand up to challenge. This was all started around ~1988 when AIDS was still universally fatal. It may sound overboard today but those of us who were there remember talks of concentration camps for the infected.

Some writers use their writing as a catharsis of a sort and will write about things that they would never actually do. You'll see them write about all sorts of objectionable behavior: hyper-violence, raunchy sex, filthy language... Sometimes it works and makes for compelling drama. Sometimes it is as bad as a Hollywood sequel that comes out three months after the original movie. Other writers are writing to get something off of their chest. Usually you can tell. The true to life, no shit I was there kind of stories which really ring true and give you some insight into the extremes of the human condition- those are the ones that will make you think. I've seen writing like this, usually from victims of genocide, violence and abuse that will give you nightmares. As a general rule gratuitous sex, violence and raunch are just plain boring unless it advances the plot or is logical in context.

Beware of scams. There are plenty of people who will use your good nature to make a buck. Try contacting some of our members who actually lives in Texas and get a reality check on the situation. I don't want to stand in the way of anyone who needs help but standing in the way of a Con that preys on our communities better nature I consider a privilege. Look for a PM from me.

I once proved the Theorm of Speedo Wearing Habits mathematically: people that should wear speedo don't and the people that should never wear speedo do. There is of course the Savik Corollary on Nudism which is identical in every way. I will leave the proof up to you for extra credit.

I'm one for the simple pleasures. The blood of my enemies on my blade, the look in his eye when I twist the blade, hearing the lamentation of his women, the smell of napalm in the morning... It's all good.

What if sang about what they were doing in music videos? A contributor to YouTube has made it possible to see and the results are hilarious. Check it out: Total Eclipse of the Heart Penny Lane

I have a confession to make. I'm doing research. I know cruising from back in the day but I know nothing about it now. You may or may not see it in an upcoming work. I have an idea about doing something with a person living a double life: nice and respectable by day and into the cruising scene at night. I'm very, very curious and fascinated by the psychology of it- especially now that HIV has become a part of the culture and people know the risks. You don't know how many variations on this theme that I've heard. Almost every cruiser that I've talked too has a similar story. It sounds a WHOLE lot like the first time you do coke and it's awesome and wonderful but it is never quite that good again but you keep looking for that high. I suspect that we're talking about a phenomenon similar to addiction. I agree. In some states, if you get caught cruising, it is a felony and will get you listed as a sex offender. I would like to see them try to pull that crap on a str8 couple they caught parking.

Links for Gay Christians Whosoever.org GayChristian.Net GayChristians.org These are links to organizations that I know are sincere, good and sane. There are other sites and orgs that are fronts for people that want to preach celibacy or conversion therapy. I don't care for religion. Faith and spirituality I have no problem with because its NOT POLITICAL nor does it seek to label anybody an abomination. I have a special hatred for that particular word. If you've read Broken, you'll know why.

You know growing up in the babble belt I'm sick to death of religion, religious nuts and their bullshit. The mere though of it just makes me angry. There are no gay-friendly churches near me and I wouldn't be interested if they were. I prefer REASON over RELIGIOUS MYTHS, LEGENDS and Hocus-Pocus.

So in summary- correct me if I'm wrong: After reading the posts here: Cruising isn't just about sex culture has a great deal to do with it It is a rush (excitement) it gives a sense of belonging to social outcasts Anybody else see anything that should be added?

So what are you doing? Are you looking for a gig? I've been doing all right, always looking to upgrade. Well some guys I know have a big project that's about to kick off in South America.. John, we've been there, done that. You know those coup d'

Cruising is the only option for a lot of places. The bible belt sort of makes sure that happens. Cities deny gay bars permits (or any sort of business that caters to gays) or they harass them out of business. The Internet has changed things considerably. At least you can meet someone with out the added excitement of possibly being arrested, assaulted or murdered. When I first started looking for places to go out, there was one gay bar in town. I went looked around and saw that I was 20 years younger than most of the people there and left. The cops stopped me a couple of blocks away. They searched my car, made me take a breathalyzer test and verbally harrassed me on the side of the road for a half hour. All in all an unpleasant experience. The bar closed because patrons were being harassed by the police when they left and no one wanted to deal with that. When another bar opened the police raided it "looking for drugs". They claimed that the crowd got unruly and used tear gas on the place. They pulled its permits. The owner sued the city and the city attorneys drug it out and ran him out of money. Don't sue the gov't kids. It sounds fun in the papers but you only get the justice you can afford. Another bar opened a year later. I turned out to be a police front for an anti-drug op. I don't know if they ever found any drugs but everyone got shaken down when they left. The bars turned out to be traps of one kind or another and cruising was safer in the early eighties. My first out & proud boyfriend knew all about the bar and the cruising scene. He knew about the cop traps. It was fun to be 18 and go out with your boyfriend where people cruised. We stayed away from the gross venues. It was real good for your ego and you could easily distance yourself from the freak show by simply leaving. Jeff once said something that stuck with me: "It's like fast food. You roll in, get what you want and leave." He was right. When you are young and pretty, you can own those places. I knew a guy who got some old man to buy him a car. His car payment was that he let the old man blow him once a month. There was a group of us that met and hung out. We were 18 to twenty-something and ignored the old men for the most part. Sometime Jeff and I would invite somebody cute to a threesome. It was fun but we stayed mostly to ourselves. I remember how gross it was for fat old men who thought they could just walk up and put their hands on your goods. A few of them got popped in the mouth for being so rude. I kicked one guys ass good for getting too physical with Jeff. Thirty years later though most of those guys are gone. The survivors were the ones who decided early on to change their behavior and not screw every new guy that showed up. The scary thing to me is that I see them again now from time to time. Cruising seems to be making a come back. Young men who are looking for somewhere to belong are showing up in the same old places. It makes me sad because I know why the places are empty now and all the shitty things that stalk them.

From another topic but a subject that we need to address: Cruising is something that we don't want to discuss. It makes us uncomfortable. That's why we should. >>If this happened here, I would think that it sounds like you were cruised (or propositioned for anonymous sex). Usually that stuff takes place in... dark allies, deserted parks, rest rooms, malls- all sorts of places. It all sort of depends on where you are and the local cruising culture. If you notice the backgrounds and settings of porn flicks, you can see the influence of the cruising culture- eg. glory holes, dark and ruined backgrounds, etc. We don't talk about cruising here much. It is sort of the "dark side". I suggest that cruising should be avoided because of a number of seriously dangerous things: -people that cruise are likely to be very, very high mileage and at serious risk for HIV -cruising makes you vulnerable to both the cops and criminals -bashers are attracted to cruising spots -cruising will give you a bad rep That being said, I pissed off a third of the people here, another third have glowering resentments and the last third are clueless about cruising. Let the games begin. What do you think? _______________________________________________ As Mark pointed out, it was only a generation ago that cruising was the only option available to gay people.

Arias The key to having better people around you is to believe that you deserve them. If you don't, you'll cling to the people around you, regardless of how bad they are for you, simply because you don't think that you can do any better. I went though this myself for a number of years and paid a high price for it. The quicker that you get the toxic people out of your life, the better off you'll be.

>>those of you who are excuse the phrase "old and wise" , who have helped me out of endless situations and things. Hat off to you Who would that be?

No. The world is what it is because of human nature and we can only change ourselves.

Hide in plain sight. Sometimes readers are so used to convoluted plots and complex conspiracies that the really blazingly obvious is a complete surprise. Sometimes the butler really did do it.

THOR The cryo-chamber woke Colonel Anthony Webb two days early as programmed. Nobody really liked cryo-sleep but Webb hated it passionately. He always woke early on a mission so that he could clear his head and get his ducks in a row. He rubbed his temple in response to the throbbing headache that he always got in the cryo-chamber and slowly sat up. As he came back to life he dropped his feet over the edge and touched the cold floor of the deck. The shock of the cold made him jump. As usual his mouth tasted like he had been chewing on old sweat socks. He put his feet on the floor and stood up slowly, holding the edge of the freezer to maintain his balance. Once he was acclimated to standing up right, he shuffled over to the sink. He splashed some water over his face and took a drink from a paper cup. From there he walked over to the local computer console. "Computer: recognize Colonel Anthony Webb, Mission Commander, Colonial Marines." "Voice print confirmed." "Computer: power up my quarters, the flight deck and the common areas." "Acknowledged." Webb looked outside the door of the compartment that housed the Officer's Cryo-tubes and saw the lights coming on. He took on last look at his officers who were still sleeping, left the room and headed to his quarters. He took a shower, shaved and put on a fresh uniform. He stopped by the galley and got a cup of coffee and headed up to the flight deck. As he walked through everything looked fine. The ship was performing well. Webb was proud of his new ship. Twice as large as the old Conestoga class, the Inchon was better in every way: faster, tougher and much more capable. He had four combat platoons, a dozen pilots, 24 support specialists and a flight crew under his command. He was confident in his commands ability to cope with any mission that command could throw at them. Once on the flight deck, Webb made his way to the Master Computer room. He swiped his key card and entered the room as the lights were coming up. He sat down at the master terminal and logged in. "Computer: mission brief." Background: In 2355 a consortium of universities and major corporations established the Rho Andromeda research facility for high energy physics known as CENTER or Cooperative ENergy TEchnology Research. CENTER's primary mission is to develop advanced power systems. Twenty-two days [40 days corrected] ago CENTER activated a research reactor code named THOR (Twin Hadron Reactor) and went off the grid. Your mission is to appraise the situation at CENTER, rescue any survivors and retrieve research data from the facility mainframe. Webb sat back in his chair. He said, "Computer: describe the THOR reactor." THOR is an experimental high yield reactor that creates power by streaming plasma onto a forced singularity. "Oh sweet Jesus! They are sending us to a black hole!?" Webb instinctively backed away from the console. That code was not understood.