JamesSavik

This is something I think might get in the way if you think about it too much. A good solid paragraph is better than pages and pages of clutter. IMHO strive for quality and the rest will take care of itself. There is a darn good reason that brevity is the soul of wit is a timeless axiom: it works all the time and every time.

Stargazing is fun. With a little study you can learn a few constellations and see some amazing things with a small telescope, binoculars or even the naked eye. Another added plus is you have your date outside in the dark.

Happy birthday Juss!

Planning is all well and good but give yourself room for those AHA moments that many writers have when they see the story coming together. Good things to plan are: characters- who they are, their likes, dislikes, passions and peaves- and how they might change through the story arc. Setting is something that is also needs some thought if not some real planning. If your story takes place in Las Vegas and you've never been there then do some research for goodness sake. Outlines of chapters and chunks of chapters: I'm luke warm on. Remember- its all like clay and you can work on it until you feel like its right.

Does it seem like no one wants to win in November? There may be something to that. The United States faces a perfect economic storm which has the potential to cause economic problems the likes of which haven't been seen since the 1930's. These twenty domestic and foreign policy problems will give the new resident of the White House many sleepless nights. Item 1: 100/barrel oil- The US economy is based on cheap oil and can not sustain 100/barrel oil prices without causing inflation or a devaluation of the dollar. Thanks to our popularity in the oil producing countries of the world, oil prices are unlikely to go anywhere but up in the foreseeable future. Item 2: Iraq & Afghanistan- The occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan is a very expensive undertaking which wears out tanks, helicopters and troops. It also creates difficulties in keeping the US military ready to respond to a crisis at a moments notice and an acute manpower shortage. These open-ended military operations are black holes which absorb as much money as the federal government has and adds greatly to the budget deficit. Item 3: sub-prime mortgage financial crisis- Is exploding in the face of the lending industry and causing defaults, repossessions, foreclosures and bankruptcies all over the country. It is also causing real estate prices in some markets to plummet which is causing erosion in local tax bases. As of Jan 2008 Banks have posted ~130 Billion in losses and bankruptcies of industry heavyweights Ameriquest, AHM, New Century Financial and a half dozen more. Item 4: War on Terror- Unlike the Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the budget for the War on Terror is black. No one knows how much is being spent on proxy wars and mercenaries in the Third World. Item 5: Service Economy- the US has moved from a manufacturing economy to an service economy. As a result, the US manufacturing sector has shrunk and a number a strategically important items (electronics, equipment) can only be acquired from abroad. If Taiwan collapsed, the US Navy would have to stop using AEGIS radars because key components are manufactured there. Item 6: The Rise of China- As an economic entity, China is the 1000 pound gorilla. With near limitless manpower, new and modern factories China's star is rising. Not only is China a production power. It has a new and huge middle class. While still communist in name, China is in fact a capitalist enterprise with government support and involvement in key industries. Item 7: Pakistani Polka- Will Pakistan fall and be taken over by Muslim extremist or will the military stay in power. The stakes are high: to the winner goes the custody of the Islamic bomb. Item 8: Chavez & Crew- Venezuela's Hugo Chavez has made a great deal of political hay in South America by twisting the tail of the United States. With billions of dollars of oil revenue, Chavez has built himself a powerful military, political comfort at home and influence abroad. How will he use his new found power? Item 9: Putin's New Cold War- America bashing has always been popular in Russia and Putin has decided to jump on the bandwagon after working closely with the US and President Bush early in his term. Is this for domestic consumption or does it indicate a more fundamental change in Russia's foreign policy? Item 10: Relations With Old Europe- For many years the United States could count on Europe as some of its strongest allies. Now those same governments view the US with suspicion and fear and have large and vocal Anti-American political groups. How will this play out and what will it mean over the next decade? Item 11: Arab & Israeli Animosity- Simmering tensions in the Middle East can boil over at any time. Although there hasn't been a full scale Arab-Israeli War since the 70s, there were large scale engagements between Israeli-Hezbollah last summer. Anytime tensions blow up here, oil prices go up and the world holds its breath. Item 12: Iran & Hezbollah- It seems probable that Iran has its hands inside Iraq. They are well known to operate through proxies like Hezbollah. Although it seems improbable now that Iran is a nuclear power, Iran is still a large, powerful and rich adversary that appears to be remarkably well led and trained (in comparison to their Arab neighbors). Will Iran force a confrontation or, God forbid, a war in Iraq or the Gulf? Item 13: Africa- Always a humanitarian crisis, the US has aways managed to stay out of Africa with the sorry exception of Somalia. Will the US continue to stay out or will a Darfor or Rwandan type crisis draw us in? Item 14: Immigration- After 9/11 and the creation of the Office of Homeland Security, the US is still loosing the battle against illegal immigration and neither party appears to have the political will to address the problem. Item 15: Terrorism- The US has not been hit by terrorists since 9/11 however, the current administration has spared no opportunity to enrage practical every govt, political party, religious group and cub scout troop in the world. How long can we keep it up and what will be the consequences next time? Item 16: North Korea- NK's stock as a bad actor has fallen since they did an underground nuclear test which experts the world over judged to be a "fizzle". However- North Korea still stands as a power threat to our allies, South Korea and Japan. Will Kim Jong-Il continue to capitalize on tensions and events in other parts of the world? Most likely, however, her ability to really harm South Korea drops every year as NK's technology ages and South Korea's advances. Item 17: Battle Fatigue- the US military has been conducting operations non-stop since... before I can even remember. This has put a critical strain on the military: their tanks, ships, planes and even people are just plain wearing out. Unless billions are put in the pipeline, it will soon become difficult to maintain the current operational tempo on the opposite side of the globe. Item 18: Environment & International Cooperation- the US rejected the Kyoto accords to fight global warming but remains under pressure from friends, allies and many citizens to do something. The new administration is going to have to decide exactly what and what part American businesses will play and how much it will cost them. Item 19: States on the Skids- In the 80s, Reagen decided to give back to states the responsibility for a number of programs and services. Now many US states are in serious economic trouble that could trigger record hikes in state and local taxes. Item 20: Infrastructure- the maintenance of the buildings, bridges, sewers, subways which make up the national infrastructure have been handed over to states who can ill afford it. This years collapse of the Mississippi River Bridge in Minnesota is a wake up call that the national infrastructure can not be ignored forever without serious consequences.

I volunteer to come down and assist the Australian authorities in dealing with the Phelps psycos. They're our trash. We should take them out.... to the Great Barrier reefs and feed them to the sharks.

Shots rang out, as shots are known to do. Yes they are. Especially when someone uses these bad similes and metaphors and their editor loses it.

That's not necessarily true Razor. Simply mixing alcohol and valium can cause a reaction in some people that will cause you to just quit breathing. If you remember Karen Anne Quinlan, one of the first big right to die cases, was put in a permanent vegetative state by mixing alcohol and Valium. Different people have different chemistries and anyone can have a bad reaction to any given drug- legal or otherwise. Len Bias, a 1st round NBA pick, athlete in peak shape with a multi-million dollar future died after trying cocaine for the first time. Sometimes coke is cut with various "fillers" or the way the coke is chemically refined that can simply disagree with people to various degrees: everything from dropping dead to feeling sick. When you do drugs (hard drugs- coke, downers, meth, etc), you are dealing with powerful chemicals (otherwise you would be doing aspirin). The chemistry of the drug and the complexity of your own particular system, allergies- it's all a crap shoot. You can catch a buzz or a dirt nap. You just never know. It's sad but its true and it happens every day. People just notice when it is a Brad Renfro, Heath Ledger or River Phoenix get a toe-tag.

Here is Messenger's first look at Mercury: the first pictures since Mariner 10 made three fly bys in 1974 and 1975. It is believed that Mercury's surface has been largely undisturbed since the Solar Systems late bombardment phase ~4-5 billion years ago. Over the next few months Messenger will settle in to an orbit of Mercury and will stay there for extended studies of the planet.

I saw it today at the 1:30 show. The pseudo-documentry style is quite powerful. The characters are very well done. They are sympathetic and as terrified as you would expect. The ending does leave a lot to be desired. As does the monster. Someone suggested that when we actually see the monster, we'll have some idea where it came from. I've no idea. All I can say is he's an ugly SOB with a new twist: In combat he drops man sized critters which look a bit like Sigorney Weaver's Aliens but smaller. A human can fight these things off but their bite is leathal. He obviously has nothing in common with Sta-puft. All in all, it was a great ride but somewhat limited in scope by the pseudo-documentry/hand camera style.

Sta-puffed marshmellow man?

Cloverfield. It sounds so tranquil and sedate. Like a lot of clover in a field right? WRONG. Cloverfield: the movie Has anybody seen it? Does it live up to the hype??? Can my cat come out from under the sofa?

Oh how quickly they forget... Remember the Cure? Boys Don't Cry, High, Lovesong... Rush wrote a song called Afterimage about the loss of a friend to AIDS. A number of mainstream bands have written songs that are supportive and/or gay friendly in their lyrics or tone. I refuse to listen to "gay-only" muzak. If its good I'll listen. If its crap, I won't jump on the bandwagon simply because it is "gay music".

I am an INTJ. Usually I dismiss this stuff as a soft-science goo but a couple of things that really stood out: INTJs are known as the "Systems Builders" of the types, perhaps in part because they possess the unusual trait combination of imagination and reliability. In the broadest terms, what INTJs "do" tends to be what they "know". Typical INTJ career choices are in the sciences and engineering.. many INTJs do not readily grasp the social rituals; for instance, they tend to have little patience and less understanding of such things as small talk and flirtation (which most types consider half the fun of a relationship). Here's where it gets dicey: Other INTJs: Rudy Giuliani, former New York City mayor Donald Rumsfeld, US Secretary of Defense General Colin Powell, US Secretary of State Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor of California Does this mean I'm supposed to be an: a) asshole, republican or c) republican asshole?

NASA's Messenger (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging) probe made its first fly-by of Mercury today and over the next few months will settle into orbit for an extended study of the planet. Messenger is the first probe to visit Mercury since Mariner 10 back in 1975. Because of its position in the solar system, Mercury is very unique planet. Constantly seared by heat and radiation from the sun, the chemistry of Mercury has been skewed. All of the volitile elements like oxygen, hydrogen have been cooked away. The ordinary compounds like silicates and oxides can't form causing a very different high energy chemistry. All that is left of Mercury over the eons is a cinder of heavy elements and minerals formed at very high temperatures. Of all the planets, Mercury is 2nd in density only to the earth. It has no atmosphere but alpha particles (helium nuclei) are easily detected. This is a marker of radioactive decay from heavy elements like uranium or thorium or radioactive isotopes of less exotic elements. If we could ever figure out how to mine Mercury, it would probably be a mineralogical treasure house. Mercury is heavily cratered and sports a giant crater that covers almost 1/3 of the planet and nearly blew the planet apart. In the days to come we should see some cool photos of the roasted planet.

Great. Wonderful. First a virus, now a bacteria. What's next? A fungus with a fetish for show tunes?

I dig it but have to have help from a British friend for translations.

Hehehehe missed me... uhoh... at 1400~ posts, I'm getting close to the bucket-mouth club.

Is that Harry & Ron and where is Harry's wand for Ron to have such a big smile? { Of course I'm kidding. No offense intended to these two English hotties }

Jack Nicholson will always be the Joker.

It all depends- mostly on how badly stung you were and whether or not you were the dumper or dump-ee. For the dumper, about 20 seconds. You knew it was over and were ready to move on. For the dump-ee it'll take some time longer- especially if it was completely out of the blue or you were cheated on. Betrayal is a scar that won't go away overnight.

A youthful indiscretion perhaps?

Once upon a time movies were original. Many were adaptations of novels, short stories or plays. Sadly- times have changed. Many of todays movies are regurgitations of successful movies of yesterday. This Christmas season, there were four BIG movies that were re-writes in part or in total. The one that did the best, Will Smith's I Am Legend was a post-apocalyptic horror story, re-did Charlton Heston's Omega Man of the seventies which was in turn based on a novel. Wil Smith's version of the movie is a rare exception where the rewrite surpasses the original. Another type of movie is the franchise. These are series of movies like Star Wars, Star Trek, Bond movies, the Aliens movies, etc. Franchise movies have a built in fan base and will make lots of money whether or not it sucks. This Christmas season's franchise movie was Aliens Vs Predatator Requiem and it stank up the big screen. Predatators are BAD. Aliens are BAD. Put them together and you should have a winner right? Wrong. Requiem was the right name for this movie: it may be the funeral of the franchise. When one does Sci-fi, for it to work there are two elements that come into play: suspension of disbelief and a logical plot. One depends on the viewer and the other is a function of the writer. Requiem was a tense, bloody gore-fest that ended with the nuking of thousands of people, aliens and one predator. It left me wishing that I had just bought the comic book. More types of movies: Movie of the Weak: low-budget, made for TV movie which is a waste of consciousness the first time. Independent Film: low-budget, weird piece of shite that sucks and there is no one to blame since it is independent. B Movie; short for BARF movie. 50s and 60s were the height of this low. Cult Classic Movies which have 50 fans nation-wide and no one else gives a shite about. B & W movie: Barf and Wretch movies: gross, bloody and horrifying eg. Nightmare on Elm Street

In my humble opinion, if you need to take a college course to know how to be gay, then you are probably a breeder. Besides lots of us had moved on to advanced studies by junior high.

First of all let me say how much I worship French Canadians. How is it possible to be so cute and have such a sexy accent? Now. On to the question. NO! There is no such thing as gay music. Music is asexual and can not, by definition, be attracted to the same sex. There is music that gay people like better than music for and about breeders. I personally like Stone Temple Pilots, Pink Floyd, Green Day, Metallica. That doesn't make any of that music gay. I can't stand Duran, Duran, Boy George or Toni Basil. Although they are gay musicians, their music isn't so much gay as it is wretched.