JamesSavik

"That has to be the most asinine idea I've ever heard." Marty rolled his eyes and shooed the cat away from the cold pizza box. "Really? That's rich coming from a guy that is dating James." Ray said in a mock Yoda voice, "The dumb is strong with this one, Breed he should not." Somewhere down the hall the thump of a techno dance song began as Marty replied, "What's the story with you and James anyway? Of all the guys you could have chosen..." "It's so very, very simple even Mr. Tie

Judge Vinson said, “Tim truly is gifted. I’ve seen it before in a rare social worker or two. They just know how to handle boys. It’s not something that can be taught. Now we get to you Rebel.” Rebel stuck his jaw out and looked like he was preparing himself for a whipping. Detective Monroe said, “We just picked your mother up for a DUI.” Rebel said, “That was predictable. She got some money so; she was off to the liquor store.” Judge Vinson said sadly, “You know she’s an alcoholi

Remember- they are way off in the South woods of Arkla-annia-see (generic mid-south). As the story progresses we'll see Tim is desperately trying to protect them with education to avoid AIDS. During the eighties the places being decimated were the big urban centers. The rural AIDS wave didn't hit hard until the nineties. The virus was around but silent.

Thanks Myr. Your wizardry is powerful as ever. 🧙‍♂️

The wake-up call startled me. I reached over, picked up the phone and put it down, so it wouldn’t disturb the others. Aaron was a comfortable warm presence in my lap. His long shiny blond hair tickled my chest. His face in repose was well beyond pretty— ethereal is the best word I have for it. Like an angel that came to walk among us mortals and decided to stay. Blondes can be really stunning and Arron and Adam were in that league. I’m glad he went to sleep, or we would probably still be ru

I just posted a new chapter of The Company and it didn't show up in the new stories feed. I tried to get it to post at 6:00 eastern. I did a little snip or two of editing. It did show up on the story page but, not on the feed on the homepage. For the story, it's a major element- 20K words and a big turn in the plot.

Randy pushed the button on the phone that ended the call, looked at me and said, “Seriously? We’ve got a psycho killer Preacher on the loose?” I said, “It's worse. We’ve got a guy out there that doesn’t hesitate. Apparently when he figured out that he was blown, he just started shooting. Worse yet, we have Adam. How am I going to tell that sweet little kid his Dad is dead, and his Mom is on the way to the hospital in bad shape?” “We need to get Aaron before he sees it on the news, and

I like David Weber a lot.

Thanks- you gave me a lead on something new to check out!

Spacers, like sailors before them, pass vast distances to get between stars. Like sailors before them, they have their stories.

The Big Empty Every port worth a single damn has a place run by an old sailor where the food is good; the beer is cheap and has ladies of negotiable virtue. At Kingston Station in the Harimon system, that place was run by a salty old codger named Colly who had run the triangle route on the Plymouth Star for forty years until he hung it up, took his pension and opened a place of his own. Old Colly’s was the sort of place where sailors from whatever ships were in system could have a fe

Halloween silliness you should have discussed with your cat first.

When Barney went feral.

From my readings, it looks to be more complex rather than one specific cause. It is most probably a combination of several factors that contribute to the probability. The probability model may be more of a matrix or a mesh than a linear function which makes it much harder to understand because it doesn't fit on a simple curve. Example 1- a simple probability matrix This simple 2 dimensional matrices determines a probability based on two factors: Probability and consequence. Now consider how much more complicated it gets when we add dimensions like birth order, gene groups, prenatal hormones, etc. In the case of determinancy of sexual orientation, the factors could pile up very high and create a very complex matrix of up to a dozen dimensions. Example 2- A mesh probability model Yes- it gets weirder and more complex. The probability is computed based on calculations as the mesh is transited. There is some logic (If then, and, or) that guides movement through the mesh, the possibility of some recursion and some bloody awful algorithmic stuff you don't want to know about but- this is a very powerful probability model. Will either create a definitive answer? Probably not. It will only create statistical inferences like if A, B and C are true, condition A will happen 80% of the time, B will happen 15% of the time and C will happen 5% of the time. It is chewing up these numbers that allows scientists to get a handle on trends. There is no muddier place to look for trends than biology.

Nobody on the road Nobody on the beach I feel it in the air The summer's out of reach Empty lake, empty streets The sun goes down alone I'm driving by your house Though I know you're not home Kids are in school. Workers back to the ant hive. It's still hot as hell. Upper nineties for the last few weeks. That leaves the pool at my gym just about perfect. The water warm and clear. Just like my memory before things got cold and muddy. I dive in like a time warp. I hear long silent laughter and squeals. Alone in the pool of dreams I swim and soak in their warmth. Getting old sucks. At some point everybody you give a shit about has died. You have to wonder why am I still here? Is it some cosmic punishment to outlive your family, lovers and friends? Is it supposed to hurt like this? Scotch would help but, no. I'm sober for this horror show. You have to find new joys. Like this pool, abandoned for the summer but still perfectly serviceable. Clear, clean and free of toddler piss. Even in September there can still be joys. Even the small ones matter. Maybe, even especially, the small ones matter. Lyrics from the Boys of Summer by Don Henley

There're numerous instances of cultures mis-underestimating(*) seemingly backwards opponents who gave them an ugly surprise. * Yes, the Bushism was entirely deliberate.

Before they came, we silly humans thought it would be the coolest thing ever to meet aliens. We forgot what happened in our own history when primitive cultures met more advanced cultures with technology maybe fifty or a hundred years more advanced. Then came Chris Columbus the Conehead from somewhere in the general direction of the constellation we call the Southern Cross. That wasn't his name or his races name. That was unpronounceable to humans. Good old Chris was an entrepreneur. He offer

As a race we're like middle school: old enough to be dangerous to ourselves and others, smart enough to get into extreme mischief and yet still innocent enough to imagine we're the cats own balls.

Before they came, we silly humans thought it would be the coolest thing ever to meet aliens. We forgot what happened in our own history when primitive cultures met more advanced cultures with technology maybe fifty or a hundred years more advanced. Then came Chris Columbus the Conehead from somewhere in the general direction of the constellation we call the Southern Cross. That wasn't his name or his races name. That was unpronounceable to humans. Good old Chris was an entrepreneur. He offered to sell us ten super nifty high capacity fusion reactors and a few other high tech gadgets for a few tons of precious metals. This started a bidding war among the nations of earth and Chris made out like the bandit that he really was. That is until the Butt-heads showed up. It turned out that Chris the Cone-Head had stolen the fusion reactors and other gadgets from an Interstellar Alliance Supply Depot and the Butt-Heads were not amused, nor were they happy that he had gifted them to savages. The Butt-Heads were a strange outfit that were supposed to protect primitive species from exploitation, cultural or technological contamination called the Native Protection Bureau (NPB, yes there are bureaucracies in the future). They arrested Chris, impounded his ship and demanded we return the reactors and assorted junk. We, the United States, Canada and Mexico, argued that we had just spent a kings ransom on our reactor and junk and needed a refund. The Butt-Heads launched a salvo of 100 kilogram kinetic energy darts into our heartland to show their displeasure. That really sucked for Kansas and Nebraska. The Chinese agreed to return one of their reactors which the Butt-Heads promptly retrieved took to their ship where it exploded with a force of ten megatons taking out the Butt-Head cruiser and Chris the Cone-headed con artist. Three months later another Butt-Head ship arrived. We blamed Chris the Conehead for the whole debacle and asked them nicely to go away. The Butt-Heads still wanted the reactors but by this time we had reverse engineered them, learned some really nifty new tricks and were making our own. We returned them, and the Butt-Heads left. While they were in orbit, a gifted Czech hacker downloaded their database. Apparently the Butt-Heads never heard of data security, hackers or dealt with primitives that had. Yeah, humanity!. It took a bank of quantum computers about five years to translate it all and analysts are still going over it all these years later. That is how we found out what a huge dumpster fire our galaxy really is. Historically, racism was a problem for humanity but often it was mostly just cultural differences, and we got over it. Wrap your mind around the idea of species-ism. Every advanced race thinks they are the cats own balls and are absolutely sure they are the superior species, intellect, moral authority and have God on speed dial. The galaxy is divided into four large coalitions: the Butt-Head Alliance, the Raving Religious Fuk-wads, the Assembly of Genocidal Lunatics and the Coalition of Cut-throats and Pirates. To our disgust, it turns out the Butt-Heads are the pick of the litter. There are some independent powers but to stay that way they have to lean in the direction of one of the big dogs. The Big Dogs of the galaxy are always at war, hot or cold, with each other. The Butt-Head Alliance was nice enough to protect the primitive species in their space from the other powers who would arrive and take all the slaves (or meat) and goods they wanted. Fortunes of the great powers in the galaxy fluctuated, but they were all too large to fall in a rush. They existed at a sort of stalemate/equilibrium point while working desperately hard to gain the upper hand. Lots of things we had hoped to put behind us as a race, were back, and we found humanity on the wrong end of it. Slavery, genocidal wars, piracy: all those old favorites are new again. To the Galactics, humans are dangerous primitives with fusion sharpened spears and arrows. Well, good for us. The longer they avoid us, the tougher the nut we'll be when they do come back. Oh, don't get me wrong. I'm not a species-ist. I just hate the aliens who would wipe us out, perhaps eat us and strip mine the earth. Unfortunately, that's most of them. I bet you though humans were the only assholes in the galaxy. Hell, in comparison, we're mere babes in the woods dealing with the East India Company.