FreeThinker
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Posts posted by FreeThinker
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In a world where it is still difficult for girls to make it in engineering and science, Sally Ride can be an inspiration. And, to GLBT kids, she can be an example that sexuality doesn't matter; skill, ability, and integrity matter.
And, Chris, that's a great title for this thread.
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I know, but I'm not telling! Bwahahahahaha!
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Excellent point, Chris! Think of what we could have accomplished with science, education and health care if we had just listened to Eisenhower's warnings about the Military/Industrial Complex!
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Forty-three years ago tonight, July 20, 1969, an eleven year-old FreeThinker was staying up all Sunday night watching the ghostly TV pictures of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin as they took humanity's first steps on the moon. How many of us then expected there to be permanent colonies on the moon by now? What happened America?
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The forty thousand members of One Million Moms, a "subsidiary" of everyone's favorite Hate Group, the AFA, is organizing a boycott of The New Norm, a new sitcom on NBC about a gay couple who get a surrogate mom to give birth to their child. http://insidetv.ew.com/2012/07/20/new-normal-protest/?hpt=hp_t2 After the brilliant success of their JC Penney and Oreo boycotts, (NOT), they must be feeling their oats.
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Damn. And I was in the middle of a really good rant. Crap. Now I have to find something else to bitch about.
To quote Frasier Crane, "Yes, I know I'm wrong, but it's just going to take me a while to get off this particular high horse."
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I think the butler did it.
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My stepfather once threatened to leave if my mother didn't kick me out of the house. Fortunately, I had places to go and she didn't give in to his demand, though she made sure I felt guilty about the situation. One of the reasons I attempted suicide as a teenager. I would like to think that there has been some progress since the seventies, but I wonder. There are school districts in Minnesota and Tennessee where, if a gay kid is bullied, the word "gay" cannot be mentioned in the reports or used as a reason for punishing the perps. There were three suicides in the one Minnesota district, which lies within Michelle Bachman's congressional district, and she fully supported the policy.
Yes, Homeless Youth needs to be the next great issue.
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I'm embarrassed to be British....
Don't be embarrassed to be British, Camy. Every country has pathetic, officious bureaucrats who can't see outside the envelope. I still dream of moving to the UK before I die.
I have to say, though, wouldn't it have been absolutely awesome to be surrounded by fifty thousand people dancing to Paul and Bruce performing Twist and Shout, which has always been one of my favorite dance songs? I saw Paul McCartney perform when he came to my hometown on tour in 2008 and it was so cool when he performed Hey Jude during his encore and 20,000 of us sang along. I never thought I would get a chance to see one of the Beatles perform. It was a great night. And I saw Elton John once here. I suppose when you live in LA or NY or London, you get to see this sort of thing live all the time, but when you're in Oklahoma, this isn't an everyday occurrence.
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At one of the greatest musical moments in the last half-century, Bruce Springsteen was performing in Hyde Park in London with Paul McCartney. In the middle of Bruce Springsteen and Paul McCartney playing "Twist and Shout"... let me repeat this just for emphasis in case you don't understand... In the middle of Bruce Springsteen and Paul McCartney playing "Twist and Shout"... the Westminster City Council turned off the sound because they were violating curfew. Bruce Springsteen and Paul McCartney, playing Twist and Shout, were silenced for breaking curfew. I can't wrap my mind around this. Am I hallucinating? Did this REALLY happen? Am I crazy for thinking this is absolutely the dumbest thing a city council has ever done? The English language doesn't have a word to describe the depth of stupidity... I am, since we're talking about the English, gobsmacked. I am flabbergasted. I am... I don't know. I suppose I'll have to "Keep Calm and Carry-on." But, I can imagine some council members who may not be around after the next round of Council Elections!
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Actually, Pecman, I'm starting to think there's something wrong with me because I'm NOT freaking out or getting nervous or reacting. That's why I'm wondering if it's just something I lived through and well, I've got a story to tell, or if it's going to hit me later or what.
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He was divorced in 2005, so there's always the audacity of hope!
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That ironic twist at the end reminds me of O. Henry! How wonderful! Excellent job.
Actually, something very similar to that happened to me when I was 24, sometime back in the antediluvian eighties. I was riding my bike along the Riverside trail here and stopped for water when I noticed the cutest college boy on his own bike, shirtless and glistening with the sweat of an Oklahoma summer, perfect lips, beautiful arms, the most enticing blue eyes. He smiled at me, I smiled at him... and he asked me if he could share something with me. I eagerly replied in the affirmative and had to spend the next ten minutes politely nodding my head as I let what he was saying go in one ear and the other while I fantasized about the many ways in which I wanted him to "save" me.
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Now, if only fate would smile upon me and convince Richard Engel of NBC to leave Afganistan and cover some earth-shatteringly important story in the wilds of Okieland, rescue me from some devastating tornado or terrorist-attack and then declare his undying love for me. Oh, Richard, oh Richard...
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I shared last week about the robbery at gunpoint I experienced the night of the 4th of July. It's very strange, but I haven't reacted at all the way I would expect or as I have heard others have in similarly traumatic events. Perhaps I am in denial about it or its just waiting until some day when a dog barks or I'm eating a candy bar and then I'll wet my pants and fall apart, but I don't really seem very freaked out about it now. I do think about that shotgun, but I'm not having nightmares, I'm not agoraphobic, and I don't jump for no apparent reason. What I have done, however, is think about death and life a lot.
As a humanist, a freethinker, I don't expect anything after the end. My brother is a devout Christian and once asked me how I can value life if I'm not. I replied that since I don't know if there's anything after the chemical reactions and the electrical impulses between my neurons and synapses end, life takes on a whole lot more significance for me. And, after looking at a shotgun pointed at my chest, I have found myself thinking in just everyday, ordinary situations, "I'm alive." Somehow, sitting in traffic, listening to a customer complain, watching Fox News-- these things just don't seem to bother me as much as before.
I am sure others here have faced life-threatening situations, war, serious illness, accidents, or even crimes you have survived. Did you have delayed traumatic reactions and did the event give you a different perspective about things?
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Woo Hoo! The Weather Girls! It's Raining Men! What a way to wake up on a Sunday morning! Hallelujah!
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Yes, Awesome Dude Radio has an amazing playlist. Tonight, I heard Percy Faith, The Monkees, Andy Gibb, and Al Green. I don't know of any other place on the Internet with such diversity. I haven't logged in to Pandora since before the 4th. I will be making a contribution to AD soon to help defray the cost. I'm sure the extra bandwidth or whatever the term may be is expensive! I urge others to do the same. And, listen! There's something for everyone.
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Every time I read something of his, I tell him its the best he's ever done. But, it's because his work just continues to get better and better.
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That's a hoot! I love it. Excellent story and proof that verbosity isn't always necessary to tell a good story!
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Regarding the technical issues, I think everyone forgot that Troy's father's job was INTERNET SECURITY. If he wanted to put Adobe on his Mac, he would. If he wanted to add all the crap he wanted to it, he would. That was how Troy's father made his living. Let it go and enjoy one of the best stories I've read in a long time. Cole is one of the best wordsmiths around.
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Stolen from my niece...
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Another source I use are the many baby-names sites, but only because you can filter for nationality when sorting. If I have a a character of say Scandinavian or Dutch decent, I can use that to find interesting names. You can also filter for Biblical names, although I probably wouldn't name a kid Boaz or, dare I say it... Onan.
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Yeah, that's my thought. Thanks, everyone!
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This may be old news, but I just heard the neatest song on Awesome Dude Radio, Terrence singing "Twee Vaders."
I had to look him up and found the song was from a Dutch television show back in 2006. Terrence Uphoff was adopted by two gay men and the song is his tribute to them. It includes a chorus of dozens and dozens of kids and they have wonderful voices. It's a catchy tune with a positive message about gay rights and gay adoption.
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Ride, Sally, Ride
in News & Views
Posted
OH! I was thinking of the old song, "Ride, Captain, Ride," by Blues Image from when I was in junior high. I thought you were being clever. :-) Well, actually, you were!