vwl

After only a couple of hours with the Technical Preview of Windows 10 on my weakest computer, which used to house Windows 8.1 as its operating system in desktop mode, I find already that several of my major gripes with Windows 8.1 have been fixed. One is the new ability to put Metro Apps into Windows (instead of crowding out everything else). The second is that it loads, apparently completely, all 15 of the websites in one of my Favorites folders. Currently, many of the websites only partly load and require a refresh. Windows 10 seems to be more like Windows 7 than Windows 8 and its spawn. The upgrade went very smoothly, and all my devices work. However, the Technical Preview is subject to changes over the next few months that might screw it up. For anyone contemplating an upgrade from Windows 7 or Windows XP, skip over Windows 8 and wait for Windows 10 -- at least from what I can see of it.

I received the following note from Marcus McNally and am eager to read the sequel to one of the better stories that has appeared in this genre. The original story is at http://crvboy.org/stories/mm/s001/c01.html vwl, aka rec G'day again, I am contacting you because you have corresponded with me about my story 'Love on the Rocks'; different versions of which have appeared in the past few years on 'Nifty' and 'CRVBOY'. When the original 40-chapter story was complete, I promised a sequel set five years on. I'm sorry it's taken almost two years to get there, but I'm pleased to let you know that it's almost complete! 'Love on the Rocks Five Years On' will start appearing as a weekly instalment on www.crvboy.org from October 11. Many of you will have read the original story in its entirety. For those of you haven't and those of you who need to refresher I strongly recommend that you to read it first, because this 'sequel' harks back often to that first year in the lives of Tyson Hill and Mike Stewart. Fingers crossed, you'll enjoy this update set five years after Mike and Ty get back together. All the main players are still with us George, Frank and Dot, Lachie and Ellie, Scott, Steve and Frank, Max even Scruffy and Floppy. This time, there are some new family members to meet (you'll love them I promise), and a few new characters who've happened along to give the boys a new round of challenges. It was your response to the original story ... mostly positive, sometimes critical, but always welcome ... that has inspired me to finish this update. It's my 'thank you' to you for your feedback, and your much valued support. With love, Marcus

I thought people looked under the toilet seat to see if the turd floateds clockwise or counterclockwise. But maybe that's after the flush.

For your enjoyment. http://www.bbcamerica.com/anglophenia/2014/09/happy-birthday-t-s-eliot-20-quotes/

Editing is complete on the last chapter of Thirty Two Faces and the Epilogue. They will be posted this week, so those who may not have started this extraordinarily original series can fire up your screens now. The author, kevinchn, has put the reader into the mind of a 17-year old autistic boy and has maintained that viewpoint from the prologue to the final chapter. This is one of the finest stories I have read in a long time.

I hope people realize how stultifying regulation can be, especially in a technological field. The reversal of regulation in the telephone industry in the U.S. led to extraordinary innovation in communications technology that was otherwise (legally) suppressed; it would be unfair for the regulated companies not to earn their returns on their dated technology. There is a phenomenon that economists call 'regulatory capture' in which those companies that are regulated quickly gain control of the regulatory agencies in their favor. The ICC was supposed to regulate U.S. railroads, but within a short time, the railroads used the ICC to set prices and exclude competitors. Today, we have the regulators of taxicabs all over the world acting to stop Uber to protect the traditional taxicab industry.

NIce example, Gee Whillikers

A rather nice story entitled, There's a Prince in the Kitchen is at http://www.nifty.org//nifty/gay/beginnings/theres-a-prince-in-the-kitchen/. Support the author if you like it.

The problem that I had with a recent story is that the foreign language wasn't correct. If you are going to use more than a few phrases -- if you are going to use whole sentences -- make sure it is not just a Google translator output. Make it something that the speaker would actually say in his or her own language. A few scheisskopfs, mon dieu's, salauds, stronzos, merdes can be understood in context. It's bad enough having Australia and the United States,being two nations separated by a common language. Apologies to Churchill.

I couldn't agree more with Cynus's comments. The performances by Ethan Hawke as the boy's biological father, Patricia Arquette as the mother, and Ellar Coltrane as the boy are just outstanding.

Yes. Well put.

First of all, the Supreme Court decision was not based on a Constitutional issue; it was based on the Religious Freedom Restoration Act passed unanimously by the House and 97-3 by the Senate. That Act provides special protection to religious beliefs -- it was based on a tribal right to use peyote in ceremonies -- that the government had to have a compelling reason to burden on a person's exercise of a religious belief and that it was the least intrusive way to accomplish the goal. The court decided that the administrative agency's implementation of the ACA overstepped the bounds -- the penalties were huge -- and infringed on Hobby Lobby's owners' exercise of their religious beliefs. No one disputed that the Hobby Lobby owners had a sincere belief that abortion was wrong and that four of the 20 required contraception measures constituted abortion, in the owners' views. I think the court was very careful in distinguishing this case from a racial or sexual orientation case in which the government has a compelling interest and that there are reasonable ways to accommodate that interest. We are citizens, not subjects of an administrative agency.

A very Cole Parker-like story is available at http://brokenbard.com/index.html#princess Not quite as well-written, but the feel of the story -- a teenager coming of age against a lot of odds -- is like a Cole Parker protagonist.

For followers of this topic: a brief history of punctuation: http://grammar.about.com/od/punctuationandmechanics/a/PunctuationHistory.htm

The next chapter is up at Nifty. http://www.nifty.org//nifty/gay/college/joe-college/joe-college-28

For the record, the Koch brothers are libertarians and the antithesis of social conservatives; they are economic conservatives worried about the excessive Federal debt buildup and the extent of crony capitalism. Their philosophy is much more akin to Rand Paul than the right-wing religious nuts; for example, they support gay marriage. They also support abortion rights (source: Chicago Tribune). While some Tea Party movement people are socially conservative, a great number of them are socially liberal but fiscally conservative.

In Windows 8.1, the non-power-options feature was removed so that it appears on the Metro screen on the top right or down the right hand side to the Settings button. I use Start8, which replicates Windows 7 and has the Shut Down tab on the menu.

I know you can buy a USB plug-in for the 2 1/2 (?) inch drives. You may also be able to buy one for the old 5+ inch true, floppy floppies. Some of you may remember the MPM systems, which were a concoction of 3 CPM processors in a single machine. It was good for a lot of things then, but the compatibility problems with other CPM and MPM systems made any saved disks virtually unusable elsewhere. As I recall, it could run WordStar and VisiCalc, but that might have been after 1980 on PCs.

The stories are on the AD home page under Bi Janus. The Goldendale series, in order, is Cover and Book, Book Uncovered, and the Book of Samuel.

Fine. Succinct.

For those of you who have followed the Goldendale stories of Bi_Janus, I commend to you Courage, a medium (not a short) story that will pierce your heart.

Now I know why fruits became such a derogatory term. This thread is sinking into an abyss.

Chapter 27 of Joe College is up: http://www.nifty.org//nifty/gay/college/joe-college/joe-college-27

I agree that "the majority of Muslims are as harmless as the majority Christians," but I also suspect that the majority of Germans in the 1930s were similarly harmless. It is when the people are governed by Nazi law or Sharia law that the harmlessness carries no weight. Until there is a Muslim equivalent of the Christian reformation and Enlightenment, there is a problem.

The Move has a somewhat related theme that could have been enhanced by Pec's suggestion. It's at http://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/highschool/the-move/