Are we all perhaps linked by invisible bonds? Do the actions of one affect others, even if those others are far away? Our lives and the universe itself may be all part of a single mechanism in which all creatures and events are 'entangled' with one another.

Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Spammed!

As you can see, I just added Haloscan to my blog, so I lost the previous comments. Sorry to those of you who left comments, but right after I posted my previous item thanking you for leaving comments, I got hit with several SPAM comments on that post. I figured it would only get worse, so I added Haloscan.

Once again, thanks for your kind comments, hopefully I outwitted the evil Spammers :)
Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

A Word Of Thanks

I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who commented on my previous post about my music choices. I don't think I've had that many comments on one any item since I started this silly blog. Thanks, guys!

Also, in regard to Adam's comment re: my hatred of opera...I have to admit I've never really listened to much opera so I'm certainly no expert on it. I was thinking about it and I remembered a time when I was in the 9th grade and some opera singers came to my school and gave a talk in class. They also sang a little, and I mainly recall it being VERY VERY loud, which hurt my ears. They sang in a normal-sized classroom, not the school auditorium, which is probably why it sounded so loud, as they were used to projecting their voices in a larger setting. Maybe this is why I took a distaste for opera. Who knows?

I do have a pretty sensitive sense of hearing, and loud sounds tend to annoy me. I also recall as a kid, going into a bank with my mother, and hearing this annoying buzzing hum that she wasn't able to even hear. I actually went outside and stood in the cold (it was winter) to avoid the sound. I don't know if the bank's security system was making the noise or what it was, but it sure was irritating to me.

Adam, as for as me liking musicals, if you had asked that question a few months ago, I would have said I didn't like them. But now I'm not so certain. This summer in a nearby park, a local theater group put on a production of South Pacific. They've been doing free musicals in the park for the last 17 years, but I never really attended them, though I saw a couple in previous years. Anyway, this year I actually saw the South Pacific production several times over the course of the summer, and have to admit I did enjoy it. Maybe it was just the cute gay cast members(gay men in a musical-who would have thought it?) that attracted me or maybe my musical tastes have broadened, but I liked it. Even bought a "South Pacific" T-shirt and had it signed by a few of the cast members (guess which ones),which they sell to help cover the cost of the production.

The moral of this story is: if you have any secrets to tell, don't speak too loudly near me, 'cause I'll hear them with my super bat-like ears.


HEY!! I heard that--who said that? My ears are NOT pointy like a bat's!

Sunday, August 28, 2005

Tagged

Also tagged by Ryan for this list. I don't own an Ipod and don't have any music on my computer (believe it or not!) because I just don't bother to download any. Rarely listen to the radio, when I do its usally a classical station, have a bunch of CD's I bought years I hardly ever listen to (mostly techno, electronic music) and really don't know many of the current artists, so this list will mainly consist of songs/artists I have enjoyed listening to...

1-Higher State Of Trance-various artists/songs (3-CD set I bought about a year ago)
2-Everybody Dance Now: C + C Music Factory (Also have it as a ringtone on my cel phone)
3-Everything Is Wrong: Moby
4-Purple Rain: Prince
5-Cream: Prince
6-The Power: SNAP
7-Tainted Love: Soft Cell
8-Do You Really Want To Hurt Me: Culture Club
9-Revolution: Arrested Development
10-Do Me!: Bell Biv DeVoe
11-Drums Of Passion: Babatunde Olatunji (African Tribal Music)
12-Africa Drum, Chant & Instrumental Music: Recorded by Stephen Jay
13-Freedom: Yothu Yindi (Australian Aboriginal Music)
14-Didgeridoos-Ourimbah (Sounds Of The Aborigine)
15-The Four Seasons: Vivaldi (Classical)
16-The Logical Song: Supertramp
17-Wind Riders: Native Flute Ensemble (Native American Music)
18-Various Techno/Trance/Ambient CDs

As you can see most of this music is from a while back. I really don't have any "favorite" singers, if I like a song i don't care too much who the artist is. I enjoy music that is 'different', hence the African/Aboriginal music and electronic stuff. I can listen to and enjoy most types of music, EXCEPT Opera (hate that), not crazy about country music (sorry, country fans)but some of it is OK. I have about a dozen rap CDs from about 1988-1993 but don't care for the current rap/hip-hop. I enjoy Classical as well, but again don't have a particular favorite composer.

So there's a peek at my strange musical tastes...

Tagged

I was tagged by Ryan so here's my list:

Goals:

1-Get through my first week back at work this week after having the summer off.
2-Start eating a healthier diet (more vegetables,less junk food).
3-Begin exercises to tone up my body.
4-I'd like to meet some of my blogger friends.
5-Try to be more open, less introverted.
6-Find some friends where I live, and not just internet friends(even tho they're great,too)
7-Figure out how to earn some money off this whole internet thing.
8-Watch these 100 videotapes I've made over the years so I can get rid of them.
9-Figure out the purpose to my life & what to do with the rest of it.
10-Get to travel and see a lot more of the USA than I have so far (which is very, very little).
11-Live long enough to see the super-intelligent robots take over the world, and finally run things RIGHT!! HaHaHaHa!

Oh, sorry, that last one was just the mad scientist in me coming out...I would like to see intelligent machines, though...really...I would.

Phew...that was harder than I thought it would be--I'm more used to thinking about the fate of the universe than my own pitiful life :)

Monday, August 22, 2005

Last Days Of Summer

Summer's almost over...and I'm not happy about it. It's my favorite time of year 'cause I really hate cold weather and it seems like winter goes on forever but the summer flies by in an instant. I can already sense a chill in the evening air and its starting to get dark a bit earlier each day.

Plus the fact that I'll have to return to work next week as classes start again at the college campus where I work. Back to feeding all those hungry students, I work at a food court in the campus center. Now its not that I'm lazy (I work hard when I'm at work) but I'm just tired of work in general I think. I must be getting old :)
I shouldn't complain--not many people get the entire summer off for vacation as I do, but after 30 years in the same industry I'm just a little "burned out". Just have to repeat my mantra--"12 more years, 12 more years, 12 more years..." Then I'll be old enough to collect my crappy little Social Security pension (if there's any money left in the fund by then) and figure out what to do with the rest of my life.

I'd like to do some traveling when I retire because I've hardly been outside of Albany here, but it won't be first-class travel on my retirement income. Maybe I'll take a walking tour of the country...ha ha...I'll have plenty of time :)

Well enough of my whining & complaining. I started this post because I haven't put anything up in a few days and felt I should, so you have to take what you get. Just kidding...But I'll try to find something more interesting to blog about next time.

Monday, August 15, 2005

What Makes People Gay?

The Boston Globe newspaper's website has an extensive article on research into what makes people gay. I'm posting this link because its an excellent article and I thought others might be interested in reading it. It's a fairly long piece but worth the time to read. The article starts off with the story of 7-year-old twin boys and the differences in their behavior and interests. One displays more feminine behavior than the other even at this early age, a possible indication of his future sexual orientation. The piece goes on to discuss past and current research on the subject of sexual orientation.

Give this article a read, I think you will find it very informative.

Penguins, AGAIN?!



What is up with these penguins? They're a horny bunch of gay animals!
This link is a about several pairs of male penguins in Germany that created an uproar when zoo officials tried to "fix" them up with some female penguins, but gay rights groups protested. Zoo officials relented and are going to let them "stay gay".

Maybe the sequel to the current movie "March Of The Penguins" will be called "Gay Rights March Of The Penguins"!

Equal Time



In the interest of equal time, its NOT just the boys...here's the story of a pair of lesbian swans from Boston Public Garden named Romeo & Juliet. Turns out they are both Juliets, however, as was recently discovered when eggs they had laid never hatched. Tests showed they were both female and the eggs had not been fertilized, but the pair did make a nest in an attempt to hatch their eggs.

Anybody got a fertilized swan egg you'd like to donate to these lovely lesbian swans so they can raise a child of their own?

10/10 Continued...

Last month I did a post about the 10 movies & 10 books I'd seen and read this summer, but only listed the movies. So finally now I'll list the 10 books (even though now its actually 11). I got distracted by my move to a new apartment which is why it taken this long to finish my list.

Here are the books:

1) Beyond The Wind............................... by Rob N. Hood
2) The Order Of The Poison Oak............. by Brent Hartinger
3) Light Before Day................................ by Christopher Rice
4) A Density Of Souls............................. by Christopher Rice
5) The Snow Garden.............................. by Christopher Rice
6) Major Conflict................................... by Jeffrey McGowan
7) Chindi............................................... by Jack McDevitt
8) Omega.............................................. by Jack McDevitt
9) Engines Of The Gods......................... by Jack McDevitt
10) Neverwhere...................................... by Neil Gaiman
11) American Gods.................................. by Neil Gaiman


The first 3 books I actually got by mistake because I forgot to cancel the Selection Of the Month from InsightOut book club but decided to keep them. Numbers 1 & 2 are targeted more toward teen readers, but I enjoyed them as well. I did find some of the events that took place in "Beyond The Wind" a little hard to believe, but then again--it is fictional!
Both books are stories about gay teenagers and I would recommend either one, particularly for their intended audience.
In fact, the first 6 books on the list contain gay characters and are by gay authors, number 6-"Major Conflict" is a true account of Jeffrey McGowan's life and experiences in the army as a gay man. I bought this book from Jeffrey himself when he held a talk at the State Museum here in Albany in June. He spoke about the book and answered questions from the audience.
The 3 books by Christopher Rice are all very good. If you don't know, Christopher is the son of Anne Rice (the author of 'The Vampire Chronicles' & many others). Chris' stories don't have any vampires, but they are extremely well-written and will hold your interest throughout the enire book. I found his books hard to classify--they're a combination of mystery, thriller, & horror with plenty of suspense thrown in. (Oh, and a bit of hot gay sex)
Highly reccommended!
The rest of the books, # 7-11, are science-fiction and fantasy.
The three by Jack McDevitt tell of a future time when the Human race has begun to explore and expand throughout the galaxy in a search for other intelligent life. "Engines Of The Gods" was written before "Chindi" & "Omega"; I read it after those two, however. The books have some themes and characters that occur in all three, but they're not really direct sequels--you can read any one book by itself. But I enjoy reading series of books that take place in the same "universe" so I read them one after another.
The last two books by Neil Gaiman are more in the fantasy area. Neil Gaiman also has done graphic novels and there is a comic book mini-series (9 issues) currently being released based on "Neverwhere". "Neverwhere" is a story of an alternate world that exists under the streets of London that normally is never seen by ordinary people.
"American Gods" is the story of a man named Shadow who gets out of prison and meets someone called "Mr. Wednesday" which leads him into a strange world he never knew existed. Personally, I liked "Neverwhere" more but both books are excellent if you enjoy stories about alternate or 'hidden realities'.

All the titles have links to Amazon.com if you would like to learn more about any of these books. The authors' names link to their own websites or to related sites...some of the author links go to different sites, if an author has multiple titles.

As you may have noticed, I tend to read books by the same author when I find a writer I like. I also enjoy reading sequels or series if the story catches my interest enough to want to stay in that particular "world" for a while. My 'real world' is pretty boring, so I tend to immerse myself in 'alternate worlds' to escape from it whenever possible. Science fiction is my favorite category to read as an escape, but I also read a lot of real science books too. In particular, I read quite a bit about quantum physics (hence the title of this blog) because it is a strange and fascinating field of science that sometiomes almost seems like science fiction. Weird things occur at the sub-atomic level that seem to contradict everyday events. But perhaps I'll go more into that at a later time.

Anyway, that's my summer reading list...I've read more this past couple of months than I have for quite awhile. Usually there are too many other distractions but I spent a lot of time outdoors this summer enjoying the hot weather and escaping into some 'alternate worlds'. I've gone on a bit long here and its getting late so I have to go enter another alternate world called 'sleep'.

>>>Unless I'm just dreaming I'm writng this...<<<

Friday, August 12, 2005

The Drought Is Over

Yes, my internet drought is over as my cable service was re-connected at my new address today. And by a cute cable installer, and his equally cute son who was working with him. Sounds like the start of an interesting story, doesn't it? Bet you want to hear the rest of it, right? Well, STOP thinking those dirty thoughts; what's wrong with you people?! They just connected up the cable and left...
He was rather talkative--told me he had six children, was new to Albany and was having a bit of trouble finding his way around, had his son (who's going into 12th grade) working with him for the summer at $600/week (pretty good pay for a summer job!)--just a friendly kind of guy, I guess.

My new apartment is nicer than the old and the building is in much better shape than the old one. I have 3 rooms here-bedroom, kitchen & living room rather than just one large room as I had at the old place. So even though it was a bit of a hassle moving and I had to get rid of some old stuff I had (books & such) to avoid cluttering up the new place, it's worth it. Rent is a little higher, but the landlord actually is charging me less than what the previous tenant paid for this same apt.

Thanks to everyone who left comments here while I was "away"--I appreciate hearing from all of you.

Update on the "gay penguins" story I posted earlier: just got a mailing from Insightout Book Club and it turns out there's a children's book about Roy & Silo called "And Tango Makes Three" and the abandoned penguin egg they took care of and hatched. The book is also available at Amazon.com
Don't worry--I'm not getting a penguin fetish--I just thought this was an interesting story :)

Bye for now

Wednesday, August 10, 2005

Phone post: is it just me or does anyone else think that this is a very strange planet-this place called earth? :) :) Martin

Tuesday, August 09, 2005

Phone post-Two more days until i get my internet in my new apt-right now i am feeding a squirrel in the park-fun,huh! :) Martin

Sunday, August 07, 2005

Phone post: finally got all my stuff moved into my new apt-friend helped friday w/tv/computer/etc. Be back online thurs :) Martin

Friday, August 05, 2005

Moving Day(s)

Well, the day is finally here--I'm moving to a new apartment. Actually, I'm been moving stuff since Tuesday when I got the keys to my new place. It's not a very far move, in fact the building I'm moving into is right next door (around the corner) from where I have been living. But it's still a lot of work packing and lugging everything over there, especially in this 90 degree heat & high humidity. But I've got most of my crap moved. A friend is coming by this evening to help with the items that are too heavy for me to carry, like my TV & stand, microwave, etc.

Also, I'm sad to say, this will probably be my last post here until late next week. The cable company can't transfer my service until Thursday August 11th so I have to do without the Internet until then. *sniff* Even though I've only had internet since the start of this year, I have become quite addicted to it :) and it will be hard to do without even for a short time. I was going to leave my computer here in my old apartment over the weekend, but decided I'd better move it tonight when my friend is here to help me with the last of my stuff. Besides, the electric service is be turned off here Monday, anyway.

I will probably send some short text messages to my blog from my cel phone for the next few days to help ease going "cold turkey" on the internet.

Well, gotta go haul some more boxes so that's all for now. Maybe I can take some pics of my new apartment and post them here later before I disconnect the computer.

I'll really miss reading all my favorite blogs--see you all next Thursday!!

Tuesday, August 02, 2005

Roy And Silo

Having recently seen the documentary March Of The Penguins I found this news story about Roy & Silo, two "gay penguins", especially interesting. As The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

Roy and Silo, two chinstrap penguins at the Central Park Zoo in Manhattan, are completely devoted to each other. For nearly six years now, they have been inseparable. They exhibit what in penguin parlance is called "ecstatic behavior": That is, they entwine their necks, they vocalize to each other, they have sex. Silo and Roy are, to anthropomorphize a bit, gay penguins.

When offered female companionship, they have adamantly refused it. And the females aren't interested in them, either.

They even raised a baby penguin together.

At one time, the two seemed so desperate to incubate an egg together that they put a rock in their nest and sat on it, keeping it warm in the folds of their abdomens, said their chief keeper, Rob Gramzay. Finally, he gave them a fertile egg that needed care to hatch. Things went perfectly, and a chick, Tango, was born.

For the next 2 1/2 months they raised Tango, keeping her warm and feeding her food from their beaks until she could go out into the world on her own. Gramzay is full of praise. "They did a great job," he said.


The full article goes on to desribe other instances of "gay" animal behavior if you'd like to read it just click on the link.

Quick Morning Post

Just a quick post this morning before I go out to get some fresh air...

My landlord is supposed to call me & come by later today to show me an apartment in the house next door which he also owns. I will probably be moving there because they have to do some major repair work on the place I'm currently living. I've packed up some stuff already but its still going to be a major hassle getting all my things moved even though I don't have far to go. I would really like to move to a completely different neighborhood if I have to move, but just don't have the money to rent another place right now or hire movers.

I'll give that place a try at least for a year until I can save up money enough to move somewhere else if I decide to move to another neighorhood. I may be offline for a day or two while I have the cable company switch my internet service--that shouldn't take too long since the buildings are right next to each other. I can always put up a small post from my phone as I have done a few times before.

Going to go out for a while now 'cause its just too hot inside--I'll have my breakfast in the park this morning! Hope the squirrels don't try to grab my nuts!! :)