Two Distinct Worlds...
06/20/2010 07:40
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A (somewhat) terrible thing recently happened to a podcaster whom I feel I can call a friend. In short, his blog was discovered by someone and work got back to his employer. The employer simply suggested that "he should perhaps take it down". So with that my friend did indeed take his web-presence down.
Now I don't know if the content was deemed objectionable because of what was on the site (e.g. audio, tweets, etc) or if it was due to a tabbed page containing original photography of male nudes. Either way this is a sad turn of events. Sad because in the 21st Century, so many of us still cannot enjoy freedom of expression with fear of some type of reprisal.
This is difficult to absorb at best. In fact it makes me angry, very angry.
Of course, what happened to my friend gave me pause and forced me to think - or rethink - how and what I put up on the web under THIS persona. After a careful review of "some" of my posts, I felt they were just too close to the opinions and viewpoints I may share in real life and that just felt uncomfortable; for all intents and purposes THOSE posts have been removed and are unlikely to be reposted anywhere else.
Going forward I will be working very hard to separate my two worlds.
The blog here at veritablevirgo.net will be a place for comments about GLBT life as viewed through the lens of a blogger and wanna-be podcaster who, for now, remains necessarily cloaked. That said, it still is so very easy to merge your public and private personas if one is not careful, meticulous and almost always on the lookout for signs of trouble.
Here's to a better day, when people don't have to fear what they say and a time when Freedom of Speech really lives up to its name.
Now I don't know if the content was deemed objectionable because of what was on the site (e.g. audio, tweets, etc) or if it was due to a tabbed page containing original photography of male nudes. Either way this is a sad turn of events. Sad because in the 21st Century, so many of us still cannot enjoy freedom of expression with fear of some type of reprisal.
This is difficult to absorb at best. In fact it makes me angry, very angry.
Of course, what happened to my friend gave me pause and forced me to think - or rethink - how and what I put up on the web under THIS persona. After a careful review of "some" of my posts, I felt they were just too close to the opinions and viewpoints I may share in real life and that just felt uncomfortable; for all intents and purposes THOSE posts have been removed and are unlikely to be reposted anywhere else.
Going forward I will be working very hard to separate my two worlds.
The blog here at veritablevirgo.net will be a place for comments about GLBT life as viewed through the lens of a blogger and wanna-be podcaster who, for now, remains necessarily cloaked. That said, it still is so very easy to merge your public and private personas if one is not careful, meticulous and almost always on the lookout for signs of trouble.
Here's to a better day, when people don't have to fear what they say and a time when Freedom of Speech really lives up to its name.
Comments
R-EVO-LTING
I'm sort of miffed.
This afternoon, I walked into the local Sprint® retail store in Boston intent on getting answers to two questions regarding my account. Those questions, in no particular order; 1: What type of penalty would I face if I canceled my 3G USB data modem before the 2 year commitment-end date of 1/5/2011, and 2: Could I get the upgrade date for my phone upped - even if by 30 days.
The store "retail advocate" could not tell me the penalty amount but suggested that if I call Customer Care that information would be available. As for upping the upgrade date from 8/1/2010 to 7/1/2010 - No dice, but again calling Customer Care and speaking to a supervisor might see some flexibility there as well.
Well, I did call Sprint® Customer Care about an hour ago, and I did get answers to these two inquires albeit not necessarily the answers I was looking for - well partly. If I cancel the 3G USB data modem before January 2011, there will be a $60 EFT, a fee that has obviously been prorated from the normal $200. As for the upgrade to my phone - there wasn't any movement there. For the record, I did not speak with a supervisor, so I may still have to do that.
I've also tweeted to @sprintcare to see if a supervisor would entertain my request for an override as I was REALLY looking to get a HTC EVO in time for my vacation starting on July 2, 2010.
This afternoon, I walked into the local Sprint® retail store in Boston intent on getting answers to two questions regarding my account. Those questions, in no particular order; 1: What type of penalty would I face if I canceled my 3G USB data modem before the 2 year commitment-end date of 1/5/2011, and 2: Could I get the upgrade date for my phone upped - even if by 30 days.
The store "retail advocate" could not tell me the penalty amount but suggested that if I call Customer Care that information would be available. As for upping the upgrade date from 8/1/2010 to 7/1/2010 - No dice, but again calling Customer Care and speaking to a supervisor might see some flexibility there as well.
Well, I did call Sprint® Customer Care about an hour ago, and I did get answers to these two inquires albeit not necessarily the answers I was looking for - well partly. If I cancel the 3G USB data modem before January 2011, there will be a $60 EFT, a fee that has obviously been prorated from the normal $200. As for the upgrade to my phone - there wasn't any movement there. For the record, I did not speak with a supervisor, so I may still have to do that.
I've also tweeted to @sprintcare to see if a supervisor would entertain my request for an override as I was REALLY looking to get a HTC EVO in time for my vacation starting on July 2, 2010.
John Forsythe, 92
04/02/2010 04:10
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The man who came into this world as John Lincoln Freund, in Penns Grove, New Jersey on January 29, 1918 and was known to TV and movies circles as John Forsythe, died on April 1, 2010 at the age of 92.
In addition to his work in television, Mr. Forsythe also had worked the American theatrical stage. He is perhaps best known for what he leaves behind: 25 films, including Escape from Fort Bravo (1953), The Trouble with Harry (1955), ...And Just for All (1979), and the two Charlie's Angels feature films (2000, 2003) in which he reprised the role of Charlie which he first performed during the television series of the same name, in the mid-to-late 1970s.
John Forsythe was also well-known for an expansive television career in which he played some memorable and mostly-likable characters, including the aforementioned Charlie in 'Charlie's Angels' (1976-1981) alongside Farah Fawcett, Kate Jackson, Jaclyn Smith, Cheryl Ladd, Shelley Hack, Tanya Roberts, and David Doyle. Providing the voice of Charlie was the start of a 13-year association between Forsythe and producer Aaron Spelling.
Forsythe would later go on to star as oil magnate Blake Carrington, the conniving patriarch of the Carrington family on "Dynasty". There was also a small part for his Blake character on the short-lived spin-off, The Colbys.
John was a veteran of military service, and enjoyed owning and breeding Thoroughbred racehorses.
He died on April 1, 2010 from pneumonia, at the age of 92.
In addition to his work in television, Mr. Forsythe also had worked the American theatrical stage. He is perhaps best known for what he leaves behind: 25 films, including Escape from Fort Bravo (1953), The Trouble with Harry (1955), ...And Just for All (1979), and the two Charlie's Angels feature films (2000, 2003) in which he reprised the role of Charlie which he first performed during the television series of the same name, in the mid-to-late 1970s.
John Forsythe was also well-known for an expansive television career in which he played some memorable and mostly-likable characters, including the aforementioned Charlie in 'Charlie's Angels' (1976-1981) alongside Farah Fawcett, Kate Jackson, Jaclyn Smith, Cheryl Ladd, Shelley Hack, Tanya Roberts, and David Doyle. Providing the voice of Charlie was the start of a 13-year association between Forsythe and producer Aaron Spelling.
Forsythe would later go on to star as oil magnate Blake Carrington, the conniving patriarch of the Carrington family on "Dynasty". There was also a small part for his Blake character on the short-lived spin-off, The Colbys.
John was a veteran of military service, and enjoyed owning and breeding Thoroughbred racehorses.
He died on April 1, 2010 from pneumonia, at the age of 92.
Ricky Martin
03/29/2010 06:15
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Today, Ricky Martin (Enrique Martin Morales) officially and openly joins the global LGBT community.
On his personal website, Mr. Martin is quoted as saying "I Am a Fortunate Homosexual Man", and while this may not come as news to everyone it should be treated as a significant step forward in Mr. Martin's personal life as well as in how he sees his place in the world and in the lives of his children, whom hopefully will grow up in a world without so much LGBT hatred, discrimination and self-loathing.
I, for one, am very proud of Ricky's announcement today, and I have wished him well via a Twitter post. I don't expect a reply, but it just felt good knowing that I could congratulate another human being on their decision to embrace honesty and live life free from the confines of the closet.
Not that long ago, I completed a similar journey that was years in the making. Honestly, I don't know why I was so afraid to be honest with my family all this time. But I can tell you that in completing that circle (in all honesty, it's not 100% complete yet - a few more relatives to chat with), has meant the world to me. Opening the closest door and finally stepping out, lifts an emotional and psychological burden that is almost impossible to properly describe. It gives me clarity of thought than can now be stolen away by the other demands of life. I no longer feel encumbered by the energy-sucking power that is the closet. I'm free to live life as an out gay man complete with all of its ups and downs, pluses and minuses, wins and loses.
Mr. Martin is now free to do all of those things too, while raising his two beautiful boys.
When I see shallow comments posted on the internet from others in the LGBT community it reminds of just how far we have yet to go before we can truly think of ourselves as a community unified around the common goal of equality and speaking with one voice in the attainment of respect.
Don't get me wrong, I know we all love that irresistible opportunity for a stinging "one-liner", especially when it gets us noticed, but do we really have to make such comments on the heels of a coming out such as this? Who cares if you always felt that Ricky Martin was gay, or if you don't think this is worthwhile news, or that you think he's trying to "out gay Sean Hayes". What really matters is that Ricky spent whatever time he needed making a decision that will affect him and his career for the rest of his life. In doing so, he undoubtedly had to consider the impact to his potential to continue selling music that up until now has been largely marketing to heterosexual buyers. Even if you got your own gay groove on to "Living La Vida Loca", his music has never been explicitly marketed to us, and for all we know if may never be even now that he's an out celebrity.
What's also important about this announcement is that hopefully Ricky will feel comfortable openly and publicly supporting causes which are important to the gay community. Hopefully this means he will be yet another celebrity voice supporting the progression of equality, ending discrimination, and teaching the next generation to accept each other despite their differences.
Kudos, Ricky! Welcome!
On his personal website, Mr. Martin is quoted as saying "I Am a Fortunate Homosexual Man", and while this may not come as news to everyone it should be treated as a significant step forward in Mr. Martin's personal life as well as in how he sees his place in the world and in the lives of his children, whom hopefully will grow up in a world without so much LGBT hatred, discrimination and self-loathing.
I, for one, am very proud of Ricky's announcement today, and I have wished him well via a Twitter post. I don't expect a reply, but it just felt good knowing that I could congratulate another human being on their decision to embrace honesty and live life free from the confines of the closet.
Not that long ago, I completed a similar journey that was years in the making. Honestly, I don't know why I was so afraid to be honest with my family all this time. But I can tell you that in completing that circle (in all honesty, it's not 100% complete yet - a few more relatives to chat with), has meant the world to me. Opening the closest door and finally stepping out, lifts an emotional and psychological burden that is almost impossible to properly describe. It gives me clarity of thought than can now be stolen away by the other demands of life. I no longer feel encumbered by the energy-sucking power that is the closet. I'm free to live life as an out gay man complete with all of its ups and downs, pluses and minuses, wins and loses.
Mr. Martin is now free to do all of those things too, while raising his two beautiful boys.
When I see shallow comments posted on the internet from others in the LGBT community it reminds of just how far we have yet to go before we can truly think of ourselves as a community unified around the common goal of equality and speaking with one voice in the attainment of respect.
Don't get me wrong, I know we all love that irresistible opportunity for a stinging "one-liner", especially when it gets us noticed, but do we really have to make such comments on the heels of a coming out such as this? Who cares if you always felt that Ricky Martin was gay, or if you don't think this is worthwhile news, or that you think he's trying to "out gay Sean Hayes". What really matters is that Ricky spent whatever time he needed making a decision that will affect him and his career for the rest of his life. In doing so, he undoubtedly had to consider the impact to his potential to continue selling music that up until now has been largely marketing to heterosexual buyers. Even if you got your own gay groove on to "Living La Vida Loca", his music has never been explicitly marketed to us, and for all we know if may never be even now that he's an out celebrity.
What's also important about this announcement is that hopefully Ricky will feel comfortable openly and publicly supporting causes which are important to the gay community. Hopefully this means he will be yet another celebrity voice supporting the progression of equality, ending discrimination, and teaching the next generation to accept each other despite their differences.
Kudos, Ricky! Welcome!
TURN OFF THE LIGHTS, SWEET DARLIN'....
03/27/2010 04:48
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EARTH HOUR 2010 IS QUICKLY APPROACHING!
Since I started this blog post, some fifteen-minutes have elapsed. I know I'll be doing my part to honor Earth Hour by shutting down my lights during that 60-minute stretch. Will you too?
What the heck? Can't we all live without lights for one hour? We had better be able to, or one day we won't have a choice of "shutting off the lights" for they'll be shut off for us whether we like it or not.
For more information about Earth Hour 2010, go to www.myearthhour.org
Since I started this blog post, some fifteen-minutes have elapsed. I know I'll be doing my part to honor Earth Hour by shutting down my lights during that 60-minute stretch. Will you too?
What the heck? Can't we all live without lights for one hour? We had better be able to, or one day we won't have a choice of "shutting off the lights" for they'll be shut off for us whether we like it or not.
For more information about Earth Hour 2010, go to www.myearthhour.org
Untenable Population Growth
03/25/2010 05:51
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The world's population is nearly seven billion people (actually 6,810,766,507 at 00:32 UTC on 03/26/2010).
In the fictionalized world of Star Trek, the evil cybernetic race 'The Borg' went back in time to assimilate the humans who were on Earth immediately following the Third World War (somewhere around April 2063, or just before "First Contact" with the Vulcans). During the Enterprise-E's pursuit of the Borg escape craft and caught in that ship's temporal wake, Lt. Cmdr Data remarked that the population of Earth was "approximately 9 billion - all Borg". With the current population count, we are some 2.2 billion away from that number albeit in the human form and not that of cybernetic organisms hell bent on taking over the known universe.
At the current rate of expansion among the homo sapiens, we should reach nine billion people sometime around 2040 or twenty-three years before the same point in time in the world of science-fiction.
This is by-and-large, an untenable rate of population growth. I don't know what's more distressing; that this is an impending reality or that precious little discussion is happening on the issue. If discussion ARE taking place, they aren't happening with any level of transparency at this point.
We should all be concerned about this impending disaster. Where will we house all of these people? How will we feed and employ them? How will we keep up with the infrastructure updates what will be required to accommodate such extreme levels in population growth considering that our roadways are already jam-packed during rush hour on most days.
So I'm sure I'll have more on this, but for now I'll just let these simple thoughts marinate for a bit.
Online Resources:
World Population Awareness | Human Overpopulation Crisis | Overpopulation (Wikipedia)
In the fictionalized world of Star Trek, the evil cybernetic race 'The Borg' went back in time to assimilate the humans who were on Earth immediately following the Third World War (somewhere around April 2063, or just before "First Contact" with the Vulcans). During the Enterprise-E's pursuit of the Borg escape craft and caught in that ship's temporal wake, Lt. Cmdr Data remarked that the population of Earth was "approximately 9 billion - all Borg". With the current population count, we are some 2.2 billion away from that number albeit in the human form and not that of cybernetic organisms hell bent on taking over the known universe.
At the current rate of expansion among the homo sapiens, we should reach nine billion people sometime around 2040 or twenty-three years before the same point in time in the world of science-fiction.
This is by-and-large, an untenable rate of population growth. I don't know what's more distressing; that this is an impending reality or that precious little discussion is happening on the issue. If discussion ARE taking place, they aren't happening with any level of transparency at this point.
We should all be concerned about this impending disaster. Where will we house all of these people? How will we feed and employ them? How will we keep up with the infrastructure updates what will be required to accommodate such extreme levels in population growth considering that our roadways are already jam-packed during rush hour on most days.
So I'm sure I'll have more on this, but for now I'll just let these simple thoughts marinate for a bit.
Online Resources:
World Population Awareness | Human Overpopulation Crisis | Overpopulation (Wikipedia)
Sue Sylvester is Sick of "Sneaky Gays"
03/25/2010 04:01
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Free Purple Kool-Aid for all the Teabaggers!
03/24/2010 04:34
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The folks over at @NewLeftMedia have posted a new video "The Tea Party & The Circus - Final Healthcare Reform Protest" on YouTube®. It was SO well done that I felt I had to share it here too.
THE TEA PARTY & THE CIRCUS - Final Healthcare Reform Protest
My goodness, this video is so well done. I just love how the reporter keeps asking these fucked up teabaggers and protesters "Preciously where in the bill does it say that...", and SURPRISE, not a single one of them could answer the question. The reason why? Duh! They really don't know ANYTHING about the legislation and have formed their biased opinions from listening to hearsay and by watching FOX News.
THE TEA PARTY & THE CIRCUS - Final Healthcare Reform Protest
My goodness, this video is so well done. I just love how the reporter keeps asking these fucked up teabaggers and protesters "Preciously where in the bill does it say that...", and SURPRISE, not a single one of them could answer the question. The reason why? Duh! They really don't know ANYTHING about the legislation and have formed their biased opinions from listening to hearsay and by watching FOX News.
OK, so Wow!!!
03/22/2010 05:34
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Just found a Firefox add-on called ScribeFire. This add-on to the Mozilla Firefox browser support in-browser blogging. Very cool. Obviously can't do too much of this because I'm at work, but just wanted to try it out. Later, everyone!
Mr. Speaker, The House is Not in Order....
03/21/2010 05:46
| Congress, Health Care Reform, House of Representatives
| Permalink
Did you happen to catch any of the shenanigans in the United States Congress today? No? No?!? Oh, how lucky art thou?
Earlier today, I followed a Twitter post from someone I follow to the live broadcast of House of Representative proceedings on the Health Care Reform bill, passed by the Senate and current up for debate in the House.
My initial reaction? What a freaking mess! It is truly amazing that ANYTHING gets done in Congress with this cast of characters. If the phrase, "Mr. Speaker, The House is NOT in Order" wasn't heard twenty or more times, it wasn't heard once. Amidst a whole lot of "procedural maneuvering" it seemed as if little else what actually happening. Perhaps this is why most of our legislatures are really lawyers. I saw the "Gentlemen from California (of which there are at least two) argue back and forth with the "Gentlewoman of New York" over at total of 25 seconds of time which had been yielded between one or more members of each person's political party.
At one point during the banter, I started feeling a headache coming on, so I guess it was appropriate that the discussion was on health care.
In the end, I still have no idea what happened. Did they vote? Didn't they? Did it pass? Didn't it?
One thing is for certain and that is that the vast majority of the American public will have absolutely no idea what is going on with this legislation and I suspect that Congress knows this all too well and they are using this to their advantage. We had discussions on something called the Louisiana Compromise, and a bunch of other "amendments" as well as discussion on "earmarks", which I thought the President was against. Oh well, maybe that was one of the parts of "change" that didn't come to Washington after all.
Sad thing is, that as a reasonably intelligent and educated person, I haven't the slightest idea if the current Health Care Reform legislation is good for the country, its citizens or the powerful insurance industry which has no doubt lobbied hard and long for the best possible outcome. We're told different stories by the Democrats and the Republicans and as it is to be expected, their stories differ greatly based on each parties' ideological perspective.
Perhaps the most irksome moment came when the Republican representative from California started yammering about the federal budget deficit being some $12 trillion dollars as if this was all President Obama's fault. Surely this politician isn't so naive to believe that the American people have so easily forgotten the role that George W. Bush played in DOUBLING the national debt before he left office. That simply cannot be. Can it?
Regardless of how you see this issue (the budget issue) or the health care reform issue, most Americans really just want a simple to understand interpretation as to what the reform really means to them, their families and the health care options that will be available once reform becomes law. Right now, we don't have that.
Earlier today, I followed a Twitter post from someone I follow to the live broadcast of House of Representative proceedings on the Health Care Reform bill, passed by the Senate and current up for debate in the House.
My initial reaction? What a freaking mess! It is truly amazing that ANYTHING gets done in Congress with this cast of characters. If the phrase, "Mr. Speaker, The House is NOT in Order" wasn't heard twenty or more times, it wasn't heard once. Amidst a whole lot of "procedural maneuvering" it seemed as if little else what actually happening. Perhaps this is why most of our legislatures are really lawyers. I saw the "Gentlemen from California (of which there are at least two) argue back and forth with the "Gentlewoman of New York" over at total of 25 seconds of time which had been yielded between one or more members of each person's political party.
At one point during the banter, I started feeling a headache coming on, so I guess it was appropriate that the discussion was on health care.
In the end, I still have no idea what happened. Did they vote? Didn't they? Did it pass? Didn't it?
One thing is for certain and that is that the vast majority of the American public will have absolutely no idea what is going on with this legislation and I suspect that Congress knows this all too well and they are using this to their advantage. We had discussions on something called the Louisiana Compromise, and a bunch of other "amendments" as well as discussion on "earmarks", which I thought the President was against. Oh well, maybe that was one of the parts of "change" that didn't come to Washington after all.
Sad thing is, that as a reasonably intelligent and educated person, I haven't the slightest idea if the current Health Care Reform legislation is good for the country, its citizens or the powerful insurance industry which has no doubt lobbied hard and long for the best possible outcome. We're told different stories by the Democrats and the Republicans and as it is to be expected, their stories differ greatly based on each parties' ideological perspective.
Perhaps the most irksome moment came when the Republican representative from California started yammering about the federal budget deficit being some $12 trillion dollars as if this was all President Obama's fault. Surely this politician isn't so naive to believe that the American people have so easily forgotten the role that George W. Bush played in DOUBLING the national debt before he left office. That simply cannot be. Can it?
Regardless of how you see this issue (the budget issue) or the health care reform issue, most Americans really just want a simple to understand interpretation as to what the reform really means to them, their families and the health care options that will be available once reform becomes law. Right now, we don't have that.