I have yet to write anything about the last episode of BSG, which I watched a week late since I was on vacation when it aired.
First... can you believe that Cmdr Adama left the fleet in the hands of a homosexual. Woohoo to BSG! Oh yeah... it's just a TV show... and not even since Hoshi was only gay in a webisode. Still it seemed kinda special anyway.
Second, I didn't foresee the end, which is kinda refreshing. But that said, I should have been able to guess it. I mean, the colonies returning to present day Earth would've been interesting if it hadn't already been done before. Returning to a future earth would've been stupid because the viewers wouldn't be able to relate. And provided that they weren't go to kill everyone off, there really was only left one possible outcome left. Somehow I missed it though.
Anyway, I enjoyed the series even more than I had enjoyed the original when I was a kid. The only regret is that it's over. Fortunately, we still have the cylon-view movie coming up and of course, there's Caprica.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Monday, March 30, 2009
Insurance and Healthcare
This is a boring topic I know, but my mind does tend to wander...
The philosophy of insurance is the concept of shared risk. It is the idea that there is a low probability of some catastrophic event that would bankrupt its victim. However, by pooling our premiums 100 of us are able to contribute such that when one of faces that dire circumstance, we can all get through it.
I recall being in a poor South America country a few years back when it hit me what the differences intrinsic differences between the first and third worlds are. I'm talking about wealth, but what makes wealth and order possible. One of these were insurance. In America we're fairly protected from everything other than death. Even then we'll likely have some help.
So it pains me when I read an article like this one, detailing how insurance companies are routinely using public information of disenfranchise a huge portion of our population. I actually don't blame the insurance companies because they are only doing what companies do. It's the system that's broken and needs to be seriously fixed.
If I follow the article to it's logical conclusion, the next time I'm in a doctor's office and he says that I really need to take metformin to stay healthy, I just might refuse to because I'm worried that I might be un-insurable 5 years from now.
THIS IS WHY WE NEED HEALTHCARE REFORMS! THE INDUSTRY CANNOT SOLVE THESE THINGS ON ITS OWN!!!
The philosophy of insurance is the concept of shared risk. It is the idea that there is a low probability of some catastrophic event that would bankrupt its victim. However, by pooling our premiums 100 of us are able to contribute such that when one of faces that dire circumstance, we can all get through it.
I recall being in a poor South America country a few years back when it hit me what the differences intrinsic differences between the first and third worlds are. I'm talking about wealth, but what makes wealth and order possible. One of these were insurance. In America we're fairly protected from everything other than death. Even then we'll likely have some help.
So it pains me when I read an article like this one, detailing how insurance companies are routinely using public information of disenfranchise a huge portion of our population. I actually don't blame the insurance companies because they are only doing what companies do. It's the system that's broken and needs to be seriously fixed.
If I follow the article to it's logical conclusion, the next time I'm in a doctor's office and he says that I really need to take metformin to stay healthy, I just might refuse to because I'm worried that I might be un-insurable 5 years from now.
THIS IS WHY WE NEED HEALTHCARE REFORMS! THE INDUSTRY CANNOT SOLVE THESE THINGS ON ITS OWN!!!
Things I Love
I frequently have conversations with people I meet about what moves them... what do they love to do most. The normal thing to do when we meet others is to ask "what do you do", referring to their occupation. I like to ask the same question, but in reference to fun.
So what do I love?
- I love interacting with people. This can be good friends, acquaintances or just meeting new people. Often I feel that I take a little something away from such meetings. I love the socializing, and most especially, the sharing of our essences.
- I love anything nude. Partly because it enhances my interactions with people, but also because I'm a little bit of an exhibitionist.
- I love dedicating myself to some task and becoming good at it. Examples of this include my life-long love of sports and pursuit to learn Spanish. I love struggling and putting everything into a tennis game and leaving knowing that I did the absolute best that I could on that day.
- I love learning new things and understanding things. This includes travel, culture, history and technology.
- I love seeing people smile.
- I love to contemplate the world I live in including topics such as sociology, science and politics as well as anything else that might capture my attention on a given day.
- I love beautiful, warm days with a bright shining sun.
- I love to see people in scant clothing on warm days. It's not necessarily sexual, but just the enjoyment of having layers that separate us removed.
Tennis Porn
Fernando Verdasco is a hottie tennis player and has combined two of my favorite things by posing naked for a charity event.
Kinda makes me reminisce of naked tennis at the GNI Gathering. Too bad I didn't get any pictures since I played 6 out of 7 days. Oh well. I guess it just gives me something to look forward to this year. I was thinking of going for the second half-week, but now am contemplating the full week. We'll see...
Kinda makes me reminisce of naked tennis at the GNI Gathering. Too bad I didn't get any pictures since I played 6 out of 7 days. Oh well. I guess it just gives me something to look forward to this year. I was thinking of going for the second half-week, but now am contemplating the full week. We'll see...
Friday, March 27, 2009
Maspalomas
Pictures from Gran Canaria...
There was a pretty large nude beach. The first portion was mostly straight and the second half was very gay. But then again, everything on the island seemed pretty gay to me.
Miles of dunes. The dunes are created with sands that blow from the Sahara so it was my first time being in the kind of desert that we see depicted on TV.
There was a pretty large nude beach. The first portion was mostly straight and the second half was very gay. But then again, everything on the island seemed pretty gay to me.
Miles of dunes. The dunes are created with sands that blow from the Sahara so it was my first time being in the kind of desert that we see depicted on TV.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
London and Gran Canaria Summary
I just arrived from my first major trip of the year. The BF and 6 other friends and I took an 11-day trip to London and the Canary Islands. It was absolutely fantastic. It's pretty easy for me to enjoy wherever I am, and being with the BF can make almost anyplace fun, but I have to say that the group of guys that we went with are just all great people, terrific friends and made our time so much better.
I plan to post more details later, but let me synopsize...
We spent the first 4 days in London where we went to XXL, Admiral Duncans, the Hoist and several bars whose names escape me. Four of us also went with a Londoner to a gay, nudist get together that was pretty cool and fun.
The last 7 days were spent in Gran Canaria. It's one of the few places I 've been in my life where we encountered very, very few Americans albeit there were plenty of Europeans and even several Canadians. There were also very, very few black people, which was a little surprising to me since it is geographically more a part of Africa than anywhere else.
We had 80 degree weather every day. We spent the days on the beach Las Playas Maspalomas. Things are pretty cheap there so we could've taken a cab to the beach for about 4 euros, but why would I when half of the walk was about a mile through dunes and nature where I could walk stark naked. Even the constant breeze helped keep us perfectly cooled during the walks. We had celebrated a cocktail party with the group back at the Villas Blancas resort where we were staying. We'd all get together and typically have a couple of other people that we had either met. Around 9 or so, we'd head down to the Yumbo center. This was like a huge courtyard-oriented, outdoor mall where there was there was plenty of shopping, restaurants and plenty of pretty good night entertainment. I normally don't like touristy things too much, but I actually really enjoyed the Yumbo center. After a week of being there, I still hadn't had enough of it.
The last thing I'll say in this first posting is that I was really struck by just how the gay the whole area was. I mean, yes it's a popular European gay destination, but it seemed to go far beyond that. For example, they were celebrating Carnival while we were there. All the locals participate in this and all of the young guys from ages 15 to 30 all dress up in the most pretty and feminine attire. There were butterflies, bumblebees and lots of boys in drag. Of course many of them were gay, but many of them were surprisingly straight too. It was pretty amazing to see a culture were being campy was so mainstream and to contemplate the obvious impact this has on acceptance in such a place. It's sad to think that I couldn't see this happening anywhere in the US anytime soon.
We took plenty of pictures which I tend to post soon. I haven't seen them yet since the airport lost one of our luggage bags and we've only just received it today (4 days later). Hopefully, nothing went missing such as our camera during this time.
I plan to post more details later, but let me synopsize...
We spent the first 4 days in London where we went to XXL, Admiral Duncans, the Hoist and several bars whose names escape me. Four of us also went with a Londoner to a gay, nudist get together that was pretty cool and fun.
The last 7 days were spent in Gran Canaria. It's one of the few places I 've been in my life where we encountered very, very few Americans albeit there were plenty of Europeans and even several Canadians. There were also very, very few black people, which was a little surprising to me since it is geographically more a part of Africa than anywhere else.
We had 80 degree weather every day. We spent the days on the beach Las Playas Maspalomas. Things are pretty cheap there so we could've taken a cab to the beach for about 4 euros, but why would I when half of the walk was about a mile through dunes and nature where I could walk stark naked. Even the constant breeze helped keep us perfectly cooled during the walks. We had celebrated a cocktail party with the group back at the Villas Blancas resort where we were staying. We'd all get together and typically have a couple of other people that we had either met. Around 9 or so, we'd head down to the Yumbo center. This was like a huge courtyard-oriented, outdoor mall where there was there was plenty of shopping, restaurants and plenty of pretty good night entertainment. I normally don't like touristy things too much, but I actually really enjoyed the Yumbo center. After a week of being there, I still hadn't had enough of it.
The last thing I'll say in this first posting is that I was really struck by just how the gay the whole area was. I mean, yes it's a popular European gay destination, but it seemed to go far beyond that. For example, they were celebrating Carnival while we were there. All the locals participate in this and all of the young guys from ages 15 to 30 all dress up in the most pretty and feminine attire. There were butterflies, bumblebees and lots of boys in drag. Of course many of them were gay, but many of them were surprisingly straight too. It was pretty amazing to see a culture were being campy was so mainstream and to contemplate the obvious impact this has on acceptance in such a place. It's sad to think that I couldn't see this happening anywhere in the US anytime soon.
We took plenty of pictures which I tend to post soon. I haven't seen them yet since the airport lost one of our luggage bags and we've only just received it today (4 days later). Hopefully, nothing went missing such as our camera during this time.
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