marcanthony

Rooting for you, Aces. Best wishes for a fast recovery...

awesome!!!!!!!

I recently saw this movie and agree it's really worth seeing. Honestly, I thought the story was a bit contrived and hokie, but the acting by the 3 main characters was so compelling, the story was almost incidental. Logan Lerman is pretty special actually.

Couldn't agree with this more. I must hit up 100 cuties in a club or befriend 100 hotties on various online venues before I get a single reciprocal interest. But when it happens, it's more than worth it. "Of all the words of tongue and pen, the saddest are 'it might have been' "

Glad to see "Isaac" didn't keep everybody away. It's a fun time. Didn't go this year, but have always enjoyed the times in the past where I was there...

well the hurdle the SEC had to overcome was the paternalism of the Federal Government. To this day, investments in "start ups" typically require larger minimum investments by people who are called "accredited investors" meaning that they meet a minimum standard of either annual income or net worth. the reasoning behind this was to prevent people without much means from losing their last pennies in high-risk, high return type ventures. I agree with you that this is moot if full disclosure is met as we don't ask for tax returns before we let people buy lottery tickets (LOL), but it's quite an about face for the SEC (finally). I was part of the kickstarter for "Going Down in La La Land" because the young (and very beautiful) star in the show, Matthew Ludwinski, is a personal friend. It's managed to run the indie film circuit, have a couple of mainstream (small venue though) openings, and is now selling in DVD. Not a rip roaring success, but really good for Matthew and it's helped his career and his happiness... so that (much more than autographed posters/DVD's/credits has made me very satisfied with this kickstarter. the others either failed completely or are still percolating....

my response is just extremely practical. you are hooking up to have fun and feel good. if what you have to do makes you NOT feel this way, then it's probably not worth it.

Yes, but it's always been a "friends and family" situation. About 30% of the ones I have done have actually gotten fully funded and therefore charged my card (if they don't reach the goal by the date, it goes to zero). Crowd funding is a new phenomenon and a good thing IMO, and it might not be long before the SEC allows capitalization of start-ups in this way. Instead of tshirts and posters, you can actually get stock!

hoping for "hiatus"... au revoir, auf weider sehn.... and not KAY BYE. but in any case, until we meet again here, hope to see you on the "campaign" trail!

Here's an article from the Associated Press that adds some detail to the same question I raised about jury trials for complex intellectual property cases. I have no idea if this jury came to the right or wrong conclusion, but I do know that the impact of their conclusion is far too significant for their qualifications to allow them to make. I attached the link to the whole article and posted the opening few paragraphs: http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2012/08/27/apple-jurors-grappled-with-complex-patent-issues/ SAN JOSE, Calif. – The youngest juror, a 24-year-old whose favorite court attire was T-shirts bearing names of rock bands, chose a Beatles sweatshirt for Friday's dramatic unveiling of the $1.05 billion verdict in favor of computer titan Apple Inc. One of the oldest was a retired electrical engineer who, as foreman, signed the unanimous verdict that Samsung Electronics Co. copied Apple's patented technology for the iPhone and iPad. Among the other seven jurors were a homemaker, a bicycle shop manager and a U.S. Navy veteran. The decision Friday by this panel of people from many walks of Silicon Valley life was one that experts say could dramatically alter the future of computer tablet and phone design if the verdict stands. But the case also is part of a trend that has accompanied an explosion in the number of patent infringement cases, especially in the technology sector. Increasingly, these highly complex disputes are being decided by juries, rather than judges, and the juries tend to issue more generous awards for patent violations. THE ISSUE: Apple claimed Samsung's smartphones and computer tablets "slavishly copied" the iPhones and iPads. THE VERDICT: A nine-person jury unanimously ordered Samsung to pay $1 billion. THE FALLOUT: The embarrassment of the verdict is a bigger blow than the financial setback. But will all of Apple's competitors have to redesign their smartphones? WHAT'S NEXT: Samsung is asking the judge to toss out the verdict. It will appeal to the Supreme Court. Apple will ask the judge to triple the damages to $3 billion. A Sept. 20 hearing will decide these and other issues. Summary That has companies on the receiving end of successful patent infringement lawsuits crying foul and calling for reform in the patent system, but it also has some legal experts questioning whether ordinary citizens should be rendering verdicts and fixing damages in such high-stakes, highly technical cases. "That's a great question ... and it's the subject of a fair amount of current debate," said Notre Dame University law professor Mark McKenna. Deliberations in the Apple v. Samsung battle were far more challenging than most. The jury was confronted with hundreds of questions on a 20-page verdict form that was more complicated than a U.S. tax return. They had in the jury room more than two dozen electronic devices at issue, 12 patents to decipher and 109-pages of instructions from the judge on rendering a verdict. "This case is unmanageable for a jury," Robin Feldman, an intellectual property professor at the University of California Hastings Law School, said before the verdict. "There are more than 100 pages of jury instructions. I don't give that much reading to my law students. They can't possible digest it." Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2012/08/27/apple-jurors-grappled-with-complex-patent-issues/#ixzz24lu0XAvo

This is a very interesting conversation to me for a completely different reason. As Aces says, I don't profess to have enough knowledge of the relevant patents, NOR THE TRAINING AND EXPERTISE TO UNDERSTAND whether the patent was actually infringed upon by standards usually upheld by courts and the USPTO. And I am someone who actually has patents, has a patent attorney, and meets with this patent attorney quarterly. Nonetheless, as hitoall says, somehow a jury was able to understand enough to award a huge settlement to Apple. Now I have no dog in this hunt as I don't care about how much money Apple and Samsung have because they both have more than they know what to do with, but I am concerned about what it means to have a "jury of your peers" for a civil case. I understand the Constiutional requirement of this for many cases, but I am hard pressed to understand who the peers would be for many highly technical cases like these, or anti-trust suits, or complex malpractice suits, etc etc. I don't believe our founding fathers had such cases in mind when they guaranteed jury trials. Who were the peers in this case on the jury? 12 patent attorneys? Anything less, and can we be confident that they should be shaping the course of patent law and even affecting the world's economy with their verdict? Just very interesting to me and seems to me that our judicial system has not evolved in time with our explosion of knowledge and technology. Do we truly believe that 12 average citizens can provide the basis for patent law? Would you hire one of them to give you patent advice if you owned a patent? Since Apple is worth $650 billion dollars already, maybe they can give this 1.5 billion to fund research as to how we can provide a Constitutional amendment to make adjudication of complex civil cases credible.

You say you fully disagree with me yet you came to exactly the same conclusion. My statement says that two consenting adults "should be LEGALLY allowed to have sex (meaning no criminal charges and no prison time)" but that their jobs should "reserve the right to fire them for it" (meaning they lose their credentials and choose a different profession). Not sure I agree that you fully disagree. Seems to me like you feel exactly the same way.

would that law apply to a professor and her 20 yo college students (since the crime is not statutory but "inappropriate relations between student and teacher")? Seems two consenting adults should be legally allowed to have sex regardless of what their jobs are. But the jobs should reserve the right to fire them for it.

As an avid twink lover, I can say that he doesn't fit my criteria for any of those categories!!!

he was one of the leads in the recent revival of Godspell which ran on Broadway for about 9 months before closing.

It's an interesting question that Lucky poses. Originally, when I frequented Hooboy, it was truly to learn and contribute to the world of escorting and adult male entertainment (strip clubs and porn). I have primarily other avenues of "being satisfied" these days, so that's less important to me, and I can't contribute as much about escorting because I rarely hire anymore. Most of my relationships are long term ones, or those found in social networks such as clubs and interactive social media sites. So why do I still come. I think it's because I can interact here with specific and unique group of people on a variety of topics, whether it be porn, travel, mainstream entertainment, and yes, hot men. These are people who share a common interest with me that's not true in any other circle of friends that I have. These men are, like me, interested in finding sex and beauty in the male form that is accessible to us. That "fraternity" is unique to me, and so it's interesting to come and chat regardless of topic, because there's something liberating about talking about any subject with other people who have very similar desires and perspectives in an area that's not commonly talked about with others.

Thank you, Oz and Tampa, for keeping the site open for all the users even when you take your well deserved rests. It shows the ultimate respect for your participants, and one of the reasons why I frequent this site.

I understand that getting the cops to him in 15 minutes could be justifiable given traffic , changing directions, etc. But he told the story 3 times to 3 different dispatchers over 12 minutes before the last one dispatched police, who then took 3 minutes to get to him. As all of us get frustrated by being passed from person to person on phone calls, it seems 911 calls should not be subject to the same pain. Some people are calling with real emergencies. Just sayin'

I am more alarmed at how difficult it was for him to get help. Good thing he wasn't being chased by kidnappers or something. It took 15 minutes and 3 different dispatchers to get any response

violent crime stats are low compared to other cities of that size, but like everywhere else it depends where you go and what you are doing. also, the mass protests that have been going on regarding tuition hikes in the montreal cegeps and universities HAVE to make it more likely for there to be some random violence around schools, and unfortunately it's still not a resolved issue. Apparently the summer has soothed some of the most belligerent acitivity, but it's almost certain to be resurrected when school starts up again in the Fall. I love the McGill area, and the McGill ghetto is one of the greatest places on earth to hang out... but currently it's not as good as it's ever been, and she just needs to be vigilant until everything settles down.

ok if we want computer generated music... why stop at Bartok like compositions. Have the damn thing create a One Dimension song. Better yet. have it create it One Dimension. Better yet, How about a boyband that's cute and overtly gay. Better yet, how about a boy band that's cute and overtly gay and has sex with all of their fans. Hey... if the computer is making it, we can wish for whatever we want, right?

Good point and probably yes. But on the other hand, would I choose to live that life devoted to a religion/faith system that despises and judges against who I really am? Probably not. So, no. I am not that sympathetic in this case.

not so much a caption as much as a thought... but THANK GOD fashion fads are all temporary!

Obamarobertscare!

And the massively rich have NO TASTE!!! #wouldspendabilliondollarsdifferently