Friday, February 22, 2013

Five Annoying Things About Being Gay | Oh It's Scott Bryan!

1. There?s an assumption that you sleep with others all the time ? Yeah, that?s right. We all sleep with each other, 3000 times a day. There?s no need for women. No talking about feelings (with extra witty banter about your boobs), we can just cut straight to it and start unbuckling each other?s trousers. The only issue that we have to worry about is accidentally wearing each other?s clothes roughly twenty minutes later. We?re all sluts.

The problem is, in the ten years of being out I haven?t seen that much evidence of that at all. Yeah there are guys who sleep with absolutely everybody, but so are there many straight guys who sleep with absolutely everybody. The vast amount of gay guys I know are exactly the same as their straight counterparts ? we don?t know how to approach people / we don?t go home with people all the time / the only way to chat someone up is by downing three bottles of wine in a nightclub and stumbling over to them whilst trying to think up an awful yet interesting ?opening line? / oh god will they give me their phone number or not / that awful ?I don?t know what I?m doing? feeling the whole bloody time, and so on.

In fact, I?d go as far as much to say that there?s not too much difference between straight and gay guys at all. The fact is, a great deal of us (in the long term) are looking for relationships, are wanting love, are wanting to happy, just like a great deal of straight blokes. Yeah the culture perceives that getting with guys is easier than straight guys, but it doesn?t mean that we get the guys we like, or want to pull in the first place.

Now let me take your belt off.

2. You have to constantly come out to others for the rest of my life ? Coming out for the first time can be the hardest thing that a gay / bi / lesbian person could do. You agonise about the relationships with your family, your best mates, your colleagues and all sorts. Then it happens. You come out. You get an adrenalin rush as if you?ve just hurtled down Alton Towers? Oblivion just after eating 8 packets of skittles. You feel alive. You feel like you?ve just pressed a giant ?restart? button in your head. You feel like no other problem exists, that no other problem can stop you?

Then you come out? about 37,000,000 more times.

Whenever I get a new mate, new housemate, or new colleague, thinking about when tell them that I?m gay is something that is always in my mind. I know that I don?t need to tell people about my sexuality, it?s my private life after all, but essentially in the long term, I know that I have to? otherwise conversations become a bit of a mindfuck when I have to avoid anything about relationships, gay marriage, nights out, whether you?re single and ?whether you think this person is fit.?

Since coming out the first time I?ve found that there?s two perfectly acceptable ways to do it to anyone who isn?t your close friends and family. You either?

1. Strategically place a subtle reference within any conversation, flicking around the word ?girlfriend? with ?boyfriend?, ?she?s fit? with ?he?s fit? (you then look at them with a subtle stare of ?yeah that?s right, but let?s not chat about it? before moving on to the next conversation).
OR?

2. You do a ?I?m Gay? announcement followed by an Oprah interview with the other person where you talk about your feelings.

Luckily as being gay is becoming less of a WTF thing these days, I hope that I will get to the day and age where I wouldn?t need to ?think? about the process of telling other people about my sexuality anymore. Until then though, I have to.

So I apologise if, after you meet me for the first time, I decide to break the ice by shouting ?DOESN?T TOM DALEY?S SIX PACK LOOK UNREAL?? or something.

3. When did you first realise that you were gay? ? The most annoying question in the entire Universe. Never ask a gay guy this. It?s so freaking weird. It?s like asking to a straight bloke, ?when was the first time you noticed, in the glistening sun, someone?s low cut top? When did you first imagine touching another girl?s boob??

Let me just answer the question here for you. We fancy blokes. It isn?t that complicated. Some of us don?t realise we do until later, but we just fancy blokes. In the same way that you fancy someone?s arse, face, thighs or personality right now. In the same way that you first thought ?I want to have sex with [insert name and gender here] when you were a teenager.? That?s it.

Don?t ask us about it. Many of us don?t like having to do a monologue about it in front of you and all of your friends anyway. And the stories are usually quite dull. We?re not soap characters. There aren?t any EXPLOSIONS or anything. We just realised one day. We worked it out. We told everyone. That?s it.

4. People assume that you take care of yourself. ? There was a time when everyone naturally assumed that gay people were either shouting ?I?m free? in department stores or having fun up on Hampstead Heath. Then they realised we were not. Fine if you are, but many of us were not just those type of characters.

So what do many people assume that gay people are today? Fashionable, well presented, tanned, bitchy antique collectors who all undergo teeth whitening, who all have Britney Spears three songs away in their iPod, might be orange, who sneer at anything that?s low-cultured and most importantly, look after themselves and their body.

May I add here? if you are into that (bar maybe the antique collectors) totally fine. TOTALLY FINE. But why do people assume that many of us, or all of us, are like that? I for one, do not look after myself. I can?t see my bedroom floor as it?s covered in clothes. I don?t shave that well, sometimes I end up cutting myself I feel as if Sweeney Todd has visited in my sleep. I?ve never had an interest in shopping ? whenever I?ve been dragged to any clothes store in the past, I usually find the ?shoe section? just so I can sit there and wait until everyone else has finished (it?s been my ritual to stare and evaluate the condition of store?s ceiling tiles ? I literally get that bored).

The ?supposed? assumed lifestyle of being gay is all, I admit, just a bit alienating to me. It always has been. I?ve felt in the past like I?ve been pushed into a group or associated with particular labels for no particular reason. Yet again may I clarify, I have no problem with people who like this in any way, but why do all gay people continue to be represented in this way, in the media and in culture? Why can?t ?liking blokes instead of girls? be the end all of being gay, without being pushed or associated with any of the ?supposed? lifestyle? Does society label gay people or do gay people continue to label themselves? I literally don?t know.

5. People trying to matchmake the gay people up who they know -

ARE YOU NUTS? WE?RE NOT A JIGSAW PUZZLE.

Fine if you?ve been contemplating it for an age and you think that we?re a perfect couple for each other, but if you are just thinking right now about throwing two gay guys thinking that they should be together without any sense or thought? seriously, get a grip. It?s a total, criminal offence.

SHUT. IT. DOWN.

I think I?ve vented enough here. Just so you know everyone, I?m going to have a lie down.

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Source: http://ohitsscottbryan.com/2013/02/21/five-annoying-facts-about-being-gay/

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Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Crude Oil Futures Settle 80 Cents Higher at $96.66

Crude-oil futures prices climbed Tuesday on expectations of some easing of constraints that have kept inventories at lofty levels at a key Midwest terminal.

Traders also said U.S. benchmark crude oil futures for March delivery were higher on position adjustments ahead of the contract's expiration on Wednesday and activity was thin due to a week-long industry event in London.

The Seaway Pipeline, which carries crude oil from Cushing, Okla. to the Gulf Coast refining region, will increase flows from January levels, an executive of the company operating the line said. Operational snags on the line had restricted flows, allowing inventories to build up at Cushing, and pressure futures prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange for the U.S. benchmark contract, which is delivered at Cushing.

Enterprise Products Partners LP's (EPD) Seaway Pipeline is expected to carry an average of 295,000 barrels of oil a day between February and May, according to testimony from an executive filed with U.S. regulators. That is up from only about 180,000 barrels a day in January, the company said.

The pipeline expanded its capacity from 150,000 to 400,000 barrels a day in early January. But the amount of crude carried, or throughput, won't reach capacity for the "foreseeable future" because of the types of oil being moved, said William Ordemann, Enterprise's group senior vice president.

The remarks by the executive, filed Friday with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, seem to indicate that the percentage of heavy crude transported in Seaway is larger than originally thought. The nameplate capacity applies to barrels of light, sweet crude, and diminishes when larger loads of heavier crudes are shipped.

Mr. Ordemann said Seaway hopes "at some point" to increase the throughput of its line to about 335,000 barrels a day of oil, but "until Seaway has additional operating experience" with new pumping equipment, "it is not possible to say with precision when or if that will occur."

The fortunes of the U.S. benchmark and North Sea Brent, a global benchmark, recently have been tied to how much crude oil gets from the Midcontinent to the Gulf refineries. With Seaway flows increasing, domestic supplies will reach the Gulf, and compete with imports that are priced in relation to Brent.

Last October, with Cushing stocks bloated, Brent's premium to the U.S. benchmark climbed to near $24 a barrel. By January, on hopes of the Seaway expansion, the premium narrowed to below $16 a barrels. Operation snags that have prevented the line from running at capacity have allowed Brent to trade at a $20.86 a barrel premium on Tuesday.

"The market's not really catching fire today, we're just seeing some profit-taking and position adjustments," said Andy Lebow, vice president for energy futures at Jefferies Bache LLC.

Light, sweet crude oil for March-delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange settled 80 cents higher, at $96.66 a barrel. The rise was the biggest since Feb. 11. ICE April Brent crude settled 14 cents higher at $117.52 a barrel.

While analysts see some potential for relief in Cushing stockpiles, upcoming weekly data are expected to show nationwide crude inventories rose by 2.2 million barrels last week.

Because of the Presidents Day holiday Monday, release of the inventory data is delayed by a day this week.

The closely watched government survey from the Energy Information Administration is due to be released at 11 a.m. EST Thursday, while the American Petroleum Institute, an industry group, releases its inventory report at 4:30 p.m. EST on Wednesday afternoon.

The survey is expected to show refiners trimmed operations by 0.3 percentage point from EIA's level of 83.8% of capacity last week. The lower runs are expected to trim petroleum product inventories.

Gasoline stocks are expected to drop by 800,000 barrels, while distillate stocks, comprising heating oil and diesel fuel, are expected to fall by 1.5 million barrels.

Expectations of tighter supplies have lifted the price of reformulated gasoline blendstock futures sharply, but profit-taking cut prices Tuesday. Front-month RBOB prices have gained more than 15%, or about 43 cents a gallon, since Jan. 15 amid the seasonal shift from winter-grade to summer-grade fuel.

Reformulated gasoline futures prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange, which have climbed in nine of the past 10 weeks, were off 1.33 cents, at $3.1212 a gallon, after a 20-week high Friday.

March heating oil settled 2.98 cents lower, at $3.1806 a gallon, a two-week low. The drop in dollar-terms was the biggest since Jan. 15.

Angel Gonzalez contributed to this report.

Copyright (c) 2012 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

Generated by readers, the comments included herein do not reflect the views and opinions of Rigzone. All comments are subject to editorial review. Off-topic, inappropriate or insulting comments will be removed.

Source: http://www.rigzone.com/news/oil_gas/a/124466/Crude_Oil_Futures_Settle_80_Cents_Higher_at_9666?rss=true

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Video: PFT Live: Miami must say farewell to Bush

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Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/21134540/vp/50848733#50848733

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Minnesota Energy Tip: Advanced Home Energy Assessments

Written by the Minnesota Department of Commerce

Many people assume that there is little they can do to significantly reduce their energy use and increase the efficiency of their homes. In reality, there are many things that typical residents can do themselves and many other things they can hire others to do. Before embarking on home energy improvements, especially large projects, the Minnesota Department of Commerce strongly recommends having an advanced home energy assessment, or home energy audit.

An assessment of how your house is functioning can help you decide what needs fixing, what needs upgrading, and what needs replacement. It will identify some simple low-cost measures you can take, such as weather-stripping doors or sealing air leaks, and it will determine more expensive but cost-effective measures, such as adding insulation to attics or walls and replacing furnaces or water heaters.

An advanced energy assessment should include the following:

  • A thorough visual inspection for attic, wall, crawlspace, foundation, basement, window, door, and roof problems.
  • A review of energy bills to help assess home performance and identify savings opportunities.
  • A blower-door test to determine air leakage.
  • Infrared scans to detect insulation levels and sources of air leaks.
  • Efficiency and safety testing for combustion appliances.

Contact your gas or electric utility to arrange an advanced energy assessment. The Minnesota Building Performance Association also offers a list of energy auditors at www.mbpa.us.

Cost for home energy assessments can range from a discounted rate of about $40 to several hundred dollars. An energy assessment will be your first step to saving energy and saving large sums on your utility bills.

For more information on home energy assessments and energy-saving improvements, check out the ?Home Envelope? energy guide on the Division of Energy Resources website (www.energy.mn.gov).

Contact the division?s Energy Information Center at energy.info@state.mn.us or 800-657-3710 with energy questions.

Source: http://northshore.wdio.com/news/home-garden/53441-minnesota-energy-tip-advanced-home-energy-assessments

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Friday, February 15, 2013

This 'Aliens' Composite Poster Is The Best Thing About Today

Forget all about everything else you have planned today, this "Aliens" poster made entirely out of frames from the James Cameron classic (via io9) is infinitely cooler than that stuff. The best possible way to spend this February 14 is scrolling through every inch of this poster, which you can do with a helpful zoom [...]

Source: http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2013/02/14/aliens-composite-poster/

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Cave full of weapons discovered by California deputies - U.S. News

An arsenal of more than 100 firearms, cash and armor has been found in a cave in northern California. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.

By Matthew DeLuca, Staff Writer, NBC News

Deputies in northern California have discovered a massive cache of drugs, cars, and weapons, including a belt-fed machine gun and more than 100 pounds of marijuana, the Humboldt County Sheriff?s department announced on Wednesday.

A deputy uncovered the firearms on the 55-acre property of Ryan Floyd. They said 111 of them were stashed in a cave that had been camouflaged with rocks and brush; at least 20 of the weapons have been confirmed stolen, according to the sheriff?s office.

Among the weapons, many of which were loaded, was a fully automatic, World War II-era MG 42 caliber machine gun, along with a full belt of ammunition. Also in the cave were several assault-style rifles including Colt AR-15s, as well as sawed-off shotguns and Tech Nine and SKS assault weapons.

A number of the weapons are thought to be fully automatic, according to the sheriff?s office, and were fully loaded when found by a deputy.

?It was like enough for a small militia out there,? said Lt. Steve Knight of the Humboldt County Sheriff's office. ?As far as why he was holding onto this large quantity of weapons, that?s the one million dollar question.?

Humboldt County Sheriff's Office

Sheriff's deputies recover weapons from a cave in northern California.

Floyd is a longtime resident of the Humboldt County area, Knight said.

The man may have amassed the weapons with plans of selling them on the black market, said Sheriff Michael Downey. ?Based on what I saw, these were probably weapons obtained ... over the years either by theft or other means, and probably being sold on the black market somewhere along the way,? Downey said.

Also on the property in Garberville, Calif., deputies said they found jewelry that an area resident had reported stolen, according to the sheriff?s office, as well as stolen construction equipment including a tractor, a concrete cutter, an air compressor, and numerous chainsaws. Many of the items discovered had been reported stolen in the area, the sheriff?s office said.

A woman, Deanna McDonald, 33, and two small children were on the property at the time of the search, according to the sheriff?s office. Deputies issued McDonald, who is not supposed to own a gun, a notice for possession of a loaded weapon.

In previous searches of the property over the past week, police made numerous other discoveries of contraband. Law enforcement first became interested in Floyd, 30, on Feb. 2, when a deputy tried to pull over a black Chevy pickup that was driving erratically. The truck, later found to have been reported stolen from a burglarized home, was discovered empty by police after plunging down a hillside and crashing into a tree. Deputies began to look for Floyd and Oregon resident Honey Walsh, 29, as persons of interest.

Deputies and county Drug Task Force agents searched Floyd?s residence on Flint Rock Road in Garberville five days later, and arrested the man on an outstanding no-bail felony warrant for narcotics possession. He is being held without bail, Downey said. A preliminary probation search yielded 45 pounds of dried marijuana, more than $10,000 in cash, and heroin, along with scales and drug paraphernalia. Also found was a handgun, body armor, and numerous high-capacity magazines full of ammunition.

Humboldt County Sheriff's Office

Some of the weapons recovered in Garberville, Calif.

Police also reported finding evidence of numerous vehicles, including one that was confirmed stolen, according to a press release from the sheriff?s office.

A second man, 48-year-old Gregory Benson, was also arrested on the property during the Feb. 7 search for illegal possession of ammunition and a firearm by a prohibited person.

As police continued to scour the property, they found a stolen trailer, more bulletproof vests, methamphetamine, and more high-capacity magazines along with thousands of rounds of ammunition. They also found numerous empty gun holsters and rifle cases, leading them to suspect their might be more weapons on the property, and the discovery of the cave stash.

Downey said he encountered Floyd?s father Wally, now deceased, multiple times on the sprawling property about a decade ago on drug and theft charges.

?This is a piece of property I had been to numerous times surrounding the same type of criminal activity,? Downey said.

A total of 117 pounds of marijuana have been seized on the property. The investigation is ongoing, and the California Highway Patrol is assisting the sheriff?s office in determining whether any of the other vehicles discovered on the property had been stolen.

?There?s so much property out there, it?s hard trying to figure out what?s stolen and what?s not stolen,? Knight said.

Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/14/16962764-cave-full-of-weapons-discovered-by-california-deputies

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World's most sensitive plasmon resonance sensor inspired by ancient Roman cup

Feb. 14, 2013 ? Utilizing optical characteristics first demonstrated by the ancient Romans, researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have created a novel, ultra-sensitive tool for chemical, DNA, and protein analysis.

"With this device, the nanoplasmonic spectroscopy sensing, for the first time, becomes colorimetric sensing, requiring only naked eyes or ordinary visible color photography," explained Logan Liu, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering and of bioengineering at Illinois. "It can be used for chemical imaging, biomolecular imaging, and integration to portable microfluidics devices for lab-on-chip-applications. His research team's results were featured in the cover article of the inaugural edition of Advanced Optical Materials (AOM, optical section of Advanced Materials).

The Lycurgus cup was created by the Romans in 400 A.D. Made of a dichroic glass, the famous cup exhibits different colors depending on whether or not light is passing through it; red when lit from behind and green when lit from in front. It is also the origin of inspiration for all contemporary nanoplasmonics research -- the study of optical phenomena in the nanoscale vicinity of metal surfaces.

"This dichroic effect was achieved by including tiny proportions of minutely ground gold and silver dust in the glass," Liu added. "In our research, we have created a large-area high density array of a nanoscale Lycurgus cup using a transparent plastic substrate to achieve colorimetric sensing. The sensor consists of about one billion nano cups in an array with sub-wavelength opening and decorated with metal nanoparticles on side walls, having similar shape and properties as the Lycurgus cups displayed in a British museum. Liu and his team were particularly excited by the extraordinary characteristics of the material, yielding 100 times better sensitivity than any other reported nanoplasmonic device.

Colorimetric techniques are mainly attractive because of their low cost, use of inexpensive equipment, requirement of fewer signal transduction hardware, and above all, providing simple-to-understand results. Colorimetric sensor can be used for both qualitative analytic identification as well as quantitative analysis. The current design will also enable new technology development in the field of DNA/protein microarray.

"Our label-free colorimetric sensor eliminates the need of problematic fluorescence tagging of DNA/ protein molecules, and the hybridization of probe and target molecule is detected from the color change of the sensor," stated Manas Gartia, first author of the article, "Colorimetrics: Colorimetric Plasmon Resonance Imaging Using Nano Lycurgus Cup Arrays." "Our current sensor requires just a light source and a camera to complete the DNA sensing process. This opens the possibility for developing affordable, simple and sensitive mobile phone-based DNA microarray detector in near future. Due to its low cost, simplicity in design, and high sensitivity, we envisage the extensive use of the device for DNA microarrays, therapeutic antibody screening for drug discovery, and pathogen detection in resource poor setting."

Gartia explained that light-matter interaction using sub-wavelength hole arrays gives rise to interesting optical phenomena such as surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) mediated enhanced optical transmission (EOT). In case of EOT, more than expected amount of light can be transmitted through nanoholes on otherwise opaque metal thin films. Since the thin metal film has special optical property called surface plasmon resonance (SPR) which is affected by tiny amount surrounding materials, such device has been used as biosensing applications.

According to the researchers, most of the previous studies have mainly focused on manipulating in-plane two-dimensional (2D) EOT structures such as tuning the hole diameter, shape, or distance between the holes. In addition, most of the previous studies are concerned with straight holes only. Here, the EOT is mediated mainly by SPPs, which limits the sensitivity and figure of merits obtainable from such devices.

"Our current design employs 3D sub-wavelength tapered periodic hole array plasmonic structure. In contrast to the SPP mediated EOT, the proposed structure relies on Localized Surface Plasmon (LSP) mediated EOT," Gartia said. "The advantage of LSPs is that the enhanced transmission at different wavelengths and with different dispersion properties can be tuned by controlling the size, shape, and materials of the 3D holes. The tapered geometry will funnel and adiabatically focus the photons on to the sub-wavelength plasmonic structure at the bottom, leading to large local electric field and enhancement of EOT.

"Secondly the localized resonance supported by 3D plasmonic structure will enable broadband tuning of optical transmission through controlling the shape, size, and period of holes as well as the shape, size, and period of metallic particles decorated at the side walls. In other words, we will have more controllability over tuning the resonance wavelengths of the sensor."

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Illinois College of Engineering.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


Journal Reference:

  1. Manas Ranjan Gartia, Austin Hsiao, Anusha Pokhriyal, Sujin Seo, Gulsim Kulsharova, Brian T. Cunningham, Tiziana C. Bond, Gang Logan Liu. Colorimetric Plasmon Resonance Imaging Using Nano Lycurgus Cup Arrays. Advanced Optical Materials, 2013; 1 (1): 68 DOI: 10.1002/adom.201200040

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/matter_energy/biochemistry/~3/09VaFcV_khs/130214111612.htm

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