But... but... it's science! From scientists in (I can only imagine) brilliant lab coats.

Joking aside, you make a very valid point. As a man of science you no doubt understand that studies are notorious for carving out a small slice of like-attributed people and using them to extrapolate information about the human race in particular. Bad science is bad.

That said, from personal experience, I have noticed that openly LGBT folks tend to be, if not less depressed, at least less repressed and thus free of a certain weight that a lot of closeted folks carry around with them.

OK, so, as a scientist, I'm going to weigh in a bit more on this. You have to be very deliberate when reading scientific studies. The careless way the media represents them annoys me to no end.

1. Yes, it is generalized. All scientific studies of human beings have to be, because they sample a population and describe the average behavior and distribution.

2. Just because your own personal observations do not match that found by a scientific study does not make the study suspect. This study is comparing two AVERAGE behaviors. It does not mean that ALL gay men are happier than ALL straight men. There are two distributions, and the average of the gay one was higher than the straight one in this study.

3. The study only sampled people in their early and mid 20s. Given that it was conducted at a university, it is a safe bet that these were college students. Also, if you go to the original study, it shows the authors were all based in Montreal, Canada. Therefore, the findings of this study are also likely limited to college students in a large, liberal metropolitan area.

Taken together, what this means is that the study has simply showed that gay men in their 20s in the area of Montreal, Canada, are significantly less depressed than their straight counterparts. That's it; nothing more and nothing less. The study itself is one data point and, as always, more work needs to be done to get a better, more detailed picture of sexuality and depression.

No you are not wrong, Lesley.

...and I desperately love Star Wars, but despair over what both SoE did with Galaxies and direction BW has taken with a more than somewhat inferior FTP system.

SWTOR is a breathtakingly beautiful game that has been spectacularly mismanaged.

~J

As somebody who pops into SWTOR as a preferred player everything I read basically just tells me I shouldnt bother. Now I am not against spending money if I get to keep what I spend it on, hence why I dont subscribe but am certainly not averse to spending money on the game if I feel its worth it. TOR now though is looking less and less worth it.

The repair costs I have seen people talking about are always between the range of 10-35k and as a preferred with a cap of 350k and having higher bills anyway for not being a subbie I would imagine for me it would be sky high. Am I wrong in that assumption?

I would be willing to do some work on any of the days Nick mentioned. I am an LGBT historian and I would gladly post/open discussion about any glbt holiday (since I teach and research in the field) Simply let me know offlist what you might like me to do, and I am up for it.

jwcisneros920@gmail.com

I could also talk to colleagues about events in your cities and arrange for speakers for you (either in an online medium or real life venue, you choose). Since Stonewall already does real life gatherings, this might work...

~Jeff

While it provides some insight, I do think it's perhaps too generalised a statement to make. Personality types, age, living environment, psychological conditions, health... all of those play very important roles in depression.

Overall, it makes sense that someone who lives an honest and open life would be a happier person. Except if you live in a country where you can be sentenced to death for it, then I would suggest staying in the closet for the time being.

I am not sure about this one, i fight deep depression daily, and have attempted suicide in the past, i think that we may be the same, heterosexuals do feel some of the same feelings we do, except as gay men, we are more attached to our emotions and our feelings can get hurt easily. maybe its just me :/

You would be correct to suspect. I find myself subject to bouts of mild depression and moodiness that I did not suffer in my mid-twenties, nothing crippling mind you, but like a mild grade toothache it hums in the background.

Makes me a more bitchy guy than I used to be.

That is the burden of getting older in a starkly supercial culture. LOL.

But enough about my gay dinosaur status. :whistle:

I will likely dig into this study and examine the methodology later. It is heartening to think that today's LGBTs are much more socially well adjusted than we were in my youth.

~J

One of Benedict's more common nicknames is "Pope Palpatine." :evil:

Let us say that Benedict suffers an "image problem" that is not helped by his theological stances and moral choices. Looking like some sort of minion of Satan will not help your press, throw in his questionable choices as leader of the SCDF and Pope strictly on the issue of child molestation alone merits him a special place in hell.

~J

You're not the only one who has thought he looks rather evil. There are a ton of doctored images and memes that equate him with Emperor Palpatine from Star Wars.

There's apparently only going to be 4 species reps open to begin with and it looks like they are introducing new missions for people to do to increase their reputations with each of these. Unfortunately, it looks like most if not all are new dailies... :(

The other item they mentioned is repair costs are probably going up! ARRGHHHH! NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! They state that gear enhancements were inadvertently ignored when repair costs were calculated. Not good news at all as I've always thought repair costs were prohibitively high. Even on some of my lower level alts, if I die once it's often more than 1k credits to repair. That and the ridiculous prices they charge for training for each ability upgrade and it's increasingly difficult to keep much of anything in your account. I've taken to skipping some upgrades just to get by from day to day. :angry:

I am extremely impressed by everyone's abilities when it comes to foreign languages here. My only addition to this thread is one of pure observation that may or may not be attributed to anything in particular. Has anyone ever noticed how particularly evil Benedict generally looks in most photos? Not trying to be the least bit slanderous either but I noticed this early on and the feeling has persisted with each photo that has been published of him. :(

Im a Turret fan, specially when flying something that turns like a turtle. The phased tetryon turrets I really like if i could afford. The dual proc is just a thing of beauty.

Thanks Nick, I'll add those to my "To Do" list... Some of it, like actually visiting the Odin was just to show off, lol.

Great mission! I really enjoyed the story and the dialogue. You fit it perfectly into cannon and had a lot of detail in the mission.

A few notes...

Yes, but the silly ones with their guns and Jeebus are plenty scary. We are now living in a country where a silly hack like Ted Nugent is trotted out by a political party ostensibly to make a serious response to the President of the United States on gun control.

Ted Nugent does not have the qualifications or intellectual chops to be serious long enough to take a breath, much less talk seriously about gun control. US politics have now devolved to the level of Italian politics, which I consider downright puerile. Berlusconi became a politician to avoid being investigated for financial crimes, even with that known to the average Italian (or European), they view US politics as a circus sideshow with two different fucking clown cars.

...naturally, it is our own silly faults. We let these folks lead us around by our noses, lurching from one manufactured crisis to the other. So is it a surprise when a REAL crisis that deserves serious attention pops up, we treat such crises the same way we treat the made up ones?

Marco Rubio is an intellectual lightweight. Ted Nugent is an insane gun freak.

We need to elect serious people to solve serious problems. The Jan Brewers, Sarah Palins, Michelle Bachmanns...how can anyone take them seriously?

Fah! I need whisky.

~Jeff

Just so everyone's clear on the times of the events depending on your area, you can use this handy table!

Eastern	11:00 AM	12:00 PM	6:00 PM	7:00 PM
Pacific	8:00 AM	9:00 AM	3:00 PM	4:00 PM
Greenwich	4:00 PM	5:00 PM	11:00 PM	12:00 AM [Next Day]

Thanks to Sthiss and Bren, we'll be hosting an additional later time slot on Sundays. I've added the times to the posts above and links to the event for each run. Be sure to RSVP!

This is an opportune time to buy cruise tickets... events like this lower ticket prices and impact a really low number of overall sailings!

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57568873/cruise-ship-adrift-in-gulf-of-mexico-for-3-days/

Another reason to vote #2 Norwegian Cruise lines!

All I care about is if you and your people are safe, for real. The silly ones can have their guns and their jesus.