http://search.deviantart.com/?q=by:ashmael&section=today deviantART RSS for by:ashmael en-us Copyright 2009, deviantART.com Wed, 30 Dec 2009 12:03:19 PST deviantART.com http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://s.deviantart.com/minish/widgets/apple-touch-icon-precomposed.png http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/29216173/ http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/29216173/ Sat, 26 Dec 2009 13:58:27 PST
The Night's Glow by ~Tung-Sama


Kotlarski Bridge III by ~kubica


Snow in Paris 4 by *Northcumbria


Good Morning, London. by `geckokid


A Dreamy World 86th by ~grafixeye


YOKOHAMA NIGHT3 by ~weiweihua


Abre los ojos by `geckokid

]]> *ashmael http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/29121208/ http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/29121208/ Wed, 23 Dec 2009 03:58:08 PST


]]> *ashmael http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/29052673/ http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/29052673/ Sun, 20 Dec 2009 02:18:47 PST
On Orbit by ~freelancah


STELLAR ANNUNCIATION by *Astroboy


Major Event by =casperium


Legion of Stars. by =Voyager212


unseen phenomenon by =hoevelkamp


Woodpecker Nebula by *Topaz172


The Aiden Nebula by =casperium


Some of my favourite fellow space artists, among which IMHO my friendCasperium excels in nebular magnificence. I recommend a visit to her gallery, and to all the other's great artists featured here, too!(apologies to those I may have not included. They will be in fuure journals)

]]> *ashmael http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/28990646/ http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/28990646/ Wed, 16 Dec 2009 22:28:29 PST


A recent favourite snow pic to show what I mean

]]> *ashmael http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/28920355/ http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/28920355/ Sun, 13 Dec 2009 10:52:37 PST
[link]


by =SavageDragon1313



The Delicate Empire by ~vitrolux


Moving On... by ~postapocalypsia

]]> *ashmael http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/28861657/ http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/28861657/ Thu, 10 Dec 2009 10:13:30 PST
2) No matter how idiotic and insulting a group, there will be someone who will surpass it

3) No matter how idiotic and outrageous a group, it will enlist more idiots than iou think

4) What is achieved with little,is worth little.One-click "friendship"does not mean much

5) Perhaps you have something better to do

]]> *ashmael http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/28817566/ http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/28817566/ Tue, 08 Dec 2009 01:21:19 PST
We have this only Earth, for the foreseeable future.
We should care for our own planet, because it's our home
Here's Earth's Ten CommAandments.
1) I am your Earth were you live and that nurtures yiu. Never forget it!
2) Don't ever damage your Earth for epèhemeral gains
3) Do not pollute
4) Do not waste
5) Do not consume more than you need
6) Think of those who starve and lack water and health
7) Think of the future generations
8) Don't be selfishly local: think globallly
9) Any living species extinct is YOUR loss, too
10)Learn to love diversity

Thank Obama for helping the world see the light on greenhouse gases!

]]> *ashmael http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/28777158/ http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/28777158/ Sat, 05 Dec 2009 23:15:35 PST
I wanted to draw your attention to this important petition that I recently signed:

"Christian leaders must condemn Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Bill"
[link]

I really think this is an important cause, and I'd like to encourage you to add your signature, too. It's free and takes less than a minute of your time.

Thanks!

]]> *ashmael http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/28698553/ http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/28698553/ Tue, 01 Dec 2009 19:21:00 PST












]]> *ashmael http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/28631479/ http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/28631479/ Sat, 28 Nov 2009 13:59:30 PST Christmas means hope for all humanity:
The star is hope
The child is Innocence
The Birth means a new beginning
In Love. Harmony and Peace.
So,it doesn't matter if you believe or not
HAPPY CHRISTMAS SEASON!

]]> *ashmael http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/28560603/ http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/28560603/ Wed, 25 Nov 2009 02:42:48 PST
25 November

By resolution 54/134 of 17 December 1999, the General Assembly designated 25 November as the , and invited governments, international organizations and NGOs to organize activities designated to raise public awareness of the problem on that day. Women's activists have marked 25 November as a day against violence since 1981. This date came from the brutal assassination in 1960, of the three Mirabal sisters, political activists in the Dominican Republic, on orders of Dominican ruler Rafael Trujillo (1930-1961).

THE WOMAN IS THE BETTER PART OF MAN.REMEMBER!

]]> *ashmael http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/28468480/ http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/28468480/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:10:20 PST

Dreamgate by *Grivetart



boost by ~djahal


Desnoyers-Ville by ~fstarno




Mute City by *priteeboy



City In The Clouds by =Gate-To-Nowhere



Raison d'etre by ~Philipstraub

]]> *ashmael http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/28424095/ http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/28424095/ Tue, 17 Nov 2009 22:06:38 PST
Dear Friend

Ten days ago, the House passed the Stupak Amendment, which would be one of the biggest setbacks to women's health in recent decades - unless we stand together and stop it.

That's why we are launching a petition at FightForWomensHealth.com, because women must not be denied access to safe and legal medical procedures.

Will you join us? Click here to stand with us to protect women's health and help remove the anti-choice Stupak Amendment from the final health care reform bill:

[link]

For decades, a very difficult and delicate compromise has held firm: Women can use their own private funds for legal reproductive health care procedures, but federal funds cannot be used for abortion except in cases of rape, incest, or to protect the life of the mother.

But in a stunning turn of events, anti-choice House members passed the Stupak Amendment as part of the health care reform bill and shattered that compromise.

The House amendment would tell women who participate in the new health insurance exchange that they can't even use their own funds to buy a policy that includes abortion coverage.

In short, the Stupak Amendment would take away health insurance coverage that women already have. This would be a huge step back for women's health.

You know I will be there speaking out on this issue at every stage of the process and everywhere I can. But as the details of the Senate's health care blll are worked out, we need to be sure that all our voices are heard clearly on this issue.

Please stand with us to protect women's health and help remove the Stupak Amendment from the final health care bill. Sign our petition now.

[link]

The Stupak Amendment is dangerous and unnecessary.

The original health reform bill did not change current abortion policy and already had a prohibition on the use of federal funds to pay for abortion services.

But that wasn't good enough for the anti-choice forces. They want to use health care reform as an excuse to turn back the clock on women's health. We need to speak out now.

How can we tell women that they will lose coverage that they already have? How can we tell women that they can't buy insurance coverage for a legal health care procedure, even if it's paid for with their own money?

The Stupak Amendment is discriminatory, extreme, and just plain wrong.

We cannot let it stand. Sign our petition now.

Thank you so much for joining us in this critical fight for women's health.

In Friendship,

Barbara Boxer
U.S. Senator

]]> *ashmael http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/28413800/ http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/28413800/ Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:11:41 PST
On November 16th, pastors and other clergymen (yes, clergyMEN. Get your feminist head out of the gutter.) will be congregating at our nation's capitol to publicly defame homosexuals, in order to "challenge" the Matthew Shepard Act, a congressional act which protects citizens against hate crimes committed because of the victim's perceived sexuality. The pastors don't have a problem with hate crime legislation itself, but specifically with this hate crime legislation, which limits their god-given rights to incite violence against gay people.


Gary Cass of the Christian Anti-Defamantion League (oh, yes) had this to say about what happens when hate crime laws include homosexual victims:

"Christians are singled out for prosecution, with threats, imprisonment and fines simply for refusing to stop doing what Christ commands: proclaiming the truth."


In the interest of sympathy, let's put ourselves in these Christians' shoes. How tragic it is, that so many people devote their lives to spreading hatred, not because they are hateful people, but because they have been indoctrinated-- brainwashed-- with a bronze age story about the origin of the universe. When someone asks you, "Yeah, but what harm does religion do?" point them to examples like this.

Whenever we teach our children that groundless faith is a virtue, we pave the way for groundless violence.


Rest in peace, Matthew Shepard.”




And if we have a crossed-eye bigot declaring in Congress that the whole Matthew Shepard murder was a hoax, then I think that as a society we have very serious problems. Just look at the signs and how often they mispell words...can you say 4th grade drop-out?

SOURCE: [link]

PHOTO: [link]

Like I have always said, these fucking Evangelicals are ok with a lousy economy, no healthcare for millions of Americans, two wars that make no sense, welfare for the rich and the corporations as long as they can have prayer in the schools, illegal abortion and the right to persecute and discriminate gays legally. FUCK THEM, if they think that having anti-hate crime legislation is stepping on their toes.

I really don’t know where they get this bullshit that Christ condemns homosexuals, never in my exploration of the Scriptures have I found reference to Christ admonishing them. I did find that Christ preached love and tolerance and on top of that he was the personification of forgiveness and the protector of the downtrodden. That is about one of the few things I find redeeming of the Christian religions. For them to say that Christ condemned homosexuals is ludicrous since it is even speculated that Christ may have been homosexual himself. Well, don’t be so surprised, take into consideration this: he was an ordained rabbi and by Jewish law a man should be married by age 28, which he was not. He ran around with 12 very close friends who worshiped him. But also take into consideration that in those days, intimate and sexual relationships between two young men was very much the norm.

It wasn’t until Constantine, the great homophobe, when we started to find rejection for all things homosexual. Before him, even gay unions was an accepted rite in the Church. Yes, I said gay unions, two people of the same sex had ceremonies performed and approved by the Church.


THOSE ANTI_GAYS WHITE TRASH AREN'T CHRISTIANS!

]]> *ashmael http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/28391190/ http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/28391190/ Mon, 16 Nov 2009 09:23:19 PST - continually spread hate and slanderous lies against a category of citizens who are harming no-one;
-blackmail the entire citizenship of a town by menacing to withdraw aid to the poors on the ground that they may be forced to do charity to an homosexual spouse, if gay marriage is approved;
-insult God and Jesus by saying that god would cause hurricanes and tsunamis to harm populations who tolerate homosexuality;
- oppose legislation against violence towards GLBT people;
- some of which have been found to partake clandestinely of those pleasures they so vociferously condemn
I think Jesus would say: "Christians? They are more like Caiaphas and Pilate. I disown them!"

]]> *ashmael http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/28312472/ http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/28312472/ Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:36:51 PST are going to dine
one started a food fight
And then there were nine

Nine morons in a cage
experts in deceits
One tricked a time too many
And then there were eight

Eight dweebs in a cage
trying to get even
One was caught whit another's beau
And then there were seven

Seven losers in a cage
whose social skills are nix;
one utter'd a racial slur
and then there were six

Six idiots in a cage
trying to survive
one fell in the poison ivy
and then there were five

Five dimwits in a cage
with questionable mores
one xxxed in big brother's eye
and then there were four

Four dumbells in a cage
who clearly won't agree
one won't play no more
and then there were three

Three clowns in a cage
one down with the flu
soon was evicted
and then there were two

Two lovebirds in a cage
got out of the home
they got a fat contract
and then there were none

(till the next Big Brother's that is)

]]> *ashmael http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/28236204/ http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/28236204/ Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:47:07 PST Celebrations shouldn't be acritical. What we have done these twentieth years? What has the Bush (father and son) administration done? What has the European community and the United Nations done?
Some fools talked of "The end of history". Other fools thought that, if oppressive, forced economic dirigism and collectivism was bad, unrestrained robber-barons-capitalism was good. Enron, Madoff, the subprime crisis had ensued. What folly it was to let Urss crumble apart without Occidental help, destabilizing the international equilibrium? The chaosinUrss and Middle east left room for the criminals of Al qaeda. 11/9 led to 9/11 whit all that ensued, and it was all permitted by International Negligence 8we were all busy discussing Clinton's odd notions of sex and adultery). And let's not talk of the Yugoslavian bloody mess. A carnage wholly evitable.
The world needs more responsible and far seeing leaders than those we've had in this twenty years. Hope Obama is one that will redress some of the errors of past administrations.

]]> *ashmael http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/28200472/ http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/28200472/ Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:54:57 PST
studybreak four by ~danthedanimal



When I Look Into Your Eyes by =soulofautumn87


Tyler 001 by ~cugot12


Joeline - Stretch by =FuzzyYak




Innocent until proven Guilty by *dogeatdog5




Samantha - hat 1 by *wildplaces

]]> *ashmael http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/28142988/ http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/28142988/ Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:21:09 PST
Tuesday, voters in Maine threw the American creed "liberty and justice for all" into the firepit when a slim majority determined who has rights and who doesn't. Apparently equality in America is a dead concept and prejudice and religious beliefs of the majority trump everything in the 'land of the free'. Whose rights shall they go after next? the blacks? the Hispanics? the Jews? the Catholics? Yours? To everyone who voted down the rights of the minority you are traitors. To go against the ideal that we are all created equal, that we all have the rights to life, liberty and THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS is so anti American you don't deserve to live in this country and enjoy the rights and protections you have.

On the bright side, the vote was very close and as those older 'narrow minded' voters (you know the ones, they still use the n-word or 'col'erds' will pass on in the next few years and take their hatefulness into hell with them.

Am I being too harsh? Eh, deal with it.

Posted by Michael Breyette at Wednesday, November 04, 2009 0 comments Links to this post

Bigoted and ignorant majorities should NOT be given the rights to strip minorities of their rights! Gay marriage is a sacrosancyt RIGHT, and nobigoted idiot should ever be able to propose polls to deny it1
WE SHALL OVERCOME!
GOD BLESS GAY MARRIAGE!

]]> *ashmael http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/28013535/ http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/28013535/ Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:39:11 PDT
]]> *ashmael http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/27979537/ http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/27979537/ Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:56:04 PDT

MontrealReflected01 by ~horstdesign



Crazy HDR by =surrealeye



I just love the city!

]]> *ashmael http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/27914660/ http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/27914660/ Thu, 22 Oct 2009 22:00:30 PDT [link]

Senate Passes Hate-Crimes Measure
By Kerry Eleveld
HATE CRIMES MATTHEW SHEPARD CAPITOL SENATE X390 (FAIR USE AND PHOTOS.COM) | ADVOCATE.COM

The Senate voted 68 to 29 Thursday to pass a Defense Department funding bill that includes a measure extending hate-crimes protections to people targeted on the basis of their gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, or disability.

The National Defense Authorization Act now goes to President Barack Obama’s desk for his signature.

“As the President said back in April, the hate-crimes bill takes on an important civil rights issue to protect all of our citizens from violent acts of intolerance, while also protecting our freedom of speech and association. He looks forward to signing it into law,” said White House spokesman Shin Inouye.

The late senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts originally introduced the legislation in 1997 during the 105th Congress. The bill was renamed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act in honor of Shepard, a 21-year-old gay man from Wyoming, and James Byrd, a 49-year-old African-American man from Texas, both of whom were brutally murdered in 1998.

According to the Human Rights Campaign, today's vote was the 14th and final floor vote taken on the measure. HRC president Joe Solmonese said the more than decade-long struggle to enact the legislation had almost come to completion.

“We’re in the home stretch,” said Solmonese. “We look forward to President Obama signing it into law; our nation’s first major piece of civil rights legislation for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.”

Along with expanding the protected groups, the legislation will provide extra resources to state and local law enforcement officials, give the U.S. Justice Department the power to investigate hate crimes that local officials decline to pursue, and direct the Federal Bureau of Investigation to track hate crimes committed against transgender individuals -- statistics the FBI already keeps for other groups.

Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said including hate crimes within the defense authorization bill was perfectly logical.

"It is highly appropriate for this law to be part of the National Defense Authorization Act," he said. "The values our men and women fight for include tolerance and freedom from hate-inspired violence against our citizens. Indeed, hate crimes represent a dangerous variety of domestic terrorism while our troops fight terrorism overseas.”

]]> *ashmael http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/27817892/ http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/27817892/ Sat, 17 Oct 2009 14:26:19 PDT

Lets go Cruisin by =Swanee3




The Camera Van by =drjimmymrjim



kHDLKS by ~pistonbroke



Oiled , fueled and waiting by *Sallow



Let your colors shine by ~reapersun


If you like cars, see Swanee 3's gallery! (first pic)

]]> *ashmael http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/27781676/ http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/27781676/ Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:19:01 PDT



Italian LGBTs cry for international help, by Sciltian Gastaldi
Dopo la lettera su FB di una coppia di gay italiani che vivono a Londra (Stefano e Antonio), ho deciso di adattare quella lettera e spedirla al movimento LGBT canadese. Vediamo cosa succederà.

Ecco il testo dell’appello:

Dear friends,

I write you on behalf of the Italian LGBT movement and community.

I am an Italian Ph.D. student and course instructor at UofT, and I am outraged and appalled at the wave of homophobia I am seeing growing every day, and at the increasing number of hate crimes being committed against people because of their sexual orientation, both in Italy and abroad.

The recent case in the UK of a gay man being verbally abused and beaten to death for his homosexuality is testimony to this awful spread in violence.

But we would like to draw your attention on something which might be happening at thousands of kilometres away, but nevertheless affect us all because it shows how barbaric, violent and homophobic our so-called “Western civilization” is becoming.

The Italian parliament just yesterday scrapped a bill aimed at protecting gay people from hate crimes, on the grounds that it would violate the country’s national Constitution. Constitution that, ironically, has an article 3 which states that “all men are equal in front of the law regardless of their sex, race, language, opinion and religion” and have the right to have “same social dignity”. Yet, Italy is the only Western country in which LGBT people have no civil right whatsoever: no same sex marriage, no adoption, no civil union, no economic right. And yet, our Constitution defines “family” as a “natural society founded on marriage”, made of “artners” and not “a man and a woman”.
A debate over the introduction of such legislation had stemmed from the wave of murders, beatings, verbal aggressions and acts of bullying against LGBT people occurred in Italy in the last few months. The most recent aggression is just hours old: it happened this morning in Naples against a gay professor waiting for a public transport in a station. He was assaulted by three men with a knife, the knife was pushed against his genitals and he was insulted as a “lurid faggot”. Just a few weeks ago, another guy was less lucky and he was actually stabbed in the abdomen while going out of Rome’s gay village.

However, the Italian parliament’s justification for throwing out the bill – which would have raised penalties against acts of violence motivated by homophobia – was simply absurd: they said that it would give “unequal protection” to gays compared to other groups, violating the principle of equality.

A number of MPs from the Demo-Christian Center, the xenophobe League North and Berlusconi’s self-assessed “ *ashmael http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/27772285/ http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/27772285/ Wed, 14 Oct 2009 22:26:53 PDT Isn't it obvious that poverty is the major problem of today's world? Poverty and the finding of not-polluting energy sources.

]]> *ashmael http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/27744412/ http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/27744412/ Tue, 13 Oct 2009 13:10:33 PDT


London Collection 1 by ~xtremet



We're at the top of the world by ~TakeABao



Carmel by ~sjoukster



]]> *ashmael http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/27734503/ http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/27734503/ Mon, 12 Oct 2009 20:11:52 PDT



Journey's end by Dream-traveler




glow 4 by *Black-Vodka



The Silver Path by *Sun-Seeker



for my dreams by ~poisonunic



Lonely or lovely, mysterious or tender, we're fascinated by the night

]]> *ashmael http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/27705877/ http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/27705877/ Sun, 11 Oct 2009 12:05:12 PDT

Breathing silently in my arms by =tanko



And I love him... by ~midoban



our existance by ~bourgogne


Together - Krash by =dapride



Under the waterfall by ~anez-erynlis



Afternoon Warmth by ~mragrimm



True Love by DracheaRannak


True love isn't hetero
True love isn't gay
true love is only LOVE
What else can I say

]]> *ashmael http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/27701633/ http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/27701633/ Sun, 11 Oct 2009 08:01:50 PDT [link]
Ahmadinejad is a criminal, a nefarious piggy puppet fraudunently "elected" by a corrupt theocracy whose hands drip from the blood of innocents dissidents hanged, stoned and tortured.
BOYCOTT THE IRANIAN GOVERNMENT!
BAN IRAN FROM THE U.N.!

]]> *ashmael http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/27689996/ http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/27689996/ Sat, 10 Oct 2009 15:14:27 PDT

Armadillo Stones by `ursulav



Green Neck and All by ~AdoC



Flying Spaghetti Monster Plush by ~monkeywench


I love unusual, cute images!

]]> *ashmael http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/27658178/ http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/27658178/ Thu, 08 Oct 2009 20:07:06 PDT

Beach by Maria '92



Smuggler's cove by Black Vodka



A dreamy world by Grafixeye!


Beaches, sandy beaches with the sea rolling nearby...oh, bliss...

]]> *ashmael http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/27642630/ http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/27642630/ Wed, 07 Oct 2009 22:11:11 PDT
Passing Beauty by Sublime Budd



Lovely Dark and Deep by Swaroop



The City by Molotov-arts



I've always loved pics of roads going...where? For how long? And what do they will find at the end? In the country, the woods or the city, the road theme entices the imagination.

]]> *ashmael http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/27632313/ http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/27632313/ Wed, 07 Oct 2009 12:27:16 PDT "Oh, it's on the way, they continued to tell me


Allelujah!

]]> *ashmael http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/27624838/ http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/27624838/ Tue, 06 Oct 2009 22:07:59 PDT -Listen, stop worrying. Our plan is guaranteed foolproof!
-That coward? He'll never dare put his foot here!
-Hey, he'll do what I say! I have him on a leash!
-That dumb cop? Don't make me laugh!
-Our daughter simply hates that no-good boy!
-My political opponent would never stoop at THIS!
-They'll greet us with open arms!
-We'll came, we'll see, we'll conquer!

]]> *ashmael http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/27512795/ http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/27512795/ Wed, 30 Sep 2009 21:48:16 PDT 1) World - that means, background and athmospere. The reader must feel the world described as REAL. There must be the feeling of the time and place. If you could be anyplace, anytime, without sufficiently definite background, you'll soon tire of the story, unless it's a purely psychological one.
2) A good plot. Something of interest must happen and develop in interesting, unexpected ways. And that must be shown, not told, nothing of that stream of consciousness stuff (you can have a bit of stream of consciousness, but it can't be the WHOLE novel. Plots must go somewhere, and you can't have loose end dangling in the void, like in "The crimson petal and the white". This is gross disrespect for the reader. Is the well known Ready-for-the-sequel syndrome,mostly. Even more annoying is the "Novel - Chopped-in Halves-Syndrome", in which a single, long novel, is published in two unequal parts, without any care for when and how the first part terminates, leaving the reader of the first half asking WTF??
3) Characters you can emphatize and care for. This is most important. Many hard science fiction novels, expecially today, fails in this respect.Theyre all theory, and action, and not a single character that isn't cardboard or indifferent. Characters give Life to a novel.
A novel is interaction of characters and how they feel for each other, and their thoughts and goals.

All those three ingredients can be found, pour example in the nobvel I'm presently reading. "The Gumshoe, the witch and the virtual corpse", by Keith Hartman. Part Science fiction Detective story, part fantasy, part social commentary, it's an exciting, engrossing travel in the depths of your imagination! Read it, it's fun!

]]> *ashmael http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/27478035/ http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/27478035/ Mon, 28 Sep 2009 22:26:13 PDT I'm with Kant: Starry sky above me, moral law inside me.

]]> *ashmael http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/27442020/ http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/27442020/ Sun, 27 Sep 2009 05:52:29 PDT AN OMNIPOTENT GOD UNABLE TO STAVE OFF EVIL;
AN ALL-SEEING GOD UNABLE TO SEE THJE EVIL COMMITTED IN HIS NAME;
AN OMNISCIENT AND OMNIBENEVILENT GOD PERMITTING PRIEST PAEDOPHILIA; STONING OF INNOCENT WOMEN, WHO ALLEGEDLY HATES ENTIRES CATEGORIES OF PEOPLE SENDING HURRICANES AND TSUNAMIS TO POPULATIONS WHO DON?'T CARRY OUT THE BIGOTED PREJUDICES OF SOME BELIEVERS
IF THERE WERE SUCH A GOD IT SHOULD BE ELECTROCUTED.
But there isn't.
God is an human fabrication. a fabrication of an humanity not yet matured
We on't need it! No More!

]]> *ashmael http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/27410146/ http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/27410146/ Fri, 25 Sep 2009 13:44:20 PDT I'm not American, I'm Italian, by the way. The public Health Service here functions not perfectly but protects all citizens.
And as for the abortion issue, stuff it! Is up to the person and her conscience, is not YOUR business!

]]> *ashmael http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/27384406/ http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/27384406/ Wed, 23 Sep 2009 22:24:57 PDT You may have already won...if this game was for real!
This may be te occasion of your life...to be duped by us!
The way to make a million dollars...milking you!
This offers is exclusive for you...and another zillion people!

]]> *ashmael http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/27289484/ http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/27289484/ Fri, 18 Sep 2009 21:25:16 PDT What we need is, someone digging up a spaceship or at least a mobile phone made in Aldebaran, so to speak. Some hyperadvanced artifact we couldn't possibly have made.Unfortunately, nothing of the sort has been discovered. Yet.

]]> *ashmael http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/27245067/ http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/27245067/ Wed, 16 Sep 2009 12:52:08 PDT How silly can you get?
How ludicrously presuming can you be, imagining that this supposed Ruler of the Cosmos preoccupies himself of what consenting adults in some planet do for sex and reproduction?
No, if there if such a God, what should He care? It is for Intelligent Species to set up their morals, using reason, justice and good sense.

]]> *ashmael http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/27236672/ http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/27236672/ Tue, 15 Sep 2009 21:21:37 PDT
]]> *ashmael http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/27225133/ http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/27225133/ Tue, 15 Sep 2009 10:41:15 PDT He was an apocalyptic prophet! He was a Cynic philosopher! He was a Jewish Resistant!
He was an Alien! He was married with Mary Magdalene and founded the Merovingian dynasty!
Yeah, sure. The Merovingians ended up as lazy corrupt good-for-nothing kings who were overthrown by their mayors of the palace. Some descendancy for a supposed God.
Jesus was a man, not born of a virgin, certaily not God incarnate
He was a good man who preached Charity, compassion, Love and tolerance.
He opposed the relgious as well and political hierarchy odf is time, denopuncing corruption and hypocrisy, greed and arrogance in the clergy ( Clergy hasn't changed much from His times)
For thet, the High Priests betrayed Him to the occupying Romans with false accuses. and Romans killed him.
But his Message of Love and Charity lives still.
What's important is His message of Love, Charity and tolerance, NOT the gruesome myth that God the Father had His Son killed to wash Humanity of a mythical "original sin". I can't believe in such a God. If such a God existed,it would be a cruel god.
I Believe in Jesus, manifestation of Cosmic, Universal Love. Such Love that cold manifest in any of us, if we abandon hatred, bigotry, selfishness.
Jesus was, IS Love.

]]> *ashmael http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/27200419/ http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/27200419/ Sun, 13 Sep 2009 21:44:36 PDT The Kuran and the Bible are compositions of writings by very different ancient authors,and you can find there intimations of genocide endorsed and enmncouraged by God as well as paeans to compassion, love and tolerance
(see here)
[link]
Suicide mass murderers and illuminated, moderate moslems all refers to suras of the Kuran.
ExAmple:
"Kill disbelievers wherever you find them. If they attack you, then kil them. Such is the reward of disbelievers. (But if they desist in their unbelief, then don't kill them.) 2:191-2"
But
"Whoever kills a human being, it is as if he had killed all mankind. Whoever saves the life of one, it is as if he had saved the life of all"
Anyone picks the sura that justifies his position.
Fanatical fundamentalists and liberal christians also finds their favourite spot, interpreting it their own way.
Think of The Mountain Speech of Jesus and of the obscene book of Apocalypse, where the Wrath of the Lamb slays sinners to the million.
If a God directly inspired The Bible and Kuran,He/She/It suffered from multiple personality disordder
And to hell with religious fundamentalists. Their religions are no more fit for free men and women (expecially women).
Let's have the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as our moral guide.

]]> *ashmael http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/27124338/ http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/27124338/ Wed, 09 Sep 2009 22:12:12 PDT NO CAUSE WHATSOEVER WILL EVER JUSTIFT THE KILLING OF INNOCENTS!
In memory of the victims, to the everlasting condemnation of religious hatred and fundamentalism. And not only New York was sorely wounded! There has been London, Bali, Sharm-el Sheikh, Madrid, Philippines, Mumbai, were hate-crazed goons killed scores of innocents! Two wars were waged in consequence of 9/11, in Afghanistan against the Taliban accomplices of the greedy mass murderers of Al Qaeda, and one, absolutely unnecessary, in Iraq, the worst error of Dubyah Bush. All for fiendish, heinous hate. Why marvel that the reputation of a certain religion sank so low? With what the hasngings and stoning of innocent women in moslem countries, the persecution of homosexuals and dissidents, they worry about some comic strips and vignettes! But that's the least of their image problems!
I'm sure there are many muslim people who don't approve of Al Qaeda and Ahmadinejad and all those things I mentioned. So, Say it! Ayyan Hirsi Ali did.
And not only moslems,many of them victims of the alqaedan fiends. The whole world was filled with fear and hate in consequence of AlQaeda's crime against humanity! We don't forgive, we don't forget, lest someone repeat those things We hope to build a world made up of love, tolerance and respect of the Rights of the Individual. Let's hope it's so!

]]> *ashmael http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/26986744/ http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/26986744/ Wed, 02 Sep 2009 21:28:45 PDT A gripping novel to read and savour!

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]]> *ashmael http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/26925837/ http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/26925837/ Sun, 30 Aug 2009 21:59:06 PDT
Something completely new to you

It works!

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]]> *ashmael http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/26775879/ http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/26775879/ Sun, 23 Aug 2009 13:28:28 PDT Wonderful London, I love you!

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]]> *ashmael http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/26502315/ http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/26502315/ Mon, 10 Aug 2009 10:15:22 PDT -I agree: violent video games, movies and comics don't cause violence. They only make it seem normal.And so disgruntled, frustrated Nobody Caresforme thinks shooting strangers en masse to vent his rage is PERFECTLY NORMAL.
- Ther's no such thing as sacred or holy books. No matter how inspired by God, the Author or Authors' knowledge is restricted and limited to their time and space. Technology and politics evolves, why not morals?
- You cannot feel outraged for the human rights ' violations aginst someone and be indifferent of some others.ALL Human rights' violations offend Humanity

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]]> *ashmael http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/26339029/ http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/26339029/ Sun, 02 Aug 2009 14:02:44 PDT Seven Christians killed by fanatic islamic murderers.
Intolerance, bigotry, hatred: we need to make bigotry of all kinds an
INTERNATIONALLY PUNISHABLE CRIME!

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]]> *ashmael http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/26293441/ http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/26293441/ Fri, 31 Jul 2009 08:47:56 PDT IT MADE ME SHUDDER! IT'S SO HOT, HERE...
I wish you all a cool weekend...in all the meanings of the word!

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]]> *ashmael http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/26255933/ http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/26255933/ Wed, 29 Jul 2009 13:42:20 PDT - You see Health Inspectors visiting the kitchens and confiscating specinens of food;
- The resort is ruled by an ex army officer who believes discipline is good for civilians, also;
-You notice that the "Fifty meters to the beach" are fifty meters of vertical cliff;
-You see huge ships with the "Exxon Valdez" logo passing near your beach;
-The disco is going full blast till three in the morning, as you can hear from your vantage point right above;
- The participation to the games and the chanting of the club anthem is enforced by gorilla-looking thugs;
-You discover your resort will be fully operative in 2012, meanwhile you can eat at the local McDonald;
- You see before the rear entry of the hotel a van of a "Deratization Service"
- The resort is in the middle of nowhere, and the evening animation stinks

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]]> *ashmael http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/25879919/ http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/25879919/ Sat, 11 Jul 2009 12:50:43 PDT
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]]> *ashmael http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/25663531/ http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/25663531/ Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:20:25 PDT - The Mayan prophecies have been read incorrectly. The world will end in the year 20000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000012. Don't hold your breath
-What-and miss the 2012 Oliympics?
-Benedict XVI won't be the last Pope. At the Vatican they're already plotting to make another one. And you can bet your ass he won't call himself Peter II.
- The end of the world has already come in 1982, only nobody noticed
- God wants to have Madoff serve his whole 150 years time. see you in 2162.
- The Mayan referred to the world their alien visitors came from, around Aldebaran
- Arabs, Chinese, Hebrews have different calendars. God will wait till globalization will make 2012 valid for all people in the world.
-Too many false alarms. No one will show up.

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]]> *ashmael http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/25496252/ http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/25496252/ Tue, 23 Jun 2009 13:25:25 PDT May Justice and Freedom triumph over tiranny!

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]]> *ashmael http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/25283151/ http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/25283151/ Fri, 12 Jun 2009 23:47:56 PDT Have a wondeful time, my friends!

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]]> *ashmael http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/25117395/ http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/25117395/ Thu, 04 Jun 2009 00:07:15 PDT Excuse me, mr Criminal against Humanity Bin Laden (or whoever has taken your place, in case you're dead and hell exists)what exactly has your personal version of Islam done to deserve Love?

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]]> *ashmael http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/25099523/ http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/25099523/ Wed, 03 Jun 2009 00:43:36 PDT Even now the Chinese government shamefully tries to suppress the memory of this heinous crime against its own people.
Honor to Chinese Freedom Martyrs.
May Justice and human Rights prevail

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]]> *ashmael http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/25081950/ http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/25081950/ Tue, 02 Jun 2009 02:54:31 PDT
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]]> *ashmael http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/24971559/ http://ashmael.deviantart.com/journal/24971559/ Tue, 26 May 2009 23:51:25 PDT Disappointed as I am by the first decision (but a bit consoled by the second),obviously I know that the story isn't over, yet! And I think that the infamous prop 8 ballot will be, in the near future, overthrown by another ballot.And it will be a much greater victory!
Never lose heart!
(Also, I hear that there is a federal challenge filed on Prop 8. Let's hope!)

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]]> *ashmael