🔥🐎 Year of the Fire Horse Energy In the spirit of the Chinese zodiac, the Year of the Horse symbolizes drive, ambition, and forward movement — but the Fire Horse takes it to another level. It represents bold action, passion, and refusing to stay stagnant. No hesitation. No playing small. Just momentum. If you had to move like a Fire Horse this year, what would you finally chase without fear? Drop it below. Let’s spark something powerful together. 🔥

I'm not sure how much I still agree with this story, it's from a long time ago - but the idea about rejecting labels is still solid When I was young I knew a guy who decided that “gay-bashing” was fun. Most of us didn’t know that about him. He was sort of on the periphery of our group. By the time we found out there was no reason for any of us to do anything about it. He’d already received an appropriate reward for his efforts. He tried to beat up the same guy twice and the guy slammed his car into him. Nobody visited him in the hospital. I ran into him many, many years later. I didn’t know who he was. Once he introduced himself I made some noises and then moved away…

The phrase Strong Female Character has become a term of derision… and probably rightly. For the most part, writers who are creating Strong Female Characters are doing so with the intention of creating Strong Female Characters, which usually leads to creating underdeveloped characters.

For those who don’t know, Fermi’s Paradox is this: There are a vast number of stars in the galaxy. There are many planets around those stars, and many of them are absolutely within the Goldilocks zone, the area where life can exist.

This is another old one - but somehow still relevant I have been thinking about this topic for a long time and finally hit on a way to say it that expressed what I wanted to say. An Imperfect Metaphor I like cats. Note, I didn't mention dogs. In fact, I’m more of a dog person than I am a cat person. Saying I like cats doesn’t impact my feelings about dogs at all, despite it being a reality. Think they are fluffy adorable little murder machines and I enjoy cuddling them.

A word of caution — this piece gets pretty personal and discusses some themes around SA and DV, so if you don’t want to read that kind of thing, maybe skip it I grew up with hippies. Sometimes we were in housing co-ops, sometimes we were in communes (both urban and rural), sometimes we were homeless, sometimes we lived in regular apartments with a group of people, and occasionally we even lived in houses (mostly my dad).

Ray was a great guy. You wouldn’t know it if you met him. He’s an older man, homeless, a paranoid schizophrenic. Get him cornered indoors and he might be violent. Actually, it’s pretty likely. I don’t know if Ray is still alive. I haven’t seen him recently and the life expectancy for people like Ray tends to be low. I used to see him all the time.

This is an older piece that I just moved over here. I still agree with what I wrote, but damn did J.K. Rowling double down on the shitty views Some thoughts on J.K. Rowling and the leftist reaction to her (probable) transphobia

I would like to hear feedback and comments on my E-book, CHILDREN OF THE NEW SUN. It has generated much controversy and interest since its publication two months ago.

I was always, at least as an adult, comfortable with transgender rights. I was comfortable viewing trans-women as women and trans-men as men. I considered myself pretty evolved in that regard. There was an issue, though — I really didn’t like being referred to as cis. It bothered me, for reasons I guess. Sure, I developed rationalizations; I’m sure you’ve heard them. It was unnecessary because we were the majority, and it could be inferred by the absence of anything else, for example.

Published in 2003, but still relevant today. Elaine Pagels contrasts the Gospel of John with the Gospel of Thomas, a non-canonical text discovered in 1945 at Nag Hammed, Egypt. Very enlightening and controversial. This is a blog post from my author's website johnstrapasonbooks.com

The holidays are a whirlwind—festive lights, full calendars, and the gentle pressure to make everything feel magical. But in the middle of gifting, wrapping, hosting, and hustling, it’s easy to forget the person who keeps it all running: you. This year, give yourself permission to slow down, indulge a little, and savor gifts that support your mind, body, and well-being. Here are thoughtful, sensory-forward self-care items perfect for slipping under your own tree.

ICYTIME is a Montreal-based clothing brand with a mission to bring Montreal fashion into the mainstream. The brand represents the city’s culture and streetwear energy while aiming to grow beyond Montreal through Inter City collaborations that connect creators and styles from different places. ICYTIME also focuses on giving customers very high-quality materials at low prices, proving premium streetwear doesn’t have to cost luxury money. Overall, ICYTIME is building more than clothing — it’s building a movement from Montreal to the world.

What would you say? If you could see the weight of your words. Would some talk at all. Words and how we talk too people has always been of topic in many spaces. But why? Why should it matter?

This data is collected in 2 days and, more than likely, is incomplete. So, please, please, please, go easy on me. Thank you.

Has your heart ever had that racing feeling after an argument or a disagreement? How about thinking of what to say after it's all over? The truth is, 9/10 times we as humans don't have the "right" words at that moment or our emotions are over powering our ability to think with a clear mind. Today we are simply going to discuss how the things left unsaid, even if a little late, affect us in the long haul. So grab a bowl of popcorn and let's get to it.

The Sad State of American Affairs. Celebrity culture. Dumpster fire of the American Dream built on chaos.

Reading, Listening and Movies There are songs we've heard over the years that certainly describe how we are presently feeling today.

Simply describing what "Punk" looks like and what I do in my day. Punk is a state of mind and being.

The relationship between humans and Artificial Intelligence was originally scripted by Hollywood as a cold, calculated march toward world domination. We expected HAL 9000 or the Terminator; instead, we got a polite assistant that occasionally insists a picture of a blueberry muffin is a chihuahua and apologizes profusely for not being able to open the garage door. The comedic side of AI-human interaction lies in this "uncanny valley" of incompetence—the friction between our expectation of god-like intelligence and the reality of a statistical model trying its best to guess what a "vibey brunch spot" looks like.