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COVER MODEL EDITORIAL
Cory Zwierzynski
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COVER MODEL
Cory Zwierzynski
An Autonomous Future Getting Ready For The Driverless Car
Many cars already have self-driving features, like Tesla’s AutoPilot, smart parking assistants and automatic lane changing functions. Those features will continue to improve until cars become fully autonomous. Some types of driving are easier to automate than others. Highway driving and parking, for example, are much easier for autonomous cars to master than city driving, because there are fewer unpredictable obstacles, like pedestrians and bike riders. It’s much easier for the self-driving vehicle when the weather’s good, opposed to when it’s snowy, dark or rainy. Those difficult driving conditions are getting closer to being resolved. It’s likely in a few years that it will be the norm on the highway that you won't be driving half the time or you’ll be using some sort of driver assistants. Companies like Uber and Lyft will become hybrid networks, offering both driver and driverless solutions depending on where you need to go. So imagine in the not too distant future pushing a button on your Uber or Lyft app, and depending on the situation and location, an autonomous car comes. Google and Apple are also working on their own projects and will probably play a roll in the driverless future.
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Google says its driverless cars have already driven more than 1.5 million miles. What Google has already built could probably be used on roads today with a lower accident rate than humans, who are accident-prone, easily distracted, and in some cases, intoxicated. But the public may not be ready for driverless cars yet. Even if the technology for driverless cars is almost ready, is the public, governments and law enforcement ready for self-driving cars? Obviously, there will be people concerned about safety, as they should be. For the most part, it will be in the public interest to embrace this new way of life. Some things to consider are that parking spaces take up an estimated 25% of a cities real estate, and the spaces could mostly be removed since people won’t need to own cars. That means more room for parks and expanded sidewalks, and having less cars sitting in parking lots 90% of the time,. Autonomous vehicles would likely be electric, which would help keep air clean. There would be no street signs, because driverless cars won’t need them. And fewer human drivers means less unpredictability and more vehicle coordination, which means fewer traffic jams. You will be able to work in your car or safely send text messages while you commute in a driverless car.
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ChemSex Study Popular gay hookup site Squirt.org has found chemsex, also known as Party and Play (PNP) or drug-fueled sex, is prevalent with 30% of survey respondents admitting that they have engaged in the activity. The study, which surveyed 22,248 Squirt.org members, also showed that despite widespread usage of illicit drugs during sex, only about 39% of respondents said they would consider engaging in chemsex while 61% said they would not. Dr. Bourne, who recently interviewed with the prominent Gay News Network (GNN) after the release of his statements emphasizing the sensationalization of chemsex reports, expressed that “Chemsex is something we have to remain vigilant about, but we also have to be wary of drawing simple conclusions without considering the right evidence. Only a small minority of gay men use drugs on a regular basis, and only a minority of those do so in a sexual context.” “We wanted to provide our members very important information about chemsex within the gay and bisexual community,” said Attila Szatmari, Digital Business Director for Pink Triangle Press, Squirt.org’s parent company. “We now have statistics from real people showing infrequent participation in chemsex, not this hyper-usage that seems to be reported in the mainstream media.” 26 boiMAG
Message To Trump “Let’s Make America Gay Again" billboards are a play on the Trump’s campaign slogan and is a part of Squirt.org’s effort to support gay rights as well as to positively encourage Trump and his administration to take LGBT rights seriously. Billboards will be placed along Hollywood Boulevard’s Walk of Fame in Los Angeles and in New York City’s West Village, Chelsea and surrounding neighborhoods. “LGBT rights are in question with the incoming Trump administration which has vigorously campaigned to roll back many of the rights that protect these communities. So we say, ‘Let’s make America gay again. Let’s make it happy and inclusive!” said Attila Szatmari, digital business director for Pink Triangle Press, Squirt.org’s parent company. The billboards are the culmination of much discussion and fear by many in the gay community who are apprehensive about the Trump presidency. Trump’s opposition in 2016 to gay marriage and support for judges who would seek to overturn the Marriage Equality Act that legalized gay unions is one of many points of contention. Transgender rights are also in question as Trump has voiced his support for the controversial law in North Carolina that bans transgender individuals from using bathrooms that do not coincide with the gender individuals are born as.
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On The Go . . .!
LGBTQ Chinese New Year’s Dinner
A 20-year drought has led to a government enforced ban on private toilets. The citizens of Urinetown must use public amenities regulated by a single malevolent company that profits by charging admission for one of humanity’s most basic needs. Amid the people, a hero decides he has had enough and plans a revolution to lead them all to freedom.
As experiential entertainment for the mind and the palate, “mixologists” will create their favorite adult-beverage concoctions for guests to sample. In addition to the beverage tasting and multi-course gourmet meal, AFC will conduct a Year-of-the-Cock inspired raffle.
Tickets are available on the the Wirtz Center website, by phone at 847-491-7282 or by visiting the Wirtz Center box office in the Barber Theater lobby at 30 Arts Circle Drive.
To celebrate the Year of the Cock-Tail (Rooster), members of Asians & Friends Chicago (AFC) will be hosting the city’s only LGBTQ Chinese New Year’s Dinner on Sat., Feb. 4, 2017 starting at 7pm at the Jade Court restaurant, 626 S. Racine in Chicago, just south of the UIC Pavilion.
Guests can purchase tickets by visiting the AFC website at www.afchicago.org. For more information, call (312) 409-1573.
Let's Meet Rev. Pam
A live interview is scheduled with local LGBT wedding officiant, Rev. Pam of Same Sex Wedding Venue, Pine Manor Chicago during the remote broadcast of OUT CHICAGO on WCPT 820 am Radio with Scott Duff at D. S. Tequila Co. in Chicago Feb. 5, 2017 from 11am-2pm. Meet Rev. Pam just in time for Valentine’s Day and receive $25 dollars off any wedding service. Propose to your honey on the air and she will give you a gift certificate for $100 toward any wedding service, officiating and planning wedding day coordination. Check out websites http:// www.ilweddingofficiant.com/ or http:// SameSexWeddingVenue.com for wedding packages and pricing.
Urinetown in Town!
Urinetown: The Musical, the Tony Award-winning musical set in a dystopian metropolis with a terrible water shortage, will be presented by the Virginia Wadsworth Wirtz Center for the Performing Arts Feb. 10-26 in the Ethel M. Barber Theater, 30 Arts Circle Drive, on the Evanston campus.
Bootycandy Anyone?
Windy City Playhouse, 3014 N. Irving Park Road, announced Robert O’Hara’s Bootycandy, the semi-autobiographical play about growing up gay and black. Under the direction of the NAACP, OBIE and Helen Hayes Award winner O’Hara, the cast is led by rising Chicago star Travis Turner (whose recent credits include “Thaddeus & Slocum” at Lookingglass Theatre Company and “The Flick” at Steppenwolf Theatre) as Sutter, the character loosely based on O’Hara himself. Bootycandy runs through April 15. Tickets on sale now and can be purchased at the Windy City Playhouse Box Office online or by calling 312-891-8985.
Celebrating 10 Years!
The Center on Halsted will commemorate their 10th anniversary at their upcoming Human First Gala on May 20th, 2017. This past year the Center on Halsted celebrated the launch of their Youth Housing Initiative, revolutionary and innovate in its scope of housing LGBTQ young adults experiencing homelessness. Center on Halsted also announced its new strategic plan, aimed at refocusing their efforts on the areas of community that need them the most, like transgender populations, families, and youth while expanding their impact to the south and west sides of Chicagoland. boiMAG 31
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