Nick Deverill

Story is now up to chapter 42 and assuming no (further) twists, it looks as though the truth is going to come out.

Would look better with steel wheels on the front as well.

In case you've not seen the story, it's here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3351347/Heartbroken-police-officer-stays-comforting-dying-patrol-horse-animal-spooked-hit-truck.html

I too was reading it, a good story and some very interesting characters in it.

I'll agree the early chapters are distressing, but something about the way it is written had me stick in there. To each his own I guess.

A slightly unusual tale with the main 'star' having serious self esteem issues although he does slowly improve. Well worth a read as not only is there a lot of it already, but the editor is Craftingmom and she does seem to get involved in better stories (and writes herself too). Frequent updates at the moment too, as of today, 31 chapters! http://www.gayauthors.org/story/parker-owens/atoz

And precisely how one to tell is someone is a Muslim? While it is true there are a number of dress attributes a Muslim might observe, not all do, and ethnically, some Muslims are white Caucasians. Perhaps they need to have a yellow star or a pink triangle badge sewn on their clothes. Someone ought buy that idiot a history book...

Number 20 is so true. A fictional character (Dr Who) once said "the best thing about being an adult is that you can be a child whenever you want".

Nothing new... First two stanzas of Little Boxes by Malvina Reynolds Little boxes on the hillside, Little boxes made of ticky tacky, Little boxes on the hillside, Little boxes all the same. There's a green one and a pink one And a blue one and a yellow one, And they're all made out of ticky tacky And they all look just the same. And the people in the houses All went to the university, Where they were put in boxes And they came out all the same, And there's doctors and lawyers, And business executives, And they're all made out of ticky tacky And they all look just the same. Woe betide the kid who doesn't fit in his/her little box.

Like a lot of hunter animals, cats can read your emotions. It goes without saying (but I will anyway) some cats are better than others at this. I've known cats that will snuggle up to a sick child whereas whereas they'd have nothing to do with the child if healthy. So although the basic premise is a bit far fetched, it is not that far fetched. And it does have to be admitted, it's cute!

A very good read and to be commended on many counts. Not least for being one of the few stories I've read where a Glasgow kiss forms part of the plot. Story can be read here: http://awesomedude.com/pedro/josephs-cat/josephs-cat.htm

Hmm the admittedly rather useless auto-caption facility that You Tube offers is spectacularly useless here. I've not a clue what went on.

I'm not going to put figures on it, but of the deaths caused by guns, two types stand out. Inadequate care taken by the owner and the gun being 'found' and used by a child. The other is loony mass shootings where the perpetrator is either an adult, or a teen. In the UK, the Dunblane massacre is often spoken of, as the subsequent knee jerk legislation totally banned private handguns. However, had the already existing rules been properly implemented, the killer would have had his licence withdrawn. There is no mention of this in the Wikipedia article. Criminals though will always get guns if they want them.

Both of which are below the ability of the human ear to hear as sound. The organ though I'm sure can play its note with sufficient volume for one to be able to discern it in ones bones. It just so happens that the point in the third movement in Saint-Saëns 3rd Symphony (commonly dubbed the organ symphony) where the organ enters, scored as forte but often played fortissimo is a bass chord in C major. So the organist could actually use/play that pipe in Sidney Town Hall. Bet that temptation has been acted upon properly in the past, although I could only find evidence of a selective approach with only the third movement being played. For UK readers, if you even hear Classic FM announce that piece, tune away very quickly and play a decent CD of it when you get home. The movement does not survive their audio processing and is a textbook example of gain ducking. Not that surprising, the organ note is preceded by silence and is played about as staccato as an organ can get.

The point is, I think you can have a more believable tale and not sow the seeds of destruction in real life. It is very easy to generate audio frequencies as an electrical current that are possibly low enough, but you'll find it very, very hard to translate them to actual air vibrations; and as a consequence, to faults in the earth's crust. Getting to 10Hz is easy, getting to 1Hz is nigh on impossible and you'll need to go lower than that.* As I said but didn't perhaps make enough of it, when all is said and done,the story is a good one and deserves to reach a wider audience. * Of course, if you are a roady for Disaster Area, a mere bagatelle. From the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (a trilogy in five parts...). Disaster Area was a plutonium rock band from the Gagrakacka Mind Zones and was generally regarded as not only the loudest rock band in the Galaxy, but also as being the loudest noise of any kind at all. Regular concert goers judged that the best sound balance was usually to be heard from within large concrete bunkers some thirty-seven miles away from the stage, whilst the musicians themselves played their instruments by remote control from within a heavily insulated spaceship which stayed in orbit around the planet - or more frequently around a completely different planet. Their songs are on the whole very simple and mostly follow the familiar theme of boy-being meets girl-being beneath silvery moon, which then explodes for no adequately explored reason. Many worlds have now banned their act altogether, sometimes for artistic reasons, but most commonly because the band's public address system contravenes local strategic arms limitations treaties.

Sorry, but Rutabaga is right. If you are talking about sub-harmonics, perhaps, but even so... If you change the 1k in the story for 15 Hertz it would be a lot more believable, although I think the frequency of ground movements caused or causing an earthquake is way less, much lower that any normal amplifier will deal with, and much more to the point, way lower than any speaker could reproduce. To get below 10Hz, you need pots of money, very specialised audio kit, and... understanding neighbours! If you could generate audio waves of less than 1Hz, ie fractional Hz, at a decent volume, there might even be something in the idea. I found the resonant frequency of the living room at my first house, 13Hz and the windows rattled. Rather a fun experiment and illustrated that a cheap modification to my speaker stands paid off. Spike them to the floorboards! Gamma waves are between 25 and 100 Hertz - ie within what you can do with home hifi. But the UV frequency has 16 noughts and X-ray, 18, way more than any loudspeaker could ever dream of reproducing. But, the story is a bit of fun, stands very well as it is, except the frequency used. Nail 15 in and it'll do I think. As an aside, 1k is a standard broadcaster test tone, so standard that my party trick was setting a adjustable audio frequency generator to 1k by ear alone.

Rather like the extension to copyright the Happy Birthday song got http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/sep/23/happy-birthday-how-popular-song-became-public-property I'm not too sure the battle is over here though as it was my understanding "Good Day to You" was out of copyright, but by splitting the first note, it became a new tune - and thus copyrightable. Quite a lot of bands in the UK are very careful not to split the first note as that way, they didn't have to pay. I'm all in favour of something being copyrightable - for the lifetime of the inventor/originator and his or her direct dependants and perhaps a reasonable period afterwards for commercial reasons. But using that argument, even 30 years is pushing it a bit.

Poignant stuff. Like so many songs, the first few lines of the lyrics alone tell the story. "I Can't Write Left Handed" [spoken introduction...] I can't write left handed Would you please write a letter to my mother Tell her to tell the family lawyer Try to get a deferment for my younger brother Tell the Reverend Harris to pray for me, lord, lord, lord I ain't gonna live, I don't believe I'm going to live to get much older Strange little man over here in Vietnam, I ain't never Bless his heart I ain't never done nothin' to, he done shot me in my shoulder Boot camp we had classes You know we talked about fightin', fightin' everyday And lookin' through rosy, rosy colored glasses I must admit it seemed exciting anyway But something that day overlooked to tell me Bullet look better I must say Rather when they comin' at you. But go without the other way And please call up the Reverend Harris And tell him to ask the lord to do some good things for me Tell him, I ain't gonna live, I ain't gonna live, I ain't gonna live to get much older Strange little man over here in Vietnam, I ain't never seen, bless his heart I ain't never done nothing to, he done shot me in my shoulder

That was a good tale, enjoyed the read greatly.

Yes, if you wore my machete (it's got a sheath with a belt fitting) you'd be invited to join Bubba in the big house. And thinking about it, I've got a sword too; borrowed last by my brother along with a coat as I wouldn't let it out of my house uncovered.

Interesting to note, 'The Martian' by Andy Weir was originally self published, but after a bit of success, the rights were then bought. The film will probably struggle as much of the book is a log of what the Martian does, and his thoughts. I do rather like the way he thinks too. Any character that says, "Hell yes, I'm a botanist, fear my botany powers" is always going to be interesting at the very least.

Shame it's not subtitled, I had to look up the story - and yes, a shocker does emerge. Definitely a cue for eerie music...

As a sense, no it does not exist. But some folk are very skilled at reading and separating the smallest bits of body language, and they are said to have gaydar. Mine sometimes works - and sometimes doesn't in that statistically, far more folk than I identify as gay, must actually be so. I did once have a gay boss who wasn't out, when colleagues later found out he was, they were both surprised he was, and that I wasn't in the slightest surprised as I'd worked out he was long ago.

I've no idea whether it is intended, but I think the w in 'cwm' is pronounced a bit like a single 'u'. So with my 'talent' for mispronouncing Welsh words, I see "Cwmsiencyn" as "Comes-again". Nice story though, even though I don't see Welsh accented English spoken much like the depiction.

Indeed, delightful tale.