Rutabaga

That Christmas graphic is in the style sheet but it is "commented out" so it should not be displaying. R

After looking at the page source code, I can kind of see why the iPhone is struggling somewhat to display the home page. The screen shot below shows the situation better. On a full-size computer the "header" area at the top of the page is supposed to divide into left - center - right display areas. Left has the Donate stuff; center is the main site title; and right is the new Picks area. The iPhone browser stacks these three areas and left-aligns them. This would work OK except that the browser is also squeezing the second column of the table containing the Picks titles into a very narrow sliver. I'm guessing this is because of the several width: 25% directives in the CSS code. The browser apparently can't tell that this table is extending lower on the page, and begins to render the Menu area too early, leading to the overlap. The problem would presumably be reduced or eliminated if the Picks table rendered at the full available width, and/or if the Menu section could be forced to draw below the end of the fully-rendered Picks table. R

By the way, the portrait view is now much clearer. R

The holiday image went away when I reloaded the page. Here's what landscape looks like on the iPhone. It's not a huge deal -- just wanted you to know. R

For what it's worth, the new format displays chaotically on my iPhone. R

I thought I detected a bit of dabeagle influence here and there, especially in the scene with the basement full of boys. Clearly, however, the quotable quote of this story is: Kale was wound so tight he could back into a wall and suck out a brick. Great addition to the SS saga. R

What a delightful piece. R

Even though it appears that I am in a distinct minority here, I want to say a word or two in favor of churches and Christianity. My church has just under 500 formal members, and there are a number of others who regularly attend services and participate in activities without formally joining. It's a mid-size church, smaller than some really big ones around here but bigger than many others. We place a high priority on community service as well as worldwide outreach. We have a very active child daycare center that serves about 110 children, from infants through kindergarten age, each day, including hot meals. Our "Kid's Hope" program matches adult mentors one-on-one with at-risk elementary school children in the area for support and guidance in dealing with (for example) neglectful and abusive home environments. As a church we direct 10% of our revenues directly to mission uses, as well as holding separate fundraisers for specific programs. We sponsor trips each year with teams of doctors, nurses, and other helpers to one of the poorest areas in the Dominican Republic, where we have helped in building a school that has helped hundreds of children there. We sponsor a missionary in Bengla Desh who runs a shelter for homeless or abandoned girls in the area. Each year a group of men travels to Mexico to build a house for an indigent family there. This weekend I will be traveling with another group of men to work on the foundation for an orphanage that we are building on donated land south of Tijuana. We also sponsor missionaries in such far-flung areas as Egypt (where Christians are heavily persecuted), Nigeria, and China. Closer to home, we regularly feed the homeless with meals cooked in our church kitchen, and supply food, clothing, and other necessities to those in need. We constantly remind ourselves that we must not focus on making our internal church life more comfortable so much as making the world better. Of course we are imperfect people and do a lot of stuff that is wrong and a lot of stuff that is stupid. But we try to have out hearts in the right place. Every time I go to Mexico I am humbled by the abundance that I have back home. It gives me immense gratitude for how I am blessed. All of this is so far removed from the extreme stereotype (if not caricature) of the greedy and unprincipled televangelist that it's hard to find words to describe the distance. Paul wrote in Romans 13:9, The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Maybe that thought is 2,000 years old, but it works for me. R

And . . . we circle back to chapters 1 and 2. Really nice to see Peter ending up in a more suitable situation. I never knew meth had that property. R

Me too. I'm even an elder in my church. R

I want to say something about the (so far limited) media coverage of this episode. Both the Huffington Post and the towleroad blog post make it sound like Austin was attending a mainstream high school, although if you read carefully there is reference to it being a "private" school. Nowhere is it actually stated that this is a small Christian school. That, however, is a vital bit of information. The current thinking in many conservative Christian circles is a grudging admission that being gay is not a choice, but that even so the orientation must not be acted upon. In other words, the gay person is told, "maybe you can't help who you have feelings for, but you can control your behavior." The gay person is to stay celibate and not act on his feelings. It is compared, ridiculously in my view, to a person with a weight problem refraining from eating. I can picture the conversation with the principal. He would have told Austin that his behavior is contrary to the school's understanding of Biblical teaching, and that his extensive celebration of it on YouTube cannot be tolerated while he is a student there. So if he wants to continue as a student there he must take down the Internet stuff. It seems like the same kind if discussion that would occur if a student at the Christian school was running a YouTube channel advocating atheism, or devil worship, or terrorism. From the school's perspective it would've been the same. That's why I remarked earlier that Austin was doomed not to be a good fit at this school, given the state of conservative Christian beliefs about homosexuality. But my main point is that the media coverage of this episode is misleading when it omits the true context. R

In one of the other YouTube videos Austin says he is 17 and a junior. R

In this first of his YouTube videos he identifies himself as living in Texas and going to a really small Christian school. Frankly I don't think it was ever going to be a good fit for him. R

It sounds as though the school's main beef was with stuff being posted on YouTube and other social media. It would be interesting to know whether this same principal was clamping down on any other students for what they might be posting on internet sites. I don't follow the logic of not identifying the school. This being the internet age, someone will undoubtedly figure it out and publicize the name of the school (and the name of the principal). R

Not just Texas, but West Texas. All bets are off. R

I think part of the problem is that we feel frustrated, as readers, to be dragged into all the uncertainty and (to us) needless angst of a reluctant hero such as Rory. We want our heroes to rise to the occasion, not be dragged kicking and screaming into dealing with situations. We want our heroes to be clear minded and decisive, not constantly struggling with second- and even third-guessing every decision and every event. And we want our heroes to be principled and steadfast, but not so obstinate as to be self-destructive. So we have a very flawed hero who is fifteen years old and at the height of angst-riddenness. While I concur that things seemed kind of repetitious at many points, I'm not sure that wasn't representative of the thought processes of someone like Rory. R

A spooky example of "great minds think alike"? Sorry if it messed up your plans. R

An interesting look at a future several decades hence. At least one thing never changes -- being bi is still worse than being gay or straight. R

Corbin is a great kid. Three cheers for him standing up to Gramps. Mom is a treasure. R

I stumbled across the story "Debating Love" by Funtails. It appears at http://awesomedude.com/funtails/debating_love/index.htm. This is an eight-chapter story about life at an English boys' boarding school. Being strictly a Yank I'm always amazed by what is depicted in stories of this genre. This one is very entertaining yet emotionally deep as well. Worth a read. R

OK, now we have a tie-in with chapter 3. That's good. Chapters 1 and 2 await! I love the concept of the primary painting, by the way. R

Even Safeway is getting into the act -- saw this in the produce department. Don't let Chase see it. R

For some reason I found myself thinking of the last volume of the Harry Potter series, where it is revealed that every underage wizard is subject to "the trace," an enchantment that allows the Ministry of Magic to keep close tabs on the location and activities of each youngster. Nobody in that culture seemed particularly exercised about the intrusiveness of this. R

It has a certain kinship but won't be quite as much like being hit by an emotional freight train as in "Forever December." R

Finally got to this one. Very poignant and sweet. We could all use a guardian angel. R