Trab

Doesn't that all sound more like a Republican?

Wow. Just, Wow.

Is that the story James is looking for, or a different story you are recommending? If the latter, it should probably be posted as a new thread, don't you think? :)

Vaguely familiar, but the story I've been thinking you mena is a bit different. Young kid, taken in by older man who owns a bookstore and he and kid talk with older lady with restaurant. The kid needs help and the bookstore owner opens up a youth center above his bookstore. If that sounds more like it might be the story, let me know.

It's excellent.

ROFLMAO at nut molesters

I'm pretty sure that those with comments about sex being for procreation will also disagree with same sex sex. It is interesting, but I'm surprised they didn't raise the word 'asexual'. There are lots of people who don't have sex because they don't want it; nothing religious about it.

I'm in awe. Your characters have totally captured me already, and that is all three of them. I had to suspend my disbelief when it came to the growth rate, despite the explanation of all the food being eaten. As much as muscle might grow quickly, bone, teeth, and hair take longer, and if there is new hair, there should be long fingernails, as they are the same basic thing. But that's the point of suspending disbelief, of course. The whole story is really intriguing, and keeps moving nicely, each section creating new interest and direction. I'm looking forward to more.

Pro-active? In what way? Turning the other(s') cheek(s)?

There was a final chapter written, a whopping 165 pages long. Hopefully the Dude will get it for AD.

Er, it is 5.3 Mbytes in size. Can that go through regular email? Please, let's not get into discussions about copying things that aren't supposed to be copied, okay?

OMG. That is totally awesome. While there is excellent insight, and advice for long term, I can even see the need to use the concepts on the short term. While he was talking about civilisation in a global sense, there is little that I can do on that level, except make as many people aware of it as possible. However, if we think of each town, state, or province as a micro-civilisation then it become clear that we can apply some of these ideas to great effect. I am excited about this, and really happy Des found it and posted about it. :wav:

Good article. So true.

Everyone seems to have made the assumption that half naked means shirtless. That is not necessarily correct.

I have a feeling this one is getting more messy and complicated by the day.

We're all doomed. The fundamentalists were right. Quake after quake and volcanoes too. It's God's vengeance for allowing divorce and for allowing women to have a say in their lives, for eating shellfish, and working on Sunday. Shame on us all. Repent, repent.

And obviously when there is an ash scare as well. I may be wrong (it's been know to happen a lot) but I believe the ash problem is not visibility as much as damage from minute and rapid impacts on the rotors in the jet engines. Sort of like micro-sized sand blasting, if you will. This from Ruwen: That is another of the problems with ash, reflection of the light (and heat) back into space, causing a drop in temperature. It doesn't affect planes, but can hurt agriculture.

Wonderful works, but I do like the upbeat tone of this one much more than the sombre other two. When I read about someone in pain like that, I just want to hug and love them. I'm glad you've found someone to do just that.

James, except for there being no roundups and concentration camps, your area doesn't sound much different from Nazi Germany, particularly in regards to the police action. It's a pretty sad and sorry mess when one of the defenders of the 'good' in WWII turns into what they hated most.

Smarter than many adults

To preface, I'm not really good with 'editing' and discussing things like development, as I couldn't develop my way out of a wet paper bag. I seem to specialize in getting tangled up in stupid little details that often pass unnoticed by others. I'm not sure that's a particularly admirable or useful trait. My first problem was "Wilim". I got totally hung up on how one would actually say that name. If it were a double L there would be no doubt. I can't see there being any way for such a rebellion to happen without there being some awareness by the supposedly knowledgeable Emperor. I agree with Cole that the escape doesn't seem plausible. As all the protectors of the children fell, it should have become harder to escape, as the ratio of searchers to escapees increased. There are lots of pronouns that don't reference to the correct person. The Emperor would never stoop to using a blustering comment that obviously would do nothing but result in his being beaten. It struck a discordant note with me. The lack of definition of the years leaves one at loose ends, trying to put it into our own time frame. 853 A.D. says something to us. 578-624 does not. Pick some other reference, even if it not explained, just to ensure we know better than to fit it into our own. Overall, I found it very addictive in its appeal, so I'd encourage you to continue.

I didn't know the origin, but thanks to google, I do now.

In this case I could guess it was nasty, mostly from the spittle that came out with the words, rather than tone, but I don't have all that much trouble with tones of voice, but rather, with visual expressions. I've taken some tests and I'm about 50% accurate (and thereby 50% inaccurate) in my estimation of whether someone is angry or happy based on visual expression. Contextually, I assumed he wasn't happy.

No engineers, but having Asperger's Syndrome I may be very near to that in my personality. I don't technically have any cats in my household, but deal with all the neighborhood cats on an affectionate basis. Not knowing their names, I call them by their primary coloration (how engineering of me) Calico: eats here, sleeps here, can make me let her in and out of the house with under a 2 minute delay, drinks water only out of the running tap and refuses to turn it off herself. Goldie: eats on the back porch, can't stand being picked up for more than 30 seconds, sleeps mostly on a patio chair with deep pillows but also sits in the sun like one of those temple guard cats you sometimes see in photos of oriental yesteryear. Gray: loves to tease Calico and Goldie by coming over. Super smart and can mimic all sounds and actions of the previous two so that I'll jump up and 'serve' her. Eats little, loves riding around the house in my folded arms, and then goes home to my backdoor neighbor. Pinky: Looks almost like Goldie, but with a light pink tinge. Eats here when he thinks nobody can see him, very shy and runs if the door opens unexpectedly, but will stay if opened slowly. Can never touch him. He will sit and look in the patio door window at me, as long as I don't look at him. Judith's Cat: (okay, this is not a color, but I don't know what color to call it) Stays 100% in Judith's house (across the street neighbor) but if I come over there, he is on my shoulders in a flash. A 12 year old Himalayan, he drools like he has no control at all, and love bites me like I'm going to have an affair with him. I'm not sure, but he might just be gay. Anyway, he is adorable and has no trouble with Judith's 4 dogs, and frolics with them without shame. I have to carefully peel him loose as he'll take skin with him if I'm not careful; he really loves me. My other backdoor neighbor (we had never met) met me one day at the post office, and said, with a rather nasty tone and look, "Oh, you're the guy who feeds all the stray cats in the neighborhood." "No," I assured him, "I only feed and love the cats that don't get enough love from their own people." Strangely enough, he didn't seem to like that answer, but I guess that as Goldie's official 'owner' he probably feels guilty.