Merkin

Never one to pass up an opportunity to hang out with the bad boys, here's my contribution: "My pants were too tight," said the vicar, "And my ungodly bulge earned a snicker; Now I wear just a cassock For the freedom's fantastic And I swear I've grown longer and thicker!"

What strikes me is how very little it takes to precipitate a very dangerous situation: police with weapons drawn, all looking for someone suspicious to shoot at. Maybe a kid with an odd looking object in his hand. Remember the guy with the umbrella in the mall? If the cops had found him, would they have stopped to ask questions?

Guns, and weapons of any sort, are no more lethal than the person who wields them. Signed licenses and training programs notwithstanding, responsibility is not bestowed, it is learnt along with compassion and concern for humanity from early childhood on. Let us attend to rearing our children for anything can become a weapon.

Wonderful. And pretty nearly an all-dialogue story, too. Love the mood shifts working through it.

Ooo!

I want some of his work. An astonishing talent.

One important thing you've left out: Do your utmost to grow up together, helping each other toward maturity so that one of you is not left behind.

I think you've misunderstood her. 'Oxy' is the brand name for a line of acne care products marketed worldwide by The Mentholatum Company. 'Moronic' is a well-known character trait often exhibited by state legistators, especially in states like Texas. What she is actually saying is 'because of certain pus-filled morons here in the state of Texas, I choose not to perform marriage ceremonies.' I applaud her stand.

Picturing Sanderson's fingers on the WeeGee board pointer with Jordan's wife giving it a little shove in the right direction....

When it comes to classical music, sometimes the back story is more interesting than the front story.

I've finished it, and it is a rollercoaster ride, with a plot that makes sense and characters that live. Colin is an excellent writer and he manages to tuck a subtext under his fiction wherein he explains to youthful readers a great many things about how the world works; in this case, the criminal justice system and how medical systems work. A great read. James

Well said, Gee and Des, but you are voices crying in the wilderness of western conservatism. Living as I do in the middle of the Bible Belt, I am sensitive to the reality of this milieu. It is simplistic to blame skewed thinking and regressive values on the preachers whose absolutist bible-based vision leads their flocks to reject the ideas of progress and change. The preachers are enablers, not instigators. It takes a community to raise a preacher just as it takes a village to raise a child. In either case, the individual is the product first of the society in which he is formed. Education in humanistic values and exposure to a wider horizon and a global vision is severely limited and most of those who discover a way into that wider world don't return to these conservative small-minded settings. The central value here is tradition, and the past is viewed as the Golden Age. Returning to the standards of the forefathers, however limited, harsh, and inhumane, becomes the focus of these communities as they strive to preserve their perception of their heritage.

I knew you were kinky, Des, but that strikes me as excessive. Did you have to sit at table as a child until you had finished all of your peas?

How awful that Paola Crouch was the one to discover her husband. What can her burden be like now?

Wonderful, just wonderful.

My god, is it food? I've been using it on my scalp.

Anyone who doubts the stature of Aussie science has only to consider their development of Vegemite as a byproduct of brewing beer.

I've loved that sketch since I first saw it a year or two ago. How do the firefighters react to it?

Amen to that. What is of particular interest to me is that, for an individual, learning can take place not only by moving forward to encounter new experience, but also by looking backward and re-examining and re-evaluating that which has already been experienced. It is not only novelty but also perspective that results in learning.

Young guys never sleep, Lug. The real question for Colin is 'When do you goof off?'

While phi phenomenon may explain our perception of movement, I still believe persistance of vision accounts best for our perception of smooth, continuous motion, which requires a regulated display rate of 24 still frames per second. This was easily demonstrated in the old days with a Movieola, where you could vary the display speed. Even though perceived movement resulted from running the film at speeds less that 24 fps, smoothness, i.e. 'continuity', was not properly seen at those slower speeds. James

Limericks are a lot like prayers, Des: sometimes you can't wait until you are in your proper pew if the urge strikes to send one out.

"Oh, no," the mechanic replied As he turned his tugging to one side; "This tool that you see wouldn't ever suit thee, It'd crossthread what you've got on your ride."

I'd like to see this fabulous story show up in an anthology intended for university writing students. James

This story will stay with me for a long time. Sometimes we forget what it means to profess, to be wholly committed. Thank you for this. James