Bruin Fisher

Congratulations EleCivil - on being popular with the students - a much more important testimonial than a graduation certificate, if the universe was ordered right - and also on graduating with laude. A nice dollop of laude always goes down well, I find.May your beard grow ever longer.

Urggh yes - puke inducing.

Generally American exports are welcomed in Britain. Even during WWII when the soldiers billeted here were sarcastically described as 'over-paid, over-sexed, and over here'. But Phelps seems to me to be about the least welcome export from the USA that I can imagine. When I first heard the story on the BBC, it was 'a series of terrorism sympathisers and a Baptist minister who has spoken out against homosexuality' who've been banned from Britain. And that gave me pause - just how dangerous could a Baptist minister be? And aren't there a lot of clergy who still 'speak out against homosexuality' - and they don't get banned from the country? But then today I realised it's Phelps. Who is a class apart. And it all made sense. Personally I wouldn't ban him, purely on the principle of freedom of speech. I think he's quite an old man, now. Perhaps he won't last much longer. I have a suspicion his following, such as it is, will dissolve once he's gone.

So true... You could add to the bit about 'turgid members' the very similar 'eager mouth'. Wot's one of those when it's at home???

I'm with Des on this - absolutely lovely.

I'm queueing already ... to deposit my overdraft.

(Looks askance at large friendly Orangutang...) Whatever he's having, I'll have some of that, please!

BBC News website article Both American and UK (Royal) Psychiatric Associations condemn this and warn of harm that can be done by these therapists - but a church group thinks the therapy should be more widely known about and has invited the guy to their conference. To quote West Side Story, 'I'm depraved on account I'm deprived!'

Jedi's respond to census I'm glad to see the greatest preponderance of Jedi knights live in Brighton and Hove. Anarchy rules there, as usual...

This is great. Red mercury. Could we start our own viral rumour? AwesomeDude Radio contains subliminal messages which will make you successful and wealthy? Scientists have isolated the gene for gay fiction writing? A Full English Breakfast every day increases life expectancy by fifteen years? Wibby is an alien vanguard sent to spearhead an invasion of Earth and eliminate the human race and convert the planet into a global allotment? If you've enjoyed the link in Camy's post, you might want to check this one out too: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/5176382.stm

Yup... I'm up for that...

You call that a blog entry?! Tell us just a little bit more about your new story and I'll happily join your W00T, but as it is you're just being a tease. Tell, tell, tell!

Awesomedude, and the awesome Dude, took me in as a waif and stray when I was left homeless, and I have felt safe and 'at home' here ever since. My gratitude to him is hard to express since it's almost boundless. He should get a knighthood. No pedants, please, I know you have to be a British citizen to get one of those! - I'm suggesting a change to that rule in favour of the Dude.

(I duplicated my post - dummkopf!)

I survived (damaged but alive!) the bullying at school from pupils and teachers, and expected that after escaping the school system I would be able to put all that behind me. However some years later I witnessed serious bullying in the workplace. On a training course, classroom environment, the instructor was in the habit of picking on a hapless victim and then encouraging the rest of the class to join him in haranguing the poor man, asking him all the most difficult questions and then laughing at him for getting the answers wrong. In addition he deliberately taught certain things that weren't true, and nobody dared challenge him for fear of getting the same treatment. I was in the happy position of being a know-it-all (100% in the final exam) so I could report this from a position of strength. And I had the man hauled over the coals. I could so easily have been the victim, though. More recently I see women being harrassed by men, boosting their own egos by belittling or embarrassing timid women. Bullying is endemic but I have hopes for the current generation of children - those I talk to seem to be much more tolerant and aware. I hear them talking together and mentioning something as being 'inappropriate' - a word that didn't feature in my vocabulary at their age.

So that's what's been keeping you quiet recently...If you're joining the worldwide Wow community you'll meet up with my grandson, he'll show you no mercy...Don't forget us - we'll be here to bind up your wounds!

A beautifully crafted story-with-a-message. Thank you Des! It is easy to forget the sheer size of the internet and assume that the readers of our stories here at AD are the AD members - even just the visibly active members - a few dozen of us. In fact I have little doubt that there are many thousands of readers of our stuff and in most cases we will never know what effect our stories have had. I like to think that the import of most if not all of the work hosted here is positive and uplifting, ultimately, so we should not underestimate the force for good that AD represents.

Hi, Dshiwhtsmna and welcome to Awesomedude! Glad to have you with us, you'll find us a friendly crowd and hopefully you'll soon feel right at home. That's quite a name you've got there and it's giving me some trouble - I can't work out how it would sound...! So I've decided to call you Dishy What's My Name? - or Dishy for short. Is that okay? As to the answer to your question, I have no idea how many chapters it will run to - it's currently up to four. However I'm sure it will be worth the reading if the first four parts are anything to go by - and on past performance all Cole's stuff is great. Welcome and get reading! And whenever you finish a story, please let the author know what you thought of it - he needs to know!

I thought this was lovely. Thanks!

Thought you'd like it, Wibby!

Somehow I missed this news item from January but I came across it just now by chance. Wibby's visit to Dorset

The oft-repeated advice is 'write what you know'. On that basis your story is about a writer who posts on a forum asking for ideas for a story.... On the other hand I'm a sucker for a mystery/detective story, and it seems to me James Savik has done you a big favour by supplying a fleshed-out synopsis for a great murder mystery. I'd love to see that story written - and there's potential for it to be long enough to satisfy your amibition to break 100k.

I used not to own any pyjamas (are they spelled differently the other side of the big pond??) until I had to endure a stay in hospital for the first time, three years ago. I made my nearest and dearest buy pyjamas and bring them in for me, and I've worn them ever since. I don't really like them so I may eventually return to wearing skin in bed. In the daytime I wear boxer briefs. I no longer have the figure for bikini briefs, and boxers don't serve any useful purpose that I can discern.

First things first, and forgive me if I'm teaching my grandmother to suck eggs. Have you moved your computer, or unplugged stuff from the back? If your loudspeakers are built into your monitor, you should have two separate cables running from the rear panel of the computer to the back of the monitor. One is a thick cable that carries the picture signal, and the other is probably much thinner, like an iPod earphones cable. It will have a plug which may be coloured green, plugged into one of a row of three small sockets, maybe coloured red, green and blue on the rear panel of the computer. It should be plugged into the green socket, which may have a label with a symbol showing audio out. The other end of this cable should be plugged into a socket (possibly it splits, and plugs into a pair of sockets) on the rear of the monitor. It's a common diagnosis, when establishing why there's no sound, to find this cable plugged into the blue socket, or the red (pink) socket. It needs to be in the green one. If there's nothing wrong with the connection of this cable, the next step is to establish whether Windows thinks the computer has sound circuitry. You mentioned you've installed after-market items. May I ask what? It can happen that such items can appear to Windows in such a way that they mask the presence of sound circuitry. Originally your computer had already identified the sound system and installed drivers for it before you installed your extra item(s). This time the extra items were present when Windows first started after the restore - so it might have allowed the extra items to hog the natural 'home' of the sound circuit, leaving the sound nowhere to 'live'. Rather than go on about this interminably, perhaps you'd let us know how you get on with what I've suggested so far, and then we can look at how to establish if Windows knows you've got a sound card and what to do if it doesn't. It's a bit complicated.

... And a wonderful imagination! Get the tyre and exhaust done at a Quick-fit or similar, it will be much cheaper. Buy bulbs at Halfords and fit them yourself. Them get the car re-tested and sell it. Put the money to one side for the work that needs doing to the Berlingo. It'll suit you better than the Clio - more space.