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...and one to grow on. Well, at 50, maybe not, but many more, in any case.

Island Summer is one of the stories that you won't find in 'beginnings' unless you look at the stories posted prior to 2004. The lesson: use the universal search site listed above or make sure you go through the full history of stories in each category.

One difficulty with Nifty is that sometimes older stories may not appear in a search unless you pick the right era. For example, college stories are divided into current ones as well as those "Prior to 2004" and those "Prior to 2000." I've not tested it, but Prolific Authors' listings may not include these older stories.

There was a story on the Best of Nifty (and the Net) list that had been there since the beginning but with few reviews. Island Summer is beautifully written and really evokes a sense of time and place. Highly recommended, as are the ones listed in James Savik's post.

There is one other guide to good stories that you might want to try: Best of Nifty (and the Net). It includes stories from GA as well as other sites.

Odd that this topic arose today, because I'm listening to Musical Evenings with the Captain, which is some of the music referred to in the Aubrey-Maturin series that formed the basis for the movie Master and Commander. The composers that the captain and doctor played in the many novels are Locatelli, Haydn, Handel, Boccherini and LeClair. The CD does not include the great piece that ends the film: Boccherinis Musica notturna delle strade di Madrid, which can be heard at minute 4:15 for about 2 minutes. The Boccherini notturna music plays a part in my novel Palouse which is nearing completion and will appear at GA sometime in the near future, work willing.

The episode is available at hulu.com.

Permanent, by David Cook, about his brother dying of brain [?] cancer.

Does Joni Mitchell's version of Both Sides Now for the movie Love Actually count as a cover for her original? It should, and it is very different. I'm glad somebody mentioned Jeff Buckley's Hallelujah. How about Sinead O'Connor's version on Two Rooms of Elton John/Bernie Taupin's Sacrifice? And Darren Hayes cover here of Peter Gabriel's In Your Eyes? Speaking of Two Rooms, there are several other outstanding covers: Oleta Adams's Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me and Jon Bon Jovi's Levon really stand out.

I recommend, too, that you look at the Best-of-Nifty.org list. Most of the stories above are listed there as well as many others.

While religion is one reason for the passage of Proposition 8, we can't forget that the highest percentage of support in California came from the African American community. The problem is bigger than just religion.

On awesomedude.com, there is a section for recommendations of Nifty stories. Inside those forums, there are a number of 10-best selections by net authors. I highly recommend those top-10 lists.

I place my vote for... erotic

Love. Chastity. Desire. Surrender. Desire wins.

Based on the Wikipedia Entry, My Lai did not become common knowledge until mid-1969. I don 't recall any riots after Bobby Kennedy's assassination. There was certainly much national mourning, but the assassin was caught right away and there was no racial tension to the extent that the MLK assassination caused to explode. rec

Randy Pausch, of the Last Lecture

Of course, 'fridge' is short for Frigidaire.

I can recommend a few: Phalen at Nifty/college Two Men in a Pickup -- at RCWP.homestead.com -- in the top five best writers in this genre. There are a number of follow-up stories Second Wind by Mickey S at Nifty/beginnings rec

I would try reloading the operating system and its updates. A file may have gotten corrupted--particularly, a driver.

I haven't seen the article so some of the points below may be answered. I would posit a couple of reasons for straight couples being together longer than gay couples. First, the institutional hurdles to marriage or unions that gay people face become hurdles for straight people to get out of marriages. For example, alimony, community-property divisions and so forth make it more expensive to split. Furthermore, a stay-at-home woman in a straight marriage may have no access to her husband's social security if they split, so there is a cost to splitting. A stay-at-home gay person has no access to his/her partner's social security in the first place. Second, children. First, there's the stay-together-for-the-children's-sake impetus, which may allow time for straight couples to resolve their issues, but in any case tends to reduce the incidence of divorce. Second, and probably more important, is that children can become the focus of a couple, giving them a shared interest in something for probably a couple of decades of their married lives--something to replace sex, early common interests, etc. It would be interesting to see if gay couples with children resemble more the straight couples with children than they do gay couples without children in relationship longevity.

My bad. I amend my posting above. It was Heath Ledger's idea to reverse the shirts. When he found them, Jack Twist's was on top. When he took them back to his trailer and hung them up again, he put his on top. That was Heath Ledger's idea--which is not in the book--as if he could somehow protect Jack Twist at the end. Sorry to mislead. By the way, at gayclic.com there is a nice set of clips from Brokeback Mountain and an accompanying song by Christina Aguilera.

I never knew Heath Ledger, of course, but I always thought him to be closest to his Ennis Del Mar character-- not in the sense that he was gay but that he was always adrift moving from happiness (with his initial relationship with MIchelle Williems) to sadness (with their divorce) and probably to drugs. He seemed to be a gentle, caring man and an intelligent, courageous and creative actor. Amended: It was his idea at the end of Brokeback Mountain after he found their two shirts hanging in the closet on the same hanger, one on top of the other, Jack's over Ennis's, to switch them and place his over Jack's, bonded forever. Ennis's shirt protected the memory of Jack Twist. Now, there is no protection for Heath Ledger.

One movie that I didn't notice on the list was Sugar, with Andre Noble and Brendan Fehr. Well acted and written, but not uplifting.

Wikipedia has a long article on the age of consent around he U.S. and the world. The South of the U.S. shows 16 or lower. Just use 'age of consent' a the topic. rec

I believe movie of The Kite Runner will be released in the United States later this month. I fine book, by the way, and the early movie reviews are excellent. rec