Graeme

Julie smiled at the young man standing next to her. “Relax, Andrew. We’ll do what we can to make sure it all works out.” Andrew stared out over the football oval where a dozen players were training. “Thank you.” His reply was quiet, almost fatalistic. “Before we work out who is going with you to see your parents, can you tell me a bit more about what has you worried? Is your father going to hit you?” “No!” Andrew screwed up his face. “At least, I don’t think so. If he was going to do that, he

I would prefer the word "withdrawing" to "running". Cory has withdrawn into himself. He returned to a safe place and made a 'nest' in the bed where he felt safe. However, I agree with Tim that he's showing signs of depression. If he doesn't bounce back in the next few days, he may end up needing professional help. Something bad has happened. He's lost part of his biological family and he's afraid he'll lose the rest. That's why he doesn't want his brothers to know. Just like he put off telling his parents, he's now putting off telling his brothers. However, Puppilull has said, Cory has a new family who can give him the support he needs. He just needs to get over his loss before he recognises that fact. Since I know Dayne likes skinnydragon's Toph's Empty Year, I thought I'd mention that one of the things that occurred to me while reading this chapter is how much Cory and the early Toph have in common in terms of how they cope. They wall things off. Toph would use mental walls while Cory is using more physical walls (distance and not communicating), but they're both trying to keep the bad things away.

That's what this thread is all about

'Pay it forward' movement lifts spirits in struggling Queensland town This one is a story about a group of guys who have decided it's their job to make people happy. The opening picture in the article shows them giving out free roses on Valentine's Day.

While I could say a lot of things, I'd be largely repeating what others have already said. I'm not looking forward to this story ending, but I can see that I'm also going to be left with happy memories of a wonderful tale that I can re-read to my heart's content.

Bad news is easy to find. I started this thread as a place for people to put good news stories All too often, they're needed more than the regular news stories.

Thanks. I know I sometimes have a habit of stretching things out a bit too much...

You're absolutely right -- Andrew needs to accept himself before anything else can happen. However, he must be in a lot of pain, staying at the house of someone he has a crush on, knowing that they're also gay, but they're already taken. He's not in a good mental state.

Thank you! Most new draftees will play for a VFL team (or interstate equivalent) initially, simply because their skill, fitness, or strength levels are not up to AFL standards. The clubs are picking players who they believe can reach those standards with sufficient training and instruction. Some players reach the AFL quicker than others. Kevin, for example, had to wait until near the end of the season before he played an AFL game, though I'll concede he's also in one of the top clubs in the AFL competition, so the standard in the senior team is a lot higher. A few draftees, however, have their AFL debut within the first few rounds of the new season. I think Ross is aware that he's not that good, so if he's drafted, he'll start by playing in the VFL (or equivalent). Doug has previously told Liam privately (in Leopard Spots) that if he was the slightest bit interested in Liam in a sexual way, he would've stepped in to take Neil's place. However, he's not. That's what he was alluding to in that conversation. His dislike of Neil is mainly their history -- he's spent five years picking on Neil as being 'weak' and while he's backed off for Liam's sake, he's still not 100% in favour of Liam's and Neil's relationship.

While it was a tough choice because all of the ones mentioned are well known, I went with Bugs Bunny. I think Bugs has maintained a higher profile than than Mickey Mouse (even if Mickey has been around for longer), the decider being Bugs's appearance in a few movies over the last couple of decades. Pikachu is popular with a niche crowd (that includes me), but Pokemon doesn't have the broad appeal that the old Mickey and Bugs cartoons have. Snoopy is the outsider in the list because too many young people today don't read newspapers...which is where most of Snoopy's appearances have been over the last couple of decades. Besides Tom and Jerry, other honourable mentions have to go to The Dog from Footrot Flats (which, I'll concede, is a regional cartoon for those who don't live in my area), Peabody (from Peabody and Sherman), and Garfield (everyone should know who he is).

Paddy does have the gift of gab. It's been mentioned a few times Do you think Ty will remember to remind him?

It's my pleasure I try to post at the same time each week so everyone knows when to expect a chapter.

Thanks, Tim! I will admit that there are times when I contemplate writing a love scene, but I also know that there are people who prefer stories without explicit sex. While I'm disappointing some people, I'm also giving something to others. As for the rest... I always enjoy your reviews, even if there's often too much I can't comment on Sometimes, though, I think you've either broken into my computer, or someone on the team is leaking you early copies

Andrew was at home when he rang Ross, so he and Jim had driven over to pick him up. During the short drive there, Ross had told Jim about how he had spotted Andrew surreptitiously taking videos of him on the last day of classes, which raised Ross’s suspicions that Andrew might be gay. Suspicions that Andrew later confirmed. Apart from introductions and general pleasantries, the three guys waited until they had returned to Ross’s home before they started a serious discussion. Jim was questioning

Quadriplegic cattle farmer proves it's about brains as much as brawn

No, they are different people. I know both of them.

Five-year-old wins national poetry contest against students almost twice her age.

Not necessarily. In James Hogan's Thrice Upon A Time he theorised that the implosion used to create nuclear fusion in an inertial confinement fusion reactor could reach the levels required to create a miniature black hole. We're not at that level of technology yet, but we don't need a massive implosion -- just a very small but intense one.

One area I had problem with my current sports-based series was sporting references to numbers. There are lot: scores, player numbers, draft picks to name just three. I deliberately avoided giving standard scores because I doubt most people would understand what 10.9.69 would mean (10 goals, each worth 6 points, 9 behinds, each worth 1 point, for a total of 69 points), but it got trickier with player numbers and draft picks. Eventually (and I wasn't consistent in the story since the situation evolved during the writing and posting), I used explicit digits for most player numbers and draft picks. For example, "Who is playing on numbers 17 and 24?" and "The club has draft picks 13, 22, 48, and 60". The basic rule ended up being if the number itself was the subject, use digits. If it was only being references, spell it out. "What's your number?" "Seventeen." "And who is number 45?" "Bob." To be honest, I don't think there's a firm rule, because it depends on the context. In the above exchange, I've mixed both words and digits for the numbers, and that doesn't look good. I think it would be better to be consistent in the same portion of text, even if that means not being consistent across the entire story. Using digits is, in my opinion, best when you have lots of numbers (even if they're all between one and one hundred) because spelling them out all as words makes them a wall of text. Posts disagreeing to commence in 10...9...8...7...6... (or should that be ten...nine...eight...seven...six...? )

I was disappointed. The physicist wasn't creating artificial black holes, he was creating an acoustic analogue of a black hole and looking for the acoustic equivalent of Hawking radiation. It was certainly interesting, but it's a long way from creating artificial black holes

My reading of the articles is that the broadcast received was not powerful. The signal was only considered powerful if it was being powered from a source 95 light years away. If it were actually powered from a satellite orbiting the Earth, it wouldn't have been powerful at all.

There's a theory that it may be possible to 'flip' matter into antimatter, and vice versa, though that requires a level of quantum mechanic control that's beyond our current capabilities. However, a Type 2 civilisation is supposed to be significantly beyond our own... A directed signal is unlikely. Given that the star in question is 95 light years away, they would not be trying to signal us in response to our own radio broadcasts (that would required that we sent those signals at least 190 years ago for them to pick them up and them respond). All in all, as stated in the article that W_L linked to, it's most likely the signal is of terrestrial origins. Which would be disappointing...

'Strong Signal' stirs interest in hint for alien life Unfortunately, the article isn't giving a lot of information, but it implies that they've picked up something at 11GHz, which they say is an odd frequency for an astronomically generated signal. However, the final statement indicates that at least one person thinks it may be local, not interstellar, and military in nature

I don't know anything about the club in question, but 'sex-on-premises' businesses are legal in Australia. These are no brothels (which are also legal if registered) but locations where like-minded individuals can hook up for casual sex. From what I've been told, condoms supplies and lube dispensers are common at such establishments. And for those who are curious, I did some online research into the topic at one point in the past for a short story that I was intending to write. This was after I was propositioned in a street near where I was working by someone who wanted to know when the local gay-sauna would open...and then offered me a blowjob if I paid him.

Some of his most famous film roles RIP