Very well put! And I think you should have the screen name Cthullha-Queen of the apostrophe's! (Just kidding, yes, I know...)

I suggest a surgical mask, some large rubber gloves (dish washing type), some safety goggles, a large bucket, and a bottle of bleach. If nothing else, it should make for some interesting photos!

You made me think of my youth. We moved to Florida from London when I was eight. We though it was hot in March! Then we melted our way through our first August! (Luckily we're getting daily thunderstorms now to cool it down a little.) The thing I remember most about growing up in a small town was that by the time I was twelve I was allowed to ride my bike anywhere I wanted to go: the mall, movies, etc. And that's what I remember the most, riding my bike, it was my freedom. We didn't own a house, so no pool. On Saturdays I would watch Creature Feature on Channel 44 from 2pm to 6pm and be lost in two science fiction movies from the golden age of B-movies, but I also got to see some classics. I didn't have a lot of friends. I was always that odd kid from England, I guess I still am. Most people will agree that those years when you are just old enough to go and do stuff by yourself are the best in your life. You have all the rewards without a lot or any responsibility. Sure you may have to mow the yard every couple of weeks and take out the garbage, do the dishes, clean your room, but these tasks don't seem like much when compared with riding your bike to see STAR WARS or to the beach to spend a day body surfing. It truly is the best time of your life!

Great to hear of NASA's recent success, but disappointed that the next great manned project is the Mission to Mars. It's an expensive project that will not show practical results for quite some time. The best next step for man is to build and maintain a base on the moon. This will allow for experimentation and give practical results that will allow a manned mission to mars to be a success. The moon is only a few days away and if there are any problems a rescue mission has a good chance at success. Mars is months away! If we succeed on the moon and learn how to really live on another planet then those lessons will be invaluable to the first manned mission to mars. Mankind must learn how to crawl before it tries to fly!

Very well put! I always find it amazing that so many people spend so much time, money, and effort to deny others that which they themselves enjoy. And yet children go to bed hungry in this "1st world" country every day. Children live in homeless shelters. Children wait years to be adopted. Where is their time, money, and effort in this regard? After all, do they not care about the "FAMILY" that they so vociferously defend to the detriment of others? The United States of America will not be the "Home of the Brave" and the "Land of the Free" until we are Brave enough to let everyone be Free!

Beans on Toast! That's definitely a carry over from England. You should try a dinner of Eggs(fried), Chips(fries), and Beans(baked) a typical quick dinner when I was growing up in England. I envy you being in Australia, from every travel show I've seen it's just about perfect and has almost everything. A very beautiful country. Enjoy yourselves. e.p.s. I thought the 9 hour flight from England was bad, you'd have to sedate me for a 16 hour flight!!!

Being somewhat older than you, I remember growing up and looking forward to Sundays, when the family always went to Bradenton Beach. Yes, I liked body surfing, but my favorite part of the day was when I was given 4 quarters to go play pinball. I remember standing on the sandy concrete floor of the snack bar while playing one of the two pinball machines they had. This was back in the old days when you got 5 balls for a quarter. I was pretty good, so with extra balls and skill, I was usually there for an hour or more for that dollar. So WHEN you open your arcade, please make sure you have a pinball section for us old types! Thanks!!!

Stealing someone's thunder and trying to sell it as your own is reprehensible! (whenever I use that word it makes me think that they should have a tail -- I don't know why!) If I were to "publish" something along this line, I guess I would put in a "mistake" or something in the style that repeats through out the work that would be really annoying to remove, like drop caps at the beginning of every paragraph. Something that would take as much time to remove as you had used to create the item. The goal being to make it too much work to modify the item before attempting to steal my thunder. Granted this probably isn't going to be one of the things you're thinking about when you set out to create something for others to enjoy. Probably one of the reasons I don't create ebooks!