Tom Brown

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I have 273 stories published in 24 collections on the site.
My stories have been read 410388 times and 18 of my stories have been cherry picked.
445 of my 3,061 comments have been voted Great Feedback with a total of 448 votes

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Tom Brown

Born South-African, I went to a dual medium primary school and Afrikaans high school, NG Church mostly and sunday school Methodist. At school achieved top positions in science and mathematics olympiads, after as well completing two years of engineering studies with very good results but I did not graduate, I had to stop due to mental health problems.

Graduating under WK Bartoszek at Unisa, MSc (1997) and Pretoria University, Niko Sauer PhD (2006), formal interests were to be in abstract analysis and broadly in applied mathematics. All of my qualifications were with honours.

I had permanent teaching positions at Unisa and at Wits, however since not having been academically active, and as such absent from formal academic research for very long now, years. Advanced study and research was in Markov operators and stochastic processes; vector valued Laplace transforms applied to semigroups and families of evolution equations (Empathies).
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Unfortunately I have had a history of medical treatment for psychiatric illness with diagnosis of a bipolar mood disorder.

It was very fortunate in that my condition responded very well to medicine it helps if you cooperate and comply, if not, you don't have much of a chance. Also I am totally abstinent from alcohol and other mood altering substances for great many years, it did not accord with my constitution at all. As a chain smoker I also managed to kick the habit, more than a decade smoke-free now, by the Grace of God.

I have always been able to function completely normal and independently in society my isolation was not because of my own doing it was due to circumstances, and has just been getting stricter I seem to have almost no contact outside, save only for AbcTales. My saving grace.

I am  totally isolated and financially barely getting by. 

Although I am still studying mathematics and applications, more popular accessible kind of work, while interested and looking forward to hopefully be active in research or industry again.

God is in the details of the details. God is in the timing of the timing.
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Apart from studies in the natural sciences I am interested in languages and literature in general as well as religion. In high school I majored in German also, and Biology, in the meanwhile I have taught myself French, well enough to read (with a bit of difficulty).

Lately I have been writing more popular general interest essays and also trying for a bit of balance with mathematics and while keeping things understandable for most people.

Thus not involved at all with any social media, and having time for writing, leisure, watching movies, reading fiction, classics mostly, poetry and  music. I miss my friends, and would really love getting outdoors and in nature more.
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Favourite authors are Jules Verne, HG Wells and Jack London, Shakespeare and poets William Blake and Dylan Thomas. I like adventure, science fiction and fantasy movies my all time greatest are the Narnia stories and the Lord of the Rings.

The meal best enjoyed is a breakfast of bacon eggs on toast fried chips with fresh orange juice, and for supper an ox-tail stew. I like eating out romantic. For recreation nature hikes, camping and fishing, listening to good music and reading, classics mostly, and good movies. I love dogs my best one was a Maltese poodle Freddy.

I love rain and lightning thunderstorms and rainbows. As well as writing and publishing here on AbcTales.
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These are my stories!

Keep your feet on the ground and reach for the Stars!

 

 

My stories

Crash and Run

Making myself unpopular but many people reason in this way, and it is so I have no knowledge of technicalities of investments and financial markets...

Cat in a Box

Considering future and past light cones, absolute past and future, and an event horizon there is another problem, as accommodated thus by relativity...

Pulsars, Truth and Science

First it has to be understood there is a difference between theory and reality, and a model or explanation and actual facts. There is a difference...

An impossible Situation

Fresh from a long sea holiday everybody was very surprised when I arrived and reported for duty to be met with a disciplinary hearing and finding out...

Bachelor of Mathematics

I've been out of circulation for long now well more than a decade, I've been isolated from society and am in safe keeping you might say, doing well I...

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445 of my comments have received 448 Great Feedback votes

1 Vote

Very interesting Jenny

Posted on Sun, 25 Feb 2024

Very interesting Jenny, a strange world to me. I like the Afrikaans word "trekked" ! Why did you type it all in bold it's a bit harsh on the eye?

Good to see you writing, hope you're well! All the best! Tom

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Posted in The Fish Hawker

1 Vote

Your painting

Posted on Wed, 21 Feb 2024

Your painting looks like the Dawn Trader, you know of the Narnia stories. The poem is compact it's not so easy to read, but excellent.

And "gold was made for going to for dreams of coming from, which with any luck will never come true...

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Posted in The Long Call

1 Vote

The story feels rather violent

Posted on Sat, 17 Feb 2024

The story feels rather violent a restraining order should do, but I know how it feels believe me. Anyway the gun under your bed might help you deal with aggression I don't know. Just don't go to a nursery school and shoot some kids. And I don't...

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Posted in Killing the killers

1 Vote

Something new

Posted on Tue, 06 Feb 2024

Something new from you, excellent. I especially like "Why not the flight of angels bring alight in rainbow colors?" but I do realise this is not quite the mood of the poem.

See you! Tom

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Posted in "Oneiroi" (Greek myth - gods of dream)

1 Vote

monkey

Posted on Sun, 27 Sep 2009

the dude is a monkey

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Posted in the dude

1 Vote

Amazing

Posted on Sat, 27 Jan 2024

Amazing, the photo looks typical Africa scene, maybe lowveld. I zoomed in there's just one thing that puzzles me, All the shades? or a road or what? Maybe your camera flap?

All the best! Tom Brown

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Posted in Above Weobley

1 Vote

Purple rain

Posted on Wed, 12 Apr 2023

Purple rain, the belief was that if a flower falls on your head you will do well in your final exams. Probably would have worked better if you studied instead of standing underneath a Jacaranda tree all day. Apart from that the purple flowers...

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Posted in April Blossom

1 Vote

Oscar Pistorius

Posted on Fri, 05 Jan 2024

Very tragic, but few people overseas would no what you spoke of: Reeva Steenkamp was murdered by her boyfriend the disabled athlete Oscar Pistorius who was imprisoned for only 10 years in the end and released on parole on 5 Jan. People feel he...

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Posted in Reeva Rebecca Steenkamp.

1 Vote

Do you know

Posted on Sat, 30 Dec 2023

Do you know the hard rock star Alice Cooper? Made me think of "no more mr nice guy".

Keep well Turlough! Cheers! Tom

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Posted in Goody Two Shoes

1 Vote

Shame yes poor

Posted on Sun, 24 Dec 2023

Shame yes poor aardvark with nothing to eat for the trip either with only two ants on the boat. Tom

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Posted in Noah's Ark

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