Tom Brown
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I have 271 stories published in
24 collections on the site.
My stories have been read 361040 times
and 18 of my stories have been cherry picked.
414 of my 2,917 comments have been voted Great Feedback with a total of 417 votes

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!
Definitely Accept!
Posted on Sun, 24 Oct 2021
Definitely Accept!
Read full commentPosted in Accept or Refuse
Teaching Mathematics
Posted on Mon, 13 Sep 2021
Teaching Mathematics is an art but often thankless and unfulfilling. When the student fares poorly it is always the teacher's fault but when he does well the student is champion. I have taught at every level from primary school up to post-...
Read full commentPosted in The Maths Teacher
It is always a very good thing
Posted on Thu, 09 Sep 2021
It is always a very good thing to be able to see something from the other person's point of view also. Few people can really. One should try and practice it, I mean in general, any good teacher should have this kind of ability. To understand each...
Read full commentPosted in A Winning Handshake
Terrible hey?
Posted on Sun, 29 Aug 2021
Terrible hey? And it is everyday reality. You capture the essence in just a few words.
Read full commentPosted in flotsam and jetsam
The buzz of scooters sounds familiar
Posted on Mon, 16 Aug 2021
The buzz of scooters sounds familiar, be home before curfew the better part of valour is discretion.
Good! Never been to Itally myself they say it can get very hot there.
Keep well, all the best! Tom Brown
Read full commentPosted in Naples: balcony overlooking Via Firenza
Great!
Posted on Mon, 09 Aug 2021
Great! Going for summer here too! And visiting again the happy places of your childhood it is past so quickly.
Must say it's a blessing to have such close cousins I've got dozens. One or two are very special. All of them are. Our parents...
Read full commentPosted in Time’s Travel
Excellent
Posted on Sun, 01 Aug 2021
Excellent. I also knew people who I later wished I spoke with that I could learn of them, but I did speak to the sandman for some times, on the beach. Wish I had spoken more with my father and my uncle and my grampa but as it is I had learnt a...
Read full commentPosted in The Not-So Green Man
Enjoyed, and your cover the portrait
Posted on Sat, 31 Jul 2021
Enjoyed, and your cover the portrait is stunning, briliant. Imagine you could paint like that.
Cheers! Tom
Posted in The wasp (an excerpt from the next Crowe investigation) 2021
Beautiful descriptions Marcia
Posted on Tue, 15 Jun 2021
Beautiful descriptions Marcia dramatic hey? Good. You clearly know something about geology. You appear certainly a very unique and interesting person. Cherries!
Keep at it I enjoy reading your work! Tom Brown
Read full commentPosted in stuff of life ip
“A finished piece of writing is distanced
Posted on Sat, 24 Jul 2021
“A finished piece of writing is distanced from its author’s heart”, yes very true Marcia and thank God. Maybe that is the reason for writing, especially poetry. Just let it go.
Your poem is really lovely and I don't even need my glasses!...
Read full commentPosted in “of a piece “
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