GREED

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GURU TONY

Welcome to my weekly magazine post. Watch
it grow thru the week. You can opt to read the essay,
current affairs, themed mini mag with fiction & poetry, or just
read the lot. Here’s hoping you enjoy your visit. Plenty
for everyone here so do call again next week.

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MAGPIE TALES

Fiction: Someone had definitely taken a
bite of my apple and I was determined to
find out who. Looking around, I couldn’t
see which man was missing, but one lady
definitely was. ‘Where’s Eve?’ I asked.

MICROFICTION

Fiction: ‘Do the fools who write road signs
have any idea of distance?’ asked the crow
as he flew by, depositing his contempt
on another one.

Here’s my son Richard’s latest Webshow

GREED

Greed is such an ugly thing, yet at the heart of modern capitalism is the
idea that success requires greed. This is not how it should have been.
Capitalism was conceived in more religious times, where it had a
natural counter balance with the idea of thrift. Abandon the opposite
in any society and it will inevitably go wrong – except, of course, Big
Biz doesn’t want balance to exist. Only through glorying greed can
they have consumers greedy enough to fuel the greed of the few at
the top of the Big Biz ladder. As I’ve said before, welcome to Serfdom.

Eye On the World
Essays on everything from science
to religion, politics to crime

BRIT NEWS: National Health
Service spent £300m on outside
consultants last year. Add the £65 billion
debt still hanging over us for new hospitals and its
obvious the last govt forgot a simple rule. It is prudent
to spend only what you need and save for a rainy day.

TRADE NEWS: eBay has doubled its traders as more and
more businesses open up through eCommerce. Let
it continue and let these small firms grow.
They, and green tech, are our best
hope of ridding the world of the
scourge of Big Biz. I’m fed
up of being a serf.

READ WITH MUMMY

The Magazine Post with a gentle hint of horror

One Single Impression
Sunday Scribblings – Friday Flash 55
Three Word Wednesday – Writer’s Island
One Shot Wednesday

CHOICES

What nightmare shall I have tonight?
Will it haunt, or a vampire’s bite,
Plenty of gore, or supernatural delight,
Maybe magicians in a psychic fight …
What nightmare? There’s such a wealth;
Poe, I think, as I approach the shelf

FLASH 55 – BLOGGED

Fiction: After the blogger has gone it lies in cyberspace. The
abandoned blog is not pretty, the decay of spam degrading its
comments, the sense of what was hanging, hauntingly on the edge
of the net. Yet still it draws the search engine, possessing the
seeker, forever intertwined with the afterblog. Life after
death lives on.

IF ONLY

If Only had come all would have changed,
So much of life rearranged,
If Only had happened it would be glee,
I’d be master of my destiny,
If Only, the ghost of what could have been,
So much that I could have seen

PIXEL POWER

Fiction: Cameras confirmed ghosts – many a photo brought them to the
surface – but he’d never realized technology could be a form of
exorcism, too. ‘Light is dark and dark is light,’ he had been told. ‘They
appear on the negative and break into life through developing. So if
you could trap them in the darkness, they cannot manifest.’ So he
caught them with his digital camera, by passing the negative. How
many ghosts are in yours?

FAITH

He went with Faith into the pit of Hell,
Fire scorching, sulphuric smell,
Demons challenged, he tried to fight,
Faith dissolving, out of sight,
Conquering fear, Faith came back,
He knew she’d give him all he lacked

HEALTH NEWS: Insufficient exposure
to sunshine could add to many illnesses,
including MS and arthritis, says vitamin D study.
This is the kind of science I like. It agrees with common
sense. Does modern lifestyle & fear of skin cancer cause as much
harm as good?

BRIT NEWS: Prime Minister Cameron is a Dad again. He said he
wanted a Cornish middle name and they chose Endellion.
I’d have thought Pastie would be nice. But are we
really bothered? He’s a politician. Now I know
they have personality (?), but should
they be treated as celebrities?

© Anthony North, August 2010

Try my Pictures of Life, a novel

FRUSTRATIONS

Theme Thursday, Microfiction Monday & ABC Wednesday
With Thursday Thirteen and Magpie Tales
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POLLY TICKS

Welcome to my weekly magazine post. Watch
it grow thru the week. You can opt to read the essay,
current affairs, themed mini mag with fiction & poetry, or just
read the lot. Here’s hoping you enjoy your visit. Plenty
for everyone here so do call again next week.

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MAGPIE TALES

Fiction: The house seemed so lonely in
its secluded place amongst the trees.
It seemed detached from reality. Empty.
Silent. A nowhere home. And so large
for a soul owner …

MICROFICTION

Fiction: As the skeleton crept he wished
he’d never found the Book of Life. He
rushed to finish Ch 1 before the basics
stopped him dead.

FRUSTRATIONS

Life can be so frustrating. In a way, it has to be. If we never had
frustrations we’d never have the urge to change things and if things
stayed as they are, we’d really be stagnating. So frustration is an
essential to life. Sadly, though, marketers know this and adding to your
frustrations increases your need to buy. Consider the media infatuation
with celebrities. A great marketing tool, they show you what you can
aspire to, leaving you frustrated that you don’t have their lifestyle. It’s
an old ploy. Medieval Christendom had its own celebrities – the saints –
showing you what it meant to be a good Christian, urging you to aspire
to their standards. The saint and celebrity may be a world apart in
terms of culture, but they’re an identical marketing ploy. Frustrating,
isn’t it?

EQUAL

How can any of us be equal to anyone
else? Yes, we share many similarities,
but also many differences, so equality
is a con. Even in math 2+2=4 is only a
mind game. The universe doesn’t do
numbers. The word ‘equal’ just doesn’t
add up.

Eye On the World
Essays on everything from science
to religion, politics to crime

BRIT NEWS: Big cuts to come
at Ministry of Defence. With an Army
of just 100,000, we have 85,000 civil servants
to support them. What a ridiculous amount. But don’t
cut the frontline. Words about taking a ‘capability holiday’ are
worrying.

MEDIA NEWS: Ofcom reports Brits spend half their waking hours using
media & communications. I think this is a double-edged sword. On the
one hand we are flooded with so much info it becomes blurred; on the
other, we now live in two communities, the local and global. This has
to increase toleration of others.

GREEN NEWS: Scientists warn we may have to produce artificial
meat in vats soon if we are to feed everyone. Is this true,
or could we feed the world by becoming more
natural in our eating and
farming habits?

FUTURE ZONE

What’s ahead … and Beyond!!!

One Single Impression
Sunday Scribblings – Friday Flash 55
Three Word Wednesday – Writer’s Island
One Shot Wednesday

EMPTY

Gone back in time, all alone,
Nothing here throughout the zone,
Empty space, forces none,
Where has all reality gone?
Then a voice said: ‘Let there be light’,
Such a bang!!!! – delight

FLASH 55 – ROBOT LAW

Fiction: They thought the program had malfunctioned. The robot had
been built specifically as a servant, there to cater for every whim. But
every time it was told to fetch something, it said: ‘Get it yourself.’
Eventually Azimov’s laws of robotics were blamed: do no harm to
humans. And impeding a human from exercising was harmful.

TIME TRAVEL

I can go wherever I desire,
Past or future, light the fire,
Sit and think, imagination honed,
No bars to any time zone,
Come with me as I tell a tale,
Storytellers get under any veil

TIMEKEEPERS

Fiction: They just wouldn’t come back, and that was the problem. It
was worst for the time travel section of the Medieval studies
department. Checking the history books gave a possible answer. It
began, they suspected, with the halo of light that took time to
dissipate after transport. This attracted followers who soon knelt in
prayer, and as soon as they were venerated, they would abstain from
coming back. Maybe they shouldn’t have called it the Study and
Analysis IN Time project.

DANGEROUS

Black holes suck, meteor storms crash,
Watch that radiation don’t give a rash!
There’s danger throughout the universe,
When we get out there we’d better rehearse;
But remember how often we’ve caused a fuss,
Don’t let the biggest danger be us

BRIT NEWS: Top doctors call for
legalisation of drugs. Instinctively I’m
against this, but also realise nothing induces
organised crime more than a ban. If it was legalised, would
money saved go into proper help for addicts?

BRIT NEWS: After 100 days of UK Coalition Govt there is still
strong support for spending cuts. I guess we’re resigned
to harsh medicine – though this may change when
details are announced – if wavering Lib
Dems haven’t brought it all
down by then.

© Anthony North, August 2010

Try my Pictures of Life, a novel
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ERRORS

Theme Thursday, Microfiction Monday & ABC Wednesday
With Thursday Thirteen news & more prompts below
Try my Paranormal Flash now!

PROF ISAAC GALISTEIN

Welcome to my weekly magazine post. Watch
it grow thru the week. You can opt to read the essay,
current affairs, themed mini mag with fiction & poetry, or just
read the lot. Here’s hoping you enjoy your visit. Plenty
for everyone here so do call again next week.

I’m now on Facebook

MICROFICTION

Fiction: His armour no longer shone. The
Knight had creaked to a halt long ago.
He blamed the Greens. Banning oil had
sure stopped war.

ERRORS

What kind of world would it be if no one ever made a mistake? Well, it
would certainly be boring as no one would do anything. Errors are a
fact of life, and a good thing, too. Of course, once an error is made, it
is how we react to it that counts. The secret is to learn from it, and
make sure it is never repeated again. Don’t worry, we won’t run out of
things we can do wrong – there is an infinite variety. But it is a fact of
life that wise people usually begin as idiots.

BRUSH

Handy word, brush. Sweeps away the
rubbish; makes you look smart. Yet it
can also add to the rubbish and make
you a mess as you brush with life.

Eye On the World
Essays on everything from science
to religion, politics to crime

WORLD NEWS: US Iraq withdrawal
on schedule but 50,000 troops staying
for stability. Iraq is a fake country made by
Britain mixing Kurd, Sunni & Shi’ite areas. It’s only
ever been held together by tyranny. Those troops will
have to stay for ever.

GREEN NEWS: A 100 sq mile ice sheet has broken off a glacier
in Greenland. Just thought I’d mention it. The main media seems to
have forgotten about global warming. Does anyone in authority
remember it?

BRIT NEWS: House prices falling again. Researchers warn
jobs market will stall later in year as public sector
sheds workers. We’re far from out of it yet.
People forget the Depression lasted
10 yrs, and only ended with
world war.

THE CRIME POST

It would be criminal not to read it

One Single Impression
Sunday Scribblings – Friday Flash 55
Three Word Wednesday – Writer’s Island
One Shot Wednesday

PENSIVE

It happened! I know it shouldn’t have done,
Future police stamp it out with a gun,
Latest tech sniffs it out,
Always knows what you’re about,
So they raided me and I was caught,
All I did was have a thought

FLASH 55 – COPYCAT

Fiction: Finch complained bitterly. It wasn’t right for Jackson to murder
in the same way as him. Sarah and Jenn sympathised – after all, they
had both perfected their own form of murder, and successfully too.
They’d feel cheated by a copycat. After much deliberation Davies
made a decision and kicked Jackson out of the writing group.

INCEPTION

Beginning to learn how to case the joint,
Beginning my talents and getting the point,
Beginning to sense how to work people out,
Beginning not to get caught, no doubt,
Beginning to suss how to talk the talk,
Beginning to not hold Mom’s hand when I walk

VIEW

He always had the wrong view on life,
Had to be involved in so much strife,
I’m told his view has completely changed,
Bleak landscape and brickwork was arranged,
Hangs around now all the while,
Review in 10 years, don’t send a file

NATURAL LAW

He had to kill – he shouldn’t have been there,
But the victim was, and now he stared,
Deathly grimace seemed to watch his work,
Opened safe – guilt lurked;
Final phase, time to get out,
He was just a thief, not a murderous lout!
Raving mind, filled with dread,
Stumble on victim – crash!!! – he’s dead

BIZ NEWS: Our economic woes
seem to be good for some. As UK banks
begin to make profits again, mergers are creating
new super companies. If you think Big Biz was bad before,
just wait for the new empires to arise. Do you feel like a serf yet?

HEALTH NEWS: New antibiotic resistant superbug has now entered UK
hospitals. Will these new strains ever end? I doubt it – not until we
slow down on antibiotic use for general illness and in food. I often think
we’re pushing the evolution of these bugs ourselves.

SCI NEWS: Archaeologists find scrapped bones suggesting our
ancestors used sharp stone blades to butcher 3.4 million
years ago. Scientists are shocked, but maybe the
real shock is how science becomes too
absolute in their ideas without
enough evidence to
back them up.

© Anthony North, August 2010

Try my Pictures of Life, a novel

DANGER

Theme Thursday, Microfiction Monday & ABC Wednesday
With Thursday Thirteen items and a couple more
Try my Paranormal Flash now!

BLOGGER BARD

Welcome to my weekly magazine post. Watch
it grow thru the week. You can opt to read the essay,
current affairs, themed mini mag with fiction & poetry, or just
read the lot. Here’s hoping you enjoy your visit. Plenty
for everyone here so do call again next week.

I’m now on Facebook

MICROFICTION

‘Hi Big A,’ said Ye Old York as he visited his
son. I don’t know, he thought, how
adolescents grow.

DANGER

There seems to be an unwritten law of the universe that the dangerous
is beautiful. From a fiery volcano to the stereotypical sultry brunette,
the law holds true. It is deep within our culture and psychology. But
why is this so? Is it that we love to court danger, and thus romanticize
it into its spectacular imagery? Or is it fundamental to our creativity? I
think it is. History outs the evidence – the most dangerous, most
violent nations in history were also the ones who gave us the most
beauty in the arts.

PALM

Palm trees are usually associated with
hot places. I live in Britain, where palm
trees are rare. Though we do have
lovely summers. It’s normally a
beautiful day.

Eye On the World
Essays on everything from science
to religion, politics to crime

BRIT NEWS: Ex-deputy Prime
Minister John Prescott tells Iraq
Inquiry that much of the intelligence
for war was tittle-tattle. Quite true. I suspect
most intelligence is tittle-tattle, and relies on intelligent
leaders to interpret it. And here lies the problem.

HEALTH NEWS: People won’t be forced to retire at 65 in UK. Soon
we’ll no doubt be expected to work to 70. Health evangelists
constantly bombard us with spoil sport advice. Many becoming media
hypochondriacs. Are we becoming slaves to our health?

BRIT NEWS: Survey shows one in 5 have sought counselling,
showing shift in attitudes towards therapy. Does it really?
Or does it show decline in family & friends, and their
ability to listen and help. Celebrity influence
excepted, of course.

RATTLER’S TALE

A Voyage of the Imagination

One Single Impression
Sunday Scribblings – Friday Flash 55
Three Word Wednesday – Writer’s Island
One Shot Wednesday

BEGINNING?

We need a beginning and then an end,
No, said the mystic, why do you offend?
The natural cycles go round and round,
Stopping and starting can only confound,
Get into the flow you western clown,
No end no beginning’s where peace is found

KISS, EVERYONE?

Fiction: They had argued. She’d run out. He’d followed. Caught her.
Spun her round. They gazed into each others eyes and kissed.
Immediately the CCTV cameras turned; people took out their mobile
phones. Pointed. Selection was quick. Thousands clicked on – went:
‘awww’. The media tycoons felt proud. Studio Earth was thriving …
Another scene … and another … and ….

SPELLBOUND

Their’s are there, they’re,
Can you see it, are you aware?
Don’t be astounded, I simply care,
Startling, even though I want to rebel,
Taboos and standards I want to fell,
But in the end it’s got to be sound,
We make no sense if not spell bound

HALF WAY

Just begun, long way to go,
Keep going, stamina I’ll show,
Half way, It’s got to be,
Do you get it, do you agree?
Nearly finished, feel divine,
That’s it! The last line

JOKEY TALK

I need some leverage in this argument,
Break their stance, make it spent,
Crack a joke – it always works,
Ridicule a remedy for so many quirks,
You see, the best debater is not necessarily right,
He just understands that words have might

WORLD NEWS: Another disaster
– this time floods in Pakistan. They
happen more often than wars, yet we can
spend trillions on men and equipment ready for
the battle, but hardly a penny on a dedicated world
organisation to react to disaster. What a disaster the human
race is at times.

HEALTH NEWS: FSA says meat from offspring of cloned cow has
entered UK food chain. Let’s not be diverted from real issue by saying
it’s bad for us. There’s unlikey to be danger in eating it. The danger is
in the depleting gene pool if it becomes the norm. Diversity is how
we and nature thrive.

WORLD NEWS: Many US billionaires to pledge half their money to
charity. Very nice of them. Though it reminds me of the mass
British philanthropy at the start of the Industrial Revolution.
Created loads of benevolent institutions to get the
poor accustomed to the big one – the factory.

© Anthony North, August 2010

Try my Pictures of Life, a novel

CONSENSUS

Theme Thursday, Microfiction Monday & ABC Wednesday
With Thursday Thirteen items & a couple more
Try my Paranormal Flash now!

GURU TONY

Welcome to my weekly magazine post. Watch
it grow thru the week. You can opt to read the essay,
current affairs, themed mini mag with fiction & poetry, or just
read the lot. Here’s hoping you enjoy your visit. Plenty
for everyone here so do call again next week.

I’m now on Facebook

MICROFICTION

Fiction: The house was derelict.
Defenceless. ‘We always win in the end,’
said Eco 1. Ecosystems 2 to infinity
crept forward …

My son, Richard, has begun a regular
monthly show. Just over 8 mins long,
it’s funny. Take a look.
Arts Web Show

CONSENSUS

I gave up a search for truth long ago when I realized the only truth is
there isn’t one – which led me to search for why people think there is.
And what I noticed is that throughout history a constant flow of ideas
have been put forward. Most fade into obscurity, but the occasional
ones catch on. And when they do, a consensus arises. And before
long, all knowledge – indeed, all thinking – is placed within the confines
of the consensus. Even language bends to its restraints. If we realized
the process, maybe we’d learn to have more toleration for a consensus
that conflicts with ours. In this direction peace may lie.

BROWN

Brown is a difficult colour to write about.
We often think of soil as brown, which
gives it its importance. Brown represents
the foundation for the growth of food,
essential to the neverending cycles of
life, enriched when brown returns to the
earth … I warned you it was a difficult
colour to write about.

Eye On the World
Essays on everything from science
to religion, politics to crime

WORLD NEWS: Many European
banks fail health check, but UK banks
seem okay. This all comes down to the Euro,
I’m sure. To not have control of your own economy
in a crisis is insanity. The Euro was the product of the
stupidity of affluence.

CRIME NEWS: Brit prisons minister thinks rehabilitation should
involve meeting the victim. This worrying aspect is wrong. Crime
may be committed against the person, but the criminal faces the
State. I feel for victims, but emotion should be kept out of law.

WORLD NEWS: The leaking of 1000s of Pentagon documents
outs hypocrisy amongst the media as details of civilian
Afghan deaths are known. What do we expect? It
is war. It’s inevitable. Don’t blame the soldiers.
Blame the politicians who correctly went to
close down the terrorists, and ended
up trying to build empires.

READ WITH MUMMY

The Magazine Post with a gentle hint of horror

One Single Impression
Sunday Scribblings – Friday Flash 55
Three Word Wednesday – Writer’s Island
One Shot Wednesday

CONNOISSEUR

Looking forward to the midnight feast,
With Dracula and Frankinstein and several deceased,
Plenty of red stuff there to drink,
Fleshy meat for our teeth to sink,
True connoisseurs are so very few,
Want to come!!!? Be the wine and stew?

FLASH 55 – HOUSEBREAKERS

Fiction: The house was crumbling fast. No one lived there any more. It
was a harrowing sight – a death. After all, the last resident had lost his
will to exist. And as he was one with the house, maybe it was his
death the house was suffering. For without the living the ghost must
surely fade.

FEARFUL JOURNEY

Travelling fast through the forest of fear,
I can feel my worst nightmares edging near,
Expectantly I wait for them to jump right out,
Any second now, I have no doubt,
Yet soon I was free – I’d gone right through,
Which is when the unexpected came out; said ‘Boo!’

SUCKERS

Fiction: It always happens in the dark. From the moment she was
awoken she was trapped in the mesmeric bond between the two. The
eyes stared into her very soul, and soon the jaws opened, clamped
shut! The drinking began, sucking ravenously. She felt the feebleness
as she began to be drained. She began to predict what course of
action she could take. And eventually, sated, she removed her baby
from her breast.

I’D LIKE TO THANK

I’d like to thank you sincerely,
For all that you have given to me,
Success couldn’t happen without you,
I trust and love you true,
Your wit, your wisdom, your everything,
Is the root of all that makes me zing,
This pact puts so much in my grasp,
Do my horns show in this looking glass?

CRIME NEWS: Brit police officer let
off by CPS over death of Ian Tomlinson
at G20 protest is to face disciplinary hearing.
When is the same going to happen to the police
tacticians. It is an offence in Britain to obstruct a law
abiding person. The police need to remember who they work for.

WORLD NEWS: US Senate hearing on Lockerbie postponed as key
Brits refuse to attend. Let’s not have any indignation here. The only
Americans entitled to be angry are relatives of those who died. The
US Senate needs to realise the UK is not a vassal but a dear
friend who is getting angry.

BRIT NEWS: David Cameron is going round the world upsetting
a lot of countries and aligning with others. India and Turkey
seem to be ‘in’. I’m sure that in gratitude they’ll sign
lots of business contracts. Then again, Britain
was wrong to shun such countries in
favour of the EU in the first place.

© Anthony North, August 2010

Try my Pictures of Life, a novel