BEYOND THE BLOG

ASSIMILATION

If you want to join, be the same,
As we exist and acclaim,
Our way is how ‘we’ want to be,
No room for you, individually,
And listen kid: if you’re not in our gang,
You run the risk of us going: bang!

THE PERFECT CRIME

Fiction: It had happened before. Indeed, Brad had told Greg when
it was proposed that they wouldn’t get away with it. But Greg was
a good talker and it was decided that each would murder the other’s
problem. The appointed night came and Brad did the deed, solving
Greg’s problem. And at about the same time Greg got to work on
solving his. Mindst you, this proved much easier. One phone call
to the police was all it took.

VISION OF CRIME

I saw the murder, I saw it all,
Felt the pain, watched him fall,
‘Twas in a dream my vision came,
Including the cad who is to blame,
I saw him yesterday before going to bed,
To see him again, in the mirror, I dread

TONY’S MUSE on … BREAKFAST

Writers’ Tips

Him Outside is trying Friday Questions for the first time. The question
today is: Are you a breakfast eater? If yes, what is your typical
breakfast? Well, he would love a full English every day – bacon, egg,
sausage, tomato – though he’d say no to black pudding. As it is, he
sticks to bacon (grilled) and egg (scrambled), with a bit of wholemeal
bread – and all on a little plate. Infact, he eats five little meals a day.
Never feeling hungry, never full, he’s been on this diet for years now,
and it is one of the best things he did to combat his cfs. Breakfast is,
of course, the most important meal of the day. Skip this and your
stomach is rumbling almost as soon as you start work; and you can
guarantee you’ll never catch up with the eating, no matter how much
you eat. Breakfast is, quite simply, the starting point for a diet. ‘Cos
sometimes, to really diet, you just have to eat right.

My Columnists
Eye On the World
The ‘Y’ Files

Posted in Crime Stories, Current Affairs, Health, Poetry, Psychology | 45 Comments »

FEROCIOUS & MORE

Posted by anthonynorth on June 15, 2009

Find current affairs & prompts below

She walked up and down the room, treading the carpet.
She walked fast, angrily, ferociously. ‘And you just couldn’t
resist, could you?’ She never awaited an answer. ‘God, I
knew you were unhappy, I knew we had problems, but this?’

Her face was contorted, her good looks turning to something macabre, insane and – yes – so very defiant. ‘I should have guessed.’ An admonishment. ‘All the signs were there.’ A sense of regret – or was it stupidity for not realizing?
Her husband just sat there, staring into space.
‘I gave you everything,’ she continued, her pace quickening, as if there was no time to get to where she wasn’t going.
Maybe that was why, she thought, suddenly. I’m pacing up and down, trying to work it out, but maybe we were just going nowhere.
Her thoughts turned to words: ‘But that doesn’t let you off, you bas …’
Was that the crescendo, cut off in its prime? Was the ferocity of her mood declining?
The time comes. We know it does – when the anger is spent, maybe through sheer tiredness. And this is the point of reunion, of forgiveness, of being carried away on a tide of ecstasy as they make up.
She turned to face him, knelt by him. And as she stared at the knife embedded in his heart, she knew that this time it was final.

BRIT NEWS: Miliband speaks of how
he nearly quit the Cabinet. Not news, then.
And, hey, David, why not keep it in the news?

WORLD NEWS: Riots in Iran? This could be a turning point -
brutal put down, or spirit of freedom coming alive. It’s in
the balance.

BRIT NEWS: Lord Mandelson warns of another plot
against Brown in autumn. The Prince of
Darkness speaks. It will come
to pass, for sure.

Sunday Scribblings
American Sandwich – Naisaiku Challenge

ABSURD

Life is absurd, Sartre did say,
All down to choice, no more to waylay,
Nothing but nothingness other than that,
Nothing of value but what’s under your hat;
Yet what about love – the arrow falls,
Or things that inspire – having a ball?
So much influence out there on tap,
So absurd – existentialist crap

AN EXERCISE IN HORROR
(American Club Sandwich)

Fetid breath on neck
Voices say open the door
YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE COMES
Voices say open the door
Fetid breath on neck

Recoil against it, you know you must, you know you can if you
want to. If you want to you know you must recoil against it;
you know you can. You know you must if you want to, you
know you can recoil against it …

Voices open mind
Fetid breath pushes you on
YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE
Fetid breath brushes your neck
Voices open door …

Posted in Crime Stories, Current Affairs, Poetry | 24 Comments »

TONY ON HYPOCRISY

Posted by anthonynorth on June 13, 2009

Including Heads or Tails, Fiction Friday, Manic Monday, Poetry Train
and One Single Impression. Have you had a go yet?

DI CASS NOVA

Hypocrisy

Sometimes hypocrisy is inevitable – especially in law. Take a crime. We
all get annoyed, we all get emotional. This even extends to the law
makers and judges. Yet law has to be unemotional. This is so because
emotionally based law is bad law and leads to injustice and
overbearing rules. Hence, even when we feel injustice, and want
retribution, we must accept the law should not.

Inde-Pol

BRIT NEWS: Does Tory MP Ann
Widdecombe want Speaker job. Perfect
candidate. Bossy, moral, plain speaking. Just
what Parliament needs. Go girl!

HEALTH NEWS: So the pandemic is here. Notice how the
apocalyptic message has been toned down to its real
meaning?

SPORT NEWS: Man U sell Ronaldo to Real Madrid for
£80m. Is there anyone out there who still
thinks football is a sport?

SCRIBBLING ON

You know it’s the write way

Romance Fiction Archive

WALLS

Do you love your walls? You really must,
Take them away, your house is bust,
Where’s your privacy if they weren’t there,
Everyone would be able to stare,
They’ve always been a great defence,
Much more sturdy than a rickety fence,
And you can’t hang pictures on fresh air,
So love your walls; it’s only fair

THE RELUCTANT SLAYER

Fiction: I knew something had gone wrong when the piano
accordion player slumped forward. At first, no one realised what
had happened. It was an enjoyable party with plenty of noise,
plenty of drinking, and most of my attention was on Sue, dancing
and drinking straight out of the bottle. Which man would she have
her eye on tonight, I wondered. Still, I was satisfied that it wouldn’t
go anywhere – not tonight. That’s when the double bass player
slumped forward, too. Only then did I realise Sue shared her
drinks as well as her body.

LOST

Where it’s gone I’ve no idea,
I’ll never find it, I fear,
I’ve tried so hard to get it back,
But I keep straying off the track,
Of course, the reason is because,
I can’t remember what it was

THE SHOWER

Go in the shower if you dare,
But you’d better beware,
What’s behind that curtain, closed?
Might you end up a corpse, reposed?
Read the sign; feel the fear:
Hitchcock woz ‘ere

TONY’S MUSE DIARY

Writers’ Tips

Him Outside watched an episode of The Saint the other night, from
the 1960s. Roger Moore was debonair, as he remembered him. Moore
went on to be the worse Bond of them all, mainly because he didn’t
really play Bond – rather, a tongue-in-cheek Simon Templer. In many
ways the episode was dated, but despite this, Him Outside enjoyed it
– indeed, he enjoyed it more than most modern thriller series. And the
reason why is this: other than Sci Fi, modern drama is infatuated with
reality. Producers have forgotten that fiction is supposed to have an
element of escapism. The old thriller series such as The Saint, The
Avengers, Danger Man, etc, knew this. Maybe modern TV needs to
relearn this important point.

Posted in Crime, Crime Stories, Current Affairs, Poetry, Writing | 42 Comments »

TONY ON TELEPATHY

Posted by anthonynorth on June 4, 2009

Including Friday Flash 55, Totally Optional Prompts and Three Word Thursday.
Have you had a go yet?

WEIRD OBS ORG

Telepathy

Telepathy is thought to involve mind to mind contact, best evidenced
by a person’s name coming into the mind, and moments later they
phone you or you bump into them. Most tests for telepathy show a
slight statistical bias above chance for the ability, but sceptics
constantly question the methodology involved. But could something
else be involved?

The mind takes in more of the world than
we consciously realise. Most of this information
goes to the unconscious.

However, over an average day in a city, a person can unconsciously
input thousands of conversations and actions. Could the mind work
like a computer, analysing this knowledge, and when it finds a bit of
information relevant to a point in time, send it to the conscious that
a particular person had planned to be there, too? This would seem
to be telepathy. Click here and scroll down for a general survey of
telepathy, and here for more on the above theory.

EDITORIAL

This post is in two parts – newspaper and
magazine. Read either or both. It is also
a debating platform, so do join in. Don’t
forget to call again.

FROM THE ARCHIVES

Inde-Politics & Socio-Capitalism

BRIT NEWS: As senior Labour members
are sacked or ‘quit’, Brown urged to take control.
We are witnessing something dying here. Go! Go! Go!!!

TECH NEWS: Constant chatter on social networking is damaging
idea of compassion, say scientists. Something we have to
certainly be aware of.

BRIT NEWS: Church of England turning away trainee clergy
as financial crisis costs them £1.3bn. I seem to recall
something about traders at the temple.

Call back Sat for more NewsFlash

THE CRIME POST

It would be criminal not to read it

UNEXPECTED VISITOR

Invited in; they know it’s you,
Nothing here but loyalty true;
What’s that you spy? You want one of those!
This is how the intruders impose,
Jealousy, envy – you feel distress,
Those emotions rising that you detest;
You fight it; you have to; it isn’t the way,
When the unexpected visitor’s in your mind to waylay

FLASH 55 – SEEING THE LIGHT

‘Crime is not evil,’ said the criminologist. There was general
disagreement – until he showed the examples. The first was a
modern city, lawful by day, but at night, the lights out, crime
increased in the dark. The second was an ancient settlement
where, at night, the fear of evil kept them all in their beds.

LAKESIDE
(Quilly’s word meanings below)

It was risible but the fish seemed fat. I was stagnicolous, floating
in the lake by Larry. We often went for a swim here, expecially
when we needed to cool off. We’d argued, you see, and Phil wasn’t
here to invigilate – which was bad. Larry had a temper. They’d
argued recently, too, and I was about to ask where Phil was when
my foot touched something soft. Then I said: Take your hands
off my thro … !!!

risible – laughable
stagnicolous – living in stagnant water
invigilate – keep watch

SCRIBBLERS’ NEWS

Keep up with the latest prompts and writing
news. Let me know of any new sites.

American Sandwich
A story in 3 sentences of 17 syllables
Three Word Thursday
The words are: risible, invigilate, & stagnicolous
Tell a Tale
Competition now closed
Acrostic Only
Have you tried an acrostic yet?
Friday Flash 55
A weekly Flash 55 to be done here

TONY’S MUSE DIARY

Last Sunday night the UK’s Channel 5 featured 5 robot films back to
back. A full ten hours of nothing but robots, and Him Outside thought:
who in their right mind would watch all these? Well, the reality is,
quite a few people, and mainly under 30. It seems to be an evolving
mentality. Him Outside watched the first series of 24 and then vowed
never to watch it again. He classed it as obsession media. Now, I’m
an obsessive – but then again, I’m a muse. I can’t do anything else.
Him Outside is now and again over his writing, but he takes breaks –
does something else. But obsession seems to be encouraged
nowadays. Why is this? I guess it’s the natural outcome of a
specialised world, creating what can be best described as obsession
mentality. Which is rather handy for Big Biz. After all, obsessives buy,
buy, buy!!!

CAMPAIGN TRAIL
Keep up on alternative news or join a campaign.
Together bloggers can make a difference.
Mind
Campaigning for better understanding of mental health
World Wildlife Fund
Protecting animals around the globe

Call back Sat for more prompts
and campaigns

Posted in Crime Stories, Current Affairs, Media, Paranormal, Poetry | 48 Comments »

TONY ON MONSTERS

Posted by anthonynorth on May 27, 2009

Including Thursday Thirteen, ABC Wednesday, and Three Word Wednesday.
With Thursday Thirteen lines of poetry.

WEIRD OBS ORG

Monsters

There are two interesting things about the Loch Ness Monster and
Abominable Snowman. First, while they are definitely seen, there is
little evidence of them being physical. And second, they have cousins
in most wildernesses worldwide. This suggests they could be a
universally produced form of hallucination. But why?

They seem to represent two
periods of evolution.

First, the time when life broke the surface of the water and saw the
sky, and second, when the primate left the trees and walked among
predators. Both fearful times, such memories seem to stay in the
mind. So could we be witnessing evolutionary memories, perhaps
handed down through DNA, from our evolutionary past? Click here
for a deeper analysis.

EDITORIAL

This post is in two parts – newspaper and
magazine. Read either or both. It is also
a debating platform, so do join in. Don’t
forget to call again tomorrow.

FROM THE ARCHIVES

Inde-Politics & Socio-Capitalism

BRIT NEWS: Tory leader promises drastic
redistribution of power. All this talk of constitutional
change is stupid. It’s just the MPs we need to change.

WORLD NEWS: North Korea carries out nuclear test, causing small
earthquake. If this is a bargaining chip, time to start bargaining,
folks, ‘cos war won’t work.

BRIT NEWS: BNP leader tells bishops to ‘grow up’ after
they said: don’t vote BNP. Well folks, don’t
vote BNP. And I’VE grown up.

Call back tomorrow for more NewsFlash

THE PHILOSOPHY

To know is to empower

History of Man

S is for … SILENCE

Fast and furious, modern life,
Noisy, fevered, full of strife,
Cities humming with the buzz,
Give me peace! Clear the fuzz;
Countryside, so tranquil, peaceful,
Time to think, away from people,
Silence; nature’s precious steeple

LEARNING PROCESS

Fiction: I really wanted to embrace this, but it was so dreary and
she so timid. I’d been here before – many times – and as I kissed I
suppose the first flicker of an urge came. The sex was satisfactory.
At one point I suppose I became too rough and electric shocks
coursed through my body. Afterwards, I lay there a while, thinking –
hoping – which had to be a good thing. But eventually the
criminologist switched off the machine and I exited the VR corrective
chamber. It was a long process – learning how to feel, and not to kill.

WHAT’S PHILOSOPHY

What is it? Work it out,
Try to think, cast off doubt,
Decisions simply have to be made,
From the alternatives there displayed,
Once you’ve done it the mind will fizz,
And you’ll know exactly what philosophy is

SCRIBBLERS’ NEWS

Keep up with the latest prompts and writing
news. Let me know of any new sites.

Three Word Thursday
The next words are: niddering, amanuensis & tyro
Tell a Tale
A month long comp running here
Acrostic Only
Have you tried an acrostic yet?
Friday Flash 55
A weekly Flash 55 to be done here
Meme Express
For daily memes

TONY’S MUSE DIARY

Him Outside is weary and blistered today. After lots of rain and a bad
cold, he’s finally managed to get some gardening done. Because of
cfs, he can usually only do about 20 minutes before requiring a rest,
and only one or two sessions a day. But over the last few days he’s
done up to four a day. Poor fellow, he’d like a nice garden, but has
moved around so often that he’d never had the inclination to create
one. At present he’s a trimmer rather than a horticulturalist. But at
least it looks like the wilderness nature intended.

CAMPAIGN TRAIL
Keep up on alternative news or join a campaign.
Together bloggers can make a difference.
World Wildlife Fund
Protecting animals around the globe
Unexplained Mysteries
News & features on the unexplained

Call back tomorrow for more prompts
and campaigns

Posted in Crime Stories, Current Affairs, Poetry | 40 Comments »

TONY ON BIG BIZ ALLY

Posted by anthonynorth on May 20, 2009

Including Thursday Thirteen, ABC Wednesday, Search Engine Stories
and Three Word Wednesday. With Thursday Thirteen lines of poetry.

POLLY TICKS

Big Biz Ally

I spend a lot of time writing about the horrors of Big Biz – the way
it has contempt for the consumer, is in league with government and
is increasingly totalitarian. But this does not mean the consumer is
off the hook. Big Biz thrives by offering us what we think we want.
Hence, the monster that allows the monster to thrive is none
other than ourselves.

EDITORIAL

This post is in two parts – newspaper and
magazine. Read either or both. It is also
a debating platform, so do join in. Don’t
forget to call again tomorrow.

FROM THE ARCHIVES

Inde-Politics & Socio-Capitalism

BRIT NEWS: Celebrity Esther Rantzen may
stand against her MP as an Independent. Hope
this is true. We need Indes to rein in Party system.

BRIT NEWS: House of Commons Speaker has resigned for not
policing expenses properly – he deserves to go but he’s the first
one dumped in 300 yrs. It’s a farce, and the UK Parliament is a
disgrace. So much damage to democracy done here.

BRIT NEWS: Looks like soldiers’ families will be able
to sue under Human Rights Act in certain
cases. This is no way to run an army.

Call back tomorrow for more NewsFlash

THE CRIME POST

It would be criminal not to read it

R is for … RETRIBUTION

Retribution, a terrible crime,
Be happy ‘cos they’re serving time;
You see, crime may be a personal thing,
But here, there’s a simple sting,
Punishment must remain detached,
For emotion in law, lynch mob hatched

THE SOLUTION

Fiction: The Boss looked at Malone. The other guys were surrounding
them, watching, and he felt nervous for the first time. It was all to do
with being efficient, he told himself. Malone listened as the Boss told
him about how he had been treacherous – that he knew. Malone saw
it as nothing more than a way to optimize his success, of course.
After all, what are rules in this game? Yet, he knew the implications
well enough. And as the Boss raised the revolver, end game was
approaching. It was a single shot and the body fell to the floor. Much
better, thought Malone, for him to go this way. Leads to a
smoother transition.

SMILE

Give a smile, you know you can,
Even if it isn’t part of your plan,
Feeling down? Get a grip,
Give a smile, an emotional trip;
Give a smile, it’s so sublime,
To not do so is … well
A crime

SCRIBBLERS’ NEWS

Keep up with the latest prompts and writing
news. Let me know of any new sites.

Heads or Tails
The prompt is: brave
Poefusion
Always a good Friday prompt here
Manic Monday
The word is: shadow
Poetry Train
Link any poem here
Weekend Wordsmith
The word is: century

TONY’S MUSE DIARY

Due to cfs Him Outside is a bit of a TV junkie come night time
– too tired for much else. He watches a Soap or two, the odd
documentary, news and then usually settles down to a film. In
recent nights he’s watched three Kevin Costner films – Robin
Hood, A Perfect World and Message In a Bottle. Now, they were
all very good and well acted, but Him Outside always gets a
troubling feeling watching Costner. I guess the best way to
explain it is this is an actor who takes himself too seriously.

CAMPAIGN TRAIL
Keep up on alternative news or join a campaign.
Together bloggers can make a difference.
Unexplained Mysteries
News & features on the unexplained
Friends of the Earth
Campaigning for the environment

Call back tomorrow for more prompts
and campaigns

Posted in Crime Stories, Current Affairs, Poetry, Society | 40 Comments »

TONY ON HOW TO GET THIN

Posted by anthonynorth on May 8, 2009

Including Sunday Scribblings, Three Word Thursday and Inspire Me Thursday.
Have you had a go yet?

DR ILLYA NESS

How To Get Thin

The media is full of dietary advice. Do you follow them? Do they
work? One guarantee is that, even if they do, you’ll return to
normal as soon as you stop. The best advice is: forget diets. Eat
all food types, but do it in more, but smaller, meals. This way you
never feel hungry and never feel full. Your body equalises, and
eventually it becomes a way of eating for life.

EDITORIAL

This post is in two parts – newspaper and
magazine. Read either or both. It is also
a debating platform, so do join in. Don’t
forget to call again tomorrow.

FROM THE ARCHIVES

Inde-Pol Sub-Domain

BRIT NEWS: Researchers say UK economy
could contract at biggest rate since 1931. I can
believe that, now there’s such a debt to repay.

WORLD NEWS: So presidents of US, Afghanistan and Pakistan
have met to sort out Al Qaeda. But how do you fight an idea?
I suspect a bit of global spin here.

BRIT NEWS: Manchester targeted for intro of ‘voluntary’
ID cards. That’s right, get people used to them
and then they won’t worry when
they’re compulsory.

Call back Sunday for more NewsFlash

THE CRIME POST

It would be criminal not to read it

THE FAMILY

Welcome to the Family,
You’ll enjoy it here with us,
We do all sorts of naughty things,
It’s one helluva buzz,
But don’t tell anyone what we do,
That will be a crime,
And you’ll end up down an alley,
Cut off in your prime

A THEFT – WHODUNIT?
(Word meanings below)

Fiction: The policeman seemed to quiddle as he surveyed the
crime scene. The glabrous man seemed uncomfortable yet
uxorious. The photo was shown of the stolen item and the
policeman struggled to hold back his emotion. Yet suddenly the
answer seemed obvious. So whodunit? He suspected the wife
stole the wig. And he didn’t blame her.

quiddle – dawdle
uxorious – submissive towards wife
glabrous – bald

HEALING

Life used to be divine,
Then someone did the crime,
Changing everything we do,
The way we react, always blue;
You’ve got to realise an important fact,
About the way we react,
A victim is a casualty,
Who HAS to heal – don’t you see!!!?

SCRIBBLERS’ NEWS

Keep up with the latest prompts and writing
news. Let me know of any new sites.

Sunday Scribblings
The prompt is: healing
Inspire Me Thursday
The theme is: family
Write Anything
Good source of tips & Fiction Friday
American Sandwich
A story in 3 sentences of 17 syllables
Three Word Thursday
The words are: quiddle, uxorious, glabrous
I’m cracking up. These are the words for next
week. Visit link for this week’s.

CAMPAIGN TRAIL
Keep up on alternative news or join a campaign.
Together bloggers can make a difference.
Amnesty International
Campaign for human rights here
Greenpeace
Campaigning for the environment

Call back Sunday for more prompts
and campaigns

Posted in Crime Stories, Current Affairs, Health, Poetry | 43 Comments »

HUMAN BEGINNING

Posted by anthonynorth on April 27, 2009

Including Heads or Tails, ABC Wednesday, Manic Monday and Poetry Train.
Have you had a go yet?

WEIRD OBS ORG

Human Beginning

What made us human? Science says the evolving of a pelvis that
allowed us to walk erect, leaving the hand free to develop manual
dexterity, and the explosion in brain size. We can add another
element. The new pelvis made it more comfortable to mate face
to face. Intimacy, and then love, was born, freeing us from
instinct. Maybe we’re human because of love.

Eye On the World – Choose an Essay

FROM THE ARCHIVES

Inde-Pol Sub-Domain

HEALTH NEWS: Chew nicotine gum
to beat smoking – sorry, say scientists. It
can cause mouth cancer. When will we realise
nothing is risk free.

BRIT NEWS: Clown from Moscow banned from wearing
his big floppy shoes ‘cos they breach health & safety rules.
This clowning is getting silly.

WORLD NEWS: Pandemic fears as swine flu hits Mexico. It will
happen as air travel shrinks world, but if we panic every time, we’ll
lose interest.

BRIT NEWS: Think tanks have their say. From deepest spending cuts
since the 70s, to debt not paid until 2032, gloom rules in politics.

HEALTH NEWS: Drink kills 40,000/yr say experts – and they
blame Govt’s 24 hr drink laws. They wanted continental
culture, but found hell!

WORLD NEWS: G7 finance ministers say world
economy showing positive signs. Ha! And
we’re supposed to believe them?
Delusional in many ways.

Call back Wed for more NewsFlash

THE CRIME POST

It would be criminal not to read it

THE FARM

Tasty girl, took her out,
Twice a week, always my shout,
Lovely meals, food piled high,
Gets more attractive, can’t deny;
She’ll soon be right, taste buds tell,
I want her now! Dining bell,
Yet always such a sad, sad song,
But I’ll find another when she’s gone

THE OTHER DEATH

Fiction: He killed her. There’s no doubt about it. He did it. He took the
life from her. I’m not saying he planned it – he didn’t. Not her. But he
killed her when he killed her man. And she died of a broken heart.

O is for … OUTBURST

He won’t get up; he just lies there,
And his eyes have such a strange stare,
But it wasn’t my fault,
This assault;
I know my outbursts can be bad,
But you don’t know the terrible life I’ve had;
It wasn’t my fault,
This assault;
My only defence was self esteem,
With such a life, I have to gleam!
So it wasn’t my fault,
This assault;
And I know I’ll spend my life in jail,
The indignity makes me go quite pale;
And you think it’s my fault,
This assault

GETTING WARMER

Getting warmer, following the clues,
So many paths, time to choose,
The way to catch the villain quick,
Before more crimes that make us sick;
Forensics, informers, so many ways,
The detective marches through the haze,
But the best way to catch society’s foes,
Is always to follow the copper’s nose

SCRIBBLERS’ NEWS

Here we go with another Scribblers’ News. Is it proving useful?
I’m trying to do my bit to help advertise the prompt sites, as
too many have been disappearing. Can anyone think of other ways
of doing so? Let me know of any news or new sites.

Heads or Tails
Write about ‘down on the farm’
One Single Impression
The word is just that: Word
Manic Monday
The word is: warm
Search Engine Stories
The prompt this week is: water colours
Poefusion
Friday 5 words are: column, ram, riveted, bail, break
Poetry Train
Link any poem here
Weekend Wordsmith
The word is: champagne
Saturday Scribes
Write on the theme: what we need

Call back Wed for more prompts

Posted in Crime Stories, Current Affairs, Philosophy, Poetry | 53 Comments »

REAL KNOWLEDGE

Posted by anthonynorth on April 8, 2009

Including Thursday Thirteen, Poefusion and Three Word Wednesday.
With 13 lines of poetry + 1.

PROF ISAAC GALISTEIN

Real Knowledge

Intellectuals seem to spend so much time falling out with
each other nowadays. It’s as if debate is out of date. I blame
unbridled individuality. It gives one the feeling that your views
are that much more important than others. Maybe they
should remember that any knowledge that doesn’t begin
with humility and moderation is wrong.

Mass Culture & the Paranormal

FROM THE ARCHIVES

Inde-Pol Sub-Domain

BRIT NEWS: A teaching union blames parents for
problems in schools. In many cases, quite true, but
those parents are the first generation who were taught
rights over duties by those same schools. The words pot, kettle
and black come to mind.

WORLD NEWS: Obama did Muslim love fest in Turkey. Of course,
it shouldn’t have to be said, ‘cos the west cannot be at war
with Islam. How can you be at war with an entire
civilisation? And Islam is not at war with the
west – just fearful of losing their identity.

Call back tomorrow for more NewsFlash

THE CRIME POST

It would be criminal not to read it

True Crime Sub-Domain

DIMINISHED

It’s been an age since she was gone,
Is she where she belongs?
I’m coming to terms with my loss,
Regardless of the terrible cost;
I try to be here as much as can be,
Yet not always possible, as you’ll see;
I remember her going so very pale,
As I went to heaven, and she to jail

THE BUTLER DID IT

Fiction: Such a cliché, the detective remembered: the ultimate
whodunit – the butler did. Well, as he looked at the picture of the
crime scene, he realised those old writers were predicting the
future. You see, he KNEW the butler had dunit – and also that
he’d outwitted the forensics. Them butlers are damned good
at valeting.

THE CON

It WAS a ploy; it had to be,
Flirting, her only destiny,
So stunning, how could anyone say no?
And when she came on, your money would go;
She got her way all the time,
‘Til I came along, naivety her crime

Posted in Crime Stories, Current Affairs, Philosophy, Poetry, Society, World Affairs | 30 Comments »

TONY ON PARANORMAL, DREAMS & MORE

Posted by anthonynorth on March 27, 2009

Including One Single Impression and Sunday Scribblings.
Have you had a go yet?

WEIRD OBS ORG ON PARANORMAL

To many, the paranormal is disappearing from our lives, and although there are still many cases about, it does seem to be in decline. But could this be paranormal in itself? To a certain extent, we are a reflection of our culture, so if our culture says the paranormal is in decline, wouldn’t that make it so?

DR ILLYA NESS ON DREAMS

We believe we make rational decisions about our future, but is this so? The vast majority of our thoughts and knowledge come from the unconscious, and when we dream, this irrational area of mind rules. Could it be that this process, filtering into conscious thought, directs us more in life than reason suggests?

Abolish Political Parties

FROM THE ARCHIVES

I’m having to take a break from my longer works for a while, so when
my latest serials are complete I’ll only be posting the three Magazine
Posts a week. But I’ve hundreds of longer posts in the archives most
of you will not have read. So as a new feature in the Magazine Posts,
I’ll begin linking to them here. Let’s start with …

Jack the Ripper

BRIT NEWS: Proposed changes in Primary education
could include children learning all about blogs and social-
networking. Hey, they can put my blog on the curriculum
if they like!
*
BRIT NEWS: New figures confirm extend of petty officialdom using
snooper laws to crack down on minor infringements. They have been
used 10,000 times by local councils. This must stop before they
get the feel for jack-slippers.
*
BRIT NEWS: Bank of England Governor tells govt we can’t afford
another spending spree to get us out of Recession. He
obviously doesn’t realise that only ideology matters
to these fantasists.

Lots more news on my Mini Blog

THE CRIME POST

It would be criminal not to read it

True Crime

**********

SMOKING GUN

It was in his hand, I know it was,
He’d fired it, just because,
Someone said something he didn’t like,
He could have just said ‘take a hike’,
But he had the gun – he always did,
So he used it – Bang!!
He’s just a kid

A BENT COP

Fiction: Oh, how he hated them – the way they lied and cheated to
get their way. There was nothing worse than a bent cop, and this
latest episode was messy. Maybe if it hadn’t led to her death, there
would be a way out. But it had. Yes, he hated bent cops. How do
they live with themselves? And now, how could he?

AN AGE

Slowly she ages, delicately,
Through the years as one with me,
Wrinkled, greying, getting old,
Unable to experience life unfold,
Captured in youth, her photo dies,
My only memory; her killer despised

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