JUSTICE

ABC Wednesday & more prompts below
Try my Paranormal Flash now!

POLLY TICKS

We’re beginning to lose touch about what Justice really means. I
say this because victims are becoming central to the outcome of
trials. Now, don’t get me wrong – I can feel for the victims.

But a trial isn’t victim
v accused.

It is STATE v accused. This is important. It keeps proceedings
formal and unemotional. Victim-centred trials do the opposite, and
by bringing out emotion, verdicts can so easily be swayed. The end
result is bad justice. I blame the rise of individuality over community
for this. We’ve begun to think it is the ‘person’ who deserves justice,
and not the good of all through community.

Paranormal Flash

Okay, as promised, my Paranormal Flash is now
complete. Click the link at top of post to access.
As well as a general narrative on the subject, I
also link to dozens of previous essays so you
can go deeper into the mysteries that seem to
baffle us.

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

MEDIA NEWS: Creation, a new
British film about Charles Darwin, has
failed to find a distributor in the US, according
to its producers. Bought in nearly every other country,
religious sensibilities seem to be behind the failure. Where is the
line between freedom of speech and faith, I wonder?

BRIT NEWS: A survey by The Guardian shows that top company
executive’s pay has risen 10% in the last year. It’s good
to see that their standards have not gone down
because of a mere thing like a Recession.
Sometimes I think Earth is really
two planets – ‘cos they’re
not living on mine.

RATTLER’S TALE

A Voyage of the Imagination

Carry On Tuesday
Heads or Tails – ReadWritePoem
Three Word Wednesday

THE BOOK

The greatest invention there’s ever been,
Wherever you go books are seen;
Whenever things change you can be sure,
It was fuelled by a book – nothing so pure;
Whenever you want to escape the world,
Pick up a book, let stories unfurl;
And whenever you want to express your thought,
Write a book and hope it’s bought

THE INSIDER

Fiction: I thought of those words by Albert Camus: ‘Don’t walk behind
me; I may not lead. Don’t walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just
walk beside me and be my friend.’ I often thought I walked alone.
Here was I, experiencing life, but outside. The existential nightmare
was my reality. Alone – absurd. Life was a surreal dance around my
body, but never touching – or so I thought. I had choices, you see;
and those choices were mine and mine alone. My friend – my only
friend – tried to make those choices come right for me. My aspirations
seemed to work through him. But I thought wrong – that surreal
dance did touch me. It touched me always, out of the blue, catching
me unawares – until I realized the choices of others were valid to my
life. So now I’m neither lion nor mouse, neither leading nor led, and
my friend – my inner being – walks beside me. I now know I am me
because of them. How can I be absurd?

RICHES

The day I made a million, wow!!
Poverty? Ha! Taken a bow;
Great big house and chauffeur driven car,
Holidays to lands afar,
Gourmet meals – never mind the harm,
Beautiful lady on my arm,
Nothing more I need to seek …
Oh well … maybe next week

VELOCIRAPTOR
(Updated 23 Sep 09)

No time to languish, velocity high,
Is that prey ahead of me, I spy?
I may be little but I rule this place,
Got to keep going or I’m eclipsed in the race …
Survival of the fittest is how it is,
Got to keep going, know our biz,
Extinction won’t ever stop this buzz,
‘Cos if you read it again, you’ll find it’s us

© Anthony North, September 2009

Try my Pictures of Life, a novel

DRUG HELL & MORE

Find current affairs & prompt below

Shoot. Smoke. Snort. There are many way to do it – get high. The
trip has been described as similar to a mystical experience; indeed,
it is well accepted that the ancients used narcotics to help induce
such experiences. Experimental mystics have used drugs and testify
to the similarity. This was once used as an attempt to glorify their
use, which is, of course, a load of rubbish.

I don’t deny the connection between drugs
and mystical experiences. But the difference
is in the intent.

A mystic tends to spend his whole life in a search for the Divine. The
lessons he learns during this journey are taken into his life, and in
this sense he is enriched. This is totally different to the attitude of
the average user. A few manage to use them as recreational –
usually the rich – but to most it is a means of escape from a
deplorable life. No lesson is learnt, and in being an ‘escape’, their
only need is to get back there as soon as they can. Hence,
there may be a theoretical link, but in terms of experience
it is a road to hell.

© Anthony North, June 2009

TV WATCH: Sir Alan Sugar threatens
to take The Apprentice to ITV as BBC unsure
whether a new govt advisor is impartial. It’s hell being
an apprentice.

GREEN NEWS: US won’t make China commit to emissions cuts.
Sorry, did I say this was ‘green’ news? Sickly green, maybe.

BRIT NEWS: Tories plan to scrap some Sats. Scrap them
all, full stop. Exams to see how well a school is
doing diverts attention from the kids.

Carry On Tuesday

CAUGHT IN THE LIGHT

Fiction: He didn’t believe in such tales. Oh sure, he’d heard all about
the barn – how people fear to go inside at night – how you could
disappear for ever in there. But he was a big fellow, rational, and he
wasn’t about to be put off by ridiculous folk stories. As he
approached, a lantern light from deeper in the barn shone on a man
and woman in the door. He felt comforted by this and immediately
thought, why do I need to feel comforted? There’s nothing to it. He
walked into the barn, approached the people … He didn’t believe in
such tales. He’d heard about the barn – how people disappear. He
was a small, rational fellow. As he approached, a lantern light from
deeper in the barn shone on a big man in the door …

POETIC TWEETS

Splitter splatter, rain hits ground
Such force it rebounds
Dancing while inside we cower
Lightning 100 times per hour

Freedom flickers in Iran
Watch them in protest’s van
Question: will it flicker out?
Or will it knock oppressors out

© Anthony North, June 2009

TONY ON HYPOCRISY

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.

My Columnists
Eye On the World
The ‘Y’ Files

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

© Anthony North, June 2009

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.

Follow me on Twitter

TONY ON GLORYING CRIME

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

DI CASS NOVA

Glorying Crime

I find it interesting that the more people a person kills the greater the
folklore around him. It is as if there is a greater glory to be had in the
minds of the people. Jean Rostard said it perfectly: ‘Kill a man and you
are an assassin, kill millions of men and you are a conquerer, kill
everyone and you are a god.’ It looks like infamy places a strange
perversion upon us.

My Columnists

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

Eye On the World – Choose an Essay

Inde-Politics & Socio-Capitalism

BRIT NEWS: MPs expenses scandal now
claims a dozen MPs, but they’ll stay on ’til next
election. Bi-elections too risky at the moment, then?

HEALTH NEWS: Research from Cambodia suggests world’s best
anti-malaria drug beginning to fail. Nature always catches up
with our meds.

BRIT NEWS: 50 Labour MPs ask for peerages to get out
of the Commons to the Lords. Do they know a
Tory landslide is coming next year?

Call back Mon for more NewsFlash

SCRIBBLING ON

You know it’s the write way

Romance Fiction Archive

DENOUEMENT

The last line …
So important, often sublime,
or maybe horrific, or answering a crime,
It could be the twist of the ultimate tale,
Get it right and you cannot fail,
But forget to do it, finish the scene …
….
Terrible!
See what I mean?

COVERT MISSION

Fiction: It was bad. Fighters appeared from everywhere and we had to
be ever alert. Danvers drove us on through the mountains, and it was
clear there was a covert objective we knew nothing about. I’d heard
of him before – a previous mission. His cavalier ways. The trap. He
lost all six of his men that day, and they say he carries the guilt
always. But it didn’t show. We moved deeper into the heartland and
soon we found ourselves facing a major redoubt. And it was Danvers
who took it out – single handedly – charging as if he was invulnerable
to the bullets. But he wasn’t. A burst ripped through his chest and he
fell. I held him as he died, and in those last seconds serenity
appeared on his face, which seemed to say: mission accomplished.

COVERT STORY

A twisted story, it surely is,
What’s the answer to this quiz?
A covert truth, it has to be,
If you knew it would be glee,
But if you realise before the end,
My tricky abilities you would offend,
So are you ready for the twisty truth?
It’s a poem not a story! Streuth …

© Anthony North, May 2009

SCRIBBLERS’ NEWS

Check out my Writers’ Tips posts

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

Weekend Wordsmith
New prompt word every Sat
Saturday Scribes
Have you tried this prompt yet?
Scribble Soup
Or how about this one?
Totally Optional Prompts
Write a song lyric
Three Word Wednesday
The words are: dreary, embrace & timid

TONY’S MUSE DIARY

Vertigo – that’s the film Him Outside watched yesterday. Am I getting
Alfred Hitchcock overload? Okay, the guy was good, but this is
becoming an obsession. Which is exactly what the film is about – and
a deep mystery, the heroine seemingly possessed by a dead person.
Of course, in this world it’s always more murky than that, and the plot
twists along nicely as the hero’s obsession with her increases. But
people just keep falling for him. I guess what Him Outside likes about
Hitchcock is that he grabs a storytelling concept and hammers out
every element of it, usually to everyone’s satisfaction.

CAMPAIGN TRAIL
Keep up on alternative news or join a campaign.
Together bloggers can make a difference.
The Anomalist
News & blog source on the unexplained
Guardian – Environment
A good source for eco-news & blogs

Call back Mon for more prompts
and campaigns

Follow me on Twitter

MAFIA FACTS

Including ABC Wednesday, Tell a Tale, Inspire Me Thursday and Sunday Scribblings.
Have you had a go yet?

DI CASS NOVA

Mafia Facts

It goes like this. The idea of family is formed. The family is extended
into those on your side. The idea of silence and patronage becomes
real. The people under their influence are ‘protected’. Illicit forms of
enterprise are begun. Enemies are fought and destroyed. Yes, that’s
Mafia – but also Monarchy. And they say Feudalism is dead.

My Columnists

FROM THE ARCHIVES

The ‘Y’ Files – Choose an Essay

Inde-Pol Sub-Domain

MEDIA NEWS: TV soundbites taking away
school kids ability to concentrate. This IS new
media; secret is for intelligence to take it over.

BRIT NEWS: Video shown of cop striking woman & then
hitting her legs with baton at G20 protest. This is not the Britain
I love. Shame.

BRIT NEWS: Sir Clement Freud has died. Wit, politician, cook, he
was of generation that applauded eccentrics. World poorer
without them.

GREEN NEWS: List of 11 possible nuke power sites
unveiled. Always said govt’s cosmetic green
plans were smokescreen for nuke power.

Call back Sun for more NewsFlash

SCRIBBLING ON

You know it’s the write way

Romance Fiction Archive

N is for … NOVEL

A product of enlightened times,
The novel took writing away from rhymes,
Fictional tales of the human condition,
Characters in love, or feeling contrition;
A pact is done between writer and reader,
An emotional see-saw through joy or fear,
A means through which the mind is honed,
The writer’s thoughts in the reader cloned

LAKE OF SECRETS

Fiction: The lake of secrets I call it – especially stood here as the
sun goes down. I’ve lived so much here, and so many of my ideas
have arisen here, as if out of the water itself. So much of my latest
novel is associated with the place – at times autobiographical; how
we met, how we loved, how we parted. I just hope the body
doesn’t rise before it’s published.

THE GREEN WRITER

I’m the greenest writer there can ever be,
Every page from a sustainable tree,
I cover global warming and pollution, too,
All eco-issues to educate you,
Offering a world to which you’re entitled,
But you could have read it before you recycled

LANGUAGE MODE

I think the words, write them down,
Causing the reader to laugh or frown,
Storytelling is my game,
Using abstract thought with which to claim,
A language honed to pass on ideas,
Archetypal expressions of our hopes and fears

© Anthony North, April 2009

SCRIBBLERS’ NEWS

Check out my Writers’ Tips posts

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.

Sunday Scribblings
The word this week is ‘language’
Three Word Wednesday
Still time for this. Words are: allure, perch & vivid
Plinky Prompts
You can answer prompt questions on-site here
One Single Impression
Posting 19 Apr, the phrase for a poem is: one word
Totally Optional Prompts
Still time to write a poem about a photo
Write Anything
Always a good source for tips & prompts
ReadWritePoem
A prompt a day for NaPoWriMo
Inspire Me Thursday
The prompt word is: green
Tell a Tale
Write a tale set on an evening

Call back Sun for more prompts

Follow me on Twitter

CRIME LOVE

Including ABC Wednesday and Acrostic Only.
Have you had a go yet?

DI CASS NOVA

Crime Love

The thing about crime is that types of offence are pretty
constant through history. Yet so many periods express a
particular type of crime – the 19th century Victorian poisoner;
the 20th century serial killer. Why is this so? Maybe because
their media popularity says more about the problems of the
society at the time than the crime itself.

My Columnists

FROM THE ARCHIVES

Cass Nova Crime Fiction

Inde-Pol Sub-Domain

BRIT NEWS: Landlady evicts tenants after
seeing pics on Facebook of state of place after
party. I guess some things should still stay private.

GREEN NEWS: Over 100 power plant protesters arrested
before protest. Police need to look seriously at themselves &
remember freedom.

BRIT NEWS: Brown writes letters of regret over recent
Tory ’smear’ emails by aide. Maybe it’s Labour
culture that thinks it’s ok to do it.

Call back tomorrow for more NewsFlash

GREEN SCENE

Save the Planet – or you’ll be sorry!!

Green Scene Sub Domain

M is for … MOTHER EARTH

All around, above, below,
From the soil to sky aglow,
Mother Earth takes care of all,
But so often we’re not enthralled;
We forgot when we thought we could lord,
That to her we have an umbilical cord;
We break this link at our peril,
When we become the eco-Devil

THE RECYCLER

Fiction: I’d been brought up to be eco-aware – save the planet
and all that. Little did I realise that the idea had greater power
than this – or that my urge to recycle would be my undoing. Yes,
I always recycled. That’s how I got caught – passing the
gun on like that.

FATAL ATTRACTION

Fashion comes
Anorexia stays
Technology hums
Auto-malaise
Living …

Advancing
Trampling
Torturing
Rotating …
Artificial living
Can’t go on
The planet suffers
It will ignore our song …
Only harmony will
Negate our fatal attraction

© Anthony North, April 2009

SCRIBBLERS’ NEWS

Check out my Writers’ Tips posts

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.

Plinky Prompts
A daily prompt here to write on-site
ABC Wednesday
We’re up to the letter ‘M’
Acrostic Only
Write with the words: Fatal Attraction
Heads or Tails
Look out for the prompt word: Reason
Poetry Train
You can post any poem here
Manic Monday
The word here is: taste

Call back tomorrow for more prompts

Follow me on Twitter

GOVT TARGETS

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

POLLY TICKS

Government Targets

Government is now infatuated with targets. Everything is
reduced to statistics and success measured in terms of score.
This does more than remove the humanity from authority. It
leaves agencies unable to use initiative and hampers
the freedom to perform.

My Columnists

FROM THE ARCHIVES

Nature Provides

Inde-Pol Sub-Domain

BRIT NEWS: It looks like recently arrested terror
suspects are here courtesy of student visas. Remember
this next time govt talks of ID cards assisting in fighting
terror. At this rate, all they’ll do is make terrorists ‘official’.

TV WATCH: Television viewing this Easter is coming in for
scrutiny. Yes, there’s a Doctor Who special, which will
be the highlight, but according to reports, we can
look forward to nearly 200 hours of repeats on
the main 5 channels. Oh, won’t that be fun!

Call back Sunday for more NewsFlash

FUTURE ZONE

What’s ahead … and Beyond!!!

My Sci Fi Archive

SPICY WORLD

They decided to call it Planet Spice,
The flora provided tastes so nice,
Until they did their natural history,
A sorry tale – Oh, what irony;
If you want to explore outer space,
Try not to eat the primary race

FIRST CONTACT

Sci Fi: The telescopes picked it up first. Throughout Earth
there was a buzz. An alien starship was approaching fast.
World leaders met to discuss it. Scientists predicted where
it would land. The crowds gathered, awaiting the hour.
Landing, the alien left the starship, went behind a bush,
urinated and took off again.

PARADISE PULSE

Future people will search it out,
Changing society to add some clout,
To the idea that paradise can be,
Our ultimate, yearned for, destiny;
Throughout time we’ve dreamt it’s there,
Forgetting Utopia means nowhere

SCARY DAY

Consciousness – a wonderful thing,
All is changed now – I can sing;
No longer stuck upon the shelf,
Now I know I know myself;
But it’s scary, this bright new day,
In the life of M2L4J

© Anthony North, April 2009

SCRIBBLERS’ NEWS

Check out my Writers’ Tips posts

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.

Sunday Scribblings
Write something about the word: scary
Simply Snickers
Write a poem using the words, blue, bright & bring
Skywatch Friday
Point your camera upwards and snap
Write Anything
Writing info & Fiction Friday prompt
Inspire Me Thursday
The topic this week is: spice
Tell a Tale
Go see the picture & write a story

Call back Sunday for more prompts

Follow me on Twitter

MEDIA FREEDOM

Including Totally Optional Prompts and Naisaiku Challenge.
Have you had a go yet?

PAPPA RAZZI

Media Freedom

We are what we know, and we know what the media allows us
to know, but how free is this process? Advertising has become
the biggest income for the media. So answer me a question:
would you advertise in a media-form offering a message you
didn’t like? Of course not – and that’s how Big Biz makes sure
you only know what they want you to know.

My Columnists

FROM THE ARCHIVES

Adventure Fiction Archive

Inde-Pol Sub-Domain

BRIT NEWS: Suspected terror cell arrested early
after head of counter-terror is photographed by media
getting out of car with secret document about the cell open
to the cameras. There’s talk of him resigning. Rubbish. Sack him!!

BRIT NEWS: Criminal investigation going ahead after man dies of
heart attack after being assaulted by policeman during G20
protests. He was a newspaper seller going home, corraled
into the police’s arguably false imprisonment tactic
of cordoning everyone into a human mass.

Call back tomorrow for more NewsFlash

SCRIBBLING ON

You know it’s the write way

Check out my Writers’ Tips posts

LETTERS

Letters are useful, that’s the truth,
Help you spell words like ‘me’ & ’streuth’;
I’ve pondered the letters in ‘rake’ & ‘trowel’,
Consonantly worried, of that I vowel;
I’d like to tell of these thoughts sublime,
But sadly I haven’t another line

LONELY TEARS

Fiction: Such a chatterbox she was. Never stopped. Talked
about them next door, and them down the street, and even
them from who-knows-where. And it wasn’t long before them
from who-knows-where argued with them from next door,
and them from next door argued with them from down the
street … until they’d had enough. Once upon a time she
talked to people. Now she just talks to the mirror – and cries.

MY FIRST NAISAIKU

My first naisaiku
I hope it won’t be my last
I’VE JUST GOT THE GRASP
I know it won’t be my first
My last naisaiku

MY LIFE

Photos and books all over the place,
They surround me, no disgrace,
The latter helping me how to be,
The former the result of this destiny;
Sometimes I think the photo exists,
Within the pages, my life betwixt

© Anthony North, April 2009

SCRIBBLERS’ NEWS

Check out my Writers’ Tips posts

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.

Three Word Wednesday
The words are: flirt, ploy & stunning
Totally Optional Prompts
A poem about a letter
Poefusion
A prompt a day for NaPoWriMo
Naisaiku Challenge
Have you tried the challenge yet?
ReadWritePoem
A prompt a day for NaPoWriMo
Thursday Thirteen
List thirteen things

Call back tomorrow for more prompts

Follow me on Twitter

TONY ON OVERLOAD, PSYCHOS & MORE

Including One Single Impression, Inspire Me Thursday and Sunday Scribblings.
Have you had a go yet?

TECHIE WITHOUT A CLUE ON INFO OVERLOAD

Blogging highlights a major problem with the net. There is simply too much information out there, meaning people become very narrow in their reading matter. This is one reason why individual pieces here have now got shorter. But a question: does too much available information mean that, to stop overload, we actually acquire less?

DI CASS NOVA ON CRIMINAL MENTALITY

We say of psychopaths: how could they do such things? Well, quite easily. Some researchers have noted ‘psychological distancing’. Whether through upbringing, or other reasons, some people develop an inability to understand love or similar emotions. They only appreciate the negative. And with this attitude, a victim is so easily dehumanised.
Next Post Mon See you then.

© Anthony North, April 2009

My Columnists

FROM THE ARCHIVES

Matchbreaker – A Whodunit

Fiction: Cuthbert King sat in his study contemplating the letter in
front of him. Some sixty years of age, his mind was as sharp as
ever, and as he pushed his mass of white hair from his eyes, he
turned to Mr Sprat …
… read more …

Abolish Political Parties

BRIT NEWS: So far so good. The expected G20
riots did not materialise. In the main, a peaceful,
often funny, protest was had, spoilt only when the
police coralled them all and stopped them leaving.
Anger from some. Was that legal?

GREEN NEWS: Do we now have Green espionage? An exec
from power supplier EDF investigated for conspiring to hack
into Greenpeace France’s computer systems. The French
don’t seem to like ‘em, do they?

BRIT NEWS: The Guardian is the first newspaper to tailor
reports exclusively for Twitter, arguing that essence
of a story can be done in 140 characters. Brevity
is the new comms form. Well done to them.

Lots more news on my Mini Blog

GREEN SCENE

Save the Planet – or you’ll be sorry!!

Green Scene Sub-Domain

ARE YOU LISTENING?

Listen, can you hear the pain?
Listen, is it all in vain?
Anger mounts in the sky,
Species die, no matter how they try;
Listen, do you love your home?
Listen, it’s in the nature zone,
Listen …

HE GOT RIGHTS

Fiction: Well, they wanted to give them rights, so they did. And
now he was stood in the dock, facing the jury. You see, with the
implication of rights come duties. And when the ‘rights-people’
said it wasn’t fair, and lost … Well, eventually such a murder
case was bound to appear. The lion roared as sentence
was passed.

THE KEY

We need a key to save the world,
Something eco to be unfurled,
Upon the planet to let it heal,
Something good we all can feel;
Where will we find this magic key,
Is it enough to go hug a tree?
Maybe, if the politicians do,
Then tie them to it, and to ourselves be true

CELEBRATE

The world is saved, hip, hip hooray,
Climate reversed, no need to pray,
pollution declining, animals saved,
A whole new way is being paved;
Reawakened, is it all it seemed?
No, not really – but it was a nice dream

© Anthony North, April 2009

Sunday Scribblings not up yet – call back later

SCRIBBLERS’ NEWS

Check out my Writers’ Tips posts

Here we go with another Scribblers’ News. Is it proving useful?
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too many have been disappearing. Can anyone think of other ways
of doing so? Let me know of any news or new sites.

Sunday Scribblings
The word is: celebrate
Heads or Tails
List three things. Posted Mon evening GMT
One Single Impression
Word is ‘Listening’. Posted Sun
Inspire Me Thursday
The word is ‘Key’. Write or craft post
Naisaiku Challenge
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Write Anything
Always a good source of info and prompts

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TONY ON CRIME, SYMBOL & MORE

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

PAPPA RAZZI – On crime and image

A report into UK policing recently showed that 4 out of ten crimes were simply filed away because it seemed they couldn’t be solved. These include sex offences, burglary and drugs. What is going on?

During the last thirty years, policing has been degraded.

Policemen used to be on foot or bike and within the local community. Then they switched to cars. Then specialist teams appeared to deal with specific types of crime. All these ‘improvements’ created a gulf between police and society.
Then came science, and basic detection was forgotten. Then came targets and people became statistics. Then came politics, the most insidious thing of all. The upshot of this was that ‘behaviour’ and thought itself became a police matter.

The police were now not dealing with ‘people’, but concept.

And of course, a concept is little more than an image. How ‘society’ was seen to be was all that mattered – and similarly, how the police were ‘seen’ by us became important to them.
The result was that crime and society became nothing more than a media image, a reflection, a symbol, rather than a definite reality – which rather fits in with the rise of the information society, where ‘reality’ is just our media’s impression of it.

© Anthony North, January 2009

MY SUB-DOMAIN UPDATE: My new sub-domain, Psycho-Man is now up, including everything you want to know about cults and other subjects. Also, Inde-Pol now links to lots of short essential essays by me on its home page. These sub-domains are part of Beyond the Blog, and accessed from top of this site.
My Columnists

GREEN SCENE

Save the Planet – or you’ll be sorry!!

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A SUMMER’S DAY

The sun, it burns, so very bright,
enabling life, no respite,
forever glowing, bringing heat,
making the planet so complete;
A summer’s day is testament to this,
we look up, feel total bliss,
happy that it will go on forever,
allowing for our great endeavour;
yet summer days can come too soon,
bringing heat to make us swoon,
especially if we change the air,
trapping sunlight, causing despair,
’til summer’s day will never end,
and our endeavours go on to lend,
the seed of destruction of an angry sun,
burnt to a crisp, life’s no longer fun

(c) Anthony North, January 2009

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ULRIKA VISITS PLANET CELL – Fiction

Ulrika Feyn was a star traveller from the future who became trapped in the universal mind. This was such a strange experience, she didn’t know whether she was real, or a thought in the mind of some storyteller. But regardless, she simply had to think of being somewhere and she was.
Suddenly she found herself on Cell, watching the last humanoid on the planet die a painful death. All around her were bodies in varying stages of decay, as if a plague had slowly wiped them all out. ‘What’s happened to these people?’ she asked Uni-Mind.
When he answered, his voice boomed more than normal, shaking the very foundations of Cell. ‘It’s a fault in the universal program,’ he said. Not waiting for Ulrika to speak, he continued: ‘Occasionally a species will fall out of sympathy, which is a big mistake. They begin to see themselves as above the system, not realising that they don’t inhabit a planet, but a universal cell, as if a part of the universal body. And as you know, a body has an immune system …’
Ulrika realised what he meant. ‘You mean, it’s like a disease, and when that happens the universe fights back, eradicating it?’
‘Exactly right,’ boomed Uni-Mind, ‘and this little species got above itself, so Zap!’
Ulrika thought this a bit harsh, and asked: ‘Isn’t there some way a message could be sent instead, warning of their error.’
‘Been there, done that,’ said Uni-Mind. ‘It’s endemic to the immune system. It’s not invisible, you know. Infact, the signals can be witnessed for decades before the killing starts. But no, most don’t get the message. First they deny, and then they usually attach myths to what they see. Just take your own little planet, Earth. Flying saucers, I think you call them.’

© Anthony North, January 2009

ORGAN NICK

Don’t you love him, he plays so well,
organ or piano, he’s just swell,
arranging notes in harmony,
his own remarkable symphony;
Music is so sublime and true,
its vibes washing over you,
the musician playing in sympathy,
everything fits organically;
An audial reflection of nature’s chime,
all as one, a perfect rhyme;
We love our music attuned and pure,
so why make nature’s music poor?

(c) Anthony North, January 2009