X FILES

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POLLY TICKS

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MICROFICTION

‘I’m so sorry,’ said the girl as the
mermaids gathered, ‘but this is my
Daddy’s canning ship.’

X-FILES

Most governments have them – reports of strange events ‘rational’
people would rather forget, dismissed as hallucination, fakery, etc.
Science ignores such events, certainly. But whether they are due to
‘real’ phenomena or not, there is something vital that government and
science forget. There is a need in so many of us for such mysteries.
They are part of our historical and psychological make-up. For the
establishment to ignore them is to discount a large part of what it is
to be human. Maybe they should move on a letter – to the ‘Y’ Files.

BLUE

Blue is such a negative colour. It can
be for sad, pornography, being cold.
Would make me see red if I wasn’t so
yellow. Oh dear, most colours appear
negative. We’re quite green about
this. If only there was a happy colour
I’d be in the pink.

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

EDUC NEWS: Over 700 groups
like idea of starting ‘free schools’ in
England, many made up of teachers. Is
this the new way for education?

BRIT NEWS: Cameron makes it clear the middleclass
will have to bear brunt of deficit cuts. Affluence swelled
their numbers, so quite right.

BRIT NEWS: 20% VAT, 2 yr public sector pay freeze, purge on
benefits – welcome to the austerity budget. Harsh but sensible.

BRIT NEWS: Deaths of Brit soldiers in Afghanistan reaches 300. A high
price to fight terrorism; a disgusting price for state building.

HEALTH NEWS: Health watchdog warns processed foods kill 1000s.
If so, don’t we have corporate manslaughter laws in the UK?

BRIT NEWS: Health Sec calls for NHS management costs to
be halved. All Britain awash with too much management.
Product of smug affluence.

WORLD NEWS: General who devised Afghan policy
sacked by Obama for his comments. Let’s
not let worries about image impede
getting job done.

FUTURE ZONE

What’s ahead … and Beyond!!!

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

ASTRO-ROADS

Galactic trade routes travel far,
Connecting planet, asteroid, star,
Juggernauts finally become the gods,
Powered by nuclear cooling rods,
Commerce doing what it’s always done,
Bringing us together after the gun

FLASH 55 – THE SOLUTION

Sci Fi: It was in the First Phase that it happened. Monsters reigned and
the Earthers were facing extinction. But the scientists came up with
the answer – or so they thought. They created the species specifically
for their violence, and soon the monsters were gone. But sadly, so,
too, were they. The Humans had an insatiable appetite.

IMAGINE

Large hadrons collide around the rods,
Forever in search of the meaning of gods;
What is this particle that created it all?
Mysterious enough to keep us enthralled;
Maybe it’s our capacity to think it out,
Imagination makes science, there can’t be doubt

FUTURES

Sci Fi: Danvers worked his way up the secretive Time Corporation quite
quickly. It was a career full of hassle, but he was determined to inject
his own ideas into the process. His family thought it a strange move as
he dreamt of wealth, yet his research position provided little. But even
they didn’t know that his work, alone, at night, had a hidden agenda.
He’d go back to the early 21st century, check the stock exchange,
then go back a week earlier and play the future’s market. Transferring
the amount to gold, he’d then return to his present time and deposit it,
his wealth increasing in kind. Yet it was inevitable he’d get greedy. Of
course, the markets blamed sub prime mortgages. After all, how could
they explain how so much credit seemed to disappear overnight? As for
Danvers, his greed got to him in another way. The initial idea for time
travel had just begun to form. Unfortunately, the economic climate
made it impossible for any company to take the project on, and the
idea was lost – leaving Danvers to never be born.

LIFE SWAP

Had enough of this life so cold,
How could I have been so bold,
To think that I could thrive in here,
A planet with little atmosphere,
Boring, boring – nothing to see,
Life swap in virtual reality

BRIT NEWS: Is UK on ‘road to ruin’
as Chancellor says? Wouldn’t say that,
but it’s certainly on road to economic change.

BRIT NEWS: Thinktank warns poor will suffer from ‘tough
but fair’ Budget. Of course they will. If rich taxed 100% it wouldn’t
be enough.

BRIT NEWS: Pension age to rise quicker than planned. This govt seems
to be hitting us with the nasty stuff early while we’re still reeling.

BRIT NEWS: Govt to ask public sector workers how to find savings.
Does anyone really believe this is more than publicity stunt?

BRIT NEWS: Poll shows Lib Dems ready to leave party in
protest at budget cuts. How long can this coalition
really stay in power?

BRIT NEWS: Researchers warn cutting welfare could
kill. Family used to support the needy but
that’s been degraded. We ARE a
welfare society.

© Anthony North, June 2010

Try my Pictures of Life, a novel
Follow me on Twitter

WEAPON

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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: Old Sea Dog jammed his neck as he
pulled the line & big fish flew off. He just couldn’t
look up, so never saw the fish bar roof.

THE WEAPON

We think of modern capitalism as benign, but is this the case? Based on
free market economics and the open society, it was actually born of
the Mont Pelerin Society in 1947. Founder members included F A
Hayek, Karl Popper and Milton Friedman, who went on to write and
create thinktanks that inspired governments of the 1980s. But what
was uppermost in its founders’ minds? It was a philosophy aimed
directly at beating the collectivism of communism. In other words, it
was a specific ideological weapon. Well, it won. But as with many
weapons, when their use is redundant, they can turn on the good
guys – namely us.

BERMUDA TRIANGLE

I’m a great believer in coincidence. Small
coincidences can build up to big events.
Big events can build up to places where
coincidences happen often, such as
disasters. Coincidence could answer the
Bermuda Triangle – if only coincidence
wasn’t such a mystery.

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

BRIT NEWS: Labour ex-Chancellor
says Tories exagerating economic woes.
Well, he would say that, wouldn’t he?

BRIT NEWS: Alleged fraudulent claims MPs lose their
bid to not be tried in court. If it had been any different,
then we are not free.

BRIT NEWS: Defence Sec says all forces up for review except Trident.
This is worrying. There are cheaper nukes & forces already starved.

HEALTH NEWS: Guardian says patients less likely to die in big hospitals.
Yes, ‘cos small ones ideologically starved of cash.

BRIT NEWS: Bloody Sunday inquiry vindicates 14 victims as
innocent. No conspiracy but some soldiers to blame.
Cameron rightly apologises.

CRIME NEWS: Doctors agree to break confidentiality
if gun owner appears unstable. A good idea?
I always worry about slippery slopes.

BRIT NEWS: Cameron vows to tear up health
& safety regs crippling Brit way of life.
Great, but little dictators in
jackslippers will fight.

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

OCHRE

Ochre pigment on the skin,
Tribal culture – hear them sing,
A different world from the west,
Had to change at our behest,
Wipe them out or sell them coke,
Such crimes we do invoke

FLASH 55 – DEADLY COUPLE

Fiction: The police thought it must have been a suicide pact at first. He
had been poisoned, but managed to butcher her before he died. Yet
the investigation unearthed another reason. It must have been a shock
for the serial killer to realize he’d fallen for a Black Widow. But they do
say like attracts like.

CHANGE

I’m such a fool – do too much time,
Always being caught in some kind of crime,
Then there’s the effort to carry it out,
Constant worry on every shout,
Burglary, kidnap – time for a change,
My whole life needs to be rearranged,
So I’ve got the credentials – a guy called Tim
I like his details – I’m gonna be him

JUST ANOTHER DAY

Fiction: The blade went in easily and soon the man was dead. He laid
him on the floor and looked along the dark corridor. No alarm had been
raised so he proceeded. Suddenly he heard a noise, implying he had
been discovered. Quickly he backtracked to the man he had killed – lay
beside him; feigned death. Two guards appeared, and as they looked
over him, he jumped up and used the blade again, to merciless effect.
Now he knew he could go on unimpeded. He raced down the corridor,
forced open the door and opened the container within. The gold was
beautiful – encrusted with diamonds. Quickly, he placed it in his bag
and exited the building as quickly as possible. Then the virtuous knight
jumped on his horse and rode for Camelot, another quest complete.

BIRTH

Heartbeat thumping, feel confined,
Grown so much, lose my binds,
On the way out, the tunnel so dark,
Racing, racing, new life a lark,
Bursting out into glorious light,
Release from prison, I’m doing right

WORLD NEWS: I’d never defend
BP but remember, it’s 40% US owned
& was US tech that failed. I’m getting fed
up of Obama’s anti-Brit rhetoric.

HEALTH NEWS: 20% of cases of Legionnaires’ Disease
put down to water from windscreen wipers. So benign but it
makes total sense.

BRIT NEWS: £2 billion of future projects ranging from Stonehenge
visitors’ centre to new hospital cancelled by govt. A statement of
intent.

HEALTH NEWS: Survey of surgeons says budgets & targets damaging
safety in operating theatres. Any idiot could have told them that.

BRIT NEWS: Vetting system for working with youth would
have registered nine million adults. This nonsense put
on hold by govt. Good.

BRIT NEWS: Govt going to bring Brit soldiers
home as soon as Afghanistan safe. What
a totally meaningless statement
that is.

© Anthony North, June 2010

Try my Pictures of Life, a novel

Follow me on Twitter

VICTORS

Theme Thursday, Microfiction Monday & ABC Wednesday
With Thursday Thirteen news & more prompts below
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.

MICROFICTION

Fiction: But for a helping human hand the
monkey wouldn’t be sat at tea with the lady.
He thought: is this what the opposable
thumb is for?

VICTORS

Are the victors the best people to win? As I see it the winner of any
conflict usually doesn’t deserve to. This is because they made so many
mistakes that luck was the only thing that saved them. I guess the
victor is the one who makes the fewest mistakes. But the problems
really begin once a victor has muddled through to a victory. In winning
they haven’t only won, but they go on to control the story of how
they won, and how a particular society will be from then on.
Knowledge is how they decree it, and history is manipulated. Our entire
history has been as decided by victors.

CAMERA

People spend so much time taking photos
nowadays we must ask if they really experience
the moment themselves? Are our memories
comprising of images instead of experience?

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

BRIT NEWS: Cameron warns
of pain of cuts while deputy Clegg
warns no return to Thatcherite cuts. Good
cop bad cop, or differences already?

ROCK NEWS: BBC poll topples Beatles as greatest band
ever. The new greatest are Led Zep. To me both of them are
great in their own ways.

WORLD NEWS: Iran says UN embargo will prevent talks on nuclear
power as they cosy up to Russia. If a new east/west tension comes
it will start here.

BRIT NEWS: Labour’s Ed Balls says immigration from within EU needs
tighter controls. Totally agree, but wouldn’t it be totally illegal?

WORLD NEWS: Cost to BP oil spill to soar over a billion. Rubbish. No
matter what it costs, oil industry will pass it on in price rises.

BRIT NEWS: Big debate on urban foxes after two babies
savaged in their bedroom. Driven out of countryside
there are 34,000 in cities.

BRIT NEWS: Another sign of return to sanity. New
govt to scrap idea of ‘bin tax’. Rubbish
disposal not to be charged
per amount.

RATTLER’S TALE

A Voyage of the Imagination

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

EIGHTH DAWN

Dawn approaching, land to till?
Soon they’ll do it – it’s called free will,
Love and jealousy not quite there,
Hatred brewing under the stare,
Desire bathes them where they lay,
On this dawn of the Eighth Day

FLASH 55 – ETERNAL DEBATE

Fiction: He was a great debater and felt cheated when he died and
went to heaven. He went to God – demanded to be returned, arguing
God was a fraud. Why? If he was a good God he wouldn’t let people
die. To his satisfaction, he won and was returned to life eternally.
Bored, he craved death.

THE GIFT

M.E. – cfs – hardly a gift,
Pain, fatigue – health adrift,
An eternal nuisance – body won’t do as it’s told,
Everything slow – feeling so old,
Yet total life change was the way to fight,
Raise self will – learn to write,
And then each morning when I get out of bed,
Remember …
If I’d carried on as I was, I’d now be dead

THE MEADOW

Fiction: He remembered the meadow; a beautiful, tranquil place. Of
course, farming was eventually wiped out. Bad for the planet, they
said, with all that methane; and what was red meat doing to us? Not
to mention cows’ rights, and respect for nature in general. And so the
cows were ‘saved’ – let free to roam the meadow – lost their use –
became extinct – erased without a trace. And what of the meadow?
Well, the synth factory stood there now, belching its fumes in its race
to feed us. Of course, the alternative feeding program was also under
way. Eco friendly, they stood around waiting to be farmed. Kill two
birds with one stone, they said. Respect nature and solve the
population problem. And we humans DID produce less methane.

SUPERHERO

Heard a scream in the night,
Jumped out of bed, ready for a fight,
Threw on my clothes, ran into the street,
Poor girl – three thugs, there to beat,
They turned, stunned – from the situation they shied,
I’d put my underpants on the outside

BRIT NEWS: Chancellor warns welfare
& pensions will be included in spending review
as some ministries expected to lose 20% of their budget.

BRIT NEWS: Army chief warns money for troops in Afghanistan must
NOT be cut despite deficit. Agree! If we can’t afford it pull them out.

EDUC NEWS: Universities minister says students are burden on tax
payer. When fewer went they powered the professions. Now it means
nothing.

TV NEWS: Study finds people less bothered about swearing on TV. I
guess we’ve been worn down. But it doesn’t make it right.

BRIT NEWS: Thinktank thinks cuts will put 750,000 public
sector staff out of work. That, and an ideological
need for smaller government.

FOOTBALL: The World Cup is on. South Africa
centre of the world. A big smile across
Soweto. Come on England!!!
Eng-luuu-nd …

© Anthony North, June 2010

Try my Pictures of Life, a novel

Follow me on Twitter

UNIVERSE

Theme Thursday, Microfiction Monday & ABC Wednesday
With Thursday Thirteen news & more prompts below
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.

MICROFICTION

Fiction: The mirror didn’t lie. The geneticist
had always been an ass, but he’d love to know
which gene produced the long ears.

UNIVERSE

Is the universe out there? It certainly seems to be – after all, we feel
its effects all the time; and science certainly seems to be learning lots
about it. But is this really the case? Well, most of the mass of the
universe is currently classed as dark energy or dark matter – mainly
because we haven’t the slightest idea of how it works without
inventing something yet to be found. It’s the same with Big Bang. It all
began with the expansion of a singularity. Yet this singularity is nothing
more than a mathematical point of infinity. In reality, our understanding
of the universe has moved on very little since the days of gods holding
it in place. Indeed, the history of our knowledge of the universe seems
to go hand in hand with our changing view of our culture and society.
So maybe the true reality of the universe exists only in our collective
minds.

CANDY

Fiction: When the health evangelist realised
society had a weight problem he decided
Candy was to blame. But the authorities
decided changing it to Dontdy was a
little extreme.

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

EURO NEWS: Eurovision Song
Contest. The team that made Kylie
come last. They’ll come in top 5? They
should be so lucky.

BRIT NEWS: Lib Dem govt minister David Laws quits
over £40,000 payment to partner in expenses scandal. At
least it’s not Tory sleaze.

BRIT NEWS: Survey says average Brit family spend 49 mins together
per week. Such are the pressures of modern life to keep us apart.

WORLD NEWS: Are US govt talking to Hamas secretly, as their leader
claims? Possibly. At some level everyone talks to everyone.

BRIT NEWS: Govt could face European court if it doesn’t give
prisoners the vote. Rubbish! In committing crime they
forego that right.

BRIT NEWS: Cameron wants more openness in govt.
Of course he’d say that, but openness always
leans towards the good news than bad.

BRIT NEWS: Some 180 civil servants earn
more than the Prime Minister. Another
example of ridiculous overspend
of ‘prudent’ Brown.

READ WITH MUMMY

The Magazine Post with a gentle hint of horror

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

OUBLIETTE

Pushed down the hatch into the pit,
Never get out, no matter how fit,
As time drags on it’s a forgotten place,
What happens is surely a terrible disgrace …
So many years since I imprisoned him there,
I daren’t go and look – his eye sockets will stare,
Reminding me of a terror let free,
Skeletons of mind too fearful to see

FLASH 55 – THE SCHOOL

Fiction: It was certainly an unusual boarding school. The teachers were
very good and cost nothing at all. Of course, the headmaster was
pleased with his recruiting methods. He often trawled ‘up there’ during
his séances. After all, there were plenty just floating about, doing
nothing. And the kiddies always stayed in bed on a night.

UNFORGETTABLE

Unforgettable – that’s her song,
She obviously thought we belonged,
Followed me everywhere I went,
Eventually my anger I had to vent,
I lie awake, now, most of the time,
Trying to hear that damn clock chime,
How she died – such a fright,
Now she sings that song all night

THE NOBLE UNDEAD

Fiction: Since he was last staked the noble undead one had declined in
people’s imagination. A new world was coming. Science was advancing,
and how could superstition survive this onslaught of reason? And
without superstition he could not take bodily form again, his memory
condemned to be hidden from culture. For he lived on fear, and if
people no longer knew how to fear … ? He thought long and hard about
this as he roamed through the ether. One day he found himself in a
book filled study, and it occurred to him that imagination now existed
in words; and if imagination was there, why not fear? He looked at the
man sat at the desk and made his decision. He entered through his ear
and soon found a comfy place within his mind to think. And as the man
called Stoker began to write, the undead one knew he would rise once
more.

MESS

A scene of carnage, such a mess,
I look down feeling such distress,
Serial killers, ghosts and ghouls performed,
This charnel house is not the norm,
It’s so hard not to step on all the gore,
I’ve dropped my horror DVDs on the floor

BRIT NEWS: Union says British
Airways face a summer of disruption.
With strikes and ash, being hit hard. BA &
BP – are they on way out?

BRIT NEWS: Is UK doing enough to protect major sites
during Olympics? Most likely not; which is the problem. You
can’t have 100% security.

CRIME NEWS: After 12 shot dead by Cumbrian spree killer there’ll
no doubt be a kneejerk reaction to gun laws again. Always leads to
bad law.

GREEN NEWS: UN report says we should eat less meat/dairy products
to ease climate change. Abstinance never good message. It’s ignored.

HEALTH NEWS: Council of Europe says some experts who urged
stockpiling of swine flu vaccine been paid by Big Pharma.
Why am I not surprised?

BRIT NEWS: MP urges local councils to publish spending
over £500. Very good idea. So much wastage
here there’d be riots in the streets.

© Anthony North, June 2010

Try my Pictures of Life, a novel

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