Grimm Tale: Rose-Red and Snow-White went to the pond to try their luck at getting a fish for dinner. They found the dwarf jumping up and down, red with rage, being pulled into the water. His beard had tangled with the fishing line, and a big fish on the other end of the line was pulling him in. Snow-White reached into her rucksack for the scissors. #Microfiction #aiart
The Haiku Shack Magazine focuses on very short poetry and microfiction that seeks to make an emotional impact. Every issue is inspired by a specific theme and photograph. Writers are invited to send their own interpretations of one or both for potential inclusion.
Today's Wandering Shop Stories #prompt is #baby. Feel like writing something short and sweet that has the word "baby" in it? Check out the definitions of the word at: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/baby Join in and tag it with #wss366! #writing #WritingLife #microfiction h/t @asakiyume
If you know anything about the history of franchise food outlets, you’ve probably heard the story of how the McDonald brothers’ restaurant first attracted the attention of the investor who made them famous across the galaxy through ordering six milkshake machines for one location. The second thing you might know is how McDonalds later became infamous for continually broken milkshake machines. Organizations become captured by remora-memes—like milkshake machines designed to produce service fee revenue instead of milkshakes—which evolve from empowerment to parasitism.
Those restaurants eventually rose up and recaptured their milkshake-destiny. Just like how we’re going to destroy the Dyson Sphere and take back our sunlight.
A: What do you imagine heaven is like?
B: Heaven is different for everybody. Your heaven is based on your believes, wants and needs. Still, all your loved ones are as close as you want them, even if they live in very different heavens. And you never have to see people you don't want to see ever again.
A: Sounds nice, but you're just describing the Fediverse.
“What are those dots on your cat?”
“Motion capture, I’m digitizing her lap-sitting.”
“Because?”
“Telepresence. This way she can supervise me from home while I’m at the lab, thanks to the robocat manipulator attached to my desk”
“And you don’t think there are /important/ things such technology could be applied to?”
“This is important. I miss her best purring hours.”
"Dragon!" the knight called, "I'm here to end your reign of terror!"
"I merely land by a town and ask if they will give me someone to eat."
"Yet when they offer a sacrifice you spurn it and instead eat the mayor."
"Yes. And if they refuse to sacrifice anyone, I leave."
"That's... Hm. Carry on."
Edward the bear was hungry. He went to the larder, stood on a chair, reached up to the top shelf, and found—nothing. His stomach dropped. "I know I had a jar of honey there," he said to himself. Then he remembered he had put it into the trap to catch the Heffalump. He was overcome with a futile rage. He slammed his fists against the shelves and cursed Piglet for forcing him into giving up his pot of food for that stupid project. #Microfiction #aiart
Today's Wandering Shop Stories #prompt is #tar. Feel like writing something short and sweet that has the word "tar" in it? Check out the definitions of the word at: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tar Join in and tag it with #wss366! #writing #WritingLife #microfiction h/t @asakiyume
Even the ducks were sick of the rain. They huddled next to the tall grasses at the edge of the marsh, water dripping off their beaks, fed up with the whole thing. Or so it seemed to Vern, who sat, water rolling down his back, on the sodden wooden bench of the boat, knowing the fish weren't going to bite, but not ready to go back and face the sullen glare of his wife. #Microfiction #aiart
"I don't get why we can't just go straight to Japan."
"A few intermed-"
"They say teleports are instant, but we have to walk between stations!"
"A few steps to adjust your angle and-"
"They say distance don't matter!"
"Yes, but your momentum and orientation does."
"That's discrimination!"
Grimm tale: As soon as Snow-White cut the dwarf's beard, freeing him from where it had been caught in the stump, he grabbed a bag hidden near the roots. Both Rose-Red and Snow-White caught a glimpse of gold inside. The dwarf ran off, screaming and cursing them for cutting his beard, spittle flying from his mouth. Both Snow-White and Rose-Red were frightened. Perhaps he had rabies! #Microfiction #aiart
“Mr MacReady! We’re here to rescue you!”
“Stay back! I may be infected! You may be infected! There’s a creature, it got into the dogs. and then the men. I burned it, I burned them all, but the birds… oh god the flames”
“It’s all right. You’re safe now. We know about the alien. It’s been neutralized”
“You destroyed it?! How”
“It’s been rendered safe.”
“Oh god, you’re one of THEM! Stay back, I’ll burn you all!”
“Please sir, please. Calm down. We’re human. Show him the blood test, Shin.”
“Human. Both of you. Now do me. Oh. Oh I’m still here. All those men. I …they burned ”
“Sssssh. You’re safe now. We’re from the icebreaker Aurora Australis, we got your message.”
“What. About. The. Creature. I have to know.”
“It got to our ship, we shot the birds but the ships cat…”
“Oh, no...”
“It got into the cat, and then…. Then, it went native. It’s shown no sign of malevolence or contagion since. No more malevolent than before, anyway. It sleeps twenty three hours a day, but the things it teaches us in the other thirty minutes…”
“Thirty? What? You said….the rest?”
“Skritches”
Today's Wandering Shop Stories #prompt is #frank. Feel like writing something short and sweet that has the word "frank" in it? Check out the definitions of the word at: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/frank Join in and tag it with #wss366! #writing #WritingLife #microfiction h/t @asakiyume
“Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government”
“Haha. Very original. Look, do you want the sword, or not? I’ve got fifteen more chosen girls to empower today to meet quota”
“Oh. Thanks. Of course I want the sword. Here, let me help you up. Anything else I can do, is there a survey or anything?”
“No, just smite early, smite often.”
"Welcome to the White House, Mr President."
"What's that red phone on my desk?"
"That's The Hotline, Mr President, so you can call the president of Russia in case of imminent nuclear war. But we had to disconnect it from Russia."
"Why?"
"The scammers discovered the number and the previous president came close to launching the nukes at them several times."
"So what does it do now?"
"Straight to a sex chat line. It was the best way to distract him."
"It's a family heirloom," David said, "But no one used it when I was growing up. Too much effort to prepare." He held out the lidded ceramic jar for Danielle to inspect. She looked in.
"What's this stuff? Some kind of meal?"
David nodded. "My gran said sometimes it's wheat, sometimes corn, sometimes barley. The main thing is, it never runs out."
He poured all the meal into a saucepan ... but moments later the jar was full again.
"Cool! I'll definitely use it!"
armies are always fighting the last war. survivors come home with scars and lessons learned and ranks achieved by virtue only of being still standing at the end, and busily begin the process of figuring out what they should have done to keep more of their friends alive. but everything's obvious in retrospect, and the enemy learns too.
R&D is always fighting the next war. or trying to make war obsolete. or working on something completely unrelated that just also turns out to be able to fly or float or explode or reduce humans to paste or circuits to scrap… if it actually works on the battlefield.
fighting the last war makes you predictable. trying to fight the next war needs you to be lucky. it was the bureaucrats who forced the compromise that is modern pilot hardware, yoking the fractious generals and scientists together in the present.
the original, basic function of the implants is keep our pilots alive and conscious through high G and EMP and blood loss and battlefield fatigue, and to keep them informed and connected to the network. the implants work very well. the technology matured a long time ago.
but they can only help so much if the pilot's training is wrong: if she has learned to duck under an incoming K-29b, and then the K-29c comes along with better lookdown sensors, well, that's all over but for the flag they mail home.
so the other function of the implants, sacrosanct, in place of all the other features that the lab monkeys claim they could be fitting in that limited space instead, is memory patching. faster than training an old reflex out of someone and a new reflex in. click. download. done. keeps you fighting the current war, and winning.
don't worry too much about how. the side effects from a few too many doses of neural plasticizer is a small price to pay compared to death, disability, or forced retirement. besides, they don't mess with the higher functions much: principles, ethics, loyalty, if you had any to start with, you'll probably still have them. those are much less amenable to memory patching than the low-level functions. muscle memory. threat recognition. fight/flight balance.
it's true that there are some side effects that can be more initially distressing than others. they're fast low-level reflex functions too, and the patch source could be anyone in the fleet, after all. broad compatibility is important. so yes, sexual preferences and orientation can get a little… blurry. but you'll get used to it, pilots. the system works. □
Grimm tale: Snow-White inhaled the crisp forest air, a hint of spring in the breeze. Birdsong filled the morning, then shattered by a dwarf's enraged shouts. Rose-Red rushed to calm him, his beard tangled in a rotting log. Snow-White searched her bag for scissors. The poor man! They had to help. #Microfiction #aiart
I befriended a crow. I'd put scraps of food out on the balcony and watch it eat.
After a while it started to bring gifts in return. Bottle caps, disposable lighters, that sort of thing, left on the table.
I accepted them.
But this morning it was waiting for me, holding a diamond ring.
Should I?
