lilfluff

Follow directions?
Wow! How did you think of that?
You are a genius!


--

It is a bit discouraging sometimes how many problems a day I fix by pointing to the directions sitting in front of someone and asking, "Have you tried following the directions?" Followed by shocked amazement from the one helped when following the directions actually works.

Called a genius for suggesting trying to directions at least once? Um... Well, I suppose for certain definitions of genius. Somehow I still manage to be optimistic about the future.

One nifty thing about the United States Constitution is that it is a rather brief and to the point document. For instance, here is Article III Section 3:

"Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.

The Congress shall have power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attainted."

Also interesting to note is that like much of the US Constitution it works by restriction. Treason shall be these things and no other: levying war against the US, or adhering to its enemies, giving them aid and comfort. Further, you need two eye witnesses or a confession in court. Pretty simple reason, the founding fathers were tired of treason being trotted out as a catch-all, "We the powerful don't like you, so we will call you a traitor for an easy excuse to hang you and defame you." So the highest laws of the US define treason strictly to war against your own country or aiding those at war against your country. If you don't do that you might still be guilty of a crime but you are not a traitor under the law of the land.

And here is Governor Rick Perry who wishes to be president, speaking about Chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke. "If this guy prints more money between now and the election, I don’t know what y’all would do to him in Iowa, but we would treat him pretty ugly down in Texas. Printing more money to play politics at this particular time in American history is almost treacherous, or treasonous, in my opinion."

Hmm. Let's see. Is he accusing him (Bernanke) of taking up arms against the United States... hmm. Nope. Ah! Maybe he's saying Bernanke is giving the money to terrorists? Wait, no, he just says printing money, so not even aiding those at war with the United States... Huh. You know, I don't see anything in that statement that meets the requirements in Article III Section 3.

Rick? Do you mind if I call you Rick? Rick, the United States Constitution isn't a difficult document. It's short and to the point. You can carry a copy in your shirt pocket and still have print that isn't hard to read. If you wish to be president I don't think it's much to ask that you read what is the most important key foundational document of the federal government. So how about a deal? You agree to shut up until you have read through it at least once -- come on, you can do it in less than an hour while still taking notes. In return I will stop teasing you for trying to run for president after saying the state you were governor of ought to consider secession as a bargaining position.

This a Flashfic based on a prompt from aldersprig and kc_obrien's 30 Days of Flash Fiction: Round 2 Meme

My 30 Days of Flashfic: Round 2 Index Page

Day 4 – Prompt: one for the road.

Setting: Tales of the Mascot, wherein your average geek finds himself called by the Powers That Be to be the animal companion and guide to a new group of heroes.


One For the Road

Tamitha walked into the room and froze. On the far side by the windows most of their party was laughing as Kyle swung a broom about like a sword. The foxish creature hopping back and forth to portray both sides of a fight. Turning back to Lydia, who as often was busy reading, she sought out the group's voice of rationality.

"What is he doing now?"

"Telling a story."
( continues under the cut... )

This a Flashfic based on a prompt from aldersprig and kc_obrien's 30 Days of Flash Fiction: Round 2 Meme

My 30 Days of Flashfic: Round 2 Index Page

Day 3 – Prompt: the story must involve a goblet and a set of three [somethings]

Setting: Galactic Academy sight of 30 Days 1st Semester stories First Class Education and The Computer is Never Wrong. Jumping ahead about a year or so.

Title: Aliens & Weddings (what? Playing off a movie title? Don't know what you're talking about :p)


Rick broke out the formal school uniform for the wedding. Which, fortunately for his room's tiny closet, meant little more than adding a freshly cleaned and pressed jacket to the normal school uniform. The meeting room Machio, or rather as Machio corrected Sather and Maykabi had selected was sparsely decorated. Lit only by a single spotlight above a small table in the center of the room. A large goblet, for that was all Rick could think to call it, sat in the center. From where he stood just outside the pool of light the goblet looked like it was nearly a foot tall and made from well polished wood. The bowl and base of the goblet were both about half as wide as it was tall. It was nearly a minute before Rick noticed the three tiny cups at the edges of the table. The were made from the same turned wood but were not much bigger than shot glasses.

( Continues under the cut. )

Let's here it for signal boosting. Inspired by a post on signal boosting the same by ysabetwordsmith and spotting a mention of myself in a signal boosting post (LJ Link), here are some recent things online I recommend checking.

Here is a summary page for aldersprig's GenderFunk Giraffe Sale (LJ link) in which a call for writing prompts on, "a general theme of gender, sexuality, and how they go funky." Giraffe because any donations make will go towards purchasing awesome Giraffe print carpet.

jeriendhal has been doing writing to prompts as well. Here is a story about an aurora borealis display causing complications for two of his characters, Tez and Maria. No prior knowledge of the setting or characters needed. Or for something chillier (that last line, ack!), one done to the prompt, Finding a babysitter in a post-apocalyptic world.

Rae Bruner reminds us that pointy haired bosses exist in academia too in Monday's Dissonance comic.

Speaking of comics. There are 25 hours left to go in the Neotopia Collected Edition kickstarter. Surely there have to be more Neotopia fans out there. A fun fantasy-steampunk story set 800 years in the future. Originally publised by Antarctic Press in 2003, this kickstarter project would see it brought back in print in a single volume.

Finally, an illustration by Meeks of a Molly and Hel (LJ link)lead me to the journal Wonder City Stories which tells of life in a west coast city with a large superhero population. Many of the early posts are from the point of view of Megan, daughter of one of the world's best known super heroines, who isn't interested in becoming a hero herself and would love to escape her mother's shadow. Sometimes funny, sometimes sad, I'm interested to see where it's headed.

This a Flashfic based on a prompt from aldersprig and kc_obrien's 30 Days of Flash Fiction: Round 2 Meme

My 30 Days of Flashfic: Round 2 Index Page

Day 2 – Prompt: write a scene that takes place in a train station


Setting: The unnamed colony latter setting with Thomas et al. Same is 1st 30 day's Saying Hello, Music Therapy, Marketplace, and Called to School.

( Oh, hey, even included the part above the cut this all fits on one page. An actual short piece. :) )

This is my index post for aldersprig and kc_obrien's follow up to ravenswept's 30 Days of Flashfic

The 30 Days of Flash Fiction: Round 2 Meme. But since others are calling it Second Semester, I'll go along with that.

And here are the second set of 30 prompts:

1) the story starts with the words "It's going down." (LJ link)
2) write a scene that takes place in a train station (LJ link)
3) the story must involve a goblet and a set of three [somethings] (LJ link)
4) prompt: one for the road (LJ link)
5) write a story using an imaginary color (LJ link)
6) write the pitch for a new Final Fantasy styled RPG (LJ link)
7) prompt: frigid (LJ link)
8) write a scene in the middle of a novel called "The Long, Dirty Afterwards." (LJ link)
9) prompt: mourning dead gods (LJ link)
10) write a story set in three different time periods (LJ link)
11) Write a movie trailer style trailer for a story, existing or not-yet-written (LJ link)
12) prompt: sweet iced tea (LJ link)
13) re-write a story that everyone knows
14) write a vanilla story dealing with kinky subject matter (LJ link)
15) prompt: ascension (LJ link)
16) write a scene that takes place at the end of a long road trip (LJ link)
17) write an uncomfortable story (LJ link)
18) prompt: a step too far
19) write a story in which something goes BOOM
20) Write the end of the story "The Purple Bag."
21) Roll a d20 twice (Random.Org). Combine the themes of the two previous stories for those numbers
22) prompt: knight in shining armor
23) write a scene that takes place in a place that is war-torn
24) prompt: founding fathers
25) write a story set in a library
26) prompt: elemental
27) write a story using only one period. Bonus: write the story using only one /ending punctuation at all.
28) write a story set in a laundromat
29) (from Lilifluff) Randomly pick a number between 1 and 28 (Random.Org) . Re-write that prompt as a Spaghetti Western or Melodrama
30) the story ends with the words "coming up."

Snagged from celli

It's National Book Week. The rules: Grab the closest book to you. Go to page 56. Copy the 5th sentence as your status. Don't mention the book. Post these rules as part of your post.

"The three modes are design mode, run mode, and break mode."

. . . . .

Meanwhile celli asked, "Sort of relatedly - those of you who write, do you have a routine? How do you fit it into working/commuting/spending time with your loved ones? Every time I think I have a plan I end up not following it, and besides working on my general focus and willpower, I wonder if there's an approach I haven't tried yet."

I'm afraid I don't really have a set routine yet other than stealing scraps of time. When I've got something I'm working on I try and leave the in-progress document open in a window so I can easily get to it whenever I have some time.

I keep hearing that it is good to have a set time, however long, that is your writing time. Such as getting up early and writing between 5 and 6 am. Or perhaps saying, "Okay, every night I'll start writing at 8pm and write for at least a half hour." But I haven't managed to build that habit yet.

And early morning? I am so not a morning person. I would end up back asleep with my face on the keyboard.

Ran across a fun new comic online. Well, new for me, it's actually been going two years now. It's called Atomic Laundromat as follows David, the non-super powered son of one of the greatest heroes of recent history and a former despotic empress (they become trapped in a pocket universe for several months during a battle, and upon emerging David's grandfather told his father, "You got my daughter pregnant? You're either marrying her or dying."). He's not upset to be the sole unpowered child of the family, true heroism comes from within after all, not from powers or a cape. And besides, someone has to be there to clean the costumes of the super-powered.

As the title suggests, a fair amount of the comic takes place in David's atomic powered laundromat. Where he is aided by his transforming robot (made from a washing machine of course). There's the love interest, who has no super powers (though she wants them very much) unless maybe you count super-lawyering. A powerful psychic who asks for a job at the laundromat. The duck that was part a bartered payment before David stopped accepting those.

Recent storylines include his younger sister's Sweet 16 birthday party (Who as a the child who is visibly showing alien heritage has been chosen as the heir to her mother's throne) and his father's facing a trial.

Oh. I gave two titles up there, didn't I? This comic is available in English as Atomic Laundromat and in Spanish as Super Lavandería.

Atomic Laundromat updating Monday, Wednesday, and Friday
Super Lavandería actualizado lunes, miercoles, y viernes

Which is handy for someone who's trying to learn Spanish on their own. :) (And it's released under a creative commons license that would even allow potentially sharing any graphical flashcards made from it so long as they were offered on the same terms and had proper attribution)

This a Flashfic based on a prompt from ravenswept's 30 Days of Flash Fiction Meme

My 30 Days of Flashfic Index Page

Day 29 - Write a scene about a [person] and their [animal]

Working title: Girl and Fox

Setting: An unexpected trip back to Tanya's universe. And unlike the two other ideas I had for this one, this isn't a depressing scene. Heh, and I can't write one to this prompt without making it at least slightly a furry story.

( Original working title for the story under the cut: Not the Harlan Ellison Story )