Anatomical Intrigue

Do we not have magic in this reality because we have an appendix? Sure, some people get theirs thrown in the trash with the baseball cards that will never rise in price, but it might be too late by then.

Mature Reflections

Much as the day must come when it must be asked, "Why Donkey Kong," another matter demands confrontation: Why Command & Conquer? There is a lot of commanding, granted. Almost an excess of commanding. Conquering, however, is absent on the GDI side, and as for Nod, only Kane gets do that, and even he doesn't seem to regard it as his primary goal, whatever that is. I played the last one and I still don't know. I suggest, in future remakes and remasters, changing the title to Command & Sandbag.

Municipal Law Question

If writing had magical powers, would graffiti be double illegal because of the danger or legal because anyone capable of inscribing the characters of power cannot be gainsaid by some town council?

An Experiment in Horror

Weird tales of a certain sort rely on subtle feelings of wrongness and such. I wasn't convinced that's actually scary, but I know better than to allow my beliefs to go untested. That's why I made sure the Flash Sunday post would be up on Sunday. It certainly was an eerie and offputting circumstance, and I felt the full impact of non-Euclidean post timing as if from some alien world known perhaps to our ancestors but distorted by myth, for no human intellect could fathom it. I suppose it's impossible for me to tell if I've gone insane, but I'm definitely not terrified. The experience has merely confirmed me in my resolve to post at a different time next week, the equivalent of nudging a picture so that it looks straight though in fact it already was.

The Character of a Conqueror

"My councilors, I have decided to apportion my land among my sons. There will also be a little for my nephews."
"Your Majesty! If you split this immense empire you have created, surely the recipients will each try to attain the supreme position, to say nothing of envious foreigners who will grab as much as they can in our weakness! There can be nothing after your proposal but harvests of war and treachery."
The habit of the great man was to trust his own judgment. Those he had elevated to be his advisors said nothing worthless, and after directing his mind at the objection, he came to agree with it. "I almost made an absurd error. Instead of disposing of the empire in my will, I will divide it now, abdicate, and watch over the chaos. I might write a few poems about battles. The better ones."
Finis

Oft Overlooked Tendency in Pre-Modern Societies

In most times, in most places, and in most stories, people gave or exchanged presents. Often. Even when they maybe shouldn't have, what with all the curses and such. When writing fantasy, try to remember the last time one of your characters gave another something.

De-Archaisizing

I bet if you throw "erst" in, people will get what it means. I'm starting to think "erstwhile" was a mistake altogether. Let's look for more words of that type to use and stand out thereby.

Technology Defeats Itself

In the future, we'll be able to play different sports on the floor, ceiling, and walls of a gym simultaneously, but we won't have to because of the practically infinite room available in space. This is only one example explaining why we don't do everything we could, but it suffices to teach the inherent tragedy of the human condition.

Upcoming Job Opportunities

Soon we'll all have productive work throwing pails of water on people to simulate rain in ships and colonies so that we don't succumb to space madness. Innovators will get ahead by finding ways to get people to sneeze during terrestrial allergy season and rig sirens to play during simulated night.

The Hardships of Life in Space

During the clothes-drying hour, the station will have to spin really fast, which will disrupt ongoing backgammon games, not to mention the near-constant touch football required to stave off muscle deterioration.