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WEEK 543: The Struggle; the Week That Was; 2025 Playlist

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The Struggle

I normally begin writing a weekly wrap with nothing in mind. I start hitting keys and wait for something to pop into my head, which usually happens by the end of the second sentence. As a general method it might be lacking, but for me it works out. But, alas, tonight, I am as empty as a campaign promise. I should have been at “go” two sentences back, yet I’m still a flatliner; but that’s all right, I thrive on pressure.

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Week 538: The Mind of the STM

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Despite an amount of booster shots I can no longer recall (five, I think), I again came down with covid (thrice so far that I know of), a week ago Wednesday. This is by far the strongest one I have endured, and even though it has ruled the last week and a half, it certainly is not a killer. It spared me the last three days of my work career and has gotten retirement off to a somewhat foggy start.

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All Stories, Crime/Mystery/Thriller

To The Bone by John Whitehouse

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It was close to midnight and the diner was empty of customers when headlights swung into the parking lot. They whipped in fast, off the county highway and Dana heard the squeal of brakes on the gravel out front. She looked up from behind the counter and peered through the window. A man and a woman climbed out of a dark sedan. They looked to be in their mid to late forties and were bundled up in winter coats and mufflers, the woman carrying a big fancy leather purse.

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Editor Picks, General Fiction, Historical, Short Fiction

Week 530: Tuncking; A Warning From Diane About More Corporate Slime Trails; Six Gems and Some High End Funny Bizness

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A Word is Born

Human friction is often caused by a powerful negative response to something another person says is true. An exchange of loud exchanges of not listening to the other person occurs. You see it in bars all the time. Words spill from mouths, fists fill the temporarily emptied maws and loosened teeth are the innocent victims. Dentists prosper. Yet the situation is usually considered resolved.

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Week 524: Seeking Alfie X

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(Andy in his natural habitat)

For years astronomers have theorized about the existence of another ninth planet in our solar system to replace Pluto, which was demoted to some other category of pointless rock for reasons only clear to the pocket protector faction of human society (I suspect the astronomers conspiring with the makers of the solar system charts you see in classrooms; Pluto was the victim of planned obsolescence).

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Fantasy, Humour, Short Fiction

Rock and Roll Lamb School 666 by Leila Allison

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Obnoxious is What Obnoxious Does appears to be the student motto at The Lamb School of Saragun Springs. A superior percentage of the juvenile Ewes and Rams at Lamb School are spoiled, mouthy brats who show no appreciation for their homeland. You can tell them that if they were born anywhere else but Saragun Springs, they would neither talk nor think beyond the undemanding standards nature has set for Sheep, and they will laugh at you. And dare toss the prospect of New Zealand at them, they merely fake a yawn and launch into a new groundless complaint to counter your empty threat.

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All Stories, Humour

The VW Starter Motor Catastrophe by Michael Bloor

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Drummossie, Aberdeenshire – January, 1976.

Because I couldn’t afford the necessary welding repairs to my Morris van til the end of the month, I was getting a daily lift into Aberdeen, with my friend and neighbour, Stewart. Aberdeenshire is the cold shoulder of Scotland and it was a hard winter. Normally, if you’re getting a lift into work, it would be churlish to object to push-starting your friend’s car. But, in a week of snow and ice, push-starting a VW beetle first thing in the morning involves a major (nay, crippling) effort. So, come Friday, I was pleading with Stewart: we would have to replace his starter motor that weekend. Stewart readily agreed, little knowing the pain and humiliation that would ensue.

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Fantasy, Humour, Short Fiction

The Insolence of the Lambs: A Feckless Fable by Leila Allison

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Our cast

Re-education Story Lady………Dame Daisy Kloverleaf

Truant Officer Aye………………Beezer Baw

Truant Officer Nae…………… Barkevious Baw

The Lamb Sextuplets…………..Themselves

Principal …………………………Penrose the Flying Weasel

The Bogey-Sheep……………..Juan Gee

Superintendent Renfield………Herself (actually drunk, a method actress)

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Week 516: More Wonky and Wise Words

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Wonky Words

This week I again lost the battle of prescription v. “perscription.” It is a secret (well, not anymore) shame that inspires another look at certain words.

We all have our prejudices. These range from the meaningful to the downright insipid. Oddly, I find foolish prejudices more interesting and perhaps better telling of a person’s character.

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