JamesSavik

You'll think a pediment is a serious impediment in an earthquake when it lands on your face.

@Page Scrawler @MrM British cuisine isn't exactly known as yummy. Imagine a fast food place called Tommies[1] that specializes in Bangers & mash and Blood Pudding. Probably not going too far, but I'm sure plenty of people would discover Bangers & mash is pretty good. Fish & chips and big English breakfasts, now that would most likely fly (and kill IHOP graveyard dead). Of course, Beef Wellington and fast food don't even belong in the same sentence. It is fun to watch the Jolly guys discover America in our cuisine. Their trip to New Orleans was fun, and the boys approve heartily of Popeyes. They're right. We've got a plethora of excellent chicken sandwiches. 'Merika, hell yeah! ________________________ 1 - Tommies are what my Dad used to call British soldiers... he liked. Little did I know Kipling called them that a century before.

In the Honorverse, HMS Intransigent was an Invictus class super dreadnought with Keyhole gravitics for FTL fire control, Ghostrider stealth and Apollo missile systems. She was the flagship of Admiral Allister McKeon as he commanded the Eighth Fleet's battle line. Long-time confidant of Admiral Harrington, his ship was shot to pieces, and he was killed at the Battle of Manticore. The Battle of Manticore was a strategic victory for the Star Empire, which eventually led to a peace treaty with the Republic of Haven.

I wasn't indolent. I was watching the Title games.

Not too terribly long ago, when facing criticism at one of Dizney's horrible movies, a director told a critic, "This wasn't written for you". Indeed, it did seem like the director was trying to corner the market for black lesbian, double amputees who were raised by wolves. This isn't something a bazillion dollar corporation should be doing because their objective is to make more bazillions of dollars and pandering to tiny market slices is NOT how obscene profits are made. Our fiction is not for everybody. I try to write things that have crossover appeal, like In the Shadow of the Dragon or Operation Hammerhead, but most of my fiction is gay. It's what I wish had been around in the seventies when I was the object of smear the queer, and I needed... all sorts of things, but most of all to know I wasn't alone. We can do this. We earned the right by bleeding for it. Matthew Shepherd isn't the only kid who was killed because he was gay. He's just the only one you've heard about. Soulless mega-corporations can not, nor are they welcome to try. They want to profit off our struggles and to them, I say no thanks and fuck you very much. Their contributions to Pride month, virtue signaling and grandstanding are all self-serving bullshit intended to enhance their bottom line. Please pardon my Southern, but seeing them take careful aim and shooting themselves in the foot just tickles me to death. PS- Dizney is a particular target of my wrath because I haven't forgotten or forgiven them for all the gay actors and Mousekateers (kids) who they blacklisted and ruined their careers.

If you want to read the actual story, here's the link:>> The Crooked Man, by Charles Beaumont

In late August and into early fall, there is a species of particularly obnoxious horsefly in Mississippi whose bite stings like a wasp and can give you encephalitis. It is hated by any joggers who have ever encountered the little bastards. One of them got me last summer and my left shoulder was numb for several days after.

Scientists have been studying human decomposition for years at a place in Tennessee, law enforcement insiders, call the Body Farm. The motivation for the research is to assist law enforcement in being able to tell how long bodies dumped in the woods or buried have been there and anything else they can figure out for evidentiary purposes.

Lumbago sounds like an exotic Italian dish with rutabagas or something. Since it's lower back pain, it's just as gross. Call it Lumbago Florentine: back pain with squash. Ewww!

I'm getting a little shocked at how many prompts/short stories I've collected. @Ron's point about the default font size is well taken. I've started changing my font and pitch to Tahoma 20 in most of my stories and posts. It's just easier to read.

I much prefer word mongers to war mongers.

Our flaws define us as human. What a piece of work is man! :the Bard. He's old enough to know what's right But young enough not to choose it : Geddy Lee

Never. Until an AI can laugh, cry, love, hate, be irrational, and feel its mortality, it can only emulate a soul.

Every good book or movie is a rich tapestry of character, setting, and plot skillfully woven together. AI may emulate the process, but can never give it soul.

Almost due north of New Orleans in Mississippi off I-55 is Tylertown on the Bouge Chitto River. This is a popular destination for canoeing and river rafting. One of the features of the river is a big, but gentle rapids over a soap stone outcropping. When the waters are low, you have to get out and drag the canoe or raft through, but BEWARE! When it's dry, soapstone is hard and gritty. When it's wet, it's slick as glass. When I got out of the canoe to ford those rapids, I slipped and landed on my behind four times.

There are few things that smell worse than a rutabaga cooking. One of my neighbors was cooking the darned stuff, and we thought there was a sewer leak or something. GAAH!!

Recluse? Perhaps, but he does indeed party and the list for his soirées is mega-exclusive.

If Dr . Frankenfruter ever invites you to a soirée, be sure to inquire about who will be bringing the chips, dips, chains and whips. It would be an unfortunate faux pas to arrive empty handed.

This kid is incredible.

Once upon a time, I was half asleep listening to an American History lecture, and the prof was talking about Upton Sinclair's The Jungle. The book was about pre-union practices of industry and immigrant workers, in meat canning and packing. As I was half-asleep, I misunderstood what he was saying and thought the immigrants were becoming potted meat product. In disgust and in an outburst of idiocy, I said, "Oh my God. So that's what's in Deviled Ham."

One must grow up, but you'll never grow old as long as you can stay silly.

Note: this incident happened ~1969-70. It pre-dated the book by John Irving The World According to Garp. Bonkers wasn't a homage to the dog villain in that book that bit off a part of Garp's ear.

There is a school bus stop near my house where kids palaver so salaciously, I sometimes wonder if the voiceover part is being recorded for South Park.