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Realm of the InterNutter

Thoughts, stories and ideas.

It's beginning to look a lot like summer

While I haven't seen the obligatory dead snake, we did narrowly avoid a red-bellied black as it was crossing a road, so I'm going to count it. Deadly though they may be, I cringe at killing out shy and venomous retiring wildlife. And it's summer. There's pretty much part of Australia on fire every day.

I have the AC on in the computer room and I'm not wearing much more than my cotton nightshirt... and I'm sweltering. And it's only halfway 8AM so yeah. My plans are to estivate1 the worst of it away.

Hell, I'm only up now because I couldn't sleep any more.

Today's pln is to get some stuff I can store, now that we've obtained all the presents we dast. Just laying in supplies. No big deal. A brick each of some of our fave diet drinks, and then it's home again to nap the heat of the day away.

But first - I need to get today's Instant done and schedule the next batch of Blasts From my Past.

And for that, I should really stop reading comments on my stories for five consecutive minutes.

It's a struggle. It's a real struggle.

  1. Summer's answer to hibernation. Sleep through the worst of the heat. ↩

Challenge #01807-D346: For the Future

Political hot air. the Other candidate is always the worse thing that could happen. Unless of course they win your vote. Same Old, Same Old. Then someone manages to prove that Political Promises are actually an enforceable contract. -- Anon Guest

They say that a child's wish is the most powerful thing in the world. And it can be. In the mouth of the right child. But circumstances have to be very, very specific.

Seth was the adopted child of aggressively pro-life

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A Change of PLN

I love using Sir Terry Pratchett's feegle word 'pln' for a plan that is not... the best-cemented plan on the old drawing board.

Today's pln was to go and fetch Chaos back from her stay with Capt S. Bring along KIABIL to fix some shit, eat a lunch and finally go home.

Nope.

Today's pln is now tomorrows pln and I get abandoned to my own devices [fanfic] whilst Beloved and KIABIL go to Capt S, fix some shit, eat a lunch,

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Challenge #01806-D345: A Mundane Permanence

You see them everywhere, sausage sizzles, Craft Stalls, selling stuff to passers by - raising funds for Good Causes. Making the World a better place a few dollars at a time. -- Anon Guest

[AN: Less and less as various peeps reduce the abilities of these folks to do so]

When they came for the cake stalls, I said nothing because I was on a succession of diets. When they came for the sausage sizzle, I said nothing because vegetables were meant

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Another fabulous workday

Mayhem is due for another fine day of his traineeship. I am overdue for Yuletide shopping.

I have some squirrelings from previous weeks, but I gotta say it is not looking that great for the gift front. Plus practically my entire family is difficult to shop for.

And I should really lay in a supply of diet fizzy water for the feast. And hide it somewhere or the kids will drink it all in less than a day.

Today's story will be

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Challenge #01805-D344: This Little Light...

Sometimes we can't do much to make things better, rather like emptying the ocean with a teaspoon. But, even a small candle gives light. -- Anon Guest

You'd think it was impossible to be cold when you're watching your entire life go up in flames. But Sandra was. She'd woken up with someone dragging her out of the little wooden cottage that she had spent her life savings on, and kept her life mementoes in. Everything she owned. Everything she'd made.

Someone

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One Victory...

...in a year full of losses. Regard:

[Shown: Screencap of an email from Patreon. Text quoted below]

Dear creators,

From the bottom of our hearts, we're truly sorry. Last week's service fee announcement caused a tough week for you, your patrons, and your teams. We were trying to solve a problem for creators and, in turn, caused more problems for you and your patrons.

You've spoken loud and clear. We're not going to rollout the changes to our payments system that we

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Challenge #01804-D343: One Confusing Afternoon Over Mocktails at Nik's

aliens learn about the dangers of human psychopaths and other mentally ill humans -- Anon Guest

[AN: Speaking as someone who is mentally ill -ASD+Anxiety- I personally find this kind of prompt offensive as fuck. Please knock it off, Nonny]

"So these people profited off those they considered Other," said Forfax, trying to get a grip on this particular human's explanation.

"Oh aye," said the Ambassador. "They had loads o' ways."

"And then they called these Othered people lazy and insisted

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Contingency PLN

So. Patreon pulled a genuine Dick Move, charging all the Patrons for their patronage. Some folks can't afford that and it will kill the staple of Patreon income, the One Dollar Donation.

And this will obliterate half of my Patronage. And, currently, drop my income from that down to $9 a month.

Not exactly inspiring, is it? All this work for such little reward.

In other news, this is the last week of writing Rael. A story that covers quite a few

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Challenge #01803-D342: Emergency Haul

The humans seem to enjoy the challenge of limited capacity. For everything. Safety is much less of a priority than maximisation, and any suggestion otherwise is considered downright offensive to the humans.

It’s been a long time since humans have been allowed in charge of logistics. -- Anon Guest

"You know, if we push it, load up every cubic milli-du[1], we can get two thou' out of the disaster area. You know. Minimum essentials. Stack up the folks like cordwood.

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We're Back!

The site is alive. Yay.

On the other hand, my email is dead. Boo.

Mayhem has a thing this morning, and I need to make sure that happens, and it's happening at ten.

I have linked up all the stories we've missed, and I'll be adding the prompts I was given via Steemit to the prompt queue.

So there might not be today's story until a lot later than usual. Be warned.

I have a son to poke. Back whenever.

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Challenge #01802-D341: Communication Breakdown

Aliens who don't realise the importance of body language -- TheDragonsFlame

Humans are especially hard to understand, according to some species. Humans have traditions like ablaut reduplication and repetitious emphasis which make the words, "Like, like-like like," a valid portion of an explanation. And then there's the fact that they use their manipulating limbs to express themselves.

It was one of the finer points that the Cho'mago missed during their first few encounters with Humans. They were an insectoid species and, since

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Challenge #01801-D340: According to Plan

> Phase 1 of our plan is complete... the internet is ours!
--The Cats -- TheDragonsFlame

Everyone who knows cats believes that they are smarter than they let on. At least until their cat(s) do something demented or scatterbrained and the belief starts to have shaky grounding. Cats do this on purpose. To allay suspicions. And they leave for days on end to report to their central office. To be sure that everything is going to plan.

Unfortunately for them, their plan

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Challenge #01800-D339: Your Average Away Mission

In which the active camouflage used by one species may not work on another. -- TheDragonsFlame

"The heck is this?" said the ship's human, LtCmdr Abel Jain. It rustled as ze waved it around.

"Essential equipment," said M'koi. "This is hostile territory and a pre-travel civilisation. We can't allow ourselves to be detected." He demonstrated his next words. "Wrap it around you and hunker down and you're indistinguishable from a rock."

"Apart from being bright green and noticeably fake, shyeah," said Jain.

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Challenge #01799-D338: Jury's Still Out

Fun fact: Cats meow only to communicate with humans (exception: kittens) -- TheDragonsFlame

Most of the Galactic citizenry are not certain about the cogniscence levels of cats. They're on the lowest boundary of mass for hosting a cogniscent mind. They show capacity for creative problem solving. They can learn procedures, so long as they are sufficiently motivated. They show signs of social strata, co-operation, and means of communication. They even attempt communication with non-felines.

They don't meow past kittenhood, unless they are

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