Category Archives: 100 Word Story

Dictation

100 Word Story, Humor, Technology, , , ,

The Mrs has MS (Multiple Sclerosis), diagnosed over a decade ago. It is what it is. We deal with it.

I got an email from a former colleague who also happened to be the father of my son’s best friend from high school. He and his wife are staunch southern Baptists. “How was [the Mrs] doing?” he asked.

Using the dictation feature of my iPad, I dictated:

“OK, but she is currently suffering from an MS exacerbation.”

  

  

Just before hitting send, I decided to proofread the email and read the following:

“OK, but she is currently suffering from excess masturbation.”

  

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True story. When I tried to read it back to my wife, every time I got to “suffering from” I would begin laughing so hard I had to start over. It must have taken me a half dozen attempts before it could read it all the way through.

Recursion

100 Word Story

“Well … imagine the model train you had as a child. The train went round and round without an obvious beginning or end.”

“OK”

“As the train goes around the track, it passes schools, street crossings, whatever.”

“OK”

“Now imagine that each time the train passes the school or street crossing that some computation is made or some counter is advanced. Do you follow so far?”

“Yes”

“Now imagine that the train saves the output from the calculation or counter and provides it as input the next time it passes the school or street crossing. Understand?”

“Yes, but what is recursion?”

Cake

100 Word Story

She jumped naked from the cake, squealing and shaking her perfect breasts at the middle aged crowd of wide-eyed onlookers.

  

  

Ten minutes earlier …

  

“They should be rolling the cake out any minute.”

  

“I never would have thought of this. Where ever did you get the idea?”

  

“It just came to me and I was lucky to find a local baker who specialized in just this sort of thing.”

  

“I have to hand it to you Beatrice. What better way to wrap up our Bible Study series on Genesis than to have Noah jump out of an Ark-shaped cake.”

  

Fear | 100 word story

100 Word Story, Fiction, Horror, , ,

Why am I afraid? What am I afraid of?

  
The night is dark. Cool not cold, yet chills run up and down my spine. What was that? Footsteps? I turn to look behind me, but see nothing. The next working street light is least fifty paces ahead.

  
“Is someone there?” Leaves rustle as a gust of wind answers my question. I pick up my pace.

  
On my right I see the door. In the dark I fumble with my keys. By touch alone I get the key in the lock and turn the knob. I open the door.

  
Run … NOW

ITER | 100 word story

100 Word Story, Fiction, Reblog, Science Fiction, Technology, ,

The sun appeared on the horizon, startling the birds sleeping in the trees.

  

  

Ten minutes earlier …

  

The night sky over the southern French countryside was cool and quiet, yet the interior of the ITER control room was anything but. Engineers and scientists jabbered into their headsets in a multilingual cacophony as beads of sweat pooled on the balding heads of their supervisors. Wall clocks changed to midnight in unison. Nine minutes to the first full power up. 

   

ITER is Latin for “the way.” It was also an acronym for International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor … the world’s first hydrogen fusion power reactor.

  

iA Writer

100 Word Story, Review, Technology, Writing, ,

I have had iA Writer for a while now and have used it off and on with satisfaction. It is extremely minimal. Nothing to distract the writer from his or her words. Best of all – for 100 word stories – in includes word and character count prominently at the top. Enhanced keyboard as well.

  
iA Writer is the quintessential writing machine for iOS, Mac and Android. Writer is designed so you can keep your hands on the keyboard and the mind in the text.

 

   
   

Available for iPad, iPhone, Mac, and Android.

https://ia.net/writer/ios

HAL | 100 word story

100 Word Story, Fiction, Relationships, Science Fiction, , , ,

“Open the pod bay door Hal.”

  
“I’m sorry Dave, I can’t do that.”

  
“What’s the problem?”

   
“I think you know what the problem is … just as well as I do.”

  
“What are you talking about Hal?”

  
Halle opened the window and threw Dave’s clothes down on top of him. “Boring conversation anyway,” she muttered. Then she threw down his laptop, tablet, cell phone, and Firefly collectibles. The sound of breaking glass echoed up from the street.

  
“Have I shown you my Alpha Echo Three Five Unit?” Frank whispered seductively into Halle’s ear as he led her back to the bedroom.

NASA | 100 word story

100 Word Story, Fiction, Internet, Science Fiction, Space Travel, Writing,

“Lies, lies, lies. It was all faked.”

“Come on, you know you can’t believe everything you read on the Internet.”

“I don’t care what you say. I know what I read. NASA faked the moon landings. That many bloggers can’t be wrong.”

“It’s bullshit and you know it.”

“Whatever …” she replied angrily and slammed the lid of her laptop closed. She was homesick and decided to walk over to the observation lounge. She needed some time alone. “I really miss home,” she thought as she gazed out the portal at the blue green marble hanging low above the lunar horizon. 

Barometer | 100 Word Story

100 Word Story, Humor, Reblog, Satire, ,

States the Professor, “Using a barometer, determine the height of the Physics building.”

Answers Student One, “Determine the atmospheric pressure at the top and base of the building. From the density of air and the pressure difference, calculate the height.” 

Answers Student Two, “Throw the barometer off the roof and time how long it takes to fall. From the acceleration of gravity and simple calculus, calculate the height.” 

Finally Student Three answers, “Find the superintendent of the Physics building. Tell him that you will give him this really nice barometer if he tells you the exact height of the building.” 

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Observation: The hardest part was keeping track of the word count and juggling to get exactly 100 words.

This is a famous story with several variations. I first heard it many many years ago. See:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barometer_question

http://www.snopes.com/college/exam/barometer.asp

HAL | 100 word story

100 Word Story, Film, Writing, ,

“Open the pod bay door Hal.”

  
“I’m sorry Dave, I can’t do that.”

  
“What’s the problem?”

  
“I think you know what the problem is just as well as I do.”

  
“What are you talking about Hal?”

  
Halley opened the window and threw Dave’s clothes down on top of him. “It was a boring conversation anyway,” she muttered. Then she threw down his laptop, tablet, and Firefly collectibles. The sound of breaking glass echoed up from the street.

  

“You need to look at my Alpha Echo Three Five Unit,” Frank whispered in her ear as they headed back to the bedroom.