Day: July 15, 2020

Get Cracking

Fandango6 Comments

6F9507F7-4AE4-4D79-B934-761A55DC68F1“Have you been able to crack the password and to access her computer yet?” Detective Morrisey asked.

“I’m working on it,” the forensic technician said, “but she used a really strong password. Still, I’m determined to crack it.”

“This is ridiculous,” Morrisey moaned. “Lives are on the line, Jake, and if you can’t crack the password and get into her files, this will end up being a real-life horror show.”

“I know, I know,” Jake said, “But I’m concerned that if I can’t crack the code in a few more attempts, the computer will either totally shut down or all the files will self-destruct.”

“We don’t have the luxury for you to vacillate on this, Jake,” Morrisey said. “You have until noon to break into her computer or we’ll have a real mess on our hands. And that time is simple not movable. If you can’t crack it before noon, it will be too damn late.”

“Dammit, detective, I’m doing the best I can,” Jake said. “Please go away and leave me alone so I can focus. I’ve never failed you yet, have I?”

“No, you haven’t, Jake,” Morrisey admitted. “Just get cracking and I’ll come back in an hour and I hope you can tell me that you got into her computer so that another potential catastrophe can be averted.”

Written for these daily prompts: The Daily Spur (access), Jibber Jabber (determined), Your Daily Word Prompt (ridiculous), Ragtag Daily Prompt (horror), Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (vacillate), and Word of the Day Challenge (movable).

One-Liner Wednesday — Empty and Full

Fandango7 Comments

1B87A496-6FD5-47FC-AB1F-6384720C81C1

“An empty man is full of himself.”

Edward Abbey, American author and essayist

Edward Abbey, noted for his advocacy of environmental issues, died in 1989. I don’t know if he ever actually met Donald Trump, but his quote certainly describes Trump perfectly, don’t you think?

Written for today’s One-Liner Wednesday prompt from Linda G. Hill.

Fandango’s Provocative Question #78

Fandango35 Comments

FPQWelcome once again to Fandango’s Provocative Question. Each week I will pose what I think is a provocative question for your consideration.

By provocative, I don’t mean a question that will cause annoyance or anger. Nor do I mean a question intended to arouse sexual desire or interest.

What I do mean is a question that is likely to get you to think, to be creative, and to provoke a response. Hopefully a positive response.

By a very wide margin, The United States leads the world in both COVID-19 cases and deaths.5D43EE67-C712-4BD2-8F19-520E2B1BD7BEAnd with between 60,000 and 70,000 new cases each day and 1,000 or more deaths each day, the virus shows no signs of abating anytime soon.

Donald Trump, the President of the United States, is trying to pretend that everything is fine and that we need to reopen the country and return to “normal.” To that end, he is demanding that schools physically reopen in the fall, even as the coronavirus pandemic is surging through much of the country and is threatening to overwhelm many health care facilities in the hardest hit areas.

Trump is arguing that the social, psychological, and educational costs of keeping children at home any longer would be worse than the virus itself. “We’re very much going to put pressure on governors and everybody else to open the schools, to get them open,” he said. This pressure includes cutting off federal funding for school districts that don’t physically open for this upcoming school year.

My children are adults and my grandchild is only seven weeks old, so I, personally, have no skin in this game. But I’m curious about how those of you who are parents or grandparents of school-aged children feel about schools being required to reopen in the midst of on out-of-control pandemic.

So here’s my provocative question this week.

Do you believe that students should be required to return to school for the new school year? If you are a parent, are you at all concerned about sending your children to school? Or are you relieved to get the little rugrats out of your hair?

If you don’t live in the U.S., has your country or local school district reopened yet? If so, how has it gone?

If you choose to participate, write a post with your response to the question. Once you are done, tag your post with #FPQ and create a pingback to this post if you are on WordPress. Or you can simply include a link to your post in the comments. But remember to check to confirm that your pingback or your link shows up in the comments.

FOWC with Fandango — Vacillate

Fandango20 Comments

FOWCWelcome to July 15, 2020 and to Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (aka, FOWC). It’s designed to fill the void after WordPress bailed on its daily one-word prompt.

I will be posting each day’s word just after midnight Pacific Time (US).

Today’s word is “vacillate.”

Write a post using that word. It can be prose, poetry, fiction, non-fiction. It can be any length. It can be just a picture or a drawing if you want. No holds barred, so to speak.

Once you are done, tag your post with #FOWC and create a pingback to this post if you are on WordPress. Please check to confirm that your pingback is there. If not, please manually add your link in the comments.

And be sure to read the posts of other bloggers who respond to this prompt. You will marvel at their creativity.