Day: November 29, 2020

Sunday Writing Prompt — Industrial Espionage

Fandango9 Comments

It was no contest, especially since Herman Kramer had planted a mole at the other architecture firm. The mole was the perfect resource for obtaining the details of the plans that the competing firm for the bid on the new courthouse would be submitting.

As the members representing the two firms sat on opposite sides of the table in the large conference room, the procurement officer for the state, who was sitting at the head of the table started to speak. “I have some unfortunate news to share with you,” he said. “It seems that the procedures for this bid process have been violated.” The procurement officer gave an icy stare in Herman’s direction.

Herman felt as if the ambient temperature in the room had suddenly doubled and he began to sweat. “Is there a problem with one of the bids?” Herman asked.

“You should know, Mr. Kramer,” the procurement officer said. “Your firm’s bid is verbatim the bid of the other firm, literally word for word, but your financial terms are about five percent lower. I can only surmise that your firm has committed industrial espionage and has illegally obtained the other firm’s bid.”

“Sir,” Herman objected, “my firm and I would never succumb to such desperate measures, I can assure you.”

The procurement officer nodded to one of his associates who was standing by the door. The associate opened the door and into the conference room walked Herman’s mole. “The jig is up, Mr. Kramer,” the procurement officer said. “Your man here was caught making photocopies of your competitor’s proposal, and he admitted that he was working for you.” Two officers of the law came in and started to escort Herman Kramer out of the conference room.

As he was being escorted out, Herman passed the mole who had confessed. “You little snitch,” Herman hissed, “you may be feeling festive now, but you will live to regret this.”

Written for the Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie Sunday Writing Prompt, where the theme is “contest.” Also for these daily prompts: Word of the Day Challenge (architecture), The Daily Spur (resource), Your Daily Word Prompt (ambient), Ragtag Daily Prompt (snitch), and MMA Storytime (festive).

Who Won the Week? 11/29/2020

Fandango16 Comments

FWWTWIt’s time for another Who Won the Week prompt. The idea behind Who Won the Week is for you to select who (or what) you think “won” this past week. Your selection can be anyone or anything — politicians, celebrities, athletes, authors, bloggers, your friends or family members, books, movies, TV shows, businesses, organizations, whatever.

I will be posting this prompt on Sunday mornings (my time). If you want to participate, write your own post designating who you think won the week and why you think they deserve your nod. Then link back to this post and tag you post with FWWTW.

Back in 1970 I was a long-haired hippie. I was proud of my long hair. It was my freak flag, so to speak, and had no intention of getting it cut, even though my boss at a job I had just gotten at a local RadioShack was putting some pressure on me to at least trim it back in order to be more “presentable” at my customer-facing job.

I was debating on my drive home from work whether or not to succumb to my boss’ demand that I cut my hair, when I heard this song from Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young on the radio.

After hearing David Crosby’s song, I decided to quit my job at RadioShack.

Speaking of RadioShack, do you remember RadioShack? It used to be a fixture at large shopping malls, small strip malls, and small town main streets across America for decades. At its peak, it operated stores under either the name RadioShack or Tandy in the United States, Mexico, United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada.

But between large electronics box stores like Best Buy, and online sites like Amazon, RadioShack fell on hard times. Somewhere along the way, “The Shack” got lost. Even with the early successes of its TRS-80 (sometimes referred to as the “Trash-80) personal computer, RadioShack was not able to capitalize on the PC boom that began in the mid-’80s. It also found itself largely on the outside of the portable device revolution as it drifted toward irrelevancy. In February 2015, RadioShack Corporation filed for Chapter 11 protection under United States bankruptcy law after 11 consecutive quarterly losses.

Well, after two bankruptcies, it seems that RadioShack has, once again, been pulled from the brink. An entrepreneurial investment firm hopes to make RadioShack competitive again, this time online, rather than with brick and mortar stores on street corners or in shopping centers. The plan is to build a vast online marketplace on top of the RadioShack brand.

So, in its effort to resurrect itself. I’m designating RadioShack as this week’s Who Won the Week winner. Good luck, RadioShack. Maybe the third time is the charm.

What about you? Who (or what) do you think won the week?

In addition to my Who Won the Week prompt, this post included the words “hair,” “flag,” and “home from today’s Three Things Challenge prompt from Di at Pensitivity101, and the word “succumb” from Fandango’s One-Word Challenge.

Song Lyric Sunday — Me and My Arrow

Fandango13 Comments

It’s time for another one of Jim Adams’ Song Lyric Sunday prompts. This time, Jim is asking us about pets: dogs, cats, fish, and birds. For my song the week, I chose Harry Nilsson’s “Me and My Arrow,” where Arrow is the loyal dog the song’s narrator sings about.

“Me and My Arrow” was written and recorded by American singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson for his 1970 album The Point! It was also released as a single in 1971, reaching number 34 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number 3 on the Adult Contemporary chart.

Nilsson wrote this track as part of his whimsical fable The Point!, the story of a unique boy named Oblio, who is the only person with a round head in his Pointed Village, and his trusty dog, Arrow. In a period of drug-fueled creativity, Nilsson said that he came up with the idea while exploring the woods near his Laurel Canyon, California home. “I was on acid and I looked at the trees and I realized that they all came to points, and the little branches came to points, and the houses came to points. I thought, ‘Oh, everything has a point, and if it doesn’t, then there’s a point to it.'”

The Point! was made into a TV movie in 1971. In the original telecast, Dustin Hoffman voiced the part of the narrator/father , but the home video release featured Ringo Starr in that role. Just a couple years earlier, Hoffman starred in the acclaimed film Midnight Cowboy, which featured Nilsson’s “Everybody’s Talkin’.”

According to Songfacts, Nilsson could well relate to being the odd man out. Part lovable drunk, part mad musical genius, no one knew what to expect from him. His “arrow” often pointed him in different directions, resulting in an eclectic mix of work that would include Beatles-inspired rock songs, heart-wrenching ballads, and goofy novelty tunes.

Here are the lyrics to “Me and My Arrow.”

Me and my arrow
Straighter than narrow
Wherever we go, everyone knows
It’s me and my arrow

Me and my arrow
Taking the high road
Wherever we go, everyone knows
It’s me and my arrow

And in the morning when I wake up
She may be gone, I don’t know
And if we make up just to break up
I’ll carry on, oh yes, I will

Me and my arrow
Doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, straighter than narrow
Wherever we go, every one knows
It’s me and my arrow

Me and my arrow

Me and my arrow
Me and my arrow
Me and my arrow
Me and my arrow
Me and my arrow
Doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, straighter than narrow
Wherever we go, every one knows
It’s me and my arrow

If you’ve never seen The Point!, and have about an hour and 15 minutes to spare, I suggest that you take that time to watch the whole thing. I think you’ll enjoy it.

FOWC with Fandango — Succumb

Fandango19 Comments

FOWCWelcome to November 29, 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 “succumb.”

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.