Schrödinger’s Crossword

Posted on February 14, 2022 by Bill Chance

“The nice thing about doing a crossword puzzle is, you know there is a solution.”
― Stephen Sondheim

Looking back, one of my favorite times was in a past job, years ago, four of us would meet in the cafeteria at work for morning beak, and do the New York Times crossword puzzle together. We did this for years. I liked how Monday was fairly easy and the difficulty would increase as the week went on – we rarely could finish Friday’s during break. I’d take it with me and sometimes try and finish using the internet (cheating, I know) – working on getting better.

I was reminded of these good times when this went viral – you’ve probably seen it already – but just in case….

Saw something fun today. A cute little trick in the Sunday New York Times crossword: the central theme clue was “The better of two sci-fi franchises“, and regardless of whether you put Star Wars or Star Trek, the crossing clues worked.

Short Story Of the Day – Spock Goes Bonkers (flash fiction) by Bill Chance

Posted on September 6, 2020 by Bill Chance

“A man either lives life as it happens to him, meets it head-on and licks it, or he turns his back on it and starts to wither away.”
― Gene Roddenberry

Starship Pegasus
Italy, Texas

I have been feeling in a deep hopeless rut lately, and I’m sure a lot of you have too. After writing another Sunday Snippet I decided to set an ambitious goal for myself. I’ll write a short piece of fiction every day and put it up here. Obviously, quality will vary – you get what you get. Length too – I’ll have to write something short on busy days. They will be raw first drafts and full of errors.

I’m not sure how long I can keep it up… I do write quickly, but coming up with an idea every day will be a difficult challenge. So far so good. Maybe a hundred in a row might be a good, achievable, and tough goal.

Here’s another one for today (#63) More than half way there! What do you think? Any comments, criticism, insults, ideas, prompts, abuse … anything is welcome. Feel free to comment or contact me.

Thanks for reading.

Spock Goes Bonkers

Doctor McCoy is excited because he has caught Spock with contraband hidden in his personal locker. Due to their innate sensitivity to Sucrose, Vulcans are known to use pineapples as a hallucinogen.

More of the conversation:

McCoy: “I’ve got that pointy-eared devil with the goods this time. Look! Real Pineapples Jim!”

Kirk: “What strain of pineapples, Bones?”

McCoy: “How the hell should I know? I’m a Doctor, Jim, not a Botanist!”

This is from the rarely-seen episode of the Original Series, “Spock Goes Bonkers” – which was pulled from distribution and all copies destroyed over concerns with excessive nudity and after the American Humane Society protested the scene with the Cocker Spaniel. Somehow, a copy has surfaced in Banja Luka, the second largest city in Bosnia and Herzegovina where it is screened in an abandoned cashew-nut warehouse on the third Tuesday of each month.

A ticket costs one hundred and fifty dollars.

What I learned this week July 27, 2012

Posted on July 27, 2012 by Bill Chance

I remember – 1979 or so, I was right out of school, living in Kansas, when I heard Sultans of Swing on the radio. It was a revelation. Years later, I think that Making Movies is one of the greatest albums of all time… a little disappointed with a lot of Dire Straights and Mark Knopfler’s later career… but still, Sultans brings it all back.

This video is all amazingness – time goes by… everything changes and nothing changes.