Discussion -- July 2011 Challenge

[Perpetual Man]

Re: Discussion July 75 Word Writing Challenge

01000010 01110010 01100101 01110110 (Brev) - I really enjoyed this entry. It was a nice reverse on the old standard of humans being replaced by machines. It is something that seems to be so common it today's world, jobs lost by machines that can do things so much faster, and yet Brev reminds us that there are some things that a machine cane never replace.

01001110 01101111 00100000 01001111 01101110 01100101 (No One) - One word Skynet. I don't think we have ever really seen things from the Skynet point of view in the Terminator movies, and this could quite easily of fulfilled that role. A grim and forbidding tale that sends a warning for the future.

01010011 01110100 01100001 01110010 01100010 01100101 01100001 01110011 01110100 (Starbeast) - When I first read this one, I thought it slightly repetitive in the use of words, but the more I read it, the more I appreciated it. The choice of words and sentence structure seemed to the point, concise, perhaps the way a machine would say things. A good first entry from Starbeast, and a clever one to boot.

 

[MstrTal]

Re: Discussion July 75 Word Writing Challenge

Just for giggles I wanted to see how my story would look in Binary so here is the conversion.

01000110 01100101 01101100 01101001 01101110 01100101 00100000 01000110 01101111 01110010 01100011 01100101 00100000 01000110 01101001 01110110 01100101 00001101 00001010 00101000 01001100 01101111 01110011 01110100 00100000 01010000 01101001 01101100 01101111 01110100 00101001 00001101 00001010 00001101 00001010 00001101 00001010 01011011 01000101 01111000 01110100 01100101 01110010 01101110 01100001 01101100 00100000 01100001 01100101 01110010 01101001 01100001 01101100 00100000 01110110 01101001 01100101 01110111 00111010 00100000 01000011 01111001 01100010 01100101 01110010 01101110 01100101 01110100 01101001 01100011 00100000 01001100 01111001 01101110 01111000 11100010 10000000 10011001 01110011 00100000 01101101 01101001 01100100 00101101 01110100 01110010 01100001 01101110 01110011 01100110 01101111 01110010 01101101 01100001 01110100 01101001 01101111 01101110 01011101 00001101 00001010 00001101 00001010 00001101 00001010 11100010 10000000 10011100 01010010 01100101 01100100 00100000 01001100 01111001 01101110 01111000 00101100 00100000 01011001 01100101 01101100 01101100 01101111 01110111 00100000 01001100 01111001 01101110 01111000 00100000 01100110 01101111 01110010 01101101 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01100001 01110010 01101101 01110011 00100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01001001 00100000 01110011 01101000 01100001 01101100 01101100 00100000 01100110 01101111 01110010 01101101 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01110100 01101111 01110010 01110011 01101111 00100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 00101110 00100000 00101110 00100000 00101110 11100010 10000000 10011101 00100000 01100001 00100000 01110011 01110101 01100100 01100100 01100101 01101110 00100000 01100101 01111000 01110000 01101100 01101111 01110011 01101001 01101111 01101110 00100000 01101001 01101110 01110100 01100101 01110010 01110010 01110101 01110000 01110100 01110011 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01110011 01110100 01110010 01100101 01100001 01101101 00100000 01101111 01100110 00100000 01100011 01101111 01101101 01101101 01100001 01101110 01100100 01110011 00100000 01100001 01110011 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01000010 01101100 01100001 01100011 01101011 00100000 01001100 01111001 01101110 01111000 00100000 01100101 01111000 01110000 01101100 01101111 01100100 01100101 01110011 00101110 00001101 00001010 00001101 00001010 00001101 00001010 00001101 00001010 01011011 01010011 01110000 01101100 01101001 01110100 00100000 01010110 01101001 01100101 01110111 00101100 00100000 01000011 01101100 01101111 01110011 01100101 00101101 01110101 01110000 00100000 01000011 01111001 01100010 01100101 01110010 01101110 01100101 01110100 01101001 01100011 00100000 01001100 01111001 01101110 01111000 11100010 10000000 10011001 01110011 00100000 01100011 01101111 01100011 01101011 01110000 01101001 01110100 00111010 00100000 01010000 01101001 01101100 01101111 01110100 01110011 00100000 01100110 01100001 01100011 01100101 01110011 01011101 00001101 00001010 00001101 00001010 00001101 00001010 11100010 10000000 10011100 01001110 01001111 01001111 01001111 01001111 01001111 01001111 01001111 01001111 01001111 01001111 01001111 00100001 11100010 10000000 10011101 00100000 01000110 01101111 01110101 01110010 01110011 00100000 01110011 01101000 01101111 01100011 01101011 01100101 01100100 00100000 01110110 01101111 01101001 01100011 01100101 01110011 00100000 01110010 01100001 01101001 01110011 01100101 00100000 01101001 01101110 00100000 01110101 01101110 01101001 01100110 01101001 01100101 01100100 00100000 01100111 01110010 01101001 01100101 01100110 00101110 00001101 00001010 00001101 00001010 00001101 00001010 00001101 00001010 01011011 01000101 01111000 01110100 01100101 01110010 01101110 01100001 01101100 00100000 01010110 01101001 01100101 01110111 00111010 00100000 01010111 01101001 01100100 01100101 00100000 01100001 01101110 01100111 01101100 01100101 01011101 00001101 00001010 00001101 00001010 00001101 00001010 01001100 01100001 01111010 01100101 01110010 00100000 01110010 01101001 01100110 01101100 01100101 00100000 01110011 01101101 01101111 01101011 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01100111 01101001 01100001 01101110 01110100 00100000 01110010 01101111 01100010 01101111 01110100 01101001 01100011 00100000 01110100 01100101 01100100 01100100 01111001 00100000 01100010 01100101 01100001 01110010 00100000 01110100 01110101 01110010 01101110 01110011 00100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01110000 01101111 01101110 01100100 01100101 01110010 01101111 01110101 01110011 01101100 01111001 00100000 01110100 01110010 01110101 01100100 01100111 01100101 01110011 00100000 01110100 01101111 01110111 01100001 01110010 01100100 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01100011 01111001 01100010 01100101 01110010 01101110 01100101 01110100 01101001 01100011 00100000 01101100 01111001 01101110 01111000 11100010 10000000 10011001 01110011 00100000 01100011 01100001 01110011 01110100 01101100 01100101 00100000 01101001 01101110 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01100100 01101001 01110011 01110100 01100001 01101110 01100011 01100101 00101110

 

[Gary Compton]

Re: Discussion July 75 Word Writing Challenge

It reads better, more pace but there's a couple of spelling mistakes there.

Only joking

 

[No One]

Re: Discussion July 75 Word Writing Challenge

01001110 01101111 00100000 01001111 01101110 01100101 (No One) - One word Skynet. I don't think we have ever really seen things from the Skynet point of view in the Terminator movies, and this could quite easily of fulfilled that role. A grim and forbidding tale that sends a warning for the future.

Thanks PM, and interesting, not once did the idea of Skynet enter my thoughts while writing that. For the most part, I thought I was writing a positive story! Well, as long as people wouldn't mind giving up their perceived individuality in blurring the line between man and machine...

As usual, it's all so open to interpretation.

*oops, deleted the quotes...

 

[galaxy]

Re: Discussion July 75 Word Writing Challenge

Just read all the stories, loved three of them.

Perpetual Man's story was brilliant and the same time simple. Cheers!!

Brev: I liked his twist on the normal concept. Really felt nice to read. It really is about something that will most probably happen in the foreseeable future. Cheers!!
Moonbat: I liked the whole concept about the Spirit and its sudden failure. Really nicely written, looks and reads very technical. Loved it!!

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Re: Discussion July 75 Word Writing Challenge

There are (as usual) some excellent stories this month, and it's great to see stories by new members, and by old members who haven't taken part in the Challenge before.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Re: Discussion July 75 Word Writing Challenge

So just for clarification purposes, could the powers to be explain why a moderator (Pyan) can edit his story 14 hours after posting when the rest of us can't, or maybe we can and I just don't know it.

I've removed the story. Thanks for pointing it out. He was having a senior moment and forgot that the editing function only works "forever" for mods.

 

[Hilarious Joke]

Re: Discussion July 75 Word Writing Challenge

I've removed the story. Thanks for pointing it out. He was having a senior moment and forgot that the editing function only works "forever" for mods.

Oh no! That seems like a fairly severe punishment! But I can't think of how else you can be fair about it...

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Re: Discussion July 75 Word Writing Challenge

It was a good story, too.

But he can post it in the discussion thread next month, when we post our unused stories from this month, so that those who missed it can still enjoy it.

 

[Perpetual Man]

Re: Discussion July 75 Word Writing Challenge

Thanks PM, and interesting, not once did the idea of Skynet enter my thoughts while writing that. For the most part, I thought I was writing a positive story! Well, as long as people wouldn't mind giving up their perceived individuality in blurring the line between man and machine...

As usual, it's all so open to interpretation.

*oops, deleted the quotes...

I think that is the wonder of the stories, how much can go into just 75 words, and how different people can read so many different things into the story. I'm sure sometimes mood can play a major part in interpretation - yesterday was a really fraught day (in a normal kind of way) so I just looked at things in a negative way!

 

[MstrTal]

Re: Discussion July 75 Word Writing Challenge

ACK! I just realized that I copy pasted the wrong file.

Right story but bad grammar at the end. Drat and I liked this story too.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Re: Discussion July 75 Word Writing Challenge

ACK! I just realized that I copy pasted the wrong file.

This does seem to be a month of misfortunes. They tend to come in bunches. But it's a good story anyway.

 

[Gary Compton]

Re: Discussion July 75 Word Writing Challenge

I've removed the story. Thanks for pointing it out. He was having a senior moment and forgot that the editing function only works "forever" for mods.

I personally am sorry that you felt it necessary to remove the story. I can empathize with senior moments totally.

I do have a couple of forums myself so i do know that the edit button is a 24/7 thing so I thought that was the case.

Shame though, it was a canny story as they say in Geordieland.

 

[Brev]

Re: Discussion July 75 Word Writing Challenge

01000010 01110010 01100101 01110110 (Brev) - I really enjoyed this entry. It was a nice reverse on the old standard of humans being replaced by machines. It is something that seems to be so common it today's world, jobs lost by machines that can do things so much faster, and yet Brev reminds us that there are some things that a machine can never replace.

Just read all the stories, loved three of them.

Perpetual Man's story was brilliant and the same time simple. Cheers!!

Brev: I liked his twist on the normal concept. Really felt nice to read. It really is about something that will most probably happen in the foreseeable future. Cheers!!
Moonbat: I liked the whole concept about the Spirit and its sudden failure. Really nicely written, looks and reads very technical. Loved it!!

Thanks, your words have brightened my day.

And welcome to 'galaxy', obviously a new member with excellent taste.

 

[Perpetual Man]

Re: Discussion July 75 Word Writing Challenge

01001110 01101001 01111000 01101001 01100101 (Nixie) – one of the themes that seems to run through these stories is the way that robots see us, and in many ways being held up to themirror like that is not exactly good. That being said there is a glimmer of hope with the way the robots (I guess) see the abscent, dream ensnared humans as being the saviour of their growing society rather than humanity’s own. \perhaps it’s even the start of the deification of the human race by their mechanical offspring. Very though provoking.

01010100 01100001 01100011 01110100 01101001 01100011 01100001 01101100 00100000 01001100 01101111 01100011 01101111 (Tactical Loco) – As always there is some good thinking going on with these stories, showing how different people’s imaginations are. Here TL (I think at least) proves that robots don’t need to be a central part of the story to convey the Robot’s Tale. The combot it just there in the background, it’s tale quite small, it launched, it was destroyed, but its import is immeasurable, its loss devastating. Excellent.

01001101 01101111 01101111 01101110 01100010 01100001 01110100 00001101 00001010 (Moonbat) – And now for something completely different. This is a strange one, but all the more imaginitive and brilliant for it. The tale of a Mars Rover, just reports going back and forth to it’s controllers on Earth. It should be just that cold, impersonal and nothing to it, and yet Moonbat, with his choice of words, without detracting from the machine nature of the rover, gives a sense of sadness and loss, touching on reader emotions for something that is little more than a machine. Excellent.

Perp – Uh… looks like some one got here before me. Thanks PM.

01000001 01110101 01101110 00100000 01000100 01101111 01101111 01110010 01100010 01100001 01100011 01101011 00001101 00001010 (Aun Doorback) - An incredible emotive piece, that carries an undercurrent of melancholy, but is a good story too. It taps the fear about the end of life, and wanting to carry on. Being stored in some form of computer is a solid idea, maybe not alive but a memory of one and all.

01000001 01101100 01100011 01101000 01100101 01101101 01101001 01110011 01110100 00001101 00001010 (Alchemist) - To start with I just imagined Wall-E, which made the story, when it took its turn, all the more effective. I really liked the twist though it was so, I don't know understandable. A robot following just what it was programmed to do, it seems logical process to extrapolate that the cause of all the problems were humanity, so the best way of dealing with it was to remove that cause. An excellent punch.

01010011 01100001 01110000 01101000 01100101 01110010 01101111 01101110 00100000 00001101 00001010 (Sapheron) - I think I want to sign off now, shutdown the modem and never turn it on again. There was the feeling of something incredibly sinister in the inference that the internet could be sentient and controlling us... it seems so plausible.

01000010 01100101 01100100 01101100 01100001 01101101 01101001 01110100 01100101 00001101 00001010 (bedlamite) - A story of the start of sentience in artificial life forms. I think it worked really well, playing down the start of individuality, without hiding the import of it. All centred around a photo just seemed to make it really work, simple and yet momentous.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Re: Discussion July 75 Word Writing Challenge

I personally am sorry that you felt it necessary to remove the story.

Actually, pyan was the one who thought it necessary. I agreed with his reasoning and did the deed.

 

[High Eight]

Re: Discussion July 75 Word Writing Challenge

There are several stories I like this month but I'm having real trouble myself (Perhaps because I can't seem to shoehorn in any folklore!) - it doesn't help that I am going abroad on holiday at the end of the week. (Just realised - I probaly won't be able to vote, either!)

I think I might have to give it a miss this time and hopefully make a comback in August.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Re: Discussion July 75 Word Writing Challenge

If I can manage to write something without shoehorning in any fantasy, surely you can write something without shoehorning in any folklore?

(I sound like I'm channeling Karn here.)

 

[Karn Maeshalanadae]

Re: Discussion July 75 Word Writing Challenge

If I can manage to write something without shoehorning in any fantasy, surely you can write something without shoehorning in any folklore?

(I sound like I'm channeling Karn here.)

Now, now, what's this? I can be channeled? Wow....and I thought I was still alive?


Does that mean a dead man has entered the three hundred word challenge?

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Re: Discussion July 75 Word Writing Challenge

Hmmmm. If it wasn't you, I need to seriously look into who it was sending brain waves into my mind. Because it was a Karn sort of remark.