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A MATTER OF TIME
It was onlya matter of time,and the time has comewhen the Chinesewould abandonthe time honored“please to beplacing the Tab Awithinside the sloton Part E,”and insteadmerely showundecipherablepictures of parts,so that withbut a singleset of instructionsthey can frustratebuyers in all nations.
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TECHNICAL SERVICE
At some point in each callto a customer service representative,or worse still technical assistancewhich is a painful oxymoronin and of itself, I pause and wonderhow the conversation might goif I could reach throughthe ether of the phoneand grab the script.Would the voice on the other endsuddenly become attachedto a person, rippedfrom its computer home?Would that…
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FOUND POEM
Each morning, beforeI finish my morning cappuccino,I scan my email, hoping to finda perfect poem that hasgone forever unclaimed. I have enough skillto alter it sufficientlythat I can safely claim itas my own, if the ownerever were to appear,by adding, After XXXXX. All I have ever foundis the odd limerick andfrankly I can to betteron…
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IN HIDING
It slipped away. He had no idea where it had gone, but he knew he had to find it. It could have been accidental, an errant passer opening the gateway and off it went. But he was so reliant on it that he knew he could not do much of anything without it. And he…
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IF ONLY
As I have aged, I hopeI have gotten smarteror at least more ableto adapt to life’s issues. But there are still areaswhere knowledge fails,where you cannot hopeto attain what you want. World peace is one such,honest politicians another,and the list could go onbut you get the picture. The ultimate failure howeveris imagining that you can…
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AMAZONIA
There will, I am certain, come a day when I will need to do nothing. My computer and my apps will know what I want, will obtain it without asking, will expect my thanks when it arrives, even if they are incapable of understanding what thank you means in a human world. They already plague…
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HUMPTY DUMPTY SAYS
He had long since decided that language was impossible, the English language in particular. He had acquired all manner of dictionaries, and had searched the web, using it as a reverse dictionary. But all too often the language came up short. Words at best approximated what he meant, what he saw, but to get even…
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ANTISOCIAL MEDIA
The meaning is simple,a data point here,another there,an image,an algorithmwords writtenin jest,in anger,regret,withdrawal,cancellation,account closed,remaining shadows,way back,pixels always moving,real friendsonce touched,I aman avatar to you,I have erasedyou from memory.
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LIAR
It is a strange feeling to discover that youhave been made a liar by your own DNA. For years I was Jewish to the core, halfat least Sephardic, Portuguese, and thatnot merely extracted but fully blooded. My diet at Passover expanded greatly,no longer dictated by Northerners whoeasily banned that which they did not grow. But…
