The lead up to World War Three

PART THREE of a FOUR PART SERIES of 1000 word stories, incorporating some clever and talent artists

The lead up to World War Three

After the success of the public relation exercise that was the 2008 Olympic Games, China grew more in confidence and arrogance. There was barely a day that went by preceding the Games that China didn’t mention its 130 Gold Medal haul and the naming as the “Best Games ever” by the Olympic Committee. This brought about a hardline political change and one that seemed less tolerant of previous problems.
So it came as no surprise when China began provocative naval exercises in the seas off Taiwan and the world was pushed to a whole new era of terror when on 1st of May 2010 China invaded the island state.

All diplomatic avenues were exhausted as the United Nations led by the United States President Obama did everything to reverse the action. This was to no avail with China citing years of provocation by the small country and China’s unbridled belief it was still a part of China as a whole.

Due to China’s huge economic power many countries were hesitant to cease trading with China and all larger nations (including the US) just issued empty threats of diplomatic removal even though many had huge investments. in the Taiwanese economy.

This was the beginning of threads that lead to the world at war version 3.0.
In Europe Germany, Spain and France had elected far right wing leaders due to their populations unease with the growing terrorism threat and demanded strong action to combat it.

With these strong leaders came strong opinions and big egos and in an era than accepted China’s invasion of Taiwan, Germany and Spain in a surprise move unilaterally declared war on France for trying to control the Euro and invaded. France was over run within days and surrendered with hope of keeping it’s national identity and culture intact but agreed to be administrated by the other two countries.
The world had been blind sided again and due to the quick resolution there was little anyone could do about it. France handed itself over to its invaders.

This of course led to howls of protest but also howls of laughter from many sectors of the Western and Eastern nations.

The Us and Britain taking great delight in lampooning France as the “Great Surrender Monkeys”.

This would have devastating results as a misguided Terrorist organization called “Viva La France” grew in numbers and committed many a serious attack on American and English soil while ignoring its invaders at home.

China during this period was building relationships with the Spanish- German alliance and growing in stature. In 2012 China built up forces on its Eastern borders while North Korea massed troops on its Southern border with South Korea in what looked like an organized repeat of what had happened to Taiwan.
In a show of supreme defiance South Korea bombed Chinese coastal ports provoking an attack on its own borders.

What happened next is considered one of the most daring strategies ever attempted,
China launched 4 nuclear warheads on 15 April 2012 with trajectories traced to non populated or wilderness areas. South Korea (who had been in development of secret electronic counter systems) used its new untried defense system to take control of the warheads and turn them on Beijing.

Once again the world was stunned and a new era of unpredictability had begun.
When it was revealed that a new alliance had been formed by South Korea, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa, Brazil and Mexico who all shared the new missile re-guidance system the world power balance shifted.

This news sent many a diplomatic mission from Europe, Asia and America to these countries to share in this new technology but the pact was hard and fast and done in the interest of economic stability and a world not ruled by fear. Noble words indeed but it led to the ripping up of every treaty written and honoured since the end of the Second World War, due to this the United Nations crumbled under the weight of Universal distrust, diplomatic one-upmanship and bad sportsmanship.

Meanwhile relationships between India and Pakistan had reached new lows when India accused Pakistan of supporting terrorist attacks on major Indian cities which resulted in thousands of casualties. India blamed Pakistan of being jealous of its economic success and that it would always be a basket case and doubted if its nuclear capabilities were even real.

Pakistan goaded into action launched two ICBM towards India but both exploded on their launch pads making the Indian taunts real and then had to swallow more national pride by asking India to come and help clean up the mess. Within weeks Pakistan became once again a state of India.

North Korea who was responsible for the malfunctioning Pakistani missiles was in the throes of civil war. After the South Korea – China incident the peoples of North Korea realized their only threat to the greater (unknown) world was useless and rose up against it head of state Kim Jong-il. The war was slowly turning towards a South Korean/Japanese backed victory it was only the hardline disciples of the president that was holding out with their numbers thinly every day..

China still seething from the nuclear attack debacle had gone into lockdown.
In Europe the tri states of Spain, Germany and France were flexing economic muscle and were suggesting the introduction of its own currency The New Mark. This led to protests from the European Parliament and the three countries were ejected from the union something that never was considered when the invasion happened.

Russia aching to flex some muscle threw down the gauntlet at the tri states and demanded they step in line. With the backing of Great Britain , Italy and Poland they demanded they return France as a free state and work towards a united Europe. This had the opposite effect and the now mostly militant powers of the Tri States went into Empire building mode. Firstly invading Portugal, then Belgium , Switzerland and Austria. The latter two were seen to be in alliance as they just opened up the borders to the invaders.

With this extreme political action taking place calls for the USA to intervene was intensifying.

Feeling pressured but claiming Europe had deal with it’s own problems, the United States remained an interested observer until Viva La France detonated a dirty bomb at the Twin Tower Memorial on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. This prompted outrage on a massive scale and the United States declared war on the Tri Sates and China for economic reasons no one was really sure of.

Since the US had joined in the fray it was OK now to refer to this stage in history as World War Three.

image one coutesy of Earthquakebee (c) EarthquakeBee Used with permission
Earthquake Bee is a talented artist from Red bubble and co owner of Vinyl Grove Records in the Hague
Image Two by the Author available here

23rd Century Anatomy

PART TWO of a FOUR PART SERIES of 1000 word stories, incorporating some clever and talent artists

23rd Century Anatomy

The Bird Flu Pandemic did happen but not as the experts predicted.
Most of the First World countries felt little impact as it seemed to only affect the very young, old or sickly.

Many shrugged it off as a bad cold, this was due to the many governments who stock piled huge amounts of the flu drug oseltamivir (Tamiflu),These governments included the British Isles and most of Eastern Europe , Japan , South Korea , Australia, New Zealand, The United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Canada and Brazil. Ironically the United States where it was manufactured sold nearly all of its reserves to most of the above countries due to high demand and left it exposed to the worst part of the pandemic.

The US Health system was unable to cope with the outbreak and the division of its wealthy and poor was highlighted when it lost most of its poorer citizens to the disease thus creating a huge labour shortage.

The same happened to many Western Europe countries and Africa. The Middle East and most of Asia seemed to suffer very little casualties in the first round of the pandemic but were dealt a severe blow when it mutated into another form of the virus due to the introduction of the Tamiflu into the worlds population.

By the year 2055 half of the worlds projected population of 9 billion had been killed by the pandemic.

The world had reached a new crises. In a few short years hunger and poverty had been reduced significantly in the world but there was a massive shortage of cheap labour to supply those that had survived and perpetuate their life styles.
At first the human spirit come to the fore and a new enlightened society arose from the ashes of the Old World Order.

But this didn’t take long to be corrupted by those in charge who were in reality still the Old World in their thinking.
Greed is never far from a man’s heart.
They first appeared from the prison systems.

The NewMans.

There was a short out cry at first but it faded when the benefits matched the wanting to return to the easy life.
Robots in the historical sense had never lived up to the hype of the science fiction novels that spawned them.

They were bulky and had to be programmed endlessly to do simple tasks.
That is why the NewMans proved such a success.
When the world’s population had dwindled most of the prisons were emptied and the prisoners were put to work in essential industry to keep economies going, only the worst sociopaths and murders were exempt.
Eventually these inmates were considered burdens as no one could afford the manpower to watch over them.

This is where things started to change.

The US Military in conjunction with larger Corporations began cybernetic transplants in conjunction with neurological implants to control behaviour.
Under the guise of the United Nations (long ago taken over by the leading Economies) the first NewMans were released to work in Mines and dangerous rescue missions.

Their appearance shocked those at first but it didn’t take long for them to become an acceptable part of the landscape.

Men with large drills attacked at the forearms with huge splayed feet to counterbalance their centre of gravity. Running up there spines scares covered the titanium spinal implants that held them upright.
More and more of the NewMans appeared over the next decade in different forms and for different purposes.

Many had arms similar to the spot welders on the old automotive assemblies lines and were used for similar purposes others had clamps on all appendages and were used for high rise construction and maintenance. There were versions suited to deep sea and high altitude climates work to aide in recovery and development.
Each new model taking that extra step forward up the machine evolutionary ladder.
Meanwhile as the US with United Nations backing was virtually replacing it’s labour force with NewMans the African continent was becoming a hot bed of territorial claims. South Africa had invested billions of dollars redeveloping the Southern and Central States which had virtually been wiped out during the pandemic due to the lack of medical aide and the huge HIV count per population. Meanwhile the Northen and Western States were being heavily invested by Saudi Arabia , now a major player as a Economic giant. This had given those more deceptive of Government officials an excuse to reopen old religious wounds and all acts of sabotage were quickly blamed on or claimed by Religious Extremists.

This opened up the door to introduce NewMan Guards, which were in fact Super Soldiers to protect large Investments and developments. Huge beasts that had hardly any semblance to their original human state.

Most of this was kept out of the public domain, the population had become smarter but also easier to control.

Armed conflicts had become rare and physical competition had become more popular than ever. Countries were often pitted against each other on a weekly basis as air travel became faster and less taxing on the individual. People wanted to see faster, stronger, further more and more. The Olympic Games became the ultimate in status for athletes and national pride and soon it became apparent that the human body even when riddled with drugs could only achieve so much.
This spawned a new breed of elite.

The ReNewMan.

Humans who had enhancements added to their physical body in relation to their particular sport. High jumpers had spring loaded legs, runners had modified lungs and muscle enhancements in the legs, swimmers had much the same but with flipper attachments on the arms and legs. Javelin throwers had arms made into harpoon like apparatus this was stunning as it was entertaining but it also heralded the introduction of vanity modifications, though these were irreversible the were incredibly popular.

With this bold new application came new technology.

No longer were there shiny metal but skin grafts had been applied to make the runners legs like jaguar or Ostrich legs. The jumpers like Kangaroos, the swimmers like twin finned Dolphins.

Vanity had reached new heights.

(c)2009 Danny Nolan Shidot Productions
Image (c) Glen Smith NoFrills Art used with permission.
Glen is a multi talented painter and designer, administrator and teacher who I have collaborated many times and his works can be found here and his Blog here.
I have written about Glen before on this site and you can find that here

Superheroes

PART ONE of a FOUR PART SERIES of 1000 word stories, incorporating some clever and talent artists.

Superheroes

On the 22nd of June 2012 the last superhero was officially removed from the planet Earth

It had been a brilliant and calculating plan carried out by a joint conglomerate of the World’s Political, Business and Religious leaders at great expense and danger but it had been accomplished.

The decision had been made many years before when the evidence mounted that not having the World’s growing number of Superheros was actually more beneficial than having them.

Studies showed that every time a new caped or winged wonder came onto the scene so did arch-nemeses of lesser or equal power. This also related to the existing superheros who when they dispensed with an arch villain another would eventually take its place.

The United States particularly were getting very angry with its superheroes as they had about 95% of the known Superhero population but still managed to spend trillions on defense and send there citizens off to war while the superhero population would not assist in these national affairs because they were tied up will bank robbers , crazy machines or aliens.

Aliens were another reason for the push to eradicate the flying and fighting wonders , the Earth had never encountered life forms from other planets before the arrival of the first Superheros and the ones that did visit our planet where hell bent on destroying it.

This also weighed heavily on Earth’s Religious leaders who had an increasingly hard time convincing their followers that a God or God’s existed when a Super Hero kept saving the day at the last minute. People were becoming so use to major world crisis erupting and then being extinguished that they became so blasé about it that they believed they didn’t need to rely on any thing to help them with their spiritual well being seeing how they were rescued from certain death nearly every week.
A plan was set into motion.

Each would be dispatched via their individual weakness, these secrets were kept in huge dossiers collected over the years by the Governments of the world.
As a trial run the first hero dispensed with was Batman. Since the Caped Crusader had no real powers to speak of it would be less conspicuous if he was dispatched using the methods applied.

Having known Bruce Wayne was Batman’s alter ego, the US Government set into motion a trap involving Wayne’s vast fortune and orchestrated his financial collapse while smearing his name and character with innuendo and gossip. The collapse of the Wayne Foundation was spectacular as it was to damaging to Bruce Wayne’s ego and he committed suicide when it was revealed his fortune was founded on White slavery and pornography. Batman’s pure spirit was crushed and he suffered deep emotional stress which led to his personal dispatch.

wind up destruction by Scott Robinson

Within weeks the Joker, Riddler, Catwoman and a dozen other of Batman’s arch enemies were found dead or near death in various parts of Gotham City with what Doctors could only describe as a type of deep depression. Within a month Gotham City was virtually free of major crime.

The plan to remove the super powered beings was simple in design and its theory was proven super villains were intrinsically linked to there enemies.
From there it was a matter of making every dispatch an accident and to happen in the shortest time frame possible.
Examples of how certain individuals were made available to this author:
The Green Lantern lured into a room which was flooded with Yellow custard and was drowned.

David Banner (the hulk), Green Arrow and Hawkman were all attacked before the could transform or use their specialist equipment and buried in a desert grave.
Spiderman succumbed to toxic poisoning after the highest building in New York City was treated with surface spray.

The Flash disintegrated on impact when he was purposely tripped doing unmentionable speeds through heavy traffic and slammed into the road.
The last Super hero disposed of was Superman. Many feared it would be impossible but it transpired it was love that killed the Metropolis mighty man.

Superman was killed in a car compactor when tons of kryptonite smuggled in by the space shuttle from the moon were hidden in a lead lined box which the world’s mightiest superhero was lured on the pretense that Lois Lane had finally succumbed to his advances and was waiting for him. Lois’ betrayal justified by the fact that he spent more time with his enemies than with her.
So on the 22nd of March 2012 it was announced to an unsuspecting world that all their Heroes were dead. Causing panic and uncertainty in all the world’s population.

The World leaders had their control back.

Religious leaders would capitalize on people returning to their Gods for solace and security.

The Governments of the world capitalizing on uncertainty and fear to control their populations.

And big businesses capitalizing on both to make more money.

There was great rejoice in upper echelon of world leaders until a report from NASA confirmed the trajectory of an eight kilometre meteor heading straight towards Earth on a collision course.

(c) 2009 Danny Nolan Shidot Productions
Image (c) Scott Robinson (used with permission)
Scott is a popular graphic designer from Brisbane Australia where he is well known in the local skateboard and street art fraternity. He is also very successful T Shirt designer.
see more of Scott's work here

Ultra Cool Lego

LEGO has always been cool but these works go to a whole new level.
and click here to keep it musically orientated

I love the M.C Escher models

More Virtual bands from around the world

JEM AND THE HOLOGRAMS
This "Saturday morning cartoon" band has somehow made it into some of the Top 10 favourite vitual/cartoon band lists, which I conclude that the people who make these lists don't research very well or have a memory that spans 5 years maximum.
Of course this was a Toy Company spin off that offered nothing new in style or creativity and somehow managed to run for 65 episodes between 1985 and 88.
Obviously kids don't give a shit what they watch when they're sitting in front off the tv with a bowl of sugar.

Still they did have some popularity and here posted below in three parts is the "origins" of JEM AND THE HOLOGRAMS

One afternoon not long ago I attended a poetry reading group. This is what happened.

My eyeballs felt like they were floating somewhere near my forehead as I looked back down the aisle that I couldn’t even remember walking up seconds before. I clutched the folded pieces of paper with their neatly printed and spaced words. One or two of them had hasty pen marks where last second changes were made.
“This was a real dumb idea” I thought to myself,
Hang on, hang on .
Let’s go back a bit so this makes a bit more sense.
Some time in October I paid my first visit to the Local Art Gallery called the Hut, something I’d been meaning to do for ages but somehow also managed to put off.
This little Gallery has had Fern Tree Gully grown up around it in it’s 60 odd years of existence and is a cultural treasure of the Dandenong foothills.
This time I had a reason to visit. Our daughter wanted to join an Art Society to learn more about painting and The Hut offered such courses, since it was a lovely Sunday afternoon we thought we would finally make the visit. The volunteer ladies who greeted us were incredibly helpful and gave us lots of useful information and the Missus and I had a look at the latest display of art that was showing. I even bought the incredibly cheap “History of the Hut” for $3.
Anyway – there is a story and a point here – we left to go somewhere up the mountain and later that afternoon drove back past the gallery and there were people everywhere making their way into the building.
“Did I miss something when we were here earlier?” I asked the wife
“Obviously”, she replied “Didn’t you see the sign for the Poetry and Writing Afternoon?”
I didn’t answer because :One – I didn’t and two: my mind was already ticking over as I thought “What a great review that would make for the paper”
So later when I got home I dragged out the local paper and found the add promoting these meets and as luck would have it, the last was the next month coming.
I told the Missus about this idea and promptly forgot but she didn’t and reminded me on the day the next meet was what I planned to do.
Of course I hadn’t planned a thing and decided there and then that the only way to best review a writing and poetry session was to become part of it myself. It said that everyone got 5 minutes on the flyer they had so I automatically took that to be an open mike at the end of some more serious and professionals types who would lead the show. and there’d be no room for a “newbie” like me.
Oh how wrong was I.
I arrived at the Gallery about 3.20 PM for a half-past start and there already was only a few seats empty. Alex, who was running the show, met me almost on entry to the main hall. Alex was also MC and made sure everything runs to schedule.
He asked me if I it was my first visit and if I was reading?
Right there was my escape but Alex was so pleasant and enthusiastic I just nodded and patted my pieces of paper that I had hastily shoveled into my back pocket.
Alex looked pleased and put my name on a white board that had a list of names running down it in three lines. I was smack bang in the middle of the second line, about 12th in turn.
I sat down in the last row and made myself comfortable, the heat from the previous week has abated and it was quite pleasant in the hall and stayed that way for the whole afternoon.
I observed the crowd and they were a cross section of age group and sex and everybody seemed quite pleasant and enjoying each other company.
In no time the board of names was full and at 3.30 the show began.
Now I now poetry and prose reading isn’t everybody’s cup of tea but it is a lot more popular than people let on and it covers a massive range and styles.
It was obvious which of these people had worked the audience before and more so the ones who hadn’t.
A few of the first timers must have imagined their poetry would be accepted more readily or that their delivery would be more masterful.
Often I’d see a look of confusion as a self predicted “Killer” line went passed the crowd and splattered on the wall behind them.
A few stumbled but all were greeted with polite applause.
Others just mumbled into their pages of words and left with their eyes staring at the floor.
But for every miss there were massive hits.
One older lady in her 70s did a reciting of a personal story many years ago in her life about lost love that was flawless.
Her delivery , diction and tone were something to experience just to be shown how it should be done. A young girl who was sitting next me recited some clever poems for children that involved saying phrases backward.
Without going into great detail there was bush poetry, humorous poems, cautionary tales and even songs.
Everyone had a different style and delivery. The crowd was attentive and even without a microphone the mildest voices could be heard clearly.
There however was one disturbing thread and I found this also true with some of the writing here on Red Bubble.
There was an unusual amount of poems relating to sexual abuse on a personal level. This carried a bit of sympathy and even shock value the first time but when it was almost 15% of the days reading suspicion seeps in and I wondered if this was an attention-seeking device.
I was tempted to hand out the local Police station number or ask them to change the name of the afternoon to the Sexual Abuse Support Day. I know this is a major problem that was even more rampant in less unenlightened times but I was a bit concerned at it all.
The boards first line of readers seemed to flow quite evenly and I thought I’ll get this over with quick smart and then for some reason time started to stand still and with 2 people still to read before me a break was called and the audience all went for afternoon tea.
This was a godsend because by this time (nearly and hour an a half into proceeding) I had foolishly forgotten my drink bottle and was parched. It also gave me a chance to talk to some other people who were reading and they gave me good advice and encouragement when I told them I was ready to run for the door I was getting that nervous.
After a refreshing cuppa and cake it was back to business, I managed to sneak a cordial for my continuing drying throat and it started to look at my ancient poems I had printed off my computer after lunch in an attempt to find something worth reading. I chose 3 silly ones and one serious and in my head reckoned they would take about 3 minutes to read which included embarrassing pauses in between to let the audience know I had finished one and was ready to start the next.
Well the moment came. Alex stood up and introduced me and to welcome me because it was my first time.
Polite applause.
Cue back to the opening paragraph.
I’ve read in public many times before but in all those times I’d at least prepared or at least knew my audience.
This was reading stuff I thought was good to total strangers, who probably thought different.
After the scattered applause died down I fumbled the papers and realized I had no order in which to read. I quickly decided that blitz them with funny and leave them teary eyed with my classic heartbreaker Binalong Ave
To my surprise the first two went marvelous despite my waiving voice full of nerves.
The mob (as I saw them now) laughed in the right places and even applauded twice.
Then I went straight to my heartbreaker and people laughed at the first line before they realized the joker had turned serious. My intro didn’t help which went something like:
“.Ah.. this is about my growing up place and….ahh . my ..Mum ..who doesn’t live there anymore” or some gibberish like that.
When I finished I was greeted with that stony silence I was dreading before someone realized I had finished and started the obligatory polite applause.
I looked at Alex to see if I could read my last poem and he waved his hands and whispered we were running over time.
Banished, from hero to zero in 45 seconds.
I left the podium and made my way back to the back row still wearing my glasses which I only use for reading and nearly tripped over the girl sitting next to me.
A few people commented on my work saying I did well.
Which was par for the course because everyone was super supportive I can’t emphasis this enough.
After me came two people who were regulars who dribbled on about absolute bullshit, one recited someone else’s song and tried to start a singalong and another lady tried to teach us how to beat the system and get out of credit card debt by emailing the CEO of the multinational company who issued the card.
Both pointless and in the later highly unlikely. Neither were poems or prose just soap boxing.
What pissed me off was the fact they both went twice as long as my slot and bored me shitless.
I could of read my last poem and vindicated myself.
Later when I went outside to make a call because the afternoon was running way overtime and I was going to miss a pick up for my son another gent come out to congratulate me on what he thought was great work, it just so happened to be that his work was one of the ones I admired as well because he wrote with a rhyme and timing not really preformed a lot at today’s meeting.
He asked “Why was I cut short?” and I told I wasn’t sure but I wished they’d done the same to some of the others and he wholeheartedly agreed.. He said his first visit was last month and there was that many people it ran till 7.00PM.
I reckon they smelled that I was not a “true believer” a “Rat in the ranks” to expose their true dealings.
What I can report is that poetry and prose reading is very strong in the my local area if my visit is anything to go by and with such a great venue and supportive crowd and attendants you really can’t go wrong and I advice anybody with the slightest interest to a burning passion to give it a go either as a spectator or participant. It cost next to nothing and you’ll meet like-minded people and who knows you might even surprise yourself,
Oh, by the way. Poetry still hasn’t won me over.
^{Originally submitted (in an abridged censored fversion) as my monthly article for the local paper  becuase I can express myself a lot more freely on the Blog.}
Reference:
RB Poetry Guide
Poetry -Why I hate it.

Friggin' in the Riggin'. Closing credits to the Sex Pistols mockumtory
THE GREAT ROCK n ROLL SWINDLE




and EMI for good measure