Stephen L. Thompson’s Published Works

Stephen L. Thompson’s
Other Published Works


This is a page for my other publications. The photo essays, the micro-fiction, the poetry. I guess that pretty much explains everything. I’ve made a separate page for my haikus, which can be found here.









Steve’s Homepage Main Publication Page

Novel excerpts Photo Essays Micro Fiction
Non-Rhyming Poetry Other




Novel excerpts

None of Them Knew the Color of the Sky
Prologue

January 2007, None of Them Knew the Color of the Sky MySpace profile (Defunct)

If you’ll check out the blog on the MySpace page, you’ll see where I’ve gone into detail about how this all developed and (eventually) there will be far more information than I can fit here.

This is no longer online.

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Photo Essays

“What I did on Black Friday”

November 2009, Stephen L. Thompson Newsletter

Just a little something to mark how I spent 2009’s Black Friday.

Click here to read it.

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“Urgent Report on Humans”

June 2009 30 Stories in 30 Days

I’ve often wondered what an alien would make of a comic convention. When I went to the Philadelphia Wizard World in June of 2009, I tried to look at it with an alien eye.

Click here to read it.

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Things I want to do before I die

January 2009, Stephen L. Thompson Newsletter

I had the idea of “Things to do before you die” stuck in my head, so here’s my list.

Click here to read it.

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Wordwrights Holiday Dinner 2008

I just put this one up for fun.
Click here to read it.

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Preston & Steve’s Camp Out For Hunger 2008

Week of November 30, 2008
Stephen L. Thompson’s Weekly Stories

This is a photo essay of my trip to the Preston & Steve Camp Out For Hunger 2008.

Click here to read it.

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Faire 2008

October 2008, Stephen L. Thompson Newsletter

This photo essay shows some of the interesting people I saw at the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire.

Click here to read it.

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Wizard World 2008

I just put this one up for fun.

Some of these photos came out a bit blurry, which sucks. But I think the humor overall will make up for that.

Click here to read it.

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Steve’s Hawaiian Odyssey, USS Arizona Memorial

I just put this one up for fun.

The most poignant part of my trip to Hawaii was visiting the USS Arizona Memorial.

Click here to read it.

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Driving Home

November 2007, Stephen L. Thompson Newsletter

This is just a little photo essay I wrote about my drive home for Thanksgiving.

Click here to read it.

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Steve’s Hawaiian Odyssey, The Wedding

I just put this one up for fun.

This has been a long time coming, but here it finally is four-and-a-half months after the fact: the photo essay on my friends’ wedding in Hawaii.

Click here to read it.

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Wordwrights Holiday Dinner II

I just put this one up for fun.

Each year (for the past two, at least) one of my writing groups has a holiday dinner. This is an essay connecting most of the pictures I took there.

Click here to read it.

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Steve’s Hawaiian Odyssey, Part 2

I just put this one up for fun.

This is another little photo essay I wrote after returning from a wedding on Oahu. I still have 30 some odd photo essays to write. I’ll let you know when I finish them.

Click here to read it.

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Steve’s Hawaiian Odyssey

July 1, 2007
Stephen L. Thompson’s Weekly Stories

After returning from a wedding on Oahu (with about 640 photos), I wrote up this little photo essay using 20 of them. I guess that means I have 32 more photo essays to write. I’ll let you know when I finish them.

Click here to read it.

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Micro Fiction (under 100 words)

These are stories with titles. Untitled microfiction stories can be found here.




“Autopilot”

November 20, 2023 My Mastodon profile

I posted this years ago on a site I’m no longer on, but I decided to repost it on a site I plan to be on for years to come. Other than that, it’s a twenty-five word story. You could read it faster than this description.

Click here to read the story.

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“Fighting Dirty”

May 29, 2023 My Mastodon profile

Apparently, this began years ago as a prompt of “mud” from a writing group. This was what I came up with. I posted it on a site that is no longer being maintained, so I figured I’d repost it.

Click here to read the story.

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“We Might be in Trouble”

March 6, 2023 My Mastodon profile

Pick a random person you know. Would you want them to find a magic lamp?

Click here to read the story.

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“Which is Worse?”

February 6, 2023 My Mastodon profile

This was just a fun little idea I had. I don’t really know what more to say about it.

Click here to read the story.

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“Revenge”

December 18, 2022 My Mastodon profile

When I first published this over a decade ago on a somewhat dead website, I thought this was a nice little Christmas story. And I just thought it was time to repost it.

Click here to read the story.

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“A Dragon Named Bob”

December 5, 2022 My Mastodon profile

Several years ago, I was at a meeting for a writing group I was in. I can’t remember if someone was telling a story, or what, but somehow the phrase “A dragon named Bob,” came up. I jotted down a quick little story, and then forgot about it for six or seven years. I was going through my notebooks recently, and found it, and figured I might as well post it.

Click here to read the story.

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“Sadly True”

May 17, 2022 My Mastodon profile

I was trying to write a short little story about Twitter that would fit on Twitter, but it ran a bit long.

Click here to read the story.

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“Scratch Left”

February 22, 2022 My Mastodon profile

Algal the Bard had a video asking for short stories he would write music for. This was my submission, which I reposted on Mastodon.

Click here to read the story.

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“Agent 202”

February 2, 2020 Oneoveralpha’s Ramblings Blog

Just a stupid little story I wrote for Groundhog Day. The file was bad on the original site, so I reposted it.

Click here to read the story.

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“Mighty Pen”

January 16, 2019 Oneoveralpha’s Writing Blog

This story came about because I was having laptop issues and so had a hard time writing. The problems of First World writers, I know.

The site I originally posted this on is no longer around, so I just reposted it. The original blurb for this story can be found here.

Click here to read the story.

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“Autopilot”

November 7, 2015 oneoveralpha myLot Profile

I was going through my writing notebooks and found this 25 word story exercise and thought I might as well publish it.

Click here to read the story.

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“Just Another Statistic”

September 2014 30 Stories in 30 Days

This story came to me after watching a bit on The Daily Show, that’s no longer up.

This story is no longer online.

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“So I Have That Going for Me”

Week of August 24, 2014
Stephen L. Thompson’s Weekly Stories

This was less a story and more a blatant ad for my 2014 30 Stories in 30 Days Challenge.

This story is no longer online.

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“Mighty Pen”

Week of July 20, 2014
Stephen L. Thompson’s Weekly Stories

I had an issue with my laptop, which meant I didn’t have it to work on my stories for almost a week. I did have my desktop, but one of the reasons I got my laptop was because I couldn’t always open Word files with it. So I basically had to send myself emails for my daily writing. I know, being a First World Writer is so hard.

This story is no longer online.

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“Monkey See, Monkey Record”

Week of June 22, 2014
Stephen L. Thompson’s Weekly Stories
A revised version appeared in my ebook Useless Cogs

The radio show I listen to mentioned something about people filming accidents or attacks with their phones instead of helping. This is something I’ve heard hundreds of times over the years, but this time I joked to myself that that’s probably what will happen if aliens arrive. Once that seed was planted the story pretty much wrote itself.

This story is no longer online.

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“Or Something”

Week of June 1, 2014
Stephen L. Thompson’s Weekly Stories

I started writing a story to mark D-Day, but I was having some issues with it. Then some things came up and I didn’t really have time to finish it. I figured I would just skip having a story this week. But I also try to write something each day, so I figured I needed to write something for that Saturday. Thus the idea of just writing “Something,” came to mind, and I had this story out in a few minutes.

This story is no longer online.

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“Morning’s Find”

April 18, 2013 Miniature Fiction

I’ve been working on some very, very short stories lately. When I found Miniature Fiction, I dug one out and sent it.

This story is no longer online.

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“Fighting Dirty”

March 16, 2013 Ficly

In one of the writing groups I belong to, we have a writing prompt for each month. The prompt for next month was “mud” and this is what I came up with.

Click here to read the story.

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“Knock Knock”

March 14, 2013 Two Sentence Stories

I wrote this for another site, but they didn’t accept it. So I posted it on Two Sentence Stories.

The original story is no longer online.

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“Agent 202”

February 2, 2012 Ficly

Just a stupid little story I wrote for Groundhog Day.

Click here to read the story.

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“Revenge”

December 19, 2011 Ficly

I thought this was a nice little Christmas story.

Click here to read the story.

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“Family Rituals”

November 23, 2011 Ficly

I was trying to write a quick little story for Thanksgiving, and this is what I came up with.

Click here to read the story.

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“Never Done”

September 13, 2011 Ficly

This was just something stupid I wrote out a couple of years ago.

Click here to read the story.

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“The Perils of Spring”

April 27, 2011 Ficly

It was one of the first warm days of spring and I stopped at my local coffee shop to do some writing, but I seemed to spend more time staring out the window, wanting to be outside. Sometimes, there isn’t much to these blurbs. Although, I did spend several minutes coming up with “borp.”

Click here to read the story.

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“Time Out Chair”

December 14, 2010 Ficly

A writing group I’m in is considering putting together a collection of stories. The theme is writing groups. I was trying to think of some story and this is what I came up with while my tea steeped.

Click here to read the story.

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“A Man of Few Words”

December 12, 2010 Ficly

It had been a few months since I posted a story on Ficly, and I wanted to write something quick. I had been sick for a couple days, and when I returned to work a coworker asked if I was better, and I replied with something like “Meeha” which he found amusing. So I just wrote that up as a story.

Click here to read the story.

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“To a T”

December 4, 2010, Wordwrights Blog

A fellow member of writing group joked I could write a story about a writing group in 50 words. I took that challenge, and this is the result.

Click here to read the story.

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“Empty Chair”

June 2010 30 Stories in 30 Days
A revised version appeared in my ebook The Uncapped Pen

I was a few stories behind for my BB, so I needed a few quick ones. So I decided that after work one day I’d go to the local coffee shop and I wouldn’t leave until I had a story. Well, I had some ideas and had jotted down some notes, but my tea was about two-thirds gone and I didn’t have a story. Buckling down, I glanced at the other side of the table and saw an empty chair. Empty chair, I thought. Why is the chair empty? I was stood up. By my muse!

Were you expecting something profound?

Click here to read the story.

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“Rebel”

June 2009 30 Stories in 30 Days

I take walks to relax, but sometimes during my 30 Stories in 30 Days Challenge, I was torn between taking walks and writing. I realized that sometimes, you just have to rebel against your muse.

Click here to read the story.

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“What’s in a Name?”

Issue 2,488, March 7, 2009, Flashshot (Defunct)
A revised version appeared in my book
The All-You-Can-Read Buffet

This was just something I wrote out one afternoon and thought was funny.

The original story is no longer online.

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“What is Fate?”

May 2007, Brilliant! (Defunct)
and
Brilliant Quarterly, issue two, June 2007
A revised version appeared in my book A Man of Few Words

I always thought this was a cute little story about something everybody goes through. I think I wrote the first version six or seven years ago, and over the years I’ve tweaked it a bit. (It’s less than 100 words! How much tweaking could it take?) It has been rejected a few times, so it is a very good feeling knowing it has finally be published.

The original story is no longer online.

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“Gauntlet”

January 2007, oneoveralpha MySpace (Defunct)
A revised version appeared in my book
A Man of Few Words

Several months ago on the MySpace Forums, I tried to start a new string for five sentence stories. This was something a friend and I used to do as a challenge for our writing. (I might make a page for these to compliment my 5 Word Challenge and The Six Shooter. Stay tuned.) I thought it was a good idea, but it never got off the ground. The feeling I got from some of the regulars was, “Who the hell are you to start something new?” I threw “Gauntlet,” down to try to get some reaction, but I don’t think anyone picked it up.

The original story is no longer online.

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“Life”

September 2006, oneoveralpha MySpace profile (Defunct)

I can’t remember where this idea came from. I know where the different parts came from: the guy next door one year at college had a vocal girlfriend, the never ending alarm clock is a story involving a couple friends of mine, and the bleah morning feeling I think is something everyone with a job knows about. Somehow I mixed all that together, and came up with “Life.”

This is no longer online.

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“Size Doesn’t Matter”

Vol. 1, No. 2, Winter 2005, A Flasher’s Dozen (Defunct)
A revised version appeared in my book
A Man of Few Words

I am a cold weather person. I’m also annoying. I don’t know how many times I would be going someplace with some friends in the middle of winter, and they’d be wrapped up in thick coats and still shivering, while I’d be wearing an unbuttoned jean jacket and throwing my arms wide as I faced the wind. Somehow that image of me challenging nature, saying, “You can’t beat me,” became this story.


(Since it isn’t online anywhere, I’ve set it up on a page of its own.)

Click here to read the story.

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“Welcoming Committee”

July 2005, Sigla Magazine (Defunct)
A revised version appeared in my book
The All-You-Can-Read Buffet

One of the things Sigla Magazine published was flash fiction, which they defined as a story of 25 words (not counting the title.)

The idea behind this story was to write a genre story in 25 words. It was a challenge to just use a few choice words, and have the reader fill everything else in. Since it is so short, here it is:

Butch looked down at the man lying in the dusty street. He spit his tobacco juice onto the spray of blood and brains. “Welcome stranger.”

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“Unrequited Email”

May 2005, Sigla Magazine (Defunct)

One of the things Sigla Magazine published was flash fiction, which they defined as a story of 25 words (not counting the title.)

This story, unfortunately, is based on something that has happened to me numerous times. But this story did lead to an amusing incident. A friend and I were exchanging very short stories by email as a writing exercise. Well, I sent her the original version of this story (which was maybe 10 words longer) without saying it was one of our exercises. At first, she didn’t know how to take it.

Hey, everything OK? I haven’t heard from you. Do you have plans for this weekend? We could catch a movie. Let me know.


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Non-Rhyming Poetry


“beneath the forest”

November 15, 2022 My Instagram profile

I guess I was feeling a little silly when I started this. I thought it needed more, but after a couple of months I just figured it was done.

Click here to read it.

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“drunk fiddle”

March 16, 2022 My Instagram profile

I was just playing with my Magnetic Poetry set and came up with this.

Click here to read it.

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“Reading on the Balcony in Early Fall”

October 3, 2013 on my Bubblews profile (Defunct)

This was a poem I had started only to have it get lost in my writing notebook. I found it, and brushed it up a bit.

This poem is no longer online.

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“For the Public Health”

June 12, 2013 on my Bubblews profile (Defunct)

I hate alarm clocks. So I wrote a poem about that.

This poem is no longer online.

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“A Price too High”

June 3, 2013 on my Bubblews profile (Defunct)

This was just something I wrote several years ago after I stayed up to watch a thunderstorm.

This poem is no longer online.

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“Escape”

August 15, 2010 Ficly

I like to take walks late at night. And some nights, I just have a feeling to get in my car and drive. I don’t know where I’d go or end up, but a part of me just wants to go. As if I could leave all my problems behind. I don’t think it works that way, though.

Click here to read the poem.

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“Loss”

March 18, 2010 Ficly

The idea for this came a couple springs ago when I was leaving for work in the morning. I’m sure we’ve all went through this at some point. It was the first warm, sunny day and I just felt miserable because it was something I had been waiting for, but instead of enjoying it I had to go to work.

This was previously published in April 2007, on my oneoveralpha MySpace page.

Click here to read the poem.

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“Tabula Rasa”

September 17, 2009 Ficly

Just a little poem I wrote out one day.

Click here to read it.

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“Stealer of Daylight”

September 10, 2009 Ficly

Some people say I have issues with work.

Click here to read it.

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“Smothered by Pillows”

August 19, 2009 Ficly

I have no idea how many ideas of mine – for poems or stories – have been ruthlessly murdered by my pillows. I guess it means you are either loosing your mind, or are a writer, when you start seeing your pillows as serial killers.

Click here to read it.

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“Dutchie”

December 2008, oneoveralpha MySpace profile (Defunct)

There were several times I used Duchess to break a trail through deep snow. She thought it was a game.

This is no longer online.

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“Five Minute Fall Break”

October 2007, oneoveralpha MySpace profile (Defunct)

I was having computer problems and needed something simple to type up at the library instead of just cutting and pasting. Unfortunately, I forgot that I had already posted this. Oh well, it’s still good.

This is no longer online.

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“The Future?”

September 2007, oneoveralpha MySpace profile (Defunct)

At some point – assuming we don’t wipe ourselves out – Homo sapiens will become evolutionarily obsolete. What happens then? That’s something I’ve often wondered about.

This is no longer online.

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“Loss”

April 2007, oneoveralpha MySpace profile (Defunct)

The idea for this came a couple springs ago when I was leaving for work in the morning. I’m sure we’ve all went through this at some point. It was the first warm, sunny day and I just felt miserable because it was something I had been waiting for, but instead of enjoying it I had to go to work.

This is no longer online.

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“Five Minute Fall Break”

October 2006, oneoveralpha MySpace profile (Defunct)

I guess it was two years ago, I found out about this poetry workshop in a bookstore near where I live now. I figured that if I was going to join, I should have a poem the group could critique. So I was wandering around at work, and this is what I came up with.

This is no longer online.

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“Living Death” (Accepted)

Vol. 1, Issue 2, Electric Mandolin (Defunct)

This poem was accepted for Electric Mandolin, but before it could be published, EM went under.

I’m not completely sure, but I would bet the idea came to me as I was flipping through the channels trying to find something good on. I’ve put it here so that everyone can enjoy this wonderful poem I wrote that was accepted, but never published.


I sit on the couch
remote in my hand

Click, talk show
Click, game show
Click, unbelievably bad movie

The click, click, click
drowns out the sound
of life
passing me by


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Three “flyer” stories

January 2020, Oneoveralpha’s Writing Blog

These were odd little “stories” that would fit on a flyer I wrote years ago. I came across them while cleaning some files and decided to post them.

Click here to read them.

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The Invisible Cliff

Performed May 16, 2009

This started a couple of months ago when I read a novella about an AI that evolved in the internet. This got me thinking. In this novella, in The Terminator, The Matrix, and the Dune prequels there is either a single AI entity or a group of entities with a hive mind. I realized that’s unlikely. People fear that whenever we create an AI, it will be infinitely powerful and be able to do anything. But really, AIs will be limited, either from physical constraints or by design. So instead of having one infinitely powerful AI in the world, it is more likely there will be dozens or hundreds of limited AIs.

In The Terminator Kyle tells Sarah that Skynet “decided our fate in a microsecond.” Skynet could do that because it was the only one, but what if there had been another, human friendly AI? Would our fate have been decided by a microsecond long AI civil war? Would we humans even notice the electronic cold war or the real war? Would we notice the invisible cliff before we went over it?

Click here to read the script.

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Probes Unlimited

January 2007, Stephen L. Thompson Newsletter

It was a rather long, confusing, and at times disturbing train of thought that led to this. But, given my (to put it mildly) odd sense of humor, this had me cracking up for about a day. I think what disturbs me the most are the accessories.

Click here to read the story.

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