JUNE 2026 SCIENCE FICTION MICROSTORY CONTEST (Comments/Critiques Only) > Likes and Comments
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I have just been through a nightmare with the NYS DMV, just this past month. A friend was required to do a drivers-license re-examination because someone reported her as a dangerous driver. They make you jump through hoops to keep your license and give you no details about the report itself, but I helped her get all the stuff done and she prevailed. We don't know for sure who reported her but we have a suspicion it was someone who has been harassing her lately. People can report others anonymously with impunity. She is filing a FOIL request on the reporting, which may have involved fraud and was part of a pattern of harassment, a crime in NYS. So I have certainly witnessed the dark side of bureaucracy.BTW, Greg, did today's Wordle inspire you at all?
It wasn't a wordle. It was getting my mother a state ID (she can't drive, so it's an alternative to a driver's license). On the first attempt, we waited almost 3 hours only to be told her marriage license copy was not certified.
I got a certified copy the next morning, checked several DMVs for crowd levels and got her in and out in under 30 minutes with a temporary state ID and the real on coming in two weeks.
She will need it to close on the sale of her house.
The interesting part for me was a text messaging system that would response to a "S" for status and tell the number of people ahead of us and the estimated time remaining. The number ahead of us did go down over time, but the estimated time remaining changed somewhat randomly. I was trying to figure out the algorithm when she was called up to the counter.
So, art to reflect real life.
Oh, and "Clanker" was a term I heard around the same time it was announced to Google would be forcing people to use AI tools whether they wanted to or not and would be disrupting (not in a good way) the economic model of many free sites.
"Clanker" is the term--one of the terms--the old remnant warrior/survivor calls the T2-type AI in one of the stories in my (in-progress--should be working on it right now instead of doind this--) novel-in-stories of the end of human civilization/start of galaxy-wide new civilization book. While the AI calls him "meat-head" and "smells-Pak" etcetera. The eagle from the old Walter Miller classic watching and listening from on high, of course. :)
I usually don't read stories before posting mine but I needed to kill some time in a waiting room so I read Tom's and I really appreciated the message of it. :)
J.F. wrote: "I usually don't read stories before posting mine but I needed to kill some time in a waiting room so I read Tom's and I really appreciated the message of it. :)"Thank you, J.F.
I was thinking of sitting this month out, since I have no recent experience with the DMV to draw on. But, I just decided to go with nail-biting suspense due to dumb bureaucracy culminating in the apocalypse.
Tom, your story was hilarious! I had a horrible experience trying to get one of my kid's NEXUS cards renewed. Dealing with civil servants who were neither civil, nor servants, and a supervisor who kept resting his hand on his sidearm like a very subtle threat. Oh man, it was the worst!
Justin wrote: "Tom, your story was hilarious! I had a horrible experience trying to get one of my kid's NEXUS cards renewed. Dealing with civil servants who were neither civil, nor servants, and a supervisor who ..."My sympathies, Justin. (Just goes to show even ordeal can spawn comedy.)
Very good story, Jot. A very Kafkaesque anguished scream through the bureaucratic labyrinth.
Fine story, Rejoice. Strong detail and pacing. I felt I was there.
Tom wrote: "Fine story, Rejoice. Strong detail and pacing. I felt I was there."Thanks Tom.
I’ve just survived the UK equivalent of needing “Doc A to access Doc B. And you can’t get Doc A without Doc C, which you only get after accessing Doc B.” Make it make sense. :-)
Mines up. Unfortunately, my story fell victim to limited time and the word count. At least I got something in, though.
Not going to make it again this month friends. :( So sorry!
The story, "The Ministry of Ultimate Jurisprudence" may be truer than most people realize. One of the nastier weapons of our current government is to mark someone's social security record deceased and push out the info to various databases. It takes very little effort but can have devastating effects on the target. It was used against immigrants, both legal and not.
Their accounts lock, disabling credit cards and all other banking access and it can't be fixed by any simple means. I heard lawyers are getting good at fixing it, but it takes a while and one must live on cash until it is fixed.
The good news: the SSA knows this is going on and has a procedure and form to fill out.
Greg> The good news: the SSA knows this is going on and has a procedure and form to fill out.I guess it's not form DEAD-86 :)
What concerns me is that engineers are suddenly reducing their actual engineering by resorting to Claude for their changes. If all our software, hardware, architectural, ... and even art are migrated to AI agents, what will become to the aspirations of our thought process? Just as with our muscles in space, this will likely result in a decline in natural intelligence.
Of course I plan on buying a subscription to Claude for my personal work, as it is quite capable of tackling extremely complex coding. I actually want to ask it about how to best commercialize my (Language.c:) project.
Still waiting for votes from Chris and Joseph, plus any other member who has time to read the stories.
Sorry. Just sent mine over. Have been out of town the past few days.
All votes are in, but I'll wait until tomorrow to publish, incase other members want to vote.
Congratulations to Rejoice Denhere on her first Championship of the Science Fiction Microstory Contest!!!
What a lovely surprise! Thank you to all the contestants and readers who voted. Being counted among the greatest is truly an honour.
Congratulations, Rejoice! Your story is both nicely written and thought-provoking. Well done!
I liked JF's story best, but yours was a close second, Rejoice...and as the case would be, I really wanted you to be the winner. Nice job!
Jot wrote: "I liked JF's story best, but yours was a close second, Rejoice...and as the case would be, I really wanted you to be the winner. Nice job!"I’m doing a little dance right now. You really made my day.
Congrats Rejoice! A really great story!
Please let me know, Rejoice, if you have trouble posting the Stories and Comments themes.
Thanks Jot. I’ll have it up by tomorrow.
Jot wrote: "Please let me know, Rejoice, if you have trouble posting the Stories and Comments themes."Can you please help with posting the Stories and Comments themes. I emailed you. Thanks!
Rejoice, I found the stories thread on the last page of the discussions list. You can create a comments thread and then Jot does some magic to put them on the first page. https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
I moved the STORIES thread, but don't see a COMMENTS thread. Did you post one?In order to control the ordering of the threads, I have had to mark them all as important so they are pushed to the front, but because of that, anything not marked as such is placed at the end of the thread list.
J.F. wrote: "Rejoice, I found the stories thread on the last page of the discussions list. You can create a comments thread and then Jot does some magic to put them on the first page. https://www.goodreads.com..."
Thanks! I think Jot has done his magic now.
Jot wrote: "I moved the STORIES thread, but don't see a COMMENTS thread. Did you post one?In order to control the ordering of the threads, I have had to mark them all as important so they are pushed to the f..."
I have now added the comments thread. Thanks Jot.
Elements: An Artificial Intelligence, Optional element: Robophobia/ Automatonophobia, use of the slur “Clanker”