vignettes

[marycatelli]

This week's prompt is:
sticks 🏑

Anyone can join, with a 50-word creative fiction vignette in the comments. Your vignette does not have to include the prompt term. Any (G or PG) definition of the word can be used.

Comments

[marycatelli]

They all burst into testing, learning this way and that to tell when someone was there. Marcus found he could indeed reveal himself to some and not others, but that Cora could find him whenever water was involved, and Diggory, earth, and Rae, living plants though sticks would not suffice.

[starshipcat.livejournal.com]

"I'm sure you're familiar with the normal distribution." Dr. Doorne tapped a key and the familiar bell-shaped curve appeared on the projection screen. "We see this distribution in such things as heights and weights of a sample that is representative of a population. For instance, take measurements of persons selected at random in several cities dirtside, and you're likely to see this kind of distribution."

She tapped another key and a different graph appeared. It looked like someone had inverted the bracket that would hold up a shelf. "This represents the Pareto principle, also known as the 80/20 rule. Eighty percent of your work uses twenty percent of your tools. Eighty percent of your success comes from twenty percent of your ideas. Eighty percent of bestsellers come from twenty percent of your acquisitions."

Rand was nodding along to that. He leaned over to whisper into Tara's ear, "And eighty percent of the work gets done by twenty percent of the organization, unless you have someone constantly riding herd on the slackers."

Dr. Doorne must've noticed that comment, because she tapped her keyboard again and another graph appeared. It resembled the Pareto graph, but turned the other way, with a long slow increase, then a bend in the curve before it shot almost straight up. "And what would this graph represent, Mr. Littleton?"

[marycatelli]

Ah, statistics!

[marycatelli]

"What folly," said John. "We are not such fools that we can not safely cross a span of forest to the right path. Are you going to claim we will stick to the forest floor when there is not even mud?"
"If you live to tell us that it is not so, we will of course be grateful for the knowledge."