Mostly Factual

[Herr D]

**Date change.

Okay. So I’ve become annoyed at this problem I have. Being hired, in my view, means being the one on the list that doesn’t get eliminated. So, my problem is no matter what I write in a resume, cover letter, application, etc., people assume the worst, and I get tossed out.

So now I want to play to my strengths for a bit. This contest is to write something with as much fact in it as possible while implying or indicating something horrible that isn’t true. Ideally, a bunch of ordinary-sounding facts could make a scary or at least suspenseful ending far and away from the truth. Submissions due by October 5th, noon EST. Winners to be determined partly by poll.

Rules for entry: 1000 words or less, 1 – 2 pix (HM only,) the majority of material should be factual or well-established urban legend.
You should present the number of fictional statements at the end. The five entrants with the least fictional statements will be entered in a poll. Votes collected in manner and time TBA.

My entry to follow (gotta count and make the pic.)

[Herr D]

Pilot Program — Paired Factoids

A former NASA employee went on record saying that human beings would make poor pilots for long space flights because of “certain inherent problems with concentration, boredom, and having the same priorities that call for a more normal life.”
A certain autistic savant managed to calculate six complex navigational computations in thirty-five seconds. He actually beat the computer program, which took thirty-seven seconds.

Various experts in several fields have been responsible for improving things like monitor screens and office furniture, citing the need. Obviously most people aren’t terribly capable of staring at a screen all day and sitting in the same position for hours on end. Various office accessories and exercises, not to mention protective gear, have been developed to ease the discomfort and unpleasantness of such factors in the work environment.
Several educational programs around the country have begun teaching autism spectrum students and other disabled students to communicate and do schoolwork more normally through the use of iPads and other computer equipment. It does seem to help immensely with some types of education of certain students.

A well-known cosmonaut, after setting the record for longest time in space, suffered from bone loss and atrophy of his musculature. Multiple strategies have been discussed by experts to prevent this sort of damage happening again. Not everyone agrees on how well they will work.
Freud and other psychologists have recorded multiple instances of people with schizophrenia and other conditions being unusually capable of surviving without harm extreme cold, poor nutrition including calcium deficiency, long periods of little or no physical or mental stimulation, stale air, contaminated water, and unusually low light. Experts still disagree as to how these phenomena are possible.

After a study was published on how taller people are more frequently promoted, more than one person noted publicly that certain promotions are NOT possible to the very tall. For example, there is usually a recommended maximum height for military pilots of helicopters, submarine crews–for any specialized vehicle. It is simply less economical to build specialty vehicles for the big and tall portions of the population.
Premature births, some have theorized, are causing the population to become both shorter and lighter. There is not enough data to support such a hypothesis. There is, in fact, considerable data to the contrary, but such a change would take many generations to take effect.

The NSA found among recorded transmissions a data burst titled “Pilot Program Stage I.” It was encrypted and received, apparently, by a waiting receiver in a Water Authority building in a certain borough in New York. Content implies that fluoridation of water is an effective measure against the spread of some microorganisms through water.
Some oddities were discovered in security footage in a public utility control room. The security cameras were on a time-lapse setting of thirty seconds instead of the intended three seconds. The source of said error has not been determined.

http://i1067.photobucket.com/albums/u438/jamais5/2013hm/WaterAuthSecurity_zps693f1f59.png

Many people have noticed and commented that autism and mental illnesses appear to be becoming more common. Prematurity has increased to apparent incidence of one in eight births. Modern medical science has improved neonatal care to the point that babies more frequently survive being born much earlier than the standard gestation period would suggest possible.
While some people worry over humanity becoming more dependent on pediatric surgery and more involved in noticing the value of ‘differently enabled’ people, some people will always utter the comforting words that “everything happens for a reason.” Really, many religious people believe that humanity has it’s “higher purpose,” that “there IS a plan for all of us,” that “all will become clear in the great beyond.”

610 words, 1 pic, 3 fictional statements

[Herr D]

Uh, I guess I win.

[Trekkie]

Congratulations?

[Author]

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