Can You Imagine

Politics, war, violence, protests - we are awash in mundanity.  Thank (insert deity name here) for the people who are still willing to feed our imagination.


Our world is full of strangeness and oddities, events, creatures, and objects you and I might imagine but never expect to see.  For instance, at the poles surface ice forms on seawater.  Salt inhibits freezing, so the temperature must be considerably below freezing for a solid ice-pack to form.  During the freezing process, growing ice crystals concentrate and squeeze out the saltier water, until an extremely cold and salty solution forms just below the ice.  Now, watch -

Superconductivity is old news to many of us, to the point of 'blah blah blah' when it comes up.  Here is is a demonstration that should rekindle the wonder a bit - 

And it's not just nature that can amaze.  Human performers always push at that barrier between the prosaic and imagination -

Don't let the doom-speakers and nay-sayers get you down.  There is more than enough strangeness and wonder in this world for us all.  Can you imagine?  Yes!

A Good Place

My writing is deeply affected by what I see and hear.  In fact, I discovered during October I could actually write a short story every day or two given a compelling image.

With a little thought I remember several stories that were inspired and informed by songs, such as Jimi Hendrix's 'Watchtower.'  I've even written some (hidden) fan fiction related to the television series 'Firefly.'

What I can't do is write while listening to radio or even in the same room with a cajoling, tempting, playing television.  My mind wants to sing the song or watch the images.  Ah, and the beautiful, flickering, challenging graphics of computer games - totally addictive.

Clearly the challenge is to avoid the distractions, however much my desires seek them out.  I need someplace to hide, apparently; someplace with locks, maybe some bars, possibly an armed guard.

Egad, my perfect writing place is prison?
Heh!

Think Too Much

I don't recall being an angry or violent child, but I was definitely physical.  in 1st or 2nd grade I remember me and another kid were scufflng, for no particular reason except to be wrestling.  We were ended up on the ground, with me rather proudly on top, when a friend of his came up and dumped a handful of dirt and gravel on me. 



Dirt and gravel is what I was rolling in, so that isn't what set me off; the real problem was I felt the stuff roll into my ear, bounce on my eardrum.  The dirt and gravel were IN MY HEAD!  The teachers rescued the boys from my panicked wrath, and I got paddled because both boys insisted I started the fight.  In my eyes those boys lied, and adults I was told to trust and believe failed to trust and believe me.  I felt betrayed; my punishment didn't seem fair.




One Sunday night not long thereafter I went to bed and did some thinking while waiting for sleep to come. Mom and Dad were at the kitchen table doing adult stuff.  Fresh in my mind was a preacher's recent assertions about who went to hell and who went to heaven.  As a child I knew I was "innocent" and would automatically go to the good place.  




The preacher had explained in detail the suffering due those bound to hell.  Perhaps as part of the sermon he also asserted that the righteous would be washed in the lake of forgetfullness so they wouldn't feel badly about loved ones who went to hell instead of heaven.  Another point the preacher made clear was sin, any sin, damned you, even if the sin came one second after you were saved, and as humans we were bound to sin.  




The idea, of course, was to insure people went to church and were washed clean of sin as often as possible, and to walk on moral eggshells in between.  For me, letting those concepts roll around in my brain, I came to some. . . disquieting conclusions.




What if we all died suddenly.  Me, my younger brother, and little sister would go to heaven, no questions asked.  Now, if Mom and Dad hadn't sinned, they'd be there too.  But what if they made a mistake, somehow, and ended up going the wrong way?  To be honest, this situation concerned me more in regard to my Mom, for some reason.  




They would end up in hell, suffering, missing us kids, while we kids would be with the angels, totally oblivious to our parents' suffering.  While knowing we kids were okay might be good, they'd also know we had forgotten them so our eternity would not be troubled.  As for me, I would be mind-controlled to ignore or forget my parent's plight.  


That didn't seem fair.  But what if the scenario was turned around?  What if I was the one sent to hell for some reason, say on my 13th birthday?  The rest would be happy in heaven, ignorant or uncaring of my suffering.  Either heavenly management would force my mother to forget me and the love she had for me, or change her so she simply didn't care.  These conclusions seemed to make it clear that God and Heaven and all the rest wasn't what the preachers seemed to think.  Stealing memories and controlling minds were, to me, almost worse than anything Hell might bring to bear.  




I tried for some years after that, but church and I eventually parted ways.  At the age of seven I'd learned that life was unfair, from the schoolyard to the gates of Heaven itself.  In the almost half-century since I haven't seen anything to change that observation.  Fairness isn't impossible, but we just need to remember it isn't something you get, it's something you make.




And it might help if you don't think about it too much.

More On Piracy

Piracy is a high risk, high return economic venture.  Raise the risk, lower the return, and it makes piracy less attractive.  Skew the variables far enough, and pirates don't need to be arrested or killed; they will be forced to seek other employment.

Sadly, Somalia offers little other employment opportunity.  This would mean the desperate young men would either turn to other forms of crime, or move away.

Recent headlines seem to show present anti-piracy efforts are having just that effect.  Somali criminals are kidnapping high profile international targets outside Somalia then returning to pirate havens to hold them for ransom.

This doesn't seem to be a good development, but appearances are deceptive.  Somali authorities, what few exist, were happy to ignore piracy as long as the victims did not involve Somalia.  High profile victims from neighboring countries will bring far more attention and pressure to the criminals.

At this point locals will be forced to face and deal with their own situation.  It might cause towns to fail, local economies to crash, local tribes to lose everything, but anything being supported by piracy, kidnap, and murder must face consequenses.

The good news is such disaster need not strike.  Remove criminals from power and foreign aid received would be used in a constructive way, aid organizations able to once again operate locally, neighboring countries feel better about helping.

My guess?  It'll be the best thing to happen for Somalia in decades.

Guardians of Peace and Knowledge

To gush some more, the time I recently spent in the Navy's MMOWGLI 'game' was rewarding.  I got to absorb how other folks, some quite knowledgable, percieve the modern problems of pirates, terrorism, and profiteering.  Here's a 'for instance.'

A new problem the US military faces in the new kind of war they fight today is a lack of local support.  Local politicians, holy men, even neighborhood citizens don't want to call attention to themselves by dealing with Americans unless it can benefit them or their community.  Even if they take the risk, the soldier they work with will be gone in a few months and the new guy will be clueless.

Solution: A new program designed to create and maintain long term relations with local contacts.   Build an elite unit from career-oriented volunteer servicemembers, require long-term commitment.  They would work in 5-man teams, assigned to exclusively cover an important area of operations.  They would learn everything possible about local leaders, criminals, land ownership, all the details warfighters can't take the time to learn. 

At need, one team member would be detailed to liason duties for units operating in their area.  The agent accompanies important patrols, dealing with locals, making new contacts, gathering information. 

Another team member would be attached to local military intelligence as the handler for the agent in the field.  This handler agent processes the field agent's reports and schedules, allowing the field agent remain focused.  He would also insure that information from both directions was handed off to who needs it. 

Every three months the agent in the field rotates back to the States for R&R, the handler rotates to the field, and another team member takes over as handler.  This keeps local contacts and awareness intact, and keeps the agents fresh and motivated - six months overseas, then six months at home.

The three agents not in the field use the incoming intelligence from the agents in the field to update databases, remaining abreast of changes.  They also pursue a continued academic education program of language, psychology, history, economics, and business administration.

To highlight this focus on education, units would be based at military academies.  This presents several advantages:  1) agents would be an educational resource, even act as instructors, 2) continued education would not remove agents from assignment, 3) academy cadets could intern with the unit, perhaps OJT for a dedicated training program.

Personal qualifications would focus not just on warfighting skills, but also on tact, finesse, and ability to mediate high intensity social conflict.  The program would need to recruit and operate across military branches.  Recruitment should also come from post-graduate schools to reach people who know how to plan and reach for future goals.

The immediate result should be fewer surprise roadside bombs.  In the future these agents could make organized terrorism extremely difficult, quell modern piracy, and defuse problems before the rest of us know there are any.

Too bad I didn't get this written in the time I spent in MMOWGLI.  8)

Have you noted a lack of Occupy America in the media lately?  Apparently letting the protesters suffer bad weather in silence is the new policy.  Well, I won't forget them, and I hope you won't, either.  Any non-violent change takes a lot of time and dedication, but this change needs to come.

What change?

In theory a free market economy follows some basic, natural rules.  Should sole vendor Al sell rutabagas for $10 a pound, consumers must pay it or do without their rutabagas.  A high demand and limited supply of rutabagas let's Al sell them for as much as people will pay.  When vendor Bill sees how much Al is making on rutabagas, he finds a supplier and starts selling rutabagas for $10 a pound, too.

Poor Bill sees people still buying rutabagas from Al; consumers have habits.  Al is, in fact, getting more traffic and sales on all his products thanks to that reliable consumer habit.  Bill is stuck with rutabagas he can't sell that will soon rot and turn into a loss!

To avoid a disaster, Bill must sell those rutabagas, so he puts up a big sign announcing his $5/lb sale on rutabagas.  He quickly sells out of rutabagas, and makes additional sales for supplies to make rutabaga pies.  Now Al has Bill's problem, too many rutabagas.  With the big profits from previous rutabaga sales, Al feels he can drop his price even lower, bringing back customers.  Eventually both Al and Bill reach a price point that still earns them enough profit to continue offering rutabagas.

This basic scenario of market competition illustrates how a free market works to keep prices and supplies at a consumer-driven equilibrium.  If Al and Bill got together and agreed to fix the price of rutabagas at $10/lb, it would change the whole dynamic.

If Al and Bill were CEOs of American corporations, they would make a secret deal to both sell rutabagas at $100/lb, force farmers to supply the rutabagas for $1/lb, and force competitors into bankruptcy with infringement suits.

And now we understand why Occupy America is so ignored.

Hang in there 8)

Back From the Navy

Quite an interesting time it was, too.  They called it a Massive Multiplayer Online War Game, though it was really a big online sticky-note-and-bulletin-board brainstorm.  What made it a game was points were awarded for attracting discussion on your idea, with a bit more for participating in other folk's discussion chains.

Surprisingly, of the thousand or so who participated this week, a writer from Oklahoma finished 4th in the leader boards - me!

What I had to say generated a lot of interest, which was cool, but the best part of doing so well is I will likely be invited to the next stage of the event.  Woot!

But now, back to writing!

Navy Time

I apologize to anyone looking for new posts recently, but my excuse is that the Navy wanted me.

No, don't laugh - really.

Crowd sourcing is all the rage these days.  It works by asking LOTS of people to express their opinions and ideas about a problem they are interested in, then correlating the data in several ways.  With luck all those minds will hit on an optimum solution, but at least the data will reveal a lot on what people already know and believe about the subject.

The technique has been around a while, but only with computer advancements has it become useful.  Nowadays pervasive internet availability means that, in theory, a truly massive crowd source is possible.

I was invited to participate in a Naval crowd source exercise about future piracy this week.  I was pretty excited; I'm still excited, but sleepy 8)

Have a look: MMOWGLI

More later.

Occupy America!

Teddy should be leading Occupy America!

Even dead, he couldn't do any worse.

Earn it or give it up!








Like that'll ever happen.

Oh, yeah, it's all the fault of the 99%!






Just ask Cain.








How Congress operates -

      - Dud and run!

Zombie Christmas Album

This special offer is not available in stores! 


(tune of 'We Wish You A Merry Christmas')


We wish you a Zombie Christmas,
We wish you a Zombie Christmas,
We wish you a Zombie Christmas,
and a loaded 12-gauge.
Glad tidings we bring to help save your skin
Here come Nazi zombies in a blood-thirsty rage.


But wait, there's more!


(tune of 'Silent Night')


Zombie night, bloody sight;
All the dead walk tonight -
Zombie horde goes on for a mile,
Every one with a big, hungry smile.
Try to stay in one piece,
Try to stay in one piece.


And who could forget this classic?


(tune of 'Christmas Song')


Zombies roasting on an open fire,
Lots more nipping at our toes.
Moaning 'brains' in an undead choir,
And look, some undead Eskimos.
               
Everybody knows this is zombie apocalypse,
At least whoever's still alive,
Snarling dead that have chewed off their lips,
Will make it hard to sleep tonight.


Order in the next 15 minutes and we'll add Zombie Christmas volume II free!


(tune of 'Let it Snow')


Oh, the zombies outside are frightful;
They'll be inside by nightfall.
Since we got nowhere to run,
Let'em come, let'em come, let'em come.


Zombie operators are standing by, order now!