A What If Scenario: The benefactor

It has been years since I posted here. Years spent in relative comfort in a job I like and an apartment I like. So, I have nothing to rant about.

But this idea keeps creeping into my head, and I plan to turn it into a series of novels called The Benefactor. The bottom line is some very wealthy person is feeding, housing and educating those who have less, and the novel explores how the world reacts to that.

So I'm using this blog as a sounding board, by doing a what if: What if some known Billionaire starts doing what my protagonist does. I'm not talking about giving to existing charities. Even the best run charities have overhead and the chance of corruption within. But what if this Benefactor, well known to the world, uses his/her vast fortune to do what other Billionaires refused to do: Feed people, house people and educate them, maybe even hiring them until they get the experience they need and give them the pay and health care that no other major employer will do.

In short, it's a version of my Project Five-Star using a Billionaire's money.

So first reaction would be....that's....nice...what's in it for him/her? Well, under the Project Five-Star model, the benefactor would own the rights to any art created by his/her employees, but I don't even want to go that far. The benefactor is just tired of his/her wealth and wants to give it away to those in need. Period. Not asking for any return.

And while the oligarchs are scratching their heads at this sudden reversal, they're feeling a bit scared too, because a precedence has been set. Maybe they try to talk to their comrade and try to convince him/her to change their minds. Or they lobby their friends in Congress to pass a law prohibiting such an act, though that would be very bold and in-your-face to say the poor shouldn't receive this benefit from one of their own.

Do they try to sabotage the program? Use mercenaries to break up the feedings, or stop the construction of cheap new homes?

But why would they want this to end in the first place? Isn't this ideal? People get what they want without other Billionaires having to pay for it. Well, that all sounds so good for the poor people, but what about the Oligarchs? If people are being fed and housed and educated and their health is being taken care of, what happens to the labor force? Will they still accept minimum wage jobs? Who would want to work at McDonald's, for instance when they have no bills to pay? Retail employment would suffer. Oligarchs would find themselves losing power, in my opinion. And this is why they would fight this tooth and nail.

The last option, one that has been taken way too often when people get in the way of those in power, like John F. Kennedy, like Robert, like others in many countries, have found themselves dead just for wanting to make a difference for the little guy. I honestly think this is what keeps those with money from being the benefactor of my dreams.

But in my story, this/these Benefactor(s) are anonymous. No one can find out any information about them, Oligarchs around the world start to panic. Could this lead to war? If so, who fights?

Well, I'm still going over all the above scenarios as well as a few that I'll keep to myself, but as always, thanks for reading!

I Got Nothin' To Complain About

It's been a long while since I posted here. When I first started this blog, I had a lot to complain about. ie., Rant. Today, I got nothin'.

Sure, I can complain about the way our President is heading. But in the end, at the moment, nothing bad is happening in my life. I got a home, I got money, my credit is slowly improving, and I have time to play and even broadcast games live over youtube.

Work is steady and gratifying.

My health is steadily improving, though I must take a small regiment of pills to maintain that improvement. At least I have insurance to cover most of the bills.

I have a car, that has proven to be unreliable, and yet it is working at the moment. It still needs work, but I have the money to put into it. Not that I go far away from home. It's not that reliable, and, frankly, I really have nowhere to go.

This blog has been built on telling you the bad things happening in my life and to find ways to improve that situation. The situation has improved. Will the blog come to an end?

No.

If there's one thing I've learned: Nothing is static in life. And if it is, is that really a life? This blog will remain open and I will post both the good and the bad. And as I alluded to before, I don't like where we're headed as a country.

So stay tuned and expect the unexpected!


As always, thanks for viewing!

Looking Back: Has Anything Changed?

I've been reviewing the first hundred posts in this blog, up to the point where I gave up on what was a stressful life and started to hike the Appalachian Trail. I started thinking, has anything changed from then?

I was stressed, I was behind in my bills to the point where I was evicted and I was lost physically and spiritually. I was on the 'Trail' for 10 days and made my way back to Raleigh exhausted and dehydrated. I'm not even sure why I came back to Raleigh. Technically I could have gone anywhere and been homeless, but Raleigh had a certain familiarity. I knew the shelter system there. I expected to find a job and get back into the swing in a short amount of time.

And it seemed to work. I did find a job and I did get out of the shelter. But it was a worse job than the one I walked away from earlier. I was stressed again. I walked away - literally in mid-call. I went back to the shelter and then found it harder than ever to get a job.

I've blogged about that, so no sense in going over it again. I finally found my way to Astadia, and though the job has been stressful in some ways, it is nowhere near as bad as other places.

So now let me take stock of my life anew. I'm still doing phone work, something I swore never to do again. But this time the calls aren't generally back to back, and I can work on other things besides calls. I'm working from home again with a computer supported by my employer and not of my own build. So if something goes wrong I don't have to worry about out-of-pocket expenses.

And I'm making more money, generally. I can pay rent and internet service and I'm able to save a bit for my ultimate computer system. I'm able to afford a rickety car with an over-powered engine and the insurance that is needed for it. I'm able to pay most of my bills and try to repair my credit, though hospital bills that I  may never repay dominate my credit history.

Health-wise, yes, in some ways I'm worse off than in 2009. My knees occasionally hurt enough to make me seriously limp. My shoulder is a constant source of a dull ache with occasional sharp pains. But I'm not as stressed as I used to be. So I can tolerate a fair amount of small aches. I still get the odd migraine, and allergies keep me sneezing.

But overall I'm much better off health-wise than in 2009. Really, I am.

I still play Warcraft. I still enjoy Warcraft. A lot of the people I've known had to walk away from it at one point or another. I've been dragged from it kicking and screaming.

And I've been writing. moving away from Publish America to Createspace, a form of self-publishing. I've written about my homeless experiences and added another novel in the ongoing Simmons/Timmons Chronicles. I've written and attempted to sell screenplays.

Am I successful? Compared to others, perhaps not. But I'm happier now than I've been in a long time, and to me, that's as successful as it gets.

Needed For Survival = Free

I've been dreaming of my perfect world again: a world where there are no weapons. They have been forcefully disintegrated by my automated police force, including guns, ammunition, tanks, warships etc. There is no crime allowed. Everyone has a house c/o whatever benefactor has created this version of Utopia. That house has its own solar panels that provide the electricity necessary in today's society. The same automated system delivers fresh food on a daily basis, depending on the user's choices. Yadda, yadda, yadda. No one wants for anything except the stuff that's bad for you.

I woke from my reverie to realize that some of that would be easy to implement with the right rich person donating his or her money.

Just the necessities: A home, and access to free electricity and water. Food, education, a guaranteed job and health care will have to wait. Notice these are my Five Points of Hope. So let's stick to housing.

If I had the money I'd buy up some land that was otherwise not being used and I'd arrange to have built a series of small houses. We've all seen them. They have the basics: electricity and running water. The solar panels are easy enough, but water doesn't grow on trees, especially in areas where there's little rain. I suppose it's possible to create a system where the water used is recycled, but even that's not ideal.

So my point is that everything necessary for life should be free. Housing, electricity, water and food. The problem is electric companies and water plants will disagree. If your bill is late because you can't afford it, they have the right to shut it off, then landlords can evict you or communities can condemn your property because it doesn't have electricity and running water.

It's a power no one should have. Yes, electric plants have to pay to maintain the network and generate the electricity by whatever means they use, but the ever-increasing burden of this system is paid for by the consumer.

So what are we to do to bypass this vicious circle? Our benefactor could build solar plants and connect them to the grid. Then bypass existing wiring to provide the electricity for free.

That is actually a pretty expensive proposition. Our benefactor would have to be rich and powerful, because utilities aren't going down without a fight.

It would be easier to rig every home with solar panels. But what of water?

I think the public utilities are going to be around for a long time, but we can lessen their effect on our lives. Yes, put up those solar panels but stay connected to the electrical network.

Yes, put in a system to recycle water but stay connected to the water plant.

We use less of what is being pushed on us and will save money.

We can do this. Any benefactors out there? I still want to build a new city based on these principals. There are a lot of wealthy people who can make a real contribution to society by helping make this a reality. Let me hear from you!

Why Can't I Get Reviews?

'Regrets' has been out for quite some time. I've sold a couple of real books, a couple of Kindle versions, and had it read on Amazon a few times. I've given away several Kindle copies, all in an effort to draw reviews and get some feedback on the novel.

To date, there are no reviews for Regrets in any format.

This has puzzled me immensely. How can someone read a book and have no opinion on it? I'd even welcome a one-star review if it were honest and gave me the feedback I need.

There are a number of places I can go online to request reviews, but guess what? They all cost money that I don't have at the moment.

So, here's the offer. I have a box full of paperback copies of 'Regrets.' One is yours free, including shipping, if and only you agree to read the book and provide a review on Amazon.com and BN.com.

Email me: mike.fox.wow (at) gmail.com with your name and address and I'll ship it off forthwith.

That is all.

Policeman for the World

When I let my mind wander it can turn into a dangerous weapon. I've been thinking lately of turning robots into the world's policemen. This is by no means an original concept, as the first time I recall seeing it is in the movie 'The Day the Earth Stood Still.' Gort is the robot and can vaporize just with a look. Klaatu is the only one that can control him, and gives a stern warning that if we expand our petty wars into space, Gort will act unilaterally.

And that's the problem with using robots as policemen. They have to be programmed by someone who has their own particular set of morals.

So whose morals do we use? If we go by the Ten Commandments a lot of people would be jailed. Are there morals we can agree on? Stealing: bad? What constitutes stealing? Robbing a bank? Surely. Banks charging exorbitant interest? Maybe not.

Can we agree that rape is a bad thing? Apparently not. There are cultures that allow minors to marry older husbands. I'll go with husbands because that's 99.9999% of the problem. You just don't hear very often of an older woman marrying a young boy, and I would consider the boy to be the lucky one.

Murder? Another gray area. I read an article the other day about a man that was murdered in front of witnesses, but because the man was so bad himself, everyone who witnessed it claimed they were turning away in horror at the time the crime was committed and therefore saw nothing.

You see, a robot has to see things in black and white, and the laws it would enforce have to be programmed into it. No one can agree on what a crime is.

And what about the rights of criminals? I'm not saying anyone has a right to commit a crime, but if said crime happens in your own home does a robot have the right to come in and stop it? Do we station robots in every home, or use domestic robots that people buy as watchful eyes?

It becomes a matter of what would society put up with. We already have the technology to limit cars so that they enforce speed limits, but who would want to own a car that won't let you go even one mile over the speed limit? Don't tell me I can't speed if the conditions allow it. Yes, it would cut back on accidents if everyone used self-driving cars. But apparently we as humans feel we have a right to act dangerously if we want.

Which brings us back to whose rules do robots follow? We're all human, with the frailties and insecurities that come with being that way. A robot being asked to police us would likely self-destruct because of all the contradictions

Or they would make us their slaves because we don't deserve freedom.

As for me, I welcome our robot overlords.

A Car Story

It began with an offer for a place to live and transportation. Upon my arrival in Jacksonville FL, I found myself in a motel. I had already checked out craigslist to see what places there were to live. During my first day at the new office, a coworker pulled me aside, offered me a ride back to the motel at the end of the shift, and then made me a seemingly 'can't refuse' offer. He had a room for rent at a reasonable rate and a car that he wanted to sell me.

Having lived in motels and shelters for the previous 4 months, I jumped at the offer for a place to live. He took me back to his place the next day and the room and rent were adequate for my needs. The car...was another story.

I've thought of several names for her: 'Ol Blackie, 0V3RP0W3R3D, Bang, bang, yer dead, and of course: Piece of Shit.

It's a '95 Civic Hatchback with an engine that belonged somewhere else, an '89 Integra, I think. He told me the engine was banned from import now and that is was a rare find. Oh, and there's no muffler on it so it roars.

This is the engine as I found her. The owner, my landlord, told me it needed work. It had a leaky head gasket. It also had problems starting and when it did, it ran rich and backfired every chance it got. Oh, and you had to put water in it every time you ran it. He told me he was quoted at $1000 to get it fixed permanently.

Not pictured is the hood, which from my vantage point, looks like it took fire damage at one point. Also, one of the tires is working off of just enough thread to make it interesting.

So my landlord wanted $1200 for it. He told me the engine was worth at least that much on its own. He recommended a buddy of his come take a look at it to see if he couldn't get it running. I was really hoping at that point that what was really wrong with it was a quick fix, so I went along, and spent some money on recommended parts. The guy came in to look at it and worked well into the night. About $50 in parts later, he got it to start but said it needed tuning. The backfiring was a big hint there. A neighbor came out to complain about the noise,and a few minutes later a cop showed up. Luckily we had just closed up for the night, and he let us go. I gave the mechanic $200 for the labor - too much, I know, but I wanted him to come back to finish the job, and he went his merry way.

I drove the car to work the next day. I had already arranged insurance for it. I made it into work, then after work I was going to take it to get the tags renewed. I got about a quarter of the way, then the car overheated. I had to use the towing feature of my insurance to get it the rest f the way home. At home, I put water in it, and it seemed to run fine. The guy who had worked on it before had gone to the hospital the day after he worked on it, possibly celebrating with my money a bit too much. But he promised to come back at some point. He never did.

The next day I tried to use it again. I made it to a 7-11 just down the street from work, intending to get some breakfast, and then when I departed, I noticed the engine was overheating again. I didn't make it the last half mile to work. I had to get a push the rest of the way to work, and another tow to get it home.

So now it seemed the head gasket was blown. I had several recommendations, from people I had really just met, for service stations. I had it towed to one, only to find they didn't do head gasket replacements because they couldn't guarantee them. I tried to get my insurance to tow it back home, but they apparently had enough of me and said no. So chalk up another $100 in towing fees.

Next place was a garage that had dealt with the car before, where my landlord got his initial estimate of $1000. I paid to have it towed in. They recognized the car right away, and told me the estimate they had given him earlier was not valid anymore, and finally came up with a figure of $2500, but recommended that I give up because the car wasn't worth that much, and was a money pit. I paid $300 plus to get the car towed there and back and for the estimate. Ka-ching.

And for a while, I did give up on it. I was still paying for insurance, but I wasn't paying for anything else. Then, about two weeks ago, my landlord tells me there's a new guy at work who works on cars, and he'd be willing to do it for $800. I grudgingly said I'd talk to him, and he came out and looked at the car and got some numbers off it. The next day he texted me that the cost was going to be $1500 but he could break it into payments of $750.

He was going to completely replace the head instead of just the gasket. He was going to replace the timing chain and do whatever else needed to be done. I almost did a facepalm, but I agreed in the end and give him $750. It was $1000 less than the last shop, after all. Next, he tells me to have it towed to his home, where he apparently has a garage. I really did do a facepalm then, but I was committed. I should have been committed, I know. another $100 out of my pocket.

He sent me a picture a few days later: Halfway done.

Looked considerably less than that, but I went along with him. A week goes by, my bank account is about to be filled again, so I text him about the car. He wondered how to start it, because there's a trick to it. I'm a little confused as to why he didn't ask earlier, but I tell him how to start it, and then he texted back that he had to replace the battery and the oil case, and that would cost another $100. What's $100 among friends? /sarcasm. I agree because I'm not going to get the money back. The next day he tells me that the battery cost more than he thought and it was another $50. At  this point, I asked him if he'd provide the receipts, and he said he didn't usually work that way, but this time, he would. He got really snitty about it, but he had been working on the car for a lot of hours. He didn't say how many, but I believe him because the car was pure evil.  I did let him know that I'm not made of money.

So we agreed that today would be delivery day and when he finally drove up in it, he told me that he'd been working on it until 1 am the night before because it still backfired and then refused to start at times. He said he cleaned the carburetor and that took care of that issue.

So we took it for a spin and it seems to idle a bit fast, but it's such a hybrid of technology that I can learn to live with it.

I hope the saga is over, but he was worried about the distributor. He couldn't find it, but he promised if I can find it and buy a replacement, he'd install it for free.

Was it worth it? Was 'Ol Blackie my Moby Dick? Well, at least I got it, so I'm no Ahab. Friends and family told me to walk away, even tried to find me cheaper cars on craigslist, but something about this car - heh - tasks me. Only time will tell if was worth it, though the last guy to work on it told me to get a paint job and sell the car. I might just do that.