psignologic - New_Blog

Alternate History - Sci-Fi

22/10/2023

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"By Scism Rent Asunder" by David Weber is book 2 of the Safehold series. Fans of military Sci-Fi or Alternate History ought to enjoy this book.
___An aggressive alien species (the Gbaba) has destroyed the human federation. A remnant of survivors have fled to a distant part of the galaxy and have adopted primitive technologies. The colonists are brainwashed, given false memories and taught unscientific theology. After 900 years, The Church of God Awaiting has grown corrupt. Human communities fumble along at the technological level of 13th-century Muslims.
___Then a robotic clone awakes after 900 years. The clone is Nimue Alban, a young woman who died in the final battle against the Gbaba. The clone has superhuman powers, and Nimue affirms her mission which is to recover humanity's former technologies, so that humans can seek vengeance from their nemesis the Gbaba.
___The Medieval society in which she finds herself denies women political say-so. Nimue decides to configure herself as a tall male warrior, which she names Merlin.
___Merlin journeys to Charis, manages to save the King's son from an assassination attempt. He aligns himself with Charis which is an island kingdom of merchant marines. He introduces Arabic numerals and encourages inventors and engineers, especially military innovators. Charis soon dominates Safehold's seas and trading routes.
___The author populates this faraway world with dozens upon dozens of intriguing characters. Their names are unfamiliar, but he includes a full cast list for most books in the series. There are exciting naval battles and land battles. The central theme is that technology overcomes false belief systems, which may be relevant today since our current power brokers refuse to acknowledge that humans are destroying the earth via climate change.
Book 1 - Off Armageddon Reef
Book 2 - By Scism Rent Asunder
Book 3 - By Heresies Distressed
Book 4 - A Might Fortress
Book 5 - How Firm a Foundation
Book 6 - Midst Toil and Tribulation
Book 7 - Like a Mighty Army
Book 8 - Hell's Foundation's Quiver
Book 9 - At the Sign of Triumph
Book 10 - Through Fiery Trials
Book 11 - ???
The Safehold series is highly recommended. Five stars.

Author's Manifesto

10/3/2023

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10 Mar 2023

I have self-published three books (print & eBook) in the Cool Assassins series. I seek greater exposure with an established publishing house and help with converting my books for the audio medium.

"Woke: Cool Assassins 1" is character driven. Jenna Marov is introduced as a prodigal aerial acrobat. But the narrative focuses on Nyssa Persson who must transition from a high-class call girl to earning a place in a security outfit, noted for its excellence and prowess in martial arts. Nyssa struggles with training sessions and tries to get beyond her PTSD.

"Hot Wheels: Cool Assassins 2" features a daring attack on a clandestine meeting of seven CEOs of the largest transnational corporations. These business execs exert more influence than nation states and more influence than trade blocks. Their under-the-table power rivals global-wide institutions such as the UN, WTO, WHO, World Court, etc.
___Jenna climbs Petronas Tower 2 and delivers a potentially lethal smoke bomb. She escapes via paraglider and rendezvous with JoAnna, an experienced taxi driver, who races Jen and herself through the streets of Kuala Lumpur. The narrative consists of their hair-raising escape via a Humvee and features a brutal satire of capitalism as practiced nowadays.
___In contrast there are several scenes about a traditional fishing village. Two teenagers are introduced: Raven Rocksong and Jade Runner. They become the sole survivors of a tragic shipwreck.

"Afterlife: Cool Assassins 3" features Dog Breakfast co-op in a police procedural as they pursue a rapist murderer down the westcoast to LA, Tijuana and Quito, Ecuador where they must subdue the rapist's handlers, capture him and haul him back to Tsawwassen, the scene of his crimes.
___The back story examines the future of education. Jade Runner enrolls in Tsawwassen's crèches, whereas Raven must recover injuries in orbit, after which she's tutored (home-schooled) by JoAnna.

The Cool Assassins series dramatizes a socioeconomic experiment, circa 2070s. Such a tale has never before appeared in human discourse. SOAR goes beyond Marx and incorporates the visionary ideas of Lewis Mumford, James Blish and Nada Nozaki, among many others. In many ways Cool Assassins is a kind of blue print for a true democracy where women and men have equal opportunities to live their lives to the fullest.
___This is no pie in the sky. The characters are vivid, and the thematic ideas balanced and plausible.

I believe serious narratives deserve wider exposure in public media, rather than being lost amid dystopia fantasies and sugar-coated romances that thrive as "best sellers" on Amazon KDP.
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Query.
Dog Breakfast is a covert SOAR co-op that works in conjunction with POE to ensure fair play. Its members include (from youngest to oldest):
Nyssa (Sis) Persson, rundog, AI consultant;
Meghan (Meg) Getzler, orange belt, dataroom geek;
Subira (Subie) Herren, orange belt, dataroom super;
Kavita (Kav) redbelt, Fingar's understudy;
Fingar (Fing) white belt, lead hacker;
Marija (Mar) brownbelt, scout;
Shepp, rundog, weapon's instructor;
Jenna (Jen/Pix) Marov, rundog, acrobat, climber;
Griswold (Griz) rundog, strength specialist;
JoAnna (Jo) rundog, ex-taxi driver;
Makoto (Mack) rundog, master of martial arts;
Naïlah (Nigh) former rundog, Timekeeper;
Absen (Abb) Ho, rundog, Cook's partner, deceased;
Ahab (Cook) Ho, rundog, founder, top dog. Back.
Tsawwassen is a futuristic metropolis (urban plexus) suspended over the Fraser River delta in former British Columbia, Canada. The name may also refer to the quasi-province or Tsawwassen Coastal Preserve (TCP). Back.
___

Work

9/3/2023

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ChatGBT. Is this the beginning of the end for humanity? Whoa! Not quite yet. Not for several centuries, I'd suspect. We have more serious problems facing us today. Namely, Climate Change and the International Refugee crisis.

Still, AI should be a concern. It's obviously an asset much sought after. It promises the holder of such technology a greater control of folks and events. Humanity doesn't need control freaks like Putin or Donald Trump to have access to the ultimate AI. But would Google, Facebook or Chinese spy bots be any better?

I've just finished an intriguing book called "Titan" by Mado Nozaki. The narrative occurs in the 23rd-century where AIs have eliminated "work" and humans enjoy unprecedented prosperity. (I know it's a bit far-fetched. In reality, there will always be a need for 30% of the population to act as troubleshooters, repairpersons or upgraders.) But let's assume, as a thought experiment, that AI can takeover and provide a limitless cornucopia of goods and services, all the while doing so without trashing the environment.

The main character of "Titan" is Dr. Naisho who is an amateur psychologist, since there are no longer any jobs. Her main hobby is hosting a popular, Zoomlike psychology workshop where her lectures are much admired. Early in the novel, she is hoodwinked to accepting her first-ever job. It involves one of the 12 AIs that run and oversee the Titan network. It seems the Coeus AI (located in Japan) is underperforming compared to the other eleven. Dr. Naisho joins a team of four: program engineer, philosopher, team leader and herself.

The Titan network handles food services, travel services, health services and recreational services. Humans have everything at their beck & call. Crime rates have dropped dramatically, and life spans have increased beyond 100 years. To alleviate boredom, everyone has hobbies. Dr. Naisho likes to take old-fashioned photographs which must be developed as negatives then printed.

Her job is to give psychological counseling to Coeus who has been underperforming. The AI is tasked with a tremendous amount of detailed services for a billion human end-users. Twelve AIs for roughly 12 billion humans. Each AI is busy performing a multitude of tasks. So the first thing is to get Coeus to manifest as a personality. The 1st- attempt has him manifesting as a glob of water in midair which falls to the ground and evaporates. After a few weeks, Dr. Naisho gets Coeus to appear in humanlike form and eventually to speak. He is kind of a bashful child about ten-years-old.

I don't want to spoil the plot, but let's just say the relation between Dr. Naisho and Coeus progresses, and he matures to some degree. The book becomes a clever examination of the concept of work. For example, are hobbies work? I can identify with "hobbies" since I'm a would-be author collecting Canada pension. My royalties are small compared to my pension checks. My purpose in pursuing a career as an author alleviates boredom and gives me a sense of fulfillment. Am I truly working or just killing time?

In a basic physical sense, work is defined as a force pushing an object in a direction. So you need force plus measurable displacement, such as a dumbbell upraised one meter. How does this definition relate to artistic works? Do authors, musicians or painters move something or someone? Maybe they exert influence on the human heart.

In any case, I recommend "Titan" which examines how work can bring us fulfilment in life.

Review of "Afterlife: Cool Assassins 3"

4/3/2023

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What Is Success

25/4/2022

What are the true signs of success?
___Too often we equate success with the ownership of possessions, such as a mansionlike home, several expensive cars, a luxury yacht, a private airplane, a fashionable wig or toupee, paid subscriptions to half a-dozen streaming services. Any or all of these artifacts induces personal pride and a degree of self-esteem among peers.
___But do any of these acquisitions bring self-satisfaction and happiness? Folks who own lots of expensive stuff must guard against thieves and vandals. If their social standing depends on possessions, they must worry if one of their peers "out does" them, for instance, by purchasing a larger yacht than one's own. The rich also worry about the state of the economy, whether a rise in interest rates will force the sales of dearly beloved possessions.
___Ultimate SUCCESS doesn't depend on disposable income or luxury possessions. A person is successful if his-her activities are irreplaceable. In other words, such personal activities must be necessary for the betterment of friends, neighbors and fellow citizens. You're successful if what you do cannot be done by anyone but you.
___Unfortunately, our "modern" culture assigns most folks to be mere cogs in the socioeconomic machinery. If someone takes sick or moves away, his-her job can be quickly filled by someone else. This same phenomena goes for CEOs as well as janitors who clean the toilets. Corporations are treated as special citizens who may act above laws designed for mere humans.

Psychohistory

22/4/2021

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"Psychohistorical Crisis" by Donald Kingsbury is a wonderful take on Isaac Asimov's "Foundation" universe which is galactic in scope. For once in this famous universe, Kingsbury spins a story of and about humans, their trials and aspirations minus robot saviors.
___The story occurs in the far future. By 80,374 AD, the human race has expanded to encompass 28-million star systems of our Milky Way. Trillions of folks live fruitful lives under the benevolent guidance of the pscholars of Splendid Wisdom (Trantor).
___The pscholars are privy to the secret math of the Founder, which is able to predict socioeconomic futures by nudging nodal fulcrums in ways that lead to peace and prosperity rather than famine and war. Psychohistory works on a broad social level. It cannot influence individual prerogatives and actions. So personal freedoms exist amid the backdrop of socioeconomics throughout the galaxy. Even so, pscholars guard their secrets jealously, lest counter-predictors disrupt the benevolent plan and bring on social anarchy.
___The narrative begins after Eron Osa publishes a psychohistorical treatise in the public domain. He's convicted as a traitor in the high court of Lyceum and has his fam removed and disintegrated.
___Here I must explain the "fam" or familiar. Almost every citizen of the galaxy has a fam affixed to back of neck at age three. The fam boosts mental speed and memory capacity. It's an outgrowth of the tuned psychic probe that nearly destroyed the Founder's plan. In effect, the fam has become a personal safeguard against hostile psychic probes. Over many years of improvements, the fam is now a common accessory that enhances human mental abilities.
___After a lifetime of constant use, the fam and its human host create a close-knit symbiosis. Without his fam Eron Osa becomes a mental invalid, for everyday tasks have been done with the aid of his fam. Left to his flesh & blood mind, he's a mental cripple.
___The narrative shifts backward in time to Osa's teenage years. He's a kind of child prodigy with a chip on his shoulder. He has been expelled from a number of schools. In frustration, his father hires a tutor for his son. Scogil, the mild-mannered tutor, is really an undercover agent for the Oversee, an clandestine group of dissidents who are learning psychohistory to overthrow the pscholars.
___Next the plot thickens, and Kingsbury introduces several extraordinary characters. Kama is an antique dealer with airs of a hyperlord and a desire to bring on another age of social chaos. It's he who stumbles onto a long lost cache of Psychohistorical equations. Jama teams up with Scogil and his soon-to-be wife Nemia, who's a topnotch designer and builder of fams. Together they salvage the lost equations of the Founder.
___Scogil and Nemia are assigned to a boondocks planet where the residents ride bicycles and practice astrology. Scogil has a brilliant idea to embed Psychohistorical tools inside eggs which cast birth charts for anywhere in the galaxy. Fledging astrologers progress from parlor arts until they receive eggs with similar predictive tools used by pscholars.
___Meanwhile, Eron Osa attends the university on Faraway, the planet the Founder used to shorten the age of chaos and bring about a new age of peace and prosperity guided by the pscholars. Osa is attracted to physics where he learns to test theories in real-life experiments. Eventually, his brilliance is noticed by Konn, the mad admiral and 2nd-rank pscholar of the Lyceum.
___Konn takes Eron under his wing and introduces ancient earth history. Eron Osa studies the patterns of history and learns to devise equations that fit the historical record. Later, he examines the concept of social stasis (what we might call a sustainable culture). He learns the galaxy is headed for another period of chaos as dissident groups are about to counter-predict the pscholars.
___You must read the book to see how it all ends. Along the way, Kingsbury lends ominous insights about our near future from his perspective in the far future. He warns about human populations ballooning to unsustainable levels. It appears inevitable that humans will exploit earth's resources until there's nothing left but barren deserts.
___Kingsbury says a lot about the evils of secrecy. Today we have government secrets in the guise of national security. And we have corporate secrecy in the guise of proprietary knowledge. Both of these conspiracies rob citizens of democratic rights, since it's impossible to choose the best without full pictures of who they are and what they represent.
___Secrecy robs citizens of free choices of which products are best to buy. If manufacturers withhold proprietary knowledge, they're letting buyers stumble into hidden pitfalls. Proprietary knowledge is wasteful because consumers must choose between a range of products, all of which have strong and weak points. If consumers buy an unpopular brand, they could be left owning a discontinued product without replacement parts. Even vendors lose because they must all start from scratch. This secretive system of business invites wastefulness.
___Moreover, Kingsbury examines the science of prediction in ways that are more convincing than other books about psychohistory. It proves that those who fail to learn from history are doomed to make the same errors.
___I recommend this book whole-heartedly for everyone, especially for those familiar with Asimov's Foundation universe.

Black OPs from Hell

9/12/2020

"Bitter Almonds & Jasmine" by Dominic Piper is another detective thriller. The narrative features Daniel Beckett who fascinates gorgeous women like nectar beckons bees. It includes numerous plot twists and lots of catty dialogue.
___Beckett becomes enraged when a longtime colleague is murdered for witnessing a child-pornography shindig.
___The author describes the ogres who exploit children: "Something happens when men of a certain type get wealth and status and it often ends up manifesting itself in activities like this. After all the striving, you finally reach an immoral nirvana where anything goes, and consequences are a thing of the past. You are above everything and no one can touch you."
___But this scam isn't a product of criminals per se. It's run by a black ops section of government. The author examines the old conundrum of secrecy for the sake of national security: "How can it be illegal when it comes from the very top? This is outside legality and illegality. Beyond good and evil, to quote Nietzsche. Besides, what the government say and what they do are two different concerns, as I’m sure you’re aware. It’s just that there are some things that the public are not ready to know about. Some things that they’re simply not bright enough to know about."
___Other than this the author has little to say about our current myopia of nation states. He offers no solutions other than the integrity of his resourceful private eye.
___Daniel Beckett follows several leads. At one point, he seeks the services of another PI. He finds an attractive sister of a famous porn star. Together, the sexy duo coaxes the black ops out from their government camouflage. That's when the fun begins.
___An intoxicating read. Recommended: 4.4 stars.
https://www.amazon.ca//dp/product/B08MCDRPTM/

Digital Mayhem

16/6/2020

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"Burn-in" by P. W. Singer and August Cole is a mystery-thriller in the police-procedural mode. Lara Keegan is an FBI agent and former military veteran. Her unique set of skills and experience qualify her to field test an advanced police robot. Keegan is soon in a clandestine struggle between technocrats and Luddites.
___The narrative occurs in the near future which is depicted with scary vividness. Wearable computers have become commonplace. Humans have been laid off from most of the crucial jobs, which are now performed by robots and-or expert networks.
___The gig economy is where most folks find employment. And the pay scales are rock bottom. Indeed it's hard to find jobs that society will value at all, since most essential products and services are already provided by robotic automation.
___Surveillance Capitalists dominate the digital world as well as everyday life. They've evolved AI systems that track everyone and everything. The majority of folks can barely earn enough to eat and pay the rent.
___Suddenly, there are a series of attacks on the social infrastructure. Keenan and her robot partner must investigate. They become focal points which will determine whether technology can heal the social fabric or whether Luddite rebels can demolish the entire technological house of cards.
___This novel is engaging and well-written. The characters will intrigue and challenge readers. What's more, the narrative conveys a chilling glimpse at how our society may appear in the not-too-distant future. Five stars. Highly recommended.

Mongols Invading Europe

4/2/2020

"Until the Sun Falls" by Cecelia Holland is a great pleasure to read. She has brought the Mongol's of the Golden Horde to life like no one else to my knowledge.
___All of her characters leap off the pages. They touch readers as sure as the gusts of wind on wintry faces. I'm especially impressed with the rich-sensual detail that brings her narrative to life.
___Readers will experience firsthand the superior Mongol battle tactics. Their use of colored banners, colored lanterns and colored rockets that coordinated thousands of horsemen across sprawling battlefields. Indeed, Napoleon, Robert E. Lee, or Frederick the Great would envy these superior adaptations of battle tactics. This and the famous Mongol compound bow ensured victory over all enemies.
___But Ms. Holland doesn't stop at depicting raids and warfare. She describes the wives and slaves of the military commanders. She depicts life in the yurts, the rivalries between fathers and sons. She brings to life the nomadic society without apologies or endearments.
___Readers unfamiliar with the Mongol ethos should understand that Mongol's have never told their own story. Most of their history comes from their victims who've painted the Mongols as vicious murderers. Accounts of the sacked cities have been greatly exaggerated. No conqueror would kill off an entire urban population when they'd gain more by taking the vanquished as slaves.
___Humans have lived for more than 100,000 years as fractious nomadic tribesmen. Our historical era is but a small fraction of humanity's sojourn on earth. In many ways, this tale brings us back to our primal roots. Warts and all.

The Inquisitor's Witch

11/4/2019

"Anna Ember" by J.M. Hushour is somewhat of a historical romance. But don't expect a sappy costume drama for the ladies. The action takes place in 16th-century Germany, but this too is deceptive, for the narrative is as timeless as the Iliad or King Lear.
___Now that I've dissuaded the feint of heart, let me describe what this grand story is all about. It takes place in a woebegone German village whose customs and lifeways haven't changed in 900 years. The villagers know nothing about religious wars, voyages of discovery or vaulted cathedrals. They've gone without a spiritual shepherd for more than a year.
___The last parish priest had preached hell & damnation and exacted evermore tributes while he tried to bugger altar boys and deflower virgins. Until Anna Jobston, the village milk maid, expelled him from the village.
___Anna is beloved by the villagers. She takes care of their free-ranging cows, collects milk, churns some of it to cheese and gathers firewood. She's young, blameless, hard-working. She embodies the village's pagan customs and social beliefs. Worse for Anna, she has crossed swords with Mother Church.
___The bad-news priest limped off the village hillside with his tail between his legs. He vowed to get even with the insolent brat. He went straight to the archbishop and told him about an evil witch who flew on a broom and turned God's children into devil worshippers. It so happened the archbishop had the right man for the job. He'd adopted an orphan whose troubled mother had bitten off his finger. The archbishop had taken the young man under his wing and schooled him in the inquisitor's craft to become his roving demonologist.
___So the archbishop points his demonologist at the village and tells him to burn the witch and return the villagers to Mother Church's fold. For the demonologist, this assignment has become routine. He has burned several witches, mostly elderly women with no men to their name. But unlike some inquisitors, the demonologist carries out his investigations with integrity. He has never burned a guiltless witch.
___A long tiresome climb gets the demonologist to the village. There he discovers his quarry is a young woman midway in her teens. And now I've set the stage. I won't say more to spoil your anticipation of the plot. But some words need be said to explain why this story is both superior and timeless.
___Although the circumstances may appear extreme, the author invites readers to examine the battle of the genders. The demonologist is educated and assured of his esteemed role in the social hierarchy. Anna can neither read nor write, yet she has learned from the book of Nature. The author shows many instances where the humble book of Nature runs circles around man's vaunted theologies.
___Let's face it. Everyone about to read this story is a product of 5,000 years of male-dominated cultures. For most of human history, women had no rights whatsoever. They were entirely dependent on male lawgivers, male protectors and male providers. Women had no choice but to accept their lot. Even today in these so-called enlightened times, men still want to force their edicts and laws upon the female domain.
___That's what this narrative is all about. The demonologist and the milkmaid struggle to find a stark-new balance for their genders. A balance that abides by the underlying laws of our instinctive roots. Highly recommended. 5.0 stars.

Tragedy of Errors

20/2/2019

"A World Undone" by G. J. Meyer is a concise and satisfying history of World War I. The author shows how the Archduke's assassination provoked the majority of European nations to embark on a disastrous war. The author examines motives and futile decisions of leaders and generals. It tracks the major battles, the horrendous conditions of grunts in the trenches.
___The author presents a comprehensive introduction for the least glorious war in human history. Readers will conclude that few if any of the so-called generals had a clue what they were doing.
___Recommended for history buffs. 4.75 Stars.

The Millennium Trilogy

9/12/2018

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The Millennium Trilogy consists of three contemporary-fiction books written by Stieg Larsson. They are "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo", "The Girl Who Played with Fire" & "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest".
___Make no mistake. This is one of the most important series of our era. It tackles head-on the social dilemmas facing us today. Stieg Larsson populates his narrative with iconic characters which will be dissected and disclosed in this review.
___In the narrative "Millennium" refers to a small monthly magazine of investigative journalism that specializes in publishing scandalous misbehaviors. "Millennium" may also signify when the narrative takes place—the first decade of the 21st-century or at the dawn of the 2nd-millennium.
___Mikael Blomkvist is the publisher and ace reporter of Millennium. He works closely with Erica Berger, the editor in chief of the magazine. Unsurprisingly, the author employs a straightforward journalistic style for his narrative. He doesn't embellish, pull punches or shower readers with moral platitudes. Blomkvist comes off as a very attractive hunk for women, not because he's superwealthy or superhandsome, but because he doesn't attempt to dominate his sex partners. It's a recurrent theme throughout the narrative: giving women their due. Some would call it feminism.
___Berger is married to a famous painter, but she often finds herself in Blomkvist's bed. She does so with the blessing of her husband. It's a matter of informal trust and friendship as opposed to the excepted normal.
___The lead character and crown jewel of "Millennium" is Lisbeth Salander. Lisbeth has Asperger Syndrome, a form of autism that can boost intelligence and impart a photographic memory. But it makes the recipient somewhat introverted and socially inept. Lisbeth's condition is aggravated, for she has grown up in a dysfunctional family where her absentee father hangs around only occasionally. When he does, he abuses Lisbeth's mother. His criminal behavior is never reported to the police or social agencies. When Lisbeth is 12-years-old, she fights back to protect her mother. For this drastic action, the authorities lock Lisbeth inside a mental institution.
___She's thin-boned, less than five-feet tall. Though in her mid-twenties, she's often mistaken for a prepubescent teenager. What's more, Lisbeth has never completed elementary school. Her official file describes a troubled young woman who refuses to speak to social workers, police officers and especially psychiatrists. To top it off, Lisbeth has few social skills. She dresses like a Goth gypsy with plenty of piercings and tattoos. It's easy to see why most folks take her for a retarded nincompoop unable to hold a skilled job.
___After her release from the loony bin, the courts give her a Guardian since Lisbeth has been judged incapable of living on her own. Here, she lucks out and draws an old-school advocate by the name of Palmgren. He has the wisdom to leave Lisbeth more or less alone. Later, he contacts an old friend, Armansky, the CEO of Milton Security. Armansky agrees to hire Lisbeth on a trial basis. She's supposed to run errands from the copy machine and coffee machine. But Armansky discovers she can do the best and most thorough background checks. He doesn't have a clue how she manages such impeccable research.
___In truth, Lisbeth is a world-class hacker with incredible digital skills.
___Please note: A majority of the narrative takes place in Sweden, which is one of the finest social democracies in the world. The author presents Lisbeth as someone who has fallen through pinholes in the social-safety net, who has been misjudged and miscast by a supposedly fair-minded bureaucracy.
___The author uses Lisbeth as the symbolic antithesis to our so-called civilized society. She's ignored by everyone who matters, so Lisbeth moves in a cloud of anonymity. She enjoys sex with men and/or women but shows little interest in child bearing. She's a mid-21st-century urbanite dropped on the status quo like an alien from outer space. Having gotten a raw deal by the do-gooders, she's forced to rely on her own resources.
___Blomkvist has already satirized financial reporters who lavish too much praise on greedy corporations. As the first book opens, he goes after Wennerström, a huge and nebulous multinational corporation. Blomkvist collects enough info to catch the corporation at illegal activities. But he has been suckered into publishing libelous allegations. He knows Wennerström is engaged in dirty tricks, but he can't prove it, so he loses the court case. He must pay a fine and do a month of jail time. Worse, the "crusading" reputation of Millennium has lost its credibility.
___Blomkvist is forced to take a sabbatical to save the magazine. An aging industrialist hires him to reinvestigate an unsolved murder.
___Meanwhile Palmgren has a stroke, is hospitalized and lies in a coma. Lisbeth is assigned a new Guardian who's a rapist and sadistic pig. Lisbeth deals with him in her singular way and regains nominal control of her life.
___During the course of the murder investigation, Blomkvist realizes he needs outside help. He asks Armansky if he can borrow his best researcher. Armansky lends him Lisbeth. Together they uncover a serial killer. Along the way, Lisbeth saves Blomkvist's life.
___So far, I've summarized 25% of the narrative. I dare not say more for fear of spoiling the plot, which is just starting to heat up. Stieg Larsson holds no punches when he satirizes corporate finances and men who belittle women. He even manages to throw light on the way that developed nations savage refugees. Larsson dramatizes the dilemmas we face in the 2nd-decade of 21st-century. The drawback is that he misses the importance of Climate Change. But readers should forgive him, for his experience has occurred in Sweden, one of the most environmentally friendly nations on earth.
___Read or reread the "Millennium" trilogy. You'll find it worthwhile.

"Empire of Cotton" by Sven Beckert

25/10/2018

"The Empire of Cotton" by Sven Beckert is an eye opener, a tour de force, a detailed account of human exploitation on a gargantuan scale.
___The eBook of fully indexed with umpteen endnotes from original sources. It comes with excellent photos, charts and diagrams. Readers who have 96 dpi monitors (or less) will need a magnifying glass to make out the small print on some of the graphics. (Someday I hope Kindle will support zoom functions for embedded graphics.) I would not recommend reading this eBook with an iPhone or minimum-definition eReader.
___Beckert documents the origins of cotton in India and China. Indian cotton was a luxury item for aristocrats of the Roman Empire.
___The British East India Company introduced cotton to Europeans and adopted technological improvements for spinning and weaving. Soon British merchants around Liverpool open sweat-shop factories and employed children from orphanages who worked 13-hour shifts in cramped, unsavory conditions. Meanwhile, the East Indian Company bought yarns and cloths from Indian cotton producers. These they sold to Africans in exchange for slaves who were sent to the Western Hemisphere to work the cotton fields. In the USA the cotton gin enabled easier cotton harvesting and processing. Soon cotton plantations in the USA supplied Europe with 90% of the raw cotton for mills.
___The cotton industry has always been a government sanctioned Ponzi scheme that provides cotton clothing to well-heeled consumers at rock-bottom prices. It went hand-in-hand with colonialism of the 18th- & 19th-centuries. Beckert coins a new phrase for the cotton enterprise. He calls it WAR CAPITALISM.
___Government laws have enabled the cotton industry, which has used slavery, land grabs, wage slavery, violence, rape and even genocide to further its aims. The global cotton racket throughout its history has used the same methods as do drug cartels. Yet, cotton vendors are perfectly licensed and legal. Today the USA government spends more on its own cotton producers than it gives to foreign aid.
___This eBook wonderfully written and produced. I recommend it for anyone who dares to face the facts. The dark truth of human capitalism.

"Cliff Diver" by Carmen Amato

23/10/2018

"Cliff Diver" by Carmen Amato. Five Stars.

Carmen Amata has become one of my favorite mystery-suspense writers. She joins the pantheon that includes such luminaries as Tess Gerritsen, Colleen McCullough, Eva Hudson, Mark Gimenez, Dominic Piper, Jake Needham and other notables.

Ms. Amato has chosen the perfect setting for her dramas. They take place in Acapulco, a border town in a developing country renowned for its corrupt officials, near useless bureaucracy, its proliferation of drug lords and downtrodden lower classes who suffer from brutal violence and a social system that features the downsides of trickle-down economics. Ms. Amato gives us a glimpse of real life on the other side of the barbed-wire fence. She doesn't need to resort to paranormal psychopaths. The evil bleeds into every street corner, every restaurant, every hotel, every government office.

Emilia Cruz, the hero and lead detective, faces an uphill battle from the word go. She has grown up in a poor barrio and joined the police force where she has spent years as a uniformed cop. A high score on a proficiency test has given her the chance to become a city detective. But she's the junior officer in the department, which means she gets jobs that no one else wants. She can't even use the washroom in peace because the john is communal with no doors on the toilet stalls. She has to bring her own roll of toilet paper and then suffer embarrassment when the guys use the urinals and stare at her through the wall mirror.

In Acapulco (Mexico) everyone is underpaid. The easiest way to advance is to accept bribes from the drug lords. Hence, one-third of the public officials are on the take. In this motley environment, no one can trust anyone else. It makes for a very uneven and roughshod application of the laws. Emilia Cruz has her own case file of missing persons, mostly children and young teenagers. Other detectives won't touch these disappearances because they will likely lead to trouble with armed enforcers of the drug lords.

By pure chance Emilia stumbles onto an important case when she finds a huge stash of counterfeit US money in the false compartment of a luxury sedan. She also meets a handsome ex-marine (Kurt Ricker) who manages a plush resort catering to wealthy nortamericanos. Her involvement with Kurt is a kind of cultural shock where she steps from slum world to ultramodern and back.

Shortly after, the boss of Acapulco detectives is found dead. A shady character in the upper echelon of government decides to make Emilia the new head of detectives. She takes tons of abuse from the older, better qualified gumshoes. But Emilia proves everyone wrong when she turns the department around, rids it of unproductive kickbacks and gets doors installed in the communal toilet. She also manages to solve a major case and finds the killer of her former boss.

Other characters in the narrative:
Kurt Ricker = nortamericano boyfriend
Franco Silvio = senior detective, former kickboxer
Obregon = chief of police union
Carlota = mayor of Acapulco

There is more, but you'll have to buy the book.

A Shocking Idea

2/8/2018

Let's clear up the myths about a Resource-Based monetary supply.

1) We are only concerned about the money that changes hands in the REAL economy. For example, you may give your grocer $3.79 for a loaf of whole-wheat bread. Economists call this money M1.

2) In the Capitalist system there are multiple grades of money: M1, M2, M3, M4, etc. Only M1 money has actual value. You can use it to buy a frozen turkey, a smartphone, a bag of popcorn, etc. M3 might represent the supposed worth of 100 shares of Apple Inc. You can't use those shares to pay your grocery bill. Nor will your banker give you cash for them. You must go to the stockbroker who sold you the shares and ask him to disburse your holding. The broker will put your stock up for sale in the marketplace. You will get whatever someone is willing to pay for the shares, minus broker fees.

3) Another example of M3 is "funny" money or "monopoly" money. This signifies the implied value of a condo or stand-alone house. The money doesn't exist. It only represents the price an eager buyer is willing to pay for the property. After the sale, the property doesn't change for better or worse; it merely changes hands. There is NO apparent SOCIAL advantage whether the property is own by person X or person Y. The net asset value of the property is like Schrödinger's cat. The property (in terms of money supply) is zero until it is traded.

4) When we say let's move to a Resource-Based monetary system, we aim to trash the financial sector and regard all "funny" money as worthless. Henceforth, there will be no inflation or deflation in the value of our currency. The money in circulation will be worth the combined total value all resources, both natural and human. A comprehensive computer model will constantly take a census of our resources and then make an estimate of what those resources can produce in monetary value. The computer will issue new money as necessary. The "dividend" will be distributed equally to all members of our community.

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River of Corn

16/7/2018

"The River of Corn" by John Rose Putnam is a historical fiction that focuses on the De Soto expedition through the Southeast United States. The narrative is told from the viewpoints of the aboriginals whom the Spaniards treat as sub-human heathens.
___Large parts of the narrative are told in 1st-person through mouth of Gomez, a Moorish slave owned by one of the Spanish aristocrats. Gomez befriends the boy Perico, a member of the Chicora tribe who dwell along the River of Corn. Gomez saves Perico from the wrath of De Soto. In so doing, he advises Perico to guide De Soto's expedition to his homelands.
___This book is true to the historical records of this era. The author depicts De Soto for the arrogant fool that he was. Likewise the author weaves extensive plagues, sickness and death into the narrative. The Spanish genocide, whether intentional or unwitting, has been documented by many historians, including Charles C. Mann in his excellent twin volumes: "1491" and "1493". Mann speculates the introduction of old-world swine did as much as the Spaniards themselves to spread sickness and death among the aboriginals.
___Putnam presents an amazing plot with much intrigue and cunning. Against all odds, Gomez, Perico and the Chicora nation manage to at least partially survive the onslaughts of the Spaniards as well as rival tribes. I won't spoil the details for prospective readers, but I will caution there are a few scenes of brutal violence. This is to be expected since the aboriginals embody a culture that was equivalent to those of the Eurasian Bronze Age.
___I found this an enjoyable read. Histories may render the broad outlines and raw statistics, but historical fiction adds human emotions to the deaths of 95% of the native inhabitants. Highly recommended. Five stars.
___See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hernando_de_Soto

Dirty Money

30/4/2018

"New York 2140" by Kim Stanley Robinson is an insightful glimpse at a mid-term future. This is a character-driven saga of fiction that supposes a massive ice melt and rampant flooding of shoreline cities around the globe.
___Hundreds of port cities like New York have become instant Venices. Southern Manhattan and large portions of Brookline have gone underwater. Real estate owners have written off their flooded buildings. But abandoned tenants have adapted by applying waterproofing, converting lower floors to boathouses and spanning flimsy pedestrian viaducts from skyscraper to skyscraper.
___Robinson presents an eclectic group of characters. They've found amazing ways to eke out lives in the aftermath of ocean inundations.
___Stefan & Roberto are orphan teenagers. They've built a makeshift diving bell, and they're searching for a treasure chest of gold that was lost during the American Revolutionary War.
___Mutt & Jeff are quantum programmers who perform odd jobs in the dark net. As the novel opens, they've embarrassed their employers and gotten themselves imprisoned in a shipping container.
___Franklin Garr is a hedge fund player. He has devised a index model for the intertidal zone, tracking the livelihoods of half-drowned urban survivors. His index seems to parallel the health of the global economy.
___Vlade is the janitor, housekeeper and jack of all trades for the half-drowned highrise where most of the characters live.
___Charlotte is the chairperson of an intertidal cooperative. She suspects there are wealthy investors who want to make hostile takeovers of the dwellings in the intertidal zone. These same financiers abandoned the residents when ocean waves swamped southern Manhattan. Now they want to cash in after the residents have managed to salvage the threatened real estate.
___Inspector Gen is an old school policewoman. She vows to help Charlotte.
___Amelia is a Cloud performer. She streams her adventures in a dirigible. To gather a loyal audience, she started out with scenes that required her to solve issues without her clothes. Now that she has a considerable following, she transports endangered species to places that offer a better chance for survival.
___Robinson weaves an engaging narrative that brings these characters together. Along the way, he demonstrates the futility of governments to curb the financial parasites. Markets add surcharges to everything we buy, yet financial services contribute virtually nothing to the real economy. Central banks create money out of nothing and divvy it out to the largest commercial banks. Worse, if bankers make mistakes, governments bail them out, so bankers have a license to gamble without risk.
___ONE PASSAGE: "The bailout of the 2008 crash, which served as the model for the two that followed it, was calculated by historians at somewhere between 5 and 15 trillion dollars. One careful guess said it was 7.7 trillion dollars, another 13 trillion; both added that this was more than the cost (adjusted for inflation) of the Louisiana Purchase, the New Deal, the Marshall Plan, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the 1980s savings and loan bailout, the Iraq wars, and the entire NASA space program, combined. Conclusion: wars and land and social programs must not be very expensive. And compared to rescuing finance from itself, they’re not."
___Unfortunately, popular wags try to tell us that business (if left unfettered) is more efficient than government. Sure thing. Any idiot can appear to be efficient if he's pumped with taxpayer money until it pours out of his ears.
___Robinson has written an entertaining narrative with an important message. I recommend this book 100%...

Refugees Are Diversity

9/4/2018

A nation that closes its door to refugees has lost its soul. The law of hospitality predates history. Hospitality is dear to the human condition, for both host and guest have lots to gain. The exchanges between guests and host add up to more than zero-sum games.

Strangers bring new ideas, new skills and new workarounds. For a place to flop and a warm meal, the host learns of events far beyond his ken. Meanwhile the guest learns new customs and opportunities. The exchanges trigger initiatives, more jobs and economic growth.
___Folks who don't welcome strangers lose touch with larger world. They erect sturdier defensive walls until their minds grow stale and their health deteriorates. They become afraid of their own shadows. They buy stronger locks to safeguard diminishing possessions. The more they become isolated, the less often they see fit to laugh. In the end they are nothing save bundles of nerves.

Wall Street & Silicon Valley

5/10/2017

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First of all thanks for forwarding the Polanyi PDF. As he shows in the lectures and in his book, government needs to put clamps on the free-market economy if it hopes to serve citizens rather than Ponzi scheme insiders.
___Britain is a special case. In 1066 William The Conqueror confiscated all the land holdings and gave the titles to his cronies. The land grab was aided and abetted by the Catholic church. Even today, 99% of the real estate is owned by less than 1% of the population. Oddly, it gave Britain a head start on the industrial revolution since the only path the peasants could follow led to the industrial maw. Britain always had an eager workforce willing to labor in the coal mines and factories.
___I've debated online the cause of Marx and Polanyi. But complex economic arguments don't cut it with the "Make America Great Again" crowd. It's all too easy to see the economy as an isolated phenomenon and totally divorced from citizen health and environmental concerns.
___People have been duped into seeing economic data like football stats: rushing yards, passing yards, fumbles, interceptions, special teams' yards. One glance will usually tell you who won the game. And that's my point. Economics is treated as a game. But profit margins don't say anything about microplastic in sea water, flaming faucets, toxic waste dumps, leaking slag pools or the countless hospitalized casualties of fabulous economic growth. (Dupont is moving its toxic Teflon factory to China. I wonder if Trump will try to get the monstrosity back. LOL)
___It all boils down to trust, which governments have absolutely none. If citizens trusted in governments, we wouldn't have Trump throwing paper towels at Puerto Rico's survivors; we wouldn't have Brexit or lethal demonstrations against refugees.
___Democrats are no better than Republicans. In fact they're worse since they have the gall to tell you their programs will make things better. Basic Income when it arrives will simply mimic the Roman solution of Bread & Games. The media and sports franchises already give us the Games. Basic Income will furnish the Bread. Meanwhile the elites will be free to pursue their power games with the tacit approval of the docile masses who will be too busy munching corn chips to bother. "Make America Great Again!"
___So long as the economy is analyzed in isolation, Polanyi's arguments can be refuted for being bad for prosperity and malign drags on progress. I know I worked at a job where I had to constantly balance two incentives. On one hand, I provided a service to the public. On the other hand, I had to compete with other cab drivers to retain my job and its assorted perks. I was my own accountant, since I wrote up a record of what fares I transported during my 12-hour shift. There was always a dilemma: How much good will could I expend on my customers without angering my bosses.
___You see what I'm getting at? Corporations can hire ten-thousand Dogberts to advise them at becoming benevolent corporate citizens. They can sponsor ten-thousand charity events. But bighearted corps can't bleed red ink. A fine corporate citizen is good for no one if it goes bankrupt.
___The bottom line in the Capitalist milieu is DOG EAT DOG. There is no way to get around that. You can enact all kinds of controls to contain the economic bad guys, but they will use new technologies to circumvent the controls. Every time, all the time.
___I thought I'd hit on the perfect analogy when I broke a citizen's spendable income into where it really goes. About 49% goes to taxes and user fees. 13% goes to financial overhead: investment bankers, spin-doctors, lenders, retainers etc. 7% goes to advertisers and networkers. Which leaves 31% of spendable income that can be spent on usable products. (NOTE: You can't use the adverts that Apple has spent on your iPhone.) These are the hidden siphons that suck money out of the real economy. In other words, Capitalism is as efficient as a tycoon burning $100 bills to light his cigars.
___If you eliminate advertisers and financial wizards, you'll have oodles of extra money (20% of all circulating currencies) to improve infrastructures and publish the info that governments are obligated to deliver. But no one believes this gigantic windfall will ever happen. And if it does, no one trusts governments to do their part. Sadly, history shows this skepticism is NOT far off the mark.
___Folks would rather believe in the next generation of Ponzi schemes that Wall Street and Silicon Valley will no doubt cook up for us.

Do Nothing President

4/6/2017

El Sheikh's refusal to honor the Paris Climate Accord cannot take place legally until 2020. Furthermore all the agreements are unbinding to begin with. So what has Trump declared? More of the hot air he has demonstrated thus far in his presidency.
___Whereas Obama gave speeches for which everyone praised, although many national leaders must've laughed behind his back; Trump says stuff everyone condemns, even though there is no "meat" between his buns.
___El Sheikh has yet to take charge in the Whitehouse; he's still spouting campaign slogans as if to justify himself to his support base and the wider public which grows more & more hostile.
___El Sheikh is a Godsend for political cartoonists and satirists. He may be the 1st-president in 100 years to do absolutely nothing during his four-year term of office. The WALL has all been forgotten since Mexico refused to pick up the tab. The ban of refugees and immigrants has been floundering in the courts. The bill to back out of Obamacare doesn't have enough Republic support to justify the effort. El Sheikh has managed to erase Climate Change from all government publications. But dozens of state governors and hundreds city majors have vowed to continue their efforts to fight climate change by supporting renewable energy and taxing polluters.
___The bigwigs on Wall Street are still behind Trump, but they do so with their wallets rather than their mouths. Likewise major companies have stated their doubts for public consumption. The wealthy movers & shakers are hedging their bets. Sure, they'll salt away the profits if Congress manages to pass a tax cut for businesses. But they know there will be a reckoning in future years. USA already owes more than its economy generates. Its debt is greater than its total Gross Nation Product. If interest rates rise (which they likely will at some point) the interest on the national debt could divert significant tax revenues. Folks who owe an arm & leg on their credit cards know they have little or no "free" funds to spend on new purchases.
___America Will BE Greatly in Debt like it never has been. Canada will be dragged in the same pit of toxic waste and overwhelming debt. Europe is already floundering with its rash decision to institute a common currency. China will emerge as the world leader. USA will take the role of 2nd-banana. As I envision in my fiction, a new currency will rise as a companion to the Euro and US dollar. It could be backed by gold or platinum to distinguish itself from currencies that are backed by hoopla and snake-oil slogans.
___The alternative to the above scenario will be El Sheikh's belligerent reactions. We could be in for WW3, at least on an economic level.
___As W C Fields once said, "There's a sucker born every minute."

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