"Endless Speculation" (book)

"Endless Speculation" is yet another book and that may seem unusual when I haven't published the last one yet but there are good reasons I haven't published it yet.  That will become clear when I do publish it but I can tell you now it's been extended in various ways from the PDF version that's currently available.  It will definitely be published when I get back to America.  One of the reasons I have delayed is that I need several hours of dedicated Internet time and that is impossible just now but that's not the only reason.  Hopefully I will be back in the U.S. soon.

The newest book will be a collection of short stories as I haven't written in that format for a long time and I'd like to take another whack at it.  There's not a large difference in concept between writing a short story or a novel as both will start out with a relatively simple idea.  Murder mysteries are the easiest as maybe you start with the idea that the butler did it.  Given that thought, you work backward to build the case and present clues that let the reader work it out during the course of the story.  If you're clever about it then the reader will draw the wrong conclusion and the end will be a surprise.  The complexity and subtlety of whatever you build is what makes it interesting but, at the root, it's a very simple thing.

I enjoyed writing about "Culling the Badgers with Science" but others wouldn't follow the Wind in the Willows motif.  It seemed appropriate for me for a story about badgers, particularly in England.  (I previously posted the story as a separate page but that wasn't a good idea and it's now inline with everything else.)

Here are some story ideas bubbling around in my twisted little mind:


A Trillion Here, A Trillion There

Every day trillions of dollars move around in the world in electronic money transfers. No-one concern themselves with the fact of it so no-one goes beyond to ask why.  No-one seems to think it's unusual that such fantastic sums of money are not only in motion but that they move every single day.

In Las Vegas one of the most popular ways to make money is through 'skimming' in which you don't do an "Oceans 11" and steal everything in the casino vault but rather you skim a small percentage off the top.  Through skimming of the international money transfers there would be vast amounts of money that could be stolen and it would only take a tiny percentage of each transfer to result in the most outrageous theft in human history.

One of the easiest ways to skim money is to slow down the transfer.  For as long as you hold the money you can loan it out to some other party and make interest on that loan.  This is known as the 'float' and it's invisible to whomever actually owns the money as that party still gets all of its capital.  If you don't think this is happening already, you're living in a dream world.


GMP - Genetically-Modified People

Hitler's idea of eugenics was simple-minded and stupid and it would ultimately have failed.  Producing a race of Aryan super people would have resulted in a tremendous reduction in the diversity within the genome and would consequently have been destructive of it.  If you doubt me, read up on the genetic concept of 'hybrid vigor.'

So, if we're going to screw with the human genome, what might be fun to do.

- Genes for extending the range of human hearing by splicing genetic material from dogs.

- Gene splicing for dogs to give them the ability to talk.  It wouldn't take much effort at all to make them more interesting in conversation than politicians.

- Genes for wings spliced from birds.  You would also need a hugely-increased sternum to anchor the muscles for the wings and that would make the flier's chest look like the keel of a boat.  It's not my purpose but you can use your own dirty little mind to imagine the difficulties this would present in having sex.


The Crash

China serves as Chief Executor in the bankruptcy proceedings after America defaults on its national debt and thus America is ordered to accomplish the immediate conversion of military production to tool development for practical applications and also immediate reduction in American fuel consumption.  This does not seem unrealistic to me as the first thing that happens after defaulting on a personal note is the creditor calls in the principal.   Since America could not deliver the principal, it is owned.

There would be immediate cries from the truckers and others to nuke China, impeach Obama, etc but those idiots don't have the brain of a tennis ball and America would have little choice but to acquiesce.  So, what would happen next.

There's a lot of hyperbole in the world's media that there would be a global economic collapse if America defaults but China would have a huge interest in ensuring a collapse does not happen.  Note that defaulting to China would not mean that China would lose the trillion or so it has loaned the U.S. government as that money is already spent.  What it would lose is the monthly or annual interest payment on that debt but that would be money well-spent, in their view, as it would give them control over how any additional money is spent.  China right now has over three trillion in cash in U.S. dollars but America would never see a dime of it unless, like the relationship of Greece with the E.U., China defines how the money is spent.

What would come next.  What indeed.


The State of Palestine

Finally accepting that the best defense of Israel is a fully-autonomous state of Palestine, the change proceeds.  The current premise is that Palestine would ultimately wage war on Israel as all Arabs hate Israel and have no interest other than destroying it.  However, I don't believe that's true were Israel to develop a trading and labor partnership with Palestine in which both countries have more to lose by war than they can gain through peace.  I don't see this is unrealistic as this relationship is what has existed for centuries so why not.

What really would come next.