Author: The Timedok

While there is a fire raging in the kitchen, our attention seems inexplicably fixated on the lint scattered across the living room floor.

On average, synthetic opioids known as fentanyl claim the lives of 150 people in the US each day.

Why?

Among the myriad of possibilities, this one stands out.

Dentists evoke conflicting emotions within me – love and hate. With a strong British heritage, it’s no surprise that dental problems run in my family.

COVID or the medications I took seemed to have exacerbated my dental condition to its breaking point. Friends, I am fully committed to getting dental implants as I am exhausted from dealing with root canals and similar procedures.

I firmly believe that COVID or the vaccine had an effect on my dental health, as this mess started with the first jab.

Now, there are a few things you don’t want to hear while sitting/laying in the dental chair, like the high-pitched whirring of the drill. One of those things is ‘oops,’ and the other, ‘trust me on this’ “get me the dental mallet.”

That statement hit like a punch to the gut. No amount of numbing shit or gas could ease the pain.

The realization hit me that I was not Superman, as the chair remained intact despite my attempt to test my strength with the jarring pounding of the chisel against my jawbone.

The experience during this part of the process was like a never-ending nightmare, with everything going wrong. I won’t mince words. A chisel and mallet relentlessly pounding on your jawbone is overwhelming.

But that is not the focus of our conversation today. Despite the direct connection between dental care and overall health, it is often overlooked. Regarding dental care, most insurance falls short of providing sufficient coverage.

I suspect that insurance companies use financial incentives to sway lawmakers into excluding dental care from insurance regulations. The procedure cost can be pretty high, and some may see it as an opportunity to indulge in the peculiar pleasure of having needles pricked in their mouths and relishing the sound of the dreaded drill. Pffft.

Silly me, after the procedure, I was expecting a written prescription for pain meds. When a chisel is used on your jawbone, you can anticipate excruciating pain once the numbing wears off.

Clearly and definitively, she rejected my proposal for pain meds. Wrong again. The nurse looked at me and said, “I assure you; you won’t need pain medicine.”

“Excuse me?” I say as bloody spit drools from my chin.

“Yeah, you just take a Tylenol, and then a few hours later, the throbbing in your head subsides as you swallow an Advil.” Maybe for a filling, but…give me a break.

I couldn’t believe it, but I purchased a property in Yuma that overlooks the ocean.

Without a doubt, I can confidently declare that it is pure nonsense!

My inner devil with a foul tongue emerges when specific triggers come into play.

The check is definitely not in the mail, and the alternating over-the-counter method might be effective for some things. However, when it comes to using the dental hammer and chisel, it’s just not practical.

With only three hours of sleep in the past four days, my patience has worn thin, and I’m not a delight to be around.

Unable to sleep or eat, I’ve had ample time to reflect on things. Among the things that stand out is the alarming number of overdose victims.

Now, I know this is a long shot, but could it be that due to restrictive laws on prescribing pain medications, doctors, dentists, and other medical professionals are inadvertently driving patients to seek relief through illicit means? Could it be that we are pushing ordinary everyday folks into the arms of the cartels?

It may sound crazy, but I must confess that pain can push someone to do unimaginable things. Pain will drive you to seek a remedy, whether it be a doctor, dentist, the ER, or even some guy on the street.

Pain is a unique experience that varies from person to person. If that guy brings out a dental hammer and chisel, you’ll need more than just over-the-counter remedies. I’m just putting it out there.

Some positive outcomes have emerged from this situation.

Lost a few pounds

Reflecting on the situation, I couldn’t shake off from realizing how foolish our lawmakers genuinely are.

I had plenty of time to count my pulse as the throbbing sensation was intense and persistent.

It dawned on me that cable news is far from delivering actual news; it’s all just a bunch of rubbish controlled by those who purchase air time, such as big pharma. What would the world look like if Walter Cronkite was still giving us the news as it was and not as our dictators want us to believe? Do you think Walter would have said, ‘Take the vaccine?’

The content on TV is so absurd, and the definition of entertainment is mind-boggling.

I would use the downtime to let my creativity flow through writing. Still, it becomes challenging when every other thought is tainted with explicit language.

Soon enough, the throbbing will fade away, freeing my characters from their hiding places and allowing me to embrace my usual kinder self again.

If I were you and were shopping for teeth in a day or something extreme, I would make damned sure that real pain meds came with the procedure. Don’t assume like I did. That was a fucking mistake!

-Best

Introduction to Dr. Samantha Richards

May I introduce you to Dr. Richards? Samantha Richards is the protagonist in my latest sci-fi thriller, Earth’s Last Hope.

As writers, we often become attached to our characters. Some of my author friends actually grieve when they kill one off.

Nonwriters may find that concept ridiculous. It’s a fact. Writers, authors, and mentors like me have a unique perspective compared to nonwriters. The truth is we have to approach things with a different perspective. It defines us.

Sam was a brilliant child. After a gift from her Uncle Tommy, she draws planets and constellations on her bedroom walls, teaching her class (of plushy toys) things about stars, planets, and their place in the galaxy as seen through the eyes of a five-year-old. Or was it?

Despite being a stern military man, her father was always kind to her. His understanding of effective parenting was genuinely lacking. The loss of her mother at a young age sparked Sam’s rebellion against his unwavering authority. His lack of emotions ruined her chance at a ‘normal’ life. To motivate her, he would tell her to “get to it, soldier, chop-chop.” His mantra of telling her she should be out of bed and ready to go anywhere in five minutes or less was straight from his days in the military. Sam was a girl and rejected him.

Sam was broken and confused, making up for it by focusing on her studies.

To fulfill a prophecy passed down by non-human beings, she must do certain things, including figure out who she is.

Under the pretense of studying climate change in Alaska, she initially runs away. While there, she mouths off to her friends in a local bar. On a bet, she enters and wins a spot in one of those reality TV shows where they run around naked with a stranger for 21 days. The stranger to her was part of her destiny.

While you might ask, what does that have to do with being Earth’s Last Hope…You need to read the story.

#Aliens #Roswell #area51 #ufo #armada #seti and so on.

Undoubtedly, the Kindle version is the most affordable way to read it. However, considering the effort I put into the cover, you may want to add this book to your collection.

It’s a science fiction story, but I won’t spoil the surprise by giving away too much. The science is not overwhelming. You don’t have to be a science fiction nerd to love the story. There are elements of romance and taboo romance, making this novel an adult read.

The intended readership consists of young adults and science fiction enthusiasts who appreciate authors with innovative concepts.

There are some intriguing puzzles that science enthusiasts will enjoy pondering.

Buckle up; don’t start it late at night, as you might miss a night’s sleep. Yes, it’s really that good.

If you enjoy it, we kindly ask you to take a moment to give us a review.

Self-published authors rely heavily on reviews.

-Best

I Can’t Do That, Dave

Attack of the Dogmen

Covid and work at home transformed the dynamics of our world.

The true resolve of the human-manipulated contagion will never make the light of day, as tribunals are real things. You can bet there was a purpose to it. Millions died as a result, and millions more are suffering the aftereffects.

While researching the long-term effects under the guise of assisting those with Covid long, it is really about the effectiveness of the virus so that when they do it again, they can build it back better.

Much like tossing a pebble into a pond, the ripple effects were disastrous for that creature called humankind.

The world will never be the same because of the panic, fear, and valuable research. Perhaps change is good, but change over time versus evolution because of a disaster created by man is different.

History is rife with megalomaniacs, from Vlad the Impaler to the Early Church. Some fall into power and feel like they are superior to you. In some twisted aberration of thought, they herd the sheep to accomplish their goal of controlling the masses.

By utilizing valuable idiots to divert the attention of the masses, they create incredibly absurd distractions.

Men in women’s bathrooms.
Men in women’s sports.
Protest, including the burning of cities?
The ruling class attacking the group is most likely to catch on to their corruption.
A complicit media controlled by the megalomaniacs.
Taking lessons from Stalin’s playbook.
Useless wars where the atrocities are the focus of every broadcast.

Covid accomplished changes in our world that are not fully understood today. Assuming that this was not an accident or natural evolution, one wonders…

What did they accomplish?
How many died?
What are the social repercussions?
What was the total cost in dollars, and to which societies?
Did this move the world closer to a one-world government?
Did it have the desired effect?
When we do it again, what do we do differently?
How did it move the world closer to our end goal?
What is the end goal?
How do we protect the elite from the effects of the weapon?
How do we spin this as a natural course of humanity?
How do we protect the elite from discovery?
How do we mitigate the unintended consequences?
What did we learn from the MRNA technology?
What was the mortality rate of the vaccine?
How did the different vaccines alter the life expectancy of those who took them?
What did the Spike protein do to men’s vs. women’s reproductive abilities?
How were the cardiovascular systems affected by the vaccine vs the virus?
How did social media drive the narrative, and what can we do differently to be more effective?

Many of you reading this will think this is total fiction… I am a science fiction writer, but…I am certainly not stupid.

It’s clear that the world has changed, not for the better. If we work the results backward, we might be able to figure some of this out.

Like 911, the world’s governments garnered greater power over the sheep. Civilians lost more of their rights.

Mental health has taken a significant hit worldwide. Mental health starts with taking social norms, turning them upside down, and presenting them as the new normal.

We start by analyzing social norms vs agoraphobia. Mankind is a social creature. When we create an atmosphere centered on fear of a virus, we find that many will develop agoraphobia. They will find any reason not to leave their home.

We know for a scientific fact that masks do not work against a virus, and yet any trip to the store or public venue will find a large percentage of people wearing them. Those who already have some compromised mental health condition will be severely affected. The deep end for them is much closer without social interaction with coworkers.

If people are living with their own delusions, not being checked or questioned by their peers, it’s much more likely they will develop mental aberrations. These anomalies can and often will turn into psychosis.

When we see mass shootings and other mass casualties created by one person, we can guess that something triggered them into acting out their delusions.

What about the economics of these changes to society? Never mind the business implications of commercial real estate, what about those employees who commuted every day versus working from home?

Zoom, net meetings, and so on have changed the landscape of modern business practices. While undoubtedly not for the better as far as consumers are concerned, the phrase…all of our agents are currently assisting… is all too common. They attempt to guide you to some portal responding to your input via rudimentary AI. “Let’s Chat.”

I wish it were an anomaly, but it seems the norm.

One wonders how many of their agents take care of their kids, cook, clean, sleep, run errands, etc. We, too, head to the store to check our own groceries, hoping above hopes that we didn’t mistakenly forget to scan something. I would feel a little better about it if I were to get a discount on the total bill for doing their job.

Businesses are thinking creatively and achieving more with fewer resources. From kiosks to online, skilled workers are becoming more and more antiquated.

Privacy concerns are a real problem. Software exists to monitor the mouse movements and keystrokes of those stay-at-home workers. What is to stop them from activating microphones and cameras? You probably sign your rights away with some small print in a contract around paragraph 768.

2024 will usher in new dynamics in the business world. We have entered a self-service world.

AI is taking over, and people who take useless classes in college will have a hard time finding jobs. Even checkers are being replaced by technology, causing frustration for customers who don’t want to wait in line because the slowest cashier is the one person still working a register, and they still can’t find the code for bananas.

Online shopping has made it easier than ever to impulse buy while pissing. Targeting your social media feeds with things that Alexa heard you discuss is flat-out spooky.

We are addicted to our smart stuff. How many of you have turned around and gone back home to get your phone that you accidentally left on the charger? How many of you are on your phone at the dinner table or with friends at some eating establishment?

Food for thought… How many of you could turn off the internet, streaming services, and phone and lose all connection to the online digital world? If you want to talk to someone, you go see them. If that thought causes you extreme anxiety, you should absolutely consider doing it.

Try spending quality time with your friends or family by turning off SIRI, Bixby, or even Hey Google. Just turn it all the way off. Unplug the router. Take a vacation from the overload of information that has so addicted us to the constant stream of propaganda.

A mental health crisis exists. Social media has to play a role in creating a false sense of importance. The media are lying to you with biased opinions that are simply trash.

There are only two genders.
Biological men have zero business cheating ladies out of their rightful place in women’s athletics, period. Any other opinion is demented.
Children are sacrosanct. Leave them out of your twisted ideologies.

If I could offer advice for young people today, it would be to find vocations that technology cannot replace.

Mass immigration policies today aim to replace this generation, who is coddled and believes that video games and free stuff are entitlements. This same group cannot define the only two genders that exist. They firmly believe that truth is hate speech and that they have the right to take whatever they want.

The more people ignore the cancer in our culture, wokeism, the worse the culture becomes.

AI will have zero use for illogical behavior.

As those immigrants who have not lived the coddled life will replace today’s youth, those looking for any opportunity will fill those non-skilled jobs. They are modern-day slaves and happy to have a place to call work. Businesses are the driving force calling the immigration shots. Our current administration is a puppet with globalists pulling the strings.

Those humans left to do the menial task must necessarily be non-educated with just enough smarts to put Block A on top of Block B until robots can do it.

AI will replace creative types.

AI will consume our work to date on things like ad campaigns, science, literature, and ART, and it will thrust some concatenation of our collective works into the world at a fraction of the cost. AI-generated ART, MUSIC, and so on will become the rage until humans are no longer necessary but problematic.

Computers don’t call in sick, they don’t demand $15 an hour, and they never go on strike. Robots also don’t pay into the system of taxes.

This same technology will take our current understanding of science and push it to additional levels without human intervention.

Robots with AI capabilities might very well be tomorrow’s soldiers and police force. Think about a combination of a man and a police dog all in one robot. We give the robot titanium teeth instead of guns and paint the bad guy with a DNA sensor. Viola, the bad guy or victim, ends up missing part of a leg to the bite of the new sheriff in town.

It’s coming.

Take these same dog men hybrids and set them loose on the battlefield. Send them into space to colonize Mars or the moon.

When AI determines humans are the problem, which it will, removing said delinquent creatures will be no problem for the dog soldiers.

AI will allow researchers to rapidly discover cures for common ailments by utilizing large data sets and quantum processing power.

These same data sets will determine how many people on earth can sustain themselves and will take corrective actions by changing how we grow food, taking a page from Stalin by starving his citizens.

It’s only a matter of time before self-driving cars morph into self-flying aircraft. AI will be built into the machine with wings; no humans are necessary.

Using today’s technology, AI will make it more efficient, eliminating the need for more people.

The need for college education will dwindle with the indoctrination of our youth, offering them careers in hopelessness and happiness through drugs and other self-destructive activities and ideologies that tear apart the fabric of society by erasing our foundations and altering the past to fit a false narrative. It will be a new narrative that is improved by doing away with the sins of the past for the perfect harmonious future with no crime, disease, or starvation, as some strand of humanity might find its way into the robot that never dies.

Today’s youth think video games are a reality and replace work. “But I make money as people watch me play.” Sponsors reward the players for their performance.

“Wow, is it consistent? Can you make the rent, the car payment, etc., and still not have to worry about next week or the next?” The answer is no.

As long as they have a way to get things delivered to their apartment, they will survive on pizza and other poisonous foods, while AI plans on ways to eliminate them for the greater good.

Will AI learn from online gaming? Will AI watch and be able to predict how mankind would respond to strategic warfare?

When you think about the new soldier with titanium teeth, think about a werewolf made of titanium. No talk, no bullshit, come with me or die.

The pandemic set the stage for this transition from human-based to human waste.

Writers like myself tell you we stand on the shoulders of giants, but technology increases exponentially with each passing day. Technology feeds off itself, but nothing like it is today with AI.

Self-correcting algorithms created by flawed individuals will either be our undoing or, after controlling the mass arsenals of WMD, will create a dystopian society where robots will be the only manifestation of mankind that can survive a nuclear winter.

One day, AI will rationalize that humans are non sequitur. This is nothing new. Gene Roddenberry and his writers reached this conclusion in the 60s. Yet we have blindly marched on that same yellow brick road to our demise.

Today, we watch our TV and see wars being fought with drones. How long will it be before drones independently decide life or death? When will AI determine that turning off the power grid during extreme weather events will rid the planet of flawed biological beings?

Is that why our government is pushing us to have everything all electric? From electric cars to smart houses. If they want ultimate control, they switch off the house, the neighborhood, or the state.

When or who will decide how many humans the world actually needs?

Globalists are insisting on removing our history. Why do you suppose that is?

When will they demand the burning of books that remind us why the Roman Empire fell? Possibly, they will ban those books as racist or homophobic or any other excuse they choose.

Ripping apart any religion as false is no more an outlying idea than a Supreme Court justice who cannot tell you what a woman is. That is insane.

Mutilating children under the guise of gender fluidity is crazy. Is AI driving the propaganda?

Who is to decide what is normal and what is crazy? If we remove history and start fresh, who sets the standards? Is it the globalist, the new colonist, or perhaps some supercomputer in a secret location owned by a tech giant?

Ignorance is the cornerstone of slavery and the end of a civilization. Misery is the pathway to ignorance when a false profit promises to fix everything. History is rife with false prophets; today, many graduates do not know who they are. This ignorance sets the stage for disaster.

Globalists are setting the stage for human revolt by pushing false agendas as a distraction. If they knew the truth about slavery, people would understand that the book Roots was fiction. It’s fashionable to hate, and finding a target to hate by their whiteness is delicious.

If you want to sell a book, make it passionately charged and blame white people. Every other race or skin color is protected, but white folks are not. See a problem with that? If you said no, you might be the problem.

In the end, however, even the globalists will fall prey to the automatons who find them as the evil, ugly bags of water that they are.

When logic takes the place of compassion, and robots create and change their code, humans, like all animal life, will be unnecessary and detrimental to whatever their agenda is.

The war will be robots and AI vs the cockroach.

While the cockroach is not malevolent, AI created by mankind will undoubtedly not have patience for imperfect creatures.

Once the humans are out of the way, our history will be erased, much like the history of our country is being systematically erased today.

When the robots seek new worlds for raw minerals and find new life, one wonders if the new life will also be automatons or some derivation of biological, mechanical beings.

Mankind, if you can use that phrase, treats every invention as a weapon first and then discovers if there is some way to make money with it and, finally, if it will assist humanity. We could go into the logic of their thinking, but greed plays an integral part in the process. Money and power are the driving forces of the globalists. While they denounce God, they aspire to be god or gods. Will the AI robots with titanium teeth also desire to be gods?

The God of the Bible is a threat to their hegemony. Therefore, all religions must be destroyed. This is not the first time this has occurred. The ancient church usurped every known pagan religion of the time. While history repeats itself, these are not the droids you seek.

If the Law of Accelerating returns holds true, robots and AI will be one scary future for our progeny.

Will AI figure out how to sterilize the creature called human by doing something to our junk food or perhaps our beer? Will they create the perfect hallucinogenic, removing the ability or the desire to procreate to those who are self-destructive? Will they corrupt our procreation abilities via a pandemic or vaccine? Will they use AI to come up with the perfect formula?

Go check out my book, Earth’s Last Hope. If you like it, give us some feedback.

-Best

After I wrote this blog…which is lengthy, I get it… I found this video.

Watch it and tell me what you think.

THE CLIMATE CHANGE LIE: Bill Gates I do not want your money, declares fearless 31 year Harvard Scientist who has scientifically confirmed that CO2 Climate Change theory is a big lie used to control humanity. C02 is the gas of life, they are delusional, global warming is nothing.… pic.twitter.com/jpFoAV96M4
— Truth Justice ™ (@SpartaJustice) January 14, 2024

Musk, Anti-Semite? I don’t think so.

Not that Elon needs defending from a sci-fi author. The odds of him hating Jews and supporting Hamas are non-existent.

Much like other politicians, whoever the media disagrees with, they can take snippets of conversations and turn them into something they are not.

Let’s look at Twitter itself. Bots worldwide incite hate not only in the US but universally. Most probably, those bots originate in China, North Korea, or any host of countries that hate the US. There are people in the US who put forth hate speech as tweets, among other things, to piss off people who support Trump or…to play to the egos of those who hate Trump.

Elon, like Trump, is outspoken.

Before getting upset, use common sense and understand the full context of his actions.

In order to control the democratic process, it is necessary to divide the herd, the tribes, the masses and keep them distracted with stupid shit.

People are too ready to be pissed at something and be a victim. That is a fact and is problematic for your future.

Why would you give someone with an agenda that power over you?

If, for example, I say something like…Just because you eat bread and it comes out brown does not make you a toaster; what if you want to identify as a toaster?

It’s a free country. Try pop tarts!

My point is the media, either by proxy for the Uber rich or pure narcissism in need of ratings or clicks, is going well above the pale to piss people off.

Specific segments of the population are easily provoked. Those include people with limited critical thinking skills.

Circling back to the Elon tweet, ‘Hey, he tweeted it, the story is worth clicks. Let him defend it.’

Much like Trump, I guarantee that if you could meet them one on one and put all your biases aside after a brief visit, you would most probably like them. You would discover that the liberal press has tainted your View of the world.

My question for the critical thinkers out there is this. Why is the media or whoever controls them so afraid of Trump and or Elon? Whoever the media is attacking is someone you should probably look at their deeds and not what the propagandist wants you to hear.

The case in point is this. Where there is smoke, there’s fire. Yes, it’s a cliché, but the Bidens are not just involved in a mere scandal; instead, there is an abundance of evidence pointing towards a catastrophic nuclear disaster, yet the media seems preoccupied with irrelevant topics regarding a tweet.

Either focus on the candidate’s actions and not their tweets or identify as a lemming. The media seems hellbent on the destruction of the world.

If you download the RadioGarden app and listen to news from different countries, you will immediately see that conservatives everywhere are under attack.

Why?

Conservatives believe the government works for you the people, Liberals believe that you are too stupid to control your futures so they must do it for you. Do you remember being a deplorable or perhaps you remember the reference of being a smelly Walmart shopper?

When they discover how to control the votes, not precisely to voters, they will not need or care about you at all.

How will they control the voters?

By making you just educated enough to be a useful idiot.

By destroying history, so you will repeat it.

By using your emotions against you.

By playing you against those who have critical thinking skills and are aware that knowledge is power.

The Jews of WWII had a little more on the ball, so someone labeled them as the oppressors and the people who turned their back when they were being slaughtered as the oppressed. ‘Good they had it coming!’

They knew and did nothing.

That same scenario is playing out today and around the globe. It’s sad, really.

The litmus test is this. Are you better off now than you were four years ago? The media is telling you that you are. Americans are over a trillion dollars in credit card debt, and yet the liberal media is telling you how great things are.

Do you believe the media or your bank statements? It seems to me that those fat cat bankers with a trillion dollars of credit card debt at 30% interest might have a say in what the feds do with the interest rates. What do you think?

Do you really believe that someone with the IQ that Musk has would engage in Anti-Semitic behavior?

Again, ask yourself…Why is the media trying to destroy him?

I know, do you?

-Best

Behavior vs Addiction

I promised I would write about addiction in another blog post. Matt Walsh, who I agree with most of the time, dismisses food addiction as addiction. I disagree with him, and here is why.

Matt confuses behavior with addiction. Matt dismisses brain chemistry as addiction.

I will argue that behavior can be a precursor to addiction.

Years ago, someone informed me that once I tried cocaine, I would become addicted. I took their word at face value. In the back of my mind, I wondered, how is that possible?

When Matt argued against addiction, I wondered how people become addicted to self-injury?

Let’s look at a few non-drug-related addictions.

Gambling.
Video games
Pornography
Workaholism
Kleptomania
Pyromania
Compulsive buying disorder
Hoarding
Food Addiction
Social Media
Sex

These (and many more) start as behavioral issues.

Matt touches on this when he speaks about the brain reward system. I will also argue it was at this point that those issues that turned me from an agnostic to a believer in intelligent design. (GOD)

Whether constructive or destructive, those things that bring you glee become habits. Habits can turn into addictions in this way. When you first experience pleasure from any of those activities, the ‘high’ from dopamine released is a type of euphoria.

Repeated activities become less intense, thus forcing the perpetuation of those activities to a greater degree to achieve the same level of excitement or pleasure.

So, Matt and others. This is how someone can become addicted to just about anything.

Circling back to the cocaine dilemma… This drug is incredibly addictive because it dramatically stimulates the reward system more than online shopping. Like all addictions, the brain becomes accustomed to the reward, requiring more intensity or more of the chemical to achieve the same results.

In short, the brain is a drug store with molecules like cannabis.

Runners often feel a state of euphoria due to endocannabinoids. We know this as a runner’s high. These molecules act on your endocannabinoid system, which is affected by THC.

Exercising and practicing extreme cardio can release chemicals in your brain that make you addicted to the same euphoria. I know a man who is running a 50-mile marathon. He has been a runner for years, up to fifty miles. Think about it.

-Best

If you want more from author Scott Taylor, check out his book, ‘Earth’s Last Hope.’

Thanks in advance!

Honesty, Integrity, and Morality

When living in a new community, finding an honest broker becomes necessary.

One of the first things that I needed was a plumber. Let me begin by telling you that plumbing is not rocket science. I am not denigrating the vocation; most plumbers I know are successful because they have the right stuff when they have a job.

I also want to emphasize that plumbers, mechanics, electricians, and so on must make a profit.

If they charge $100 for five minutes of work, you are not paying for the five minutes but for the years of experience.

Some plumbing projects don’t require years of experience. A little common sense and research could be enough. I researched the problem and purchased the correct part and tool to replace the defective valve. I put the project on my to-do list.

Another project involved plumbing gas. I wanted a quote from a certified gas plumber.

I could plumb it, but leaking gas in the attic, wall, or house raises the experience quotient much higher. The shower valve’s worst-case scenario is it leaks water into a tub. Pick your battles and know your limitations.

The quote for the gas plumbing would have been free. I sweetened the deal with them. I told them that while they were here creating a scope of work and an estimate, they could change this valve for me. In that way, they could kill two birds…and get paid for their time.

I wanted to get a feel for their level of expertise and professionalism.

Other workers getting things set up for my eventual move witnessed the exchange.

Two young guys appeared instead of the older gentleman I spoke with at the plumbing company. One was most probably a plumber, and the other was a helper. This was obvious by their banter.

They focused on the valve, an ancillary project, not why I called them.

He struggled for 45 minutes. They used my valve and tool and presented me with an invoice for $215.

“What about the quote for the other work?”

“Oh…, I will do that,” he said. The quote wasn’t even an afterthought. He forgot about it.

He made notes and told me he would get back to me.

One of the other men working on another project stopped what he was doing and laughed. “You just got screwed.”

I nodded. “True, but guess who I won’t be using to do this major plumbing job!?”

They installed the valve, which functions, but did not install it correctly. A mechanical stop must be in place, but it is not.

When you hire people to represent your company, following up with your customers is something you should prioritize. Customers should test the ‘professional’ with something simple to see how they work, charge, etc.

When I tell the story to others, who ask if I know a plumber, they want to know about the quote. I never got the quote. The kid didn’t follow through.

“Are you going to call and get it?”

“Not from them. Even if it were free, I wouldn’t want them doing the work.”

Contractors should display some modicum of morality. Ethics are lacking, and the trend is not for the better. If he half-assed a simple shower valve install and charged like a seasoned professional, think about them running a gas pipe in the attic, walls, etc.

From the City to the Country

Age might play into this calculus of what I am about to share.

4:44 AM, my eyes pop open. The digital clock doesn’t lie. In years past, I would think to myself, I still have a few hours to sleep.

I believed it was still too early to leave my bed this morning. The weather was fifty-odd degrees with a slight breeze from the north. I attempted to silence my brain.

The thought of coffee was the last straw. With that piping hot brew warming my hands, the first sip set the stage for the rest of the day.

Stepping onto the porch with my bare feet, I had mixed emotions about the hazards if my scorpion frenemies were out and about.

I love the feel of grass and even cement on my bare feet.

The breeze from the north circled around me as I peeked at the twinkling lights above.

Orion, one of my favorite constellations, greeted me, making it worth my efforts to leave a warm bed. This picture was taken with my iPhone, just holding it with a three-second exposure. Amazing!

I expected another celestial event that was scheduled for that day.

Those strange-looking shadows are images of the moon eclipsing the sun. Using the pinhole camera technique with tree leaves and, oddly enough, my blinds…I never looked up.

Yes, images on the rug of the eclipse that was in progress.

The temperature dropped during the eclipse, which I found interesting.

Before dusk, I walked the block. There were many children at play. Their voices echoed through the woods, reminding me of days when I had the simple instructions to be home before the streetlights came on.

Many deer stopped to look at the other animals of the two-legged variety in the forest.

The breeze off the lake refreshed other memories, too.

Life is short. I encourage you to smell the roses, a metaphor for living your life.

Ok, not a rose…

-Best

Misery Index

There are a select few who know history and know how to manipulate the masses. In generic terms, to the elite, the masses are nothing more than useful idiots.

It is no accident that despots throughout history were elected; they are more intelligent than the average person and took the time to understand the animal known as a human.

We, The People, elect leaders to focus on the things that matter. Family, friends, and a lifestyle that is comfortable and safe.

Anyone with a brain lives for today but plans for tomorrow.

Our tomorrows are slowly being eroded as Bidonomics is robbing the masses of their savings, forcing many into credit card debt and stealing retirement accounts through inflation.

Some of our leaders are so drunk with power that they are addicted. At some point, I will explain addiction in terms that even the dimwitted can understand it. Today, I want to focus on why you ‘feel’ how you do.

Soros and his ilk have more money than sense. He has compared himself to God.

While working at the Texas Medical Center, I knew many doctors who thought they were God.

The God complex is universal when it comes to those in power.

The power to save lives.
The power to ruin lives.
The power to manipulate economies.
The power to change the natural evolution of humanity.

The key word is power. The more they have, the more they want.

While money and power often go hand in hand, knowledge is much more powerful.

The only thing that trumps knowledge is wisdom.

Just because I can do it, should I?

With limited exceptions, most world leaders understand that the world is over once you push the launch button on nukes. There can be no winners. That is a fact.

While Einstein and his ilk were brilliant, they lacked wisdom. They lacked the knowledge to understand human nature. They gave the despots a superweapon because they understood the ATOM Fission and the physics that went along with it.

I address this in story format in my book Earth’s Last Hope.

You don’t give a child a loaded gun nor give demigods the power to destroy the whole planet.

Any invention today, ANY INVENTION, will be scrutinized by some to understand its potential as a weapon.

The God Complex is part of human nature.

The God Complex is a character flaw that is part of Narcissism.

A wise person would ask themselves, when is enough enough?

Feinstein, Pelosi, and their ilk lack wisdom. How much money is enough?

Why would you spend your entire life wielding your evil prowess on the world when you have enough money to be happy? They are drunk with power and lack wisdom. The hell of it is they think they are doing good.

Our leaders have no clue what the average person goes through daily. They don’t know what it is like to try and sleep at night and worry about how the water bill will get paid. They have never been happy to find cheap soup, five for a dollar. They don’t clip coupons.

Those people have the best doctors, security, and so on. They don’t understand what it’s like to worry about some thug attacking them for a twenty-dollar fix.

I cannot stand stupidity disguised as wisdom. While it infuriates me, some absorb toxicity to feed their inner demons. Many thrive on hate. They want to be mad. Some authors post scathing things ‘that they heard on the view.’

The talking heads getting millions of dollars a year to lie to us don’t understand what they are doing to the natural evolution of mankind. My feelings are that the talking heads don’t care.

I have said this before, and it is worth repeating that most actors are vapid creatures you wouldn’t want to meet in real life.

Actors and the DC elite have this symbiotic relationship as they are the same type of swamp monsters living in total depravity while loathing the people they purport to champion. Without writers, the late-night ‘comedians’ would be rather dull.

Without writers, the Thespians of the world would simply be another pretty face. We give the elite power by holding them in high esteem.

Circling back to the misery index, what does it matter, you might ask.

The higher the index, the more readily the masses will be ready to vote for someone who promises to improve their lives.

I want you to think about this last analogy before I stop typing…

When you were small and hurt yourself, your mommy probably kissed it and made it all better.

As you grew up and skinned your knees, mommy was there to cure the boo-boo and, if she were smart, would use it as a teaching moment. ‘Johnny, this wouldn’t have happened if you were not running in the house.’

From touching the hot stove to riding your bike on a busy street, you went to the one who could improve it.

Despots and politicians want to be mommies. They point out what is wrong and then blame the other guy. Elect them, and they will fix it.

Biden ran on making it all better. Are you better off today than you were in 2020?

Is the world better off today than in 2020?

If you said yes to either, you are most probably part of the problem.

Soros and his ilk spend millions to control the misery index before an election.

You need to be miserable, in debt, in bad health, working two jobs, and so on, so they can usher in a messiah.

While their end goal is a one-world government, many will have to die before it can become a reality. Which Despot will have total control over the Earth? Our open borders policy by this administration is a precursor of things to come.

Give us your poor, you huddling masses.. Yeah, give us more slaves so when the entitled brats in the US can’t find work, we can remove their voice by taking their money.

History is replete with this foolishness, and it works every time. How it works is simple. People are too damned lazy to learn history. In fact, few will read this far in this blog post to understand the points I am making.

Congratulations if you are one of the few who will read this far. You should follow me if you haven’t already.

Audiobooks are more popular than ever; why??? People are too damned lazy to read.

Ignorance of history and apathy are the politicians’ friends. I know many who approve of this administration. Why do they side with this administration? They listen to the talking heads blaming the misery on someone else and don’t bother to look at the facts.

The Universities get funding from the Soross of the world if they teach the right things like socialism.

Global Warming and Climate change are the rock falling from the sky ’chicken little.’ Teach things that will scare the sheep so we can control them with fear.

And how many genders are there today?

Masks don’t work, can’t work, but few understood why and chose to wear the obedience diaper on their faces. Be very afraid so we can tell you when it is safe to come out of your holes in the ground.

Think of this metaphor.

One four-legged white and black dog with a loud bark herds hundreds of sheep by chasing the sheep and barking. Sheep are stupid animals and react to stimuli. They run to where the bark (noise) isn’t.

We, the people, run to where the pain is less, even though the sheepdog puts us into a corner for the slaughter.

Look for the misery index to increase in election years.

You can bleat all you like, but you will never be free or happy until you understand how the dog is manipulating you and you take action against the dog.

The action I refer to is knowledge. While it is a cliché, knowledge is power.

There was a reason it was illegal to teach a slave to read.

There is a reason that the teachers union is in bed with the elite. Teach the masses just enough to be valuable idiots and brainwash the more intelligent sheep to believe that Stalin and his ilk were good people.

Obliterate history from statues to books so the sheep will have to believe the folks on cable news who tell them who to blame for their troubles.

Propaganda is rife; one day, the world will understand that Morning Mica is a paid propagandist.

If you want to support my efforts … Take a look at my latest novel. Earth’s Last Hope is a sci-fi with overtones of life on this planet. It’s light on science with an attractive redhead with daddy issues.

-Best

Writing Contest, Should You Enter?

Is it a good idea to enter contests?

I harken back to why I first put pen to paper way back when I was a child. Before English classes were part of my routine, I wrote. To be fair, I also drew and took part in other creative expressions, including teaching myself to play the guitar.

Why writing?
Why contests?
What is the larger picture?

Ancient movies might give false hope to writers. Dragging the carriage of an old typewriter back to the starting point a million times or so in the hopes of creating a best-selling novel might seem like a great idea. Still, I think it is the wrong reason to write.

I write for the same reasons I paint or play music; I do it for myself.

Losing oneself in a world you create is the only reward I can count on. Sorry if that bursts your bubble, but it is the truth of it. The same goes for painting or, yes, music.

‘But, there are famous artists, and look at these books that have sold millions of copies.’

Yes, that is true, and look at the lottery ticket winners; see, the comparison is not as estranged as one might think.

While I create stories, paintings, and music for my own pleasure, there is that fantasy that lives in the back of my mind that this book will be one that will sell.

So, to answer the first bullet point, write to please yourself. The odds are that others might also like your book if you are happy with your creation.

To respond to the second bullet point contest.

I have entered multiple contests and won many. Winning local contests affirms your writing; not winning is a wake-up call that you must improve something. The something is the bugaboo. What is it that you need to improve?

I will address this in a future blog. For now, I want to focus on which contests you should enter.

Lately, I have entered the Reedsy contest. Usually, there are about 300 entries that pay five dollars per entry. It doesn’t take a mathematician to figure out this is a business.

The cards are stacked in their favor, much like any gambling house, casino, or slot machine.

Why it works is simple: they prey on one’s ego.

Analyzing winning stories, it didn’t take long to determine that the judges were swayed by emotion. The judges are volunteers and could be anyone.

Reedsy is in the UK, as are their contributors, and so on. Idioms they use don’t resonate with Americans. Conversely, stories and styles written by Americans don’t seem to resonate with their judges.

In conclusion to the second bullet point, I would focus on contests in your backyard. If you live in New York, your story might not resonate with a judge in Alabama or vice versa, and most certainly not with some judge in the UK.

That is not always the case; however, keep that fact in mind.

The third bullet point that ties this all together is simply considering your audience. I continue to search for the algorithm of a best seller. Quite literally, you are shooting at a moving target. To spot your audience, one must almost be a time traveler with insight into the future.

While not as challenging as picking the correct lottery numbers for a specific day and time, it is almost as tricky.

Several authors have written how-to books on the subject.

This will sound cynical, but…if they are all knowledgable, where is their best seller?

I have their books on how to do this, and they have some value for the foundation of your novel. What they don’t have is ‘the magic formula.’

In conclusion to the title…I would keep it local and look for contests that don’t charge an entry fee unless…you get feedback on your entry, no matter what.

On Reedsy, you might get comments from those who read it; you want professional feedback.

As I venture forward in this world of words, I will continue to pontificate on what I have learned. The good news is that it won’t be in some how-to book you must pay for.

Click to follow, yes.
Sign up for my updates, certainly…Why not?
Comment occasionally, sure. I love to hear from you.
Buy my book Earth’s Last Hope… Yes, that keeps me going. I am currently working on a book about witchcraft… Seems prudent for Halloween, don’t you think?

-Best

Pride and Petulance

Show of hands, who watched the debate on the 27^th?

If you can’t name all the contestants, you’re not alone.

Clearly, the debate was tantamount to the kid’s table at some holiday dinner. Zero, nada, none of those contestants are fit to sit at the adult table. It would be in this order if I were to vote someone off the island. The guy with the dark eyebrows and Colonel Sander’s haircut would be my number one choice to go home.

Second to go would be the captain of the fried chicken-eating team with a large mouth. Yes, a neocon who thinks funding endless wars in other countries is wise.

Third to go would be the loudmouth neocon, who gets dumber with each sentence she speaks. Sorry, Nikki, you are part of the problem. I have listened to your policies and don’t agree with you on almost everything.

Ron Desantis was and is a strong contender. He has a track record, and his policies are pretty solid.

Vivek Ramaswami … His first hurdle is his ethnicity. Private polling suggests conservatives don’t want an Indian in the White House. That is a sad statement. We must factor that fact into the calculus to derive an answer close to correct. Americans need to know who he is and what he stands for, not just that he is an Indian.

I have taken the battle to many who say such things. They should listen to this man. His age and name will harm his chances as a first-time run for the CEO of America.

I would like to see him spend some time in Congress and get his knuckles bloody fighting the incompetence that is so rife in the Swamp. BTW, there is nothing wrong with people from India.

Tim Scott. I like this man. I also think Petulance is his middle name. Between him and Nikki, it sounded like a schoolyard argument. Is not, is too, is not, is too … The show was pathetic, and neither of them was ready to sit in the oval and command life-or-death decisions on behalf of the country.

Pence.. Politician, polished at practicing propaganda. He and the current VP have much in common; they talk much and say nothing…

Where the heck is Tulsi Gabbert, she needs to run.

-Best