Electra Blue

A Short Story by Alan Walsh

 

 Black ice brought on by fresh rain and freezing night air made driving conditions dangerous & tiring for the Deputy Sheriff making his mountain rounds; so he decided to stop at his favorite turnout for a rest & smoke. He lit up while gazing down into the valley at the village that was his next stop. The contrast of bright village lights against the dark valley floor, and the towering mountains all around, touched a part of his soul. The air was crisp, dead-still, and rain-sweet in the aftermath of the storm.

Long before his conscious mind kicked in, his subconscious detected a subtle change. Slowly the valley took on a blue hue that crept part-way up the surrounding mountainsides. It had an eerie “electric” quality about it, but there was no sound emitted and no detectable sparking or movement in the valley. It brightened in intensity to the point of being uncomfortable to watch. As he turned away and reached for his shades, the light suddenly blinked out; like someone had thrown a switch. The valley was immediately plunged into cave-black darkness. No blue hue.. no village lights.. no nothin’. Only faint moonlight painted the upper slopes of the surrounding mountains.

The Deputy assumed a power outage, and headed down the mountain to see if they needed assistance. The village was utterly pitch-black. Only his headlights provided illumination. Not a soul in sight. Given the time of night, this didn’t surprise him too much; but then a realization came to him. No light anywhere. Not even candlelight. Most people would be asleep and blissfully unaware, but every burg has it’s night crawlers; and they were nowhere to be seen. Cruising around, he searched out likely places for people to congregate. The local diner, which he knew stayed open for night workers, was dark and silent. The door was unlocked, and there were signs of recent activity, but no one was home. The tiny city hall, the school, the town auditorium.. all deserted. He found an unlocked car and tried the horn & headlights.. nothing. Not a soul to be seen anywhere. He stopped and banged on a couple of doors. He drove around cranking his siren and “Mickey Mouse” lights. No response. Everything looked perfectly in order; except for no light.. no power.. and no people. The hair on his neck & arms stood on end, and a creep settled into his soul.

Things were getting over his pay-grade fast, so he jumped on his radio to call in. No response. The repeater up-mountain apparently wasn’t working. At this point, there was only one thing to do. He headed out to the nearest Forest Service fire lookout station.

Relief at last.. lights and people! No one there knew a thing. A mountain sat between the village and their locale. A couple Rangers tried to call places they knew in the village, and got busy signals. Using their phone to call his headquarters, the Deputy reached a bored desk sergeant who listened to his story and then said “damn transformer probably blew.. would explain the weird blue light. These are tough mountain folk. They’ll be okay. Move on and finish your patrol. We’ll check on ‘em in the morning”.

The next day, a Ranger rolled into the village for an early breakfast.. and soon found himself rushing out to the lookout post with his skin crawling. A phone call later, Sheriffs were rushing up the mountain. They found the town intact and untouched.. with no one home. No bodies.. no indications of a mass exodus.. no nothin’. State and federal officials were called.. searches conducted.. tests done.. no answers.. not a single clue. The village was cordoned off, and everyone sat outside the newly-established “danger zone” scratching their heads in shock and disbelief. Drivers were rerouted by the excuse of a landslide, and the whole matter was hushed up tight.

A private pilot crossing the mountains next spotted an eerie blue light below that suddenly brightened and blinked out. It was broad daylight, so a light of that size & intensity had to be really significant; especially in the largely vacant mountains. A post-landing call was made, and he next found himself locked in an interrogation room at the regional Air Force base. The GPS position of the sighting was determined, and once again authorities descended on an uninhabited mountain village. At this point, the response escalated rapidly

An overall Area Army Commander was assigned, who set up shop at the sizeable regional Sheriff’s headquarters down in the flats overlooking the mountains; with connections to the Air Force, National Guard, Police, and other civic assets of surrounding towns. The entire mountain range was emptied and cordoned off. Every conceivable asset was utilized to observe and search for answers; intelligence satellites repositioned.. electronic assets scanning the skies.. aircraft, military, and police personnel scouring the mountains.

No one observed a thing.. until the night a satellite sensed simultaneous blue lights across three mountain locales. There had been police and military observers in those three villages. No one heard from them, and they were gone along with all the villagers. Their equipment sat where they left it; lifeless.

There was no hiding the events from the press anymore. The Area Commander put out a public call for help from anyone who might have observed anything even remotely useful. Hours & hours were wasted taking calls from nut-cases. Front page headlines screamed for answers. Politicians pressured. Family & friends of the missing congregated and held vigils; when not pressuring the authorities. National media pitched camp and interviewed everyone in sight. Self-proclaimed experts put out “end-of-the-world” warnings. UFO nuts held signs up to the sky inviting “ET” down. A wide array of personnel, equipment, and weapons sat on alert. Nerves were heavily frayed.

Two weeks passed without event, so tensions eased a bit. The alert level was lowered. Assets were slowly pulled off for other needs. Politicians complained about the cost. Searches wound down. Local leaders commiserated about the pressure they were under, and their utter inability to provide any answers whatsoever. Everyone held their breath, praying that the bizarre horror was over.

The Area Commander made his daily update call to the President. “No, Mr. President, I’m sorry but we have no answers. Not a clue. Every conceivable asset has been brought to bear, and we’re no further ahead than we were at the beginning..” As he spoke, the Commander’s aid was pulling on his arm. At first he ignored it, but it was getting rougher and he eventually covered the phone receiver with his hand to deliver a sharp rebuke. His eyes turned to the aid, and he saw the man looking out the window.. white as a ghost. His eyes followed to where the aid was looking.. out the window.. toward the mountains.. and after a momentary pause for recognition, he dropped the phone.

The entire mountain range was bathed in blue light. It was brightening, and expanding rapidly.. spilling over the local foothills.. down into the flatlands.. straight toward them.

A New Day: A Short Story by Alan Walsh

A New Day

A Short Story by Alan Walsh

At first, there was no fuss. The Defense Secretary walked into the Oval Office for his 10 AM meeting, stepped back out in a moment, and said..  “So, where’s the Prez?”  The Secretary looked up and said..  “He’s in there!  Been there for two hours.  Must be in the John.”  A Secret Service agent overheard the conversation and quickly canvassed the room.  Coming out, he said..  “John’s empty.  No one there.  Whole room’s empty.”  Rapid inquiries were made in the adjoining offices.. then outward throughout the entire complex.  Then..  panic set in.

The White House was buttoned down and searched top to bottom..  searched again..  then searched again.  No one was allowed in or out.  Business came to a screeching halt.  Finally, dumbfounded and feeling ashamed, the Secret Service reported that the President was nowhere to be found. “It’s as if he vanished into space.”

A lid of secrecy was clamped down. White House staff went through hell as they were individually interviewed at length; each interview being more heated and intense. The President’s agenda was cancelled, and excuses distributed to the press.  The Vice President and Cabinet were quietly found and spirited into the White House; setting up nervous shop in the Situation Room.  The military was quietly put on alert.. without explanation except to the Joint Chiefs.  Not even Congress was informed, for fear of a leak. No one knew what to say..  or what to do next.  A surreal state set in. The press got wind of a story, and was snooping around hard for answers.  Tempers were short and getting shorter.

After two days of frenetic but fruitless activity, the senior leaders were confronted with the reality that the President was nowhere to be found.. yet the government must go on.  It was all so bizarre.  “Impossible”.. people kept saying under their breath.  Arrangements were made for the Chief Justice to slip in and swear-in the Vice President.  An announcement for 5 PM was announced to the press; without further elaboration.  As the short-list of witnesses assembled for the private swearing-in, a Secret Service agent came running in and breathlessly blurted out.. “The President’s been found!” The Vice President turned and asked.. “Where?”

Where indeed!  An agent on the roof spotted someone standing in the middle of the South Lawn.  At first he didn’t believe his own eyes. He looked twice more through his rifle scope before accepting the evidence.  By then, others had seen the figure and rushed in. Moments later, the President was mobbed by security and literally carried into the building.  Some tourists witnessed the event, tongues started wagging, and it wasn’t long before the press was baying hot on the hunt.

Many questions and a thorough hospital checkup later, there was no progress. When first asked, the President said.. “One minute I was at my desk, and the next I was on the lawn. What happened?”. His story never changed. Other than looking a bit like a deer in the headlights, there were no indications that the President was mentally or physically incapacitated.  Everyone had questions, and no one had answers. Many people aged that day. But life and government go on, so at the scheduled 5:00 announcement the Press Secretary spun a tale about the President picking up a mild bug that laid him low temporarily, and business started to settle down to some semblance of a routine. Nothing was said about the President being on the South Lawn, and reporters finally got tired of posing questions to impassive, silent faces.  But one thing fundamentally changed. White House staff started looking at each other with a suspicion that wasn’t there before.  Fear had crept into the White House.

Two days later, the CIA Director was heading back from a meeting when his secretary handed him a message that read.. “Dragon – Noon – Usual”.  Soon he left Langley and headed into the city where he directed his driver to a place on the Mall. He hopped out of the car and told his security detail to wait down the street; then he walked to a particular bench and sat down.  A couple minutes later, an elderly Chinese man joined him on the bench. After a moment’s silence, the man said “Hello old friend. How’s the President?”. Grunted response.. “Fine ..pause.. How’s the Premier?”. “A bit like a stunned animal. Sound familiar”? Eyebrows rose. “We can guess what happened here, because the same happened to us”.  More raised eyebrows, and a surprised turn of the head. “Naturally we were able to contain our incident better.  We have no explanation.  Do your people”?  A quiet “No”. “These are very strange times. We must stay in touch.” A grunted “Yes” .. and the CIA Director was off to his limo.  Discrete inquiries to assets in Beijing indicated that “something” had happened on the day in question. Appropriate leaders were quietly advised, but what to do? There was nothing to investigate; no minute shred of a clue to follow. Only questions.

One week later, a Cabinet Meeting was winding down when the President turned to the Labor Secretary and asked “How’s that cancer treatment coming along?” The Labor Secretary froze in his tracks. He had contracted bladder cancer two months ago, the tumor had been removed, and he had been quietly receiving treatments without saying anything to anyone except his wife and immediate family; swearing them all to secrecy. Pause.. “Fine Mr. President ..longer pause.. How did you know?”  “Don’t remember. You must have told me.” All eyes in the room turned to observe the dazed look and white face of the Labor Secretary. Over the following days, the President demonstrated several more moments of exceptional and unexplainable mental talent.

Another meeting called by Dragon.. “Our Premier seems to have newly-enhanced capabilities. Same with you?” A surprised.. “Yes”.  “Check the President’s DNA”.. as he rose and walked away.

It was time for the President’s annual physical, therefore a convenient opportunity for discrete sampling. Two days later.. “The President has two additional chromosomes.” “Two more than any other human. Two more than any human being ever.”

Across the cold vastness of space, quiet voices communicated unobserved.  “Have the seed implants taken?” “Yes, and we’re seeing the expected results”. “Good. Begin seeding the next group, and if all goes well seed the whole planet.  Keep me informed of progress”.

End

Cruisin’: A Poem Seeking the Right Music

By:  Alan Walsh

 Feeling creative today. Wrote a poem. Any music writers out there?  I’d love to put this to music.

 

Cruising in the dark of night,

Lost in thought under pale moonlight,

Glad no one’s here..  Don’t feel alone,

Need time to sort my troubled soul

 

You left a note..  you went away,

I saw it coming..  that’s okay,

But damn it baby..  it still hurts,

Feel like I’ve been dragged through dirt

 

Got to get my head on straight,

Before I face another day

 

Stop at dive bathed in neon lights,

Stomach’s gurgling.. need a bite,

Pretty young thing saunters up,

Chats me up and fills my cup,

We trade stories..  she’s alone,

Got no one..  nowhere to go

 

Next thing we roll to her place,

Grab a bag.. we’re on our way

 

Sun is rising..  brand new day,

Thinking that I’ll be okay

A Dummy’s Guide to the 2007-2008 Financial Crisis

Helga is the proprietor of a bar.  She realizes that virtually all of her customers are unemployed alcoholics and, as such, can no longer afford to patronize her bar.

To solve this problem, she comes up with a new marketing plan that allows her customers to drink now, but pay later.  Helga keeps track of the drinks consumed on a ledger; thereby granting her customers loans.

Word gets around about Helga’s “drink now, pay later” marketing strategy and as a result, increasing numbers of customers flood into Helga’s bar.  Soon she has the largest sales volume for any bar in town.

By providing her customers freedom from immediate payment demands, Helga gets no resistance when, at regular intervals, she substantially increases her prices for wine and beer; the most consumed beverages.

Consequently, Helga’s gross sales volume increases massively.  A young and dynamic vice-president at the local bank recognizes that these customer debts constitute valuable future assets and increases Helga’s borrowing limit.

He sees no reason for any undue concern, since he has the debts of the unemployed alcoholics as collateral.  At the bank’s corporate headquarters, expert traders figure a way to make huge commissions; and transform these customer loans into DRINKBONDS.

These “securities” then are bundled and traded on international securities markets.

Naive investors don’t really understand that the securities being sold to them as “AA Secured Bonds” are really debts of unemployed alcoholics.  Nevertheless, the bond prices continuously climb, and the securities soon become the hottest-selling items for some of the nation’s leading brokerage houses.

One day, even though the bond prices still are climbing, a risk manager at the original local bank decides that the time has come to demand payment on the debts incurred by the drinkers at Helga’s bar.  He so informs Helga, who then demands payment from her alcoholic patrons.  But being unemployed alcoholics, they cannot pay back their drinking debts.

Since Helga cannot fulfill her loan obligations she is forced into bankruptcy.  The bar closes and Helga’s 11 employees lose their jobs.

Overnight, DRINKBOND prices drop by 90%.  The collapsed bond asset value destroys the bank’s liquidity and prevents it from issuing new loans, thus freezing credit and economic activity in the community.  The suppliers of Helga’s bar had granted her generous payment extensions and had invested their firms’ pension funds in the BOND securities.  They find they are now faced with having to write off her bad debt and with losing over 90% of the presumed value of the bonds.

Her wine supplier also claims bankruptcy, closing the doors on a family business that had endured for three generations.  Her beer supplier is taken over by a venture capital asset management firm; which immediately closes the local plant and lays off 150 workers.

Fortunately though – the bank, the brokerage houses, and their respective executives are saved and bailed out by a multi-billion dollar no-strings-attached cash infusion from the government.

The funds required for this bailout are obtained by new taxes levied on employed, middle-class, non-drinkers who’ve never been in Helga’s bar.

Now do you understand?

Setting Up A Blog Site – My Thoughts

By Alan Walsh

I’ve had a lot  of questions from people looking for advice on setting up a Blog site.

I’ll try to cover some of the more common questions:

FREE OR PAY?

 This is a no-brainer.  Why pay if you don’t have to; especially when you’re getting started.  I use WordPress, and it’s worked out well for me.  They have lots of available setup options, and I’ve had no troubles.  Their spam filter has saved me a lot of trouble.  With the investment of a little time & effort, I’ve built a blog site that I’m pretty happy with.  Ask yourself if you want to spend your time doing site administration, or blogging.   It’s up to you.

WHAT TO WRITE … WHAT TO WRITE?

Obviously you have a purpose in mind for wanting to set up a blog.  Perhaps you have a business and you’re trying to reach new customers.  You might have a hobby or avocation you’re interested in and want to talk about. Stick with subject matter you’re interested in.  Choose discussions that interest you, and in which you have some expertise or valid opinions to share.  Don’t talk down to people, and on the other hand don’t be timid.  Just lay it out there and let them make up their own minds.  If you’re trying to attract attention to a business, offer readers something worthwhile that will make them want to come back.  You don’t have to be formal.  Write as if you’re talking across the table to a lunch-partner.  The reason most would-be bloggers haven’t gotten started is fear.  Just get started, and let experience be your guide as you go along.  Don’t be a “big chicken”. You’ll be able to tell from statistics provided by WordPress, and by reader comments, which articles attract the most interest.  If you reall screw up and do something dumb, you can always edit or delete it.  Nothing’s written in blood.  Remember that writing’s a creative process which is learned with experience.  My writing skills come from three decades of writing in the business world.  I had to learn to relax my writing style a little bit to be a more effective blogger.  The style that works for a Board of Directors is usually not appropriate for entry-level entrepreneurs.

Remember that the more narrow and specialized your topics are, the fewer interested people there will be.  That’s not necessarily a bad thing.  It all depends on what you’re trying to accomplish.

Oh yeah, by the way, have fun with it.  It’s a creative process, and it’s all yours.

SPAM – THE GREAT ANNOYANCE.

If you have a blog, you will get spam.  That’s a simple fact of life.   Like vampires, some people try to live off the life-blood of others; or wreck their endeavors for some sick sense of power.  Just live with it.  There’s lots of fools and opportunists out there who will choke your site with spam if you let them.  Clean it out regularly.  WordPress makes that pretty easy. At least on WordPress I haven’t had any problems with hackers getting in.

READER COMMENTS.

Don’t let too many comments pile up, no matter how interesting or flattering, because they will slow down readers’ ability to load your blog site.  If people can’t load it quickly and easily, they won’t read it.  Clean out the old comments periodically.

BLOG SITE FORMAT.

Use common sense.  Experiment.  Look at what others have done.  WordPress offers lots of options.  Choose a style that suits your subject matter.  If you’re discussing something serious, like business, you’ll want to go with a fairly conservative style.  If you’re discussing artistic endeavors, you might want to go with a more liberal and creative style.  Choose something that suits your subject matter and your personality.  After all, it’s your blog.  Don’t ask me to tell you exactly how to set up a Blog site just like mine; like some people have.  There’s plenty of options available.  Look around, and choose your own.

LINKS.

Remember that you can insert links to materials you’ve posted at other internet locations.  For instance, I’ve included links to my business advice library, which I posted on Slideshare.  Be creative.  Study WordPress and use the resources that are available to you.

USING OTHER PEOPLES’ MATERIALS.

Be careful.  In this more open information-era, there are a number of materials you can access & reprint without violating peoples’ copyright privileges.  Some even welcome it.  But even then, use common sense & proper decorum and give full credit to the authors.  Don’t ever try to take credit for other peoples’ work.  Unfortunately, unscrupulous people violate copyrights and try to take credit all the time. They also get sued.  I’ve had readers point out work of mine that they’ve seen at other locations.  Sometines I don’t care.  Sometimes I do.  Usually, bad karma eventually comes to those who cheat. It’s a small world, and they don’t fool anyone for long.  If you see something somewhere else that you want to include in your blog, but you’re not sure about their copyright, post a brief of the article with a link to the original.  Even big publishers usually don’t care if you use a little of the material; just enough to attract the reader’s attention to the link.  Perhaps the 1st paragraph or two.  After all, their readership benefits from you pointing out their articles.

UNSOLICITED ADVICE.

The internet’s full of fools who offer unsolicited advice.  They usually do it because they’re trying to attract attention to themselves.  Sometimes they say incredibly stupid things.  I post serious articles about serious topics, but one fool keeps “complaining” that I need to put in more pictures and videos.  To him I say - ”Perhaps it’s a reflection on your intellectual prowess”.  In any event, stick to your guns and do what you think is right.  Don’t let fools distract you with their nonsense.

So, what are you waiting for?  Get busy!

- – -

PS – I can always tell when something I’ve said annoys a spammer.  Suddenly I get buried in spam.  I will expect a spate of it after posting this article.  It take me about 30 seconds to delete it all.  So, who’s the loser?

- – -

If you’re interested in articles and advice on Business, Economy, and Career – look around this site.  I’ve got nearly 1,000 items posted.  The RSS feed can be found on the HOME page, and you can find links to all the resources I offer.

- – -

If you like this article, click the stars below and rate it, or post a comment.

The Unseen Taxes That You Pay Every Day

by Stephen Simpson
Monday, January 24, 2011

The old joke says that nothing is certain in life but death and taxes, and medical science has done a lot to forestall the former. Although nobody enjoys paying taxes, most people probably do not realize how they permeate our daily lives. Simply put, one way or another, we pay taxes on almost anything and everything we do.

To illustrate how the tax burden can be spread around, consider the “tax trail” on a few common daily items:

Gasoline

The taxes on a gallon of gas start as soon as the oil comes out of the well. Although negotiated contracts, sweetheart deals, kickbacks and cross-cutting legislative actions can dramatically muddy the waters when it comes to assessing an “average” royalty in many countries, the fact is that companies like Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM – News) and BP (NYSE: BP – News) owe the landowner and/or the state money whenever they remove oil and natural gas. In the United States for instance, companies pay a royalty of 12.5% on oil taken from onshore Federal lands, and that is an addition to so-called “bonus bids” that are paid upfront.

If that oil travels through a pipeline to reach a refinery (and much of it does), there’s more taxation there – states and municipalities will charge property tax on the pipelines, and some also charge tax based on the volume of oil or gas sent through the pipeline. What’s more, pipeline tariffs are often restricted by law, which is in effect a tax as well.

Once the oil gets to the refinery, there’s still more taxation that figures into the final pump price. Although excise tax is collected at different times and at different levels, the federal tax on gasoline amounts to a little over $0.18 per gallon, with states tacking on more tax (ranging from $0.07 to $0.30 per gallon depending upon the state). Don’t forget, too, that many states tack on their regular sales tax every time you buy gasoline.

[See Tax Breaks That Anyone Can Claim]

As the infomercials say, “but wait, there’s more!” From the wellhead to the filling station, employers have to pay taxes on their employees’ wages, property taxes on facilities, corporate income taxes and other incidental taxes like vehicle registration. While some of this does not necessarily pass on to the consumer (many economists have demonstrated the employees pay for their employer’s taxes in the form of lower wages), most of it does.

Link to Full Article

More Good Stuff

If you like what you see here and want more – go to the HOME PAGE of this Blog (green tab at top of page) and you’ll find links to lots of other good stuff. The other tabs will take you to good stuff too.

Al Walsh