Writing Inspiration

 So I recently picked up a system called the Story Engine Deck, I just got it and haven't really played around with it much, but the idea is, basically, cards that you can use to create a seed of a story idea. You draw a card for your character, a card for their anchor or motivation, a focus of that, and a conflict. Each card has 2 or 4 options on the card and there are cards that can be added to incorporate modifiers to card. The idea isn't to fully create a story, but to give an idea. An idea that can be used for a character, a plot seed to expand and grow into a story, or a motivation for a character. A source of inspiration for when you may be drawing a blank.

 Some might ask, why not use a random plot generator, isn't that what it basically is anyway? Or these days people would more likely go 'why not use AI'?

 On the surface, it is a valid question. And there is nothing wrong with using a random plot generator or character generator if you are drawing a blank, so I'm not saying that they are bad. The difference here is that, while there is an element of 'randomness' in the deck system it's still based on choice ... the whole concept is to draw a random card, look at it, and then decide what feels right, it even encourages going back and adjusting or replacing previous cards if the idea feels better, and one suggestion is to have the cards face up and choose rather than drawing completely randomly. 

 Here the 'random' factor is a way of getting you out of your own head, a way to step back and grab onto an idea and run with it. You may ultimately decide that it doesn't work for what you want, but just going through the exercise might give you a piece of inspiration that cracks whatever block you were having about your project or even it you don't use the prompt exactly as it came up it can still spark a new idea if you're looking for a new project.

 Yes, a random idea generator or random character generator can do something similar, but I'm not as involved in that, I'm not guiding the formation of the idea. My creativity isn't being tapped, isn't being engaged as the prompt is being created. This will lead to some people still pointing to AI, and yes, I think there are potentially AI tools out that can simulate this type of system, even expounding on it. And no, I don't think that is a bad use case for AI ... other than the fact that AI in general is 1 - a misnomer ... these tools aren't intelligent and don't actively learn ... correct one and ask again later in another conversation and it will likely give you the original incorrect response. But more importantly 2 - these systems as they are currently implemented are horrendously bad for the environment, the economy, and the communities that have had their data centers built in them.

 Additionally, studies are already showing that people that use AI more are showing less and less problem solving ability and basic critical thinking skills. I'm not saying dumb people use AI ... I'm saying that AI makes people stop thinking. Teachers thought Cliff Notes were bad back in my school days, chatGPT is worse a thousand times over, not the least of which because it can be horribly inaccurate to start with, but also because it is ruining students ability to read and comprehend because it just gives them the answer. I mentioned this a little in my previous ramble as well. Worse as employees start using it more to write emails and reports, many aren't double checking information accuracy, not because they're lazy, but because they don't know how to analyze the data themselves to KNOW that what the AI came up with was wrong in the first place.

 Again, the idea of using AI to go through the process above, of having it give suggestions that a writer chooses in order to come up with the seed of an idea, isn't a bad use of AI in general. If the writer takes the idea generated and then writes the world, the characters, and the story, then I see no problem. Even using AI to aid them in outlining or even organizing their notes and world / character building information is not an issue in terms of creativity (providing that care is taken in how the AI was trained and what exactly the AI is doing) ... but there are deeper issues with AI that I think need to be looked at, issues that make even 'acceptable' use of AI more problematic.

 Unfortunately that's not going to stop corporations and movie studios and the money making machines that see it as a cheap alternative to paying writers, authors, or data annalist ... or to at least pay fewer of them. The only thing they care about is cost go down means profit goes up. They don't care that people lose their jobs, and, at the end of the day if people pay to see the finished product, they don't care if what they make is good, because they don't care about the product in the least. They aren't doing it to tell stories, they aren't even really doing it to entertain people, they only see dollar signs and nothing else.

New Year

 I have no idea what I'm going to write about so sit down and buckle up this one will either get wild or bluster out into nothing. I'm tired. Not really physically tired but emotionally, mentally, and spiritually drained. Time, as they say, keeps slipping into the future and more and more I feel like I just can't keep up anymore. It's not the tech, I can stay on top of that, it's not the politics ... though I have to admit I look at the state of things, and I wonder how we let it get to this. Wait, no, I know the answer to that ... we never taught people how to think for themselves. In fact, in many cases we taught them that such thought was bad.

 No, we didn't directly set it out in those words, but it's basically what we told people. We certainly haven't set up an education system that taught critical thinking, or even in more recent year's comprehension. We've focused on taking tests and memorizing facts. I was reading an article the other day about college professors that were distraught and the lack of reading ability in the youth coming into college. Stating that they were finding more and more that it wasn't just that the kids didn't read the assigned writing, they actually couldn't read it and get anything out of it. They were finding that comprehension was low overall, but the longer the reading assignment, the less the students comprehended or retained. And the more complex or abstract the subject the worse things were. They largely blame this latest issue with college students on the test / fact-based focus present in schools. The students haven't had to read and comprehend because they were told what they needed to memorize. Now as they move into the adult part of their lives they are struggling with aspects of life that they weren't prepared for.

 And not to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but that is pretty much exactly what the system was designed to do. Even back in the 80s and 90s the system was failing to teach people how to think. Because it never wanted that learned. The system was always set up to make good workers, not good thinkers, not creative people. Yes, some of those always come out. Yes, we had art classes, band, etc. ... but those were always underfunded and to be honest they didn't teach creativity even there ... they taught process, they taught form, yes, but not creation, not inspiration, not passion. Because passionate, creative, thoughtful people that consider and comprehend, are harder to lead, are harder to deceive, distract, and direct. But this, I believe has been covered here before.

 But let's be fair, how we got here doesn't matter, the past is written, it's done, we can't change it. We can try to re-write it, we can try to pretend things happened differently than they did, but that doesn't usually hold up forever, and those that do it are rarely seen as the good guys. In fact it often makes them look worse for trying to cover it up or smooth it over. We need to understand the past, know what was done, yes, but we can not dwell on it, we can not fall into wishing we had done things differently. What we can do, what we MUST do, is learn from those mistakes and choose to do better going forward. The greatest power we have is choice, and every day, every moment, we can choose to be better than we were ... 

 I didn't start this ramble to talk about it, but I've been in a deep depression lately. In the velvet fog of 'what's the point' and 'why bother'. It's something that I think we all struggle with from time to time, some days are fine, others, like the last couple of weeks, feel like there's no light at the end of the tunnel, or if there is, it's a train, something else coming to knock us back down. The state of the world around me was part of that, working nights, stressed out, and rarely getting true social interaction weighing me down. Next weekend brings another round of Daylight Savings to us, and we get to "Spring Forward" an event every year that leaves thousands, or likely even millions, of people in that darkness. Many don't come out of it. But I've taken an oath ... an oath to get help if I need it, and an oath to help others if they need it.

Depression and mental health are at the heart of a book series I've been reading, The Stormlight Archives by Brandon Sanderson. It is not light reading, but beautifully detailed, deep characters, in an incredible setting. And that theme of choice is very central to the narrative. Much of it builds and expands, sayings that seem simple, become more meaningful as you look at them more closely. The first oath of the Knights Radiant ... Life before Death, Strength before Weakness, Journey before Destination ... is about choice ... Choose Life before Death, Choose Strength before Weakness, Choose the Journey over the destination. But it's more than that too, choose to be better today than you were yesterday, it is not the destination that matters, it's what you learn on the journey ... it's what you learn from your life, it is about the life you live.

  Out of working on the Stormlight Archives, Brandon Sanderson also started something to try and help those struggling with mental health and depression. He created the Next Step coin if you, or someone close to you struggles with depression or other mental health issues and are at risk, the coin is free on the Dragonsteel Books website (Next Step Coin) ... If you just want to buy a cool coin it's $20 and the proceeds go to helping fund mental health support lines and services. Seriously though check in on your friends, your family, and those around you, particularly after the time change on Sunday, it's often a rough time for people, and someone struggling to start with might find themselves overwhelmed. In the world as it stands today, it's not a wonder if they do.

 And if YOU are struggling, reach out to a friend, or call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline and speak with a trained counselor. You are worthy, and you will be warm again, the most important step is always the next one. 

Tipping Culture

Okay .... I woke up and chose Rambling this morning .... it was that or violence and I think rambling on the internet is ... probably .... the choice less likely to end up with me either dead, injured, or in jail. So it was likely just a matter of time today before I ran across SOMETHING that got the ole grey matter spinning, and I just came across a post "If you can't afford to tip, you can't afford to eat out." ... and ... well ... I can't say I fully disagree with that, but at the same time I think that the tipping culture in the US has gotten a wee bit out of hand.

There are a lot of factors in this, not the least of which is tipping, when I was growing up, wasn't an automatic. Tipping was a 'thank you' to a server that did an above average job, or, at the least was attentive and helpful in their service. Then it became expected that a tip of a % of the bill would be left which in some cases led to reduced service shown to smaller groups or individuals because the servers didn't see those customers as 'worth the time' .... after all a 10% tip on a $10 tab was only going to be $1. Then the expected % began to raise, and tip jars started showing up everywhere, fast food, gas stations, doughnut shops, and delis, and particularly in the chain 'fast service' restaurants ... those places that are arguably a step up from fast food, but still aren't a full sit down and order restaurant.

But this can be easy to pawn off as the service workers getting greedy or just wanting to bleed more money out of the customers, but there's more to it than that. Payroll and taxation have led to this as well as the failure to increase minimum wage to at least somewhat follow inflation if nothing else. You see restaurants and other such places got laws passed that said that if their servers accepted tips they could be paid below minimum wage .... more over while those employees were legally required to claim the tips on their income tax ... the employer was NOT responsible for matching the social security and medicare taxes on the tip income. Which made for a HUGE savings for the employer and a headache (at best) for the servers. 

Of course the % of the bill that was expected as a tip increased .... cost of living has continually gone up, but minimum wage has not ... add in that servers can, legally, be paid BELOW minimum wage and their only way to increase their income was to push for higher tip percentages ... in most cases they aren't physically able to serve more PEOPLE, therefore they must collect more per person or group served in TIPS to stay above water.

Likewise as wages have stagnated and the cost of living has continued to rise more and more types of employees have sought to supplement their paycheck by leaning on the generosity of the customer. Now in most cases these positions don't officially receive tips and, therefore don't have the 'pay below minimum wage issue .... they do have the issue that the Federal minimum wage has been flat since 2009 at 7.25 an hour (or roughly 15,000 a year assuming a 40/week work schedule) ... in short I would say that most everyone would be better off going back to a system in which servers were paid for their work by their employers at a rate for sustainable living and tipping went back to being a gratuity for good or exceptional service that supplemented the income rather than an expected handout that people relied upon to put food on their own table.

Understanding that it would, likely, raise the cost of eating out ... but it would be an equitable and transparent system again. A system that would better, and more reliably, compensate the servers for their work ... but it also brings up another discussion. The Minimum Wage in general. There are a ton of issues here and a lot to unpack. 1 - it is a MINIMUM wage, meaning companies can (and many do) compensate their employees at a higher rate, 2 - many States HAVE increased the minimum wage within the State .... but those don't fully address the issue. 

You see part of the problem is that the Federal Minimum wage ... and most of the state laws where they have increased state minimum above the federal ... they're static laws ... they don't really take into account the dynamics of economy and, in some ways, their existence can actively stifle salaries. The existence of a minimum wage puts a floor down, and as a result that is where building will start it is setting the base line which is fine, that's what it's supposed to do, but as cost of living goes, as it does, invariably up that floor remains static and, like it or not, every pay rate out there is ultimately tied to that floor as companies and corporations will value everything, to one degree or another, off of that floor. (At least up to a certain level, once you go into the executive levels of a corporation you will undoubtedly be in an area where no one is thinking of that floor any more.)

That is to say, the minimum wage staying low has a tethering effect on higher level positions as well because the perceived value of those positions will, at some level, be based on that 'minimum wage' job often without real regard to the true cost associated with the requirements of the job. ... The 'entry level' position that lists a college degree for example (but could often be done just as easily by someone with a HS diploma) may start at $15 an hour ... but that doesn't really take into account the debt that college degree represents and is more likely to be set based on 'amount over minimum wage' rather than calculations related to the average cost of college tuition.

Now raising the minimum wage has it's own issues, raised minimum wage results increased labor costs across the board and the floor (and everything above that) will, ultimately, get raised and all of those scales get re-adjusted. This generally results in increased costs of goods and services (and often some lower profits as businesses will eat some of the additional costs to avoid raising prices and losing market share ... this can have it's own issues from slower business growth or loss of buffer funds to protect against market downturns or slowdowns depending on the industry in question.) The result of which is usually not as dramatic of an increase in purchasing power as expected, but does, over all, allow the economy to re-balance.

Because $7.25 isn't worth what $7.25 was in 2009 when the latest minimum wage went into effect. While it isn't huge ... that $7.25 minimum wage in 2009 to have the same purchasing power as today would need to be almost $11/hr and, taking into account that the law that raised it to 7.25 was passed in 2007 it would need to be about $11.24/hr to match what $7.25 was worth when the law passed. That's almost $23,380 / yr ... compared to the $15,000/yr that the current minimum wage represents. With the current national average rent for a 1 bedroom apartment at $1,635/month that's $19,620/year .... not including food, utilities, and other requirements for living .... no I won't say that I believe that someone should be able to raise a family on a single minimum wage income .... but I do feel that it's not unreasonable to believe that 1 person living alone should be able to take care of themselves on one, and $15,000 a year is more of an insult than anything else at this point ... and that number has an effect on the rest of the pay spectrum. It also has to be considered that it also has an effect on government dependency ... the more people that fall below those numbers the more people that need those assistance programs ... and, in turn, the more money those programs need, it's not unreasonable to believe that a solid increase to the minimum wage could, in essence save the taxpayer money. 

We need to look at the minimum wage ... and when we do I would recommend that rather than setting a static monetary amount as has been done in the past, we tie the minimum wage to an index, setting a base point, a review period, and adjust the wage regularly and automatically based on the index ... be it inflation, avg cost of living, or whatever. Yes the law can be reviewed and changed down the road as well, but putting in an automatic adjustment periodically will prevent a case where it stagnates as it has since the 2007 law ... 18 years since the last adjustment was passed into law ... 16 since it took effect.