After Dystopia

After Dystopia

Postby Wayne23 » Fri Jul 29, 2016 3:46 pm

After Dystopia

500 years is a long time. There’s no way to set a specific date for when society completely broke down and the world became a dystopian nightmare. Truth to tell it was a process. Happened bit by bit, place by place. In any case, let’s use the year 2075. At that point there was no meaningful civilization. The ½ to ¾ of a billion people, more or less, still living on the planet were getting along as best they could, which is to say not very well. And the human race probably survived by an eyelash on more than one occasion.

Any history from the era of 2075 through 2575, which is to say, now, is hazy, incomplete, and probably mostly incorrect. Somehow, humanity survived. Somehow, during the last half century or so, things turned around, slowly, gradually.

I don’t know how bad things got. I don’t know how few people were left, huddled against the horrific hot weather, the monstrous hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, crop failures, terrible food shortages, lack of available fresh water, bands of roving outlaws… Somehow all of that settled down- some.

True, there are still earthquakes and violent storms. It’s still hot, but getting a little better. True, there are still food and fresh water shortages when we’re not very careful, or when a storm hits in the wrong place at the wrong time, or when we’re just plain unlucky. We still post guards against outlaw bands.

BUT… we have civilization, in fair sized communities.

Many of these communities are near, but not right near what we used to call the East Coast of the U. S., through the area East of the Mississippi River (No one knows what’s going on in the Eastern Hemisphere. It may be a very long time before anyone will know that. Same holds for West of the Mississippi River; one wouldn’t think that would be such a difficult barrier to cross, but as far as is known, no one has crossed it, or even communicated with the other side. There are lots of theories regarding this but no solid data.).

There are communities all up and down the East Coast, from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick in what was once Canada, to somewhere in Delaware in what was the U.S., and as far West as the Toronto area down through southern parts of what were once Indiana, Ohio, Illinois. Make a box and that will roughly cover the population centers in 2575. Oh, include most of Quebec Province, and lots of Ontario, and throw in the Maritimes, or the parts of them that are above water, which is not much.

What does all of this have to do with basketball? Good question.

Okay, there’s not a lot of long distance transportation. We do use rails to transport crops from one location to another- and what a job it was to rebuild a skeleton of THAT system, and all we have is a skeleton, but it gets the job done. There are solar powered and electric farm vehicles, and a few solar powered, and a few electric buses to get people from place to place. Most people use bicycles to get from place to place. Those who cannot, due to limits, disabilities, or whatever need to rely on the buses, which do not run often, but they run.

BUT… we’re back to functioning, and back to the point where we need entertainment, distraction. We have music, theater and art, but people love sports and games.

Given the limitations facing us the sport that our societies have embraced is basketball- it is played indoors. It requires very little in the way of equipment. It doesn’t take up a lot of room. Injuries are far fewer than in contact sports- all of which are outlawed. A game can be played in about two hours using college rules.

So here’s what happened. We formed conferences- 32 of them, just as there were in the old days. We named them with the names they had then. We formed teams. The same 352 that there were toward the end of the “good old days.”

We broke into 8 areas by population, and have 4 conferences in each of those 8 areas- as much as possible, one top conf., one bottom, and 2 in the middle, but sometimes two lower rated conferences. So Stanford and the Pac 12 actually play in high school gyms in central Illinois, and their non-conference games are against teams in their region. Transportation is minimal since each conference is essentially in the same community, and the other three conferences are relatively nearby.

Fans do not get to go to away games unless they can peddle their way by bicycle- without missing a shift at work.

So, until we get to the tournaments, and yes, there are post season tournaments- NCAA, NIT, CBI, there is no long term transportation. The three post season tournaments are all done via geography- 8 locations for the first round, then 4, then 2, then 1 for the NCAA, for example. This reduces the need for transportation tremendously. We have no air traffic. Teams travel by bus or rail. Our rail system is for freight, not for transportation, but when needed a passenger car or two can be attached.

Oh, the 8 regions. Understand that the names don’t mean a great deal because the locations are not what the names suggest- further inland for any shore communities, for example, but here they are: Boston, Philadelphia, Montreal, Detroit, Cleveland, Toronto, New York, Milwaukee.

So, tell you more? Okay. We have re-established the internet, and the games can be viewed, live or delayed, via the web, as can concerts, plays… There are MANY more benefits to having the web again, and those will come up as we move along.

People have a team to root for, to identify with. People have a sport to follow, to have fun being involved with if they like.

Do we have colleges? No. BUT, this “league,” if you will, is for college age kids (There’s a league for women as well, same rules, essentially). Eligibility is based upon two factors: 1. Grades in the course of study kids are taking, which is often an apprenticeship of some kind. 2. Satisfactory job performance- everyone has a job in our society, and everyone is evaluated regularly. A player becomes ineligible if s/he fails at either of the two. SAT scores? We test to evaluate potential, both general and specific to one’s field, at the beginning of the “college age” era. This is our SAT test.

Recruiting? Kids get to choose among the 4 schools in their region. We are not allowing kids to go to other regions except when a family move is happening for other reasons, but recruiting will look like it is international in scope.

So, as we move along, we’ll discuss hoops mostly, but also how we’re progressing as a society, the difficulties we’re having, the successes we’re having- all of that. You don’t even need to remember that Harvard doesn’t exist, it’s merely a team that plays in the Boston community, but then Boston doesn’t exist. Here goes:
Wayne23
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Re: After Dystopia

Postby Wayne23 » Fri Jul 29, 2016 4:29 pm

5/1/2575: My name is Vic Terry. I‘m 35 years old. I’ve played some hoops in my time but it really wasn’t organized, just sort of sandlot. But for some unknown reason the game really got under my skin. The mechanics, the dynamics, the intricacies, the nuances all captured my interest. I went looking for “How to…” books. I found a few in local libraries, but they were in horrible shape, being so old; I was lucky when I could read an entire page. When the web came back up MANY books came with it, and I was able to find a whole pile of books on coaching basketball. It became a real passion- I mean, I’m not an actor, I’m certainly no singer, I can’t draw anything, I’m not into crafts or woodworking or anything like that, so this kind of became my thing. For the past few years I’ve really made it a serious interest, and I think I know as much as anyone about coaching hoops- that’s not a lot, of course, but I think it will get me through (Beginning Ratings: Off. 20, Scouting 55, everything else- 25. Potential: all 80).

There are 4 conferences in my area, as I’ve said, America East, Ivy, Northeast, and American Athletic. I said no to the Ivy, and the American Athletic said no to me. That left America East and Northeast. I went with New Hampshire, Prestige- 16, Conf. Prestige- 20, Facilities-C, Academics- B-, in the America East Conf. I signed for 3 years- which is essentially meaningless; I mean I’m not getting paid, and I won’t get fired, but we’re keeping the NCAA illusion as strong as possible. My 1st year goals were to not finish last, and to win 10+ games.

My first task is to assemble a staff. Mind you, no one is working full time here. We all have our regular jobs and our “mandatory volunteer” time- more about both in a minute. Hoops? 3 three hour practices per week, 2 games per week. Time to plan, meet with staff, do everything else involved with coaching- whenever it can be fit in.

Anyway, Rob Ric, an old friend, is my #1 and my scout. He’ll get around to the other teams in our 4 conferences when he can, and watch delayed videos of games on the web- they’ll all be there. He’s a planner in our community, and is very analytical by nature. He is just getting into hoops, but he’s brilliant and he’s a quick study. I’m guessing he’ll move up to a head coach job eventually.

My #2 and recruiter is Kip Free. Kip is a hoops junkie, but doesn’t want to be a head coach. He’s a fitness buff. He’s a farmer here in the community. He loves the physical side of life and loves to be outdoors so it’s a great job for him.

My #3, bench and practice coach, is Axe Parr. Axe is another analytical guy. I’m teaching him about hoops. Right now he knows and loves the defensive side of the game but he’s still learning the rest. Frankly, I’m guessing no one in our conf., and probably few in any conf. have better assistants. We’re all kind of new at this.

I didn’t mention how teams were formed. Basically, the kids got offered to by the four teams in their area, and they accepted, just like the good old days except that this time all 352 teams filled their rosters this way, all at the same time.

There is little difference between scholarship guys and walk ons in our system.

Oh, year in school (senior-frosh) is based strictly on age.

Strategy: Going close to 60-40 with Princeton-Triangle on O. Set offenses about 75% of the time.

About 88% man, 12% 3-2 on D. We’ll press fairly often.

I’m big on rebounding, 9 on O, 10 on D. I’ll try to use lots of guys- depending on what I have for talent. D set at 5 but will get higher and higher in the 2nd half as need be.

As to my personal attributes, I am very ambitious, big on education, discipline, and integrity. I have a bit of a temper but not over the top. Ideal job? UConn.

Personally? I live with Annie. She’s 26. We don’t have kids but we’re thinking about it since I’m 35. Some people get married here, but it’s not typical. Oh, Annie’s the community treasurer. My job? I am the head statistician for the community. If it’s about numbers, it’s part of my job. If it’s not about numbers, I make it about numbers.
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Re: After Dystopia

Postby Wayne23 » Fri Jul 29, 2016 4:31 pm

8/7: Still going after recruits to fill 6 scholarships. It will be a process.

Life is still a struggle. Everything is different from the way things were before everything fell apart- at least if the history books are to be believed. We work 35 hours a week, 7 hours a day, 5 days a week, but we have mandatory volunteering. Everyone helps with crop planting and harvesting- at those times all other work that can be put on hold is, and we work as long each day as need be. In between planting and harvest we all have two 2 hour weed pulling shifts per week- that’s everybody. Parents take their small children. I hasten to add that no one is driving these little kids, but we want them to understand, right from the start, that working together, as part of a community, is expected here.

Also, everyone 16 and older does one six hour shift of guard duty per week. We have a border around the perimeter of our community- almost every community does. Ours is walls in some spots, barbed wire in others, swamps in others- alarmed every inch of the way, but that’s less than foolproof. We patrol it 24/7, and the patrols note anything that needs mending, with a crew doing the mending the same day or the following day. That in itself would not stop invaders. It’s too wide a perimeter. But we have a few strategically located towers, really tall ones, that are manned at all times. Guard duty consists of tower duty for those with no fear of heights, and walking the perimeter for the rest of us. The time is past when fear of invasion was a real concern, but we want to know who is coming into our territory, and why. Most will be welcome, but it is still important to be wary.

So we work 45 hours most weeks. There’s a lot to do. More about that later.
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Re: After Dystopia

Postby Wayne23 » Fri Jul 29, 2016 5:18 pm

8/21: We offer to 3 PGs, 3 PFs, all of whom are showing some interest. My recruiter, Kip Free, is doing a great job. He chats with our potential recruits when he runs into them in the community, at meals, on the job… He is great at being upbeat, cheerful, and not applying pressure.

9/18: Got our very first recruit, PF Mak Bush, #114.

We have a schedule. We avoided the American Athletic Conf. I want wins in year one.

We are very careful about using our resources. We have tried to learn from what came before us. I’ve mentioned transportation. We heat and cool with solar. It is efficient, it works, and it is not damaging to the environment. BUT, we heat to 65 degrees maximum, and we cool to 80 degrees minimum, by law. Given that the average temp. in the Boston area is 99.5 during the hottest months, and over 90 in the next hottest months, we are forced to endure discomfort. Heating is less of a problem. During the three coldest months the average temperature is 53.7 here.

Our few public vehicles have heaters and air conditioning, but, as with home use, we do not overheat or overcool.

Oh, “Boston.” What we call Boston is located in what used to be known as Central MA, roughly at the Eastern edge of the Berkshires. Throughout the area we’re talking about in this dynasty, the place names of the large famous cities are used in their new locations. I’ll just let that go, mostly, but you should at least be aware of it.

We are very careful to waste as little as possible. To that end we do not use private kitchens. There are cafeterias set up in several locations and people eat there. There are choices at every meal, of course, veggie, fowl (chicken, turkey, duck, goose), fish, rabbit, and lamb- not each one at every meal, of course, but three choices at the evening meal- a veggie, a fish, and a meat or fowl; fish are plentiful. Our fishing boats go out every day that the weather permits. 500 years of no significant fishing restored the supply. Cows are no more; they’re extinct, mostly by policy. Most mammals are gone. No pets here, either. Given that none of us, or our parents or grandparents ever had pets, it’s not an issue. There are feral cats around. We don’t do anything to bring them into the settlement.

Breakfast is muffins, toast and nut butters, waffles, pancakes, French toast. We have maple syrup from our northernmost communities. Since there is no milk, our choices are limited.

Lunch is salads, sandwiches, things like that. There is soup at lunch and at dinner.

There is freshly baked bread at every meal, mostly whole wheat and rye.

There is fruit at every meal. This is apple country but we ship in citrus from the southernmost areas near Philadelphia. That area is sub-tropical to tropical so citrus grows there.

We get berries and cranberries in season.

Snacks? Fruits, veggies, and nuts. People take them home when leaving the cafeteria in the evening.

We have very economical waste treatment. Showers are rationed to 6 minutes by a governing device in each shower, at which point the water surges twice, signaling one minute before shut off; so 7 minutes, total. The system is down for 30 minutes after the shower ends; people are encouraged to shower only every other day unless they work jobs that make that less than desirable. Clothes washing is done with very little use of water, and with careful recycling of water used. Same with dishes.

We haven’t talked much about lots of things you may find interesting- education, kids in general, daily living, economy, crime, communication and trade among the communities across the area we’re discussing here… Be patient.

10/2: Got 2 recruits, lost 2. We got PG Jes Yan, #409, and PF Kap Jarr, #275.

First day of practice. I like what I see. No idea what the other teams have, given that this is the first year this is happening. At this point we seem to have good players at PG, SG, SF, and C, and role players after that. It may be enough.

We’re picked to finish 4th in conf.

11/6: We’re starting with a 9 man rotation. It will change as we go along, no doubt:

Senior Jon Chey and junior Ed Eng start at guard, backed by senior Scot Kerr and frosh Reg Mint.

Junior Cory Guy is at SF, but that’s our most unstable position- 3 guys sharing; we’ll see who steps up.

Senior Pete Dens and junior Key Sill start inside, with Dens playing some SF, and frosh Ben Tann and Kam Scot fill in, mostly at 3 and 4.

Childhood and adolescence are not what they were in the pre-dystopian era. Our kids learn the value of work as soon as they are able to. We are VERY careful to make certain there is plenty of time for both education and play, but there is work, right from the start. I’ve already mention that kids as young as five help with pulling weeds. They also help with planting and harvesting. At planting time their teachers supervise and assist as they plant crops in their school garden. At harvest time they harvest what they grew. They also raise chickens and lambs as school projects.

Oh, we have day care, and when needed evening and even overnight care.

All children and teens are expected to do household chores, and to lend a hand in the community when asked. Starting at age 10 all kids take a 4 hour shift, twice a week, either in a cafeteria, at a day care, on a farm, or somewhere else where they can be helpful.

In order for our community and the other communities to survive, everyone needs to do what they can. We can afford no slackers, and we have zero tolerance for that.

Education is practical because it needs to be. Everyone learns the basics of reading and math, and from there on they go as far as they can in areas of skill and interest. We give a broad scope of education in the early grades, but from about age 12 on students get an hour of reading/English, an hour of math, and the rest of the time is spent apprenticing to someone in the community.

We’re big on both cultural and scientific education, and we actually have some people here who work full time in the sciences, even those sciences that have no immediate, practical benefit to the community. We consider this to be vital.

For three years (age 12-15) the apprenticeships are two months in length. Kids get to “shadow” in a wide variety of areas. Interest is part of the process, but everyone apprentices in food service, in farming, in fishing, and in a couple of other areas.

Starting at age 15, the apprenticeship is in an area of choice and ability, and it lasts for a year. At age 16, essentially our kids are working at the job they will hold as an adult, but still doing the two hours of academics- IF they are suited and able. Not everyone is. For some, education ends at 16, and indeed, for some academic instruction ends at age 12, although other kinds of instruction are ongoing.

Education is lifelong for anyone who wants it to be. That can mean learning a different job or a different skill, it can mean arts education, it can mean any number of other things. If a person is interested in learning about something, we’ll find a way to make it happen.
Wayne23
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Re: After Dystopia

Postby Wayne23 » Sat Jul 30, 2016 5:29 pm

11/20: 1-1 week to start. We won at home, 63-54, on good games by several players.

66-75 on the road. 19 for guard Ed Eng.

It’s early. We’ll have ups and downs.

11/27: Great week, 2 wins. We beat Cornell, wearing white, 61-43. 24 for Eng, and only 7 TOS as a team (+11).

Then, at Lafayette, we won 64-58. 15, 11, 4, 3 for C/PF Pete Dens, good guard play. +8 TOs. We could be rebounding better but we’re +5.1 on TOs.

We’re not scoring much but we’re #12 in PPG Allowed. It’s too early for that to mean much.

12/4: 2 road losses by nearly identical scores.

70-83 at Sam Francis. 18, 5, 3 for Dens, 19, 2, 3 for Eng. 20 TOs and weak D (54.5%).

Then 71-83 at Fairfield. 4 in double figures, led by Dens and Chey. -12 RBs.

It’s early. We’re finding ourselves. We’re still tweaking the lineup. Our starting guards are doing fine but we need a #3 guard to step up. So far it hasn’t happened.

It’s sort of funny. We have all but immediately developed this sort of team spirit/fan base thing- evidently everywhere. Every team has a small pep band, cheerleaders (with sort of uniforms- basically all wearing the same colored shirt with the first letter of the school ironed or sewn on, and black shorts), and a fan base. The cheerleaders don’t do anything all that athletic but they’re lively and energetic. There seems to be a real home court advantage even though we play in small gyms with small seating capacities. It’s kind of cool.

12/11: Lost our 3rd in a row, and then a win.

67-78 at Wagner. They were 25-32 from the line while we were 8-19. The officials are as new to the game as are the rest of us, and it shows at times. 31, 3 for Eng, 17, 5, 2 for Dens.

A brief word about officiating. The coaches, league officials, and the game officials from all 8 regions held a teleconference early in the preseason. The purpose was to decide areas of emphasis in officiating, and ways to try to keep things consistent. It was decided that when in doubt don’t blow the whistle, ask for help when uncertain about a call, let the guys play in what used to be called “no harm no foul,” and a few other things. It’s a fast game, so we don’t always get what we hope to from the officials, but again, they’re new. We have many more of them than we need. As time goes by we’ll identify the best and the worst, and we’ll act accordingly.

We beat Bucknell here, 71-64. 20, 12, 3 for Eng, 21 for Chey, the backcourt doing some good work for us. +11 RBs, so the bigs did some work, too.

We’re 4-4 with 3 to go before conference play starts.

With the internet back up there are newsletters. One focuses on government and what people need to know regarding what’s going on in the community. Being the head statistician for the community I have a column in that one every time it comes out, which is weekly, more or less (We’re relaxed on deadlines and such in all areas where we can be.).

We have one on daily life, which focuses on people, and on the various occupations and such. It usually does at least one article on the cafeteria, often one on the fishing fleet, on farming...

Then there’s one on entertainment. They’re really boosting the new basketball program. They still focus on music, theater, art, dance, crafts, woodworking, and all of that, but they’re great at doing articles on hoops. All the games, and the stats from the games, are available on line separately from the newsletter, but the letter interviews people, does articles about players, coaches, games… It’s great.

Of course people have really taken to hoops. It’s a new interest, which is part of it, in times when entertainment is a little limited, but it’s also that sports thing. People love to have a team to root for.

And of course books, movies, TV programs from a completely different world don’t hold up so well. They are simply not relevant to our lives. Some of the old, old shows hold up, science fiction, fantasy, some horror, a few classics, but much of it just doesn’t work. Our entertainment people, and yes we do have some people doing entertainment as full time jobs, come up with new entertainment- dramas, comedies… but these are slow to produce, of course, so any new form of entertainment is more than welcome.

As to music and art, some is timeless, some doesn’t hold up.

We come close to filling the gym for our games, and just about all of the other teams do, too. I’ll get into numbers at some point- sizes of the communities, capacity of the gym- all sorts of things.
Other communities also have newsletters, and they’re all available on line. Lots of folks at least glance at them, and we have people assigned to read each one cover to cover and to report to the Council weekly on the highlights- more about that later.

When communities need to contact each other, or when they just want people in other communities to know about something they’re up to, they send that to the Ambassador. That’s a position in the government. Every community has one.
His/her job is to keep the lines of communication open, and sometimes to negotiate certain things with one or more of the other ambassadors.

Remember, ours is a small “world,” only eight communities. But our communities trade goods back and forth regularly, since no single community can produce everything it needs. We also let each other know if there’s a job that can’t be filled. When that happens a person, or a family, or even a group of families will move to a different community to fill the position(s).

I realize that I’m throwing out info about our communities and our lifestyle bit by bit, but this is supposed to be about basketball, so you’ll have to take it as you get it.

Anyway, the point of all this is that I was interviewed for the entertainment newsletter. They’re doing a feature on head coaches and they will interview one of us each week. It’s meant to boost the sport, the league, and the coach, so no hard questions. I think and hope the challenging questions will come, but it’s too soon.

Okay, one home, one away again this week.

Oh, home and away. We have 4 teams for each court, so we share home courts, but not with a team in our conference except in a very few cases. We share with Harvard, Central FL, and Long Island. Our cheerleaders and pep band members do a little decorating when we’re at home. It’s not a lot, but just enough to show our colors and things like that.

12/18: Another split, so we’re 5-5.

80-70 over Brown here. Most points we’ve scored so far. +6 RBs, +5 TOs. All 5 starters in double figures. I made a lineup change and now have Ben Tann starting at SF. It gives us more rebounding, and slightly more scoring, but it hurts a little on D. He had 11, 4, 3 in his 1st start.

A tough 60-61 loss on the road. It was close all the way and terribly sloppy. They had 19 TOs and we had 23, including the TO that beat us. It happened with 5.5 left, and they came down and scored the winning basket. 19, 4 for Eng, 13, 5 for Tann.

We’re going with Reg Mint as #3 guard. He’s not doing that much but we feel that he is the better player of the two we’ve been using as back up. We’ll see.

12/25: 62-63 home loss. 2 straight 1 point losses is kind of depressing. We should have won this one. Only 7 TOs (+13). But we shot 36.2%, they shot 53.7%, and we missed a 12 footer at the end. 19, 5 for Eng but he fouled out. He would have gotten the last shot if he’d been in the game. 11, 10, 2, 3 for Dens.

We end pre-conference play at 5-6, RPI #238. +0.5 PPG, +0.6 RBs, +1.0 TOs.

Heading toward conference play I have to say that there’s a lot to love and lot to frustrate me about coaching.

Practices are great. We have a limited amount of time and it is important to use every minute wisely. Assistant Axe Parr and I plan and organize every practice to maximize the effectiveness of what we do.

Game prep is also interesting. Scouting assistant Rob Ric gives the staff his breakdown of the videos, and of any games he has managed to see live, and we plan from there. He includes video clips in his presentation. When I am able to find the time I look at video of the other team.

It’s always amazing to me how quickly the games themselves go by. It’s the fastest two hours imaginable. Instant decisions need to be made throughout the game, and time outs must be used wisely. Since there’s no advertising in our world the “media time outs” having nothing to do with media. They are there to give players a breather. Each time out lasts exactly 90 seconds. At the 90 second mark the ref gives the ball to the player who will inbound it, or if no one is there the official puts it on the floor and starts the 5 count.

After each game, as soon as we can do it, the staff gets together and does a breakdown of the game. We cover where we met our goals as a team and as individual players, what we didn’t do well, what needs to change and how to change it, how effective our defenses were, how we’ll do things differently if we play this team again, and whatever else comes up. If we’re traveling back home by bus after the game, this meeting happens during the trip. If it’s a home game, we stay in the gym and meet.

There is a very short “press conference” after each game. We meet with the game announcers and with the newsletter person for each of the two teams. It’s never more than 8-10 minutes, and often more like 3-4. Then we meet with our kids briefly, then showers for the players and onto the bus, or back home for the kids and the meeting for us.

This is a part time job for all of the coaches, and it’s challenging to fit everything in, but I wouldn’t give this up for anything.
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Re: After Dystopia

Postby Wayne23 » Sun Jul 31, 2016 5:28 am

1/1/2076: 1-1 week to start America East conference play.

6 point win over Albany here. 18, 4 for Eng, 13, 5 for Tann, 12, 7 for Dens. +12 RBs.

71-80 at Vermont. 30, 4 for Eng, 17, 7, 3 for Chey, but our inside players did not play well.

1/8: 68-65 in OT over Stony Brook here. My 1st OT game ended with Ben Tann hitting a 3 for the win. He had 17. 15, 10 for Dens, 13, 6, 6, 4, 3 for Chey. +14 TOs but -10 RBs.

61-64 at UMBC. 17 for Eng, 14, 8 for Guy. It was about shooting, 39.5% for us, 58.3% for them.

7-8, 2-2, RPI #247. Very tight conf. race so far, 1 ½ games separates 1st from last.

1/15: Another 1-1 week. 82-70 over UMass-Lowell here. 17, 5, 5 for Sill, 17, 4, 6 for Eng, 16, 6 for Tann. 10 TOs (+11).

63-70 at Binghamton. We shot poorly. 15, 10, 3 for Dens.

Not sure why home vs. road should matter but we’re 7-1 at home, 1-8 on the road. Why a 10-20 minute bus trip makes that much difference is beyond me.

1/22: 1 game week. We beat Maine here, 72-48. 20, 3, 3 for Eng, +13 TOs.

1/29: We split 2 road games. 55-70 at Hartford. We shot 35% and just didn’t play well. Lowest points scored of the season.

Then we turned it around with a 70-63 win at Albany. 17, 10, 3, 2 for Dens, 13, 5, 4, 2, 2 for Chey, 19 for Eng.

10-10, 5-4, RPI #209, in a 2 way tie for 2nd, 2 back of 1st, but 4 teams right on our heels.

We don’t use money, or anything like money. People work, they get the things they need.

Life is simple. People live in small apartments, about 600 sq. ft. for a single person or a couple- usually a bedroom, living room, bath. Oh, when we say “couple” we mean two adults choosing to cohabitate, and share a bedroom. There are other cases where people share space but each have their own bedroom; they get 900 sq. ft. If more than two people share living space, it’s an extra 300 sq. ft. per person.

We build units as needed. They’re simple, solid in construction. People decorate as they please, but simply. Furniture is utilitarian.

People don’t spend a lot of time at home. We take our meals at the cafeteria nearest our residence. We work at least 45 hours per week. Our hobbies and such often take place outside the home.

When everything fell apart society was so close to having it all together. The technology was in place to stop, or at least to tremendously slow down pollution. Economic forces simply didn’t allow it to be put into effect.

Virtual reality technology had made entertainment very personal. A simple pair of googles, almost as simple as sunglasses, and ear pieces, as small as hearing aids, put people into virtual situations of every imaginable kind.

We recaptured the clean energy tech when we began to re-establish society, and slowly but steadily, we’re recapturing the virtual entertainment as well.

As to the lack of money, it’s simple. It works. And it’s about work. We do. People get sick. When that happens they take time off, but they need to make it up when they get better. If the illness is of too long a duration, some of the work time lost may be written off. But we don’t have slackers. In the very, very rare cases of people who simply can’t seem to get to work, or can’t seem to be productive at work, after we’ve done everything that’s reasonable, we simply write them off.

They are taken to a place far from any community and dropped off to fend for themselves.

People apply for the things they need- clothing, furniture, computers… and we honor all reasonable requests. No one lives better than anyone else so no one has more than they need in order to live comfortably. Again, little to no waste, no conspicuous consumption.

What about trade between communities? That’s kind of complex, and I’ll get into it later, but it’s done on a sort of a barter system, without money or remuneration being involved. But it will take some explanation.

Our system works. People are satisfied, content. No one is poor. No one is in need. There’s so little competition that the instinct for it is weak and dying. Even in basketball, we play to win but when the game is over the losing team isn’t particularly upset, and the winners are not particularly elated. The game is really more about the fun of participating, and any competition is about meeting personal goals and expectations.

Our community leader, the Chief Council, lives no better than a dishwasher in the cafeteria.
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Re: After Dystopia

Postby Wayne23 » Sun Jul 31, 2016 11:57 am

2/5: Yet another 1-1 week. 11-11, 6-5, RPI #180. Still in a 2 way tie for 2nd, 2 back of 1st, lots of teams right behind us.

21 point win over Vermont here. 27, 12, 3 for Dens, 19, 6, 5, 3 for Eng. 10 TOs, 35 RBs.

53-78 at Stony Brook. Lowest points scored of the season, one of the most points allowed. Terrible night. 16 for Eng, 14 for Dens, but no one else did much. -8 TOs.

Player profile, Pete Dens: Pete is a senior big guy, our best inside player; #2 in points, #1 in RBs. He’s a farmer, works raising sheep. He loves the work. He’s right there, doing the everyday hands on work, but he’s also in the lab, working with our agronomists who experiment with different ways of feeding the sheep, keeping them healthy- lots of things like that. Pete’s a big, physical guy, but he loves the lab work, too. He sings in our chorus, and he climbs virtual mountains.

2/12: Another 1-1 week drops us into a three way tie for 3rd. 12-12, 7-6, RPI #179.

We beat 1st place UMBC 69-54 here. 11, 9, 3, 2, 2 for Dens, and 3 others in double figures. +9 TOs, +7 RBs.

61-74 against weak UMass-Lowell, there. Poor shooting, terrible outside D.

Same old story, 10-1 at home, 2-11 on the road. Fortunately, 2 of our last 3 are at home. At this point in the season there’s not a lot of lineup adjustment going on but we’re still adjusting minutes between Tann and Guy at SF. Tann gives us a little more offense, Guy a little more D.

Player profile, senior Jon Chey: Another senior, Jon is a guard. He’s our leader in both assists and steals, and he’s our 3rd leading scorer. Jon is a chef. He loves his kitchen work, and especially loves coming up with new vegetarian recipes. There’s a big demand for veggie entrees, and Jon tries to provide variety. He likes Indian cuisine, so lots of his recipes tend to be spicy. He’s a big fan of science fiction, especially futuristic stories. He’s also the only dad on the team. He and his partner

Sheila have a 9 month old son.

2/19: Great week! 2 wins. 14-12, 9-6, RPI #129, tied for 1st with UMBC. 2 others are ½ game back so we’re in for a wild finish!

66-61 over Binghamton here. +9 TOs, +6 RBs. Eng was the only guy in double figures with 14, 3, 2, 2. They shot 50% but we held them to 44 shots while taking 58. We shot a terrible 31%; we’re simply not a good shooting team. We won it at the line, going 26-35 to their 13-16.

63-61 at Maine. No one ever led by more than 8. At the end we went to Eng, and went to mhim again, and went to him a 3rd time. He hit a 3, then a 3, then a 2 in the last 30 seconds; the last one came at the buzzer. He had 29 in all. -9 TOs, but +9 RBs.

We close the regular season with 13-13, 9-6 Hartford, here. They beat us by 15 there. This is a must win.

Player profile, Scot Kerr: We had some hopes for this senior, but he hasn’t done much. He’s a great kid though. He’s always positive, he works hard at practice, and he cheers his teammates on during games. Off the court he’s a fisherman, which may be a factor. That is a very hard working profession, and I think he is often exhausted when game time comes. For fun he finds old video games on the net and brings them up to where people can play them.

2/26: 75-69 over Hartford and we finish alone in 1st. 23, 3 for Eng, 18, 2, 2 for Chey, 13 for sub Kam Scot. +9 TOs.

We end the regular season at 15-12, 10-6, RPI #119. Again, alone in 1st. +1.3 PPG, +2.4 RBs, +2.0 TOs.

Player profile, junior Ed Eng: Ed is probably our best player and he’s definitely a leader on the court. He plays both guard spots but mostly PG, and he’s a coach on the floor. Off the court he works in health care. He’s training to become a doctor, and hopefully eventually a surgeon. Our health care is a topic for a long post, which it will get, but Ed is going to be a great help to our community. His hobby is running.

We play #8 seed Binghamton, 13-14, 7-9, in the quarter finals.
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Re: After Dystopia

Postby Wayne23 » Sun Jul 31, 2016 9:37 pm

3/1: 75-71. We were down 14 early in the 2nd half. Great bench play by Kam Scot and Cory Guy really made a difference, as did Key Sill’s good play. Dens was limited to 17 minutes due to fouls. 16, 3, 3 for Eng.

#4 seed Stony Brook, 17-11, 9-7, in the semis. We beat them by 3 in OT at our placer and got buried by 25 there. On paper it’s a toss up.

3/2: 65-64. Another come from behind win. We trailed by 14 late in the 1st half. 11, 11 for Dens,, 13 each for Eng and Sill, 12 for Chey, but we won this one at the line, 9-14 for them, 24-30 for us.

#2 seed UMBC, 14-15, 9-7 for the title. We lost by 3 there, then won by 15 here.

3/3: 75-70 in OT, and the title! Key Sill hit a 12 footer to get us to OT. We scored the first 7 in the overtime period, and more or less traded with them after that. 15, 4, 8, 3 for Eng, 12, 8, 2, 2, 3 for Dens, 13, 5, 2, 2 for Chey, 8, 7 for Sill. Good bench play. +8 RBs.

A great tournament for us, winning by 4, then 1, then by 5 in OT.

I really feel like I progressed as a coach. We lost the first two close games we played this season but after that we went 4-1 in games decided in OT, or by 3 or fewer points.

Player profile, junior PF/C Key Sill. Key is our #2 rebounder and #1 shot blocker. He’s not a big scorer but he does seem to get baskets in important situations. He works very hard. Off the court he’s a farmer, and his interests include sculpture and solving all sorts of puzzles.

Now we wait for selection day. We’re 18-12, 10-6, RPI #94. We finished 1st in conf., and we won our tourney. I think we could go as high as a #14 with luck.

Our first selection show was held via internet, and videod to whoever wanted to see it. It was played up in the newsletter and is a big deal, entertainment wise.

3/12: #15 South. We’ll play #2 seed, #5 ranked Xavier, 26-5, from the Big East. This is a very tough game for us.

3/17: 59-76. Over matched. 13, 5, 7 for Chey, 16, 2, 3 for Eng, but 19 TOs (-11).

Player profile: junior C/PF Cory Guy. Cory wound up as our 6th man. He filled in very well at SF and PF, and he has a great chance to start next season. Off the court he works in our furniture factory, mostly making chairs, and sometimes end
tables. He is one of the people who is reviving the lost art of ballroom dancing.

4/4: Awards: Ed Eng is America East POY, and 1st team along with Pete Dens. Jon Chey made 2nd team. I was COY! Cool!

Player profile, SF Art Wyn: Art didn’t play hardly at all this year but he made steady progress at practice throughout the year. We hope for more from him next season. He’s on the “salad squad” at lunch and dinner in the cafeteria, and he’s into virtual reality. In his words, “I’m in the chambers every minute I can be.”

This is our last profile. We’ll do this year’s frosh and sophs next season.

4/9: Met our goals, Team Prestige up to 16. We’re expected to win the conf. tourney next year. Hey, we won it this year!

4/16: We get 2 more recruits, Cole Bean, PF, #115, and Jed Hart, PF, #233.

4/23: We ask for a facilities upgrade. No.

We get our final recruit, Al Pry, PG.

Great first season. I love this! We start prepping for next season in a week or so.

Crime and punishment: We don’t have a lot of crime. When you take away the economic motive there’s no reason to commit most crimes. We see almost no theft.

But, there’s emotion based crime, which is violent crime, essentially. We don’t have any laws regarding drug and alcohol use. Some people use, more do not, but almost no one abuses substances. But once in a while… Violent crime, as rare as it is, brings swift and harsh punishment.

Luka Bryn, Chief Council here for as long as anyone can remember, summed it up once this way:

“We don’t have the luxury of keeping people in jail. Violent criminals get escorted out of the community and get dropped off VERY far away from our borders, they get the letter “v” tattooed just above their right eyebrow, and they are banished for life. If another community takes them in, that’s up to them. Otherwise, we neither know nor care what happens to them. Sometimes the victim wants to give the perp a second chance. When it’s clear that this is not a coerced choice we allow it, but if there’s a second crime, there are no options- out!”

Now, this is not for every single offense. Two people can get upset with each other and it can lead to blows. If it does not result in serious injury, and if it seems that no one is holding a grudge or wanting a follow up, we simply put both “on probation” for a year and watch them carefully.

The only thing that leaves is “sicko crime.” There’s no defense against pedophiles, rapists, and other perverts. In one sense it’s a sickness. In every other sense, it’s something to “go nuclear” on. That’s what we do.

Do people steal? Well, there are kleptomaniacs. There are kids who steal booze or drugs or things from parents, family members, neighbors… But the incidence is low, and it’s something we feel we deal well with.
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Re: After Dystopia

Postby Wayne23 » Wed Aug 03, 2016 5:40 pm

5/1: 4-1, 3.5-2, 3-1, 2-4 (2 WO), 1.5-3, 1-1.

5/2: Horrible storm last night. The alarms sounded and we all went to the storm cellars as quickly as possible. You need to understand a couple of things.

First, we don’t have those satellites that existed before the end of the old civilization to help us forecast the weather. We try to predict what’s coming as best we can, but we get surprises. We do have some sophisticated prediction equipment, but without the satellites it’s difficult to see anything beyond 12-24 hours, and with violent storms it’s often less than 12.

Second, our storms can be HUGE, sort of tornado/hurricanes, striking quickly and with devastating power. Sustained winds over 200 mph, with gusts to 250 and higher are not all that infrequent, and they can be over a fairly widespread area. We can expect a few every year, but the number varies widely and there’s no way to predict what kind of year we’ll have. So far the least in a year was 2, the most 14, but usually it’s 4-7. This was the 2nd storm of the year.

Third, when we feel like that kind of a storm is coming we go to the shelters. The main one is under the central office building in the middle of town. It’s our strongest building, and it’s huge, and the shelter underneath it is our safest area; it’s tight quarters, but it can house about ¾ of our population, which is the max that would ever be there anyway. When the alarms go everyone heads there as quickly as they can. The alarms are sounded with the intent of giving people time to get to the shelter- assuming they go within 2-3 minutes, and at top speed. We get the occasional false alarm, but this is an area where we cannot afford to take chances.

We have small auxiliary shelters in farm country and near the boat docks, as well as beneath the guard towers, beneath the factories, and a few along the perimeter of the property.

So, the alarms sounded in the middle of last night. Everyone got to a shelter- which we only found out this morning when we checked in at the barns, the guard stations...

The storm was a really big one, and it lasted longer than most. When we crawled out of the shelters the sun was just rising, and it rose to a scene of destruction. The central office building was fine. There are heavy shutters that we close and bolt down before heading underground. We lost some roof, but not a lot; it can and will be repaired today.

Often a storm is followed immediately by an earthquake. That didn’t happen this time. It always occurs within 2-3 hours of the end of the storm when it happens so we should be safe.

Lots of buildings were partially or completely destroyed.

When we really got it together and formed the community we had two choices with buildings: we could make them as storm proof as possible, and really ugly, or we could make them pretty much disposable, and somewhat attractive.

That turned into a real battle but in the end people wanted to live in attractive buildings. They’re not flimsy, but there’s no way they will withstand the kinds of storms we get. So if people are at home when the alarms sound they quickly stash their most valuable items in a small protected area built into the floor for that purpose and head for the shelters. They understand that everything else, including the building, will probably cease to exist when the storm passes by. At that point they get their valuables and hunker down in our temp housing- which is a sort of concrete fortress built for the purpose, on a side street, away from the beaten path. They stay there, in 12 x 12 rooms for a single or a couple, until their homes are rebuilt, which happens fairly quickly.

Oh, people are encouraged to place those valuables in the “floor safe” whenever they leave their homes, and most do.

Our barns are built to withstand the storms, and so far they all have. Farmers round up livestock and get them into the barns, staying there with them during storms.

Likewise, our factories and shops are built to withstand storms. Shops? More on that later.

We have warehouses where we store raw materials, finished products… There are four of them, one at each corner of the community, more or less, and they are both huge, and very solidly built. Among the things kept there are the materials for constructing replacements for destroyed buildings.

Oh, the cafeteria, the gym, with 4 basketball courts, office facilities, school, day care, tech equipment, and all of our most important “stuff” is in the central office building.

Ships on the water? They don’t go out if we think there’s a storm coming. They have the most sophisticated weather instruments at our disposal and they head in to shore or away from a storm that may come up while they are out to sea, as the first sign of trouble. We have yet to lose a ship, but there have been a few close calls. More than once a ship has needed to go far from our community in order to avoid a storm, and the ship has been out for several days. The record so far is six days. Usually, the ship is able to communicate with us, but on a few occasions damage to the ship destroyed the communication equipment. Those were stressful times but they all ended well.

Railroads? No worries regarding the railroad cars and engines but the tracks can be an issue so they are patrolled, cleared, and if need be repaired after every storm.

We lost a lot of crops in this storm. It’s early enough in the long growing season to plant again, which we will, but it’s a problem. Hopefully our sister communities will not be as affected. Every community grows crops. We want to be prepared for loss of lots of crops.

So routine is out the window. Nonessential workers will spend the next few days clearing debris, re-planting crops, and things like that, and the next few weeks helping to build new homes, while we’ll be shorthanded in most work areas.

We always manage.

Now is a good time to discuss housing. I may have mentioned that we use what is basically a condo model. We have plenty of space and a small population so everything is on one floor; we build horizontally only. Units vary in size, as previously mentioned, but they are all rectangular. Each unit backs up to another unit, and unless it’s an end unit has a condo on each side. We leave open space at regular intervals, so we build in blocks of 8 units, 4 backed up to another 4. We use firewall type construction between units to minimize noise leakage, and that works very well. Also, people tend to be polite and considerate here. They are aware of not having their noise leak over to another unit.

We “build upward” with the buildings that will withstand the storms.

So most of us will be living in concrete “barracks” type facilities while we rebuild. Slightly more than half of us lost our homes.

5/18: The debris is cleared and the crops are re-planted. Home building is ongoing.

We had a very heated debate at Council last night. The meeting room was packed to overflowing and it seemed like our whole community was participating on line. The issue was rethinking home construction. A very large group expressed the view that we are wasting resources, time being one of them, rebuilding homes after every storm. There was a motion to go to referendum with a proposal to build out of the same types of materials we use for barns, factories, warehouses, and the like. When the other side talked about esthetics the Arts Council stepped up and discussed the idea of creative painting of exteriors to lessen the ugliness. Jody Lane said this:

“Look, we think we know a little bit about art. We think we have the materials and the artists who can make the exterior of these buildings look really beautiful. We can do murals, paintings, just colorful designs- an almost unlimited number of choices. I say we do this. Let’s build to last and stop putting everything on hold several times a year, and let’s make ALL of our buildings look beautiful, or interesting, or avant garde, or wild and crazy. The Arts Council is proposing that we put the proposal on hold for three months, and that we use those three months to show you what we can do. We’ll bring proposals to farmers, factory councils, shop managers and workers- people who work in, and have a stake in all of our commonly used, sturdy buildings. We’ll work up as many as we can in three months. Then the community as a whole can decide. If we like it, and I’m betting we will, we can vote to go with more permanent structures for our homes.”

That won the day. We will hold a referendum in late August or early September to decide whether to go with more permanent housing. In the mean time we’ll rebuild the way we always have.

6/3: Finally, everyone is back in a condo unit.

6/5: We have a slot for a transfer. Let’s see what happens.

6/12: We get a very good looking SG, Flye Tess, from Texas A & M where he started.

6/14: Another storm last night. It wasn’t quite as bad as the one last month but about 1/3 of our people lost their homes, and we lost a dozen sheep and nearly lost a shepherd. They were grazing a long way from the barn and the young woman couldn’t get them back in time. She tried to shelter in place in a hollow. She wedged herself under a large rock and survived- barely. The sheep didn’t.

Oh, there was a small earthquake very shortly after the storm ended. No serious damage but it is always scary as can be.

6/24: The talk is all about the proposal for housing. People are tired of rebuilding. There will always be crop loss from storms, and debris clearing, and repairs, large or small, but people are coming around to the idea that it’s simply too much work to rebuild the condo units over and over. It doesn’t hurt that the Arts Council has a brand new and absolutely stunning mural on the most prominent side of the Council Building, and a completely different one on our furniture factory. There’s also what they’re calling a “color splash” on the side of another factory. It’s gorgeous.
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Re: After Dystopia

Postby Wayne23 » Wed Aug 03, 2016 5:57 pm

6/26: 4 scholarships. Looking at 10 to start but we’ll add to and subtract from over time.

6/27: Yet another storm last night. It skirted the edge of the community, and only damaged about 20 condo units. But the earthquake that followed was bad. It registered at 5.9. It was out at the edge of the grazing land and it rearranged the landscape out there somewhat.

6/29: There has been a marked increase in the number of storms in all 8 communities this spring. There’s no way to tell whether it’s just a very bad year or if something is changing to cause more storms; while the climate has healed tremendously in the past 500 years, the effects of fracking will probably never completely disappear. We’ve managed to get the water supply clean, and able to support life with plenty of surplus. Hopefully things will even out regarding the storms.

8/21: We offer to 2 PGs, 2 bigs.

8/23: The storms have been less frequent but still happening more often than in a normal year. They’ve been very disruptive, and they’ve caused lots of damage. Food supply will be something of an issue. We’ll get by, between fishing and the fact that we have very secure grain storage in storm proof warehouses, but there will be less variety in our meals for a while.

The referendum on rebuilding after storms is a week from today, and every indication is that it will go with construction of stormproof housing.

8/31: Results of yesterday’s referendum are in, and any and all rebuilding will be to solid, stormproof housing. Nothing is completely stormproof and earthquake proof but the new units will be as solid as we can make them. Thanks to the Arts Council for this. Their imaginative murals, paintings, “splashes,” and the rest sold the idea.

9/18: We have a schedule. No in season tournament.

9/25: We lose 2 recruits.

10/2: PF Lee Gore, #586, commits.

1st day of practice.

Let’s talk about numbers. Our community has 48,688 people. We’re disproportionately young, as are the other 7 communities. We only recently re-established some very basic health care practices such as vaccination. Even more recently sterile operating rooms with well trained surgeons and RNs came back into common use. We have all of that, at about the level of where it was when everything went to hell, but it’s recent. So we don’t have as many older people as a “normal” population distribution would give us. Estimates are that before society began to break down population distribution in the U. S. and Canada was something like
20% < 18, 8.5% 18-24, 25% 25-44, 25% 45-64, and 22% 65+.
Now it’s more like 26% <18, 10% 18-24, 28% 25-44, 24% 45-64, and 13% 65+.

As health care improves the population will age but in truth, this is good for us right now. We have a young, strong population able to do the hard work required to keep us going.

We’re the 2nd smallest community. Montreal is smallest at 44,722, and Cleveland is largest at 61,444. The other 5 vary between 52,668 and 57,913. So there are 443,378 people altogether. There are certainly other people living in other places, but our 8 communities comprise out civilization. On very rare occasions a straggler or a small group will arrive at one of the communities but that is becoming rarer and rarer.

I’ll give the numbers for our colony but the percentages are about the same for all 8 communities:
Farmers make up a full 45% of our work force. Food service accounts for 22%. Manufacturing is 12%, health care is 11%, fishing is 3%, railroads another 3%, custodial/maintenance is 2%, science and R & D is 2%, and the rest, less than 1/2%, is government. Most of the latter are inspectors who check in on food service, food storage, farms, manufacturing, the fishing fleet, health facilities. Their job is to make sure we’re doing all we can to keep things clean, sanitary, safe, and to keep food fresh. They also check to be certain that waste disposal is done in the cleanest, most efficient manner possible.

As to government workers, we have a full time Chief Council, Luka Bryn, a full time statistician (me), a Coordinator of Inspections, and a part time Chief of Police- all of our constables are called on as needed only. We have one court with one judge, one prosecutor, and one court clerk. A defendant in a criminal case may call on anyone in the community to help coordinate his/her defense. The prosecutor is not an attorney. We work for fairness and equitable solutions. We don’t want to get into legalities as such so we do not train attorneys. So far it has worked. There is no such thing as a law suit here. Complaints are brought to Luka. If she feels she can resolve the issue she does. If not, or if her decision is challenged, she appoints a panel of three, whose word is final.

Luka Bryn’s job is to resolve disputes that have, or may have an impact on the community, to plan our growth, to present plans for dealing with shortages, to lead us in emergency situations, to coordinate and oversee the work of all government employees, to oversee the day to day activities of the community, and to chair Council meetings. Luka is 68 years old so we are in preliminary discussions regarding a replacement. No one is in a hurry for that to happen. She is a unifying force.

My job is to keep all the stats- population, crop growth, food supplies on hand, all other raw materials and finished products on hand, health stats- basically all relevant numbers that we need, or may at some point need to know about. I set long term maintenance and repair schedules, report on storm damage- and on and on. You’d be surprised at how many numbers there are to keep track of. In many cases I get my data from the people in the field, most often from the
Chief of Inspections, whose people do a lot of actual counting, and some estimating.

The Chief of Inspections coordinates the schedules of the inspectors, oversees their work, keeps the stats and reports them to me, reassigns personnel when acute issues come up such as storms or widespread diseases (We have fewer and fewer of those every year.).

The Chief of Police position is booked for 10 hours per week, plus “as needed” hours. She works in food preparation and can be taken from there as needed.

The court personnel are all “as needed” and have jobs they can be away from when a case comes up. We have so little crime that the courts are not at all active. Let’s hope it stays that way.

We have no written constitution or laws. The entire basis of our law is that people are expected to do their work and to treat everyone fairly. There’s only an issue when one of those does not happen.

11/2: We moved our last people into their new stormproof housing just in time for as bad a storm as we’ve experienced in a long time. Since, as of yesterday, all of the buildings we use are stormproof, there was only minor damage to buildings here and there. There was enough warning to get animals inside. We had some flooding, some wind damage to trees, and things like that, but we did well, all in all.

11/6: Our team’s lineup is kind of experimental; not settled at 3, and some real battles for sub minutes. The starting 5 seems set.

At guard, senior Ed Eng and frosh Al Pry will start. Junior Mat Tell and frosh Jes Youl will back up.

Inside it will be senior Key Sill and junior Des Rohr.

Frosh Jay Hart will start at SF and back up inside. 3 guys will back up at SF: sophs Kam Scot and Ben Tann, and frosh Cole Bean. There will be adjustments.

We get a PG, Al Sacc, #115.

We’re picked to finish 4th in conf.

We talked about work week and I generalized. For many of us the work week is what I said it was, 5 days, 7 hours per, 10 hours of volunteering. But that doesn’t work for everyone.

We have two fishing crews, and they each go out 3 times a week. It’s at least a 12 hour day. By their own request, and the vote was not close, one crew goes out Mon., Tues., Thurs., the other one goes out Weds., Fri., Sat. If we lose more than one day during a given week to storms, someone goes out on Sunday. The crews switch days on Jan. 1 each year. Weekend doesn’t mean much here. We schedule evening activities about evenly over the seven days, but still, they switch on a yearly basis.

Just so you know, the Philadelphia community also fishes. We send our crew North, they send their crews South, so there’s a good variety of fish available to the communities.

We had a tough time coming up with a farm schedule. Farmers tend to be territorial about both their crops and their animals. Eventually we convinced them that something like a fishing crew schedule made sense for them, and, after a long battle, they agreed. Since farms need to be worked all day, every day, they simply went with an every other day schedule. We have enough people assigned to the crews that every farmer gets a three day weekend once a month.
They seem fine with that.

The farmers often need to communicate with the other crew regarding issues with either crops or animals, or even with farm equipment, barn issues…, but they’ve worked out a pretty good system for that. Then there are animal emergencies- births, illnesses…, and then everyone pitches in at planting and harvesting time. But in a normal week, if there ever is such a thing on the farm, they work 3 days one week, 4 the next.

Rail crews work when they work. We put two engineers, two brakemen, etc., on each rail crew. We have 7 crews, one to travel to each of the other communities. They bring what they bring to the community, and come back with a full load (The crews from each of the other communities do the same thing), on a schedule of leaving here on Day 1, and arriving at their destination late in the day, laying over for a day, and then coming back, and laying over for 2 days. So they work 2 days out of every 5, but they are long days. The exception is when crops are in. Then there are no layover days. Crews go back and forth until all crops have been shipped fresh. Now, please note, we’re sending 7 crews out and getting 7 crews in, and that’s a lot of traffic. Oh, loading and unloading crews travel with each train.

Since we fish 6 days a week, weather allowing, fresh fish go to the other communities 6 days a week, either via our crews, or the ones from the other communities. Yes, we have refrigerated rail cars, and freezer cars as well, so fish, fruit, veggies- all foodstuffs arrive in perfectly good shape.

Our health care workers work 28 hour weeks (3 eight hour days, 1 four hour day), and they’re on call for 14 hours. We rarely need to use on call people but we want a large crew available just in case.

Everyone else works the 5 day, 7 hour shift. Except in a very few cases everyone has an on call day every other week. When someone is out of work for whatever reason, which is rare, we do without them if we can, and we use on call people when we can’t.

Oh! I almost forgot. Education and day care workers are under the healthcare umbrella. We have day care 24/7/365 so shifts vary, but everyone works 35 hours a week. Education workers have flexible schedules. Counting prep time and correcting papers, most probably work more than 35 hours per week.
Wayne23
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