Blind.Faith 2.0.50. Tomasz Tatum

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СКАЧАТЬ trek for Reverend Zabulon Kleistermaul. Born as the youngest of six children to parents of very modest background and even more modest means, Zabulon’s formative years were spent between public school–where he, in contrast to some of his classmates to whom everything seemed to come naturally, needed to continually invest a tremendous effort toward achieving satisfactory grade performance–and delivering The Moody Sunday Revivalist on weekends. Having to work for his grades from early on likely helped instill in him the sense of discipline that helped in adulthood, particularly in his selfless work at the head of his church.

      The money he earned in return for his labor back in those days was truly minimal but through his experiences during these years he progressively became an ever stauncher believer and advocate of the notion that time invested in such laudable causes represented the seed capital that would ultimately germinate upon one’s start in the Hereafter.

      Soon after completion of his formal schooling, Zabulon Kleistermaul quickly found himself working in an apprenticeship as a veterinarian’s assistant at a church-sponsored animal clinic. Deftly utilizing the interpersonal skills obtained and honed through his own spiritual experience as well as regular PrayerDay School attendance, he was soon a cherished partner to anxiety-plagued pet owners seeking consolation or fretting the collateral damage, psychological and otherwise, that was likely or at least conceivable upon neutering the beloved family sheepdog or de-worming basset hounds given to butthole surfing across the living room carpet.

      It was one of the senior parishioners of the church who ultimately chanced upon and recognized young Zabulon’s talent, his gift of instilling not only health where there were tapeworms but, even more significantly for the despairing pet owners, hope where there was none. Fortified and enlightened through the depth of his experiences at the Our Hounds at the Meadow Animal Clinic, Zabulon’s path then led him straight into the arcane realm of the seminaries.

      Zabulon Kleistermaul was an astute student by this time, extremely well-versed for a young man of his age in the church’s liturgies and rhetoric, and he was beholden by an unshakeable faith that his was truly a manifest destiny: God would give him both the will and the power to lift himself by his own bootstraps many times over if only he were humble enough to accept with grace the prosperity that abounded within those who would open their hearts and their minds and work with vigor to further His cause. Zabulon Kleistermaul was doggedly determined to reap the rewards.

      “Even as thy soul prospereth,” was how it was phrased somewhere deep within the good book.

      He hoped and prayed that he would be the first among his siblings to live the life of abundance. He was going forward with courage and faith to live the life of an entrepreneurial apostle. His would be the Kingdom of wealth and opulence.

      He would seek and find shelter in houses with alarm systems and in which the roof never leaked. And he would travel in cars whose seats were invariably of white leather as unblemished as the skin of the Virgin herself.

      He would be the servant thrust into the role of the king.

ZIPPERCARDS

      Of course, seignorage was a serious issue to be considered. It was only natural that even a domain.state like Libertyville@Esperantia would possess and retain an inherent interest in the generation of wealth by whatever means were available and feasible. Printing and distributing banknotes was arguably one conventional method which presented itself rather obviously to the treasurers of most countries and their national banks. But there were also indisputably a number of disadvantages associated with conventional currencies that could not simply be overlooked if considered with wisdom and circumspect. Paper notes and coins, for example, were cumbersome instruments in these modern times.

      They could be hoarded.

      Banknotes could be embezzled or physically stolen.

      The logistics involved in physically moving money around could often be daunting and were always expensive.

      Cash could be smuggled abroad with little effort or could be traded in illegal money markets.

      And despite the development and implementation of even the most elaborate precautionary measures, customary currencies would always be subject to the risk of being counterfeited.

      And, of course, once in circulation, cash had the tendency to become very difficult to control or track.

      In light of these serious shortcomings to which conventional money would always be susceptible, the original founding fathers of Libertyville@Esperantia elected to make a radical decision: after carefully weighing the pros and cons of the issue, they resolved among themselves to do away with it forever.

      But this resolution was not rooted in any undue ideological considerations.

      Quite to the contrary, these founding fathers were in fact decidedly capitalistic in their way of thinking. The key to understanding their intention lay elsewhere.

      The buzzwords at the time of this debate were efficiency, consolidation and synergy. Thus the brightest minds in the young nation were mobilized and entrusted with the task of inventing an adequate substitute that went far beyond the ludicrously limited capabilities of cash or even plastic credit cards. The result of this national endeavor was nothing short of the minor technical revolution subsequently referred to as the ZipperCard.

      The officially declared objective of this government effort was to liberate the citizens and consumers of Libertyville@Esperantia from the dreary constraints imposed on them by the hitherto traditional methods of trading money for merchandise and services in the course of daily living. By providing each and every denizen of the nation with a central account which could be efficiently accessed through a multifunction card with an integrated chip circuit, the requirement to make, transport and store money very quickly became a thing of the past.time.

      For the general public, the annoying search for small change to park a car, ride the bus or see a movie was about to become history.

      The real competitive edge attained by the introduction of the ZipperCard, however, lay in the diversity of its many functions above and beyond simply enabling cashless transactions on virtually any scale. As a matter of fact, a number of these functions were probably not even directly obvious to the average citizen-consumer carrying it about in his or her pocketbook or wallet.

      Although there were initially some misgivings about the potential for abusing the data which the ZipperCard’s introduction made available, this was smartly countered by touching on widespread concerns about social ills such as drug abuse, terrorism or pornography, which would always continue to flourish handsomely as long as mind-boggling sums of cash could be generated through their distribution. The card’s proponents argued that its introduction in the place of currency would inevitably dry up the trade in illicit drugs, cheap guns, foreign-made dildos and other contraband goods by making it practically impossible to launder profits or to smuggle them abroad.

      And in public discussions, it was consistently underscored that the ZipperCard would streamline and enhance Libertyville@Esperantia’s already functionally mature market economy by providing around-the-clock reliable real-time data on consumer spending patterns. Ad campaigns financed by the government and other interested institutions such as banks and chambers of commerce stressed its security–the holographic picture on the card could not be tampered with without destroying it–which made it easily adaptable to serving additionally as a forgery-proof identity card, passport or driver’s license. Using the ZipperCard, access to public buildings, offices and institutions would be secure, easy and enjoyable in the future.time.

      The state church, for its part, diligently avoided creating the impression of taking any one side СКАЧАТЬ