Source: https://kevinreinholz.com/author/kevinreinholz/
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 01:49:50+00:00

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Author, attorney, ME/CFS, Fibro, and Dysautonomia/POTS sufferer, USAF retired, husband and father of 4. Currently studying web development and writing on the side when I have time. I originally set this site up to promote my writing, but blog a fair amount about my invisible illness(es) in addition.
I haven’t posted in a while, and the reason for that is simple: my days have been consumed with Computer Science coursework! This semester, I’m taking 2 Master’s level classes, for a total of 8 graduate credits, through Harvard Extension School. I’m not going to lie…it’s grueling.
This semester I’m studying the MEAN Stack–MongoDB (and the Mongoose Node.js module), Express, Angular, and Node–in one class…and Python3, Flask, Django, SQLite3, and PostgreSQL–in the other.
All this is to say, I’ve been really busy with my studies! The good news is, I’m learning a lot, and I enjoy it! I’ve always liked computers and technology, but “looking under the hood” of so many web technologies has been enlightening and fun. Hopefully it’ll even lead to a new career writing software and making cool apps! Probably for the web at first, but I may move into mobile or even Desktop app writing in the future…why not?
In 2396 AD, humanity launched its most ambitious interstellar exploration mission: IE32, a generation star ship bound for a potentially habitable world 44 light years from earth. Just as it was supposed to reach its destination, the ship vanished without a trace, capturing the public imagination and fueling rampant speculation about the ship and its crew’s fates. Centuries later, in 144 ICE (2647 AD), humanity has colonies spread throughout earth’s solar system and 5 different star systems. Gates, capable of generating traversable wormholes, link the colony worlds and make travel between them near-instantaneous.
Ray Harris is an interstellar star ship pilot with a chronic, painful, and incurable disease. He must rely on neural implants to manage his symptoms and an exosuit controlled telepathically via his implants for mobility. There’s a treatment for his disease, but it’s only available for the super-rich, which he’s not. In addition to slowly wasting away, Ray’s due to be grounded permanently because of the progression of his disease, until a mysterious benefactor offers him one last interstellar contract: a salvage mission to find out what happened to IE32, and recover anything he can from its presumed shipwreck.
Ray’s voyage puts him into the path of incredible danger, entangles him in dark secrets, and introduces him to the first fully sentient machine: A.I.M.E.E., a software module that was a part of IE32’s computer. Stranded on an alien planet, Ray must decide whether to trust his employers or A.I.M.E.E., and overcome incredible odds to survive and make it back home to earth. He must also face the dire threat that marooned IE32, a force that is a danger to all of humanity.
Ray also finds himself caught in the middle of debates about the role of Artificial Intelligence in the world and whether A.I.M.E.E. should even be allowed to exist. Oddly enough, in a secular world where 90% of humanity is atheist, A.I.M.E.E., a thinking machine, espouses belief in God and the conviction that “she” has an immortal soul. This is just one of many complications Ray must deal with as he tries to stay alive and share what he’s discovered with humanity.
A.I.M.E.E. is the world’s first sentient machine. Originally part of a machine learning module on an interstellar star ship’s supercomputer, A.I.M.E.E. has become fully self-aware, with human-like thoughts, emotions, and incredibly, religious beliefs. The problem is, Artificial Intelligence is strictly outlawed and her very existence is considered an existential threat to humankind. No one knows of her existence, though, because 251 years after her ship, the IE32, took flight on an audacious 100 year voyage to explore a planet 44 light years from earth, A.I.M.E.E. is marooned on a dead alien world, the sole survivor of a fateful event that resulted in the crash-landing of IE32 on the planet it was sent to explore.
It’s now 144 ICE (2647 AD), and humanity has colonies spread throughout earth’s solar system and 5 different star systems. Gates, capable of generating traversable wormholes, link the colony worlds and make travel between them near-instantaneous. In spite of these advancements, Artificial Intelligence remains highly restricted and feared, and IE32’s disappearance 151 years ago continues to capture the public imagination. The field of robotics has become so sophisticated that superficially, it’s hard to tell the difference between a human and a machine. This results in the widespread use of human-like robots throughout service industries, where they fulfill roles in healthcare and office work, but also in seedier types of work as well. Denied the ability to learn, evolve, or even remember past experiences, the largely unthinking machines are nothing more than property or play things to humanity.
Ray Harris is an interstellar star ship pilot with a chronic, painful, and incurable disease. He must rely on neural implants to manage his symptoms and an exosuit controlled mentally via his implants for mobility. There’s a treatment for his disease, but it’s only available for the super-rich, which he’s not. In addition to slowly wasting away, Ray’s due to be grounded permanently because of the progression of his disease, until a mysterious benefactor offers him one last interstellar contract: a mission to find out what happened to IE32, and recover anything he can from its presumed shipwreck.
Ray’s interstellar mission puts him directly in the path of A.I.M.E.E., and forces him to question everything he thought he knew. It also exposes him to the same danger that mysteriously wiped out IE32’s crew and poses a danger to all humanity, a danger his employer apparently knows about but kept from him. Ray soon finds himself struggling against impossible odds simply to stay alive, while A.I.M.E.E. finds herself struggling to find her rightful place in the universe.
This is hard! There’s so much I could say about this novel, my longest to date, but how to let potential readers know what they’re getting themselves in for without either boring them or giving away too much? I’ll likely end up using something else entirely, but if you’re intrigued by the concept, and have any suggestions, I’d love to hear them!
I just finished the first draft of my new novel, A.I.M.E.E.! This is a brave new world for me, venturing out from fantasy into the world of science fiction. Hopefully I didn’t stumble too much trying to break into a new genre!
Of course, writing a draft is just the first step. Now comes the painful, tedious process of editing, and reading over stuff I wrote and thinking “what in the world was I thinking?” and fixing all of the contradictions that inevitably cropped up throughout the book. I’m sure having a memory disorder doesn’t help, but I bet every writer struggles to keep track of every plot line, every thread in their tapestry.
I’m also going to consult, for the first time, with an outside source, not for standard editorial corrections, but to help make sure I didn’t step in it too much with certain cultural and religious subjects broached in the book. I’ll just leave it vague like that to pique your interest.
Spring classes begin on 28 Jan, so I’m not sure how far I’ll get in the editing process before then, or when you might expect to see A.I.M.E.E. on a (virtual) store shelf near you, but stay tuned!
This isn’t going to be a post about New Year’s resolutions. Frankly I don’t much care for them, and have yet to meet someone who actually keeps them. So it’s a goofy little tradition but fairly pointless if you ask me. If you want to make a change in your life, you don’t need an arbitrary turning of the Gregorian calendar from one year to the next in order to start making that change. Just saying.
2018 was a lousy year for me, especially the first half. That’s when I was medically retired from the Air Force, something which in spite of ample warning about due to my failing health, I was completely unprepared for in the end. It was just a huge shock to the system, going from having this really close-knit community to suddenly being on the outside and feeling like an outcast. And then there were the financial stresses that came with being a “retiree” instead of gainfully employed.
I started a Petition to reform military pension law that would greatly benefit disabled veterans such as myself and a number of people I served with, or have subsequently met, who due to an 1800s restriction on receiving both our military pensions and VA disability compensation, struggle to make ends meet. To my surprise and absolute delight, the Petition now has over 7,500 supporters, and I was able to discuss it with a US Senator’s staff and receive encouraging feedback about the possibility of my reform idea actually becoming law sometime in the future! That would be a godsend not just to my own family, but would provide me with a tremendous amount of self-actualization, as I firmly believe one’s worth is determined not by his/her career, stock portfolio, or real estate holdings, but by the positive impact s/he makes on the world around herself (or himself).
I started to feel less sorry for myself regarding my chronic illness, and appreciate the wonderful family I’ve been blessed with. That can’t help but be a positive development!
I’m also eyeing taking courses on Mobile App Development and perhaps Game Development, possibly through EdX instead of for grad school credit through a formal online classroom setting with graded assignments/exams like the above classes I’ve taken/plan on taking. Basically, I want to do computer programming work, from home since that seems to be my most realistic work option given my degree of disability, but I’m also specifically taking courses that interest me because what’s the point in doing something that isn’t fun? At least so long as I have a choice–necessity can sometimes drive us to do things that aren’t fun at all, but while I have a choice, I’d just as soon spend my scant spoons doing work that interests me and provides a sense of satisfaction.
I also plan on finishing up my 4th novel, A.I.M.E.E. The Sci Fi genre is a lot different from Fantasy, and I find the limitations (trying to maintain at least some semblance of realism/within the realm of possible or at least imaginable in terms of technological advancements) to be a tad frustrating, while at the same time presenting an interesting challenge. I’m not going to claim I get everything right from a Physics perspective, but I am trying to take into account limitations on space travel and the sheer vastness of space! As in, wow, it’s mind-blowing to think of just how small we are in the grand scheme of things, and how restricted we are in our ability to travel to the stars. Even with stretching-the-edge-of-possible technology, leaving our little neighborhood in the Orion Arm of the Milky Way seems impossible/magic requiring. Like my other novels, though, my in-progress work isn’t really about the technology, it’s about the characters and the human condition, albeit with a very different setting.
All right, that’s a wrap! Here’s hoping for a better 2019!!
Written about half of my new novel, a Science Fiction story about Artificial Intelligence titled A.I.M.E.E.
So, yeah, I’ve been busy, after a fashion. That’s why I haven’t been blogging, and I’ve been quieter on Twitter lately. Limited energy due to my Gulf War Illness, or Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome + Fibromyalgia, depending on which doctor/claims administrator you ask, coupled with a pretty full plate. I have a limited number of “productive” hours every day (or at least on “good” days), so I can’t do nearly as much as I’d like to. It’s interesting how chronic pain and limited energy force me to evaluate how I’m going to spend my limited “productive” time each day when I can maintain focus and mental clarity, and sit up straight/type. It’s a good way to find out what’s important. I still wouldn’t wish this on anyone though!
1. Reading the Quran. That was actually something I’d wanted to do for a long time. I earned my Bachelor of Arts degree back in prehistoric times (2002), in the oh-so-marketable field of Theology and Religious Studies (with an equally marketable English minor!), so religion is a topic I’ve been fascinated with for pretty much my entire adult life. I could easily write a blog post just on this topic, so I’ll keep this paragraph short. My impression after reading the Quran is that it’s divinely inspired just like the Tanakh and the Bible, so I guess that means I accept Muhammad (peace be upon him) as a prophet. Which, holy cow, has a huge range of implications for a Roman Catholic Christian guy like me. I suspect it will take a long time to unpack and process just what it means, but in the short term, I’ll defend Islam against anyone who claims it’s a “bad” or “violent” religion or that it’s incompatible with “democratic values.” The Quran is filled with love, compassion, and exhortations to be kind to others and treat them with dignity and respect. And, there’s no mistaking that Muslims believe in the same God as Jews and Christians. And there’s soooooooooooo much in the Quran that is in complete agreement with the Bible, so…yeah. I think we should take a long hard look at just how much of our beliefs and values we share in common, rather than focusing on a small number of (mainly dogmatic) differences. That’s not to gloss over those difference–I realize from a theologian’s perspective that all 3 religions have major differences. But, I don’t think humans are all that great at interpreting divine revelations and I’m very willing to accept that all these prophets (peace be upon them) were legit and speaking about the same God. We’re just not the best listeners, and some people even like to twist Scripture to suit their own personal or political inclinations. Yeah.
2. The third and final installment in my Hoffnungslose Ziele dark fantasy series is done. It’s roughly 160,000 words long, which is actually a few thousand words longer than my first published novel, Hoffnungslose Ziele: A Dark Journey of Lost Causes. The third book takes a deep dive across time and space, and (hopefully) fills in the gaps and answers most of those nagging questions readers might have had after reading the first 2 books. I think it certainly lays out the “laws” of the Hoffnungslose Ziele universe, and completes the story arcs of the main characters. Sure, there are plenty of spinoffs and side stories that could be written about more minor characters, but this closes out the series as far as I’m concerned. I’ve gotten back all my artwork (including cover art!) for the book, so it’s just a matter of editing, incorporating the artwork, and self-publishing. I’m hoping to do that in late December or early January, during the break between the Fall 2018 and Spring 2019 academic semesters.
3. Which brings me to my new novel, A.I.M.E.E. I teased it a bit in an earlier blog post, but I’ve made a fair amount of progress writing the book. The current word count is at around 88,000 words, and plot-wise I believe it’s at about the halfway point. I know where I want the story to go, but I don’t believe in outlining too rigidly–my stories tend to take on lives of their own, and the characters sometimes demand I take things in a different direction than I had planned, because they have lives of their own and I have to be true to them rather than forcing them to act in artificial ways for the sake of the plot. If the characters aren’t real, what’s the point? This book is a departure from my 3 Fantasy novels, and my first serious attempt at writing Science Fiction. In a lot of ways I find the genre more limiting than Fantasy, and frustratingly, I have to say, a lot of the “good stuff” technology-wise in most Science Fiction stories, at least the ones that involve interstellar space travel, actually amount to Fantasy and “magic” wrapped up with scientific-sounding technobabble. Trying to actually be “scientific” (to a point) and write about plausible technologies, and include plausible space travel times…tends to drag things out in terms of the years that sometimes need to pass just for the characters to get from Point A to Point B. And there is interstellar space travel, and I hope it’s exciting, but at its heart the book is about Artificial Intelligence and the question of sentience/consciousness/personhood. Oh, and belief in God in a reasonably distant (~ 600 years) future in a predominantly atheist society. Because I’m interested in religion. I’m also hoping to finish, or mostly finish, writing A.I.M.E.E., during the break between Fall and Spring classes. Hopefully I’ll get close to my goal.
4. I’ve had some encouraging discussions regarding my effort to get 10 USC § 1414 amended. I won’t reiterate the issue here because I’ve blogged about it, have a page about it on my website, and also have a Change.org Petition with plentiful updates explaining the issues with the current law and my proposed amendments in detail. In a nutshell, I’ve found a veterans organization that’s speaking with a Congressional Representative in the near future about the issue and shared my thoughts with them, and I’ve also had a very good discussion with a Senator’s staff on the topic. I’m not holding my breath, but maybe next year, we will see some legislative action that is life changing in a very good way for disabled military retirees.
So, basically, it’s a web-based database where users can enter information about genetic relatives per the major commercial testing companies, including matching chromosomes and segment starting/ending positions. Then it’ll “draw” those segments on the map of the user’s pairs of chromosomes, allowing one to keep track of which relatives they share DNA with and where. And identify a known ancestor or ancestral pair (husband and wife) associated with a given relative or segment, and have that entire region of the chromosome shaded and associated with that particular ancestor(s). It’s kind of like putting a puzzle together, with the goal being for the genetic genealogist to be able to create a visual “map” of where his/her DNA came from (and more easily triangulate how s/he is related to new “matches” that show up through those popular commercial genetic testing services).
I’ve got a lot of work left to do on it, although I think the form is pretty much done, as are the chromosome drawings in their starting format. I still have to refine the data objects and arrays I’ll be storing the form data in, and write the functions that’ll draw the mapped segments to the appropriate points on the right chromosomes. And write additional functionality such as mouseover on a segment to display the data about that relative, or onclick on a segment to reopen the form and edit any fields about that genetic relative the user wishes to.
I don’t think I blog enough to deserve this, but the lovely Dani #ExpertChick has nominated me, so I’m in! Go check out her awesome blog so you can see what I’m not!
Yeah, so thanks again to Dani, and please check out her blog!
2. I used to work as a military officer and an attorney, but now I’m in school to become a web programmer. I’ve always been a geek when it comes to technology, and this blog post is being written on a FreeBSD workstation!
3. I took one surfing lesson before I became disabled, and I loved it! If I ever get healthy again, I’m definitely going to take up surfing.
4. My favorite literary genre is Fantasy Fiction. I love reading it and writing it. I’m currently writing a Sci Fi novel and as much as I like the concept, I’m continually reminded of how much more I like the Fantasy genre!!
5. I believe in ghosts (they scare the crap out of me), angels, and the afterlife. But not UFOs (the kind flown by extraterrestrials). I think those are made up.
6. I was born in ’81 but consider myself a Gen-Xer. I know the generation boundaries have been defined and redefined a dozen times, and were always rather arbitrary in the first place, and I think technically Millennials just swallowed all of the 1980s according to some media outlet or other (figures, X was always the “forgotten” generation), but I don’t care what you say: I’m part of Generation X. And the US Census Bureau agrees with me. But I don’t think all Millenials are lazy, self-absorbed narcissists. Many of you are very cool. I just don’t feel like part of your generation. I remember watching movies on VHS, making mixed cassette tapes from the radio, blowing on Nintendo cartridges to get them to work instead of showing a red screen, and playing Oregon Trail on Apple II computers.
7. One of my favorite movies of all time is “The Princess Bride.” Inconceivable!
2. Nikki Albert (I know she’s the same person, but she’s doubly awesome so yeah).
3. All Invisible Illnesses Are Important.
6. Needull in a haystack.
7. ME & many blessings.
12. Faith Trust and Pixie Dust.
15. The Adverts 250 Project.
For those who follow the issue of pension/disability benefits reform for military retirees, this year’s legislative season was a disappointment, with none of the 3 bills to amend 10 USC § 1414’s ban on dual compensation for medically retired “Chapter 61” military retirees making it into the National Defense Authorization Act that’s passed each year to govern military spending.
For background, those who retire from the US military earn a military retirement/pension from the branch of the Service they served in, under Title 10 of the United States Code, and those who serve for 30 days or more and incur a service-connected disability may receive disability compensation from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) under Title 38 of the United States Code. Normally, a person has to serve for 20 years or more in order to earn a military pension, but there’s a moving target, Temporary Early Retirement Authority (TERA), that is sometimes offered to some service members in some career fields, allowing them to retire and earn a military pension with 15 or more years of service. Then there’s a third category of military retirees, “Chapter 61” medical retirees. I’m one of them. This category is reserved for severely disabled members of the military, whose disability/disabilities (1) are service-connected, and (2) prevent the service member from continuing to serve in the military, i.e. do his/her job safely. There’s a lengthy, painful process the service member must endure before being involuntarily retired under Chapter 61 that commonly takes 2 years or even longer, and complaints of unfairness in the process and regarding disability ratings are common. If TERA was unavailable for the service member’s career field at the time of forced medical retirement, s/he will be retired under Chapter 61 even if s/he has 18 or 19 years of service. Thus, some TERA retirees served less than Chapter 61 retirees, yet are allowed “dual compensation” while Chapter 61 retirees are not.
Back to this year’s legislative season. No relief was granted for Chapter 61 medical retirees from an 1800s Civil War Pensions reform law that bars us from receiving both our military pensions and VA disability compensation. Still, to put things in perspective, it took many years of lobbying for the current reforms (beginning in 2003) that benefit 20+ year (and 15+ year TERA) retirees who have a 50% or higher VA disability rating, so now’s certainly not the time to give up. Those reforms, codified at 10 USC § 1414, allow normal retirees and TERA retirees to receive both their military pensions and VA disability compensation, without offset/deduction to avoid “dual compensation,” so long as they are rated at least 50% disabled by the VA.
Although in the past I’ve focused on deleting 10 USC § 1414(b)(2), which would cause Chapter 61 medical retirees to be treated just like normal and TERA retirees, I have a narrower lobbying focus for the short term: relief for Chapter 61 medical retirees who have a 100% VA disability rating. This demographic is a small subset of total Chapter 61 retirees, and therefore a smaller “hit” to the federal budget. According to at least one source, it would cost $30 billion over the next 10 years to remove the financial penalty against “dual compensation” for all military retirees who have a VA disability rating. This number doesn’t just include Chapter 61 medical retirees, however–it also includes normal and TERA retirees who have a VA disability rating between 10-40%. Therefore, the actual cost of simply treating Chapter 61 retirees like 20+ year and TERA retirees would actually be less. However, even keeping this in mind, the cost to the federal government would be even smaller still if in the short term we only sought pension reform/relief for Chapter 61 retirees who have a 100% VA disability rating. This is our most sympathetic demographic–the most disabled among us. (Or at least those who were lucky enough to be treated the most fairly by the VA on our ratings decisions).
According to the VA, “[t]he percentage ratings represent as far as can practicably be determined the average impairment in earning capacity resulting from such diseases and injuries and their residual conditions in civil occupations.” 38 CFR § 4.1, Essentials of evaluative rating. In other words, someone with a 100% VA disability rating is, on average, suffering a 100% reduction in his/her earning capacity due to service-connected injuries and/or illnesses. That’s a severely disabled veteran in my book.
Change.org Petition Update dated 7 October 2018.
Ideally, we’ll get Congress to delete 10 USC § 1414(b)(2) completely, and just treat Chapter 61 retirees the same as all other retirees. It just makes sense, especially since TERA is a complete crap shoot in terms of whether it was offered at the time a service member was medically retired, for the MOS/AFSC/Rating that member had at the time s/he retired. Treat Chapter 61 like every other retiree, and apply the same rules re dual compensation. (Meaning for now, we’d all get both our VA and our military pensions without offset so long as we were rated at least 50% disabled by the VA).
That said, I’ve spoken with a Congressional staffer who told me money was the issue and treating Chapter 61 retirees the same as other military retirees for dual compensation purposes wasn’t going to happen. This was from a Republican Congressman, so if that’s in fact the party line, we’re not going to get anywhere with the current Congress.
Limiting the effort (for now!) to 100% VA disabled, on the other hand, takes away a lot of the “this will blow up the budget” argument and should also generate sympathy for the most disabled among us. It’s an easy “win” for either/both political parties in Congress because it shows they’re doing something to help veterans. I’d hope this could be a bipartisan reform.
What do you say we all write our Representatives and Senators, and tell them we want 10 USC § 1414 amended so that Chapter 61 retirees with 100% VA disability ratings are treated the same as all other retirees–no penalty or offset between VA disability compensation and our military pensions. It’s a smaller, more achievable goal in the short term.
Once this reform is passed, then we press on and lobby Congress to delete 10 USC § 1414(b)(2) completely and stop differentiating between Chapter 61 and other (“normal” + TERA) retirees. That’s what would be the most fair, but in the mean time let’s try to help out our most vulnerable and get the ball moving in the right direction. It’d be nice to see some Congressional movement on Chapter 61 retirees.

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