Tossing Salt Presents:
5 Questions
World Hunger, Fictional Worlds & More
November 4, 2021
DougMaynard.com

I like to answer random questions. No secrets here. And right now, I’m going to do exactly that, five of them to be exact. These come from Reddit. The answers are from me. And men are from Jupiter while women are from Mars. Let’s do this.

You have 6 Billion dollars to end world hunger. What would you do?

Simple, I’d do my best to end world hunger by creating jobs, providing money for education, and offering opportunities that people can earn a living and stay housed, fed, etc. I wouldn’t just give the money to anyone without total transparency both on my part and theirs and it would have to go to actually help to feed people and help them learn the necessary skills to survive and thrive rather than staying dependent on hand-outs and charity. Just giving the money to the United Nations or most charity groups, where the overhead is more than the actual amounts spent on providing food, doesn’t work. Six billion dollars is just a drop in the bucket when all the litigating costs and expenses are added in so the problem would be to eliminate those costs and take the aid directly to the people who need it rather than the ones overseeing the situation and problems. It’s not a quick fix and it would take more than just money, but I’d do what I can.

What is something that you hate about where you live?

That this used to be a good town, but drugs, crime, government entitlement, and ignorance have taken over and it’s not safe to even walk up the street or go to the store anymore and you’re liable to be shot or robbed. The inmates have taken control and what was once a great place to live is now just a shadow of what used to be. Very sad.

If you could choose to live in one fictional universe/world, which one would you choose and why?

The world of Harry Potter was the first to come to mind, but the over-reach of the government to control the people, the lack of electronics and modern conveniences, the presence of a Dark Lord and his cult of followers, that’s not very appealing one you look at it closely. I’m a big comic book guy, but both the Marvel and DC Universes are so chaotic and unpredictable, I probably wouldn’t live long before getting impaled by a steel beam during a superhero fight. The world of the Walking Dead has too many zombies running around. How about in Mr. Roger’s Land of Make-Believe? All you have to deal with then is an annoying train, a drunk librarian, an idiot king, and an unnatural relationship between an owl and a pussycat that has seriously traumatized a young lion. Hell, compared to the real world we live in, that would be a breeze.

You’re offered the ability to absorb the knowledge of any book you touch instantly, but the way it works is that time freezes and won’t unfreeze until you finish reading the book cover to cover, do you accept this power/curse? Why or why not?

Does time freeze just for me or for the entire world? To learn and gather knowledge sounds amazing, but the costs here seem kind of high and impracticable. I believe that’s one offer I’d choose to decline.

What do you NOT own enough of?

Forks. We only have three real forks in our silverware tray. What happened to the rest over the past few years, I have absolutely no idea. Thank goodness for plastic forks, but it’d be nice to use a real one every so often without having to hunt them down and wash dishes first. Yeah, most definitely forks.

And there you go. My thanks for reading. Comments, thoughts, and any questions are welcome and appreciated. Until the next time, take care and stay safe. I’ll see you in the funny papers.

Ubuntu!