47% of Americans pay no income tax, according to many sources. Is this really true?  Let’s take a look.

First of all, I’m going to present IRS data, so I’m limited to the information from tax returns. According to the 2010 US census the population of the United States was around 308.75 million people. The number of exemptions claimed on 2009 tax returns (the most current data available from the IRS) was 283.8 million. In other words, 25 million people – about 8% of the population – don’t appear anywhere on tax returns.

Who are these 25 million people? [survata]They could be people dodging taxes. They could be people who have paid their share of taxes in their lifetime (retired) or will pay their fair share at a later stage in their life (students). These may even be people who paid some amount of income tax during the year but aren’t filing for a refund (yes, this does happen).

Let’s work with the numbers we have from the IRS. Of the 140 million tax returns filed for the 2009 tax year, just over 58% paid taxes. So this means 42% of the people in this group didn’t pay taxes, right?

Wrong.

It means that 42% of the returns didn’t have any tax liability. What’s the difference?

Let’s walk through this example:

• Sam makes $3000 from his summer job and has no tax liability.
• Danielle and Thomas have three children: Mark, Lindsey, and William. They have tax liability of $150,000.

Looking at this example, what percent of people aren’t paying taxes? Is it fair to say 50? 50% of the tax returns (1 out of 2) have tax liability. Is it 33% (1 of the 3 adults aren’t paying taxes?). Is it 17% (1 of the 6 Americans aren’t paying taxes?) The people who are simply looking at the number of tax returns with taxes paid are going to say 50%. Is that right or wrong? I’ll let you decide.

If you choose 33% or 17%, let’s dig a bit deeper. Take a look on my article regarding how many people make more than $250,000. You’ll notice an correlation between number of exemptions (essentially household size) and income. The lowest income levels have the lowest number of exemptions (1.01), with this increasing until it plateaus around 3 in the $500,000 – $1,000,000 range.

There’s also a correlation between income level and likelihood of owing income tax. Less than 3% of tax returns with under $5000 in adjusted gross income owed any taxes, building to 77%+ in the $40,000 – $50,000 range and near 99% by the time we reach the $100,000+ range.

What’s my point? Let’s look at an extreme example. A million tax returns in the sub-$5000 range represent 1,010,000 Americans (1.01 exemptions per return). A million tax returns in the $500,000 – $1,000,000 range represent 3,050,000 people (3.05 exemption per return). Let’s take a sample of a million returns from each of these groups. Let’s further say that all one million returns in the $500,000 – $1,000,000 group have taxes owed and 160,000 returns in the sub $5000 group have taxes owed. That means that 1,160,000 / 2,000,000 – or 58% – of the returns have tax liability. However, these returns represent 3,211,600 or the 4,150,000 people – in excess of 77%. The basic mathematical concept here is weighted average.

An extreme example, yes. However, it does illustrate a valid point. The 42% of tax returns with no liability is going to represent less than 42% of the 283.75 million people covered by these returns.

Just want the data? Here it is!

Source: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-soi/09in11si.xls (compare column 6 to column 1)

AGI	Filers	Pay tax
All returns	140,494,127	58.27%
No adjusted gross income	2,511,925	N/A
$1 – $5,000	10,447,635	2.93%
$5,000 – $10,000	12,220,335	15.54%
$10,000 – $15,000	12,444,512	23.17%
$15,000 – $20,000	11,400,228	42.69%
$20,000 – $25,000	10,033,887	46.21%
$25,000 – $30,000	8,662,392	53.15%
$30,000 – $40,000	14,371,647	66.71%
$40,000 – $50,000	10,796,412	77.62%
$50,000 – $75,000	18,694,893	87.99%
$75,000 – $100,000	11,463,725	95.81%
$100,000 – $200,000	13,522,048	98.88%
$200,000 – $500,000	3,195,039	99.38%
$500,000 – $1,000,000	492,568	99.18%
$1,000,000 – $1,500,000	108,096	99.05%
$1,500,000 – $2,000,000	44,273	99.06%
$2,000,000 – $5,000,000	61,918	99.09%
$5,000,000 – $10,000,000	14,322	99.06%
$10,000,000 or more	8,274	98.86%

[/survata]

Appel Falls Far From The Tree

On the eve of this year’s baseball draft, many observers felt that Stanford pitcher Mark Appel (pronounced A-pell) would be picked #1 overall by the Houston Astros.  Appel and Georgia high school hitter Byron Buxton were 1-2 on most people’s draft board.

Many people had the toolsy Buxton ahead of Appel, but there’s always a risk/reward with high school players.  The Major League teams gets the raw material earlier, before a player learns so many bad habits.  But on the flip side, there’s a lot more opportunity for a player to simply stall in development or be overrun by injuries.  A college player is generally closer to a finished product.

When the Astros finally made their pick, it was Puerto Rican shortstop Carlos Correa.  Correa’s definitely a great player in his own right, and has a great narrative surrounding him (in a nutshell, hardworking parents sacrifice for kid’s dream, poor residents of his flood-prone neighborhood raise money for trips to tournaments).  However, he was generally considered to be a notch below Appel and Buxton – at best the third best player in the draft and probably a bit below that.

Mark Appel slid all the way to the Pittburgh Pirates at #8 – allowing the Bucs the chance to add him to a farm system that already includes stud pitching prospects Gerrit Cole and Jameson Taillon.

So why was the third best player picked with the top pick – and why did Mark Appel drop to eighth?

The Slotting System

For years, the commissioner’s office has advised teams on suggested bonuses for each spot in the draft.  However, this year there are penalties for exceeding the bonus recommendations.

How does it work?  Each spot in the first ten rounds of the draft is assigned a dollar value, with the number one picked being assigned a value of $7.2 million this year.  Players signed later than the 10th round must be signed for $100,000 or less.

Add up the amounts for a team’s picks, and that’s the amount they are allowed to spend on the players they draft in the first ten round rounds.  Each team will have a different amount – teams with high draft picks will have substantially higher amounts than those with worse picks.  If a player is picked at a slot valued at $1 million, a team could pay him $1.5 million … but they’d need to make up the difference on other players.  If a player does not sign, his amount is deducted from the amount the team is allocated.  In other words, if a team had a pool of $10 million and is unable to sign a player who had a $1 million value, they only have $9 million to sign their other draftees.

The penalties are steep.  Exceed the amount by just 5% and you pay a 75% luxury tax on the excess.  Exceed it by 10% and the tax jumps to 100% and you forfeit the next year’s first round pick.  Exceed the amount by 15% and you lose two future first round picks.

The Effect

Two basic strategies are likely to unfold.  The first strategy is like to make the first round pick based as much on signability as talent, and use the financial savings to sign later guys.  In the case of the Astros, pick a guy like Correa at #1 and offer him a bonus equivalent with the #2 or #3 slot.  They can save a million dollars or so and then picked some fairly tough to sign guys later in the draft (for example, Lance McCullers Jr. at #41) and pay them a bit more than the recommendation for that slot.

Conversely, if you think you are going to go over slot on your top pick, you can save money on the later picks.  For example, if you have picks 1, 25, and 42 you might pick the best player at #1, but opt for the 40th best guy at #25 and the 60th best guy at #42 and get those guys to sign for less than slot.

A possible third strategy would be to trade down in the draft … but draft picks can’t be traded.

The net effect is that the basic premise of the draft is broken.  A draft is supposed to be an efficient means for distributing a talent.  In a normal draft, the top player SHOULD be picked first and the 20th best talent should be picked (roughly) 20th.  With the new slotting rules, the “draft” really becomes more of a math logic puzzle than an actual draft.

A Loophole

In theory, the slotting is an attempt to keep teams with deep pockets (Yankees) from scooping up all the best talent by making it known that they’ll pay huge bonuses.  Studies have show that draft bonuses are actually a cost-effective means of acquiring talent (when compared to alterative methods such as free agency), but obviously most owners would prefer to keep bonuses as low as possible.

However, the system actually does create an unique opportunity for a team willing to pay the penalty.  As I understand it, the largest penalty is the two lost picks and 100% luxury tax if a team exceed the bonus pool amount by 15%.  That is to say, if you have a pool of $10 million, you lose two picks if you spend $10,150,000 or if you spend $20,000,000.  Other than the extra money paid in luxury tax, the penalty is the same.

If a team is pretty sure it’s going to go 15% over slot, they may make it know that they’ll pay way over slot in an attempt to get elite talent to drop to them – basically, shooting the moon and going WAY over budget. 

Let’s say that a team has picks 15, 41, and 48 in the current year’s draft.  The team has several emerging young stars and will likely pick very late in the draft for the next few years.  Let’s project them picking 23rd next year and 25th the year after.

The team makes it known that they will pay big bonuses for premium talent.  The top player in the draft falls to them at #15.  The sixth best guy falls at them at #41 and the 12th best guy falls to them at #48 – all because high demands from the players cause them to drop in the draft.  The team exceeds the bonus pool amount by a lot, and forfeits first round picks in the next two drafts.

Effectively, the team has traded picks 15, 23, 25, 41, and 48 for picks 1, 6, and 12.

Is this a fair trade?  Let’s consult a draft value chart (it’s a NFL-based chart, but the basic premise is similar).  Here are the values for each of the picks:

• 1 – 3000
• 6 – 1600
• 12 – 1200
• 15 – 1050
• 23 – 760
• 25 – 720
• 41 – 490
• 48 – 420

Picks 1, 6, and 12 are worth a combined 5800 points.  Picks 15, 23, 25, 41, and 48 are worth a combined 3440 points.  If you’re the Yankees, you pick those three top prospects, pay them, pay the luxury tax, and forfeit your first round picks in the next two years – because you’ll get more talent that way than by picking talent-appropriate players at each slot.

How to Fix the System

Clearly, I think the system is broken.  It’s fair, then, to ask me to propose a solution.  How would I fix the draft?

I think allowing teams to trade picks would make a lot of sense.  The current rule banning trades of picks (and draftees until they have been under contract for a year) seems to be in place merely to prevent General Managers from making huge mistakes.  Really?  These are supposed to be the best and brightest baseball minds.  Why do they need bumpers in their bowling alley?

If you allow trades, a team without a lot of money could still extract maximum value from a pick.  They might trade the #1 pick for the #15 pick and a couple of good prospects (or even a veteran who could contribute immediately).  The Yankees and Red Sox still might snap up a lot of the good young players, but they’d have to pay for them with talent (draft picks and players) as well as cash.  Currently, they can just throw money at players.

I’ve gone on the record many time as being opposed to any sort of caps on salaries, preferring to allow a free market to set amounts.  But if a cap must exist, I’d suggest an overall cap on player expenditures.  This means combining salaries for current major and minor league players, as well as bonuses paid to any draftees or foreign free agents.  Team A could decide to spend a big chunk of their allotment on draftee bonuses while Team B decides to spend most of their money on free agents – but both strategies would be equally valid.

Another thought would be to replace signing  bonuses with roster bonuses at the end of each season.  This would force a player to prove something before getting money.  However, the team would also be forced to make a commitment.  If they decided that a player wasn’t worth the roster bonus, the player would immediately become an unrestricted free agent.  We could call it the “fish or cut bait” clause.

I kill people.  I do it for pleasure.  Rarely does a month go by without me killing someone.  Often, I’ll kill several people in the course of a single day.  My weapon of choice is a knife, due to the up close nature.  When I use a gun, it’s always a Glock.  Sometimes I’ll use other methods to kill.

I’m not a violent person.  The killing I do is within the pages of my fiction.  I first create characters, and then kill them off with just a few clickety clacks of my keyboard.  I’ll admit that I love writing murder scenes, and I think I’m pretty good at it.  An acquaintance once told me that a story of mine gave him a bona fide nightmare.  How great of a compliment – a story of mine actually made its way into his subconscious, where it waited for the opportune moment to scare the hell out of him.

In “real life” I’m a pretty mild mannered person.  I could never exhibit the type of brutality that some of my characters do, nor could I cut someone’s life short by plunging a knife into their heart.  When people learn that I write pretty violent crime fiction in my spare time, it often comes as a shock.

When I’m in a particularly mischievous mood, I comment that the murderous energy must come out of me in one of two ways – words or actions.  I choose words, simply to avoid the bloodshed.

My thought is that every person has a dark side.  At some point, the energy from the dark side needs to be releases, or it will build up into a violent climax.  My stories give my dark side a place to come out and play.  The dark side can maim and kill, without causing any damage to the “real world”

The Oracle of Key West, Jimmy Buffett, once said “Therapy is extremely expensive.  Popping bubble wrap is radically cheap.”  Like bubble, writing is a very cheap way to exorcise some internal demos.  It costs almost nothing to start.  Grab a pen and and a sheet of paper, and you’re good to go.

If you’re new around here, you might not know that I’m a huge baseball fan.  If you’ve been a reader for a while, you really have no excuse for not knowing.

I really feel fortunate to live in a time when there is so much modern technology to keep me in touch with baseball.  Sure, it lets me keep up on world news and the stock market, but let’s focus on what’s important.

The Old Days

When I was a kid, I was a fan of the Cubs (I was cured of this disease in my late teens).  I loved baseball, but my access to information was extremely limited.  We didn’t have cable TV, so the only time I was able to watch a game was when the Cubs were on national TV – a handful of games each year.  I did have the ability to listen to games on the radio.  I could almost always get the Cubs games, and often the Cardinals, too.  On a good night, I could catch the Reds from where I lived in eastern Iowa.  I’m sure I could have also picked up the White Sox, but even as a kid I had little interest in the American League.

Statistics?  There were box scores in the daily paper, but if I wanted a running total, I had to wait for the Sunday paper, which would list the league leaders in hitting and pitching (a long list).  I had to run my finger down the list until I found my favorite players.

The Modern Age

These days, I subscribe to MLB Extra Innings.  Although a bunch of teams are blacked out in Iowa (Cubs, Sox, Twins, Brewers, Cardinals), I have the ability to catch most games played by my Colorado Rockies – assuming that I have the free time to do so, and that the game gets over at a reasonable time (those west coast games are killers).  Such easy access to “out of market” games is a dream come true for a baseball fan.

If I want statistics, there are no end of sites that can give my up to date information.  The most frequently used app on my Palm Pre?  The “Baseball Live!” apps that constantly refreshes scores and allows me to quickly check in on any game.  I keep tabs on quite a few players (beside my Rockies,  I watch Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, Matt Holliday, Adam Dunn, Albert Pujols, and a few others), so this is really handy.

I don’t get as much time to catch baseball coverage as I would like, and I spend a lot of time alone in my car.  Recently, I realized that it would make a lot of sense to load up on podcasts.  Since then, I’ve been listening to several hours of baseball coverage every day.  ESPN, Baseball Prospectus, MLB.com, Baseball America – if they’re talking, I’m listening.  It’s definitely far better than the options available on over the air radio during my drive times.

Of course, we can’t forget about Twitter.  I’m not a huge Twitter user, but I do follow a couple of Rockies players – Dexter Fowler and Eric Young Jr.  Both interact quite a bit with fans, and I’m come to become bigger fans of both as a result of what I see on Twitter.  EY occasionally retweets some nasty tweets he receives from “fans” (anti-fans), which let us see what they have to deal with at time.  Fowler seems to constantly be doing ticket giveaways.  Both guys are clearly enjoying playing a kids’ game.

Has your hobby been influence by technology in recent year?  What impact has technology had?

It’s been a while since I’ve given an update on the status of various projects.

The Soap Boxers – the one you’re all familiar with.  The site never has monetized very well, but it’s always been a labor of love.  In recent months, traffic has really taken a hit – dropping 60% from previous levels.  I suspect that a Google algorithm change may be the reason.  We’ve also lost two writers recently.  Both left on very good terms – just got caught in a time crunch and had to prioritize activities in their lives.  We’ll miss Squeaky’s views on politics (though he’ll be an occasional guest writer) and Princess Kate’s insights into the world or art.  Regardless of how many visitors we have or how much money we make (lose), I have every intention of keeping The Soap Boxers alive until I die 🙂

Casting Stones – This is my serial killer novel.  It’s been on the back burner for a while now, to allow me to work on things that can actually make money in the shorter term.  However, it’s time to push it back to the forefront.  Techniques I learned in a recent writer’s should be a great help with this book.  The book follows a female detective as she tries to track a brutal serial killer.  Like many of my fictional killer, the preferred weapon is a knife.  I enjoy writing knife scenes because of the up close nature of the weapon.

Freelance writing – I continue to churn out an occassional personal finance article for The Digerati Life.  Hopefully I’ll ramp up this production in the second half of the year, since I actually get paid for these articles.  I’m not looking for any other personal finance gigs at the moment, but I’d be happy to write some freelance articles about sports (baseball in particular).

Short stories – I tried to bundle 75 of my short stories into one Kindle books, and it flopped pretty hard.  Instead, I’ve decided to break things apart into smaller pieces for a lower price.  The Cell Window (voyeurism) and Key Relationships (love story) are longer stories (10,000 words) that are available as stand-along stories for 99 cents.  The simply titled Stories About Sports is a collection of various sports stories that is also 99 cents.  In the second half of 2012, I’ll be releasing a collections of crime stories and stories with a twist ending.  I’ll also write more short stories for The Soap Boxers.

Helping other writers – I assisted Martin with the launch of his novel, A Changed Man.  I’m hoping to help some other writers launch books under the Hyrax Publications label later in the year.

 

What about you?  What are your plans for the rest of the year?

The winner of this year’s fiction contest is Elizabeth West.  We didn’t draw quite as many entries as we hoped.  In fact, the inaugural context drew exactly one entry.  It’s a fine story, though, and definitely championship worthy.

The giveaway of a $5 Amazon gift card for a random voter had been changed instead to a random commenter.  Tell Elizabeth what you liked about her story in the comments section below and be eligible to win! All comments left by midnight Central on May 25 are eligible (excluding writers for The Soap Boxers and their immediate families).

Want to read more of Elizabeth’s work?  Visit her blog, Graphomaniac.

Te absolvo By Elizabeth West

Photo courtesy Jill Barlow photography
 
 
Divine work is the most challenging of all employment. Those who have followed my travails in the papers will wonder for decades, perhaps, why it was necessary. My family, a mother who in her extremity of befuddlement will not understand this and the politically-extremist brother who thinks I waste my education in a servile position, and with whom I have not spoken in several years, deserves the truth at least. This letter of explanation prior to my suicide will serve.

It is lately the hottest part of the summer, and the events of which I speak took place this past winter. The Thames reeks quite heavily, as is normal this time of year, with the effluvia of the city’s profligate denizens. Soon it will trouble me no more.

When one visits the poor unfortunates of the slums of our great city, one must take care not encourage their dreams. So many of them live hopeless lives, caught in the web of poverty, living cheek by jowl with the rats, the filth in the gutters, in the meanest of conditions. To give them false hope of deliverance is to be cruel.

The most unfortunate are the street prostitutes, those shabby and unkempt women who haunt the public houses and the streets outside the theaters, willing to bed strangers for tuppence for a meal and perhaps a night’s lodging. I speak with them now and again but pity chokes my throat and sometimes I cannot think of words. A woman’s lot is an unhappy one. If they, like men, were permitted to enter a decent skilled profession, there would be no grubbing on the street, no ruffian children fending for themselves, no pickpocketing or stumbling bleary-eyed gaze of absinthe and ale as they brush their switching skirts against you. I am proud to say I never once had my way with them. Why stoop to the level of those who use them?

I preferred to dispatch them quickly. It was the kindest way.

Once they were liberated, one might argue it was tremendous and shocking folly to slash and hack, to extract the intestines and sling them over the shoulder, to remove certain parts and spirit them away. I believe some think I am a perversion of nature, but such thoughts are uncharitable. I merely wished to help them. Once they find their way to the streets, there remains little hope of rehabilitation.

I thought long and hard for many months on how best to aid them before taking the initiative. Were I not to do this and draw Divine attention to it with horrific mutilation, some poor soul would have to continue on in her wretched existence, one from which only I, working for the Almighty, can free her.

I wrote several notes to the police in varying dialects and colloquial language in hopes of redirecting their investigation elsewhere. The night served as my disguise and I had no need of masks or leather aprons, or any cloak or concealment, but mention was made of a deerstalker hat, which mine greatly resembles. In Greater London alone there may be hundreds of these hats. I took a risk wearing it in the area, but one must look one’s best at all times. Winter kindly provided its excuse. In the current climate, a chapeau designed for colder weather would have appeared most unusual.

And they say I have some skill with the knife. The police and public search for a rogue doctor or a mad butcher, not an ordinary, meek and retiring underchef.

As to keeping clean, their life’s blood rarely soiled my raiment. I needed to render them compliant immediately and discovered that a quick hand about the throat served to bring unconsciousness swiftly. The body could then be placed gently upon the cobblestones and my work could commence. They rarely fought; in hopes of their meager restitution, their hands were full of skirt and petticoat as they exposed their purses and they had no way to defend themselves.

I made the cuts from the opposite side and then watched the blood drain. The knife I use is one I favor from the kitchen and my employer will not miss it. There is a small nick on the blade; as a renowned chef with a penchant for perfection, he has consigned it to the preparatory area where I work. I am content to use it for the veal and for other things as well.

Once a feral dog, one of many in the teeming city, approached the crimson flow, but I chased it away. How undignified it would be to have one’s blood licked up by such a mongrel. If I could have caught it, I would have liberated it also.

When I left a body to cool, walking silently and furtively away, I felt the exhilarated ecstasy that the preacher exhorts from the pulpit each Sabbath. The pieces I secreted in my lined pocket stayed hidden in my little room until I could not stand the stench, then were discarded. In that state no one could know what they were and I knew not what became of them. My heart pounded and my digits trembled; the blood rushed in my ears and I had to touch them with bare hands and feel their cool, slippery springiness not unlike the offal I prepare for the hungry bourgeoisie each day.

Once I dared to taste; a shock not unlike the shuffling of feet over a wool rug pierced my tongue and I could only surmise that punishment would follow. Therefore I did not do so again. Other, more intimate touches soon followed but did not produce any of the effects which we as youngsters were taught to expect from such congress with oneself. That is all I have ever experienced, I exhort you. The act of love is only to be shared between husband and wife. Thus the tragedy of those poor fallen women is increased.

I must make clear that the kidney sent to the police did not come from me; I can only surmise that my work inspired others. If so, I wish them well in their endeavors.

In church, devout head bowed and hands clasped peacefully in front of me, I gave up each memory of the choked gasp and hitching chest, the bubble and gurgle, to God as is His due. We must help and succor the poor and downtrodden, the preacher thunders each Sabbath, as Jesus Himself would not allow them to suffer in His presence.

I was virtuous; I was kind. I have always been healthful and not slothful. I like to think that I remained gracious, and my generosity will live on even if my identity remains unknown. I was proud but went before God with a humbled heart. I dared not lift my eyes up for His recognition but I hoped that my offerings would please Him.

But each night that I sought to release a soul into His glory, my anxiety grew. A night came when one soul was not enough; two were dispatched within a quarter of an hour and I hastened away before the police discovered my handiwork. It was the closest I came to being caught. Indeed, they ran right past me, and one inquired as to my presence on the dark street. I merely stated that I was on my way home from a friend’s and had heard a disturbance, helpfully pointing back toward the scene. The officer thanked me and passed on. I must admit, I whistled a bit as I walked away.

In reading my confession, as it may be called, you may wonder why I am choosing to end this now. In keeping with my new policy of honest admission, I say before God that my calling to help those less fortunate has become less about aiding them and more about expressing my own desires. I have failed Him greatly. Instead of quickly helping the last unfortunate, I followed her to her dwelling. Undisturbed and unobserved, I perpetrated a great deal of damage upon her person. In a frenzy, I skinned and dissected. I am ashamed to admit that I experienced gratification upon doing so.

It is nearly midnight. I have closed the window against the stench and my little room is close and dark. These memories have awakened nearly the same sensations as when they were new. I must resist a final enjoyment of them. It would not be proper.

Since I am no longer trustworthy, I must end this before my family is disgraced and my work sullied with lurid suppositions. In closing, I would like to request that when this letter is found, it not be turned over to the scandal-hungry press until any remaining members of my family can be notified, so that they may decide upon a suitable statement.

The rope is readied and I am also. I forgive myself.

I am of sound mind and body in this seventh month of the year of our Lord 1889. To my brother and mother I leave all my worldly possessions, to dispose of as they see fit. To my God, I say, your humble and obedient servant is coming home.

Signed,

“Jack the Ripper”

#

From the London Times, July 30, 1889

In a tenement lodging at 1276 Wicket Way, on the outskirts of that district known as Whitechapel, one Mrs. Baker, the landlady of the establishment, on Sunday discovered the body of one of her lodgers hanging from a fixture in the ceiling of his dwelling when she went to collect the rent. Police arrived and determined the poor unfortunate had been deceased for a day at least. Onlookers report that due to the oppressive heat and the window being shut tightly, the removal of the corpse was most unpleasant.

It was observed by neighbors that the deceased had no apparent belongings save a bit of clothing and some cutlery. Police discovered a number of papers in the corpse’s pocket, which decomposition had rendered illegible. The man’s name was not found among their remnants and all objects present were consigned to the bin. Mrs. Baker told police he had registered under the name Jack Reaper.

Mrs. Baker has asked this paper to convey the fact that the room has been thoroughly cleaned and fumigated and may be had monthly for a reasonable sum.

---

In an effort to cultivate writing among our base of readers, I am announcing the first annual Soap Boxers Fiction Writing contest.

Prizes:

• The first place winner will win a $25 Amazon gift card.  You can buy nearly anything from Amazon, but I’d personally suggest using the $25 toward a Kindle.
• A random voter will win a $5 Amazon gift card.
• Writers for The Soap Boxers, and their immediate families, are not eligible to win prizes.
• There are no other eligibility restrictions.  The winner can be any age, and from any country.

Dates:

• Stories must be submitted by noon Central time on May 21, 2012.  Entries should be emailed to kosmo@observingcasually.com.  I will send an email confirmation within 24 hours.  If you don’t receive a confirmation, please follow up.
• Stories will be posted on May 23.  Voting will end at midnight Central time on May 25.  One vote per person.

Rights:

• The story must not have been published previously, either in print or online.
• By submitting an entry, you grant The Soap Boxers the one time right to post the story.  You retain all other rights to the story.
• Entries must be your own work.  If plagiarism is discovered, your entry will be disqualified and we will fully cooperate with rights holders who wish to sue or have you prosecuted.

Content:

• The story must be set during the summer.  Summer does not have to be the overriding theme, but the action of the story should take place during the summer months.  I’ll be flexible with regards to what constitutes “summer”, but if you write about dragging home a Christmas tree, I’ll have to disqualify your entry.
• The contest is open to any genre, with the exception of hard core porn.  Stories that fall within the confines of an R rating – such as crime fiction – ARE allowed.
• Suggested length is 500 to 2000 words.  This is merely a suggestion, but keep in mind the fact that the site’s readers will vote on the winner.  It can be difficult to get someone to read an 8000 word post on a web site.

Questions?

If you have any other question, post them in the comments section below.

Let your friends know about the contest – share via email, Facebook, and Twitter.  The more entries, the better!

If you’re new to The Soap Boxers, take a look around.  A complete listing of the site’s 1100+ articles can be found in the archives.  You’ll find writing, sports, politics, art, crime, news, and much more.  All of the content is completely free, but if you like what you see, considering using one of our many Amazon links to kick off an Amazon shopping trip.  There’s no added cost to you, and we get a small commission on each sale.

Good luck!

 

When I write, I am a god.

No, I don’t mean that I believe that my work is as good as the legends of fiction.  I mean that I most often write from the third person omniscient point of view.  The narrator in this point of view is detached from the characters and can see everything – even the thoughts that are inside the heads of the characters.

I tend to kill off a decent percentage of my lead characters, and this is one reason for using third person point of view.  If you’re using first person point of view and the character dies, the story pretty much ends there (unless you switch the perspective, which can be awkward).  More important, though, is that the third party omniscient narrator works with a full complement of information and can describe the action in a completely non-biased way.  Additionally, a third party narrator can include certain content that a first person narrator can’t.  If two minor characters have a private discussion, the omniscient third party narrator can tell the reader about it.  The first party narrator, however, can’t.  If the main character doesn’t know about the conversation then the reader can’t know, either.

Lately, though, I’ve been tinkering more with first person point of view.

Why the change?

I’ve been reading The Hunger Games.  I’ve had an interest in this for quite some time, since the concept was my idea.  Well, perhaps not completely my idea, but about ten years ago I had an idea for a novel that had quite a few similarities to The Hunger Games (to be fair, there are a lot of differences, and both ideas probably were inspired at some level by The Running Man).

I’m about halfway through the third book (Mockingjay) and have thoroughly enjoyed reading it so far.  That’s not particularly unusual.  I enjoy most books I read – it’s pretty rare that I deem a book a complete stinker.

The Hunger Games, though, takes this to a different level.  Instead of simply enjoying the story and having a fondness for the characters, I actually find myself emotionally invested.  It’s not difficult to figure out why.  It’s because instead of seeing the action from the detached point of view of the third party narrator, I see it from the point of view of Katniss Everdeen.  Within the reading session, I effectively become Katniss Everdeen.  I share her thoughts, her feelings, and her biases.  I don’t have the choice of remaining detached from the story.  I am Katniss and MUST be emotionally involved.

As a writer, I’d love to get my readers emotionally involved, as it makes it much more difficult for them to put the book down or have a muted reaction to it.  An additional benefits is that it makes it easier for me to include details of a scene.  This has always been a weakness in my writing, as I skimp on description and try to race along toward the action.  From the first person point of view, however, I noticed more of the surroundings, as I look at the world from the viewpoint of the character.  Even if I discard writing from the first person point of view, I should be able to pick up some good habits in the process.

And you?

I’ll certainly still write a lot of stories from the third party point of view.  However, I’m planning to begin writing a substantially higher percentage from the first person point of view.

I know there are some fiction writers in our midst (even if you don’t self-identify as such).  What point of view do you write from – and why?
 

 

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Johnny Is Leaving!

Normally I write sports related articles but this week I am taking a different twist on things, and I might continue to do so in the upcoming month.

This week – it is exciting times.

Johnny Goodman is leaving……his existing home and moving into a brand spanking new one.

Now don’t hold your breath, I am not leaving the Soap Boxers – (I know, all of you were crushed momentarily there weren’t you) – my family is building a new home.

I approached Kosmo about the idea of writing about building our home as I could see it be a case where some people could read along, ask questions, and maybe gain an idea or two along the way if they are building a home someday.

I will try not to get too detailed as there are books that can beat this subject to death, but at the same time I will give you a little bit of insight as to how it is all working out for me in our situation of building a home.

I’ve Kind of done this before, but….

I have been moved a few times by the company I work for and I can tell you this is a benefit of working for a large, national company. Selling and buying your house is easy, they take care of a lot of the “junk” including moving your things. It really is pretty seamless and a fast process as the company wants you to be up and running and established at your new location and focused on working.

This is a whole new venture for Mrs. Goodman and I. Building a new home is much different than buying an existing one. There are lots of things to consider.

We have been considering this for some time as we had already picked out the neighborhood, liked the location and the amenities, the schools, pretty much everything about it.

I am sure this is a difficult decision for most people when they are looking to build the house. Location. For us, that was one of the easier parts of the process.

Once we decided to actually build, the next thing to do was to choose a lot. The development area we are in has lots all for sale, and then once you have selected the lot, you have basically 6 months to get your building going. The nice thing here is that all lots are available – until they are sold to a private party for building a home – and are not owned by individual builders. We found a nice walk out ranch corner lot, that offered a lot of square footage for the price comparable to other lots that were available so the choice was pretty easy.

At this point you pretty much need to get your builder selected (unless of course you did that prior to purchasing the lot) We did both of these things about at the same time. We had looked at some houses that were constructed by the builder that we ultimately chose because we liked a lot of the design characteristics and features and the quality of work that they have done in the past.

We are working with a builder that has a fabulous and experienced architect as part of the business. One of the benefits of this is we have been able to take the builder some of the ideas, and then he can quickly put them to paper. The bad news is he can quickly put them to paper.

The Wheels are Turning

Mrs. Goodman and I have been grinding over “slight” revisions to the plan – add a few feet here, take away a few here, add a door here, remove another one here…all in attempts to stay close to our budget.

We both know that we will likely go over budget (as that is what we always hear from everyone we talk to) so we are trying to stay close to it as possible out of the gate.

We hope to have the floor plans finalized and the 3-demensions CAD drawings which will also show what the exterior of the home will look like from all angles done in the next few days. In the meaning, this means lots of nights of little sleep, as my brain continuously works overtime thinking about house plans and options when I call it a night.

Here is hoping that picking out color schemes, cabinets, faucets and countertops down the road will be easier.

Have questions about building a home for the first time?– ASK!

I will periodically give some insight to the process as we go through our house construction. In the meantime, if you are reading along and have any questions of me, feel free to post them and I will give you my honest opinion of how it has been for my wife and I during our construction of our home.

Until next time, Stay Classy Churchill Downs, Kentucky.

On June 26, 1946, Ted Williams went 4 for 7 with 2 home runs in a double header against the Detroit Tigers. He’d win his first American League MVP that year and would finish his Hall of Fame career lauded by many as The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived.

This day, so many decades ago, was also the last day that William Heirens took a breath as a free man. On March 5, 2012, Heirens died in prison. He had been in prison for 65 years and was thought to be the world’s longest serving prisoner.

Early life

Heirens got off a a bad start in life.  By the age of thirteen, he was already an accomplished burglar.  After being arrested on a weapons charge, a search of his parents’ property yielded a significant cache of stolen property.  Heirens was eventually sentenced to spend time at a school run by monks.  He excelled as a student, and was accepted to college at age 16.

The Killing

Heirens was eventually arrested for three killings.

The first killing was Josephine Ross on June 5, 1945.  Her killing was not a particularly unusual one, as far as murders go.  The thought was that she had interrupted a burglar, who had then killed her.

On December 20, 1945, Frances Brown was killed – and the killer left behind a message for the police.  This message was written on the wall in lipstick:

For heavens
sake catch me
before I kill more
I cannot control myself.

Clearly, this was a very disturbing message.  Police now knew they were dealing with a serial killer – and very likely a mentally disturbed and unpredictable one.

On January 6, 1946, a six year old girl, Suzanne Degnan was kidnapped.  Her body was eventually found in several pieces, strewn over a large area.  The murderer had left behind a ransom note

On the front:
GeI $20,000 Reddy & wAITe foR WoRd. do NoT NoTify FBI oR Police. Bills IN 5’s & 10’s
 
on the back:
BuRN This FoR heR SAfTY

Heirens arrested

On June 26, 1946, Heirens was arrested after committing a burglary. A policeman dropped three flowerpots on his head, which was eventually enough to subdue him.

While in custody, Heirens claims that he was treated very roughly by the police.  He was interrogated for six straight days, given sodium pentothal (truth serum), and at one point punched in the testicles.  Miranda rights?  They didn’t exist – Miranda vs. Arizona was still twenty years away.  Heirens was just seventeen at the time.

Authorities alleged that under the influence of sodium pentothal, Heiren admitted that an alternate personality of his admitted to the murders.

Confession

Heirens’s lawyers felt that it was likely he would be convicted, and worked out a plea bargain with the prosecution.  Heirens claimed that a Chicago Tribune article about the killings was used as a guide.  When he would give information that conflicted from the story in the Tribune, his lawyers would nudge him back to the Tribune’s story line.

At the last moment, the state’s attorney yanked an agreement for one life term and changed it to three life terms … or he’d go to trail and seek the death penalty.

The prison years

During his sixty five years in prison, William Heirens earned 250 college credits, paying the tuition with his own money.  He became the first prisoner in Illinois to earn a four year degree.  He set up the education system at one prison, helped inmates earn GEDs, and served as a jailhouse lawyer.

According to the regulations of 1946, Heirens should have been set free in 1983.  However, these regulations changed in 1973.  Although a 1983 appeals court rule that Heirens should be released immediately.  This ruling was later reversed, and Heirens remained behind bars.

Questions about his guilt

We never got a chance to see how the evidence would play to a jury, since Heirens agreed to a plea deal instead.  There’s certainly much to ponder.

Had the confession gained under the admission of sodium pentothal been used in court, Heirens would have likely been given a new trial, as evidence gained by using “truth serums” was deemed inadmissible by the 1950s.

Handwriting samples from Heirens matched nine points of comparison with the lipstick writing.  But that’s hardly a surprised, since 65% of the population would have had handwriting that would have matched these same points of comparison.

Eyewitness testimony – which is notoriously unreliable in the best of situations – shifted over time.  Witnesses who weren’t sure that Heirens was the man they saw eventually became completely convinced that he was.

Perhaps the most damning evidence was a bloody fingerprint at the home of Frances Brown.  However, this evidence has been called into question.  Among other concerns is that fact that it appears to be a rolled print (the sort you would get when someone has their prints taken be the police) as opposed to a “flat” print that would occur naturally.

The confession Heirens signed?  There was dozens of discrepancies between his account of the killings at the actual facts of the murders.  However, it’s conceivable that Heirens could have planted false information in his confession so that he could use these discrepancies to later claim that the testimony was coached.  Remember, this is a very intelligent person.

Did he do it?

I honestly don’t know.  The existence of the death penalty was the game changer.  If not for the existence of the electric chair, Heirens may have decided to roll the dice at trial.

Was William Heirens a saint?  Certainly not.  At the very least, he was a burglar.  But was he a murderer?  We’ll never known for sure.

 

The William Heirens case is one of many included in The Casebook of Forensic Detection.