Introduction 203 Content Introduction ….....................................................................i Reality, v Fiction, vii The Fountainhead, ix Atlas Shrugged, xiii Nonfiction, xvii Published, xx Prologue, Dandy Nerts and Rollie …..................................1 May 9, 2013, 2 Time and Money Spent, 3 Rollie, 6 Dandy Nerts, 8 Back on the Hook, 9 Book I The Aisle That Separates Chapter 1, We Thought You Fried ....................................11 Boom!, 11 Reagan, 14 My Forbes Avenue Helpers, 16 The Big Z, 17 Chapter 2, NYC …............................................................19 Index Queensboro Bridge, 19 th E. 85 Street, 21 One World Trade Center, 22 Mitsubishi Bank, 23 Sniff, 25 Chapter 3, A Hole in the Washtub …................................27 May 22, 1998, 27 Emmet, 30 Safety Net, 31 1969 Mustang Convertible, 32 Eye Lashes on Babydolls, 34 A Few of My Favorite Things, 35 Chapter 4, Pump Jacks …............................................... 38 Saturday, 38 Winter, 41 Spring, 43 Chapter 5, Keowee …...................................................... 44 At Home, 44 The Lake, 46 One Condition, 47 Kunstwerke, 48 Word of Mouth, 49 Gaudi, 50 Chapter 6, Trace …........................................................... 52 K1200, 52 Trace's Eyes, 55 Index Barcelona, 56 Chapter 7, Weasely …...................................................... 58 The Weasely House, 59 Overextended, 62 Chapter 8, Tripinfal …...................................................... 65 The Meeting in the Barn, 65 The Tripinfals, 69 The Tripinfal House, 69 $4,000, 71 Chapter 9, VanGrab …...................................................... 73 April 2004, 73 Sculpt, 75 Curvy, 77 September 2004, 79 Chapter 10, Burn Rate ….................................................. 82 The Good Stuff, part 1, 82 Concerned, 85 Things Cost What They Cost, 87 Two Small, Strange Eruptions, 89 Don't Tell Barb, 92 Furniture Polish, 92 Chapter 11, Stoked …....................................................... 95 Icy, 95 Index Avaricious, 96 February 20, 2006, 98 Chapter 12, Rollie …...................................................... 100 February 16, 2006, 100 240, 104 Chapter 13, Rick …........................................................ 109 Rick's Predicament, 109 Rollie's Predicament, 110 Explosion, 112 Nuclear, 116 Chapter 14, Nerts …....................................................... 119 Nerts Wrote, 122 Bottom of the Lake, 126 The Practice, 128 Chapter 15, Barb …........................................................ 130 Dateline NBC, 130 Merchants of Deception, 133 Blakey Report, 135 Heritage Foundation, 136 Dagny, 137 Index Book II The Dandy Nerts and Rollie Show Introduction, 142 Chapter 16, Jarndyce v. Jarndyce ................................... 145 In-House and Close, 147 Something Had to Give, 148 Chapter 17, Firewall …................................................... 151 $100,000,000, 151 Grief, 153 Lady of the Lake, 155 Investor, 159 The Lady of the Lake Disaster, Part I, 160 Chapter 18, Cause of Action .......................................... 164 May 3rd, 2006, 164 Six Causes of Action, 165 Discretion, 167 Answer, 169 Chapter 19, Default ….................................................... 174 $10,000, 174 Civilian Clothes, 176 Clash of Extremes, 177 Gloves Off, 180 Index Wednesday Evening, December 6th, 182 Chapter 20, I Sued …...................................................... 184 Thursday Morning, December 7th, 184 Don't Try This at Home, 186 Self-Defense, 187 Defamers, 188 Fighting Slander, 190 Bloodbath, 191 Chapter 21, Cameo …..................................................... 194 March 13th, 2007, 194 Wilmer, 200 A Single White Sheet of Paper, 202 Chapter 22, Sting …....................................................... 205 NNN Paving, 205 $7100, 210 April 12th, 2007, 211 Chapter 23, The Expert................................................... 214 Expert Witness Scam #1, 214 Expert Witness Scam #2, 229 Chapter 24, Disaster …................................................... 221 Res Judicata, 221 Index Collateral Estoppel, 223 October 19, 2010, 225 Chapter 25, Bronson…................................................... 230 Ridgepole, 230 Cancun, 233 January 26, 2009, 234 Pisgah Fish Camp, 236 May 23, 2011, 237 Chapter 26, Casualties................................................... 238 Lady of the Lake Disaster, Part 2, 238 September 13, 2012, 244 Ripples of Harm, 239 Book III The Verdict “For honest merit to succeed amid the tricks and intrigues which are now so lamentably common, I know it is difficult; but the honor of success is increased by the obstacles which are to be surmounted. Let me triumph as a man or not at all.” - Rutherford B. Hayes1 [Imagination is the forming of mental images, concepts, or sensations of what is not actually present. Creativity is the process of bringing such images or concepts to life.] 1 Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes: Nineteenth President of the United States (5 vols. 1922 - 1926). Diary (7 November 1841) i INTRODUCTION “We are the music makers and we are the dreamers of dreams;”2 we are the first-handers whose sparks of imagination become reality. We fill silence with music and blank pages with words worth reading. We project our films onto blank screens and fill theater seats all over the world. From raw materials we imagine, design, and produce cars, clothes, buildings, smartphones... We create the wealth that moves the world and makes everything else possible. Whether by art or invention, we are the ones who initiate it all. We have been the world’s movers and shakers since forever, it seems. While others seek the comfort of processing a process for a paycheck, we venture solely by merit and boldly risk what others won’t. We confront failure with a white-hot passion to succeed the next time. We love our lives. We do not fake reality in any manner whatsoever - why would we want to? 2 O'Shaughnessy, Arthur. Music and Moonlight (1874), Ode (line 1) Quoted by Willy Wonka to Varuca Salt in the lickable wallpaper scene of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Paramount Pictures 1971 ii Introduction Beware of those who envy the life you love. Anyone can accumulate material wealth if that is the only end to their means. But even thieves understand that material wealth is relative and fleeting. Self-worth and happiness can only come from the means. A failed venture or experiment is not the greatest threat to your achievement and happiness. Such failures are expected and necessary. As long as man has free will, your greatest threats are those risks over which you have the least control: those maliciously inflicted on you by another man’s volition. Envy will always turn to spite – or worse. iii Introduction Reality There may come a day in which you desperately reach for that which exists independently of the mere thoughts of anyone’s mind, even your own. You may confront an evil from which reality is your only refuge and means of survival. You may one day reach beyond the apparent or understood and grasp for the real. Some avoid reality as a refuge because it is at once too objective, empirical, tangible, harsh, brutal, and unrelenting. Fiction is preferred because it is safe, subjective, and lacking in causation and consequence. Reality offers no such filter. It offers no “safe space.” “Humankind cannot bear very much reality.” TS Eliot.3 Reality exists independently of what you and I may believe or want it to be. The reality that people fake to themselves is the most convenient lie there is because it is the easiest to get away with; it is kept safe and hidden from scrutiny. But reality is that much harder to bear if you cannot first to your own self be true. A is A, not what someone thinks it to be. Our thoughts themselves cannot shape reality. Truth exists indepen- dently of what you and I may think or hope it to be. One can only temporarily avoid or fake reality - usually 3 Eliot, T. S. Four Quartets, Burnt Norton (1935) iv Introduction at the expense of others and usually by some kind of force. Every tick of the clock brings a new reality - for better or worse. Somewhere along the path of maturity, a person who reasons realizes that there are no genuine contra- dictions in nature. There are never two genuinely con- flicted sides to any issue or story. Somewhere there is a false premise. You may be engaged in a process in which the objective truth is being sought out, but you will ultimately find only one correct premise. That is, if you dig deeper – as deep as you can. Situation ethics, moral relativism, deception, fraud, or any other faked reality exists only because someone is seeking an end that merit would not otherwise afford them. Fakers create a false premise to prevaricate conjecture as truth. But there is a hard line drawn between reality and fiction. We didn’t draw it, and we can’t budge it, either. Schemers and frauds may try to shade or blur the line, but it cares nothing about a billionaire’s dollar or a lawyer’s silver tongue. This line that separates the real from the fake is absolute and impenetrable. Is it not your experience that those who venture and achieve by merit acknowledge and depend on this line the most? Humans are unique creatures who possess free will and can choose their own destruction. An honest man chooses to make an honest living. Those who are self- v Introduction made-by-merit rely most on the laws of nature, reason, and causation to achieve and force truth. “If it disagrees with experiment, it’s wrong. In