Credit Cards Con

Credit cards can be a real boon for the consumer but it can also be a real bane.  It's definitely a dual-edge sword and should you get on the wrong side, having bad credit will definitely negatively impact your life and livelihood.  That can be most unfortunate, as at age 18, you can qualify to get your own credit card, yet, at that age, you may not have developed the maturity to handle it well.

The first question you might ask is why would any credit card company take a chance on someone so young or on anyone in particular.  The short answer is that they are in business to make money and their top consumers are people that don't have the discipline, or the funds, or the inclination, or the desire, to pay their credit card bills in full.  They want and they encourage this via "come-ons" and higher than necessary credit limits, hoping to tap into that common consumer desire to have it "now". 

While your original intention may have been to use your credit card responsibility, you may be tempted, had an unexpected expense, or just have had too many expenses at once, and have to utilize your credit card more than you originally desired.  Fortunately, as long as you are able to make your minimum payment, your credit card will remain valid, and consumers that are unable to pay in full are the type of customers that credit card companies' desire.  They want you to visualize your credit card statement as something that doesn't need to be paid in full, just something that you need to pay a portion on, and they have no problem with your credit debt continuing to rise as long as you can keep your payments current.  The interest that the credit card issuers charge the consumer in comparison to their internal cost of those monies is such a huge differential that their profit potential is massive and that is where the banks make good and steady money off of your borrowing habits.

With so many people living and struggling paycheck by paycheck it only takes one unexpected event to put you upside down with your debt obligations and once that happens the credit card pyramid begins to break down rather quickly.   In fact, credit cards are really a one-way street.  That is to say, should a credit card company no longer feel that you are a worthy credit risk they can unilaterally reduce your credit limit without notice or even cancel your account and demand payment in full.  Should this happen to you, you have no legal recourse other than to plead your case and hope for some consideration.

Once you get on the wrong side of not paying your credit on time, you will receive an adverse mark on your credit report.  This impact is serious, and it takes seven long years to remove a detrimental record from your report which is a very lengthy period of time.  Although you can legitimately dispute a mark(s) against your credit, it's an uneven fight in which essentially the default is that you are guilty as charge, although it will be investigated. Also, Credit Report companies do allow you to comment on your written credit report that the consumer has disputed the charge.

The bad news for getting on the wrong side of the credit card companies is that everything escalates rather quickly.  For one miss payment, you will probably have to deal with the following:

1.      Late fee

2.      Higher interest rate

3.      Negative report to credit report agencies

However, if you do manage to make good on your late payment in a reasonable period of time, you can probably mitigate or eliminate all of the above.  If you don't, the consequences are severe and your credit score will go down.

The problem with a damaged or poor credit score is it not only affects your ability to get credit cards, it negatively affects your insurance rate, your ability to purchase/finance a car, your cell phone contract, your deposit with utility companies, your interest rate on any and all borrowing, and worst of them all, gainful employment. 

It may sound like a 'catch-22' but those that most need a job in order to pay bills and get back in good credit graces are denied employment because their credit is bad.  Having bad credit will put you on the outside looking in and make your cost of living much more prohibitive than someone else of equal background and skills. 

Credit Cards Pro

I remember with great joy when I received my first credit card back in the day.  Finally, incredibly, American Express was willing to take a chance with me.  As soon as I received the card, I just had to use it, even though there really wasn't anything that I absolutely needed.  I decided to purchase a book and thereby use my card, and, by Jove, the bookstore accepted my payment by credit card.  Sweet.

The original American Express card conditions stated that you had to pay off your balance in full with each statement, so that it behooved you to use a little trick to delay the inevitable.   Since my budget was tight, it was pretty easy to learn that in order to extend my payment out for another 20-30 days, the simplest way to do that was to recognize my billing cycle and make my expenditures right after that cycle ended.  So if the billing cycle ended on the 20th of the month, the stupidest thing to do was to buy something on the 19th or 20th of the month.  Doing that, you'd be stuck with the bill almost in real time.  No, I liked to float the money by making my purchases right after the 20th, which worked out real well for me and gave me a little cushion.  Of course, when I finally got the bill, sometimes I looked at the items and thought to myself, dang, I bought that weeks ago and it hardly seems fair to make me pay for it now.  I mean, really

Since that time I've received and utilized many credit cards.  The biggest difference is that over time the annual fees went away and instead I've gotten some lucrative points/bonuses just for having a certain branded credit card.  The only credit cards I carry now with an annual fee are ones that I have received a big incentive such as two roundtrip airfare tickets.  That will keep me in their good graces for a short while, but unless they have some additional come-ons to entice me, I usually end up canceling the card after getting my benefits and moving on.

Having said all that, the most amazing thing about credit cards is the monetary credit that is given to you.  I'm not saying that my family and friends are a bunch of tightwads and uncaring, but when you request a little money from them, as I have in earlier times, they look at you in a completely different way.  It's almost like you're some sort of degenerate, loser, cheater, and hustler all rolled up into one.  But with a credit card company they treat you with respect.

You know the old saying that there isn't anything free in life, so when you use credit cards without an annual fee and you do pay your balance in full each month, plus you get points as a bonus, you do wonder to yourself, how is it that they make a profit on me.   The short answer is they don't.  The only fee that they make directly on your account is their portion of the merchant fees when your card is used.

To demonstrate further how good I've got it, every once in a while I screw up on my payment, in which I accidently just pay the minimum, or don't click through enough windows so the payment doesn't even go through.  What I have found out is if you only make that mistake once in every twelve months a courteous phone call will often get the problem rectified.  So I screw up, I call them, apologize, and make the complete payment, whereupon they will forgive the interest, penalty, and late fees. 

So if they are doing all that for me, how is it that the credit card issuers are making money?  That's for Part II.

Container Ships

Do you ever take a look at your clothing label or pocketbook or toy and notice that there is a little label that says "Made in China". For most of us, we probably don't think any further than, "thought so", or perhaps a few of us are upset that it doesn't say "Made in USA", but I wonder how many people ever say to themselves, "isn't China far away?"  Yes, it is.  Shanghai, China to Los Angeles is approximately 6,500 miles so those goods have a very long way to travel to us.

Container ships came into existence in 1956 but they were slow to take root.  It wasn't until the Vietnam War that container cargo began their breakthrough.  A test was conducted in transporting ammunition in containers instead of break-bulk (e.g. boxes, crates, drums, barrels, or pallets) in 1970.  Upon arrival in Vietnam it was determined that (globalsecurity.org):

1.      Vessel turnaround was improved by 500%

2.      Manpower efficiency was improved by 600%

3.      Number of handlings was reduced from a possible eight to two.

4.      Ammunition was in better condition on delivery.

Soon thereafter a steering group was created in the Department of Defense to coordinate container development with commercial container systems.

China exports most of their goods via container ships.  Container ships consist of 20 foot container boxes with typical dimensions of 20 feet in length, 8 feet in width, and the most common height is 8 feet 6 inches.  Each one of these containers is considered a twenty-foot equivalent unit or TEU.  Modern state-of-the-art cargo ships can handle 11,000 TEUs which is a staggering number.  According to factsanddetails.com the average cost to transport a TEU from China to the USA is around $1,500.

Without these container ships the cost to ship the quantity of goods from China to the USA would be prohibitive because you need a great deal of capacity in order for the economies of skill to filter thru.  These container ships are incredibly efficient, relatively fast, and an effective means for China to sell its exports and consequently it becomes quite beneficial for both parties.  

I am amazed that these massive ships are able to navigate the ocean so well, because storms, tempests, and hurricanes are all part of our natural weather system.  Not too surprisingly, back at the home base there are expert meteorologists who study in real time any approaching storms or other disturbances and then advise the ship captain of avoidance routes or other options that are most pertinent.  Without this necessary feedback the captain's job and safety record would be significantly more problematic.

Despite the awesome size of these ships, the crew to handle them is surprisingly small.  In most cases for these container ships, the crew will not exceed 25 people in which their responsibilities will include not only the successful navigating of the ship, but any routine maintenance, staggered hours of duty,  paperwork, and often times numerous ports of call.  As a reference point, the Al Miqab, one of the 10 largest yachts in the world, has a crew of 60. 

The value of container ships may seem obvious to us now, but that wasn't always the case.

Closed captions

I absolutely love close captions, but I'm not necessarily the audience that close captioning is suppose to appeal to.  With the exception of sports and comedy (the former I don't need to read their commentary, and the latter I don't want to spoil the punch line) I prefer close captioning for all my other viewing experiences.   Closed captioning actually increases my attention to the show that I am watching. 

Although my hearing is fine, sometimes the enunciation on the program I am watching is something less than desired or it's muddled or it's easily misunderstood.  Closed captioning allows me to get the clarity of what is being said.  You could also say the reason that I like close captioning so much is that my favorite activity is reading.  I love reading the written word and while reading I can read at my own pace and thoughtfulness.  While watching a TV program since the words are spoken I am forced to listen to the pace of that speech, which I find somewhat annoying, especially when I have a pretty good idea what the next line is going to be.  Having the spoken words scrolled along the bottom of the screen actually keeps me more engaged, and ultimately because this is the written word it allows for greater comprehension, because when you mishear a word it can change the entire complexion of a given scene.

Although close captioning was ostensibly setup to help those that are hard of hearing, people whose reading comprehension is poor or needs improvement, and peoples that do not have English as their native tongue, it can encompass a much wider range of the population as it does in my particular case.  Another advantage of closed captioning is that when you are watching a program with someone that likes to talk or interrupt you, you still have the ability to pick up what was being said by reading it at the bottom of the screen, that way you aren't forced to re-run or pause a given scene which is even more annoying. 

Another benefit of closed captioning is it gives me the opportunity to know how to correctly pronounce a given word.  There are a few words that trip me up now and again, and by virtue of closed captioning I get the luxury of reading the word and hearing the correct pronunciation.

Of course, while this isn’t a benefit, another thing that I love to see, is when they write down the wrong word such as "illusion" when the appropriate word is "allusion" given the context of the show.  Also, you will see words that are pronounced the same but they will display perhaps "bear" when they really should have put down "bare".  I love noticing that stuff and chuckling to myself.  Usually, however, they get it right which is the most desirable thing.

While I'd be the first to admit unless you are going to a special showing at a movie theatre that most patrons would find close captioning to be distracting, it's the perfect accompaniment at home.  Also, I was delighted when the Metropolitan Opera added closed captioning to their performances in which you can watch the translated words scroll upon the horizontal LCD screen on the seatback in front of you.  Of course, this is completely voluntary, you don't have to do it, but most people do.

40 Acres and a Mule

African-Americans have been given a raw deal.  While African-Americans are hardly alone in getting the shaft from our government, no other group of peoples were forcefully kidnapped from their country of origin under oppressive and inhumane conditions, and then resettled here as slaves (non-persons, considered to be only property) other than blacks.  And while not every black came to America as a slave, or was a slave, or suffered the indignities of having once been a slave, or are a descendent of a slave, the ill legacy of slavery affects every black and this continues until the present day.

The richness of a country has a lot to do with its natural resources, its work-ethic, and its success in trading with other countries.  In order to benefit from one's country one needs the opportunity to do so.  Those that control the land, business, education, money, employment, and the law, control the economic fortunes and opportunities of the public at large.  Those avenues of power and advancement have historically been precluded from most blacks and therefore these actions have ramifications that continue presently.

Martin Luther King, Jr. stated in his seminal "I Have a Dream" speech of 1963 that: "When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir…. It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked 'insufficient funds.'"

And therein lies the crux of the problem.  The United States has plenty of monetary funds and plenty of land, all it takes is the courage to live up to its vaulted promised heritage.  General Sherman issued Special Field Orders No. 15 on January 16, 1865, to whichapproximately 400,000 acres of land previously held in Confederate states was to be used for the settlement of blacks in that area.  Unfortunately, after Lincoln's assassination, President Andrew Johnson rescinded Special Field Orders No. 15 in the fall of 1865 and another promise made to the black man was negated.

Yet, today, the United States has the land and the funds to make good on compensating the black man for his unpaid labor, his missed opportunities, his injustice served, and the like.  To put this in perspective, the Federal Government currently owns nearly 650 million acres of land.  Additionally a precedent was set when President Lincoln signed the The District of Columbia Emancipation Act on April 16, 1862, which emancipated all slaves within the District of Columbia while at the same time providing compensation for the slave owner.  This compensation to the slave owner has never been matched by appropriate compensation to the slave.

Now is the time to do so with a combination of land grants and a general bond issued and back by the full faith and credit of the United States Government. Subsequently, blacks will truly be able to fully collect on the Declaration of Independence promise that "all men are created equal," and that blacks are endowed by the same Creator and therefore have, "…certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

The Value of Money

I love reading books, especially American historical books and inevitably within those books there will be a discussion of money.  The worst of these books will simply state that so-and-so was paid $10 for something and won't reference what that $10 was worth back in the day.  Then there are many books that will attempt to equate with minimal success what the equivalent of $10 was into today's dollars.  I find this to be the most irritating because I believe that this is the absolute wrong yardstick to use and the distortions thereof are huge.

It's difficult, really chimerical, to even attempt to compare a dollar from, let's say, 1870 to today's dollar.  Although their names may be the same their value and the way to value the dollar by using today's monetary amount, simply won't add up, for a lot of reasons; and certainly one of them is that it's hard to compare the life and value of someone in 1870 to someone and something of today.

A far more meaningful way to evaluate currency from previous epochs is to go back in time to that year and through research find out what the dollar really could buy.  You should then create a foreword with a list of various goods that we can relate to, such as a home, acreage, and material goods that serve as a touchstone with your best attempted effort on how much that probably cost back in that particular time period.

Too often, while reading, the uninitiated will get the misimpression that someone that was worth $100,000 back in 1908, was rich but wasn't all that rich.  That's plain wrong. According to thecostofliving.com the average house in 1908 would set you back $5,541.  Also, in 1908, Sears issued its first specialty catalog for houses, Book of Modern Homes and Building Plans, featuring 22 styles ranging in price from US $650–$2,500 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sears_Catalog_Home#Sears_Modern_Homes_1908.E2.80.931940).  Information like this helps to give us a very good impression of the worth of a dollar back then and is invaluable.

Why is any of this important?  Because of inflation, in general, people will get the value of money from early historical periods wrong (they will underestimate its' true worth) and because their comparison is wrong, their conclusion will be wrong.  And well, that's wrong.

I mean, it's not life shattering, but I just love it when I see an old movie and the price of gasoline is under $.50/gallon or someone goes in to buy a soda and hands the man at the counter a nickel, or gets a newspaper for a dime.  Stuff like that brings a smile to my face, because you're watching it, but you do not really believe it. 

It was essentially after President Nixon took us off the gold standard that inflation reared its ugly head in America in 1971.  Since, that time the value of a dollar has really plummeted and consequently the ability to judge or ascertain the value of money compared to early historical periods has become much more problematic and troublesome.

Thanks Dick!

Time

There are 24 hours in a day, with each hour consisting of 60 minutes, and each minute consisting of 60 seconds.  Every school child knows this and this is simply taken for granted as if time has ever been measured at this particular pace, and alas, that has been the progression of time through the modern age.

That said, In America, we are use to a base-10/decimal system, and consequently, while looking at time from that angle it appears that time is out of sync with our decimal system and perhaps in need of a fresh look.  I'm not the first to question this; the French did this back in 1793, during their bloody Revolution in which their new time system created a 10-hour day, with 100 minutes per hour, and 100 seconds per minute.  Brilliant!  Well, probably not, as it only lasted 17 months and was a resounding failure.   While one can easily say that the French attempt at decimal time was "ahead-of-its-time", it doesn't appear that any new attempt will be made anytime soon, even though, with today's technology it would be relatively easy thing to accomplish.  Why is that?

Mainly because there is an awful lot of logic behind the way time is measured on earth.  The ancient Babylonians are given credit for our 24-hour day, which they created by studying the sky and its stars.  In many respects, because of modernity and our modern lights, we are unable to see the stars in the sky as the Babylonians did.  Additionally, of course, ancient cultures had far more interest in the night sky than our jaded interests of today.  So when the Babylonians studied the stars, they really studied the stars.

They noticed and noted the consistency of the sky, in particular, that the sun will rise and set each evening, as did the moon, and as so do certain major stars that are visible to our unaided eyes.  By studying those stars from a fixed location and over an extended period of time, the Babylonians were able to discover that the stars moved in an orderly and predictable pattern and that this pattern would repeat itself after approximately 12 lunar cycles. The Babylonians then took the nighttime and divided it too into 12 cycles and matched that with the daytime to create a grand total of 24 cycles which we eventually know today as hours.  Additionally, the Babylonians noticed that the sun itself moved a small fixed amount each day and that this cycle completed in 360 days which is also divisible by 12.

Although there were now 24 hours in a day, minutes had yet to be created.   Fortunately, the Babylonians used a sexagesimal (base-60) numeral system and the number 60 works out to be the perfect number.   It is the product of the 3-4-5 right triangle (considered to be the most perfect triangle), certainly known by the Babylonians, and 60 is also the smallest number with 12 different divisors, including, of course, the number 12.   Additionally, the circle which is made up of 360 degrees is also divisible by 60 into a whole number so it all really does make a lot of sense.

The Exception that Proves the Rule

There are certain axioms and proverbs that amuse and/or fascinate me.  The above is one of them.  It seems on the surface to be either nonsensical or paradoxical or perhaps both.  This then becomes a great reason to take this axiom and actually ponder and contemplate upon it.  What does this really mean?

Not too surprisingly we get a variety of interpretations.  But in all fairness, we want to hold onto the interpretation(s) that appears to be the most correct and most in keeping with this proverb.  For instance, you could break the saying down a little further to understand it to mean, that if something is postulated as being an exception, than, by definition, there must be a rule.  In other words, you can't have an exception, without a rule.  This doesn't yet prove the rule but it does demonstrate that the rule exists.

Additionally, let us take, for instance, the traffic example of "no right turns on a red light between the hours of 7AM-9AM and 5PM-7PM, Monday thru Friday."  This would be the exception.  The rule would be that right turns on a red light are therefore permitted at all other times.  So that this would be the exception that would indeed prove the rule and would make this proverb both sensible and correct.

Sometimes when a rule is made there are exceptions put into it as a matter of course.  For instance, in Major League Baseball, the pitcher has to take his turn at bat, but this was later replaced by the Designated Hitter in 1973 but only in the American League.  Then when interleague play began, the rule was further modified so that the DH is only used at American League stadiums in which it is utilized by both teams, whereas in National League stadiums the use of the DH is prohibited by both teams.  So once again these are exceptions that uphold the rule.

Do we need exceptions to prove the rule?  Of course not.  For instance, as Descartes stated: "I think therefore I am," cannot logically be refuted, because if you can think that thought you must exist.  To take this a little bit further, you will by definition never be able to say to yourself, that you are dead, you may be able to say that you are dying, but the fact that you can still think, that you can still contemplate, justifies that you exist on some plane or on some level, perhaps in a yet undiscovered country and that you are indeed alive.

Yet, despite this straightforward maxim, there have been serious doubters such as Bertrand Russell and Friedrich Nietzsche.  Russell stated"…Here the word ‘I’ is really illegitimate; He ought to state his ultimate premises in the form ‘there are thoughts’", and Nietzsche stated:  ” …a thought comes when “it” wishes, not when “I” wish, so that it is a falsification of the facts of the case to say that the subject “I” is the condition of the predicate “thinks.”

It seems like spurious philosophy. But perhaps, this is yet again the exception that proves the rule, because I definitely exist.

SUPER SPEEDER

While I suppose that each state has its own idiosyncratic traffic laws that are meant to confuse, irritate, and essentially tax uninformed or ill-informed drivers, I must say one of the most annoying is Georgia's 'super speeder' law which was enacted on January 10, 2010.  Upon hearing of the name, one would assume that this referred to someone hitting triple digits on the highway.  Right?  Wrong.  No, the GA super speeder is defined as going 85 MPH or more on a freeway, or 75 MPH or more on a 2-lane highway.  That's it.

To get a proper impression of how unjust this law is, the maximum speed permitted on some GA freeways (typically away from the city center) is 70 MPH.  So 85 MPH is a mere 15 miles above that limit.  According to GA law driving 15 MPH above the speed limit is a 2 point penalty.  But driving 19 MPH above the speed limit is 3 points, 24 MPH above the speed limit is 4 points, and 34 MPH or above the speed limit is 6 points.  So why wouldn't a super speeder ticket be 34MPH above the posted speed limit since this has the highest point penalty and would more properly be related to the term 'super'?  Why indeed.

The answer is straightforward and simple.  GA wants the additional revenue.  Their attitude is as plain as, "well, we've gone through the trouble of pulling the vehicle over, let's see if we can stick them with asuper premium fine!"  How much is the fine?  $200.  For going 85 MPH in a 70 MPH speed limit zone?  Yep.   And that's in addition to the regular speeding ticket fine.  Yes, this is an extra penalty accessed to the driver. 

Additionally, now check this out, there is no additional points charged against the driver for being a 'super speeder'!    Doesn't that really say, it's all a sham?  I mean, shouldn't there be a category on the points chart for being a 'super speeder'?  For a $200 compulsory fine there really should but, but there isn't.  This smells like a sneaky add-on and a sick workaround to stick it to the driver. 

So what is this really all about?  It's about the money.  It sure the heck isn't about anything else.  Why bother putting to the vote the potential raising of city, county, or state taxes when you can just nab ignorant drivers that are simply trying to get from point A to point B in an expeditious manner.

And the fines are arbitrary, are they not?  Speeding ticket fines vary widely from state to state and the fines can increase dramatically for almost any reason.  Does that make sense?   For instance, if a speeding ticket was $100 ten years ago, shouldn't it be $100 today or perhaps $100 + inflation.  Wouldn't that be fairer?  It certainly seems fairer, but the dramatic increase price of traffic ticket fines and the angles that the government uses are just getting worst and worst. 

Quite simply, it's a money grab, soak the little man, shake him down.

Performance-Enhancing Drugs

When it comes to sports, Performance-Enhancing Drugs (PEDs) have been and will continue to be front page news for the foreseeable future.  The reason that this is so is because it would appear that in any major sport PEDs are used.  There are two obvious reasons: PEDs work and big-time sports is a huge business in America, with athletes commanding salaries that are stunning.   The lure of that money and the prestige that comes with being a valued player is a supersized incentive for these competitors to do whatever it takes to get there.

But first, how can we be certain that PEDs work?  Fortunately, there was a study published in 1996 in the New England Journal of Medicine which utilized 50 men, broken down into the categories of:  placebo-no exercise, testosterone--no-exercise, placebo-plus-exercise, and testosterone-plus-exercise groups.  40 men completed this 10-week study and the results were astonishing.

The testing was done over a period of 10 weeks in which the testosterone dosage was 600mg per week for those not receiving the placebo.  After 10 weeks the fat-free mass was measured.  For the group taking the placebo with no exercise, there was no change noted.  "The men treated with testosterone but no exercise had an increase of 3.2 kg in fat-free mass, and those in the placebo-plus-exercise group had an increase of 1.9 kg. The increase in the testosterone-plus-exercise group was substantially greater (averaging 6.1 kg)."

So the results looked like this:

Placebo-no exercise:                      0 increase in fat-free mass

Testosterone-no-exercise:          3.2kg increase in fat-free mass

Placebo- exercise:                           1.9kg increase in fat-free mass

Testosterone--exercise:                               6.1kg increase in fat-free mass

They stated: "Our results show that supraphysiologic doses of testosterone, especially when combined with strength training, increase fat-free mass, muscle size, and strength in normal men."  It sure did, but note also that just by taking testosterone and not even bothering to exercise, you would have built more fat-free mass than a man legitimately working out to increase his fat-free mass but taking no PEDs.  In other words, by not using PEDs, you are at a substantial disadvantage when it comes to increasing your fat-free mass.

And therein lies the problem for athletes that workout diligently and do not take any illegal substances to increase fat-free body mass, you are at a significant disadvantage to those that do take those substances.  It's an unfair advantage, an illegal advantage, but it is an advantage which can take away your potential scholarship, and your well-paid athletic career.  Although there are penalties for those that are caught using PEDs the testing doesn't come close to catching all of the athletes that are "gaming" the system.  The reason that this is so is because the testing devices are always behind the game, and are unable or have not been effective in catching these hard-to-trace designer drugs.  

It could also be the case in which the professional sports organizations like to sell the illusion that they are doing everything possible to stop/slow down/or eliminate illegal PED use, but in actuality, they don't want to catch everyone, because if they did, it might really shake their sport down to its very foundations and lose them sponsorship, viewership, and marketing monies.

For what they are, PEDs work, and they are that siren song that calls to so many who cannot resist its enticing lures.

Nuclear Energy

No country uses more nuclear energy than the United States in aggregate.  This, despite the fact, that since 1977 no new nuclear reactor has come online in America.  As of 2013, there are four nuclear reactors in which construction has been approved but these are all at existing nuclear plants.  This is a small step in the right direction.  Why do we need more nuclear energy?

The USA uses an incredible amount of energy per capita, in 2010 according to the EIA we consumed a staggering 98 quadrillion Btu or nearly 19% of all world consumption.  Almost 80% of this is from non-renewal fossil fuels.     Non-renewal means exactly what it states, once consumed it cannot be used again.  For a country that consumes as much as we do, it is the height of folly not to explore other viable means to get our energy efficiently.

Because of our great power consumption, there is only one real source that can scale up to the needs of the United States in a reasonable period of time, it is proven, and that is nuclear.  Nuclear is safe, it releases no carbon dioxide, it releases very few pollutants in total, and its toxic waste is very small and containable.

There is a misconception that the Three Mile Island disaster of 1978 caused or killed hundreds of civilians but that isn't the case.  Most major media outlets have reported, such as MSNBC that at Three Mile Island and its vicinity there were" no deaths or long-term health effects connected to the accident.”   However, the Radiation and Public Health Project claims that this is false and has stated the following:

Infants and children living in Dauphin County, where Three Mile Island is located, have high rates of disease and death, specifically:

• Cancer death rate age 0-9, 1980-2002, 45% above U.S. (35 deaths)
• Cancer incidence rate age 0-14, 1993-2002, 17% above U.S. (86 cases)
• Infant death rate, age 0-27 days, 1979-2002, 23% above U.S. (600 deaths)
• Child death rate, age 1-14, 1979-2002, 13% above U.S. (187 deaths)
• Rate of births under 5 ½ lbs, 2000-2002, 37% above U.S. (994 births)

While these above numbers certainly imply that there were some ill effects from the Three Mile Island partial nuclear meltdown, the numbers in aggregate are unfortunate, but hardly catastrophic.  For instance, to get a more proper perspective, the NY Times states: "Burning fossil fuels costs the United States about $120 billion a year in health costs, mostly because of thousands of premature deaths from air pollution."

The Three Mile Island incident, however, has been the main reason why the development of nuclear energy has come to a virtual halt in the United States.  Further to that point, the United States has access or the funds to obtain its energy from fossil fuels in lieu of nuclear and has continued to develop and use fossil fuels as our primary source of energy.  However, historically fossil fuels are far more dangerous, environmentally damaging, and politically unstable.

Wars are fought over the access to cheap or readily available energy.  The USA became a net oil importer in 1970, and it is no surprise since then that the Middle East has attracted arms, munitions, and plenty of blood.

France does not have the luxury of an abundance of fossil fuels, in fact they have very little, and consequently France has made a concerted national effort to provide its electrical energy from nuclear power with a great deal of success.    France's electricity cost to household consumers is the 7th lowest of the 27-member European Union, and this without any of the ill effects of carbon dioxide.  France has been successful with nuclear energy because they understand the importance, the necessity, and the utility of nuclear.

Free Will

I've heard many complaints in my life crying about the injustice of God.  When something bad happens, and typically this is on a very personal level, there is a cry that "life isn't fair", or in especially distressing times, that "there is no God", or how could God allowed this certain negative something to happen!  Really?!

Human beings can only be looked at in one of two possible ways.  Either we are beings with "free will" or we are some sort of "puppet". If we are indeed puppets than this world is therefore an elaborate and cruel hoax.  There really isn't any inbetween between these two positions.  It has to be all one or all the other.  As President Lincoln stated (while referring to our civil war): "A house divided cannot stand….  It will all become one thing or all the other."

So those that complain about an uncaring God, an unjust God, and a truculent God are missing the very point.  We are agents of free will. How do we know this?  The story of Adam and Eve is an allegory.

 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened…

            Genesis 3:5-7

That decision was the decision of mankind to break free from God's divine plan and to instead create their own, as if they were gods, and therefore we are left to suffer the consequences and the vagaries of that free will decision.

The world that we live in today is a world of duality, of good and evil, of pleasure and pain, of light and dark.  If this world brings us trouble, that trouble comes from us, not from a capricious God.  God did not create this duality, we did it to ourselves.

To escape from this duality we must find our way back to God.  It is not, and never will be effective, to believe that our demands or petulant wishes will be implemented by God.  This is egotism speaking which will be answered not.  As President Lincoln said at his 2nd Inauguration, "Both read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; and each invokes His aid against the other."

It isn't possible for God to fight or to be divided against Himself. You cannot bend God's will to your desires.  We are God's fallen children and not the other way around.  But like a Parent, God listens to you, hears you, cares about you, and loves you unconditionally.  However, it is the height of arrogance to believe that our perspective, or that our wisdom could ever possibly supersede our Creator.

Every day we make choices, because we have free will.  When the prodigal son demanded his inheritance, his father acceded to his wish, and although his father greatly missed that son, he did not force or compel his son to come back to him.  But come back he did, of his own free will, for his own reasons, and his father was well pleased.

 And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him…  For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found…

                Luke 15: 20, 24

It is our free will to make that same choice or not.

Flat earth

All the pictures and evidence points to our earth as being round, or more properly put, a sphere.  Yet, I am confused about one fact, if this is true, how come from our perspective; people in Australia aren't upside-down?  Not only that, the way I see it just looking at my globe, people in Columbia have to be sideways! I don't care how many times I think about it I can never put my hands around these conflicting facts.  I mean they have to be upside-down or sideways!  It has to be, I've got the entire globe in my hand.  But they're not.

It all has to do with gravity.  Yes, I knew that but that only explains why those folks in Australia and Columbia aren't spinning out into space.  How is it that every human being on earth, is right side up?  It just doesn't seem possible!

This has to do with our concept of "up" and "down" more than anything else.   To most people, up and down is something that is sacrosanct, but so then is "right" and "left" but explaining the paradox of right and left is much easier.  If you are standing behind, me and I say "point to your right", we will be in agreement 100% of the time.  But if you stand in front of me, facing me, and I say "point to your right" and you also request me to "point to myright" we will be in 100% disagreement in regards to "my right" being diametrically different from "your right" but in every case we would both be right!    

So let's get back to "up" and "down".  What keeps our feet firmly planted down on earth is gravity.  Gravity pulls us down or more importantly toward the center of the earth and it is a constant force.  Therefore, our concept of up and down is a local perspective based on gravitational pull.  Our perception of up and down is always seen and taken from our perspective which can fool us.  It is this perspective that allows us to know that we are upright and to assume that other people in other areas of the planet are upside-down.  Yet, from their perspective they will feel the same about us!  That is to say, in other words, that our mates in Australia, far from believing that they are upside-down, believe that we in America are in fact, upside-down.  Neither is correct

The force of gravity always pulls everything on earth towards the center of earth.   Because we experience this as a "downward" force, from this we get our perception of up and down.  This same downward force applies equally to everyone and everything on earth.  Gravity gives each one of us our perception of up and down and it is just our perception, because if we over-think it, we will be back at the beginning in which we wonder how is it that Australians aren't upside-down, and why their buildings aren't upside-down; especially considering if I was to take the God-view from outer space I would clearly see that they were indeed, from my perspective, upside-down!

Yet, they and their buildings are standing upright! 

Gravity and perspective.

Fiat money

We live in an era of fiat money.  That’s a formula for disaster because fiat money isn’t real money, it is the illusion of real money, and like any good illusion it may take you a while to figure out that you have been duped, but duped you will ultimately be.

What is fiat money?  It’s essentially a government decree, an order, that this will be the instrument and the sole instrument used in monetary transactions and that there isn’t any other legal tender allowed to compete against it.  In other words, dollars are our legal medium of exchange.   To make things even worst, fiat currency isn’t back by anything other than our belief that it is worth something.  Yet, that wasn't the way the United States monetary system was created.

Historically, our Government has had no problem with changing the rules on the fly.  President Franklin Roosevelt in 1933, made it illegal for private citizens to own gold, leaving citizens the choice of surrendering their gold to the Government at the price of $20.67/oz or of suffering the penalty of 10 years in prison and/or a $10,000 fine.  To make things even worst for those that were forced to sell to the Government at $20.67/oz, in 1934, Roosevelt declared that the price of gold was to be set at $35/oz, or a difference in price of a staggering 69% in one year!  That's a boondoggle for the Government and real raw deal for the private citizen.

Further, our 1792 Coinage Act states: "… that if any of the gold or silver coins which shall be struck or coined at the said mint shall be debased or made worse …  person who shall commit any or either of the said offences, shall be deemed guilty of felony, and shall suffer death."  I suspect that very few people are aware of said act which was overturned during LBJ's administration in 1965 so that the Federal Government could more effectively debase our currency which would lead ultimately to the inability of citizens to exchange theirpaper dollars for silver. After 1968, even if you were in possession of a $1 bill that stated:"this certifies that there is on deposit in the Treasury of the United States of America one dollar in silver payable to the bearer on demand", you would not be able to receive any silver on that demand.

Thomas Jefferson stated that, "I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies" The reason that Jefferson felt so strongly about this is that the power to control our currency and what it is and what its value is, is the power to corrupt, confiscate, or destroy any and everything that private parties have and therefore to make those peoples subservient to the Government, which is essentially what occurs when the Government determines the rules and value of coin of the realm.  To make matters worse, we not only are stuck with the banking institutions but also with the standing armies!

Fiat money is a con game, a game that can continue for a long period of time as long as the participants believe in it.  However, like all con games it will end.  If we are fortunate it will end with the United States getting back onto a sound monetary-back commodity based currency, if not, our current system will fail us gradually, inexorably, and then suddenly with catastrophic consequences.

Debtors' Prison

As of 2011, according to the dailypaul.com, in the United States we have over two million prisoners, which equates to on a per capita basis of 715 prisoners per 100,000 people.  This is the highest per capita rate and also the highest incarceration numbers in the world!

Debtors' prison was a theme used in more than a few Dickens' novels, but never so prominently as in Dickens' Little Dorrit in which William Dorrit languishes in Debtors' Prison for 23 long years. Why was the theme of Debtor's Prison so important to Charles Dickens?  In all likelihood, because his father, John Dickens was himself imprisoned at the Marshalsea Debtors' Prison, In London, in 1824, for a debt of £40 and 10 shillings.  Later, his wife, and his three youngest children joined him in Debtors' prison, which sounds mind-boggling to us today but was fairly common back then.   It was not until John Dickens' mother died, that he came into enough money to pay his way out of Debtors' Prison. 

Because America was a British colony, Debtors' Prison also became part of our heritage.  There were at least two signatories to the Declaration of Independence (Robert Morris, James Wilson) that were sent to Debtors' Prison, as was the father of Robert E. Lee, Henry "Light Horse" Lee.  Eventually, though, Debtors' Prison were outlawed by Federal Statue in 1833, however, this left jurisdiction for debt crimes to the States, which continues to this day.

While most of us like to think of the law as being fair, equally applied, and cut & dry, it isn't.  Even if a state has laws forbidding the jailing of their constituents for debts, there are workarounds to do that very thing.  The easiest and most straightforward device to accomplish is for the party that is suing you for debt; let's say credit card debt, to take you to court in order to compel you to pay back the monies owed.  If you don't show up, more than likely, a summary judgment will be awarded against you.  What will this judgment do to you?  It will produce a court order demanding payment on such and such terms.  Should you not be able to appeal this judgment or if you simply ignore it, you will put yourself into the unenviable position of "civil contempt of court" which is a jailable offense. 

Therefore, it is wise to remember, that any time that you have a mandatory court appearance you should absolutely make that appearance and do the best you can to defend yourself which starts with adequate preparation and a knowledge of the law.  Not doing so, could ultimately land you in a modern-day Debtors' Prison.  And even though, it doesn't make any logical sense, to jail someone for not paying their debts, (which is a civil not a criminal offense), or to fine someone continuously who is indigent, the state is a blunt tool which neither knows what the left hand or the right hand is doing. 

And let us not forget Dickens' Scrooge who when asked to contribute to the welfare of the poor and destitute, responded not with charity but with the infamous rhetorical flourish "Are there no prisons?" 

No electricity

I heard a knock upon my front door, yesterday, and it was a representative from the Utility company.  I had seen their truck outside earlier but hadn't thought anything of it, other than routine maintenance.  But no, he stated that he needed to turn off the power to my house (and all the others tied to that transformer) because the power transformer had sprung an oil leak, and therefore power would be going off in another five minutes.  He reminded me to open up my garage door in case I wanted ingress and egress, but I already knew how to yank the emergency release cord on my garage door trolley and therefore I had the capability to open my garage door without the aid of electricity, and believe me, I've had to yank that cord before!

I appreciated the heads up he was so courteous to give me as it gave me time to complete and organize some work on my desktop and when the outage came twenty minutes later I wasn't surprised by that fact. Meanwhile, my computer desktop remained on because of my surge protector/battery backup, but I didn't waste all that much more time completing my tasks at hand and then I put my desktop in "sleep" mode, which is something that I had previously not tested.  Nice to know, that after 90 minutes or so, when power was restored, my desktop didn't need to reboot and the same browser windows I had left open were still there.  Sweet.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.  Without power to the house and no separate electric generator, I now had no internet, no TV, no AC (it's summertime), no fans, and nothing that plugged into an outlet that worked.  Pretty much I was back to pen and paper. Yes, I had my cell phone, so I wasn't completely cut-off from civilized life, but definitely my quality of life had become  impaired.

Electricity is something that we take for granted, but what if rolling blackouts or arbitrary blackouts were to occur on a regular basis.  Your productivity, your lifestyle, would be challenged to the absolute maximum; that is definitely the type of paradigm that I don't want to be a part of. Without electricity, the functionality of my house becomes more akin to shelter and not a whole lot more.

I remember back in California, in 2001, during the Governor Davis' truncated era, when we suffered rolling blackouts because of a mismanaged or manipulated energy crisis.  When you're at work and the power goes out and there isn't any real hope that the power is going to come back on in a few minutes, there isn't much that you can do when you're in the Hi-Tech business except to pack up your briefcase or backpack and head back home.  Without power, you simply don't have a business.  And it follows that without a business, you don't have any income and the downward spiral continues onward from there.

Electricity is a wonderful and necessary thing and while typically losing power during a thunderstorm or other severe weather conditions is an unfortunate inconvenience, losing it for any extended period of time, or even having erratic service has dire consequences that most people don't even contemplate.

Our modern lives are tied to the benefits of electricity and we are ill-able to circumvent it.

A Man's World?

Is this still a man's world?  Well, truth be told, I'm hard-pressed to imagine that times have ever been better for females in the USA.  Sure, females apparently still aren't paid at the same compensation rate as men which is a disgrace but employment opportunities and economic freedom have seldom seen these heights for females but alas, it hasn't always been this way.

Back in colonial times, it was the family unit that was paramount, and not the individual.  Additionally, as is common knowledge, this was a patriarchal society.  The woman was subordinate to the man, but in respect to that subordination, it was the man's responsibility to provide for his wife and their family. 

The rule of law in colonial times was "Common Law".  Common meaning not so much "common sense" but in that the law was "one law" which was common to all peoples and therefore consistent in all senses.  It was this "Common Law" that families had to respond to or answer to as one.  Therefore, the man of the house could very well be held responsible for his wives' behavior as well as his children and be subject to fines or public censure.

For instance, whereas, in modern America we are intimately familiar with our 1st Amendment Rights and therefore our Freedom of Speech, that right didn't exist back in colonial times.  Saying the wrong thing to the wrong person at the wrong time could get you accused and convicted of slander and the punishment for such was the infamous "cucking/ducking stool" depending on whether your stay in the stool was merely for public humiliation or for public dipping into actual water.  In either case the chastisement was embarrassing, humiliating, and could in some cases be deadly as in an unintentional drowning.

Changes became to become afoot when the Continental Congress came together in 1776.  Abigail Adams, the wife of our future 2nd President wrote to her husband: "I long to hear that you have declared an independency. And, by the way, in the new code of laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make, I desire you would remember the ladies and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands. Remember, all men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation."

While it took many years for that revolution on behalf of women to develop, it did indeed come, step by step, precept upon precept.  In the 1850s public schooling which had been advocated by President Thomas Jefferson began to come into fruition.  Along with this, women were given the opportunity to work in the factory.  This was still an agrarian society in which men were reluctant to leave their farms and the freedom of being their own boss, whereas women saw this as not only an opportunity but also a chance to make some money.

The Civil War and the fight against slavery brought more women to the forefront of the fight for equality.  The 1850s and 60s were the beginning of the women's suffrage movement in which in 1890 the state of Wyoming granted women suffrage. Slowly but surely other states came along and they too granted suffrage to women before finally the passage of the 19th Amendment was accomplished and ratified in 1920.

Now, nearly a century later, women in America have really come into their own.  For instance, more women than men attend college, and more women than men graduate college.  This has been the case since 1985 and the gap between men and women is continually growing. 

As for crime, in 2008, it was estimated that one out of 18 men, and one out of 89 women were in Correctional Control (prison, jail, probation, or parole).

In a modern world in which brawn is far less necessary and the mind and discernment thereof has become paramount, males appear to be the lesser sex.

Conviction

Do you have convictions that match God's moral law or you one of those tired and timid souls that changes your mind with the prevailing winds of time or gravitates to the attitudes of those that surround you for better or for worst?

Conviction is important.  If there is no standard that you hold your life to, than to what are you measuring yourself against?  Inside of every person is a conscience that will guide you to correct and moral decisions.  You can try to circumvent that conscience through ignorance, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, or abuse of all sorts of things but that is a false escape with ill consequences.

You cannot escape yourself.  Life is a test, and each of us gets different obstacles, that must be met.  Having the right convictions, the right knowledge, and doing the right thing will help to give you the strength and wisdom to face and to ultimately overcome your obstacles and to move forward.  In failure, in defeat, in bad decisions, you will regress. 

How can you be sure that your conviction is correct, as opposed to a self-righteous intolerance that is sadly mistaken?  That question isn't easily answered but we can receive that answer through honest reflection, from the studying and learning of great soul's lives, and implementing or embracing their words, their actions, and the recognition that like creates like.  So that, for instance, if in your worldview you believe that only through the sword can the world be purified or corrected, you must also realize that one day that sword will itself be "tolled for you." 

Having strong and right convictions will allow you to stand, for instance, before Charles the Fifth, the Holy Roman Emperor, and say, as Martin Luther did " "Unless I am convinced by proofs from Scriptures or by plain and clear reasons and arguments, I can and will not retract, for it is neither safe nor wise to do anything against conscience. Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me. Amen."

These are the type of sentiments, the convictions, that must reside inside each one of us.  To know right and to do wrong is itself a great sin.  We hear this in James 4:17 "Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin."

Life shouldn't be a popularity contest.  To be popular, often consists of pandering to the crowd, mirroring what they want to hear, and what they want to see.  But how quickly the crowd can change, how quickly the winds of time can change and that is what makes popularity a chimera, and a false and lesser god.

Have the courage to be of great conviction, have the wisdom to be a true friend.  Doing the right thing may not bring you earthly riches and the easy life, but it will bring you the soothing comfort to know that in your conscience, when put to the test, your spine was straight and true.

Good Ideas

What should you do with a good idea?  First, you should take the time to think it through and carefully ponder upon it.  Then after you have considered it, contemplated upon it, and perhaps refined it, you should do some additional research on your idea to learn more and to take it even further to the next level.

After all, just because you thought carefully about your idea, doesn't mean it's original or new or even good.  It might or might not be.  While doing your research you should be able to determine whether your new idea is really something new at all or just pretty much a copy or a tribute to someone else's idea.  Still copy or not, a good idea is a good idea.

Further to that effect, you should want to take your idea and get some feedback from people or persons that you respect and that would be knowledgeable about your idea and its prospects.  Their feedback could be invaluable in developing the idea further or in seeing other perspectives that maybe weren't apparent to you upon your initial thrust.

A collaborative effort has many advantages and not that many disadvantages.  It would still be your choice as to whether to work with others or to walk away, but it is better to have that choice than not to have it, because just one so-called small improvement upon a good idea could have massive implications to the positive.

A good idea should then be tested and re-tested, looked at, and refined as necessary.  Although it's nice to have the luxury of 'winging it' -- why not take the time to develop the idea before you test it to see if it flies.  After all, an idea ill-prepared, is an idea that will probably fall flat on its face and while we can learn from our failures, it may also discourage us from going further if we test something too prematurely.

As Edison wisely said, "Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”  So giving up on a good idea is not something that we want to do.  Sometimes an idea must be pushed aside for a bit because we have hit a barrier which we believe to be impenetrable but if one allows their mind to still contemplate upon it, success may yet come.

Good ideas are far too invaluable to let go.  When you feel an idea tugging upon you, urging you, whispering to you, you should listen to that still small voice and act upon it.  After all, if you close your mind or refuse to listen to your ideas, that stream will dry up on account of inactivity. 

Ideas, like life, are a two-way street.  You learn by listening, interacting, thinking, pursuing, trying, working, and by giving focused attention.  When a good idea comes into your head, it's like Opportunity knocking upon your door.  Get up, stand tall, and open that door.

You'll be glad that you did.

Sam's Club Supersmart Checkout

I have a vision of a grocery checkout system that doesn't currently exist but could easily exist with today's technology.  Take Sam's Club, for instance, in which the following items are believed to be true:

1.       You must be a member to shop there

2.       You must present your membership card which has a magnetic strip

3.       All items sold are packaged and bar-coded.

4.       The exact weight of all items being sold could be/or already has been entered into their merchandise system.

5.       No items are bagged, although you can box them at the checkout register.

6.       There is an attendant at the front door when you enter to check your membership.

7.       There is an attendant at the exit door to verify your purchases against your receipt.

To me, it just doesn't make any sense that you as a consumer, shop throughout the store, and put your items into a grocery cart, only to have to take them out upon checkout and then have them put back into your grocery cart.  Why not make it more seamless, gather more information about your customers, reduce labor expenditures, and also cut down on self-service theft.  It can be done.

The grocery cart that I envision would have a scanner gun attached to the cart.  The scanner gun would only become detached when you activated the release mechanism with your membership card.  Now, Sam's Club has a record as to what time you showed up at the store which will ultimately allow them to know how long you were in the store to purchase the items that you selected which can be further data mined.

Once the scanner gun is activated you would go about your business just as you normally do with the exception being that every time you purchased an item you would scan it in.  What happens if you change your mind about a purchase?  You could scan it again and select "cancel previous purchase".

What if you forget to scan an item?  That's where the weight of the items comes into play.  When you checkout you will roll your grocery cart unto a calibrated weight scale.  Your cart will be weighed with the products that you have purchased and compared to the estimated weight within a very tight tolerance that the products should come to.  If the weight matches within the parameters, you are good to go, and can now select any boxes that you desire to box your goods on the way out with the caveat that perhaps 10% of the time you will be randomly selected for further verification. If the weight doesn't match, your receipt would have to be checked against the items in your cart by an attendant.

Could the system be fooled?  That is to say, could you in theory scan in an item with the same weight, but then actually put into your basket a different, but more expensive item that weighs exactly the same?  That is, deliberately shoplift? Yes, but that would eventually create an inventory imbalance in which one item sold would be less than what it is suppose to be and another item would be more.  Sam's Club would have a computerized list of all purchases of the item that they now have more of, and they also have your membership card ID to match this information to.  Upon entering the store again for your next visit, you and innocent others having scanned the same item previously will be more closely

monitored and your chances of being "randomly selected" for an audit of your goods purchased would be significantly higher.

That is why it is best to have this type of checkout system at a Membership only store in which the Terms & Conditions of said membership would spell things out in detail.