Well, if you are a Star Trek fan you know that indeed Data does talk a lot. But this blog entry isn’t about Star Trek’s Data.
This is about the taxes American’s pay. Take a few minutes and look at the table below. I’ve highlighted some parts of the data that I think are important and I’ll elaborate on these parts in the points below.
Go ahead, take a gander for a while at the table.
Did you cheat on me? Really, look at the table carefully.
Ok, so what does this data tell you?
- that ONE (1) percent of the tax paying Americans pay 39.89 percent of all income taxes collected.
- that twenty five (25) percent of the tax paying Americans pay 86.27 percent of all income taxes collected.
- that fifty (50) percent of the tax paying Americans pay 2.99 percent of all income taxes collected.
What does this mean to you?
For me the data says that a small minority of tax payers are paying the bill for the rest of their fellow citizens.
The data also confirms that politicians abuse the facts when talking about tax policy. You hear some politicians say “this tax break is only for the ‘rich!’”
Well, when the “rich” are paying most of the taxes, a tax cut will indeed benefit them more than for people who barely pay any taxes.
I didn’t mean to get off on a tangent on the interpretation of this data. What I really wanted to say today is that we need to be better gatherers and analyzers of data so that we can be better informed so that we can make better decisions.
Data Source: IRS, via this great web site that has a crap load of tax data – The Tax Foundation.Org
Well, if you are a Star Trek fan you know that indeed Data does talk a lot. But this blog entry isn’t about Star Trek’s Data.
This is about the taxes American’s pay. Take a few minutes and look at the table below. I’ve highlighted some parts of the data that I think are important and I’ll elaborate on these parts in the points below.
Go ahead, take a gander for a while at the table.
Did you cheat on me? Really, look at the table carefully.
Ok, so what does this data tell you?
- that ONE (1) percent of the tax paying Americans pay 39.89 percent of all income taxes collected.
- that twenty five (25) percent of the tax paying Americans pay 86.27 percent of all income taxes collected.
- that fifty (50) percent of the tax paying Americans pay 2.99 percent of all income taxes collected.
What does this mean to you?
For me the data says that a small minority of tax payers are paying the bill for the rest of their fellow citizens.
The data also confirms that politicians abuse the facts when talking about tax policy. You hear some politicians say “this tax break is only for the ‘rich!’”
Well, when the “rich” are paying most of the taxes, a tax cut will indeed benefit them more than for people who barely pay any taxes.
I didn’t mean to get off on a tangent on the interpretation of this data. What I really wanted to say today is that we need to be better gatherers and analyzers of data so that we can be better informed so that we can make better decisions.
Data Source: IRS, via this great web site that has a crap load of tax data – The Tax Foundation.Org
A friend sent me an email and told me of the story of her running a half marathon. In the course of life, one single person completing a half marathon isn’t such a big thing? Or is it?
You see, she’s recently lost over a hundred pounds and she’s changed her life for whatever reasons she has. Honestly, I am so happy for her. I know that her loosing the weight is a wonderful thing as she will no doubt be healthier and in turn have a better quality of life.
But the thing that impresses me more than her loosing weight and made me think tonight is that she is doing what is important in life!
You see, she is living and she is writing her story everyday. And I think that is what we all should learn to do better – live life and tell a story worthy of telling with our lives. Don’t be afraid to go out and do something. Don’t be afraid to really live.
I hope she doesn’t mind me sharing this chapter in her life story book…
Hi Y’all,
Well, after months and months of planning, training, walking miles and miles through blisters, butt pain, etc, (you get the picture), I accomplished a goal. That goal was to compete in a half-marathon. For that event I set 4 goals. First was to just plain finish the 13.1 miles. The second was to at least get in under 3 hours 45 minutes. Then the third was to hopefully get an “official time”. That time had to be 3:30:00. And fourth was NOT to come in last! As the day of the event got closer, I knew, barring any injury or heart attack, I would finish and I was confident I would get in under 3:45:00 but the third one was still in question and I had no clue about the fourth.
In the pre-dawn darkness and cold drizzle 1,700 competitors started the 13.1 mile race. I knew I would be run over by all the runners so I positioned myself to the side about halfway back. As I stood there waiting for the gun to go off I suddenly got choked up and tears formed in my eyes. I couldn’t believe I had actually made it to the starting line. Long months of training in the heat and cold and dreaming of the finish line over and over had culminated in this final moment. I became overwhelmed with emotion. I was going to do it! I only had 13.1 miles to go!
I never heard the starting gun, just saw the crowd start to move out ahead of me. As most of the crowd raced by me, I settled down into my rhythm, put the earphones on and got down to business of finding that finish line. A little way down the road, I spotted Ralph with the camera. He had gotten up at 5:30am with me and again my wing man was with me. As with most of the miles I have walked in the past year and a half, I was alone in my race. All the runners had long since disappeared, and those that had started running and were now walking were little dots on the horizon. The Silver Comet Trail was beautiful this October morning and I was enjoying my fast walk through the woods. Low and behold, I started to catch some of the people in front of me.
Timers at the mile markers kept me motivated and by the time I made it to the turn around point I was determined to make that third goal. By now my poor ole tired puppies were starting to bark a little but everything else was holding up just fine. I also got to see just how many people were behind me. I was ahead of 18 racers at that point. Well, at least I wasn’t last! When I hit the nine mile mark and the caller announced my time, I knew the third goal was within reach. I still had plenty of gas in the tank, thanks to my cinnamon roll, bananas, M&M’s and Gator-aid. I turned on the afterburners and started to catch some of the people in front of me.
The last two miles were difficult as I had really stepped up the pace and stretched out my stride and dug deep into my determination and grit. The muscles in my legs were starting to sing now, not scream but definitely singing a loud tune. By now most everyone was gone, the timers and water stations abandoned. It was a lonely last 4 miles. When I passed the 12 mile marker I was setting my tennis shoes on fire and so damned happy that I had only one mile left. I knew I was going to make all my goals.
With two tenths of a mile left to go, I looked up and there was my little girl, Melissa, coming up the path to meet me. I started singing the words out loud to the song in my headphones and joggers along the trail started laughing. Not making fun mind you, just laughing. I didn’t slow down, and she pulled in beside me and we breezed into the finish line, Melissa pealing off at the last second, so I could cross the finish line for my official time. And there was my wingman, taking pictures. I came in behind 1,673 people but ahead of 26 people, with a time of 3:24:37, got my finishers medal, the tee-shirt and got to tick off one more of those things on my life’s list of things to do. I wore the tee shirt for 2 days after that.
My muscles did some serious complaining as soon as I finished the race, they weren’t singing anymore, they were screaming very loudly and I heard the tune. As soon as I sat down on the bus back to the start I knew it was a bad idea. Every muscle from my waist down cramped and strained and twitched, etc. But all was well. A bottle of Advil and a cheeseburger later and I was absolutely fine. The next day I only had one spot that I knew was a problem. A tendon in my foot was strained but a couple days rest and it was good as new.
Two days later, I was back on the street walking and wondering, “What’s next”?
Well, thanks for indulging me in this recount of a very important day in my life.Love to all,
JP
So, my friend’s wife Ginny wrote recently in her blog about the current state of American politics. She said “I am fed up with all the commercials, bumper stickers, fliers and news commentaries touting one candidate as our savior and the other as the devil incarnate.”
She went on to discuss her feelings and that she is tired of a lot of what is going on with the 2008 presidential election process. And I agree with her in many ways. This election cycle has as well been so draining on me as well
I could spend hours detailing the things that upset me with the state of politics today. But, to be honest with you, detailing such things would only depress me more and really not serve a positive purpose.
WHAT I really wanted to say today is this:
Even with the negatives that have occurred over the past two years I still believe that America, is still, The Beautiful. American’s still have a great standard of life compared to the world. We still have freedoms that people dream of living in. We still can wake up each morning and choose to make our lives better. We still can worship the God we choose. We still can disagree with each other in a civil and safe manner. We still can engage each other in meaningful discussions on what is important for the country.
I could go on and on as to what we still can do in this country. But the greatest thing that we still can do is to travel to a poll next Tuesday and stand alone in a voting booth and to cast a vote for what we believe. In doing this activity we tell the word that AMERICA, is still, THE BEAUTIFUL. For this I am very grateful. How about you?
So, if you were an evil person or very aggressive, money hungry, entrepreneur business person or a politician in search of wealth, power, fame or all three, you might find yourself thinking to yourself “How can I guarantee future wealth, power and fame and ensure that I can repeat success time and time again and that people will look at me as their savior?”
How would you do this in today’s world of “democracy” and “freedom?”
How would you control people’s lives without them even realizing that they were indeed being controlled?
In a modern world where slavery is detested as an evil activity of a bygone era, how would you by proxy enslave your fellow human beings?
I think you could achieve these goals by making life so comfortable by providing to the masses the basic necessities of life so that they would eventually choose to be provided for instead of providing for themselves.
Once people were dependent on you for the real necessities of life such as food, clothing and shelter, you would then re-educate them into thinking that secondary wants and desires of life like a new car every three years, iPods, expensive clothes, big screen LCD televisions, destination weddings and other similar things are of course necessary for “the good life.” And this is where your master plan really takes hold. Incrementally you condition the masses to desire the “good life” even though they don’t have money to pay for it. You would make it easy for them to get credit and to purchase these “lifestyle necessities” now. This would in turn put people into debt for things that have no lasting value, not to you personally, but to the system that YOU created, control and derive great profits from. You have created a perfect system to enslave the masses while you never have any direct attribution for the deed!
Now, at some point in time, since some of the masses are not totally blind and dumb, you would have to have diversions for them, else they figure out the truth. Within the enslavement system, you create diversions to distract their attention so they have someone, something, or some group to blame for their ever decreasing quality of life. For part of the deception that you created relies on the enslaved masses to feed their selfish egos to further their belief that they deserve the good life and someone is taking it away or holding it back from them.
Ironically, and in a flash of brilliance you figure out how to divert your slaves attention to your true enemies. You see, your real enemies are those who understand your enslavement system. They teach your slaves how to be truly free from the bonds of debt, uncontrolled desires, addiction, ignorance, stupidity and despair. They teach your slaves that personal accountability and individual achievement is the only way to break the shackles of the slavery that you have created.
Although you have amassed great fortune, fame and power, you still desire more from your slaves. After some time you realize that fortune, fame and power don’t really fulfill your own real needs. You realize that you need love and adoration from your slaves. So, you look for and create opportunities for which you can become their ultimate savior from the uncertainties and harshness of the natural world. Besides being their benevolent care giver who provides all for them, you save them from impending disaster and from their enemies and they love you.
After reading this you may think to yourself that it is impossible for this to happen in today’s modern societies – think again. There is more personal and governmental debt today than at any time in the history of the US and the world. People routinely pay on credit for things that neither provide substance nor add lasting value to their lives. Millions of people are admittedly one week to one month away from loosing everything if they lose their job. And in a country where opportunity to educate one’s self to be anything one desires, the US has one of the worse primary education system.
In my opinion, the masses have become takers instead of givers, whiners instead of winners and blamers for their personal failures in life.
I see the spirit of freedom, personal choice and accountability slowly dying and being replaced with the invisible shackles of slavery and bondage.
But their are beacons of hope in this chaos of slavery who try to enlighten and educate… Howard, Ramsey, Cuban, Robins just to name a few who will help you not become one of the enslaved masses.
I don’t know. Diamonds aren’t usually found lying on the ground, in plain sight, in the snow.
But the other day while reading Bob Lefsetz, because I’m interested in the music business, he made a reference to Michael Hedges, who was a huge twenty carrot diamond that apparently wasn’t noticed until it was to late.
But it started me thinking that with the new technological world we live in, we have to re-program our minds to look for diamonds in all the nooks and cranny's of this world.
With the size of the Internet and the documentation of man’s knowledge seemingly exploding it will become harder and harder to find diamonds. So how do you find better quality information in today’s world?
Simple! You have to find trusted sources on the subjects you are interested in and pay attention to what they are writing about. You have to have an open mind about new information and you have to have curiosity to keep you looking for the diamonds in the snow.
I’d like to think that I’m informed and up-to-date with what is going on in the world. As I’ve gotten older I’ve tried to become a person who listens to other people’s opinions and “facts” and I try to keep an open mind.
I know that at times I get tired of the rhetoric and stupidity in the world today. Lord knows that I have my own dumb things to over come. But at least each morning I wake up and I try to change myself and the world in which I live in for the better.
I haven’t blogged much lately because, to be honest, I got tired. Tired of saying the same thing over and over and over again. Tired not knowing if what I was saying was actually being heard (read).
But after reading this post from Seth Godin, it re-charged my batteries and it made me realize that Some Lessons in Life Are Worth [and worthy of] Repeating Over and Over and Over Again!
Thanks Seth!
And here’s his post as I think it is worthy of copyright infringement in the hopes that other people will read his thought today!
People really want to believe effort is a myth, at least if we consider what we consume in the media:
- politicians and beauty queens who get by on a smile and a wink
- lottery winners who turn a lifetime of lousy jobs into one big payday
- sports stars who are born with skills we could never hope to acquire
- hollywood celebrities with the talent of being in the right place at the right time
- failed CEOs with $40 million buyouts
It really seems (at least if you read popular media) that who you know and whether you get 'picked' are the two keys to success. Luck.
The thing about luck is this: we're already lucky. We're insanely lucky that we weren't born during the black plague or in a country with no freedom. We're lucky that we've got access to highly-leveraged tools and terrific opportunities. If we set that luck aside, though, something interesting shows up.
Delete the outliers--the people who are hit by a bus or win the lottery, the people who luck out in a big way, and we're left with everyone else. And for everyone else, effort is directly related to success. Not all the time, but as much as you would expect. Smarter, harder working, better informed and better liked people do better than other people, most of the time.
Effort takes many forms. Showing up, certainly. Knowing stuff (being smart might be luck of the draw, but knowing stuff is the result of effort). Being kind when it's more fun not to. Paying forward when there's no hope of tangible reward. Doing the right thing. You've heard these things a hundred times before, of course, but I guess it's easier to bet on luck.
If people aren't betting on luck, then why do we make so many dumb choices? Why aren't useful books selling at fifty times the rate they sell now? Why does anyone, ever, watch reality TV shows? Why do people do such dumb stuff with their money?
I think we've been tricked by the veneer of lucky people on the top of the heap. We see the folks who manage to skate by, or who get so much more than we think they deserve, and it's easy to forget that:
a. these guys are the exceptions
and
b. there's nothing you can do about it anyway.
And that's the key to the paradox of effort: While luck may be more appealing than effort, you don't get to choose luck. Effort, on the other hand, is totally available, all the time.
This is a hard sell. Diet books that say, "eat less, exercise more," may work, but they don't sell many copies.
With that forewarning, here's a bootstrapper's/marketer's/entrepreneur's/fast-rising executive's effort diet. Go through the list and decide whether or not it's worth it. Or make up your own diet. Effort is a choice, at least make it on purpose:
1. Delete 120 minutes a day of 'spare time' from your life. This can include TV, reading the newspaper, commuting, wasting time in social networks and meetings. Up to you.
2. Spend the 120 minutes doing this instead:
- Exercise for thirty minutes.
- Read relevant non-fiction (trade magazines, journals, business books, blogs, etc.)
- Send three thank you notes.
- Learn new digital techniques (spreadsheet macros, Firefox shortcuts, productivity tools, graphic design, html coding)
- Volunteer.
- Blog for five minutes about something you learned.
- Give a speech once a month about something you don't currently know a lot about.
3. Spend at least one weekend day doing absolutely nothing but being with people you love.
4. Only spend money, for one year, on things you absolutely need to get by. Save the rest, relentlessly.
If you somehow pulled this off, then six months from now, you would be the fittest, best rested, most intelligent, best funded and motivated person in your office or your field. You would know how to do things other people don't, you'd have a wider network and you'd be more focused.
It's entirely possible that this won't be sufficient, and you will continue to need better luck. But it's a lot more likely you'll get lucky, I bet.
In the USA there is this cartoon character called McGruff the Crime Dog. McGruff is this little hound dog that gives out advice on how to stay clear of crimes and criminals and what to do if you happen to be exposed to a criminal or crime. Here lately McGruff's been on the radio talking about Cyber Bullies. For the uninitiated in the cyber world of the Internet, cyber bullies go around web sites and throw around filth and hatred via comments and postings about people. They try to intimidate and make fun of people who have blogs and web sites and some cyber bullies even go as far as crossing the line of civility and threatening people.
You know things are changing for the worse when someone feels compelled to quit blogging because of cyber bullying. I kind of inadvertently got involved with a person recently via a few comments I exchanged with him or her (this person lives in the Internet anonymously so I really don't know if it is a male or female). Looking back at the comment I made and writing about it now I probably should have handled it another way.
You see, this person, made a comment on Robert's site that I thought was uncalled for and rude. And let me tell you, I stepped into the mess. As in the real world, with the Internet we make friends with people in a manner that is not unlike the real world, the only difference is that we don't have the usual physical connections. But we still develop friendships and all the connections that come with friendships. So when you see one of your ifriends getting hammered you feel the need to step in and come to their defense.
The thing is, Robert doesn't really need me to help defend him against comment-attackers or what become labeled comment-trolls. And I took the defense of Robert and personalized it against Robert's attacker. In other words, like the famous saying "don't get in an argument with a stupid person as they'll always win by bringing you down to their level."
For me I've come to realize that negative words, thoughts and opinions aren't worth fighting over. It is one thing to have an opinion on life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. But, when it happens that during the process of discussing these ideas we hold dear to ourselves, the discussion turns personal and disrespectful and threatening. Well, that's when the line is crossed in cyber space as well in our physical world.
Haven't we learned throughout the last fifty thousand years or so that evil words don't kill, they just start the fires of hatred, which leads humanity down the wrong path?
And I can hear the thoughts of some people now thinking "man, it's only people's opinions, it's only the Internet." And to them I say "sure, the Internet is the ultimate parliament, the ultimate Roman Senate, the ultimate podium of free speech." But when cowards, who hide behind anonymous names, spill their hatred like the fires of an erupting volcano they have no standing in my eyes and have no voice in my ears.
Therefore, in the future I'll not get into a discussion with anyone on the Internet who doesn't identify themselves so that the consciousness of the Internet knows without a doubt who they are. If you want to comment on my thoughts fine, be on equal grounds with me and identify yourself.
If you fear your thoughts being identified as your thoughts, what does that say for you? Unless you live in a country where your words can kill you I would say that you should stand behind your words, your thoughts and your actions.
"I wish for a world free from tyranny: the tyranny of hunger, disease and free from tyrannical governments," the president wrote. "I wish for a world in which the universal desire for liberty is realized. I wish for the advance of new technologies that will improve the human condition and protect our environment. I wish God's blessings on all. George W. Bush." -- Personal Japanese Tanabata wish during Great 8 summit, 2008.
I grew up during the Ronald Reagan years, who, as a speaker, had such eloquent ways of communicating his thoughts, hence the nick-name "The Great Communicator."
Contrasting The Great Communicator is George W. Bush's inability to be eloquent with his words. But for me, George seems to be one of the guys. His style is laid back and not contrived with highly obtuse imagery and words.
With George, you get what you see and you get what you hear. No pretentiousness and nothing hidden.
I can imagine that if you met George outside of the Office of the President he would be easy to converse with and you would like him.
I like George W. Bush. I am gratefully that he has presided over America during these troubled eight years. Our country has many problems that still remain to be solved, but I truly believe that George looked after our country as best he could and the people of the United States of America are better off due to George W. Bush.
My Japanese Tanabata wish for George W. Bush this day is "George, may the rest of your life be filled with love and joy. May you be received by friends and foes with generosity, affection and respect for the man you are and for the sacrifices you've made during your service to your fellow man. I wish this day that when your flesh and bones have long disappeared from the landscape of this earth that your heart and soul shall long be remembered fondly and with love and affection for all generations to come."
So get this, I work in the Information Technology industry. I've had a computer since I was 14, which means I have twenty-seven years of real experience with PC hardware and operating systems.
DOS 1.0, Windows 3.1, Windows 95, 98, XP... I've used them all. And on day one when each of these operating systems were released I always wanted the OS to do more or there was something I didn't like about the OS.
Think about it for a minute. The OS never exceeded my expectations. I think that is the way we think as humans. Yes, sometimes products exceed our expectations, but for the most part products never meet our expectations on day one. Even the highly touted Apple iPhone had people wanting more feature and Apple is responding with a new and improved version of the device.
I admit that Microsoft doesn't execute very well on version 1.0's of the software they put out. I admit that Apple seems to execute very well on 1.0 products.
But honestly, the real problem isn't that Microsoft sucks, it is that Microsoft has a totally different platform strategy than Apple. Apple has total vertical integration ownership of the devices and software they sell. They build and sell the hardware and they program the software that drives that hardware. Hence, they have everything at the tips of their fingers to execute out of the gate properly.
Microsoft, on the other hand, doesn't design or build most of the hardware that their software eventually runs on. When Microsoft releases a new operating system like Vista it has to run on at least twenty different manufacturers hardware, which Microsoft doesn't have control of. Additionally, people who want to upgrade from XP must have hardware that is currently supported by their manufacturers who in turn must write new drivers so their hardware can run on Vista.
So any new OS from Microsoft comes out of the gate with two issues: living up to expectations and broad hardware support issues.
Microsoft can't make it all work. Hardware vendors like HP, Dell, Gateway, IBM have to chip in on the deal.
For me, personally, there are things about Vista that I scratch my head and say "what the hell were they thinking when they did that." I recently purchased new hardware and made the decision that I'd go with Vista Ultimate 64 Bit. Now when you talk about moving to Vista 64Bit there are more than hardware issues. Software support becomes an issue as well. But since the majority of my work based software would perform better under 64 bit I decided it was time to make the leap of faith.
The result is that all my old add-in cards are fully supported with new Vista drivers and all my new hardware works flawlessly under Vista.
For me, Vista hasn't been a bad transition. But then again I remember the days of running Windows 3.1 and upgrading to get network support to work with it. I remember Windows 95 and the issues with older DOS applications running correctly.
So, I guess there are two options for the average user. Believe the naysayers who want to bash Microsoft at every turn or go with Vista on your next, new machine and you be the judge.
My cousin, who doesn't know squat about computers, took my advice and purchased a Dell with Vista pre-installed. She loves it and thinks it much better than XP and the setup only took about an hour, which included the time to take the machine and monitor out of boxes and connect everything up.
I'm not in love with any computing device. All I want is for it to work for me every time I turn the machine on. For Vista I can honestly say that it does this and a whole lot more.
There is no one I know that knows everything about everything.
One key to having a good life is to know when you don't know something and then to know where to learn what you don't know, but need to know.
Take for instance Advil. At 41 I find that my body aches more and more and I need some over the counter pain relief so I can continue to exercise and so I don't hurt at night when I sleep.
So I use Advil. Well, since I'm now married and have a baby I try to save money where I can. While purchasing Advil the other day I noticed that generic ibuprofen was incredibly less expensive. The price was so much lower that my first thought was "this generic can't be as good as the original Advil!"
And then I thought "that's ignorant, you don't really know if the generic is as good or worse than the original."
So, I decided to ask someone who should have the correct answer. And that person is actually at the pharmacy where I was shopping - the pharmacist.
So I asked the pharmacist and sure enough she said that generic ibuprofen was indeed the same as Advil as the generic, by US law, had to have the same chemical formula as the original Advil in order to be called ibuprofen.
She continued to say that in 99.99 percent of the time generics were as good as the original drug.
So, there you go, save yourself some money and buy the generic ibuprofen while reducing your physical pain!
I think the third most most hideous activity on the Internet besides child pornography and email spam is BLOG spam.
Yes, spam has been a part of the blogging world for a while. But with blogging it is easier to program sentry applications like Akismet (Wordpress) to analyze the comment and determine if it is spam.
Usually blog spam is caught because the spammer wants to advertise several links in hopes of getting at least one click.
But even this blog spam got past the Akismet filter and my human eyes.
When I read the comment I thought "maybe my point wasn't clear and after all the commenter said 'nice blog to visit.'" But I should have paid attention to the URL, which is .../chickcountry.
Most blog commenter's don't have an URL like that. Dumb me.
So you see, flattery will get you at least one person clicking your comment spam link!
If you take all the good ideas you've ever had or heard and list them how many would you have?
10, 20, 100 or a 1000?
Would you be able to communicate them in a short but insightful manner?
I started thinking about short, insightful thoughts recently because it I've been exposed to a couple recently. I find that life can teach you lessons over a long period of time and then, when you least expect it, life can teach you a lesson in an instant.
In this blog from time to time I'll express these ideas. For now, I'm not going to comment on these ideas as I think they speak for themselves. If you have any Ideas for the Good Life send me a comment. We can never have too many of these!
Ideas for the Good Life # 001
Only borrow money to pay for things that increase in value.
Credit: Seth Godin's blog: Urgent personal finance advice
Ideas for the Good Life # 002
Never ask a question that you don't really want answered, and be prepared for ALL possible answers.
Credit: Herschel Horton after a discussion with his college girl friend in 1989.
Ideas for the Good Life # 003
In business meetings never give an answer without knowing the reason for the question.
Credit: My boss during a staff meeting on 6/17/2008
So, Moore's law says in general that computer processing power doubles every 18 months. When you live in the technology world you tend to get numb to these facts. You see new processors and hardware every three or four months and you just take it for granted.
Way back in the late 80's and early 90's I use to build custom PC's for family and friends. While cleaning up I came across a quote I did for a PC and I just shook my head and wondered where we would be in 20 years with PC technology.
Here's the quoted PC:
- 486DX, 33 Megahertz Central Processing Unit with 8 megabytes of memory
- Desktop Case
- Keyboard
- CD Rom Drive (for multi-media)
- 1.2Mb/1.4Mb Floppy Drive
- 500 Megabyte Hard Drive (cost around $ 1.25 per megabyte of storage capacity).
- Non-Interlaced Monitor (for displaying Super VGA Graphics)
- SVGA Monitor Card (capable of doing SVGA resolution of maximum 1024x768)
- Sound Blaster Sound Card
Price: $ 1,700.00
So much has changed in 18 years, huh?
Now here is the specifications of my recently purchased and built custom personal computer:
- Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600, 2.40GHz Processor (4 Processors)
- 8 Gigabytes of DDR2 Memory
- Thermaltake Armor Case w/600W power supply
- DVD Writer
- 4 x 750 Gigabyte Serial ATA hard drives; Configured in a Raid 5 configuration for redundancy for a total of 2,250 Gigabytes of available hard drive space for Data.
- 2 x 320 Gigabyte Serial ATA hard drives; Configured in a Raid 1 configuration for redundancy for a total of 320 Gigabytes of available hard drive space for the operating system and application binaries.
- NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS Graphical Processor Card
Price: $ 1,770.00
In inflation adjusted dollars the first computer cost $ 2,665.00 in today's dollars. So the technology has increased twelve times in performance (Moore's law), but actually decreased in cost by about 37 percent. The storage increase is totally whacked in my favor. Moore's law doesn't really cover that now does it. In my latest PC I have about five thousand times the storage for roughly the same cost as 500 Megabytes of storage.
Just totally incredible.
And no, I will not build you a custom computer. After 22 years of building my own computers from purchased parts, I now grow tired of the process.
But my new machine SCREAMS!
As a kid I use to play in and around this long drainage pipe that was about a quarter mile long and about four foot in diameter. It was dark, cold and you could yell something to your friend on the other side of the pipe and the echo would eventually be heard on the other end. This "echo chamber" held our fascination and we had a lot of fun with it.
You could say that the Internet is the ultimate "Echo Chamber" as it provides a means by which thoughts can be echoed across the world in mere seconds, really cool!
But like kids playing with a drainage pipe, there seems to be so much noise echoing throughout the Internet. This high noise level is inevitable since there are millions, if not a billion or more people on the Internet.
I struggle with my own desire to communicate my thoughts versus the question of wether I am really contributing in a positive manner or simply adding noise to the Internet?
But after thinking about this issue I came to the conclusion that good, honorable, well intended thoughts, no matter how many times they've been communicated are worth repeating and repeating and repeating.
I think that with my limited audience that if I repeat good thoughts that one day, at least one of these thoughts will make a positive difference in someone's life.
So here's today echo...
Seth Godin wrote in his blog today about personal finances. The guiding principle of his post is this: Only borrow money to pay for things that increase in value.
I've listened to many personal finance gurus and none have ever really communicated the importance of debt control in this manner and Seth is in Marketing, not financial management.
For the longest time I only had to think about myself. For no particular reason for the first thirty six years of my life I only had to take care of me. I managed to stay out of debt, purchase a couple of cars, purchase a condo and stay gainfully employed. Like Warren Buffet and Bill Gates recently discussed I really do agree that I got a great ticket here on this Earth by being born in the United States during this time of prosperity. I've been blessed in so many ways that I can't even begin to describe them.
But as my life has changed with marriage and having a child I've been really thinking about the future of my life, my child's life and the future of the human race. Over the past year, my thoughts have taken on the questions of time and perspective. I think I've been on these thoughts due to this year's United States Presidential election cycle. I've seen many examples of short term thinking, greed and hubris.
The other day I thought to myself "does the average person think past their life and into the twilight years of their children?" If all things go well for my young baby daughter she could realistically expect to live until 2107. That seems so far away in my mind, but draped against the backdrop of human history it is really only one breath among millions. And then what really boggles the mind is to think that the human race could possibly make it to the ripe old age of one million years old.
I concede that it is almost impossible to ponder the effects of our collective contributions to the human race and if we would even be remembered in a million years. But then while watching the HBO series John Adams a thought by Thomas Jefferson really said something to me.
Thomas Jefferson said that "I am increasingly persuaded that the Earth belongs exclusively to the living and that one generation has no more right to bind another to its laws and judgements."
To me Jefferson is saying that life changes constantly and each generation must live life to their best abilities without placing burdens on the next generations to come.
I fear that we are not listening to Jefferson. For you see in the United States our "fathers", the political representatives we have been electing over the past thirty years and sending to Washington to represent our common interests, have been committing a great sin.
In my eyes, it is blindly obvious that accumulating great debt is indeed a sin or at the least plainly stupid.
Whatever the reasons have been in accumulating this debt is not the focus of this post. The reality is that this debt will certainly bind future generations to our judgements, which is exactly what Jefferson warned against.
As I sit and write about this Sin of our Fathers I try to imagine the future. I wonder if our children will live a less vibrant life than we have lived.
I look at my daughter and see a shackle being placed on her daily growing leg. She has so much ahead of her, yet she and her peers may never be able to achieve their collective potential due the bad judgements of their elders.
I ask "Are we responsible for 'The Sins of our Fathers?'"
I answer the question with this: we are not responsible for the sins of our fathers. However, today's generation of Americans and the generations to come will certainly pay the price for those sins.
Sadly I think that my generation and my daughter's generation will pay an extremely difficult price in the not so distant future. I see a time where we live in an environment not so different than that of my Grandmother's where poverty and despair prevailed during the Great Depression.
I hope I am wrong, but I fear I will not be.
In today's connected, Internet world there are a lot of discussions and debates going on about data privacy and social application data portability.
For you non-techies out there, their is a big, huge, no giganticenormous push by every third software team to create the next big social application like Myspace. You see, it seems that having a great web site dedicated to helping people communicate and share their disconnected lives into one big virtually connected community can earn one great fortune and fame these days.
But with all this new technology that will connect us all and I mean all of us around the world, there comes a new price -- loss of privacy.
Everyone has a different threshold as to how much of their personal information they want to share -- information like your email, phone number, address, pictures, music, likes, dislikes and even thoughts among other things.
For most people this information is personal and private and for most people they would like to be able to control who gets to keep this information and who gets to copy this information and take it to other places on the Internet.
Like the '49ers of the eighteenth century, for the social applications creators "there's gold in that there data!" The information each user contributes to the social site binds them together with other users. The more users a social application has, the more web hits the site gets, and with high web traffic the site can sell advertising and with that advertising money just pours in like sunlight at the Mohave desert.
The big debate is who owns the user's data and to what extent should a social application restrict other applications from copying user's personal data.
For example when you join Facebook and give the Facebook application some of your personal information such as your name, email address and say cell phone number and then you "Friend" someone by accepting them as your Facebook friend what rights have you actually given them? Can they copy your email address and cell phone number and copy that data to another social application? If they can do that, can they share that information with someone you don't know and who you didn't want to have your personal information.
To me it all seems that these questions need to be thoughtfully considered by all social application users. These questions need to be thoughtfully considered by all social application creators.
For me there is a simple way to think about the problem right now:
- Every social application user must realize that when they share their name, email, phone number or other personal information they have just lost control of that information.
- Not every social application can ensure and protect that the data they maintain will be secured since by the nature of software, for every security feature devised there are smart application developers who will find work-arounds for the security feature.
- Social applications do not have the obligation to make their user's data portable to other social applications. Co-opertition may be a good utopian idea, but until we live in a Star Trek economy food and the necessities of life are purchased with money, gold nuggets not accepted, thank you!
- Society will at some time have to come to grips with the issues around the ownership of personal data - all personal data that can be used to identify a specific person. As this issue is complex and technical it will take a group of thought leaders who can work through the issues, both technical and human based, to develop a set of parameters that we all can work within.
"Data Utopia" is not here today. Every social application user must use their own judgement when giving their person information out to web sites on the Internet.
I learned about ten years ago that giving my work email to web sites on the Internet resulted in the release of that email to the wild and a deluge of email spam. Fortunately, anti-spam technology caught up and I don't get but one or two spams a week now.
Although I firmly believe I own that email, in the virtual world of the Internet once I shared it I lost control of it.
We need smart, thoughtful people to work on these data ownership and portability issues. Until there are good solutions I'll be the keeper of my data and I'll be careful as to what I share. I suggest that you do the same.
So, I've been a computer nut for a long time. With this skill I have always kept my own data in my own computers.
Well, there's this technology or group of technologies called Cloud Computing where you use software products located on the Internet (or cloud). The software just lives on some company's servers all over the US and the world. For the most part if you pick the best of the best the software provider will have reliable servers and be better stewards of your data than you could ever be.
I decided to start the migration to the cloud over the past three weeks. I'm starting by replicating my blog over to Wordpress.Com. I'm still going to continue to post to my own web server while simultaneously posting to bloghh.wordpress.com. At some time I may scrap my own web server but I'm not sure when.
Other data that I'm going to move to the "Cloud" is personal photography and finalized personal videos.
Eventually, when storage becomes cheap and plentiful I'll move the rest of my personal data to the "Cloud."
As I move to these Internet based services I'll post what company's products I use and the reason I'm using them.
For my blog I found that Wordpress.Com has a great interface and blogging tool. It is easy for anyone to setup a blog and easy to post to the blog once.
I may make a video of the process when I have more time.
Working in a very large company as I do, I sometimes get bewildered by the decisions and thought processes of Executive Management. I've been around long enough to understand that as a person grows professionally and gets promoted their level of attention to details has to lessen due to the ever increasing amount of information they must filter in order to come to a decision. Great leaders have to balance the abstraction of information and the ability to dive into the details to make great decisions.
At my company we use instant messaging as an everyday tool. Sometimes during those little conversations a good thought submerges.
Co-Worker > that's such a great document herschel
Co-Worker > always impressed by your organizational skills
Me > if only other people were so impressed
Me > I enjoy organizing
Co-Worker > everybody enjoys the grand things
Co-Worker > nobody likes the details that make things work
Me > I don't mind the details... I mind the people at the top who make decisions based on 10 layers of abstraction
Co-Worker > or on white papers
Co-Worker > :)
Me > A real executive has to be able to understand the details without being consumed by the details... it's like a telephoto lens... some pictures are cool very close up like taking a picture of a humming bird... but, what's better is the hummingbird amongst a grove of flowers...
Co-Worker > ha yea good analogy
Co-Worker > there is also a good one from a book I'm reading
Co-Worker > "the art of the start"
Co-Worker > its about entrepreneurs
Co-Worker > but basically applies to any leadership position
Co-Worker > says... the trick is to carry a telescope and a microscope
Co-Worker > but the bigger trick is to know when to use them
The one good thought in that conversation is that when you are in charge of a large organization you have to be able to understand and dig for details, but you can't be consumed by them and as my co-worker put it you have to know when to use your telescope and microscope.
So I purchased a pretty expensive camera a couple of years ago and started using it for this and that. I admit, I didn't need a thirty two hundred "prosumer" Sony HDR-FX1 to "mess" around. But I got it thinking I would use it to create new content and do something great with it.
Well, the reality is that creating "great" content that is interesting, entertaining and engaging takes a lot and I mean a lot of talent and time.
Internet content is no different. In the early days Internet content stayed within the realm of the geek's. After the invention of the Internet to aide DARPA and scientist in their communication of ideas, the geek's got a hold of the technology and used it to better communicate technical information for hardware and software development.
And then some really smart people figured out that the Internet could communicate things that "normal" people were interested in, like "did you see this video of that crazy fool ranting about Brittany?" And these people figured that they could make a lot of money off a new advertising model. And some of these people got really rich, really fast.
The funny thing is that the old truism still exist - CONTENT is KING.
We still see good and bad ideas come and go in business and on the Internet. There are a class of bloggers out there who started a communication revolution and they've been able to cash in. One such blogger that I like to reference is Robert Scoble. He's done pretty good for himself in this brave new medium. I also like to reference him because I've met him and he is truly nice person and passionate about technology.
But his problem, like many great artist, is that he can't see past the technology and his passion and find a long term use for technology. More importantly he suffers from the "got to get it on the Internet now, got to be on the edge" with his content. Don't get me wrong here, I think highly of his passion for technology. And I don't like be critical.
You see, he made his mark with an interesting, entertaining, engaging blog. He's good at that medium. However, now he's out concentrating himself with a lot of sub-par video and audio from a camera phone and hour long interviews with technical people who are not very interesting, engaging nor entertaining.
Not to get too far from my point, I gave his video content a chance a while back and it bored me. The camera phone stuff lacked a sense of professionalism and the better quality video lacked being concise. Every time he posts a video now I ignore it.
And this over the past couple of weeks he's starting to think less of what made him and gave him his current stature in the technology business - his blog. Maybe technology can't be polished to maintain an audience like The Office or Thirty Rock. Maybe Robert needs time to find the right formula for video as he did for blogging.
But I can tell you first hand that since I haven't been able to create something great with my camera that I appreciate good content when I see it and there's no doubt that GOOD CONTENT RULES and GREAT CONTENT WILL MAKE YOU RICH IN TODAY'S WORLD.
So, a long time ago and what seems so so far away, I had an English teacher who made us write in a journal every day for the twelve week quarter. We hated it so much. Many times I'd wait until Friday morning to write my five entries that needed to be turned in for that week. But, I did write, though I never learned to like it in High School.
Turn the page and journal writing stuck with me. As I furthered my education I found that writing in my journal helped me organize my thoughts, gave me perspective and made me think. To write one must think and then take action on those thoughts to actually, physically write something down.
Several years ago I found blogging technology. I started writing in a blog and haven't stopped every since. I have found that writing is good for me. It helps me remember my life a little clearer and hopefully it will help other's in some way, some time or some where.
If you are thinking about blogging here's some other people's ideas on what to do.
Write because you want to write and you'll see that in time it will pay off in a positive way...
So, as a society the US political scene has gotten so low. No, I'm not old school from the 1800's or something like that. But now, with YouTube we get what political hacks really think.
Like this liberal dumb ass person (DAP), radio talk show hack Randi Rhodes. She's so intelligent that the only words she can use in an Air America club appearance seems to be "fucking."
At least Air America realized she had to be suspended for calling Ferraro and Clinton "Fucking Whores."
I don't see eye to eye with Hilliary, but to talk about anyone like DAP Rhodes did is totally unacceptable. It just shows how bad our society has gotten with the political rhetoric.
(YouTube Video)
And she's not the only DAP. Listen as her audience stayed right with her laughing it up.
Here's an article from Tom's Games.Com
Uhh... I'd like to call this MY HOUSE! I have a great armchair seat and I can eat anything I please at my in-home theater.
Yea, there will be DAP (dumb ass people) who will gladly shell out money if only to be "hip" by being able to waste $ 35.00 on a movie. But these DAPs will surely see the light that after taking themselves and a friend and then buying the Sushi. Cost for the movie and food will be over a hundred bucks for a movie.
I remember way back when we, as teenagers, got so pissed because the move theater went from two bucks for a movie to four bucks. So, I personally don't know any DAPs that would spend this kind of money on a movie, especially seeing how a majority of movies coming out of Hollywood lately suck.
This is looks like to me proof that executives are indeed smoking the corporate crack pipe a lot more these days.
I laugh when I look at this vide because I just can't believe there are people actually this dumb...
Bouncing burglar trapped in store
Sad... because you realize just how dumb some people can really be...
I just have to say I love blogging technology. It is so inspiring to sit in front of a computer and to be able to hear the voices of anyone, anywhere in the world in almost real time. For my virtual friend Robert Scoble, I say blogging hasn't changed one bit, there are just more voices to listen to if you want.
And for my friend and co-worker who is trying to listen to his heart and his God I want to tell you a story.
When I was about twenty years old my life was in turmoil. I didn't know if God listened to me. I struggled with my belief system. I prayed many times "God, let me know you are working in my life, that you care for me." Looking back I can't believe how young and naive was to think God HAD to answer poor little me. But the beautiful thing I've come to appreciate about God is that he does work in my life and he does care and more importantly he talks to me and he answers my prayers, if only I listen. For one day while sitting in a car with a new acquaintance, we were discussing many things in our lives and in a mere second I realized God had put me in that car at that exact time and place and had put my new friend in that car at the same exact time and place. The words and ideas I exchanged with my new friend were words and ideas that God wanted me to hear.
Yea, sometimes I think it would be easier for me if God were to use a burning bush, but to be honest I don't think there is much in my life that would require that much pomp and circumstance from God - he has my attention as it is. I have found that God speaks to my heart is so many ways. From the thoughts my friends convey in emails, blogs, conversations and from the ideas of radio talk hosts, preachers, movies, songs and in so many other ways that I can't count. You see, God is in me, with me and around me all the time. I may not like ALL of his answers, but if I desire, I can hear him.
Now, the million dollar question for today is when you listen and hear him, do you take action on his words? And more importantly when God ask you for something do you answer his calling?
The game of golf requires so many things to go right to hit a shot exactly as the golfer envisioned prior to striking the ball. For me the rarest of all shots is the Hole In One. A hole in one is so rare, yet so exciting and coveted by all golfers.
In my quest to become a better golfer and attain the previously written about
Four Pillars of Golf I should have added the Hole In One as a bonus. For you see, I think a hole is one is like the icing on the cake for a golfer who breaks 80, shoots PAR golf, shoots below PAR and breaks 70.
The thing about a hole in one is that it does require a good bit of skill to hit the ball near the pin, but then there is always a tad bit of luck for the ball to bounce into the cup after hitting near to the pin.
Yesterday while playing a round at Mallard Cove Golf Course in Lake Charles, Louisiana, I hit a perfect ball that hit inches from the cup and then bounced into the cup for my first Hole In One.
The brisk twelve mile per hour wind had me guessing what club to choose as I had an estimated 183 yards to the flag from the tee. Being a high ball hitter, I really have to work at club selection during windy days and in Southwest Louisiana there's a lot of windy days.
At impact I knew I hit the ball solid. With my follow through I picked up the ball during it's straight as a arrow flight. I remember whispering to myself "get to the green, get to the green." I can still see the ball hitting next to the flag and taking a short hop left into the cup. It's the only time in golf when you really get excited by seeing the ball disappear.
So there, I've got one. I hope it doesn't take another ten years to get my next Hole In One. And I hope it doesn't take another ten years to shoot below PAR and to break 70.
Well, I didn't make the The Guardian.Co.UK's top 50 most powerful blogs - bummer. And after reading through the list I realized that I'm totally "out of the loop" when it comes to blogs. I don't read any of them, zip, none.
And I thought I was pretty connected. I mean, I've been reading blogs since blogs were invented. But, since I work in the technology industry I guess my circle doesn't extend far beyond the nerds of the Internet.
So, here's my top 11 list of powerful blogs.
These are in no particular order... suffice it to say that if you are in my reading circle, you have my attention - congratulations to all who made MY cut!!!
Blogs I Read Daily (or when they post)
Blog Maverick - Mark Cuba. He's a entrepreneur, owns the Dallas Mavericks. He's pretty interesting most of the time, although some of his entries bore the crap out of me.
Dave Ramsey - Radio personality who teaches people how to really live debt free. His blog isn't that great to be honest. It has a lot of room for improvement, but I like Dave's message and keep his blog on my list for the every now and then good thought.
ginny - Ginny is the wife of an ex-co-worker, good friend. BJ never writes in his blog, so I get my updates of them from her. But she's got this career discovery thing going and it is interesting to see how she's progressing.
I, Cringely - The Pulpit - The first of technology blogs I read. I don't always see eye to eye with Cringely, but he's got an opinion worthy of digesting.
Joel On Software - Joel Spolsky chronicles his journey through building a software development company from scratch. He has some great posts about the ins and outs of running his own company. Besides the software development stuff, if you get past the technology barrier, there is really rock-solid business concepts that can be used outside of the development world.
John Lunsford - A long time friend of mine who happens to be a State Representative in the Georgia House of Representatives. His blog posts aren't so personal, but he's working at getting information out to his constituents.
Luken.Org - A former co-worker of mine, Tony's blog isn't all that great. He usually posts about other stories and makes a small comment on those stories. But like all my friends, I'm happy that he's in the blogosphere!
Memeorandum - A politics based aggregator. This site finds political blog posts from the political world and post links to them. This is the easiest way to keep up with what's going on with the political blogosphere.
Scobleizer - Tech Geek Blogger - I started reading Robert way back when he worked for Microsoft. His blog is highly ranked in the technology field as he blogs about all things technology based.
Seth's Blog - Seth Godin is a marketing guru and dishes out good advice for marketing all kinds of marketable ideas/products.
Zac's Blog - Zac is a co-worker who writes about faith. He's got a gift for writing down his thoughts on the higher power.
Now, I have another list of technology blogs that help keep me updated and current with the industry I work in...
Marcus Hass' [MS] Blog, Channel 10, Ed Bott's Microsoft Report, eWeek Technology News, eWeek Windows, Iain McDonald (Windows 200), Mark Russinovich Blog, Paul's SuperSite Blog, PC Magazine: Tech Commentary, PopSci.Com, Slashdot, Techmeme and Tom's Hardware.
File this one in the "Who Cares" department.
I work with software all day, every day of my working day and then at night for personal use. I hate to toot the horn here, but I've been working with software for what seems like a bazillion years. So, I think I have a pretty good idea of good software versus bad software.
So I use Google Mail and have contacts in there. Well, number one, G-Mail automatically adds people as your contacts when you send them an email - BAD ISSUE # 1. Let me decide who is a contact.
BAD ISSUE # 2: So, I wanted to clean up the contacts and I select like 144 contacts to delete using the interface, hit the Delete button and got the below message that I can only delete 20 at a time. What in the world (WTF) are they thinking. How stupid is it to let me select more than 20 and then not let me delete all that I've selected.
So there, Google ain't perfect and you heard it here first.
