Facebook, where the ideas coalesce, and intelligent folks discover just how stupid some are.
“Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt.”
“Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, and discerning if he holds his tongue.”
The great common denominator of the day is social media. It levels the field as it were and if you are of a mind to “let it all hang out” here is your soapbox!
Blogs are another good place to be shown as a fool, if you are indeed one.
Today one of my friends posted on Facebook this “Occupy Democrats” post regarding Denmark and how wonderful it is.
Without further investigation one would happily share this and ask, what the hell, why cant we do that?
Free University
Free Childcare
Free Healthcare
First off my friends, there are no free lunches. Just like lunches; there are no free Universities, or childcare, or healthcare. Someone pays for it! They have to! So who and how is the question.
Denmark enjoys a tax rate of 55.4% at the low end up to 65.9%..
Denmark also has a VAT or Value Added Tax of 25%
All of this free stuff is broken out into different sections of their overall tax structure, much like the USA except ours is like 39%
So for you who did not pay attention in school when we talked about such things as math, lets do a little exercise should we?
That highly skilled Burger flipper is getting $20 and hour. Immediately 55.4% goes to taxes so he or she is in effect making $8.92an hour.
The VAT is pretty flat at 25% on frivolity such as that burger (prepared food vs. grocery store food,) so that burger if this is correct is $5.60 plus $1.40 VAT making that burger $7.00. That is not the drink or fries, just the burger.
Folks, that $18.000.000.000in debt that This President has put us in with Obama care and all of his entitlements will force the next president to institute a VAT or some other form of taxation to pay for this. If not that than most likely there will be a worldwide economic collapse as the countries monetizing their debt (printing money buying our own debt with faux money) with their house of cards, will come crashing down.
Liberal thinking must be a mental disease. Only an insane person would walk a country down the road to its destruction, like we have done during the last 6 plus years!
The Danes have the free universities to encourage people to take advantage of it for higher paying jobs and to be globally competitive. Obama wants the tax payers to foot the bill for higher education for certain people to be more competitive but, his agenda is social justice, not world competitiveness.
The Danes can hire and fire at will as they are not constrained by the laws that we have in this country so I look for business owners here to be under attack as well.
The work week in Denmark is about 35 hours a week for the women and 41 hours a week for the men.
Denmark tries to keep their commuting time down to a minimum which is in stark contrast to the US where we have “downtown” as the place to work, forcing people to sit in long lines of traffic burning fossil fuels, and wasting hours and hours a week sitting, breathing carbon monoxide, and other noxious fumes.
The Danes on average live longer than Americans and I would have to think that their commute plays a role in the equation.
If the US had the brains of the Danes, they would think outside the box and Decentralize business’s as to cut down on congestion on the freeways.
A couple of other differences between them and the US is the amount of people and types of government.
I noticed that I have some readers in Denmark, if I have something wrong, or you would like to contribute please do.
My facts come from hours of research and I am certain that I don’t fully appreciate the eccentricities of your government and its taxation schedules and lets face it, the facts that I have found could be in error.
Either way; it appears to those of us that know how to use a calculator that when it all boils down to the nuts and bolts, our burger flippers are making about the same as your burger flippers, ours are simply having to pay extra for the things that your high taxes are paying for currently.
My heart goes out to the people in Charleston. The senseless violence in this country seems to be more and more frequent. While the left will tell you it is the lack of gun control, and use this and every occurrence of gun violence they can to push an agenda; they are dead wrong.
Going after the law abiding citizens’ guns is like going after silverware because there are so many fat people around. Yes, it really is that ludicrous!
While the country is grieving for these folks; we have idiotic politicians out there using this as a bully pulpit to push a very liberal agenda which also happens to be a dangerous one.
In my business it is necessary to do something called a “root cause analysis.” Simply stated, what happened, how did it happen, and how can we prevent it from happening again.
It is more than putting magnetometers at the entrances of all public buildings with security guards.
Do we attend church via skype, and turn Xenophobic?
Do we use this as an excuse to not attend church?
Do we listen to it on the TV or Radio and think that is good enough?
Maybe we use this as an excuse to qualify the absolute lack of a god as a good “god” would not allow this to happen.
The problem is much deeper than this and I am glad that this kid is still alive so we can learn from him, what set him off.
Instinct tells me that when investigated, you will find that he spent untold hours playing violent video games with other on-line people, and simply took it to the next level. These games are so realistic that I fear that after enough of it, the lines between reality and fiction become so blurred that killing for real is simply a “level up” for him.
Since he gave up so easily, my guess is that he is a coward, and picked a soft-target like a church where the odds of him getting hurt were minimal. Being a black church, there may have been an element of racism involved, which made the target more palatable. His racism again would be interesting to study as how and why? Was he picked on or bullied by blacks as a school child?
With the uproar in Baltimore and Ferguson, who knows if that pushed him in that direction?
We cannot afford to ignore these “simulators for killing” any longer. Mental health needs to be a priority for this, and all future administrations as technology pervades our lives and these “kids” who have so much time on their hands and play these games for hours and hours on end.
Cars kill, knives kill, baseball bats kill, just about anything can be used as a weapon!
The common denominator is people. People kill, and the motives need to be looked at. Go, look for yourself at some of these games and the realities of them. Go to your local game store and look at demos of them, watch these kids as they play these games.
They are dropped into a war-time situation where killing with realistic effects are over the top. I would not be surprised to find that this creep that killed those folks suffers from some sort of PTSD from video games!
Only if life were so simple that we could hand Otis the keys to his prison cell, so when he was sober again he could let himself out of prison and get about his day.
Only if, the cops had one bullet and kept that bullet in their shirt pocket instead of the gun.
Andy never had to deal with terrorist and Barney, well he never had to deal with a hardened criminal that would have shot first and asked question later.
The truth is that many of us want Mayberry RFD. Many want to go down to the local fishing hole with our son or father spending the day hooking worms and pulling the hook out of the mouths of the fish that fell for the bait.
Andy was the optimist, there was good in everyone and, everyone was innocent until proven guilty.
Barney was a small city cop that had the heart of a big city cop, with the pessimism to match.
Sunday mornings in such a town would have been about getting the family up and dressed in their Sunday best and all sitting in the pews attentively listening to what the preacher had to say. After church, pleasantries with the other “saints” would be exchanged and in some church’s most likely Fried Chicken on the grounds would be in order.
Most certainly if not enjoyed as a group, each family might retire to their own home to enjoy Fried Chicken, homemade ice-cream (you know the kind without listeria) and lemonade on the front porch, “family time.”
Where have we gone astray?
I think it started with radio, and then TV, and now we have so much technology that the world has become a small place. All the evils of the world have pervaded the threads of our humanity, which cause many of us to rail against it and some to simply shut down and ignore it. We seek refuge in the few places that seem untouched by “life” and Church is such a place.
The old Hymns of the 1800’s still comfort some of us, and for a little while we focus on things other than their evil but, our own sins, and how we might do better and of course, give thanks to God.
Today, on the way to church, at the bottom of a hill sat a cop with the latest in technology LIDAR “light detection and ranging” equipment. This device can accurately determine your speed down to the .00 “hundredth” of a mile per hour.
If this does not look like hunting to you maybe you should go hunting.
While Mayberry and Andy are nowhere around, at this time of the day the road is occupied by a high percentage of folks headed to church. The cars are full of families with the mother making sure that Johnny has matching socks, and not the pair with the holes in them.
Mary is trying to apply that last bit of makeup before they arrive, as she wants Steve to notice her. Dad is trying to get to church just one day on time; without getting into a fight with the wife or children about things that have to be done before Monday.
While going to church should be a joyous occasion, it seldom is as we are a people that either stay busy, to keep up, or get left behind. We forget why we are up on Sunday morning to begin with, and why we are going to church?
Since the family has left the house a little late, it is important not to catch the lights and hitting the brakes while going down the hill seems counter-intuitive as the speed picks up from 40 to 45 in a few hundred feet anyway!
Enter into the picture a modern day Barney Fife. Young guy wearing a freshly pressed uniform, clean car and sporting the most modern technology available, purchased with tax dollars from those he is “hunting.”
I simply do not understand why cops have an image problem?!
If it takes high tech toys, pointed at cars going down a hill to determine when the driver has exceeded some magic number to earn a ticket of $200 plus dollars, while on their way to church, why do it? Is it to make this guy’s day, or increase revenue? Does he have some imposed quota of tickets that he must reach or is it simply a friendly competition with his fellow officers to see who gets the most tickets written in the month? What motivates someone to sit at the bottom of a hill, waiting for some poor slob to not hit the brakes while going down the hill? I can tell if someone is driving stupidly without the gadgetry, can’t you?
Sitting at the bottom of a hill shooting Laser up the hill is disingenuous at best, and I would think simply in bad form. At what speed does one get pulled over in a 40? Is it 43, 43.5, 44, 44.5, 45? What, what is the magic number that one has to hit before Barney pulls out his ticket book? Maybe its 44.788?
Make no mistakes about this blog… I want the cops to do their jobs. “To protect and to serve!”
If someone comes through there at 50 weaving in and out of traffic, I want them stopped! That does not take LIDAR to figure out. If someone is driving recklessly, they need to be held accountable. If on the other hand someone gains a few miles an hour going down a hill on a Sunday Morning, when there is little traffic, and you need LIDAR to figure out exactly how fast they were going, that is simply DAFT!
Here is my challenge to you the police… Treat others as you would want to be treated. Very simple idea I know but I think many have forgotten this, possibly because they are sitting in a cop car on Sunday Morning hunting with high tech toys rather than sitting in a pew somewhere learning that we are all sinners and all fall short of the glory of god. While the golden rule is not part of the Bible, it really should be. Let he who is without guilt cast the first stone, is in the bible.
To you the people who see this same kind of behavior, here is what you can do.
Firstly there is technology that will beep at you, if you are speeding. I have this in my vehicle and I use it driving anywhere. People in my car tell me it is annoying but let’s face it, how many times have you missed a speed limit sign because it was behind a tree or bush?
Another thing is a radar detector. I am not telling you to get one to speed, I am telling you to get one so you can even out the technology gap a little. Radar itself will give you advanced warning, laser will not tell you anything, other than you have been tagged. Laser however is line of sight so, while they see you and “target you, if you are observant you will hopefully see them and wave, with all of your fingers…. “lead by example.”
In combination with your beeping GPS and radar detector, and eyes; you should be able to avoid giving money to the city.
The pitiful part of this is that I believe that it is all about money and little about protecting and serving. That is why I would push for money from tickets not go into their coffers but, into education or, infrastructure.
I would challenge the Sergeants that have underlings; have them lighten up. I can tell if someone is driving badly without any technology, I see it daily. Do you really want people to see your guys sitting at the bottom of hills shooting lasers up the hill? Are you that damned desperate for funds that you have to ticket little old ladies on their way to church for failing to step on the brakes while going down a hill?!
To the Barney Fife’s of the world; I don’t know what drives you whether it be adrenaline, or you hated your parents but remember, one day this will be you. You will not always be the one behind the LIDAR. If you get stopped, are you going to pull out your badge and hope for some “good old boy treatment,” or possible professional courtesy, much like the shark that won’t bite a lawyer? You in fact are no different from us, and that is really the point of this blog.
There is this “us and them mentality” which you promote by doing things like sitting at the bottom of a hill shooting LIDAR up the hill. Tell you what, Drag your sorry butt to Church when you are not on duty. Go enjoy that fried chicken with your peers. Let people in the community see you, and interact with them in a manner that is not judging. You are no better than the rest, and when you think that you are, you are on the slippery slope.
Protect the people like you are supposed to do, which is what you signed up for. To protect and to serve, not to hunt and to hassle.
I would also challenge the people to do one more thing. Get a dash cam.
Not long ago I was pulling into a restaurant in Addison Texas. Screaming out of the parking lot was a Dallas police officer who had been working radar in the parking lot, camouflaged by the other cars and trees. Had I not been keenly aware my situation and stabbed the brakes, she would have hit me head on! Now, how do you think that would have gone down in court? She was totally at fault, but it would have been her word against mine and possibly, possibly and unbiased third party cop, to see the evidence and maybe a witnesses but, had there been a dash-cam no contest. Her zeal for catching some speeder on Belt Line just about ruined both of our days. Had we collided without a camera, I feel that it would not have gone well for me. Maybe, and I hope that I am; wrong.
After the screeching stopped, our eyes met, she lowered her head breaking eye contact, and slowly pulled out onto the road.
No one is perfect and the dash cam would have made my life easier had I not been able to get that car stopped in time.
These cameras have come down in price and are certainly affordable. If you see, as I have seen, cops driving stupidly, send the video to their boss. They too need to be accountable. I have listened to the scanner while I travel and seen some do some rather stupid things, including speeding excessively for no reason other than they can, because they are mistakenly under the opinion that, they are the law! Once on camera, they will quickly find out that they are, not the law, but the man (or women) that has been hired by you to “protect and to serve!”
All cops should be required to wear active body cameras, not necessarily to point out your guilt or theirs but, to protect them from the people who would wish them harm, or by besmirching them, or accusing them of wrong doing.
At the end of the day we are neighbors, families and communities and what we each do for a vocation should not be an issue or divide us from each other.
Let’s get the Ne’er-do-wells off of the street, and if they wear a uniform, let’s get them a new vocation, as the man in blue should garner respect, not because you are told to respect them but, because they have earned it.
Sitting at the bottom of a hill, hunting church folk is not going to do it!
For the last several years West Nile has made the news.
West Nile virus is a mosquito-borne zoonotic arbovirus belonging to the genus Flavivirus in the family Flaviviridae. This flavivirus is found in temperate and tropical regions of the world.
Flaviviridae: family of viruses typically spread by tics or mosquitoes.
You….
What can you do to a: protect yourself and your family and B: the community in which you live?
Someone told me that there were not that many mosquitoes in my area to worry about anything other than myself. Use pesticides with Deet to protect myself and don’t worry about it.
I however did not believe them, and I also care about my neighbors; and the small animals that live outdoors and become food for those winged vampires of the night!
I installed not one but two bug zappers in my back yard.
Each bug zapper is good for an acre and my back yard is rather small city sized lot.
After one night of operation here are the results:
bug zapper 1Bug zapper 1 after one nightBug zapper II 25 feet from bug zapper 1Bug zapper II twenty five feet from bug zapper 1
So, now what can you do?
Buy a bug zapper or two and install them, especially if you are in an area with West Nile.
They are on eBay, Amazon and a host of other places and if your hold your mouth right the local hardware store may actually have them, I would not count on that however.
The trick is that these things attract bugs. You know “go to the light…..”
So you need to hang them far enough from your door that they actually draw them away from your house.
Nope, they are not cheap. Anywhere from $50 to $80. What is your health worth?
-Best
PS. Are you itching yet? I am just looking at this…. ZAP!
Update 6/11/15
I have no idea who besides me is interested in this such as this but…..
The next day both bug zapper were about half full... No biggie; use compressed air and blow out the dead mozzies and put the zappers back in place.
Expecting that they would not be as full today I could not have been more wrong.
Today …Day 3 of the great bug barbecue the zappers were both chock-a-block full of fried Mozzies!
Today the newest Zapper arrived, I replaced the oldest with a “clog-proof model.”
Tomorrow will most undoubtedly bring more Fried Mozzies but will there be less, or more or about the same….?
Yes, Mosquitoes were harmed during the making of this blog!
Yes, there were a few other critters that met their maker as well but 99% were mosquitoes!
Watching a video shot by a “white witness” would make one think that the police were out of line.
Listening to the witnesses who saw more than a video focused on the police trying to quell chaos, is another.
Backstory:
An end of year graduation party was planned in a private area for a few teens, and some adults. This was an invitation only event where many different teens were invited, including those of color.
Because it was talked about on social media some took that to mean that they could simply ignore the rules and crash the party via jumping over fences etc.
When asked to leave by security guards and some parents, tempers flared on both sides which escalated the conflict until police were called. That should have most probably been their first call as these kids jumping fences already demonstrated that they had no respect for the adults, or the security guards; and apparently the police.
By now the conflict was irreversible and when police arrived and tried to sort things out the teenagers were non-compliant with officer’s orders to “freeze.” In fact they began running in all directions as we have seen over the last few months in different cities around the country.
As one of the girls walked away instead of running, she was detained and when she fought back “resisted arrest” the officer detained her by force. This is probably SOP.
When two of her friends tried to help her “resist arrest” the officer felt his life might be in danger and pulled his service weapon. Had either of those kids had a weapon, I suspect the news would be different than what it is today.
This was not a racial issue. This was and is an issue about those who don’t respect the cops and or the laws that we have here in this country. When a cop tells you to freeze, you comply!
Had Michael Brown Complied, he would still be alive!
Had Eric Garner Complied, he would still be alive and most likely still selling loosies in Staten Island.
We don’t know the story of Freddy Gray because the Baltimore Mayor and others have this case so screwed up we may never know. I suspect if he had complied, he would still be alive as well but; we don’t know for sure.
If the first two events had not transpired, Baltimore would be a footnote; and McKinney would not even make the local news much less national news, as McKinney was not sparked by racial unrest. It was sparked by some having no respect for the rules and no respect for the cops.
Should the cop have brandished a weapon?
Here is the better question, should he have had to?
At a certain moment in time was he afraid for his life?
Those were not twelve year old soccer players trying to intervene on the “bikini clad” girls behalf. Those were big boys that could have hurt him had they wanted to.
All cops should have body cameras on and active, when they are on duty.
This video should be instantly transmitted up to the cloud and to a monitor on their supervisor’s desk so they the supervisor has video of the event as well as the teen journalist video with a cell phone, possibly with an agenda.
If a situation becomes hot, the supervisor can decide to act.
The cop’s camera can vindicate him or her and their actions or indict them.If nothing else has come out of these events, it should be that the cops need to present their side with video evidence too!
If the video would indict them, then they should not be cops.
As a kid growing up here in Texas I can tell you first hand I have had my fair share of run-ins with the cops that were un-justified. I never, ever ran from them and always did as I was instructed. My hands were always in plain sight as I was not wanting to be an accident! The time to fight oppressive people is in court, not on the side of the road, you are in their world, in court; not so much!
The bottom line is this, if a cop tells you to freeze, dammit freeze! How the hell hard is that?
I like to tie things together, to figure out the cause and effect.
In my line of work we call this a “root cause analysis.”
Skin cancer awareness has piqued the interest of the news media outlets, as well as the general population.
While I don’t discount the monetary reasons for this with all kinds of expensive potions and lotions, I do think that there is more to it than that. The snake oil sales folks are simply capitalizing on a solution to a problem that may not even be a solution, just simply a prophylactic, much like an expensive sugar pill.
History is rife with such individuals and while their products may provide a modicum of protection, there are certain parts of this conundrum that thousands of miles of solid rock can’t stop!
Cancer, not just skin cancer but cancer itself is nothing more than the instructions from the DNA being either misunderstood or the instructions “code” has been modified in some way by something, either a mutagen of some sort or, there was simply an error in the replication process.
We “think” that toxins cause cancer but I really don’t think they have a clear understanding of how. Whether it be from out-gassing from some plastic product, or fire retardant chemical or from synthetic vitamins or even the prescription drugs that we consume daily. There are those that want to tar and feather Monsanto for their work in genetic modifications of food.
Actually we need this type of research if we are going to feed the population of this planet.
Focusing on Skin Cancer however; that bespeaks of something either contacting it, or something ingested which manifest itself there in the epidermis.
Since I have no government grant to fully investigate this, I want to focus on radiation.
We spent millions on Turtle tunnels but something like this..You got to be kidding!
We are exposed to radiation from many different sources from things as simple as dental x-rays to the glow in the hands on your old wind up clock. (Radium)
Skin cancer has been found on 2400 year old Mummies from Peru, pretty sure that there were no plastic bottles or pesticides or dental x-rays back then, so how did it happen?
Naturally occurring radiation on this planet and…the sun and even cosmic radiation from outer space from things like gamma ray bursters, collapsing stars or any host of things left over from the big-bang could be responsible.
Because we travel, we cannot tie down specific geography to cancer. It would be interesting to see if they could find more such mummies or early cancers on folks who were not traveling more than 35 miles from where they were born, to determine if there are indeed “hot spots.”
Having said that, let’s simply focus on the sun for a moment which, is the nearest and most consistent generator of different types of radiation.
While UV light is blamed for so much of the skin cancer we see today, I would proffer that is only partially true. The Climate change proponents would have you believe that Freon and other types of CFC’s are destroying the ozone layer which allows UV light in. While the gasses that make our atmosphere restrict the passage of UV light they allow the visible spectrum in. Ozone is one such gas.
UV light is what causes a sunburn. If you go to a tanning Solon the tanning beds emit what, UV light.
So can a sunburn or mild exposure to the visible light spectrum and UV light cause skin cancer?
Again what is cancer?
An abnormal cell which divides and replicates incorrectly, a cell that either did not understand the instruction given to it or, a cell that was given incorrect instructions.
The truth of the matter is that our skin is a miracle much like the plants that we depend upon for oxygen and the sugars and starches that they create by taking in sunlight and using it through a process called photosynthesis.
Our skin takes in sunlight and…. Creates Vitamin D. The body has natural processes which keep us from overdosing on it, unlike what might happen with synthetic vitamins. Too much of a good thing is what, a toxin.
While we were designed “or evolved” to take advantage of the sun, much like the plants I would have to believe that UV light in moderation is no more of a “mutagen” than toast.
The sun emits the whole spectrum of radiation from radio waves to gamma rays. While “normal sun operation” does not allow too many gamma rays to leave; solar flares are another story and why I have titled this piece …and the 11 year cycle…!
We really need people who think outside the box, and there are damned few of them!
I have no clue how one gets government grants to fund research but I think a study needs to be done to either disprove what I am about to allege or, prove it so we can all be more intelligent with our actions.
It is my supposition that when the sun is most active, as it is now; and has been for a year or two, more gamma rays and other high energy particles make it through our atmosphere and cause genetic damage to people’s skin as well as other living things like plants.
This is rampant Right now here in Texas! Is there a correlation between this and skin cancers rise?
We know for a fact that pilots have more skin cancers than people who don’t fly..why? At 40 thousand feet or so there is less absorbing or refracting material to keep high energy particles away from the earth so they are bombarded with cosmic radiation, much like you and I when we fly. The skin of the airplane does not stop them. Our folks on the space station are constantly bombarded and this is a real danger to astronauts and space travel! Someone needs to invent a shield for them. Where is Scotty when we need him?
Does that mean we are safe on the ground? No, the amounts are lower and I suspect that the closer to sea level you are, the lower the rates of high energy particles from the sun will get to you. It has to do with the size of the particle and what it might bump into as it travels to earth.
You say but the earth’s magnetic shield deflects all that…. No, not all…most, but not all.
Another interesting study might be to study those that live in the path of the Aurora Borealis or Aurora Australia’s. Are there more cases of cancer there, or less? What other factors might come into play? Food comes to mind… The angle of the sun and the fact that it is cold so they wear more clothes. No nude sunbathers in the arctic circle! So if Skin cancers were higher that would bespeak of high energy particles vs UV light, right? If they had them at all that would still tell a story…
My guess is that when there is a solar storm or flare, that high energy particles across the spectrum are released and simply hit the earth and all those who are out in the sun. The folks at higher elevations probably get more of it than those who live at sea level.
Most probably and in conclusion; not only should we as a people pay attention to our local weather when we go outdoors and or plan activities but, we might also want to pay attention to the suns weather.
What you have just read is completely my work and it could be “crazy talk” or …just maybe it could be fodder for conversation from those who study this stuff.
If research were done, I am certain that with control groups and so forth that a correlation could be made between the suns activity and skin cancer but, that will take years as the sun goes through the cycles of activity every 11 years.
Because some government would want involvement that would stall the process decades for the bureaucrats to all poke holes in the air with their fingers and add pork, just because.
In the meantime let’s assume that what I am proposing makes some sense so; don’t go nude sunbathing when there are solar storms! Wear those expensive lotions and potions, just in case one of them actually does something! Use some common sense….
Dermatologist who have been in practice for eons might look through their history and research the kinds of cancers and frequencies (timing) of them and how those correlate to the solar activity chart posted earlier in this article.
It has been said that necessity is the mother of invention. Having been down that road so many times in my life, I would have to say that is one of the truest statements ever said.
The problem with this is that the system is rigged against you (the inventor.)
Back during the days of VCR’s I was one of those that went to school to learn how they worked, and how to repair them. Back in the day they were $1,200 for the cheapest, and it went up from there.
End of tape sensors back in the early day were accomplished with visible light. Tape makers would have some clear leader spliced on to the tape so when light was visible the machine would know to stop, “whatever function it was doing.”
Later in the years infrared light was used instead of visible, which made troubleshooting much more difficult. As the light was 950nm instead of the 850nm currently used in night vision cameras, there was not even the slight red glow.
As seen through a CCD camera sensitive to 950nm light 850nm infrared LED visible glow to naked eye Infrared light as soon through camera with no IR CUT functionI devised a portable infrared detector. When the test button was pushed with the sensor in the path of the infrared light a green LED would illuminate thus telling me that the emitter was not the issue. If no light was visible a red LED would illuminate thus telling me to check the voltages on the emitter “which was a job” and if present, replace the emitter, which was also a job as it was soldered in unlike the bulb which was plugged in.
This was also handy for testing remote controls as they too were using, and still do use 950nm infrared LED’s so you would get a pulsing green LED if the batteries and or remote was functioning.
In short, this was the “cat’s ass” and it was my invention.
So, now that it was built I needed to downsize it into a more portable device, like a pen.
I started the process of downsizing the electronics and was trying to figure out how to get a “housing” created for it when a family member came to visit who is “was” handy and knew certain things that I did not.
Long story short I called it the B.I.R.D. Battery operated Infrared Detector.
Before my “family member came for a visit” I wrote a letter to Sencor, which was a test instrument maker in the day. I did not divulge anything of my idea other than I had one and a working prototype that I would like to discuss with them.
The response went something like this:
Dear Mr. Taylor,
I work in the mail room and it is my job to look for and intercept letters like this and send them back to the sender.
We hire the brightest and best here at Sencor and therefor do not need input from the public as we have the best. If it is a new device that is needed, our engineers will think of it and create it and we will market it. If we don’t create it, it is not needed. “Damn what hubris!”
Thank you for your time, good day!
It was about this time my “family member came” and I shared my frustration with him. He was very interested and sympathetic. Looked over my invention as well as the schematics etc. and told me he knew some folks and would get back with me.
Of course you know the rest of the story without me typing it but….
Two months to the date of his visit in the back of one of my electronic magazines that I took, was the BIRD complete in a pen enclosure with my wording verbatim!
This family member came into copious amounts of money, and never spoke to me about the invention. Because I could not prove what happened, I did nothing but learned, never share any more inventions with even family as when money is concerned; blood means nothing.
Some of my ideas over the years were too grandiose for me to create a prototype of, and some are as simple as the following:
I am a technician by trade, but an engineer at heart. While working at many companies in my life, I have re-engineered their inventions. Many of those modifications have been incorporated into their products making them better. Working for them however; you get your paycheck, and maybe a pat on the back, and maybe a $200 American ExpressCheck thank you check! Don’t spend it all at one place….
Dyson Vacuums’ is another company that I contacted because their product lacks in certain design areas, and I really thought that they could benefit from my ideas. I am a nice guy, had they treated me with any respect I might have given them the damned ideas.
I wrote them a letter regarding some ideas I had for their product and not unlike the letter from Sencor, they too were rather insulting with their response. They too hire the brightest and best and they certainly don’t need the input from someone who actually bought one and uses it! Yes, they were about that truculent.
While I will not give the ideas for free, if at all, I would tell them that they should have their engineers and or technicians actually use their vacuums, and pay attention to all of the ways that it works. I don’t mean throw some dust on the floor and suck it up, they all do that, actually take the damned thing home and use it! I think I know the secret to why their product “sucks so well,” It starts with management…
The simple fact is that I have several ideas which some I can create myself, and some like the BIRD, I need others to add to the collective, to make it the best.
The problems with inventing are many and they start with “protecting your idea.” You can see that if a family member that you trust will screw you and then pretend that they don’t know you when the money comes in, what would others do?
A couple of years ago I wrote Apple because they needed to re-design their app so one could re-design the app layout on your phone through the Itunes app on your computer. I wrote them a nice long letter telling them what I needed, why, how it would benefit their customers and ask them to do it. Three months to the date it was done. Do you think I even got a thank you from them? Some employee at apple I am certain read the letter and said, wow, what a great idea and submitted it from him or herself.
I needed it done so it was the most expedient way to get it done. I have written them since on this blog with ideas because let’s face it, they hire the brightest and best and don’t need you or I telling them anything….. Did I mention that I actually met Steve Jobs years ago when I was working on NEXT computers, I wonder if he was British at heart?
Now, let’s revisit the BIRD and let’s say, I wanted to protect the idea.
You go downtown wherever and find a patent attorney, have them sign a non-disclosure so you can talk with him or her and then basically tell them what you are up to.
They either listen intently or they pretend to listen waiting to see if you can fork over a check to retain them. Back when I first checked on this for an idea I had for a security device for all of the world’s airports and government buildings, this is the way it went down.
“I will need a check for $10,000 to start the process.” For any country that you want it protected in other than the US; that is another $3,000. For arguments sake that is 196 countries. So for another $588,000 we stand a pretty good chance of protecting your idea but, we have to catch them stealing your idea and then we have to take them to court and with luck before they saturate the place with a knock off of your idea, maybe we can get the courts to get an injunction and stop them from creating any more widgets (in that country) while they drag it through the courts for years all the while selling the widgets that they have already created or are having created in other countries that you have not caught them doing so yet. You might be able to do your own patent search these days but I would suspect that the attorney will have to do it officially via some flunky intern and charge you as if they personally did it.
Now, maybe you have some appreciation why I have been known to give ideas away, just to get the damned thing out there as the world needs it. I have actually tweeted ideas to the whole Effing world just to get the thing done!
Much like the artist that creates a masterpiece does not get the accolades or the dollars that it is worth, I think the same is true of the inventors. Someone somewhere at some time in the future may benefit from it, but not you, so the question that has to be asked, why?
Farnsworth was screwed by RCA on the Television / video camera and while he had an ok life, RCA got the patent and profited through licensing such inventions. Tesla was a genius but had no business acumen; he too was screwed by the greedy bastards of the world including Edison, and died poor and somewhat nuts!
Farnsworth the guy who invented TV This out of the box thinker is a personal hero of mine…I hesitate to even mention the vultures that want you to buy their easy patent guide. The simple facts are that a lot of inventions go nowhere. Some might end up on those late night commercials with “but wait” as the tag line but, some people just need to be told the truth. The folks that will take your money to “help you” are in business to “take your money.” Much like the companies that are in business for those that want to write a book. No publisher will touch them “because they suck, or are too much of a risk, or an unknown,” so people spend thousands to self-publish! Some actually promote their books through enough different outlets to break even; but not really. They have failed to include their time and efforts into selling the 500 copies that they had to buy in the first place. The simple facts are inventors, artist and authors are seldom objective when it comes to their project. Much like a mother with the ugliest hair covered baby you ever saw.. She will think how great the baby looks, and the husband and family will cringe and say oh yes, that is the best looking one around. (PS one of the few times it is OK to lie, not only OK but advised! another is “does this dress make me look fat!? Oh Hell No! )
Am I telling you all this to quash your dreams? Hell no! I am telling you this to give you the reader, a dose of reality,the naked truth!
Guess what, this is at no charge!
If you truly want to write there are some great books at Barns and Nobles that walk you through the process. Bottom line, start with short stories and submit them to magazines. After you get paid your $500 per story, and get published a dozen times or so; on your cover page of your manuscript you simply say published in …….
If you get that far by all means purchase the book and follow all of the guidelines including how the manuscript should look. Different publishers have different ideas of how the manuscript should look and how it should be submitted so do your research and edit edit edit…..
Does that guarantee you will get published, shit no. What it does; if the person who opens your manuscript sees “published in and the format looks acceptable…. they might read more than the cover page. Much like writing a good resume or CV, you got about 15 seconds to grab their attention and that includes the time it takes to get it out of the envelope!
When we go to a play we see people dressed in character for the part. Imagine watching a Shakespearian play where folks were dressed in everyday clothes, would you still get the same enjoyment out of the play.
How about a movie or even a sitcom where folks were not dressed for the time, or period. How about a zombie movie but there were no special effects and there was no way to tell the living from the dead.
What about a sporting event, instead of uniforms everyone just wore their “street clothes?”
When we are looking for a particular vocation during the interview process we should dress the part. If I am looking to hire a business professional what should I expect of candidates as they walk through my door?
What about if I am looking for construction workers?
Simply put, when one is interviewing for a job one should look like a seasoned “whatever the occupation is” person.
When we perform these task, one should adopt the established dress of the other workers and I always went just a little bit better. Why? Not so much to look better for others but, it will make you feel a little better.
If you are job seeking; what do you think that should look like?
Without wasting time telling you what you most likely do, let me cut to the chase.
Job seekers should get up at the time they would normally get up for work and, they should shower, shave or what have you and dress as if they were going into the office.
TV and all of the other distraction and entrapments of “home life” should be marginalized as much as possible as you are now at work. Your job while looking for work is “looking for work!”
From there they should start the process of seeking employment which means research, making calls, working on your resume and cover letter and setting appointments. Each and every day should consist of the same machinations until you have secured employment. Starting your day like you were working is key to getting hired. That includes dressing the part.
Once hired it is imperative that whatever your occupation is that, you dress the part.
I know some preachers who wear denim pants to preach in. I know some others who are overweight, sloppily dressed and it would appear that an iron has never touched their shirt.
Then there is this!
Pastor Wayne Chaney
I don’t care how much of a theological genius you are, if you look like a slob, that carries into your life and could lead others to think that you take your job as seriously as your dress, not very…
There are some great commentators of the faith, which appear to be slobs. They are very much obese and again appear a little hedonistic. To me and I am sure others, I question their sincerity, accuracy with the facts that they espouse as they are less than credible in appearance.
Gene Scott who was theologically “spot on” appeared on TV as, well, less than authoritative and more like a huckster. Unshaven in wrinkled clothes, often wearing an old hat smoking a cigar he would request donations of nothing less than $5K. He was so out there that people watched him and yes, people donated to him even though he showed them how he had prized Arabian horses etc. I wonder what would have happened if he had dressed the part and been more conventional. My guess is that he would not have been near as successful as this is a case where breaking the rules worked, much like the bearded lady at the circus.
Dress the Part!
I don’t want to beat this to death but it is a proven fact that students perform better in schools which have uniforms.
Shawnigan Lake, BC- Spet 13/08- – UNIFORMS – Shawnigan Lake School students, from left, Owen Samuel, 16 years old, Katherine Lin, 17 years, David Basche, 18 years and Maddie McLeod, 17 years, all grade 12 students at the Vancouver Island private school, chat after lunch on the campus. For Private School Supplement on uniforms. Photograph by Diana Nethercott
There may be some high-tech companies where people are a *“little off” anyway, that can dress in the pajamas and still get things done but, as a rule for the 9 to 5 crowd, if you want to get the most of your employees no less than corporate casual should be the rule with the exception possibly on Friday.
*Programmers are a different breed. The clock has little to no meaning to them and they would work until they had to pee or eat. Many of them who have worked for me in the past came in late and may see the sunrise but, it would not be because they got up early.
Rules were made to be broken and with programmers and some high-tech people who march to their own drummer; dress, regimentation and “life” is nothing more than a suggestion. Creative types tend to fall into this category such as artist or musicians. You can try and reign them in but managing these types are a little like herding cats. Google and other high-tech companies have figured this out and are pioneers in the field of flexibility.
For the people who are more mechanical in nature dressing the part is salient advice and worth adhering to.
As I re-read this before posting I should note that “mechanical in nature” is about 90% of the population and not a bad thing, it is simply a thing.
By the title you can guess where I am going with this post.
I am a big boy and smart enough to know when a deal is too good to be true… Having said that some folks are just over the top dishonest.
I collect and with some luck restore, vintage electronics. I don’t do it for money; I do it because it gives me pleasure. I enjoy repairing something that someone else could not for one reason or another and… Sometimes I simply enjoy the challenge.
This is NOT the lot that I am writing about…
Small transistor radios from the 50’s and 60’s are a specialty of mine in that when I was a kid I thought that it was magic. How someone in one place could have their voice come out over a speaker in a small battery powered device well, was magic.
Thinking back on those days I wonder what I would have thought about smart phones?!
Selling and buying on eBay has its challenges and I think its opportunities for people to be a little better. With the feedback scenario it somewhat forces us to play nice; and that is a good thing.
While we should not need such a thing to play nice, that is simply the way of man. I wish it were different.
I often will purchase a “lot” of radio’s or a lot of some electronic thing that maybe I am looking for one or more of a certain kind in the lot and then sell the rest or repair them and sell them or what have you.
One such purchase was a purchase of a handful of RCA Radio’s from the 60’s.
When they arrived I opened the box and noticed straight away that they all rattled which meant that they had been taken apart. “That was not noted in the description.”
Upon taking the backs off not only had they been taken apart but they had obviously been in some sort of flood situation as they were covered on the inside with mud. “Also not noted.”
To further the “insult” some of them had parts missing from them, also not noted.
I paid a fair price for these as if they were simply “not tested.”
When someone says something like, “I don’t know how to test this.” Translated, “I did everything that I know how to do and this thing does not work!” I get that and I understand that people do this but… to sell something that has been taken apart, things removed from and oh by the way, had been under water! Folks, that is wrong on so many levels. This type of activity gives eBay itself a black eye and I think messes with the whole concept of eBay in that it is a self-policing community.
This blog is about one of those radios and how I managed to bring it back to life in-spite of the fact that it was pretty much ready for the re-cycle bin.
Taking the back off of the radio it pretty much just came apart looking as you see it.
The mud and rust are all one needs to conclude that this was under water and most probably in a flood situation as this is also the way the rest of them appeared.
Normally when water gets on electronics there is an acidic effect that actually eats the traces and I did not see that here.
Removing the circuit board and cleaning both controls with contact cleaner as well as washing the board I could then dry it and apply power to see what needed to be replaced if anything.
One small capacitor by the volume control was the only part that needed replacing. The rest was simply cleaning the mud out of the controls and doing a simple alignment.
Miraculously, the speaker just needed the dust blown out of it and while it is certainly not perfect it plays about as loud and with the fidelity that a radio of this age will have.
Here is the radio after cleaning and repairing with a new battery shield installed.
Radio after repair and cleaning.
People ask me when I am looking, what am I looking for in old electronics….
First and foremost, the case must be in tact.
The more damaged the case, the less of a collectible it is. The problem with transistor radio’s is that they are portable! Portable means that they get dropped, knocked about etc.
One of the radio’s I purchased was a Walkie talkie which I paid top dollar for. When I got it I found that it too had been under water but the board was green with corrosion and since it was surface mount technology with corrosion it was trash.
Folks, I will ding you if you knowingly sell crap. I have not had too many that I have dinged but, I expect some modicum of honesty. I sell as well as I am overly honest about what I sell as I would rather not get top dollar and have a satisfied customer than someone like me who feels the need to blog about it!
If it has been under water, tell the folks, it has been under water or under the chicken coop or what have you. the simple truth is that not everything that you own is worth anything on eBay or Craig’s list or the local junk shop. Somethings just need to be thrown away!
Had the fellow with the handful of radio’s been honest about them I might still have bid on them as the cases looked ok but at least I would have known that I was buying plastic cases that had been under water and, had parts missing!
Many people will not take returns on electronics and do you know why? People will buy them, take whatever parts off of them they were looking for and then return them as not working! So, they have screwed it up for everyone as I will certainly not take returns on electronics!
This is where it works really well if you take the time to “ding” a dishonest seller or buyer. If they do not make it right, than you know what to do.
If you have some old electronics that you would like to sell, drop me a line. I have purchased radios from all over the globe and while I am not trying for a number that would have me move out of the house to store them, I am interested in finding some that I don’t currently have. It does not have to work, it just needs to look good and have all of the parts.
How much do we notice as we go through a day?????
Lisa Beamer on Good Morning America – If you remember, she’s the wife of Todd Beamer who said ‘Let’s Roll!’ and helped take down the plane over Pennsylvania that was heading for Washington, DC back on 9/11.
She said it’s the little things that she misses most about Todd, such as hearing the garage door open as he came home, and her children running to meet him.
Lisa recalled this story: “I had a very special teacher in high school many years ago whose husband died suddenly of a heart attack. About a week after his death, she shared some of her insight with a classroom of students. As the late afternoon sunlight came streaming in through the classroom windows and the class was nearly over, she moved a few things on the edge of her desk and sat down there.
With a gentle look of reflection on her face, she paused and said, ‘Class is over, I would like to share with all of you, a thought that is unrelated to class, but which I feel is very important. Each of us is put here on earth to learn, share, love, appreciate and give of ourselves. None of us knows when this fantastic experience will end.
It can be taken away at any moment.
Perhaps this is God’s way of telling us that we must make the most out of every single day. Her eyes, beginning to water, she went on, ‘So I would like you all to make me a promise. From now on, on your way to school, or on your way home, find something beautiful to notice.
It doesn’t have to be something you see, it could be a scent, perhaps of freshly baked bread wafting out of someone’s house, or it could be the sound of the breeze slightly rustling the leaves in the trees, or the way the morning light catches one autumn leaf as it falls gently to the ground. Please look for these things, and cherish them. For, although it may sound trite to some, these things are the “stuff” of life. The little things we are put here on earth to enjoy. The things we often take for granted.
The class was completely quiet. We all picked up our books and filed out of the room silently. That afternoon, I noticed more things on my way home from school than I had that whole semester. Every once in a while, I think of that teacher and remember what an impression she made on all of us, and I try to appreciate all of those things that sometimes we all overlook.
Take notice of something special you see on your lunch hour today. Go barefoot. Or walk on the beach at sunset.
Beautiful beach and waves of Caribbean Sea
Stop off on the way home tonight to get a double dip ice cream cone. For as we get older, it is not the things we did that we often regret, but the things we didn’t do.
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.”
GOD Bless you every day of your life. The nicest place to be is in someone’s thoughts, The safest place to be is in someone’s prayers, and the very best place to be is.. . In the hands of God. HAVE A GREAT DAY!
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