An idea that came across my desk that is possible to a point.
It is no secret that I am having a rough time in finding work. A real rough time.
The idea was to start a business in the Keys. That would be an undertaking. OK, let's discuss.
First and this holds true for anyplace where you would want to start up your own business. There are some major facts that cannot be ignored.
One is that you need a product or service that people would want. Since I am a network engineer and computer support specialist I think that I have a marketable commodity already.
Next, what is the competition like? If the area is heavily populated and there are one or two other computer service places, then there might be an opportunity. But with remote administration you really do not need to be in the area which means I can setup shop now from Long Island. You can work on a person's hundreds of mile away. And a lot of that is going on now. If the area is sparsely populated there would be little call for local computer service and the volume of service calls would be limited. There would be next to no competition there for that reason. But in any case research needs to be conducted.
Computers are becoming a disposable commodity. Today you can buy a PC for about $500 and if it dies, no big deal. Don't fix it, toss it and buy another machine that has more power for the same price. So this brings about another question, how many people actually have their computers repaired? But in a business environment they like to keep their systems as long as possible, generally 3 years.
Of course in a business environment with several users, there could very well be a server or several servers on site that need attention and those are not replaced as often. Figure 5 to 8 years could be considered the life span of a server. So there is potential there.
Setting up shop is another big concern. Should I operate out of the house / apartment or rent a store front?
With a store front would give visibility and help drive in business. Besides rent there would be a concern that extra utilities need to be paid, insurance, the fear of break in and theft, the possibility of hiring help which of course would have to come after being established. And where the location of the store front is a major factor. It is always best in a high traffic zone, but looking at the few webcams in Key West it looks like Duval Street has the highest traffic but that is mostly tourists. I doubt that a tourist would have need of computer support services unless they want to buy a PC.
Working out of the home saves the headaches of the overhead that a store front brings. But would zoning laws permit a home based business? And without traffic getting customers / clients is another issue. No clients = no money = no business.
Another downfall is how people would react to a home operation? Most could feel that it is a fly by night type of operation where a store front has the air of legitimacy. Granted a store front business can be a slime ball but to the customer's eyes they feel more comfortable with a store front.
Next thing is should I run it as a sole proprietor or as a corporation? In this sue happy society having a corporation would give my personal assets some level of protection from being sued. But here research again needs to be done to see what the exact laws in Florida are on this.
From what I have seen there would be no need for any special state licenses to run a computer business there. That is one less headache.
Taxes and filings are a big issue no matter which way I go. Should I hire a CPA or not? In NY you really do not need one and can do everything yourself. You just have to be careful in how the forms are filled out and make sure that the sate get's their cut. Even with a CPA, you are liable for everything so a CPA might not be needed. Again Florida might have a regulation on that.
Now the biggest thing to deal with and that brings us back to the equation, No Customers = No Money = No Business. How to get the clients? Word of mouth is the best way to get business. Advertising brings about only 10% of the revenue. So building a client base will take time. Can I afford that time especially since I would be a stranger to the Keys and no one knows me. Building trust is a primary key there in the Keys. That would be a hard nut to crack.
Now let's mix it up a bit, what if the computer industry would not fit in? I was told that the main source of income there is hospitality. Hotels, restaurants, bars, etc. Should I go in that direction or what?
Of course working capital is a must have. Obviously I will need to tap my savings but I might even have to go to a bank for a business loan. Not only would I need capital for the start up costs but money to live on until the business takes off. How long would that be is anyone's guess.
A lot to think about.
'till next time
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Big Brother
To those that know me personally will tell you that in some aspects I subscribe to the belief the Big Brother is watching you. Where it cannot be proven 100% and I certainly cannot prove any of it there is enough evidence that can give food for thought. I am going to look at some of these theories as best as I can in this medium and I ask that you sit back and digest it. From there you may come up with the same answers that I have.
First let me start off with theses seeds: in 1949 Eric Blair or what he is best know as 'George Orwell' wrote the story entitled "1984." This is a dystopian society that is watched by Big Brother...AKA the government. In later years Isaac Asimov introduced "Multivac" a monster of a government owned and operated computer that is underground which we really do not know of the true purpose. In 1967 Patrick McGoohan is a prisoner of the government and his name is stripped away and is given a number. In 1971 the move THX 1138 is about how a society tightly controlled and your every movement watched completely by the government.
How far fetched are these? In no particular order, I am going to poke at some of these.
Driving along the Long Island Expressway and the parkways, there are video cameras mounted high up on poles. What you are led to believe is that the traffic can be monitored for backups so motorists can be alerted by electronic bill boards. What I heard recently is that although you can see the images yourself on place like TrafficLand.com, and they are not that clear, Big Brother purposely degrades the images for public viewing. For Big Brother's use, they can see and make out in perfect detail of the driver and front passenger. This is for anti-terrorism.
Think that is impossible?
I attended an astronomy show a few years back and one of the speakers was the president of a major eyepiece manufacturer. Prior to making eyepieces for telescopes he made optics for spy satellites. He told us that these lenses are so powerful and fine, they can read the writing on a pack of cigarettes for over 100 miles up.
Using Google Earth I was looking at Las Vegas Nevada. I saw the hotels and all of the pools there. Using Google Earth I was able to easily tell that there were women patrons poolside. You were able to make out the shape of breasts. This is Google Earth, not StreetView. These images have been heavily degraded for public use. Imagine if they were not? If I remember I read that Google does degrade the images. So just imagine the quality of the non-degraded images. Big Brother can see what you are cooking on the BBQ.
I went back to see if I could include a screen shot here, but Google has since degraded those images. But with the recent news announcement on their high end quality gives me reason to be concerned.
Don't you think that these same optics are not used in the cameras watching the highways? Still don't believe me? Ask someone that was snagged by a red light camera. You can make out the details of the license plate in perfect detail right down to the small font they use for the state.
So it is very possible that these highway cameras can see who is driving and the front passenger.
That might be fine and dandy if Big Brother can track you. But can they?
Since the 1990's cell phone manufactures have been installing a GSM chip in every phone. This allows GPS satellites the ability to track your every movement. And now with smart phones like the iPhone, Android this technology allows the phone to be tracked down to within 30 feet of it's actual location.
We did an experiment here in the house. One of my sons took walk with his Android phone around the neighborhood. We were able to log onto a website and were able to follow his every movement in the area. We did this same experiment with an iPhone using iCloud and the results were amazing. Mind you this is the civilian level of tracking. I can only guess the how accurate the tracking that Big Brother can utilize on the smart phones.
And phones are not the only way Big Brother can track your movements. A lot of people use the EZ-Pass or something similar while traveling toll roads. These allow motorists the ability of going through tolls without stopping. A radio receiver in the toll plaza picks up the information from the EZ-Pass and you are charged the toll fee on your credit card. Simple.
But Big Brother can track your movements as well and tell what toll roads you have traveled. And here is another thing, remember the spy satellites in orbit? Who says these cannot be tuned to pick up the information from the EZ-Pass? Big Brother can now follow you even if you are not using toll roads from several hundred miles up.
Here is something else that you might not realize about the EZ-Pass. If you are like me and I admit to go slightly above the speed limit on the open highways (65 on a 55 but not any higher) you can get a speeding ticket without ever being pulled over. How?
You go through a particular exit on the start of your trip. This is recorded by the computers capturing the data from the EZ-Pass. Your exit is say 65 miles away and the speed limit is 55MPH. It should take you 70.9 minutes to go from exit to exit if you follow the speed limit. If you take only 50 minutes to travel that distance, you can wind up getting a speeding ticket in the mail for going 23MPH over the limit.
The math is simple, the formula is 60 times the distance over speed times time (60D / ST). 60x65=3900 / 50 = 78.
This is one of the reasons I don't use EZ-Pass myself. If I do get the chance to go to the Keys I will need to get their Sun Pass while I am there in any case.
GM installed the On-Star system into luxury cars a few years back. Now as I understand it is available on more cars and someone told me that it can be added to just about any car. In a way the On-Star system can be useful but they use GPS technology and with that can track you very movements.
As an example, you want to find out how to get to Sloppy Joe's on Duval Street from the I-Hop in Manhasset. You hit the button an operator answers and you ask in plain English how to get to Sloppy's from where you are. An operator looks up your location and directs you to there. This same thing happens in reverse should you get into an accident. The air bags are deployed, the On-Star system notifies the police where you are and aid arrives. So far not bad but don't you think that they can't track you without any involvement on your part? And since you can speak to an operator with it couldn't Big Brother use that to listen into the conversations inside the car? I am not saying that is happening but you never know.
And who has not heard about Lo-Jack? With it in your car should you car get stolen the police can zero in on where your cars is and apprehend the culprit. And this can happen without you hitting any buttons or switches. The police take care of that for you. Nice.
But what if Big Brother still wants to follow you? All they have to do is activate your Lo-Jack and track you every movement without you ever knowing about it.
Take a look at any bill you have in your pocket from $5 on up. Hold it o the light and you will see black line running through it. This is a thin strip of plastic with metallic ink on it. If you are careful you can actually remove the strip from the bill. When you examine the strip it will have the denomination of the bill printed on it. According to the government this is one of the ant-forgery techniques that they use on a bill. With the way that color laser printers have evolved you have to agree with the government in taking whatever steps are needed to stop forgery.
But what I heard, and this is rumor but gives some fuel for thought is that in reality these strips are actually a form of tracking device. When you leave the country by plane you have to go thought the detectors. There is a sensor in them that will read the strips in the bills to determine how much cash you are taking out of the country. No one cares if you board a plane with a few thousand in cash, but say 20 to 100 thousand? That would wake up the authorities in no time.
Now I have a problem with that. A stack of hundreds totaling $20K is substantial in bulk. I would think that the mass alone would show up on x-ray and alert the authorities for a closer inspection. Plus what if you take a ship? I have not heard of the same screening process being done on people boarding a cruise line. And there even though it is a lot slower than air flight, would be easier to carry large sums of cash.
And you still have to get through customs and I am sure they do a very detailed search on both ends of the trip. But it is food for thought in any case.
And what about the TV? Harmless? Here is one for you that will give you the willies.
A friend of ours had cable TV installed into his home. The tech came, ran the cable into the front room, installed the box and everyone was happy. Our friend and his family like to watch TV while eating so he ran a cable from the box in the front room into the dinning room. Just to let you know anyone can do that very easily, the trick is to run it through the walls.
Anyway he setup a second TV in the dinning room and all was good. One day the reception was horrible on the TV in the front room so he called the cable provider telling them about the poor reception. After a few minutes the tech on the phone came back with the diagnosis. He said that there was a loose connection on the TV in the dinning room. Mind you the tech was never told about the second TV, how did he know? The cable box and cables were all gone within hours.
If cable knows what sets you have and where then what does Big Brother know?
Now I am not saying that this happening at all with the exception of the last and I was never there during the phone calls. So there really is no way to prove any of it. Especially with the crime that is out there. But with the changes in the political climate, advances in technology any thing is possible.
All I can say is I feel that Big Brother is watching.
'till next time.
First let me start off with theses seeds: in 1949 Eric Blair or what he is best know as 'George Orwell' wrote the story entitled "1984." This is a dystopian society that is watched by Big Brother...AKA the government. In later years Isaac Asimov introduced "Multivac" a monster of a government owned and operated computer that is underground which we really do not know of the true purpose. In 1967 Patrick McGoohan is a prisoner of the government and his name is stripped away and is given a number. In 1971 the move THX 1138 is about how a society tightly controlled and your every movement watched completely by the government.
How far fetched are these? In no particular order, I am going to poke at some of these.
Driving along the Long Island Expressway and the parkways, there are video cameras mounted high up on poles. What you are led to believe is that the traffic can be monitored for backups so motorists can be alerted by electronic bill boards. What I heard recently is that although you can see the images yourself on place like TrafficLand.com, and they are not that clear, Big Brother purposely degrades the images for public viewing. For Big Brother's use, they can see and make out in perfect detail of the driver and front passenger. This is for anti-terrorism.
Think that is impossible?
I attended an astronomy show a few years back and one of the speakers was the president of a major eyepiece manufacturer. Prior to making eyepieces for telescopes he made optics for spy satellites. He told us that these lenses are so powerful and fine, they can read the writing on a pack of cigarettes for over 100 miles up.
Using Google Earth I was looking at Las Vegas Nevada. I saw the hotels and all of the pools there. Using Google Earth I was able to easily tell that there were women patrons poolside. You were able to make out the shape of breasts. This is Google Earth, not StreetView. These images have been heavily degraded for public use. Imagine if they were not? If I remember I read that Google does degrade the images. So just imagine the quality of the non-degraded images. Big Brother can see what you are cooking on the BBQ.
I went back to see if I could include a screen shot here, but Google has since degraded those images. But with the recent news announcement on their high end quality gives me reason to be concerned.
Don't you think that these same optics are not used in the cameras watching the highways? Still don't believe me? Ask someone that was snagged by a red light camera. You can make out the details of the license plate in perfect detail right down to the small font they use for the state.
So it is very possible that these highway cameras can see who is driving and the front passenger.
That might be fine and dandy if Big Brother can track you. But can they?
Since the 1990's cell phone manufactures have been installing a GSM chip in every phone. This allows GPS satellites the ability to track your every movement. And now with smart phones like the iPhone, Android this technology allows the phone to be tracked down to within 30 feet of it's actual location.
We did an experiment here in the house. One of my sons took walk with his Android phone around the neighborhood. We were able to log onto a website and were able to follow his every movement in the area. We did this same experiment with an iPhone using iCloud and the results were amazing. Mind you this is the civilian level of tracking. I can only guess the how accurate the tracking that Big Brother can utilize on the smart phones.
And phones are not the only way Big Brother can track your movements. A lot of people use the EZ-Pass or something similar while traveling toll roads. These allow motorists the ability of going through tolls without stopping. A radio receiver in the toll plaza picks up the information from the EZ-Pass and you are charged the toll fee on your credit card. Simple.
 |
| How EZ-Pass works |
But Big Brother can track your movements as well and tell what toll roads you have traveled. And here is another thing, remember the spy satellites in orbit? Who says these cannot be tuned to pick up the information from the EZ-Pass? Big Brother can now follow you even if you are not using toll roads from several hundred miles up.
Here is something else that you might not realize about the EZ-Pass. If you are like me and I admit to go slightly above the speed limit on the open highways (65 on a 55 but not any higher) you can get a speeding ticket without ever being pulled over. How?
You go through a particular exit on the start of your trip. This is recorded by the computers capturing the data from the EZ-Pass. Your exit is say 65 miles away and the speed limit is 55MPH. It should take you 70.9 minutes to go from exit to exit if you follow the speed limit. If you take only 50 minutes to travel that distance, you can wind up getting a speeding ticket in the mail for going 23MPH over the limit.
The math is simple, the formula is 60 times the distance over speed times time (60D / ST). 60x65=3900 / 50 = 78.
This is one of the reasons I don't use EZ-Pass myself. If I do get the chance to go to the Keys I will need to get their Sun Pass while I am there in any case.
GM installed the On-Star system into luxury cars a few years back. Now as I understand it is available on more cars and someone told me that it can be added to just about any car. In a way the On-Star system can be useful but they use GPS technology and with that can track you very movements.
 |
| On-Star |
As an example, you want to find out how to get to Sloppy Joe's on Duval Street from the I-Hop in Manhasset. You hit the button an operator answers and you ask in plain English how to get to Sloppy's from where you are. An operator looks up your location and directs you to there. This same thing happens in reverse should you get into an accident. The air bags are deployed, the On-Star system notifies the police where you are and aid arrives. So far not bad but don't you think that they can't track you without any involvement on your part? And since you can speak to an operator with it couldn't Big Brother use that to listen into the conversations inside the car? I am not saying that is happening but you never know.
And who has not heard about Lo-Jack? With it in your car should you car get stolen the police can zero in on where your cars is and apprehend the culprit. And this can happen without you hitting any buttons or switches. The police take care of that for you. Nice.
 |
| A Lo-Jack transmitter |
But what if Big Brother still wants to follow you? All they have to do is activate your Lo-Jack and track you every movement without you ever knowing about it.
Take a look at any bill you have in your pocket from $5 on up. Hold it o the light and you will see black line running through it. This is a thin strip of plastic with metallic ink on it. If you are careful you can actually remove the strip from the bill. When you examine the strip it will have the denomination of the bill printed on it. According to the government this is one of the ant-forgery techniques that they use on a bill. With the way that color laser printers have evolved you have to agree with the government in taking whatever steps are needed to stop forgery.
 |
| Anti-forgery strip shows up under UV Light |
But what I heard, and this is rumor but gives some fuel for thought is that in reality these strips are actually a form of tracking device. When you leave the country by plane you have to go thought the detectors. There is a sensor in them that will read the strips in the bills to determine how much cash you are taking out of the country. No one cares if you board a plane with a few thousand in cash, but say 20 to 100 thousand? That would wake up the authorities in no time.
Now I have a problem with that. A stack of hundreds totaling $20K is substantial in bulk. I would think that the mass alone would show up on x-ray and alert the authorities for a closer inspection. Plus what if you take a ship? I have not heard of the same screening process being done on people boarding a cruise line. And there even though it is a lot slower than air flight, would be easier to carry large sums of cash.
And you still have to get through customs and I am sure they do a very detailed search on both ends of the trip. But it is food for thought in any case.
And what about the TV? Harmless? Here is one for you that will give you the willies.
A friend of ours had cable TV installed into his home. The tech came, ran the cable into the front room, installed the box and everyone was happy. Our friend and his family like to watch TV while eating so he ran a cable from the box in the front room into the dinning room. Just to let you know anyone can do that very easily, the trick is to run it through the walls.
Anyway he setup a second TV in the dinning room and all was good. One day the reception was horrible on the TV in the front room so he called the cable provider telling them about the poor reception. After a few minutes the tech on the phone came back with the diagnosis. He said that there was a loose connection on the TV in the dinning room. Mind you the tech was never told about the second TV, how did he know? The cable box and cables were all gone within hours.
If cable knows what sets you have and where then what does Big Brother know?
Now I am not saying that this happening at all with the exception of the last and I was never there during the phone calls. So there really is no way to prove any of it. Especially with the crime that is out there. But with the changes in the political climate, advances in technology any thing is possible.
All I can say is I feel that Big Brother is watching.
'till next time.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
I joined Facebook primarily to obtain a new opportunity. My job was cut short when my nasty boss replaced me with someone less than half my age. And she took great joy in terminating me.
It is no secret that I hate living in New York. The politics, rat race, high cost of living, the lack of jobs, snow, cold winters, and over crowding have all taken its toll on me. I yearn to live and work in the Keys and that is no secret either.
So I joined FB and started to connect to people in the Keys as virtual friends. It is with high hopes that one of them just may have the right connection that can open the door for me to get a new job there. Right now I have around 310 FB friends in the Keys and have communicated with a few directly.
I continued to reach out to people on FB that are in the Keys to connect with me. This way my network would grow as well as any possibility of landing a new job. But a few individuals that I reached out to, (I don't know who they are) made a complaint to FB saying that they do not know me.
FB has now suspended my ability to invite people to connect with me for 7 days and threatened to suspend or close my account if I continue to invite people to connect that I do not personally know.
WTF is with that? I bet that close to 99% of the people on FB do not know everyone that they are connected to personally. Come on FB give me a break!
The whole crux of FB, to build up a social relationship with others and have some fun doing it.
I look at it like this, if you do not want to accept my friend request, then don't. Don't go out on the limb and play FB police and make trouble for other people.
Another reason I joined FB is for fact finding and to learn more about the Keys and life there. Is it a place to target for a new job and life or not? Of course FB cannot provide me with all the information that I need but it is giving me some insights in how the area is.
A side reason is for the social aspect that FB brings about. And I do have the contacts as friends and I honestly hope to meet some of them some day in person. Hopefully if I get a job and can move there.
So using FB is critical to my future.
I am also on LinkedIn and have reached out to various people there as well. Again since I was terminated I need a job. By asking people to connect with me there has the same effect only on a more professional level. A lot of the people on LinkedIn are the decision makers of business and trying to connect to them can be helpful in obtaining employment.
I have requested not only executives from various companies like Real Estate to connect with me, but recruiters across the country as well. Not only that I am connecting to people from Florida and the Keys as well. Strange as it is there are a few on LinkedIn that connected with me that are on my FB list as well.
This way my search network expands a lot and increases my chances of landing a new job. So far nothing has happened in 3 months but I am hopeful.
Now LinkedIn pulled a FB on me and is not allowing me to reach out and connect with people at all. They put restrictions on my account making it difficult to next to impossible to connect with people. And this part all boils down to they want me to upgrade my account which means they want money. It is difficult now looking for work but don't add road blocks and restrictions in the way.
I changed the header on my FB page asking if anyone that is connected to me on FB wants to connect with me on LinkedIn, to send me a message so we can move froward on the connection. The restriction that LinkedIn put on me, is that I need to know their email address to prove that I know them personally.
Side trip - wait one minute, looking at the LinkedIn connections some people have over 500. Are you telling me that they know all 500+ people personally? I don't think so.
Hey LinkedIn, give me a break will ya! You to FB!
The company is paying my COBRA until December 31st as part of my severance. With the way that the job hunt has been going I do not foresee a job very soon unless my networking contacts and poke the right person in my direction. To make matters worse, it looks like my wife is having a kidney failure which ultimately may mean dialysis. And that will squash any chance of visiting the Keys or travel. Plus with the costs involved, we will have to declare bankruptcy, go on public assistance and lose any chance of a future without medical coverage. But we have only an early blood test and the Dr. wants to repeat it next week just in case of a transient spike. So my fingers are crossed.
More on Medicaid in New York in a later entry.
So right now using FB and LinkedIn as part of my job search tools has become more critical than ever before and I do not need the BS of having needless restrictions placed on me or the threats of closing my account from someone that wants to play FB police.
'till next time
It is no secret that I hate living in New York. The politics, rat race, high cost of living, the lack of jobs, snow, cold winters, and over crowding have all taken its toll on me. I yearn to live and work in the Keys and that is no secret either.
So I joined FB and started to connect to people in the Keys as virtual friends. It is with high hopes that one of them just may have the right connection that can open the door for me to get a new job there. Right now I have around 310 FB friends in the Keys and have communicated with a few directly.
I continued to reach out to people on FB that are in the Keys to connect with me. This way my network would grow as well as any possibility of landing a new job. But a few individuals that I reached out to, (I don't know who they are) made a complaint to FB saying that they do not know me.
FB has now suspended my ability to invite people to connect with me for 7 days and threatened to suspend or close my account if I continue to invite people to connect that I do not personally know.
WTF is with that? I bet that close to 99% of the people on FB do not know everyone that they are connected to personally. Come on FB give me a break!
The whole crux of FB, to build up a social relationship with others and have some fun doing it.
I look at it like this, if you do not want to accept my friend request, then don't. Don't go out on the limb and play FB police and make trouble for other people.
Another reason I joined FB is for fact finding and to learn more about the Keys and life there. Is it a place to target for a new job and life or not? Of course FB cannot provide me with all the information that I need but it is giving me some insights in how the area is.
A side reason is for the social aspect that FB brings about. And I do have the contacts as friends and I honestly hope to meet some of them some day in person. Hopefully if I get a job and can move there.
So using FB is critical to my future.
I am also on LinkedIn and have reached out to various people there as well. Again since I was terminated I need a job. By asking people to connect with me there has the same effect only on a more professional level. A lot of the people on LinkedIn are the decision makers of business and trying to connect to them can be helpful in obtaining employment.
I have requested not only executives from various companies like Real Estate to connect with me, but recruiters across the country as well. Not only that I am connecting to people from Florida and the Keys as well. Strange as it is there are a few on LinkedIn that connected with me that are on my FB list as well.
This way my search network expands a lot and increases my chances of landing a new job. So far nothing has happened in 3 months but I am hopeful.
Now LinkedIn pulled a FB on me and is not allowing me to reach out and connect with people at all. They put restrictions on my account making it difficult to next to impossible to connect with people. And this part all boils down to they want me to upgrade my account which means they want money. It is difficult now looking for work but don't add road blocks and restrictions in the way.
I changed the header on my FB page asking if anyone that is connected to me on FB wants to connect with me on LinkedIn, to send me a message so we can move froward on the connection. The restriction that LinkedIn put on me, is that I need to know their email address to prove that I know them personally.
Side trip - wait one minute, looking at the LinkedIn connections some people have over 500. Are you telling me that they know all 500+ people personally? I don't think so.
Hey LinkedIn, give me a break will ya! You to FB!
The company is paying my COBRA until December 31st as part of my severance. With the way that the job hunt has been going I do not foresee a job very soon unless my networking contacts and poke the right person in my direction. To make matters worse, it looks like my wife is having a kidney failure which ultimately may mean dialysis. And that will squash any chance of visiting the Keys or travel. Plus with the costs involved, we will have to declare bankruptcy, go on public assistance and lose any chance of a future without medical coverage. But we have only an early blood test and the Dr. wants to repeat it next week just in case of a transient spike. So my fingers are crossed.
More on Medicaid in New York in a later entry.
So right now using FB and LinkedIn as part of my job search tools has become more critical than ever before and I do not need the BS of having needless restrictions placed on me or the threats of closing my account from someone that wants to play FB police.
'till next time
Saturday, June 9, 2012
We all hear the same ads and warnings, "don't drink and drive.". That is pounded into us a lot and rightfully so. Driving under the influence is not only stupid, but down right dangerous. OK enough of the lecture.
What really gets under my skin is that so many people simply ignore the warnings and go driving while being impaired. Is it because they are stupid or have some sort of superiority complex manifested by or enhanced by mind numbing substances?
I would take a gander at both.
Thursday night this guy who was well under the influence hit a car about a mile away and took off. He then hit two more parked cars on my street with one right in front of my house, wrecked the front end of his car and flattened his tires. The impact when he hit his third car shook the house where we thought something exploded. Looking out the window we saw the jerk took off, going down a side street and nearly ran someone over. Mind you he just gave himself flats and the air was filled with tire smoke as he was speeding off.
The police were called but they took a good 15 minutes to come to the scene. By then the jerk could be anywhere.
One of the residents who saw the accident got into his car and went to look for the jerk knowing full well that the police will not be here very fast. Besides since he saw the whole thing he was int eh best position to spot the car. He would was acting as a first responder if you will.
About 10 minutes later the resident spotted the jerk parked in front of some cars a few blocks away and had a shit eating grin plastered on his face. The resident called the police and was able to direct the cars to the location. While on the phone the jerk started off again but could not move very fast due to the flats. The resident kept an eye on the jerk and led the police right to him. Needless to say the jerk was arrested and only a few feet from where he hit his second car.
Now he woke up in the Nassau County lockup not only with a major hangover, but at least 3 charges of hit and run, leaving the scene, possibly a charge of nearly hitting a pedestrian, and let us not forget DUI. And if this jerk had drugs on him, those charges as well. Not only that, the law suits to follow from the car owners, a major increase in his insurance, if he had it in the first place and to make matters worse this is reportable to his credit as well and really send his credit score to the basement for a very long time. At the end of the day this jerk is one hurting a-hole.
There are lessons to be learned here. One is the obvious, do not operate a motor vehicle under the influence for it will cost you a fortune in the end. And the second lesson is that involved citizens helped the police by locating the jerk and reporting his location so they can make an arrest. The second lesson is rare for this area where most people would rather turn their backs and let the police handle matters. If it was not for the eyes and quick thinking of the resident by contacting the police by cell phone while keeping a safe distance, the jerk could have gotten away.
My advise, if you so happen to see a crime get involved to help the police. DO NOT approach the suspect under any circumstances but keep a safe distance away and act as an extra set of eyes for the police and report the suspects location so the police who have the training and equipment can do the approach. For all you know the suspect is armed.
'till next time
What really gets under my skin is that so many people simply ignore the warnings and go driving while being impaired. Is it because they are stupid or have some sort of superiority complex manifested by or enhanced by mind numbing substances?
I would take a gander at both.
Thursday night this guy who was well under the influence hit a car about a mile away and took off. He then hit two more parked cars on my street with one right in front of my house, wrecked the front end of his car and flattened his tires. The impact when he hit his third car shook the house where we thought something exploded. Looking out the window we saw the jerk took off, going down a side street and nearly ran someone over. Mind you he just gave himself flats and the air was filled with tire smoke as he was speeding off.
The police were called but they took a good 15 minutes to come to the scene. By then the jerk could be anywhere.
One of the residents who saw the accident got into his car and went to look for the jerk knowing full well that the police will not be here very fast. Besides since he saw the whole thing he was int eh best position to spot the car. He would was acting as a first responder if you will.
About 10 minutes later the resident spotted the jerk parked in front of some cars a few blocks away and had a shit eating grin plastered on his face. The resident called the police and was able to direct the cars to the location. While on the phone the jerk started off again but could not move very fast due to the flats. The resident kept an eye on the jerk and led the police right to him. Needless to say the jerk was arrested and only a few feet from where he hit his second car.
Now he woke up in the Nassau County lockup not only with a major hangover, but at least 3 charges of hit and run, leaving the scene, possibly a charge of nearly hitting a pedestrian, and let us not forget DUI. And if this jerk had drugs on him, those charges as well. Not only that, the law suits to follow from the car owners, a major increase in his insurance, if he had it in the first place and to make matters worse this is reportable to his credit as well and really send his credit score to the basement for a very long time. At the end of the day this jerk is one hurting a-hole.
There are lessons to be learned here. One is the obvious, do not operate a motor vehicle under the influence for it will cost you a fortune in the end. And the second lesson is that involved citizens helped the police by locating the jerk and reporting his location so they can make an arrest. The second lesson is rare for this area where most people would rather turn their backs and let the police handle matters. If it was not for the eyes and quick thinking of the resident by contacting the police by cell phone while keeping a safe distance, the jerk could have gotten away.
My advise, if you so happen to see a crime get involved to help the police. DO NOT approach the suspect under any circumstances but keep a safe distance away and act as an extra set of eyes for the police and report the suspects location so the police who have the training and equipment can do the approach. For all you know the suspect is armed.
'till next time
Thursday, June 7, 2012
As I've posted before, I am on LinkedIn the professionals networking site. If you are not familiar with LinkedIn, this is like FaceBook only professionals can use it to build their business through networking and other can obtain jobs also through networking. Not a bad idea.
I'm on it for the job search aspect.
With this I look at the home page and there is a box indicating people that I might know. I click on it and it produces a list of various people. Unfortunately the list is very limited. I have no idea how the algorithm has been set up to pull these profiles. It would be nice if it could be customized by the user.
From here I have been selecting various individuals not only from the real estate arena, but those my former company was in a business relationship with, recruiters and of course people from where I want to live, the Keys. Granted 99% of these people I don't know personally. I feel that is how all of the profiles on LinkedIn are especially those with 500+ connections.
Obviously I am not targeting other CTO's or CIO's for they might feel that I am after their jobs. But if one reaches out to me to connect, I'd accept it.
Once I have the connection established I have been reaching out to the people one at a time with a letter thanking them to connect with me and why I asked them to connect. And that is if they knew or so happen to run into or hear about a company that can use my skill set, to pass my name along. With the recruiters I am using the same basic letter and am including a resume as well. And with the recruiters I am not only targeting them in my local area, but nationwide as far as LinkedIn will allow.
Now why nationwide? You never know if a recruiter say in Phoenix might have a NY client or one in the Keys. Years ago before the internet was so wide spread recruiters would work on local accounts mostly. But now with the way that the technology has grown including things like Skype I would not be surprised if a recruiter across the country has clients on the other side of the U.S.
As you know I am no fan of recruiters but you never know if one does come through.
A few of the things I do not like about LinkedIn, is that if you want to contact someone and you do not have their email address, you can use their in-mail. You get 5 free ones with the basic account. After that you have to pay for premium service and that too has limitations. You also get so many introductions also before you have to pay. So reaching out to people through there is difficult.
If I want to contact someone who is not in my network, they put some severe restrictions like you need to know their correct email address OR pay for premium service. Now what if the person was the hiring manager of a company you want to get into? LinkedIn makes it very difficult to make that happen.
I am hoping that my job lead will come though the contacts that are not recruiters. You know, tap into the hidden job market. One person, a TV news anchor said she would pass my resume along. And I think she did.
Now if you are one of my FaceBook friends in the Keys (I have about 310 at this time) and would like to connect to me through LinkedIn please message my through FaceBook and we can move forward. You never know if you hear of a potential opportunity that might be up my alley. Mind you, you are not acting as a reference, just someone that is pointing me to a company or a company to me.
'till next time.
I'm on it for the job search aspect.
With this I look at the home page and there is a box indicating people that I might know. I click on it and it produces a list of various people. Unfortunately the list is very limited. I have no idea how the algorithm has been set up to pull these profiles. It would be nice if it could be customized by the user.
From here I have been selecting various individuals not only from the real estate arena, but those my former company was in a business relationship with, recruiters and of course people from where I want to live, the Keys. Granted 99% of these people I don't know personally. I feel that is how all of the profiles on LinkedIn are especially those with 500+ connections.
Obviously I am not targeting other CTO's or CIO's for they might feel that I am after their jobs. But if one reaches out to me to connect, I'd accept it.
Once I have the connection established I have been reaching out to the people one at a time with a letter thanking them to connect with me and why I asked them to connect. And that is if they knew or so happen to run into or hear about a company that can use my skill set, to pass my name along. With the recruiters I am using the same basic letter and am including a resume as well. And with the recruiters I am not only targeting them in my local area, but nationwide as far as LinkedIn will allow.
Now why nationwide? You never know if a recruiter say in Phoenix might have a NY client or one in the Keys. Years ago before the internet was so wide spread recruiters would work on local accounts mostly. But now with the way that the technology has grown including things like Skype I would not be surprised if a recruiter across the country has clients on the other side of the U.S.
As you know I am no fan of recruiters but you never know if one does come through.
A few of the things I do not like about LinkedIn, is that if you want to contact someone and you do not have their email address, you can use their in-mail. You get 5 free ones with the basic account. After that you have to pay for premium service and that too has limitations. You also get so many introductions also before you have to pay. So reaching out to people through there is difficult.
If I want to contact someone who is not in my network, they put some severe restrictions like you need to know their correct email address OR pay for premium service. Now what if the person was the hiring manager of a company you want to get into? LinkedIn makes it very difficult to make that happen.
I am hoping that my job lead will come though the contacts that are not recruiters. You know, tap into the hidden job market. One person, a TV news anchor said she would pass my resume along. And I think she did.
Now if you are one of my FaceBook friends in the Keys (I have about 310 at this time) and would like to connect to me through LinkedIn please message my through FaceBook and we can move forward. You never know if you hear of a potential opportunity that might be up my alley. Mind you, you are not acting as a reference, just someone that is pointing me to a company or a company to me.
'till next time.
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
My job search so far
So far my job search is going now where fast. It is very disappointing. As you recall from earlier entries, I started my quest a little over a year ago when the company was going downhill. I saw the hand writing on the wall then that my longevity there was uncertain.
I registered and logged into job sites like Dice.Com, CareerBuilder, ZipRecruiter, Monster.Com and what have you. Nothing.
I applied to jobs through those sites - Nothing.
I posted onto Craig's List hoping to get an I.T. job in Key West and all I got was some bot answering my ad.
I expanded my Craig's List posting to include the rest of the Keys - Nothing
I then expanded my Craig's List posting to include a lot of southern Fla - Nothing.
I answered ads on Craig's List - Nothing.
I then was replaced by a person half my age and as such am now out of work. No sense in making a complaint about age discrimination for the State of New York unofficially condones such actions. Why do I say that?
OK it is illegal. No argument. But in order to do something I need to make a complaint to the EEOC which is a paper tiger at best. From there I need to hire a lawyer and cough up a massive retainer and get involved in a never ending lawsuit which ultimately cannot be won by the employee. And to make matters worse if you want your severance as pathetic as it is, you have to sign off your right on going after the company. A standard procedure.
And here is another thing that you might not realize. Say you do go ahead with the age discrimination case. Regardless if you win or lose the case, you still wind up as a loser. The information about the case becomes a matter of public record. A lot of employers today use detective agencies that specialize in background checks. They can and will find the information about the age discrimination case and report that back to the potential employer. You are now marked as a troublemaker and a liability. So in the long run you lose.
According to the workshops that I attended at the Department of Labor, the state of New York is well aware of this type of situations and is doing nothing about it. So unofficially the state is giving employers their seal of approval to practice age discrimination freely. Welcome to New York. No wonder I want out of here.
So I started to expand my job search. More job boards and still nothing.
Gone to job fairs - Nothing.
Gone over the want ads and nothing.
Reached out to executive recruiters and nothing.
Applied to more ads from job boards and still nothing.
Contacted various companies directly and nothing.
Reached out to people on LinkedIn and again, nothing.
And in over a year not one interview. And I saw that the experts say that the job outlook is good. Gotta wonder what drugs they are on. Yes it is very frustrating and disappointing.
Just the other day it was reported that the jobless rate is up to 8.2%. So experts, where are these jobs?
During his run for president, Obama promised to bring jobs back to the United States. So far from where I stand, not one job has come back. Instead more have left. And he is running again? OMG.
It has been very frustrating and tiring. And with the 3 month anniversary of my termination on the horizon I have to wonder about my job future.
I was toying with a crazy idea, and that is to just pack up my things, head to the Keys and start a business from scratch. But that will have to be the subject of another post.
'till next time
I registered and logged into job sites like Dice.Com, CareerBuilder, ZipRecruiter, Monster.Com and what have you. Nothing.
I applied to jobs through those sites - Nothing.
I posted onto Craig's List hoping to get an I.T. job in Key West and all I got was some bot answering my ad.
I expanded my Craig's List posting to include the rest of the Keys - Nothing
I then expanded my Craig's List posting to include a lot of southern Fla - Nothing.
I answered ads on Craig's List - Nothing.
I then was replaced by a person half my age and as such am now out of work. No sense in making a complaint about age discrimination for the State of New York unofficially condones such actions. Why do I say that?
OK it is illegal. No argument. But in order to do something I need to make a complaint to the EEOC which is a paper tiger at best. From there I need to hire a lawyer and cough up a massive retainer and get involved in a never ending lawsuit which ultimately cannot be won by the employee. And to make matters worse if you want your severance as pathetic as it is, you have to sign off your right on going after the company. A standard procedure.
And here is another thing that you might not realize. Say you do go ahead with the age discrimination case. Regardless if you win or lose the case, you still wind up as a loser. The information about the case becomes a matter of public record. A lot of employers today use detective agencies that specialize in background checks. They can and will find the information about the age discrimination case and report that back to the potential employer. You are now marked as a troublemaker and a liability. So in the long run you lose.
According to the workshops that I attended at the Department of Labor, the state of New York is well aware of this type of situations and is doing nothing about it. So unofficially the state is giving employers their seal of approval to practice age discrimination freely. Welcome to New York. No wonder I want out of here.
So I started to expand my job search. More job boards and still nothing.
Gone to job fairs - Nothing.
Gone over the want ads and nothing.
Reached out to executive recruiters and nothing.
Applied to more ads from job boards and still nothing.
Contacted various companies directly and nothing.
Reached out to people on LinkedIn and again, nothing.
And in over a year not one interview. And I saw that the experts say that the job outlook is good. Gotta wonder what drugs they are on. Yes it is very frustrating and disappointing.
Just the other day it was reported that the jobless rate is up to 8.2%. So experts, where are these jobs?
During his run for president, Obama promised to bring jobs back to the United States. So far from where I stand, not one job has come back. Instead more have left. And he is running again? OMG.
It has been very frustrating and tiring. And with the 3 month anniversary of my termination on the horizon I have to wonder about my job future.
I was toying with a crazy idea, and that is to just pack up my things, head to the Keys and start a business from scratch. But that will have to be the subject of another post.
'till next time
Sunday, June 3, 2012
My early days of computers
I was doing some reminiscing about my early days of working on computers. I spent some time on the net and found some photos of the hardware that I cut my teeth on.
I was introduced to computers in high school. I wanted to get into it in the worst way so I spoke to my guidance counselor about it. He put me into a keypunch class at a vocational school. WTF! Kids from wealthy families went right into the computer classes in the high school.
That became my first exposure. Learning to use an IBM 026 key punch machine.
Once we were finished keypunching the cards went into an IBM 083 sorter.
From there to the card scanning into the computer. We were never allowed to see or touch the actual computer. So enough of that crap. I was not learning a damn thing so I decided to take the bull by the horns.
I skipped out on the vocational school and walked into the computer room in the high school. I was not welcomed with open arms by the rich kids who dominated the computer. In fact they went out of their way to make sure that I was not wanted there. But that was how the school system functioned back then. Bastards.
I held my ground and picked up what I could by observing. I was able to get my hands on the manuals for the system. Don't ask me how I got them.
The computer was an HP 2114A with a massive 16K of RAM and a processor running at 2 microseconds. It was controlled by touch buttons on the front panel that lit up when in the on position.
You could program the machine with those switches if you were so inclined. But you would be there for days or weeks entering in your program by through a binary code. One error, shut down the computer and start all over again. The way the programming languages were loaded as well as your programs was through a punched tape that went through a high speed optical reader.
Of course for labs magnetic tape drives were used. But since this is was a high school we didn't use or have that.
The bulk of the input and output was done on a teletype. No monitor. Those didn't exist at that time. When we wanted to save our programs the teletype punched out the tape for us which you see on the left hand side of the teletype, so we could re-load the machine.
By today's standards the machine was really pathetic. Today you get a computer for a few hundred dollars with 1 to 2 GB of memory, a 2.5 Ghz processor, a 160 to 250 GB hard drive and more. A machine that would smoke the HP2114A away.
The HP2114A ran for $9,950 without the teletype, and optical tape reader. But that is today. Back then this was a true powerhouse and many labs and businesses had them along with magnetic tape drives and more. The machine was no slouch by a long shot.
I spent my time reading the manuals and teaching myself the system. I was able to sneak into the computer room when the rich kids were not around and were in their classes. From there I had some hands on time using the machine. It was not much but a few periods each week was all I could steal. The science teacher that was in charge of the machine knew that I was in there and that I was not in any of the classes. He just turned his head to the fact and left me alone. He would answer my questions in any case.
.
From that I learned BASIC, some FORTRAN, some COBOL, some ASSEMBLER, and a little CML which is a dead language now. Due to the fact that I was able to get one or two periods of hands on usage a week with the machine, I never really was able to master the languages. And since I have not used them in years please do not expect me to be able to write a single line of code. I would have to start over from square one.
A lot has changed in programming since then.
During my last year of high school the rich kids got together and complained to the science teacher that who was in charge of the computer and told him that they did not want me there because I was not in any of the classes. Because with a lot of these kids, mommy and daddy were influential with the board and system the teacher had no choice but to ban me from the computer. But the way it was done was very under handed. They made sure that the schedule to use of the machine was full all the time so this way I could not get any computing time at all. This all came about half way through my senior year. Nice.
After high school I studied electronics and the technical aspect of computers and how they operated. I even remember doing what was called wire-wrapping. Today no one knows what that was unless you came from my early years.
I ran into someone a few months ago who still had a wire wrap tool. Talk about memories.
And that in a nut shell was my beginnings into computers.
'till next time
I was introduced to computers in high school. I wanted to get into it in the worst way so I spoke to my guidance counselor about it. He put me into a keypunch class at a vocational school. WTF! Kids from wealthy families went right into the computer classes in the high school.
That became my first exposure. Learning to use an IBM 026 key punch machine.
Once we were finished keypunching the cards went into an IBM 083 sorter.
From there to the card scanning into the computer. We were never allowed to see or touch the actual computer. So enough of that crap. I was not learning a damn thing so I decided to take the bull by the horns.
I skipped out on the vocational school and walked into the computer room in the high school. I was not welcomed with open arms by the rich kids who dominated the computer. In fact they went out of their way to make sure that I was not wanted there. But that was how the school system functioned back then. Bastards.
I held my ground and picked up what I could by observing. I was able to get my hands on the manuals for the system. Don't ask me how I got them.
The computer was an HP 2114A with a massive 16K of RAM and a processor running at 2 microseconds. It was controlled by touch buttons on the front panel that lit up when in the on position.
You could program the machine with those switches if you were so inclined. But you would be there for days or weeks entering in your program by through a binary code. One error, shut down the computer and start all over again. The way the programming languages were loaded as well as your programs was through a punched tape that went through a high speed optical reader.
Of course for labs magnetic tape drives were used. But since this is was a high school we didn't use or have that.
The bulk of the input and output was done on a teletype. No monitor. Those didn't exist at that time. When we wanted to save our programs the teletype punched out the tape for us which you see on the left hand side of the teletype, so we could re-load the machine.
By today's standards the machine was really pathetic. Today you get a computer for a few hundred dollars with 1 to 2 GB of memory, a 2.5 Ghz processor, a 160 to 250 GB hard drive and more. A machine that would smoke the HP2114A away.
The HP2114A ran for $9,950 without the teletype, and optical tape reader. But that is today. Back then this was a true powerhouse and many labs and businesses had them along with magnetic tape drives and more. The machine was no slouch by a long shot.
I spent my time reading the manuals and teaching myself the system. I was able to sneak into the computer room when the rich kids were not around and were in their classes. From there I had some hands on time using the machine. It was not much but a few periods each week was all I could steal. The science teacher that was in charge of the machine knew that I was in there and that I was not in any of the classes. He just turned his head to the fact and left me alone. He would answer my questions in any case.
.
From that I learned BASIC, some FORTRAN, some COBOL, some ASSEMBLER, and a little CML which is a dead language now. Due to the fact that I was able to get one or two periods of hands on usage a week with the machine, I never really was able to master the languages. And since I have not used them in years please do not expect me to be able to write a single line of code. I would have to start over from square one.
A lot has changed in programming since then.
During my last year of high school the rich kids got together and complained to the science teacher that who was in charge of the computer and told him that they did not want me there because I was not in any of the classes. Because with a lot of these kids, mommy and daddy were influential with the board and system the teacher had no choice but to ban me from the computer. But the way it was done was very under handed. They made sure that the schedule to use of the machine was full all the time so this way I could not get any computing time at all. This all came about half way through my senior year. Nice.
After high school I studied electronics and the technical aspect of computers and how they operated. I even remember doing what was called wire-wrapping. Today no one knows what that was unless you came from my early years.
I ran into someone a few months ago who still had a wire wrap tool. Talk about memories.
And that in a nut shell was my beginnings into computers.
'till next time
Saturday, June 2, 2012
I get these news blurbs from Bloomberg on my iPad all the time. Friday's the blurb is that we are now up to a jobless rate of 8.2%. Yet earlier on the TV the so called experts claim that jobs are coming back.
Seeing how I am having a real rough time in finding work, I am going to have to side with Bloomberg. There are no jobs. I wonder what brand of crack are the experts who claims that jobs are coming back are smoking.
Mayor Blumberg of NYC is on a campaign to fight obesity. He is going to make it a law to eliminate the over sized drinks containing sugar. I remember when I was younger that a regular size soft drink was 8oz. Today it is between 16 and 32 oz. But I think that Mayor Mike is going off on a tangent and is off base, a whole lot.
If he eliminates the larger drink, people will just but a second one if they want. That is all. The reason that there has been an increase in drink size is to increase the profits of the drink seller. That is all.
Reducing the size of the soft drink will not do a thing. Nothing. People will just buy a second one.
I feel that the real and true culprit is not sugar. Of course it does play a small part. But the big problem lies in food production like meats.
To fatten up the live stock they use hormones and steroids. This makes the animals grow faster and heavier. Eventually the animal goes to slaughter. These growth hormones are still in the flesh of the meat and remain there. We eat the meat thereby eating the hormones. These hormones are now making us fatter.
They are using these same types of hormones on produce as well but they seem to have little effect on those that are true veggens. But many people simply cannot have a pure vegetable diet for many health reasons. People with ulcers or those on Comadin cannot tolerate a lot of greens as an example.
Most of the fish we eat comes from the ocean so you know that they have not been treated with hormones. But there is another problem, our fisheries are depleting the stocks in the ocean and the price of fish is outlandish. You simply cannot afford fish daily.
And here is the topper, Governor Cuomo is not going fight Blumberg but support him instead. This will make NY with the toughest soft drink law in the country. No wonder I want out of New York.
My Facebook friends list is at 309. Not too bad. From here I went through a few of them and found them on LinkedIn. I invited them to connect to me through there. A bit risky since the reason I setup East Egg Bill was to keep me out of the sight of certain people that use Facebook as a source of gossip. But I am taking the chance. You have to take a few chances now and then and I hope that through there I can land a job in the Keys in computer support.
I am also on Skype. But to find me you will need to connect to me through LinkedIn. And right now I am only going to allow those from my FB friends list to connect to me through LinkedIn and then from there, Skype. Again if they can talk to me face to face I just might get an interview and then an offer.
Anyway, it is Saturday and I have a ton to do.
'till next time.
Seeing how I am having a real rough time in finding work, I am going to have to side with Bloomberg. There are no jobs. I wonder what brand of crack are the experts who claims that jobs are coming back are smoking.
Mayor Blumberg of NYC is on a campaign to fight obesity. He is going to make it a law to eliminate the over sized drinks containing sugar. I remember when I was younger that a regular size soft drink was 8oz. Today it is between 16 and 32 oz. But I think that Mayor Mike is going off on a tangent and is off base, a whole lot.
If he eliminates the larger drink, people will just but a second one if they want. That is all. The reason that there has been an increase in drink size is to increase the profits of the drink seller. That is all.
Reducing the size of the soft drink will not do a thing. Nothing. People will just buy a second one.
I feel that the real and true culprit is not sugar. Of course it does play a small part. But the big problem lies in food production like meats.
To fatten up the live stock they use hormones and steroids. This makes the animals grow faster and heavier. Eventually the animal goes to slaughter. These growth hormones are still in the flesh of the meat and remain there. We eat the meat thereby eating the hormones. These hormones are now making us fatter.
They are using these same types of hormones on produce as well but they seem to have little effect on those that are true veggens. But many people simply cannot have a pure vegetable diet for many health reasons. People with ulcers or those on Comadin cannot tolerate a lot of greens as an example.
Most of the fish we eat comes from the ocean so you know that they have not been treated with hormones. But there is another problem, our fisheries are depleting the stocks in the ocean and the price of fish is outlandish. You simply cannot afford fish daily.
And here is the topper, Governor Cuomo is not going fight Blumberg but support him instead. This will make NY with the toughest soft drink law in the country. No wonder I want out of New York.
My Facebook friends list is at 309. Not too bad. From here I went through a few of them and found them on LinkedIn. I invited them to connect to me through there. A bit risky since the reason I setup East Egg Bill was to keep me out of the sight of certain people that use Facebook as a source of gossip. But I am taking the chance. You have to take a few chances now and then and I hope that through there I can land a job in the Keys in computer support.
I am also on Skype. But to find me you will need to connect to me through LinkedIn. And right now I am only going to allow those from my FB friends list to connect to me through LinkedIn and then from there, Skype. Again if they can talk to me face to face I just might get an interview and then an offer.
Anyway, it is Saturday and I have a ton to do.
'till next time.
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