Category Archives: Uncategorized

Tagged as extortion, posting, restaurants, social media, yelp

June 29, 2012 · 3:42 pm

You Can Now Follow Me On Twitter

I am not a heavy tweeter, but I do now have my own Twitter account – @mbtimetraveler

I promise not to be a twit with my tweets.

Filed under Uncategorized, Writing

June 29, 2012 · 2:47 pm

I Added a Shorter Name

Since my site has become somewhat successful, with over 6,000 hits this year, I decided to splurge and pay the extra $18 per year, so you don’t have to type in wordpress anymore. You can now access my blog with just:

mbtimetraveler.com

If you forget this, no worries, if you type in the old way mbtimetraveler.wordpress.com, it will still get you to the same place. I hope this makes it easier for those looking for me and typing in the domain name. The internet is one of the few places that shorter and smaller are better. Thanks for all your support!

Filed under Uncategorized

June 26, 2012 · 10:03 pm

My Personal View On Immigration

Immigration is one of the most controversial topics I can discuss, next to maybe religion, abortion, and gender preferences. Still, as an Arizonan who spent 14 years of my life working for the Legislature and various Governors in differing capacities and several years as a lobbyist, it is hard not to comment on the recent decision on HB 1070 by the Supreme Court.

I am not going to rehash any of the legal issues. I think people are overwhelmed with tenth amendment states’ rights, state sovereignty, federal pre-emption and federal inaction on enforcement. Instead, I hope to provide just my own personal view on what we should do with immigration.

First – Some Facts As I Was Able to Research Them:

675,000 legal permanent residents (LPRs) are allowed into the United States each year, with a backlog of about 5 million. However, in addition to that number admitted, you can have 480,000 family sponsored preference immigrants; 140,000 employment-based immigrants, and 55,000 refugees or political asylum people that do NOT count against the 675,000. This means about 1.3 million can come here legally per year as residents. That also does not include any work programs or student visas.

The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) established per-country levels at 7% of the worldwide level. For a dependent foreign state, the per-country ceiling is 2%. The per-country level is not a “quota” set aside for individual countries, as each country in the world, of course, could not receive 7% of the overall limit. As the State Department describes, the per-country level “is not an entitlement but a barrier against monopolization.

Currently in the United States there are an estimated 12 million to 20 million illegal aliens (people not here under any recognized US program). Many are from Mexico, but border apprehensions include up to 10% non-Mexican nationals, predominantly from Central and South America, but also from all over the world. Port authorities more frequently apprehend illegal entrants from Pacific Rim countries.

My classifications of Immigrants – Both Legal and Illegal

I think there are three types of immigrants:

1) Those who want to become Americans;

2) Those who don’t want to become Americans, but who want to live and work here for the opportunities;

3) People coming here to commit crimes or terrorism.

If I had to guess percentages, I would say 70% number 1, 28% number 2, and 1 to 2% number 3.

My solution

A) Control all entry points to the United States completely, so we know every single person who is here.

B) Hunt down all those expired student visa folks. All the 9-1-1 perpetrators were expired student visas to my remembrance.

C) Let EVERYONE in that fits categories 1 and 2.

D) EVERYONE in category 1 and 2 that is here, has to come forward and sign up and let us know who they are.

E) If you do not want to be a citizen, you have to have papers and cannot stay if out of work for more than six months.

F) Know everyone who is here and who enters, so we can weed out the Number 3 folks.

G) New immigrants need to learn English and become part of the melting pot, adding their flavor and culture to all the others, not living apart.

I am a conservative and wrestle with the fact that people came here illegally while others waited in line. At the same time I am a human and know if I lived in a crappy place I would be very tempted to move my family to America for freedom. I have never had a problem with honest hard working immigrants. My family is Irish, we were hated. My family moved to California during the Great Depression/Dust Bowl and were viewed as vagrants and scum.

As a teenager, I waited on illegal farm workers in California’s San Jauquin Valley who had to carry their whole life savings with them because they could not open a bank account. They were very nice and polite, but locals would try to rob them. As a kid, I worked next to them picking fruit and vegetables because I was poor.

It is sounds easy to say, let’s find and deport up to 20 million people, but I no longer believe that is feasible. My hero Ronald Reagan gave amnesty to over 2 million illegals. I have questioned that decision to this very day, but now I understand.

Remember, all of this is contingent on strictly keeping out that 1 to 2% of criminals. We have to have a process like the old Ellis Island system, to screen folks, then let them in.

Tagged as farm workers, HB 1070, illegal aliens, immigration, immigration limits, Supreme Court

June 19, 2012 · 12:36 am

Bitcoins Becoming Popular During European Financial Crisis

What are bitcoins you might ask? They are basically fake monopoly money taken as real tender. They are growing in popularity, but first, some basic economics:

Economics 101 Primer – It works like this, currency is backed by the government that issues it. It used to be backed by gold and silver. In fact, early currency was simply gold, silver or bronze stamped with the King’s face. Then it turned to paper. When it was backed by gold and silver, you could take the paper version to the bank and get actual metal. This stabilized its value. However, there is more economic activity than there is gold and silver in the world, so people switched to paper that is no longer backed by anything, other than faith that when you use it, you can buy stuff.

If there are 100 things to buy and 100 dollars, each costs around $1. If you print more money, say $200, but the economy does not grow, things cost $2 a piece and your dollar is worth only half as much. This is called inflation, which is bad for everyone.

If things keep growing in production (GDP growth) and money does not grow, you get deflation and it is difficult to do business. In that case, the now 200 items chasing $100 would only be able to get 50 cents each. The producers lose half their value.

So, a government is supposed to try to stabilize currency by having its supply go up and down as economic growth goes up and down, so their currency remains stable and so do prices. When governments run high deficits, borrow money, and print money for their own purpose rather than matching growth, bad things happen, like runs on banks and lack of faith that the currency ‘means” anything. That is one of the reason real gold prices have skyrocketed in the US.

Back to Bitcoins – People in Europe are losing faith in the British Pound Stirling and the Euro. So, someone created the Bitcoin, a currency on the Internet which is NOT issued by any government. It is simply issued in exchange for real money like euros, dollars and pounds, and then used as currency. The fact that it is NOT backed by a government also means it is not increased to pay for government purchases. People are so desperate that they are taking their Euros out of ATMs so fast that several governments are limiting withdrawals now. Italy closed its banks for a week. So, as they can, people in Italy, Greece and other places are turning in their euros for bitcoins. So far, the bitcoins have more faith and value than regular money, gaining in value by 1700% against regular currency since 2009. They cannot be used everywhere, but increasingly producers like restaurants and stores are taking them.

Can a privately held company through the internet successfully launch and maintain its own currency for the world better than governments? I would have told you no ten years ago, but lots has changed. In video games, there is an exchange rate now for fake game gold or credits to real cash. There are millionaires who have sold imaginary retail space to people in Second Life. Now, not in a video game, but in real life, we have fake money worth more than real money. Amazing.

Here is a piece of a story from AOL Daily Finance, posted by Ross Kenneth Urken:

Is Bitcoin a Panacea For the Euro’s Woes?

Quite simply, Bitcoins are an encrypted digital currency that can be freely exchanged between people or between consumers and merchants. Businesses like Bitcoin because it allows them to avoid paying credit card fees of up to 3% on transactions. Consumers get to dodge the costs normally associated with currency exchanges. It’s only available for use in a handful of physical locations in cities around the world (it’s mostly used via Internet), but a major use for it has been for conversions — you can buy Bitcoins and then exchange them for another currency at no charge.

Bitcoin is in some senses a financial island removed from the vicissitudes and consequences of a traditional banking system. It’s neither controlled by central banks nor governments, and thus not vulnerable to larger-scale shifts like changing interest rates or the rampant inflation of countries in decline.

But Bitcoin’s isolation from geopolitical turmoil has been its true selling point for those in Europe.

6 Comments

Tagged as bitcoins, currency, deficits, deflation, dollars, economics, euros, infaltion

June 8, 2012 · 12:25 pm

Places I Would Love to Be

I grew up on the beach in California, living at Pismo Beach for awhile. Then I was lucky enough to be stationed in Hawaii for my entire service in the United States Air Force. Don’t get me wrong, I love Arizona, but I do wish there was water to go with the endless beach…

I know Joyce Kilmer said “I think I shall never see a poem as lovely as a tree.” But I have heard the other version, misquoted, that “I think I shall never see a palm as lovely as a tree.” While trees are certainly more complex, for me there is nothing like a palm tree up against a tropical sunset. When I was a child, my mother had some gaudy earrings that were souvenirs made according to her from butterfly wings. They were a palm tree against a sunset, and maybe that is why I hold it so dear.

It could also be just from living in Hawaii for almost six years and visiting Grenada, Dominica, Aruba, St. Thomas, etc. All very pretty.

Here are some places I always think of as paradise:

http://www.aol.com/video/air-force-has-secret-space-shuttle/517388924/?icid=maing-grid7%7Cnetscape%7Cdl18%7Csec1_lnk2%26pLid%3D167875

Tagged as beautiful places, palm trees, paradise, places to be

June 7, 2012 · 9:44 pm

Top Secret Space Program or Black Helicopter Hogwash?

I came across this video on the AOL/Netscape news scan – yes I know I am one of the eight or so people who still go to that site. Anyway, it is pretty interesting, but I don’t know who this guy is or if this is a hoax or for real. I will let you decide.

I was in the Air Force when the Challenger exploded. We were all out in front of base operations for a dress inspection, oddly the only one we had in Hawaii during my nearly six years stationed there. For those not in the military, dress inspection is no fun. You stand at attention for hours as senior officers walk by each of your units trying to find something wrong with the way you are dressed. If you stand properly at attention for ten minutes you will pass out. You lock your legs at the knees and blood stops flowing. So for an hour or two you try to look like you are not moving, while slightly moving your knees back in forth. If you pass out, which people always do, you get in big trouble.

The General was just starting his walk-through inspection when everyone stopped. They announced on the loudspeaker that the Challenger had exploded with no survivors. We did a five minute period of silence, and the rest of the inspection was canceled. I had friends in the Air Force’s First Space Command. They worked with NASA on the shuttle back then, so this story kind of rings true to me. Unlike the reporter, I like the fact we have unmanned weapons and observation platforms in space in case things get out of hand with our fellow nations. Better to the be the windshield than the bug.

Tagged as air force, enemies, NASA, orbit, secret shuttle, space shuttle

June 6, 2012 · 10:37 pm

A Tribute To Ray Bradbury

Ray Bradbury was one of the authors that influenced me personally while I was growing up. Along with Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein and others, he is as big a part of my childhood as any of my teachers at schools I attended. He taught me through his stories. He will be missed. My heart goes out to his family.

From his official site:

Ray Bradbury, recipient of the 2000 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, the 2004 National Medal of Arts, and the 2007 Pulitzer Prize Special Citation, died on June 5, 2012, at the age of 91 after a long illness. He lived in Los Angeles.

In a career spanning more than seventy years, Ray Bradbury has inspired generations of readers to dream, think, and create. A prolific author of hundreds of short stories and close to fifty books, as well as numerous poems, essays, operas, plays, teleplays, and screenplays, Bradbury was one of the most celebrated writers of our time. His groundbreaking works include Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles, The Illustrated Man, Dandelion Wine, and Something Wicked This Way Comes. He wrote the screen play for John Huston’s classic film adaptation of Moby Dick, and was nominated for an Academy Award. He adapted sixty-five of his stories for television’s The Ray Bradbury Theater, and won an Emmy for his teleplay of The Halloween Tree. In 2005, Bradbury published a book of essays titled Bradbury Speaks, in which he wrote: In my later years I have looked in the mirror each day and found a happy person staring back. Occasionally I wonder why I can be so happy. The answer is that every day of my life I’ve worked only for myself and for the joy that comes from writing and creating. The image in my mirror is not optimistic, but the result of optimal behavior.

He is survived by his four daughters, Susan Nixon, Ramona Ostergren, Bettina Karapetian, and Alexandra Bradbury, and eight grandchildren. His wife, Marguerite, predeceased him in 2003, after fifty-seven years of marriage.

Throughout his life, Bradbury liked to recount the story of meeting a carnival magician, Mr. Electrico, in 1932. At the end of his performance Electrico reached out to the twelve-year-old Bradbury, touched the boy with his sword, and commanded, Live forever! Bradbury later said, I decided that was the greatest idea I had ever heard. I started writing every day. I never stopped.

Filed under Uncategorized, Writing

Tagged as bradbury, farenheit 451, martian chronicles, ray bradbury, something wicked this way comes

June 2, 2012 · 9:08 pm

Random Funny Facts – With Commentary

I have not personally confirmed these facts. These come to you from the folks at:

funny2.com

Their website looks pretty interesting and has page after page of facts, true facts, false facts, etc. I found these interesting, hopefully you will as well:

My comments added in BOLD.

One out of ten children in Europe are conceived on an IKEA bed. (Must all be born in dorm rooms)

Antarctica is the only continent without reptiles or snakes. (But Saint Patrick took care of Ireland, and as an Irishman, it counts to me as its own continent.)

An eagle can kill a young deer and fly away with it.

In the Caribbean there are oysters that can climb trees. (There is also lots of rum in the Caribbean…so not sure if this has been reliably observed…)

Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair. (Bald people hide their intelligence – why? What are they up to?)

The world’s youngest parents were 8 and 9 and lived in China in 1910.

When George Lucas was mixing the American Graffiti soundtrack, he numbered the reels of film starting with an R and numbered the dialog starting with a D. Sound designer Walter Murch asked George for Reel 2, Dialog 2 by saying “R2D2”. George liked the way that sounded so much he integrated that into another project he was working on.

The youngest pope was 11 years old.

Mark Twain didn’t graduate from elementary school.

Proportional to their weight, men are stronger than horses.

Pilgrims ate popcorn at the first Thanksgiving dinner. (Then fell on asleep on the couch imagining football in the future)

They have square watermelons in Japan – they stack better.

Iceland consumes more Coca-Cola per capita than any other nation.

Heinz Catsup leaving the bottle travels at 25 miles per year.

It is possible to lead a cow upstairs but not downstairs.

Armadillos can be housebroken. (Armadillos are also the only animal that can transmit leprosy to humans, so probably best to leave them outside)

The first Fords had engines made by Dodge.

A mole can dig a tunnel 300 feet long in just one night.

Peanuts are one of the ingredients in dynamite.

Ancient Egyptians slept on pillows made of stone.

A hippo can open its mouth wide enough to fit a 4 foot tall child inside. (Don’t let your 4 foot tall child too close to exhibits at the zoo.)

A quarter has 119 grooves on its edge, a dime has one less groove. (Groovy)

A hummingbird weighs less than a penny.

Until 1796, there was a state in the United States called Franklin. Today it is known as Tennessee.

The flashing warning light on the cylindrical Capitol Records tower spells out HOLLYWOOD in Morse code.

Every time you lick a stamp, you’re consuming 1/10 of a calorie.

The average person has over 1,460 dreams a year. (The average person obtains none of them during their lifetime.)

One in every 4 Americans has appeared on television. (Too many in dirty t-shirts and with fake tans)

The average American will eat about 11.9 pounds of cereal per year.

Over 1,000 birds a year die from smashing into windows. (windows- the real mass murderers. PETA should go naked to ban windows)

The State of Florida is bigger than England. (And has a better dental plan)

Ants stretch when they wake up in the morning. (Then they go pee)

Thomas Edison, light bulb inventor, was afraid of the dark.

During your lifetime, you’ll eat about 60,000 pounds of food. That’s the weight of about 6 elephants. (So, if I buy 6 elephants, I never have to go to the grocery store again?)

Some ribbon worms will eat themselves if they can’t find any food. (Ribbon worm zombie apocalypse.)

The world’s oldest piece of chewing gum is 9000 years old. (Dick Clark spit it out on his death bed…Too soon?)

In space, astronauts cannot cry, because there is no gravity, so the tears can’t flow. (Plus they are bad asses.)

About 3000 years ago, most Egyptians died by the time they were 30. (The wrote a screenplay called Logan’s Run, but it was thousands of years before the movies were invented for us to see this cry for help.)

More people use blue toothbrushes than red ones.

Your ribs move about 5 million times a year, every time you breathe.

In the White House, there are 13,092 knives, forks and spoons. (There were more before the Clintons left…)

Slugs have 4 noses. (And they are all runny)

Recycling one glass jar saves enough energy to watch TV for 3 hours.

Lightning strikes about 6,000 times per minute on this planet.

Owls are the only birds who can see the color blue. (So paint yourself blue and you can be a bird ninja)

Tagged as facts, funny, humor

May 26, 2012 · 9:22 pm

There’s more water on Jupiter’s moon Europa than there is on Earth

Excerts from the Article posted on May 24, 2012 1:30 PM by Robert T. Gonzalez:

“Remember that image from a few weeks back that showed Earth with all its water gathered up in a sphere beside it? Well here’s that image again, only this time, it also features Jupiter’s moon Europa, along with all of itswater. Notice anything interesting?

Based on data acquired by NASA’s Galileo satellite, astronomers think the global oceans sloshing around beneath Europa’s icy exterior are likely 2—3 times more voluminous than the oceans here on Earth. Not 2—3 times more proportionally, 2—3 times more in total volume.

Yeah. That “little” moon is packing quite the supply of H₂O — and with it, scientists think, a significant chance of harboring life.”

It is pretty amazing to me that within in our own solar system there is a moon with so much water on it. Some have speculated about drilling through the ice and searching for life underneath the frozen surface. Others about mining it for water. What would happen if we found a moon with that much oil on it? Would we have huge oil barges and worry about space spills?

Also, if you look at the globe sans all its water, doesn’t it remind you of the new M&M commercials with the brown M&M they think is naked because it has no shell? The Earth is meant to be the Big Blue Marble, not the dusty grey ball…