A Letter the Editor of the Tulsa World

 A letter published about Keystone XL Pipeline was way off. There were 2 erroneous errors in that argument. 1. All that oil was going to export anyway. Response, that's not how modern gas pricing works. Gas prices are mostly determined by the overall prices of crude oil. When we had low gas prices it was because there was a glut of crude oil. The commodities market prices is determined by futures buy / sell contracts. For example, today's gas prices are based on futures contracts from last month. The Keystone XL Pipeline shortcut would have brought in a large quantity of crude oil into the global market. That would in turn have caused speculators to bid for lower prices on futures market. The ripple effect would cause petroleum prices to go down. Eventually leading lower fuel prices. 2. The other point I want to make is that the shortcut through Montana would have allowed local crude oil producers to add their higher quality product to the pipeline. The global commodities market doesn't care if refined petroleum is sold local or exported. Just supply and demand. What we need right now is, too much supply, as to make life more affordable.

It Used To Be Something Fun

 As a child the two most exciting annual events I would look for ward to were Christmas and my birthday.  As I grew up, those things began to change.  Life itself took on a different perspective.  I used to wonder why my parents didn't like to celebrate their birthdays like us kids do.  I eventually concluded that they're just getting old by my standards.  Being young and having fun came naturally.  

Things do change.  My life story is marked by events and milestones such as birthdays, of course.  Sometime after turning 55, something unexpected began to happen.  Despite being experienced and well qualified worker.  Employers weren't interested in hiring me like they used to.  I began to realize that they were wanting younger workers.  This created a conundrum for me.  In short, they want younger employees, yet I'm not retirement age.  This became a struggle.  Turning 60 didn't make it easier. 

So when I accepted a job last year, it was quite lofty for me.  Everything seemed so good it was almost too good to be true.  A decent paying job I could do until I reach my golden years.  But then something happened.  It was another one of those pesky birthdays.  In the eyes of someone in management, I no longer fit in anymore.  I somehow became the odd man out.  Without any discussion, review, or explanation of anything, I was shone the door.  No warning.  I was let go.  

This was devastating.  I took the severance pay package. It was a real struggle finding a decent job to start with.  It now looked like an uphill battle.  Fortunately, I do have options.  A former employer is interested in hiring me for part-time work.  I also acknowledge that retirement is coming up.  However, I'm turning a new leaf.  I'm learning some new skills that will allow me to work from home.  The future looks good.  Life goes on. 

The Power and Danger of Groupthink

 One picture can say so very much.  An original thinker vs Groupthink.  

Unfortunately, modern technology has brought us a new era of Groupthinkers.  I have been dealing with it for years.  This mind numb phenomenon is also called, The Echo Chamber.   The high tech internet based tech firms are full of it.  They see this as a good thing. Evan as a virtue.  How dare anyone stand up to the vast majority of our high tech monopoly!  

The most obvious reason for me to oppose them is that simply put, I don't fit in with them.  I never have, nor will I ever.  As a child of God, I was made to be an original.  

I used to refer to myself as an idea man.  I had a lot of great ideas.  I still do.  There are of course many challenges to being that way.  One is, how does one implement this into something real?  Second is, how do I present this to others in order to gain interest?  

Better ideas don't automatically mean people will like it.  The cavemen like their square wheels because that is what they are familiar with.  "We've always done it that way!" mentality.  Because of that, they have to work twice as hard to to do the same job like pulling a cart.  In the mind of the simple minded majority, this is normal.  They say they're too busy to improve.  

What these pictures don't show is the nearly invisible ruling elite.  They are the ones who often set the standards for the rest of the world to follow.  So unless Big Brother tells them to change or improve something, it never happens.  

Now is the time for real change!  We can do it from the ground up!  It takes the power of like minded original out-of-the box thinkers to start talking to each other first.  

 

Out of Loss and Disappointment

Out of loss and disappointment, something good will happen. - me

I know, many of you are very disappointed with what happened in recent events.  I understand the feeling.  However, that isn't what this post is about.  My reason for this post is about something good.

Recently, much evil has been exposed, and that's a good thing. We now know the real truth about Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, and so forth.  We now know not to use services provided by these companies. Will I still by somethings from Amazon or Whole Foods?  Yes, But not as my first choice.  Also, I will not be using any of Amazon's technology such as AWS.  

With a fresh new realization that Big Tech is not our friend, it is time to build a better mousetrap.  An ecosystem that is friendly to all of us who love God, country, and family values.  We despise the lies and bias of not only the media, but the control Big Tech has as well.  The Global Elitists, do not serve your best interest.  They only serve their own world view.  By not using their services, we deny their influence. 

I, myself and working on a new project that addresses the core problem with Big Tech.  We can start with our boycott or refusal to use their products.  We can also use other products.  For example,  I now use Clouthub (Unlocked Logic).  My laptop runs on GNU/Linux.  There is more to come.  This is a start of something new.  The future awaits us all.  Let's make it better!

Why the Year 1990 Was So Important

  For most people, the year 1990 was nothing important worth remembering.  In fact, most of what happened, I won't bother mentioning.   However, there were three very important things that did occur relating to one person.  One of those three things is having a major impact on peoples lives today.  

 1.  President Bush broke his campaign promise to the American people to not raise taxes.  His 1988 motto was, "No new taxes".  Within the 1900 budget agreement, created a new series of taxes called, "luxury tax".  That sounded good to some folk, but the results were disastrous.  

  I lived in a community where one of the main employers was a yacht builder.  Apparently, yachts were considered a luxury.  This new tax caused them to loose new orders for yachts.  This had a devastating affect on the local economy where I lived.  It left many people including myself out-of-work.

2.  While all this economic turmoil is going on, President Bush gave an executive order to raise the minimum requirements for unemployment benefits.  This had a devastating impact on those of us who wanted to collect unemployment benefits to survive on.  At that time, I felt like our president double betrayed us.  These two events caused a terrible recession.  

3.  The third thing our president did was something I was unaware of until 2018.  It was the biggest bombshell of all of these three items.  It was called, "The 1990 Immigration Act".  

  The bill was sponsored by Ted Kennedy.  It was passed with bipartisan support.  Here is the list of Senators that voted on this bill.  The House had a unanimous approval vote.  The bill was signed into law on November 29th, 1990.  At the time, it seemed mostly harmless.  It would eventually unpack into a behemoth of economic destruction that still affects working Americans today.  

  This new act allowed the creation of temporary work visas for jobs that were not in the agriculture sector.  The most infamous of those visas was, H1B.   While it was very obscure at first, it became a machine for cheap immigrant labor during the dot com explosion.  Big corporations saw this as an easy way to get cheap labor.  No need to sponsor a green card immigrant.  Just call an employment agency to find a cheap immigrant labor to do the job an American can do.  Originally, they were supposed to be short term temp labor.  Instead, new loopholes were found, created, or converted to green card, to extend those temp workers.  This allowed them to replace highly skilled Americans.  

  Another problem is the affect this has had on the job market.  The massive influx of cheap labor has caused workers wages to go down or not increase the way it should during economic growth.  Real wages were not keeping up with inflation.  These saving at the cost of American workers income and job security.  I am a direct witness to this phenomenon.  The saying, "There are not enough skilled Americans to do those jobs", is a total lie.  There are more than enough local skilled tech workers and college graduates to fill all those positions. 

  In 2016, presidential candidate, Donald Trump said he would look into H1B visa abuse if he was elected.  After he won the election, he seemed to forget his promise.  He did a few minor things, such as ending the fake diploma mills that the foreign laborers were using to gain qualifications for those coveted jobs.  He also resisted the calls to expand the H1B program.  But in reality, the program is still untouched.  

  To the best of my understanding, the much needed repeal must be started by Congress.  Then our President would need to sign the bill into law to straighten out this mess.  We the people really need this to have a true economic recovery.  

  This is our country!  We can do those jobs!  Us tech workers need our elected officials to stand with us and let us go back to work.  

It's Time To Stop Talking and Take Action Against the Beasts that Want to Control Us

 I know I have not been active on this BLOG the past year.  No reasons.  Anyway, I'm back at it.  This time, I have a specific focus on Big Tech.  The way I see it, the root of the problem is not the tech companies themselves, it starts with the software we use.  This includes Adobe, Intuit, Microsoft.  I call them AIM.  They are the worst offenders in there attempts to control the free world.  

Therefore, I am calling for a boycott of this three headed evil beast.  I call this movement, Boycott AIM.

Please join me in this movement to reclaim our individual freedom from these oligarchs who want to impose their wills upon the whole world.   They do not serve our interests, only theirs. 

BOYCOTT AIM!!!

Plenty of Room at the Top

I have been in the tech industry for over 16 years.  Like anything else there is a lot of fiction, rumors, and misunderstandings to sort out from the truth. 

Right now as it stands, there are a few big tech giants that dominate IT field in regards to us users.  They are Google, Apple, and Microsoft.  In recent times, there has been a massive upsurge of angst against these 3 plus social media as well.  If you want to use a smartphone, you don't have much choice. 

So many users, content creators, and IT admins seem to believe they have no other choice.  I grew up near silicon valley.  What made start-ups like Apple possible was that there was no need to invent any new.  A few guys simple took all the hardware and put it all together into one single working unit called, the Apple 1.  The rest is history. 

Nowadays, history can repeat itself.  Except now, it is software.  All the pieces are out there, ready to be put in place.  What is needed is the vision, will power, and teamwork to make it happen.  The opportunity is now.