Blog Archives

Tech Giants

7/29/2020

The tech giants such as Apple, FaceBook, and Google, are getting ripped apart by both Democrats and Republicans in a Congressional Hearing. It isn't often that the parties are aligned but with Democrats wanting to make it look like they are taking on the fight against big business while Republicans are attacking these companies for being proactively liberal, they both have issues with these large companies who can reach consumers far better than anyone else. FaceBook alone has over three billion users and over one billion people have done searches over this last year at Google. No other companies have this kind of reach so when they get engaged in public policies, it can be scary for both parties because they hate losing any kind of control.

The best interaction I saw was when Jim Jordan (R), challenged Google regarding them pulling out of a military contract because their employees said they didn't believe in our military and loss of life. So instead of handling it professionally they sent a letter which included employee feedback, to the officer in charge of the bidding and project. So they pulled back from working with the Federal Government on military issues and sent a letter versus calling first. This is disgustingly unprofessional.

Jordan asked the representative from Google why they weren't willing to help the U..S.'s military when they were already working with China to help their military. Jordan made a great point when he asked isn't this treason? Isn't it treason when you hurt your own country and make our greatest competitor, China, even stronger? We know of the horrific things China has done not to mention how some of their people are treated . Why aren't Google's employees upset about how China does things and how their military is used against their own people? Every day I see examples of young people who think they're smarter than everyone else yet they don't have a clue what's happening in the real world. Why else would protestors/rioters tear down statues of people who helped end slavery? Because they didn't know. Actually they don't care anyway. It's just an opportunity to demonstrate the power they have, a power that Republicans want to end yet Democrats want to celebrate. Two very different ideologies.

The greatest problem with these tech giants is that they have so much control over content that is read and discussed across the world. They've been caught numerous times blocking conservative commentary. They've taken conservative organizations and have stripped them from their search engines. FaceBook has black listed various conservatives and they had to fight to get their rights back to the site just like Democrats were enjoying. Many of their employees insert their ideology in areas they influence at Google. I can't tell you how many times I've heard the tech giants acknowledge that there is an "isolated," problem and will address it with their employees. What really happens, we don't know. Kind of hard to discipline employees when there aren't policies that prevent them from doing what they are doing. By the way, have you ever noticed that the one Party who consistently gets taken advantage of is the Republican Party? Why is this? If there wasn't a case of bias then surely around half the time the Democrats would be negatively impacted.

Religious Zealots

7/17/2020

Masada, which means “fortress” in Hebrew, is a mountaintop stronghold in the Judean desert, built on a rocky mesa rising abruptly 2,000 feet above the nearby Dead Sea. It was renovated by Herod the Great between 37 and 31 B.C. When Jerusalem was taken by the Romans in A.D. 70, the last remaining rebels, a Jewish sect known as the Zealots, revolted and seized the fortress in their last stand against Roman rule. They refused to surrender. This is where the phrase "Religious Zealots, " comes from.

With plenty of food and water, this group of about 1,000 men, women, and children led by a military strategist called: Eleazar, held off the whole Roman army for more than two years. After this long siege, 15,000 Roman soldiers from the Tenth Legion raised an enormous Earth ramp and broke through the walls. They found the bodies of over 960 men, women, and children, victims of a suicide pact to keep the Romans from taking them as slaves. All but seven killed themselves rather than yield to their enemies.

The Masada site was rediscovered in 1842 and extensively excavated between 1963 and 1965. Today tourists either hike up the 2,000 feet to see the Masada or they take a cable car. Masada has remained largely untouched by humans for over 2,000 years. A museum now displays findings, and tours are given daily, telling the story of the zealots who refused to give in.

Slavery

7/17/2020

Slavery existed as far back as historians could write. The Israelites were slaves several times. Slaves were typically used to power ships for over a thousand years. Slavery basically existed anywhere where territorial disputes occurred. Blacks were slaves in Africa well before there was a slave trade. When one tribe defeated another, usually the women and children were kept as slaves and the men were usually killed. Sad as it may sound, many blacks had their lives extended because they became a commodity that African tribes could sell.

Same thing in our country when we arrived. There were numerous Indian tribes but they were fading in number because as the larger tribes began attacking the weaker ones, their land was taken and the women and children were placed into slavery and the men killed. On a personal note, I dislike that we rooted American Indians out of their land but whites weren't the only race oppressing other humans over the thousands of years we've been roaming the earth. But this truth doesn't stop people from demonizing our country. Think about it, every country in the G-8 was engaged in slavery at one point or another and it wasn't always African Americans who were made slaves.

Since blacks were willing to enslave other blacks in Africa, they have no moral authority to place the sole blame of slavery on white people. They were willing to enslave fellow blacks when they arrived in the U.S., as these wealthier black Americans weren't only part of the slave trade and making money, there were also around 10,000 slaves that were owned by African Americans. Once again, even though this is the case, white people are blamed for bringing this evil into the world.

This is what we're up against. We're called names. We're said to be morally bankrupt when all the evidence shows something entirely different. I've mentioned this before but there's absolutely no evidence that African Americans are more morally conscious than whites or any other race. There's no evidence that if the roles were reversed, that blacks would've refused to enslave whites. It makes no sense that they wouldn't. They were willing to enslave people from their own race, why in the world wouldn't they be willing to put white people in chains? There's not even evidence that blacks would've fought through the court system and on the battlefield, to free white slaves. Would they have done it? No one knows for sure but based on factual data, there's nothing to say that they would've been any better than white slave owners. Think about it, we are judged by African Americans over our morality when they don't have the moral authority to do so. Shoot, Democrats and the media both make it appear that whites should be ashamed.

Lastly, slavery did exist but white people living today, and several generations before us, had nothing to do with slavery. A very small percentage of Americans had ancestors who were slave owners. Mostly rich people with large plantations owned slaves and there weren't that many of them. If someone had a relative living back then, more than likely he or she was either a farmer or a tradesman. So not only should whites not be demonized for slavery because our families had absolutely nothing to do with it, but even if they did, we are not responsible for choices made back in history. It would be ridiculous. Thus why for so many reasons, there should never be reparations.

Please speak up. I've stopped being worried about how I'm perceived by people who quite frankly, I don't respect. In many cases it's not about creating change because quite frankly there's not much we can do beyond the many things our country has done for the African American community such as the trillions of dollars that have been spent helping them with clothing, food, shelter, etc. Instead of seeing where we could actually improve things it has gotten to the primary goal of revenge. It's about making white people suffer like they've "supposedly," suffered even though it's not true that they have.

They don't have a clue about using separate restrooms, water fountains, schools, etc. For sixty years, they've had the benefits that blacks and whites have fought and died for with legislation like The Civil Rights Act. They aren't being oppressed like their ancestors. They act like they have and that they're justified in shaming white people but they aren't. There is no systemic racism and they have absolutely no proof that there is, but it doesn't stop them from pushing a false narrative with the help of Democrats and the mainstream media that they are victims of white people. They want us to pay for our sins. What sins? I'm okay with being held accountable for my behaviors but I refuse to be held accountable for others.

The bottom line is that race relations will never improve to any reasonable level, if African Americans continue to blame others for their plight. It's just common sense and logic.

If we remain quiet about allowing people to block the streets, loot and set buildings on fire, assault other people, then when will it end? How bad can things get? Fight the good fight. Don't allow other people to use false narratives just because of the color of your skin. Demand that you be judged by the content of your character and not accept the Democratic Party's attempt at demonizing our beloved country.

Please keep in mind, that what I wrote above isn't a statement about all African Americans. Millions of blacks agree that no one can fix their core problems but themselves. They don't demonize white people. In other words, there are awesome African Americans who use common sense and logic versus following a philosophy that is predicated upon no accountability for someone's own actions. It's hard to improve when we point a finger at someone else and place all the blame there versus looking inside for answers.

Instant Coffee

7/12/2020

Variations of instant coffee have been around for over 100 years. A coffee company talked the Union Army into trying their product which all it took was to put the granules in a cup and then add hot water. It was so bad that the soldiers refused to drink it. Plus getting hot water was a challenge because it was already difficult boiling enough water to keep up hydration for the troops.

The first (1876), commercially successful instant coffee brand was Camp Coffee out of Scotland. Nescafe entered the market in 1938 with a better tasting coffee and relatively low retails and took over as the main brand in the category.

Bonus trivia. Vacuum packed, freeze dried coffee, was invented right after WWII. The technology was owned by a company called: Florida Foods so then another company bought Florida Foods and at the same time changed their name to be more marketable across the entire U.S. What is this company's name? Minute Maid.

Rubik's Cube

7/11/2020

The Rubik's Cube was invented by an architecture from Hungary in the early 1970's. It was initially designed to be a tool to help architects better visualize working in 3-D, but some visionary from Ideal Toy Corporation bought the Cube (originally called Magic Cube), and went with the inventors name instead and called it "Rubik's Cube."

It launched in Hungary in 1980 and quickly made its way around the world. Amazingly, around 40 years after it was invented it is still going strong. What used to take many of us several minutes to solve, young kids these days are doing it in less than a minute. By the way, the toy company thought it would be easier to launch a product called "Rubik's," than "Magic Cube," because of the potential lawsuits using the word "Magic," as part of a brand name. I like that the investor used Rubik's name as he didn't have to.

Gaming

7/11/2020

Hard to believe but the original coin-operated pinball machines first went on the market in the 1930's. in 1971, Students from Stanford University came up with a video game that I really liked called: "Galaxy." Another one of my favorites is "Space Invaders," in 1978. Atari came out in 1972, with what was at the time an exciting game to play, and it was called: "Pong." Pac Man was introduced in 1980, still one of the greatest arcade games of all time. Ms. Pac Mann followed two years later. When gaming companies like Atari came out, it was so exciting yet we didn't have a clue how far it would advance. Total immersion in video games will continue and it will become even more difficult to get anyone to play Monopoly. :)

Playing Dirty

7/10/2020

I cringe during the few times I've heard Biden speak over the last several months. His campaign manager must consider Covid-19 a godsend as it limits Biden's ineffective exposure as far as his campaign goes.

He really hits a nerve with me when he tries to make it appear that he's an outsider; just a good ole' boy taking on the machine in D.C. How can he say this? Or at least how can he make this claim with a straight face today, about ending systemic racism once and for all.

Does he think we're idiots?! If he didn't address "systemic," racism as VP reporting to an African American president, then how could he do it now? Of course when it's a manufactured problem, since there's no actual evidence of systemic racism, he's got nothing to fix but this is how Democrats roll: 1) Create a problem. 2) Blame problem on Republicans. 3) Demonize Republicans for not getting anything done in solving the "fake," problem. All the while they have their partners in crime, the mainstream media, helping them get their message out every step of the way.

It's like paying off the refs during a sporting event. It's a dirty way to play and win but politicians have no problem rolling around in the mud with fellow "Honorable," members serving in the House and Senate.