Remembering Marilyn Dee Parker, 1939 - 2013 on this Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving Day 2018: I look back at the individuals that have had a profound influence in my life. One of them, is Marilyn Dee Parker.  According to an online obituary, Marilyn passed away a day after Thanksgiving Day in 2013, about five years ago.

Mrs. Parker was the principal at the now closed Fort Myers Junior Academy, previously located at 13235 Palm Beach Blvd, Fort Myers, FL 33905. The school was a small K-8 school funded by my church (Fort Myers Seventh-Day Adventist Church), and a ministry supported by Pastor Marvin Williams.

After roofing problems and budget issues, the property was sold and eventually became the Millennium Christian Academy. It was also around this time Mrs. Parker moved on to another state.

While I was sad to see the school go, I was blessed to have been one of the last students there and blessed to have been under Mrs. Parker' tenure.

She made a significant difference in the lives of her students, as she was a very experienced educator and you could see how much she cared for her work. She was strict when we were out of line but focused on ensuring we were exposed to science, math, music, and the arts.

She took over the school when I was in my sixth grade and I was blessed enough to be able to learn from her until I graduated in the 8th grade..

When she arrived, it was my second school year in the United States. I was still adjusting and learning all that is about Southwest Florida and America.

Our middle school was small, and she was the main teacher for multiple grades covering many subjects from geography to creative writing. I remember my first geography report I've ever had to do was over a country called Liechtenstein and I was shaking nervously having to explain up front in class what this country was about. But she encouraged me and others to deliver those reports, to present in front of class, and time after time she pushed her students to be deliver presentations. As stressful as it was, it really helped challenge us and allowed us to learn public speaking.

I also remember her lessons and assignments on metaphors, haikus, general poetry and art. Her husband, David Parker, also setup a small computer science lab where I first learned how to type with Typing Tutor and enjoyed games like Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego. I still remember Mr. Parker talking about naming conventions of files and folders in the new tech back then: Windows 3.1.

Teachers like Mrs. Parker helped instill confidence in her students and was a strong educator that made the best out of small schools. We didn't have a plethora of PCs back then, but we had one very modern one. We didn't have huge stadiums, but we did have a decent field to run in and a large gym. Her teaching methods strict, but were strategic. She didn't prepare us for high school, or even college, she prepared us for the real world.

How lucky, and thankful I am to have had such a great teacher.



Obituary

Memorial services for Marilyn Parker, 74, will be at 11:00 a.m. Sunday, December 8, 2013 at the Seventh-Day Adventist Church of Ardmore.

Viewing and a time of visitation and support for family and friends will be Saturday from 5 to 7 p.m. at Harvey-Douglas Funeral Home.

Marilyn Dee Parker died November 30 at approximately 9:25 AM local time in her home in Ardmore OK. She was preceded in death by her daughter Dawn Gallo, and survived by her husband David and son Kenneth. She devoted her life to teaching, specializing in the late grade school years (e.g., 5th and 6th grades).

Marilyn was born Marilyn Garrison to Walter and Medline Garrison in Flint Michigan in 1939. The Garrisons were German farmer who came to America during the revolutionary war. She attended high school at Adelphian Academy in Holly MI and Southern Missionary College in Eastern Tennessee, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in elementary education and met her husband of 51 years, David Wallace Parker. 

After graduation David and Marilyn taught together at Atholton Adventist Academy (in Colombia MD). After a couple of years, they moved back to MI where she supported David through his master’s degree at Wayne State University and they had their first child, Kenneth. After David graduated they resumed teaching together at Platt Valley Academy in Shelton, NE, where they had their second child, Dawn. After the birth of their second child, she stayed home to raise her children. During this time they moved to Keene TX, Greenville NC, and Richmond VA. During this time she earned a Master’s of Arts (MA) in elementary education from East Carolina University and a second master’s in special education from Virginal Commonwealth University. After returning to work she taught in Pitt County Public School (in NC), Blackwell (in Richmond), and Richmond Junior Academy (in VA). In 1980 she was invited to return to her alma mater (now called Southern College) as a professor of education. She often described this as the best years of her life. Latter to support her family she moved away, returning to school herself, working on a doctorate at University of VA, completing all but a Dissertation. Latter she returned to Richmond, and moved to Wilmington DE. Even after retiring and moving to Fort Myers, FL, she returned to teaching. 

Later she moved to Jefferson TX where her and her husband taught together for the last time. In order to support her daughter (who lived in Ardmore) she moved to Ardmore, but couldn’t resist the urge to teach one more time at Beaver Academy.

She was especially known for her ability of turning around failing schools. She once took over as classroom where the previous teacher had been stabbed, in less than a year she not only restored order, but even more importantly raised the achievement level by 2 grade levels. Scores of parents have written to the family with stories about how she “saved” their child academically.

At the time of her death she had been fighting pancreatic cancer for a year. She had an active, happy thanksgiving with friends and family, but could not be roused from her sleep the following day. She woke briefly to say a few words before her death.
She made a difference in the world, quietly, by improving the minds of countless school children.

She will be missed.

Game changer! Microsoft's HoloLens review (concept)

"Because when you can change the way you see the world, you change the world you see."

HoloLens is an exciting new tech that upgrades on the virtual reality goggles of our time, and conceptually, a step better than Google Glass.  Microsoft has created a world changing tech, a new platform that has mass market appeal because it gives you new perspectives, and can take your imagination further...like on the surface of Mars.

I'm excited on what we can do with this once visual artists, photographers, filmmakers, researchers, and educators invest in this new medium.

An evolution
The concept of holograms has been around for ages and evolved over time as our understanding of lasers and x-rays improved.

It takes some work to create a hologram. You need to setup photographic plates, mirrors, and manipulate your angles. However, Microsoft's Alex Kipman, inventor of Kinect,  took on the challenge of a mass market hologram setup by looking at current available tech: virtual reality goggles. Why spend time and money on setting up an entire physical environment to produce a hologram, when you can let the human brain do the work for you by manipulating what your eyes see.

How it's done
The HoloLens, as this Wired article highlights, creates images using light particles that "bounce around millions of times in the so-called light engine of the device" which essentially tricks your brain into seeing light as matter.

Devs on HoloLens

Trailer

Comparing Thailand's troubles to American politics

A social government under pressure

Thailand's government is under attack.

Typically these types of problems against democratically elected governments are caused by poor, and often uneducated jihadists in Africa and the Middle East. But in Thailand, it's the educated, urban and middle class voters, who have lost five elections in a row, that are protesting and in some cases, violently rebelling against the government.  

Their main contention is that Thaksin Shinawatra, an exiled former prime minister that was overthrown in a military coup and convicted for a conflict of interest case, is attempting to come back to Thailand by influencing the government to pass an amnesty bill.  

Thaksin's party is the most popular political force in the country through its socialistic welfare like policies.  Its programs has helped pushed health care coverage from 76% of the population to 96%, and cut poverty in half.  An example of its anti-poverty measures include buying up agricultural products such as rice above market prices.

A shrewd politician, he has elevated the poor, and expanded massive infrastructure jobs, but has isolated the middle class such as health professionals who have taken in more patients but less revenue.  International aid organizations like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned Thailand of the dangers behind some of its social programs as non-sustainable.

Similarities with American politics

Not unlike American politics, a socialistic platform have lifted up the Democratic Party and opened up the way for the first ever election of an African-American president.  However, despite having a complete majority in Congress in Obama's first term, and complete control of the executive branch of government, the Democratic Party was unable to prevent historical back to back credit rating downgrades of the United States in 2011.  They have also created additional taxes against the middle class to support new universal health care coverage, and impacted professionals with lower payouts in Medicare.

The only thing that hasn't happened yet, in contrast to Thailand, is a coordinated nationwide rebellion against the ruling party.  Thankfully, the American electorate still respect the Constitution and will still voice their displeasure at the voting booth instead of firing a gun.

Help the Philippines: donate money or give water tablets

What's happening

By now, you are probably aware that the most powerful typhoon in world history (Haiyan) that hit land has wiped out certain towns in central Philippines.  Casualties are estimated to be around 2,500.  The worst hit areas have been on the island of Leyte, where storm surges above 13-15 ft surprised typhoon hardened residents.  There's millions left homeless and there's a dire need for food and water throughout central Philippines.

While the national and provincial governments warned all citizens to evacuate from the coastal area, nothing could prepare them for the storm surge that went well into the cities.  A renewed understanding of storm surges and it's potential impact 5-8 miles inland is going to be the biggest lesson that's learned from this tragedy.

How you can help: financial assistance (impact: immediate)

Financially
An organization I trust is Adventist Development and Relief Agency.  They've been on the ground in anticipation of the typhoon and have local presence in the Philippines.  In terms of accountability, they are highly ranked 4 out of 4 stars by Charity Navigator.   DONATE HERE

The American Red Cross is mobilizing hundreds of trucks and teams to disaster areas through the Red Cross of the Philippines.  Also highly ranked 4 out of 4 stars in terms of accountability by Charity Navigator.  DONATE HERE

If you are an American taxpayer, note these are tax deductible donations and can also reduce your taxes.  Work with your tax advisor for more details.

How you can help with water tablets (impact: < 2 weeks)

There are some tangible ways to donate to the Philippines.  Water is a basic need in any disaster but shipping tons of water is heavy, bulky, and impractical.  Dirty water in the Philippines is widely available via local streams, rainwater, aquifers, and can be converted to drinkable water by boiling it and using water purification tablets.

Dell Venue Pro 11 - where are all the options? (Dell confirms next week)

The new Dell Venue Pro 11 order page is now available but it's lacking certain high end configurations!  Shipment date is also pegged to be on December 13th.  Here's what one Dell representative had to say about this...

11/08/2013 04:00:12PM don sausa: "Can you access this link?"

11/08/2013 04:00:12PM don sausa: "http://www.dell.com/us/p/dell-venue-11-pro/pd"

11/08/2013 04:00:41PM don sausa: "About 3 pages down you will see a chart called "Dell Tablet Family""

11/08/2013 04:00:56PM don sausa: "there are two models listed, Venue 8 Pro and Venue 11 Pro"

11/08/2013 04:01:03PM don sausa: "in the venue 11 Pro, it says "Up to 8GB""

11/08/2013 04:01:11PM don sausa: "and it also says "Up to 256GB" in terms of SSD"

11/08/2013 04:01:19PM don sausa: "hard drive"

11/08/2013 04:01:37PM don sausa: "Those two options - the 8GB RAM and the 256GB hard drive -- how come they are not available?"

11/08/2013 04:02:10PM Agent (Aileen A): "I do apologize for the inconvenience Don. But as of now we only have the 4GB Ram configuration"

11/08/2013 04:02:24PM don sausa: "Can you ask your supervisor when the new one would come out?"

11/08/2013 04:04:12PM Agent (Aileen A): "Just checked.../"

11/08/2013 04:04:30PM Agent (Aileen A): "that configuration will be available in a week or so."

11/08/2013 04:04:46PM don sausa: "Okay that's the info I was waiting for. :-)"

11/08/2013 04:04:55PM Agent (Aileen A): "if you want i can email you personally if the configuration you want is already available"

11/08/2013 04:05:01PM don sausa: "Yes please."

SOLUTION: Nvidia Kernel Mode Driver errors

This is one of the most annoying errors I've come up against using NVIDIA graphic cards and judging from others' online posts, many have faced similar problems.  Unfortunately, "Display driver NVIDIA Windows Kernel Mode Driver, Version stopped [] responding and has successfully recovered" doesn't exactly communicate what's going on with the video card.

In my own experience, this error kept looping over and over again while I playing video games. 

Problem Identification

1. You may need to update your video card drivers.
2. You may have an incompatible program/video game that's causing the issue.
3. Your card maybe experiencing too much heat.
4. You may have a bad video card.

The solutions for #1, #2, and #4, are fairly straightforward.  Update your drivers, test other programs.  And if you can exchange for the same model video card to test, go ahead and do it.  But the third issue in particular, overheating, is often overlooked in most online posts.  

You need to monitor your internal PC / GPU temperatures to see if it's simply an overheating problem.  Your overall cooling solution, or lack of, in your personal computer/laptop might be the cause.

Solution for #3: SpeedFan
This free program helps you monitor all of your fans, measure core temperatures, and allows you to set thresholds to improve your system's cooling.  This simple freeware program helped reduce heat problems in my system and the kernel driver errors no longer appeared.

Safe CNET Download Link: Speedfan

Dell Venue 11 Pro release date (Dell rep confirms)

Dell gets it...finally a tablet for the enterprise user

I think the new Dell Venue 11 Pro tablet is a winner.  A company does innovative things when it's losing market share, and Dell has done well by releasing a product that many enterprise users are waiting for.

Enterprise users are done with underpowered iPad toys with quirky little 99 cent apps.  While cool and it gives another time sink for our idle lives, the Venue 11 Pro promises real work in tablet form, much like the Surface Pro.

The main difference between Microsoft's tablet and Dell's?  The Venue 11 Pro has replaceable batteries, giving you more mobility.  You aren't tied to a power outlet.  Secondly, there's 3G/LTE capabilities, meaning unlike the Surface Pro, you can access the Internet natively through a data plan.

Power.  Mobility.  Connectivity.

Goodbye iPad, you're just a stepping stone for something greater.

The tablet release date is tentatively November 12th.

UPDATE #1: Looks like certain configurations are now available. I still don't see the 8GB RAM and 250GB SSD HD spec on there though. Furthermore, the ship date seems to be on December 13th. If you can't wait for this, the best next step is buying the Razer Edge Pro 256GB.

UPDATE #2: Here's more information from a Dell representative on when the high-end configurations would be available.

Time	Details
10/25/2013 11:32:37AM	Session Started with Agent (Sohrab K)
10/25/2013 11:32:37AM	don sausa: "."
10/25/2013 11:32:49AM	Agent (Sohrab K): "Welcome to Dell US Chat! My name is Sohrab Alam Khan and I will be your Dell.com Sales Chat Expert. I can be reached at  xxx. How can I help you today?"
10/25/2013 11:32:53AM	don sausa: "Sohrab when is Dell Venue 11 available?"
10/25/2013 11:33:16AM	Agent (Sohrab K): "Glad you chatted in today, I'd be happy to help you"
10/25/2013 11:33:41AM	Agent (Sohrab K): "Don Venue 11 will be launched in the 2nd week of November"
10/25/2013 11:33:58AM	Agent (Sohrab K): "we do have the Venue 7 , 8 and Venue 8 pro available now"
10/25/2013 11:34:02AM	Agent (Sohrab K): "would you like me to recommend a great deal based on your usage"
10/25/2013 11:43:35AM	don sausa: "What date"
10/25/2013 11:43:49AM	don sausa: "How long does it take to ship?"
10/25/2013 11:44:05AM	Agent (Sohrab K): "it shows post 12th and delivery we have 5-7 days"
10/25/2013 11:44:13AM	Agent (Sohrab K): "launch date is 12th"
10/25/2013 11:44:53AM	Agent (Sohrab K): "we also offer next day delivery"
10/25/2013 11:45:00AM	Agent (Sohrab K): "there is a charge of $25"

Buy or give this book as a gift:

(FIX) Unable to change priority. The operation could not be completed. Access denied.

Problem: When I try to change the priority of a process in Task Manager, it gives me an error:

"Unable to change priority. The operation could not be completed. Access denied."

Solution:  This issue plagued me for a few minutes and saw quite a few folks have issues about this on the Internet.  The first issue could be that you don't have administrative access (admin) on your PC.  Assuming that's not the case, since you're smarter than that and even searched for an answer on the Internet, the probable issue is that Task Manager needs to be re-run as admin.  Click Show processes from all users or Start -> Run -> taskmgr, right click and run as admin.

Why do I want to change priorities of a process?  You may want to give certain programs higher access/priority vs others.  Let's say you're working on an extremely important Excel workbook or doing video or image editing, you can set other programs at a lower priority and focus on your most important tasks.  This "speeds" up your work, but in reality you're manually adjusting and tweeking what works best for you and not what Windows thinks should be done.

Photogs beware: phishing attempt (AHG or Art Hunters Group)

I'm posting this warning so some of my photog friends who run online galleries don't get trapped by this suspicious attempt to get your personal information.  I LOL'd at this attempt as they tried to phish for my info.  ;-)  

A new domain (arthuntersgroup.com) created just a couple days ago is representing itself to be some sort of art consortium.  The email starts out like the one pasted below and the URLs bring  you through somewhere in Poland. The arthuntersgroup.com web site is hosted somewhere in Provo, Utah using hostmonster.com.  

----------------

Please let me introduce myself. I am Elizabeth Longdale, Art&Design Blog Research Coordinator at the AHG (Art Hunters Group). We specialize in head-hunting services for businesses from the field of graphics, design and photography.

Currently we are gathering the artists, designers and photographers for one of our clients, a newly launched art startup specializing in releasing handpicked artworks on metal plates.

We believe that your blog  XXXXX has the potential to be published there.

The site is currently closed and "members only". If you are interested please use the following invitation url (usable only once):  XXXXX

Should you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me directly.

Best Regards
Elizabeth Longdale
Art&Design Blog Research Coordinator @ AHG
----------------

Teleperformance in Davao?

Check out Teleperformance Philippines' Facebook posting today to see the latest buzz.

About Teleperformance

Teleperformance is the largest BPO company in the world, and considered as #1 by several industry analysts, including prestigious research firms like Gartner, who recently ranked all of the BPOs worldwide. Their results consistently has placed Teleperformance as the worldwide leader in contact center services:

Davao City - the place to be

Davao City is now officially on the BPO road map with the largest contact center company now actively recruiting for positions.

New cancer treatment isolates chemo from body

Great news recently in cancer research.  We all know that chemotherapy can kill good and bad cells.  This is why so many refuse treatment and why they choose to live out their days trying out alternative treatments.  In the UK, doctors at Southampton General Hospital have been able to isolate specific organs in applying chemotherapy; therefore, greatly reducing the damage to healthy cells and also reducing the recovery period for the patient.

An interesting write up can be found here and here.

"A night stroll in Houhai" shot on Canon 7D - 60 Seconds of Culture

Houhai is a recreational lake area in central Beijing. It is famous for its nightlife and is home to many popular restaurants, bars, and cafes as well as recreational boating activities.

If you haven't been to Houhai, you haven't been to Beijing.

Shot around June 2010 using a Canon EOS 7D camera.

Photography by Don Sausa
Music score ("Dancing Leaves") by Ben Beiny
Video techniques available on Camera 7D.

Find more vids on my channel here:

Review: The Sound of Music at Resorts World Manila

The Sound of Music @ Resorts World Manila
Originally uploaded by Don Sausa

The Sound of Music is a 1959 Broadway musical by Richard Rodgers.

Resorts World Manila started production of this musical in October, at their brand new 1,500 seater performing arts theater.

The musical was inspired by the true story of a WWI naval war hero, Georg von Trapp, and his family's journey through the loss of a spouse, a second marriage and a second world war.

The near 3 hour musical focuses on first the developing love story of Georg and Maria, and then highlights the Trapp family's musical act that made them famous around the world. And then finally, their struggle against the Nazis and their escape away from their native home of Austria, which was annexed by the Germans in 1938.

While this didn't take away from the outstanding performance of the cast in portraying this classic, I felt there were too many "attendants" with LED flash lights roaming around the theater. What in the world are they looking for? Folks filming this with their cell phones?

Despite the tiny annoyance of attendants scurrying along the corner of your eye every few minutes, my daughter and son loved seeing the Trapp kids sing and dance around the stage and my wife was genuinely mesmerized with the love story. There's not much that can top a good musical that can entertain the youth and inspire even the more mature audiences. I certainly enjoyed the familiar songs of yesteryear and it took me back to fond memories of my junior and high school years. (Yeah, I was lucky enough to go to schools that encouraged to use all parts of our brains.)

If you are near Metro Manila and want to add some cultural depth to your weekend activities, I'd recommend the Sound of Music.

Flickr enhances privacy, adds geofences

Flickr, the world's premier photo sharing site made a major improvement to its privacy controls these past few weeks.  If you use Flickr and share location information of your photographs, you need to spend a few minutes and read about their new geofences privacy features.

I'm glad that despite having some highly publicized lay offs , they managed to improve the site and integrate geolocation controls.  The new geofences tool gives users the ability to hide location information if it is too close for comfort.  For instance, you may want to remove geolocation information on your home pictures, or make sure that only your contacts or family members can see them.

Repairing your personal UPS power supply by replacing the battery

If you have lived in a country that's didn't have a quality power grid, then I'm sure you can relate to this post.  In developing countries, constant fluctuations occur with the power supply and with the voltage.

This spells trouble for many electronic devices.  Without consistent power supply or without stable voltage, your latest gadget could fry within seconds if it is left unprotected.  That's why computer shops and office supply stores near my area sell a lot of surge protectors, voltage regulators, and uninterruptible power supply (UPS) units.

My preference will always be UPS+surge protector units like APC's Back-UPS ES 500.  They give me a few crucial minutes to shutdown my computers and other devices properly; hence, reducing the chance of data loss or equipment damage.  But the batteries within these UPS units are typically not heavy duty and do not last long against the constant voltage changes.  So if you find that your UPS unit dies out and it is no longer under warranty, don't think you have to totally replace it.  You may just need to change the battery.  You can still save it by buying a battery replacement.

Steps on how to fix it

1. Unplug all devices, unplug the UPS unit, and make sure it is fully drained (no battery life, doesn't turn on).
2. Buy a 12v9Ah/20HR battery from any hardware store (note: your UPS unit maybe different from mine and the battery unit might be different).  In this case, I bought an Akari branded battery.
3. Get a Philips screwdriver and unscrew the 5 screws from the bottom part of the UPS unit.
4. Take note and remember the placement of the two power plugs - red and black - that you see on the old battery.
5. Remove those power plugs and replace the old battery.
6. Screw it back on and put in the screws back in place (wait 15 minutes before plugging in anything new into the sockets).  

Viola!  Your UPS unit should be fully working like new.  If it still does not function, you either did it wrong or there's other issues with the unit.

An open letter in response to the OWS open letter

This is the open letter I'm responding to.


While I'm not the person being addressed, I wanted to talk about the liberal viewpoint and their perception of what is proper work ethic.

Let's start this conversation by stating this fact: I live in a planet that has 2 of 3 Americans overweight (including the OWS protestors that are "poor") and in a world that has people dying every 3.6 seconds due to starvation -- and most of these folks that die hungry are under the age of 5.

Now with that framework, let's continue reading.


Do you really want the bar set this high?

Why not? Compared to the world that has kids dying every few seconds, we should feel lucky that we have the opportunities here in this wonderful country to set any bar "high".

Do you really want to live in a society where just getting by requires a person to hold down two jobs and work 60 to 70 hours a week?

This is a country where there's tons of opportunities to move up in class. College education for high school grads are deeply discounted for those that have good grades. Hospitals and desperate medical facilities will pay for your tuition and license fees if you graduate as a nurse. I know many people that work hard in low paying jobs only to find higher paying jobs by getting an education that the market needs. What is wrong with this?

Is that your idea of the American Dream?

My American dream is that you work hard, get work experience or an education that the market needs, you land a decent job, then you can pay for your expenses and take care of your family. The majority of the world does not have this. I'm lucky enough to understand this concept because I lived poor from another country. From my point of view, the protestors look extremely spoiled. Given mostly free education up to high school, significant amount of employment (91% have jobs), and a college system that gives deep discounts on tuitions or scholarships for folks with high grades. If your state doesn't have that, move. Plus a federal govt that actually pays for education if you join part time reserves in the Coast Guard or other branches that's not directly involved in armed conflict?

The opportunities here are enormous. Wake up to what you have and appreciate it.

Do you really want to spend the rest of your life working two jobs and 60 to 70 hours a week? Do you think you can? Because, let me tell you, kid, that’s not going to be as easy when you’re 50 as it was when you were 20.

The rest of the world does, and I actually love work. Surprise. I don't think I'll stop working -- ever. It's not about the money, it's the love for work. But America has opportunities, there's tons of positions in health care that continues to be left unfilled. It doesn't matter what age either -- you can find work if you really want to. You can get an education if you really want to.

And what happens if you get sick? You say you don’t have health insurance, but since you’re a veteran I assume you have some government-provided health care through the VA system. I know my father, a Vietnam-era veteran of the Air Force, still gets most of his medical needs met through the VA, but I don’t know what your situation is. But even if you have access to health care, it doesn’t mean disease or injury might not interfere with your ability to put in those 60- to 70-hour work weeks.

Doesn't the American govt and taxpayers provide more than enough? If you are poor, Medicaid. If you are a senior, Medicare. If you are disabled?  Social Security.  But are we forgetting responsibility of our family members as well?

Most illnesses that is not caused by lifestyle or personal choices (nearly 2 of 3 Americans are overweight), are the common cold and bacterial infection. If it's bacterial, antibiotics are mainly provided for free by most pharmacies and deeply discounted in retail chains like WalMart.

Let's get educated on health care, let's understand what causes the problems (bad diet/no exercise/smoking), and if we want to talk about specific points or illnesses, let's look at it and how much of that is a personal responsibility and how much of that is an issue that the rest of America has to pay for. (Example: Instead of a $3,000 operation that a US medical facility might charge you due to overhead expenses in labor/minimum wage laws and malpractice insurance, could you take an $800 flight and $300 bill in a professional facility in another country to get it done?)

Do you plan to get married, have kids? Do you think your wife is going to be happy with you working those long hours year after year without a vacation? Is it going to be fair to her? Is it going to be fair to your kids? Is it going to be fair to you?

Lots of subjectivity here and lack of respect for contentment. Travel outside of the world and you will realize what real hunger is. Do you put food on the table? Do your kids have a better chance than you because they went through school? Can your wife work or take up classes in college after the kids have grown? Improve your family status if you want to, and stop comparing yourselves to others -- because if you do, compare down as well as up. You'll realize you are extremely lucky to have not been born elsewhere and instead in America.

But by the time we got through the Great Depression and WWII, we’d all learned some valuable lessons about working together and sharing the prosperity, and the 8-hour workday became the norm.

Are we forgetting the other story?

And then the unions became more selfish and killed every industry it touched (auto/GM/Ford/airlines/etc).  Companies who have investors (70% of American households invest in retirement accounts that invest in corporations) had to move their business to other states or countries to make a profit.

Other Asian companies saw this mockery of work, innovated and built cars and have even built factories in America just to show how it's done.

Let's not totally forget that side of the story -- that the legacy costs of union demands have almost wiped out our once golden industries. Thank goodness for the foreigners that built factories here, learned from GM/Ford/etc, and reminded us of the original American work ethic, innovation, and quality.  We are just now catching up to our competitors.

There needs to be workers rights - sure - but not to the extent where companies go belly up and can't compete.  Unions are no longer about fair treatment but how much they squeeze out of a corporation.

Anyway, do you understand what I’m trying to say?

Yes, you want more stuff for less work.  Your level of comfort is what the "dream" is about.  One statistic tells it all.  2 of 3 Americans are overweight, while in the rest of the world, every 3.6 seconds one person dies of starvation. Usually it is a child under the age of 5. (Source: UNICEF)

The point?  Stop being spoiled, appreciate what you have, and work.

Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of people that agree with your attitude, and it is very much so prevalent in the PIGS. (Portugal, Italy, Greece, Spain)  Read up how they are doing.

Occupy Wall Street truth pill: About those evil corporations

This video summarizes what #ows (Occupy Wall Street) protests are all about. They make general statements about corporate greed and apparently that's enough to demand for free hand outs. What's worst is that the mindless hordes (aka zombies) generalize corporations as evil.

About 70% of American households invest in corporations through retirement accounts. Corporations have to produce profit and create shareholder wealth. In essence, part of their job is to make sure 70% of American households have more money than what they originally started with. Is this wrong? Most logical people would say, no. But zombies, do they understand this?

It is wrong when people do fraudulent activities. It is also wrong when mindless hordes say corporate executives who break the law do not go to jail or have not been punished. I have listed just a small sample of people that have gone to jail. But do zombies understand this?

Jeff Skilling, former CEO of Enron, Serving 24 years for fraud, insider trading, and other crimes related to the collapse of Enron

Bernie Ebbers, former CEO of WorldCom, Serving 25 years for accounting fraud that cost investors over $100 billion

Dennis Kozlowski, former CEO of Tyco, Serving 8 to 25 years for stealing $134 million from Tyco

John Rigas, former CEO of Adelphia Communications, Serving 25 years for bank, wire, and securities fraud related to the demise of Adelphia

Sanjay Kumar, former CEO of Computer Associates, Serving 12 years for obstruction of justice and securities fraud

Walter Forbes, former CEO of Cendant, Serving 12 years for fraud

Richard Scrushy, former CEO of HealthSouth, Serving 7 years for bribery and mail fraud

Joseph Nacchio, former CEO of Qwest Communications, Serving 6 years for insider trading

Sam Waksal, former CEO of ImClone, Served 7 years for securities fraud (released last year)

Martin Grass, former CEO of Rite Aid, Served 6 years for fraud and obstruction (just released this year)

Don't be a zombie

Click here to see those that are fighting against the zombies!

You may have heard about the recent mindless Wall Street protests.  Gotta love the catchy slogans and play on statistics.  I was thinking, not so deeply about this the other day, that I want my own personal slogan too: "Don't be a zombie."

Good one?

Here's my quick play on slogans and statistics:

• I was part of the 15% - percentage of people below the poverty line.  In the Philippines, it's more like 40%, but we're going with American statistics for now.  Yep, I still remember I couldn't buy a piece of bread back in the day because I didn't have 2 cents (price of cheesebread in Cebu).
• My family did their best to be part of the 55% - percentage of people with some college education in America.
• Then they became part of the 3%, the percentage of people with professional degrees, thanks to friends and family members like my Aunt Helen.  We then migrated to America (legally) and my parents even chased more degrees.  Yes, even now.  They never stop learning!
• We also became part of the 3% (again) -- that's the percentage of Americans, who were initially immigrants, that pledged their allegiance to the U.S. Constitution because they believed in the principles of  America, including that if you work hard, you educate yourself enough, you will be part of the "American dream".
• I became part of the 53%, that's the percentage of households paying their taxes in America. I started my first job when I was 16 years old at a local computer shop.  
• Life got better, with hard work, the right attitude, and the right schooling.

Get an education -- one that the market needs -- and you'll find a solid job.

Live within your own means.

And the American dream -- will be an American reality.

Don't be a zombie.

Twitter hash tags:
#DontBeAZombie
#iamthe53

Wall Street crisis -- this is a great time to buy

When it comes to stock market crashes, there's usually three types of reactions:

(1) Sell.

(2) Hold.

(3) Buy.

When I know a market crash is coming like the one coming on Monday after S&P's questionable downgrade on America's prestigious triple A rating (AAA), my reaction is to sell smart and use the capital to buy more.

Each investor has a different life goal and different idea of when they are retiring, so your strategy must fit your goal.

In my case, it will be decades before I retire (and probably won't stop working); hence, I can afford to sell what I think won't give me any returns in the next couple of years and use that same capital to buy up companies that will outperform the market.

The psychology of fear is a valuable tool for the long term investor.  When there is a universal sell off, you can take advantage of it.  When you know a company has strong fundamentals, and is battered down by emotions rather than facts, that's when you buy.  My advice to young investors out there: this is a great time to buy.

Domain names cheaper than GoDaddy

A few years ago, GoDaddy used to be the #1 seller for domain names as they were selling them for discounted prices.  With competitors around the world pushing the price down, the company has shifted strategies to packaged deals and have set their .com pricing to $11.99.

Now if you want to save $1.99/year -- you can technically buy a GoDaddy domain name through Google, which only resells it for $10.00, plus get free Google app services!