Some records I just don’t keep very well. About three years ago I invested in a S. African company that manufactures electronic payment cards. The stock doubled, but it turns out after a certain delay, I had to give up the stock or trade it for another stock that was listed on the N. American exchanges. That new stock quickly went nowhere at all. Sigh, for a moment there, I felt a little rich. This is the universal payment system used instead of money in some emerging economies. It is a rechargeable card made by a company that has been in business for decades. Plus I acted on an inside tip, a friend of a friend of a broker’s girlfriend. Hey, as far as I am concerned, Martha Stewart did nothing wrong selling her stock when somebody tipped her off. She, and everyone, has a right to act on any information, if you ask me. When you force on people the choice of obeying the law or protecting themselves, it is your tough luck when they choose the latter. It was the person who tipped her off that broke the law, not her.
Just as I figured, people using the new microwave for popcorn are upsetting others. The original plan was to ban popcorn, but “the majority got out-voted”. I eagerly await news of the Mars landers, as usual everyone else but the Americans seem to fail at getting something down to the surface. Yankee know-how. Actually, I am disappointed, because when I was a kid it seemed something new was happening every month, and I thought Mars was just a year behind the Moon.
I logged onto the site with the original Rover, the one where they let people e-mail which way they wanted the vehicle to travel. Whenever I thought about it and came up with a good reason for wanting to turn one direction, in the slight delay it took to think, thousands instantly opted to go the opposite direction. It was frustrating, I left. But it seems I heard later the crowd drove the thing into a large rock and crashed it. Typical.
My documentation arrived today, good until 2008. The first thing travelers learn is that the jurisdiction of most places ends at its border. That, at least, is still a good thing. It allows some leeway in operations. While I am all for patriotism, that does not extend to forcing public demands on those born here. I have never promised anyone I would do anything for free. Thus I was very quick to notice that the further away you come from, the more they leave you alone. To me, that is worth many times more than almost any alternative.
[Author’s note: forgive it I always over-explain the following, it is something I fell strongly about. For the record, I am against the use of using records kept for one purpose to be abused for another purpose. I am against the use of one record to enforce another. I am against “public” records being forced on people. I am against the use of public records for private profit. Examples, I detest the Florida practice of using driver’s licenses to pick people for unpaid jury duty. I don’t care how they do it, but that is the wrong way – unless they give people the option to decline at the time they take the driver’s test. Another example is the refusal to issue a passport to people behind on child support payments. I agree, they should pay, what I don’t like is the passport office getting involved because it is just not their business. Public records are fine, as long as the public is asked in advance whether they want to give out the information. As it stands, it is forced on you. If a record is public, so should be knowledge of who looked at it. Last, collection agencies that use public records are disgusting. An example is that private outfit in New York that buys public traffic citations, then sends letters to the address on your driver’s license that they will confiscate your property or refuse to renew your documents if you don’t pay up. Yes, people should pay their fines, but if they do not, it is not the business of somebody in New York. Again, I am all for the principle, but I am against the practice of abusing records.]
