I said no to this three bedroom two bath in Boca Raton for a number of reasons, the biggest of which it is in Boca Raton. It’s here to show the type of digs that I now am considering and this one was huge. This picture is from the back, there is a two car garage around front that is half again the size of an ensuite. I have nothing to lose by waiting. It is more cash than I can swing, so that’s another reason. It would take me three years to pay for the place. Which includes the land.
So, France and Germany have raided their local branches of the Swiss banks thought to be money laundering. This is Yankee style bad thinking. Instead of going after the source, where the real crimes occur, they prefer to invade privacy which lets them snoop on everybody. I’m against this type of enforcement because in the process, innocent people will be investigated or come under suspicion. There was no prior probable cause or presumption of innocence when that happens.But it isn’t as though I’ve got millions stashed in the Bahamas. So like Joe Average, I’ll smugly conclude it must be someone else’s problem and it’s their own fault for having so much money. The feds know most Joe Averages will think like that. At least until it is their turn. The storm troopers perfected the technique of arresting in small batches during the wee hours. Sooner or later, everyone with more than a few thousand in cash will be required to explain where they got it. By then, Google, Paypal, and eBay will be standing ready to supply your information, so you won’t have to. Doesn’t that sound like fun?
You never knew this, but many years ago my business partner hired his kid step-brothers to mow the lawn in front of our apartment. For clarity, we owned the building. One year, said partner was overseas when he got investigated by the tax department. Despite my only loose association to those kids, because I was at hand, my bank accounts and vehicles were seized, my pay garnisheed, and my own apartment across town had a plug in keyhole. Even my phone quit working. They made sure my employer and the whole neighborhood knew I was the target of a warrantless “investigation”.
It took me 48 hours to sort things out, but that one incident clued me in about having all my possessions in one place and ever again telling any one person where everything was. Because I never did trust the authorities, I had cash put away, a place to stay, and alternative supplies of everything. But I completely grasp the purpose of that merciless bullying. I got no warning, no hint or offer to explain, and got no apology or compensation when it turned out I wasn’t even involved in the transactions. I learned a lot in those two days than most people will never understand.
You know why I never trusted the system? It’s because too many people see wealth as a fixed dollar amount where the only way to get more than they deserve is to force others to “share”. Well, I’m different on that count. I know that general prosperity results when each person is free to create new wealth. Tocqueville (allegedly) was right, that democracy only exists until the majority learn they can vote themselves largesse out of the public treasury. But he didn’t go far enough. My suggested solution is the abolishment of the public treasury, not ever more laws to monitor who has what.
How can we abolish the treasury? That question arises from mis-reading my statement. I didn’t say the treasury, I said the public treasury. Right now, all tax money goes into a pot for one reason and ladled out for another. My system would still have a treasury, but it would not be public in the same sense. It would work like so. When you filled out your taxes, you would still pay the same amount. But you state where you want it to be spent.
My own form would probably look something like: Education 20%, research 20%, space program 20%, and on the flip side, welfare, government operations, military and industry bailouts would get less than 1% each. The tax dollars are directed by those who pay them. And it would do wonders for the direction of the economy since all needs would be scrutinized. As it should be.
I spent the rainstorm delving deeper into logic gates. (Rainstorming brainstorming?) Things are too far past the basics to cover here but I have to congratulate whoever originally figured all this out, how to apply Boolean logic to electrical circuits and make them do such incredible things. It was always known to be complicated, but now I have an appreciation of the depth that had to be plumbed. The more I single out this topic, the more other related topics begin to make sense. Indeed, a very large and meandering subject. Where opinion too often passes as fact. See addendum for a logic simulator I found that really works.
ADDENDUM
I found a logic circuit simulator that works. You can download it from Softronix . It saves a lot of grief and is super easy to learn. I found it because building the circuits is cumbersome and I found I was always adding input indicator lights (a fail-safe procedure). With this simulator, called MMLogic (stands for multimedia logic), you can delete the indicators once you know you are getting the correct inputs.
The simulator I’d really like to see is one that takes the resulting schematic and shows how to build the circuit with discrete components. The very reason I’m reading the work of others is to bypass a few years at college and get to the design stage before I’m in my nineties.
There is a consistent problem with every electronics text and/or instruction manual that I have read. The material is never proof-read to eliminate all errors (except the easiest circuits). The standing joke is that the circuits are proof-read by English majors, not the designing engineer.
Am I qualified to criticize? Yes, because in my time I have produced flawless instruction sets and that is the expected standard. There were times I re-read my own output fifteen times after it had passed the grade. Too many people have seen me do this to argue. If you don’t have to time to proof-read, you are not an author. (Yes, I am aware this blog contains errors, but they are largely edit and typesetting, not logic errors as shown in this photo (my comment added in red). This [blog] is not an instruction manual. And for the record, I do regularly review and correct any I find.)Return Home
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