Trenchant Thoughts

• I laugh when I hear people like President Trump come out “against” Bitcoin. First of all, I have no doubt that Trump doesn’t know thing one about Bitcoin. Second, being “against” Bitcoin is like being “against” the weather. You can’t stop it if you tried. Bitcoin exists in the same way that air exists. It just does. Oppose it if you will, but there it is, utterly unconcerned with what the President thinks. As if he could do anything about it.
• Quote of the Day: “God will not have His work made manifest by cowards.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
• I’ve been trying hard to find a good side hustle. I keep mulling things over, reading, thinking, and pondering. I’m following the “keep searching, and something will become clear to me” theory. For example, pursuant to that, I bought 100 Side Hustles in hopes that it stimulates some thought. I have a bunch of ideas, but keep hoping something will leap out and give me utter clarity. Here’s to that happening.
• I am deeply amused by this notion of storming Area 51. I especially love the involvement of trebuchets. Now there’s a lot going on at Area 51, but I’m 100% sure that there are no aliens there. I don’t know if I am allowed to say this, but I do know personally about some stuff that goes on there. Trust me, it’s way more interesting that aliens.
• This is interesting for a couple of reasons. First, I had no idea that Mastodon exists, and I am delighted by it. Second, I’ll say that if you won’t accept and allow “hate speech” (whatever the hell that is) then you can’t claim to be in favor of free speech. If you aren’t willing to allow Nazi’s to freely express their views, then you aren’t, to be quite frank, any better than the Nazi’s themselves.
• I watched Chernobyl, a mini-series from HBO. There are no words, but I’ll try. Devastating. Staggering. Amazing. Riveting. Compelling. The bravery and sacrifice was moving. The staggering disdain for human life was pathetic. Bottom line: Socialism is horrible and murderous.

• I couldn’t possibly care less about the Oscars. Seriously, what a spectacular display of “sucking each others popsicles,” as Bill Simmons would say.
• I just want to go on record and say that I am against infanticide.
• It’s kind of sad that in this day and age, the previous bullet is even a thing. Apparently, for example, if you are running for the Democratic Presidential nomination, you have to be in favor of infanticide. Weird.
• It seems like there have been only a very few sports coaches over the years that have been transcendent — who have had a profound impact on not only their players but on the actual game itself. John Wooden comes to mind. Widely considered the greatest coach of any sport of all time, Wooden change the game of basketball and the lives of many, many players. I think a current coach who may be approaching that level is Nick Saban — and I find it interesting that Coach Saban follows Stoicism in his approach to life and football.
• Video of the Week: A Tribute to Mark Knopfler – Sultans Of Swing – Performed by Chelsea and Grace Constable Awesome performance of one of my favorite songs of all time by my favorite guitarist.
  • Fun thing to note — here’s one of the comments: “If these two girls walked past you in a shopping mall you would never know how truly awesome they both are on the Guitar… ” Besides being kind of a left-handed compliment, you could literally say that about anyone who plays guitar. Just thought it was funny.

• Here’s what it takes to succeed in America:
  • Get as much education as you can
  • Have kids within the bonds of marriage.
  • Show up for work
• That’s pretty much it. Make good choices and you can succeed. Make bad ones, and you likely fail. It’s not rocket science.
• Here’s a question: What is the Left’s argument for not building the wall? I ask because I get the argument for building it, but can’t understand why the Left is willing to fall on their sword over $5B — a relatively small amount in the grand scheme of things. Why *not* build the wall? (Note, too, that a wall already exists…..)
• I am an admirer of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
• I don’t care that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made a dancing video in high school. Who didn’t do silly, fun stuff in high school? I wore a toy fireman’s hat with a siren on the top and turned it on every time our hockey team scored a goal. Big deal.
• Now having said that, I think AOC is not a particularly bright person, and I think that she needs to do more homework before opening her mouth. And I think that her claim that fact-checking her is somehow not appropriate is childish and ridiculous.
• What does it say about the Left that it views citizens as actors purely in service to the State? It seems to me that the Left views it as my role — shoot, my duty — to pay taxes so that they can dole out those tax dollars as they see fit. If I say “I don’t want to pay for <some ridiculous government program that is a pet project of the left>”, then they tell me that paying for it is part of the social contract. If I say “Private entities should take care of <some social problem>” then they strongly deny that such a thing would ever work. What to make of that?

• I was very saddened by the death of Bre Payton. I enjoyed her writing and was very impressed when I learned how young she was and how successful she was at such a tender age. Tragic.
• This tweet by the President is probably the single most reprehensible thing I’ve ever read. Granted these kids were probably in a bad way when they arrived in custody, but still…
• The perfect fast food place has:
  • Good food
  • WiFi
  • A Coke FreeStyle machine
  • A clean bathroom.
  • “Outhouse” garbage cans (The ones where you just have to drop your garbage in and don’t have touch anything)
  • Warmth. Seriously, it’s like a meat locker in half these places, even in the winter.
• For the record, the Wendy’s I’m currently sitting in is close, except for the fact that they apparently have the air conditioning on instead of the heat.
• Why is everyone freaked out about whether or not the Sandra Bullock movie on Netflix got watched 45 million times or not? Is it really that big of a deal?
• You don’t have the “right” to the fruit of someone else’s labor. If you do, then that person is your slave — they have to work for your benefit. That is never okay.

• It is really hard for me to get worked up about a government shutdown. Frankly, I don’t much care. As far as I’m concerned, the less the Federal government does, the better, and they do very little when they are shut down. Big win, I say.
• But I will say this: Someone in government leadership is going to come out looking really bad.
• I’ve written about immigration here. So when it comes to the wall, my view is this: If a wall is what is necessary to uphold the law, then I’m for the wall. I’d be happy to find another way to enforce the law, and I’d be happy for the law to change, but until the law changes, the wall seems to be the way to go.
• I am a big fan of the Coke FreeStyle machine. I love Ginger-Lime Diet Coke. I seek out these machines, and I know that Wendy’s will always have one. Why not McDonald’s or Burger King? It’s a huge difference maker for me, and as a result, I’m eating at Wendy’s more than the other two, something I didn’t used to do.
• I love bookstores. I’d hate to see Barnes & Noble go out of business. However, I must confess I buy most of my books from Amazon so I guess I’m not doing my part. I did, however, buy a bunch of Christmas presents at B&N this year.
• Not gonna be watching this.

Alas, I didn’t win that big Mega-millions jackpot from a week or two ago.  Hard to believe.  Well, actually I did win — a grand total of $7.  But I did buy a few tickets, and it was fun to think about what I would do if I won.

What would I do if I won?  As a purely academic exercise, I thought I would actually write it down. I suppose this is a bit of self-aggrandizement, but whatever.  It’s interesting to think about.  So here goes.  This is what I’d do if I had won the $1,600,000,000 lottery.

1. The very first thing I’d do is calmly (well, as calmly as I could) go to the bank, rent a safe deposit box, and put the ticket in the box.  Then I’d put the key in a safe place in my basement.
2. I’d call my Dad and ask him what to do.  He’s likely tell me to call my cousin Dick, who is rather wealthy in his own right and ask him what to do. He’d give me good advice on how to proceed.
3. This is the part I don’t understand, but I’d make arrangements to get the money into an account totally under my own control.  I have no idea what kind of account takes that kind of money, but there has to be someplace safe to put it.  
4. I’d endeavor to remain anonymous if I could.  Not sure what the rules are about that in my state.
5. I’d take the lump sum (of course) and again, I’d have it in an account under my control alone.  At this point I’m trusting no one.  Again, this part is unclear to me, as I’m not familiar with accounts that hold hundreds of millions of dollars.  But I’d get familiar, that is for sure.
6. So the first thing I’d do is pay off every debt that I have — cars, house, credit cards, etc.  That would take like a day. 
7. Next, I’d go out and buy the most luxurious four-door sedan I could find.  I’d make it a hunt to find the perfect car, and enjoy the heck out of paying for it in cash — literally.  Then, I’d by a huge, luxurious SUV for my family.  
8. Then I’d pay of my brother’s house.  I’d pay off my sister’s house.  I’d figure out a way to be of service to my parents who are already about as well off as they can be in their late years.  (They live in a wonderful retirement community).
9. Then I’d set up generous trust funds for my kids and brother’s kids.  I’d make sure that all of them had money to live comfortably, but I wouldn’t let the trust shower them with cash.  I’d set it up so that the money was there, ready to be pass down to the generations, but as a trust, not as a lump sum.
10. Next, I’d buy three homes.  One would be a beautiful home on the ocean.  One would be a log cabin in the mountains, and one would be a nice home on Lake Minnetonka in Minnesota. 
11. Okay, so this is where it gets interesting.  I’ve taken care of my family and future generations.  All the obvious stuff is taken care of – houses, cars, etc.  How would I spend my time?  Hmmm.
12. First, I’d spend at least an hour each day scouring GoFundMe.com and similar sites for worthy causes and fully fund them.  I’d do one or two a day, if that proved to be enough. Maybe more. I think that would be a fun and gratifying thing to do. 
13. Then, I’d spend a lot of time attending software development conferences in cognito.  Just me, the average software developer.  I love software development conferences.  It would be fun to got to web development conferences, Microsoft conferences, etc.  It would help me keep learning and to be active doing something that I really like to do.
14. After that, it’s hard to say what I would do.  I suppose I’d travel.  I’d like to go on an around the world cruise.  I’d like to go to Tahiti.  Bali.  Hong Kong. I love Hong Kong.  And of course, I’d fly first class everywhere.  😉
15. Finally, I would never put on a used pair of socks.  Weird,  I know, but I just love putting on a new pair of socks, and I’d do it every day.  I’d save all my used-once socks and donate them to the local thrift store that supports prison ministries. (Don’t worry, I’d wash them first….)

What would you do?

There was a pretty big thread on my Facebook page about the “Caravan” of people who are currently making their way across Mexico.  I’ve had some time to reflect on the thread and the events and wanted to add some of my thoughts here.

• I hesitate to use the word “mob” to describe this group of people, but it’s hard not to.  Google defines “mob” as “a large crowd of people, especially one that is disorderly and intent on causing trouble or violence.”  Given that this group has already caused trouble at the Mexican border by entering Mexico illegally, it doesn’t seem outlandish to call them a mob.  They appear intent on entering the US in a similar manner, so I’m going to go ahead and call them a mob.
• There is nothing wrong about American’s being concerned about what this mob is going to do.  What is going to happen when they get to the US border? Are they going to merely walk across the border?  Are they going to line up in an orderly manner and wait their turn to request asylum? If they are opposed by US officials (whatever sort that ends up being), will they obey those officials?  Will they get violent?  There is nothing wrong with being concerned about these things.  It’s natural and perfectly acceptable.
• It is perfectly acceptable for a country to be concerned about and protect its sovereignty.  A large mass of people threatening to ignore the law and enter your country illegally — which is entirely within the realm of possibility — is indeed a direct threat to said nation’s sovereignty.  We have the right to control who does and does not enter the United States.  A mob flaunting that should not be allowed to break the law.
• It’s not “fear-mongering” to be concerned about who exactly is making up this mob.  It’s hopelessly naive to think that terrorist organizations and Mexican drug gangs aren’t taking advantage of this situation. There are many groups in the world that would love for this to turn violent at the US border in order to damage the United States.  It’s perfectly reasonable to be concerned that these forces will incite trouble. 
• Question: What is the acceptable number of terrorists and MS-13 gang members that we should allow into the United States?  I’m going to go with zero.  How about you?  What’s your number?
• My recommendation for this group of people:  First, seek asylum in Mexico.  You are there and they seem amenable to taking you.   If you insist on asylum in the US, trek to the closest US Consulate in Mexico and request asylum. Your case will be considered in an orderly, lawful fashion, and if you are in need of a safe place, we’ll likely let you in.  Whatever you do, do not approach the US border en masse.  That could have very bad consequences for any number of reasons, not the least of which is violence incited by nefarious members of your group.
• I’m perfectly happy to have 7000 immigrants enter this country with the intention of working and being productive members of society.  I very reasonably don’t want terrorists and gang members to enter the country.  I very reasonably don’t want a mass of people just marching across the US border as if it doesn’t exist.  It does exist and it should be respected and honored.

Bottom Line:  It is perfectly reasonable to be concerned about the situation and there is nothing wrong with expressing that concern.