Fake friends, courtesy of your government

Here's a post that I'll dedicate to TWO groups of people. For those of you believe the government acts in our best interests. And for those of you who trust social media a bit too much. This story is for you.

From Computerworld:
"Army of fake social media friends to promote propaganda" by Darlene Storm
http://mobile.computerworld.com/device/article.php?CALL_URL=blogs.computerworld.com/17852/army_of_fake_social_media_friends_to_promote_propaganda

This is not government FOR the people. It is government AGAINST the people--it is actually government for government. They think their role is not to respond to the needs of the people but to manipulate them. They know what is best for us, and they're not afraid to tell us what to think.

So don't trust social media too much. And for crying out loud, do not trust the government.

Enjoy your tequila and chocolate now, while you can

This article discusses a number of things that we're running out of that you might not be aware of. I wasn't. From Cracked.com:
"6 Important Things You Didn't Know We're Running Out Of"
http://www.cracked.com/article_19048_6-important-things-you-didnt-know-were-running-out-of.html

Okay, so I don't actually care a bit about the tequila, I only put that in there to dress up the blog post title. The crisis here is the possible chocolate shortage--OBVIOUSLY!

I knew some of this, but not all of this. From the article:
"Not only is tending to cocoa trees insanely time-consuming (it takes up to five years to grow a new crop), but everything has to be done by hand in often unbearable heat. And at the end of the day, the average cocoa farmer can expect to earn about 80 cents a day for his trouble."

Damn. Lots of work goes into chocolate!!!

Here's another article about chocolate economics. From The Independent:
"Chocolate: Worth its weight in gold?"
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/features/chocolate-worth-its-weight-in-gold-2127874.html

Okay, so I have two points to make:
1. Raise the price if you have to, I'll pay it!
2. In the meantime, I'll keep stocking up on as much chocolate as I can. In my mouth and in my stomach!

FDR and the end of the gold standard

We used to be on the gold standard in this country. Now we're not. How did that happen? Consider this article, which discusses FDR's outlawing and confiscation of gold in 1933. The article discusses not what FDR did but why he did it.

From Moonlight Mint:
"FDR’s 1933 Gold Confiscation was a Bailout of the Federal Reserve Bank" by Daniel Carr
http://www.moonlightmint.com/bailout.htm

Bear in mind as you read the article how "money" comes into being--how it used to come into being and how it now comes into being. What stops the government from printing more and more money? Nothing. Nothing at all. And when it does, all that you have worked for is diminished, the purchasing power of the money you have earned is eroded. It is another way that the government taxes us, not only without our consent but without our knowledge (for most people, anyway).

There are very few politicians who even understand this process, fewer still who stand against it. Most are happy to remain ignorant and keep growing government, at our expense. Open your eyes, and vote accordingly.

What does the Constitution actually say?

Did you ever wonder where the U.S. Federal Government gets the authority to do many of the things that it does? Well, if that's your concern it's too late. That ship has sailed. Check out this list of items that are not in the Constitution.

From the U.S. Constitution Online:
"Things That Are Not In the U.S. Constitution"
http://www.usconstitution.net/constnot.html

I happen to think that government (at all levels, really) does much more than it is authorized to do. But the fact that we have trampled on the Constitution throughout our history as a country makes it very difficult to utilize the argument that the government is overstepping its bounds. That's just the way we do things, I guess.

Superbike School!

We all need to take classes to stay up-to-date in whatever it is we want to stay up-to-date on. Well, this particular school is the most fun school I've ever been to: California Superbike School! Here's the link:
http://www.superbikeschool.com/

It is run by Keith Code. Keith is one of the leading motorcycle riding instructors in the world. He has written a number of books on motorcycle riding techniques, but I have to say that his in-person rider training is way better than the books. While his books have great content, they are not well-written--just my opinion. Point is, if you are not impressed by his books do not let that stop you from attending his school. And if you do happen to read his books, don't let his writing style get in the way of extracting all the information you can.

I'm getting the itch to go back for another session. Particularly after I read a recent post by Keith on the Forum portion of his website:
"My Own Sense Of Riding" by Keith Code
http://forums.superbikeschool.com/index.php?showtopic=2805

"There was a very clear moment, back in the 70’s, when I realized that others weren’t experiencing the same joys of riding I was. I honestly felt that they were being robbed. Not wanting to be a snob about it, I earnestly thought: 'Come on, don’t you see what you’re missing here? You’ve got to push it some. You’ve got to challenge yourself. You’ve got to taste some danger. You’ve got to forget about the cool accessories on the bike, just find the passion button and push it. You aren’t a mushroom digesting the seat, ride that thing!' I wanted to instantly transfer to them the passions of my world, my impressions and senses of riding. What can I say, I was naïve."

He then goes on to discuss, in a general sense, how he realized that it took more then riding more to get better. He had to break things down and define individual concepts, in order to be able teach them. Thus was California Superbike School born.

Keith finishes his post like this:
"That urge I had, way back when, has unfolded into this amazing array of techniques. The greatest part for me has been figuring them out, writing them down and sharing them. Start planning now to get out to the track."

I couldn't agree more. Like I said, I think I need to get back on track (so to speak!) this year. The Superbike School schedule is here, if you're interested:
http://www.superbikeschool.com/schedule/

Thinking about buying an Android phone?

Thinking about a new Android phone? Worried that you'll buy at the worst possible time, just before a great new phone is released or just before a new version of the Android operating system? Well here is some guidance, both for iPhone and Android! Not sure this helps or hurts, but here it is.

From Phandroid:
"How to Buy Into Android at the Worst Possible Time"
http://phandroid.com/2011/01/14/how-to-buy-into-android-at-the-worst-possible-time-humor/

This humorous guide touches on a troubling trend in Android phone sales. While Google keeps updating the Android operating system regularly, many Android phones, even very high end Android phones, don't see those updates.

Why? It's because phone manufacturers develop custom builds of the open source Android operating system, to differentiate their phones from those of competitors. But once the phone has been sold they would much rather see you buy a new phone to get the new OS than have you keep your old phone.

Furthermore, who pays to develop the new OS for the old phones--given that there is no payback for a phone that has already been sold???


There was a recent spat about this involving Samsung (although this applies to some degree to all manufacturers and cell carriers). From XDA Developers formum:
"The Samsung Secret - Why U.S. Galaxy S Phones run Android 2.1 Still"
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=913045

The only solution is to buy devices with the pure Android OS, unmodified by the manufacturer or carrier. Phones such as the Nexus One or Nexus S.

Buy a Google phone, select your carrier, possibly with a pay-as-you-go cell phone plan. Use your phone on WiFi whenever possible, to minimize cell tower data usage. Save money in the long run. And get updates directly from Google when they become available.

What is a dollar?

What is a dollar anyway? Who would know? Better yet, who should know?

Well, for starters I would think that the Fed Chairman should know, right? Think again. From the Wall Street Journal:
"Ron Paul to Bernanke: ‘Define the Dollar’"
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2011/03/02/ron-paul-to-bernanke-define-the-dollar/

"Despite his various criticisms, however, Mr. Paul had one question for Mr. Bernanke: 'What is your definition of the dollar?'

"The Fed chairman, who has spent significant time on the receiving end of congressional scorn over the last few years, didn’t blink, framing his answer in terms of everyday consumers.

"'It’s the buying power of the dollar which is what is important,' Mr. Bernanke said, noting that 'consumers don’t want to buy gold; they want to buy food and clothes and gasoline.'"

Notice that Bernanke NEVER ANSWERED THE QUESTION. Does he not know? Or if he does, why wouldn't he say?


So what should the dollar be? Perhaps a claim on real assets (such as gold) the way it once was? No one believes that anymore. Or do they? From Zero Hedge:
"Stunner: Gold Standard Fully Supported By... Alan Greenspan!?"
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/stunner-gold-standard-fully-supported-alan-greenspan

According to Greenspan, "We have at this particular stage a fiat money which is essentially money printed by a government and it's usually a central bank which is authorized to do so. Some mechanism has got to be in place that restricts the amount of money which is produced, either a gold standard or a currency board, because unless you do that all of history suggest that inflation will take hold with very deleterious effects on economic activity... There are numbers of us, myself included, who strongly believe that we did very well in the 1870 to 1914 period with an international gold standard.'"

The article continues, "And a further stunner: Greenspan himself wonders if we really need a central bank. Now our only question: why couldn't the maestro speak as clearly and coherently during his tenure which resulted in our current near-terminal financial state. And as a reminder, courtesy of Dylan Grice, if and when we do get a return to a gold standard there would be a need to reindex the monetary base to a real time equivalent price of gold, putting the price of the precious metal at about $6,300: 'The US owns nearly 263m troy ounces of gold (the world's biggest holder) while the Fed's monetary base is $1.7 trillion. So the price of gold at which the US dollars would be fully gold-backed is currently around $6,300.'"

Wow.

Remember, however, that although Greenspan talks a good game now, and did before he was Fed Chairman, he never backed up his words with action when he was in a position to do something about this. He never said stuff like this when he actually was in a position of power to change our monetary system. He may be right now but he is a gutless coward, in my opinion.