True Friends

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Now that I've been on Facebook for almost two years, I think a lot about the 267 people who, at present, show up on my Friends list. Frequently, I eliminate everyone from the "People You Might Know" prompt because, although I know who they are, we have never spoken or I have little intention to speak to them. More annoyingly, I see people refer to people as their friend who little deserve that title. I find it amazing what people are willing to forgive.

In the past year, I've had many conversations with people. Some of them talk of how they "appreciate" friends who uplift them and inspire them instead of friends who serve as bad examples. Yet, they spend their time with the latter in lieu of the former. Others talk of people in categories of Coworker, Acquaintence, and Friend and point out that while you may think I'm a friend, if all we ever share is stuff at work, we are not friends. Very few people know where I live, which is ok with me, but if they do not care to ask, I do not care to inform.

Some people have no idea what the title "Friend" really means. They bandy it about with reckless abandon, applied to those with whom they joke and who joke about them at their expense, at those whom they snub and who snub them in return, at those whom they betray and who betray them in kind, at those whom they exploit and who exploit them in retribution. They apply it to coworkers and acquaintances, people they barely met and people they barely remember. Yet these people are noticeably absent when they are sick or poor or lonely or hurt. They do not give of themselves unless they are guaranteed reciprocal exchange.

True Friends will differ from the people toward whom you have come to apply that term. They will be at peace even if they smile seldom. They will move quickly, confidently, in the direction of their dreams. They will encourage us, welcome us, accept us, even as we snub, exploit, and betray them. They will largely work in the background. You will think you are being nice to them when in reality they are being nice to you. They will love you more than others do and more than you deserve but they will need you less. They will have time for you anytime, and you will wonder how they manage to make it. And after you have stabbed them in the back, laid waste to their estate, broken their heart, and brought them to the brink of ruin in every way imaginable, they will still come and rescue you when you call, because they are true friends. You cannot be a true friend until you are true to yourself, and since most people do not yet know who they really are they are incapable of being your friend because they cannot be true to that ephemeral morass to which you now refer as your "friend".

Cut ACTUAL Spending

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They passed down expected cut projections to us at the education level, and already our leaders are out there reassuring us. I thought you ought to know what they said so that you can know what actually happens when they cut educational budgets.

The bottom line is this: the cuts will do nothing at all to reduce access to and reliability of instruction as presently constituted. We will continue to teach the same number of courses and serve the same number of students. Perhaps, we will even serve more. What this means is that they will cut mostly two parts of the education budget, which is padded for this. First, they will cut FTEs, which are positions as yet unfilled at the university for which money is allocated even if it's not used. Secondly, they will cut the capital improvements budget, which allows us to buy "stuff" like centrifuges, spectrophotometers, and PCR thermocyclers.

THe other way they will save money is by sticking it to those who stay. Our retirement contribution already went from 10.5% to 11.25% and my healthcare went up $35/month over last year. I take one furlough day per month, and now we have new furlough options.

While we take a paycut, who teaches your children? Our department will hire two new faculty members during the "budget crisis". Meanwhile, because I am Staff, I may not teach courses until the budget crisis is over. Instead of paying me per section, they will pay retirement and benefits and a higher wage to a new faculty member who will eventually be interminable due to tenure.

There are smarter ways to do this. First off, stop programs for which we cannot pay. Secondly, stop all remodelying and new construction and land acquisition. Thirdly, close facilities and programs that hemmorrhage taxpayer funds because they service too few students. One student taking a course is not "demand".

Fighting to Win

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Normally, I'm not much of a competitor. In truth, I lack the committment and dedication necessary to become an Olympian. I play sports for exercise more than I play for score. Most of what I do, I do so that I can say I did it. The honors that most things of the world bring are not things I value, save only one.

When I went to Boston last September, unbeknownst to me, there was a movement afoot throughout the nation that has come to be known as the Tea Party. As a major drive behind my trip, as my best friend Thom can tell you, I specifically went to Boston to throw tea into the harbor. Now, I'm not much of a Son of Liberty after the fashion of the rapacious Samuel Adams, but I am Freedom's First Friend. That honor is one I value.

Today, I happily read about the Marine sniper who escaped a brush with death. This man is about my age. If you look at his face, you can see he has spent many years as a dealer of death and destruction to the enemies of American ideas. He might, as do I or Sam Adams, tell you:

Contemplate the mangled bodies of your countrymen, and then say, What should be the reward of such sacrifices? Bid us and our posterity bow the knee, supplicate the friendship, and plow, and sow, and reap, to glut the avarice of the men who have let loose on us the dogs of war to riot in our blood and hunt us from the face of the earth? If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquillity of servitude than the animating contest of freedom--go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen!

I am in this to win. This is the only honor on earth aside from having a child of my own to which I as yet aspire- to defend liberty. Like Reagan said, I have a strategy, that we fight our enemies until they are dead.

To those who served in arms, currently there, or headed that direction, I salute you.

Makeup is a Hiking Necessity

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So, Monday night we're hiking and I grab this cactus... Just so you know, it's dark. I did the best I could to pull the barbs out, but Hillary kept asking me if we needed to stop and wait for her sister so I could use the tweezers from her makeup kit to get the barb out. I never thought I'd be grateful someone brought a makeup kit hiking.

President's Budget Tips

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It made much news when the president advised against travel to Vegas when you have bills and schooling for which to pay.

I will take money management tips from the president when he reigns in federal spending.

His budget contains nothing but pork for pet projects. It's time to cut the budget. Like Governor Gibbons said last week, much to his credit, "the government can no longer be all things to all people". Brave man.

The president made a promise not to "raise our taxes a single dime". Well, my taxes went up by way more than that, so I guess we can take him at his word.

Bill Nye is Bad Science

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On MSNBC last night, Bill Nye, the so-called science guy, said that if you oppose the concept of climate change you are unpatriotic. I laughed for about 10 seconds, then I got angry. Anyone who knows anything about me at all knows that my patriotism runs very deep. How dare that guy accuse me of being unpatriotic. It's like when the vice president said paying taxes was patriotic. How Torrey of him. I suppose the Boston Tea Party was unpatriotic. I invite him to arrest me.

Most of the "climate change" issue revolves around circuitous arguments and circumstantial evidence. I made myself extremely unpopular at the Plant and Animal Genome Conference in San Diego one year when I challenged conclusions based on limited or spurious data. Many of the presenters extrapolated and drew conclusions based on a very limited data set. They all salivated for the chance to return the favor, only to find that I had ANOVA and N numbers to back up my less-sweeping conclusions.

Then there is Nye himself. When people come to me and ask my expertise, I remind them that I studied Plant Biochemistry in school. I am not a licensed medical professional. My microbiology experience was limited to Vibrio fischeri, Eschericia coli, and a slieu of plant pathogens which are hardly scary to humans. Read my resume, and you will read only things that are true. I'm an intelligent man, but I know myself and my limits, and I will not pretend to be an expert on anything. I know enough to know that I know basically nothing about everything. One of my favorite professors as an undergrad once told us that an expert is "he who knows more and more about less and less until he knows absolutely everything about nothing at all." I like that. Nye's expertise is as an engineer, not as a climatologist, a biologist, or a chemist. I no longer buy his arguments.

I am, a patriot, and I beg you prove me wrong.

Take Me As I Am

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Years ago, a friend of mine told me she liked and respected me because I don't change to please the jury. I have lived by the advice of Theodore "Seuss" Giessel ever since my divorce. He said, "Be who you are and say what you think because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." Not to say they agree carte blanc, but they accept you for you, the good things and the bad.

So far, I have not ever been "taken" by a woman. They like some things about me, but they are not willing to take me as I am. If they are not willing to accept you for who you are, flaws and all, they do not really see the real you. They see something they created, something that does not exist, someone that is not you, and that is the person my ex wife married. Trouble is that he didn't exist.

A sad fact I have observed is that people continue to pursue perfection and send away very good people in search of exactly what they want, even if it's unhealthy or unreal. After a period of delusion, they settle for someone before they risk losing everything in an attempt to avoid loneliness. In this situation, those who are people of their word stick it out; those who do not mean it seek divorce. It's sad that they throw the baby out with the bath water.

You make a choice when you choose someone. You accept their imperfections as they concurrently agree to bear with yours. For marriage to work, it demands that we choose every day to be true to what we have chosen already. Put off the choice too long in hopes of something better, and eventually there is no choice.

I am an ordinary man, and you must not expect perfection from me. If you expect perfection from me, then I shall expect it from you, but if you will bear with my infirmities, I promise to bear with yours.

God is pleased with the man I am. I have sat in my bishop's office and asked him on several occassions that if he has correction and direction that he should tell me and I will do it. He has thus far had nothing to say except to carry on, and I shall do precisely that.

I am Doug. What's not to like?

Federal Money is YOUR Money

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Last night on the news, I heard a spokeswoman for the Neon Graveyard talk about the Neon Museum they are building on that site. She made a statement with which I absolutely disagree and on which I think hinges the fact of the matter for our current financial problem and the misdirected anger of the public. She said that it will be entirely built with federal money, at no expense to the citizens. What?

Federal money is YOUR money. The Federal government has no money until it first takes it by force from you. What's more, in a budget crisis, why are we spending $1.9 million to build a museum that is visited by only 9000 people per month? What was wrong with the graveyard? Did we not learn from the mistake made when they build the Springs Preserve?

Our politicians seem completely and willfully and woefully ignorant of reality. They spend and spend and spend on things that either don't need to be done right this minute or are not value added. Harry Reid made a big deal about a land deal he did for the College at a time when we are closing extension facilities. We do not need land. We are hemorraging money everywhere, and everything the government does costs more money than it generates.

If it were really in demand, a private company would do it. Private companies are driven by a profit incentive. When demand produces enough funds to offset expenses and provide a profit, a company will undertake the endeavor without government interferance.

The difference between a company and the government when it comes to money is very clear. Government forces by confiscatory threat of punishment that men pay taxes. I don't care if Harry Reid says taxes are voluntary. If you don't pay, the IRS will find you, unless you're Timothy Geithner. Corporations trade a product or service for your money, which you willingly surrender because you value the product more than the money.

A woman on the news said she would gladly pay more money in taxes for this. That's fine. If you choose to pay, do it. That's called philanthropy. When you FORCE me to do it against my will, it's called Tyranny.

Sic semper tyrannus.

Basic Economics

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The faster your dollar gets to the government, the less the value of your labor. Government always operates in the red. Government only knows how to do one thing- make debt. Only the private sector makes equity. They use the money they receive to increase the total value of goods and services. Government redistributes the value to everyone, putting it into the hands of people who are not good at increasing it's value.

There was a parable told once of a master who gave to his servants, one five talents, one two and one only one talent. The first two servants returned to their master more than that which they were given, and the last, for fear he might lose it, buried it. Even he did better than government, because at least the master got back his initial investment. Notice in the parable this was a man and not a government.

I once tried to start a business. I learned very quickly that in order to be successful I would have to change completely. I lack the skills and the motivation necessary to succeed in business, and so I left it to other people with the drive and the tools necessary to pave the way on that frontier while I went elsewhere. I am not good at increasing value. I have my values, and perhaps I can help you make them yours, but the things I value are intangible- love, honor, faith- and as such, they cannot be bought with money.

One more thought so that it goes here. Unlike others, I oppose the purchase of gold as a hedge against the future. In the Journal of Discourses, Brigham Young said: "The time will come that gold will hold no comparison in value to a bushel of wheat." Gold only has value because people say it does. During the time of Adam Smith, the world was on the Silver Standard; i know...that was the most difficult section of his book to read. Gold is a poor measure of value. It's difficult to spend. It's actually only a liquid at 1064 degrees C, a temperature that's virtually impossible to reach on earth for the average person. A little less tongue in cheek, if left with a pile of gold after you sell everything you have, what would you do with it? You could not eat it, drink it, wear it, or carry it off where you could have something to eat. It is no better than a piece of iron, a piece of limestone, or a piece of sandstone where those are useful to you for something else, and it is not half so good as the soil from which we raise our wheat.

Focus on things that have real value- learn to do something to make yourself of value to your neighbors. In time of trouble, there is work to be done.

The author recommends Ludwig von Mises book :Human Action: for a discussion of value.

"Do you TAKE this man...?"

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On the topic that words matter, I have given some thought to the issue of relationships and marriage. Next week, we will commemorate Singles Awareness Day, a day on which by compulsory means everyone who is not single will get some gift that they didn't really mean to give in order to prove they love the other person. I worry a lot that relationships and marriages are predicated on the wrong principles, that, as I did with my ex wife, and settle for someone.

That's not what the marriage oath says. It specifically says some variation on the theme, "Do you take this man/woman to be your lawfully wedded husband/wife?" Some variations on the theme of "TAKE" include: claim, draw toward, choose, select, lay hold of, capture, unite, captivate, seize, join, ad infinitum.

You don't "settle" for someone. You don't "accept" them. You take an oath in essence in whatever version of the marriage oaths you use. What then is an oath but words we say to God?

You take things that you desire. You take things that you choose. People always make time for the things and people that matter to them. By the choices you make, you show what means something to you. With conviction and courage chase what matters.

When the time comes, make sure that you are with a person you take.

I am the company you keep. Some day, some woman will take me as I will take her as I have been taken with her. That will be a great day!

Taxes and How They Hide Them

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I heard a Nevada politician mention a phrase that bothers me. He spoke of "State Revenue Enhancements" which is just another word for taxes. How else does the government get money except they steal it from us?

We have more taxes now than we ever have before. Here's a sample of California taxes:
abandoned vehicle fees
fish and game violation fines
penalties on traffic violations
activity fee
foreign corporation fees
penalty assessments
additional assessments on fish and game fines
franchises tax
penalty assessments on fish and game fines
admission tax
garbage truck inspection fees
personal income tax
aircraft jet fuel tax
general fees – Secretary of State
phone booth permits
alcoholic beverage taxes and fees
general fish and game licenses tags permits
animal licenses
general fish and game taxes
animal shelter fees and charges
generator fee
architecture public building fees
genetic disease testing fees
ballast water management fee
golf course fees
phone, city and county utility taxes
beverage container redemption fees
guardianship fees
phone, emergency telephone users surcharge tax
breast cancer research cigarette stamp tax
hazardous material fees
phone, rate surcharge
building construction filing fees
hazardous waste control fees
phone, rate surcharge
business license tax
health and dental fees
phone, service provider number portability
cable, city cable fee
highway carrier uniform business license tax
phone, state regulatory fee (PUCURA)
cable, franchise fee
horse racing (parimutuel) license fees
phone, universal lifeline telephone service surcharge (ULTS)
California children and families first cig. stamp tax
industrial homework fees
plan checking fees
California State University Fees
insurance company examination fees
private rail car tax
California tire fee
insurance company license fees and penalties
private railroad car tax
candidate filing fees
insurance department fees, general
proceeds from estates of deceased persons
childhood lead poisoning prevention fee
insurance department fees, Prop. 103
public administrator fees
cigarette and tobacco products surtax
insurance fraud assessment, auto
public safety fund sales tax
cigarette tax
insurance fraud assessment, general
quarterly public utility commission fees
city and county sales tax
insurance fraud assessment, workers comp.
real property transfer tax
construction permits
insurance gross premium tax
recording fees
corporation tax
integrated waste management fee
renewal fees
county clerk – miscellaneous fees
interest, penalties, and delinquent taxes
retail sales and use tax
county transportation tax
interstate user tax
retail sales and use tax-realignment
court fees
library fines and fees
revenue – abandoned property
court filing fees and surcharges
liquor license fee
sale of real and personal property
delinquent fees
local revenue fund state sales tax
sales of documents
disposal fee
marriage licenses
secured and unsecured property tax
district transactions and use tax
motor vehicle fuel tax (diesel)
sewer service charges and connection fees
division of real estate examination fees
motor vehicle fuel tax (gasoline)
solid waste collection
division of real estate license fees
motor vehicle license (in-lieu) fees
special district taxes
domestic corporation fees
motor vehicle registration
state beach and park service fees
duck stamps
museum hall and art commission fees
state disaster relief tax
eating places licenses
natural gas surcharge
state energy surcharge
electric, CA public benefit fee
new motor vehicle dealer license fee
state tax
electric, city tax
notary public license fees
street and curb permits
electric, franchise fee
occupational lead poisoning prevention fee
street sweeping fee
electric, state regulatory fee
off-highway vehicle fees
subdivision filing fees
electric, underground surcharge
oil spill response fee
teacher credential fees
electric, user utility fee (UUT)
oil spill response, prevention, and admin. fees
teacher examination fees
electrical energy surcharge
open space cancellation fee
telecommunications tax
elevator and boiler inspection fees
other property tax
timber yield tax
employer’s payroll tax
other regulatory fees
towing fees
employment agency filing fees
other regulatory licenses and permits
traffic violations
employment agency license fees
other regulatory taxes
trailer coach license (in-lieu) fees
engineering fees, inspection, and others
opera and civic auditorium fees
transient lodging tax
environmental fee
parental fees
underground storage tank maintenance fee
estate, inheritance and gift tax
parking lot revenues
uninsured motorist fees
explosive permit fees
parking permits
voter approved indebtedness property tax
facility free and tiered permit fees
parking violations
waste water system maintenance
farmers market and ag. commission fees
parks and recreation fees
water service charges
filing financing statements
pay patients board charges
water, high elevation charge
fines and forfeitures
penalties and interest on personal income tax
water, special facility charge
fingerprint ID card fees
penalties on public utility commission quarterly feezoning and subdivision fees

If you think it was bad when the founders declared independence, they would roll over in their graves now. They say we have representation, but they don't care what we think or say, and some people don't think we pay enough.

RIP NASA

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In an effort to appease the public, the President has decided to roll back NASA's funding. For some of my young friends, whose only exposure to space is the JJ Abram's fiasco Star Trek Prequel that came out last year, maybe that's ok. Neil Armstrong is, however, my favorite explorer. One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind, inspired a generation and gave birth to dreams and discovery that have changed our lives.

Although they did not mean too, NASA has discovered a lot of things. It's probably among the best spent research money on the planet.

I happen to have a stack of NASA stickers at my desk. On the reverse, they share with us the Vision and Mission of NASA, which I feel impressed to share before we all forget the point of the space program.

NASA's Vision
Improve Life Here
Extend Life to There
Find Life Beyond

NASA's Mission
Understand and protect our home planet
Explore the universe and search for life
Inspire the next generation of explorers
...as only NASA can.

Who will inspire them now to go further, go higher, and "go where no man has gone before"? The President wants them to go somewhere else- back.

What a shame.

Regents Propose Cuts

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I watched the regents meeting today where they proposed ways to alleviate the current fiscal crisis. They used the stimulous money as a stop-gap last year to save jobs, probably at the behest of the National Education Association (a union). Great. I like my job, but putting a bandaid on an arterial laceration doesn't fix the problem, it just delays it for later. Now, they propose 20% salary cuts, 6 furlough days per month, and layoffs. This will mean less access to instructors for students and other interruptions in service.

Anything that we do that is only circuitously related at best to the primary function of the institution should be cut. I told the governor this last year with the knowledge that I stood the risk to lose my job. We got along without all the extra campuses, the deans, and other administrative functions for years. We are here to teach students, and whatever money the state spends that is not related to instruction ought to be cut off.

The business of a university is to train people for jobs. We have programs and course offerings that are duplicated by the cities and municipalities around us. While interesting, bellydancing classes, yoga, and the like do not prepare people in and of themselves for careers in the state, so if the townships wish to provide that instruction, let them do it. A huge amount of excess munition and manpower goes to the support of research. Research does not serve our customers. It serves our employees. We continue to make capital improvements and expansion when facilities have been adequate for 10-15 years. If facilities are adequate, updates will not serve our customers at sufficiently low enough cost-benefit ratio to justify them.

They will make of this an excuse to raise taxes. Nobody wants to cut teachers. Truth is, we can cut plenty of people who are not teachers, and many of the teachers are not the best people to act in that office. Just because some of the people are in teaching positions does not mean they are the best people for the job. We ought to find people who love to teach and who excel at it, the best people in fact who are willing to do it for the wage we offer. I don't care who you know or how long you've been here or anything else. We serve the customer, our students, and every time one of the faculty hampers their progress we delay their entry into the productive sector of the economy. If 50% of the state budget is for state wages and benefits, we have too many state employees.

Anyone who takes a job for the pay as primary or only reason takes a job for the wrong reason. Education is something you do because you love it and not because you love the paycheck. If money is your primary focus, go do something else. People pay us for information, and if we do a piss-poor job, they should take their money elsewhere. Government, however, has a virtual monopoly on education, and so they cannot go anywhere else; many of them can barely afford the community colleges now. I paid barely more than they charge to attend graduate school, and that was only five years ago. Costs continue to rise as quality of instruction declines.

I oppose any effort to raise taxes and expand government. Successful attempts to raise taxes result in only more power for politicians. They will stick it to everyone because there will be less money to creat wealth, opportunities, and jobs if they take your money from you as you earn it. As soon as government takes money from the private sector, it dies. When they come for your money, they will tell you that it means less police, fire, and school access. The firemen refuse to take a paycut, the police can still make overtime, and spending more on schools hasn't made them better, it has made them worse.

When I have extra money, I buy things I need. I wish I could give it back, but the university won't allow it. So, last year, in the budget crisis, we bought a dozen microscopes we didn't really need at $3000 apiece because I didn't spend all the money I could have spent. For that, we could have saved dozens of employees their paycut, but no, Biology can't give anything up. They want you to look out for them, but they are jealous of what they have. They want you to sacrifice, but they insist on using everything they have.

Government will earn more money if they free the economy. If they give companies and individuals money to spend and invest, it will generate economic activity. As economic activity rises, jobs will return. When jobs return, there will be more income to tax, more goods moved to tax, and more homes/properties built and occupied by people with means to care for them which will raise the property tax base. If you raise taxes at the front, you hurt everyone. If you cut them at the front, you will get more at the back. Under Reagan, it resulted in record revenues in the treasury. Tax 100 things at 90% and you get less than if you can tax thousands or tens of thousands, even at a much lower rate.

I know that my honest feelings on this matter will land me in hot water. I told a friend yesterday however that it is always the right time to do the right thing. I told the governor last year to lay off extemporaneous state employees with the knowledge that I might get laid off. I will die doing what is right. I know my place. It is time you found yours. I will find another job. I have had hard jobs before, but this time I'm in better shape.

Save Money; Buy Generic

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I know some people who insist that brand names are better. By and large, I disagree. Until now, I had only personal experience with this, but thanks to an article today, I now have independent media corroboration with my assertion.

Brand names may give us more peace of mind, but the cheaper stuff works just as well, and in exactly the same way. It's required to, by law.

This reference particularly refers to generic NSAIDs. The same thing can be held for other products. They must be safe, they must contain similar components, they just don't get held to inert or superfluous ingredients involved.

Before you get a hissy fit, not all generics are created equal. Some of Wal-Mart's generic products just don't taste the same as the brand name equivalents. That is because they contain propriety compounds or ingredients that cannot be placed into generics.

Where do generics come from?

In the case of much of the pharmaceutical industry, most of those drugs are made by companies in Canada and Europe. These companies pay zero for research and development, preferring instead to use industrial espionage to procure formulas, etc. They either hire people to work for the companies and steal the information or they pay people to pay a visit and steal what they can. When I worked in industry, they had me store some of their cutting edge R&D at my workstation when a competitor came to visit to protect it from them.

Some companies have special arrangements to save customers money. Some of the difference in price is for the brand name. Suppliers then order it direct from the manufacturer and have it placed in generic packaging. You can thereby buy the same oil filter from Wal-Mart under the Supertec brand that FRAM sells, but at a 20% discount because it doesn't have the FRAM label. They can sometimes get it packaged right out the door almost exactly the same at cheaper price and still make the same per unit because they don't have to pay royalties.

Not all generics are equal. From Mac n Cheese to Dr. Pepper to potato chips, the generics are not the same. Do they work? That is a matter of taste, but then again so is caviar...