Boomers, your time is now!

Dear Boomers, your time is now. 

That’s right, your parents dealt with the Great Depression, then World War 2, and then they rebuilt the world. They’re called the “Greatest” because they had a resolve like no other generation before or since. The disasters and hardships they faced make any issues we’ve faced look trivial in comparison. The attacks of 9/11/2001 are often referred to as one of the worst atrocities Americans have ever faced, but it’s trivial compared to what the Greatest generation faced. They went through a decade of destitution responsible for more than 7 million deaths, 60% of the population in poverty, and unemployment reaching 25%. Just as the economy began to recover Japan bombed Pearl Harbor and they were called upon to defend the nation. Five years of war took a toll on them. More than 400,000 were killed, society was transformed, everyone devoted their lives to the war effort. The stakes were too high to not devote your time and your resources to the effort, the consequences of failure too great. 

Fast forward to 2020 and we’ve come to a crisis that while still trivial compared to what the Greatest generation experienced is the most detrimental we’ve ever experienced. Of course, I’m talking about the Pandemic and what now needs to be done to rebuild our country. Why am I singling out Boomers? Surely every able-bodied person can contribute to the effort. Absolutely, but Boomers can contribute the most. I know that doesn’t seem fair, and I agree it’s not, but life isn’t fair. Why do I believe Boomers can contribute the most? The simple reason is they can contribute the most by doing the least. That’s right, and by doing the least I mean they should retire.

Estimates from AARP with data collected by the IRS, Medicare, and the Census Bureau show that some 13 million Americans over the age of 65 are still working and on average earn $78,000 per year. Of these that are still working more than 4 million have 401k or other retirement funds valued over $1 million. Some 90% of these jobs are “white collar” jobs that are intended for educated and experienced individuals. Many in this age group are in management or leadership roles. They’re quite literally running the country and its economy. The average age of CEOs in the Fortune 500 is 58, nearly 200 are over the age of 64. These leaders need to work to bring new retirement programs to their oldest employees. They need to offer part-time or temporary positions to those who are near retirement. These new positions should involve training and educating those coming into the company or into the position they’re retiring from. The mentality of American’s today is to work until they no longer can, or no longer feel like working. Why is this? What are they gaining from this mentality? Is it some kind of badge of honor that you can keep working well past your 50’s or 60’s? Do you not have any other interests in life that you’d like to spend more time doing? Are you worried about not having the finances to support the lifestyle that you would like to lead? I could see some validity to these concerns, but the drawbacks far outweigh the concerns. If you have even a shred of interest in spending quality time on something other than work why would you wait until you’re at or near an age when that time could be constrained by the breakdown of your mind or body? Think about that for a second. Pretend for a moment that you’d always wanted to hike the Appalachian Trail. Wouldn't it be easier to do that when you’re under the age of 70 and no longer working? Sure there are exceptions, but by and large, this is an activity you need to try to accomplish when you’re as healthy as possible, with as much time as possible. Maybe you have an interest in learning how to repair small electronics or cell phones. It’s a hobby that requires mental acuity, dexterity, and good eyesight, all of which deteriorate as we age. Is there an overwhelming completely unrealistic view people have of themselves as they age that somehow they’ve still got “it” and they can show everyone how amazing they are? Why not show people how amazing you are by showing them amazing experiences you’re going to have when you’re no longer saddled by a job? Why not show them the amazing path you took that led you to the amazing life you will have after your job? 

As I write this more than 30 million Americans have either been temporarily or permanently laid off. Best-case scenarios show that 12-15 million of those jobs will return by early 2021. That leaves almost 20 million jobs that may not return, or at least not anytime soon. Knowing that more than 4 million people over the age of 64 could retire now or within 6 months, this could get a large portion of those who need jobs back into the workforce. If companies that can provide early retirement programs do so, there could be even more upside to get the unemployed working and getting more people into a comfortable retirement. Federal and State governments could contribute as well. The travel and leisure industry has been decimated by the Pandemic. Imagine if every person over the age of 62 no longer had to pay taxes to rent a car or stay in a hotel? Imagine if person’s who are retired could actually expense their living expenses and only pay taxes on income that was actual income? Retirement is not only looking easier, but it’s looking better now.

So there you have it, are you approaching retirement? Are you one of those that could easily retire today? Have you asked yourself, why am I still working? What’s the answer? Why are you still working? Has it ever crossed your mind that people needing a job would love to have the one you don’t need? Have you ever thought that maybe your need to show the world how great you are at your job is not only detrimental to you, it’s detrimental to society? Does everything you’ve ever wanted or dreamed of doing involve going to your job every day? If you had more time to do whatever you wanted, would it be working for the company you work for? Are you that passionate about it? The one thing you’ll never be able to get back is time, and as you get older you have a lot less of it to explore things you might want to experience.

So sleep on it, take it all in and really give it some thought. Do you want your generation to be known for something? Right now Boomers are known as the technology deficient haters of Millenials. As a Gen Xer that doesn’t bother me at all, but I hope my generation will be remembered for something better. I have a feeling Boomers feel the same way.

My rebuttal is as follows: Enjoy! It's immensely entertaining!

"Say thank you. Say thank you to the women who gave you a voice. Say thank you to the women who were arrested and imprisoned and beaten and gassed for you to have a voice. Say thank you to the women who refused to back down, to the women who fought tirelessly to give you a voice. Say thank you to the women who put their lives on hold, who –lucky for you — did not have “better things to do” than to march and protest and rally for your voice. So you don’t feel like a “second class citizen.” So you get to feel “equal.”

Ok, I'm a man so uh sure I'll play "Thank you"

"Thank Susan B. Anthony and Alice Paul for your right to vote."

Well they certainly helped, but the men in congress had to vote on it. Sorry, it's true though.

"Thank Elizabeth Stanton for your right to work."

Oh yea, women never worked before that..... Jee thanks Elizabeth. Are you freaking serious?

"Thank Maud Wood Park for your prenatal care and your identity outside of your husband."

Ok, yes, without her we'd never know women were actually people, not pets owned by their husbands..

"Thank Rose Schneiderman for your humane working conditions."

Ok sure, but some coal miners in the south who literally fought a war over working conditions might disagree a little, uh yea just a little.

"Thank Eleanor Roosevelt and Molly Dewson for your ability to work in politics and affect policy."

So true, there were no Queens prior to those 2. Wait what?

"Thank Margaret Sanger for your legal birth control."

Hey thank Gregory Pincus for inventing it in the 1st place, oh wait don't do that, he's a man.

"Thank Carol Downer for your reproductive healthcare rights."

I'm sorry what? Healthcare isn't a "right" You need to look at the bill of rights again, that shit aint in there.

"Thank Sarah Muller for your equal education."

Sorry I have no idea who the hell that is, but Laura Ingalls was a damn teacher, so how far back are we going here?

"Thank Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Shannon Turner, Gloria Steinem, Zelda Kingoff Nordlinger, Rosa Parks, Angela Davis, Malika Saada Saar, Wagatwe Wanjuki, Ida B. Wells, Malala Yousafzai. Thank your mother, your grandmother, your great-grandmother who did not have half of the rights you have now.
You can make your own choices, speak and be heard, vote, work, control your body, defend yourself, defend your family, because of the women who marched. You did nothing to earn those rights. You were born into those rights. You did nothing, but you reap the benefits of women, strong women, women who fought misogyny and pushed through patriarchy and fought for you. And you sit on your pedestal, a pedestal you are fortunate enough to have, and type. A keyboard warrior. A fighter for complacency. An acceptor of what you were given. A denier of facts. Wrapped up in your delusion of equality."

What the hell? Can't think of a single thing that my Mom or even my Grandmother couldn't do that a man could? Can you site something here? Reference? Confusing to say the least.

"You are not equal. Even if you feel like you are. You still make less than a man for doing the same work. You make less as a CEO, as an athlete, as an actress, as a doctor. You make less in government, in the tech industry, in healthcare."

Well my wife makes a hell of a lot more than I do and I'm damn sure her job is easier and less stressful than mine. So I just proved you quantifiably incorrect. (This is why it's important to include references and facts and such)

"You still don’t have full rights over your own body. Men are still debating over your uterus. Over your prenatal care. Over your choices."

They are? You sure about that? Pretty sure you can do whatever you want with your uterus, I know I don't give a shit. Just an FYI though if you have an unborn child in there you might wanna care a little about that child. Just a thought. I know I do, and I think you might be borderline fucking psycho if you don't.

"You still have to pay taxes for your basic sanitary needs."

So if you're a woman you shouldn't have to pay taxes for your basic sanitary needs? WTF? Well there's more incentive for a sex change I guess, save on sales taxes.... WTF? I thought that was something called "responsibility" and it sucks, happened as soon as I reached some horrible shit called "adulthood".

"You still have to carry mace when walking alone at night."

You do? What happens when you don't carry mace? Do you only have to carry that at night? I'd personally carry a taser and get trained like Rhonda fuckin Rhousey, I wouldn't even ask her if she carries mace at night. Oh and you could carry a gun, that might be even more effective.

"You still have to prove to the court why you were drunk on the night you were raped."

Holy hell, how do you do that? People can have a legal excuse for being drunk? How the hell does that work? I need that badly!

"You still have to justify your behavior when a man forces himself on you."

You do? I don't believe you. Do you have a reference? Lets try an experiment, the next time a man tries to force himself upon you, beat his ass and spray him with that mace you were talking about. If a court of law makes you justify that I'll give $1000.

"You still don’t have paid (or even unpaid) maternity leave. You still have to go back to work while your body is broken. While you silently suffer from postpartum depression."

Holy hell, fuck all that! I say to hell with reproducing then. I mean my goodness you're automatically going to get depressed after having a child. Hell I never knew that, how the hell am I alive? Why did my mother suffer so much? She didn't even get paid to sit at home depressed the whole time.

"You still have to fight to breastfeed in public."

I took breast feeding classes, you have to fight just get the baby to latch on, it's probably even worse in Public. In other news, do you really want to breastfeed in Public? I mean shit I'm shocked you were able to get out of the house with all that depression and no pay.

"You still have to prove to other women it’s your right to do so. You still offend others with your breasts."

I could see that, I mean no offense or anything, but I don't whip my junk out in public, not because it would offend me, but it might offend others.

"You are still objectified. You are still catcalled. You are still sexualized. You are still told you’re too skinny or you’re too fat. You’re still told you’re too old or too young. You’re applauded when you “age gracefully.” You’re still told men age “better.” You’re still told to dress like a lady. You are still judged on your outfit instead of what’s in your head. What brand bag you have still matters more than your college degree.
You are still being abused by your husband, by your boyfriend. You’re still being murdered by your partners. Being beaten by your soulmate.
You are still worse off if you are a woman of color, a gay woman, a transgender woman. You are still harassed, belittled, dehumanized.
Your daughters are still told they are beautiful before they are told they are smart. Your daughters are still told to behave even though “boys will be boys.” Your daughters are still told boys pull hair or pinch them because they like them."

Wow, I'm not addressing all that shit individually because look we all have problems even us middle aged white dudes, most of these aren't exclusively "Female" problems.

"You are not equal. Your daughters are not equal. You are still systemically oppressed."

Well you're partially correct. My daughters are not equal, they're a hell of a lot better than most people out there. Oh and they sure as hell aren't opressed in anyway.

"Estonia allows parents to take up to three years of leave, fully paid for the first 435 days. United States has no policy requiring maternity leave."

Do you know anything else about Estonia, or are you just pulling that one stat right out of your ass? Uh good for Estonia? No serioulsy tell me more about Estonia...

"Singapore’s women feel safe walking alone at night. American women do not."

Oh really? See my Rhonda Rhousey reference from earlier, she must be from Singapore.

"New Zealand’s women have the smallest gender gap in wages, at 5.6%. United States’ pay gap is 20%."

Care to site any reference here? Seriously? Who are all these people so open and honest telling everybody about their wages?


"Iceland has the highest number of women CEOs, at 44%. United States is at 4.0%."

I'm not sure how or why that's relevant to anything, but uh good for the women of Iceland? Uh go Iceland! Maybe American women don't want to be CEO's?


"The United States ranks at 45 for women’s equality. Behind Rwanda, Cuba, Philippines, Jamaica."

Can you site something here? Like a single reference cause I googled that and didn't find jack squat. I did find a study regarding the supposed wage gap with results like that, but that isn't equality!


"But I get it. You don’t want to admit it. You don’t want to be a victim. You think feminism is a dirty word. You think it’s not classy to fight for equality. You hate the word pussy. Unless of course you use it to call a man who isn’t up to your standard of manhood. You know the type of man that “allows” “his” woman to do whatever she damn well pleases. I get it. You believe feminists are emotional, irrational, unreasonable. Why aren’t women just satisfied with their lives, right? You get what you get and you don’t get upset, right?"

I'm not a woman, so I don't feel like a "victim", but I can assure the women around me, and that are influenced by me aren't victims either. Oh and they sure as hell aren't asking you to go out and march for them.

"I get it. You want to feel empowered. You don’t want to believe you’re oppressed. Because that would mean you are indeed a “second-class citizen.” You don’t want to feel like one. I get it. But don’t worry. I will walk for you. I will walk for your daughter. And your daughter’s daughter. And maybe you will still believe the world did not change. You will believe you’ve always had the rights you have today. And that’s okay. Because women who actually care and support other women don’t care what you think about them. They care about their future and the future of the women who come after them.
Open your eyes. Open them wide. Because I’m here to tell you, along with millions of other women that you are not equal. Our equality is an illusion. A feel-good sleight of hand. A trick of the mind. I’m sorry to tell you, but you are not equal. And neither are your daughters.
But don’t worry. We will walk for you. We will fight for you. We will stand up for you. And one day you will actually be equal, instead of just feeling like you are.
~ Dina Leygerman, 2017"

No Dina, you're right, you're not equal. I hate to break this to you, but no one else is either. You'll never play basketball as well Lisa Leslie, you'll never fight as well as Rhonda Rhousey, you'll never swing a racket like Serena Williams. You have been found wanting. The good news, accept that you are not equal and that no one is, and the premise that you might be is incorrect. No you're not equal, but take solace in the fact that while you are not equal, the rights you have in this country are the same as everyone else, either male, female, black, white or brown.

Happy New Year soon!

Well things are slowing down for me and I can really start slamming out the ideas! So look in the new year for some exciting stuff!

Here's a few to look forward to!

Plug in Hybrid car for under $2500!
Automated concierge service!
Flying Car!
Small homebuilt aircraft for short runways and short trips.
Lifetime Property tax payment!

Here's a letter I wrote to Mark Cuban I thought it was a fun read!

WAKE UP MARK!

I don't mean that in a bad way, but come on most people here are complaining about the same thing over and over. It's not the theatre's that have the problem it's the industry as a whole.

Here's the issue, the Movie industry is still living with the same economic model it was living with 20 years ago. $80 million budgets another $20 million in marketing and the "HOPE" that they make it all back or most of it in the 1st weekend. Modern world to the movie industry, that doesn't work anymore. We the consumer have far more choices now, we have theatres in every room in the house, and most of us have 100's of channels of original content. According to the Motion Picture Association something like 194 Movies were released last year. The average budget of said movies was $48 million. Oprah, David Letterman, Jay Leno, Heck countless DIY and HGTV programs will do 194 productions in a season. All this is done with Millions watching, what are the millions paying to watch? Nothing, virtually nothing. Sure some may pay cable companies or satellite companies, but in reality what I pay the cable company monthly my wife and I could only go to the movies 2-3 times tops. The sad thing is I rarely even watch movies on the 100's of channels that I have, I even have some 20 "movie" channels which all of 2 (2!!!!!!!!) are available in HD. I still rarely will watch what's on there, the reason is a lack of original content. I'm more likely to watch HBO for their shows than I am for the movies, most of which I've already seen on DVD. Why? Simple, I know that they'll play that same movie 80 times in the next 3 months and my DVR will catch it for me at 2am if I really want to watch it again. I rarely do that though because I rent from Blockbuster.com for all of $17 a month and get to watch 15-25 DVD quality relevant movies or TV shows a month.

So how is it that I the consumer would rather watch the latest episode of Lost than the movie that's already been on the market for the past 6 months? Simple, for one it's free, another, the quality of the production rivals that of the movie, and finally its original programming. How is it that the broadcast industry, which 20 years ago was much like the movie industry, is able to provide me with far more quality content than the movie industry? 20 years ago when I watched television I had some 8 channels to watch, with some original programming, we got cable and then we had all of 30 channels to watch with more original programming. We’d still get bored with it, the way it was presented to us, the quality was sub-par, and we couldn’t get it when we wanted it. So when we wanted the best entertainment possible we went to the movies! The Movies were in surround sound not just stereo, they were on 40’ screens, the quality of the films blew anything else we’d see on TV out of the water! At home we all had 25” CRT sets with at best stereo sound and at best we could watch the movie on the overwhelming quality of VHS. Now I have hundreds of channels to watch, all of my local broadcast (FREE) affiliates offer really good programming absolutely free in stunning High Definition with 5.1 surround sound. We’re talking 720p digital broadcasts that run DVD’s out of the water. Not only do they offer me this for free, but they offer me hundreds of these near masterpieces for free, they only ask that I watch the commercials, which I don’t even have to do that because of the wonders of science that provided us with the “DVR”. So with all those choices you want me and my wife to hunk down $20-30 after concessions to go see a feature film. Sorry it’s not going to happen, you want to make money making movies you need to do what the Television industry did in the last 20 years. They changed the way they did business in order to catch up with the technology. They quit paying actors ridiculous sums to make shows, through digital means they took production costs and reduced them on a massive scale, they created more programming based on reality to both heighten interest and reduce overall costs and in the end to create more content that technology now allowed them to broadcast. Yet here is the movie industry, still paying people like Tom Cruise $20million to do a film, Steven Speilberg $15 million, still producing some 200 movies per year at ridiculous costs. The Motion Picture Association hasn’t caught up with Television, they are far behind, and soon with Television producing more and sometimes better content than that of the movies they may not even be relevant to the discussion anymore. If you want to make money making original films than you need to change the antiquated business model, the competition is far too fierce and is eating you alive. Here is a quick list of 5 things I’d change immediately regarding the Industry and the Theatre.

1. Reduce the price of admission drastically, this can be done by reducing the amount of costs involved with making and distributing films, we don’t need people selling us tickets at a booth that can be automated thanks. (online, or kiosks at the theater)
2. Make it easier for the typical American Family to see the movie, how about an area for small children to be watched while mom and dad go see the movie. I’d gladly pay $10 so that my child could be watched during the movie.
3. Change the way concessions are handled, popcorn and drinks could easily be sold via a machine, offer some quality food at the non-self serve areas and maybe areas in the theatre where a dinner could be eaten, maybe a small bar in front of some rows so that drinks and food could placed. If I’m going to pay an outrageous amount for food I’d rather pay $7-8 on a quality burger or sandwich than $4 on a mediocre hot dog.
4. As many have already stated give the consumer more choice, offer the movie at a Kiosk at the theater on DVD, or via mail on the internet. Make the DVD one track fully uncompressed, no features no nothing, make the previews part of said track. One 10 gig track is not an easy feat to compress and viably pirate, especially if it’s already at 720p in Mpeg4 format. Besides why pirate it if you can buy it online or head to a kiosk and get your own copy for $9.99. Cost of selling it that way? Not much, that $9.99 equal damn near pure profit.
5. Change the business model of the theater itself, where as you may drastically reduce the cost of seeing one movie, offer the consumer more choice in the theater as a whole. Offer season passes where people can buy an allotment of movies, we’ll say 10 because it’s easy and that pass last for 6 months and cost around $45. You can sell that by advertising movies that will be coming out in the next 6 months to hit your demography. You can offer discounts on concessions with said pass, and you can finally give control to parents on what their kids are seeing. If the parents don’t want their kids to see anything worse than PG-13 their season pass is restricted as such. The technology is here, get with the broadcast industry and use it.

There’s a few other things you could change right now that would help. Bring back Ushers, and make them actually shut people up, or at least offer everyone a headphone jack in the seats. If I’m going to pay $8 to watch a movie in your theater vs my own than give me an incentive and at least get rid of the previews and advertisements. Oh and if you want me to get there and see that show then let all these changes be known. Give us that we apologize speech that Bill Ford gave, the one that goes we’re sorry for royally screwing you for the last 40 years, come back and see what all we’ve changed.

Free Water and Power.

Ok here's my idea for free power and water for everyone. Not sure where to take this, so I'm going to post it here and if you think you can use it, or make it work, go for it. To make this work you will need essentially 3 things, sea water, the sun, and a large mechanical contraption. The 1st 2 are essentially free, the contraption is a one time investment. As someone will point out I probably used too many commas, but I don't really care. Moving on, affix several parabolic mirrors in a circle, make sure they can be adjusted in a north south fashion (15 degree range should suffice), in the center place a large boiler, make sure your mirrors reflect sunlight at one spot on each side of the boiler. This should be done somewhere near the coast, you'll need a pick up line to get sea water, a turbine, a generator and some pipe. When you get done assembling your contraption should look similar to the illustration I've provided.
How it works: As you can see the water is trapped by a simple tidal tray, the pressure from the tide moves water down the pipe opening a valve in the boiler. The Boiler being heated by the sun quickly brings the water to a boil and causes the water to convert to a gaseous state forcing it to expand in the chamber. This gas that is forced out of the chamber is then fed through a turbine which in turn rotates a generator. The panels are moved slightly throughout the day to coincide with the rotation of the earth, so that their aim stays true to the boiler. After the gas exits the turbine it will need to be fed through some type of filter to collect whatever salt remnant maybe in the gas. The remaining gas should be pumped into an aquifer where it will then be allowed to cool and return to it's liquid state completely clean of impurities (distilled water). The boiler will need to be cleaned periodically of salt and other solvents.

Some add ons that might also work:

1. Natural gas heaters under boiler to supplement boiler at night so one could have a continuous charge.
2. Auto cleaning contraption for the boiler.
3. Possibly filter out some salt before it reaches the turbine to prolong life of the turbine.
4. New lubrication techniques maybe needed to deal with the corrosive effects of salt and water.
Quick notes:
The illustration is mock up of a device that is over 60' in diameter. Each mirror is over 6' tall, if I used the commonly accepted rule of Solar wattage (550 watts per meter squared in the North American region), this device at %30 efficiency could potentially deliver 7.3 kilowatts during peak time continuously.
Any suggestions or comments please let me know.
Again if you use this idea or like it in general tell people where you heard about it.

Wow watch out my wife and I got a really bad virus!!!

Look out, make sure your medicine cabinets are filled with the latest non-expired virus definitions, there's a bug out there so bad it will immediately make your life miserable. Last Friday I came home from work and I noticed the old internal disk was churning in a most uncomfortable way. By about 8pm it was dumping malware all over the place, from both the input device, and the output device. Around that same time my wife reported the same error, by 10pm her system dumped out her input device directly after she had inputted some code. By midnight our systems were dumping constantly, rebooting didn't help, no matter what fix we tried to apply we were still left with a massive system crash. It's unfortunate we don't have a firewall running on our internal network, but as most will tell you it's a pain when you wanna play games or have a little fun when you have to deal with some type of protection device. Anyway by midnight I decided it was time to seek some professional help, so we headed to the local ER. There they had the latest malware destroyers, and their virus definitions were up to date. They were able to bypass the normal input devices and get their patch in without the virus detecting it. While they weren't able to completely delete the virus, they were able to quarantine it which allowed my already installed immune system to destroy it completely.

I'd just like to say if you find yourself in a similar situation, and you have some type of extended software/hardware support coverage, get to an ER. They will be able to get your system cleaned up and running like new in no time.

Mr. T 2008!!

That's right!! Mr. T 2008! If he's not running in 2008 I'm penciling him in! Mr. T would be the best president this country has ever had. He should form his own political party, the "T" Party. As many of you know Mr. T has his own show now, it's very inspirational and motivational while at the same time witty and fun to watch. It's called "I Pity the Fool", it involves Mr. T finding people in need of a strong leader who will give them motivational support. Through his teachings and support Mr. T brings these people together and shows them how they can enrich their lives by instituting a set of moral values for them to follow. While Mr. T himself is a devout Christian and cancer survivor he doesn't force his beliefs on people, he only tells them how Trusts, Loyalty, Leadership, Motivation, hard work, and a little Tenacity can bring fulfillment in their daily lives.

So why would Mr. T be a great president? Honestly because this country needs someone like him to run it. Someone who could careless about corporations and their sponsorship, someone who knows what it's like to be poor, someone who knows what it's like to be in the military and someone who has been to the bottom and pulled themselves all the way out. Mr. T may not be the most intelligent or the most educated person, but if we look at our current president that doesn't seem to be a prerequesit for the job. Mr. T grew up poor with several siblings in a small suburb outside Chicago, he holds his family (especially his Mother) more dear to his heart than anything else. He even wrote a song about how important it is to respect your mother and family in the 80's, this was no small feat for someone so incredibly tone deaf and lacking of any musical talent. After high school he was awarded a football scholarship at Prarie Veiw A&M, but he got thrown out after he had an altercation with his coach. He then joined the Military Police and had a 3 year stint in the US Army. Afterwards in order to make ends meet he got a job as a Bouncer at a prominent club in Chicago, when he threw people out for being malcontent he would often challenge them to try to get past him if they were wearing gold. If they couldn't he kept their gold. The Gold chains became his signature throughout his acting career. Meeting Syllvester Stallone in 1981 he was cast as Clubber Lange in the blockbuster Rocky 2. He later found fame in the "A Team" an action sitcom where he and a group of 3 other Military veterans would help those in need with some militia style rampages. After the A Team was canceled he joined Hulk Hogan in the WWF and wrestled tag team style for a number of years until he contracted cancer in 1995. By 1998 after intense treayments with Chemotherapy and other medications and coming close to death Mr. T battled his cancer into remission. He now speaks out against corporate corruption, poverty, and general inequality among the classes. In 2005 he gave up his gold after watching the plight of Hurricane Katrina victims. The proceeds went to funding food, shelter, and clothing for the victims.

So if you are like me and ready for a change from a political asshole to a straight up guy who doesn't put up with crap, while at the same time won't concede to corporate corruption Vote Mr. T for President 2008.

Ok, here’s one I can just explain I don’t need a whole lot of research or sketches. Traffic! How would I get rid of traffic? Here’s how, staggered scheduling. What do I mean by that? Well to put it simply in my city everyone goes to work at 8am and leaves at 5pm. Well that’s just stupid, and we do that Monday through Friday every week all year long. Last time I checked we were a “Global Economy” trying to run business 24/7 to service every country in the world. Not every company services the world, but last time I checked this country itself runs almost 24/7. Not only do we run 24/7, but we have more than 6 different time zones when you include Hawaii and Alaska. Because of the internet some 83% of all companies with more than 500 employees now service 2 or more time zones. That’s staggering, think about that, a company that bases their revenue off of internet sales and marketing services usually some 12 different time zones. Considering all of those factors why would a company like MBNA based here in Dallas still have the majority of its employees come in at 8am and leave at 5pm? Who is MBNA servicing? Are they servicing people that need them most at those times? That’s debatable, most of their customers are private individuals who also work 8am to 5pm Mon-Fri.

So here’s my suggestion quit with the 8a to 5p Mon-Fri for everyone thing already. There’s really no reason Sally and John should be driving down the same highway everyday seeing each other in the same traffic. If I were Sally’s boss I’d ask Sally to come in at 9am work until 6:30 and her days would be Tuesday through Friday. She’d get a 30 minute lunch and she’d end up with 36 hours per week. If she needs a full 40 she can come in at 8:30a or leave at 7p. I’d ask John to come in at 7:30a and leave at 5p his days would be Monday through Thursday again if he needs a full 40 he can leave at 5:30p or come in at 7a. What does this do? Lets say we currently have 500 people coming in daily at 8a and leaving at 5p. Now lets move this company to a 3tier staggered schedule. We ask the employees to choose when they come in and give them a choice of schedules. 1^st choice 7:30a to 5p Mon-Thurs, 2^nd choice 8:30a to 6p Mon-Fri with Wednesday off, 3^rd choice 9a to 6:30p Tues-Fri. Those that need 40 hours versus 36 have an option of working longer in the 4 day work week or working 4 hours from home on their weekly day off. If the company needs the employees to work together on projects they can schedule meetings on Tuesday and Thursday. They can make all their employees available during off hours during the week by forwarding emails on their off days to Cellular phones as text messages or for some phones that support email the full email. While the initial transition isn’t as easy as a flick of a switch the rewards for the change would be well worth the transitional costs.

Let’s say that the majority of the employees pick the Mon-Thurs schedule, 230 of them for example. 100 choose the Mon-Fri with Wednesday off and the remaining 170 choose the Tues-Fri schedule. Now what does this do to change the traffic on the roads? Well instantly it reduces the number of employees we have on the road Mon-Thurs at 8a-5p by more than half. It reduces the number of employees we have on the road on Fridays by 230, on Wednesday we have 100 less people on the road, and Monday we reduce the number by 170. Let’s not forget that not only have we reduced the number of people on the road on these days, the staggered times have reduced the number of people on the road all at the same time. If 40% of companies in a given Metropolitan area were to institute a staggered schedule system the amount of vehicles on the road at the same time would be reduced by a staggering amount (a little fun pun there). I don’t think I even have to do the math for people to understand the amazing amount of reduction to vehicles on the road at the same time.

So what traffic is reduced, you’re not going to see companies change the way they do things because where is the incentive for them? Well think about it this way, by instituting a 4 day staggered schedule over our traditional 5 day non staggered schedule we reduce the number vehicles on the road at the same time by 29% if 40% of companies institute the program. Well with overall traffic reduced by 29% and overall Daily traffic reduced by 18% overall emissions would be reduced by a staggering amount. A study was done by the EPA that stated that if we could reduce traffic by 15% per year we could reduce overall emissions by 25%! Imagine if we reduced traffic by 29%! We removed 18% of all vehicles on the road! So why does the company care about emissions or pollution? Well they might not, but I can imagine that the EPA would. Politicians would, the general public would enjoy the cleaner air.

Another incentive is with less overall traffic and fewer slowdowns on the road the roads themselves would need far less maintenance. Thus local governments have the propensity to save millions per year on maintenance and expansion. These Millions could be passed back to the companies that are participating in the staggered schedule program in the form of tax incentives. So now the companies have some incentive to initiate the program. The EPA would also benefit from the program thus they could also provide some federal tax incentive. Lets not forget that we’ll have happier employees who have more time to themselves with an extra day off and fewer working hours, not to mention far less time spent driving and far less money spent on gas.

That touches on another point, traffic effects gas mileage. The EPA estimates that city traffic reduces gas mileage by an average of 46%. 46%!! Wow imagine if we could just get half of that number back on 15% of the cars on the road. I bet we’d need a whole lot less foreign oil another big win for everyone.

So there you have it, if you want to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, reduce pollution, reduce time spent on the road, reduce the number of accidents on the road (I know I didn’t touch base here, but it’s common sense, thus reducing insurance premiums), reduce the costs of gasoline, and make most of America a happier place to work, write your congressman and tell them about this idea. If we can have some responsible politicians institute this program we could really change the world for the better. Well at least our country anyway.