Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Toastmasters Speech #9 "Persuade with Power"
I Am Entitled
About 3 years ago my wife and I went to East Austin to help with a group called Mission Possible who ministers and empowers the poor and homeless. We helped clean up some buildings, aided in projects for low income families, and we gave food to the homeless. It was an eye opening experience and changed my perspective about the poor. I can remember many things, but the thing I most remember is talking to the Mission Possible director and asking him what was one of the most difficult challenges that he sees when trying to help the poor. He said it was government entitlements like welfare and medicaid. He said he tries to help the poor become productive, but most do not want a job or job training because they would rather collect government entitlements. It opened my eyes to some of the shortfalls of entitlements. So this brings up the popular question. Do entitlements help those in need or do they create a life-long dependency? Everyone agrees that there are needy people that cannot sustain themselves with the burden of children, disabilities, and unfortunate circumstances but are government entitlement programs the answer? Today, I would like to discuss this debate and attempt to convince you about why entitlements in the U.S. are problematic.
My first reason that entitlements in the U.S. are problematic is that it causes a visious cycle of dependance on welfare. As the director of mission possible explained, those who are recieving government entitlements don't want to work. He also explained that those who depend on entitlements teach their children to depend on entitlements instead on teaching personal responsibility. Why would a person work if they were given entitlements for free? This dependency on welfare fails to teach able bodied cititizens how to improve their own condition.
My second reason that entitlements in the U.S. are problematic is because of the abuses of the entitlement systems. How many have ever seen a person paying with food stamps who is wearing expensive clothes driving away in an expensive SUV? Now, it is difficult to tell how frequently this occurs, but does it seem like that person needs government entitlements? There are some entitlements that are going to people who find loopholes in the system. How many of you have heard stories of single mothers living with their partners who have many children just to get welfare checks. Or how about the many abuses of the medicaid and medicare systems by the health providers and patients. The FBI conservatively estimates that over 10% of medicaid is lost to fraud. Some examples of medicaid abuse reported by the General Accountabilty Office are
• doctors billing for over 24 hours of work
• phony companies invoicing for phantom services
• pharmacists filling prescriptions for dead patients
• prescriptions written by dead physicians
• home health-care companies demanding payment for treating clients who are actually in the hospital
This oversight with entitlements is rampant and it is difficult for large government entities to keep track of where the money goes.
Thirdly, government entitlements cause a social divide between those who work and pay taxes and those who depend on entitlements. Remember the person paying with food stamps driving away in an SUV? It can be frustrating if you are paying into a system that is supposed to help the poor yet you see this abuse. It can also be frustrating when those who are able to work choose not to because they would rather recieve entitlements. Because of this abuse of the system, my natural inclination is to look at an entitlement recepient with disdain. You can see how this can foster resentment between the working class and the poor.
Fourthly, to me the main problem with entitlements is that it is unsustainable. This table shows the US federal, state and local government expenditures on entitlements which includes welfare, social security, and medicare/medicaid. Not to overwhelm you with too many numbers, but we can see from this table that since 1970 the percentage of total governement spending on entitlements has increased from 37% to over 77% of total government spending. This trend cannot be sustained. Governor Schwarzenegger is learning this firsthand with a $19 billion budget shortfall in CA in which he had to make some difficult decisions and proposed to reduce entitlement spending. To me, this is just the beginning of budget shortfalls due to the burden of funding entitlements.
Finally, with all my arguments against entitlements, a person may ask what about those who are helpless like the disabled, injured, the single mothers? What would happen if we ended entitlements? They may say, isn't it our moral obligation to help those in need? To that answer I say yes, but is it the governments responsibility to force taxpayers into that system, or would it be better to have a system where people actually have the choice to give to a reputable charity? Before entitlements, churches and charities were able to give local hand's on care for poor people and could more easily distinguish those who had a real need. To those who say it is a moral obligation then give time and money to charities who help the poor. Simple as that.
In conclusion, I have given you my reason for why the entitlement system in the US is problematic. I have explained the problems of dependency on the system, the abuse of the system, the resentment that can occur between taxpayers and those who are unwilling to work. I have also explained how the funding US entitlements is becoming more and more unsustainable. We can all agree that we should care for the poor and the destitute, but the methods to help them have been and will continue to be debated. In my opinion, help for the poor should not be mandated by a large government system but rather a local charity or church who can personally care for the needy.
About 3 years ago my wife and I went to East Austin to help with a group called Mission Possible who ministers and empowers the poor and homeless. We helped clean up some buildings, aided in projects for low income families, and we gave food to the homeless. It was an eye opening experience and changed my perspective about the poor. I can remember many things, but the thing I most remember is talking to the Mission Possible director and asking him what was one of the most difficult challenges that he sees when trying to help the poor. He said it was government entitlements like welfare and medicaid. He said he tries to help the poor become productive, but most do not want a job or job training because they would rather collect government entitlements. It opened my eyes to some of the shortfalls of entitlements. So this brings up the popular question. Do entitlements help those in need or do they create a life-long dependency? Everyone agrees that there are needy people that cannot sustain themselves with the burden of children, disabilities, and unfortunate circumstances but are government entitlement programs the answer? Today, I would like to discuss this debate and attempt to convince you about why entitlements in the U.S. are problematic.
My first reason that entitlements in the U.S. are problematic is that it causes a visious cycle of dependance on welfare. As the director of mission possible explained, those who are recieving government entitlements don't want to work. He also explained that those who depend on entitlements teach their children to depend on entitlements instead on teaching personal responsibility. Why would a person work if they were given entitlements for free? This dependency on welfare fails to teach able bodied cititizens how to improve their own condition.
My second reason that entitlements in the U.S. are problematic is because of the abuses of the entitlement systems. How many have ever seen a person paying with food stamps who is wearing expensive clothes driving away in an expensive SUV? Now, it is difficult to tell how frequently this occurs, but does it seem like that person needs government entitlements? There are some entitlements that are going to people who find loopholes in the system. How many of you have heard stories of single mothers living with their partners who have many children just to get welfare checks. Or how about the many abuses of the medicaid and medicare systems by the health providers and patients. The FBI conservatively estimates that over 10% of medicaid is lost to fraud. Some examples of medicaid abuse reported by the General Accountabilty Office are
• doctors billing for over 24 hours of work
• phony companies invoicing for phantom services
• pharmacists filling prescriptions for dead patients
• prescriptions written by dead physicians
• home health-care companies demanding payment for treating clients who are actually in the hospital
This oversight with entitlements is rampant and it is difficult for large government entities to keep track of where the money goes.
Thirdly, government entitlements cause a social divide between those who work and pay taxes and those who depend on entitlements. Remember the person paying with food stamps driving away in an SUV? It can be frustrating if you are paying into a system that is supposed to help the poor yet you see this abuse. It can also be frustrating when those who are able to work choose not to because they would rather recieve entitlements. Because of this abuse of the system, my natural inclination is to look at an entitlement recepient with disdain. You can see how this can foster resentment between the working class and the poor.
Fourthly, to me the main problem with entitlements is that it is unsustainable. This table shows the US federal, state and local government expenditures on entitlements which includes welfare, social security, and medicare/medicaid. Not to overwhelm you with too many numbers, but we can see from this table that since 1970 the percentage of total governement spending on entitlements has increased from 37% to over 77% of total government spending. This trend cannot be sustained. Governor Schwarzenegger is learning this firsthand with a $19 billion budget shortfall in CA in which he had to make some difficult decisions and proposed to reduce entitlement spending. To me, this is just the beginning of budget shortfalls due to the burden of funding entitlements.
Finally, with all my arguments against entitlements, a person may ask what about those who are helpless like the disabled, injured, the single mothers? What would happen if we ended entitlements? They may say, isn't it our moral obligation to help those in need? To that answer I say yes, but is it the governments responsibility to force taxpayers into that system, or would it be better to have a system where people actually have the choice to give to a reputable charity? Before entitlements, churches and charities were able to give local hand's on care for poor people and could more easily distinguish those who had a real need. To those who say it is a moral obligation then give time and money to charities who help the poor. Simple as that.
In conclusion, I have given you my reason for why the entitlement system in the US is problematic. I have explained the problems of dependency on the system, the abuse of the system, the resentment that can occur between taxpayers and those who are unwilling to work. I have also explained how the funding US entitlements is becoming more and more unsustainable. We can all agree that we should care for the poor and the destitute, but the methods to help them have been and will continue to be debated. In my opinion, help for the poor should not be mandated by a large government system but rather a local charity or church who can personally care for the needy.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Overblown Politics
You gotta love to so-called pundits Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and now President Obama. They have condemned this Arizona Law (SB 1070) that allows enforcement officers to ask for immigration documents if there is "reasonable suspicion". They call it "misguided", "prejudice", and "irresponsible". There have been huge rallies across the US condemning the AZ law and many are organizing boycotts of travel to Arizona.
The thing that baffles me is that the requirement for an immigrant to carry papers is already a federal law. Follow this link and turn to page 8. In addition, look at US Code - Section 1304 : Forms for registration and fingerprinting. Subsection (e) says:
(e) Personal possession of registration or receipt card; penalties. Every alien, eighteen years of age and over, shall at all times carry with him and have in his personal possession any certificate of alien registration or alien registration receipt card issued to him pursuant to subsection (d) of this section. Any alien who fails to comply with the provisions of this subsection shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall upon conviction for each offense be fined not to exceed $100 or be imprisoned not more than thirty days, or both.
It is a federal requirement for a legal alien to carry their papers. If an enforcement officer ask for your papers that you are required to carry then everything is fine. Of course, if you never had papers then you are here illegally. You broke the law. What is the problem with this AZ law?
I am tired of the overblown politics that occur. It is just another political ploy. Don't get me wrong, I care for these people, but a law must be enforced. A United States without borders is not sustainable and must be controlled.
I would love to hear your opinion.
The thing that baffles me is that the requirement for an immigrant to carry papers is already a federal law. Follow this link and turn to page 8. In addition, look at US Code - Section 1304 : Forms for registration and fingerprinting. Subsection (e) says:
(e) Personal possession of registration or receipt card; penalties. Every alien, eighteen years of age and over, shall at all times carry with him and have in his personal possession any certificate of alien registration or alien registration receipt card issued to him pursuant to subsection (d) of this section. Any alien who fails to comply with the provisions of this subsection shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall upon conviction for each offense be fined not to exceed $100 or be imprisoned not more than thirty days, or both.
It is a federal requirement for a legal alien to carry their papers. If an enforcement officer ask for your papers that you are required to carry then everything is fine. Of course, if you never had papers then you are here illegally. You broke the law. What is the problem with this AZ law?
I am tired of the overblown politics that occur. It is just another political ploy. Don't get me wrong, I care for these people, but a law must be enforced. A United States without borders is not sustainable and must be controlled.
I would love to hear your opinion.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Blogger Templates
I found that blogspot has a new utility to update the look and feel of your blog at
Blogger Template Designer
For the next few weeks you might be seeing some updates to the style and look of the page. Let me know if there are any that you like.
Blogger Template Designer
For the next few weeks you might be seeing some updates to the style and look of the page. Let me know if there are any that you like.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Toastmasters Speech #8 "Get Comfortable with Visual Aids"
Microprocessors
How many have heard of microprocessors? What do you think about when you hear the term? Do you think about computers like a Dell or Apple? Of course. How about an iPhone or
a cell phone or an Xbox? Ok, I can see that. What about an engine controller or a washing machine or a coffee maker? Wait a second. Microprocessors are widespread. Most electronics contains some form of a microprocessor, which is the central brain or processing unit of the device. So, why are microprocessors so widespread and used in such a wide variety of applications? How does a microprocessor work and how does it process the data? Today, I would like to answer some of these questions as I explain the history of the microprocessor, the architecture of the microprocessor, and a simple example of how microprocessors work.
Before the mic
roprocessor was invented, most fabricated digital circuits were custom made for only one purpose. It could only perform a specific function and could not be used for anything else, you could not reprogram it and it was difficult to make updates to the hardware. This resulted in a long development cycle. That is when in 1969 an Intel employee named Ted Hoff, invented a general purpose device called a microprocessor that could be easily programmable. This allowed companies to have a much quicker development cycle in which they only had to develop software for an already available microprocessor and easily make edits to the program or software for quick enhancements or fixes.
So we know why we need microprocessors, but know we want to know what is inside a microprocessor? This right (pic 1) here is an simplified diagram of a microprocessor. It consists of an Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU) which performs addition and subtraction, an instruction fetcher and instruction decoder, registers to locally store data, and a memory interface to store data and the instructions. When a computer first strarts up, a program is stored in memory and the instruction fetcher will grab the first instruction from memory. This instruction is passed on to the instruction decode to determine the operation. Basically, the instruction decode can perform 3 operations; add or subtract using the ALU (Arithmetic/Logic Unit), move data from one memory location to another, or make a decision and jump to a new set of instructions. This is the basic architecture of a microprocessor.
How many of you have ever heard of binary code? It is just basically 1's and 0's. Now how many of you can read this (pic2)? I can't either. Thank goodness a microprocessor can. What this represents is a set of instructions that simple microprocessor can read. Of course no one else can, but using the following tables we can decode exactly what the microprocessor is instructed to do. Now if you feel a little overwhelmed by this table, tha
t is OK, this is only here for reference. From this table (pic3) we can see, for example, the instruction ADD gets mapped to the binary value 10. You can also see from the next table (pic4) that a register and a memory location is also mapped to a binary value. Using these tables we can encode an instruction to add of register A and register B (pic5). Building on that example, (pic6) we are able to decipher the binary code that I showed you before. This shows that the microprocessor is instructed to load the contents of memory 1 to register A, and load the contents of memory2 to register B, Add register A and register B and put the result in register A. Then finally store the value of register A into memory3. Congratulations, you just finished your first software program.
In conclusion, I h
ave given you an overview of the history and operation of the microprocessor. We have seen why microprocessors are necessary for quick development and can support of a variety of applications, and we have seen a simple example of how a microprocessor works. When Ted Hoff invented the microprocessor, little did he know the impact that microprocessor would have on the world the next 40 years, and now it would be difficult to imagine a life without microprocessors.
How many have heard of microprocessors? What do you think about when you hear the term? Do you think about computers like a Dell or Apple? Of course. How about an iPhone or
a cell phone or an Xbox? Ok, I can see that. What about an engine controller or a washing machine or a coffee maker? Wait a second. Microprocessors are widespread. Most electronics contains some form of a microprocessor, which is the central brain or processing unit of the device. So, why are microprocessors so widespread and used in such a wide variety of applications? How does a microprocessor work and how does it process the data? Today, I would like to answer some of these questions as I explain the history of the microprocessor, the architecture of the microprocessor, and a simple example of how microprocessors work.Before the mic
roprocessor was invented, most fabricated digital circuits were custom made for only one purpose. It could only perform a specific function and could not be used for anything else, you could not reprogram it and it was difficult to make updates to the hardware. This resulted in a long development cycle. That is when in 1969 an Intel employee named Ted Hoff, invented a general purpose device called a microprocessor that could be easily programmable. This allowed companies to have a much quicker development cycle in which they only had to develop software for an already available microprocessor and easily make edits to the program or software for quick enhancements or fixes.
So we know why we need microprocessors, but know we want to know what is inside a microprocessor? This right (pic 1) here is an simplified diagram of a microprocessor. It consists of an Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU) which performs addition and subtraction, an instruction fetcher and instruction decoder, registers to locally store data, and a memory interface to store data and the instructions. When a computer first strarts up, a program is stored in memory and the instruction fetcher will grab the first instruction from memory. This instruction is passed on to the instruction decode to determine the operation. Basically, the instruction decode can perform 3 operations; add or subtract using the ALU (Arithmetic/Logic Unit), move data from one memory location to another, or make a decision and jump to a new set of instructions. This is the basic architecture of a microprocessor.
How many of you have ever heard of binary code? It is just basically 1's and 0's. Now how many of you can read this (pic2)? I can't either. Thank goodness a microprocessor can. What this represents is a set of instructions that simple microprocessor can read. Of course no one else can, but using the following tables we can decode exactly what the microprocessor is instructed to do. Now if you feel a little overwhelmed by this table, tha
t is OK, this is only here for reference. From this table (pic3) we can see, for example, the instruction ADD gets mapped to the binary value 10. You can also see from the next table (pic4) that a register and a memory location is also mapped to a binary value. Using these tables we can encode an instruction to add of register A and register B (pic5). Building on that example, (pic6) we are able to decipher the binary code that I showed you before. This shows that the microprocessor is instructed to load the contents of memory 1 to register A, and load the contents of memory2 to register B, Add register A and register B and put the result in register A. Then finally store the value of register A into memory3. Congratulations, you just finished your first software program.In conclusion, I h
ave given you an overview of the history and operation of the microprocessor. We have seen why microprocessors are necessary for quick development and can support of a variety of applications, and we have seen a simple example of how a microprocessor works. When Ted Hoff invented the microprocessor, little did he know the impact that microprocessor would have on the world the next 40 years, and now it would be difficult to imagine a life without microprocessors.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Do Not Try This at Home
Disclaimer: This is Rachael's first actual post on this blog, and if it forshadows events to come, let's hope we're all out of the way...
So here I was, perusing the fridge after a long day of work. Matt wouldn't be home for awhile, and I was hungry. Not wanting to really spend that much time on dinner, I decided to make myself a salad-delicious and healthy. Of course, I thought, I should have some protein. Too bad I forgot to buy any meat at the store on Saturday. It sure would be nice if I had some eggs boiled.
Well, why not? I decided that since I didn't want to spend 30 minutes cooking a whole pot of eggs, I could make my tummy happy and just do one in the microwave in 5 minutes. I mean, I've boiled water in there before. I got a small glass measuring cup, put the egg in the bottom, and covered it with water. Then, I set the container in the microwave to boil.
Just about the time I was arranging the leaves in my bowl, an explosion erupted from the microwave, and it automatically shut off. Realizing my egg has just been blasted to smithereens, I opened the door, hoping that at least the glass didn't shatter. Bits of water and egg guts dripped from the microwave ceiling and oozed their way out the front and onto the stove. Gross.
Needless to say, boiling an egg in the microwave apparently does not work. Who knew??? It was, however, curious to find actual chunks of cooked egg floating on the tray. I thought about eating these, but quickly came to my senses and threw them out. 20 minutes and a whole roll of paper towels later, my microwave actually looks clean, and it still works. Darn.
I sit here now, munching on my tasty, eggless salad (though I did find some nuts in the pantry for protein). Next time I think I will opt for Ramen instead.
So here I was, perusing the fridge after a long day of work. Matt wouldn't be home for awhile, and I was hungry. Not wanting to really spend that much time on dinner, I decided to make myself a salad-delicious and healthy. Of course, I thought, I should have some protein. Too bad I forgot to buy any meat at the store on Saturday. It sure would be nice if I had some eggs boiled.
Well, why not? I decided that since I didn't want to spend 30 minutes cooking a whole pot of eggs, I could make my tummy happy and just do one in the microwave in 5 minutes. I mean, I've boiled water in there before. I got a small glass measuring cup, put the egg in the bottom, and covered it with water. Then, I set the container in the microwave to boil.
Just about the time I was arranging the leaves in my bowl, an explosion erupted from the microwave, and it automatically shut off. Realizing my egg has just been blasted to smithereens, I opened the door, hoping that at least the glass didn't shatter. Bits of water and egg guts dripped from the microwave ceiling and oozed their way out the front and onto the stove. Gross.
Needless to say, boiling an egg in the microwave apparently does not work. Who knew??? It was, however, curious to find actual chunks of cooked egg floating on the tray. I thought about eating these, but quickly came to my senses and threw them out. 20 minutes and a whole roll of paper towels later, my microwave actually looks clean, and it still works. Darn.
I sit here now, munching on my tasty, eggless salad (though I did find some nuts in the pantry for protein). Next time I think I will opt for Ramen instead.
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