Many people from all over the world move to the United States to chase the American Dream. But what actually is the so called "American Dream?" Is it to be wealthy? Is it to have a successful business? Maybe to own your own home, or have a good car, or money in the bank? I am not too sure anymore what the term means. What I do know is that the American Dream is way different know than what it was when my ancestors came here from Italy, Scotland, and Wales.
Here is what comes with the dream today:
1. Taxes--We have no say in where this money is spent.
2. Corrupt Politicians-- Do you know what a lobbyist is?
3. Overpriced Commodities--Gasoline is $3.93 at the Sheetz next to my house.
4. Crazy Laws--It's illegal to take a lion to the movies in Baltimore or grow thistles in your yard in MD.
5. Politicians Are Super Humans--They are exempt from most laws they pass.
6. Gays Have No Rights--Just let them get married already.
7. War Mongers--We are the Police of the World and so was the Roman Empire.
8. Real Estate--How many of you are upside down on your mortgage?
9. Debt--We all have it or will have it sooner or later. The U.S. is $15T in debt, that T is for trillion.
10. Small Business--Don't make too much money, someone in Washington will take it.
11. Success--Your success will pay for less successful people's needs.
12. Police--Just youtube police brutality.
13. Crime-- in 2010 approximately 15K were murdered, 85K were raped, 400K were robbed, 2.2M were burglarized, and over 700K had their car stolen.
14. Racism--Just ask a few black people you know, they'll tell you.
15. Obesity--Highest in the world out of 195 countries (196 if the U.S. ever recognizes Taiwan as a country).
16. Driving a Vehicle--Average new car sold in the U.S. is $28,500.
17. Jobs--Good luck getting one, there are 20M people looking too.
18. Retirement--Social Security is bankrupt.
19. Health Insurance--So is Medicare...
20. Drugs--World's leading consumer of cocaine and biggest manufacturer and consumers of crystal meth.
So there it is, 20 things that come with the American Dream. This great country has a lot to offer. I guess the biggest dreams come with a little bit of baggage. I used to think that I lived in the absolute best country in the world and sometimes I still do. However, as I get older and become more educated, Switzerland is looking pretty damn nice right about now...
Cheers!
K.A. Ball
Friday, March 30, 2012
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Mega Half a Billion!!!
I know what I would do, and here it is. I would take the lump sum. That's a no brainier. After the 25% Federal tax and Maryland's 7.75% lottery tax I would be left with $241,427,500 in cash. I would take $41,427,500 and just blow all of it, YES ALL OF IT!
--$7M to pay off houses of Friends. If I take an average of $250K per house I can pay off 28 houses. Well, a few of these friends would need a fresh build so some would get a new house.
--$5M would be donated to various places. $2M Charities of my choice, $1M to the town of Middletown (where I grew up), $1M to FCPS, $1M to WCPS.
--$12M in cash to Family. That's $1M each to of my immediate Family Members and $500K each to other Family family members. ie Uncles and Cousins.
--$4M dispersed in cash to Friends. Amounts vary on their awesomeness. Haha!
--$400K given to complete strangers. $25K each to 16 random strangers that I see walking in the street. This would be so much fun to change some lives!
--$10M on a giant piece of property to build a compound of several houses for my immediate family and closest friends. It would be completely gated with security at the entrance.
--$2M on a giant classic car selection! I love classic cars and would have a giant garage on the compound filled with cars that anyone in the compound would be able to drive.
--$1M on the biggest, baddest, world tour, 6 month vacation with 25 of my closest friends and family!
--$27.5K to the first awesome waiter/waitress at a restaurant we ate at. Giant tips from rich people have got to be awesome. I waited tables and I know how awesome it is to get a great tip.
So there goes $41,427,500. I am left with ONLY $200M in cash. If I put this in the bank and get a 2% annual interest rate, I would be making $4M a year in interest. I could definitely live off that. Screw investing it, you don't need to take the risk. In fact, I think it would be hard to spend all that since everything I would own would be paid off already...haha!
It's fun to sit around and dream about that kind of money. It would be hard not to share it with important people in your lives and even share it with complete strangers. You just can't be greedy with this much $$$. Whom ever wins tomorrow's drawing will change the lives of everyone around them for many, many years. Write in the comments about what would you do, I'd love to see. Good luck to everyone!!!
Cheers!
K.A. Ball
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Post about nothing...no really, it is.
There is no such thing as "nothing." Go ahead, try and picture it in your head. You can't. It's impossible. Even if you try, you will most likely picture a black or white space. Which in fact is something. It's black or white space. The reason behind this is because all you have ever known is something, so even when you try to picture nothing you are always going to picture something no matter what you picture. None of us have ever seen or experienced nothing. So does nothing really exist? I don't really think so.
It's like trying to count to infinity. You can't because infinity never stops going, just like something can never become nothing. Are you following me here? You can't even argue that 0 is nothing because 0 is still something, it's a number. In order for nothing to exist it has to have no measurable properties and no dimensions. So, even if we ever find nothing and prove that it does exist it will then become something and therefore we will determine that it could have been and was nothing until we made it something.
We can never ever prove that nothing exists. We cannot comprehend what nothing means. Even though we use this word regularly, we are never really talking about nothing because we actually mean something when we say it. Just wanted to give all of you "nothing" to think about for the day...
Cheers!
K.A. Ball
It's like trying to count to infinity. You can't because infinity never stops going, just like something can never become nothing. Are you following me here? You can't even argue that 0 is nothing because 0 is still something, it's a number. In order for nothing to exist it has to have no measurable properties and no dimensions. So, even if we ever find nothing and prove that it does exist it will then become something and therefore we will determine that it could have been and was nothing until we made it something.
We can never ever prove that nothing exists. We cannot comprehend what nothing means. Even though we use this word regularly, we are never really talking about nothing because we actually mean something when we say it. Just wanted to give all of you "nothing" to think about for the day...
Cheers!
K.A. Ball
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
The Night Sky
Not sure how many of you have noticed but, there is a really bright star in the the western sky. It's actually not a star, it's Venus. Cool thing is if you look directly under Venus you will get to see another planet, Jupiter. Weeks ago they were really close to each other. I have been watching their paths for several weeks now. They just kind of crossed over each other last week. Tonight you will see an awesomely bright crescent moon right next to Venus as the sun sets and the moon rises. It will look just like the picture above. If you want a real treat look over to the eastern sky and you will see an orange star that is a little bit brighter than all the others. You will notice again that this orange colored star is not what it seems either. It's actually Mars. Mars came closest to the Earth a few weeks ago than it has in a few years.
It fascinates me that there are now only 8 planets in our solar system (Pluto was demoted to "dwarf planet"in 2006) and at night we can see half of them! We are on on Earth and Venus, Jupiter, and Mars are all visible. Kinda cool huh?
Now just some quick facts about these planets
--You can fit over 1300 Earths inside Jupiter and 24 just in it's red spot!
--Jupiter averages 241,841,402 miles away from Earth! And we can see it!
--Venus is the Hottest planet even though it's not the closest. It's dense atmosphere acts like an oven and it's average temperature is 867F, compared to Mercury's average daily temp of 425F as the closest planet!
--Mars' surface is made of the same stuff the clay in our Mid West states are made of, iron oxide..aka rust!
--The Moon has all those craters from meteors, most of those same sized meteors wouldn't harm us because Earth has an atmosphere that they would burn up in. The Moon however is not so lucky.
--The Moon is believed to be a giant chunk of Earth that broke off from an asteroid hitting Earth 4.5B years ago and got caught in our orbit. Either that or it's the actual asteroid...they are still arguing it now. Read this article that came out just yesterday if you want. http://news.yahoo.com/moon-formation-theory-challenged-study-160608598.html
Whether you like this kind of stuff or not, you got to admit that we are lucky as hell to be here and to be able to look at the sky and see our very, very far away neighbors. Well, they are pretty close considering the size of our Universe but that's a whole new topic...
Cheers!
K.A. Ball
Monday, March 26, 2012
What Is Going On In Public Schools???
My neighbor's daughter is 10 years old and she got off the bus on Friday with this in her hand. She told me that she got her first demerit in school. Of course I was a little confused and replied, "What do you mean, a demerit?" She said, "Here, look." I couldn't help but start laughing (no, really I lost it ) because not only have our public school systems become so controlling and get off on belittling children for nonsense, but the demerit was an actual tangible item that they wanted her to bring home to her parents! What is happening????
A demerit??? Really? Why not motivate the kids to act right and do well rather than squashing them for every petty little thing they do wrong? If I were a teacher there is NO WAY I would take part in "handing out demerits." And if you ARE A TEACHER, you KNOW this isn't right. This is a 10 year old we are talking about here. She is expected to talk when she isn't supposed to, I thought that this was something teachers knew before they signed up to teach 5th grade. Kids are kids, so let them be kids. Tell them to be quiet and move on. Now, this particular kid took it with a smile because she knows it's just a BS piece of paper that has no meaning at all. However, she is also a very smart 10yr old, with a strong personality, and she is very socially savvy. Plus, it also helps that her parents aren't assholes. Imagine how many kids that don't have the parents she does that ground their not so confident, socially awkward kids for getting these demerits. Some parents may think they have bad kids for getting these. I wonder how many kids in Washington County have been beat at home for "talking during independent writing." It's a shame, a real shame.
When I was in school we got "Referrals." And trust me, I got plenty. But I got these referrals for actually doing things that were completely uncalled for, very inappropriate, and just plain crazy. Not for "talking during independent writing." If I did open my mouth during "independent writing" Mr Tauriello would just say, "Kyle shut up and do your work." And you know what I would do? Shut up and do my work. There was no need to hand out these so called demerits, little pieces of paper that don't mean a damn thing to any normal kid or parent. Just a little worried that this type of curricular treatment could be harmful to the not so strong kids.
Oh and by the way, this teacher should be given a demerit for her pathetic hand writing. Yes, the teacher wrote it. Good job Mrs. Crunkleton. What a joke...
Cheers!
K.A. Ball
Friday, March 23, 2012
Religion is a Business
Yes, RELIGION. It's actually pretty GENIUS if you look at it the way I do. Religion brings in TRILLIONS of dollars for selling a product that NO ONE EVEN KNOWS IF IT WORKS UNTIL YOU DIE! Now THAT my friends is GENIUS! Let me elaborate.
Every business has to have the same key elements to actually be able to be called a business. Those key elements are 1. A Product to offer and 2. Customers with money. Next you need some staff and a bad ass Salesman to not only train the staff but to be the face of the business. This person has to have these qualities; charisma, wit, sharpness, a great smile, must be clean looking, and most of all...have an answer for everything. I have done sales, I have trained hundreds and hundreds of people how to do sales. I taught people how to have an answer for everything, it's not very difficult. Next you need a location. It doesn't have to be a fancy location or the best looking because if your product is good enough, people will come. You can always move to a bigger better location once you sell enough product.
Now let's look at Religion. It has all of these things. The product is Faith. This includes God, Jesus, all the stories in the Bible or Koran or Torah or Book of Mormon or Dhamma or Bhagavad Gita or...OK there are a lot. The customer base is HUGE! It's everyone. There are just over 7 billion people on the planet right now. Let's just say that 66.66% (2/3) follow a religion. That's about 4.7 billion people. That's a lot! Can you imagine if that many different people bought your product???? Next, your bad ass Salesman. The Preacher, Priest, Pastor, Imam, Rabbi, and the list goes on. These guys, never women, stand up there and try to sell this INTANGIBLE product as best as they can. He uses all the sales qualities to get through to you that HIS religion is the BEST one and the better he does at making this product sound freaking awesome, the more money you will be willing to pay for it. Donate, donate, donate, donate and donate. Some religions require you to pay a certain percentage of your income into the Church no matter what you make. And they sell you on the idea that this is what the Religion wants you to do. Genius!
Man Religion has got it going on! It has everything that we all want in life. Money, friends, a long list of assets. Plus they DON"T PAY TAXES!! And you really just keep buying and buying and buying this product over and over again and you have no idea if it's real. Yeah, you can point out the, "Well, this happened to me so I know it's real." But you can also never rule out "coincidence." You'll NEVER truly know until you're dead. There will either be everything you were ever promised waiting for you after you die, or there will be nothing. Absolutely nothing, like it was before you were born. Remember that? Yeah, me neither. Now, just speculating and using my own guess on numbers if 4.6 billion people are actively buying this product and spend on average $1000 a year on Religion that's $4,700,000,000,000 or $4.7 trillion in revenue every year!!!! On a product that may or may not work! I told you before, this is genius...from a business standpoint. I honestly think that number is low. It very well could be A LOT higher.
But remember Religion also has it's enemies. It has caused more war than anything else in History. Religion can be very dangerous. Use this product wisely. This product has killed more people than cigarettes, cancer, heart attack, drugs, alcohol, and everything else combined through war and hate. After every Sermon or speech or sales pitch, that same Bad Ass Salesman should leave you with a little disclaimer warning and it should go something like this:
"WARNING: THIS PRODUCT MAY CAUSE YOU EXTREME HARM FROM SOMEONE WHO BUYS THIS SAME PRODUCT MADE BY ANOTHER GOD. BELIEVING IN THIS PRODUCT MAY CAUSE YOU AN EARLY DEMISE. THIS PRODUCT IS VERY, VERY DANGEROUS AND MAY NOT EVER WORK. THIS PRODUCT ALSO MAY BE ALL MAKE BELIEVE."
So, I leave you with this. Religion is either the BIGGEST business on the PLANET, or the BIGGEST SCAM on the PLANET. No living person will EVER know. The only thing that keeps me from starting one is that you have to go through the whole Cult thing first before you grow large enough to be called a Religion. And we all know that can't be too much fun... ;)
Cheers!!
K.A. Ball
Every business has to have the same key elements to actually be able to be called a business. Those key elements are 1. A Product to offer and 2. Customers with money. Next you need some staff and a bad ass Salesman to not only train the staff but to be the face of the business. This person has to have these qualities; charisma, wit, sharpness, a great smile, must be clean looking, and most of all...have an answer for everything. I have done sales, I have trained hundreds and hundreds of people how to do sales. I taught people how to have an answer for everything, it's not very difficult. Next you need a location. It doesn't have to be a fancy location or the best looking because if your product is good enough, people will come. You can always move to a bigger better location once you sell enough product.
Now let's look at Religion. It has all of these things. The product is Faith. This includes God, Jesus, all the stories in the Bible or Koran or Torah or Book of Mormon or Dhamma or Bhagavad Gita or...OK there are a lot. The customer base is HUGE! It's everyone. There are just over 7 billion people on the planet right now. Let's just say that 66.66% (2/3) follow a religion. That's about 4.7 billion people. That's a lot! Can you imagine if that many different people bought your product???? Next, your bad ass Salesman. The Preacher, Priest, Pastor, Imam, Rabbi, and the list goes on. These guys, never women, stand up there and try to sell this INTANGIBLE product as best as they can. He uses all the sales qualities to get through to you that HIS religion is the BEST one and the better he does at making this product sound freaking awesome, the more money you will be willing to pay for it. Donate, donate, donate, donate and donate. Some religions require you to pay a certain percentage of your income into the Church no matter what you make. And they sell you on the idea that this is what the Religion wants you to do. Genius!
Man Religion has got it going on! It has everything that we all want in life. Money, friends, a long list of assets. Plus they DON"T PAY TAXES!! And you really just keep buying and buying and buying this product over and over again and you have no idea if it's real. Yeah, you can point out the, "Well, this happened to me so I know it's real." But you can also never rule out "coincidence." You'll NEVER truly know until you're dead. There will either be everything you were ever promised waiting for you after you die, or there will be nothing. Absolutely nothing, like it was before you were born. Remember that? Yeah, me neither. Now, just speculating and using my own guess on numbers if 4.6 billion people are actively buying this product and spend on average $1000 a year on Religion that's $4,700,000,000,000 or $4.7 trillion in revenue every year!!!! On a product that may or may not work! I told you before, this is genius...from a business standpoint. I honestly think that number is low. It very well could be A LOT higher.
But remember Religion also has it's enemies. It has caused more war than anything else in History. Religion can be very dangerous. Use this product wisely. This product has killed more people than cigarettes, cancer, heart attack, drugs, alcohol, and everything else combined through war and hate. After every Sermon or speech or sales pitch, that same Bad Ass Salesman should leave you with a little disclaimer warning and it should go something like this:
"WARNING: THIS PRODUCT MAY CAUSE YOU EXTREME HARM FROM SOMEONE WHO BUYS THIS SAME PRODUCT MADE BY ANOTHER GOD. BELIEVING IN THIS PRODUCT MAY CAUSE YOU AN EARLY DEMISE. THIS PRODUCT IS VERY, VERY DANGEROUS AND MAY NOT EVER WORK. THIS PRODUCT ALSO MAY BE ALL MAKE BELIEVE."
So, I leave you with this. Religion is either the BIGGEST business on the PLANET, or the BIGGEST SCAM on the PLANET. No living person will EVER know. The only thing that keeps me from starting one is that you have to go through the whole Cult thing first before you grow large enough to be called a Religion. And we all know that can't be too much fun... ;)
Cheers!!
K.A. Ball
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Hello Blog World!
Ahhhhhh...my first blog entry. I have been sitting here debating on what to write about for my first post. I have a huge list in my head and so many things to talk about. Most of these things I want to get written down and shared with others just to see if there are people out there that think the way I do, or to see if I am just a complete nut that has somehow lost connection with the real world. Haha! Well, I hope it's not the latter, but guess there is always a chance that it will be. I am hoping to get a good amount of people to read what I write so I can get a good amount of feed back. I think criticism is healthy whether you like it or not. It makes the thick skinned and thin skinned stronger.
Some of the things that swirl around in my head and what I'll be writing about is Religion, Science, Politics, Sports, Society, People (a lot about this), and just my own personal Philosophies. I am not a genius and don't know everything about everything but I hope you will be able to relate in some way to a lot of things that I write. And if you don't relate, keep reading you just might find something you like. Or share it with a friend that you think may be able to relate.
I will leave you with what my first actual topic will be. Maybe I will just leave it with a question so you can just guess what I will write about tomorrow. What is the largest and most profitable business in the world? Sleep on that.
Cheers!
K.A. Ball
Some of the things that swirl around in my head and what I'll be writing about is Religion, Science, Politics, Sports, Society, People (a lot about this), and just my own personal Philosophies. I am not a genius and don't know everything about everything but I hope you will be able to relate in some way to a lot of things that I write. And if you don't relate, keep reading you just might find something you like. Or share it with a friend that you think may be able to relate.
I will leave you with what my first actual topic will be. Maybe I will just leave it with a question so you can just guess what I will write about tomorrow. What is the largest and most profitable business in the world? Sleep on that.
Cheers!
K.A. Ball
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