In the Defense.

I'd like to say a few words in the defense of Anthony Weiner, Eliot Spitzer and Mayor Bob Filner of San Diego,

"






                                                                                                                                                             "  

Have a nice Day!

Sammy                                                                                                                                                            
           

Crime and Punishment.

Ryan Braun of the Milwaukee Brewers was suspended for the rest of the season without pay (3.25M) for the use of performance enhancing drugs. Not only did he "cheat", he lied about it for two years. Does that remind you of the Catholic church's cover up of its criminal priests? A-Rod is probably next, and there are more on the list of Biogenisus customers.

The performance enhancing drug charges during the Mark McGuire-Sammy Sosa era was bad enough, but these talented players cheated. This is bigger than a spitball cheater. Who can't remember those pathetic Congressional hearings, where Bud Selig hid behind the MLB-Union agreement. Mark McQuire was a mumbling idiot. Palmero outright lied, and was caught a short time later.

Pete Rose was suspended from baseball for life and a real Hall of Fame player has had the door locked in Cooperstown. I'm not defending what he did, but he did not cheat, he broke the law and the rules of baseball, and he did his time in a Federal prison. Pete's only steroid was hustle.

Football's major crime seems to be major crime. Possession and use of drugs, abundant DUIs, gun possession and even a murder or two. Didn't Plaxico Burress know, guns can hurt you? Apparently not, he shot himself in the leg. He actually did some time for illegal possesission of a firearm. Don't get me started on Hernandez, a thug if there ever was one. Don't players know that nothing good happens outside a strip club at three o'clock in the morning? The list of offenses goes on and on with most every football team having multiple lawbreakers on their squads.

Think how much money they leave on the table, when they are suspended or incarcerated. Are they stupid? In a word YES! Are they heroes NO!

Character matters folks.

Have a nice day!

Sam

The Last Look at the Next Big Thing!

As I have tried bit by bit to link the pieces of the Next Big Thing together, I am caught in a hopeless technological maize. Although I know something Big is coming, I'm just too old for this s**t.

OVER AND OUT!!

I think I'll lie down and take a nap.

Have a nice day!

Sammy Carl

Detroit City

Detroit has declared bankruptcy. There is no one reason. It's a city that lost itself in its self. The slow down in the the automoble industry auto, a murder rate that is astounding, unrealistic union wages and pensions,loss of tax base, as residents fled the decaying city (population went from 2.8M to about 700K,which is 83% Black), crooked and criminal politicians,  overall poor management, and there must be more, but I'm out of breath.

So sad. Will we learn from this experience? Probably not.

Don't let America become another Detroit, people.

Have a better day than Detroiters.

Sam

Some Numbers Looking to the Next Big Thing!

I have been watching Orange is the New Black,a Netfix original series. (It's extremely well written and acted). I began to wonder how an streaming company could afford to produce a quality series on its own and just for its own members at a charge of $7.99 a month per subscriber.

This led me to the old reliable Goggle, which as always has the answers. I was astounded. Netflix has 29.2 million subscribers, as I speak. Holy Cow, I did some quick calculations. That's $233.6 million per month or $2.8B a year.  There primary investment is the streaming technology. I have no idea how it works or how much it costs to get that capital streaming equipment in place, but it seems like once its up and running its an ongoing money machine, with not a lot of overhead. However, they are looking to the future and investing in their own content. The acquisition of existing content is an ongoing expense, and I have no idea what the royalty arrangement is made on the content developed by others. So the Next Big Thing is a little child, that can only grow in the new world, and I like it.

I'm thinking I should buy some stock and put my money where my mouth is. It is currently trading at about $266 per share and has ridden up on a steady pace ever since the disastrous change in billing system that tanked the stock and the membership bailed in huge numbers. I was one of the droppers. I'm back and am thoughly enjoy Breaking Bad and Orange is the New Black.

This is only one piece of the Next Big Thing. Almost the entire Tech Industry is looking for a path to the future and the Next Big Thing. Their past history shows they know how to do it. Think the broad use of the internet is only about 25 years old. the Smart Phone is amazing, yet barely out of puberty. It's almost yeaterdays news. Apple is still my favorite because they have had a true glimpse into the future in the past and executed the vision of Steve Jobs. Google is a close second. The Tech world changes the world. I try to keep up with it but I fall behind as soon as I understand the present.

It's all all about content and how it is delivered.

It's going to be a fun ride.

Have a nice day.

Samuel C. Arnold
Man of the 21st Century

THE NEXT BIG THING!

Apple, Google and others are searching for the next BIG thing. We have seen so much in technology in such a short time. Steve Jobs guiding philosophy was to develop things people didn't even know they needed. iTunes and the IPod changed the way we acquired and listen to our music. So much for record stores. The IPhone changed the way we use the telephone. Land lines are losing. Newspapers are dying with the Internet. Network television is in trouble because of cable letting us explore our broader span of interests. The DVR let's us watch what we want to watch when we want to watch it. The list goes on and old ways give way to new ways. I still amazed by Google Search, but Google has become so much more.

 Does anybody like their cable company? Poorest customer service in history. More expensive every year. Gives and charges for channels we don't want or need. It's not about the delivery system, it's about content. Content is king  A new delivery system might elimnate cable and satalite. They are the middle man. Netflix and other streaming services are now even developing their own programming.

So what's the next BIG thing? Right now it has to play itself out, but the Internet will become the delivery system of content. It will be pay per view. It will be on demand. Programming what you want when you want it. It may actually cost you more each month, but you can't do without it. You can take it everywhere.

Did you know that Google is test marketing a cyber optic system in Kansas City? It can deliver the Internet a 100 times faster than todaay.You might say that to do this in every market will take time and lots of money. This is true, but this is an America who built an interstate highway system. We wired the whole country with cable for TV.

The rumor for several years has been Apple TV. I could not figure out why. TV is not new. Now perhaps I see it. A TV tied to the Internet for delivery to your home, computer, IPad, smart phone etc.  

This is jus the tip of the next BIG thing. Pieces of this BIG thing are already here. What it needs now is for somebody to pull it all together into a viable business Model. Watch it. it wiill be amazing. Maybe even invest in those companies that can participate in the next BIG thing. Apple,
Google,, Netflix. Disney and other content companies. It's going to be an exciting. Notice I have not mentioned Microsoft. And Cox and Time Warner will be saying "What happened?" If I  were them, I'd be very nervous.

I have seen so much in my 75 years. And I ain't done yet, baby!

Have a nice day!

Sam Arnold,
 Man of the 21st Century

Same Old, Same Old

Let's see if I've got this straight.

 Anthony Weiner (D) who texted is junk from his cell phone and resigned his congressional is running for Mayor of New York City.

Eliot Spitzer (D) who chased after a prostitutes, is running for Comptroller of New York State.

Mark Sanford (R)former Governor of South Carolina, disgraced by an affair with another woman and then lied about his whereabouts on government time,won an election and got his old congressional seat back.

Bob Filner (D), newly elected Mayor of San Diego, was called to resign by former key supporters because of major sexual harassment of mayor's office females. He didn't deny it, but did the mia culpa and promised he would fix it. He was so sorry. He once told a female airport employee when he was entering a baggage area off limits to non-employees, by yelling at her that he was a United States Congressman, and he could do anything he wanted. Such an arrogant jackass.

 To me it gives insight to the personalities of politicians. It all about ego and power. They view themselves as special. They love the adoration. They sell out.

Many people believe that personal and public life are separate, as in France.  I don't. It's about morals and ethics. Right from wrong. In a word character. Character is not a sometime thing, whenever it suits them. Morals are full time things. We expect people, particularly public officials, to operate on high moral and ethical level. Otherwise they are not fit to serve and can't be trusted with public trust. Many, even  those who start with good intentions, are quickly blinded by the gushing of supporters, especially those with money.

We elect them and re-elect them, so we reap what we sow.

I ask you, can approval ratings go below zero?

To top it off, a contestant was kicked out of a Bass fishing tournament in Minnesota, because he was caught adding Bass from his freezer. Is there no ethics left in the world?

Have a nice day!

Samuel C. Arnold

Father Knows Best!

Search me, O God, and know my heart:
Try me,and know my thoughts.
And see if there be any wicked way in me,
And lead me in the way everlasting

Psalms 139 23-24

One of the things I have finally learned and now understand is the third piece of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit.  It is the God that resides within us. It's the inner moral control of doing the right thing. It is the moral and ethical compass of me. Some choose to ignore this inner voice and must endure the consequences of sinful behavior, but let's be clear we all are sinners, big and small. My personal code is to ask myself the age old question, " What would Jesus do?"It's a pretty good premise to living a more meaningful and happy life.

We know right from wrong, or at least we should. But God knows best. In this Psalm we are asking for him to see those sins we don't see in ourselves. 

In the mean time try be the best person you can be. God is with you.

Have a blessed day!

Samuel

It's the Fourth! Hoo! Yah!

July 4, 2013. America's birthday. It's like no other holiday because it's ours. No gifts, no pressure, just fireworks,  BBQs, parades, flags, music, genuine patriotism, friendships. Just good times.  It's a time for our moral compasses to stop spinning and point towards hope for our country.  We celebrate every year of our beloved country. We celebrate those who fought and died to protect our freedom.

The Fourth of July is the biggest day of the year in Coronado. Coronado is a military town covering all decades of military history. The flags fly high. The parade is huge. Thousands invade our Island like the Marines at Iwo Jima. The parties and BBQs are plentiful. Love and peace all around.

It is too bad today's schools are either re-writing or ignoring history. History is fun. When I was doing my genealogy research, I paralleled it with the history of the times in which my ancestors lived.   This brought history to a closer personal level. My major lines became English citizens when the came to America. All of my lines came before the Revolutionary War. The earliest in about 1634-36. A distant grandfather was at Valley Forge and Momouth as a drummer. My grandfather fought in the Spanish American War and the Philippine Insurrection. I became an expert in these wars, as well as Philippine history. It put me in the times. As I researched the history, I understand how this country expanded, one step at a time. I love history.

I grew up in the fifties. Many of the future generations mocked that fact as a Beaver Clever world. What's wrong with simpler times? Yes, we are all caught up in the technology of the times, me included. It was a time when the moral compass was relatively stable. What's wrong with that, I ask?

So let us all slow down and remember what a great country we live in.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!

Have a great patriotic day!

Samuel C. Arnold