Please Say a Prayer

Please say a prayer for my 13-year old son, Wyatt.

Wyatt at age 5

California and Greece: Economic Twins

$100,000 to drop out of college?

The Thiel Foundation announced that they will give 20 people under the age of 20 $100,000 to drop out of school and become a technological entrepreneur.  Sure beats paying for an online degree, right?

The Thiel Fellowship: 20 Under 20
Peter Thiel Launches Innovative Thiel Fellowship to Foster Next Generation of Tech Visionaries

Wednesday, 29 September 2010

Warning that America's long term economic prospects are uncertain without radical innovation in technology, Peter Thiel this week launched the Thiel Fellowship to foster the next generation of tech visionaries. The new program will support 20 entrepreneurs under 20 years old with grants of up to $100,000.

"Our world needs more breakthrough technologies,” said Thiel. "From Facebook to SpaceX to Halcyon Molecular, some of the world's most transformational technologies were created by people who stopped out of school because they had ideas that couldn't wait until graduation. This fellowship will encourage the most brilliant and promising young people not to wait on their ideas, either. The Thiel Fellows will change the world and call it a senior thesis.”

The Thiel Foundation will award 20 people under 20 years old cash grants of $100,000 to further their innovative scientific and technical ideas. In addition, over a two year period, Peter Thiel's network of tech entrepreneurs and philanthropists—drawn from PayPal, Facebook, Palantir Technologies, Founders Fund, the Singularity Institute, and others—will teach the recipients about creating disruptive technologies and offer mentorship, employment opportunities, support, and training.

"University is a tremendously valuable experience, but when entrepreneurs are ready to launch, they should do so immediately, rather than sticking around to satisfy expectations of a full four years of college or eight of grad school,” said Elon Musk, who co-founded Tesla Motors, SpaceX, and PayPal. Musk himself stopped out of his graduate program before classes began to co-found his first company Zip2, which he sold to Compaq for $307 million.

"There is absolutely no experience that matches the real world, so if you have the passion and drive and want to work on a great idea, you should just do it,” said Scott Banister. Banister left the University of Illinois before taking a degree and founded ListBot, the largest ASP for business email, and IronPort, the anti-spam company that Cisco acquired for $830 million.

"Because education seeks to impart past knowledge, when you are trying to create a technological breakthrough, you have to create new knowledge, and there is no way to teach that. There was no course at University of Arizona on ‘‘how to cure aging.' Hopefully, this program will allow others to work on ambitious projects themselves, before they've taken on a crippling amount of student debt,” said William Andregg, CEO and co-founder of Halcyon Molecular. Halcyon is a start-up that has developed a breakthrough technology for fast, cheap, and highly accurate sequencing of DNA, and whose ultimate goal is to use sequencing data to support therapeutic products that vastly extend healthy lifespans.

"Inventing and producing a pedal-powered cell phone charging station to help Africans stay connected looks better on a résumé than straight As in college, and takes the same amount of time,” said Michael Vassar, president of the nonprofit Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence.

Though applicants may already have scientific, technical, or nonprofit ideas, the Thiel Fellowship will not be limited to those with developed innovations. Teams of up to four may also apply. Applications will be available in October on ThielFoundation.org and due later in the fall, with the fellowship beginning in 2011.
If you would like a Thiel Foundation 20 Under 20 speaker to come to your high school, college, or club, please send an email with your name, location, and school or club to info@thielfoundation.org This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . 

ABOUT THE THIEL FOUNDATION The Thiel Foundation defends and promotes freedom in all its dimensions: political, personal, and economic. The Thiel Foundation supports innovative scientific research and new technologies that empower people to improve their lives, champions organizations and individuals who expose human rights abuses and authoritarianism in all its guises, and encourages the exploration of new ideas and new spaces where people can be less reliant on government and where freedom can flourish. For more information, see ThielFoundation.org. MEDIA CONTACT: Jonathan Cain
jcain@thielfoundation.org This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
(415) 248-4679

Two CBS News Polls Show Conflicting Sentiments On the Use of Airport Body Scanners

According to a CBSNews.com story, "a new CBS News Poll released Monday found 81 percent of Americans think airports should use these new machines -- including a majority of both men and women, Americans of all age groups, and Democrats, Republicans, and independents alike. Fifteen percent said airports should not use them." 

However, contained within the story is a simple online poll which readers can take.  That poll shows something quite different. 

So what gives?  Why does one CBS poll say 81% of Americans think airports should use body scanners while another CBS poll shows 80% of the online readers the scans and pat downs are an invasion of their civil liberties?  Are online readers that far out of touch with those who responded to the first CBS News poll?  We may never know. 

These conflicting results from the same news agency should raise a few eyebrows about polling practices, questions, and data compilation. 

Border Angels: Aiding and Abetting Criminals

This flier landed in my inbox and it got me to thinking.  On one hand, we don't want people to die or needlessly suffer.  On the other hand, Border Angels aids and abets criminals by not notifying Immigration and Customs Enforcement about their contact with suspected trespassers. 

I suppose the best of both worlds would be for Border Angels to give food and comfort to criminal trespassers while waiting for ICE to arrive.  If we had enough eyes on the border in the first place to catch trespassers as they climb over the fence, there would be VERY few criminal trespassers wandering and dying in the U.S. deserts and very little need for Border Angels. 

Border Angels, however, believes it is completely acceptable for criminal trespassers to enter the U.S.A. without permission, use our educational system, healthcare system, legal system, as well as the rest of our infrastructure.  Their website is clear that they pay taxes which, in Border Angels' opinion makes it all ok.  The problem is that the wealthiest 1% pay for the majority of the services they use.  And then their are those reports that they contribute to Social Security.  It is impossible for them to LEGALLY contribute unless they have a work visa, green card, or are otherwise allowed to work in the U.S.A.  Therefore, if criminal trespassers are paying Social Security or income tax, they are also committing tax fraud and quite likely identity theft.  The burden is real and growing as long as we continue to give away our way of life simply to be politically correct. 

We can be good humanitarians AND respect our lawful sovereignty. 

GodzillaPERS

City of Fullerton Employee Sets Me Straight

Below is an email I received from a City of Fullerton employee.  He asked that I keep his identity confidential so I have removed his name and department.  In the interest of fairness I wanted to share this.  Hopefully it will spark some debate regarding pensions and the inequity which exists within the same agency.  The employee wanted to let me know that not all employees are treated as well as public safety. 

Dear Greg,

I have been reading on your website tonight.  There is some information i.e.,

"Further, today’s public employee will enjoy 90% to 100% of their current salary for the rest of their life along with adjustments for inflation."

I work for the City of Fullerton and just wanted you to know that my retirement at the city is through CalPERS, however it is at the 2% at 55 formula, which means if I work for 20 years I will get 2% X 20 = 40% of my highest year's salary.  If I work 30 years I will get 2% X 30 = 60%. 

I think in the above referenced sentence from your web site you are referring to safety personnel who get the 3% at 50 formula; which means if a person becomes an officer at 21 and retires after 30 years at the age of 51 he/she receives 3% X 30 = 90% of their highest year's salary.  Individuals who retire can then go to work at other agencies, like the DA's Office, which is under a different retirement program, thereby making them eligible for another pension.

This is how Chief McKinley got his double pension - and both retirements are/will be paid in full, with no reduction due to the fact that you get two retirements.  When I retire I will be eligible for Social Security as I worked in the private sector.  At the time of my retirement Social Security will call my city retirement a "Windfall", and they will in turn reduce my Social Security benefits since I am now getting a "Windfall" in the form of my city retirement.

Well, just wanted to let you know that the sentence is very misleading as it references "today's public employees"; but does not reference that there are about 10 levels in CalPERS.  I am apparently in the second to the lowest level, i.e. 2% at 55 and the safety personnel are apparently at the top level.

Best wishes tomorrow. 

It was good to get this insider's perspective especially considering how many new employees are brought in from the private sector at age 40+ and the impact (or lack thereof) that their employment will have on the pension tsunami.  Further, this was the ONLY City of Fullerton employee to contact me throughout the election.  Too bad we don't have more who are willing to come forward.