Condos for sale at L5
Oct. 13, 2022, under bootstrap finance, call to action, goals, space t/e/d
In case you missed it in my Deja vu post on the 11th (buried three quarters of the way down the page), I’ve decided that, absent any other proposals for working on one of my other current projects, I should spend my time working on selling reservations for condos in the colonies I’m proposing to build at L5.
For most of my working life, I’ve had a dream of being able to fund what I now estimate to be a $50 trillion dollar project because when we get to the bottom line in 30 years, there’s going to be a huge profit for everyone who invested into the effort. The problem has always been – how do I get the first million? so that I can actually spend my time working on said project, and attract other people to work on it with me? i.e., how can I start hiring enough people to have a reasonable chance of getting it done?
The idea is actually quite simple: I’m asking people to invest into reserving a condo in the colonies, secured by a deposit of $10,000 (for the first 100 units). The final purchase price is obviously going to be much more than that, but if I can sell one reservation a week for two years, that’s the first million dollars that has been my stumbling block all this time. I’m building L5Condo.com as the vehicle for making those sales, actively constructing the site while I look for visionary investing customers who can see the value of financial participation in the project at this early stage.
Part of my problem is that I don’t personally know many people who would be interested in signing up to join this project at that level. Consequently, as mentioned in my Deja vu post, I’m willing to pay a 10% commission – $1,000 – to anyone who introduces me to a customer who does reserve a condo and puts down the $10,000 deposit I’m asking. Even if, like me, you don’t necessarily know anybody who fits the bill, tell your friends they have an opportunity to earn a commission: The more people spreading the word, the sooner I’ll be able to start hiring people – maybe even you – to get the whole system built.
Let’s work on this together – let’s all make money – lots of it!
Money is a tool, just as a hammer is, or a screwdriver. Like any other tool, money can be used to do good or to do evil: That choice is made by the person using the tool, not the tool itself. Don’t condemn money as evil, any more than you would another tool.
I want to make money, enough to support myself and let me build the dreams I have of a better future. In order to do that, I expect the people working with and for me will likewise make enough to support themselves, and build their dreams.
Change is always going to happen. Even if you do nothing to move the world forward, change is still going to happen. Please join me in working to make the world a better place, because if we don’t, it’s still going to change – and if it’s not getting better, …
Blasts from the past
Oct. 13, 2022, under Uncategorized
So I’ve been reviewing some of the things I published on LinkedIn …
Condos at L5 – $10,000 down – apparently updating an article doesn’t bump it up as more recent – that’s got to be done by hand: If I want to make what’s probably my best bet for getting to the first million of my $50 trillion project, I’ve got to make it a “Featured” article in my profile.
Race To Space, Introduction 2.0 – some details are obsolete, but I would like to spend time writing a more detailed business plan
NASA’s plans, Sept. 11, 1969, and what they mean today – more about why…
The most precious slice of the pie – TL;DR – “sports and leisure” – the one that doesn’t exist
Why am I looking for a job?? – a previous edition of Deja vu
To get a J.O.B. or to not get a J.O.B., … and To get a j.o.b. or to not get a j.o.b., part 2 – yet another previous edition of Deja vu
Death by Social Distancing – still relevant even after most of the COVID-19 restrictions have “gone away”
Stop calling videos “webinars” PLEASE! – the title says it all…
How NOT to run an employment service – I haven’t been back to Upwork Freelancer.com whatever name they’re now using since
This is not “best practices” – it was then Dice, GoDaddy and AppNexus, similar things abound today
Facebook support isn’t – as if there weren’t enough other reasons to not be part of the “Facebook nation”
Happy 18th, SHN!
Oct. 13, 2022, under events, history, space t/e/d
When I was reviewing and updating the entries in today’s issue of the Space History Newsletter, I rediscovered something that I had forgotten in the intervening years: The Space History Newsletter was first published online eighteen years ago today, 13 October 2004: The site is now old enough to vote (in some jurisdictions, I’m sure…)
Please note that at the present time, you can’t sign up for the Space History Newsletter directly from the Web: Spammers kept using bogus email addresses to create subscriptions, which resulted in negative action by some large providers. Until I get to implement a two-step subscription request process for the newsletter, if you want to subscribe, you need to send me an email. I hope to have the problem fixed within a couple of days – time and resources permitting (all it will take is back-porting some newer code into this ancient site…)
It’s been easy to remember that PhotoByFred.com is also turning eighteen this month, on the twenty-sixth. The thing which makes that date easy to remember is I’ve been posting a picture a day since then, and after 6562 daily pictures, I’ve been reminded (and bragged) about it enough times to have that date firmly planted in my brain.
The Space History Newsletter hasn’t fared nearly as well: It languished for years, going out automatically every morning (7AM EST) without me doing anything to add to or update the database. Consequently, almost everything reported in the SHN happened before 2005, although there are a few exceptions. A couple of years ago, I started going through the records a week at a time, mostly deleting things unrelated to space travel, and eliminating some dead links. Since then, the time I’ve been putting into it has grown; now I often spend at least an hour a day on it – while trying to get everything else done. What I need to do is hire a programmer to implement some of the changes that should be made, and at least one historian to add to the database …
All it takes is money. So guess what I’m working on…?
Deja vu
Oct. 11, 2022, under bootstrap finance, call to action, goals, philosophy
I’ve been through this cycle more times than I want to count, starting when I left college after the first semester of my sophomore year: I run out of money, so I go get a job, building other people’s dreams while mine whither on the vine for lack of attention. Working for some time, I get to where I’m frustrated or the project gets to a milestone and the job goes away. With some resources set aside, I start working feverishly on one of my projects, trying to get an income that supports me. Instead things break, everything takes longer than it does, so I run out of money, go get another job, and repeat the cycle.
Being hypercreative, I’m inventing things, coming up with new projects faster than I could possibly finish them – sometimes two, three, or even more in a single day. I’m sure there are drugs that could curtail that “problem” – but would I want to be the person they turned me into? I strongly suspect not. Consequently, going to get a job to “solve” my money problems is going to lead to my being frustrated, even if the work is something that enjoy. This is simply because I spend all of my productivity working on someone else’s dreams while mine get left behind when I think up another one in the mean time. Throw in daily 45 minute to two hour “stand up” meetings that require everyone in the company’s attendance, or work that is mind-numbingly different from what I originally thought I was being hired for, and many jobs, especially “FTE” (full time employee) ones, end up causing me to have attendance issues. Any job I take is going to end up being a “temporary” one because either the contract will run out, or my interest in participating will.
One of the definitions of insanity is doing the same thing, over and again, expecting different results. From my perspective, going to get another J.O.B. (just over broke) simply because I’ve used up my immediate resources fits the definition of insanity: I’d be starting the same cycle again, expecting it to lead to having the time and resources to work on my projects long enough to get (one of) them done. After all these years, after all these repeats of the same cycle, I know it just ain’t gonna happen!
Clearly what I need to do is find a way to be able to work on at least one of my own projects long enough to get it to where it’s supporting me. My Current Projects page describes many of things I’d like to be working on. Any one of them could lead me to where I’ve got people working for me, to get more and more of them done, ultimately leading to building space colonies, solving the pending oil shortage crisis and opening doors that can only be found on a frontier, and saving humanity.
I’m looking for one or more investors who not only can see the value in what I’m trying to achieve, but also expect to make money on the deal, too: Talk is cheap, and those who give me valid advice can expect the same in return. When someone puts up cash to make things work, though, I expect to give them a handsome reward in return for their investment. Terms are negotiable, depending on the project, the size of the investment, and other factors as appropriate.
I also recognize the need to pay commissions when someone brings me a lead that results in a sale. For example, if someone introduces me to an investing customer who wants to reserve a condo in the colonies that we will be building at L5, and that customer puts down a $10,000 deposit toward the property, I will pay the referrer a 10% commission – $1,000 – for the introduction.
Money is a tool, just as a hammer is, or a screwdriver. Like any other tool, money can be used to do good or to do evil: That choice is made by the person using the tool, not the tool itself. Don’t condemn money as evil, any more than you would another tool.
I want to make money, enough to support myself and let me build the dreams I have of a better future. In order to do that, I expect the people working with and for me will likewise make enough to support themselves, and build their dreams.
Let’s work on this together – let’s all make money – lots of it!
On “prototype” code development
Aug. 22, 2020, under philosophy, software dev
In many years of consulting, I’ve seen a lot of projects developed with the philosophy of “Don’t worry about [comments][readable code][proper variable names][documentation][error handling][optimization][(your favorite corner to cut here)] because this is just a prototype – we’ll fix those things when we write the production code.” In 100% of those cases, when the prototype was reasonably close to working, it got shipped: The “prototype” became the production code, errors, shortcomings and all. Maintenance, updates and improvements became nightmares, often leading to complete failure of what could have been a great product. Trying to avoid those problems feeds into my OCD tendencies, and when I see a comment like “we’ll write another [CR] to fix it” I tend to balk because I know the rewrite will never happen. Furthermore, when a future developer is called on to fix a bug or develop a new feature, they’re going to be “strongly” discouraged from making any changes beyond their immediate effort, even if renaming variables would make the code more readable when they discovered “flag” is “page_type” or “std” means “start_date” instead of “standard” etc. Having an understandable, well documented interface from the beginning is a LOT more important than making all of the internal variables recognizable. “Cosmetic changes” often look a lot less trivial when you realize that the lifetime cost of code maintenance is generally ten times what it cost for a program to be written initially.
I recognize that I have to reign in my OCD to let development proceed. However, when a developer asks someone to review their code, they need to recognize the reviewer is looking at it from a different perspective than they are. If a reviewer doesn’t understand something, it could either be an error or a misunderstanding. When a misunderstanding is encountered, commenting on a change request doesn’t help the next person reading the code, and adding a comment to the code at this point isn’t a lot of effort. It will, though, make the code more maintainable – it reduces the maintenance cost. Also, if a native English speaker hands a foreign born developer a well written docstring that clarifies a point of confusion, it’s not just courteous to use it: You’re not going to break anything by putting the brakes on for a moment and push one more patch set.
Holy smokes that’s bogus! Do people really sign these things?
Jan. 30, 2019, under bad business, disturbing, opinions, really???
I just started a new job, and the employee benefits program is administered through an outfit called Employee Navigator from Bethesda, Maryland. The first thing I noticed is their site is seriously broken if Javascript isn’t enabled, and they don’t bother to say anything about it. When creating an account in their system, they’ve got a ludicrious requirement that usernames must be at least 8 characters long – so I can’t use “wfredk” as I do everywhere else – and they don’t bother to announce the limitation until after you’ve submitted the form with your username and password selection (which resets your password entry). Oh, by the way, they don’t have a password confirmation field, either – they have a button to show what you’ve entered in the password field – which only works if Javascript is enabled.
Once you’ve logged in, the sheer incomptence of this bunch of amateurs starts to reveal itself: Instead of having pages formatted using HTML, the documents a new employee are supposed to sign have the HTML code embedded into them – and much of the HTML is actually defective. It looks to me as if someone pasted HTML into a text-only field of a CMS and didn’t bother to check if the result was correct. (I’ve included the actual contents of the pages in question below.) Since I’ve got extensive experience as a Web developer, I was able to sift through the HTML and figure out what I was supposed to be signing up for.
The first page, Electronic Signature and Consent, wasn’t too bad:
I understand that:
1. The following documents and/or notices may be provided to me electronically:
- Summary Plan Descriptions;
- Summaries of Material Modifications;
- Summary Annual Reports and/or;
- Summary of Benefit and Coverages;
- All health and welfare benefits Notices and any Notice a similarly situated employee would consider to be related to employee benefits.
For the purpose of this agreement, a Notice is any document, disclosure, policy, procedure, form or other written material required to comply with federal, state, or a governmental safety or regulatory body and any disclosure provided by my company to comply with any of the aforementioned requirements or to communicate company or employment specific information to me.
2. I may revoke my consent to receive notices electronically at any time without charge by sending an email or written request to Human Resources or the BKS Employee Care Center (mybenefits@bks-partners.com). how do I contact “Human Resources”?
3. I am entitled to request and obtain a paper copy of any electronically furnished document free of charge by sending an email or written request to Human Resources or the BKS Employee Care Center (mybenefits@bks-partners.com). how do I contact “Human Resources”?
4. In order to access information provided electronically, I must have:
- A computer with internet access;
- An email account that allows me to send and receive emails; and
- Microsoft Word and/or Adobe Acrobat Reader Program. not just any program that can read PDF documents? really?
I authorize my employer to send notices electronically and agree to accept the delivery of notices via email as well as the requirements to view notices on this portal. Contact Human Resources or the BKS Employee Care Center with any questions.
In spite of my reservations, I “signed” the Electronic Signature and Consent page, and continued on to the Premium Only Plan page – which, again, was obfuscated with inline HTML code. Here is where I was really horrified, and decided I couldn’t continue the process:
- In lieu of specific dollar amounts, I hereby elect the specified insurance coverage’s and authorize salary redirection in the amounts of current premiums being charged. i.e., I have no idea how much money I’m agreeing to let you take out of my paycheck.
- If my required contributions to pay premiums for the elected benefits are increased or decreased while this agreement remains in effect, my compensation redirection will automatically be adjusted to reflect the increase or decrease. i.e., I’m giving you permission to change the amount of money you take out of my pacheck whenever you want to, without my consent.
- I cannot change or revoke any of my elections or this compensation redirection agreement at any time during the plan year [emphasis mine] unless I have a “change in status” and the election change is consistent with the “change in status”, (including marriage, divorce, death of a spouse or child, birth or adoption of a child, termination or commencement of employment of a spouse, change in my or my spouse’s employment status from full-time to part-time or from part-time to full-time, my spouse or I taking an unpaid leave of absence, a substantial change in my family’s health coverage due to a change in my spouse’s employer-sponsored health coverage, obtaining coverage on the Marketplace, reduction in hours where I voluntarily elect to seek coverage on the Marketplace, or such other events as the Plan Administrator determines will permit a change or revocation of an election). i.e., I’m locked in to this commitment for a year unless there’s a major upset in my life or you decide to let me do something different.
- The Plan Administrator may redirect or cancel my compensation redirection or otherwise modify this agreement in the event he/she believes it advisable in order to satisfy certain provisions of the Internal Revenue Code. i.e., I’m giving you permission to change this agreement, at whim and without my consent, as long as you are working in collusion with the IRS.
- The redirection in my cash compensation under this agreement shall be in addition to any reductions under other agreements or benefit programs maintained by my Employer.
- Any amounts not used during a Plan Year to provide benefits will be forfeited and may not be paid to me in cash or used to provide benefits specifically for me in a later Plan Year. i.e., if you take more from my paycheck than you use to pay for my insurance coverage, that’s “too bad” for me, you get to keep the money for your own benefit.
- Prior to the first day of each Plan Year, I will be offered the opportunity to change my benefit elections for the following Plan Year. If I do not make a new election at that time, I will be treated as having not elected to continue my benefit elections for the new Plan Year.
- If disability insurance is paid for on a pre-tax basis, any benefits I receive may be taxable. “may” be taxable?
- Upon retirement, my Social Security benefits may be slightly reduced. i.e., “may” really means “will” because by taking the money from my paycheck before taxes, you are reducing my “taxable income” (which is what Social Security benefits are based on).
At the bottom of the page, I found this paragraph prompting me to “sign” the document.
The problem here is that this does NOT say that it’s NOT an agreement to the terms and conditions described on the page. Because that clause is missing, a “signature” here (again, without any real proof of who signed the page because of the previous document) could be interpreted as acceptance of the terms and conditions as described. That would be rather like signing a blank check and passing it to someone you really don’t know. To me, it looks like they’re asking for a license to commit fraud. There is no way I would voluntarily and consciously do such a thing.
Furthermore, because of second thoughts, and of observation of other business practices of this company, I am revoking the authority and consent I hesitantly made on the first page, by sending an email notification to mybenefits@bks-partners.com and several people at the agency I’m working through, with CC’s to a couple of my own email addresses as supporting documentation.
Take another look at the problems I marked in red on the Premium Only Plan page. It’s precisely this sort of behaviour that got the credit industry slapped on the wrist with a sledge hammer. If the “employee benefits” companies don’t clean up their act pretty quickly, perhaps it’s time for a Congressional inspection of their practices as well…
As promised, here are the “as presented” contents of the pages mentioned in this post:
Electronic Signature and Consent
I agree that by using the e-signature feature on this website I am applying my electronic signature which is the legally binding equivalent to my handwritten signature. Whenever I execute an electronic signature, it has the same validity and meaning as my handwritten signature. I also agree that no certification authority or other third party verification is necessary to validate my e-signature.< span><br> I understand that: </span>< span><br> 1. The following documents and/or notices may be provided to me electronically:</span>< ul> <li>Summary Plan Descriptions;</li> <li>Summaries of Material Modifications;</li> <li>Summary Annual Reports and/or;</li> <li>Summary of Benefit and Coverages;</li> <li>All health and welfare benefits Notices and any Notice a similarly situated employee would consider to be related to employee benefits.</li>< /ul> For the purpose of this agreement, a Notice is any document, disclosure, policy, procedure, form or other written material required to comply with federal, state, or a governmental safety or regulatory body and any disclosure provided by my company to comply with any of the aforementioned requirements or to communicate company or employment specific information to me.< span> <br> 2. I may revoke my consent to receive notices electronically at any time without charge by sending an email or written request to Human Resources or the BKS Employee Care Center (mybenefits@bks-partners.com). <br>< br> 3. I am entitled to request and obtain a paper copy of any electronically furnished document free of charge by sending an email or written request to Human Resources or the BKS Employee Care Center (mybenefits@bks-partners.com).<br>< br> 4. In order to access information provided electronically, I must have:</span>< ul> <li>A computer with internet access;</li> <li>An email account that allows me to send and receive emails; and</li> <li>Microsoft Word and/or Adobe Acrobat Reader Program. </li>< /ul> I authorize my employer to send notices electronically and agree to accept the delivery of notices via email as well as the requirements to view notices on this portal. < span>Contact Human Resources or the BKS Employee Care Center with any questions.</span>
Premium Only Plan
Please click the “Sign Document” button to confirm that you have reviewed and completed this task.
Phishing joke of the day for 3 January 2019
Jan. 04, 2019, under hilarious, really???
Gee, I wonder if I should “revert back to” Hildegard to get my good news from Facebook: Clearly “she” works at Facebook, they all have email addresses at consultant.com and send messages from noreply@accounts.com, right? That Hacker Way address in Menlo Park also tells me it’s a legitimate message, and the fact I’ve had to send bitcoins to all those guys with dirty secrets really makes me confident aztekcomputers.com@wfredk.com is a good email address, surely I’ve got to “revert back” to “her”!
My only question is how do I revert back to somebody who wasn’t me in the first place???
——– Original Message ——–
Subject: New Facebook Message for aztekcomputers.com@wfredk.com
Date: 03 Jan 2019 15:41:35 -0800
From: Customer service<noreply@accounts.com>
To: aztekcomputers.com@wfredk.com
Hello
Good day My name is Hildegard Evans from the Facebook
headquarters based in the USA, I am a Facebook Online
Coordinator.
Am contacting you because I have good news for you from Facebook
Kindly revert back to this to claim Your good news from facebook
:Hildegard.evans@consultant.com
Thanks
Facebook Cordinator
Hildegard C. Evans
Hacker Way, Menlo Park, 94025
(612) 440-8719
Email: Hildegard.evans@consultant.com
Expanded Playlists section
Dec. 23, 2018, under music
I’ve added several playlists to the Fun & Games section of this site. The Playlists page now includes these playlists:
- December 22, 2018 – 86 songs – 6:15:09
- September 15, 2018 – 29 songs – 2:00:29
Van Halen, Prince & ZZ Top - August 31, 2018 – 6 songs – 0:36:50
Technorobic Workout Mix - April 24, 2018 – 29 songs – 2:35:10
An Evening of Rush - October 10, 2017 – 131 songs – 9:58:09
- June 18, 2017 – 108 songs – 9:07:58
- January 24, 2017 – 47 songs – 7:36:36
- November 8, 2015 – 47 songs – 4:47:26
- November 17, 2007 – 100 songs – 7:31:50
Sinners Unite : Machine After Party
I have lots of other playlists from the past to add, and occasionally build new ones, so the list is going to grow…
Jumper wires for Arduino, Raspberry Pi, breadboards, etc.
Dec. 14, 2018, under cool tech, product reviews
When building a project around an Arduino, Raspberry Pi, Beaglebone, etc. board, or anything on a solderless breadboard, you frequently find a need to connect pins together. With a solderless breadboard, you can just strip the ends from a piece of wire and go from point A to point B by inserting the ends of the wire. That doesn’t work so well for the male pins on the processor boards. You also have to be careful to not strip too much or too little from the end of the wire, or you might have shorts or poor connections. If you want to keep a group of wires together, you’ve got to twist them into a bundle, or wrap ties around them.
There’s an easier way: REXQualis 120pcs Breadboard Jumper Wires. These are made from 40 conductor ribbon cable, with 40 individual pins crimped on each end. The package incudes three 20cm (8″) pieces of ribbon cable. One has male pins on both ends, one has female pins on each end, and one has male pins on one end and female pins on the other. That covers pretty much all of the connection types you’re going to encounter. If you want individual jumper wires, just peel them from the ribbon cable, it easily separates between the conductors. For a group of wires, peel off the number you need, and they’ll neatly stay together.
If you ask me, this is pretty cool tech!
3DMagix, 3DMagixPro and IllusionMage are scams
Nov. 05, 2018, under 3D, bad business, call to action, disturbing, opinions
These “products” are simply rebranded copies of Blender – a free and open source 3D creation suite that you can download and use for free. 3DMagix, 3DMagixPro and IllusionMage are scams because they are selling you software that don’t have to pay for. They advertise heavily via email, and get away with their scam only because people don’t know any better.
If you want to do 3D animation, do yourself a favor – go to Blender.org and download the software for free and help put the scammers out of business.
For more information, see the page about the 3DMagix, 3DMagixPro and IllusionMage scam on the Blender Web site.
To support my work, please buy a pre-publication copy of Race To Space. For more info about the project, see the Race To Space site, subscribe there to be kept abreast of its progress.
We are going to run out of oil. Before that happens, we MUST have a replacement source of energy and feed stock for our civilization that has become so dependent on plastic. The time to act is NOW!! Please visit SpacePowerNow.org to help build a solution.
