Gopher Tortoise

Above is a picture of a Gopher Tortoise taken at Ponce Inlet which is about 9 miles or so north of Daytona.   They have a nice park there with a pier, a beach, and we also saw some dolphins in the inlet.  The turtle was eating lunch and not too concerned about much else.

Atlantic

Above is a picture I took looking straight out into the Atlantic on Daytona Beach.   There was a good breeze but the air was envigorating.   The ocean produces some good breathing air and I was really feeling it here. 

Venice Florida

I don't know if I took any pictures at Venice.  Maybe I have some I took with my phone.  I will add them later if I find them.   We spend a couple of days at Venice and it was very nice.  Again the weather was just about perfect and the beach was great.  It is a little farther south so we were able to take a dip in the ocean.   It couldn't have been more relaxing.  Whenever it got a little warm, I would just plunk in the ocean for a little bit and splash around.   We had to walk a little bit to get to a quieter section of the beach but we still ended up chatting with several really nice folks who strolled by.  Everybody seemed to be high on the fresh air.  On the way back from the beach one  day, we stopped to pick up a sandwich at the KT deli at 454 E. Venice Ave.  When I went in I met Toan, the owner and his wife who's name I don't remember but she had a very cute personality.  Toan did most of the talking but his wife would smile and also make comments that didn't agree 100% with Toan.  Toan offered me some home made eggrolls to sample and I asked him what else he recommended.  I ended up getting a french vietnamese sandwich and some eggrolls.  This is the place to grab a sandwich in Venice.  He told me he recently updated the menu to include homemade eggrolls and other vietnamese choices but a lady who was in there getting lunch told me that the Cuban press sandwiches were good also.   Toan also told me where to get the best vietnamese buffet food here in Houston at our local chinatown.   I am going to check it out and will update the blog when I do.

Roses are red, the sky is blue...

Above is a picture from when I was sitting at the campsite one day at O'Leno.   I was sitting there relaxing and the sky really looked blue and beautiful so I clicked a picture of it.   This was perfect weather for camping.  No misquitos or humidity.  A little too cool in the evening but we had a fire so it was about as good as it gets.

Destin Florida & Grayton Beach State Park

We stayed one night at Grayton Beach State Park.  When I looked online at the specific picture of the campsite that I reserved also online, it looked very private because it appeared to be fenced in by vegitation and trees.   However, when we arrived, there was a campsite directly behind it that bordered the back of our site.  There was a clear view if thier RV which was facing us, a fire burning, and also a loud radio playing Southern Rock.   I have no problem with Nascar and Nascar fans.  I enjoy a good Nascar race myself.  Still,  A nascar party was not what I imagined when I booked this campsite.  We went to the forest ranger and the moved us to another site but it was till pretty close to the nieghbors.  Also there were trails all around our campsite that lead to the the restroom shower area so people were walking by at all times of the night with flashlights.  There was also a neigbor who treated us to several hours of classic rock.  We could clearly hear the conversations from two of the nearby campsites.  Grayton Beach Park is a nice place as far as the beach and park area but the camping experience is more of a place to stay or somewhere you would want to have an RV.  Not good for tent camping.    In the middle of the night I was dreaming along and I woke up into a sleepy haze hearing animals walking around our tent and then thrashing around on our picnic table.  I thought I had put all food items in the car's trunk but I left a lunchbox and a can of nuts out.  As I looked out the window, it looked like there were two bears trying to claw my lunch box open.  I was half asleep and I was thinking to myself, "are there black bears in florida?".   Then I woke up a little bit and realized that it was two very large and fat racoons who must have gotten that way by eating well from what they stole from campsites.   I shined a flashlight at them and they marauded off to pillage the next campsite.


The next day we cut this particular venture short went over to Destin and checked in to a Motel 6.  It was as sparse as most motel 6's but this one had a kitchenette and the room was actually pretty large compared to any Motel 6 room I had seen before.

Below are a couple of photos I took when we were eating lunch under a public Gazebo.   I should have clicked a few more but I was busy enjoying the really beautiful beach.   It was perfect weather.   This part of our trip was actually the day before we camped O'Leno which I have already posted pictures of in the previous post.

National Lampoon Vacation

Above is a picture of our outdoor hotel for our recent visit to O'Leno State Park in Florida.   Florida has a great state park system.  Very well organized and all facilies are well maintained.   The campsites are set up for RV and also Tent with some being tent only.   Most have electrical and water at each individual site.

O'Leno has an interesting history.   Originally it was a town called "Keno" after the gambling game but back in the 1800s  it was change to "Leno" because of pressure from religious elements and also business people that didn't want to offend anybody.   Then when the railroad was built,  it passed by Leno and it became a ghost town.  Later on in the 1930s, the forestry department made a state forest out of it and it was referred to as "Old Leno" and is now called O'leno.   Within  the boundaries of the park, the Santa Fe River goes underground and resurfaces down the line.  They have an amazing system of hiking trails and I took a few pictures which are posted below:

Above you can see some of the palm tree type shrubs that are all over the are and concentrated in this particular area where I snapped th photo.  I imagine that there was some clearing done and the palm shrubs took over. 

Below is a picture of a suspension bridge build back in the 30s:

If you are ever in northern central florida I would highly recommend a visit to this park.  Camping is $18 and a day visit is $5 per car.  They have hiking and biking trails as well as plenty of fishing and also swimming area.   Be careful not to swim in the wrong place or you might come across a gator. For more info, check out the Florida State Parks web site which is very good.

big easy

The French Quarter is alive and well.   Below are a couple of pictures I took during a recent daytime visit.   It was a good time which was made even better by the guy who works the door and seats people at the Royal Cafe.  We were walking by about 11 am and he was hawking the passerby's with an invitation to eat blackened chicken, shrimp creole, etc and he also hawked out that our dog was welcome.  We had a dog stroller and thought it was funny.  When  we got hungry we decided to take him up on the invitation.  The guy loves his job.  He made sure we felt right at home and sat us at a table with an open air street side view where we could watch the goings on and interesting people.  No matter what you look like or how you dress, you will not feel out of place at the French Quarter.  Give em a visit and enjoy yourself while supporting some great culture.

R

Time for a Party

I think it is great that people have the opportunity to voice thier opinions and participate in peaceful protests.   However, I do think it is a good idea to know exactly what it is that you are protesting about.   In the "Occupy Wall Street" movement the participants are saying that they are fed up but it isn't really clear what they want "Wall Street" to do.   Are they wanting to shut down the stock market and the banking system and possibly bring in a new group of capitolists who are not driven by greed?   It just doesn't work that way. 

The problem is that if they got rid of every member of "Wall Street", there are plenty more who will come in and do whatever it is they can get away with.  AIG, Enron, and every other type of scandal or fraud will repeat itself as long as people can get away with it.  That is just the nature of people. 

The solution isn't to ask the players to start playing nice.  The answer is in the officiating.  Washington, and the state legislatures, should be the primary focus.  As long as people put up with a system where elected officials can be paid off without concequence, then they will continue to get the kickbacks.  People do need to take to the streets.  Particularly on Tuesday in early November.   We need to elect representatives who are not part of the current two party system because it is broken. 

The time is right for a real third party that is not just the extremists from an existing party like the "Tea Party".   Thier answer is to "revolt"  and be hard core Republicans.   We need a true "Tea Party", one that doesn't just hi-jack the name but actually represents something different which is honest representation.  It is time that American Citizens have more representation than multi-national corporations.

Basically, it is time for America to be America.

Einstein & Twyman: "I done told you so already"

A few weeks back it was reported in the news that scientists had clocked nutrinos traveling faster than the speed of light.   This is a finding that would imply that time travel was theoretically possible and was also at odds with the theory of relativity according to our boy Albert Einstien.  Now it comes out that they likely did not account for the rotation of the earth (relativity) and the movement of the tracking device in relation to the earth.

I have already explained here on the one man web log that time travel is not possible and will never happen.  If it was ever going to happen, it would have already happened in the future and we would know about it here in the past which is at this precise moment the present.

Albert explained it as follows:   E=MC2

I explained it here on the one man web log a few months back: http://marctwyman.blogspot.com/2011/07/science-cathes-up-to-one-man-web-log.html

Read more about it here:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2394747,00.asp#fbid=OA9BZlZhNOI

Taxmasters - News story from the internet today

(picture from ABC news story referenced below)

http://goingconcern.com/2011/10/will-jk-harris-and-taxmasters-join-the-tax-lady-in-the-late-night-tax-problem-solver-body-count/


Below is an op-ed from the above link:


Will JK Harris and TaxMasters Join the Tax Lady in the Late-Night-Tax-Problem-Solver Body Count? By Joe Kristan

 

“Pennies on the dollar” may be a great pitch on cable television, but it’s not a surefire business plan. Desperate taxpayers who have paid money up front to JK Harris to resolve their tax debts at a discount are joining the IRS as potential “pennies on the dollar” creditors now that this leader in the tax settlement industry is filing for bankruptcy protection.
This is the second major blow this year to cable TV ad revenues. Earlier this year “Tax Lady” Roni Deutch gave up her law license in the face of charges that she took fees up front to resolve tax debts and failed to follow through.
Tax nerds see the late night ads when we get home and wonder how these outfits manage to get such great deals out of the IRS when getting the Service to actually forgive tax debts is like pulling teeth from a grumpy rhino for the rest of us.

TaxMasters now stands as the biggest remaining player in the TV tax settlement business, but they have their own problems. They were de-listed last month from the OTC Bulletin Board to the pink sheets for failing to file their 10-Q due August 15. The last reported trade for Taxs.pk is at 13 cents. They have also been sued by the Minnesota Attorney General for allegedly deceptive practices. ABC News reported on the suit:

The Minnesota attorney general says many of the company’s employees are skilled tele-marketers who have little knowledge of the complicated tax issues faced by people who have fallen behind in filing their returns or making tax payments. “When you call, you think you’re talking to a tax professional,” said Swanson. “You’re really talking to just a salesperson who’s trying to get you to sign up.”

So maybe the secret is that the late night settlement outfits are staffed by telemarketers who just happen to be awesome at selling pennies-on-the-dollar deals to the IRS. If that’s true, though, they seem to be having a lot of trouble turning what would truly be a remarkable and valuable skill into profits.

Texas Toast

Here in Texas, our boy Rick Perry decided that he was going to save the country.   Lucky for the rest of the country they are not as embedded in political ideology as rural Texans.   Little things like kickbacks and extreme opinions kind of get in the way when it comes to getting elected at the big time level. 

The truth is that in Texas the lieutenant governor actually more important when it comes to legislation. 

The problem with Perry is that he wants to continue a "war on science" by teaching sunday school in science class.   I don't have a problem with global warming skeptics that are scientists.  However when a pure ideolog oposes the concept of global warming just because he is supposed to, that is like attacking Christopher Columbus because the earth is not flat.  

The bottom line is that Rick Perry is a phoney.   Anybody who supports him is willfully ignorant.

Texas had many great things to offer and Rick is just not one of them.

and then there was one

There used to be 4 major players in the "Tax Resolution" business.

First it was American Tax Relief -  shut down by the FTC

Then it was Roni Lynn Deutch  -  finished off by the state of California

and now JK Harris is filing bankruptcy to get out of hot water:
http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2011/oct/07/jk-harris-to-file-for-bankruptcy/

There definitely seems to be more to the story but either way,  karma is a bitch.

Little Woman So Sweet

Hey You!

I just posted a video on Youtube if you wanna see it.

http://www.youtube.com/user/MarcTwyman#p/u/0/2LQrp_t6480


It is me playing a Blind Boy Fuller Tune on acoustic guitar.

night night

What now?

This guy is done.

brother can you spare a dime?

Well it looks like the politicians just wasted some more of our money. S&P Just downgraded the USA to less thatn a AAA credit rating for the first time ever and in doing so they cited political brinksmanship that made the risk unpredictable. If the elected officials had not put thier party and ideology before country, we could have saved some money. The Tea Party happened a long time ago and it should be off limits for anyone to use it as a title for thier organization just like it is telling when someone claims to have God on thier side or hi-jack the American Flag.


So from the One Man Web log to all the ideologs: Up Yours!

Fear and Cowardice

I was watching a movie online just now, one of the hanibal lector ones called Red Dragon. It struck me when Hanibal told the young retired detective that he had fear but was not a coward.

It made me think. Most poeple may have already thought about it but it isn't possible to be brave if there is no fear. Bravery, or the lack of cowardice, is only applicable if there is an element of fear. The reason our founding fathers were so great is because they were facing a situation where they would have been crazy not to have fear at some level. They stood up to the English powers and if the revolution failed, they would have surely been shot or hanged.

The latest fiasco from our current round of elected representatives was in my opinion cowardly. Nobody wanted to step away from worrying about what their particular group of supporters would think and they all just behaved predictably. Sickening stuff.

OK, it is now back to the movie.

Nanu Nunu

Science Cathes up to One Man Web Log

OK, Here is a story from todays news:

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/07/25/time-travel-is-impossible-scientists-say/

The headline is "Time Travel is Impossible, Scientists Say"

And here is a quote from the story:

By proving that even a single photon must obey Einstein's theory that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light, Hong Kong physicists believe they have debunked the idea of time travel once and for all.

A Hong Kong University of Science and Technology research team led by Du Shengwang said they had proved that a single photon, or unit of light, "obeys the traffic law of the universe."

"Einstein claimed that the speed of light was the traffic law of the universe or in simple language, nothing can travel faster than light," the university said on its website.

"Professor Du's study demonstrates that a single photon, the fundamental quanta of light, also obeys the traffic law of the universe just like classical EM (electromagnetic) waves."


Now here are some quotes from One Man Web Log entries that pre-date the "scientific breakthrough" :

http://marctwyman.blogspot.com/2010/05/to-hawk-or-not-to-hawk.html
I can't go into it with mathematical equations but I don't think warp speed is physically plauseable.

http://marctwyman.blogspot.com/2010/05/scientific-breaktrhrough.html
I was driving through the U-Turn at Gessner and Katy Freeway and maybe it was the G-force of approximatley 1.009 Gs that gave me the proper frame of mind to come to the indisputable conclusion that time travel will never be possible. No matter how advanced human technology advances it will never happen...

http://marctwyman.blogspot.com/2011/01/time-and-space-travel.html
As far as time travel goes a trip down "memory lane" is about as real as it is going to get. At least considering the parameters of the physical universe as we know it.

Is the Chili good here?

The other day we went to Chili's and I decided to try the chili. I asked the waiter if it was good and he kind of laughed but he said it was. I thought it was OK and I figure that it is a good represention of what it is supposed to be which is a Terlingua style chile. However, It is a little bit more chili tasting that I prefer. Not necessarily too spicey but too much of a chili (chili powder) taste which I understand would be correct as far a what folks would expect.

Last night I decided to make a batch in the crockpot my ownself. I used about a half a bag or so of red beans (dried), a couple of cans of diced tomatoes, a can of chili paste, a container of sodium free free range chicken broth, about 6 or 7 fresh jalapino peppers (seeds removed), a good amount of ground turkey meat, a couple of good sized white onions, a bell pepper, about a half a batch of celantro (chopped) and a bout 8 celery stalks chopped. I also added a good bit of chili powder, some garlic powder, some onion powder, some Mrs Dash, a little black pepper & I think that was about it. I rinsed off the read beans added all the ingredients. I cooked the turkey meat with some chopped onion in a large skillet and then added it also. I let it cook on the lower of the two crock pot settings and I tasted it this morning and added a little bit more chili powder. I was thinking about cheating a little bit and adding some Sweet Baby Ray's bbq sauce but I decided against it. It came out pretty good. It isn't the purist's chili but it is something I can eat for several days in row and not get overpowered. I had some tonight with som brown rice and it tasted pretty good. If a person wanted to get really serious about it, they could add some of the peppers in stages but it has just enough kick for me but more importantly a good flavor. To me it is just hard to go wrong with a crock pot. You just throw a bunch of stuff in there and about 8 hours later, it ususally tastses pretty good.

Casey Anthony

I sympathize with the jury because they had to find that beyond a reasonable doubt that the mom killed the kid. The prosecution did not have an official cause of death and without that it is hard to convict someone of murder. As far as I am concerned, if the public is going to be mad about the results, they should be mad at the prosecution for going forward with a case without enough evidence to convict. They should have either waited until they had the evidence needed for the murder conviction or they should have charged her with a different crime. Maybe endangerment of a child or child abuse. Florida seems to have a history of going after people without proper evidence. Janet Reno did it and got famous in the process. It turned out she was creating evidence through hypnosis that did not stand the test of time.

The "Tax Lady" is done

Check out this video of Roni Lynn Deutch apparantly blaming the state bar of California for the mess she is in:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmajIcRShL8


Yesterday she plead "not guilty" to contempt of court:

http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=18579082&postID=5831369971147613124


American Tax Relief, Another of the 4 major players among the "Tax Resolution" companies, was shut down by the Federal Trade Commission:

http://www.ftc.gov/os/caselist/1023083/101109atrpi.pdf


It was a state attorney general lawsuit that was the first domino in bringing down Roni Lynn Deutch and just last month the State of Tennessee won its case against another of the 4 major players in the "industry", JK Harris. This is was not the only state level AG action that has focused on JK Harris.

http://www.legalnewsline.com/news/233089-tennessee-wins-case-against-jk-harris