Immigration Reform

Immigration reform is needed in the United States. We need to protect our borders, our ports, and make sure there is no criminals like people that work for drug cartels, or terrorists going through them.

With that being said, we should be friendly to law abiding citizens of other countries. We should allow them to come in the United States to visit or to work with little or no hassles. We shouldn't force law abiding citizens of other countries and corner them to where they have to break immigration law in order to work and pay taxes in the United States.

Aren't Immigrants Going To Take Our Jobs?
Americans should welcome immigrants' ideas and skills. Immigrants work jobs from the lowest level to the highest -- affecting a broad scope of the economy. For instance, the agricultural industry in the United States would be severely affected if there were no immigrants (legal or illegal) working. Would you pay for a tomato for $10.00/each? No! Would you want new house prices to increase far above its current levels? No! Immigrant labor help reduce costs across many industries. More than we give them credit for.

Also, immigrants create jobs. Google and Intel are just two famous companies that were co-founded by immigrants. There are thousands more... Immigrant-owned companies create American jobs.

Anti-Immigrant is Anti-American
Poor and rich families alike from European countries moved to the United States without any serious immigrant hassles. They now form the backbone of the power bloc since the inception of our country. The fact is, unless your heritage is from Native American Indians, you have no justification to have any discrimination against immigrants. United States is a relatively young country (230 years old) compared to other countries like France (1520 years old). It still is a New World --- and to this day, people around the globe wants to work in America and achieve the American dream.

Boating Tip: Roughing Out Bad Weather

Being on a boat in bad weather is the last place you want to be. Every boater knows that he needs to check weather conditions before leaving the dock, but despite our best radar and satellite technologies, weather forecasts from time to time still get it wrong.

Having travelled by boat in the Pacific for almost a decade plus a few years in the Atlantic side, I have some lessons to share about bad weather. In fact, I experienced my first severe weather by ship when I was 5 years old. Seeing waves reach the third deck, and hearing of other ships sinking definitely etches that experience as a permanent childhood memory.

Modern boats are designed to withstand heavy waves. In most occasions, you can safely bring the boat home as long as you know what you're doing. Incidents that involve the boat being tipped over or capsized are usually the result of the operator far more than the result of the boat's structural integrity.

So here's some tips on helping you survive severe weather:

1. Start praying. Pray that you and the people with you live another day.

2. Put on your life jackets now!

3. Chart your course to the nearest shore or dock. Do NOT attempt to reach your
original marina if there's a place to dock significantly closer.

4. Make sure your distress signals are ready such as flares, and that the VHF radio is set to channel 16. Other boaters may have problems (ie: engine issues) and you may be the closest one that can help. The Coast Guard often gives weather advisories on channel 16 as well.

5. Stow and secure all belongings. The weight of your belongings and the weight of your passengers is especially important to smaller crafts -- make sure it's balanced.

6. Close all hatches, doors, and panels. Don't invite water in.

7. Keep a sharp lookout. Watch out for other boaters and obstruction.

8. Head into the wind and approach waves at a 45 degree angle to reduce stress and better control.

9. If there is lightning, make sure everyone avoids electrical and ungrounded components.

10. Watch your speed and adjust as necessary. Find the right balance between being bounced around and having control.

I hope you never have to use these tips...

~Capt. Don Sausa

Fishing Report: Caloosahatchee River 03/19/06

Fishing for 12 hours on the river produced lots of fish: 7 snappers, 3 ladyfish, 1 spotted sea trout, 1 sheepshead, and a gazillion catfish. But we couldn't snag any snook!

When we ran out of shrimp, we went home (2:30 am). Just before we set the boat back on our homeward course, snook started jumping. Oh the irony! Why do gamefish only pop up when you have no bait?

Fishing Report: Caloosahatchee River & Sanibel Causeway 3/12/06, Gulf of Mexico 03/15/06

3.12.06
My fishing trip on Sunday landed two sheepshead (15" and 10"). I lost a snook near the Sanibel Causeway. The moment I casted into the water, it took the bait in seconds along with my line and hook. The most challenging thing about snook is their ability to speed across the waters and their tendency to bring your line against rocks, pillars, and other holes to snag you. The amount of pressure they bring against your line is incredible, it feels as if you're dragging 30-40 pounds of weight and your line zig zags back and forth in the water.

3.15.06
I decided to take a trip to an artificial reef in the Gulf of Mexico several miles out with a couple of friends from church. Staying there from noon-8pm produced several bites. Several times large fish came in to take the bait only to lose it as they take it to the reef. I got a 17" sheepshead but my friend Howard got a 22" sheepshead -- a record on my fishing trips!

As much as I love to eat sheepshead, I have quite a few in my fridge already. My target from now until April is snook. The season doesn't open again until September, so snook is the most desired gamefish by anglers right now.

Remembering William (Bill) Davis

An old friend from CallTech/Teleperformance recently died Friday due to a failed robbery attempt. William Davis, known as Bill his friends, died from an accident related to the robbery.

He was an intelligent, outspoken, and unique individual that loved his wife, played good chess, and was one of the few that could sometimes beat me on foosball. I will miss him greatly.

Goodbye old friend.

Vinton G. Cerf votes for VeriSign to monopolize .COM domains and increase fees

Widely known as one of the "Fathers of the Internet," Vinton G. Cerf is the co-designer of the TCP/IP protocols and the architecture of the Internet. This week he is also known as the main supporter for VeriSign's monopoly on .COM.

In one bold move, Cerf and 8 others voted to give VeriSign the right to increase domain name fees to 7 percent in four of the next six years. Here is my message to Vinton G. Cerf:


Vint,

The most recent agreement that you and other ICANN members gave VeriSign potentially gives them higher profits at the cost of all Internet .com users. Already, they are making hundreds of millions of dollars from other domain resellers. Costs to run server farms are going down, especially with faster chips and costs for memory dropping. Even labor costs for VeriSign has dramatically dropped over the past years, as they have transitioned a lot of their personnel into third-party offshore locations.

So it begs the question -- why would you allow VeriSign to increase fees at the burdens of Internet users?

-Don Sausa


Vint's reply to my email:

Please see icann web site for responses and statements on this settlement. Also note that it is not clear whether to price increases will be passed to users or not. Many registrars charge far in excess of the registry fee. They did not lower prices for .net when its fee dropped below six dollars.


I'm not sure why Cerf thinks it is not "clear" that prices will increase for consumers. I know he is smarter than that. I suspect VeriSign's lobbying had a profound effect on the 9 board members, enough to where judgement has been definitely clouded on this matter.

Stock Tip: When Google's stock stumbled, I invested

Wall Street was going nuts against Google Tuesday, with nearly 7% of the stock price dropping due to the CFO's remarks that growth was slowing down. These remarks came from an offbeat speech -- it was not meant for any stock guidance.

Everyone knew that the product cycle of "click revenue" will plateu at some point -- the price per click will get more expensive as more companies participate, and there will come a point where cost effectiveness will be an issue; however, underneath the CFO's speech was groundbreaking news.

They will pursue other products to balance the slow growth of click revenue. Google's research and development accounts for 20% of their focus, while 80% is on their search engine strengths. With that 20% came Google Earth, Google Local, Google Base, and other technologies that are far from maturity. In fact, Google Base could become the second largest payment processor on the Internet within 3 years next to PayPal.

The main complaint against PayPal is their fees and policies; however, most people stay with PayPal because the brand name is recognizable. With the up and coming Google Base, the brand name already exist and could possibly overtake PayPal down the road.

Always Find Good News in Rough Waters

Many investors seem to have concentrated on the problem that click revenue was slowing down; hence, they sold their shares. They totally missed the solution of the problem: looking for other revenue streams. Google Base is a part of that solution. If Google develops it properly, they could invite an exodus of online merchants away from PayPal, which the online merchant community (eBay PowerSellers and others) considers as expensive.

The Price I Bought At...

I bought Google shares at $364, the price average is currently at $379. Roughly a 4% increase in less than 24 hours.