You are correct!

Green just makes you think about trees, tree huggers and money, right?

Call To Action

Author: Jay

What does a pepperoni pizza have in common with the US Government?

Not a whole lot, actually.   I mean it’s super easy to order a pizza, have it delivered and get a really nice hot meal that is quick and cheap.

You really can’t say that about the US Government.   Corruption, greed, red tape have very little interest in getting your pepperoni pizza to you in a hot, fresh manner. Ever spent a day at the DMV or tried to call the IRS?

Let’s dissect the pizza.   What did it actually take to get your pizza to your house?  Well, let’s start with the one of the main ingredients.   

The pepperoni on your pizza is only available because the following exists:  

  • Knowledge of the curing of sausage, fermentation and microbiology of sausage
  • Availability of paprika and other spices
  • The refrigeration necessary to have it transported to restaurants
  • The labor necessary to butcher, package and process the meat

Similar needs exist for the cheese, the wheat to make the crust, the tomatoes that make up the sauce.  And don’t forget all of the labor to grow the tomatoes, the spices, and the milk that makes up the cheese.

Go a little further with this and look at everything needed to support the aforementioned activities

  • Manufacturing of the vehicles used to transport the ingredients.
  • Technology, labor and expertise needed to build the roads the vehicles used.
  • Electricity, gas and other energy needed to move the vehicles.

We could layer this further, but I hope this is enough to make my point – it’s a miracle of innovation, technology and human labor that brings this pizza to your doorstep.   Every little ingredient depends on the processes that support it, the technology that invented it, the labor that produces it and the knowledge that makes it possible and safe. Any of these layers disappear, so does the pepperoni.  And you are left hungry.

Now let’s say the government is a pepperoni pizza.     Everything that the government produces has a huge list of interconnected components.   These depend on each other.   If one layer of one process of one office becomes eliminated, everything could fall apart.     

Now before you say it, of course the government is inefficient, bloated and needs a lot of reform.   We all get that.   Forget the canned lines you have been force fed for one moment and listen to the message.  Don’t be ignorant.  

Even in the most efficient, cost effective company, removing a single simple process has the potential to throw everything off.   The big picture process relies on every little process underneath it and at the simplest level, would get confused about what to do without it.

Remove a tire and the whole car is grounded.

Remove a single lug nut from just one of the wheels and this is what happens:  

1. Uneven Load Distribution

Each remaining lug nut must carry more load.

  • With 5 lugs, losing 1 increases load per lug by 25%.
  • Over time, this causes fatigue in the studs and uneven torque.\
2. Wheel Imbalance

Missing a lug changes the symmetry of the clamping force → the wheel may wobble, especially at high speeds.

3. Loosening of Remaining Lugs

As the wheel shifts microscopically with each rotation:

• The remaining lugs loosen.

• This can cause vibration, noise, and progressive loosening.

4. Stud Fatigue or Breakage

The uneven stress causes cyclic fatigue in the studs.

Eventually, one or more can snap, leading to catastrophic wheel separation.

5. Warping or Rotor Stress

The uneven torque can warp brake rotors or cause hub deformation over time.

Now, are you ready for catastrophic wheel separation when our “stud” fails or gets fatigued?

Now again, don’t be a dumbass and say stuff like “How can cutting funding for transgendered baby whales that play sports in Nigeria cause our government to unravel, this is Merka!”  Again, that’s not the point.

The point is that our system of government has been in place for a little over 200 years and changes have been made based on needs and things we have learned.   Chopping up all of that knowledge and function like a blind killer dressed up like a pumpkin in a washed-up slasher movie will leave us wondering which body was the one that kept order intact.

You can’t buy experience and knowledge like you can friends.   Especially when you’ve just murdered them.   Who needs friends when you have enemas, right?

So the next time you order a pizza, reflect on all of those years of knowledge, labor, cultivation, and technology that it took to get you that pizza and pat your neighbor on the back.  He might have had a small part in that.  I can guarantee you that at least one billionaire CEO and several undocumented immigrants worked with middle class managers and low income pizza makers to get you that pizza.   

We can continue to blame each other and allow the government to separate us on political, skin color, sexual orientation, age and income brackets or join together and realize the importance of our interconnectedness and focus on our real enemies.

What will you choose?

Zoho

I spend a lot of time talking about poor customer service experiences. It’s time that I highlight the opposite.

Zoho calls itself the ‘Operating System for Business’ and it lives up to it.

In short, I love Zoho. I love Zoho so much that I want to marry Zoho. Ok, maybe I went a little far, but I would certainly shack up with Zoho if I had the opportunity to.

What is Zoho you ask? It’d be easier to answer with what Zoho isn’t. It is everything a small business needs to operate smoothly AND a bag of chips. It does your laundry and even cleans the windows.

In all seriousness, Zoho is a suite of business applications that can do pretty much anything. For example:

  • Zoho CRM – their flagship product. Customer Relationship Management at its best. It gives you that 360Âş view of your customer that you need in order to maintain that competitive advantage. If you know your customer, you can take actions on that knoweldge and that is what makes customers loyal. More on this later.
  • Zoho Billing – handles subscriptions, invoices and other billing needs. Fully featured with classy email notifications. Integrates with Stripe, Paypal, authorize.net, their own payment solution and others. Set it and forget it, except to watch the recurring revenue flow in.
  • Zoho Desk – Help desk ticketing system. Fully configuarable, multi-branded, white labeled, includes a customer help center with forums and a knowledgebase and can integrate with a million different channels like whatsapp, facebook, sms, telephony – you name it.
  • Zoho Survey – allows you to create engaging surveys to keep up with customers feelings and needs.
  • Zoho Forms – build super complex forms with workflows that will blow your mind.
  • Zoho Flow – this is the their no-code integration platform. Have your receptionist integrate notifications from your bug tracking software to your slack during lunch – it’s that easy.
  • Zoho Mail – a fully featured mail client
  • ZeptoMail – a transactional email system
  • Zoho SalesIQ – Sales chat, visitor tracking
  • Zoho Sign – e-signatures with approval workflows
  • Zoho Bookings – automated appointment setting
  • Zoho Calendar – what it sounds like 🙂

I could go on typing for days and wouldn’t be able to complete the list. But I really have digressed. This is supposed to be a discussion about customer service.

Zoho has AMAZING customer service. Different plans have different options, and I would highly reccomend their premium support. You can chat right in the app you are woking in, email a dedication team, call on the phone, use their community forums or open a ticket on their support site. They always respond quickly and it’s clear that their agents have been trained well.

Project: AI Personal Assistant

Purpose: Answer calls, schedule meetings, take messages, send letters.

Technology: Twilio, Node.js, sqllite, Claude console

Description: This project has an AI assistant answer the phone and have a conversation with the caller. During the conversation, the AI is doing intel on the number in an effort to determine how legitimate the call is by searching the number in known phishing scams, comparing it with phone records, against my contact list and making a determination. It if suspects fraud, it will begin to ask leading questions and validate those in the background as the conversation continues. If the conversation is valid, it will complete any number of tasks – put a meeting on my calendar, setup a video conference, respond to the need with an email or a letter, or simply take a voicemail.

Project Status: Working prototype complete.

Home Organization Methods: Household Systems That Actually Work

If you’ve ever asked yourself, “How do I organize all this stuff?” — you’re not alone. Finding an effective home organization system isn’t about perfection. It’s about choosing a method that matches how you live, think, and remember.

There are many different household organization methods, and each one solves a different problem. Some focus on decluttering, others on storage, and some on tracking what you own. Below, we break down the most popular home organization ideas, who they work best for, and where they tend to fail.

The “Everything Has a Home” Organization Method

Best for: Daily household items, shared spaces, routine-driven homes

This classic home organization method assigns every item a single, permanent location. Keys go here. Tools go there. Everything returns to its place after use.

Pros:
  • Reduces daily decision fatigue
  • Makes cleaning faster
  • Works well for shared households
Cons:
  • Breaks down during busy periods
  • Requires consistency
  • Less forgiving for clutter-heavy homes
2. Category-Based Organization (Decluttering-First Systems)

Best for: Decluttering, downsizing, major life transitions

Category-based decluttering and organization methods group items by type rather than location — all clothes, all papers, all tools.

Pros:
  • Helps reduce excess belongings
  • Encourages intentional ownership
  • Effective for big resets
Cons:
  • Time-intensive
  • Hard to maintain long-term
  • Less practical for utility items
    Zone-Based Household Organization Systems

    Best for: Busy households, visual thinkers, ADHD organization needs

    Zone-based organization systems for home arrange items by where they’re used — not what they are.

    Examples:
    • Charging zone
    • Repair or tool zone
    • Mail and outgoing items zone
    Pros:
      • Matches real-life behavior
      • Reduces friction and movement
      • Easy to maintain
      Cons:
      • Zones can sprawl without boundaries
      • Some items belong in multiple zones

      Container-Based Home Organization

      Best for: Small spaces, closets, garages, storage areas

      Container-based systems use bins, drawers, and shelves to define limits. If it doesn’t fit, something has to go.

      Pros:
      • Built-in storage limits
      • Visually clean
      • Easy to scale
      Cons:
      • Can hide clutter
      • Encourages buying containers instead of reducing stuff

      Inventory-Based Home Organization (Often Overlooked)

      Best for: Large households, shared homes, insurance documentation

      Instead of relying on memory, inventory-based personal organization systems track what you own digitally or visually.

      Examples:
      • Spreadsheets
      • Photo catalogs
      • Home inventory apps
      Pros:
      • Prevents duplicate purchases
      • Helps with insurance and moving
      • Works even when storage isn’t perfect
      Cons:
      • Initial setup time
      • Requires light maintenance

      The “Good Enough” Organization Method

      Best for: Overwhelmed households, neurodivergent users, real life

      This system prioritizes retrievability over aesthetics. If you can find what you need quickly, the system works.

      Pros:
      • Sustainable
      • Low stress
      • Works during busy seasons
      Cons:
      • Not Instagram-pretty
      • Requires honest self-assessment

      Combining Organizational Methodologies (The Real Secret)

      The most effective household organization systems aren’t single-method solutions. They’re layered.

      A realistic setup might include:

      • Zone-based organization for daily life
      • Containers to limit storage
      • Inventory tracking for memory support
      • “Good enough” rules for sustainability

      If your system only works when you’re motivated, it’s not a system — it’s temporary willpower.

      Final Thoughts on Home Organization Systems

      The best home organization method is the one you’ll actually maintain. Organization isn’t about owning less — it’s about knowing what you own and being able to find it when you need it.

      Whether you’re organizing a single room or your entire household, choosing the right organizational methodology can reduce stress, save money, and make everyday life easier.

      WTF

      Sample Post

      Do you ever get tired of looking for stuff? It is so freaking draining emotionally, psychologically and sometimes physically. The worst part of it is the frustration you have with yourself for misplacing the phone for the 43rd time in one day.

      I calculated once that I spent about 75% of my day looking for something. Whether it be my car keys, my phone, a file on my computer, my head – it seems as if I am constantly looking for something. I must admit at times it got so frustrating that I thought it might be easier to just jump off of a cliff that have to look for my phone again.

      For a while, I just refused to look for anything. If I needed it, it was just going to have to wait until I found it. Or, if it were an common household object I’d just go to the store and buy another one. The cost of a 9th hammer is so much less than the frustration of having to look for one that I already have.

      Those of us with this problem – the inability of our hand to let our brains know where it has set something down – know and feel this frustration daily.

      For years I have been coming up with ideas in my head about things that could help – software on my phone that could keep track of what I had an where it was, Alexa skills, Siri reminders. I just couldn’t seem to get it. I had some great ideas of software if only someone could build it. I didn’t have the money to pay someone to do it, and my lame attempts at trying to do it myself were just…..well lame. You know the drill – try something new, get frustrated, forget what you’ve done, forget that you were doing it in the first place, move on to something else.`

      There have been two extremely significant pieces of technology that have dramatically changed my life for the better – Apple AirTags and Tile – both are bluetooth trackers that you can connect to your keys, put in your bag, stuff in your wallet, or glue to your head. They communicate with your phone and when you lose them, you can make them emit a noise and direct you to their location. They have saved my ass more times that I can count.

      Another thing I’ve always wanted to have is an inventory of my items – not only so I know what I have, but also to look up where it. is located. I also vowed to have an inventory together for insurance purposes the last time I had a little fire but had no records for. the items that burned. I’ve tried creating spreadsheets, FileMaker Pro databases, airtable bases – I’m really good at creating containers for my stuff but when it came right down to it, nothing was easy enough for me to want to use it. I mean getting the camera, taking a picture, looking up models from brand names, trying to find the receipt – it just wasn’t happening.

      Now all of that is changing. I’ve discovered Claude Code and Codex who can now bridge the gap between an awesome design in the head and a finished software product that i actually want to use.

      And so I am proud to introduce the outcome of my AI Coding experiment –

      Where the F? Personal Inventory!

      Where the F? is a mobile app that takes all of the pain out of building and maintaining a list of your personal belongings and their locations and value.

      All it takes is a simple click from your phone’s camera and then the magic happens – the app identifies the object in the picture and creates an inventory item automatically for you! Not only will it find out what it is, it can also identify Brand, model, and sometimes estimated cost/value and enter that as well – the more pictures you take of the object, the more information you get back. It can:

      • Track serial numbers
      • Store location and a sub-location
      • Record purchase information like vendor, location and cost.
      • Run reports that are grouped, sorted and filtered as you like
      • Categorize and tag like items automatically

      And as if that wasn’t enough, there is also the companion browser extension that will detect when you are on the checkout page of your favorite online

      DEAR WORLD

      I think it’s super important that you understand that the actions of our “president” do NOT reflect the thoughts and beliefs of the majority of the citizens of these United States.

      More specifically:

      • We do not support the belief that women belong barefoot and pregnant and are physically or intellectually lesser than men. We do believe that they should maintain the right to choose when it comes to their own bodies, earn equal pay for equal work and to continue to enjoy the freedom of voting, owning land and making their own decisions.
      • We do NOT support the illegal deportation of US Citizens / non-US citizens based solely on their real or perceived race / ethnicity. We place great emphasis on maintaining the family structure, even if it’s not a white family. (I can’t believe I even have to say this). We are all Americans – North Americans, South Americans, Central Americans and now that it’s the Gulf of America, we can all share its splendor no matter what part of America we live in.
      • We support everyone’s right to freedom. Any color, sexual orientation, political affiliation, age, class, income level, disability or veteran status, gender – we all deserve the same rights.
      • We believe that free trade is good for the world.
      • We are in complete and utter confusion as to how someone who has stolen so much money can have such a poor hair and makeup stylist.
      • We believe that sharing our resources is good for the world. Karma is real.
      • We believe in the freedom of the press, the right to assemble and free speech, all of which is under attack.
      • We believe in research, higher learning and free thought.
      • We want our government inefficiencies back – governments weren’t meant to operate like corporations – they were meant to actually help its citizens and the greater world. Corporations always opt for the dollar even at the expense of human life.
      • We believe that spirituality is personal, that it can include something other than evangelical christianity, and should be a choice that is not intertwined with government.
      • We are sick and tired of being brainwashed, fed mis-information and being lied to.
      • We do not believe our military presence in the Caribbean is about drug traffic.
      • We do not believe ICE is about removing illegal criminals – it is about terrorizing all of the American People, whether they be legal US citizens, immigrants, visitors or illegals.
      • We don’t believe that injecting disinfectant into our veins will relieve us from Covid-19.
      • We do not believe that human sex trafficking is tolerable and those that commit this crime should burn here on earth and also in hell.
      • We do not wish to steal Greenland from Denmark or itself. There is nothing wrong with the way things are right now, and have been for the past 300 years.
      • We believe that efficiency is something that the government doesn’t need or want – our children, our health, our safety – they deserve the very best and sometimes that’s not cost effective. We think Elon Musk should fuck off.
      • We believe and demand that the rich pay taxes at a much higher rate than the rest of us because they can afford it, we no longer can.
      • As soon as we can get this orange monster outta our White House, we’ll put back the West Wing and have our ball outside. Oh, and we’ll be sure to never let this happen again.

      Our government’s voice is not our voice.

      Please don’t hate us. We’ll be back soon.

      đź‘€ Perception

      Ever wonder if someone experiences the color red like you do? I mean what if my red looked like your green? I guess it probably doesn’t matter as long as the meaning is conveyed the same (given there was supposed to be meaning). Could be why some people like one color and others dislike it.

      Color has been proven to tie to emotions. Red can incite anger, while blue is said to be calming.

      But it’s not just the color, it’s the relationship between hue, brightness and the emotional or physical environment it’s placed in.

      So red can signal love, passion or danger depending on the context. The red of a rose vs the red of a stop sign or blood. Context is important.

      Companies, advertisers and governments use this to enhance the emotion they are trying to elicit in you. Our behavior is controlled by the emotion that we feel and they know it. Color influences our biological state before we are even able to process it mentally.

      ＄How? Consider this: A red ‘buy now’ button increases clicks by 20-40% compared to blue or gray. Why? Red is exciting. It’s a high energy color that incites action.

      Fast food chains use Yellow and Red because together they trigger hunger and urgency. Think McDonalds, Wendy’s, In n Out.

      Guess what color eco-friendly companies use – this color has the emotional association with money, nature, balance.

      Click Here
      Click Here
      Click Here

      What’s even more interesting is what can happen when you combine certain colors together. For example, take a greenish colored oval with a half-black border and a half-white border. Repeat the shape over and over again and skew each object slightly. Make several rows and you get what is below. Before you spend too much time looking at it please know that it might make you dizzy and sick. It’s not moving. It’s a static image. The combination of color, hue, shape and placement of the objects cause your brain to perceive that it is moving. Some other interesting things: This image was originally created by a Japanese psychologist named Akiyoshi Kitaoka who studies visual illusions. I didn’t believe that it wasn’t an animated gif so I recreated the image in photoshop to prove that it really isn’t moving. My re-creation of his illusion is below.

      How much of what you feel and what you see is real and how much is manufactured? How much of our experience is enhanced by those that know these tricks and how they can use them to influence our behavior?

      🍕 What Does a Pepperoni Pizza Have in Common with the U.S. Government?

      Not a whole lot at first glance.

      Ordering a pizza is simple: you tap an app, a driver shows up, and you get a hot, fresh meal for a few bucks. The U.S. government? Not so fast. You’ll find red tape, bureaucracy, and arguments about who pays for the pepperoni long before you get dinner.

      But here’s where things get interesting — that pizza you just ordered actually has a lot more in common with government than you might think. Both rely on layered systems, shared knowledge, and interdependent parts that must all function in harmony.

      Let’s break it down.

      🧠 The Hidden Complexity Behind Your Pizza

      That pepperoni pizza isn’t just dough, cheese, and meat — it’s a miracle of human cooperation, knowledge and technology.

      Consider the pepperoni alone:

      • Knowledge of fermentation and meat curing
      • Access to paprika and spices imported from around the world
      • Refrigeration technology to transport it safely
      • Labor to butcher, process, and package the meat

      And that’s just one topping.

      Now add:

      • Cheese — requiring cows, dairy farms, pasteurization, and distribution
      • Tomato sauce — grown, harvested, seasoned, cooked, and canned
      • Wheat for the crust — milled, refined, baked

      Every piece relies on dozens of industries: agriculture, transportation, manufacturing, packaging, and energy. You’re eating the result of centuries of innovation and learning — each layer built on another.

      If any layer disappears, so does the pizza.

      🚚 The Infrastructure You Don’t See

      Your pizza isn’t just ingredients — it’s infrastructure:

      • Vehicles built by engineers
      • Roads and highways laid by crews
      • Energy grids powering factories and freezers
      • Software for orders and logistics
      • Workers across every sector making it all possible

      It’s a web of knowledge, labor, and technology — every piece depending on the others.

      🏛️ Now Imagine the Government as a Pizza

      Government is built the same way: layered systems, each one supporting another.

      Every department, process, and policy contributes to the whole structure. Remove one, and you destabilize the rest.

      Sure, the government is inefficient and bloated at times. But the solution isn’t random cuts — it’s understanding how interconnected every part is. Eliminate one “small” program and you might unbalance the entire system.

      Just like a missing ingredient can ruin your pizza, or a missing lug nut can lead to catastrophic wheel failure, removing even one vital component from government can ripple across the system.

      ⚙️ The Lug Nut Analogy

      Let’s say your car wheel has five lug nuts holding it in place.

      Take one away, and:

      1. Each remaining lug bears 25% more stress.
      2. The wheel becomes imbalanced.
      3. The lugs loosen over time.
      4. Fatigue sets in — studs snap.
      5. Eventually, the wheel detaches.

      One missing lug might not cause an instant crash — but it starts a slow-motion failure.

      Now apply that to the government:

      Remove one process, one function, one oversight office, and the strain shifts. Others overcompensate. Eventually, cracks form.

      That’s not ideology. That’s engineering.

      🧩 The Point: Systems Are Fragile, and Everything’s Connected

      Before rolling your eyes at programs that seem trivial or wasteful, remember:

      Even the most efficient machine collapses when you start pulling out screws you don’t understand.

      Our government — messy as it is — has evolved over centuries of trial and error. It’s built from layers of experience, knowledge, and adaptation.

      Start chopping at random, and you’ll quickly find out which part was holding everything together.

      🤝 The Real Lesson: Interdependence

      When you bite into that pizza, you’re tasting collaboration:

      • Billionaire CEOs
      • Undocumented workers
      • Middle-class managers
      • Low-wage pizza makers All played a part.

      So does every American in the government system — whether through taxes, labor, or civic participation.

      We can keep fighting each other over crumbs, or recognize we’re all part of the same pizza.

      đź’¬ Final Thought

      The next time you order a pepperoni pizza, take a moment to appreciate the invisible network that made it possible.

      Then remember: the government works the same way.

      Every piece matters. Remove the wrong one, and the whole system can spin off like a wheel missing its lug nut.

      Let’s stop hacking at the structure out of frustration — and start understanding how it all fits together.🍕 What Does a Pepperoni Pizza Have in Common with the U.S. Government?

      Not a whole lot at first glance.

      Ordering a pizza is simple: you tap an app, a driver shows up, and you get a hot, fresh meal for a few bucks. The U.S. government? Not so fast. You’ll find red tape, bureaucracy, and arguments about who pays for the pepperoni long before you get dinner.

      But here’s where things get interesting — that pizza you just ordered actually has a lot more in common with government than you might think. Both rely on layered systems, shared knowledge, and interdependent parts that must all function in harmony.

      Let’s break it down.

      🧠 The Hidden Complexity Behind Your Pizza

      That pepperoni pizza isn’t just dough, cheese, and meat — it’s a miracle of human cooperation.

      Consider the pepperoni alone:

      • Knowledge of fermentation and meat curing
      • Access to paprika and spices imported from around the world
      • Refrigeration technology to transport it safely
      • Labor to butcher, process, and package the meat

      And that’s just one topping.

      Now add:

      • Cheese — requiring cows, dairy farms, pasteurization, and distribution
      • Tomato sauce — grown, harvested, seasoned, cooked, and canned
      • Wheat for the crust — milled, refined, baked

      Every piece relies on dozens of industries: agriculture, transportation, manufacturing, packaging, and energy. You’re eating the result of centuries of innovation and learning — each layer built on another.

      If any layer disappears, so does the pizza.

      🚚 The Infrastructure You Don’t See

      Your pizza isn’t just ingredients — it’s infrastructure:

      • Vehicles built by engineers
      • Roads and highways laid by crews
      • Energy grids powering factories and freezers
      • Software for orders and logistics
      • Workers across every sector making it all possible

      It’s a web of knowledge, labor, and technology — every piece depending on the others.

      🏛️ Now Imagine the Government as a Pizza

      Government is built the same way: layered systems, each one supporting another.

      Every department, process, and policy contributes to the whole structure. Remove one, and you destabilize the rest.

      Sure, the government is inefficient and bloated at times. But the solution isn’t random cuts — it’s understanding how interconnected every part is. Eliminate one “small” program and you might unbalance the entire system.

      Just like a missing ingredient can ruin your pizza, or a missing lug nut can lead to catastrophic wheel failure, removing even one vital component from government can ripple across the system.

      ⚙️ The Lug Nut Analogy

      Let’s say your car wheel has five lug nuts holding it in place.

      Take one away, and:

      1. Each remaining lug bears 25% more stress.
      2. The wheel becomes imbalanced.
      3. The lugs loosen over time.
      4. Fatigue sets in — studs snap.
      5. Eventually, the wheel detaches.

      One missing lug might not cause an instant crash — but it starts a slow-motion failure.

      Now apply that to the government:

      Remove one process, one function, one oversight office, and the strain shifts. Others overcompensate. Eventually, cracks form.

      That’s not ideology. That’s engineering.

      🧩 The Point: Systems Are Fragile, and Everything’s Connected

      Before rolling your eyes at programs that seem trivial or wasteful, remember:

      Even the most efficient machine collapses when you start pulling out screws you don’t understand.

      Our government — messy as it is — has evolved over centuries of trial and error. It’s built from layers of experience, knowledge, and adaptation.

      Start chopping at random, and you’ll quickly find out which part was holding everything together.

      🤝 The Real Lesson: Interdependence

      When you bite into that pizza, you’re tasting collaboration:

      • Billionaire CEOs
      • Undocumented workers
      • Middle-class managers
      • Low-wage pizza makers

      All played a part.

      So does every American in the government system — whether through taxes, labor, or civic participation.

      We can keep fighting each other over crumbs, or recognize we’re all part of the same pizza.

      đź’¬ Final Thought

      The next time you order a pepperoni pizza, take a moment to appreciate the invisible network that made it possible.

      Then remember: the government works the same way.

      Every piece matters. Remove the wrong one, and the whole system can spin off like a wheel missing its lug nut.

      Let’s stop hacking at the structure out of frustration — and start understanding how it all fits together.

      Where are we?

      Democracy

      • Power Source: Authority comes from the people.
      • Popular sovereignty –> Government derives it legitimacy from the consent of the governed.
      • Free and fair elections allow poeple to choose leaders and influence policies
      • Laws apply equally to all, including those in power.
      • Protection of civil liberties like speech, religion and assembly.
      • The majority makes decisions, but the rights of minorities are safeguarded.

      Autocracy / Dictatorship

      • Power Source: Authority rests with one individual or a very small group.
      • Decision Making: Citizens have little or no role, decisions are imposed from the top.
      • Leadership: Leader seizes or maintains power through force, manipulation, or rigged elections.
      • Laws: Rule of law is weak; the leader is often above the law.
      • Rights and Freedoms are restricted – dissent, press and opposition and usually censored or punished.
      • Checks & Balances are not there or are very weak, the leader often controls all branches of government.

      So many reasons why this country is going to hell. The rich get richer, the poor get poorer and it’s all very depressing.

      Verizon

      Never ceases to amaze me. I’ve had to call them several times due to replacement phones or wiped phones to get my cell phone service restored. Every time I call, they try to authenticate me on the phone that I am trying to activate. Is Verizon training their employees to do this? How the hell are you supposed to retreive a security code on a phone that doesn’t have service? The sheer stupidity amazes me. I can see it happening once. MAYBE twice. But several times on the same phone call? Are you kidding me?

      Most times I have been on the phone for hours and been transferred to several departments, each of them telling me to authenticate using the phone I’m trying to activate. What has happened 100% of the times is that they end up telling me that I have to go into a store to have the phone activated. I certainly cannot be the only person who has called in with this issue.

      I can’t wait until my device is paid off (yes, the one I got $1000 credit for and was advertised “on us”). Bullshit. I’m leaving after my next bill.