
Whom Do You Know That Might Benefit From Our Tailored Mortgage Solutions?
Cheers,
Author of "The Mortgage Game"
Whom Do You Know That Might Benefit From Our Tailored Mortgage Solutions?
Cheers,
Many of the demonstrators are probably descendants of the Chinese immigrants, who came to San Francisco during the Gold Rush, which started in 1849. After the discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill thousands of laborers came from China to work in the gold mines. At the beginning everyone was happy, but soon white laborers felt threatened by the hard working and cheaper Chinese. As a result of the protests and demonstrations, the Chinese had to leave the gold mines and settled in the area of San Francisco, which is now known as Chinatown where about 70,000 (about half of the total Chinese-American population) is still residing. In the early days, the area was known for the opium dens and exotic women.
Over the years that followed, many laws were passed in San Francisco restricting Chinese immigration, which eventually led to the United States Federal Law, “The Chinese Exclusion Act” of 1882, the most significant restriction of free immigration in U.S. history. Only in 1943, the Chinese immigrants residing in the U.S. were given permission to become U.S. Citizens.
Chinese-Americans live all over San Francisco, but many still live in Chinatown in small apartments, without living rooms. For many of them Portsmouth Square has become a meeting place where members of the local community can get together to play cards or other games or just to relax.
The Chinese New Year’s Parade began here in 1860, and this year, it had more than 20 floats with 2,500 marches and an estimated 750,000 guests, who came from all over the world. No wonder why some families started waiting for the parade to start, along Post Street as early as 2pm. You can read more about it in the San Francisco Chronicle article, “Crowd Has Barrel of Fun at Chinese New Year Parade”. As part of the celebration, Grant Street was closed with vendors set up along the narrow street and a huge crowd trying to push through it. It seemed that many visitors as well as locals had a lot of fun, and enjoyed the great weather.
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Former Mayor Willie Brown (who is African-American), wrote an article in the February 7, 2016 issue of the San Francisco Chronicle, where he described his encounter at Ruth’s Chris Steak House with a group of members of two opposing football teams (before the Super Bowl). He wrote, “No sooner had I sat down than the maître d’ comes over and says, ”Mr. Brown, I seated five big black guys in one dining room, and three other big black guys who just came in are in the other dining room.” After visiting both groups Mr. Brown continues, “Given the guys’ size and outfits and crazy hair, I’m sure half the diners thought they were going to be robbed at any minute.”
During the recent debates Donald Trump stated, “Police are the most mistreated people in America… Police are amazing people. Police force just cannot do their job”. It seems that every side paints a different picture. Is there a middle ground to find a solution? This might take time. Meanwhile, the Department of Justice started to investigate the policies and practices of the SFPD. You can read the story written by Martin Halloran, the President of San Francisco Police Officers Association. When it comes to my personal safety, I would rather be protected than politically correct.
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Some of the cases get more attention and criticism than others. But where is the silver lining? On January 24th, on the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle, there was a story titled “Potential Threats as Big as the Game” by Evan Sernoffsky. According to the FBI, “If someone wants to commit an act, they are going to commit an act. There’s only so much that we can do.” Meanwhile, a lot of money has been spent and many people are involved to save our lives. This could make perfect sense, until you get the bigger picture. On the same date in the “Insight” part of San Francisco Chronicle, I read an article by Leland H. Faust “In Our Scary Times, We Can’t Lose Sight of the Real Threats”. The article points out, “Since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, fewer than 50 people have died in the United States at the hand of Jihadists.” She continues, “There were some 164,000 homicides due to firearms between 2001 through 2014. Drunk drivers killed more than 170,000 people, during that same period. 50,000 people drowned and more than 60,000 pedestrians were killed.” She points out that “Beyond commonsense precautions that do save lives, here are a few smart measures we can take to restore our sense of proportion and preserve our core values: Name the problem, Remember Je suis Charlie. Respect First Amendment rights. Practice resolve, Protect human rights. Speak out against un-American ideas. Recognize that all lives matter.”
I agree with Ms. Faust’s assessments. The question is, how we can protect others and ourselves? I also think that one way to save people’s lives is to focus on solutions through education and what is really important, and what we have in common rather than what divides us.
Do Not Keep Me As A Secret!
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Whom Do You Know That Might Benefit From Our Tailored Mortgage Solutions?
Cheers,
On a recent photography trip downtown, I encountered a huge demonstration against abortion. The next day, I found information about the event online and in the San Francisco Chronicle. Apparently, some people drove over 30 hours from the Midwest as far as Tulsa, Oklahoma to demonstrate their stand against abortion. One of the reasons for the demonstration was because Congress voted to defund Planned Parenthood in January, due to some release fabricated “undercover videos”. Another reason was that it was the 43rd anniversary of the Roe vs. Wade, the court decision that legalized abortion in the United States. Many protesters were young men and women carrying the same placards stating “I Am The Pro-Life Generation.” On the sidewalk, there was a small group of women and a few sympathizing men with their own homemade placards. One of them stated, “Women Make Moral Choices”. My question is, “How do we know which choice is or is not moral?” Online, I learned that morality (from the Latin word “moralitas”, meaning “manner, character, proper behavior”) is a differentiation of intention, decisions and actions between those that are distinguished as proper and those that are improper”. Since moral teachings are primarily based on the religious doctrines (even the word originates from Latin), I decided to find out what the Torah, which is the basis for the three major religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, teaches about choice. “I have placed life and death before you, blessings and curse, and you should choose life, so that you will live, you and your offspring” (Deuteronomy 30:19).
Sounds straightforward. Choose life! The Torah also has the Ten Commandments, which were given to the Israelites by God at the Biblical Mount Zion as a moral compass for their life journey (which translated from Hebrew as “the ten words”, or “ten matters”). One of them clearly states, “You shall not kill”. At the same time, the Torah has a number of stories that involve killing. One of them is about the High Priest Aaron’s grandson Phinehas, who because of their immoral behavior kills another Israelite man and his mistress. Phinehas’s action was rewarded. “And it shall be for him and his offspring after him a covenant of eternal priesthood, because he took vengeance for his God, and he atoned for the Children of Israel (Numbers 25:13). Through the generations, the Jewish wise people taught that the Torah (which means “Instruction”, “Teaching”, but also “to shoot an arrow” or to hit the mark”) needs to be interpreted. (The same goes with the Christian Bible and the Quran).
As a result, many people follow the moral interpretations of the scriptures by the wise teachers of their generations. Meanwhile, some claim that they do not need any moral teachings; they can just follow the laws of nature (after all, animals manage somehow).
One thing is for sure – we all have many choices. Choose wisely. Enjoy and share.
P.S. I tried to photograph the images that would get your attention. I hope I succeeded.
Enjoy and share.
Do Not Keep Me As A Secret!
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Cheers,
Whom Do You Know That Might Benefit From Our Tailored Mortgage Solutions?
Cheers,
Restaurants’ menus are often divided into four groups of food; appetizers, soup and salad, main courses and dessert. All four groups are prepared based on the recipes of the ingredients, which are grown on the farms.
In the United States, farm and ranch families, which operate the majority of the agricultural production, comprise of just two percent of the U.S. population. Mexico’s agricultural industry accounts for more than 18% of the nation’s employment, not counting the Mexicans who work in the fields of our country. Last week, I wrote about our dining experience at the ACRE restaurant in San Jose del Cabo, Mexico. After having dinner there two nights in a row and befriending the owner and his staff, the next day we were invited to visit the farm to see from where they grow the food they prepared for us. The current owners bought 25 acres of a mango grove three years ago, which was damaged during a hurricane. Our tour guide was Kevin Luzande, a young and talented chef, who while living and working in different restaurants in Los Angeles, also owned a hydroponic farm, there.
Hydroponics is a method of growing plants using mineral nutrient solutions, in water, without soil. To have hydrophonic farms you need to build a specially designed building. There, plants grow vertically year-round, immune to weather, under optimal conditions (In San Francisco you can find such a farm at 1549 Custer Avenue). I first learned about this technology from the book “Abundance” written by Peter H. Diamandis and Steven Kotler. In the book, the authors describe different technological innovations in various spheres of our lives, including agriculture, which create abundance for a sustained growing population.
While we had our dinners the nights before (trying out different foods every time), with every dish we exclaimed, “This is amazing!” On our tour that morning at the farm, we said the same thing. The farmland is divided into 11 parcels, for different crops, attended by six gardeners. Kevin told us that by planting different vegetables next to each other, they not only absorb the qualities of the neighboring plants, but they also help each other deal with the pests. One plot was planted with forty different spices, while another, had different kinds of potatoes and cabbages. There were different types of sunflowers; one of them will grow 9 ft. tall (Kevin is using every part of the plant in his culinary alchemy). Everything is grown organic, without the use of pesticides, sewage sludge, genetically modified organisms or ionizing radiation. Even corn was planted from seeds that were not being genetically modified by the American company, Monsanto. The farm is still young, but in a few months, plants will grow tall and fill the plates of the lucky diners with delicious results. In the future, guests will be invited to visit the farm and pull out ready vegetables to be eaten right there or to be prepared with their favorite dish.
I am planning to come back to ACRE on January 13th 2017 to celebrate my 70th birthday. Why would not you plan to join me there?
P.S. It is said that “a picture is worth a thousand words”. At the same time no picture can convey the experience of being in the farm pulling a radish from the ground and eating it right there, smelling the aroma of the freshly cut herb and just looking at the pile of soil, knowing that within a short time it is going to be covered by beautiful green growth which will end up in the kitchen, to be transformed into a delicious meal.
Enjoy and Share.
Do Not Keep Me As A Secret!
Smile And Please SHARE It With A Friend!
Cheers,