If memory serves, EOT was a shiny metallic piece of tape applied to the magtape to prevent the drive from running until the tape ran off the spool.

EOF was the end of file marker written between files, and two sequential EOFs indicated the end of the data on the tape.

There was usually a BOT piece of metallic tape at the beginning to tell the drive where to begin reading/writing.

My job in AWACS revolved around IBM 360s and libraries full of 9-track tape.  Each AWACS mission required one 7-tape case for the program loads and 2 more cases of scratch tapes for recording over a 12-16 hour mission.

You must be a little older than me.
EOT is a pattern written into the tape magnetically.
as is EOF  on the tape stuff I worked with.
Most all of that is very obsolete now.
While I can program an IBM 360, that was
older stuff.
Hopefully you looked up my Binary number
and translated it to Hex.

I always wished
the state would allow eight characters on
a Vanity plate.
My choice would be
"46554B55"
Just for the cops.
You have to be a nerd to figure that one out.
Aloha and have a good weekend.

You must be a little older than me.
EOT is a pattern written into the tape magnetically.
as is EOF  on the tape stuff I worked with.
Most all of that is very obsolete now.
While I can program an IBM 360, that was
older stuff.
Hopefully you looked up my Binary number
and translated it to Hex.

I always wished
the state would allow eight characters on
a Vanity plate.
My choice would be
"46554B55"
Just for the cops.
You have to be a nerd to figure that one out.
Aloha and have a good weekend.

Not sure my age is the main factor.  Military computer development agencies were generations behind.  They'd just removed the last of the keypunch machines the month I arrived at Tinker.

The mainframe was being upgraded from an IBM 360 to a 370 with remote terminals installed in the old card punch room.

This was all in 1984, the year I graduated from college.

... The operator then initiated an automatic sequence, often by a single press of a button, that would start the vacuum system, then move the
tape forward until the beginning-of-tape (BOT) foil strip was detected by an optical sensor in the tape path. The control electronics would
then indicate to the controlling computer that the unit was ready for operation.

Tapes included an end-of-tape (EOT) foil strip. When EOT was encountered while writing, the computer program would be notified
of the condition. This gave the program a chance to write end-of-tape information on the tape while there was still enough tape to do so.

The sensing of BOT and EOT was achieved by shining a small lamp at the tape's surface at an oblique angle. When the foil strip (glued to the
tape) moved past the lamp a photo-receptor would see the reflected flash of light and trigger the system to halt tape motion. This is the main reason
that photographic flash cameras were not allowed in data centers since they could (and did) trick the tape drives into falsely sensing BOT and EOT.[3]

The 9-track tapes had reflective stickers placed on the non-data side 10 feet (3.0 m) from the beginning of the tape and 14 feet (4.3 m) from the end
of the tape to facilitate signaling the hardware to prevent the tape from unwinding from the hubs. These reflective stickers established the beginning-of-tape
(BOT) and end-of-tape (EOT) marks. Ten feet of leader and trailer tape was sufficiently long to allow the tape down and up the air columns and wrap around
the hub a few times. The extra 4 feet in the trailer was to allow the operating system space to write a few blocks of data after the EOT mark to finalize the
tape data segment in a multi-volume dataset. It was a common practice for operators to clip off a few inches of leader tape when it became frayed. If the
leading reflective strip became detached from the tape it became very difficult to read the data since the BOT point of the dataset was no longer easily located
and BOT orientation was nearly impossible.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9_track_tape

Newer tape formats, such as DAT and DLT cartridges, replaced the 9 tracks eventually, but that was after I left that assignment in 1989.  All I know is, without the foil tape marks, the drives couldn't find the beginning or end of the 9 track.

Now, if you wrote an EOT soft mark on a 9 track, that would cause the computer to stop reading, but the drive would still be able to search beyond that if so instructed.  We did that often when looking for what an older tape contained before being written to last.  Sometimes someone would accidentally write over the wrong tape (operator error -- loaded the wrong volume and inserted the plastic write ring!), and we'd assist in recovering the files beyond where the last write job ended.

Growing up a poor Hawaiian, I never allowed the social and economic realities affecting Hawaiians stop me from achieving my professional goals, as sadly some Hawaiians have succumbed to doing. 

So you are going to use your own personal experience to prove my point for me? Okay, then thank you. It is your attitude, or in other words, your frame of mind, that prevented you from falling into the “poor me” trap that a lot of people do. It just goes further to show that social disparity is a mental attitude/frame of mind.

Not that it means anything to you, but I am truly happy for you that you were able to overcome what has become a predisposition in life to a lot of people. My personal situation is a similar one. And I for one am very proud of what I have been able to accomplish in my life. Very much the same as you. 

However, the rules of the game do differ tremendously within and among the social classes and the races, which does affect one's attempt in bettering their respective situation.  As this is just part of life, I would offer that it is this disparity of opportunity, which leads to differing forms of societal inequality that plays a major role in one's decision to strive in any given society. 

I couldn’t agree more. However, I will add that no matter what the disparity of opportunity there might be for some (not most) this disparity does not stop the person from becoming successful if they are of the frame of mind to not allow it to happen to themselves. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying everyone has the exact same opportunities in life. I am just saying overcoming those opportunities, or allowing those issues to overwhelm you has to start inside someone’s brain. It is still only a frame of mind.

Yes, there are things we can't change and must adapt; I agree totally.  However, these disparities are very real and not purely some mental constructs.  Hence, if such disparities are not addressed adequately by society in the long-term, more people will either drop out, game/corrupt it, or resort to crime or begin some other illegal activities to move up in the World; as what we can see in today's America.

Here is where you and I disagree. Any disparities that exist such as prejudice are easily and quickly overcome by the right attitudes. Freedom is the key to overcome all of the disparities you claim exist. Freedom to walk away from the situation and put oneself into a favorable one. It is not societies (meaning governments) responsibility to overcome these disparities. Based on how society/government has already tried, I’m surprised you want them to continue to screw these sort of things up. The fact is these disparities can never be eliminated. Let’s face it, prejudice cannot be overcome by society/government. Period. The only thing society/government can do is to try and change behavior. In other words, we cannot stop a person from being prejudice, but we can discourage someone from acting on that prejudice. It is not perfect solution, but when it is properly executed it will discourage as much as possible. It has proven to be a better method that allowing society/government to change people’s minds rather than behavior. I think it is obvious by the divide we have in this country that allowing society/government to address this problem by artificially interfering with our previous system that it doesn’t work and usually makes things worse. JMHO

Kuleana,

I want to add some of my own personal experiences here. Back in my 20’s to 30’s I was working for a very old and established construction testing and inspection engineering firm. I was already in management and I was on my way to becoming upper management with a chance to actually have a say in running the day to day operations. That was my goal and dream. Then one day I was called into the office of an engineer who was also Vice President of the company. He closed the door to the office and proceeded to tell me that the CFO of the company was prejudiced against me. In the same way he was prejudiced against the engineer who I was speaking to. The engineer was already tenured in the company before the CFO was hired. So the CFO could not do much to the engineer. Except interfere with any future salary and benefits which according to the engineer, he was actually doing. He basically informed me that as long as the CFO was there, I would not go any where higher into management. I was devastated. I loved the company and I loved my job and I was looking forward to making something of myself in this industry. Needless to say I formulated a plan to take myself out of that situation and put myself into a more favorable one.

After we moved to the Big Island, my wife could not find a job. It may have been due to the poor job market at the time. But one day Jack’s Tours advertised a position that my wife was 100% qualified for. After a phone call she was invited to the office for an interview and and to take an accounting test. She showed up along with an oriental woman. They immediately gave both women the test. Except for one thing. They gave my wife a geometry test, not an accounting test. When she brought this to the attention of the hiring manager, he told her that if she didn’t like it she was welcome to leave. Prejudice at its finest at work in Hawaii. After 2 years of this we moved to Oahu due to my receiving an offer for a job on Oahu.

After we moved to Oahu, I experienced a lot of the prejudice that some locals feel is appropriate towards a fucking Haole. This includes their yelling and threatening me in public. Attempting to try and publicly shame me. At the time I had a great job at a large, old established and respected engineering company with offices all over the world. They are based out of Honolulu. I was their first Haole Inspector. I immediately made a name for myself as the HDOT and HDOE were giving large projects to my company in exchange for having me work on their projects. Then the company forced the retirement of the department head and brought in an oriental (I think Chinese) Wahine as the new department head. It was obvious from the moment she arrived that she didn’t like Haoles. I was relegated to being chained to my desk and given office assistant work to do. After 6 months of this my boss called me in an told me the HDOT and HDOE were not happy that I was no longer available to work on their projects. It was coincidental that they stopped receiving large contracts from the HDOT and HDOE. I think it was more she was not acceptable to them than it was me not being available to work on their projects. There were a lot of rumors about no one liking her. Anyway, he told me she was out to let me go due to my skin color. She was trying to set me up somehow and he could no longer protect me. I had no idea he had been trying to protect me all that time. So I devised a plan to get myself out of that situation and put myself into a more favorable one.

There are a lot more. I was poor all of my life and lived in poor neighborhoods in rundown apartments. My big break came in the late 90’s after I had devised a plan to completely change careers and go from construction to being a development/test engineer in the computer/tech industry. I did that for 12 years until I went back to construction. Why did I go back? In one word, prejudice. My boss at my last tech company was Hispanic and he did not hide his distaste for us old white guys. I was not the only one who experienced his wrath. There were 3 of us white guys. We were also older than the rest of the team. I don’t know if age had anything to do with his prejudice, but he was not shy about talking down to us white guys using language that was definitely illegal. Instead of fighting it I devised a plan to take myself out of that situation and put myself into a more favorable one.

Please note some of these experiences are not in chronological order. The point of all of this is that I have experienced prejudice of both religious and color of my skin most of my life. I feel I have become successful in spite of all of this as I have recently retired. But when I look back to what would my life would had been without all the prejudice I have had to endure in my life, I truly feel I would have been much better off and be much better much earlier in my life. I have had absolutely no privilege in my life. If there is such a thing as white privilege, I never experienced any. As a matter of fact, my experience has been just the opposite. It would have been much easier to just let society take me down and keep me down. And this is what is happening to those who feel that there is social disparity. They are taking the easy way out and it is their attitude that is keeping them down. For every poor hawaiian you know I am sure there are 1,000’s who have move to LV to better themselves and their families. It is those who make the conscience decision to stay in hawaii and allow their situation and their attitude to keep them down who are the problem here. And society has no responsibility to make them do what they need to in order to better themselves. JMHO

Nobody has any power over you that you don't give them.

Someone in your job might have authority over you (boss, HR rep, etc.), but that's not power.  You have the power to gather evidence, take them to court or report them to a regulatory agency, and so on.  There are always options.  Each should be judged on a case by case basis.

Ultimately, you have nobody to blame for your own situation other than yourself.  The system is what it is.  Learn the rules and try to follow them, or blaze your own trail.  There are plenty of people in the country/world who will respect and support you if you do.  Nobody is forcing anyone to remain in a job, school or country that they hate -- except for Socialist countries, of course.

Nobody has any power over you that you don't give them.

Someone in your job might have authority over you (boss, HR rep, etc.), but that's not power.  You have the power to gather evidence, take them to court or report them to a regulatory agency, and so on.  There are always options.  Each should be judged on a case by case basis.

Ultimately, you have nobody to blame for your own situation other than yourself.  The system is what it is.  Learn the rules and try to follow them, or blaze your own trail.  There are plenty of people in the country/world who will respect and support you if you do.  Nobody is forcing anyone to remain in a job, school or country that they hate -- except for Socialist countries, of course.

I guess I'm not as patient as you.
I tire of people that tell us that the only person
that can make you angry is YOU!
I tire of people that think government can fix things
years down the road when your problem is here and NOW!
I was forced to stay in jobs I hated, because,
my ego satisfaction would hurt far more
people than me if I acted selfishly.
Personally I learned very young,
what I care about or feel about things doesn't mean shit.
What I do in life does.

BTW
Did you figure out the ASCII code?
I'm class of 90 and I helped certify
the Next generations of AWACS.
Old computers, but better than
what you dealt with.
I'm probably older than you.
More Inspectors age.
but I'm retired in HI.
My wife is healthy.
so I stay.

I guess I'm not as patient as you.
I tire of people that tell us that the only person
that can make you angry is YOU!
I tire of people that think government can fix things
years down the road when your problem is here and NOW!
I was forced to stay in jobs I hated, because,
my ego satisfaction would hurt far more
people than me if I acted selfishly.
Personally I learned very young,
what I care about or feel about things doesn't mean shit.
What I do in life does.

BTW
Did you figure out the ASCII code?
I'm class of 90 and I helped certify
the Next generations of AWACS.
Old computers, but better than
what you dealt with.
I'm probably older than you.
More Inspectors age.
but I'm retired in HI.
My wife is healthy.
so I stay.

I decoded the ASCII, but it didn't make sense.

111 1110 1100 1110 x2

  7     E       C     E    x16

~Π                            ascii

I never said there is nobody who can make you angry other than yourself.  I said nobody has any power over you but you.  It's your life.  Even if you have others who depend on you, you can talk to the others and get their input so any consequences are shared if that's your problem.  In the end, your success is their success.  If you're in a secure job with good pay, benefits and retirement options, I don't see where that's not a successful position.  Being in a job and working for someone else is never a dead end unless you stay there.  Look at how many have "started in the mailroom" and ended up owning the company or becoming CEO.

Remember:  Bill Gates was a college dropout -- from Harvard.

I decoded the ASCII, but it didn't make sense.

111 1110 1100 1110 x2

  7     E       C     E    x16

~Π                            ascii

I never said there is nobody who can make you angry other than yourself.  I said nobody has any power over you but you.  It's your life.  Even if you have others who depend on you, you can talk to the others and get their input so any consequences are shared if that's your problem.  In the end, your success is their success.  If you're in a secure job with good pay, benefits and retirement options, I don't see where that's not a successful position.  Being in a job and working for someone else is never a dead end unless you stay there.  Look at how many have "started in the mailroom" and ended up owning the company or becoming CEO.

Remember:  Bill Gates was a college dropout -- from Harvard.

You dropped a digit.
The first binary number translates to FECE.
The second translates to BABE.
The ASCII Sequence I wrote translates to FUKU.

Once you figure it out Mathematics and computers
are fun.

Nobody has any power over you that you don't give them.

Someone in your job might have authority over you (boss, HR rep, etc.), but that's not power.  You have the power to gather evidence, take them to court or report them to a regulatory agency, and so on.  There are always options.  Each should be judged on a case by case basis.

Ultimately, you have nobody to blame for your own situation other than yourself.  The system is what it is.  Learn the rules and try to follow them, or blaze your own trail.  There are plenty of people in the country/world who will respect and support you if you do.  Nobody is forcing anyone to remain in a job, school or country that they hate -- except for Socialist countries, of course.

There is a whole lot of stuff we have no control over, and some very bad people doing very bad things that cannot simply be whisked away by making "good" decisions. This sounds like a really sheltered perspective.

And this is what is happening to those who feel that there is social disparity. They are taking the easy way out and it is their attitude that is keeping them down. For every poor hawaiian you know I am sure there are 1,000’s who have move to LV to better themselves and their families. It is those who make the conscience decision to stay in hawaii and allow their situation and their attitude to keep them down who are the problem here. And society has no responsibility to make them do what they need to in order to better themselves. JMHO

It was great story up until this point. Not everyone has your same set of circumstances. Obviously you had some sort of decent education and the education here sucks. If you live in the wrong zip code you are screwed. Can everyone afford to pack up and move to Kahala or Hawaii Kai? Physically impossible. Does that mean there is something wrong to the people who got left behind? Absolutely not. Is it our responsibility to figure out how to make the education system better so that we are not surrounded by a constantly refreshing supply of drug dealers and degenerates? Maybe or maybe not. It all depends on what kind of society you want to live in. Personally I would prefer to aim for Mayberry rather than Sao Paulo.

You dropped a digit.
The first binary number translates to FECE.
The second translates to BABE.
The ASCII Sequence I wrote translates to FUKU.

Once you figure it out Mathematics and computers
are fun.

I bet you were the kid showing everyone in class how to spell "BOOBS" on your TI-30 calculator, huh?   

"111111011001110" is what you posted at the top of your post.  I assumed you dropped a digit since the first "nibble" was short one, but didn't bother to ask.

There is a whole lot of stuff we have no control over, and some very bad people doing very bad things that cannot simply be whisked away by making "good" decisions. This sounds like a really sheltered perspective.

Call it what you like.

I grew up dirt poor in a broken home.  I was the first to get a college degree in my family and only one to become an officer in the military.

I consider my life to have been successful, and I never once required that someone else give up something so I could have more.  Life doesn't work that way.

Sheltered?  Try learning the facts before tossing around judgments you can't possibly support.

Dr. Ben Carson grew up in the projects and became a famous brain surgeon and now the director of Housing and Urban Development.  I guess if you judge people by where they ended up versus where they began, he was sheltered, too.

How one feels about that disparity are the only ones concerned with social/wealth inequality.

I heard a few interesting talks and podcast on this topic. Interestingly, humans seem to have an innate dislike of equality. Whether we call it a dislike of inequality or just plane jealousy, studies have showing bothers people. And the greater the inequality, the greater the discomfort. Oddly enough if we are all poor they don't really care but if someone is much richer then people seem to naturally get upset. I don't fully understand if it is some sort of survival mechanism but as I recall the behavior has been seen in other animals as well. Even as little children the behavior is common, they will get upset if another child gets more or better items. My daughter still tells me "it's not fair" all the time even though she is 10 years old. Recognizing the human nature aspect of this is important to address the strife it causes.

I think we need to understand this ingrained nature when we talk about the subject and not just dismiss it as some trait of laziness. If anything it seems that we have to be taught to overcome these feelings and not be upset when life isn't fair. We can try to make some things a little fairer but we also shouldn't entertain the belief that we can or must make everything fair in life.

I don’t think anyone disagrees with you EEF. The problem arises when the solution is “ pay taxes and let the government fix the problem”. IF I help it’s going to go to an organization of MY choosing and I will determine how much I donate.

You touched on the angle I think much of this should be addressed. I am of the belief that generally (not always) once the government starts to force something people resist or get upset even if the idea is a great one. Therefore I think the solution to many problems afflicting the poor is not government mandated programs but socially funded ones. Not convincing society to donate more, for example, can be more difficult and take longer than simply passing an additional tax but people aren't going to resist it and be upset at it.

As a real life example, take the idea of a "living wage". Instead of trying to force a company to pay more regardless of the current abilities, create a culture where the company wants to pay their workers more. Don't cap a CEO's pay but convince him/her of the importance of well paid employees. People love money and someone making 20 million a year isn't just going to give up greed overnight but if through social pressure you can change how people behave then you are going to make more of a difference than a politician ordering people what to do.


My position on healthcare has evolved to supporting some forms of socialized medicine. I have come to believe that we should at least cover medical care for people till they graduate high school just like we do with education. When you run 18 then you are an adult and responsible for yourself but as a juvenile their options are very limited.

It was great story up until this point. Not everyone has your same set of circumstances. Obviously you had some sort of decent education and the education here sucks. If you live in the wrong zip code you are screwed. Can everyone afford to pack up and move to Kahala or Hawaii Kai? Physically impossible. Does that mean there is something wrong to the people who got left behind? Absolutely not. Is it our responsibility to figure out how to make the education system better so that we are not surrounded by a constantly refreshing supply of drug dealers and degenerates? Maybe or maybe not. It all depends on what kind of society you want to live in. Personally I would prefer to aim for Mayberry rather than Sao Paulo.

Let’s not make excuses for people who make the conscious decision to NOT better themselves. Anyone who makes the conscious decision to not be a law abiding citizen deserves to be in jail or worse. Anyone who makes the conscious decision to stay in a system where they have little to no opportunities deserves what they get. It is the script they choose. Because in this free country, everyone has a choice. And even after they make some mistakes, they still have a choice to better themselves. I believe in no excuses for the conscious decisions one makes in their lives.

Technically, all I have is a high school diploma. In the mid 90’s I went back to school. It was a technical college that went under a few months after I completed my course work. While they provided classes in programming and a degree, no one was really interested in the degree. I was also self studying and getting certified as a Network Administrator by Novell and later on Sun, IBM and Microsoft. That is what the companies I was hired by were looking for. What they wanted mostly were software and hardware/DVT test engineers. My skill set was setting up realistic enterprise sized networks that were used to test the software and hardware being developed. Anyone who had the Novell Network Engineer Certification was hired without experience in the $60k-$80k range at that time. I also wrote the specific test tools we used, and I scripted test tools using existing test languages. There were occasions where I actually worked on parts of the software we were developing. But honestly I hate programming. So generally speaking my education is mostly self taught. So bad education and a lack of education didn’t stop me. This is the opportunity available to everyone in this country. The only thing stopping a person from doing the same is themselves. I’m living proof that anyone with an average IQ can succeed in this world.

Staying in Hawaii after one realizes they got a shitty education and that there is better opportunities on the mainland for everyone with a high school diploma/GED is not smart. And I don’t think you want to support people who are not smart. There are plenty of Hawaiians living in LV supporting themselves and living a better life by leaving Hawaii. And all they have is a HSD/GED. I won’t say that a shitty education isn’t a problem. But every HS Diploma/GED gets weighed equally on the mainland. Mainlanders don’t know the difference between a Punahou diploma and diploma from a different zip code. The fact you make excuses for those whose lot in life was taking what they got and pitying themselves for it means you are part of the problem. Not trying to be insulting here. But the opportunities in this country are everywhere. If the opportunities you want are not available where you currently live, move to an area where there are a lot.

Can the education system be improved? Yes. Absolutely. Is it the fault of the education system that some people decide to make the conscious decision to not be a law abiding citizen? No. Absolutely not. Especially since they are free to make that conscious decision. Sorry, but your arguments fall apart with the freedom to make conscious decisions. No one is forced into that life. And even if that was true, which it isn’t, no one is forced into staying in that life after they make that initial mistake.

Nobody has any power over you that you don't give them.

Someone in your job might have authority over you (boss, HR rep, etc.), but that's not power.  You have the power to gather evidence, take them to court or report them to a regulatory agency, and so on.  There are always options.  Each should be judged on a case by case basis.

Ultimately, you have nobody to blame for your own situation other than yourself.  The system is what it is.  Learn the rules and try to follow them, or blaze your own trail.  There are plenty of people in the country/world who will respect and support you if you do.  Nobody is forcing anyone to remain in a job, school or country that they hate -- except for Socialist countries, of course.

What you said here is so true.

I thought long and hard about gathering evidence and report them and possibly bringing a lawsuit. Of the three old white guys, one left before he got PIPed out. PIP is the Personnel Improvement Program. But I’m sure you know that already. And the other one and myself started to gather evidence and he got PIPed out. I knew I was next. I saw the writing on the wall and I left and moved to Hawaii. Best decision I ever made.

As a side note, a few things occurred shortly after I left. The manager of my prejudice boss was let go not long after I left for doing some nefarious things with IP of the company as the rumor goes. Turns out that without him there my old boss was fired for some complaints brought against him by other employees that I still talk to. I also note in his linkedin profile he was out of work for several years until he was hired back by our old company. But not until after it was bought out by another company. He is currently working as an engineer and not a manager. Not too long after both of them were fired I was contacted by their HR department and they offered me a job. The HR wouldn’t admit they knew much except that they knew I left because of the way I was treated by my old boss. Which to me was an admission they knew about the prejudice.

Let’s not make excuses for people who make the conscious decision to NOT better themselves. Anyone who makes the conscious decision to not be a law abiding citizen deserves to be in jail or worse. Anyone who makes the conscious decision to stay in a system where they have little to no opportunities deserves what they get. It is the script they choose. Because in this free country, everyone has a choice. And even after they make some mistakes, they still have a choice to better themselves. I believe in no excuses for the conscious decisions one makes in their lives.

Technically, all I have is a high school diploma. In the mid 90’s I went back to school. It was a technical college that went under a few months after I completed my course work. While they provided classes in programming and a degree, no one was really interested in the degree. I was also self studying and getting certified as a Network Administrator by Novell and later on Sun, IBM and Microsoft. That is what the companies I was hired by were looking for. What they wanted mostly were software and hardware/DVT test engineers. My skill set was setting up realistic enterprise sized networks that were used to test the software and hardware being developed. Anyone who had the Novell Network Engineer Certification was hired without experience in the $60k-$80k range at that time. I also wrote the specific test tools we used, and I scripted test tools using existing test languages. There were occasions where I actually worked on parts of the software we were developing. But honestly I hate programming. So generally speaking my education is mostly self taught. So bad education and a lack of education didn’t stop me. This is the opportunity available to everyone in this country. The only thing stopping a person from doing the same is themselves. I’m living proof that anyone with an average IQ can succeed in this world.

Staying in Hawaii after one realizes they got a shitty education and that there is better opportunities on the mainland for everyone with a high school diploma/GED is not smart. And I don’t think you want to support people who are not smart. There are plenty of Hawaiians living in LV supporting themselves and living a better life by leaving Hawaii. And all they have is a HSD/GED. I won’t say that a shitty education isn’t a problem. But every HS Diploma/GED gets weighed equally on the mainland. Mainlanders don’t know the difference between a Punahou diploma and diploma from a different zip code. The fact you make excuses for those whose lot in life was taking what they got and pitying themselves for it means you are part of the problem. Not trying to be insulting here. But the opportunities in this country are everywhere. If the opportunities you want are not available where you currently live, move to an area where there are a lot.

Can the education system be improved? Yes. Absolutely. Is it the fault of the education system that some people decide to make the conscious decision to not be a law abiding citizen? No. Absolutely not. Especially since they are free to make that conscious decision. Sorry, but your arguments fall apart with the freedom to make conscious decisions. No one is forced into that life. And even if that was true, which it isn’t, no one is forced into staying in that life after they make that initial mistake.

First of all, your story is one of hardship and perseverance and it is always a great inspiration to hear such a story from rags to riches.  Furthermore, there is never been a doubt that what one does with his or her life has a lot to do with freewill.  Myself included, made and still make the choices to succeed in life, despite the ongoing racism and discrimination against all races and ethnicities that does live alive and well in Hawaii.  The notion of Hawaii is the melting pot of the Pacific Ocean died after the illegal annexation of Hawaii by the US in 1898, but that is a separate history entirely.

What I am saying and recognize that we humbly agree to disagree is this: it is true that one's fate is what we make, but society must continually keep up the pressure on the body politic to ensure all the games we play are as fair as can be.  It is this realization and commitment to social justice that allowed American workers to enjoy the work conditions that people today take for granted.  If people did not take a stand to fight such injustice, there would never have been things like the 5 day / 40 hour work week, health insurance for full-time workers, and OSHA that ensures workers are protected while on the job.  There would also have not been other equally important things like the civil rights movement in the 1960s, women's rights, and the ADA.  All of these acts worked towards balancing the playing field and would not have been possible if everyone just decided to turn the other cheek and just change their career paths.

What is frightening to me and this is just my opinion is that there are some Americans, who always support imperial acts of aggression to other so-called tyrannical nations that deny their own citizens human rights and attaining social justice, but when that same fight happens in the US today, it is criticized by those same people.

First of all, your story is one of hardship and perseverance and it is always a great inspiration to hear such a story from rags to riches.  Furthermore, there is never been a doubt that what one does with his or her life has a lot to do with freewill.  Myself included, made and still make the choices to succeed in life, despite the ongoing racism and discrimination against all races and ethnicities that does live alive and well in Hawaii.  The notion of Hawaii is the melting pot of the Pacific Ocean died after the illegal annexation of Hawaii by the US in 1898, but that is a separate history entirely.

What I am saying and recognize that we humbly agree to disagree is this: it is true that one's fate is what we make, but society must continually keep up the pressure on the body politic to ensure all the games we play are as fair as can be.  It is this realization and commitment to social justice that allowed American workers to enjoy the work conditions that people today take for granted.  If people did not take a stand to fight such injustice, there would never have been things like the 5 day / 40 hour work week, health insurance for full-time workers, and OSHA that ensures workers are protected while on the job.  There would also have not been other equally important things like the civil rights movement in the 1960s, women's rights, and the ADA.  All of these acts worked towards balancing the playing field and would not have been possible if everyone just decided to turn the other cheek and just change their career paths.

What is frightening to me and this is just my opinion is that there are some Americans, who always support imperial acts of aggression to other so-called tyrannical nations that deny their own citizens human rights and attaining social justice, but when that same fight happens in the US today, it is criticized by those same people.

Since when is it the government's role to control the inner workings of commerce?  For someone who thinks our military is not something the gov't should be funding, you sure are hot for government control of US industries.

There are already federal, state and local laws and agencies to assist with EEO complaints, OSHA complaints, and so on.  The remedies for someone running THEIR business in a way the YOU don't like are: (A) suck it up and play by their rules, (B) Find a way to change their rules from inside -- i.e. become part of management, form a union, ..., (C) go somewhere you do enjoy working, or (D) start your own business and run it how you see fit.

It is not the government's place to interfere in the LEGAL ways a business conducts itself.  We really don't want to make it so.

What I am saying and recognize that we humbly agree to disagree is this: it is true that one's fate is what we make, but society must continually keep up the pressure on the body politic to ensure all the games we play are as fair as can be. 

Well, we certainly disagree here. Because “fair” is only defined by the entity that has the most power. That truly does not make anything fair under any circumstances. Let me give you a personal example. Back a long time ago I applied for a job with LA Water and Power. I went thru all the interviews and civil service tests and I came up with a score of 95 out of 100. The next closest applicant was 4 points behind me. I was the highest scoring applicant and I was guaranteed to have an offer made. Yet that offer never came. Why? Because I am defined as white. And a black person at that time the City of LA defined black people as being disadvantaged and automatically gave them 5 points to any score they obtained for an employment application. Giving the black applicant a score of 96 and making them the highest scoring applicant. They got the offer and I didn’t. The truly fair process would be to value each individual equally. But the City of LA had previously succumbed to the pressure that society placed on them to ensure their race has an advantage over the white applicants. Personally, I think this is pure racism because I believe it says that black people were disadvantaged at that time because their skin color made them less intelligent than other people with different skin colors. So they came up with the only “Fair” process they could think of and artificially and unfairly add points to their score so they could maintain their skin color hiring quotas. The skin color hiring quotas is another societal pressure that the body politic has succumbed to that is totally unfair. This is what happens when society keeps up pressure on the body politic to ensure their race has more advantages over another. Sorry, but this is wrong and your wanting this abhorrent racism to happen is just as abhorrent. I would be very surprised if you approve of this? BTW, the City of LA was brought to court and it was determined that this program was racist and unfair and has since discontinued it per court order. Including the skin color hiring quotas.

It is this realization and commitment to social justice that allowed American workers to enjoy the work conditions that people today take for granted.  If people did not take a stand to fight such injustice, there would never have been things like the 5 day / 40 hour work week, health insurance for full-time workers, and OSHA that ensures workers are protected while on the job. 

Okay, I don’t get this. I have been a union construction worker for many years. This has nothing to do with social justice. What this was was protection for ONLY CERTAIN workers who were dying due to poor working conditions and in some circumstances out and out MURDER by the employer. This has nothing to do with making anyone equal. It only has to do with worker protections. Now, due to societal pressures it has morphed into to a more socialist organization as workers need to be considered as equals. But again this only applies to union employment and has nothing to do with anyone outside union employment. Don’t get me wrong, I understand that the work week outside of the union employment has also morphed into better working conditions. But this was not due to any social disparities. It occurred because the private sector could no longer compete against the union employers offerings so they in turn offered similar and better benefits which makes this competition and a better work environment for private sector employees. Competition is the key word here. This has very little to do with social disparity.

There would also have not been other equally important things like the civil rights movement in the 1960s, women's rights, and the ADA.  All of these acts worked towards balancing the playing field and would not have been possible if everyone just decided to turn the other cheek and just change their career paths.

The problem with your example here is that the civil rights movement and women’s rights all they wanted was to be treated equally under the law. They never wanted to have advantages over whitey or men. Unfortunately, societal pressure on the body politic has created just the opposite where certain minorities and women have distinct advantages over certain skin colors which is reverse racism and IMHO illegal because it means not everyone is being treated equal under the law. Which was the original intent of these rights groups.

What is frightening to me and this is just my opinion is that there are some Americans, who always support imperial acts of aggression to other so-called tyrannical nations that deny their own citizens human rights and attaining social justice, but when that same fight happens in the US today, it is criticized by those same people.

Not sure exactly what you are referring to here? Maybe be a little more specific?

I bet you were the kid showing everyone in class how to spell "BOOBS" on your TI-30 calculator, huh?   

"111111011001110" is what you posted at the top of your post.  I assumed you dropped a digit since the first "nibble" was short one, but didn't bother to ask.

Damn Cataracts!
I'm due for surgery, if they ever open up for elective stuff.