New User: Tuxedo Joe

Hello users of TrackDollar.com!  
I found the site through google and have decided to create an account because I am interested in seeing where my money goes after I give it to the store clerk.

A little about me:
I am 16 years old and I come from Texas. I enjoy singing and have been a tenor in the school choir for 5, going on 6 years. I was also in orchestra for 3 years, but had to quit due to schedule conflicts with one of my AP classes.
I plan to be go to college and study to become an astrophysicist after I graduate. :study:I know that this occupation has a narrow employment rate and that there will be many others competing for the job, but I think that if I get the qualifications and work as hard as I can at it that I will find work somewhere. Although, with the advancements in space technology from private companies like SpaceX, travel to space will become much cheaper in the future, going so far as to reduce costs of sending an object into orbit as to less than a million dollars. Researchers have estimated that this could cause an emergence of a new market- space tourism. One could buy a ticket on a space ship that will go into low-Earth orbit for as little as 10-15 thousand dollars a person- not only fulfilling life long dreams of going into space, but also creating new jobs in fields like astrophysics.
I'm also in a committed, long-term relationship with a girl that I love. So, sorry ladies, but I'm taken.  
I support the movement to remove "In God We Trust" from our money and, therefore, remove it from all of my money. Yes, this is legal as long as I am not doing so with intent to render it unusable. I have found that silver sharpie works best for this, leaving a less noticeable mark than its harsh, black-ink counterpart.
We have 4 dogs, 5 cats, 2 rabbits, 2 rats, 3 hamsters, a lizard, 2 albino African frogs, 2 loaches, and humongous dragon bichir named Mr.Spock. Also, our fish tanks are plagued with water snails and out house is plagued with fruit flies, but those are less desirable than our other animals.

That's just a summary of who I am. I hope to find my money in some interesting places and to hear the stories of where it goes. I also hope to talk with some nice people, to hear their opinions and share my own.

Good to see you here!

Welcome! I just passed through the northern part of your state a couple of days ago. Ate in Amarillo, in fact, at the TA. Hope you enjoy the site and the hobby like the rest of us....

Nice to see you, Tuxedo Joe.
I think I like you already with your thing about removing "In God We Trust"

Me, I never bothered, I figure I don't have to look at the phrase or believe in it in order to fold or spend the money, so what the hey.

Fact is, that phrase never appeared on our money until 1954 when Eisenhower signed a bill into law placing that phrase on our money in order to distinguish us from "godless Communists."

So, most don't know it...but that phrase is a carryover from the dark days of McCarthyism in our country...and THAT is why I do not like it there.

Most are under the misapprehension that is is/was/always was our national motto - also untrue. The motto always was "E. Pluribus Unum" - meaning "Out Of Many, One" - referring to the thirteen original colonies becoming one nation. Since that phrase has been on our money, it has become sort of our de-facto national motto...and may even have been made so officially at some point, I am not sure.

But I support your efforts to remove this outdated reminder of a dark era in American history...whatever your reasons for it may be.

I am amazed at the high bar you have set for yourself to become an astrophysicist - I wish you much success in this, but you're gonna need to work real hard - I can tell you already know this. It's nice to see a sixteen-year-old with a clear vision of where he wants to go, and what it will take to get him there....it is refreshing to see in this day, when most teenagers are seen as drifters and slackers.

Maybe someday I'll see you on the Science Channel - I watch that a lot...or maybe you will be my tour guide when I manage to charter myself a low Earth orbit space tour - have always wanted to try that! Even flying in the Zero-G plane would be a ton of fun.

Anyway, welcome aboard. Nice to see you are from Texas, too...Texas holds a special place in my heart, I graduated high school in Austin in 1989...so, though I was not born in Texas....in a way, Texas is my home. As you can see, I currently live in Pennsylvania...and I am moving to North Carolina, likely next year.

If you're interested in getting some hits in Pennsylvania, we can do a mail-trade of bills, if you like. The rules are simple...we each send each other 10-20 marked dollar bills....don't hit each other's bills when we get them...just spend them in the local currency stream. Then you could get some PA hits, and I might manage some hits in your part of Texas.

Wowsers, Joe...I just looked at your profile...and it seems you were already VERY aware of the origin of "In God We Trust" on our money...and of the fact that our National Motto WAS "E Pluribus Unum."

You are one heck of a sharp sixteen year old!!

Kalisiin wrote:But I support your efforts to remove this outdated reminder of a dark era in American history...whatever your reasons for it may be.

I support to remove it because it doesn't represent what this country is, only what some idealists would prefer that it be. Regardless of what any politician may say, we are not a Christian nation; we are a melting-pot of several people with religious beliefs differing from the majority and several more who associate themselves with none. Before the cold war, money was a unit that represented the whole of the nation. It didn't endorse one specific religion, as would be preferred by the writers of our Constitution. Now, because of the superstitions of a scary time in our history, the government is no longer a secular entity. I'm not against freedom to practice religion; It doesn't even bother me seeing public expressions of it, so long as they are on privately owned property. My problem is when they start mixing it into politics. I don't need my lawmakers to discriminating against any group on the basis of religion and I don't need to see any religion promoted over another on the money that I worked hard to earn. I guess I feel more strongly about it than most people, but I don't think a little peaceful protest will hurt anyone, and who knows, maybe someone who gets one of my "secularized" bills will take a moment to research why one would remove the God slogan from their dollar.

Kalisiin wrote:Most are under the misapprehension that is is/was/always was our national motto - also untrue. The motto always was "E. Pluribus Unum" - meaning "Out Of Many, One" - referring to the thirteen original colonies becoming one nation. Since that phrase has been on our money, it has become sort of our de-facto national motto...and may even have been made so officially at some point, I am not sure.

I'm glad you went to my page, because I wouldn't know how to respond to this without sounding aggressive.  That's not really the message I want to send- maybe passionate about certain topics, but definitely not aggressive.

Kalisiin wrote:Maybe someday I'll see you on the Science Channel - I watch that a lot...or maybe you will be my tour guide when I manage to charter myself a low Earth orbit space tour - have always wanted to try that! Even flying in the Zero-G plane would be a ton of fun.

That would be pretty cool, I've always liked the Science Channel. My favorites would have to Michio Kaku, Stephen Hawking, and Morgan Freeman. Although, I don't think I could quite make it to a high enough caliber to become recognized on one of the same documentaries as them. If I'm ever a space tour guide I'll be sure to look for the guy buying tickets with a stack of marked bills!  But, I'd probably be the guy at the control center making sure everything goes over smoothly.

Kalisiin wrote:If you're interested in getting some hits in Pennsylvania, we can do a mail-trade of bills, if you like. The rules are simple...we each send each other 10-20 marked dollar bills....don't hit each other's bills when we get them...just spend them in the local currency stream. Then you could get some PA hits, and I might manage some hits in your part of Texas.

I'll have to decline for now, but maybe sometime in the future I can try this out. I had to quit my job after the summer because it conflicted with my school schedule, so now my only money comes from doing odd jobs and I'm really not prepared to send it out. I hope you understand.

FURBjr wrote:Good to see you here!

Thank You!  

Diamondback Dave wrote:Welcome!  I just passed through the northern part of your state a couple of days ago.  Ate in Amarillo, in fact, at the TA.  Hope you enjoy the site and the hobby like the rest of us....

Very nice, I hope you liked your time in Texas.   I am enjoying the site, although it is a little difficult to navigate at times. I guess I'm just getting used to the lay-out. The hobby is pretty neat, though. It's interesting to see where all it ends up.

Welcome to the site!!

Tuxedo Joe wrote:

Kalisiin wrote:But I support your efforts to remove this outdated reminder of a dark era in American history...whatever your reasons for it may be.

I support to remove it because it doesn't represent what this country is, only what some idealists would prefer that it be. Regardless of what any politician may say, we are not a Christian nation; we are a melting-pot of several people with religious beliefs differing from the majority and several more who associate themselves with none. Before the cold war, money was a unit that represented the whole of the nation. It didn't endorse one specific religion, as would be preferred by the writers of our Constitution. Now, because of the superstitions of a scary time in our history, the government is no longer a secular entity. I'm not against freedom to practice religion; It doesn't even bother me seeing public expressions of it, so long as they are on privately owned property. My problem is when they start mixing it into politics. I don't need my lawmakers to discriminating against any group on the basis of religion and I don't need to see any religion promoted over another on the money that I worked hard to earn. I guess I feel more strongly about it than most people, but I don't think a little peaceful protest will hurt anyone, and who knows, maybe someone who gets one of my "secularized" bills will take a moment to research why one would remove the God slogan from their dollar.

Kalisiin wrote:Most are under the misapprehension that is is/was/always was our national motto - also untrue. The motto always was "E. Pluribus Unum" - meaning "Out Of Many, One" - referring to the thirteen original colonies becoming one nation. Since that phrase has been on our money, it has become sort of our de-facto national motto...and may even have been made so officially at some point, I am not sure.

I'm glad you went to my page, because I wouldn't know how to respond to this without sounding aggressive.  That's not really the message I want to send- maybe passionate about certain topics, but definitely not aggressive.

Kalisiin wrote:Maybe someday I'll see you on the Science Channel - I watch that a lot...or maybe you will be my tour guide when I manage to charter myself a low Earth orbit space tour - have always wanted to try that! Even flying in the Zero-G plane would be a ton of fun.

That would be pretty cool, I've always liked the Science Channel. My favorites would have to Michio Kaku, Stephen Hawking, and Morgan Freeman. Although, I don't think I could quite make it to a high enough caliber to become recognized on one of the same documentaries as them. If I'm ever a space tour guide I'll be sure to look for the guy buying tickets with a stack of marked bills!  But, I'd probably be the guy at the control center making sure everything goes over smoothly.

Kalisiin wrote:If you're interested in getting some hits in Pennsylvania, we can do a mail-trade of bills, if you like. The rules are simple...we each send each other 10-20 marked dollar bills....don't hit each other's bills when we get them...just spend them in the local currency stream. Then you could get some PA hits, and I might manage some hits in your part of Texas.

I'll have to decline for now, but maybe sometime in the future I can try this out. I had to quit my job after the summer because it conflicted with my school schedule, so now my only money comes from doing odd jobs and I'm really not prepared to send it out. I hope you understand.

I do understand.
But the offer stands when and if you want it...I'd even send you my bills first...and you could wait to get them before sending some back. I know what it is to be sixteen. But I'd only do 10 at a time if we did it that way.

As to the rest, I'm an agnostic/athiest myself who attends a Unitarian Universalist church...and so I am not very comfortable with the concept of God, anyway. Not because of any specific religion...but because of the way in which God is used/misused in our society to dehumanize some people...to justify treating some people horribly, etc etc etc.

I personally find it ironic that religion, which was supposed to bring peace, joy, love and light to the world...has so often been the vehicle by which suffering, darkness, and hatred has been brought into the world and/or justified in this world. And it also saddens me that this is the case.

and, incidentally, I'm not a guy...I'm a girl. Check my profile.

ELECTRIC RED wrote:Welcome to the site!!

Thank you!

Kalisiin wrote:I do understand.
But the offer stands when and if you want it...I'd even send you my bills first...and you could wait to get them before sending some back.  I know what it is to be sixteen.  But I'd only do 10 at a time if we did it that way.

Again, I'm going to have to decline. Although, I'll keep you bookmarked in case I change my mind.

Kalisiin wrote:As to the rest, I'm an agnostic/athiest myself who attends a Unitarian Universalist church...and so I am not very comfortable with the concept of God, anyway.  Not because of any specific religion...but because of the way in which God is used/misused in our society to dehumanize some people...to justify treating some people horribly, etc etc etc. I personally find it ironic that religion, which was supposed to bring peace, joy, love and light to the world...has so often been the vehicle by which suffering, darkness, and hatred has been brought into the world and/or justified in this world.  And it also saddens me that this is the case.

I am an atheist too, as well as a humanist and an advocate for the secularist movement. I agree that people have, and still do, use God/Gods in support of their own agenda. Although the average person who is under the influence of a religion doesn't use a deity for harm, they are far more easily influenced by public figures, whether good or bad, if they have the same religious beliefs. I'm not saying that there aren't other factors involved, but the cry "because God says so" has been an influencing factor in most of the wars and massacres throughout history. What has always confused me about the concept of God is that they say he created everything. With the slightest bit of knowledge about the science behind the "beginning" of our Universe, one could debunk this in a matter of seconds. A simple Wikipedia search could give you an overview of it and show all of the evidence to support it. If anything, putting a God in between it all just complicates things further.

Kalisiin wrote:Again, I'm going to have to decline. Although I will keep your account bookmarked somewhere in case I change my mind.
and, incidentally, I'm not a guy...I'm a girl.  Check my profile.

Well, I probably should have been tipped off by your profile picture, but I guess I just completely ignored it!  Well, I feel pretty stupid. XD

welcome to trackdollar.

I have been a long time supporter of private space flight. I have watched spacex since it's founding. I also have watch spaceship one win the X prize and have been following the process of spaceship two along with several other private space flight companies.

although I don't support removing in god we trust from our money, I believe there is room on this site for all opinions.

Welcome.

cylon

Well, again..Joe, I'm an agnostic. I'm not prepared to come out and say there definitely is no God - but I personally do not believe in one...nor do I believe one was necessary to create our world or our Universe.

However, if there are multiple Universes...who could say?

For a sec, suppose that a God did create this Universe. Then, by definition, such a God would be from somewhere other than this Universe, and thus would remain impossible for us to prove or find.

But nobody could prove alternate Universes either. So, in order to pre-suppose a God which would have created this Universe...you also have to pre-suppose alternate Universes. Most religious folk don't really think it through this far. Their attachment to their religion is emotional, and it resists any attempts at logic. So...for one who is fervent about their beliefs...you can show them all the evidence in the world, and they will not believe it...because it points somewhere they are not emotionally capable of going.

That said, those who want to have belief in a God are welcome to it, I only ask that you do not use it to hurt others...to justify the hurting of others...and that you do not try to codify your moral beliefs into our civil law books.

OTOH, there are theories which exist that say that a black hole is, in fact an entrace to another Universe...that a white hole exists on the other end, and that is where the matter in that Universe comes from...whatever the black hole sucks in, right?

That would seem to indicate that we may be at the other end of a black hole in someone else's Universe...but that does not account for the fact that no new matter or energy is added to the system once it gets going.

So the point is...nobody knows.

I see no harm in the "In God We Trust" on our money, because I'm not required to read it or believe it...in order to spend it. However, I have the desire to see it removed, because, in my view, it represents a very dark period in our modern American history...the era of McCarthyism. It would be all too easy for McCarthyism to hapen here again. There are those who would argue it already IS happening again.

This is not the place to have this debate. I only wanted to welcome a new user.
If you want to have this debate, I believe it is better in the off topic thread.
I will be more than happy to debate you there.

Welcome to you, Joe. Thanks for finding us and I hope you enjoy yourself here.