Amazon

Hey guys! Adventure Van here with a blog about Jeff Bezos, and Amazon as a whole. You might know that due to the sudden pandemic, people are suffering and being forced to buy things online, and Amazon is one of the largest and well known online retailers. You might also know that the owner of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, is set to become the world's first ever trillionaire, such a new term that autocorrect doesn't believe it exists. This is because Jeff Bezos has created a monopoly, forcing people to give Amazon the lion's share of their products when it comes to selling them online and then taking a fee off everything that is bought.

I will discuss Amazon first. One, as said, Amazon is a monopoly. Have you ever seen any other online retailer that's world wide, let alone able to say it's a competitor to Amazon? Likely not, because nothing of the sort exists. Amazon is the only one of it's kind, and it kills or absorbs anything that looks like it could become profit. This means that anyone who buys something online does use Amazon, even if they are a hipster. This also gives Amazon a unique advantage in bargaining with sellers. Amazon works that the moment they're out of stock on a product, it's removed from searches, which sounds reasonable, but can kill a company's publicity. Because of this, companies have to, and I mean have to, give Amazon more of their product then could reasonably be sold, which is one of the main reasons Amazon almost always has stock, even now in the middle of the pandemic.

About Jeff Bezos, he is the world's richest man and is becoming even richer. There is literally no way to describe his wealth. He is on the track to becoming a trillionaire, which is an absurd amount of money. You cannot comprehend how much money that is. It is a million times a million. It would take one million millionaires to rival how much money Jeff Bezos has, and he is one man. When you focus on that, you can realize how what he 'donates' and uses his money on is trifling. You may have seen that he gave 100 million dollars to American food banks. That might sound like a lot of money (and believe me, it is. It's 50 times more then the average american makes in a lifetime, which usually caps around 1 to 2 million.) However, there are a thousand millions in a billion, so a singular hundred million for even just a billionaire is literal pocket change or what they can scrounge up in the sofa. Now, keep in mind that Jeff Bezos is set to become the world's first trillionaire. Does he really seem that charitable anymore?

You may also have heard about his business practices. Amazon warehouses are notorious for firing and silencing whistle blowers, especially now during the virus but more so before. They host training sessions during the pandemic and pack together trainees in crowded chairs. And, excluding their actions during the virus, they were on the advocacy group National Council for Occupational Safety and Health's list as one of the most dangerous places to work in the US as early as 2018. People have literally died inside their warehouses, workers who get sick are still forced to come in until they cannot work anymore and then are fired, and there's strict practice to keep employees from even seeing eachother, reducing interaction and risk of unionizing. All of this is done on a paltry 11 dollars an hour that sometimes can range up to a barely less paltry 15 dollars an hour. Meanwhile, Amazon pays 0 dollars in federal taxes. In fact, they got a federal tax refund of $129 million last year. They were paid money from the goverment. Granted, it's still nothing compared to what Amazon has, but you pay more taxes then Amazon, even if you don't pay taxes yet.

Now, keep in mind, that's how Jeff Bezos is on track of being a trillionaire. It's not that he's a genius businessman, it's that he's made a monopoly that chews up competition and spits in the face of the free market, forces companies to devote the majority of their stock to the giant, gives away almost nothing to help humanity, abuses and crushes their workers, and gets paid by the government to keep doing this. He's not a brilliant person, he's not a charitable person, and he's not a good person. He crushes anything and anyone in his way, and that's why he's going to be a trillionaire. Do your own research if you don't believe this. It's simple enough to find.

Adventure Van, signing out.

Covid 19

Hey guys, Adventure Van here with a blog about the Coronavirus. Everyone is talking about it, and it's somehow completely become a matter of conjecture. It's a strange time to live in, of course, but I believe that it's an interesting situation. There's the ideology of whether people or economy is worth more, as well as whether or not the social isolation is a violation of rights. I myself am under the opinion that any human life is more valuable then material gain, but I myself do not want to get into any arguments on the topic. I myself am currently in isolation so I do not have to worry about risk, no matter how 'small' it may be.

Plenty of people have died from the virus itself, even at conservative estimates. It's a dangerous virus that has begun raising questions if it's ethical to test early stage vaccines on volunteers in order to reduce overall deaths. It's also brought up many concerns about how well capitalism as a whole functions under a time of crisis, which will require many different changes in order to stay feasible in the future. It's lighting issues with the goverment's response, being split into multiple warring factions in their own parties about what to do while all agreeing to give the rich more money for some reason. And it's letting everyone know how much their neighbors actually understand science in the slightest degree. Whether or not these issues finally being brought up and forced into the lime light will end poorly or gracefully, there's no way of telling. Assuming we don't all die first.

Adventure Van, isolating.

Dogs.

Hey guys, Adventure Van here with a blog on dogs. You may remember dogs from my previous blog on them, and they haven't gone anywhere since. They're just as brilliant as ever, and as always, I recommend getting one if you have the room and time. The reason I am writing about them now, however, is due to recently reading a book appropriately titled "Top Dog". It is a book written about the many types of "breeds" that exist in this world. As much as I am fully aware that purebred dogs are not very good choices, and that kennels are very poor places to adopt from, the "breed" mix of dogs that you get effects a lot in how to handle them. This book gives a very thorough look at all of them, and I do mean all.

All dogs have specific qualities to them, that go far beyond four legs or lovable personalities. Some are larger with more fur, and some are smaller with very fine kept clothing, although that usually does not grow on them. Some have much longer tails, and some have very long snouts. Scent Hounds are all usually very healthy, due to being bred for function rather then looks. All working dogs are usually much healthier as well, and all of the dogs look lovely! Get a dog. Get multiple dogs.

Adventure Van, dogging out.

Concrete

Concrete. What is it? It's a useful building material that has been used in buildings as early as Ancient Rome's 600 BC days. It's durable, and can be molded into any shape. I had the privilege to be able to use some high quality concrete powder, and using my first hand experience I will now attempt to describe that. The first thing I noticed is how easy it was to actually make. Water and powder with a small amount of light gravel was all that was required to get a durable finished product. However, the quality is directly intertwined with the amount of time it has to rest. I got the recommendation to let it rest for at least three days before testing it, and I should probably let it rest for around two weeks as a baseline. I left it sit for around 10 months, but I have to assume that it capped at an earlier date then that. The textures itself changed dramatically based on the local environment. The parts that were directly touching the container were smooth and glossy, while the part that was touching air became rough and sandlike. All in all, I found new experience in the subject that I did not have before, and gained active, hands on experience from using it.

Both glossy and sandy sides.

Adventure Van, bricking out.

The Big Short

Hey guys, Adventure Van here with a blog about the Big Short by Michael Lewis. The 'Big Short' is a book about the housing bubble and the people who predicted it popping in 2008. The book is well researched, with a multitude of direct interviews. The book in and of itself has been made a successful movie as well, which I have also watched and gets across the same information and points. It is very eloquent, giving the reader or watcher a good grasp and understanding of the topics that were brought up, bringing complicated economic structures and details down into a highly comprehensible.

Adventure Van, studying economics.