| Your Host: |  Steve Mermelstein |
| Occupation: |
Event and Commercial Photographer in Burlington, Vermont. I specialize in product, architectural, hospitality, tourism and portraits for Business/Enterprise) and also photograph weddings and events worldwide but mostly in Vermont, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire and New York. |
| Intrests and hobbies: | Landscape and wildlife photography, bird watching, looking for deals, cooking, twitter (follow me at: @vtphotog or @usrbingeek), IRC, scripting, programming, classic movies, antiques and auctions. |
| Birthplace: | South Florida |
| Current location: | Burlington, VT |
| Age: |
33 |
| Sex: | Male |
| Beliefs: | Agnostic |
| Heritage: | Jewish |
| Pets: | A Shetland Sheepdog named Honey |
| Goal I would like to achieve this year: | Catch up on everything I have been putting off. |
| First thoughts after waking up: | Can't I sleep some more? |
| I would most like to visit: | Hong Kong and China |
| If possible, would spend everyday: | Photographing wildlife and landscapes |
| If I won the lottery: | Would buy all the photography gear I've lusted over but couldn't justify buying (Nikon D3x and AF-S 600mm f/4G ED VR) and still do the same things. |
| Last meal: | Hong Kong style ginger and scallion beef or black pepper scallops and shrimp fried rice |
| Favorite local restaurant: | Gracies |
| Favorite restaurant anywhere: | Joe's Stone Crab, Miami, FL |
| Favorite pizza: | American Flatbread's Revolution Flatbread |
| Favorite burger: | Shelburne Farms cheddar cheese and sautéed mushrooms seasoned with cracked pepper and fresh thyme |
| Favorite desert: | Monument Farms ice cream |
| Favorite drink: | Iced venti caffè Americano |
| Favorite coffee: | Only drink espresso |
| Favorite gadget: | iPhone 3G |
| Favorite possessions: | Nikon D3 and the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G ED AF-S and Nikon 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR lenses. |
| Canon or Nikon: | It's not about the gear! But you probably already guessed that I prefer Nikon |
| PC or Mac: | Mac! |
| Sing: | Only in the car |
| Drink: | Hardly ever |
| Smoke: | Never |
| Swear: | I never stop |
| Languages: | PHP, Ruby, Perl, Python, Java, JavaScript, AJAX, XML, XHMTL, CSS...oh wait, you mean spoken languages? Besides English, just a touch of French, Hebrew, and Yiddish. |
My Politics: |
- Republican (Even though my social beliefs make me sound more like a Democrat and I proudly voted for Obama.)
- Pro-choice
- Equal rights for gays and lesbians; in support of gay marriage.
- No restrictions on stem cell research.
- School choice
- Better support for the Military
- GREATLY increase pay and pensions.
- Increase general military spending to improve and replace equipment and weapon systems
- Improve all benefits and provide easier and faster access to them
- Access mental health care without impacting military career
- Armor all vehicles and provide next generation body armor to all military personnel.
- Vastly increase funding for robotic and unmanned systems
- Open all aspects of service to women; provided physical requirements can be met
- Fully pay to immediately remodel homes to meet accessibility requirements of military personnel injured while in service.
- Provide job training and guaranteed job placement after military service.
- In favor of broad tax reform
- Zero income tax for households earning under $45,000
- All households earning over $45,000 pay the same flat rate
- No capital gains or death taxes
- Property tax reform
- Social Security Reform
- Raise retirement age
- Offer optional, tax free, private retirement accounts
- No changes to any person that will be eligible for Social Security within ten years of the reform
- Immigration reform
- No welfare for the first five years
- Secure borders but make legal immigration super easy and less restrictive. Open the door completely to professionals and college educated persons with no criminal history or terror ties.
- Revoke citizenship and deport if there are any criminal convictions within the first 5 years of citizenship
- Common sense gun control:
- Seven day waiting period for all gun purchases
- Completion of safety training and criminal background check required
- Convicted criminals, persons with restraining orders against them, and illegal drug users may not own or process firearms
- Offer Federal concealed carry permit which is valid for all 50 states to persons able to complete safety and target test and also meet all other aforesaid requirements
- No limit on number of bullets in magazines
- Lift all existing bans on specific firearm models and sights
- Copyright reform
- Strengthen fair use; individuals may make unrestricted copies of content they have purchased
- Lower copyright term to 25 years
- Education reform
- Improve standards and curriculum
- End time filling classes
- Start schools later in the morning
- Switch to year-round education
- Strengthen anti-spam and anti-malware legislation
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