Victor Lustig

  Victor Lustig was born on January 4, 1980 in Hostinne, Austria-Hungary, and passed away on March 11, 1947. He was a very charming conman, and spoke multiple languages. One of his ways in conning people was called the "money-printing machine". He demonstrated how a specific box worked, which was said to produce any amount of money but only copied $100 dollar bills. The customers bought them for high prices, but the machine took 6 hours to copy the money. They thought it was a good investment, so they bought the machine. When the people finally realized that they were cheated out of there money, Lustig had already fled. His second, and the more well known con was the Eiffel Tower, which is how he became known as "The Man Who Sold the Eiffel Tower, Twice". The idea came about because that was after France had recovered from WWI. He had a forger produce fake government stationary for him. In the process, he held a meeting with 6 scrap metal dealers. He lied and introduced himself as the deputy director-general of the Ministry of Posts and Telegraphs, and said that they were selected because of the good reputations that they had. He revealed to them that the Eiffel tower was on the verge of being sold because it couldn't be maintained. He took them to the site and began asking for bids based on who he thought was suitable, or would give the most money. A few days, he lied and said that he was a "government minister" who couldn't make the money to pursue the life he wanted to live. In the end, he received the money for the tower and  also got a bribe. Later, he tried to swindle Al Capone out of $50,000. He kept it, but then ended up giving it back because he told him what would happen if he double-crossed him, and was given $5,000. He ended up going into a partnership with a chemist from Nebraska. They made counterfeit banknotes and were sending thousands of forged notes around the country. He was eventually caught and arrested because of all of the lies that he told.

Daring Leaps of Faith

      Religion is an aspect that an individual believes in. It's not fair that a person should get punished for something that they strongly believe in, people have the right to believe what they want. In the article, "Daring Leaps of Faith", ex-Muslims face many obstacles in Muslin countries as well as the U.S.
      In many Muslim countries, ex-Muslims had many death threats and executions. They also had to watch the things that they said. They banned things that they fault criticized or downed Islam. People were paid to kill the ones that converted from Muslim to Christianity. Muslims felt that the message of God was more compelling than their faith. 
     In the U.S., ex-Muslims were being kidnapped by friends and family members and were put back on planes. They have also been shunned by family members. They were also reluctant in asking for protection. The Muslims present in the U.S., like the ones in Muslim countries, got mad at Muslims that converted to Christianity. There aren't any known killings of converters from Muslim to Christianity. Most of the people that converted kept it a secret. The penalty for changing one's religion was execution. Muslims being open-minded made the conversions easier. 
     I don't find this surprising because other countries are against Christianity. They feel as though their religion is superior to everyone else's. Their religion is the dominant one, and everyone must follow the rules that have been set. I also don't find it surprising because people don't like certain things because of how they've been raised or the culture that they're in. For example, Christians don't necessarily accept the fact that people don't believe in Christ. With that being said, I see why Muslims don't welcome the fact that they switch to Christianity, because they have religions of their own. I don't agree with people being executed because of the religion that they believe in, but I also see why it has been done and still may continue. They may feel that they are being disrespected so they end their lives because they have disobeyed the directions that have been given to them. The fact that people's lives were threatened and they were killed wasn't fair and I don't agree with taking people's lives because of what they believe in. 

LRJ Prompt Response. February 4, 2015

          "Greed is the root of all evils."
      
       Taylor answers his questions by using a small book that was published 20 years ago, by a professor of philosophy by the name of Jacob Needleman. I agree with his answers because they are very accurate. Money is about love and relationships. Your love for something will depend on how much you receive, as well as the relationship. Money can bring people together as well as draw them apart. People sometimes become closer because of the amount of money that they possess, while others tend to disagree and burn bridges because money is owed to the other or they just have more. You also can't escape money because it will always be around in some form of fashion and you will always need it. If you don't know how you are towards it, it could cause problems. For example, if you are a person that's careless with money, then you might just spend it or use it for any and everything. There are also people that are very careful with it, planning things out and keeping balances to make sure nothing goes wrong. I strongly agree that money can't buy happiness. Just because you have money doesn't mean anything, you can still be very miserable. Having a lot of money is a waste if you have nobody to share it with and also be happy. People can become very blinded by the thought of having a lot of money. They think that having money is he only thing that matters, when in reality, it's not. There is a big difference between having money and being successful. Just because you have it, doesn't mean you've accomplished anything. Being successful is becoming someone better, doing great things and things that you've always wanted to do. When you're ecstatic because hard work has paid off, that's the true definition of success. I would answer the questions by stating that people get caught up in certain things and them forgetting results in them forgetting everything. People are so willing to get more because of greed. It's like a food item, once you eat enough you begin to want more. Extremely wealthy people are unhappy because they think money can take all of their problems away. They also think it'll make others stay or make them happy as well. People always forget, money could either MAKE or BREAK you.