It is June 3, 2020 and the George Floyd Protests are in full swing. Around 10,000 have been arrested and a few have been killed. The protests are now in every state and have gone international with protests in Europe. All of these protests first began with the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Office Derek Chauvin kneeled on the neck of George Floyd when he went to subdue him. Chauvin kept his knee on his neck for around 9 minutes which ended up killing Floyd. Floyd even said he couldn’t breathe and bystanders, which had gathered around him, wanted the officer off of him.

What did George Floyd do to warrant this? Sometime before 8:00 PM Floyd went to buy cigarettes at Cup Foods and used a $20 bill. The employee later realized that the $20 bill was a counterfeit and went to Floyd across the street whom was in a vehicle with two others. The employee wanted Floyd to return the cigarettes because of the fake $20 but Floyd refused. Floyd was also said to be drunk at the time. Officers soon arrived and apparently Floyd struggled with them and then it led to Floyd’s death by Chauvin’s use of the knee on his neck to subdue him.

George Floyd probably deserved to be arrested. He probably knew that was a fake $20 bill. He didn’t deserve to die in the process. We could be saying that he was arrested for using a $20 bill which implies that he would be alive. We can’t say that now because he died. It is also entirely possible that he had no idea the $20 bill was fake and did not need to be arrested. It is also possible that he just did not want to deal with the cops messing with him.

Video of the incident went viral quickly and caused a vigorous uproar. In response there were mass protests in Minneapolis which then gradually led to more protests throughout the United States. The protests were initially about the death of George Floyd but they evolved into a lack of accountability for police brutality and racism which never seem to go away. There always seems to be some kind of incident involving an African-American and a police officer. Floyd was lucky to have his incident on camera but not all African-Americans are so lucky when they encounter an officer. What further exacerbated the atmosphere was President Trump whom only views the protests and riots done by thugs and ANTIFA and has vowed to crush them with force. President Trump chooses not to engage with the protests in a civil manner and has chosen force which only further complicates the situation. President Trump’s lack of awareness combined with the accountability of police brutality and racism has made America reach a boiling point. Protests are needed when adequate change is necessary where that change has struggled to cement itself. Riots occur when that change is attempted over and over without results further adding to the boiling point we see today.

What is to be done? Accountability. We must hold accountability. In this day and age it is difficult to hold accountability especially when President Trump can easily get away with anything he wants. The mass protests and riots help to ensure that accountability is met. Officer Chauvin was actually charged with murder which shows that protesting works. Should they stop now? The protests must continue indefinitely until more accountability is met. Once accountability is met then it can lead to adequate change so that the George Floyd’s of America no longer have to die due to the common nature of American police brutality which has also hurt the good American police making it harder on them to do their jobs.

Universal Coin & Bullion was founded in 1994 by Lester Henderson, Robert Verde and attorney Tyrrell L. ‘Terry’ Garth in Beaumont, Texas. The business started out slow until the numismatist Michael R. Fuljenz took over as president of the company. Fuljenz had been collecting rare coins since 1972 and had always been captivated by coins since he was a young boy. Fuljenz is known as America’s Gold Expert due to his extensive knowledge on rare coins and his many appearance on television and radio.

The company grew rapidly under the management of Fuljenz. In 1996 the company moved from its 7th floor building in Beaumont located at the Calder Bank of America Building to a larger office complex at the Bank One Building . In 1999 co-founder Lester Henderson died of cancer. In 2002 the company built its own 40,000 square foot campus to house its operation and its sixty plus employees. In 2005 Universal Coin & Bullion became the largest client of the USPS in Beaumont. In 2007 competitor First Capital Reserve was acquired by Universal Coin & Buillon.

In 2008 Universal Coin & Bullion became the official dealer in bullion for the National Rifle Association. The partnership with the NRA further propelled Universal Coin & Bullion as a reputable company in the numismatic industry. In 2014 Universal Coin & Bullion was listed as one of the founders of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum for donating $100,000. In 2018 they were instrumental in bringing to the 2018 NRA Convention in Dallas, Texas, a display of recovered gold and silver from the wreck of the SS Central America valued at 14 million dollars. An additional 2 million dollars worth of gold and silver from other sources they also displayed. A year later Universal Coin & Bullion made some of the recovered treasure from the SS Central America available for purchase. Lee Greenwood partnered with Universal Coin & Bullion in September 2020 as a spokesperson for their company.

Universal Coin & Bullion

The following was an interesting conversation with a millenial gamer named Andrew. I recorded what he said and almost word-for-word wrote down what he said below and concluding with a list of his top video games:

Growing up in the 90s I was playing video games at the ripe age of 5 years old. For the majority of my youth I was an isolated child usually withdrawn from others spending the majority of my time playing video games. My first video game was Sonic the Hedgehog on Sega Genesis. Also at the time I had a friend down the road that had a Nintendo where we would play Paperboy and Ninja Turtles. The years of 1994-1995 consisted of days playing Sega Genesis for me involving Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (I never really played 2), Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Golden Axe II, Road Rash, Aladdin, The Lion King and Ghouls n Ghost. Then came the Super Nintendo.

It was around 1995 when I got a Super Nintendo and it was amazing. I spent many hours playing Super Mario World, Super Mario Kart, Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat II, Mortal Kombat III (I remember having my dad preorder Mortal Kombat III at Toys R Us), Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong 2, Donkey Kong 3, Yoshi’s Island (I remember that commercial of the fat guy eating at the restaurant too well), Star Fox, Zombies Ate My Neighbors, all the Super Star Wars and my favorite SNES game Super Mario RPG. From Super Nintendo to Sega Genesis I would alternate what I would play and was always busy. Then Sega around that time released the Sega CD and Sega Saturn.

Sega CD was okay. It had some okay games but the system didn’t last long. My first game on Sega CD was the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers “game” where you just push whatever buttons appeared on the screen to make the cutscene work. It was terrible but as a kid I didn’t know at the time. The Amazing Spiderman vs. Kingpin was a great Spiderman game and I spent hours and hours on it. My favorite Sega CD game though was Terminator. The soundtrack was great. The action was great. The playability was great and I never got tired of it.

Sega Saturn was again just okay. Virtua Fighter was fun to play with my neighborhood friends and same with Virtua Cop. Clockwork Knight and Bug! was fun and entertaining. Sega Saturn in my memory didn’t last long and gave me only temporary satisfaction. I still have my Sega Saturn with the original case too. I would still alternate playing Sega Saturn, Sega CD, Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo. Then the Nintendo 64 and Playstation came out changing everything.

I remember getting the Nintendo 64 on launch day with Super Mario 64, Super Mario Kart and Star Fox. Those three games I played nonstop for years. They were fantastic. Then Goldeneye 007 came out in 1997 forever changing everything. It was amazing. I spent hours and hours and hours on Goldeneye. I would play Agent, Secret Agent and 00 Agent difficulty all the way through over and over and unlock all the cheats over and over on multiple profiles. Yes I even got that Invincibility cheat unlocked at the Facility. And no one could beat me at Goldeneye. And then Perfect Dark in 2000 basically reseting that amazing feeling letting me relive that Goldeneye experience with a brand new game with the same kind of physics. Perfect Dark was just that. Perfect. It was Goldeneye on perfect steroids. It was between 1997 and 2000 that I consider the greatest game of all came out, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. It was my first Zelda game. I never played anything like it. It had everything. I spent many hours playing Zelda, getting all the heart containers, getting all the spiders, and then reseting my profile and doing it again. Years later I still played Zelda. Then 10 years later I still played it. In 2000 Majora’s Mask came out and it was great but nowhere near as good as Ocarina of Time because Majora’s Mask essentially recycled those characters and didn’t necessarily bring an entirely new game to the consumer. Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire and Star Wars: Rogue Squadron were the best Star Wars game yet on the Nintendo 64 (I didn’t care too much for Pod Racing). The wrestling games WCW/NWO World Tour and WCW/NWO Revenge were great wrestling games but it was WWF Wrestlemania and WWF No Mercy that became the best wrestling games of all time and no other wrestling game comes close.

I don’t entirely remember when I got Playstation but it was the one console next to Nintendo 64 that I always came back to. Playstation had a huge amount of games. What I played most on the Playstation was Resident Evil, Resident Evil 2 (which was ported to almost every console and of course I got it over and over), Resident Evil 3, Resident Evil Survivor (it wasn’t good), SILENT HILL (I remember seeing that at Blockbuster and my dad encouraged me to get it), TONY HAWKS PRO SKATER, TONY HAWKS PRO SKATER 2!!!, Crash Bandicoot 2, Crash Bandicoot 3, Dino Crisis, Dino Crisis 2, Driver, Driver 2, Twisted Metal 2, Twisted Metal 3, Twisted Metal 4 but I never played Final Fantasy or Metal Gear Solid. I missed that boat. Oops. I did try Parasite Eve but just didn’t care for it. I could list so many more games on the Playstation but it would take up too much room. These were just the main games I would play on the Playstation. Then Playstation 2 came out and it was amazing.

I got my Playstation 2 at a Waffle House parking lot in a deal made from a newspaper add because they were all sold out at the time. Just like Playstation there were too many games I could list but I won’t and will just stick to a few that I played the most. What I played most on the Playstation 2 was Grant Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto Vice City, Silent Hill 2, Silent Hill 3, Silent Hill The Room, Metal Gear Solid 2, FINAL FANTASY X (THE ABSOLUTE BEST), Devil May Cry, Devil May Cry 2, Burnout 3, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4, TONY HAWKS UNDERGROUND, TONY HAWKS UNDERGROUND 2, Gran Turismo 3, Twisted Metal Black, TIMESPLITTERS, and Dark Cloud. Playstation 2 probably stuck around the most because it just lasted so long. I got it in 2000 and 10 years later I was still playing it.

Before the Playstation 2 came out there was another great system that came out in 1999 that was amazing but had a short life span, Sega Dreamcast. The Sega Dreamcast was one of the best consoles of all time. I thoroughly enjoyed the Sega Dreamcast and the graphics. What I played most on it was Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2 (those choas!!), House of the Dead 2, Crazy Taxi, Resident Evil: Code Veronica, Marvel vs. Capcom 2, NFL 2K and Zombie Revenge. By 2001 the Sega Dreamcast was on life support and then the Nintendo Gamecube came out.

The Nintendo Gamecube was great. It was compact, the discs were small and it still had great graphics. Super Mario Sunshine, Luigi’s Mansion, Super Smash Bros. Melee, Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker, Metroid Prime, Resident Evil 4, Star Wars Rogue Squadron II, ETERNAL DARKNESS (underated), Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, Pikmin, Resident Evil remake, Resident Evil 0 and the Sonic Adventure rereleases. The Nintendo Gamecube just like the Sega Dreamcast had a short lifespan but were both great consoles. Now, enter Microsoft’s XBOX.

The Xbox came out in 2001 with the second greatest first person shooter of all time, HALO. Halo was fantastic. It had only 10 levels but they were long and entertaining. The multiplayer was a game changer. I played Halo with my friends many times and had LAN parties. I would usually beat everyone. Usually. Halo 2 again changed multiplayer because that’s when Xbox Live was out. Halo 2 online was fantastic. I spent so many hours online playing against whoever. Sometimes you would have your cheaters but beside that it was great. Jet Set Radio Future (underated) was fanastic. It had a fantastic soundtrack, great premise and entertaining gameplay. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic was another great Star Wars game I spent many hours on. Fable was good (not great) and had a temporary satisfaction. Project Gotham Racing was great and I spent hours and hours on it especially Project Gotham Racing 2. The Chronicles of Riddick (again, underated) was so good. It was one of the best looking games on the Xbox. Dead or Alive 3 was great and I spent hours on that especially kicking my dad’s ass in it.

Finally, Xbox 360 came out in 2005 and the Nintendo Wii came out in 2006. Now the Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii I won’t say too much about and I have good reason to. What I played most on Xbox 360 was Halo 3, Left 4 Dead, Left 4 Dead 2, Call of Duty (all of them), Grand Theft Auto IV, Red Dead Redemption, Fallout 3, Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, Bioshock and Gears of War. No I never played Mass Effect I missed that boat. On the Nintendo Wii I mostly played Super Mario Galaxy, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, and the Resident Evil ports to it.

The Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii were great don’t get me wrong. It was just around that time that the gaming industry began to change. This was when DLC had come out. You are already paying an outrageous $60 for a game and then you will have DLC that you either need to pay for or have to get. You shouldn’t have to get DLC. Then you have the increasing reliance of online play and data to keep the game going. The gaming industry got too saturated with the online capabilities and became too costly for the consumer. The consumer also may, or may not, have to work so when you come home you may either have a family to take care of or you only have so many hours to yourself before you go to bed at a decent time for work the next day. I suppose what I’m saying here is that I just got older and just no longer have as much time with video games as I use to. However, it is clear that the video game industry has changed drastically. Now there is ESports, Twitch and Streamers. The video game industry is just no longer appealing. It does have temporary satisfaction but not long lasting. I did get a Nintendo Switch and have been playing Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (it is great) and Animal Crossing: New Horizons. I do have a Playstation 4 and played the Resident Evil 2 remake (it’s fantastic) and Resident Evil 3 remake (it’s just okay) but that is all I played. I just use my Playstation 4 for streaming services. Again, see how the video game industry has changed?

I’m a millenial gamer. I was born in 1989, grew up with Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, Playstation, Sega CD, Sega Saturn, Sega Dreamcast, Game Boy Color (see below), Nintendo Gamecube, Xbox and Playstation 2. A few years after Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii came out is when I started to leave the gaming industry. It became oversaturated with high costs ($60+), too much reliance on online capabilities (DLCs) and the lack of original games to keep you entertained weeks after its launch day (or whenever you first get it). I would still call myself a gamer because I can easily get back into a video game, analyze the gameplay and controls fast and will usually come out as one of the top players in a match or will beat the game fast with all of the achievements/unlockables unlocked.

My Top Video Games Ever (in no order)

• The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
• Resident Evil 2 (original)
• Goldeneye 007
• Mortal Kombat II
• Final Fantasy X
• Silent Hill 2
• Elder Scrolls: Oblivion
• Perfect Dark
• Red Dead Redemption
• Halo
• Pokemon Red/Blue
• Super Mario Kart 64

Leslie Robinson Nicholas Jr. was born on July 29, 2007 to Sybil Williams and Leslie Robinson Nicholas Sr. in Tampa, Florida. His father Leslie at the time was in a real estate business called Nicholas Realty Company. His mother Sybil was a stay at home mom and was a member of the First Baptist Church and Homemakers’ Club. Leslie was said to have been called Rob or Les and possibly Robert. For the sake of this article I will refer to Leslie Nicholas Jr. as Leslie and his father as Leslie Sr.

It is unclear where Leslie attended school in his youth. By 1937 Leslie moved to Jacksonville where his father was employed at Guardian Life Insurance. They lived in Riverside close to the Riverside Hospital. On November 8, 1938 Leslie’s grandfather Alex Nicholas died at the Riverside Hospital at 76 years old. Alex was a naval store operator in an obscure “town” called Conners by the Ocala National Forest. Alex was most likely at the hospital because he was in poor health and his only son Leslie Sr. lived nearby. Since Leslie Sr. was Alex’s only son one can assume he acquired some of his things. Leslie did get possession of one photo of Alex in his youth and another photo of Alex with his wife Eva.

In Jacksonville it is again unclear where Leslie attended school. He may have attended Robert E. Lee High School where his future wife Margurite Queen had attended.

On February 14, 1942 Leslie Sr. registered for active duty in the Army. Leslie Sr. was already in active duty reserve. When he was in Tampa he was part of an anti artillery unit and had attained the rank of 2nd Lieutenant. Since he was in active duty reserve he had to do his part for the country and serve in the war. At the time of his registration he was 39 years old. Considering his age and time in active duty reserve he was promoted to rank of Major. Leslie Sr. was sent to an undisclosed location in the South Pacific commanding the 117th AAA GP CAC an anti artillery group.

On July 30, 1944 Leslie’s mother Sybil died at 44 years old. Sybil’s death was completely unexpected and turned Leslie’s world upside down. His father was serving in the Pacific War, his mother died, he was an only child, and his father was an only child. Leslie had to be placed in a military academy called Riverside Military Academy in Gainesville, Georgia. Leslie attained the rank of 1st Lt. while at the academy but he was not happy being there.

Leslie Sr. returned from the Pacific War on November 21, 1945 and returned to his career in Guardian Life Insurance. It was most likely in Jacksonville that Leslie Sr. met Louise Knight. Leslie Sr. and Louise married not long after to Leslie’s dismay. The death of his mother was still on his mind and he did not want someone else in his life to be his new mom. It is rumored that Louise was not nice to Leslie but that could be false. Leslie at this time was in the Merchant Marine for an undetermined amount of time. Leslie Sr. and Louise moved to New York City where Leslie Sr. was promoted to an executive position at Guardian Life Insurance.

It was around 1947 that Leslie Sr. was diagnosed with cancer. The theory of how the cancer occurred was from the war because he could have been exposed to unknown chemicals. In 1948 Leslie Sr. and Louise had a son named Alexander Stephen Nicholas. Leslie did not like having a half-brother and came to regard him as not his actual brother. His father’s new marriage and now newborn half-brother bothered Leslie. He was never actually around because at this time he was attending the Oxford College at Emory in Atlanta.

At Oxford College Leslie was in the International Relations Club, Phi Gamma, Vice President of the Florida Club, Debate Club, Associate Editor of the yearbook and President of the Freshman Class. The following yearbook photos, above and below, were from the 1948 Oxford College yearbook.

On December 17, 1948 Leslie Sr. died of cancer at 46 years old in Port Chester, New York. Due to Leslie Sr.’s service in the war and in active duty reserve he was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. His son Alex was only a few months old and never knew his father. Louise never remarried and raised Alex alone.

In 1948 Leslie graduated from Oxford College and then attended Emory University.

In 1950 Leslie married Margurite Queen in Jacksonville. It was around 1951 when Leslie pursued a career in management at Southern Bell. Leslie and his family moved to North Carolina in the early 1950s where he continued his career at Southern Bell in management. On August 21, 1950 Leslie and Margurite had their first child named Lynn. On March 19, 1952 Leslie and Margurite had their second child named Margurite Melissa Nicholas. On April 22, 1954 Leslie and Margurite had a third child named James Robinson Nicholas. On July 22, 1956 Leslie and Margurite had a fourth child named William Alexander Nicholas. On July 9, 1959 Leslie and Margurite had a fifth child named Thomas Leslie Nicholas. On October 3, 1963 Leslie and Margurite had a sixth child named Daniel Andrew Nicholas. In 1964 Leslie and Margurite had a seventh child named Joseph Edward Nicholas. Leslie, growing up as an only child and son of an only child as well, ended up having seven children with Margurite.

Leslie was a manager at Southern Bell first in Gastonia. Leslie moved his family a number of times due to his job from Gastonia (near Charlotte), to Winston-Salem, and then Asheville. The moving around may have taken a toll on Leslie’s marriage and it is rumored that he was unfaithful to Margurite. In 1969 Leslie moved for a final time to Atlanta at the Southern Bell corporate headquarters where he was a General Personnel Manager for Georgia Operations of Southern Bell. Leslie was also on the Business Advisory Committee of the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce.

Sometime in the early 1970s Leslie and Margurite divorced. Margurite moved back to her hometown in Jacksonville where their two youngest children Daniel and Joseph lived while the rest of their children lived with Leslie in Atlanta. Daniel and Joseph would grow up in Jacksonville attending University Christian School. On January 3, 1975 Leslie’s grandmother Eva died at 98 years old. It was at Eva’s funeral that Leslie and his brother Alex would last see each other.

Around 1978 Leslie remarried to Ruby Martin an employee of Southern Bell/AT&T. Although Leslie and Ruby had no children together Ruby would end up becoming another mom to the children as she was very kind to all of them. Margurite remarried to Bobby Watkins and would also have no more children. On September 12, 1980 William Alexander Nicholas, usually referred to as Billy, drowned in a lake in Bartow, Georgia at 24 years old. On April 7, 1985 Lynn died of diabetes at 34 years old. Both William and Lynn had no children.

Leslie retired from Southern Bell in the early 1980s and he moved to Fruit Cove near Jacksonville to be closer to family and to the town he had once lived in his youth. Since he just lost his two children, lost his mother at an early age, lost his father to cancer in his later youth, had a half-brother to a marriage he disliked and had divorced in the early 1970s due to his problems with infidelity (supposedly) Leslie was not in a good mindset and realized this. Leslie and Ruby joined Southside Baptist Church where he was a deacon. Leslie in his retirement years spent much time in pursuit of faith and mending his family back together as well as trying to reform himself as a better person. Leslie himself admits he was not a good father but pursued to better himself in that aspect as well as for his grandchildren which were first born in the 1980s. His grandchildren grew up to know Leslie as a kind hearted person and had no negative memories of him.

Leslie in his retirement years had a keen interest in Civil War memorabilia. He would collect antique Civil War items in his spare time and even planned to write a book on the Civil War but it never took off. It is worth noting that Leslie’s great-great grandfather James Nicholas was in the Confederate Army during the Civil War though only briefly due to a disability. When Leslie was not off fulfilling his hobbies in Civil War memorabilia he would attend church, spend his days at home with wife Ruby and visit with his children and grandchildren.

Leslie would end up having 10 grandchildren and grew to know their kind grandfather and generous wife Ruby. Some grandchildren would end up not growing up to know their grandmother Margurite Queen Watkins as she died of cancer on January 27, 1991 at 61 years old. Margurite and Leslie may have been divorced for around 20 years but they both shared the same love for their children and grandchildren.

In 2007 Leslie’s health grew worse due to the combination of diabetes, which he was diagnosed in his 50s, pneumonia and basic health affects being at the old age of 79. On July 28, 2007 Leslie’s family realized that he was not going to make it and went to see him in hospice for the final time. On July 29, 2007 Leslie died at 80 years old and had the unfortunate death of dying on his birthday. Leslie never mended his relationship with his brother Alex. He most likely never knew where he was living around this time. It is worth noting that his brother Alex was an attorney and worked for the United Nations and because of his work he had to travel around the world. Leslie was buried in Eastman, Georgia where Ruby was from and where Ruby would also be buried in 2017 when she was 96 years old.