Are Our Politicians "Gaming The Economy"?

Watching the political wrangling going on in Washington right now over the "fiscal cliff", it makes one wonder whether or not our politicians are "gaming the market". After all, they know that if they let the nation go over the fiscal cliff, that stocks will plunge...they could then buy up blocks of stock cheaply, turn around and retroactively pass legislation to patch up the economy and watch as the stocks they bought so cheaply rise quickly in answer to the passed legislation.

Am I just being cynical? Maybe, then again, it seems that our politicians are some of those wealthiest Americans that could afford to do something like this, and want to be protected from higher taxes to boot! When politicians only have to make vague hints and allegations that can cause the stock market to fluctuate wildly, it seems like it would be all too tempting to use those comments to make yourself some easy money!

Prepare To Take A Swan Dive!

     Thanks to politics as usual, it looks as if the economy is going over the fiscal cliff with weights tied to it's ankles! I've been reading the news daily over  the past couple of weeks, and it's been the same story day after day. Republicans claim the Democrats will have to save the economy, knowing full well they'll block any attempt at passing something. Democrats saying that Republicans are sitting back and doing nothing to stop an inevitable calamity.

     Both parties are to blame for where we're at right now, and it's the system that keeps anything substantial from being done to fix it. The problem is all those politicians afraid to do anything because they're too worried they won't be re-elected if enough of their constituents aren't happy with them. I don't think anyone is going to be happy if we end up in a double-dip recession! Is this going to be what it takes to start a revolution in this country in which heads will be put up on spikes? Don't think it couldn't happen here, it has before. What do you think encouraged those colonists a couple hundred years ago to overthrow their "rightful" government and form a new country?!

     This could end up being our "winter of discontent" in which the American people finally have had enough and rise up in open revolt against the Federal government. The problem is, it's exceedingly unlikely that we'd end up with anything better than we have at the moment. Look at some of the nations around the world the last few years that have over-turned their governments, I don't see any of them becoming stable, peaceful countries that you'd want to go vacationing in!

What Makes The Grasshopper Leap?

     SpaceX, the brainchild of Paypal founder, Elon Musk is set to try and add to their prestige. Earlier this year SpaceX became the first private company to successfully deliver cargo to the International Space Station, known as ISS, via their Dragon space capsule which was sent into orbit by their own Falcon 9 multistage rocket.

     SpaceX has been developing a reusable rocket code-named "Grasshopper". In just the last week, they released video of  the Grasshopper successfully rising 12 stories into the air, momentarily hovering and then setting safely back down on the launching pad. The idea behind this no doubt is the eventual use of the Grasshopper in delivering SpaceX's Dragon capsule into orbit and being able then to reuse the Grasshopper in future launches, rather than having to waste resources and money in rockets that can only be used once which are then destroyed in the process, as are the Falcon 9 rockets.

     This has long been a "holy grail" of the race to space. The problem in the past as I've always understood it is that reusable rockets have one fatal flaw. Limited capacity. The amount of fuel that has to be carried on the rocket to allow a trip that reaches Earth orbit, then can still have enough fuel on-board to safely land again leaves so little spare weight for cargo that it doesn't end up being worth the trip. If that's so, then how will the Grasshopper rocket be any different? So far, I've heard no one in the media asking questions like that of SpaceX. Do they have some new type of fuel that burns more efficiently, or an engine that can extend the range using less fuel?

     Don't get me wrong, I've been highly excited by the progress SpaceX is making in creating a real business out of going to space. I certainly hope that they have come upon a unique solution to an old problem, and that soon space travel will become as common and everyday as taking a flight across country!

I'm Done With Conspiricies

     Over the years, I've been accused of supporting many popular conspiracy theories, and it's true. I don't exactly go around wearing a tin foil hat on my head, but I've been close. While I still believe that "most" conspiracy theories have at least some level of truth to them at their core, I'm going to state right now that I'm more than willing to drop many of those long-held beliefs so that we can have a better world to live in.

     My wife works at a health clinic and I've been in the unemployment system now for about a year, as a user, not an employee, and between both points of view I think I can definitely say that there are way more than a fair share of people who are working diligently to "game the system." I guess I was naive, thinking that most people are honest and trustworthy. Apparently they aren't! I've been shocked at how many people are routinely using false identities, or just putting down false information on forms so that they can receive more benefits or receive extra prescriptions of controlled medications. I always thought that these people were just a small minority of the public, but they are in fact a large portion of them.

     My wife was telling me today about a woman who has put down the "wrong names" repeatedly on forms she has to fill out the last couple of times she's been in to be seen. It's painfully obvious that she's doing this to confuse the system and receive more care/drugs, probably just the drugs though. We need to stop depending on people to tell the truth and just scan the RFID chip implanted in their forearm. End of problem, no more gaming the system, or at the very least, this would make it harder to game the system.

     I am now in favor of having retinal scans, DNA identification, chips implanted underneath the skin. RFID chips in smartphones, and other everyday products. We should have a requirement for national ID cards and every citizen should have to carry them with them and be able to show them when required, whether that's for voting, purchasing medications or a host of other things that we do on a daily basis and take for granted.

     I'm also, after the recent Connecticut elementary school shooting, more than willing to support a strong gun legislation that will remove many guns from the hands of people who don't need them. HERE'S A LINK to a  related story in which an 11 year old brought a gun to school, fearing that something like what happened in Newton could happen to his school. Thankfully no one was hurt, but the child claimed that his parents gave him the gun to take to school. Whether or not that's true, the child still had access to the gun and wound up bringing it, proving that there are too many people out there with guns and ammunition who have no real sense of responsibility! I personally am done quoting the 2nd amendment and would like to see a sweeping ban on both assault rifles and handguns. I will gladly open my doors to the authorities to prove that I don't own any myself.

     Now is the time for us to quit acting like individuals and start acting like a society. A group of people with a common goal, to be able to lead safe and happy lives and to do so in an adult way that saves money and lives for the common good of all.
   

The Future Of Driving In America

The automotive industry has almost defined us as a nation for nearly the last 100 years. Yet recently the automotive industry has taken quite a hit thanks to both the economy and a push towards a greener future. It's become apparent that something has to give in the near future for both those things to co-exist. I think they can, though of course it's going to be a bumpy ride getting there! I've decided to map out what I believe is the best route, and the most likely that will give us a greener future while at the same time providing a stable economy with a mobile community.

With the rising cost of gasoline and dwindling natural resources, it's obvious that hybrid vehicles will soon be the norm, and eventually they will transform (most likely) into the all-electric vehicle. This transformation is already underway, and isn't likely to reverse itself at this point. I think though that there is another technology that will be even more instrumental in transforming the automotive industry, and the automotive culture in this country into something entirely new that will have a lasting impact on our nation, the driverless car.

The autonomous, driverless car is something that has fascinated us for decades, yet has always seemed more science fiction than science fact. In the last couple of years though, that has changed dramatically. News broke less than two years ago about the google driverless car experiment, which to date has accumulated more than 300,000 miles of street driving! It became an immediate Internet sensation and has spurred progress by other companies as well. There are now predictions that there will be driverless cars on our roads within the next 5 years. Several states have even already started passing laws under which driverless cars will be allowed to operate. This though is where the hype starts to veer off from reality. The present consensus seems to be that soon, everyone will own a self-driving car and we'll all be chauffeured around. I'm highly suspicious of that actually happening. Look at how much a top of the line sedan today costs, you're talking about a price tag anywhere between $35,000 and $45,000, and that's for a car with today's technology. Can you imagine how much it's going to cost to own a self-driving car?

Sure, one of these days soon there will be self-driving cars on the roads with us, but it's going to be the rich and well-to-do who own them. The average Joe on the streets isn't going to be able to buy one of these vehicles, and I doubt the day will come when the price comes down enough for him or her to afford one. I do think that we'll all be shuttled around in these marvels of technology though, it's just that our culture is going to have to have a transformation of it's own for that to happen. I believe that the days are numbered for the country that promised a car in every garage. The future of the self-driving car, except for the wealthy few, will be in crowd-sourcing.

Yes, crowd-sourcing, another new technology that is already transforming our culture,thanks to sites like kick-starter that allow anyone to "buy into" a new start-up, whether that's a new invention, a video game or an Indie movie project. I believe the true future of the automotive industry in this country is through a similar crowd-sourcing scheme. It's my thought that one day soon the automotive manufacturers will build out fleets of self-driving cars. We, as consumers will no longer buy cars and own them, we won't even lease them. What we'll do is become members of a fleet. Let's use Ford as an example. I won't own a car anymore, nor will I have to pay for car insurance. I'll sign on with Ford as a, "fleet customer". Ford will offer a tiered service. You'll pay X amount of money per month for X number of miles. You'll have an app on your smartphone that you'll use when you want to make a trip, say to the mall. You program into it that you want to be picked up at your home at 2pm and be taken to the mall. At 2pm your phone alerts you that your ride has arrived. You'll have maybe 5 minutes to get to the car or forfeit it. You hop in the car and it takes you to your destination where you get out and it takes off to ferry someone else in the same fleet as you somewhere else.

This scenario solves several problems. You no longer have to have the expense of owning a car, large payments, insurance, maintenance. The fleet owner will take care of the maintenance, they'll maintain the insurance on the vehicle, and you only have to pay a monthly service fee that will only have to cover you for the number of miles that you would typically drive in a month. Because vehicles will basically be "time-shared" by everyone, there will be fewer vehicles on the road, leading to smaller carbon footprints. There'll be fewer accidents since you'll be taking out the element of "driver error", which is the largest cause of automobile accidents.

The hardest part about making this change will be baby-boomers! Baby-boomers have grown up with the American car culture ingrained in them. It's their belief that their car defines who they are, and they are the group most likely to resist giving up the idea of car ownership, as well as control of the wheel to a computer. Those that will make it possible for this to happen on the other hand have already been born. Those in their twenties who have grown up with much of the technology that we have today will find it much easier to transition to a society in which vehicle ownership is a thing of the past. Yes, we will have self-driving cars very soon, much sooner that many people believe, but it's going to have to give birth to a new society in which we redefine what it means to travel, and how we do it, and like any birth, it will most likely be messy and very tiring!

I'm Dreaming Of A White Apocalypse!

Seeing as how it's supposed to snow today here in my area, giving us the first real measurable snowfall of the season, I thought I'd commemorate it with a cartoon. Especially seeing as how that's pretty much all that's going to happen. I really find it hard to believe that in this day and age of intellectual enlightenment that so many people believe that the world will end today! I especially find it hard to believe that so many people put so much credence into a calendar left behind by a "lost civilization" that apparently couldn't even predict their own end.

Yes, it is the winter solstice. Yes, the Mayan long count calendar ended on today. Should that be so surprising, the winter solstice as well as other seasonal changes come at regular times, just like clockwork! If you're going to end a calendar, of course you're going to end it on a major changing point during the year, not just pick a random Wednesday and say, "oh, this looks like a good a place as any to stop"!

The Mayans were surprisingly sophisticated when it came to understanding the seasons and the movement of the stars, but that doesn't give them any kind of special pre-cognition that would allow them to forsee the fate of the world. The sad thing is that come December 22nd, all the doomsayers are going to start back-pedaling and tell us about how the end of the world is just around the corner, that they never meant that it would end all at once with a bang. That things that have been happening will continue to happen as signs of the apocalypse that is still evolving! There always have been and always will be people who just have to see the glass as half-empty and want the rest of the world to join them in their pity party!

Beware Of Snail-Mail Scams

     You would think that these days there are fewer scams being perpetrated on the public with all the watch-dog groups out there, yet not so. I'm putting this out there to help shed light on companies that wish to prey on those that suffer during hard times like many of us are now due to the economy. Such as a company that I can only refer to as "CRA", since that's all they put on the "FINAL NOTICE" that my wife received recently. The top part of the envelope below is the outside, which was fashioned to look very authentic and formal with it's FINAL NOTICE ENCLOSED emblazoned on it to get your attention. It came all sealed up with tear off edges. Underneath that is what was inside the envelope.

     It told my wife that her time was running out, and that she should call them at their 800 number immediately so that they can resolve her debt issues. These kind of things are being sent out to people in mass mailings in the hopes that some people who are in financial trouble and are either aggravated by the constant reminders of their debt or aren't all that smart will call them so that "one of their representatives" can walk them through the process of becoming a client.

     Please, always be careful about anything like this that you receive in the mail. Always read between the lines, and read the fine print that they make so small it's hardly legible. If you need to, call your local Better Business Bureau and find out if the company in question is even legitimate or not before calling them and possibly finding yourself in deep water.

Farcry3...My Thoughts So Far

The other day, my wonderful son bought me a copy of Farcry3 through the Steam store and gifted it to me. He knew I wanted to play it and knew that I've been a little depressed lately, so he got it for me as a Christmas present. I love him for doing that for me, as well as just being a great son!
I've been playing the game almost non-stop since then! Before getting into specifics, I'd just like to say right up front what a great game I think this is. I'm not new to the Farcry franchise. I played the first game on the PC when it came out as GOTY(game of the year) and got the Farcry2 the day it came out. I loved the open-ended world gameplay of both games and this one is no different.

Before I get into the gameplay itself, let's talk for a minute about the graphical quality of the game. Let me point out once again that I'm talking about the PC version of the game, I'm not familiar with any of the console versions. My initial impression of the game after booting it up the first time was one of disappointment. The game defaulted to "medium" settings and I was looking at a screen full of graphical glitches, colors popping all over the screen and other nuisance artifacts that were threatening to make the game unplayable. I had to turn the graphics down to "low" on everything to make it playable. At this point I guess I should list the specs of what I'm playing it on:

Dell Inspiron laptop
Model N5110
I-5 2450 M CPU @ 2.50Ghz
6Gb of Ram
64-bit operating system
512Mb Nvidia GPU

I know this setup is far from being a "gamers laptop", but I have to say that I've also been playing Skyrim, Max Payne 3 and Dishonored on this laptop and had each of those games set to high and have run them with no problem what-so-ever. So I was kind of disappointed that Ubisoft hasn't optomized the Farcry3 engine so that it could run better on lower end machines. The other games I've mentioned obviously went to more work on optimization, and it shows. On the other hand, even with the settings at "low", Farcry3 still looks amazing! Making me wonder how great it must look on a high-end PC. The environments are simply gorgeous, lush tropical jungles, beautiful skies with atmospheric effects, weather, day-night cycles. You feel like you're really walking around on a tropical island. The characters all have fluid, detailed animations that make you feel like you're interacting with real people, and the animals on the island bring the world to life like no other game has ever done.

Speaking of the animals in the game, they are varied and bring a whole new level of gameplay. In many games, the animals you see moving around, if there are any, are there merely as background noise. In Farcry3 not only can you hunt the animals to use their hides to craft useful items, the animals can hunt you! I've never played a game in which the wildlife could be so dangerous to the player, as well as to the other NPC's in the game! I'm probably only about 30% through the game and I've been killed by a shark, a crocodile, a bear, a leopard, a tiger, a large Emu-like bird, (I think it's called a Carroway), rabid dogs, dingos, a komodo dragon, and several other animals I'm forgetting about! The environment in this game is as likely to kill you as an NPC!

One of the things I'm really loving about Farcry3 is the fact that you don't have to wait around to get to the "good stuff". In many games, they dole out the high-end weaponry only at certain points, or only let you access a certain vehicle when you have reached a certain point. In Farcry3 you can basically find or buy anything you want anytime. I've already driven most of the vehicles, and if you're willing to hunt for the hidden treasures and money in the game, it's easy to outfit your character with just about any weapon you want to early in the game. I mostly use the "re-cured bow" since it allows me to kill silently using stealthy tactics which is the way I like to play. I wish I could carry more than 10 arrows at a time, but at least you can gather your spent arrows to re-use.

The only other thing that I can complain about this game, other than the graphics engine not being as optimized as it could have been, is the inclusion of "quick-time" events in the game. It's bad enough when you get to a point in a fight or a narrow escape from some calamity and you have to push a certain button to grab a ledge or avoid a falling boulder, but the first "boss fight" I reached was simply ridiculous. SPOILER ALERT! Skip the next paragraph if you want no spoilers!

For several "chapters" of the game, you are doing missions for a character named "Buck". He's a real dick-head! Once you've completed your missions for him, you get into a knife-fight with him. The entire thing is one horrible quick-time event. I died four times trying to defeat him. Basically you'll just keep dying until you have learned the required button presses to finish the fight. I think it only takes like five button presses to defeat him. Quick-time events like this simply ruin an otherwise perfect game! Why couldn't the developers have simply had Buck run from you in the village where you're at and you have to chase him down in a running gun battle? It would have been so much better and would have stayed in keeping with the rest of the game. I know from other reviews that there are at least one or two more of these quick-time boss battles in the game, I guess I'll just have to endure them to enjoy the rest of it!

All in all though, I love Farcry3 and recommend it to anyone who loves FPS games, particularly open-world games that allow you plenty of freedom in what you want to do. If you have a lower-end gaming computer, expect to play it on low settings and still see graphical glitches, particularly in the inside environments like caves and ships. If you've got a high-end gaming system, well, I'm jealous because I can only imagine how beautiful the game looks for you!

Instagram Owns You...And They're Gonna Use You!

LINK to the story at blog.chron.com

Do you use Instagram? The popular photo sharing app made popular on IOS, now on just about every mobile platform. If you do, or even if you know someone else who uses it, you might be in for a bit of a surprise come January 16, 2013. Instagram has updated their TOS(terms of service), and as of January 16th of next year, they will be asserting that they have the right to use your images in ads for their service. So, pictures of you, of people you've taken photos of, events you've taken photos of are all fair game and Instagram says they can use them to promote their service without your permission or having to pay you a single cent!

Last time I checked, anyone who wanted to use someones likeness in an advertising campaign, they had to at the very least get a signed consent form. Usually there's payment involved as well seeing as how it's YOUR likeness being used by them to sell their service. Just about every photo on the internet these days has someone asserting copyright privileges to it after all. Apparently Instagram believes that with just a little careful wording in their TOS, they can bypass all that tom-foolery about copyright and use your images free of charge simply because you use their service. Not just you, mind you, even people you've taken pictures of who aren't users of their service.

I see this as a blatant misuse of a companies Terms of Service. My recommendation to anyone reading this that uses Instagram would be to delete your account, (the only way at this time to opt out), and use another service. There are a lot of companies on the internet like Instagram and Facebook, (which now coincidentally owns Instagram?!), that think simply because they provide a service, all of it's users content belongs to them to use as they please.

Legalized Marijuana Use...What Are The Implications At Work?

PHOTO by Coleen Danger

As I'm sure many of you know by now, both the states of Washington and Colorado have by popular vote legalized the recreational use of marijuana. Though it is still illegal to grow or sale marijuana, it is legal to have in your possession up to one ounce of it for your own use. Which of course begs the question, if it's still illegal to grow it or sale it, how are people in those states supposed to be getting hold of it? I have yet to read anything about this dilemma yet at any news sites. It seems to me that this is a rather large loophole that makes me wonder if anything has really changed.

Also, I've wondered what the implications are for workers and businesses in those states? If the state governments have "decriminalized" marijuana, what happens when someone tests positive for the substance when trying to get a job, or keep a job? Is it still legal for businesses in those states to fire you, or not hire you in the first place for testing positive for THC, (the active chemical in marijuana). Is it even still legal to test employees for THC in those states now? Can a company fire you or deny you employment for using a substance that is no longer illegal? Do companies residing in these states have to follow state law, or federal law? Can these companies have policies prohibiting the use of something that is now legal? I have yet to hear anything in the news that addresses these questions, and I'd certainly like to hear more about this side of the situation seeing as how the internet is "abuzz" with the idea that this is the beginning of a cascade event in which more and more state governments will begin decriminalizing the drug. President Obama has stated that the Federal government, "has bigger fish to fry", than prosecuting marijuana users in states that have legalized it's use. While I have yet to hear any definitive statement saying that Federal authorities will not prosecute marijuana users, it seems that, for right now at least, there is no rush to clamp down on this.

I'm hoping that soon the media will stop simply reporting the basic facts with a picture of someone lighting up a joint, and start looking deeper into this and the implications that will stem from the legalization of marijuana for recreational use. I'd also like to hear from you readers about your thoughts on the subject, feel free to comment on this post, especially if you live in either Washington or Colorado!

UPDATE: Apparently I was wrong on at least one point; in the state of Colorado at least, limited sales of marijuana is legal. Also here's a LINK to a story dated today at denverpost.com about the formation of a taskforce set up to address some of the issues I've raised in this article.

NFL officials as bad as the replacement refs

After the replacement officials left and we got back the real NFL officials I gave them the benefit of the doubt since they were out of practice. This late in the season though, they have no excuse for all the poor calls they're making. They are quickly becoming another nail in the coffin for the NFL as far as I'm concerned. I have to seriously wonder how much longer the NFL can go on like this before they simply fold from the weight of the of their incompetence!

Sandy Hook Elementary Tragedy...What Should(Can) Be Done?

I didn't find out until several hours after it hit the national news about the tragic shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School. My heartfelt condolences go out to the victims of this heinous crime. A crime that will go unpunished on this Earth since the killer was so cowardly that he took his own life. I feel for all those affected by this horrible incident. In the coming days, I'm sure there will be much discussion about this, and unfortunately, we may never know the motives behind these killings.

I do know that as a nation we will have to address what has happened today, and the challenge will be how we come to grips with it. I'm an ardent believer in the rights of the citizens of this country to bear arms, but even so, I find myself thinking thoughts of bans on guns. But realistically speaking, what good would that do? It would only cause a great amount of strife, it would generate a huge black market for guns and ammunition that would in itself then cause even more harm and trouble in this country. Should we have armed guards stationed at every school and public venue in the country? I doubt that would be possible, nor would I want to live in a country like that, it would be like living inside the world's largest prison.

I don't have any answers, I'm not sure that anyone does when a tragedy like this occurs. We will need to keep calm heads and have a frank and open discussion that will hopefully lead to something that makes us feel better about the world we live in, and yet leaves us free to make our own choices.

Why "A Charlie Brown Christmas" is my all time favorite!

If I had to choose a Christmas special that was my all time favorite, it would have to be, "A Charlie Brown Christmas". Not because it has any deep meaning, or social significance. Simply because when I think back to being a child and really, really enjoying Christmas, it's this television special that comes to mind instantly. 

When I think about it, I can feel my parents couch underneath me as we all sat down to watch it. I can smell the buttered popcorn that my mom had made for us. I can even feel some of that innocence and joy of a holiday unblemished by black Friday sales and ads on television with Santa promoting Viagra. Watching this Peanuts special is the oldest, clearest memory of a time in my life when life was still simple and full of promise. I can sit down today and watch it and recapture all those feelings, even if only for a little while. 

Boba Fett Movie or Series?

Now this is just a little wishful thinking by a fan, mind you. With the Star Wars franchise now being owned by Disney, and the fact that they've announced not only a new trilogy in the making, but also the intention to expand the Star Wars universe in both movies and television, wouldn't it be great to see something more done with this or any other universes coolest character, Boba Fett?

I'd love to see Boba Fett get his own television show particularly. Imagine an hour long action drama in which we get to see the early years of Boba  Fett's career in which he makes his name for himself, becoming the most feared bounty hunter in the Star Wars universe! One of the biggest advantages to this particular scenario would be the fact that they could keep costs down by keeping Boba Fett out on his own, introducing new characters that have little or nothing to do with the main Star Wars canon. On the flip side of that coin though, they could also sneak in guest appearances by classic characters like Yoda, or Darth Vader, maybe Obi-Wan Kenobi during ratings sweeps to kick viewer interest into high gear. 

Let's hope that there are some Boba Fett fans working at Disney and they're thinking along lines like this!

Google? What Have You Done To My YouTube?!

Do you use YouTube? Have you looked lately at what Google has done to the YouTube homepage?! I can't believe that they think they've, "IMPROVED" something that had nothing wrong with it! I thought at first that something had gone seriously, horribly wrong with my computer. No, that wasn't it, maybe, I thought to myself, YouTube has been hacked by some nefarious Chinese hackers. No, it turns out that the people at YouTube thought in their infinite wisdom that everyone would like to look at a YouTube homepage that looks like it had been pulled out of the mid-90's from a Geo-cities website!

I can't believe that they seriously think I'm going to go to YouTube on a daily basis and look at that horrible, white hideous mess that they call a homepage! It hurts my eyes just to look at it for more than a few seconds. The thing is, I've been a member of YouTube since 2006, and have put up nearly 80 videos myself. I couldn't tell you how much I use YouTube on a daily basis. If they insist on keeping that horrible mockery of a homepage, I'm going to have to convert myself to a Vimeo person.

I'm sending out a plea right now to those in charge at YouTube. Please, please put the homepage back the way it was. There is no way in HELL that you could possibly believe that monstrosity looks like a website that anyone would want to look at. I'm serious YouTube. I will pull all my videos and go to Vimeo if that is what it takes. What you now call a homepage is nothing but a hot mess of fecal matter that doesn't have anyplace on internet of this century!

What Are You Counting Down To?

So, what are YOU counting down to this December? Mostly we count down to Christmas, but this year I have a feeling there are a lot of people counting down to December 21st. That magic day that according to many will the be the Apocalypse, or at the very least, the beginning of it. Which Apocalypse you ask? I'm not sure, there are so many after all. 

Some say it will be the end of the universe, because the Mayan long-count calendar ends on that day, and we all know the Mayan's knew everything and could predict calamities thousands of years in advance! Other's claim it will be the day of Rapture, and GOD will sweep up all the deserving souls to reside in Heaven leaving those not taken to suffer through seven years of tribulations. Still others are banking on the Zombie Apocalypse, stocking up on food and ammunition. As for me, I don't think anything is going to happen on December 21st this year that doesn't regularly happen every year. There may or may not be snow in the cooler climates, and a lot of people are going to be fretting about last minute Christmas gift purchases. 

The one thing I wonder mostly is, what magical dates in the future all those alarmists are going to pick come December 22nd for the imminent arrival of the Apocalypse? You know it's going to happen. As soon as we've safely bypassed the 21st, Everyone out there that's been ballyhooing about how the "end of the world" is nigh will all be picking some new future date to hang their banner on. After all, after you've stockpiled a couple years worth of food and enough weapons and ammunitions to arm a small country, you've got to have something to look forward to!

LOL

How I've Reduced My Energy Bills

It's that time of year again, it's starting to get cold and you can just feel the cold air stealing into your nice, warm home. Here are five easy ways I've reduced my energy bills.

TURN YOUR THERMOSTAT DOWN

Everyone thinks when it starts getting cold, it's time to turn the thermostat up. In my house, it's just the opposite. I keep the thermostat at 74 degrees during the summer months, and turn it down this time of year to 68 degrees. In the heat of summer, 74 degrees actually feels quite good, and in the winter when it's freezing outside 68 degrees is plenty warm to keep your nose from turning red! You'd be surprised how much energy you can save just by bumping the thermostat up a little in the summer and down a little in the winter.

GET AN ELECTRONIC, PROGRAMMABLE THERMOSTAT

Using a programmable thermostat helps you, and the rest of your family from playing with the settings every time you think you feel a little chill. Take the guesswork out of the equation and let the thermostat do all the work for you!

SEAL YOUR WINDOWS ON THE INSIDE WITH PLASTIC

Unless you've got new or almost new triple-pane windows, chances are you're losing heat out of them. Windows are one of the worst culprits when it comes to "jacking up" your energy bills. You don't have to buy those expensive "weatherproofing kits" from your local DIY hardware store either. I've found that the plastic sheeting that comes in those kits is much too thin to do much good. Just buy a large roll of 4 mil painters plastic, it usually runs about $6 - $10 a roll, and how much you'll need to do the job depends on how many windows you have to cover and what size they are. I have 10 windows, including 2 large bow windows on the North side of my home and it usually takes me almost 2 whole rolls of 8' x 25' painters plastic to cover them all. How do you hold it up there? I use 2" wide painters masking tape. The nice thing about using painters masking tape is that it comes off easily without marring the walls in the Spring, and these days you can find it cheaply at any hardware store in a variety of colors so that you can blend it in more easily with the wall paint! 

A lot of people worry that the plastic will look tacky, but it's winter, and if you're smart, you'll be following my next tip anyway, which will help keep that plastic hidden from view...

COVER YOUR WINDOWS WITH HEAVY CURTAINS IN THE WINTER

These type curtains are sometimes called "blackout curtains", or "thermal insulated curtains". They've become quite popular in recent years and can be found at any major retailer or fabric store. They come in every color and style imaginable and do wonders at keeping the cold out and the heat in. They are also excellent during the summer months at the reverse, keeping the cool inside and the heat outside. These style curtains are also fantastic for media rooms, keeping the sunlight from washing out the beautiful picture on that new widescreen HD TV.

INVEST A FEW DOLLARS IN "LOW-FLOW"

If you don't already have low-flow faucets in your home, you can invest just a few dollars and with nothing more than a pair of pliers and a little elbow grease and convert your faucets to low-flow by installing low-flow aerator kits on them. Aerators are nothing more than a small plastic disc with holes drilled through them, regulating the flow of water out of your faucet. More holes = more water, fewer holes = less water. It's unlikely that you'll even notice a difference when washing your hands, but you will notice a difference on your water bill each month. You might also consider installing a low-flow shower head as well.

These suggestions are all tried and true, I've used every one of them here on my home and noticed a significant difference in my bills. It only takes a little time and effort and you too can be saving money, and staying comfortably warm this winter!

COLTS WIN!

OMG! The Colts win against the Detroit Lion's in an awesome (literally) last second surge to take the WIN!
One of the best nail-biting wins I've seen since the Colt's beat the Tampa Bay Bucaneer's years ago in the biggest comeback with only 4 minutes left to play.

Is Windows 8 salvageable?

There are people that are singing the praises of Windows 8, but not as many as Microsoft would have liked. There are also a lot of people who are putting out their ideas on what could be done to save Windows 8. Here's my 2 cents.

I don't think Windows 8 should be saved. I've been using the release candidate version on an old desktop that's being used as a printer server and home for our family Minecraft server. While I'm sure that the Windows User Interface, (ie Metro UI) would be fine for a tablet or some hybrid laptop with a touch-screen, it's simply a mess on a traditional desktop. It's next to impossible to get anything productive done on Windows 8 without a touchscreen.

What Microsoft needs to do is release Windows 8 SP 1, in which they make the Metro UI, uh sorry, the Windows User Interface optional. It should only become the default user interface when a touchscreen is detected. Otherwise, let Windows 8 have it's start button and taskbar functionality back. Underneath all that touchscreen, tile interface mess is a lean, mean windows 7 just dying to get back into the game! The real problem is that Microsoft got scared at how far behind they were in the tablet/touchscreen field and jumped in feet first, willing to ditch all those desktop PC users out there thinking that they were suddenly going to dry up and become tablet users.

Hello Microsoft! There are still plenty of us out here using desktops without touchscreen interfaces, and we're going to be here for awhile yet!

Bazooka Joe Goes Over the Finally Irrelevant Cliff

LINK to the story

According to the story linked above, Bazooka bubblegum will be dropping their iconic red, white and blue wrappers featuring the adventures of Bazooka Joe and his gang, citing that only 7% of children aged 6 to 12 knew who the character was. Frankly, I'm surprised that even that many kids today knew who Bazooka Joe was! The Bazooka Joe comic strip was outdated and irrelevant even when I was a child in the 1970's!

Bazooka Joe and his comic strip antics will be replaced with puzzles and trivia apparently. 

Playing Chicken With The Economy...

LINK to the story

That's certainly what it seems is happening right now, President Obama and the GOP are playing chicken with the economy, seeing which one of them is willing to flinch first and jump away from the fiscal cliff! Both parties, (i.e. Democrats & Republicans), need to be seriously discussing what to do about the looming fiscal cliff, or they're going to be arguing with each other as we all go cascading over it to wind up in a messy pile at the bottom.

The problem is, I tend to agree with the President that it's the GOP that needs to buckle since the Republicans have fared so badly in the last election and they're only trying to protect their wealthy backers from paying more in taxes. You know, those same wealthy backers like the owners of Hostess who just sacked 19,000 U.S. employees because they didn't want to give them better benefits and wage increases, although they saw nothing wrong with giving themselves huge bonuses. The GOP and "big business", who, let's face it, are the GOP, need to remember that the backbone of this country are the lower and middle classes, and if you don't have a firm, healthy backbone, you don't have anything!