Is anyone raising children anymore?

It seems to me that more parents are merely watching their children grow older than actually raising them...

We live in a day and age with so many gadgets and applications for monitoring where and what your child is doing, so rather than raising children that the parents can trust they simply monitor everything they do. This is bad, not only for the child but for society as a whole.

Parents have become "big brother" to their kids. Monitoring everywhere they go, every web site they visit, everything they do is monitored these days. They even have drones that can watch them as they walk to bus stops...which is crazy. I understand some parents aren't worried about what their children may do as much as worried for their safety out in the real world. But it's a false sense of security. It's like knowing police can show up in 30 minutes as opposed to actually having the ability to defend yourself. You have a cop on call, but if something actually happens you're defenseless. A kid that knows the candy van isn't real is far better off than a kid who doesn't...and even better off a kid who knows how to fend off a possible attacker or kidnapper.

In the past, parents never had all the child surveillance technology we do today, and it's become so common place. They sell these devices with the idea of "child safety" and "child protection". Yet, the same parents probably complain when the government does the same to them with the purpose of "citizen protection". I find it difficult to believe the world is so bad that we have to use such technology to watch children because it's that unsafe out there. From what I've seen, it's a lack of proper parenting that's the real issue.

On a bigger picture, this is going to be awful for society in the long run. We essentially are making the "big brother" scenario common for them. They will be used to this idea of always being watched and may even expect it later in life without realizing or seeing the negative implications of having no privacy. This is paving the way for a big brother government, or at least one more so invasive than it already is.

It's simple. If you raise children properly, you won't need to monitor them. I think this qoute applies to the issue of child monitoring, just as much as government monitoring its citizens...

"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Benjamin Franklin

Self Defense is Best Defense

Defending ourselves, or relying on an outside force to do so...why would we put our safety and livelihood in the hands of complete strangers who are susceptible to corruption other self motivating conditions?

I for one do not believe in the idea of relying on police to protect an entire country of people from murder, theft, and other crimes. Laws do not prevent the crimes they make illegal, and police can't prevent crimes. They are only good after the crime is already committed. So why are we being forced into a position of having to rely on them for our safety?

For example, assuming you don't have weapons, if an armed burglar breaks into your home you can call the cops. They will arrive 30 minutes or more later after the burglar has already stolen everything, and in a worse case scenario, killed everyone. Also, the cops only show up if you are able to call them. Then those same cops will maybe look for evidence to help them find the person who broke in if it's important enough since they don't have time to look into every case. In most cases, they will simply show up for the sake of any insurance claim you make assuming you have insurance in the first place for it.

So what I would prefer this country pursue is a country of trained and armed citizens. It makes more sense to have a country of citizens who can defend themselves and their property than paying for the poor service of protection provided by police. Consider Switzerland, the most armed citizens and lowest rate for homicide. Essentially, who is going to take the chance of being killed if that chance is so high? Same reason all the countries want nuclear weapons...who wants to fight a country that could nuke you?

Rather than trying to ban any weapon, the US really should consider the idea of pushing for people to arm themselves, and ensure everyone is trained in the use of firearms. An increase in the chance that you'll be shot and killed robbing someone, a bank, store, etc, would greatly decrease the crime rate. Having people walk around cities with pistols, or even assault rifles slung across their shoulder would be a great deterrent to crime. It would kind of be like having police everywhere...which just isn't going to happen, I hope.

An article about Switzerland, guns, and crime...
http://www.stephenhalbrook.com/articles/guns-crime-swiss.html

Violence caused by what we view?

Something I'm curious about, and has been an issue for the media previously when it comes to violence in video games and television and such, is if it's really tv and video game that makes you want to do violence, or is it some sort of pre-existing desire that is spurred forward by viewing such things?

For instance, I enjoy watching Dexter and Breaking Bad. Extremely good tv shows. But, do I want to start a meth lab and kill evil people because I watch the shows or because I've already had the desire and watching the shows just provide me a visual manifestation of this that brings out this desire?

When it comes to murder, I think everyone, males mostly I think, have this innate desire in them for it, at least when it comes to self defense or defense of others and property...and possibly just for natural selection reasons. In the past killing each other used to be what people had to do. Someone tries to rob you or shoot you for some reason, you hopefully shot them first instead. Survival of the fittest. These days we can't (aren't supposed to) do that, most of the time anyway. Not to mention we are trained against defending ourselves from an early age, always have to tell someone else who will do something about it such as a teacher, or police officer...which is total bullshit. We should be trained to do something about it ourselves...but that's a different topic though.

The best movie I think, would be God Bless America. Don't let the title fool you if you haven't heard of it before. A guy goes around shooting really awful people, though not killers as in Dexter, but people who do awful things like take up multiple parking spaces and then doesn't give a fuck type...or better yet, preachers preaching against gays such as the hillsboro or whatever church that was. Too lazy to look that one up. Normally people should probably think that's horrible. But I think anyone who enjoys that movie think the exact opposite. I want to see that really happen. I want to see that widespread so all the people who are total dick bags reconsider their dick bag ways...or die.

So is violence on our tv's the issue, or is the fact that people out there deserve to be shot in the head the real issue? The kids shooting up school aren't the ones showing up and being greeted and everyone loves them. They were the ones picked on and bullied. It makes sense. Personally I think it's the world that is the issue, not the tv...and nobody wants to take responsibility for anything.

Truck Driving

I've been driving trucks for a little over 4 months now. The big trucks that everyone hates on the road that go slow up hill and slow past each other blocking traffic. Trust me, I hate it even driving the truck.

I can't say much about the company I drive for as I have no idea how other companies do business, pay or run their drivers, etc. What I have heard though, is that they are the lowest paying of them all. But again, I don't actually know for sure, or at all, about that.

I went through a 2 week class to get a Class A drivers license. Honestly, unless you're a friggen tard, anyone can pass it. They practically pass you through the class, providing answers, and sometimes ignoring things that you should fail for. Understandable since they get money from the government for putting people through the class...but scary for the fact they will be on the road driving a giant death mobile (with the wrong driver of course).

The major downside to truck driving...assuming you have a social life...is the fact you never go home. You live in the truck as you drive all over the country. This is until you have the experience (or connections) to move get a local driving position. Seriously though, you have no life. You drive, you sleep, you drive some more.

The more setup drivers have a tv, possibly a gaming console (I have an Xbox), and buy a lot of movies. Some will even have microwaves for food, but I've always enjoyed eating out, usually fast food though. Another downside is a lack of a bathroom or shower. Most of the time, you will be stopped at a truck stop at the end of the day for showers, but not always. And the bathroom can be difficulty or far between when driving down the highway.

Being a more solitary person, I do enjoy the job, but I miss having a decent computer and time to do the projects I enjoy.

Damn you Apple fanboys!

Why do they keep making all these neat things for iPhones!? It's not even that great of a phone. Android phones are even better. Also, windows mobile phones are getting better also. Other phones have better hardware, better OS, but admittedly, the only thing iPhone has going for it now is it's sleek look. Otherwise they are way way overpriced for how low end they are.

And you know who perpetuates this? Apple fanboys. Just like Starbucks with crappy coffee that sells so well because of ignorant people who are more into looks than taste or functionality. So now you have companies building devices and apps that are sometimes exclusive to Apple, and ignoring a very large Android market. I do however see one important aspect of this. There is only one apple device to make it for, not having to worry about different OS versions, or hardware specs. You make one app, one device, and it works on all apple phones you make it for. Whereas you make an app, and it will hopefully work on most android powered devices. Though most of the time any problem is usually user related anyway.

Speaking of those kind of different hardware/OS specs on different phones causing issues...why have they not come up with a solution for that? I mean, we've been dealing with the same issues with Microsoft Windows for forever now. Someone makes a game or other app, and it doesn't work correctly because you have this audio card, or that video card, or video driver. It should have all just become standardized by now. A slight side track anyway.

Regardless, if fan boys want to pay exuberant prices for an image, so be it. I'll spend less money for a more capable device and spend the rest of my money on something else fun.


Back story: Saw some things about new devices for iPhones, also the taxi cab app, Uber, and the last time I went to a store about an android keyboard for an android tablet all I find are apple keyboards. Come on. Android is really popular too you know.

Religion and Drugs - Similarities

I've been thinking about how drugs and religion are essentially the same thing.


People who are into them refuse to hear logic or reason as to why they shouldn't.

They hang out with people who are into it also.

Both have people on the streets peddling it.

Most people give a large sum of their income for it, and some give everything they have for it.

People fight wars and die over them.

They are illegal in certain countries, and legal in others.

People who grow up with it are more likely to do it.

Stores capitalize on paraphernalia for them.

Both can push loved ones, friends, etc, away.

Both are very psychological in how they affect people.

People try to free those addicted from them.


Those are just some of the similarities I can think of. An article I found online. The comments are the best part...

http://atheism.about.com/b/2009/10/14/forum-discussion-religion-as-a-drug.htm

Presidential Elections

One thing is obvious. There is nothing fair or unbiased about the presidential elections. Media covers the candidate they want to win more, and try to ignore or downplay the opposition. They put their biased spins on everything they cover. This isn't the first election for this to occur, not the second, third, etc. But it's the first time I cared to pay any attention, right up until it became the difference between voting for Obama, or Romney who basically is the same person.

It's to be expected though. The news media is a company after all, and the election of a president who plans to make the rich richer is going to be the candidate the heads of those companies want elected. It's not right however. For a majority of people, tv is still their main source of information about candidates, specifically the elderly who are more likely to vote...since they care more about their medicare than the future or the country.

I propose that there should be laws put into place to ensure that elections in the future are fair and unbiased, or as unbiased as possible anyway. Every possible candidate should be required to have the same amount of air time on tv, with no personal opinions provided. Simply provide the news about the on goings of candidates, show the debates, etc. Allow the audience to make their own decisions based on the candidates, not what the media companies can spin.

Advertisements should not be allowed to bash candidates. When elections are simply about voting for the lesser of two evils, there is a problem there. Ads on tv about candidates simply flame each other for this thing they did or didn't do, and they simply go back and forth.

This election is about voting anyone but Obama, regardless if it were Obama's own clone or Hitler, just so long as it's not Obama. Are you fucking kidding me?

http://www.examiner.com/article/limbaugh-we-are-voting-against-obama-romney-could-be-elmer-fudd



America is fucked.

Happy 4th of July!

The day we gained our independence only to lose a lot of what was gained to our own government! Seriously, look into what we fought for (assuming you can find it). Then look at what our government does, maybe not entirely to us, but to other countries too.

I understand celebrating things. Sure. But when you are celebrating something you no longer have?
Sure, we have our independence from England. But all the reasons we fought for that independence? Not so much.

The only site I could find that said anything other than simply independence... http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/northamerica/after1500/government/declaration.htm 

"We here in America have suffered for a very long time, and now we should change our government. The king of England has done many bad things to us - here is a list:

• He won't let us pass laws we need for everybody's good.
• Even when we do pass laws, he won't sign them so they can go into effect.
• He tried to force men to give up their right to make laws.
• He calls men together to make laws in the most inconvenient times and places, so that they won't be able to go discuss the new laws.
• He won't let new settlers come to America, and he won't let the settlers take over new land from the Native Americans.
• He won't let us choose our own judges, and instead he chooses them all himself, so they're all on his side.
• He sends lots of new government officials that we don't want, and he makes us pay for them.
• He sends lots of English soldiers here when there isn't even a war, and makes us let them live in our own houses.
• He tells us these soldiers can do whatever they want and don't have to obey the law.
• He won't let us buy and sell things from wherever we want. We can only buy things from England.
• He makes us pay all kinds of taxes without asking us about it.
• He won't let us have a jury for our trials, only a judge.
• He sends people accused of crimes far away to England for their trials.
• He tries to get people to revolt and tries to get the "Indian Savages" to attack us.

"

While our government doesn't do all of the above list, at least not to us specifically (some things it does to other countries now), it does a lot of them. I don't want to pay taxes, we don't vote in judges (Supreme court judges are appointed), we have massive government, we have a police force that more and more is doing whatever they want, laws are passed without any voting from us (Americans, instead of just the government voting within itself), we aparantly now take people from other countries that break laws of our own country from other countries and bring them here to stand trial (Megaupload), we send lots of troops to foreign countries even though there isn't a war (Fuck you, "war on terror" isnt' a fucking war), NDAA - no jury, no judge, just a big fuck you, etc. etc. etc.

But hey, at least we are independent of England! Woo! Let's blow shit up and celebrate that!

Netflix ReSubscription

TIL You can resubscribe to Netflix with one simple click of a link.

So let this be a lesson to anyone who cancels their Netflix, but has been letting others use it. They may not realize you're going to change the password to the Netflix immediately after finding out they resubscribed you, and just be wasting your money, but I do.

I mean, seriously. Obviously they are just being a dick about it, because clearly you wanted the account cancelled because you have no job, and no money to actually pay for anything anyway. Also the fact that you can easily change the Netflix password to keep them out of what they just resubscribed to. At the very least, at least it's only 7.99, and the only reason I had it in the first place was because I forgot to cancel the trial before they charged me.

To reiterate, change your Netflix password after you cancel it if you've let anyone else use the account. They might subscribe you again.

Between Two Ferns

An internet show that is hilarious that you may not have seen...

Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis

Zach Galifianakis is a host and has celebrity guests come on and he interviews them. It is laugh out loud funny. Zach makes the actors uncomfortable, or angry, or awkward...and you just need to watch.

Here is one with Ben Stiller
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/60072add5a/between-two-ferns-with-zach-galifianakis-ben-stiller?rel=player&playlist=135161

Some Jokes I Just Read

A Jew walks into a Nazi bar, sits down and orders a drink.
The bartender can't believe it and says, "we don't get a lot of you people in here."
To which the Jewish man replies,"well at these prices I'm not surprised."


Guy goes to play golf. All the caddies are taken, but they have new robot caddies. The guy shoots the game of his life. Comes back the next day and asks for a robot caddie. The pro says,"I'm sorry we had to discontinue the robot caddies; the glare was messing up shots." "Why didn't you just paint them black or brown then?", asks the man. The pro says, "We did, but then four didn't show up for work and three held up the pro shop."

Job Searches

Some of you may not know this, but there was a time when you could actually hand in a resume (or fill out an application) to a company, get a call for an interview, do the interview and find out then and there that you got the job or not.

This seems to be the most common process these days: Fill out application online. If it gives you the option to upload a resume it will still make you put that same information in the required fields anyway. Take a 100 question survey they use to weed out people people who are honest or simply don't know the correct answer they are looking for...but mostly to weed out honest people. All of this which takes up to an hour to complete for only one job position.

After that, maybe you'll get a call in a week...or even a month...for an interview. If you do well on the interview, they will call you back for a second interview. If you do well on that one, in some rare cases, you'll have a job, and in others you'll get a call for a third fucking interview. And this is jobs like pushing carts at mother fucking Walmart. Seriously? Are you fucking kidding me? And on top of that, it's only part time.

Same thing goes for so many other low paying part time jobs. Lots of good people don't get jobs. This is all my opinion on the process mind you, from my own thoughts and observations...the lazy bastards that know how to lie and cheat their way get the job. Then the companies end up letting go of people and repeating the process.

God Bless America

Just watched one of the best movies of the year, God Bless America (imo).

Watch the trailer, or just watch the movie. It's currently available online at Amazon.com or other places, and in limited number of theatres. (Pirate Bay is good as always)

WordPress Post Editor issues

I've always had this issue with the WordPress post editor. I'm sure a lot of people have. But it's "laggy", at least when I try to delete words anyway. Backspace is just terrible to try and do, and it either doesn't delete all the letter, or if I press it too much, it deletes way more than it should, and very slowly...

So I tried searching for a fix today. Have not found one yet, but have discovered that it's an issue specific to WordPress as the TinyMCE editor that WordPress uses doesn't have the same issue except within WordPress. It's also an issue that has been prevalent for a very long time, and has yet to be resolved by the people that code it. I find it interesting that they wouldn't fix it, considering that it's how people post, and it's what the entire WordPress thing is for.

So for the moment, I deal with it. The thought of switching to something else came to mind...though I'm not aware of what else to switch to atm. Too bad blogger isn't a standalone download I can install on my web server (or is it?).

So that's my issue for the day. Anyone have a fix they are aware of?

Blacklight:Retribution

Been playing this game for about two weeks now. I personally love the game. It's been getting mixed reviews from my fellow gamer friends though. It was officially released on April 4th (I think). However, it still seems very much in beta though. There were some "issues" with the release patch for the game that hopefully is being resolved with tonight's patch.

Blacklight is Free 2 Play. You play to gain GP to buy weapon upgrades (mods) to modify how the weapon works (or Armor and equipment also). I think it's well balanced as far as the modifications go. Each mod positively affects one part of the gun, but also has a negative affect.

The graphics are amazing for a f2p game. It has CTF, DOMination, DM, TDM, and TKOTH (Team King of The Hill. Servers support up to 16 players per match. It also has HardSuits (mechs), which are fun to get and kill people with. Makes the game a little bit different.

As with most FPS games, the issues of cheating (hacks) comes into play here, but so far it hasn't been that bad. There are some really good players, and I've come across 2 or so "official" hackers. The game implements Punkbuster which effectively does nothing against hacks.

blacklight.perfectworld.com

The Rich Man

Is a total dick.

Why is it believed that the rich man is truly entitled to what he had "earned"? The argument is that they worked hard for that money, and anyone else could have done so also. Yet, without those poor working class people, that rich man would have had nobody to work for him, to do that jobs that need to be done. Not everyone comes from a rich family that can afford to put their kids through expensive colleges, to provide the means to be "successful".

So why shouldn't that rich man be responsible for helping those in need? It's those same people that made him rich anyway. On the flip side, the rich man is the one who makes others poor. Refuses to pay decent wages to fund their greed. Won't provide healthcare, insurance, etc. See Walmart for instance. Anytime the people try to stand up to get better working conditions, they either get fired, or if the store comes close to starting a Union, they will simply close the entire store to prevent them from being able to stand up against their rich oppressor. Other companies aren't much different.

With these tactics to keep wages of employees low, avoid paying for healthcare and other benefits, they provide prices that anyone else could not possibly compete with, thus stunting anyone's ability to be able to "work hard" to become rich (or at least well off anyway) as well.

So when someone says something like, "I worked hard to get where I am, and everyone else can too if they just tried.", you're just a fucking dick. Hell, some of the richest people exist because they steal or simply buy someone elses hard work anyway. See Microsoft.

A RON PAUL POST!

The Real Reason for NATO Attacking Libya EXPOSED

http://www.libertypulse.com/article/cbs-excludes-ron-paul-from-new-hamshire-2012-campaign-news-coverage-blowback-ensues/

This is why they want SOPA so bad. Not because of illegal downloading, but because of the spread of knowledge and information(read: TRUTH). They want to control the spread of information just like other countries already do...think about it.

Consider the links above. Corporate money can control information in mass media, but it can't control the information spread across the internet. SOPA and other internet censorship bills are their attempts to obtain the means to control information on the internet too. Those bills have nothing to do with illegal downloading. It's already been shown that illegal downloading is actually good for the music and movie industry. Obviously you don't try and destroy what's good for business...unless about something else entirely.

The spread of information and knowledge is opening people's eyes to the lies and deceit that's been running rampant. And it's all thanks to the internet we use on a daily basis. Ron Paul is an opponent to SOPA and large corporations, to the BANK, to government. This is why they are doing everything they can to say he doesn't have a chance at all, to completely exclude him from news coverage, to possibly fix the ballots(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vGqMeqPV74&feature=related), but thanks to the internet, it isn't working too well.

Consider the following video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfeEUsssRqo (ignore the fact it says Ron Paul...its not about him actually) It's an interesting video to think about considering what is happening this election. The media managed to do to another what they are trying to do to Ron Paul. But this is the age of the internet. There is nothing they can do to exclude Ron Paul from the internet. With viral marketing, advertising, word of mouth, Ron Paul via the internet can still win despite the attempts of corporate media to keep him down.


Ron Paul 2012!

Epic Customer Support From Volt

I wanted to find out if I left Volt as my Minecraft host, what would happen to the funds in the account that was donated. The host keeps having issues, either their site is slow, they are getting DDOS’d again, or their MySql is running horribly horribly slow which I recently found out has been the cause of my server lag and disconnects. So I posted a question in their support asking about it and this is how they responded…



I thought it was hilarious. I wasn’t even looking to have my ass kissed, I really wanted to know because I really want to change to a host that doesn’t have as many issues. However, I learn that using a hosting companies donation system is not the best thing to do since they apparently will keep all the money donated and you get fucked if you decide to switch hosts.

File-Sharing Recognized as Official Religion in Sweden

Just read about this on TorrentFreak. Sounds like something that should expand to other countries.

Since 2010 a group of self-confessed pirates have tried to get their beliefs recognized as an official religion in Sweden. After their request was denied several times, the Church of Kopimism – which holds CTRL+C and CTRL+V as sacred symbols – is now approved by the authorities as an official religion. The Church hopes that its official status will remove the legal stigma that surrounds file-sharing.

Full article here:
http://torrentfreak.com/file-sharing-recognized-as-official-religion-in-sweden-120104/

Waterfox - A 64-bit optimized version of Firefox

Came across this on LifeHacker.com...

A 64-bit version of Firefox. If you use a 64-bit Operating System, and you should, then download Waterfox. Honestly, I can't tell any speed difference from any of the browsers, but some definitely display and have better plugins than others. Also, look better overall compared to others.

It uses the same directories as Firefox, so if you're currently a Firefox user as I am/was then you will have all your plugins, bookmarks, etc when you use Waterfox. I'm currently using Waterfox to post this also.

Here is the link to the LifeHacker article which links to Waterfox downloads... http://lifehacker.com/5871373/waterfox-is-a-faster-64+bit-optimized-version-of-firefox-for-windows-pcs