Facebook Messenger app IS NOT EVIL

Stop falling for headlines struggling to get attention. Yes, the permissions allow the app to use your phone to take pictures, videos, send sms, make phone calls, etc. But you know what? Every app that uses those features requires the same permissions! It's not scary. All those headlines are simply misleading, and misinforming the public simply to get more page views, likes, clicks, etc, because those things make them money. Would you care about an article that said "FB Messenger app requires standard permissions!"? Probably not.

To add some perspective here, Google, the company that is responsible for Android, has access to all the same things that these articles are warning people about. They have ALWAYS had it, because it is their Operation System that is on the phone. You log into Google to use the phone, and they store all your contacts and information. Yet, nobody bats an eye about Google having all that information. So think about that when you worry about the standard permission that an app REQUIRES to enable you to send someone a picture, a video, or other. Those permissions are named as such by Google, not Facebook or anyone else.

Facebook even explains it all themselves here: https://www.facebook.com/help/210676372433246

Religious freedom...to be assholes

It's now been 'legally' determined that companies can deny certain Healthcare benefits based on the 'religious' beliefs of those in charge thanks to Hobby Lobby. And it's bs.

I'm going to put aside the fact that I don't believe companies should be forced to provide health insurance to begin with in what is supposed to be a country full of freedom and liberty. This isn't a free country with liberties, and they do coerce companies to follow their unjust laws. Companies being forced to provide health insurance should be the issue, not the issue of what parts of it are enforced.

If companies are forced to provide the service, it shouldn't also allow companies to impose their religious beliefs on others. And this one step will further that ability as companies demand more 'religious freedom' to deny more people things, such as what I've recently read how they want to be exempt from having to hire LGBT because of religion. At what point are they exempt from providing the insurance because they don't believe in it? I've heard of a religious person not go to the hospital and instead pray about their wound or illness. And I'm sure that would have been in the news... 'Man dies praying for healing from flesh wound rather than seeking medical assistance'.

To save money, it wouldn't be long before almost every company started denying whatever they could for 'religious beliefs' if it cut costs. What's worse is that these companies make so much money that it doesn't even make sense. It's not as if they can't afford it. These people are simply assholes. Self-centered, sociopathic assholes. 

Why don't we recycle EVERYTHING??

Trash is an issue. It fills up landfills with waste that isn't biodegradable, and sometimes even toxic. This doesn't make any sense to me. We acknowledge that it's an issue and something we need to do something about, and yet the easiest solutions are not being implemented. How hard would it really be to ensure that everything produced and consumed is either recyclable or biodegradable? 

(U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Municipal Solid Waste Generation, Recycling and Disposal in the United States: Facts and Figures 2007. Table 3: Materials Discarded in the Municipal Waste Stream 1960 to 2007.)

There are few things I would care for government to do, but if we have such an entity that could do so, why could they not simply regulate it so that everything is to be recyclable or biodegradable so that we would no longer be simply filling landfills with items that will essentially last forever within that landfill? Even better if everything could simply be recyclable, though I realize that isn't probably realistic. The government is all about regulating everything anyway...

I've found that recycling things is likely not happening as much as it should because it isn't convenient or easy. In attempting to find out how to recycle things such as metal hangers and old electronics, I've found that there are websites (such as http://search.earth911.com/) that will help you find locations that will take those items. Which is helpful, but then you have to have time to take it to those places yourself, and hopefully they are nearby and open during the hours you're not working.

In the end it's all about money. The environment takes a backseat to the all mighty dollar. It's not cost effective to make everything recyclable. It's probably not cost effective to recycle everything either. I sure do hope they make it cost effective to build and fly rockets off the planet before we can no longer live here at least. Just saying.

Soccer explodes in the US???

I'm seriously confused as to why soccer is so popular suddenly. In the states, soccer has never been the popular sport. But this year it's suddenly the biggest thing which just isn't a typical thing for the US. I can't recall seeing so much about it on news, tv, the internet, or even facebook before this year. What is going on? Did I miss something?

I can't say I'm much into sports to begin with, so I'm entirely up on anything sports. One thing I wonder is, are people just so bored that they decided to get excited over soccer? Or perhaps, being the conspiracy minded person I am, the government is using tv media to hype up the sport to get the American people distracted by it while they do devious things behind closed doors? I wouldn't put it past our supreme overlords to do such a thing.

Soccer has always been a thing for kids and soccer moms, not sports fans. I'm not a sports fan at all, so this is the time when I shouldn't have to deal with all the sports fanaticism. Stop it already.