Table of contents
FYI. Some explanations are in order.
What is a blog? Explains the difference between a blog and a forum.
Blog Entries List:
Links to blog entries below are listed in descending order starting with the first entry for the year to the newest.
To read the blog entries in chronological order from the first to the newest as I entered them, you can start with the first blog entry listed below and read down from there.
March 18th, 2011: Blogging again with a new page for 2011!
March 19th, 2011: Pictures taken during supermoon on Hollywood Beach, in Florida!
March 20th, 2011: A bully's victim, Casey Heynes, can't take it anymore, and defends himself and gets punished by the school?!
May 6th, 2011: The sony corporation 'loses' more than 100 million online gaming accounts including credit card information, email addresses, et cetera?!
August 2nd, 2011: The United States government raises federal debt limit, continues to give tax cuts to big business and the rich and may make cuts in Social Security and Medicare.
August 19th, 2011: The government screws me over, again.
August 26th, 2011: Updated and fixed the links on my Howl page, as well as created a new banner, and I give some information about Linux and Ubuntu.
September 4th, 2011: Looked up information on Dr Ron Paul who is also a congressman that is running for president, and he looks like the best cantidate so far.
October 12th, 2011: Yet another of the greats in the computer world dies :-(.
October 18th, 2011: Williston, North Dakota has a 3.3 percent unemployment rate and a lot of jobs, but, there is a housing shortage.
November 2nd, 2011: Florida Department of Children and Families said I was approved, but, I've heard such lines, before . . ..
November 30th, 2011: Congress will vote on monday to allow the military to indefinitely detain people, including the citizens of the United States of America without charges or a trial!
Other pages on this site
What is a blog?
To those who are asking "what is a blog?", a blog is a personal Web log (blog is a shortened way of saying weblog), a chronicle of events or a journal where somebody writes down things that happen in their lives, their thoughts, and opinions.
What's the difference between a blog and a forum? Some people confuse forums with blogs. A forum is for public discussion. You can look that up in the dictionary if you like. ;-) A blog, being a Web log, journal, or personal diary would be for an individual. Look at some personal blogs and compare them with forums, even those that for some odd reason are calling themselves blogs. You'll see the difference quickly enough.
March 18th, 2011:
Blogging again, with a new page for 2011!
Another year, another blog page! Hee hee hee First, some updating on what I've been up to.
On February 27th, I went to the Florida Renaissance Festival! There, I took a lot of pictures and some video of the events, such as Celtic Mayhem, Duelists, Hooligan, Irish and Rose, Jayna Lee (although on the schedule, it had her name listed as Jana, for the last show on the Castle Stage there, so Jayna Lee may be her stage name), Wonderfool, and the Royal Parade. When I've finished editing the videos (it has been some time since I've been behind a video camera, and the last serious gig I did for that was a video interview with a certain state's governor), I will post them for all to see. If you've never gone to a renaissance festival before, you should give it a try, at least once in your life. It's fairly cheap, and great fun! And, you only have to pay an admission price, with no additional fees to see most of the shows, but, giving them some donations helps them out.
In early March, I received a letter from a woman regarding some very scary things. In the past, I have recommended that people contact agencies such as the FBI, but, after waiting for more than a decade for any reply from them about modern-day slavery and some serial killers I told them about, I've come to the conclusion that they don't care about such things unless they get embarrassed into having to investigate them because of news stories on the mainstream news channels. And, to the woman reading this, I truly do not expect people to donate, I know what it's like to be poverty level (in 2004, I was homeless for three months), and very rarely do I get even one dollar sent to me. Perhaps you should do things like record conversations with the people you are threatened by. There are some cheap used micro cassette recorders you can buy to use for such a purpose, either on-line, or at local thrift stores, and, in many places, as long as one of the people involved in the conversation knows that it's being recorded, it is legal, but, you should check the laws where you live regarding that, first, so you don't get into trouble for it. Then, you will have some proof to give to news agencies, which you should give to at least a few, and not just the local television stations. Then, perhaps, one would hope that a government agency will do their jobs, as they're paid to, and investigate these things.
About that same time, someone sent me something in the mail that didn't stay in my box for more than two weeks, and was sent back. Not entirely sure what it was, as the card the Post Office had put in my box didn't say, or even who it was from. If you send me something, don't send it asking for a signature verification or some-such, because I don't check my Post Office box that often, and the Post Office will just send it back to you.
Yesterday, March 17th, 2011, I went out for green beer day! Among the places that I went to were Toucan's Oceanside Bar & Grill at 500 N. Boardwalk in Hollywood, Florida. To see my review of it, please check out the Toucan's Oceanside Bar and Grill page. While walking around between drinking, at different bars on the boardwalk, I was watching a nice looking woman with very beautiful red hair instead of watching where I was putting my feet, and stumbled on part of the sidewalk that had a step, and fell down. The woman was kind, and helped me to my feet. After that, we did some drinking together, and we went home together. Couldn't think of a better end to green beer day. ;-)
:+: Top of Blog 2011 page :+: More of 2011 :+: Other pages :+:
March 19th, 2011:
Went out to Hollywood Beach to check out the supermoon!
This was supposed to be the biggest full moon in the last 18 years, as Luna hasn't gotten this close to Sol III (AKA 'Earth' as some of the human denizens who inhabit its surface are in the habit of calling it). It will only be a little over 211,000 miles away this evening. Would've been a nice time to have another moonshot, as it would've saved on consumable mass, such as fuel, but . . .
Anyway, thought I would share some of the pictures I had taken there. Keep in mind, I am by no means a professional photographer, and I'm using an older digital camera for night pictures.
 |
The supermoon just after moonrise.
Not that clear of a picture, but, it's a nice color. :-) |
 |
The supermoon's light reflecting on the waves.
Looks rather like part of a sonogram image, doesn't it, or something you'd see in one of the old black and white pirate movies from back in the 1940's or 1950's? Almost expect to see Errol Flynn on a pirate ship not far from shore . . . |
 |
One of the strange things seen during the supermoon . . .
A ghost seen in a picture? Doubtful. It's more than likely because the camera stayed open so long to get the picture that anyone moving even slightly fast appeared as a blur. But, still a cool effect, when there's other people in the picture that appear normal. |
Some of us enjoyed the the burgers and $10 buckets of domestic beer at Cafe HWB on Hollywood Beach, in Florida, for an hour or so. The burgers were tasty, but, they couldn't make them very rare, only medium rare, and, they were a little more expensive than some of us were used to paying. However, the buckets of domestic beer helped. ;-)
And, to the waiter who might be reading this, those weren't hieroglyphics on the napkin, but, astrological and astronomical symbols that I had written down from memory. Hee hee hee If you want to see what hieroglyphics look like, do a search for a picture of the Rosetta Stone. It includes hieroglyphics, Demotic, and ancient Greek, in that order, from top to bottom.
And, Skye, if you're reading this, the word I was looking for was cartouche. You'll see cartouches in the hieroglyphics part of the Rosetta Stone. They look like elongated ovals. You'll see Ptolemy's name there, written in phonetic symbols. Champollion, who, like you, was also a teacher, did a lot of work in deciphering the Rosetta Stone. Couldn't think of the word cartouche at the time, but, it has been a while since I've had a conversation about such matters, so you'll have to excuse my temporary memory lapse. LOL And, Skye, another entertaining book you or Jennipher might like, or that you might want to recommend to your students, is The Warlock in Spite of Himself, by Christopher Stasheff. But, you can read it for yourself, first, before recommending it.
Hope everyone enjoyed the pictures and the supermoon! :-)
:+: Top of Blog 2011 page :+: More of 2011 :+: Other pages :+:
March 20th, 2011:
A bully's victim, Casey Heynes, can't take it anymore, and defends himself and gets punished by the school?!
Casey Heynes, a victim of bullying, pre-meditated mob action, abuse, and public humiliation, is punished by the school he goes to for defending himself, after being tortured and humiliated for years, yet, none of his tormenters are punished at all?
Things are seriously messed up in this world when people can't defend themselves from attacks even when they don't use guns. His tormentors set it up, video recorded it, some attacked him, and some laughed and ridiculed him while he was attacked, pushed up against a wall, with nowhere else to go, and others sought to defend his attacker after he had defended himself, even though he did not pursue further violence against the bully. Yet, he has been punished by the school for defending himself, while his attackers and tormentors get away with their crimes of intolerance and hatred. This would appear to be the normal stance for schools, always siding with the bullies, no matter what, even when there is video evidence showing their guilt for all the world to see, and shoving the evidence into the faces of the viewers, letting the entire world know that those who run the schools are not fair. This, while, in typical human two-faced style, claiming that people should be fair, but, they only seem to want fairness when they can get something out of it, themselves. If they have to be responsible, or fair to others, they suddenly don't seem interested in the concept of fairness.
For well over a decade, now, I have attempted to inform the public about this problem, most notably on my Web site, on pages such as School Violence: What Causes School Violence (mostly bullying, hazing, and intolerance) while it continues to happen time and time again, with no sign of it ever changing. The schools use PR tricks to try to fool the public such as establishing anti-bully policies, while, in fact, doing the exact opposite; supporting the bullies, and defending them at every turn. Have they never heard the expression that actions speak louder than words? Well, their actions are speaking volumes to those who are paying attention, making it easy to see through their thin facade of PR lies. Only the most gullible buy their lies. The rest of us are becoming more wise to the tricks with each incident.
Here's an idea; publish the names and pictures of the bullies and those who participate in such actions, or at the very least, the names, pictures, addresses, and telephone numbers of their parents on-line. This should prove far more of a deterrent than claiming you have an anti-bully policy while doing all you can to help them. Not interested in doing something like that? No real surprise, there . . .
When will humans learn? But, sharing the world has never been humanity's defining attribute, has it? Those who ask why can't we all just get along, have read little or no history, or perhaps a severely watered-down sugar-coated version of it, and subjects such as the Black Hawk massacre are discouraged. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. This has all happened before. It will all happen again. And again, and again, and again . . .
Sometimes, you have to wonder, what is the point of trying? But, then, you have to consider the fact that the alternative is to surrender, to give up, and fail. That isn't an option people should choose. You will only become dust, your life would become virtually meaningless, having accomplished nothing but merely surviving until you decided to quit the game, leaving only a memory in the minds of those who knew you, until they, too, have gone, and, it will be as if you had never even existed. Why would anyone want that? Does it have some allure that I just can't grok? Is there some happy place down in the depths of ultimate nothingness, filled with fluffy teddy bears, balloon animals, cheerful music, and an inexhaustible supply of cake and ice cream or suchlike? What is it about nihilism that has such an allure? Or is it because it is easier for people to do absolutely nothing, to just roll over and die, accepting things as they are with no fight whatsoever, like a plant under the heel of a boot? Well, some of you might be thinking such thoughts, but, I'm not ready to discorporate just yet.
I am not ready to become nothingness, to cease to exist. Even though there are many belief systems claiming that the end of a life is not the end of the self's existence, there exists little proof of a here-after and this node of reality may be all that you have. But, I'm not one of those who believes that the sense of self, the feeling of consciousness, awareness of the world, and your mind's interpretation of it is a simple biological matter or can be explained away as saying it's a simple electro-chemical process of the brain, and that is all that there is to you, the person who is reading this text.
There might or might not be proof of a here-after, or proof of a reward system for what you did with your life, yet, dismissing anyone's beliefs simply because there is no proof of it being the correct interpretation of what happens to people when their biological functions cease isn't right, and could very well be wrong. Perhaps a belief in something makes it real, or, you have to agree that, at least, it is real to the believer within their minds, and, in troubled times, that belief might be the only thing that keeps them going, or from doing bad things. Maybe even to the person such as the one who is claiming they don't have a soul? Give it some thought. It just might save your life . . . That belief system might give them hope. Are you so cruel as to slash the life preserver of someone in the turbulent waters of a vast and seemingly empty ocean with little hope? Then you have no right to expect any mercy from others.
Yes, I can imagine some of you saying that I'm not normal. That there is something weird, passing strange, or just plain odd about me, and the way that I think. But, from what I have seen of what the world considers to be normal, of humans who are sadistically cruel and who seem intolerant of any differences at all in others, and take pleasure in hurting others and those who can't fight back, such as animals, or their pets, I embrace my differences, and cherish wholeheartedly my weirdness. It is better by far, than the alternative; to be a two-faced sadistic monster, who cares little for anything other than greed and power, which seems to be the pre-requisite of being human . . .
And, I'm rambling, again . . . LOL Well, thank you, my readers, for giving me a moment of your time, whether you think your time is valuable or not, for your patience, and for visiting. Parting is such sweet sorrow, happy trails, howl @ you later, live long and prosper, and all that rot. ;-)
:+: Top of Blog 2011 page :+: More of 2011 :+: Other pages :+:
May 6th, 2011:
The sony corporation 'loses' more than 100 million online gaming accounts including credit card information, email addresses, et cetera?!
The sony corporation, or simply, sony corp, as the news reporters sometimes call them, the same big business company that forced many of their customers to install the sony rootkit on their computers who were silly enough to buy some of their music CDs and try to play them on their computers, has screwed you over, again.
There are a lot of perturbed playstation network customers out there who are greatly concerned, now, about sony's apparent lack of concern about their customers. But, considering how they like to screw over their customers, this shouldn't really come as any great surprise to them. Only the most gullible and un-informed still buy their products and services. However, because most humans are essentially sheeple at heart, and are very gullible and choose to remain un-informed, their name is legion. Okay, there are more than a legion of them, and they number in the millions . . .
The sheeple's primary mindset is, as most of the regular readers here have already found out, are ignorance and apathy. This became evident to some of us a long time ago, when the vast majority of people you attempted to have a conversation with about anything outside their chosen field of study or profession answered with such comments as "who cares?" "whatever" and "I don't know."
In the last few years, I can count on the digits of one paw er, hand the number of times that I have had an intellectually stimulating conversation with a stranger. Even attempting to discuss, what, for some of us, are rather notable turning points in history such as the invention of the printing press, steam engine, electricity (primarily the battle of the currents between Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison), antibiotics, transistors, indoor plumbing, light bulbs (I don't miss banging my head against gas jets on walls in hallways), bicycles, internet, and search engines (you can appreciate these more if you spent several years attempting to find a book which might have what you are looking for in a group of card catalog file cards, hoping the book was not checked out, and is still where it is supposed to be, and not on a table or cart somewhere, going to the index in the back of the book and finding the page number or numbers of where the author thinks you should look for the information in his book, reading, on average, half of the page, and discovering that it was absolutely no help whatsoever, and please don't get me started on librarians who give you those looks when you ask them for books from another library using the interlibrary loan system on subjects such as cybernetics, genetic engineering, transmogrification, cold fusion, telekinesis AKA psychokinesis, nanotechnology, biological mimicry (scratchproof sunglasses and eyeglasses, anyone?) dark matter, electronarcosis, artificial intelligence, stealth technology, virtual reality, precognition, gravitational lensing, teleportation, or molecular regeneration) gets you little more than a blank stare.
What is the cause you may ask?
Some claim that it is the increased consumption of soy and other vegetable oils, in very nearly almost any packaged food item in a store. There should be more testing by independent laboratories as well as government laboratories on this. People should be aware of the truth, especially if something that they're being fed from day one in their infant formulas and the like is giving them health problems. Or, perhaps that is one of the main reasons the American government doesn't want to provide univesal healthcare for their citzens un-like other countries? Fixing something that they allowed to happen to their citizens so they could get richer isn't something they'd be too crazy about . . .
Others blame the decreasing quality of education in schools.
Back in 1989, 18-24 year old Americans were asked to point out 16 places on a map. They averaged 6.9 out of 16, and only 86 percent of 18-24 year old Americans could find the United States on a map. This was over 20 years ago . . .
There are more doctorates given out these days, but, as many patients are finding out, a good proportion of medical staff cannot even get patient's names right, so, how much confidence can patients have in them to be able to read an x-ray or MRI results?
Sadly, the signs of the increased stupidity of the sheeple are all around us, most notably in one of the more recent examples, the South Bend pubic schools billboard. However, anyone who reads only the mainstream media's news articles can see this for themselves in the growing number of typographical errors in a significant number of news stories. Many news reporters have not only graduated from high school, but also have a Bachelor of Science degree. The schools which gave them those degrees should be ashamed of themselves and have obviously failed in their roles as educators. Readers with children should research where these reporters graduated and add them to their own worst schools in America lists.
And, as the quality, reliability, and durability of manufactured goods from gaming consoles, computers, VCRs, DVD players, home appliances, automobiles, and other items continue to decrease even more sharply in only the last few decades, how long will it be before the sheeple figure it out?
Or will their ignorance continue to increase at such an accelerated rate as to make any chance of them noticing it and perhaps doing anything about it drop to zero?
The sheeple also continue to purchase the same manufactured goods that they've recently had to throw out because they stopped working after only a few years. It is as if their brains either cannot figure it out on their own, or they cannot break out of this routine.
You do not need to be a rocket scientist (anyone here remember the New York Times ridiculing Goddard for talking about sending a rocket to the moon, and, then, the day after Apollo 11 lifted off from Florida, some forty nine years later, admitted they made an error in stating that a rocket cannot function in a vacuum? LOL) to see that there is something very wrong with this. But, to anyone with a doctorate in neuroscience, this should be sending up a lot of red flags . . .
Provided, of course, they're not one of the aforementioned sheeple . . .
If such is the case, they will likely say something equivalent to "who cares" or "whatever" and go back to their MMORPG or turn on their television set and lose their train of thought within about 30 seconds as their brain starts generating alpha waves as they watch one of the more boring VidScans (honest movie reviews and honest TV show reviews) produced lately . . .
And, a special reward to the readers who have read this far down. I have changed my Web site's 404 page to something that those unfortunate enough to use micro$haft windows operating systems might recognize. Most of you know how to find an error page by now. For those who don't, I leave it as an exercise for the student. ;-) When you get to it, for a sense of surrealism, you can hit the F11 key in many Web browsers to see it full screen.
:+: Top of Blog 2011 page :+: More of 2011 :+: Other pages :+:
August 2nd, 2011:
The United States government raises the federal debt limit, continues to give tax cuts to big business as well as the rich and may make cuts in Social Security and Medicare
Here's the situation in the United States of America: The federal government gives tax cuts to big business, and many of them do not pay any federal taxes. Exxon Mobil, for instance, did not pay any federal income tax in 2009. Many firms also use allowances that can give them back more than 100 percent of drilling costs. And yet, we are still paying a lot of money for gasoline at the gas station pumps . . . Back in 2008, the Government Accountability Office released a report stating that two thirds of American corporations paid no taxes, and a quarter of big businesses also paid no taxes. And, the United States still fell into a 'deep recession' . . .
Then, there's the rich . . . Some of those against taxing the rich claim that they shouldn't because there are not many of them to tax, but, that shouldn't be the focus, here. Instead, people should be concerned about the fact that, back in 2007, 35 percent of the wealth was owned by the top 1 percent of the richest households. Another 50 percent of the wealth was owned by the next 19 percent of households. If you do the math, you will notice that 80 percent of the people in the United States of America only had 15 percent. As you can imagine, the divide has only grown since then, through the 'deep recession' as the poor got poorer, the rich got richer, and the middle class families became far fewer, many of them walking away from their homes, because they are worth less than what they still need to pay for them.
And now, the latest knife in the back of the American tax-paying citizen is the fact that some politicians in a special 12 member committee of lawmakers, are considering cuts to the Social Security and Medicare systems, attacking what little the elderly and disabled have, after the politicians have 'borrowed' from Social Security. In 1983, legislation was passed to make people pay more into it to make surpluses to help pay for the retirement of the baby boomers. It generated 2.5 trillion dollars, and would have kept the Social Security payments going until about the year 2037, but, it was never put in the trust fund. Instead, it was spent by the government, while the government attempted to blame the baby boomers on the lack of money in the Social Security trust fund. Obviously, politicians lie, but, some of the sheeple still haven't figured that fact out, yet . . .
Not that politicians are hurting for money . . . The average yearly salary of a senator or member of congress is around $174,000. Benjamin Franklin didn't think that they should be paid, but others insisted they get big money for 'serving' the people. Well, they claim they're serving the people, while making the people pay for their salaries, but, in reality, they appear to be serving big business and the rich, while trying to find more ways to cut programs to the poor, elderly, and disabled. If politicians want to convince us that they're willing to make 'hard choices' needed to make a change, they should cut their salaries. But they seem to prefer screwing over those who are already struggling simply to pay their bills.
If you are in doubt about anything I have written here, please feel free to verify it for yourself, but I get the figures from places such as the General Accounting Office and the salaries of senators and members of congress are posted on the Web. Because big businesses and the most wealthiest of people in the United States also control most of the media, you won't find this story on television, and no news reporters will be quoting me. Would you like an example? You won't find any mention of the fact that the nuclear reactor in Fukushima was designed by General Electric. The reason? NBC is owned by General Electric. More scary news: Around one quarter of the nuclear power plants in the United States use the exact same GE Mark I containment system for containing radioactivity as did the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant in Japan. And, you can verify that fact through the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission. So, do you think the news media would mention me, someone who tells people the facts, and what's really going on, as opposed to the lies that politicians and big business give people? LOL If you're on Facebook, you are welcome to use the Like or Share buttons above for this blog entry but, I do not believe that it will make much of a difference, or that there will be many people doing it.
:+: Top of Blog 2011 page :+: More of 2011 :+: Other pages :+:
August 19th, 2011:
The government is screwing me over, again.
Just got a letter in the mail from RxAmerica billing me over 500 dollars in premiums for a service I didn't even have a card for until just recently, and the premiums were supposed to be paid for by the Florida Department of Children and Families. Guess it isn't bad enough that people have to wait month after month hoping that they can someday afford to go see a doctor, while putting up with severe pain from the top of their heads to the tips of their toes every moment of every day, that requires prescription pain medication to make go away for a few hours (500 mg of acetaminophen only helps a little, and is about as effective as a bed sheet in an arctic wind, so, I try to play games like City of Heroes (they've ended the free trials, but, it will be free to play soon) on the computer sometimes until something better comes along, or watch movies and television shows to distract myself from the pain because I cannot afford to take the prescription medicine every day) and hoping also, that it won't be yet another visit where they just give you another pain medicine prescription and send you on your way while billing you hundreds of dollars for tests.
Then, there's the ENTs (Ear Nose and Throat) doctors that determine that you are almost totally deaf in one ear (I also mentioned that, and stated the cause in the story The Wolf That Fell Into A War that I wrote years ago), but, won't let you have a hearing aid, claiming that the noise would be too tinny sounding so you have to keep asking people to speak up or only talk in your other ear so you can hear them, and they get upset with you for something you have absolutely no control over, and add to your feeling of un-ease when they say something so low that you cannot hear and make you worry what it is you said, and why they didn't want you to hear it. Would I yell at someone who is in a wheelchair because they have to take an elevator, and take up more room than someone who has both legs? No. Would I get mad if I was living somewhere that wasn't in perfect shape, and the owner couldn't afford to make repairs? No. It is what it is. What would be the point of getting mad about things like that? That wouldn't make things any better. It would only make things worse. Instead, I'd be happy that I have a place to live where the bed doesn't take up most of the room. :-) It's the things like government agencies that screw over people that gets my tail in a knot.
Is this what life is supposed to be like? Where government agencies, doctors, businesses, family members (like those who get you to live in a small room in their home and charge you most of what you make each month to live there temporarily until you can get some money saved up to rent an apartment and then yell at you for not getting the money together fast enough), fellow employees, bosses, and everyone else who is able to, screws you over in any way they can, in order to make your life more miserable and to make themselves even more money? You spend the first years of your life getting told to follow the golden rule, to do unto others as you would have them do unto you (for some, by sadistic and hypocritical parents who seem to take great pleasure from torturing their children, like the kid found in his dad's pick-up truck with severe chemical burns), but it seems nobody has to follow that rule in school, as the School Violence shows you more of people's true nature, and, when you leave home, and get out on your own, you find out that even the adult world, where people are supposed to be more mature, is a two-faced place filled with hypocritical people claiming to be good or doing good things for others, when, in actuality, they're screwing over everyone they can.
And they wonder why people go off the deep end . . .
The only thing keeping me going is the hope that things will get better someday. In the meantime, during those rare moments I can focus well enough to do it, I make helpful, informative and entertaining Web pages, in the hope that it will help others out. In my mind, that is a better choice than hurting others and screwing them over like the majority of the population seems to be into . . .
For those who are that bored, you can read more details on the situation I'm having with the Florida Department of Children and Families as well as the Social Security Administration on the What's Wrong with America and How to Fix it page. For visitors to my Web site who work in either of those agencies, you can look at my file for yourself, and verify that what I say is true.
:+: Top of Blog 2011 page :+: More of 2011 :+: Other pages :+:
August 26th, 2011:
Updated my Howl page and created a new banner, some information about Linux and Ubuntu
Thought it was time I updated one of the oldest Web pages I have on this site, and updated the Howl page. While I was at it, I created a new banner for my site, and put it at the top of that page, and, since I was already editing this page, I figured I may as well put it on here, too. ;-)
All the links on that page should work correctly, now, also. The page was created years ago, back when we had to use eight characters or less for file names. I don't miss that, or the squealing modems. LOL The way the local ISPs treated you, however, was much better than the big ISPs and broadband providers do now. That, I miss . . .
But, wait, there's more! Okay, just had to do that, at least once. ;-) To make some of the newer Web pages look better, I re-sized all of the background images with the werewolf holding the liter of beer in front of the eerie green asylum. That should make the pages look better to those with larger monitors than the 700 pixel height the images were before. For those with smaller monitors, the background image might be somewhat scrunched up, but, the Web site should still work for you, and, it should look better than it was before, for everyone. If you do not see the changes, you might have to clear your Web browser's cache.
For Firefox: Click on Tools, then, Clear Recent History, then, just have the Cache radio button clicked and hit the Clear Now button.
For Chrome users: Click on the wrench logo under the X in the upper right hand part of your Web browser and choose Options. Next, on the left side of the Options page, click on Under the Hood. In the top section where it says Privacy, click on the Clear browsing data button. When it comes up, check the Empty the cache button and choose the option the beginning of time in the drop-down box, and, after that, just click the Clear browsing data button.
For Opera users: Click on the Opera button and put your mouse over the word Settings, then click on Delete Private Data... when it comes up. Next, click on the arrow by the words Detailed Options so you can see the list of what you can get rid of. If you do not know what you are doing, only leave the Delete entire cache radio button selected, and un-select all others. Some of us select them all, but, there's a few people who get irked when they have to re-type their passwords each time they go to a Web site that requires it.
You'll likely have to re-load the page, now. Use the key combination Ctrl+r to do it, or use a reload button if your Web browser has it. A reminder: You won't see the changes on this page, just the pages where I have that new background image, but, you may as well just do it and get it over with, for no other reason than other Web pages might have changed some, also, and you may not see the changes until you clear your Web browser's cache, and possibly re-load the page, if you're on one.
And, now, I've taught some of you a new trick. You're welcome. :-)
For Internet Explorer users . . . Get a better Web browser that's not tied into your operating system! If you have the guts, switch to one of the Linux distributions. For first time Linux users, I recommend Ubuntu.
If you're one of the people who are visiting my Web site and are still using operating systems like windoze, er windows, I recommend getting one of the Linux distributions. You can get many of them on a USB flash drive for less than 20 dollars, on a CD for less than 2 dollars (prices do not include shipping and handling, which shouldn't be that much for either because they do not weigh very much), or simply download it for free, and either burn it onto a CD, DVD, or your own USB drive. You can buy a 16 GB USB flash drive for less than 20 dollars at some on-line stores. If you go with Ubuntu, it is much more stable than windows, and is a heck of a lot cheaper. Ubuntu has new versions about every six months (how many years between each version of windows? LOL), comes with thousands of applications, with many of the programs you probably already use such as Web browsers such as Firefox built into it or alternatives, along with drivers for your hardware. In the latest versions of Ubuntu, you can also get more applications from the Software Center at the bottom of your Applications list. They support every new version for at least 18 months after it's released, or, if you get one of the LTS (Long Term Support) releases, you get their support for at least three years for desktops, and five years for servers. There is also a lot of support on the Web for Ubuntu. The latest version of Ubuntu is 11.04, which is also called Natty Nawwahal, or just Natty. For those who are interested in learning more about Ubuntu, or seeing it in action. The official Ubuntu Web site has more information for you.
For the windows fanatics who think that other operating systems cannot possibly replace theirs, I have some news for you. The number of people on the Web who are using one or more of the Linux distributions has almost doubled in the last five months, alone, while the number of those using windows has dropped almost two percent during that same time period. So, micro$haft, er microsoft won't be assimilating us. The windows users will be assimilated by us. Prepare yourselves . . . For something better! :-)
And, no, that wasn't an advertisement. I don't have those on my Web site. LOL I just want to help those who are using crappy, bloated, expensive, and highly vulnerable operating systems to find a better, more stable, and cheaper alternative.
As for the latest news in the Florida Department of Children and Families and the Social Security Administration fight for your life struggle, where each of them have claimed that it's the other agency's fault . . .
Got a little . . . ticked off at the United States government, recently. In particular, the Social Security Administration or SSA, as some may have read in my earlier blog post on August 19th. The latest letter they sent me only added to that . . . In it, they claimed that I had told them that the Florida Department of Children and Families (AKA DCF) told me I wasn't qualified for the QMB program, and that really ticked me off, and only proves that they weren't listening to me when I spoke to them on the phone, telling them that I had even gotten reward letters from DCF, saying that I'm supposed to be on it, and that I let the SSA make a copy of one of the reward letters at their local office, here. The Social Security Administration seems to be having problems understanding even simple English. Or, they are liars, and screwing people over on purpose. And, I've been getting ripped off over 100 dollars each and every month for years . . . So, the question is: Are all of the people I have spoken with at the Florida Department of Children and Families and the Social Security Administration totally incompetent, or, are they trying to screw people over intentionally? Either way, I think it may be time to get a lawyer involved, because talking to them over the phone or even seeing them in person and providing them with documented proof does no good whatsoever.
:+: Top of Blog 2011 page :+: More of 2011 :+: Other pages :+:
September 4th, 2011:
Checked out the information on Dr Ron Paul and he appears to be a good choice for president, thus far
The campaigning for the next presidential campaign is starting to get moving, so, I started to look for information on the respective candidates. Dr. Ron Paul, the congressman, is running for president. From what I have been reading, he would make a fairly good president. Among other things, he receives most of his campaign contributions from individuals, not corporations, so he doesn't appear to be a slave to the lobbyists like most other politicians, including one who became president and was found out to be just another tool for hospital lobbyists who forbade him to have a public healthcare plan that was run by the government.
Dr. Ron Paul appears to be pro-education, and wants tax credits for education. He wants to abolish individual income tax, which he thinks once federal spending is scaled back, the government should do. He's pledged never to raise taxes, and, as a congressman, he has regularly voted against almost every single proposal for new government taxes, spending, or initiatives. He insists that he won't vote for any legislation unless it's authorized by the Constitution, and endorses constitutional rights. :-) He opposes warrant-less domestic surveillance, presidential autonomy, federal use of torture, and the patriot act. He thinks that citizens should have religious liberty, and opposes the government screwing with it by misusing the concept of separation of church and state. He's opposed eminent domain seizures of religious buildings like a church in New York.
He's authored bills to abolish the income tax, the federal reserve, and to impose term limits. He opposes the federal war on drugs, and believes that the individual states should regulate or deregulate drugs (personally, I'm just hoping they don't try to make caffeine illegal, again!). He rejects membership in the world trade organization, preferring free trade. He's trying to lower healthcare costs by allowing a free market (I don't know if this will work, because most humans are extremely greedy, and will charge as much as they can). He wants congress to be the one to declare war on another country, so they'd have to vote on it before allowing it, and wants to repeal the war powers resolution allowing others to do it, instead. He voted against the Iraq war resolution and tried to repeal the war authorization in 2003. He made a very interesting speech about 35 questions that won't be asked about Iraq, which you can find on the Web.
:+: Top of Blog 2011 page :+: More of 2011 :+: Other pages :+:
October 12th, 2011:
Yet another of the greats in the computer world dies :-(
First, Steve Jobs dies on October 5th, 2011. Now, Dennis Ritchie, one of the co-developers of the Unix operating system, the principal designer of the C programming language, who wanted to create a system around which a fellowship can form, is dead. :-(
You have to wonder . . . Who will we lose next?
:+: Top of Blog 2011 page :+: More of 2011 :+: Other pages :+:
October 18th, 2011:
Jobs in North Dakota
Need a job? You can try going to Williston, North Dakota, one of the newest oil boomtowns. From what I've been told, they have only a 3% unemployment rate (although some are attributing the low unemployment rate to a state-owned bank), and even the local McDonald's is giving a 300 dollar signing bonus to new employees, or paying them 15 dollars an hour!
Many of the oil workers get over 100,000 dollars a year. However, there is a housing shortage. The major oil companies in the area have rented out apartments and entire floors of hotels. They offer them up to their workers, who call them man camps or lodges, which reportedly cost between 400 to 600 dollars a month, which includes three meals a day, and are little more than a small room. A hotel or motel room might cost you 600 dollars per night. Provided you can find one . . . An apartment might cost you over six thousand a month. If you are worried you cannot find a place to live, and do not own or cannot afford a RV, and park it in a campground or the local Walmart parking lot, you may have to live in your car. Currently, the lows are in the 30s, and may drop down to almost 10 degress some nights, with the highs in the 30s to 60s (all temperatures mentioned here are in Fahrenheit).
The homeless shelters in North Dakota may be filled. This happens in other parts of the country, during hard times, too. Look up Hoovervilles to see what some people did. You might be able to rent a small storage room for your stuff, or, if you only have a little to store, perhaps get a gym membership and store your stuff in the locker, if it will be safe, which is always a gamble, especially if you use locks owned by someone else, who may know the combination or have a spare key . . . But, if the gym has a shower, you can shower every day, even if you're living on the street or sleeping in your car inside of a sleeping bag. If you're desperate, you can eat at one of the local fast food restaurants, but, I do not recommend that, because it may put your health in danger . . . Watch the movie "Super Size Me" for an example of this.
The boom, so to speak, is due to H.D.D. (Horizontal Directional Drilling), or sometimes called Utility Installation Directional Drilling, and hydraulic fracturing, which is also known as frack jobs. Which kind of sounds like something a prostitute in Battlestar Galactica's Cloud 9 ship would be doing . . . According to one source, a Halliburton executive went on the Mad Money show and claimed that people can work for them and earn 125 thousand dollars and up a year, even if they only had a high school education.
However . . . These jobs may not last long, or there might be too much environmental damage, and they could be shut down. Play it safe, do your own research, get the facts, prepare for the wost case scenarios, et cetera.
If this information has helped you, or if you just appreciate someone who's trying to help others, please consider donating a dollar or whatever you can spare on the Help CyberWoLfman page. Thank you for any help you can offer in return. :-)
:+: Top of Blog 2011 page :+: More of 2011 :+: Other pages :+:
November 2nd, 2011:
The Florida Department of Children and Families gives me another line
Went to the Florida Department of Children and Families, in person, again, and, after telling them that they need to put my information into FMMIS (Florida Medicaid Management Information System), telling them that Oscar Marcos of the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration told me to tell them that they need to do that, and showing them all of my papers, again, and again, waiting around for hours, I was told that my last application was approved and that they'll call me, but . . . I'll put as much trust in that as I did the last three and one half years of lines from them such as "the check is in the mail." When, or rather, if I see any changes and benefits, then, I'll believe it. Until then, I'll consider it just another lie from yet another government agency, in an attempt to blow people off.
Anyone want to bet that DCF won't call, and that I wasn't truly approved? Okay, so that's a sucker bet, at this point . . . LOL
In more civilized countries, almost anywhere else in the world, such as France, Canada, the United Kingdom, or wherever, people have free or almost free healthcare. Here, in the united states of america, where the hospital lobbyists rule with an iron fist, and have control of the politicians, if you cannot afford it, you have to get approved for things like Medicaid from the Florida Department of Children and Families, which, as I've already told you, takes several years. Even if the lines from the hospital lobbyists are true, that people have to wait months to see a doctor in other countries, it still has the united states of america healthcare system beat, if you are poor, as we wait years, here! That, and the costs are a heck of a lot cheaper than here, where greed is king, and they practically worship money like it's their god. We even have people who rob a bank of one dollar just so they can get locked up and get medical care. You would think that would send up warning flags to politicians and others that something was wrong, but no . . .
If I was like most other people, I would have went over the edge, decided that enough was enough, that spending years waiting while every breath, every step, every moment, was filled with pain and probably already have done some very bad things. But, un-like seemingly every other person on this planet, I still think that hurting others who have hurt me or screwed me over is wrong, that I should try to be nice, when nobody else is. At least for now . . . However, I realize that everyone has a breaking point, and years of the type of pain that makes you want to scream and pound your fists into walls, and feeling like you're being screwed over by government agencies every day for a very long time may soon bring me to that snapping point . . . Maybe the government will do that right thing, the honorable thing (if they have any honor, which even the FBI doesn't appear to have, because they ignore letters from me telling them about modern-day slavers and serial killers, or perhaps, they don't think it's important) before that happens . . .
:+: Top of Blog 2011 page :+: More of 2011 :+: Other pages :+:
November 30th, 2011:
Congress will vote on monday to pass a bill allowing the military to indefinitely detain people, including the citizens of the United States of America without charges or a trial!
You thought the patriot act, with the black bag searches, and stating that even those who find out they are being preyed upon by the government cannot tell anyone (yes, even a lawyer) about it was bad? Think again! LOL
In case anyone thinks I am kidding, please read section 215 of the patriot act:
"No person shall disclose to any other person (other than those persons necessary to produce the tangible things under this section) that the Federal Bureau of Investigation has sought or obtained tangible things."
Why is it that nobody's listening to me, when I've been saying for years on places like my Freedom page (one of my oldest, back when we had to use eight character file names) that our freedoms are being slowly taken away from us, and I get proven right over and over again?
The people who have the most realistic view of the world seem to be those who are at least slightly paranoid. Those raised by parents who try to make them believe that people always follow the golden rule, and that the world is a nice place are the ones who are deluded. Those who can, will screw you over every chance they get, if they can get away with it, and, a lot of times, even if they know they'll get caught. Don't believe me? Simply read history, and not just that sugar-coated crap you get spoon-fed in schools. Look up information on Abner Loumia, Shannon Smith, The Massacre at Bad Axe, how even with all the power they have with the patriot act the fbi goes even further seeming to not even have to file any paperwork, and others such as the Tuskegee syphilis experiment, Operation Keelhaul, the Missouri Mormon Extermination Order AKA Missouri Executive Order 44, eugenics, MK Ultra, et cetera.
The rich and powerful who get caught doing anything illegal are given the equivalent of a slap on the wrist. Examples of this, along with those I've already mentioned above, and on my other Web pages, include the sony rootkit, tigerdirect and other companies' rebate scams, banks and financial services who screw people over with ever more sneakier fees and toxic mortgages . . . And then, there are people like susan cummings, who, on September 7th, 1997, shot and killed Roberto Villegas after loading a gun upstairs and coming down to the kitchen to shoot him while he ate his breakfast. Her punishment? 51 days in jail and a $2,500 fine. But, wait! There's more! LOL If you didn't think that alone was an overly gentle wrist slap, while she was in jail, she had an entire cellblock to herself (after they moved the other inmates at further expense to the taxpayers), she was given her own personal telephone, outside food, special visitor privileges, and more! More information on susan cummings' extra special time in jail.
All are equal in the eyes of the law? Lies!
You get told that the United States of America is a free country, but, every year, it becomes closer to a place that stalin and hitler could only dream about, with the ability to track and observe every part of a citizen's life, knowing all that they do on-line or off it, in the real world, because most of them are using cards issued by banks, which has your social security number on file, use cell phones (and if you think that only emergency services can see where you are, think again!), or they are observed by security cameras, and facial recognition systems can tag you even from a live video feed, and connect it to the database about you that keeps information on all that you do. This isn't science fiction, this is grim reality. And, now, they are removing anything which can stop them including the sixth amendment to the united states Constitution, which grants the right of citizens to a speedy and public trial:
"In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence."
But, Constitituional amendments get in the way of those who want to screw you over, and not allow you to defend yourself in court, or to have any limits on how long they can hold you without even filing a charge against you. Soon, you will feel like the suspected terrorists in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. But, being american citizens, I suspect the government will not allow you to have free health care like those suspected terrorists get. That would be wrong, in their eyes, but, taking away your rights isn't . . .
Here's something you might enjoy . . .
"I can hear the sound of falling masonry
As they try to plug that leak.
I am tempted by their cloak of secrecy
To find out what their games are about.
Ask a question and they'll talk of secret services,
secrets from the people they should serve.
Truth will not be seen nor heard.
Secrecy suggests deception.
It's a crime to be outspoken."
More information about the NDAA can be found on the Senators Demand the Military Lock Up of American Citizens Web page at the ACLU's site. Want to try to do something to stop the NDAA? You can tell your elected officials like senators to vote against it, if you think it would do any good, whatsoever . . . Say no to indefinite detention without trial or charges. More than likely, however, they'll make a big deal out of how much they're against this bill, the president will swear he'll veto it, and all that rot, and, then, unbeknownst to the average citizen, another bill will be introduced, or, they'll make this one a rider on another bill, one which is needed, but, by making it a rider, they are almost guaranteed to have it passed because the need would out-weigh the outrage they think the rider would have, and, those who voted for it can claim that they had to pass the needed bill, while at the same time declaring how much they're against screwing over the american citizens . . .
For those who think that what they do on-line cannot be tracked back to them . . . Have you never heard of an IP address? Email headers, or a simple tracert command? How about this? Pick up your modem, and look at it. See that little thing on it called a MAC Address? Then, there's the GUID, and other UUIDs . . . I could go on with other things, but, saying more gets me in more trouble than usual, by breaking NDAs, and telling people things that certain agencies use to find suspects . . . But, isn't what I've already told you scary enough?
:+: Top of Blog 2011 page :+: More of 2011 :+: Other pages :+:
Other Blog Pages:
2010 Blog.
2009 Blog.
2008 Blog.
2007 Blog.
2006 Blog.
2005 Blog.
2004 Blog.
2003 Blog (with some from 2002).
Main Blog page.
A few other pages on this site:
