More than meets the eye

Ok this is easily on of the coolest things that I have seen in a while. Imagine that you are going to LAN party. You walk through the door with your $3,000 AlienWare rig thinking that YOU ARE the MAN!

BOOM!

You see a 6’6 foot Optimus Prime mod computer that everyone is huddled around.

Read more about it here

http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/08/optimus-prime-pc-case-mod-stands-nearly-seven-feet-tall/

Watch what you say

Just give a little and get a lot. Most people want this to be how life is for them, but there is one man in Waco, Texas may beg to differ. After giving his opinion in a political flame war on the internet, a Virginia man drove 1300 miles to Waco, Texas and burned down his rival’s home. You can read more about it here:

Thinking a day after tragedy

Well I don’t know exactly what to say about yesterday’s shooting at Virginia Tech. I know that my heart heavy with sorrow.

I can not fathom the loss that has taken place. I have friends that are in Graduate school at VT. They are safe. I pray for all the families and friends of this tragedy that they may find some kind of peace within all this chaos.

Don’t Mess With The Prinicpal!

Have you ever wanted to get back at someone or do something to people you don’t like? Well you might not want to make a false MySpace page because you may get sued. Techdirt.com is reporting that a high school principal in Pennsylvania sued four students for creating a false MySpace profile.

Now I am not a revengeful person, but I do see the humor and the repercussions this little stunt can produce. If you are worth your salt the first thing you do when faced with any question you don’t know, like a principle’s phone number, is to Google it! Well this can really cause some potential problems if you Google the Principle’s name and you see that he has a Myspace page proclaiming that he is a pot smoker. I am sure that any parent that would see this would be calling the School Superintendent wanting an explanation.

This is not a new occurrence in our schools systems it just a new media. Everyone remember all the horrible things that were written on your school’s bathroom walls. Now with the Internet and social networking sites like MySpace.com and Facebook.com you can pull together mass resources and use all the creativity of today’s youth to make beauty or destruction. 

Of course this not the first time I seen this trick. I remember a movie names Hackers where the teen stars posted the name and phone number of a FBI agent in a seedy online dating service. The agent was getting crazy phone calls left and right.

The saddest thing is not that principle is being defamed, but like every other red blooded American he decided to sue!

Pulse Monitor 1984 or lifesaver

I just read an article at TechDirt.com about businesses placing devices that monitor your pulse while you or at work. Now I am not a conspiracy theorist and I know the government is not controlling my thoughts through microwaves, but this sounds way too “Orwellian” for me.

Could you image going to work, placing a wrist strap on you arm and having some computer monitor your vitals for variations in your normally heart rate? That seems extreme. When I first read the article I thought the technology would be used to monitor employees sleeping on the job, but it sounds like the companies looking to this for increased heart rate for things like stealing or being robbed. The only place I think that should be is in fields like Law Enforcement, Corrections, and Military. This seems like a logical fit for this technology. If a persons vital were to get erratic for an unknown reason then this could signal an issue that the may need immediate attention.

I can not stand Comcast Cable!

I can not stand Comcast Cable!

I recently got digital cable with the idea that I would only be paying $5 dollars more a month. I am now paying $40 dollars more and can not get a straight answer why. I do understand that the service costs five more dollars and that I have to pay $15 extra dollars for two digital boxes (1 DVR $10 and 1 normal $5). That means that I should be paying $20 dollars more a month plus the Taxes on that $20 dollars. Yet I find my bill to be $40 dollars higher. What I can not stand more is that there is no competition with Comcast here in Tallahassee. I could go with Direct TV, but I am being told that I have to have a phone line installed in my house. I currently rely on my cell phone as my home phone because I got feed up with the customer service that I received from Sprint. The only reason I tolerate Comcast is because of the high speed internet. I do a lot of gaming and downloading and find that Comcast’s speeds are great for those things. I believe that Congress or the State Government is trying to pass a bill that will allow others companies to compete against each other within the same region. I truly hope this happens. Honestly I do not a problem with Comcast’s services it is their terrible customer service. If they would just tell me in laymen’s terms what I have to pay every month then I would be happy. As it turns out I have not had the same payment on a bill yet.

Rant Over!!!!

Resume your everyday 

Credit Card Signatures are a joke

So I decided to do an experiment 2 weeks ago to find out do stores really pay attentions to what is written on the back of a credit card. I received a new credit card and thought it would be fun to write something eye catching on the signature area on the back of the card. Below you can see that I have written that I stole this credit card on the back.

I thought that when I wrote this on my card that I would see more times when people would asked to see my photo ID. Over the course 2 weeks I used my card 20 times for $173.24.

I used the card at all types of places everywhere from Starbucks, gas stations, Walmart, and AMC movies. Out of the 20 times I used my card I was only asked to see my ID twice!!!! I am not sure what to think about this idea now that it over. I will tell you that I was very sad after the 2 days of this experiment, because I could see the writing on the wall. The first week was when I received my two ID checks and none the second week. I was checked at the Starbucks on Thomasville Rd. and the other at the AMC movies located in the Tallahassee mall. The funny thing about the AMC was that I was not checked when I bought the tickets to the movie, but when I was in the theater and purchased popcorn at the concession stand.

It is amazing to me the utter lack of responsibility or lack of training that we see in today’s market places. I am not saying that it is totally the responsibility of the merchant to catch people who could be using stolen credit cards, but I would like to think that there would be a little more that 2 people out of 20 that would think to look at the back of a card and see that I have written, “I stole this card check ID!!”.

I believe that this go to show why ID theft is such an easy thing to get away with in America today. I never carry cash on me so I totally rely on my credit card. If it was to go missing I would realize it very soon. There are people who are not as reliant as me on the plastic and I think that they are the ones who should feel more outraged by this experiment. If by some chance their card was to get stolen how long do you think it would take to have someone questions them about. Well if you like math then about 5% of the time.

I am a betting man and I would never bet on a 5% chance.

Protect your rights

Just a quick reminder, be glad that you live in a country that were our Free Speech is protected by law. Not everyone is so lucky and the consequences can be prison. I recently read a story about an Egyptian blogger, Abdel Kareem Nabil, who was arrested last year for speaking out against Islamic religion, the Prophet Muhammad and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Yesterday the 22 year old was sentenced to 4 years in jail. You can read more about this story here at Technewsworld.com.  

Also, please take time to reflect on the great system we have in place. As Americans should be grateful that we have so many freedoms ands the ability to change or make laws that ensure those freedoms. I will never say that our system is the best. I see atrocities in the news everyday that make me realize that we are not perfect. I also see the miracle of freedom ever morning when I drive into work and there are no armed guard checkpoints, women clothed from head-to-toe, children soldiers caring AK-47’s, or any other nightmare that I see on the nightly world news.

National Action Against Obesity Boycotts Girl Scout Cookies

Recently I heard a story about how the National Action Against Obesity or the N.A.A.O. are boycotting Girl Scout cookies. First thought is this has got to be a joke. There is no one in there right minds that can honest blame obesity on Girl Scouts. After being assured that the story was true I quickly came to the realization if someone can sue McDonalds for coffee being too hot then in not only possible it mostly likely probable. After being enrage by the fact that someone or Organization would purposely be trying to stop Girl Scouts from selling cookies I thought I would investigate further. A quick Google search lead me to the culprits web page where the first thing I see is the picture shown below.

While on the website I noticed that it appears to be a fairly simple presentation a mission statement, In the News, Blog, and video clips of the president of the organization. The top article from the “In the News” section said, “NAAO Boycotts Girl Scout Cookies. I click on the story and I am taken to a press release. After reading the press release I find myself befuddled staring blankly into my monitor.

One Quote from within the article states,

“Girl Scout Cookies are high-calorie, high-sugar, high in saturated fat and nearly devoid of nutrition. Using young girls as a front to push millions of cookies onto an already bloated population further exacerbates an alarming crisis, no matter how cute the uniforms are,” said NAAO President MeMe Roth. “The Girl Scouts sell up to 200 million boxes yearly — that’s about one box for every overweight American.”

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Sorry, had to count to ten, so I would not lose my temper at the utter nonsense I just read. Anyone who can say the things that this woman (Meme Roth) said in the press release is either looking for publicity, sadly misinformed, or outright insane. I personally think it is all three.

 

For Meme Roth to have the audacity to think that the Girls Scouts are, “using young girls as a front to push millions of cookies” make her sound like a conspiracy theorist. Someone please tell Ms. Roth that she has successfully found out the Girl Scouts master plan for world domination by pimp enough cookies to the Obese American public, so that they can not put up a fight when the green sashes come marching. With this imaginary plot foiled she can go back to picketing school cafeterias because the lunch lady has been using lard instead vegetable oil to fry the tater tots.

 

Look I do not want to sound like a Girl Scouts Fanboi nor do I want to belittle obesity within our nation. I do want it to be known that the Girl Scouts just like the Boy Scouts provide valuable community service to our country and are not defined by their cookies. They are more than Thin Mints. Girl Scouts have been helping girls grow stronger for 95 years. Everyday that we have organizations try to unify our country’s children and not segregate them is one more day that we can walk with our chins up. Selling cookies is not a sinister plot to eventually change the colors of the flag to Green and Brown. Selling cookies is a legitimate way to raise money, teach responsibility and promote good will.

 

This is what Girl Scouts is about

 

Quote from the Girl Scouts website

 

“Girl Scouts of the USA is the world’s preeminent organization dedicated solely to girls—all girls—where, in an accepting and nurturing environment, girls build character and skills for success in the real world. In partnership with committed adult volunteers, girls develop qualities that will serve them all their lives, like leadership, strong values, social conscience, and conviction about their own potential and self-worth.”

 

That is all I have to say about that!