Tumblr (3.0; @adium)http://tumblr.adium.me/<p><iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/31100268?byline=0&amp;portrait=0" frameborder="0" width="599" height="337"></iframe></p> <p>Today a large majority of sites are protesting two proposed bills SOPA and PIPA.  These two bills are designed with the idea in mind to stop online piracy. When everyone screams that this is not a problem, so what, or that this is the internet it falls on deaf ears in congress.</p> <p>Piracy is a problem for the movie industry, mainly because its forcing them to innovate and provide means that give us the services we want. I subscribe to Hulu Plus and Netflix Instant, I own a computer but not a television. <em>(I avoid TV.com due to their horrible design and features, their Android app doesn&#8217;t prevent my screen from turning off while watching a video so I have to pause it every 15 seconds.)</em> Now because I wanted to watch Dexter and the Big Bang Theory recently I had no means which were available to me to watch it. So I was forced to pirate it. I watch House, Castle, and a number of other shows, but don&#8217;t mind the commercials I get while watching them on Hulu. Piracy is not about stealing&#8230; its about getting a service which isn&#8217;t offered to you.</p> <p>The SOPA and PIPA laws are focused on sending people to jail for providing the services that the entertainment industry refuses to combat through innovation. But then again so what, right? Afterall breaking the law is still breaking the law&#8230;. except that&#8217;s <strong>SOPA is not designed to combat piracy. It&#8217;s designed to censor the internet.</strong></p> <p>[caption id=&#8221;attachment_2375&#8221; align=&#8221;aligncenter&#8221; width=&#8221;500&#8221; caption=&#8221;Life without the internet&#8221;]<img class="size-full wp-image-2375" title="boing" src="http://adium.me/uploads/2012/01/boing.gif" alt="Life without the internet" width="500" height="375"/>[/caption]</p> <p>Essentially we are going to give control of the internet to the corporations of America.  These are the same company&#8217;s who tried to stop the release of the VCR and MP3 player stating that they would damage their market. They already have partial control of things like YouTube and abuse the hell out of it. In protest of the DNS takedown of Megaupload recently Will.i.am, P Diddy, Kanye West, Chris Brown, Jamie Foxx, Kim Kardashian, Lil John, The Game, Floyd Mayweather, Serena Williams, and Ciara created a song. <strong>It was taken down by the record companies.</strong> They had no legal, moral, ethical, or any other rights to the song but had the ability to take it down anyway&#8230; no questions asked.</p> <p>But because we have the internet we have, people are able to re-upload it and share it and now I&#8217;m able to share it with you right here, in the video below.</p> <p><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/o0Wvn-9BXVc" frameborder="0" width="600" height="335"></iframe></p> <p>If this were the post-SOPA internet, likely you would never even know it existed. The record industry would have the ability to censor it from the Internet, and since SOPA says anyone hosting a link to illegal content or even the intent of hosting anything they will have the right to shut you down.</p> <p>I am a small time web developer, I make websites to share content and have fun and whatever. My most profitable web site is basically a peer-to-peer network for Army soldiers to share Army files. Nothing secret, or fancy, mostly powerpoint files on things like how to administer first aid to a bullet wound. According to the U.S. copyright laws I am able to use copyrighted images in those files under the fair use ruling because they are for educational use. However the platform exists where anyone can stop by and share whatever they want. Actually that happened once, where they started sharing answers to online ACCP exams before I put a stop to it.</p> <p>SOPA would give me the option of bankruptcy or jail.</p> <style type="text/css"> .act { margin:0; padding:0; } .act li { display:inline; line-height:45px; } .act a { background:#d56a42; margin-right:12px; padding:1px 10px; color:white; text-decoration:none; font:bold 16pt Arial, sans-serif; border-bottom:4px solid #93553d; white-space:nowrap; } .act a:hover { background-color:#e7754b; } .act a:active { position:relative; top:2px; border-width:3px; } </style><ul class="act"><li><a href="http://americancensorship.org/modal/call-form.html" target="_blank">make a call</a></li> <li><a href="http://sopastrike.com/modal/strike-modal/index.html" target="_blank">sign the petition</a></li> </ul><dl><dt><strong>What can I read to get more information?</strong></dt> </dl><dl><dd>Try these links: <ul><li>Wikipedia&#8217;s articles on <a title="Stop Online Piracy Act" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Online_Piracy_Act">SOPA</a> and <a title="PROTECT IP Act" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PROTECT_IP_Act">PIPA</a></li> <li><a title="Wikipedia:SOPA initiative/Action" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:SOPA_initiative/Action">Statement from Wikipedia editors announcing decision to black out</a></li> <li><a title="wmf:Press releases/English Wikipedia to go dark" href="http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/English_Wikipedia_to_go_dark">Wikimedia Foundation press release</a></li> <li><a href="http://blog.wikimedia.org/2012/01/16/wikipedias-community-calls-for-anti-sopa-blackout-january-18/">Blog post from Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director Sue Gardner</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/01/how-pipa-and-sopa-violate-white-house-principles-supporting-free-speech" rel="nofollow">Electronic Frontier Foundation blog post on the problems with SOPA/PIPA</a></li> </ul></dd> </dl><p><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Z0GFRcFm-aY" frameborder="0" width="420" height="315"></iframe></p> <p class="tumblrize-permalink"><a href="http://adium.me/2012/01/sopa-pipa-set-to-destroy-the-internet-as-we-know-it/" title="Go to original post at Adium.me" rel="bookmark">Original Article</a></p>http://tumblr.adium.me/post/16073146881http://tumblr.adium.me/post/16073146881Wed, 18 Jan 2012 12:11:04 -0800tumblrize<p><a href="http://adium.me/uploads/2012/01/Hal9000evenmoredifferent.jpg"><img class="size-large wp-image-2371 aligncenter" title="Hal9000evenmoredifferent" src="http://adium.me/uploads/2012/01/Hal9000evenmoredifferent-600x480.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="480"/></a></p> <p>HAL became operational on 12 January 1997, at the HAL Laboratories in Urbana, Illinois, as production number 3; in the film 2001 the activation year was 1992, and 1991 in earlier screenplays. In addition to maintaining the Discovery One spacecraft systems during the interplanetary mission to Jupiter, HAL is capable of speech, speech recognition, facial recognition, natural language processing, lip reading, art appreciation, interpreting and reproducing emotional behaviours, reasoning, and playing chess.</p> <p class="tumblrize-permalink"><a href="http://adium.me/2012/01/hal-became-operational-14-yrs-ago-today/" title="Go to original post at Adium.me" rel="bookmark">Original Article</a></p>http://tumblr.adium.me/post/15742628933http://tumblr.adium.me/post/15742628933Thu, 12 Jan 2012 15:01:27 -0800tumblrize2001halhal 9000Space Odyssey<p><a href="http://adium.me/uploads/2012/01/Education_first.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2359" title="Education first" src="http://adium.me/uploads/2012/01/Education_first.jpg" alt="" width="540" height="360"/></a></p> <p class="tumblrize-permalink"><a href="http://adium.me/2012/01/education-is-simply-that-important/" title="Go to original post at Adium.me" rel="bookmark">Original Article</a></p>http://tumblr.adium.me/post/15592231779http://tumblr.adium.me/post/15592231779Mon, 09 Jan 2012 16:37:44 -0800tumblrizeeducationpriorities<p><a href="http://adium.me/uploads/2012/01/2012-01-08-10.42.17.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-2353 alignleft" style="padding-right: 10px;" title="2012-01-08 10.42.17" src="http://adium.me/uploads/2012/01/2012-01-08-10.42.17-225x300.jpg" alt="" width="225" height="300"/></a> I&#8217;ve developed an unhealthy obsession with carrying a bag everywhere I go.  Not just because of my need to have my laptop every where, but just to have something&#8230; almost like a woman needs a purse.</p> <p>Most of the time though its full of some geeky gadgets like my kindle, a charger, or even my TI graphing calculator.  I also get kinda artsy carrying my moleskin notebook, a hardcover drawing book, and some drawing pencils or pigma graphic pens.</p> <p>The Ogio Mastermind backpack to the left is my main packpack.  While the mastermind model is discontinued you can still find some in various places around the net, except the white plaid version that I have.  I had to hunt this one down and was so excited after 2 months of searching that I got one.  I&#8217;ve had to replace a zipper myself my hand, and now the inside of the bag is starting to rip but its still my favorite bag.  Two pouches on each side, one on the top with a waterproof zipper (before I had to replace it), a pencil pouch, and a file folder pocket.  Then there is the laptop pocket and the main pocket.</p> <p>Then there is my Timbuk2 Messenger bags.  The blue one is too small for my laptop, but its pretty much a permanent home for some of my drawing books and pencils.  The grey one is perfect for carrying lots of books, but after slamming into my hip all day can wear out my shoulder fast so I don&#8217;t use it as much as I&#8217;d like.</p> <p><a href="http://adium.me/uploads/2012/01/2012-01-08-10.43.52.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-2355" title="2012-01-08 10.43.52" src="http://adium.me/uploads/2012/01/2012-01-08-10.43.52-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225"/></a> <a href="http://adium.me/uploads/2012/01/2012-01-08-10.43.01.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-2354" title="2012-01-08 10.43.01" src="http://adium.me/uploads/2012/01/2012-01-08-10.43.01-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225"/></a></p> <p>Then I have my Spec-ops &#8220;T.H.E. Pack, 3-Day Assault Pack&#8221;.  Although mine is solid olive green and is in storage.  I mention it because I used it all throughout my time in the Army and it shows almost no wear at all.  I would love to take this bag and redesign it to be like the Mastermind bag that I have.  Even if the bag costs me a couple hundred dollars, as long as it would last and I wouldn&#8217;t have to make mild repairs every year before school I would make the investment.  Especially since I carry this bag around with me everywhere.  I mean girls spend $800 on a Gucci purse, why can&#8217;t I spend half that on something built to last?</p> <p><a href="http://adium.me/uploads/2012/01/SPEC100280111.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2356" title="SPEC100280111" src="http://adium.me/uploads/2012/01/SPEC100280111.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="300"/></a></p> <p class="tumblrize-permalink"><a href="http://adium.me/2012/01/my-backpackmessenger-bag-obsession/" title="Go to original post at Adium.me" rel="bookmark">Original Article</a></p>http://tumblr.adium.me/post/15522363491http://tumblr.adium.me/post/15522363491Sun, 08 Jan 2012 11:39:32 -0800tumblrizebackpackbagcollegemastermindogiopurseschool<p><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://adium.me/uploads/2012/01/wpid-b9340792fa3e6ffaded3aee92617bb26.jpeg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2351" title="wpid-b9340792fa3e6ffaded3aee92617bb26" src="http://adium.me/uploads/2012/01/wpid-b9340792fa3e6ffaded3aee92617bb26.jpeg" alt="" width="500" height="1412"/></a></p> <p class="tumblrize-permalink"><a href="http://adium.me/2012/01/15-people-youll-see-at-every-videogamecomicnerd-convention/" title="Go to original post at Adium.me" rel="bookmark">Original Article</a></p></p>http://tumblr.adium.me/post/15418038427http://tumblr.adium.me/post/15418038427Fri, 06 Jan 2012 02:52:10 -0800tumblrizecomicconventionnerdvideogame<p><a href="http://adium.me/uploads/2012/01/392614_10150562407198523_106976563522_10646849_12463763_n.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-1982 aligncenter" title="How would you like your Graphic Design?" src="http://adium.me/uploads/2012/01/392614_10150562407198523_106976563522_10646849_12463763_n.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="647"/></a></p> <p>From time to time I get someone to ask me to design them something, whether its a sales flyer or a complete web site.  About 90% of the time I tell them to take a hike 30 seconds into their sales pitch trying to convince me to do it.  Its never about the money, I could always use the money&#8230; it&#8217;s that I always seem to have someone wanting me to redesign the wheel for them at a rate completely unreasonable.</p> <p>I found this graphic recently and I think I&#8217;m just going to give it to anyone that wants my services before they even start talking.  Not to be an ass (well, maybe a little bit), but to save both of us some time.</p> <p class="tumblrize-permalink"><a href="http://adium.me/2012/01/how-would-you-like-your-graphic-design/" title="Go to original post at Adium.me" rel="bookmark">Original Article</a></p>http://tumblr.adium.me/post/15304957212http://tumblr.adium.me/post/15304957212Wed, 04 Jan 2012 12:12:57 -0800tumblrizeartdesigngraphic design<p>My girlfriend recently got an Android phone and I&#8217;m in the process of telling her which apps I think are best.  I figured while I&#8217;m at it I would make my list a little more formal and share it with the world.  These are only my personal recommendations and I&#8217;m only experienced with the Samsung Infuse 4G.  If you have anything you feel belongs on this list, let me know in the comments and I&#8217;ll be happy to add it to the list.</p> <h3>Applications</h3> <div align="center"> <table width="90%" border="0"><tbody><tr><th valign="top" width="20"></th> <th valign="top" width="25%">App Name</th> <th valign="top">Description</th> <th valign="top" width="50"></th> </tr><tr><td valign="top">1</td> <td valign="top"><a href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.google.android.gm">Gmail</a></td> <td valign="top">When it comes to email I prefer Gmail above all others.  Google doesn&#8217;t install it by default.</td> <td valign="top">Free</td> </tr><tr><td valign="top">2</td> <td valign="top"><a href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.jb.gosms">GO SMS Pro</a></td> <td valign="top">The best text messaging app I&#8217;ve come across.  Even though there are others which are more popular I find this one a lot more user friendly and included more features.</td> <td valign="top">Free</td> </tr><tr><td valign="top">3</td> <td valign="top"><a href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.jb.gosms.emoji">GO SMS Pro Emoji Plugin</a></td> <td valign="top">A simple plugin for the GO SMS which allows you to use emoticons like this: <img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1978" title="emoji" src="http://adium.me/uploads/2011/12/emoji.jpg" alt="" width="269" height="23"/><br/> These emoticons work natively with iPhone users and with most android users which use any SMS app which supports Emoji.</td> <td valign="top">Free</td> </tr><tr><td valign="top">4</td> <td valign="top"><a href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.facebook.katana">Facebook</a></td> <td valign="top"></td> <td valign="top">Free</td> </tr><tr><td valign="top">5</td> <td valign="top"><a href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.google.android.apps.plus">Google+</a></td> <td valign="top">Even if you don&#8217;t use the social network, this app will automatically backup all the pictures you take with your phone to a private folder in <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/">Picasa web albums</a>.</td> <td valign="top">Free</td> </tr><tr><td valign="top">6</td> <td valign="top"><a href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.google.android.apps.googlevoice">Google voice</a></td> <td valign="top">Google will give you a phone number which will forward all calls made to it to your phone.  Allowing you to keep your real number private, or change physical phone numbers as often as you want.  The thing that makes Google Voice so great though is its ability to transcribe your voice mail messages and then e-mail them too you.</td> <td valign="top">Free</td> </tr><tr><td valign="top">7</td> <td valign="top"><a href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.netflix.mediaclient">Netflix</a></td> <td valign="top"></td> <td valign="top">Monthly</td> </tr><tr><td valign="top">8</td> <td valign="top"><a href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.rhythmnewmedia.tvdotcom">TV.com</a></td> <td valign="top">Not a very large selection of TV shows to watch, but it is free to download and use.  Most of the shows are through CBS, and can&#8217;t be found on Hulu either.</td> <td valign="top">Free</td> </tr><tr><td valign="top">9</td> <td valign="top"><a href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.hulu.plus">Hulu Plus</a></td> <td valign="top"><strong>INCOMPATIBLE with the Infuse!!</strong>  Also only works providing you have a Hulu plus subscription.  Hulu may be free to use on your computer, but on the phone its about $10 a month.</td> <td valign="top">Free</td> </tr><tr><td valign="top">10</td> <td valign="top"><a href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.starbucks.mobilecard">Starbucks</a></td> <td valign="top">Register with Starbucks and not only get a free drink on your birthday, but you can use your phone to display a bar code which the cashier can scan so you don&#8217;t have to fumble with pulling it out of your wallet.</td> <td valign="top">Free</td> </tr><tr><td valign="top">11</td> <td valign="top"><a href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.spotify.mobile.android.ui">Spotify</a></td> <td valign="top">Spotify is a free music service that allows you so much of airplay a month on the computer before you&#8217;re required to pay a monthly fee of about $10.  If you subscribe to the paid version you can stream music on your phone anytime anywhere.  If you just want to use the free version you can copy over songs you have already downloaded on your computer over wi-fi which is a nice way to keep playlists organized.</td> <td valign="top">Free</td> </tr><tr><td valign="top">12</td> <td valign="top"><a href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.shazam.encore.android">Shazam Encore</a></td> <td valign="top">There is a <a href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.shazam.android">free version</a> of this app as well</td> <td valign="top">$4.99</td> </tr><tr><td valign="top">13</td> <td valign="top"><a href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.evernote">Evernote</a></td> <td valign="top">Simple note taking app</td> <td valign="top">Free</td> </tr><tr><td valign="top">14</td> <td valign="top"><a href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.dropbox.android">Dropbox</a></td> <td valign="top">File storage, allows me access to files in a special folder which are on my computer.  Files get synced to website so I don&#8217;t need to have my computer on to access them either.</td> <td valign="top">Free</td> </tr><tr><td valign="top">15</td> <td valign="top"><a href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.wunderkinder.wunderlistandroid">Wunderlist Task Manager</a></td> <td valign="top">Simple To-Do list</td> <td valign="top">Free</td> </tr><tr><td valign="top">16</td> <td valign="top"><a href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.levelup.beautifulwidgets">Beautiful Widgets</a></td> <td valign="top">I love the weather widget this app offers.  It even includes a notification icon which displays the weather and automatically discovers where I am so its always updated as I travel.</td> <td valign="top">$2.69</td> </tr><tr><td valign="top">17</td> <td valign="top"><a href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.adobe.flashplayer">Adobe Flash Player</a></td> <td valign="top">The ultimate battery killer, but its needed for several sites.</td> <td valign="top">Free</td> </tr><tr><td valign="top">18</td> <td valign="top"><a href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.google.zxing.client.android">Barcode Scanner</a></td> <td valign="top">Scan QR codes or any bar code you find, then look them up online to find the cheapest price around.</td> <td valign="top">Free</td> </tr><tr><td valign="top">19</td> <td valign="top"><a href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.chase.sig.android">Chase Bank</a></td> <td valign="top">If you don&#8217;t have a bank account with Chase this app won&#8217;t help you one bit.  I recently changed banks to Chase though just so I could use this app since it rated as being one of the highest in the Android market.  Bonus for being an Army veteran with Chase is they give you the premium account (normally $25 a month) just because you served in the military.</td> <td valign="top">Free</td> </tr><tr><td valign="top">20</td> <td valign="top"><a href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.ejelta.whereami">Where Am I?</a></td> <td valign="top">A simple app, that can be useful if you travel a lot and/or get lost easily.</td> <td valign="top">Free</td> </tr><tr><td valign="top">21</td> <td valign="top"><a href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.farproc.wifi.analyzer">Wifi Analyzer</a></td> <td valign="top">A 2GB data plan is usually pretty intensive for almost anyone, but still wifi&#8217;s are faster and sometimes you&#8217;re required to be on one in order to do something specific.  (Like uploading a video to YouTube)</td> <td valign="top">Free</td> </tr><tr><td valign="top">22</td> <td valign="top"><a href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.logmein.ignitionpro.android">LogMeIn Ignition</a></td> <td valign="top">Install some free software onto your computer and then use this app anywhere in the world to control the computer as if you were sitting in front of it.</td> <td valign="top"> $29.99</td> </tr></tbody></table></div> <h3>Games</h3> <div align="center"> <table width="90%" border="0"><tbody><tr><th valign="top" width="20"></th> <th valign="top" width="25%">App Name</th> <th valign="top">Description</th> <th valign="top" width="50"></th> </tr><tr><td>1</td> <td><a href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.rovio.angrybirds">Angry Birds</a></td> <td></td> <td></td> </tr><tr><td>2</td> <td>Cut the Rope</td> <td></td> <td></td> </tr><tr><td>3</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> </tr></tbody></table></div> <h3>Paid Apps</h3> <p>When it comes to buying apps it sounds like a waste of money to some people.  However if you consider the amount of functionality those apps offer a single dollar doesn&#8217;t feel like a lot.  A game that cost $3 is still much cheaper than what you would spend on that prize you&#8217;re never going to win at the carnival.  Google does give you 15 minutes to review the app and decide if you want to keep it before you have the option of deleting it and getting your money back.  Not really much time, but its better than nothing.  Personally I will find a way to pirate the app then if I use it often enough I will eventually buy it.  Not necessarily for moral reasons, but because its usually only a couple dollars at most and the updates I will get automatically are well worth the hassle of having to repeatedly check and see if there is a bug fix or new and added features.</p> <h3>Pirating Android Apps</h3> <p>As a programmer myself it may seem a little odd that I am telling you how to essentially steal apps.  As I said above most apps don&#8217;t cost that much, and by buying them you are saving yourself a lot of hassle later on.  That said I will also never buy a car without test driving it.  I don&#8217;t care if its a Lamborghini, if it uncomfortable to use I won&#8217;t use it.  Most of the time when you pirate apps it can damage your phone and sometimes you can be coexed into installing a virus.  So unless you&#8217;re ready to face those consequences I really don&#8217;t recommend venturing outside the <a href="https://market.android.com/">official Android Market</a>. Getting all your apps from the app store is the best method everytime.</p> <p>There are times where I am required to pirate something.  If its a $50 or even $20 app with no demo or trial period, you can believe I am going to test it out first.  User reviews are great, but I&#8217;m not one that likes to rely on internet testimonies.  I prefer using the site 4shared.com and search for the app name followed by APK.  APK&#8217;s are Android package files which install apps, plugins, and other software onto your phone.  They also have an <a href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.forshared">app in the market place</a> which makes finding and downloading these files to your phone almost effortless.</p> <p>So a search for &#8220;Angry Birds APK&#8221; would look like <a href="http://search.4shared.com/q/1/Angry%20Birds%20APK">this</a>.  Note the version numbers, you want the latest version.  This only works for the most popular apps as well.</p> <p>Once you&#8217;ve downloaded your APK, you have to allow the phone to bypass the security which will allow you to install the app.  To do that follow these easy steps.</p> <ul><li>Open your device Settings and click &#8220;Applications&#8221;.</li> <li>If unchecked, click &#8220;Unknown sources&#8221;. <em>If &#8220;Unknown sources&#8221; is already checked your phone is already able to download apps downloaded outside the Android Market.</em></li> <li>Click &#8220;OK&#8221; on the &#8220;Attention&#8221; dialog. &#8220;Unknown sources&#8221; will now have a green check.</li> </ul><p>Now, you&#8217;re all set.  Angry Birds is also a free app in the Android Market, and some of these files you will find, usually have been hacked in some way.  In most cases that I have seen someone has removed the ads, which if you&#8217;ve played Angry Birds with ads, they can get quite annoying.</p> <h3>Save it in the Cloud</h3> <p>One of the things I am so crucial over with managing my personal data is the use of cloud storage.  Everything is stored on a server somewhere else which not only makes it a nice way to backup crucial information but it gives you easy access to it regardless where you are.  I don&#8217;t rely on a single service to host all of my information but instead on several and most of them free.  Below is a list of the cloud services which I use.</p> <table width="50%" border="0"><tbody><tr><td width="100"></td> <td></td> </tr><tr><td><a href="https://www.dropbox.com/referrals/NTIxNDMzOTY5">Dropbox</a></td> <td>File Storage</td> </tr><tr><td><a href="http://www.evernote.com/">Evernote</a></td> <td>Notes &amp; documents (I use it for taking notes during college classes, and allows me to add images, audio files, and any other type of files)</td> </tr><tr><td><a href="http://www.spotify.com">Spotify</a></td> <td>Is intended for streaming music, however my playlists are more important to me and this site lets me save and even share them.</td> </tr><tr><td><a href="http://www.wunderlist.com/">Wunderlist</a></td> <td>Just a basic to-do list with folders and notes</td> </tr></tbody></table><p class="tumblrize-permalink"><a href="http://adium.me/2011/12/my-recommended-android-apps/" title="Go to original post at Adium.me" rel="bookmark">Original Article</a></p>http://tumblr.adium.me/post/15047590674http://tumblr.adium.me/post/15047590674Fri, 30 Dec 2011 14:34:49 -0800tumblrize<p><em>This was an essay done for my humanities class where I had to visit a museum, find a painting, and critique and evaluate it.  I am told that I ventured off from the topic requested slightly but I still received a perfect score of 200/200 points she liked it that much.  Below on the left is the painting by Charles Philippe Larivière and the right is <a href="http://www.sandowbirk.com">Sandow Birk</a>.</em></p> <p align="center"><a href="http://adium.me/uploads/2011/12/Bataille-de-Mons-en-P%C3%A9v%C3%A8le.jpg"><img class="alignnone wp-image-1956" title="Bataille-de-Mons-en-Pévèle" src="http://adium.me/uploads/2011/12/Bataille-de-Mons-en-P%C3%A9v%C3%A8le-283x300.jpg" alt="" width="198" height="210"/></a>  <a href="http://adium.me/uploads/2011/12/00994.jpg"><img class="wp-image-1957" title="00994" src="http://adium.me/uploads/2011/12/00994-600x421.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="210"/></a></p> <p>Three years ago I walked into the MOMA in San Francisco for the first time. It was the first art museum I had ever visited and the majority of its contents instantly repulsed me. I left with my nose turned to the sky telling everyone I had wasted my money. Since then I have become more self-conscious towards art and not only learned to understand it, but to appreciate it as well. The amount of mental maturity I have acquired towards art in such a short time surprises even myself.</p> <p>Walking into the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, I was disappointed at first when all I could see was historical artifacts primarily from Africa. Then it occurred to me that perhaps my mental maturity wasn’t quite as mature as I previously thought. Art is a form of expression, emotions, and a way of sharing our own thoughts with others, although it doesn’t have to be limited to something defined. Art can be art, just because it’s art. It’s easy to argue that Jackson Pollock is a hack because all he ever did was get drunk and literally throw paint on the floor. Anyone can create their own Pollock styled painting, except only Pollock did it first. The idea of being first carries a lot of weight in our society; those who copy are often ridiculed and occasionally sued.</p> <p>At the Crocker Art Museum, I discovered one piece that stood out to me as being both original, and yet a copy of a famous painting done in 1865 regarding the Battle of Mons-en-Pévèle by Charles Philippe Larivière. Sandow Birk created his own parodied recreation of a more modern situation with a series of events that were similar to those in the original. The piece is titled “The Battle of Stonewall - 1969” and depicts the riots which took place in 1969 at the Stonewall Inn in New York City. Since it was illegal at the time to engage in any homosexual activities these riots gave headway to the entire movement of gay rights in their fight for equality. They have credited these riots as the first instance of backlash against any government-sponsored organization that supported and/or enforced the homosexuality laws. Exactly one year later a protest march took place to commemorate the riots and remind people of the oppression they were still trying to overcome. This march became so successful it has been repeated every year since and is now known as the Gay Pride Parade.</p> <p>The original painting by Larivière depicts the Battle of Mons-en-Pévèle, which took place in France in 1304. This was a significant battle at the time between the Flemish and French. The French had decided to attack the Flemish out of revenge for a previous battle and after a long day of fighting the two sides engaged in talks, which left the French to believe the fighting was over for the day. Unknowing to them the Flemish launched a surprise attack nearly killing their king. After several other minor battles the Flemish were finally able to claim their freedom.</p> <p>Similarities between Stonewall and the Battle of Mons-en-Pévèle vary only in the aspect of the era in which they occurred. In both cases the side thought to be physically superior attacked those who were weaker, and instead the underdogs not only won the battle, but also won their freedom. This reminds us that even though we have come a long way in the last 700 years, oppression still exists.</p> <p>The variations of the two paintings are based on identical layouts with different compositions. People holding flags, riding horses, or yielding a weapon are doing so in both paintings. The older painting people carried flags to communicate with troops over a long distance, while the modern version shows people in the same positions holding protest banners. Instead of a warrior with a sword, the modern version shows a New York City police officer striking people down with his baton. Police hold riot shields in the same manner as soldiers from the original Larivière who were also holding 14th century battle shields.</p> <p>Birk has several variations that set his painting apart from Larivière’s. The overall setting is likely the most obvious although given the context they are a reflection of how history repeats itself. Small variations such as a man pulling on a parking meter resemble no similar actions or body placement in Larivière’s work. Birk included this not to set his painting apart from Larivière’s, but to include the significance of the parking meter in the Stonewall riots. In 1969 six police officers made there way into the Stonewall Inn and preceded to arrest people for engaging in homosexual acts such as cross-dressing. After being beaten and abused those under arrest decided to fight back. This revolt forced the police to retreat into the bar which they had just emptied and barricaded themselves in. Outside a riot began to form and a parking meter was uprooted and used as a battering ram. Birk saw this as a key component in the riots and incorporated it into his painting so casually it could easily be overlooked as a variation.</p> <p>The looks on the faces of the police are almost expressionless while the victims on the ground are withered with fear. Several hold their hands over their heads for protection; few appear to be fighting back. The police give this sense of feeling that what they are doing is no different than taking out the garbage. This is also from a time when homosexuality was considered a disease and occasionally treated with measures as extreme as giving the patient a lobotomy.</p> <p>Beer and liquor bottles pollute the ground and some fly through the air. I do not believe there were people drinking in the streets during a riot such as this one, and doubt Birk chose to represent it that way. Including the alcohol in the painting helped remind the viewer that this all started in a bar.</p> <p>Overall the amount of detail of historical facts regarding the riots that Birk included in his painting are overwhelming. The description posted off to the side in the museum gives him credit to fully researching the event by saying he properly portrayed the clothing and hairstyles of the people, however he did so much more than making the people fit the specific era. Birk selected a historical painting from 1865 then related it almost perfectly to the events at Stonewall. Even though it is considered “cartoon-like” the message is still clear.</p> <p>I am a heterosexual male who has very few friends that call themselves “gay”. Walking through the Crocker Art Museum I knew nothing about the events that took place at Stonewall in 1969. This painting appealed to me solely based on being a parody of a more popular work of art. Now with a better understanding of what Birk has portrayed I more impressed than I originally thought, yet disturbed that this event took place less than 10 years before I was born. I never knew it was illegal, and persecuted so strongly in a time so close to present day.  This horrified me to learn of the actions that took place in an attempt to “cure” homosexual behavior.</p> <p>To say a piece of art ‘changed my life’ sounds like a misconstrued exaggeration. I hear others say it and I think that they are being over-emotional. The truth is, art does change our lives. It’s around us everywhere, from the design of the cars we drive to the shoes we wear. Millions of people paint their face with makeup every morning before they leave the house. Art is life and I am still just beginning to realize this. My so-called mental maturity, which I originally held so high just a few months ago, is still as immature as a young child. Birk’s painting has changed my life, primarily my thinking about gay rights and why they are so important, but also it has shown me how far we have come in just 40 years. In only a single lifetime, we have gone from complete oppression of any homosexual behavior to including in our lives openly and fight for their right to marriage.</p> <p class="tumblrize-permalink"><a href="http://adium.me/2011/12/history-repeats-itself-stonewall-museum-art-piece-essay/" title="Go to original post at Adium.me" rel="bookmark">Original Article</a></p>http://tumblr.adium.me/post/14568255402http://tumblr.adium.me/post/14568255402Wed, 21 Dec 2011 09:13:08 -0800tumblrizeCharles Philippe Larivièrecollegeessayfreedomgay rightshumanitiesNew YorkprotestsriotsSandow BirkStonewall<p><a href="http://adium.me/uploads/2011/11/FAU1x1.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-large wp-image-2348" title="FAU1x" src="http://adium.me/uploads/2011/11/FAU1x1-600x398.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="398"/></a></p> <p class="tumblrize-permalink"><a href="http://adium.me/2011/11/the-single-most-badass-self-portrait-ever-taken/" title="Go to original post at Adium.me" rel="bookmark">Original Article</a></p>http://tumblr.adium.me/post/15365237588http://tumblr.adium.me/post/15365237588Fri, 18 Nov 2011 10:11:29 -0800tumblrizeastronautself-portraitspace<p>My brain is stuck on over drive the past couple months and is making it nearly impossible to focus.  From what I can Google, its possibly some form of ADHD, but that&#8217;s the best guess I got going for me right now.  Simplest way to explain it is my mind just wants to zone out, and go on vacation to some distant dreamland.</p> <p>So since I&#8217;m an Army veteran with health care through the VA, I thought I would make an appointment with mental health and see if they can help me.  I&#8217;ve dealt with the VA before and there are some things to be desired, but overall I can&#8217;t really argue for free medical care.  At the least I can talk to an advise nurse or someone to make an appointment.  Not true with mental health.  I&#8217;ve left multiple messages over the course of a month and never heard anything in return.</p> <p>Nada&#8230;</p> <p>Zip&#8230;.</p> <p>Nilch&#8230;.</p> <p>It&#8217;s almost as if this department doesn&#8217;t exist, or they want you bleeding from the wrist in order to see you.</p> <p>I thought if they don&#8217;t want to do their job, well then I will go around them and get someone else to help me.  This is where all those horror stories you hear about the VA start to come true.  I get an operator, explain what I need, then before I can finish I hear ringing&#8230;. they apparently transfered me without any warning or the customary &#8220;please hold&#8221;.</p> <p>By the time I&#8217;m done with all this VA bullshit and get to speak to someone I&#8217;ll need a separate mental health professional to deal with the stress related anxiety just from having to deal with them in the first place.  Heaven forbid these people have someone who might be suicidal on their hands.</p> <p class="tumblrize-permalink"><a href="http://adium.me/2011/10/va-mental-health-is-the-reason-i-need-a-mental-health-professional/" title="Go to original post at Adium.me" rel="bookmark">Original Article</a></p>http://tumblr.adium.me/post/11447215285http://tumblr.adium.me/post/11447215285Fri, 14 Oct 2011 13:42:21 -0700tumblrizementalmilitaryva<p>I&#8217;m going to be bald by the end of the week from stressing over this C++ class I am taking.  I am assigned the following question and told to write a program for it&#8230; except I have no clue how since I&#8217;m not sure what this program is suppose to do.  It&#8217;s not exactly clear what the output is supposed to be and I&#8217;m not allowed to use &#8220;cin&#8221; restricting any user input at all.</p> <p>Here is the question:</p> <blockquote><p>Create a Road class. The class should have functions for setting the width of the road in feet and the length of the road in miles.  It should also have functions for obtaining the width of the road and the length of the road. Remember that the class functions should not interact with the user of the program, either by proving output or by getting input.  Crete a function called asphalt that will accept a road thickness as an input parameter; then, on the basis of the thickness, it will computer and return the number of cubic feet of asphalt needed to pace the road (1 mile = 5280 feet).  Test each function of the class thoroughly with a driver.</p></blockquote> <p>I would love to sit here and cry about how my professor is insane or what not, but this is actually a question out of the book and most everyone else managed to complete it.  Leaving the problem to be only myself!  Or there is simply this one thing that I am completely missing which makes sense out of everything.</p> <p>Either way, I&#8217;m stuck and if I don&#8217;t finish it by tomorrow the prof is going to drop me for falling behind.</p> <p>_{(The book this question comes out of is &#8220;C++ Classes and Data Structures&#8221;, ISBN 0-13-158051-5 by Jeffrey S. Childs.  #17 on page 23)}</p> <p class="tumblrize-permalink"><a href="http://adium.me/2011/09/why-do-you-hate-me-c/" title="Go to original post at Adium.me" rel="bookmark">Original Article</a></p>http://tumblr.adium.me/post/9969499158http://tumblr.adium.me/post/9969499158Thu, 08 Sep 2011 14:46:13 -0700tumblrizec++classescomputer sciencecppprogramming<p>I&#8217;m seriously heated right now. I&#8217;m only 4 credits away from recieving my <a href="http://www.dvc.edu/org/departments/computer-science/degrees-and-certificates/index.htm">computer science degree</a>, which would have been done next semester&#8230; or so that&#8217;s what I though until I got a phone call 20 minutes ago.</p> <p>The school has decided to change the prerequisite requirements in order to get my degree, after I have started my degree.  So instead I am being kicked out of a class which I don&#8217;t meet the prerequisite for based on the new requirements. However I did meet the requirements for this class in 2010.</p> <p>I need 5 classes for a computer science degree&#8230; or I did (20 credits total).</p> <p>Regardless I need:</p> <blockquote><p>110, 210, and 260</p></blockquote> <p>Then either</p> <blockquote><p>265 &amp; 266 (C++ focused)</p></blockquote> <p>or</p> <blockquote><p>255 &amp; 256 (Java focused).</p></blockquote> <p>The problem is 210. In 2010 the prerequisites were either 255 or 265. Now its only 265, meaning my enrollment in 255 is worthless and I have to take 265 regardless that my major has nothing to do with C++.</p> <p>The big problem with this is, we are now at the end of the third week of classes, I can only add by the end of the 2nd week. So I can&#8217;t add the 265 class this semester, meaning I have to wait until next semester then I can&#8217;t take 210 until the following semester in Fall of 2012!!!!</p> <p>As of right now I would be left with only 260 next semester and about 5 credits of some general ed&#8230; like a Physical Education credit. Which is also when my GI bill runs out.</p> <p>I tried to appeal this based on the fact that I enrolled in the school and started pursuing this degree prior to the change, but I got stuck with this whore of a dean Rachel Westlake whom I&#8217;ve dealt with many times before. She&#8217;s never in her office, never answers her phone, and only reachable by e-mail which is great if you like your e-mails to go ignored for a month then followed up with a one line reply.</p> <p>This is a two year school, I have 107 credits, and still can&#8217;t get a fucking diplomia because of their hypocritical greedy philosophies!</p> <p class="tumblrize-permalink"><a href="http://adium.me/2011/09/playing-prerequisite-musical-chairs/" title="Go to original post at Adium.me" rel="bookmark">Original Article</a></p>http://tumblr.adium.me/post/9687716761http://tumblr.adium.me/post/9687716761Thu, 01 Sep 2011 17:59:18 -0700tumblrize<p>One of the worse places to live in Sacramento as far as crime and poverty rates is most likely the Natomas area in the Northwest portion of Sacramento County. I’ve even heard people on the radio jest about a stolen car “Natomas? Well no wonder”. There are two sides to Natomas though, North &amp; South. I live in North Natomas, a newly developed suburban community. Everything you might have heard badly about Natomas is in regards to South Natomas.</p> <p>There is a wal-mart here which goes without words, although those who have <a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz/walmart-sacramento-2">written a review on it at Yelp</a> have come fairly close to describing it, most of which with some added humor. Comments like “Ghetto as all hell” or “Worst of the worst” or better yet “you should lock your car if you&#8217;re just going to chill in your car. Total characters in the parking lot!”.</p> <p>I’m content in my gated community up here in North Natomas, and simply avoid shopping at any place in South Natomas. If I need a wal-mart I drive 15 minutes to the one in West Sacramento. Overall living in North Natomas isn&#8217;t bad, but occasionally people from the ghetto wander over.</p> <p>Now I say all of this because my daughter just started Kindergarten. Which because of the area we are in, me and my wife are afraid that at a public school she is going to be put in a class with a bunch of those kids with wandering parents. You know, those parents who think their responsibilities as a parent end with feeding the kids. We figured that a private school would be parents that take their responsibility that one step further than the rest.</p> <p>Caring parents, respectable kids. Right? At least we hope the odds of this are better. The logic makes sense, and so far we haven’t had any problems with our daughter coming home claiming some kid (usually a boy, WTF?) pulled her hair, which had happened in her old pre-school. Instead we have a new problem, the school itself.</p> <p>The teacher assigned to my daughter has a physical handicap where her arms are proportionally shorter than normal, by as much as half. This does put some limitations on what she is able to do, and I don&#8217;t have a problem with that. However she always acts so somber and depressed, I feel like she wants me to hug her so she can cry. I don’t know if this is because she is suicidal or just used to having everyone feel sorry for her. Whenever the kids play outside my daughter’s teacher stays inside and the other teachers pick up the slack. This makes sense, except when I show up to pick my daughter up she is all banged up and none of the other teachers really seem to care. After all, it’s not their student. And when I go to talk to the teacher I’m left screaming at someone who wasn’t even there, which makes me feel I have no right to scream. All she has to do is say, “I’m not sure I wasn’t there” and then I’m rather stuck with no one to blame and get answers from.</p> <p>Yesterday she fell and scrapped her knee, enough to draw blood and warrant a phone call. We asked that they clean and bandage it and we will come pick her up. They said they are unable to clean it or use any antiseptics and only administer a Band-Aid. No Neosporin, no hydrogen peroxide, just a fucking band-aid! My daughter is bleeding and they just cover it up and forget about it??!? Seriously? It’s a school where the nurse?</p> <p>I went to pick up my daughter several days earlier and she fell right in front of myself and two other teachers.  She had scraped her knee and started screaming. Neither of the teachers came to see if she was OK, or at least show some compassion. One teacher, who looked like she was 18, said “oops” followed by a slight chuckle. Had I not been so concerned with comforting my daughter I would have likely ripped her a new one in front of everyone and asked her what is funny.</p> <p>Overall the entire school seems to be very absent of compassion.  At 5 years old, in a school specifically for young children ages 4-8 years old… my daughter gets laughed at when she draws blood?  I got more compassion from my high school teachers at 18 years old.</p> <p>The next thing is the level of professionalism. I get letter’s and flyer’s all the time telling me one thing and the next. Coming from an institution which is responsible for the education of children, I expect them to know the difference from things like there, their, and they’re. Or at least proof read so something makes sense.</p> <p>Since it&#8217;s a private school my daughter has to wear a uniform.  I asked to see a picture of these uniforms, and they gave me a xerox&#8217;d document with two boys and a girl on the front in black and white, which looked like it was originally 5 times smaller and they stretched it to make it fit their document.  One of the boys was just a pixelated black silhouette of what a boy should be.  Since this was of no help I grabbed a year book sitting on the counter and found a picture of the entire school.  All the kids in the front, wearing nothing but their uniforms, the teachers in the back wearing jackets and scarves.  I mention this to the principal and she says, &#8220;well we had to organize the photo and the kids were outside for only 5 minutes&#8221;.  How does one organize a gaggle of school children to come outside near a playground, without said children?  Stand there and say &#8220;yup, this is the playground&#8221;?  This should have been my first clue.</p> <p>Lastly is the nickel and diming me left and right.  I pay $916 per month, since Kindergarten started on the 15th of the month, you would think that I would get that amount discounted or even the following month also due on the 15th.  No, I have to pay that amount on August 15th, then again on September 1st.  Which would be 100 times more acceptable if we knew before the 15th of August!</p> <p>Then being told that everything else is taken care of with our $600 deposit, and we don&#8217;t have to buy anything like crayons, scissors, glue, etc&#8230; only to be surprised with mandatory scholastic magazine subscriptions, field trip t-shirts, monogrammed jackets and sweaters, and other things.  Not that the $5 per year magazine subscription is going to bankrupt me, but telling me all the school supplies are covered in my deposit then coming at me for something that should have been included with that?  It just makes me feel that they aren&#8217;t organized and their only priority is fattening their bank accounts.</p> <p>I&#8217;m not asking for much.  Just get your shit together and stop surprising me with something new to buy, at least pretend that you care about the welfare of my daughter, and before you contact me proof read&#8230;. twice!  Look like someone I would be happy taking my money every month for the sake of my daughter.</p> <p class="tumblrize-permalink"><a href="http://adium.me/2011/08/problems-with-kindergarten/" title="Go to original post at Adium.me" rel="bookmark">Original Article</a></p>http://tumblr.adium.me/post/9610656780http://tumblr.adium.me/post/9610656780Tue, 30 Aug 2011 18:48:03 -0700tumblrize<p>Before I go off I want to make it clear that I&#8217;m drunk and have no clue why I am even here.  Other than the fact that my incessant posting on twitter is likely pissing some people off and I&#8217;m sane (not necessarily sober) enough to know that I should be here instead of there.  Or at least long enough for this buzz to subside for that rational thinking portion of my brain to regain consciousness.  (Drunk as fuck and still using big words, go me [or go google for being an awesome spellcheck])</p> <p>Now I am faced with the connundrum of finding something to write about.  Something about this glowing device in front of me just engages me to the point of having to write.  I can&#8217;t code for shit, I can&#8217;t draw to save my life, but when I write its like I&#8217;m possessed and I can&#8217;t stop.  This sounds like a blessing, except I do it all on this confounded blog which is 100% public (except for a few IP addresses which insist I&#8217;m a faggot).</p> <p>Why can&#8217;t I use this need to just&#8230; &#8220;GO!&#8221; towards something more productive.  I&#8217;ve thought about writing a book, but never though about anything that could fill one.  Its like a blessed curse that I have this ability to write in long-winded enough terms to go on with out any means of stopping, yet never really saying anything.  Some call this free-writing, but I call it a troll magnet.  It doesn&#8217;t matter if you write the ever so famous &#8220;roses are red&#8221; poem, you&#8217;re going to attract a troll.  Someone who can&#8217;t seem to find anything better to say than something negative and hurtful.</p> <p>Unfortunate to me, I&#8217;m softskinned and take everything to heart.  I grew up going through highschool being bullied every single day, having my books and contents of my bag dumped and scattered across the locker alcove, and should be used to the abuse.  Although sad to be&#8230; I&#8217;ve learned nothing.  On a plus side though I do know how the internet works more than the average bear and can track that person down and at the very least find a real name and address.  (or at least as long as they aren&#8217;t as smart as me)</p> <p>I don&#8217;t want to rant about my past though.  For the most part I&#8217;ve buried it.  I&#8217;m just ranting long enough to come up with a real topic to write about&#8230; oddly I think i have one now.  But it won&#8217;t be a public one, at least not yet.</p> <p>Loving spotify and this new collection of dubstep MP3&#8217;s I downloaded from demonoid.</p> <p class="tumblrize-permalink"><a href="http://adium.me/2011/08/writing-is-my-blessed-curse/" title="Go to original post at Adium.me" rel="bookmark">Original Article</a></p>http://tumblr.adium.me/post/8772680343http://tumblr.adium.me/post/8772680343Thu, 11 Aug 2011 01:57:16 -0700tumblrize<p>My English professor (who is also anti-war) asked me to write something about my experience in the Army, as a side project for a poetry thing she does.  I gave her this:</p> <blockquote><p>I arrived in Korea straight out of my Army training, and wanting to explore this new world, I ventured out on my own and easily got lost my first week there. Trying to find my way back to familiar civilization an old man likely in his 80′s saw me and tried to talk to me. It took him a minute for him to stand and walk the few feet towards me, and the amount of effort he was putting into getting my attention, I was going to let him have it. He knew no English, and I knew no Korean. After a minute or two of trying to communicate, he holds his hands up as if he was holding a gun and made shooting noises followed by gestures as if I was the gun. Understanding that he was asking me if I was in the Army, I said yes and he started to cry, grabbed my hand and said “thank you”. Possibly the only English words he knew.</p> <p>Several months later I went out with some friends to a Korean bar in the downtown area near our post. We were causing no problems and enjoying our time off with each others company. A group of men in their early 20′s saw us and made a b-line straight toward us. At first I thought they wanted to just poke and have some fun with us, then without any warning one of them slaps my friend in the face and screams “go home”.</p> <p>There are two sides to war. The oppression and the violence. Those who argue about war, usually only argue regarding the violence, which makes sense to some degree. The irreplaceable is lost forever in war, such as people, artifacts, sometimes even culture. We also tend to think that these things only survive our own lifetimes. In 100 years we will be gone, yet freedom will still be here. War is tragic, I agree… but freedom is simply that important.</p> <p>I know that the actions of fighting and killing is bad. But I couldn’t be more proud to have served, despite all the negative feedback I’ve seen. Maybe its the mentality that they install in me during basic training or the “team spirit” I developed on my own along the way. Regardless of what it is, I will never forget that old man struggling to tell me “thank you”.</p></blockquote> <p class="tumblrize-permalink"><a href="http://adium.me/2011/07/freedom-is-simply-that-important/" title="Go to original post at Adium.me" rel="bookmark">Original Article</a></p>http://tumblr.adium.me/post/7940370292http://tumblr.adium.me/post/7940370292Fri, 22 Jul 2011 13:41:06 -0700tumblrizeanti-wararmyfreedomkoreamilitarywar<p>From everything that I have read online, past experience, and some slight observation I thought my poison ivy was getting better. Severe cases I&#8217;ve seen have included large boils and my lesions were starting to subside.  Yesterday morning changed all that when I woke up at about 3am with my entire face swollen to the point that I could barely see. I had only gone to bed a few hours early so I thought it might be a response to the allergy medicine &#8220;Claritin&#8221; which I had taken early for the first time ever.  Wouldn&#8217;t that be ironic, being allergic to an allergy medicine.  Although I wouldn&#8217;t be the first and my symptoms do match common <a href="http://www.drugs.com/sfx/claritin-side-effects.html">allergy reactions to Claritin</a>. I had also put some new lotion on my face which I thought could have been rubbed off by the pillow and redeposited in my eyes during my sleep.</p> <p>[caption id=&#8221;attachment_1877&#8221; align=&#8221;alignleft&#8221; width=&#8221;135&#8221; caption=&#8221;3am comparison shot&#8221;]<a href="http://adium.me/uploads/2011/06/244233_1959844189980_1059036533_2171150_6318152_o.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-1877 " title="244233_1959844189980_1059036533_2171150_6318152_o" src="http://adium.me/uploads/2011/06/244233_1959844189980_1059036533_2171150_6318152_o-225x300.jpg" alt="" width="135" height="180"/></a>[/caption]</p> <p>I took a shower, snapped a pic of my face for comparison later, and went to sleep on the sofa with a clean blanket. The follow morning showed no change and after closer examination to the rest of me, I had a rash breaking out across almost my entire body now. My arms being just as bad as my face, swollen to the point where my skin felt stretched to its limit, almost like my wife&#8217;s stomach when she was pregnant.</p> <p>My wife is Korean, and my daughter who is only 5 years old made the distinction that my eyes look like hers.  My wife also poked fun at this as she had been telling me all week to go to the hospital and I refused until I woke up like this, then insisted.  She claimed that there is nothing wrong with my eyes and that she always has her eyes this far open.</p> <p>After finally dealing with all the racial jokes, I managed to find the nearest VA hospital which was in Mather, about 45 minutes for me.  For all my experience with VA clinics in general, they very refreshing.  It felt like a real hospital that had no affiliation with the military.</p> <p>[caption id=&#8221;attachment_1878&#8221; align=&#8221;alignright&#8221; width=&#8221;158&#8221; caption=&#8221;My wife holding my hand&#8221;]<a href="http://adium.me/uploads/2011/06/256109_1961313946723_1059036533_2174200_103777_o.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-1878 " title="256109_1961313946723_1059036533_2174200_103777_o" src="http://adium.me/uploads/2011/06/256109_1961313946723_1059036533_2174200_103777_o-225x300.jpg" alt="" width="158" height="210"/></a>[/caption]</p> <p>The only thing that showed any relation to the military was when the nurse made a comment about how my IV works I told him I knew all about it and he immediately asked if I had taken the &#8220;Combat Lifesaver&#8221; course in the military, which I have.  It&#8217;s not a fancy course, takes about a week and really only teaches you some basics and how to bandage a sucking chest wound and give an IV.  We give IV&#8217;s to each other and I got pair with some guy that was so nervous it took 6 tries before he was successful.</p> <p>I had my own room, although it was roughly the size of my bedroom closet.  Every time the nurse came in he had to kick my wife into the hall and take her chair with her.  As far as a visit to the ER and despite the other circumstances involved it was one of my nicer visits.</p> <p>I had about 8 files of blood taken.  2 of them were done through a vein on my hand during a second visit an hour or so after the first.  I got a shot of Benedryl (maybe) in my ass.  An large bag of saline through IV.  And a very small amount of steroids, which I never want again.  Within seconds of the steroids entering my body I felt a pins and needle surge through out my entire body that lasted only a few seconds, but was unusually painful.  I also think he may have given me some prednisone, but not sure.  There were a lot of things going around to keep tract very well, and he had to have about a dozen or so syringes, viles, and little jars of medicine.</p> <p>Overall the visit was about 6 hours, with maybe a 1-2 hour wait.  I passed out for most of it, which I&#8217;m told was due to the Benedryl.  I even think my wife got a little sleep but I was so groggy its hard to tell.  She was a sweetheart and held my hand most of the time&#8230;. then I introduced her to Angry Birds on her iPhone.</p> <p>I left with two prescriptions, prednisone (3 pills, 3 times a day) and diphenhydramine (1 pill, three times a day).  After 3 days I reduce the prednisone to 2 pills for 3 more days, then one pill.  So 9 days total, which I hope does the trick because I have summer classes starting exactly one week from today.</p> <p>Below you can see that the swelling in my face has gone down dramatically.  For starters you can see my eyes, although it still looks like I got punched.  My skin is also starting to peel, mainly around where I shave so it looks like nasty face dandruff.  Either case is enough to keep me home, and my wife has already made arrangements for her mother to send our daughter to school instead of me.  Bottom line, no more camping for me, and getting myself a big poster to help me learn how to identify poison ivy/oak.</p> <p>[caption id=&#8221;attachment_1879&#8221; align=&#8221;alignnone&#8221; width=&#8221;225&#8221; caption=&#8221;The morning after&#8221;]<a href="http://adium.me/uploads/2011/06/2011-06-06-07.52.22.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-1879" title="2011-06-06 07.52.22" src="http://adium.me/uploads/2011/06/2011-06-06-07.52.22-225x300.jpg" alt="" width="225" height="300"/></a>[/caption]</p> <p class="tumblrize-permalink"><a href="http://adium.me/2011/06/off-to-the-er-looking-like-a-balloon/" title="Go to original post at Adium.me" rel="bookmark">Original Article</a></p>http://tumblr.adium.me/post/7254511386http://tumblr.adium.me/post/7254511386Mon, 06 Jun 2011 10:45:57 -0700tumblrizeallergyemergency roomhospitalpoison ivypoison oakva<p>Over the Memorial Day weekend I took the family camping. For my daughter it was her first camping trip, while the wife says she went camping in Korea with the girl scouts, I&#8217;m claiming this is her first camping trip as well. Other than dealing with some douchebag driver on the way there. It went rather smoothly.</p> <p>My daughter carried around a bag of marshmallows the entire time and couldn&#8217;t wait to break them open. So I set off on a short hike to get a couple sticks suitable to roast them over the fire. I did this on Sunday night, and everything is fine until Tuesday morning. I&#8217;m guessing (mainly cause I&#8217;m the only one) that gathering those sticks I encountered some poison ivy. Or poison oak, why I haven&#8217;t learned the difference is beyond me, as this also isn&#8217;t my first encounter.</p> <p>This isn&#8217;t my first encounter, but it is possibly the worse. Reading several other websites it sounds like your body becomes more and more allergic as you get exposed to it more often. Apparently the first time your skin come in contact you have no reaction at all. The allergy is developed over time.</p> <p><a href="http://adium.me/uploads/2011/06/440.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-1864" title="440" src="http://adium.me/uploads/2011/06/440-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150"/></a>Below I will record my progress. I know some of you believe that I should go to the hospital, but I feel that they can&#8217;t do much more than I am already doing, and with poison ivy its mostly a waiting game. My medical is also through the VA right now and because I make to much money I still have to pay something although supposedly discounted. Free or not, the VA is not the best place to go for something like this. I went for an ear infection a couple years ago and was forced to wait 6 hours for them to give me some ear drops.</p> <p>At the moment I am using Technu Extreme scrub, which is AWESOME! Mainly because it&#8217;s like mechanic&#8217;s soap and has tiny grains of sand which is almost like scratching. So if it gets to the point where I can&#8217;t bear the itch and have to scratch I break this bottle out and give myself a treatment. From there I have a small tube of Aveeno 1% Hydrocortisone, anti-itch cream.</p> <p>I&#8217;ve heard that taking allergy medication such as Claritin or Benadryl allergy will also help with the recovery time. Which I&#8217;ve already spent over $20 all of this and don&#8217;t want to spend much more. Wife is already disgusted with the amount of over-the-counter drugs we have in the house, especially since they don&#8217;t exist in Korea. Even Tylenol is a prescription in Korea. So not sure if I&#8217;m going to pick some up later or not.</p> <h3>Tuesday May 31:</h3> <p><a href="http://adium.me/uploads/2011/06/2011-05-31-08.07.01.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-1857 alignnone" title="2011-05-31 08.07.01" src="http://adium.me/uploads/2011/06/2011-05-31-08.07.01-225x300.jpg" alt="" width="225" height="300"/></a></p> <h3>Wednesday June 1:</h3> <p>[no pic was taken]</p> <h3>Thursday June 2:</h3> <table border="0"><tbody><tr><td> <p>[caption id=&#8221;attachment_1858&#8221; align=&#8221;alignnone&#8221; width=&#8221;152&#8221; caption=&#8221;Left Arm&#8221;]<a href="http://adium.me/uploads/2011/06/2011-06-02-17.30.46.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-1858 " title="2011-06-02 17.30.46" src="http://adium.me/uploads/2011/06/2011-06-02-17.30.46-225x300.jpg" alt="" width="152" height="202"/></a>[/caption]</p></td> <td> <p>[caption id=&#8221;attachment_1859&#8221; align=&#8221;alignnone&#8221; width=&#8221;152&#8221; caption=&#8221;Right arm&#8221;]<a href="http://adium.me/uploads/2011/06/2011-06-02-17.32.10.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-1859 " title="2011-06-02 17.32.10" src="http://adium.me/uploads/2011/06/2011-06-02-17.32.10-225x300.jpg" alt="" width="152" height="202"/></a>[/caption]</p></td> <td> <p>[caption id=&#8221;attachment_1860&#8221; align=&#8221;alignnone&#8221; width=&#8221;152&#8221; caption=&#8221;My Nose&#8221;]<a href="http://adium.me/uploads/2011/06/2011-06-02-17.25.43.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-1860 " title="2011-06-02 17.25.43" src="http://adium.me/uploads/2011/06/2011-06-02-17.25.43-225x300.jpg" alt="" width="152" height="202"/></a>[/caption]</p></td> </tr></tbody></table><h3>Friday June 3:</h3> <table border="0"><tbody><tr><td> <p>[caption id=&#8221;attachment_1861&#8221; align=&#8221;alignnone&#8221; width=&#8221;152&#8221; caption=&#8221;Left Arm&#8221;]<a href="http://adium.me/uploads/2011/06/2011-06-03-12.35.25.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-1861 " title="2011-06-03 12.35.25" src="http://adium.me/uploads/2011/06/2011-06-03-12.35.25-225x300.jpg" alt="" width="152" height="202"/></a>[/caption]</p></td> <td> <p>[caption id=&#8221;attachment_1862&#8221; align=&#8221;alignnone&#8221; width=&#8221;152&#8221; caption=&#8221;Right Arm&#8221;]<a href="http://adium.me/uploads/2011/06/2011-06-03-12.35.55.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-1862 " title="2011-06-03 12.35.55" src="http://adium.me/uploads/2011/06/2011-06-03-12.35.55-225x300.jpg" alt="" width="152" height="202"/></a>[/caption]</p></td> <td> <p>[caption id=&#8221;attachment_1863&#8221; align=&#8221;alignnone&#8221; width=&#8221;152&#8221; caption=&#8221;My Nose&#8221;]<a href="http://adium.me/uploads/2011/06/2011-06-03-12.36.25.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-1863 " title="2011-06-03 12.36.25" src="http://adium.me/uploads/2011/06/2011-06-03-12.36.25-225x300.jpg" alt="" width="152" height="202"/></a>[/caption]</p></td> </tr></tbody></table><h3>Saturday June 4:</h3> <table border="0"><tbody><tr><td> <p>[caption id=&#8221;attachment_1861&#8221; align=&#8221;alignnone&#8221; width=&#8221;152&#8221; caption=&#8221;Left Arm&#8221;]<a href="http://adium.me/uploads/2011/06/2011-06-04-13.49.08.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-1867" title="2011-06-04 13.49.08" src="http://adium.me/uploads/2011/06/2011-06-04-13.49.08-225x300.jpg" alt="" width="152" height="202"/></a>[/caption]</p></td> <td> <p>[caption id=&#8221;attachment_1862&#8221; align=&#8221;alignnone&#8221; width=&#8221;152&#8221; caption=&#8221;Right Arm&#8221;]<a href="http://adium.me/uploads/2011/06/2011-06-04-13.49.26.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-1868" title="2011-06-04 13.49.26" src="http://adium.me/uploads/2011/06/2011-06-04-13.49.26-225x300.jpg" alt="" width="152" height="202"/></a>[/caption]</p></td> <td> <p>[caption id=&#8221;attachment_1863&#8221; align=&#8221;alignnone&#8221; width=&#8221;152&#8221; caption=&#8221;My Nose&#8221;]<a href="http://adium.me/uploads/2011/06/2011-06-04-13.50.15.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-1869 " src="http://adium.me/uploads/2011/06/2011-06-04-13.50.15-225x300.jpg" alt="" width="152" height="202"/></a>[/caption]</p></td> </tr></tbody></table><h3>Sunday June 5:</h3> <table border="0"><tbody><tr><td> <p>[caption id=&#8221;attachment_1861&#8221; align=&#8221;alignnone&#8221; width=&#8221;152&#8221; caption=&#8221;Left Arm&#8221;]<a href="http://adium.me/uploads/2011/06/2011-06-05-10.22.25.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-1873" title="2011-06-05 10.22.25" src="http://adium.me/uploads/2011/06/2011-06-05-10.22.25-225x300.jpg" alt="" width="152" height="202"/></a>[/caption]</p></td> <td> <p>[caption id=&#8221;attachment_1862&#8221; align=&#8221;alignnone&#8221; width=&#8221;152&#8221; caption=&#8221;Right Arm&#8221;]<a href="http://adium.me/uploads/2011/06/2011-06-05-10.22.40.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-1874" title="2011-06-05 10.22.40" src="http://adium.me/uploads/2011/06/2011-06-05-10.22.40-225x300.jpg" alt="" width="152" height="202"/></a>[/caption]</p></td> <td> <p>[caption id=&#8221;attachment_1863&#8221; align=&#8221;alignnone&#8221; width=&#8221;152&#8221; caption=&#8221;My Entire Face Now&#8221;]<a href="http://adium.me/uploads/2011/06/2011-06-05-10.23.06.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-1875" title="2011-06-05 10.23.06" src="http://adium.me/uploads/2011/06/2011-06-05-10.23.06-225x300.jpg" alt="" width="152" height="202"/></a>[/caption]</p></td> </tr></tbody></table><p>More to come as this progresses.</p> <p class="tumblrize-permalink"><a href="http://adium.me/2011/06/poison-ivy-sucks/" title="Go to original post at Adium.me" rel="bookmark">Original Article</a></p>http://tumblr.adium.me/post/7254544187http://tumblr.adium.me/post/7254544187Fri, 03 Jun 2011 13:04:29 -0700tumblrizeallergycampingpoison ivypoison oakrash<p>With all recent claims of the coming of Christ I’ve been a little more cynical than usual about my views on religion.  Since one of the places I unintentionally started to debate was on a random Facebook post by my cousin, I decided to end it and take my conversion elsewhere out of respect for her.  This has now led to multiple conversations about my views all over Facebook and e-mail.  So to try and consolidate all the questions about everything I am writing this blog post to try to explain my views as best as possible, then anyone who wants to participate in this conversation can comment here.</p> <p>Lets start with some simple Q&amp;A:</p> <p>Do I believe there is a God?</p> <blockquote><p>No</p></blockquote> <p>Do I believe the Bible speaks the truth?</p> <blockquote><p>No</p></blockquote> <p>Will I ever go to church again?</p> <blockquote><p>It&#8217;s likely for a visit, but not regularly</p></blockquote> <p>Do I teach my 5-year old daughter anything about religion?</p> <blockquote><p>I go out of my way to limit her exposure.  It would be easier for her to find porn in my house.</p> <p>Once she is old enough I plan to explain religions as a whole to her offering access to a Bible, a Torah, a Qur&#8217;an, and anything else.  Christianity will be explained no differently than Greek Mythology, Islam, Judaism, Voodoo, and even Paganism.  Religion is religion.</p></blockquote> <p>So exactly what are my views?</p> <p>I see religion (not just Christianity) as a scapegoat for those who are afraid of the truth or afraid of finding it and learning something new.  Every religious person I have met is typically closed-mind and more likely to end their life than change their point of view.</p> <p>What makes the matter worse is that if party A is not a supportive part of party B&#8217;s religion, then party B will contest that party A is wrong and destined to suffer the worse possible eternity imaginable.  If I were to print the Wikipedia page on &#8220;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_religions_and_spiritual_traditions" target="_blank">List of religions and spiritual traditions</a>&#8221; it would fill 21 pages.  If all of those religions exist and contradict each other, then only one can be truthful.  So which one is it?  Ironically, if you look closely enough at that page the two most common words you will find &#8220;religion&#8221; and &#8220;mythology&#8221;.</p> <p>I&#8217;ve seen a million billboards trying to sell me on the idea of god.  Never once have I seen one vandalized though.  Although every time I seen a billboard trying to sell &#8220;free-thinking&#8221; it gets vandalized within a week.  Much like the one pictured below that I got to see on my way to school for a short while.  I heard there were several other billboards in town which also got vandalized during the month long campaign, but the one pictured below is the only one I saw.</p> <p>[caption id=&#8221;attachment_1845&#8221; align=&#8221;aligncenter&#8221; width=&#8221;600&#8221; caption=&#8221;Billboard vandalized here in Sacramento, by Christians&#8221;]<a href="http://adium.me/uploads/2011/05/sacramentobillboard.jpg"><img class="size-large wp-image-1845" title="sacramentobillboard" src="http://adium.me/uploads/2011/05/sacramentobillboard-600x377.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="377"/></a>[/caption]</p> <p>I grew up going to a private Christian school, going to church every Sunday, and literally had Jesus shoved down my throat.  Whenever I asked a simple question such as “where does snow come from” I would get an answer that couldn&#8217;t be farther from the truth like, &#8220;because god wants it to snow&#8221; or &#8220;it comes from heaven&#8221;.   If my daughter were to ask me, the answer would involve a long explanation about atmospheric conditions, temperature, and water vapor then conclude with an old geography book or encyclopedia so she can learn more and hopefully get some visual representations.   It doesn’t matter how religious you are, there are scientific explanations for almost every answer I’ve heard replaced with “because god wants” which those same religious people will agree the science is right.  Hearing “because god wants” in my opinion is more along the lines of saying “I’m too lazy or dumb to share the real answer, now shutup and leave me alone”.  So now when I hear this it makes my blood boil.</p> <p>The bible is always acclaimed to be the &#8220;word of god&#8221;.  However ask Billy Graham himself and he can tell you the men who wrote it.  Men, not God!  How did these men hear God&#8217;s words? Voices in their head, the same way people diagnosed with schizophrenia hear things.  Or looking at things in their lives in such a way that they read the signs they wanted to see.</p> <p>[caption id=&#8221;attachment_1846&#8221; align=&#8221;aligncenter&#8221; width=&#8221;540&#8221; caption=&#8221;Mis-interpreting our dreams&#8221;]<img class="size-full wp-image-1846" title="20110521" src="http://adium.me/uploads/2011/05/20110521.gif" alt="" width="540" height="703"/>[/caption]</p> <p>At one point in time everyone believed the world was flat.  They even found the scientific evidence that suggested it.  Yet, we all know (I hope) that the world is round, because we changed the way we were looking at the equation.  No matter how hard you look for answers, you will find some.  And some can be proven to be true which are in fact false.  If you&#8217;re looking for Jesus burnt into a slice of toast you&#8217;ll find him eventually.</p> <p>[caption id=&#8221;attachment_1847&#8221; align=&#8221;aligncenter&#8221; width=&#8221;300&#8221; caption=&#8221;Jesus? Or burnt toast?&#8221;]<a href="http://adium.me/uploads/2011/05/bilde.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-1847" title="bilde" src="http://adium.me/uploads/2011/05/bilde-300x277.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="277"/></a>[/caption]</p> <p>I can barely make a face out of this image, and what I can make out I would more closely consider a Klingon than Jesus Christ!  But suppose it was Jesus, and the image was crystal clear.  What exactly does that mean?  Jesus likes cheese on his toast?  Or does it mean you&#8217;re an idiot who can&#8217;t even make toast without burning it.  I&#8217;m going with the latter.</p> <p>OK, so now I&#8217;ve critiqued the people whom I&#8217;ve witnessed participate in religion.  What about their source of information?  If everything I&#8217;ve said so far doesn&#8217;t sound absurd enough then citing the Bible has to take the cake!</p> <p>In 7 days, God just suddenly realizes he is all powerful, bored, and alone and creates everything we know and see.  Then after a few thousand years sends his son down, because he is all too powerful to come down himself and, painfully suffer, be ridiculed, and eventually be brutally murdered in front of a violent crowd.  God claims it was to absorb all the sin in the world, yet leaves with people still sinning and behaving the same way they did before.  Then declares that he will destroy everything sometime in the future.  He&#8217;s not going to say when, just wants to put it out there that he is heartless enough to kill his own son and we are next.</p> <p>In fact if you take the entire story of Jesus and Christianity and summarize the context it sounds about as absurd as it gets.</p> <p>[caption id=&#8221;attachment_1849&#8221; align=&#8221;aligncenter&#8221; width=&#8221;600&#8221; caption=&#8221;Definition of Christianity&#8221;]<a href="http://adium.me/uploads/2011/05/christianity.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-1849 " title="christianity" src="http://adium.me/uploads/2011/05/christianity.jpg" alt="Christianity - The belief that a cosmic Jewish Zombie who was his own father can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him you accept him as your master, so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a rib-woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical tree... yeah makes perfect sense." width="600" height="507"/></a>[/caption]</p> <p>Imagine you went back in time knowing everything that you know now. How hard would it be to convince a large group of people that you are in fact the son of God? How many stories have you heard in modern day about cults being operated by the second coming of Christ? It&#8217;s probably a little harder today given the advancements in, oh, I don&#8217;t know, record keeping, photography, and communication! Still that didn&#8217;t stop <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Koresh">David Koresh</a> the leader of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waco_siege">waco incident</a> killing over 70 of his own followers and several federal agents. What if that is all Jesus Christ really was? A 2,000 year old leader of a cult!! Actually isn&#8217;t that what the Romans accused him of?</p> <p>Then it comes down to how Christianity works. If you don&#8217;t get baptized it doesn&#8217;t matter. If you don&#8217;t participate in communion it doesn&#8217;t matter! If you follow in the footsteps of Hitler or Stalin it doesn&#8217;t matter!!! Because as long as you truly believe in God and forgive your sins you will go to heaven.  The results are just the same weather we practice the religion or not.  Actually attending church is optional in the long run, because the only thing that is necessary is a short prayer saying &#8220;oops, my bad.  Didn&#8217;t mean to rape that school boy&#8221; and your slate is wiped clean. Some even contest that they believe in God and plan to ask for forgiveness on their death bed to save them the effort of following the stricter guidelines. Nothing matters, just be sure that you&#8217;re sorry.</p> <p>There are also parts of the bible that simply contradict each other.  I would give specific examples, but every time I do everything else said is forgotten and those out there that believe god needs defending come to his rescue.  The Bible is riddled with contradictions and inaccuracies, which get written off by most religious nuts as errors lost in translation.  Well, then honestly if there are errors in the translation in these obvious locations, how do we know there aren&#8217;t errors elsewhere?  Google &#8220;<a href="http://www.lmgtfy.com/?q=bible+contradictions" target="_blank">Bible contradictions</a>&#8221;, then Google <a href="http://www.lmgtfy.com/?q=bible+contradictions+explained" target="_blank">Bible contradictions explained</a> and notice that both parties don&#8217;t properly address the issue.  The one side includes duplicates or items that could easily explained.  The other side explain the obvious, and beat around the bush on the unexplainable or simply give the ever famous &#8220;because god said&#8221; speech.  The best example I can give right now is this little clip below.</p> <p>[caption id=&#8221;&#8221; align=&#8221;aligncenter&#8221; width=&#8221;560&#8221; caption=&#8221;Bible Contradictions&#8221;]<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/RB3g6mXLEKk" frameborder="0" width="560" height="349"></iframe>[/caption]</p> <p>Even if you choose to ignore the contradictions, and excuse them some way or another the content is another issue. Unless you seriously are considering selling your daughter and getting another wife.</p> <blockquote><p><strong>Exodus 21:7</strong> - And if a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant, she shall not go out as the menservants do.</p></blockquote> <blockquote><p><strong>Exodus 21:10</strong> - If he take him another wife; her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish.</p></blockquote> <p>How do you follow a book as your way of life then pick and choose exactly which passages you are going to follow? If this is the case, then I&#8217;m living a Christian lifestyle. I&#8217;ve chosen to exclude everything in the books from Genesis to Revelations.</p> <p>[caption id=&#8221;&#8221; align=&#8221;aligncenter&#8221; width=&#8221;512&#8221; caption=&#8221;Prop 8 - The Musical&#8221;]<object id="ordie_player_c0cf508ff8" width="512" height="328" classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="flashvars" value="key=c0cf508ff8"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><param name="src" value="http://player.ordienetworks.com/flash/fodplayer.swf"><param name="quality" value="high"><embed id="ordie_player_c0cf508ff8" width="512" height="328" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://player.ordienetworks.com/flash/fodplayer.swf" flashvars="key=c0cf508ff8" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" quality="high"></embed></object>[/caption]</p> <p>All said and done, I see nothing logical which convinces me any religion Christianity or otherwise could not be farther from the truth.  I don&#8217;t know what the truth of our own existence really is, and I am able to live with not knowing.  I don&#8217;t need an answer for everything there is to know.  I love learning, exploring, and figuring things out on my own.  But religion to me seems like an excuse to fill in blanks for things we don&#8217;t have the answers to yet.</p> <p>Maybe there are some positive things about religion like &#8220;being kind to your neighbor&#8221; but why do we need a religion to teach us that when its a common rule among all of humanity. Actually, my dog is capable of it and regularly practices it, so what makes religion special?</p> <p>If anyone has any questions I&#8217;m open for debate, but I warn you that unless you can get God himself show up at my doorstep I&#8217;m pretty firm on my beliefs.  Knock on my door, shove your tracks in my face as I&#8217;m waking down the street, or stand in the quad at my school reading the Bible out loud while I&#8217;m trying to study and expect some extra criticism (possibly some physical contact).</p> <p><strong>Edit: Due to the excessive amount of douchebag Christians that are online pasting book-length comments on everything which is anti-whatever-shit-they-are-selling, I am locking comments.  If you&#8217;re going to comment anywhere else, &#8220;read the fucking article&#8221; (RTFA) first.</strong></p> <p class="tumblrize-permalink"><a href="http://adium.me/2011/05/my-personal-views-on-religion/" title="Go to original post at Adium.me" rel="bookmark">Original Article</a></p>http://tumblr.adium.me/post/7254549365http://tumblr.adium.me/post/7254549365Mon, 23 May 2011 03:32:47 -0700tumblrizechristianityopinionreligionthoughts<p>Life has been good recently.  If you follow this blog you may have noticed its been pretty dry as I usually use it as a means to complain and vent about what bothers me.  Since I am blogging here now, and you&#8217;ve probably already caught the title of this post you can probably guess that&#8217;s changed.</p> <p>It hasn&#8217;t changed in a sense where I am terribly troubled, but that&#8217;s mostly because I&#8217;m slightly humored by the idiocy of this guy that he really believes himself.  So to save you the trouble, I&#8217;m going to tell you his story first (from my perspective) and see if you draw a similar conclusion.</p> <p>In case you didn&#8217;t know the back-story is basically my wife&#8217;s parents own a dry cleaner, but speak no English so call me in to communicate with the neighbor that owns a thrift shop.  The thrift shop opened about 2-3 months ago.</p> <p>[caption id=&#8221;attachment_1837&#8221; align=&#8221;aligncenter&#8221; width=&#8221;600&#8221; caption=&#8221;Parking area behind the dry cleaners&#8221;]<a href="http://adium.me/uploads/2011/05/2011-05-19-09.47.42.jpg"><img class="size-large wp-image-1837" title="2011-05-19 09.47.42" src="http://adium.me/uploads/2011/05/2011-05-19-09.47.42-600x450.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="450"/></a>[/caption]</p> <p>The far building on the right in the above picture, is the back of the dry cleaners.  The building just to the left of us is the thrift shop.</p> <p>There are 3 dumpsters in this picture as well.  The smallest on the right is ours, just to the left of that belongs to the neighbor on the other side of the thrift shop, and the dumpster nearly falling off the left side belongs to the thrift shop.  A considerable distance from the buildings.  All three dumpsters are locked.</p> <p>[caption id=&#8221;attachment_1839&#8221; align=&#8221;aligncenter&#8221; width=&#8221;600&#8221; caption=&#8221;Vandals broke into the thrift shop&#8217;s dumpster by bending the locking bar holding down the lid to steal garbage from their dumpster&#8221;]<a href="http://adium.me/uploads/2011/05/2011-05-19-09.46.36.jpg"><img class="size-large wp-image-1839" title="2011-05-19 09.46.36" src="http://adium.me/uploads/2011/05/2011-05-19-09.46.36-600x450.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="450"/></a>[/caption]</p> <p>[caption id=&#8221;attachment_1840&#8221; align=&#8221;aligncenter&#8221; width=&#8221;600&#8221; caption=&#8221;No one made any attempt to break into our dumpster, which is locked with a coat hanger&#8221;]<a href="http://adium.me/uploads/2011/05/2011-05-19-09.45.33.jpg"><img class="size-large wp-image-1840" title="2011-05-19 09.45.33" src="http://adium.me/uploads/2011/05/2011-05-19-09.45.33-600x450.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="450"/></a>[/caption]</p> <p>[caption id=&#8221;attachment_1838&#8221; align=&#8221;aligncenter&#8221; width=&#8221;600&#8221; caption=&#8221;Garbage belonging to the thrift shop piled neatly next to our dumpster on the side closest to the building.  The thrift shop owner claims the vandals stole his trash and then left it there.&#8221;]<a href="http://adium.me/uploads/2011/05/2011-05-19-09.49.03.jpg"><img class="size-large wp-image-1838" title="2011-05-19 09.49.03" src="http://adium.me/uploads/2011/05/2011-05-19-09.49.03-600x450.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="450"/></a>[/caption]</p> <p>The distance between the buildings and our dumpster is about 20 feet.  The thrift shop dumpster is about 100 feet away.  We have a lock on our dumpster because we have caught the Thrift Shop owner &amp; employees throwing stuff in there.  Personally, I think his teenage employee&#8217;s were told to throw those items away and they did the best way teenage boys know how.</p> <p>I believe that someone did break into his dumpster, but I don&#8217;t think it has anything to do with the trash by our dumpster.  Why would someone show such utter disrespect towards his dumpster by breaking it and throwing items on the ground then be so casual with ours?</p> <p>The humoring part is that he believes his story is plausible and mine is not.</p> <p class="tumblrize-permalink"><a href="http://adium.me/2011/05/neighbor-from-hell/" title="Go to original post at Adium.me" rel="bookmark">Original Article</a></p>http://tumblr.adium.me/post/7254554120http://tumblr.adium.me/post/7254554120Thu, 19 May 2011 11:34:44 -0700tumblrizedumpsterneighborthrift shop<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lk2ab5mGjj1qzluhzo1_400.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>At <a href="http://gowalla.com/checkins/34623894?ref=tuph">Starbucks</a></p>http://tumblr.adium.me/post/4838187315http://tumblr.adium.me/post/4838187315Fri, 22 Apr 2011 09:11:30 -0700