Entertainment Value vs. Entertainment Values

I posted yesterday from my cell phone, I wasn't sure if it would work or not. Obviously it did. I'm kinda bummed I haven't had anyone reply to my post about Series 60 phones. I really have an addiction to finding new programs for that thing.. I wonder if they have like a Nokia Addicts Anonymous where I could get some help breaking my habit. lol.

Speaking of my cell phone... I get 'alerts' on it. These alerts range from weather forecasts, ski reports, breaking news, AMBER alerts, sports scores, etc. I get a billion of them. With my busy schedule, it's about my only chance to get the news or keep up with my favorite teams. One of the categories of alerts is "entertainment." This morning (and many other mornings), under the entertainment category was a little tidbit about the Michael Jackson trial.

Does that strike anyone else as twisted that something like that falls into the category of entertainment? Either one of two things happened here. Either Jackson did it, and a little boy was molested. Or, he didn't do it and some parents are not only destroying Jackson's life, but their own child's for the sake of a few dollars, fame, or whatever their motives. Both are equally tragic. I have no opinion one way or the other on innocence or guilt.. either scenario is equally likely if you ask me.

However, when did the destruction of someones life start falling into the entertainment category? We live in a sad world when a story such as this attracts us by the millions, where it makes headlines -not for the tragedy of it, but the entertainment- of tabloids, mainstream media, and every other source of information. And we all can say that it's not us who it amuses, but it's gotta be someone, because they don't put that stuff out there unless the public is buying it. That's the sad truth, it's our fault.

Oh, how I hate, loathe, and dread finals week! Nothing is as time consuming, or gut wrenching as a whole semester of hard work depending on a handful of exams. I don't know why I let it get to me so much, but I worry myself sick til I find out all my scores. Have no fear though... I shall be back online, and blogging with a vengeance very soon. Til then...

I have had zero time the last while to post anything! Thanks for the comments and help on the web counter! I'm really excited to have that working. Maybe this weekend I'll have a little time to rant for a while.. I hope so.
Now I just need to add a little 'pizazz' to my page, and I'll be happy. Any suggestions on that? I still haven't a clue on how to add a picture to my profile, though I've had a few offers for help there. I'm going to have to follow up on that.

Does anyone know how to put a counter on my blog? I want one.

The S Word

If any of my old English professors read my blog they'd probably die from horror. THERE WILL BE NO CRITIQUING OF MY GRAMMAR, USAGE, SYNTAX, AND SPELLING. lol. I'll make that my only official blog rule. Oh, except the other rule that I'm always right. ; ) Just kidding.

I'm sure tired tonight, but I'm not ready for bed. It was a long day. I need some 'me' time to unwind. I'm having an inner debate on whether I have the energy to rant or not.. I do. Ok, so I had to stop by work this morning for a minute to pick some stuff up from a co-worker. She's quite the proper lady, and I usually try to be very professional in the work area. I mind my p's and q's, I'm P.C., I watch my language, I'm genuine, I work hard... etc. However, I like to swear. On occasion, little things slip out. Nothing big, no F-bombs.. just little damns and hells. Ok, so... I'm talking to another co-worker, I didn't think anyone else was around and I said "shit." Co-worker number one was around and she had something to say about that... and she was right. I was in the work place, I'm paid to act a certain way, and I have no problem with that. Mostly though, she was just teasing me. She's a nice lady and I like her.

During her teasing lecture, she suggested I get in the habit of using other words instead of swear words. Like "shoot" or "crap." They don't offend anyone, I don't get in trouble by the boss, there are a thousand bonuses and only upsides if I take her advice. The question I have though... what is the difference between shit and crap? lol. This blog is going to be crass.. but I guess it can't be helped because of the subject matter. Really though, what is the difference? They both have the same literal meaning, right? Mostly though, when one says either of those words they are not referring in any way to feces. It's just an expression of "well, that wasn't good" or something similar. So, if two words have the exact same meaning no matter how you use them... why is one perfectly acceptable and the other offensive? Who decided shit was a swear word anyway? Why can't they say that on TV? lol.

There are a bazillion different euphemisms like that anyway... Does anyone know people who are fond of saying "freakin' A"? Any questions where that is derived? Yet if the hordes of people that used that went around saying it in its original context, we'd have mouths open in disgust everywhere. What about: dang, gosh, gosh darnit, H E double toothpicks.. this list could go on for days. Aren't all of those simply a substitute for other words? Same meaning, same slang, same emphasis, everything. What if I was talking about the Jazz game tonight, and said "they totally got screwed, the refs weren't fair"? Other than the fact I'm talking about the Jazz, it's not offensive in the least, right? What if I substituted another word (you know, the real bad one) for screwed? How many would be offended then? I really just don't understand it for the most part.
I have only one real soft spot for those who are offended by cursing, and it is something I always try not to do because I can see how it could offend someone. Taking God's name in vain. That, can be offensive to the very core of people's beliefs and I think we should all be respectful of that in public. The rest of the 'swear words,' I don't give a damn about. But why is saying gosh ok again? Anyone know? lol.

My last part of this topic.... What comes to mind when some one says to you -and yes I mean this literally- "the 'S' word"? Doesn't it invoke the thought of the very word you are trying to avoid? What is the point of that?

Well, it's late and some of my angst is gone because of how tired I am. ::shakes angry fist:: It just rubs me wrong whenever I hear the word heck. If one is immoral the other is immoral. What's that old saying? A rose by another name is still a rose? Probably not right, but you get the jist of it.

Re: Me

WOW! I love responses -everyone's responses both good and bad- from criticism, to agreement, to just saying hi, or the techy exchange, but... Geo's however made me sit back for a minute and think. ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL! I was going to reply to it in comments but I think I'll post it and reply. And here I came to my laptop with something to really rant about today.. and Geo sidetracked me. (Which I am grateful for.) As I've said before though, I doubt I'll lose my angst on my new subject cause once I get talking about it, I'll get plenty wound up again. Geo's comment:

Hi, neighbor!Okay, here's a question: Talking or writing or photographing--of
the three modes of expression, which works best for you, and why? And why is it
important for you to spend time sharing some of who you are via the internet? I
read your whole blog, and I checked out your pictures (and liked them,
particularly some of your sky-fascination shots and the sparkler guys.) I wanted
to know more about this DogMan who left me two nice messages in a row on my
recently-neglected blogs. Thanks for your generous words. They were really
encouraging, 'specially since I've been toying with the idea of abandoning my
blogging habit for a while. Maybe I won't. It's always a little refresher to get
positive comments. Keep up your writing! It's good for you (and the rest of us)!

I probably express myself easiest by writing, but I think I prefer talking. The problem with talking is that for the most part, you need a listener or it gets kinda boring. lol. Writing however, is different. Writing is not something that requires the immediate attention/response of others. When anyone writes, they know -at best- its going to be a short amount time til they have a response. When I'm writing I do hope that people read it, but the therapy for the soul is not in having it read, it's in letting it out. The other part of writing is the arrogant side of me that thinks my opinions/thoughts matter to the world. My ideal job: an opinion columnist in printed media. (Yes, the very entity I loathe.)

Ok, so why is it important to me to share? It's a vent -a release valve, if you will- and I really believe that people need to have that. Feelings and thoughts are not something we should keep bottled up. It's just not healthy. The problem with most people is that feelings are hard to share with people face to face, or people we care about. I am in that category. Don't get me wrong, I talk plenty, but it's difficult to always be open. If someone really close to me replied to something I said with harsh criticism, it may hurt me or offend me. We're vulnerable that way. If you (the readers in general) criticize me, I take it as an intellectual challenge or constructive criticism. Why is that? I'm sure the people in my life that care about me would not want to hurt me, and some of you may want to kill me... so why do we get offended by the words of those who care about us, and care less about the words of those who hate us? Hmmm... interesting. Am I getting sidetracked? I guess writing and posting online is a sort of emotional safety net. Though I really don't think I'm that vulnerable (emotionally) to criticism, I certainly don't email all my friends and tell them to check out my new blog. In thinking about what I just said, maybe I'm much more vulnerable than I want to admit. Who knows.

Secondly, and maybe equally, I love to debate. I'm good at it, I enjoy it, I'm somewhat intelligent and educated... but my strong point in any debate is that I don't care which side of an issue I take. I can do either side and never reveal what I think personally. (Though I'm definitely not doing that here, it's obvious that I'm ranting about the things that I feel.) It's not like I want this site to turn into a big, mean, argument.. I'd delete a post before I let that happen... but two differing intelligent opinions, exchanging information, stimulating minds, and piquing curiosity is like a drug to me. Addicting as hell.

My pictures... A hobby at best, though it is a form of expression for me. I wish I was better at it. I do have a better camera now, and that's helped a little. I'll tell you all a secret, my favorite thing to do is take pictures of people. Not posing, not models, but people doing what people do all day. The only problem with that is that I disagree with doing it. lol. Did that make sense? Ok... let me explain. If I was cruisin' the web one day and came across a picture of me, that someone else had taken and posted without my consent or approval, I would be livid! I'd hunt them down and destroy their hard drive. (Just kidding, though I'd consider it! lol) I'm big on people's right to privacy. But let me be honest here, I've taken a bunch of pictures of people that don't even know it, and I think I have some awesome pictures, but I don't feel that I have the right to share them. I wish I could, but I can't bring myself to do it. Oh, how I hate having morals... I've always said they are nothing but a pain in the ass. I have a friend who is pregnant, about 7 months along, and I'm trying my hardest to talk her into letting me just tag along with her for a few days and take as many pictures as a I wanted of her just doing whatever it is she does during the day. That would make a fantastic photo display. However, she's only agreed to me hanging out with her (And since we're friends and we can hangout anytime we want, she's conceded nothing... she's a shrewd lady.) but so far, she won't agree to picture taking. Go figure. ; )

I hope I answered... I tried to be honest and sincere. Thanks for the wonderful comment and questions Geo. I'm about out of time for the day so I need to wrap up and post. My latest complaint against society will have to wait til tonight or tomorrow. It oughta be a a dandy, it's about cursing.

Nokia Phones

I have a Nokia 6200, and I love it. I'm always looking for new/interesting/useful/or even pointless programs for it. If anyone has any programs for Nokia phones (preferably Series 60, but I've found other software platforms that work just fine) I'd be really interested in trading, or whatever. I also have a lot of themes, ringtones, games, wallpapers, pics, desktop programs for it, etc. I'd like to get more, and would share mine in trade or with those who have none. ; )

Statistics Give Us Whatever We Want

Either I should be a fortune teller, or we (as a community) need to do something about this privacy issue... It happened again today:

200,000 Ameritrade Client Files Lost
Leading online discount broker Ameritrade Holding Corp. said Tuesday it has
informed about 200,000 current and former customers that a backup computer tape containing their personal information has been lost.

Associated Press

Yahoo! News

It just irritates the hell out of me. I'm not giving up my day job to be a fortune teller. I have an Ameritrade account, I haven't received a phone call yet but I'd certainly hate to be the person on the other end of the phone if it ever comes. I would go on a tirade that would make Attila the Hun look like a pleasant individual.

As a side note: If you read my "Prejudice" post, you may wanna check out this link. It's an article about obesity related deaths. I really don't know if it has any real value other than it's somewhat interesting, it's related to what I was saying, but mostly because it's art as far as contradiction is concerned. I love statistics... because they are so easily manipulated by the author. Find me a study proving anything with statistics and I'll find you ten more that prove the exact opposite.

Every kind of media is so biased to one side or the other it's just twisted and wrong. I guess it can't be helped, because after all we'd all probably use whatever platform given to us to prove/do what what though was right and just. I mean, I wouldn't rant and rave trying to propagate something that I believed to be a lie on my blog, so why would I expect the editor of a newspaper to be any different? Sure, I can honestly say that I'm reasonable, that I try to be unbiased, and that I can view both sides of an issue with equality... But in the end my beliefs, personal motives, and all that stuff will win.

Look at gun control for instance... it's a hot topic at times, and with some it's always a hot topic. Go to the NRA website (or a million others) and read their statistics on how much crime is prevented by people owning firearms. Then, go to a gun control advocates website and look at their statistics on how much crime is perpetrated every year because of firearms. Statistics are just math, right? Math is a hard science the last time I checked. Hard science is something basically irrefutable. Yet, these two statistics couldn't show more different facts if they tried hard. It's all about the manipulation. It's all about what part you tell and what part you leave out. It's all about who you poll. It's all about the answer you want, then do what you have to to get it. All news is like that. It's amazing that any of us ever tune in at all when most reasonable people know it's about 98% bull shit. I guess it's a matter of choice, or the lack there of.

girlspit

Some people have more imagination in their little finger than I could ever hope to have. Screen names for instance. Mine have always been generic and boring, with no thought at all involved, and definately no real, deep, or even humorous meaning. Say this word out loud... "girlspit." Maybe its just me, but if I say that out loud I snicker like a 5 year old. I have no idea if it means anything, perhaps a nickname or an inside joke, but that is one funny word. I guess that's just a side note, and a thanks to you folks with enough imagination to amuse the rest of us who have none. (By the way, if you haven't seen girlspit's page, you need to, it's a dandy!)

Subliminal Messages

Commercials... Advertisement in one form or the other is a part of everything today. It's one of the largest industries in America. Billions of dollars change hands every day just for advertising and its related items.

I don't quite understand it. I mean, I can see if you're having a sale, a new business, new product... Advertising helps get the word out. But lets look at the established companies... I'm a Coke drinker so lets pick on them. Why do I drink Coke? I'm assuming it's cause I like it. CocaCola probably has an advertising budget the size of many countries entire incomes. The Super Bowl comes up, and Pepsi-Cola puts in a commercial, it costs them 2 million per 30 seconds and they probably run 5 commercials or so.. that adds up to a buttload of money! Do I run to the store and buy Pepsi instead of Coke? I don't. I don't even know anyone who does! So why spend the money? Who runs and buys a different product just cause the commercial was funny or some celebrity says it's their favorite?

I can see advertising during kid shows, they are atleast somewhat influenceable at that age... but the whole world? I'll tell you what would be effective as hell... Pepsi-Cola is #2 in the soda companies and it's a fair guess to say they'd just love to be #1 in sales. So, what if Pepsi held a press conference (free) and said they had just eliminated their entire marketing staff. They had cut their advertising budget to zero... that's right, no money whatsoever on advertising. They had terminated all their endorsements, no longer paid movie producers to use their product, gave up all incentives to retailers to carry or display their product... everything. They announce that the only cost now for any Pepsi product is only as much as production and shipping. Imagine what that would do to their price! Literally, it would probably cut it by 2/3's!

Now, if Pepsi was 2/3 the price of Coke... would I switch products? lol... Probably! Some people might not... but think about the millions of parents out there shopping on a budget, all the sudden Pepsi is looking damned good on the shelf when it's even cheaper than the generic brands on sale! Their sales would sky rocket! Wouldn't they?

Who has Nextel for their wireless company just because they pay millions to have racing called the Nextel cup? Who buys a certain beer just because they sponser the lates PGA tour? Who buys Duracell batteries just because Bon Jovi uses them? Who doesn't realize that Bon Jovi only uses Duracell because he was paid grundles of money to do so and probably receives free batteries for life? I just don't know anyone who would read these questions and raise their hands meekly and answer "I do."

Commercials and ads drive me crazy... I just hate them all for the most part. They insult us by saying that "Hey, you're stupid enough to buy our product just because we tell you to or because some celebrity got paid millions to say he/she liked it!" The thing that I don't want to even consider is that they are right... If that's the case, commercials piss me off cause they remind me how stupid the human race is.

In The Name Of God

Well, I figured out how to add links to my blog here... that seemed a lot harder than it needed to be. I'm probably just stupid. You should check out the other blogs that I've linked.. they are amusing and a good read. Also linked is my photo blog, check it out if you have a minute.

The world has a new Pope. That was/is an interesting process. The Catholic church is quite interesting with their rituals. Do you ever watch movies/read books about all this mysterious -just on the edge of being evil- religious ritualistic stuff? I'm going to have to look into that more, it's something that always fascinated me. I wonder how much is fact and how much is fiction. I do know that the Catholic church has a very long dark history, and there has to be some amazing stories there. Well, I hope the new Pope is the humanitarian that the last one was. We talk about world leaders with so much power.. well if you ask me, no one is more powerful than the leader of a religion. We're talking about a guy who has the ability to influence and unite masses, who's word is absolute and beyond question. History is full of both good and bad under the rule of religious leaders, unfortunately the bad is written more often than the good.

Want my take on religion? It's easy to sum up for me... Organized religion breeds only 2 things. Hate and guilt. That's it. Real decent people usually spend their lives feeling bad about their little mistakes, begging/praying for forgiveness, when in reality they shouldn't feel bad at all since they do better than most of us in the world. They are human after all, and according to most religions, they were made weak -with faults- and would inevitably sin. So, if they believe in their religion, why don't they accept that they were made to goof up once in a while? The other part of the religionites spend their life hating the rest of us. For the most part, they don't walk around spewing hate rhetoric... but deep down, they don't like people who are not like them. They may even put on their 'love thy neighbor' face and pretend to love you... but it's a sham. They only do it because they think they are supposed to. Its sad.

Look through history and there has been more blood shed in the name of God than any other reason. Probably more than all other reasons put together. In the end, it's usually about bad people who crave power, glory, riches etc., claiming to be the spokesman for their god, rallying people to hate or fear, then slaughtering another group of people.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a God hater or a disbeliever. I'm positive that God doesn't mislead people. People are just like they've always been... greedy for one thing or the other and misuse the name of God for their own agenda. The frailty of humanity I guess. We deal with it in every aspect of life.

Prejudice, Part 2

I saw on the Yahoo! News page today that the feds have changed the food pyramid and nutritional guidelines... I told you it would change. lol.

Government Issues 12 New Food Pyramids WASHINGTON -

The government on Tuesday discarded its one-size-fits-all food pyramid in favor of 12 different triangle-shaped guides, each geared to people's differing lifestyles and nutritional needs.
Inside the familiar pyramid shape, rainbow-colored bands representing different food groups run vertically from the tip to the base. The old pyramid's sections ran horizontally. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns called it "a system of information to help consumers understand how to put nutrition recommendations into action." ....

By LIBBY QUAID, Associated Press Writer

This stuff changes more often than high school fads.

Save Me

I'm gonna need some help with this blog thing... my page looks plain. How do I change that? Can I add pictures? What about links to other blogs that I like, my other blog, or websites that I favor... how do I add them? If someone wants to spend some one on one time with a virtual idiot when it comes to this stuff, feel free to leave me your email address or chat name cause I'd love some help here.

I'm thinking I should put "nude teens" or something like that in my title.. lol, then I'd get more hits on my page! JUST KIDDING. It's probably not a bad idea though, so maybe you should try it and see if it works for you. I have a photo blog that I'll get around to linking up with this page soon enough.. I don't say much in it, but I sure like my pictures. For a few months I haven't updated it, but I have a hard drive full of pictures that would just love to get posted. Soon.

I haven't browsed other blogs on blogging.com yet.. I need to see what else is out there. I'm not sure how to browse the blogs yet. Do I seem like a complete non-techy? I don't know.. I'm usually ok at figuring this kind of stuff out but this site isn't as user friendly as I would have thought. It's simple to be sure, but I think that I'm missing a lot that it offers. Any HTML editing is way above my head for sure.

You know what else I want? I'd love for people to argue with me, agree with me, give me a topic to rant and rave about. Com'on people... let me have it.

Prejudice

Wow, I had one visitor already! And she left a comment! I was just giddy over that, lol. I have no idea why that made me so happy, but it did.

Wait... I got on here, in a foul mood cause someone pissed me off and I was going to rant and rave. THEN, I see I had a comment left, and it stole some of my angst! I'll have to get it back I guess. As soon as I start talking about it, I'm sure I'll be equally pissed again.

To be more precise, I'm not pissed off at someone in particular.. I'm irritated by prejudice. No, I'm not talking about race, creed, religion, sexual orientation... Nothing so grandiose. I am however, talking about peoples stupidity. I'll get to the prejudice in a minute... a little background first. Anyone out there know what the #1 killer of Americans is? Heart disease. Hands down, nothing else even comes close. It is an absolutely wicked beast that shows no mercy on us, we have many preventions, some cures, and yet it wipes us out by the millions. Ok, second question.... anyone know what the #1 cause of heart disease is? Obesity. In general it's our diet, lack of exercise, and simply being overweight as a nation. ALOT overweight.

Ok, I work in the medical field... I'm no saint. I don't hit the gym everyday (translates to never), I like Taco Bell as much as the next person, I eat red meat, a salad is something I only eat as a last resort unless it has bacon on it, and I have enough bad habits to last everyone for the next 10 years. But so far my life has been ok... I'm fairly healthy, about average weight, etc.

So, I see an old friend at the C-store earlier this afternoon... It was good to see him, it had been ages since we talked last. He looked like he'd put on about 80-100 pounds, but what do I care? I certainly wasn't going to say "Dude, you got way fat since the last time I saw you!" He's the same nice guy I've known forever. So, he pays for his nachos smothered in yellow death (nacho cheese), his Ding-Dongs or whatever they were, and his Diet Coke and we walk outside together. We're shooting the bull for quite some time, caught up with each other, talked about old friends, new friends, job, family, the whole spectrum of the usual... So then I light up.

Yep, you read right. I light up the all evil cigarette and smoked it. He pipes up... "You work in a hospital, you should know those are going to kill you!" Ok, first of all.. you don't need a fuckin doctorate degree to know that... any five year old can tell me that. It's a nasty bad habit, and no one knows that as well as me. But the audacity of this guy to sit there -being all kinds of overweight, nachos and Ding-Dong's long ago stomached, dying of heart disease- and tell me that smokes will kill me? Oh it drives me crazy! We all have our bad habits, some of them just smell worse than others. Perhaps I should have said to him, "If you get any fatter, or eat any more nachos your heart is going to blow up before we finish this conversatoin!" Would that have been nice? Would that have been the proper thing to say? Would most decent people ever say such a thing? Doesn't every 5 year old know that being overweight isn't healthy? Then why is it people feel so damned obligated to point out to a smoker that they smoke, and it's not a good habit? I KNOW THAT ALREADY! We all have our faults and they are simply just a part of being human. I like many people inspite of their faults, and I certainly don't make a habit of pointing their faults out to them.

Is there really anything that won't kill you? Red meat is bad, meat in general is bad, being a vegan is bad, carbs are good, carbs are bad, trans fat, saturated fat, fast food, big meals, chocolate, TV, booze, pop, pot... And those are just the every day things! Do we all walk/run/do cardio for 30 minutes a day? America takes a prescription for everything... heaven forbid we quit eating junk food, we have a pill to lower your cholesterol. We stay up late, sleep in late... that's unhealthy as hell. Who eats 16 servings of vegetables every day? Who can even name 16 different veggies? lol. Besides, as soon as you get that kind of diet going the FDA will change their minds yet again and rearrange the entire food chart on you. We all run around in our fast paced world, stressed to the nines, with all kinds of terrible habits.

Well, smoking is mine. Eat your damn nachos and bitch about my smoking if you want to... but odds are GREATLY in favor of heart disease getting you before lung cancer gets me. I told you I'd have no trouble getting pissed again. ; )

Privacy. Not To Much To Ask Is It?

Hmmm. Now that I'm here, I'm not sure what to say. I'm not often short on words, so it's an awkward moment for me. I guess I'm making this blog so I can rant and rave about all that's screwed up in the world. If I listed all the things that piss me off, drive me crazy, intrigue me, or just get something off my chest, I'd never leave my computer.

What I'd really like is for people to leave a few posts, ask a few questions, tell me what they think about... and I'll respond. I'm hoping for a lot of responses to anything I post, otherwise this will bore the hell out of me awfully quick. So if you're here, and you read this, please leave a remark even if it's nothing more than saying you were here.

I just checked my email a few minutes ago, and there was a virus attached to one of my messages! I loathe the people who do that. Who are these people that have nothing better to do than try and destroy my computer? Where's the the thrill in this for them? There are a million so-called "evil" things in this world that I can think of to do that actually have a point to it! My friend got the same email and had written me to warn me that I'd have it in my inbox as well (of course I read the virus email before his, lol) and he mentioned that he really hoped there was a special place in Hell for the people who do this. I concur.

That guy who was convicted of spamming got sentenced to 9 years last week... I found that to be quite humorous. Now we just need to get them all, and start on the people who send junk mail to my house (via snail mail) and the world will be a much better place. Is junk mail really that effective? How often does anyone actually open a letter or email from an unsolicited source, read it, and actually buy into whatever "deal of a life-time " is being offered? There must be money in it, or it wouldn't happen... but I just don't see it. Does anyone have any marketing experience with this? There's got to be someone out there in-the-know about the whys and hows of all this junk mail.

The "do not call" list was certainly a huge step forward for mankind... right up there with traveling to the moon if you ask me. (Oh, that would be a fun topic if I could get plenty of feedback on it... Did anyone really go to the moon? Do you know people who don't believe that it's happened? Have you heard the arguments that it was simply a government produced hoax? Some say that's about the craziest conspiracy theory there is, others are convinced it never happened. I've heard the con arguments, and they aren't that bad... it's interesting to be sure.) ANYWAY..... My home phone certainly has been a much more pleasant item since the do not call list came out. I wish we'd make a few more "do not bug me about your stupid scheme, I'm not interested, and I hope you burn in Hell" lists.

This whole privacy thing is getting out of control anyway.... it seems that every day in the news some company somewhere has lost, leaked, or has had stolen a bunch of personal information. That, drives me nuts. It's not their personal information!!!!!!! It's mine damnit! and I want it back! I was talking to a friend the other day, telling her that when I started college a few years back, it wasn't a week after I registered that I started to get all kinds of mail and phone calls about student housing, student loans, student rates on credit cards, college money from the Army, just a plethora of things.... That so pissed me off. They sold my name, address, and phone number.

Think about what I just said.... THEY SOLD MY NAME. The keyword there being "my." How does one sell something that is mine? One day, I'm going to find me a smart lawyer, one who's shrewd enough to pull it off, and I'm going to sue the hell out of someone for selling something that belongs to me! I mean, really, if someone showed up on my front door and informed me that they had just bought my house from someone else who didn't own it... would that be any different? You can't sell my house cause it's mine.. I own it. I paid for it. So why can you sell my name, my email, my phone number, or my physical address? I pay alot of money each month, for my phone numbers and email address... I PAY FOR THEM, THEREFORE I OWN THEM! At the very least I'm renting them and have some rights! Same with my physical address, that cost me upwards of 100k! That's a fair chunk of change isn't it? As for my name... well, I realize that's a little different. I didn't pay for that, but certainly I own it as well... My mother gave it to me after all. I have a little certificate even stating as much, a legal document, issued by the state, saying that it is MY name.

There are companies who's entire business is built on selling personal information. These are not just little shops around the corner in some dark lit alley, with shadey wannabe private detectives.... These are multibillion dollar corporatioins who have contracts with everyone from the government, to every spam-is-us firm, to divorce lawyers. These are publicly traded corporations... Legal. Can you believe that? Its fuckin legal to sell something that doesn't belong to you! Go figure.

One day... One day I'm going to actually do it. It's a matter of just finding someone crazy enough to go along with my idea, and not charging me a lot do do it! lol.

See, I told you that I didn't usually lack for words... This started cause I was bent about getting an email virus and look where it ended! Honestly, I had to stop myself or I would have went on for days. Please... Leave remarks, say hi, tell me to go to hell, whatever.... just say something when you get here.