You Can Fix The Healthcare Crisis Yourself

I just had to relate this incident because it made me so mad! Yesterday, I saw a liberal blog where they were proud to announce the fact that, by getting 75,000 people to sign a petition, they were able to get GEICO insurance company to pull their sponsorship from the Glenn Beck program on the FOX News channel. This is so ridiculous! I have GEICO insurance and immediately wrote to them to see if it was true. Because if it is, I'm going to drop buying my insurance from them because of it! What kind of company can you be that will kowtow and bow to the wishes of so few of a number of people as that? Which brings me to the other reason I'm posting this. So many people are saying that what Obama promises in his Universal Health Care Plan will be good for America. Well, I don't think so. But, that doesn't matter. And it doesn't matter what anybody thinks about what his plan is or isn't about. Just like the liberals who got GEICO to drop their sponsorship of a tv program, we Americans have that same power to fix the health care crisis ourselves! That's you and me, people.

Yes, you and I can make a difference and fix the crisis! Most people complain about the bad things insurance companies are doing and maybe rightly so. The simple solution, of which we need no "bountiful help on high from the government or Obama," is to simply let our money do our talking. Protest the insurance companies with bad policies and get insurance from those with policies you like. The liberals swear that this is a very effective tactic to use.

If you think that all insurance companies are bad and you can't do what I suggest, you're probably right. There just isn't a fix for the health care crisis. But, that includes Barack Obama's proposed solution also. It will prove to be just as ineffective because you can't fix the problem. America has the best health care system in the world and Obama wants to bring it down to the level of the rest of the world. You have to ask yourself why he's doing this and things like this?

It's certainly not for the good of America or the American people. What are you going to do about this problem?

Beatlemania 09-09-09

Well, today as you know, was the day that Apple Records were due to release the entire Beatles album catalogue in glorious remastered sound. And of course, I had to attend the festivities. (i.e., buy some albums!) Just yesterday I sent off about $200 for a new scanner, which I've needed for a while now, so my finances were a little short. But I did have enough to buy my two favorite albums, The Beatles first one and their last one. I speak of course about Please Please Me and Abbey Road. Please Please Me was their first album, which they recorded in a day and Abbey Road was the last album they recorded together. Apple was also releasing the new Beatles Rock Band game, which I'm not really interested in. I'm already in a real rock and roll band, you see!

The first thing that greeted me upon entering into the store was.... The Beatles themselves! It was great to see them again, even if it was only in a poster advertising their new game.

Back in the record department, (cd department?) I saw plenty of the Rock Band game boxes lining the shelves, such as the one above. I've seen clips of it, so if you're into that kind of thing, it looks like it will be the best experience yet.

Moving on to more important things, (at least to me, anyway!) were the actual audio recordings of The Beatles, what in my younger days used to be called "albums." This particular store devoted an entire end cap to display their remastered albums and you could find all of them but two. The White Album, which is a double album and The Past Masters, Volumes 1 and 2 which is now also a double album, were back on the shelf, along with some copies of "1," their greatest hits collection. I knew how much they were and how much I had to spend, so I had selected the two I would be able to afford before I even left the house. I oogled at the display, (a lot!), got some pictures so I could blog about the experience, and then selected my two albums. I paid for them in the electronics department and then I was on my way.

Outside in the parking lot, I couldn't resist taking a picture of the two latest additions to my Beatles Record Collection. I have all of their original albums, sometimes in almost every format they were released, and even the cd copies of the albums that were released in 1987. After I got my pictures of the new albums, I hurried back home so I could listen to them. Starting with their first release, (naturally!), I was amazed at how clear everything sounded! Especially their voices! Let me just say that these new discs are worth every penny, so now is the time to get those Beatles songs you always meant to get! (If you don't already own some of the older ones!) As I type this, I am preparing to be assaulted by the sound experience that will be Abbey Road in all it's remastered glory, so I'll just say goodbye for now. You say hello, but I say goodbye. (To listen to more music!) Remember.... all you really need is love!

Les Paul, 1915-2009

Les Paul died yesterday. In case you don't recognize the name, Les Paul invented the guitar that bears his name, the Les Paul guitar, by Gibson. Les perfected the design that would allow guitars to be amplified without the need for a hollow body to bring out the volume. Be creating a solid-body guitar, gone was the ring and distortion created from trying to amplify an acoustic guitar in live situations, such as concerts. Had he only done this his name would be remembered. But he also perfected sound-on-sound recording techniques, which let to multi-track recording. Something that allowed groups such as The Beatles to flourish in the 1960's and onward. I always respected Les Paul as a guitarist himself and would have to say that the Les Paul guitar is my favorite type of guitar. I've played many of them throughout the years in bands I have been in. My condolences go out to his family at this time of his passing. His memory will live on thanks to his contributions to the field of music. Below you can see an example of my favorite choice of guitar in this group shot of a band I was in:

Isaac Asimov

One of my favorite writers is Isaac Asimov, who wrote the Foundation Trilogy and about 600 or so other books. He was a very prolific author and had a unique grasp on the science fiction field. A common theme for some of his characters, in several different books, is that these people believed in this one statement: "Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent." I'm sure you know what that means. Another phrase I like, personally, goes like this: "The pen is mightier than the sword." Now, I know you know what that means. I firmly believe that the written, and spoken word to a certain extent, is far more effective than anything else. More effective than the "sword" or "violence" specifically. Change can come about through peaceful exchange of words much more effectively than using any other method. So, people - let's keep it peaceful and fight for our America in the only way that will actually do any good - through peaceful, orderly discourse. We're not all a bunch of "wing-nuts" like the liberals believe us to be.

Listen

Let's say that you and I are on vacation, taking a cruise ship to Acapulco. I happen to find out that the ship is sinking and you don't know about it. Naturally, I want to try and help you, as I would want to help anyone else who could potentially drown if the ship goes down. I find you and tell you to put on a lifejacket because the ship is sinking.

Okay, what did I just do that was wrong?

If you happen to be an elitest, you would call that "fear-mongering."

If you have to ask what an elitest is, you're not one of them. That's just their newest game. Make up bad names for everybody else, so that they will look good themselves. They like to think of themselves as the only truly normal, rational Americans. They like to tag everybody and everything that's different than what they do as being bad. If it isn't a part of their channeled thinking of how life is supposed to be lived, then they label it with a bad name and by the very repeating of these names, others will automatically think like they do or risk being branded a "fear-mongerer" themselves! And that the people on the other side of the spectrum to these elitists are all rightwing extremists and bad for America. They lump everybody else who isn't trying to be one of the "beautiful people" as "nutjobs," "fear-mongerers," "un-democratic" or just plain stupid. That would be you and I they're calling those names.

So, by pointing out obvious truths, (at least if you haven't got your head up your butt), about what Obama and his people are doing to bring down this once-great country of ours, that does not make me a "fear-mongerer." And it doesn't make anybody else one, either.

Since when did the United States government have the right to dictate the hiring and firing of CEO's?

Since when could the United States government take over huge corporations such as General Motors and Chrysler?

Since when did the United States government need to convince the American people that a new health care bill would be good for us? They never felt the need to convince us of anything before - they just passed it, whether we wanted it or not. So, what is behind all the propaganda and lies and disinformation about the new Universal Health Care Plan?

Cap and Trade is un-American.

We are losing jobs at an alarming rate. What is being done about it? If anyone can tell me, don't hesitate and post it in a comment.

If you think Obama cares about America, where do you get this information from? Please show me the proof of it. When a country's government takes over it's industries and infra-structure, this is called, by the very definition of the word, Socialism.

The United States of America was founded as a free country. It was never meant to be a Socialistic country. If you are reading this, there are things that you specifically cannot do now that you could do before. Don't believe me? I could name many:

You don't have the freedom to get in your car and go somewhere without the threat of being stopped by the law. Why, the simple act of leaving your driveway involves potentially breaking a thousand laws! Do you consider that freedom or safety? If you were so worried about safety, I would have heard you talking about it before, you elitists, but you never said a word. So, I don't want to hear anything you've got to say about it now, either. You gave up your rights to speak by crawling in to bed with them who are bringing down our country. It's just another instance where they took away one of your freedoms.

You can't buy a battery for your Minolta SRT-101 camera. They use Mercury batteries and the United States Government has deemed that the use of Mercury is hazardous to your health and the planet. But yet.... they are forcing us to change our lights to the new flourescent "corkscrew" type of bulbs. Guess what? They have Mercury in them. Well, I guess they're not concerned about our health after all. Do you seriously believe they care about our health and welfare? Seriously!?

I am a veteran of the U.S. Army. Other people who have served this country in the same manner have fought and died for our freedoms. You can't smoke in an American Legion or a Veteran Of Foreign Wars club. Why is that? That's what those people died for, so that we would have the freedom to do things such as this. You say it's a health issue? If the United States Government was really concerned about our health and well-being, don't you think they would stop the biggest pollutants to our lungs? Well, yes.... if they really cared about us. But they don't. You ask, what am I talking about? Petroleum-engined automobiles spew out much more pollution that is harmful for humans than smoking cigarettes will ever do. Would you rather be locked in a garage with a smoker or a running automobile for 24 hours? You see the difference. The United States government has deemed that smoking is hazardous to our health. But, collecting tax money on cigarettes is a pretty all right thing to do. If cigarettes were truly so bad and evil and hazardous, they would outlaw them. That is, if they were really concerned about our health.

Wake up, America, before it's too late and all your freedoms are gone. Do you really want to live in a world ruled by elitists whose only care is about themselves? Your lives mean nothing to them. If they mean something to you, stand up for your freedoms. Inform yourself and speak out. And for God's, and all our sakes, stop Obama from passing any more ridiculous laws that ruin our country. Tell him no, we don't want his idea of a health care utopia.

High Dynamic Range

I've just discovered a new form of photography and I have to share it with everyone. I'd been seeing and hearing about something called "HDR" all over photo sites I visit and finally looked into just what it stands for. It stands for High Dynamic Range and it refers to a technique that brings out all the detail in a picture, the detail all over the picture, and in an evenly balanced way. It's amazing, actually!

The picture just below employs this technique and involves using software that has HDR capabilities:

This is the street where I live in Norris City. By combining three differently exposed images of the same exact scene, the HDR software, which in this case is Adobe Photoshop CS2, combines the three images and choosed the best exposure settings for each specific spot in the picture. It lightens up the darkest areas and tones down the sky, which almost always has blown highlights in the lightest of places, and melds them together in such a way that everything looks perfectly exposed. I don't know how it does, but it does.
I also found out that there is a similar process that results in finished images looking the same way, but you start with only one original image. It's called Tone Mapping. Say you have one good exposure of something and want to improve different areas of it. You can take that one photo in your photo-editing software and make 3 different exposures which bring out the darkest, medium and lightest areas to best effect. By then combining them back together using the HDR software, you still get an image with loads of detail in all areas. The picture below was one I was pretty happy with as far as the exposure settings went:

And here is that same picture - which I thought had lost some detail in the darkest and most washed out places - after being subjected to the Tone Mapping process using the HDR software:


Pretty neat, huh?

Here are some of my other pictures I have Tone Mapped and you just wouldn't believe the improvement over the original digital file!

All in all, I'd say if you haven't tried this process yet, you need to look into it. The difference it can make in what you thought was an old, lifeless image can be startling!

Corporate Greed

Has this ever happened to you? One day, you'll be doing something with your computer on the internet and everything works fine. And then, the very next day, what was simple and easy to do yesterday, no longer works for you today. Don't you get tired of this? My computer is only a month old, so it's got the latest of everything available. It worked fine for a short while, now every day, something else stops working. I go to upload a file over at the Internet Archive.org - yesterday morning it uploaded a file perfectly, without a single issue. Last night, I tried uploading a similar file and nothing. I'd go to enter the name of the item and click on the "next" button and the screen would flash and take me right back to the same screen. Only the "add a title for your item" box would be empty. It wouldn't accept anything you typed into it. This is so frustrating. You try the help section on the website you're attempting to use and all anybody can do is suggest "have you tried Firefox?" I use Internet Explorer. It works. It worked yesterday morning, so it should have worked yesterday evening. I don't want to install another program that can develop even more issues; one's that I don't have a clue of how to start fixing myself.

The problem is corporate greed. The huge computer and internet companies keep "upgrading" everything so that what you have won't work anymore. All for the sake of the allmighty dollar.

Well, listen up, buckos.... that's going to be changing if you don't straighten up and fly right. There's a reason why greed is one of the seven deadly sins.