BrokeKid.com- it was started by Locke earlier this year, and it was previously just his home for personal blog posts. Now I’m also using it for my bloggings, so just throwing that site out there for anyone that might care.

Despite the fact that AIG (the insurance company who needed $180 billion in bailout money from us) is owned mostly by us, the taxpayers, they want to pay bonuses out to 73 employees… bonuses of $1 million or more… that’s right the American taxpayers own 80% of AIG. If my company didn’t do well in business, I wouldn’t get a bonus. This is an outrage and I’m glad it’s receiving lots of coverage, cuz it needs to be stopped.  Former 40-year CEO Hank Greenberg is now suing his old company… in theory this means he is suing the American ppl xD

The other thing I wanted to address: this copyright talks with several countries… why is it so secretive? The Obama admin promised that things would be transperant unless they were a threat to national security. This pisses me off, and I thought things would be better with Obama with Intellectual Property crap and Freedom of Information Act. They release secret documents from the Bush Admin and act like it’s so bad and then pull this crap.  Copyright is NOT a security issue, even tho all the content industry and its lobbyists may have convinced the Administration that it is.

Here’s a LIST of the people with security clearance for the copyright discussions. The ESA representing the gaming industry got clearance (as you may know the ESA are the ones who are all adamant about stopping piracy in gaming). What about the ECA? Who’s representing the consumers and the people here? Totally one-sided this is… perhaps all these lobby groups and companies are giving money to fight the national debt, in exchange for strong draconian copyright laws. I do know one thing for sure: “They can’t stop us all. Piracy is life.” So many people hold that statement dear to them… as long as people have that hatred toward the content industry becuz of their absurd business tactics, any amount of copyright laws won’t fix the problem.

In economics, a good can be charged for when it’s a scarce good- let’s say Death Magnetic, a solid Metallica album… it would’ve been a scarce good back 15 years ago. In economics, infinite goods will eventually reach the price point of ZERO. Digital content is infinite, in that it can be duplicated infinite times. The days when content by itself can be charged for is coming to a close. Value must be created around the content to sell it. It’s time for the content industry to realize this and wake up… and understand this is the digital age; it’s about to be 2010 and it started back in the ’90s.

Not sure how many of you listened to Obama talk on Feb 9/09, but he did say that anyone who wants to do nothing about the current recession will have trouble debating with his administration: he at least acknowledges that something has to be done. As of this writing the bill has passed through the Senate, and now the House will look for a 2/3’s majority as it examines the bill’s  stipulations.

One problem I do have is that all of Obama’s economic advisers subscribe to the Keynesian theory. This is all fine, except that the other half of all economists think Keynesian policies hurt more than help, and those who subscribe to the Austrian school of thought have been left out: how is that balanced, and how is that fair? One thing is for sure, John Maynard Keynes‘ theories will definitely be put to the test, to the tune of $800 billion.

The package not only cuts taxes and gives people relief, but it also does a lot of infrastructural things: repairing roads, fixing schools, creating jobs, making health care more efficient, and even making broadband more available to those in rural areas. So those are the goods things, they have a chance to include all this “pork” in the bill since we need something to be done… but it’s not really pork, it’s things that we could definitely use. Is it worth the government dropping about a trillion onto the national debt? Perhaps, perhaps not, that’s up for debate.

But there are a few things, that if not done, could really hurt us and turn this into the DC politics that Americans have all come to love. /sarcasm

Transparency is the key. Stimulus Watch has set up a website to track government spending and allow people to vote on which issues are critical, since Obama pledged to only allow money to be spent where needed, and not waste taxpayer dollars. Let’s hope he keeps this promise, unlike the first one he already broke (Obama said any non-emergency bill would be posted online for 5 days after passing for the public to review before he would sign it into law: the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act lasted a couple days, not five, and it was non-emergency). Stimulus Watch was created by the people tho, not the government. Let’s hope the administration keeps their promise and keeps everything transparent and open for public scrutiny so we don’t waste any of this money.

Why is transparency so important? Cuz we all know how corrupt some politicans are… and this bill is trying to get pushed through very quickly… THIS… Senator Feinstein is trying to sneak language into the bill with a proposed ammendment that had RIAA lobbyist written all over it. It’d be a huge privacy violation, in that your ISP could spy on everything you do online. He also throws in child pornography, prolly with the intention of trying to make sure no one votes against the ammendment, cuz politicians don’t wanna look like they’re against child pornography. If you can, contact your senator by following the instructions in that link to stop this horrid ammendment that takes away your Internet privacy. Senator Feinstein deserves repercussions for trying to do this: he needs to be removed from Congress.

Perhaps I, and a few other sites, come down a bit harsh on the fact that Windows 7 has 6 different versions (why not make it 7, Microsoft? go all out…). Yeah, only 2 versions are really gonna even matter to people, but then why in the hell does Starter and Basic even exist? Even tho weggles might be right, it still would’ve made a hell of a lot more sense if Microsoft went a maximum 2 versions, or simply they only offered Ultimate (which would be called Windows 7, that’s it!) And don’t tell me they couldn’t do that cuz Ultimate would make the price too high on their OS… this decision was purely marketing, a way for MS to make more money.

While we’re at it, which versions of Windows 7 do you think are missing?

For starters, where’s Windows 7: Obama Edition? It’d be very intelligent and make the best decision possible for your safe-browsing sake… and also, if something messed up it’d take a Keynesian approach and try throwing random code into the reqistry, and it’d be very expensive… like $800billion. It’d also come in a special box that had a pic of the Drunken Negro Face cookie on the cover.

Windows 7 ME Edition- it’d be free but the blue screen of death would interrupt every 10 minutes, designed to help those who need to learn how to stop wasting time on Facebook.

Windows 7 Canadian Edition- strangely, this version seems to flap up and down every time you mouse click making it hard to understand what your reading.

Windows 133-7 Edition, with everything written in l33t- while starting up, it’d have Bill Gates’ voice saying, “IMMA CHARGIN MAH LAZARS”.

Windows 7 DRM Edition- full of cumbersome crap that only gives you about 40% of the total value in the OS. The other 60% locks up if you try and add another user.

Windows 7 All-Around Failure Edition- an exact replica of Vista.

Windows 7 US Congress Edition- it’d take almost a full day to actually open and run an application. And when it does finally open, that app would die due to “corrupted files”. The only way to fix it? Write your state representative and ask them to support the RIAA.

Windows 7 360 Edition- ships with Left 4 Dead and comes with a special feature that allows you to purchase virtual faceplates, which take the spot of the tradtional bg wallpapers. And it even comes with a limited edition J Allard mouse pad.

Many of our users have been using beta releases of the upcoming OS from Microsoft, Windows 7. And from what I’ve read, most of you guys really enjoy with some saying it’s what Vista should’ve been.

But, here’s Microsoft going and screwing things up before they even release the sucker for retail. 6 different versions? You would think they learned from this mistake with Vista. They’re saying some newer PCs with Windows 7 will be only equipped with the Starter version. That’s right there’s 5 more possible upgrades after that.

Consequences of this move? I know it’s gonna cause more piracy, that’s for sure… Ultimate 7 will become the #1 pirated item on torrents sites- this marketing crap just begs users who have Starter to skip paying for an upgrade and pirate Ultimate, especially with people not spending much money… Perhaps MS feels Vista’s reputation is torched, and I’m appalled they don’t this coming again especially with business mistakes like this. So bad PR is another consequence, and rebellion will be another.

Let’s go ahead and hand over some more market share to Apple, shall we? The only way I see this marketing move being scrapped is good ole Gates stepping in himself… they’re already laying off 5,000 employees. Of course, some may say “all these choices are great”… go ahead and make your cases, I’m willing to hear both sides. But to me, so many Windows users are already confused enough, it just seems like a way of MS snubbing them into paying more cuz they can’t figure out which features they need.

Then again… this shouldn’t be surprising, Micro$oft’s been insulting its customers  for years.

Update: I should specify that Enterprise and Ultimate are basically the same thing, with the differences being in licensing.

I think it’s humorous how the media is reacting to this one… if you haven’t seen the story yet: ESPN.com story, or the orginal publication, which is very biased.

Phelps is 23 years old, and they’re like,  ZOMG he smoked some cannabis. First off, I don’t think it’s fair because he was slamming alcoholic drinks down and perhaps that had something to do with his judgment? It’s likely the beer was getting to him and he didn’t think before acting… the reason you avoid pics of yourself taking bong hits is because the general public tends to judge you for it, for no other reasons than that.

The social culture of today is changing, and a FOX Sports poll on today’s article revealed that 79% of readers say “He’s 23 years old - can we all relax?”. As the social culture changes over time, more and more people will stop being surprised by stories like this… it’s like, wake up people, look at the world around you, realize reality… I’m shocked that people are surprised by this.

Proof that the social culture is changing in regards to cannabis criminalization; this is what the people want: eh, wrong link… Obama’s “Citizen’s Briefing Book”- the top recommendation? end prohibition of marijuana use in the United States. While it likely won’t happen this term, since Obama has flip-flopped on this issue, eventually the people will get what they want.

So at about noon on Friday, January 9th, 2009, the Ramada Inn in Willow Park, TEXAS is full of DEA officers and a couple drug dealers. The two dealers making the calls were arrested about 5 months ago for dealing and are now trying to bust others in exchange for a lighter sentence. Let’s face it, dealers clog up our prisons in the US, I hear Huntsville is quite crowded.

The source where I got this information is from someone who witnessed all this and was a part of it all… in the middle of it… a verifiable source as well I might add. I’m not gonna mention his name, and he should remain unknown unless he wishes to be known.

So these dealers are calling old friends, “Hey, were back in business, meet up in Willow Park at the Ramada Inn.” The DEA was so clean, everything so perfect, civilian cars and all. About 20 DEA officers at least were circling this area/intersection in Willow Park, and our source was out in the car during all this and his status pending right now.  From approximately 1pm-5pm people were walking right into arrest one after another, group after group. According to the source, over 200 he would estimate were arrested within those 4 hours… it’s crazy… huge busts, money taken by the DEA from anyone arrested, it was a really huge bust with hundreds of people, we’re talking large scale.

I then realized after hearing all this that January 9th is the day all the police and traffic stop and pay respects to the fallen Dallas police officer. So is it related? Of course, the cops are off the streets for a bit and the DEA/the state of Texas is pissed off because one of their officers was shot serving a warrant, and it’s sometimes hardcore drug dealers behind the shootings… so the DEA went to Willow Park and tore the place up, like they had direct orders from the state.

Anyway, I couldn’t believe I heard about this story the day of it happening, from someone who was there… and no coincidence that it happened on the day of the salute to Dallas officer Norman Smith … … … wow … who was shot like a week ago through a door I think it was, the article’s all over the ‘Net.

BTW I don’t even think this story has really been broken much yet, about the bust and all… had trouble finding a link for it, since it’s local news and the main fallen officer story took the stage for the whole day.

Here’s to a good few hours rest for the night, peace

-James Stevens

Well, my life is super random…. as are everyone elses… but I should really say that my thinking is really random. I have a really weird way of thinking, I mean when my friends ask me a question, I give them some total random bullshit that actually makes sense. Which is totally weird since when I actually talk serious to someone, like tell them a story or a scene from my favorite movie, I get lost in my thoughts and stumble around in my mind while I am trying to remember what the fuck I was going to say next. I totally fucking suck when it comes to recalling a funny scene in a movie… like I take the whole damn scene and I make it unfunny, but in my mind it is still fucking hilarious. So while I am telling my friends about this scene, I am laughing my fucking ass off while they just stand there and wonder what the fuck is the matter with me. I love being random, but it does have it’s flaws sometimes. According to all my friends, my randomness is the funny shits.

~nW David

I’ve decided to drop personal entries here and then along with Mike (Locke). Most of the time you can expect random topics about things… that’s the range of topics that they will be. The entries are simply my thoughts on something.

So today it’s thoughts reminding me how powerful the ‘Net is, and how strong its effects are. With articles and information documented on the Internet, it’s simple to date information to specific things taking place in time or date written info from someone’s mind. So when life is recorded on the ‘Net, it’s automatically documented, as long as it stays on a server somewhere. One major thought is the fact that I can search Google for “how revolutions start” and find some articles written in 2005 that have ties to home today with the $$$ mudpie bailout… and it’s like wow, someone wrote this book in 2000 and now there’s proof that it would work… and now with government taking ownership in the banks, this bailout could make it easier for the people to succeed with a revolution today in America. Not that I’m for it at this point… of course there needs to be change: Congress doesn’t need to be listening to money, the Pro IP Act was an act passed by the RIAA lobbyist arm… Obama’s http://www.change.org/ and Lawrence Lessig’s http://change-congress.org/, a place where he addresses some KEY issues on Congress corruption.

Like the article I read today about a book on Revolution… news article written in 2005.

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2005/07/21/how_to_start_a_revolution.html

Obviously the piece is written by someone biased to some degree toward government actions and control, but it’s amazing how much it relates to today’s financial crisis of 2008. It describes the ways to take control of a government and how easy it can be done, and it’s something that reminds me about the banks suffering right now with the bailout. What does this 2008 financial crisis do? It makes ppl realize that a few ppl not paying mortgages can hurt the economy. Proving that if someone can get a force of taxpayers to not pay banks after borrowing money, the system will come to a halt… the crisis is proof that it CAN happen. Citizens take control of a government and return the power to the middle class of people. In turn, the ppl take control of corporations… we don’t pay, the banks are done, since we are debt on the bank, therefore owners of the bank. It’s not insane, Thomas Jefferson was crazy… cycles are what happen, corruption, wrong treatment, money ruling the govt, corporations running stuff… times go by and govt’s need changes… As Thomas Jefferson said, “The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.”

So today I was reminded how big of a difference the Internet makes to amount of information known by various people, the knowledge base is increased overall by multiples cuz of more recorded info in the past. Link to Wiki has info on Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell written in 2000 by a fellow Canadian of mine. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tipping_Point
I’m thinking about buying it on Amazon or eBay and giving it a read, looks pretty interesting… that’s enufff for today.

-James Stevens

So we’re at the end of the Fall 2008 semester, and soon we’ll be reaching the end of 2008. How has your year been?

Hopefully the holidays will be enjoyable for everyone!