I haven't posted in a while.

So I'm posting now. Hello world! o/

Priorities

Lets face it, people have different priorities and sometimes they don't always make sense to other people. For me this is one of those times. A country singer by the name of Billy Currington was going to do a benefit concert for a Sandy Hook charity that was setup after that tragedy took place. Gun rights groups started getting on the singers case about doing the event and he has now canceled his appearance there.

It's sad to see that in America in my view of these events that guns are greater then the lives of kids to people.

Guns With Histories

I saw this video and it impressed me. My uncle committed suicide years ago in the 80's with a .22 in the mouth. People think guns are there to protect them and they can since a gun is just a tool to shoot things with and most times kill people. What they don't realize is the gun opens up choices and makes so many other things easier to do. Things you'd never think to do yourself or could happen to you because you don't remember you are human.

Money in Politics

Politics, ewww! Yeah I know, but I think this is important since I believe what used to be illegal was now made legal after things like Citizen's United going through the Supreme Court. Does it happen on the left and right? Sure, still it's interesting to see some of the fruits money in politics is bringing to my country. It's also disheartening to see people actively taking steps back after moving forward with things like fighting segregation and such.

The most ironic thing about this video? If it weren't for the communists in Russia in the early 1900's, America wouldn't have the Koch brothers of today funding ads that accuse other people of being communists and such.

Money should never be in politics like it is today and it will tear America apart. The worst part is our elected leaders are letting this happen and selling most every American's future out for the sake of a select few who cut big checks.

Incidentally the Koch brothers are a big pusher for the Keystone XL pipeline. As we can see in Montana, this might not be such a good idea to let that pipeline go through.

New PC & Windows 8.1

So I took the plunge to Windows 8.1 a few days ago because I built a nice new PC. 4ghz i7, 32 gigs ram, 250gig ssd, 2tb hard drive, Nvidia 750ti, big glowing blue light case with black metal. So yeah, a really nice rig.

Anyhow I decided to get Windows 8.1 because 7 was losing more support from Microsoft and I didn't feel like installing 7 Home and upgrading to Pro even though I had the licenses to do it. (Lots of hoops) so I installed 8.1.

First thing out of the box was getting to the Desktop which wasn't too bad. After that I tried to find the control panel which took a bit of time but I finally found it to avoid the setting app Microsoft has in the Metro side of things. I pinned that sucker and Explorer to the task bar so I didn't have to go metro anymore for PC config.

I did some digging and found a good replacement for the lack of a standard start menu. Classic Start 8 seems to be a pretty good replacement and does the job till Microsoft manages to put a Start Menu back in to Windows where it belongs. It's a shame you need a third party developer to get something that's been working and standard in Windows since 95. Still my desktop is now in a useable state with 8.1 even though I have two start buttons.(I've had less troubles with Linux installs then I had with Windows 8.x as far as figuring things out. :/ )

That is one of many wallpapers that makes me miss the good times in WoW on Feathermoon a while ago. City raids, fire story telling, Guildwatch meetings, the art some players did and shared with others, and especially a drinking shaman who got everyone to totem dance in Scholomance and other places. :)

Neil Degrass Tyson...

is my hero on twitter.

Zombie Defense

They say a man's home is his castle, in this case my home is zombie proof when I play 7 Days to Die. Obviously I need to do repairs now and then after the zombies come but they don't break through a freshly maintained zombie bunker. :)

7 Days to Die

So I'm playing this zombie survival game lately and it's pretty good. The only real complaint I have about it is zombies can actually spawn almost next to you once you think you are clear. That being said it's a really fun game and takes some pages from Minecraft but in a more post zombie overrun America.

Anyhow you can build forts and things and the zombies will do their best to tear it all down and get to you. So without further ado, here's the zombie fort I have under construction.

First image is the outside of the base. Notice the spikes all around? They make great zombie stoppers, especially when you reinforce them with extra wood and scrap iron. The dis-joined bridge with a ladder is a good design because zombies can't jump even though some can climb. :)

During zombie attacks it's nice to have a garden or two to be somewhat self sustaining.

Down in the bunker part the walls are two blocks thick of reinforced concrete with rebar. You can see I've been scavenging quite a bit from the ruined cities and towns with all the filing cabinets, fridges, coolers, flat screen TVs, etc.

7 Days to Die is best played on multiplayer with friends but single player can be a real hoot too. Especially when I go on a sledge hammer/chainsaw spree with zombies. One word of warning though, mind yourself when you see the zombie German Shepherds come, they are nasty!

Where was this when I was in highschool? (NSFW)

Seriously... where was this video when I was at a Christian high school back in the 80's?? I feel like I missed out on a great chance to have made use of the AV system in the gym where they held worship services during school hours.

I'm jealous of kids these days, they have access to such awesome things to point out problems and differences.

Science Videos

Some great videos I stumbled on at YouTube.

Stated Clearly YouTube

Stated Clearly Web Site

A taste...

Ferguson Police and CNN

Best public relations move by the Ferguson Police Department ever. Trying to corral and possibly arrest Don Lemon of CNN during a live broadcast.

http://gawker.com/ferguson-police-try-to-shut-down-don-lemons-live-broadc-1623567619

There is a bonus in this article, they also cover the arrest of a 90 year old holocaust survivor who was protesting as well in St. Louise. I can only imagine what is going through that woman's mind in the picture where she's getting carted off by the two officers.

HABERSHAM COUNTY, Ga. - Ooops!

Apparently a SWAT raid went bad when they threw a flash bang grenade in to a toddlers crib. The Habersham County, GA is apparently refusing to pay for the medical bills of the toddler their SWAT team goofed up on.

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/lawyer-county-refuses-pay-medical-bills-toddler-hu/ng3s9/

Talk about ducking out of responsibilities, stay classy Habersham.

Military Veterans Speak about Ferguson Missouri

Apparently the police in Ferguson are more equipped then the veterans were during Iraq.

http://boingboing.net/2014/08/14/us-veterans-ferguson-police-d.html?fk_bb

http://boingboing.net/2014/08/14/a-sample-of-us-military-vetera.html

https://storify.com/AthertonKD/veterans-on-ferguson

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2014/08/14/military-veterans-see-deeply-flawed-police-response-in-ferguson/

Missouri Police Gassing News Crews

Looks like things are getting worse over in Ferguson Missouri.

Gassing of news crews and taking their equipment.

Boing Boing

http://boingboing.net/2014/08/14/video-of-ferguson-police-gassi.html?fk_bb

Aljazeera

http://america.aljazeera.com/tools/pressreleases/statement.html

Fun doings in Ferguson, Missouri!

New Your Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/14/us/missouri-teenager-and-officer-scuffled-before-shooting-chief-says.html

Gawker

http://gawker.com/washington-post-huffpo-reporters-arrested-in-ferguson-1621284034

Raw Story

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/08/14/ferguson-police-fire-tear-gas-as-missouri-protesters-thrown-petrol-bombs-at-officers/

Reporters taken in to police custody.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/08/13/they-said-lets-take-him-wapo-reporter-lowery-describes-being-seized-by-cops-in-ferguson/

It's gotten so bad out there that the police even tear gassed a State Senator.

Boston.com

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/2014/08/13/chief-more-than-arrested-ferguson-missouri-unrest/zROg06mluKV8g0HrScTmYK/story.html

Looks to me neither side is going to win this one and a lot of people are going to suffer. Especially when you have police snipers leveling their weapons on crowds with children in them.

Raw Story

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/08/13/overkill-images-from-ferguson-protest-show-cops-treating-city-like-a-war-zone/

This whole thing brings up an interesting discussion about the continued militarization of America's police forces. Especially when you have arguments for and against it that are valid.

And now for something completely funny while educational!

And remember folks, always lock up your guns!

Forty seven pound tumor.

You hear both the political right and left raging about how Obamacare is evil or good. Well here's one for the good book. A woman couldn't get a tumor removed because of a pre-existing conditions, by the time she got the insurance she needed from Obamacare the tumor grew and made things worse. Well check out the story here.

There used to be a woods here?

So recently someone bought the woods next to my house. This past Monday I got to watch a large machine with huge a bucket arm swat down trees left and right behind my house that were 60-70ft tall at least. It was pretty amazing to watch really and they actually removed some trees next to my driveway that were getting a bit dangerous after some recent snows this past winter. I'll have to get some pics.

Random Pic!

Only in Star Trek Online can you have a classic TOS Klingon D7 ship but not a classic Constitution Fed ship for end game.

Friends gone...

Been a while but oh well. I just did something I never wanted to do today. I put down my best friend because he quite possibly had tumors that were bleeding internally. I don't want to go in to much detail but it hurt like hell holding him the entire time he was put to sleep. He had 11 good years on this Earth.

I don't think I'll ever forget how he went limp in my arms. Rest in peace Hoss, I'll miss you, and I'm sorry.