Failure to be socially networked

An amusing article from Mail Online about how some psychologists are saying that failing to have a Facebook presence may show that you may not be well adjusted. I don't know how many of my readers use Facebook, I don't. I have an account but have never posted to it and wouldn't know how nor care to learn.

Is not joining Facebook a sign you're a psychopath? Some employers and psychologists say staying away from social media is 'suspicious'

So why should I have an online identity, why should it be real? Why should I put all of my personal information, whey I go, what I do, pictures of me and my friends and my opinion about every little thing that happens during the day on the internet? I recognize that may sound funny coming from someone who is a blogger; but, if you didn't know me personally, you wouldn't know this was my blog. I even allow people to post anonymously.

You may think nobody would bother you or care what you say; but, sometimes things go viral (as they say). One guy over at Nasa recently was observed during the Curiosity landing on Mars and his profile went from 100 or so friends to 15,000 roughly in about an hour. The news picked up on it and now he has been seen by millions.

The article states that many employers won't be as likely to hire you if you don't have a Facebook page. That is just too funny. So, what is the real reason why the media wants us on Facebook? Lets start with this, it has about 900 million users, that means that almost 1/7th of the world is on it, that is an attractive audience to reach. Eminem has had over 60,000,000 likes on Facebook, that is a larger audience than any regular television show that I can think of.

If we were required to identify ourselves, I would have to end my blog. I have mentioned my ex and people who I know; but, I never identify them because what I write about is not really them, they are just real life examples of whatever I am discussing. As far as I know my ex has never read my blog and doesn't even know what it is called. I simply never post her name or any specifics that would allow her to be recognized, it would be unfair as she has not had her opportunity to give her side of the story to my readers and might not care to. My blog is one sided, my side.

My blog is not about debating points, it is my perspective. It is editorializing the news and the world around us and not just reposting news stories. I don't twitter every little thing in my life or even mention it here. I may go days without posting until something attracts my attention. This blog is not a diary, though I may use real life examples. I try and discuss issues or maybe provide some music for a lazy day. This blog is not me and it is not about me, it is about ideas and things that others may have not considered. I succeed or fail based upon my readers reactions and currently I am seeing about 1,500 views a month. Not a lot but a surprising amount for something that is not advertised in any way, the readers that come here come by word of mouth or random searches.

I don't know how many people came here because I wrote about Pastor Carol Daniels and I don't know how many people came here because I write about the abuses of the pension system. I could not have predicted that people would enter the search terms Stephen Hawking and douche bag. The site is not and never has been monetized, no advertising, you don't need it and I don't want it. I don't believe I have ever uploaded a video and have only posted a couple of pictures. I posted a person's real name once and then immediately took it down.

Why does this matter, it matters because if you post and write without thinking about what you are going to say, you end up saying things that you shouldn't, I think we should think before we publish. It is one of the reasons that I am more careful when using forums. Well, thats it for now.

Kristen Stewart

I think I spelled her name right; but, I really don't care. That girl from the Twilight series. From what I have read in the headlines, she cheated on her co-star who she lived with and now feels really bad. I have little if any sympathy for her, she was a tramp and betrayed him and after getting caught she felt bad. She should and it is reported that she does.

Here is the thing, at least she regrets it. So many people today cheat on their partners and just shrug it off as a thing. They act as if it is meaningless and don't care how it effects the person they claimed to love or the others around them including their families. At least she felt bad, that means that there is still some good in her.

One of my favorite lines from the bible, it was one of the exes favorite lines too, was that Israel had lost the ability to blush, to feel guilt. I don't know much about the two people, I have not seen any of the movies nor is likely that I will. I know practically nothing of what they are like in person and don't care. This post is about morality and forgiveness and hope. She cannot take back what she did and there is no reason for him to trust her again, they had not even married. I have been cheated on and know what it feels like, they get to do it in public and I can only imagine that just makes it even harder. People who meet my ex do not know she cheated on me, everyone knows that this actress cheated on him and he is probably embarrassed knowing that everyone knows he was cheated on.

In the end, it is just two people and her unilateral decision will effect them both for the rest of their lives; but, they can both choose to learn from it. It is my hope that he learns that he can fully love again and that not everyone cheats. For her, I hope that she learns that you cannot have your cake and eat it too. She has a good start if she truly regrets what she did, she can learn from that. It might be tougher for him, you can only risk your heart so many times before you give up on believing you can choose better.

I Dislike Romney

The more I read about things that he is said, the more I dislike him. I need to remind people that I don't like Obama and didn't like the Bush's or Clinton. I don't trust any of them. At least the others lied, that is better than this guy. He flat out says that he doesn't represent the poor and that the Republican party is a party of people who want to be rich. He doesn't seem to thing about people are Republicans because of the other values that the party holds.

People who read this blog might assume that I am am anti-Republican, I am not. I am also not anti-Democrat. I am a moderate extremist. I believe in doing the right thing for the right reason. I was also a registered Republican and voted for Reagan.

Here is my question, why is anyone voting for him. There were other candidates that at least said they cared about everyone. Mr. Romney only cares about one thing and his business life proved it, he believes in getting as much personal benefit as possible. He said it, didn't he. The people he supports are people like him and he specialized in outsourcing jobs to other countries. He believes in every man for himself and do anything to come out on top. I cannot believe that all of his supporters feel the same way. It is the most anti-American thinking I can conceive of. Are we no longer a nation, do we no longer support our community and each other?

I am Libertarian in regards to personal freedom; however, I am against them when it comes to leaving my brother to fend for himself should he join after the game has begun. You were born rich or poor and don't tell me it didn't effect your odds in life. If you tell me that is just the way life is, then I will say okay, so lets make sure that ones on the bottom are at least okay.

Mr. Romney has appealed to the lowest common denominator, selfishness and he won lots of elections based on it. When did even the conservatives stop thinking about country before self? I have no respect for the man. Mr. Romney is not an American, he is a Romnian and we shouldn't vote for such people. This is not an endorsement of anyone, I am not voting because they are all the same. They are all bad.

Three Articles on Government Employees

The first article is about how the Congress is putting forth a bill that would allow them to fire federal employees that are behind on their taxes. Yea, yea, everybody cheer about getting those bad federal employees. I want my readers to take a moment and think about this rather than just react. Lets put this in perspective.

Firstly, the congress is more than happy to allow insider trading by congressmen and it is not illegal for them to do it. Secondly, most congressmen make their money from their investments and are not taxed at the same rate as people who make their money from their wages. Finally, there are a lot of reasons that people are behind on their taxes, especially if they are self employed. Finally, if they work for the federal government then the government should be taking the money out in advance of the employee being paid, just like they do for everyone else (and they deduct federal taxes from federal workers the exact same way). We should also remember, as I previously wrote about, that the federal government has also passed a law that allows them to cancel or suspend your passport if you are behind on your taxes.

AP - House bill: Fire US workers who are tax deadbeats

This one is just ridiculous. The L.A. Times reported that LA City Hall employees were streaming the Olympics and it was causing their computer system to slow down. This article was picked up internationally. Really? Personally, I have not watched the Olympics except for the opening ceremony, I don't watch television as a rule. But, lets be serious, how many people in the world are watching parts of the Olympics at work? I would not freak out if I found out that one of my employees had watched a swim race or something that was special to them, I would just expect them to make sure they completed their work for the day. In either case, does this really deserve to be international news? I file this one under over-reacting and exaggeration in order to impact ongoing negotiations with unions.

What the article didn't say was which departments they were in. I wonder how many of the people streaming it had desk jobs? I would guess all of them. The guy picking up your trash cannot watch the internet in his garbage truck. I wonder many of the people streaming the internet were in Council Offices or the Mayor's Office, they tend to have more control over their time.

L.A. Times - L.A. City Hall employees urged to stop watching Olympics at work

Finally, an article on the Post Office. I have written on the post office a few times; but, want to re-raise some issues. The post office is not technically a governmental agency anymore. It has also managed to survive with no government subsidy since being set on it's own. What changed was that the Postal Service is now being asked to fund employee benefits in advance of them being used. This is really nothing more than an attempt to benefit Wall Street and privatize the Post Office. The point people miss is that if they privatize the Postal Service then your mail will cease being private, it is not constitutionally protected as private with UPS.

It is not that the Post Office lost money, in fact, the Post Office has been amazing at finding ways to survive in a world of e-mail. They changed their business model and made it work. Nope, they are being asked to fund retirement benefits 10, 20 and 30 years before they might come due.

Time - Moneyland - Post Office to Default on $5.5 Billion Pre-Retiree Health Payment

Investigation of the Municipal Bond Market

As if we have not seen enough corruption in the financial system, there is a new investigation going on into municipal bonds. Basically, municipalities (local governments) issue bonds that are bought by investors in order to pay now for certain programs (like building libraries). The bonds are then paid off overtime just like a mortgage would be. The problem seems to be that there is very little auditing done of what the Cities claim. The issue explodes when a city defaults on it's debt.

New York Times - S.E.C. Suggests Reforms Of Municipal Bond Market

The general scope is over 3.7 trillion dollars. Lots of private investors like to buy municipal bonds because they have traditionally been seen as safe; however, there is the very real likelihood that cities have not been totally honest about their fiscal security. I seem to recall that recently some city in California was called to task for not giving accurate information in regards to their bond issuance.

If it turns out that the municipal bond system is rigged, things are going to get very interesting and cities will be unable to take on large projects that require bonding. This financial stuff is supposed to be boring; but, it just keeps getting more interesting in a bad way.

Iris I didn't have to wait in line

A couple of articles on biometrics and you. The first article has to do with travel, if you provide your drivers license and your passport to the airport, they will scan your iris and provide you with a new form of "secure" ID. With this new ID you will now be allowed to go to the front of the security lines.

CBS - DFW - Local - Iris Scan = Shorter Wait In Airport Security Line

The next article is about how a team of researches has been able to trick the iris scanners.

MSN - Your iris may soon be the target of identity thieves

In Arizona, police are now using Iris Scans to retrieve a persons criminal record.

Tucson News Now - Pinal County deputies use smartphone for crime fighting

On a side note, Apple has just bought a company that specializes in fingerprint identification. My father wanted to do this 40 years ago, I think he was ahead of the curve.

PCWorld - What Apple's Acquisition of AuthenTec Means

I think we are starting to see a trend here and it is one that I have been writing about for years. In order to use your cell phone or the internet, you are going to eventually have to have your biometrics scanned and verified to be you and your phone is going to be how you pay for things, at least for awhile.

In the future you will not be able to travel without your identification being verified.

Khaleej Times - Two jailed for trying to cheat in iris scan

Electronic Payment in the News

Sorry for not having much to say recently. It has been a very strange and busy last few weeks. This too shall be a rather short post.

Bloomberg - AT&T-Verizon-T Mobile Sets $100 Million for Google Fight: Tech