I’m not racist and I never really have been. I’ve got black friends, mexican friends, asian friends.

In fact, one of my best friends of 20 years is black.

So seriously, stop with the racial profiling.

Wasn’t the guy that shot Trayvon a Mexican or something?

I’m sorry, but this is your typical “I’m a black man in a white america and I demand justice!” scenario.

Slavery stopped 200 years ago.

Segregation stopped 50 years ago.

You fucking people need to get over it and stop blaming whitey for your problems.

You know what I see here?

I see a black kid walking through a predominately white neighborhood that has it’s share of problems in the vandalism and theft area.

I see a black kid with an attitude ignoring a figure of authority (okay, not really authority, but an adult all the same) after being approached and asked to stop.

I see a black kid, out in a neighborhood, at a time when he should be at home studying, eating dinner, or going to bed.

So you tell me who’s to blame for his death?

Where were his parents? Obviously not paying attention to what their son was doing. Why was this kid out wandering around by himself?

If anybody is to blame, it’s them. Yet they are the ones screaming bloody murder because their son was shot struggling with a guy with a gun. As more and more facts about this case come out, I’m more and more convinced the kid had it coming. He’s a drug user, plain and simple. He’s been in trouble before. He’s been caught with drugs before. Who’s to say he wasn’t breaking into cars and vandalizing shit? Just because he never got caught before doesn’t mean it wasn’t happening. I did my fair share of stupid shit as a kid and I got away with far more then I ever should have. Luckily for me, nobody pulled a gun.

Why didn’t he stop when he was asked? Why did he attack the guy with the gun? Why did the gun come out? Why did he struggle to get away?

These are things we’ll probably never know, but at this point, let’s get over it people. You’re blowing it up to be something that it never should have been. This isn’t the day of Martin Luther King Jr (goddamn that’s a long name) and while there’s always going to be racial profiling and racists assholes out in the world, not everything needs to be turned into a race card every time a black kid gets shot doing something they probably shouldn’t have been doing to begin with.

Seriously, there’s bigger problems in the United States, why aren’t we worrying about them instead?

You may now crucify me.

Article Here

People need a way to pay for their hard work and time, just like any other job would, so developers have increasingly turned to in application ads to help pay for their costs. I mean why not? It’s easier to get someone to download a free app and deal with ads then it is to get them to pay for your app. Not only could this potentially give you an edge up on your competition, who may not have a free version, but this also gets you the exposure you need to possibly get people to actually buy the application and get rid of the ads.

Honestly, you can’t fault the developer for this one. Should you buy the full version of that application you love and cherish daily? Probably, especially considering most apps are in the 1-2 dollar range. Can you live with charging your phone on a regular basis or do you hate having a charger everywhere you go in your life?

It’s more of a personal preference, because one way or another, the developers have to get paid, and you can either pay them, or the ad companies can pay them.

First off, they may have created half a million jobs, but where? According to the article, there are only 47,000 domestic jobs in the United States. The rest are all spread out across developers and foreign countries. So really, why are they reporting that? Apple is sitting on billions of dollars of cash. Not stock, not bonds; real actual cash. Go build some shit. Help out the local communities. Create some jobs for people who actually need it.

You know, like Canon USA, who bought a giant plot of land in New York and has created hundreds of new jobs to build a brand new headquarters.

Maybe that’s the difference between a Japanese company and an American company. The Japanese company is more likely to invest in the future of their company and help the economy and community at the same time.

Not that the foreign countries don’t need it, but why aren’t we keeping it local? I’m willing to bet if you moved your factories to the States, paid minimum wage to some line workers, and actually helped out our economy, that you could still charge the same ridiculous amount of money for Apple products and still make a profit. Not only would you be helping fund a healthier nation by providing local jobs, but you’d keep more of that money where it matters.

Jobs going to developers are great. But honestly, how many of those are actually making money and how many of those are also local? Apple has thousands of Apps to choose from for their platforms, but how many of those were one time shots and how many developers signed up, created an app that flopped, and then gave up. How long until Apple removes them from their “job” list.

And then that brings me to the new Ipad.

I understand that in order to make money you have to keep up with the times. But do we seriously need a new iphone, ipod, and ipad every single year? Talk about a waste of resources.

Latest figures put Ipad sales at close to 55 million Ipads world wide since it’s introduction.

I’m guessing about 40 million of those are about to become obsolete first gen machines. Just like the Iphone 2g and 3g, Apple will begin phasing out millions of machines as they upgrade their software and hardware. Then what happens to all these ones that no longer are worth keeping? They’ll end up in recycling bins and dumps, further clogging up our environment and creating additional hazardous waste in addition to whatever hazardous waste was created by building these machines in the first place.

Maybe I’m a little harsh on Apple. The same could be said for just about any electronics company as they update to new models and discontinue older models, but with Apple always in the limelight, maybe the fan boys need to think more about what they’re doing besides making a rich company, richer. You just spent 600 dollars on last years model, now you’re going to spend another 600 on this years. Christ I wish I had that kind of cash to spend.

I touched briefly on this a week ago, but it’s once again come to into light that gas prices are becoming higher and higher. This time? It’s a possible war with Iran.

I say, who the fuck cares.

Seriously now. We’re letting foreign countries and their problems drive our gas prices higher and higher. Iran doesn’t even provide America with oil. In fact, I saw an article earlier that shows that Saudi Arabia and other oil producing countries are actually producing more than enough oil at this point in time to cover what Iran gives to the world.

So why is that messing with our prices?

Because the oil companies are greedy. That’s why.

President Obama stated that the Republican‘s solution to cheaper gas prices is to “drill, drill, drill” but in the same sentence stated that this would not solve our problems.

Why not?

The more we drill locally, the less we rely on foreign influence.

The more we drill locally, the more jobs we create.

The more we drill locally, the more oil we produce, which in turn floods our society with more gas then we need, and drives prices down.

Wait, we already produce too much gas. So much more in fact that we’re actually exporting it to other countries.

Stop corporate gas and oil greed. Keep our oil, and our gas within our borders. Do we really need the money so badly that we have to sell what we produce outside of these borders? Why aren’t we keeping our stock pile? Why aren’t we hoarding what we’ve created and letting our society recover from what has been deemed the worst financial situation since the depression, heal.

What the hell is wrong with our generation. We’re seriously no worse than the countries that produce oil and don’t turn that profit into culture. Why is that oil producing countries are still considered third world when they have nothing but money available to fix the infrastructure of a failing society.

Greed. That is the one word that stick out above all else to me. We’re greedy sons of bitches and until someone steps in and says enough is enough, the world will continue to fall and the rich will get richer while the poor die and fall out of sight.

Story here

Bad fucking idea.

Has anyone ever noticed that when you get pulled over (I try not to, but it happened recently for a busted windshield) that the cops generally take your paperwork back to their car and run it through the system.

I have no problem with this.

However.

Add in your smartphone and the fact that police can look through it at any point since it is now in their possession without violating any rights.

Now how do you feel about it?

Let’s see if they were texting while driving…

Let’s see if they were on the phone recently…

Let’s see if there’s any kiddie porn…

Okay, the last one is a little far reaching, but I still wouldn’t put it behind the local police force to look into what you’ve been doing on your phone. Once they have possession, they no longer need a warrant from what I understand, so how would you keep them locked out?

You really can’t. So no thanks. Although I live in California, you can bet I won’t be handing over my cell phone. I don’t have anything to hide, but I really don’t trust that they won’t be violating my privacy and looking at pictures of my son or my family.

We’re getting close to $4.00 now. Again. For like the third year in a row.

I understand there are wars going on. I understand that there is a supply and demand issue. I understand there are capped outputs. And I understand that oil is at a high price.

So why hasn’t anybody fixed it yet?

Why haven’t the countries producing oil ramped up production to offset any oil that isn’t flowing from countries currently going through self inflicted civil wars.

They’re more than capable of doing it. They regularly slow up and speed down production to meet their regular demand. So c’mon Saudi Arabia, ramp it up while Libya is getting their pipeline back on track or while Iraq is working out their political states and figuring out who’s getting paid.

There’s more than enough oil to last us this lifetime. Let’s start tapping it.

Let’s face it. America is in an economic crisis and one of the biggest driving factors out there is our fuel prices. We are, unfortunately, continuously dependent on driving. To the grocery store, to work, to school, to child care, etc, etc. We have no choice but to drive which is largely due to the fact that our infrastructure in most major cities require that we drive. The buses are slow, overfilled, and take too long. The trains don’t run to the right places. Taxi’s cost too much. And most people live too far to either walk or ride a bicycle.

So the oil companies and producers have us by the balls. Literally.

Obama wants to fix our economy? Figure out how to get our gas prices down.

I commute 40 miles round trip every other week on my motorcycle to keep my monthly gas costs down.

The every other week, I don’t have a choice but to drive my truck. This turns my commute into closer to 60 miles round trip because I have to use a different route.

All said and done, I spend roughly 200-220/month on gas, which would be closer to 400 if I didn’t have my bike.

Now cut gas prices in half back, or even 2.50/gal.

I just saved 70 dollars a month on gas.

I don’t need a silly tax break. I need a silly gas price break.

Not only would I be more likely to turn around and spend that 70 dollars/month back in the community. I’d be more likely to travel to go to places and spend outside of my local community because it would be more affordable.

I may be one out of 300 million people in the US, but I’m sure this goes for plenty of others.

Drop gas prices back and the economy will fix itself.

“A mother in Hoke County complains her daughter was forced to eat a school lunch because a government inspector determined her home-made lunch did not meet nutrition requirements. In fact, all of the students in the NC Pre-K program classroom at West Hoke Elementary School in Raeford had to accept a school lunch in addition to their lunches brought from home.”

“NC Pre-K (before this year known as More at Four) is a state-funded education program designed to “enhance school readiness” for four year-olds.

The mother, who doesn’t wish to be identified at this time, says she made her daughter a lunch that contained a turkey and cheese sandwich, a banana, apple juice and potato chips. A state inspector assessing the pre-K program at the school said the girl also needed a vegetable, so the inspector ordered a full school lunch tray for her. While the four-year-old was still allowed to eat her home lunch, the girl was forced to take a helping of chicken nuggets, milk, a fruit and a vegetable to supplement her sack lunch.“

Read the story here

This would have me raging pretty pissed off. In fact, I’m seriously annoyed enough about it to write about it. My son isn’t old enough to go to school yet, but if he was, I’d also be packing his lunches. Not only because I, as a parent, know what he will and will not eat (luckily he’s really not that picky of an eater), but also because I’m young enough to remember that the crap they fed us in school, wasn’t exactly healthy to begin with.

And to replace a turkey and cheese sandwich with chicken nuggets, that we all know were fried, is just ridiculous. The mom missed a vegetable. My god, she covered every single other basis of a healthy lunch, but didn’t toss in a carrot stick.

I understand that schools are basically day care at that age, but at what point do we need to put our feet down and say enough is enough. There’s obviously a reason this parent is sending their kid to school with a packed lunch and regardless of that reason, nobody should be able to force them to eat something other then what they were sent with.

Someone needs to take a good look at the policies and make some adjustments, because if this happened to me, I’d be doing my best to get that inspector fired. That’s just taking it too far.

As most of you can imagine, the internet is abuzz with whether or not what this guy did was right or wrong. I’m a member on a number of forums across various topics and it truly amazed me to see the reactions from the different genres.

“He was too harsh”

“He was dead on”

“Sounds like the kid was a spoiled brat”

“Sounds like he made her do too much”

“Sounds like he hasn’t made enough”

“His parenting is the reason she got to that place to begin with”

Now without knowing this guy, or his daughter, or the way he raised her to begin with, it’s hard to say what in all reality was the proper was to enforce this punishment. Sure he explained his side of the story, but who’s side was actually true? Is she a spoiled brat? Or does he treat her like Cinderalla? Hard to say, chances are we’ll never actually know the truth.

The biggest thing I’ve noticed with today’s society though, is that most teenagers (those born roughly 1995 to 1999) seem to appear to think they are owed everything in life. From TV to iPhones, Cars to laptops, the freedom of will to do anything that they want. They get spoiled, they never get disciplined, and they continue on in life not truly knowing what a real kick in the ass is.

Most of this is parenting as much as it is society, although society deems it okay to get married, have kids, and get divorced in your early 20s. Thus leaving most parents single, raising their kids alone on a single income, and not having the time or energy to be a parent. Let’s shove the kids in front of the TV, computer, video game, whatever else there is instead of sitting down, forgetting that we’re tired, and busting out the coloring book, or throwing the ball around the yard, or even walking around the neighborhood.

Nope, most parents would schluff their kids off on someone else then actually be a parent and instill some responsibility in said kids which would then provide them with some sort of life skill.

Sounds to me like this Dad has tried to give his daughter responsibility by issuing her chores. Sounds like she’s lazy and doesn’t want to do them. Sounds like he’s doing everything he can to keep her busy enough to stay out of trouble. She could very well be out doing drugs, having sex, and then talking shit on Facebook. Then how would society deem him? Probably as a failure as a dad for letting her fall so far down the rabbit hole. Instead they deem him as a failure for being too harsh on his punishment.

At least the bullets didn’t go through her head.

My first experience with Google’s Android operating system was on the Nexus One shortly after the launch back in 2010. I was also coming from an iPhone, so this was a huge step into the unknown, although I was pretty fed up with the iPhone anyways so I needed something new.

Loved my Nexus One, and she loved me back. I’m a PC guy, and I like to tinker. I like having flexibility in my software and due to this, I fell in love with Android. So many possibilities to be had with this device, especially since unlike the iPhone, it was hackable out of the box.

Open source, roms flowing, she gave me a lot of good times.

Until my power button died.

Then I had to move on.

Google does a pretty good job of releasing a new phone yearly and in doing so they also keep up with their newest version of Android. In 2011, they announced Ice Cream Sandwich, otherwise known as ICS.

Unfortunately, the phone they released with ICS, the Galaxy Nexus
, just didn’t match up to the spec I wanted in a phone. I read tons of reviews on the phone, and just decided it wasn’t the phone for me.

Since I wasn’t going to stick with the Nexus line, I made sure I stayed with the HTC line since they always seemed to have the best developer support. Especially in terms of XDA (best forum ever for modding your HTC device) This led me to my HTC Amaze.

Unfortunately, the Amaze came with Gingerbread instead of ICS, and damnit, I want me some ICS!

The developers are trying, but there just isn’t much they can do yet.

So in the mean time.

We’re still waiting. Possibly the end of March, possibly further out in the year, possibly even never (some rumors about the Amaze going byebye even though it’s a brand new phone)

HTC! I’m hungry, where’s my Ice Cream Sandwich.

Or are the consumers about to get super screwed.

I’m going with, super screwed.

Billions of dollars are going to the nearly defunct housing sector in this country. With thousands of homes in foreclosure and nowhere to sell them, we are slowly sinking further and further down in selling prices. Not only can most sellers not sell, they can’t compete with the foreclosure and short sale prices that are plaguing us everywhere, in every community, in every type of demographic neighborhood. This is a buyers market, assuming you can get a loan.

So what do we do? We give out billions of dollars to make sure nobody else goes into a foreclosure. So what’s this going to do to the rest of the economy? The current inventory of foreclosures is going to dry up, housing prices are going to skyrocket, and we’re going to be in the same place in 15 years where too many people buy houses they can’t afford. Sound familiar? It should, because we just finished going through it in the last five years.

I’m in the market to buy myself. It’s going to be a few months, but I find myself wondering what this is going to do to short term pricing with the current inventory of thousands of empty houses in the market, not to mention the thousands that haven’t even been listed yet. Am I still going to be able to afford that little condo, in a decent neighborhood, for a decent price that would allow me to live comfortably? Or am I going to have to start looking cheaper, in terrible areas for a smaller place and not be so secure. I’m fairly certain we haven’t bottomed out on pricing yet, which is why I’m still waiting, but is this going to prevent us from hitting the bottom?

I find it ridiculous that our government continues to bail out those people that have put us where we are today. Our economy isn’t bad because of the housing crisis. Our economy isn’t bad because there aren’t any jobs. Our economy is terrible because the money is being spent in the wrong places and at the wrong times by those in charge of keeping our country going.

Why aren’t we spending more of that money on fixing our infrastructure, which would in turn create more jobs and promote spending by those with new found money from said jobs. Let’s fix up our “ghetto” areas and help those that are less fortunate get a new paint job, or fix that hole in the fence, maybe even get that driveway paved so the kids aren’t cutting up their feet on the gravel and rocks that litter the failing concrete.

How about helping out the people who truly are in need, instead of those coming here and just saying they need help? How many able bodied people are just standing around, doing nothing, but collecting tax payers money because that’s the easy way, even though it’s not so easy.

So, why are we spending billions to bail out the banks again when there are plenty of other places to be spending it. Because we can, and that’s half the problem with America today.