Facebook Ruins Relationships

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   Some of you may agree and a lot of you will not, but it is my strong belief that Facebook ruins relationships! Maybe I should not just single out Facebook, but they are one of the largest social networking sites there is. Other sites as well I believe are just as guilty in aiding in the destruction of friendships, families, marriages, jobs, and much more.
   www.facebook.com
   The area I am going to focus on today will be intimate relationships. This is the area that I have had the biggest problem with detouring online -outside interference. Every relationship that I have been involved in the last ten years has had some form of interference from social media sites, particularly Facebook. I’m sure many of you share similar stories to mine as well. If it isn't messages from interested people, old girlfriends, or straight up Internet Freaks, most of our partners have interacted with these people online in some form. For some of us, this has caused problems, and for others it made for great reunions. Then there are the instances where curiosities, temptation from pictures, and smooth words that are easily written online by liars, have won the attention of our partners. Many of us have lost some important people in our lives because of this yet social networks are continuing to grow and develop daily. I’m sure they have a lot of useful, moral, and life improving benefits and I would miss many if I the lost access to the sites myself, I'm just saying! What happen to just finding a phone number in a pocket?
   
   Lamont Mason

   

           

   
   

 

IT'S ELECTION TIME PEOPLE!!

 

First off I would like to say that I am a registered independent, and have a bachelor's degree in Political Science.  I served 8 years in the Navy and am a proud American.  I think it is every one's civic duty to CAST AN INFORMED VOTE!  Any vote that is not informed is a waste of a vote, and it is the individuals responsibility to get informed.

 

 

 

As we all know, there are two main candidates; Mitt Romney and Barack Obama.  I know there will be more on the ballot but honestly, a vote for Ron Paul is a wasted vote.  Some people may disagree, "you should vote for the person that holds your values!".  Well to them I say, "Don't be foolish!"  Ron Paul is a good candidate, but he lost the Republican primary and shouldn't be on the ballot nor should you write him in.  I know our system is not necessarily fair, but it is the only system we have and to maintain the integrity one should understand that.

 

Lets talk about the polling, the polling has been all over the place this election season.  Most of the mainstream media polling would have you believe that the President is ahead in almost every poll.

 

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/latest_polls/elections/

 

 

But, you need to know the sample of people they are taking.  Most polling places look at how the electorate voted last presidential election cycle.  So, they take those demographics and assume that is how people will approach the new election.  For example, in 2008 around 10% more democrats voted than republicans.  Many of the polls believe that will be the case this year, I don't agree but who is to say.  Now, these polls also break down the demographic; Race, Age, Party affiliation, Income level, Education level, etc.  Once again they assume the same breakdown of voters will vote.  History tells us that is not always the case.  We all know the HISTORIC proportions of the 2008 election.  Many people believe that turn out like that will not happen again.  There were huge numbers of first-time voters, many of which may not have updated their voter registation data and may not vote this time.

 

(on a side note, if you move to a new address you must update your voter registration with the board of elections, just because you get a new driver's license doesn't mean your voter address has changed)

 

 

 

So I would say that alot of these polls are skewed to those numbers.  Some people think that the polls are so biased that they don't reflect reality, I tend to agree with that line of thinking. A group of people have taken these polls and "unskewed" them http://unskewedpolls.com/.  The results are about what I think is going to happen.  But, we wont know until election day!  If you are a Romney supporter don't get too excited and if you are an Obama supporter don't start to worry just yet.

Voting has been a right preserved by men and women laying down their life for the freedom and rights we hold so true.  Just remember that an uniformed vote could have you looking like a fool!!







 

 

This Message Paid for by Christopher Todd

The Video DSLR Revolution

Nearly everyone has heard of DSLR cameras for taking pictures, but the popularity has exploded in recent years for more than just that. In 2008 manufacturers decided to tack on the seemingly useless feature of recording short hd video clips. To everyone’s surprise the video quality was amazing.

Music and Technology

Times Are a Changing: Music and Technology

Are you old enough to remember the vinyl 45, 33’s or 8 track tapes?  These are all a thing of the past.  Now we have CD’s, DVD’s, and MP3’s.  Almost every household has these plus personal computers, satellites, a pad or notebook of some sort, gaming systems, Blu-Ray or DVD players...  Let face it we live in a technology world.  So is should come as no surprise that the way we listen to music has changed.

Today cassettes and vinyl’s make up less than 5% of the music market combined.  Since MP3 players are the size of your palm or on your phone even the CD is beginning to fade out.  MP3 formats allow you to customize what you want to hear and store them all in a small space; you can listen to your favorite’s songs one right after the other. 

Back in the olden days (20 years ago) it took a long time to break into the music business.  Money was needed to book a studio, time was needed to get your name out there, and having a producer was a must.  With the computer age this is no longer the case anyone with a computer and some equipment can record something put it on YouTube and become an overnight success.  Social networking sites such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter can rocket a performer to instant stardom.  These sites allow an artist to promote their music to millions of people all over the world.

The development of downloading sites such as iTunes and Yahoo Music has made music available at the touch of a button and reasonable price.  You can now purchase your songs for .99 not wait to go to the store and purchase the whole CD for over $10 and only listen to one maybe two of the songs.  Music being available digitally also has its negative points.  Sharing sites such as Napstar, Lime Wire, and Share Bear where you can download music for free obviously has a negative effect on the artist, producers and the record companies wallets.  These sites also can wreak havoc on your computer systems.  Being the mother of teenagers believe me every time my kids visit these sites we end up with a virus or our computer ends up with a bunch of programs we did not download. 

It’s hard to believe how much the music industry has changed in the last 20 years; I can only image what they will come up with next. 

http://www.musiciansnetwork.us/mnet/indie44_sample.html

Cindi Davis, DIG2000

Baby Boomers Going Back to School

 

               If you’re over 40, chances are it’s been years since you’ve taken any kind of educational classes.  There are many reasons why baby boomers might decide to go back to school.  Whether you choose the formal classroom setting, a community college, online courses, or even the free “audit” courses offered by many colleges where you can sit in if a class has extra room, or listen to a lecture online for no accreditation.  It may be with the shifting economic times you feel your job security may be enhanced by a college degree.  There are so many young college graduates hitting the workforce with fresh sharp minds that it can be a bit intimidating.  It may be you just want to keep your mind sharp.  Studies show that the best way to combat Alzheimer’s and dementia  is to constantly stimulate the brain.  For many over 40, it many have been years since their brain was actually “stimulated”, such as mothers whose kids have left the nest, or someone who has spent their entire adult life at the same mindless job, doing the same thing day in and day out with no challenges or learning requirements whatsoever.  Another group may be the ones that are getting more involved in the social media such as Facebook.  According to insidefacebook.com, over 20% of its users are over 45, with older men seeing the fastest growth in the last year.  Many of these have never used a computer before, or perhaps very little.  Remember the YouTube video of the elderly couple trying to set up their Skype? The bottom line is with digital media becoming such a vast part of our lives today and even more so in the future, it makes sense to educate ourselves, even if it is only in that particular field.  Cash and checks are becoming obsolete.  Online banking and ATMs are replacing old fashioned person to person interaction.  If the people of the baby boomer era don’t educate themselves, especially in the field of digital media , they will find themselves drowning, feeling overwhelmed and helpless in the ever changing and growing world of the “computer generation”.

Sheri Botzong
 

Are You Prepared For A Disaster?

If you live in the south you understand the importance of being prepared for storms and other weather related issues that arise from these storms. We all know to keep in stock a healthy supply of can goods, water, and candles. These are just some of the items we may need if we have to go without power or access to stores for an unknown amount of time. Most would think that a weeks’ worth of supplies will be sufficient to see them through a storm and others have stock piled supplies that could last them years. Depending on your wealth and your storage capacity the amounts of emergency goods we keep on hand may vary. With all the information that we have access too during times of foreseen disasters such as hurricanes, it leaves most of us well prepared to "weather the storm" if something drastic does occur and we are without these things for let’s say, a week. Have you ever thought about what you would do if some sort of unforeseen catastrophe happened? Would you be prepared to weather the storm, or whatever the disaster may be if it lasted more than a month, or even two weeks for that matter, what would you do? What if the circumstances were similar to those that occurred during Hurricane Katrina and the government was unable to assist. Would you be ready? This is a question that I have begun to ask myself more and more and the answer I always come up with is no.



These are crazy times that we live in. With the recent recession, unstable economy, and constant threats of terror some feel a disaster the likes that we have never seen is inevitable. You can go online and read information from economist and other proclaimed experts who have evidence to prove that a disaster, with repercussions that we have never experienced, is only a few years away. Some savoy business people are marketing strategies through the media and websites detailing their predictions, and laying out their evidence for these predictions. One of these is a commercial that I recently saw on ESPN that advertised a site called 3NewAmerical.com The ad said that my life basically depended on me hearing what they had to say, so I went to this site and reviewed the information. Some of the information seemed a little extreme and exaggerated, ex especially when it mentioned chaos and pandemonium in the streets. But is the information extreme or exaggerated at all? This is a question that we all have to answer for ourselves. I just know that my entrepreneurial mind is thinking daily on the lines of what can I do too not only survive but also grow during these predicted times.



Lamont Mason