KJ's blog

Another thought

2012-02-24T22:13:00.000-08:00

"To watch the courses of the stars as if you revolved with them.

To keep constantly in mind how the elements alter into one another.

Thoughts like this wash off the mud of life below."

-Marcus Aurelius

What is the most valuable thing?

2012-02-12T23:10:00.000-08:00

Time.

Meditations Sunday!

2012-02-12T15:10:00.000-08:00

I have another wonderful quote for you! Translations are done by Gregory Hays as always.

"You can hold your breath until you turn blue, but they'll still go on doing it."
-Marcus Aurelius

Skyrim - First DLC!!!!

2012-02-07T14:53:00.000-08:00

Okay I've been working so hard the Skyrim dlc has come out! It's a texture update mainly. So, it looks like I'm fucked :D My pc can handled the High and probably Ultra but I don't know if I can handle above that. I think I will try it out just for fun and I'll let you guys know. Anyway I've got to work so yeah back to work. Btw, the dlc is about 3 GB so that now makes the game a total of 10 GB of space. Still waiting for expansions but it looks pretty good so far. Anyway see you later.

btjunkie shutdown!!

2012-02-06T12:10:00.000-08:00

Btjunkie just went down for good folks. Fuck this shit.

Source: http://btjunkie.org/goodbye.html

Campsites of the Nation of Israel

2012-02-06T08:16:00.000-08:00

The following have been taken from the Book of Numbers in the Old Testament. From the the data we can see the Israelites were a semi-nomadic people during the early years. During the 40 years that Moses lead them I believer there were a total of 22 sites but I may be wrong here. As I remember reading about it the 22 sites where starting from Mount Sinai and ending at Mount Hor (where Aaron dies). If the you accept the 22 campsites then this would indicate the Israelites were averaging around 2 years in any one place. Please note the order may be out of place, along with spelling, but I think this is correct. Atheists, agnostics, Christians, and everyone else is welcome to discuss this. Please be kind though, thanks and have a great day!

Rameses (the starting point)
Succoth
Etham
Pi Hahiroth (crossing the Red Sea)
Wilderness of Sin
Dophkah
Alush
Rephidim (Wilderness of Sinai, giving the Law)
*Wilderness of Paran
*Taberah
Kibroth Hattaavah
Hazeroth
*Wilderness of Paran
*Kadesh Barnea
Rithmah
Rimmon Perez
Libnah
Rissah
Kehelathah
Mount Shepher
Haradah
Makheloth
Tahath
Terah
Mithcah
Hashmonah
Moseroth
Bene Jaakan
Hor Haggidgad
Jotbathah
Abronah
Ezion Geber (At the tip of the Red Sea)
Wilderness of Zin/Kadesh (Miriam dies)
*Waters of Meribah
Mount Hor (Aaron dies)
*Hormah
Zalmonah
Punon (Fiery Serpents
Oboth
Iye Abarim
*Wadi Zered
*Wadi Arnon
*Beer (LOL!)
*Mattanah
*Nahaliel
*Bamonth (Mount Pisah, battle with Sihon)
*Heshbon
*Edrei (Battle with Og and Dibon Gad
Almon Diblathaim
Abarim
Plains of Moab (Campsite stretched from Beth Jeshimoth to Abel Shittim)

*Sites not listed in the summary itinerary of Numbers 33.

Meditations Sunday!

2012-02-05T10:40:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! I'm busy as usual but I just wanted to say have a wonderful day. As always translations for today's quote is done by Gregory Hays. Enjoy.

"Everything is brought about by nature, not by anything beyond
it, or within it, or apart from it."

-Marcus Aurelius

I left Facebook

2012-02-04T04:40:00.000-08:00

After a few years of trying it out I finally said no. I made sure to deleted a good chunk of my info/friends on their and hit the delete account. Funny that it says that since from what I've heard and read they just save your account. Anyway I feel a little better getting off that thing. The picture is definitely related.

Another thought

2012-01-31T18:50:00.000-08:00

Remember the past

Doubt the future

Meditations Sunday!

2012-01-29T21:11:00.000-08:00

"How to act:

Never under compulsion, out of selfishness, without
forethought, with misgivings.
Don't gussy up your thoughts
No surplus words or unnecessary actions.
Let the spirit in you represent a man, an adult, a citizen, a
Roman, a ruler. taking up his post like a soldier and
patiently awaiting his recall from life. Needing no oath or
witness.
Cheerfulness. without requiring other people's help. Or
serenity supplied by others.
To stand straight—not straightened."

-Marcus Aurelius

Funny Accounting Question

2012-01-29T00:46:00.000-08:00

Just read this question from my accounting book. I couldn't help but laugh and blog it lol. Oh and the answer to the question is that those Klingon's violated the realization principle under U.S. GAAP by the way.

3.	The Klingon Company sells farm machinery. Revenue from a large order of machinery from a new buyer was recorded the day the order was received

Cool Song

2012-01-27T10:06:00.000-08:00

I've known about this song for a while now. I thought I'd share it with you. The song itself reminds me of Mass Effect for some reason. I am thinking of using it as my source of inspiration or theme in my next oil painting. Anyway, enjoy the track.

Meditations Sunday!

2012-01-22T16:34:00.000-08:00

More wise words from the esteemed Marcus Aurelius. Translations as always were done by Gregory Hays. Enjoy.

"I was once a fortunate man but at some point fortune abandoned me.
But true good fortune is what you make for yourself. Good fortune: good character, good intentions, and good actions." -Marcus Aurelius

References

Hays, G. (2002). Meditations (Modern Library ed.). New York: Modern Library.

FBI, DOJ, RIAA, and other entertainment sites ATTACKED!

2012-01-19T21:47:00.000-08:00

Anonymous is again fighting the good fight by crippling websites to the FBI and DOJ, the Recording Industry of America, Motion Picture Association of America, Universal Music and BMI.com for the recent SOPA, PIPA, and Megaupload incident. As of now all the sites are back up and working with the entertainment sites cursing the hackers for violating their right to free speech. HA! Free speech my ass.

DOJ mentioned that they suffered attacks but got their servers backup and running this evening. On the other side of the world it appears a UK citizen will be extradited to the US to face charges against breaking copyright laws! You have to understand here folks that this has never ever happened before. If this shit goes down who is really safe anymore? No one.

UPDATE:
http://www.universalmusic.com/
http://www.wmg.com/
IS DOWN!!

News sources:
http://twitter.com/#!/search?q=%23AntiSec

http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/19/10193724-anonymous-says-it-takes-down-fbi-doj-entertainment-sites?chromedomain=usnews

http://underthegunreview.net/2012/01/19/rip-megaupload-2005-2012/comment-page-1/

Muslims say Ron Paul is their kind of Republican!

2012-01-19T18:16:00.000-08:00

American Muslims lean Democratic -as many as 70 percent in a survey released last year by the Pew Forum - but many are supporting Republican presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas.

Gingrich get's endorsed by Perry; Romney still in the lead

2012-01-19T18:05:00.000-08:00

I am still saying what I said earlier about who would win this election. Obama vs Romney and Obama wins. I gave the reasons why in that previous post but now I would like to add to that post. Gingrich is one tough son of a bitch.

He's got insiders on the GOP and Fox News telling him to settle down and make way for Romney but Gingrich doesn't seem to give a shit what they say or do. You got to hand it to the guy, he's tough and people are responding well to that. So while the support from Perry is nice it won't do much in the overall scale of the thing because Perry had weak support.

Even so I doubt he'll win. Romney has the establishment backing him up because he is the establishment, a corporate whore if you will. Willing and able to further the interests of his corporate bosses on K Street, Wall Street, and Hollywood.

Megaupload just got shutdown!

2012-01-19T17:48:00.000-08:00

This is how censorship starts. I'm so angry right now I'm just going to come out and say it. FUCK YOU HOLLYWOOD!

Look here's the article where you can read more about it.

Mass Effect Wall Graphics! (new ones available)

2012-01-19T17:32:00.000-08:00

Above: Tali

Check out these awesome wall graphics! Even if you're not planning on buying it's still worth checking out.

National Popcorn Day!

2012-01-19T15:28:00.000-08:00

As the title says it's National Popcorn Day so you know what to do. Have a great day everybody!

An Interesting Experiment

2012-01-19T03:18:00.000-08:00

Accounting Classes Commence, My Excel Spreadsheets Stand READY!!

2012-01-17T14:51:00.000-08:00

The spring semester has just begun and so with tearful gazes I am off studying once more. I thought I mention this as I don't know how much I'll be able to contribute to the blog over the next few weeks. These upper level accounting courses take more time to digest than the previous semester courses.

Hang in there though because I will still throw some stuff up. I plan on starting a new painting too after I read up some more on an oil painting book I got this month. I'm thinking of doing a Mass Effect landscape of some kind. Haven't even started on a rough drawing so again it's a still an idea at this point. Anyway wish me luck in my accounting shit.

Amazing Sounds From Windows!

2012-01-14T18:39:00.001-08:00

Starwars Vs Titanic

2012-01-13T15:19:00.000-08:00

TIE-TANIC!

Iranian Scientists Assassinated! Precursor to more conflict?

2012-01-12T06:53:00.000-08:00

Terrorist, Freedom Fighter, Protecting Our Interests

It's all bullshit folks

I've listed the five Iranian scientist that have been killed or almost killed so far. We don't know yet if the US is behind these killings. The Iranians, scientists and government officials, seem to believe the acts are originating from the group Mossad a special operations organization located within Israel. Mossad is much like a mix between the SEALS, Secret Service, and NSA. They do intelligence gathering, spying, and killing. Remember too that this is the same group that killed 530 Iraqi scientists during the Iraq invasion and occupation.

So who is really behind this string of killings? My guess is that it's Mossad because the "Lieutenant-General Benny Gantz, Israel's military chief of staff, was quoted as saying on Tuesday that Iran should expect more "unnatural" events in 2012" (Iran nuclear scientist killed by car bomb, 2012). However, I am not ruling out the US because they have an ex-marine who was convicted of spying as a CIA agent recently.

The Mossad badge

Nice way to associate a festival of lights (Hanukkah) with killing people.

Not surprisingly the US came out and denied involvement just recently but I think we know better than to believe the official statement. “I want to categorically deny any United States involvement in any kind of act of violence inside Iran,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters yesterday in Washington." ( Nasseri and Gaouette, 2012). Interestingly the US is the ONLY country to come straight out and say it wasn't them which leads me to wonder. Below are all the scientist that have died or survived assassination attempts. I've also included some pictures. Looks eerily like the terrorist attacks in Iraq, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.

Name: Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan
Position: Chemistry expert, uranium enrichment supervisor in Tehran, director of the Natanz facility in central Iran. He was working on project of making polymeric membrane for separating gas.
Cause of Death: Died when a magnetically attached bomb to his car exploded. It killed him while he was driving. The device was reported to have been attached by two individuals.

Name: Darioush Rezaeinejad
Position: Scientist at K.N. Toosi University of Technology in Tehran.
Cause of Death: Shot to death along with his wife.

Rezaeinejad, supposedly he was working on detonators

for a nuclear weapon and that's why he was targeted.

Name: Fereidoun Abbasi
Position: VP of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran
Cause of Death: He did not die. He survived an assassination attempt that occurred on November 29, 2010 (Fereydoon Abbasi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 2012)

Abbasi giving a speech at the IAEA

Name: Majid Shahriari
Position: Nuclear engineer that specialized in neutron transport. He worked with the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran.
Cause of Death: A bomb attached to his car exploded killing Shahriari and badly injuring his wife. This was reported to have been done by two individual on bikes.

Shahriari's car after the explosion

Name: Masoud Ali Mohammad
Position: Physics Professor at the University of Tehran, he had no real political importance.
Cause of Death: Motorcycle rigged with an explosive killed him as he left for work.

So why is this happening? My theory is that the US but more so Israel want to strike fear into the Iranian people especially the scientists. I don't know how effective this will be in preventing the nuclear program from continuing but I am sure we will see more of these assassinations in 2012.

References

"Iran nuclear scientist killed by car bomb - Middle East - Al Jazeera English." AJE - Al Jazeera English. N.p., 12 Jan. 2012. Web. 12 Jan. 2012. <http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/01/201211162848691713.html>

Nasseri, Ladane, and Nicole Gaouette. "Iran Says Scientist’s Murder Reveals Global Terror Campaign - Businessweek." Businessweek - Business News, Stock Market & Financial Advice. N.p., 12 Jan. 2012. Web. 12 Jan. 2012. <http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-01-12/iran-says-scientist-s-murder-reveals-global-terror-campaign.html>.

"Iran Shooting Victim Was Student, Not Nuclear Scientist." Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post. N.p., 23 July 2011. Web. 12 Jan. 2012. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/23/darioush-rezaei-iranian-nuclear-physicist_n_907757.html>.

"Fereydoon Abbasi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Jan. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fereydoon_Abbasi>.

"PressTV - 'Mossad behind Iran scientist's murder'." Press TV. N.p., 3 Jan. 2012. Web. 12 Jan. 2012. <http://www.presstv.ir/detail/158432.html>.

Over 2,000 Views!

2012-01-12T01:36:00.000-08:00

Hey I just checked and the blog stats says we got 2,018 views! Many thanks to all those who visited my blog. Wooohooo! :D

Because "you" really are :)

Funny Skyrim Clips

2012-01-11T14:22:00.000-08:00

Skyrim: Giant Graveyard

2012-01-10T11:52:00.000-08:00

Skyrim: A "Giant" coup d'etat

2012-01-10T11:39:00.001-08:00

Skyrim: Centurions and Chickens!

2012-01-10T11:12:00.000-08:00

Why is the West Pushing for another War with Iran? Money!

2012-01-10T01:26:00.000-08:00

In short it's because they are hungry, who? Business.

Eisenhower warned us about this, he called it

the industrial military complex

Below are some of the businesses who profited off the Iraq/Afghanistan War. However, these numbers are taken from 4-5 years ago!

Halliburton...............................................................$17.226 Billion
Veritas Capital Fund/DynCorp...................................$1.444 Billion
Washington Group International................................$931 Million
Environmental Chemical...........................................$878 Million
Aegis......................................................................$430 Million
International American Products................................$759 Million
Erinys.....................................................................$136 Million
Fluor.......................................................................$1.1 Billion
Perini......................................................................$650 Million
URS Corporation......................................................$792 Million
Parsons..................................................................$540 Million
First Kuwaiti General Trading & Contracting...............$500 Million
Armor Holdings.......................................................$634 Million
L-3 Communications...............................................$359 Million
AM General*...........................................................-----------
HSBC....................................................................$91 Million
Cummins...............................................................$45 Million
MerchantBridge......................................................$61 Million
GlobalRisk Strategies.............................................$24.5 Million
ControlRisks..........................................................$37 Million
CACI*....................................................................-----------
Bechtel.................................................................$2.47 Billion
Custer Battles*.......................................................-----------
Nour USA..............................................................$480 Million
General Dynamics..................................................$45.5 Billion
Lockheed Martin.....................................................$105.7 Billion
Boeing..................................................................$89.4 Billion
Northrop Grumman.................................................$61.8 Billion
Raytheon...............................................................$42.5 Billion
United Technologies...............................................$22.5 Billion
KBR Inc**..............................................................$24.2 Billion

*Profits not stated
**Part of Halliburton

References

Brush, M. (2007, August 29). Who's profiting from the Iraq war? - MSN Money. Commentary Index - MSN Money. Retrieved January 10, 2012, from http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/CompanyFocus/WhosProfitingFromTheIraqWar.aspx

Ryan. (2008, July 22). The 25 Most Vicious Iraq War Profiteers | Business Pundit. Business Pundit: Your daily dose of smart business opinion. Retrieved January 10, 2012, from http://www.businesspundit.com/the-25-most-vicious-iraq-war-profiteers/

Iran Sentences a Former US Marine to Death but Will They?!

2012-01-09T23:26:00.000-08:00

Amir Mirzaei Hekmati, a US citizen from Michigan, was sentenced to death by an Iran court. Amir, according to the court, was convicted of being a US spy for the CIA. Now I don't know the specifics concerning the evidence against Amir but let me tell you I think.

I believe this is Iran's way of countering the US sanctions that were signed into law by Obama on the 31st of December just last year. So Iran will use Amir as a barganing chip for these negotiations. It is unlikely they will kill him because that would not give them any leverage over the west in these international talks.

Amir Mirzaei Hekmati above

Oh and those sanctions Obama signed into law, turns out they were targeted at the central bank of Iran (The Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran). The effects are quite shocking too! The Rial, Iran's currency, dropped 40% compared to the USD (United States Dollar). This has since has improved by being only 20% but it caused a national scare in the country as Iranians rushed to convert their Rials for US dollars.

Can you imagine what would of happened if that occurred here in the US? The dollar taking a nose dive and being worth 40% less! Prices would skyrocket across the country which would be incredibly destructive to millions of families across the US. Also don't forget the poor, over 40 million people live below the poverty line so it would likely mean we would see crime rates that would be probably on the level of the Civil War.

Iran's Currency, the Rial

Iran Threatens to Block the Strait of Hormuz

2012-01-08T05:19:00.000-08:00

Until recently I did not know where the Strait of Hormuz was but after a google image search it was obvious as to what its strategic importance is. A 34 mile wide passage that sees roughly a third of the worlds oil supply pass through it at one point or another. Sounds like a perfect place to start some shit wouldn't you say?

Iran has been testing out its own war toys as of late. A 10 day naval exercise has recently concluded with plans for another round of exercises already set for February. But why are all these military operations going on now and since when did Iran have a Navy?

As you might have guessed this all stems from a big debate about Iran's domestic policy. Essentially, Iran is saying they will put up this blockade if you (US/EU) block our exports via trade sanctions. The trade sanctions and the like are the result of increasing political pressure from the west to stop Iran from continuing their nuclear program. Surprisingly, in the midst of all this drama, China is angry at Iran because of this attention.

To show how frustrated China is at the moment they are currently purchasing premium crude from Russia and Vietnam. In other words China is deliberately pissing away money to buy higher priced oil and as such is losing millions if not billions as a result.

As for the EU, the UK is sending their most advanced warship, the HMS Daring (see picture below) to the region as you're reading this. Mainly it's to put pressure on Tehran and to persuade them not to try this blockade business for obvious reasons. Besides that I think the UK sending this ship because nobody in the EU likes the idea of an Iran testing out it's missiles while simultaneously near the point of acquiring nuclear power.

However, as for the ship itself it can literally shoot down any missile in the Iranian armory. That by itself is no laughing matter for the Iranian high command and it should send a clear message to the Middle East on how serious this is to the EU. The HMS Daring should arrive in the region at the end of January.

The US on the other hand has been specifically warned by Iran that if they do station a carrier in the Persian Gulf that Iran will blockade the strait. Of course the US hasn't done so yet but considering how the industrial military complex in the US has been so trigger happy in the last decade I wouldn't take war off the table just yet. In fact if I didn't know better I would say that the US was trying to start some shit.

Nevertheless, no matter what my opinions are about why this happening it's not a secret that we've been fighting in Lybia with a bombing campaign and an out of control ground war in Iraq that will throw the whole country into a civil war once the US withdrawals. There is also the war raging in Afghanistan that has led to combat operations in the neighboring country of Pakistan.

So what is the real message here? Don't have your whole damn economy run off of one damn product that's controlled by some damn tycoons in some other damn countries god damn it. Anyway let's hope our bought-out congressional and executive branches don't start another war for the industrial military complex.

Meditations Sunday!

2012-01-08T00:50:00.000-08:00

Hey everybody! You know what time it is?! MEDITATIONS SUNDAY! Wooohooo! :)

"Your ability to control your thoughts—treat it with respect. It's all that protects your mind from false perceptions—false to your nature, and that of all rational beings. It's what makes thoughtfulness possible, and affection for other people, and submission to the divine."

-Marcus Aurelius

References

Hays, G. (2002). Meditations (Modern Library ed.). New York: Modern Library.

An Idea

2012-01-06T17:27:00.000-08:00

The corporatocracy has replaced the theocracy

So begins a new domination over the plebs

When Is The Next Economic Crisis Coming? Here's My Guess.

2012-01-05T21:30:00.000-08:00

In short I have devised a little method to give you an idea when the next depression will happen. I did this by taking the number of economic depressions and recessions since 1929 and then divided them by the number of years since 1929. This tells us on average how long it takes for a economic crisis to erupt. Let's see what that number is. Below is the years in which the US experienced an economic depression or recession.

1929
1948
1953
1957
1960
1969
1974
1980
1981
1990
2001
2007

The difference from 1929 to 2012 is 83 years.

83/12 = 6.916

On average we experience an economic collapse every 7 years. When will the next one happen? Well if we add 7 to 2007 we get 2014. What is frightening here is that there is still 1 in 6 Americans that have either been classified as under employed, unemployed, and those that are unemployed that have stopped searching for work. So we already have about 1 person in every family across the country not working and the next recession on it's way less than 2 years. The moral of the story, learn to farm and keep it in your pants. Enjoy!

A Wonderful Little Video About How We Offset The Real Economic Crisis And What We Can Do

2012-01-05T02:53:00.000-08:00

Please note this video is from around September/October of 2010 but it is amazing at how relevant it is even today.

Who Will Win the 2012 Presidential Election? I'm 90% sure who will win.

2012-01-05T00:37:00.000-08:00

I have a feeling Obama will win this next election. His opponent will be Mitt Romney. Perry, Santorum, Gingrich, will either drop out or become Romney's VP. Perry in particular should be known that he will fail, not because of the outcome of the Iowa voters but because he lacks the drive. Ron Paul, while loved by his fans, will still fight. His anti-establishment policies will hinder him and he will fail because of it (electoral college). How do I know this you may wonder. Here is my evidence. Please share this knowledge. It does more good when shared. Enjoy.

NDAA Bill: Protection from the law is gone

2012-01-04T03:51:00.000-08:00

"For civil libertarians, the NDAA is our Mayan moment: 2012 is

when the nation embraced authoritarian powers with little more than a pause between rounds of drinks."

Jonathan Turley's

Hell even Anonymous posted something about this horrible bill!

Fascism Is Here and It's Growing Fast

2012-01-02T23:30:00.000-08:00

Fascism happened in Russia, Germany, Argentina, and China like this:

1) Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy.
2) Create secret prisons where torture takes place.
3) Develop a thug caste or paramilitary force not answerable to citizens.
4) Set up an internal surveillance system.
5) Harass citizens' groups.
6) Engage in arbitrary detention and release.
7) Target key individuals.
8) Control the press.
9) Treat all political dissidents as traitors.
10) Suspend the rule of law.

Does Destiny Exist? It Depends!

2012-01-02T22:09:00.000-08:00

Nothing is meant to be

There is no predestination

The above quote is taken from a Taoist perspective. Tao is, for those who don't know, a mix between a religion and a philosophy. A way of describing it, although crudely, is a belief system that emphasizes a release of past or future connections and becoming utterly connected to the present while harmonizing with Nature (includes nothingness). There is much more to it than that (ineffable qualities) but for now will go with the previously mentioned definition.

So what is destiny? One way of describing it is a set of events that cannot be altered, that it is predetermined. Another more artistic way of looking at it is the future that is already known. Ironically, people who bring up stories of how it was destiny that they met their lovers or started this company forgot to mention that they only referrer to their experiences after the fact. So it would probably be more accurate to say that it was a pleasant coincidence than destiny.This leads me to wonder the validity of the beginning quote.

Does destiny exist? I believe it does but in a controlled sense which is more a influence of causality than destiny (predetermination). Without using some hypothetical basis to explain this I will simply say that we can make our own destiny by way of our thought and results that we experience or witness. The thought or intelligence factor is a must for to even come to the idea of the word destiny, something that is predetermine requires thought. Thought, I believe is not a human thing but a concept of Nature (animals have thoughts too).

Ah...but don't forget that without some level of thought we would also require a result to prove that this destiny or destinies existed right? Of course! Because results reinforce the very basis of a destiny. Think about it, if something happens that was foretold then it points to the credibility of that destiny (predetermined plan) or at least the idea that it was by destiny that I experienced this or this happened. However, we blow this out of proportion more often than not, I think, because we feel first and think second or not at all.

Results need to be examined though because what are they based off of? The answer: a cause and an effect. Whether the cause and effect match the destiny is up for debate but causality leads us to results. Again, whether the results are contributing to the destiny is up for individual debate.

To recap this means that with thoughts and results (causality) create our destinies and those of others and things outside of our sphere of influence (influence being what cause and effect you can have on someone/something). Therefore, if you understand that a destiny is partly made of what you think and what you do and or experience then a destiny is a human creation (artificial in nature). As such you can make a destiny. I'm sure some would disagree and could lay out some damn auspicious stories to boot but I think this is the most likely explanation of whether destiny exists or not.

Now some of you may have caught on that I haven't brought up the general idea "destiny" yet. That's true, I have not, because I think it is important to show you first that many of the things we consider destiny are likely due to us envisioning it. When it comes to this overall destiny though I think that is a very promising point explanation. However, let us entertain for a moment that it is not and that there is a destiny to not only the Earth but the Universe as we know it. First off for a destiny to exist we must have an intelligence to design it or plan it and then results to prove it or else it is mere theory (in the unscienticfic method sense of the word). But what could have such a sphere of influence that it could affect all of creation? God? The Q?!

Theists would point to their individual creator(s) while atheist would probably side on the side that there is no such thing as a overall predetermined plan. Agnostics would most likely say "I don't know, and neither do you." To be fair though there probably is much more differences and grey areas to mention but for simplicity sake that's what it would boil down to.

Personally, I don't know so I guess I would be thrown in with the agnostics here but I highly doubt that there is such a thing as destiny and that we all have some small role to play in it because that sounds more like reality than destiny. If anything I believe in causality, randomness, and maybe Q.

References

Deng, M. (1992). 365 Tao: daily meditations. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco.

The Middle; A Source of Power and Strength

2012-01-02T16:42:00.000-08:00

Those who attain the middle

Dominate the whole

Attain: Succeed in achieving
Middle: Central
Dominate: To rule over
Whole: Undivided

Those who succeed in achieving the central

Rule over the undivided

References

Deng, M. (1992). 365 Tao: daily meditations. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco.

Legalize All Drugs

2012-01-02T15:29:00.001-08:00

Meditations Sunday!

2012-01-01T16:54:00.000-08:00

"To the best of my judgment, when I look at the human character I see no virtue placed there to counter justice. But I see one to counter pleasure: self-control."

-Marcus Aurelius

Income Inequality: The Walton Family

2011-12-26T09:39:00.000-08:00

A wonderful little article has popped up on the web. Again, like so many other odd things I find out, I would like to share this with you. I'm sure if you are a Tea Party or OWS supporter then this will no doubt interest you.

The article below essentially says this: the combined wealth of six people (Walton heirs) is equal to the wealth of 30% of Americans or about 100 million people.

6 ≥ 100,000,000

Give yourself a minute to let that sink in and remember that the Walton's does not give a damn about their Wal-Mart employees. For a glimps, please skim through this, that, and this. They are, as the OWS movement might say, the 1% incarnate. Again, please read the article below.

Article:
http://blogs.berkeley.edu/2011/12/05/the-few-the-proud-the-very-rich/

Meditations SUNDAY!!

2011-12-26T02:48:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the late response. I was going to post this yesterday but I was too busy! Anyway this quote deals with praying.

"Prayer of the Athenians:

Zeus, rain down, rain down
On the land and fields of Athens.

Either no prayers at all- or one as straightforward as that."

-Marcus Aurelius

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

2011-12-25T00:36:00.000-08:00

Have a safe and wonderful holiday.

Hope you had a laugh. Once again, Merry Christmas!

Before you vote Ron Paul

2011-12-24T05:18:00.000-08:00

I'm very happy to see that Mr. Paul is back and running in this election, however, I recently found a very interesting article from Politico about some things he needs to address. Please read it here. This is not meant to be look at as a "Ron Paul is wrong" article. It just raises a few points that he should be interviewed about. Personally, I wish Ralph Nader would run but he won't. It's probably because he's getting tired of running in these things (he's run three times). This sucks for me because I wanted to vote for him back in 2008 but I couldn't because I was underage.

As for the rest of the competition I think that Obama, Gingrich, Romney, Perry, and Bachmann are all corporate supporters and perpetuate the establishment in Washington. I admit too that I haven't looked at some of the smaller candidates like Woodring, Person, or Wrights. In general, I don't care much for the GOP because they are sell outs. Not to say Democrats aren't. Obama has got to be one of the biggest sell outs ever! Thankfully, Palin has gotten less and less attention but she sure has made a lot of money which is really all she was out for I think. Luckily though she has declined to run in the 2012 election.

A book the Church doesn't want you to read: The Gospel of Judas

2011-12-23T05:00:00.000-08:00

Read it here. You'll find that it's relatively short so it shouldn't take too long to read. Enjoy!

For more info about the text check out this site http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2006/05/judas-gospel/cockburn-text.html

New Mass Effect 3 trailer: HOLY SHIT!

2011-12-23T04:23:00.000-08:00

Get More: GameTrailers.com, Mass Effect 3 - VGA 2011: Exclusive Gameplay Trailer, PC Games, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

Kim Jong-il is DEAD!

2011-12-22T03:35:00.000-08:00

Welp this is it folks. He's gone. His younger son will most likely take over (not the older one because he angered his father when he tried to sneak out of North Korea to visit Disney Land in Tokyo). You can watch the funeral going on right now here. I wonder if there will be a military coup? We will have to wait and see but this year has seen many villains meet the chopping block. Is it too much to ask for Castro too?

Some New Oil Paintings!

2011-12-20T04:16:00.000-08:00

First Painting here is my first attempt at painting a form. I didn't use a still life for this and so that's probably why it came out iffy. I figured out a few things about using color for this and shadows.

It's not the best but I think my palm tree came out pretty good! I also played around with the water color and tried to add some small waves in. Again I didn't base this off anything.

Debra and some awkward moments!

2011-12-19T21:06:00.000-08:00

Masuka does his Yoda Impression!

2011-12-19T20:47:00.000-08:00

Dexter: Debra catches Dexter in the act!!!

2011-12-19T19:32:00.000-08:00

I'm so pissed that season 6 ends with this and now we have to wait till next September for season 7 to start. COME ON! Looks like we will have to watch reruns for a while. ;_;

Meditations SUNDAY!!

2011-12-18T15:09:00.000-08:00

Today's quote deals with who are you? Translations are done by Gregory Hays as always. Enjoy!

"What am I doing with my soul?
Interrogate yourself, to fine out what inhabits your so-called mind and what kind of soul you have now. A child's soul, an adolescent's, a woman's? A tyrant's soul? The soul of a predator—or its prey?"

-Marcus Aurelius

Dexter: Debra has some "complicated feelings"

2011-12-18T02:07:00.001-08:00

Okay so here's one of those oh shit moments and all the awkwardness to follow. Enjoy!

MST3K Does A Spanish Parody

2011-12-17T20:52:00.000-08:00

Another funny sketch by MST3000. You might have to turn up your volume a bit. Enjoy!

Giants Related to Elves???

2011-12-14T17:01:00.000-08:00

While playing Skyrim I noticed something rather peculiar. I saw the ears on the giants were pointy and elongated like that of the elven races. This made me wonder if there was a connection between the giants and the Elves.

I mean we know that they wonder Skyrim and that the Falmer use to reside there on the surface with them.
Then there is the fact that giants have a light grey skin which is similar to the Dunmer of Morrowind. Let's not also forget that they are close to nature and as such seem to have a much deeper respect for nature than that of other races which is similar to that of the Bosmer of Valenwood. Overall, I'm perplexed as to the origins of these creatures. Clearly they are very different to the rest of the races but they hint certain features that just seem remarkably consistent with elves. Anyway just thought I'd share.

Drawn Together: Captain Hero Goes Crazy!

2011-12-12T08:53:00.000-08:00

Please don't watch if you are a sus scrofa!

Skyrim: The butcher of Windhelm! Part 2!

2011-12-11T19:59:00.000-08:00

Part two as promised! Enjoy.

Meditations SUNDAY!!

2011-12-11T05:56:00.000-08:00

Welcome back to week 2 of Meditations Sunday! Oh boy I'm excited. This one is about doing something meaningful.

"Do external things distract you? Then make time for yourself to learn something worthwhile; stop letting yourself be pulled in all directions. But make sure you guard against the other kind of confusion. People who labor all their lives but have no purpose to direct every thought and impulse toward are wasting their time—even when hard at work."

-Marcus Aurelius

Skyrim: 202 Hours and Finally Done.

2011-12-10T06:45:00.000-08:00

My third character, level 38 Thief/assassin, finally did the whole main story. Overall, it was pretty good but felt a little short. Now I'm just going to keep working on getting the last 11 achievements and then start trying out the mods and such.. Really enjoyed the game though. I'm on my third character and I am still experiencing a lot of new stuff. I know there is still more too but I think I finally managed to explore most of the game. Anyway here's to another 200!

Oil Studies 1 and 2

2011-12-07T10:59:00.000-08:00

I have begun my studies in oil paints and to save money and canvases I've decided to paint on some sketching paper to practice and learn some techniques. These two oil studies are just free style. I didn't use a reference for these either. Just took some paint and played around with it. They came out pretty good I think. Going to probably do some more later on today since I had a lot of fun making these ones. One thing that I really came to me was that I wonder if I should upgrade in brushes (I bought some cheap ones). Anyway enjoy!

My First Dexter Video From Season 6 Episode 10!

2011-12-07T08:15:00.001-08:00

Athletes and Performance Enhancing Drugs: A Short Look At Marion Jones

2011-12-07T07:02:00.000-08:00

The following is a recent paper I wrote concerning performance enhancing drugs. This was a college assignment so it is limited but I wanted share it with you. Enjoy!

The athlete I chose was Marion Jones. She was a former U.S. Olympian that performed in track and field. Unfortunately, Jones hasn’t mentioned much about the psychological and physical consequences of her drug usage but even so I think it would nice to inform you that the misuse of such drugs can cause a wide variety of aliments none of which are particularly good. Suffice to say though we can only speculate on the specifics but to generally speaking we can assume that none of them were positive to her health.

In terms of legal consequences Jones has been suspended from competition, arrested and given a six month prison sentence which she served from March 2008 to September 2008, and stripped of all her medals including the ones she earned as an Olympian (Johnson, 2009).

As controversial as this may seem I don’t think performance-enhancing drugs are wrong. They’ve been used in a multitude of things from sex to now thee awe inspiring Olympics Games. Steroids in particular are a naturally occurring substance in the body, however, the ones you take in that plastic bottle are the synthetic variants of the naturally occurring ones (NIDA InfoFacts: Steroids (Anabolic-Androgenic, 2011).

As for their use in sports it is important to note that if we really are going to deem steroid use by athletes illegal then why do we pump race horses full of them (Gustafson, 2008)? Is this not a sport that tests the skill and endurance of man and beasts alike; that compete for some small measure of glory, and more importantly, money?

Of course were not talking about horses here but our Olympian, Marion Jones. Let me be clear, she did cheat and lie. However, where she erred is not from the act of pumping Tetrahydrogestrinone (THG) into her body to win a gold medal (Quinn, 2007) but the fact that she violated a sacred trust, or in today’s terms of lawyers and vapid regulations, an agreement.

This agreement meant she would adhere to the laws set down by the Olympic Charter. By breaking that agreement she freely and knowingly set herself up for the legal actions to follow suit. Overall, it was very unsportsmanlike of her to do something like this at the pinnacle of her career and foolish with the whole world watching at the same time.

Lastly I would have to agree that, yes; I think athletes should be tested for performance enhancing substances. This is only to keep the integrity of the games fair though. However, we would certainly find ourselves in quite a predicament if an athlete was found to have taken these drugs for a medically prescribed reason and beat the competition.

References

Anabolic steroids-oral. (n.d.).Medicine Net. Retrieved December 7, 2011, from www.medicinenet.com/anabolic_steroids-oral/article.htm

Gustafson, S. (2008, June 10). About Those Steroids and Big Brown - NYTimes.com. Sports - The Rail Blog - NYTimes.com. Retrieved December 7, 2011, from http://therail.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/10/about-those-anabolic-steroids-and-big-brown/

Johnson, B. (2009, February 13). Top 10 Sports Figures Whose Careers are Tarnished by Steroids | Top 10 Lists | TopTenz.net. Top 10 Lists - Top Ten Lists - TopTenz.net. Retrieved December 7, 2011, from http://www.toptenz.net/top-10-sports-figures-steroids.php

NIDA InfoFacts: Steroids (Anabolic-Androgenic). (n.d.). National Institute On Drug Abuse. Retrieved December 7, 2011, from www.nida.nih.gov/infofacts/steroids.htm

Quinn, E. (2007, October 5). Marion Jones Admits Using Performance-Enhancing Drugs. Sports Medicine, Sports Performance, Sports Injury - Information About Sports Injuries and Workouts for Athletes. Retrieved December 7, 2011, from http://sportsmedicine.about.com/b/2007/10/05/marion-jones-admits-using-performance-enhancing-drugs.htm

Skyrim: 2500 Cheese Wheels Rolling Off A Mountain!!!

2011-12-07T06:53:00.000-08:00

Not my video and many thanks to the youtuber for showing this!

Tour of Calixto's House of Curiosities

2011-12-06T16:44:00.001-08:00

Motivational Poem By Little O'l Me

2011-12-06T04:54:00.000-08:00

This might be lame but I wanted to share a short poem about motivation that I just made up as I face an onslaught of accounting work over the next few weeks. Enjoy and for those accounting students out there I feel your pain. Hang in there!

Aim for the stars
If you hit your head
Shit I had something for this
Go to work...

Meditations Sunday, Sunday, SUNDAY!!!

2011-12-04T09:59:00.000-08:00

Alright so I decided to share a quote from Marcus Aurelius (above) today. I will be doing this from now on every Sunday or at least try to. Translations were done by Gregory Hays by the way. Now this quote deals with the how you degrade yourself (soul). Enjoy!

"The human soul degrades itself:

i. Above all, when it does its best to become an abscess, a kind of detached growth on the world. To be disgruntled at anything that happens is a kind of secession from Nature, which comprises the nature of all things.

ii. When it turns its back on another person or sets out to do harm, as the souls of the angry do.

iii. When it is overpowered by pleasure or pain.

iv. When it puts on a mask and does or says something artificial or false.

v. When it allows its action and impulse to be without a purpose, to be random and disconnected: even the smallest things ought to be directed toward a goal. But the goal of rational beings is to follow the rule and law of the most ancient of communities and states."

-Marcus Aurelius

Look forward to my next Meditations Sunday quote!

The Sleepy Mountains, oil painting number 4!

2011-12-03T09:11:00.000-08:00

Alright as I mentioned earlier in another post I would do another painting but this time it wouldn't be as good as my last one. This oil painting was more of a study and not a painting, although it came out pretty nice. The main thing I was doing with this painting was playing around with mountains and sculpting them. Working on what kind of base color to use for them and having some fun with the background (purple). Plus I drew out a sketch of my painting before hand but ended up changing it drastically but still it was something new and I think it helped. Another thing I messed around with was the rule of three. Basically you place objects or focus points at 1/3rd intervals going across the painting. Look at the picture below for more details. To enlarge it click on it.

I didn't really get the top left mountains correct but I thought the bottom left one came out almost perfectly! A major thing I also was testing was the mist or fog that warps around the mountains. In the future I want to do one with it hugging the mountain so this was good practice for that I think. I also experimented by signing this study. Since my last name is kind of long so I decided to shorten it by writing my first initial and then last initial. I think that works fine for now. I also got some more canvases so when my first paintings are done drying I'll start another painting. Not sure what I'll do but I think it might either be water related or forests.

Skyrim: 150 Hours Logged!

2011-12-02T17:35:00.000-08:00

I haven't even completed the main story line as I'm finding myself starting new characters once I hit level 30 or so. My first character, Kragra, was a Nord warrior. My second was a High Elf mage/assassin named Altar. Now my third character is a Wood Elf Thief named Vesta! I guess the next post will be when I hit 200 hours!

From my experience though I can say that the mages char are killer. I died considerably less as a mage char than as a warrior. However, if you are a warrior character then I recommend leveling up light armor and archery as soon as you can. Seems the most useless skill for me is illusion too as there isn't really much need for it. Also if you are a thief char make sure you level up lock picking fast because there are some pretty sweet perks in that attribute tree.

Welp that's it for now. Recently got some more art supplies too so I'll probably do another painting soon but it probably won't be anything amazing as I'm going to be playing around with stuff. So consider it not a painting but a study.

Captain Janeway on MST3000

2011-12-01T01:17:00.000-08:00

You might have to turn the sound up a bit. Enjoy!

New Paintings!

2011-11-30T00:17:00.000-08:00

Alright here they are. The bottom one came out pretty bad in my opinion but all is well. I think I figured out out a few things in the process and the top one shows that I think. In the future I hope to do a the ocean or something. Maybe a tropical scene?! I hope you guys enjoy them.

I also updated my homemade easel too! Put on two pieces of wood on the top so that the canvas doesn't move when I'm painting. I think it's really neat!

Two More Skyrim Clips

2011-11-29T13:40:00.001-08:00

Why you shouldn't ride off a mountain

2011-11-28T18:19:00.001-08:00

Accounting: A Look At Liberty Tax Service

2011-11-28T16:56:00.000-08:00

If Liberty Tax Service is using a job order costing system it would show differences in the direct materials category compared to that of a manufacturing company. This is because Liberty Tax Service is a service based company which means it only provides a service to its customers not products. To be clear, “direct materials are raw materials and parts, directly traceable to the product. Materials must attach themselves to, and become part of, the finished product to be considered Direct Materials (Chapter 16 Management Accounting, 2011).”

Using this definition we see that a direct material has to be attached to a product to be considered such. In the case of Liberty Tax Services this is not the case because as I previously pointed out they do not make products (at least from what was given in the chapter description) they only provide tax services to their customers. This differs from a manufacturing company because they would have a direct materials cost whereas Liberty Tax Service does have some direct materials cost such as providing a folder for the paperwork to sit in, fees, the paper printed out for the various forms that must be filled out, and even the staples used to hold all the papers together.

Note these are some examples of the direct materials used but not all. It would seem them that even as such they cost for such materials are small compared to the hypothetical manufacturing company. We do not know for sure whether this is true or not but I think even still you could assume direct materials are quite low as compared to the labor used to produce it and.

In fact direct labor would probably near the most important, as in highest, cost for Liberty Tax Service. If strictly speaking about doing the particular services then the accountants who do the specific job fall under the direct labor. However, the person outside with the sign would not fall under this category because they do not provide the service but rather advertise the services provided and such.

The last major thing to take into consideration would be the overhead costs. I know previously I listed fees as a direct materials cost but they may be fall under as overhead costs. Aside from that there is the electricity to light the building and work the computers, phones, printers, etc. In addition, any depreciation of equipment used such as computers or fax machines can be labeled under overhead costs.

Reference

Middle City. Chapter 16 Management Accounting. Retrieved November 28, 2011. from http://www.middlecity.com/ch16.shtml

Skyrim: Time to feed the Emperor!!!

2011-11-28T11:42:00.002-08:00

Imperials take over Riften!

2011-11-27T19:30:00.001-08:00

So why did the Imperials take over Riften? Well so far it could be one of two things that you may have done. First is if you won the war against the Stormcloaks by siding with the Empire and completing all the quests. The second way I found is if you don't join either side and eventually come to a part along the main quest where you have to negotiate between the Empire and Stormcloaks on High Hrothgar. In the negotiations you will have the choice to give Riften over to the Empire. The Empire then places a garrison of troops there.

Skyrim: Talen-Jei talking about his drinks

2011-11-27T18:32:00.000-08:00

Talen-Jei is a pretty cool guy. I'll be posting another vid about him soon.

Skyrim: The butcher of Windhelm!

2011-11-27T17:11:00.000-08:00

Part two is up on my blog now. Check it out here!

Skyrim - Don't mess with Imperials!

2011-11-27T17:06:00.000-08:00

Video explains it all folks!

My First Oil Painting!!!

2011-11-26T19:40:00.000-08:00

Before I go in detail I just want to say this was a great learning experience and that I had a lot of fun painting it. I began by first checking out some supplies and was kinda shocked at how expensive they are. Luckily I found some cheaper student grade paints online from Reeves. I also bought some brushes too but was disappointed when I found out that I had made the mistake of buying water coloring (dark camel hair) brushes.

Even so they still worked well enough to get the background colors on the canvas but the bristles seem to struggle almost as if I was giving those little bristles to much to carry. I did find some other brushes after this painting was completed though. They resemble something you might use on painting the outside of a house or barn but I'm confident that they will work well.

As you can see from the picture I still have to work on some things. I can pick out a few things that I'm going to change and re-work in the next painting but all in due time. I made this painting from using my dark Camel haired 2 inch brush and a pallet knife. Even with that I'm still very happy with it!

It's important to note too that I didn't use anything to base this painting off. I just took the colors and did what felt right and while it might not be worthy to hang up on a wall it still came out remarkably well for my first painting. I'm sure this painting won't please any of those Piccaso's or O'keefe's out there but I don't care. I had fun painting this! I plan on doing another painting soon. There are a few more art supplies I need to get a hold of too but I don't know if I'll do another painting before I get them.

One thing I should mention too is that my easel is homemade! That's right, I made my very own easel out of some wood that was laying around. It is constructed of only four screws with washers and four pieces of wood. I stained the wood with two coats of colonial maple and I really enjoy how the color comes out. Kind of makes the wood look warm and cozy. The only real problem with my easel is that it doesn't really hold the canvas just lets it sit there.

Another issue that I found is that while painting is that I got some on the wood near the edges. An easy way to fix that though is to take a piece of card board and put it behind the canvas.

Well that's pretty much it for now. I'll post my next paintings and share them as I go. I think eventually though I would like to do a picture from Skyrim or something (fanboy I know) or maybe something from a movie. However, for the present, I am just going to have fun and try to work on my skills and technique. I hope you all enjoyed viewing my first oil painting as I did! Farewell.

Skyrim: Over 112 Hours!

2011-11-25T21:25:00.000-08:00

It's safe to say that I love this game. Over 112 hours logged via steam and I'm still going. There is just so much content in this game it's unbelievable. Makes me remember the good o'l days of running around Morrowind and how I played that game in the series for what seemed like an eternity. I thought I should also mention that my pictures that posted on my Steam account now include a few spoiler pictures or ones that I think are very iffy. So keep that mind if you check my collection of Skyrim pictures (currently 214). And now I leave you with a beautifully serene night sky. Fare thee well my fellow brovahkiin!

Christian Tobacco and Alcohol Use

2011-11-24T12:05:00.000-08:00

“Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness” (John 3:4). I believe John is not referring to the laws of society but the law of God, derived from the Bible. Therefore, sin is the breaking of laws listed in the Bible.

It is interesting to note that Jesus and his disciples drank wine in the last supper so to some degree it seems irrational to believe that consumption of alcohol is a sin for how could the son of God commit sin? Not to mention that even the vocal preachers during the beginning of the temperance movement didn’t suggest total abolition of alcohol but rather moderation although their interpretation changed over the decades but I believe their first idea of moderation was more important.

As for the state of drunkenness, the Bible doesn’t look favorably upon it citing Ephesians 5:18, 1 Corinthians 6:12, and Proverbs 23:29-35 for examples. Current society seems to agree. More importantly medicine and judiciary entities agree that drunkenness causes problems both for the intoxicated person and for those around them. That’s not to say it should be outlawed but avoided. This especially when operating equipment that could lead to the harm of another person.

Personally I don’t see there being any benefit from being drunk and would have to agree with the authors of the Bible. Again though I don’t think something like this should be outlawed just avoided. As for tobacco use the Bible doesn’t mention anything about it because nobody on that side of the world knew that it even existed. Remember that in Jamestown, VA around 1612 was when tobacco was first cultivated by westerners. Therefore, tobacco fits in a grey area where nothing has been explicitly mentioned about its use.

Again if you consider 1 Corinthians 6:12 it says our bodies must not be mastered by anything. It is important to note that this particular verse is taken out of context, however. It was actually relating to sexual morality. Aside from that you could mention 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 which says that we cannot defile our bodies. That can be interpreted in several ways but tobacco use has been shown to destroy our internal organs; the most serious aliments being various forms of cancer. Thus, tobacco use would be considered a sin.

I think tobacco use is destructive so I would have to agree with the scriptures here but again I remind you that it is in one of those grey areas.

Amazing Time-Lapse Video Over Earth

2011-11-22T16:13:00.000-08:00

http://www.ksee24.com/news/local/Time-Lapse-Video-Earth-from-the-ISS-134352318.html

Enjoy!

Skyrim: 51 Hours and Still Going

2011-11-20T12:10:00.000-08:00

That's right 51 hours and I'm still going! There is so much stuff to do in this game it's amazing. I've really enjoyed the hunting and making armor aspects. Alchemy is interesting too as there are new ingredients to play around with. Check the pictures I've taken so far here. I promise there isn't any spoilers in there just various pictures of the terrain and battles. Hope you guys enjoy.

1 Teraflop Chip!

2011-11-17T07:14:00.000-08:00

The boys at Intel have done it! A single chip that can do 1 trillion floating point calculations per second, essentially, a mini supercomputer. Dubbed the Knights Corners (strange), the chip itself has 50 cores and if you compare it to the A4 processor that's used to in the iphone 4 the Knights Corners is 27,777 times faster! That's astounding and while Intel hasn't said when it will be commercially available or how much it will cost I'm sure we will be hearing more about this in the near future.

References

Christopher Williams. 2012 November, 17. The Telegraph. Intel teraflop chip matches supercomputer performance. Retrieved 2011 November, 17. from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/8896196/Intel-teraflop-chip-matches-supercomputer-performance.html#disqus_thread

Banks Will cut THOUSANDS of More Jobs!

2011-11-17T06:20:00.000-08:00

Major financial institutions worldwide will soon be sending out more pink slips to cut costs and it won't just a few. Tens of thousands of jobs are scheduled to be cut in response the sluggish economic growth and growing expenses. "Job losses in the global financial services industry this year are close to surpassing 200,000" (Choudhury & Griffin & Xydias, 2011) and that may well continue to rise during 2012. Below are some of the banks that will or are considering cuts.

Bank of America: 30,000

Citigroup: 2,000-3,000

Goldman Sachs: 1,000

UniCredit (Italian): 6,100

HSBC (British): 25,000

Barclays (British): 2,800

Credit Suisse (Swedish): 2,000

BNP Paribas (French): 1,400

References

Halah Touryalai. 2011 November, 16. Forbes. Why Wall Street's Layoffs Are More Serious Than You Think. Retrieved 2011 November, 17. from http://www.forbes.com/sites/halahtouryalai/2011/11/16/why-wall-streets-layoffs-are-more-serious-than-you-think/
Ambereen Choudhury, Donal Griffin, and Alex Xydias. 2011 November, 16. Forbes. Finance Job Losses Near 200,000 as BNP, Citigroup Trim Employees. Retrieved 2012 November, 17. from http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-16/citigroup-said-to-consider-3-000-job-cuts-as-pandit-trims-costs.html

U.S. to Deploy Troops to Australia, China "Uneasy"

2011-11-16T22:16:00.000-08:00

President Obama met with the Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard today and came to the agreement of deploying 2,500 U.S. Marines to a de facto base in northern Australia by 2016. Troops will be arriving in increments of 200-250 during 2012 with also increased U.S. naval movement in the region. The official story is that this is for increased security for South East Asia (from pirates no doubt) but I think it stems from South Korea and Japan wanting firm reassurance from the ever growing China and for good reason!

It’s no big secret that the three powers dislike each other. Japan and China fought against each other during WWII and were particularly vicious (The Nanking Massacre anyone?) Oh and then there’s South Korea and well you know about the Forgotten War don’t you or have you *gasp* forgot? Let’s also not leave out the ownership of the South China Sea debate either! That’s probably been on the lips of more politicians and rulers for the last several hundred years than all of the flies on a shit covered elephants ass! Suffice to say this is really about economic power and the poor little Asian countries are feeling intimidated by the big bad Beijing.

So it's to nobody’s surprise then that when the U.S. Marines start arriving China feels uneasy. Now you may be wondering why Australia? Well it's because it's close to our old bases that we had during the 1990s of course. Yep that’s right we had bases already in South East Asia but we closed them down.

So how will everyone react to this? Well China will no doubt keep feeling uneasy and might oddly be more receptive to future talks with the Mr. Obama. If aren't then China will most likely scurry north and open up more talks with Russia. As for the rest of the little Asian powers they’ll of course feel relieved and Europe will just sit back and agree with the U.S. in the coming UN meetings no doubt.

Battlefield 3 and Call of Duty MW3 Multiplayer Review by Alert Games!

2011-11-15T22:15:00.000-08:00

Well my buddy Mark has written another review about another game this time BATTLETOADS 3! Alright of course I'm kidding but really, who thought of that? We may never know but one thing we do know is that Battlefield 3 has gotten a solid review from Alert Games. With the new squad system, vehicles galore, and tons of equipment to bash your opponents heads in it's no wonder this game is getting good reviews everywhere. I should remind you that BF3 doesn't mess around. I'm mean how could it when you get ribbons! That's right this game has put in some mother F'ing ribbons. Think Boy Scouts only with some M1 Abrams and Kevlar vests!

But how inappropriate would it be if we didn't at least bring to the table the other major shooter that just released, Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 or as some of my BF3 colonels would say Modern Cock 3 but I digress. In short MW3 is a rehash of MW2 but somehow worse. Still playable but just not what we would expect of a new game in the series. In other words don't trade in that MW2 copy just yet because you might find that it's more enjoyable (or tolerable) than MW3.

But as the good man himself put it "there's no doubt that both of these games are fun, and different people are likely to have different opinions about both of these games" (Mark, 2011). Alert Games awarded both games based on multiplayer as followes:

Battlefield 3: 9/10

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3: 8.5/10

Thank you Mark for letting me blog this!

References

Mark Palnau. 2011 November, 15. Alert Games. Battlefield 3: Multiplayer (+MW3) Review. Retrieved 2011 November, 15. from http://alertgames.net/forums/viewtopic.php?id=293

Occupy Wall Street Protesters EVICTED

2011-11-15T20:44:00.000-08:00

Protesters were removed from Zuccotti Park in New York City as Mayor Micheal R. Bloomberg ordered that tents and sleeping bags were to be removed from the park. This lead to some 140 individuals being arrested as a result of not heeding the warnings posted earlier.

The order came down after an order to clean the park came down from city officials. Negotiations between the the Mayor and the Protesters carried on for two weeks but sadly ended in failure as some "220 protesters" (Halbinger & Barbaro, 2011) were still in the park as of 1 A.M. November, 15th.

Surprisingly the Mayor had very quietly conspired to pull off this plan which was unknown to may high ranking individuals including local politicians and police commanders. "The administration had tried to avoid such a confrontation with behind-the-scenes diplomacy" (Halbinger & Barbaro, 2011). However, the administration did resort to this because prior publicly announced of crackdowns only drew in more protesters.

Yet even without their sleeping gear protesters still regathered in Zuccotti Park hours later to re-occupy the park. The question now remains how this will affect the movement?

Reference

David Halbinger & Micheal Barbaro.2011 November, 15. New York Times. Jolted, Wall St. Protesters Face Challenge for Future. Retrieved 2011 November, 15. from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/16/nyregion/ousted-wall-street-protesters-face-an-uncertain-future.html

Mortgage Notes and Bonds: The Basics

2011-11-15T18:29:00.000-08:00

Hey everybody! Today I wanted to share some knowledge I recently learned about those amazing things called mortgages. Note I am in no way an expert here but I will list some basics of the those pesky things we all know as mortgages.

First of all since I am an aspiring accountant I just want to say to my other would-be and be it accountants out there that a mortgage is one type of what we call in accounting long-term liabilities. A Long-term liability is one type of liability that isn't paid off in one business period or less than one year. Similar long-term liabilities are rent payable, notes payable, and pensions.

Okay so what is a mortgage then? Well a mortgage is a type of legal agreement that helps protect the lender if a borrower fails to make required payments on notes or bonds. How does a mortgage protect the lender? Essentially, if the borrower does start missing payments then the borrower's asset(s) identified in the mortgage contract are sold and the cash proceeds go to the lender. So they'll take your stuff and sell it in other words. However, there is a difference between mortgage notes and mortgage bonds.

A mortgage note has a mortgage contract pledging title to specific assets as a security for the note. As you may have guessed already mortgage notes are used mostly with the purchase of homes where the house is the borrower's asset labeled as a security. Mortgage notes are also used for plant assets too. A plant asset is something tangible that is long-lived (lasts more than one business period) and is used to produce or sell products. A very common example of a plant asset is a building like a factory or land. But remember that land must go into producing or selling a product to be considered a plant asset (you're okay farmers). A mortgage bond is less common than a mortgage note. They are instead are backed by the issuers assets like equipment or products.

That's it folks, just a very basic overview of mortgages. I hope you had a blast reading this as I did!

Cash Flow, Future Financial Analysts Take Note!

2011-11-14T03:49:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to share some of my thoughts about cash flow. You may be wondering why and well it's because of another college assignment has me running for the hills, the internet hills that is. Anyway I thought I'd share my thoughts about this oh so sexy cash flow! OH YEAH!

To begin let me start by saying I went to fools.com for this assignment to research cash flow. For those of you who don't know Fool has information on business and stock market stuff. With that in mind let me begin.

Fool’s School defines cash flow as “the cash that flows through a company during the course of a quarter or the year after taking out all fixed expenses. Cash flow is normally defined as earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA)” (Motley Fool Staff, 2011). The reasoning behind their definition is that the author(s) are treating interest as secondary profits and taxes as secondary costs. I believe that the word secondary means that these aren’t the main costs or profits and that they don’t necessarily run the business. For example a large company that sells shirts is in the business of selling shirts not entities with interest like loans or bonds.

As for taxes, a secondary cost, these can have a powerful influence over the earning power of a company. As the author(s) point out companies usually lose money in the beginning but eventually when they start to turn a profit they can often use those losses in their earlier periods (years) to receive a tax break in the form of lower taxes. This can actually mask the true condition of the company overstating its current earnings and understate its future (forward) earnings.

Furthermore, they leave out depreciation and amortization because both are non-cash charges. A non-cash charge is something that the company isn’t spending money on. Depreciation as the author(s) puts it is a used mostly for tax purposes so that the company can gain a tax break on capital expenditures. Amortization is essentially breaking down the cost of something over more than one period. It is commonly used for when a company acquires another company at a premium to their shareholders’ equity. Overall, the author(s) state that these four accounting conventions mask the real earning power of the company.

References

Motley Fool Staff. The Motley Fool. How to Value Stocks: Cash Flow-Based Valuations. Retrieved November 13, 2011, from http://www.fool.com/investing/beginning/how-to-value-stocks-cash-flow-based-valuations.aspx

Economy Might not Improve Until 2019!

2011-11-13T23:25:00.000-08:00

http://i42.tinypic.com/34o3gx3.jpg

For me, 21 years old and just starting out in the world, this is very scary. However, I'm happy to say that unemployment rate for those of us with Bachelor Degrees is hovering just above 4%. Accounting, my field, is around 5%. I hope all goes well.

Humpty Dumpty Horror Movie!?!?!?!

2011-11-12T21:04:00.000-08:00

Okay so when I posted the clip about the Snow White trailer I made a joke about what's next Humpty Dumpty? And with the force of thousand suns my head exploded as just then a few minutes later another youtuber commented back mentioning there was a horror film with none other, Humpty motherfucking DUMPTY! http://www.humptydumptymovie.com/filmmakers.php

Folks, I just lost the game.

Oh why Hollywood, WHY?!

2011-11-12T20:48:00.000-08:00

What is going on now-a-days with Hollywood folks? This is utterly silly and kind of sad. Snow White will be played by Kristen Stewart who also played Bella Swan in the Twilight movies. I didn't really like her work in the Twilight movies because she seems like the female version of Shia Labeouf who is another shit-tastic actor.

Good Times in Skyrim!

2011-11-12T16:30:00.000-08:00

Are you still looking for a good reason to buy Skyrim? Well in short the good news is that there are lots of cool things you can do in the game like hunting, crafting armor and weapons, riding horses, marriage, cooking, and of course dragon slaying. It's overall a pretty epic game and not too long ago PC Gamer wrote an article declaring 250,000 people were playing on Steam. That beats TF2 and MW3 combined! One thing I would like to mention is that Skyrim is probably Beth's least buggy game to date which is again is pretty amazing considering how their games are full of bugs. Aside from all that I bring to you some childish stories from guys still living in there parents basements who are playing the game. Enjoy.

>In enemy territory
>walk down corridor
>save
>open box and look for items
>save
>turn around some corner
>save

>wandering west of Whitehaven
>suddenly I see a Mammoth just LAUNCH up into the stratosphere, soon stopping and making its reentry
>hits the ground, dies
>free mammoth tusk
>my face

>Enter some temple or something.
>Stupid chest open.
>Lydia takes out weapon because enemies.
>Last time it was some fucking mammoth.
>Rats
>Rape the rats with my amazing bound sword.
>Rats falling from the ceiling.
>Rats attacking me from behind.
>Rats everywhere.

>investigate house
>kill man living instead, or well let Lydia do it
>later go back into house and take stuff
>next day get attacked by hired thugs
>read contract. Dead man sent them after me for stealing his stuff
>LOL

>out wandering from one city to the next, givein very few fucks
>along comes some dude that starts talking about how the mages at Windhelms are cunts
>I'm the archmage at the college there
>talk to the dude and see what his problem is
>he keeps talkign shit
>dual lighting bolt him to hell and back
>YOU HAVE GAINED BOUNTY FUCKER
>oh shit, oh shit, oh shit
>LAST WITNESS DEAD, YOU GOOD TO GO

>Break into Battle-Born house
>Guards get mad, start attacking
>Oh fuck
>Run across town into the Companion house
>My brethren raise up arms with me
>Slay the entire town's guardsmen
>Welp

>Get into drinking contest at the tavern in whiterun
>blackout and end up on the other side of skyrim
>Go on an adventure to find my drinking buddy.
>Have to get goat back from giants.
>Eventually make my way to a necromancer hideout.
>Fight my way to through their hideout to find my friend.
>After clearing the final room a portal opens up.
>End up in some mystical garden.
>HOLY SHIT HE WAS SANGUINE THE WHOLE TIME
>Get a really neat staff that summons dreamora

Drug Use In America

2011-11-10T20:37:00.001-08:00

I think Americans use so many legal drugs because of several reasons. One important fact to note is that prescription medicines are increasing in demand because the baby boomer generation is getting older and require addition medications for several diseases and disorders. Another important reason we so many Americans use many legal drugs is because the majority of Americans are obese or overweight. Extra weight tends to bring about additional medical problems and therefore additional drugs are used to treat these adverse symptoms that arise. The last major reason why people take so many legal drugs is just because they are considered acceptable by society. Examples would be drinking alcoholic beverages at a party, consuming coffee in the morning, or smoking. Some of these have cultural or even biblical significance such as Hookah or wine used in communion.

Our society certainly promotes extensive drug use. A majority of Americans drink alcoholic beverages and 20% smoke (CDC Reports Vital Information on Smoking). The ethanol in Alcoholic beverages and nicotine in smoking products are both considered gateway drugs and can lead to other drugs. In addition, nearly every American will take some form of medication during their life time. Furthermore, we are constantly reminded everyday by seeing T.V. commercials of a new drug and that you should check with your doctor to see if you need it. So it clear that our society promotes extensive drug use from clearing your cough to having a beer with your friends.

I believe that the biological, psychological and sociological theories all have something to contribute to explanation of drug use. However, lacking as it is, the biological theory would mostly likely best explain why populations continue drug use because it forms the basic explanation behind addiction. Individual brain chemistry becomes dependent on certain chemicals or levels of neurotransmitters. An honorable mention to the theory is also that genes may be affected by these addictions to certain chemicals and show up in future generations.

The decriminalization of illicit drug use would, I believe, both increase and decrease social problems. It would increase problems because it opens up the possibility to abuse these drugs and additional crime may be caused. Furthermore it may send the message that consuming such drugs is normal. However, it would decrease social problems by clearing up the prisons nationwide and saving tax payers billions in the continuing War on Drugs. Furthermore, taxes could be placed on the drugs to help pay for other needed productions such as roads and bridges.

Reference

CDC Reports Vital Information on Smoking. CDC. Retrieved October 27, 2011, from http://www.cdc.gov/features/vitalsigns/AdultSmoking/

Methadone and Needle Exchange Programs

2011-11-10T20:19:00.001-08:00

Methadone is a synthetic opioid first developed by Germany in 1937. Currently it has two main uses with a possible third on the way as of 2008. The first use is that it is used in opiate replacement therapy as a substitute for such opiates as heroin or morphine. A second use is as an analgesic to relieve severe chronic pain. Thirdly, it has recently been found to harbor significant killing power against leukemia cells and as such is being studied further (Institute of Legal Medicine 2008).

As for Methadone clinics, these are facilities that offer Methadone Maintenance Treatment (MMT). This is a type of opiate replacement therapy where a physician prescribes methadone to patients to help them eventually break their habit of opiate-like drugs. Such a process first starts with taking methadone instead and then lowering the dosage over time. Best results usually require 1 year of treatment with each week of treatment costing between $50-100.

The Needle Exchange programs (NEP) or Syringe Exchange Programs (SEP) first started out in the 1980s as a way to combat the spread of blood borne pathogens from needle (syringes) sharing by allowing drug users to turn in their used needles for clean ones. The average cost of a needle is $0.97 (“Syringe Exchange Program” 2005).

In my opinion I believe their reasons for use are the same as previously stated. As for their effectiveness I believe they are both effective at treating large problems while simultaneously being financially cost effective. That’s not to say that they are only cost effect but the facilities and bureaucracy for them is already in place. MMT already is known and regulated by the FDA since 1971 (Bunker, 2011) and is also known and used by physicians for pain treatment, MMT, and research. Furthermore, NEP already is being used in 36 states (Bunker, 2011) and can be easily provided by a variety of medical facilities from hospitals to rehab centers.

Clinics that offer MMT services are indeed legal in the U.S., however, they must operate under close supervision and regulations of the Federal Government. There are two types of clinics private and public (Bunker, 2011). Private clinics cost more but have lower waiting times. Public clinics are cheaper but have longer wait times. NEP is legal in only certain states such as Alaska, California, Illinois, and Vermont (Bunker, 2011). A total of 36 states allow these programs, however, Congress has made it clear that no Federal funding may go to supporting these programs.

My support the idea and practice of both Methadone clinics and NEP. They clearly won’t be able to solve the problem but will alleviate it. Though the idea of giving addicts more drugs while charging them money for it may seem strange I think that this is a fantastic idea. Methadone is cheap to make and costs can be covered by private insurance or Medicaid. Add also into the fact that this is regulated and the organizational bodies already in place.

As for NEP I do think it encourages drug use to a very small extent, however, and I hesitate to say this, it encourages safe drug use. Ironic yes but NEP was not created to lower drug usage but rather protect society from blood borne pathogens. Therefore, the program is doing exactly what it was created to do. I think a similar way to look at this is like when clinics started offering condoms to promote safe sex practices. NEP is more or less following that same methodology.

"An impressive body of evidence suggests powerful effects from needle exchange programs....Studies show reduction in risk behavior as high as 80%, with estimates of a 30% or greater reduction of HIV in IDUs." (Syringe Exchange Programs, 2005)

I believe the following proves that both programs are safe and I would say that yes they both should be available for use by drug users.

References

Bunker, C. (2011, November 9). Lecture presented in Drugs in Society. Liberty University, Lynchburg, VA.

Institute of Legal Medicine, University of Ulm, Ulm, Germany. (2008, April 2). Methadone, Commonly Used as Maintenance Medication for Outpatient Treatment of Opioid Dependence, Kills Leukemia Cells and Overcomes Chemoresistance. American Association of Cancer Research. Retrieved November 9, 2011, from http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/68/15/6059

Syringe Exchange Programs. (2005, December). CDC. Retrieved November 10, 2011, from http://www.cdc.gov/idu/facts/aed_idu_syr.pdf

Skyrim

2011-11-10T18:54:00.000-08:00

Hope you are all pumped for the skyrim release tonight. As they said in Morrowind after you left the first house good luck. :D