I must admit that the quote that follows, or the accuracy of the quote, has me stumped.  To make sense of my confusion, I must take us all the way back to a particular grade school and a very special teacher.

I remember back to my 4th grade teacher, Mrs. Kool.  We had just moved to Wright Patterson Air Force Bace, from, I believe, Fort Cambell, Kentucky.This move and this new school would have the same pattern as all of my schooling until High School.  We were the consumate Army Brats.  Something, I would never change.  Sure, I spent a lot of time in Summer School, working to catch up what I had missed at the beginning of the school year, or, catching up on what I missed at the end of the school year, for we were moving yet again.

I say this with such a strong conviction of my beliefs: I just loved moving and meeting new people, living in different countries and many states.  That made for many friends.  Now, on the subject of friends, I would soon learn, when I entered the 10th Grade, the beginning of high school, in the state my parents felt it was time to find and settle a home, our home.  I do know that out of the four of us children, I was the one who protested the loudest about the decision to stop moving.  To be truthful, I was the only one begging that my father change his mind.  But, no, he would not take my sister out of high school.  That was one thing that he always knew would become a fact, a self-promise, which he kept.

Now, that I have taken you away from the quote I wish to share, let me jump back to Mrs. Kool's 4th Grade class.  I was a great note taker.  I had to be, for I never knew what the next school would be studying at the time of our next move.

Mrs. Kool was a, I believe, a teacher a bit ahead of her time, or, maybe the truth is, she was just one of the very special teachers, which if we are lucky, we will have a few in our school years.

A topic which I believe was pretty bold, yet, on mark, for 4th grade students, was one of how this country had always depended on the compassion of others.  In doing so, our country, made up of people with names that was much like a stew.  We each were part of the USA, yet, by our last name, we never had real "American" names.  That was something I have held onto since that time.  When I see the news and they roll the names of the most recently killed soldiers in battle, the names belied the fact that each of us had a uniique history.  The names were Italian, German, Chinese, Japenese, English, Spanish and so many more.  This country is, by itself, the only country where so many names, so many people of so many places came to make one, great Union.

Back to Mrs. Kool and compassion.  One day she wrote what was for te school a somewhat daring quote from a true hero author, on a subject many would think better for older students or, more likely, a quote that should just have stayed out of the classroom.

This quote came from the great author, Herman Melville.  I wrote it down as I thought I saw it on the chalk board, a real chalk boared.  The quote questioned those who criticized the poor, the hungry, the out of work in the "Western" countries.  (I remember living in Berlin, and we had those quite scary practice sessions should a nuke hit us.  Somehow, even at that age, hiding under our desk seemed a bit silly.)

Again, I wonder from this quote.  I still have the paper I wrote the quote on.  The quote I copied off of the chalk board is the first quote below.  It is a very thought-provoking quote, particulary for a 4th grade student to bring home to his parents.

(To be so very honest, quotes like this, assignments that stretched and questioned our beliefs were exactly what my parents were looking for in our education.  So, yes, they loved what I brought home that day.)

I copied the quote as I saw it written on the chalk board.  Yet, in trying to confirm that it was indeed a quote from Mr. Mellveill, I never found the exact quote.  I found a quote with the same sentiment, but worded differently. 

The quote which is below the quote I wrote down so many years ago, seems to have some additional words added to it, perhaps to make the quote even stronger.

I have checked many quote sources and I have never found the quote I had written down. No matter, the point was made and it was and is still all too honest, correct.

I have listed the Web site where I have confirmed the correct quote language, but, to be fair to the meaning of the quote, Mrs. Kool's error did us no harm.

Please, read on and drop me a line or please comment, sharing your thoughts on this quote.

This is what I wrote and what I still have on a very used piece of paper.  I wrote it in Mrs. Kool's 4th Grade class, at Wright Patterson Airforce base.  I will try to scan the quote, as soon as I can get my scanner back to scanning.  It seems to have taken a sabatical.

From that chalk board, in Mrs. Kool's 4th Grade classroom, I wrote this:

Of all the proposterious assumptions of humanity, nothing exceeeds the criticism made of the habits of the poor by the well housed, well warmed, well fed. (from my 4th grade class, with Mrs. Kool, who was cool.)

A bastardization of the Melville quote??  I don't know, but, the truth is told.

The confirmed Herman Melville quote:

Do not presume, well-housed, well-warmed, and well-fed, to criticize the poor.   (confirmed)

Another Melville quote, which, I feel, has to be part of the first quote.  At times, at most times, we have to remember that we are part of a fabric of humanity.  That fabric can be one of beauty, or it can be a rag-tag mess.  It can become frayed and then, well, we all know what happens.  We forget the bonds of this great nation and begin to look to others for blame on whatever less than stellar we find our country in for that period of time. 

As an adult, I still have trouble with the fact that the fabric will and does fray.  I am told that I live in a Disney-esque world.  I would take that line of thought over one of blamming and hatting.

This is Herman Melvilles quote on that very metaphore - fabric.

We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men.  (confirmed)

My main source for confirmation of the original quote was from www.thinkexist.com.  A wonderful site with tens of thousands of quotes from everyone and anyone.  Please, click on the link and visit the site.  Be warned, you may end up there for many hours.  It is a world of discovery.

But, first, please leave a comment on how our feel about the above; share your thoughts and memories with the masses who have not had the true hard times of yet.

I wish us all the best as we move through this tough time in the world's history.  And, it is my hope that we find and rebuild compassion towards each other.

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I first learned of what revenge was when I was in the fourth grade.  We had just arrived at our new posting, as we were a solid band of Army brats. 

The house we would be moving into was not ready when we got to the base.  To get us through the next ten days, we were put in a two bedroom appartment.  That is two parents and four kids.  We still had fun.

On about the fifth or sixth day we had all rain.  Plus, it was summer, so no school.

A movie sounded great.  There were two showing on base.  One had the word,"Revenge" in its title.  I asked what that meant and my parents spent about an hour with us explaining what it was and why we might feel like getting revenge.  However, they said that revenge was never a very good thing, unless one is protecting themselves.  But, beyond that, revenge begets revenge (no, my parents never used the word, "begets," I just wanted to find a way to use the word.

I have remembered that day and talk for a number of decades now.  I know how bad it can make one's own life, let alone the other/s involved.

I find this quote from Marcus Aurelius, a man who figures highly in my spiritual beliefs, had this to say on the subject:

The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury.
Marcus Aurelius

Be honest, have you ever taken revenge?  Did it give you the satisfaction it had given me at times when I was younger.  Or, did it give a feeling of shame and guilt, as I had when I "got my revenge" on others, when I was a bit older?

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This site was going to bring the words of those who have paid a price for wanting to live in a free society.  And, with that, I would share their words, now that many of these heroes have gotten their messages out via the Internet (not always just the Web, there is so much more to the Internet, as you all understand.)

I have done a horrible job at doing this.  So, I am just going to share one of my favorite quotes which shares a thought with which I have certainly experienced.  I find this a very honest post by, C. S. Lewis.  It is quite simple:

Experience is a brutal teacher.  But, you learn, my God, do you learn.

C. S. Lewis

There is not a post which is more honest that this one by Mr. Lewis.  How have you learned from experience?  Did you find it, at times, to be a "brutal teacher?"  Drop me an email or text or drop a line here sharing your thoughts on this post, should you care to do so.

Now, when I should be doing the research to get this blog back on track, I need to find and buy tickets to the Manchester United vs. Barcelona Football (soccor) match, which we in DC are priviliged to having it played out right across the border in Maryland.  I just have to do that.  Really.

Photo courtesy of:

Daniel van Buyten of Bayern (L) and Alberto Paloschi AC Milan go up for a header during the Audi Cup match between FC Bayern Muenchen and AC Milan at Allianz Arena on July 26, 2011 in Munich, Germany
Image by: Christof Koepsel / Bongarts/Getty Images

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T.S. Elliott, wrote the following, leaving open many interpretations; not the least of which is that we hide parts of oursleves within our "shadow." Do you?  Are you sure?  What are they? Dare to be honest?

From T.S. Elliott:

Between the idea and the reality, between the motion and the act, falls the shadow.

What shadows do you cast?  Have you ever really looked at what is hidden by those shadows?

It is NOT necessarily evil, is it?  Can't it be altruism?  The list could go on and on.  But, the answer is only as brave and honest as you are willing to look.

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Now that I have a true direction for this site, I thought I would start with a voice that is well know, but has been drowned out by all of the politics of this election, and, more so, by those who do not want the truth of what this voice has accomplished to be shared with the citizens of our own country.  I am speaking  of President Barak Obama.

It is impossible, at times, to get the facts or to see the many things accomplished in any headline.  That is because not everything a US President accomplishes is sexy or volatile enough form much of our media, and the many talking heads on a certain cable network. 

Please take a look at this site (http://tinyurl.com/2fl9gzk.)

Again, to start off this program of finding voices which may not have had a chance to be heard until the development of, not only the Internet, then the Web, but, now, the many social community and network tools which exist for everyone who can get an Internet connection.  And, if they can't do that, many of these voices have had others smuggle out their writings and have had them posted on the Web.

When I realized the first voice would be that of our current President, I was kind of saddened.  It just reminded me of how ugly things have been and are when it comes to governing this great country.  It seems, to me, that with all of the ugly words, the "blame this one for your troubles" talk, and the general misinformation that is sent out, the many things that do get done are just drowned out by the hateful noise.  

One more time, please click this link and just be open-minded: http://tinyurl.com/2fl9gzk

Thank you. 

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I am on www.TED.com at least once a day and watch at least two speaches or talks.  I love learning and www.TED.com is a very special place to do so.  The video below is a speech by Malcolm Gladwell, the journalist and author, of such books as The Tipping Point, Blink, The Outliers.  But, more, he can describe his observations in a manner that will allow almost anyone through the door of more knowledge.  The speech he delivers below is really about happiness and how we avoid getting it or finding it, and, how one man showed the food industry how to make us happy, changing what is on grocery shelves forever.  I urge you to take a look, and more, please do visit www.TED.com and have a trip just learning about almost anything, enjoy.

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Food Research = Happiness

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(Please read the following, it is all true.  But, let me get the plain facts out to whomever cares about life.  When you or your friends shop at the well know, pretend upper-class store, Target, you may be helping their friends find ways to execute your sons, daughters, sisters, brothers, either of your parents, best friends, whomever they feel may be gay.  As you read on you will see that this is not made up.  It is just Target doing business, taking your money, willing to have a few people executed along the way.)

Hello, all.  People say that I worry too much, lately.  You know, how the country seems to have forgotten it roots.  How it has forgotten that its founders left countries, their homes, due to the very real mistreatment for being different in some way which, for some reason, bothered someone.  And, those someones came to this land also.  And, the settlers and then the great country of the United States of America, fell into a dark spell.  The country formed and broke treaties with the indigenous peoples of this land.  If one can really own land, then it was theirs.  The treaties made people feel good, until they needed more land, oil, cheap labor, whatever.

Since that time, but, mostly - and, this is just how I see it from my limited life on this planet - in the near past and the very present, the idea is not to think about things, not to critically think and examine ideas.  Rather, it is to write something, usually misspelled, on a piece of cardboard.  What is being written?  Signs of hate.  Someone has to be blamed for the tough times - and I know how tough they are, for as I fight cancer and am not working, I struggle to keep my home.  I can't wait to get back to work, but, no smart company is about to hire someone who needs a number of surgeries to make them even partially useful, including my brain work.  I love that work, but, still, I have to be healthy.

So, the hate goes on.  I hear, "no, it isn't about a black President, it is his policies."  I hear that our FBI, CIA, NSA, and the recently 1600 various groups to make sure we stay safe, that we do things correctly, were left in such bad condition by the last administration, that they let through a person who had a fake birth certificate, gave him some of the highest clearances possible, and let him become President of these wonderful United States.  For me, as bad as the last administration was, I don't think they were so bad that a phony birth certificate got by them. 

Friends of mine, friends who really wanted our current President to win at the beginning of the campaign, began to feel that it would be better if he lost, for the mess he and his administration would inherit would limit him to one term.  I felt the opposite.  I want him in there if things are that bad.  I believe that he can help lead us out of this mess.  Though, anyone who gives it real thought, would know that it will take at least two terms to move things along.  After all, it took only two terms to make one of the greatest messes of our country, from all parts, in all of its history.  But, people want to focus on hate, they don't think, they just point fingers.

So, today, I open this email and I am stunned.  How is this possible?  Can people really put money toward people who would have me executed for loving someone they don't love, for following my spiritual life into an extremely spiritual relationship.  But, they don't approve and want me dead.  And, Target, the store people feel special about, is just fine doing business with them.

It bothers my family a bit, when I tell them that I am actually getting nervous for my life and that I do see moving to a home I am lucky to have in Costa Rica, where this Catholic country is decades ahead of our country in civil rights and in loving all.

For now, I will fight with my words, my time, speaking to one person at a time, helping them to see how to think in a critical manner and not just go by what some comedian on a radio talk show says.  I feel sorry for them that they don't realize how many millions of people laugh at them for even listening to these nobodies who have no special education in what they yell on about.

Anyway, this made me sad.  It is not the United States of America that my father fought for and so many others who did and are doing the same.  Here it is, as I said.  Damn, scary and sad.

This is where the Human Rights Campain logo would go, if could figure that trick out on this blogging stuff.

__________________________________________________________________

You'll not only get news as soon as we do – you'll join the conversation of a growing community of HRC supporters.

Joe Solmonese

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Another day in Manuel Antonio, Cost Rica. Our house did very well
durning last months majpr and damaging storms.

Thought we would head out to the Mangrove canals and see who might be
home. This little guy, with fangs which could remove a finger before
one knew it, dropped by to see if we had any food. We don't feed
them, for they must learn to fend for themselves, but, more than once
they have jumped in the boat and grabbed a bag of mangos and someone's
hat.

More pictures later. Time to go on the nightime frog and snake tour. Later.

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So wasted from fighting cancer, the treatment, and the never ending pain, I can barely wait to we take a break in our home in Costa Rica, http://www.atriptoparadise.com. I love to sit and watch our Sun seem to vanish as we move from day to night, in an almost exactly day and night of 12 hours each.  That is all year long.  And, while I will be out of commission to participate in the many activities, such as taking on one of the many Zip line courses, I will still be fine, reading on my Kindle more books than I thought were possible to carry.

If you don't have a Kindle, and you feel you have the money, for you will save on the cost of books; and more, there are about a dozen sites which have all sots of booksr an no cost.  Including one which goes all the way back to 1699, written by Sir Isaac Newton and his work.  One can also find all of the classics, and more. 

There is a false issue in which of the Kindle versions one needs.  Really take a look at what you want it for.  Kindle/Amazon has kept the reading and readability on all models better than any other e-book I have used.  I chose the smaller and least expensive model. The screen is great, the weight is nothing, and I have over 50 books, magazines, even articles which friends have posted on www.scribd.com, had the document converted to a few e-book formats, including Kindle, now I can see what they are up to.  I am a super gadget freak and geek, but I always insist that the product does what it says it does very well.  Otherwise, it is getting a smart phone, which may be cool, but really is crappy as a phone.  Kind of makes it useless for the main purpose.  That said, should you have a kindle or go and get one, please let me know how it is working for you.

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It seems that almost everyday there is a nuttier politician or would be citizens who are in almost violent protest of some issue, but when asked where they got their information they either, "just heard it,"  or "everybody knows this stuff," or "Limbaugh and Beck  (two of the funniest comedians on Fox Comedy.  But, it does pay, Beck earned over $30,000,000 last year, and good for him, there is nothing wrong with that.  But, he has earned most of it from the people who he knows will not check facts, want someone to hate, and like to be angry.

This clown of a potential politician made the commercial below.  It would be my hope that those who see it, actually check out the facts.  Like when the Texas Congressman who voted against the stimulus package, vowed that he would get their governmor to turn down the money, and, "you won't see me at any of these wast of money ribbon cutting shams."  He has appeared at four of them and has sent out letters explaining how he knew "we" (his constituants, I guess) needed this money, which was started my Bush, to help rebuild our infrastructure and put people to work."  Scary.  Even sarrier, some will believe him.  Like how then Governor Palin was for the now called "Bridge to No Where," then as soon as chosen as the Republican VP running mate, she claimed that it was a waste and that she was against it from the start.

Here is really silly and scary clip:

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I am back again, wow, two posts in a day.  Kind of nice to feel like I am following up a bit on what is becomming somethings I really enjoy and hope to make better.  Better in a way so that I can bring you content that you are interested in and, hopefully, that we can even discuss.  The post below this one has the subject material which is always a good thing to talk about with each other here, I hope, and, our families, espcecially our children.

To start, the post below is about searching and surfing in an annonymous mode.  As I mentioned earlier, that was the rage for many of us in the later part of the century.  And the products I used, from Zero Knowledge, gave me a very good understanding of what I really need to be aware of and what are the harmless things we may run accross, which will provide a better browsing experience (man, I sound like I work for some major, super big, not-to-be-named social media/contact get your information site.  I don't. 

I do realize that if I want much of what I have found on the Web, if I want to be able to keep reading about my favorite subjects, or seeing some great videos, or joining a soical group based on geo-location, then, I have to compensate the owners of these "companies," so that they can make a living and continue to improve and deliver the products I like so much.

Some sites are very direct, they want a subscription fee.  I have heard friends say, "man, no way, I will just go somewhere else."  Great, but, at some point there has to be a model which will allow "companies" to make a living.  We don't like to work for free, and my employees, as good as our product (non-Web) is, want to get paid.

What do we have to offer?  Money, sure, and in some instances I find it well worth the fee.  Being honest, I can't afford a financial fee for every site and Web service I like to visit and/or use.  That leave me with not much to offer, for as you can see, my blogging abilities are very rough on a good day, so, no barter there.

We all know what it comes down to, information about each of us.  For me, I am fine with that, given a truth that I can decide what I will trade in the way of information.  I am not going to give out my social security number, though, I am sure there are a number of very good Internet jockeys who could find it and hand it back to me within minutes. (An aside: I was at one of my cancer pain clinics today. I had to fill out some form for a referral to get me even more images of some sort.  There was a place for my Social Security Number.  I declined to fill it out.  They could have my health insurance number, heck, they could have my car insurance number, even my driver's license number, but not my Social Security Number.  They seemed fine that I would not give the number out.  My assumption is that it is strictly for record keeping, but, they can find another method, I am sure.)

There, I have a set at least on limit on what I will trade.  I will let the Web site owner know the type of browser I use - if he can tell that it is usuallly the latest version of Opera, but in the masked mode of identifying itself as either Firefox or Internet Explorer.  That is because so many Web sites are not written to work well with each type of browser.  I have no real knowledge of why this is, and I am sure some of it is how Opera makes their browswer run. The negative is that the Web site owner does not see that it is an Opera browser, so doesn't think to check that the site works well with that browser.  I do not meant to lie, but I do want to use the site, that aspect of Opera helps me out.

On the social sites, I had to really look at what I would be willing to give.  And, heck, I was already a member of Linked-In.  Plus, for $10.00 to $15.00, I can get, assuming I have a key piece of information, such as your phone number or address, a full listing of what you paid for your home, what your neighbors paid, what their names and phone numbers are, how many cars the own versus lease, where you lived before your current address, the same information about your neighbors, you current employer, your legal history and so on and on.  Now, that fee is a one-time only fee, for that site needs to make money and when someone pays for the one-time use of the site for a low amount, as above, or even for free, they put down a credit card and are entered into a monthly payment agreement, which they must stop by a certain time after the first use.

The really talented gurus of the Internet and the Web, (I am assuming that to get some of this or most of this information for free, they may use another part of the Internet versus just the Web, just my thoughts) could probably get most of that information and more in a short time.  Much of it is public record information, but, how many of us really understand how to get at that information, thus, the information broker business is dong just fine.

The title of this post, Privacy Enhanced Mode, refers to how the video in the last post is told to handle certain information about your visit.  If you come by and do NOT click on the video, no cookie, which helps the owners with how many unique views, the browser used, etc, will not be placed on your computer.  But, hit play and the cookie goes on to the browser and the owner of the site can get the fairly benign, at this point, information they need.  Please click this to read about the Privacy Enhanced Mode.

Let's wrap this up, though, I do want to come back to priviacy on the Internet and the Web at another date.  For me, I am willing to trade the information so I can watch http://www.fearnet.com without a subscription fee - yet.  And the same with so much else that is out there and it comes to us in all forms, music, discussion, live debates, great and interesting articles on everything, I believe, that man has thought of in the past few centuries or more.  However, that is just me.  We each have to decide what we will give up seeing or using if the price isn't right for us.  There is no wrong answer, but, as in the rest of our lives, if we can't pay, in some form, we don't get to play.  But, also, the things we keep discovering on this Web, may just go away, to me, that would be sad.

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Sounds pretty great, doesn't it, and for now, it is free.  But, I see shadows from much earlier in our Web time frame.

In 1999, I was a downtown DC city fair.  We were all having a lot of fun and I ran across a booth with a company named Zero-Intelligence.  If you signed up, you could surf in total anonymity.  Truly, there was no way to track you, as your browser's request was stripped of most information, then went through three proxy server and back came the page, no cookies, nothing.

They had an email component.  Most people seemed to get three of these addresses.  The idea was to use them for shopping, personal, and whatever else.  The company, with the way it was set up, had no way to track who sent an email - sort of.  Most people paid by credit card, that is always a strong trail, but, in this case, it could stop them before they go going, or they might get lucky.

The big issue for this really nice company was that it was 1999.  Most of us had some form of dial-up, I had ISDN, I believe, and the service was just too slow to survive.  They added an anti-virus program, then a firewall, but, they could not get the main product into the hands of enough people.  Eventually, they turned to big business and set up major security protocols for their clients.  Here is a bit on Zero-Knowledge, from 1999,
http://www.cnn.com/TECH/computing/9902/11/browsanon.idg/

Privacy was such a big deal then, as it is now.  And, though it is still important, one only has to look at the number of Social Media sites of any kind and there are millions of people around the world sharing more than they may realize.

To me, it is just funny to see it come around to now giving us a anonymous browser: Ixquck which is a Firefox add-on,

or one can go to www.Ixquck.com

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I took one more look at just the commercial for McDonalds in France.  The one which, for the far right, seems to be scaring them to death.  If it really were not so sad and their response to the commercial so un-American - or, more accurately, so un-United States. (All too often people forget that Canada and Mexico are in America. So much for our geography classes.)

I realized that the scene with father and son happens over and over again in this and so many countries.  It is a scene which can evoke a bit of sadness, or certainly the young man does not want to disappoint his father.  And, he knows that at some time, he will come out to his family, the small smile the actor gives the camera at the end of the piece shows us that they will be fine.

Think of how many times something similar happens right around you, or, maybe in a few years you will be involved in such a scene, but, if you are the parent, then you know that your son or daughter is a gift to you and to this world. 

For fun, I thought I would put the commercial here without the Fox comedian's silly and old antics.

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Take a quick look, listen to what is said about it and let's go from there:

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Do you see yourself in love?

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At the very least, the member, should be able to opt out, quite the service, and have their information discarded as they are no longer receiving any goods or services for the use of that information.  Also, the information should only be allowed to be used for the original purposes as stated when the person joined the site and agreed to its privacy policy. 

Over and over again we read about abuses with the information, the last minute changes in how it will be used and on and on.

Yes, making money on the Web can be a tough thing.  No, it is a touch thing.  And, for certain services, I like many people, will divulge certain information.  First, I see how it will be used and second I see what information they want.  If I can't make both of those things work together I do not join the service.  Thus far, my life has been just fine.  Heck, there are even sites that let you build your own social network (http://www.socialgo.com/) for free or, more realistically one might want to move to one of the tiers which do cost a decent amount of money, but, the services seem very well laid out, you control what information people need to give up to join and there you have it, your own group and control over the information.

All too many people feel that, "oh heck, they could find that out about me anyway."  Yes, maybe they could.  But, it would be expensive and they would not know how accurate the information is at that time.  So, what you share is one of the absolute items you must review and then ask others if they feel that giving up that much information to be used in the manner the site says seems like a fair trade.

For some sites, I bet there is no problem, but for a number of others, they are out to not only make the big money (which in and of itself is not wrong), but they do not see the members of their site as customers, only their lackeys giving up a very valuable commodity - your information.

Be careful.  Please, don't think you know it all.  Ask your parents or another adult or a good friend and decide  what it would be like if everyone knew that information.  If all seems fine, go ahead and have fun, but always keep checking the Privacy Policy of the site to see if any changes have taken place.  I use a free site, if one wants that service, or they have a paid tier, very reasonable, and it reminds me to check the privacy policies on a number of social sites.  Once the information is out there, well, it is gone and it will be used and sold and on and on. 

But, remember this, you won't be updating the information, if you felt comfortable giving it in the first place, you should be fine.  There is the rub, you, we all, have to be very strict with what we feel is appropriate information.  Sure, we want the sites to be successful, it is a form of bartering.  But, many of the sites change the rules of the barter after you are on board.  Just not a good way to do business, so show them that.

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For a number of decades we, being the United States, Canada, and a very large portion of Europe, have been very excited about how with so much new technology the world is getting smaller.  I just have never been able to understand that statement, or better yet, agree with the statement.

Sure, things happen faster.  News is on 24/7, if you have cable to satellite, and it is as up-to-the-minute as is possible.  So, yes, it is fast.  A story comes to us in seconds or minutes, not a day, as a newspaper cycle might take.  And, we can send a letter electronically and the person on the other end will receive it in less than seconds.  Certainly that is faster than the US Postal System, faster than the overnight delivery services, and much faster when the mail went by stage coach and the first trains.

A truly amazing thing is that we can now watch the start of a war in real time, from the beginning.  One must admit, in the approximately 4,000 years of mans' existence of which there is some sort of record, we can be sure that in all of those records there is one thing that man has improved on over and over again, and that is war.  We have it so we can see the first bomb drop from the perspective of the bomb.

Okay, cell phones, computers, iphones, netbooks, smart phones as compared to the "cell phone," all are at our fingertips and we say that the world is getting smaller.

I just can't buy that.  I think that those with money can do more and do it faster.  But, as the money keeps moving into fewer and fewer hands the world of the human race is getting larger.  How will we bridge the gap between this nations poor to this nations ever shrinking middle class.

How does paying American farmers NOT to grow a product make the world any smaller for the children of the vast lands of arid, desert in various parts of Africa.  How does not growing food help them see the world as being smaller?  I don't get it.

The fact is that the world is dividing into two, maybe three parts.  Those who have, those who are close to having, and those who will never have whatever it is which makes one exclaim that the world is getting smaller.  Actually, if people really believed the world was getting smaller, they would better understand the toxic affect of much of mans' doing on this planet.  It is beyond oil spills, it is beyond deforestation, and it is beyond the all too many rivers which are just plain poison.

For the shrinking number of native inhabitants of the Amazon region, well, maybe their world is getting smaller, for much of their land now has asphalt on it, while the trees which help they use for building and for finding their food are coming down faster and faster.  So, yes, maybe their world is getting smaller.

And, perhaps every time some little bug, flower, animal leaves this earth for good, this home of ours grows.  For now it is a longer way to get to the fresh water, it is becoming more difficult to fish in the seas that have fed us for thousands of years. 

Somehow, and I don't how, caring about the creatures of this earth, the foliage of this earth, the quality of air of planet have become political issues.  How can that be?  Don't we want to keep this place, this miracle of miracles, our home, in as good a shape as possible?  Don't we?  Sure, to do so may mean we have to give up some things or wait on some things, but it seems that we would all want what is best for our country.

I am not picking on Christian Fundamentalists, but from the mouths of a number of their leaders, I have heard them tell us how "foolish it is to pander to those hippies" who think they know what is best for this world.  Hippies?  Really, hippies?

When I hear such babble from men who deeply believe that their God told a man named Noah to build an arch and to bring two by two all of God's creations.  It seems to me that if this God wanted his creations to be saved, then he must still want that same thing.  I haven't heard of Him changing his mind and saying, sure, kill off that forest and all that use it as their home.  Did I just miss this?

Okay, this posting has drifted a bit here and there, but the point, I hope is made.  The world, for most of its population is getting bigger.  It is harder and a longer walk to fill a bowl with water and carry it back on one's head.  Eating anything from many of this world's rivers may very well speed up the death of the hungry.  So, they go farther and farther to find the safe food.

I don' t see how this world is getting smaller, instead I see a world where it is so large that the haves don't even see the have nots - perhaps they know not how to look - or, they see and they pity and they move on.

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I am on disability, which most likely has a number of years ahead of me, though, I plan on working hard and learning. I just need to get rid of these horrible pains and the many side affects of what I had done to me.   I do this not to score points with my all too many doctors, but I have found a true "calling," if you will.  My company is in a stasis mode. Clients are asking us to do the work we always done, and I have had to be very honest.  It will be some time before I get back to work, and I don't know what I will be doing at that point.  I love the company I created with the help of so many people.  We had a true "Major League" opening, a post cards sent out in the weeks before our officical launch, a lot of press directly before the opening, and setting the company up as still having me as the primary creative entity to help our clients to tell their stories to their audineces. I look forward to the day when the surgeries and the never ending pain is at a point to where I can work once again.

Before I ended up in disability, my own long term disability insurance and my Social Security Disabilty, I tried, to the detriment of my health, to be as involved as I always had been.  I worked the same hours, once we were on site for the program, that I had always worked. Our work was good and our clients always got the best possible production, bar none.  The issue was that my health, more, by body, could not take the six years of the worst  the pain imaginable and the never ending lines of surgeries and procedures.  Finally, it got so that when I would fly home from a major project, which meant almost a week of 19 hour days, my body just would give out.  It was funny, in an odd way, I always managed to be alert and talkitive with the flight attendants on the red-eye flights, which I preferred.

Working as I was, doing more damage to my body than I should have or that was warrented, the work effort most likely caused me to heal more slowly and the pain that I still live with, to never have a chance for some recovery.  After one particular program and as we were laying out our production schedule, my mind finally heard what my doctors, clients, team members, and my partner had been telling me, I had to stop.  Just stop and work in getting healthy or most likely I would die or, worse, stay in the pain that I was living with and, actually, still do.  However, now I am having things treated and not undoing them by my crazy idea of what I needed to do to give my clients the best possible conference, video, and/or major leage concert.

Even now, I still push myself, wanting to be back at work do someething, but not really being able to articulate what it is, or, in the next moment even know what I was thinking.  That, sad to say, happens all too often.  I will find myslef telling a friend something, then stop and have to ask them what I was speaking about.  Pain, left untreated, can do a number on one's mind.

That brings me to the first line on this post, when is it too old to have blogs or to care about some of the social networking?  I don't know, but, I also worked out, that the only limit would be one of ability and/or desire.  Those would be my call.  For, now, keep moving forward where ever that may take me.

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