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Sketchbook
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Memorial To Rhonda Hicks
This is a birthday video I did for my sister-in-law a couple of years ago. As a memorial for her passing away I am dedicating this as a memorial video. Ironically this video was the most popular Youtube video. We’ll all miss you Rhonda.
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Chula Vista City Councils Passes Nuisance Ordinance On Spice Sales
(Freedomizer Radio) – November 7, 2011. My latest field reporting assignment took me to a Chula Vista City council meeting where a community organization called PASS( People Against Spice Sales ) convened with the city council to air their grievances with the city council to get a nuisance ordinance passed against two substances being sold in convenience and liquor stores throughout the community.
There are two substances that PASS is concerned about. One is a substance that is being marketed as an incense called spice. Spice is dried plant material that resembles marijuana in appearance and has been treated with a synthetic drug known as K2. K2 is a legal substance that is chemically similar to the active ingredients that are found naturally in marijuana. K2 has some of the same physiological and psychological affects as the substance in marijuana but is much more dangerous and unpredictable. Although the spice is marked as ‘Not for Human Consumptions’ people that purchase the substance are using it like marijuana. During my investigation I was shown several containers of spice and being a graphic artist in my spare time I took notice of the some of the colorful and hallucinogenic-like graphics that were used in labeling the products along with the suggestive names given to the products.
The second substance PASS is concerned about is a granular and crystalline type substance bearing some of the same graphics and suggestive names and is marketed as bath salts. The bath salts are also labeled ‘Not for Human Consumption’. As with the spice consumers are smoking and/or vaporizing the substance to alter their consciousness. The bath salts bears some of the similar chemical monikers as the K2 substance and much like the spice is very dangerous and unpredictable.
During the course of my field reporting I was able to interview some of the people that were sitting in for the vote and listening to the various presentations and arguments for the passage of the nuisance ordinance.
My first interview was with Jesus Cardenas, a consultant with Neighborhood Market Association, and he expressed his concerns with these dangerous substances and was telling me how they were their members about the legal ramifications of the ordinance and was encouraging their members to refrain or stop selling the substance altogether. You can click on his name and listen to the interview he granted Freedomizer Radio.
I also had a chance to speak with Samantha Dabish, Vice President of Community Relations for the Neighborhood Market Association, and she expressed her concerns with the dangerous substances and emphasized uniformity regarding the ordinance and consumer information about the substances. You can click on her name and listen to the interview that she granted Freedomizer Radio.
During a break in the city councils chambers meeting I was able to speak with Michael Moore, a student of a local high school that was present and also gave his testimony to the city council. You can click on his name and listen to the interview that he granted Freedomizer Radio.
After the city council meeting concluded and the nuisance ordinance had been passed I was granted an interview for Freedomizer Radio by William Perno, Co-Founder of PASS( People Against Spice Sales ). William is a retired law enforcement officer and has in-depth knowledge of the substances mentioned. The scope of his expertise and knowledge of these dangerous substances go far beyond the scope of this article. You can click on his name and hear the interview.
I feel very grateful to have had the opportunity to attend the city council meeting and hear the groups concerns regarding these substances and being able to have experienced the true meaning of our Constitutional First Amendment and how it takes an active role to make our government work as it was intended by the Founding Fathers.
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Occupy San Diego
I recently visited one of the local Occupy events here in downtown San Diego. I have been a radio talk show host with Freedomizer Radio for about 6 months now. During the course of my shows I spend alot time reading news articles from both the mainstream and smaller newspaper venues on the web. I try to provide an objective view when I present these news articles to my listening audience. There are many times I find a lot of the articles that I read from most of the mainstream outlets tend to be very biased.
When I arrived at the San Diego Civic Center there were about 30 or 40 people. There was a folding table at one end where there was a lady and a couple of other people that appeared to be part of the organizers. I approached the lady behind the table and asked if I get an interview with here. She threw her arms up in the air and declined saying that she didn’t want to be on the record for anything. Another man that was standing around the table offered to give me an interview. He had an accent and gave his name as William. He didn’t speak very clearly but had something to say. I will call him 1stWilliam since he was the first person that I interviewed. You can click on his name to hear what he had to say.
I walked around the various group speaking with some of the people and introducing myself as a radio talk show host. There were a lot of sleeping and bedrolls and various people relaxing and napping. One gentleman was playing a guitar and entertaining a small group of people. I approached one gentleman that had a sign advocating medical marijuana. I asked him if you would like to give an interview and he declined.
I then walked around the outer perimeter and noticed a black gentleman with a black bullhorn decorated with some 9/11 Truth stickers. I stopped and introduced myself and asked if would like to give an interview. He accepted and was very vocal and wanted to talk about the 9/11 Truth movement. As I spoke with him I asked him if he thought the protests and public frustration were the product of 9/11 and the recent economic downturn. He agreed with me and gave his feelings on the subject. I call him Muhammad and you can click on his name to listen to my interview with him.
I took a short break and had a beer. Afterward I returned to the small crowd and noticed a group of young people sitting in a circle having a discussion. One young man was holding some paper and it looked like they just finished voting. This appeared to be one of the informal committee that was mentioned in an article that I had read in the OB Rag. I approached the young man holding the paper and asked if I could get an interview with him. He agreed and we went and sat on the wall. He gave his name as William. You can click on his name and listen to his response.
Overall I felt my mission was a success and gave some of the folks of Occupy San Diego to speak.
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Will Google+ Take You where Farmville can’t?
Farmville going to Google+
I’ve been evaluating Google+ lately after receiving an invitation. So far it looks very much like Facebook with the concept of circles instead of groups. This isn’t a great departure conceptually. Although I have found the formatting and layout exceptionally crisp. There doesn’t seem to be so much clutter in the user’s profile that you would find in an aging Facebook profile. When you are adding contacts to your circles there is a bit of a dynamic graphic as you choose square contact files and select, drag, and drop them into your circles. The circles have a bit of dynamic movement or animation as this occurs, but your profile itself is still a square layout along with the parallel list along the left side of your comment ‘wall’.
If you already have a Google email account or have downloaded Picasa or use any of the other of the features of a Google account then you already on your way to setting up your Google profile. I have Picasa locally installed on my computer and have found it is one of Google’s better applications for photo management. Once you have your Google+ profile, managing your photos is a snap since your profile and the Picasa cloud photo storage feature become dynamically linked.
If you use any of the other Google services such as the calendar or other services everything nicely meshes together with Google+. Although I find it a bit annoying that the navigation bar along the top of your Google+ profile still forces you to launch a different tab when selecting the other services. A gut feeling tells me that an eventual revamp with HTML 5.0 may free us from these annoying tabs when you are jumping from your calendar to Google Docs or other such activities.
Something else really good about Google+ is the ability to limit your posts from being all out viewable public or just narrowing down to one of your circles. Google+ also seems to think that is important that you ‘check-in’ when you post, that is reveal your geographical location, but this too can be turned on and off. You also able to block seeing notifications or posts by other users that you find annoying or offensive.
Much like Facebook, Google+ also has games and many of them are identical to those found on Facebook. Although I was never a big game player on Facebook I did find that one can waste a lot of time playing Zynga Poker much like I did the other night when I could have been writing this article.
Another thing that Google+ has going for them is an established search engine, something Facebook doesn’t have in their social media cache. But overall I still think we are faced with same dogged question, “Will Google+ take you where Farmville can’t”?
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The Debt Ceiling, You’re In The Noose
The Debt Ceiling, You're In The Noose
The recent developments on Wall Street point out the huge incompatibilities of government intrusion into private investments and the free market. The Federal Reserve can easily print huge amounts and issue an endless slew of Treasury bonds where the debt is conveniently sold to foreign entities that are more than willing to sell them off and avoid the eventual collapse of the American economy. How far can you raise a debt ceiling without devaluing the dollar? One of the sticking points of selling Treasury bonds to country such as China as they only have an economic relationship with us, not that they really care about American citizens. If they feel that they will receive no return on their Treasury bond investment, what prevents them from selling them off to another nation that we have issues with such as Iran or North Korea.
What a horrible surprise for the U.S. Treasury having to honor the value of a mature Treasury note to a country that is testing nuclear weapons. President Ahmadinejad would be pleased as punch if the U.S. had to hand over several hundred billion dollars for a mature Treasury note that had passed through the hands of several enemy nations before having to pay off to Iran. Meanwhile the American citizen’s financial neck is in the noose that is attached to the rising debt ceiling as they stand on the melting value of the dollar.
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Bernanke’s Pencil
Bernankes Pencil
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Anthony Wiener Waffles
Anthony-Wiener-Waffles
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Apocalypse Apathy
Apocalypse-Apathy
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Dinosaur Computers
Dinosaur Computers
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