It has been more than a month since I have posted anything on this blog. Since we have moved into our new home, our lives have changed where I am just not around that much to post. You would think being in an election year that I would have plenty to say and I do. Unfortunately the whole political process has become something that I am just not interested in. For my own sanity, I have just tuned out the news because in a time where we have a Communist in the White House, our media has become nothing but activists on his behalf. I have pretty much decided that I want no part of it these days. I’ll be back online soon but lately I just have not had it in me to get online and argue politics. I have lost hope in the Republican party. The Democrats are synonymous with Communists. The Republican party has become so self destructive that they do more damage to themselves than anyone else could do.
Maybe when I change my attitude I will be back. Thanks for reading.
Back in 2008 I took this picture of Oklahoma City on Christmas eve to show the Christmas crosses on the Sandridge Energy building and the Chase building.
Since the Devon Energy Center building broke ground in October 2009, I have been wanting to retake this picture to show the new look of downtown. Below is a photo that I took on December 23, 2011. Unfortunately the building was not complete but I thought it was worthy of another shot.
The photo taken in 2011 was rushed because I was on private property and they have been cracking down on photographers taking pictures there. In fact many times, they have it blocked off where you cannot even to there. I do still have the exif data to set my camera the exact same as I did in 2008 but again, I was rushed to get the shot before being chased off. That explains the bright sky and dark buildings. I will probably try this again in 2012 when the building will be complete and the cranes will no longer be in the photo. I just wanted to share my Christmas photo again.
The National Anthem of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) to help get you in the mood for this post.
Over the last few years I have posted many times about the Marxist ideology of the American Democrat(ic) party leadership and how this philosophy is very dangerous to the freedoms that we value so much. Most people are familiar with the ongoing argument played out in the media and with those on the political left that there is a growing divide in the wealth of those in the top tiers and those in the lower tiers of our society. We have heard it over and over again how the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. These claims never differentiate between those that are truly needy and those that repeatedly make poor decisions. Nevertheless, the argument is made.
While part of this claim has some truth to it, the lack of differentiating between the truly needy and the drug abuser for example does not depict the discussion properly. It fails to mention that Democrats continue to buy votes by creating never ending social programs to get people dependent on the government. It fails to point out that in any population there will be those that do the very minimum to get by while others will have initiative to succeed on their own. Those that do the very minimum are the most likely to be willing to accept any social programs because they get more in return than what they put into it. As long as these social programs are in existence, there will always be a certain number that will take advantage and not work for their survival.
Whether one believes this way or not, people need to know that a greater issue is going on behind the scenes. There are many types of philosophies and just as many different types of people to take advantage of them. Since the 1800’s and even before, there has been a belief that society as a whole has a responsibility to take care of those that cannot take care of themselves. These people are called collectivists. I don’t think many people would argue with this philosophy at face value though people would argue on the idea that all people are responsible for every person regardless of their ability to take care of themselves. There are those that feel that it would be wrong to means test people to find out if they are able to take care of themselves. They believe that society should just accept that some are needy and that we should not question why they are needy.
This grouping all people together as “needy” or “not needy” without considering other factors feeds stereotypes. If we are to just accept that anyone that has no property or financial means to support themselves should be taken care of without means testing them, then there is an incentive to take advantage and claim to be needy when a person is not. While it is human nature to group people together so that the brain can better process massive amounts of information, it is not a good idea in this case. Collectivism feeds laziness and a lack of responsibility. The movement that is going on behind the scenes is to convert our financial system away from Capitalism toward another system whether it be Socialism or Communism. For those that desire this conversion, it is imperative that society NOT make the distinction between those that truly are needy versus those who are just lazy or continue to make bad choices.
These that oppose Capitalism purposely ignore this distinction and make broad generalizations that all that are poor belong to a class. To them it is of the utmost importance that all poor people see themselves as a class and not just any class. They must see themselves as part of the working class. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engles are the fathers of Marxism. Marxism is defined as…
Marxism is very popular among collectivists because it advocates Socialism and Communism. It appeals to those that believe that we have a responsibility to take care of those that cannot take care of themselves. It goes even further than that. Marxism tries to group all of society into two groups or classes, the Proletariat and the Bourgeoisie. These two terms are very important for people to learn. A proletariat is defined as…
The Bourgeoisie has more often referred to those that have the means of production. Corporations are the number one target. Do these two definitions sound familiar? You hardly ever hear the terms directly because they are used extensively in Marxism. To this day Marxism still has a stigma associated with it though it has subsided with the 20+ years that have passed since the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991. The reason Marxism has such a stigma is because Communism and the lack of freedom associated with it are a direct result of Marxism. This stigma has eroded significantly because of the direct efforts of collectivists in our own society. Collectivists will argue that Communism is the best form of government around though it has suffered a bad reputation due to a few dictators.
This is where I struggle not to laugh. The very nature of Communism is to abolish property ownership through revolution and suppress the Bourgeoisie from counter revolution. In essence, Communism violently revolts against the Capitalist system that we currently have and takes the means of production and all property and turns it over to the state. All of the economy is then run by the state and people are given just enough to live on and forced to work. There is no means of bettering one’s self through hard work because everyone is the same. Property ownership is abolished. Since Communism must suppress the The Bourgeoisie from counter revolution, a strong leader must be in control for a time. Ideally the system is supposed to make an environment where there are no classes of people. Once this happens then there will be no need for the government control because the people will be in control. Keep in mind, this is all a utopian theory that has yet to be proven in any country.
Since an authoritarian leader must suppress the Bourgeoisie and there are no more bill of rights protecting the freedoms, this leader has a very strong incentive to become a dictator. The very nature of Communism breeds dictatorship. Since the danger of this happening is so great, it is not worth attempting. Capitalism with its flaws remains superior to collectivism because of human nature. How many Communist dictators have we seen displayed for the world to see before we realize this is the natural progression of Socialism. Even Karl Marx himself admitted in the Communist Manifesto that Socialism is only a point in time in the transition from Capitalism to Communism.
For decades our country has had Communists working discreetly, infiltrating the media and educational institutions preaching the doctrine of Communism without using the word. The Democrats in the United States have been the tool of choice used to preach this message of collectivism. Whenever you hear the media or a Democrat preaching that the rich need to pay their fair share, you are witnessing this in action. Whenever you hear a story in the news telling you about the stratification of classes and the widening gap between the rich and poor in our country, you are witnessing this in action. Whenever you hear a Democrat initiate another social program that is supposed to help the less fortunate, you are witnessing this. This fight is not between Republicans and Democrats, it is a fight between Capitalism and Communism. That is the true battle that is being waged.
I know many of you have noticed that I often refer to the American Democrat(ic) party without the “ic”. To explain why I do this, I must first define the term Democratic. The term democratic is defined by Meriam-Webster…
While one could argue that our country is not exactly a Democracy in its true definition, most people recognize our country as a Democracy simply by the fact that legislators, executives, etc are elected by the people. The reason that I will not call the American Democrats, Democratic is because it has been my experience that they are anything but democratic. It is the American Democrat “ic” leadership that works on political correctness. Political correctness is defined as
This definition seems reasonable and appropriate at a glance, though it misses some critical information. It does not identify who defines what language is offensive, and even more importantly, it goes against the very fabric of a true democracy. If democracy is the “majority rule” then political correctness is “minority rule”. If the root desire of political correctness is the avoidance of offense, then all are subject to the offense of one. To better explain it, one could say that if one person in a working environment is offended by the actions of all others, then everyone most stop doing the offensive act as to avoid offending the one. Our country is guided by the United States Constitution. The Constitution was written by people of faith so it is only natural that it would contain certain language that would be offensive to some that are not Christian. Nevertheless, the United States is guided by this document. No where in this document does it spell out a right to “not be offended”.
I would agree that not all human rights are enumerated in the Constitution but this one is a blatant violation of rights. If one person has the right to “not to be offended” then his avoidance of offense is indeed an offense to someone else. If one person’s offense results in the loss of another person’s rights, then one could ask which is the greater offense. I would argue that freedom is the most valuable of these two rights. If the freedom of speech of the masses is taken away by the one person’s right not to be offended, then we have tyranny. Political correctness is the antithesis of democracy. The American Democrat party lives by political correctness. The term political correctness may seem logical at first glance, though the very tyrannical nature is opposed to democracy.
It is my belief that political correctness is such a powerful and desired tool of the American Democrats because it works to silence those of opposing views. Democrats approach every issue on the fundamental rights of the people, yet the political correctness they so espouse is a tool they use to silence those they do not agree with. It works by peer pressure and the labeling people as hateful against various groups when they really do not hate.
This is why I do not refer to the American Democrat party with the “ic” at the end. I find their actions to be so far away from a true democracy that to call them democratic would be an offense in itself.
In the event that you have not been around or heard, I would like to announce that our 145.25 MHz repeater has now changed to 146.70 MHz. This happened on December 14, 2011. As many of you know, 145.25 MHz just happens to be the same frequency of analog cable channel 18 video signal. You may ask yourself why would the FCC ever allocate two services to run on the same frequency. This is explainable because by definition, cable television runs on a cable line and not over the air. This cable system is a closed loop where the only signals being received are those injected into the line. Unfortunately, the environment plays a role in this process where cable lines become old, weather conditions affect the conditions of the lines. What happens is that cable lines often lose their seal which is the fault of no one. Sometimes this signal escapes the lines and if you are in the near proximity, you are likely to receive a carrier.
Since cable channel 18 video signal leaks out of the line through various cable leakages around the metro area, this signal fluctuates, appears, disappears depending on where the receiver is located. This has been a problem for our two meter repeater since it signed on the air in 2003. The FCC gives special provisions to repeaters that become coordinated through an official coordinating agency in the event their is interference between repeaters. In Oklahoma this agency is Oklahoma Repeater Society Incorporated (ORSI). All coordinating agencies have to pay special attention to distance between repeaters, adjacent frequency spacing among other things. Since any city has a higher density of population, naturally there will be more repeaters in and around cities. Oklahoma City has a crowded two meter band where all available frequency pairs are taken.
Over the last few months we have been trying to find an available frequency to move our 145.25 MHz to. It has been a very challenging time but we finally found one where a repeater in Chickasha had gone off the air. Since this new frequency was at 146.70 MHz. we had to sign an agreement with the Aeronautical Center Amateur Radio Club (ACARC) in Oklahoma City because their 146.67 MHz repeater is only 30 KHz away. They were gracious enough to agree to our relocation though the burden becomes ours if their happens to be an interference between the two repeaters because they were the established repeater prior to our application. We would like to thank those at the ACARC for their selfless cooperation.
The new 146.70 MHz was originally shown as an abandoned pair though it was later discovered that the owner had gone silent key (SK) and his successor relinquished the pair to us. We were never given the call sign of this individual but we would also like to give our thanks to this person as well as express our condolences to the prior owner’s family and friends. We would also like to send our thanks to K5LAD in Owasso, Oklahoma for giving us his blessing to change frequencies. He also has a repeater on 146.70 MHz. Though the distance requirements were met, any good neighbor knows you have to be willing to compromise if two people are to get along. He was very accepting on the first request and was willing to put it in writing on our behalf. Also I, K5GLH would like to thank our Trustee, W5QO and KD5MAF and K5JAB for their efforts in getting this transition complete.
Lastly, we would like to thank Mr. Merlin Griffin, WB5OSM for his tireless work doing research to find possible frequency openings. He worked hard to point us in the right direction and was up front with us in the beginning about what a challenge it would be. A lot went into this frequency change as far as time, hundreds of emails to various people. Our Trustee spend quite a bit of time re-crystalled the repeaters, tuning them and re-tuning duplexers. Finally we are on the air and we could not have done it with all the help from the people listed above. I have updated this information on our Facebook page as well. I hope everyone will enjoy the new frequency and use the repeater freely.
This not something that I usually look for on the Internet but someone on Google+ shared this so I watched it. Even for someone like me that is not really into this sort of thing has to give this guy some credit. He is clearly very good and has put many hours into learning his skill. Make the video full screen and watch it on 1080p to get the full impact of just how good this guy is.
Google has been hard at work trying to make its social network, Google+, more useful to its users. Above you can see a screen shot of the Pepsi Google+ page. Up until now, Google had Profiles that were for people. These profiles were similar to the Facebook wall. Businesses could not have a profile until now since the creation of “Pages”.
Lately Google has been implementing Google+ integration with Gmail. As you can see in the photo below.
In this photo you can see on the left side where it says “Circles”. Those are the Google+ Circles that we use to group our contacts. Whether you circle them as friends, family, businesses, photography, etc. you can communicate with only that circle. Now that you can include your circles into Gmail, you can have those contacts in your address book, separated by the circle you have them.
Many people tell me they do not know how to post a message directly to a person since Google+ does not have a Facebook type wall for people. Take a look at the photo below. You may need to click on it to make it large enough to be able to see much detail.
As you can see in the update box it has the following text…
“This is a test post to +Kevin McCord . Notice how below it shows "Public" and "Kevin McCord"? If you click the "X" on the "Public, then it becomes a private message to Kevin.”
If you put the + sign preceding the person’s name, it goes directly to them. As long as you remove the “Public” by clicking on the “X” on the “Public” no one will see the message except the person’s name you have + plus’d. In this case it is +Kevin McCord. If you had clicked on the “Add more people link to the right of the Kevin McCord you could have selected a whole circle containing any number of people. In that case the message would go to everyone in that circle but no one else would see it. If you follow these guidelines, you will not have a problem that I was complaining about in an earlier post. My complaint at that time was that people can still see your posts even if you block them.
Well if you are security conscious and afraid to let your personal information out to the public then NEVER post PUBLIC. If you take that advice, then people you do not want to see your activity will not. If you do not care who sees it then by all means post PUBLIC. If you can follow these guidelines then you will likely love Google+. Also, do not post anything controversial PUBLIC unless you want to spend hours defending your post. Only post it to people you want to interact with because Google+ is a seriously real time interactive site. I mean I have posted something online and had someone comment on it within seconds.
In the photo above you can see what the iPhone app looks like for Google+ . If you click on the “Stream” it will take you to the activity stream that you see on your computer. You can post new comments, check in to businesses and comment on other people’s posts. You can also upload pictures taken from your phone. You can engage in private conversations using the Messenger feature. You can add or remove people from your circles from this screen as well. Again, this is a very interactive site so if you do not like people/strangers interacting with your posts then you may want to post directly to your circles or directly to selected individuals. Google+, once learned, is the most addictive sites I have run into. The mobile app runs so much smoother than the Facebook app.
Although there are more than 50 million users on Google+, it is still only a fraction of the number of users on Facebook. It has been my experience that social networking sites come and go as newer sites come on board. I remember when Myspace was the biggest thing around an no one would try Facebook. Now Facebook has more than 800 million users. With each new service that comes out, people are reluctant to try the new one. I remember a time when I could get no one to join Facebook and now I cannot get people to try Google+. This does not concern me as I know human nature. As more and more people join, people will follow. I joined Facebook in 2006 and it never really took off until 2008. I am confident that Google+ will be the same. It may take a year or so but it will gain the popularity that Facebook enjoys now. My point in all this is to not be disappointed if you have some friends on Facebook that refuse to sign up. Some will sign up and say “It is too hard… I will stay with Facebook”. Those people will eventually join as their friends do. You have to remember that Google+ just started this summer. There are people that have never even heard of them, yet there are already more than 50 million users.
Everything I love about Google+ was the same reason I hated them in the beginning. I tend to have strong passionate feelings about certain issues and would post things just to be attacked within moments. I would find myself defending my position for hours to total strangers. Now I only share certain things with those that care to know. I must say, I am addicted…again.
There is a mobile, social, photo sharing application called Instagr.am that has a huge popularity but is only available on iPhone. This program is pretty impressive with using the onboard camera to take photos while the user is mobile. It has several popular editing tools built right in. These editing tools are commonly used coloration tools that allow the user to use Amaro, Rise, Hudson, X-Pro II, Lomo-fi, Earlybird, Sutro, Toaster, Brannan, Inkwell, Walden, Hefe, Valencia, Nashville, 1977, Kelvin. While these names may not be familiar, they are proprietary names representing common photo formats such as sepia. Instagr.am has a feed that shows photo activity of friends with the most recent showing up on the top.
It allows people to “LIKE” and leave comments on photos. One of the more useful features of Instagr.am is the ability to auto post to Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and even email. Each of these services has to be configured with the user’s account information before they will work. As most of you know, I am not a big fan of the Apple iPhone so it troubles me that this application is only available for the iPhone platform. This policy ends up excluding many people that are not iPhone users. For this reason alone, I have a hard time giving Instagr.am a strong endorsement. I will admit that Instagr.am is very cool and I love using it. If my endorsement were based solely on its usability, functionality, and quality, I would have to say it is outstanding.
Unfortunately, any program that limits itself to one platform is limiting itself from the ultimate success that it could have. There are many people that either cannot afford, or choose not to use an iPhone and those people are left out. Despite my moderate usage of Instagr.am on my iPhone, I cannot get very excited about it because my Android friends cannot use it. The reason that I think this is important enough to mention is because I prefer Android over the iPhone. As far as the appearance of the Instagr.am application, the Tumblr app looks very similar. For those that do not have access to Instagr.am, I would strongly suggest trying the Tumblr app. It will give you a similar feel that Instagr.am has.
I just wanted to take the time to give the players, coaches, staff and fans of Oklahoma State University (OSU) a big congratulations for the impressive win, 44-10, against the University of Oklahoma (OU) Sooners. As most of you know, I am an alumnus of the University of Oklahoma so I naturally tend to be biased toward the Sooners. This year the Oklahoma State Cowboys have consistently been very good, and their win last night reflects this superiority. If you are not from Oklahoma, you cannot appreciate the competition between these two schools, almost like rival high schools in neighboring suburbs. This competition sometimes gets out of hand with fans being obsessed with defeating the other team. This competition is almost comical though I would not tell them. To those involved in this competition, it is very serious and nothing to joke about. To the rest of us it is nothing more than an entertaining game.
I am going to be off work tomorrow because I am helping my son move into an apartment but it would be a very interesting day if I were there. In my office, we have coworkers that graduated from both OU and OSU and naturally have an attachment to their respective schools. Last year they had a bet that the winning team would be allowed to decorate the office with their insignias and logos. There was an Engineer from OSU that jumped the gun and decorated the whole office with orange and OSU symbols the day before the game. After the loss, it was an awkward environment. I would imagine that tomorrow he will be vindicated. These practices, while all in fun, are taken more serious by some though they will not admit it. Regardless of the leaning, OSU has definitely earned that victory this year.
The Cowboys have put unbelievable points on the board in almost every game this year. A person would have to be so hostile to a point of denial to ignore the successes of the OSU Cowboys this year. Despite the desire to be loyal to one’s team, this victory and the resulting high ratings of the OSU Cowboys is good for the economy of Oklahoma. Our state has been able to get national attention that money cannot buy. Whether you are an OU or an OSU fan, make sure you give OSU the well deserved pat on the back they deserve.
It is amazing how the media plays people while denying the power they have. For example. They come up with terms like "Black Friday" and use it over and over again. Soon you have the average citizen saying "Black Friday". Here in Oklahoma City, the Channel 4 weather people refer the the big "H" representing a high pressure system as a "Heat dome". It is amazing how many people refer to the high pressure as a heat dome. Another example is how they refer to the annual Oklahoma Sooners versus the Oklahoma State Cowboys game as "Bedlam". They say it over and over again to the point that the average citizen calls it Bedlam.
Now think of politics. The media is left of center on just about every network. They tell stories about how conservatives want to take care of the rich while hurting the poor. They tell this story over and over again to a point where the average citizen believes it. There is no need to present any evidence to prove it because the average citizen has become accustomed to just take the media at their word. Any time you call them on this, they always laugh it off and try to make you sound like a kook and and conspiracy theorist. For some reason it is difficult for the average citizen to believe that the media would ever use this power for personal gain.
Most journalists have a certain world view they either already had or was taught to them in school. This doctrine of collectivism seems to be universal in the journalism world. Liberalism, Socialism and Communism both fall into the collectivism family. Collectivism is a world view where one believes it is the responsibility of the community to take care of each other through governmental programs. It is diametrically opposed to individualism where a person takes responsibility for his or her own affairs through Capitalism. Those who are collectivists usually believe that Capitalism exploits the workers by trading hours for dollars while the excess goes to the company, organization, etc.
The Capitalist would argue that in Capitalism everyone has the same opportunity to succeed but that the individual must work for it and success is not guaranteed. I tend to fall into the pro Capitalism area because I believe the collectivism is a cop out for those that want to get "something for nothing". It is easy to cry exploitation when you are not willing to put forth the effort and face failure multiple times until success is achieved. Collectivism is fine when all parties are willing participants. Whichever side one takes is a personal choice. Unfortunately, the press is using their power to indoctrinate people instead of reporting the news. They claim special privileges of the press while exploiting the ignorance of the public. This is unfortunate because the public should have a right to know what is going on in the government but the media is over playing their authority with stories that omit facts, tell half truths and outright mislead people through proxy in an attempt to shape public opinion.
It is my opinion that the media cannot be trusted and should be taken with a critical stance. The news should never be taken at face value without some skepticism and fact checking through neutral parties. The next time the news speaks about Republicans and Democrats, question the story and the motives of the reporter that is doing the reporting.
