Saturday, May 03, 2008 |
It really was a ski area
Since I've moved out here to Linden I have always wondered why there aren't any ski areas in these mountains. Additionally I have always noticed an area at the top of the mountain across from I66 from me that totally looks like a ski resort.Apparently.... it WAS a ski area! I somehow ran across this: Lost Ski Areas: Ski Cherokee This is quite upsetting and not only because I would love to have a close place to go skiing. The most depressing part about all of this is that the land is now being auctioned off for more homes and developement. I've only lived here a year and I'm incredibly irritated already by the developement that is happening around me. I moved here and I bought a house that was already built and there are still about 100 homes in Linden alone on the market but yet they need to keep building. Nothing matters except profit and people will destroy anything if it'll make a buck. In doing all of this there is absolutely no need to respect the people that have grown up in the areas they are destroying. Labels: cherokee, linden, nature, ski, skiing, society, virginia (C)2003-2008, Bob K Mertz - Some Rights Reserved |
Sunday, April 27, 2008 |
Twitter: Example of a failing race
First of all I want to say that this post is nothing negative towards Twitter as a service, company, or concept. I love Twitter and I still continue to embrace it (even if it is sometimes unreliable). What this post is about is how the human race continues to self-destruct because of a growing "logic" that is counter to what we are designed for.When I first started using Twitter it was only because I thought it would be a way of updating my clients to let them know which building I was in and whether I was able to take on extra projects that day. As for the concept of Twitter, I thought it was absolutely retarded. I had the reaction that pretty much everyone that hasn't tried Twitter has: "Why do I care that someone is eating a cheese sandwhich?" It wasn't until I set up my Twitter account that I realized the community was a breeding ground for very strong relationships because what everyone's tweets were was simply daily life. It was them in a very unfiltered way. Because of this you start to understand a lot more about people and you find ways to connect with them that you never would have in any other fashion. Sure there are blogs but the majority of blogs are passed through our internal editor (aka, IMO, the frontal lobe) and is dulled down and made to be exciting or made to hide true emotions. It wasn't until what happened with the Frozen Pea Fund that I fully realized the potential of what the community inside of Twitter held. A couple years ago everyone would have said it was crazy to want to tell the world that you are holding a bag of frozen peas against your breasts.... but now we see where the "stupid" little things make a huge difference when a single tweet, stating just that, launched a movement that has raised many of thousands of dollars for breast cancer research. But what happened? One of my tweets last night said "Starting to feel like I'm tweeting to the wall".... and I started thinking about that. Twitter used to be a place where I had a lot of encouragement when I was down. If I said something was bugging me, there were people that responded with advice or even just a simple "I'm thinking of you" but now I notice less and less replies to anything that I am saying. Interestingly enough, I start feeling this way around the same time that "Follow Spam" is becoming a heated topic. On top of that, it seems like the people that embraced Twitter for the community that it was are now more concerned about their "numbers" than about what is actually going on in people's lives. The concept of more followers is interpreted as cash value to so many people now and it's gone so far as someone selling their Twitter account on eBay. So now it appears that Twitter has progressed into a medium to make money while losing the concept of community and compassion that was what brought people to Twitter in the first place. I think its great that there are people who have Twitter accounts to broadcast news and I think its great when a person shares a story that really jumps out at them because these are all part of the community but where the community is starting to self-destruct is when the focus becomes getting more followers rather than recognizing the followers that you do have. More and more tweets are being consumed by "I'm almost at 500 followers and need 8 more" while 492 people now don't matter because they already are a follower. Of course once you have someone following you it's rude not to follow them and now it's also a sure sign of many spammers so you, in turn, have to follow the 500 people that are following you and, in doing so, you eliminate the ability to genuinely care about the people you follow simply because you are overloaded and don't have the time to care about the person that is eating the cheese sandwhich and we revert back to life before Twitter except that now we drive ourselves to post tweets and now it's another "task" that we have to do rather than something we want to do. The whole timeline of Twitter has displayed exactly why we, as humans, simply can't seem to be happy anymore. We focus on everything in ways that it can be turned into money, add stress to our lives, and lose any kind of compassion that we have on anyone else. Interestingly enough I think the reason why Twitter and just about any other social network gains such a following in the beginning is because our human emotions are so starved for interaction in this face paced world. Social networking allows us to interact with real humans while being "on the go" but the problem is that the world teaches us that the most important thing is to make money so we end up self-destructing any process that gives us that interaction by trying to monetize the most important thing to the human race: emotional stimulation. Once emotional stimulation is monetized it becomes a job rather than an enjoyment. In 1997 after Steve Jobs rejoined Apple Computer, he made an annoucement at his keynote that Apple Computer was joining forces with Microsoft. Steve, who has an almost cult-like following, was literally booed. Steve's response was "we have to let go of this notion that for Apple to win, Microsoft has to lose". Steve went on to say if someone wants to help them then that's great because they need all they help they can get. The reality of the human race is just that. We all truly do need all the help we can get. I don't care how much money you make or what you have -- you still need other people's help and they need yours. When those 492 people don't matter because you are trying to get a mere 8 more and you focus on those 8 people you are trading 492 people that could potentially be those that will help you in exchange for only 8. It's so true that everyone's focus is on acquiring more that they lose any consideration to what they do have and it creates a perpetual greed cycle which, sadly, is becomming just as true with regards to emotions and compassion than it is with money. Our society certainly is self-destructing and we're doing it because we turn our advancements into things that only set us back because the prize is always what is ahead and never what is already there. We're in a vicious cycle that is only gaining more and more force with each advancement and, while we are solving one or two problems with advancements, we are creating 5 more. The end result is that we display an image of advancement but in each person's lives we realize that it really is just that: nothing more than an image. Labels: ***, apple, companionship, psychology, social networking, society, twitter (C)2003-2008, Bob K Mertz - Some Rights Reserved |
Friday, April 11, 2008 |
Facing the Opposition
There a a few things that we truly are not capable of until we are put into a certain situation. For example, moms have lifted cars off of their child or the nicest person in the world shot and killed someone in the act of defense. In these scenarios we will never know what we are capable of until it actually happens. This is how our minds work. In James 1 it explains how we need to consider it joy when we face trials and tribulations because it is strengthing us but it's hard to see how this can be until later. If we are wise, we will realize that some amazing things couldn't happen until some negative things happened first.A little while ago I wrote a blog titled "Living for Life" in which I talked about a lot of things that I believe were important to life. It's obvious that most people do not share the same views and that is awesome because that is part of what makes life exciting because the dynamics of people keep us entertained. Earlier today I received a comment on that post reporting that Jesus was sweet and that He jumps on pogo sticks.... I thought it was awesome that this person decided to break this news on my blog. Who could have even imagined that he would pick me. Ok, so there was more to his comment than just that breaking news. Logically I should have been offended but this is just another example of where our logic often throws us of course of just living life for life and, ultimately, leads us to feelings of worthlessness. In a way this goes back to my analogy of a surfer who harnesses the awesome (and many times negative) power of waves and has fun with it -- and the bigger the wave, the bigger the thrill. It's a lot like this in life too. If we are to really enjoy our lives we need to learn to harness the power of our opponents who attack us and have fun with it. In high school I was picked on a good bit and, yes, it did bug me. I guess it's also true that no one totally gets over the fact that people attack them but it's really an issue of how you respond to that attack internally. I've had a lot of people tell me that I have matured just about every year that has gone by and I think one of the key points to this is that I've learned how to better harness this power and allow it to not upset me but to confirm that I have a purpose in what I am doing. I think just about any blogger would agree that the worst type of comment is the one that isn't left. I gave up caring what people thought of me a long while ago. I've realized that the logic that our society uses is what is hurting us the most and if I want to deviate from this logic in any way then I really need to understand that people are going to attack me and disagree with me and I need to understand that if I really believe the words that I say then I need to realize that when words I say strikes a chord with someone then I am actually making an impact on someone's life which is exactly what I am hoping to do. When I receive a negative attack I think the more negative that it is the more it gives me purpose and fuels me to keep doing whatever it is I do here. Back in 2006 I wrote a blog based on starfish that I think also captures what I am trying to say here. The people that are constantly picked on tend to be the people that make the largest impact in this life. You may want to consider it a phenomenon but I really believe that its because these are the people that have the potential to become extremely motivated for the right reasons in life. They have experienced first hand that attacking someone for their beliefs doesnt get anyone anywhere so they embrace their own beliefs, become proud of who they are, and they work towards the things they believe are important. Those same people end their lives knowing they lived a full and worthwhile life and having made a great impact on this world. It's never about what bad luck comes your way or how much people hate you but its about how you feel about you and how you take the things that come your way. Opposition fuels advancement. The human race has invented things the fasted out of mother necessity. The more that we have an opposing force the more that we will work towards answering that force. I'm sure the Wright brothers faced a lot of opposition but I'm also sure that when people attacked them they didn't argue with them.... in fact, maybe they listened to what someone was saying and maybe the person calling them stupid actually gave them a new perspective. Ultimately, they flew..... and I'm sure there were people that were humbled. It all boils down to believing in who you are and what you believe. If you doubt yourself then anything that is said to you will cause you to falter in what you are trying to accomplish. On the other hand, if you truly believe in whatever it is that you are doing then the only thing your opposition does is confirm that you are working on something that is worth noticing and, in that realization, understand that negative comments and attacks really are a cause for celebration. Labels: attacks, blogosphere, emotions, psychology, purpose, society (C)2003-2008, Bob K Mertz - Some Rights Reserved |
Sunday, March 23, 2008 |
Who Am I?
There was a radio commercial for Levi Jeans that advertised their jeans as being for hard working men.... they started listing hard working, manual labor, jobs and then the last thing in the list they said "... for the man who carries the sleeping baby up the stairs to bed". I swear everytime I heard that line I got chills and my heart skipped a beat. I think it was a way of defining who I am. Ok, so I don't have kids..... but the definition of who you are isn't what is around you and I think this is where people go so far away from what life is meant to be. The car I drive doesnt define who I am (even if who am I influences my purchase of it) nor does the house I live in. I'm really pulling for Obama in this election but despite what people want to say about me, I'm not pro-choice. Republicans are pro-life so they obviously reflect the best intentions and hold high the miracle that we all are as humans and wouldn't do anything to hurt us. The problem is that it's easier for people to make judgements based on the outward because getting to know the inward takes time and its time that we don't want to waste.... and this is the whole basis for racism of all types. It was so much easier for slave owners to look at the color of their skin and make a judgement based on that rather than actually take the time to get to know those people as human beings. It's easier to attack me and say that I can't be a Christian because I'm liberal or that I can't be liberal because I'm a Christian. It's easier to look at the picture on the book cover and say its a good book or a horrible book rather than take the time to actually read it. So who am I, really? I'm 27 years old, I am a male, and my mom's name is Kim..... I'm from southwestern PA and I grew up around a family that had a few prejudice thoughts..... I was in a mental hospital once.... I dropped out of high school -- and then out of college. I am a virgin but have been known to really enjoy sexual pleasure. I moved to Florida in 1999 for four months and came back after spending "needless" money because I couldnt stand to be away from my family.... I declared bankruptcy a few years ago... I once punched my sister on the playground in elementary school. If those things answered your question then you are sadly misled.... but not because any of those things are a lie. All of those things are 100% true and are factual statements that can be proven with various different legal documents or talking to the right people. I can't go back and change any one of those facts but not a single one of those defines who I am. Think about what you thought of as you read those things. Many of you didn't know some of those facts about me -- some of them were because I never told you for the reason that you might think what you may have just thought. If I say that I was in a mental hospital then obviously I must have something wrong with me mentally and you should relate to me with caution..... thats the easy thing to say, anyway. The harder thing to do is ask why. If you ask why you might have to hear about how I was misdiagnosed with many different mental "conditions" such as depression and anxiety for 6-7 years before we actually realized that I was ADHD -- a condition that is present in many fully functional Americans. You might also have to learn that I checked myself in to the facility because I wanted to find an answer -- not because I *needed* to be there. But all of that is too much work. Or you might look at the fact that I dropped out of high school and college and that I declared bankruptcy and decide that I am a failure and that I give up. Again, it would be harder to ask why. In that case, you might have to learn that I dropped out of high school after my guidance counselor and my mom discussed that it was a viable and probably the best option for me and that high school was mainly holding me back from accomplishing what I was capable of. You might have to learn that the one year of college that I experienced was crucial in developing who I am as well as the 4 months that I spent in Florida. You might have to dig a little deeper and figure out what the motivations were for each one of these things and you might have to realize that the good outweighed the bad on these things. You might have to realize that the things I did weren't neccesarily the "easy" way out. You might then have to change your views on a lot of things -- not just views about me. I've heard people say that I'm obviously a virgin because no one wants me and the result is that I'm sexually frustrated..... of course, thats the easy thing to think (and the most uplifting to the person saying it). But if you ask why with the intent of learning you might have to realize that this is one of my core values. You might have to try to understand that its a lot harder for me to keep this commitment than you might think..... and if you said those things about me because you wanted to attack me, you might learn that you've only uplifted me. "But bankruptcy? Surely there is no excuse for doing that..... Its not what God would want you to do! You just wanted to take the easy way out and not have to pay those debts." No matter what your views are on bankruptcy, its, again, easier to attack me based on what I did rather than to try to figure out what it was that led up to that. You might have to learn that I spent more than 3 years going through no less than 2 credit counseling agencies and continually bringing myself down because the level of debt that I had and the debt/income ratio I had was not something that even the credit counseling agencies were able to reliably assist me with. You might also have to consider the concept of Jubilee in the Bible where every 7 years everyone forgave everyone's debts (that might be another blog entry sometime). Ok, now this one comes with a disclaimer. None of this is meant to justify my action or to make up your mind about whether bankruptcy is good or bad because those are issues of the heart and are truly between you and the Lord. But no matter what the action was, its not fair to judge anyone solely on the action without first understanding the motive of that action. I'm 27 so I must behave like all other people my age. I'm a guy so I must be an asshole in relationships. I punched my sister as a child so apparently I was born evil. I had uncles around me who said negative things about black people. Oh -- and not only that but I DECIDED that I wanted to be around those uncles. These are just tiny little examples of that outrageous prejudice that goes through our heads every single day and we allow them to go through our head simply because it's easier to let them rather than actually weigh the evidence. Oh -- one other thing about me. I am known as "BibleBoy" a lot of places. This name came about in middle school when I always had a Bible with me. Everyone started making fun of me by calling me BibleBoy.... but even in 7th grade I was already starting to recognize the fact that I need to be proud of who I was. I was heavily involved in BBSs back in that time (if you don't know, BBSs were basically the pre-internet online communications and were access through dialing a phone number with your computer to access a system on someone else's, typically personal, computer) and I had been going by the handle "Headpin" because I was really into bowling. One night I decided to log on to each and every BBS and change my handle to "BibleBoy". Since BBS systems were local based this is something that all the other computer geeks in my school realized right away. The response was awesome..... "Uhhh.... you know we're making fun of you" .... "Yup, I know". The name stuck and I allowed it to. In 2000 I registered bibleboy.org and that officially was who I was letting myself be known as on the big (then fairly new to most) internet. Eventually other people crept up that were also known as BibleBoy so I had to shorten it to bblboy54..... then time went on and I realized that the name had me tagged as a religious freak. I guess, again, it was a situation where I was being judged based on my nickname rather than who I actually am. I considered changing the name of my blog so that more people would take me a little more seriously. Less than a year ago I realized that the person who I am would never really be taken seriously by someone who does judge a book by it's cover and I decided to stick with the name and if I say something that makes sense then I'd let it be for the benefit of those people who take me seriously no matter what my name is. Did I answer the question of who I am? I hope not! Who I am is a definition that is always changing. All of us are very dynamic people that are capable of learning and understanding and the more than we learn and understand the more that we are naturally going to change. The facts, figures, and posessions are quite possibly the worst way to judge someone even if they are the easiest way. It's more the motivation of the person that led to those things. In reality, we should all primarily respect everyone for who they are. Labels: ***, abstinence, changes, discrimination, encouragement, love, money, personality, psychology, society (C)2003-2008, Bob K Mertz - Some Rights Reserved |
Monday, January 28, 2008 |
2 Tough Questions (Something to think about)
I just received this as a forward in my email.... I dont always read forwards and I RARELY pass them on but I'm glad I read this one. It kind of puts things in perspective."2 Tough Questions" Question 1: If you knew a woman who was pregnant, who had 8 kids already, three who Were deaf, two who were blind, one mentally retarded, and she had Syphilis, would you recommend that she have an abortion? Question 2: It is time to elect a new world leader, and only your vote counts. Here are the facts about the three candidates. Who would you vote for? Candidate A Associates with crooked politicians, and consults with astrologist He's had two mistresses. He also chain smokes and drinks 8 to 10 martinis a day. Candidate B He was kicked out of office twice, sleeps until noon, used opium in College and drinks a quart of whiskey every evening. Candidate C He is a decorated war hero. He's a vegetarian, doesn't smoke, drinks an Occasional beer and never cheated on his wife. Which of these candidates would be our choice? Candidate A is Franklin D. Roosevelt Candidate B is Winston Churchill Candidate C is Adolph Hitler And, by the way, on your answer to the abortion question: If you said YES, you just killed Beethoven. Pretty interesting isn't it? Makes a person think before judging someone. Never be afraid to try something new. Remember: Amateurs...built the ark. Professionals...built the Titanic Labels: government, politics, society (C)2003-2008, Bob K Mertz - Some Rights Reserved |
Sunday, January 13, 2008 |
Conservativism = Excuse to not think?
I was raised in a family who always had conservative views and, naturally, many of those views I still embrace. Being someone who truly believes in conservative values always embraced the Reupublican party because of their support of things like pro-life and other conservative views. In the past year or two, my views have drastically changed and I now have to say I support the democrat party more than the republican - by a long shot.This doesn't mean that I think we need to stop protecting the unborn but I do certainly believe that we need to be A LOT less militant about it. I'm also sick of the conservative values that the Republican party pushes to be nothing more than a cover-up to some other extremely disgusting things that are happening. The Republican party is becoming the party that produces the "preacher's kid" syndrome in it's followers. While the Democratic party has similar effects (as does ANY organization), there seems to be a huge emphasis on it in the republican party -- almost as if there is a secret agenda (do some research on AT&T conspiring with the NSA and President Bush signing an executive order to stop any investigation - Start Here). There has always been this epidemic in polotics that people just do as their told. People sign on to a party and they just go in and pull the lever for their party rather than actually thinking about what is going on. The problem we have now is that we are all becoming more and more "mentally lazy". We don't want to have to think about something because it's so much easier for someone else to tell us what to do and we let people tell us what to do until it's too late to fight back. We're relinquished many rights just by standing still because we were too lazy to fight (and we're about to see is happen again if people don't start standing up for Net Neutrality). All of us just listen to what our parents, our churches, and our political parties say. We obey. And ultimately, a few key people just changed the course of history by using each one of us as drones. We've become slaves to the afforemention beings. There is a huge need to respect our parents, our churches, our leaders, and even our own political parties but this is NOT an excuse to go brain dead and let all of them brainwash us. We have become so mentally numb in things that we pass around emails that completely damage someone or something with points that are nothing more than fiction. We allow people to be damaged because we pass around a single email that was probably written by a single person. We become just as responsible as the person who wrote that email - responsible for destroying someone's life and career. The most recent example of this is an email circulating that claims Obama is an anti-American muslim. This email even references that snopes.com has confirmed this to be fact and plays on the fact that no one checks the facts before telling others about it. Because we are so brain dead (by choice), we dont even bother to notice contradictions in the email we read (such as a father who left when a child was only 2 can't really be that instrumental in raising a child according to a specific religion) and we become a drone to someone who wrote a fantasy email about the way he or she wants things to play out. Judging by the way the republican party has responded to numerous things, do you really think it's that far fetched that a die-hard conservative sat down and dreamed up these lies to attack someone who might really be a threat to them... yes, to THEM... not neccesarily to our nation. Political parties are not about what is best for our nation but whats best for the wallets of those running the parties. It is true that we live in a country that we have the ability to choose our leaders but because we have all become lazy, we are forfeiting that right. We are allowing people who have self-interest tell us what is best for us. When a company lists us a reason why we should use their product rather than their competitor isn't it a good idea to evaluate both products instead of just listening to the one company? Of course they are going to tell us their product is great and their competitors is bad because they want us to by their product because that is the only way they make money. Maybe we've matured enough to realize the absurdity of political television ads but now we're allowing ourselves to be the medium that lies are spread -- simply because we don't want to spend a tiny bit of time looking into the reality of the situation we're about to take a stance on. I don't know anyone that would take the stage and explain to everyone what the string theory is all about because few of us even know -- but yet we're willing to take the stand for someone who wrote an email whom we've not only met but we don't even know his or her name. People continually tell others that you have no right to complain about the state of our country if you don't vote but if you're also the one spreading lies and doing only what you are told to do, well, you have no right to complain either. When we're stuck in a dictatorship and we're all complaining about it, it's really just going to be on our heads because we sent out false facts in emails damaging someone for being racial muslim when the reality of the situation is that he has many roots in Christianity. Maybe because instead of actually changing the way you handle emails that you forward on you just stop forwarding them to the people that are actually going to check the facts and make you feel bad and forward only to those that will continue the "chain of drones". P.S. - I really am not intending on making anyone feel bad but this is something that I am very serious about and I think others need to be serious about. We're not talking about passing on an email that says the weather is going to be 90F rather than 60F but, instead, we're talking about passing on lies that very well could damage the chances of hope for our country. I'm not saying which canidate is the solution but I am saying that we need to look into things a little bit more before we spread lies that could damage someone that may well be the best thing for our country. Labels: campaign, democrat, lies, obama, politics, republican, society (C)2003-2008, Bob K Mertz - Some Rights Reserved |
Wednesday, January 09, 2008 |
Still need more "proof" about Twitter's impact?
Washington Post: How Frozen Peas Started a MovementNot more than an hour ago, The Washinton Post put this story online that is running in tomorrow's Loudoun Extra. The situation with @susanreynolds and her struggle with breast cancer and The Frozen Pea Fund is now gaining huge media attention. I am extremely proud to be part of such an amazing community of people. The Frozen Pea Fund has now raised more than $7,000 to aid in The American Cancer Society's efforts to fight breast cancer. In addition to that money, there is now well over $1,000 raised for the husband of @ashPEAmama who now has to raise 2 children on his own after her tragic death yesterday. Can you imagine in less than a month a community of people, who share one thing in common (twitter users) and are misunderstood by many as to why they want to share so much of their lives to the public, have raised more than $8,000. These are just regular people -- people who care about their fellow "tweeters". Labels: ashpeamama, community, society, susanreynolds, twitter (C)2003-2008, Bob K Mertz - Some Rights Reserved |
Tuesday, January 08, 2008 |
The world loses a tweeter (@ashPEAmama)
I am a strong believer that anything bad can bring at least some good. While it doesnt make the bad any easier, at least we can be happy for something good.This morning the Twitter community lost @ashPEAmama to a vehicle accident. I never got the chance to follow Ashley but I saw many of the people that I followed mention her name in a lot of thoughtful tweets. There obviously was more to her than "just another person". I wish that I would have had a chance to get to know her more but I'm sure she made her impact in the world where she was meant to. I still constantly hear people question the purpose of Twitter. People don't understand it and they really dont seem to want to understand it but, to me, Twitter is a strong community that pulls together in many different scenarios. Just last month we saw the birth of The Frozen Pea Fund which is a cause to raise money for breast cancer. The reference of this came from one of the most beloved tweeters in the D.C. area, @susanreynolds. Aside from these drastic stories that (rightfully) take the spotlight, the Twitter community is a source of encouragement for everyone's day to day life. There is constant joking around with friends (some that we know personally and some that we only know on Twitter) and mixed in with that joking is the serious conversations about politics, the world, technology, the weather..... and how everyone is feeling. Just a couple weeks ago my good friend @linuxchic's song had broken his nose. She received many tweets asking if he was ok. And appreciation rarely goes unnoticed. She has another good example of the twitter community on her blog about video games. If you think all of this isn't enough, there is the ever popular storey of @LAFD Los Angeles Fire Department who used Twitter to communicate information about the Wildfires and has continued using the technology for crisis management. My heart truly does go out to the family of @ashPEAmama and to those who became close with her on Twitter. There is always a reason that things happen and there are ways that we can honor Ashley and there are things that her life and death will be used as a testimony to others. I am, again, amazed at how the Twitter community genuinely cares about their followers. Labels: community, society, twitter (C)2003-2008, Bob K Mertz - Some Rights Reserved |
Sunday, January 06, 2008 |
When will innovation stop meaning "copy"
I just got done watching the last part of Microsoft's keynote from CES and I have to say that I was not impressed. While to many people it may seem that they are doing things that are "new" I did not see a single thing that was new. Well, I will give them the Ford Sync thing except the only thing new there is putting a few technologies together in a single package -- everything that it does could have been accomplished for at least the last couple years.They went over a lot of stuff about Media Center and it irritated me just like any other DVR company. Even Echostar (a company that I really like) annoys me with their advertising of their "new" features they keep adding to their DVR systems. Open source technology has been doing all of the stuff these companies are doing and more for many years. And it's not really that I want to be critical about them adopting new ideas into their product but what I think is unfair is the statements that are made that they are the only one doing this and that the entire idea was from their company. MythTV can do just about everything Media Center or TiVo can do and it can do a hell of a lot more as well. MythBuntu has made the set up of MythTV just as easy as Media Center (and from some of the horror stories I've heard about Media Center, probably easier). Then there's the Zune social. This especially irritates me. The entire concept and design is completely a rip off of Last.FM. Last.FM currently runs on many different platforms and is open source so that you can integrate it into virtually anything. I get exceptionally upset when companies try to make something proprietary that is something you want to be centralized. If you want to keep a log of all of the music you listen to and have a system make recommendations for you then you want that system to know what you listen to on every device. If you have a Zune, sure it will work for you..... but what about other devices? What about other software? Other computers? Unless Microsoft sees a profit in making a client for device x, we'll never be able to see it. If you really want to welcome me to the social, then please welcome me with the devices that I have This post really isn't meant to be a "bash Microsoft" post but I'm really tired of any company that says they are innovators but all they do is copy the ideas of someone else and publish them as their own. It's really more of an example of where our society has gone. We no longer respect people for what they do out of the goodness of their heart or because they really enjoy it. For you to be honored you usually have to accept honor in making money. If you're not in it for the money then you are an outcast of society -- well, at least corporate america right now. People in the open source community create because they want to fill a void or because they enjoy doing it and that passion shows through in the finalized product. Same is true with those that volunteer. It seems that if you're doing it because you want to and not because you're in it for some selfish gain then your motives are questioned and people start looking for what you're trying to gain -- they can't just trust you that you really want to help. I really do wish people would start looking at everything in life as being part of a team. The long term solution is to help one another and not be in it just for yourself. We all need to give credit where credit is due. Our society can go so much further if we just follow this simple policies. Labels: corporate america, last.fm, microsoft, mythtv, open source, society, volunteer, zune (C)2003-2008, Bob K Mertz - Some Rights Reserved |
Wednesday, December 19, 2007 |
Living in the wrong era
As a kid we could walk to my grandmother's house and just walk right in even if she wasn't home. We didn't have a key - she just never locked her door. There wasn't a need and this was especially true to the people that grew up in their generation.I keep feeling like God created me many years before I was born and just forgot to actually send me to earth. He finally remembered in 1980 but I was already at least 2 generations too late. My life is just the same thing over and over again. It happens where I work, where I go to church, who I'm friends with, and even who I date. When someone needs help I put my all in to it. I always have the impression that whoever I'm helping will, in turn, appreciate what I am doing and will do the same if needed. While this was the way life was (and still should be) years ago, it isn't the case now. The result is I'm continually punished because I focus on caring about people but when I'm hurting not only is there no one there to help me, the people that I have been helping expect me to just keep going because they've grown accustom to whatever it is I'm doing. So at a job, ill get the "this is business and that is personal" comment. The problem is that in order to be so passionate at work, I rely on all the good in my life but when there is a time of trial I end up going back down to average; average in the same standards that an employer will look for in a replacement. But because I put my all into something for a average pay doesn't mean I get a raise but it just means that the standards I get headed on go up. And these standards won't carry over to the next person they hire. No, they just apply to me without me getting any additional benefits. Naturally things go sour in the eyes of the employer and they generally end up disapointed in me. I end up back at square one. With people in my personal life, they just tag me as a horrible person and ignore anything that I did that was good for them. These are the things that turn me into a failure in everyone else's lives and, eventually, my own. This is my life but its also an example of how society is in a downward spiral. The problem is that no one wants to stand against it because, well, you end up here writing this blog. For me, I don't know how else to live but I don't know if I'd want to anyway. Its just going to continue to be my life and all I can do is pray that I will someday find a girl who has this same problem. Of course I'm not holding my breath because they've all been with numerous guys in the past and have no desire to take a chance on me. Their solution to the problem is to change nothing but if they happen to find a guy that cares they just take what they can until it requires something of them. Once that time comes then the relationship with that vendor.... Oh, I mean person.... is over. We all hate corporate America but we live our lives with the thriving corporation as our bible. So what with that ancient book that was named "Bible" - we have new and greater things in our lives now. Labels: ***, corporate america, friendship, society (C)2003-2008, Bob K Mertz - Some Rights Reserved |
Saturday, August 11, 2007 | |
It's obvious that younger people are more involved in social networking but I don't think it's the issue of technology that most think it is. It was really the early 90's that interest in computers really started taking off. Granted, I was interested in the 80's but the 1990's brought computers into everyone's home. I was the last person in my group of friends to actually get a "real" computer and that happened in middle school. Is it possible that it has to do with emotional attachment and filling a void that was created by technology? The reason I left myspace a few months ago was simply because it is no longer what it was intended to be. People say it's a site to connect with people that you haven't seen in a while. When I first got my myspace account, that happened frequently but as time went on, it was obvious that it was drifting away from being that. Facebook, on the other hand, has a lot of ways to interact more but, more importantly, has important "social blocks" that help prevent it from becomming what myspace is now. For instance, there are no such things as "top friends" which means you don't have to pick favorites (which you are forced to do on myspace). You also have a lot more searching power on facebook but you are limited to who's profile you can actually view. You have to be a member of a network to see people's profiles in that network (unless they add you). You are able to search for anyone using very specific criteria but it blocks the ability to just randomly search for people and add them as your friends. Essentially, on facebook you have to know what you are looking for, where on mypsace you don't. So what is the big deal about whether you are able to search for someone based on random criteria? Well, in almost all cases those random searches are for the purpose of filling a void that isn't being met in real life. So many people are hiding behind their computers now and they are not experiencing what life is really about. Technology is an amazing tool that allows us to connect with and keep in touch with people around the globe but at the same time, it is taking the focus of what friendship and relationships are all about. Giving someone "a hug" online will never be able to take the place of giving someone a real-life hug. We try to push the experiences that technology can give us and we create "features" that pull us away from what life was meant to be. SMS messages, email, instant messages.... we are tied to this network 24 hours a day because it's now not only on our computers but it's on our phones and other mobile devices. We are now even ordering pizza online to avoid having to talk to someone on the phone... think about it.... we're using technology to pull us away from a technology that took us away from physical interaction. Yes, phones did that. Instead of having to go to your friend's house and have a conversation you could now talk to them even though they were across town. Now that technology is progressing, telephone calls are too personal for us. Maybe this has a lot to do with why the online pornography business is booming.... we don't want to have to deal with relationships anymore so we see millions and millions of people turning to pornography which attempts to give sexual satisfaction without the ties of a relationship -- or even a friendship. I am as guilty as the next person with all of this but I have slowly been realizing a lot of what I was stuck inside. The irony of the situation is that I lived in 3 different apartment complexes during the time I lived in Northern VA and out of all of that I met only one neighbor at only one of those. That's more than 2 years of living next door to hundreds of people and I met one. Now I live in the mountains where there are only 2 other houses visible from my house and in only a few months I know them both. Think about it -- where is technology at? It's in the cities... the higher the population is, the more technology is available. Where I live, I consider it a blessing that I can get a cable modem but in NoVA, you have countless options for getting faster internet connections and a lot less to do outside of the apartment or house. I love going to Shenandoah National Park because it helps me realize how much more there is outside of cyberspace. I realized how much I had been missing by being 100% embedded in technology and going to the park cuts me away from technology all together. To me, it is a blessing to not have cell phone coverage while I'm in the park -- it forces me to realize more about what the world is. What changed for the class of 2001? I think it's probably the generation that really started losing touch of the importance of spending time together and how important other people were to our lives. There is nothing wrong with the fact that more and more people are using social networks or using cell phones or any other kind of technology. I use technology all the time and it is a huge part of my life but I'm slowly realizing that it's not the use of technology, but the motive of using that technology, that is important. Labels: facebook, myspace, social networking, society, web 2.0 (C)2003-2008, Bob K Mertz - Some Rights Reserved |
Sunday, July 29, 2007 |
So what are the two directions? Ironically the basis is dependant on servitude. Most issues with the world are related to people's atitudes. The majority of these issues are because of selfishness (that is, the lack of helping others). We all have the choice of whether we are going to help someone despite the fact that they don't deserve it or we help them because we believe its the only way the world can become a better place. This world is in moral decay because no one will help others. Its not this way because all of a sudden we don't deserve the help because we have never deserved it. The reason why we are in decay is because we all know and take to heart the fact that no one deserves our help. We become bitter and erase the fact that anyone has ever showed us grace. After developing this thought process, we come to the conclusion that everyone else owes us. Suddenly, we aren't helping anyone, not only because they don't deserve our help, but because they owe us. The human race has written off the world. In our minds it is full of evil people and that's where we stop. We don't see that each one of those people are someone just like us who only needed someone to take a chance on them but never got it.... Meanwhile we sit here and argue why that person is less than us. We constantly explain how we would take a chance on someone who was in the same scenereo as us, we are presented with people that fit that description but in a different way, and then we punish that person for everyone else's mistakes - no matter how much potential we see in that person. There are consequences for all actions but there is also forgiveness. If we can't forgive, then we end up hating everyone. We will never take a chance on someone else because we haven't forgave those that previously hurt us. This is what we are progressing towards. I'm sure we can all think of at least one teacher in school that really made an impact on us - and you can bet that teacher was someone that cared more about the students than the paycheck. The more we progress, the more the paycheck means to us. We fight for more money in a job that we are horrible at for no other reason than not being passionate about it. We work for the sole purpose of bettering ourselves and when this filters into education, healthcare, and other social fields, well, look around you..... We need to stop asking who is going to take a chance on us. We've had people take at least one chance on us even if it was one teacher back in grade school and we didn't pay it forward. If we start looking for people to take a chance on then there actually might be a reason society should take a chance on us. So many people have served us with such selflessness and we can't even find it in our hearts to recognize it because we are so bitter about who didn't help us. Labels: ***, morality, society (C)2003-2008, Bob K Mertz - Some Rights Reserved |
Friday, April 27, 2007 |
What does that really mean? It's a negative comment made to someone who supposedly doesnt understand "the way the real world works" .... It's said to someone who is "broken" in the way they think...... ..... or is it the other way around? Maybe the way "the real world works" is what is broken? We're becoming such an "advanced" society... we're doing more than we have ever thought to be possible -- and yet there are more depressed people now than there ever were. Every person experiences stress and most experience it at least once daily. I hardly think this is what God intended, however, I do believe that stress is a part of this world functioning properly but living in constant stress is not. In The Matrix, Agent Smith was explaining to Neo how the machines had created the perfect world but the human mind couldn't respond to it. Neo was told that the machines had to create a world with problems so that the humans could function mentally. The irony is that the entire movie was based on the stories told in the Bible -- is it possible that the authors of the movie understood the Bible more than many Christians do (whether they practice it or not is irrevlevant in this case). Imagine yourself in a perfect world.... in that imagination, take away everything that you know about pain. All of a sudden, you're "dream world" changes because it's no longer a feeling of euphoria because you simply do not know what the other end of the spectrum is. Imagine the color spectrum.... we mix red, green, and blue to create all of the colors that we know. Now take away blue as a base color and we're suddenly left with an entirely different world. We lose a complete side of the spectrum. The concept of ying and yang is quite true. You can not have evil withot good and you can not have good without evil. While evil may exist, we don't realize it as evil because there is nothing to compare it to -- and vice versa. We constantly hear from people who our upset with a God that would allow satan to fall and take the world with him and create so much pain for us but could it be that allowing pain to be added to this world actually has made it more enjoyable for us? I watched a documentary a while ago about the mind of a killer. The explanation was simply that people who commit crimes suffer from LOW stimulation of the mind. If the mind isn't used or isn't able to be used then it "makes it's self known" so to speak. Basically, it's out of boredom that the human mind would commit a crime -- it adds excitement to something that is boring.... quite interesting that one of the first signs of ADD/ADHD is a child being a bully at school. I was told today at work by someone that if we fixed everything now, what would we have to complain about. Usually that is something that is said jokingly but he meant it seriously.... and he explained how he had been in situations that they fixed everything rapidly and the next time he went back, they were complaining about stupid little things -- things that didnt make the slightest bit of a difference. He really couldnt be more on the money. The human mind simply can not deal with something that is perfect because being perfect is outside of our human/wordly logic. Perhaps this is another reason why so many people have trouble believing in God -- because there just can not be anyone that is perfect -- at least in our logic. I've been told I'm living in a dream world and in so many ways, it's true. The thing is, it's not ALL my dream world. If it was, things would be different and, quite likely, a lot more boring. The important thing is that I have parts of my life that are my dream world because it really is what drives me. Watching dreams come true is a miracle unfolding right in front of you.... having dreams drives those and makes you a better person. If you believe that when you "grow up" you need to quit living make believe then you have lost all hope of being truly happy and acomplished. Maybe you'll end up with a lot of money but when you die, that's all you'll be. You wont be remembered for very long -- and you certainly won't have changed anything. On the other hand, if you fight for your passion then you truly will make a difference.... driving this might just be that you face more hardships but those hardships will then make the other end of the spectrum that much more enjoyable which, in turn, makes you a happier person. I've worked for many companies and I've watched them turn from a business that was passionate about what they did into a company that was now nothing more than making more money -- and almost all of those businesses have lost money. I've seen Disney Resorts lose sight of the Disney characters and all of a sudden go into lots of turmoil and lose lots of profits. I've seen Pizza Hut lose sight of customer service and quality pizza in exchange for cutting labor costs and using cheaper products. I saw Wal-Mart lose sight of Sam Walton's vision and eventually turn into one of America's most hated companies. I can only imagine that Sam Walton, Walt Disney, and the two brothers that started Pizza Hut in Wichita are rolling in their graves. Actually, I think everyone that died 50 years ago are doing the same thing just wanting to yell up at the generation that controls this nation, and especially corporate america, and tell everyone that we've just got it all wrong. The way to make money is to be passionate about what you do. It's about stimulating your brain and thinking about how you can make it better instead of thinking how it logically would fit into our business world. I've been told that I live in a dream world and now my response is "what is wrong with that?" I dreamed of owning a house some day.... the incredible thing is that I pursued something that just didnt seem possible and as it sits right now, I'm going to end up with an awesome house AND 1.8 acres of land. I could have never dreamed that.... not in a million years.... at least not before I was 30. I talked myself out of this four times already and finally I just realized that I needed to jump and live my dream whether I thought I could financially do it or not -- and by living my dream, it amazingly seems that I am going to end up with a lot more money in the end. Psychology has told us that belief in Santa Claus and The Easter Bunny and other imaginary stories and characters make our children better able to handle things in this world. Lots of research has said that when we force our kids to grow up too fast they struggle a lot more. I think the unfinished research would show that if we totally "grow up" even in our adult lives, we are just as likely to struggle -- no matter how successful the world believes that we are. Labels: ***, appreciate, depression, dreams, emotional pain, making a difference, psychology, society, stress (C)2003-2008, Bob K Mertz - Some Rights Reserved |
Saturday, April 21, 2007 |
This is really touching.... and no matter whether your a Pitt or Penn State fan, you just have to say GO PENN STATE! Labels: shootings, society, va tech (C)2003-2008, Bob K Mertz - Some Rights Reserved |
Thursday, April 19, 2007 |
Maybe this is coming a few days late but sometimes you don't really grasp everything that has or is occuring until the details are all layed out. I write this in tears after reading the long article in The Washington Post (That Was The Desk I Chose To Die Under). As I read that article, names of towns popped up that are "next door" to me -- and even one that I lived in. Tragedy can happen all over the place and yet, until it relates to home, you don't feel any of it. I sat reading this article and just thinking about that same scenario playing out in a situation that I had been in.... Imagining this scenario happening at Lock Haven. True -- the scenario would never play out at Lock Haven -- but neither would it at VA Tech. Consider you being the student at VA Tech and knowing that your parents are freaking out ... or consider that you are the parent with a son or daughter at VA Tech.... Imagine all the possibilities that could put you right in the heart of this situation.... If you read about the events that occured on Monday, April 16th, 2007 and you think of the ways that that could have hit you and you don't cry -- well, I can't understand how you don't. When the Columbine shootings happened that was on the other side of the country and everyone over here on the east coast didnt think as much of it because, well, that was the west coast..... and this week 32 people now don't even have the chance to think "wow, that could have been me" because it IS them now. Now starts the time of figuring out what could have been done to prevent this and what so and so did wrong -- but the truth is, maybe it could not have been prevented. There is no point in blaming anyone other than the shooter who killed himself -- but it is something that should take consideration as to how the future can be made better. The reality is that all of this is a part of life and things are going to happen. We're going to go through hurts and pains and we're also going to see the glory and the miracles that come out of tragedies such as this. The most important thing that we can learn from this is that we can never say that it'll never happen to us -- because so many people on the east coast never dreamed a mass school shooting could occur and we now have had the worst one in U.S. history. And those of us that live in Virginia or those of us that have friends that go to VA Tech -- and especially those who attend VA Tech -- have learned that it CAN happen here. Labels: ***, shootings, society, va tech (C)2003-2008, Bob K Mertz - Some Rights Reserved |
Saturday, March 17, 2007 |
..... then tonight I was doing an inventory count on fish food and I had my laptop just outside of the fish room and I heard a mother who had who two daughters in there start saying "Goldfish are the most misunderstood fish....." .... Then I remembered. See, I wrote up little tags and classifications for each tank that we have so that people know what fish they can put together as well as some general tips with the fish. Goldfish got their own classification and I wrote a short little paragraph explaining the things that people don't realize about goldfish.... I looked in the room and saw her reading it to her daughters and you could tell they learned some things that they never knew..... .... Then I remembered... maybe I am making a difference to someone.... Labels: fish, making a difference, society (C)2003-2008, Bob K Mertz - Some Rights Reserved |
Friday, March 02, 2007 |
I really liked this post that my friend made to his blog. It's worth a read. (C)2003-2008, Bob K Mertz - Some Rights Reserved |
(C)2008, Bob K Mertz - Some Rights Reserved
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