Voting & the Presidential Debates

Voting day is just around the corner, and of course everyone is talking about it.

My Facebook feed is swarming with political memes and ads. People are bashing and high-fiving each other over their presidential choices.

I honestly don't get it. Both Romney and Obama are running smear campaigns and everyone is eating it up. During the debates they just get up there and rip each other new ass holes and everyone is eating it up. What's the point? Is this what happens when a nation is brainwashed by mass media and reality trash shows? Is this the mother fucking Roman Colosseum?

I guess everything is going just as planned.

By whom, you ask?

Well the corporate and banking titans, of course.

Come on. It's obvious this whole thing is rigged. Obama and Romney are equally bought and paid for by corporations, in some cases by the same. exact. ones. The are two sides of the same old coin.

Everyone pretends third party candidates are non-existent. Not that it matters anyway, right? A politician is a politician - you can only trust one as far as you can throw it.

Have you ever noticed how all of these promises are always made but most of them never end up getting fulfilled? Yeah. That's because the person you elect is not pulling the strings.

This world is run by money, and money runs politics.

Your vote only counts when you have money to throw in with it, when you can afford your own lobbyist, when you can pay the president into office.

It's a nice thought that a presidential candidate is just receiving campaign money from a corporation and is otherwise untethered to said beneficiary. However, this thought is also naive. Once a candidate or any other politician is given money by a corporation they are forever bound to that corporation. They are afraid of losing the money. They waaant the money. Oh, Lord, please, don't let them stop giving me money!

Money is the vote.

So what do you do? Not vote?

That's an option, sure.

But what *I personally* am doing this election season, along with some other people from my community, is a write in campaign. We are all going to write in "No Confidence" on our ballots at the polls, because we have lost confidence in the system as it stands - corrupted by greed, corporations, and twisted politicians.

If you are interested, you can check out our FB page by clicking here. You can also follow us on twitter @noconfidence012.

The Student Debt Disease

It's not every day that I feel the suffocating threat of student loans looming over me. The anxiety and worry that accompanies my student debt comes and goes, like a sickness.

Today I feel it, and I know I can't be alone. I am one of thousands of graduates that finished college this Spring with weary eyes turned to the future.

But what does the future hold for graduates like me?

There are no real immediate job opportunities for students of applied linguistics here in the states, especially when the largest focus of my degree was the application of applied linguistics to teaching English as a foreign language.

I, however, chose my degree because of my love for language - not for teaching. I also have a partner here in the states that I am not too keen on abandoning in order to go teach abroad.

So what is left?

Administrative/clerical work? I did that all through college. Why not now?

Retail? I did that through high school.

Food industry?

...

Are these the things that my expensive-ass degree prepared me for?

Am I being spoiled when I say that I don't want to do those things? That I don't want to struggle and grovel just to pay back a debt that should be a right? I want to do something I love and that isn't laced with the desire to commit suicide.

I want to enjoy this one, single life that I get - not to be worked to death in this busy little empire of ants.

I have seen article after article about how student loan debt is a burden on the economy - about how the student loan market is going to crash.

I have seen my future in these articles - student loan default highest among 40-somethings.

So this is my desperate plea to the internet:

Occupy student debt!

Forgive student loan debt!

Reform the public education system!

Education is a right, not a privilege! Help make it universal.

There has been a lot of controversy about true identity of James Holmes.

I have seen photos such as this one on multiple web sites, questioning the true identity of James Holmes: 

People are asking, based on these photos, if these two pictures are of the same man - or just two men that look remarkably similar to one another.


Here's what I think.


They are both photos of James Holmes.

It isn't hard to google and see that James Holmes, "suspect" of the Aurora Theater shooting, does indeed have green eyes. There are school-age pictures of him in which you can see his eyes are green, such as this one: 

As far as his nose and ears go, and eyes if you're worried about the shape - I think those things can be attributed to change over time, the difference of facial expression in each photo, and the angle of each photo.

Scruffier hair is covering his ears a little more in the photo on the left and the pictures were taken at different angles.

I think the comments about the nose seeming different can be attributed to the difference in angle and expression as well. When you smile, your nose naturally flares and your eyes squint.

Am I wrong?

Why I Love my HTC One V

The HTC One V just came out a couple of weeks ago on Virgin Mobile, with whom I have phone service.

I wasn't really aware of its arrival as I wasn't looking to change phones - I figured, what the hell? Every android I've owned so far has been super glitchy with horrible battery life. Might as well stick it out with the ol' Optimus Slider.

However, my partner has been in need of a new phone for quite some time so we went down to the Boost/Virgin Mobile store to check things out.

Being the gadgeteer that I am, though, I just couldn't help myself!

I found out that the shop owner would let me trade towards a new phone, so I decided to go for an upgrade.

I chose the HTC One V because, for one, I've always liked the HTC interface. This one also happens to be a nice size and weight, as well as affordable - with the $50 trade-in credit included.

The HTC One V also runs Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0). It was actually the only phone from Boost or Virgin running 4.0 in this particular shop.

Nonetheless, I was a little weary of what was to become of my new phone. In the past, I have found that androids are battery eating monsters and have a tendency towards freezing up. I decided to wait a while before singing any praise for this little baby.

But wait no longer!

This phone is amazing. It has yet to freeze or die on me ONCE!

The only trouble that I have had turned out to be a silly error on my part. One day I couldn't get any 3G signal and my GPS wouldn't work ... I was very puzzled for a while until I realized I had accidentally turned off network coverage in the settings. Gotta be careful with those touch screens :)

The camera has flash and all kinds of neat filters, which look pretty neat combined (or not) with instagram filters. It also allows you to take continuous shots by holding down the snap button.

The video quality on this phone is also amazing, and I have been thoroughly enjoying the use of my Netflix app these past few days.

I also really enjoy that my marshmallow headphones work as a hands-free device with this phone. The pick up/hang up button below the right ear piece works wonderfully and the microphone on it functions as well! This was not true of my previous android device.

This has more to do with Google software development than with Android OS, I believe, but the speech to text features on android have become amazing! Speech to text is a lot more intuitive on android that it was even a year ago. I remember trying to punctuate sentences via STT before and getting bollocks before. Fo example, if you said, "How are you today question mark," it would type "How are you today question mark" and send that as a text. Now, it knows that you want it to actually insert a question mark and relays this message instead: "How are you today?"

Isn't that nice? :P

I'm sure there are even more impressive and amazing features on this phone that I have yet to encounter, so feel free to drop me some hints or just make generally commentary!

Ello out :)

My last week has been consumed by house hunting and Korean dramas.

I have contacted at least 30 people about different properties and watched 2.25 Korean dramas on Netflix.

I have to admit, though...I am getting pretty sick of looking for houses! The nice, affordable houses are all out of reach of public transportation...and then there are the bad, affordable houses that are kind of a mixed bag of mystery - you really don't know what you're going to get!

I am realizing more and more what a sketchy area metro Atlanta is. There really aren't many places you can live close to the perimeter without the fear of your car being broken into every day or vagrants roaming into your house during a party. Yes. That has happened to a friend of mine. I was there.

So when I get really tired of trying to find okay areas to live in, I watch Korean dramas.

So far I have watched Boys Over Flowers, Stars Falling From the Sky, and I am in the process of watching Summer Scent. 

Boys Over Flowers was kind of silly and very repetitive when it comes to plot twists. It did suck me in for some reason though, and by the time I realized how redundant and annoying it was getting I was already so close to finishing it that I refused to give up.

Stars Falling From the Sky was a big improvement :) I enjoyed the character development although I did feel like some depth was missing the the story.

All of the Korean dramas I have watched so far make me wonder why Koreans are always interrupting each other and assuming they know what's going on without allowing others to explain. And why are Korean girls so vicious? And what does liking/loving someone mean in Korean culture? Why are there so many examples of loving someone from afar, even if you've never spoken to that person or only interacted with them in very trivial situations? These things are all very frustrating to me, to watch over and over. I don't really get it!

Are these all just huge dramatizations or do any of these things ever actually happen in the day to day lives of Koreans?

Is the boy mania for real?!?! Do bunches of girls choose certain boys and obsess over them like crazy and try to prevent other people from getting with them?

I would really like some answers :P

Feel free to comment or e-mail me any insights! 

This morning I woke up to find a surprise in my toilet.

This little guy:

He was just chillin' there, right above the water line and just under the seat. I actually didn't even see him until after I had relieved myself so he got a little golden shower. 

I took him out and let him go on the porch thinking he would hop away to freedom but he just kinda hung out and did his own thing.

Then I started worrying 'cause he wasn't going anywhere and I thought maybe he got a little too much bleach in the toilet, seeing as it was just cleaned yesterday. 

I ended up moving him to a tree just to be sure...

I would have hated for a bird or a cat to come by and kill the poor guy.

How the hell did he get into our upstairs toilet, anyway? :/ 

That's what I want to know. 

He was so chill, though. He didn't care how close I got to him. The only time he even jumped was when I put him in a cup to move him.

From what I can tell, his is probably a bird-voiced tree frog - possibly a hybrid because I couldn't find an exact description.

The back of his thighs were a bright orange with some yellowish spots and he was found a little south of the Atlanta perimeter in Georgia. 

If anyone knows for sure what kind he is, I would love to know, so drop a comment!

Long weekend!

Friday I went to The Masquerade to see Reel Big Fish (link to their new album) play. It was a fun show! And it was hot as balls. Everyone was sweating their asses off.

The Maxies from Greenland were one of the opening bands and they were pretty funny. They got the crowd all riled up and excited about clubbing baby seals in their "Going Clubbin'" song.

Suburban Legends and Big D and the Kids Table were there as well, possibly two of my favorites from the night.

We ending up having to leave early though, just as Reel Big Fish started playing.

The Masquerade is an interesting place. It looks like an old ass warehouse from the outside. Inside it kind of has warehouse-esque features, like big vents leading outside and it's just a huge rectangle. It does have wood floors, which gives the place a neat feel. They are kind of uneven and creaky-looking, although I don't recall hearing much creaking at all. It is funny when everyone starts to bounce during songs, though, because the whole floor kind of wobbles up and down with them.

Saturday was kind of chill, although I had to rush down to Comcast to turn in some old equipment. We didn't do much else that day.

Sunday, though, we went house hunting! We were pretty bad at it.

We drove around for a couple hours at least and only came up with two good leads. And in the end even those turned out to be dead ends.

Otherwise! I have been playing ANNO 2070 (amazon link) and I have to say, it is very addictive!

It reminds me of Civilization V, but a lot more in depth. Pretty much everything is micromanaged. Even the population.

The game is set in the year 2070 after human beings have pretty much ruined the earth's natural ecobalance. The sea has risen and continents have been flooded.

You have the choice of joining either the Eden Initiative, a group dedicated to restoring the ecobalance, or the Global Trust, which more or less seems to me to be a capitalistic venture that represents man's "I don't give a fuck" attitude toward the planet.

I always go with Eden :P

Anyway, if you like Civ. V, check it out! It's a great game. And it kills time excellently.