Myspace and Facebook have been created for college students by college students. It was a way for them to talk, chat and share in an unique online environment. Now there are all sorts of them out there including sites like Club Penguin for kids. Some of these sites require a paid membership which reduces those annoying ads and some are free.
I have had both a myspace page and a Facebook page for several years. It has been great for the most part. Myspace fell behind Facebook but is now doing the exact same things as Facebook. The only real difference I have seen in the two are the people who use them. More teens tend to use Myspace and more adults use Facebook. But what is the attraction to such sites? It was intended for college students but even grandparents use them to keep in touch with the grand kids! I even know of kids that use Myspace or facebook that under the min age of 13.
What is the hype? I cannot speak to everyone else's reasons but I am sure it is not far from my own. I use Facebook for various reasons. I was once hooked on the games like Farmville and Farmtown. Would get online in the middle of the night to just harvest crops! Had to break that habit. I do have a game on facebook I play and I deleted my Myspace page. I have always used it to get in touch with family and friends. Facebook has become an important part of my life. I have friends on it and I have networks. I love it when I post a video I find on the Internet and I start seeing it for several days later being posted by friends from both the east and west side of the country!
I think that it is a way to socialize in the same style medium many have seen as the old school "chat rooms" and forums. One day I logged on and there was a friend request. I opened the request and noticed it was from a person in Virginia. I figured it was someone that knows my family whom are mostly in Virginia. Due to privacy settings, I could not see any other information. I excepted the request just to see who it was. As it turned out, this was a neighbor of mine from when I was in like 7th-8th grade! I was floored that she would have remembered me at all let alone that she would contact me. She is now a good online friend.
I am friends with many folks all over the country. I even have one that lives in Europe! Old family members. New friends. I can check in and look to see if anything major is going on. It has help us! When my oldest girl started have seizures, we were able to keep folks informed and in prayer through Facebook. When my father-in-law went into the hospital recently, Facebook was instrumental in maintaining contact. Having this is a comfort.
Speaking of comfort, I have this one friend, a sister if you will. We have known each other for many many years. And were we are not as close as we once were, we are always there when we need each other. Her girls used to call me Uncle Joe. The one thing I know for sure is this, we have a part of each other. A bond that will forever go with us. So every time I log onto Facebook, I look to see if I have been "poked." Out of all my friends, she is the only one that "pokes" me. And just seeing that she has done that lets me know she has thought of me. And then and there I pray for her.
I also get to post things like this blog. I am dabbling in the realm of writing and this gives me a forum of sorts to share my attempts. If you go to this link, and look at my other blogs, you will find several poems and stuff that I have done. I love the feed back I get. I wish people would give me feed back even if it is bad.
So Facebook to me, connects me with the world of family and friends. I get news, laughs, comforts, information, expressions, games, and more. I even get it on my phone so I can check in anywhere!
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Clearifing the SUper Bowl issue
I blogged yesterday about the Super Bowl which is going on as I type this. I want to say that I do not beleive that the Super Bowl is evil. That anyone who watches it is evil. I enjoy it as much as the next. But if you read my blog: http://edgejoe.blogspot.com/2011/02/no-more-super-bowl-for-me.html you will see that I feel that the whole event shows a lack of prioities. As a personal idea of reflection on the help to those that are suffering and to sound management of money, I choose not to watch or "celebrate" the "holiday" called the Super Bowl. Again, yall aint sinners cause yall watch the Super Bowl. Just think about where the fiscal blessing of God is going.
Later---
Saturday, February 5, 2011
No more Super Bowl for me!
I watched several NFL games throughout the past season as well as many of the play off games. Very entertaining. A few very close games. But after the last playoff game two weeks ago, I realized that I cannot support it! Do you know how much many is spent for the Super Bowl (SB)? Once you know, you will see why I can't do it anymore. I want ot say right off, I like watching football. I beleive in sports. But to what extent do we go for them?
I did a bit of research into the subject and found that if Americans would put the money spent on the Super Bowl alone into a bank account, there would be $666,380,000 (rough numbers based on 2011 ticket prices and parking fees) in it. This is not including the price of food at the games, the airfare to Dallas, the rental car fees, the hotels costs, the memoribilia, nor the various parties in Dallas area and all across the country. Even President Obama is having a party with J Lo and her man Marc Anthony!
Some facts from 2009 say that an estimated 1 billion chicken wings will be eaten during the SB. 325.5 million gallons of beer. 28 million lbs of tator chips.
Oh, how about those 30 sec really cool commercials they have? going for $2.5 million-$3 million! For just 30 seconds of time! Do you remeber what you saw 30 seconds ago? Seriously, in the age of youtube, we watch so much I can't beleive anyone will be that affected by 30 seconds that they probably did not really see cause they were getting up to go pee out the 5 beers they just drank! Would not make me just leave the game and buy a new car!
I also looked at the salaries of the players, who get a nice bonus if they get to the SB. The average annual salary for these guys to play a game is $770,000! How many players are on a team again? The highest paid salaries are around $16 million-- a year! And who pays their salaries? We do by buying the beer and the chips and the game tickets and the clothes and the NFL channel fees and the Exclusive NFL.com memberships!
Ok, back to focus on the SB. A 16 ounce beer at the stadium will cost you $10, a 32-ounce soda runs $7, and a hot dog is $6. I found one source that said it will cost $5 million for the food need at Dallas Stadium. So lets round the total for this one game to about $1billion for a 2-3 hour game. If just that much was put toward the national debt? And we did it once a year? It may not seem like much but if we stopped the bleeding in our government and then put atleast a billion dollars toward the debt every year, we would make a huge impact! Or even if we just used that much money toward helping the homeless or the poor? Where is this human caring that we laud as American values?
It was flushed down the Super Bowl.
I did a bit of research into the subject and found that if Americans would put the money spent on the Super Bowl alone into a bank account, there would be $666,380,000 (rough numbers based on 2011 ticket prices and parking fees) in it. This is not including the price of food at the games, the airfare to Dallas, the rental car fees, the hotels costs, the memoribilia, nor the various parties in Dallas area and all across the country. Even President Obama is having a party with J Lo and her man Marc Anthony!
Some facts from 2009 say that an estimated 1 billion chicken wings will be eaten during the SB. 325.5 million gallons of beer. 28 million lbs of tator chips.
Oh, how about those 30 sec really cool commercials they have? going for $2.5 million-$3 million! For just 30 seconds of time! Do you remeber what you saw 30 seconds ago? Seriously, in the age of youtube, we watch so much I can't beleive anyone will be that affected by 30 seconds that they probably did not really see cause they were getting up to go pee out the 5 beers they just drank! Would not make me just leave the game and buy a new car!
I also looked at the salaries of the players, who get a nice bonus if they get to the SB. The average annual salary for these guys to play a game is $770,000! How many players are on a team again? The highest paid salaries are around $16 million-- a year! And who pays their salaries? We do by buying the beer and the chips and the game tickets and the clothes and the NFL channel fees and the Exclusive NFL.com memberships!
Ok, back to focus on the SB. A 16 ounce beer at the stadium will cost you $10, a 32-ounce soda runs $7, and a hot dog is $6. I found one source that said it will cost $5 million for the food need at Dallas Stadium. So lets round the total for this one game to about $1billion for a 2-3 hour game. If just that much was put toward the national debt? And we did it once a year? It may not seem like much but if we stopped the bleeding in our government and then put atleast a billion dollars toward the debt every year, we would make a huge impact! Or even if we just used that much money toward helping the homeless or the poor? Where is this human caring that we laud as American values?
It was flushed down the Super Bowl.
The China take over: Why we have to buy Chinese
I have been looking and searching for quite a few years now and have discovered that 95% of our everyday products come from other countries, and mostly from China. Why is it that way? Is it because they have better products? Or maybe they have the corner on the technology? Or maybe it is because the are CHEAPER.
I recently bought a pair of shoes. They were not the lowest price but not the high end either. I also bought some inserts. After getting home, I thought to look at them more closely, Both products made in China. I really did not have any choice. The inserts were the only ones there. The shoes were the only ones in my price range. I have a Driod 2 cell phone that is also made in China. If I looked, I could find a cell phone that is made here in the US, but all too often these days, if you want a good product that is cutting edge technology, you HAVE to buy outside of the US. Even my car is foreign.
I buy local and US produces when I can but it is like eating healthy, it costs more. That is why we have to buy Chinese. I must say that I have not looked at the number, largely because I cannot find them. Even without them, I have been shopping. And most of what I see in the stores now are made outside the US. Even the high tech stuff. I even see a lot of it in my job in the medical field. We buy gloves used to protect us from body fluids of infectious patients and to prevent them from getting contamination. The same place we get kids toys that has lead and other toxins in them! One that really gets me is that the good ol' Boy Scouts of America buys their uniforms from China! I am going to have to keep searching for those numbers because from where I stand it does not look good for us. We are dependant upon other countries to sustain our way of life. I am all for capitalism except when it takes away the jobs and livelihoods of our own people. Bring our industries back to us.
Until then, I will need to rely on the Chinese products. But I will look for more and more ways to buy local and American.
I recently bought a pair of shoes. They were not the lowest price but not the high end either. I also bought some inserts. After getting home, I thought to look at them more closely, Both products made in China. I really did not have any choice. The inserts were the only ones there. The shoes were the only ones in my price range. I have a Driod 2 cell phone that is also made in China. If I looked, I could find a cell phone that is made here in the US, but all too often these days, if you want a good product that is cutting edge technology, you HAVE to buy outside of the US. Even my car is foreign.
I buy local and US produces when I can but it is like eating healthy, it costs more. That is why we have to buy Chinese. I must say that I have not looked at the number, largely because I cannot find them. Even without them, I have been shopping. And most of what I see in the stores now are made outside the US. Even the high tech stuff. I even see a lot of it in my job in the medical field. We buy gloves used to protect us from body fluids of infectious patients and to prevent them from getting contamination. The same place we get kids toys that has lead and other toxins in them! One that really gets me is that the good ol' Boy Scouts of America buys their uniforms from China! I am going to have to keep searching for those numbers because from where I stand it does not look good for us. We are dependant upon other countries to sustain our way of life. I am all for capitalism except when it takes away the jobs and livelihoods of our own people. Bring our industries back to us.
Until then, I will need to rely on the Chinese products. But I will look for more and more ways to buy local and American.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Saturday, January 8, 2011
The Masterpiece by Joe Edge
The brush is dipped into a puddle of deep green. It is lifted to the canvas.
Thus becomes the start of something that transcends our ability to describe.
The brush is touched to the textured surface of the blank material.
It glides across the openness. Another stroke back. Again. Again.
A few light upward flips of the brush. Time for a new one. Another color.
This time a mix of two colors and then to the canvas. Long careful arcs.
The canvas is slowly and purposely touched and tapped. It is scrapped.
It is looked at. It is changing. As the Painter paints, the canvas marvels at itself.
the paint feels wet and cool. Sticky. Yet wonderful. There is a comfort in it.
The painter chooses each color, each brush in turn. covering the bareness of the fabric.
Green and blue. Red and purple. Brown. Black. Yellow. He has a plan.
He has a purpose. Even as he paints, the canvas is unaware.
The canvas cannot know what the Painter has in mind.
But as the whiteness fads away in a sea of colors, it is filled with joy.
It has a purpose. It has a plan. Even with the imperfections in it surface, the Painter still paints.
For His purpose is greater that the canvas itself.
The last bit of white is gone. The last drop of paint has been put on.
The Painter puts down His brushes. He puts down His paints.
The once plain white rectangle is something different now. The canvas feels the change.
As the Painter wanted it to happen, the extraordinary has happened.
He has taken the special beauty out of the canvas and made it for all to see.
On the canvas now is what is true. It is what is beautiful. It is you.
by Joe Edge
NOTE: This is a poem dedicated to Karen Hodges. You are truly God's Masterpiece. Trust in that! God bless you.
Thus becomes the start of something that transcends our ability to describe.
The brush is touched to the textured surface of the blank material.
It glides across the openness. Another stroke back. Again. Again.
A few light upward flips of the brush. Time for a new one. Another color.
This time a mix of two colors and then to the canvas. Long careful arcs.
The canvas is slowly and purposely touched and tapped. It is scrapped.
It is looked at. It is changing. As the Painter paints, the canvas marvels at itself.
the paint feels wet and cool. Sticky. Yet wonderful. There is a comfort in it.
The painter chooses each color, each brush in turn. covering the bareness of the fabric.
Green and blue. Red and purple. Brown. Black. Yellow. He has a plan.
He has a purpose. Even as he paints, the canvas is unaware.
The canvas cannot know what the Painter has in mind.
But as the whiteness fads away in a sea of colors, it is filled with joy.
It has a purpose. It has a plan. Even with the imperfections in it surface, the Painter still paints.
For His purpose is greater that the canvas itself.
The last bit of white is gone. The last drop of paint has been put on.
The Painter puts down His brushes. He puts down His paints.
The once plain white rectangle is something different now. The canvas feels the change.
As the Painter wanted it to happen, the extraordinary has happened.
He has taken the special beauty out of the canvas and made it for all to see.
On the canvas now is what is true. It is what is beautiful. It is you.
by Joe Edge
NOTE: This is a poem dedicated to Karen Hodges. You are truly God's Masterpiece. Trust in that! God bless you.
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