Ron Paul: Using the Great Political Equalizer of the Age

As mentioned in a previous post, Ron Paul is creating an impact on the race for the 2008 Republican nomination. He is the most prominent political presence in the Blogosphere as the top search term in Technocrati and Hitwise and continues to be voted the top canidate in online debates. Even amongst much richer candidates such as Barrack Obama and Mitt Romney Ron Paul is the most popular politician on YouTube.

Do you take TIME? Introduction to a Better Economy, the Time Bank

Imagine living in a community where the only economic distinction between one person and another is how much time they spend helping others. Imagine a place where people are able to engage with one another in new and exciting ways each day and everyone in town is known for their special skill or talent. Imagine a time-based currency, where one hour of work equals one service credit.

In economics, a time-based currency is an alternative currency where the unit of exchange is the hour.

Time-based currencies value everyone’s contributions equally. One hour equals one service credit. In these systems, one person volunteers to work for an hour for another person; thus, they are credited with one hour, which they can redeem for an hour of service from another volunteer.
(Wikipedia entry)

Check to see if there is a Time Bank in your area

Cat Stevens to Yusuf Islam: His New Road

The Real X-Files: Proof that Aliens exist?

Wednesday Wisdom: Never too late

hy don't we have some Wednesday Wisdom on Thursday.

Sometimes you feel like you should pursue something specific for no logical reason and you may be obsessed on reaching this goal or obtaining this specific thing or circumstance, do not be discouraged if you do not obtain this specific thing, because you may have never really been intended to obtain it, but a feeling you had was leading you down the correct path and your mind just habitually focused on something to justify your pursuit or logic.

Go with it, see where it takes you, trust it, faith......................

Where Can I Catch the Greatest Surf?

With all the focus on Television today it is very important for us to realize where there is unnessary negativity in our lives. I stopped watching TV about two years ago and I have found I have much more time and have a more positive outlook on the world. I am not bombarded with Shock or Fear based news segments, useless celebrity gossip, or constantly told why I "Need" some other product. I do not believe their is someone out to hurt myself and others on every corner of my neighborhood or that the whole world is at War with eachother. Celebrities are just people and I don't need to know about their lives, and all I need is basic food, exercise, sleep, a goal, spirituality, occasionally shelter and relationships, and the secret is that it is all free.

For every horrific thing that happened to someone on the news their are the more powerful acts of kindsness happening every day that get little recognition from the media. Many people are turning off their televisions and turning to online video sites such as YouTube to fullfill their entertainment wants. There are a lot of benefits to choosing what you want to watch when you want to watch it. I often go on an educational tangent when surfing around YouTube or I just watch some Family Guy for a good laugh.

The internet too can be bombarded with advertisement and negative media as well, but the user has more control over the content. Every half-hour show that is watched has at least ten mintues of commercials in total. Not only do I save on my cable bill but (for now) I can watch programs without ads and I can skip programs I'm not interested in. It is a more active partcipation for the most part. I also have the ability to watch something really interesting and share it with the world on my blog and people have the ability to discuss what they are viewing and exchange information and links to other relevant topics.

At the same time you could find yourself addicted to a certain negative feeling and continuously pursuing it online. You may consistantly search for specific content to reinforce your views instead of broadening your horizons.

Take control over your entertainment and have more time, have a better outlook, have trust in others, and be excited for living in the information age and for the opportunity to send and recieve information across geographical, political, and cultural lines.

The Great Storyteller of our Age

Many people have never been to jail, never been shot at, have never been awake in an operating room, lived in France, or had to escape from prison, yet an image will come to mind if we are were asked about it. We have opinions about places we’ve never been to, people we’ve never met, and things we have never done.

Somehow we find ways of taking our limited real-world experience and combining it with images and sounds from mostly the television or other media to produce knowledge. The cultivation of certain representations of people, places, and things are essential for our construction of knowledge. Our cultivation of these representations do vary from culture to culture and person to person based on life experiences, but when a majority of the concepts come from one source, such as TV, it sets the stage for a narrow window of possibilities in relating to the understanding of the world (Shannahan, Morgan).

It is important to understand that a source of information cannot go unchecked. We cannot allow the limited number of representations of Men and Women, Blacks and Whites, Rich and Poor, etc., to limit our possibilities. Even the broad man-made categories I just mentioned are far too limiting, and the fact I just used the term "man-made" is showing how hard it can be to remove oneself certain cultural frames and norms based on what we digest from the media.

If violence is 10 times more prevalent in Prime Time, than in real life, then we may be more fearful of our world. The "Mean-World Syndrome" can be better understood if you can find a neighbor that doesn't watch TV, or atleast is a very selective viewer, and you compare them with someone who watches the average 7 hours of TV a day. It may be surprising how two next door neighbors can have such different views of how dangerous and evil the world is(Gerber).

Not to say everyone should stop watching TV, but we need to understand that Violence and Fear sells. This is why we recieve a regular dosage every night on the news. They don't report every violent act, just a few of the most exciting ones, and then balance them out with a few other stories that usually go with their sponsor's commericials or stories that are actually not much more than an Infomercial for a product. The news is not much more relevant than any other television production, it just so happens to be really profitable format for a certain demographic.

Media Violence: Chicken, the Egg, or the Omellete

It feels as if we have entered a time where regulation is pending or intrusive in every part of our lives. Most people are just trying to do the right thing and are collaborating to create a world that better suites them. When it comes to media violence it feels like the chicken or the egg dilemma. Are we naturally violent and to deny our violence is to make us vulnerable to the reality of violence. Or is violent behavior learned through family life, social life, and the media.

Social Darwinists would have us believe that violence is a natural part of existence that can justify wars, not having safety nets, and the poor killing each other. During the Anti-War movement many started to accept the belief that the media was encouraging violence through violent movies and shows. Now with the realism and popularity of video games it takes the argument to a whole new level.

I believe we must always analyze the context of media, the audience, and the time in which we live. I do not believe that the violence in movies automatically changes or creates our nature. I do believe it can inspire us to commit violence though, but it all depends how we decide to take in the movie. It is how we decide to interpret these images. If we can have parents explain why the violence is wrong or the context and the reason the film was made the cultural studies model can be effective in understanding the violence. Or parents should be encouraged to simply, turn it off and be involved in their kids lives and explain why they do not want them to watch.

Many people today would look at the 80’s ultra-violent movies and laugh at them. As a society the context has change even if they still show people getting shot with a gun. There is no evidence to say that the more realistic violent video games become, the more violence rises. All we can say is that there have been a few cases where someone has said they committed violence and were influenced by a game. Even then, was the game a scapegoat created by their lawyer, were they seeking out violence games to imitate want they wanted to do, or were they really changed or encouraged by the game? All of these explanations are plausible and all are probably true to individual cases. I believe that humans have the ability to be violent when facing desperate circumstances, fight or flight is real and it makes us act irrationally and it is for survival. At the same time if a movie encourages adrenaline or a fight or flight response the first time, eventually people simply won’t react to movies anymore after there brain gets used to being fooled. I do not believe regulation is the answer to the problem of violence in our society. Violence existed before the television, but we must continuously study how violence impacts us as a society and understand the context of all violent games and films.

The Most Influential American History Lecture of Your Life

Viernes is for Vision: The Next Step

ision for today:

Being a Graduate student in Hawaii for Communication and working on my Graduate certificate in Telecommunication and Information Resource Management. Living with my girlfriend Shana in Hawaii where she will teach young children who really need her. Studying on the beach and taking a break to catch a wave as it breaks into the sandy shores. Running my online businesses in my spare time and running and doing yoga every day. At least one day a week I will be volunteering trying to make a difference in young kids life either at a homeless shelter or at my own non-profit organization.

Wednesday Wisdom: Wanting

hen Human beings feel the hole in their soul, they can fill it with desires and the faster it goes, or they fill it with good deeds the longer it goes and theirs and others happiness grows.

I would like to get more involved with helping kids in tough situations. I volunteer at a homeless shelter currently but would like to put in some more hours there. I need to bring more young ones in balance so they can pass on positive vibes instead of seeking out easy ways to end the tide over the pain inside. I am definately not the perfectly balanced person I hope to be. I give in to the short term too easily. By helping others though, I find I give into instant gratification far less. I have a tendency to take the easy way out sometimes, I am predispositioned to it because I can be clever and can get by without effort in situations like school. But I could be more of a benefit to mankind if I developed some better habits and volunteered more.

Red's Blessing bring us The Big Ticket

The days of rebuilding are over. Kevin Garnett is a Celtic. He joins Ray Allen and Paul Pierce creating, at least in my opinion, The New Big Three. Paul Pierce is pumped and ready to go being injury free and finally in the company of some veterans. Ray Allen is coming off of his best statistical year ever, and Kevin Garnett is as fierce a competitor as any in NBA history. When these three mortals combine on the court they create something unstoppable. With their powers combined they create a giant Leprechaun that can block shots with his head, grabs rebounds with his teeth and stands as tall as late great Bill Brasky. Did you know that both Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen prefer the number 34 and when KG came to the Timberwolves J.R. Rider had taken it at the time. Thirty-Four could also be taken to mean 3 plus 4, which equals 7, Big Al's number. Yah, the guy that was traded for KG. Now take 7 subtract it by 4 and you get 3. The Big Three. Now take the number 1889, the year Paul's great-great-great grandmother was born and subtract it from 2008, the year they are guaranteed to win the championship, and you get 119. That is 911 backwards. I just reported this to 911truth.org and Alex Jones, more on this story as it develops. Nah, but seriously....the government did it.

His name is Wai and he has something to say

I have came across an interesting man preaching in London by the name of Wai. He has some very interesting thoughts on pretty much every philosophical puzzle of our time. From uncovering the true meaning of our major world religions to trying to understand the complexity of mathematical fractals such as the Mandelbrot set. He led an interesting life and came to his own realizations that he expresses in his lectures, his church, and on his website. The preceding clip is on the nature of reality. To see more clips visit his website at IAWWAI.com