Refines.com - Easiest Job Search on the web!

Job Search

2008-11-22T13:22:00.001-05:00

Refines.com - Passion & Personality, Discovered.

The easiest job search in the world!

http://refines.com

Redirecting Energies towards the "SAVE TIBET MOVEMENT"

2008-08-01T11:28:00.002-04:00

The Wholesale site is incredible! Over 600 Fair Trade Tibetan Handicrafts are available!

Visit the Site here

We will be posting Artisan stories for all of our products inclemently LINK

With the first Tibet Collection movie on GuChuSum Prayer Flags, here

Also, TibetCollection.com has launched offering Prayer Flags, with more Ritual items such as Singing Bowls, Malas, and other fine Tibetan handicrafts coming soon!

NSFW - Not Safe For Work, but Safe to Trademark?

2007-12-11T15:33:00.000-05:00

The owner of the social news site (Fark.com) sent a patent into the United States Trademark office to try to patent an Acronym that they didn't even create. NSFW stands for Not Safe For Work. Read the rest
Personally I am not a fan of people patenting Acronyms, colors, flavors, or babies.

Microsoft changes mind, decides to reward Pirates

2007-12-04T21:38:00.000-05:00

Microsoft recently decided to scrap the idea of having reduced functionality of it's Operating System for Pirated Versions in Service Pack 1. Instead pirated owner's will be rewarded for their interest in their products with an almost Wholesale discount price. Either that our Pirates will be forced to see irritated pop-ups and balloons annoying them into searching for the latest crack.

The rest from Wired.com

Rated M for Murder

2007-11-27T15:08:00.000-05:00

Linux Guru Hans Reiser is accused of killing his wife and hiding the body. The wife of Hans Reiser, Nina, a former Russian mail order bride(according to Wired, but not found in Wikipedia) has been missing for over four years. What may have led to her murder may be credited to their numerous disputes over whether their sons would be allowed to play violent video games.

From Wired

The 700mhz spectrum is worth GOOGOLS to Google

2007-11-19T11:12:00.000-05:00

Google plans on going at the 700mhz spectrum alone. Formerly it was suspected that Google would be partnering up with another force to try to grab up the lucrative Frequency Realty set to be auctioned of on January 24, 2008. The auction by the FCC for the spectrum has the potential to affect everything from Wireless market prices, to cellular service battles in the years to come.

Read the Full Article from Wired

Wikiconfidential

2007-11-14T09:56:00.000-05:00

The internet keeps getting better thanks to our Wikiagents bringing the latest and greatest information on Bush's Funhouse to light. A very interesting document on Guantamano Bay and its innocent,could be any of us residents.

http://www.wired.com/politics/onlinerights/news/2007/11/gitmo

Leggo my Torrents

2007-11-05T13:58:00.000-05:00

The music sharing only site, Waffles.fm looks to follow in the footsteps of it's predecessor, OiNK which was raided and shut down by British authorities only recently. At three hundred registration requests a minute the site's servers have been taking a hit. Now Waffles.fm is in an "invite only" mode that similar Bit Torrent site's have taken recently.

The Article from Wired

Space: The Final Market

2007-10-28T15:00:00.001-04:00

The legal implications of the World Wide Web Domain Gold Rush can't compare to the legal chaos that an ownership of space could bring. In this article paranoid billionaire Robert T. Bigelow is trying to beat NASA into the space station vacation market. His inflatable space station isn't made by Mattel and it actually does work, and is more efficient than anything NASA has available for space entrepreneurs. Bigelow plans on becoming the retail window for space.

Similarly to Domain Names, how far-out will it be when people are trying to claim sections of space as their own and what kind of dispute resolution system would possibly make sense for a battle over space.

Read the Article

Red Alert

2007-10-23T13:51:00.000-04:00

I felt that this article is very controversial. RBN could be looked as a protector for some. But they have a chance to protect illegal activities if they wanted to.

From Wired.com

Unified Communications Theory

2007-10-16T11:28:00.000-04:00

According to Microsoft, they will be our savior from "Voicemail Jail". No longer will we have to play telephone tag, because we will have our Computers, PDA's, cell phones, Instant Messaging Services, Abacuses, and First Response Devices all unified and accessible from any other device. There will be nowhere to hide, unless you click the away button, as with AOL Instant Messenger. You will be able to choose communications via text, voice, and or video at anytime any place all integrated under Microsoft's loving embrace.

Older Press Release

CNN Video

2001: A Cyberspace Oddity

2007-10-09T14:45:00.000-04:00

There is an article on Wired.com that discusses the internet innovators on the cusp of the new millennium. I find it really interesting because it discusses sites that I have long since forgotten such as Audiogalaxy.com and what the entrepreneurs have been up to since then.

Read the Article

Marketing Geniuses or Sound-Philanthropists?

2007-10-01T17:09:00.000-04:00

Instead of taking Legal Action to deter fans from pirating music, the band Radiohead is presenting their art to fans in a new way, they can pay what they want for it. Not bidding, but simply picking your own price for a digital copy of their new album, "in rainbows" scheduled to be released this month.

Fans can pay whatever they want for the digital-only version of the album; when it's time to check out, the only price listed is "it's up to you."

-Elliot Van Buskirk
http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2007/10/fans-to-determi.html

If fans are looking for something a little more substantial than their digital album or a CD, they can purchase an $80 Boxed Set with plenty of extras.

It will be really interesting to find out what the average person paid for their album online. If they are aware that it is distributed by Radiohead directly, at least they know where all their money is going, I personally don't think Radiohead will lose anything by testing out this clever marketing/philanthropic idea, I think they will make out pretty well.

Dot-Name, Opens the doors for Nameless Crimes

2007-10-01T16:28:00.000-04:00

The Global Name Registry is one of the only Top Level Domain Administrators that makes you Pay to see the WHOIS, or personal information of the Registrees. According to popular Legal and Social opinion this will inhibit authorities of swiftly utilizing the WHOIS database to pursue alleged Cyber Criminals.

From Gadi Evron, Security Researcher:

"The domain name system has grown bigger than it was ever planned to be, is doing more than it was ever intended to do and does it proudly," Evron said. "But the governance around it has become profit-based, and we have no fallback system to handle criminal organizations and countries that abuse domain names."

http://www.wired.com/politics/security/news/2007/09/dot_name

Second Life Article

2007-09-11T13:52:00.000-04:00

I found this article on the Legal problems of Second Life to be very interesting. I recently logged onto Second Life a few months ago and I was just blown away by this virtual world. People had businesses, casinos, stock exchanges, land for sale, and manners for interacting with avatars. The strangest part to me was that everyone was taking everything so seriously. I felt really lost in the whole thing and decided to research it further online to get an outside perspective. What I found was that people were looking at the virtual worlds as the “Next Big Thing” for entrepreneurs. A train that was leaving soon and you had better jump on before you need to pay premium price for a seat.

Although it still has a Social experiment type feel to it, Second life will eventually be riddled with rules and regulations. Just like in our current system, the richer Linden Capitalists will eventually want to protect their investments at all costs and will weed out the business practices that will only profit from short term gain. The ones that are taking advantage of any inconsistencies in law between the virtual world and their own real-world laws(which will vary from region to region obviously) will soon be shoved into a corner with their backs against the wall. As the Second Life economy evolves at a faster rate than our own, we will be able to foresee the shortcomings and the areas in which we can improve our own society and it’s economy.

Ron Paul: Using the Great Political Equalizer of the Age

2007-08-23T11:23:00.000-04:00

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

2007-08-15T11:31:00.001-04:00

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

2007-08-15T07:00:00.001-04:00

The Real X-Files: Proof that Aliens exist?

2007-08-15T06:49:00.001-04:00

Wednesday Wisdom: Never too late

2007-08-09T08:28:00.000-04:00

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?

2007-08-08T16:12:00.000-04:00

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

2007-08-08T12:51:00.000-04:00

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

2007-08-08T11:50:00.000-04:00

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

2007-08-07T19:56:00.000-04:00

Viernes is for Vision: The Next Step

2007-08-03T14:10:00.000-04:00

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.