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31 May 2008

Crazy like a fox???

Today’s word is legitimacy. It is hard to find genuine legitimacy in the modern world. Thankfully there is the internet, and regrettably there is the internet. The internet can be a great tool for trying to determine legitimacy but it is also a great distributor of the less than genuine.

A case in point. I have often been interested in the money making side of life and have looked into a fair share of money making opportunities that have passed my way. If any of you have done even a little bit of looking at the same you will understand quickly where my high degree of skepticism comes from.

I have seen on TV an advertisement a few months back with a dopey looking animated fox telling how you can make big money from home and all you needed to do was go to their crazy like a fox web site and they would send the info. What they really do is provide a few more teasers, with absolutely no detail, ask for your phone address and e-mail then sends you to the next page where they want credit card information so they can charge you 10 bucks to send you their information package. I still have no idea what that information is. I am not going to hand then a single dime to find out the hard way either.

Sometimes it is easy to find out information about these kinds of operations through a quick search engine search on the internet but this time I wasn’t having much luck. I did find out that the title was used in a movie and TV series and you could probably buy a poster if you wanted to, but only one listing about the web site was found. It was from an unfortunate surfer that tried to gain info, paid his 10 bucks and then was told they wanted another 200 for the program. If he did not sign up for the program then he would have to send back the info pack or be charged another 20 dollars. I don’t know what happened but they did have is information and they don’t sound like they believe in good business practices so take the warning.

Any business that wants money for nothing is a bad deal and you should stay far away from them. Any business that expects you to put up your money first and you are only buying into a job, again stay far away from them. These are red flag warnings and should be heeded. Do not pass go because it is for sure that you are not going to collect your $200.

There are so many of these out there to choose from (and avoid) from stuffing envelopes, to MLM (multi level marketing), pyramid e-mails to friends and family plans, and all have some elements in common. They market the sizzle and not the steak. In other words, they deal in telling you how wonderful you life will be when you make $100,000 and more a year, just imagine it, and imagine what kind of a car you will drive, and imagine what kind of house you will live in, and imagine what kind of vacations you will have, and imagine how much your family will love you because of all the time you will have to spend with them. Get real good at imagining because that is really all you are left with.

I have seen a lot of these things come and go and I still find them interesting. I have had friends that have tried many of these things because they bought into the sizzle without realizing that the promises were empty or beyond their reach to fulfill.

Of course there are some that are legitimate and some have worked for some people, emphasis on the word some. I haven’t found one yet that would work for me so I keep looking with hope, but also with that huge degree of doubt and skepticism. When I start to investigate any potential business deal I go into what I call my Spock mode, and look at everything from a logical point of view while trying to eliminate any emotion driven over-reaction. Once it is found however, emotion is the one thing you will need to fire up the passions that will sustain and drive you forward in obtaining your goal. Just don’t let it blind side you to the realities going in. Most success takes a lot of hard work and dedication. Easy money is seldom easy.

Just promise me one thing, before you push the send button, or slap down that credit card, fully investigate any and all deals to make sure that you know what you are getting into. Then if it works tell everyone and help make it work for them. If it doesn’t work, tell everyone and help others avoid the pain you just went through. Or at least be able to learn the lessons of why so that you are better suited for next time. I always believe in next time.

If you would like to share your experiences just add a comment below. To borrow a phrase from Red Green “I’m pulling for you; remember were all in this together.”

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.

24 May 2008

Sometimes you need to tune out to tune in

I was just glancing at the news and nothing is catching my attention. I know I am supposed to be swayed by the headlines to delve into the altogether typical journalistic fare that is offered but this morning none of it looks the least bit appetizing. So I am not going to write about any of it. No Clintons, no Obamas, no McCains, no Congress, no celebrities, no weather, no sports, no science, no tech, no anything.

I have been watching that stuff all week long and frankly it has just brought me down with woes and worries that are unnecessary. I really don’t need to know what these other people are doing all the time. Sure some of their actions make an impact on my life, especially when they are prone to passing stupidity on to the rest of us, but from a day to day stand point most of what they do is pointless and should remain in that category when compared to my own importance to me.

What I am saying is that from time to time I notice that I tune in to way too much of the noise (and it is really just noise) and it starts affecting how I am and how I am thinking. If I listen to too much talk radio on the way to and from work it tends to make me just a little bit on edge to a whole lot on edge and driving in public is enough to do that on its own so I am pretty sure I don’t need any additional catalyst working to compound the problem. If I start the day out with the local news cast I notice that my sarcasm meter is pretty close to pegged before I even leave the door.

When I find myself getting this way, the first thing I try to do is to tune it out. To do this I generally need to start tuning into something else. This is where music comes into to play, at least that is what works best for me. I also find that tuning into another station in search of music doesn’t always work because of the insistence on all that intermittent chatter that clutters things up and gets in the way of playing any real music. Current stations are lousy that way. It is a good thing a have a fairly large library to choose from.

My musical tastes are fairly large and I like a wide range of music. There are also some definite areas of so called music that I do not care to go and will actively avoid whenever possible. Music is almost magical in that it can lift us up, energize us, commiserate with us, console us, give us hope, and share our joys. It can bring back fond memories of happy times, sad times, and romantic times.

Because music has the power to magnify good thoughts and feelings it also has the power to magnify the bad. If used unwisely, it can take you farther down the path that you are trying to get away from. Be mindful of this, as you are being mindful of yourself.

If you notice that you are not in the place you want to be, then it is time to start changing the place that you are or start moving to a new place. Sometimes it is as simple as changing the noise around you. When the noise coming from the outside is impacting the noise you make on the inside, then it is time to start tuning out what you don’t need and start tuning in to what you do need. Follow the admonitions of Paul. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after those things.

And that is why today I am tuning out all of those things that seem to get in the way of being able to tune in to those things that matter most. I am pretty sure I will be better off for it.

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.

A government shows fiscal responsibility

A government shows fiscal responsibility

I saw an interesting headline today from the UPI but when I went to read the article it was missing. The headline reads “$10B announced for quake reconstruction” and then the intro copy reads “China will cut government spending by 5 percent this year so it can set aside $10.14 billion for reconstruction in the nation’s…”. I really wanted to read the rest of that one. I wonder why they pulled it. A little further on, I found an article on Monsters and Critics filling in the details. The Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said the government would allocate a total of 25 billion yuan (3.6 billion dollars) and freeze approval of new official buildings.

Imagine that, a government showing fiscal responsibility. This came as a shock as it is almost unheard of in this day and age. An actual leader to the world and doing so by example, and it happens to be the Chinese. I applaud the humanitarian effort strongly but I applaud the fiscal responsibility even more. Here in the US of A we seem to have lost all control of government spending and propriety. Congress continues to pander for votes for which the citizens are more than willing to accept. I think we are in need of a major change here and it is not the kind of change the politicians have been talking about.

I am glad to see the government lending a hand though I would be just as glad if they didn’t, but with a disaster of this magnitude any help from any source is needed. I have not seen a great deal of mention about a large outpouring of aid heading for China this time though I know it is occurring. I did find an article where some pharmaceutical companies have stepped in to send supplies, and I am positive that many others have put forth an effort to extend a hand to those in need. Some do it for the publicity and aren’t getting it and some do it for true charity and they don’t need the recognition. To those that are lending a hand to a brother in need, I salute you.

It is interesting to me that people with such a caring and giving nature can be so selective in whom they will aid sometimes. Do you think that some crises receive more attention than others? I think the media helps drive this by creating causes and drawing attention to what they would have us see rather than providing an open view of all the world and letting us decide what we will focus our attention on. I also think that it is hard for us to trust that our aid will go where it is intended. There are far too many stories in the news this day that speak of abuses of our good nature. It is hard not to be skeptical, but if you take the time to look you will find many wonderful organizations that are founded on more than just good intentions.

What has happened in Myanmar is a disgrace. The government there has finally agreed to let “all aid workers” of any nationality to enter the country to try to help where they can. If ever there was a country that needed to be invaded for a good cause it is Myanmar. The UN of course will take credit for its small part in making the aid possible from its secretary general’s visit but it should be ashamed of the fact that it took nearly three weeks for them to take even this simple action. Because of other political issues raised in the international community about Myanmar abuses, much need aid has been withheld, and fault appears to belong to both sides of this coin. Instead of worrying about nonsensical political power plays, action should be taken now to ensure that real help is provided for those in need. If a temporary invasion is required then so be it. A military presence good be used to ensure the safe application and personnel safety of a relief effort. Just go directly to the areas that were hit hardest and start there by providing for immediate needs, cleanup work, and begin rebuild efforts, and then just as quickly leave, thereby allowing the people to return to their lives as best they can. Leave the problems of yesterday and tomorrow for another time. There is more than enough to do today.

The amount of devastation caused by the quakes in China and the cyclone in Myanmar and the myriad other events around the world is immense and the impact to lives is nearly impossible to comprehend. My heart goes out to all the people affected. There are people around the world who are impacted directly and indirectly by what has happened. As mobility increases and the flow of information expands we find that we truly are part of the same family and share a common home. The flow of information makes it easier to know about these natural disasters and to want to reach out and help.

Sometimes knowledge of the needs of the world is easier to obtain than those of our next door neighbor. If you look around close to home you may discover that there are many needs close at hand for which you are well suited to making a difference. And not all needs are solved by money. Sometimes just giving of yourself, your time, your effort, your ear, or even a shoulder will be a blessing to someone in need.

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.

07 May 2008

Rudy Taft for President

If you took the time to look at the election results from yesterday’s events and you did not focus on the typical stories that inundate us about the Socialist candidates running but rather looked at the actual results and bottom line numbers, you would have noticed on the Republican side of the ticket that McCain running unopposed again only garnered about 75% of the vote. That means that 1 out of every 4 people is choosing someone else even though there is zero chance of that other person being the nominee.

Well it has started to happen like I thought it would. Although I didn’t search long and hard or tune into as many news cast as I normally would, I came across one Oliver Willis who wrote an article on the Huffington Post who made note of just this startling trend. Granted this is not a mainstream site or very widely covered (but with a higher viewership than my own humble pages) it does mean that someone else has noticed this fact. Where will it go from here?

If we are really stuck this term with deciding the lesser of three evils, then we truly are in a world of hurt. Perhaps it is time to bring back Rudy Taft.

Who is Rudy Taft you ask? I don’t know where the idea came from or how it started but back in my junior year in high school a group of students decided to run a campaign for student body election for treasurer for one Rudy Taft. Of course there was no such student so whenever there was a debate or rally the other students would campaign in his place. There were posters and banners and his symbol, a toilet plunger on the end of a cane. The faculty were not amused and even less so when Rudy won by a landslide. Of course those results were never made public. The second place finisher was made treasurer, we didn’t want hurt feelings and high school life went on as normal.

This Presidential campaign is in bad need of a Rudy Taft. If it truly is too late to come up with a really real candidate for this election then a write in campaign is needed to let the political system know that it is broken and needs fixing and we can no longer take it seriously. A write in campaign on a large enough scale could just send that message if anyone is still listening. If Rudy Taft is too hard to remember then use me, Ed Nef, because you can’t get much simpler than that. Or if you do know how to spell pick one of the radio show host such as Glenn Beck or your favorite cartoon character, it doesn’t matter just so long as it is something that people will be able to identify and know that we have had enough. We deserve better. If there is enough interest we could unite our efforts under one banner and one candidate and see just how far we could take this. Who knows, real change may come from our fictional character rather than theirs.


This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.

04 May 2008

Just another disappointing week in politics

So what did happen in the news this last week? The first thing that comes to mind is the Clinton interview with Fox’s O’Reilly who promised to be fair and balanced. Although I did not get to hear the entire interview I did catch enough to know that it was a kid glove treatment if ever there was one. The next day Bill was defending the way the interview went so I am sure I am not the only one to think that he was soft on her. I know why, but really, why? One of her campaign promise points is that she is tough enough to do what it takes, so why would Bill feel like he had to back off the tough questions that we have all wanted to ask.

Oh sure, he said that he asked them and listening to the bit I heard he did ask some tough questions such as the why the promises to make New York better while in office actually made things worse, but he never pressed her to get an answer. In fact he asked some questions and went on to the next topic before she even had to come up with her take of events. She was actually pleased with the way things went if that tells you anything.

Of course Fox had to make sure this was a success as did Bill O’Reilly. They have scared off many politicians with their so called fair and balanced reporting which makes it hard to compete for news stories let alone those all important interviews. But if you alter your style to match that of all the others then what use are you? You have lost the thing that makes you unique among a world of cookie cutter platforms.

The other big story continues to be Obama and his ties to his minister. I wrote about this before when the story was about Romney and his religion in “Does religion matter in our politicians?”. I still think that the beliefs and standards of an individual do matter and that it helps define who the person is.

So should Obama be held responsible for the views and opinions of his minister? Of course not. He should be held responsible for his own views and opinions. When the story first broke my thoughts went to another story of a political figure at the local level. I was just a youngster of 17 or so but I was well enough aware that the mayor of our town (who also happened to be the vice principal of the local high school) would increase his attendance at church profoundly during election time. In fact, if it hadn’t been for the upcoming election I probably wouldn’t have known that he went to our church. That is why my first thoughts about Obama is that he was going to church mostly for political clout and his choice of church reflected his true desire. Whether it is true or not, I cannot say, but it does make me wonder.

As far as that is concerned, you don’t hear much about the Clintons and their choice of church. I have seen the occasional story of them attending but it usually seemed like they were more in search of attention than being spiritually fed. I don’t mean to make unrighteous judgments and hope that I am not but the appearances that comes across for the actions of most politicians is totally self centered and self serving. Hopefully with all of this exposure, some of it might just rub off.

So what is the one thing that I did take away from the interviews I have seen this last week, from Clinton’s talk with O’Reilly to Obama’s chat on meet the press to McCain’s press conferences? That none of the candidates are anywhere close to being ready to run a nation. None of them seem to have a very good grasp on domestic issues, economics of supply and demand, foreign affairs, or true cause and effect relationships. They represent exactly what we have seen coming out of congress for the past many decades. This means that we will continue to see short term knee jerk poll driven reactions to actual or created crises without regard to the true welfare for the future of our nation.

If there is one thing that politicians have learned it is that you can bend perceptions to their needs. They have used repetition and innuendo to create the illusion myths that we stumble on today. Cold hard facts are irrelevant if they can convince you to ‘feel’ that their vision is the way things are. They can and have changed the definition of words to meet their needs. (Has anyone seen a recession lately?) They have ended the contest before it is over and they have extended the contest beyond its end, just by playing word games with us.

So I will remain skeptical and continue to question the stories and their sources as they come. It often makes me wonder where some of the media’s stories come from and the timing for when they get reported especially when you know that the subject matter was known long before it was publicized. Always be looking for the truth of the matter because in the end it is the truth that matters.

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.

A MP3 player would have made the time off better

So I have been gone for the last week, anything happen? Nothing of any value that I can see. Is it that hard to get away for a week and not have to check in to the office and the news and the stock markets? To be honest, I did not check in with work at all, stock markets just a passing glance if I was around any ticker tapes, and the daily news, well, that I did tune into on more than one occasion, though not as often as I am used to. Radio is just an arm reach away in the car and it is pretty easy to tune yourself in to the top of the hour news or the daily talk shows while you pass the time and the miles.

I didn’t have as much time to get ready for this trip so I didn’t take nearly as many music cds nor did I take any books on tape this time. Quite often I will hit the library and pick up a half dozen books on tape to listen to on the road and this time I was going to copy them over to MP3 files to save space and play on the new car stereo. I was also going to do that with many of my own cds building a quick and simple library that would give me variety and save space on the trip. As I said, I ran out of time.

I may be a little slow getting onto the technology band wagon but usually it is because I am waiting for it to catch up to where I want it to be. As I have started to convert my cd collection to MP3 files I have found that my collection is rather large and it will take a pretty good size player to be able to capitalize on it. That doesn’t even count the video collection.

The real reason I haven’t jumped at getting a personal MP3 player is because of the way they handle books on tape. I have been looking for a player that had two major features that greatly enhance the value of any audio book player, the ability to bookmark your place since chances are high that it will take more than one time listening to get through most books, and the ability to vary the playback speed so that you can have a chance of listening to a book slightly quicker than actually reading it the old way.

I like to listen to the unabridged versions and I have gotten in the habit of listening at double speed for most things. I found a tape player at Radio Shack that was able to play back tapes at up to double speed while adjusting the pitch of the voice so that you weren’t listening to the chipmunks. It was the best. I was able to keep up with my reading during my daily commutes to work. Then I found out the current versions of Media Player had the capability to also vary the playback speeds of audio recordings. I was in happy land. This gave me the ability to speed through books while on the computer or even better speed through training videos if they were recorded in a playable format.

Of course the problem with listening at double speed is you have to pay attention to make sure that you comprehend what is being read. It does take effort. You cannot do a whole lot of multi tasking while listening or you find that you are missing large sections and doing a lot of rewinding. This is why I have been looking for a player that has the ability to vary the playback speed in a portable unit that I can use while walking or hiking or such. So that is why I have been shopping for a player for such a long time, and alas not having much luck.

There are a very few players that will vary speed playback and some will bookmark, but none do either vary well from what I have been able to read from various websites. Most manufacturers do not even consider the audio book fan when designing or marketing their players. In my search for a player I went so far as to contact many of the manufacturers to see which players they would recommend for my audio book playing pleasure but I got one common response, we don’t do one of those. What a shame. Now before the fruit fans start letting me know about the Apple IPods player abilities, let me just say that they do in fact have the ability to alter playback speeds with their fast playback mode offering a whopping 40% speed increase which doesn’t seem like much when you are used to listening with a 100% speed increase. Of course the Apple’s come with the other down side of being an Apple tool and limited to Apple type formats though it does play the common everybody tool of MP3. In many ways the Apple, although sold as the great MS alternative, is operated and marketed much the same way the MS machines are. In a lot of ways they are like the current two party system where only those smart enough and brave enough can venture into the realms of a third party.

So I put off my search for a player at least for the time being. I will pick up the search at a later date when I think that a new generation of players has come along to offer up some new solutions to fill my desires. Until then I keep doing what I have been doing, waiting for the next best thing.

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.