I have been hearing a lot of very scary things this Halloween. I understand there is an election going on where the very fabric of our Society is at stake. It appears that there is an attack on the core values that made America great, Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness (Property).
I also understand that we are down to two finalist, (were there really ever going to be any more than two?) and both our out to destroy your way of life. Our job is comparing too what degree of destruction we are willing to accept.
This nation struggled throughout its lifetime to obtain and maintain the values that have stood the test of time as being preferable to anything else the world had to offer. But, at this point in its history, all of those past efforts are threatened to become null and void by the results of one election.
The reason it is different this time, is that those that oppose American values have stacked the cards in their favor. Whichever candidate gets the nod this time is a move in their direction. They win, we lose. And whichever candidate wins, they will take it as a mandate for them to continue to pursue and implement their Socialist policies and agendas.
And of the two remaining candidates that are essentially running unopposed, by far the worst offender to grace the stage has to be Barrack Hussein Obama. Where McCain is an old hand Democrat and has worked hard to one up the traditional Democratic party by pandering to its traditional campaign plans, Obama has raised the gamut completely past that stage to full on socialism.
(Lest ye think otherwise, I have been warning of and calling the traditional Democratic party socialist for far longer than the recent use by host and pundits on the airwaves.) The warning extends now to this fact. The next step beyond Socialism comes when it is no longer able to be enforced by persuasions political correctness but needs to be enforced by force and that is usually representative of Communism, and Dictatorships.
So do I really think we are on the verge of destruction? Actually I am not sure. I do find it hard to believe that this nation has spent so much time and energy to defend and promote these two candidates and in particular Obama as he appears to be the furthest removed from traditional American values. Obama seems poised to ruin the fabric of democracy from the first day in office whereas McCain might take an extra week to get there. It really scares me that a seeming majority of America's citizens would actually embrace what these two are proposing. Once we have gone over the half way point is there hope of bringing things back?
Actually there is hope. I have talked to quite a few Americans that still believe in America, what it stood for and what it stands for. They still have America's core values at their core. They do not want to give up and will not give up. They are just struggling to know what action to take to try and help ensure that those American values are not threatened. They want to put their voice with others and be heard. They want to have something to vote for, but once again they have a contest of choosing what to vote against. If you have to vote against then by all means vote against, but be sure that you make your vote against the absolute worst possible scenario, then work like mad to make sure that next time really will be different, and work like mad to preserve real American values.
This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.
31 October 2008
25 October 2008
Heads they win, Tails we lose
I am sorry to report that it is turning out to be just that kind of presidential race yet again this year. The two most likely candidates as spoken for by the media have once again reduced this race to finding reasons why not to vote for the other guy (as well as providing plenty of reasons not to vote for themselves). And once again, we the people have no viable options.
A word of warning to many of you that live in these United States of America, besides the obvious fact that our founding fathers would be turning over in their graves if they knew what we have allowed our nation to become by having an election of socialist and none other, but this nation has not wholly learned how to be a good winner or a good loser.
That worries me some. Events in our not so distant past have shown us that many of our citizens are not the most civilized at demonstrations of celebrations or disappointments. I think that we will once again see claims of an illegal election (as we did in 2004) no matter what the outcome. They are already planning for it. Riots are expected to break out in several major cities. Heck, this even happens when the local team wins a national sports competition, why not a national political competition.
That is sad when you think about it because we are already losing so much in this election year; the last thing we need to lose is our dignity. As there are a lot of people who are upset with the way things are going, they will be looking for any excuse to act out on those frustrations. I hope that any incidents like that will be small and insignificant.
If big incidents arise, and cities create riots and havoc it could spill over into our ever day lives. This is one week when you want to have all your shopping done ahead of time. You might even want to have enough food on hand to last a couple of weeks just in case things really fall to pieces. I am not saying that they will, but the possibility is out there for some locations to have disrupted services. I really hope it doesn’t come to that.
And it shouldn’t. There is no valid reason for things to get too bad. I know this election has stirred up emotions in people on all sides and to an extent not seen in many years. Here will be the real test of our character.
Whatever the outcome of this election the coming years will demand more attention on or parts. Attention to what the legislative, executive and judicial branches actions will be going forward. Will they think they have a mandate from the people and try to implement policies that go against what has made this country great? You bet they will, that is how our government has worked for many years. That is also why it is of the upmost importance to take a more active role in voice our opinions on issues and letting our elective officials know of our thoughts concerning upcoming legislation. If there is one thing that will sway the actions of a politician, it is the voice of the people as expressed through polls, phone, and mail.
Politicians may not agree with your position on the issues, but they tend to quickly give up their own positions if it is countered by more than one voice from their constituency. If they think they are only hearing a lone voice in the wilderness though, you can forget that you even made a sound.
An example of this was the initial $700 million dollar bailout package. The House waited until the last minute to make its vote, waiting to see how the votes would be placed to see if their vote would make a difference and then voted how best they thought the folks back home would value their action. They will always try to play both sides of an issue if they think they can get away with it. They knew that people would be watching this one though so they weren’t about to stick their necks on the line. They had to go back home and try to get reelected. Now they can go back home and tell one group of voters that they voted against the bailout of corporate greed and they can also tell another group of voters that they voted for the bailout to save the economy and keep Americans working, and in their minds, technically they did.
I often wonder how politicians can live with themselves or even get much sleep at night. Somehow they have convinced themselves that they are right no matter what it is they do. I don’t think their conscience works they way mine does. I tend to think that some politicians have lost their consciences a long time ago. That is why we need to step in and remind them that we haven’t lost ours. It is still a government of the people, by the people and for the people, and that means we have a responsibility that goes beyond one single Election Day. In the memory of our founding fathers, may we continue to make this ‘One Nation under God, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all.’
This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.
A word of warning to many of you that live in these United States of America, besides the obvious fact that our founding fathers would be turning over in their graves if they knew what we have allowed our nation to become by having an election of socialist and none other, but this nation has not wholly learned how to be a good winner or a good loser.
That worries me some. Events in our not so distant past have shown us that many of our citizens are not the most civilized at demonstrations of celebrations or disappointments. I think that we will once again see claims of an illegal election (as we did in 2004) no matter what the outcome. They are already planning for it. Riots are expected to break out in several major cities. Heck, this even happens when the local team wins a national sports competition, why not a national political competition.
That is sad when you think about it because we are already losing so much in this election year; the last thing we need to lose is our dignity. As there are a lot of people who are upset with the way things are going, they will be looking for any excuse to act out on those frustrations. I hope that any incidents like that will be small and insignificant.
If big incidents arise, and cities create riots and havoc it could spill over into our ever day lives. This is one week when you want to have all your shopping done ahead of time. You might even want to have enough food on hand to last a couple of weeks just in case things really fall to pieces. I am not saying that they will, but the possibility is out there for some locations to have disrupted services. I really hope it doesn’t come to that.
And it shouldn’t. There is no valid reason for things to get too bad. I know this election has stirred up emotions in people on all sides and to an extent not seen in many years. Here will be the real test of our character.
Whatever the outcome of this election the coming years will demand more attention on or parts. Attention to what the legislative, executive and judicial branches actions will be going forward. Will they think they have a mandate from the people and try to implement policies that go against what has made this country great? You bet they will, that is how our government has worked for many years. That is also why it is of the upmost importance to take a more active role in voice our opinions on issues and letting our elective officials know of our thoughts concerning upcoming legislation. If there is one thing that will sway the actions of a politician, it is the voice of the people as expressed through polls, phone, and mail.
Politicians may not agree with your position on the issues, but they tend to quickly give up their own positions if it is countered by more than one voice from their constituency. If they think they are only hearing a lone voice in the wilderness though, you can forget that you even made a sound.
An example of this was the initial $700 million dollar bailout package. The House waited until the last minute to make its vote, waiting to see how the votes would be placed to see if their vote would make a difference and then voted how best they thought the folks back home would value their action. They will always try to play both sides of an issue if they think they can get away with it. They knew that people would be watching this one though so they weren’t about to stick their necks on the line. They had to go back home and try to get reelected. Now they can go back home and tell one group of voters that they voted against the bailout of corporate greed and they can also tell another group of voters that they voted for the bailout to save the economy and keep Americans working, and in their minds, technically they did.
I often wonder how politicians can live with themselves or even get much sleep at night. Somehow they have convinced themselves that they are right no matter what it is they do. I don’t think their conscience works they way mine does. I tend to think that some politicians have lost their consciences a long time ago. That is why we need to step in and remind them that we haven’t lost ours. It is still a government of the people, by the people and for the people, and that means we have a responsibility that goes beyond one single Election Day. In the memory of our founding fathers, may we continue to make this ‘One Nation under God, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all.’
This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.
18 October 2008
Tips for playing in IWON part 4
When you open the game you may notice that sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t. While typing this I have just managed to freeze up one of the free slot games. I have had more trouble of late because of the changes they have made to the flash players and I think that most of this is tied to Internet Explorer not being as capable or compatible with IWONs programming. I have written IWON to let them know of the troubles but with little notice or improvement. I have found that if you are having these problems you might be better off trying a particular game using Firefox as your browser. I know I have.
By the way, I had two games open in the background for reference in Explorer and I think they conflicted with each other and that caused the lockup. Reboot to explorer via the Task Manager and we will try again.
When playing any of these games you may like to try a little trick that I use all the time and that is to resize the window so that it only displays the game you are playing. This helps you focus on the game and not all the noise that is going on in the background. IWON again is ad driven but it is driving me mad with all the ads they throw at you. There is always one just below the game that not only flashes and winks at you but is changing every few seconds and it is very distracting so by putting it just out of view you are better able to focus on what you are doing. When you resize just remember to leave enough room on the right to remind you that there is a $3,000.00 jackpot to play for.
They have also added an IM chat feature to the games, again it can be a distraction but it can be fun. Throw out a line and visit with some of your fellow gamers. Just don’t get too distracted with the chat that you miss Word Pop dropping 3 letters in the far left column.
Most of the games come with the ability to shut off the sound (noise, music etc.) when you first start the game. This is a handy feature for some games as the accompanying sound can be quite annoying. On the other hand some of the background noises are clues in some of the games and you will want them there, just adjust the sound coming from the speakers to a reasonable level before you start to play.
IWON also comes with a search engine and you can earn points with each search. Unfortunately that is about all it is good for. They have teamed up with ASK.com previously Ask Jeeves, but it is a pretty lightweight search engine. Just try searching for this site and see what you get. Nothing, even when I put the exact address in. It is just plain weak. If I put in my name it will reference erectile dysfunction but it will not mention me. Too bad.
They have made a change recently so that their sponsored responses post front and first and they have made it hard to tell where the sponsored stuff ends and the real stuff begins. They have also rearrange the display page so it is much more difficult to navigate the page and look for real returns so I have pretty much given up on using it for real searches and strictly use the power engines of Google or Yahoo and such. Sorry IWON, but your latest edition of search like your latest edition of e-mail lost productivity for me so I can not recommend.
If you are looking for coins though, IWON gives 30 coins per search. This is not enough for a single entry in the sweepstakes and since you need at least 100 I will give you a hint. Enter something to search on that won’t return too much like “Farrwestview” and see what you get. Since it won’t find me it will be a short list and there won’t be any sponsored responses to clog up the page either. This means that the response will be fast. It will also have the box filled with the same search just waiting for you to hit the search button and do it again. This will quickly net you another 30 coins for the search. You can go on doing this several times until you get bored and are ready to move on to the next search or game. I know that there is a part of me that thinks that if I do this enough time that might actually think they should really do a search and look for me, but the odds are probably about as good as winning one of the sweepstakes.
There is a limit on the total amount of coins you can earn in one day or on one game or one daily searching. I do not recall what the totals are and I think they have changed over the course of the years to suit their fancy. You can probably find it out in their rules if you can search that far. I do know that if you are after the coins, learn when to say when because after you reach the total, there is very little use in playing anymore. I found this out the hard way on more than one occasion.
And the last thing to add is that most games have a ranking for the players. As near as I can tell, the game rank you receive is based on your personal high score for that game as compared to other players of the game. As you record a new high score your game rank will drop to a new lower level though it might not show until after you go out and come back in to that game. The game rank number you have today may not be the one you have tomorrow as other players will score will and move up in the ranks. Don’t be discouraged by your numbers, or how they compare to others, they will improve I promise. The important thing is to have fun.
There are lots of games and I know I didn’t begin to touch on many of them but this is a start. If you have any favorite tips you would like to add, please do through the comments section. If you are one of the few to actually win big money from IWON let us know that also. It might make us jealous but it would be good to think that some things are what they say they are.
I wish you all the best of gaming and may you always look for the win in everything you do.
This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.
Click here to go to IWON Tips Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3, and now Part 5, and Part 6 (SquareBob Spongepants Collapse)..
By the way, I had two games open in the background for reference in Explorer and I think they conflicted with each other and that caused the lockup. Reboot to explorer via the Task Manager and we will try again.
When playing any of these games you may like to try a little trick that I use all the time and that is to resize the window so that it only displays the game you are playing. This helps you focus on the game and not all the noise that is going on in the background. IWON again is ad driven but it is driving me mad with all the ads they throw at you. There is always one just below the game that not only flashes and winks at you but is changing every few seconds and it is very distracting so by putting it just out of view you are better able to focus on what you are doing. When you resize just remember to leave enough room on the right to remind you that there is a $3,000.00 jackpot to play for.
They have also added an IM chat feature to the games, again it can be a distraction but it can be fun. Throw out a line and visit with some of your fellow gamers. Just don’t get too distracted with the chat that you miss Word Pop dropping 3 letters in the far left column.
Most of the games come with the ability to shut off the sound (noise, music etc.) when you first start the game. This is a handy feature for some games as the accompanying sound can be quite annoying. On the other hand some of the background noises are clues in some of the games and you will want them there, just adjust the sound coming from the speakers to a reasonable level before you start to play.
IWON also comes with a search engine and you can earn points with each search. Unfortunately that is about all it is good for. They have teamed up with ASK.com previously Ask Jeeves, but it is a pretty lightweight search engine. Just try searching for this site and see what you get. Nothing, even when I put the exact address in. It is just plain weak. If I put in my name it will reference erectile dysfunction but it will not mention me. Too bad.
They have made a change recently so that their sponsored responses post front and first and they have made it hard to tell where the sponsored stuff ends and the real stuff begins. They have also rearrange the display page so it is much more difficult to navigate the page and look for real returns so I have pretty much given up on using it for real searches and strictly use the power engines of Google or Yahoo and such. Sorry IWON, but your latest edition of search like your latest edition of e-mail lost productivity for me so I can not recommend.
If you are looking for coins though, IWON gives 30 coins per search. This is not enough for a single entry in the sweepstakes and since you need at least 100 I will give you a hint. Enter something to search on that won’t return too much like “Farrwestview” and see what you get. Since it won’t find me it will be a short list and there won’t be any sponsored responses to clog up the page either. This means that the response will be fast. It will also have the box filled with the same search just waiting for you to hit the search button and do it again. This will quickly net you another 30 coins for the search. You can go on doing this several times until you get bored and are ready to move on to the next search or game. I know that there is a part of me that thinks that if I do this enough time that might actually think they should really do a search and look for me, but the odds are probably about as good as winning one of the sweepstakes.
There is a limit on the total amount of coins you can earn in one day or on one game or one daily searching. I do not recall what the totals are and I think they have changed over the course of the years to suit their fancy. You can probably find it out in their rules if you can search that far. I do know that if you are after the coins, learn when to say when because after you reach the total, there is very little use in playing anymore. I found this out the hard way on more than one occasion.
And the last thing to add is that most games have a ranking for the players. As near as I can tell, the game rank you receive is based on your personal high score for that game as compared to other players of the game. As you record a new high score your game rank will drop to a new lower level though it might not show until after you go out and come back in to that game. The game rank number you have today may not be the one you have tomorrow as other players will score will and move up in the ranks. Don’t be discouraged by your numbers, or how they compare to others, they will improve I promise. The important thing is to have fun.
There are lots of games and I know I didn’t begin to touch on many of them but this is a start. If you have any favorite tips you would like to add, please do through the comments section. If you are one of the few to actually win big money from IWON let us know that also. It might make us jealous but it would be good to think that some things are what they say they are.
I wish you all the best of gaming and may you always look for the win in everything you do.
This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.
Click here to go to IWON Tips Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3, and now Part 5, and Part 6 (SquareBob Spongepants Collapse)..
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