Call For Book Reviewers

Greetings Friends & Associates:

Regarding my novella (or short story, I have not yet decided) I have a proposal for you. I will send you a chapter of the story provided that you do a write up on Goodreads, Shelfari, or wherever it is that you post your book reviews.

Please note: You don’t have to be a professional book reviewer or even have your blog. Just pls have the ability to string together grammatically correct sentences. Additionally, preference will be given to those with established Goodreads accounts who have reviewed a goodly amount of books over there.

If interested, contact me for further discussion using the following social media:

POB website

Twitter

 

 

 

Portrait Of A Douchebag

If you run a search on the word, cyberstalking, you will fast determine that the definition varies according to state jurisdiction.  Mostly, it refers to a set of behaviors perpetrated electronically.  Cyberstalking, while often used interchangeably with cyberbullying, is, at its core, harassment, while cyberbullying has more to do with the torment of minors.  Rest assured, there is a difference and for our purposes here, we will focus on the former.

Yours truly has been on the internet since dating back to the old Bulletin Board Service (“BBS”) days when the internet was but a command line communicated via dial-up networking. It was slow; it was annoying, and audio and video entertainment was nowhere on the radar, but it limited communications to those who were technically savvy. But for the occasional  geek v. geek argument, which usually consisted of which superhero comic could kick another superhero’s ass more comprehensively, mostly, BBS’ers played nice with each other. Any harassment that may have taken place was usually benign.  But as the internet was transformed from a command line geeks’ haven into the easy-to-use, graphical user interface we know today, such transitions enabled our lesser technically gifted brethen access to the web in ever-increasing numbers. And now, anyone with an internet connection can get online.

As when dirt poor immigrants from the Third World flooded Ellis Island bringing with them lawlessness, the same occurred when the internet’s floodgates opened to the masses. Internet Service Providers such as America Online (aka A-OH-HELL) made its billions by charging for access by the minute and introduced a wide world of information overload to anyone who could afford a computer, telephone line and was willing to pay for the privilege of accessing the data. In record time, chat rooms sprang up en masse and people were communicating with each other all over the world. Shortly thereafter, scumbags and con artists of all stripes emerged like a plague. And those with an inclination to bully and/or rob began to prey on the less technically sophisticated.

For those in the know, it was easy to fleece and/or harass the shit out of someone and get away with it because the law -as usual- hadn’t yet caught up with technology. Knowledge of Transmission Control Protocol /Internet Protocol (“TCP/IP”) was largely unknown to most internet users (including law enforcement) and the internet became a veritable wild west.  These days, government bureaucrats paid off spurred on by their entertainment company masters that seek to protect the industry’s outdated model of distribution via statute and criminal prosecution, the law has become a little bit more informed, but it will never catch the professionals. And those that harass/bully others, unless they have made clear threats to the physical being of anyone in particular and/or have actually physically harmed a person, remain free to perpetrate random acts of douchebaggery pretty much unimpeded.

Sure, one could allege libel, but this is a legal causes of action that, assuming you have the disposable income to pursue, is very hard to prove, and, even harder to prosecute since you really don’t know who you are dealing with in the first place.  Users typically remain anonymous unless a subpoena is issued to ascertain the harasser’s true identity, and, this is true only after you have filed a civil complaint against the ISP, which involves an overpriced lawyer (or a moderately priced paralegal with a tech background such as myself). Consequently, we have all encountered at one time or another that one, special asshole who has for whatever reason, decided to make you his bitch.  Ladies and Gentlemen, allow me to direct your attention to the following nutter.

Exhibit Fucktard: Andrew Heenan

I first made Mr. Heenan’s acquaintance in 2010 as a result of researching what would eventually become a piece about the MySpace privacy case. I thought it would be useful to readers if I linked to one of his websites because it seemed to be about educating users how to be safe online from predators and scams. A preliminary examination of Heenan’s site gave every indication that was exactly the content one could expect, and, so I had emailed to ask whether he minded if I linked to it.  A few days later, I decided it wasn’t appropriate for my article.  Mr. Heenan, however, had other ideas. 

Suffice it to say, I knew what I was dealing with from the moment he had sent the follow up email. I could almost smell the mental illness coming off him almost like the stink waves that one can imagine emanating from the Charles Schultz’s Peanuts comic strip Pig-Pen character.  When I thanked Mr. Heenan for his time and passed on his particular brand of electronic psychosis, he continued emailing bloviating on about what he must have imagined would bother me. His correspondence was filled with threats of blacklisting my website and reporting it as a scam, but I was largely unfazed and ignored him. Unfortunately, the average internet user does not recognize personality disordered bullshit and takes the bait every time. 

This is exactly the case with so many of Andrew Heenan’s victims.  He lures the unsuspecting user to his website under the guise of drawing attention to online scams and predators, and then pulls precisely the kind of behaviors his websites purport to call out.  Users are then further drawn in by Heenan’s taunts and threats and on and on it goes -a neverending carousel of dysfunction and harassment.  It is human nature to argue, I suppose, but I have no explanation as to why anyone would bother to do so with a stranger, especially a demonstrated nutter like Andrew Heenan. In cases such as this one, it is best to simply ignore and block the harasser. Email clients (both the online free kind as well as licensed software) make blocking fairly simple. Boom! Done.

I toyed with reporting his IP address to his ISP, but after conducting some quick recon on the net, I could see that Heenan had multiple websites and email addresses which meant that he was probably perpetrating (and getting away with) his nonsense on a large scale.   Also, I suspected that I most likely wasn’t the only one who wanted to report his abuse.  But funny thing about internet providers is that despite the fact they may have their own in-house abuse department, the company seldom acts to stem the tide of harassment unless there is an unmistakeable threat of physical violence to the one reporting the abuse. They may, in some instances, respond to your report asking you to forward the harassing correspondence in question, but by and large, ISP abuse departments blow off reports for a couple reasons. 

First off, when the word, ”abuse,”  is used, it could mean pretty much anything to anyone and so a great many people are contacting the department for conflicts of a usually childish nature. Abuse departments are seldom staffed with very many employees to begin with, and, so with limited personnel, it makes the screening of and dealing with reports of harassment quite problematic. But don’t take my word for it. Talk to any similarly situated entity.  Take for example an emergency dispatcher – People dial them for issues of a non-emergency nature quite frequently, which is why it takes longer for the police to show up.  Dispatch first has to weed out the nonsense from the legit calls. Looking back through the years, I recall having read several accounts of law enforcment dispatch having been contacted because someone couldn’t find a shoe or something equally inane.

Secondly, ISPs are largely immune from prosecution in the event its nutter customer becomes completely unhinged. It would have to be an especially egregious case of well documented harassment followed up by an especially bloody murder with a clear link to the harasser for the ISP to be assessed fault on any level.  So reporting abuse is essentially a tossup. The bottom line, though, is that it is a lot easier to not get caught up in an online abuse situation than it is to resolve one after the fact.

What Can You Do

If you happen to be a victim of online abuse, the following are the best rules of thumb. 

1.  Save every piece of correspondence from the harasser. In email, don’t delete it.  Save and print it out for future reference.  If via text message, contact your service provider and ask how you can get a hard copy of the text messages.  If telephonically, keep all voicemails and/or take notes on all conversations -who said what, when, at what time.  Tell the harasser point blank to stop contacting you or you will call the police.

2.  Stop responding to the harasser. No matter what you say or how you say it, you are mistaken if you think it will solve the dispute.  The goal of the harasser is to tie you up in knots, not resolve the problem. This is how he or she gets his jollies. Don’t play the game regardless of what s/he says. Tell the harasser to stop contacting you. You need not launch into an explanation. Just tell him or her to stop.

3.  Stop the harasser from contacting you by either blocking him or her from your email account, cell phone, website, etc. and/or change your email address, phone numbers, etc.  Most impotantly, do not disclose the new accounts to anyone you do not know in person, or, if you must have contact with strangers online, create a disposable email address that doesn’t include any identifying information.  Some people have multiple accounts depending on the entity they are supplying their email address to.  Yours truly rarely uses his name as an email address unless dealing with professional organizations. 

Please note here that if you are attempting to evade sexual harassment then avoid using cutesy, sexualized user names or emails such as BigStud or SexKitten.  These are the kind of cheesy monikers that attract nutjobs.  It literally screams PLEASE ANNOY ME to crazies.

4.  Harassment is sometimes the result of a random asshat looking for kicks on a Saturday night. You attracted his or her attention not because of anything you did wrong per se, but mostly because you just happened to be in the right place at the right time for the harasser to notice you.  From what I have personally witnessed having volunteered with an organization that counsels people how to avoid and/or deal with online harassment, some bring it upon themselves by responding to the abuser because they either enjoy the attention or imagine that they are dealing with a reasonable person or both. Hint: If you are being harassed electronically, then be advised that you are not dealing with someone who is playing with a full deck, and so appealing to reason will be an exercise in futility.

5.  As for online dating sites, avoid escalating any given situation with strangers, but most importantly, stop disclosing personal information about yourself to people that you do not know in person.  While the internet may be responsible for bringing some people together this does not, however, mean that everyone is altruistic and functioning within normal parameters. In the United States, one in six people in the population are on some kind of prescription medication for psychotropic pills (AKA anti-depressants, anti-anxiety, etc.).  These are the same pills mass shooters sensationalized by the media have been on. Such chemicals are known to cause unexplained rage, murder and suicide in some instances.

Protect Yourself and Your Family

Don’t play the part of easy prey to predators.  If you follow the above referenced suggestions, then you should be in good shape and be able to avoid most online harassment. If you don’t and persist in conducting yourself in a questionable manner on the internet, welp, I can’t say that you don’t deserve the drama it will inevitably attract.  Don’t play with fire and you won’t get burned, is my motto.  But, as always, when dealing with most people, mileage may and usually does vary. 

One Last Suggestion

Avoid any contact with Andrew Heenan whatsoever.  Don’t go looking for his websites or posting there.  And just so there is no question as to which Andrew Heenan I am warning you about, he describes himself as born in England in 1951 and is both a nurse and a journalist.  He has also published various anti-cyberstalking memes which is akin to a known rapist teaching a self-defense class and then preying upon the participants. 

Heenan is like the herpes virus.  A single exposure to him -however brief- will make your life miserable for a very long time.  Just read some of the comments from readers who have written to me regarding his shenanigans and you will find that it is well-established fact that he is a full-on loopty-loo who may or may not be a criminally insane drug addict. 

©2013 Peyton Farquhar and Prattle On, Boyo™.  Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.  Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Peyton Farquhar and Prattle On, Boyo with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Bussin’ & Bikin’: A Multi-Modal Commute

The following is a true story. 

When you think about taking a bus, what immediately comes to mind?  Inconvenience? Sitting next to deodorant-challenged and/or featured guests from the Jerry Springer Show?  Well, sure, taking the bus encompasses all those things, but regardless of the negatives, and provided that you are up for the challenge, you can make public transportation work for you. Case in point:  Multi-modal transportation to interview for a job.

Yours truly recently had an interview with an employer located less than ten miles away from home.  Now you would think that a destination that close would be relatively easy to get to, even via the bus, right? 

Wrong.  Not so easy when the local public transportation authority that runs the show consists of a bunch of overpaid, inexplicably, self-congratulatory bureaucrats.  But that is another matter.  I’m here to tell you about my multi-modal transportation experience to a job interview.

Once I was able to ascertain the correct bus route to the interview,  transport was fairly straight-forward.  But then getting that information was the furthest thing from easy.  First, I called the bus transportation authority for help with scheduling the trip, but it was an exercise in futility mostly because the people answering the phones are not always knowledgeable or helpful.  Secondly, I checked the bus website to plan the trip, but that wasn’t very helpful either for several reasons, mostly because I have to travel to a library to use the high speed internet connection as I do not have it at home anymore.  But it wasn’t travelling to the library that was the problem -I make this trip all the time-  It was the library’s internet connection. 

If you happen to be there any time after 2p.m. during the week, and, your trip was to use the internet to say, plan a bus trip from the website, then you won’t be able to because of too many people trying to use the connection all at the same time.  The end result is that the connection is depreciated to slower than dial up.  I was shit out of luck that day, but fortunately, I had a friend who accessed the bus’s website for me from her high speed connection at home and had better luck getting the correct bus route information.  Thereafter, I contacted the bus transportation authority to confirm, and this time, spoke with a rep who was helpful.

So now I had the necessary bus routes and times.  Follow along with me now as I walk you through what you’re in for if you take the bus.  My interview was at 11a.m. on Monday morning during the second week of January.  Although I reside in Southern California, contrary to popular belief, the temperature here is not sunny and 85° year round.  In fact, on this particular day, the temp was 40 degrees with some wind, which made it feel like 20 to me when I was on the bike.  Disclaimer:  I am from a cold climate and have been used to four seasons, but something happens when you move to a warmer climate -your body somehow forgets that you once functioned in freezing cold, snow and sleet.

The first bus was set to leave shortly after 8a.m., but published departure times and what time the bus actually shows up are two very different things.  Sometimes, the bus is right on time, but most times, it runs 10-20 minutes late.  Sometimes it doesn’t even show up at all.  Delays can be attributed to various things such as mechanical failure and/or traffic, but that is less frequently the reason.  In my experience, delays are due to certain passengers that are not able to board the bus in a timely fashion. 

While it’s all nice and politically correct to have those with mental and physical disabilities out in the general public and riding the bus along with everyone else, the reality is that it takes time to get these people seated, and, in some cases, it takes the driver a long time to securely belt the wheelchair to the bus. It would be one thing if everyone on board was set to be leisurely transported to say, a museum, but it’s quite another when you’re relying on the bus to get you to your job and you’re delayed by passengers with special needs.  Twenty minutes late is not looked upon favorably by most employers.  It could cost you a job.  And anyway, why are there even special needs people on the regular, fixed route bus in the first place when the county has a paratransit van in operation that will pick up these people from and then drop off at their own front doors?  I don’t pretend to understand why this wasn’t the case that day the group home boarded bound for a day-trip, no doubt, but OK.  I’ll just grumble about it here since if I dared to express it to the bus transportation authority, I will probably be called a cruel and inhumane asshole.

Another reason why the bus will run late or not at all is attributable to death.  Yes, passengers have been known from time to time to drop over dead en route to wherever they were going.  It’s unavoidable, and, what’s more, if that should happen to your bus, then the scheduled route will be disrupted.  It just won’t show for the time it was supposed to and you will have to wait an hour, or however long it takes the bus transportation authority to remove the body and get back on track. 

But let’s return to my story.  I took the 8a.m. -ish bus when it arrived and was dropped off at 9a.m. relatively close to the connecting bus I had to take to the actual destination.  (Please note, an hour is about right when taking the bus even to destinations within 10 miles of the starting point.) I was unsure as to where the connecting stop was and so when I exited the bus, I was in a mad scramble to grab the bike off the rack and then haul ass up or down the street to find the correct bus stop.  Eventually, I did find it, worried the whole time I would miss my connecting bus, but as it turned out, the bus was running 10 minutes behind.  Lovely.

When the connector bus finally showed, I secured my bike back up on the rack, boarded the bus and ran my day pass through the ATM-like machine located by the driver.  Travel time approximately 12 minutes to my destination.  Time of arrival:  9:30a.m.  My interview is not until 11a.m.  So what do I do now?  Normally, I would find a place to relax outside -a food court, a smoker’s court, a shopping plaza, etc. but all that was available in this instance was the smoker’s court.  OK, not optimal, but not like anyone else was outside in the freezing cold sucking on a cancer stick.

The day was very bright, very sunny and very cold.  Although the sun was warm, the temperature was not very accommodating.  Ah yes, I remember when 40 degrees was a balmy winter day.  Not so after you have acclimated to a warmer clime.  I resolved that I would wait til 10:30 then go inside the building to the restroom to change into my interviewing attire.  (Yes, it is possible to transport just about anything if you have the right bag on your back.) But even though it was only an hour’s wait time, it felt like 3 days.  I hadn’t brought anything along to occupy my time, it was freezing cold, and the outdoor furniture was exceptionally uncomfortable. I’m thinking this furniture could easily have doubled as a water-boarding device.

At 10:30, I went inside to change.  The restroom was very warm compared to outside.  A few employees on the first floor used the facilities, but restroom usage was negligible at this time.  I selected the handicapped stall because of its size, and then changed out of my bike clothing into my interviewing attire.  It took just under 20 minutes as I also had to fix my hair, which had become mussed up due to the bandana I wear under my helmet to catch sweat and to otherwise keep the heat from rising out of the top of my head on a cold day.  I was way ahead of schedule and even had time to mess with the electronic directory located in front of the elevator banks which featured a map overview of the immediate area.  I was looking for the shortest route to the stop to take a return bus home.

The interview itself proceeded without incident.  About as well as can be expected.  I wasn’t thrilled to have to haul my bag containing my bike clothes, sneaks, seat post, water bottle and helmet, the latter of which always takes up a great deal of bag real estate, but it couldn’t be helped.  If the interviewers noticed my back or even gave it a second thought, it was not evident to me.  Approximately an hour later, I had thanked them for the time and was told they would let me know one way or the other as to the success or lack thereof of my application.

I proceeded back downstairs  to the warm restroom to change back into my bike clothes, and this time, I’m not sure what the deal was, but it seemed to be peak shitting time in this particular restroom.  Had people working in the building chosen this restroom instead of the ones on their own floors because it was warmer?  Or was it more like they needed to drop a load and assumed the first floor head was going to afford a lot more privacy? Some people, when forced to shit in public restrooms, will deliberately seek out a disused head.  I have no idea why that is – maybe they just don’t want their fellow co-workers to know that they shit?  Whatever the reasoning, it was bowel movement central at 10 of 12 noon that day in the restroom I was changing in.

Once back outside, people were in a big rush to get to the shopping plaza where they would purchase a fast food lunch.  It took me approximately 20 minutes to bike to the next bus stop, which was a different bus route from the one that brought me.  The return trip bus was not set to leave again until 3p.m.  But no matter.  I’d rather bike 2.5 miles than walk to another bus stop in order to take another route. 

I arrived at the next stop 35 minutes ahead of schedule and decided to pass the time on the comfy, wicker chairs at an outdoor food court.  During warmer weather, this is a pleasant way to pass the time because the cushions are very comfortable. (Or maybe my standards have been lowered so exponentially that anything other than concrete seems comfy to me.)  Although the sun was shining, I was definitely not digging the cold temperature, which seemed to be getting a lot colder compared to the A.M. commute. 

At approximately 13 minutes before the bus was set to show up, I left the food court to head to the bus stop located nearby on the corner, but as I was pressing the walk button to cross the intersection, I noticed there was another biker waiting on that corner.  If you don’t bus-bike then you have no idea why this is noteworthy.  But if you DO bus-bike, then you know that if another biker is waiting at the same stop you are, then the possibility exists that when the bus comes along, there may not be a space on the rack for your ride as the rack only holds 2 bikes.  Oh hell no, I was not going to be shit out of luck that day if I could help it.

Determined NOT to have to wait another hour for the next bus to swing by because of a full bike rack, I hauled ass 400 feet down the sidewalk to the bus stop located before the one I was planning to wait at.  The better to head off the biker at the other stop and snag a spot on the rack.  I doubt the guy noticed when I turned and pedaled off from the intersection, and, even if he did, I doubt he realized what I was doing.  Some might say that I “stole” his spot on the rack, but I don’t see it that way.  I didn’t swipe a spot on the bike rack simply by going to another bus stop anymore than someone who shows up at the ass crack of dawn to shop to take advantage of holiday bargains is “stealing” anything.   The early bird gets the worm, bitchez!

As it turned out, there was a spot on the rack for both my bike as well as the other biker’s, but I was not going to leave that to chance.  I was caught once before on another trip having to let two buses go because of a full bike rack, and, I have resolved that I am not going to passively let that happen again if I can help it.

I exited this bus without incident and had to wait an additional 20 minutes for yet another bus to get back home, but overall, the events detailed here are typical for a multi-modal commute.

©2013 Peyton Farquhar and Prattle On, Boyo™.  Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.  Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Peyton Farquhar and Prattle On, Boyo with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Facebook to Test Market Overriding User Privacy Preferences

In its ever-increasing quest to generate more revenue, which usually means violating user privacy preferences, Facebook announced that it will “test” market to certain accounts the ability to send private messages to the inbox of non-friends to the tune of $1.00 per message. 

Now to the average Facebook user, charging for private messaging, regardless of the pricetag, may seem silly, especially since the charge is only applicable if you want to contact someone not on your friend list. But what you may not have realized is that Facebook recently fixed what was not broken (again) by enabling messaging on your account even if you had previously chosen not to.  Case in point:  Yours truly had messaging via Facebook available only to friends.  If you weren’t a friend, then you didn’t see the “message” button on my page. 

Since Facebook has now overruled that particular privacy preference, if you don’t happen to be a friend, and you message me, well then your message will go straight to an ignore folder also known as junk. Hey, Facebook taketh away your preferences, and Facebook giveth a piss-poor choice in return. It’s like Gmail – sure, you have a spam folder and it does a reasonably okay job of catching unwanted email, but if Google wasn’t selling your address to everyone and his dog in the first place, then you would not be deluged with spam. But I digress.

Since the average user (you & I) would not likely have an interest in messaging someone not on our friend list, we then have to ask ourselves which users would? Who would be willing to pay for the ability to bypass the spam folder? Ha. Perhaps those users with commercial accounts, the kind whose posts show up randomly uninvited such as the following Ram spam among the content in your newsfeed from the pages that you want to see?

Ah, yes.  A flood light appears at the end of the tunnel and it belongs to an advertiser.

A pay-to-play charge of $1.00 per message to override user privacy preferences is but a drop in the bucket to a brand name marketer such as Ram.  But, Facebook wants to remind you that this is, just a “test” being available only to “certain” users. Translation:  Depending on the backlash from individual users, it may or may not to decide to allow coporate advertisers to bombard the shit out of your Facebook inbox with junk. And given that Facebook also recently nixed the ability for users to vote on the governance of the site, you don’t even get to have a say about its policies anymore.  Which leaves it up to writers like me to remind you that Facebook does not give too much of a damn about what the individual user wants when compared to what corporate users want. You didn’t actually believe that Facebook exists for any other reason, did you?

©2012 Peyton Farquhar and Prattle On, Boyo™.  Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.  Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Peyton Farquhar and Prattle On, Boyo with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Toshiba Canvio 3.0 External HDD

Featuring one terabyte of space ( 1 TB =  1 x 10¹²   (1, 000, 000, 000, 000) whereas one gigabyte (1 GB =  10⁹ ( 1, 000, 000, 000).  USB 3.0, and, disk imaging software are also included to back up your existing computer hard drive, this portable drive is no bigger than the average QWERTY keyboard mobile phone. From the time I took it out of the packaging and plugged it into my Windows desktop, it worked perfectly.  If you’re concerned about rigging new hardware, rest assured, the Toshiba is about as idiot-proof as you can get which makes it custom ordered for the technology challenged.

System Requirements

Windows 7, Vista, XP

Mac OS x (Tiger, Leopard, Snow Leopard & Lion)

Features

I did some research on the drive beforehand, and, was intitally concerned that USB 3.0, despite being touted as backwards compatible with USB 2.0, wouldn’t work on my XP box.  But I was pleasantly surprised when it ran just the way it was intended with my existing USB 2.0 ports.

Where Macs are concerned, the Toshiba is formatted with NTFS and can be read and written to on a Windows PC.  Mac OS X can read data from the drive with no additional software, but if you want to write to the drive, then you have to install the software which is already loaded on the external drive. Once installed, Tuxera NTFS for Mac will enable both read and write support for the NTFS partition on your Mac.

Comparison

I have an Iomega 300 gigabyte drive that I purchased back in 2007.  At the time, its retail price came in just under $300.00.  This drive (pictured above next to the black Toshiba Canvio) is about the size of a electronic book reader, and requires external power, which can make portability somewhat of an issue. (Especially if you’re using another computer that is not at your own private desk with your own private electricity socket.)  Additionally, after the Iomega has been powered up for a little while, it tends to get really hot so you have to take care not to place it near or on anything heat-sensitive.  Plus, it’s on the heavy side.  (I’m not sure what the exact weight is, but you wouldn’t want to get hit upside the head with it.)

I also formatted the Iomega to that of the NTFS file system since doing so would maximize space on the drive.  (Out of the box, it was just the bloated FAT-32 system.)  The Canvio, on the other hand, is about a third of the size of the Iomega and requires no external power source, which makes transportation and interfacing with another computer fairly simple. The drive comes with its own USB 3.0 leash and will work with most USB 2.0 ports.  (I was able to successfully jack into an XP system owned by the local library which are notoriously, woefully, not state-of-the-art computers and locked down so ridiculously that it’s a wonder the system is even operable.) 

If you’re looking for a highly portable,  easy to use, mass storage device to replace a thumb drive (as I was) then this drive is for you.  The price tag is not cost prohibitive and retails for approximately $70.00.

Disclaimer: I am not receiving any kickbacks from Toshiba or any other company for this review, but tips are welcomed and appreciated using the Pay Pal link located on the uppper right hand side of this page.

Note:  The Canvio has an L.E.D. located at the top of the case that will blink white intermittently when reading/writing to the drive, but goes black when the drive is idle.

©2012 Peyton Farquhar and Prattle On, Boyo™.  Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.  Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Peyton Farquhar and Prattle On, Boyo with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Newtown, CT | Killing In the Name Of

By now, you must have heard about the latest mass shooting. Yet again, there was another mentally unstable shooter having taken the lives of innocents during yet another moment of unspeakable violence. We’ve all seen the images of the real people experiencing real anguish, and, yet, the mind fairly reels from the implications. We see, but are unable to comprehend or even process the end result. Which leads us to an inevitable conclusion –Who is to blame? Fault must be assessed and someone must pay. It’s just how the human mind works.

 The left side of the political duopoly has seized on this sad tale to assess blame on gun ownership. If only guns were illegal, then all crime would magically disappear in the U.S. This is the standard refrain from gullible Americans who have never encountered an issue that they believe could not be resolved by surrendering their civil liberties. (TSA, anyone?) Of course, such simple mindedness does not bother to look beyond the warm fuzzies they anticipate from removing firearms from the possession of law-abiding citizens.  They’re just agreeing with what the news told them to think.  In this particular instance, a gun ban is “for the children,” and that trumps everything, including common sense. 

Other countries that have gun bans are trotted out as proof that it works, but this, is, of course, not only entirely fictional, but given the evidence to the contrary that is freely available to anyone with an internet connection and a search engine, the disingenuous and overall intellectual laziness is positively stunning. Not to mention that applying mindsets from a foreign country to the U.S. is an exercise in comparing apples to Jupiter.  While we’re at it, why not just ask why the U.S. does not have universal healthcare like all the other developed nations on the planet?  The reason couldn’t be attributed to the fact that the U.S. government is firmly owned/operated of, by, for and about the 1%, could it?  This discussion, however, is best left for another time.

Contrary to popular sheeplethink, mass shootings are not exclusive to the U.S. We’re just not informed with much news from outside of the country because the plantation owners don’t want us to get any cute ideas about peacefully protesting our government in the manner hundreds of thousands of others have done elsewhere.  And so a media blackout is easily enforced since there are only six corporations that control 90% of everything Americans see, hear and read. If you see the protests from other countries, then it’s because you have Occupy-minded, activist friends, such as yours truly, who have shared the news to their social networking page.

While the mainstream media would have us swallowing the propaganda of their corporate masters, the fact is, banning guns does not work. Just ask the Germans. On four separate occasions dating from 2002 – 2009, tightening gun ownership laws has only exacerbated the problem. The Germans didn’t just opt for gun control, they took it to a level far beyond by also outlawing “violent” movies, games, and television, and, even having prohibited paintball. And yet despite the nanny law overkill, the mass shootings still happened in Erfut, Emsdetten, Stuttgart, and Ansbach, nonetheless. In the latter incident, the attacker used petrol bombs and an axe as his weapons of choice. But do Americans really need to look to the Germans as proof that prohibition not only does not address the problem, but increases it by creating black markets? Criminals are notorious for not following the law, after all. But don’t say that too loudly in front of Obama voters as the cognitive dissonance may dislodge them from their happy places.

Meanwhile, those on the right have also executed some of their own carpe diem to take this mournful occasion to push its theocratic agenda and blame mass shootings on lack of Christian prayer in public schools. This is not to say that the left doesn’t play the same agenda game –they do, and they are, they just choose to couch it in Orwellian terms that the voters won’t think too carefully about such as the National Defense Authorization Act and disposition matrix of a predator drone. It’s OK to render the rule of law to that of an authoritarian regime and kill children in other countries as long as you do so via executive order. By the way, where was Nobel Peace Prize recipient Obama’s tears for the 178 children (so far) who were killed as a result of his drone assassination program?

So what is to be done about the problem? Ban guns? Remove due process of law? Remember Jefferson’s famous quote:  Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.  What if we just emulate the Israelis and permit teachers to carry weapons? Those who wish to participate can be trained to handle firearms and we can just take it from there. The Israelis have had a fair amount of success with armed teachers having successfully fended off an attack that left one student dead and six others injured before the terrorists were shot dead by school counselors.  But you won’t see that reported on the corporately consolidated news as it would fly in the face of emotional, knee-jerk gun control laws that seek to paint anyone proficient with a weapon with the ever popular term, gun nut.

Funny how some parents will surrender their children to strangers to be educated, but refuse to even consider the idea of allowing those same strangers to protect the children. Speculation about ridiculous scenarios if teachers were armed has become  a national past-time.  While arming teachers may be common sense to some, it does not seem to compute with those content to let the media, and by extension, the politicians do their thinking for them. It apparently has not occurred to these folks that mass shooters prefer malls and schools precisely because it makes their workplace so much safer. In a gun-free zone, there won’t be any pesky, law-abiding citizens that will shoot back. But in states where civilians have returned fire at the bad guy, there has been some moderate success. We just don’t ever hear about it because it would contradict the propaganda.

Maybe we can blame the problem on the lack of access to affordable mental health care. Strangely, the price tag for treatment is a topic that the Affordable Care Act does absolutely nothing to mitigate. At this point, we don’t know much about the shooter or his family.  But surely, we can state with confidence that anyone who would gun down kindergartners has a few loose screws and needs help.  Except that money for mental health treatment at the state level has been routinely slashed since the 1980s and yet the need for services continues to explode exponentially.  Perhaps Mrs. Lanza had sought help for her son long before he went off the deep end only to be turned away by social services because there are very few programs in place for poor whites.  Perhaps not.  We don’t know because the mainstream media has choosen not to investigate the whys behind this event.  Instead, it focuses on sensationalism. 

What the media should be reporting is that even if you are sufficiently privileged to have health insurance in the U.S., and, have the financial perseverance to navigate the labyrinthine maze of managed care, the fact remains, the mental health care professional who ends up treating you will inevitably want to keep his Big Pharma-financed junkets coming, so at the behest of his pharmaceutical representative, he will ensure prescribing for you the latest psychotropic pills, which are well documented to cause homocidal/suicidal rages. The Columbine shooters were on such pills.  It seems talk therapy isn’t so much a part of treatment anymore as much as popping pills has become standard operating procedure.

Perhaps a frank, national conversation should be opened that discusses the underlying societal problems that would cause individuals to become troubled in the first place. We can start with the fact that while Wall Street has been enjoying record profits since the latest economic depression began in 2007, Main Street has been absolutely decimated by homelessness due to foreclosure, and, acute financial distress caused by oppressive, non-dischargeable student loan debt, under and unemployment.

Americans are struggling financially and this is adversely affecting every facet of their lives, including the ability to parent effectively. Meanwhile, companies continue to outsource American jobs, and those that can’t be off-shored, guest workers, both legal and illegal, are brought in en masse in order to drive down wages and keep hard-working Americans demoralized and destitute. That wouldn’t cause a person to pick up a rifle and randomly open fire would it?

©2012 Peyton Farquhar and Prattle On, Boyo™.  Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.  Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Peyton Farquhar and Prattle On, Boyo with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

2012 Presidential Debate | Won’t Get Fooled Again

Tune in for the REAL presidential debates about topics that matter to hardworking Americans.

 Every four years, after a barrage of marketing ad nauseum, the presidential election debates are televised, and, to anyone who has been paying attention to the circus sideshow known as the American electoral process, the debates amount to little more than a case of dumb vs. dumberer. Two billionaires pretending to represent We, the People, grinning, nodding and congratulating each other like long-lost lovers reunited. They coo for the cameras programmed responses that are shiny, happy, and completely devoid of all critical thought.  That the candidates were  each sent in advance the topics they were to discuss on the televised “debate” is a joke unto itself. What kind of debate can it possibly be if each party already knows what will be asked?  The verbal diarrhea that voters have heard so far should have been sponsored by kaopectate. Now that would have been truth in advertising.

Where was the discussion about the 46.2 million Americans currently living in poverty? Where was mere mention of that fact that, in the wealthiest country on the planet, one in seven Americans go to bed hungry each night? Where was the dialogue regarding too big to jail banks?  Wall Street continues to screw the country with the tacit approval of both major political parties, every level of government regulatory department and law enforcement agency up to and including the Department of Justice.  Now that’s what I call a Fuck You, Pay Me trifecta.  Tony Soprano has nothing over the feds.

Not a peep was uttered about the on-going pillaging/looting of Main Street from either Wall Street bobblehead red or Wall Street bobblehead blue.  Instead, our illustrious, heavily gelled & glittering, coiffed candidates chose to debate Big Bird, a fictional children’s character that is apparently, an enormous drain on the federal budget. All .012% of it.  To put that figure into perspective for you, the cost of PBS programming for an entire year costs what the Pentagon burns in federal dollars in only six hours.  Clearly, Presidential candidates Obomney and Robama prefer to be harder on Sesame Street than they are on Wall Street.

With a record high percentage of U.S. Voters self-identifying as independent, one could ask why the debates don’t include candidates from outside the two-party duopoly.  The answer is simple.  The outfit that runs the presidential debates, the privately held corporation known as the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) is owned and operated by minions from each of the two major political parties.  Along with the corporately consolidated, mainstream press, they have absolutely no intention of allowing any third party candidates to participate who will, no doubt, upset the highly-scripted, reach-around orgy that Demumblicans and Republicrats have been enjoying for decades.  The CPD doesn’t want voters to be informed about real-world problems or the long-term best interests of the 99%.  All that matters to the two-party system is the appearance of choice.  They further want voters to believe that voting for a third party is a “wasted” vote.  Don’t buy into the lies, folks.  Consider ALL of the options before settling for the duopoly’s favorite flavor of rainbows & unicorns.

Now in all fairness, to those voters who are swayed by appearances, the CPD does make a lot of noise about being nonpartisan, but only those with less than a room temperature IQ would accept smoke & mirrors as proof of objectivity.  Considering that the CPD is headed by a former head of the Republican National Committee and former White House Press Secretary, you’d have to have to your head buried so far up your own ass that you would accept that a Nobel Peace Prize could go to a guy who has been more bellicose than George Bush the Dumber.  Oh wait.  We have swallowed that load already when President Obama received his award.  Would you look at that?  It is possible to fool 100% of the people 100% of the time, after all.

If you are a voter who is traumatized and exhausted by the lies, distortions and obfuscations of  our political process, then you should check out the real presidential debates set for 23 October, 2012, at 8p.m. Central Standard Time appearing on FreeandEqual.org. 

You owe it to yourself and to your family to have an informed opinion come election day.  If you don’t, and you settle, once again, for voting for the “lesser” of two evils, then you will be perpetuating the false dichotomy of choice.  You will be part of the problem giving the nod to two candidates from opposite sides of the same coin that will further erode civil rights, galvanize additional layers of platinum in favor of the already obscenely rich, and otherwise continue to perpetuate the fraud that has become the United States, of, by, for and about the 1%. 

Take back your country, fellow Americans.  End the charade of choice by checking out third party options instead of settling for the candidate who only beats you six days per week instead of seven.

©2012 Peyton Farquhar and Prattle On, Boyo™.  Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.  Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Peyton Farquhar and Prattle On, Boyo with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.