iPad App Review: Blogsy

This review is written in Blogsy. How appropriate?

Blogsy is from Fomola and available in the App store for $2.99 As you may surmise from the name, it is software for writing your blog posts on the iPad.

So far, I’ve found the interface to be a bit cumbersome compared to the WordPress app. The major problem I had with the WordPress app was links and using pictures inside of your posts.

Blogsy makes this process a bit easier although I’m still not very happy with the way you create links in your posts. I think this process could be done much easier.

Overall, it’s not a bad app for the price and worth a look if you have an iPad.

A.D.H.D. and Bringing Up Baby

Warning: This post is just a vain attempt of venting on my part. I personally am sick and tired of this “pussy” culture I find myself living in. I may just call the string of these writings “The Pussy Chronicles” because there are just so many examples of how “pussified” our society has become that I could be adding to this series many times daily. My qualification for using the term “pussy” is my military background. That means that if I say you are a pussy you indeed are a pussy. Now, on with my rant…

A.D.H.D. (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) is not a medical condition.

It is an environmental condition.

Your child isn’t suffering from A.D.H.D. you just feed them too much sugar. Now they are bouncing off of the walls and you don’t quite know why? You want to blame this on a non-existent disease designed and conceived to prevent Pediatric professionals from being sued because you are an extremely bad parent. A.D.H.D. is also a big business now. People make money from telling you that your child has it. You or your insurance company pay the doctor who diagnoses it and the pharmaceutical companies make money from the medication that the doctor you just saw will prescribe to treat the symptoms of it.

A.D.H.D. can’t be “cured” because it’s not a real disease. The medication they prescribe for this is a legal version of what the sixties crowd used to call “downers.”

People who medicate their children because they believe they have A.D.H.D. need to take a good hard look at themselves. Those folks created the problem and should probably sterilize themselves immediately.

I remember thinking as a kid that those folks who beat their kids or at least gave them a smack on the ass every now and then were bad parents. They were not. Before it was called A.D.H.D. it was called a “failure to pay attention.” A smack on the ass, a ruler across the fingers, or perhaps a strong comment designed to embarrass you in front of your classmates was enough to “cure” this affliction.

It is about controlling your child’s environment. When I was a kid we played outside. We played outside everyday and for as long as we could get away with (which was typically about dinner time). We ate candy throughout the day as well. That was the extent of it. Yes, we took in a fair amount of sugar but we were also burning it off by running around and playing outside. Being sent to your room was considered serious punishment and something that we as kids seriously tried to avoid.

Today, kids sit in front of their computers for fun. Being sent to their room is welcomed. Why? All of their stuff is there. Television, computer and internet, game consoles, and cell phones (in a lot of cases smartphones) are also a part of the modern child’s environs. They watch enormous amounts of television and they eat very badly because parents just don’t seem to give a shit about that sort of thing anymore. They are driven to the bus stop or even back and forth to school. Those kids aren’t even being given the opportunity to get exercise by moving themselves around. Of course, the parents will say that it’s a safety issue, they are worried about predators, or they just can’t stand the thought of their child standing out in the rain waiting for the bus. Instead of teaching kids about what they should do in a worse case scenario, modern parents think it’s much easier to just shuttle their children around. This is a short term solution for the parents that causes long term damages to the kid.

I remember my father telling me to stop doing something. He only ever gave me one chance to actually stop. It was usually a better situation if I stopped rather than having him do it for me. It also usually ended painfully for me when he made me stop. What I see these days in the grocery store is some out of control kid with a parent standing there trying to “reason” with them. “Oh, Jeffrey please stop doing that. Now, I’m going to count to ten…” The worst thing the kid has to put up with is listening to his parent drone on and on.

Parents these days want to be their children’s friend. You can’t. Sure, when you kids have grown into adulthood you can be “friends” with them. Just imagine what kind of Army we’d have if all of the drill instructors wanted make nice and be friends with the recruits. The same goes for child rearing. Growing up in a home with “rules” is a boot camp of sorts for life. The tougher the boot camp the more likely it will be that your child will succeed. Incidentally, this also includes a regiment of exercise. Our children are fat and overweight because we’re making them that way.

See? It’s not really a disease unless you consider the parents to be the disease.

I do.

Last Day of April Observations

Lala 1

First of all, the reason I used the above picture is simply because I believe Lala is hot.

I feel that it is only fitting to discuss some observations as we head deeper into Spring.

This month has been an amazingly busy one. Podcast production, radio production, and writing projects have kept me hopping this month. My “day job” has been extremely crazy as well making for complete madness as far as my daily grind is concerned.

I’ve turned down 29 requests for podcast production. I can’t do much more than I already have and not everyone should be doing podcasting. Just because you “can” doesn’t necessarily follow that you “should.”

The royal wedding if proof positive that the world is chock full of idiots who have nothing better to do than to watch two people spend a ridiculous amount of their nations money (which it does not have to spend in this manner) on a wedding that will end in divorce in no more than 10 years. Man was not meant to be monogamous no matter how much the religious right, established cultural preferences, or the woman you are are dating thinks so. Couples that are married for most of their lives are the exception and certainly not the rule. No creature on the face of the earth was meant to be married. Marriage is a piece of religious doctrine that is absolutely required in order for that religious organization to thrive. The Scientologists need their aliens as much as the catholic church needs marriage. Fact.

Everything Al Gore says is fiction. You should have picked up on this by now.

At what point are the American people going to realize that our government is broken and cannot be fixed by anything that we do? Legally, anyway. Sorry but a revolution is the only answer. The question isn’t whether nor not there will be another one but rather when it will happen. You can’t keep taking people’s hard money for a sustained period of time without paying the piper later. History tells us that. We’ve broken all of the rules that the founding fathers laid down and without those rules, the government has become serious corrupt. I think the fatal flaw has been allowing elected officials to have control over the checkbook. Perhaps, if the American people as a whole had to vote on every expenditure things would have turned out differently. We need a financial process that simply cannot be corrupted. The founding fathers thought they had fixed the problem but their subsequent offspring have found a way to circumvent it and we find ourselves in a government the founders never wanted.

How can you ignore little things, be a slob, have a desk area that looks like a suitcase nuke detonated nearby, and be late to nearly every appointment you have and yet still have an expectation that people should take you seriously?

The brutal honesty of your true friends can never be understated.

On the subject of “birthers” and Obama’s birth certificate…

This is a subject that we shouldn’t be talking about right now. This should have been hammered home before Obama got elected. Not being able to produce the appropriate document alludes to guilt. When Obama finally releases a “document” it looks like a bad photoshop job. When something doesn’t smell right it usually isn’t. Obama can’t produce anyone credible that ever went to school with him and until recently couldn’t produce a simple document like a birth certificate. Obama is living a lie. The evidence is the simple matter of an extremely flawed presidency. Those folks who believe they are “elitist” usually aren’t as evidenced by this fallacy of a man and an office that used to mean so much more.

Conservative pundits are a very special breed indeed. Just ask them. All I can see right now is a bunch of folks who cry foul, yell “the left are a bunch of hypocrites”, and aspire to self promotion and fame above that of promoting an actual message or agenda. Lets face it, the people on the right listen to people on the right just as much as the people on the left tend to listen to people on the left. It’s uncomfortable to have someone on your show that doesn’t agree with you. It’s hard. Podcasters tend to want to do the easy things like simply invite people on who agree with them. That is all well and good until it comes time to actually win an election. Having people on your show that agree with you garnishes half of the audience you would otherwise get from having someone with an opposing view on. Why? Not only would you have the right folks tuning in but you’ll have the left tuning in as well. With the leftys controlling most of the main stream media, they have an amazing amount of control. They are also picking and choosing the battles they are having with the right. In warfare, this is exactly the type of scenario you need in order to achieve victory. The way to win is to force the enemy to fight you on your terms and in the place of your choosing. The right is on defense and has been since 2008 with the introduction of vice presidential running mate Sarah Palin. The fights between the left and right are not going to be “fair.” That is why the left will continue to win in the foreseeable future. They understand how to attack, attack, and attack. All the right seems to do is cry and mutter the word “Hypocrites!” Go team!

In 2008, the GOP had a great car but it was running on cheap gas. John McCain should have won the election. Why didn’t he? Because he allowed Obama to dictate when and where the engaging conversation was taking place. McCain refused to attack Obama on the issues he should have. Where did he come from…really? What makes him qualified to hold the highest office? Where are the kids he went to school with and how come no one can remember him? The things Obama said alone in speeches should have driven the American people over the edge and in to McCain’s camp but they didn’t. They didn’t because the right never used those things against him. They took the civil “high road” and in doing so, contributed to the dumbing down and complete trashing of the America I remember as a sailor.

Earth Day. You may celebrate Earth Day and celebrate mother Earth but I can assure you that Mother Earth will not hold a “Human Day” for you. In fact, at the pleasure of Mother Earth we will suffer plenty of death and destruction in the upcoming year. She doesn’t care about you. So, hug as many trees as you like. I doubt they will come to save you when the tornado sucks you out of your house in the middle of the night and deposits you into a Seven Eleven neon sign on Borneo Blvd. Pretty sure she won’t give a rat’s ass about the iPod in your back pocket either.

The departure of Lisa DePasquale as coordinator of CPAC is going to have a serious impact on who attends this year. I have been unable to attend for the last couple of years generally because of scheduling conflicts but now that I could actually make it this year, without Lisa it’s just not going to happen. Lisa has been a guest on many podcasts that I have produced over the last several years. She is smart intelligent and seriously organized. I have never heard anyone say anything negative or bad about her. If you are going to run in the Kentucky Derby you don’t leave your prized stallion in the barn. I’m not attending CPAC this year because I feel that I will be robbed of the experience because of Lisa’s forced departure. I choose not to go to CPAC because of this. It may seem like a stupid reason to you but not to me.

On a more personal note, many of you may have noticed that I am not as nearly as accessible as I used to be. That is because I am not. I’m not taking on any more podcasts and I feel that I have the core broadcasters that I want to surround myself with at this point in my life. I write a lot more under my pen name than I was only a year ago. Having a pen name with a Twitter account, a website to maintain, and deadlines to meet keeps me busy enough. I have no desire to become a household name or famous. I do have a desire to write stories that compel readers to think.

As long as I can get up every day and know that I am contributing to society and not simply living or leeching off of it then I will call that a good day. I choose to use a Franklin Planner and will write my own marching orders for the day. I will seek to be even more organized than I am now. I will lead from the front and not from the rear.

How has April impacted your life this year? Send me a note to the email address in the sidebar.

Fire Drills

This is a mini vent.

During the winter, I wear shorts. Crazy? Probably.

The company I work for always feels a need to run a fire drill in the middle of winter when the temperature is minus 10.

During the summer when it’s beautiful and warm outside…

…(insert cricket sounds here)

WTF.

Blogging Software for iPad

I’ve been looking around for a piece of software that works like MarsEdit for the iPad.

So far, all I have is an application called “WordPress.” I got it for the iPhone originally but when I got the iPad, the software “moved” over an then seemed to adapt to the iPad screen with no screen doubling. Weird.

I have problems with this software.

It’s not very intuitive and doesn’t do the basic blogging necessities very well. Things like adding a link to some text or just adding a picture.

I’ve just seen something on the app store called Blogsy.

I’ll have to download that one and let you know about it.

What would really be neat and cool would be a MarsEdit version for the iPad.

A Nano Regression?

Most folks who are “geeky” enough (like me) tend to buy the latest iPod when Apple releases them.

I remember when I bought my first iPod. Apple has come a long way since then. The designs have gotten better, the storage capacity has grown, they’ve added cameras, and even a radio.

Until the last Nano. They made this one small, square, and have given it a touch screen. Ok, that’s cool.

Apple ipod nano 16gb mp3 player 6th generation latest model blue largefrontimage 320w

However, it doesn’t play video and it doesn’t have a camera. Oh yeah, it doesn’t have an external speaker (all features of the previous version).

HT1353 nano5g

But, you can wear it like a watch.

4950716859 40cbfd92c0

Ok, cool.

I’ve gotten the 16 gig version of the last design and the latest design. I can’t help feeling that I’ve paid the same amount of money for less of a product.

Like the 3.5″ floppy drive in the old iMacs, perhaps this is Apple’s way of saying that we don’t need those things in a Nano.