Nowadays I find myself missing where I grew up. My friends, the woods, getting lost in them. Going down to the river to fish. Playing paintball in the field. Heading up into the woods at 5am for white tail deer hunting.

Technology is great. We’ve made so many advancements as I species and we can do great things. The downside of all that technology is constant distraction. Too many choices. The more complex a system is, the more chaos.

Oh, a simpler time. A man on a horse on a journey. Enjoying the act of exploring, of just being. The most advanced instruments of his life a rifle and a pocket watch.

That feeling of “new” experiences drive us. That being said, enough of is enough.

I long for a simpler time. Of simpler things. Less distraction, more substance. Happiness in the journey. We all know the destination.

Jason

Mass Effect 2 combines great visual effects, a strong story and a myriad of unique characters with great effect.  The decisions you made in Mass Effect can carry over with your character to Mass Effect 2. Part of a trilogy, Mass Effect 2 amplifies what was great in the original game and shows much promise to the third and final game in the Mass Effect trilogy.

The campaign in Mass Effect 2 is breathtaking in scope.  The average game can take you between 20-30 hours to complete while stopping to take in the sights and do many of the optional side quests in the game.

In June, Bioware released the Project Overlord Downloadable Content (DLC) after releasing the Firewalker pack earlier this year.  The Firewalker pack is a necessity for Overlord as you’ll need the new hovertank to traverse the large areas in Project Overlord.

Overlord is a  fine addition to Mass Effect 2 and will take the average player between 2-3 hours to complete the mission arc.  The Normandy has been asked by Cerberus to check on a research station that has been doing heavy Virtual Intelligence research and has gone radio silent.

The voice acting in the DLC is what you’d expect from a Bioware game; real, authentic and well-written.  There isn’t a lot of off-the-cuff dialogue between your crewmates, but your interaction with the mission NPCs is great.

Keeping with Bioware tradition, the DLC story is dark.  You’ll get the opportunity to gain some Paragon and Renegade points as you progress the arc and search for the reasons behind the silence of the research facility.  By the end you’ll have to decide what action to take and if Cerberus will be happy with your results.

The DLC takes place in four separate areas across the planet’s surface.  You’ll use the hover-tank (which is now viewable in the Normandy cargo hold) to travel from point to point in the game.

I’ve never been a huge fan of DLC and micro-transactions but I find the Project Overlord DLC to be worth the $9.99 it cost for Bioware points, usable “currency” you can buy on their website.  The Firewalker DLC is cheaper but the missions are much shorter and not as fulfilling as Overlord.

If you enjoy Mass Effect 2 I heavily recommend picking up the Firewalker and Overlord DLCs.  They’ll add a few hours to your game and you’ll even acquire a new object for your captains cabin displays.  I completed all of the game missions before the Final Suicide Mission (*cough*) and was left with nothing to do after I survived.  Check the DLCs out, humanity needs your help!

Jason

Now, let’s pretend that the US Congress wants to actually PAY for all of their spending. A state sales tax is nice, but why not (God forbid that I’m actually saying this) institute a NATIONAL sales tax on Internet purchases or a combination of the two.

I propose something simple. A flat 3% state tax and a 3% national sales tax on purchases. That’s $4 billion dollars (to the states) and $4 billion to the national tax line, with 2009 figures. That number will only go up (or maintain or decline if we get tax crazy).

I completely agree that we don’t need more taxes, but at the same time, we’re building a deficit at an astronomical rate. A state sales tax can help states improve and strengthen their local economies and government could use that money to offset national mandates. Perhaps a moratorium that the money can only go to Internet-related endeavors or research grants?

Jason

Slacker Radio

What is Slacker Radio?

I love Internet radio and Slacker Radio is probably my second favorite place to go after Pandora. Plenty of channels to choose from at a good quality makes for an enjoyable listening experience. There are a couple downsides to Slacker Radio.

Downside of Slacker

First, if you want to have “unlimited” skips on your music you need to subscribe at a monthly fee. I like my money too much to want to skip songs without end at a cost.

Secondly, the free subscription is laced with advertisements every so many seconds. At first this really didn’t annoy me, but occasionally it now gets on my nerves.

That is, until yesterday.

The Secret to Blocking Slacker Radio Ads

I discovered that Ad Block Plus for Firefox blocks audio advertisements from Slacker. Sure, the music goes quiet for 15-30 seconds, but there’s no interruption of Mr Announcer.

How To Install AdBlock Plus

Installing AdBlock Plus is quick and easy but there’s one requirement: You need Mozilla Firefox.

1. Install Firefox
2. Download the AdBlock Plus
3. Restart Firefox and choose your filter

That’s all you need to do!

Jason

Normally I’d care less about this but for some reason I really want to point out the inconsistency of the FTC. They worry about Twitter hacks but how often do you hear about the FTC jumping in and going toe-to-toe with other companies about their security? The FTC never got involved when it was possible to hack into Hotmail accounts by changing the URL. I didn’t hear about the FTC suing TJ Maxx when they were breached and thousands of credit card numbers were stolen.  Facebook suffers privacy issues and technical exploits and the FTC says nothing.

Could this be related to the government wanting to have an “internet kill-switch?” In the event of “cyber warfare” they want the ability to turn off the Internet (good luck on that champs). Ask yourself: why does the government want to have control of the most advanced communication tool in the existence of mankind?   I don’t think cyberwarfare (and if you use that term you need to kick your own ass) is a good excuse.

Get with the program, government agency, and have some consistency. Your intervention is costing me tax dollars that could be better spent.

Jason

Great, I get it. This is the one time that everyone else in the world gets to act like assholes. Their problem is that we in the ass-kicking US of A are always loud and annoying. If being loud was an act of patriotism, we must be the global cheerleaders for the United States.

Just in the last couple years, we’ve decided to USURP the foreign love of soccer and make it our own. Make no mistake, millions of us, myself included, really don’t care. There are more of us that care about other sports than the ones who care about soccer. That’s the louder majority, those sudden soccer-lovers. If we don’t win the World Cup no one will care in two weeks. Other nations will celebrate, or cry themselves to sleep, but we will move on.

They can like their sport, I don’t care. The sad fact is that people take more pride in sports teams than their own families. If they do, that’s their problem, not mine. Show your spirit, America. Be loud and rambunctious and cheer on the national team, go for it.

Those of you in the rest of the world, enjoy your time of being loud and annoying. Feel better that you get to let off some steam, get loud, celebrate as a nation.

We Americans will do it the other 335 days out of the year while you insult us. And we’ll have fun doing it.

Jason

The third day I had it the master clutch cylinder went out. The washer holding the rod into the cylinder snapped and I was a mile from home buying lotto tickets and milk.

I picked up a new master cylinder the next afternoon and swapped it in myself. Bled the clutch and was good to go. It took about an hour or so from start to finish, the only tricky part was to disconnect and reconnect the hose between the master and slave clutch.

About two months later I noticed I had a small clutch fluid leak. Now, I have a severe clutch fluid leak. Looks like I’m going to be buying and replacing the slave cylinder as it seems the most likely culprit.

Jason

Congress summoned the CEO of BP to publicly chastise the company for not doing enough to clean-up the spill.  Not only that, Congress demands BP setup a war chest of funds for recompensation to Gulf Coast residents which exceeds $4 billion.  Despite the fact that there’s a $75 million maximum penalty capped by the Oil Pollution Act of 1990.

President Obama addressed the nation on the oil spill and his plan to clean it up.  Pledging that BP will cover the costs of damages and that the National Guard has been deployed to assist.  Our President also stated that he wanted to know whose ass to kick.

But what does all this mean?

Simply put, this is political maneuvering and just another crisis to be exploited by the Administration to take more control over the national economy as well as cap & trade.  With the Administration having ramrodded the publicly unpopular Patient Protection and Affordability Act through the House and Senate, incumbent Democrats are worried about their jobs.  Public support for the administration and the Democratic Party is slipping lower and lower.

The Congressional inquiry into BP CEO Tony Hayward was grandstanding at it’s finest with Senators taking their turns attacking Big Oil.  Tony Hayward has also taken flak for being at a yacht race and not “doing more to clean up the mess.”  I would agree that Hayward has made some comments that show is public-speaking skills are lacking and BP itself needs to hire a new PR firm (where are those guys from Sterling Cooper Draper & Pryce and are they available for hire?).   BP did take the steps to buy Google keywords to redirect traffic to their site.  Good going guys, way to spend thousands of dollars a day.

Really, now that I’m done rambling, let’s get to the meat of this.

1. From the Socialist playbook – Never let a good crisis go to waste. Information on Rahm Emanuel’s socialist agenda can be read here.
2. Disparage BP through Congressional inquiry to attack ‘Big Business’
3. Pass a new energy bill during a lame duck Congress after the 4th of July Recess

Number 3 is really all that matters to the Administration.  Democrats are watching their popularity dwindle, public opinion of the administration falter and the Silent Majority of right-leaning Democrats, Tea Partiers and conservatives gaining traction before the November 2010 mid-term elections.  Before the balance of power shifts and the Democrats most likely losing their majority in the Senate (and possibly the House), the Administration wants to push through as much reform as they can before they lose power.

They already know their days are numbered.  The oil spill gives the President a platform to campaign against Big Oil and push a “green” economy and energy bill.  If they are going out the door they may as well try to push more through Congress while they can.

So let me leave you with these questions:

1. How many millions of jobs will be lost by cutting back on oil production?
2. If the Gulf oil spill is so catastrophic and important to fix, why must repair crews be union employees?
3. Why did we turn away the help offered by other nations because they weren’t union?
4. Who makes money on cap & trade? (List here)

Jason

Then came Twitter and Identi.ca. New social sites to connect people and ideas. (You can toss YouTube and Flickr in here somewhere, the time-line isn’t important.) You can read short messages from people you know or people you don’t know.

Now, following Foursquare, these sites are looking to add something extra. The GPS location of where you and your friends are at. With millions of people using social media and location-based services, including handy sites like Yelp, maybe we should ask ourselves one important questions: what’s the deal with location-based services?

The Benefits of Location-Based Services

Location-based services are a double-edged sword. If used properly, it’s a great way to share what you’re doing and where you’re at. Check-in on Foursquare at your favorite restaurant and maybe your friends will show up because they didn’t know where to have dinner and your update kicked them in gear. Maybe you want some friends to join you for a jog down the Pier? Check-in, send an update and now they know exactly where to be. Use Yelp or sites like it and you can find ATMs, restaurants, auto mechanics, you name it, near your location. This sort of “augmented reality” is quite beneficial for the consumer.

Samples of things you can find with location-based services:

• Restaurants
• Parks / Zoos
• ATMs and Banking Facilities
• Retail Stores

The Downside of Location-Based Services

On the other edge of the sword, the downside of location-based services: your privacy. Broadcasting your location to the Internet can be dangerous. There are reasons that people are careful with whom they share their address. Post an update from your house or apartment on from your cellphone and it’s tagged with the GPS coordinates. No need for an address, someone can track you to ten feet of where you sent it.  It’s worse than just knowing the apartment complex you living or housing subdivision.

• Stalkers
• Identify Thieves
• Burglars/Thieves

Most people don’t realize that digital cameras, including those on cellphones, embed data in the picture, including the type of picture, what camera took the picture and, if applicable, the GPS location. This is great for sites that want to use your pictures for “virtual tours” but not so good if that picture is publicly indexed on the Internet. Anyone can extract the GPS data and look up the latitude and longitude to determine where it was taken. This may not be such a good idea if someone wants to track your movements.

Does the good outweigh the bad?

The answer is based on the user.  Location-based services have a great benefit to the consumer.  It makes finding something much easier and requires little effort to use an application on a cellphone.  Are there safety concerns?  Undoubtedly, we just haven’t heard of anything SERIOUS yet.  It’s only a matter of time.  It doesn’t have to be a stalker finding your information, the possibility exists that a hacker could gain access to the information and use it for identity theft by mimicking your patterns and activities, finding where you shop and waiting for their opportunity.

I admit that I use most of these services, I’m just diligent about what I update and who I share it with.

How To Protect Yourself

Steps to protecting your personal information are common sense.

• Limit what you share
• Share with only people you know
• Be a user of Location-Based Services and not a contributor
• Filter information before you send it

These are fairly straight forward actions you can do to protect yourself.  If you don’t want people to know, don’t share it.  Share sensitive personal information to only people you know.  (There’s a reason I only have friends on social networks that I actually “know.”)  Use location-based services but limit when you share your location.  Proactively review what you’re sharing so that you don’t let something slip you don’t want the public to know. (That goes for your keg-stand pictures that you don’t want your boss or future boss to see.)

There are pros and cons to location-based information.  Protect yourself and use common sense.  Privacy is only an illusion and controlling that illusion is up to you.

Jason

Apparently eating 5+ servings of white rice increases your chances of type 2 Diabetes. I can’t imagine how pumping your body full of starchy carbs, causing your body to produce insulin to get that glucose out of your blood, can cause insulin resistance over time.

Science, once again, proves that the FDA Food Pyramid is what is making you sick.

Thanks, guys, for pointing out the obvious.

Jason