Be a better person, it might just catch on.

As long as I can call America my home and birthplace, I'll continue to do whatever it takes to make it a better place for all of us and for future generations. On the other hand, it is frustrating to feel like 1/3 of us are doing 2/3rds of the work and paying 2/3rds of the bills. Also, portions of our Government are corrupt and waste tons of our money; and, the greed of our Corporations are oppressing the working class more and more.

Just remember, if you aren't part of the solution then you become part of the problem. Have faith (if not in God, then in humanity, karma or whatever) that if you set a good example, others will follow. Be "that person" who not only puts your shopping cart up, but clears out the entire lot of abandoned shopping carts from lazy customers and just observe how people's behavior around you changes. Be a better person, it might just catch on.

Flirting, maybe I'm just crazy...

Webster defines flirting as "to behave amorously without serious intent". Flirting isn't about sex, it's about displaying emotional intelligence. When you see men in an office "talking smack" to each other about an upcoming sporting event, technically they are flirting. The same outcome occurs if the man-flirt becomes too heated verses when a mixed sex flirt situation becomes too heated. Modern society has become so twisted that we have come to confuse the terms "flirt" and "harass". Apparently, our work force consists of those who are not capable of understanding this difference.

Our society would do much better to focus on equivalency rather than equality.

I had this thought after reading this article and started reading comments:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38943620/ns/business-forbescom/

Fired for venting on social networking sites is oppressive

Those in the public eye such as newscasters, etc, must be held to high standards because of their status as role models. They should watch how they present themselves everywhere, including social networking sites. On the other hand, my role models are people who stand up for what they believe in rather than keeping their mouths shut about injustices, even at the workplace, in spite of their paycheck. For example, doing heroin, blurting obscenities toward your co-workers, or publicly exposing yourself doesn't count for standing up for what you believe in.

Sticking your job out when you despise it but have no better alternatives should be commended rather than looked down upon. Venting helps people to cope; bottling up your emotions only leads to breakdown. At times, it's more satisfying to vent to outsiders than to people close to the situation (i.e. Facebook). Most people would just quit, Jerry McGuire style or worse, and many of these quitters would end up burning tax dollars in various different ways.

If it is true that we are not able to publicly criticize private companies, then what happens when the Government outsources itself to private companies? If these companies are able to hide information from the public and cannot be criticized then our system of checks and balances fails.

Conficker

I'm tired of the confusing web of technological garbage that we read on technical sites concerning security advisories. Ignorant people blame Microsoft for leaving vulnerabilities, claiming that Apple is "immune" to viruses that can infect Microsoft based software. These are the same idiots that blame Google for pulling up a bad site with their search engine.

The bottom line is this, if you have router and/or firewall properly configured and up-to-date antivirus software then at current you are protected against 99.9% of the threats that can occur from the outside. For the most part, only System and Network Administrators need worry about internal attacks that may require applying patches to Operating Systems that cover holes that are only exposed if you are inside the network (beyond the router/firewall) in the first place.

Claiming that Apple or Linux is a better operating system is as dumb as saying my cat is healthier than I am because it can't catch the same cold I can. Of course it can't--it's a different species and it's genetic makeup doesn't respond to your cold. It catches other viruses that we can't catch and vice versa. But if we were in a war, what good would it do to create a biological weapon to kill off all the cats if you could create one to wipe out the human army and win the war? This is why there are more Microsoft Viruses than Apple or Linux ones. They are simply more profitable or more destructive, whichever evil the author intends. A barn is no less secure than Fort Knox just because no one ever thinks of robbing it. By now, you would think this would be common sense to anyone with any experience in the technical field but I can tell you, it is not. This, my friend, is the bare naked truth. I would argue against Microsoft because I believe in competition and they have reached a level of domination that is clearly on the verge of Monopolizing the market. I would not, however, make blind accusations that another Operating System is better because it is incapable of getting a virus.

Customer Appreciation 101

Two years ago, you spent over $500 per month at a locally owned grocery store. One day you came into the grocery store at lunch to buy an apple. The cashier recognized you and addressed you by first name with a cheery smile and said not to worry about paying for the apple. This trend continued about once a month for the next two years. Your spending per month eventually increased to $650 and you never shopped the competitor even though you heard things from the community that there were better prices across the street.

Eventually, the cashier's attitude and business sense were recognized by one of her customers and she was offered a better paying job with better benefits. Although she was reluctant to leave her job because of the many nice people she met, she could not turn down the man's offer.

The day after the cashier left, she was replaced by a gentleman who recently moved into the area and was looking for a job. You arrived at the grocery store expecting to see the old cashier and get your free apple--business as usual. You noticed the usual cashier was out and hoped she warned the new cashier about her regulars. As you leave the grocery store with your apple, you hear a strong voice shout, "sir, you'll need to pay for that apple." You explain that you're a good customer and that you come in at lunchtime every month for about two years and the old cashier never charged you and the owner was present on several occasions when this occurred. Because of this, you never shopped across the street and you were aware that your spending habits had increased because of the good relationship that you had with the business. "Sir, I have been asked by the owner himself to make sure everyone pays for ALL items that leave the store, no matter how trivial or small they may seem," replies the cashier. You retort, "I understand you are just doing your job. I will pay for this apple and any other apple I get." The cashier replies: "I also have some bills for you. We have calculated that an apple per month for the past year comes to $24.66. We understand that you are a good customer and want to repay you by not charging you for the first year that this occurred."

Eyes wide open to who and what you are dealing with, your mind sharpens and hardens in response to the sucker-punch that was just delivered to your wallet. You give the cashier the money for the apple that you bought today and refuse to pay for the previous apples. You know that the owner is taking this approach with all of his customers, preying on the fact that most of his customers in this small town will be upset but will feel obligated to pay for the apples even though they were not originally asked to. Being from a diverse background, you recognize the game when you see it and know that there's no way they could sue you for the apples that were given to you by the old cashier.

Although you are a man of your word and default to your moral compass and common sense rather than a lawyers and courtrooms, the owner is obviously playing the game on a different level that you completely understand and are good at playing but are committed to avoiding because of moral and ethical convictions. Only for defense has been your motto. You refuse to involve yourself in this cycle of greed so you walk across the street for the first time in two years and realize that you should have been shopping there for a long time.

You tell your friends about the situation and why you refused to pay for the apples you were given. Two years later, the grocery store that you used to love going to closes down due to hard economic times and a sharp decline in sales. The cashier and you become friends and he gets a management position at the new grocery store. The immoral grocery store owner retires and relies on his aging rental properties. You send the owner an anonymous delivery of two dozen apples and a note, "How do you like them apples?" The owner does not eat the apples for fear that one of his angry tenants that he's overcharging has poisoned them. The apples are thrown into the landfill where they eventually rot. A flock of birds eat the rotten apples and get salmonella poisoning. Ironically, while the owner is out checking his mail in his robe and bedroom slippers, the birds fly overhead and relieve themselves. "Shit!" Exclaims the man. You look up above your newspaper from your porch at the man covered in bird feces and say, "You got that right!"