2010 Miltary Pay Chart - for my fellow military peoples!

* For my 2011 pay story- click HERE.

Here it is, fresh off the press...the proposed 3.4% annual raise!..not too shabby, considering we're broke! See the charts and info in the below links:

Military.com

About.com

Now you all can afford to buy me a pint!

Pearl Jam - Backspacer Short Video by Pearl Jam -

I love Pearl Jam. check out this short video of a bit of the magic behind the new album.

Pearl Jam - Backspacer Short

Mathematical Model for Surviving a Zombie Attack!

If there is anyone that reads my blog, [Paraguay?? anyone....?] they would certainly know my recent love affair with all things ZOMBIE, from hi-jacked construction worker signs, to upcoming films, to Left4Dead pc game.

So when I caught this article at my favorite online WIRED [i swear they should pay me advertising royalties], of course I had to sit back and smile, at the sheer awesomeness. -Mathematicians writing a portion of their thesis, on the dangerous statistics of a theoretical Zombie outbreak. HA!It's an interesting, if incomplete, attempt at a formula for how fast a outbreak of zombies could begin out-numbering the human population in a town of 500,000 people. The results may scare you. (Because you know, Zombies could happen someday...you just wait and see!)

Anti-"'Insensitive' Gamer" Ad Poster: Too Far-Too Sensitive-Anti-Constitutional!

I'm just adding my two-sense on this little sensitive subject of late. It combines an interesting mash of multiple hot-points: The PC Gamer Vs. Homosexual Gamer Vs. Free Speech.

There is a poster by the Ad Council targeting what they apparently assume all gamers to be- 'Closet, Anti-social, insensitive, homophobic nerds", attempting to dissuade online chatter from using the phrase "That's so Gay!" and other related so-called 'slurs'...The Ad is entitled “Think B4 You Speak”. [how ironic]

The poster is linked here on WIRED onlines site, where other much commenting is going on. Some interesting points of view there, to be sure.

The following is my response to that article, as well as some of the more narrow-minded of comments left on that page.

Caution- the following may contain free speech! Read at your own RISK! ;)
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Arguing about personal opinions is like..well, asking a gay person to stop being 'gay'!
I've noticed the language trends while playing Left4Dead, as it is a necessarily mic heavy game. I've been in matches where 1 of your 4 buddies are running around like they are on speed/crack/whatever, spouting non-stop obscenity's at me and everyone else, then before we KICK them, they usually attempt a nice TK before they go. Point is, it is going to be everywhere, there is no ad-campaign that is going to fix that dude... If it pisses you off, like mentioned here, KICK them, MUTE them, or ..gasp, don't play in that MATCH/GAME/WHATEVER. There are thousands of other matches to reload; the "I can't enjoy my game experience" whine is ridiculous. That is literally the warning on a multi-player game, if you overly-sensitive ppl read, "Game Experience May Change During Online Play!" I’ve been offended before, I give it back to them, call them on it, if they get worse, I ask the admin to kick them, if it ruins my game, I leave! Vice-versa:I got kicked for saying ‘Bullshit’ in Battlefield 2142 while on a ‘pseudo-Christian server’ HAHA, before they kicked me, I questioned their values and merit in not allowing swear words in a game where people are sniping other guys heads, blowing each other up with grenades, and knifing each other in the back?? I was LoL’ing as they kicked me. That was pretty gay.

You will never please everyone. Just try to make your teammates/co-workers happy is my motto! If you can’t, at least you have tried!

As far as I’m concerned, that poster threatens my right to free speech! It may not be ‘nice’ for everyone, but it is still my right.
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I have a feeling that I am not alone in my point of view on this subject. For the record, I have NUMEROUS gay/lesbian friends, more than just a passing acquaintance, mind you, and I know for a fact that they wouldn't agree with Ad Campaigns such as that...
-word

R.I.P. John Hughes- another great film director ...

...gone, but not forgotten.

As it were, I was also born the year John's future film-maker son was born...1976, in the same area that John filmed his best work, the northern suburbs of Chicago. That put me in prime-time viewing of the main cannon of his greatest films. I can't describe how vivid and impactful those movies were...how fond I was of Weird Science, and Ferris Bueller's Day Off, The Breakfast Club, and later...The Great Outdoors, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.

My brother and I must have watched Weird Science a hundred times on it's run on basic cable, when my mom foolishly left us home alone. To this day, it is hard for me to take Bill Paxton serious in any movie, after his turn at the militant dickhead older bother, standing in his boxers with a shotgun in one hand and a cigar clenched in his idiotic grinning teeth...."Shaddup...buttheads!"

It still brings a smile to my face as I write this.

Hilarious:
-Practically every line in Christmas Vacation... seriously, look it up in IMDB!

The characters were so memorable, the situations, no matter how outlandish and surreal...nevertheless seemed eerily close to home. When Cameron (Alan Ruck) drove his fathers Porsche off the back of the garage...I think we all collectively cringed in horror, and empathy...knowing full well what kind of punishment he would be facing, relating it to our own lives.

There never seemed to be a lack of true emotion that crept into the dialog. Comedy mixed with the uncomfortableness of memories and feelings from our own lives.

Hell, even the movies I didn't know he had a hand in, left the same mark. Admittedly, I had no idea he wrote Career Opportunities [My first young crush at gazing upon a young Jennifer Connelly].

I will spare writing more, as countless newspapers will no doubt do their best. But let us all thank John Hughes, for leaving a creative impact on most of my generations young lives...

R.I.P. John

Tesla Roadster -gaining steadily, finally profits!

The reports are in, the Tesla Motors company has finally turned a profit, the first time since it's creation in 2002.

This is great news for those eager to switch from gas-guzzling vehicles to something cleaner and self-sustaining. I like the Prius, but honestly, that car is not sexy in any way other than it's efficiency. I've always liked big, flat wide cars...and the day they put a hydro-electric powertrain into a BMW M3...well...sign ME up!

With that Obama money helping this fledgling company along, they better have survived; they have a lot riding on their success. Especially if Obama’s 10 year plan to pull out of Middle East Oil is to be realized. Now, if they could bring this tech to the 30-45k vehicle market, I might be able to contribute to this endeavor! Outside of George Clooney, what average Joe can afford these?

Obviously, not everyone is so happy at this company's becoming successful. Those Right-Winging cretins are fighting tooth and nail because their old money was paved with OIL and they are neither smart, young[i.e. willing], or idealist enough to reinvest their coffers into Hydro-electric vehicles!

Violent PC games again attacked by German government

I see a lot of serious video game news while surfing around the net.

The ruling government in Germany is once again, threatening to ban any and all violent video/PC games from being created and sold in their country. This after a new incident of violent youth killings. As long as the suicidal youth leaves a phrase relating to a PC game, or has any affiliation with a video game, types in a gaming websites' forum etc...its all over for the rest of us. The German politicians, very similar to our own, hone in on the correlation like, ahem..Zombies to brains!

Despite all factual evidence, despite numerous professional psychiatrists, doctors, theologists and intellectualist's debunking the common assumption that violent video games are at the foundation of these troubled youth's, money still pours into the coffers of the special interest groups agenda to rid the world of these allegedly dangerous 'Murder Simulators'.

Politicians of the world-violent acts have occurred in all facets of life, in all age groups [some more than others obviously], since the first man had to throw rocks and spears at the neighbors attempting to steal their women and food. A hobby isn't anymore to blame for the turn of a young minds complex behavior and decision making than reading a book is to Hannibal Lecter.

It is just disheartening, how short-sighted and self-serving some people become, taking advantage of a human behavior issue, turning it into a scapegoat to personal fame and fortune.

Now, Germany's own Crytek, master developers of Crysis and Far Cry series, may consider relocating to their Budapest offices, being chased out of their own Country.

Please do your part to oppose any of this nonsense anti-gaming legislation, when it falls on our voting ballets. Even if you don't necessarily like, or agree with violent games, you should take the high road and vote with your conscious. PC games, Video games are no more the problem than the multitude of already available [some for a century now] similar mediums- DVD's, movies, books, magazines and of course...the latest addition on the block: The internetz!