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James Stabile Info Blog |
News Blog |
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In this newsletter you will find monthly updates and editorials concerning the issues of extreme importance and interest to the site's creator and owner James Stabile. These issues include - Discussion of the Month; Entertainment; Health, Fitness & Lifestyle; Politics and the World; Religion & Spiritualism; Technology & Business; and Too Strange, Weird or Just Funny. Peruse the articles and if you desire, send comments, questions or join our mailing list. Feel absolutely free to email ideas and topics to be discussed in upcoming months. As always do not feel obligated to participate. For the legal issues: please read the disclaimer at the top of this page. Also, please email the webmaster information concerning any programming errors that you may discover on this site. Thank you for this opportunity. Owner,
Webmaster: James Stabile |
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Thought For The Month "It is true that much of the intelligence turned out to be wrong. As president, I'm responsible for the decision to go into Iraq, and I'm also responsible for fixing what went wrong by reforming our intelligence capabilities"..."given Saddam's history and the lessons of September 11, my decision to remove Saddam Hussein was the right decision." President
George W. Bush |
Images Of The Month |
Dates Important To The Webmaster 1. New Year's Day |
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Topics of Discussion
Discussion of The Month Good-bye 2005, hello 2006. Happy New Year! Health, happiness and contentment are offered to you for 2006 and beyond. Take a walk down memory lane and revisit my 2002 New Year web page at http://www.jds2.com/newyears/6.html. 2005 has been a little like a roller coaster. Many people probably would like to forget about 2005 and move directly into 2006. However, I have a feeling that life in this the 21st century will continue to be a collection of very good and very bad situations. I think that life has changed, dramatically. Life's situations and challenges are more extreme and involve the people of the entire world. Yes, we can downsize and privatize our lives, but in order to be part of this world and contribute to it we must be aware and active in it. This means that we must share in the happenings in the world. Share, but keep these occurrences in perspective and continue to remember that it is still a good life. On the Friday before New Year's, ABC's 20/20 had a special with John Stossel explaining the top 10 misconceptions with 2005. I don't remember all of them, but many of the popular and most discussed problems - economy, family and social interactions, crime and security, natural resources, people, etc. have been exaggerated and misrepresented. The show concluded with the idea that many of our so-called drastic and terminal problems of 2005 are not any worse now than they have been throughout the years and they may even be better now even as 2006 approaches. Why has this misrepresentation occurred? Mostly because of selfish, partisan, economic and pure untruthfulness on the part of the people who stand to benefit from such dismay or the desire of these people to promote a point or stand, originally premised on erred thinking. One thing is sure, all people do not wish the best for mankind. A lot of people, people from all over the world, are selfish and make their fortunes at the sacrifice of hard working, decent Americans and world citizens. Be aware of these situations and act accordingly. Do not believe everything your hear, see or think you experience. Keep an open mind and be flexible, honorable and discretionary in your dealings with others. In reality, life in 2005 has been pretty good. Life in general is good. Life is what you make it. Life is still exciting and worth living. Be happy and prosperous in the New Year. Entertainment Just Friends is a light hearted, funny, holiday movie. It shows how most of us regress to that child we were with all of our sensitivities, when we return home as an adult. In this movie, a west coast womanizing, successful music executive returns to his childhood home unexpectedly because of a work related problem. Once home, emotionally he becomes that child again. The movie is very funny, but very serious at the same time. You just better see the movie to understand my meaning. How I Met Your Mother is an hilarious TV situation comedy. It airs at 8:30 on Monday nights on CBS. It's cute, benign and totally entertaining. I think the cast is fabulous. Alyson Hannigan is known by her American Pie performances. Doogie Howser, M.D., star Neil Patrick Harris is another character in the show. The entire cast is delightful. It's just a feel good type of show and only 30 minutes a session. Brokeback Mountain is a great movie. It was a long movie, for my taste, but I got though it. The first hour was a little slow, but the second hour and beyond moved quickly and was very emotional. The entire movie was well done. As you may know, it was a love story between two gay cowboys - Jake Gyllenhaal and Health Ledger. The love scenes were tastefully done. The story line was incredibly sad. Imagine living your life afraid of being exposed as the person that you truly are, never being permitted and afraid, of being yourself. Jake Gyllenhaal was the light hearted and more open of the two. Health Ledger was the closet case. Anyone who harbors any bad feelings, contempt or discrimination against gay people, should definitely see the movie. I think the movie would open your eyes to the understanding of the gay lifestyle. People have the right to be themselves and enjoy all of the freedoms that other people enjoy. If there is any judgment to be made, it should come from the Almighty, not from any human being. The Family Stone is a great holiday movie, perhaps one of the best Christmas theme movies that I have seen in recent years. The first half was very funny, but midway though the movie the tone changed. It was still funny, but more serious and romantic. The seemingly predictable theme was anything but predictable. The movie changed from a funny, girlfriend meets boyfriend's family to a more serious "family members discover what's it all about". Of course the cast did a fantastic job, especially Dermot Mulroney, Diane Keaton, Sarah Jessica Parker, Craig T. Nelson and Claire Danes. Sarah Jessica Parker did an outstanding job playing the snob girlfriend of Dermont Mulroney. The movie is a feel good movie and a holiday winner. Health, Fitness and Lifestyle Recipe or formula for unclogging a slow drain and for getting ride of their odors: put a few tablespoons of baking soda in the drain and then add a cup or two of white vinegar. The bubbling and fizzing will unclog the drain. For preventative maintenance, do this every few months to all sink and tub drains. This will keep your drains running free. One caution, don't "pack" the baking soda down the drain. Lightly shake the baking soda into the drain. If you "pack" it in , it will become solid like and the vinegar will not penetrate it. In fact, nothing will penetrate the drain. I did this one time. I had to use the end of a broom and a table knife to loosen the baking soda. Of course for a clogged drain, a plumber or other more vigorous solutions may be necessary. We are right smack in the middle of the 2005-2006 school year, at least in the United States - here are some pointers for examining your child's report card. First, treat a report card as a record of his or her educational progress. Approach it in a cooperative manner. Talk to your child about his or her progress. "Because I said so", doesn't work, it never really worked. Look over the report card in private and decide what you want to focus on before you speak with your child. Offer praise for the "good" things about the report. Allow your child to explain how he or she was able to be successful in those areas. Let the child explain why he or she received the poor grades or his or her lack of success. Do not yell or overreact. Decide upon a course of action with your child to "bring up" the low grades. Seek help from school personnel. Be realistic, concerned and fair with your child and his or her teacher or guidance counselor. Do not compare your children. Children must understand that all people have strengths and weaknesses. We are all different. Monitor your child in his or her educational endeavors with the idea that Rome was not built in a day. Keep cool and be proactive. Britain has extended pub hours. In an effort to halt violence and disorder, Britain has all but abolish "last call" in the English pubs. Authorities felt that people were getting too drunk too fast in order to beat the "last call". Now drinkers can drink more slowly and have plenty of time to enjoy the evening. Pubs are staying open to dawn in some locales giving people plenty of time to savor the experience. Politics and the World Finally the Florida legislature and the governor has provided the legislation necessary to enable the Las Vegas style slots in Broward County. It's taken almost a year to do so. The slots will be up and running sometime in early summer 2006. You can count on the legislature and the governor to try to find ways of postponing and eventually eradicating the very idea of slot machines in Broward County pari-mutuels. This is still America, the people decided the issue months ago, now thank you for doing your job with the legislation, and don't even try to defy our election system again. The Republican boys and girls in Tallahassee are trying to find a way to change the minds of Floridian voters concerning the class size amendment. This amendment was voted on and passed by the Florida voters, now it, too, must be put into law. The governor and legislature, as well as many Florida school districts do not want to reduce the ratio of students to teachers in Florida classes because of money and funding problems. Reducing the number of students in classes, including all classes - academic or nonacademic is a major step in solving Florida's educational problem. Class size is a factor in the education of our students. Or rather I should say, it is a major factor in the academic level of the students in that classroom. An equally important fact is the quality of the teacher. The quality of the teacher, just may be more important in predicting student achievement than class size. I think both are needed to ensure student achievement. In any case, money and funding are the obstacles in trying to achieve this goal. As a future retiree, I did not vote for the amendment. I wouldn't vote for the amendment because I do not want to pay higher taxes that the legislation and school districts would mandate to pay for the added expense. The problem is money, but not because of the higher taxes. The real problem is the way the state and individual school districts spends the money provided for, in there present budgets. Money is wasted and mishandled by any government establishment including the public schools. More money isn't the answer, the answer is clean up the system. Stop wasting tax payer's money. Government must become more efficient, responsible and successful in handling our, the tax payers, money. The President's numbers are rising, a little. His approval rating is still under 50%, disapproval rate is a little over 50%. He still has a lot of public relations to do to get the American people back on his side, so to speak. I think his biggest problem is the perception of the American people that he has lied about the Iraq war and equally important the perception that he has overstepped his presidential powers by authorizing illegal wire tapping of Americans and/or people living in America. I think people would accept the United States' role in the Iraq war, even with the causalities, but Americans will not accept or support a leader who lies to them or who abuses the powers granted to them by the United States Constitution. The United States of America has a government of the people, by the people and for the people. The president as well as any other governmental official is but one of those people. President Bush, "has some explaining to do", in the words of Ricky Ricardo. Impeachment proceedings may not be far off in the future for the president. The president's alleged misuse of and abuse of his presidential powers, smells of Watergate. Religion and Spiritualism The homosexual controversy in today's Roman Catholic Church has the faithful up in arms. Pope Benedict XVI and the other Vatican officials have overstepped their bounds when they made their statements banning gay men from becoming priests. Being homosexual should not be sufficient in itself to deprive a young man from serving his God and God's people. Yes, a man or woman (some day, women, too) who is sexually active - gay or straight, should be banned from the priesthood, at least until the Church's anti-marriage sentiment changes. Any person whose sexuality or any other factor of his or her person that interferes, detracts or violates the priestly vows that he or she must take, should not seek the priesthood and should not be ordained. Being gay in itself is not one of these factors. Current priests who are gay (open or closet) are feeling violated by the Church's ruling concerning homosexuality in the priesthood, and they should. This is an obvious violation of individual rights and the respect for life. As a side comment, the Church as well as the Evangelicals speak of respect for life when they oppose abortion, why don't they speak of respect for life when they discriminate against people for being gay. The subject of death, heaven and hell was explored by Barbara Walters on an ABC special the week before Christmas. What does happen when one dies? The subject is huge right now. People are contemplating the subject. This contemplation is a symbol of our times. I think most people believe that individuals have the right to practice the religion of their choice. After all, that's one of the reason's that the colonists migrated to the new world - religious freedom. By the way, these colonist were seeking religious freedom, but they too were at times intolerant of other people's religious beliefs. During the colonial times in America, many Catholics and Jews were held in contempt for their religious beliefs. Sounds a little ironic to me, but that's another subject. Back to the current day, Americans do give lip service to that freedom of religion thing. However, when it comes to accepting all religious beliefs and all religious practices some hypocritical Christians think that other's religious views or practices should take a back seat to their Christian beliefs. In other words, they accept people of other religions if those other religions put Christianity at the top of the religion spectrum. These Christians believe that people of other religions should be allowed to practice their faith as long as it doesn't take away from their own religion. This is wrong. All the talk about not being able to say "Merry Christmas" to people is purely ignorance. You can greet people in any way you choose, however, out of respect, a thinking person tries not to offend people who do not share their same religious holidays. That's just being respectful and courteous. Why should Christian holidays be given the "high" place in the religious holiday equation? All people are equal, all religions are equal and all religious holidays should be given equal respect and an equal standing compared to all other religious holidays. Any Christian who disagrees with this discussion should probably re-evaluate their religious beliefs, examine their consciences and decide if they are truly following the the teachings of Jesus Christ, the originator of Christianity. Back to Barbara Walter's special, people have different ideas of heaven and hell. That is a personal thing. No matter what one's religious teachings say on the subject - death and the eventualities after death will be a personal journey. I believe that this is perhaps the main reason for the individual to be perfectly clear with himself or herself as to his or her own beliefs of God and the like. You have the right to your own religious beliefs, but you do not have the right to impose your beliefs on another person, directly or indirectly. The Evangelical minister on the ABC special who said that Barbara Walters, a Jew, does not have a chance to enter heaven because she has not accepted Jesus as her savior, is a bigot and his thinking and behavior is totally against the teachings of Jesus Christ. As a Catholic Christian, I, too, accept Jesus Christ as my savior, but at the same time, I believe faith is not enough to get me to heaven. I must practice what I preach, so to speak. In other words, every day of my life I must love God and my neighbor, just as Jesus mandated me to do. Ignorance, intolerance, disrespect, self righteousness and misrepresenting the teachings of Jesus Christ is blasphemy. Religion is a personal choice and so are the consequences for erred thinking. The bottom line: religion (in it's entirety) is a personal decision. What about the antichrist? The History Channel had a show on that subject the night after Christmas. I fell asleep midway through the 2 hours, but I think I learned a lot anyway. I don't know if I really believe the melodramatic aspect of it, but I believe that it is possible. I don't know if I believe the antichrist thing, but I do believe that Christ will come again. I don't know about the end of the world and the "rapture". The planet Earth will end. That's a given. It had a beginning and it will have an end. Will it end the way it is described in Revelation? I don't know. To me the Bible is not an history book. It's the word of God and it provides a framework to follow to reach eternal salvation. It is written by humans. Yes, these humans were inspired by Almighty God, but these humans used the words of their day. The main point that I believe, God is good and good will always conquer evil. While we are on the subject, I'm not sure God and the afterlife will be exactly how Christians and other people currently picture them. I believe God is a personal God, but I think that He watches over us in our daily struggle with life. I don't think He interferes in life, but I do believe that he intercedes when we ask him. At the same time, I think He allows things to happen to us - good and bad, that's life. When we die, I believe that we will make that journey into the Light, but we will have nothing to fear because God is the Light. What will our existence be with God? I don't know. It may be an eternal presence, an eternal existence in peace or perfect love. I'll let you know when I find out. And believe me, when I find out, if it is possible to communicate with you, I will do it. Technology and Business Almost everyone uses his or her computer for e-mailing. Some people know very little about technology, but they know how to e-mail. Probably, because we are social animals. We like to communicate with each other. Research suggests that the number one use of personal computers is email and the number two use is search engines. Search engines are becoming the yellow pages of the Internet. There is a science to using search engines. Practicing using the search features of the Internet will make one more proficient in finding the information he or she seeks in that endless informational highway. Debit cards are becoming the card of choice for many Americans. More people are using debit cards rather than credit cards for shopping, especially for last month's holiday shopping. One may think that's welcomed news, since debit cards take money right from your account, but credit cards may be more secure. Debit cards do not offer the security that comes with the use of credit cards. A person's entire bank account, or whatever kind of account the debit card is tied to, could be wiped out by the illegal use of a debit card. Credit card purchases can be questioned and usually the card owner is liable for only $50.00 of illegal purchases. I think a better practice is to use the credit card and then pay off the balance at the end of the month. Did you ever print a web page and find that some of the information is cut off? HTML programming code is different than the usual margin coding in word processing software. There is an easy fix, actually a couple of fixes. The easiest might be to change the layout format for printing from the default portrait mode to landscape mode. After you click "print" go to the "page setup" and select "landscape" instead of "portrait". Another fix is to change the settings in your printer's software that sizes pages by percentage. Reducing the display from 100 percent to 80 percent will probably solve the problem. These reduce/enlarge options are usually found in the printers P\properties settings. Speaking of printers, did you ever click "print" and discover that the printout is blank or nearly blank because the ink cartridge was empty? For me it always happens at the most inopportune time. Like when I'm ordering something and I want to print the order or the confirmation page. To alleviate that problem, but an extra ink cartridge before you need it. Put it on your calendar and buy a fresh cartridge every few months or so, just to be safe. Or better yet, buy a package that contains two cartridges. Use one, keep one. Too Strange, Weird or Just Funny Pirates attack a luxury cruise ship 70 miles off the Horn of Africa. Passengers aboard a Miami based cruise line ship awoke to the sound of real life pirates attacking their ship. Quick thinking by the captain and crew allowed the ship to outrun the pirates. All were safe and the pirates failed in their attack. It seems that these types of attacks are common place in that region. A Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin police officer rescues a Siberian husky frozen to railroad tracks. The officer wondered why the dog stayed on the tracks and didn't come to him when he called it. After approaching the dog, he realized that the dog was frozen to the tracks and was shivering vigorously. The officer mercifully rescued the dog. In ten minutes time a train whizzed pass on the tracks that the dog was previously held captive. A story with a happy ending for everyone. I wonder how the dog ended up frozen to the tracks. That big ole tongue of the dog must have gotten him in trouble. At least the dog is safe and sound. A Blue Springs, Missouri woman swallows a cell phone. It so happens that her husband wanted the phone and she didn't want to surrender it to him. She put it in her mouth and tried to swallow it. The cell got lodged in her throat and the rescue crew were called. I know many women have big mouths, but I think most throat's come in a standard size. Bottom line, don't try to swallow a cell phone. Follow up: it turns out that the woman may not have deliberately tried to swallow the cell. There may have been some spousal abuse going on here. I think it is ludicrous and very unreligious for "Christians" to complain so vigorously about the multi-religious society that the United States is becoming. We are all different, with different beliefs, religious or otherwise, we must live together in mutual respect of each other's customs, beliefs etc. These Christians say that they cant' say "Merry Christmas" anymore. They say that they can't mention the birth of Jesus or enjoy the particulars of their holiday, Christmas in public. This is just hogwash. You can say "Merry Christmas" to people, you can talk about they religious holidays, but you must be conscious and respectful of the fact that all people do not share your religious convictions. Each person's religious beliefs should be respected and revered. Jesus wants us to live in peace. If we don't try to live in peace now, how can we expect to live in peace in the afterlife? If you have a problem with this reality, put yourself in the shoes of the "different" person. There should not be any majorities or minorities in life, we should all be people. And live together with love, respect, and mutual understanding of the differences among people. The God I worship is nonracial, nonpolitical, nondenominational, etc., etc. As I've said many times, all so-called "church" or "religious" people are not necessarily living according to God's plan, but that's their business and they are responsible for their behavior. We all are responsible for our individual behavior to God Almighty or Bruce almighty or whoever you perceive "Him" to be. |
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