Wireline's Declining Market

End of the line...

CenturyTel recently announced it's acquisition of Qwest Communications to be rebranded as CenturyLink. CenturyTel is the descendant of an old Independent Telephone Company and Qwest, a Baby Bell, previously US WEST, which in turn was a descendant of Mountain Bell, Pacific Northwestern Bell, Malheur Bell and Northwest Bell. They operate on the Public Service Switched Network (PSTN) providing basic wireline service to residences and businesses based on a network model that dates back to the late 1940s. It is a declining market.

These are photographs of what has become of once was The Phone Company.

Great Books Unbound

Reading great books and discussing their ideas is entertaining and enlightening...

The Great Books Foundation was founded in 1947 with the goal of helping people think and discuss ideas through groups discussing books selected as "Great Books." Reading, discussion groups, talking with participants and what is gained from the discussions are the subject of this video.

Great Books Unbound from The Great Books Foundation on Vimeo.
Passionate discussion of books that matter is alive and well as The Great Books Foundation hosts Great Books Chicago.


http://www.vimeo.com/8917541

Invest In Yourself

Engage in self improvement in turbulent times...


Invest in yourself while seeking shelter from the storm:


This era of Great Disruption due to technology and the internet, economic difficulties, political divisiveness and social problems can be disturbing to even the most even keeled of us. The world at large is in chaos of one order or another and it is difficult to remember that we have little control over much of it. We do have control over how we observe it, engage with it, cope with it.

I'm reminded of the era between 1968 and 1974, when in the US everything seemed turned upside down with racial tensions, university student disruptions, the draft resistance movement, urban riots, Kent State Shootings and Watergate. There were times when it seemed society was hopelessly mired in social ills with no end in sight. Who knew that Deep Throat was feeding Woodward and Bernstein information that would ultimately bring down Nixon? That was the beginning of the end of scary times during which many of us felt this country was dead-ended. Nothing lasts forever, change always happens.


Where we go from here in this time period is not within my foresight, although I have some ideas of what could happen. This time healing and recovering is going to be a long and deep process for most of us. The best thing to do in times like these is seek shelter and stay out of the storm, while observing for change in the weather. Staying out of the social storm doesn't mean personally stopping though. Engage in self-improvement, take care of things you've been meaning to, prepare yourself by building a foundation out of methods that have stood the test of time.

These six items seem to be good on an agenda:


1. Take control of your life.


2. Invest in (formal and informal) education and your mind.


3. Improve and maintain your physical and mental health.


4. Build solid relationships with good people - people good for you and people you're good for.


5. Devote energy to your business or career and/or make plans if you currently don't have one.


6. Think positively, turn away from negativity and engage in good self-talk.
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Urban Landscape Photography III

The Presentation of City in Everyday Life...

Advice to Tea Partiers

Republicans aren't always your friends, Democrats aren't always your enemies...

With five rational points, John Samples, author of The Struggle To Limit Government, in this Cato Institute video delineates to Tea Partiers five points of advice:

1. Republicans aren't always your friends. (They're also Big Spenders)

2. Some Tea Partiers like big government. (i.e. Social Security, Medicare)

3. Democrats aren't always your enemies. (some Democrats have supported tax cuts)

4. Small Government demands restraint abroad. (reject lack of restraint in foreign policy, cut defense)

5. Leave social issues to the States. (US Constitution supports federalism, states have important role to play)



http://www.youtube.com/catoinstitutevideo
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Where Have You Gone Arizona?

A nation turns it's lonely eyes on you...

I am an Arizonan. 

My personal beliefs lean towards civil liberty, personal freedom and libertarian ideals with a tilt of objectivism and conservatism, along with a belief in the rule of law. I tend to listen to different sides of an issue and form my own independent opinion. Sometimes that's contrarian.

Arizona State Senate Bill 1070 the "Arizona Immigration Enforcement Law" has stirred national interest from support to outrage. Calls for boycotting Arizona are growing and conventions and meetings already cancelled. Media coverage is wide and international, from print to radio to televison to social media. One thing I think a lot of the media, political class and out-of-state tsk tsk tskers don't like to admit is that Arizona actually is representative of the vast majority of America. We're the 48th state and just a little more raw and have enough of open range left in us, that we haven't refined ourselves to the false pleasantries like so much of the rest of the country.

My opinions on topics are generally not limited to bullet points, I look at the whole target. I'm a broad thinker and view issues with the wide scope of the social, economic, political, legal and historical aspects around a topic and different elements that have an impact on the subject. That is true with this legislation.

Essentially I believe that the people and State of Arizona have the right to make decisions based on problems presented to it and that illegal immigration and border crossings have been a long standing unresolved problem. The Federal government has been more a part of the problem than the solution and we don't need more of that. We clearly need some type of plan for the illegal immigration and border problem in our state.

This particular Legislature is most likely one of the worst we have ever had and this piece of legislation is actually not the worst thing they've produced and are likely to produce. Our Governor inherited the job and was not fully prepared for it. They all could have done a much better job on major issues presented to them and are still working on.

To find out what I think about SB1070 in the larger context of the State of Arizona, watch this video blog.


Where Have You Gone Arizona? from JR Snyder Jr on Vimeo.
A nation turns it's lonely eyes on you...

A video blog on Arizona's SB1070 Immigration Enforcement Law

Who Is John Galt?

Liberty vs Socialism...

Mike Wallace interview of Ayn Rand: 1959


"I am opposed to all forms of control...I am for the separation of state and economics."

In this segment of the interview a finger pointing Mike Wallace strikes an attitude common to most Liberals, that people who are achievers will by nature act in evil ways towards others taking a "devil take the hindmost, dog eat dog society and one of the main reasons for the growth of government controls is to fight robber barons...who perverted their use of power." Therefore it is up to good (liberal) people to lead in protecting people by government intervention and legislation. He speaks as if it is common sense and it never occurs to this mindset, that abuses of power inevitably fail when left to their own devices, since they are inherently evil. Achievement oriented people are smart enough to figure out ways to get people to follow (work) for them without force. Human nature will prevail and people won't work for "robber barons" if they are being abused and are not as weak willed and in need of the protection of government as people such as Wallace suggest. Liberals perpetuate the stereotype of weakness through fear in order to secure their own moral power. Ayn Rand deconstructs this notion in a firm logical, step by step, rational manner.

On labor and social welfare legislation: "It actually sprang out from the same source as the abuses, if by abuses you mean the legislation which originally had been established to help industrialists, which was already a breach of complete free enterprise...if then in reaction labor leaders get together to initiate legislation to help labor, that is only acting on the same principle, namely all parties agree that it is proper for the state to legislate in favor of one economic group over another. What I am saying is nobody should have the right to use, neither employers or employees, to use state compulsion and force." 

In other words, the Political Class acquiesces to the will of Industrialists, in total disregard of the principles they were elected under the US Constitution, to protect the interests of the people who elected them and instead protect the industrialists. This creates a conspiratorial system where the Industrialists were the originators of collectivism and socialism by making a social contract through legislation. In turn the pattern is repeated by other members of the Political Class to protect Labor, reinforcing the disregard of the reason they were elected. This pattern is clearly evident today and largely the reason for the current social, economic and political disruption we are currently undergoing.

"This country was made not by robber barons but by independent men, by industrialists who succeeded on sheer ability. I mean without political force, help or compulsion but...at the same time there were men, industrialists, who did use government power as a club to help them against competitors. THEY WERE THE ORIGINAL COLLECTIVISTS. Today the Liberals believe that the same compulsion should be used against the industrialists for the sake of workers, but the basic principle there is...SHOULD there be any compulsion, and the regulations are creating Robber Barons, THEY (government intervention) ARE CREATING CAPITALISTS WITH GOVERNMENT HELP, which is the WORST OF ALL ECONOMIC PHENOMENON."


The result is we do not have true capitalism today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1RxKW-P5V8&feature=channel_video_title

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Urban Landscape Photography II

The Presentation of City in Everyday Life...

HOW TO DELETE YOUR FACEBOOK ACCOUNT, NOT JUST "DEACTIVATE" IT

Hotel Facebook: You can check out but you can never leave...

Well...yes you can but there's a little trick to it:


HOW TO DELETE YOUR FACEBOOK ACCOUNT, NOT JUST "DEACTIVATE" IT


Do you want to delete your Facebook account and have only been able find that it appears they only allow you to "deactivate" your account? With that method everything is still preserved forever and ever until the end of data time? Well not so fast, maybe you really don't want to permanently delete your account...especially if you've just had a bad experience, prudence might dictate you wait a while. Then join the group "How to permanently delete your Facebook account" and you can get the latest instructions available on how to delete your account when you really are ready.

However...There are a lot of reasons why you probably should permanently delete your account, considering the fluid, ever-changing privacy policies and the creepy social engineering aspects of the site. The backlash is just beginning because one day...Zuckerberg may decide to go even further and display your "likes" and your personal information not only to the World of Facebook but to the Entire World! He will create a better world of his vision with your data!

SERIOUSLY:

Should you want to delete your account, here are the instructions, which must be followed to the letter of Facebook Law.

Go to: http://www.facebook.com/help/contact.php?show_form=delete_account

That will take you to the page Delete My Account with the message:

If you do not think you will use Facebook again and would like your account deleted, we can take care of this for you. Keep in mind that you will not be able to reactivate your account or retrieve any of the content or information you have added. If you would like your account deleted, then click "Submit."

My Disclaimer: In spite of a statement in the group's instructions (I've posted the necessary instructions here), I'm going to assume Facebook means YOU will not be able to retrieve any content or information but THEY will still be storing it. My tendency is to believe that the data is in some deep freeze storage somewhere but not really worth their digging up at this point in time.

If you want to delete your account, then follow instructions and click "Submit." 

HERE IS THE IMPORTANT KEY TO SUCCESSFULLY DELETING YOUR ACCOUNT:

Pay attention to this part: Your account will only be deactivated for two weeks before it is deleted. If YOU DO NOT LOG IN during that time frame, then your account will be permanently deleted. REPEAT: Your profile is not deleted right away and you MUST NOT LOG IN to your account for AT LEAST TWO WEEKS.

If you log in it cancels the deletion request, so logging in to "check to see if it's deleted" defeats the purpose. If you want out, STAY OUT. Got that?

This is the official method and completes the process and it is not necessary to delete photos, comments, messages, items from your profile or anywhere in Facebook. If you have any questions about the deletion of your account, send email to info@facebook.com. Hopefully you won't get a template back from some intern telling you to sign in and send them secure email through Facebook. Don't fall for that one either.
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Urban Landscape Photography

The Presentation of City in Everyday Life...