Vegan BBQ Wrap
Here is just a quick little something i just threw together...
Ingredients:
My Very First Tutorial
As I mentioned before I will be doing some video tutorials that will only be available on my myspace. In my first tutorial I mentioned that you should reference this post to learn how to set up to photograph for an HDR image. You will need a camera and a tripod for this. With HDR you are taking multiple images and merging them together so it is crucial that your camera remains still while taking the photographs. The basic concept of HDR, which by the way stands for High Dynamic Range, is that your camera doesn't see exactly what you see... it exposes for one section of what is in the frame. So if your camera is exposing for a bright area, everything in a darker area is going to be too dark. So, what you need to do is take from 3 to 5 exposures, one that is perfectly exposed, one that is under exposed by a stop and one that is over exposed by a stop. This is known as bracketing... if you look on youtube i'm sure you can find some useful info on bracketing. You can also have one exposure that is under exposed by two stops and one that is over by two stops. The point of this is just to have enough information for the camera to read that it can see every little detail whether it is bright or dark. Also, you should be taking these in RAW and not jpeg... agian youtube is a great resource on how to learn how to do things like that. So head on over to Myspace and check out the video... good luck.
Twitter Is Taking Over
Not really sure how to start this so i'll just start. I found this site a week or two ago and forgot all about it until about half an hour ago when some one tweeted about it. (sorry cant' remember who, no shout out) It's kind of popular so it's not like i'm sharing anything new, I just wanted to show you all what it said for me and I want to see if it lives up to expectations. The name of the site is TwitterCounter.com and it gives you stats about your twitter account. Below are my stats for what I have already done and a few predictions of what is to come...
Followers:
#FollowFriday helps a lot apparently.
Following:
As you can see i've stopped following a bunch of people lately. I stopped following a bunch of people who weren't following me using FriendOrFollow.
Updates:
Got really busy with finals.
Stats & Predictions:
So, June 12th is 30 days from today, I'll check back with you then and we'll see how well the predictions work. For all of you following me on twitter i will let you know tomorrow how the one day prediction works out. If you're not following me, start now Twitter.com/WatchMeRise
And here's the counter widget that they have...
Baby Steps Help
Starting tomorrow in the city of Ghent in Belgium Thusdays will be Veggie Day! The first city in the world to have such an event. Congrats Ghent.
Listen to Mayor of Ghent talk about it here
or read about it here MailOnline
Green Street Hooligans
imdb plot summary:
After Harvard student Matt Buckner (wood) is wrongfully expelled he then decides to visit his sister in England Shannon (forlani) while in the process meets his sisters husband Steve Dunham (warren) and his little brother Pete Dunham (hunnam) and the two quickly become friends but only until the next day that after going to watch West Ham United v Birmingham City and being involved in a fight between the two teams firms that he finds out that his new cockney friend is in fact the violent top boy (leader) of West Ham's hooligan firm the GSE (green street elite) but despite this fact finds himself getting involved along with a reputation and what no university can teach him, he learns to fight, confidence, and most importantly he learns to stand by his friends no matter what the consequences in this gritty violent story of hooliganism, respect, and friendship. Written by wing lo
What's more positive than saving lives?
This post sort of fell into my hands this morning. If you read my post yesterday then you know I started up a new Myspace for my photography company. This morning I received a comment from Action For Animals, who i've posted about before. They asked me if I would put their banner on my page and I told them if they send me the code I would....
^^ CLICK HERE ^^ [Available in USA, Canada, & Australia]
The Reality of 'Free-Range' Eggs
Meet Three Victims of 'Humane' Agriculture
What's Wrong With Dairy and Eggs?
Ecological Effects of Animal Agriculture
The Protein Myth
What's Wrong with Leather, Wool & Down?
Vegetarian Starter Kit
Dairy-Free & Delicious Recipes
FREE ME
by John Feldmann [Singer of Goldfinger & Producer for The Used, Stroy of the Year, & Good Charlotte]
Thanks to Action For Animals for all of this information!
A few links to visit:
http://www.myspace.com/actionforanimals
http://www.myspace.com/goldfinger
http://www.myspace.com/dswietingphotography
Back To Myspace:
I've been off of Myspace for a long time, but I'm trying to further my business (DSWieting Photography) and I'm hoping it will help. Please join me...
What can you get from being my friend on Myspace? I usually Plan what i'm going to blog about in advance, on Myspace you will have access to when i will blog about anything photography based. Also I am working on putting together some material to start doing tutorials which will only be posted on there. So, go be my friend... Link
Short and Sweet
If you've been following me on twitter you probably know how busy i've been these past few days, well these past two weeks really. Needless to say i'm pretty worn out and just want to quickly make this weeks recommendation. It's a really good one though so don't feel ripped off...
If you're into photoshop or illustrator i really really think you should check out the next two things.
Deric Wieting
Intro to Philosophy
Anarchism: The need, The Workings, and The Implementation
The Economy-
“I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country. A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is concentrated. The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men. We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated governments in the civilized world. No longer a government by free opinion, no longer a government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a government by the opinion and duress of a small group of dominant men.” –Woodrow Wilson.
Everyone is very well aware of the current situation with the economy, but do you know why it is so? Here is a quick Economics 101 lesson… When continuously printed with nothing to back it up i.e. Gold, cash is essentially valueless. If you pull out a bill right now and read it you will see that it reads “This note is Legal Tender for all debts, public and private.” Pretty much that means that bill you hold is a made up number. You see, it used to be that a bill, let’s say a fifty would read “Fifty Dollars In Gold Coin, Payable To Bearer On Demand.” If you went to a bank and handed them that bill they would have given you the equivalent of $50 in gold, if you did that today, they would put some numbers into a computer.
The quote I gave a minute ago by Woodrow Wilson was given at the end of his presidency and what he was talking about was the Federal Reserve after he helped push the system into place.In talking about the Federal Reserve I should start by acknowledging that they are no more Federal than Federal Express. The Federal Reserve is a private corporation that is comprised of the most powerful banks in the world. This extremely large and powerful corporation is where money comes from in this country. When the government needs money for something, such as the bailout, they turn to the Federal Reserve for a loan. The Federal Reserve then turns around and literally makes up the amount that the government has asked for and lends it out to them. And what comes with a loan? An interest rate. Every dollar that is lent out will need to be paid back at interest, so where does the government get the money to pay it back with interest? It doesn’t, hence the enormous debt.
"Give me control of a nation's money and I care not who makes it's laws" — Mayer Amschel Bauer Rothschild
Something new-
How do we take care of such a disaster that has been placed on us? Well, one could suggest getting rid of the Federal Reserve. One could also suggest going back to a gold backed monetary policy. I, myself, would suggest something more dramatic. Allow me to be the guy who answers a question with a question… Take a moment and think to yourself and when you are done, tell me what does anarchism means to you? Most people associate the word anarchy with chaos, destruction, and lawlessness. What if I were to tell you that to me, anarchism means peace, progress, and true democracy? Would you call me crazy?
What is the definition of Anarchism? Anarchism can be defined as a stateless society, and by state I mean government… because that’s what a state is, a government. Right now the land we are on is ruled by the government of Maine. Essentially we live in the United Governments of America. And so the question arises, without government how are there any laws? To that I say, “Just because there are no rulers, does not mean there are no rules.” In the following page I will discuss how an anarchist society would operate overall and then I will move on to more specific issues like education, health care, and production.
In order for this society to work the whole town, state, country, or world would be broken up into many collectives. A collective is a community working together to keep things running. In the case of a town, each neighborhood would have it’s own collective and meet weekly to discuss certain issues, say the road needs repair. The neighborhood would meet and discuss if it is something important enough to need to be dealt with at the time and if they came to an agreement that it did, a representative would be chosen. What happens next is that every neighborhood meets up then representatives from each neighborhood are chosen and sent to a meeting of that section of town. From there a representative is chosen for the section of town and sent to a town meeting… and so on and so on. Each of those stages would meet either once a week or on some agreed upon schedule.
There would be no money in this society so once it is decided upon that the road of neighborhood A needs to be fixed it’s time to ask… how do you do have a productive society without money? Well, I’ve been sticking with the answer a question with a question format this farwhy not stay with it… Why just because there is no government or money would the world just stop? People still want food, they still want their necessities so keep the factories and restaurants open. What they did in Spain during the Spanish revolution was the workers took over everything and became their own bosses. What did they work for if there was no money? They adopted a system of vouchers for hours of productivity. Vouchers were redeemable for goods. Some places in Spain worked on a bartering system. In other words, you do something like build a barn for a farmer and the farmer will give you food. You would of course negotiate on what was a fair amount.
As for law and order things would be decided like I mentioned before, collective meetings. Laws would be decided just as anything else is decided. Jails could still operate. Sentences would be decided by the community as a whole. The job of a police officer would disappear because police are an authority and the whole point of anarchism is to make everyone equal. The necessary police beat though would not disappear; it would be turned over to community watch programs. Investigations would still be done in a professional manner by those who know what they are doing.
Education would be something that would be completely revamped in an anarchist society. As great of a country that everyone thinks the U.S. may be, we have a terrible education system. One out of four people in the United States will never receive a high school diploma. Acceptance rates continue to rise for colleges making your college diploma less and less worthy. And facts that you’ve learned growing up are not facts at all. For example, who is it that made the long journey by horse to warn that the British are coming? What if I told you it was a man named Israel Bissel? Paul Revere road from Boston to Lexington which is about 20 miles and the famous words that we were taught that he said were what? “The British are coming” Everyone was British at the time, why would they teach us that? He said the red coats are coming. But like I said, it was a man named Israel Bissel who rode from Boston to Philadelphia.
So what do you do about education? First, you start by righting the wrongs and teaching the truth and then you make education more prevalent in life. Everyone becomes a teacher. We get rid of the testing based curriculum that has been engrained into our heads and replace it with hands on things. Like here at Nescom we have practicals, which I love. You either paid attention and you know how to do something or you don’t, there’s no studying. You teach things that are essential to survival, like everyone should know how to grow their own food, run a household, and navigate. I know so many people that couldn’t find their way out of a paper bag and it’s sad. Also things that would be worked on are communication, critical thinking, and survival skills. Education would turn into something that you actually use and not just learn for a test and forget.
Health Care is also something that is in huge need of change in this country. Everyone should have the right to see a doctor whether you have money or not. In an anarchist society a doctor wouldn’t be paid in money they would be paid by the community with whatever he or she may need, be it supplies, food, home care, etc. Also everyone would learn some basic health stuff to keep them healthy. In this country we have things backwards, we are a country that treats instead of prevents. Also we would have to have a push towards training more people to be doctors. We don’t have enough in this country to serve everyone.
What I want to touch on next before getting into the production aspect is the welfare system. It’s always a topic that comes up; people always ask what about the people who can’t work, how do they survive? Well, to that I say that the welfare system as is, needs to be thrown out, as a rough estimate I would say that nearly 90 percent of people on welfare can physically do some kind of work. Unless you are unable to move or think for yourself you can accomplish something productive. There are many motivated handicapped people out there who work the nine to five just like everyone else. It’s time to man up and stop waiting for the pity party, shit happens deal with it. As for the people who can’t physically do something productive, charity goes a long way. Set in place a tax system, one that you actually know where your so called money is going. Can anyone tell me where the money for your federal taxes goes? It doesn’t go to schooling, roads, or anything like that because that’s already paid for in things like state taxes, property tax, tolls and tax on gas. Everything you pay for in your daily life is taxed and then you’re taxed again on your labor… Something’s not right.
Ok, production… Well, I guess I’ve pretty much already said what there is to say about this. Pretty much everyone can accomplish something even if you work from home. If you don’t work a job that is a service then in order for a bartering system to work you would probably need to ration out whatever it is you are producing to the workers producing it in order to barter with.
How do we do this?-
You know, the United States government considers anarchists terrorists. I have no interest in killing, bombing, or anything of the sort but I do consider myself an anarchist. Is there something wrong with wanting a better way of life? Should I be seen as an enemy? To the people in power, I am an enemy because of their greed. They can spout of equality and change as much as they want but show me true equality and true change and I will show you someone who is a patriot and not a terrorist.
There are many that say that this could only be done by force because those in power are not willing to step down, because they like the power. They don’t do it to serve you they do it because they have a sick obsession. I say we can do this through education and resistance. Have I changed any minds in this room? Maybe, maybe not. But if I can change a mind, maybe they can change one too. I started with a quote and I’ll end with a quote…
“When you sleep, no one is homeless. When you sleep, you can't feel the hunger. When you sleep, no one is lonely in a dream. Without classes, without nations. When you sleep, she's standing there with open arms and one night could last forever. And if you asked her, she'd never let go. And you'd stay forever. The sun's always rising in the sky somewhere. And if young hearts should explode from all the lies they've been told, let the new night bring you peace and the promise of tomorrow. Where we can wake, to a new beginning. Tomorrow, I'll all but have lost their faces, my friends and family. Memories of all we had and the times we should have lived. And tomorrow, America just might fall apart. Tomorrow, tell me where will you wake up. Beyond title, beyond lease, careers and laws, something more than borders on a map. The sun's always falling in the sky somewhere. And if young hearts should explode, from all the lies they've been told, to live through one night like this. I would trade it for the silence.” – Against Me!
Movie Trailers
I was just browsing through IMDB.com and I realized there's a few movies coming out that I want to see. I posted one trailer on Twitter and then went back and realized there was more and I might as well share them all on here than send out a bunch of tweets.
Food, Inc.
Angels & Demons
Funny People
Moon
500 Days of Summer
Yummm
A fair warning, this recipe is not exactly easy. It's also not exactly like a snickers, I went without the nougat... this was kind of trial and error. The next time I do this I will update this post if it comes out better. I'm not saying that it didn't come out good though, it did.
Ingredients:
Caramel-
On A Mission
For the past hour I have been working on finding out how to feed my Youtube subscriptions into my Google Reader... I did it. This is a huge help because I don't like to always go to my Youtube to see what new videos have been loaded by the channels I have subscribed to but I do check my Google Reader every day.
Youtube Subscriptions in my Google reader
So here's how you do it...
You take this link "http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/base/users/youtube/uploads" and replace "youtube" (the bold one) with the name of the channel that you have a subscription to. After you have pasted that link with the correct channel name into your url bar hit enter and it should bring you to a page that looks like this...
If you have placed the correct channel name into the url then you can go ahead and click subscribe now. After you have subscribe you do this to however many you want and then what I did was placed all of my youtube subscriptions into a folder inside of my reader called Youtube. If there are any questions feel free to comment.
