Banjo's World

Equal Access: Netflix

2011-10-11T13:12:00.003-04:00

Before I begin, I want you to know that I am not a subscriber to any of Netflix's services. There are several reasons why. The main reason for this is due to the lack of accessibility available on their streaming services. Over the years, I have read quite a bit about Netflix. Years ago, they announced their plans to set up a big streaming service. They were warned on many occasions to include accessibility for the deaf.

From what I have gathered, around 30% of the video contents on Netflix are captioned. That means 70% of the video contents are not captioned. Why is Netflix stalling? Why are they not doing enough? Netflix has had a lot of bad public relations this year. In 2009, they stated that they were facing technological barriers. Here's what they said. I can tell you without hesitation that what they said is all bull. It's astonishing how many people out there are claiming that it's difficult to embed subtitles into the video contents due to multiple and various platforms and devices. It's all nonsense because I've had many years of experience of using open source softwares where subtitles were available. In fact, it's easy to make subtitles.

What the average Joe may not know is the fact that the majority of DVD and Blu-ray releases available on the market are either subtitled or captioned. Did you know that you can easily convert the subtitles or captions from the discs to text files? I have done it before on several occasions. If I can do it, why can't Netflix? I'm not suggesting that they do it that way, but I'm saying that they cannot continue to make weak excuses when the technology is easily available and ready to use.

Right now, a lot of people are quick to dismiss the lawsuits as being frivolous and a waste of their time. What they don't realize is that the technology is advancing rapidly. The physical media is still a major source of entertainment these days. However, that might not be the case in 10 to 20 years. There are reports claiming that in 2012, the music downloads are likely to overtake the CD market for the first time. This is the year 2011, so that's less than a year away. The movie downloads are still a long way from overtaking the physical media market, mostly due to the internet's bandwidth limits and infrastructure. They are continuing to advance the infrastructure all over North America. Regardless, internet streaming of movies and music will overtake the physical media formats one day. It's just a matter of when it will be.

This is why we have to fight for the online services to become more accessible before it's too late. If we wait until the physical media formats go the way of dinosaurs, we are going to be in the dark for a long time waiting for the online services to catch up. The time to take action is now.

UPDATE: You can sign a petition at Change.org. So far, it has 6,515 signatures out of 8,000. There's a website too, Netflix Petition.

Equal Access: YouTube

2011-10-09T21:07:00.001-04:00

You know what the great thing about YouTube is? It's the fact that we are able to caption any of our video contents in any language we wish to. We all love closed captioning, don't we? It makes everything so much easier to understand.

Only if that was true. Well, at least for the most part of it anyway. There are so many well-known brands who use YouTube to their advantage. A lot of them fail to caption anything at all. I have contacted at least a few and most of the times, I don't get a response. When I do, it is often less than satisfactory. They often make excuses. For example, "We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused, the video contents we receive don't come with subtitles." and similar responses like that. I usually respond to them anyway. Here's an example, "Thank you for the response. Can you please make the people responsible become aware of the deaf and hard of hearing's needs?". After that, I never get a response.

It seems that no matter who you contact on YouTube, they are just a bunch of people who upload the video contents that they receive from the corporations. Despite the fact that they are only responsible for uploading the video contents to the internet, don't you think it should be their duty to inform someone responsible of a situation? There's a lot of music videos that aren't captioned, it's the same with short films and movie trailers. Even famous brands like The Muppets and Sesame Street, which a lot of children love to watch, aren't captioned.

Right now, they aren't reaching the deaf and hard of hearing people if their video contents are not accessible. The technology is available on YouTube and it's completely free. People need to start taking advantage of it. Especially if they want to reach more people.

Wonderstruck: A Sneak Peek

2011-10-02T02:07:00.001-04:00

A few days ago, I wrote a non-spoiler review on Brian Selznick's new novel, "Wonderstruck". As you know, the novel is about two deaf individuals living in two different time periods. One in 1927 and the other in 1977.

Here is a YouTube video clip giving you a sneak peek at the new novel. It is also closed captioned for the deaf viewers. Enjoy!

Wonderstruck!

2011-09-26T22:38:00.004-04:00

Howdy readers, how's it going? What about me? Things are good, thank you for asking. Anyway, I'm not here to talk about myself. I just want to let all of you know about a new novel that came out recently. It's called, "Wonderstruck". Trust me, this is a book that you may be interested in, especially if you happen to be deaf.

"Wonderstruck" Book Cover

The author and artist Brian Selznick is well-known for his novel, "The Invention of Hugo Cabret". The renowned filmmaker Martin Scorsese adapted the novel into a movie and it's set to be released this winter, These novels of his are marketed toward the young readers. The novel I just mentioned has won quite a few awards. I'm not surprised after reading the novel itself. You see, it's not your typical novel. It is basically a combination of text and drawings, people could call it a form of graphic novel, but I don't think it can be classified as one, at least not officially. It's something different.

Don't worry, this is a spoiler-free review. It's two stories set in two different time periods, both stories weave back and forth. One is set in 1927 and one is set 50 years later in 1977. There are two leading characters, one is a young boy named Ben. He is deaf in one ear, the other is a young girl named Rose. She is deaf in both ears. The boy is able to speak, but has trouble understanding people due to being deaf in one ear. What truly caught my attention is how the two stories are told. The character Ben's story is told in text while Rose's is told in drawings.

As I said, this novel is being marketed toward the young readers. As an adult, I enjoyed reading the novel. The drawings are well-executed, Brian Selznick is well-talented as both a writer and an artist. He has to be given a lot of credits for the hard work he did on the novel. Considering the author's background, I was astonished to see how he approached the deaf character, Rose. It's rare that I come across an author who is capable of writing about a Deaf character without mangling Deaf Culture.

The novel would have never existed if it wasn't for the PBS documentary, "Through Deaf Eyes". He discovered the documentary and was fascinated with it. He started doing quite a lot of research, he even met with some Deaf scholars like Carol Padden and Tom Humphries. They played a part in fine-tuning the deaf character, Rose. Here is a link to a great Q&A article with the author, Brian Selznick.

This is a great novel for the young readers.

P.S., it's a great novel for the adult readers too.

Genealogy - A Personal Journey

2011-09-22T12:53:00.002-04:00

I have a new hobby and it turns how that it's quite an addictive hobby. Genealogy is something I've always been fascinated with. Only the thing was that I didn't do much with it until now. Sure, I did some things that would be considered genealogy, but it wasn't a hobby. Curiosity was more like it. Now, it is definitely a hobby of mine and I can see it being something I'll be doing for years to come.

I started out using Google and various websites, some were free to look at. I did get to look at some public family trees. The only problem was, there was no way to verify any of the names. The most difficult part about trying to do research on your family tree is coming across historical documents. For instance, birth, christening, marriage, death, censuses and more. Some can be accessed for free, but not a whole lot of them. So I decided to sign up for a free trial at Ancestry since I've heard so much about it. However, I must admit that I was pretty skeptical about finding anything there at all. I wasn't much of a believer.

To my surprise, there are literally hundreds of millions of documents of all kinds. Not only to mention that they are adding more documents to the database all of the times. Eventually, I realized that if I am going to take my new hobby seriously, I'll have to accept that not everything is free. So I decided to cough up the dough for a subscription. So far, I am loving it. I love how I am able to find specific documents relating to my ancestors. It's not just the birth, marriage and death documents that they have. There are far, far more than that. They have birth, marriage, death, census, voter lists, immigration, travel, military, schools, directories, church histories, tax, criminal, land, wills, reference, dictionaries, almanacs, family trees, stories, publications, photos, maps, vital records, national archives, jewish records and many, many more. That's quite a mouthful. So I am now a true believer. Hee hee.

Genealogy is almost like an exact science, you have to be precise with everything in the family tree. There is one downfall to the public family trees, like I said, sometimes they cannot be verified. You see, some people do not add any source citations and sometimes their source citations are in fact, from another public family tree with no source citations either. Just more reasons to be cautious about what information to apply to the family tree. Like I said, it's like an exact science and how precise we have to be with everything.

I have went to at least a few libraries to look through their historical archives for several types of records relating to some of my ancestors. It's amazing what the libraries hold in their archives these days. I have contacted several funeral homes, government offices, newspapers, libraries in other cities, city halls, museums, family relatives and more. A lot of them had something solid or some pieces to add to the puzzle. One piece is better than no piece at all. I never said that genealogy was easy because it isn't. It is something that you have to dedicate time to and double-check everything you come across.

To date, I have found a large amount of information relating to several family lines within my family. I have been working hard to explore my family's history and so far, I am enjoying my journey on discovering my family's roots. It's a highly enlightening and eye-opening experience for one to go through. I even started a Family Tree group for my family and extended family members to keep them updated on my progress. It's astonishing how people take an interest in the subject. They often marvel and gasp at the old documents I've discovered.

Now, you know how people say they always say to expect the unexpected. Well, I didn't expect the unexpected, but I should have. I somehow came in contact with two several-removed cousins through Ancestry. The thing is, one is from my mother's side and one is from my father's side. One lives in the USA and one lives in Quebec in Canada. I have been keeping in touch with both of them since then, they've had so much to offer and add to my family tree.

I truly believe that genealogy is a personal journey. It should be cherished and it is full of surprises. It is a hobby I am going to hold on dearly and I am looking forward to discovering a whole lot more about my family's history. Now, enough about me, is there anyone else who has genealogy as a hobby? I would love to hear about your experiences.

d/Deaf and d/Dumb

2011-07-06T14:04:00.000-04:00

A while ago, I came across a book titled, "d/Deaf and d/Dumb: A Portrait of a Deaf Kid as a Young Superhero". I don't often read books like the one I just mentioned. However, the reason why I decided to give this one a shot was because this was put under the category of Disability Studies in Education. The book was written by Joseph Michael Valente. He is an Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Education at Pennsylvania State University, and an affiliate faculty in the Disability Studies and Comparative and International Education programs.

I must say that this is different from anything I have ever read. In layman's terms, it's a combination of both theories and narratives. It's basically an autobiography based on the writer's life, and how he coped with his hearing loss by creating imaginative world where he's a deaf superhero. It was his way of empowering his Deaf identity, only he didn't realize it at the time. The book shined a light on his upbringing, he grew up in an oral-focused education setting, I found that part to be an interesting read because he doesn't hesitate to hold back the truth about how he felt about it.

Now, here's the interesting twist, he considered himself to be Deaf, not deaf long before he started learning American Sign Language. The book also focuses on his journey to discovering his true identity as a Deaf person. The best way to describe the book is to quote the author, "This book is a multilayered research novel."

You can access his personal website here, and the webpage featuring his new book, d/Deaf and d/Dumb. I bought the book from Amazon a few months ago, I discovered the book on my own. I have to say that I am somewhat surprised that this book hasn't been brought up and discussed on any deaf blogs that I read. Hopefully after this, more people will start to discuss it.

In my opinion, the book titled, "d/Deaf and d/Dumb: A Portrait of a Deaf Kid as a Young Superhero" is worth reading. The author, Joseph Michael Valente shared his personal stories from his childhood and the journey to discovering his Deaf identity. He also share some of his theories on Deaf Education, how the deaf and hard of hearing children are affected by various forms of Deaf Education, the politics behind it and more.

Have any of you read the book? Feel free to discuss the book here in the comments section!

Rude Advocates? Access Denied!

2011-07-04T13:13:00.001-04:00

Today, I was reading an article on how the advocates for the deaf are putting the pressure on video producers to add closed captions. We do need advocates to break down the barriers for us. Although what caught my attention was one of the comments below the article.

Xyasis wrote: This woman is rude. I have first hand experience with this activist. We just released a show, and after our experience with Berke, we decided NOT to add closed-captioning. FYI from the real world.

Source: The Washington Post

Why should we be denied access merely because they had to deal with a "rude" advocate? I don't know what happened between Xyasis and Berke, but I couldn't care any less. It's the fact that they used her as the reason to deny us access that bothered me the most. It doesn't make any sense why they felt that was enough to justify the decision to make their video contents inaccessible to the deaf audience. In my opinion, the reason used achieved nothing but made them appear infantile. Why should the deaf community be punished in this manner?

Inexcusable.

Interpreters' Code of Ethics Violation on CSI: LV

2011-02-04T12:18:00.002-05:00

My wife and I watched an episode of CSI: Las Veags last night. It guest-starred quite a few deaf actors including Marlee Matlin, Phyllis Frelich, Tyrone Giordano, Anthony Natale and more.

It was a decent episode, we both enjoyed it. Just a spoiler alert in case you haven't watched the episode.

It was somewhat of an interesting twist that it was an interpreter who murdered Anthony Natale's character. I noticed that they used a few interpreters on the show. There were at least three from what I remember. Also, nice touch on the sex pots scene. I had to chuckle at that one.

Spoiler alert lifted. It's now safe to read.

Something caught my attention. A violation of the interpreters' code of ethics was committed. In one particular scene where they are interrogating a suspect. There is a female interpreter present, and she did something she shouldn't have done at the end of the scene. She shook her head at the suspect. Basically, it's just the same as wagging your finger at someone. The interpreters are to be completely neutral, regardless of what the situation may be.

At least it wasn't a real-life interrogation. I know it's not a big deal since it's just a TV show. But still, it's something that probably has happened quite a few times in real-life situations. This is why we have a code of ethics for the interpreters to follow. it's to protect both sides and even the interpreters.

What are your thoughts?

Childhood Abuse Higher Among the Deaf

2011-01-19T11:02:00.001-05:00

Recently, I came across an article I found to be interesting. It's about a study focused on neglect or abuse among the deaf population. You might find this interesting too.

Deaf and hard-of-hearing college students experienced more childhood neglect or abuse than their hearing peers, according to research at Rochester Institute of Technology.

In a study of 425 students at RIT and National Technical Institute for the Deaf, 77 percent of respondents with a hearing loss reported some kind of maltreatment before age 16, compared with 49 percent of hearing students. Among respondents, 317 were hearing and 108 were deaf or hard of hearing

Source: Democrat and Chronicle.com

Interesting findings, I have to say. According to the article, the survey was done by looking at the self-reports. What caught my attention was discovering that the rate of abuse was the same among the deaf children with deaf parents compared to the deaf children with hearing parents.

"Interestingly, having a deaf parent or a family member who signs, or being part of the deaf community, did not reduce the risk of childhood maltreatment," Burnash notes.

Source: Democrat and Chronicle.com

Why is this? There may be several factors to why some of the deaf children with deaf parents are still being subjected to abuse. Some of the deaf parents themselves were more likely to have been abused in the past. As a result, they may continue the pattern by passing it down from generation to generation. It's a cycle that needs to be broken down. There are some examples I could use, but it may only bring a heated debate here rather than focusing on the main subject.

According to Robert Pollard, there is very little research in existence. I can't say I'm surprised because I have found very few documents related to abuse among the deaf children and adults. The most I have found are related to institutional/residential schools for the deaf. For example, Jericho Hill in British Columbia. Even though they have documented abuse at some other schools across the country, but they aren't well-documented. I know this for a fact because I have heard much, much more about what went on in some of these places. I attended as a day student at a school for the deaf for years. It's astonishing how much people got away with and how they swept them under the rug. Only very few have managed to make it to the courtroom and even the newspapers.

Now, there's also the domestic abuse and violence at home. That's the one we rarely hear about, but we know it exists. Otherwise, we wouldn't have organizations supporting the deaf victims of domestic abuse and violence. Many, many cases end up going unreported. It's the same with rape cases. What about abuse in workplaces? I have heard plenty of stories on abuse in workplaces. Abuse comes in many forms such as bullying, harassment, mind games, physical violence and more.

These are just a few thoughts I wanted to share with you today. I definitely would be interested in seeing more studies of this kind being conducted across Canada and the USA.

Update: After posting this blog entry, a reader made a reference to an article related to the study. I just had to post this.

"For example, our research shows that individuals who are active members of the deaf community report fewer depressive and post-traumatic stress symptoms," Schenkel adds.

Source: PHYSORG.com

People who are active members in their communities are less likely to suffer, which makes sense. I agree with Schenkel on that one.

Our Wedding Highlights

2011-01-10T09:57:00.001-05:00

Howdy, I know it has been more than a good while since I said something. That's how busy I have been. As you may recall in my last blog update, I mentioned that I was getting married in November.

It was a fine day to remember. My wife and I will never forget the day. For all of our guests, it was truly a memorable day. It was a big day in the making for over a year.

We hired a team of videographers/photographers to capture our big day. They run a comapny called Studio 67. This was a first for the team, they've never had clients who were deaf. They didn't hesitate at all, they were excited and wanted a new and unique challenge.

We were very pleased with the results. We just couldn't believe our eyes when the wedding highlights video clip was unveiled a few days ago. It captured our big day perfectly and it's incredibly beautiful.

We loved how they put in the subtitles, and included certain aspects of our culture. For instance, the interpreters and the signing of our vows.

We will never forget this and we want to share this special video clip with all of you. We hope you enjoy this short but memorable video highlighting our wedding day. You also can view a few pictures from our wedding, just click here to view them.

Cheers.

Married With Roommates

2010-10-08T08:53:00.000-04:00

Whoa, wait a minute. I'm not married... yet. But I will be in a month.

Last year, I proposed to a woman in my life. She accepted the proposal. In less than a month, we will be getting married. Marriage, it is a lifetime commitment. It's nothing to scoff at, it's a life-changing decision to make. It is a commitment I am fully ready to make.

A couple years ago, I bought a house and moved in on my own. I once had a boarder for a few months as a source of extra income. All I can say is that I will never take in another boarder. I know there are good and bad boarders, but I'll rather not take that risk again.

However, my fiancée does lives with me. Thankfully, the boarder was long gone before she moved in. It has been almost a year since we started living together. Since then, we are doing just fine. No problems whatsoever. It's all about having the right chemistry. I didn't have that with my boarder at all. We basically detested each other for months. It was an interesting experience though, I won't deny that.

Anyway, there is a reason why I mentioned these things above. A very good reason. A question was brought up. It was a question I found to be somewhat intriguing because of the many scenarios one could imagine of.

The question is...

Is it a good idea for a newlywed couple to live with roommates in the same household?

My immediate response was, "not over my dead body." I discussed it with several people the other day. Most of them came to the same conclusion. Most of them didn't think it was a good idea. Some even said it was a recipe for disaster. A married couple has a lifetime commitment to each other. However, having other people living in the same household can result in a negative impact on your marriage. Everything you do in your home, the others will know about it. There is no privacy, even with a locked bedroom door.

To make matters worse, the roommates could be good friends. If an argument was to occur, what do you think is going to happen? The friends could interfere, they could side with one of them, they could start giving the other a hard time. This is one of the negative impact on a marriage. Another problem is, the roommates cannot escape any arguments. In fact, the roommates can be made to feel like an intruder in its own home. The list goes on and on about the problems that can occur.

Many of them said the last absolutely thing a newlywed couple should do is live with family members. The idea of living with family members is a recipe for disaster. At least to me, it is. Imagine all the unsolicited advice your parents and siblings would give you and your significant other. I wouldn't even give it a second thought.

I spent a little time googling around. From what I have gathered, I can tell you there are a lot of experiences people shared with the world on the horrors of having roommates in your married life. Some of them I just cannot even bear the thought of enduring what they went through. There were very few positive experiences, but that's not saying much. If what I went through with the boarder was bad, then I definitely don't want to go through with it as a married couple.

I'm glad we live together on our own. No roommates, no boarders, nothing! Thank God for that.

Even though we don't have roommates, I just thought this would make an interesting topic for my readers to discuss together.

While I was working on this blog entry, another question popped up in my head. If an engaged couple is unable to afford to live on their own, should they get married anyway?

For the life of me, I cannot understand why a newlywed couple would want to live with roommates. I can understand if they can't afford it, which is why I brought up the question. Why would one make a commitment to the other if they cannot deliver on it?

In my honest opinion, I believe people need to live independently for a certain period of time before making a lifetime commitment. The couple need to be able to support each other, emotionally and financially. If they don't have jobs, that would make things more difficult. A large percentage of married couples end up getting divorced over financial problems. They can't rely on their parents for life, can they? That's not how it works in the real world. They can't pay your mortgage, your bills, the utilities, car insurance, property taxes and more. They need to understand what the real world is before they make a lifetime commitment.

People shouldn't rush into a marriage. They should know what they are getting themselves into before they commit to it.

I have no doubt in my heart that I am completely ready to make a lifetime commitment to the woman in my life. I finally found my soulmate and I'm ready to take the plunge with her.

I can't wait!

Closed Captioning Bill for Online TV

2010-09-30T12:10:00.000-04:00

Here's the article. It was published yesterday. As you may remember, the House passed the bill back in July. Afterward, a minor amendment was made to the bill, the Senate passed it last week. President Obama is expected to sign or veto the bill within two weeks, I'm pretty sure he'll sign it though.

They had to start somewhere. Baby steps, that's how I see it. They are taking it quite slowly to push for equal access for all. From what I have gathered, it's only affecting the programming that previously aired on TV. So the online-exclusive content will be not affected for the time being. There are stipulations in the law requiring them to revisit the issue once the majority of their programming are exclusively online.

YouTube, Google Video, CNN and many more websites with video contents won't be affected by this law since they are online-exclusive. Like I said, they had to start somewhere.

People just have to keep fighting for equal access for all or it won't happen. I have faith in the people to succeed in making equal access for all a reality someday.

Just Keeping Things Fresh, Not Stale

2010-09-23T12:21:00.000-04:00

I just wanted to say something today regarding my blogging style. Well, it's more of an editorial decision.

There is one thing I cannot stand, it's repetition. There is one topic that is famous for that. It's politics. My blog isn't even about politics to start with. I have decided it's for the best to keep politics to a minimum, meaning I won't be blogging on it at all or very little. There is a good reason why people don't discuss politics at the dinner table or we'll be seeing flying food. Hee hee. To be honest, I just find most of them to be dull especially if it's repetitive. Sometimes it's bad enough to make me fall asleep at the keyboard.

I have a desire to keep this blog fresh and interesting. I find many other topics to be far more stimulating and fascinating. Sometimes, I come across some topics I deem to be deserving of some attention. For instance, accessibility. That's a topic a lot of people can relate to. As a blogger who happens to be deaf, I have a strong interest in accessibility due to the fact we still have many more barriers to break down.

It was nice to be welcomed back into the blogosphere with open arms. It's a nice feeling though, knowing that people like to read my blog. Even these who used to read my blog came back to greet me. It's always nice seeing familiar faces around here. I know I'm not saying much today, but this is what I wanted to say today.

Have a great day!

Fox... What's The Deal?

2010-09-21T16:16:00.001-04:00

On several occasions, I blogged on the lack of access on a good number of DVDs and Blu-ray. Especially the special features. I named a few offenders such as Sony (Columbia/Tri-Star), Warner Bros., Fox, MGM, etc.

A while ago, I had a conversation with a friend regarding the special features on DVDs and Blu-ray. He mentioned that he would buy movies from Europe as long they are region-free. He mentioned that the special features on DVD and Blu-ray from Fox are usually subtitled in United Kingdom. I was surprised to learn of this because Fox is one of the worst offenders in North America. They never subtitle anything except for the main presentation on their releases.

He wasn't making it up. I looked into it and apparently a good number of them are entirely subtitled in the UK. I do have one movie from Fox that is entirely subtitled, it's called, "Sunshine." It's a movie directed by Danny Boyle. It was released in the UK, I believe the American edition is a direct copy of the UK edition. This is the only explantation why the subtitles are on it in the first place. It was released over there first, then imported over to North America.

For a recent Blu-ray release from Fox in the USA, "The Illusionist" starring Edward Norton, it had no subtitles at all. You see, the disc was a direct copy of the Canadian edition that was released in Canada months ago. The Canadian edition had no subtitles, I wasn't particularly impressed with the distributor for skimming the essential features from the Blu-ray release. Alliance was the offender. To think of it, they are even worse than Fox. They don't even subtitle the movies. The only time it may be subtitled is if it's a direct copy of the American edition. We'll focus on Alliance the next time I cover the subject. Let's stick to Fox for the time being.

Fox is not subtitling all of the special features for all releases in North America.

Why? That's the question I would like an answer to.

Liking isn't Always a Good Thing...

2010-09-21T12:13:00.000-04:00

I have been meaning to say this for a while. This is something that has been bugging me for a good while. It's a popular trend that continues to grow on Facebook. The Facebook team is doing what it can to reduce these spamming activities. Mainly, it's the "Like" button that is causing a headache for a lot of people.

People need to stop clicking the "Like" button on these so-called Facebook pages when it's pretty obvious they are a form of scam. When a page ask for your permission as a requirement to view what is on the page, it's a scam, spam, phish, etc. Think about it, why would they need your information in order to allow you to view a hilarious or shocking video? The video may not even be on it to start with.

They can be used to obtain personal/sensitive information, this is something you should be wary of. You are giving away your personal information to these spammers by clicking the "Like" button. Identity theft is more rampant than ever because of the social networks. More and more people are getting scammed these days. Think twice before clicking that "Like" button or you'll regret it.

Gullibility can be a hefty price to pay for. People need to use their discretion. It's the only way to prevent identity theft and the spammers from obtaining your personal and sensitive information if you intend to continue using Facebook.

How do you feel about these growing trends we are seeing on Facebook these days?

I'm Still Here

2010-09-16T21:32:00.004-04:00

Howdy everyone, especially to my old readers if they are still around. The title says it all. I'm still here, it's just different this time.

So much has happened in the last couple years since I retired from the blogosphere. Since then, I had lost interest in blogging. Although I do tweet once in a while. It's not the same though. The spark isn't just there anymore. Not to mention this year has been completely insane. Hee hee.

I probably won't be blogging as much as I used to. Life keeps me busy these days. I guess you could say blogging isn't what it used to be. I'm not as involved with politics as I used to be, I just find it to be too negative. I'm not the pessimistic type, I like to be optimistic. There are other priorities that are higher on my list than politics. That's not exactly a bad thing, is it? It just means I get to enjoy my life more.

A while ago, I decided to give my blog a clean slate. A new look too as well. I'm a man of nature. As you can see, there is pretty much nothing on it. Don't fear, all of my previous blog entries are archived and stored away somewhere else. I'm not the type to dwell on the past. We are always changing and we don't even realize it until we start going back in the past.

I may start vlogging again sometimes. Yes, they will have closed captioning for these who are not able to sign. I did enjoy vlogging from time to time. It's different from blogging. Myself, I prefer blogging. It's just nice to do something different once in a while.

So... yes.... I'm still here.

Are you?