Well, it’s been some time since I last posted anything so I guess I will share this with anyone that is even slightly interested. Recently, I have been playing with Flash learning how it works etc. Pretty cool program actually. Anyway, I am thinking about making a little flash game for my 6 year old daughter and have been contemplating all the assets I will need to actually pull it off, e.g. mostly the graphics. With that in mind I have been browsing around reading and watching tutorials on various things. One of the tutorials I watched was about making buttons for various uses. The guy was using Photoshop (another great program) and was going through all kinds of gyrations with gradients and layers etc just to create a 3D look. It did look good, but man what a lot of time and effort to make a button. So, I got an idea on how to make those cool looking buttons with a LOT LESS messing around. Here is what a few of my ideas look like. Now, I want you to realize these are just some ideas for button styles that I came up with in two days. It is more of a proof of concept than anything else. Feel free to comment on them or even toss out an idea of your own. After I figure out how to put these somewhere where people can actually see how the rollovers look and stuff, I will post again.  On an aside, I want to test this BlogSurfer.us thing.

EDIT:

As promised I have put these buttons on a site where you can see them in action.  CLICK HERE.

Some buttons

If you have ever read any of my blogs you know I have a rather strong concern over the way things are going in our country especially lately.  I was over at my parents house tonight having dinner with my mom and dad since its fathers day and all.  My mom asked me if I had seen or heard about a letter that a woman from Arizona wrote to our nations leaders.  I hadn’t so I looked it up.  This lady wrote a letter that pretty much sums up the feeling of most Americans who are disenchanted with our current situation.  I post her letter here as well as a link to Glenn Becks website where I first saw and read it.  On his site you can also sign your name to the letter if you so wish.  At the time of this writing there are already 123,356 signatures on it.  The letter was only posted on June 19th of 2009.  Quite a response I would say.  Here is the text of the letter.

I’m a home grown American citizen, 53, registered Democrat all my life. Before the last presidential election I registered as a Republican because I no longer felt the Democratic Party represents my views or works to pursue issues important to me. Now I no longer feel the Republican Party represents my views or works to pursue issues important to me. The fact is I no longer feel any political party or representative in Washington represents my views or works to pursue the issues important to me. There must be someone. Please tell me who you are. Please stand up and tell me that you are there and that you’re willing to fight for our Constitution as it was written. Please stand up now. You might ask yourself what my views and issues are that I would horribly feel so disenfranchised by both major political parties. What kind of nut job am I? Will you please tell me?

Well, these are briefly my views and issues for which I seek representation:

One, illegal immigration. I want you to stop coddling illegal immigrants and secure our borders. Close the underground tunnels. Stop the violence and the trafficking in drugs and people. No amnesty, not again. Been there, done that, no resolution. P.S., I’m not a racist. This isn’t to be confused with legal immigration.

Two, the TARP bill, I want it repealed and I want no further funding supplied to it. We told you no, but you did it anyway. I want the remaining unfunded 95% repealed. Freeze, repeal.

Three: Czars, I want the circumvention of our checks and balances stopped immediately. Fire the czars. No more czars. Government officials answer to the process, not to the president. Stop trampling on our Constitution and honor it.

Four, cap and trade. The debate on global warming is not over. There is more to say.

Five, universal healthcare. I will not be rushed into another expensive decision. Don’t you dare try to pass this in the middle of the night and then go on break. Slow down!

Six, growing government control. I want states rights and sovereignty fully restored. I want less government in my life, not more. Shrink it down. Mind your own business. You have enough to take care of with your real obligations. Why don’t you start there.

Seven, ACORN. I do not want ACORN and its affiliates in charge of our 2010 census. I want them investigated. I also do not want mandatory escrow fees contributed to them every time on every real estate deal that closes. Stop the funding to ACORN and its affiliates pending impartial audits and investigations. I do not trust them with taking the census over with our taxpayer money. I don’t trust them with our taxpayer money. Face up to the allegations against them and get it resolved before taxpayers get any more involved with them. If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, hello. Stop protecting your political buddies. You work for us, the people. Investigate.

Eight, redistribution of wealth. No, no, no. I work for my money. It is mine. I have always worked for people with more money than I have because they gave me jobs. That is the only redistribution of wealth that I will support. I never got a job from a poor person. Why do you want me to hate my employers? Why ‑‑ what do you have against shareholders making a profit?

Nine, charitable contributions. Although I never got a job from a poor person, I have helped many in need. Charity belongs in our local communities, where we know our needs best and can use our local talent and our local resources. Butt out, please. We want to do it ourselves.

Ten, corporate bailouts. Knock it off. Sink or swim like the rest of us. If there are hard times ahead, we’ll be better off just getting into it and letting the strong survive. Quick and painful. Have you ever ripped off a Band‑Aid? We will pull together. Great things happen in America under great hardship. Give us the chance to innovate. We cannot disappoint you more than you have disappointed us.

Eleven, transparency and accountability. How about it? No, really, how about it? Let’s have it. Let’s say we give the buzzwords a rest and have some straight honest talk. Please try ‑‑ please stop manipulating and trying to appease me with clever wording. I am not the idiot you obviously take me for. Stop sneaking around and meeting in back rooms making deals with your friends. It will only be a prelude to your criminal investigation. Stop hiding things from me.

Twelve, unprecedented quick spending. Stop it now.

Take a breath. Listen to the people. Let’s just slow down and get some input from some nonpoliticians on the subject. Stop making everything an emergency. Stop speed reading our bills into law. I am not an activist. I am not a community organizer. Nor am I a terrorist, a militant or a violent person. I am a parent and a grandparent. I work. I’m busy. I’m busy. I am busy, and I am tired. I thought we elected competent people to take care of the business of government so that we could work, raise our families, pay our bills, have a little recreation, complain about taxes, endure our hardships, pursue our personal goals, cut our lawn, wash our cars on the weekends and be responsible contributing members of society and teach our children to be the same all while living in the home of the free and land of the brave.

I entrusted you with upholding the Constitution. I believed in the checks and balances to keep from getting far off course. What happened? You are very far off course. Do you really think I find humor in the hiring of a speed reader to unintelligently ramble all through a bill that you signed into law without knowing what it contained? I do not. It is a mockery of the responsibility I have entrusted to you. It is a slap in the face. I am not laughing at your arrogance. Why is it that I feel as if you would not trust me to make a single decision about my own life and how I would live it but you should expect that I should trust you with the debt that you have laid on all of us and our children. We did not want the TARP bill. We said no. We would repeal it if we could. I am sure that we still cannot. There is such urgency and recklessness in all of the recent spending.

From my perspective, it seems that all of you have gone insane. I also know that I am far from alone in these feelings. Do you honestly feel that your current pursuits have merit to patriotic Americans? We want it to stop. We want to put the brakes on everything that is being rushed by us and forced upon us. We want our voice back. You have forced us to put our lives on hold to straighten out the mess that you are making. We will have to give up our vacations, our time spent with our children, any relaxation time we may have had and money we cannot afford to spend on you to bring our concerns to Washington. Our president often knows all the right buzzword is unsustainable. Well, no kidding. How many tens of thousands of dollars did the focus group cost to come up with that word? We don’t want your overpriced words. Stop treating us like we’re morons.

We want all of you to stop focusing on your reelection and do the job we want done, not the job you want done or the job your party wants done. You work for us and at this rate I guarantee you not for long because we are coming. We will be heard and we will be represented. You think we’re so busy with our lives that we will never come for you? We are the formerly silent majority, all of us who quietly work , pay taxes, obey the law, vote, save money, keep our noses to the grindstone and we are now looking up at you. You have awakened us, the patriotic spirit so strong and so powerful that it had been sleeping too long. You have pushed us too far. Our numbers are great. They may surprise you. For every one of us who will be there, there will be hundreds more that could not come. Unlike you, we have their trust. We will represent them honestly, rest assured. They will be at the polls on voting day to usher you out of office. We have cancelled vacations. We will use our last few dollars saved. We will find the representation among us and a grassroots campaign will flourish. We didn’t ask for this fight. But the gloves are coming off. We do not come in violence, but we are angry. You will represent us or you will be replaced with someone who will. There are candidates among us when hewill rise like a Phoenix from the ashes that you have made of our constitution.

Democrat, Republican, independent, libertarian. Understand this. We don’t care. Political parties are meaningless to us. Patriotic Americans are willing to do right by us and our Constitution and that is all that matters to us now. We are going to fire all of you who abuse power and seek more. It is not your power. It is ours and we want it back. We entrusted you with it and you abused it. You are dishonorable. You are dishonest. As Americans we are ashamed of you. You have brought shame to us. If you are not representing the wants and needs of your constituency loudly and consistently, in spite of the objections of your party, you will be fired. Did you hear? We no longer care about your political parties. You need to be loyal to us, not to them. Because we will get you fired and they will not save you. If you do or can represent me, my issues, my views, please stand up. Make your identity known. You need to make some noise about it. Speak up. I need to know who you are. If you do not speak up, you will be herded out with the rest of the sheep and we will replace the whole damn congress if need be one by one. We are coming. Are we coming for you? Who do you represent? What do you represent? Listen. Because we are coming. We the people are coming.

Well summer is here and I (for the time being anyway) have internet access.  So, I am going through everything and checking my sites to fix stuff and reply to anything that needs attention.  I notice my poem ‘Comfort for a Friend‘ and my desktop wall paper posts have had the most hits since I have been away.  Nice to see that.  Hope everyone has a good and safe summer.  Bye until next time.

I thought that while I have the opportunity to get online I would just write a quick note to everyone and tell them:

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS

First, let me start by saying that my understanding of what this whole ‘Stimulus Check’ thing is supposed to do, is to stimulate the economy by giving about 130 million people and families a portion of the total 170 billion dollar amount set aside for the stimulus.  I guess that somehow it will help our economy by giving all these people money to go out and spend.

I received my notice a few weeks back saying mine was on the way, great.  Today I got a letter saying that it was applied to some back taxes I owed.  So much for any ’stimulus’ on my part.  I have a problem with that considering the whole income tax thing being ‘voluntary’ in the first place but I still owe them.  I won’t even delve into that can of worms because it will just piss me off.  I was a little irked when I got the notice today, but pretty much expected it considering how our government likes to pick our pockets for any and all reasons.  I did however, do a little thinking about the topic.

I started wondering how many other people ‘owed’ back taxes.  There are millions of people that owe back taxes.  I am sure that just like me, their ’stimulus’ checks got stimulated right back into the IRS’s account.

My limited understanding of economics tells me that when ever you inject lots of new money into an economy, it makes inflation go up because, now there are more dollars in circulation and they are worth less now.  Did our wise and esteemed leaders forget this or did they not worry about it because they knew that with the millions of American’s who owed back taxes, a significant portion of the money they ‘gave’ to us would come right back to them?

The whole thing stinks of some kind of shenanigans being played on U.S. citizens.  In reality the paltry amounts given to people, on an individual basis, is not really that much.  They may be able to pay off some debt or fill the gas tank, but in the larger context of the world we currently live in, it’s a drop in the barrel.  I would really love to see the numbers on what amount of the 170 billion dollars that was given out, came right back to the IRS because the recipients owed taxes.

So, the question is.  Who or what was this thing supposed to stimulate???  Certainly not the economy since 170 billion dollars just shoved into circulation probably would not help our economy.  I don’t claim to be an expert by any means, but I can and do read.  If anyone would care to enlighten me on how this helps us, please let me know.

I recently made a new image that turned out so well I just felt the need to share it.  I know I know, call me generous.  Anyway, I have fun making various images just for the sheer pleasure of it and put them in my gallery on DeviantArt.  Most of them are in the 1024×762 resolution which of course is probably the most common screen resolution and is perfect for desktop wallpaper.  Here is the image.

Sen. John Kerry is seeking feedback on what people would like to see discussed at tomorrows Commerce Committee hearing on net neutrality. You have a chance to voice your opinion, to do that, go here. Let our political leaders know that we are concerned about this issue. If you are not sure what net neutrality is or how it concerns you, read some of my blog articles on it, as well as do your own research on the topic. You may be surprised at just what is actually going on.

I updated my main hub website to better facilitate the viewing of the poetry I have written. Previously, people would have to scroll and hunt my blog site to see them all. They are all now in one single spot and listed so all you have to do is click on the one you want to look at. You can find them here. Enjoy.

The FCC held another hearing at Stanford University today. The previous one at Harvard last February, was almost ludicrous taking in to account the antics performed by Comcast and it’s paid henchmen. I strongly encourage anyone that has an interest in the freedom to use the internet in their own unfettered way, to keep an eye on what is going on with Net Neutrality. This issue has far reaching implications, not just internet freedom, but our freedom in general.

What baffles and bothers me, is the lack of substantial mainstream media attention of this whole issue. You may hear a quick blurb on your local television news station, or you may not. This is a huge issue, and people need to wake up and see what the big corporate telecoms are doing. Many people are not very computer literate, and have little to no knowledge of some of the technical aspects. Companies like Comcast take advantage of this, and play word games to impart spin to their lies, and lies they are. They blow smoke and set up mirrors to divert the publics attention from the real issue which is, Comcast denied blocking traffic, then changed it’s story to they only temporarily delay traffic. Well, which is it?

The fact is they got caught red handed and are now trying to put out the fires they created. Reading various forums around the web I still find people that think Comcast has done nothing more than ‘managed’ their bandwidth. That is what Comcast would love people to think. The people who give this kind of response are not grasping what is actually going on and are completely forgetting that Comcast keeps changing their story. I could go on and on but won’t. You can do your own research. I hope you do. Search and learn just how close we really have come to having a corporation dominated internet that would dictate to you how you surf, where you surf, what sites you can see and how fast you will see it. Don’t let it happen.

To all would be dictators:

DON’T TREAD ON ME!

If you are, I have quite a few for you to choose from here. Most of them are rendered at 1024×762, if you want a higher resolution for one, feel free to ask. I make the images just because I enjoy making them as well as looking at them. Enjoy.

Here is an example: