Barack Obama: My Views So Far

A little over a year ago, our current president, Mr. Barack Hussein Obama, was inaugurated into office.  He won the election with promises of an ended war and a fixed up economy, and a campaign based on hope and change.  Now, one year later, I am sorry to admit that I am not impressed with how much progress he’s made.  Read on for my opinions.

First of all, let me just say that these are my opinions.  Especially in politics, I refuse to let my opinions be influenced by something or someone (including family and friends) other than the straight facts.  I have kept my own opinion and view throughout the election and the presidency.

When Obama was campaigning, he seemed to really have a passion for fixing up the war and economy.  He seemed to want to fix everything that Bush had screwed up.  That’s why I was happy when he won.

Now, don’t get me wrong, he has worked to fix these things throughout his presidency, there’s no doubt about that.  He is in negotiations with Iran about the enriched uranium plant, and he’s shifting more focus to Afghanistan.

However, I personally feel that this isn’t enough.  The way I see it: his priorities are somewhat backwards.  He appears to be focusing more on Healthcare reform (which is okay) and Education reform (Which I believe is unnecessary) than on ending the war and fixing the economy.

Most of his focus, however, is on Healthcare.  He is spending billions in Government and tax money to get this plan going.  Now, I do think that his Healthcare plan is a good idea, since it is an attempt to make healthcare available to more people.  However, I think there is a bigger picture to it than he sees.

Now let’s think for a minute.  Lately much Government money has been given to big businesses that have more or less already failed.  Basically they’re saving jobs in the enterprise industry.  Furthermore, many companies are laying off people in vast amounts in order to cut costs, which raises the unemployment rate more.

Now, knowing that, lets consider if the Government decided to give money to the small businesses.  The ones that usually come up with the new ideas.  If the Gov were to give money to them, they could bring up their new ideas, and as a result, offer more jobs to people.  This in turn would lower unemployment and get money circulating somewhat.  Now, to continue, this small business is flourishing.  Here comes a big business offering to buy the company and it’s idea.  If the small company accepts, it will make the idea even more mainstream, even more jobs would be offered, and more money would be flowing.  In addition, these companies would (most likely) be offering health insurance as part of the job, which would provide many people with healthcare.

I really believe that if President Obama were to take a route like this, he wouldn’t have to worry about healthcare as much.  With more jobs offered, there would be healthcare offered with the job, and reformation would almost be unnecessary.  With this route, he would pretty much be killing two birds with one stone.  He will have gotten money flowing again, and more people would be with health insurance.

Anyway, as I was saying, he needs to get his priorities straight.  The war and economy should be the top on his list and the subject of most of his focus.

He needs to get in order and really do the best he can.  I believe he has the potential to really make a difference, but he’s not acting to the best of it.  He may not be able to fix the war and economy during his first term, but he can damn sure prove he has the ability and potential to do so.  And he needs to, because it’s that which will decide if he will get a second term in office.

I miss my BlackBerry

Now I have an iPhone.  It’s a good phone, and I see what all the hype is about, but the best phone I’ve owned so far was my AT&T BlackBerry Bold.  I loved that phone.  It was simple to use, but it had so many apps and games.  It also made the perfect mp3 player because it had a battery that could support it (2 days of life with moderate usage + music).

I enjoyed all the things I could do with it.  Facebook, texting was easy, email, web browsing, plus the fun games.  And even though the Bold was huge, for me, it was the perfect size.  It had enough room for the keyboard.

I had the Bold for about 6 months before I accidentally got it wet.  Oh I was upset.  I hadn’t bought the insurance, so I couldn’t have it replaced.  I would have gotten a new one, but a friend urged me to break my BlackBerry addiction and try the iPhone.  Looking back, though, I regret ever taking his advice. 

The iPhone will never live up to what the BlackBerry was.  It doesn’t have a real keyboard, the phone is slow, the touch screen is somewhat annoying, and I miss the BlackBerry’s innovations.  I miss the typing shortcuts, the good email support, the battery, having the phone go to sleep when I put it in the holster, and the simplicity.  There were no fancy effects, there were no animations.  It was just a simple straightforward interface.

As soon as my contract is up, I’m getting another BlackBerry.

Slick – A promising Java game library

Lately I’ve been getting back into programming. My Java knowledge has somewhat faded, and my Visual Basic knowledge is pretty much gone. Well I’ve refreshed on Java, and happened to stumble upon a Java game library called Slick. It’s built around LWJGL, and makes it somewhat easier to use. I’ve tried using it, and I actually like it. Other libraries are a bitch to use. This one isn’t. All you do is follow a simple pattern of code, and you’re free to do what you want. This is the skeleton:

package project1;

import org.newdawn.slick.*;

public class Game extends BasicGame
{
    static int height = 480;
    static int width = 640;

    static boolean fullscreen = false;

    static boolean showFPS = true;

    static String title = "Slick Basic Game Template";

    static int fpslimit = 60;

    public Game(String title)
    {
         super(title);
    }

    public void init(GameContainer gc) throws SlickException
    {

    }

    public void update(GameContainer gc, int delta) throws SlickException
    {

    }

    public void render(GameContainer gc, Graphics g) throws SlickException
    {

    }

    public static void main(String[] args) throws SlickException
    {
         AppGameContainer app = new AppGameContainer(new Game(title));
         app.setDisplayMode(width, height, fullscreen);
         app.setSmoothDeltas(true);
         app.setTargetFrameRate(fpslimit);
         app.setShowFPS(showFPS);
         app.start();
    }
}

How about that? All you have to do is load your media and stuff under init, draw it on the screen in render, and make it do stuff in update. Its FREAKIN easy!

And because it’s so easy, I’ve decided to revive my game, Prince of Lawyers. It’s a fangame based on the Ace Attorney series by Capcom.

iPhone app gonna make me skinny

Yeah my iPhone is my personal trainer.  Sort of.  This app called Lose It helps me count calories and track my exercise.  I’m using it faithfully, and am happy to announce that I’ve already lost 2 lbs using it.

Glasser For Firefox 3.5

So if you use Firefox 3.5 on Vista or Windows 7, you’ve probably already noticed that Glasser isn’t compatible, thus making you use the nasty default theme for Firefox.  Well, your trouble is over, because an unofficial update has been released.  It not only adds glass to the toolbars, but to the bookmarks bar, tab bar, and status bar as well.  It makes for a more integrated feel, I think.

Click for full size image

Check it out!

Browse a JailBroken iPhone with FileZilla

Chances are, if you’ve jailbroken your iPhone, you know what SSH is.  You know, browsing your iPhone from a terminal over WiFi.  In most cases, you use SSH to add or remove files from the iPhone filesystem, and for such a simple task, using that terminal can be tricky.  So I show you an alternative method: Use an FTP client that supports SSH.

If you run a website or server, you’ll know what an FTP client is.  If not, in short terms, it will allow you to browse a remote location like a server or remote device via the internet.  Some FTP clients have SSH support, which is what you’ll need to browse your iPhone.  There are a bunch of FTP clients out there, but I recommend FileZilla, the open source client that runs on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.

So, to get started, go ahead and download FileZilla from here, and install it on your PC.  Note to Linux users: check your distro’s repositories for FileZilla.  If it doesn’t appear there, install gFTP.  It is closely based on FileZilla, and also has SSH support.  (I expect you have already installed OpenSSH on your iPhone)

Once installed, fire up FileZilla, and locate the Quick Connect bar at the top.  Make sure your iPhone and computer are connected to the same Wifi network.  Get the iPhone’s IP address and enter it into the box labeled ‘Host’.  For the username, type ‘root’, and for the password, type ‘alpine’.  For the port number, type 22, and click Quick Connect.  You should see a bunch of terminal jargon flowing in the box below, and soon you’ll see your iPhone’s filesystem appear in the column on the left.  The column on the right is your computer’s filesystem.

From here, you can browse every corner of your iPhone system, as you would from a terminal, only this is easier.  You can transfer files over, and you can set the permissions by right-clicking on the file and selecting “File Permissions”.

It makes moving file to and from your iPhone much easier, and you don’t have to sit fooling around with the terminal, which is nice.

Stomach Problems? Here Are Some Alternative Remedies.

Lots of people in the world have trouble with their stomach.  Some it’s just from time to time.  Others (including myself) have weak stomachs that are upset quite frequently, be it nausea, heartburn, or whatever.

Now those of use with the frequent problems usually go to break out the Alka-Seltzer, Pepto, Maalox, or whatever stomach medicine you prefer.  I know.  I take Alka-Seltzer all the time.  Or at least I used to until I discovered some good alternative remedies for stomach care.  Stuff you can buy at your local grocery or health food store.

Ginger
The most well known, non-drug remedy for stomach problems.  It isn’t a lie.  Ginger really does help, especially nausea.  Even astronauts take ginger when they hit anti gravity.

Now, while it helps the stomach like a miracle, ginger isn’t exactly the easiest thing to eat.  The straight root is bitter beyond words.  Bitter and hot.  Your stomach won’t burn anymore but your mouth will.  Now some folks can take it.  I can, but others can’t, so here are some other ways to take it:

• Make tea: some people will just boil the root or some powdered ginger with a few other herbs to make a better tasting tea.
• Capsules: Lot’s of drug stores sell capsulated ginger.  It’s basically the spice in a capsule.  Easy to take, fast to work.
• Crystallized ginger: My personal favorite.  It’s the ginger, but it’s sliced up and cooked in a way that makes it like a candy almost, and its lightly coated in sugar.  Also good for making tea.  You can get this at HEB or Kroger.

Aloe Vera juices
Aloe Vera juice is also a good remedy.  It soothes the stomach and also helps at regulating digestive health.  Now straight aloe vera juice will work, but the stuff is nasty.  There’s one company called Lily of the Desert™, and they make an Aloe Vera juice that tastes like water, but still has the same effect.  They also make a specialized stomach formula with aloe vera and other herbs like peppermint, ginger, fennel, and other herbs known for stomach relief.  I use the specialized stuff.  I take some every day to keep my stomach calm.  I will say though, that the specialized stuff also has a somewhat bitter flavor, but it has a rather interesting aftertaste.  I usually get the stuff from GNC.

Special Teas
They do have teas for stomach relief.  There are thousands out there, and most of them work.  A lot of them have some of the herbs in the Aloe Vera formula mentioned above, including some extra for further relief.  My favorite brand (cause it seems to work best for me) is the Yogi Tea® Stomach Ease™ tea.  It has a good flavor, and it works best in relieving my most severe nausea.  It’s also very effective when I eat a little too much.  According to the box, it uses a combination of herbs to not only relax the stomach, but also to get the digestive tract moving along and getting the food down easier.

There are a bunch of remedies out there alternative to the regular old drugs.  Alot of them are cheaper too.  So give some a try.  You might end up liking them better than the drugs.