Praetor's Journals

Review of Amazon's Kindle 2

I have had my Kindle 2 for two days and I have been spending every minute I could lost within it. Many features I find excellent, and some things I do not like. Overall I would give the Kindle 3.5 stars.

I really like the size and weight; it is very easy to travel with. I find the screen very easy on the eyes and enjoy reading the Kindle way over regular print. However, I do not like how the Kindle interprets pictures; the grayscale just does not look good and detail is difficult when it converts pictures originally in color. In the end one does not buy a Kindle to look at pictures but those who use the Kindle primarily for periodicals could find this a big minus. In the future, the ability to switch between a color and grayscale mode would be a fine addition. I was pleasantly surprised by the Whispernet technology; I have not had a problem connecting and downloading my books or blogs. I even traveled outside the Kindle from links contained within blogs, and was able to visit text-based websites. I really enjoy this feature because many of the blogs I frequent are tech related and always have links to products. I love the ability to be able to look anything up from Google or Wikipedia. I think Whispernet is a solid feature and I donâ�™t have any complaints. Where the Kindle fails in my mind is the lack of support for full .pdf. Even though you can convert a .pdf to a Kindle format, some .pdf wonâ�™t format right. I think Amazon should stop spending time on a conversion process but program the Kindle with an actual .pdf reader. If they went this route it could help remove some of these bugs. I have not tried to convert the other allowable formats but I am sure the same concept applies. I would really like Amazon to supply the conversion software to the customer so we would not have to email our files to Amazon for conversion. Perhaps, even make it an open source application so Kindle users could help evolve the conversion software and maintain their privacy. Another issue that I have is the lack of support for books that normally have software with them. I noticed the Kindle has many of these books available but no information on how to obtain the software you would normally receive on a CD included with the print version. Amazon needs to at least inform the reader that there is a location to download the software or a possible way to obtain it. I am sure if the publisher has decided to publish in the Kindle format they also made arrangements for the software to be available. When I contacted Amazon about this debacle they said I could contact the publisher and ask for a copy of the CD; this is just bad customer service. Lastly, I do not like the fact that I had to pay an additional fee to protect my Kindle, the first generation included a case. You do not even receive a sleeve to put it in. In fact, you have to pay about $30 more for protection. This is just bad business! Overall I believe the Kindle delivers; minus my few gripes. However, I do believe one or two more generations are required before the technology is complete. If you read a lot then consider a Kindle, you could easily make your money back from the lower prices on the Kindle editions. Ironically, in the end I have decided to return my Kindle; mainly do to the graphic heavy content I require, the Kindle just canâ�™t support my primary needs right now but a good woman might.

Upcoming charity runs.........

Here is a list of my upcoming charity running events. I encourage everyone to run or volunteer in there respective areas. Even if you cannot run you can volunteer to help. Most people do not realize that if there are not enough volunteers the events have to pay people, which takes money away from charities. I encourage everyone to do their part especially if the events help children charities. I will update the list as more events are added. As always, I am always looking to meet new people when I travel out of state, if you are in the area. Don't hesitate to ask if you would like to get involved or run in your area, I am a plethora of information.

Runnerâ�™s Den Classic: http://www.raceplaceevents.com/event.php?event=401001

Lost Dutchman Marathon: http://www.lostdutchmanmarathon.org/

Patâ�™s Run: http://www.patsrun.com/tempe.php

Cleveland Marathon: http://www.clevelandmarathon.com/

San Jose Rock nâ�™ Roll: http://www.rnrsj.com/home.html

Seattle Rock nâ�™ Roll: http://www.rnrseattle.com/

Las Vegas Rock nâ�™ Roll: http://www.rnrvegas.com/

Things to think about........

Can you cry under water?

How important does a person have to be before they are considered assassinated instead of just murdered?

Why do you have to â�œput your two cents inâ� when it's only a â�œpenny for your thoughtsâ�; where's that extra penny going?

Why does a round pizza come in a square box?

What disease did cured ham actually have?

How is it that we put man on the moon before we figured out it would be a good idea to put wheels on luggage.

Why is it that people say they 'slept like a baby' when babies wake up every two hours?

If a deaf person has to attend court, is it still called a hearing?

Why do people pay to go up tall buildings and then put money in binoculars to look at things on the ground?

Why is 'bra' singular and 'panties' plural?

If â�œJimmy cracks corn and no one caresâ�, why is there a stupid song?

Can a hearse carrying a corpse drive in the carpool lane?

If the professor on Gilligan's Island can make a radio out of a coconut, why can't he fix a hole in a boat?

If Wile E. Coyote had enough money to buy all that ACME crap, why didn't he just buy dinner?

If corn oil is made from corn, and vegetable oil is made from vegetables, what is baby oil made from?

If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons?

Do the Alphabet song and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star have the same tune?

Why did you just try singing the two songs above?

All my friends

A bitter return to sanity and the loud sound of silence returns to my world.

The past few months have been full of interesting adventures. Last December I decided that I would run five marathons. I am happy to report that I have achieved my goal. Other developments have also occurred in my life. Even though I have many stupendous memories of 2008 the months remaining will bring back the monotony.

Last year I started my goal to complete five marathons within 365 days. The first being the Las Vegas Marathon (See Marathon Man blog). I planned my remaining marathons by the beginning of 2008; with the last taking place in August at Disneyland. I also planned to further my graduate studies throughout the year. Trying to juggle work, training and academia did not leave me with a lot of "me" time. I did not expect to meet a wonderful woman, but somehow I did. The relationship was exciting and tasty while it lasted. I am not one to discuss details but I will say she is very special and will always hold a place in my heart. Sadly, things just did not work out and she has returned me to the store. I feel my adventures have come to a close for this year and now I must conceive new debauchery. I am probably going to stay clear of any female endeavors for awhile. However, I do not plan on a long temporal vacation from mischief.

I am returning as an active Buzznet blogger in an attempt to stimulate those wonderful minds here in cyberspace. I will post a few new topics in my forum to help in this process. For me writing is my medication for the disease of melancholy. To all my friends, don't be stranger(s).

Upcoming Events!

Many of you have asked where I might be for my upcoming running events. I have decided to post a calendar and links to each event. Most of the events are in Arizona but I will be traveling out of state for a few races. If you are in the area and interested about learning to participate in the event or volunteer for the event, please do not hesitate to ask. Even if you are interested in running or volunteering in another area please feel free to contact me, I can provide you with a list of events local to your habitat. The easy part, is wanting to make a difference to ourselves and society, but the hard part is doing it. As I confirm more events, I will update the journal.

Lost Dutchman Feb.17th : http://www.lostdutchmanmarathon.org/
St. Pattyâ�™s Day 8k March 16^th: http://www.arizonarunningeventsco.com/calendar.htm
Patâ�™s Run April 19^th: http://www.patsrun.com/index.php
Nashville Marathon April 26^th: http://www.cmmarathon.com/home.html
Disneyland Marathon August 31^st: www.disneylandhalfmarathon.com
San Jose Oct. 5^th: http://www.rnrsj.com/home.html
San Antonio Nov. 16^th: http://www.rnrsa.com/home.html
Las Vegas Dec. 7^th: http://www.lvmarathon.com/

Resignation from EGP

This has been in the plans for a couple of weeks, but after the events of the past 48 hours, I have decided to commit to this ideal. I did not want any rumors to be started about why I am not in the EGP anymore so here is my actual resignation.

It is with great regret that I write these words today, they come after intense deliberation with my soul. I officially resign my post as an EGP member; my reasons for this will follow. I have withdrawn myself from the EGP forum as a first step; I just ask that my status as an EGP member be removed from my name as soon as possible.

I believed in Tilaâ�™s initial ideals for the EGP but the road to obtain these goals is not a road that I would travel on. I cannot jeopardize my own integrity and conform to a strategy I do not agree with. I am not suggesting that it will fail; only that it is something I am not use to. Perhaps, I am too stubborn in my ways. My background working with professional organizations involving legal, corporate, political and charitable actions has always been with limited time and resources. I have always been hired or retained to get something completed in a short time frame. I am use to working with a specific goals and discipline in place. With the exponential growth of the EGP and lack of a solid foundation, it is opposite of what I know. I am just use to having the logistics completed before recruitment. This is why I do not agree with the double up approach that the EGP is currently executed. I believe other issues need to be handled first, before adding new members. This could cause a problem in the future; it allows factions within the EGP to build a following to their belief system that could usurp the current authority.

Discipline is a serious area that the EGP is bankrupted in. Every organization if military, professional or non-profit has a set of rules and disciplinary actions for members to follow. In fact, no time in recorded history has a group survived without this minimal level of organization. I am very disappointed in many of the members of the EGP who have partaken in the slandering of other members for reasons of envy and jealously. I did not want to believe this at first, but after listening to actual taped three-way phone calls and having transcripts of chat room dialog sent to me; my heart is broken. Furthermore, I have been told by reliable sources that many of these â�œfakeâ� accounts are in fact EGP members, using this method to attack others. Even more disturbing are the members claiming to be in contact with Tila just to fish personal information out of other people to forward their own agenda. I have been a target of this debauchery more then once and I find it sickening that people have lowered themselves to this level of filth. However, because of the lack of rules and disciplinary actions this has been happening without the fear of retribution. There is an old saying, â�œpower corrupts those who donâ�™t have itâ�. This statement is obvious within the EGP, as members will do anything to get ahead even stepping on and betraying the trust of other members to get there. In the end without discipline, the EGP will have a very rough road ahead.

It is obvious with the lack of support I receive from other members my time and effort is not appreciated. I should not waste anymore time of the EGP or my own personal time. I am not sure why people have chosen to attack me in the past, but I am done pondering that problem. Even when I am not being attacked, someone else is-it is nothing more then a sad cycle. I have very limited time now that I am dedicated to my personal crusade of charitable running and I have further committed to my academia. These commitments along with the monotony of work have left me with little or no time. It is unfair for me to take up a position within the EGP if someone who has the time and patience for the current structure, is willing to do so.

In the end, I have only removed myself from the EGP. My account will remain active on THS and I am available when the time permits for questions, dialog and advice. I will also consolidate my friends list with the members who have shown honesty and kindness from the time I have arrived. I am not interested in any type of drama or to be a part of EGP affairs. I ask that people respect my wishes concerning these requests. I have thought about this decision for a while now and it is the efficient course of action to take, no more needs to be expressed. This letter was written over a week ago but with the events of the past forty-eight hours, it is now a reality. Perhaps, in the future when the EGP is fully mobilized we may collaborate on an adventure. I wish the best of luck to Tila, Dren (G. Hollywood) and the EGP in accomplishing their goals. With that said, I am free of the comedy that has surrounded me the past couple of months.

Forum Roma V

When I was a younger lad, I was given an assignment from one of my anthropology professors. I was always chosen for â�œspecial projectsâ� in place of actually attending class. Perhaps, it was my outgoing attitude and my testicular fortitude in odd situations, but never the less; I was always called aside after class for some deviant academic chore. The professor explained to me he wanted to research sex. I suggested a few movies but that is not what he had in mind. He pointed out interesting facts that as humans have evolved, sexual intercourse for reproduction has decreased but sex for fun has increased. The percentage of planned pregnancy is extremely low. He wanted to know what drove people to have sex or as he put it, â�œsex for funâ�. This adventure sounded tasty! I accepted his offer in place of the monotony of class work. I must admit it was a very interesting semester, in most cases people do not think about sex they just act on carnal impulses. It was also interesting to see the different answers from both men and women. Sadly, there was not much data from bisexuals or homosexuals. I conducted my research around campus and at nightclubs. Occasionally, I took a lovely lady home for a one on one interview; these interviews were devilishly tasty. The age range was from 18-22 both men and women. By now you are pondering why I literate this story. I started thinking about this research again and about myself; I realized that as I aged my reasons for intimate relations has changed. What I find tempting now is different then when I was younger. Then I started thinking about THS, our community is made up from different: sexes, ages and orientations. This could make for a very interesting discussion. With that said, I ask you all this, why do you have sex for fun?

Delightfully Delicious!

I was adventuring in my local library yesterday and I found some delightfully delicious literature. Oxford University publishes a series of books called â�œA Very Short Introductionâ�; the books cover a plethora of subjects: politics, science, philosophy and history. They are small enough to take with you and short enough to absorb in a couple of days. I would recommend this series of books to anyone who would like to explore a new area of intelligence. I have provided the link from Oxford about the series of books. Contained within the website are a list of titles and subjects. The best part, â�œAmazonâ� is currently running a special on these books; buy three and get the fourth free. Just thought some of the scholars would be intrigued.

http://www.oup.co.uk/general/vsi/

Special Thanks!

I just wanted to give a special thanks to Kaijen for sponsoring me for my marathon in Nashville April 26^th. When I arrived to THS Kaijen had offered to be one of my sponsors. I finally put procrastination on hold and sent him a list of my upcoming events and he chose the most expensive. Best part is he never asked or ever wanted anything in return. I know many people see him as â�œevilâ� but he is one of the few people that are not fictitious. He may seem abrasive at times, but it is not a crime to speak your mind in a civilized dialog. I just wanted to literate a few words to show my appreciation for his unconditional act.

Forum Roma IV

Sometimes the hardest things to say are the most important. My Forum Roma's encourage the reader to challange themselves to find the answers they seek. I am not right or wrong, I am just an idea trying to find a place in this world.

Could the EGP be falling apart? We have all seen a building implode before, is that what we are seeing now within our own family? Do we have problems within the family? Do we have problems within THS? The answer to all these rhetorical questions is yes. Can all this be saved-yes. Will we become stronger-yes.

To be EGP or not to be EGP, that is thy question. When EGP started it was a small idea that has grown but you ask why all the tension? It is quite simple, the THS community is very large but the forum community is just a small percent of that. This is a perfect example of system theory compared to a macro and a micro effect. As forum members became EGP the other forums members who were not became alienated. A couple of months ago seeing an EGP member in the forum was a â�œbig dealâ� but now most are now EGP. There is nothing wrong with that, but as people witness their friends become EGP they feel their own worth go down because they are active in the forums and they have a voice! This is how they see it and this is what it feels like, I know I have been there. I am disappointed in the EGP as a whole when they handle these situations. Instead of trying to understand what the other person is feeling they bring ego into it and try to crush them. If someone is voicing an opinion that is not belligerent, we should treat it as a discussion. However, if someone is going to bring ego and language into the dialog-then crush the fucker! We need to look at how people see it, they are unaware of the actual size of Tilaâ�™s community, and to them the actual size is the people in the forums. When they are forum whoring and begin to witness everyone else becoming EGP, they can feel alienated. You do not need to be EGP to speak or to do great things. However, EGP members trying to suppress intelligent non-abrasive dialog that is critical, goes against everything the EGP was founded for. I feel I was elected to EGP because G.Hollywood posted my application to the forum and the positive feedback that my application received probably helped him to make that decision, even though he is regretting it now.(LOL)

This brings me to my other point about haters, fake profiles and handle hijackers! These people have passed any logical stage of reasoning and they feel the only way to become noticed is to do something about it. In fact, they are using our own Guerilla warfare against us. I do agree the best method is to ignore them and delete them but we need to do this as a whole. I am addressing this to my fellow EGP family because this is a problem that we have had recently. It crushed me to see my own EGP members on the top eight of my hater the past week. How do you think I felt? I know it is very easy to add friends that send us request but these people can be removed as friends just as easily. I mentioned this in the EGP forum, if an EGP has a hater that has gone beyond logical reasoning and has created fake profiles; we all need to remove that person from our friendâ�™s list. We need to stick together as a family!

We are family all my EGP brothers and sisters, are you with me? Is there tension inside the EGP right now, you bet! Not everyone is going to get along all the time but how we handle it will reflect on our organization. If we have a problem with someone, we need to address it in two ways: speak in private or have it mediated in a forum. If the problem cannot be resolved then maybe the best thing to do is ignore each other and not bring other people into it. It is one thing to be alienated away in the THS community but to have this happen within our own family is pathetic. As of right now, I do not know who has my back in EGP and others probably feel the same way. I have had many people come to me who wanted to be EGP and now they tell me, â�œWe donâ�™t need this shit, to much drama, high school all over again.â� That embarrasses me and I cannot really defend that statement right now, it is true.

What is important? Who the fuck are you? I believe that we have multitudinous EGP members. I also believe some people do not deserve this honor. They see EGP as only a way for shameless self- promotion. I myself enjoy the spotlight, but I had a horrible experience years ago. I created the persona of â�œParadoxâ� to promote free thought, free will and self-expression. I did not do stand-up comedy but stand-up PHILosophy. However, the money, the power and the women corrupted me. I became something that I did not like so I retracted for a plethora of reasons. I am seeing that starting to happen with many members here. To some people it is about self-exposure. I do support the EGP store and I support members who want to promote their art but not before the cause. I am finally becoming comfortable with my own identity again. I want to make a video and I want to promote my art but I am discouraged with all the shameless self-promotion I witness. Tilaâ�™s vision for the EGP was to create an army that agreed with her ideals. She also wanted the EGP to be able to accelerate their careers along with hers. Most celebrities wait until their careers are established before giving back. Tilaâ�™s career is now just lifting above the skies, but she chose-now to give back, not later. For this to work we need to choose now for helping others not now for ourselves. Trust me as we grow and do well, we will also gain exposure but exposure should not be our only motivation. Sadly, I think some treat EGP as a way to promote their own agenda. How many miles have I run for to raise money for charity? If you do not know the answer then my point is heard.

Have G. Hollywood and I disagreed? Yes, we have and he is aware of my opinions on some issues. However, we have been dialoging the past few days and I have learned a lot about him as a man and as a leader. He has learned a lot about me as well.(LOL) Will we continue to disagree? I am sure of it but I know that we can have conversations over these issues. I trusted my own opinion more then I trusted Tilaâ�™s on some ideas and I need to have faith in her decisions. For me to do that, I need to have faith in G. Hollywoodâ�™s decisions. This does not mean I will not break his balls from time to time, I need to keep the man honest.(LOL) I may have conflicting ideals and opinions but I will try not to force those on anyone it is up to us to seek the truth and to follow our leaders. I could write more about my own psychology and past, explaining why I am who I am but that is not important. This was as simple as I could make this paragraph.

In the end, I am disappointed about some things but hopeful. I actually expected this drama months ago, it is all part of the organizational system theory but it is time to become a force to be reckoned with. Some people are in â�œGroupthinkâ� mode this is weakness; speak up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!