Musings From a High School Dropout

Just watch...

2013-04-28T20:54:00.002-04:00

This is so sad and beautiful. Just an amazing piece.

Makes me tear up every time. What do you think?

Apologies...

2013-04-11T11:56:00.000-04:00

Apologies to anyone who may actually read this blog which I have been neglecting pretty badly. This is an incredibly busy time in my life and I'm juggling a lot of things. I would very much like to get this site hosted under my hosting account with the domain I've had waiting for it for a month, but I'm having issues with wordpress (new to it :/) playing nicely with my other domains. Best I'm able to get is a redirect to my main hosting site GBG which is less than satisfactory. I could just do a redirect and mask the links, but I want to get off of blogger altogether or at the least set up a mirror, as I like using it as a platform waaay better than blogger. Its a lot more versatile...now I just gotta figure out how to use it better lol.

Lots of crash course programs going on right now...business management and marketing, internet marketing, accounting, trying to relearn HTML and CSS, relearning everything I've forgotten about adobe photoshop and learning a lot a never knew to begin with. Made my first animation the other day, very very simple shit, but hey, first is a first...hows that for a fuckin run on sentence?? Lol. And no I'm not gonna fix it, grammar nazi's can blow me.

So on top of that I do all of the ordering and designing for our businesses...these fucking KWS Labels have been a pain in my ass but I've got them looking at least decent enough for the moment. Once we have the funding to get something a bit more professional out *we have samples :( *, I'll be a lot happier...but we make do with what we have, right?

Speaking of, this won't mean shit to anyone who isn't from the island, but we'll have our products in Ben Franklins...tomorrow? If not, for sure the next day. We have all of the products ready to go, just need to label them up...so I've been holding up the process. I've had to redesign these things like 5 times because I'm an idiot and don't always approach things in the simplest manner. I've finally got my system worked out so that it should be essentially infinitely scaleable and just much simpler all around. Anyway, our stuff should be on one of the quad/pavilions right as you walk in. We're only going to have Votives, Tins, 4oz jars and 8oz jars in a sampling of both our Tropical Line 1 and Traditional Line 1...real creative names right? Lol, K.I.S.S. is the name of the game, I'm learning, when it comes to making directories and naming systems. It was getting a bit crazy before we re-organzied it.

The 8oz are really just to let people get an idea of what our larger candles will be like, as unfortunately our manufacturer has stopped carrying them. So the ones we got and sell will be it for that size. Our 16oz and 24oz jars are actually getting in today though, so we'll be getting those out there as quickly as possible. Hmm, didn't really really mean for this to turn into a business update, but whatever. The website, if anyone is interested, is here Key West Scents. Because we have so many new products coming into play soon, I've disabled most of the store on the site. You can still get votives and tins, as no significant changes are going on with them other than we have better tins now.

I finally caught up, at least somewhat, with the Walking Dead. I was only half paying attention to the episode, but I had figured it would be Andrea. Personally, I hate what they've done with her character, pretty much since the beginning, on the show. She was one of my favorite characters in the comics too...and this whole 3rd season has essentially made me WANT to see her go, so whatever. It ties up some loose ends I suppose. But its weird...I mean (god damn scammer phone calls...fuckin miami, hate that place) she was one of the "Untouchables", at least as far as I read. And the odd thing is that she's the second Untouchable that they've killed off so far. Odd.

I will say that I'm pissed off a bit about how anti-climactic the whole thing was. The way they have sped through material this season, and then just screech to a halt so you can drag this shit out into probably the first half of next season, all for what we all know, or should know, is going to happen...Dick move guys. But whatever, the show is still great.

Uh, no panels as this wasn't a real post. I'll get around to doing it eventually, but I just wanted to post something here as the site is still getting hits even though I haven't posted anything significant in like 2 or 3 weeks. So here it is.

As always come check out http://gettinbraingames.com if you have a few minutes to waste. Just a free flash games website thats updated daily. I have a forum on there but..yea. Anyway. Adios.

Ah wtf..

2013-03-31T19:43:00.000-04:00

I gotta download that episode pronto, this is bullshit! Never enough hours in the day. Not enough days in the week. The year is about a 100 days too short and our lives are over far too quickly.

In the meantime I wanna mention how much I love the Autodesk Sketchpad for android, shit is awesome.

Now, I'm not saying thats some great fuckin work of art, but for as little time and effort as I put into it I'm happy with it. Oh and in the...other meantime? Make sure to check out Gettin' Brain Games if you have a few minutes to waste. Its just a pretty simple flash game site but its updated often and should have something for whatever your tastes happen to be.

And stay tuned for hopefully a Walking Dead post? Probably not the last one as theres stories to tell regardless, anyway I guess we'll see?

Delay's and Moves...

2013-03-25T21:27:00.000-04:00

Sorry about no Walking Dead update...I haven't even seen the episode myself yet! So I've been staying away from anything to do with it. The reason for no update is I've just been very busy trying to set up the move to one of my proper domains, so that'll be happening shortly. Tonight or tomorrow latest.

In the meantime if anyone would like to check out my other new site Gettin' Brain Games, we'd love to see you there. Its not too fancy at the moment. Just a free flash games site. But I can promise that it will be updated daily and it already had quite a large library to work from. Anyway go check it out!

Edit: Well, I'm obviously still having issue with the move. I had wanted to use wordpress but I might have to go a different route.

I still haven't seen the last Walking Dead either!

Nico Vega - Beast

2013-03-18T22:40:00.001-04:00

The song from the Bioshock Infinite commercial; Beast by Nico Vega. Fuckin' love this song in particular and I been checkin' out some of their other stuff and I'm diggin' most of it. Should give'um a listen.

The Walking Dead: Another Family...

2013-03-17T20:00:00.000-04:00

There was another family.

The show has done odd things with characters as I've mentioned before. Adding some (Daryl and Merle being two great additions) and then smashing other characters into weird amalgams in order to do more story experiences from the comics I'm assuming.

One of these cases is Allen, his wife Donna , and their twin boys, Billy...and Ben.

One key difference you have to understand between the show and the comic is, oddly enough, pacing. The show is actually going at breakneck speed in terms of issues of content and story arcs, this season at least. Especially after how ungodly slow they went in season two..I mean they dragged a few issues out into an ENTIRE SEASON...while also killing off one of the characters that never died as far as I read (really gotta pick it back up) for seemingly no reason. I mean that action is going to have somewhat far reaching consequences as far as the story is concerned...But they really wanted to draw that whole Rick-Lori-Shane love triangle deal out as well for some reason, drama, whatever. But with only 3 episodes remaining at the time of this post a lot of big big things are on the way is I'm judging things correctly.

Anyway, they weren't on the road quite as long between the camp outside of Atlanta and getting to the prison. It is after this point, one snowy night, that the group encounter's Tyreese, his daughter, and her boyfriend...

A slightly different (and smaller) assortment than in the show and of course in a completely different manner and setting. Tyreese and his crew quickly join up with our group and Tyreese quickly becomes Rick's right hand. Remember, Shane is LOOONG dead at this point...

...and not by Rick's hand either...

Glenn isn't much of the leader type, they have yet to encounter Hershal, Dale is more of an advisor than leader and we don't really have any strong female characters yet at this point. Andrea is still trying to cope with her sister dying and has yet to really discover her talent for shooting I think. Not sure on that last point though, they might have figured out she was a natural before they left the camp outside of Atlanta.

You know I just want to say that I have always hated Lori. Lori is and always was just a cunt if you'll excuse my saying so. *And if not, you can get fucked, cause its my blog :D* She likes to try and order the other women around because "she's the leaders wife" and she's just a whore...I mean sure Shane lied and said Rick was dead...but 3 fuckin' weeks? Seriously? Three weeks after your husband is shot you just start fuckin' your man's best friends immediately? Whatever, never liked her character. In the comics and in the show, just a horrible whining bitch. The only thing that sucked about her dying in the comic was the baby dying too...but seriously, what the fuck are you supposed to do with an infant under these conditions?

**The first couple of years you should really be more concerned with getting an organized and defended community going, not having kids.. There has got to be tons of contraceptives lying around in the ruins of the old world. NOT getting pregnant is a huge thing that I don't know if zombie fiction ever really goes that much into, as far as TV and movies go anyway...just sayin'**

Just one of numerous instances.

Carol is a co-dependent closet (not even so much later) nympho...That's probably not technically correct. She's just one of those people that needs constant attention and sex is the only outlet she seems to be able to think of or knows.She can't seem to get it through her head that there are slightly more important things going on...like taking care of her daughter for fucks sake. Anyway I'll have to do a post just on her one day...sad character.

And that's pretty much it for potential leaders at this point in the game. No T-Dawg or Daryl because they don't exist..Theres another couple, sort of, from Hershal's place. The chick ends up being quite a problem. But I didn't pull any of those panels.

One of the places they passed and tried to get some shelter at was a gated community called Wiltshire Estate's. When the group arrives they miss seeing a sign stating "ALL DEAD DO NOT ENTER!", because its covered with snow...still should have been more careful...They're still fairly new to the world as it now is, but this wasn't exactly their first rodeo either.

Coincidentally, that sign was left there by the Governor before his rise to power upon leaving the place due to too much zombie (I don't care, I still don't like the term "Walker") activity.

Unfortunate.

But our group was short on supplies and needed a break, I guess they can't be blaimed for taking the chance. But it did cost them. While at Wiltshire Donna is bitten on the face...prompting a shooting...

...which draws out all the formerly wealthy dead...

and causes a fast retreat by our group. Soon after, they make it to the Prison.

And once the group finally get's to there and start to clear it, it is Allen who get's bitten on the leg, not Hershel...

...and they DO attempt to hack it off with an hatchet...

Rick goes at it with gusto actually.

But he bleed's out despite Hershal's best efforts.

So now Dale (still quite alive as well...and with Andrea o.0 )

take on the responsibility of raising his twin sons, Billy and Ben, who are about Carl's age.

Ok now we skip ahead a bit to point where there might be spoilers

****************SCROLL DOWN TO CONTINUE****************

Ok so the prison has fallen. Anyone who doesn't see that coming...Anyway, the prison has fallen and about half the group are dead I'd say. The survivors are scattered but start to filter back to the Farm, which is still unknown to The Governor's people.

After everyone meets back at the farm, and a few more characters are introduced to bolster the ranks, the group heads off in search of a new safe haven. A road filled with many trials and tribulations about which I will not speak here. Just once incident.

It's along their path towards that ever ephemeral goal of safety, yet another in a long series of terrible things happens to our group. You see it turns out that one of the twins, Ben, is a dyed in the wool sociopath.

The seriously bad kind that don't see any kind of problems with their actions. He's thinks its alright because his brother will come back as a zombie...wtf. He eviscerates his brother during one of the rest stops. I can't remember if any of the previous issues showed any foreshadowing for what Ben would develop into. The twins were pretty minor characters. I love how the artist drew the panel with Ben kneeling over his brothers corpse. The eys and the look on the face. No shock or surprise or dismay at being caught. Just blank.

Andrea is the one who finds them. Btw, they've been taking care of these kids for quite some time now. Both her and Dale have developed some real feelings for these boys. Pretty fucked up shit to have to deal with. Thats one things about the Walking Dead...theres never downtown. Never peace. The most they ever had, to this point at least, was the prison before they saw that chopper in the sky. I didn't include it but direct after this, something else awful happens. But they just keep chuggin' along.

And so the group is left with a very difficult choice...what the fuck are they supposed to do?

Now at this point our gang are all much different individuals from what they were Before. They're all hardened (something the show was attempting to get across with that lone survivor they allowed to die on last week's episode) and willing to do things they would have never though of in their previous lives. The only people they can trust are their group, all others are immediately suspect. BUT! They are all still, essentially, good people. They aren't out there raping and pillaging. They try to live and let live if at all possible.

So you see, they don't really know what to do. Some of the group are for killing or leaving the boy, while Andrea is vehement in her opposition and insistence that he's just a child.

Enter Carl.

If you've read any of these other Walking Dead posts I do, you may or may not know that I'm a fan of Carl. The kid is probably the most badass character in the franchise. Many would quickly say that Michonne or Tyrese or Rick or who ever, is the most badass...and while they're all cool in their own ways, Carl is the fucking poster child for the new world.

So the night of the incident, after all of the adults have gone to bed after deciding to table what to do with (insert twin's name here) until the morning after locking him in the back of a van, Carl sneaks in the van.

The entire scene is exceedingly creepy, with Ben asking if Carl is afraid of him...

Is what Carl did right?

Now that is a hard thing. Is what Carl did right? Personally? Absolutely. To me, given the circumstances and the ongoing threat that having a killer walking among them or else constantly guarding him, wasting valuable resources (time if nothing else) in the process. What Carl did IS the right thing. The right thing at that moment for his group and himself. But that is also because right and wrong are completely subjective concepts when you get down to it, all subject to circumstance.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this little peak at a story the show will never tell. Thanks for reading :D

Changes.

Edit: Well its been about 12 hours since I posted this and...god damn man, popular (for me lol) post. Check it.

Those other little humps (which used to be my spikes) are the other Walking Dead posts. Maybe I should just change the name to Musings About The Walking Dead lol. Check out the lifetime...

Check that out. I made this black back in 2008 apparently, made like 1 post on it, forgot it for a few years till 2010 it looks like, and now since mid Feb I think? Of course thats just page views, not unique visitors, and when you're going from zero I suppose anything looks impressive, but still lol.

Thanks for the support peoples :)

Walking Dead Post Tonight...

2013-03-17T15:00:00.000-04:00

Possibly two. I've had one written up for a couple of days now but haven't gotten around to pulling and editing all the images I need. So that one is like 80% done. Then, of course, we'll have whatever I get out of tonights episode. Which, I'm pretty sure, is going to be quite action packed. Two talking episodes in a row and only 3 left. Action, Talk, Action? Who knows.

Anyway the post thats already done is about something that never was, or will be, mentioned in the show. Which is pretty much why I wrote it. Let people, who may not otherwise, know about some fairly important things that were cut or edited in odd ways.

Anyway, check back for one of them around 6pm Eastern, I'll try to have it up by then. Edit: ok More like 7ish...

The Walking Dead Comparison

2013-03-13T14:12:00.003-04:00

I started a +Google Community , +The Walking Dead Comparison, about the differences between the show and comic for anyone who would like to join and actively discuss anything pertaining to the franchise. I believe we only have 8 members so far (lol) and accordingly its not very active. But I link all of my Walking Dead posts there and would love to answer any questions or post specific panels anyone might be interested in.

In fact, aside from the community, if anyone has anything specific they are interested in or ideas from the show/comics please feel free to send me an email. There are a ton of cool little things that, for obvious reasons, just couldn't make it into the show. One of these day's I'm have to do a post about the other twins. Messed up shit right there.

Anyway, if you are interested please come and join. We'd love to have you :D

How much would you like a toothbrush? - Ignore, Nothing Here

2013-03-13T09:48:00.001-04:00

How's tricks?

Rub your magic 8 gently.

That is all.

How much would you like a toothbrush?

The Walking Dead Comparison: The Meeting

2013-03-11T01:12:00.002-04:00

Ok, tonight I'm going to try and at least take cliff notes while the show is actually airing so that maybe I can get a post up a little quicker. Of course this wasn't really an episode where much comparison can be drawn...So this is just going to be an amalgam of various, somewhat disjointed, ideas.

One thing I'll give to the show, they have made the Governor an infinitely more likable character than he is in the comics. He seems almost (pardon) comically depraved in the...uh comics. He's ballsy and charming on the show. And that little bit about his wife was wonderful. I think that might shed a bit more insite into the zombie daughter...she was not only his daughter but the only piece of his wife he had left too (I'm assuming here that they're staying completely away from the Rise of the Governor story arch). All of the scenes between the Gov and Rick were great..although Rick's accent, usually very good seemed to slip a time or too, but maybe I'm crazy.

**Does it still blow anyone else away how many of the actors on this show are british? Rick especially, because he is EXCEEDINGLY British when he's out of character**

**HAHAHA! Andrea gonna shiv a zed to death bet lol...**

**OMG THEY DID IT! HAHAHAHA! An inch and a half of cold steel right into a walkers dome. Hi-fucking-larious.**

Dayrl is such a fucking great addition. Like a wonderful character...seemingly shallow at first, but as the show has gone on he's proven to have quite a few more layers to him. That scene between him and Martinez was awesome. Two soldiers, momentarily if not friends, at least not exactly enemies. Both know that tomorrow or the next day they'll be back at it, trying like wildcats to kill each other. But right then, they were just two soldiers, sharing a tiny bit of relief (something as small as a cigarette could be a huge boon) in a dark and miserable world. Wonderful scene.
Daryl is more a victim of circumstance than anyone else in the show, aside from Carol, I think. He was born into a shit life, to shit parents and an equally doomed older brother who doesn't seem to have the inborn sense of right and wrong that Daryl has. A victim of circumstance in the world before. A victim of circumstance in many ways, but almost molded by all of that into a strong and resourceful personality. He's (and Merle I suppose) the only random addition that I could see being in the comics.
T-Dawg? I grew to like him more, but I initially thought he was meant to be a replacement for Tyrese (Who is finally going to be back in the mix next week...things are definitely coming to a head...) and I was not down with that. And seriously, who the fuck came up with T-Dawg? What decade are we in? Although that actors name is fucking hilarious, can't remember what it is right now, but its gotta be assumed.

Well, we are in completely uncharted territory now I believe. At least I don't remember a sit down like this happening.

Well fucking finally, they're bringing Andrea back into the fold. I know I've mentioned it before but I am still quite pissed about the whole Andrea in Woodberry deal. And really that all stems back to bullshit (to me) ass season two. Andrea was one of my favorite characters from the comics. Her relationship to the governor should be this...

Cause...

Not snuggled up in his bed. But honestly I've never really liked the actress they have playing Andrea, or the direction they've gone with her from the start. Ah well...

...and effect. I think the Gov may have just shit himself, not positive...

And the Governor's motivations behind wanting the group out of the prison seem to have changed entirely. He just talked shit about the prison and not wanting it. In the comics he wanted the prison because, lets face it, its a fortress. With a proper workforce (which the Governor has..) it could become a proper little feudal castle/village type deal. Not a bad place to expand from. The group, thanks to Hershal, had already started to grow crops inside of the ample space they had that was protected by triple layers of fence.

If all you are facing is zombies, its perfect. And the modifications to put an actual wall around it would not be a huge effort. Greenhouse/gardens could be set up on the rooftops, I imagine there is probably a machine shop of some kind somewhere in the prison, no to mention tons of ready made materials (think metal tubing, 55 gallon steel drums, plastics, glass, mirrors.. Literally tons of useful shit. Anyone who didn't want it is a liar so I call bullshit.

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War (Abridged) by Brooks, M (Google Affiliate Ad)

The Governor had a much more vested interest in seeing Rick, personally, dead. Why I don't know other than he was very interested in where Rick, Michonne, and Glenn cam from. Glenn and Rick were kitted out, and Michonne...well, she's Michonne, so they kind of stood out.

He seemed to have it out for him immediately (Michonne as well of course, but again, the Governor was the complete aggressor, even more so than in the show...ah, nevermind lol. Just smart. Two-faced and underhanded...but smart.

The last time they're all together and alive...

Well well well...I wonder if things are going to go as badly as they should? American television/culture seems to have a real problem with reality. The good guys...don't always, or even usually, win. Good, innocent people are subjected to horrible things every day for the smallest of reasons.

Before..

"Are you willing to sacrifice your daughter's lives for her?"

Skimming back through the comics to find panels to post, I'm seeing a lot of stuff I'd forgotten that is fast approaching (or not?)...should be an interesting last few episodes...and now that we've had two straight "talkie" episodes I'm thinking we're going to start getting into some of the meat next week. But who knows.

Just a quick Walking Dead poll...

2013-03-09T14:24:00.000-05:00

Just curious about which version of The Walking Dead you prefer, the comics or the show?

Personally I think they're both great...although I had, and sometimes still have, a hard time getting over the differences, some of which seem completely pointless and arbitrary...

But then I remind myself, different mediums and to a degree different audiences. The comic version of The Walking Dead might be a touch too raw for the general viewing audience out there in TV Land. Its a fucked up story.

I'll say that they almost lost me in Season 2. To me, and I imagine anyone else who read the comics, Season 2 is complete bullshit. It has the most odd and pointless changes and they took a 3 issue mini-arc and turned it into an entire boring ass season.

I bitched about it quite extensively to my best friend +Jason Watkins , who is a fan of the show but has never read the comics. That is, until he pointed something out to me. That being for the general audience that has not read the comics, all of that time on the farm was needed for character development. And thats very true. But still, it is by far my least season...too much bullshit that wasn't needed, not enough stuff that was. Sooo happy with the third season in comparison.

Anyway, please vote! I'm interested to see what you guys think.

What do you like better...?

	*The Comics...hands down!*
	*The Show! I Love it!*
	*Both are Amazing!*
	*Neither..I'm obviously insane.*

Show results

Votes so far: 0

Days left to vote: 21

EDIT: If you can't vote from the post, you can always vote in the poll in the popout menu on the right. Having more trouble getting this working than I should.

The Walking Dead: Back from the Dead...?

2013-03-07T10:09:00.001-05:00

I feel I should start of by saying that I WILL be talking about spoilers. I read the comics up to about issue 80 or so so we've got a bit ways to go on stuff I should know. One thing I'm, noticing about the show is that, while they have the sequencing all shot to shit, they DO seem to be holding on to a lot of key aspects of the story, just with modifications.

So far, with one or three stunning examples to the contrary, the show is a lot tamer with the wanton violence and general death & mayhem.

Well well well...quite the episode.

This is all about Things to Come in my opinion. I looot of stuff was set in motion and signified by this episode I believe. For starters, our group now has a respectable arsenal of their own. Not enough to protect them from what should be coming, but still. At least we have our season finally set up.

This is just a pet peeve of mine. I understand exactly why the writers did it, but still irks me. The lone guy they pass on the road? The way the group is now, with whats about to go down, I think they would have scooped him up and seen what he was about.

YES they are on a mission...but their group has done nothing but shrink lately and a single person is the best kind to accept into the fold...not like a merger of two or more larger groups where everyone has to have eyes on everyone else all the time! A single person you can keep tabs on and they have the prion cells too! No, in that situation it would have been stupid not to accept a lone survivor into the group. Not only could he have helped load the guns, the addition of 1 extra mouth doesn't seem like it'd be a problem with Daryl's hunting skills.

No, the only reason any of that with the hitchhiker was done was to, again, try to reinforce to the audience that these are not the same people they were in season 1. They never become bad people either. Sure, they on occasion do bad things (I'll have to do a write up about what REALLY happened to Dale..jeez) but only to people who deserve it. But where they are now, especially, they would have helped that dude out. So like I said, minor pet peeve of mine.

Ok back to the important stuff.

Morgan Jones is crazy as a shit house rat.

He was crazy for this meeting in the comics too, but he calms down waaaay quicker.

*An aside...at least part of his is faking it, but wtf? He was put out of commission for half a day (like laid out unconcious) just from getting shot in the side? Through body armor that properly did its job?? Look I know its not a walk in the park or anything, but from everything I've ever heard about it its described like getting hit with a sledgehammer. Again. Not fun shit. But half a day??? Also, they dump him on this cot and don't case the joint?! That knife he has stashed would have been found in no time by anyone doing even a brief once over..But again, gotta get them thrills in. Ah whatever.*

Heres how the meeting went in the comics..

Lol, a bit different. Morgan immediately realizes who Rick is and is instantly contrite. He's not at all the raving lunatic he's portrayed as in the show...Notice that Carl wanted nothing to do with the situation? Well that is because in the comics Lori and the baby are killed at the same time by the same bullet (the way they did Lori's death is one of the few times the show has actually gone a bit more twisted than the comics) so there is no reason for him to go to his old house.

**I'm going to have to write a whole article just about Carl. Carl is hands down my favorite character. When you boil the story down to its basics its about the hardships of a man and his son trying to survive in a supremely fucked up world. All other characters are expendable. Neither one of them will die until a series finale. But I will say that doesn't mean they won't be...damaged? I think that is the best word. Rick, in particular, get's messed up in a lot of really bad ways. He should be a permanent lefty by now, and just mentally...poor fucker. I wonder if the writer was drawing from Job in ways... Carl though...Carl is a mother fucking trooper. He's a born survivor and has adapted to the realities of the new world they now inhabit. The girl, Carol's daughter who they decided to kill off for some reason, was another cool one. Her (she has somewhat been replaced by Hershal's youngest living daughter I suppose, but wtf? No reason for it. Anyway...) and Carl were probably the two sanest, most level headed, and competent characters at the point I left off at.

Anyway I ramble, my bad...back to the story!

So, as most of you by now know, our boy Morgan has been having some...resolution issues al la The Governor. Now in the show they make it out like he is just tearin through people, you saw how bloody that axe on the stairs was...and that was just the ones that had managed to avoid his sniper fire...ok well maybe that wouldn't be hard...in order to feed his zombie kid.

*** PSA ***

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AND IF YOU FIND YOURSELF IN ONE OF THOSE RARE SITUATIONS...WELL:

"IN DEATH GROUND, FIGHT."

Hopefully not with Nerf :o

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*** PSA ***

Am I right?? For being alone with a shit ton of guns and ammo of all types and with his only seeming goal that of clearing the town, he is a fucking godawful shot! He had all three,and then still 2, dead to rights at 50 yards for over a minute...with the high ground...how? How the hell do you miss? He was also poppin' off rounds like it was goin' out of style...

Anyway, in the comics it was four people. He also didn't set up that crazy elaborate barricade system we saw in the show. ...And he attacked them with a shovel...That is because he doesn't have a huge arsenal, or even what Morgan has left in the show. Of course I bet he felt like a moron for this...He essentially forgot about it. Why he wouldn't have set up base there I have no idea...I mean if you're going to do something stupid like stay there in the frst place, you might as well have the best fortress you can, right? Stupid Morgan :/

These guns are actually because they need to replace everything thats lost at the prison...not for defense from that assault...lol. Like I said, they have the sequencing all shot to shit.

The group already has a good amount of guns and ammo at this point by, I believe, a raid they did on the depot that Woodberry controls. Something which I believe was a big trigger in what happened...Anyway so YAY! Morgan's back, right?

Well as long as we're all fine with the zombie kid...

So he's been killing people and feeding them to his undead hell-spawn of a child...

Ok, well, the apocalypse is bound to be metally stressful for all involved. And honestly, considering his choices in who to turn into bacon for Jr, this isn't even on the top 25 list of fucked up shit that goes on in this story. And beneath it all, as you can see much more clearly here than what was presented in the show, he's not just some raving lunatic. He's remorseful for what he did, knows it was wrong, knows he went a bit loopy...He's, at least as far as it goes in this brave new world of theirs, a good and decent man. And Rick can see all of this, and still has that little matter of owing the man a life. And so he gives Morgan a choice. To proceed how he will...but hurry up, miles to go before we sleep...

If anyone who happens to read this is interested I'm going to put some links to the graphic novel versions of the comic. They're just essentially a number of issues sequentially bound together (1-9, 10-18, etc) and presented in a hardcover format. The comics are really amazing though. I mean I'm a nerd, no doubt, but I've never been a comic book nerd. This is the only comic series I've ever read outside of newspaper strip. And it is amazing. If you like the show you will seriously love the comics. No punches pulled in the slightest.

Well this is a bit different as well. No cold and cryptic remark...but a hug. You have to understand. Everything that Carl is implying here. Everything Morgan knows about Rick pertained to his mad quest to find his family in a world turned incredibly hostile almost over night.

And he did it. I think Carl is specifically symbolizing a sort of hope for Morgan here. And thinking about it, I think that might be one of Carls major themes throughout. Hope, adaptation, the will to survive. Carl's got all these things in spades.

Another key factor to note here is that he is leaving with our group. But thats because our group isn't headed for the prison. :)

It'd be a hell of a thing...I don't even have kids, but I've seen what its like. People will do horrible things to protect the ones they love, and that probably goes doubly so for a child. Who can say, all alone, just the two of you for months. Then the unthinkable happens. Its hard to say what you might do in that situation...if you could let go...

...or not.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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Damnit...Just Another Tease

2013-03-07T04:21:00.004-05:00

Jesus...it's 3:52 am as I start this. When I first attempted to being a few hours ago I, like the jackass I am, managed to spill a whole cup of coffee. Went everywhere. Importantly, it got on not only my mouse, its wireless dongle that goes in the comp, and my USB hub. The hub seems fine...the mouse? He's dead Jim. Only, it took its time about it...

Also my mouse pad was entirely soaked with coffee...something anyone who is clumsy and deals with computers a lot knows sucks ass...its awful. Ok so off to Walgreens I go...

On the way I met a couple of the drivers for one of the companies that did a weekly run to my receiving. Pretty cool, told them about Key West Scents, and to come check out the site...just a weird random encounter at 3 in the morning.

So I get to Walgreens which always has a little bit of something...except for exactly what I need (mind you this first trip was at 1am) to get a replacement mouse pad. This thing is old and ratty and Jasons anyway, so I figure its time for a new one. Get to Walgreens...they have keyboards, dvd-r's, memory sticks and cards in all flavors...Mice even! But, of course, no mouse pads. Well thats just fuckin great... Whatever, I'll use some cardboard or something, no biggie.

So I get back, start messing around in photoshop and the various comics I need to pull stuff from and suddenly it just stopped working. Alright, its ancient and the batteries always seem dead.

Batteries are fine, its just dead. FML

Ok then...no other back up mouse (cause I'm stupid) and I have shit to do that a trackpad just ain't gonna be able to handle. Alrighty then, back to Walgreen's I go...

On the way I met a couple of the drivers for one of the companies that did a weekly run to my receiving. Pretty cool, told them about Key West Scents, and to come check out the site...just a weird random encounter at 3 in the morning.

So I get in there and they have 3 options, 2 wired and one wireless. Now, I don't know about you kind folks, but if I have absolutely ANY say the matter I'll take wireless 10 out of 10 times. Blah, so I bought it. 20 bucks...hurts my soul a lil, I know I could got something better, cheaper online.

Well this was originally supposed to be an intro into The Walking Dead but its getting a bit long in the tooth for that lol.

I promise the second this goes up I'll start on it.

Delay's and Cats...

2013-03-06T18:38:00.001-05:00

Apologies for not yet posting The Walking Dead recap...and no, this isn't it. I have a tattoo photoshoot or some shit I have to go to for a friend at 8pm but I swear I'll write it up when I get back...big things huh? Who've though the crazy last off the wall option would be the way they went? Cracy mange.

This is just...call it a test? I do no endorse you to click/watch this unless you honestly just want to see a kitten squeeze under a door. I will warn that there is a 5 second redirect on the other end of this, then you hit skip ad to go to the vid.

I apologize but we gotta do what we gotta do right? Anyway, again, don't click the fucking link unless all you want to see is a video of a kitten squeezing under the door, this kitten...

Pixel Squeeze's Under the Door

Its a short vid, like 28 seconds long. That cat is fat and lazy now, was cute and awesome then lol.

Again, look out for another The Walking Dead post later tonight. Cat's name is Pixel. Well it was. There were always disagreements about it, Mayhem is what it ended up being.

PS - New site layout: Better? Worse? Any feedback would be appreciated lol. Maybe I'll put up a poll.

PPS - Ah hell, I gotta get these link colors in order...the light green and blue and pink crap you can barely see are the links. Fixed?

PPS - I am consistently inconsistent as you'll see. I believe all of the drugs (2.25mg Ativan, slammed a 7.5 IPA and then had a 9% at the event. Then got home and smoked a fat blunt...put my ass down :/ its thise fucing IPA's!) general lack of sleep caught up to me and so I woke up about a half an hour ago or so. But this damned article will be written before I shut this thing down again!

Bump for Sim City!

2013-03-04T22:20:00.000-05:00

Come check out the article on Reach for Halo!

SimCity!

Idiots.

2013-03-01T22:46:00.001-05:00

Republicans did this, be happy with yourselves...because the officials you elected cannot budge one iota from their principles, which it seems have become nothing more than "Oppose the President at every turn!", to try and actually govern our great country..Even turning on those members of their own who did reach out to the President in whatever small way.
The Republican Party has become a joke..it panders exclusively to a quick shrinking demographic. Its policies care only for the wealthy, (a reason why I've never understood a number of poor Republicans I know...its like they would end every social program there is if they could! Why the fuck do you support these people?) and its become this weird place where you talk about the need to cut cut cut from social programs, while we're sitting on the most ungodly military infrastructure the world has ever known...

That is fucking ridiculous.
So minimal government intervention everywhere (oh except of course in areas like gay marriage, or abortion, the support of an abhorrent drug war and general policy that puts millions of Americans into the prison system...you've heard of the Military-Industrial Complex? Well theres also a Prison-Industrial Complex in this country as well, with strong lobbying power. You wouldn't believe how many of our prisons are privately administered. Except for these and dozens of other areas they want government OUT of your life...) but complete support for a military far larger than it needs to be.
So we get this.
I can't remember which show I heard it on but the quote went something like, "The greatest country on Earth cannot lurch from one self-imposed crisis to the next..." and whoever said it was right. We cannot continue on like this. But we have a reactionary culture. We don't get off our collective asses about a problem until we've felt the sting. Maybe this will be enough of one? Who knows.

Obama Signs Order To Begin Spending Cuts
www.buzzfeed.com
President Barack Obama on Friday signed the sequestration order authorizing the government to begin

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Obama,Signs,Order,Begin,Barack,sequestration,members,policies,areas,prisons

Just a quick...

2013-03-01T11:41:00.002-05:00

Bit of shameless self promotion. It just a crappy (I'll be updating it I swear!) website for free internation tv and games. I'll be updating the games section regularly so check back. Seriously check the tv, its pretty cool.

Free Games for Your Brain

I Hate Spiders...

2013-02-27T15:04:00.002-05:00

Seriously...cannot stand them. I scream like a little girl and then stomp on it...but the screaming is definitly gonna be happening too...as you will see lol.

I moved away from Key West in 2005, right before Wilma hit actually. And where I moved to was fucking awful. It was actually sort of near Jasper, FL...a reeeeaalll shithole of a town. Just racist and awful. Never visit if you can avoid it.

Anyway I moved to outside of this place on the map called Luraville. I call it a place on the map because it was not a town. Not a town, not a village, not even a fucking hamlet. Just a name on a map.

It had a dive shop (world famous freshwater cave diving in that area) and a small little country store and a flashing yellow light on the crossroad of Highway 51...not even a stoplight or sign.

So we lived a mile down the road from that, in the middle of nowhere, near a spot on a map. Like 7 other families in the surrounding area, if that, and everyone is living on a least a few acres (3.5 for us).

Now I had lived in Key West since I was 5...that was essentially all I had known. And I discovered a thing that I had never really thought about. For all Key West's nonsense about being a tropical paradise, its actually an incredibly controlled ecosystem. I mean just for Key West itself, not the other keys which are much more raw and undeveloped. But, for instance, I would be surprised if there were more than a couple of hundred varieties of insects. I can't personally only think of about 50.

What I discovered was that the wilds of Northern Florida are fucking ALIVE with crawling things.

(The night we pulled up...someone had been by earlier in the week to turn on the water and power...and left the god damn back door open...there were THOUSANDS of insects in every shape and size. Giant spiders, praying manti (several kinds), stick bugs, a billion kinds of flying things of all sorts. More god damn insects than I have ever seen in my life...hell thats a whole other article lol)

I eventually got used to it, but I swear it seemed like every day I was there until the day I left I saw at least one new kind of insect. Here's a few of the many, many, varieties...

But the good thing is that, aside from that intial night, most of these fuckers have the good decency to stay outside where they belong. One kind though, a spider at that, does not. Those bastards LOVE to come inside...and they're huge...and they bite...and they're fast as shit...fuck. Here's a short vid of one of my run ins with these devil spawns...

That thing was massive...I've heard that they bite and that its not pleasant, not dangerous, but painful. And these bastards would get inside like all the damn time, I guess through the central ac or something? I dunno, what I do is that it died a fairly unpleasant death for daring to come into my house and let himself be seen. Like I said, I hate spiders. I also have a strange fascination with them. They're very interesting creatures, all the arachnids. I never mess with them if they were outdoors, thats their space. *except for widows and thats because fuck black widows* But once it comes in my house its fair game.

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door,THOUSANDS,size,Giant,life,hell,article,insect,

Here,decency,LOVE,devil,death,fascination,insects,

creatures,damn,spiders,thats,bastards,fuck,widows

The Walking Dead: And Two Roads Diverged...

2013-02-24T23:28:00.002-05:00

First I want to put up this panel. Kind of a re-cap to what I showed last week about Hershal’s twins and how Andrea gets her scar. This is what Rick did to that sick fuck.

This is where he initially fucks up his hand. You'll notice its his right. He breaks the shit out of it on that dudes face. Then they hang him.

Crazy shit no?

Well that was a pretty damn decent episode. Shits starting to diverge so wildly from the comics that I have no idea whats gonna happen next.

I mean hell, two of the main characters (well main and a major minor) are on the opposite side of the fence and the Gov still has a functional dick. WTF. But then again the story telling is good so screw it right?

**Just an aside I hate the Talking Dead. The only one of these guys worth anything is the dude from 30 Rock (who’s actually making insightful points)**

So lets start with Tyrese and his group joining up with with Woodberry…I don’t know why but I really didn’t see this coming. Its just so damn different! I mean Tyrese was definitely one of my favorite minor characters. I mean check this out...

"Rick, you're back...what kept you?"

Dude is a badass. His signature weapon is the plain claw hammer he used to tear through that room full of zombies up there. And then he's just chillin, waiting for them to open the door up lol. Seriously cool character and it sucks the amount of development we've lost. He's supposed to die during the Governor/Prison Sequence, not too long after they first make contact I had thought.

Now this thing they're doing with Michonne, Rick, and Carl. This reminds me a lot of two seperate things from the comics.

****SPOILERS!!! COMICS SPOILERS BUT YA NEVER KNOW****

So the first thing that popped into my head is that Rick is finally going to lose his hand.

They've just been staying well away from that whole subject so I assumed they weren't gonna do it. But Rick and Michonne being caught by the Gov's forces would make a lot of sense. In fact...The only problem would be escape afterwards (in the comics a good female doctor from Woodberry as well as Martinez I think (or another of the Woodberry soldiers at least, but as a plant...) but with Tyrese and his group no being at Woodberry and Tyrese being the kinda guy he is...

Ok so thats pretty plausible in my mind now. Carl is the only wrench in works but not even. Kid's probably the most hardass character of them all. He'll manage to escape and make his way overland back to the prison...Anyone wanna put $5 on it?

Ok so the second thing. Big Spoiler. Ok so when the Governor decides to come to the prison, he doesn't do with with a bread truck full of zombies. He has access to a military depot of some kind that had a vehicle bay. Because when they come to the Prison they come with a tank and some APC's. Its not so much a fight as a massacre. I mean our group does all right at the start but...Anyway most of the remaining cast die here. This is where Lori and the infant girl get shot, one bullet for the both of them.

Dale (lol, very much still alive at this point and Andrea's lover :0 ), Andrea, and the twin boys (characters they sadly didn't add to the show...for pretty good reason I suppose.) whom Andrea and Dale of adopted, escape in the RV soon before the attack happens.

Rick is reeeally fucked up at this point. Dealing with a nasty infection from his stump, Carl essentially pulls him away from the prison to safty. Also a lot of the more severe psych issues Rick has don't start to manifest themselves badly until around this point. He carry's a corded phone (remember those big 70's table top deals?) in his rucksack and breaks it out to talk to Lori when he thinks no ones watching.

Anyway to make a long story short the first of the survivors they meet up with is Michonne. So. Michonne, Rick, Carl. Only time in the comics we get that arrangement.

As I've been writing this a 3rd possibility has been dawning in my head. Because they have the sequencing and plot all shot to hell for the purposes of the new plot, its possible that they might just bring Morgan back in early somehow. Its a stretch, I'm sure they'll leave that til they have to.

Well I hope you enjoyed my...uh rant? Talk? Article? Whatever it was I hope you enjoyed it.

EDIT 03/03/2012: HAHA! Number 3 was the winner? Hilarious...I give you Mr. Morgan Jones...

Morgan Jones

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Anyone who had a Nintendo game system as a kid remembers these games. #5 brings back memories! http://bit.ly/WwVDIW

Google+… or not or…something.

2013-02-24T01:26:00.001-05:00

Just another quick post.

Well here it is at 1 something in the AM. And what have I been doing all even you ask imaginary audience? Why slaving over a hot keyboard (seriously, this fucking laptop is running at 85c right now) all night to try and get this new website up and running.

That mixed with a mild to moderate case of ADHD, plenty of caffeine in various forms, too many cigarettes, and the effects of months of insomnia has made for a an interesting night. Utterly boring, but interesting too lol. Keep making stupid mistakes lol.

I’d like to give a quick shout out to HostGator.com, my new webhost. Fucking grade A customer service right here. The plans are also the best bang for the buck that I could find. I had an issue. Started a live chat session at like 12:50, person had me all taken care of by 1:05, had completely answered all of my questions and found a solution to my problem. Can’t ask for more than that.

PS – Crap lol, now I remember what this post was supposed to be about, Google+ and how it kicks the ever loving shit out of Facebook when it comes to just the feature set that you would want from a really good social network.

Anyway, gonna have to table that for another time. Shit to be done and miles to go before I sleep. Yes miles to go before I sleep.

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Sidetracked

2013-02-24T00:14:00.001-05:00

Sidetracked

I get sidetracked like an asshole. Or rather maybe its just that I fixate too much on things?

So I’m making the new Key West Scents business site (because Wix.com sucks ass, don’t use them.) and I’m trying to install a chat app. Chat app wants my sites address. My site is using a placeholder domain…

Now, in retrospect, the logical thing would have been to just go ahead and use the placeholder domain and just update it at later date.

Instead I first cancel my domain through wix to try to transfer that over. Well wix is lame and won’t let the domain be transfered (I bought it through them this time) for 60 days.

Ok. Fuck.

So then I spend the next 3 hours finding the best/cheapest webhost/domain combo that I could find.

The new domain is going to take 24-48 hours to register.

Fuck. My. Life. Lol.

The chat app is still not up as well.

Balls.

Ouch..

2013-02-22T15:25:00.000-05:00

Check out what my boy managed to do to his hand...

he apparently broke off the tips of 2 of his metacarpals in his right hand.

Yea it looks swollen in the first two but...

Damn. He fucked himself up pretty badly lol. Ouch indeed.

Well its 3am and I'm up sooo..

2013-02-22T03:19:00.002-05:00

So I might as well put something up here. Hmmm let's see let's see. Oh I got it! Check out this music video I made. The pics have no meaning, just random black and whites from my phone. This was kind of a test...but I reallly love the song. Hope you enjoy it too.

We Can't All Be Hero's - Wax off of his new album Continue

"We can't all be hero's...Shit...it's hard enough not to crack under the pressure of average expectations...Most of my hero's were drug addicts..so dream high, and be prepared to fall really fucking far."

Apparently this guy has been around for quite a while. I just sort of randomly bought his new album off the Play Store a few weeks ago and really like a lot of his stuff. Guy has a cool vibe. Anyway check out his new album Continue if you get a chance.

A Draft I Found From '09

2013-02-21T13:35:00.002-05:00

A draft I found from 2009 going by the only time I use a date. I wish I had the whatever this was all a rebuttle too, it was an argument on FB with someone with some dumbass views about shit. I think its kind of an interesting snapshot back in time for me, personally. Anyway I don't have anything better to post at the moment so here you are.

Ok, let me start off by saying I don't know you B----, so excuse me jumping in here like this, but there were just so many things that were so completely wrong in that post of yours that I have to say something. Not just the original post but in many of the comments after as well.

Also let me say that I'm about as liberal a person as you can get. The one area where I'm even a little right of center is foreign policy, and that only to a degree. I don't feel we should be establishing an overseas empire or any bullshit like that...but I also realize that given the state of the world and our unimaginable wealth and power in comparison to the other nation-states, we have a role to play. There's no going back to the isolationist country we were pre-WW1, no matter how much some people may wish for that. With that out of the way I'll get on to the main body of your post.

The War on Terror, which we have been fighting it for nearly a decade, is an abysmal failure. It was doomed to failure from the start, simply by the way in which we have chosen to go about the fighting of it. The United States can fuck up other nation-states like nobodies business. We do it better than any other nation in the history of the world. Take Iraq as an example. We DEVASTATED their war fighting ability in a matter of days and the "war" part of it was over within 3 weeks. And their army, while its equipment may have been outdated, was nothing to laugh at as far as the armies of the world go compared to us.

But that's the thing. Our military is a juggernaut. But you can't bring something like that to bear on something as amorphous as a terrorist organization. It's just not meant for that kind of fighting. Its like trying to stamp on some black ants while wear cleats. You may get a few, but by and large they'll just slip through the cracks.

It was doomed to failure...but it also had to happen.

It would have been political suicide NOT to go into Afghanistan. Think back to right after 9/11. Think back to how angry EVERYONE was. I've never seen anything like that in my life and I hope to never see anything like it again, even if I was just as caught up in it as everyone else. We had been hurt like never before. Not even Pearl Harbor was quite the same because that at least was a military target. We had been hurt and someone had to pay. You can argue over the right and wrong of that, but it is what it is. It's human nature and so at least understandable why we went into Afghanistan.

Oh it could have been put off. Had the Taliban turned over the leaders of Al-Qaeda, the whole thing might have been nipped in the bud right there. But they didn't and so in we went. And we had a chance there, in those first weeks and months after 9/11, to get Osama. Had we gone balls to the wall and put everything we had into Tora Bora we might well have been able to get him and other high ranking leaders of Al-Qaeda right then and there. Not that that would have done any good as far as the organization as a whole is concerned. Osama bin Laden is and has been nothing but a figurehead for some time, and a terrorist organization like Al-Qaeda is much like the Hydra of Greek mythology, cut one head off and two more grow back.

But once we went in there and decided it was our duty to bring democracy to that god forsaken land, there was no real going back. But we're there, and we'll probably be stuck there for a while as there's no real way to pull out without admitting we fucked up. But it was understandable. Iraq, on the other hand, is another matter all together...

Iraq was really nothing but a giant cluster fuck all around. A cluster fuck on our part in couple of ways and on the Iraqi's (Saddam at least) part as well. For our part we had an inept leader, surrounded by vile and inept but clever advisers, who disregarded and cherry-picked information from the intelligence services in order to paint the picture they wanted us, the American people to see. But it was also a colossal miscalculation on Saddam Hussein's part. He tried to bluff us for some ungodly reason, tried to act like he had what the CIA said he didn't, and the White House was sure he did. And so far its cost hundreds of thousands of Iraqi lives and who knows how many wounded, another 5000 American troops lives, with tens of thousands more maimed, a country destroyed and thrown into a bloody civil war, and our reputation in tatters. Not to mention the massive debt we've run up with these wars.

And it all had nothing to do with our War on Terror.

Ok, now that the history lesson is over I want to move on to this bat shit insane idea that the events of 9/11/2001 were an inside job. An inside job that was the impetus for everything I just described, an inside job that would entail the largest cover up in history, involving tens of thousands of people, who's sole goal was to invade Iraq 2 years after the fact, to gain access to that countries oil, while at the same time ruining our prestige on the world stage in general, and with the Islamic world in particular, and costing us a trillion dollars and counting to boot? All pulled off by the BUSH government??? Give me a fucking break. Oh and to top that off WE don't even get Iraq's oil, China is getting most of it. So yea, I can totally see that that was the reason why the government killed 3000 of its own citizens...

I'm not saying that there weren't people in that government who WOULD have done something like that to further their agenda, because there were some really unscrupulous and downright evil people (Palpat...I mean Cheney, comes to mind..) who made up its leadership, I'm saying that they were just too damned inept to pull of something like that. And if you think they WERE you are giving them waaay too much fucking credit.

Alright, time to jump on some of this other nonsense. What we (the American government) did to the American Indians was terrible, the way we reneged on every single treaty over and over again was just unconscionable. I mean we could have at least left them some of those shitty mid-western states. But what happened was bound to happen, just as surely as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. If it wasn't us it would have been someone else. They were sitting on top of a huge load of untapped resources and had never advanced beyond hunter-gatherer level. The first advanced culture who ran into them was sure to overwhelm them. That's the way of the world.

But this idea that we practiced some early form of eugenics on them in order to make them susceptible to alcoholism is laughable, and completely unsupported by fact. The simple truth is that they never developed the arts of distillation, being a hunter-gather society with nothing in the way of metalworking before colonial Europeans arrived on the scene. Some tribes had a tradition of fermenting some local beverages, but they were completely unused to spirits. The Same thing happened in other parts of the world where alcohol was introduced to peoples who had never known it. Did whites perhaps play up on the Indians lack of familiarity with alchohol and use it to their advantage? Sure. Did they breed Indians to be alcoholics? Fuck no.

You mention something like "what happened to when wars were fought over land and religion?" and I say to this...thats different and somehow better than fighting over oil (which I've already pointed out, we aren't getting outta this whole deal)? Resources are resources and war never changes. Ideology, resources, land. Its all the same. And War has become more and more de-personalized since the widescale introduction of gunpoweder...sooo...what happened to the good ol' days six or seven hundred years ago I guess you're saying?

Video games have been around for 50 or 60 years, depending on how you date them, with widescale introduction starting around 30 years ago. All the while getting better and more realistic. And I guess from the way you worded it that you blame this on our government as well? Also, on the de-personalization of war, did you know that operators of Reaper drones other combat UAV's have very high instances of PTSD? So much for just pressing a button.

You say Muslims are the only ones dying for their faith like thats a bad thing? So everyone should be killing each other over which invisible man in the sky they believe in? Jesus I'm glad its not like that...Oh and the Puritans (the "we" who left England I'm assuming) were essentially kicked out of England because they were so batshit crazy they freaked everyone out. Piety taken to an unreal extreme...and they were also mainly confined to the environs of New England. The peoples of the United States come from many diverse backgrounds and cultures, I've never understood this emphasis thats placed on the "Pilgrims". Oh, also, Shakespeare had nothing to do with the creation of the King James Version of the Bible. It was translated by a team of scholars over 7 years from various sources, including Greek, Hebrew, and Latin..A number of mistranslations were introduced at this time, which is why we have things like people believing Lucifer is an alternate name for Satan.

Alright well the last thing I'd like to address is this, unrestrained patriotism just for patriotisms sake is NOT a good thing. You know who were an extremely patriotic people? Those of the German Reich. I compare no one here to the Nazi's, just pointing out that when you have fervant patriotism you can end up with things like that. Fox News would honestly fit right in to Goebbels propaganda machine. Theres nothing wrong with being patriotic, but one must remember that love of country has nothing to do with love of government. Something many conservatives seemed to completely forget from 2001-2009.

And Willy! Dude, you come out with a couple of great comments and then fuck it all up with this 9/11 conspiracy bullshit. For shame.

An Open Letter to McNulty Management, Owners/Operators of the New Dunkin' Donuts in Key West

2013-02-21T09:06:00.001-05:00

Hello Dear Sir or Madam!

*Allow me to start of by saying this is an open email*

My name is Jasper Fisher, I am a small business owner down here in the Florida Key's where I've lived most of my life. In that time we've seen multiple (at least half a dozen that I can remember) Dunkin' Donuts franchises open on the island, and eventually shut down. Heck at one point there were 4 at once! But they all eventually closed, which is odd because not like there's any other options for donuts down here.

Now let me tell you a little about the store property you leased for the new Dunkin' Donuts. The last franchise there was a KFC. It was the only KFC for 50 miles. And it in its last few years it preformed terribly. I knew a couple of the people who were AM's there at the end. The place was barely clearing $2000 a night in profits. The problem was that no one from Kazi Food's, the company that runs the KFC's and Taco Bell's for the Caribbean and This region, seemed to really care about the problem. The store was always filthy, the staff didn't care about their jobs, training was minimal, theft rampant, etc. So again, it was the only KFC for 50 miles and it shut down. It was for a combination of reasons but one of those being the location. You are unfortunately at the end of a drag that has a number of popular franchise restaurant's, including McDonald's, which down here, is everyone's main competition. That store brings in a serious amount of money. And by the time the tourists or what not get down there they've already hit up one of these other franchises. So you see most of what kept that KFC going was daily local traffic. But even that couldn't save it.

Now of course you don't sell chicken, and are not even in the same sort of category as the other franchises. You're not exactly a dine in establishment, regardless if you can eat inside or not, people aren't going there looking for a meal. And as I said before, its not like we have anywhere else to get donuts so the concept is great...all you need to do now is pull it off, and I feel your management might end up ruining it for you.

The main reason for this email was what happened on my last trip to your establishment that was at the start of the week I believe.

Me and my business partner decided some donuts would be nice, so off we go. When we get there its busy (people down here love the idea of there being a Dunkin' Donuts again, plus having a business in that building again is good all around) so we finally pull up and put in our order. My friend wants a half dozen donuts and a coke, at first I only wanted a frappachino but then I decided to get a half dozen as well...now here's where lack of training comes in. So the person who took the order had already put in a half dozen donuts and the frappachino, asked if everything was good, yup drive up please. Now when we got to the wind the last asks for like 9 bucks. Now I'm not going to get into anything about your prices (expensive for what it is is all I'll say) but having been there a couple of times we knew that couldn't be right, so we check the receipt and sure enough, it only has a half dozen donuts on it and no coke. No the real problem being this, at right this moment the person at the window hands us a full dozen donuts, so we call her over, tell her there are a couple of charges missing. She apologizes and goes to correct it.

Now the entire time that we're sitting at the window, the poor girl at the window is just busting her ass trying to get everything done right. And all the while there is some Hispanic woman in tans that is just screaming her head off at everyone and getting nothing accomplished. Not actually stepping in and giving a hand even thought you guys are obviously slammed and your staff is barely trained (that is not a knock against you either, just fact). But no, she thought it would make more sense to openly (the kitchen is open to rest of the restaurant as I'm sure you are aware) berate everyone for how terrible of a job their doing. The is just one visit I had to your establishment and in that it almost cost you $10 worth of product/stock (not its cost of course but that potential sale..)...and I would be incredibly surprised if that was the first and only time that had happened.

Having worked in entry level positions like that before, let me tell you how much more awful it makes coming in to work when you have to deal with an incompetent manager who is only going to yell at you and never offer any real solutions or help. A manager is more than just someone who stands there and looks pretty and signs off on the paperwork. You should really think about getting someone in there that's not afraid to get there hands dirty and work, especially at this crucial time.

Now I'm gonna give you some advice, unsolicited, which everyone just loves right? Anyway, IF that was my store this is what I would do.

I would shut down regular operations during at least the day (I'm not sure what time you guys stay open till) for about 2 weeks. In that time you gather an train a proper staff. Hopefully in that group you'll find a couple who are a bit more competent and know what they're about, given them pay bumps, make them supervisors. During that 2 weeks you have the nights to practice on actual operations at a time of day when its not gonna kill you because you are slammed. And you have all day to get a staff that's properly trained. I know the employment model for a store like that. You expect lots of high school kids, etc, and you expect a high turnover. But if you don't build up a core of solid workers first then you have nothing for the rest of the fluff to cling to before they eventually get fed up and quit or get fired.

The entire reason I'm even able to send you this email is that a guy I know who was working for you was just fired outright today by your manager because there was a scheduling conflict with another job. Now if that's you guy's SOP than whatever. But in my experience it make a lot more sense to try and work with someone who wants to work, and is at least partially trained than to start from scrap because of a single scheduling conflict. I saw his post on Facebook and asked him for this email address, as I know I would want this stuff brought to my attention if it was my store.

Believe me I know how outrageous that sounds, shutting down day operations for two weeks...I know that that would be a serious hit in revenue to make up. But I very much feel that if you don't do something pretty drastic with that store quickly, that 2014 might see Key West, once again, with no Dunkin Donuts franchise.

And having a proper staff, especially if you can either afford to pay for them to care or if they just do on their own right because you treat them good, is worth more than just about anything. With a properly trained and competent staff, one who keep the building clean, know their jobs, and do them quickly and efficiently, and selling the product (I have no idea how lucrative the donut game is, lol) with its complete lack of competition except from the grocery stores that you do, I think that store could be very profitable.

One other thing I feel I should point out as you are not from the Key's. The cost of living down here is very high. $9 an hour is already the sort of unspoken minimum wage. Sure there are places that pay less, but not a whole lot and they're either real crap or real easy. If you want to retain people then the best way to do so is to offer them higher wages. Don't lets yourselves get trapped in the mindset that we're still in a recession. The DOW just broke 14,000 the other day. Small increases to inital costs might just pay out in the long run.

Anyway, just some thoughts from a concerned local who has seen many of these things come and go and would like to see this one stick around for a bit. Thank you for your time.

-Jasper