Just started up!

I just finished writing the first tutorial in Java, so please check it out! To find it, simply look to the right navigation menu, under “JAVA TUTORIALS” or simply click here.

Also, please feel free to read through my older blog entries and subscribe to this blog, trust me, I will write many more articles and tutorials for you to read and enjoy.

Let me know anything you’d like by either contacting me through my ABOUT page or by leaving comments, I read every single one.

Thanks!
TJ

Blog update and direction

I know it’s been a very long time since I wrote/worked on this blog but I just wanted to say that it surely isn’t over and in fact, I’m just now starting to come up with ideas I’d like to bring forth through this site.

I just started university and so have been very busy, but I’m heavily thinking about writing about what I am majoring in, which happens to be Computer Science.

Topics I am able to discuss are beginning Java, relative computer stuff, and later can move on to higher level programming in Java, C, etc… as well as post about various operating systems and general computer functionality.

I’m hoping to gather a nice audience and simply keep making small posts in the blog until I decide to take it to the next level and really turn it into a hobby. For now, I still think I just don’t have the time.

Anyway, see you around. Until next time,

TJ here. Over and out.

Palin’s speech at the Republican National Convention

Read my post about Palin being chosen by McCain before you read this elaborate post.

I am absolutely disgusted. If you haven’t heard / read her speech, do so now (pasted below). If you have read her speech, skip down to “My miniature critique.”

Governor Sarah Palin’s speech (Thurs. Sept, 4th at RNC)

Mr. Chairman, delegates, and fellow citizens: I am honored to be considered for the nomination for Vice President of the United States…

I accept the call to help our nominee for president to serve and defend America.

I accept the challenge of a tough fight in this election… against confident opponents … at a crucial hour for our country.

And I accept the privilege of serving with a man who has come through much harder missions … and met far graver challenges … and knows how tough fights are won – the next president of the United States, John S. McCain.

It was just a year ago when all the experts in Washington counted out our nominee because he refused to hedge his commitment to the security of the country he loves.

With their usual certitude, they told us that all was lost – there was no hope for this candidate who said that he would rather lose an election than see his country lose a war.

But the pollsters and pundits overlooked just one thing when they wrote him off.

They overlooked the caliber of the man himself – the determination, resolve, and sheer guts of Senator John McCain. The voters knew better.

And maybe that’s because they realize there is a time for politics and a time for leadership … a time to campaign and a time to put our country first.

Our nominee for president is a true profile in courage, and people like that are hard to come by.

He’s a man who wore the uniform of this country for 22 years, and refused to break faith with those troops in Iraq who have now brought victory within sight.

And as the mother of one of those troops, that is exactly the kind of man I want as commander in chief. I’m just one of many moms who’ll say an extra prayer each night for our sons and daughters going into harm’s way.

Our son Track is 19.

And one week from tomorrow – September 11th – he’ll deploy to Iraq with the Army infantry in the service of his country.

My nephew Kasey also enlisted, and serves on a carrier in the Persian Gulf.

My family is proud of both of them and of all the fine men and women serving the country in uniform. Track is the eldest of our five children.

In our family, it’s two boys and three girls in between – my strong and kind-hearted daughters Bristol, Willow, and Piper.

And in April, my husband Todd and I welcomed our littlest one into the world, a perfectly beautiful baby boy named Trig. From the inside, no family ever seems typical.

That’s how it is with us.

Our family has the same ups and downs as any other … the same challenges and the same joys.

Sometimes even the greatest joys bring challenge.

And children with special needs inspire a special love.

To the families of special-needs children all across this country, I have a message: For years, you sought to make America a more welcoming place for your sons and daughters.

I pledge to you that if we are elected, you will have a friend and advocate in the White House. Todd is a story all by himself.

He’s a lifelong commercial fisherman … a production operator in the oil fields of Alaska’s North Slope … a proud member of the United Steel Workers’ Union … and world champion snow machine racer.

Throw in his Yup’ik Eskimo ancestry, and it all makes for quite a package.

We met in high school, and two decades and five children later he’s still my guy. My Mom and Dad both worked at the elementary school in our small town.

And among the many things I owe them is one simple lesson: that this is America, and every woman can walk through every door of opportunity.

My parents are here tonight, and I am so proud to be the daughter of Chuck and Sally Heath. Long ago, a young farmer and habber-dasher from Missouri followed an unlikely path to the vice presidency.

A writer observed: “We grow good people in our small towns, with honesty, sincerity, and dignity.” I know just the kind of people that writer had in mind when he praised Harry Truman.

I grew up with those people.

They are the ones who do some of the hardest work in America … who grow our food, run our factories, and fight our wars.

They love their country, in good times and bad, and they’re always proud of America. I had the privilege of living most of my life in a small town.

I was just your average hockey mom, and signed up for the PTA because I wanted to make my kids’ public education better.

When I ran for city council, I didn’t need focus groups and voter profiles because I knew those voters, and knew their families, too.

Before I became governor of the great state of Alaska, I was mayor of my hometown.

And since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on that experience, let me explain to them what the job involves.

I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a “community organizer,” except that you have actual responsibilities. I might add that in small towns, we don’t quite know what to make of a candidate who lavishes praise on working people when they are listening, and then talks about how bitterly they cling to their religion and guns when those people aren’t listening.

We tend to prefer candidates who don’t talk about us one way in Scranton and another way in San Francisco.

As for my running mate, you can be certain that wherever he goes, and whoever is listening, John McCain is the same man. I’m not a member of the permanent political establishment.

And I’ve learned quickly, these past few days, that if you’re not a member in good standing of the Washington elite, then some in the media consider a candidate unqualified for that reason alone.

But here’s a little news flash for all those reporters and commentators: I’m not going to Washington to seek their good opinion – I’m going to Washington to serve the people of this country. Americans expect us to go to Washington for the right reasons, and not just to mingle with the right people.

Politics isn’t just a game of clashing parties and competing interests.

The right reason is to challenge the status quo, to serve the common good, and to leave this nation better than we found it.

No one expects us to agree on everything.

But we are expected to govern with integrity, good will, clear convictions, and … a servant’s heart.

I pledge to all Americans that I will carry myself in this spirit as vice president of the United States. This was the spirit that brought me to the governor’s office, when I took on the old politics as usual in Juneau … when I stood up to the special interests, the lobbyists, big oil companies, and the good-ol’ boys network.

Sudden and relentless reform never sits well with entrenched interests and power brokers. That’s why true reform is so hard to achieve.

But with the support of the citizens of Alaska, we shook things up.

And in short order we put the government of our state back on the side of the people.

I came to office promising major ethics reform, to end the culture of self-dealing. And today, that ethics reform is the law.

While I was at it, I got rid of a few things in the governor’s office that I didn’t believe our citizens should have to pay for.

That luxury jet was over the top. I put it on eBay.

I also drive myself to work.

And I thought we could muddle through without the governor’s personal chef – although I’ve got to admit that sometimes my kids sure miss her. I came to office promising to control spending – by request if possible and by veto if necessary.

Senator McCain also promises to use the power of veto in defense of the public interest – and as a chief executive, I can assure you it works.

Our state budget is under control.

We have a surplus.

And I have protected the taxpayers by vetoing wasteful spending: nearly half a billion dollars in vetoes.

I suspended the state fuel tax, and championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress.

I told the Congress “thanks, but no thanks,” for that Bridge to Nowhere.

If our state wanted a bridge, we’d build it ourselves. When oil and gas prices went up dramatically, and filled up the state treasury, I sent a large share of that revenue back where it belonged – directly to the people of Alaska.

And despite fierce opposition from oil company lobbyists, who kind of liked things the way they were, we broke their monopoly on power and resources.

As governor, I insisted on competition and basic fairness to end their control of our state and return it to the people.

I fought to bring about the largest private-sector infrastructure project in North American history.

And when that deal was struck, we began a nearly forty billion dollar natural gas pipeline to help lead America to energy independence.

That pipeline, when the last section is laid and its valves are opened, will lead America one step farther away from dependence on dangerous foreign powers that do not have our interests at heart.

The stakes for our nation could not be higher.

When a hurricane strikes in the Gulf of Mexico, this country should not be so dependent on imported oil that we are forced to draw from our Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

And families cannot throw away more and more of their paychecks on gas and heating oil.

With Russia wanting to control a vital pipeline in the Caucasus, and to divide and intimidate our European allies by using energy as a weapon, we cannot leave ourselves at the mercy of foreign suppliers.

To confront the threat that Iran might seek to cut off nearly a fifth of world energy supplies … or that terrorists might strike again at the Abqaiq facility in Saudi Arabia … or that Venezuela might shut off its oil deliveries … we Americans need to produce more of our own oil and gas.

And take it from a gal who knows the North Slope of Alaska: we’ve got lots of both.

Our opponents say, again and again, that drilling will not solve all of America’s energy problems – as if we all didn’t know that already.

But the fact that drilling won’t solve every problem is no excuse to do nothing at all.

Starting in January, in a McCain-Palin administration, we’re going to lay more pipelines … build more new-clear plants … create jobs with clean coal … and move forward on solar, wind, geothermal, and other alternative sources.

We need American energy resources, brought to you by American ingenuity, and produced by American workers. I’ve noticed a pattern with our opponent.

Maybe you have, too.

We’ve all heard his dramatic speeches before devoted followers.

And there is much to like and admire about our opponent.

But listening to him speak, it’s easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform – not even in the state senate.

This is a man who can give an entire speech about the wars America is fighting, and never use the word “victory” except when he’s talking about his own campaign. But when the cloud of rhetoric has passed … when the roar of the crowd fades away … when the stadium lights go out, and those Styrofoam Greek columns are hauled back to some studio lot – what exactly is our opponent’s plan? What does he actually seek to accomplish, after he’s done turning back the waters and healing the planet? The answer is to make government bigger … take more of your money … give you more orders from Washington … and to reduce the strength of America in a dangerous world. America needs more energy … our opponent is against producing it.

Victory in Iraq is finally in sight … he wants to forfeit.

Terrorist states are seeking new-clear weapons without delay … he wants to meet them without preconditions.

Al Qaeda terrorists still plot to inflict catastrophic harm on America … he’s worried that someone won’t read them their rights? Government is too big … he wants to grow it.

Congress spends too much … he promises more.

Taxes are too high … he wants to raise them. His tax increases are the fine print in his economic plan, and let me be specific.

The Democratic nominee for president supports plans to raise income taxes … raise payroll taxes … raise investment income taxes … raise the death tax … raise business taxes … and increase the tax burden on the American people by hundreds of billions of dollars. My sister Heather and her husband have just built a service station that’s now opened for business – like millions of others who run small businesses.

How are they going to be any better off if taxes go up? Or maybe you’re trying to keep your job at a plant in Michigan or Ohio … or create jobs with clean coal from Pennsylvania or West Virginia … or keep a small farm in the family right here in Minnesota.

How are you going to be better off if our opponent adds a massive tax burden to the American economy? Here’s how I look at the choice Americans face in this election.

In politics, there are some candidates who use change to promote their careers.

And then there are those, like John McCain, who use their careers to promote change.

They’re the ones whose names appear on laws and landmark reforms, not just on buttons and banners, or on self-designed presidential seals.

Among politicians, there is the idealism of high-flown speechmaking, in which crowds are stirringly summoned to support great things.

And then there is the idealism of those leaders, like John McCain, who actually do great things. They’re the ones who are good for more than talk … the ones we have always been able to count on to serve and defend America. Senator McCain’s record of actual achievement and reform helps explain why so many special interests, lobbyists, and comfortable committee chairmen in Congress have fought the prospect of a McCain presidency – from the primary election of 2000 to this very day.

Our nominee doesn’t run with the Washington herd.

He’s a man who’s there to serve his country, and not just his party.

A leader who’s not looking for a fight, but is not afraid of one either. Harry Reid, the Majority Leader of the current do-nothing Senate, not long ago summed up his feelings about our nominee.

He said, quote, “I can’t stand John McCain.” Ladies and gentlemen, perhaps no accolade we hear this week is better proof that we’ve chosen the right man. Clearly what the Majority Leader was driving at is that he can’t stand up to John McCain. That is only one more reason to take the maverick of the Senate and put him in the White House. My fellow citizens, the American presidency is not supposed to be a journey of “personal discovery.” This world of threats and dangers is not just a community, and it doesn’t just need an organizer.

And though both Senator Obama and Senator Biden have been going on lately about how they are always, quote, “fighting for you,” let us face the matter squarely.

There is only one man in this election who has ever really fought for you … in places where winning means survival and defeat means death … and that man is John McCain. In our day, politicians have readily shared much lesser tales of adversity than the nightmare world in which this man, and others equally brave, served and suffered for their country.

It’s a long way from the fear and pain and squalor of a six-by-four cell in Hanoi to the Oval Office.

But if Senator McCain is elected president, that is the journey he will have made.

It’s the journey of an upright and honorable man – the kind of fellow whose name you will find on war memorials in small towns across this country, only he was among those who came home.

To the most powerful office on earth, he would bring the compassion that comes from having once been powerless … the wisdom that comes even to the captives, by the grace of God … the special confidence of those who have seen evil, and seen how evil is overcome. A fellow prisoner of war, a man named Tom Moe of Lancaster, Ohio, recalls looking through a pin-hole in his cell door as Lieutenant Commander John McCain was led down the hallway, by the guards, day after day.

As the story is told, “When McCain shuffled back from torturous interrogations, he would turn toward Moe’s door and flash a grin and thumbs up” – as if to say, “We’re going to pull through this.” My fellow Americans, that is the kind of man America needs to see us through these next four years.

For a season, a gifted speaker can inspire with his words.

For a lifetime, John McCain has inspired with his deeds.

If character is the measure in this election … and hope the theme … and change the goal we share, then I ask you to join our cause. Join our cause and help America elect a great man as the next president of the United States.

Thank you all, and may God bless America.

The written speech is courtesy of the Herald Tribune.

Please post a comment below about what you thought about the speech, especially if you support Palin and/or the McCain and Palin ticket. To put it bluntly, I feel like all she did was send low blows toward Obama and didn’t even talk that much about her own plans to better the country. Furthermore, Palin focused so much on the whole Prisoner Of War thing and also about McCain’s character. If we elected people solely on their character, we’d elect the nicest guy alive, not the best politician.

Since I’m actually talking, I’ll keep ranting. There were a few more sections of the speech I was disgusted by.

My miniature critique

But the fact that drilling won’t solve every problem is no excuse to do nothing at all.

What about the problems it does pose? Like the money it will cost and the animals we will kill or take the land away from? Not to mention, it is putting lots of money into something that will not help us find alternative means…

Victory in Iraq is finally in sight … he wants to forfeit.

Please define “in sight.” It’s been eight years or so now and I sure as hell don’t see us getting any closer to ending it, just more and more dead American soldiers and less and less money in our Federal Bank (or rather more and more debt).

How are you going to be better off if our opponent adds a massive tax burden to the American economy? Here’s how I look at the choice Americans face in this election.

You fail to notice the fact that: yes, people will pay more taxes, but also that education will be better off, we will take leaps in the direction of losing our national debt, we will take steps toward a better health care system, and so on…

How can you expect to get out of a whole by cutting taxes?? Obviously, you can’t just count on people to spend that extra money in the right places. After all, could you trust an individual on the street you loan money to? He says he’s starving, but maybe he just wants a few last beers before he dies. The thing is, creating more revenue for the federal bank by increasing taxes is a way that we can actually fight our way out of this financial hole we are in with certainty, yet McCain’s ticket (and most of Conservatives) have failed to see that.

He’s a man who’s there to serve his country, and not just his party.

At this point I was just saying “Give me a break…”

If character is the measure in this election

How about politics? After all, that’s the field you all work in and the reason for which you govern the country.

Okay, I hope you read through most of it, at least the section where I broke down what I thought were ridiculous pieces of the speech. Please comment with your views and opinions, I will gladly read them and respond, regardless of the point of view, I’m happy to debate!

BEST OF #3: Web Browsers

This post is not at all coincidental, in fact the prime reason I chose to make Web Browsers the next BEST OF … post is because of Google’s statement and release of their web browser, currently in BETA. And without further ado, I present to you:

Chrome (BETA name)

Chrome was just launched today by Google and is currently in an open BETA (which means the public tests it before an official ‘marketed’ version is announced and posted for download). The browser is free to download and is also Open Source. You can download the web browser at this official Goggle page: http://www.google.com/chrome. A few important things to take note of are that the browser is being displayed as a very safe, fast, and easy to use as well as the fact that there is currently NO version for MAC OS. Check throughout this post for browsers that are supported by MAC OS.

Safari

Safari has been out for a few years now and can run on both MAC OS and Windows. You can download and find more information about Safari on the Apple website. Safari is currently at version 3.1.2 and works very nicely as the MAC default browser.

Firefox

The most popular browser out right now is Mozilla’s Firefox which can be downloaded and installed at http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/. Firefox is currently my browser of my choice on both my Macintosh laptop and my desktop PC and runs quickly, efficiently, and version 3 (released only a few months ago) does everything you would want your web browser to do. Not only that, but it also does it while appearing very elegant. There exist functions which allow you to quit the application such that it remembers exactly what tabs you have open so that you can relaunch them when you start up the browser again (tabs are a way of displaying open site pages without having them all open in different web browser pages. Firefox is also free to download and install.

Internet Explorer

Internet explorer is currently openly testing it’s newest version IE8 which can be found on the Microsoft site. It also uses the same type of slogan as Google’s newest product, however, does it live up to it?

faster, easier, and safer than ever

Opera

Finally, the last browser on this list is Opera which can be found at the official Opera site. Opera web browser is currently on version 9.5 and is free to download. Opera contains all the tools needed for a good web browser. It is very quick, great for searching (as it keeps memory of the actual content on the pages you visit), and also has a feature called Opera Link that syncs your sites you visit on your computer with those on your cell phone and other mobile devices. Learn more about it in this great demo video.

Finally…

Also, see Maxthon for another popular browser, which is very customizable and easy to use; also check http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp for info on web browser statistics (with legend at the bottom).

Please check the latter BEST OF … posts as well as the SoW #1 and my various political posts and the one I have about religion. Thanks and check back soon!

Palin: More Problems?

So here is my third politics related post. By now you should know I speak my mind and love to debate in the comments section (so feel free to leave your thoughts below whether you agree with me or not).

After a very heated and well spoken Democratic National Convention, Senator John McCain chose Sarah Palin as his Vice President. At first, I made a post about her stance on the social aspects of Conservatism (Gun Control, Abortion, forgetting to mention that she is also against gay marriage) as well as her stance on war, specifically the one in the Middle East.

In this post, I’d like to add on a few more thoughts, including some related to very recent breaking news.

McCain’s campaign chose Palin for a good amount of reasons, which I think have simply blurred their strength for a ticket to the White House. My first thought what that Palin was only aside McCain to gather up the lost, upset, and frustrated Clinton supporters. Now, I realize that is, bluntly put, not the case. Unless a portion of Clinton’s supporters stood head to head with all of Palin’s conservative views, there is simply no way, I believe and hope, that those disappointed voters could follow and support the McCain ticket.

Sarah Palin, is a headstrong Conservative who is against Gun Control, an NRA lifelong membership could tell you that. She is absolutely against the woman’s right to chose and against gay’s right to marry. She is considered more experienced in politics as a governor for almost two years (without counting her role as Mayor and Head of Council which lasted for about 10 years from 1992 to 2002, read more about Palin’s political history) than Obama as a senator for more than three. The key distinction: Palin has governed oil and the state of Alaska, while Obama has been working on reform and bringing people out of poverty in the state of Illinois.

Today, the press announced that governor Palin has an unmarried, 17 year old, pregnant daughter. What sort of example is that for the young women of America? Isn’t Palin supposed to an idol to all the women out there as the first potential woman Vice President? What do you think she shows and teaches all the mother’s out there about how they should educate a daughter that is still not thru with her teenage years? Why isn’t Palin’s daughter criticized just as are our modern teen celebrities who have recently fallen pregnant? Here is a quote from the Palins:

Our beautiful daughter Bristol came to us with news that, as parents, we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned … We’re proud of Bristol’s decision to have her baby and even prouder to become grandparents.

I’ll conclude with a few points about Obama. One, there is the obvious fact that he is a man of color. In this country, racism has never ended and sadly never might. That plays against him, obviously. Now, Obama’s name is something totally separate. If anyone has a problem with the fact that Obama is named Barrack Hussein Obama, Jr. than think about this for an instance: Obama had nothing to do with his name. If anything, look at how Obama named his children: Malia Ann and Sasha, anything out of the ordinary about those? I find it disgusting to base one’s views on a leader by their name, yet alone the color of their skin. Those aspects of a persona should play a neutral to positive view only on how people should perceive them. What do you think?

BEST OF #2: Helping the World at Your Computer

Here is a list for all you readers out there who want to do some good but don’t have the time, resources, patience, or even desire it could require to make the world a better place nowadays. These options are all very simple things you could do to help, without making you feel overwhelmed.

The Breast Cancer Site

What you do:

• Go to the site, by using this link.
• From there, simply click the “Click Here to Give – It’s Free” button.
• Once redirected to the new page, click through all the various headers (Hunger, Child Health, Literacy, Rainforest, Animal Rescue) and do the same thing there.
• You’re done, it’s that simple.

Free Rice

What you do:

• Go to the site by clicking this link.
• Play the word game. Improve your vocabulary and give free rice.
• You’re done, it’s that simple.

Stanford’s Folding@Home

What you do:

• Download Folding@Home here.
• Go through the very quick and easy installation.
• Let the program run whenever you can during the day, while you are on and off the computer.
• You’re done. It’s that simple.

Ripple

What you do:

• Check the site here.
• Click the four buttons in the middle of the page as many times as you want.
• You’re done. It’s that simple.

Reduce the Brightness of Your Screen

What you do:

• Meddle with the setting on your screen or MAC computer, shouldn’t take too long.
• If everybody did this, imagine the power they’d save.

If you haven’t read BEST OF #1, check it out here.
Or if you want to check out the first Shout of the Week (SoW) here.

Shout of the Week (SoW) #1: sxephil, failblog, Blade and Soul

Okay, I might also do weekly shouts of things I find on the net, whether it be cool people, neat blogs, fun articles, hilarious pictures, or even Youtube channels that demonstrate A LOT of talent. Hopefully, you’ll enjoy the various things I point you towards and keep checking them out as well as this blog, the home of resources, fun, laughs, and news.

sxephil

So, the first portion of this SoW revolves around my man, sxephil, from Youtube. I’ve been watching his news report videos for a while now, and I must say he never fails to entertain. One word of advice, take everything he says lightly. If you’d like to check out his website as well, go to Phil DeFranco’s site.

Important Note: the website I posted for sxephil currently yields an error message posted by sxephil himself, but I am hopping the site will be restored in the near future.

With the increase of WordPress sites being hacked, I am going to leave the site alone for a bit. I’m just tired of having to worry about peoples information being hacked on top of my own personal information. The videos will still be posted to YouTube.

-Philip DeFranco

FailBlog

The next ‘thing’ I’d like to give a SoW to is a blog that if you don’t check out consistently, you definitely should start doing so. The blog is called the Fail Blog and can be found at the FailBlog site. It’s tons of great laughs with amazing, witty pictures, I hope you enjoy that.

Blade and Soul

Finally, my last shout for this week’s SoW is for you gamers who read my blog. If you haven’t heard of Blade and Soul, a Korean MMORPG (which stands for Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game), made by the developers over at NCSoft, stop whatever you are doing and check this IGN hosted trailer video out right now, you are bound to be entranced.

In any case, hope this post was enjoyable to read. If you have any comments about how I should post these type of entries (whether it be the number of shouts per SoW or even whether you want to be included in one of them), just point me in the right direction and don’t forget to comment below.

BEST OF #1: IM Clients

So this is my first BEST OF posts, I hope you enjoy it and learn a bit. Please comment about anything I could do differently, better, or anything that could enhance you and other reader’s experience when reading through my blog. Thanks. And now, without further ado, I present you with the list.

MIRANDA

• Official Site: http://www.miranda-im.org/
• PROS: The application is freeware (completely free to use), open source, easily customizable, and supports many protocols (AIM, ICQ, IRC, Jabber, MSN, Yahoo Talk, …)
• CONS: Only supported on Windows Operating Systems (95 / 98 / ME / NT / 2000 / 2003 / XP / Vista)

Pidgin

• Official Site: http://pidgin.im/
• PROS: Application is freeware, supports even more protocols than Miranda
• CONS: Once again, this program is not supported on MAC OS

Adium

• Official Site: http://www.adiumx.com/
• PROS: Application is freeware, customizable, supports around the same number of protocols as Pidgin, Growl support
• CONS: Application only available for MAC OS

Meebo

• Official Site: http://www.meebo.com/
• PROS: Not an application (the client runs in your web browser) which means you can log on from essentially any network connected computer (regardless of OS), translated into TONS of languages, very simply to start using, accessible on iPhone
• CONS: Not really customizable, lags a bit at times, supports many less protocols than most other clients, obviously doesn’t have an OS integrated feel

Digsby

• Official Site: http://www.digsby.com/
• PROS: Integrates IM, email, and social networking sites (Facebook, Twitter, or Myspace), allows for Facebook chat protocol, very simply to customize, very interesting, unique features not available with most other IM clients (merging contacts, …)
• CONS: Supports only the ‘big 6′ protocols other than Facebook chat, not available for MAC OS or Linux

Trillian

• Official Site: http://www.ceruleanstudios.com/
• PROS: Very quick functioning, new version still in beta and in the works which will work for MAC OS and iPhone
• CONS: Not YET available for MAC OS, not as customizable as the other OS based clients, supports only the most basic protocols and doesn’t even support many of the basic client options (group chats, audio chats, chat rooms, …)

Okay, that’s all for this first BEST OF … . Let’s see what you think, please comment and let me know which client you like best and why!

I’ve chosen this blog’s path

As the title of this post says, I have decided what I will be doing with the blog.

The main theme will be recurring posts which list the “BEST OF …” various topics and categories and I will edit them as we go, if updates arrive.

This does not mean I won’t be posting other anecdotes or important recent events.

Please check back often for fun and interesting lists with tons of material. Thanks, and look forward to conversing with you and getting some comments / feedback about a “BEST OF …” you’d like to see written.

See you!
TJ

What I think about religion

Um… where should I start?

I had a talk with a family member today who calls herself “spiritual.” What does “spiritual” mean? How is different than “religious?” Here is the definition of “religious” as the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines it:

Main Entry: religious

1: relating to or manifesting faithful devotion to an acknowledged ultimate reality or deity [a religious person] [religious attitudes]
2: of, relating to, or devoted to religious beliefs or observances [joined a religious order]
3 a: scrupulously and conscientiously faithful b: fervent, zealous

My family member told me that the difference between being religious and spiritual was that spirituality did not come hand in hand with a God but rather with ‘a greater being.’ As an avid atheist, I dispute both, yet have more trouble arguing against spirituality because of its greater ambiguity.

My argument has always been surrounding the question of Why? Why does one choose (or feel forced) to turn to ‘a greater power’ for answers in life? Why can’t people simply believe in themselves and find guidance from within? I once saw a video which you can find here about praying to a milk jug. I’d like to ask anyone who reads this blog to tell me the flaws in this video / argument (please post your views, I will read them and respond).

Here are a few more general problems I have with religion but I do not use to debate with since too many people have heard them before:

• If one religion is ‘right,’ why are there so many in existence today?
• How can religions be ‘right’ when errors and mishaps are constantly being found in their sacred documents?

Please help me define ‘right’ when it comes to religion. What is it for a religion to be ‘right?’ Does it even have to be ‘right?’ My main problem I have is this one:

Why do people turn to religion when there is no need for it?

Now, maybe someone will say that there is a need for religion because people can’t find the strength to move along in life on their own. To that I ask, does that mean religion is justified? Does that mean people should keep living blinded by the fact they count on / look to something that has, doesn’t, and never will exist? Why do people waste their time and openness of mind on taking power away from their self and giving it to something non-existent / imaginary?

To conclude (for this will surely not be the last time I talk about religion), I would love to say that although I am a ‘confident’ atheist, I am also open to listening to what other people think about religion. Please post a comment on this post so I can understand another facet of this discussion I maybe have never heard, I’m totally open to it and will surely responded.

Thanks for reading and I pray you have a good day.