How to Bring Down Goliath without a Slingshot!

In the earlier part of my adult life I have identified many flaws in our system, but I simply didn’t care.  Not even the things that affected me directly.  I thought it’s just the way it is, and if I’m going to attempt be a model citizen I must follow…

I am Canadian, and Canadians have been documented in many historical events as ‘Strong Individualists!” that work well together as a team. 
In other words, “Divided we are strong, together our strength is Immeasurable!” 

I personally have stood up to many corporations.  Without mentioning any names, a rather old and extremely large telephone company, auto insurance companies and utilities.  Not to mention any other company, or school that tried to coerce my rightful action, or inaction.
Any results I got were due to my understanding of the law as it is written as well as the ‘Spirit of the Law.’  When I couple this with my unconventional and unavoidable approach, it is very difficult for executive team of said corporation or government agency to ignore my inquiries as to why they practice certain questionable policies.
Or as a bank manager once told me “We don’t have a policy for such a matter, just guidelines…”
All I said to her was “Oh Yeah?” then wished her a nice day…

I created this site to disable the ‘Flock Mentality’ large corporations have used to monitor, lead and control each and every one of us across the entire planet!
Right now I am working on a problem with a rather large Tire store here in CANADA that thinks our hard earned cash has an expiry date on it!!

OH YEAH??

I'll keep you posted...

We are not Sheep. We are strong and skilled team members of Canada!  Do I need to quote our national anthem for you?  

You know, TRUE…NORTH…STRONG…and…?

I found this to be 'Disturbingly Funny'

Every year the United Way has their fund raising blitz and we give.....$$$$$$......

These days however, they even convinced the L.C.B.O. to solicit every one of their customers to give.

When I pay cash for an item at any store I look at the charitable bins they have on the counter and put the change that jingles in the charity I wish to support.

Every year I give an average of $100 to the United Way.

I'm not saying this to brag because I'm sure there are thousands of other consumers that do the same.

The reason I'm writing this is because today I saw a picture of CAW workers of Casino Brantford donating a cheque for $1000 dollars.   What bugs me is, 

    

   Why does an establishment that causes so much social decay get free advertising for giving such a 'piddly' amount of money to a foundation designed to eliminate social decay???

The United Way supports:

OLG Casino Brantford Fourth Quarter of Fiscal 2010 - 2011

25.9 Million dollars

YTD 106.2 Million dollars!!

In 13 years the OLG has given 39.5 million dollars or 3.04 million per year to Brantford for being a 'Host' of Ontario's largest legal gambling ring!

Here's a list of what of the problems gambling creates:

Q. Is compulsive gambling associated with other mental health problems?

A. It appears that in many cases the answer is yes. Various studies have found high rates of alcoholism, depression, anti-social personality disorder, mood disorders, and other conditions in pathological gamblers, leading some researchers to suspect that problem gambling is often a symptom of an underlying condition.

Q. Is there a link between compulsive gambling and chemical dependency?

A. Yes. In several studies approximately 50 percent of problem gamblers were found to also have drug or alcohol problems, while studies of people in treatment for substance abuse have found between 10 and 30 percent also having a gambling problem. People may have both addictions simultaneously, or can switch from one addiction to another.

Q. Who becomes a compulsive gambler?

A. Compulsive gamblers can be male, female, young, middle-aged, old, wealthy, poor, white, or people of colour. Recently, the National Opinion Research Centre of the University of Chicago study completed the first-ever national (U.S.) survey on problem gambling prevalence. The study found that young adults, ethnic minorities, and people with little education were slightly more likely to have serious gambling problems, but the differences were not very large.

Q. What exactly is "problem gambling"?

A. "Problem Gambling" is the term used to describe gambling behaviour, which causes disruption in any important life function, whether psychological, physical, social or vocational. This term is generally accepted to include, but is not limited to "Pathological", a.k.a., "Compulsive" gambling. Compulsive Gambling is a progressive addiction characterized by increasing preoccupation with gambling, a need to bet more money more frequently, restlessness or irritability when attempting to stop gambling, "chasing" losses, and loss of control by continuing negative gambling behaviour, regardless of the disruption and serious consequences of such behaviour.

This is just the tip of the Iceberg!

It doesn't matter what time of day I drive by the casino, early morning, afternoon or late in the evening.  

This is what I see!

I personally know of 2 people that work to feed their gambling addiction and most of it goes here!

Seriously, is 3 million dollars annual 'restitution' enough to cover the damage this place does to its Regulars?

Ever since Google started paying web-masters a share of their revenue for money generated by the adds placed on their sites. Web designers have tried many, many ways to bring people to their websites in hopes they will click on the ADS, or search on the Google search box they posted. One way was to start a blog, and go to other blogs to entice people to visit their blog so they can be exposed to ads on their site. The other way is to pay other web-masters to place an ad on their website, by utilizing Google Ad words. Thats right Google makes money every time someone advertises with them. If your hosting these ads on your site Google will share a piece of that revenue with you. That's right, its an endless cycle of what you could call "a cross referenced advertising feeding frenzy!"


Mark E. Zuckerberg who is considered to be the founder of Facebook. He originally created it to communicate with his college community at Harvard.
It was eventually named "The Harvard thing." It grew so fast he enlisted the help of his roommate Dustin Moskovitz. They first spread it to, Stanford, Dartmouth, Columbia, Cornell and Yale. Then to other schools with social contacts at Harvard. Now Zuckerberg is no dummy, so to capitalize on his creation he placed Google Ads or Ad-sense as its referred to, to generate revenue when people using his site clicked on them.
When I first started using the internet I couldn't figure out why someone would spend the time to publish free information for their readers......
Web-masters are always trying to find ways to get more traffic to their sites so they can get more clicks on the posted ads. What better idea than Facebook's concept of people connecting with old friends? Thats right, "Sign up with Facebook to find your old buddy from grade 6 or the girl you use to have a crush on back in the 9th grade!" Facebook goes from hundreds of users all the way up to 100 million users. Nows the time for that old cliché "Why the didn't I think of that?"

133,623,529 North American visitors per month, and thats only 29.5% of the total active users!

Now don't get me wrong, Facebook is a valuable tool if your a social networking fanatic or simply wish to find old friends, and they have the right to make money from what they offer us. However did you ever wonder what they do with all the data they collect from us? Picture this:

Mr. Facebook is sitting in his shiatsu back rubbing computer chair sipping his $1000 bottle of 30 year old single malt Scotch when he gets a call from the F.B.I. or the R.C.M.P. They tell him they need some insight on the Lost Doctor" Its a matter of National Security!" Heres what he sends them:

Think of all the negative possibilities people can do by just looking up someones name on face book. Granted, you can limit the amount of information they see, however how many times have you accepted a friend just because your single and spotted a pretty girl whos status is "Single, looking for man." Lets face it this is a "Social" Networking site. Or maybe you just want as many friends as you can get! Some one in my family once asked me to join the "Are you related" application I chose not too. Not because I'm not proud of my family, simply because its none of Face book's or any one else's business!

Heres a worse case scenario (if you watch the Sopranos you will like this) Lets say some distant (so distant you never knew existed) relative you just connected with on Facebook is a notorious drug dealer who "screws" his biggest supplier down in Panama!
Well he pissed that very dangerous "slime ball" off so much, he decides to kill his entire (I mean entire) family before he gets him!
Gee aren't you glad you confirmed your related now?????
Like I said: Worst case scenario!

When I first signed up with Facebook, one of the steps was to give them my email account password. I didn't fill that spot, instead I clicked on the very tiny "skipthisstep" link. Even after I confirmed my identity by responding to the email they sent me, I still had to fill out one of those very annoying, "type what you see" messages every time I sent a message! OK your probably asking, "Whats wrong with giving Facebook my email password?" Heres the first reason: Most people don't change their passwords to their accounts because it makes it easy to forget them. Not to mention, its not that important to encrypt ones email account, or is it?

OK, OK! heres another one: In their read-me section after you sign up they say: "Never give your passwords to any one, ever!" Isn't that a hypocritical statement?

Lets say 30 years from now Hate Crime Laws make it an indictable offence to make any derogatory remarks about any race, punishable with Life imprisonment!

Now I cant stand those "How many ________, etc, etc..." jokes, especially when one with such a limited imagination they feel compelled to tell you every one they ever heard and don't stop even when you ask them to!

Sorry for going off an a tangent.

Seriously though, how many times has someone said "There was a Jew, a Hindu, a Buddhist and a Catholic, etc, etc..."

Now imagine this if you will: Someone reports you to the "Internet Police" because they saw you and your buddy commenting one of those classic jokes. Because of this new law they ask Facebook guy for your email and password because your under suspicion of Hate crimes (just a simple allegation) and they find not only a couple jokes you were sent or maybe you forwarded to someone else and used this as evidence against you as a "racist" or "hate monger!" I'm sure you catch my drift...

I use to use the Facebook AP on my Black Berry, but when I last updated the software they asked me to check off the options I wanted. Well the options I didn't want (which were all of them) still showed up in a surprising manner....One day I got a reminder of a webinar I supposedly scheduled to watch from someone I've never heard of before. This appeared as though I scheduled it on my calendar! I did no such thing...I promptly deleted the Facebook AP from my Blackberry and will never use it again. The only reason I haven't cancelled my Facebook account is because I wanted you to read this!I hope this all makes sense to you and I would love to hear your opinions on this matter. I have plenty more I would still like to share with you!Have a Great Day and Don't forget

"If your not having fun, whats the point?"

Mel Brown, Blues Legend from the Mississippi Delta reluctantly left us!

October 7, 1939 a baby named Mel Brown was born in Jackson Mississippi. He like many others in the world fell in love with the Blues! The difference is Mel lived and breathed the Blues... He has played, toured and recorded with the biggest names in the music industry. B.B. King, T-Bone Walker, Snooky Pryor, Bobby Bland, Stevie Ray Vaughn, John Lee Hooker, David Bowie, Dr. John, Sonny and Cher, Waylon Jennings and Willy Nelson. Plus many more. Jimmy Hendricks once told Mel: "Your a good guitar player..." Many of the "Greats" stayed at the Brown's house because African Americans were not allowed to stay in hotel on the Mississippi back in the 50's. When Mel was 16 he headed for L.A. but was humbled by the competition in the big city. He returned to Jackson and practised hard for another 2 years before going back to L.A. Between 1958 and 1967 Mel played with several bands. Johnny Otis, The Olympics, Etta James, Sam Cooke, Pee Wee Brayton, Johnny Guitar Watson and had steady work as a session musician. One night T-Bone Walker heard him playing at the Sands Club in L.A. and invited him to play on his next album. A studio executive was so impressed he Signed Mel Brown to his own deal with ABC/Impulse records and he recorded his first album called "Chicken Fat" That album is a classic of all blues guitar fans! In 1975 when playing in Denver Colorado, Mel met Miss Angel who became his wife. I've never met a more unified and happy couple! In 1983 while heading the House band at Antoine's in Austin Texas he met Glenn Smith from Kitchener Ontario. He was in Texas scouting for artists to play in Kitchener. When Glenn opened "Pop the Gator" in 1989 he asked Mel if he would be the house band. When Mel agreed he settled in a house in downtown Kitchener on Cameron Street! This did wonders for the credibility of Glenn Smith as a club owner. "its like having a baseball team and saying: 'Guess what, we have Micky Mantle now!" says Smith. Mel hosted weekly jams at "Pop the Gator" and musicians would line up for a chance to share the stage with the Great Blues Guitar Man. Mel was a Big Boy, a gentle giant if you will. Every time B.B. King played at LuLu's he asked Mel if he would play to. One time when Buddy Guy was playing at The Centre in the Square. He told Mel: "Its just you, me and B.B. left now" The first time I met Mel was when my mother was having a yard sale. Mel came up to me and asked me how much the organ was going for. He's also a piano player. I told him how much it was and he asked me if we have any guitars. I showed him my dads Gibson J-45 and he played it. My dad asked him what his ring meant. It had a big M. and B. He said, "I'm Mel Brown" He loved my dads guitar and wanted to buy it, but my Pop said, "Sorry, its not for sale." The same has been said to any musician who has ever played it... My dad Gerald, had to leave us in 2004 and his prize possession, the "Soul Explainer" to my deserving brother Jason.

The last time I spoke to Mel, he and Miss Angel his adoring wife pulled up in front of the house when I was cutting my Mom's lawn and asked me with a smile only Mel could make... "Wheres that old guitar?" I told him "Its not here any more my brother has it...." I asked him if he and Angel could make it to the Huether Jam afternoon. Unfortunatly for me I became ill never was unable to experience that pleasure... :(

When can I say... Mel Brown is a great man with a big heart and the Blues came from his core. When a musician dies my musical friends and I must endure a special pain because we lost one of our family.

On March 20 2009 we lost our Grand Father!

I keep an ear open in my dreams for Dad, Mel, Stevie Ray, Jimmy H, and every other great that ever played!

Please pray for Mel Brown and his family...

Bryan Zettler