John of Nobody Move! has relocated, so if your like me and you have his old blogger website bookmarked, you might want to update your links. The new link is http://armedrobbery.wordpress.com/

The Armorer, while not posting as often as he used too, has not given up the ghost as it were.

Oh and yours truly has returned finally.

I finished my Bachelors degree, it is done. And I start my Masters program on January 17 of 2012. To say I’m pretty stoked is a understatement.

Also I’m “going dark” on my Facebook account. I’m currently trying to get all of my pictures I have uploaded over the years to it, downloaded to my computer. My Internet connection is not helping me in this sadly.  My original intent was to shut it down by Dec 21, but I am afraid I may not make it to that deadline.

Let me explain going Dark and why I set the 21st. On the 23rd Facebook is introducing what they call “Timeline“.

I gotta tell you, it makes me nervous and I’m not the only one. Whats more once everyone gets Timeline, there’s no going back. Whats more with the changes with this new Timeline schema keep in mind that Facebook has already had their hands slapped by the FTC for their lack of privacy as well as for specifically “unfair & deceptive practices”.

“There’s no act too small to record on your permanent record,” said Jonathan Zittrain, a law professor at Harvard who studies how the Internet affects society. “All of the mouse droppings that appear as we migrate around the Web will be saved.”

So Why go dark?

Facebook to me is nothing but peer pressure writ large in to the digital era. We have already seen numoerus cases of cyber bullying, all perpetuated on Facebook to the point that kids take their lives because of something was typed out on a screen. It’s just one more assault on the senses.

Take it a step further. As users, you become a automatic advertisement for anything you click the “Like” button on. A unpaid advertiser. While psychologically many of us are wired to have a desire to be in the centerplace, the lime light, I for one am not cool with my or one of my family members pictures being posted world wide because we like Coke Cola and not getting a dime for it. But at the same time some pedo or other whackjob see’s a picture and thinks “Ooooo pretty..!”

There comes a point where sanity must come in to play. We have locks on our doors for a reason. We have locks on our cars for a reason, we put our money in banks for a reason, why would you open your world to a multitude of strangers so Mark Z van make an extra dime?

It is, simply put, digital extortion.

How so?

As Facebook’s VP of Public Policy, Elliot Schrage, puts it:

Well, it… I-I-I-I suppose, when you s…
[Silence]
So let’s pause…
[Long silence]
That’s an interesting…
[Another silence]
Y-y-y-you’re asking a profound question: What’s advertising?”

Courtesy of Computer World lets look at the video clip shall we?

As Richi Jennings of CW points out:

Think about what’s happening here: The guy in charge of public policy hasn’t even considered what the policy or position should be about this kind of advertising.

He seems oblivious to the fact that people might object when they discover their identities are being used to advertise products without their consent.

Madness? Paranoia? Or true concern?

Naysayers who point out that “Oh you can change it with your Privacy settings” haven’t seen the Q&A. You can, technically speaking…but if you changed your setting to Private from Public last year, then everything prior to that is still public via Timeline….and not subject to changing! Further it’s not easy to do at all.

I grew leery when companies started using GPS and location systems, with Timeline its automated, they always know where you are. Its a stalkers paradise.

Whats more if you aren’t a App user, the new Facebook change is going to drive you crazy as it is centerpieced on, you guessed it: Aps.

You can supposedly opt-out of sponsored stories using this link. However, this is contradicted by a Help page that says there is no way to opt out of seeing all or being featured in any Sponsored Stories!

Read that again folks and recall the FTC lawsuit I mentioned earlier…..unfair and deceptive practices.

Facebook was fun, and it was nice seeing folks I went to school with and being part of their goings on. However for me, I value my security highly. Very highly.

The good news is? It frees up time for me to dedicate to here, writing and posting without worrying about security anywhere near as much….because I control the when, where and the how of what I release here.

A close friend called me an alarmist, and maybe I am. He may be right. But that video, and the very blatant counter informative data I’ve linked here speak volumes to me and should give rise for concern.

It’s our world folks, and too precious for us to let someone else decide how it should be presented.

15 miles.

Thats all that separates my home from the town of Exeter, Missouri. Population 700.

It’s a small town. Smaller than I graduated high school in. Compared to some towns in Southwest Missouri, however, it is practically a metropolis.

It is also not the sort of place where crime happens.

Unfortunately, in the case of Abby and Isabella Chapman, thats exactly what has happened. A crime. One that is breaking their hearts of their mother and family, and shocking southwest Missouri.

Most of us who live in rural Missouri like it here. its quiet. We are off the beaten path. There are few shopping malls, theaters and other items that interest the jet setting crows. What there is, is peace and quiet. An idyllic lifestyle that has become lost in todays modern Microwave Burrito age.

Abby and Isabella Chapman were last seen on July 10. Their father Matt Chapman, picked them up from their mother, Amber Chapman, with the alleged intention of taking them to Silver Dollar City in Branson, MO: a large music and amusement park.

They have not been seen or heard from since.

With two small children still missing, the Barry County Sheriff’s Department has issued a warrant for the arrest of Matthew Justin Chapman, 35, of Exeter. He is charged with kidnapping his daughters, Abby L. Chapman, 7, and Isabella K. Chapman, 3, both of Exeter.

The local paper has a decent amount of information

Due to the fact that Matthew Chapman has been known to own several weapons, the Barry County Sheriff’s Department has listed the warrant with a cautionary indicator for law enforcement, said Epperly.

“I have seen a letter that was from him in which he stated that he believes the children are better off with him,” said Epperly. “After reading the letter, I believe that he loves his children very much, and as far as I know, he would not harm them, but they need to be located and this situation needs to be handled in the proper way.

“We know that he is not working,” said Epperly. “If he feels like he is on the run, things could deteriorate for him and the children very quickly.”

Amber Chapman has indicated that Matthew Chapman has said he would like to one day visit Colorado or Wyoming, said Epperly.

“We have searched his mother’s and sisters’ homes and a lot of other locations and not come up with anything so far,” said Epperly. “If anyone knows anything about their location, we urge them to call the sheriff’s department. They can remain anonymous. We just need to find these children.”

Matthew Chapman is five foot, 11 inches tall and weighs around 170 pounds. He has brown hair and green eyes. Abby Chapman is four feet tall and weighs around 45 pounds. She has brown hair and blue eyes. Isabella Chapman is three feet tall and weighs 40 pounds. She has blond hair and blue eyes.

Individuals with information on Matthew Chapman or his daughters are asked to call the Barry County Sheriff’s Department at 847-3121.

Matt Chapman was last seen in a silver Dodge Caravan. It is believed that he has a large quantity of camping equipment and gear so he may be at a national park, or even a very rural area.

Abby & Isabella Chapman (Image courtesy of KAPX News)

KPAX has the following descriptions
Abby L. Chapman is a white female, standing 4′ tall and weighing 45 pounds. She has brown hair, blue eyes and light complexion. She was last seen wearing a pink t-shirt and cut off blue jeans.

Isabella K. Chapman is a white female, standing 3′ tall and weighing 40 pounds. She has blonde hair, blue eyes and a light complexion. She was last seen wearing a pink tank top and blue jean shorts.

Matthew Chapman (Image courtesy of KPAX News)

According to family, he has contacts in Colorado, Wyoming, Montana and Texas. Chapman should be considered armed and dangerous.

And he’s right. As is evidenced here hiatuses typically kill blogs. Even those that have two bloggers. Unfortunately as you may have noticed only one of us has shown up for duty lately and the other is swamped under work. The former is just treading water himself as his career has taken off in the last three months.

Good things and bad things.

The good news is The Armorer is not shutting down. Personally, given the mans occasional pontifications, I doubt he will be able to completely walk away. However given the disenchantment many of us whom I think I can say are relatively middle of the road I can see how politics, and the world in general would grind us to the point that we find our selves spitting at the wind. The spammers, and fickle nature of some commenter’s can play in to that as well.

Well, more he than I. I don’t think I could buy a regular commenter around here as of late.

That said, we aren’t going away. Neither is he. The doors remain open. Volunteers are always welcome to write here. He has his own staff.

As for myself, it seems like I’m watching another ship leave the harbor. Folks are moving on, as they did years ago when Calimus and I first started Techography.

The more things change. The more they stay the same.

However I can not allow him to close that door without saying thanks. The Armorer opened his home, and his armory to me on several occasions. He has put up with my incoherent rambling e-mails on several occasions, and even furnished cold frosty adult beverages. Insofar as blogging goes he and The Commissar (when he still blogged as such) both showed much kindness and politeness to a web writer who was trying to adapt to the changing format of the Internet.

The Internet has much discourse, but little in the way of civility. He may walk away, but he deserves to know that he furnished one of last bastions of reasonable discourse that I am aware of on line. And for that he deserves a salute.

If I had a nickel for every time I was told I would be “Brought on board shortly” I would never have needed to take another contract.

It appears that MarketWatch has caught up with me

Temp workers are a boon to companies, but a nightmare on the economy.

As a contractor you may spent 3 to 8 months on a contract on average. The really fortunate may see a year. When those are over however its either A: look for a new contract or B: file unemployment.

Benefits are nil, the hours are long. There is little to no legal respite if you are wronged by a company. I once drove from Buffalo, NY to Atlanta, Ga after being told I would have a position on my arrival. I waited a week but was never contacted again and my calls stopped being answered.

H1B has not helped. With the new regulations foreigners can be hired at half the salary you or I would make thanks to the exchange rate.

Employers shifting to contract workers is a bad sign. For companies its great. For the American workforce…not so much.

Whereas workers have a regular and steady income, with contracting its feast or famine, and when famine bills do not go paid in order to eat.

Personally I think this situation is dire. When these new contractors are compounded by the rising gas costs,  the lower pay of contracting and the lengthy times of unemployment: the economy will rumble to a even further decline.

When they are given the choice of paying their house payment versus buying groceries because of the cost of gas. When groceries cost more because of the cost of fuel, and as credit gets stretched to breaking in a effort to stay afloat, these contractors will discover what I discovered several years ago: You can’t maintain a family, or credit as a contractor.

As the rising costs put basic purchases out of reach or on the envelope of breaking, furthered by the lower salary of contracting and lengthy unemployment, and it creates a perfect economic storm.

Think the last housing crunch was bad? Toss in lower wages with $5 gas. Reduced healthcare and more expensive coverage.

Contracting may be work, but its work without a safety net. And given the current economy, a safety net is something everyone needs.

If inflation continues look for companies to possibly start laying off, typically in FIFO (First in First out). Why FIFO? Because those employees earn more money and a replacement can be hired from outside for less or a contractor used for even further savings (no 401k, no healthcare and lower wages to boot).

Here’s some tips to help:

*Put no less than $10,000 dollars in to savings. This is your emergency money.

*Try to put at least $2,000 in to a high interest CD. A 1 year or 2 year is preferred.  Most banks will loan you money against a CD so think of this as a emergency credit collatoral without the high interest rate.

* The above 2 items may have stretched your purse but if you have anything left ignore the TV and the News: now is the time to buy stocks. Look at companies like Ford, GM, Target, Wal-Mart and others. These are companies who supply something people need even when at the breaking point financially. Buy Gold. Buy Oil.

*Every chance you get pay off a debt. Eliminate your credit cards. Ignore the hype about credit ratings and length of time. This is about survival, not buying a new house. Pay extra n any debts you have. Every debt or credit card you eliminate is more money in your pocket in the long term. Better to suffer in the short term before it gets out of hand.

* Don’t pull your money out of your 401k or Mutual Fund. The losses reflected are temporary in the grand scheme. In other words its just digital numbers. Continue to contribute during the decline if you can. When the market recovers in 5 to 10 years you’ll thank me.

When the smoke clears you may be one of the few left standing.

Posted from WordPress for Android

If you have seen the headlines this morning,  …a very…long…night.

I got about 2 hours sleep before hitting the ground running for my real job.

Our prayers go out to the families and friends of the lost.

If you want to thank any of the guys and girls who made our little informational possible…look on the right hand side under “Riders of the Storm”.

Keeping you informed by braving dangers is what they do.

Posted from WordPress for Android

I have many friends. Some with unique and otherwise alternative lifestyles. One such friend made a comment regarding her being of age and pondered to me if she wou?d be intrested in exploring said lifestyle with he and hois wife.

I never wanted to strike a friend as much as I did in that moment. I am that way with my family.

Years have passed. I have grown older, and wiser about somethings. I am still naive about others. Such is the way of the world I reckon.

In my orientation at my new employer I made the aquaintance of a gentlemen, let’s call him Mike. While Mike has no alternative lifestyle he is somewhat viewed with warisome eyes by some.

He is Iranian.

He has long been from his homeland, years since he has seen its earth as it were. He left at a young age, moving to Spain, then Canada, finally setteling here barely 2 years ago.

My Arabic is rusty. How rusty was soon made evident after I greeted him formally. To his credit he laughed and corrected by enunciation, and he has continued to do so since.

A student of Christian theology, he does not follow the Quran. He has little interest in politics, he is content to raise his family here in the land of the free.

We have struck up a regular luncheon. Each day we meet and talk of our jobs and general social matters.

Working in IT we have a large number of Hindus whom regard us with suspicion, a caucasian and Iranian conversing in mixmash of English and Arabic.

I have in the years aquired another close friend who does follow the Quran. He views extremists as being as hard as a Catholic sect whom is reknowned for self mutilation in their piety. Both misinterpret their religions in his eyes.

The point of all this being as I lay down last night was a thought that permeated my brain, keeping me awake most of the evening.

People hate without reason.

There is evil out there, of that I have no doubt. I have seen it myself. And there are those whom would change thr very definition of it given chance and time.

Diversity is here to stay. Better to understand, comprehend and embrace change versus fight the inevitable.

As for me I prefer to with hold my judgement on people until I learn more. Act as needed. Learn first.

Wether an act of maturity, education or of naiviety remains to be seen.

Posted from WordPress for Android

After much discussion, folks input, and E-mails as well as commentary, the decision has been made to keep the doors open here at Registered Evil, and see how it goes.

If we attract no H&I fire, we’ll keep it operation.

If we start taking rounds, I pull the plug.
Sorry folks but family welfare takes priority over much beloved hobbies.

I, personally, will be cutting back not only on when I blog, but what I blog. Sports, Military and History will probably become my forte. Look for more stories like this, to give you an example.

V00d3w will be picking up the slack on political commentary, as well as anyone else who wants to sign up.

We have only a few rules: no pr0n, no Boonie Rat speak*, always consider OPSEC** and keep it civil***. That’s it. Any subject is a go, and nothing else is taboo.

So you want to be a blogger? Want to be a MilBlogger?
Consider this your recruiting call.

Drop us a line here, on Twitter or on Facebook.

* below the jump

*Boonie Rat speak. In the Army we sometimes called how we spoke as Boonie rat, where every other word in a single sentence would be a vulgarity, most prominently, the F word.

***Civil. Another blog I haunt has a strict rule of “you can attack the message, but not the messenger.” That rule applie shere as well. No Ad hominem attacks, no personal insults, etc.

400 feet up...and still going...

During the course of my career I received the minor reputation as a bit of a madman.

Long hours were my hallmark. The ability to sleep under ones desk and work at a computer station for over 48 hours can not be under rated when talking about project support. The ability to subside purely on coffee, nicotine, and finger nails is a survival ability needed in very few occupations, but practically second nature when on a IT Roll out spanning the entire country.

Back in the states from Venezuela...also known as How I spent my 10 yr High School Reunion

I have worked almost every position that can be had on a roll out. Field Tech, Help Desk, Help Desk manager, Project coordinator, Project Manager, Logistics, SME, QA Inspector even Safety and Field trainer. I have worked in 38 states. 4 countries. Thats not even including the places I went in the service. Over 1,000 projects, and who knows what the monetary value of all the projects I have worked on would be if I even tried to add them up. I wouldn’t mind having 1% of that, heh.

The Cingular expansion team in St. Louis

Now I have been given one step below my dream job: Roll out Specialist. However it’s not just the job, but with who. The number one company on the Fortune 500 list. No other company has more roll outs, and does it on less money than they do. No one. period. You can’t find a bigger, or better, challenge than that.

It’s a corner stone for me, a turning point, and as pilots refer to it: Bingo.

I’ve blogged since 1995.

Whiskey Dick Mtn, near the Washington State, Oregon border.

Calimus started Techography around then, and I was one of the first folks he invited to share his space with. It was like a fish to water. I wrote about everything. The weather. jobs. Girlfriends. Computers. School. Music. He had inadvertently given the keys that went to a high-performance car to a semi-intoxicated wanna be stock car racer wearing steel toed boots.

I have kept it up. I enjoy it. I have taken hiatus’s occasionally, and stepped away. i tried to quit once. I came back and with Calimu’s help, started this site.

Black Hills, South Dakota

It’s like a second skin. A place that gives me hope that in some day, years from now, an electronic archeologist may find at least one persons words on what amounts to silicon stone. Even if what I say is not agreed upon by many, it’s down, as my thoughts, and my take. A release valve even when all else goes south.

My new employer however, likes privacy. As much as doing deranged things like climbing a 300 ft tower in a storm due to a loose antennae is my hall mark, privacy is theirs. It is their unwritten motto, a mantra.

This blog, violates that.

So, Bingo.

Do I stay, or do I go?

In theory as long as I avoid anything that reflects upon them I should be fine. Which means effectively I would need to halt all political blogging immediately. However politics are something I enjoy, but it is the price of success. Sacrifice is something we go through as we advance in careers and in age. We learn there are things we simply can not do anymore, as we once did.

But this has been my goal. To get in to Project Management with the worlds largest IT group, doing the worlds largest roll outs. I have spent the last 4 years grooming myself for this job. Going to school, signing up for every half baked project for anyone he had one that came down the pike.

Outside Mobile, Alabama

I debated long and hard yesterday: do I shut the doors to RegisteredEvil, as we are just getting started? Just as traffic is getting good?

Facebook is the “way” of the future. We have next to zero of a commenter base. While we have readers, no one makes remarks, or comments. I empty over 100 spam comments a day. China loves us it seems.

On the same token we know our readership is out there. Folks have shopped at our store, stayed for hours on our site. We’ve even been cited by Wikipedia.

v00d3w’s career is also taking it’s toll. Even with two of us we are hard pressed to stay ahead, and provide content on a daily basis.

Where do we go from here? Our Bingo point. To move forward, or go back.

Kansas City, MO

My initial thoughts are to provide more quality content, and less quantity. To concentrate on the things that seem to have made us at least semi popular: Military, History, and Sports. Things that are non obtrusive and not likely to get me hammered by new and hopefully last, benefactor.

I say last because I fully intend, hope and desire, to not have to make another change. While the look on my accountants face when I bring him 13 W-2′s each year is some what amusing because I did 13 contracts with 13 companies in a single year, it’s a pain in the ass to keep up with frankly.

A honest-to-god Blue Northern rolls in to Montana

Stability is necessary. I’ve been a traveler for literally years. A IT Nomad almost. Everything from cell towers, central office facilities, retail stores, DSLAMS, fiber optic installation to migrations. Name a company: Verizon? AT&T? T-Mobile? Sprint? Crickett? Hughes? Northrop-Grumman? General Dynamics? Wal-Mart? Best Buy? I’ve been there. Never as a employee. Always the best man, never the groom.

Until now.

So lurkers. Your feed back is requested. Begged practically.

Do you want us to continue trying to supply you with content?

Or do you want us to lock the doors?

Well actually it’s some infamous blogger who just happens to blog about sports occasionally and the guys of RockyTopTalk!

Yes, friends it seems my part time gig at RockyTopTalk just got pushed to center stage thanks to my even more recent affiliation with Missouri State University.

Or more precisely since University of Tennessee hired away MSU’s Basketball coach Cuonzo Martin, I’ve been asked to toss some information regarding our adventures in Basketball etc out here in Bear-land.

Many thanks to Joel for the opportunity, and as this will be my first live PodCast with a studio crew I’ll try not to embarrass myself, our few but loyal reader base here at RegisteredEvil or the Bears

You will be able to listen in via the PodCast on Wednesday at 21:00 EST, 20:00 CST Right Here

We are in the last week of our Irish dedication, and I hope you have enjoyed our stories of Ireland, as well as the music and quotes from the country as well.

The big change is up in the air. We ask that you cross your fingers. It is something I, at least, have been striving for a very long time to gain a footing within. Because of this, there is a high possibility that our blogging may experience a transition in the near future. Some things are happening in my career that may make blogging either more common, or regular. Currently I try to have posts up by no later than 9 am. That time may shift to extremely early, or conversely extremely late.

However while the transition takes place we may go a few days without a post. We are not quitting. Careers just take precedence you know?

Otherwise continue to expect your College Sports coverage, political analysis, cigar reviews and other material of eclectic interest you have come to know and love.