Tips for transferring your site to wordpress from blogger

Make sure the link on the old site goes to the right website. WELL. That explains a lot.

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Wordpress?

I know that's the LAST thing blogger wants to see on their site, but im trying it out! 

Ill still post everything here, but the best of the best will be also posted on jcoinster.wordpress.com 

So far, it's looking much nicer than blogger, but we'll see how this goes.

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Everything wrong with the US crammed into one blog post

I have recently been looking into some of our own bills and laws passed by the Senate and Congress for my own personal gain. Guided by many independent sites on which bills to read, I have been shown many disgusting truths on our own government, left publicly for all to see, but no one seems to care... 


From there, I discovered countless accounts on the governmental abuses in this country, along with the perseverance of monopolies, and just plain corruption throughout the United States of America. Below, I will list everything from the rights we have lost in this country to the companies behind out food. Enjoy.

Lost Rights:

1. National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012
• The president can indefinably detain anyone "who was part of or substantially supported al-Qaeda, the Taliban, or associated forces that are engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners", and anyone who commits a "belligerent act" against the U.S. or its coalition allies in aid of such enemy forces, under the law of war, without a trial.
2. The Patriot Act
•  This bill was created "to deter and punish terrorist acts in the United States and around the world, to enhance law enforcement investigatory tools, and for other purposes."  The keyword here is "other purposes."
• Allows wiretapping of any citizen, and any device they may own
• Allows "Sneak and peek" search warrants, which lets authorities search a home or business without telling anyone at all. 
• Indefinite detention without trial.
• The search and seizure of Americans' belongings without probable cause.
• The government may monitor religious and political institutions without probable cause.
• This bill was pre-written prior to 9/11, otherwise it would have to have been written in 9 days, consisting of 61,187 words, and ~6,799 words written per day. Something near impossible to scribe when the nation is panic stricken to begin with. Instead, it was sitting dormant until an attack where the people of the United States were traumatized. I mean, how could they not vote for an act with a title like "The Patriot Act." 
• The government used the public's availability heuristic -  a predisposition of people to base their judgements of probability on the basis of information that is readily available - to fool the public into thinking they were getting an increased level of safety.
• Although the majority of these clauses expired in December 31, 2005, the next year, the government extended nearly every single clause in the Military Commissions act of 2006. So 
  there goes all possible arguments involving expiration. 
3. Military Commissions Act of 2006
• Authorizes the President to detain anyone, including U.S. citizens, without charge by designating them enemy combatants or unlawful enemy combatants - completely eliminating Habeas Corpus.
4. AB499
• Allows the children of California to get an HPV vaccine without their parent's consent. If I was a parent in that area, i'd be freaking out. 
• Google it if you don't believe me, this one's too obvious for my analysis.
5. SOPA and PIPA
• You probably already heard all about these two bills and why they were not passed.
• But these bills show what values people put on the government. The public only seems to care about what prevents them from getting their free (and illegal) music, rather than the rest of this post. Just take note of that. 

Food:

1. It really is sad that I need to make an entire section for the wrongdoings of American food, but here goes nothing!
2. Monsanto:
• Once upon a time, there was this chemical plant with the name Monsanto. They were contacted by the US Government to develop a chemical to spray (Agent Orange) over the trees of Vietnam (which I will address later on) to disintegrate foliage so that the planes can see where the Vietnamese fighters were -- to bomb them.
• This caused the death of an estimated 400,000 Vietnamese people killed or maimed, and 500,000 children born with birth defects. 
• Why is this under the food section? Well, later on, this same company decided to shift gears and become the biggest food corporation in the United States. But they're no average Joe farmer today. 
• This company is a producer of genetically modified foods. 
• What is "GMO?"
• Seedless watermelon (So farmers can't replant it, not so you don't have to spit it out!) and countless other "enhanced" foods you see in a grocery store. No worries. These products are never labeled as "GMO."
• Aluminum resistant plants (So you can't have your own organic farm & home garden)
• Patented food. Is that normal? NO IT'S NOT NORMAL!
• In the fall of 1996, award-winning investigative journalists Steve Wilson and Jane Akre were hired by WTVT in Tampa, Florida to produce a series on rBGH. After over a year's work and three days before the series was scheduled to air, Fox News executives received the first of two letters from Monsanto's lawyers. According to the letters, Monsanto would suffer "enormous damage" if the series ran. The second letter warned of "dire consequences" of the series was aired as it stood. WTVT canceled it at the last moment. According to Florida Court records, Fox's lawyers then attempted to water down the series, twice offering to pay the journalists to leave the station and keep quiet about what had been done to their work. The reporters refused and filed a lawsuit against WTVT on April 2, 1998. They went on to publish their findings independently. (Source)
• The original transcripts for this report can be found here to learn more about rBGH: http://www.foxbghsuit.com/exhibit%20r.htm
3. Here's a fun fact: Genetically modified food are illegal to grow in Europe. rBGH, one of Monsanto's creations, has been banned in Canada and Europe. The United States. They're not even required to TELL us that it's in our milk, or on our food. 
4. After a trip to Europe, I noticed a significantly different taste between American and European Fanta. The actual differences are shocking: http://jcoinster.blogspot.com/2011/08/difference-between-american-and.html

The progression of the company:

History and Public Schools:

1. George Washington:
• Why is he so fancified? I assure you, there was no Cherry tree! 
• The story was fabricated by Mason Locke Weems in the biography he wrote on Washington.
2. Japanese Internment:
• Half of America still doesn't know what this is.
• During WWII, America legally violated the constitution by detaining Japanese American citizens in camps to "prevent espionage" as the U.S. Supreme Court announced. Good job checks and balances. A+ for effort. 
3. The Indians:
• Need I say anything at all? 
4. Manifest Destiny:
• Did someone say imperialism?
5. My Buddy Abe:
• He wanted slaves to be sent back to Africa, but was killed before he could do so. Nice guy. 
• And apparently, he was actually beaten to death by being hammered in the ass:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4Uf9rsBbhc
• Yes. Out of this entire post. That is the single thing I'm not serious about. 
6. Vietnam: 
   1. Vietnam should have never happened. 
   2. The United States lost 59,000 men and millions of Vietnamese for absolutely no reason.
   3. The Gulf of Tonkin indecent, which "started the war," never happened. 
   4. Don't believe me? A document was declassified from the CIA proving it: www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB132/relea00012.pdf

Facebook:

1. "Like if to show your respect for ______"
• I'm sorry. WHAT. 
• So if I don't like it, then I dont have any respect? 
• These photos are a disgrace to humanity created by people who want to feel popular. They choose a photo that would MAJORLY appeal to the pathos of an American, and write a caption that makes you obligated to like it, for if you don't, you feel like a hypocrite. 
2. Farmville and various other games are fine to play on occasion with your friends... But like any other online world, purchasing a virtual item with REAL money is absolutely ridiculous. Enough said.
3. Kids who plan on going to college to be teachers post about their underage drinking at a party they went to. Um. Hello! Everything you put online is considered pubic!

The Sky:

1. Take a look outside your cave, often, you'll only be seeing man made clouds spanning from horizon to horizon. These were sprayed from planes to help "fight global warming."
2. It's a phenomenon known as "chemtrails" vs "contrails." Google that for information about that. I'll talk for another 6 pages if I make a commentary. 
3. At the Asilomar Conference in San Diego, David Keith, a known leader in geoengineering technologies was asked, "10 megatons of aluminum dumped into the atmosphere would have no human health impacts?" After a pause, he replied, "The aluminum nano-particles we have only began to research and have published nothing." In sheer amazement, the man says, "So you're telling me that spaying 10 to 20 megatons of aluminum as you said would have no human health effects?" He took a deep breath and swallowed, and said, "Let me be more careful here. We haven't done anything serious on aluminua and there could be something terrible that we find tomorrow that we haven't looked at."
4. So why are they pushing for it? It all connects. The trails have aluminum, barium, yitruim, and strontium within. Aluminum can harm organic plants not treated with *cue connection* Roundup Ready or other GMO herbicides. The rest of the ingredients can be linked to anything from the increase in respiratory problems since these trails first started to pop up to the depopulation of the earth. What I truly believe, well, not the latter, but these are something to keep an eye out for. 

Vaccines:

1. The HPV Vaccine is being shoved down legislator's throats, by the producer Merck, to mandate across the country - including Rick Perry, who accepted and mandated the vaccine throughout Texas for all girls, but has not been fully tested by the FDA, and the long term effects of the vaccine have yet to be discovered, since the vaccine is only 6 years old. Already, nearly 50 girls are dead, presumably from the vaccine, since they all died abruptly less than a week after getting a shot, yet the FDA, Merck and officials deny any association with the vaccine. Fishy. I would read up on this vaccine and the controversies that surround it before giving this vaccine to any child of yours. 
2. Gulf War Syndrome:
• During the Gulf War, thousands were given experimental vaccines, and a lot of them. Some military personnel that didn't even leave the country were effected by it. To read up on this incident, look here: EI Resource
3. Mandated vaccinations have become extremely controversial among parents during recent years, since many new vaccines do not undergo full testing before being released for the public, since the FDA only requires the drug to be tested for 6 months, under a limited sample size of participants, which brings up many questions among parents of the morality, the safety of their children and the knowledge of their doctors.

Media:

• In 1938, a radio broadcast reported that a “huge cylinder” had struck earth and a “glistening tentacled creature with serpent-like eyes” was emerging from the top of it.
• Mass hysteria spread through the areas that heard the broadcast, and according to a study conducted in 1952 by Hadley Cantril, hundreds of thousands of people actually believed that the broadcast was true.
• He writes that these people were, "Panic stricken... Probably never before have so many people in all walks of life and in all parts of the country become so suddenly and so intensely disturbed."
• This is a perfect demonstration of how the media is immediately believed by the general public, since it holds an authoritative position in modern day society.

I could go on for days. These are just some things to keep an eye out for. I will post this as a page on the top of my site for easy access, and so you can read up on the new additions I make to this post.

If you disagree on my post, feel free to Google it and be wrong. Or be ignorant and comment below!

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A completely friendly and totally not mean message to the people at my bus stop.

I've noticed something different about my new bus stop compared to my old, childhood corner back in Lake Grove. Here, the kids don't speak. They stand on the sidewalk, motionless, until the bus comes into sight. Or that's at least what it appears to be. But really, these kids slyly creep toward where the bus will inevitably stop.

Their logic goes as follows. If you don't want to be on the floor for the 20 minute drive, move as close as humanely possible to the predicted location of the door. Because apparently, if you don't abide to that, the chances of you getting a seat are slim to none.

But really, there's one door to the bus, and everyone is going to get on it. Plus, believe it or not, everyone is going to get a seat 99% of the time without a problem.

I can't even describe the looks of hatred I get from them when I walk up to the bus stop, as if I'm the sole thing preventing them from getting a seat!

These children have even been able to move the bus stop from the corner to at least a house and a half away from where it originally was, simply because they walk too close to the bus as it pulls up. If anyone was watching, it would appear as if these kids are very anxious to study in school for 7 hours! As if!

So as a message to my bus stop, and perhaps all others that act this way, please don't try to act like pigs trying to get food from a freshly filled trough.

Sincerely, the new kid.

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What has this country come to?

The Suffolk County Police raided Sachem North today with dogs in an effort to "sniff out" the drug users. To my knowledge, 1 child was arrested. What ever happened to calling a troubled kid down to guidance to find out why he turned to drugs in the first place? And what about parental intervention? Is this our new, brilliant strategy to keep kids off drugs? Unreal... I'm sure Suffolk County Jail will have its own form of education ready and waiting for him as he stumbles onto the pod tonight, clutching his rolled up mattress between his cuffs.

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A trip to Ventotene: WIP

If you’ve ever traveled overseas, you probably have a good understanding of life outside the bustling and overrated country that we call home. But there’s one place that stands out, unique from the rest. This is the story of the island of Ventotene, Italy.

Growing up under my grandma’s roof, I have become very accustomed to many Italian traditions, foods and most importantly, attitudes. Let’s face it, Europeans are up front. You simply cannot be offended by their remarks. The best example of this is one summer day at West Meadow beach, the only suitable place to roller blade on Long Island. My mother, pregnant, and I were skating when our friendly European acquaintance Ivan, whom we only know from this particular beach, comes skating along. He abruptly says “Nadia! You’ve lost everything!” Any other person would have abruptly slapped him across the face, but growing up with Italian family, my mom was not, in any way, offended.

During the summer of 2010, my “training” was put to the test. I was going to Italy. At the time, my only experience in another country was in Croatia the year before where I was ridiculed and permanently scarred. I was in a small bar in some coastal city in Croatia when I took a Fanta out of the fridge and brought it to the counter. The man behind the counter babbled something first in Croatian, then in Italian, and finally in English. Once I could understand what he was saying, which was "left," he began to mock me by saying to his friend (in English, mind you), "One to the left, and one to the right,” or at least, that’s what I hope he was saying. His snickering made him sound like a 5 year old child. It turned out that he was making fun of the way I looked all around for the object that I finally figured out was a simple can opener. Lesson learned. For my trip to Italy, I wore flip flops that had a can opener on the bottom, to prevent that from ever happening to me again.

        My journey to Ventotene seemed long and drawn out, for Italians savor every moment, sometimes to the extreme. Everywhere we went, we had to wait. The line to board the plane, the trip across the Atlantic, the line to go through customs, the wait for our taxi driver (Bruno), the wait for the boat, and most eagerly, the wait for the boat to arrive. Once the plane landed, as in any flight with Italians, they all traditionally clap, as if they thought the plane was going to crash, which was not an absurd expectation after hearing the pilot turn his mic on, while he's playing Glee, shut it off and say "buona sera... Uhhhh......" and then return to his music, forgetting about the mic.

When we finally arrived on the island, I looked around in amazement. Initially, I was awestruck by the architecture, but as we walked to our villa, I learned that there is more to this island than that. The community that I encountered was nothing lass than a culture-shock. Instead of walking past the few dozen people we saw, as I would have in any other town I've ventured to,  each and every person above the age of 40 stopped us, greeted us, and talked for a solid 3-5 minutes before going on their merry way. Anxious to explore, we cut the conversations short, and went on.

Once my cousin Cale and I finally hauled our luggage to the house, a hike that was torturous with my grandma's toiletries in tow, we were free to explore. Freedom in Ventotene has a whole new meaning. Here we were completely unrestrained. My grandmother had full confidence that the island was safe, with the exception of the fast moving cars down excessively narrow roads and the cliffs carved out by the Romans over 1000 years ago. We could stroll in at midnight with no repercussions. Besides, any shenanigans would surely be reported to her at the market the next morning.

To celebrate, Cale and I went straight to the nearest cafe for an ice cold Fanta (for the culturally challenged, it’s pronounced FOnta, not FAnta.) It was quite possibly the first carbonated drink I’ve ever had that actually included juice. No longer would I wonder if I was ingesting sodium benzoate, sodium phosphates, glycerol ester of rosin, yellow 6, brominated vegetable oil, and red 40. Not that I knew those names off hand, but from the moment I took a sip, I knew there was something missing. No longer did a Fanta taste like sugar and orange flavoring. The cafe staff must have questioned our sanity as we cherished every sip.

From there, we quickly discovered where the life of Europe is centered: Piazza. Unfortunately, there aren’t any real piazzas in the United States, which in my opinion, is the reason why a large percentage of Americans don’t know their next door neighbor’s name. Here, kids meet and play a variety of games, many prohibited by signs, but encouraged by police. Here, teenagers meet and greet, but only to leave shortly after to venture off to the nearest disco or club, since they currently resent the concept of “Piazza” because it’s the place where they spent their childhood. Here, the elderly talk, watch, and ramble on about the latest insignificant bit of news which they impulsively blurt out to the next person. But it’s the kids in Piazza who really complete the atmosphere, since in reality, a piazza only consists of a slab of concrete and chairs. The only downfall of having dozens of kids at free will is their popular belief that that putting an empty water bottle on the back of their tire is cool. It actually creates an unbearable noise that it seems only the kids enjoy.

In America, if a 6 year old wants to hang out with one of their friends, a phone call is made, planning is discussed, and driving is a must. But because of the concept of piazza, along with a tight knit community such as the one on the island, parents in towns like this can say to their little child, in Italian of course, “Just don’t drink or drown in the sea! Have fun!” Free to do what we wanted, Cale and I wandered aimlessly until there wasn’t a street we hadn't covered. The next morning, we would finally swim in European waters, but first, a much needed rest.

Our villa, which was split in two, my family on the bottom floor and some crazy and often screaming family above, was modestly furnished with a kitchen, 2 bedrooms, a bathroom and a patio. There were no electronics, but what more does a person need when they’re on an ancient Roman island? A Frisbee, that’s what; luckily, we had one. I had also noticed that the house, and many others I visited, all were missing light fixtures. Instead, lights hang from the ceiling. Literally, lights, hanging by the power line. But the lights were now off, and it was time bed.

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Home Theater Quality Projectors For Less Than the Ones at ToysRus

So there are a lot of articles for the best projectors under $100 online. But most of them all show the same thing. Those crappy little projectors that are unable to project an image larger than the size of a computer monitor! And even the ones they sell for kids, you know, to play video games on their bed to project onto the ceiling. Those are even more unrealistic (and overpriced) since not only is the image quality absolutely ridiculous, but in order to keep them upright to the ceiling is near impossible. So I set out to find a projector of worth, that would fit my 3 requirements:

1. It had to be able to project a large enough image to fit the size of my attic room wall (100 inches across exactly) 
2. It had to be bright enough to see if the lights were off  (and if possible, when they're on)
3. It had to fit my budget of $100.

Now, for the price, it would sound near impossible to find a projector that fit my needs. But, I turned to perhaps the greatest website in existence - ebay.com

But first. Let me demonstrate the poor quality of a $100 "eyeclops mini projector" we got at ToysRus. And yes, I know it goes on sale all the way down to $35 bucks sometimes. But i'd rather buy 35 dog bones at Petco than waste my money on something so poorly designed. Behold:

Lights off. You can barely see it, and the quality is horrendous. 

Lights on... No comment. 

So after much research online, I found the specs of an acceptable projector:

1. It must be at least 1000 lumens, but 1500 is ideal for the best quality and brightness.
2. If you're buying it used - which if you're reading this guide, I would think so! - then make sure the site says how many hours are on the bulb! This is key, for if there are too many hours, the projector isn't even worth buying. You can check to see how many hours the projector's light bulb life is by simply typing in the model and chances are, projectorcentral.com will appear with all the specs you should look at. Then simply compare the life to the amount on the projector.
3. If you're buying a projector without a bulb - often they're much cheaper - make sure the  light bulb replacement is as cheap as the projector and lasts a fairly long time! You dont want to buy a $20 dollar projector to find out the bulb is $250. And yes. Those are realistic numbers.

That's it! But the catch is to find one that's the right price!

On ebay, there are two categories for projectors. Here is the ideal example of a search in both:

Ebay "Monitors and Projectors" Section

Ebay "DVD & Home Theater" Section

In each section, I set the price, condition of the projectors, and excluded unwanted words such as parts. Both sections are equally as useful to look through, there are plenty of good picks if you really do look through. 

Here's what I ended up choosing: The Hitachi CP-RX60

It came used with only around 9 hours of lamp use out of the 2000 the bulb lasts for. It was exactly $60 (I used the "Best Offer" feature to bring the price down just a tad! It's a wonderful feature to save a few bucks!) and the projector has a pretty 1500 lumens. It projects to the size I wanted, fit the price, and works beautifully even with the lights on! 

Same TV show as the mini projector, only this time, you can actually see the show! 

Lights off, crystal clear!

Lights on, my camera doesn't even do a good enough job at showing the quality.  

So why anyone would waste their money on a pricey projector only to find out that it's crap is actually pretty funny. Because now I'm getting HD quality picture for far under $60. And they're not. Win. 

I can even bring up HD televisions! These things cost above $1000 for a 55 inches and I'm sitting here with double that and the same quality for 6% of what they spent. Cheers!

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