Elf on the Shelf Eats the Cookies

Our elf's name is Jingle and he does various things around the house at night. A few days earlier he made cookies for everyone.  We only had 2 left.  So we told the kids they could have them for breakfast in the morning.  But Jingle had other ideas.

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/267471665343458261/

Black Ops 2 is out and I like it.

Aside from GameStop messing up the delivery of my pre-order allowing me to get my game 3 days after the games release, I have been thoroughly enjoying the game.  

The graphics are terrific.  I was actually worried when I saw previews a few months ago with Treyarch depicting warfare based int he future.  I am not a fan of Halo and did not want to see Call of Duty going in that direction.  I am happy to say that they blended the past, present and future perfectly.  And the graphics make it the game it is.  

I also enjoy the new design of the guns and new equipment types.  The black Hat adds a new dimension to the gameplay.  It gives you another way to deal with campers and their enabling equipment such as the claymores and bouncing betties.  Just make sure you equip the Engineer perk you can easily spot said traps.

The sound is awesome.  There is a way in game to adjust the game sounds to your liking.  The gun sounds, bullet ricochets and background sounds are tremendously perfect.  

The Multi player takes some getting use to.  You cannot just run and gun anymore.  It is similar to the original Black Ops but it seems that connection is key and if you do not have it you are not going to win head to head engagements.  Still fun as hell and I love the new point system for building up your kill streaks.  Not only do kills add to your kill streaks but so does destroying equipment, kill streaks and assist.  Points from your kill streak kills are only 25 points where a gun kill can be 100 to 125 points depending on wether they are close to an objective or not.  

All in all I can say that this game is a big hit for my friends and I am going to play the crumb out of it.

See You Online.

Video response from Santa to Erika - PNP

Santa Sent a Video Email to Erika. She is 3 years old and we get to see her reaction to the video.

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/267471665343833770/

DayZ ( Arma2 Mod )

A 225 km2 open world post-soviet state and one of the areas hit by a new and presently unknown infection which has wiped out most of the world's population. You are one of the few who have survived and now you must search this new wasteland in order to fight for your life against what is left of the indigenous population, now infected with the disease.
Go Solo, team up with friends or take on the world as you choose your path in this brutal and chilling landscape using whatever means you stumble upon to survive.
Your biggest danger isn't the zombies but the survivors.

This Video Depicts the short blurbs of our regular conversations while playing DayZ.

This game is extremely Fun and entertaining.  I would definitly suggest that you check it out. 

DayZmod.com

Minecraft My New Addiction- Don't Knock it t'ill you try it.

Minecraft is my new addiction

Minecraft's official release date was the 18^th of November 2011 and I honestly thought this was the lamest looking game released in 2011.  I kept hearing about all these YouTube commentators making videos about it and expressing their admiration for this game, but I never quite understood what all the hoopla was about.  To me the graphics were horrifying by todays standards and I could never get past that initial hurdle.

Your choices are limitless.

Then this week while away from home in a hotel waiting to get called to take a freight train home.  Oh yes by the way I am a train conductor.  As I was saying I was bored out of my mind in my hotel room, so I decided to watch my buddies YouTube video about him playing Minecraft.  I felt the urge to give the game a try.  I had had the urge about 6 months prior to this but the game was not available to Mac computers.  But this time when i looked it was available.  And for but a meer 26$.  I took the bait and started playing on my own and was instantly hooked.  

Couldn't be more true

The graphics as I said are somewhat low end, but that allows the game to go so much further in detail and depth beyond my minuscule grasp at this present time.  There is so much to learn, and so much you can do that it makes it as tho the choices are infinite and you can achieve anything.  From building a simple mushroom farm with cows and sheep to keep you company.  To building a castle you once saw during your visit to Europe.  All I can say is don't knock it t'ill you try it.




Below is the video of my first time on an online server with some awesome friends.

                                                  

Cheaters! Why are people so small?

I have been playing video games since I was 5 years old, always enjoying the new and exciting directions game developers take me.  But there has always been a festering groupe of people who feel the need to cheat and exploit everything and anything they can get their dirty little hands on.

The other night I came upon a kid who had figured out a glitch in the game that allowed him to clamber up onto of a certain building, putting him in a position where he could shoot people and not be detected due to the fact that people do not expect to be shot from somewhere you are not supposed to be able to go.  This afforded me the opportunity to create a video exposing this cheater in all his ill gotten glory.  

The next day this same person thought it would be funny to join a game session of mine telling me how funny it is that I made a video and reported him.  He had not been fazed nor did he seem to care.  He actually thought it amusing and odd that I found his act of cheating offensive.

What is with people and their lack of honor?  I believe that your actions are what make you who you are. If you abide by the rules and conduct yourself in an honorable maner then you are an honorable person.  What do you think that makes you if your a cheater, glitcher and ignorant to the people around you?

A Cheater Caught in the Act and Exposed

Giggles are the Best to Cure what Ails You

Have you ever had a bad day and wondered how to get yourself out of that horrifying funk.  Giggles from my kids have always been the cure.  They have this pureness about them when they laugh and giggle.  They make up games that make no sense to anyone but themselves.  If you feeling blue or down in the dumps, this video will cheer you up.

Giggles and Laughs

Austin Has Been Stealing The Lime Light As Of Late.

Austin has been a fun guy and we have had the privilege of catching it on video.  Here a he latest and greatest. :-D

Austin is Grooving

Austin doing the dishes his own way

Skating is a great family activity.

  Skating with my kids is probably the more enjoyable activity we have been doing this winter.  Both kids are having fun and learning faster than I would have anticipated.  My wife managed to capture some awesome video and I put together a few videos showing their progress.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I did making them.  

Erika's First Time Skating

Austin's First Time on Skates

Erika's Second Time on Skates, She is the Rocket

Know the Limits of YOUR Rights.

This article is important enough that I had to share it with everyone.  Stay informed be prepared.

"The limits on the right to remain silent

BY SOLOMON FRIEDMAN, OTTAWA CITIZEN


"You have the right to remain silent."

Most are familiar with this phrase, usually uttered triumphantly by the hero detective as he handcuffs the elusive suspect, caught at last. Canadians

Similarly, many people probably believe that the right to silence extends beyond the confines of television programs like Law & Order orCriminal Minds. Canadians, they assume, are entitled to remain silent in the face of a police interrogation. And they're right. Sort of.

In Canada, while the police have a general obligation to inform a detained person of his or her rights - including the right to remain silent - there is no requirement that the police actually respect the assertion of that right.

Put another way, although you may have the right to remain silent, the police have the power to continue to question you, no matter how many times you forcefully insist on exercising your right to silence.

While you cannot be overtly coerced into speaking to police, interrogators are entitled to convince a detainee, by honest means or otherwise, to make a statement.

This is in stark contrast to the more robust American "Miranda" rule which requires that police immediately cease all interrogations once a detainee has asserted his right to silence.

The constitutional right to silence is also threatened by other police practices.

Many people may not be aware that police officers, in conducting interrogations, are permitted to lie, trick or deceive a detainee.

In fact, it is relatively common practice for officers to confront a suspect with nonexistent evidence.

"You might as well confess," the officer insists. "We found your fingerprints and your DNA at the scene."

Another widespread technique is to inform the suspect that his accomplice, who is being questioned in a nearby room, is about to incriminate him. "Tell us the truth before he rolls on you," the detective states. Meanwhile, the accomplice has yet to be asked even a single question by police.

Both of these approaches are not only common, they have been repeatedly condoned by the courts.

Viewed objectively, the power imbalance between interrogator and detainee becomes quite apparent.

When the police officer lies to the detainee, it is considered perfectly appropriate. Any confession obtained as a result of such deception will be admissible. It is a legitimate investigative technique.

Of course, if a detainee misleads the police during an interrogation, not only will it reflect negatively on the accused's credibility, it may, in some circumstances, be grounds for an additional criminal charge - obstructing justice or obstructing a peace officer in the execution of his duties.

What then are the limits, if any, on the ability of police investigators to deceive a detainee, in the hopes of extracting a confession?

Canadian courts have given some guidance in this area, outlining what type of conduct would fall outside the bounds of otherwise permissible deception and trickery.

The Supreme Court has said that police cannot engage in trickery that would "shock the community." If the deception indeed reaches that level, any confession subsequently obtained will be inadmissible at trial.

For example, the court has ruled that if a police officer poses as a priest and offers to take confession from the detainee, any incriminating statements made in the course of that "confession" will be excluded.

Similarly, when a diabetic detainee was injected with truth serum by a police officer, under the guise of a doctor dispensing insulin, the court found that such trickery went too far.

These examples, while almost comical on their face, demonstrate just how egregious police conduct will have to be before it "shocks the community" and is considered illegitimate and unconstitutional.

If those cases serve as the high-water mark for police misconduct, anything less shocking than the false priest or the insulin substitute may well fall short of this standard and result in admissible confessions. A frightening prospect indeed.

At the very least, Canadians should be aware that the right to silence, a right which is almost taken for granted, is not the protection that they might perceive it to be. And, upon reflection, it might be time for Canadians to ask themselves: is a right to silence that can be ignored by police really a right at all?

Solomon Friedman is a criminal defence lawyer with Edelson Clifford D'Angelo LLP. He can be reached at solomon@ edelsonlaw.ca or 613-237-2290. Follow Solomon on Twitter at twitter.com/firearmslaw."

Reflections in the pool of life...

I enjoy that the darker the water, the more clear the reflection.  There is a sense of irony there, that through a form of darkness, we can come to see our own reflections more clearly.  I remember this usually around 6 A.M... and again at noon, when the morning coffee has run its course... then again at about 3, and once more around 8 PM.  It's good to be regular... and I drink a good bit... of water.

In the course of my reflections today... I landed on DmagnusV... and my interactions with him over the years.  We became acquainted, first, through this digital wonderland... sometime back in 2006.  It was a warm, benign day in Los Angeles... and I was sitting at a cubicle, wondering what I should do to wile-away the day... work was slow... my mind was fast... and that led me to Ebaumsworld.com... where I often visited to see snippets of videos of people hurting themselves physically, emotionally, and mentally...  While meandering that wilderness of depravity... I noticed this box at the bottom of the screen:

"Hobowars!  Come.  Fight. Beg. Destroy other Hobo's" Or something to that affect.  I'm not sure what led me to do it, but a short time later I had click-click-clicked my way into this new world.  It wasn't overwhelmingly complex... but it was addictive. 

Flash forward three months.  I've continued to assume the role of a Begging, half-eaten-dumpster-food eating hobo during my waking working hours... It seemed fitting that while I was working in corporate America, furthering the gears of Capitalist Progress... I was pretending to be a homeless hobo.  It somehow lightened the sting of wearing a tie.  I had bumped in to a group of like-minded hobos, in this digital wasteland... and "joined a gang".  The leader of this gang was none other than Mr. DMagnusV.  We became fast friends... he with his steady hand and witty subtext... capable of injecting humor into a situation without the majority realizing that they were indeed the butt of the joke... me with my blatant disregard for anything reverant or conformist.

Years passed.  We grew up together, as hobo's tend to do.  We became paragons of the homeless community... but my non-cyber existence was growing more tenuous.  Moving, changing, evolving... one day I disappeared from the land of the layabouts... having committed to running amok in a more destitute fashion in the real-world.  I had gone on my own walkabout... but not without having set aside a certain degree of mental and emotional real-estate for my digital brother, the purveyor of this fine blog.

Years more passed, until one day I got the itch to check in, find out of this gentleman had reproduced again... check in on his life... mostly outside of the land of the hobos.  I had met his wife in the same venue, and was genuinely curious to find out if things were going well, and how their lives had evolved. 

It has been approximately one month since that time.  Mr. DMagnusV is still rocking out... leading groups of people in whatever he does, casually, and without arrogance or desire for personal power.  It's a pleasure to see the many projects he's layered into his life... and I look forward to being a contributor here to some of the many things in which we share a mutual interest.

 While I can't say "Call Me Ishmael"... I can say, "Call me Chad.  Or Clubby.  Or Bastard-sonofabitch"  They're all correct.  In the meantime, I'll call my friend simply that: My friend, and we'll together sew together a pattern of relentless terror in the form of bad humor, good fun, and senseless wonder.  It's good to have friends.

Cheaters Caught in the Act

Ran into a lobby where some people were running the Damage Proficiency Glitch. Hopefully IW follows through with the bans. Even with them cheating they still couldn't win the game.  This is my way of spreading the word.  

Cheaters never prosper.