I just spent 2 hours watching a tv show with Netflix “watch instantly” I love this service because many shows I just don’t receive where I’m at or I’ve gotten into them later in the series and don’t want to waste my rentals on a tv show. The sad news is that because of a ruling in the district of Columbia watching tv or movies online may become a thing of the past. The court there decided that ISP’s should be able to charge for increased bandwidth usage and if it’s not paid they can block the service.

That means for people who love to use Hulu, Mega video or even you tube, the screen may just go dark as your ISP blocks the service because they don’t want to pay for the usage. I’m thinking it’s really going to end up on the consumers side of things since that is normally what happens and we will end up paying more for our internet service, not less.

Check out the story on CNet “Net neutrality neutered?“

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I have tried not to write too much about the new rules the FTC wants to put on blogging, mostly because we are still not exactly sure what they want to do. I do love the idea of saying, “yes I write sponsored content” but as we all know a colorful company does have issues with this so I’d like to see what happens to ranking after all is said and done.

I write sponsored post. I try to be as honest as I can when I do write them if I love a product or the concept of a product (if I have not tried it myself) I rave about it, if I don’t, but there are good things about it I point both bad and good out. If I hate it, I usually do not write about it. At least not on this blog. If it’s on another blog I own I may as those are blogs that I feel more readers would check for a product review. This one is really just for me. Though I have written badly about products I have bought myself on this blog. I will not accept money here for a product that I can not say at least something good about.

I think that is where people see a problem, if you don’t understand how paid blogging works you may not know that I can turn down jobs I do not want. No one is forcing me to take the money or the trip (which I have never gotten anyway) or the item. I choose what I do on all of my blogs. I’m all for disclosure because then you know when you are reading something that it may be paid, or is paid for by a company, affiliate or someone and that you need to research a little before you buy a product. You may think that reading on a blog is research, but check out other blogs and types of sites and you should get a good idea as to how the product will fit you.

Having sponsored content on my blogs has helped me pay my bills when jobs are just not available, I will not stop writing and I will not stop being paid to write just because of these rules. I know that when I write about something I try as hard as I can to be honest. Unfortunately the same can not be said of anyone and even after these laws are implemented you will still have these problems as the FTC reach only goes so far and does not apply to other countries. Foreign bloggers will gain everything while US bloggers will be the ones to lose, either by losing pay or by having to quit altogether.

What is your view on all of this? Would you read a blog that had sponsorship notices all over it or would you shy away from it and find one that didn’t? (knowing that they could be from another country and still be getting paid)

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I was listening to a news program this morning and the people who were calling in kept complaining about the lack of star power at MJ’s funeral yesterday. I didn’t watch it as I was busy doing other things and life in general, but I saw a few highlights and I think it was fitting and that it was nice of the family to do what they did.

Yep, they didn’t have to do this people! They could have said screw you and done a private funeral. Instead they let you into their private life’s once again and gave you an opportunity to say goodbye, now some of his friends didn’t show up, who cares let them grieve the way they want to. I know many people that just could not go to someone’s funeral because they could not deal with it or felt they could honor the memory of that person better alone.

I guess for me I’m kinda over the whole thing, yes it’s sad, yes it’s one of those where were you moments, but really do we have to talk about it 24/7 and complain about people’s actions who were close to him, no there are many more important things going on in the world right now. Leave the family and friends alone and move on.

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Today we have lost not only one Hollywood star but two great entertainers. Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson. It’s hard to believe that today we enter a world without these people, but the memories and joy they brought so many people will live on in our minds and on TV. I grew up watching Charlies Angels and though Farrah was only on one season she was a favorite of mine. Of course being a young kid and teen in the late 80′s and early 90′s I also listened to Michael’s music and loved his songs.

Unfortunately some people have been having fun claiming that other actors have died or are missing. As far as I can tell (and I will correct this if I am proven wrong. Harrison Ford and Jeff Goldblum are okay. No need to panic.

Moving on. I’m sure many people are trying to deal with the events of today. It’s hard for many who have had these 2 people in their lives though television to believe they are gone but things will move on and life will be okay. It’s not the end of the world, though they will both be missed.

RIP Farrah Faucet ~ RIP Michael Jackson

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Just because mothers day is over does not mean that mothers do not matter for another year, mothers can do so much for us, they nurture us, make is strong and hopefully support us in everything we do, even if they don’t like it. Being a mom is the hardest job in the world. They give us so much, and they can now give us so much more.

Research has been done now that will allow doctors to take stemcells from the umbilical cord and combine them with menstrual stem cells to create more mature blood cells. According to the CryoCell Press Release this could help many different diseases such as Leukemia and hopefully in the future treat diabetes, and heart disease. The best part is it’s not hard for any women to do and it can help not only you and your children but others as well.

C’elle is the first and only company that makes it possible for women to collect there menstrual cells and currently it is expanding to collaborate with scientist around the world to study this research more. I for one find this very interesting research as I am diabetic and other diseases that run in my family could be helped with this type of technology. I myself am thinking of helping with this as I’m still young and you just never know what is going to happen in your life.

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A few minutes ago I was on a forum that asked if we supported stem cell research. I do as a diabetic and as a person who has watched her father die of cancer. Stem cells can really help people who need it. Now I’m not saying that we need to go around and be crazy about it, but a great example is someone who has done artificial insemination. If they have the number of children they want they should be able to donate the rest of their eggs to research if they want to. If not they can donate them to someone who can not have children, but I think I choice needs to be made between the two options, as throwing away eggs that could be used to help others is a huge waste.

I also believe that laws need to be enacted as to how this research can be used, in other words no complete human cloning allowed. We are not God, we should not be making complete people. I do believe that God, no matter what god you believe in. Gave us this technology to help ourselves a little and give us the chance to do it right. If we take precautions we can have this research and do it in a way that is respectful and moral.

How do you feel about this? (please respond in a respectful way or your comment will be moderated or deleted.)

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My younger, but adult sister received the Animal Crossings game for the wii for Christmas and we have played it a lot since then. Now I’m reading an article that I find very offensive so offensive that I am considering not just writing a blog post about it, but writing to the ABC news station that did the article. The article called Wii Gamers Vulnerable to Crime and covers the idea that many predictors use online children’s games to get to kids. This statement is understandable and I know this happens and yes people should be warned. But Later on in the article the reporter quotes:

“There is no reason an adult should have this game,” says Andy Anderson, Mid-Missouri Internet Crimes Task Force.

I found this very offensive as there are many adults who played this game when it first came out, when they were kids. Why can’t we play this game? Oh yeah were adults so we should be playing sex and violence games! I forgot once you hit 18 that should be all your interested in. No wonder we have all these problems!

Rant over, the point is if you are an adult and enjoy this type of game to help you relax you should not feel that you can’t buy it. If your a parent worried about your kid and what they are doing on the game. Be a parent and watch what your kids are doing, disconnect it from the internet or demand that you approve any of their added friends and that they must be people they know. Parents paying attention can put a stop to these things quickly. If your really worried about it, don’t get a game that has online play or get the system at all.

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