Happy Birthday James Earl Jones!

In honor of his birthday, I give you:  James Earl Jones on Sesame Street.

Sadly I couldn't find a video of James Earl Jones reading from the telephone book, so this will have to do.

Hope you had a great birthday JEJ!

Consistency

When you are a parent, you learn very quickly how important rules and enforcement of the rules can be.  However, rules and enforcing the rules means nothing without consistency.

These same principles can be applied to an online community as well.  Being a moderator or administrator of any large online community is a lot like being a parent.  The online community needs rules in order to establish what is expected of its members.  The online community needs enforcement of those rules in order to establish some sort of order within the community.  Most importantly the online community needs consistency in disciplining its members that chose to break the rules.

Without consistency of enforcement and discipline, the online community will collapse in on itself.  Without consistency the moderators and administrators of an online community will lose any semblance of respect that they may have garnered in the community.

The official FarmVille forums are a prime example of what happens when administrators and moderators lose respect from the members of their community.  Overmoderation/enforcement of the rules is also a sure fire way to lose valuable members of a society as well.

You need to walk a fine line when it comes to being fair yet firm when you are a parent, and I believe the powers that be over at Zynga need to learn how to walk that line without falling either way, or I fear for the future of the FarmVille community.

What Would You Like? (Open Thread)

Greetings-

I'm dry on ideas today.  So I turn things over to you, my readers.

What would you like to see me write about?  What do you think I should focus on?  Should I just stop wasting everyone's time?

Let me know in the comments.

Also be sure to check out my blog about TV, Movies and Books at http://talkiestomestube.blogspot.com/  It's a little sparse over there right now, but there's more coming soon.

Until next time,
-Bill

A Few Thoughts

Bill here-

A few thoughts came to me over the course of the day.

A few days ago a man was severely beaten and left to die on the sidewalk.  The victim later died at the hospital.  Luckily the local PD has arrested four young men (and I use that term very lightly) and charged them with 2nd degree murder.

There are people here in the community that are describing these four young men as "good kids".  Let me just tell you something.  "Good kids" don't go around allegedly beating people to death at 1:30 in the morning.  Some say it was just kids making bad decisions.  Let me tell you something.  A bad decision is calling in sick to work when you're not really sick and getting caught at the movies by a co-worker that has the day off.  Some say that these four young men didn't mean for their alleged victim to die.  Let me tell you something.  I don't give a damn what they meant to happen.  The end result is the same.  A man is dead due to their alleged actions.  A family is now without a husband, father and brother.  I don't care if these four young meant to kill anyone.  The end result is that a man is dead.

"Good kids" don't resort to 4 on 1 violence.  "Good kids" aren't out roaming the streets like a pack of hungry wolves looking for a meal at 1:30AM.  "Good kids" don't beat someone unconscious and then run away.  "Good kids" don't murder another human being.

Justice will be served, and if there is any righteousness left in the world, these "Good kids" will spend a long time away from the rest of society where the real good kids live.

Until next time,
Bill

Surrounded by Silence

This is my favorite time of the day.  At this hour, it's all about me.  No more dishes to do, no cleaning, no homework to help with.  Total "Me" time.

It's so quiet in the house that I can hear my own heart beating.  I can hear the sounds of my digestive system as it processes every thing that I've eaten.  I can hear the snap, crackle and pop of my body as I get up to stretch.  Time also seems to slow down at this early hour.

Don't get me wrong, I love listening to my family talk about their day, the adventures they've had and what they are looking forward to for the next day, but sometimes it's a great thing to be surrounded by silence.

Getting Sick Part Deux

Greetings-

Well, I guess my fever yesterday was just my body's way of telling me to go lay down and rest.  I'm feeling relatively well today.

Things aren't looking so well for one of my male spawn, though.  His ear is an enraged organ tonight.  I try to tell him to pull his stocking cap down over his ears when he goes outside but, as any of you with children can attest to, my child thinks that I am the dumbest creature roaming the earth.  Anything I say to my child is summarily ignored until it comes to the "I told you so" moment.  I then become the wisest human being to ever walk this blue planet.

He's finally asleep now with a big wad of cotton stuck in his ear and a Tylenol coursing through his blood stream.
Hopefully he'll be able to stay asleep as I don't think I could handle many more howls of pain.

Until next time,
-Bill

Getting Sick

I absolutely hate getting sick.  Sometimes I wish that I could put myself in some kind of germ-proof bubble and keep all the bugs at bay.  I could be the new boy in the plastic bubble, but I don't think that would be very fun.

I've been feeling the crud coming on for a little over a week and tonight this morning I find myself running a fever.

My youngest was running a fever Monday night, so I let him sleep in bed with me...maybe that wasn't such a good idea after all.

I'm going to go take a pain pill, the rest of my night time meds, and go lay down.

Until next time,
-Bill

Ack!

My last entry was supposed to be posted as today's post of the day in my ongoing "Post A Day" pledge for 2011.

I guess I didn't realize that it wasn't yet January 11 when I hit that publish button.  My apologies.

Be sure to check out my new blog "Talkies, Tomes and the Tube" here on Blogger for my views, reviews and reactions to some of our favorite TV shows, Movies and Books.

Until next time,
-Bill-

The Snow!

We finally got our first snow storm of the season here in Salina.  I can't believe I was so excited to get snow.  It's cold and miserable outside!  What was I thinking?

The kids sure enjoyed their day off from school today, though.

I don't think there is an undisturbed patch of snow anywhere in the yard.  They were out pulling a sled around, throwing snow at each other, and having a wonderful time.

It looks like the snow is done falling for a while and I actually caught sight of the moon in the west.  Unfortunately, it's supposed to be very very cold and breezy for the next couple of days and that means dangerous wind chills.  If you have to be outside, make sure you are bundled up.

Until next time,
-Bill

The Cape

NBC's new show, The Cape, had its 2 hour premier episode tonight.  It's the return of costumed heroes and villains on television!

I've suffered some disappointment lately when it comes to the television shows that I like to watch.  My favorites usually end up cancelled by the corporate suits.  I've decided to take another chance on a show and I'm hoping it gets to stick around for a while.

The Cape stars David Lyons (ER) as Detective Vince Faraday.  After being framed for the assassination of Palm  City's new police chief, Faraday is rescued by members of the Carnival of Crime led by Max Malini.  After gaining the trust of the members of the Carnival and finding a really cool cape, Faraday is taken under the wing of Max who has trained a generation of illusionists, escape artists, hypnotists and other carny types to show that one man can make a difference.

Did I like The Cape?  You bet I did!  It wasn't overly gritty, deep, and dark.  It was camp without becoming too campy and melodrama without being overly melodramatic.  It was a fun ride.  I'll definitely be tuning in Monday nights to watch more adventures of The Cape.

Cast:
David Lyons (ER)-Vince Faraday/The Cape
Jennifer Ferrin (As the World Turns)-Dana Faraday
Ryan Wynott (Flash Forward)-Trip Faraday
Keith David (Pitch Black)-Max Malini
James Frain (True Blood)-Peter Fleming/Chess
Summer Glau (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles)-Orwell