Revellian Dot Com

In part one (social engineering), I discussed a few ways your private information can be stolen, leading to full blown identity theft. Though I discussed popular methods, they are not the number one way to have your identification information ripped off. Criminals that want this information, don’t want to spend agonizing hours, ending up with crumbs - they want fully detailed lists, comprised of thousands of identities.

The places where are highly personal information exist are staggering. Your fingerprints, bank information, family history, drivers license number, social security number and endless other data are stored on hard drives all over the world. Any person with access, from store clerks to computer technicians can easily steal or copy anything they want.

When you hand your credit card to a waiter in a restaurant and they walk away for 5 minutes, they could easily swipe your card in a pocket sized magnetic strip copier, and have all your information. The fact is, there are so many people with access to this information, but nobody pays attention to them.

One of the most lucrative illegal businesses is selling black market copies of DVD movies. Any fourteen year old kid with clandestine Blu-Ray decryption software (which you can get for free) can start a highly profitable business right out of their cars - simply by getting a job at a DVD rental store. This allows them to attain a massive inventory, the cornerstone of any successful business. Sure, the job pays $6.00/hour, but the extra $1000.00/week selling illegal DVD’s makes that job one to keep for many young people.

A Frightening Example

A few days ago, 96 students from a San Diego State fraternity were arrested for running a highly organized, illegal drug ring - selling to anyone on campus with money. One of the students was only a month away from graduating with a masters degree in homeland security. One was a criminal justice major; another is suspected of having ties to the Mexican mafia. This is only one campus. Think about all the people who got away with similar crimes and actually do have jobs in the CIA, FBI or homeland security. It is frightening to contemplate, but happens every day.

Corrupted Law Enforcement

People believe that highly classified computer systems are secure, and surely your information is safe with them…right? Think again Sherlock. Most, if not all of the FBI’s mainframe has already been copied and sold thousands of times. You could probably buy a copy of it yourself, if you knew where to look. For crying out loud, an IRS employee could leave work everyday with hard drive back ups to sell on the black market. Some experts believe that that homeland security’s entire system was copied and replaced with an exact replica of itself. Sounds impossible? Read Joanna Rutkowska’s article Introducing Blue Pill - a fascinating post. It is possible to steal information through hacking, but the old fashioned method of just taking it is even more effective. The Hell’s Angels motorcycle gang has judges, politicians, FBI agents and many others infiltrated into the system, just to show a common example.

And then you have corrupted law enforcement, the king of all illegal information. The great thing is, when they get your information, they get everything. Sometimes they even have your DNA profile and a fresh copy of your fingerprints. This information is sold every second of every day on the black market. We live in a new world, where criminal elements - completely above the law - run and control everything you see. If you don’t believe it, you are living under a rock.

Fingerprints

The days of fingerprints being a reliable resource for identifying criminals is becoming an outdated joke. It is extremely easy to copy a person’s fingerprints. It is even possible to produce a pair of gloves with fingerprints embedded in them. Want to be someone else? Just put on a pair of special gloves. A criminal can now become anyone they want and leave someone else’s fingerprints all over the crime scene. To see just how easy it is, check out How To Fake Fingerprints. This is a basic method, but very effective. Imagine if someone made thousands of copies of anyone’s prints and sold them to criminals all over the world. It is happening as we speak.

The Art of Intrusion

I mentioned Kevin Mitnick’s book, The Art of Deception in part one of this two part series. The Art of Intrusion, his second book, takes a different approach. This offers actual case studies of unbelievable crimes committed by hackers - breaking them down into detail. Written like a crime thriller, it offers much insight into how actual hacks were achieved. You can download the free e-book version in PDF format from The Art of Intrusion.pdf. In today’s world of information super thieves, everyone of us needs to be educated in these important matters. If you are reading this article, then you need to read this book. Chances are, you probably work with information thieves, or have them in your family. They are everywhere. Like I said before, the best way to protect yourself, is by understanding how they do it. Take a stand and get informed.

Check out part 1: Identity Theft: Social Engineering

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How easy is it to steal someone’s identity? How exactly do the thieves get your private information? It’s much different than most people believe. One of the biggest problems is that law enforcement is doing literally nothing to contain this worldwide problem. The answer is not in governmental Internet control, regardless of what they think.

I know many bloggers and site owners who are afraid to use their real names and pictures on the Internet, fearful their information may help out the criminals. I totally disagree with that. If you wish to protect your anonymity, do it for other reasons, not because you’re afraid of being violated. To understand how they steal your information, we must understand the criminal mindset.

LAN networks and phishing

Signing in to your e-mail account or buying something on line with a credit card is actually an unlikely place for crooks to get your information, unless it’s on a LAN network. If you use cable Internet or broadband, make sure you use a router. I personally wouldn’t plug an Ethernet cable into my computer without a router for protection. Never send private information over a LAN (local area network). For those of you who don’t understand, it’s a public network access point, like a coffee shop, hotel, college campus or at work. Never buy something on line while connected through a LAN. Your information can be stolen by any hacker using an easy to use Linux program like an Ettercap filter or many others. Using this method, the hacker’s digital footprints are virtually impossible to trace and you will never know who stole your information. Any non-technical person can learn how to steal information on a LAN in around thirty minutes - yes, it’s that easy.

Never sign into any financial account from an e-mail

If Pay Pal, or the IRS sends you an e-mail, DO NOT sign in using that link! It’s known a phishing - you may have heard of it (it’s shocking how many people don’t know really understand this). Neither one of these ever send those types of e-mails. If you get an email from pay pal saying you need to update your account information, do not answer it. If you’re concerned, Just go to Pay Pal directly and sign in. The most likely way for the criminals to get you on line is through a phishing attack.

Social Engineering

The methods listed above are not the most effective way for criminals to steal your information. The real way is through social engineering. For people like me and others interested in hacking, this is completely redundant information; however, I realize most of you have probably never even heard of it.

What exactly is social engineering? a collection of techniques used to manipulate people into performing actions or divulging confidential information. While similar to a confidence trick or simple fraud, the term typically applies to trickery for information gathering or computer system access and in most cases the attacker never comes face-to-face with the victim.

Examples of Social Engineering:

• If you have a private, unlisted phone number, it is child’s play to get it. I could call the electricity company where you pay your bill, for example, and tell them I’m doing a reference check for homeland security. I would say, “Thank you for your help. The current phone number for Mr. Doe is 555-7125-5479, is that correct?”
  They answer, “No, the correct number is…”
  Boom…I have your private, unlisted number. This is a simplified method, but you get the idea.

• Kevin Rose, co-founder of DIGG, had a fantastic example of social engineering on his web based video show “The Broken” about how to get free pizza for life. He walked into a pizza delivery behind a customer and stood in line so he could overhear their order. After getting their name and what they ordered, he walked out. Thirty minutes later, he called the pizza place, told them he had come in earlier and received a bad pizza but couldn’t eat it. He talked to the manager, got a free pizza comp and reordered. He went down and picked up his free pizza. He chose a place that did mostly deliveries, but used the identity of a walk in customer - very smart indeed. Just don’t be dumb enough to actually try it, you may go to jail.

The Art of Deception

Hacking is not a bad thing and hackers are not bad people. There are hackers and there are crackers (script kiddies, punks or chumps), it is the crackers who do evil things. A hacker builds things and makes them better, a cracker breaks and steals things. Hackers built the Internet, so they are beneficial people. My favorite hacker of all time is Kevin Mitnick. I highly recommend reading his book, The Art of Deception, the bible of social engineering.

I read this book a few years ago and just reread it again. The best way to protect yourself is to understand how your information is actually stolen. This book is of monumental importance - a must read for everyone. You do not even have to use the Internet to have your information stolen. This book shows you in a series of real world examples, how information thieves operate. This book will open your eyes to the true reality of how it’s done. I have the utmost respect for Kevin Mitnick for turning his life around and doing something great for society.

Check out part 2: Identity Theft: Corruption is Everywhere

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What bothers me more than just about anything is how people in the political arena, the news and on TV act like they love everyone, only say good things about others and blatantly lie about nearly everything. Anytime you hear an actor being interviewed, they say everyone they work with is wonderful, the director is so nice and so on. We all know these people are just saying that and hiding the truth. I’d like to see just one person tell the truth and recklessly risk their career because they refuse to lie. What if some famous actor said this in an interview:

Q: What was it like being directed by Steven Spielberg?

A: He’s a freaking jerk, and I will hate his guts until the day I die. I did make 18 million dollars, and I know I’m supposed to act like I like him just because everybody else does. No matter how you slice it, he is an asshole who thinks he’s God. It truly sucked working with him.

Why do they lie? The main reason is because they would never get another job. It’s all about superficial image and fake reputations. Society reinforces and rewards these behaviors, producing highly deceptive individuals. There is a fine line between being polite and being a fraudulent liar. I’m not saying Steven Spielberg is really like that, but if he was, we would never know. When a famous person is exposed for a crime or something nefarious, we love it even more. We love to watch people fall and have their lives ruined.

I was the only person that ever stood up to an out of line boss at any job I’ve ever had! When something was wrong, I would stand up for what is right while everyone else turned a blind eye. Every time I’ve ever done that, my coworkers turned their backs on me in order to keep their jobs. I would love to work as a professional journalist, but would be fired for telling the truth the first time I opened my mouth. The people in the media, especially the corporate media, are told what to say and write. They can’t just say whatever they want. They are controlled.

We all try to save face and protect our reputations even if it has a powerfully negative effect on society. I can forgive someone who tells the truth, but it’s much more difficult when they lie. Why not admit you’re wrong, apologize and change your ways (that would be far too truthful). This is a tough subject to discuss because it is so sensitive. We are taught to be two different people: the one in the public eye, and the real one at home behind the scenes. We bloggers are like that too in many ways.

Telling the truth will make you unpopular and kill your career

A few months ago, TV talk show host Montel Williams, was working part time for Fox news. He was being being interviewed and was asked about the death of actor Heath Ledger. Montel said though he felt bad that Heath Ledger died, it was unimportant compared to the many soldiers who had died that day in Iraq. He said nobody mentioned who these soldiers were, and would appreciate it if they would talk about the soldiers instead.

He upset the producers of Fox news, and was fired for telling the truth. Maybe what he said wasn’t the popular thing to say, but I personally appreciate him saying it. I don’t want to see anyone die, but when an actor gets more attention than soldiers getting blown in half, something is terribly wrong. I believe that most of us appreciate the few people out there who bravely tell the truth regardless of repercussion and backlash.

Politics is infested with liars and the public demands it. Recently, presidential candidate Barack Obama said that when small town Americans fall into hard times, they cling to religion and guns. People were extremely offended by this statement. What he said is true, but telling the truth can destroy a political career! Now, to avoid losing the election, he has to hide his real feelings so people don’t get upset. The public doesn’t want the truth, they want to be coddled and lied to. Why are we so sensitive? He didn’t wear an American flag pin on his shirt, so people think he is unpatriotic. By that rationale, a person can wear a flag pin, proclaim their Christianity and kiss America’s ass - they will then fit the superficial mold of what is acceptable, even if they are lying.

I want the truth and nothing but the truth

We need a leader who will tell the truth, no matter how brutal or offensive it maybe. We need journalists who tell the truth, even if it gets them fired from their jobs - fearless warriors of the written and spoken word. More than anything, we need a public who can handle the truth. I’d like to have a president who looks into the camera eye and says. “You people suck. You don’t care about anything except yourselves. This country is all screwed up because of you! It’s your fault!”

That would be refreshing because it is absolutely true. I don’t want lies, nor to be coddled by anyone - I want the truth in all it’s glory. We all tell little white lies, and we don’t want to purposefully hurt people’s feelings; however, when it comes to important things like the leader of a nation or war, the truth must be told no matter how whose feelings get hurt. It’s time for people to toughen up and get over their delicate sensibilities.

I would like to see every person running for public office undergo a polygraph test on television. Wouldn’t that be fantastic? We the public should demand it.

I know a young guy who had his arms blown off and lost his left eye in the Iraq war. He told me he was so hurt to see the media hardly ever talking about the war. Everyone is busy watching American Idol and Survivor. People are so far removed from reality, it is truly bewildering. It’s not really their own faults because the media never talks about who died in any detail. At the end of every news cast, they mention how many people were killed that day and never even mention their names. The media only shows what is popular to keep ratings high. It’s all about money.

I know many people who don’t watch the news or pay attention to what’s going on in the world, mostly because they’re not interested and are disturbed by it. The truth is, our entire society is based on lies, not just in America, but all over the world.

I’m not saying that we shouldn’t enjoy our favorite shows and movies, but we should learn about what is going on in the world - no matter how much we don’t want to.

* The polygraph picture is from Tennessee Lawman

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I’m dedicating this post to my friend Euroyank’s Battle of the Blogs Debates. I didn’t follow the rules exactly, but as an oppressed American, I have an aversion to rules. Check out his post, it is brilliant!

By using credit cards, you are personally destroying your own life. Most of the economic problems in the world are your fault, not the fault of the world banks and our leaders. I read a fantastic article from a blogger I happened upon today, Steve Karmazenuk, who wrote The Perverse Society: The Illusion of Freedom in the Market Economy. This guy has the right idea! He basically says to cut up your credit cards and not pay the bills at all. Good credit is irrelevant. Find three people to do the same and so on…haha! Too bad we don’t all have the guts to do that. Be sure to read his post.

These things are on my mind a lot these days because it’s getting so difficult to afford necessities, and be able to drive to work. I personally don’t use credit cards and only buy in cash - if I can’t buy it outright, I do without. In America, if you buy a house, chances are you will lose it and your credit will be destroyed. The banks and governments are enslaving us, keeping us all in eternal debt. Most people never pay their credit card bills on time, and end up never actually owning anything. They are basically renting their entire lives, making banks richer. Who’s fault is it? It’s our own fault.

Putting a cap on credit card and loan interest

This is a great idea! I don’t know if I’m the only one who has ever thought about it, but I haven’t read about it in the media - not once. This should be one subject on the front page of every newspaper, but it’s something completely ignored. Have you wondered why their is no cap on the amount of profit credit card companies can make off of you? Theoretically, you could end up paying $100,000.00 for a $5,000.00 car! Why aren’t our politicians talking about that? Instead of capping profits, they incur more fees and lower your credit rating every time you get behind, making life harder and harder. It’s called slavery.

People are worried about identity theft, and are paying for protection from high cost services like LifeLock. This sounds exactly like a mafia protection racket! The federal reserve is the world’s greatest loan shark and our leaders are a bunch of greed infested scumbags who deserve a prison cell (or a rat infested dungeon).

The greatest protection against identity theft is to have bad credit - no one would want to steal your identity then! I guess I am pretty safe

Then we have the big oil companies making record profits while we can barely afford to drive to work so we can make more money, so we can buy more gas at higher prices, so we can get to work to make more money, so we can by more gas…until we eventually die - what a great life. If you don’t have these problems, then you are in a very small minority. Oil companies should not even exist. There should be only one oil company and it should be owned by who? Us!!!!! It should be a corporation evenly owned by everyone - by law.

We need radical solutions not band-aids. It’s time for a worldwide revolution - an economic evolution. I wish Americans had been smarter and voted for Ron Paul, but they didn’t. Instead, they picked 3 yes-men (yes I do consider Hillary to be a male) who will not solve a single problem. I’ve been listening to political pundits on the news all week talking about how oil companies have the right to make a profit…hahaha! What? They only make around 7% profit, and most of that is invested in the stock market to make them even more profit. They make it sound like these billionaires are suffering.

Terrorism

Terrorism has been blown way out of proportion. I am completely unconcerned about it. I’m concerned about the corrupted filth behind the world banks. One or two more terror attacks, and America will be a totalitarian police state. As soon as it happens, I’ll know who did it: our own government.

People actually believe that 9-11 was not an inside job. The media will not even consider the idea! Wake up and smell the bullshit, our government is responsible. When we get hit by another attack, I will still be unafraid of terrorism. If you don’t believe it was an inside job, then you just don’t know the facts.

Socialism

Socialism is considered a bad word. As soon as it’s mentioned, it’s followed by the phrase “socialistic utopia” that will destroy our country. I don’t want a socialist government, but some aspects of socialism would be good for America and nearly every country. Right now, if I get cancer…I will die without treatment. I cannot afford health care. I am scared to live here. To think that people are actually behind John McCain for president frightens me even more. The entire country should stop working right this minute and go sit on the white house lawn. Imagine 300 million people demanding a new government, right this second. What would happen? I think they would drop bombs on us and roast marshmallows on our burning bodies - with evil smiles on their faces.

To sum up here’s what needs to be done:

1. Abolish the federal reserve
2. Abolish federal income tax
3. Cap all credit card and loan interest
4. Give everyone a clean slate, removing all bad credit ratings
5. Give everyone healthcare

Which presidential candidate will do this? Not one. I hope Ron Paul lives long enough to get elected. I know these are radical ideas but they must be accomplished. I have nothing else to say about this subject. I am over politics. My next post will be about something much different. I really appreciate the people who have commented on my past few serious posts because I didn’t think I would get any comments at all. Thank you very much. I know many of my readers don’t comment on these types of posts, but I do understand. This information is important to me and it really should be important to everyone. Maybe I’ll write an extremely twisted horror story or do a meme…hahaha!

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I was filling out a job application and couldn’t help but feel violated because of the detailed information required. I’m going for something much higher paying than I have now which is understandable because of the collapsing economy. One thing on my mind is how people are stereotyped, labeled and categorized in modern society. Like many places, this one had me sit down at a computer to fill it out the application; there was no person to talk to, just an impersonal machine.

The collection of demographic information makes me feel uncomfortable. They first ask you to check a square by your race. Am I African American, Caucasian, Latin American and so on. I’m wondering what difference does it make? It was incredibly detailed - even asking if I had a tattoo and if so, where on my body it was as a picture of it would need to be taken. They required a highly detailed 12 year job history and required I give them permission to check my credit. I feel that is a violation of my constitutional rights. No employer has the right to peer into my private credit history. I had to give them permission to also do a criminal background check which I understand, but for this particular job, I felt was quite unnecessary.

Finally of course, they required a hair shaft drug screen, where they pluck several hairs from your scalp for spectroscopic chemical analysis. By the time I was done, I felt like I had been molested. You may be wondering what kind of job I was applying for. Surely it was to homeland security, the FBI or something extremely sensitive…right? No. It was a bartending job at the Beau Rivage Casino…hahaha! That is unbelievable isn’t it? Yes, it is an incredibly high paying job, but the requirements are ridiculous.

Modern society is based on shallow attitudes and ratings. We have learned to stereotype and rate people based on different criteria. We are being psychologically conditioned by mass media entertainment: she’s beautiful, he’s an asshole, those people are black, they’re racist, he’s a fundamental Christian bigot, she’s an atheist with no heart or soul and so forth. It’s so ingrained into our lives - we have become slaves to entertainment, religion, patriotism and many other labels.

I talked about how we do not realize how much power we truly have in my previous post on aikido. You live your life, do the best you can and become a slave to society itself. People have this take care of your own backyard mentality because there is nothing you can do to change anything. That’s true and exactly what our leaders want. They want you enslaved and helpless, watching TV, noodling on the web and on and on - all while a handful of super rich individuals have and own everything.

Think about this: You are a Christian parent with a five year old child. Religion and Jesus is everything to you and you’re teaching your child the same thing. Your neighbors are an atheist family with a five year old child. The atheist family believes that Jesus is a myth and never actually existed. They believe the bible is just a bunch of mythological stories plagiarized from other works that predate Christianity. Would you let your Christian child play with the atheist child? Would you be friends with the atheist family? What if the atheist parents told your young impressionable Christian child that nothing in the bible is true? Would you be upset? Of course you would, and chances are, you would not be friends with them. The point is, when religion or any view causes such a deep division among people, it ceases to be good. There are even fundamentalist atheists who think all religion should be outlawed. They are both wrong. I am part of no group and choose instead to be a free thinker, which is also a label and causes division. Isn’t life fun?

Some people think a possible second American revolution is coming. I fully disagree with that. We are far too lazy and just don’t care enough to do anything about it. Have you heard the phrase, divide and conquer? That’s exactly what is going on in this world. We are all divided, not just geographically, but by race, religion, class and other means. The world is filled with problems, but at the heart of every single one of them is this division between us all.

These labels, stereotypes and shallow generalizations will never go away, but we have to live together and get along. We shouldn’t generalize anything. Some people generalize about Muslims which is ridiculous. They are all different depending on where they’re from and many other factors. It’s just like there are many types of Christians. People think Jewish people are tight with their money, Mexican people steal cars, British people have bad teeth, people from the southern United States commit incest - it goes on forever. Young girls feel ugly when they don’t fit the image of what popular magazines say is beautiful, which is so unsettling it makes me sick. In France, I believe “stick” models are banned from magazine commercials if I’m not mistaken. In America, such a law would be considered a violation of our freedom…hahaha! Go figure.

I don’t have the answers, just some observations. None of this stuff stresses me out any more, it doesn’t help anything, especially me. I was thinking about what could help me and my blog. Here are some ideas:

On The Lighter Side

• I need to get in the Oprah Winfrey studio audience or do something wrong and get sued on Judge Judy’s TV show. As soon as the mike got near my mouth I would say, “Revellian dot com…that’s r-e-v-e-l-l-i-a-n dot com,” over and over. I wouldn’t shut up until they arrested me gaining me national headlines. While basking in my 15 minutes of fame, I would go streaking down the streets of New York City screaming my website name. Following that, I would get a book deal and a spot on some sitcom. Hey…it’s a plan.

• If I could be spotted alone with Hillary Clinton and get someone to snap a photo, I would tell everyone I had sex with her. When asked by the media, I would say something smart like, “She was walking with a limp on cloud 9 when I got done with it.” I figure this site would get 10 million hits the day it happened. With 15 year old Miley Cyrus getting tons of attention because of her new racy pictures, I could do something similar. People don’t realize that her ploy was engineered specifically to garner massive press. Vanity Fair magazine got 5 million hits yesterday because of this. After all, isn’t any and all press, good press? Sorry to get off topic towards the end, but I didn’t want to end this post on a sad note.

* The picture is How to spot a psychopath! from Dan’s Data
* I actually wrote this post several months ago, one of many sitting unpublished. I added a little to it this morning so it would be better and more current.

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What I love most about blogging is how it brings people together from all over Earth. We are all much more alike than we are different. This past week has been painful and spiritually draining, mostly because I see and understand the world’s problems - I sometimes wish I didn’t. I believe that many things like race, religion, politics, patriotism, class, nationalism and many other forms of separatist identification destroy relationships between people in many ways. All these things are as irrelevant as the brand of clothes we wear when compared to our need for each other. We are powerfully interconnected and blogging makes the world so much smaller.

I’ve often thought that the only way people will come together would be if Earth came under attack by aliens from outer space. If the people of Earth faced such a situation, we would come together as one, overlooking foolish differences. We could find that love, which seems to be missing in this world. I see blogging as the most powerful form of communication for us all. I choose to blog because I believe it does bring us all together. While our governments fight, terrorism grows and wars are waged, people in every country are becoming friends; that is powerful, beautiful and majestic.

I say rise above your beliefs and love all people. Try hard to not label others. Love is and will always be the answer to all the worlds problems - not bombs, guns and totalitarian government control (which is exactly where America is headed). The masses of normal people have absolutely no idea how powerful they are and how much impact they can personally have. Take action and do something great for someone in need or for this world:)

Peace and love,

Bobby Revell

Remember that giving is the best part of blogging! Here are this weeks links:

Zeitgeist The Movie - One of the most important films ever made. Take two hours and watch it - it’s free. I mentioned it before, but will keep reminding people to see it. It exposes the myth of 9-11 and the financial institutions of the world. It is extraordinary, powerfully riveting and extremely important to see. It may help wake you up to something you have never seen before. Please watch it, I beg you!

Vaguetarian Tea Room - My very good friend Teeni has moved from her old wordpress.com address to her brand spanking new domain! I am very excited for her because I know how great it is to own your own site and be your own webmaster. To be a real friend, I will go through my older posts where I linked to her and correct each url. Congratulations Teeni, you new blog looks fantastic!

Rubeina, my very first friend from Mauritius! She has a fairly new blog with some great articles - be sure to pay her a visit. She is very intelligent, friendly and an aspiring young guitarist…yay! I found two fine articles from her I wanted to mention here:

1. 5 Firefox Add-ons to make Directory Submissions faster - A very cool breakdown of useful Firefox addons, check em out!
2. Defensive Mode - A wonderful post explaining how she feels about working in the corporate world as opposed to really going for your dreams. I really feel connected to her sentiment because I think similarly. I got a lot of bad advice while in high school and made many mistakes. I list a related post below:

Jobs and Careers: My Journey to Happiness - This is one of my favorite posts written by me. It explains what happened to me when I went to work for a huge corporation as a guitar designer/builder. No matter how hard I worked, I was nobody and would have remained nobody as long as I worked there. It’s a heartbreaking post about how my life was almost destroyed because of corporate politics.

I made another new friend, Catatonic Kid from Australia. She is a brilliant and philosophical writer with much insight into life’s dilemmas. I found two posts I wanted to link to here that are important to read:

1. The Walls We Build: Fighting terrorism or fighting fear? - A well stated and eloquent piece about our perception of terrorism. She mentions something many of us have forgotten: other wars have been started against unseen or unidentifiable enemies even before 9-11. This is a great article.
2. Roadkill Kippers and Karmic Reward: How to say ‘takecare’ and mean it. - I have suffered from severe depression for years but finally have a handle on it. This post is powerful, meaningful and has a great message about reaching out to others.

Create Your Own Graffiti - I thought someone had kidnapped my good friend the Brown Baron, but he has been putting up a few posts, and this one is very cool. This is one blogger I have missed like crazy. I hope all is well Baron:)

My Purrfect Phoebe! - My friend Marzie has put up the cutest pictures of her Persian kitty yet! If you are looking for a smile and some uplifting cheer, take a look at Phoebe - she is unbelievably precious. The popularity of Marzie’s blog has exploded and is almost intimidating, but she is so friendly and caring it is truly astonishing - something very special and magical indeed!

Blogspot Template - Looking for a cool new template for your blogspot blog? These are some of the best I’ve seen. They have everything including 2 and 3 column and fresh wordpress like themes. They look great!

I wanted to give a special shout out to a few friends I don’t mention enough but deserve some very special limelight:

Bobo - Thanks for talking to me so much when I have been down, it means so much to me:)

Jamilla - I am so proud to win your contest, you are a true friend and lift my spirits so much:)

Zubli - Thanks so much for being a great friend. You’ve been through some extremely difficult hurdles, but you know your real friends are behind you always:)

I have so many people to thank, it will require an extensive post I am already working on - I hope to have it up soon:)

The awesome picture is from LI Biz Blog - Fix it: Energy

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