Ed Stoffel

Brave parents are standing up against our culture's recent push to make boys sit down and shut up. While our public schools may be afraid to let them be boys, some parents are doing just that, and looking for ideas on how to restore the natural order of things. Now, a new book helps parents resist the wussification of their boys...

I wrote "The Dangerous Book for Boys" as a handbook for boys with scenes like that from my childhood in mind. I wasn't trying to please anyone else. I was just trying to free boys to be themselves again, the way we were when my brother and I were growing up. --- It's about remembering a time when danger wasn't a dirty word. It's safer to put a boy in front of a PlayStation for a while, but not in the long run. The irony of making boys' lives too safe is that later they take worse risks on their own. You only have to push a baby boy hard on a swing and see his face light up. It's not learned behavior -- he's hardwired to enjoy a little risk. Ask any man for a good memory from childhood and he'll tell you about testing his courage or getting injured. No one wants to see a child get hurt, but we really did think the bumps and scratches were badges of honor, once.

 In Praise of Skinned Knees and Grubby Faces, Washington Post

 The Dangerous Book for Boys, by Conn & Hal Iggulden

Speaking from jail to ABC's Barbara Walters, Paris Hilton says she's been changed by the experience of going to jail.

I'm not the same person I was. I used to act dumb. It was an act. I am 26 years old, and that act is no longer cute. It is not who I am, nor do I want to be that person for the young girls who looked up to me. I know now that I can make a difference, that I have the power to do that. I have been thinking that I want to do different things when I am out of here. I have become much more spiritual. God has given me this new chance.

Before we get too excited about her new found faith, know that it is not classic Christianity. In jail, Paris says she's reading three books - "The Secret," "The Power of Now" and the Bible. The first two are antithetical to the bible, and based on Eleaticism, the monistic theory of being. Frank Pastore informs us that the two questionable books are Oprah recommended, which is usually a huge red flag in itself.

 Paris Tells Walters: "God Has Released Me", ABC News

 Paris Hilton's Summer Reading, Frank Pastore

 The Science of Getting Rich, Wallace D. Wattles

It's been a month now since our new Verizon service was setup, and the entire time, our outgoing caller ID has been showing the previous owner's name. Five calls to Verizon's business office have failed to resolve the problem, despite confident sounding agents who told me the problem would be resolved that same day. Today, I got the idea I should be dealing with Verizon's repair service, not the business office so I called them to report the problem. I'm told it will be resolved by 5PM today, but they've added the requirement that I be notified when they believe the problem is resolved.

Meanwhile, we're preparing to cancel service with Broadvoice, a VoIP provider. The service isn't bad, but it's not as good as a landline. The secret in making Broadvoice VoIP as good as possible is programming the firewall to allow all necessary traffic through. I thought that assigning the VoIP device to my Netgear router's DMZ port would do the trick, but found it still necessary to write specific port forwarding rules allowing UDP traffic on ports 69, 5060-5063, & 10,000-20,000. Once that was done, the only occasional problem is net congestion. Since we have Verizon as our primary provider, the only thing I'm using Broadvoice for is to forward our old number. So I'm disappointed that I can't switch to a cheaper monthly plan with them. I called to ask about switching our number over to their BYOD plan (Bring Your Own Device), but they were quite insistent that I couldn't do that without paying a $39.95 termination fee on my current device, and a new $39.95 setup fee on a new device. Their $5.95/mo. BYOD plan only allows 100 minutes/month, and forwarded calls count against those minutes. So very shortly, I'll be shutting off Broadvoice, and hoping Verizon straightens out my caller ID problems.

You've heard it said that the old media is dead. Today's consumers of news, information and entertainment have more choices than ever before. Gone are the days when people had to choose between 3 television networks, a few radio stations, and one or two local newspapers.

The majority of busy Americans today don't even subscribe to a newspaper, rarely listen to terrestrial radio, and have hundreds of television stations to choose from, coming to their homes from a variety of providers (cable, satellite, fiber). Today, a large portion of the public gets their news from the internet, visiting some of the old media's online presence, but also reading new media sources that are only found online. For old media to survive, they found it necessary to improvise, adapt, & overcome. As more outlets of news, information and entertainment emerge, each outlet's impact is lessened, requiring them to broaden their reach by feeding the audience what they want through additional outlets. Each company's cost structure must change carefully, as the audience is unlikely to pay for what is free elsewhere.

Old media companies that fail to provide what the audience desires will loose, both in audience numbers and in their long-term reputations. People may visit an old media company's website, but if it is difficult to get what they're looking for, they'll move on. Old media can't count on having a captive audience.

Some old media companies have waited too long to adapt. The New York Times went on the air with a cable-news channel just after 9-11... but few people ever saw it because NYT thought people would pay a premium to watch it. During one of the most watched times in television history, the Times-Discovery News Channel lost an enormous opportunity to capture and build viewership. Today, few even know the channel exists. CBS and ABC have failed to launch 24-7 news channels at a time when CNN, NBC and Fox all grew their audiences. Today, ABC's news channel exists but lacks clearance in most markets and satellite services, clearance the network should have achieved during 'retransmission consent' negotiations with carriers. The only movement for CBS has been to discuss a merger with CNN - failing in those talks twice.

Will old media step up and provide the news, information and entertainment the public desires? Or will they continue to shrink staffs, and close offices, fearing the future? Tough choices at the top of old media companies will determine their futures, and that of their workers. Successful decisions rest upon each company's vision of how best to use their employees' skills to meet future demand. The audience will be voting on those choices with their remote controls and keyboards.

1. An armed man is a citizen. An unarmed man is a subject.

2. A gun in the hand is better than a cop on the phone.

3. Colt: The original point and click interface.

4. Gun control is not about guns; it's about control.

5. If guns are outlawed, can we use swords?

6. If guns cause crime, then pencils cause misspelled words.

7. "Free" men do not ask permission to bear arms.

8. If you don't know your rights you don't have any.

9. Those who trade liberty for security have neither.

10. The United States Constitution (c) 1791. All Rights reserved.

11. What part of "shall not be infringed" do you not understand?

12. The Second Amendment is in place in case the politicians ignore the others.

13. 64,999,987 firearms owners killed no one yesterday.

14. Guns only have two enemies: rust and politicians.

15. Know guns, know peace, know safety. No guns, no peace, no safety.

16. You don't shoot to kill; you shoot to stay alive.

17. 911 - government sponsored Dial-a-Prayer.

18. Assault is a behavior, not a device.

19. Criminals love gun control -- it makes their jobs safer.

20. If guns cause crime, then matches cause arson.

21. Only a government that is afraid of its citizens tries to control their guns.

22. You only have the rights you are willing to fight for.

23. Enforce the "gun control laws" we ALREADY have, don't make more.

24. When you remove the people's right to bear arms, you create slaves.

25.. The American Revolution would never have happened with gun control.

26. "A government of the people, by the people, for the people..."

27. Doctors' malpractice kills millions more people world wide than legitimate gun owners kill.

This is one of those internet forwards I've received. Who knows where it originated.