Linkfest - Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

The year is almost done and fortunately the Mayans were wrong as we are all still here. The problems remain but so does hope for the future. In the last post of the year we look at another cool Lego creation, info on data caps being scam, Wal-Mart hell, great Stephen Colbert interview, Google's year in review, and the Man of Steel.

Lego The Legend of Zelda Map
The image is a Lego re-creation of the map for the classic NES game The Legend of Zelda. From Michael Kuroda, the map re-creation really isn't that large with it being 256 Lego studs wide by 88 studs high.

Data Caps are Cash Cows and Unnecessary
Hit the link to read a little bit about how cable companies and telephone service providers lie when they claim tiered data systems are necessary because of a need for data caps. The reality is the cost to move data gets cheaper every year. Also the cost of the transmission remains the same whether 1 megabyte of data is moved or 1000 megabytes. Long story short, the more you use the internet should not cost you more because it doesn't cost the service providers more. They just pretend it does because its an easy way for them to charge more while providing nothing more thereby increasing their profits. The upper management gets their huge bonuses while having done literally nothing for their customers. Its a scam so next time a company or a politician pretends otherwise, don't believe them.

Newtown: "These tragedies must end."

I am not a parent so I can't grasp what these parents and the community of Newtown, Connecticut are going through. As a human being I am just sad and my heart aches for the pain that has been caused. Twenty-six dead. Twenty of them first graders, children who had not lived long enough to deserve anything but our patience and love. All wiped out because Adam Lanza took several assault weapons from his mom, killed her, and then preceded to walk to Sandy Hook Elementary and began his assault on innocence. We probably will never really know why. I have no words for what happened. I wish I did.

What I do have is anger. This just happens to often and in almost every case it seems to involve weapons of war. Not defense, not even hunting but weapons specifically designed for soldiers at war and thanks to the efforts of the NRA and the Republicans, have someone become classified as needed for home use. Weapons of war do not belong in any home. I know, Fox News and the Republicans will say "Now is not the time." Which is bullshit. They have no problem throwing random darts at the board and blaming movies, TV, video games and anything else they can make up on the fly. We have no idea what interests Lanza had to even hazard a guess on his motivations. If they have time to spew their theories, if many of them can hop on Fox News and decide the solution is to turn teachers into armed guards, then now is most definitely the time to talk about getting these weapons of war out of the hands of civilians and only in the hands of those trained to use them only at times specified by our nation's interest.

Still Here

I am still posting, just have not had anything specific felt like posting on the Eras End blog. Been busy trying to keep up with the Star Trek and The Hobbit news but hopefully start posting again here soon.