Where There Is Will

November 15th, 2006

Everyone has heard of the saying: “Where there is a will, there is a way.” Have you ever thought about that in the context of complainers?

Sometimes when talking with people, a topic of discussion will come up and the complaint will be raised from others that “I can’t do that” or “I don’t have thus and such” in an attempt to make me feel guilty. Let it be said now that any lack of compassion on my part for certain things in this area of discussion is not cold hearted. I can say this because I know me.

I know that when I want something, when I really want something, I find a way to get it. If I do not know something and I really want to know it, I find a way to learn it. When it is about me, I only complain when I am lazy. Even if I were unable to do something, I know how to find someone who is able and cut a deal if I have to. Like I said, I know me.

I have had some discussions in the past with persons trying to make me feel guilty over topics. But they will not do it, because I know me. And if it were me and the topic was that important to me, I would find a way.

–SilverMouse

Hotline Gone Cold

November 15th, 2006

OK, so I was supposed to be an extra as part of the series Friday Night Lights based on the movie of the same name. There was a hotline to call the night before the next day’s shoot in order to get the details needed for that day. It was also encouraged that participants and extras call the hotline early the next morning for any changes at the last minute.

Well, the shoot for today was canceled and the hotline still had information for the previous day. Even when I called, I though (being this was the first time I had been a part of this system) that the previous day’s date was listed as information being given on this day for the next day’s shoot. How was I to know that the day of the shoot’s date was to be given for the day it was intended? We now have a failure to communicate in two ways. First, the format of conveyed information was not verified. And second, the information was not updated in the first place.

So, I go on the location listed and no one is there. I called and found out all the previous information. Needless to say, I was a little frustrated. I told them quite plainly that a hotline could not be called a hotline unless it was “hot” and was the first thing updated with changes. Not that anyone would take the “change of location” and “failure of the phone company to log changes in voice messages” as a valid excuse, or that “participants were being called” and I was not called for changes. But, these were all part of the statements of reason given for the failure of communication to me.

Reasons or not, once again I was lied to (on a societal basis) concerning information I depended on in order to fullfill a task. My beef with society at this point is that people tend to overstate the face of the obvious and understate the ability to fill the meat of obvious. I have been told that the nature of man is evil, but there is a little good in everyone. What I am finding instead is that everyone is basically good, with good tendencies, but also coupled with that is the need to be seen as more than they really are to everyone else. As you guessed, this leads to exaggeration. The exaggeration in this instance is that the hotline was supposed to be “hot” with the correct information needed. It was not, I was lied to, and once again society is its own worst enemy.

–SilverMouse

Prosper - State Licensing

November 14th, 2006

There was some question that came up about Prosper.com state licensing and what the current applications and restrictions were for the country of operation. I thought that this posting would help those who needed more information concerning this type of material.

Prosper.com State Licensing

Hope this answers any questions you may have about legal operations in the states and the limits thereof. If there are any other issues you need addressed, as always, you can go to Prosper.com and select Help or Home–>About Us.

–ByteMark

Prosper.com - Better than Planned

November 9th, 2006

So far, real life is working out better than I planned on paper. As you may well assume, I am talking about Prosper.com. I have just bid on my 12th loan today and all the others are current in payments. The average rate of return is currently at 19.77% with less than $490 invested and a current account balance of $520 in only 5 months time. And every month it is growing as I roll over the payments into successive loans.

Many to whom I talked about this concept did not sound convinced that I knew what I was talking about or getting into. So I wanted to provide you this link, from yet another third party site, because I know it would be of interest. Much of what was being asked about is in this article. There are many more articles and information you can find on the prosper.com website under Home–>About Us–>Media Room. I am also assuming that those reading this have not looked at the prosper site help pages here, so the third party review should be of even more interest if that is the case.

Click on this link for article:
Site Hooks Up Lenders and
Borrowers at Prosper.com
– By The San Francisco Chronicle

I hope you find this interesting and I do wish that more people wanted to interact with me about it. These guys (prosper.com) are changing the face of people to people financing in a major way. And it is all legitimate.

–ByteMark aka ByteLoans on Prosper.com

My Adult First Tooth - Gone!

November 8th, 2006

Well, a time has come that I did not ever expect. The SilverMouse is loosing a tooth. And the funny thing is, there was nothing I could do about it. It seems that there was so much bone loss around the base of it that it was due to be gone anyway. There is also a wisdom tooth behind it that has been inverted and pushed up in the jaw with a cyst which has developed around it that has helped the bone loss process. I still brush, and keep eating healthy foods, but the one thing I could not control has finally caught up with me. And, that one thing is Genetics.

The good thing is that I have no guilt about it. All those years that mom told me to take care of those teeth is still paying off because I have the rest of them exactly like I should. The only cavity I have is in a wisdom tooth which is going to be pulled out anyway. That will probably happen next year.

So, in the mean time, I will let you all know what kind of lesson I have learned out of this whole ordeal when it comes to me. In the mean time, I will continue looking for any and all ways I can improve this personal temple of the Holy Spirit.

–SilverMouse

Let your yea be yea….

November 3rd, 2006

Is it just me, or does anyone else notice that people do not really do what they say they will do most of the time? So much of our lives seem to be congenial trivialities meant to take up dead conversational space that is awkward to people. And if you don’t say much, people ask if anything is wrong. We are no longer OK with just being quiet because we are not as “engaged” in interaction as others feel we should be.

For instance, I called an old business contact I had the other day with an offer that I thought might interest him or someone he may know. He was not interested himself. He told me during the conversation that he did know someone that might be, maybe even two or three. We wished each other well with a word from him that my phone would be ringing by Saturday with at least one and maybe even two persons that might be interested in the offer. As you may have guessed, they did not call.

Now I am not saying that the man himself is a liar, nor would I wish anything bad to happen to him. But it does strike me as odd that he would implicate a promise of this nature (even though he did not actually say he “promised” anything) and then further than that not even call me to check on events that should have followed if he did not have the intention of actually carrying out the deeds. Am I missing something here?

Another example: A neighbor is helped with a problem. In the process of helping the neighbor with the problem a tool is broken. The neighbor is thankful for the help in solving the problem and offers to replace the tool. A few weeks later the tool which was broken during the repair process is located, purchased by the neighbor, and given to the tool owner as a replacement and a thanks for the help. Now, that neighbor said he was going to do something and then did it. At this point, a simple act has placed this person in a very favorable and possibly even dependable light. But wait, there is more.

At the giving of the replacement tool gift, the desire is expressed that maybe the two tenants should have coffee or play chess down the line as new friends. Over the course of several weeks, several attempts are made by the tool owner to make contact with and even engage in activities with the recipient of earlier help in fulfillment of the desire expressed to do just that. At no time is any offer taken, rescheduled, or acted upon in any way by the neighbor. At this point, a desire gone unfulfilled or un-acted upon takes on the life of a living lie. With every thrown out offer of an opportunity at activity participation, the neighbor becomes just as untrustworthy as if he had just lied himself. Because the neighbor just filled dead space because of an awkward silence and will not complete the implied promise of action, he has now lost the status he once had as a trusted neighbor, or at best severely damaged it.

In retrospect, I now remember the words of NT:James 5:12 which states “But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea, and [your] nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.” You see how serious this is? Above, before anything, don’t say you are going to or not going to do something and then just do the opposite. Condemnation here is the Greek word Hupokrisis, or in the English - hypocracy.

From now own, I will not be so upset at being quiet; or about someone asking me if everything is OK. As long as I am not a hypocrite, I am very OK and will not mind saying that I am OK.

Then I will shut up.

–SilverMouse

Hebraic Bible Studies

October 31st, 2006

Yesterday gave way to the birth of The HOD Lamed Word-Fruits Studies.  I have begun the process once again of digging into the Biblical Word to see the discoveries that await inside the Hebrew letters as the sages of renown have taught us.  It is a very interesting thing to see the story of creation or of the redemption of mankind wrapped up in the meaning of just a few little letters in a word or phrase in Hebrew.

I am very anxious to see who is interested in receiving these types of studies.  I would like to reach a point where donations are brought into the House of Denning specifically for Lamed Word-Fruits so that there can be a tighter focus on the word to produce the kind of quality that people will be expecting if they wish to receive these kinds of studies.

I know that most people reading this will not have the foggiest idea concerning the topic I am referencing, but I have a sample study that I can send to them if they wish to email me their postal address.  I cannot email the studies themselves as the PDF Writer does not translate the Hebrew correctly.  This is really the main reason for donations for those who want these studies, because of all that postage and envelopes and gas to the PO and all that.  It just takes money.

I do these mainly for myself because I like to dig the word.  Though I have been told that I would make a marvelous teacher concerning these things.  I will not know till I get students.  And I will not get students till someone is interested in what I am doing.  Somehow, I do not see it happening.  But if is a G-d thing, then it will happen and I cannot stop it.

–SilverMouse

Prosper.com - Hedging the Bet

October 28th, 2006

I found an article that talked about how to invest in prosper for a little over $1600 and then reuse the payments on a monthly basis to feed itself. The article was fairly good, but I am please to say that I have them beat. I am doing almost exactly what they suggested, except for half the cost.

Basically what I do is fund the difference between the payments (Prin. and Int.) and the next loan value at $50 on an approximately bi-weekly basis. I am now down to $40 personal investments to fund the difference between stacked loan payments and the next loan value and will be down to about $35 in another 2-3 loans.

And one more way to hedge the bet is that now for my 11th loan, I bid and won $51, while the next will be $52 and so on. This may seem small now, but the secret is in the stacking of the loans and later that extra few cents per month payment will snowball.

I have run the spreadsheets on these figures. Autonomy for one of two loans will actually be achieved in another 6 months, with total autonomy for two loans per month being actually around another 10-14 months. Since I am hedging the bid wins now with a dollar or two progression on each successive loan, I am hoping to shorten that. If anyone has a better way, I am always open to suggestions.

–ByteMark

Malware: The Next Generation

October 25th, 2006

OK, this one is pretty scary.  Just out from eWeek.com

Spam Trojan Installs Own Anti-Virus Scanner

–ByteMark

What’s Your Party - And Does It Matter?

October 24th, 2006

These days we say we are Democrats, Rebublicans, Independents, or Green Party. I am sure that there are others, but the question I have to ask today is: Does it really matter?

Before we get into that question as a topic of discussion, let us look at the foundational basis of the top two first. Before we begin anything worth studying, we have to define the basis from which we build the topic. So let us start with some basic definitions.

  • Democrat - (1) an advocate of democracy. (2) a person who believes in the political or social equality of all people.
  • Democracy - (1) government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and excercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electorial system. (2) a state having such a form of government. (3) a state of society characterized by formal equality of rights and priviledges.
  • Republican - (1) of, pertaining to, or of the nature of a republic.
  • Republic - (1) a state in which the supreme power rests in the body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by representatives chosen directly or indirectly by them. (2) any body of persons viewed as a commonwealth. (3) a state in which the head of government is not a monarch or other hereditary head of state.
  • Commonwealth - (1) a group of sovereign states and their dependencies associated by their own choice and linked with common objectives and interests: the British Commonwealth. ( (2) through (5) have to do with out of country examples) (6) the official designation (rather than “State”) of four states of the U.S.: Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. (7) any group of persons united by some common interest. (8) the whole body of people of a nation or state; the body politic. (9) a state in which the supreme power is held by the people; a republican or democratic state.
  • Politic - (1) shrewd or prudent in practical matters; tactful; diplomatic. (2) contrived in a shrewd and practical way; expedient.
  • Definitions used are from the Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, New Deluxe Edition, Published by Thunder Bay Press in 2001, Copyright 1996 by Random House Value Publishing, Inc., ISBN 1-57145-691-0.

OK, I know that seems like a lot, but all of the previous definition was necessary in order to prove a point. This point starts with the knowledge that Democrats are supposed to believe in the vested equality of power being in the people and that power is supposed to be able to be exercised through an elected body of representatives. Republicans also by definition believe that supreme power of government rests in the people and that they also exercise this power through elected representatives. So what is the difference?

Republicans normally would reside in a republic and would not believe that a kingship or monarchy should exist in that republic but that the power of governing is spread across the people on an equal basis. Democrats are neither against or for a kingship or monarchy, but instead see every man as equal regardless of the position that they hold in government or life.

It seems to me that the common interest here is the same. If both parties are supposed to be counted as equal, why does it matter so much which one you are? For that matter, it seems by definition that you technically cannot be a Republican unless you are part of a republic. There are only four republics in the U.S. So is it really possible to have Republicans in Texas? Is it really possible to be a Republican anywhere there is not a republic?

Tell us what you think. Appropriate comments submitted will be displayed after being reviewed. Feedback welcome.

–SilverMouse