Holocaust Remembrance Day

Today has been named a day to remember the Holocaust.  For obvious reasons this is an event that has shaped who I am, and not just because of my religious faith.

But as I look around, I become worried about the world.  Has the world forgotten about this genocide so quickly?

We always say when the Holocaust is brought up about how we will never let it happen again.  And yet, every single factor that led the world to the second World War and the repercussions of said war are here already.

As famously stated by George Carlin many years ago, the Nazis lost the war, but Fascism won.  It became implanted in the west like a parasite.  And while it has lain dormant for a long time, it is still alive."  Unfortunately the dormant part is a thing of the past.  There are politicians (note the fact that I stated that in the plural tense) who are rising to predominance is a step by step fashion that is far to similar to Mussolini for my liking.

I learned a long time ago that nationalism and murder go hand and hand.  To this point, any politician that tells me that they want our country to be great again and tells us to think back to the good old days, is someone that in my mind is an enemy of not just the country where I live, but has the capacity to do great evil if given power.

And power has already been given to these individuals.  The fear of Arabs mirrors the fear of the Jews of the 30s in far too many ways for my liking.  The most visible parallel is the fear of allowing any near our nation for the fear of violence should we do so.  Quickly the world has forgotten that all Jews were feared to be Soviet Spies in the 30s leading to none of them to be able to flee from danger that was on their doorstep.

And also, like before there is an eagerness in the Jewish people ourselves especially the more religious they tend to be, to support the very individuals who would gladly put us to the torch.  But as any Jew should know by now, the most deadly adversary to the Jewish people tends to be ourselves.  It is a little known fact that a Jewish scientist created Zyklon B, the gas used against the victims.  It was no lie that many German Jews voted against their interests.  They were proud of their country as well.  A shame that their country did not feel likewise...

And Antisemitism is on the rise, make no mistake about it.  It is veiled under hatred of Israel, just as before it was hidden under a hatred of Communists.  It has become commonplace to associate my people with any group or idea that is negative and to place blame at our feet.  For example, there are quite a few people in the world who claim that Isis exists because of "Israel taking land that didn't belong to them." Forgetting the fact that Israel lawfully owns all the land that they have, Isis is an entity with a far more complex origin.

Back on point though, I am quite fearful for the future of the Jewish people.  I am watching politics carefully, and am prepared to move to Israel to escape a terrible fate, and I caution any of my friends of any minority to weigh their options if danger comes.  After all, when one minority is attacked, its only a matter of time until another is struck.

Just as 6 million Jews died in the Halocaust, 6 million more also lost their lives in a crime against humanity.  A crime that I fear will soon happen again.

Short Stories

Short stories, were always an enigma to me.  A form of medium beyond my grasp.  Every time I attempted to write a small scale tale, it grew into a significantly larger endeavor.  As this cycle continued, I gave up on the prospect of creating such tales.

Until now, that is.

Recently, I decided to try again.  Perhaps it is my current financial situation that has driven me to this, or perhaps I had a deep seated mindset of being able to do anything, especially if I decide I am unable.

Regardless, I did manage to write a short story.  And I will say, it took no small amount of editing to clean up.  After being read aloud to multiple (and sometimes unwitting) audiences.  I decided the story was complete.

Once again, I have taken a shot into the dark.  Like with my first publication of the End of Utopia, I have taken a large risk for an even larger gain.

I did not merely submit this short story to a small scale publishing company.  I decided to go big or go home.  I sent the story in to Asimov Magazine itself.  One of the most reputable publishers of short science fiction that exists.

Should they decide to take this short story, it could change my life in profound ways for the better.  Most importantly it may lead me to the ethos that I have craved so long to reach my goals.

but should they reject it, this is not the end.  There are countless publishers just waiting for the next best short story.  And there is another aspect to this plan.

Notice the title reads "stories".  I have always had a knack for creating high quality tales quickly, sometimes from what appears to be nothing.  Now that I have found the formula to create short stories, I have the ability to crank them out very quickly.  While in my mind, this seems like a minor skill, barely worth notice.  I cannot overlook the potential capital gain.

Many individuals might spend years creating the sort of work I am capable of creating in less than a week.  

Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft

Hearthstone is a digital card game.  Nay Sayers claim that being digital eliminates the legitimacy of the game.  I disagree.  I played Magic for a few years and Yugioh for a few months and I actually enjoy Hearthstone even more.

The aspect of this game that I enjoy most is the fact that Hearthstone is a new game.  There are less cards.  There is still the ability by players to try unusual decks.  In Magic, the decks have been so optimized that the entire game requires new cards constantly for the sake of new decks.

Hearthstone also has the advantage of being digital.  This allows things such as drawing random cards from the deck to be far more optimized.  And while Blizzard Entertainment has stated that there will not be forced discards from hands (minus the self inflicted ones in Warlock) should they add such cards, the random element will be immune to card manipulation.  As a plus there is no need for opponents to shuffle each other's decks.  Computer randomization has its advantages.

But for the non Trading Card Players here, what is this game?

Its a game where two players draw cards and play spells or creatures with the goal being to kill the opponent before their foe does the same.  To make the game complex there are also 9 classes.  Each class has multiple play-styles defined by their spells, the 2 Mana (the resource used to use cards) Hero Power.  Each class also has a few minions unique to them.  these cards are slightly better than other cards of the same cost.  Then once unique cards are factored in, there are also minions that can be placed into any deck known as neutral minions.

The nine classes are Warlock, Priest, Warrior, Hunter, Mage, Shaman, Druid, Paladin, and Rogue.  Each class has had a rise and fall at some point as new cards have been added and older ones become less useful (and sometimes more useful) At the moment each of the classes have at last one viable deck and some such as Hunter and Paladin have a few infamous decks.

Now that you have a little bit of understanding of this game, I want to talk about how this affects me.

Recently, I have played in a few tournaments to see how good I actually was in this game.  And I did far better than expected.  I have managed to attract the attention of a few players in the Orlando Area.  It is my hope to play in their team.  While I do not envision myself to be a professional video gamer, it would certainly help me to get better at this game.

I am more than just a writer, I am a storyteller.  And video gaming is one of the newest forms of storytelling medium.  As I try to gain a fan base, I use any form of outreach that I can.  In the case of me playing this game, I have been and will be live streaming my pursuit of being a better player.

And as I work towards improvement, I hope that you will watch.  I will do my best to entertain and keep you compelled as I do with the other forms of storytelling I employ.

http://www.twitch.tv/praughx

Through this link, you can help support all that I do.  The more viewers I get, the more attention I can draw, and the more successful all of my endeavors become.

Alan Rickman

This is the second of 2 parts detailing and honoring two great men who have left this world for things unknown.  Today, I will speak about Alan Rickman.

Best known for playing the role of Severus Snape in Harry Potter, Alan Rickman was known by his friends and family as a warm hearted individual he devoted much time to helping those in need, especially entertainers who were in poverty.  He devoted much of his life working for charities that helped this group in particular.

Another notable trait of Rickman's, was his loyalty and devotion to his friends and family.  As he served as a mentor figure to all the young actors in Harry Potter, many of them were quoted telling of the many ways that Rickman helped them become better people and gave them the words of encouragement they needed in the most difficult hours.  Daniel Radcliffe known for his role as Harry Potter especially remarked at how much his life was bettered by Alan Rickman.

 Now as we send off Alan Rickman alongside David Bowie, I personally wish them both a fond farewell.  Your portrayal of Snape was spot on and no one could have played it better.  The world is a lesser place with your absence.

As there is a looming threat of this being a year where many iconic people will go to meet the reaper, my hope is that the world will be able to move on and be better for these individuals influences on the world.

Rest in Peace Alan Rickman and David Bowie.

David Bowie

This is the start of a two parter (hopefully not 3) blog post.  As two men that I have much respect for died within a couple days of each other, I will be writing posts to honor them both.  today I will be talking about David Bowie.

To say that life was difficult, would be an understatement in Bowie's case.  Drugs caused some serious problems for both his physical and mental health.  So engrossed with drugs as he was in his younger days, that a confused Bowie was quoted (and later retracted after admitting that his mind had been muddled) that he supported Fascism and Hitler in Germany even.

As he freed himself from the grip of drugs, he sought to champion human rights activism possibly in part to the things he had been brought to believe under the influence of said drugs.  But of course while these deeds are remarkable, none of them are what really make this man such a well known icon.

Instead it was his music and acting that truly made David Bowie the international icon he became.  I first knew David Bowie as a person when I saw Labyrinth although I had heard his music at an earlier age.  And in addition to the music, it was his life style of exploring the unknown that really intrigued me the most about him.

He and I share (or shared I guess) a dream to really understand the world in ways that it has never been understood before.  And like Bowie, I have had different viewpoints of religion at different phases of my life.

As I continue to move forward in my life, I look to legacies such as David Bowie's.  a legacy of creativity and freedom that he aspired to.

Rest in Peace.  Wherever you may be, I hope that it is as unique as you were in life.

Pinnacle Politics

A while ago, I embarked on a new adventure.  I left the world of 9-5 hours and decided to move forward into the startup industry.  A friend of mine who I had met in Israel had an idea.  A very ambitious idea.  An ambitious idea that in my own ambitiousness, made me decide to do something, well, ambitious.

I joined in.  And this month, we have begun to see the results of our work.  

This ambitious goal of ours was to develop, the most comprehensive and detailed place to understand politics.  A placed filled with unbiased articles in every corner.  I know, a seemingly impossible task given that anyone who knows me understands that I am quite biased in my own right.  And me aside, the internet would have you believe that unbiased material is an impossibility. 

To reach such a goal, required many hours (and I cannot emphasize just how many) of research.  The website that we have created reflects the countless hours of work put into the page just to have content to view for the average user.  The other half of this challenge is keeping the user's attention.  Throwing too much information at someone can create a negative reaction.  Letting a user choose what where and when they want to see content has been quite a challenge.

The hardest task though was of course getting the incredible amount of data just on the individuals running for President of the United States of America.  As this is the most popular long term issue, it as a result has our undivided attention.  

A race with this many candidates has made work a challenge, but a task such as this is the type of work I seek out.  And certainly politics as a whole concerns me a great deal.  

As we are confident enough now to share the work we have put forth, I present you with the link to our home page, and it is my hope that it will serve as a reliable news source for you and all the peers that you may or may not even know.

http://pinnaclepolitics.com/

Go and see it for yourself.  Democracy in any country is working at its best when its population is willing to:

Learn

Discuss

Vote

Tel Aviv

The news is always abuzz with information about Israel.  Most of it incredibly biased.  Most also making this country out to be an incredibly violent place.  Today tough I will barely speak about any of these things.  Instead, I'm gonna talk a little about the city pictured above.

Tel Aviv is likely not what the average person thinks of when Israel comes to mind.  thanks to what the media does, Israel is often portrayed as some horrible place where people are being oppressed and bombed.  When one sees Tel Aviv though (and all of Israel for that matter) a different picture.

After all, one going by media coverage alone would never expect this extraordinary city to be one of the safest places in the world for the LGBT Community, nor would one expect this place to be one of the Silicon Valley Capitals of the world.  And while it is not the capital of Israel, despite once again what some media outlets would have you believe, this wondrous city contributes majorly to Israel.

I was lucky enough to visit Tel Aviv myself this last summer, and despite already knowing what to expect when I arrived, I was still blown away by just how similar this place was to Chicago or Miami. (although Tel Aviv does not float in the air like my home city)  I intend to make it one of my first stops when I next return to the holy land.

The point I am ultimately trying to make here is that do not let the media trick you into thinking that Tel Aviv is some deadly place filled with racism and hatred.  Despite the recent stabbing that occurred, Tel Aviv is not only a safe city (probably safer than most American cities) but a shining gem in a desert filled with violence.  Just like Israel is a stronghold of good against a desert filled with rottenness

What is going on in Oregon?!

If the headlines are to be believed, there is some sort of civil unrest going on in Oregon. And depending on who you read the headline from, the people in question could be patriots, or terrorists, or all a manner of other labels.

If you want to know more about these other labels, I would recommend to check out one of the many news sites on this subject.  What I am trying to say is that I will offer a different perspective here.

What one must understand with this issue is that there are multiple variables at play here.  There are no good or bad guys.  Just a lot of very stubborn people doing battle against each other.

There are government organizations going after individuals for the express reason that they have been slighted and refuse to lose.  And their opponent is a group of angry individuals who have been pestered for years by said organization for a multitude of reasons while they have been skirting past and even at times breaking laws from every level from state to federal.

Neither side is in the right.  One side desperately wants to own the land that the other posses and will stop at nothing to get it.  The other refuses to give up the land and will even occupy other people's land to prove their point.

In my opinion this is almost more of an evil verses evil conflict.  I don't find that I can choose either side.  I dislike them both and even more quite frankly, if things get violent, I will not shed any tears if the two groups attack and harm each other.  Both sides are attracting ill sorts to their respective corners and these individuals are nothing more than opportunists looking to cause trouble.

I'll keep my opinions of how this conflict should be dealt with to myself, but the quicker it ends the better and safer America will be.  Once crazy people are out of their caves, they don't like to go back in.

The Convention Goal

Many writers have aspirations.  Most of those aspirations involve finishing a novel.  I'm past that point now.

Now that I have completed my first novel and even got it published once, I am looking for exposure.  And no exposure compares to a convention.

An event such as Megacon or the even larger Dragoncon.  an author that even half respects themselves should never find themselves missing an event such as this.

As an Author and general Storyteller who is on his own path to greatness, it is my responsibility to pursue this new path.  It won't be easy, for these events can force one to go deep into their wallets, but the rewards are just too vast to be ignored.

And I intend to seize them as my own.