1. I recently read a news article that is still eating at me (to be discussed below)
2. I have not made a post in a long time. I have been busy.
3. There are a lot of things going on in this country that can’t continually be overlooked.
4. This post is about dignity, dying , veterans and a motorcycle organization of honor.

Recently I stumbled across an post entitled Obama Tells Patriot Guard Get Lost. Yes, it is kind of an old article, April of this year, but not old enough to raise a valid concern over it. First off, the title of the post is a little misleading as no one apparently no for sure who called off the Patriot Guard Riders from being allowed. One thing was for sure the families of the 29 miners killed in a West Virginia mine accident asked for and welcomed the riders. Evidently so did the Governor of the state. So to set the scene a little better, on April 5, 2010 there was a huge coal mine disaster that took the lives of 29 miners. A memorial was planed for late April and the families of the miners asked the Patriot Guard Riders to attend and escort with honor their loved ones. Somewhere along the line a message was sent that the Patriot Guard were to “stand down” for this mission as Obama and Bidden were to attend. Again, no one has come forward with who actually issued the order, but I am sure it was relayed through the secret service.

Whoever made the decision is under a huge misconception on what this group of people stand for and exactly what it is that they do. They certainly would not have posed any type of a security risk for Obama, if anything security would have been tighter. They are a nationwide organization many of which are law enforcement officers and veterans. What possible threat could they have posed. Did they see them as a motorcycle gang, just because they ride motorcycles? Was there some sort of paranoia fear that some rival gang might ride in and have a big shootout? By far, the Patriot Riders are not a gang, they are motorcycle riders period. It is the mode of transportation that they choose and I speak from experience when I say that they add a great deal of honor and dignity to a funeral procession and memorial. My brother died on the streets a homeless vet in July of 2005. I asked the Sanford Chapter of Rolling Thunder if they would give my brother Lonny one last ride before I scattered his ashes in the water at the Veterans Memorial Park in Titusville. My brother loved and respected the grounds of this park and spent a lot of time there. On the day of his last ride along with Rolling Thunder there were also members of the Patriot Guard riders. I have the deepest respect for what they did that day and how they honored my Brother. I have some pictures of that day that I would like to share with you, this is what the Patriot Guard is

These people took the time out of their life to honor my brother and asked for nothing in return

over 30 motorcycles lined up for the memorial service

A short service was given before I set my brother free

 This is what the Patriot Guard Riders mean for me. They brought honor and dignity to the last ride and memorial service for my brother Lonny Odom. For the families of the 29 miners to be denied the same honor and respect was wrong. Whoever made the decision not to allow these people their rights were very wrong. My heart goes out to the 29 men who lost their lives and the loved ones they left behind. Now I share with you a documentary on the Patriot Guard Riders, who they are and what they stand for. How could these men and women have been considered a threat?

Click here to view the embedded video.

So now those who did not know may be a little wiser as to not only the Patriot Guard Riders and groups like Rolling Thunder, but the entire biker community in general. Respect is always given were respect is due. One more video of a funeral escorted by the Patriot Guard below. This video brings chills to me, just to see the endless line of motorcycles following in honor of a fallen military hero that has paid the ultimate sacrifice. 

Click here to view the embedded video.

Thanks again to those who came out to honor my brother, this post has been a long time coming. You don’t have to support the war folks, but always support our troops!

Dedicated to my dearly loved brother Marvin Lonny Odom

Technorati Tags: motorcycles, patriot guard riders, rolling thunder, funerals, veterans, west virginia, mining disaster, politics, security, honor

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I am putting together more motorcycle event movies, so if there are any bands reading this that might want to have their music used in them. Drop me a line : )

Technorati Tags: music, youtube, video, bike week

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Of course one of the biggest advertiser to hit this mark would be Budweiser. Even if you do not drink beer, you know the name from the super bowl ads. Therefore, if you ever decided to have a beer, what do you think you might ask for? I think you might go for a Bud or bud light. Brand recognition is definitely what Bob Parsons, CEO of Go daddy is shooting for his his version of super bowl advertising. On Bob’s blog, he generates a great deal of excitement about the ads with his readers long before super Sunday. In the past, Parsons has put the rejected ads out for everyone to see to draw in new traffic. This year the approach is a little more on the it is a secret side of the dial. Bob is only allowing a small pinch of the video to be seen and then promising that all 3 ads will be available to be viewed online on February 3rd. While most super bowl advertising shoots toward humor, Bob Parsons uses sex to gain brand recognition. Indy race car driver Danica Patrick might not be a super model, but the Go daddy super bowl ad “exposure” makes her look like one and the ad as well as the ads from previous super bowls are all on one landing page. But now it is time for a commercial break and a word from some parrots? Watch the super bowl ad below

Click here to view the embedded video.

Yeah right. Just an example of the ads that we laugh at and talk about for a week after the game. Speaking of talking about the ads, You Tube has set up a page where the ads will be shown again and you can vote for your favorite super bowl ad here. One thing for sure, most people watching the game will get up to go to the bathroom before half time. No one wants to miss those super bowl ads!

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Daytona Bike Week Live has been set up and I am tweaking the site for mobile content and blogging. You can send me a note at my G mail account bikermobile@gmail.com and I will set you up as a contributor. Once you are set up, you will be able to send pictures directly to the blog using your cell phone. The web site address for the Bike Week live blog is www.daytonabikeweeklive.com and will be mainly for mobile photo blogging using cell phones and mobile devices.

Bike Week Blog is open, but still being constructed for multi users. This mobile blog will be set up for live blogging from Bike Week from your lap top or other mobile devices. I plan on having more content and news on this site while Daytona Bike Week Live will be mainly for pictures. Those of you who would like to participate and become a contributor on the Bike Week Blog can send me a note or reply to this post and I will set you up with an account. The web address for this site is www.bikeweekblog.com .

I will keep everyone updated on these two sites and look forward to sharing the experience of bike week live with everyone!

If you have not already made your bike week hotel reservations, it is not too late. You can still get some great deals here.

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Today’s link is to a very large and popular blog site with many contributors called Blog Critics Magazine. I mean this site is huge! However, today we will be exploring the culture section where Frank Giovinazzi of Car Buyer’s notebook made a post entitled Harley Davidson – How Do I Hate Thee. Its a rather small post in itself where Frank gives out 11 reasons  why he hates Harley Davidson and the dweebs (as he refers to them) who ride them. The post was made in may of 2003 and only contains 243 words, but to this day the Post still gets traffic and has currently 1745 comments with the last comment being made as of this post at 16:36 on January 12th. That was yesterday in case nobody is paying attention…. this post has been read and commented on for going on 5 years now.

I have to hand it to Frank for making this post. Fact may even be that the man owns a Harley. But whether he does or not is not what it is all about. It is about the controversy that was created by him making the post. The post about hating Harley Davidson that has almost created a meeting hole on the web where people get together on a semi-regular basis to kick sand at each other on everything motorcycle related from helmet laws to owning American vs metric motorcycles.  How ingenious of Mr. Giovinazzi.

Technorati Tags: harley davidson, motorcycles, motorcycle blogs, blogosphere, blog, traffic, creative writing

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A couple days of days ago I purchased a new 500GB hard drive from Staples. No big deal, I have replaced or upgraded hard drives before. I usually buy Maxtor hard drives because they have been reliable and have a good warranty backing them. Maxtor provides a program called MaxBLAST ™ that will copy your old hard drive over to the new one and this too has always been trouble free. That is until the new version of MaxBLAST™  and the third attempt in getting my old drive to copy over to the new one.

The new version 4 of MaxBLAST™ decided on the 4th attempt to do a drive copy that it would format my old hard drive (erasing all my data) and then take over 6 hours to copy the blank hard drive that it had formatted. Needless to say that now, after losing a lot of my old data, I am going to be a backup freak again. I am looking at weeks of installing all of my programs and updates before I get my machine back to where it was before this “accidental” formatting of my data and there are many things lost that will never be recovered.

Backup your important data folks. You never know when you might need it. 

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Certainly, BlogShares is a game of wit and strategy. You can either become very rich or end up trying to recover your losses. It is a fantasy game and is played with play currency called B$. You can play the game whether you own a blog or not, but if you have a blog, be sure to claim it. You will receive extra B$ and chips for doing so. You can also receive chips, karma and sigma by voting the industry that a blog belongs in. Chips can be used for fun on a game called chance or they can be sold for B$ to recover or get more money to buy with.

For you bloggers, this game also teaches you a lot about traffic and linking. You begin to realise where the real traffic is at and where it goes. Where else can you play a game that you can gain fantasy bucks, learn and have fun doing so? I suggest that you click here and check BlogShares out.

See you there!

Mike

Technorati Tags: blog, blogshares, fantasy stock market, online games, blogs, blogger

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In fact, the Saddam hanging video replaced keywords and search terms that normally hold the top 10 position. The execution of Saddam Hussein video holds 8 of 10 in results giving way to only sex at number 1 and porn listed at number 3. Sexy celebrity gossip and paparazzi hits Britney Spears and Paris Hilton are usually steady in the top 10, but slid down to take the 11th and 12th position in the key word report.

Along with Paris and Britney in the top, Google is normally listed as well. While many search engines visit this site, the pages have yet to receive any type of page rank….. hint, hint

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Ingredients:

• 1 14/16 lb Turkey
• 3/4 Loaf of Breads
• 1 1/2 Stick of Butter
• 1 Medium Onion
• 2 Stalks of celery
• 1/2 lb Sausage
• 4 Cups of Water
• 1/2 teaspoon Basil Leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon Parsley
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1 tablespoon Chicken Broth Powder
• 3 Celery Leaf Tops

This recipe is for what I call a “traditional” turkey with homemade stuffing and can be prepared and cooked faster than my original slow cooked turkey. It is also for a smaller bird than my original recipe which again is for quick serving. Quick in this case is around 1 1/2 hour preparation and 4 1/2 hours cooking time. So if all goes right, you should have a tender and juicy stuffed turkey on the table in around 6 hours. OK, let’s get started!

Preheat your oven to 325. Notice that I say that we will use 3/4 loaf of breads. This is because for my stuffing I like to use a mixture of bread that will usually include some white, wheat, rye or pumpernickel rye, cuban bread or dinner rolls. I have used garlic bread sticks as well and that will give your dressing a nice flavor.

Gather together around 3/4 loaf of breads as above and put it in a 13 x 9 deep pan or larger. Put the pan loaded with the bread in the oven. You will need to keep an eye on the bread and turn it a couple of times so that you get some of the pieces close to a dark toast color as below.

While the bread is toasting, you can brown the sausage. Tip: because you are doing this early morning, I usually will cook the whole pound of sausage. Use 1/2 pound for the stuffing and the other half set aside to make sausage gravy and biscuits! Do this and you will have kitchen help hanging around. I will post my recipe for the sausage gravy and biscuits another time if you need it, but for now back to our turkey dressing.

While you are browning the sausage, chop the celery, celery leaves and onion and set it aside. Don’t forget the bread that is in the oven, turn it bringing some of the slices to the top and flip them over. The bread should be getting light brown by now.

In a medium sauce pan bring 4 cups of water to a boil and add a couple of the leaves from the celery finely chopped to the water. When the water boils, turn it down to a simmer and add the chicken broth powder, salt, basil and parsley. Let this mixture just steam a bit and turn it off. You will be adding this to the bread.

By now your bread should be well toasted. Remove it from the oven and let it cool a bit. While the bread is cooling, drain the sausage of fat and return to pan. Set the pan on the same burner, but lower the heat to just above warm. Put 1 stick of butter in the pan with the sausage and let it melt down. While the butter is melting, chop your bread into cubes. I usually add a bit more basil and parsley into the bread while chopping.

Now that the butter has melted down with the sausage, turn up to a medium heat and add the chopped celery and onion. You want to just lightly heat this mixture, being careful not to fully cook the celery or onion. When the mixture begins to sizzle a bit, add the bread that you have cubed.

While stirring the bread, butter, sausage, onions and celery together, slowly pour in the water and spice mixture to moisten the bread. Mix all together lightly trying not to mash up the bread to much, but get it all moist. You may need to add more water depending on the types of bread that you used.

Be careful not to soak the bread! It will gain moisture while cooking inside the turkey. Remove the wrapping on your turkey and wash the bird inside and out. Remove the neck and giblets and wash the inside of the turkey well with cold water. You can cook the neck and giblets for those who like them, if not, for this recipe, throw them away. Again, this would be used in the stuffing for my original recipe, but for the traditional, they are not of use.

Pull the turkey neck skin up and stuff some dressing into the pocket below it. Then pull the skin back down and tuck it under the turkey setting the bird in your roaster pan. You should have 1/2 stick of butter left and it should be soft from being out. Take the butter and rub the turkey down with it. Be sure to coat the turkey well with the butter as this is what will cause it to brown nicely. Lightly sprinkle the chicken spice all over the turkey and put it in the oven at 325. Your turkey should be ready to serve in about 4 1/2 hours depending on the size of the turkey. Most turkeys have a pop-up timer that will pop when the turkey has reached the proper temperature.

I also suggest that you use a roaster oven as in my post about my Thanksgiving Turkey.

Don’t throw that turkey juice away, it makes a wonderful gravy!

So there you have it. My traditional stuffed turkey recipe. Give it a try and tell me how it turns out. I will post my original turkey and dressing recipe on a later date. However, for this recipe you will need more time and a larger bird.

Merry Christmas!

By popular request, I have made this recipe available to print. Click here to view and print this turkey and dressing recipe.

Technorati Tags: thanksgiving, turkey recipe, food, cooking, holidays, stuffing, home cooking

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In a article written by Wall Street Journal editorial assistant, Joseph Rago, he appears to either be uneducated to the blogging web or feels threatened by the same. The article he titles “The Blog Mob“, Rago lashes out at the blogosphere saying

“The blogs are not as significant as their self-endeared curators would like to think. Journalism requires journalists, who are at least fitfully confronting the digital age. The bloggers, for their part, produce minimal reportage. Instead, they ride along with the MSM like remora fish on the bellies of sharks, picking at the scraps.”

This is just one man’s opinion, the opinion of Joseph Rago, and maybe his opinion is not as significant as he would like to think. At least not if one is to judge by the popularity of the blog for the reader as well as the writer. The blog writer of today is not making a post just to read it online! If this is true, then the post would be kept private and password protected. As one writer has put it:

“The blogosphere is a celebration of citizen journalism and the freedom
of speech.”

While further down the article, writer Rago, seems to point more to political blogs that seem to be a thorn in his side, calling most blogs “pretty awful” and without naming names, refers to the more popular blogs as “downright appalling”. Certainly, Mr. Rago would not be wise to reference popular blogs such as the WSJ Law Blog or could not have read the WSJ special report Find A Blog.

Near the close of the article, the true heart of Mr. Rago’s message; he is not to fond of the computer, nor Internet:

“Certainly the MSM, such as it is, collapsed itself. It was once utterly dominant yet made itself vulnerable by playing on its reputed accuracy and disinterest to pursue adversarial agendas. Still, as far from perfect as that system was, it was and is not wholly imperfect. The technology of ink on paper is highly advanced, and has over centuries accumulated a major institutional culture that screens editorially for originality, expertise and seriousness.”

While the rant of one mainstream writer is now buried days into the archives of the Opinion Journal, Time Magazine cover page was released naming the person of the year for 2006, You. Yes, You that control the information age. Quite the reverse of the previous, Time Magazine sees things such as the blog, You Tube and My Space as a major contribution not only to changing the world, also to change the way the world changes.

Time looks at the way we, as citizens of the Internet report on things saying:

“And we didn’t just watch, we also worked. Like crazy. We made Facebook profiles and Second Life avatars and reviewed books at Amazon and recorded podcasts. We blogged about our candidates losing and wrote songs about getting dumped. We camcordered bombing runs and built open-source software.”

So, congratulations to you and all of the people that work hard on their place on the web! You chose to entertain and inform us, reporting to your readers on information that you find important. You have delivered us a honest and unbiased account of the world as it happens blogging from home on your computer, at the airport on your lap top and even directly from your cell phone. Time magazine has pointed out a very important factor in what shapes the world wide web, You.

So while many of the people that contribute to the Mainstream Media feel threatened by You, there are others that reconize that it is You that makes the choice in what you read and watch. It is what you find important that matters. The people that want to rail you for putting what you believe in or what you report on will only make you stronger.

Time Managing Editor, Richard Stengel, wraps it up by saying:

“Some have called it an “amateur hour.” And it often is. But America was founded by amateurs. The framers were professional lawyers and military men and bankers, but they were amateur politicians, and that’s the way they thought it should be. Thomas Paine was in effect the first blogger, and Ben Franklin was essentially loading his persona into the MySpace of the 18th century, Poor Richard’s Almanack.”

Merry Christmas and thanks to YOU for reading.

Source:

http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110009409

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1570743,00.html

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1569514,00.html

http://www.webproworld.com

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When I play online, I enjoy the first person shooter games. I am a big fan of Delta Force created by Nova World. The Delta Force game has many releases and I have just about all of them. I am currently playing the Joint Operations Escalation using the International Conflict MOD. I am not good mind you, I just enjoy it. My highest game rank is only Lieutenant Colonel. I do hold a silver ka-bar in close combat for knife kills and I am working the gold bars.

I also play America’s Army on occasion, just to break away from the keyboard patterns of the other games. I found that by playing games with different keyboard setup will increase my skill and movement. Thus I can stay alive a little longer. America’s Army was developed by the United States Army as a recruiting tool and the game has been very successful, as a game, I am not sure as to recruitment. The good thing about this game is that you must go through basic training and graduate before you can play with other people.

If you play these games and want to get together on the field, just let me know. I’ll set something up. If you just want to look me up, my nova world player name is here. Remember, you can run, but you will just die tired.

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Any way, I found a interview in the paper about half way in with the guy that runs the B.F.F.A.R., that is Bikers For First Amendment Rights. Looks like a pretty respectable organization, check out their web site.

So, I found myself reading the online B.F.F.A.R. newsletter, which was also from October. Guess I am not the only one running a little behind. I found this story on the last page of the newsletter and felt I would like to share it with you

Semper Fi

A United States Marine was attending some college courses between assignments. He had completed his mission in Iraq and Afghanistan. One of the courses had a professor who was an avowed atheist and a member of the ACLU.
One day the professor shocked the class when he came in. He looked at the ceiling and flatly stated, “God, if your are real, then I want you to knock me off this platform. I’ll give you exactly 15 minutes.”
The lecture room fell silent. You could have heard a pin drop. Ten minutes went by and the professor proclaimed, “Here I am God, I am still waiting.”
 

It got down to the last couple of minutes when the Marine got out of his chair went up to the professor and cold cocked him, knocking him off the platform. The professor was out cold. The Marine went back to his seat and sat there, silently.
 

The other students were shocked and stunned and sat there looking on in silence. The professor eventually came to, noticeably shaken, looked at the Marine and asked”What the hell is the matter with you? why did you do that?”
 

The Marine calmly replied, “God was too busy today protecting America’s soldiers who are protecting your right to say stupid crap and act like a butt….So he sent me.”
Source:

http://www.bikersforfirstamendmentrights.com/

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During bike week or biketoberfest and when you are in the Edgewater, Florida area if you love a good steak visit Rich’s Place. Just south of Daytona Beach about a mile down Highway 1 from the noname saloon on the west side of the road. The atmosphere is laid back in a 50′s style with rock-n-roll and Elvis memorabilia all over.

I can’t think of any other steak place that I have eaten at where the steak has been cooked to perfection every time. Rich’s Place steak hits the spot! The burgers are fantastic too. Be sure to visit Rich’s next time you make the trip to Volusia County for any of the Florida motorcycle events. You won’t leave hungry and you won’t be disappointed.

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This report is shocking, but enlightening about where the money goes when caring citizens and victims of drunk drivers donate to MADD of Canada. The report shows that a mere 19% of every dollar goes toward charitable work. This has volunteers of the organization in rage. Volunteer being the key word here. The real backbone and workers of the organization. The ones that visit victims and help them with kindness. The unpaid workers of MADD of Canada, who are usually the family members or friends of a drunk driver victim.

While MADD of Canada claims that 83.6 % of the money donated goes to MADD of Canada programs. The financial documents of the organization show differently. The volunteers of the organization are calling for them to “clean up their act”. John Bates, who started the Canada based group back in 1982 called PRIDE (People to Reduce Impaired Driving Everywhere) says MADD has taken a national tragedy and turned it into a fund raising machine. Bates group originally created when his friend’s daughter was killed by a drunk driver. In 1990 MADD USA expressed interest in coming into Canada, they combined Bates group and two others to form MADD of Canada.

This investigative report sparked my interest into what is going on behind the scenes of the US based charity organization, so I paid a visit to the MADD web site. Like many charity organizations, MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Drivers) started off with a great concept and good intentions. Could MADD here in the United States be guilty of the same type of internal activity as MADD of Canada?

A charity is required by the IRS to file a form 990 and the same information is available to the public. At the MADD web site the form 990 for year 2005 can be easily found in the annual report section of the MADD web site. The MADD annual report is made to show the public the good work that the organization does.

If we look at the top 5 paid employees of the MADD charity organization we see that the amount compensated for 40+ hours ranges from nearly $105,000.00 to right at $72,000.00 with the number of employees making over $50,000.00 listed as 38. This does not include the officers, directors or trustees. While the program CEO is only paid $55,000.00 a year, in contrast the director of program and development is compensated $152,408.00 yearly.

With the better part of the charitable work that MADD does being achieved on the local level by the volunteers and paid fund raisers, it may be that we need to have a closer look at what this charity does here at home. Bottom line, this charity winds up putting $.20 of the dollar you donate to charitable work.

According to the government web site for the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) there was 212 billion dollars collected by 700,000 government recognized charities in the year 2001. If you donate to a charity, make sure that your hard earned dollar goes as much towards the cause as possible. The better charities put between 60 to 80 % of the donation toward the charitable work.

What you can do.

Check the charity out before donating to them.

There are ways that you can check a charity out online or by telephone. A few good sources to check out a charity include Charity Navigator, the Better Business Charity Site or by telephone at (703) 276-0100 and the FTC Charity Fraud site which has a large list of resources here.

Telephone Calls: 

If the charity is calling you on the telephone, only donate then if you already know the charity and have donated before. Many charities use paid fund raisers to make telephone calls. If someone calls you on the phone asking for money for charity, ask them if they are being paid to call you. If so, find out how much they take of the donation for their service. Additionally, never give out your credit card, bank account or personal information over the phone. Try to get the address for the charity to send in your donation. This cuts out the middle man giving more of your dollar to the cause.

Summary: It is a shame that we need to check out a organization or program before donating money, however, you can see it has become necessary. Most organizations start out with the victim or less fortunate in mind. Greed can spread rapidly in a financial environment, so check your charities annual statement. When donating, you are best to donate at the local level.

Be careful of scammers that prey on your senses and kindness.

Do not stop donating to what you believe in, Believe in what you are donating to.

Source and credits:

http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm/bay/search.summary/orgid/4129.htm

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/tmarkg/charity.htm

http://www.thestar.com/

MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) form 990 as public information

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