Why Scam People Via Dating?

We live in an era now these days where we use the Internet for many things. Finding relationships is a common thing considering there's Tinder, Match and many other dating sites. We have tons of stories that end real nice. Then there's ones that are nightmares and it ends in money lost. So why does this happen? Why do people want to rip others off?

People get sucked up into the dream of finally being with the one like. There's lots of others that don't realize it and they get conned, losing thousands of dollars in the process. It may start with something small, then it escalates to higher and higher numbers before the con artist is done with them. Psychologically, this can leave the victim scarred for a good while or long time. Recovering what is lost may not always be possible.

Looking up information, it's easy to fall prey to this stuff. Preferably going to some other site as dating sites are cracking down on stopping scammers. Broken English is another easy thing to recognize. Saying they love you very quickly is another thing. There's a few other things that go into this. But the bottom line is that many get hurt. There are stories of some losing hundreds of thousands. Some lose even a million. 

Internet scams are common, but this is a growing epidemic. The fact that the FTC and FBI have articles on this says a lot. And they want you to file complaints, which is a good thing. Don't be afraid to file complaints to the FBI if you have been scammed. Those criminals deserve justice. And if you're having optimism and if things move very quickly, be cautious. When things seem too fishy, stop communicating. Block the person and ensure they can't talk to you. If you can avoid the obvious signs of a scam, you will save yourself the heartbreak and not be broke. Finding someone would be nice, but being careful is a lot more better than rushing though and getting scammed.

YouTube Videos: Dec 21-27

Marathons for TV

Especially around this part of the year, we see a lot of marathons for various movies and to a lesser extent, television shows that air for nonstop hours. It's quick ad it's a ratings grabber for a network who is putting up with more than five hours worth of  the same thing over and over. When you look at Christmas, it's clear a lot of channels do it.

It all starts with A Christmas Story. The film started to get attraction with airings during the 90s. Then in 1997, TNT started the 24 hour marathon of the film. That gets ratings, but with that mind, the landscape has changed a bit from what it was 21 years ago. Now, it's on both TNT and TBS, as a lot of networks will lump one program onto multiple channels. Turner and Viacom do this a lot. Anyway, other networks have done marathons similar to Christmas Story. FX has done it multiple movies. So has AMC, Freeform. The list goes on.

Outside of Christmas, there might be something around Thanksgiving or July 4th for a few networks. AMC is the only one now these days that airs The Godfather trilogy, and they do that around Thanksgiving just about every year. They are very long movies, but they are also beloved (the third not so much, but still) and it's something that the network can get ratings on due to rare airings and maybe not finding it on DVD or Blu-Ray.

Television shows have marathons more than movies. Ion does this a lot with various crime shows for a specific day. USA is very guilty of this with the constant marathons of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit and NCIS. The way they treat other syndicated shows they have like Modern Family is downright embarrassing. But unfortunately, they get ratings, and other shows don't get the special treatment as the two. A shame, really. You don't see it with comedy shows. WGN is like this a little bit with M*A*S*H and Last Man Standing, but it's not too bad compared to dramas. Comedy Central loves The Office quite a bit, but it's usually weekends if they pick the show that they air it constantly during a part of the day.

These shows cost money to get and if costs weren't a factor, I would spice it up a bit with various shows instead of four hour airings of certain shows. For holidays, grin and bear it. It's not the worst thing in the world, even though it gets repetitive sometimes. For television shows, not much you can do. Complaining to the networks will not help you at all.

Why Cheat in Relationships?

In the last two weeks, I have been exchanging emails with a 29 year old woman who lives in Russia. She has been rather open with her life and the only relationship she has had with a guy. Ultimately, she got cheated on as he was with another woman. It upset her pretty badly.

I explained to her that some people cheat because they get tired of being around the same person for a long time. Here's I view it here. If you're in it for a long term relationship, then you have to deal with one person for good unless it's one of those polygamy relationships. I also explained to her about some people wanting someone better over who they are currently with. My view on that is that one will only make this a lot worse and cause a lot of tension and end it on a very sour note.

This can happen to both women and men. Bear that in mind. If people really wanted to be out of a relationship, they should say so bluntly. That way, it doesn't hurt much for both. If anything, they could be friends and that's it. Being on good terms is far braver than just causing more trouble and making things look worse on your part. If you're looking to cheat, don't. You will only have regret and it will make finding another person a lot more difficult and the possible what if's of being someone that could have been the one.

Aladdin Remake Outrage

Nostalgia is a two way street. Some might be excited for a fresh experience. Others will swear by the original of a TV show, film, or video game. Anything, really. The live action Aladdin that comes out next year got its first photos shown and the reaction was less than thrilling.

There are few complaints here and there for some, but the biggest I'm looking at is over the Genie. Obviously, it's one of the most iconic characters in Disney's run of adaptations and it's animated 1992 feature was done by the late Robin Williams. His performance was legendary and paved the way studios looked at animated films with celebrities. Will Smith plays the live action version and the complaints are so stupid. I think people are getting very high hopes up and then being disappointed. Very disappointed.

I'm not expecting this adaptation to be identical scene for scene like the animated one. Nostalgia is very powerful here and the comparisons to Williams will be there for Smith. He's not really a comedy guy despite how well loved The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is to this day. Most of his stuff since 1996 has been action and dramas. We are too quick to judge on these first photos, which show Smith without any blue on his body. It doesn't come out until the end of May and the fact that he had to assure people that it will be a blue character shows the amount of impatience over how the character is.

Until a full trailer trailer comes out and the film is properly edited, this is a pure overreaction. The animated Aladdin is my favorite classic Disney animated film, but I'm not going in expecting this to be similar as I said earlier. Let's wait and see. It's just a movie character. Not a big deal unless they royally screwed it up.

YouTube Videos: Dec 14-20

Geeks and Jocks: Episode 6

No Tumblr Adult Activity For You!

Over the past year, adult stuff has been disappearing. Craigslist got rid of personals after a new bill went into effect with the efforts to stop sex trafficking. Tumblr has decided to put an effort to curb adult content and in the last two weeks, it's been met with negative results. Let's just say with no pun intended, people are upset about it and are looking to other sites, even though it's not entirely an adult site.

Unless I'm mistaken, this is Tumblr themselves doing this. There are sites that have their more innocent stuff. Innocent enough where it isn't explicit. Then there is the adult sections, which give warnings that it's very adult. Pornography is one of those things that has been combated over the years. It's typically frowned upon and certain materials is a huge no that leads to suspects getting arrested. What I see Tumblr doing is trying to not get rid of all their adult stuff, but have a warning on what can and can't be posted on their website.

I don't venture into Tumblr much, so I can't form an opinion. The Verge actually has a good article on this and it seems like they are struggling for now until they figure it all out. This stuff takes time. What will truly matter is the numbers of people going to the site after they have their censorship finished. Now these days, the effort to combat sex rings and trafficking is increasing. And I hope people understand that.

When it's all said and done, Tumblr will still be around and the complaints are not going to be as big when they have control of how they censor.

https://www.theverge.com/2018/12/17/18141106/tumblr-porn-ban-adult-content-appeal

A New Raven Soaring

With another win today against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Baltimore Ravens have put a ton of pressure on the Pittsburgh Steelers. Announcements have been made about the benching of their 11 year veteran quarterback Joe Flacco in favor of rookie Lamar Jackson. The proof is in the pudding right now, and the Ravens have become a big threat to the AFC.

As far as throwing the ball, Jackson is okay. It's not wowing by any means, but he does enough to get by. His totals after today's game are just over 800 yards passing, five touchdowns and three picks. The one thing that is a huge help is the ground game. Baltimore has rushed for over 200 in four of the last five, putting them in the top three in total rushing yards. Jackson has made it to almost 600 yards by just running. Combined with the defense playing strong despite the eight and six record, they could be in the running for a division title.

Quite frankly, I think Flacco was playing on borrowed time. Since the 2012 season that ended with a Super Bowl title, the Ravens haven't been the same. Defensively, they've changed a bit. The run game has been inconsistent. Flacco's ability as a quarterback has either been okay or bad or he has been missing time due to injury. He didn't live up to his big contract. What's funny is that they went through a number of quarterbacks prior to his arrival in 2008.

Whether Jackson lives up to the potential is a tale only he can tell. Baltimore may either have their future or he can crash and burn. I want to see the former out of him.

YouTube Videos: Dec 7-13