BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING!

Will Smith, Gene Hackman, and Jon Voight in "Enemy of the State." Have you seen it? It's all about Big Brother security and surveilance methods including the scrutiny of law-abiding American citizens. I just watched it while I had lunch. Scary!

If you believe the technological advances in the film, which you almost have to, for usually by the time the movie comes out, the ability is here. Remember Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers? We soon were way beyond that fiction, it became non-fiction. Movies seem to foretell the future, especially the advancements in the electronics age that's right here on top of us.

How many times have you heard: Don't tell anyone what you're writing (your story) till you copyright it ... if you invent something, hurry and get it copyrighted, because the vibes are out there and someone else is sure to invent it, too. Your thoughts flow into the universe. So when writers come up with new science fiction, it's bound to become a reality before you know it. Yes, I believe that.

Worse yet, to have our movements and conversations tracked via satelite by a sub-branch or by the government, even by genuises who tap into the system and do private contractor tracking ... is mind boggling, isn't it? Not that there would ever be a reason anyone would track me, but then you never know. Look what happens on the Internet, you can sign up for a people search and find just about anybody you want. I've paid and used a service myself. Have even found phone numbers and addresses, email addresses. If anybody wanted to find me, they could. And they certainly have.

We can even tap into a person's computer, remotely. It's done by anyone who has the capability - no matter what security program you install to protect your files.

It's a terrific movie, by the way, and should be required viewing for all students and all voting Americans. It might change the attitudes and acceptances that seem to have crept in for the sake of finding terrorists in our "free" land. But you can't convince me that it's only in place for that reason.

So I don't know ... we're sort of between a rock and a hard place. If we don't do it, we might lose a terrorist, if we do do it, our liberties are at stake.

It's a hard one to figure.

THE FIRST DAY OF THE REST OF ...

Okay, I'm making a promise to myself. I'm going to post every day to this blog, whether it's only a few words or many. Some posts might be informative to those reading, some posts might be personal in nature and might be interesting to you at that level ... who knows! We'll just have to wait and see, won't we?

Alright ...

Today, supplementing my income is on my mind. When isn't it? But this week it is more than usual. I've a reduction in basic income coming up and I need to replace that amount. So, I'm pulling my freelance writing skills out of the trunk and plan to do it that way.

Last night I came across Triond Publishing as a search result for online article-writing. It looks good, I joined it. Tonight I'll write the first submission. Now it may generate only pennies in compensation, but I'm willing to try it and see how it works. One thing I can do is sell my articles more than once, submit them to other concerns which is legal, and it's a start.

By the way, I've found that the best single reference book for freelance writing is Kelly James-Enger's "Six Figure Freelancing." A must-own book. And The Writer magazine is an excellent source of tips for freelancers.

At Triond Publishing you can submit articles, short stories, photos, music, whatever ... they do it all. Interesting. Maybe I'll finally get some use out of the professional camera I purchased to take photos to accompany my travel articles. That's where I think I'd shine ... writing travel articles and snapping the photos. Hummmmmm ... yep, that's it!

Okay, now that I've worked through this, I see the direction I will go.