I have been still blogging…

I apologize for not notifying you all that I blog at another blogging service: Tumblr. Please feel free to come over and check out my tumblrblog. I post photos, articles, links, and videos. My website is http://www.deanscyberspace.com, and it will take you to my tumblrblog site.

In the future, please use that url address because I might be using another blog service. I personally like to try new things out there, so I keep changing from time to time. But for now, I am using Tumblr and I am loving it! You could look at a snapshot of 4 recent entries here below:

 I also use Twitter. I post my tumblrblogs over there. If you are a member there, you can follow my twitter via tumblrblogs, my twitter is http://twitter.com/deantobias.

Enjoy my posts.

I love Twitter

Twitter has been around for a long while. It is very popular thing right now. Everyone is twittering! I just start twittering in last about two weeks. I am very addictive.

What is Twitter?

According to the freedictionary.com:

twit·ter (twtr)

v. twit·tered, twit·ter·ing, twit·ters

v.intr.

1. To utter a succession of light chirping or tremulous sounds; chirrup.

2.

a. To speak rapidly and in a tremulous manner: twittering over office gossip.

b. To giggle nervously; titter.

3. To tremble with nervous agitation or excitement.

v.tr.

To utter or say with a twitter: twittered a greeting.

n.

1.

a. The light chirping sound made by certain birds.

b. A similar sound, especially light, tremulous speech or laughter.

2. Agitation or excitement; flutter.

So Twitter.com would fit the definition of verb: 2.a and 3 and noun: b

From the site itself:

A global community of friends and strangers answering one simple question: What are you doing?

Twitter is very simple and easy. I would say it is a micro-blogging. Even though it asks one simple question: What are you doing?, I only don’t tell them what I am doing. I also post sites that interests me. I tell them what sites I am reading or looking at. I love sharing cool websites with people. Something that they should not miss those websites out. Twitter is a good place where you can post them. But it has limited characters every twitter you send. It is 140 characters. I say it makes sense because text messaging have limited characters as well. Twitter can be sent via SMS aka text messaging, IM and on the Web.

Now you probably would not see me blogging here often. It is because I twitter on that twitter.com.

A few years ago, we share info, telling what we are doing starting with pager to cell phone to email to IM to blog to RSS to myspace. Now the next thing is Twitter. Remember we did with pager, it takes a while to reply back and forth. Right? But Email and IM got better but still take time as well. Because we don’t always get on. But of course with the new mobile devices, things gets better. But now Twitter, you can get notifications every minute on either one of any: IM, Email, or SMS (or text messaging). You can send twitters anytime (day and night) via IM or text messaging. That is like zero interuption like others. It is amazing. Of course, it is hard to track all twitters on public timeline because everyone is twittering every second. But thank god for follows/friends where you can track your friends…

That is unfortunate for me because I am very addicted to it. Well, it may sound strange when i said unfortunate. I don’t mean it is a bad thing. It is actually good. Heh. I absolutely love Twitter. You can check my twitter page: www.twitter.com/deantobias or on mobile device, m.30boxes.com/twapper/deantobias. Also, you can see my RSS on the right sidebar on my blog.

There are many ways you can twitter. I will have to collect them and post them here. You can read two links here: You can read two links: One is The Top 5 Ways Smart People Use Twitter; Second: 5 Ways to Use Twitter for Good - lifehack.org. There is another great website called Twittervision. You can watch and eye-tening (listening) what they have to said on twitter. The site is www.twittervision.com.

Watch out for more Twitter stuff coming. I hope I will not take that long to post new entry on “More on Twitter.”

But in the meantime, feel free to check that twitter site out here. It is free. SIgn up and I hope to see YOU there and start twittering!

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Mobile Plan Limited Choices?

I have been a customer with T-Mobile since 2004. Ever since then, I have been buying Sidekick 1, 2 and 3. They are nice. Yeah. Their plan for Sidekick is very cheap. The plan includes unlimited internet data, including email, Internet and instant messaging. It also has unlimited text messaging. It is wonderful. However it has few disadvantages, such as some area may have bad or no connections. For example, it won’t work in the metro. I ride metro a lot. When I talked to someone on the metro on the ground, and when it comes to underground, I was not done, but it disconnected! I was like ugh. I had to wait until I am outside on the ground again to talk, but he or she could be offline. I was like, Great! Also, when I come out of the metro on the ground, it takes a while to get connected. Sometimes, it drops the connection out of blue.

I feel that it is time to get a new device. I want something better. I want a device that works in metro. I have been looking around and found that there are advantages and disadvantages between T-Mobile and other carriers. T-Mobile has new devices coming in, but unfortunately, it is not the same plan like the Sidekick has. They have a plan called Total Internet data. It costs $49. 99 a month. Again, unfortunately, it does not include unlimited text messaging, only 300 text messages a month. I use a lot of text messaging. So if I want unlimited text messaging, I have to pay an additional fee of 14.99. That would make 64.98 a month. But for Blackberry devices, 29.95 unlimited Internet data and 14.99 for unlimited text messaging, which would add up to 44.98. Both plans does not work in the metro. I feel it is too much. Well I may be cheapskate. I don’t understand why Blackberry has the different price than any other devices. That is totally unfair. Why don’t they use 29.95 for Total Internet Data plan (with no text messaging service) for all devices, expect Sidekick? Why 49.99? I don’t understand why!

But not only T-Mobile, but Verizon, Cingular and Nextel and other carriers also offer similiar plans. Well, for some plans in other carriers are a bit complicated. In their Internet data plan, they do have options for text messaging. T-Mobile has a better offer though. Verizon will have unlimited text messaging for its customers only. To send text messages to other carriers, they have to charge you per message unless you choose one of text messaging options. They offer unlimited incoming text messaging but still charge you per message for outgoing text messages if you are exceed their limit, for example, 500 text messages per month.

Some carriers offer a new technology called 3G. 3G is a fast Internet broadband for mobile devices. T-Mobile has not had it yet but has talked that they will have 3G network sometimes this year. I suspect that they will include in the new version update in the Sidekick from now to the end of the month. The version update will include a new look on the Jump, MySpace, and My Fave.

Most carriers, unlike T-Mobile, must have included phone plans. There are plans you choice for air-time minutes, and then other features like unlimited Internet data and unlimited text messaging. Unlimited Internet and text messaging have their prices separately. That is too much. I don’t use the phone plan, why do I have to pay for that plan? I only need Internet data and text messaging. There is no way to exclude the phone plan in other carriers, But you can easily do that with T-Mobile.

I was checking Helio. The reason I checked that out because i heard that there will be a new device coming out sometimes this spring. It looks nice! It has qwerty keyboard, as well as a keypad. I know it may sound strange, but they can do vice verse. It is nice. It has some features like T-Mobile Sidekick features. They do have AIM, Yahoo, Windows Live (formerly MSN). But T-mobile does not have MySpace IM right now. MySpace IM on Helio? Wow, impressive! You know, most devices have IM, Text Messaging and Email in separate inboxes for each. Do you find it hassle? I do. I like to have all in one inbox, that would be easier. Well Helio will have an Ultimate InBox with all in one place. You will able to check AOL, Gmail, Hotmail and Yahoo. You have to be a premium member to check Hotmail and Yahoo on the device. Sure, you can do do that with any carriers using POP3 or IMAP server. Also you can do text and photo messaging as well.

That is all? Wait, there are more. You can do GPS. You know what it is? GPS is a popular device, usually used in the car, where you can track yourself in the map on the road, knowing where you are going to. Well, Helio will have that GPS using on Google Map! I am even more IMPRESSED. Sometimes, I find myself lost in unknown areas in DC. That would help a lot! It has a fast Internet broadband called 3G technology. It should be faster than a regular mobile Internet. It is very popular in Europe. 3G Technology just come to US not long ago. Lastly, it has a camera built-in, 2.0 mega pixel and video camera. Most current devices has 1.3 mega pixel.

Now, how much does it cost for this plan? Of course, airtime-minute plan mus be included. But again how much all for that: IM, Text and Photo messaging, Email, Internet, GPS tracking, and 3G technology? 65 dollars a month, a flat fee. No hidden fees. Well, I may be too soon to say anything because Helio Ocean has not came out yet. It has not told us their plan will be like for that device. But I have seen their plans for other devices. I hope it will be the same plan for Helio Ocean.

My only concern: Does Helio offer unlimited text messaging like T-Mobile? Remember I mentioned that Verizon only offer unlimited text messaging for its customers. I hope Helio will able to allow to send unlimited text messages to anyone. That would be very NICE, and a good PRICE at last! You can check that out here

My point is that it seems that I will always be stuck with T-Mobile Sidekick for years to come. I could change the carrier, but would not have the same plan that T-Mobile offers. That really sucks. I hope I don’t have to stick around with T-Mobile for many years. Dont get me wrong. I like T-Mobile services. It is just that I want my mobile to do so much more, like working underground on metro, having GPS tracking (that would be fabulous), UNLIMITED access to all services: Email, Internet, Text messaging and Instant Messaging, and 3G Technology.

The reason I talked about it in my blog because I talked with the T-Mobile customer service for two hours the other day asking about devices and mobile plans because I don’t want Sidekick any more. I also told them my frustration and limitations in choosing the plans and devices to satisfy my need. She submitted my comments to T-Mobile technical team. But it takes any to have T-mobile listen and working on making good choices of the plans for the Deaf like me. Please submit your comments about frustration and limitation just like I did to T-Mobile. I don’t know where to find that link where you can submit your complaint/suggestion. I will have to call the T-Mobile customer service. However, you could email to them by clicking ‘Contact Us’ or write a letter to them (they have address in ‘Contact Us’ page. Not only to T-Mobile, but you can send to other carriers same submission. We are relying to devices a lot, they should offer us a better deal for the mobile use. So we can have more choices to choose, not only to T-Mobile.

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The New Harry Potter Book

I love Harry Potter series. I have not read 5th and 6th. I decided to wait until 7th comes out, so I can read all the way through from 5th to 7th. That would keep me busy though the whole summer! I believe it will be released on July 21, 2007. I want to review all covers that has been out since the first Harry Potter series came out. It evolves from the beginning, seeing that Harry Potter has grown. I noticed that every cover gets better and better. I mean the illustration.

Now the new cover of the final Harry Potter book cover:

The new UK Harry Potter cover:

Now, which cover you like the best? I would say the 7th Harry Potter cover. I also notice that UK covers has better and more details in the covers than US does with the covers. Of course, Harry Potter series are originally published in UK. I also see that Harry Potter UK edition is published by Bloomsbury, while Harry Potter US edition is published by
Scholastic. I say that Bloomsbury has great vision!I will be sad to see the Harry Potter series stop. I would love to see the aftermath of Harry Potter, only if Harry lives. We don’t know what would happen in the final chapter of Harry Potter!

You can read more about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows here on Wikipedia.

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World’s Tallest Skyscraper?

Well the title is a bit premature… because it has not built yet… but said that it would be the World’s Tallest Skyscraper in the future.  Well, the source says it wont happen until 2020.  How tall ? It would be 1228 meters and 300 floors! Where will it be at? Shanghai, China, the eighth largest in the world, and also becoming the most important city by the twentieth century.

300 Floors? Man, that is scary! I have to admit that I have a great fear with heights when it comes to very high heights.  I still would go up there that high, but I will always have that fear and I am being very cautious. Sometimes, I get dizzy when I try to look down. I felt that when I was at Seattle Space Needle Tower, but with the rails, it helped me feel safe and able to enjoy the view. I love scenic views.  Oddly, I grew up in the mountains, I don’t feel fear when it comes to the top of the mountain. I guess I am used to the mountains, but not the skyscrapers. I am a mother nature’s boy!

The pic what it is going to look like below:

I tried to find the exact source where it says that Shanghai is planning, but I only found this through this link (that is how I know), where it talks about cool skyscrapers over the world here.  Unfortunately, it is not easy to find that exact source after a few hours of searching. I am out of luck. If you can find that source, I would like to read about it. Thanks. Of course, 2020 is ahead of the time.  I am sure Shanghai is working on planning that skyscraper now and then.

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Australia Day

In Australia, they celebrate the Australia Day, their official national day, on Jan 26th. I was curious what Australia Day is about. So I researched a bit. Ahh, I would say it is similiar to our official national day, Fourth of July, but, of course, we celebrate for different reasons. We were liberated from England while Austrialia had their first British settlement there.

Australia Day - 26 January, the anniversary of the beginning of British settlement. On that day in 1788, Captain Arthur Phillip became Governor of the Colony of New South Wales. The Australian Natives’ Association promoted the use of patriotic symbols such as an Australian coat of arms, wattle blossom as a national emblem, and ‘Foundation Day’, first celebrated on 26 January in the centenary year of 1888. The colonies agreed to celebrate this annually as a national holiday, which eventually acquired the name of Australia Day.

I was stumbling upon photos on Internet and found an interesting photo. I was awed by this photo. It was taken on Australia Day, not sure what year, but you will see two different things at the same time! It is an amazing photo. All I say WOW. Click the photo here.

You can check more about Australia Day here. Also you can learn more about Australia Day on wikipedia here.

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Google Talk in Firefox?

Google is a great service. It allows me to do many things. Mail, Personalized Page, Talk, Search Engine, Calendar, Docs/Spreadsheets, Bookmark, Photo sharing, and Reader.I do all of those services. Once I sign in Google, I don’t have to log in every service I use. It is less hassle. What can I say about it ? It is WONDERFUL.

What Google does keep amazing me. Google is doing new many things. First, Google Search Engine. It was a wildly popular search engine of all the time! Then Gmail. I had been longed waiting for the Gmail signup. Thanks to one guy who invited me for Gmail private sign up. At first, I did not like it. Of course, it is very different. I stayed with Yahoo for a long time. Until I learned that Gmail can do Chat feature. I was like wow.
So I try Gmail again. The chat feature is okay. It was limited. I use Google Talk application for a short time. But I did use the Chat feature a lot with one friend of mine, who is a Google fan as I am, whenever I am using Gmail to check emails.

Of course Google keep improving the Gmail Beta constantly. I start to enjoy Gmail more and more. I am very pleasant with the Gmail’s constant improvement. At that time, Gmail is only by invitation. I did not have a lot of friends using Gmail or Gmail chat. It is fairly new. Last year, Gmail has grown to 10 millions users in US alone, comparing to Yahoo, with 60 millions users in US alone. (I cannot find the link for that statistic — and I was not sure if that statistic for Mail or IM. That is my vague answer.) I know that Yahoo has a higher number of users.

When Yahoo came with a new Beta, I decided to try that, and turned out that I did not like it. Yahoo Beta is very slow. Hey, Gmail is still in a beta. Gmail did a better job. Yahoo has a long way to go. Now Yahoo has a IM intergration, which I did not try. I have not used Yahoo Mail Beta in a while. Maybe, I won’t be qualified for their IM integration beta for a while. However, I did like the Yahoo Beta’s RSS feeds. I said I wish that Gmail had one as well. It would be a fucntional and wholesome email service!

Until later, Gmail added RSS feed, however, it is called Web Clip where you would see it above the buttons where says Archive, Report Spam and Delete. I did not like Web Clip. But Google offers the feed reader, which is very nice. I used Google Reader for a while, but at that time, I was disappointed that they do not show YouTube and Google Videos. I use another feed reader called Newshutch, then changed to GoBits. Again, like I said Google still amazes me. They fix the problem. Now Google Reader can view videos from YouTube and Google Videos. I am very pleasant, so I immediately came back to it again. Ever since then I am reading all feeds in one place. I am caught up with them, but some sites are going too fast and post many entries in one day. I had to catch up constantly, which is not easy! I have about 30 sites—with about 50 to 70 entries daily. But sometimes it goes over 100, when I did not read them for one day or two. Once, it would go over 300. Urgh. Hard to get caught up with it. Now, there is called Greasemonkey which I mentioned before a while ago here on my blog. It is a great extension. I added the Gmail/Reader integration in Gmail. It is nice. I love it. Now I can read email, read RSS and chat on one window!

Not long ago, I read somewhere said that the technology will have new information every 72 hours sometimes in 2020. I have to be ready and keep up with thousands of new information. I am glad that the Feed Reader is invented; otherwise, we would be truly LOST! Too many sites to read each. That is the reason why we have Feed Reader, so we can read all entries in one place, unless you want to see an actual website (only if it is necessary). Most of the time, texts, picture and videos are well-enough to get information for quick reading. The websites are usually designed to make them look good, like I do sometimes with my blog deign look. Heh.

Anyway, I will go on forever about Google’s great services, which I have not mentioned Calendar and Docs and Spreadsheets, but lets cut the chase here because I want to mention about a new and wonderful sidebar! It is called Google Talk Gadget Sidebar. It is only for Firefox. If you wonder what does it do, what does it look? You can see it below:

You see that now. You probably would understand why it is so wonderful. Sometimes, when I am on Gmail, and chat with a friend. But I want to surf while I am waiting on someone to reply back. Sometimes, I forgot that I was talking to someone there. I had to come back and saw messages, like saying “hello? hello?” or “are you there?” or sometimes he or she would sign off after a long wait for me to reply back. It does notifies on the tab, but it is not easily to be recognized. It is not like IM-flash like on the taskbar on any other IM programs outside the browser. Well, I gotta to thank Google for a wonderful gadget that you can add it on your Google personalized homepage or blogger, which I already have it in my personalized homepage and blogger. You are no longer required to be tied with Gmail Chat feature.

Not long ago, they created a Google Talk Sidebar for Firefox, by adding the bookmark and check it as a sidebar which allows you to open the Google Talk bookmark to the sidebar on the left as you see above on the image. Now, I wouljd never miss any IMs. I can easily see if someone ims me, so i can reply back quickly. I can surf and chat at the same time without delays or waiting! No more back and forth on tabs to check Gmail chats. You can go to the link where you can get a instruction how to add an specific url to be added in Firefox Bookmark here.

Enjoy surfing and use Google Talk at the same time!

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The Onion Comes to DC

I usually read Washington Express. But when Washington Examiner comes to the town, I read more on Washington Examiner. I like Washington Examiner better than Washington Express. Why ? Washington Examiner puts Sports to the last few pages while Washington Express in the middle. I don’t read Sports. Not only that reason, but there is also another one: how it looks. The Examiner design looks much cooler than the Express. The Soduku in Examiner has more room in boxes than in Express. Unfortunately when I came to metro in the morning around 9:30 to 10:00 AM, the Examiner seems not be available for me to pick up. I was not sure if it is ’sold out’ or they never put any in there. If it is sold-out, I can see why. It is a better newspaper.

A few months ago, I read somewhere about The Onion will come in our Washington Metro area in paper newspapers. The Onion, dubbed America’s Finest News Source, is a popular news website, founded by students at University of Wisconsin in 1988. It is filled with variety of news from Local to Politic to Sports to Science/Tech to Entertainment to Education. It is the Gen-X satiric newspaper. The age range of 18 and 44 are reading The Onion online.The Onion already have distributed in paper newspaper to 9 cities. Washington DC will be their tenth city. Washington Post will be paid for its business services. It will be in news boxes at metro stations and by hawkers on April 5th. I am looking forward to reading the newest newspaper in the town!

One of the cities’ The Onion newspaper looks like that all the way below. I noticed that they costs 50 cents each, but we, Washingtonians, will get them for FREE. How nice. Thanks to Washington Post. I have excrepted an quotation from Washington Post article. You can read more in Washington Post here.

“We believe that The Onion will be very well-received among young Washingtonians, and this is a very attractive opportunity for us to provide our advertisers with a new and unique way to reach that attractive young audience

Christopher MA, Post Co. Vice President

 

Now who will read more: The Onion, Washington Examiner or The Washington Express? Mmm, we will shall see…

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Harry Potter Final Book Goes Green!

I was stumbling upon on one of CNN’s articles. One grabbed my attention: Harry Potter. I love Harry Potter series. I have whole collection. I am waiting for the 7th and final book. This one will be a hulking 784 pages. That is almost 800 pages! Dang! It must be that GOOD! It better be!

Last month or two, they just annouced a new Harry Potter title, which is… “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.” It is an interesting title. The Deathly Hallows? Did it was once mentioned in one of these books? Remember one time where Harry, Ron and his family, and Hermaine went to Quidditch World Cup. The group, very bad ones, attacked the campers. Are they the Deathly Hallows? If not, what are they? I forgot. It has been a while since I read that book. I am just curious, and wonder if that is the same group… that is all. Well, it sounds like something major will happen badly. That is a scary thought.

It said that the final Harry Potter book will be the biggest, but also the greenest! The Rainforest Alliance and Scholastic, Inc. are working on publishing on recycled papers. Would it be the first novel coming out in recycled papers? I wonder. They said that the first 12 million would be in recycled papers.

I have excerpted parts of the article below what they had agreed:

• *The paper used will contain “a minimum of 30 percent post-consumer waste (pcw) fiber.”
• *Nearly two-thirds of the 16,700 tons of paper will be approved by the Forest Stewardship Council, an international organization with a mission to “promote environmentally responsible, socially beneficial and economically viable management of the world’s forests.”
• *A “deluxe” edition of the new book, which has a first printing of 100,000, will be printed on paper that contains “100 percent post-consumer waste fiber.”

You can read the article here.

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Pepsi Unpatriotic?

I got an email from a friend about Pepsi. This implied that Pepsi is Unpatrotic because they left two words out: ‘Under God’ in the Pledge of Allegiance and it has Empire Building pictures on the can.

First of all, I love Pepsi. But I have nothing to do with the religion here. I just was puzzled about this one. So I decided to research a bit on that and I found the similiar message that I got in email to see if that is true. Well they said it is not true. They got mixed up with Dr. Pepper. The Dr Pepper did leave two words out, “Under God.’ I believe the reason they thought it was Pepsi because of their new look on the cans. You can view the design of the cans here. It is nice.

You know that the rumors can be very dangerous. Rumors can cause a lot of trouble. It can easily be misinformed.

This one is from the site called truthorfiction.com below. You can find that link here.

I’ll buy Coke!

Pepsi has a new patriotic can coming out with pictures of the Empire State Bldg. and the Pledge of Allegiance on them. But Pepsi forgot two little words on the pledge, “Under God.” Pepsi said they did not want to offend anyone.

If this is true then we do not want to offend anyone at the Pepsi corporate office. If we do not buy any Pepsi product then they will not receive any of our monies. Our money after all does have the words “Under God” on it.

Please pass this word to everyone you know. Tll your Sunday School class tomorrow and tell your Pastors so that they can tell the whole congregation. We want the words “under God” to be read by every person who buys a can

This version below that I got from email:

Don’t buy Pepsi in the new can. Pepsi has a new “patriotic” can coming out with pictures of the Empire State Building , and the Pledge of Allegiance on them. However, Pepsi left out two little words on the pledge, “Under God.” Pepsi said they didn’t want to offend anyone.

In that case, we don’t want to offend anyone at the Pepsi corporate office, either! So if we don’t buy any Pepsi product, they will not be offended when they don’t receive our money that has the words “In God We Trust” on it.

You can check about the Dr. Pepper leaving two words out, “Under God” from truthorfiction.com here.

The excerpt below:

As you may or may not have heard, Dr Pepper is coming out with a patriotic set of soda cans. The problem is that one of the cans will have the Statue of Liberty on one side and the Pledge of Allegiance on the other. Why is this a problem? Dr Pepper has taken upon themselves to remove “Under God”. The can will read “One Nation, … , Indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for All”.

This has got to stop. When a handful of people wanted to stop prayer in school, I did nothing. I wasn’t in school any longer so it didn’t seem to bother me. I know this may sound hypocritical for me to now want to be involved, and I really can’t explain why this seems to tear at my heart, but it does. I have children now and maybe that’s the reason. For all of you with children in school, or grandchildren or nieces or nephews, this has touched you more than me. I see the world in the shape that it is in today and worry about the shape that it will be in when my children are older and attend grammer, middle and high school. What part will God play in the future? Will he even have a part?

This action from the Dr Pepper corporate office is no more than an attack on Believers. This does not target any specific denomination. This does not target christians. This is a slap in the face of both Believers in the One True God and Americans in general. My father fought in a war for his country. The Pledge of Allegiance is a symbol of what they were fighting for, just as the flag that waves today. The audicity of any single organization to take it upon themselves to change such an institution as the Pledge of Allegiance is more than I can stand.

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