Stephen Sauls

The Future Voters are Acting

With the recent Parkland, Florida mass shooting that left seventeen dead, students that are in high school are taking a stand against gun violence. Many politicians seem to ignore what will be the future voters who can decide their fates for reelection. The same goes for President Donald J. Trump who is ignoring them for the money he sees himself getting for his reelection in 2020 which will never happen. With social media, students can coordinate activities on a scale never seen before and with protests on March 24^th, 2018 across the nation and in Washington D.C., the political establishment will face the consequences of inaction in future elections if they fail to act.

While we support the right to bear arms, and as a gun owner, we cannot support the use of weapons the likes of the AR-15 or the AK-47, both of which are intended for use on a battlefield and against soldiers, they do not have a place in the hands of untrained individuals. With so many school shootings, some want to arm teachers. Most teachers have an aversion to carrying a weapon, as they are there in a school to educate young minds, not to kill them. Also because evidence suggests with some recent accidental discharges of weapons in schools, for example, this news report, (Accidental Gun Discharge) suggests that this is not a viable option.

The politicians are ignoring the future voters, and will ultimately pay the price for their stupidity. Students are becoming much smarter, better educated than their parents and better communicators who are willing to stand up for changes. The National Rifle Association (NRA) has redoubled efforts to advertise online after the Parkland shooting to sway current politicians and of course the parents of the future voters (NRA Advertising) by spending heavily in online advertising.

Current students who are marching today, want to protect not only themselves but those that will follow in their footsteps. Students want an education without being in an atmosphere of fear not knowing if they will go to school one morning only to have an active shooting take place and witness a classmates death. We as adults should support their endeavors and not hinder. These future adults will be making decisions that will affect us as we become seniors in life. Their actions today will be their legacy that the students will carry forward.

Stephen E Sauls

Chamblee, GA USA

The World of Warships Rank and Clan Battle Hot Spot Map

I want to discuss the chart appropriately titled “Hot Spot” by its creators, World of Warships at http://www.worldofwarships.com and how you can win on this map if you follow the suggestive course of actions. In the game, I am known as Ballermaris, and I am the clan leader of Caspian Division, or in the game by its tag as (CASP).

This chart is also used in Random Battle scenarios, but the Capture Points do differ in their placement. Still, the layout will be familiar to those who have played “Hot Spot” in any type of battle that this chart has appeared in.

(Clan-Destine, 2017)

In the Ranked Battles, the spawn points are at either north of A which is shown as green and in the south, it is displayed as red. Regardless of ship types, the object of the battle is of course to win. I show the general movement of teams with the solid green and red lines to their respective capture points of A and B. As the reader may see, there is the solid yellow line that is drawn to capture point C. Any team headed to that point can generally be quickly defeated, if you do the following, regardless of your orientation on the chart.

Your position at A or B would generally lead to the progression of sailing onward in the capture point C. However, this is where you will be able to pull out a solid win if you follow this game plan from the get-go. Returning to the red and green dashed lines, that will be your next battle course which will take you respectfully into the center area of the three islands as shown with the blue arrows. You will want to have your destroyers to screen the heavies, i.e., the Battleships and Cruisers as they engage their opposites on the battlefield.

The enemy has made a high-speed run to Point C to capture it. Generally, they will be the destroyers of the opposite team, which in itself is a good thing. They are in essence, now bottled and pinned down by your side who has likely annihilated those protecting Points A or B. You will want to return a token force to the start point of your mission; which will be either A or B. The destroyers trapped in C; will try to contest the take-over of their teams capture point, and will want to return. You can then set up a three-way ambush cross-fire. With your team in the blue arrow area which will be backed up by those in Points A and B.

Some things that can help with the battle is having at least a 14 point captain on your ships, especially the battleships. German ships Bismark and Tirpitz, which have some of the most extended ranged secondaries in the game at Tier 8 can benefit from manual fire control. The US battleships Alabama and North Carolina can utilize their secondaries rather well with manual fire-control. The IJN battleships Amagi and Kii too have favor with this skill. The main reason behind having that manual fire control ability is that if you are going toe to toe with another battleship; having those secondaries also active can help start fires and while you are engaging the enemy you are delivering damage over time.

At all times maintain situational awareness, as any of those ships in Point C and slip out and try to do a reverse ambush on any of your teammates. Listen to the communications of those around you and always acknowledge any alerts you will get from the team, because it may save yourself from taking a torpedo.

Stephen E Sauls

Ballermaris

Chamblee, GA.

References

Clan-Destine. (2017, December 31). Retrieved from World of Warships: https://worldofwarships.com/en/news/common/clan-destine/

World of Warships Map Insight for a Successful Win

I enjoy playing the game Worl of Warships, which is an online MMO involving warships that the player uses to fight against other players. It puts the player on different maps that appear in both the Random Battle, Ranked Battle and in the Clan Battle scenario. I can be found in the game as Ballermaris, and I am a Clan Leader for Caspian Division or (CASP) which is the clan’s tag in World of Warships.

(Clan-Destine, 2017)

The map that is displayed appears currently in the World of Warships Ranked Battle and has been observed in the Clan Battle scenarios. For those who have seen this chart all too often, and then wonder how you can win on it. I offer some insight and an explanation so that no matter if you are on the North or South side of the chart, you can pull off a win if you follow the suggestions that I will lay out.

A, B, and C are the capture points in which each team is faced with when starting out on this chart. You see the primary spawn points for the North and South Teams, with their general orientation. For each team, they have to make a choice, and that is to create a quick capture. However, enticing as it may appear, Capture Point C is, in fact, a death trap for either team when on this chart. Look at the yellow arrows and the large yellow “X,” and regardless of your team’s position, ignore Capture Point “C.”

Note the long Red Arrow in a North and South orientation, that will be the battleground where you will make your stand. Regardless of your team’s makeup by ship class, if you efficiently capture either “A” or “B” that is where you will battle the other side as they try to engage you.

The team that is engaging you will have to cross a lot of open water, and therefore whoever is able to capture “A” or “B” points first will have control of this chart. You can grind them down, one by one as they attempt to pass through the openings, but be wary that either team can sneak a destroyer on the North or South side of the map and ambush you instead.

If you maintain control of the chart at “A” and “B” you can win the battle, even if they still have managed to Capture Point “C.”

Hopefully, this will help you win a battle or two on this chart. Good luck, and Fair Winds and Following Seas.

Stephen E Sauls

Ballermaris

References

Clan-Destine. (2017, December 31). Retrieved from World of Warships: https://worldofwarships.com/en/news/common/clan-destine/

When Facts Deviate We All Lose

It has been a favorite past time of late, for President Donald J. Trump to twist the facts to suit his tastes or to make someone believe something is real. Trump has proven to be a born liar, and narcissist, and does not like to lose anywhere. He incessantly attacks news media and seems to take great pleasure in this even to the point of having news organization FOX News as his main mouthpiece to keep those who have followed him in check. A political factfinding website http://www.politifact.org which is a Pulitzer Prize Award Winner does an excellent job of determining what is right and not correct when it comes to President Trump and his forever misleading statements (All False Statements Involving Donald Trump, 2017).

When I write a paper for college, I have to state and argue facts that must be backed up with evidence of my sources from where I referenced the information. I cannot randomly just say certain things and then expect what I have argued in a paper to be what I believe is an accurate assessment of an issue. Trump had been making a large number of inaccurate and false statements, that the Washington Post would by January 27, 2017, have to publish one of the first articles about the president’s hateful comments before January would even end. One of the most significant false statements was made a day barely into his presidency,” I remember hearing [when I was young] from one of my instructors, ‘The United States has never lost a war.’ And then, after that, it’s like we haven’t won anything. We don’t win anymore — Jan. 21, remarks at the CIA (Kessler, 2017).

One would think that we would have elected a president who would be able, to tell the truth, not lie, and be someone to whom a young child who could be influenced by a man of stature look up to. I frankly worry that his influence of wanting to outright lie, hide facts and even conceal his actions while on a working vacation will carry over to young minds. Leave it to Trump’s White House obscure his daily golfing on one of his golf courses in Florida. While he was playing a round of golf at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida photojournalists from CNN, CBS, and ABC News tried to film the president while he golfed. Unfortunately the vast white, unmarked box truck kept the view of the president blocked from the cameras (Kludt, 2017). Once can surmise he did not want the world to see him leaving large divot craters on his golf course, nor that the president’s balls were going to the correct spot.

Trump loved to attack President Barack Obama when he was in office and while he was out golfing, and in what he thought tweets that were “deleted” from Twitter, The Washington Post found more than a few that were outright lies and entirely off the mark. Some even included former President Jimmy Carter “Can you believe that, with all of the problems and difficulties facing the U.S., President Obama spent the day playing golf. Worse than Carter” — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 14, 2014 (Bump, 2017).

So, Mr. President, you seemed to have promised not to take so many vacations as President Obama did during his presidency. You did attack President Obama on a regular basis about this, but before entering the White House, Trump was a frequent critic of Obama’s personal time outside the Oval Office. Trump even criticized taking vacations at all, “Don’t take vacations. What’s the point? If you’re not enjoying your work, you’re in the wrong job,” tweeted Trump in 2012 (Difazio, 2017).

But another glaring fact that President Donald J. Trump wants to hide and lie about is all the taxpayer money he is spending on all his travels in 2017. While the cost of individual trips may vary, Business Insider estimated that the six weekends (21 days, in total) Trump has spent at his Mar-A-Lago estate in Florida since becoming president added up to roughly $21.6 million. And if you make the comparison to that of President Obama who spent eight years in office his travel costs were much lower when Business Insider looked into the charges for President Obama. Back in December 2016, conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch found that Obama spent almost $97 million on travel during his two terms as president — about $12 million a year. The analysis included family vacations in Aspen and Martha’s Vineyard alongside work trips for trade negotiations in Cuba and an Earth Day speech in the Florida Everglades (Bondarenko, 2017). So congratulations President Trump, your math, and facts are still rather weak.

Facts are relevant, much like science-based and evidence-based facts are. When backed up by reliable data that is verified and checked no matter how one person like Kelly Ann Conway likes to spin the false points they will still be proven incorrect at a later date, and with today’s data technology you cannot ignore what is there. One has to consider that if we deviate from facts, we will all lose.

Stephen E Sauls

References

All False Statements Involving Donald Trump. (2017, December 29). Retrieved from Politifact: http://www.politifact.com/personalities/donald-trump/statements/byruling/false/

Bondarenko, V. (2017, April 12). Trump Is On Track To Spend More On Travel This Year Than Obama Did In 8. Retrieved from Business Insider: http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-travel-spending-outspending-obama-millions-taxpayer-dollars-2017-4

Bump, P. (2017, December 29). 2017: The Year That There Was Always A Trump Tweet. Retrieved from Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2017/12/29/2017-the-year-that-there-was-always-a-trump-tweet/?utm_term=.fc3631f4fedf

Difazio, J. (2017, August 3). Trump’s Taken More Vacation Days to Date Than Obama During Presidency. Retrieved from International Business Times: http://www.ibtimes.com/trumps-taken-more-vacation-days-date-obama-during-presidency-2574250

Kessler, G. (2017, January 27). President Trump’s First Seven Days of False Claims, Inaccurate Statements, and Exaggerations. Retrieved from The Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2017/01/27/president-trumps-first-seven-days-of-false-claims-inaccurate-statements-and-exaggerations/?utm_term=.d8f59af62b93

Kludt, T. (2017, December 27). Truck Blocks Cameras from Filming Trump on Golf Course. Retrieved from CNN Money: http://money.cnn.com/2017/12/27/media/truck-blocks-camera-trump-golf-course/index.html

Writing Can Be Soothing

Donation for Posts

If you like what you read, please feel free to donate, it is set at $1.00

$1.00

I have not written a blog since 2012, my WordPress site had been sitting unused and neglected. I began going to college through an online program through the University of Phoenix in 2013, and as I approach my fourth year of school when I graduate 2018; I came to realize that writing had over the past three years become a stabilizing factor for me when I was writing college papers.

It can have its up and downs, where you are critiqued on what you write for a specific class paper for that semester. It is December 25, 2017, Christmas Day and I sat down and reconfigured the blog as I had time on my hands. I removed all my old posts, as looking at them I realized they were a great deal dated. After cleaning things out, I thought about my new first post.

The old title of the blog, “Exploring Life’s Moments” was to be no longer a real valid view of the blog, so I decided on a new one, and the blog is simply, “What You Read, Is What You Get.” It is frankly “The Outlook from Me.”

Nothing fancy, some musings from time to time, since I will be back to doing college papers to complete my education.

I have been looking for the girlfriend to be with, but over the years have had no real success, I am not a bar hopper, and that kind of places do not really interest me. I have been viewing the dating sites, as usual, the first couple of “messages” that I received were the usual. “Contact me here, so we don’t have to use the site email to talk, here is my email address, nancyabc@scammer.com.” Had not one, but two send me messages wanting to get in contact outside of the dating site email. Sorry ladies, but seen enough of those.

2017, has not been a kind year for many. We have a sitting president who abused women, refuses to apologize and ignores the facts. I genuinely believe in events that are backed up by scientific fact and evidence, unlike President Donald J. Trump and the rest of his cronies that have filled the cabinet. It will be his undoing and will be welcomed. I think that when he finds himself facing impeachment, he will finally resign. Let’s hope that he resigns or is impeached before resuming the war with North Korea, that has been in a cease-fire since 1953.

Cooking can be soothing, it tantalizes the senses, and when you experiment with new ways to cook, it can get interesting. One cannot avoid the infomercials that take place during the holiday season, we are inundated with them. I will generally switch the channel to avoid them anyway. But what if something catches your eye? One product did, and it is the Instapot. My mother, upon seeing it being demonstrated on “Dr.Oz,” decided she wanted to get one. This was on the 23^rd of December. I of course dutifully began looking for such a new cooking device.

We are not much on shopping, so we turned to making phone calls to the various stores that were supposed to be carrying it. Of course, it being a Saturday there was little chance that a store would have it. Walmart, Target, Best Buy were all out of stock. In doing my research for the Instapot, I ended up turning to http://www.instapot.com, to find out whom else may have been selling it. To my surprise, Kroger was a listed seller, and calling my local store I was happy to find that they had one.

After getting there, I initially had problems finding it, but finally locating the store employee to whom I had spoken to, I was able to see the Instapot which was hidden away in the “gift” area. (When unique items are sold, you can find them in an area where the store considers it a specialty item.)

The hunt paid off, and bringing it home we unpacked it then took it on an operational trial run. It operated as it should have, and on Christmas Day we prepped it for the pot roast that we had initially been bought for the Slow Cooker. As I write, the Instapot is busy at work, cooking the roast that generally we would have placed in the Slow Cooker earlier in the day.

When I write, it will be just the random thoughts that I have at the moment, or perhaps some issue that has piqued my interest. Some may view the blog as dull, or even outlandish, but I hope many will find it amusing and thought-provoking at the same time.

Finally, in closing, treat others the way you want to be treated; and think about what you will say before saying it. Words already uttered are hard to take back, and can have a lasting impact on many. Whether a man or woman, being inappropriate with someone can be leaving damaging implications on them. They may be too young to complain at the moment, but what one has done will come back later as we have already seen for so many people in positions of power. Enjoy the holiday’s, try to make someone’s life a bit more merry and happy so that they can have warm memory and not a dark one.

There is a simple truth, evidence-based and scientific-based facts are real and cannot be ignored. Alternative realities are fake and can be one’s undoing. Remember that Mr. Trump.

Stephen E Sauls

Chamblee, Georgia USA