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CD If you noticed, I didn't necessarily say young people had to join the MILITARY after highschool. Everyone isn't cut out for military duty. There are a lot of people who should not only never learn how to use a gun, but they shouldn't even come NEAR one because they'll end up hurting themselves before anyone else. However, they CAN and SHOULD perform some sort of National Service such as fighting forest fires, cleaning up trash, performing medical services, ect.... But the main thing is to get them out of the comforts of their homes and away from mommy and daddy and teach them discipline, responsibility, and self reliance as well as how to work with people of different backgrounds. I see it as a "great equalizer" of sorts. In a nation so large that values individualism and people have the right to choose where they live, too often people tend to grow up in isolated communities and by human nature don't want to leave unless someone MAKES them. There needs to be some sort of institution that FORCES people to live and work together for a certain period of time in order to achieve and maintain some sort of sense of unity in America or else the people will eventually turn on eachother. My views on the role of women in society is constantly changing. For such a long time, I didn't think women should even be in the military....just like I didn't think homosexuals should be in the military. Now I think BOTH should be allowed in the military and the focus should be the individual rather than the group and the criteria should be who can produce the best RESULTS regardless. However the officers should use a lot of common sense when putting different groups together. You can't expect to put a bunch of healthy young men and women together under ANY condition and not expect that some sexual activity may go on. Nor can you just recklessly put gay men in the same squad with straight men and then be suprised that fights start breaking out in the shower room because nature takes it's course...lol.

As I start to reduce my use of Facebook I'm beginning to realize just how entangled I am with the platform. Over the years, out of convenience, I've been using my Facebook ID to login to all types of websites--including this discussion forum. For the convenience of using my Facebook credentials to log into this discussion forum and other sites, I'm telling Facebook exactly what I'm doing, where I'm doing it and how long I'm doing it. Obviously Facebook is using this information to improve what they are doing, which of course means crushing any competition or assimilating their content. I'm sure this information is part of the dataset Facebook sells to marketers as well. As a result, I've been slowly removing my Facebook logins. Fortunately the forum's software allows me to merge accounts. So I created a new account just using my email address, then I merged my old account which used my Facebook credentials into the new account.

Well I think it is probably the later @CDBurns, she sees social media sapping her traffic. I monitor the entire online book environment and the impact has been devastating. Sure there are many reasons Black book websites struggle including, failure to keep up technically, dependence on a single stream of income, lack of new content, etc, but the impact of social media can't be ignored. Of course the impact is not limited to Bloggers, and Black book websites, the entire web is effected. Luvvie has an advantage in that she is a celebrity. AALBC.com has an advanatge in the it is big and has been around a while. But the real problem is social has put a real damper on the ability for new indie websites from succeeding. Which I always argued makes the Internet a less rich place and focuses control onto a few platforms. Another Luvvie or AALBC.com will be virtually impossible to start today. But the solutions are simple: (1) As Luvvie says, stop giving Facebook your content. (2) Take all of you energy devoted to social and actively support other platforms--including your own.

Congradulations! It's hard to believe ANY website today is 19 years old. Who knew the internet would be as big of a deal as it is today? Starting a website way back then was forward visionary thinking.

Congratulations on your longevity!