Missing Persons in USA, 2,300 a Day.

   I was reading "Dead Beat" By Jim Butcher (part of the Dresden Files series) and the number of missing people was brought up in the USA every year. I decided to go online and see what I could find. This is a startling number. I had no idea that it was this many people. The websites below list the numbers. Check them out before reading on.

What did you think?
Now I know a few of you are thinking that this is the number of people that people go missing and are later found. Well unfortunately that isn't the case. These numbers are based on the number of people that are NEVER found.  The number of people that go missing and are then found later is much higher.  Which brings up the question:  How can people just disappear?
 Before we jump into conspiracy theories about something like this, let’s try to think logically.  There are lots of ways for a human being to just vanish. It has been proven that people can go off the grid and vanish from everyday life. There have been plenty of movies and TV shows about criminals, fugitives and scared people who have decided that society isn't for them and they just leave their lives behind. They leave their cell phones, credit cards, clothes, family and everything behind for a life where they can't be found. Some become homeless or hermits in the wild. Others just take on a new identity, have papers forged or specifically made and vanish into a new life. But, then there is the question of bodies found that have no ID or any markings that show who they may have been or who they were and they end up Jane or John Doe's in a Corners office.
What really catches my interest is the people who go missing without a trace. No body, no tracks, no nothing. How often do you hear about this and it just rolls off your back? In some parts of the world the number is higher because of the lack of jobs that require them to keep an eye on you. Now I'm not simply meaning of a bad way, just accountants and HR people keeping track of your pay dates and such so they know who you are and how you are paid, or your mortgage, banks statements, mail, etc. little things that are set up in order to keep track of people.  
 In today's society, people are worried about being watched or tracked on the Internet. I understand about it being a violation of your privacy but when you think about, wouldn't you want someone to be able to find you if you needed it? Say for example, you walked outside and down the street from your house. Suddenly the ground caves in under you, now your deep in a hole and your knocked unconscious. Granted someone could come along and find the hole and see you down there. But what if it happened in some strange place that you haven't gone before. Would someone you know be able to find you? How many people check on you when they don't have to? Family, Friends, etc? It doesn't have to be some strange Sci-Fi or crazy psycho killer. It just has to be an accident.

 Let's talk about the other side though. Many people believe that there is more to live than meets the eye. You can look at the mysteries of the world the same way you can look at Religion.  People say God is real. Can you see him/her? Can you touch him/her? Can He/Her be walking the street right next to you? Does He/Her listen when you pray?  All these questions can be related to asking if Vampires, Bigfoot, Angels, Demons exist. If Angels exist, then do Demons? You could go back and forth for HOURS arguing both sides of the fence thinking that common sense says that neither side is right or wrong.  You honestly can't prove anything if there is no hard evidence. But there is Belief, and we all know from our history books that belief is all you need to make it a fact in your own mind.  So based on that, why couldn't some of these missing people have vanished because something beyond our reasoning and understanding took them?  Now I'm not going to say for certain that any of that is true, because I honestly can't prove it can or can't be true. But I do know that there are many things in this world that I can't understand and don't know for sure that they exist.
 For example; say your walking down the street in the rain. The rain clears and a rainbow comes out. You look and say "Oh Wow that's beautiful!" From next to you a man says,"What is?" You reply to them without looking, "The rainbow in the sky." The man says, "What's a Rainbow?" you turn to comment and you see the man is blind. After a moment, you explain to the blind man what a rainbow is, he laughs a bit and says "Sure pal, whatever. I can see the magic colors in the sky too." Granted this is a more blunt example but is no different from arguing about the existence of a jellyfish to a man who lives in the middle of Africa and has never seen or heard of the Ocean.
  I'm personally one to believe that there are stranger things in life than what we are brought up to believe. Being an Irish-Catholic, I was brought up to believe in my religion, but since my youth I have been exposed to many things in this world that has lead me to believe that there are things that I can understand and things that I can't. But I do have faith, and that's something that allows anything to be believable. The websites below give factual numbers. How do we know? Because it's their job to figure out numbers. What do those numbers mean? That something has happened to those people. Is it something we can wrap our minds around and understand? I honestly don't know, but I have faith that one day an answer will come about. When that happens......Will we be ready for that answer?

Missing Persons Statistics and Facts — 2,300 a Day — Crime Library on truTV.com:
America's Missing
Missing In America

Ettleson Hyundai in Countryside, IL Car Dealer & Service.

I took my car in to have my headlight fixed & oil changed. The headlight was out for over a week because my work schedule wouldn't allow me to bring it in before they closed except for on the weekend. Before they finished they asked if I wanted my air filters changed. I said no because it would cost me over $100.00. After I arrived home in daylight, I parked the car. Later in the evening,  I was going out with my fiance for a show. I started the car and the headlight is still out. Guess I should have checked it funny that they did enough to see that my air-filters needed changing, but they weren't focused enough to remember to replace my headlight. Well at least my oils changed but I think I'm going to have to be a little more non-trusting of people who I have work on my car.
 Thanks for the service Ettleson Hyundai in Countryside, IL

 Now I've rescheduled the service for next Saturday. Hopefully they will get it right this time.

Bring Guitar Hero Back!

This article goes right to the heart of the problem with Guitar Hero and shows how to bring it back in to the league of gaming a New!
Guitar Hero: What Now? | ScrewAttack.com

Transformers: My all-time favorite comics

        I've been a fan of Transformers since I was a kid in Grammer school.. I don't remember exactly when I first became a real fan. But I do remember when I got my first toy of a Transformer.  It was on a St. Nicholas Day back in the 80's I could probably figure it out but i'm too caught up in the subject now, I'll post it later.  The Transformer was the Autobot Prowl. He has been my favorite ever since.
  I honestly liked the toys but I LOVED the comics when I discovered them a year later. One of the kids in my class brought a few to school and I knew I had to see it. I went to the local comic shop (which is the same on I use today), and bought my first Transformer comic. I began collecting them after that and soon had more comics then I had toys. I also became a fan of the TV series following it as it went, catching as many episodes as I could, especially re-runs.
   Since my youth I have always been a fan, and to this day I still collect the comics and watch the TV series that are on now. Though I stayed away from the more "kiddy" type shows involving the Transformers, I have embraced the movies and more adult aspects of the subject matter.
  I regret that I haven't really experienced the video games and card games of the subject, but that was never really my style. The mythos and stories of the Transformers was always my biggest draw. I see them a in a way kids see Greek Gods and Heroes. They are Legendary in the aspect of their size, strength, duty, spirit and wars. There really is some magnificent tales involving the Transformers, in both comic and novel forms.  Especially when you find a particular character that hasn't really been drawn, but you can picture what they look like in your minds-eye.
  What's really interesting about the Transformers is the variance in what they look like.  There have been so many artist's rendering of them that you almost can always find a favorite because of how it looks and the characteristics it shows.  So many different and talented artists have worked on the Transformers comics, tv shows, toys, movies and cards that you can find 5-20 different forms of your favorites and even ones you never new existed.

  In more recent years, the series has gone through major changes and re-vitalization's. Different publishers of comics have had rights to the subject of the Transformers and written their own style of mythos behind the giant robots. Even created new types that didn't exist before and allowed their writers to re-tell the stories from the original series or create their own new stories relating to current events happening around our planet. In essence creating a new universe for the Transformers to exist in beyond their original story. In the same way the movies and TV shows have expanded the universe and the variance of the Transformers story into something completely new and exciting tale of adventure.
       I truly hope and pray the series never ends and continues growing.

 Now, in the matter of the Video Games of Transformers. Most have never really been that exciting. though with the advancement of gaming tech, new games have come out that take us to a new level of enjoyment. What I would love to see more than anything is a new fighting game using the Transformers.  It should be in the same class as Marvel Vs. Capcon or Mortal Kombat, but be done in a styling in reference to 2 games that were popular arcade and console titles Tech Romancer and Virtual-On: Cyber Troopers.    
   Something that existed in the Transformers universe was that no two robots were the same. Each had different abilities and skills that made them unique to a specific task or fighting style.  This has changed over the years with the different writing and story-lines that  have been created, but nonetheless the same principle has always been there.   This could play out very well in a fighting game. Each character could be portrayed on the side they fight for and you can select the characters and fight either the A.I. Or against a friend in the room or online.  The atmosphere is very hot right now for fighting games and this would be a new take on a classic subject.
   Not to mention that Marvel Vs. Capcon and Mortal Kombat, employ bringing in characters that are not from their particular game/story history in order to add a new element to the fight. So why not bring in other robots to the fight. I think this would be a great concept to add plus allows for a plethora of DLC and multiple game titles for new and growing fans.

  When it comes down to it, like other series like Star Wars and Star Trek, Transformers has stood the test of time and marketing to come out of the 1980's and 90's to stand now in the 2000's as a popular and relevant interest.