Business, family, legal, entertainment services, forms and more! GO TO www.LocalBusinessServices.us

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

The Style of M. Joseph Miller II.

I refuse to allow the challenges of life completely alter my life and path of which I am on, this is why I am getting back onto that path of which I started oh so many months ago...be they travel stories or those of fashion. This one is one of fashion.



A few days ago, I was walking to brunch when I ran across an old friend I met in Germany a few years ago, we had not seen one another in some time and started a conversation, one that lead us to enjoy the mornings meal together. He had remembered that my sense of fashion and style was more astute than that of others particularly the others in the immediate surroundings of which we had met; and so he mentioned to me that he had purchased a couple of suits of clothing and a few shirts that he wanted my opinion on.



I obliged and later met him at his place to peruse his new wears. Clearly his sense of style leaned more towards that of Crocket and Tubs, we both joked, of course neither of us could agree as to which version of the pair he had taken cue, the 80’s or the more recent duo as portrayed by Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx.



One suit, black with three buttons and the other grey, so far so good….the material, of the black one was, as I recall not silk or wool, but suitable, the other of better quality maybe even in the “super 150” category, not the best, but still quite nice for starters. He then showed me something I was surprised to see, a white French-cuffed dress shirt, ahhhh how refreshing a dash of sophistication abounds at last even though he mentioned that he has yet to purchase a pair of links.



I was about to get into detail about how to pair these suits and what not to wear with them when he introduced to me what he considered the pièce de résistance!



One black shirt and one white shirt and one red “Pure Silk.” As he exclaimed. Now surely many of you may wonder, what the problem, silk is the best, isn’t it? Well, for men, a silk suit may be ok, especially if your a member of the "family", as for the shirts, their better left for after ten at night no business meetings in a silk shirt. \



As red...its just a NO-GO, unless your going to your prom and your matching your dates bow. Otherwise lets leave the silk red dress shirts for the latin dance instructors! Be very careful with the solid color silk shits as it will be hard to match them to a suit or tie, I mean the black silk shirt will probably only go with a black silk tie and as for the white silk shirt, the contrast of being shiny white itslef, should just be left alone and worn without a tie altogether.



I can only go into so many to do's and not to do's in this session, but if anyone has any specific questions, dont hesitate to comment or ask. Until next time, where what you like and feel good in it, the most important thing is that you like it!



- M. Joseph Miller II.

Monday, September 28, 2009

DoD to Announce Balanced Social Media Policy

WASHINGTON, Sept. 24, 2009 -


Defense Department officials plan to forward a social media policy to the department leadership within the next two weeks that will balance the pros and cons of social networking sites, the department’s top public affairs official said on National Public Radio’s “Talk of the Nation” yesterday.


“I think there are two issues that need to be balanced,” said Price Floyd, principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for public affairs. “No. 1, you need to recognize the benefits taking part in social networking sites and social networking media give you, as well as the risks involved. And I don’t want in any way to shortchange the risks. “I believe [the policy] … will encourage the use of social networking because of the benefits that are there, but also understand and underscore the risks there,” he added. Social media generally refers to using Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and other interactive media tools to communicate with ever-expanding networks of family, friends and colleagues. Currently, Floyd said, the department does not have a policy on the use of social media. “Right now there is no policy on working with or in social networking sites or media. It's currently under review,” he said. “It's on course to be finished within about two weeks.” Introduced on NPR as the department’s “social media guru,” Floyd said not everyone in the department feels the same because they worry that operational security -- Opsec -- will be violated. “In the past, when a soldier, airman, [sailor] or Marine sent home a letter to their family or loved ones and had information in it that might have been sensitive, it could have been read by two or three people, and that was it,” he explained. “The problem now with social networking is that when you Twitter that information that might be sensitive … or put it on your Facebook page, thousands of people see it immediately, and then thousands more could see it as it's forwarded on to others,” he said. “The ramifications of making a mistake, of putting things that shouldn't be on there on those sites, are even greater than they used to be.” Noah Shactman, editor of Wired magazine’s National Security Blog ‘Danger Room,’ was also a guest on the NPR program. He noted there are dozens of overlapping policies about what various branches of the military are allowed to do. The Marines, for example, recently banned Twitter and Facebook from its official networks, while the Army ordered that its networks be allowed access to the sites. “That's just one example of how there's a lot of tension within the military about whether to use these sites or not, and that's why I think this review is very helpful,” Shactman said. The operational security concerns “might be a little overblown,” Shactman said, noting that a 2006 study revealed independent military blogs only had 28 security violations over the course of a year, while official military sites had more than 1,800 violations of those same security policies. Floyd said he used his Twitter account to get feedback on the Marine policy ban when it was announced. Most people who responded said they wanted folks to have access, but “a large minority” said they understood there were security concerns. “These people were on Twitter saying, ‘Yes, this should be blocked,’ so not everyone who uses social networking sites is in favor of having complete and open access,” he said. Many of the people who called into the NPR program spoke in favor of more regulation of social media sites, even as they pleaded for more constant access to their deployed loved ones. One former soldier, Matt, who served two tours as an officer in Iraq, said using social media in Iraq earlier this decade was distracting to his troops. “I've also heard comments from other commanders on the ground that they need to be focused on the fight, not what's going on at home,” Floyd said. ”But I've also heard lots of comments about how it was easier to reintegrate once they came back.” Mike, a noncommissioned officer who served a tour in Afghanistan and two tours in Iraq, said for his soldiers to have “seamless communication with their families was absolutely helpful to morale.” Kira called in to say she talks to her deployed boyfriend in Iraq via Skype, a free video chat service. She thanked Floyd for being able to use social networking, but she said she also recognizes the risks it poses. “It might seem innocuous, but if the right pieces of information are put in the right order, then that can really put our troops in danger,” she said. “I think [operational security] needs to be emphasized more within the military community.” Floyd pointed out that some military commands have been using social media for years: Navy Adm. James G. Stavridis, commander of U.S. European Command and NATO’s top military commander, launched his Facebook page and blogged while leading Southern Command. Recruiters also are using social media to keep in touch with troops who have signed up but have yet to report for duty, Floyd said. “I was at the Recruiting Command at Fort Knox, Kentucky, several weeks ago, and they're going to use Twitter to keep in touch with recruits before they show up,” he said. “They also use Twitter to let their recruits know how they can earn credit towards promotion even before they show up for their first day of duty.” Overall, Floyd said, he believes there is a general misunderstanding about social media. “A lot of people think of it as a new way to get information out. So in that sense, when we went from blast faxing information to blast e-mailing, people were so excited you could push one button and reach so many people,” he said. “And they believed that Web 2.0 is just the next extension of that. I believe that's just a fundamental misunderstanding of what Web 2.0 is all about.” It's not so much a way of getting more information out, he said, it’s also a way of engaging the American people, and “in the case of the military, engaging internally with our internal audience of several million members of the Defense Department.” The department’s newly revamped Web site, www.defense.gov, is designed to engage the public in discussion, Floyd stressed. He added that he is not concerned that things may be posted that haven’t been strenuously scrubbed – “things that may not be -- quote-unquote -- ‘approved talking points’ from public affairs.” “I actually welcome that sort of talk and chatter on the Web,” he said. “I believe it shows a Pentagon that has multiple voices, and it gives a transparency to our decision-making process that I believe is good.”





By H. Forsgren Weaver, American Forces Press Service

Sunday, September 27, 2009

The "Mack", the Survivor!


As I have travelled many a distance and mastered many a task, I've found that the envy of others is not something that I should worry about. I will admit that there has been times that I have been jealous of another, I'm not saying it to be a bad thing, in fact even though I have been jealous of others in the past, I've never been envious of anyone! For me, jealousy has helped me choose the right path and often become successful no matter who got in my way, if someone says it not true...I prove that it is; if someone says its not possible, I assure them that it is. To be jealous gives me the drive to achieve a goal, but being envious is to know that you will never succeed in acquiring what another has.



"Any news is good news" this of course relating to celebrity and the fact that if rumors start circulating about you, at least your being talked about! Keep talking keep the rumor mill flowing, I will continue to prosper from the publicity as always.



I have found myself at the top of the mountain only to have been knocked over the cliff by an errand gust of wind or someone else’s error; I have helped others on their way up, I've supported others when no one else would, I have even provided courage to some when they themselves failed to sustain the will to continue. An in so doing I will always survive, I do not give up, I will not quit, I am an American soldier in both senses of the word, that was taught to me by my Christian Baptist Grandmother each time we went to church, all the way into my adulthood from my commanders and leaders in my Unit in the infantry!



I am a survivor, like the phoenix that rises from the ashes of failure to reinvent myself and fly to my next destination. I again refuse to quit and will persevere to fight for my families’ survival and to train alongside my fellow comrades in preparation for yet another great battle of which we will remain victorious!