My take on tattoos , marijuana, alcohol , and rebellion. Who are the true rebels in today's society? The answer may surprise you.

I just wanted to make my case known here.  I don't like tattoos.  I never did.  Especially on women, I feel as though they take away from the natural beauty of their skin.  Does that mean I can't have friends with tattoos?  No.  Of course not!  Does it mean I can't date a woman who may have ONE and either doesn't want another or regrets getting the one she did?  No.  I always allow people to make one foolish choice in their life that's permanent, but that's about all I'll accept.  And yes, I will always think a tattoo is a foolish choice.  Sorry, but that's just the way that I feel.

But if a woman has ONE?  Would I consider dating her?  If it was tasteful, small, that's the only one she wanted, and definitely was NOT in a place I like to look at, then yes, I'd consider it.  I guess many factors would have to go into it.  When a woman gets a tattoo on her torso or neck or arms, I am just going to tell you right now……..YUCK!  Especially her breasts.  I mean come ON!  That's one of the primary places us guys like to look!

But anyway, that's not the reason for this blog.  The reason is to say that I'm kind of tired of people thinking that my distaste for tattoos, my lack of wanting to drink, and my lack of smoking and drug use somehow makes me "boring" or "a prude."

What you out there may not realize is that, now, people who do NOT drink, people who do NOT get tattoos, and people who do NOT smoke marijuana are, in effect, the REAL rebels of this world now.

Because it seems as though everywhere you look now you're seeing people drinking, people getting tattoos left and right, and hearing about people smoking dope at parties.

So, you all can think you're supreme individuals all you want if you do those things, but those of you who are doing those things are just one of many who are doing the same things.

It is us people who "refuse" to do those things that are now the rebels of this world.  So no matter how unique and awesome you do may think you are, I'm sorry, but unless you're "truly" going against the grain by doing things a little different than society, you're not that special anymore.

So, if you're thinking of doing something to your body, no matter what that may be, realize that if you really want to feel unique, NOT doing something to your body that could stay with you, or poison you, or perhaps even kill you is going to be the most rebellious thing you could do.  It's what can truly make you stand out from the crowd, now that the "crowd" is all acting like mindless clones by doing the same kinds of things.

Google Play for EBooks!

I just wanted to say that if you haven't checked out Google Play for your Ebooks, you may want to give them some consideration.  In addition to being able to be read on a computer, there's apps available for a variety of devices, especially Android devices.

My friend has an android-based phone and downloaded one of my books on it and the quality looked top-notch.  I have a warning for writers, though.  Getting an ebook ON Google Play is no easy endeavor.  It has taken, literally, months due to a variety of technical glitches.  Even then, 4 of them are still in processing.

https://play.google.com/store/books/author?id=Jonathon+Jones#?t=W251bGwsbnVsbCxudWxsLDEsImJvb2stZ0Y0dENmVTQxcFlDIl0.

Kindle vs. Nook vs. Iphone vs. Ipad vs. everything else...

Ereader reviews from a publisher/writer. I just wanted to make some quick comments for those who have been contemplating buying an E-reader, or maybe for those ever thinking about writing a book online.

I wanted to state that, although Kindle has a definite lead in number of books available, devices, etc., don't count out Barnes and Noble, Apple, and Google. From a writing standpoint, let me just say that writing for Amazon may "seem" easy, until you turn around and re-download your book and see what it looks like on a variety of their devices.

Their document converter, basically, sucks, and isn't consistent with its formatting conversion to the point where things look the same from device to device. It really does poorly when it comes to the Kindle Fire, since the resolutions are SO different (Better) on that thing compared to its other Kindle devices, and Amazon's converter technology to convert documents just hasn't caught up with it yet, so books will often be displayed a bit wonky on there.

So if you ever get a book and some text is cut off here and there, as much as you would like to blame formatting on the writer, a lot of times it's that Amazon's document converter isn't correctly translating text from one device type to another.

I'm sure they'll get the bugs worked out eventually but, for now, it's just so new that the technology isn't really perfected yet in my opinion.

Now, I've never played on an Apple device, but I have seen my books previewed on an IPhone and an Ipad and they're top notch. I've also seen an Android phone view a book from Google play, as well as having seen their previewer, and have seen the previewer for Nook books and, let me just say that they more consistently display things correctly than Amazon could even hope of doing.

Although publishing through Google is a BIG pain in the butt and requires multiple steps, as does Apple, when they pull out the finished product from your document file, it looks very professional. As does a Nook book. However, Amazon is kind of lacking in the whole quality control department. We don't even know anything is wrong with a book as far as formatting is concerned unless we download it ourselves. That, to me, just isn't a good business practice. So if Amazon wants to continue taking the lead, they need to do better.

Amanda Seyfried, Zooey Deschanel, and other various women with huge eyeballs

I just finished watching the movie "Gone" with Amanda Seyfried. I've got to admit, I love women with giant eyes. There's just something uniquely appealing about a woman who looks like she's in a constant state of surprise. I have no idea why I like that look, but I do.

Online Dating Profiles

I think it's interesting how so many people seem to have a different definition of thin, average, curvy, and a little extra. I've seen thin and it be thin, thin that made me wonder if a woman had a fun house mirror at home, average as average, average as having her own zip code, curvy as just having big boobs and hips, and curvy having curves everywhere--a virtual ocean of motion, a little extra making me think she had an insecurity problem because she did NOT have anything extra, and a little extra actually meaning a LOT extra.

So, seriously....we all need to have some kind of terms that aren't so general, because most people don't seem to know how to categorize themselves correctly. I don't know--BMI Index, SoMeThInG so when us single people do searches we aren't so overwhelmed by false advertising.

Shallow is not always shallow, but stupidity is always stupidity.

Okay, let's get something straight. If a person does not want to date a person because they are overweight, it is a legitimate excuse and not a shallow one. Why? Because if you are looking to date, it's to find someone for the long haul. Being overweight puts a person in a high health risk category, and if we want someone around for the long haul, why would we want someone we have a higher chance to live a shorter life with? If we have a choice between healthy and unhealthy, why wouldn't we choose someone who is healthy?

After all, look at a group of 80 or 90 somethings and tell me how many overweight ones you see, especially in the later years.  Not many, IF any.  Why?  Because that weight was too much for their heart.  You can't live a full life if the primary thing keeping you going has to work double or triple or more of what it usually has to work.  It's simple logic.  

 But yet people are perpetually ostracized by not choosing those who are in that category, making them feel like they're somehow shallow. I don't think they should be condemned for that choice, because if we want someone around for the long haul, those people have less of a chance to make the whole journey with us.

Yet, when a woman won't date a man because he's the same height as her or shorter, that's considered okay in our society? Why is that? If a person is shorter or the same height as the woman but he's super healthy, wouldn't that make him fair game?

Yes, I'm still on this rant. I just can't believe how many women won't date men unless they're significantly taller than them, by at least 4 inches. It is SO ridiculous!!! I mean, at 5 ft 8 it's not like I'm Yoda or anything, but in the eyes of many women today, since it's under 5 ft 10 I seem to be.

Now, my mom is 5 ft 7 and my dad is 5 ft 2...been married 44 years. My Grandpa is 5 ft 4 and my Step-Grandma is 5 ft 8...been married 53 years. So, if there's anyone who knows that the whole "the guy must be taller" idea is CRAP, that would have to be me. :)

Anyway, I just find it interesting. How if we do ONE thing we're considered shallow when we shouldn't be because we're just protecting ourselves from having a short life with someone, but when people do something SERIOUSLY shallow America thinks it's perfectly okay to do. It just doesn't make any sense to me.

Toys, Games, and Action Figure Collectibles of the 1970s: Volume IV Star Wars to Zorro

Volume 4 has been released! http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0084X2IEQ

They're done. Volumes 3 and 4 of my 1970s Toys, Games, and Action Figure Collectibles of the 1970s

Volume 3 is ready on Amazon! Volume 4 should be posted within a few hours. Enjoy! Volume 4 is the last one. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0084V0WQO

3rd toy book has now become a 3rd and 4th...

Sorry about the delay on the book. It should be about 2-3 days. I ran into a huge snag today. I'm going to have to split my 3rd book into a 3rd and 4th book. Due to all of the pictures and categories, there's no way I can get it so that it fits within the file size limits of the places I'll be sending it to. Well, I could, but I'd have to downgrade the quality of the pictures SO much it'd look downright horrible. So, instead of a 3rd toy book, it's going to be a 3rd and 4th book. Stay tuned!

Volume 3 of my Action Figure, Toys, and Games book...

I'm about 80 percent done. Sorry it's taking so long. This one is a lot more intensive and required a lot more research. I'm going to have to make this one 2.99 instead of 1.99. Sorry, but I worked really hard on this and it took twice as long to do. It should be completely done and available within the week. I'll keep you posted!

Parents, Kids, and a Major Mistake

I think one of the primary mistakes parents make is thinking they need to give their kids a better life than they had. That kind of thinking gets the parents in debt, always working and never there for their kids, and kids overly spoiled and raised by the media instead of real live human beings.

Minimum Wage and the impending results on American society...

I was doing some research on housing to income ratios, and my findings were rather depressing. Let's take minimum wage for example. Just how out-of-sync is it when concerned with what it takes to live? Okay, if an employer doesn't pay more than minimum wage, and that's all a person can get, and that minimum wage is $7.67 an hour (It differs from state to state, but that's what it is in Florida) and full-time employment is 40 hours a week, and you don't get paid for 5 of those hours since you often have to clock out for lunch, that means a minimum wage worker only makes 1,073.00 or so BEFORE taxes are taken out, and after they are taken and social security and all of that other stuff is taken out (Around 17%) the take-home pay for that worker would be around 891 dollars.

Well, the average rent price in the U.S. for an apartment? (And this isn't even a higher mortage, but just rent for an apartment) $865. So, this leaves a minimum wage worker with only less than 30 bucks left if that's what they made and paid for rent. Kind of impossible to pay for power, water, food, clothing, any kind of entertainment (Net, tv, etc.) with that kind of money, don't you think? This is why, in this country, if you don't have more than one person in the household working, unless that one person has a tremendously good job, then you're just not going to make it.

This is also why, when kids are raised in this country, due to the stagnant wages and the high rent and housing prices, why they're becoming even more and more unruly as well as materialistic. Why? No parents around to raise them and, instead, the kids are being raised by the Internet, their friends, and the television. Is the television or net going to teach them morals or how to act responsibly? Not likely. Is the television or the net going to throw things in their faces non-stop that will make them constantly want to buy things? YES.

So, in my opinion, by not being raised by at least ONE parent (Doesn't matter if it's the woman or man in my opinion) due to both parents always having to work, or with the high divorce rate one HAVING to work and no one being left to raise the child, this is seriously...I mean seriously...messing up the youth of today, and it's only going to get worse.

Sure, exceptions exist, and every now and then you will find a well-behaved child who never saw their parents but a few hours a night who grows up into a well-mannered, well-behaved, good-choices-based adult. But how rare is that nowadays? Very rare from all that I've seen. So, yeah....I don't see things turning out very well in the long run if this stuff keeps up. I once did some historical pricing on rent-to-income ratios and they used to be MUCH more in line. Now, they're completely whacked. The results of that are going to change this society for the worse. That's my prediction.

Population Density in the U.S.

I just did a little research. For us Americans who think we don't have enough elbow room, compare this with the UK, our closest non-North-American English-speaking cousins. Okay, the United States has a total land area of approximately 3,794,101 square miles, and a population of approximately 313,527,000 people. That means we have an average of almost 83 people per square mile.

For the UK, they have 93,800 square miles (Florida has 65,755 to give you an example of size) and approximately 62,262,000 people. This means, because they have SO many people in such a smaller area, they've got almost 664 people per square mile. And other countries? Some are a lot worse. China, although having more people than any other country, isn't as bad as we think as far as density. They only have 363 people per square mile, but INDIA has around 955 people per square mile. Yikes. So, us American can never and SHOULD never complain about not having enough elbow room. There's lots of land out there in this country left to occupy.

Toy Books, Self-Help Books, Ebay Antique Guide for Sale on Multiple Outlets

Well, I've been a busy little bee as of late. My books are now being sold on a variety of outlets. In addition, I'm 1/2 done with my 3rd volume of my 1970s toy book series. Overall, as far as distribution is concerned... For Amazon Kindle owners, all of my books are available at: 

http://www.amazon.com/Jonathon-Jones/e/B006PE7K8U/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

For Barnes and Noble Nook owners, all of my books are available at:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/jonathon-jones

For Apple Ipad and other Apple devices owners most of my books can be found in one of two places. Here:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/jonathon-jones/id400208973?mt=11 

and here...

http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/jonathon-jones/id508111263?mt=11

For Android phone and tablet users, 8/14 of my books (The others are processing) can be found here on Google Play: 

https://play.google.com/store/books/author?id=Jonathon+Jones#?t=W251bGwsbnVsbCxudWxsLDEsImJvb2stZ0Y0dENmVTQxcFlDIl0.

And, of course, many of my non-ID books (The toy books and the Ebay books are too big for these sites) can be found on sites such as Smashwords, Diesel, Kobo, and Sony's web sites. Coming Soon: Toys, Games, and Action Figure Collectibles of the 1970s: Volume III: Pocket Heroes to Zorro

Inspirational, even for us "grown-ups."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNgrxgmcwck

I've Gone Global--My Ebooks are now Available on Android Phones

Have an Android phone? 8 out of 14 of my Ebooks are now on Google Play, (The rest still processing) which is an application that comes with new Android phones. They're not showing up in the regular search engine yet, but the direct link is as follows... 

https://play.google.com/store/books/author?id=Jonathon+Jones#?t=W251bGwsbnVsbCxudWxsLDEsImJvb2stZ0Y0dENmVTQxcFlDIl0.

The Google Play Ebooks will be available for customers in the US, Japan, Spain, Australia, the UK, Italy, France, Germany, and Canada.

1970s Toys, Games and Action Figure Collectibles

I'm 1/2 done with Volume 3 of my 1970s toy book series. The final one. I'm really going to push this out the door, though, and am working hard on it. Hopefully I'll have it done within a week to a week and a half. I'll keep you posted. After this is completed, I'll be working on a few individual toy line books based on some 1970s toys that will go in-depth with each line since I could only utilize small portions of my 1970s books to each category. I'm also going to do one on comic books

The Avengers !!!

I just saw The Avengers! The first half was a little slow for me, but the last half was GREAT! I do think they should've put a little more emphasis on Captain America and a little less on Hawkeye. Although the amount of action they showed Hawkeye having did seem to help establish him as an important member. Oh, and for those who left the theater once the credits rolled in, at the end of them was an additional little snippet.