Wacko Web Watch

Just for fun, let's get ridiculous!

Here are some actual e-mails I've received over the last week or two:

GOOD DAY!
TAYLAR SHERMER [shermer.2@osu.edu]

Good Day,
I have a proposal of US$22.4million for you.Please write me for details,using this emailaddress:mr.joseph002@yahoo.com.hk
Mr.Joseph.C.Y Poon.

Why is "Joe" sending this out from Taylar's email address?

Forever your man-root! [ward@merck.com]

Warnning: This message may not be from whom it claims to be. Beware of following any links in it or of providing the sender with any personal information.
Magnesium oxide rejuvenating medicine for you.

No thanks, "Ward" !!!


Please ignore my last email

Donnell Connell [lyladwcfp2kfsj@cruzers.com]
Donnell Connell to Will
Follow up message
Stop being rep watch wannabe http://aiqbepzo.cn/

I never got the "last email"...

Obama Targets Boomers for Extermination
News Issues and Guests Division*[newsxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxx.xxx]
July 29, 2009, For Immediate Release!

Obama’s Healthcare Plan has the core theme of elitism and moral superiority with the Baby Boomer generation, who have been towing the economy, as it’s target for elimination.

Citizens 65 and older to ‘end of life’ counseling to determine if they are worthy to live and deplete resources that should be used for the younger population.

Those with assets to take care of themselves in old age will have these assets confiscated in the name of fiscal responsibility and every name will be entered into a national database under the guise of improved efficiency.

A ‘star-chamber’ panel of 20 people will determine whether you deserve the medical treatment that your personal doctor recommends. Comparing this panel to Margaret Sanger and Hitler proves the amount of damage that a small number of people in power can create.

Positioned to sit on this chamber is Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel who believes that medical care should be reserved for the non-disabled and not for those ‘who are irreversibly prevented from being or becoming participating citizens.’

Due to their stimulus package, bank bailout and GM buyout, the democrats need to pass this bill quickly because they are running out of money.

Holy Smokes! Head for the hills!

Summer Storms

The work week whizzed by! The cooler air is back again and the forecast for today calls for heavy rain. I'm glad I'm not a kid this summer! Tomorrow August begins and I think everyone will agree that should things turn hazy hot and humid for a spell no one would complain.

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This message is from a Virgin Mobile customer. Enjoy.

HOW TO GIVE...

See that orange "Donate" banner up there?



You click on that and donate via PayPal.

It's just that simple!

Taconic Crash UPDATE

UPDATE: DRUNK & HIGH ON THE TACONIC

Sunday morning I made the trip down to Kennedy Airport from Albany via the Taconic.

The mystery deepens surrounding last weekend's fatal crash on the Taconic. This is such a tragic story, (scarey for me, because I missed being involved in BOTH of the wrong-way crashes that occurred on the parkway on Sunday) with a lesson for everyone: if you are in trouble, or you need help, and you reach out to someone, try to stay focused and DO WHAT THEY TELL YOU!

During the cell-phone exchange, Hance told Diane Schuler to pull over and wait for him to come get her. Police said the call probably occurred in the pull-off area because at one point, Hance's daughter, Emma, got on the phone and told her father she saw exit signs for Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow. Boyle said he will retrace Schuler's drive today to confirm that those signs are visible from the pull-off.

Although Hance told police he believed the cell conversation with his sister and daughter occurred about 11:30 a.m. Sunday, the call, in fact, may have been placed later, closer to when the deadly collision occurred, Boyle said.

Once the cell call ended, the phone appeared to have been left behind because it was found later at 3:40 p.m. that day by a passing motorist, Boyle said.

The crash and events leading up to it unfolded in broad daylight. I feel sad for the little girls who died, even more sorrow for their parents, and concern about whatever unfortunate physical or mental condition that suddenly posessed the wrong-way driver. It could have been a combination of things: imagine a sudden burst of "floaters" in one or both eyes in tandem with a "panic attack." That would frighten the shit out of most people. I won't speculate any further. We'll see what the pros come up with.

Tags: Taconic Crash, TSP

Around The Blogosphere 30 July 09

Taiwan: Racist cartoon causes controversy

Michelle Malkin: Who let the New Black Panther Party thugs off?

From the NYT: "A scathing blogger exits the shadows as his fashion company falters."

Central Park tree limb falls, knocks Google star into a coma

Dallas Penn: Putting The Pee In Politricks…

Miss Info - Headcrack: Joe Jackson says mystery man at the Jacko funeral was Michael’s secret son

Ten Useful & Interesting Google Docs Hacks - Dumb Little Man

Cuban writer Lizabel Mónica has been blogging since 2007 and has been using her blogs to "build bridges between literature and national and international art, as well as to explore the relationship between art and life." Claudia Cadelo interviews Liz about her Project Desliz and her effort to bring more artists online.

Africa: New dates for African Bloggers Conference announced

The 3rd National Festival of Oral Storytelling will take place throughout the month of August in Lima and Lambayeque, Peru. Elizabeth Lino Cornejo of Te Voy a Contar [es] writes about the importance of preserving these types of traditions.

While on the topic of traditions, Sheki, Azerbaijan says that watermelon season has begun in the country, posting photographs and detailing some of the traditions associated with the summer fruit.

Neda: Cutting Away The Cancerous HOAX

The living Neda Soltani is now quite afraid for her life, since she's suddenly become "the face of the face of the struggle in Iran" despite not being the woman who was shot.

Watching PBS evening network news on Wednesday... in a story about Iran, PBS prominently displayed the photograph of the "wrong" Neda! BTW::: There's MORE to the photograph of "NEDA" than has met your eyes! SHE's CHRISTIAN!

If you read THIS AP ARTICLE you'll find the "boyfriend" of NEDA must be a fake, a fraud and a phony!

You will find that mainstream media continues using inaccurate pictures in presenting NEDA stories, thanks to confusion over how Facebook works (found via Mathew Ingram).

THE REAL NEDA!

CONFUSING? INDEED!

Tags: Neda, Neda, facebook, twitter

"Disappear" Fear, Jacko and "The Swindle"

I'm convinced the only reason people downloaded Michael Jackson songs like they were going out of style after Jacko died, was because of the "get it now or lose it forever" mentality that the internet has impressed upon many... there IS reason to FEAR that what you have, will disappear...

A little while ago I was reading about Amazon deleting reading material by remote control from it's Kindle machines. So, now I will step up my crusade: Do not, I repeat DO NOT ever use a machine or subscribe to a service that can control what you see and hear. Remember: if it can be altered or deleted without your knowledge or consent, it does not belong in your home or in your backpack!

Amazon Kindle Flap Prompts Petition from InformationWeek -by- Deborah Gage - The foundation -- which refers to Amazon's Kindle as "the Swindle" -- has solicited "quick but thoughtful 1-star review(s)" of Amazon's Kindle ...
Amazon's Kindle Mistakes The Perpetual Post
Why 2024 Will Be Like Nineteen Eighty-Four Ethiopian Review
The price of high tech is sometimes privacy Philadelphia Inquirer

Tags: kindle, amazon.com

New York Lottery Back on Albany TV

Here's an interesting bit of news in this morning's Times Union: New York Numbers are back on TV, and co-incidentally now on RADIO on CapitalNews9's am outlet 900 on the dial.

Of course, most people at work can't watch TV and if you're in a big office building forget trying to pull in am900...

Capital Region residents who missed the New York Daily Numbers drawings that once were telecast over WTEN Channel 10 (which is now owned by creditors, but that's another story) found it difficult to obtain results since the lottery's automated telephone line is perpetually busy (so many callers!) - a lot of convenience store and shop owners stopped answering their phones for up to an hour or more after numbers were drawn because they dimply didn't have time to be rattling the results off to everyone who called.

Your complete New York Numbers and Lotto are available 24/7 right here on this humble blog! Just scroll down the right hand column until you reach the NY Numbers box. Click on the game you want and view the latest results!

Tags: New York Lottery, New York Numbers, New York Daily Numbers, Win Four

Last Night's Movie: Frost Nixon

"Ain't nothin' like the real thing, baby." While this 2008 movie may possibly shine a little light on the background of the making of David Frost interviewing Richard Nixon, you'd be much better off looking at the REAL footage. Frank Langella's portrayal of Nixon ages the former president by 20 years. Langella's Nixon may be more animated in body movement and speech, but puh-leez! Nix wasn't a geezer when he was interviewed by Frost. Paradoxically, the actor who portrays Frost is too kind, sort of like having Beyonce portray Eartha Kitt. Kitt, in her prime, could have only hoped to be such a looker.

Watch the movie. It's not bad if you've never seen (or have forgotten) the original Frost Nixon interviews. When you're done, go into the DVD's "Special Features" and you'll get a glimpse of some of the ACTUAL video. Then you'll see what I mean!
*** . 3 and a half out of 5 stars for this one!

Tags: Frost Nixon Movie, Richard M. Nixon

What's on YOUR lunch agenda?

Those fun loving state workers (including the "mancave" crowd) sure have it made! Not only can they purchase flavorful lunches from the vendors that line State Street, they can bet on the ponies too! OTB has set up a little cart of their own a stone's throw from the entrance to the Capitol building. (I snapped this picture Wednesday when I went down to the Capitol to cover Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's presser).

Tags: OTB, gambling

Pop Clips 29 July 09

Malaysian filmmaker and blogger Yasmin Ahmad passed away suddenly on July 25. Malaysian bloggers took to their keyboards to pay tribute to the icon, who died Saturday night (July 25) from massive bleeding in the brain.

The 51-year-old movie maker was famed for her advertisements and films capturing the essence of racial harmony in Malaysia. She had passed out during discussions for a project with a local TV station two days before her death. It's been a year of "celebrity deaths" - David Carradine, Farah Fawcett, Walter Cronkite, Michael Jackson... and others, with 5 months to go in 2009!

"I can use Google just as good as you or anyone else can." Web savvy may have hurt prospective juror.

A son of New York State Senator Pedro Espada Jr. has pleaded guilty to harassment against 76-year-old blogger Rafael Martínez Alequin at a campaign rally last September. According to Martínez Alequin, several people, including Alejandro, began shoving him and trying to grab his camera as he approached Espada. And when he begged Pedro to call off his son, he answered, "He's trying to teach you manners papa. He's trying to teach you manners." (Here's video), and here's MORE from Gothamist's John Del Signore.

Beyonce Nipple Slip!

Two from NYMag: William Shatner Performs Intentionally Funny Version of Sarah Palin’s Resignation Speech (worth bearing the unbearable ad on Hulu.com)... and ... behind-the-scenes at Gossip Girl!

ygblog4 writes about how the Keong Saik Road in Singapore became a red-light district. "When I was diagnosed with HIV, it felt like the moon exploded in my face . . ." Rina, a former domestic helper from the Philippines, shares how she acquired HIV while working in Dubai.

Alice Liu from DANWEI translates an article written by Chang Ping, who pointed out that the government's stopping of electro-shock treatment does not mean that they won't reissue Internet addiction as a disease － they are just changing the standards for treatment.

Renter sued for 'publishing a false and defamatory tweet'...

via Gawker: Associated Press vs. British Bureaucrats: Who's More Uptight about Twitter?

Brooklyn Ron writes "Hip Hop is a Window onto Race Realities in Cuba"

Robot attacks Swedish factory worker...

Download Free PDF Document Creation Software

The Great Book Giveaway

Interested in distributing my forthcoming book FREE, I was attracted to sites offering free PDF document-creation software. That was AFTER Adobe choked, REFUSING to load on the creaky cranky computer I cobbled together and was able to make Windows Millenium Edition run on.

I tried different places: HERE and THERE. I kept hitting brick walls.

NONE of the software programs that provide a "virtual printer" - like WinPDF, would work on my machine. I found something on an FTP site called llSPDFEdit.exe (aka Simple PDF Editor 1.0), which worked but couldn't make page seperations on the PDF documents it produced, which, when opened under Adobe Acrobat, would freeze Acrobat [Not Responding], forcing a ctrl+alt+delete reset.

Then, on an old diskette, I found "Simple PDF Editor" (version 2.0) which apparently was crippled beyond use. It was only when, in desperation, I conducted a search for a warez reg code or keygen for "Simple PDF Editor" (no longer supported by the company that marketed it) that I was able to find FREE PDF document creation that actually WORKS! EUREKA!

Tags: PDF document creation software, PDF

Another Good Thing Must End

Heard some terrible news: Sprint is buying Virgin Mobile. 'Nuff said there::: time to start shopping around for a new cell phone and a new carrier. With their usual "reverse Midas touch" Sprint will probably ruin Virgin Mobile in about 6 months time. Like I always say, have a "Plan B." Remember, B is for Backup!

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This message is from a Virgin Mobile customer. Enjoy.

Around The Blogosphere 29 July 09

Now you can (if you want to, but do you NEED to?) Stream Live via twitter! Ethiopian Review ponders the implications of a possible Twitter lawsuit... The New York Department of Transportation has set up Twitter accounts for all of the city's subway lines, so now you can receive advanced warning on how bad your commute will be.

Here's an interesting little program: PicPick.

Here's something even MORE interesting: Xiaxue's in the kitchen! (Hang on to your arteries!)

LaShawn Barber thinks that Henry Louis Gates Needs A Shrink!

Get Your New Global Voices T-Shirt

There's an epidemic of fake boulders out in western New York...rocameras?

Around The Blogosphere 28 July 09

Kitty-Kat Killer Cheyenne Cherry - Me-OW! "Mouse" over and click on her picture for a revealing look at the charming crim-teen!

Michelle Malkin’s new book (video link) is out ---

Here's a strange story about a young Apple employee who committed suicide after being accused of stealing an iPhone prototype.

Radio can be a rough business...

Comic-Con cont'd (a nice overview of what generated buzz and what fell short in San Diego last week. Also ReadWriteWeb takes a closer look at the "Avatar" toys integrated with augmented reality. And sci-fi blog i09 pans the pilot of The CW's "Vampire…

Saving Blogs & Webpages of Interest At The Library

Here's a great way for people on dial-up (or those who may have a second computer in the house that is not attached to the internet) to save material for later reading or for reference use.

The present Albany Public Library computers have "A" drives. A local odd-lot type store was recently selling boxes of 100 floppies for $5! (And don't forget that, unlike CDs, floppies can be easily erased and re-written over and over and over again!)

When I go to the library, I have a list in hand of articles and/or specific blogs or websites I want to visit and material I want to save. I also email that list of URLS to my gmail account, and open it up at the library. One by one, I visit each of the sites on my list. Once the browser indicates loading is complete, I do a "save as" or "save web page as" right onto my floppy in the A-drive. Sometimes you can get two websites saved on a single floppy. I carry a sharpie marker with me and label the diskette as soon as i take it out.

At the end of the session I usually have anywhere from 5 to 10 floppies with reference material I either want to save or read later. It sure beats trying to read everything at once... I can also load pages from the floppies while I'm online doing something else (they don't need any internet connection to be read).

There are two ways of reading the floppies: thru Internet Explorer (just select the "read offline" setting) or by using an HTML reader. The great thing about "preserved material" is that if the website changes, rearranges or deletes something, I still have the proof that it really and truly existed, one digitial moment in time!

If you're dealing with an incredibly busy, ad-laden webpage or blog posting, look for a "print" option on the site. Have WORD open. When the page to be printed appears, hit "cancel" on the printer display box. Now cut and paste the entire contents of the "page to be printed" into WORD. Save as "whatever name you give it" onto your floppy, and you're good to go!

Fate, Destiny, Spur-of-the-moment Decisions

Sunday morning I made the trip down to Kennedy Airport from Albany via the Taconic. I'm no stranger to the highway, originally built and opened to traffic circa 1930. It's a great ride: no busses or trucks are allowed on the road.

The party I picked up at JFK wanted to take a quicker way home following a 23-hour flight. So they asked if I wouldn't mind going up the Thruway instead. Normally, I'd insist on the Taconic, but for some reason I just said "okay" - and we went up the superhighway.

Just about the time we would have been there - something happened on the Taconic. I learned about it later while watching the CBS evening news - yeah, the NETwork news - so I knew it must have been really bad...

See the photos from the accident
Taconic crash is worst on Westchester roads in 65 years
Father & Son Die in Crash

Tags: Taconic Crash, TSP

Read FREE by Chris Anderson for FREE (or not...)

"Free is a big deal...an economic force that is all around us yet poorly understood." His book identifies several instances in which giving something away allows another aspect of a business to be monetized."-Chris Anderson

Sometimes what purports to be free, is not. "Free: The Future of a Radical Price" (Hyperion; $26.99) by Chris Anderson (canderson@wired.com), editor of Wired and the author of the 2006 best-seller “The Long Tail,” seems to be almost an extended elaboration of a February Wired article Free! Why $0.00 Is the Future of Business. If you're having as much difficulty and/or frustration trying to read FREE for FREE on Scribd or Google, you might want to save yourself some time by reading the Wired article instead.

"...the thing about offering free products is that you’re not really expecting zero returns. Free downloads earn you human attention, and human attention is the real currency of the Internet. You may not consider it particularly valuable, nor may you consider it particularly helpful when the landlord comes knocking for the rent, but publishers and independent content producers would do well to sit up and take notice of this untapped resource - human attention usually leads to community, and community in turn leads to a captive audience … always a good thing to have on hand if and when you finally decide to monetize your online efforts." (1)

Here's a little snip from the aforementioned Wired article that explores the "free" model:

On a busy corner in São Paulo, Brazil, street vendors pitch the latest "tecnobrega" CDs, including one by a hot band called Banda Calypso. Like CDs from most street vendors, these did not come from a record label. But neither are they illicit. They came directly from the band. Calypso distributes masters of its CDs and CD liner art to street vendor networks in towns it plans to tour, with full agreement that the vendors will copy the CDs, sell them, and keep all the money. That's OK, because selling discs isn't Calypso's main source of income. The band is really in the performance business - and business is good. Traveling from town to town this way, preceded by a wave of supercheap CDs, Calypso has filled its shows and paid for a private jet.
The vendors generate literal street cred in each town Calypso visits, and its omnipresence in the urban soundscape means that it gets huge crowds to its rave/dj/concert events. Free music is just publicity for a far more lucrative tour business. Nobody thinks of this as piracy.

In the actual book "Free," Anderson writes about newspapermen "...they may be paid far less, and for many it won’t be a full time job at all. Journalism as a profession will share the stage with journalism as an avocation. Meanwhile, others may use their skills to teach and organize amateurs to do a better job covering their own communities, becoming more editor/coach than writer. If so, leveraging the Free—paying people to get other people to write for non-monetary rewards-may not be the enemy of professional journalists. Instead, it may be their salvation.

Anderson cautions that the philosophy of embracing the Free involves moving from a “scarcity” mind-set to an “abundance” mind-set. Giving something away means that a lot of it will be wasted. But because it costs almost nothing to make things, digitally, we can afford to be wasteful. (2) The ease with which content speeds to consumers over the Internet is just one of the issues Anderson touches on in "Free." Throughout the book, he explores "the paradox of Free," in which "people are making lots of money and charging nothing."

In an effort to take the information from Wikipedia and remix it in his own language -- a process Anderson calls a "write-through" -- several passages were left unaltered, and without any credit to Wikipedia.

The irony that some of the book's contents might have been lifted for free from Wikipedia was not lost on media watchers: Gawker, Fast Company and the Associated Press quickly picked up the story of the pilfered material.(3)


(1) Why Free Isn’t Free - Or At Least, Not Really.
by Eli James
July 13 2009 Noveler

(2) Priced to Sell
Is free the future?
by Malcolm Gladwell
July 6 2009 The New Yorker

(3) New York Magazine
Carolyn Kellogg
June 25, 2009

MORE FOR YOUR READING PLEASURE:
Chris Anderson Discusses the Free Business Model and What It Means ...
Chris Anderson Reponds To Malcolm Gladwell On Charlie Rose - PSFK
Chris Anderson on Free — The Mediavore
Bernard Leong » Free by Chris Anderson

Tags: Chris Anderson, FREE

Around The Blogosphere 27 July 09

Netafull [ja] reports that writer/essayist Mica Naitoh tweeted [ja] that she has received an offer to publish her Twitter novel, just a few days after she started tweeting with the hashtag #twnovel.

The arrival of an undersea cable that will increase bandwidth and lower Internet access costs throughout Africa has sparked debate and interest in the African blogoshere. Seacom, which links South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Mozambique to Europe and Asia, went live on Thursday, connecting eastern and southern Africa to the global broadband network. Rebekah Heacock reports.

Are people who search on Bing more *commercial* than Google searchers? The answer may surprise you!

In the West Bank, Marcy Newman has been teaching young Palestinians about indigenous Americans, as preparation for a solidarity visit by a group of Native Americans next month. Antony Loewenstein is visiting Gaza, and is posting photos on his blog.

Have You Seen The Saucers?

Albany, N.Y. KNICKERBOCKER NEWS - Sept. 20, 1952
'Mainbrace' Has File On 'Flying Saucers' - found within PROJECT 1947

UFO Sighting Report April 1st 1981/1982 : Near Albany, New York, USA

Great Sacandaga Lake UFO

THE UFO CASEBOOK, The Albany International Airport UFO video See it NOW.
- Oct. 22, 2002

United States UFO: Central NY On The Thruway Between Albany And ...

Tags: Flying Saucers, UFO

Screw you, Mister Customer!

What's in YOUR bowl? Mine's empty!

Around 3pm I stopped to get gas at a Voorheesville convenience store where a certain "free" offer is plastered about everywhere. I went in to pay for my gas. A young trainee was having difficulty with the register, and an elederly woman Jerry Seinfeld would likely describe unkindly rang up my purchase. She handed me my receipt and started to move along, at which point I said "Oh. You didn't ask, so I don't I get a free..." She cut me off, squawking "I'm not on duty yet." I said "oh..." She walked away. (Hello: if you're not 'on duty' why are you behind the counter?) Beware of FREE in the brick-and-mortar world!

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This message is from a Virgin Mobile customer. Enjoy.

The Day After

Much has been written about the music produced during the 1960s by The Beatles. There's a blog (don't remember the name or location) that analyzes, dissects and deconstructs every single one of the Fab 4's recorded works. You rarely hear their music on the radio today, with its peculair key, tonal and chordal signatures. Last night my buddy JJ asked me to listen to something: an old Beatles song his dad had taped off local radio. Dad was one of those "radio buffs" who owned an Otari reel to reel tape machine. Holy smokes! The old guy had recorded the "WTRY version" of "The Night Before," which clocks at 1:59, and is unlike any version of the song available on record. One summer in the mid-60s that version beat out all other Beatle songs as the one most popular with listeners in a phone-in contest that went on for a week or more. The first commercial version of the tune appeared on the "Help" album, a weak sister of the song WTRY touted as an "exclusive." WTRY's CART copy disappeared.

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This message is from a Virgin Mobile customer. Enjoy.

Games People Play; Lives People Live; POV

I was never one to "play games" i.e. "head games" or any other method of bringing down or flattening other people. Having said that, there are always people out there who will screw you up, and deep inside, they would rather screw you down. For some folks, the lives they live are as victims of circumstance. It all depends on POV (point-of-view).

Circumstance: Idle Gossip, Character Assassination. This tale, via Michelle Malkin, is totally outrageous::: USA Today columnist blames Peeping Tom victim. It's all about Christine Brennan TWEETING that it's ESPN's Erin Andrews' own fault that risque video of her getting dressed was distributed over the Net. TMZ is reporting it has learned Erin Andrews made a call to 911 Wednesday claiming a suspicious person was outside of her Georgia home.

Circumstance: Living on the edge. From Gaza, Erin Cunningham Tweets: “just had my hair cut by a wonderfully gay Gazan stylist whose salon has been firebombed several times by extremists. resilience = good hair.”

Circumstance: One Day At A Time, w/Zero Concern. In the West Bank, activist Hannah Mermelstein writes on her blog Hannah in Palestine: “A friend of mine here once told me that she never feels safe, so safety is not a consideration for her in making decisions. As much as I may try, I cannot truly imagine this lack of control.”

StimulUS? Spare Change? Car Talk?

We're in an economic rut, a pocketbook pothole, and things aren't getting any better. The unemployment rate hit a modern era high last month, despite the stimulus package. The rate was 4.9 percent in January 2008, 7.6 percent this past January and 9.5 percent in June. Nobody seems to understand: Why? Sandor Balogh, Ph.D. Professor emeritus, political science, explains. One woman has attempted to make changes: "How does one spend oneself out of debt? I have tried that, but all I got was deeper in debt."

THIS really pisses me off: Chrysler to match 'cash for clunkers' - This isn't fair! What about all the car buyers who missed out on this 'deal' by a few days or weeks or even months?

THIS IS WHY AMERICANS ARE SOUR ON THE AUTO INDUSTRY - WHY PEOPLE ARE BUYING HYUNDAIS AND TOYOTAS AND STAYING AWAY FROM THE BIG EVIL THREE!

Tags: Chrysler, stimulus

The NEDA Mystery

While internet site TMZ and soon thereafter the BBC (citing TMZ) were the first media outlets to report the death of Michael Jackson, Citizen journalism isn't always on target. Take the NEDA incident. The video of a young Iranian woman's death has been scrutinized, accused of being staged. The woman herself is not the one you have pictured in YOUR mind!

Neda was shot in the heart last month during a protest of thousands against the Iranian presidential election results that declared Mahmoud Ahmadinejad president. Her death was captured on video by bystanders and uploaded to the internet. She died with her eyes wide open, and her last moments reached millions of people. Global Voices' Hamid Tehrani uploaded a link and video-rich post about this young Iranian and the possible consequences of her death.

NOT EVERYONE BELIEVES IN NEDA: Gary Trieste deconstructs the "Neda death video"...

Shortly into the video, we see blood coming from her mouth. She is not sputtering it out, or coughing it up, as in an inability to breathe. Rather it appears rapidly and self flowing, and runs down both sides of her mouth, almost exclusively. Her center teeth aren't even stained.

Shortly thereafter blood appears to pour out her right nostril . . . Looking carefully in the video, it appears that both the mouth and nostril bleed occurs right after a hand is seen pushing up onto or into them.

These flow patterns appear more to be from a blood bladder timed for rupture when the camera was in the correct position. And the nose bleed appears only after what appears to be a rapid slight-of-hand insertion of blood into her nose.

Conveniently, an anonymous doctor was on hand to provide the CPR, and to try to save her life, provide credible medical testimony, then disappear from the scene.

Now I am nitpicking, but this video was supposedly shot with a cellphone videocam. It really seems a bit too high quality for that, more like a DV camcorder.

Interesting theory... what do YOU think?

More:

THE NEDA IRAN HOAX « the american titanic

Was the Neda Agha-Soltan video a Hoax?

THE NEDA HOAX

Song for Neda

Iranian Blogging

Tags: Neda, Neda

Around The Blogosphere 24 July 09

Fauna from ChinaSMACK translated a series of drawings that show some of the most popular terms in Chinese Internet 2009.

Eavesdropping, blog-style: An interesting conversation about a Korean woman questioning a white guy, in this case the blogger, on why he blogs about Korean women at the Grand Narrative.

Younger contemporary artists in Trinidad increasingly use online media like blogs and social networks like Facebook to exhibit and document their work and engage each other in critical conversation. Nicholas Laughlin has more...

Cuban bloggers react to the arrest of Dr. Darsi Ferrer on the grounds that he allegedly bought construction materials on the black market to repair his house: Blog for Cuba, Uncommon Sense and Human Rights Cuba.

CUBANET
HAVANA, Cuba, July 13 (Roberto de Jesús Guerra / www.cubanet.org) - Police arrested prominent dissident Dr. Darsi Ferrer and his wife, Yusnaymi Jorge, last week, according to Ferrer’s sister-in-law.

“A man dressed in green and accompanied by two police officers came to the couple’s house in a patrol car and one of them told Darsi they were there to check the house, which he opposed,” she said in a telephone call. “Minutes later they left with him and my sister.”

Ferrer is president of the Independent Health Center and the Juan Bruno Zayas Human Rights organization.

The reason for the arrest, which occurred last Thursday, was unknown, but Ferrer planned a walk at the Hotel Nacional which dissidents have called Dream Walk.

More: El médico opositor Darsi Ferrer, director del Centro de Salud y de Derechos Humanos Juan Bruno Zayas, inició una huelga de hambre por permanecer encarcelado sin cargos en la prisión de Valle Grande, a donde fue llevado el pasado martes, reportó el diario El Nuevo Herald.

While Israel as a whole has moved to the right in recent years, there are nevertheless Israelis who oppose their government’s policies towards the Palestinians. Global Voices Online has interviewed activist Joseph Dana, who blogs at Ibn Ezra, about his involvement with the group Ta'ayush ("coexistence"), the state of activism in Israel, and using social media to get the message out.

Mr. Spaceman posts Chester French video...

KnowProSE.com takes a look at Trinidad and Tobago's most viewed websites, saying: “It's really interesting to see how the Internet use has changed…and will continue to change as internet penetration continues.”

The Productivity Trap - Do More Vs Do Better

Hadopi : Les e-mails ne seront pas suspendus

TiltShift Generator, un autre générateur en ligne de photos de type miniatures

Un truc par jour: le vinaigre, encore le vinaigre

Gmail Offers to Automatically Unsubscribe You from Mailing Lists

Burning the Midnight Oil

Getting close to finishing the draft of my book. I'll be distributing it for FREE, but have yet to figure out exactly how. I spent some time today reading Chris Anderson's "Free," which is kind of a lie because it's not free. My book should be ready to roll out in September. I decided on the free model after publishers rejected the book, telling me that nobody is interested in reading about why newspapers are dying. We'll see.

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Twitter User Name Already Taken

So, you finally decided to sign up for a twitter account, only to find that your user name, your identity, your "brand" --- has already been taken! Don't despair! Worse things could, can and will happen.

Finding the Almost Perfect Twitter Username When Yours Is Already Taken

Tags: twitter username taken, twitter

Henry Louis Gates

While the arrest of one of my favorite professors is quite troubling, rubbing salt in the country's old racial wounds, the whole thing reminds me of a woman who lives on our street. She watches over us from inside her home with binoculars. She calls the cops if anyone so much as pulls a leaf off a tree. (Okay, I'm exaggerating. But you get the idea.) The moral of the Gates story is "Mind your own f---in' business" and if some event or activity doesn't concern YOU, then don't be concerned. Even President Obama concedes police acted 'stupidly' in arresting Prof. Gates.

Related Links:

Various Media Sources - "Police arrived at Gates’s Ware Street home near Harvard Square at 12:44 p.m. [THAT'S DAYLIGHT, NOONTIME, LUNCH HOUR!!!] to question him. Gates, director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard, had trouble unlocking his door after it became jammed.

The 58-year old Gates was booked for disorderly conduct after “exhibiting loud and tumultuous behavior,” according to a police report. Gates accused the investigating officer of being a racist and told him he had "no idea who he was messing with,'' the report said.

Friends of Gates said he was already in his home when police arrived. He showed his driver’s license and Harvard identification card, but was handcuffed and taken into police custody for several hours..." - Copied and saved in the nick of time! (Boston Globe Scrubs Henry Louis Gates Arrest Report From Website‎ )

Dallas Morning News - Editorial: The arrest of Henry Louis Gates‎

Atlanta Journal Constitution - Arrest of black scholar stirs national debate‎

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Around The Blogosphere 23 July 09

Here's your regularly-posted wrap-up of what the world's greatest bloggers are up to!

So, you're all comfy and cozy, with the AirCon cranked up high and a cool drink in hand? A a couple of weeks ago a group of Nigerian twitters/bloggers began a campaign called “Light Up Nigeria” [LUN] and here on Twitter. The idea is to mobilize Nigerians into demanding electricity. Sokari explains...

"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" is getting its due measure of blogging time, from me, and from Miss Info, who posts Harry Potter is crack in human form... for Japanese Tweens!

Hey YOU! Watch those tweets! Don't let Twitter shut down your account, learn ALL the rules here!

MeghanButlerRT @PRsarahevans: Do You Have These 11 Traits of Highly Creative People? http://su.pr/2QH9Zz (via @copyblogger @MikeLizun)

Colombia: The Hunt for Pablo Escobar's Hippo

Wendy Cheng (Xiaxue) has posted NEW VIDEOS... get ready for a good laugh! OR you might like a dose of Tang Juice as in - MONICA TANG juice!

MySpace Music Appears To Be A Hit, Increases Traffic Tenfold Year-Over-Year http://ff.im/-5ytpA

Democracy Video Challenge Winner Showcase

Money:::10 Ways You Can Prevent Over-Spending

Tags: twitter, Xiaxue

Listen Up, Buckaroos!

Times Square's NAKED COWBOY! YeeeeHa!

Times Square fixture THE NAKED COWBOY launched his historic bid for Mayor of New York City today. The announcement took place in Times Square this morning.

With a promise 'to do more with less,’ the ever-popular Cowboy is committed to bringing transparency to a whole new level while getting the city back on its feet.

The Naked Cowboy’s platform speaks to the real issues facing us, and will cultivate the rebirth of the small businesses that made New York City what it is today. Known as the "Naked Stimulus Package," the plan includes micro loans, tax holidays and other incentives to help small businesses thrive. Other points of Naked's platform include Taxes (if you’re rich, stop whining and pay your taxes), Transportation (taxi call buttons on every city corner), Homeland Security (as mayor he will keep the city’s security on high alert, making frequent stops at the tunnels, bridges, and guard posts of every building), Gay Marriage (as an ordained minister and he’d love to marry all citizens of NYC, not just the straight shooters), and of course Tourism (he plans to build a Times Square Wedding Chapel and establish a billion dollar wedding business that will rival Las Vegas).

In Naked’s words, “Small businesses are the key to getting this city back on its feet. We need better growth initiatives, but also smarter spending. It’s time to tighten our belt across the board. Of course that's just a saying though, 'cause I don’t even wear a belt – and that’s my point. Nobody knows how to do more with less than yours truly, and that’s the kind of leadership this city needs during these challenging times.”

The Naked Cowboy has been a fixture in Times Square since 1998. He's built a successful global brand with just a pair of underwear, a great work ethic, and an entrepreneurial spirit that's unsurpassed. Naked’s run for mayor is the natural extension of his decade-long engagement in Times Square, where he's listened to the needs of New Yorkers and tourists alike from every race, class and walk of life imaginable. For further information call: 1-866-99-NAKED (1-866-996-2533) or visit www.nakedcowboyformayor.com.