May the Great Pumpkin bestow the mysteries of All hallows upon you and your brethren!TRICK OR TREAT!
Monday, October 31, 2011
Happy Halloween 2011
May the Great Pumpkin bestow the mysteries of All hallows upon you and your brethren!TRICK OR TREAT!
Sunday, October 30, 2011
"We are the 99 percent." #Occupy Albany, Saturday October 29
"All week long, if you turned on the TV, or the Radio, or read the Newspaper all you hear or see is Occupy Albany and still some of the Occupy Wall Street and Occupy Oakland." ~ Tina Urzan
Hover and click on the snapshots from Saturday's rally in Albany - you'll be instantly transported to related links of interest!
Hover and click on the snapshots from Saturday's rally in Albany - you'll be instantly transported to related links of interest!
Feeling Powerless This Morning?
In storm situations (and other emergencies) you really should have a few items readily available: (1) A spare battery for your cell phone (which you have already charged up in anticipation of a coming storm or event)
(otional) A fully-charged portable or mini-tv (not that the new digital models can receive very much, if anything off air these days) - I always laugh when the TV news anchors say "If the power goes out we'll still be here" - haha - the 2011 twist on this is "download our app and watch us on your cellphone." But they don't realize a lot of people either have no clue how to download apps or even how to find them, while a lot more people own cellphones that don't do apps!(2) A couple of those small multi-band radios with the alternative power supplies, hand-crank and built-in flashlight. RADIO is how you will ideally get your info. My radio has a carrying strap so I just toss it over my shoulder and I'm good to go.
(3) The blankets, drinking water, extra batteries and all the "emergency stuff" you've been told for years to have on hand in case of emergency.
(4) THERMOS containers... we always prepare delicious meals that will still be tasty whether lukewarm or cold (Pizza, Lasagna, Meat Loaf, Roast Beef, etc.) and make a couple pots of coffee... just in case.
(5) Charge up your laptop or netbook before the storm or event - if you have a spare battery, charge that baby up as well... make sure you have something like Virgin Mobile Broadband because Time-Warner cable is always unavailable during weather evenys or other natural disasters... you should also have a USB phone modem adapter if your house still has a landline telephone, so you can still connect by dial-up (those old telephone lines are STEALTH - I can't remember a power outage or weather disaster in my ENTIRE LIFE here in New York when the home phone line went down. Of ocurse you'd need to have an existing account with a dial-up ISP (I use localnet.com).
Check power outage maps online:
National Grid
Central Hudson
New York State Electric and Gas
Orange & Rockland Counties
Con Ed
Assignment: Rennselaer
Friday morning I was at the RPI Campus in Troy for the hpc conference. I really like the EMPAC's layout...
You can hover and click on the image for a bigger picture!
You can hover and click on the image for a bigger picture!
Friday, October 28, 2011
Fly Blog, Fly!
THE BLOGGING TIMES THEY-ARE-A CHANGIN' ::: Forget about ProBlogger's book. Forget about those little networks like the now-defunct "cmfads" and "MyBlogLog." (More about networking below) Forget about the nearly abandoned practice of trackbacking.The rules of blogging, of creating an maintaining a successful blog, are being re-written as you read this!
THE SOCIAL MEDIA TRAP ::: Don't fall for it! It's OK to promote your blog via Facebook or Twitter etc., but don't come to rely on social networking or microblogging to support your blogging efforts! And if you do engage in a little facebooking or tweeting---
DON'T BEG FOR RE-TWEETS! This ridiculous practice was begun by those know-it-all "Blogging Gurus" hell-bent on turning blogging into some sort of self-serving popularity contest that will help them sell their $27 and $17PDF "e-Books". [more]
THE GOOGLE TRAP PageRank lust has been the downfall of many a blog and many a blogger! Bloggers are buzzing, saying things about mass traffic declines like "Help me I've fallen and I can't get up!" This article has links to important information about the big search engine that every blogger should read and understand! Here's a suggestion I ran across on the web, shortly after seeing an article about Google AdSense linking through YouTube: "You cannot be farther from the truth about YouTube. I am experiencing first-hand that it is an untapped source of traffic that everybody should get into. YouTube is now my No. 1 source of referral traffic since I started making videos. I really wish I had started earlier."Explore the alternatives!
See Also ::: Were You Attacked by “The Google Panda?”
BE VIGILANT ON SOCIAL MEDIA - Police your yourself and your online presence! Google yourself frequently - set your name and your blog's name(s) up as "Google Alerts" - Don't let THIS happen to you!
WHAT ABOUT 'KLOUT' and SOCIAL SPARK? ::: Much the same way I signed on to twitter, facebook and myspace long long before ever actively using/participating, I'm "in" Klout and Social Spark.
For most netizens, Klout has no Clout whatsoever! Katran commented on USAtoday "Klout is one of the most irrelevant parts of the social media game. It's a savvy business getting people to sign up for it, sure, so that they can flash their "Klout Score" the way people used to decorate their webapges with web ring memberships, stat counters or pagerank. (Remember "this site was voted best 5% of the web" badges?)
However, it's just yet another excuse to capture incomplete data on you. What matters is your CONVERSIONS. How many people reach your site/blog/Twitterchannel, etc, and how many of them engage with your material in the way oyu hope for (buy, click, respond, etc)? Klout can't measure that.
Enjoy racking up Klout scores, people. I'm sure it'll be just as helpful to your business plan as # of MySpace followers, Facebook fans and all those other artificial web endeavors taking advantage of people's obsession with games and keeping score."[+link: source]
What About BLOG COMMUNITIES? - All of the relevant "blogger communities" are either gone (MyBlogLog was my fave) or turned into shells of their former selves - SAVE FOR ONE - BlogEngage is active and ready to welcome YOU and your blog(s)! I've often confessed that I don't utilize the service as much as I should - it's honestly a matter of time - at this point of my life I have many commitments and responsibilities that go before blogging - but for those of you who are either blogging addicts or trying to spotlight your "internet personality" or get better known or earn extra money via blogging, you really can't ask for a better service than BlogEngage!
MORE GOOGLE FUN! Here's a recent "Ask Me Anything" on Reddit with someone who says they were a Google Streetview driver.
BE TRUE TO YOUR BLOG! Don't let anyone or anything discourage your blogging efforts! How does an 'activist' blogger know when (s)he's doing a good job? When people try to stop her or intimidate her. Blogicito — spanglish for 'little blog'- is written by La Gringa, who describes herself as "...a US expatriate who has been living here in La Ceiba, Honduras, with my Catracho husband since 2001 and blogging about Honduras and my expatriate life since 2006."
Tags: blog engage, Google Panda, MyBlogLog, Blog Engage
Permission to reprint this blog post in whole or in part is hereby granted, provided that the author (or authors) and Dave Lucas are properly cited. Illustration by Saki Tumi, Permission to reprint any comments below is granted only for those comments written by Dave Lucas and staff.
BE VIGILANT ON SOCIAL MEDIA - Police your yourself and your online presence! Google yourself frequently - set your name and your blog's name(s) up as "Google Alerts" - Don't let THIS happen to you!
WHAT ABOUT 'KLOUT' and SOCIAL SPARK? ::: Much the same way I signed on to twitter, facebook and myspace long long before ever actively using/participating, I'm "in" Klout and Social Spark.
For most netizens, Klout has no Clout whatsoever! Katran commented on USAtoday "Klout is one of the most irrelevant parts of the social media game. It's a savvy business getting people to sign up for it, sure, so that they can flash their "Klout Score" the way people used to decorate their webapges with web ring memberships, stat counters or pagerank. (Remember "this site was voted best 5% of the web" badges?)
However, it's just yet another excuse to capture incomplete data on you. What matters is your CONVERSIONS. How many people reach your site/blog/Twitterchannel, etc, and how many of them engage with your material in the way oyu hope for (buy, click, respond, etc)? Klout can't measure that.
Enjoy racking up Klout scores, people. I'm sure it'll be just as helpful to your business plan as # of MySpace followers, Facebook fans and all those other artificial web endeavors taking advantage of people's obsession with games and keeping score."[+link: source]
What About BLOG COMMUNITIES? - All of the relevant "blogger communities" are either gone (MyBlogLog was my fave) or turned into shells of their former selves - SAVE FOR ONE - BlogEngage is active and ready to welcome YOU and your blog(s)! I've often confessed that I don't utilize the service as much as I should - it's honestly a matter of time - at this point of my life I have many commitments and responsibilities that go before blogging - but for those of you who are either blogging addicts or trying to spotlight your "internet personality" or get better known or earn extra money via blogging, you really can't ask for a better service than BlogEngage!
MORE GOOGLE FUN! Here's a recent "Ask Me Anything" on Reddit with someone who says they were a Google Streetview driver.
BE TRUE TO YOUR BLOG! Don't let anyone or anything discourage your blogging efforts! How does an 'activist' blogger know when (s)he's doing a good job? When people try to stop her or intimidate her. Blogicito — spanglish for 'little blog'- is written by La Gringa, who describes herself as "...a US expatriate who has been living here in La Ceiba, Honduras, with my Catracho husband since 2001 and blogging about Honduras and my expatriate life since 2006."
Tags: blog engage, Google Panda, MyBlogLog, Blog Engage
Permission to reprint this blog post in whole or in part is hereby granted, provided that the author (or authors) and Dave Lucas are properly cited. Illustration by Saki Tumi, Permission to reprint any comments below is granted only for those comments written by Dave Lucas and staff.
ENTRECARD WARNING!
AVOID THIS BLOG "The Fitness Diva" - not all browsers are equipped with early-warning technology against viruses, trojans and malware! (Hover and click on the image below to enlarge)
*** Blog owner please let us kmow in the comments area when it is SAFE to visit your blog again!
*** Blog owner please let us kmow in the comments area when it is SAFE to visit your blog again!
Thursday, October 27, 2011
#Occupy Asia
The Chinese Government is applying the brakes to microbloggers and other internetters - they don't welcome any #Occupy or #ArabSpring movements sweeping across the country. (More below***)#Occupy is spreading throughout Southeast Asia. Inspired by the global movement, assemblies were organized this month in Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, and Singapore (where it FIZZLED!).
Around 75 people joined in an “Occupy Islamabad” rally Wednesday in the Pakistani capital- they marched up to the building of the World Bank in Islamabad.
FYI ::: At 1pm Friday, The #OWS crowd in New York City is planning a meet-up at Bryant Park (6th Ave. & 42nd St.), followed by a march to [+Link: MAP] Bank of America headquarters, Morgan Stanley headquarters, Wells Fargo headquarters, Citigroup headquarters, JP Morgan Chase headquarters. The marchers promise to deliver over 6,000 letters to the 1% submitted to occupytheboardroom.org, concluding with a general assembly at which a foreclosure victim from Southeast Queens will read a letter through the people’s mic inviting Jamie Dimon to tour her neighborhood.***The New York Times reports that "The restrictions arrived as party leaders signaled new curbs on China’s short-message, Twitter-like microblogs, an Internet sensation that has mushroomed in less than two years into a major — and difficult to control — source of whistle-blowing. Microbloggers, some of whom have attracted millions of followers, have been exposing scandals and official malfeasance, including an attempted cover-up of a recent high-speed rail accident, with astonishing speed."
[+link: China Reins in Liberalization of Culture] "Industry insiders say the principal weibo (pronounced way-bwah) regulators, based in Beijing and the Shenzhen Communist Party Internet offices, have been assailed by government leaders elsewhere for allowing the scandals to spread online unchecked."
[+link: Warning to Twitter Influencers Fails to Discourage Voters]The mayoral race in Seoul is a significant event in the South Korean political landscape and the candidates are often viewed as possible presidential candidates. Among many elements affecting the campaign, Twitter has once again played a major role in the voting result.
Tags: #Occupy, Citizen Media, Digital Activism, Freedom of Speech, Social Media, Asia
Permission to reprint this blog post in whole or in part is hereby granted, provided that the author (or authors) and Saki Tumi are properly cited. Permission to reprint any comments below is granted only for those comments written by Dave Lucas and Ms. Tumi.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
eCommerce: Key To Your Digital Future?
E-commerce, eCommerce, e commerce or e-commerce? Type it any way you like; it is the future of global marketing!
Wikipedia says "Electronic commerce, commonly known as e-commerce, eCommerce or e-comm, refers to the buying and selling of products or services over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer networks. However, the term may refer to more than just buying and selling products online. It also includes the entire online process of developing, marketing, selling, delivering, servicing and paying for products and services. The amount of trade conducted electronically has grown extraordinarily with widespread Internet usage."
Four out of five major luxury brands maintain e-commerce sites [+data]
A new study of the web sites of 42 luxury brand sites conducted by online marketing agency PM Digital shows that 81% of those sites sell merchandise. Those luxury brand sites also command a large majority of all visits to luxury sites. 98% of traffic to luxury sites goes to sites that include e-commerce; the remaining 2% of traffic goes to sites that do not engage in e-commerce. High-end apparel brand Ralph Lauren attracts the most traffic.
Hack-Attacks against eCommerce sites have diminished over the years - security on many sites is today nearly airtight.
Look for more services, opportunities and applications like those offered by Vendio, Kadro Merchant™ and SkimWords to grow in 2012, as people get more comfortable with subtle "opportunities to shop" becoming more commonplace, thankfully pushing aside those annoying pop-up and pop-over ads. (Bloggers can benefit via eComm as well!)
From SkimWords' website: "SkimWords is not an in-text advertising solution, but an ‘in-text product and price comparison’ service, aiming to help users discover and find the products they are reading about."If you've followed my tweets you know how much I dislike the changes that were made to Facebook. I used to enjoy logging in, reading "the feed," checking my page and looking to see who's in chat. Facebook changed all that from a lively engaging experience to a boring borderline-static webpage.
Wanna see eComm in action on a blog? Tavi Gevinson and her crew have it down and deployed!Something else that I notice FB is engaging in: eCommerce! Retailers who have been busy acquiring Facebook Fans are preparing an eCommerce blitzkrieg: Facebook storefronts may become the Social Network's source of financial survival as more netizens looking for the kind of experience FB once offered gravitate toward Google+.
Tags: ecommerce, e-commerce
Permission to reprint this blog post in whole or in part is hereby granted, provided that the author (or authors) and Dave Lucas are properly cited. Permission to reprint any comments below is granted only for those comments written by Dave Lucas and staff.
Make Money Blogging + Blog Advertising Auction!
Attention!
I will offer ONE 125x125 spot: your choice, either directly under OR above the entrecard ad. (That's prime territory - in the upper right corner of the sidebar, right at the top of the webpage!) It will go to the HIGHEST BIDDER for SIX FULL MONTHS! How do you like that?
Bidding starts at $25 and payment must be made via paypal (I am open to other arrangements)... I will accept bids through November 1st. Winning bidder also gets my blog consulting service FREE for 30 days!
Here are a few stats for this blog:
Pageviews Oct 1 * ::: 957 - average 1,000 per day!
* Oct 1 was a Saturday, typically a "low traffic" day for this blog!
Pageviews last month ::: 30,765 (September 2011)
~Google Analytics
BONUS!I have another SPECIAL OFFER for you! LinkVehicle has introduced an exciting new referrers program! Your dashboard will now include a Referrer Link. For any users who sign up for a new LinkVehicle account using this link, you will receive a 5% share on all links they publish or 10% share on all links they buy! You can start making money by sharing the service NOW!
Before I give thanks to those who dropped their little hearts out last month... know that I have pushed two 125x125 advert spaces (cmf ads and kmna) way way down the sidebar.
Bidding starts at $25 and payment must be made via paypal (I am open to other arrangements)... I will accept bids through November 1st. Winning bidder also gets my blog consulting service FREE for 30 days!
Here are a few stats for this blog:
Average Visit Length .......... 1:09 (SiteMeter)Pageviews Oct 2 ::: 1,044
Pageviews Oct 1 * ::: 957 - average 1,000 per day!
* Oct 1 was a Saturday, typically a "low traffic" day for this blog!
Pageviews last month ::: 30,765 (September 2011)
~Google Analytics
BONUS!I have another SPECIAL OFFER for you! LinkVehicle has introduced an exciting new referrers program! Your dashboard will now include a Referrer Link. For any users who sign up for a new LinkVehicle account using this link, you will receive a 5% share on all links they publish or 10% share on all links they buy! You can start making money by sharing the service NOW!
Before I give thanks to those who dropped their little hearts out last month... know that I have pushed two 125x125 advert spaces (cmf ads and kmna) way way down the sidebar.
Top Entrecard Droppers September 2011!
BIGGER thanks to those whose blogs helped this one pull in visitors!
Great Ticket Deals!
This is one of the best times of the year to relax and enjoy a live performance at a destination near YOU!Looking for great show ticket deals? With no "camping out" or standing in line?
Look no farther than ACheapSeat.com, offering a generous selection of concert tickets for all the hottest shows, like Enrique Iglesias Tickets, Celine Dion Tickets, Marco Antonio Solis Tickets, Christina Aguilera Tickets, Pepe Aguilar Tickets, and many many more!
These concert tickets go fast, so don't delay!
Get Great Ticket Deals At ACheapSeat.com - They sell tickets to fit your budget! And if you're looking for a particular concert, simply enter your event in the search engine on the main page!
Friday Night
Guest post from: Jerald Hammond
My husband and the kids were camping this weekend. I had such a relaxing Friday night! I did not have to cook, there was no laundry to do, and I didn’t have to make sure that the kids went to bed at a reasonable time so that they could make it to their soccer game in the morning. I took a nice long bath and painted my nails. I poured a glass of wine ( maybe two) and watched all of the “Antiques Roadshow” episodes that I had missed in the last few months. I curled up with the dog on the sofa and let him sleep in the house. I also spent time surfing the internet. I read all of the gossip websites and checked into the adt price because we have been planning on getting a home alarm system. It was probably the most relaxing Friday night that I have had in a long time. I really wish that my husband would take the kids camping more often!
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Monday, October 24, 2011
ProBlogger's Book ::: Outdated and Overrated!
A few weeks ago I chanced upon ProBlogger's book. There it was. Sitting on the shelf at the Albany Public Library.The date inside the book is 2008. Light years away in digital time. Nothing against the Pro, but the book sure could use a little updating!
As I skimmed through I found lots of information that is TODAY either totally incorrect or no longer relevant. Follow the book's advice in 2011 and you'll blog your way into oblivion!
On Monday I received an email from Ana Hoffman. The webmistress is crying the blues - very unhappy over some changes made by Google.
I APPLAUD THE CHANGES! They are sure to piss off the "gurus of blogging" and send them running for cover, tails twixt their legs! Hover and click on the image below and you'll discover what pushed Ana's buttons!
Tags: google changes, Google and SEOYou should consider exploring additional ways of getting traffic to your blog!
Permission to reprint this blog post in whole or in part is hereby granted, provided that the author (or authors) and Dave Lucas are properly cited. Permission to reprint any comments below is granted only for those comments written by Dave Lucas and staff.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
#Occupy Albany #Robinhood
OCTOBER 29 – #ROBINHOOD GLOBAL MARCH - This idea invoking the name of Robin has been around for awhile... October 29th is the eve of the G20 Leaders Summit in France. #Occupy originator Adbusters wants its followers to “rise up and demand that our G20 leaders immediately impose a 1 percent ROBIN HOOD tax on all financial transactions and currency trades.”
#Occupy Albany put out a call for re-enforcements Saturday (hover and click on image to enlarge)
Upon returning from the New Paltz bureau early Friday afternoon, I hit downtown Albany just in time for the beginning of the local #Occupy action.
Despite what you may believe, the "leaderless" movement has key people who identify themselves as "facilitators" (one of them appears on my radio report). I'm really happy with the story I filed for Friday evening broadcast. It was all a good radio piece should be - fair, balanced and accurate. Some of the TeeVee news coverage zeroed in on what amounted to one or two people, in a reporting style that did not accurately reflect what was really happening at the rally.
#Occupy Albany put out a call for re-enforcements Saturday (hover and click on image to enlarge)oc·cu·py/ˈäkyəˌpī/
| Verb: |
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Upon returning from the New Paltz bureau early Friday afternoon, I hit downtown Albany just in time for the beginning of the local #Occupy action.
Despite what you may believe, the "leaderless" movement has key people who identify themselves as "facilitators" (one of them appears on my radio report). I'm really happy with the story I filed for Friday evening broadcast. It was all a good radio piece should be - fair, balanced and accurate. Some of the TeeVee news coverage zeroed in on what amounted to one or two people, in a reporting style that did not accurately reflect what was really happening at the rally.
The Revolution is upon is?
It will not be televised.
It will be improvised.
It will be spread via social media...
The Friday afternoon crowd was rather sparse, about 75 to 100 people, and apparently the number remained on the smaller side: according to WXXA, "More than 80 people spent the night in the park Friday night despite its 11 p.m. closing time." TV23 goes on to say "Albany Police say no one was arrested Friday night because the protest was peaceful and there were no violations."
Permission to reprint this blog post in whole or in part is hereby granted, provided that the author (or authors) and Dave Lucas are properly cited. Permission to reprint any comments below is granted only for those comments written by Dave Lucas and staff.
It will not be televised.
It will be improvised.
It will be spread via social media...
The Friday afternoon crowd was rather sparse, about 75 to 100 people, and apparently the number remained on the smaller side: according to WXXA, "More than 80 people spent the night in the park Friday night despite its 11 p.m. closing time." TV23 goes on to say "Albany Police say no one was arrested Friday night because the protest was peaceful and there were no violations."
via The Albany Times-Union ::: Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s top secretary urged Albany Mayor Jerry Jennings on Friday to instruct city police to remove Occupy Albany protesters from a downtown park near the state Capitol if they tried to remain there after an 11 p.m curfew.
A person familiar with the matter said Cuomo’s secretary, Larry Schwartz, called Jennings late Friday morning and said that State Police, who control half of the park that is partly owned by the state of New York and city of Albany, would remove any protesters who did not comply with a curfew. The position of the governor’s office was in contrast to an earlier plan by Albany police to leave the protesters alone if they were peaceful, even if they stayed overnight.
Occupy Albany demonstrators began arriving at Lafayette/Academy park around noon. Half of the space is state land, the rest city property.
So, are lines being drawn in the sand between state and city government?Again, the TU ::: A department-wide memo issued Friday by (Albany Police Chief Steve) Krokoff instructed officers "to be continually aware of the possibility that a small element may intentionally seek to draw us into conflict," according to a copy provided to the Times Union by a city police officer.
Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Protest-rolls-past-curfew-2230449.php#ixzz1bc3tgo2m
Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Protest-rolls-past-curfew-2230449.php#ixzz1bc3tgo2m
Obviously, Albany doesn't want to be another Chicago. Below you'll find an excellent TV piece from Newschannel 13 ::: Things apparently getting a little out of hand during Albany's #Occupy:
Here's a citizen journalist's version of the altercation:
Perhaps more newsworthy:
Here's a citizen journalist's version of the altercation:
The scuffle from Sat night at Occupy Albany from Kirk Jalbert on Vimeo.
Yoel Ohayon posted this picture on his Facebook:Perhaps more newsworthy:Protesters Occupy GE CEO Jeff Immelt's Connecticut Front Lawn — Occupy Wall Street protesters took a field trip from Zuccotti Park on Saturday morning, all the way to the wealthy suburban enclave of New Canaan, Conn., where they took their anger at income and tax disparity to GE CEO Jeff Immelt's front lawn.
Permission to reprint this blog post in whole or in part is hereby granted, provided that the author (or authors) and Dave Lucas are properly cited. Permission to reprint any comments below is granted only for those comments written by Dave Lucas and staff.
My Birthday Is Coming October 29
Like Moses of the Bible, I'm planning to live to be 120.
I could sure use a little help as I strive toward that goal.
If you look up in the right-hand sidebar you'll see a "donate now" button.That's where you can leave me a birthday present! I don't care how much or how little you give. It's just the fact you thought enough to give that means a lot to me!
Thank-You in advance!
You can leave me some birthday wishes in comments if you like.
Now, here's my gift to YOU! ::: Picasso is touring a school with someone who wants to know why the institute of education is failing the children. Picasso asks a roomful of six-year-old children, “Who here is a painter?” All hands go up. “Who here is a dancer?” “Who is a singer?” All hands go up. “Who here is a storyteller?” All hands go up. He walks down the hall to where the seventeen-year-old children are taking classes and he asks the same questions. Few, if any hands go up. “There’s your problem,” says Picasso. “Schools train our children not to be painters, dancers, singers, and storytellers.” Share-A-Link!
Saturday, October 22, 2011
End of the line for Number Nine
The venerable Number Nine lumbers along Whitehall Road in Albany on a warm October afternoon...
203 is a 2000 Orion VI CNG, originally CDTA 2027 from Albany. (Old CDTA buses are sometimes sold and shipped to other places, like Broome County)Very soon, if I want to take the bus to work (or home from work), I will have to pay twice as much for a one-way trip that will take three times as long.
When an institution like Friendly's dries up and an icon like the US Postal Service's future is in doubt, it's no wonder we're seeing things disappear that we thought would always be there.
CDTA killing off bus Route #9 in Albany makes no sense. The demise of the Whitehall line leaves a large stretch of the city without convenient crosstownbus service.
Insiders tell me part of the reason #9 is being deleted because top officials have egg on their faces after extending Route #6 across Whitehall Road. Nobody rides #6 along Whitehall... empty bus after empty bus lumbers by every day... of course, folks headed downtown toward Delaware Avenue will now have no other choice but to take #6, which approaches downtown from a completely different direction, and goes nowhere near the Lark-Washington hub.
As a frequent rider on #9, I can tell you people DID ride the bus! The smart move would have been to cut back #9's hours of operation - run the line 6am-9am and 3pm-6pm. But, no... so the only way I could take the bus to work (a trip that used to take about 15 minutes) I would have to take the #6 on its roundabout route to downtown Albany, then pay an additional fare to catch another bus out of downtown up Central Avenue. (Sometimes you have to wait for those buses almost 20 minutes, and then they'll come in a bunch of three, sometimes four, and once last winter FIVE all at once!)
The thriving Whitehall Road line was crippled years ago when CDTA cut service: #9 used to run every 30 minutes in either direction. Before Partridge Street became one-way, Whitehall-Partridge would cross Woodlawn Avenue about two minutes before Whitehall-Morton would cross from the other direction. It was like clockwork, in a time before the GPS, the "green light holder" and the computer.
(left) A vintage 1938 Mack bus on an Albany-Troy run - many of these old Macks were in still in use thru the early 1950s... I doubt anyone will ride CDTA's new "neighborhood" routes that don't really seem to go where people need to get to. I predict they will quietly die out within a year.
As Weird Al would say, "Another one rides the bus." NOT!
Friday, October 21, 2011
#FF I Follow 300 on twitter
"Active Twitter users practice a selective reading policy – we can tell by peripherally glancing at most tweets if we want to read them or not. It’s a matter of who’s doing the tweeting, if we see a link or a quote inside and the keywords that pop out at us. If people don’t want to read a tweet with links, they don’t."300 - that's my self-imposed limit for the number of people I follow on twitter.
There are some social media"authorities" who recommend capping the number at 150. I find that 300 is very manage-able (for me) considering the mix of people whose tweets I care about.
example:
(2) People who perceive twitter as some sort of mass popularity contest (this includes "pretend celebrities" along with the subset of those who follow as many people as they can hoping the ones that they followed have autosoftware installed that follows back; after a week they scrub their list with software that removes all the ones who followed them during that period. So they followed , let's say, 500 and 275 followed them back... they then UNfollow the all 500 and start over, but they have netted 275 "followers" who are unlikely to notice they've been undollowed)
(3) People who use twitter as if it were AOL Instant Messenger (or glorified 'texting')
(4) People who use twitter properly: for communciation, announcements, information-sharing etc. (It's okay to have two or three ads and a few re-tweets every now and then... but not 10 every hour!)
(5) People who sign up, tweet a few times, and then go inactive.
Michael Fortin has addressed a couple of my pet net peeves: #1 is
Fake networking on twitter and facebook :::
Fake networking on twitter and facebook :::
Just like Twitter said when they dumped auto-follow from their native application: “It is unlikely that any one can actu ally read tweets from thou sands of accounts which makes this activ ity disingenuous.”
Even Seth Godin calls mass-friending as “fake networking.” This applies to Facebook as much as it does to Twitter — or to any other social mediaapplication, for that matter.
There are 5 main groups of people using twitter:
(1) People and companies trying to make money tweeting a re-tweeting
(2) People who perceive twitter as some sort of mass popularity contest (this includes "pretend celebrities" along with the subset of those who follow as many people as they can hoping the ones that they followed have autosoftware installed that follows back; after a week they scrub their list with software that removes all the ones who followed them during that period. So they followed , let's say, 500 and 275 followed them back... they then UNfollow the all 500 and start over, but they have netted 275 "followers" who are unlikely to notice they've been undollowed)
(3) People who use twitter as if it were AOL Instant Messenger (or glorified 'texting')
(4) People who use twitter properly: for communciation, announcements, information-sharing etc. (It's okay to have two or three ads and a few re-tweets every now and then... but not 10 every hour!)
(5) People who sign up, tweet a few times, and then go inactive.
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Tags: Virtual Data Room, virtual data room
This blog post is brought to you by your friends at Merrill DataSite. Permission to reprint any comments below is granted only for those comments written by Dave Lucas and staff.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
There May Still Be Time...
Some times it is good to consider death. What if you were told that you had 24 hours, just two sweeps of the hands of the clock, before you would die.
- Who would you reach out to?
- What would you like to do that you've never done?
- What favorite food would you like to eat? Is there a movie or an old movie or TV show that you would want to watch one last time?
- A song that you would enjoy hearing again?
- A person you would like to embrace or say "thank-you" to?
- An old friend or an elderly relative you've almost forgotten about?
- A charity you would like to help?
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
MAKE $ ONLINE! BLOGGING INCOME REPORT!
Every now and again, some bloggers like to beat their chests over their blog earnings. (OOPS, wrong chest!)To be fair, I must point out that those cheast-beater bloggers who post earnings publicly are publishing the stats in order to encourage and inspire other bloggers to try harder to develop a plan for online income. Such income can be just for a little chump change that goes back intgo advertising the blog: it can also be a "part time" job-like income... it can also equal or exceed one's full-time pay!
So let's do a little comparison!
JUST FOR FUN!
I'm going head-to-head against Justin the Mighty Dragonblogger!
September 2011
84,805 Visits
113,506 Pageviews
74.34% bounce rate
1:11 Average Time on Site
Justin goes on to detail his earnings and shares a little strategy he employs on Dragonblogger.com and his other blogs.
His Google PR checks in today at 2.
I bring this up because bloggers tend to make a big deal about PageRank.
Mine is 4.
Bloggers are also very concerned about Alexa. OK...
Dragonblogger.com's three-month global Alexa traffic rank is 21,331. This site has a relatively good traffic rank in the cities of Natal (#143) and Philadelphia (#5,444). Compared with internet averages, the site's audience tends to be African American; they are also disproportionately women browsing from home.
Natal? That Natal? Justin, any thoughts on this?
Now here are my Alexa numbers:
There are 149,649 sites with a better three-month global Alexa traffic rank than Dave-lucas.blogspot.com. Compared with the overall internet population, the site's audience tends to be users who browse from home; they are also disproportionately less affluent women over the age of 35 who have attended college. It is relatively popular among users in the cities of Rome (where it is ranked #3,570), Paris (#12,774), and Karachi (#13,288).
Rome, Paris... I'm down with that! Karachi? Who knew!
I just went over to SiteMeter and grabbed my blog stats for a month
[2011 Sep 18 – 2011 Oct 17]
VISITS
Total Month 9,811
Average Per Day 327
Average Visit Length 6:43
Last Hour 12
Today 131
This Week 2,289
PAGE VIEWS
Average Per Day 1,120
Average Per Visit 3.4
Last Hour 34
Today 210
This Week 7,830
My bounce rate is close to Dragonblogger's. Remember: figures can be misleading. You understand Justin maintains a PR2 blog making a nice income ... while my PR4 is pretty much wallowing in the dust Dragonblogger left in his wake. Moral?
I haven't been in active pursuit of advertisers or opportunities; if a few pennies come my way, I'll take 'em! I'm certainly not depending on or expecting that my blog will provide me with a source of income. Not THIS blog anyway!
Now if YOU really want to be astounded and motivated, HERE'S A GREAT KICK IN THE ASS TO GET YOU MOVING!
#Momentum ~ An original poem by Dave Lucas
I look
I see God, Life, the changing face of everything
We are islands
Islands in the Archipelago of Humanity
All wonder
about life's journey and the stations along the way
The wheels of time
never stop - life is relentless
Give thanks
continue on - make repairs when appropriate
I see God, Life, the changing face of everything
We are islands
Islands in the Archipelago of Humanity
All wonder
about life's journey and the stations along the way
The wheels of time
never stop - life is relentless
Give thanks
continue on - make repairs when appropriate
Monday, October 17, 2011
CLOUD COMPUTING PRO AND CON
Aviators in the early age of flight were often warned "watch the clouds." That bit of old analog advice is something every person online should take to heart.
I'm planning to purchase a new laptop in the next 6 months. The machine I select will have to meet my unique needs as both a broadcast journalist and a blogger. One of the net's recent techno marvels is the concept of "cloud computing" where everything is stored somewhere on some server in cyberland. This is a blessing and a curse. If you can't get online, or if the internet were to be hacked out of existence for a couple of weeks, you would have ZERO access to anything!
You can store and access gmail, your gmail calendar, facebook & twitter, your blog*spot or wordpress blog, right on your machine. I have all of these files "locked" in a password-protected file on my pc.
I'm planning to purchase a new laptop in the next 6 months. The machine I select will have to meet my unique needs as both a broadcast journalist and a blogger. One of the net's recent techno marvels is the concept of "cloud computing" where everything is stored somewhere on some server in cyberland. This is a blessing and a curse. If you can't get online, or if the internet were to be hacked out of existence for a couple of weeks, you would have ZERO access to anything!
I prefer to have as much as possible STORED on my computer! That goes for emails, blogs, photos, videos, etc. Sure, I'll have them stowed away "up there" - but it is always best to keep files saved you can work on stuff if you cannot get online!Google works for me! And now it's working for SUNY New Paltz
You can store and access gmail, your gmail calendar, facebook & twitter, your blog*spot or wordpress blog, right on your machine. I have all of these files "locked" in a password-protected file on my pc.
Working With Google Calendar and Google Phone
I have the ability to "read" by blog*spot blog, which I have also been converting to
WP - kinda like the old Radioland blog system... Here's the software I've been using ::: Design your WordPress website on your own PC
I have the ability to "read" by blog*spot blog, which I have also been converting to
WP - kinda like the old Radioland blog system... Here's the software I've been using ::: Design your WordPress website on your own PC
I still get flack from some bloggers as to why I would want to use blog*spot and Google. well, duh kids, after last week's performance on the stock market (and I understand that Google could be nothing ten years from now, just as Netcape is nothing today) I am very glad I stuck it out with the BIG G!
How To Fight Plagiarists, Content Thieves, Scraper Blogs and Copyright Infringers
Plagiarization is the sincerest form of flattery, so long as you don't get caught. Ask Kaavya.To copy or not to copy? Depends on how you do it and what you do after you've done it! Lady Gaga began as a copycat clone of Madonna (and continues to endure criticisim about it).
TIP ::: Everyone deserves credit! Michelle Malkin caught Lara Logan of CBS helping herself to al-Qaeda video without crediting the terrorist organization.
Plagiarism hurts - you feel it in your heart when you discover that someone else has taken your words or images and claims them for his/her own! Take a look at Plagiarized work of my wedding Ems Doll.
Emila Yusof is a professional illustrator who has been the victim of several copyright infringements. No doubt she is frustrated, as you can tell from her blog posts.
Emila Yusof is a professional illustrator who has been the victim of several copyright infringements. No doubt she is frustrated, as you can tell from her blog posts. TIP ::: Using Images: do not use copyrighted images without the permission of the author. Thumbnails, however, like what you see here, are considered “fair use” under Copyright Law.
Emila is not alone in being copied. Disney knockoffs are a dime a dozen in Southeast Asia. Harry Potter has been widely copied across China.
Take a look at Emila's works. Like Disney, Yusof illustrations have a very particular style and set, unique to them. Once you have seen a few of them, you'll recognize another immediately. Just above are the two main types of "Emila signature" character drawings. Even though the artist has been careful to place her watermark across pictures that appear on her blog, she can't do that when creating content for her paying customers. If you see an image that looks like one of Emila's let her know.
Emila is not alone in being copied. Disney knockoffs are a dime a dozen in Southeast Asia. Harry Potter has been widely copied across China.
This is not to suggest an idea cannot be re-worked or a piece of art or media creation cannot be re-imagined. This is about outright copying, without attribution, in a deliberate attempt to fool people...
Take a look at how one famous plagiarist took her "scandalous lemons" and made lemonade!
Take a look at how one famous plagiarist took her "scandalous lemons" and made lemonade!
Particularly interesting (and pertinent to the discussion here) is how Nicki Minaj hijacked the “Barbie” franchise without stepping on any copyright toes: This could be a great lesson for bloggers… Minaj-icize your blogs!
Click on the image to see what Nicki Minaj looked like BEFORE her "transformation."
How do YOU deal with theft of content?
Click on the image to see what Nicki Minaj looked like BEFORE her "transformation."How do YOU deal with theft of content?
TELL ME IN THE COMMENTS BELOW and if enough of you do that, I'' tell you my very special way of tackling the problem... FREE, with nothing to download or subscribe to!
TIP ::: BE VERY CAREFUL when commenters leave whole articles or lyrics to poular songs on your blog! while the people commenting on your blog will retain the ownership of the content you might still be liable if they commit intellectual property violations.
Tags: content theft, copyright infringement
Permission to reprint this blog post in whole or in part is hereby granted, provided that the author (or authors) and Dave Lucas are properly cited. Permission to reprint any comments below is granted only for those comments written by Dave Lucas and staff.
TIP ::: BE VERY CAREFUL when commenters leave whole articles or lyrics to poular songs on your blog! while the people commenting on your blog will retain the ownership of the content you might still be liable if they commit intellectual property violations.
Tags: content theft, copyright infringement
Permission to reprint this blog post in whole or in part is hereby granted, provided that the author (or authors) and Dave Lucas are properly cited. Permission to reprint any comments below is granted only for those comments written by Dave Lucas and staff.
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