You Can't Make This Stuff Up!

Supposedly intelligent people are WAY STUPIDER than anyone may have thought - sure, we've had some doozies, including Kaavya and Liane Membis... but this one takes the cake!

According to the Associated Press, a staff writer for The New Yorker resigned and a book project is now in limbo after he admitted making up quotes which he then attributed to Bob Dylan!

Has the Internet made us too lazy to Google quotes? What?

The disgraced writer, one Jonah Lehrer, issued a statement via his publisher, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, acknowledging that some Bob Dylan quotes which are included in his book "Imagine" did not exist. He said others were misquotations or combinations of previous quotes. (Wouldn't FABRICATIONS be a "better" word, Mr. Author sir?)

In a prepared statement, the editor of The New Yorker, David Remnick, said: “This is a terrifically sad situation, but, in the end, what is most important is the integrity of what we publish and what we stand for.”

The publisher branded Lehrer's actions a "serious misuse." Listings for the e-book edition of "Imagine" are being removed as I type. Shipments of the printed book copies have been stopped. (Do I smell "collector's item" here?)

A Happy Ending For Hesham

His digital world ransacked,
he stayed awake for days...
He was helped by many others
and the pieces are back together...
the healing has now begun!

Hesham Zebida tells all...

Bloggers, while you may not be able to entirely prevent this from happening to you, BE SMART! DO NOT PUBLISH "BLOG INCOME REPORT" or "BLOG EARNINGS REPORT" or you might wake up one morning and find your blog(s) gone...

Update ::: Russian Punk Band PUSSY RIOT on trial for Cathedral protest

The campaign to free the Russian feminist punk rock collective Pussy Riot is becoming a global cause célèbre. More than 40 DC area punk-rock and arts community activists braved the sweltering Washington heat this past Friday afternoon to demonstrate outside the Russian embassy in support of Russian punk collective Pussy Riot, whose members, Maria Alyokhina, 24, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 29, — were detained afterperforming an anti-Putin song in a church in Moscow [video] back in February.

An announcement on their blog [ru] had said an anonymous source from the presidential administration confirmed the three women would be set free on July 9. The outcome, however, was very different: the women remained in detention [ru] after the Court refused to consider a letter in their support. Amnesty International considers them “prisoners of conscience.” Telegraph.co.uk is calling the trial a "watershed case for Vladimir Putin's presidency"...

Tags: Pussy Riot, Pussy Riot

#MusicMonday ::: Marquee Moon

Big Data

"Big Data lives in the cloud. It knows what we do." ~ Scott Adams

Regular readers already know I despise "clouds." But if you must ally yourself with Big Data* - there are things you should know.

As the use of the Cloud grows, so do its complications. The increasingly integral role of cloud computing in IT operations is accompanied by significant change and disruption for cloud users, their IT staffs and their technology providers, according to new research from IT trade association Dell CompTIA. ~ Mark Cox

Ever wonder who ultimately PAYS for cloud computing?

If you want to be in the clouds - go with the free ones:

cloud (what it does best) free space available

• drive.google.com (documents & document editing) 5g
• amazon.com/clouddrive (Music) 5g
• dropbox.com (sound files & photos) 2g
• skydrive.live.com (Microsoft office Projects) 7g

The following information comes to us via WikiPedia:::

*In information technology, big data^[1][2][3] is a loosely-defined term used to describe data setsso large and complex that they become awkward to work with using on-hand database management tools. Difficulties include capture, storage,^[4] search, sharing, analysis,^[5] and visualization. The trend to larger data sets is due to the additional information derivable from analysis of a single large set of related data, as compared to separate smaller sets with the same total amount of data, allowing correlations to be found to "spot business trends, determine quality of research, prevent diseases, link legal citations, combat crime, and determine real-time roadway traffic conditions."^[6][7][8]

"Big data" is a term applied to data sets whose size is beyond the ability of commonly used software tools to capture, manage, and process the data within a tolerable elapsed time. Big data sizes are a constantly moving target, as of 2012 ranging from a few dozen terabytes to many petabytes of data in a single data set...

Cloud computing is the delivery of computing and storage capacity ^[1]as a service ^[2] to a community of end-recipients. The name comes from the use of a cloud-shaped symbol^[3] as an abstraction for the complex infrastructure it contains in system diagrams^[4]. Cloud computing entrusts services with a user's data, software and computation over a network.

There are three types of cloud computing:^[5]

• Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS),
• Platform as a Service (PaaS), and
• Software as a Service (SaaS).

Using Software as a Service, users also rent application software and databases. The cloud providers manage the infrastructure and platforms on which the applications run.

End users access cloud-based applications through a web browser or a light-weight desktop or mobile app while the business software and user's data are stored on servers at a remote location. Proponents claim that cloud computing allows enterprises to get their applications up and running faster, with improved manageability and less maintenance, and enables IT to more rapidly adjust resources to meet fluctuating and unpredictable business demand.^[6][7]

Cloud computing relies on sharing of resources to achieve coherence andeconomies of scale similar to a utility (like the electricity grid) over a network (typically the Internet).^[8] At the foundation of cloud computing is the broader concept of converged infrastructure and shared services.^[9]

@hishama @FamousBloggers Net Nightmare Over!

Great News::: WE DID IT!

Hesham has awakened from the worst nightmare! Thanks to me and others tweeting and blogging about how @godaddy sucks, the hosting service began acting like a REAL host and helped Hesham! What a disgusting disgrace to treat a customer the way they treated Hesham!

Originally titled "@godaddy Revolting Developments"

FUNNY THING ABOUT THE INTERNET ::: You know how they always say "once it's on the web it's forever" - and similar crap? It's NOT forever if you keep a blog or have a facebook or twitter account - those things CAN BE TAKEN AWAY FROM YOU if the owner(s) of those sites make it so! That's why I have all my blogstuffs backe dup on a USB stick and a copy on CD.

Don't get too fond of your blog or your facebook account - or anything else - because in the end, when all is said and typed and uploaded and downloaded, YOU really DON'T have CONTROL.

Hesham Zebida found out the hardest way of all. He's a great guy - an honorable blogger if ever there was one -

An email arrived from Ana of Traffic Generation Cafe. Something really bad had happened to another blogger. Hesham, who runs the wonderful FamousBloggers site, was locked out of his third-party webhosted blog. It had been hijacked right out from under him. Hard work building a class A blog... Gone! Servicing advertisers and drawing income... Gone! Nothing is safe or sacred.

LESSONS TO BE LEARNED HERE:

A - Do NOT rely on any third-party hosting service
B - Do NOT write posts detailing how much money you made blogging last month

Because the Schnook who stole Hesham's websites asked Hesham for USD$999 each! So he (or she) had been reading FamousBloggers.Net - he might be "Windy" and she might be "Lady Java" - or maybe not - those are just two bloggers that come to mind who would stoop low enough to carry out vendettas against other bloggers (as they did against Zuveena) and spend a lot of time sifting through code looking for ways to implicate other bloggers. And of course, they're glad to stop by your blog and click your adsense ads in hope you'll get banned...

Right now Hesham is holding out hope that the public outcry may help boost his effort to get his websites back. Hesham, I hope you backed up your content! I see you have a firestorm of comments on your personal blog - a lot of good advice - but to Hesham's "good advisors" I ask "Where were you with your good advice BEFORE Hesham got hijacked?" The answer is simple: REAL gurus don't share or sell their "secrets" - they just use them and play their cards close to the vest. Oh, and, WILL HESHAM OR SOMEBODY PLEASE SUE THE CRAP OUT OF GO-DADDY? WHAT KIND OF TWO-BIT SERVICE ARE THEY RUNNING?



Sent from my BlackBerry® powered by Virgin Mobile.

Related posts worth a look:::

Collective effort restores David Airey.com

Google’s Gmail security failure leaves business sabotaged

http://css-tricks.com/this-sites-domain-is-stolen/

The 7 Pillars Of Blogging

I get emails from bloggers every day asking for my help or advice - the good foundations for building a blog are as follows, in order of importance:

(1) APPEARANCE - YOU have to be satisfied with the way your blog appears. Of course, if it is a black background with tiny red lettering, good luck on snagging return visitors. Be sensible about choosing a template, and don't let the self-proclaimed blogging gurus dictate the look and feel of your weblog.

(2) BLING - The decor populating your sidebar(s) is part of your life, part of your weblog! For goshsakes, get rid of "Google friend connect" - it has been DEFUNCT since last fall! Get rid of MyBlogLog and any other outdated clutter as well! Any extra adverts, widgets, etc. are okay as long as they don't carry hidden pop-ups or links to self-downloading trojans. If you are displaying affiliate marketing badges and other icons, do a monthly check and delet any that readers aren't clicking on as well as any that aren't helping your blog.

(3) NICHE - Don't worry about finding one. Another thing blog gurus have people going nuts over. You;ll find your readers and they will find you. If you are hitting primarily on music or politics or television or pop culture or household tips, you've aleady "found" that niche.

(4) CONTENT - As much ORIGINAL work as possible. Links to things you refer to. Snippets and excerpts when you know a link may take a reader to a slow-loading or otherwise boring page. LINKS to images, videos and audio are ususally preferable to embedding. Embedding could slow your blog down and even invite DMCA Takedowns and all sorts of attention you don't want or need. Take your own photos and create your own original images whenever possible.

(5) GUEST BLOGGERS - Ask them to "guest" somewhere else - you want to avoid duplicate content as well as the issues cited in #4 above: too many professional guest-bloggers are idiots who will bring down your blog rather than build it up.

(6) SOCIALIZE - link to reddit, twitter, weibo, facebook, pinterest, etc. at your own discretion. Remove any links that aren't helping. See #2 above.

Think of your blog as a hub or portal. Look at mine. I can 'go anywhere' from here! I have both my favorite and most popular links to websites, blogs, services and tools I myself use, which I hope my readers will avail themselves of as well.

(7) COMMENTS - allow them but moderate them - I use very strictly moderated blogspot comments but also welcome Facebook comments which are a little more user-friendly. Saves me a bundle of time dealing with ridiculous comments and spam!

technorati tags: blogging tips
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Searching For Someone

MyLife.com is a user-friendly people-oriented search engine. It's a splendid tool once can use to find and connect with people you already know, and more importantly, those you've fallen out of touch with. Time to rekindle old friendships? just join MyLife.com: you will find that it's almost effortless to locate others.

If you want to reconnect with family members and old school chums, MyLife.com is a great place to do it --- Simply input the first name, last name and age of the person you're looking for into the site's search engine. MyLife.com is used by more than 55 million members, mostly in the U.S., for finding old friends, classmates, family, colleagues, or anyone for any reason by searching more than 750 million profiles from across the internet, making it very likely that you'll be able to find whoever you are searching for!

MyLife.com is simple to join, a service you sign up for... similar to Facebook and Twitter... but so much more! There's nothing to install or download!

MyLife.com's database is compiled from publicly available information from a wide variety of sources, such as Facebook and other popular Social Media. Can't get a lock on who you're looking for? MyLife.com will keep on searching for them, and let you know when they are found!. The site will also automatically suggest other people you might know based on personal information and profile data.

The site and services are a result of the successful combination of Reunion.com and Wink Technologies in November 2008.

Pop Clips » 26 July 12

Thursday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg denied reports from earlier this week claiming Facebook and HTC were preparing to launch a co-branded Android smartphone sometime next year.

The SmartPhone business is critical: Facebook’s mobile users are much, much more active that those who access the site on standard computers. Mobile users are 20 percent more likely to use Facebook on any given day, said David Ebersman, the chief financial officer at Facebook. The Social Network reported its first quarterly earnings as a public company today. After a disappointing IPO, the company needs a strong showing to regain investor confidence. "Excuse my French, it was a clusterfuck," Elevation Partners Roger McNamee said of the IPO. "It’s like you had a chance to win the Super Bowl and you didn’t show up for the game." By the way: Facebook's shares plummeted as much as 11% in after-hours trading.

You saw it HERE FIRST ::: On Wednesday, Voula Papachristou became the first athlete in history to be banned from the Olympics for material that appeared on the internet...

Papachristou was punished for tweeting on July 22: "So many Africans in Greece at least West Nile mosquitoes will eat homemade food." βούλα Παπαχρήστου (@papaxristoutj)

Her latest reaction:

"I have not slept at all and to be honest I am still trying to come to terms with what has happened," she told Reuters. "I am trying to stay calm otherwise I would lose control.

"I am thankful to my coach and family and so many other people who have stuck by me.... After so many years of hurt and sacrifices to try and get to my first Olympics I am very bitter and upset. But what has upset me the most is the excessive reaction and speed of the disciplinary decision.

"I don't know if they want to make an example out of me because of my profile, this is for others to judge, but what I believe is that they used their maximum disciplinary power on me for this," Papachristou said. "They went straight to the final stage in excluding me from the team, which was highly excessive."

Through her Facebook profile, Carla Bajonero shares her concern regarding mining in Colombia [es]. In her opinion, mining only leaves behind “pollution and laughable earnings.” She then asks: “¿What happens to the environmental and cultural heritage of Colombia if mining continues in this boom?” Carla also writes about this issue in her personal blog [es].

Hello Readers

Pardon the appearance of the blog over the next 24-72 hours, as I am tinkering with widgets and things. If something looks wrong or frames are broken etc. Just come back in an hour or two. Anyone wishing to report on how this blog looks and acts on your computer or smartphone, please leave a comment or if you are logged into facebook, a facebook comment!

Apologies for any inconveniences!

WaPo Won't Get Fooled Again

image: WikiPedia

The Washington Post has given developers the green light to come up with a "TruthTeller" application which will offer real-time fact checking of video and audio.

Present-day factchecking projects can take hours or days or even weeks to sort out the truth after somebody says something. The Washington Post will connect several open video, transcription and search technologies to allow the live factchecking of video and audio streams. Look for the multimedia player add-on to be tested during the presidential debates this fall.

With so many fabricators, outed (like Liane Membis) and more presently unknown, still waiting-to-be-outed --- it's no wonder that responsible mainstream media wants to up the ante when it comes to assuring quality journalistic control. This same app could well inspire others that could potentially help weed out the Kaavya Viswanathans and other "Mixers" of this world as well.

Journalism.co.uk ::: "With the funding under its belt the Post can now look to start building a team to work on developing the concept for a real-time fact checker. This team will include people from the Post as well as other partners, such as Dan Schultz, a Knight Mozilla Fellow who created fact-checking tool Truth Goggles."

I would welcome the opportunity to use an app like Truth Goggles and embed it here on this blog! With the speed developers work, I doubt it will be long before the capabilities are available.

Olympic Athlete Apologizes For Racist Tweets

Triple jumper Voula Papachristou has been kicked off Greece's Olympic team after she tweeted out comments mocking African immigrants ... she immediately issued this response:

βούλα Παπαχρήστου (@papaxristoutj)

Posted Wednesday 25th July 2012 from Twitlonger

I would like to express my heartfelt apologies for the unfortunate and tasteless joke I published on my personal Twitter account. I am very sorry and ashamed for the negative responses I triggered, since I never wanted to offend anyone, or to encroach human rights. My dream is connected to the Olympic Games and I could not possibly participate if I did not respect their values. Therefore, I could never believe in discrimination between human beings and races. I would like to apologize to all my friends and fellow athletes, who I may have insulted or shamed, the National Team, as well as the people and companies who support my athletic career. Finally, I would like to apologize to my coach and my family.

http://tl.gd/ih3mcp

Lina Sinha sentenced for having sex with student...

Today was "it" for NYC teacher Lina Sinha.

Here's Lina's BLOG!

Computer Problem? Don't Give Up!

Computer problems can be quite daunting - and believe it or not, they are not limited to Windows machines!

I don't even bat an eye when something happens. I just look for what might be wrong. Start googling. Run Malwarebytes. Cross fingers. Eventually a solution will emerge. Sometimes it just takes a little longer. I also am lucky in that I have a "back-up" computer that I can use if the main PC gets entangled in anything technical.

Yellow Duck Graffiti

Anyone know the significance of the "yellow duck" that's been stenciled around Albany's New Scotland Avenue area?

Help Catch The "Heaven Scent Vandal"

He's either a tall teen or a young adult - a vandal who obviously will take advantage of unattended opportunities. Like he did at the laundromat.

This guy is bad news. He's responsible for busting up the snack vending machine at an area business, and he may be the same person who trashed the place on at least two other occasions... he could also be the same person who ripped the change machine off the wall and hauled it away.

Study his picture below. Mouseover and click on it for a larger version. You might see him around the area of Section 8 housing in the Hackett Boulevard area near St. Peter's Hospital. He also could be traveling to the upper-middle class area via the new "ghetto bus" that has locals in a snit.["Get rid of 6 and 138 buses running through Buckingham Pond/Crestwood
Neighborhood.

Nearly empty buses with tinted windows only providing easy access to
this neighborhood to perps from high crime downtown hoods."]

SNAP HIS PICTURE IF YOU SEE HIM - of course, don't let him know you're doing that - in the security cam fotos he is aware of the camera but UNFAZED, so he could be on drugs like bath salts or marijuana. If you don't carry a mobile phone, note the time of day and exactly where you saw him... call Police if possible!

LET'S GET THIS MENACE OFF THE STREETS BEFORE HE HURTS SOMEBODY!

Mouseover and click on the image for a closer look at this thug.

Another Week Passes By...

...and a very interesting one, at that!

Last night I turned on the 11:00 news on teevee: "we have several breaking stories tonight" - and they recited a short list. THEN they said "but our top story is..."

That "top story" was about 2 teens murdered in Montgomery County. According to reports, 16-year old Anthony Brasmeister, 16, and a 15-year-old male whose name was withheld due to his age (let's pray they release his name if he is indeed found to be a murderer or accessory), were charged with second-degree murder on allegations they killed 16-year old Paul Damphier and 13-year old Jonathan DeJesus, both of Amsterdam.

Now what follows is just based on my first impressions. You the average person, knowing what you know, seeing what you see on TV, in newspapers and on the internet, WHY ON EARTH would you (a) murder someone and think you could get away with it -or- (b) drive drunk? Unless you have totally given up on life and are out to destory yourself, why would you choose to do either a or b?

Were the two teens who murdered the other two gang members high on bath salts?

When asked if either defendant had gang ties, James said, "We're looking at that. That's got probability." (source: Times Union)

When I saw the TV footage of the older teen arrested, "skinhead" instantly popped into my mind! But it is possible cops shaved the kid's head. And then there was a young man who TV said knew all 4 teens and claimed they were all "friends." Judging from the crowd of people and the pictures strategically shown on TV, this looks like a thriving multi-racial community where everyone gets along.

In world/national news, the "Huma Abedin is a Muslim spy story" started by Michelle Bachmann (kicking off the week) was diminished by the Bulgarian Bomber (Wednesday), that mysterious pseudo-American "from Michigan" who detonated a backpack that killed Israeli tourists.

Then, knocking both the Bomber and Huma out of "Conscious Americans" - the Bat Massacre (Thursday) in Aurora, Colorado. News that delivers a "heart punch" wipes everything else off the plate... the "wacko" phD candidate-turned assasin apparently had planned his attack with more precision than a major film.

I did see a comment somewhere on one of my posts here from "anonymous" who suggests the Aurora incident, and possibly the Bulgaian one as well, were timed to suppress other headlines...

SEO Browser Download : Cheap Way to Boost Your Website Visibility

One thing that always bugs me is when someone representing himself/herself as an "expert" gives advice but fails to provide a link.

This happened to me as I was checking out a tweet issued by dragonblogger headlined "Cheap Ways to Boost Your Website Visibility" - The tweet points to a blog with a July 20, 2012 post written by one Heather Higgins, who fails to provide a URL for the #1 "tip" in the article - perhaps HH is just being "cheap" herself in not wishing to share a URL?

There's more to it than that! Hoping to catch a little SEO fever herself, HH must have determined there were some valuable keywords in the paragraph about "SEO Browser."

Turns out the recommended program is actually a browser extension and not as easy to find as one might think - but I FOUND IT FOR YOU - it is downloadable HERE - BUT there is ONE "catch" - a requirement that you are running the FIREFOX browser! (HH "forgot" to mention that!)

Is the Michael Savage Radio Program Censored?

If you are asking why Savage is off WGY, click on the image at left. If you would like to listen to Dr. Savage on the Commonwealth Club click here. The text that follows was written when I noticed the WGY broadcasts sometimes seemed to be stitching old material into the new... I never did get a straight answer on what was really happening... maybe Michael will tell us when he comes back on the radio ("very soon" - he says!).

Whatever is going on, I have noticed many times when listening to Michael Savage in the evening over 810am WGY out of Schenectady, I'll hear "repeat segments" - Example: Corn and Soybeans. I heard the exact segment a few days ago on his show, and suddenly it is repeated - with the same old phone calls and dialog.

The question is WHO is overlaying old segments over what starts out as a current program - current because in it Savage touches on events of the day, currently in the news. (Like the Israelis killed in the Bulgaria bombing).

I wasn't quick enough tonight on the internet trigger, but did manage to hook into kdwn.com's stream out of Las Vegas just before 9pm. The tail end of Savage's show... totally different than what WGY was running! Savage took a caller from Austin, TX on the KDWN feed.

Having worked at WGY, which is a Clear Channel or iHeart Radio station, I know that the feed they broadcast comes from elsewhere. WGY doesn't edit it. A couple of months ago when I was similarly concerned, I made a few calls and found the east coast feed comes out of 710 WOR in New York, and I have noticed Savage is top-heavy on NYC calls.

So after 9m I rolled over to KWEL 1070am's feed, which is probably time-delayed because the stream website said there was an hour left on the show... I am listening right now... it sounds like what WGY ran either at 7 or 8. Hmmm... I sent email inquiries out to both stations.

So the big question is... when these segment "overlays" are on, are we listeners missing valuable program content? Can anyone explain?

Dry Spell

Corn yield estimates are sinking like stones. Commodity Weather Group (CWG) on Wednesday said more than half of the Midwest's corn and soybean growing area will continue to encounter severe stress over the next week due to continued dryness in the central and southwestern Midwest.

The TV Talking Heads have been sounding the alarm since late last week: "Americans ya better get ready to pay extra for everything, because everything is connected to king corn." Perhaps we should consider moving to Asia, where the emphasis is on rice, and there's not much demand for corn syrup?

A Reuters poll projected on Tuesday that U.S. corn production has shrunk 7 percent from the government's recently downgraded estimate, with a seemingly ever-worsening drought expected to cause even more damage before month-end. Those who follow the markets speculate that corn may rally to a record $8.50 a bushel.

Although the dying corn crop is one of the top stories of the drought that is gripping much of the nation, a major problem facing dairy and beef cattle farmers is the lack of hay they need to feed their animals.

See also: (Condi) Rice and Corn

Anthony Weiner is back making new headlines - first on NY1 [VIDEO] and then in People Magazine. The latter is featuring a photograph of Weiner with wife Huma and their baby boy. The print edition will be on newsstands later Thursday evening. And when he was asked by The Wall St. Journal if he was thinking about running for Mayor of NYC, Weiner backed away. Wonder what Gennette Cordova has been doing?

In DC Republican Senator John McCain took to the US Senate floor today to defend Weiner's wife Huma Abedin against unsubstantiated allegations that her family has ties to Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood. He said Abedin, the daughter of immigrants, represents the best about America. He said the attacks from Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann reflect ignorance and defame the spirit of the nation. McCain didn't call out Bachmann by name - she made the allegations in a letter to another lawmaker. Abedin has been a constant presence at Hillary Clinton's side, working for her when Clinton was a New York senator and presidential candidate.

Closer to home, there's an excellent interview online with the Mayor of Hudson, explaining why that city had to kick the Frugary Boat Club off the land. It's a nice capper to a report I filed on Tuesday.

Word today from NYRA - The New York Racing Association - that for the first time ever, free wireless internet will be available at Saratoga Race Course. The high capacity Wi-Fi access will be available beginning on Opening Day, Friday, July 20th. Of course, there is a MONEY angle: “Our Wi-Fi network introduces a new FastBet Mobile platform for on-track wagering at Saratoga Race Course. We are excited to provide this additional convenience for fans who wish to place wagers on mobile devices through one of the most advanced wireless networks available,” said NYRA President and COO Ellen McClain. “We also encourage track patrons to utilize our network to engage in social media activities by sharing their day at the race experience with friends and family.”

I can imagine the tweets now - “Just bet $7 on Old Psychedelic!” to which I might reply “Hope he hits the finish line before the glue factory.”

And maybe you heard that Chelsea Clinton and her husband have been house-hunting in Columbia County? There may be something to that...

Stupid People, Stupid Spam

I get these emails frequently - sometimes the senders (or the email spambots they use) forget to change all of the information. It never hurts to at least TRY to be a little bit original! (Mouseover and click on the image to enlarge).YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE The Funniest Spam/Scam E-Mail Ever (Had me in tears!) It's from "Madam Esther Swally!"

Today's Chuckle ::: As Seen on CBS6 website...

Fact Finders team up with perp patrol to ask tough questions at the local bank branch?
I know it smacks of a typo, but what if?

Tennis Star Venus Williams Plays Saturday Night In Troy, NY

Five-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams will make a special appearance Saturday night, July 21 in Troy, NY when her Washington Kastles visit the NY Sportimes in World TeamTennis action at Hudson Valley Community College's McDonough Sports Complex.

The 32-year-old Williams is one of the game’s all-time great players winning seven Grand Slam singles titles, 13 in doubles including her fifth Wimbledon title with sister Serena earlier this month, and two mixed crowns.

Overall, since bursting onto the tennis scene in 1997, Venus has collected 43 WTA singles titles, 19 in doubles and she’s spent 11 weeks as the No. 1 ranked player in the world.

Next week Venus will travel to London as part of the U.S. Olympic women’s tennis team. Venus is the most decorated Olympic player in tennis with three gold medals winning two at 2000 Sydney in singles and doubles and earning a second doubles at 2008 Beijing.

"We are extremely excited and honored to welcome Venus Williams to the Hudson Valley Community College in Troy," said event promoter Nitty Singh. "I’m sure the Capital Region fans will want to wish Venus the best in her upcoming participation at the London Olympics and we are glad to see that she is in good health."

Venus missed six months of the tour calendar after revealing she was diagnosed with Sjogren’s Syndrome last September.

"I've been through a lot for years without knowing what I was going through. It's all a culmination at the end of the day. I just try to stay positive and focused on the tennis, not let anything get to me," Venus said during Wimbledon. "But I'm tough, let me tell you, tough as nails."

On the court Saturday night in her final match before London, Venus is scheduled to battle fellow former No. 1 and Sportimes anchor Martina Hingis. During her distinguished career, Hingis won five Grand Slam singles titles and nine in doubles. She finished as the No. 1 ranked woman three times on the WTA Tour.

The WTT action in Troy continues into next week. On Tuesday evening, July 24 Hall of Famer John McEnroe visits HVCC to play alongside Hingis when the Sportimes host the Boston Lobsters.

Match tickets for Venus/Hingis on Saturday night and McEnroe/Hingis next Tuesday are available by calling 518-393-0440 or for purchase at the box office. Doors open at 6pm both nights.

The 2012 season marks the 18th year of World TeamTennis in the Capital Region.

NY Sportimes Troy WTT Schedule:
Saturday, July 21 – NY Sportimes v. Washington Kastles, 7:30 p.m., at Hudson Valley Community College/Troy, N.Y. (Sportimes – Hingis; Washington – Venus Williams)
Tuesday, July 24 – NY Sportimes v. Boston Lobsters, 7:30 p.m., at Hudson Valley Community College/Troy, N.Y. (Sportimes – Hingis, McEnroe)

Pop Goes Albany Politics & Technology

A lot of interesting stuff going on in New York's Capital City!

A partnership announced Monday advances nanotechnology and potentially opens doors for economic growth in the Capital Region and beyond:Today, Lee Kindlon, Democratic candidate for Albany County District Attorney, called on incumbent DA David Soares to finally accept his challenge to a series of public debates.

Last December, after announcing his candidacy, Kindlon invited Soares to participate in a monthly series of Conversations with the Candidates. Soares declined Kindlon’s invitation, replying "After we find out when the election will be held, and candidates have qualified for the ballot, I’m sure we'll have some good conversations."

On July 9, Kindlon wrote Soares, once again asking the Incumbent DA to participate in public forums.

“The DA is out of excuses,” Kindlon said. “The election is set, we have both qualified for the ballot – it’s time to debate.”

Kindlon continued, “Mr. Soares has been in office for nearly eight years. It’s time for him to finally answer questions about his record, not run away from it. I hope the DA will accept my challenge.”

Kindlon is proposing four public debates across Albany County between now and Election Day, September 13.

I'm not sure if I were DA I'd be interested in debate: it seems more fitting for other types of public office. There's also a report floating around that the sitting DA's cash coffers are low.

And perhaps most notable, Brian Scavo, the Albany County Legislator whose turf was pulled out from under him when neighborhood lines were re-drawn, is mounting a serious challenge for the NYS Assembly. He sent out this email:

Former Democratic Lawmaker Brian Scavo has filed petitions for the 108th assembly race.

Brian Scavo a Vietnam era Combat veteran 101st airborne US ARMY,
Responsible as a county legislator for defeating major tax increases
such as 1%sales tax increase and the 50% tax increase,
created and sponsored many innovative laws such as the ground
breaking Cyber Bullying law, Animal Abuse registry and the Gun Buy Back program,
a leader in the battle to build and protect the Albany county Nursing home.

Scavo a life long democrat has said

" it's the bread and butter issues that people of New York are focused on,
less government spending, tax relief and creating and bringing into
New York State jobs, putting people back to work in New York State"

Jordan Carleo-Evangelist, Staff Writer for the Albany Times Union, draws some interesting conclusions. Among them:

The more I thought about it overnight, the more it seemed that Scavo’s candidacy could be a threat to [Carolyn] McLaughlin in the sense that her base is the city of Albany. If you assume McDonald does well in the River Cities and Rensselaer County, McLaughlin may need every vote she can get from Albany — so much so that even a small number siphoned off by Scavo could be trouble.

It wouldn’t surprise me to see McLaughlin’s camp closely vet Scavo’s petitions in a bid to bounce him off the ballot.

Also, I neglected to point out last night that it was McLaughlin’s sister, former County Legislator Wanda Willingham, who once accused Scavo of making a racist blog comment about her in this very forum.

Blogger's Digest » 17 July 2012

Longtime ladyblogger KimberlyCun documents a "ladies day" style excursion!

ADV: Being a diva for a day with Capital FM 88.9!

Could a COOKIE decide the winner of the next US Presidential election? Check out twitchy.com's "Game changer: Obama touts Thin Mints as best Girl Scout cookie" - (I wonder if the POTUS likes the ABC Bakery version or "the other company" version...)

Interview with Weibo Today::: “China is not all about censorship and politics”

Written by Violeta Camarasa · East Asia

Want to know what’s going on on China’s social media but cannot speak Chinese? Keep on reading, then. It’s been four months since Elle Lee (@ElleIconLee) and Casey Lau (@hypercasey) opened a Youtube channel to broadcast Weibo Today, a weekly online show spotlighting trending topics from China's social networks in English. Global Voices talked to Elle Lee about their show.

read »

On Twitter, @Detect_Dialect ispushing for Detect Dialect - a dialect-specific search tool for Arabic content on Twitter. In addition to Classic Arabic, Arabs speak their local dialects, which sometimes differ even between neighbouring villages. This new tool claims to detect the dialects of Gulf, Iraqi, Levant, Egyptian and Maghreb Arabs.

Mideast Youth has launched an iPad-exclusive application that showcases revolutionary leaders and movements in the past 100 years and allows people to learn about how these revolutionaries and leaders are connected to each other. Check Making of a Century out here.

youtube black screen

If this has suddenly happened to you - instead of the youtube player appearing on your blog or site (or some of the blogs and websites you frequent), you just get a black rectangle showing up where the player should be - (and otherwise everything has been "fine" until now) - "something" has made a tweak on your machine. What did it may be hard to pinpoint... do you recall getting a "warning" from your anti-virus program? Even if you think it kept you from going on an unsafe website (or if you landed on one but thought you were "safe" because the AV "caught it) - you likely picked up a tiny little "system changer" that altered something somewhere on that massive harddrive of yours.

This is where Windows "System Restore" comes in! System Restore is a component of Microsoft's Windows Me, Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 operating systems. It allows for the rolling back of system files, registry keys, installed programs, etc., to a previous state in the event of system malfunction or failure.

Assuming Windows XP will start:

(#1 Optional - don't stress if this feature is missing) Log on to Windows as an Administrator.

(# 2) Click Start, point to All Programs - Accessories - System Tools - System Restore.

(#3) On the Welcome to System Restore page, click Restore my computer to an earlier time, and click Next.

Or type or paste the following command in the Start - Run box then press Enter.

%systemroot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe

You can also access System Restore through 'Safe Mode' - your PC will walk you through it!

Here we are in the middle of July...

This is an excellent place to be. In time, that is. A critical "halfway" point in US Summertime. A good "setpoint" to take a few deep breaths, see where we've been and where we're going.

A few interesting articles you may want to check out, appearing in the morning newspapers and blogs:

• Saratoga politics: SARA BRONFMAN MARRIES IN FRANCE:http://bit.ly/PYajRR
• NYS Investigation to nowhere dropped without any findingshttp://pojonews.co/NvLImt
• Plant growers warned of late blight http://pojonews.co/NvMcZN
• They took the "MS" out of MSNBC! http://nymag.com/daily/intel/20 …

That "late blight" thing is the scariest - I pulled up ONE of the many tomato plants in my garden that was showing symptoms of blight (that was on Friday evening) - so far the rest seem to be (knock on digital wood) doing fine.

I'm now officially satisfied that I opted to add "facebook comments" to the blog here, as the cap'cha boxes are getting more and more frustrating for readers (check out the foto below) - so "Social Comments" as they are now being referred to on some major newspaper websites, are "the way to go' at least for right now!

And speaking of blogs, I was RIGHT! When all the gurus were boo-ya over RSS I warned you that RSS renders your ads useless and doesn't show up in your hit counters! Suddenly, the gurus have figured out I was right and they are now advising every blogger to jettison RSS ASAP! My RSS links are still present and I may or may not take them down. Honestly, I've never pushed RSS but I do know I'm losing credit for hundreds of hits by visitors who ONLY read the RSS feed and never kiss this blog's URL!