Miscellaneous thoughts and ramblings

#FunnyQuote - Pointless Blog

2010-08-14T13:08:00.000-05:00

I just recently twitted with the #FunnyQuote, then looked to see who else had done the same. These are some interesting tweets with the HashTag #FunnyQuote:

@efikasrgh   You have the perfect face for the radio. #funnyquote

@MJGhajar   "I told the doctor I broke my leg in two places. He told me to quit going to those places."- Henry Youngman #quote #FunnyQuote

@bribri_nichole9   #funnyquote who is this "shawty" girl and why does she have so many boyfriends?

@K7os   "If Twitter was as useless and boring as they say, then someone would have tweeted it." #FunnyQuote http://bit.ly/d98k2o

Twitter Movie Trailer: Rated Awesome

2010-08-14T12:27:00.000-05:00

Ok, I didn't think this facebook/twitter spoof trailer would be this entertaining, but it's funny!!! More funny if you use Facebook and Twitter, and you watch the Facebook Trailer first. And even more fun if you're a computer geek (like me) that actually wants to watch "The Social Network"

First watch the trailer for the real movie, "The Social Network," based on Facebook.

Now watch the Twitter movie spoof...

Twitter Hits 20 Billion Tweets

2010-07-31T11:06:00.000-05:00

Twitter Hits 20 Billion Tweets I might be responsible for one or two of those tweets, are you?

Do you use Twitter? Congratulations you are now part of American history! [All tweets archived at Library of Congress]

2010-04-14T13:48:00.000-05:00

Do you use Twitter, congratulations you are now part of American history. Every public tweet since the start of Twitter in 2006 to be stored in Library archive.

Repost from http://blogs.loc.gov/loc/2010/04/how-tweet-it-is-library-acquires-entire-twitter-archive/

How Tweet It Is!: Library Acquires Entire Twitter Archive

April 14th, 2010 by Matt Raymond

Have you ever sent out a “tweet” on the popular Twitter social media service? Congratulations: Your 140 characters or less will now be housed in the Library of Congress.

That’s right. Every public tweet, ever, since Twitter’s inception in March 2006, will be archived digitally at the Library of Congress. That’s a LOT of tweets, by the way: Twitter processes more than 50 million tweets every day, with the total numbering in the billions.

We thought it fitting to give the initial heads-up to the Twitter community itself via our own feed @librarycongress. (By the way, out of sheer coincidence, the announcement comes on the same day our own number of feed-followers has surpassed 50,000. I love serendipity!)

We will also be putting out a press release later with even more details and quotes. Expect to see an emphasis on the scholarly and research implications of the acquisition. I’m no Ph.D., but it boggles my mind to think what we might be able to learn about ourselves and the world around us from this wealth of data. And I’m certain we’ll learn things that none of us now can even possibly conceive.

Just a few examples of important tweets in the past few years include the first-ever tweet from Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey (http://twitter.com/jack/status/20), President Obama’s tweet about winning the 2008 election (http://twitter.com/barackobama/status/992176676), and a set of two tweets from a photojournalist who was arrested in Egypt and then freed because of a series of events set into motion by his use of Twitter (http://twitter.com/jamesbuck/status/786571964) and (http://twitter.com/jamesbuck/status/787167620).

Twitter plans to make its own announcement today on its blog from “Chirp,” the Official Twitter Developer Conference, in San Francisco.

So if you think the Library of Congress is “just books,” think of this: The Library has been collecting materials from the web since it began harvesting congressional and presidential campaign websites in 2000. Today we hold more than 167 terabytes of web-based information, including legal blogs, websites of candidates for national office, and websites of Members of Congress.

We also operate the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Programwww.digitalpreservation.gov, which is pursuing a national strategy to collect, preserve and make available significant digital content, especially information that is created in digital form only, for current and future generations.

In other words, if you’re looking for a place where important historical and other information in digital form should be preserved for the long haul, we’re it!

(Thanks to my co-blogger, Jennifer, for the headline. She always does a much better job of that than I do!)

Women arrested for trying to bring dead man on airplane

2010-04-06T19:36:00.000-05:00

Two women were arrested attempting to purchase a ticket for a dead man. They attempted to hide the face that he was dead, by placing him in a wheelchair and putting sunglasses on him.

Did they get this idea by watching Weekend at Bernie's?

http://www.examiner.com/x-3122-Chicago-International-Travel-Examiner~y2010m4d6-Women-arrested-for-trying-to-bring-dead-man-on-airplane

Airline to charge $45 for carry-ons

2010-04-06T19:30:00.000-05:00

Spirit Airlines to charge up to $45 for carry-ons

Airlines are already charging for checked luggage, but now Spirit is charging up to $45 each way for a carry on to be placed in the overhead bin. I guess the Southwest Airlines commercial is correct, they really don't like your luggage. This same airline already charges $16 to use their website to purchase a ticket, does this extra fee seem excessive?

Would you pay $45 each way for a carry-on?

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36193399/ns/travel-news/

Erykah Badu - Window Seat Video

2010-03-29T21:41:00.003-05:00

Singer Erykah Badu stripped naked in Dealey Plaza, downtown Dallas. People watched as the video was shot guerilla style (only one take). At the end of the walk, she was completely naked. She collapsed near the point that Kennedy was shot. You can read more about it on her twitter feed http://twitter.com/fatbellybella or watch the video on her web site: http://www.erykahbadu.com/

How will the Health Care Bill affect you!

2010-03-22T20:00:00.000-05:00

How will the Health Care Bill affect you!

At the risk of over- simplifying things, if you’re struggling, and have been avoiding buying insurance, you’ll have more opportunities to get covered. If you’re at the top end of the U.S. income scale, you’ll pay more taxes.

If you do not qualify for health insurance, because of your prior health conditions or you can’t afford health insurance

In 3 months a high-risk insurance pool will be set up for people that would not otherwise qualify because of prior health conditions. The premiums are not yet set for this high-risk coverage.
In 6 months, children (under 26) will be able to stay on their parents health insurance.
In a few years, insurance Exchanges or co-ops will be set up to allow small business and individuals pool their resources to purchase insurance. Insurance exchange tax credits will be given to people that earn less than 400% of the federal poverty level. Small business (less than 25 employees) will also get tax credits for using the insurance exchange.
Expands Medicaid, allowing lower income people to qualify and next year give a 50% discount on brand name drugs, to Medicare recipients in the “doughnut hole”

Changes to insurance coverage/Insurance companies

Insurance companies will be required to provide immunizations and preventive health services to children (in 6 months).
Insurance companies cannot place a lifetime cap on the amount of your coverage, before many could (and would) stop paying your bills you reached a preset maximum coverage amount.
Next year, your employer must report the value of your health care on your W2
Immediately, Insurance companies will not be able to deny coverage to children with pre-existing conditions. Adults will have to wait 4 years for this provision to takes effect
In 4 years, states will be able to create health insurance exchanges.
Insurance premiums will rise for some categories and drop for others, but on average the estimates are the premiums will be slightly lower. If you are among 80% of the population with employer sponsored, you shouldn’t have any signification changes to your premium.
If you’re currently in a non grouped insurance pool, you might find your premiums rising (about half the people in this group will be able to switch to the government subsidized plan).
Next year, option to buy into long-term care insurance program to provide benefits to help pay for a nursing home or home health care.

Changes for doctors and hospitals

Next year, primary care doctors and surgeons could get a 10% Medicare.
In 2 years, pilot programs for more efficient ways to pay Medicare providers
In 2 years, hospital’s preventable readmission rates can affect amount of Medicare payments

Additional Taxes

In 3 years, increased Medicare payroll taxes for Individuals making over $200,000 ($250,000 for couples)
In 3 years, sales tax on medical devices (NOT including glasses, contacts and hearing aids)
In 4 years, if you don’t have health insurance, you pay the IRS a $95 penalty; 2 years later that amount rises by $600.
In 4 years, employers that don’t cover employees (or has employees in the government subsided exchange), will pay a $2000 penalty (per person)

HP computers are racist?

2009-12-21T20:20:00.000-06:00

A funny bit about a technical issue with HP's video software.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4DT3tQqgRM

Janet Jackson to open MTV Video Music Awards

2009-09-08T23:47:00.000-05:00

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Janet Jackson will pay tribute to her late brother at the MTV Video Music Awards.

The network says Jackson will open the show with a musical tribute to Michael Jackson, who died on June 25.

Janet Jackson also honored her brother at the BET Awards in June, just days after his death.

The Video Music Awards will be presented Sunday at Radio City Music Hall in New York.
http://www.ksdk.com/news/watercooler/story.aspx?storyid=184574&catid=71

How stupid would you need to be to rob someone then ...

2009-09-08T23:44:00.001-05:00

COLUMBUS, OH (AP) -- Ohio police say a suspect in a robbery was arrested when he returned to the home about two hours later to ask the victim out on a date.

Police say 20-year-old Stephfon Bennett of Columbus was among three men who robbed a couple late Sunday.

Columbus police Sgt. Sean Laird says the woman recognized Bennett as one of the robbers when he returned to ask her out. She had a relative call 911.

Police say Bennett was arrested in front of the home. He was arraigned Tuesday on a charge of aggravated robbery and was being held in the Franklin County jail on $100,000 bail.

A public defender had not yet been assigned to Bennett's case.

http://www.ksdk.com/news/national/story.aspx?storyid=184585&catid=28

Chris Brown on Larry King Live

2009-09-02T19:45:00.003-05:00

It’s 7:45PM Central time, and Larry King live will be on at 8PM, central time. Larry King will be asking him about the assault on ex-girlfriend Rihanna, his arrest and punishment. From the previews I’ve seen of this show, I don’t know that this is going to help him out.

He really doesn’t seem that remorseful to me. I think he feels that he’s going to talk him himself out of this, but right now, I don’t feel that it’s going to help at all.

Maybe I should wait until it’s over, before I pass judgment, but I keep thinking about the items in the police report. I’m going to watch, but I can’t help myself from thinking about the following quote from the report…

Opened the car door and attempted to force her out… When he could not force her to exit, he took his right hand and shoved her head against the passenger window… he punched her in the left eye … continued to punch her in the face with his right hand while steering the vehicle with his left hand… caused Robyn F’s mouth to fill with blood… [Brown] stated, “I’m going to beat the shit out of you when we get home!…” “Now I’m really going to kill you!” Brown resumed punching… bit her on her left ear… placed her in a head lock… causing her to be unable to breath and she began to lose consciousness…

What do you think?

Facebook startups you can use

2009-09-02T18:44:00.003-05:00

Facebook Fund executives heard from 22 new start-up companies, each of these companies either have or are attempting to get grants from the Facebook Fund.

Mashable has a very interesting article summarizing the sites these companies created. I look at the sites, and found five of them interesting. Two of them, Geckogo and Sortuv I find very useful, and I could incorporate them in my daily life, right away. Both provide a way to learn about new places. One focus on finding vacation spots, based on people that have been there, and the other helps you find stores, shops, restaurants, bars, etc., that you might like based on your likes, and location. I played with both, and found them very interesting. I could see Geckogo becoming part of a travel site, and Sortuv becoming integrated with a site map site, such as the ones Google, Microsoft and Yahoo have. As a person that enjoys discovering new and interesting places, I find the first two sites very interesting.

Additional one, Workstir, I will try it out soon. It allows you to find people to complete various jobs, based on ratings and suggestions of friends or other people on the site. I need some work done, and I will try this out soon.

When I looked at the other two, Runmyerrand and Zimride, I imagined they could be part of Scott Adams’s though experiment called Cheapatopia. Dilbert creater Scott Adams created and imaginary place called Cheapatopia, which had many components, but one I found interesting, and related to these websites, is the idea of using the community to help itself. Scott’s example was to help people save money. Personally I like these ideas, but they do seem a little idealistic of what you would expect in a perfect world. Runmyerrand uses willing and trusted people in the community to run errands for you, such as trips to the store or pick up dry cleaning. While Zimride, helps you find rides to where you need to go, such as a out of town trip, cross town trip, or daily work commute.

First of all, one neat thing about these sites, although they are their own sites, they have Facebook integration, which allows you to sign in using your facebook account. In addition, some of these sites may need some amount of trust, which would make them ideal for a Facebook integration, where most people know their Facebook friends.

Site	Thoughts
http://www.geckogo.com/	This is a travel site, that allows you to discover travel destinations, based on suggestions from the members of the community or add travel related information or suggestions based on places you have traveled.
http://sortuv.com	This is a discovery site, which allows you to enter things you like, such as your favorite restaurant, hotel, bar or store; and it will provide you with similar place you may like based on location and/or other user’s preferences.
http://runmyerrand.com	This is a service networking site, that uses the power of the community, working together, to accomplish errands.
http://www.workstir.com/	Service networking site, that connects people with trusted service providers to complete various jobs and services.
http://zimride.com/	This is a car pool site, that connects drivers with riders and vice-versa.

If your interested in the Facebook fund, you can contact them at fbFund@facebook.com.

Why Gmail was down, and the apology

2009-09-01T22:27:00.000-05:00

If you live on this planet, and are not in a techno-bubble, you know Gmail had an extended outage today (9/1/2009). The popular mail service’s outage lasted about 100 minutes.

In case you missed it, here is a link to their apology and description of the problem. In short, the cause was a scheduled maintenance on some servers combined with a underestimation of the load requirements, caused a load-based cascade failure of their servers.

tweetup with Jack Dorsey at Webster

2009-09-01T17:38:00.000-05:00

St. Louis native and twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, will be at Webster University on September 18th, 2009. He is being honored as the Success to Signification 2009 Person of the Year. (Reservation required)

Jack is from St. Louis and lived in Compton Heights, where his parents still reside. Jack attended Rolla (Missouri University of Science and Technology) for a few years, then went to University of NY, and finally to Berkely. To learn more about Jack, view is Wikipedia entry or follow him on Twitter and become one of his over 1,100,000 follower.

The event will be held at Webster’s Loretto-Hilton Center
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10 tweeters that can help you get a job

2009-08-31T18:53:00.004-05:00

For those of you that use twitter and are looking for a job (or feel you might be soon), KSDK.com has a great article listing 10 tweeters that can help you get a job.
10 tweeters that can help you get a job | ksdk.com | St. Louis, MO

Because I know your busy, I have taken the time to look at each one, and give a description of each one, based on the topics being discussed on the day I looked at them.

Twitter	My thoughts
adriennewaldo	I like this tweeter, on the first page I saw a link to motivational speakers, Generation Y topics, Carnival Cruise vacation info and ideas, and customer service critiques. The tweeter are informative or interesting and they are not tweeted too frequent, the items I listed were tweeted over a period of a month. I am now following adriennewaldo.
AlisonDoyle	If you looking for a job, this is a tweeter to follow. Topics included: organizing your job search, Internet way to new job search, questions to ask the interviewer and 10 steps to find a new job. This will keep you in the job search mentality and keep you on your toes. I’ll add it next time I’m looking for a job, but it’s too much if your not currently looking.
AnitaBruzzese	This seems to be a fun tweeter. Very social and interacts well with her followers. I’m going to follow AnitaBruzzese, and see how it goes.
CAREEREALISM	Good job related topics. You can add if your looking for a job. I’m not looking, so I'll pass on that follow.
careerdiva	Lots of blog links to interesting job related topics. Even though I’m not looking for a job, the topics are interesting and that makes me want to follow careerdiva.
CBforJobSeekers	A nice collection of links and blog entries for job seekers. Including links to some workplace humor. I found it entertaining, but not enough to follow while employed. For people looking for for a job, here is a good follow for you.
heatherhuhman	A great place for recent grads and people at the start of their career. I would recommend it to any new job hunter.
InterviewCoach	This is a collection job related topics, with a good amount of self-promotion (the author is a interview coach).
Keppie_Careers	Lots of really good job related posts and well as a few interesting, but unrelated post. This also had some entertaining post. I recommend this one to job seekers.
Writerbabe	Interesting topics, of various subjects, most didn’t seem to be job related (which is ok, since I'm not currently job hunting). Not much interaction with her followers, but still interesting topics. I will follow, because of interesting topics, not necessarily for job seekers.

Update: If you live in the St. Louis area, please check out http://twitter.com/JobsStLouis. No advice, no interview tips, just available jobs. It should be helpful for any general job search.

Be careful how you define yourself - Rapper 'C-Murder' convicted of murder

2009-08-11T18:34:00.005-05:00

Rapper Corey Miller AKA C-Murder was convicted of murder. C-Murder released eight albums between 1998 and 2008, and is the brother of Master P (Percy Miller) and Silkk the Shocker (Vyshonn Miller).

Although I don't wish this path upon anyone, I find it ironic that you would name yourself murder, and then get convicted of he same thing. We should be careful when we define ourselves, by action or name, because that's where our life may lead.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gp9fLtU7UV89rnzXWW76DufevvRAD9A0S7H00

Please keep in mind that he may not have committed this crime, but even if that is the case, his image may have weighted negatively during jury deliberations. Even if he is not the gansta the he raps about, this image can be hard to shake when standing in front of a jury.

The worst, and saddest, part of this story, is the boy that was shot, was not a enemy, but instead was a fan of c-murder, and was there to impress his hero. The boy looked up to C-Murder, and the life of a ganster, and that may have resulted in his death.

I don’t know if I could have done it.

2009-08-10T18:11:00.001-05:00

Passengers were forced to stay on a grounded plan for six hours, with diaper smells and a single inadequate toilet, and without food or drinks.

http://www.bnd.com/news/state/story/876912.html
and
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/travel/2009639813_webnightmareflight11.html

After landing, I have to wait more than 20 minutes, I start getting anxious. I don’t know what I would have done for 6 hours. These people were much more tolerant that I would have been. This is unacceptable that a non-government, non-police company or person, can hold you hostage aboard a ground aircraft, against your will.

Here is an article about an effort to get a passenger’s bill of rights. Are you willing to support it?

http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/travelers_check/archives/2009/08/passengers_bill.html

Why you should get a Google Voice Account

2009-08-08T06:11:00.000-05:00

What is Google Voice?

Google voice is a free hybrid VOIP solution that allows you to make and receive calls over the internet.

In short, Google will give you a free phone number (you pick the number and area code). Any calls to that number, will be redirected to your home, cell, work or all of the above (at the same time or any combination you choose).

In addition, you can use your computer to initiate free domestic long distance calls. It includes voice mail, which will use voice-to-text to transcribe your messages for you and send you a text version of the voice mail message.

Also, it’s a free service. But, it’s by invitation only, and the invitations are given out first-come-first serve. Here the link to request a invitation. You might want to get your request in now, before everyone finds out about this service.

Hard Evidence of Voting Machine Addition Errors

2008-04-30T20:18:00.004-05:00

As I wrote about before, we have some serious problems with these electronic voting machines. They are not adding up the votes correctly, we as a people sould be outraged, but we are not. We are asleep at the wheel, and the car is off course. Wake up before we go over a cliff...

From Slashdot:

"Princeton Professor, Ed Felton, has posted a series of blog entries in which he shows the printed tapes he obtained from the NJ voting machines don't report the ballots correctly. In response to the first one, Sequoia admitted that the machines ad a known software design error that did not correctly record which kind of ballots were cast (republican or democratic primary ballots) but insisted the vote totals were correct. Then, further tapes showed this explanation to be insufficient. In response, State officials insisted that the (poorly printed) tapes were misread by Felton. Again further tapes showed this not to be a sufficient explanation. However all those did not foreclose the optimistic assessment that the errors were benign — that is, the possibility that vote totals might really be correct even though the ballot totals were
wrong and the origin of the errors had not been explained. Now he has found (well-printed) tapes that show what appears to be hard proof that it's the vote totals that are wrong, since two different readout methods don't agree. Sequoia has made trade-secret legal threats against those wishing to mount an independent examination of the equipment. One small hat-tip to Sequoia: at least they are reporting enough raw data in different formats that these kinds of errors can come to light — that lesson should be kept in mind when writing future requirements for voting machines."

http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/04/29/1712215&from=rss

St. Louis gun buyback program

2007-12-15T07:42:00.000-06:00

The St. Louis can not "buyback" these guns, because that they never owned. To buyback implies that you once had ownership of the guns.

Also, the only ones turning in the guys will be old widows that have guns for a husband that passed away, and they don't want them anymore. Or people turning in old rusted, junk and non-functional guns.

I've heard people saying they wanted to turn in their old rusted guns (that don't work) for some money to buy a new riffle. I say, more power to you.

Don't get me wrong, I would like to reduce crime on the street also, but I just don't believe this will be effective.

St. Louis — The St. Louis Police Department wants your guns — and is offering cold cash.Anyone who turns in an assault-type weapon this Saturday will get $100. Those who turn in revolvers and shotguns will get $50 apiece.Here's the kicker: The department is promising "no questions asked."The buyback takes place this Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., at Galloway Entertainment Complex, 8340 North Broadway.
Maj. Alfred Adkins, commander of the police department's North Patrol, said the city has set aside $20,000 for the project, expecting people to turn in anywhere from 200 to 400 weapons. Adkins said each weapon will be checked to determine whether it had been stolen or used in a crime — but those checks will be made long after people have turned the weapons in.
He said that no one will be asked any questions about where they got the guns. "Our intent really is to get weapons off the street, and we won't be asking any questions in order to get those weapons and continue the public trust," he said. He added that the weapons can be turned in anonymously; the identity of people who turn in weapons and the weapons they surrender will not be matched.Adkins said that if police find some weapons have been stolen, they will be returned to their owners.
Weapons that have been used in crimes will be held for court proceedings, and the rest will be destroyed, possibly melted down for display in the community.St. Louis police did a similar buyback 16 years ago, in tribute to a 9-year-old boy who was gunned down. Christopher Harris was an innocent victim, killed in 1991 when a drug dealer used him as a human shield in a shootout with a rival crack dealer.
The city spent $341,000 on that buyback, and collected 7,547 guns in one month. Of those, 85 had been stolen — or 1.1 percent. That low number of stolen weapons surprised then-Chief Clarence Harmon, who had feared thefts would go up with the offer of cash-for-guns.The city had paid $50 in 1991 for a handgun and $25 for a long gun. Only one true assault weapon was turned in during that roundup.
Some considered the buyback a costly public relations gimmick that would do little to reduce street crime. Others called it innovative, and a great way to get rid of unwanted guns that could fall into the hands of criminals or youngsters.City officials erected a statue in Christopher's honor. They originally wanted to make the statue out of melted-down guns from the buyback, but that proved impractical.
The 1991 cache was a huge success — but it was based on a 30-day program. The 2007 effort is one day only.Richard Wilkes, a department spokesman, said he's heard that some citizens are skeptical and may be worrying it's all a setup. But that's not the case, Wilkes insists. "No questions asked," he repeated.For this buyback, Sixth District police have teamed up with hip hop radio station KATZ-FM, known as 100.3 The Beat, and television station KPLR (Channel 11).
Two years ago, disc jockeys Kaos and Sylli Asz were fired from the radio station for on-air comments discussing ways to disarm and fight police officers just days after a Kirkwood police officer was slain.
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/28CFA442CB705B21862573B00019FC22?OpenDocument

Dog the bounty hunter uses racial slur multiple times on tape.

2007-11-01T09:27:00.002-05:00

What's up Dog?

You have to love the Enquirer. There are plenty of stories that are just smoke, with not substance, but once in a while they get a really good story, with proof. Posting it on their web site was brilliant, I might start subscribing to see what else I'm missing out on.

Dog the bounty hunter, whose real name is Duane Chapman, used the word “nigger” when referring to his son's girlfriend, Monique Shinnery (a Black women). I feel that was very disrespectful to his son's girlfriend, and that didn't set too well with me. He also lost points for his disrespectful language toward African-Americans.

Read the whole storey here: http://www.nationalenquirer.com/dog_bounty_hunter_racial_slur_tape/celebrity/64325

Roy Innis, who served as chairman for CORE (Congress for Racial Equality) was not happy with dog, and released the following statement:

"Dog Chapman should not have a show. That show should be taken off the air...
This man should not be held up as a role model for children...He has venom deep
in his soul. This is a picture of his heart a revelation of his true
nature...His comments show that he certainly is not a good guy."

Props to A&E, they released the following statement:

"A&E has just learned of the story released by the National Enquirer
concerning Duane Dog Chapman. We take this matter very seriously. Pending an
investigation, we have suspended production on the series. When the inquiry is
concluded we will take appropriate action."

What did Dog have to say for himself? Here it is, the question is do you believe it?

"My sincerest, heartfelt apologies go out to every person I have offended for my
regrettable use of very inappropriate language. I am deeply disappointed in
myself for speaking out of anger to my son and using such a hateful term in a
private phone conversation. It was completely taken out of context. I was
disappointed in his choice of a friend, not due to her race, but her character.
However, I should have never used that term. I have the utmost respect and aloha
for black people, who have already suffered so much due to racial discrimination
and acts of hatred. I did not mean to add yet another slap in the face to an
entire race of people who have brought so many gifts to the world. I am ashamed
of myself and I pledge to do whatever I can to repair this damage I have
caused."

The problem I have with the apology is a result of his own words in the audio, he tells his son that they “we use the word nigger sometimes here”

I can only assume that he is saying that they use the word “nigger” at work (when the camera's are not running). And it looked like the girlfriend was already upset about them using the word. Dog could have stopped this before it reached the Enquirer by apologizing to Ms. Shinnery, and telling her that they will not use the word at the shop any more, but instead he wanted to show what a big shot he was and continue to use it, and now he got caught.

I leave you with a Dog quote from the above audio:

“I not going to take a chance...of losing everything I worked for...because some
fucking nigger heard us say nigger...”

At a loss for words (almost)

2007-10-21T20:34:00.000-05:00

I watched the following video and was almost sick to my stomach:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HrucqUaaZE

This video is a symptom of a much bigger problem that is affecting all of us, including the members of this forum (the pro-gunners). The result of videos like this is fear, and the producers and “actors” in this video are attempting to instill fear in the hearts of anyone that watches it, and I believe it’s working.

If you will follow me for a moment, I’ll explain how everyone loses out, including the 2A supporters.

The African-Americans and the Hispanic communities lose, because the negative stereotypes are being reinforced. These stereotypes will affect the perceptions and attitudes that other races have toward the African-Americans and the Hispanics. Worst, it will poison the next generation causing the youth to think this mind set is necessary for survival.

A young Black male will fear that if he attempts to be a good person/student he will not be “hard” enough, and if he’s not “hard” they will be labeled as a “punk a.. n…..”. Anyone in the hood with this label will have a very difficult time surviving. Unfortunately, the young Black youth see this type of gangster attitude as the only way to survive growing up in a world, which is both foreign to most of us, and extremely dangerous.

To give an example of what these young kids are going through, try to imagine the changes that you would need to undergo if you were to survive in one of the toughest prisons in the US (or even Mexico). Even if you’re naturally a nice, considerate and helpful person, you may need to portray a harder and meaner attitude to survive and leave both mentally and physically intact. But each time you show your toughness, you are both instilling fear in the next man and “teaching” him what he needs to survive. To make matters worse, each time you make the “mistake” of showing kindness and compassion, you are swiftly punished, and “marked” as a person that everyone should pick on. You would reach a point, where it was impossible to tell the naturally good guys from the evil guys, because all would be acting tough to survive. And in truth, if you stated in this environment too long, you might not be able to find/recover your true self when you where finally removed form the hell-hole.

It’s a balancing act to live and survive in a violent world (the ghetto) the only understands violence and only respects the strong, then to interact with the world a large where this type of thinking is not acceptable.

What you are seeing in this video is a defensive mechanism, used by the Black youth to survive situations that would bring most adults to their knees crying. Unfortunately, this will also cause a continued proliferation of this type of negative thinking and also, of the negative attitudes towards both the African-Americans and the Hispanic communities. This is one of the biggest challenges for the majority of African-Americans and the Hispanics that are good, upstanding, hard-working and moral people.

The effects on other communities:

Many of you see the threat of violence as the effect of this gangster mentality, and this creates fear. This fear is natural, it’s hard to imagine anyone watching that video and not feeling some level of concern for their safety. The problem is and you talk about arming yourself against this treat and practicing your aim, so you will be ready if one of these guys attack you. But…

Your missing the real threat. While your buying more guns and preparing yourself for an attack, you fail to realize your are already being attacked (and losing). You will need to follow my closely on this one. What I’m about to say is based on two assumptions: 1. The violence and gangster mentality in the “ghettos” is getting worst and 2. as it gets worst the fear people are experiencing will continue to increase.

While you feel protected (yet still afraid), a large number of your fellow Americans (the non-pro-gun people) are experiencing an unbearable and torturous level of fear they had never before imagined. Each time they see a video like that, or worse yet, have a unpleasant experience on the wrong end of a gangsters gun, they fear is going to cause them to think unreasonably and irrationally. (Fear can and will cause that reaction)

Each gangster act that they experience is going to cause the fear to fight that much harder against the mean guns that is “causing” this violence. With each gangster act, they anti’s will increase in number and become more determined to defeat the mean guns. They will feel it’s a life or death struggle and they will start to feel as if they are “all in” (to borrow from poker). Once this happens, once a person is so afraid that they feel their life and the life of the people they love is on the line, they will do anything to stop the violence, even if it means ignoring the bill of rights. And if ignoring the bill of rights doesn’t work, the next step is to change it.

If the anti’s are not safe, neither are your gun rights. You might be safe (for now), but the constitution is not safe and once 2A goes, so does your safety. And they you will be on the same level as the Anti’s, full of fear and prone to irrational thinking and judgment.

The rights of gun owners will not be truly safe until ALL Americans feel safe, and this can not happen until we can end this perpetual cycle of violence happening in every inner city across America. If you think what goes on in the inner city doesn’t affect you, then you are wrong. The fear that the gangster violence generates, is what fuels the fear of the anti-gunners.

In war, cutting off your enemy’s fuel source be a defining moment in winning the war. In this case, if we can reduce the cycle of violence in the hood, we will ease the fear experience by a large group of Americans. This will not only go a long way toward saving the rights of gun owners, but also create a safer America. As a moral bonus, we will also help a group of people caught in a unending cycle of self-destruction.

It’s one think to identify the problem (as many of you have done), but it’s another to think up solutions, then roll up your selves and implement them.

Traffic stop - guy choked for not opening his mouth.

2007-10-21T15:25:00.000-05:00

What do you think of this video. The police choked this guy for not opening his mouth. They guy said he did open it, but the police said he didn't. The police were looking for drugs, but did they go too far?

Wife's birthday dinner

2007-10-07T19:01:00.000-05:00

Here is the details of a visit to Charlie Gitto's last month. I'm not going to remember all my restaurant visits over the last month, but this one stuck out because I sent the manager an email. I still have yet to hear back from him, but here is what I wrote.

Please let me know what you think. Both of our exprience and how I handled it.

Jason,

September 15th was my wife birthday. She loves Italian food and she loves eating at the downtown Charlie Gitto's, so it was a perfect match for a birthday meal.

On September 15th, I took my wife to Charlie Gitto's at Harrah's casino for a wonderful meal. We got there at 6:30pm and did not have a reservation, but the hostess (and yourself) where at the front and you told us we could come back at 8pm and get a table. We happily accepted this and walk around the casino for an hour and 20 minutes.

We got back to your restaurant at 7:50pm and we were seated right away. We were given bread, water and told our waiter would be with us right away. We finished our bread and water, and asked about the waiter, and we were again told he would be right with us. This happened a few times, over the next 35 minutes, until we got tired of being ignored. With our bread bowl and water glasses empty, I got up for the table and asked for the manager.

I spoke to you, and you instantly got our waiter "Jason" to take our order, and you also offered us appetizers and wine to make up for the delay. We accepted and you asked us to pick a bottle of wine (instead of a glass), because it would give you more options. You told us not to worry about anything, you would make everything right. We thought you were handling everything appropriately and was happy with what you offered.

Jason (the waiter), came out and offered us a mixed seafood appetizer, I don't remember what it was called, but he described the items on it, and it sounded great. We told him we would take it, but when the appetizer came out, we were instead given toasted ravioli (we didn't get the offered seafood dish). As we were celebrating our evening, we didn't want to spoil it by complaining, plus it was a complimentary appetizer, so we accepted and ate it.

The remainder of the dinner went ok and the food was good. But, when we got the bill, I noticed the wine, which both my wife and I understood to be complimentary, was charged to the bill. The evening was just ok (at best), and we just decided to leave without rehashing the initial issue again, so I just paid the $91 bill.

I asked for you before I left, as I was going to ask you for a business card (so I could email you), but you beat me to it and offered it. Also, told you that I was not tipping my usually amount of 20%, because the service was not at the level we are usually accustom to at the other Charlie Gitto's, or any other restaurant we have been to.

I am not satisfied with the resolution and I am writing you to allow for you an opportunity to correct this.

Thank you for your time,