Tuesday, March 02, 2010

Chelsea King body found in San Diego County

Related searches: missing teen jogger, san diego teen missing, chelsea king murdered, John Albert Gardner



Really sad news that Chelsea King's body was believed to have been found Tuesday in what's described as a "shallow grave". The missing teen Chelsea King was just 17 years old and reportedly went for a jog in the park and vanished.

The Washington Post reports "Police said evidence has linked 30-year-old John Albert Gardner III to both cases (this one and one in Colorado) but further details have not been released."

Nancy Grace on HLN reports that the charges were filed before the body was found. The San Diego County Sheriff's office explains that evidence was found linking John Albert Gardner to Chelsea King. Nancy Grace on HLN has a lively discussion on this where he's described as a "30-year-old scumbag".

Yikes!

This is shockingly like the case of Chandra Levy, who, like Chelsea King, went for a jog by herself in May 2001 in Washington DC and disappeared. The bottom line is that no one, male or female, should run alone in a secluded park. But in this case, it's too late for that. This is sad, really sad, and awful.

Stay tuned.

Twitter update newsletter by Biz Stone reports 1,500 percent growth

Related searches: biz stone newsletter, microblogging on twitter, twitter growth, twitter employees, new media news, media industry news, twitter founder

Biz Stone 
A Twitter update was sent by Biz Stone to this blogger (and undoubtedly other Twitter account holders) today, Tuesday. Rather than paraphrase what the Twitter founder wrote, the newsletter is presented here, below.

The Twitter newsletter highlights are that Twitter accounts have grown 1,500 percent in number and the Twitter staff has grown 500 percent. Twitter now has as many employees as the tweet character limit (140).

Here's the newsletter from Biz Stone:


Hi there,

In the early days of Twitter, I used to send out short updates just to keep everyone in the loop since so much was happening. It's been a while, but you signed up for short, monthly updates from Twitter so we thought it was time to start sharing more information. We've had quite a year. If you haven't visited in a while, we'd like to invite you to come have a look at http://twitter.com -- we've been busy!

Growing Up

In the course of a year, registered Twitter accounts have grown more than 1,500% and our team has grown 500%. Recently, we hired our 140th employee! His name is Aaron and he's an engineer focused on building internal tools to help promote productivity, communication, and support within our company. We celebrated with a little dance party.

Features of Note

Some features of note that we released over the course of a year include the ability to create lists, quickly spread information with a retweet button, and an easier way to activate your mobile phone to work with Twitter over SMS. We also built a new mobile web site that looks and works much better on smart phones.

Feeling Inspired

By working together during critical times when others needed help, sharing important information that otherwise might not make the news, and inventing new and interesting ways to use Twitter, you've shown us that Twitter is more than a triumph of technology -- it is a triumph of humanity. Projects like Fledgling and Hope140 were inspired by you.

Chirp!

While there may only be 140 full-time employees working at the Twitter offices, there are thousands of dedicated platform developers who have now created more than 70,000 registered Twitter applications creating variety and utility for all of us. We'll be gathering this spring at Chirp, our first ever official Twitter developer conference.

Thanks,
Biz Stone, Co-founder (@Biz)
Twitter, Inc.

Chevron Ecuador issue: video showing Judge talking bribe authentic

Related searches: oil industry news, american oil market, chevron news, ecuador oil production, bob mccarty blog, petroleum industry news, latin american oil, central american news

Ecuador Ministry of Justice Engineer Hugo Rekalde issued a statement today, Tuesday, that the video taken of an Ecuadorian Judge named Juan Evangelista Nunez involved in a conversation over an alleged bribe that the Judge would get part of if he were to rule against Chevron in their case against Ecuador (and note, not the indigenous people, because Ecuador's a party to the lawsuit).

This video interview conducted last year (August 2009) and with Chevron Spokesperson Sean Comey explains how the video came to Chevron's attention.



Anti-American Oil (Or is it just Chevron or are they just being paid by lawyers against Chevron?) antagonists have said the video was doctored and altered, and based a lot of their attacks on that idea. Ecuador's own legal arm has said they're wrong. The report reads:

-After the voices in the recordings were identified, studied, and compared and their audible sound frequency ranges were compared in the Audiogram (device used to compare audible frequencies), they were determined to be the actual voices of the following individuals:

Carlos Patricio Garda O. Ruben Darlo Miranda M. Diego Fernando Borja S. Juan Evangelista Nunez S. Aulo Servio Avila C. Pablo Almeida. Wayne Hansen, and Juan Pablo Novoa V.


Blogger Bob McCarty has posted a copy of the Ecuadorian legal report here: ECUADOR JUDGE VIDEO.

2010 NFL Combine results: Tim Tebow, Taylor Mays, A.J. Jefferson impress

Related searches: NFL Draft, usc nfl draft prospect, tim tebow nfl combine, fresno state nfl draft, taylor mays and nfl draft, a.j jefferson fresno state

The 2010 NFL Combine is history and some interesting results emerge: Florida, Quarterback Tim Tebow, USC Free Safety Taylor Mays, and Fresno State Cornerback A.J. Jefferson were impressive. That view of this blogger comes from a direct look at the performance numbers from the NFL Combine.

What one looks for is which player stands out as a performer in more than one drill. From that really cold numerical perspective, Tim Tebow was the best quarterback in four out of seven drill categories: the Vertical Jump, 3-Cone Drill, 20-Yard Shuttle, 60-Yard Shuttle. Tebow didn't throw and did not participate in the Bench Press, but then 15 other QBs didn't either. In the 40-Yard Dash, Tebow clocked in a 4.72 second time; West Virginia's Jarrett Brown had the best performance here, a 4.54 time.

Taylor Mays was the fastest defensive back with a blistering 4.43 time in the 40-Yard Dash, plus he pushed out 24-reps in The Bench Press for fourth best, and a Vertical Jump of 41 inches. A.J. Jefferson appeared at the top of near the top of almost every drill category, far more than Taylor Mays.

So if one's scoring for "best athlete available by position" at the NFL Combine at, they are at the quarterback and defensive back positions: Tim Tebow, Taylor Mays, and A.J. Jefferson.

For a more detailed look at quarterbacks at the NFL Combine, this blogger turns to Dr. Bill Chackhes, The Draftnik. Bill holds court at Zennie62.com and NFL Business Blog. His take is that none of the top QBs entering the NFL Draft are impressive, and offers his list of the ones who are:

Jonathan Crompton-Tennessee
Tyler Sheehan-Bowling Green
Tim Hiller- Western Michigan
Eric Ward- Richmond
Armanti Edwards-Appalachian St.
Pat Grace-N.Iowa

Stay tuned for more as we close in on the NFL Draft.

NFL Draft and Combine - Send in the QB's, Where are the QB's?



Send in the QB's, Where are the QB's?

By Dr. Bill Chachkes-Managing Partner/Executive Editor-Football Reporters Online/Gridiron Draft Guide
(Photo: Fordham QB John Skelton swings an out pass to his brother, tight end Stephen Skelton in the 2009 opener against Columbia-Shot By A.F. Chachkes for Football Reporters Online)

I'm looking at various lists put out by the "big guys" regarding how they rate the Quarterbacks for the 2010 Draft. For the life of me i can't figure out what some of these guys are on. The Site with the "Acronyms" in it's name that has two supposed "Top Talent Evaluators" on it's staff and on it's airwaves claim that Sam Bradford of Oklahoma is the best QB in this Draft. Must be something in the Hair Gel fumes.
Bradford is talented, yes, but he has yet to impress many "real" Draft Scouts, unless some miracle lighting bolt hits Lucas Oil stadium this weekend. Bradford if you remember, spent the majority of the 2009 season injured. Unless he throws the football across the river and into the indy zoo, his status won't change by next week in my eyes. Notre Dame's Jimmy Clausen isn't horrible either, but he's at least three full NFL seasons away from being close to a starter in my eyes. He suffers from "Tony Romo-itis" of his feet, amongst other issues with his game.

The Best "Big School" QB's in this draft are Texas' Colt McCoy, Central Michigan's
Dan LeFevour, and Cincinnati's Tony Pike. After those three, the next three best QB's in this class are at the FCS level. Number four is Jacksonville State's Ryan Perrilloux (the LSU transfer), then Fordham University's John Skelton rounds out the top 5. Skelton clearly has the best Arm of any QB in this class. Number six is Troy State's Levi Brown, followed by Holy Cross' Dominic Randolph at seven.
Too many independent scouts have underrated the players from the "lower" conferences for far too long. The Next "FBS" QB ranks at number eight, and he is Mississippi's Jevan Snead. Number nine is Northwestern's MIke Kafka, and rounding out the "Top Ten" is Oregon State's Sean Canfield. Below you will find (not in order) some other QB's we are tracking. You will notice that a certain QB from Florida isn't on my list. Again, unless he's hit by lighting, don't expect to hear his name called until late on day two if not day three of the draft.

Some more QB's that Impress:

Jonathan Crompton-Tennessee
Tyler Sheehan-Bowling Green
Tim Hiller- Western Michigan
Eric Ward- Richmond
Armanti Edwards-Appalachian St.
Pat Grace-N.Iowa

Our full ratings for every position will be published in the Gridiron Draft Guide (a combined work of Consensus Draft Services and Football Reporters Online, with assistance from the Black Athlete Sports Network) and can be purchased for Ten dollars U.S. at www.gridirondraftguide.com and will be e-mailed on April 4th and 5th.

Football Experts join forces to produce an NFL Draft Guide like no other

“Football Experts Join Forces to produce a Draft Guide like no other”

Football Reporters Online and Consensus Draft Services, with assistance from the Black Athlete Sports Network, have combined forces (while retaining their distinct identities) to produce what we feel with be the best value and most informative NFL draft publication: The GRIDIRON GUIDE TO THE NFL DRAFT.

“Taking this major step to produce the 2010 edition of the GRIDIRON DRAFT GUIDE with our co-operators will get consumers of football media to realize that they don’t need to spend the cost of a game ticket to get accurate and informative coverage of the draft” commented Dr. Bill Chachkes, Football Reporters Online’s Managing Partner and the Gridiron Guide’s Executive Editor. “You should be able to pay an affordable price for an electronic book as opposed to an exorbitant price for the right to waste paper” Chachkes continued. Consensus Draft Services founder Stephen Martin and his staff wanted to reach out to another organization to expand their scouting network, and to obtain additional perspective on potential draftees. "This draft report combines the insiders perspectives and article-based formats of BASN and FRO with the scouting pedantry that characterizes CDS, and gives you a draft guide that is not only complete and accurate but also that is rich with varied content, and at a price that is a fraction of what others charge."


For the Black Athlete Sports Network (BASN) It was a different approach entirely that caught their attention. FRO’s Michael-Louis Ingram was already a contributor to BASN as well. The combined efforts just made sense. "Working together with Dr. Football (Chachkes) and his staff at last year's NFL Draft not only helped give us a broader football audience, but for all sports as well," said Tony McClean, Black Athlete’s Editor in Chief. All three groups produce Internet radio shows. The links for each can be found below:

The CDS Shows Air Saturday Mornings on Talkshoe or can be accessed at:
http://cdsdraft.com/radio.php

On Blog Talk Radio BASN can be found at:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/la-batchelor

Football Reporters Online also On Blog Talk Radio at:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/football-reporters

Roger Ebert picks The Hurt Locker for Oscar Best Picture amid email issue

Related searches: ebert oscar pics, oprah winfrey, roger ebert talks, ebert voice synthesizer, anti-Avatar emails, ampas, oscar best picture

The news that The Hurt Locker's Oscar Best Picture chances may be harmed by producer Nicolas Chartier's alleged "anti-Avatar" email campaign may be overstated. Observers say the Academy's action against Chartier in banning him from the Oscars has had no impact on The Hurt Locker's chances for "Best Picture" at The Oscars.

Roger Ebert, introducing his new, synthesized voice on Oprah today, Tuesday, picked The Hurt Locker, the Katheryn Bigelow-directed war movie for Hollywood's coveted prize.

The discovery of anti-Avatar emails sent by one of the The Hurt Locker's producers Nicolas Chartier (who was banned from attending the Oscars by The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) is having no apparent impact on the film's chances to win Oscar Best Picture. Roger Ebert (who did not discuss the email controversy), picked the movie as well as Jeff Bridges and Sandra Bullock for Best Actor and Best Actress respectively.

Here's Roger Ebert using his new voice system with his wife, Chaz:



On Twitter, the news does not damper the enthusiasm for The Hurt Locker as Best Picture at The Oscars, but the other issue is one of timing. Final Oscar voting ballots were due today, Tuesday, so the whole email flap may have come just too late to harm The Hurt Locker.

Meanwhile, it's great to see Roger Ebert talking again.

Academy boots The Hurt Locker's Nicolas Chartier from Sunday's Oscars

Related searches: LA Times Peter Hammond Hurt Locker, anti-Avatar email, Avatar and Hurt Locker, Oscar buzz hurt locker, Nicolas Chartier email, Nicolas Chartier hurt locker

In the end game to an email Nicolas Chartier (pictured with Stephanie Swedlove of Brightlight Pictures) wish he'd not written, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) just announced that they are denying him from attending the Oscars on Sunday. Here's the AMPAS press release:


Academy Penalizes Aggressive Campaigner

Beverly Hills, CA — The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today that, should “The Hurt Locker” be announced as the recipient of the Best Picture award at Sunday’s ceremonies, only three of the picture’s producers will be present for the celebration. The fourth of the film’s credited producers, Nicolas Chartier, has been denied attendance at the 82nd Academy Awards® as a penalty for violating Academy campaigning standards.

Chartier had recently disseminated an email to certain Academy voters and other film industry figures in which he solicited votes for his own picture and disparaged one of the other contending films. Academy rules prohibit “casting a negative or derogatory light on a competing film.” The executive committee of the Academy’s Producers Branch, at a special session late Monday, ruled that the ethical lapse merited the revocation of Chartier’s invitation to the Awards.

The group stopped short of recommending that the Academy governors rescind Chartier’s nomination. If “The Hurt Locker” were to be selected as Best Picture, Chartier would receive his Oscar® statuette at some point subsequent to the March 7 ceremonies.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2009 will be presented on Sunday, March 7, 2010, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network beginning at 5 p.m. PT/ 8 p.m. ET. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.


More on reactions from around the web soon.

Admiral Ackbar "backlash" a joke: evidence of anti-Ackbar effort scant

Related searches: Star Wars, George Lucas, Lucasfilm Admiral Ackbar, The Return of The Jedi, science fiction, ole miss mascot

On February 24th, this space reported that Admiral Ackbar, The Supreme Commander of the Rebel Alliance and designer of the B-Wing Star Fighter in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi was the front-runner in the race for a new mascot for the Ole Miss Rebels.

The reason for the desire for a new mascot is simple: Colonel Reb reminds many of the Old South. The Empire. Slavery. And many other unpleasant things.

The idea of Admiral Ackbar as mascot is more than just a nod to popular culture, it's a subversive attempt to actually place a real rebel symbol as representing the university.

Admiral Ackbar by his very face and name is unconventional and his election as mascot for Ole Miss would speak volumes for how far "The South" has really come. Indeed, Admiral Ackbar's possible rise to mascot power has upset some, even those in the media it seems. A story's flying around the there's a "backlash" against the Admiral Ackbar mascot campaign.

The source is supposed to be the Atlanta Journal Constitution. But as of this writing, the AJC article points to TMZ for its information; the TMZ blog reads the heads of the Admiral Ackbar campaign reported angry calls but provide no quote or name of anyone connected with the effort . And both TMZ and AJC report no other credible information to prove the claim that a "backlash" exists. They just say it does.

But the reality is a real, credible "backlash" has bite and followers and that's not here. There's no Internet footprint of any size that's challenging the Admiral Ackbar Mascot Movement.

 And this blogger hopes it succeeds right smack in the face of Ole Miss alumns who need to be shaken out of their cultural comfort zone. It's said all too often that some people in The South are still "living the Civil War"; Admiral Ackbar - and only Admiral Ackbar - can bring them into the 21st Century.

Stay tuned.

John Mayer back in the Twitter media swing after N-word issue

After literally checking out for a while, singer John Mayer, known for many multiple tweets in a single day, is back in the Twitter swing after the N-word issue.

 As you may recall, John Mayer knocked back scotch during a Playboy Interview and let loose with a blast that included use of the N-word as well as how John Meyer wasn't attracted to black women, and in graphic terms how he felt about sex with Jessica Simpson.

The resulting negative public reaction was so hard for John Mayer to take he issued an apology on Twitter, then stopped tweeting. He sent exactly two tweets in eight days between February 14th and February 21st. But by February 27th, John Mayer started tweeting many times a day again. Here are some of his most recent tweets:




Grand Rapids, MI and Throbbing Springs, PA are the two cities in the US that sound the most like water parks.
about 21 hours ago via Twittelator
Two Krispy Kreme doughnuts, good. Three Krispy Kreme doughnuts, bad.
about 21 hours ago via Twittelator
If you want to look real smart on a plane, take out the day's crossword puzzle and fill it in as fast as you can with gibberish...
about 22 hours ago via Twittelator
How can you watch Jersey Shore for 9 hours and then act like you only listen to Beethoven's fifth? Okay. Point made. Night.
9:52 PM Feb 27th via Twittelator
Stop telling your friends you detest the ke$ha song and then dancing to it at home. How about some accountability, people?
8:56 PM Feb 27th via Twittelator
Though I must add I tried brushing with a bottle of Jack and I chipped a tooth on the glass. Where might I remit an invoice?
8:48 PM Feb 27th via Twittelator
Dear Ke$ha, you have won me over with your tricks and charms and I must tell you I really like your song.
8:46 PM Feb 27th via Twittelator


Who's Ke$ha? Ke$ha's a newcoming female singer - not African American, alas - behind the hit album Animal, that's apparently got the attention of John Mayer and perhaps his animal side. He tried brushing his teeth with "a bottle of Jack" - one wonders what he said after that episode?



Yep. John Mayer's back. This after he said he was going to basically stay out of the media just weeks ago. Remember that? Remember how sorry Mayer was and how he didn't mean to hurt anyone? I believe him, but man, that whole bottle of Jack thing makes me wonder.

Maybe he was kidding or just referring to a line in one of her songs. Or maybe he wasn't kidding, and referring to a line in one of Ke$ha's songs?

Stay tuned.