Today's Friday August 7th and for any regular Twitter user it it's "Follow Friday". But just what is Follow Friday and why is it so popular? I've got to admit I had no idea why the habit started. Whatever the case, it's a popular Internet happening, so let me explain what it is.
Follow Friday is the act of copying a Twitter account reference (@zennie62) and other Twitter accounts references (@handsongourmet), then in the "What are you doing" field paste those references and add this before them - Follow Friday - so the result looks like this:
And then click on "update". What will happen is others will see those references and click on them to follow if they want. But at times just making that kind of update will not do the trick, so many people add more account references, like so:
The reason for adding so many accounts is that the more people you encourage to be followed, the more likely they are to place you in their Follow Friday update post and the more times you will be "seen" to be followed by their followers.
Got it?
It's like this: let's say there's a 50 percent chance that you will get new followers if you have just two Twitter reference accounts, ok? So, if we have six, we go from one possible new follower to three. But you don't stop there, you add more Twitter account holders as you go along in new updates for Friday. The ideal system is to help those account holders who are following you first. What you want is for everyone following you to gain the benefit of your follower base, and vice versa. The overall objective is more followers, and a greater base from which to issue your message.
It's also the best free way to gain followers in addition to tweeting everyday, and retweeting (copying someone's tweet, pasting it into your "What are you doing? field, adding "RT" before it, and then pressing "update. On the matter of free, I don't recommend buying into a service as many of them don't work as advertised.)
Now, who started all of this?
According to Mashable the first Follow Friday tweet was issued in mid January of 2009 by @micah (Micah Baldwin), then @myklroventine came up with the hashtag #followfriday (which you can use or just "Follow Friday" as I do). But the very next week, the trend went viral, with about two Follow Friday's per second at its highest rate of activity.
TopFollowFriday a great tool
Wondering what online tool to use to "watch" your Follow Friday activity? I learned about something called TopFollowFriday, which is where can see who's endorsing them and who you've endorsed.
So give Follow Friday a try today, which is...Friday!
(Topics: John Hughes, Chicago, movies, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Sixteen Candles, Zennie Abraham)
When I learned that John Hughes passed away, SFGate.com referred to one of his films "Sixteen Candles" and I thought: What?! Heck with that; the best John Hughes film ever was "Ferris Bueller's Day Off"! That is one of my top 10 movies of all time. "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" is tops in my movie collection and when I think of Chicago, my hometown, that's the movie I think of.
Why?
Because "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" was and is the ultimate "coming of age" story but with a twist. Ferris Bueller already came of age before the movie; we come of age watching Ferris take over Chicago for a day, even as he was thought to be very sick by everyone at his school except the principal and his nosy sister.
That movie was the epicenter of popular sayings like "Who do you think you are? Abe Froeman?" (The mythical "Sausage King of Chicago" that Bueller claims to be while trying to worm his way into an expensive Friench restaurant), or "Kennedy, Kennedy, Kennedy... Ssssswwiiiinng batter!" , which Alan Ruck, who played Cameron, was actually ad-libbing "He can't hit-he can't hit-he can't hit-he can't hit". It had, front and center, every young man's fantasy: to drive a hot red car all over the place, have your hot girl friend and best friend in it, and absolutely no responsibility for paying for it (because your friend's parents own it).
(Of course, it took Cameron to cause its destruction, just as he was going through his pivotal change where he's ready to argue with his dad.)
"Ferris Bueller's Day Off" was Chicago: big, brash, bold, old and yet young, all in the body of Ferris Bueller. We saw every inch of the downtown of the City with The Big Shoulders, from State Street and Michigan Avenue, to The Sears Tower (I refuse to use its new name) and Grant Park and the Lake Front. It was a moving, wonderful travelogue of a city I love to this day.
"Ferris Bueller's Day Off" was our introduction to one of America's bad boys: Charlie Sheen. Playing a drug addict who makes the moves on Ferris' sister (played by Jennifer Grey), Sheen's "James Dean" take was the hit of the show behind Matthew Broderick, who is Ferris Bueller.
I've got to admit because Broderick played his role so effortlessly, it's hard for me to think of him as anyone else he's played in his long and distinguished career. As much as "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" was a coming of age movie, it was Broderick's coming of age movie.
From NFLMedia.com Unrestricted Free Agency Period Ends; 86 Re-sign, 128 Switch Teams 08/04/2009 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 8/4/09
UNRESTRICTED FREE AGENCY PERIOD ENDS; 86 RE-SIGN, 128 SWITCH TEAMS
Eighty-six unrestrictedfree agents re-signed with their old teams this year during the free-agencysigning period, while 128 signed with new teams, the National Football Leagueannounced today. The five-month UFAsigning period, under terms of the NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement betweenthe league and players, ended July 27.
The Denver Broncos signed the most unrestricted free agentsfrom other teams (14), followed by the Detroit Lions with nine.
As per the Collective Bargaining Agreement, players without2009 contracts who had four or more seasons of free agency experience qualifiedto be "unrestricted free agents" and were free to sign with any clubbetween February 27 and July 27.
There were a total of 336 unrestricted free agents thisyear. The total player pool isapproximately 1,700.
If an unrestricted free agent’s prior club made a 110percent tender on or before June 1, the prior club retained exclusivenegotiating rights if the player did not sign with another club during the UFAsigning period. If the player and clubare unable to negotiate a contract by the 10th week of the regular season(November 17), the player may not play the remainder of the season. If the player sits out the season, he becomesan unrestricted free agent next year.
The 128 unrestricted free agents whoswitched teams represent only 7.5 percent of all NFL players. Of the 400 players who were free agents inthe various categories of the system, 275 signed new contracts with either newteams or their old clubs. An additional44 players with fewer than four seasons of free agency experience received noqualifying offer or minimum tender from their prior clubs.
Restrictedfree agents are those players who have threeseasons of free agency experience and are subject to compensation and/or rightof first refusal.
For the first time since the current CBA went into effect 17seasons ago, none of this year's 55 restricted free agents signed with a newteam and 54 restricted free agents returned to their former clubs. The period for restricted free agents toaccept offers from other teams ended April 17.
A transitionplayer is a designated restricted or unrestricted free agent whose teammust tender a one-year contract at the average of the 10 highest-paid playersof 2008 at the transition player's position, or a 20 percent increase,whichever is greater. A franchise player is a designated restrictedor unrestricted free agent whose team must tender a one-year contract at theaverage of the five highest-paid players at the franchise player's position in2008, or a 20 percent increase, whichever is greater.
A comparison of free agent movement sincethe current CBA went into effect 17 seasons ago:
NFL FREE AGENCY MOVEMENT (VeteranFree Agents Who Signed With New Teams)
FINAL2009 NFL UNRESTRICTED & RESTRICTED FREE-AGENT SIGNINGS (Basedon official notification to NFL office) 1) 128 UNRESTRICTED free agents have signed with a NEWteam:
TEAM PLAYER FORMER TEAM DATE REPORTED Arizona Cardinals CB Bryant McFadden Pittsburgh 3/11
RB Jason Wright Cleveland 3/18 Atlanta Falcons LB Mike Peterson Jacksonville 3/11
C Brett Romberg St. Louis 3/10 Baltimore Ravens C Matt Birk Minnesota 3/5
CB Chris Carr Tennessee 3/18
CB Dominique Foxworth Atlanta 2/27
TE L.J. Smith Philadelphia 3/20 Buffalo Bills QB Ryan Fitzpatrick Cincinnati 2/28
C Geoff Hangartner Carolina 3/2
G Seth McKinney Cleveland 4/8
RB Dominic Rhodes Indianapolis 4/20
LB Patrick Thomas Kansas City 3/20 Chicago Bears S Josh Bullocks New Orleans 3/12
T Frank Omiyale Carolina 2/28 Cincinnati Bengals WR Laveranues Coles NY Jets 3/5
DT Tank Johnson Dallas 4/8
QB J.T. O’Sullivan San Francisco 3/10 Cleveland Browns LB Eric Barton NY Jets 3/16
CB Corey Ivy Baltimore 3/19
DE C.J. Mosley NY Jets 3/9
CB Hank Poteat NY Jets 3/10
T John St. Clair Chicago 3/18
T Floyd Womack Seattle 3/16 Dallas Cowboys LB Keith Brooking Atlanta 3/2
LB Ray Lewis 3/9 Buffalo Bills T Kirk Chambers 3/4
RB Corey McIntyre 3/3 Chicago Bears RB Kevin Jones 3/9 Cincinnati Bengals RB Cedric Benson 3/4
LB Darryl Blackstock 3/2
S Chris Crocker 3/5 Cleveland Browns S Mike Adams 3/6 Denver Broncos DT Kenny Peterson 3/10
TE Jeb Putzier 3/16 Detroit Lions RB Aveion Cason 3/9
G Damion Cook 3/5
WR Keary Colbert 5/7
T George Foster 4/6 Green Bay Packers DE Mike Montgomery 3/23 Houston Texans S Nick Ferguson 3/12
C Chris White 2/27
CB Eugene Wilson 2/27 Indianapolis Colts S Matt Giordano 4/17
LB Tyjuan Hagler 4/8
C Jeff Saturday 2/27 Jacksonville Jaguars C Brad Meester 2/27
CB Scott Starks 2/27 Kansas City Chiefs S Jon McGraw 3/6 Miami Dolphins S Yeremiah Bell 2/27 Minnesota Vikings LB Heath Farwell 3/6
DT Jimmy Kennedy 3/11
TE Jim Kleinsasser 2/28
S Benny Sapp 3/10 New England Patriots P Chris Hanson 3/5
G Russ Hochstein 3/2
S James Sanders 3/5
DT Kenny Smith 4/22
S Tank Williams 3/16
DE Mike Wright 3/16 New Orleans Saints QB Joey Harrington 3/30
WR Devery Henderson 3/4
T Jon Stinchcomb 3/3
LB Jonathan Vilma 3/3 New York Jets CB Ahmad Carroll 3/16
K Jay Feely 3/9
TE Bubba Franks 5/12
RB Tony Richardson 3/3 Oakland Raiders G Cooper Carlisle 3/3
LB Isaiah Ekejiuba 3/3
NT William Joseph 3/16
CB Justin Miller 3/16
TE Tony Stewart 3/3
LB Sam Williams 4/1 Pittsburgh Steelers QB Charlie Batch 4/16
CB Fernando Bryant 3/18
T Trai Essex 3/17
LB Keyaron Fox 4/6
LB Andre Frazier 3/16
G Chris Kemoeatu 3/12 St. Louis Rams CB Ron Bartell 3/5
G Adam Goldberg 3/23
DE Eric Moore 3/16 San Francisco 49ers CB Allen Rossum 3/11
LB Takeo Spikes 3/4 Seattle Seahawks LB Leroy Hill 5/1
LB D.D. Lewis 3/16
T Ray Willis 3/9 Tampa Bay Buccaneers S Will Allen 3/3
WR Michael Clayton 3/2
WR Cortez Hankton 3/5
S Jermaine Phillips 3/6
TE Jerramy Stevens 3/5 Tennessee Titans QB Kerry Collins 2/28
S Vincent Fuller 3/2
P Craig Hentrich 3/6 Washington Redskins DE Phillip Daniels 4/2
LB Alfred Fincher 3/10
CB DeAngelo Hall 3/4 3) 0 RESTRICTED free agents have signed with NEWteams:
TEAM PLAYER FORMER TEAM DATE REPORTED
4) 54 RESTRICTED free agents have re-signed with their OLDteam:
TEAM PLAYER DATE REPORTED Arizona Cardinals TE Leonard Pope 3/31
DT Gabe Watson 3/31 Atlanta Falcons T Tyson Clabo 6/2
G Harvey Dahl 4/15 Baltimore Ravens P Sam Koch 3/27
S Dawan Landry 4/2
TE Quinn Sypniewski 4/9
WR Demetrius Williams 4/9 Buffalo Bills LB Keith Ellison 3/23
S George Wilson 3/31 Carolina Panthers LB James Anderson 4/17
TE Jeff King 3/18
S Nate Salley 4/20 Cincinnati Bengals LB Brandon Johnson 4/16
LB Rashad Jeanty 4/17 Dallas Cowboys WR Miles Austin 4/23
DE Stephen Bowen 4/6
WR Sam Hurd 4/21
G Cory Proctor 4/2 Green Bay Packers S Atari Bigby 4/17
CB Jarrett Bush 3/16
DE Jason Hunter 3/16
RB John Kuhn 4/17
WR Ruvell Martin 4/17 Houston Texans WR David Anderson 3/13
T Rashad Butler 4/7
TE Owen Daniels 6/15
TE Joel Dreessen 3/4 Kansas City Chiefs C Rudy Niswanger 4/24
S Jarrad Page 5/29
WR Jeff Webb 4/20 Minnesota Vikings DT Fred Evans 4/6
RB Naufahu Tahi 3/27 New England Patriots LB Pierre Woods 4/21 New Orleans Saints G Jahri Evans 4/21
WR Lance Moore 4/22
T Zach Strief 4/13
CB Leigh Torrance 4/13 New York Giants CB Kevin Dockery 4/13 New York Jets S Abram Elam 3/17 Oakland Raiders LB Ricky Brown 3/16 Philadelphia Eagles WR Hank Baskett 4/23
C Nick Cole 3/31 Pittsburgh Steelers T Willie Colon 3/10
S Anthony Madison 3/20
TE Sean McHugh 3/2 St. Louis Rams DE Victor Adenyanju 4/20
G Richie Incognito 5/1 San Diego Chargers WR Malcom Floyd 5/15
CB Cletis Gordon 4/14 Tampa Bay Buccaneers T Donald Penn 4/14 Washington Redskins DT Kedric Golston 4/10
DT Anthony Montgomery 3/25
K Shaun Suisham 3/16 5) 0 FRANCHISE players have signed with NEWteams:
TEAM PLAYER FORMER TEAM DATE REPORTED
6) 7 FRANCHISE players re-signed with their OLDteam:
TEAM PLAYER DATE REPORTED Arizona Cardinals LB Karlos Dansby 3/4 Baltimore Ravens LB Terrell Suggs 7/15 Carolina Panthers DE Julius Peppers 6/24 Cincinnati Bengals K Shayne Graham 4/30 St. Louis Rams S Oshiomogho Atogwe 7/16 San Diego Chargers RB Darren Sproles 4/28 Tennessee Titans TE Bo Scaife 4/28 # # #
In the ongoing gaga of the Parkway and Cerrito theaters in Oakland and El Cerrito respectively we have read or heard the views of many people over the past seven months except two: Catherine and Kyle Fisher, who created both the Parkway Theater in Oakland, California and the Cerrito Theater in El Cerrito, California. I was honored to be given the exclusive first video interview with the Fishers over brunch at the Lakeshore Cafe in Oakland.
They talked with me on video for 19 straight minutes - nothing edited - about what happened that led to the closure of the Oakland Parkway Theater and that led to the current very messy relationship between the Fishers and the El Cerrito Redevelopment Agency (ERA) regarding the Cerrito Theater, a situation which saw the Fishers lose that business too, and watch as the owners of the Rialto stepped in to take over.
First, some house cleaning: this is the Fisher's platform. The interview style was to give them a place to explain what happened in their own words and with comfort. This blog entry is not a text transcript for the video: I'd prefer you watch or listen to the video because how anyone says what they say is as important as what they say. Got that? Lastly, I do have my views on this matter - no surprise there - which I present at the end of this post.
Regarding what happened in El Cerrito, the Fishers said its hard to expand a business and especially do when you can't rely on all of the players involved in that process. Kyle Fisher said that they were approached by the City of El Cerrito in 2001 with the idea of starting a new theater in that town. The Fishers said "no" because they didn't have the financial resources required to open a second location. The agency came back to them in 2002, and had what Kyle Fisher called a "back and forth" such that the Agency said "What if we pay for it?" in other words, the ERA would give the Fisher's money to open what's now called The Cerrito Theater.
The Fishers were excited that the public private partnership served as a template for community centers in America. But the time they spent on the development of the Cerrito hurt the Parkway, and the ERA and City of El Cerrito's promise of money to help them never came through.
The Parkway was always profitable
The popular perception is the Parkway closed because it wasn't making money; not true. "The Parkway was always profitable", Kyle Fisher said. But the Fishers were using money from the Parkway to keep the Cerrito going with the idea that the City of El Cerrito's promise of money to help them with the Cerrito would come through; again, it never did. Because of this, the Parkway was "crippled" as Catherine put it. So the Cerrito's underfunded condition cost the Parkway. If they closed the Cerrito, the Parkway would have survived.
On the Parkway employees and the last minute closure
I said to the Fishers that many Parkway employees felt like they had the rug pulled out from under them. They got the notice that the Parkway would be closing, and they would be losing their jobs, just four days before the March 22nd Sunday it closed. Kyle said "I completely screwed that up, and there's no excuses for that. I misread a notice. I misread a legal notice. I'm an attorney and misread a legal notice. We had fully intended to give our employees a month's notice before closing." Kyle was under the impression the Alameda County Sheriff was coming to evict them but that was not the case. But Kyle admits he made the mistake and did so right on camera. Good for him.
The Parkway was the Fisher's labor of love
The Parkway started in 1996 because the Fishers wanted to have a place where their friends could get together and watch movies over pizza and beer. Then-Councilmember John Russo was one of their earliest supporters. He contacted them because some neighbors were concerned about what their plans were for the building the theater was to be located in. He connected them with the right people and essentially "held their hand" through the process of working with the City of Oakland. As a gift, they gave John what he wanted: a sandwich named after him.
The Parkway was the Fisher's labor of love. They were a young couple when they got involved in making the facility and essentially grew together and had kids - two now - while they were growing the Parkway.
The future of The Cerrito
Now, the Cerrito has a new operator who's currently running it in a conventional fashion. They're the same group that operates the Elmwood Theater. Kyle says that eventually they want to have the "pizza and beer and couches" formula that the Fisher's established. I shared the view that it seems like the City of El Cerrito has stolen their business. Again, that's my personal view. Kyle doesn't see whatever they do as being a speakeasy theater.
Support for the Parkway
The Fishers support whatever the Oakland Redevelopment Agency does with the building that was the Parkway Theater on 1834 Park Blvd near E. 18th. They love the community and the theater and would do anything to help if asked. Catherine says it needs a lot of work and investment, some of it the person or group may not get back. For them the Parkway was an expression of their love for Oakland and the community.
The Thrill Ville
This entire episode has broken up the close relationship between Will Vaharo and the Fishers. Will has been one of the main driving forces behind the planned resurrection of the Parkway. Vaharo and the Fisher's have known each other for 25 years, having worked together at the Berkeley Faculty Club, and before that published a book for him called "Love Storues are Too Violent for Me." According to the Fisher's it was Will who started the "Thrill Ville" on Thursday nights to bring more people in.
The Thrill Ville was a kind of celebration of B-movies that featured a kind of weird and funky movie preview with Will and Kyle. It's also the place where, according to the Fishers in the video, Will met the woman that would become his second wife. (In fact, the Parkway was the scene for a lot of dates and pairings!) A lot of memories, but for reasons we didn't talk about on or off camera, Will and the Fishers are not the friends they used to be. Sad, because it was their collective creative energy that made the Parkway go.
The Fishers' next stop
Right now, the Fishers are living on unemployment, taking care of their kids and trying to deal with the horror that has become the Cerrito issue. After the close of the Parkway, they put materials from that theater into storage at the Cerrito, but they can't get them back for reasons that are not clear to me. One thing is certain just from reading this webpage report of the March 19th 2007 minutes of the City of El Cerrito City Council meeting, the City had a really unrealistic view of what was capable with the Cerrito: they wanted first-run movies. If not getting them was the City Council's reason for not supporting the Cerrito, it was really bad for them to ask for that to begin with.
Ok, it was just plain stupid.
The Fishers speciality was second-run and "B-movies" and getting first run movies calls for number of distribution deals and relationships they weren't set up to do. In my view, the City of El Cerrito should at least take responsibility for bring the Fishers in and making representations that they would give them money to operate.
There's a lot of mess here. The El Cerrito Redevelopment Agency had recently offered to help the Fishers make a business plan for presentation to the City Council, but due to "personalities" that didn't happen. But the ERA did put that in writing. Also, while the ERA expained in a letter dated January 27, 2009 that Downey Street Productions was not paying rent but when businesses are having that kind of problem, where they're saddled with more debt than they can handle, the ERA's job is to step in and help. That didn't happen.
As I stated on camera and will write here, the El Cerrito Redevelopment Agency seems to have engaged in a kind of taking of their business without just compensation for it. That's a serious legal issue the Agency should answer for; the question is will it do so? It would be great for them to do something that at least gets the Fishers out of their current financial situation. After all, it was their business and they say their property is still behind the walls of the Cerrito Theater.
For those who bring up the matter of reported taxes owed by the Fisher's business Downey Street Productions, that too is something the El Cerrito Redevelopment Agency can take care of; it could have forgave (and still can forgive) the tax debt . When I worked for the Oakland Mayor's office, I personally worked to eliminate a $989,000 tax owed to the City of Oakland for a property owner so that person would have enough money to refurbish his building. If I can do that, El Cerrito can certainly handle $200,000. When I look at it, there are more questions I have for the City of El Cerrito and the way they handled this matter, but for the present someone needs to hire the Fishers as theater consultants.
Tonight on the Football Reporters Online Show on Blog talk radio: Peter Schwartz of Sirius Radio and former NY Dragons Play by Play voice to discuss what looks like sadly, the end of the AFL as we knew it. Ken Palmer of Giants Insider.com joins us to talk Giants and NFL East Preview. Plus Bill Carroll From Consensus Draft Services helps us finish our Divisional previews..
A funny thing - well ok, not so funny thing - happened this morning at 6 am while I slept comfortably and soundly: Twitter was down. Something called a "Denial of Service" which resulted in this message according to TechCrunch:
We are defending against a denial of service attack, and will update status again shortly.
As of 8:16 PST Twitter was up again, and seems to be fine now, but they're still defending against the attack! What does all this mean? It signals just how vulnerable these small business private sector Internet systems are, and this is a matter of national security. It's far beyond Twitter Phishing, which I talked about here:
...but it underscores the point that Twitter is the constant focus of some kind of attack.
Let's not forget that for all of its 44 million visitors last month and its powerful role in the Iran protest, the San Francisco-based company is a small one with just 29 employees, no constant revenue stream, and a bed of venture money. If I told you a company of that size was actually the communications hub for much of America and the industrialized world, you'd laugh at me. But that's the case.
It's also why making sure Twitter consistently works and is impervious to future attacks is a national security issue. Remember how The U.S. State Department contacted Twitter to convince them to change their maintenance schedule as it happened during the Iran protest? Do you have any idea how many people have been saved, helped, or advanced by the existence and operation of Twitter? It's become the modern telephone (ironically one can access it with a phone) for our society.
In my view, Twitter should want, and the U.S. Government should be open to, some level of investment and assistance in creating a powerful backup system and a better method of data protection. I write this because Twitter has had problems with "server stress" in the recent past and even though the link to MG Sigler's Venture Beat post refers to a problem in 2008, there have been others since then.
Then there's the matter of protection of information.
During Easter of this year a teenager attacked Twitter with a worm (a self-copying computer program or "bot"). In July a hacker called "Hacker Croll" broke into the personal accounts of a number of Twitter employees. That led to a "document leak fiaso" where Twitter information was spread around the Internet. TechCrnuch's Michael Arrington was sent copies of a number of emails between Twitter staffers, and while he did an excellent job of sharing his new gift with Twitter, the fact that this information was sent to him means that others may have gotten it too. What kind of information was gotten? According to TechCrunch, basically all that comprises the lives of the Twitter employees who were effected:
1) the complete list of employees
2) their food preferences
3) their credit card numbers
4) some confidential contracts with Nokia, Samsung, Dell, AOL, Microsoft and others
5) direct emails with web and showbizz personalities
6) phone numbers
7) meeting reports (very informative)
8) internal document templates
9) time sheet
10) applicant resumes
11) salary grid
Hacker Croll got a lot of information, which which may have led to today's attack if it was spread around.
Who is Hacker Croll?
According to BlogPirate, Hacker Croll is a Frenchman and that's not his real name; it's his "handle", his fake name. Moreover, he's not the diabolical genius you might think he is, he actually just plain guessed at the answer to a secret question assigned to the account of a single Twitter employee!
While it's not clear that what Hacker Croll did directly led to today's "Denial of Service" attack, it's certainly clear that Twitter needs a dramatically beefed-up security system if only to protect the many millions of people who use it. But more important, a country like Iran is certainly looking at these developments with interest and has a reason to like what they see. That's why Twitter's protection is a national security issue of top priority.
Late last night several cable news stations reported a shooting at the LA Fitness club in Collier Township, Pennsylvania. Reportedly, the man walked into the gym and according to the press conference on CNN shot his guns (he had more than one) 31 times, wounding 10 people and killing three, all women.
Today, it was revealed that the man's name was George Sodoni. No, he was not foreign born. He was not minority. He was a typical-looking Caucasian male but with a huge problem: he hated women. According to reports, Sodoni hated women so much he expressed his views on his own blog, which I can't link to because its being investigated by police. But my point here is to be watchful of anyone who has such an issue with any group of people that they would consistently express hatred or frustration for them online.
George Sodoni
In Sodoni's case, he not only hated women but black men because he felt we were getting the white girls he wanted to date and believed to be "his" because he's white.
Oh, brother. For the record, I've openly set up white male friends with black women - I think such concerns as those expressed by Sodoni are just beyond the pale to say the least.
November 5, 2008 "Planned to do this the summer but figured to stick around to see the election outcome. This particular one got so much attention and I was just curious. Not like I give a flying ___ who won, since this exit plan was already planned. Good luck Obama! He will be successful. The liberal media LOVES him. Amerika has chosen The Black Man. Good! In light of this I got ideas outside of Obama's plans for the economy and such. Here it is: Every black man should get a young white girl hoe to hone up on. Kinda a reverse indentured servitude thing. Long ago, many a older white make landowner had a young negro wench girl for his desires. 'Bout time tables are turned on that__ Besides, dem young white hoez dig da bruthrs! LOL. More so than they dig the white dudes! Every daddy know when he sends his little girl to college, she be ___ a burthr real good. I saw it. "Not my little girl, daddy says! (Yeah right!!!) Black dudes have their choice of best white hoez. You do the math, there are enough young white so all the brothers can each have one for 3 or 6 months or so.
This is sick. The "exit plan" sodoni refers to is the murder / suicide he committed on August 4th. But it's clear Sodoni had issues with women and black men - so much so that he waited until Obama was elected as America's first black president to carry out his scheme. He also claimed not to have had a girlfrend since 1984 and hated his mother. So at 48 years old, he decided to take that weird and tragic action.
I point to this event for several reasons I will explain but one very upsetting one. Over the weekend I attended the LakeFest along Lakeshore Avenue in Oakland. After a great time on a terrific sun-drenched Saturday I met up with friends and acquaintences at a terrific cool tavern in the location once occupied by "The Fifth Amendment." The men and women I was with at this time, were an interracial group: black men and white women, all just talking about nothing really serious and having a good time. As I left, I overheard a group of men, white, as I passed by talking about our assembly and pointing at me as I left. They weren't friendly.
Then I realized they were talking among themselves and expressing a displeasure with the interracial mixing around them or more specifically white girls talking with black guys.
That mildly concerned me in passing, but in the light of this incident, it now scares me.
As a note, it's not the fault of the establishment; in retrospect it could have been almost anywhere in Oakland that has such a mix of people. Moreover, it's not a reflection of the normal establishment clientele: these guys looked like newbies who didn't live in the area. But it's still scary. It makes me wonder if I'm a potential target for some disgruntled white man who can't meet a woman. I know what I'm writing is harsh, but let's face it, I wrote about young black men in East Oakland and everyone agreed something should be done. I think something needs to be done in this case as well.
Everyone in America has the right constitutional right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness". Americans of all colors should honor those rights and let other Americans enjoy their lives without fear of harm or ridicule. The kind of racism and sexism that Sodoni expressed must be identified before it leads to murder.
Earlier today I wrote a blog post regarding "Matt Leinart's tweet" where he supposedly wrote that Arizona Cardinals Quarterback Kurt Warner was "kinda old". The tweet was written on February 1st during the time of the Super Bowl where the Cards took on the Steelers in Tampa.
Obviously a story like this has some legs, so it carries. But now the claim in some quarters is the Twitter account is fake. The specific contact represents Arizona Cardinals Media Relations, which is an outrage. That the Cardinals knew this account existed and allowed it to remain active is terrible and a massive blunder. In a new media environment "media relations" does not stop at contacting the press, it also encompasses online content. For the Arizona Cardinals to not understand this is not good for its players or its organization. Shifting the blame toward me will not remove them of their responsibility. And not that I don't believe it's not fake but my concern is if Leinart and the Cardinals knew this account existed why it was allowed it to remain for so long? This is the month of August.
Online reputation management is something star athletes like Matt Leinart must pay attention to. As a consultant in this area, I've personally removed fake accounts and worked to improve the online image of clients. No, I'm not suggesting Leinart hire me, but this episode should serve as a causionary tale of why it's not a good idea to leave an account up and active.
Just because a Twitter account has tweets that stopped at a certain point is not enough to say it's not real - anything webpage (and that's what this is) that can be discovered in a search or has an active URL is real and that includes this Twitter account.
Matt needs to work with Twitter and have the account removed ASAP. It's not enough to rely on an obscure blog post as protection against misunderstood messages. Personally, I'm glad to learn the account's not Matt's, I hope, but I'm also very concerned that Matt's not taking the right steps to protect his online reputation.
Earlier today I wrote a blog post regarding "Matt Leinart's tweet" where he supposedly wrote that Arizona Cardinals Quarterback Kurt Warner was "kinda old". The tweet was written on February 1st during the time of the Super Bowl where the Cards took on the Steelers in Tampa.
Obviously a story like this has some legs, so it carries. But now the claim in some quarters is the Twitter account is fake. The specific contact represents Arizona Cardinals Media Relations, which is an outrage. That the Cardinals knew this account existed and allowed it to remain active is terrible and a massive blunder. In a new media environment "media relations" does not stop at contacting the press, it also encompasses online content. For the Arizona Cardinals to not understand this is not good for its players or its organization. Shifting the blame toward me will not remove them of their responsibility. And not that I don't believe it's not fake but my concern is if Leinart and the Cardinals knew this account existed why it was allowed it to remain for so long? This is the month of August.
Online reputation management is something star athletes like Matt Leinart must pay attention to. As a consultant in this area, I've personally removed fake accounts and worked to improve the online image of clients. No, I'm not suggesting Leinart hire me, but this episode should serve as a causionary tale of why it's not a good idea to leave an account up and active.
Just because a Twitter account has tweets that stopped at a certain point is not enough to say it's not real - anything webpage (and that's what this is) that can be discovered in a search or has an active URL is real and that includes this Twitter account.
Matt needs to work with Twitter and have the account removed ASAP. It's not enough to rely on an obscure blog post as protection against misunderstood messages. Personally, I'm glad to learn the account's not Matt's, I hope, but I'm also very concerned that Matt's not taking the right steps to protect his online reputation.
Special Note: It's said that Matt Leinart does not Twitter, but this account I report on below with his tweets on it back in February is still up and active. I wrote a new blog post about Matt's Twitter problem and the importance of online reputation management. Below is what I originally reported. It remains as a cautionary example of how not to handle one's digital identity. Hopefully Leinart takes the steps to remove the Twitter account, as should have been done months ago.
I happened to see the New York Times article focusing on NFL Coaches prohibiting players from using Twitter in meetings and during training camp. I had to chuckle because the Twitter frenzy is already alive with funny and controversial tweets all over the place. Just ask Arizona Cardinals quarterback Matt Leinart, who tweeted this (as of this writing):
Locked and loaded, ready to make history if Kurt goes down. That Steeler D is mean, and Kurt's kinda old...9:46 AM Feb 1st from web
Wow, "Kurt's kinda old?" Matt. C'mom, man! This is the guy who beat you out for the starting job in Arizona. A guy who was brought to the Cardinals to "tutor" you in the ways of the NFL, and ended up showing you by example. Why share that you think he's old on Twitter? Did you think someone wouldn't see it?
No one saw the tweet
Apparently no one saw the tweet to even make a big deal about it at the time: February 1st. And given Twitters incredible growth in visitors since that time, I can assert that it wasn't even in the mindset of media types to look at Leinart's Twitter page, let alone report what he put on it.
"Kurt's kinda old?"
As we march toward the 2009 NFL season the Arizona Cardinals Leinart, who thinks "Kurt's kinda old" is now battling for the number two spot behind that old man against unknown journeyman signal-caller Brian St. Pierre. St. Pierre was drafted in 2003 and played for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens before signing with the Cardinals.
By contrast, Leinart was drafted in 2006 amid much fanfare and anticipation. But it seems, starting from his being drafted 10th by the Cardinals rather than 3rd by the Tennessee Titans (who picked Texas quarterback Vince Young), Leinart's NFL ride would be a bumpy one. At the 2006 NFL Draft Leinart had to deal with questions about his fall from the being the expected first or third pick to being the 10th selection. Now, he's got to deal with questions about his inability to beat a couple of old guys.
Since Warner and St. Pierre are both older than Leinart, it seems those elderly gents are eating his lunch. If St. Pierre wins the number two spot over Leinart, I guess we should look for Matt to tweet "Brian's kinda old" at some point in the season. Or maybe Leinart will switch to cornerback:
Maybe I'll switch to corner next year -- jk10:15 PM Feb 1st from web
Well, he was just kidding there.
Watch what you tweet
The lesson here is simple: watch what you tweet. Matt, of all people, should know better. He's a two-time All American National Champion out of USC, and so successful that Cal fans all over both respect and hate him. Personally, I root for Matt, always have, but sometimes that dude does things that make me cringe, this tweet is one of them.
"Kurt's kinda old?"
Matt, you should pray to be in the league as long as Kurt has and achieve Warner's success over that time. But right now, the only "old man" you should concern yourself with is Brian St. Pierre. I know you're up to the challenge he presents. I know you can win the number two job - just go out and do it, because if you don't a lot of people will be disappointed in you. At that point, the idea that the NFL means "Not For Long" will come up in conversations about your career.
Special Note: It's said that Matt Leinart does not use Twitter, but this account I report on below with his tweets on it back in February is still up and active. I wrote a new blog post about Matt's Twitter problem and the importance of online reputation management. Below is what I originally reported. It remains as a cautionary example of how not to handle one's digital identity. Hopefully Leinart takes the steps to remove the Twitter account, as should have been done months ago.
I happened to see the New York Times article focusing on NFL Coaches prohibiting players from using Twitter in meetings and during training camp. I had to chuckle because the Twitter frenzy is already alive with funny and controversial tweets all over the place. Just ask Arizona Cardinals quarterback Matt Leinart, who tweeted this (as of this writing):
Locked and loaded, ready to make history if Kurt goes down. That Steeler D is mean, and Kurt's kinda old...9:46 AM Feb 1st from web
Wow, "Kurt's kinda old?" Matt. C'mom, man! This is the guy who beat you out for the starting job in Arizona. A guy who was brought to the Cardinals to "tutor" you in the ways of the NFL, and ended up showing you by example. Why share that you think he's old on Twitter? Did you think someone wouldn't see it?
No one saw the tweet
Apparently no one saw the tweet to even make a big deal about it at the time: February 1st. And given Twitters incredible growth in visitors since that time, I can assert that it wasn't even in the mindset of media types to look at Leinart's Twitter page, let alone report what he put on it.
"Kurt's kinda old?"
As we march toward the 2009 NFL season the Arizona Cardinals Leinart, who thinks "Kurt's kinda old" is now battling for the number two spot behind that old man against unknown journeyman signal-caller Brian St. Pierre. St. Pierre was drafted in 2003 and played for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens before signing with the Cardinals.
By contrast, Leinart was drafted in 2006 amid much fanfare and anticipation. But it seems, starting from his being drafted 10th by the Cardinals rather than 3rd by the Tennessee Titans (who picked Texas quarterback Vince Young), Leinart's NFL ride would be a bumpy one. At the 2006 NFL Draft Leinart had to deal with questions about his fall from the being the expected first or third pick to being the 10th selection. Now, he's got to deal with questions about his inability to beat a couple of old guys.
Since Warner and St. Pierre are both older than Leinart, it seems those elderly gents are eating his lunch. If St. Pierre wins the number two spot over Leinart, I guess we should look for Matt to tweet "Brian's kinda old" at some point in the season. Or maybe Leinart will switch to cornerback:
Maybe I'll switch to corner next year -- jk10:15 PM Feb 1st from web
Well, he was just kidding there.
Watch what you tweet
The lesson here is simple: watch what you tweet. Matt, of all people, should know better. He's a two-time All American National Champion out of USC, and so successful that Cal fans all over both respect and hate him. Personally, I root for Matt, always have, but sometimes that dude does things that make me cringe, this tweet is one of them.
"Kurt's kinda old?"
Matt, you should pray to be in the league as long as Kurt has and achieve Warner's success over that time. But right now, the only "old man" you should concern yourself with is Brian St. Pierre. I know you're up to the challenge he presents. I know you can win the number two job - just go out and do it, because if you don't a lot of people will be disappointed in you. At that point, the idea that the NFL means "Not For Long" will come up in conversations about your career.
Change in NFL Draft: Draft moves to Three Day format with first round on Thursday Night in Primetime.
The NFL might have done the smartest thing ever in the eyes of real draft fans when they announced a change ton the format of the draft broadcast a short time ago. By moving the draft's first round to thursday night's prime time slot you draw even more viewers and even more of the "casual" football fans then ever before. you also cut a few days of late hype off of the week leading up to the start of the draft because you have the actual first round selections taking place on a weeknight. Then Rounds 2-4 on Friday and 5-7 on Saturday.
What this does for the fan is to also involve them more in the broadcast. For the People working for the teams and the media this gives them(us) an extra Day off/travel day in Sunday, so that people can file their monday stories sooner and grab some relaxation before returning to the grind. In fact, anyone looking for the draft to be shortened should be happy with the reduction in time per pick on 2008 and the format change for 2010. Even if it means one more day of coverage, it's less time on each day.
The big winners here are ESPN and NFLNetwork, because they get to add an extra day of broadcasting to their schedules. So we get an extra Day of Mel Kiper proclaiming that some other front office doesn't know how to handle their business or another chance to hear some more drivel about what some player is going to do with his bonus money instead of real football journalism like "Why did that team pass on that Runningback and take the guy who looks like he'll be packing bags at walmart next month" or how horrible that owner really is, instead of what we really want to know.
