Monday, August 23, 2010
Harold Dow by Suzannah B. Troy
Harold Dow, an African American correspondent, award winning shining star at CBS died leaving many people admiring his contributions mourning. Now the breaking news is he may have died because of a severe asthma attack while driving near his home in Saddlebrook, New Jersey.
Harold Dow won 5 Emmys as well as the admiration of his peers including from other networks. I believe I saw his memory honored by Channel 11 WPIX local news last night which I thought was quite touching.
Below is a quote and click on it to read an article on him from The New York Daily News with a wonderful photo too.
Susan Zirinsky, executive producer of "48 Hours Mystery" said,
"I deeply miss him already," said "48 Hours Mystery. "He was the most selfless man I have known. It was his humanity, which was felt by everyone he encountered, even in his toughest interviews, that truly defined the greatness of his work."
He had been diagnosed with adult onset asthma which I wonder if I may now have the beginning stages of post-Sept. 11 because if I have to run a few short blocks I get burning pains in my throat and upper chest and it feels hard to breath sometimes.
Also note asthma is a huge problem here in NYC and that standing with protestors fighting to keep a firehouse in Harlem open that mayor Bloomberg did close one reason activists said we need the fire house open is to answer medical calls for asthma which are so high in Harlem.
He worked for 40 years for CBS and covered many powerful pieces such as "48 Hours Crack on the Street", won an Emmy for covering the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Scotland and he was almost killed at the WTC bombing as he reported so he was truly front line.
He will be missed and his contributions honored as well as remembered....
Peyton Manning Doesn't Like Lane Kiffin, Who Has Jay Mariotti Cloud
Image by Getty Images via That is, Kiffin runs the risk of being compared to Jay Mariotti, who's being trashed in the same way he trashed other athletes and for doing what they did, which was get into criminal trouble. Not that this space is calling Lane Kiffin a criminal at all or implying that he committed a crime.
Kiffin's has not been charged with a crime like domestic abuse or any crime at all, just excoriated for his consistently in-your-face disloyal and disrespectful behavior toward hallowed institutions, specifically The Oakland Raiders, The Tennessee Volunteers, and The Tennessee Titans.
Such an attitude, especially toward storied college football programs, can earn the ire of influential alumni. Like Peyton Manning, who's one of Tennessee's most famous graduates.
On The Dan Patrick Show this Monday morning, Manning said that if he ran into Kiffin on the street, the conversation would not be a long one. Manning said to Dan Patrick, "Our pride was hurt. We didn't think Tennessee was a transition job. The Big Orange nation thought Tennessee was a destination job." Manning, ever the Southern gentleman, finished by wishing Kiffin well at USC.
To give a brief recap, Kiffin, one year into his Tennessee contract, jump ship to become head coach at Souther Cal. The result was that Vols fans wanted to hang Kiffin in effigy, if not for real...
A "what-goes-around-comes-around scenario would be for USC to fire Kiffin because Seattle Seahawks Head Coach Pete Carroll decided he wanted his old job back.
Chatroulette gets a much needed revision By Nikky Raney
Chatroulette will be rereleased today, August 23, 2010.
Chatroulette was created by Russian teenager Andrey Ternovskiy in 2009 when he was 17. He is now working to make the site more "user-friendly."
It's no secret that anyone who has ever used Chatroulette has been bombarded with men's genitalia. Personally using the site there were six men popping up showing themselves off to thousands on the site, and after clicking "next" and "report as offensive" for six times, the seventh to show up was a couple of guys dancing, fully clothed thankfully.
Ternovskiy has previously stated that in the new version of Chatroulette users would when clicking "next" would be directed to those who are "nexted" the least - meaning that the users who are frequently "nexted" would be skipped.
PC World writes of the relaunch by asking, "Is Chatroulette cleaning up its X-Rated act?" The post reiterates the fact that Chatroulette is known most for all the male vulgarity that appears.
With all the pop ups across the web with "Sexy Singles" always featuring girls half naked asking "Want to watch me on web cam?" it is surprising that on Chatroulette the majority of those using their webcam are men ranging from young to old.
There are some people that go on Chatroulette just to meet others and have a good laugh, but most of those who occupy the web site use it as an opportunity to have others watch them doing vulgar acts.
A charted web analysis of Chatroulette was done by RJ Metrics as reported by Tech Crunch. The information obtained details from 2,883 Chatroulette sessions that covered geographical location, gender, appearance, etc.
Some of their findings include:
Chatroulette was created by Russian teenager Andrey Ternovskiy in 2009 when he was 17. He is now working to make the site more "user-friendly."
It's no secret that anyone who has ever used Chatroulette has been bombarded with men's genitalia. Personally using the site there were six men popping up showing themselves off to thousands on the site, and after clicking "next" and "report as offensive" for six times, the seventh to show up was a couple of guys dancing, fully clothed thankfully.
Ternovskiy has previously stated that in the new version of Chatroulette users would when clicking "next" would be directed to those who are "nexted" the least - meaning that the users who are frequently "nexted" would be skipped.
PC World writes of the relaunch by asking, "Is Chatroulette cleaning up its X-Rated act?" The post reiterates the fact that Chatroulette is known most for all the male vulgarity that appears.
A charted web analysis of Chatroulette was done by RJ Metrics as reported by Tech Crunch. The information obtained details from 2,883 Chatroulette sessions that covered geographical location, gender, appearance, etc.
Some of their findings include:
- When one spins on Chatroulette (clicking "next) a person is most likely to be connected to someone from the USA. The second most likely country to be connected to is France.
- Of the spins which show a single person in front of the webcam 89 percent were male and 11 percent were female, and there is a better chance of having a webcam encounter with an advertisement or no person at all than with a female.
- 8 percent of spins show multiple groups of people behind the web cam. The ratio is one in three females appears in a group, while one in 12 males appear in a group.
- 1 in eight spins yields something that is R-rated or worse.
- One is twice as likely to encounter a sign (usually written on a white piece of printer paper with a sharpie) requesting female nudity, than to actually encounter female nudities.
- About 70 percent of the users are young adults, 20 percent are under 20 and 10 percent are 40 or older.
- Female users are mostly younger than the male users. In the group sessions 65 percent of the time the females were teens or younger; while 36 percent of the time males were teens or younger.
- There were no recorded group webcam time with people 40 or older, so the older ones are the ones who like to go solo while the younger ones like to enjoy Chatroulette as a group experience.
- 47 percent of the users are from the United States.
- Italy has the highest concentration of solo males at 98 percent.
- The overall pervert rate on Chatroulette is 13 percent which includes nudity, explicit nudity and committing a lewd act.
- Less than 1 percent of chats well feature a female pervert.
- The United Kingdom features the highest percentage of perverts on Chatroulette at 22 percent.
- The United States has the lowest pervert rate at 10 percent.
All photos are from an actual Chatroulette session Nikky Raney had. (There will also be a video on Youtube published later. The Chatroulette session took place in order to obtain first hand information.)
Philippines tourist bus hijacking crisis - By Nikky Raney
UPDATE: Philstar.com, Filipino news source, tells authorities that at 9:05 pm on August 23, 2010 (9:05 am EST time) the hostage has been ended with several hostages still alive. Ronaldo Mendoza was killed after local police made their way onto the bus to save hostages. At least four hostages remain alive, two are confirmed dead.
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In the capital city of the Philippines, Manila, former policeman Rolando Mendoza, 33 took a tourist bus hostage on August 23, 2010. (The Philippines is 12 hours ahead of U.S. EST time)
The policeman had been fired a year ago following accusations that he extorted money. He was armed with an M-16 rifle as he hijacked the bus occupied mostly by Chinese nationals. Some of the hostages have been shown crawling from out of the bus.
Rolando released at least nine hostages - three of the freed hostages were Filipinos.
The former officer had placed handcuffs on the actual bus driver, but he managed to escape and jumped through the window saying that everyone inside the bus had died.
Journalists, police and others surrounded the scene, but police prevented the media from getting too near to the bus. The hijacker put two signs on the windows. One said "MEDIA NOW" and the other said "3:00 PM TODAY DEAD LOCK."
He later put up a cardboard sign saying, "BIG MISTAKE TO CORRECT A BIG WRONG DECISION."
The chief of Manila Police District, Rodolfa Magtibay, told media that was at the scene that Mendoza hijacked the bus in order to demand his job back as a police officer. He also warned authorities not to harm his family.
Mendoza's brother, Gregorio Mendoza (also a police officer) arrived at the scene - he informed the media that police were accusing him of being apart of his brother's hijacking. He was taken into custody and shoved into a police car.
Hong Kong officers fled to Manila to help the hostages.
Written by Nikky Raney
Side note: Nikky Raney was born in the Philippines and is half-Filipino.
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In the capital city of the Philippines, Manila, former policeman Rolando Mendoza, 33 took a tourist bus hostage on August 23, 2010. (The Philippines is 12 hours ahead of U.S. EST time)
 |
| Photo taken from Philippines News |
The policeman had been fired a year ago following accusations that he extorted money. He was armed with an M-16 rifle as he hijacked the bus occupied mostly by Chinese nationals. Some of the hostages have been shown crawling from out of the bus.
Rolando released at least nine hostages - three of the freed hostages were Filipinos.
The former officer had placed handcuffs on the actual bus driver, but he managed to escape and jumped through the window saying that everyone inside the bus had died.
Journalists, police and others surrounded the scene, but police prevented the media from getting too near to the bus. The hijacker put two signs on the windows. One said "MEDIA NOW" and the other said "3:00 PM TODAY DEAD LOCK."
He later put up a cardboard sign saying, "BIG MISTAKE TO CORRECT A BIG WRONG DECISION."
The chief of Manila Police District, Rodolfa Magtibay, told media that was at the scene that Mendoza hijacked the bus in order to demand his job back as a police officer. He also warned authorities not to harm his family.
Mendoza's brother, Gregorio Mendoza (also a police officer) arrived at the scene - he informed the media that police were accusing him of being apart of his brother's hijacking. He was taken into custody and shoved into a police car.
Hong Kong officers fled to Manila to help the hostages.
Written by Nikky Raney
Side note: Nikky Raney was born in the Philippines and is half-Filipino.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Sky Sports News Switch To Paywall Pisses Off London and UK
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| Georgie Thompson of Sky Sports News |
To be called "Sky Sports News HD," it is available on subscription services Sky, Virgin Media and Talk Talk TV. But for now, the free version's been shutoff, and, as one viewer put it on Twitter, "without even a goodbye."
The move has pissed off once-loyal viewers, who've taken to Twitter to express their outrage, thus making Sky Sports News one of the Top Trends on Twitter. Here's a sample of the Tweets:
proofspirit - Today is a dark day. Sky Sports News no longer available on Freeview. Might as well sell my TV. 3 minutes ago via Echofon
GManSizzle - RT @Arsenal_Away: Watching Sky Sports News till 6. Last time on Freeview, a most sad day indeed. RIP SSN channel 83 :'-(
andrewbrookes84 - At a bit of a loss without my morning fix of sky sports news
stephenackroyd - Sky Sports News HD looks a bit like an OTT, overly futuristic skin made by a 13 year old for Football Manager.
TheOfficialTom - Nooo sky sports have left freeview oopd I forgot about that
14 minutes ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®
andyecfc - Love the new Sky Sports news.
15 minutes ago via web
DebbieAtherton = OMG what am I going to do now!!! Sky Sports News has gone from freeview!..not happy!...no I'm not paying for it either! 20 minutes ago via ÜberTwitter
stevelee23 - Bye bye sky sports news.... Very annoying.
21 minutes ago via Twitter for iPhone
It's almost like the American reaction if none of our sports programs were free, and we had to pay to see what was happening. The question is who will buy it? With UK's current unemployment rate at almost 8 percent, it's hard to see the logic in installing a paywall and expecting consumers to give money to view sports when they have to save money for more important expenditures.
By the looks of the Twitter reactions, the business move could be a failure, Georgie Thompson or no Georgie Thompson.
Oakland Mayor's Race: A Poll's Being Conducted, But By Whom?
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| Don, are you out polling? |
Well, as of this writing, that's changed. Someone's conducting a poll of Oaklanders, but what's n not known by this space is who's doing the poll. The only clue available that a poll is in the works is this Tweet:
davidcolburn - I've been polled twice on the Oakland mayor's race in past 48 hours. Is everyone getting calls, or am I just lucky?
about 6 hours ago via TweetCaster
The concern here is for the design of the poll. Does it mention each of the ten candidates for Mayor to determine awareness? Is it done by one of the candidates, or another group or organization? How many people are being contacted?
Whatever the case, a poll of the Oakland Mayor's Race is being conducted. A fair speculation is that it's by one of the candidates, and the bet here is it's the Don Perata for Mayor Campaign or some Oakland group.
More on this later in the week.
Oakland Mayor's Race: Joe Tuman's Yard Signs Missing
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| Joe Tuman |
Instead, it seemed logical to connect the person who sent the email directly with the Joe Tuman campaign; they followed up with the complainer, copying this blogger in the process.
But what seemed to be a small issue's slowly turning into a bigger one. Here's the latest two Tweets from Joe Tuman's Twitter account:
Our Yard Signs seem to be disappearing....? Someone is not happy about Oakland changing for the better!
about 5 hours ago via Facebook
Are Yard Signs seem to be disappearing? Keep an eye out as someone is not happy about changing Oakland for the better.And to be fair, here's the email sent that I wasn't going to post at first. Since the Tuman campaign's complaining about yard signs being taken down, it seems logical to post it, but without the complainer's name:
Where do I officially file a complaint, as Mr.Tuman is violating his signed oath, and other campaign laws, and is placing Campaign signs on public property, and on abandoned private property where I strongly believe he does not have owner's permission, blighting Oakland, months before the election.
I removed a sign of his on August 16 from a fenced-in abandoned business at 42nd Ave & Foothill. I hear there are many signs all over, especially District 4, 35th Ave, freeway ramps, etc.
Whatever's going on, someone's got it in for "Joe Tuman for Mayor" yard signs. It's not all Tuman's fault; there are people who strongly back Joe's campaign and people who fear that a political unknown like Tuman could win the Oakland Mayor's Race.
You know you've got a hotly contested political battle when yard signs become an issue.
Stay tuned.
True Blood fairy good? by Suzannah B. Troy
Warning if you have not seen the new episode yet don't read this!!!!
Sookie is a fairy? My jaw dropped. We are suppose to believe Bill loves her for her and not her fairy blood. If you believe that you believe in True Love. If you are cynical and the writers have left the door open a crack because dudes or vamps that truly love you for you are not researching your family tree.... Please forgive me my cynicism back to the romance channel.
Stay calm -- we all love the romance between Sookie and Bill and in real life the actors have made it legal. Read my pre-show post...
This episode was jammed packed with so many sub-plots, mysterious creatures still unrevealed but pure trouble and a wicken. There is too much to talk about but I just love the series...despite the violence and blood which I could do with out.
Tara finally gets closure...hallelujah. A very good actor bites the dust though.
High on V scenes reminiscent of the first season minus the wild sex scenes...the ones from first season
with Sookie's brother and his than girlfriend mind-blowing...
I do like Sookie and Eric kissing, sorry...it was just a dream... I really like their kissing... but how the ending music about smelling a rat sums it up...darn.
Russell truly bad and what an actor although the entire cast is terrific.
Even the coming attractions were spectacular.
What a sexy soap opera with fangs... I can't wait until the next episode. Like the rest of you I wonder how will I make it until season 4 and message to Alan Ball, you better be working on season 5. I also anticipate a killer cliff hanger to keep very hungry for season 4...fangs away.....
p.s. The show does get to the heart of the matter on issues like our first kiss, true love, sexual politics, gay politics and human nature the dark and light sides....
NFL Preseason : Patrick Willis Sack of Brett Favre Excites Twitter
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| Brett Favre - hated by some on Twitter |
Naturally, the 49ers were only to happy to welcome Favre and did so on the second play of the Vikings offense. It was a play that saw Favre get clobbered, which in turn lit-up Twitter.
Favre's throw pass was a swing pass out of the backfield that gained 13 yards and a first down. The 49ers, determined to stop Favre and The Vikings, loaded the middle of the Vikings offense with the objective of sacking Brett Favre on 3rd down; the plan worked, as a retreating Favre could not backpedal fast enough to escape the onrush Pat Willis. The 49ers star middle linebacker hit Favre straight on and drove him into the turf.
That was the end of any more game reps for Favre.
Now, such a play would seem to be routine, but when this blogger happened to look at the Twitter Top Trends about 20 minutes ago as of this writing, "Patrick Willis" was one of the top five.
Get a load of what the Twitter users said;
brittmce - Best moment of my day: seeing Patrick Willis drive friggin Brett Favre into the turf. #49ers
BeauBreton25 - RT: @RyanCowette: Patrick Willis is sooooo much fun to watch, wow- best defensive player in the NFL
Legendary559 - RT @JRSportBrief: Patrick Willis killed Favre. America loved that. #NFL #49ers
behindnumbers
driven into ground a bit, not blindsided RT @rodimusprime: So some of ya'll say Patrick Willis killed Brett others say it was uneventful
To this blogger it was uneventful. Obviously, the Vikings lacked an audible to counter the blitz, otherwise the scheme would not have worked. That's the NFL Preseason.
But it's still interesting to see the number of people on Twitter who were actually happy to see Brett Favre get pummeled.
True Blood vamping hour is almost here by Suzannah B. Troy
I will check back in at 10:00PM NYC time to express myself but gearing up here is some news.
Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer are now married. The New York Daily News has all the dish and here is the link rather than me regurgitate it for you. It is a well written piece with a lovely photo. Enjoy!
I am surprised Moyer is so much older, been married twice oops two previous relationships, I meant to write, and has kids so that makes Anna a young step-mother. Believe it or not I thought I saw him on the subway here (around the time of Season 1) in NYC and he is short. So is Anna and judging from the Rolling Stone Cover they fit perfectly. Good luck and most important ehem, smile, is they will be back for Season 4 which you know I am longing for and can't wait for. I want it to start when this season ends in September.
Here is a fun post from The New York Post: Arlene is not comfortable being pregnant with evil baby.
Here is my post from yesterday which includes the season schedule. Enjoy. See you after tonight's episode....until them fangs away!
Heidi Montage Sex Tape Steve Hirsch Vivid by Suzannah B. Troy
TMZ my favorite gossip tv show has the video of Steve Hirsch being interviewed on the possibility of a Heidi Montag sex video. Who Heidi Montag is does not interest me but Steve Hirsch does. For Heidi fans Steve Hirsch said the success of the tape is up to her.
Steve Hirsch does interest me because he has taken the porn world to a new frontier. He is 2nd generation getting his intro to the industry from his father and his sister works for him so it is a family business that has seen radical changes and many by Hirsch himself pushing the envelope. AVN is also a prime mover including creating the porn world's own version of the Oscars which is said to be a 100 times better than the Oscars and a lot more interesting.
Hollywood has always resembled porn and feed off it but the line between porn and mainstream film continues to blur. I dream of making the ultimate date movie, an erotic, comedy, horror, murder film that women will love and will make both genders sizzle with sexuality but win an Oscar not an AVN.
For more on Steve Hirsch including a fascinating article from Forbes called "The Porn King" click on the links in this posting. Even someone as square as Neil Cavuto from Fox News has chimed in on Steve Hirsch, here is a quote from conservative Cavuto: "His name is actually Steve Hirsch, and his company is Vivid Entertainment, and his dream of turning what was once a dirty, underground business into a mainstream, multibillion-dollar industry is now a full-fledged reality. Whether you like what he does or not, no one can argue with his business savvy or success."
Thanks for tuning in....
Suzannah B. Troy
ESPN's Jay Mariotti May Be Done After Domestic Violence Arrest
Earlier it was reported that ESPN Personality Jay Marrioti was arrested early Saturday morning and charged with "suspicion of felony domestic assault" after an argument with his girlfriend that was said to have started at a nightclub and continued at Mariotti's apartment.
The 51-year old former Chicago Sun Times Sports Columnist was jailed and released on a $50,000 bond. That, after police reportedly found "cuts and bruises" on his girlfriend's body.
According to the LA Times, Mariotti allegedly got upset after he believed his girlfriend was flirting with another man at a club in Santa Monica. (To which, it must be said, Mariotti, who must have been drinking at the time, could have always just said "Ok. I'll dance with someone else," or something like that. The best option is always to keep options open, rather that what he allegedly did.)
The LA Times goes on to explain that once Mariotti and his girlfriend got into his apartment, he allegedly started pushing and shoving her.
Sources say Jay Mariotti done at ESPN
After this, and given the post-controversy history of recent ESPN personalities, a number of sources say Jay Mariotti is done at ESPN after this scandal. One is always innocent until proven guilty, so ESPN is reportedly taking a wait-and-see position, which is smart. But if the police report, as explained by the LA Times, holds, it's hard to see how Jay Mariotti keeps his job, let alone launch the planned NBA Basketball morning show with Jalen Rose.
SPORTSSbyBROOKS paints Mariotti as hypocrite
The weblog SPORTSbyBROOKS and its readers have been particularly hard on Jay Mariotti in the wake of the domestic abuse arrest.
The popular sports blog site has a post that lists the various times Jay has crawled all over athletes like Lawrence Phillips (who beat his girlfriend while a star Nebraska running back), and Baseball's Albert Belle (who was charged with domestic abuse in 1998).
In fact, SPORTSbyBROOKS went all the way back to 1996 in chronicling 15 years of comments by Jay Mariotti, throwing prominent athletes under the bus for domestic abuse charges.
It's a good read. Click here to see it.
ESPN Canned Steve Phillips, others
ESPN has a history of throwing out scandalous personalities, the most recent example being Steve Phillips in 2009 after his in-office and out affair with ESPN Associate Producer Brook Hundley. Before that it was ESPN Football Analyst Sean Salisbury, and after he admitted to sending a photo of his private via cellphone to co-workers in 2006. His contract was not renewed in 2008.
With that, and other examples, it's hard to see how Mariotti survives this scandal.
Stay tuned.
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