Joseph Murray, a detective in the Southwest Division, has been tweeting crime alerts, tips, and news directly to citizens for around two years. But recently, according to the Inquirer, his twitter account has been silent because of a rule inside the PPD requiring officers to, “get departmental permission before using their official titles on social-media sites.”
I think he may have innovated a communication method that can help police you know, be trusted members of the community (From the Inquirer article linked above):
Murray opened up his Twitter account in 2009 – 9143 is his badge number – and sees it as just another way to build trust and arm people with information.
“My goal was for people to actually know me – a detective they could pick up the phone and call,” he said.
[…]
He provides updates and information after violent crimes, like murders, and posts suspect photos and invites tips to his private e-mail.
[…]
In September, residents around 48th and Springfield, a neighborhood of stately Victorians, whose inhabitants include many professionals and students, held a meeting after the rape and robbery of a couple coming home from dinner. The residents invited Murray, whom they knew from Twitter.
[…]
“It makes no sense to me to watch sitting ducks walk into a robbery pattern that I know about but they don’t,” he said.
I think this is an efficient and smart innovation. Residents have a petition up in favor of Murray’s tweets and the PPD has responded and said Murray’s twitter updates will be back soon.
The major punk move here is coming up all: hey I’m a big fan, let’s take a picture and then jumping into some ambush interview. If you want to talk to the man about politics, represent yourself fairly and ride that way. This guy Mattera and others like him obviously want to jump in someones face and get them pissed off and then release a video that is: Star A gets angry at Hollywood event X at innocent reporter from Z to the right wing base.
Taken together, all three proposals follow a clear pattern. Step one: Take a popular conservative idea (Medicare vouchers, tax cuts, bankruptcy for failing companies). Step two: Leave out a critical piece of information (subsidy levels, spending cuts, federal aid). Step three: Emphasize whichever step works best with the audience in question.
Google’s search product is becoming less valuable by the day:
Surrounding that link are nine ads, plus a link to a PetMeds user account at Google+. There are 10 links to Google services at the top of the page. Below that is my Google+ profile picture (which leads to my Google+ account settings) and a big Share box.
That’s a total of 23 links on that page, as it appears on a typical computer. Only one is a search result.
This is the testimony of 30 year old law student Sandra Fluke before the Democratic members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Women’s Health and Contraception . The most important part is that oral contraception, “the pill”, has a variety of uses that improve the quality of life for women regardless of their sexual activity. In addition to allowing women to have more control over their reproductive health birth control is prescribed to treat Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, Endometriosis andPremenstrual dysphoric disorder. Under Georgetown’s Insurance plan, these are not covered. Here is the opening statement to Fluke’s testimony:
To start: Limbaugh did not just insult Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke and women who use contraception in passing. He repeatedly asserted any woman whose contraception is covered by insurance through Georgetown University’s insurance program is a poly-amorous freeloading sex addicted slut by way of prostitution that should be required to star in pornography freely available to tax payers as fair exchange for adequate reproductive health coverage. He directly defamed Fluke repeatedly over three days by making all of the same claims about her directly and mis-representing her testimony to his audience. ThinkProgress compiled the bad choices of words:
His apology was a lesson in how not to say “i’m sorry”. He has every right to say these things under the 1st amendment. He really does. He also has a right to attempt to profit from what he says. He doesn’t have a right to be profitable. That’s why this defense of Limbaugh mounted by Bill Maher on his HBO show Real Time With Bill Maher under the auspices of free speech is off base.
Limbaugh hosts a radio show for a syndicated radio network. Advertisers want to sell products to Limbaugh’s listeners and other consumers so they buy ad space from Limbaugh’s syndicate. If consumers find out that an advertiser has business relationships or business practices they don’t like, they can ask that advertiser to choose between their consumer buying power and whatever gain they seek through existing business relationships or practices. Limbaugh and his attacks on Fluke and women are indeed free speech, but to advertisers Limbaugh’s shows are a guaranteed audience for their sales pitch. He trades listeners attentions for his speech, and then he sells a share of his listeners attention to advertisers. That has a finite value to advertisers. The groups petitioning Limbaugh’s advertisers are giving them a simple choice: choose between access to their dollars or Limbaugh’s audience’s dollars. Advertisers made a shrewd business decision to not run afoul of the sensibilities of millions of men and women (the lead consumers in most households)who support contraception coverage, find President Obama’s compromise proposal reasonable and don’t take kindly to Limbaugh’s bullying of Sandra Fluke. Limbaugh isn’t getting bullied out of free speech. He’s just losing commercial subsidy for that speech.
No one has attacked Limbaugh’s rights. He can still say whatever he likes. He can still (and he will) attempt to profit from that speech. He can search for willing advertisers or switch to other business models to generate his income. He can go to a subscription/pay per view online model or just broadcast his show for free. He doesn’t have a right to keep advertisers if those folks feel like ad buys on Limbaugh’s show would erode their brand. In fact, withholding economic support is exactly Bill Maher’s reasoning for not staying at Trump hotels:
“I used to stay at the Trump [hotels] and I just wouldn’t now. The people were great, but I wouldn’t stay at a ‘birther’ hotel.” -Bill Maher
Trump talks about Obama on his YouTube channel or to ticket holders at wig nut conferences, and Maher feels the need to boycott Trumps hotel product as a kind of personal protest. So Maher won’t stay at a “birther” hotel because of what Donald Trump says about Obama’s heritage, but thinks people shouldn’t demand that their hard earned money not support sexist Limbaugh. Maher also quotes the ACLU regarding free speech but ignores the fact that the ACLU supports boycotts.
I think Maher still smarts from being pushed off of ABC’s Politically Incorrect (P.I.) by a boycott led by people who were upset Maher insisted that 9/11 attackers were evil but they were not cowards. However wrong headed, those people had a right to organize a petition and pressure his advertisers. ABC had a right to cancel P.I.. (In my personal opinion ABC should have stood up for P.I., as Maher was making a nuanced point about ascribing stereotypes to real life villains, but it is their right to say they didn’t want to take up that ideological battle on Maher’s behalf . Their job is to drive ratings up to make ad space more valuable. Maher’s show was part of their advertisement sponsored entertainment business that could no longer command the same ad buys.
Maher still was able to say whatever he wanted to, it’s just that ABC wasn’t willing to sell ad buys associated with Maher’s speech to advertisers anymore. Limbaugh and Maher’s rights were/are fully intact. What Maher is speaking out against is the same leverage that civil rights activists used during the Montgomery Bus Boycotts or the Delano Grape strike, he’s on the wrong side of free expression. Yes, it’s the same leverage right wingers used against Maher and Greta Van Susteren used against Louis C.K.. But, boycotts are not without consequences (often contrary to the organizers intents). Maher secured a more insulated post at HBO and quite frankly, I think like Imus, Limbaugh will find a way to insulate his profits going forward finding advertisers who are happy to focus their marketing towards his and other syndicated right wing talkers audiences. I think those boycotting Limbaugh simply want to immediately prevent their money from directly helping Limbaugh profit from his free speech. Everyone’s well within their rights.
I like my Android phone because I like having a keyboard for Texting, adding calendar items, contacts and the like. I can thumb the keys without looking. I tried the Samsung Galaxy Tab, it was miserable. iPad has no competition. My G2 was nice in 2010. It sucks today, not because I dislike the form factor or general performance, because the phones OS and default tools are stuck in a 2010/2011 limbo.
But today, I’m supposed to be happy about Android Market and some other Apps being called something else.
Today we’re eliminating all that hassle with Google Play, a digital entertainment destination where you can find, enjoy and share your favorite music, movies, books and apps on the web and on your Android phone or tablet. Google Play is entirely cloud-based so all your music, movies, books and apps are stored online, always available to you, and you never have to worry about losing them or moving them again.
Digital entertainment destination? STFU. If it’s one destination, how is it that my G2 and Galaxy Tab downloaded and updated three Apps today: Music, Movies and Videos are now Google Play Music, Google Play Movies, Google Play Videos.
So yet again, like when all of Google’s services were plus-ified, Google is re-branding a bunch of stuff I already use, and then pushing an update to me and every other user with some annoying interface changes. My Samsung Galaxy Tab and G2 are already upgraded. I’ve used all those services on my Android phone and/or tablet. Have used, not continue to use (big difference). This won’t make me a regular user of any of them (iTunes, Netflix and Kindle instead). I buy in Google Music, download it and then sync it with iTunes. I tried using Google Music for a week and it just was too clunky of an interface. There is no way to keep songs on my phone or tablet, so listening is dependent upon my psuedo 4G/3G connection or wi-fi access. Meanwhile, my G2 is so very two years ago.
Google Chrome is my favorite browser. To me, the others don’t compete. As a windows laptop user at home and work, it’s a great choice for me. I have Google’s phone, and I can’t use it on my phone. Not even an old version. I don’t have Ice Cream Sandwich, the only Android version with Chrome. Instead, I’m stuck with their default browser app named “Browser”. Using it is worse than than not browsing at all. It’s a piece of garbage. But I have Google Play now, which means nothing new or improved to me, just more inconvenience.
If Google Play came today after Ice Cream Sandwich came last month, I wouldn’t care. I would be unimpressed, but I wouldn’t be annoyed right now. But I am annoyed because hackers last years put ICS on T-Mobile G2’s and stabilized it while my carrier takes their sweet time and Google hasn’t figured out how to “de-fragment” the Android user base.
Shouldn’t Kanye West’s Runaway be the Republican primary theme song?
“I heard a lot [from my constituents] because it was in the news this weekend,” Murkowski told TPM Tuesday afternoon after attending a weekly GOP policy lunch. “I will tell you, it’s not so much just the discussion about contraception that the Blunt amendment precipitated. There’s just an awful lot that’s been going on. There have been some comments made by some of our presidential candidates. There was the incendiary comments made by Rush Limbaugh.”
[…]
Murkowski, a high-ranked senator and former leadership member herself, worries that the sequence of events since GOP leaders twisted arms for Thursday’s losing vote has left her party on the wrong side of the issue, and that the public is taking note.
Twitter and Yelp have something in common with some other companies, too, like Wolfram Alpha and Vimeo. Between Yelp and Wolfram Alpha, Siri tries pretty hard not to search Google for things. And people testing the new OS X Mountain Lion beta have noticed that the new sharing options include Vimeo for videos and not YouTube. Curious, huh?
Big ups to Georgetown Law student Sandra Fluke for testifying for the Dem’s mock hearing and standing tall throughout being defamed by Rush Limbaugh.
Props to the President for calling Sandra Fluke after getting bullied and victimized by Rush Limbaugh.
Fluke told Mitchell that during the call, President Obama “encouraged me and supported me and thanked me for speaking out about the concerns of American women. And what was really personal for me was that he said to tell my parents that they should be proud, and that meant a lot because Rush Limbaugh questioned whether or not my family would be proud of me. So I just appreciated that very much.”
Note: It’s really telling that Mitt Romney is so scared of Limbaugh that he can’t call Sandra Fluke up and say: I disagree with your politics, but you shouldn’t be called “a slut” for any reason. Romney is so scared of Limbaugh because Limbaugh leads the Republican base and the base is not enamored of Mitt Romney’s style or his substance.
The Americans have been competitive on the world stage for years, but they do not often beat elite teams. They did so Wednesday, courtesy of a second-half goal by Clint Dempsey that was just the fifth scored by the United States against Italy in the 78 years since they began playing each other.
The man who is the best small scorer in the history of the NBA, who lit up Philadelphia nights with his pyrotechnic play, is said to have worked his way through the better part of – big inhale here – $150 million.
Note: Philly.com is one of the worst websites I ever have had to go to get news. I’m sorry I had to link to Lyon’s perfectly fine article amidst the junk they have built to host their news content online. Absolutely miserable. I wish someone there would figure this out, but visiting that site is like going to read ads amidst a little bit of news article.
Reading the Inquirer, Daily News through Philly.com is like reading the paper being displayed through a dirty window in a bad neighborhood while someone blasts a song you hate while someone who is trying to sell knockoff brand names bags to your girlfriend gets uncomfortably insistent.
Best thing about the app driven mobile revolution (starting with Apple’s iPod) is that it made computing so much simpler for the average user. Microsoft seemed to get that (much better than Google did and later) with their simple, take it as you see it metro interface for Windows mobile. (Frankly, I like the Metro graphical user interface a bit better than the iOS interface and loads better than the android graphical user interface.)
The thing I don’t like about office products: the menus. I don’t need to mail merge, no one I know uses it on a regular basis and yet…the menus went from being cluttered toolbars with small icons to cluttered tabbed toolbars with even more icons. Its confusing to see, I consistently forget where certain buttons functions are. I hate using Outlook 2010. I don’t need that many options 99.9999%, most outlook users don’t need that many options 99.9999% of the time so they shouldn’t be in front of my face 100% of the time. I hope they’ve learned that prior to releasing Office for iPad or they are pretty much wasting their time.
The person picked to orchestrate the US Auto Bailout for the Obama Administration, former Car Czar Steve Rattner, rebuts Romney’s awful justifications for continuing to oppose the Obama Administrations strategy during the bailouts of GM and Chrysler and largest suppliers.
The auto czar who led the bailout, Steve Rattner, has a simple challenge to Mitt Romney’s claim that private investors could have rescued Detroit: find me one.
Rattner, writing in the New York Times, wrote on Friday that Romney’s contention that American automakers didn’t need federal loans to move them through a managed bankruptcy intact is ludicrous given that the only financiers big enough to step in were barely hanging on for dear lives themselves.
“I know this because the administration’s auto task force, for which I was the lead adviser, spoke diligently to all conceivable providers of funds, and not one had the slightest interest in financing those companies on any terms,” he wrote. “If Mr. Romney disagrees, he should come forward with specific names of willing investors in place of empty rhetoric. I predict that he won’t be able to, because there aren’t any.”
Unlike the 2008 federal bank bailout, which provided emergency funds to banks without reorganization or reporting requirements, the auto bailout did force the companies to restructure and report progress. The loss borne by US taxpayers is still in the billions, but it’s far less injurious to the US taxpayer than the massive unemployment benefits and unfunded pension liabilities that would have been sent to 10s of thousands of former employees of bankrupt GM and Chrysler .
The federally funded auto-bailout kept many large US companies open and tons of people employed. Those people collect checks today and probably remember thinking they were going to lose that check forever almost 3 years ago. It was an emergency intervention that did it’s job. If your neighbor Bob’s house is burning down, the fire department shows up, just in time to pull the kids and the dog out and save the fire from spreading to the rest of the neighborhood, you don’t walk over to what’s left of Bob’s house the next morning and say: “Well, if they couldn’t save your new sun room they may as well have waited for the house to burn down before showing up.”
I hate winter. I hate the cold, I don’t ski or snowboard and I’m to old and too city bound for sledding and snowball fights. I hate the fact that my hands become useless in even moderate cold. I hate winter, but I am worried it never really came this year.
This past weekend, a local tv station meteorologist came on my TV and told me it was to be a beautiful day because we could expect a another 50 plus degree farenheit high day. Philadelphia…in mid February…50+ degrees…beautiful.
Plants, wildlife and climate impacted environmental factors (flood levels etc) are adapted to expect steady permafrost, snowy days, below freezing weeks to properly cycle their routines. Warming is happening, but thanks to a lazy press, an ill informed and educated public and a scientific community largely content with Al Gore and over educated weather readers being their PR advance team too many of us think there is a “debate” about whether or climate problems are real.
