I've been to several Detroit Lions games at Ford Field. This year though was the first time that I ever went on Thanksgiving. While the result of the game was familiar, the Lions lost 34-12, the experience of going on Thanksgiving was completely different from the experiences that I've had before.
For starters, traffic was a nightmare. We left for the stadium at 11:00 a.m., and because of parade related traffic, we didn't arrive at the stadium until 12:10. Since Woodward was closed down, we had to take Cass to get to the parking structure and it seemed like everyone else was doing the same.
Once we were inside the stadium, I was surprised to see that so many Green Bay fans had bought tickets. When we found our seats, there were Green Bay fans on either side of us, directly behind us, and in the row in front of us. There were so many Packers fans in fact, that a loud "Go Pack Go" chant broke out near the end of the third quarter. The woman seated in the row behind me said that she had come all the way from Wisconsin just to go to this game, and it appeared that many other fans had done the same.
Another interesting experience was the halftime show. They show it on TV, but it's cool to see how they set everything up in person. This halftime show featured five or six different musicians performing the hits of Motown to celebrate Motown's 50th anniversary. The performance only lasted about seven to eight minutes, but it was obvious that a lot of work went into it. They had about 100 kids doing a choreographed dance, and more people behind the stage running the effects.
One experience remained the same: drunk people, although for this game, there seemed to be more of them than usual. A man sitting next to the Packers fans behind me was drunk before halftime, and in the second half he started throwing popcorn at the Packers fans next to us. Naturally, since he was drunk, he had terrible aim and most of the popcorn ended up hitting me and my mom. Fortunately, he ran out of popcorn fairly quickly and he left before we had to get security involved.
Overall, it was a pretty good experience despite the final score of the game. Hopefully, we will be able to go again next year.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Week 3, blog #5
Today is the busiest shopping day of the year: Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. It's the day when retailers offer huge discounts on most of their merchandise in an effort to lure in early Christmas shoppers. According to this article, people were lining up at midnight, at least twelve hours before most stores opened, just to get the first crack at these deals.
I was not one of those people. Having a successful Black Friday shopping experience is all about strategy. My strategy this year was simple. My plan was to wait until the afternoon, around 12:30-1:30 and then go shopping. By this time, most of the huge morning crowds have left to go to lunch, traffic is less congested, and lines aren't as long. Some people might say that waiting until the afternoon might mean that the items you want will be gone. I've been doing this the past couple years, and I have found that this is not necessarily the case.
This year I went to Target and Best Buy at 14 Mile and John R; this is also where the Oakland Mall is so there is normally a lot of traffic. I was able to find everything that I wanted with relative ease. When I was at Target, the employees were in the process of restocking the electronics section so they had everything I was looking for. At Best Buy, they had everything that I wanted with the exception of one DVD, which I later ordered online.
I left my house at 1:30 p.m. and I was done shopping by 2:30. I had no problems parking and I did not have to wait in line at all at either store, which was surprising.
According to this article, most reports indicate that crowds were up this year compared to last year. The massive shopping crowds had a positive effect on one local business: Thunderbird Lanes day manager Ed Heichel said that business was booming all day long, and that they passed their sales from last Black Friday by 4:00 this afternoon.
I guess timing really is everything. I didn't have any issues today because while I was shopping, everyone else was apparently bowling.
I was not one of those people. Having a successful Black Friday shopping experience is all about strategy. My strategy this year was simple. My plan was to wait until the afternoon, around 12:30-1:30 and then go shopping. By this time, most of the huge morning crowds have left to go to lunch, traffic is less congested, and lines aren't as long. Some people might say that waiting until the afternoon might mean that the items you want will be gone. I've been doing this the past couple years, and I have found that this is not necessarily the case.
This year I went to Target and Best Buy at 14 Mile and John R; this is also where the Oakland Mall is so there is normally a lot of traffic. I was able to find everything that I wanted with relative ease. When I was at Target, the employees were in the process of restocking the electronics section so they had everything I was looking for. At Best Buy, they had everything that I wanted with the exception of one DVD, which I later ordered online.
I left my house at 1:30 p.m. and I was done shopping by 2:30. I had no problems parking and I did not have to wait in line at all at either store, which was surprising.
According to this article, most reports indicate that crowds were up this year compared to last year. The massive shopping crowds had a positive effect on one local business: Thunderbird Lanes day manager Ed Heichel said that business was booming all day long, and that they passed their sales from last Black Friday by 4:00 this afternoon.
I guess timing really is everything. I didn't have any issues today because while I was shopping, everyone else was apparently bowling.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Week 2, blog #4
NFL wide receiver Chad Johnson is a strange guy. Excuse me, it's Chad Ochocinco now. For those of you that didn't know, he legally changed his last name to match his jersey number. He wears jersey number 85, and "ocho cinco" means "eight five" in Spanish. Because of antics like these, Ochocinco has gathered a mixed reputation amongst NFL fans. Most people either love him and think he's hilarious, or hate him and think he's an annoying attention seeker.
Ochocinco further cemented his reputation as an attention seeker by signing up for a Twitter account. The NFL has already prevented Ochocinco from tweeting during games, but he still maintains an active presence on the site.
In fact, this past weekend, Ochocinco was involved in one of the most interesting Twitter-related stories that I've heard. He's now calling his Twitter account the "Ochocinco News Network (OCNN)." Ochocinco has started rewarding followers of the OCNN on Twitter with special offers. Last weekend, while the Bengals were in Pittsburgh to play the Steelers, Ochocinco tweeted that the first two people who walked up to the concierge at his hotel and said "Ochocinco" would be treated to a shopping spree at a local mall where they could get anything they wanted, "within reason" of course. And he followed up on his promise: http://twitpic.com/pjvgz.
In addition, he's gone to the movies with fans, and posted when he's on Xbox Live so fans can challenge him to a game. This past week, he offered to send an autographed jersey to two random fans who retweeted a message that he posted. Ochocinco seems to legitimately care about his fans, and he shows it by taking time from his own life to show his appreciation. He may still be an attention seeker, but he seems like a genuinely good guy.
Ochocinco further cemented his reputation as an attention seeker by signing up for a Twitter account. The NFL has already prevented Ochocinco from tweeting during games, but he still maintains an active presence on the site.
In fact, this past weekend, Ochocinco was involved in one of the most interesting Twitter-related stories that I've heard. He's now calling his Twitter account the "Ochocinco News Network (OCNN)." Ochocinco has started rewarding followers of the OCNN on Twitter with special offers. Last weekend, while the Bengals were in Pittsburgh to play the Steelers, Ochocinco tweeted that the first two people who walked up to the concierge at his hotel and said "Ochocinco" would be treated to a shopping spree at a local mall where they could get anything they wanted, "within reason" of course. And he followed up on his promise: http://twitpic.com/pjvgz.
In addition, he's gone to the movies with fans, and posted when he's on Xbox Live so fans can challenge him to a game. This past week, he offered to send an autographed jersey to two random fans who retweeted a message that he posted. Ochocinco seems to legitimately care about his fans, and he shows it by taking time from his own life to show his appreciation. He may still be an attention seeker, but he seems like a genuinely good guy.
Week 2, blog #3
When I logged into Xbox Live on Wednesday, I saw something interesting in the "My Community" section. Starting this week, Xbox live users can download an update that will allow them to connect their profiles on Facebook, Twitter, and last.fm to their Xbox Live account. Users can then use their console to browse these sites, allowing them to view status updates and tweets from their friends, and to update their own status. This is what the application looks like as seen on Xbox Live.
I gave this a try Wednesday night. Probably the coolest feature is the one that searches though your Facebook friends for people with Xbox Live accounts. I was able to add some new friends to my Live account; people that I already knew through Facebook, but who I didn't know were Live users.
The last.fm feature is also a great addition. Before, if I wanted to listen to music on my Xbox, I had to put in a CD or rip a CD to my hard drive. Just putting the CD in was a problem, because I couldn't play games at the same time, and ripping the CD was time consuming and it took up a lot of disk space. With the last.fm feature, I can listen to every song that I've added to my last.fm library without needing to have the actual CD stored on my hard drive. I've been using last.fm since 2007, and I've accumulated almost 19,000 song plays. I can now listen to most of those songs from my Xbox, as well as several themed radio stations.
The only drawback of these new features so far, is that they cannot be used while you're actually playing a game. To access them, you need to quit the game and go back to the Xbox dashboard. Hopefully, that will be addressed in the next update.
I gave this a try Wednesday night. Probably the coolest feature is the one that searches though your Facebook friends for people with Xbox Live accounts. I was able to add some new friends to my Live account; people that I already knew through Facebook, but who I didn't know were Live users.
The last.fm feature is also a great addition. Before, if I wanted to listen to music on my Xbox, I had to put in a CD or rip a CD to my hard drive. Just putting the CD in was a problem, because I couldn't play games at the same time, and ripping the CD was time consuming and it took up a lot of disk space. With the last.fm feature, I can listen to every song that I've added to my last.fm library without needing to have the actual CD stored on my hard drive. I've been using last.fm since 2007, and I've accumulated almost 19,000 song plays. I can now listen to most of those songs from my Xbox, as well as several themed radio stations.
The only drawback of these new features so far, is that they cannot be used while you're actually playing a game. To access them, you need to quit the game and go back to the Xbox dashboard. Hopefully, that will be addressed in the next update.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Week 1, blog #2 - No more Farmville invites please
I don't care that you need help fertilizing your crops in Farmville. I don't care that a lonely pink cow wandered on to your farm and you need me to "adopt" it or it won't have a home. It doesn't really exist, so I don't really care if it has a home or not. I don't want to join your mafia in Mafia Wars. I'm sorry, but that means you'll have to find someone else to help you rob imaginary jewelry stores and carry out fake mob hits. And I really don't care that you just got a new high score of 1,235,837 in Bejewled Blitz. It just doesn't interest me.
If you've been on Facebook lately, you've almost certainly been invited to participate in one of these increasingly annoying games. According to this article, Farmville has 63 million players between the U.S. and U.K. Some days, it seems like I get an invitation from most of them asking me to help them with their farms. My news feed was cluttered with people updating their Farmville and Mafia Wars progress and asking for help before I finally figured out how to ignore updates from those applications. I even became Facebook fan of "not playing Farmville," but that hasn't stopped the requests.
One of my Farmville playing friends, Melissa Garland, explained why Farmville is so addictive. Garland estimates that she's been playing Farmville for about four months, and that she spends about five or six hours per day either playing the game or checking her farm's progress.
"I guess I just want to beat my friends," Garland said. "I don't why I play it so much. It's really a stupid game."
I definitely agree with her on that last point. At least she's agreed to not send me any more Farmville requests. Now if I could only get the rest of my friends to do the same.
If you've been on Facebook lately, you've almost certainly been invited to participate in one of these increasingly annoying games. According to this article, Farmville has 63 million players between the U.S. and U.K. Some days, it seems like I get an invitation from most of them asking me to help them with their farms. My news feed was cluttered with people updating their Farmville and Mafia Wars progress and asking for help before I finally figured out how to ignore updates from those applications. I even became Facebook fan of "not playing Farmville," but that hasn't stopped the requests.
One of my Farmville playing friends, Melissa Garland, explained why Farmville is so addictive. Garland estimates that she's been playing Farmville for about four months, and that she spends about five or six hours per day either playing the game or checking her farm's progress.
"I guess I just want to beat my friends," Garland said. "I don't why I play it so much. It's really a stupid game."
I definitely agree with her on that last point. At least she's agreed to not send me any more Farmville requests. Now if I could only get the rest of my friends to do the same.
Sunday's iGoogle news
Leading off the news today is a story from MSNBC on President Obama's first ever trip to China. Obama arrived in Shanghai on Saturday night, and his trip is expected to last a week. Obama plans to meet with Chinese politicians during the trip, and he hopes to improve relations between the two countries. Diplomatic relations between the countries began nearly 30 years ago. The two sides have come closer together in recent years, but they still don't agree on some issues, particularly those involving certain human rights and global warming. China also has a "giant" trade deficit with the U.S. that has caused some conflict in the past.
Another weird story out of Canada. CBC News reports that a dead woman is being laid to rest: 92 years after she died. Gladys Winifred Fowler, then 18, was killed in London during World War I. Her body was found in a London catacomb earlier this year, where it had apparently gone unnoticed for nearly an entire century.
The body was transported back to Hammondvale, New Brunswick and buried on Sunday. The funeral was attended by Fowler's niece and nephew who both live in the U.S. Fowler's surviving relatives had believed that she had already been buried in the Hammondvale cemetery because her name was already inscribed on the family's monument.
Another weird story out of Canada. CBC News reports that a dead woman is being laid to rest: 92 years after she died. Gladys Winifred Fowler, then 18, was killed in London during World War I. Her body was found in a London catacomb earlier this year, where it had apparently gone unnoticed for nearly an entire century.
The body was transported back to Hammondvale, New Brunswick and buried on Sunday. The funeral was attended by Fowler's niece and nephew who both live in the U.S. Fowler's surviving relatives had believed that she had already been buried in the Hammondvale cemetery because her name was already inscribed on the family's monument.
Sunday's tweets
Another slow news day so far. So slow, in fact, the instead of blogging about news, Greta Van Susteren simply asked commenters to post what their plans are for today.
However she did post an interesting blog called Journalism Swine Flu, which criticizes journalists for their treatment of Sarah Palin. Van Susteren says that she supports challenging Palin on issues, but making fun of her or attacking her personally without offering any real criticism is cowardly.
Van Susteren feels that more and more journalists are falling into the trap of the herd mentality, which she calls the "swine flu virus of journalists." As more journalists joke about Palin, their colleagues are blindly joining in and following the crowd without caring that what they're doing isn't true journalism. She adds that even if the journalists don't agree with Palin, they should focus on challenging and investigating her, rather than making inappropriate personal attacks.
I definitely agree with Van Susteren here. Journalists should stick to reporting the facts, and any irrelevant personal commentary should be left out. There is no need to attack Palin personally if you disagree with some of her views. Instead, journalists could simply explain why they disagree and possibly offer up some alternative viewpoints for consideration.
In other news, some of the most interesting Twitter reports have come from Rachel Nichols, who is covering today's Cincinnati-Pittsburgh NFL game for ESPN. Nichols has been down on the sideline for the whole game, talking to players and gathering injury reports. She reported on some of the trash talking going on between Bengals wide receiver Chad Ocho Cinco and Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward, and about the Bengals promising to "go ham" on the Steelers, which apparently means to "cause mayhem." It was fun to follow along with this while actually watching the game.
However she did post an interesting blog called Journalism Swine Flu, which criticizes journalists for their treatment of Sarah Palin. Van Susteren says that she supports challenging Palin on issues, but making fun of her or attacking her personally without offering any real criticism is cowardly.
Van Susteren feels that more and more journalists are falling into the trap of the herd mentality, which she calls the "swine flu virus of journalists." As more journalists joke about Palin, their colleagues are blindly joining in and following the crowd without caring that what they're doing isn't true journalism. She adds that even if the journalists don't agree with Palin, they should focus on challenging and investigating her, rather than making inappropriate personal attacks.
I definitely agree with Van Susteren here. Journalists should stick to reporting the facts, and any irrelevant personal commentary should be left out. There is no need to attack Palin personally if you disagree with some of her views. Instead, journalists could simply explain why they disagree and possibly offer up some alternative viewpoints for consideration.
In other news, some of the most interesting Twitter reports have come from Rachel Nichols, who is covering today's Cincinnati-Pittsburgh NFL game for ESPN. Nichols has been down on the sideline for the whole game, talking to players and gathering injury reports. She reported on some of the trash talking going on between Bengals wide receiver Chad Ocho Cinco and Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward, and about the Bengals promising to "go ham" on the Steelers, which apparently means to "cause mayhem." It was fun to follow along with this while actually watching the game.
Saturday's iGoogle news
There were a couple of interesting stories from Saturday's news feed.
The first comes from FoxNews.com. It's the story of the North Carolina woman who was charged in the disappearance of her five year old daughter. Antoinette Nicole Davis was charged with human trafficking, a child abuse charge involving prostitution, and filing a false police report. It's still apparently unclear whether the charges are directly related to the girl's disappearance.
Shaniya Davis, 5, was reported missing last Tuesday. An employee at a hotel in Sanford about 40 miles away called police to report seeing a girl matching Shaniya's description. Authorities confirmed her identity and were able to arrest the man who was with her on the tape, Mario Andrette McNeill. Police have not said if Davis and McNeill know each other. McNeill admitted to taking the girl, but he reportedly plans to plead not guilty. So far, police have still not been able to locate Shaniya.
This doesn't really matter that much, but I did notice a funny sentence in this article: "The following day a man described as Davis' girlfriend was arrested in the kidnapping but later released." I thought it was funny that such a mistake would get past the AP editors in the first place, and to not have it fixed by now is pretty inexcusable.
I saw a second article worth mentioning from CBC News. This story is about a court case regarding an incident that occurred all the way back on June 8, 2002. The plantiff, Alan Benzanson, sued Travis Hayter over an incident on a gold course that resulted in permanent damage to Benzanson's left wrist. The incident occured on the 16th hole after Hayter had consumed nine beers and a half pint of tequila. Hayter took a swing out of turn, similar to the one used by Adam Sandler in the film Happy Gilmore, and the ball struck Benzanson, who was standing about 20 yards away, in the left wrist. Benzanson, a woodcutter who has been unable to work without pain since the incident, sued and won $227,500 in damages.
What I found hilarious about this story was Hayter's defense. In his appeal, Hayter argued that it wasn't the first Happy Gilmore style shot he had taken that day and Bezanson should have known what was coming. That argument was not surprisingly dismissed by the court. I feel that Hayter should have proceeded further with his Happy Gilmore defense and argued that "he shouldn't have been standing there" and that he had told his caddy to "watch me, and make sure I don't do anything stupid," which he obviously failed to do.
The first comes from FoxNews.com. It's the story of the North Carolina woman who was charged in the disappearance of her five year old daughter. Antoinette Nicole Davis was charged with human trafficking, a child abuse charge involving prostitution, and filing a false police report. It's still apparently unclear whether the charges are directly related to the girl's disappearance.
Shaniya Davis, 5, was reported missing last Tuesday. An employee at a hotel in Sanford about 40 miles away called police to report seeing a girl matching Shaniya's description. Authorities confirmed her identity and were able to arrest the man who was with her on the tape, Mario Andrette McNeill. Police have not said if Davis and McNeill know each other. McNeill admitted to taking the girl, but he reportedly plans to plead not guilty. So far, police have still not been able to locate Shaniya.
This doesn't really matter that much, but I did notice a funny sentence in this article: "The following day a man described as Davis' girlfriend was arrested in the kidnapping but later released." I thought it was funny that such a mistake would get past the AP editors in the first place, and to not have it fixed by now is pretty inexcusable.
I saw a second article worth mentioning from CBC News. This story is about a court case regarding an incident that occurred all the way back on June 8, 2002. The plantiff, Alan Benzanson, sued Travis Hayter over an incident on a gold course that resulted in permanent damage to Benzanson's left wrist. The incident occured on the 16th hole after Hayter had consumed nine beers and a half pint of tequila. Hayter took a swing out of turn, similar to the one used by Adam Sandler in the film Happy Gilmore, and the ball struck Benzanson, who was standing about 20 yards away, in the left wrist. Benzanson, a woodcutter who has been unable to work without pain since the incident, sued and won $227,500 in damages.
What I found hilarious about this story was Hayter's defense. In his appeal, Hayter argued that it wasn't the first Happy Gilmore style shot he had taken that day and Bezanson should have known what was coming. That argument was not surprisingly dismissed by the court. I feel that Hayter should have proceeded further with his Happy Gilmore defense and argued that "he shouldn't have been standing there" and that he had told his caddy to "watch me, and make sure I don't do anything stupid," which he obviously failed to do.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Saturday's Tweets
I'm assuming that most of the journalists that I'm following have the weekends off, because there wasn't a lot of tweeting today. There are only a couple tweets worth mentioning.
Greta Van Susteren did post an interesting idea on her blog. She suggested moving the upcoming trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed from New York to Guantanamo Bay. Apparently, the trial can be in any civilian federal court, so Guantanamo Bay would be an option. The problem with this would be juror selection, as transporting the jury members to Guantanamo could be a problem. If that wouldn't work, Van Susteren suggests using a less populated state, such as Montana, to avoid the organizational problems and potential terrorist threats that could result from having the trial in a large city like New York.
The second most interesting story is one that Phil Elliot was able to give a semi-eyewitness report on. Elliot first tweeted that there were 45 police cars, two satellite trucks, and a helicopter on his block in Columbia Heights (Washington D.C.). Shortly after that, he linked to an article provided by one of his followers which reports that a seven year old boy had been shot and killed. The neighboring streets had been shut down while police searched for the shooter.
Greta Van Susteren did post an interesting idea on her blog. She suggested moving the upcoming trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed from New York to Guantanamo Bay. Apparently, the trial can be in any civilian federal court, so Guantanamo Bay would be an option. The problem with this would be juror selection, as transporting the jury members to Guantanamo could be a problem. If that wouldn't work, Van Susteren suggests using a less populated state, such as Montana, to avoid the organizational problems and potential terrorist threats that could result from having the trial in a large city like New York.
The second most interesting story is one that Phil Elliot was able to give a semi-eyewitness report on. Elliot first tweeted that there were 45 police cars, two satellite trucks, and a helicopter on his block in Columbia Heights (Washington D.C.). Shortly after that, he linked to an article provided by one of his followers which reports that a seven year old boy had been shot and killed. The neighboring streets had been shut down while police searched for the shooter.
Week 1, blog #1 - The state of bowling
I'm writing this blog from my laptop at Thunderbird Lanes in Troy, MI. It's 10:30 p.m. and 41 of the center's 46 lanes are currently in use. Not bad for a Saturday night, but unfortunately there haven't been too many nights like this lately for Thunderbird. The poor condition of the Michigan economy is certainly having an effect on area bowling centers.
Thunderbird General Manager Bruce Heichel says that so far this fall, the center has only generated $10,000 in nightly revenue once. That one time was partially due to a company that booked nearly all of the center's lanes for a special event. He said that the center used to eclipse $10,000 more often in the past, especially on Friday and Saturday nights when open bowling is most popular.
The silver lining in all of this is that league revenue is actually up from last year, according to Thunderbird's night manger, Bonnie Roe. Roe said that leagues were bringing in about the same amount of revenue as last year, until Oakland University's Chaldean American Student Association (CASA) started an 18 team league on Tuesday nights.
Open bowling revenue is still not what it was last year, but Thunderbird is trying to boost sales back up by offering several different special rates, including $1 games on Sundays and $1.99 shoe rental on Fridays. Thunderbird's sister center, Fairlanes Bowl in Madison Heights, offers an all you can bowl special from Tuesday through Thursday. Thunderbird is considering running a similar special in the future.
Judging by tonight, these specials seem to be having some effect. The staff here at Thunderbird anticipates that as the weather gets colder, business will pick up even more. Even in the bad economy, bowling remains an affordable source of entertainment.
Thunderbird General Manager Bruce Heichel says that so far this fall, the center has only generated $10,000 in nightly revenue once. That one time was partially due to a company that booked nearly all of the center's lanes for a special event. He said that the center used to eclipse $10,000 more often in the past, especially on Friday and Saturday nights when open bowling is most popular.
The silver lining in all of this is that league revenue is actually up from last year, according to Thunderbird's night manger, Bonnie Roe. Roe said that leagues were bringing in about the same amount of revenue as last year, until Oakland University's Chaldean American Student Association (CASA) started an 18 team league on Tuesday nights.
Open bowling revenue is still not what it was last year, but Thunderbird is trying to boost sales back up by offering several different special rates, including $1 games on Sundays and $1.99 shoe rental on Fridays. Thunderbird's sister center, Fairlanes Bowl in Madison Heights, offers an all you can bowl special from Tuesday through Thursday. Thunderbird is considering running a similar special in the future.
Judging by tonight, these specials seem to be having some effect. The staff here at Thunderbird anticipates that as the weather gets colder, business will pick up even more. Even in the bad economy, bowling remains an affordable source of entertainment.
Friday's IGoogle news
I found an interesting local story on Poynter's Romanesko blog. The full article, found here, details plans to start a new, daily local newspaper called the Detroit Daily Press. The newspaper will go on sale Nov. 23 at local retail outlets and will be delivered to homes starting on Nov. 30. The target audience will be older readers who miss having a daily newspaper. The Monday-Saturday editions will include approximately 16 pages of general news, and the expanded Sunday edition will include comics, a TV Guide, and a copy of Parade magazine.
The paper's staff will consist of several former Detroit area journalists including Rob Parker, John Smyntek, Hawke Fracassa, and Kim Crawford. The owners of the paper hope to limit costs by renting office space in Royal Oak, rather than buying a building and by having the paper printed on contract, rather than on their own presses.
The owners hope to have 100,000 subscribers at the launch, which to me seems to be a little optimistic. In this new digital age, I can't see a lot of people subscribing to this right away, especially since the marketing campaign hasn't even started yet. It might take people a while to find out about this and that launch isn't very far away.
This to me seems to be a pretty interesting idea, especially since one of my favorite journalists, Rob Parker will be on the staff. I'm not sure if I will subscribe yet, but I definitely plan on checking out the website when they get that launched in the upcoming weeks.
The paper's staff will consist of several former Detroit area journalists including Rob Parker, John Smyntek, Hawke Fracassa, and Kim Crawford. The owners of the paper hope to limit costs by renting office space in Royal Oak, rather than buying a building and by having the paper printed on contract, rather than on their own presses.
The owners hope to have 100,000 subscribers at the launch, which to me seems to be a little optimistic. In this new digital age, I can't see a lot of people subscribing to this right away, especially since the marketing campaign hasn't even started yet. It might take people a while to find out about this and that launch isn't very far away.
This to me seems to be a pretty interesting idea, especially since one of my favorite journalists, Rob Parker will be on the staff. I'm not sure if I will subscribe yet, but I definitely plan on checking out the website when they get that launched in the upcoming weeks.
Friday's tweets
Yesterday proved to be a pretty interesting day, but today was a different story. I could only find a couple tweets worth sharing.
The first comes from a reporter not on my original list of 10 journalists, Amber Hunt from the Detroit Free Press. She linked to an article that she wrote, which describes a case in which a man was killed over a $10 baggie of marijuana. Brandon Ebel, 16, of Warren will face up to life in prison after being convicted of second degree murder in the death of 46 year old Michael McCarthy. McCarthy had stolen a bag of marijuana from Ebel, while he was at his father's home. Investigators said that the bag was worth no more $10, but that was enough of a loss for Ebel to lead him to recruit three friends and kill McCarthy. One of the friends agreed to plead guilty to a lesser charge and testify against Ebel. One other teen is awaiting trial, and the other is awaiting sentencing on a lesser charge.
I thought that it was amazing that someone would be willing to kill another human being over something this insignificant. I guess some people just have a lack of respect for human life, and are pretty clueless about the severity of the consequences of their actions.
Phil Elliot links to a story that is much more positive: Vice President Joe Biden serving food to the homeless in Washington D.C. Biden made an unannounced visit to the Father McKenna Center near the U.S. Capitol, where he helped serve fish sticks to the homeless men who had gathered there for lunch. Biden said that he also helps out at homeless shelters back in Delaware, and that doing so reminds him of how real the problem of homelessness is.
These are the kind of stories that cause me to regain a little faith in humankind, especially after reading Amber Hunt's story that I mentioned above. It's a nice reminder that there are still some good people out in the world who like to help out the less fortunate.
The first comes from a reporter not on my original list of 10 journalists, Amber Hunt from the Detroit Free Press. She linked to an article that she wrote, which describes a case in which a man was killed over a $10 baggie of marijuana. Brandon Ebel, 16, of Warren will face up to life in prison after being convicted of second degree murder in the death of 46 year old Michael McCarthy. McCarthy had stolen a bag of marijuana from Ebel, while he was at his father's home. Investigators said that the bag was worth no more $10, but that was enough of a loss for Ebel to lead him to recruit three friends and kill McCarthy. One of the friends agreed to plead guilty to a lesser charge and testify against Ebel. One other teen is awaiting trial, and the other is awaiting sentencing on a lesser charge.
I thought that it was amazing that someone would be willing to kill another human being over something this insignificant. I guess some people just have a lack of respect for human life, and are pretty clueless about the severity of the consequences of their actions.
Phil Elliot links to a story that is much more positive: Vice President Joe Biden serving food to the homeless in Washington D.C. Biden made an unannounced visit to the Father McKenna Center near the U.S. Capitol, where he helped serve fish sticks to the homeless men who had gathered there for lunch. Biden said that he also helps out at homeless shelters back in Delaware, and that doing so reminds him of how real the problem of homelessness is.
These are the kind of stories that cause me to regain a little faith in humankind, especially after reading Amber Hunt's story that I mentioned above. It's a nice reminder that there are still some good people out in the world who like to help out the less fortunate.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Thursday's iGoogle news
Today's most interesting article comes from a blog: Andrew Sullivan's "The Daily Dish." I thought this was an interesting take on President Obama's decision to not make a decision regarding U.S. action in Afghanistan. Instead of vilifying Obama for being indecisive, Sullivan praises him for being patient. Further, he says Obama's patience is a sign of strength, not weakness.
Sullivan says that in the past, decisions like this would have been made quickly, but Obama believes in letting the process take its time. Sullivan says this decision is one of the most critical decisions so far in his presidency, and I agree with him there. Sullivan refers to Obama's strategy as "a relentless empiricism in pursuit of a particular objective and a willingness to let the process take its time."
Obama also seems to be willing to involve the public in the decision making process. This is an unusual strategy politically, but one that Sullivan thinks will be effective. He's keeping his position to himself, while allowing the people to debate with each other, which can only increase public involvement and awareness on issues. He also has allowed other politicians to come forward with their own ideas for consideration.
Sullivan says that this strategy of indecision shows that Obama is very self-confident. Obviously, this strategy will draw criticism from political rivals and some memebers of the public, but Obama seems to be unfazed. By doing this, Obama seems to be almost inviting criticism, but Sullivan sees this as a sign that Obama is doing whatever he thinks is best for the country, regardless of how it impacts him politically.
Moving away from politics, I found a second interesting article from CNN. This is about a case out of New York in which a 19 year old man charged with robbery was able to use his Facebook status as proof of his innocence. The man, Rodney Bradford, updated his Facebook status at 11:49 a.m. from a computer at his father's house in Harlem. At 11:50 a.m., a robbery too place in Brooklyn, 12 miles away. Bradford was arrested for this robbery and he spent 12 days in jail. The attorneys working the case were able to subpoena Facebook to get documentation proving that Bradford had really updated his status at that time, from that location. Police dismissed the notion that this update could have been faked, because the update was an inside joke that would have been unclear to outsiders. A person faking an alibi would have made a clearer and more obvious attempt to disguise their location. I thought this was interesting because it shows the impact that technology is having on everyday life. Facebook has become such a big part of culture, that it can now be used as an acceptable defense in a criminal case.
Sullivan says that in the past, decisions like this would have been made quickly, but Obama believes in letting the process take its time. Sullivan says this decision is one of the most critical decisions so far in his presidency, and I agree with him there. Sullivan refers to Obama's strategy as "a relentless empiricism in pursuit of a particular objective and a willingness to let the process take its time."
Obama also seems to be willing to involve the public in the decision making process. This is an unusual strategy politically, but one that Sullivan thinks will be effective. He's keeping his position to himself, while allowing the people to debate with each other, which can only increase public involvement and awareness on issues. He also has allowed other politicians to come forward with their own ideas for consideration.
Sullivan says that this strategy of indecision shows that Obama is very self-confident. Obviously, this strategy will draw criticism from political rivals and some memebers of the public, but Obama seems to be unfazed. By doing this, Obama seems to be almost inviting criticism, but Sullivan sees this as a sign that Obama is doing whatever he thinks is best for the country, regardless of how it impacts him politically.
Moving away from politics, I found a second interesting article from CNN. This is about a case out of New York in which a 19 year old man charged with robbery was able to use his Facebook status as proof of his innocence. The man, Rodney Bradford, updated his Facebook status at 11:49 a.m. from a computer at his father's house in Harlem. At 11:50 a.m., a robbery too place in Brooklyn, 12 miles away. Bradford was arrested for this robbery and he spent 12 days in jail. The attorneys working the case were able to subpoena Facebook to get documentation proving that Bradford had really updated his status at that time, from that location. Police dismissed the notion that this update could have been faked, because the update was an inside joke that would have been unclear to outsiders. A person faking an alibi would have made a clearer and more obvious attempt to disguise their location. I thought this was interesting because it shows the impact that technology is having on everyday life. Facebook has become such a big part of culture, that it can now be used as an acceptable defense in a criminal case.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Thursday's tweets
Lou Dobbs is still dominating the Twitter talk today, but a lot of the focus is on who will replace him. Phil Rosenthal was the first to comment today, linking to an article which announces John King as Dobbs' replacement. King will move from his Sunday morning show on CNN, "State of the Union," to Dobbs' time slot, weekdays at 6 p.m.
Phil Elliot links to another article which provides some insight into what type of program King will have. King plans to have a nonpartisan talk show that will welcome all points of view, which is exactly what CNN was looking for in a replacement for the controversial Dobbs.
Rachel Maddow posted a link to the stimulus tracker, which as she says, is a fun way to waste time. This site keeps track of how all the money from the stimulus package is being spent. They have data from every state, and from counties within the states. It was interesting to see how this money is being spent in Michigan, and Oakland County in particular.
Ciara O'Brien continued her video game obsession by posting four video game related articles, including one that updates yesterday's post about Microsoft banning modified Xbox consoles. She added two others on sales of the new game, Call of Duty 2: Modern Warfare both in the U.S. and the U.K. She added one more interesting article on how video games are being used to hopefully spark interest in history among video game fans.
Rachel Nichols tweeted about the day's biggest sports news: the firing of the New Orleans Hornets' head coach, Byron Scott. Scott was fired after the NBA team started the season with a 3-6 record. She added a second tweet mentioning that Scott had done a lot of work helping New Orleans recover from Hurricane Katrina, and that he would be missed.
Phil Elliot links to another article which provides some insight into what type of program King will have. King plans to have a nonpartisan talk show that will welcome all points of view, which is exactly what CNN was looking for in a replacement for the controversial Dobbs.
Rachel Maddow posted a link to the stimulus tracker, which as she says, is a fun way to waste time. This site keeps track of how all the money from the stimulus package is being spent. They have data from every state, and from counties within the states. It was interesting to see how this money is being spent in Michigan, and Oakland County in particular.
Ciara O'Brien continued her video game obsession by posting four video game related articles, including one that updates yesterday's post about Microsoft banning modified Xbox consoles. She added two others on sales of the new game, Call of Duty 2: Modern Warfare both in the U.S. and the U.K. She added one more interesting article on how video games are being used to hopefully spark interest in history among video game fans.
Rachel Nichols tweeted about the day's biggest sports news: the firing of the New Orleans Hornets' head coach, Byron Scott. Scott was fired after the NBA team started the season with a 3-6 record. She added a second tweet mentioning that Scott had done a lot of work helping New Orleans recover from Hurricane Katrina, and that he would be missed.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Wednesday's iGoogle News
On days like today where there was no dominant news story, stories can come from anywhere. The news feeds that I subscribed to had very few repeat stories, which meant a wide variety of material to choose from.
Obviously, one of the biggest stories in the news is still the shooting at Fort Hood that happened back on Thursday, Nov. 5. MSNBC had an interesting story on the shooter, Nidal Malik Hasan, and how his doctors and superiors had questioned his behavior in the months leading up to the shooting. According to the article, doctors had questions about Hasan's mental health as early as spring, 2008. A military official familiar with the discussions on Hasan cited Hasan's "belligerent, defensive and argumentative" discussions on religion as being particularly concerning. NPR talked to some of his fellow students and faculty members at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and they described Hasan as being disconnected, aloof and paranoid, among other things. Despite the warning signs of instability, combined with poor job performance, Hasan was allowed to continue working at Fort Hood. The military official stated that his doctors did not view Hasan as being potentially violent or threatening, so he was allowed to keep his position.
I also want to share this odd story that I came across on FoxNews.com. This story is about a 12 year old girl from Virginia, who sneezes approximately 12,000 times per day. According to the article, the girl, Lauren Johnson, caught a cold two weeks ago and has been sneezing ever since. Johnson's mother, Lynn, said that the sneezing only stops when Lauren is asleep. Johnson has been to six different doctors since she began sneezing, none of which have been able to give a true diagnosis. One doctor offered up the possibility that it could be "irretractable psychogenic disorder," which can be caused by stress. According to the article. there are less than 40 documented cases of IPD and there is no standard treatment.
Obviously, one of the biggest stories in the news is still the shooting at Fort Hood that happened back on Thursday, Nov. 5. MSNBC had an interesting story on the shooter, Nidal Malik Hasan, and how his doctors and superiors had questioned his behavior in the months leading up to the shooting. According to the article, doctors had questions about Hasan's mental health as early as spring, 2008. A military official familiar with the discussions on Hasan cited Hasan's "belligerent, defensive and argumentative" discussions on religion as being particularly concerning. NPR talked to some of his fellow students and faculty members at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and they described Hasan as being disconnected, aloof and paranoid, among other things. Despite the warning signs of instability, combined with poor job performance, Hasan was allowed to continue working at Fort Hood. The military official stated that his doctors did not view Hasan as being potentially violent or threatening, so he was allowed to keep his position.
I also want to share this odd story that I came across on FoxNews.com. This story is about a 12 year old girl from Virginia, who sneezes approximately 12,000 times per day. According to the article, the girl, Lauren Johnson, caught a cold two weeks ago and has been sneezing ever since. Johnson's mother, Lynn, said that the sneezing only stops when Lauren is asleep. Johnson has been to six different doctors since she began sneezing, none of which have been able to give a true diagnosis. One doctor offered up the possibility that it could be "irretractable psychogenic disorder," which can be caused by stress. According to the article. there are less than 40 documented cases of IPD and there is no standard treatment.
Wednesday's tweets
The one story that has been covered by more than one of the 10 journalists that I chose is the sudden resignation of CNN's Lou Dobbs. Robert MacMillan, Phil Elliot, and Phil Rosenthal all have commented on Dobbs, with Elliot and Rosenthal both referencing this New York Times article.
The article states that Dobbs is resigning immediately after nearly 30 years at CNN. Dobbs announced that Wednesday's show would be his last. Dobbs, whose recently expressed views on immigration have sparked controversy, apparently did not inform some of his staff members of his decision until today. His sudden departure has caused some people to wonder if he is leaving for another network. Dobbs said only that he is considering a number of options and directions, adding that he will let the people know when he decides what his course will be. Video here:
In other news, Jon Heyman has been tweeting all day about what's going on at the baseball general manager meetings. So far today, Heyman has made tweets about the Mariners signing Ken Griffey Jr., the Nationals naming Jim Riggleman as manager, and trade and free agency rumors. Also, Ciara O'Brien posted some interesting articles about Microsoft banning gamers from Xbox Live and plans to design a digital cloud that would float over London.
The article states that Dobbs is resigning immediately after nearly 30 years at CNN. Dobbs announced that Wednesday's show would be his last. Dobbs, whose recently expressed views on immigration have sparked controversy, apparently did not inform some of his staff members of his decision until today. His sudden departure has caused some people to wonder if he is leaving for another network. Dobbs said only that he is considering a number of options and directions, adding that he will let the people know when he decides what his course will be. Video here:
In other news, Jon Heyman has been tweeting all day about what's going on at the baseball general manager meetings. So far today, Heyman has made tweets about the Mariners signing Ken Griffey Jr., the Nationals naming Jim Riggleman as manager, and trade and free agency rumors. Also, Ciara O'Brien posted some interesting articles about Microsoft banning gamers from Xbox Live and plans to design a digital cloud that would float over London.
Twitter friends project
My selection of 10 journalists:
Jon Heyman (Sports Illustrated)
http://twitter.com/SI_JonHeyman
Phil Elliot (Associated Press)
http://twitter.com/PElliottAP
Robert MacMillan (Reuters)
http://twitter.com/bobbymacReuters
Ben Wedeman (CNN)
http://twitter.com/bencnn
Phil Rosenthal (Chicago Tribune)
http://twitter.com/phil_rosenthal
Rachel Nichols (ESPN)
http://twitter.com/Rachel__Nichols
Ciara O'Brien (Irish Times)
http://twitter.com/ciaraobrien
Greta Van Susteren (Fox News)
http://twitter.com/gretawire
Rachel Maddow (MSNBC)
http://twitter.com/maddow
Justin Hyde (Detroit Free Press)
http://twitter.com/justin_hyde
This is my account:
http://twitter.com/jt2387
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