October 11, 2012

There were 5 posts published on October 11, 2012 (this is page 1 of 1).

Romney hacking victim speaks out


I got this nicely-worded message last night from a victim of Romney’s Facebook hacking who found my blog:

Thanks so much for putting this page together. I just found out that somehow my account had “liked” Mitt Romney and was appalled, so I did some online searching and found your blog, which mentioned this page. If you are still looking for people to be interviewed, I would be happy to join your efforts.

I know that I did not accidentally “like” Romney – not only am I a firm supporter of Obama, but I very rarely use the “like” feature at all. When I use it, it’s always for someone I know firsthand, to support something they are personally doing. I wouldn’t “like” something by accident, because my volume of liking is pretty low. In fact, I hadn’t been on facebook in days at the time my account registered the like (which I have since “unliked” of course).

This is far more sinister that buying fake “likes” – this is using a real person’s account to make statements in that person’s name. I’m not saying Romney is doing this on purpose, but perhaps he has hired some particularly stupid and shady social media consultants. Or perhaps Facebook itself is to blame?
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School buses

I had two different instances where school buses came up in conversation recently.

One weekend morning a few weeks ago I had just walked out of the house with the dog when my newspaper delivery person drove up.

She was apologetic. “You didn’t call this morning about your paper being missing did you?”

“No,” I said with a smile. There have been times when I’ve called because the paper has been late.

“Thank you,” she said, relieved. “I also drive a school bus in the morning and sometimes I can’t get out to deliver as quickly as I could. Everytime you call it costs me $4.”

This woman’s been delivering my paper for years. She’s got a family of her own and she has to work two jobs to support herself. I decided right then that I wouldn’t whine so quickly when my paper is late.
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Sprinkler head cameras

Sprinkler head cameras from UNC-Charlotte


Yesterday I checked the State Surplus Property Office’s auction site, looking for audio equipment for Little Raleigh Radio. I didn’t find any audio gear but I did find something unusual up for bid: a lot of sprinkler head cameras put on the block by UNC Charlotte.

There’s no telling what these hidden cameras were used for. Were they used to catch employee embezzlement? Damage to property? Academic fraud taking place? Oh, sorry. Wrong UNC.

It’s my opinion that spy stuff like this usually gets sold when something better has been acquired. I wonder what form the newest generation of secret cameras takes at UNC-Charlotte.

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