August 2012

There were 111 posts published in August 2012 (this is page 2 of 12).

Letters to Grandma: 31 August 1992

[Note: Read this post first for an introduction.]

This one comes almost 20 years ago to the day. By this time I’d been out of the Navy for 7 months. I was new to Raleigh, living in a cheap, roach-infested apartment in a dangerous neighborhood near campus, yet I felt promise. I had no where to go but up, right?

I smile at my constant use of the word “programmer,” as now they’re called developers. It was a time of rapid change in computers, which led to me leaving college behind for real-world experience. I was right about getting a high-paying job in computers. I still know what its like not to have a college degree, though!

Boy, if only I could get those “eye-popping” tuition rates of 1992 today. I’d just might go back to school.

10pm August 31, 1992 [age: 23]

Dear Grandma,

Sorry it’s been so long since you heard from me. I was twisted like a pretzel by all the new directions I had to go. I didn’t settle down for half a year and just now am I getting my footing again.

This is my second week here at N.C. State. I still don’t really believe I’m here. I guess by the time the tuition bills arrive I’ll be feeling right at home!
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More Romney hacking victims come forward


Having given up on Facebook’s less-than-ideal search box, I thought to use the Google to find more unwitting Mitt Romney fans. It turns out there are a lot of them. (Click here to see an earlier list of responses.)

An example:

A friend from High School let me know that on the side-ads bar, it said that I ‘like’ Mitt Romney! Imagine that?!?!? I DO NOT LIKE MITT ROMNEY AND I HATE THAT THE FB SOFTWARE HAS DONE THAT. I WILL SUE FOR DAMAGES IF I EVER SEE IT! I HAVE A TEAM OF LAWYERS AND THIS IS NOT OVER!

…and this

My page was somehow updated to show I liked Mitt Romney, which I certainly do not. There was no entry in my activity log. I had to go to his page to ‘unlike’ it. There is no indication that it was an account level hack.

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Wake schools bus driver: ‘This is the worst I’ve ever seen it’

Wait, isn’t General Tata supposed to be “Mr. Logistics?”

More than 900 Wake County school buses transport 75,000 to 80,000 students per day and make about 25,000 stops. Dozens of buses were taken out of service this year to cut costs, maintain efficiency and keep state funding, according to school officials.

But complaints about service began pouring in Monday, the first day of school for traditional-calendar students. Superintendent Tony Tata said Tuesday that the school system is doing everything it can to listen to parents, address the issues and smooth bus service problems.

via Wake schools bus driver: “This is the worst I’ve ever seen it” :: WRAL.com.

‘Hacked by Mitt Romney’ Facebook page


Thinking that Facebook just might be a good place to find other Facebook users who’ve been profile slammed (i.e. hacked) by Mitt Romney’s campaign, I created a Facebook page called (wait for it) … Hacked By Mitt Romney! We’ll see if it gains any attention.

I went through a ridiculous number of naming attempts before Facebook would let me choose the one I chose. Also, the “Facebook name” (the custom URL of http://www.facebook.com/MittYouDidntBuildThat) was also nearly impossible to choose. A number of obvious choices were already taken. Nothing with Romney in the name would be accepted. I’ve got screenshots of this and will share these when I get more time today.

Twitter Updates for 2012-08-29

  • It was a treat watching tears change to smiles yesterday as some kids greeted their parents after their very, very first day of school. #
  • http://t.co/d06vySfn • Does Romney Buy his Facebook Fans? http://t.co/QqUCKtJx #
  • Missing teen: Joshua Clay Inscoe. Last seen in Durham Friday, 8/24. Please help find him. http://t.co/9ttBwnFj #
  • Smartphone makers: If Apple sues you, just say yours is nothing like the iPhone because yours has a removable battery. You win. #
  • @steelyben Earthlink cable. in reply to steelyben #

Twitter Updates for 2012-08-29

  • It was a treat watching tears change to smiles yesterday as some kids greeted their parents after their very, very first day of school. #
  • http://t.co/d06vySfn • Does Romney Buy his Facebook Fans? http://t.co/QqUCKtJx #
  • Missing teen: Joshua Clay Inscoe. Last seen in Durham Friday, 8/24. Please help find him. http://t.co/9ttBwnFj #
  • Smartphone makers: If Apple sues you, just say yours is nothing like the iPhone because yours has a removable battery. You win. #
  • @steelyben Earthlink cable. in reply to steelyben #

Little Raleigh Radio attracts a crowd

Little Raleigh Radio

Last night a volunteer open house was held at Kings Barcade for Little Raleigh Radio. It seems the publicity the station got from the recent write-up in the News and Observer drew a crowd of over 75 potential volunteers, ranging from radio newbies to grizzled radio veterans.

It was inspiring to see all the support. I could hardly sleep afterward, I was buzzing from all the energy!
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Missing: Joshua Clay Inscoe

Joshua Clay Inscoe


Have you seen Joshua “Josh” Clay Inscoe? Josh went missing from Carlbrook school in Virginia and was last seen in Durham. He is believed to be in Raleigh.

Josh is a white male, age 16 years, height 5’7″ and 145 pounds. He has short, light brown hair; a medium build; green eyes, and a medium complexion. He was last seen near the Durham Bulls stadium on Friday, August 24th, wearing a blue plaid shirt with collar, khaki pants, and a black backpack.

If you see Josh, please call the Halifax (VA) police department at 434-476-3334.

A flier with Josh’s information may be downloaded here.

More pictures below the fold.
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More stories of Romney’s rise in Facebook


Here are a few links to what people are saying about Mitt Romney’s Facebook page.

26 April – Big Think – Obama vs. Romney on Facebook:

… while Romney is getting a higher rate of sharing from his fans than the president, Obama’s fans have shared his posts 2.24 times more often in absolute numbers. Add this to the fact that Obama’s messages are directly delivered to more than 24,000,000 fans than Romney’s, and it is clear to see that Obama is dominating Facebook so far in this campaign.

20 June – Mashable – Romney gains speed on Facebook:

According to data from both Facebook and SocialBakers.com, Romney has seen a swell in popularity recently. From June 11 to 17, one of his strongest weeks yet, he gained more than 71,000 new fans; according to Facebook, June 10 was his most popular day ever.

Meanwhile, President Obama gained about 77,000 new fans during the same time period. While that is a greater number of fans, it is down from previous weeks, and in the last month, Obama has only had a 1.7% increase in fans, whereas Romney has had a 10.8% increase.

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Does Romney Buy his Facebook Fans?

Two weeks ago, ZoomSphere, a company that analyizes Facebook statistics, identified many fake accounts being added to Romney’s Facebook page. I agree that this data looks very, very suspect.

Today you could see that Mitt Romney crossed the border of 4.000.000 fans on his fan page on Facebook. This is a great milestone for each politician.

Here we can see that around 34% fans of Mitt Romney have only couple of their own fans. It is very unusual and suspicious.

Similarly, a large proportion of such fans is usually an indicator of their shopping over the dubious services.

Check out ZoomSphere.com’s day-to-day tracking of Mitt Romney’s page here.

via ZoomSphere.com • Does Romney Buy his Facebook Fans?.