Alaska Governor Sarah Palin announced today that not only would she not be seeking a second term as governor, she will be stepping down in a few weeks.
Huh?
This makes no sense and that’s saying a lot for someone such as Sarah Palin. She didn’t step down when she gave birth to a special needs child. She didn’t step down when she ran for vice president of the United States. If she was prone to quiting, you would think she would have done so when either one of these two events took place.
This makes absolutely no sense.
Posted in Politics.
Tagged with Alaska, Governors That Quit, Republicans, Sarah Palin.
By Rick
– July 3, 2009
I got an email last night that ranks right up there with some of the strangest that I’ve received. And that says a lot.
Here it is:
From: Amanda Heckman
To: rick@bentcorner.com
Subject: Google Image Search
Date: Thu, 2 Jul 2009 23:11:29 -0500
Please remove the Virginia Tech tag from your article on Cho. His image is one of the first that pop up when someone wants to find an image for Virginia Tech. It could be as simple as changing the tag to “Virginia Tech Tragedy.” I don’t want people to think of what he did every time they want to look up Virginia Tech.
Sincerely, Mandy
I write a blog post about the Virgina Tech massacre and I tag it with the words “Virgina Tech”. That’s what you are supposed to do when you write a blog post. You are supposed to tag what you’ve written with any applicable keywords. It allows search engines to find what you’ve written. It’s considered good search engine optimization (SEO).
When I first read this early this morning, I thought it was a goof. After having my coffee and reading it a second time, I came to the conclusion that it’s actually legit. This person, Amanda Heckman, evidently thinks that she is within her rights to ask me to edit something I’ve written because she doesn’t like how it’s showing up in search engine results. It’s not even about her, nor is she representing Virginia Tech in any type of official capacity. She sent the above email from an American Online account.
How obnoxious is that?
Posted in Blogging.
Tagged with Amanda Heckman, Obnoxious People, Search engine optimization, SEO, Tag, Tagging, Virginia Tech.
By Rick
– July 3, 2009
Lori Drew, the Missouri mother that posed as a teenage boy on MySpace and perpetrated a hoax on a neighbor’s teenage daughter that resulted in the girl committing suicide, is getting her earlier convictions thrown out. From the Associated Press (via MSNBC):
U.S. District Judge George Wu said he was tentatively acquitting Lori Drew of misdemeanor counts of accessing computers without authorization.
Drew was convicted in November, but the judge said that if she is to be found guilty of illegally accessing computers, anyone who has ever violated the social networking site’s terms of service would be guilty of a misdemeanor.
“You could prosecute pretty much anyone who violated terms of service,” he said. The judge, who had delayed the ruling repeatedly, reminded participants that it is only a tentative ruling until he files it in writing.
How about you only prosecute those who violate the terms of service when someone dies as a result of their act?
It’s as though a long time ago we all agreed that it was OK to lie, cheat, mislead, humiliate, and harass someone as long as it was “only” done on the Internet.
Why is that?
Lori Drew knew she was doing something wrong when she went on MySpace pretending to be a teenage boy. She created the fake persona for the sole purpose of humiliating Megan Meier.
Lori Drew’s final message to Megan Meier said that the world would be better without her. Megan Meier hung herself shortly after that. A coincidence?
Hardly.
Posted in News.
Tagged with cyberbully, Judge George Wu, Law, Lori Drew, Megan Meier, MySpace, suicide.
By Rick
– July 2, 2009
I don’t understand the purpose of the Harvey Awards. Wikipedia says that they are given for achievement in comic books, but I always thought that was what the Eisner Awards was for.
The Harvey Awards employ a nomination system based on an open vote among comic book professionals. The top five nominees in each category are placed on a final ballot for a final round of voting. Who qualifies as a comic book professional?
Who knows.
It says on the official Harvey Award website that ballots are sent to publishers in bundles who in turn are instructed to distribute them to the comic book professionals that work for them.
I’m curious to know how many ballots were sent to NASCAR Comics, the publishing arm of NASCAR. One of their books, NASCAR Heroes #5, oddly enough made the top five comics for 2008 in the category of “Best Single Issue or Story“.
How big was their bundle?
Now I’ll admit that I haven’t read NASCAR Heroes, nor do I want to. I don’t remember anyone putting it on their top-5 list for 2008. It is still up for a supposed major award.
I think it’s time to retire the Harvey Awards.
Posted in Comics.
Tagged with Eisner Awards, Harvey Awards, NASCAR Comics, Nascar Heroes #5.
By Rick
– July 2, 2009
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared a fiscal emergency to address California’s deficit. Today is the first day of California’s fiscal budget year and it’s looking at a $24.3 billion deficit for the upcoming fiscal year, something it’s not allowed to have by California law.
Unlike the federal government, California must have a balanced budget. In fact most states must have a balanced budget. They aren’t allowed to have year after year of deficit spending, passing a massive debt to future generations.
They have to pay as they go.
As much as I’d like to blame Arnold Schwarzenegger for California’s mess, it’s not really his fault. California simply spends more money than it takes in. California generates most of it’s revenue from income taxes. When people are making less money, they are paying less in taxes. The second largest revenue source for the state is in income taxes. Once again, when people are making less money, they are spending less, which means they are paying less in sales tax.
The problem is, kids still need to be taught, poor people still get sick, and prisoners still need to be housed and fed. For the 2009-2010 fiscal year, California is looking at spending $47 billion for education, $21 billion for Health care and social services, and $8.5 billion for prisons.
Governor Schwarzenegger has a job I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.
Posted in News.
Tagged with $24.3 billion deficit, Arnold Schwarzenegger, California, financial crisis, fiscal budget, income taxes, Taxes.
By Rick
– July 1, 2009
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled yesterday in a 5-4 ruling that said the city of New Haven, Connecticut was wrong to throw out test scores used to determine promotions in the New Haven Fire Department. The city thought the test must have been racially biased.
The exam consisted of two parts. The first part was a 100 multiple-choice question test that concentrated on technical knowledge. It was worth 60% of the total score. The second part was an oral exam that was worth 40%. It was conducted by a panel that evaluated how well the firefighters could assess a situation and direct others.
None of the African-American firefighters scored high enough in the written exam to be promoted. They did better in the oral exams.
I don’t really understand how exactly a 100 multiple-choice question test about firefighting technical knowledge can be racially biased. When taking a multiple-choice question test, you either know the correct answers or you don’t. Race has nothing to do with it.
Now if the African-American firefighters did well in the written exams, but poorly in the oral exams, and if the panel conducting the oral exams consisted of nothing but white people, then I might be willing to suspect a racial bias. That’s not the case here. It’s the complete opposite.
What I really hate about this case is the split decision. Nine supposedly well qualified, knowledgeable justices and somehow they could not all agree on the law on discrimination. Maybe they are the ones that need to take a test.
Posted in News.
Tagged with African-American firefighters, Connecticut, Discrimination, New Haven, U.S. Supreme Court, Written Tests.
By Rick
– June 30, 2009
The iPhone App for Comic Collector 4 is now out. If you use the Comic Collector software to keep track of your comics collection and you have an iPhone, buying this app is really a no-brainer.
I was more than a little surprised to see at least one person actually complain about the $9.99 price. Ten bucks seems like a small price to pay for the ability to take a complete record of your comic book collection with you everywhere you go.
Before this app, the only way you could take a record of your collection with you on your iPod was if you exported collection as a text file and used a notes program on your iPod to access it. I did just that a few years ago when I went to the Pittsburgh Comic-Con and it turned out to be more cumbersome than I thought it would be.
I don’t think that will be a problem with this app. It looks extremely easy to use.
Posted in Comics.
Tagged with Clz Comics, Comic Books, Comic Collector, iPhone, iPhone App, Software.
By Rick
– June 30, 2009
A local church held a special service on Sunday not to honor Jesus, their Christ and savior, but Michael Jackson, singer of songs and molester of children.
As part of the service, members of the Asbury United Methodist church of Frederick, Maryland signed a special guest book that will be sent to the Jackson family.
That wonderful, loving Jackson family.
I haven’t been this creeped out by people worshiping since that Planet of the Apes movie where people lived underground and prayed to a nuclear bomb. With that said, at least those freaks didn’t sign a guest book.
Posted in News.
Tagged with Asbury United Methodist, Frederick, Jesus, Maryland, Michael Jackson, Planet of the Apes.
By Rick
– June 29, 2009
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