Tag: YouTube

Not Another Con Call

swebman3 Comments

Given the remarkable changes in technology, why do conference calls still suck?  I was on one yesterday and all the classic issues happened:

  • The leader was late – so the participants were stuck listening to music – The Rolling Stones were singing Time is On My Side.  I was OK with that 🙂 A benefit!
  • It  is very difficult to understand people who are speaking, especially if they have even the slightest accent
  • Background noise is terrible
  • Folks speaking when they are on mute – We cannot hear you 🙂
  • Babies crying and dogs barking in the background – Ah the benefits of working from home!
  • Two people speaking at once, telling the other to go first, and then both speaking at the same time again

This video has been going around but if you have not seen it, take a look.  It is just awesome, accurate and laugh out loud funny!

And now for some Stones.

Someone, please innovate!

Webman

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Libya – Is This Political?

swebman3 Comments

This is not a political blog.  Plenty of those around for your reading pleasure.

But when stuff like this happens it just shows how our government and leaders can say anything and expect us to believe it.  Let me just get you updated quickly on this story.

  1. On Sept. 11, 2012, heavily armed Islamist militants stormed and burned the American Consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi, killing the United States ambassador to Libya, J. Christopher Stevens, and three others: Sean Smith, a Foreign Service officer, and Tyrone S. Woods and Glen A. Doherty, both former members of the Navy SEALs who helped protect diplomatic personnel.
  2. American officials initially described the violence as part of riots that had broken out in Benghazi and Cairo that day in response to an American-made video promoting an anti-Muslim film called “Innocence of Muslims” that had been uploaded to YouTube. The amateurish 14-minute trailer mocked Islam’s founding prophet.
  3. But later accounts provided by the State Department made no mention of a protest. Instead, they pointed to the extremist militia Ansar al-Shariah, as well as Al Qaeda’s arm in North Africa, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.
  4. Five days after the attack, U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice said there is no evidence “at present” that proves the attack was “premeditated or preplanned.”
  5. A few days later, President Obama called the incident a terrorist attack.
  6. The U.S. intelligence community has revised its assessment of the deadly attack on the American consulate in Libya, saying it now believes it was a deliberate terrorist assault. In an unusual statement, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence sought to explain how it has revised its view of the September 11 attack on the diplomatic post that killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three others.  The assessment moves away from the initial belief the Benghazi attack began spontaneously following a protest over an anti-Muslim film. The intelligence community now believes it was “a deliberate and organized terrorist assault carried out by extremists” affiliated or sympathetic with al Qaeda.
  7. On “Face the Nation” yesterday, Senator Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., accused the Obama administration of either “misleading” Americans about the nature of the attack, or of being “incredibly incompetent.”Graham said that evidence is “overwhelming” that there was no riot. He said he was briefed by members of the intelligence community who are on the ground in Libya and was told that it was a “sustained attack that lasted for six or eight hours, using heaving weapons.”Graham said he believes the administration knew “within 24 hours” that the attacks in Benghazi that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, were coordinated and were conducted by an al Qaeda-associated group.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-3460_162-57532036/sen-graham-libya-is-exhibit-a-of-a-failed-foreign-policy/?tag=showDoorLeadStoriesAreaMain;ftnLeadHero

More political jive?  A cover-up by the government? Focused more on getting re-elected or on protecting our nation?  Americans are dead.  We continue to believe that we can control/influence this region of the world.  Unfortunately our efforts have had no impact and this entire region is on the brink of disaster.  What are we doing?

Please let me know what you think by posting your comments below.

Webman

Call Me Maybe – Goes Viral

swebman1 Comment

A little fun for your Monday morning.

“Call Me Maybe” is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter Carly Rae Jepsen, taken from her first EP, Curiosity (2012).  After pop singers Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez tweeted about the song, Jepsen gained international attention and got signed to Schoolboy Records, releasing her single in the United States through the label. “Call Me Maybe” is an upbeat pop track that draws influences from dance-pop and disco. Lyrically, the track alludes to the inconvenience that a love at first sight brings to a girl who hopes for a call back from a crush.

With You Tube anyone can make their own video and hope for it to go viral.  Well the Harvard Baseball team has done just that.  On a road trip to play an away game, the Harvard boys had a little fun and recorded their version of “Call Me Maybe”.  They have had over 8 million views.  Well done Harvard!

Enjoy the video and the day.

Webman

Catstalgia – What?

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Catstalgia huh?  What is that Webman?  New word created just for you.  It means a wistful desire to return in thought or in fact to a former time in one’s life, to Saturday morning cartoons, to awesome cats before YouTube cats, to our family and friends; a sentimental yearning for the catiness of a former place or time: a nostalgia for his or her days with cool cartoon cats.

Where did this come from?  One of those inspirations that just takes over I say.  Watching the NCAA basketball tournament and I see a commercial with many of the classic cartoon characters that many of us grew up with.  I am talking the classics here – Bugs, Rocky and Bullwinkle, Speed Racer, The Roadrunner and Colonel Bleep.  Who remembers Colonel Bleep?  Here is a little Bleep trivia for you – Colonel Bleep was the first color cartoon ever made for television.

Enough about the colonel as this blog is about Catstalgia.  Here are 2 of my favorite cartoon cats:

Courageous Cat and Minute Mouse was created by Bob Kane as a parody of his earlier works Batman and Robin and in many ways predict the more campy aspects of the later live action series.  The stars:

  • Courageous Cat – The protector of Empire City. When fighting bad guys, Courageous Cat would use all-purpose Cat Gun or a vast variety of different deus ex machina “trick guns” he pulls out of his cape that, like Green Arrow‘s trick arrows, fire whatever the situation requires like a rope, some water, a parachute, cages, boxing gloves, lightning-like magnetic rays, or even more bizarre ammunition and even the occasional actual bullet (in case of emergency Courageous also has extra pre-James Bond secret gadgets hidden in his belt buckle and the star emblem on his chest).
  • Minute Mouse – Courageous Cat’s rodent sidekick.
  • The Chief – Canine chief of police who calls in the “furry foes of felony” via the Cat Signal.
  • Marilyn Mouse – Minute’s movie star girlfriend.
  • Sassy Bones – A blond mouse who is a chanteuse at nightclub called The Pad who Rodney Rodent is enamored with
  • Periscope Pete – A living, breathing periscope with a bush for a body.

Top Cat

  • Top Cat – Top Cat (or TC) is the yellow furred, greedy, somewhat lazy and clever main character. He wears a purple hat and vest. He often rips off and/or tricks his gang and Officer Dibble.
  • Benny – Benny is TC’s right-hand man. He is short, innocent, chubby, naive and cute. A blue-coloured cat with a white sweater that fastens with a single button at his neck.
  • Choo Choo – Choo-Choo, nicknamed Chooch to TC and the gang, is enthusiastic and devoted to TC even when he’s clueless as to what he’s doing. He is a pink cat with a white long-sleeve turtle-neck shirt, he is the tallest of the alley gang cats and often is depicted with the eyes of a Siamese cat.
  • Brain – Brain appears to be a common henchman to Top Cat. Contrary to his name (which appears to have been given in jest or sarcasm), Brain is the dim-witted member of the alley gang, an orange cat with a violet T-Shirt with a black line.
  • Fancy Fancy – Fancy-Fancy also appears to be a common henchman to Top Cat. He is laid-back, sweet-talking and is regularly seen chatting up the ladies before leaving them when hearing the ‘dustbin lid call’.
  • Spook – Spook is one of the most streetwise members of the gang. When he talks, a torrent of “like”‘s are used. He is similar to Fancy-Fancy in demeanor and appearance, a sweet talking cat whose vernacular is based on that of a beatnik.
  • Officer Dibble – Officer Dibble is an NYPD Policeman whose beat includes the alley. His full name is discovered in the episode “Dibble Breaks The Record” which is Officer Charlie Dibble.

A few more that we will cover in follow-up blogs soon.  If you have any favorite cartoon cats or other characters to remember send them along.  Wikopedia is very helpful for this type of research 🙂

Webman

Pinterest – Go Visual!

swebman6 Comments

Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Linked In, YouTube, Google+…the list of social networks vying for your attention is already long and continues to grow.  Everyone wants your time; they want to connect you to all of the folks in your life; they want you to share all of your experiences with as many people as possible.  These companies make it really easy as you can post to Twitter, Facebook, Linked In and many of the others from just about every article you read, picture you view, video you watch, text you send and thought you might have.  OK, we already have enough of these options, do we really need another? Yes you do, Pinterest 🙂

In a nutshell, Pinterest is an infinite bulletin board for your favorite pictures and interests.  When I was young I had a pin board in my room for the important things like news articles, pictures, sayings, news clippings, etc.  Same thing, just totally digital and really easy to do.  Best of all you can now share your interests (Get in PIN INTERESTS!) with anyone you want, not just the people that stop by your home.  Geez, I think I just dated myself a bit.  OK, I am coming clean here.

Pinterest is a social network that allows users to visually share, curate, and discover new interests by posting (AKA ‘pinning’) images or videos to their own or others’ pinboards (i.e. a collection of ‘pins,’ usually with a common theme) and browsing what other users have pinned. The social network is focused on lifestyle, allowing you to share your tastes and interests with others and discover those of like minded people. The social network’s goal is to “connect everyone in the world through the ‘things’ they find interesting.” Users can either upload images from their computer or pin things they find on the web using the Pinterest bookmarklet.

As with most other social networks, users can perform standard social networking functions such as following the boards of their friends, liking and commenting on other users’ pins, re-pinning content to their own boards, sharing others’ pins on Facebook and Twitter or via email, and even embedding individual pins on their website or blog.  Here are some images from the Webman’s Pinterest pages – I am just getting going so the cupboard is still a bit bare.  Their search engine sucks right now but I am sure that will get better.


Pinterest still operates under an invitation-only basis. That being said, you can request an invitation from Pinterest.  Visit www.pinterest.com, click ‘Request an Invite,’ and enter your email address to be notified when you have access to create your account. Or you can ask a friend who already has a Pinterest account to invite you.

If you are interested in learner more about Pinterest please read more by accessing the following Hubspot article: http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/31147/The-Ultimate-Guide-to-Mastering-Pinterest-for-Marketing.aspx#ixzz1l4tEVJvA

Pinterest is fun, easy and full of incredible ideas, concepts, sayings and inspiration.  Check it out when you can.  You might just find yourself using some of those other social networks a lot less.

Let me know what you think about this blog by commenting below.

Have a great day.

Webman