My Wish for Education

If I could make a wish for education, it would be for more schools like the one that Steve Perry founded...
Capital Charter Prep.



and Ron Clark founder of Ron Clark Academy...





The great thing is that many educators are being invited in to learn and hopefully adopt some of their methodology.  There are many ways to learn and learning CAN be fun.  Let's hope and pray that more individuals like these step forward for the sake of our youth.

McRage

When I saw this story I couldn't help but think that McDonald's Chicken McNuggets must be laced with crack because when this lady couldn't get hers she went OFF!  If you haven't seen this video footage yet, take a look.  I believe this may be the third time that I have written a post on displaced anger either here or on my Changing Direction blog.  People need to get a grip!

Fed Up!

Have you ever had such a bad day at work that you were tempted to quit your job in a dramatic way? I think many have at least fantasized about doing it. Well, a flight attendant for Jet Blue recently did the ultimate "I quit!" but with expletives. Check out the video.

I think it's funny that he grabbed a couple of brewskies on his way out.
This guy is getting lots of media coverage and support and there is already a Facebook fan page set up for him as well as a Free Steven Slater page. Do you think he deserves to serve time in jail for deploying the emergency slide?  Will his 15 minutes of fame be extended into something more?  Will he get a reality show?  I'm being facetious about the reality show.  It just seems that these are the days and times where odd behavior is seemingly rewarded.  What say you?

The Sherrod Case

If you haven't heard the news story about the former USDA employee, Shirley Sherrod then you have been under a rock.

Talk about a major case of jumping to conclusions about a person! This woman lost her job because right wing blogger Andrew Breitbart edited a video of a speech she gave at an NAACP event. The edited clip appears to show that Sherrod is telling a story of her discrimination against a white farmer when the full video shows quite the contrary.  The edited video clip went viral and made it's way to Fox News and they reported it without checking into the accuracy of it.  To make things worse, the the USDA Secretary of Agriculture did not fact-check either and forced her to resign over it. There is a lot of blame to go around on this one.

Watch here:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Sherrod has now made her rounds on the media circuit and has been vindicated with apologies all around to her.  A new job at the USDA has been offered, as well as other job are being offered up to her in various other places.

I say take your time Ms. Sherrod. to figure it all out.  And definitely sue the heck out of Breitbart for his character assassination attempt!

Total "Eclipse" Tomorrow

The anticipation has been building for all the Twilight Saga fans. I'm a fan as well and have been looking forward to "Eclipse". It starts in theaters tomorrow but I won't catch it until this weekend. From what I've seen in all the trailers this one will have even more action than "New Moon" and I am all about the action! And of course I'm all into the romance. Besides, there's nothing like two hot guys desiring and fighting over you.

My Review of Flip Video Ultra

This video camera is easy right out of the box!

Backing Up Your Wix Website

I had to learn this the hard way when my first site suddenly disappeared.  I swear I didn't delete my site but in the middle of editing, (and I kept pressing "save" throughout the process) all min-ipages except the homepage poofed when the Wix site crashed.

I contacted the Wix team in hopes that they had a back up feature for this but here was the friendly response I received: 

Hi Sarmora ,

Thank you for contacting Wix support.

I apologize for the inconvenience, however Wix is unable to restore deleted documents of any kind.

It is not possible to retrieve a previous version of your document after you have clicked on "save". Unfortunately after an editor crash, incomplete saving transaction or simply by closing your editor without saving, it is not possible to rollback your document to a previous version.

Tip: We recommend duplicating your document so you have 2 versions of the same site. Simply click on "Save as" and name the second document however you want.

If you require any further assistance please don't hesitate to contact us.

Thanks,
Wix Team

So that "Tip" is exactly what I planned to do after rebuilding my site.  The only thing is, the way that the tip was worded wasn't completely clear to me.  Would I save from my account menu area?  Or would I open up the editor and do it from within?  And of course I was a little scared I'd mess something up with my newly rebuilt site.  I first thought of grouping all of the site's elements to copy and paste over into a new project.  But that wasn't working and to say the least it was a pain in the butt to even think of doing.

Luckily after digging deeper into the Wix forums, I found my answer with a detailed illustration! (click on the image below to see in full size)

 

So if you have a Wix website (or any website) whether it's premium or not, save yourself the headache and back it up to have peace of mind.

Bad Officiating? You Be the Judge

I love watching NBA especially my home team the Orlando Magic but the officiating has been questionable at best.  At last night's game a fan heckled a referee over a bad call.  The referee threw the ball to the fan baiting him so that when the fan threw it back he could call for ejection of the fan.  The ref. then called security and had him removed from court side seats.  Click here to read the whole story and below to view raw video and you be the judge.

Although I'm heart broken about our team's loss in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals, I still believe in Magic!  Go MAGIC!!

I've Been Biebered & Eclipsed

I'm convinced that I suffered some hearing loss this week.  Oprah not only had tween/teen idol Justin Bieber on her show but she also had the cast of "Twilight" and all I can say is WOW!  The fans lost their effing minds.  I definitely had to adjust the volume on my TV.  I can understand being excited to meet your favorite pop star or actor but screaming at the top of your lungs and nearly fainting is way over the top.  But that's just me.  I just don't get THAT excited.  Don't get me wrong, I've met a few famous folks in my life and it was a definite thrill but I remained calm as to not come across like a raving lunatic.  It seems each generation has their super-duper star heart throbs.  In the past it was Elvis,  Beetles, or Michael Jackson.  During my teenage years it was Duran Duran, Madonna, & Prince.  I'm still crazy about Prince but I digress.
Anyway, below are links to video clips so that you can check out these sensations.  Some  are quite funny especially the one of Robert Pattinson making surprise visits to fan's homes.  The mother of one of the girls is screaming more than her daughter.  Sigh!  
Adjust your volume accordingly.

Please Don't Be Like Jimmy the Mouse

Here's a warning to men, get yourselves a confident woman with some self-esteem, and a life! 
Sadly there have been several instances I've witnessed over the years with a few guy friends of mine (haven't had this problem with my girl friends) that has inspired me to post this tongue-in-cheek letter.

A Desperate Letter from Jimmy the Mouse
I'm writing this letter while my wife (let's call her, The Dictator) is asleep. You will have to forgive me if I make this a short one, but I'm too scared of the consequences of her finding out that I'm trying to communicate with the outside world.
I don't know where to start, but I'm scared; I'm really scared of my wife. I've been married for three years now and I have to say that I've been living a nightmare from the start.
My wife has taken complete control of my life. I can no longer go outside for a breath of fresh air unless I'm accompanied by The Dictator herself or her mother, who's currently living with us.
Everything I do is looked upon with suspicion. I've lost all my friends except for those who are married and have submitted a detailed profile of their lifestyle to her, in order to obtain approval to hang out with me.
I haven't seen my paycheck in years. Heck! I don't even know how much I earn anymore. She deposits every single dime I bring home into a "mystery" bank account, with the exception of a weekly allowance of $10 to spend when I go out with the "pre-approved" friends.
I haven't eaten a piece of meat (oh how I miss my mother's fine T-bone steak with mashed potatoes) since the day before our wedding. Apparently, I've become a vegetarian too.
I have no say in any purchases made by my wife. For example, the car she drives me to work with, a convertible blue GEO, was purchased without my consultation. For crying out loud -- it's a convertible blue GEO!
As for the home we live in, well, I didn't even know I owned a home until the day she asked me to rent a truck and take the day off in order to move the furniture, while she went out shopping for fresh flowers.
It has come to the point where I am fed up. I love my wife and I don't want to leave her. Help! What can I do to balance things out somewhat? I hope this letter gets to you on time. Uh, oh! She's awake. Oh G-d, please no, not the belt...
Jimmy the Mouse


If your lady is exhibiting overly controlling traits my advice is to 
RUN AWAY!!  If you're already stuck with married to her then you'll need to grow some cojones!  
Do you know a 'Jimmy the Mouse' or have you had a 'Jimmy' moment?  I invite you to share it in the comments area.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

 Contrary to popular belief Cinco de Mayo is not Mexico's Independence day. It is actually the day Mexico defeated French armies. In 1861 President Benito Juarez, of Mexico, decided that Mexico was going to stop making payments to countries that they had taken loans from. One of these countries was France. France's response was to attack Mexico. At the start of this war France was succeeding in their attacks that is until May 5, 1862. On that day in the city of Puebla, Mexico a small less equipped Mexican army led by General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguín defeated the mighty French army and in 1866-1867 the French withdrew from Mexico with additional pressure by the United States of America to do so. The city of Puebla is one of few places in Mexico that celebrates the day. Americans are the reason that Cinco De Mayo has turned into a larger celebration. Eating authentic Mexican cuisine and drinking various flavored margaritas are some of the favorite ways to celebrate.  Click below and watch my husband and me celebrate.  :-)  Enjoy the festivities!

Got Any Plans For Memorial Day Weekend?

If you don't already have plans for Memorial Day weekend, will be in the Orlando area, and would like to have some fun while giving back to the community, then check out VesselVibeMag.com's 
"Sex And The City 2" Premier Weekend Event!  It is a great way to support the youth of Central Florida!!
All the details are below.

For complete contest rules click HERE!

TheGrio.com

I'm exploring a new website called TheGrio.com. The word grio derives from the word griot and is a 'A storyteller in western Africa who maintains the oral tradition and history of a village or family'.

This site is the first video-centric news site devoted to African Americans stories and perspectives and is a member of the NBC family. It features aggregated and original video news, breaking news, politics, health, business, entertainment, sports and more!

Check out the video of how the website was started.
 

TheGrio logo and video courtesy of TheGrio.com

Houston We Have a Problem

It's been in the news quite a bit lately about how Whitney Houston has been struggling through songs at concerts. Many fans have expressed disappointment.  And in this down economy, and with concert ticket prices at $100 plus each, I can understand wanting your money's worth. 
You be the judge.  Here are two videos, one of her latest performance in Brisbane, Australia and the other of her on Divas Live back in 1999.

Now...(2010)


Then...(1999)


Have the years of drugs taken a permanent toll on her vocal chords?  Or does she just need more time to get it together?  I am hoping that she just needs more time.  Maybe it would have been a better thing if Whitney had slowly eased back into performing and did some smaller more intimate venues.  It takes a lot out of anyone to do big tours.  I am a fan and would love to see her get her mojo back.  Praying for you Whitney!
Feel free to leave your thoughts.

Is Apple's iPad...All That?

There has been much hype about the newly released Apple iPad.  Being a self proclaimed techie, I was truly considering adding this gadget to my collection. But when I checked back to see if Apple had tweaked their tablet since my last blog on the topic, the iPad is STILL NOT able to run Adobe Flash Player!

With 85% of top 100 websites using Flash (including mine) and 75% of video being in Flash I am a little disappointed that Apple didn't make this available.  Don't get me wrong, there are lots of cool features to the iPad but I'm in no rush to go out and spend $500-$900 bucks on anything that doesn't have all the features that I think garner that price point.

However, I am an HP fan and they will be coming out with their own Slate tablet (above) very soon.  HP Slate will include a lot of the great iPad features but in addition it will include what the iPad is missing.  HP Slate will have a web cam, USB port, and the ability to run Web (Windows 7 OS), Adobe Flash Player and Air as well as the ability to run multiple applications at once (see videos below).  I hear that it may be less expensive as well.  I'm looking forward to giving the HP Slate a test drive.

Photos courtesy Guardian.uk and DailyMail.co.uk
Video courtesy Afterdawn.com

CSPAN Video Library Goes Public

CSPAN has now made their video library available to the public.  This was great news for me and others who are newz junkies!  I was even able to share video of my Uncle Flipper's posthumous pardon by President Clinton that took place at the White House in February 1999.

Here is the press release from CSPAN with all the details about their extensive video library.

C-SPAN’s Online Video Library Now Open to the Public

Over 160,000 Hours of Searchable Digital Video
A Quarter Century of American Politics and Policy
*Extensive Embed and Social Media Opportunities*
“Washington Your Way”—A Cable Industry Public Service
(Washington, DC, March 17, 2010) – Today, C-SPAN officially launches the C-SPAN Video
Library, a free, searchable online collection of every C-SPAN program aired since 1987.

“Thirty-one years ago this week, America‟s cable companies created C-SPAN,” says C-SPAN
co-president Susan Swain. “With today‟s launch of the online C-SPAN Video Library, that
tradition of cable industry public service marks another major milestone in C-SPAN‟s history of
connecting the public to the national political debate through video.”


Through its West Lafayette, Indiana-based Video Library (www.c-span.org/videolibrary ), CSPAN
records, indexes, and archives all C-SPAN programming for historical, educational,
research, and archival uses by individuals. Programs are accessible through database and
electronic archival systems developed and maintained by the C-SPAN Archives under the
direction of C-SPAN archivist Dr. Robert X Browning.


Key features of the C-SPAN Video Library, which was designed in consultation with the JESS3
creative agency (http://jess3.com/), include:
Over 160,000 hours of searchable and watchable digital C-SPAN video
All C-SPAN videos dating back to 1987, and certain older videos from C-SPAN‟s
earliest years
A comprehensive search engine, developed exclusively for the Video Library
Flash player with clipping and sharing features
Share buttons for e-mail and social media (Facebook and Twitter)
Transcripts, photo galleries, statistics and more
User-friendly


The C-SPAN Video Library‟s Congressional Chronicle feature is an index to the C-SPAN video
recordings of the House and Senate floor proceedings - organized by speaker - with full-text and
full-video search and an extensive Congressional database going back to 1993.


Swain says, “The C-SPAN Video Library will be helpful to anyone seeking a view of the political and policy process whether they wish to research people or events from past decades or from earlier in the day. Its extensive holdings will allow the public to see how elected officials, politicians, journalists, experts, authors, and other opinion leaders present themselves on the issues of the day and over time. We hope it will quickly become a resource for the serious researcher as well as the casual observer – and those wishing to share political moments and events in their social online communities. We hope audiences as diverse as the media, members of Congress and their staffs, educators, and, perhaps most importantly, C-SPAN viewers far outside the Beltway will use the C-SPAN Video Library to connect to Washington in a new way. The C-SPAN Video Library truly offers „Washington your way’.”


“The C-SPAN Video Library is the entry to the vast history of public affairs events that C-SPAN has covered for over 20 years,” C-SPAN Archivist Browning says. He urges users, “Do not overlook many programs that may seem less momentous, but are equally important. In covering the routine meetings, news conferences, and briefings that occur in Washington every day, C-SPAN has built a multi-decade record of the ebbs and flows of the national debate over issues.”


About C-SPAN: C-SPAN was created by America's cable companies in 1979 as a public service and programs three public affairs television networks (C-SPAN, C-SPAN2 and C-SPAN3); C-SPAN Radio, a Washington, D.C. public affairs radio station distributed by XM Satellite Radio; and a video-rich website which hosts the C-SPAN Video Library. Visit www.c-span.org.

Images, Video, & Press Release courtesy CSPAN.org

Upgrading my Mobile Phone

The time has come to retire my current Blackberry.  For a few months I have been testing out some other phones including the iPhone.  Just about everyone I know has converted to the iPhone so I was thinking that I might too since they all seem to love them.  Well, after testing a couple of them out, I could NOT get used to the touch screen and I am a big time texter and emailer.  I love my qwerty keyboard!  I can't even tell you the speed at which I can whip out full emails on my Blackberry but I am FAST!  I was told, "don't worry, you'll get used to the iPhone's text touchscreen after a month or so".  Are you kidding me?  I don't want that long of a learning curve.  Yes, the screen is very nice and you can view web pages in "Portrait" or "Landscape" and there are cool apps but is that really all?  Blackberry has lots of cool apps too, not to mention, the BB-IM (in network instant messaging) feature that I can't live without.
So, I decided to stick with my trusted Blackberry and opt for an upgrade of my Curve 8310 which I've loved and been very satisfied with.  The upgrade is the Curve "Javelin" 8900.  I immediately went to the web to read the reviews on it and didn't find any bad ones.  Some of the good reviews were even from former iPhone users.  Imagine that!  :-)  The other thing that made the choice easy was I qualified through my current cell plan to get the phone at no additional cost.  Perfect!
Click here to check out a video demo of the Blackberry Curve 8900.

My past Blackberry Models:

Blackberry "Electron" 8700

Blackberry "88XX" 8800

 






                                                                           Blackberry "Curve" 8310










Photos courtesy www.Blackberry.com

My First Website - Sitecube.com vs. Wix.com

Do you have a digital footprint on the World Wide Web? The best way to find out is to Google your name.

It was recommended to me that I continue my efforts to brand "me". So, after several tries I have completed building and have published my first personal website!

Initially I built one through Sitecube.com. There is a trial period of 10 days, then you must either buy a monthly plan or lose the site you built. There were over 300 templates to choose from, and it was fairly easy to build, but it had very limited editing ability. Text is pretty much the only thing you can edit. You can upload pics and videos but they all have to go in designated areas of one of their supplied templates. You can set up a personal domain webpage but there is a setup fee of $30 and then $14.75/mo for 5GB of bandwidth per month for a 5 page website.

Here is a recording of what I started to build through them.
http://www.screencast.com/t/OTAyMTEzZDYt

After comparing and reading reviews on a few other sites, I decided to go with my sister's suggestion of Wix.com.

With Wix there is no trial period...you create unlimited websites with unlimited pages on them for FREE and store them on their site. However, the websites will have advertising and promotional links embedded. These ads do not take away from the overall look of the site, but are not 100% professional looking for an online business. I'm thinking that for now this will be fine for me and my current budget since my site will be used mainly as a personal bio.

I like Wix better for obvious reasons. There is much more creative freedom than with Sitecube. I could create from one of their templates or do it completely from scratch. There are several different fonts available and special effects that you can use on fonts or pics. You can imbed video, social media widgets, and move things around wherever you want them. Once you finish it, publish it for free on the Wix.com server.

If I decide to get my own personal domain, Wix will provide it and host my website for $14.90/mo with unlimited bandwidth and with no set up fee. There would be no Wix ads on the site and I would have E-commerce ability. There are also lower plans of $9.90/mo for 1GB of bandwidth and $4.95/mo for 500MB of bandwidth.

I'm sure that I will be tweaking my site here and there but here's how it looks right now. Check it out... http://www.wix.com/sarmora/sarmora

Free website - Wix.com