Blue Collar Logic: Our Apologies For Breaking The Rules

[VIDEO] The video that I had posted a while back of those two doctors in California discussing the data surrounding the coronavirus lockdown out there has largely been purged from the YouTube platform including the Blue Collar Logic channel. We see Jason's apology to YouTube viewers for the non-existent violation of the community rules that caused that video to be deleted.

Evolution of internet platforms

I've been part of the internet for many years. When I first logged on most of the homes that were online connected through a dial-up connection on a telephone landline. The designs of most websites were pretty basic as opposed to now (to understand what I'm saying look up Greyhound.com and go back as far as you can over at archive.org). What a vastly different place it is today.

You don't really hear about webpages anymore. Basically a website is a collection of webpages though virtually every website has a webpage. Even this blog could be seen as a series of webpages and it gets updated semi-frequently which constantly expands like a book.

I always imagined having a website even though ISP's once commonly offered free webspace to customers it's something that has become obsolete these days. As stated before there are so many free tools these days that allow anyone an online platform. In the late 1990s through early 2000s you had to create that platform. There was no social media, and the service I currently use Blogger didn't exist until at least 1998.

When I first created a website it was through Geocities - which had been owned by Yahoo!. Of course I never realized that if you want people to visit you had to have a draw to it. I bought a photo scanner to post some pics and used the rudimentary photo editing software. I also shared some of my favorite Star Trek pics that I found online at the time. And this was during the time I was at Morehouse College. Of course it wasn't until 2005 that I started blogging which makes updating a website far easier.

And yet the internet evolved some more with Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, or Instagram. Now most people access the internet on their smartphones. I myself now own an iPhone which is a multifaceted tool that allows me to make phone calls, text, email, shoot photos, shoot video, etc. And with an iPhone and these other smartphones you can also update social media, and upload photos & video on the go!

Now it causes me to wonder where I could've taken this internet thing if I had discovered Blogger in the late 90s to early 2000s. The tech available at the time that I just simply had no idea about beyond what I had already learned about back in the day. Though thankfully it doesn't take long to find out about what's available these days online. Not only that there is an app on a mobile device also!

CBS Chicago: Are Users Fleeing Facebook? #DeleteFacebook

[VIDEO] I'm using hashtag or pound sign (#) to illustrate that there are some who don't like Facebook. If it's not any form of political bias, it's also distrust over handling of any personal information. Of course to delete fb there are some implications that could affect your career as employers may be looking for you online.

My advice, be aware of the information you choose to share on social media. Stay away from those quizzes that may ask you to take information from your fb profile. There are of course ways to minimize to the extent possible any concerns of any potential data breaches.

In the New Year

Thinking about a new project and perhaps it may have a populist message. Let's just say I have no idea if it would ever resonate but it's something different at least for me. Just expressing some feelings that's in keeping with the populism that ushered Trump into the White House.

May start local and then tackle some other subjects. It could be a form of nationalism, but it could also be just bringing attention to something. There are things worth pointing out and for years here on this blog and also at The Sixth Ward I've been showing things worth attending to.

Regardless I'm working on a new creative direction. I may not be entirely successful, but over the years as a blogger the platform has been built. In 2018, my goal is to find ways to extend the reach of this platform. Let the chips fall where they may!

Utilizing the platforms on the world wide web

Often on this blog I talk about the internet as it once was. Instead of blogs and social media sites people used to have their own personal web pages usually via their internet service providers. Many dialed onto the web with a dial-up modem using a phone line. There wasn't as many bells and whistles online back in say the late 1990s.

I vaguely remember this because for a brief time until my mother abruptly cut off our internet service after almost six months - she likely didn't see the point for herself at least and claimed it was starting to cost too much. As for that last part well I was taking to the internet more than she expected and just made the decision to cut it off and was in no rush during that ensuing period to bring it back.

Either way back in the 1990s where was no Facebook, Google was probably in its infancy, no Twitter, no Instagram, Blogger was likely also in its infancy. Basically if you wanted to connect with people you literally had to create your own platform  and there weren't many places back then that would provide one for you!

Blogger I now know was started in 1998. It was likely around when I attended a community college in downtown Chicago and had no idea about it although I spent a lot of time surfing the internet at school. During this period my interest was in creating this platform to connect with others or at least sharing information just had little idea or inclination to do the necessary work.

Anyway I only became aware of Blogger after perusing the forums over at ProtestWarrior. A blog was the perfect medium for me to share information of course the next step was readers which PW provided at the time. Then of course when Capitol Fax was beginning to grow by 2005 or so that would be more exposure.

Now in the 2nd decade of the 21st century a website isn't that important anymore. Social media is king today and the most popular sites to use is facebook, instagram, twitter, and YouTube. And in addition to websites or blogs we can use social media to supplement websites or blogs.

As of now this is my current challenge. If I wanted this blog or other blogs I created to be successful it hinges on utilizing those other platforms that exist today. Perhaps create a useful YouTube channel. Perhaps create an interesting ig account as I have for sixthward.us. Then effectively using twitter - both personal & sixthward.us to supplement the blog platforms.

I see now that utilization of various platforms can truly be beneficial, the question now is how to effectively utilize them.

My review of #TheCircle

[VIDEO] Lately when I go to the movies most of them are just forgettable entertainment. You go in and be entertained, however, later you simply forget about it. There's nothing really groundbreaking about the movie itself or laugh, feel the adrenaline, etc. and then you leave.

That wasn't the case with The Circle. Now with that said I've seen the reception on its Wiki page and saw that so far there aren't many that like the movie so far. I never pay attention to Rotten Tomatoes and see that this film isn't rated highly.

Why does The Circle touch a nerve with me? It shows the scary effects of social media. Our hero Mae starts to work at this tech company which appears to be a cross between Apple and fb. It offers these small cameras that can be placed anywhere and unseen to the eye. And then there appears to be a social network attached to it.

Mae herself becomes a major show on this social network and likely billions log on to see how she's doing. Unfortunately some sad consequences come of it. Her friend Mercer comes to an unfortunate end as the latest online sensation. It seems the friend - Annie -who brought her to that company doesn't want anything to do with her although they seem to have an uneasy relationship as Mae's star begins to rise.

Mercer's strikes an unfortunate nerve. As Mae begins broadcast her life for her company her fans find out about Mercer's past and refer to him as a deer killer although he defends himself by saying he doesn't kill deer. It becomes a point where he as Mae's friend had to cut ties with her because of her new celebrity.

Unfortunately, later the crowd clamors for Mae to find Mercer - after she herself used the Circle to find a wanted fugitive. They do so and of course a comment about him being a deer killer. After keeping a low-profile and he flees. Without giving away much this is the point in the movie where I take off my ballcap. I was truly disgusted with the movie at that point.

To start we see a form of online shaming in this film. Let's say you find one piece of information about someone - whether that person posted themselves or not - and then it goes viral. Then it literally becomes a form of bullying and outright nastiness. Perhaps it's truthful or perhaps not, however, either way someone believes it and spreads it and for a moment it's like wildflower. Scary thing is, it might be a while before you find out about it.

I like how Mae turned the tables on her bosses at the Circle - Eamon & Tom - who egged on the many activities that led to what happened with Mercer. She got connected with one of the founders of the circle - he has a low profile because we doesn't like what's going on at this company - who helped her turn the tables. And we go back to one thing that they never wanted to give up for themselves - privacy.

They didn't truly want to be transparent, but everyone else should be. Mae's life was saved because she took a kayak got thrown about in high waves and almost drowned. Perhaps there is no right to privacy in a public place but how transparent does one need to be in the world. Beside we all should be embarrassed by something.

It lets me know, now that we live in a world with cell phone video cameras and we can broadcast those images live on Periscope, fb, ig, etc. we have to be more careful. Perhaps we might behave better if we're being watched - and yes that's not always true. At the same time at what point have we gone too far with this activity?

BTW, I never realized that this film was based on a book and see a vastly different story here. I got to find that book now and give it a read. Perhaps it'll tell me more about the story and the issues in real life that are shown.

Newsalert: Leftists finally figuring out Trump's troll game 18 months too late.

Leftists finally figuring out Trump's troll game 18 months too late. 😄 pic.twitter.com/yQPyfHFw0x

— Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) February 8, 2017

If I may refer you to this post I did last year however the video contained is no longer available. It proclaimed Trump as the world's greatest troll and it was published before the election last year. I did however find a version of it on YouTube and will share it gratuitously here.

Hat-tip Newsalert!

Trump pushes back against John Lewis

Before Trump even becomes President he's continuing to make news with his tweets. He went after Civil Rights legend and Congressman John Lewis. They're embedded below.

Congressman John Lewis should spend more time on fixing and helping his district, which is in horrible shape and falling apart (not to......

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 14, 2017

mention crime infested) rather than falsely complaining about the election results. All talk, talk, talk - no action or results. Sad!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 14, 2017

What prompted those two tweets from The Hill:

Lewis on Friday told NBC News he wouldn’t attend next week’s inauguration, saying he doesn’t believe Trump is a "legitimate president."

"I believe in forgiveness. I believe in trying to work with people. It will be hard. It's going to be very difficult. I don't see this president-elect as a legitimate president,” Lewis said.

“I think the Russians participated in helping this man get elected. And they helped destroy the candidacy of Hillary Clinton,” he added.

“I don't plan to attend the inauguration. It will be the first one that I miss since I’ve been in Congress. You cannot be at home with something that you feel that is wrong, is not right.”

Click here for a map of Lewis' 5th Congressional district which mostly takes up the City of Atlanta, Georgia. And includes Morehouse College where I graduated with my BA in Political Science. Trump did engage in a form of generalization here, but got to admire his willingness to fire back. 

Hat-tip Instapundit...who to be honest really doesn't need my backlink, however, I just had to share this slam against the Smithsonian's African-American museum. It's a place I hope to visit when going to the nations capitol.

The nature of this slam is noted after doing a quick post about Justice Clarence Thomas inaugurating former Indiana Governor Mike Pence as the new Vice President. Glenn Reynolds hopes that the museum will actually one day acknowledge Justice Thomas' existence in Black history.

BTW, back to John Lewis, the Russians actually didn't really have to do anything. Hillary lost the election by herself. It turned out to be Trump's time and even though he was imperfect in many ways momentum proved to be on his side. If the country took issue with any hacking of information from the DNC or Hillary herself it would've certainly mattered in this election and we'd have been living under a President-elect Hillary Clinton. That didn't happen last year and with the uncertainty over the election I had been bracing myself.

Get a load of this tweet about Assange...

Never let consistency get in the way of partisanship, right? pic.twitter.com/7e9TacfUYr

— Libertarian Party (@LPNational) January 4, 2017

Admitedly wikileaks and +Julian Assange are getting increased attention these days. Assange and that organization has always been around in someway, to be honest I've rarely paid much attention. At the same time his organization was able to influence the 2016 election and even better cleared up the thinking of a certain circle.

BTW, I've seen his interview with Sean Hannity, anti-corruption he says. Does anyone this he's exposed this with the Democrats and Secretary Hillary Clinton? 

Also this was a good tweet by the Libertarian Party.

A rare Chicago tornado

Found out Chicago had its last tornado in 2006. Why do I know about this now because on Tuesday with no rain or storms in the area a tornado touched down on Chicago's southwest side near Midway Airport. It stayed in one place and remained stationary according to reports but it's still what they call a landspout tornado.

WGN has some pictures from their camera at the Sears Willis Tower

This piece of trivia I found very fascinating and to recall I used to be terrified of tornadoes until I learned how rare these storms are especially in our city. Not sure I'd want to experience this in the sticks. All the same I'm sure there are media reports of this 2006 tornado.

I could still look but then I found this 2006 video of a tornado near Loyola University Chicago. So when this video was uploaded to YouTube I had been at Morehouse for a month already.

Do women make better US Senators?

I missed this. So MSNBC's Rachel Maddow believes that women make better senators. Or women govern the best. I wonder what evidence she uses to support this.

I'm not taking a position one way or another but surely it seems to make a sweeping assertion that couldn't be backed up...or could it?

The argument made by this article at twitchy is that well Maddow may have her own preference for what makes a better woman Senator. Must she only be a liberal/progressive Democrat? Instapundit and others seemed to want to prove that point...Sarah Palin for US Senate anyone?

I vaguely recall during her doomed presidential campaign over a decade ago our former Senator Carol Moseley Braun attempted to make a point that a woman would make a better president. Although in my humble opinion I'm not so sure that she would've made a good example of that.

What do you think?

Capitol Fax: Seriously...

Rich Miller shares some tweets from Illinois' newly minted Republican Governor here's the grossest one. By gross I mean just plain odd:

I'm willing to bet Bruce Rauner is behind Jackie Robinson West losing it's title.
— LECHON JAMES (@Master_Mold773) February 11, 2015

There was one tweet that took a shot at our new Governor for the failure and FDIC takeover of a black owned bank in Chicago:

Illinois gets taken over by a racist Governor Rauner and guess what? His gov't shuts bank on Chicago's South Side: https://t.co/Y5PbUxsi2v
— Steven Adam Martin (@earthhope2100) January 24, 2015

To which Miller noted: Sorry, man, but that was done in cahoots with President Obama’s “racist” FDIC… 

Heh, what started this off for that post was references to Rauner's plan for state employees. During Quinn's administration state employee unions were very vocal. I'm sure many are looking for the current Governor to go the route of some of his fellow Republican Governors in mainly blue states. Time can tell.

Not sure if you want to read too much into these tweets. Their only point seem to be a cry for attention.

Is blogging dead?

I've been beginning to wonder. Years ago people in the mainstream media were talking about blogs, now it's about YouTube, Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram or even Facebook.

To be sure as much as I've taken to writing 140 characters, nothing will beat good writing. You can't do that in 140 and at that it has to be very interesting.

No one pays attention to a YouTube channel that doesn't have interesting content. I began to realize that there is a science to being a viral YouTube sensation. It's either intentional or unintentional and for the most part something viral just happens can't script it nor plan it.

Although I just recently started a FB account to attach to this blog, there's a lot of FB status I wouldn't want to share and hadn't for a long time. It's also cool to share photo albums and such from FB. But who would want to read a long status.

Remember TL;DR? LOL

Anyway, perhaps it's good that blogging has had it's heyday. This just means that the ones with something to say and hopefully the truly good writers will get the attention it deserves. Everyone else can flood FB, Twitter, Instagram and these other sites that are out there.

Besides all these other social media sites can be utilized effectively especially if you do utilize a blog.

Facebook me!

FB.com

I've been debating whether or not my FB information should be included on this blog. So finally I've decided that FB should be utilized here. So my new account is here.

I shouldn't have waited this long to do it, but here's to a new a start. Feel free to add me if you wish, but hopefully there will be no trolling.

There is a badge in the sidebar.

EDIT: There's also the email address itsmymind @ gmail.com or you can also click Facebook Me!

Sometimes I miss things like this on Twitter

So our new Governor hasn't been in office for almost two weeks and he's showing us his road trip to Springfield. Of course he made some stops along the way especially seeing some state troopers and a quick stop for his dogs and some Micky D's. And you would think he's driving in a fancy luxury car right?

Well this tweet is from one of the governor's staffers.

This is happening... #rollingtrashcan pic.twitter.com/mYmBbH04mm
— LTrover (@LTrover) January 24, 2015

The last time I saw that vehicle it took him to the south side to make a deposit at a neighborhood credit union. So if it got to the south side safe and sound as a candidate for Governor, it could get him to Springfield our state capitol.

At least we can say this for Gov. Rauner, at least he forgo a trip on a state aircraft as one of his predecessors Rod Blagojevich had. And for good measure he came home to the executive mansion in Sprinfield as well.

Stella pumpkin and I made to the mansion! What's a fun ride. Glad to be home pic.twitter.com/M9oXKKYvws
— Bruce Rauner (@GovRauner) January 24, 2015

Here's hoping this is what we can look forward to the next four years. A traveling Governor showing us around the great state we call Chicago...I mean Illinois.

BTW, hopefully I can catch this stuff on Twitter when I see it. :P

Have you ever been to Chicago and took the L?

[VIDEO] I've been an L rider all my life. Spent many a Saturday in my youth riding to downtown with my mother when she used to work at a bank downtown. Now I spend a lot of time on the CTA getting to school or work or just getting out of the house for a few hours.

Today I have a tourist piece for you. Strangely enough I'm starting with the yellow line aka Skokie Swift. Skokie is an adjacent suburb of Chicago and the CTA does have L service which travels to nearby suburbs such as Skokie, Evanston, Cicero, Oak Park & Forest Park.

Either way I realised that I've traveled on almost everyline of the CTA L system. Only recently - that is within the last 10 or so years my travels have taken me to all of the CTA's colored lines.

When I attended community college in downtown Chicago I traveled the blue line to O'Hare, Forest Park and 54/Cermak. Now the 54/Cermak branch is part of the pink line as a result of service changes. I also took the train from Ashland/63 and Cottage Grove to get downtown via the green line. Also I traveled the red line from 95th all the way to Howard and changed to the purple from Howard to get to Linden. Finally I took the orange from downtown to Midway and back.

Since then I've taken the pink line with some video that needs to be digitized in the future. Also for the first time I took the brown line all the way to Kimball and took the green line to it's west side terminal at Harlem Avenue. Since I've started working I've taken the yellow line on two occasions mainly to get up to Old Orchard mall and that means I'd have to take the bus from the Skokie stop.

I forgot to note the quirk of the purple line. While the purple is a local service within Evanston when it stops at Howard it becomes an express during rush hour with no stops until Belmont. When I worked briefly in Evanston to make up some time I took the express train to get to work there.

Needless to say there have been many interesting adventures on CTA as you can sometimes tell if you follow me on twitter. If only I had such a tool during the pre-twitter/social media days.

There's more videos of other CTA routes via their YouTube page.

What should I do with my other Instagram account?

Since late July I had been utilizing a 2nd profile - attached to The Sixth Ward - on the social networking site Instagram. Basically it's used for snapshots taken around the neighborhood and sharing ("regram") posts from other ig users. If used for the sharing of information as has been done with The Sixth Ward's ig it's very nifty.

One of the recent posts that have been somewhat newsworthy was the snapshot (seen above and embed below) I had taken of a local hotdog stand - Jim's Original. The stand is located near the 95th terminal of the CTA Red Line and is slated to close as a result of a project to significantly expand the CTA terminal. It had been the closest and easiest place for me to get a Maxwell Street polish sausage.

All the same I've been wondering what is the most effective way to use this social networking program. It probably can't be used the same way I have been able to use The Sixth Ward's Twitter and Facebook pages.

What I can count on is that it has attracted followers from a number of areas. For example both the Twitter & fb pages have attracted some major companies for example Mariano's as many people on Chicago's south side want to attract the newest grocer to this at part of the city.

My ig page has gotten followed by AMC Theatres which I threw a shout-out for that. In addition to that I have followers who include politicians on the local and state level in addition to aspiring activists and of course aspiring businessmen. Even better my ig page is being followed by the Maroon Tiger ig which is the student newspaper of my alma mater Morehouse College.

So the next question. What is the best way to truly utlize this account? Could this be one way to market the south side to any future investors especially any major companies to come to this part of town? Can it be utilized to share important information?

A bar for online people to meet not popular in NYC...

This article out of NYC from DNA Info, it's a great idea for a bar. Why not have a place where people who "meet" online can get together and hopefully in a safe place since well meeting people is often risky anyway. This is an idea that should be replicated everywhere.

I can only imagine the Bar Rescue episode with this in mind. lol

USA Today: Chaos, violence in #Ferguson; National Guard called in

I've been following this situation actually since I learned a St. Louis, Missouri Alderman had been arrested in some of the unrest. While there were some quiet in the unrest, now the state of Missouri is calling in the national guard:

Another night of chaos and violence gave way to an uneasy quiet Monday as residents cleaned up from looting and vandalism and awaited the arrival of the National Guard.

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon ordered the Guard into Ferguson hours after police cited "pre-planned" acts of aggression by protesters. Sunday night and early Monday morning, protesters shot at police, threw Molotov cocktails at officers, looted businesses and carried out a "coordinated attempt" to block roads and overrun the police's command center, Nixon's office said in a statement.

The National Guard will "help restore peace and order and to protect the citizens of Ferguson," the statement said.

The predominantly black city of 21,000 on the outskirts of St. Louis has been under siege since Aug. 9, when white police officer Darren Wilson, 28, fatally shot unarmed black teenager Michael Brown. Protesters have been met with a heavy police presence, resulting in fierce nightly clashes.

There's a video with the report and it also stated autopsy report of Michael Brown who was unarmed and shot by police which sparked the unrest there.

On Sunday, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder ordered a federal autopsy on Brown's body. Hours later, reports began surfacing that the private autopsy performed at the request of Brown's family determined he was shot at least six times, including twice in the head and four times in the right arm.

Benjamin Crump told USA TODAY the preliminary autopsy reports shows Brown was shot at least six times, including twice in the head but not in the back.

"It verifies the worst that the family thinks happened -- that he was executed," Crump said. "It confirms what the witnesses said, that this was an execution. That's what the witnesses said from day one."

I must find more on this autopsy to be fair...

The findings came Sunday after a preliminary private autopsy, the second performed on Brown, by Michael M. Baden, former chief medical officer for the state of New York, at the request of the Brown family. The first autopsy was performed by the St. Louis County Medical Examiner’s office.

“There were at least six entry wounds, there might have been seven, but we’ll have to correlate that with what was found in the first autopsy,” Baden, who retired from the New York state police in 2011, told the Wall Street Journal.

He cautioned against drawing conclusions from the autopsy. “Right now there is too little information to forensically reconstruct the shooting,” he told the Times, but added: “In my capacity as the forensic examiner for the New York State Police, I would say, ‘You’re not supposed to shoot so many times.’”

He also told the Times about Brown’s head wounds.

“This one here looks like his head was bent downward,” he said, indicating a wound at the top of Brown’s head. “It can be because he’s giving up, or because he’s charging forward at the officer.”

So now we know more about what happened to him and unfortunately things haven't calmed down in Ferguson. One issue that seems to keep coming up during the course of this unrest is the militarization of police. Some criticized the response of the police there which prompted the State of Missouri to send in their state police under the command of a Capt. Ron Johnson pictured below:

Why do you think this is organized? "Failure to disperse" - MHP Captain Ron Johnson pic.twitter.com/mTJYCidHZd
— FOX2now (@FOX2now) August 18, 2014

Now he's the one that has to preside over the unrest that was sparked again last night. It seems he helped to calm things down in Ferguson. And I still hopes things calm down there soon.

BTW, that St. Louis Ald. Antonio French remains in Ferguson to cover the story. This is an interesting update, not that I've seen much about the police chief there but I get the idea he was maintaining a hardline. Now it seems if you believe this post that this experience has changed him.

They also said the #Ferguson police chief apologized to them. Woman said she had been praying for God to change his heart. #PeaceInFerguson
— Antonio French (@AntonioFrench) August 18, 2014

May there be peace in Ferguson, Missouri.

Internet domains & hosting

Over the years on the internet I have played with the idea of a website although unsure about the execution. The late 90s was my first experience with the internet and saw that internet users could create their own webpages but it seemed to take lots of work. At that, what would be the purpose of such a website.

I played around with GeoCities in the early 2000s. It was as much a profile as it was a website, my Geocities site was akin to an FB profile than it was anything else. The only difference was that no one sent you friends requests or anything like that. It just displayed my identity, my interests and some pictures uploaded the "old fashioned way" by scanning prints.

By 2005 I started this blog utilizing Blogger and most of my attention went to blogging. Now there's a purpose to having a website and it already helps to already follow politics or other types of news such as sports, entertainment, Chicago, education, etc. It also helps that I could write in the first place - even with some of the mistakes you may find here lol.

Within the past month I had bought a domain name for one of my other blogs - The Sixth Ward. It was something that had been considered for a long time and it was finally executed. That blog also uses Blogger and with that service the domain name could be used for the blog with the domain being used as the primary blog address.

It doesn't take up as much effort and time as WordPress seems to. This is something that's already in my experience - Unconventional Wisdom - although so far the only work WordPress required was to upload the software to a hosting server. Then of course you have to keep updating the software and there are some other incidentals depending upon how popular a particular site is.

BTW, there was a time that Blogger would allow you to use FTP to upload blog posts to a host. In fact it was experimented with on my end primarily with the provided hosting of an ISP. Blogger cut that out years ago and at least the blog could be hosted on Blogger servers and if you prefer the use of a domain which could be directed to a particular blog.

Now that there is a domain name for one of my main blogs, perhaps it's time to take this hobby of mine to the next level. Is it time to purchase a domain for THIS blog and then purchase some hosting space? Perhaps that question will be answered in the near future.