Disqus - Latest Comments for drumsnwhistles

Re: Happy New Year…

drumsnwhistles — Sun, 01 Jan 2006 15:10:22 -0000

Liz, I went all the way to the first blog entry and found this email address for her. Good luck!

Re: Looking for suggestions…

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 04 Jan 2006 15:13:37 -0000

Maryam,

These are all terrific ideas! Thank you so much. I'm off to iTunes to see which one would work the best.

Re: LifeHacking or Lifeless?

drumsnwhistles — Fri, 06 Jan 2006 14:19:47 -0000

Good grief. Thanks for the heads-up on that...why waste the nanoseconds trying, eh? There are some positives in this whole Web2.0 thing, but micromanaging my life down to the last itty-bitty piece of it isn't one of them.

Re: Yahoo Cruisin’

drumsnwhistles — Sat, 07 Jan 2006 15:34:52 -0000

I'll write more as a main entry later today about it -- basically I love Ellen Degeneres and think Tom Cruise is evil, evil, evil and Yahoo, by ballyhooing him on their big stage is by extension more evil today than they were yesterday.

I don't want Ellen and Tom Cruise in the same room, much less the same photo.

The asides are in a separate category, so you can skip 'em in the feed if you want. They'll come up on the feed as posted by xxx in asides. I haven't figured out how to exclude them from the feeds yet, but I will when I figure it out. :)

Re: Pug Cartoon

drumsnwhistles — Sat, 07 Jan 2006 17:56:21 -0000

Those photos are a HOOT! Thanks for sharing...our whole family is still laughing. :)

Re: And a lighter note

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 11 Jan 2006 05:41:34 -0000

I'm glad you delurked! Feel free to lurk, comment, smack me, whatever...I'm just glad I'm not talking to myself. ;-)

I read your blog too, but I'm terrible about commenting on blogs. I shall now take advantage of delurking week and drop a comment or two!

Welcome,

DnW

Re: On a serious note…

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 11 Jan 2006 05:48:25 -0000

Hi liz,

I've read the info about meningitis being spread through college dorms, too, but what scared me about this was that this kid was going to a community college and living at home. They can't draw any common line between the two deaths that weekend beyond the particular strain of meningitis.

It's all just so terrible -- I can't imagine being anti-vaccine when the alternative (even if there are side effects and the like) is so much worse.

Take care!

Re: Northern Voice 2006

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 16 Jan 2006 17:45:49 -0000

Well, I booked my room for Blogher -- so we'll just have to figure it all out. :)

Someone other than who I mentioned in my post? Do tell...

Re: Northern Voice 2006

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 12:30:26 -0000

Woo hoo, it's a party!

Re: Blogs, Conversation and Comments

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 17:01:22 -0000

Amy,

This has really been a terrific learning exercise for me. Thanks for starting the conversation and facilitating it!

DnW

Re: Northern Voice 2006

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 17:13:10 -0000

Nancy,

Another purple fan!!!!!

I'm sure I'll love your notes, but it would be way more fun to see the 'Pajama Presentation'!!!!

Take pictures. ;-)

Looking forward to Blogher,

DnW

Re: Comments and Conversation Redux

drumsnwhistles — Sat, 21 Jan 2006 18:12:00 -0000

Thanks, Amy! I edited that first sentence for clarity.

Re: The “Boy Crisis” in Education

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 24 Jan 2006 05:32:09 -0000

Hi Heather and welcome!

I'm sorry to hear you're having these struggles...my heart is right there with you. And like you, there is no way I could homeschool -- I used to really wish I could have in the earlier years.

I hope your son isn't so completely sour on learning that he gives up on himself. If it's any consolation, The Eldest repeatedly says that if HS had been more like college he'd have been a straight-A student. Will your eldest consider community college as an option to continue his education?

Dang, it makes me angry to hear about kids slipping through the cracks this way! My hope is that there's a different path for your younger one that allows him to be a boy, be active, be bright, and come out of school loving to learn.

Let's keep trying to figure it out!

DnW

Re: The “Boy Crisis” in Education

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 24 Jan 2006 20:38:52 -0000

Wow, there's some terrific comments here! Thank you all so much for contributing to this!

Liz:

Yes, you're absolutely right about girls too. What I see, though, is girls developing coping skills and ways around that need for movement and exercise, while the boys tend to act it out more. I think this is partly gender-based and tends to be less true as they get older. I'm a talker -- I have to speak things to understand them. As a result, I was constantly written up in school for being unable to control my talking. Especially elementary school. My way of coping with it was to learn to speak by writing. That was something acceptable that still accomplished the goal. I didn't realize it at the time, but it was my way of avoiding the criticism for not "avoiding needless talking".

And thank you for the nomination and kind words -- that's really an honor. :)

Sue:

You are most definitely not alone. Definitely. I don't know what to tell you about the meds except that it is really important that before they're prescribed both parents be fully educated and in accord, and the diagnosis be made by a psychiatrist or psychologist who has training and experience treating kids with ADHD. Honestly, the meds gave Sticks the ability to make the effort. The achievement has nothing to do with the meds beyond actually allowing him to focus enough to learn. His ADHD diagnosis rose out of our concerns for him, not teacher referrals. Teachers can be good resources but can't be the only resource. By the same token, I'd like to think that as parents, we'll consider all of the alternatives for our kids, including medications. We certainly wouldn't refuse insulin for diabetics or antibiotics for meningitis, so why do we rule out meds for ADHD out of hand without giving at least due consideration to them?

Read Liz' blog for some help with options for your boys. She's got tons of links and resources that might help you think through alternatives for your children. (Ahhhh, I feel another post coming on about all this....)

Jane,

Wow, you've got the proof right there. I wonder if your experiences with teachers being less professional has something to do with the low regard they get when it comes to pay and working conditions? Seriously, I think if we (society/taxpayers) treated them with more respect there would be more coming back. I can't tell you how much it bugs me to see teachers have to spend time groveling around for extra copy paper and classroom supplies. Shouldn't that be a slam-dunk? Grrrrr.

Cary:

What Liz said -- don't let resentment toward your mom color your attitude toward us all. Many women love boys and men -- I'm one. I had much more difficulty adjusting to the idea of parenting a daughter than just about anything, because girls leave me flummoxed half the time. (and I don't hate them either; just have more trouble understanding them...)

mr angel

ADHD is real. It's not always accurately diagnosed and can definitely be a catch-all, but I assure you that parents, teachers and doctors are not engaged in a grand conspiracy to drug the next generation. It's a very real disorder that disrupts many lives.

Ann Evans

Excellent points -- structure is a big part of helping boys to develop those critical life skills. Is single-sex education the answer? I don't know...still mulling that one over. What do you think?

Re: Final Returns

drumsnwhistles — Fri, 03 Feb 2006 10:10:47 -0000

Thanks, Shelly...it's sure starting out on a bad note. If it keeps up, I think I'm going to have to have a midlife crisis or something. :(

Re: Manners aren’t rude

drumsnwhistles — Sun, 05 Feb 2006 10:47:24 -0000

Swamphag, I totally agree and hope that came through in what I wrote. The issue for me isn't the KIDS, it's the parents and what they either overlook or intentionally ignore. Why aren't they expecting more from their kids? I'm always amazed at what parents will teach their kids to tolerate while letting them get away with blatantly rude behavior in other areas. It's up to the parents to give their kids the tools -- the life lessons -- so they can function.

Lisa Welcome and rant away! I enjoyed reading the teacher's perspective on it, and love the analogy of the rushers in the classroom and the highway. :) I'm enjoying your blog as well...I laugh and then cringe at some of the stories you tell.

Re: Caremark: Our New Doctor

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 08 Feb 2006 03:59:55 -0000

Liz, thank you!

Quixote, yes, and they're turning quite the profit, too. I truly believe that they are capricious in their denial of benefits and should be made accountable for it.

Re: Random Rambles

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 23:33:47 -0000

Kmilyun,

Any luck? I did post a link to a Yale Statistics Prof's analysis (LOL!!!!), but I'm with you...2 aspirin and lots of questions later, I still don't get it.

Swamphag,

I missed the opening ceremonies entirely -- first time in years I haven't seen it. Now that the Games are in full swing, though, it's practically required viewing here where the men control the remote. ;-)

Re: brrreeeport and a reply to robert scoble

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 00:43:57 -0000

Shel,

Welcome to the blog!

No, I can't be more transparent -- my reasons why are explained in detail on the post with the pic.

I have clients who would not take kindly to a consultant with ADHD, even if I do take medications for it. I also owe it to Sticks to not trumpet his medical conditions all over the Internet with his real name, particularly in light of the fact that he will likely garner more name recognition in his time than I will in mine. Health issues are one area where privacy really does matter.

I'll gladly give you my real name privately via email -- Maryam Scoble knows it, and I think Robert does too.

Even as partners writing, it's possible to write in a more personal voice. One way I can see to do it is to write in more of a conversational tone, so that one writes his own experience and the other writer is the analytical voice.

Writer 1: "This is why I think this blog failed...x, y, z." "Here's my experience"

Writer 2: "In the greater analysis, my partner's observations are partly correct. But beyond that, here are some other reasons and examples of blogs that succeeded in the same market, blah, blah, blah"

The tone becomes more conversational between both writers, at least, to me.

Keep in mind that I give you guys home runs on 2 out of 3 and recommend the book...my criticism is purely a matter of personal preference and wouldn't stop me from buying the next one, assuming that there is a next one.

Once again, welcome and thanks for taking the time to comment.

DnW

Re: Random Rambles

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 16 Feb 2006 05:04:19 -0000

Donna, I saw a little bit of the Letterman show Monday...it's really is manna from heaven. Thanks for the nice comments! Sticks says thank you, too, as he informed me that he passed the pretest for AP Physics next year. I shudder at the very thought but he's looking forward to it. I was right -- he is smarter than me...LOL

DnW

Re: DrumsNWhistles

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 16 Feb 2006 05:18:43 -0000

Yeah, it's got the wrong aspect ratio and I don't want to crop out the trees, since I think they're such a mood-booster. I've played around with it for a long time and finally gave up.

Re: Community and its absence

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 16 Feb 2006 15:47:31 -0000

Hi Alan!

I'm a faithful subscriber to Nancy's blog. Love it! And you didn't have to add cheesy music...it was truly terrific that you recorded it and uploaded it for all of us as it was. It just really highlighted the failings that online media/community can have.

When that session was over in real time, everyone moved on, or had drinks at the end of the day and shared the highlights. For ones listening after the fact, we learned a ton, but missed out on the community "unpacking" at the end of the day, and for some reason in this case, the silence was truly deafening.

DnW

Re: Pug isn’t pleased

drumsnwhistles — Sat, 18 Feb 2006 12:11:31 -0000

Hey sassymonkey!

I was really glad to see CNN finally get the word out on this. The reason I give her greenie biscuits is to avoid the dangers associated with the greenies. The issues with greenies stem from dogs not properly chewing the Greenie itself, and I am here to tell you from firsthand experience that it's scary when that happens. Pugs are, after all, just pigs with their name spelled wrong.

What Chloe is getting are Milk-Bone type biscuits with very small bits of Greenies baked into them. These give the Greenie flavor that she loves without the danger of eating it in pieces too large for her digestive system or esophagus.

As an aside, pugs have been known to eat other bad things for their digestion, like plastic cups, ornament hangers and underwear. It's all true. I've seen it with my own eyes. ;-)

DnW

Re: Olympic Ice Skating Scores

drumsnwhistles — Sun, 19 Feb 2006 04:56:11 -0000

Thanks, I'm planning to spend some time reading when I can actually engage the math part of my brain enough to digest it.

Re: Heron Handoff

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 20 Feb 2006 05:57:44 -0000

LOL, the pug vigorously agrees to an extent...she says it's okay to do the sweater but NO HOODS. It's bad enough to have a smushed face, the hood just is humiliating.

I'm glad you're enjoying! Thanks for saying so.

DnW

Re: Irish Horses

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 21 Feb 2006 12:18:25 -0000

Hi Kelly and welcome!

I'm glad you're staying -- I'll try and keep it interesting. :)

I had braces a long time too...so I also feel Dancergirl's pain, almost too acutely, which is why I keep trying to have a sense of humor about it.

I'm glad you're here! I hope I have a chance to meet you at Blogher!

DnW

Re: The Blogher effect meets Digg

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 03:50:17 -0000

Hi supa,

Glad you did! I see there aren't too many diggs, but at least the 'spam' accusation has been countered. :)

DnW

Re: Are ADHD medications overprescribed?

drumsnwhistles — Sun, 26 Feb 2006 03:16:21 -0000

Hi nursenancy and welcome,

I disagree with characterizing ADHD as a "stimulant deficiency". It is a neurotransmitter disorder which stimulants effectively treat, but doesn't necessarily mean one is deficient in stimulants. If you find natural alternatives that are working for you, I'm all for them.

I tried the 'natural thing', psychotherapy, hypnosis, and just about everything else before coming to an understanding that what worked -- really worked -- was the medications. Do I think they should be prescribed without careful research by parents and adult patients beforehand? Absolutely not.

I am open to new research, but what annoys and deeply concerns me is the current 'anti-medication' bent that seems to be getting all the press. As Terrence over on The Republic of T says in his post here:

Maybe I’m overreacting to this, but it just seems to me that the one group of people getting pretty much left out or brushed aside in these discussions lately are those who have benefited from these medications. That only makes sense. After all, why spend much time listening to people who claim to have a condition that you’re pretty certain probably doesn’t exist. Sure, they benefited from medication, and maybe they have better lives than they had before medication and treatment, but that’s only because they weren’t willing to try harder and they weren’t punished enough. So, if they end up having a harder time getting medication, that might actually be good for them. Maybe a giant step backwards can also be a giant step forwards.

Maybe I’m skeptical because I’m one of those people who benefited from stimulant medication, after trying just about everything else and finding that they either didn’t work or that they had side effects that I couldn’t live with. I understand that these medicines aren’t necessarily for everyone. Some people can’t tolerate the side effects and/or don’t want to take the medications, and no one should have to take them.

So, if there are alternative treatments or “non-drug interventions” that work for some people, I’m all for them. But why make it harder for people who can and do benefit from these medicines to get them? Because that’s where the current trend seems to be headed.

A clinically depressed patient should not rule out medications as part of the treatment, and the same is true for kids and adults with attention deficit disorder. It should not be looked upon as some kind of evil form of mind control but approached with a clear and informed mind, armed with facts.

Re: Are ADHD medications overprescribed?

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 03:33:32 -0000

Hi Douglas and welcome,

I disagree with the remark that there's not enough emphasis on 'detrimental side effects'....it seems like that's ALL we hear about these days. Rarely is there any balance in the reporting, which is what I'm after.

I'm glad you stopped by -- you have an interesting blog and I plan to keep reading it!

DnW

Re: Afternoon Observer

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 14:47:33 -0000

Point and shoot cameras are great and getting better! Thank you so much for your kind words -- I was just thinking that these photos didn't really get to the level I wanted them to. I was literally shooting straight up into the air with the zoom fully extended and not paying attention to the lighting, and they ended up being backlit and a bit fuzzy as a result, so it's really good to know that you're enjoying them.

I only have one secret to photos -- take tons of them. Digital photos make that so much easier and cheaper, and if you have a little camera that you can keep with you, you'll be surprised at the opportunities to capture some little thing. As time goes on a few of those will be awesome shots and you'll find yourself looking for more opportunities. ;-)

Don't get stuck in the photosnobbery stuff with the big lenses and DSLR and all that. I love my D70 because of the flexibility and power, but some of the best shots I've ever taken were with my little Olympus point and shoot. What drives me absolutely nuts is NOT having a camera with me when some very cool shot is right in front of me, which happens more often with my D70 than it ever did before. It's a lot harder to carry a big bulky backpack with me than a little camera. :)

DnW

Re: Are ADHD medications overprescribed?

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 23:43:51 -0000

Douglas,

Yes, we do agree on that -- the reporting is far too one-dimensional and sensationalistic. Personally, I think the TV and print ads for medications should be banned. They are, by definition, slanted and far too broad. While consumers have resources to research and learn about meds, the ads carry far too much weight and promise way too much.

Take care

DnW

Re: Calendars: Getting Organized 101

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 01 Mar 2006 03:09:11 -0000

I'd hang onto Outlook if I could get the family to work with it and get it onto the web. When I tried a web synch with it before via MSN it just made a mess of my PDA and everything else by double and triple-synching all of my contacts. There's no way I could get T and the kids to use something that was so wonky.

It seems simple enough -- a calendar just like the one that used to be on the fridge, where I'd have four different colors of pens and just write everything in that person's color. Because we're all so scattered, I want that very same thing on the web with a notifier. Seems simple, but I haven't yet found it.

Re: Afternoon Observer

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 06 Mar 2006 16:10:51 -0000

Oooh, looking forward to Mississippi photos...my father's family is from Mississippi (Yazoo City/Jackson area) and I have fond memories of visits there when I was a kid.

Have fun!

(as for the tornado, no thanks...I'll look at YOUR photos from the safety of earthquake-ridden California thankyouverymuch.)

Re: rain grumps

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 07 Mar 2006 12:00:40 -0000

Thanks! Not quite the raw deal...I duplicated the layer in Photoshop and put an "ink outline" filter on it, then blended with the original 50% to bring out the detail a bit more and give it a bit of a surreal feeling. The raindrops were sort of blotchy and glarish before that.

Re: Weirdness, Boredom, and the Day from Hell

drumsnwhistles — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 03:10:45 -0000

Hey, the gremlins seem to have been busy this week dropping comments with links to viruses, lots of spam and all of the wordpress blogs that I administer for the school projects, husband's biz etc, had database outages this week. Ugh. Let's hope the gremlins have received sufficient havoc to stay quiet for a bit.

Now, did you go sightseeing? What did you see?

Re: GMail, Quit Crashing Firefox!!!!

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 13 Mar 2006 03:22:00 -0000

Hey kmilyun, thanks for the link!

Evidently it's a known issue with GMail. I found several people who had the problem on their forums, but they all seemed to be dealing with an ad blocking program that I don't have, so I've tried unblocking popups on all iterations of the GMail URL that I can think of. Just to be on the safe side, I also decided to do a POP3 backup of my Gmail account to Outlook, because I am starting to feel insecure about having my email only on someone else's servers.

Hopefully that fixes it.

How were the beans today?

Re: Exhaustion..

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 15 Mar 2006 03:10:12 -0000

Kmilyun and Sneadwoman,

Reading your comments this morning was a breath of fresh perspective. Thank you so much!

I have an appointment on the 15th to finally deal with this and I am determined to see it through this time instead of engaging in denial. Hopefully they can deal with it fast and well.

Re: Credit where Credit’s Due

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 20 Mar 2006 14:05:05 -0000

Hi Swamphag,

There are times where I kind of wish some folks would just stay entrenched so I can be brutal...LOL. But it was smart of her to say she was wrong and change their editorial policy, so if they stick to that, at least you can rely on the fact that what's posted is at least written by the person or more to the point, properly attributed, which was really the issue at hand.

I still wouldn't read Huffpo on a regular basis -- there's only so much I can take of outrageous rhetoric -- but it's nice to know they're playing by the basic rules.

DnW

Re: Wider Angles

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 23 Mar 2006 14:25:44 -0000

Interesting -- the first one is much, much darker on my work screen than it was on the home computer where I edit photos. I agree that the bottom one, when viewed on a 'normal' screen seems to be the better one. I actually like the top one better from the standpoint of the diagonal interest, but you can't see it the way it is right now.

What concerns me is that this non-callibration has an impact on any photo I edit, and since my camera shoots in Nikon RAW format, it has to go through a basic editing process to go from NEF to JPG. <sigh>

Thanks for the comments - they really help.</sigh>

Re: Academic Entitlements

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 30 Mar 2006 12:37:01 -0000

Hi sassymonkey,

Me too. I could have accepted one letter grade -- begrudgingly. But two just seemed to be too much weight on class participation and not enough on mastery.

Sticks had this teacher when he was at this school...I honestly thought that the daughter would fare better, but she isn't. The scary thing is that this isn't just one teacher -- it's reflective of overall school philosophy. By structuring the grading this way, they make sure that everyone has a 'fair shot' at an A. To me it's more of a giveaway than simply giving A's to the students that master what they need to master and pass the tests.

It's more "dumbing down" of the classroom in my view.

Take care,

DnW

Re: ADHD Overdiagnosis

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 30 Mar 2006 17:47:11 -0000

Hi Jason,

I approved your comment even though you're advertising -- I'd like to invite you to join in the conversation rather than just advertising your product. It looks like you've got some interesting ideas.

DnW

Re: Clooneygate: Blogs or Not Blogs?

drumsnwhistles — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 03:31:52 -0000

Hey Donna,

Good to see you again! At least Arianna owned up to things and is trying to set them straight. For that she deserves credit.

Still, I'm mind-boggled over the moral twists and turns it took to justify posting that in the first place. Just wild.

Re: Academic Entitlements

drumsnwhistles — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 03:34:30 -0000

Donna,

I have yet to find any middle school options I'm liking. It's frustrating. I'd do the homeschool thing in a heartbeat except that I don't have the bandwidth to manage it properly, and for her to have any social life along with it, more driving would be involved.

Swamphag,

It is ridiculous. But I've discovered that making a stink will just make it difficult for her. Wait till you hear the latest....I thought I would absolutely go ballistic, but I was too tired. Still, it's just amazing.

Re: Good Enough or Settling?

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 04:39:25 -0000

Hmmm, Liz...I'll have to look at it again. I didn't read it that way at all, though I did sense that as part of the overall message. I agree with 10K proms and major birthday parties, etc...but have difficulty when it spills onto grumpy, mediocre teachers. The "technology class" is but one example of my lack of tolerance for that.

And Donna, that homework thing is a mixed bag for me, but I agree that I shouldn't expect A's if homework is part of the grade package and I don't perform on that piece of it.

Re: Picture Payday

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 04:40:40 -0000

Thanks, Donna! I was literally just about at the end of mine and ready to give up. It seems like that's how it's gone with this effort -- I get just enough to keep me intrigued a little longer right at the 'quit point'.

DnW :)

Re: Storm in a bottle

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 06 Apr 2006 05:02:13 -0000

Keep us posted on those levee breaks!

This photo was pure frustration -- Every single time there was a break in the rain and I'd dare to go out and walk the dog or just smell fresh air, the sky would open and drench me. When it did it for the zillionth time yesterday, I decided to play with the bottle and reflection and at least get a photo out of being cold and wet.

I have a blue bottle too, but I blew the focus on it and didn't feel like trying it again after that.

Welcome back!

Re: Hatched Heron

drumsnwhistles — Fri, 14 Apr 2006 20:22:44 -0000

Hi Vanda,

Nice to meet you! They really are giants, but the little ones looked like wizened old hobbits. They're pretty funny-looking and they make a lot of noise when they're hungry. I'm glad you're enjoying the blog!

DnW

Re: Who do you blog for?

drumsnwhistles — Sun, 16 Apr 2006 03:40:32 -0000

Wow, terrific comments, and thanks to Liz for the great roundup of this discussion in the larger "blogosphere" -- I posted a link to it as an update to this post.

Thanks Elisa for the category switch, too. I think 'Personal' probably describes me better.

I'm really glad to know that you all like the photos, because I definitely plan to continue them. I'm trying to figure out how to eke out a new FAST zoom lens so that I can climb right into those herons' nests!

DnW

Re: Illegal Immigration: The Other Side of the Coin

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 17 Apr 2006 16:18:19 -0000

EdWonk:

If these workers COULD be legal, don't you think they would be? The process is incredibly difficult, nearly impossible to navigate. Let's start with that and move ahead from there to the issues of paying them more, which is absolutely necessary.

Alexander:

Thank you! I took both of them yesterday.

DnW

Re: Illegal Immigration: The Other Side of the Coin

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 19 Apr 2006 05:46:38 -0000

Andy,

Thank you!

DnW

Re: Calendar Update: Month 2

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 19 Apr 2006 05:50:48 -0000

Thanks, Matias!

I'll have a look at it later today.

DnW

Re: Illegal Immigration: Other Voices

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 20 Apr 2006 01:06:02 -0000

Hi Princess Mom,

I think a guest worker program could work if carefully structured. The problem with the unrest in the countries you mention is that there is widespread abuse and corruption. If it could be structured in a way that ensured fair treatment for citizen and guest alike, I wouldn't have a problem with it. However, I have no faith in our current officials' ability to think creatively and work through the issues in an honest and upright manner. Hysteria and rhetoric seem to be the order of the day.

Chris,

Whatever you do, don't hold back. Let it all out...you'll feel better.

DnW

Re: Lilac and Brick

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 20 Apr 2006 01:06:30 -0000

Thank you!

Re: Mommy Guilt Cure: The Future

drumsnwhistles — Fri, 21 Apr 2006 01:16:32 -0000

Jenn, you're most welcome! My son was 5 when he was diagnosed. We looked for reasons that I could not seem to do anything other than constantly yell at him! I seriously thought I was going to raise a kid who would hate me for life, so I totally understand the guilt part.

I hope you'll post updates -- I know there are victories around the corner for you and your kids!

Devra, Welcome! I just had a peek at your site and love it. Thanks so much for the comments. I agree totally on the bib thing...it should be as required as shoes in public places.

DnW

Re: Mommy Guilt Cure: The Future

drumsnwhistles — Sun, 23 Apr 2006 17:37:51 -0000

Thanks, Liz! To all reading this post and comments, you should subscribe to I Speak of Dreams, Liz' blog. She's a terrific resource for information, links, and discussion about learning disabilities, ADHD and many other issues confronting kids and parents today.

DnW

Re: The light went on, and blinded me

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 25 Apr 2006 04:11:24 -0000

Hi Sassymonkey,

I didn't have anything called 'savings' either at college time. I was lucky enough to land a couple of state scholarships which paid tuition, though. That's what I'm hoping for in this case. For me, going to anything other than a Cal State university wasn't an option...I'm hoping Sticks has more choices than I did. :)

Debt is definitely an option, though for a music performance major it might be better to try and avoid it. :)

DnW

Re: The light went on, and blinded me

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 25 Apr 2006 13:25:36 -0000

True enough! I have a whole blog post forming about that and will really enjoy hearing your comments. It seems like college degrees have become the equivalent of high school diplomas in the old days when it comes to the job market.

Re: Inside the Poppy

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 26 Apr 2006 05:41:31 -0000

Thanks, Swamphag! The subject makes the pic...all I did was push the button. :)

As for the herons, stay tuned. The babies are really getting active and funny now. I think maybe there's two weeks or so before they fly.

Re: A Rose By Any Other Name

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 27 Apr 2006 04:20:37 -0000

Hi Vanda,

I have one I uploaded just for you, then! This one is a bit more delicate than this giant mauve cabbage rose. :) Our roses are blooming, despite the weird weather that's driving me crazy. They look pretty in gray weather -- little splashes of light against the otherwise dreary landscape.

DnW

Re: Balls in a Bowl

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 02 May 2006 05:54:58 -0000

Oh, I could do a zillion posts about my grandma's house, too! She had all sorts of funny little odds and ends. I just thought it was so strange to have a bowl of balls on the coffee table -- decorative balls at that. They practically screamed for me to take their picture!

My SIL just replaced all of her living room furniture, and whoever she bought it from "dresses" the room with the accessories, etc. that they think fit, then she lives with them for a couple of weeks before buying them. Evidently the balls are part of the 'dressing'.

Re: Caremark Writes

drumsnwhistles — Sat, 06 May 2006 19:52:18 -0000

Hi Joy,

Here's their PR telephone number and address. It might be worth threatening a press/Internet campaign to see if you can get a result.

Caremark Rx, Inc.
Corporate Communications:
Joan M. Gallagher, 615-743-6652
or
Investor Relations:
Craig Hartman, 615-743-6653

Here is the address and phone number for the Claims Appeals:

Prescription Claim Appeals MC109
Caremark
P.O. Box 52084
Phoenix, AZ 85072-2084

FAX: 1-866-443-1172
PHONE: 1-866-443-1183

Re: Is there a 12-step program for Flickr addicts?

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 10 May 2006 13:13:01 -0000

Lee, I love watercolors done right! I've never mastered them, but I do pick up the colored pencils from time to time. I love colored pencils on hot press watercolor paper...they're just buttery!

I've been having so much fun with my camera that I haven't been moved to pick up the ink or the pencils, but I'm sure I will before much longer...these HDR photos are just screaming out for it!

Re: Teens, Tweens, Sex and Culture

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 11 May 2006 02:38:58 -0000

sassymonkey, thankfully I haven't seen the books you're talking about, but I have seen the teen mags...ugh

Liz, thanks for your thoughtful and well-researched post on this topic. I knew I could count on you to dig down and get even more info!

Re: The Redheaded Stepchild

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 16 May 2006 05:04:04 -0000

Thanks, Swamphag! Pics are great for recording...that's originally why I started taking them. Here's a secret: I am the worst gardener on the planet. I started taking pictures of flowers because it was the only way I knew to preserve their beauty...if they fell into my hands they became DOOMED. :)

Re: Enron Boys are Guilty

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 25 May 2006 17:50:38 -0000

Hey Eldest, welcome to the blog!

Any irony in the sentencing date? 9/11/2006...

If you haven't watched it (and I'm sure you have), get the movie "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room"....

The music is great; the message even better.

Re: Photo of the day

drumsnwhistles — Fri, 26 May 2006 05:14:11 -0000

Hey Lee,

Thanks for the podcast compliments! He's flattered. :) I know I'm utterly biased, but I thought he rocked. ;-)

TGIF,

DnW

Re: Bye, baby heron and insult to injury…

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 31 May 2006 04:00:16 -0000

Thank you Kmilyun! I don't know that I'll ever be famous, but I'll gladly sign one for ya anyway. :)

Re: Space: The New Frontier

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 31 May 2006 04:02:22 -0000

Hi sassymonkey --

Moving works great! But the only way we'd move is if we left California, something I'm not inclined to do...I like it here!

I am very close to renting a dumpster for a couple of weeks and just starting to shovel stuff outa here. But the saga continues...<sigh>

Kmilyun,

I like the mantra but I especially like the idea of drilling the hole in the roof. That has possibilities!</sigh>

Re: Politics of Execution

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 12:51:49 -0000

Puggyspice,

I do understand your point of view. I do. I just don't think any of us, criminal or not, have the right to decide who remains on the planet, no matter how strong our desire to take care of them and no matter how evil their acts.

But I'm glad you came and commented! And with a nickname of Puggyspice I suspect we have more in common than differences. ;-)

Take care,

DnW

Re: A bouquet for you

drumsnwhistles — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 05:36:03 -0000

Thanks, Donna! We're definitely in the home stretch....

Re: Jazzy

drumsnwhistles — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 05:37:33 -0000

Thanks, Lee! Yes, definitely post them, I'd love to see them.

I try not to "over photoshop" the photos, but once in awhile a couple come along that just scream for it..and this was one. It was an okay photo...some reflection, some light, etc. but not a WOW photo...the effect really made it fun!

Re: Summertime Stories, Sadness, and Safety

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 20:02:56 -0000

Hi Donna,

It was so heartbreaking to hear the story of the kids at Huntington Beach on Monday! My heart goes out to their families. Hopefully it'll be the last rip tide death we hear about this summer, but I'm afraid that's a pipe dream.

Re: Children and Antipsychotics: Medicate or not?

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 23:05:54 -0000

Dr. Deb --

I agree with you in principle, but reality is entirely different. As I said in my entry, that would be the one thing I as a parent would want to do. However, I speak from personal experience when I say that it works better in theory than it does in practice.

For starters, it's difficult to find pediatric psychiatrists. If you are a single parent with no money, you might as well get in line and hope for the year 2021. I was fortunate - I had the money to pay out of pocket for the psychiatrist, because my insurance company wasn't going to honor my primary provider's referral.

Dr. Parker's bio indicates that he is the director of behavioral and developmental pediatrics, so that would indicate that he must have a pretty solid background in psychiatry as well as medicine.

The psychiatrist that evaluated Sticks came right out of the box with the statement that diagnosing ADHD and/or bipolar disorder was, at best, guesswork, based on input from a number of sources. Unfortunately, there's not a blood test that will tell us for sure...

As for the lack of community-mindedness with regard to treating patients, lay that one right at the feet of the insurance companies, who much prefer to underpay primary physicians at the expense of specialties and encourage their insureds NOT to seek specialists.

Re: Children and Antipsychotics: Medicate or not?

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 16:39:13 -0000

Dr. Deb --

I appreciate your comments and they're welcome any time. I hadn't read your blog till you posted last night, then I went and read through your entries for the last couple of months, so I am now more familiar with you than I was when I responded to your first comment.

I agree with everything you said with regard to community. Perhaps Dr. Parker did consult with someone, though it is not clear in his post. It seems to me that his primary point in blogging this topic at all was to highlight the dilemmas faced by doctors when working with a very young child with serious behavioral problems. Yet instead of really looking at those issues, many simply smacked at him for prescribing without a consultation by a pediatric psychiatrist (or psychologist, for that matter).

Should the practice of medicine be more communal? As a patient, I heartily answer with a resounding "YES". I can't speak for the medical profession, but there are areas of specialty within my own field where I would much prefer to refer clients out to the specialists than try to handle it myself, and I do refer as a matter of routine.

Why isn't community more routine within the practice of medicine? That's probably a topic for another blog post by someone more qualified than I to answer. From my vantage point, practices are so tightly controlled by what insurance will and will not pay, what specialists are and are not approved, and what conditions will be covered, that it's almost a science unto itself.

Sticks and I were referred by our primary care doctor to one of the best area specialists in childhood ADHD. As I mentioned, the referral was not honored by the insurance company despite the fact that this doctor was on their approved list. Ultimately, they DID approve it, but only after the suspected diagnosis was changed from ADHD to depression. Why the bias?

I write this to share some of the problems we have in the diagnostic process. What if I were a parent who had no discretionary funds to pay out of pocket for such an evaluation, yet had too much to qualify for free services (the wonderful middle class...)? There are times where our pediatrician is a lifeline and parents would simply be hung out on a line without any help if it weren't for them.

I guess what I'm trying to say in an awkward way is that this is an imperfect system inside of an imperfect world, and as parents, we're doing our best to do our best for our kids. Sometimes we need help, and we take what's available. I'm grateful for pediatricians who listen and take me seriously.

Re: ADHD Alternate Approaches

drumsnwhistles — Sat, 17 Jun 2006 15:00:56 -0000

Good point, Liz. I don't agree with the "vision therapy" proponents. We just go to a regular optometrist here with a great reputation.

However, it's worth noting that if a parent has a referral from a teacher for a child who doesn't show signs of ADHD at home, they might want to consider the possibility that the problem is one of vision and not attention.

Re: Photography is not terrorism

drumsnwhistles — Sun, 18 Jun 2006 03:56:02 -0000

I agree, Lee. T said I should've walked right up to him and asked if he had suggestions on how to make the flower photos I was taking better, and then showed them to him...LOL. I'm just not inclined to interact with our Finest on any level if I can help it.

Re: Having fun….

drumsnwhistles — Sun, 18 Jun 2006 03:56:42 -0000

Thanks, all! I had to shut down my inner critic long enough to post it..I'm glad I did.

Re: Children and Antipsychotics: Medicate or not?

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 18:13:53 -0000

Hi David,

Thanks for coming and commenting! Your story is awful...I cannot imagine what possessed any doctor to move from Ritalin to Thorazine. I did a brief stint while in college at the local VA hospital with vets medicated on Thorazine, and it's powerful stuff.

I'm glad you stopped by -- your story deserves to be heard!

Re: Last night’s sunset

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 05:11:08 -0000

Thanks, swamphag! There are some Flickr photogs who are positively inspiring! I'm glad I get to share them. :)

Re: HDR Tutorial

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 05:40:28 -0000

I thought of you when I blogged this. :) Enjoy!

Re: Katrina: Rebuilding, Help or No Help

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 12:20:07 -0000

Hi Vanda,

I\'m glad you de-lurked! You have commented before but it\'s been awhile, so it\'s good to see you here again, and thanks so much for the kind words on the photos...I enjoy sharing them. :)

DnW

Re: Dancergirl does her best…

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 03 Jul 2006 02:30:22 -0000

Thanks, Lee! We've got some, but it was a brutal 2 days...cameras didn't get to come out and play very often.

Re: Summer Doldrum Blues

drumsnwhistles — Sat, 08 Jul 2006 20:34:30 -0000

I think you've definitely hit on something here...

Perfectionism...yeah. That's part of it, for sure. In thinking this through more, I do think it's also a convergence of too many tails wagging one dog. Trust me -- I would definitely delegate if there were anyone to delegate to....

What I think should happen here is a priority re-ordering with regard to what is coming. I think it's really time to do whatever we have to do to get Sticks driving his own car for starters, so we're not the designated drivers. Beyond that, it's also having a family work day here where everyone clears their day and deals with their piece of the mess, and then structuring something more routine going forward, and everyone having a bit more respect for the time I give to things.

I didn't mean to make it sound like we're all at each others' throats...in relative terms, we ARE a happy family. There are just days, and yesterday was one, where it seemed like the happiness was coming to them at my expense. :) Today is a new day, and a brighter one. :)

I'm glad you're reading and commenting -- odd time signatures needs a resident "mystic". ;-)

Re: One Red Paperclip Guy gets his house!

drumsnwhistles — Sat, 08 Jul 2006 20:35:46 -0000

Me too. He's like the million pixel guy -- just ballsy and smart enough to think of it and actually make it happen.

The concept was such a cool one, too! :)

Re: Adding perspective….

drumsnwhistles — Sat, 08 Jul 2006 20:39:11 -0000

I think we're (particularly women, but not always) wired to think that it's incredibly selfish and self-centered to ever think of ourselves, so we end up in a permanent state of self-denial...which leads to grumpy blog posts sometimes.

How are you feeling today? Getting rear-ended by someone barreling at you at 55mph is no laughing matter...I'll bet you're a bit stiff and sore.

I'm still giggling about the tags...I have always been afraid to remove those too....it wasn't until a couple of years ago that I realized the warning wasn't for ME.

Dogs are wonderful creatures, aren't they?....they are just so THERE for us.

DnW

(I just realized this reply sounds really random, but I was sort of reacting to the different comments you made...hope it's not too disjointed!)

Re: Killers, Thieves and Liars….

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 05:08:41 -0000

Thanks, Finnigh and Kmilyun for taking the time to comment on this...it's pretty near and dear to my heart.

The most concerning thing to me about Scientology is the backhanded ways they try to suck people in and the fact that they have celebrity firepower spouting off about it. This poster is the most egregious and blatant I have seen them get, however.

There was a local phone number at the top of the poster for the "local chapter". I cropped it out because I wasn't interested in giving them any more publicity than my criticism already will. What a gross display of trickery.

As to the trolls, well...they have their choice of troll topics, including my illegal immigration stance which elicited some...um...interesting comments. :)

Re: Hey Google, Spider THIS

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 11 Jul 2006 11:10:25 -0000

Please let me know if you find anything....I'm beyond frustrated. I spent most of yesterday making sure there wasn't anything going on here with the network. The logs seem to indicate a clean bill of health.

Re: Hey Google, Spider THIS

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 02:18:42 -0000

Hi Kmilyun...

Absolutely not. Nothing like that was done. It was as simple as signing up for any freemail account.

Re: Daily Google Update

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 04:40:46 -0000

Thanks, Kmilyun....

As far as being part of the "big picture", all I can say is that I don't want to see anyone else as frustrated and angry as I was yesterday. What frustrated me the most was not being able to get to a body, a voice, someone who could say, "Yeah, this is unusual, something's weird here."

And as much as I tried to find someone who had some kind of guidelines for this stuff on blog searches and boards, even, I really came up against bits and pieces without any real order or even context to them. It seems to me that organizing them in one place where someone could come and refer to it for at least a series of actions to take beats the heck out of beating their head on a wall like I did. :)

DnW

Re: Happy Blog-iversary!

drumsnwhistles — Fri, 14 Jul 2006 03:27:18 -0000

Thank you for the good wishes! :) Time does fly....I'm looking forward to what the 2nd movement brings.

Re: BlogMe, Baby!

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 02:28:45 -0000

Hi kmilyun --

1) Pick 5 questions from the list in this post: http://blogher.org/node/7485

2) Post the questions and your answers in a blog post -- blame me for making ya do a meme with a link back to this post ;-)

3) Tag your post with the terms blogher06 and blogme

4) If you want, drop the BlogMe logo and link into your sidebar

that's it! Tag any other blogger you want if you want to keep the meme going. :)

I hope you'll follow some of the sessions, too. There's going to be a good one from Flickr's Heather Champ on digital photography that Donna (SoCal Mom) will be liveblogging, a session on building blog traffic, and some others that are worth following.

Sassymonkey, thanks! And Donna too....I'm glad you enjoy the pics.

Denise, yes, interesting but more interesting that we were actually trying to prove opposite positions...LOL. You won that debate, hands down.

DnW

Re: BlogMe! update

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 18:25:19 -0000

Perfect! Thanks for playing with us. :)

Re: When the train is barrelling down…

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 20 Jul 2006 16:41:43 -0000

Thanks, Donna! The sky was amazzzzzing yesterday afternoon. Irresistable. This train passes right behind Dancergirl's dance studio, so I decided to get some railroad shots.

I filled a 1GB card. Out of that, I got about eight shots that I liked. I'm so glad I don't shoot film...LOL.

Re: Flock’s New Beta Rocks

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 20 Jul 2006 17:06:06 -0000

Hi Will,

Thanks for dropping by! Good to meet you.

I read tons of feeds, and I can't ever get Flock's feed page to load in the first place without hanging the whole browser. I'll try it again and post some screenshots for you.

Re: Summertime…and the livin’ is…

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 05:42:52 -0000

Denise, the Hyatt was very nice. Don't worry about the bathrooms -- there were a zillion Irish dancers there and no bathroom lines, nice and clean always. The lobby has lots of space and spills outdoors too, and the Internet connection is ubiquitous. No worries at all there. You can find a connection no matter where you are.

The only thing that I thought was a bit of a bummer was that the meeting rooms were HOT, but that may have been more a function of the unseasonably hot weather and drain on the A/C system. If the weather goes back to normal the meeting rooms should be nice and comfortable.

Donna, the whole scheduling thing has me nuts! I want to scream because I've managed to turn things upside down too many times lately. I'm looking forward to seeing you later in the week!

Liz...the competition was at 8AM -- I wouldn't do that to anyone who didn't HAVE to be there. :)

DnW

Re: Senator Ted Stevens: Tubes from a Boob

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 17:04:32 -0000

Lee, I love 'em! They're such "massive, massive" tubes. ;-)

Re: Real People Suffer

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 00:22:02 -0000

Robseth,

Well said! I think I am going to post it as my next post, just to be sure everyone sees it.

DnW

Re: Caremark Writes

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 00:29:13 -0000

Hi Stacey,

I replied to you in the post linked just below your comment. Thanks so much for coming by and sharing your story!

DnW

Re: And Now, A Word To Our Sponsors…

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 31 Jul 2006 05:21:17 -0000

Oh, I didn't comment on the wisdom of such a move, just that they did at least take the time to talk to bloggers instead of just plowing through something without at least listening to part of the community.

This is a topic for yet another BlogHer 2006 post, but one of the things that really was striking was the whole identity/attention piece of the "mommybloggers". From an advertiser's standpoint, they would be foolish not to give it a hard look.

Re: BlogHer 06: Conquering Fears

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 31 Jul 2006 21:39:44 -0000

I love that photo -- pure joy! It's rare that I can get uninhibited people photos without being a zillion miles away or holding the camera in sort of a random way so they don't know I'm shooting.

Your sessions were terrific and it really was great to meet you at last. Hope we cross paths again before another year passes. :)

Re: Blogher Arrival, Corrections, Crawly Things and Killings

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 31 Jul 2006 21:43:41 -0000

Hi Steve,

I couldn't agree more. I don't want to be too critical because it was clear the hotel staff was giving it their best effort, but there were some pretty bad things they need to fix. First stop would be the bug bomb store -- there was some serious problems with that.

I suspect this hotel was not originally a Hyatt, but was acquired somewhere along the way and hasn't hit the "refurbish" list yet.

DnW

Re: BlogHer is done; lots to say

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 31 Jul 2006 22:29:41 -0000

Hi supa, glad you liked it! I'm trying to finish the rest of these Blogher posts before my non-Blogher readers smack me silly, but I keep finding more good ones to read. :)

Re: Blogher 06: Culture, Crowds and Celebrity

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 01 Aug 2006 22:06:58 -0000

Beth, Great photos! That was a terrific icebreaker, kudos to you!

Nancy, Yes, I think you\'re exactly right. I really didn\'t start this discussion with any intended criticism of celebrity or those who hold others up as celebrity, but more questioning whether that is the most productive interaction for any of us, and most importantly, those of us in the blogosphere who hold such power collectively toward change.

Liz, great insights. it is truly a matter of stepping out of the comfort zones, but on a higher level I wonder if it\'s fair to hold up fallible people so high. It seems like we don\'t really give them enough room to fall softly if they should stumble. It can be the same reason that musicians seem to get stale after a few hits, or writers fall into a formula -- it\'s safer to do what works than try new pathways when you\'re sitting under a microscope.

Kris, I think we did meet at the community session. At least, you seem very familiar to me. :)

Mocha, bottle some of that middle child stuff and sprinkle it on this eldest -- you\'ve definitely got a knack. :)

Sage thanks for your kind comment! I\'m so glad to hear that your son is thriving and an A student. That\'s the goal.

Steve, I\'m loving the videoblog. And of course you already know that I love your mother\'s blog, too.

TW, it was great the way you originally wrote it but I\'m happy to put your edited quote in there if you want. Better yet, I\'ll just recommend that folks click the link. :)

So recommended.

DnW

Re: Making the Bitch-o-Matic Obsolete

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 05:07:55 -0000

LOL...Believe it or not, those sweet pretty red cars weren't all that much money compared to other new cars on the market. Cheaper than a SUV or Minivan and much sexier. :)

Re: BlogHer 06: Friends

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 05:09:33 -0000

But you know what? I never got a good one of you and HWSNBN! Dweebville. :)

Re: Blogher 06: Culture, Crowds and Celebrity

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 05:16:24 -0000

Hi Sarah -- I'm sure she was. Had I figured out who she was I probably would've introduced myself and expressed appreciation for her, too, but I was a little bit lame.

Your point about being uncomfortable with the attention is well-taken. I'm sure that's true as well.

Re: Identity Crisis

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 19:19:05 -0000

Kmilyun, go get your passport. That's what I plan to do, too, because it's the only photo ID I can get next to my driver's license. I have managed for nearly 48 years without one, but the time has now come to go and get it. I'm pleased to know that I actually CAN get one, finally, now that I have been legitimized in the eyes of the SSA, where I was a bastard child up till earlier this year.

Finnigh, please go tell the government about relational databases, because they evidently only know how to maintain them when it is convenient for THEM to do so. Lord knows that by now they should know me as well as my own mother, but no...I'm not even a number, yet.

Donna...when you do the passport update post, you might consider recommending that people get a passport even if they don't think they need one. If I had a passport I could have avoided a lot of the aggravation of The Identity Game.

Re: BlogHer 06: Conquering Fears

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 21:11:23 -0000

Elizabeth! I did see you a couple of times but you were moving with purpose, so I figured you were on your way to the next destination. I'm so sorry we missed each other!

As a long-time bifocal wearer I can testify to the difficulty of reading those names on the badges...next year I'll just use my first name so the print is not so teeny-tiny.

I am completely bummed that I didn't get to your session, too. It was one that topped my list, but it was in conflict with one that was a "MUST ATTEND". I will definitely be downloading it, though. :)

The Smashcast kids are great. I turned Dancergirl onto them the very day I got home and she thinks they're pretty great, too.

We'll just have to figure this out better next time,

DnW

Re: ADHD: Girls, Diagnosis and Treatment

drumsnwhistles — Sat, 05 Aug 2006 05:42:21 -0000

Hi Lisa and welcome!

Your youngest has it right on the money -- and it's so frustrating! I'm glad the meds are working for your girls. Making that choice to go the medication route is a hard one, but stories like yours are wonderfully encouraging to hear!

DnW

Re: It’s one of those days…

drumsnwhistles — Sun, 06 Aug 2006 23:57:04 -0000

Good luck with a seizure of their home and assets. It's not illegal to own a home in the US when you are not a US citizen. And while we're on the subject, the funds they used to purchase said home were earned with AFTER-TAX dollars earned while contributing to the economic health of this region and country.

But you knew that.

Re: Pardon the dust….

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 15:20:42 -0000

Thanks, Mocha! that's nice to hear, especially on a day where I'm feeling less than creative.

Lee, I think I should commission you to illustrate the banner....I love your illustrations and you'd come up with something quirky. :)

Re: Dopey DOPA-ites take aim at Flickr?

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 17:36:54 -0000

Thanks, Donna! It was a very cool idea on their part.

Re: Calendar Update: Month 2

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 19:32:24 -0000

Hi Chris,

I'd be very interested in that! Keep me posted, I'll gladly be a guinea pig for ya. :)

Re: Pardon the dust….

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 19:33:45 -0000

Hey Kmilyn --

Yeah, I'm migrating this site and the band site over -- if they go okay I'll probably do Bigdog's video site too.

Creativity is escaping me. I think it's the flea onslaught we're having. They're chewng my brain at night.

Re: Crawly things

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 23:57:09 -0000

Lee, I'm going to look into the Capstar thing. These fleas are just driving me crazy.

Re: Caremark Profits; Subscribers Lose

drumsnwhistles — Fri, 11 Aug 2006 03:25:10 -0000

Thanks, Mocha! It was a fun one to take.

Re: Randomness

drumsnwhistles — Fri, 11 Aug 2006 13:50:19 -0000

LOL, it does sound like an email disorder.

Kmilyun would be the highest order of deleter. :)

I, on the other hand, am the highest order of hoarder. Last week, someone asked for an attachment that I found on an email in 2003....yep.

I hope more people respond -- I'm curious. I thought everyone saved email. :)

Re: Randomness

drumsnwhistles — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 13:54:32 -0000

Wooohooo, finnigh! I have you beat. We have an original ALR 386 in the garage and a Compaq suitcase in our closet. The Compaq has a 40 MB Hardcard in it -- state of the art in 1988. :)

And I just found the Commodore 64 on Sticks' closet shelf. I'm afraid I'm hopeless.

Re: Randomness

drumsnwhistles — Sun, 13 Aug 2006 02:38:20 -0000

Ah, I concede. But I still have the C64 in my arsenal. :)

Re: Dancergirl Wins BIG!

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 17:14:25 -0000

Thanks for all the congratulations! She's still over the moon.

Liz, they prohibit videotaping and any photography during competitions. An antique rule that relates to the idea of schools stealing each other's choreography (not that they don't anyway).

But if they do a recital soon, I'll have video then. :)

DnW

Re: Budding Art

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 04:45:11 -0000

Thanks, photofool! And welcome to your photoblog, too...i've gotcha linked in the Photography list now.

Re: Things I want my kids to learn

drumsnwhistles — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 01:24:40 -0000

I had a similar conversation not too long ago with The Eldest. Actually, it was less of a conversation and more of a rant on his part, but I was glad he said what he wanted to say and got it off his chest.

As hard as we all try to do the right things, there's just times where we miss it. Many years ago someone told me that no matter how hard we try to do the right thing with our kids we'll surely screw something up anyway. Hopefully whatever I screw up isn't something major. :)

Re: An Alternative Cure for ADHD

drumsnwhistles — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 01:28:14 -0000

Hi Kris --

I saw your comments over there...well said. The comments were really interesting, weren't they? A blend of utter ignorance, learned experience, and plain outright nastiness.

The sad thing is that they're probably representative of what people really think.

I'm working on those entries...they're a little painful to write, actually. But this much I can say -- we have not hit our kids either nor do we think it's the right way to approach discipline. There is an incredibly mixed message to use spanking and hitting to get across behavior expectations to kids and then turn around and tell them that if they hit others they'll have consequences. Classic do as I say, not as I do.

Thanks for stopping by!

Re: Cliffhanger

drumsnwhistles — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 01:43:11 -0000

I gotta tell ya, this is one of the craziest things I've ever seen. The guy lived to tell the tale, but it was just by a hair. Someone needs to tell him to check his risk index for a tuneup.

Re: The Hacker Salute

drumsnwhistles — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 15:06:33 -0000

Hey everyone, thanks for the comments!

Nancy, welcome to the blog and thanks for reminding me to self-edit next time. The incredible waste of time these idiots cause just sent me into temporary stellar orbit. :)

Kmilyun, you missed it, but I wouldn't necessarily have called it fun. I just renewed my domain yesterday and it sort of pisses me off -- no, it REALLY pisses me off -- that the host isn't more secure.

DnW

Re: Vox: First Impressions

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 22 Aug 2006 00:43:58 -0000

Photofool::

The link is my pleasure! As to Wordpress, I think it's the best blogging/CMS package there is. But it's not easy -- there's a steep, steep learning curve to any tweaking. It's got a geeky interface and installing plugins is not user-friendly. Wordpress.com simplifies this somewhat and is great if you're not one who likes to tinker under the hood, but for sheer power and flexibility, Wordpress straight out of the box rocks. It would be my last choice for Aunt Edna, though.

Jenn:

Yes, I actually do see value in it for more experienced users, mostly for the ability to aggregate so many of the different content services we all use. Vox! is by far the best and easiest I've seen yet for getting photos, videos, books and music all organized in one place according to category or collection. I'm really enjoying the ability to take all my different "internet pieces" and put them together in one big picture on Vox!.

DnW

Re: Hurricane Evangelism

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 22 Aug 2006 01:34:13 -0000

Yeah, that's really the dilemma. The legitimate religious organizations that offer aid, assistance and relief and also use those touchpoints as an opportunity for evangelism give what they give without demanding it back later. And that's true of the gamut of religion, from Islam to Judaism to Christianity to Buddhism. There's no entrance fee at the door.

Scientology, on the other hand, is a pure money grab from day one. So on the one hand, they're giving aid and help to those in need, but the price for signing on to the Scientology way of life seems far too high to me.

Re: Incredulity Abounds

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 22 Aug 2006 01:39:29 -0000

Jenn, it occurred to me after writing this that the whole policy discriminates. Are they suspending GIRLS? I'll bet not.

Keep being squeaky -- I don't know about the respect part but you'll definitely command attention and in the end, maybe a more reasonable approach to a stupid policy.

Re: Help for an HBO-deprived household?

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 13:14:05 -0000

thanks, Soulfull! I really appreciate that info.

Re: Happy Birthday, Sticks!!!!

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 15:34:06 -0000

Hi Kmilyun and thanks! Sorry about the moderated comments -- you shouldn't go into the queue anymore now that one is approved. Unfortunately it was just time to batten down the hatches until my web host closes whatever holes seem to be allowing hackers through.

Re: Another Scientology Sham

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 15:51:18 -0000

I don't agree with your assessment that they were just there to do good, nor do I think they were out of the loop with respect to arrangements. This is exactly what they do -- lure people in with the hook of doing good deeds and then program them to believe they are incapable of good deeds without the serious help of "auditing" and other Scientology money grabs.

Thanks for the comment -- I'm glad you took the time to post it.

Re: Tom Cruise and Paramount

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 03:50:13 -0000

Had he not started behaving like a lunatic, they'd have kept him and the money stream, though I don't think Mission Impossible would have done better with him in normal mode.

I don't know...maybe it did have something to do with it, but ultimately I just don't view the decision as one with a moral and/or ethical foundation.

And of course, it's moot now that he has the backing of the Redskins' owner. I can only hope that once unleashed, he will become so bizarre that he will be irrelevant.

Sooner rather than later. :)

Re: Great teachers

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 03:53:09 -0000

Great story, finnigh! One of my top two teachers approached education similarly much to my benefit. In the process, he really taught me the value of work ethic, but also a love of learning for learning's sake. He took me past the rote compliance mode and got me excited about thinking.

I am so hoping Dancergirl will have one of those teachers in school. She's got them in her outside life, but when it comes to school, things are really dull for her, despite being in the gifted programs. SIGH.

Re: Olbermann Owns Rumsfeld

drumsnwhistles — Sat, 02 Sep 2006 00:13:39 -0000

Sophmom and dillyberto,

I'm so glad you stopped by and left a comment! As a Californian -- a southern Californian -- I've lived through my share of natural disasters but nothing compares to not just the magnitude of your disasters but also the incredible hubris of the government in their non-response.

It is frustrating to be on the sidelines (life dictates that) and more frustrating to see the colossal cluster**cks that are being made of the rebuilding process.

I've subscribed to your blogs -- I'm looking forward to reading them.

Sophmom, I LOVE your son's success story. It's inspiring. Thanks so much for sharing it.

DnW

Re: Blog Day

drumsnwhistles — Sat, 02 Sep 2006 00:23:36 -0000

LOL, sassymonkey! I'm not sure it was YOU -- I'm not afraid of bugs but The Pug is -- and if she can't eat them, she hides.

Tonya and Kristine -- the pleasure was all mine. :)

Re: Droplets Afire

drumsnwhistles — Sun, 03 Sep 2006 23:38:12 -0000

Hi Angie,

Nice to meet you! I've added you to the blogroll under ADHD and subscribed to your blog. It'll be interesting to hear what your son has to say. I hope his school year is great!

DnW

Re: ADHD Success Stories

drumsnwhistles — Sun, 03 Sep 2006 23:40:52 -0000

Thanks, Liz and Sophmom!

Sophmom, it's great that you were able to do that for your son. I count myself as being extraordinarily blessed that Sticks has flourished in a public high school. It could just as easily have gone the other way. I blogged about why he's been successful -- his school has a culture of success as opposed to failure -- but in most high schools our experience would likely have been similar to yours.

Hope your weekend is great,

DnW

Re: A new ADHD blog

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 04 Sep 2006 14:55:49 -0000

Liz, thanks for the reminder on that. I meant to add the link and got distracted...I'll do it now.

DnW

Re: Steve Irwin

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 04 Sep 2006 15:42:09 -0000

It's a very sad day for us all here. And so bizarre...Stingrays are not aggressive creatures unless they feel threatened, and circumstances just converged very weirdly.

DnW

Re: The Video

drumsnwhistles — Sat, 09 Sep 2006 04:20:04 -0000

Thanks, Lee! We'll know in a week if he makes the final cut -- top 3 in each category compete for the $5,000 scholarships.

Re: Detention

drumsnwhistles — Sat, 09 Sep 2006 04:56:52 -0000

Thanks, all! As it turned out, we did the right thing by doing nothing but having a discussion with DG about it...I suppose I could've really made a mess of it if I'd have pushed back about it.

Biz of Knowledge, welcome! Your blog is great, especially for the parent of a HS senior. :) Call me subscribed.

Re: Academic Doping? Gimme a break!

drumsnwhistles — Sat, 09 Sep 2006 15:39:48 -0000

Liz,

Both excellent points. I had meant to say something about the good doctor's statement about statistics. As has been shown to me more than once, intuition is not necessarily proven when the hard numbers are crunched.

And particularly to the second point, BRAVO. I could not agree more and it's so well put.

DnW

Re: The Video

drumsnwhistles — Sat, 09 Sep 2006 15:43:52 -0000

Trish and Brapke,

Thank you!

Brapke, Sticks was truly flattered at your remarks. They meant a lot.

DnW

Re: Academic Doping? Gimme a break!

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 21:22:46 -0000

Chris, thanks for coming and commenting.

I do have a bit of an issue with your statement that the full impact of stimulant (i.e. Ritalin) use is unknown...it has, after all, been studied for well over 60 years. While there are always discoveries waiting to be found I'd say that the odds run well in favor of Ritalin's track record for treating ADHD.

However, your point about viewing stimulants and Ritalin in particular as a performance enhancer rather than a medication used to treat a legitimate condition is well-taken.

Welcome!

DnW

Re: How Nerdy are YOU?

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 17:28:44 -0000

LOL...so how nerdy WERE YOU? :)

Re: Gmail hacked?

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 17:47:29 -0000

Hi toots...

I just had a look at the Google Accounts Troubleshooting Group and it looks like there are some real GMail glitches going on.

People are reporting that their account is receiving email for other people, that they can get into their account but can't click links, their timestamps are wrong, etc.

Also, gman36 had a similar issue with his GMail that was the result of upgrading Zone Alarm Pro

I found soulution i figured out when i upgraded zone alarm pro, was
last i accessed my gmail, so i found this
http://mail.google.com/mail/help/tps_error.html

So what I'd do is start with your side of things -- was there a security update to your computer or anti-virus program? If so, try searching the help area for a workaround.

If that doesn't work, then have a go at logging in using one of these URLs:

HTML: http://mail.google.com/mail/h/
Secure: https://mail.google.com/mail/

If those don't work, then use this page https://services.google.com/inquiry/gmail_secur... to report it again. If you don't have your original invitation (like me), then just leave those blank. The really important field is the one at the bottom where you tell them exactly what you wrote here -- that you don't have that information anymore, that you need to reset the password and security question, and you need access to be able to do that.

Be SURE that you give them an email address they can respond to right away.

Good luck.

Come back and let us know how it goes,

DnW

Re: Helping is Everything

drumsnwhistles — Sat, 16 Sep 2006 17:39:58 -0000

Hi there! Good luck to your girls at the feis today...We have one next week and it will be Dancergirl's first Open Championship -- scary. :)

Drop by and let me know how they did!

Re: Fallout

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 00:05:14 -0000

Thanks, Kmilyun.

The smoke and ash is beginning to consume the entire sky -- today's sky wasn't as stunning as yesterday because the blue sky is pretty much all smoke and ash now.

Hopefully they'll get this fire out soon. The Santa Anas aren't helping the effort, for sure. :(

Re: Ignore me….

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 02:29:11 -0000

LOL...then we'll have a conversation.:)

Re: Day Fire: Day 14

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 12:22:27 -0000

LOL, Kmilyun -- maybe that boat, but I don't know about the condo. :)

Re: Dear Sticks: Try again next year

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 14:35:24 -0000

Thanks, Lee! One thing that they both get from competing in Irish Dance is the understanding that this week's loss is next week's win...so yeah, he's on to the next challenge. :)

Re: Objective ADHD Diagnosis - Around the corner?

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 18:31:59 -0000

Hi kathy and thanks for visiting --

The difference is that they are binding the imaging agents to dopamine transmitters before performing the scans. That means the scans will either reveal a "disconnect" in the dopamine transmitters of the patient or not, and depending upon the result they will be able to actually point to an ADHD result.

The Amen Clinic imaging is measuring brain activity in different areas of the brain and from that, drawing conclusions about whether or not the brain activity is typical of an ADHD pattern. This imaging technique further refines that and narrows it to dopamine transmission activity.

Re: ADHD Awareness Day

drumsnwhistles — Fri, 22 Sep 2006 04:15:35 -0000

LOL, Sophmom! I'll bet you paid your electric bill on time though. Given a choice, I'd rather have missed the day than the bill. :)

Re: Caremark strikes again…

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 16:25:05 -0000

So basically in an era where health insurance premiums have outpaced inflation by more than 200% you're saying that part of the expense is for our insurance company to hire Caremark to essentially be the benefit denier with no real medical review of the claim?

I don't buy that. And that's not what the pharmacy benefits contract says either.

But let's suppose that's true. Is Caremark basically selling their service by saying "Hey, we can deny claims more efficiently than Medco down the street?"

I don't think so.

The facts are that this medication has been denied with no factual basis for doing so.

The facts are that one of the "various other ways" that Caremark makes money is through pharma rebates for promoting one medication over another.

Is the health insurer a part of the problem? Absolutely. But they're not all of it -- Caremark has at least as much responsibility.

When you all start denying claims for Viagra I might take you a bit more seriously.

Re: ADHD and Smoking

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 03:21:03 -0000

Thanks, Doc. I do know what to do -- it's a matter of actually getting up and doing it. :)

So it's not just overcoming addiction -- it's also overcoming procrastination.

(How lame did THAT just sound?...sometimes seeing it in black and white just drives it home...)

Re: Odds and ends in odd time

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 03:22:11 -0000

Yeah, I'm thinking it's better that way too.

Kmilyun, it will be 3 blogs plus the Vox blog which is more or less a moblog. :)

DnW

Re: ADHD Odds and Ends

drumsnwhistles — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 05:35:15 -0000

Thanks, Swamphag. As for my father, I have to say that between my brother and I, I was treated the best. How sad is that? It took me a long time and a substantial number of therapy sessions to come to a point where I could look at how he treated us through the filter of understanding. But that's a topic for a different post some other time. For now, it's probably enough to say that I am past being angry or resentful, but I sure am glad the pattern ended with him.

Re: Do companies really hear blogs barking?

drumsnwhistles — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 13:43:33 -0000

Hi J and welcome --

I agree with much of what you say, but here's where we part ways:

No matter who contracts Caremark's services, they are the designated gatekeeper, and they became the designated gatekeeper as a result of their own marketing strategies to employers and insurance companies. That marketing strategy includes a promise that they will lower the cost of prescription medications within the universe of health insurance plans.

I've had my own insurance as an individual. Guess what? If one can actually afford to pay the thousand dollars or so for an individual policy, that coverage will ALSO have a gatekeeper, usually Caremark. So that's not really an option to get around it.

If a contract says "we will cover this medication if criteria are met" and the criteria are met but coverage is denied, it's immoral at least, and illegal at worst. The contract I am bound to is the same contract that Caremark is bound to, yet they are not performing.

Caremark, Medco and the rest of these PBMS exist because they have promised to keep costs low to the insurance companies. They have a bottom line. They are enormously profitable. Those profits come on the backs of me, my employer, and every consumer out there who uses the health care system. That's okay, too, as long as they perform under the terms of their contract. They don't for me, and they don't for many others.

Believe me, when they DO, I'll be more than happy to say so right here, just as loudly as I have criticized them for not performing.

DnW

ps -- If one hates McDonalds and goes to Burger King instead, they do it because they have that option. In this case, we don't. Caremark is it. Period, end of discussion. So my options are to pay out of pocket or pay out of pocket. And that is why I write about them and will continue to write about them.

pps -- oh, I forgot to mention that because Caremark has denied coverage to this particular medication, I pay full retail. No price breaks for me. So your argument about paying full retail instead of the discounted price doesn't fly either.

Re: Do companies really hear blogs barking?

drumsnwhistles — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 15:10:47 -0000

J,

Of course their dollars aren't wasted and frittered. Employers are also in the business of making money and reducing employee overhead, which is why they will discount-shop their insurers and plans.

There are also some other limiting factors when it comes to Employer choice. If your employer is a national corporation with employees in many states, the insurance plan choices are limited to only those companies which offer coverage in all of those states.

The most commonly available insurer is Blue Cross/Blue Shield, who utilizes Caremark exclusively.

In many cases, the employer is using Caremark because the INSURER requires it as part of the contract.

Here's the real problem -- we are moving toward the HSA system of health insurance, which essentially shifts the burden of health care costs onto the employee and off the employer. It sounds good on paper until it's time to deal with a catastrophic illness, at which point $5,000 and 70% coverage on everything over $10,000 doesn't stretch quite far enough.

We're going there because there is this assumption that there are not enough health insurance dollars coming into the system to cover the dollars paid as benefits. I don't buy that, especially with record profits and bottom lines from the parties in the middle, like Caremark.

DnW

Re: Dopey DOPA-ites take aim at Flickr?

drumsnwhistles — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 15:13:54 -0000

J, I haven't ever had any links on this blog to photos of nude children. As my post implies, I couldn't find any. Certainly none that were in any way sexual -- perhaps a photo of a two-year old playing in the pool but I hardly consider that pornographic.

This post has not been edited since it was posted, so I'm at a loss to know what you're talking about.

Re: Dopey DOPA-ites take aim at Flickr?

drumsnwhistles — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 18:50:48 -0000

J --

When you said you posted them it occurred to me that the spam filtering software I use might have caught them -- which it did. (Usually posts with this many links in them are spam...).

It's there now.

I think the photos speak for themselves -- they're hardly pornography. On the other hand, if I were tagging I wouldn't have tagged them with those terms, even if they're truly descriptive. It still doesn't justify banning flickr.

DnW

12-8-2006: I've placed the comments with links to the photos in question in the "moderated bucket" because they are attracting far too much spam. Thanks.

Re: Car Shopping: Help!

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 03:54:26 -0000

Yes, it is amazing. For me, it has to do with paying such a chunk of money for something that is basically a way for me to get from one place to the next. Unlike many here in the great state of California, I am not in love with driving or cars. So it's a necessary evil that I need but don't want to sell my soul for.

On the other hand, I do want to be at least smart about what I plunk down a bunch of cash on...and that's what is making me crazy.

DnW

Re: The hard life of a roadie…

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 04:17:18 -0000

<sniffle>

I was hoping you wouldn't say that, but I know it's true. I'm already anticipating it.

DnW</sniffle>

Re: Am I a two-dollar whore?

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 04:17:56 -0000

LOL, Lee -- I like that. I think I'll have to use that term sometime soon. :)

DnW

Re: Car Shopping: Help!

drumsnwhistles — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 18:45:20 -0000

Hey Maryam, welcome! I like BMW's too. I'm just too cheap to think it's okay to get a new car and have it be worth substantially less the day after I drive it off the lot. Plus, with one kid off to college next year and another one off to college in four years, it's time to tighten the belt. Bigdog loves his old Mercedes so much that it's taken me over a year to convince him it's time to upgrade. :)

Kmilyun and Lee, I'm looking hard at Saturns. Really hard. There's not many wagons available here though -- I live in the land of SUV, sadly.

DnW

Re: Am I a two-dollar whore?

drumsnwhistles — Sat, 07 Oct 2006 14:09:17 -0000

Thanks Dan, and welcome to the blog.

I am seeing at least the dawn of understanding among those who were so quick to call us whores -- that's a good thing.

As time goes on and the integrity of the system shows itself to be valid, I think the buzz will turn from positive to negative.

I do think that the more PPPosties who disclose, the better. I see that as nothing but good for everyone.

DnW

Re: A Note to Netscape

drumsnwhistles — Sat, 07 Oct 2006 16:23:03 -0000

Hi Jason, and welcome to the blog.

My PPP all disclose that they are paid posts, either via tagging them as PayPerPost posts, disclosure within the text of the post, or both.

Here's my problem with AdSense -- my metrics show that most of my readers read via RSS readers; therefore, few clicks into ads.

I'm actually considering PPP as an alternative fundraising model for our marching band and dance school sites, because the revenue derived from AdSense has been so dismal.

Yes, I do want the lens and I'm willing to earn it. Earn it, not sell my soul.

Re: Anger, Vendettas and Name-Calling

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 01:12:20 -0000

Thanks to you both! It really has been a fun discussion when engaging with you all who discuss...hopefully others will take your lead and express themselves without the extra nasties. :)

Have a great week,

DnW

Re: Dopey DOPA-ites take aim at Flickr?

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 01:14:35 -0000

Hi JJJ, and welcome --

I looked at all of those links and found nothing even vaguely resembling child pornography. I did find a lot of parody, but nothing even close to the real deal, or at least, what I would imagine the real deal to be.

DnW

Re: Newstarget.com: Another Scientology site?

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 18:00:14 -0000

Hi Andrew -- Sorry to have disappointed. As I pointed out in my post, I was really not sure whether or not there was a Scientology link.

Under "Worthy Sites", he links to CCHR (citizen's commission on human rights) - a known Scientology front.

I will get you links for the other information when I have the opportunity, but the one that sent my radar flying was the CCHR link.

Re: Flickr: 30,000 Views!

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 16:39:32 -0000

Y'know, the track this message thing is the CoComment plugin -- I like CoComment except on Flickr...I make too many "Great shot!" comments to want to track them all and CoComment doesn't really play nice with Flickr.

The number of visitors I've had to the blog has stayed fairly static for the past month or so, though I've had a big page view surge this month and last, which is nice. I guess that means folks are reading more of what's here.

I keep waiting for you to do some political commentary so I can blog it on the political side....hmmm?

I was embargoed from posting pug photos by the daughter, who claimed all Flickr rights to pug pictures. I occasionally sneak through one from the cell phone. :) But now that she's back in school, I might be able to reclaim my rightful pug territory.

:)

DnW

Re: I’m a third of my former self

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 20:44:19 -0000

Nah, I don't think I have a Google rank officially. There's one post page that is cached, (The Blogher Advertisers post) but the site isn't officially ranked.

Re: I’m a third of my former self

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 22:48:32 -0000

Hi Lee,

I read through a feed reader too, and Feedburner is supposed to track that, so it shouldn't make a difference. I was dumbfounded -- from 60 to 20 in less than a month. Ouch.

I'm glad you're still reading!

DnW

Re: The most amazing sky ever

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 05:25:07 -0000

Thank you, Susan, and welcome to the blog.

Re: Avoiding the Ninth Circle of Hell: Litigation

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 05:25:41 -0000

Thanks, Susan. I hope it helps!

Re: Rhetorical Question

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 05:26:32 -0000

Thank you, VC Dan. It doesn't seem to have made a ripple, but it made me feel better. :)

Re: Leaping out of the Frame

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 03:23:03 -0000

Thanks, Swamphag! I was really happy to get it, even if I did cut her off a teeny bit. :)

Re: Get Them Blogging!

drumsnwhistles — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 13:43:49 -0000

Hey, Jason, welcome back to the blog. Before I address your questions, I do want to let you know how much I loved your Adam Curry imitation on the Gillmor Gang this week. I haven't laughed that hard at a podcast in forever. Well done.

If you visit the link I posted, they're actually suggesting people start blogs for the sole purpose of entering this registry and reviewing the products.

I keep thinking there must be a better way....I really don't want to read sixty blogs with the same product review on them.

If you look at my Blog Principles you will see exactly what my position is on being up front. I agree -- 100% transparency is the only way these models work.

DnW

Re: Boston Legal — Loved it!

drumsnwhistles — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 16:03:12 -0000

Hi Romie,

It's interesting that you saw his argument as an anti-freedom one. I saw it as the opposite -- that the Bill of Rights wasn't intended to constrain businesses any more than individuals. If the Scientologist's conduct wasn't consistent with what was expected, then he should've been fired. That same principle (in my view) should apply to anyone who needs a basis of trust to conduct their business in a meaningful way, which is really where I saw his argument going.

I was kind of glad it was Scientology -- most shows would've just hammered Christianity or Judaism, not that the writers spared those, either.

Glad you came by,

DnW

Re: Boo!

drumsnwhistles — Sat, 21 Oct 2006 03:11:57 -0000

1) Absolutely! If I'd had the new lens, you'd have seen the reflection bouncing out of that little bird's eye. :)
2) Thank you - that tree was lovely
3) Trust me, you don't want these -- clunky and they leave purple and green fringe in high light :(
4) Oh, just you wait. I've got pumpkins and spiders waiting in the wings. :)

DnW

Re: What Brands Define You?

drumsnwhistles — Sat, 21 Oct 2006 03:12:36 -0000

Hi Matt,

Minti is a very cool community -- I count it as one of my favorites. :)

Re: Get Them Blogging!

drumsnwhistles — Sun, 22 Oct 2006 16:31:48 -0000

Hi dawn,

We really agree more than we disagree, though I'd swear I read something on the site about getting your mom, aunt, etc. to start blogs and register them. If not, my bad on that one.

I don't see any reason why marketers shouldn't broaden their scope to a wider blogging audience and as long as disclosure is made it shouldn't be a big deal, but then, I didn't think PayPerPost was a big hairy deal either until it blew up in the outer blogosphere.

Welcome,

DnW

Re: Surprise!

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 23 Oct 2006 16:15:15 -0000

Well, this one's Bigdog's, so he has the financial worries with it. (we keep our finances separate because it seems to work better that way for us)

But it's a very, very cool car. I haven't driven it, but I've ridden in it and I'm liking the 49 mpg a lot. :)

I still am looking for the right used car for me. I don't want payments of any kind, so it's cash and carry for me. In the meantime I hitch a ride with him, drive Sticks' Honda, or walk. Mostly I walk, it's good for me.

Re: Surprise!

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 01:40:03 -0000

From your keyboard to God's ears, Kmilyun. :)

Re: Meltdown

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 17:30:46 -0000

I think maybe it did go there. I didn't see any comments come through on this, but I had a TON of spam last night. Maybe it got eaten....sorry. :(

Re: Arrington is now officially an asshole

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 18:26:05 -0000

Hello, Bob H.

Prove that I'm a greedy shill. Show me where I've deceived anyone. Take the challenge.

You can either leave a comment here or on your own blog, except you didn't link your own blog so I guess leave it here.

Otherwise your condemnation leaves you in the land of the ignorant and uninformed, just like Arrington.

Re: Arrington is now officially an asshole

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 22:22:21 -0000

You haven't shown me here on this blog how I've created any kind of widespread market for deception, Jason.

More to the point, you HAVE been given exactly what you asked for -- disclosure and a policy for disclosure. So why aren't you joining the conversation?

I won't lose sleep either. AND I can look myself in the mirror in the morning, something I'd have trouble doing if I were using whatever clout I had to stomp on folks less fortunate than myself.

Re: Arrington is now officially an asshole

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 22:40:44 -0000

And so you prove that you also haven't actually looked at any posts I've written, or you'd know immediately that the approach you describe isn't mine.

Re: Scientology Sunday: 48 Hours Report

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 11:13:43 -0000

Um, just about every commercial industry in the US has pharma advertising behind it. That doesn't mean they're biased in their reporting.

I'm not even going to address the fact that producers are related to mental health professionals - I'm sure you could find a relationship for just about everyone on the planet to a mental health professional. So what?

As I said in my original post on this, the fact that he responded to medications in a non-violent and positive manner pretty much negates the "there is no mental illness" theory.

Re: Two Points of View

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 12:00:13 -0000

Thank you, Nancy!

Re: Two Points of View

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 00:19:59 -0000

thanks, Kmilyun -- no seed swallowing b/c DG did all the carving. They don't let me near sharp knives in the house. :)

Re: Firefox 2.0 is making me crazy

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 04:11:35 -0000

Yeah, going back to the prior might be what I have to do, but I'm still trying to figure out if it's ME or the program. I disabled all the plugins, figuring that if I could get it to behave its bad self without them, I'd figure out what the culprit was.

The opening in a new window drives me nuts. It makes me want to switch to Google reader just to get around that.

So I have to guess the new domain? I tried but my brain is too fried tonight...I'll probably try again in the morning.

Take care,

DnW

Re: Arrington is now officially an asshole

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 04:25:06 -0000

Hi Rayne,

The options in the menus are intended as a place to start. Once you've gone through and the text is generated, I'd suggest tweaking it to fit your particular style/blog/whatever. It's only intended to be a beginning. It would also be cool for you to leave comments in their forums about what specific tweaks you made to get it to fit your blog, just as a way for others to get some ideas.

I'd just delete the references to paid posts and leave the advertising part in there.

You shouldn't view the result from the generator tool as the be-all and end-all -- just a beginning for you to shape into something that works for you.

DnW

Re: Scientology Sunday: 48 Hours Report

drumsnwhistles — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 01:55:02 -0000

Hi Mike,

Here's the 48 Hours Transcript link. It takes awhile for them to post the transcripts -- about a week or so.

DnW

Re: You know you want one

drumsnwhistles — Sun, 05 Nov 2006 00:45:02 -0000

LOL, the idea of an exploding Rumsfeld doll is almost more than I can imagine. :)

Re: ADHD Odds and Ends

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 19:34:20 -0000

Hi CJ and welcome to the blog --

Oh, the 'toughlove' thing...don't even get me started on that! Yes, there are kids who need more discipline but there is a difference between a kid with ADHD and one who needs discipline -- the Liam Ashley story is a prime example of toughlove gone awry.

I'm glad you stopped by!

-DnW

Re: Portland Suggestions?

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 08:47:22 -0000

Thanks for the suggestions! I've printed your comments so I'll remember. :)

DnW

Re: AdAge Spins it Backwards

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 12:35:28 -0000

Vent away, Emily, and welcome to the blog!

Lynn Terry posted a detailed account of the real story behind the interview. I'm not sure why Mya bothered to interview her at all, frankly, since she wrote fiction anyway.

Re: The tweaks go on….

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 14:40:48 -0000

Something is really screwed up. It's not my wordpress dates -- I'm not sure what it is, but for now I have to leave it alone because I don't have time to mess with it before we leave. (SIGH)

Re: Old Locomotive

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 14:48:29 -0000

Yep, you're right -- it was Salinas. There were so many stops it was hard to keep track, but Salinas rings the right bell.

Thanks!

Re: ADHD Odds and Ends

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 12:56:42 -0000

Hey ThyGuy, you had me till the "half-braindead" comment. Yes, adaptation is a huge part and I've never asked for accommodation for me or my son because I figure we all have to live in the real world...but that doesn't mean there aren't struggles with it.

On the other hand, I have indeed seen folks with dyslexia request and receive accommodations where permitted. They should receive them. Hats off to them for overcoming their particular disabilities.

Your comments are especially interesting to me, since I'm currently working through the college admissions and scholarships process only to discover far more available scholarships and accomodations for dyslexia than ADHD.

-DnW

Re: At precisely 2:15 PM yesterday my head exploded

drumsnwhistles — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 03:51:44 -0000

Hi Julie,

I love the Santa Anas, but not when they're double-dog cold and cutting like these were. It felt like a darn gale. They're gone now, but I'm still sneezing my head off, and still rationing the Sudafed. :)

Re: The Attention Deficit Disorder Blog is a Fraud

drumsnwhistles — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 03:53:40 -0000

What I'm curious about is why Google keeps sending it through on my Alerts. Obviously she's gamed her page rank, but the same post keeps coming through over and over again. In the process of looking into it a bit more closely, I noticed that she runs one for arthritis pain relief, too. The snake oil sales are one of my pet peeves, because they're always selling at the expense of proven medical treatments.

Re: Lucy! ‘Splain!

drumsnwhistles — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 18:11:06 -0000

Hi Donna,

I think that's true, or at least they're not Internet-literate. Sometimes it's easy to forget that most people aren't glued to their keyboards the way I am. Your point is well-taken, though - there are dangers everywhere and we don't do the kids any favors by sheltering them. Educating them is a far better tack to take.

Re: UCLA: 13 USC: 9

drumsnwhistles — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 04:03:03 -0000

Aw, photofool...I have USC friends who are in deep mourning tonight and I don't mean to gloat. On the other hand...as the daughter of a UCLA alum, I have a moral obligation to celebrate.

Had Sticks opted for USC as one of his college options I assure you I'd have been rooting for them, too.

DnW

Re: Jingle Pug - Update

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 03:10:28 -0000

Hi Tami,

I'm glad you liked it! She had fun making it -- I had to listen to that scary reindeer a lot of times before she got what she wanted. :)

Re: Egret up close

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 04:22:15 -0000

Thanks, Donna!

Re: Where there’s smoke…

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 04:24:03 -0000

Thanks, Julie. As it turns out, that smoke was actually from a fire on the other side, closer to CSUCI (the old Camarillo State Hospital). They got that one out relatively quickly, but the Moorpark fire is only 35% contained still.

Re: A-llure

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 12:03:03 -0000

Thank you, Shelley!

Re: College Application Hell: Let’s climb out

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 16:18:12 -0000

Hi Liz,

Yes, Bloglines munched my feeds pretty well right before I left for Oregon.

We finished the three November 30th applications for general admission and are now tweaking the applications for scholarships and the music programs at each school. Auditions are scheduled for early February, which means out of state jaunts to IU and UNT on consecutive weekends.

Re: The Attention Deficit Disorder Blog is a Fraud

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 17:00:06 -0000

Uggggh. I guess I need to start reading her site more regularly if for no other reason than to debunk the crap she's posting there.

Re: A-llure

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 22:42:46 -0000

Lee --

Ha! No, I'll leave the fishing to Kmilyun. It was just sitting on the pillar when I was choking in Sunday's smoke, so I figured it needed me to take its picture. :)

Re: Frustrating limits of online communities

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 04:49:53 -0000

Thanks to everyone who has emailed or posted comments here. I did get hold of Jules via her personal email address and am in the process of putting together a paypal link to help her out.

I know that she's really appreciative and overwhelmed by everyone's generosity, and I should have more information available later on today. :)

Re: Kisses of Christmas

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 14:41:37 -0000

Minaz, thanks for the comment. I checked out the site and don't quite understand why I'd need it when I send directly to my blog and flickr from my phone without a middleman.

Why do I need a service to do it for me?

Re: Afflicted with Affluenza

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 03:39:22 -0000

Kmilyun,

I was in the class of 76 and also in A Cappella Choir -- and I remember that accident. It scared the devil out of all of us for a long while.

I was in choir for three years. For 2 of the 3 I didn't make the chamber choir -- just not quite good enough. I worked hard and did make it as a senior. My best friend was also a choir member and made chamber choir easily. I can't remember resenting her for it -- she and I are still best friends to this day.

There is actually an upbeat ending to this story -- the instructors are committed enough that they have fought for this independent group and evidently been successful. I gave them a check for Sticks' fees tonight and signed the contracts. It may happen after all, provided that we distance ourselves completely from the school district.

K

Re: Afflicted with Affluenza

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 04:53:45 -0000

Oh gosh, I'm so sorry your friend was one of the victims! How horrible is that?

After Prop 13, everything extracurricular has to be funded with outside money because there is no money -- none whatsoever -- to fund anything. Our band gets $700 per year to buy music, fund trips and travel to performances. That's not even enough for one bus. So everything is covered by parents paying fees and the kids raising money -- the next time you see a group of kids doing a carwash for the band, stop and let 'em wash your car, because it's those fundraisers that enable them to do just about every activity they do, sadly enough.

and you're in luck -- as part of my argument for why I haven't raised an overly ambitious win-at-all-costs kid, I found my 2005 video where they won 4th in championships. These kids worked their butts off for this show, and it was great. Sticks plays snare -- he's the shorter of the two.

Of all the years of our drumline, this one is one that I think someday someone will write and say they found this piece of video and can hardly believe that Sticks and the other snare drummer were on the same line. The other guy is a year older and making a huge name for himself at Musician's Institute in LA...there will be a time where they play together again, I think...this time professionally. I'll put the video in a new post.

K

Re: 2005 Drumline: The legend of Isis and Osiris

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 05:30:17 -0000

Ya gotta give those guys credit for doing all 7 performances in skirts. :)

Re: Frustrating limits of online communities

drumsnwhistles — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 03:15:48 -0000

You all rock. :)

Re: Holiday Podcast

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 06:25:07 -0000

Thanks, Kmilyun! Sticks is pretty proud of this one -- the concert really rocked and these were his three drumset numbers. mama llama samba was the 'challenge piece' for the semester. :)

We had a great holiday -- I hope yours was, too!

Re: Hummingbird in Paradise

drumsnwhistles — Sun, 31 Dec 2006 11:42:21 -0000

LOL, Kmilyun...I knew what you meant. :) This truly was "aim at the eye and hope for the best" -- it was handheld with the long heavy lens and I had no time to fix the settings, so just hoped for the best. :)

Re: MamaLamaSamba

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 02 Jan 2007 05:05:44 -0000

Thank you, Marie, and welcome! This group is a Junior College group, but Sticks and the three behind him are in high school or just out. They are hoping to move from 4th place in the West to 1st this year at the Reno Jazz Festival. :)

Re: Tech and the Elderly

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 02 Jan 2007 15:37:28 -0000

I wish I had found a good solution. Ultimately I ended up adding an audio ID tag to MP3 files, which was a less than ideal solution, given that it meant I was limited to MP3 files only and couldn't put any music files on it.

It seems like a simple enough matter to make these devices more accessible to the elderly -- they're really perfect for them if they'd just give them a way to navigate without reading the screen.

What would be ideal is voice recognition, so they could control everything with their voice.

Good luck to you and your grandfather. Come back and leave a comment if you find a solution --

Karoli (drumsnwhistles)

Re: New Year, New Look, Sharper Focus

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 02 Jan 2007 15:39:38 -0000

Thanks! One of the things I'm frustrated with is that anything I add to the sidebar (google shared items, flickr, mybloglog, recent comments) corrupts the styles. This is partly because the items have their own formatting embedded into the javascript, but whatever it is, it's frustrating. So for now they're not there. The one I miss the most is the most recent comments feature.

Re: Frustrating limits of online communities

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 02 Jan 2007 16:16:24 -0000

Jules,

One of the highlights of this holiday season was being able to have a direct positive impact on someone I know and care about.

People were amazing -- everyone wanted to help in whatever way they could. It made my holiday, and I'm so glad it worked out for you, too.

Karoli

Re: The Fair Use Excuse

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 11:43:29 -0000

David, it's a pity that you didn't really read what I wrote. Had you read it, you'd have seen that I was not criticizing you as much as I was highlighting the need to give credit where credit is due.

Your blacklisting of our flickr accounts offends me -- among other things it sends a message to Flickr that WE broke the terms of service.

I wish you all good luck with your blogging venture. I hope you make money. Piles of it.

Re: Fragile Fingers

drumsnwhistles — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 03:08:19 -0000

Thanks, Charlie! Good to see you again -- glad to hear things are going well with the script. :)

Re: Folic Acid Awareness Week? Seriously?

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 04:41:18 -0000

Hmmmm, about your birthday -- there's NO awareness week in the month of mine. What should I make of that? :)

You've just gotta love Prune Breakfast Month. Good lord. :)

Re: I must have too much time on my hands

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 05:26:49 -0000

ROFL...I didn't know you took pics of lemons -- I haven't been over to browse yet. :)

Seriously, this was so much harder than I thought it would be, and it's not great for the camera either. I used the Canon's superzoom feature, which means you have to place the camera 3 inches or less away from the subject. I put it on a little mini tripod and got it all set up, then dropped the lemon with the left hand, hitting the shutter with the right hand.

Getting the settings right about drove me nuts. I used the flash, shutter priority at 1/1250, aperture set at 2.7. Still, I tossed 48 and kept 2. This is the best of the two, and it's still not really what I want.

Oh, the glass I used was a shallow one with a heavy bottom to it that was pretty reflective. I used the lighter bathroom tile as the background -- on the icky brown kitchen tile it just looked...icky.

Re: Folic Acid Awareness Week? Seriously?

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 06:00:22 -0000

August. :)

Re: Delurk, Delurk, Wherever You Are

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 17:05:07 -0000

djuggler, WELCOME! I love your blog -- I'm subscribed. :)

Re: I must have too much time on my hands

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 17:16:49 -0000

The purple fringe drives me nuts. That alone would be grounds for a return and/or exchange. There's no excuse for a digital camera to drop that much fringe on a photo...do they have any solutions in their troubleshooting guide?

Re: Make The Pug’s Day: Delurk!

drumsnwhistles — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 02:48:52 -0000

Thanks for delurking, everyone!

Re: Do I have your attention yet?

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 04:10:43 -0000

Thanks for that! :)

Re: On whether Iran is really a threat

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 03:48:24 -0000

LOL, no. I just thought it was interesting enough to cross-post. ;-)

Re: On whether Iran is really a threat

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 05:09:52 -0000

If I were feeling mischievous, I'd tell ya to try clicking it again and see if it works right...

But I'm not. I've been trying to get all the pointers to be "politics.drumsnwhistles.com" instead of /politics/permalink...

I missed this one, but it's fixed now.

Re: Random Stuff

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 06:15:54 -0000

Ah, another insomniac. :)

Sticks had to go for Early Decision because the music department auditions are in Feb/March and he has to receive university acceptance before applying for an audition date. Interestingly, his essays are connected to the music apps rather than the university apps, so he just put the finishing touches on those last weekend. He has exactly three weeks to memorize a snare and marimba solo before the first audition next month. What a process!

Nice to hear you got some of the fees waived. We only applied to three, but the fees were around $60 each, and then the music apps are another $50 each.

All I can say is that I'm looking forward to the day when he's making lots of $$$$ and can keep us in our old age. (snicker)

The decision phase is going to be the tough part. It may be decided for us if scholarships don't come our way to the out-of-state campuses. If they do, it will be much harder.

Re: Random Stuff

drumsnwhistles — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 03:57:58 -0000

Hi Marie,

When you left your first comment, I said to myself, "I know that person". And then I shrugged it off, thinking "Yeah, right. The Internet is a big, wide place. You don't bump into people from the past on the Internet; you bump into them at the grocery store."

Actually, in thinking through this response, it would make an excellent blog post. :) But the short answer to your question is, Yes, I do remember you. :)

Karoli

Re: It Boggles the Mind

drumsnwhistles — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 16:54:54 -0000

Hi codylee,

It was wrong, and ignorant. O'Reilly has a history of saying outrageous and inflammatory things to get a reaction from viewers, but this went far beyond the pale.

Of course, Fox is the same station that didn't bat an eye when he was accused of sexual harassment and then settled the whole thing quietly and with no disclosure.

Re: Egret At Rest

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 01:58:11 -0000

Thanks, Mocha! The only class I'd know to teach is the class of "take zillions in the hope of landing one". :)

Re: It Boggles the Mind

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 02:03:20 -0000

Thanks, lora for that post. I do think people need to understand that they really don't have the right to known.

Re: If I can’t join them, I’ll blog them

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 13:13:21 -0000

Excellent news, Tom! I will definitely watch for that.

Re: Anatomy of a Smear Campaign

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 17:00:21 -0000

Hi Doc and thanks for the link back and comment.

I've seen Absence of Malice and agree -- it's a great movie on the subject. And even though my intellect tells me this is the way it has been since the beginning of time, my intuition tells me that there is a way to tell a story without skewing it or distorting it in this way.

A couple of years back I called the Star to see if they'd do a piece on our High School drumline, since they were sweeping their competitions and were on the fast track to win the championships in Southern California for the first time in their school history. The editor at the time asked me why on earth she would want to do a story on this drumline when Ventura County had truly fine, consistently winning drumlines (Newbury Park, Moorpark, etc).

I had to invent a "story" about how some of the kids on the line were "at risk" and how participating kept them from failing, dropping out, or turning to more destructive escapes from difficult home environments. Though there were a few that were in that category, most of the kids weren't. They did do the story, and did it from that angle which gave the kids and school some much-needed positive publicity, but the real story really wasn't told -- that a lot of good kids came together and worked hard to win. That story, without the 'at risk' angle, wasn't sexy enough for them.

Re: Pug in heaven

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 05:21:38 -0000

Oh yes, they're paramount. :) Chloe gets so utterly silly!

Re: Newstarget.com: Another Scientology site?

drumsnwhistles — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:18:18 -0000

Ron, thank you for your comment, which I think speaks volumes and answers the question quite well.

Re: 2000 Bloggers Project

drumsnwhistles — Sat, 27 Jan 2007 21:52:19 -0000

20th Row, 8th from the right.

Re: The Family

drumsnwhistles — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 22:13:15 -0000

Hi Kmilyun,

We are so spoiled! It rained all day yesterday and today and by this morning I was whining about it...LOL. :)

Re: Do companies really hear blogs barking?

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 16:45:14 -0000

Thanks for your comment. The problem I have is not with the folks on the phone -- it's with the corporate culture, which is greedy and doesn't care about employees, subscribers or anyone but lining the pockets of the big boys at the top.

Your comments about how they take care of employees says it all.

Re: You may now kiss my ring

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 18:53:48 -0000

Heh. No kidding. Maybe even slave.

Re: Hit Parade: Cingular, Caremark and Scientology in Hot Pursuit of the Almighty Dollar

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 16:00:15 -0000

Hi Donna,

It does give one hope, doesn't it? :)

Re: When Knights of the Realm Climb on Their High Horses

drumsnwhistles — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 06:23:17 -0000

I'm glad you liked it -- I figured some humor might be in order instead of my customary rant. :)

Re: When Knights of the Realm Climb on Their High Horses

drumsnwhistles — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 12:51:00 -0000

Thanks for all your nice comments! It's amazing what can be done when one has had too little sleep and the drummer is out of state long enough to hear myself think. :)

Re: Welcome, Women of Web 2.0

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 04:42:16 -0000

Thanks, Kmilyun....I was struggling Friday with an angle and then the light went on brightly. I'm a little slow sometimes, but eventually I figure it out. :)

Re: Motorola Razr: Dry Clean Only

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 04:45:12 -0000

Thanks to you all for the suggestions. Alas, it is firmly dead. I left it in the sun again today and blew-dried it one more time, put the battery and SIM card in (both work because I tried them in my phone), and...

nothing. Zero, zip nada.

Trying to decide a replacement strategy. She keeps telling me I did buy insurance on it...but I sure don't remember it that way. I guess I'll go and find out from the horse's mouth tomorrow. If I did and they replace it, she'll get my Pink one...I'll take the new one, if for no other reason than to remind her to be more responsible in the future.

Re: Facing Reality: Ugh

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 14:50:51 -0000

Thanks, Donna. There is that possibility. But honestly...the best schools are the two that are out of state. :(

Re: How to make a great topic boring

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 14:13:40 -0000

Hi Sara,

No, the entire trimester was dedicated to cursive practice, definitions lookups, and really very little technology education. It was more like a "survey of technology in essay form".

But I disagree with you on the 'perfect introductory lesson' part, or at least part of it. In a technology class, shouldn't the intro have been written on the computer? Why handwritten?

Re: After the Fight, Failure

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 02:44:07 -0000

I'm not sure I'm clear on it, but I know there's one there somewhere. Selfishness robs everyone of the prize? Teamwork? Greed? Or just our base nature out there doing what creatures do best...try to survive and once in awhile score a prize.

Re: What is a Beme?

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 04:33:05 -0000

I hoped someone would come through with that. :) I thought the very same thing!

Re: Suburban Saturday

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 04:34:46 -0000

Thanks, Donna and Kmilyun!

Honestly...I am so glad to see things go his way, because so many (especially teachers) predicted failure for him in high school, yet he has chosen to shine. He's a really good kid who didn't deserve all those dire predictions, so yay Sticks for proving them wrong!!!

Re: Are you a Mac or a PC?

drumsnwhistles — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 05:28:38 -0000

Heh...I could've gone either way. I think the question that kept me in the Mac camp was the one that said "are you sick a lot?"

I'm not, and I'm sure that's a twit toward the Mac/PC battle. If I'm a Mac, why can't I afford one? ;-)

Re: Bipolar Britney?

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 01:32:53 -0000

Anonymous, yes -- it could just be suffocation from celebrity, but celebrities can and do use their resources to maintain their privacy and distance from the public. It seems to me that in this case you have a person who is incredibly talented and creative, craves the limelight but hates the spotlight, and has a self-destructive streak that runs her entire length. The question in my mind is whether that self-destructive streak is really something much more serious than just a girl running wild.

Re: Julie Amero: Persecution of the Innocent

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 14:27:26 -0000

You all are wonderful! Thanks for visiting! The more I read about this case, the more frustrated I am that she is in this mess.

Tell your friends -- A comment and/or pingback puts $1 more into her defense fund -- no obligation required.

Re: Julie Amero: More Info

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 17:16:43 -0000

Liz, thank you for that... I think. It is a bit slanted, but I'll be interested to see the responses to it.

I've also been reading Frank Krasicki's excellent blog posts about the case this morning and think he should write a book about this. Just outstanding analysis and commentary from him.

Re: Willful or Unlawful Acts

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 04:45:16 -0000

HA! I only said I didn't cuss -- didn't say YOU couldn't. ;-)

Re: I love the Blogosphere and so will Julie Amero

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 19:56:27 -0000

scout, thank YOU. The knitting community is a passionate and generous one, indeed.

Re: Julie Amero Update

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 15:26:36 -0000

Thank you, Liz and Jon. I received a google alert about the Nancy Willard report and was just updating when your comment was posted, Jon!

I'm so glad to see the buzz ramping up to a roar!

Re: Nancy Willard: The Julie Amero Tragedy

drumsnwhistles — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 04:48:54 -0000

Scout,

Me too. The more I read, the angrier I get.

Re: Oprah, What Were You Thinking?

drumsnwhistles — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 15:09:07 -0000

Becky, he BLAMED THE VICTIM.

In front of all of the faithful FOX viewers he said that the victim, a teenage boy, was wrong not to have run away from his captor and "must have liked it better" where he was.

That's sick thinking in my view and I don't think Oprah should be rehabilitating him.

Re: Julie Amero transcripts

drumsnwhistles — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 19:53:36 -0000

Hi Gideon,

I've posted my initial thoughts in the post just above this one. I really wish the defense had hammered harder on cross-examination (particularly the genius Hartz), and don't see where the three prongs of the required findings were met at all.

Re: Julie Amero: Thoughts on the transcripts

drumsnwhistles — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 20:19:56 -0000

Gideon, what do you make of the fact that 2 of the pornographic sites were accessed on the 20th when she was nowhere near the computer?

Re: I love the Blogosphere and so will Julie Amero

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 21:53:19 -0000

All,

Thank you so much for your kind comments.

David, I haven't decided whether or not to auction it, but if I do I will definitely let you know!

Re: Caremark: Our New Doctor

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 22:27:10 -0000

redhead468,

yada yada. This I've heard over and over again and you've even got the Supremes to back you up. Caremark is a contract administrator, they don't make decisions, they just enforce the contract.

Here's the problem with the reasoning: Whenever someone needs a prior authorization, the denial is signed by a Caremark physician. Not Blue Cross, not Blue Shield, Caremark.

BC/BS never sees the claim. Caremark shoots the PA for psychiatric meds to their gastroenterologist who checks it against a laundry list without paying real attention to the claim itself and denies it.

The signature on the denial clearly comes from Caremark. No other company.

Don't sing me the Caremark song about how your insurance provider has the info yada yada, because this is a clear-cut structure of plausible deniability, crafted in such a way that the pockets of the CEOs are lined at the expense of the insureds.

But hey, thanks for the comment.

Re: Professional Crime and Punishment: You make the call

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 23:56:13 -0000

Holy cow, Doug! What a blast from the past! A 13-year old with ADHD and Aspberger's definitely brings challenges...

I'm wondering if the text-messaging teacher texted from school, since it was during the sheriff's dinner party. :)

Dang, it's fun to see you again! I hope you'll hang around. :)

Re: On Point

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 00:09:33 -0000

Gideon,

Thanks -- I love it when she lets me get a picture of her on her toes. :)

Re: Amero Post Update

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 16:04:02 -0000

WEHooper,

I've fixed the link (my bad!!!) and it should download as a zip file for you now.

Let me know if you have any more troubles with it.

Re: Professional Crime and Punishment: You make the call

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 21:18:44 -0000

Thanks, Doug, that helps. Oy...

Re: Carlos Miller, or Photography is NOT a Crime

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 22:14:56 -0000

Doug,

Miller's photos refute their claims. Look at the one I've included here -- you can clearly see officers behind him and cars passing by.

And yeah, what's "posturing assertively"?

I shudder to think what they'd do to a kid with a couple of drumsticks in his hands. EEK. Fear of being paradiddled to death?

Re: Julie Amero: Sentencing delayed

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 22:18:25 -0000

Gideon,

I think Kmilyun's point was that if she didn't know, and asked them for help, wouldn't she rightly be considered to be putting them in harm's way? In other words, NOT asking for help was an act in itself.

Re: Comments

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 22:20:13 -0000

Hi Scout,

No, I haven't found it -- do you have a name?

Signed,

Eternally grateful

Re: Carlos Miller, or Photography is NOT a Crime

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 23:23:32 -0000

The drummer thanks you, and I have this bad feeling that Miami judges might just be a lot like Miami police, but hope does spring eternal. ;-)

Re: Ever heard of Sally D?

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 02:53:21 -0000

Hi Liz,

Thanks for the heads-up on the link -- evidently they double-posted and I picked up the one they deleted...LOL. So now it's correct and works.

The reason I posted the DOJ report along with the Wikipedia link was to balance what was in the article, but I really was surprised at the number of sites that popped up selling it when I did a search.

I don't think it's big now, but I never would've figured that people would actually manufacture meth with Sudafed either, so I think it might be better safe than sorry, but I'll gladly update with any new info I find!

Re: Julie Amero Update: March 1st

drumsnwhistles — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 04:22:27 -0000

Hi Malathionman,

As far as I can tell, the union stayed as far away from her as the district did, and her lawyer was a bit...well...uneducated, I guess, in what he needed to show the jury to prove that she lacked intent or in fact even acted.

Because she was a substitute, she didn't have the union protections that full-time teachers have.

Re: From the Annals of Truly Insane Educators

drumsnwhistles — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 13:46:00 -0000

I cannot believe this stuff. Liz, there must be something in the Pennsylvania water.

Re: Careful — Big Brother IS Watching You

drumsnwhistles — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 19:14:18 -0000

LOL, I'm glad I clicked into the full comment, because the excerpt in my email had steam coming out of my ears, Gideon. I was all ready to take you to task for putting your trust in the 'gummint'. ;-)

Re: Welcome to the Whale Nursery

drumsnwhistles — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 05:52:48 -0000

Kris,

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this one after downloading it from the camera. Sometimes you don't know whether something will come out or not - this was one of those times. It was incredible good luck to see it, much less photograph it. :)

Re: Twitter THIS!

drumsnwhistles — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 20:24:09 -0000

Jeremy,

That's it exactly! And when I read or message, I'd hope it's for a reason, not simply to be in the crowd.

I just found Ross Mayfield's post on Twitter where he refers to it as "messaging of the mundane". That about summarizes it. (Interestingly, he also likes Twitter -- a lot. I can't figure out exactly why, though.)

Re: Twitter THIS!

drumsnwhistles — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 21:47:52 -0000

LOL, Tom!

Following the logic of the "first email, then blogs, now a quicker way to communicate..." articulated in many of these comments, a question: Is it really about boiling down information to the fastest way to get it? The reason I ask is because there's a LOT of static in between anything worth reading.

To Chris Judson: I appreciate your answer -- doing something because it amuses you and you want to is really the only reason you need. However, I don't see me selling my co-workers or family on using it because it amuses me...and that's really where I'm going with this. Is it a geek app, just for your fun and enjoyment or is there a wider and more practical reason to use it?

Re: Twitter THIS!

drumsnwhistles — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 23:51:30 -0000

MattD, you just became my first friend on Twitter. :)

Re: Twitter THIS!

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 01:09:50 -0000

Chris, point well-taken -- but I'm in Southern California. After the Northridge quake, we couldn't get anything -- not even radio (Camarillo is in a radio dead zone), but our cell phones worked. :)

Re: Comments and Comment Spam

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 04:55:05 -0000

LOL...I'm working on them, but I'm tired from the time change and losing 2 hours coming back...so they may come tomorrow. :)

Re: Carlos Miller, or Photography is NOT a Crime

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 17:08:30 -0000

experienced,

Carlos Miller is indeed an experienced photojournalist. Your comment assumes that there is no time where journalists are mistreated by police or that police overstep the line between law enforcement and trampling of rights. Given that he spent 4 years as a police beat reporter, I'd be inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt at this point.

Re: A Little Drop of Maui

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 20:58:53 -0000

Thanks, Trey! No spray bottle -- it was raining the last day we were there, and when it rains in Maui, the drops are nice and big and stay for a bit. :)

Re: Julie Amero Update: March 16

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 01:54:02 -0000

raiph,

I'll send you an email about this too, but the short answer is that what you want to do is fine.

lilaw, I wish I could be there -- it's just a bit too far to get to from California but rest assured I will be there in spirit, and I will blog your comment as a call to anyone who can be there to be there.

tate,

This was a computer on a school district network where the IT admin allowed the school content filter to lapse several weeks before. According to experts in the case, malware was present weeks before Amero ever arrived in the classroom that morning.

I am not sure what the EFF stance on this is. :)

Re: Is the Norwich Bulletin Removing Content on Julie Amero?

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 02:08:34 -0000

Hey Gideon, you didn't hijack it -- I appreciate the comments.

It's bizarre to me that someone can embezzle funds, admit it, and have almost no fallout and yet continue the stonewalling in the Amero case.

Re: Norwich Bulletin Oozes Intellectual Dishonesty in Amero Case

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 16:11:43 -0000

Hi everyone,

The NB Julie Amero feature is still available on their site -- click here. I think they may have tweaked their link a bit.

That said, I agree with what you two are saying. :)

Re: One more St. Patrick’s Day Treat

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 19:25:28 -0000

Thanks, Lisa!

These dancers are our top champion dancers, and they're not allowed to do this particular number until they get to champion level. So as they progress, they watch the other dancers do it and finally when they're champs, they learn it, too. It's pretty easy to learn after they've watched it at various shows, etc.

My daughter has been dancing since she was 4 -- I remember her watching my son dance this a few years back and wanting to be the one up there doing it. :)

Re: Signs of Wear

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 04:57:41 -0000

Thank you, Lee!

Re: Julie Amero News: March 26th

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 14:08:36 -0000

Steven,

No argument about the Norwich Bulletin's complicity. On the other hand, they DID publish trial transcripts (no national publication would have), and the Hartford Courant did step up pretty powerfully with a counterpoint.

Yes, the bloggers made the difference, but would we have even known about it without the reporting -- even the outrageous reporting -- of the local newspaper?

Re: Details Suck

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 04:37:24 -0000

Thanks, kmilyun...yeah, 'tis that kind of a day.

I don't know what IU's decision was based upon, but in the long run it's probably for the best. Sticks is okay with it -- I was more bummed than he was, but I think that's because he'd already eliminated them in his mind anyway. It's down to UNT and CSUN -- one we've heard from and one we haven't.

Re: Kathy Sierra: Welcome to the “Other Internet”

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 14:33:33 -0000

Levi,

The very nature of the threats and harassment requires that it be approached as a gender thing. There was clear intent on the part of the harasser(s) to demean with sexual images and sexually charged threats.

Does it happen to men, too? Absolutely. But generally not with the sexual references -- it's violent and ugly, but not sexual as a general rule.

Paul, you don't have to like Kathy Sierra to recognize the wrong that's been done. You even acknowledge that what was done was wrong when you deny being the one to do it.

We are all entitled to feel safe and to take steps to ensure our safety. We're obligated to protect the safety of our children. Your opinion of Kathy notwithstanding, there is really no excuse for creating and fostering a place where people can feel free to harass, belittle, and threaten others.

Re: Kathy Sierra: Welcome to the “Other Internet”

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 11:59:06 -0000

Dear Graham,

Learn to read, please. I'm not afraid to leave my house at all -- I was quoting someone else. I don't need or want sympathy.

Have a great day.

Re: Stop Cyberbullying

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 15:55:34 -0000

Hi Liz,

Yes, I mentioned that and linked to it in this post and also in the original post I wrote on the mess. I'm assuming that Doc has independently verified it as authentic -- I can't imagine him posting it otherwise.

Re: Did MeanKids.org Have a Right to Exist?

drumsnwhistles — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 04:08:44 -0000

Liz --

So that it's clear -- I would not have placed MeanKids, Fox News, child exploitation sites and the KKK in the same sentence or even made a comparison between them. But that was what Roark gave me to work with, which is why those examples were what I used in my post.

We agree on the child exploitation and we actually agree to an extent on the KKK as well, provided that the KKK does not cross the line into inciting, speaking, threatening, or encouraging violence against the targets of their ire.

On the subject of anarchy, I can see where you think I took a leap. Anarchy in its purest form has is no place for violence, oppression or hatred. Ideally, it is simply a society which exists with pure self-policing on the part of the individuals who co-exist within that society or subset of that society.

The problem I have with the ideal is that it fails to take human nature into account, and this is the flaw that brought down the MeanKids concept as well as its successor. The creator failed to plan for the possibility that some of the members of its society would use their freedoms for destructive purposes. In pure anarchy, there can be no single authority over others. So what you had was a site established for the purpose of insult and criticism, among other things, where each member had absolute control over what they did with the assumption that they would use that control in a judicious fashion.

Frank Paynter used the term "purposeful anarchy", which I interpreted as an ideal -- the existence of a place, a community, which existed under an agreed-upon purpose, which had structure but not governance. I found an interesting discussion of anarchy in the context of Open Source here. (note that the original article I am quoting is no longer available. This is quoted text in another post)

Forget any associations you may have with the idea of creating anarchy in communities or societies by throwing bombs and other disruptive acts, since these are both factually incorrect, and have nothing to do with what Anarchy advocates. The correct association is of anarchy with "a state of nature", the Garden of Eden, if you will.

I think this is an excellent description of how I understand anarchy to be in its ideal state.

It goes on to say:

Humans, being highly social animals with highly advanced systems for communication of symbolic knowledge, have the ability to impose rules of all sorts on this original state. In principle, there is nothing wrong with this, but history shows many examples where "the rules" become highly oppressive. In tribal societies, the social unit is a small group where social "norms" can operate effectively, and it can be argued that the "norms" are essential for the survival of the tribe, but human development did not stop there. With the development of agriculture, the stage was set for creating hierarchical structures, monetary systems and large scale warfare (i.e. beyond inter-tribal conflicts for territory).

This is the punch line and where I made my jump, because I believe that ideal anarchy cannot be achieved in the context of human nature and so violence, threats, fear and intimidation become the currency that is exchanged for 'community structure'. It would seem that we've had several examples of that within the context of this week's events as well.

Finally, I'm mindful of the fact that by saying I don't believe MeanKids had a right to exist, I'm certainly stepping on the lines of free speech. I'm actually still struggling with that, which is why I framed my post as a question. Their site was clearly within the limits of free speech until the threats were posted and allowed to stand, and would have remained within those limits had the 'crossed-over' posts been removed along with whoever posted them (as well as the comments). But when they weren't removed, even the originator believed the site had no right to exist, which is why he tore it down.

Re: Did MeanKids.org Have a Right to Exist?

drumsnwhistles — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 04:14:54 -0000

Femtastic,

As I said to Liz, I am cognizant that by even asking the question I'm challenging the free speech limits. Really, I'm hoping that by asking the question we might have this kind of discussion to arrive at what would be considered 'the line'.

Re: Anonymity Isn’t the Problem

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 16:42:52 -0000

Thanks to all for such thought-provoking comments.

Marie, you hit on the double-edged sword of me being outed. Being found by friends of that particular era is very cool, but I keep wondering how long it will be before the ones who weren't friends find me?

Re: Kathy Sierra: Welcome to the “Other Internet”

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 20:46:24 -0000

Joey,

Your comment fell into my spam queue -- my apologies for not approving it sooner.

At this point I'm not sure what you wrote and what you didn't, so I can see why clarifications have not been made.

As for the time lapse between when the last post was made and when Sierra made her first post, I can think of several reasons why she waited, not the least of which was the possibility that she was trying to overcome her own anxiety about keynoting at eTech. When it became apparent that she couldn't overcome it, she cancelled and posted the reason for her cancellation.

Whether or not you INTENDED that image as a threat, she interpreted it that way. Now I know that you've commented on her blog and elsewhere claiming the 'noose' comment was aimed at someone called 'Kat', but again -- it's impossible for anyone to know since we can't see it as it was posted. Still -- it was interpreted as one, and honestly, it's likely that I would have interpreted a noose hanging near my head as a threat, too, particularly when accumulated with the threats posted in the comments (particularly the baseball bat comment).

Re: The heart of the matter

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 00:32:22 -0000

There's no need for either one of you to apologize to me. Given the relative obscurity of this blog, it's safe to say that your conversation will fly below the radar.

I don't know either one of you beyond what I read on your blogs and what others say. Jeneane, when this whole thing blew up I spent about four hours on your blog, going back to the early days and reading through to the present. Not every post, but I tried to hit on enough of them to have a sense of who you are, what you care about, and how it could come to pass that your name was associated with all of this.

I think I have a fairly good idea of where you're coming from, and I'm certainly not oblivious to the fact that you've been ill and hospitalized during a substantial part of this.

I also know that whatever association you had was with the MeanKids site and not the one following, at least from what I've been able to discern from the incomplete Google cache, your own blog, and what you and others have said.

What compelled me to respond to your post and point number three was this: If we decide we don't need to give a shit (whether on the sidewalk or the internet or our own backyard or our kids' schools), then I believe we're at least passively complicit. This has been my biggest criticism of the whole idea of the meankids.org site -- that the purpose for which it was originally created went off-track, and everyone stood back and said 'it wasn't me, I didn't write it' while the train wreck barreled down the track taking lots of bystanders with it.

It could be that your own circumstances dictated that you couldn't really give it any attention. That's different. That I could understand, given the proximity of your hospitalization to the series of events that led things to where they are now. But that's not how I read your post, which is what led to the response.

In my perfect world, the real culprit would be identified and dealt with. It bothers me that on both sides of the debate there is so much aligning behind people and personalities instead of looking at the real issues that brought this to the fore.

I don't believe Kathy Sierra (who I don't know either beyond reading her blog and liking her posts) came out and posted what she did because she felt like being mean and taking a few high-profile bloggers out in the process. I do think her reaction was genuine (just as I believe yours to be) and real. I have walked in her shoes a couple of times and there comes a point where you feel like there is no option but to just come out with what's going on before descending to the bunker. It's her perception of the situation and she's entitled, just as you are.

Yet, the so-called blogstorm centered around personalities instead of issues, with people lining up behind friends, friends of friends, and they made it personal. At this point it's like sound caught in an echo chamber, gaining intensity with each bounce off the next wall but always saying the same thing.

Hopefully there will be a point where reconciliation (or at least a cease-fire) of personality can happen and the larger issues can be addressed without sheriffs' badges and a couple of virtual AK-47s.

Regards to you both.

Re: The heart of the matter

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 03:53:41 -0000

Thank you, Bert. My family is grateful that I unleash my wordiness here and don't inflict it upon them. :)

Re: Happy Easter!

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 03:59:12 -0000

Thank you, Shelley! We think so, too.

Re: The heart of the matter

drumsnwhistles — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 00:37:13 -0000

Zo:

Excuse me, but it wasn't removed from context and more to the point, "I don't give a shit" was posted on a public blog that invited: a) comments; b) trackbacks; and c) pingbacks in a very public conversation that involves a larger issue than the people involved in this very public altercation. That's who the fuck asked me.

Of course, if you'd bothered to read anything posted here before pronouncing judgment you'd likely have figured out that links are not something I worry about.

If you don't like it don't read it. Right? Isn't that the mantra of your group? Ignore the shit, plow right through it?

Re: A Little Salsa With Your Sticks

drumsnwhistles — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 16:08:51 -0000

He's really a very interesting guy -- all self-taught. Very nice, too. It was a blast to watch all of them yesterday. :)

Re: Virginia Tech: Catastrophe in Real Time

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 17:39:20 -0000

Liz, I'm as irrational as you then. Even though I know this is not the norm and may not happen again for another 30 years, the emotional part of me is absolutely horrified at the whole thing and the idea of sending my kid that far away from home. I'm sure it'll pass, but it's just...beyond comprehension.

Re: Something out of a nightmare

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 01:03:30 -0000

Doug,

And tonight we hear that Cho was deemed 'mentally ill' and was released to outpatient treatment. This is the problem with the whole system -- Cho was MILD compared to some who are released to outpatient treatment. Why? Because mental health services are systematically stripped from the state and federal budget, so there's no opportunity to monitor and/or stabilize them.

Re: Mental Health Is the Center of VA Tech Tragedy, Not Guns

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 14:18:24 -0000

Hi Katharine,

The system is designed to discourage anyone with mental issues from seeking treatment. The problems aren't going to go away, they're going to get worse, particularly as Iraq war veterans begin to struggle with the after-effects of their war service and PTSD in particular.

Your post about tracking meds was also interesting -- fodder for yet another rant. :)

Re: Mental Health Is the Center of VA Tech Tragedy, Not Guns

drumsnwhistles — Sun, 22 Apr 2007 05:03:11 -0000

Thank you, erin, and thank you for posting this. There is nothing that I could say that would ring as true or as powerfully as what you've said here, particularly with regard to removing the stigma. We are still in the dark ages.

Every time I read articles that decry treating mental illness with medication I want to scream, knowing that the right diagnosis and right meds can make the difference between success and failure, even life and death for some.

Re: Scam Alert: Automotive Warranty Advisors

drumsnwhistles — Sun, 22 Apr 2007 05:04:39 -0000

Wow, thanks to everyone who has shared their stories here. Hopefully more will come and post theirs as well, and we can get the word out about how deceptive this whole thing is, from how it's marketed to what they actually do for all that money.

Re: Decisions, Driving and Days Off

drumsnwhistles — Sun, 22 Apr 2007 15:47:50 -0000

Hi Liz,

No, I meant in-state. The scholarships he's been offered from UNT include dropping his tuition to the in-state rate. That means we can swing paying without debt in either circumstance.

Re: MSN, CCBill, Online Payments and Ambush Billing

drumsnwhistles — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 21:36:16 -0000

You have two situations mixed up. The MSN situation shouldn't have happened at all - the card was expired, I declined to give them new card info, and the account should have terminated.

On the issue of the 17-year old, it was HIS card, not mine. And after ccBill had been notified that all charges were to be stopped, that should have happened. Before they were notified, it was his problem. AFTER they were notified, it was their problem. The card should NOT have had to have been terminated and reissued to stop billings from being submitted. That's a failing on their part, not his. The first charges -- all his responsibility. No question about it.

Re: The heart of the matter

drumsnwhistles — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 21:44:34 -0000

Zo,

I respectfully disagree with you. The message was clear: If an unrelated third party triggers someone's PTSD I am neither required to care or to act. That was what she wrote; that's what I responded to. I disagree with her and I disagree with you.

Disagreement is not condemnation, nor is it judgment. It is simply a different perspective on the same topic or issue.

Re: Noble Scoble and a Teachable Moment

drumsnwhistles — Sun, 06 May 2007 16:51:13 -0000

Hi Liz,

Spammers have caused me to really hammer down the number of links in a comment. I should probably make that clearer in the comment template so there's not confusion. Anyway, I've let it out of the spam jail and thanks so much for posting it -- I can't believe I overlooked Orac!

Re: The Mad Drummer’s Solo

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 09 May 2007 05:15:35 -0000

Thank you! There is more, but I'm thinking about doing it as audio and not video, since the best audio came from the "B Roll" camera, which was aimed at the the horn section as a static view. This camera has all of the zooms, but the audio sucks because of the mix. Grrrr.

Re: Valleywag Crosses the Line

drumsnwhistles — Fri, 11 May 2007 14:44:32 -0000

This isn't about political correctness, and I'm not as clueless as you think. Why'd you choose out Hammer? Why'd you describe the others as "eminently qualified", AFTER describing them in terms of their race. Does Caterina Fake's gender and genetic composition have one damn thing to do with her qualifications? If they don't, why bring it up?

Look, we all know the old saw about Silicon Valley being "whitebread soft" and all that. But you allege tokenism only with regard to Hammer and not anyone else. That's race-baiting, pure and simple.

Re: Valleywag Crosses the Line

drumsnwhistles — Fri, 11 May 2007 16:24:09 -0000

Here

Re: Valleywag Crosses the Line

drumsnwhistles — Fri, 11 May 2007 16:29:53 -0000

So Nick, who's really being "politically correct" here? You claim that adding diversity to the panel is tokenism, but not adding diversity to the panel is typical inbred culture thinking. There doesn't seem to be a way to please you at all. If their photos hadn't been splashed under the Benetton ad (and what is that all about anyway -- what does the ad have to do with the article?), would you have criticized Techcrunch for not publicizing them the way others have been?

Here's the Panel Profile Page. Same size photos, same size bios. Nothing different whatsoever. So what exactly was your issue with having them in a blog post announcing the addition?

Re: Trends

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 17 May 2007 02:35:29 -0000

Gideon,

To find your trends or blogs to read? :)

If you're using google reader, there's a link to "trends" on the main page.

Re: Julie Amero News

drumsnwhistles — Sat, 19 May 2007 02:57:58 -0000

But Gideeeeonnnnnn, (said in my best SouthPark voice)

I'm not saying the prosecutor should get up and just say the charges should be dropped -- he can't even do that now, because she's been convicted. But can't he get up and say that new evidence has come to light (similar to DNA cases?) that would have caused him to reconsider prosecuting the case at all, can't he?

It seems to me that if he was as misled as the jury with regard to whether the links were actively clicked or not, it's not going to make the jury angry if an explanation of the 'new evidence' were given.

Re: Which Famous Photographer are you?

drumsnwhistles — Sat, 19 May 2007 02:58:56 -0000

Yeah, me too! That's who I was hoping to get!

Re: Scam Alert: Automotive Warranty Advisors

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 21 May 2007 15:20:01 -0000

Robert,

I'm not sure what you can do about it. It looks like some folks have had success filing complaints with the Better Business Bureau (there's a link in my post), but it's difficult to prove that you were told $50 because they do everything by phone. Unless they have a recording of that call (which I'm sure they don't), they'll claim that it has always been $80.

I'll do some research and if I find anything that will help, I'll post it in a new blog post.

Good luck!

Re: Zooomr’s Time of Need

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 30 May 2007 15:32:48 -0000

Trevor and all,

There's a comment on the Zooomr blog from a Sun Rep, offering to help. Progress. :)

Re: Flea bit himself

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 12:00:04 -0000

Liz,

It's in the PDF I uploaded last night. That was one of my primary reasons for grabbing the entire blog.

Re: Brag Wall

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 21:33:31 -0000

Thanks, Liz!

Re: Miscellany

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 02:09:35 -0000

EYEROLL....they did DALLAS first. DG is Chicago, two weeks from tonight.

Re: New Web 2.0 ideas

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 02:03:56 -0000

Buzzdroid, that's AWESOME! I love it. And yes, definitely credit for not making it UrBggstCmplnt

:)

Re: The Julie Group

drumsnwhistles — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 00:05:06 -0000

Hi Jeanne, and welcome to the blog. The Julie Group moderates comments, so you may not see them right away.

I appreciate you coming and commenting here. I think that by making everything public you are giving everyone an opportunity to learn.

What one thing would you change today to make things safer?

Re: Grads, Dads and Community

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 02:37:17 -0000

Thank you! It was a special day. :)

Re: Congratulations, Class of 2007

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 02:38:15 -0000

Thanks, Liz! And a sigh of relief from me that summer is here. :)

(remind me that I said that in a week)

Re: Sicko

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 21:43:05 -0000

Stephen,

I'd like to do exactly that. Some of the questions I have center around what the cost is tax-wise, how it's administered, etc. I'm planning a blog post where I ask that very question.

Re: Worldly fame is but a blast of wind…

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 14:12:23 -0000

Denise, I like purple hair too! That's why I wish she'd lose hers....it looks awful on her, particularly when she's drooling over kids half her age. Yech.

Donna, I completely agree. When she came home that night and the first words spoken were "Piers Morgan is mean", I figured she was tired and pissy about not making the cut. Then I saw that first show and realized just how awful he was. Last year the kids didn't get hammered the way they are this year, and remember, an 11-year old girl with a mega-voice won last year, which was one of the reasons I let her do it -- figuring it would be somewhat more kid-friendly than AI. WRONG, wrong, wrong.

A funny moment, though -- when they did the backstage testimonials, the youngest one (that he hammered) got her spunk back and looked directly in the camera and said "All boys are stupid! Except my daddy." It was truly a classic moment.

I wish they'd at least send us the outtakes so we could see them. They've been in tiny snippets on the commercials, but nothing more...they danced really well!

Re: iPhone Hell

drumsnwhistles — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 18:32:13 -0000

Liz, don't be so quick to put the halo on just yet-- the air was smokin' around here while I was doing it...you don't even know. Not to mention the 60+ email strand with people to get advice on the best and safest way to get the computer back into working order with fail-safes installed on it.

If I'd had the money, I assure you I'd have been standing at the door of the Apple Store ready to plunk it all down on a new MacBook Pro, especially now that it'll run Windows in parallel with the MacOS.

There's way more to write about this little bit of fun, but I'm still pretty pissy about it.

Re: One Identity, OpenID, and Social Network Fatigue

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 02:07:10 -0000

Thanks, Thomas, I'd like to be included! My email address is drumsATdrumsnwhistles.com

Re: Hotel California

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 21:09:42 -0000

Liz, I feel your pain. Airline tickets are no bargain.

Maryam, no iPhone for me -- too pricey and I can't have it on my business plan anyway. The irony is that the Blackjack is a 3G phone (unlike the iPhone which is stuck on the EDGE network...much slower)but finding a 3G connection is a real challenge here.

Re: Cool Discoveries

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 21:22:07 -0000

Awwww, it's mutual! I did the technorati fave thing, too. :)

It took me awhile to sort through the 2000 Bloggers who really were spammers and the ones who weren't, but I've really been enjoying going through the final list.

Re: TTPARR, Mobile Phones, and Why Mobile Platforms Suck

drumsnwhistles — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 14:39:51 -0000

Liz, great idea! I have the universal laptop plugs, but didn't even think about doing it with the phones.

Re: Cool Discoveries

drumsnwhistles — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 20:50:56 -0000

Hi Gideon,

Thanks for the heads-up on that! My blogroll is a hopeless case, I think. I'll change it right now.

Re: TTPARR, Mobile Phones, and Why Mobile Platforms Suck

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 05:55:18 -0000

Hi Taylor --

I didn't really care for Plaxo -- it couldn't manage my Google shared calendars well and I really want something that's completely independent of Outlook but doesn't store my info on the web. I'm also not in love with something that interfaces with AOL.

Re: Breaking News: The Internet has Crashed

drumsnwhistles — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 03:43:12 -0000

But Robert, how would you let your friends know where you were without Twitter/Pownce/Facebook access? ;-)

Re: Pure Bull or Pure Evil?

drumsnwhistles — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 05:14:47 -0000

Marie,

It's horrible. For the past eight weeks I've been trying to be encouraging thinking he really was working toward a real goal, but after reading Liz' post tonight I called him and told him to bail out, come home and to go from there. He's broke, tired, pissed and feels stupid. The first and last one of those are things I can help with..the middle two will just take some time, I think.

Re: GoFirstline.com: Evil, Deceptive Marketing to College Students

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 16:17:24 -0000

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the comment. I did discover that they have a current California license, but I'm not sure if they actually have to get a separate direct sales license for the different territories they are in.

It seems to me that the best possible scenario is that they're running the whole thing on a shoestring without taking the proper steps to license individuals or to conduct direct marketing in certain areas.

Re: One Step At A Time

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 16:23:40 -0000

Thank you, Katharine! Here's a video of her group performing on St. Patrick's day. This is one of her favorite 'show dances'. It's much less difficult than what they do for competitions, but still fun.

Re: Pure Bull or Pure Evil?

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 12:54:45 -0000

Anon,

The key word in your comment above is "concept". That's not how it's being marketed. It's being marketed as a done deal -- a show that is really being done, that's really being aired, and that the focus of the time spent with Firstline is toward the goal of being the next Prodigy.

In fact, the show is secondary to the idea of recruiting direct sales marketers for the Firstline products. Having read through all of the paperwork connected with it last night, I'm more convinced than ever that the show is just that -- a concept. Firstline has been using college students as direct sellers for a few years and the only difference this year is how they were recruited - with the promise of the pie in the sky.

Is it fair to put some responsibility on the students that bought into the allure of the reality show premise? Maybe, although I looked hard at this whole thing back in April and May when the 'auditions' were held, and it seemed at the time to be legit. At least, there wasn't a lot of information available about it or whether it was a straight operation until after they signed on the dotted line.

I suspect this tactic will not work as well next year.

Re: GoFirstline.com: Evil, Deceptive Marketing to College Students

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 13:00:40 -0000

Anon,

My objection to this whole thing isn't that there's a potential to make money; and the fact that you did it for 5 years tells me that you were able to get in on the ground floor before a lot of this information came to light.

It's interesting to me to read the various discussions of Firstline around the web and see that those who are selling the product are rarely the focus of the buyer's ire; typically, they're referred to as polite young people who are selling an icky product.

The problem isn't the concept of direct sales. It's this concept of direct sales, where students are dropped into areas that have already been heavily saturated with this type of approach and left to their own devices to make that quota using a hard-sell approach that involves entry into the homes of the people they're selling to.

This isn't just about hard work. The whole setup is an invasive technique, and includes the equivalent of slamming as one tactic to get accounts.

Re: GoFirstline.com: Evil, Deceptive Marketing to College Students

drumsnwhistles — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 00:56:07 -0000

Ashley,

Here are some facts for you.

Let's start with the $10K that a 'below-average rep' might make. That would be how many accounts? I'm figuring about 80 if you factor in residuals.

Now take that 10K and drop it by 15.8% for self-employment tax. Then drop it by another $2500 or so for state and federal income tax. Suddenly it's become $5,000, or $500/week for 10 weeks work, less the $100/week housing allowance for single employees, so now it's $400.

Or put another way, $10K nets to about $8/hour, before cell phone and car expenses, and that net will not be settled until February 2008.

I never said you threatened people at the doors; in fact, it's clear that you are trained not to do that. On the other hand, the slamming tactic (I'm here to switch you to a new system...dah dah dah...before they know it they're signing on the dotted line to switch systems without all the facts at their fingertips) is deceptive sales, plain and simple. That's why there are laws against the long-distance carriers using that particular tactic, and it should also apply here.

Think about this for a minute. You are supposed to knock cold on someone's door, and gain entry to their home to point out potential sensor points for this new system. Has it occurred to you that this is something that a person thinking about robbing the place might (and yes, it's been done) use?

Once again, this is not about direct sales. This is about sales tactics and techniques which are clearly deceptive both in terms of how it's sold to customers and how it's sold to students.

If you signed up for Firstline, then you weren't marketed based upon the promise of the reality-show-the-prodigy-pie in the sky. Good on you. But lots and lots of students were, and they are the ones that are much the poorer.

You can save your embarrassment for someone who hasn't spent time researching this whole scene, thankyouverymuch.

Re: Note to Self: Assume Nothing

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 04:11:05 -0000

Thanks...it's been a royal pain. I will give props to the CSUN folks for having a real voice on the phone willing to help and also for the personal intervention of Sticks' primary Jazz Studies advisor.

Re: Last Night’s Moon

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 04:13:55 -0000

Thanks, Earl! You've got some nice ones on your blog, too. :)

Re: Facebook’s Ugly Underbelly

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 04:39:43 -0000

Hi Vanessa,

I always viewed Facebook the same as you, until every geek blog I read started chirping about it, and then I received an invitation from a friend starting a group on there.

I agree completely about not judging the many by the actions of the few. At the same time, the few who are spewing should be called out on it. Even if they don't change their behavior, the message should be that they don't get to behave that way in public.

Re: Pure Bull or Pure Evil?

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 18:26:13 -0000

Anon #6, I'm curious. How long have you worked for Firstline? Did you sign on as part of the Prodigy promotion?

Re: Pure Bull or Pure Evil?

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 00:57:43 -0000

Anon,

As I've remarked on other posts, there is a vast difference between the environment and market today and five years ago.

As I said in my post, I've no doubt that recruits and graduates from Firstline emerge as great salesmen. But the market today is very, very different, and the sales tactics taught now reflect the difficulties of the market.

Here's another first-hand account of how Firstline is marketed (and installed) today.

I suspect that five years ago you signed on knowing you were going to be selling security systems door to door. The Prodigy recruits were not of the same understanding until they had gone past the "second audition" and were told with much fanfare that they'd made it to the show.

With that said, congratulations on being one of the group that enjoyed success and continuing success.

Re: Commute My Sentence, Please!

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 01:04:59 -0000

Hi Mike,

I'm glad you thought so. I am not much of a TV watcher, so a show has to really catch my attention to spend time watching it. This one did. Some funny stuff in it. :)

Re: Firstline Security and The Prodigy: The Unreal Lure of Reality

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 02:29:52 -0000

Hi Tom the Bomb,

I'm just on the fringe of the legal eagles as a third-party benefit administrator...certainly not qualified to take 'em on. My goal is really to present the other side of the Firstline recruiting scam, which truly sucks people in before slamming them with the reality of what they'll be doing.

Re: Santa Monica Photowalk

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 02:25:53 -0000

Hi Melissa,

I did get in the water for this one. I have a picture I haven't put up yet of what happens when a little wave hits a tripod while shooting a long exposure. :)

Trevor, my pleasure!

Re: Firstline Security and The Prodigy: The Unreal Lure of Reality

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 18:06:44 -0000

#1 Rep,

I'm really glad that you've been able to be successful. More power to ya. Having said that, I take issue with some of your judgments on others; specifically:

Area? Saturated markets? Selling air? Give me a break…Thanks to Firstline I could sell salt to a slug.

Yes, I have not argued with this single benefit of time with Firstline. Anyone who spends time doing this will definitely be able to sell, even salt to a slug. Does that make it less deceptive or better? Nah...It just means that you've got the skill of pressuring someone to sign on the dotted line on impulse whether they need to or not.

I have watched many people fail at this, and it’s not entirely their fault. Weakness is bred into people by those around them (i.e. parents who make excuses for a failed attempt to fly, blaming the cliff they attemted to fly from, or cursing the winds for not carrying them).

Wow, you've gone beyond drinking the KoolAid right into mixing it for other folks to drink with this statement. You are obviously suited for direct sales and that's great. Not every person is. Maybe because they look intimidating, or they're not articulate or they just feel weird knocking on someone's door. I don't know what it is, but trying to jam every person on the planet without the gift for face-to-face sales is just silly. Not only that, but you've decided to blame everyone but the folks at Firstline, who clearly share some of it when folks fail. Sorry, but there are some who make awesome mechanical engineers or insurance actuaries who shouldn't ever attempt direct sales. That doesn't make them failures. Get real here and acknowledge that what works for you won't work for everyone, nor should it. (I won't speak to the question of how ethics factor into this -- you're the one who has to look in the mirror and like the person looking back at you).

Success or failure, riches or empty pockets, if you’re out here for the money, you’re out here for the wrong reason.

Precisely, but THAT'S HOW IT WAS SOLD. Dude, hear this. These students had the promise of the big bucks put in front of them. Did they wake up one morning and say "Gosh, I feel compelled to be a Firstline evangelist and walk the streets selling security systems all day!"? No, of course not.

They were RECRUITED ON THE PROMISE OF THE MONEY. So don't point a finger of judgment at them for actually wanting to make some.

Re: Answering the ADHD Skeptics

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 16:48:27 -0000

I like that! And no, you haven't imagined it...nor have I. I'm guessing this goes back several generations in my family on my father's side, definitely back three, and maybe more.

Re: Fake Steve Jobs Reveal: Smarmy As It Gets

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 16:50:31 -0000

I was a bit surprised, but it seems that in many things concerning weblogs, there are some rather large blind spots.

Re: Photowalking Part II

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 16:51:21 -0000

It was wonderful meeting you as well -- we had a terrific time. And we LOVE the silhouettes!

Re: Firstline Security and The Prodigy: The Unreal Lure of Reality

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 16:26:51 -0000

Jeremy,

Your inarticulate and somewhat predictable use of the word "pussies" more or less undoes whatever point you were trying to make.

However, I slogged through and am very happy that it works for you. It sounds like you don't need any stinkin' million dollar payoff anyway, so why do you care if the Prodigy happens?

Re: Twitter+TwitterGrams+Images = Emergency Broadcast System

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 12:43:36 -0000

Liz,

Cell voice capability may not be functional, but the data functionality should be. My problem with ham radio is an utter lack of knowledge and the license to use it. Walkie-talkies we have in abundance, but they are only short-range and won't get a message out to relatives living miles away. After the Northridge quake, our cell phone was the only thing that did work. Everything else was completely dead.

After Katrina, the only devices that worked were SMS messaging devices. Since Twitter is so closely tied to SMS, it should be available in an emergency.

Then again, it's all a tossup because every disaster is different. The best strategy is preparedness, without question.

Re: Firstline Security and The Prodigy: The Unreal Lure of Reality

drumsnwhistles — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 14:35:09 -0000

ClassyAggie09,

Your handle is an apt description. You are one of the few Firstliners who has made a reasonable and balanced comment. And I do agree with you about the bonding that happens between the team. I think there are probably lifelong friends that have been made as a result of the experience.

The market saturation is probably a function of location. I was really speaking to the saturation here in California, where it really has been saturated for years. Perhaps it isn't the same in Texas.

I hope your situation has improved, and that your father remains safe and well during his time in Iraq.

Re: GoFirstline.com: Evil, Deceptive Marketing to College Students

drumsnwhistles — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 11:41:55 -0000

Paul,

You say,

"First off, find another company that offers a system with cellular MONITORING for free..."

And you say,

...we were trained to be assumptive and straight-forward (sign in the yard, advertise our company…which almost every major alarm company does by the way…and we provide a free system).

There is deception in both of these statements. First, it's not free. I know the pitch -- "You get all this hardware for free, just for putting our sign in the yard. And oh -- by the way, there IS a $45/month monitoring fee...and a 36-month commitment...but HEY. The hardware is still free."

In fact, if you look online, you'll find the very same system and services for about $15 less per month. If you do the math on the cumulative cost of a 36-month contract, it shouldn't surprise you to figure out that the total paid works out to the cost of the hardware plus the lower monitoring fee.

So much for straightforward selling.

I was tempted not to address your perjorative remarks about whether I should have written blog posts concerning my kid, but I am resisting that temptation long enough to say that this is my blog and I didn't get or need his permission to write my opinion about how things turned out for him. He is also self-motivated and bright and made his own decision to do this. That doesn't mean I have to like it, agree with it, or remain silent about it.

As to self-motivation, I admire it. I just wish that your talents were used in a business that doesn't rely on deceptive marketing techniques to recruit employees and sell their product. His talents and self-motivation are now at work in an established company with a strong market, where he receives decent pay for a hard day's work, along with some benefits. Don't assume that to be self-motivated you have to be deceptive.

There are lots of insurance agents and snake oil salesmen out there earning $30-$80K. That doesn't make them ethical or their products and/or selling tactics any less smarmy. As another Firstline flag-waver says, it's not just about the money.

Re: GoFirstline.com: Evil, Deceptive Marketing to College Students

drumsnwhistles — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 04:07:44 -0000

Paul:

Safemart.com has the complete Simon3 system with the GSM module for $459.95. Prepaid monitoring packages with central station monitoring are available through LiveWatch for $24.95/month with two months free, or 249.50/year, prepaid.

Taking that through a theoretical three-year contract, you have $460 for the hardware, $250 for the first year, $600 for years 2-3 (assuming the prepay option stays at $25/month but there are not two free months), for a total of $850 for monitoring and $500 for the system (with sales tax if applicable).

Total: $1,350 with hardware and no sign advertising in front.

Firstline total, with so-called "free hardware": 1,620.

[Update: I was also able to price the Simon 3 5 point system with GSM, 2 keychain fobs, the handheld wireless touchpad, and 2 panic pendants for $526.88 at HomeSecurityStore.com. Once the system is installed, monitoring services can be ordered through Livewatch for the same prices listed above.]

That leaves about $300 for an installation if necessary, though it appears from what I'm reading that the Simon 3 is really pretty easily self-installed.

Now, with regard to ADT -- you do realize that Firstline lists ADT as one of their partners on their website, alongside GE, Honeywell and Dish Networks, right? How do you reconcile trashing them when they're partnered with Firstline (it appears that ADT offers monitoring services in some areas where GE doesn't)? With regard to sales techniques, I'm sure I'd agree with you, particularly if they're sold on the basis of fear.

That's one of my biggest objections, this idea of selling consumers on the idea that they just won't be safe without this system. I'm sure that in some neighborhoods, their STUFF is safer with this system, but I have my doubts as to whether they are. Plus, it's clear from the contract that if the option for station monitoring is selected (which is what you all sell), they may in fact give up their privacy which to me is a huge issue in light of the recent FISA erosion.

As to your comments about the Inc 500, all I can say is that there's more to measuring the value of a company than its net worth. Lest we all forget recent history, Enron was listed on the Inc 500, too, and we know the outcome of their "success".

Why not take the skills you have and work for a company selling products that really are needed and valuable and fairly priced? I'm not knocking you folks out there trudging the streets, but I am suggesting that your talents are better used for a straight-up operation.

On the independent contractor issue, Firstline may indeed have a problem despite the numerous disclaimers they have in their manual and employment contract. There is a tax distinction made between true independent contractors (those who set their own hours, rate of pay, and extent of the services rendered) and those who are deemed to be "statutory employees"; that is, employees who are not subject to Federal Income tax withholding but are subject to withholding and matching employment tax contributions for FICA. The criteria for statutory employees are applied on a facts and circumstances basis, and include tests for whether employees have the autonomy to set their own hours, negotiate their pay rate and other traditional employee-employer relationship items. Most sales reps paid on commission are still deemed to be statutory employees, though I'm sure Firstline has paid some lawyers to research this thoroughly and walk on the edge of a defensible position.

Please hear this final point, if you've made it this far. My criticism isn't directed toward those of you out there knocking on the doors. I don't think you're unethical, but I do think you've been taught some deceptive sales techniques, including slamming residents who have another security system. (I am using the term 'slamming' in the telecommunications sense of a smooth and subtle pitch where the customer doesn't realize they're switching companies until after the fact, even with the confirmation of their 'information' on the phone.) This is what I object to -- the lack of transparency and disclosure.

<s>Why doesn't Firstline have their pricing structure on their website for the different services?</s>[ Update: I did discover pricing structures on the http://getfirstline.com website, along with a price for the hardware of $850]. Why isn't there a written brochure that can be given to prospects with full disclosure? Why don't they do a straight-up comparison in writing with the other services?

Why? Because they are really selling a system that can be had for less with less cost to the monitoring, so they have a nice profit margin, which elevates them to the Inc 500 and very little else.

Re: GoFirstline.com: Evil, Deceptive Marketing to College Students

drumsnwhistles — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 05:44:52 -0000

Paul,

A question for you: Can you link me to the Inc 500 listing for Firstline?

I couldn't find it, nor any listing for possible predecessors.

Re: Firstline Security Cost Comparison

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 03:16:11 -0000

anonymous,

I certainly hope you're not working for them currently, because stepping into someone's virtual front room and calling them retarded, obsessed and ridiculous is certainly not the way to influence them to your way of thinking.

You have a great day.

Re: Firstline Security Cost Comparison

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 16:07:23 -0000

Apples to Apples,

Firstline is charging you $24.95/month for monitoring? Are you sure about that? The package my kid was selling was free hardware with $45.95/month monitoring. You're the first person I've heard of who is getting it for $24.95. Their website lists the price as $45.95, too. What monitoring do you get for that price?

The smoke detector was available on the second site I priced. I didn't include it because I didn't see it in the basic package that the Firstline folks sell. It's an add-on.

Re: Firstline Security Cost Comparison

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 02:00:07 -0000

Anon,

What Apples to Apples wrote was ambiguous at best, but even assuming your interpretation, I think it's just fine that they're satisfied.

I will, however, point out that the "free equipment" pitch is in the sales literature and the students are trained to use that approach to sell the product. The prices for the hardware now are less, so I still stand by my assessment that selling the product by offering 'free' hardware is deceptive.

This goes to what I've been saying from the start. If you have a product you can stand behind, why sell it with misleading statements? Why not just step up and say "here's what you can get it for online; here's what we charge for it altogether -- hardware and monitoring; and you get a professional installation"? Why the big deal about turning customers into advertisers with the frontline sign and the 'free hardware'.

The fact is that there has to be a margin to pay these kids for what they're doing, assuming they meet the threshold. Just like any other commissioned employee selling products cold, they have a right to earn a living for what they're doing.

If the product were unique, or the sales pitch straight-on, then I'd have no complaint. But this conversation began with Paul telling me that he did not feel he was being deceptive by approaching homeowners with a 'free offer' of a fully-installed security system with a required monitoring fee each month. That's deceptive. If he said that he was selling the system by approaching homeowners and telling them the hardware was amortized over 36 months along with the standard monitoring fee, I'd have far more respect for the pitch, frankly.

Why? Because that squares with what I can find on my own online. A comparable system with a comparable monitoring service for less money, but I self-install as opposed to paying for an installation. So then I make the decision based on whether I want to do my own installation instead of some bogus premise that I'm getting something for free.

Re: GoFirstline.com: Evil, Deceptive Marketing to College Students

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 02:07:42 -0000

Anonymous,

They do meet some basic licensing requirements. I know, for example, that they're licensed in the state of California. I know that the Eldest obtained some sort of document which was supposed to be in compliance with California state laws; however, I've read about other people who were not licensed.

The contract makes the point that licensure is the responsibility of the individual, not Firstline.

As to the door-to-door permits -- that I'm not sure about at all. It could be that those were also expected to be the responsibility of each 'advertising director', but they're not given a lot of guidance about how to get one and were doing a lot of city-skipping in the final weeks that he was with them, so...I tend to think it's a loosely-kept requirement at best, but I don't know for certain.

Re: Firstline Security Cost Comparison

drumsnwhistles — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 19:35:08 -0000

Alexx,

So what the rep really was saying when he/she said you wouldn't have to pay the monitoring fee was this:

Of course you have to pay the monitoring fee, but the insurance savings will more than cover it. And of course, it doesn't.

That rep was really dishonest with you. Most of them aren't. At least, not the ones who endeavor to be ethical...but they didn't sell all that many systems either, I'm afraid.

Good luck getting it taken out and refunded.

Re: Firstline Security Cost Comparison

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 16:23:44 -0000

Apples to Apples,

Semantics are at the heart of this discussion. What you call something and how it's phrased are the key to the marketing pitch that Firstline and other companies use.

Just this weekend I received a flurry of flyers from DirectTV and Verizon, promising me "free and faster" equipment than I already had if I bundled my long distance, cable tv and phone service together.

Nothing is new under the sun. In fact, the prices are slightly higher than what I've got now, the equipment is different but not faster, and it's sold through a reseller rather than direct from the company.

You mentioned 'free' cell phones. Of course they're not free, not even when you walk in the store. They're 'free' after the rebate, the 12-month commitment, etc. The 'free' hook gets you in the store. In this day and age, I'd also view cell phones as a necessity, and further, they're something I am actually going to the store to buy, as opposed to opening my front door on a sunny morning to find a bright-eyed student there waiting to tell me what I really need is a security system that until now I've done just fine without.

This isn't about my kid -- this is about semantics. Telling people something is free when it isn't and training college students to sell it, using deceptive tactics is just the wrong approach.

BTW, you're given a platform here on my bandwidth at my expense to state your case, completely free of charge. Whenever someone finds this post, your point of view is represented, along with the views of others pro and con. If I were interested in slandering the company I would've closed comments and left the "semantic" part out of the mix.

Re: Firstline Security Cost Comparison

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 17:46:08 -0000

alexx,

I'd suggest contacting the Better Business Bureau in your area and reporting it there.

Also, whether the rep answers the question or not, the fact remains that they do not have the homeowner's approval to install the system and so legally can't install it or bill the homeowner for it, as I understand things. (Keep in mind that rules for rentals vary from state to state, so what I said might not be true where you are).

And truly, from the comments here on my posts concerning firstline, it's not the reps I have the problem with for the most part. They're doing what they've been trained to do. It's the training that I take issue with.

Re: Firstline Security Cost Comparison

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 01:55:56 -0000

Mike, thanks for pointing out the installation issues -- I meant to do that and forgot.

Josh, yes. I'm not inclined to want company employees monitoring those either. Frankly, I don't really want anyone monitoring my activity. I'll run the risk that someone makes off with my 'stuff' first.

Re: Firstline Security Cost Comparison

drumsnwhistles — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 04:02:17 -0000

Paul,

Let's start with this:
First you said:
Take a look at the INC. 500. The INC. 500 is a list of the 500 fastest growing privately held companies in the United States and the 2007 list will be released nationwide on August 28th.

Then you said:

"I might even stay with a company that is listed on the INC. 500 and is staged to go public...either way, I am honest, straight-forward, and I will be successful at what I do because of my work ethic."

And tonight you say:

"First off, I never said we were previously on the INC. 500 list. I said we would be on the 2007 list on August 28th, 2007."

Um...since I've been accused in other comments of arguing semantics, let's just leave this one as a series of indirect statements which carried the implication that indeed, this was an Inc 500 company. Your middle statement in particular leads one to that conclusion, since you currently work for them and expect to be working for them in the future.

And you seem to agree with my point, which is that the Inc 500 is an indicator of rapid growth which yes, must be maintained over a period of time. Hence, the 'creative recruiting techniques' and equally 'creative sales techniques'.

Addressing your questions, one at a time:

You take isolated incidents, with select reps and blow them out of proportion. We have over 100,000 customers. You would think if all 2000 of us were running around being “deceptive” there would be a hellstorm of complaints and lawsuits. Yet, a blog that highlights isolated incidents and complains about how their kid got tricked into working hard is the only thing that shows up.

My response to you is two-pronged: a) Read the comments on all of my blog posts; and b) Read the links contained in those blog posts. Carefully. I am neither the first nor the last search result.

"Do you complain to a store manager when you find out that the “buy one get one free” special was not as “advertised”?"

Abso-frickin-lutely. If there is an advertised special that does not conform to what has been advertised, fine print included, you can bet the farm I do. I also don't do business with them. Typically, two for one offers involve technology which is on the way to obsolescence. Cell phones are an example of that. You want a Razr 2 for 1 special from Cingular/AT&T;? It's there, but the Razrs are a couple of generations back from the most current, sometimes incompatible with Cingular/AT&T;'s fastest wireless 3G network (but then, so is the iPhone), and you know that because you are in a store with all of the handsets right there to choose from. But you bet -- if something is advertised one way and that advertising is deceptive I'll be the first one to be calling the manager out on it. It's worth noting that Cingular/ATT gives the customer 15 days to rescind the contract, unlike the 3 days that Firstline gives.

If you go back into the archives of this blog, you'll find a series of posts that I wrote about an online advertising service -- PayPerPost. I wrote for them for awhile, despite the criticism that I was a whore for doing it. They set a price for the post, I decided if I wanted to write it, and if I did, I got paid. Simple as that. The blogosphere went nuts over it, claiming that PPP was corrupting the blogosphere with deceptive ads. And truly, some writers were deceptive in the beginning. Not all. However, I could point to the fact that I disclosed all of my paid posts up front, tagged them as such, and wrote darn good content for the money I was paid. Even though I don't write for them any more because of other conflicts and time issues, I believe in them as a disruptive, interesting, creative way to deliver advertising value.

The only thing that contradicted the assertion that all people who wrote for PPP were whores were the actual posts by all of us who disclosed and clearly displayed that disclosure.

Similarly, those of you who sell these units in a straightforward fashion have no criticism from me. I have defended those who sell when they've been criticized here on the blog.

But I will stand by my assertion that the marketing techniques taught to recruits are opaque and deceptive. You are free to disagree with that, and use my bandwidth to do it, and I will let it stand as long as you don't engage in personal attacks. (the comment at the top of this strand is pretty borderline as far as what I'll tolerate on my nickel). In that respect, any reader of this blog will have both perspectives to weigh and consider.

Which leads to my final point. Don't assume that because you go through the steps you outlined, everyone at Firstline does. They don't, and anecdotal evidence exists of that in the blog comments, consumer complaints and other articles on the web.

There is one point upon which we are in complete agreement:

"Bottom line, the consumer is responsible for himself/herself.

Yes, which is why I wrote this blog post and left it open for discussion. So they can make that 'informed' decision. Of course, to do that, they must tell the salesman they want to think about it and review the paperwork, which is utter anathema to the whole pitch. The idea is to pitch it, sell it on the impulse, close it, and then hope the customer wants to keep it in that three-day look time frame.

Re: Firstline Security and The Prodigy: The Unreal Lure of Reality

drumsnwhistles — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 04:05:42 -0000

Anonymous above,

You have a wise mother who has passed her wisdom on to you. When it's all said and done, you have taken the best lessons possible away from the experience. I didn't use the exact words she did, but something close -- basically to take the skills learned and apply them in an environment that was honest, up-front, and which would reward hard work.

I'm not sure the ones who quit because of the tactics would have stayed if they'd been paid what they were promised, because if they didn't use those tactics, they weren't succeeding.

Re: Firstline Security Cost Comparison

drumsnwhistles — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 04:12:57 -0000

<h3>Paul:</h3>

You definitely get the award for tenacity. I'm sure many of your summer's success stories can be traced back to that quality. All good luck to you.

I just spent the last three hours on AT&T;'s support forums for the Blackjack, after my email push client suddenly gave up the ghost. There were message threads 25 pages long filled with complaints. Now you could argue that given the size of AT&T;, that's not very many complaints when compared to the customer base. On the other hand, they follow the same theme right down to the overpriced data plans, erratic signals, and inconsistent performance. The law of numbers dictates that you can extrapolate a trend from that, since statistics prove that about 10% of customers will actually say something online while the other 90% lurk. Similarly, there are trends which can be extrapolated from the comments here and other negativity around the web. Is everyone dissatisfied? Of course not, or you wouldn't have a company to sell for. But the company itself would do well to consider what's been said here and elsewhere and modify their approach before the small outcries become much louder.

<h3>Random:</h3>

I had to remove your comment...I can't let you post the personal cell number of a Firstline executive on the site -- it's a disclosure of someone's personal information, which goes against the blog principles I have published here. Sorry.

Re: Happy Birthday to Us…

drumsnwhistles — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 04:25:22 -0000

Thank you all for the good wishes. :) It was an interesting day, because I was more or less tethered to my computer for this work project.

On the other hand, Sticks did pass the drivers' test, which has presented the next set of problems; namely, how to manage three drivers with two cars when one of them hogs all the room in the car with his drums.

But that's a story for a blog post.

Re: Hello, This is the Parent of Your Former Honor Student Calling…

drumsnwhistles — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 16:55:28 -0000

LOL, Kelly!...unless you teleported into this little California bedroom community district, you're safe from criticism. Reassure Kennimus it wasn't directed at you.

It's just that for all the crazed parents with stupid requests, there are some like us who seem to constantly find ourselves in the position of having to fight for our kids to be able to learn at a level that challenges them.

And even if they did reconfigure their criteria, how can kids who meet the new baseline on a current basis be excluded?

I hope she's okay, too. Of all my kids, she's the one with the strongest desire to learn and excel, and I'd hate to see her discouraged from doing that.

Re: Firstline Security and The Prodigy: The Unreal Lure of Reality

drumsnwhistles — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 18:03:17 -0000

Anonymous above this one:

MCI's tactics are the reason there are laws about long-distance slamming, which is exactly what Firstline sales reps are trained to do with security systems.

On the AT&T; thing, I've been with Cingular (now AT&T;) for 5 years and have never, ever had to get a plan with the fees you describe. The plan I've had is $39.99/month, plus phone, and I just added a data plan for $20/month. No $200 activation. If you paid that, you should've spent some time on the Internet first.

Credit cards are the biggest scam going. No question. But I have yet to see a credit card salesperson at my front door. I did, however, get a solicitation yesterday for a card with 29.99% interest. That should be outlawed....there's no way anyone should be paying that kind of rate on a card. Which is why, by the way, I have no credit cards. Not one, and I like it like that.

As to your statement about "it's just home security", you should talk to your fellow sales partners about (start the patriotic music here) lives are saved, property preserved, God love the USA and all that.(stop music)

Re: Firstline Security Cost Comparison

drumsnwhistles — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 22:24:25 -0000

Steve,

Paying $45/month for a service I can get for $25/month is the ripoff part.

Re: Scion in the Community

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 01:56:08 -0000

Katharine --

Me too. :)

Re: GoFirstline.com: Evil, Deceptive Marketing to College Students

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 13:31:42 -0000

The prices quoted in the post are indeed for the Simon XT.

Re: Puppies and Gremlins

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 04:14:12 -0000

Thank you, Stephen. It was sloppy writing and I've corrected it.

Re: Senator Craig: The Next Victim of the Minneapolis Airport Cops

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 18:40:54 -0000

Hi Donna,

I feel the same way. I may not like his politics, but he shouldn't have been railroaded. Or let himself be railroaded.

Re: Slippery Slopes

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 19:57:29 -0000

Thanks, Donna! I took 400 shots and kept 40, so there will surely be more to come. :)

Re: Firstline Security Cost Comparison

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 11:57:13 -0000

So...your logic is that because dishonesty is rampant among corporate cultures, we should just shrug and say okay?

I don't think so. But thanks for stopping by.

Re: Firstline Security Cost Comparison

drumsnwhistles — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 17:56:47 -0000

Brett:

You're welcome. I feel badly for the kids selling this system -- they're given a script and little else.

Juli:

Your bottom line is exactly the same as mine. This is what I've had such difficulty getting across to Paul and others in the comments.

The thing is, the majority of the kids who are recruited into this give it their heart and soul. They have goals, hopes, and financial obligations and when they figure out that they were sold a bill of goods which they were then expected to turn around and sell to others, it's incredibly disillusioning and costly.

Re: Wide-Eyed Wonder

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 19:24:16 -0000

Thanks, Lee!

Re: Mahalo - A Powerful Tool in the Right Hands

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 03:31:37 -0000

Victor,

Yes, that's it in a nutshell. And funny you should mention DOS...I had to go hunt for a DOS print command the other day -- something that I used to be able to do right off the top of my head.

The challenge for Mahalo will be keeping the pages fresh -- it's definitely a people-intensive thing, but if they can, they've got a terrific product.

Re: Mahalo - A Powerful Tool in the Right Hands

drumsnwhistles — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 02:36:23 -0000

academic visitor,

Welcome. Your point is well taken; however, I don't see how making searches more efficient is somehow robbing her of the ability to learn to sift through data. Keep in mind that before she used Mahalo, she'd already done the Google search. Some of the unfortunate results of searching a topic as wide as Steve Jobs and Apple via Google are: a) redundant and/or irrelevant results; and b) the possibility of landing on a spam site or worse.

Mahalo, by the way, does link out to other searches, but they are much more focused.

I'm not saying that Mahalo is for everyone. However, in situations where you are in a time constraint or where the user isn't particularly search-savvy (like my mother-in-law, for example) and because they're not savvy, they're likely to end up on an unreliable or even malevolent site, I'd steer them toward Mahalo any day.

In my daughter's case, she's definitely wielded the "google pencil". For her the issue was managing her time efficiently for the purpose of locating primary sources that she'd already identified as necessary to her paper via Google/Wikipedia searches.

Search on Steve Jobs keynote, for example, and you'll get a zillion links to the most recent keynote. Narrow it down by year and there's still a zillion. The point is to focus the search to a pinpoint.

In the long run, the lesson I'd most like her to learn is how to get her work done efficiently, meet deadlines, and have a high degree of confidence in the product she's created.

Mahalo helped with that. It's not for everyone and probably not even her most of the time, but it served its purpose and illustrated its usefulness to me.

Re: GoFirstline.com: Evil, Deceptive Marketing to College Students

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 02:42:12 -0000

RJ,

I'm sure you didn't look hard at this; in fact, I'm sure you didn't look at all. However, just so you know, I generally don't leave comments here that: a) shout; and b) flame others, particularly when you're flaming people on my nickel.

But I'm leaving it, because it reflects so poorly on Firstline that the people who read it will understand the nature of the folks knocking on their doors. At least, some of them. Others who have commented here have left reasonable comments, pro and con.

Yours will stand as the small minority who, lacking much else to say worth reading, resort to tantrums and flaming to make a non-point.

Re: Mahalo - A Powerful Tool in the Right Hands

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 15:39:50 -0000

Jack @ the Tech Teapot,

First, I apologize for letting your comment slip into the spam filter -- I pulled it out just in the nick of time!

You wrote:

If Mahalo gets real popular, I mean google popular, then it will effectively feed back into google’s results anyway. A link from a Mahalo page will then be so powerful in google as to effectively make the google results the same as Mahalo. So, in effect, if Mahalo works then google will effectively “copy” it. That’s the way the google algo works!

Excellent point! The value of that is that Google's results will then become more valuable. One of my majr complaints with Google is the mish-mash of results one can get on certain search terms because of gaming and black-hat SEO.

Re: Firstline Security Cost Comparison

drumsnwhistles — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 16:33:13 -0000

smarter than you...you're not.

If you actually read these comments you would see that the contract is produced after the product is sold. If you look at the sales materials, customers are not given a lot of opportunity to review the contract ahead of making an agreement. That's because they're counting on the impulse buy and the fact that remorse will set in after the three-day free look is past.

Re: Good Deeds of Dancrs

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 05:49:29 -0000

Thank you both! And Liz, yes...me too. It's just that she's so happy about not having the braces that she practically beams...and that lights up the room. :)

Re: Simi Valley: Still A Hot Pocket of Racist, Petty, Greedy Bastards

drumsnwhistles — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 19:32:55 -0000

Simi Resident:

My apologies for not releasing your comment from the spam filter earlier. It had to do with the email address you left -- that one is common for porn spammers. Are you one?

I make no apologies for the title of this post. The content belongs to the good people of Simi Valley who applaud the persecution of the victims. I wonder, do you all focus on white Russian illegal immigrants? Why not?

Re: 60 Minutes, Bipolar Kids, and Hyperbole

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 01:36:17 -0000

Hi Larry,

As a parent, I'm the last best stopping point for what will and won't be given to my child. I think doctors have my child's best interests at heart and have no reason to think they would prescribe something harmful. In fact, in every case where meds were prescribed for my kids, our doctors have been very forthright about what the possibilities for side effects and the like are.

The mistake comes when the parents assume that doctors and pharmas are gods who have endless knowledge about how a specific person will respond to a specific medication. That's why I say that parents need to take ownership over what they do.

It's unlikely that a low-dose trial of a medication will cause physical or mental damage. The harm is done when the parents don't watch for side effects or other problems with the medication and report them, or mingle over the counter meds (which these parents did) with prescription meds without clearing it through the doc or the pharmacy.

The reason the parents are charged with a crime in this case is because the state views them as their child's protector and the state feels they (with whatever intent they assign) recklessly medicated their daughter.

I think they stupidly medicated their daughter. They were ignorant, not well educated and didn't ask questions, choosing instead to accept at face value and then carelessly dispense, powerful medications to their little daughter.

If the preschool was so concerned about her listlessness, why didn't they report it? They only spoke up when it was too late. It's that kind of hindsight reporting that does no one any good.

Re: 60 Minutes, Bipolar Kids, and Hyperbole

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 05:02:16 -0000

Larry,

Have you tried http://clinicaltrials.gov? For the past several years, all information related to clinical trials has been posted to that site.

I disagree with you about the guinea pig effect. Each person is different and will react differently to a medication. Trying one in a low dose is the only way to know whether it's effectively treating the condition or not. Maybe someday there will be a way to simulate the effect, but for now, there's just...trying it.

Re: Techmeme Leaderboard: The Newest Whuffie Face Score

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 05:07:49 -0000

Thanks to you both for your comments. I noticed the discussion more or less died out today, but I'll bet there's a lot of eyes on that leaderboard.

Back when Twitter was all the rage (in March), I was shouting out as loudly as I could about the Julie Amero case and the injustice of the clash between technology and the law. I tried as hard as I could to get someone -- anyone in the "higher blogosphere order" for lack of a better term, to put a louder voice to it than I.

Yet all I saw, over and over again, was more "Twitter is the new blog, yada yada" and no one could really take the few minutes to shout out about Julie, except for Cory Doctorow and the folks over at BoingBoing. And even when it did catch a little bit, no one really went in depth with it.

Now we're seeing tons of people under prosecution for possession of images, videos, etc. who were stupid enough or unfortunate enough to use peer-to-peer file sharing on unprotected computers and download material without discretion as to what it really might be. And still, no real tech voices beyond the antivirus and antispyware folks.

Maybe I should create a PayPerPost opportunity for folks to blog it...would anyone listen then? No, it'd probably still be all about Facebook.

Re: Techmeme Leaderboard: The Newest Whuffie Face Score

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 12:30:40 -0000

Hi Steven,

Oh, the contributions of Alex and all of the volunteers are not to be minimized in Julie's case, nor was I trying to. But one link from Robert Scoble to Alex's blog, or an orchestrated outcry about it from the so-called A-listers at the time would have made a world of difference. As it was, they ultimately blogged it after the fact.

The people who made the difference were Alex, et all and the knitters and food bloggers and other ordinary people who got the word out and dug into their pockets to give to Julie's defense fund. Just imagine how much easier their job would have been had they had some megaphones from the top dogs.

Re: Jena 6: If You’re Looking for the Real Story

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 15:27:22 -0000

First, apologies for leaving this in the spam folder too long. Your email address gave me cause for pause, but I've decided to publish your comment anyway because your message, combined with contact info, will speak for itself.

I have not argued that Bell was right to get in a fight or injure the other boy. What I do argue is that it wasn't attempted murder, and more fundamentally, Bell did not receive a fair trial before a jury of his peers. By peers I do not mean the jurors had to be all black, but an all-white jury in a town representing both blacks and whites is not a jury of one's peers.

I don't buy your hunter/hunted story, having seen things like the video and photos I linked to yesterday.

Re: I5 Big Rig Collision - Tunnel Explosions

drumsnwhistles — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 13:25:33 -0000

Oh, so sorry to hear it! I was looking for something that would tell me whether or not the bridge had been compromised. Even though it's south of the grapevine, it's the truck route that gets them there. It's going to be ugly if that section is closed for any length of time.

Re: Simi Valley: Still A Hot Pocket of Racist, Petty, Greedy Bastards

drumsnwhistles — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 17:04:50 -0000

Carl,

It's not acting above the law. You'd all think they were sheltering a mass murderer. The father is a citizen; so is the baby. The mother isn't. The church is within its rights to provide a place for a homeless mother and child.

Please, those of you who think this church is acting illegally, can you tell me if you're a) pro-life; and b)pro-family?

If yes to a) or b), how can you possibly accuse this church of wrongdoing?

Re: Internet Fakery Taken Up a Notch or Two

drumsnwhistles — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 22:46:28 -0000

Hi Gideon!

Yes, that is what Janna was able build upon --- Audrey's humanity and need to have someone who filled that void. I'm about to update this post with one from Liz Ditz where she lists a bunch of other similar scams I'd forgotten about.

Re: Internet Fakery Taken Up a Notch or Two

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 02:49:29 -0000

Gideon, Marie is right. Number one, she's loving all the attention. And when it fades, she'll be looking for the next person, because Josh Olson has it exactly right when he says she's just crazy from one side to the other.

The only way that will change is if she gets help. Which she likely won't.

I've seen the very same people come back to the SAME community and scam it all over again.

One really sad case involved a similar story with a message board, where one day the person's "spouse" came on the board and announced they had died. Two days later they rose again as a "friend" of the dead spouse. It was amazing, and even though the group had its doubts, they accepted the "friend" as legit, until someone uncovered the truth through an email mismatch.

In some ways, this kind of scam is worse than the Internet phishing scams and the like, because they actually create a relationship which they then go about destroying.

It's all a big control game for them.

Re: Nate Fisher: Resigned to his fate

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 02:52:08 -0000

I hope so, Gideon. I hope that if they Google Nate Fisher's name this post and Franks posts and Rick's posts will come up before anything else, so that they can see who behaved honorably and who did not.

Re: Simi Valley: Still A Hot Pocket of Racist, Petty, Greedy Bastards

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 12:51:33 -0000

Jesse,

Liliana is not a fugitive. Please explain how you came to the conclusion that Liliana is a fugitive.

Re: How not to start a day

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 14:50:00 -0000

Liz, Thank you! I'm flattered. :)

Sassymonkey: Yes, but the doc said they wouldn't stitch it anyway -- it's vertical and runs across the knuckle down to the first joint. So the butterflies are actually what they would use, too.

Katharine: It went from bad to worse, so today has to be better. Right?

Re: Simi Valley: Still A Hot Pocket of Racist, Petty, Greedy Bastards

drumsnwhistles — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 13:45:37 -0000

Jesse,

She is a non-US citizen married to a US Citizen who is the mother of another US Citizen. She has been ordered to abandon her family. Under the definition of fugitive that you supplied, I will agree with you that she is a fugitive, but not from justice. From persecution, yes.

Where you really leap in logic, though, is when you ignore the fact that Liliana's presence at the church was not the cause of the $40,000 bill. The cause for the bill was the Save our State protesters who showed up en masse with the goal of having immigration agents raid a church for the purpose of deporting one young mother and her child.

What's wrong here is the idea that groups can stage violent protests (yes -- violent...see the notes about injuries and pepper spray, etc in the original post) against a peaceful entity and the entity (who is the victim here) is billed for that cost.

Re: Simi Valley: Still A Hot Pocket of Racist, Petty, Greedy Bastards

drumsnwhistles — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 18:31:07 -0000

Jesse,

The consequences of status, credibility, honor, etc...fine.

The bill got sent to the wrong folks in this case. If I follow your argument about choosing the consequences right down the line, then should I also assume that females (and just to make it interesting, let's say...sixteen year old females) who dress in fashion, which means tight jeans and tiny tank tops should be financially responsible for the hospital bill after she's raped?

I really don't think that's what you meant, yet that argument leads to that conclusion. The thing is, the police were needed not because there was a protest. The police were needed because there had been a history of violence at Save our State protests in the past and there was no reason to expect that this one would be different.

When the City of Simi Valley sent that bill, they signaled exactly what they intended -- that protests, no matter how vitriolic and violent they may be, are okay as long as the targets are illegal immigrants and they (at least appear to) recover costs.

I have yet to hear anyone comment on the question of the moral aspects of taking a 6-month old child away from his mother and taking a wife away from her husband to justify her deportation. Why isn't she at least given a hearing and opportunity to get the proper paperwork since she's married to a citizen?

Re: Blogher Ads

drumsnwhistles — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 00:18:04 -0000

Thanks, Denise. I like the "more from BlogHer" feature more than I thought I would...what would be really cool is a "More from Blogher" widget that I could drop into my sidebar or RSS feed. :)

Re: GoFirstline.com: Evil, Deceptive Marketing to College Students

drumsnwhistles — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 23:12:13 -0000

To Joe, whose comment is no longer visible:

If you want to repost everything without the language and the flames, fine. If you want to rant about me with that language, I invite you to do so on your own blog that YOU maintain and pay for. My bandwidth isn't available for the language.

You wanna tell me I'm a meddling old broad, do it politely or you'll get yourself deleted and banned.

Re: GoFirstline.com: Evil, Deceptive Marketing to College Students

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 19:18:37 -0000

Anonymous:

I am not an employee nor have I been. What I've reported here has been from interviews and first hand accounts of former employees.

Re: Lime Twist

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 03:26:47 -0000

Thank you! And welcome back, stranger :)

Re: Tweet and Eat

drumsnwhistles — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 03:15:50 -0000

Marie, both of those are great! I'm following them, too.

Re: 4 Ways to Really Honor our Veterans

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 06:01:02 -0000

Hey Mini, I've been reading your blog faithfully and I only wish I had more time, because there's almost always something I want to say on your posts. Thank you for your comment and the update on Nate Fisher. I'm glad to hear he's still teaching.

Re: Help a fashion disaster recover…

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 03:05:30 -0000

Marie,

Great advice! I love the blazer but have to go for a different cut -- there's just a little too much hip on me for the cute short jacket look.

However, the link was really helpful...I'm browsing there now.

Gideon,

It's okay -- You're an expert on more important things. ;-)

Re: The Painted Box

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 01:20:35 -0000

Thanks, everyone!

Katharine,I'm going to suggest that to her! It would be cool if she could do this stuff and make a bit of money. :)

Re: GoFirstline.com: Evil, Deceptive Marketing to College Students

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 02:50:37 -0000

KC,

He isn't the exception. Read the other comments here and on the other Firstline posts on this site.

I'm glad to hear a counterpoint and appreciate the polite way that you and Nate offered that. I'm also glad you had a good experience and believe in the company. But at this point, I'm seeing you guys as more the exception than the rule.

Re: Tech Bloggers: Leave Your Agenda at the Door

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 11:55:54 -0000

Dave and Tish,

Perhaps it would have been better for me to say it's intellectually dishonest. The bottom line is that it will mislead a casual reader who isn't familiar with the backstory.

Tish, I'm familiar with the history on PPP. However, for every person who did not disclose in the beginning there were three who did. It was unfair for all the trashing and piling on to keep on and on, and the ones who suffered were the folks like us who did disclose and held ourselves to a standard of conduct that included disclosure.

Matthew, I have no problem with bias or passion, unless it's personal, which this has become.

Andrew Baron made Mahalo sound downright evil, and it's not. He may think Calacanis is evil but that shouldn't impact Mahalo, which has a lot of good people working really hard.

Re: Tech Bloggers: Leave Your Agenda at the Door

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 14:08:29 -0000

Tish,

My reference to 'painting Mahalo as evil' came from this statement in Andrew's post:

I consider this kind of activity to be reckless - just like splogs - for trying to budge way into Google search returns and feed off of SEO. Search works best when you have a great product or idea and can talk about it clearly. When you try to game it, or try to make money for the sake of making money from it, it’s just being a selfish nuisance.

The "splogs" and "selfish nuisance" comments were specifically what I was referring to. If I were one of the people making those pages I would take personal offense to being labeled a splogger.

Opinions, even strongly held opinions, are not the problem here. The problems happen when those opinions really express how one feels about the person behind the product and not the product itself. At that point, they transcend opinion and become attacks.

Saying that Mahalo is similar to a "splog" is really a damaging characterization. I hate splogs. I certainly wouldn't support one when I spend part of every day getting rid of sploggy trackbacks on this blog and I definitely wouldn't give it a thumbs-up on this blog.

The discussion in the comments is pretty revealing -- links to a bunch of different positive reviews are provided and still, Baron finds a way to ignore them and stand by his original statement. That's just being intellectually dishonest, in my opinion, and it doesn't serve readers or information seekers well, because the goal is to push the agenda and not the information.

I want an honest, objective review and that's all. Not nice things about a flawed product. If it's flawed, say it's flawed and say why in the context of the technology, or whatever. Just be fair and not personal, that's all.

If you look at some of the posts here, I have no problem being passionate, but I temper that passion is tempered by factual support. In this case, it appears as though a gauntlet has been thrown and answered without acknowledgement.

Re: Tech Bloggers: Leave Your Agenda at the Door

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 14:38:16 -0000

ouch, I should copyedit my own comments better before hitting the publish key.

Tish, Andrew's post wasn't the only post I was discussing, but at any rate, he turns his post into a review of sorts when he starts making statements about it not being a service, but rather, a splog, don't you think?

I value hands-on feedback about sites more than formal PC World/Mag-like reviews. Isn't that one of the foundations of the "Web 2.0 conversation" values? They carry more weight with me, but they do need to be fair. I shouldn't have to read with my fight filter on.

Truly, if he'd have prefaced his post by saying "I really cannot stand Jason Calacanis and his self-promoting ways" I would have known how much weight to assign what followed and he could've written whatever. Disclose, disclose, disclose.

Re: Tech Bloggers: Leave Your Agenda at the Door

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 16:41:55 -0000

Hi Tish,

My blogging is, at best, eclectic. I am definitely not a mommyblogger though I certainly do blog about my kids from time to time.

In this discussion, consider me a consumer of information. I work on the web but am not a developer. The best description of me would be a user and consumer of many different sites and services available to me. I'm a critic sometimes, and an edge case at others.

Truth be told, Andrew's post probably wouldn't have caught my attention at all, had Dave not Twittered it. But when he did, my first response was to say "wait just a minute -- *I* wrote a good review!"

If you want a user's perspective on something, you're likely to find it here. For that reason, I consider it important to keep my voice in the conversation honest with who might be reading it, because you just never know who that reader might be.

I don't view that as marketing as much as just giving someone my honest opinion. I suppose I could do that in any number of social networks, but I like having my place here.

I expect that Mr.Baron feels the same way, except that he enjoys a higher profile around this neck of the woods by virtue of his Rocketboom work, which in turns weights what he writes for that down-the-road mystery reader who might pick up what he blogged when they searched on the terms Mahalo and review. If they searched.

Anyway, this has been a good conversation, too. I think until Google figures out which blogs are marketing conversations and which are just out-loud ruminations and assigns weight accordingly, it's probably worth having it.

Re: Megan Meier’s Tragic Death - Charge Lori Drew with Child Abuse

drumsnwhistles — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 14:33:10 -0000

Michael,

I couldn't disagree with you more, and your incredibly nasty remarks about how the "world is better off without the emo" really speaks to the perspective from which you write.

The fact is that an adult tricked a vulnerable kid into believing she was worthless enough to hang herself and that adult doesn't believe she has any responsibility in the matter.

As for the year which passed, it has been made clear over and over again that law enforcement authorities asked the Meiers to wait to go public until they had investigated. After they waited and placed their faith in law enforcement, they were told no laws had been broken.

The only option left was to go public, because Lori Drew should not live out the rest of her days thinking she had ANY justification for what she did. She had none.

Re: 12 things I want to be thankful for

drumsnwhistles — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 14:44:29 -0000

LOL, I wasn't actually thinking about 'going' to games as much as doing something entirely different without so much as a peep at a TV or a football. It seems like there's more and more with every passing day. Ugggg.

Re: Megan Meier’s Tragic Death - Charge Lori Drew with Child Abuse

drumsnwhistles — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 20:21:44 -0000

Mel,

I agree with your thoughts on First Amendment issues, believe it or not. However, MySpace is not public property and I doubt the Internet can be deemed public property, given the ownership of the telcos. ;-)

More fundamentally, it would be an extremely difficult law to enforce, just as the existing federal law Hypatia mentions is. That law essentially makes it a crime to *anonymously* harass someone. In other words, using your real name and harassing is okay; doing it under a pseudonym is a crime. I have yet to see the Feds enforce it and the FBI did investigate this case before telling the Meiers no laws had been broken. In fact, the US Attorney has not responded to press inquiries about whether he will prosecute. I'm guessing part of his reluctance stems from the fact that in the end, the harm inflicted was self-harm.

Yet there's no question in my mind that if RON Drew had been the one harassing Megan, he would've been hauled up on charges. There's a real double standard there.

Re: Megan Meier’s Tragic Death - Charge Lori Drew with Child Abuse

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 03:42:54 -0000

Thanks for your terrific comments, all!

Candy, Michael Crook is a Holocaust denier, too. He may not be Lori Drew, but he isn't any truthteller either.

Re: Google GangBang Feels Like Date Rape

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 04:32:26 -0000

Robert, if you had read the entire post you would have seen that I said I disagree with NOT disclosing on the post itself. I always did, but if you disclose now, Google penalizes the advertiser, too. WTF?

As for Amazon, I don't get the same deal. Just sayin'. And yes, I'm an affiliate on a different, completely unrelated blog.

You did see where I didn't call YOU a hypocrite and noted your in-post disclosure?

Google not only penalizes the poster; they're penalizing the advertiser. That's evil in my world, especially when it's selectively applied.

Re: Google GangBang Feels Like Date Rape

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 04:41:48 -0000

I have edited this post to be clearer about the amazon relationship. It was inaccurate to characterize your post as space or links purchased, even though the outcome may be the same. I do apologize for that misconception.

Re: Megan Meier’s Tragic Death - Charge Lori Drew with Child Abuse

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 22:38:59 -0000

Joel,

I think the US Attorney has to prosecute, and as far as I can see, the FBI has concluded their investigation with no plans to pursue it.

I've been thinking about why no criminal charges have been filed, and I really do believe it comes down to her suicide, which is unfortunate. Because she self-harmed herself, the prosecutor's argument for the Drews' responsibility is diluted. However, it seems to me that Lori Drew clearly violated that part of the law that related to anonymous harassment. I also think a prosecutor who really believed in their case could make an effective argument that Lori Drew's actions online caused Megan's suicide, but for some odd reason there doesn't appear to be much prosecutorial interest in pursuing it, which leaves the door open for more of this kind of abuse.

The whole situation is just completely pathetic and aggravating.

Re: Google GangBang Feels Like Date Rape

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 23:13:56 -0000

Thanks to you all for the diggs and stumbles. :)

@Techie, the metaphor holds to anyone who relied on that ranking to earn some decent money with paid blogging. The issue is control, and who should have it.

Re: Google GangBang Feels Like Date Rape

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 21:42:21 -0000

In fact, here are the criteria used for each and every post:

1. Have I actually investigated the product, site, link, information personally? The answer must be yes.
2. Would the product, site, link or information be of interest to people interested in this blog? The answer must be yes.
3. Would I write this post even if I were not paid, and would I write it in the same voice and tone? The answer must be yes.
4. Do I believe that readers and visitors might benefit in some way from what I’m writing about? The answer to that must at least be a strong “maybe”. Benefitting might be learning, discovering, or helping solve a specific problem.

If I cannot answer all three of the first three questions in the affirmative, I will not link or post it on this blog.

Every post I wrote was within those guidelines. In fact, I still use Zookoda, I did buy a phone from Wirefly, and I'm still a member of the Photography Forum that I wrote about.

Next time you accuse someone of being a whore you might want to do your homework first.

Re: Lori Drew Gets Out of Jail Free

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 21:44:52 -0000

Shelley,

I want no new laws. However, what was the point of passing this federal law if not to address this situation?

I understand that it's complicated. Isn't it always? It seems especially complicated whenever anyone is hurt -- then it's inevitably so complicated it can't be prosecuted.

I am not inventing this case -- Lori Drew gave her own statement in her own words recounting the case clearly as she recalled it at the time closest to the events which gave rise to the suicide of Megan Meier. Now that's being revised.

I take it you still maintain that all responsibility falls to the Meier family with none accorded to the instigator of the trouble, whether it was Lori or her daughter or "Ashley" the employee or one of the other kids who "happened" to obtain the username and password to that MySpace account?

If so, we still disagree.

Re: Megan Meier’s Tragic Death - Charge Lori Drew with Child Abuse

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 00:19:42 -0000

All,

Thank you for taking the time to come by and post your comments and thoughts. I appreciate them but want to clarify a couple of things.

First, my prayers and sympathy are also with the Drew's daughter, who is as much a victim of her mother and her mother's 'employee' as anyone else. I don't want anything bad to happen to her and I hope that she's able to take away something constructive from this whole sad situation.

With regard to Lori Drew, it seems clear that she will not be prosecuted under our current laws. At this point, the best we can hope for, it appears, is that she will have some kind of epiphany and realize the harm done, even if her fingers did not type the message that sent Megan into that final tailspin. I do believe that she gave no thought to possible consequences because she was thinking only of herself. On the other hand, focusing a lot of anger and even hate at her will not help her realize her role in Megan's suicide. I can only hope that as she looks in the mirror, she starts to understand it.

I somehow doubt it. People who are filled with self-righteousness rarely bother with introspection. But I don't want to be like her, or encourage anyone else to be like her either. It's probably better to think of positive ways to move forward and make the Internet better for the next victim of the next Lori Drew. I'd like to think that's not by making more laws. Maybe the ones we have should be clarified. Maybe there's a technical solution. But somehow, this should not be something that happens again.

Re: Lori Drew Becomes the Witch-Victim

drumsnwhistles — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 03:05:14 -0000

Thanks, Liz. It is a story that I knew would somehow be helpful one day in helping others to understand how incredibly evil some parents can be. I am lucky to have had some years to figure out that what The Witch did was not directed at me as much as it was her need to get what she wanted and to clear out anyone who stood in her way.

There are really people out there who do things like this, and I believe Lori Drew is one of them.

Re: Megan Meier’s Tragic Death - Charge Lori Drew with Child Abuse

drumsnwhistles — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 22:21:04 -0000

To those asking about Megan's parents' responsibility:

Until that day when everything blew up, the MySpace account had been a source of joy for Megan. It was only that day, when messages started coming in that were ugly and mean, that it became a problem. And when it did, Megan's mother told her to turn off the computer and stay off of it until she could review the messages. Of course, what came next was tragic.

Some folks think she shouldn't have been allowed on MySpace at all. I disagree. She was being monitored and as far as her parents knew, all was well and it would have been, if someone who got the password from Lori Drew had not decided to turn Megan upside down by using the "Josh" account to bully her.

Re: Megan Meier’s Tragic Death - Charge Lori Drew with Child Abuse

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 13:50:06 -0000

Phil, Frank and Darwin,

Whether Lori Drew actually wrote the series of messages that led Megan down the path to her suicide is in question. However, she had control of the password and account information and as an adult, should have shut down that account rather than sanctioning and continuing it over a span of six weeks.

How on earth would she ever have been able to get out of it without causing Megan heartache?

I believe that she did not intend for anything to happen that would have caused Megan's suicide. On the other hand, she was the adult and should have known better than to even consider, much less implement, a deception that was dead-ended and cruel. Why invent a boyfriend? Why not just a girl who was a friend of a myspace friend? The boyfriend ruse was clearly intended to get Megan's attention and gain her trust rapidly.

Like Phil, I am not, nor have I ever, advocated any harm coming to the Drew family. In fact, I'm concerned for Lori Drew's daughter and her forced isolation from friends and others as a result of the threats being made against her. This post and the others I've written have called for legal recourse against Lori Drew's actions, which she cleverly avoided by spreading around the login information and being fortunate enough to walk right in between the lines.

If there is no legal recourse, I certainly do not advocate vigilante justice. That's even more wrong than the original act.

However, society has the right to exclude her as a result of her actions, and that's what is happening now.

As to those who say that Megan's parents were irresponsible about letting her on MySpace when they knew she was fragile, I will reiterate: Until the day that everything blew up, that interaction was a positive thing in Megan's life, not negative. And when it did blow up, it did it fast and furious, which is typical of flame wars in online communities. It happened randomly, with no rhyme or reason, and I'm sure it devastated Megan. I wish she would not have acted on her suicidal impulse, but she did, and yes, no one tied the knot on the noose for her. However, to discover after the fact that the instigator was a supposedly responsible parent is just about beyond comprehension.

Re: Megan Meier’s Tragic Death - Charge Lori Drew with Child Abuse

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 17:27:43 -0000

Looks like it's time to close comments on this post.

Re: GoFirstline.com: Evil, Deceptive Marketing to College Students

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 03:34:06 -0000

Comments are still open for the "other side" to present their case. I made mine as I saw fit.

As to the cell bill, I agree. It was outrageous and Alltel should be fined for allowing such travesties to continue on a daily basis.

Re: GoFirstline.com: Evil, Deceptive Marketing to College Students

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 14:28:52 -0000

Spencer,

I didn't take offense, but I have answered this objection elsewhere. I have copies of the contracts and agreements. But just like the product itself, the devil's in the very, very fine print, which they don't want anyone to read at the time because reading it would kill the sale. The key to the Firstline sales technique is to get the customer/prospect so excited about the product/opportunity that they ignore the fine print. It's intentional. I would argue that reading the contract has very little to do with the success or failure of any individual. Some people are gifted with sales acumen, and could sell someone an ice cube in hell. That doesn't make it ethical or moral. Just successful.

With that said, keep in mind that the recruitment was ostensibly for a "reality show", not a summer sales job hawking security systems door-to-door. At the time of the so-called audition, the paperwork was intentionally vague about what exactly would be expected of these new recruits, and the followup paperwork was glossed over like a newly-minted ice rink.

Even reading the fine print doesn't give a full picture of the reality. Nothing in the fine print said "we can move you to a different territory 150 miles away with no notice whatsoever." (Nor did it say that the territory they move to would suck). The contract is vague about the employer/employee/contractor relationship, and even an expert like me in these matters had to really dig under the legalese to discover how an independent contractor can be such when their hours, living arrangements, and territories are defined by Firstline rather than the contractor.

The vagueness is on purpose. If they came out and said "Students, we want you to commit your summer to door-to-door sales of security systems that are readily available online at lower costs", they wouldn't recruit many, would they?

Here are some of my other, later posts on Firstline -- they explain more of the flaws I found in the contract and the product.

Re: Scam Alert: Automotive Warranty Advisors

drumsnwhistles — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 14:27:46 -0000

Mike,

It's pretty difficult to throw away a postcard that looks like the one up above. Keep in mind that these cards always come right after someone has purchased a car, and in our case, a brand-new car with a full 5-year/100K warranty on it.

My first question was: Did Toyota screw up the warranty?

Since I could find no answers to my questions, my options were to discover what this company was and how it had information about my warranty, or call them.

As you can see from the majority of the comments here, most opted to call, finding themselves in another deceptive sales loop.

Sorry, but your advice to just "throw away the cards and get a life" doesn't fly this time around. This advertising is as false as anything I've ever seen and people should know what it's really about.

Re: Bipolar Britney?

drumsnwhistles — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 14:27:05 -0000

Roon,

I'd like to think we're not feasting on her. If she didn't constantly have public meltdowns she wouldn't even be a blip on my radar, but in her case they're so extreme that it worries me.

Thinking back to other celebrities who died because of their disorders and their addictions (Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, etc...) I'd like to hope this could have a different outcome.

Re: Firstline Security and The Prodigy: The Unreal Lure of Reality

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 02:29:10 -0000

Sorry folks, but I do delete posts that are nothing more than gratuitous slams on people participating in the conversation. If your comment is missing, that's why.

Re: Firstline Security Cost Comparison

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 02:45:46 -0000

Jeremy,

You're the second person to say that Firstline has gone out of business, but I can't find anything in the news, business or legal areas that confirm that. Do you have a supporting link or is this rumor, especially given that you're working for a competitor.

Re: Bipolar Britney?

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 18:03:09 -0000

Renee,

Here's the problem: She was already been put on a 72-hour hold 2 weeks ago, to which she promptly signed herself out after 24-hours. I'm assuming she agreed to the hold in order to reserve the right to sign herself out early at any time.

She doesn't trust her family, she doesn't trust her friends, she doesn't have anyone she really trusts, she has had custody privileges revoked and there doesn't appear to be any way at this point to stop her from self-destructing.

I find that to be really, really sad. I'm concerned for her. She's an adult, so her parents can't force a psychiatrist on her. They would actually have to get guardianship (good luck with THAT) in order to force any kind of treatment on her for whatever her problem might be.

It drives me crazy to see the media just lather up in a feeding frenzy over her. Clearly something is not right, but there seems to be no way to help make it right, and the constant dogging by paparazzi is certainly no help.

Someone said that she's an attention seeker. Maybe, but her behavior now goes far beyond attention-seeking...she needs real help. I'm sad for her.

Re: Bipolar Britney?

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 18:07:20 -0000

anonymous who commented here and said this:
think i have the same symptoms except i’m not showing it unless someone figures it out by himself, i admit i might be bipolar but there’s no one who can help me to get out of this mental illness i don’t know what to do with my self i’m just living and waiting to see what will happen in the future…if someone can give me help or advice he’s welcome.

Read Renee's comment above. Call a psychiatrist. If you don't have money for a psychiatrist, go to a clinic. Tell them your situation, be brutally honest. Above all, seek help. Please.

And come back and tell us how you're doing, okay?

Re: Bipolar Britney?

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 18:30:28 -0000

Renee,

I was shocked when she was able to sign herself out. I thought 72 hours was 72 hours, but in California, it's not mandatory if she went voluntarily.

I don't doubt my own moods and behavior with respect to bipolar -- I know my ADHD is as ADHD as it gets, no more, no less.

When I wrote this post nearly a year ago, the press was pillorying Brittney for not being a better mother and being a gadfly. They practically celebrated when she shaved her head in full view of the paparazzi.

To me, it was a clear signal that something was not right. My point in speculating here that it was possibly something like bipolar disorder was to express the view that this behavior went far beyond self-centeredness or attention-seeking, and rather than pick on her, maybe some compassion was in order.

Here's my post on her possible 72-hour hold, the night she was taken in.

Had her family and Dr. Phil not been so anxious to intervene, perhaps the real doctors might have done her some good.

Re: Scam Alert: Automotive Warranty Advisors

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 14:55:53 -0000

Charlie, when I ran the whois last year the administrative contact was premierhmc.com -- it was less about the server IP and more about the common named contacts.

Hope that helps...I just had a look and they've changed server contacts several times, so it may no longer read that way.

Re: Firstline Security and The Prodigy: The Unreal Lure of Reality

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 02:37:52 -0000

Okay, so now we have the rumor that they filed for bankruptcy today and the second rumor that they were acquired by Pinnacle.

Here's what I'm guessing, and it's just speculation based on past history. They did exactly what they did a couple of years ago -- they sold their contracts to Pinnacle to get out from under the requirement to service them so they would have liquid assets to start the recruiting cycle for this year's fresh-faced group of newly-sold summer recruits.

They did it in 2002 or 2003. It's a lovely deal for them -- none of the obligations, all of the liquidity.

But someone, please...if you're going to post rumors, at least link back to something or copy an excerpt of an email or whatever, because right now it's all rumor and/or speculation.

Re: Firstline Security and The Prodigy: The Unreal Lure of Reality

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 12:20:26 -0000

To Upgrade Scheduled Out: They don't have to mail them until 1/31, so watch for it to arrive in early February.

I still can't find anything confirming that there's a merger or a bankruptcy. If they follow what they've done in past years, they'll be selling the contracts to someone like ADT or Pinnacle and starting again with the current recruiting season. No bankruptcy, just a nice clean slate with no past obligations. Of course, in the current economy they might have trouble finding buyers for those contracts.

Re: Firstline Security and The Prodigy: The Unreal Lure of Reality

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 15:55:37 -0000

swingshift,

The scenario you describe makes a ton of sense. It's the first one that gives some legs to the rumors posted here and I'll keep watching for some news about it. You'd think that if checks are bouncing and payments aren't made to folks who worked all summer long for nothing there will be some press play somewhere about it.

BTW, there are two facebook groups around this if you're not already aware -- here and here.

Re: GoFirstline.com: Evil, Deceptive Marketing to College Students

drumsnwhistles — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 14:38:37 -0000

Other,

I'm so sorry to hear that. What will you do now?

Re: Firstline Security and The Prodigy: The Unreal Lure of Reality

drumsnwhistles — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 21:54:01 -0000

To all:

I generally remove comments that are personal attacks on others. I am going to leave "someone's" comment simply because it has had a response that would appear out of context without the original comment posted.

However, it's worth remembering that while the Firstline outcome is horrible, it was inevitable and shouldn't be pinned on people who worked there and believed in what they were doing. I'm sure Jake sold those accounts because he was a good salesman who believed what he'd been told, and also believed he was helping others in their success.

To me, this is the real ugly in luring students to sell systems unter the subterfuge of a reality show. It changes the filters everyone views their actions through, masking the pyramid under a pie in the sky.

Firstline's business model was headed for failure because it presumed that many solid contracts would be sold, and that they would then resell those contracts to a third party, re-infusing the company with cash to begin recruiting anew. The pyramid collapsed when the contracts couldn't be sold, and the ones who are paying are the customers and the students, particularly those who were recruited at this time last year, asked to recruit their friends, sent into territories that were already saturated, and ultimately ended the summer owing Firstline money instead of making any.

At any rate, feel free to comment, but do keep it free of personal attacks on others. I will delete those.

Re: GoFirstline.com: Evil, Deceptive Marketing to College Students

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 12:51:16 -0000

Anon,

I guess you missed all the comments about Firstline declaring bankruptcy, failing to make payroll last Friday and of course, not making the payoff to their "prodigy".

Bitter? Nah. Just tired of people profiteering off the backs of hard-working students. The one who should be bitter is "The Prodigy".

Re: GoFirstline.com: Evil, Deceptive Marketing to College Students

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 17:06:20 -0000

Brooke,

Thank you for your comments. Please note that the focus of this post was the framing of the "marketing director" position as a reality show. It was deceptive -- intentionally deceptive -- in order to recruit college students to sell door-to-door.

In other comments, I explain why I believe the sales technique is deceptive. It is, particularly the part where the effort is made to switch customers from an existing contract to a new contract.

I've heard the 'hard-working self-motivated" spiel over and over again, but the fact is that unless you can bring yourself to take the approach that is based on deception, there is very little hope of success.

Re: GoFirstline.com: Evil, Deceptive Marketing to College Students

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 18:48:33 -0000

A PS to Brooke:

A "job" which leaves the employee in debt is no job at all. It's indentured servitude.

And to this comment:
It unfortunate that your son didn’t have a good experience and now he has to find somewhere else to point the finger for his failure.

Please. Give me at least a little credit for having a brain cell of my own. For example, are you aware that Fresno had a horrible experience with alarm sales and as a result, passed laws preventing door-to-door sales of alarm systems? Yet, that was where Firstline placed a group of kids. Was that something he had control over?

Why weren't the sales people given official sales material? Brochures explaining the service, access to business cards? Why were they called "advertising directors" when you clearly state that they were in fact door-to-door salespeople? Why were these kids dropped into neighborhoods where not one of them had ever lived and had no ties? YOUR husband may have customers calling to thank him, but these kids' customers were intentionally NOT given a way to reach them again.

Again, it's wonderful that your spouse did so well and I can only hope he was paid all that he was owed. Don't assume his experience is the same as others', including those who sold lots of systems and now will not receive their full pay for that.

Re: GoFirstline.com: Evil, Deceptive Marketing to College Students

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 20:48:42 -0000

Brooke,

<ol><li>Re: Cell Phones -- yes, he has a cell phone which he just finished paying off the $1,800 bill on for using in connection with his Firstline gig and which, when dropped into Fresno, went on permanent roam. Why would any employer expect employees to use their own cell phones for business? Just sayin'.</li>
<li>This post should clear the air about my opinion of summer sales versus Firstline's version of summer sales. Nowhere in this post did I denounce summer sales as a general thing -- my friend Liz has no use for them but I did not denounce it in anyway. I do, however, have nothing but contempt for the way students were 'recruited' and forced into areas that were not open to the sales of security alarm systems</li>
<li>With regard to your "free weekend" analogy, I rest my case. Only this "free weekend" went on for nearly four weeks, until the contracts were produced. I challenge you to look at that contract through the filter of believing you are part of a reality show like The Apprentice while sitting in a group with a high-pressure sales pitch going on saying just initial here, here and here, sign here and you're on the "show". What the folks selling The Prodigy understood was that by putting the lens of a 'reality show' around what they were really selling, the context changed just enough to close the deal with few questions. I suppose we can thank Donald Trump and "The Apprentice" for that, too.</li>
<li>See this post for my reasons for saying the Firstline sales pitch is deceptive. It's self-explanatory.</li>
<li>I have not personally attacked your husband, unless his name is Wright Thurston or Trevor Keyes, in which case your defense has just become indefensible. Why do you insist on assuming I have, and further assuming that you are therefore given license to attack me? You don't know me and you don't know my son, but would you really attack a veteran who spent four years in the Army? No? Then quit hacking on my kid...and hope yours never has to spend time on active military duty or in Fresno selling alarm systems.</li></ol>

Re: GoFirstline.com: Evil, Deceptive Marketing to College Students

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 22:20:11 -0000

No ma'am, not making the comparison. My son is a partially disabled veteran of the United States Army who was attending college last year on the GI bill when he was recruited to go to to Fresno. No comparison, just extending the timeline.

Also, I think you are attributing some comments to me that I did not make. Here are some direct quotes from me:

My criticism isn’t directed toward those of you out there knocking on the doors. I don’t think you’re unethical, but I do think you’ve been taught some deceptive sales techniques, including slamming residents who have another security system. (I am using the term ’slamming’ in the telecommunications sense of a smooth and subtle pitch where the customer doesn’t realize they’re switching companies until after the fact, even with the confirmation of their ‘information’ on the phone.)
The problem isn’t the concept of direct sales. It’s this concept of direct sales, where students are dropped into areas that have already been heavily saturated with this type of approach and left to their own devices to make that quota using a hard-sell approach that involves entry into the homes of the people they’re selling to.

Others here have made far more sweeping indictments than I -- I think they're really the ones who you're angry with.

I hope your child is better and that your husband continues to succeed -- I truly do.

Re: GoFirstline.com: Evil, Deceptive Marketing to College Students

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 23:03:02 -0000

Spencer,

As I said before and will repeat for the last time -- you can aim at me here on the site, but your gratuitous slams on someone you do not know are not going to be tolerated.

Read this carefully: When you tell someone they are a reality show contestant, the idea of being 'self-employed' goes completely away. Again -- it's the filter and the deception that matters.

As I've said before, it's his bad for letting himself be deceived, but the many, many who were speaks more to the quality of the lie than the lie itself.

They could've just said it's a summer sales job. But they didn't. They even made pretty and flashy DVDs and fed those out regularly to convince people it was part of a larger production called "The Prodigy".

It was sneaky, deceptive recruiting and intentionally so. Save your Teddy Roosevelt-isms for someone who cares. This is, as far as I'm concerned, a dead discussion, given Firstline's bankruptcy and the impending public exposure of the deception.

If you haven't served in the military, keep your hopes to yourself. He was honorably discharged and served the likes of you for four years.

Re: Firstline Security Cost Comparison

drumsnwhistles — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 03:23:34 -0000

Hi Chuck,

I'm sad for the folks who won't receive the payments they expect to receive on 2/1 -- the final 'backend' pay. And it's not even payroll, so won't have priority like the others at the service center, because they were all 'independent contractors'.

Grrr.

Re: Firstline Security Cost Comparison

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 19:10:12 -0000

Francine,

There was a website, but it appears to have been taken down. It was there a week ago, so I'm guessing it was pulled down as part of their bankruptcy proceedings.

The folks who worked for Firstline thought they were selling a good product. I think blaming them really gives a pass to the folks at the top who not only deceived customers, but also employees.

Re: Firstline Security Cost Comparison

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 19:12:40 -0000

GuyHass:

At the time I wrote this post, there were only two posts on the Internet that were negative. I couldn't find any articles in the mainstream press or anything that came up on a Google search. That's one of the reasons I wrote it...to warn off other kids who might have been sucked in by the scam.

Re: Firstline Security Cost Comparison

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 19:37:04 -0000

Hi Francine,

I agree, no argument. But keep in mind, they wrote those back in late August, when there was no indication that the company was going bankrupt. I doubt there would be too many defending it at this point, though I have had a few on an earlier post of mine.

Re: Getting moved to Gmail

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 13 Jul 2006 03:06:45 -0000

Last week I would've been singing the praises of Gmail. This week it's been a complete nightmare, since I can't access it at all and there aren't any bodies at Google willing to actually help troubleshoot it.

So be careful...use Gmail, but back it up with Outlook or something to your own computer or you could find yourself without your email and without a way to fix it, too.

It's a pity that they have such a great product but do not support it in any way, shape or form.

Congratulations to you and Maryam on your move to Podtech...you both sound very happy. I'm looking forward to meeting Maryam in person at Blogher...will you be there too?

DnW

Re: ScobleShow post mortem (wow, Ask blog search rocks!)

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 04:41:16 -0000

The show definitely did not suck. I've already voted for the photowalk with Thomas Hawk as my first favorite.

What I would like to see? My obvious choices are Caterina Fake/Stewart Butterfield, Mena and Ben Trott, Tara Hunt, Jason Calcanis, Matt Mullenweg, Dave Winer & Jeff Jarvis. (Listed in no particular order)

How about some web designers like Dave Shea and Molly Holzschlag? Blogher founders Elisa Camahort, Jory des Jardins and Lisa Stone? Community diva Nancy White and the wonderful Danah Boyd? The guy who started Zoomr (sorry, his name escapes me...)?

Steve Jobs and Steve Ballmer, face to face. :)

DnW

Those are off the top of my head. There are more, I'm sure. How

Re: More Photowalking with Thomas Hawk

drumsnwhistles — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 14:08:41 -0000

I like this series by far and away the best of what you've done so far. Here's why:

1) It showcases a great photographer who is unlikely to be featured on mainstream TV but deserves to be showcased nevertheless.
2) There are tons of tips and nuggets of information for me to take away and use. (I was also surprised at the 800 ISO -- I avoid it like the plague because of the noise)
3) It gives me and others a glimpse of the creative side of the web instead of the business side. All too often the creative people are overlooked in the conversation.

All around great series which I have recommended to all of my photography friends.

DnW

Re: Gaming Google

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 19:55:07 -0000

I am in agreement with you about a lot of things, but on this, we differ.

First, why do you assume nondisclosure? I disclosed what I wrote for payperpost and it was fine. I even tag those posts with payperpost.

Second, how do you figure I'm being bought off? I go through a list, decide what I will write about and write it with my voice, my own opinion and my own take on it.

I wrote reviews of Google Calendar, PBWiki, Flock, and others the same way. My voice is no different on the PPP posts as it was on those.

You are thinking as an A-list blogger. I'm a little piddly-assed-not-even-a-drop-in-the-bucket-of-life blogger. Even so, $2.50 is hardly enough to convince me to write a favorable opinion of something I hate. On the other hand, $2.50 is definitely more than any of the sites named above gave me for my goodwill.

Think of this in different terms. This is not Google-gaming any more than you google-game with SEO efforts. How is this different than any of the sites that get the cool newest gadgets to play with and review? Hey -- If someone sent me fun gadgets to blog about I'd certainly blog about them, but I wouldn't change what I wrote because they sent them to me.

Don't be so quick to assume that we're sheep who can be purchased for $5/head.

Re: Gaming Google

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 20:38:42 -0000

A hard and fast PPP rule is this: You cannot post more than three PPP items per day and you may not post consecutive PPP posts. The whole point of the exercise is to blog about stuff that's relevant to your blog and to your readers in context.

Here's an example: I am in the market for a new lens for my Nikon D70. The folks who read my blog like my pictures. They hope I'll take more; at least, that's what they tell me. I want to take more and I want to be more creative. So I'm evaluating lenses.

PPP has an opportunity for me to link up with a place I'm actually already USING to evaluate lenses. So I'll get a few bucks for linking up in my blog post about lens choices -- a post I probably would've written anyway.

Honestly, I'm far more annoyed by the stinkin' splogs and spammers who waste my time every day with their crap than I am at the possibility of reading a friends' blog post that links me to something interesting where they were paid a small amount to do it.

For me -- using PPP means that I have a way to earn the money to get that lens. I've got a kid aiming at college next year, so camera lenses are not top on the list of budget items. That's the point of doing it and that was disclosed before I wrote my first post.

Re: The "last" Gillmor Gang?

drumsnwhistles — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 04:03:38 -0000

The most recent Gillmor Gang was the best one I've heard and I've been listening for about six months or so. Jason Calcanis definitely calls it like he sees it. More interesting than the comments about Podshow, though, were his remarks about entrepeneurship, leadership, and derring-do in business. AOL did well to pull in his leadership skills to their fold.

Steve Gillmor has said each of the last six or so Gillmor Gangs may be the last. It seems to be an ongoing theme. I somehow doubt that he will have the plug pulled for this discussion, because other than being critical of the site designs, it was actually a pretty interesting discussion of Podshow's purpose and different business strategies in the podcasting universe.

Re: Happy Halloween photos

drumsnwhistles — Sun, 08 Oct 2006 14:13:42 -0000

I love the photo of you and Patrick and Maryam -- it's beautiful with the sunflowers behind you. That one is a framer. :)

DnW

Re: Happy Halloween photos

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 00:53:58 -0000

Russ Henry,

Thanks, but we send a lot of $$$$ that way through other channels...and the Mercedes is 14 years old with 200,000 miles on it. :)

Time to upgrade just a teeny bit.

Thanks for the visit!

DnW

Re: Gmail team, you out there?

drumsnwhistles — Sat, 14 Oct 2006 03:00:28 -0000

I had the exact same experience in July of this year. I'm not convinced it was a hack, by the way. Google will lock down accounts that are accessed by multiple machines in a close time span, or if GMail notifier is running when Google Desktop is running, etc. In my case, I accessed GMail from a Cingular phone right before it was locked down. When they got around to responding, it was fixed right away.

It seems like this starts happening right around the time that they roll out new stuff (like their spreadsheet/Writely combo).

After I got it sorted out I created a second email box on another freemail service and set Gmail to send a copy all of my sent and received mail to it, because the most frustrating part of the whole experience was this: The information I needed to unlock the account was in my GMail account. Since I got GMail via a cellphone invitation, that code was long gone and so I couldn't provide the information Google required to reset my password.

DnW

Re: Gmail team, you out there?

drumsnwhistles — Sat, 14 Oct 2006 03:52:55 -0000

As an aside, Google was testing GDrive features at the very same time my GMail account was munged. It was interesting to me to see that they're test-driving it again at the time that others report the same problem.

Re: Internet video business challenges

drumsnwhistles — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 14:39:06 -0000

Hey, watch what you say about watching kids dance. One of my most popular YouTube videos is of Sticks' final dance performance before he moved onto drums.

Seriously, though, this is one of the questions I've wondered about too -- all this video is great but how do you wrap the ability to make money around it. Embedded commercials? Bandwidth prices aren't going to drop anytime soon, so I think you've definitely nailed the issues and I'll be interested to see what answers you hit on.

DnW

Re: What if I sold ads here?

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 03:08:47 -0000

Sure, sell ads and do whatever you want with the money. Just be sure you disclose. :-) I mean that, BTW, no tongue in cheek.

It's very interesting to me to see the reaction you've received to your question. It would've been nice to see a more measured reaction from you, Jason and Mike Arrington before you all slammed us as shills. Isn't the question at hand WHERE the ads are placed more than WHETHER?

DnW

Re: What if I sold ads here?

drumsnwhistles — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 15:13:51 -0000

Robert,

I can see the difference. I disclose, and have from the start. I have challenge anyone to come and point out differences between paid and unpaid content on my blog, to call bullshit on me for any post where I'm not honest, whether paid or unpaid.

No one has.

On the other hand, I pointed out that the Washington Post allowed a columnist to basically shill the MuVo player and slam the iPod without dislosing that Creative is a sponsor of his efforts, and no one batted an eye. Not so much as an interested click.

There seems to be a disconnect between theory and reality when it comes to blog monetization.

In your case, whatever you do will be okay with me, I'll still be reading. As long as you don't compare me to big tobacco companies.

Let the debate rage on.

DnW

Re: Arrington & TechCrunch taking the heat

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 14:19:13 -0000

You know, I agree with you. Especially with this:

"If you must criticize do so constructively, as that’s much easier to take. Negative criticism doesn’t get you anywhere. If anything it will only set you backwards."

My admittedly abrasive rant was purely a reaction to his criticism (also abrasive) of an honest effort to open a dialogue about an important and relevant topic.

It is BECAUSE he is so respected and so widely read that he opened himself up to the criticism of me and others when he (for the third time) referred to us as "shills", "whores", "obfuscators", "liars", and "polluters".

If he isn't going to be fair he shouldn't expect fairness. Even if the unfairness is only 2% of what he writes, it's still unfairness.

Re: Arrington & TechCrunch taking the heat

drumsnwhistles — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 14:21:58 -0000

Oh...and ps. I am a person, not a company. I have a business of my own that is not related to the Internet at all, and my interest in the Internet is purely from a personal standpoint.

The only junction that I have with him is the fact that he criticized a concept that I happen to think is innovative and which I am trying.

I have no axe to grind with him about any other issue. I've actually referred many of his articles to friends and colleagues who ARE involved in Internet startups and advertising.