Cloud On The Cheap

Larger companies are working on strategic initiatives to move their in-house data centers to the cloud. The advantages are both financial and the ability to work from just about any location, fixed or mobile. But what about smaller operations? Is there any way to gain some of these advantages for the SMB?

Here’s a cloud app that you may be overlooking because it was around long before the cloud was cool. You probably don’t even think “cloud” when you hear the name. Yet, cloud it is. The application? GoToMyPC.

GoToMyPC? Isn’t that the software that lets you remotely log into your computer? Indeed it is. Think about it, though. How much difference is there philosophically between bringing up the screen from your desktop PC while you are sitting at a restaurant, and then running all the apps that are back at the office, and running those same apps from a private cloud?

In this case, you have created your own private cloud without the need to contract for Infrastructure or Software as a Service.

The idea behind GoToMyPC is that you most likely have one major computing environment but would like to be able to use it wherever you happen to be. For smaller companies that primary computer is likely a PC running Windows or a Mac running OS X. Out in the field you may be accessing that computer with a laptop, notebook, netbook or even and iPad. Yes, if you are a GoToMyPC subscriber, there’s a free app for that in the iTunes App Store.

GoToMyPC might rightly be called a remote desktop. What it does is replicate the desktop of your base computer on a remotely located computer or iPad. You see just what you would if you were sitting at your desk. You can then run applications, look up data and even transfer files back and forth between your office PC and your remote PC.

How does it do that? The answer is in downloadable software that runs on the PC you want to access. It gives screen, keyboard and mouse access to the computer that you are logged into somewhere else. All of this is done over encrypted links so that you don’t lose security just because you are operating remotely.

Since this system depends on the computer you want to access rather than some server in the data center, you’ll need to leave your office machine on in order to gain access. But, hey, if you wanted to access any other cloud application the servers powering that app would have to be up and running. Strictly speaking, there is a GoToMyPC communications server that relays encrypted data packets between host and remote computers. You know, a cloud based server.

The PC to PC version of GoToMyPC has more features than the Mac version, but both give you remote access to either a Mac or PC from a Mac, PC or iPad. GoToMyPC has the ability to let you access up to 20 computers remotely. Larger companies can get a professional or corporate version that adds more users and an administrator. A thousand users? No problem. The corporate version is just what you need.

Does this sound like something you could make good use of? Why not try it free for 30 days and then see if you can live without it anymore. If you find you can’t, it’s an affordable business and professional tool that expands the capability of the computers you already have. Get started with your 30 day free trial of GoToMyPC right now.

Friday Frolics - What Do Your Initials Say About You

Do you believe the name chosen for you is already destined in the bigger scheme of things? Never mind that, it's just a passing thought.

A little bit about names, in some cultures, the first Roman letter of the name is chosen based on the birthdate and time of birth. In Chinese society, though not every Chinese family practices it, the time and date of birth could be used to determine the number of strokes in a name. Going into more detail, an astrology chart could be drawn up to determine the balance of the five elements (of wood, fire, earth, metal and water) and a missing element to be included into the name to balance life's fortune, so to speak. In traditional families even today, names are given following a scheduled pattern to carry on the lineage.

Anyway, just for fun, check out what your initials say about you.

You Are Accepting and Open

When You Are Comfortable or in a Social Setting: You are enthusiastic and flexible. You are open-minded. You prefer to learn from others... not judge them. People see you as kind and cooperative. You are very supportive when friends are down on their luck. When You Are At Your Best: You are a hard worker. You need security and stability in your life, even if that means putting in long hours. People see you as solid and dependable. You are always able to see the good in situations. Other find this comforting.

What Do Your Initials Say About You?

Friday Frolics: Cheaper Than a Therapist

Goodbye Nebraska.....Thanks for the Memories

Goodbyes are always so hard to come by. 

Tonight when the clock strikes midnight, the Big XII conference and Nebraska will go their separate ways.  The Big XII will become a conference of 10 teams and Nebraska will find a new home in the Big 10 as the 12th team (but hey, don't change the names.  That won't confuse women everywhere).

We will miss Nebraska.  The fact is they are a great university (whether they are a member of the AAU or not) from a place with lots of fantastic people and most importantly fans.  They have their great traditions such as the blackshirts and going to Lincoln is always an intimidating place to play at.  It's a shame I never got the chance to go. 

But as we say goodbye to Nebraska, its important to always remember the special times we had together. 

I've thought about this question a lot today and I think it's a pretty fair question to ask.  Did two of the best games every played at Kyle Field involve the Nebraska Cornhuskers? 

October 10th, 1998.

#18 Texas A&M defeats #2 Nebraska 28-21

 
To understand this game you have to know a few things coming in.  Nebraska in 1998 was a college football powerhouse.  I'm not sure if a program today in 2011 is close to their standards.  Nebraska had won the national championship in 1994 24-17 over #3Miami, in 1995 with a 62-24 crushing defeat over #2 Florida (wow), and the year before in 1997 with a 42-17 stomping of #3 Tennessee in the 1998 Orange Bowl.  That's three out of the last four folks.  Dynasty.  Oh and in that 1997 season?  Texas A&M and Nebraska matched up in the Alamodome for the Big XII Championship where Nebraska just tore us apart 54-15.  Yes 54-15!  During that time right at the beginning of the formation of the Big XII, the old Big 8 (now Big XII North minus Oklahoma and brother State) had all of the powerhouses in Nebraska and Kansas State (we'll get to them later) and the new Big XII South?  Mack Brown and Bob Stoops hadn't walked through that door yet.  It was Texas A&M and a bunch of scrubs.  (Sound like the Big XII North we came to know doesn't it? )

On that day in October, Nebraska was ranked the #2 team in the entire country, coming down south to play at Kyle Field.  They were bringing with them a 19 game winning streak, the longest in the entire country. 

Of course they didn't leave with it. 

With battle cries of "Remember the Alamodome!" (so cute) the Cornhuskers went back to Nebraska defeated.  The Cornhuskers would later go on to lose to #20 Texas in Lincoln and new #2 Kansas State, finishing 9-4 in Frank Solich's first season.  (Lost their bowl game to Arizona).  But what happened to Nebraska isn't important. 

That victory on that October day propelled Coach RC Slocum's squad, led by current LB coach Dat Nguyen, Dante Hall, and TOOOOOOOOOOMBS  to a 7-1 record in the Big XII (only defeat came to Texas in Austin--gag) and a right to once again play for the Big XII Championship, this time in St. Louis.  And of course, how could we forget:

November 20th, 2010

#18 Texas A&M defeats #8 Nebraska 9-6

There isn't a lot I need to say about this game.  It's very fresh in our minds.  I even called it my most favorite memory in the 2010-2011 Aggie Athletic year in our first post.  The fact is that in front of a national audience on ABC in prime time, the largest crowd in Kyle Field history (90,000+) came together to watch the re-emergence of the Wrecking Crew right before our very eyes.  Now in the overall grand scheme of things will a game that got Texas A&M to 8 wins, 9 overall on the season, be always remembered?  Maybe not.  But let's not lose sight of the fact that the TV audience that got to witness first hand the return of the Wrecking Crew, and the best atmosphere in college football.  Of course, the next few years will determine how much of a turning point we actually saw that night.  Will we win Big XII Championships starting in 2011?  Or just more average 7-5, 8-4 type seasons?  Time will tell how pivotal this game will be in Aggie Football history.  

So as you sit and ponder about how these games stack up against in the rest in Kyle Field history, here is some feedback I have received today on the topic.  

MASAXET from TexAgs.com

Great question!!!!

I'll go with, potentially 2 of the top 5. It depends on if we can look back at the game last year as a turning point for the program. The atmosphere was electric, and it has potential to be a real catalyst for us moving forward

RM1993 from TexAgs.com

I don't know that either of those would be the "greatest". Probably both in the top 10 though.
I think a more apt descriptor of each of those games might be "two of the most pivotal" games in Kyle field history.
The 1998 victory was the springboard to a B12 championship and Sugar Bowl berth....last year's game wasn't so much of a springboard as it was validation that the earlier victory over OU wasn't a fluke.

 Cinco Ranch Aggie from TexAgs.com

tu '85 announced to the CFB world that we had arrived

tu '99
blOU '02
NU '98
BU '86 - don't laugh, Baylor used to be pretty good and Dave Campbell called this the game of the decade in the State of Texas

 And last but not least Louie Belina from 1150AM The Zone in College Station (2-4pm Weekdays) answered this question on air today (thanks for answering Louie!) and his response was simple. The 2010 game should definitely go down as one of the most memorable games in Kyle Field history when considering the atmosphere, etc.  But time will tell how the game will impact the program.  And for him, 1998 will always be one of this top memories. 

I think that is our best answer.  Defeating a defending national champion and the resurrection of the Wrecking Crew on ABC will always be memories I cherish.  And many will for some time.  Best or greatest games in Kyle Field history?  Let's not go too far now.  I'm sure John David Crow and Jackie Sherrill would have a thing or two to say about that.  I bet the 1939 National Championship team would also like to throw their two cents in as well. 

Whatever those games mean to you, the fact remains Nebraska won't be visiting Kyle Field again.  At least any time soon.  And with that, we say goodbye to one of our Big XII foes.  (Just don't go breaking any cameras Carl Pelini)

Oh.  Colorado.  Didn't see you there.

(P.S., thanks to Aggie Athletics for having great videos on YouTube!)

Wildfire Approaches Thousands of Drums with Plutonium-Contaminated Waste at Los Alamos Lab

At least they are not saying 'they are safe'.

From AP:

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. (AP) — A wildfire near the desert birthplace of the atomic bomb advanced on the Los Alamos laboratory and thousands of outdoor drums of plutonium-contaminated waste Tuesday as authorities stepped up efforts to protect the site and monitor the air for radiation.

Officials at the nation's premier nuclear-weapons lab gave assurances that dangerous materials were safely stored and capable of withstanding flames from the 95-square-mile fire, which at one point was as close as 50 feet from the grounds.

A small patch of land at the laboratory caught fire Monday before firefighters quickly put it out. Teams were on alert to pounce on any new blazes and spent the day removing brush and low-hanging tree limbs from the lab's perimeter.

'We are throwing absolutely everything at this that we got,' Democratic Sen. Tom Udall of New Mexico said in Los Alamos.

The fire has forced the evacuation of the entire city of Los Alamos, population 11,000, cast giant plumes of smoke over the region and raised fears among nuclear watchdogs that it will reach as many as 30,000 55-gallon drums of plutonium-contaminated waste.

'The concern is that these drums will get so hot that they'll burst. That would put this toxic material into the plume. It's a concern for everybody,' said Joni Arends, executive director of the Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety, an anti-nuclear group.

Arends' organization also worried that the fire could stir up nuclear-contaminated soil on lab property where experiments were conducted years ago. Burrowing animals have brought that contamination to the surface, she said.

Lab officials said there was very little risk of the fire reaching the drums of low-level nuclear waste, since the flames would have to jump through canyons first. Officials also stood ready to coat the drums with fire-resistant foam if the blaze got too close.

Lab spokeswoman Lisa Rosendorf said the drums contain Cold War-era waste that the lab sends away in weekly shipments for storage. She said the drums were on a paved area with few trees nearby. As of midday Tuesday, the flames were about two miles from the material.

'These drums are designed to a safety standard that would withstand a wildland fire worse than this one,' Rosendorf said.

jackscoresby: This happens all the time, all over the Unites...

Must Be A Coincidence — Cancer Clusters Among TSA Workers Near Body Scanners

Or this was the real terrorist plot. Make the government spend billions on body scanners to cause everyone (TSA and flyers) to get cancer! Kill the infidels with their own radiation! Muuwaahaahaahaa! Ingenious, isn’t it, Mr. Bond?

In a FOIA lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security, EPIC has just obtained documents concerning the radiation risks of TSA’s airport body scanner program. The documents include agency emails, radiation studies, memoranda of agreement concerning radiation testing programs, and results of some radiation tests. One document set reveals that even after TSA employees identified cancer clusters possibly linked to radiation exposure, the agency failed to issue employees dosimeters – safety devices that could assess the level of radiation exposure. Another document indicates that the DHS mischaracterized the findings of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, stating that NIST “affirmed the safety” of full body scanners. The documents obtained by EPIC reveal that NIST disputed that characterization and stated that the Institute did not, in fact, test the devices. Also, a Johns Hopkins University study revealed that radiation zones around body scanners could exceed the “General Public Dose Limit.”

Clear Channel Rebrands KTRH Houston

Lana Hughes and J.P. Pritchard Out In AM Drive

From station website



Lana Hughes and J.P. Pritchard are out of 740 AM KTRH after 27 years. And now the station drops the news front and goes with the talk moniker.

Hughes, Pritchard

Hughes and Pritchard, who have worked together at the station for 27 years and are members of the Texas Radio Hall of Fame, were informed of the changes after their morning shifts. Thursday was their last day on the air, and Houston‘s Morning News with Matt Patrick will debut Tuesday at 5 a.m. Former Denver talk show host Lois Melkonian will be the show’s news reader.

Pritchard, 63, said his departure from KTRH and the change in the morning newscast reflects the changing nature of radio.

“Lana and I both understood this was going to take place at some point,” he told David Barron at The Houston Chronicle. “It’s a trend. It’s not personal. It’s the way radio goes. Clear Channel has been very good to both of us. It’s the market forces, the way of the world.”

With a change in the morning show comes a change in direction for KTRH. No more NewsRadio 740 KTRH branding. Now the station is called NewsTalk 740. That's because the days of this station being a news station have been fading quickly over the last years, reports blogger Mike McGuff.    Clearly it is a conservative talk station now with no apologies.

"The move will reflect a new direction for the morning news, combining the informative news coverage KTRH listeners have grown accustomed to along with Patrick’s keen insight and commentary," Clear Channel said in a statement. "

Critical information and timely updates on traffic and weather will still be staples of the new show. The station lineup will remain the same after the morning show, with talk show hosts Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Michael Berry, and Mark Levin, followed by the overnight Coast to Coast. KTRH will continue to serve as the flagship of the Houston Astros."

"This is an exciting time for our station," said AM Operations Manager Bryan Erickson. "Like other forms of media, we have to continue to adapt. We have to serve our listeners by being informative and entertaining. Lana & JP are an institution in Houston, they are true professionals, and we, along with our listeners, will miss hearing their comforting voices every morning. We know our new show has big shoes to fill."

Jersey Guy Ray Rossi Returns To NJ 101.5

"The Late Show With Jersey Guy Ray Rossi" is expected to debut July 11th on the same station that fired him last week.

101.5 FM WKXW will air the new show evenings from 11p to 3a.  It will be live Monday thru Thursday.

Rossi is one half of the Jersey guys team which previously aired on NJ 101.5 afternoons. Their contract was not renewed and it was announced last week that former hosts Jeff Deminski & Bill Doyle are coming back to afternoon drive (2pm -7pm weekdays) starting on Tuesday July 5th.

The change caused an uproar among Jersey Guys fans and one of them had just established a Facebook Page to "Bring The Jersey Boys Back".  The page offers action plans steps for other disgruntled fans of The Jersey Guys.  Today's news pleases fans who aare happy Rossi has a job again, but many are still upset he's not on-air during drive time or at least during the day.

Also see these postings:

CLICK HERE:   Facebook Page: How To Help Bring Jersey Boys Back

CLICK HERE:  Opinion: Bring The Jersey Boys Back To NJ 101.5

The Six-Month Mark of the Geographer-at-Large

Visualization of World Population on the Globe

So, I am now at the end of the first six months of my blog, and I thought it would be a good time to reflect on what’s happened so far, and what the future might bring.  And, being a certain type of geographer, I love to quantify things!  Below is a little status report with some vital stats. 

Page Views

I don’t know too much about other people’s success stories with their blogs, so have no real basis for comparison, but I feel pretty positive about the number of people who have viewed at least a post or two.  I have two different stats tracking programs on the blog: one keeps track of the number of individual page views, (by day, week, month, and “all time”) and the other totals the actual viewers (on a weekly basis, non-cumulative).  As of today, I have had over 22,000 page views during the six months the blog has been in existence, with a high of 5,500 in one month (May).  The daily high was 333 page views (June 26^th).  Generally, page views hover around 150-200 per day.  Of course, many of these “viewers” are one-timers, coming in just to grab maps and other images from the blog.  Oh, well. 

Blog Followers and "Top Visitors"

I have 38 people who have registered as “followers,” although I’m not sure if most of them actually read the blog on a regular basis (there’s no way to track the viewing activity of followers).  On the other hand, there are some viewers who read the blog on a regular basis but are not “followers,” so go figure.  The geographic locations of the “Top Visitors,” in terms of number of times they have returned to the site, (the highest was 139 visits) are as follows:

Brooklyn, NY

New York City, NY

Mountainview, CA

Barcelona, Spain

Vancouver, BC, Canada

Mesa, AZ

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Emerson, NJ

Forest Hills, NY

Ossining, NY

Cairo, Egypt

Gdansk, Poland

Cape Town, South Africa

Tea Tree, Tasmania, Australia

Pondicherry, India

Geographic Distribution of Viewers

People from 125 different countries have looked at my blog, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe.  These places are all listed on the right side of the page, underneath the world maps.  Of course, the U.S. tops the list with over 15,000 page views, and some other Anglophone countries are next: the U.K., Canada, Australia, India, Egypt.  Then comes Germany, Netherlands, France, and Spain.  Singapore, Indonesia, Italy, and the Philippines are consistently in the top 10 on a weekly and monthly basis, they just didn’t make the “All Time” top 10. 

Naturally, it was exciting to get viewers from the “big” nations (big in terms of both areal extent as well as population) – China, India, Russia, Brazil.  But equally, if differently, fun was seeing viewers pop up from less-well-known and less populated places like Jersey, Malta, Brunei, Greenland, Fiji, Palau, Moldova, Maldives, Qatar, Macau, Micronesia, Montenegro, Nepal, Macedonia, Mongolia. 

There are still some large gaps in the blog viewers world map, though – Where’s someone in Kazakhstan?  Ethiopia?  Most of central Africa?  Iceland?  Antarctica?  Cuba?  Maybe in the next 6 months some of these blank spots on the map will be filled in! 

Favorite Posts:

The 10 all-time favorite posts (meaning they have received the most “page views” of all 78 of the posts) are:

1.   100 years later – The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire {*} with >1,500 page views

2.   Freedom Riders 1961 

3.   Re-discovering African Geographies {*}

4.   WTF is This? Bad Maps!

5.   Kodachrome and the Great Depression {*}

6.   Re-Regionalizing the American Continent {*}

7.   Mapping Urban Inequality” Using the Gini Coefficient {*}

8.   Anthropomorphic and Zoomorphic Maps, Part 3

9.   Greetings From Seattle!

10.Population and Climate Change

Although some of these above are my favorite posts, too, as indicated by the{*}, I have a few others that would have made my personal top post list, including:

§  The African Burial Grounds- An Update and Reflections

§  Freedomland USA: A Theme park shaped like a map (in da Bronx!)

§  Leo Africanus: 15^th century geographer extraordinaire

§  Small Island Nations: Contested and complicated places

§  Bursting with Pride: U.S. Geography Textbooks, 1814-1898

§  Global Peace Indices: Can “peacefulness” be mapped?

§  Tuva or Bust! The last journey of a genius

§  Method of Loci – The Memory Palace

§  St.Patrick’s Great Equinox Journey

§  Bogus Art Maps

§  A Most Remarkable Creature!

§  Megaregions! Is this our future?

As most of you have realized by this time, and as evidenced by the topics of my postings, I have very varied interests, mainly focusing on environmental geography, urbanization, demography, and cartography, but I definitely have a soft spot for topics at the intersection of history and geography. 

As John Smith, the renowned cartographer, explorer, and founder of Jamestown, VA, one of the first English settlements in the New World, said in 1624, “As Geography without History seemeth as a carkasse without motion, so History without Geography wandereth as a vagrant without a certaine habitation.”  I couldn't have said it better, myself!

The Future

            What’s in store for the future?  Well, I am pretty sure I will continue the blog, although I will definitely slow down for the next month or so, since I will be in the UK for a major part of July, and then I have tons of deadlines in August.  But I will continue to write about things that I find fascinating dealing with place-based issues.  I would love to hear from any of you about what you find most interesting (or not) and/or what you think works/doesn’t work in the Geographer-at-Large blog.  Please leave a comment with any suggestions or critiques you have.  I would love the feedback.  Writing a blog without getting feedback or reader responses is like writing in a vacuum.  You’re just throwing it all out there into the ether, never too sure what the reaction is. I would like to thank everybody who has written a comment or sent me an e-mail about a post.   In any event, it's lots of fun for me to write, I am enjoying the blog tremendously, and it is one of the world's best procrastinational methods ever devised to avoid doing actual work! 

Report: NYC's WRXP Cancels Coldplay Concert

The RXP Tākliberty Festival, the 101.9 FM WRXP-sponsored day of alt-rock at the PNC Bank Arts Center in NYC that was announced Monday June 13 and was going to have Coldplay as its headliner?

Well, it's been canceled "due to unforeseen circumstances," according to a Village Voice story.

Which actually isn't all that surprising given that the station sponsoring the day was sold the very next day to Randy Michael's Merline Media.

WRXP was one of three stations sold by Emmis Broadcasting to a company Merlin.

The concert was scheduled for September. Merlin is expected to change the format of the station no later than mid-August.

Obama Called A 'Dick' On Live TV

Mark Halperin suspended from MSNBC

Morning Joe regular on MSNBC, Mark Halperin summed up his impression of President Obama's press conference yesterday: "I thought he was a dick yesterday."



Glynnis MacNicol at The Business Insider reports, Halperin Realized the comment had actually gone to air and he quickly apologized: "This is not a pro forma apology, it's an absolute apology, heartfelt to the President."

And then at the top of the 8 o'clock hour the entire Morning Joe team spent 5 more minutes apologizing for the gaffe, saying it's never appropriate to call the President a "dick."

Later in the morning, Mark Halperin was suspended indefinitely from MSNBC for his comments about President Obama. MSNBC has issued the following statements:

Mark Halperin’s comments this morning were completely inappropriate and unacceptable. We apologize to the President, The White House and all of our viewers. We strive for a high level of discourse and comments like these have no place on our air. Therefore, Mark will be suspended indefinitely from his role as an analyst.

Statement from Mark Halperin:

I completely agree with everything in MSNBC’s statement about my remark. I believe that the step they are taking in response is totally appropriate. Again, I want to offer a heartfelt and profound apology to the President, to my MSNBC colleagues, and to the viewers. My remark was unacceptable, and I deeply regret it.

What’s Next After Glenn Beck's Last Show On FNC?

For two and a half years, millions of viewers have enjoyed watching Glenn Beck take on liberals, progressives and even radical leftists for the last two and a half years at 5pm on cable news. From the corruption at ACORN to the Czars to Van Jones, Beck exposed the left’s agenda and routinely flustered the White House in the process. But while Glenn may be counting down his final shows this week – he is also counting down to the beginning of something bigger and better: GBTV.




And what happens once Glenn goes off the air on cable today? He’s going to be going right to GBTV and giving his first interview to new GBTV correspondent, Raj Nair!

As soon as one door closes, the next door will open. At 6:30pm ET on Thursday, Raj will be asking Glenn your questions.

As for Fox:

On Friday at 5pm, Fox News will be running a John Stossel special entitled "What’s Great About America".

Beyond that, it is still unclear, but a Fox News spokesperson tells Mediaite “We will run encore presentations of Glenn Beck next week and will announce our plans shortly.”

Glenn Beck & Family Accosted In NYC, Part 2

Tuesday, Glenn Beck shared with his radio listeners his story about the hostile environment he and his family experienced while attending movie night in Bryant Park Monday evening.

While trying to catch a showing of Hitchock’s The 39 Steps, fellow moviegoers were anything but friendly, shouting hateful messages and even kicking a glass of wine on Glenn’s wife’s back.

Wednesday, the other side.  Lindsey Piscitell, a young woman who says she was sitting behind Glenn and his family, has written a response letter to New York Magazine about the incident. Glenn chose to read her response.

Tara Servatius Returns To The Airwaves

It's just not in her home market of Charlotte, NC.

Tara Servatius, who contract was not renewed last month by WBT in Charlotte has been doing some fill-in work at Clear Channel Radio's 630 AM WLAP in Lexington, KY.  She was on-air at 1110 AM and 99.3 FM WBT in PM drive for about 5 years.

She's on air from 3p to 6 today and again Tuesday, 7/5 filling in for Leland Conway.
You can listen by clicking here.

2010-2011: The Best Year Ever for Aggie Athletics?

October 16^th, 2010 was a dark day for Texas A&M.  

It was a day I had planned for months.  I would finally be taking my entire family to their first Fightin’ Texas Aggie football game at Kyle Field.  They had been to a Spring Game before, but the electricity of the stadium at kickoff and the swaying of the 12^th Man was something that they had to experience.  And I was overjoyed to finally be able to share my passion and for them to get a first hand glimpse of the school and tradition I hold so close to my heart.  

Like most of my plans and ideas, the day was a failure.  

The 11:30 AM kickoff (thanks Fox Sports) was bad enough.  Especially after my family’s first Midnight Yell.  But I had been so pumped up about this football game leading up to the weekend.  After two straight losses after a turnover prone contest to Oklahoma State in Stillwater (my first and hopefully my last visit to that terrible town) and a letdown at Jerry World once again to the pigs, I was ready for another victory and I was sure Mike Sherman and the boys would deliver.  They had been so close for the past two contests, just falling short by 3 and 7 points.  

30-9.  A Mizzou beatdown.  At home.  In Kyle Field.  

The game was a blur to me.  Around the middle of the 3^rd quarter when I began to realize and accept that our fate was sealed for that day, my mind began racing.  3 straight losses with more sure to come at the hands of Oklahoma and Nebraska.  Would Coach Sherman survive?  Who could we hire as a new coach?  How long would we give the new guy before he ran out of excuses like Coach Sherman was running out of?  The team wasn't even competitive.  Kyle Field, the best place to experience college football in the entire country, was dead.  No energy.  No excitement.  Just blah.  

I was so disappointed that day to go home and explain to not only both my parents, (especially my father who had finally began to watch and like Aggie Football) buy my little sister as well who is a junior in high school with her own dreams and ambitions of coming to Texas A&M and studying vet medicine that the Kyle Field they had visited that day wasn’t the Kyle Field that I knew and loved.  The Aggie Football team they saw on the field wasn’t the same team I devoted long hours to watching practice and reading fan message boards.  The Texas A&M they experienced wasn’t what I knew.  

Something had to change.  And it did.  

With South Carolina winning over Florida in two games in the College World Series on Tuesday night, the 2010-2011 NCAA athletic calendar came to a close.  And the 2010-2011 year just might have been the best ever for Aggie Athletics. 

3 National Championships were brought back to Aggieland, one by Gary Blair and his women’s basketball team and the other two by Pat Henry and the men and women Outdoor Track and Field team (what else is new?).  And don’t forget Jeff Dadamo and Austin Krajicek who won the 2011 NCAA men’s tennis doubles championship, both track 4x400 teams captured the national crown, and track star Jessica Beard was nominated for the 2010-2011 Honda Sports award after winning the 400m and posting an NCAA best 49.14 in an anchor leg to capture the women’s national championship.  And for the non-“Equestrian isn’t a sport” crowd, the girls finished off their back-to-back-to-back national championship run as well to match the track team.  Did I leave any national champions out? 

Consider this.  In the 20 intercollegiate sports that Texas A&M Athletics competes in, 11 finished the year ranked in the national top 10 in their respective sport.  That’s simply amazing and pure dominance for Aggie Athletics.  (Thanks to @12thManTrue and 12^th Man Magazine for that stat)

The Learfield Sports Director’s Cup is “A program that honors institutions maintaining a broad-based program, achieving success in many sports, both men's and women's.”  It takes a schools top 20 athletic programs and gives them points based on their season’s performance.  (A complete scoring structure and information can be found here: http://www.nacda.com/directorscup/nacda-directorscup-scoring.html) As of June 17^th, Texas A&M Athletics ranked 8^th out of all Division I programs.  Ahead of A&M is champion Stanford, Ohio State, Duke, Cal, Florida, North Carolina, and Oklahoma.  As of now, points for college baseball have not been added and A&M can move ahead as high as 6^th place in the final standings.  Those are quality athletic programs with more diversity such as Lacrosse and Gymnastics included in their point totals.  A&M has to include ALL of its 20 programs to the point total.  Other programs like Stanford can choose their 20 best. A complete list and ranking of all Division I programs can be found here: http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/nacda/sports/directorscup/auto_pdf/d1june17.pdf

Something new added to the mix is the Capitol One Cup.  

“The Capital One Cup is awarded annually to each of the top men's and women's Division I college athletics programs in the country. Points toward the Capital One Cup are earned and tracked throughout the year based on final standings of NCAA Division I Championships and final official coaches’ polls. One winning men’s and one winning women's program will be crowned after the completion of the final NCAA spring championships. Each winning athletic program will receive the Capital One Cup and $200,000 to fund student-athlete graduate-level scholarships. Winners will be presented at the annual ESPY awards.” 

Complete info can be found here: http://www.capitalonecup.com/about-the-cup.html

 

While you can agree or disagree with their scoring structure based on “tiers” of sports, increasing their overall point total based on popularity of that sport, (so football and volleyball will earn more points than say women's cross country) the Aggies had a great representation here as well.  Stanford, just like in the Director’s Cup, will be award 1^st place on the Women’s side with 121 points at this year’s ESPYs.  Texas A&M women finished 2^nd with 112 points.  The A&M men (and this is just hot off the presses) finished tied for 3rd overall with Auburn (what?) behind only champion Florida and Virginia.  The men were 23 points behind the Gators.  Only 3 athletic programs in the entire country had both their men and women in the Top 5: Stanford, Floirda, and Texas A&M.  That is quite an accomplishment.    Complete standings can be found here: http://www.capitalonecup.com/standings.html

 

I don’t know what will go down as my favorite memory of the 2010-2011 Aggie Athletic year.  Tyra White’s layup against Stanford in the final seconds at the Final Four?  Her three pointer to seal a national championship two nights later against Notre Dame?  (By the way, have you voted for Coach Blair’s team as the ESPY Team of the Year?  If no, do so here! http://espn.go.com/espys/#!/voting/) Jessica Beard and her 49.14 in the anchor leg of the women’s 4x400m to claim a third straight national championship? The dogpile at Florida State to send the Aggie Baseball team to their first trip to the College World Series in Omaha since 1999?  

Whatever happened to Coach Sherman and the football team you ask?  Well, the story goes something like this. Coach Sherman took all the Mizzou tapes and game plans from the week before to practice the next Tuesday and burned them right on the practice field for the football team to see the past and that 30-9 game was behind them.  He told the team there was a clean slate starting from that very moment for the players and coaches.  And some kid named Cyrus Gray walked into his office and told Coach Sherman he wanted the ball more and could help the team win.  Well, Cyrus Gray knocked off 6 straight 100 yard rushing games and Coach Sherman and the Aggies won every game in the regular season after that to finish 9-3 and capture a Cotton Bowl berth along with a share of the Big XII South Division crown.  (Yes they got rings to show for it).  

My favorite moment for 2010-2011 may have been 9-6.  I have never experienced a game and an atmosphere quite like the Nebraska game.  For so much hype to surround one game and for it to deliver from the fans to the players, it will be a night to truly remember and one that is talked about for some time.  That’s when I fell in love again with Kyle Field, the 12^th Man, and Aggie Athletics.  That final War Hymn when both players, coaches, and fans that rushed the field alike sawed varsity horns off still echos in my ear and resonated throughout college athletics.  At that very moment deep down in my heart I realized that not only Aggie Football was back, but Texas A&M Athletics is here to stay.  

Still on the fence that 2010-2011 was the best in Aggie Athletic history?  Just take a look at these stats: 

Football – 19^th Final Ranking, Big XII South Division Co-Champs, Cotton Bowl

Volleyball – 13-17 overall, 7-13 in Big XII

Men’s Basketball – 24^th Final Ranking, #7 Seed in NCAA tournament

Women’s Basketball – National Champions

Men’s Golf – 5^th Final Ranking, 3 PING All Americans

Men’s Swimming and Diving – 13^th Overall Finish at NCAA’s

Men’s Tennis – 10^th Final Ranking, Doubles National Championship

Track and Field – Outdoor National Champions, 4x400m National Champions, Women’s 400m National Champion

Women’s Golf – 7^th at NCAA Championship

Soccer – 16^th Final Ranking, #4 seed in NCAA tournament

Softball – 13^th Final Ranking, #16 Overall Seed in NCAA tournament

Women’s Swimming and Diving – 7^th Final Ranking

Women’s Tennis – 33^rd Final Ranking

Baseball – 6^th Final Ranking, Advanced to College World Series

Equestrian – National Champions

2010-2011 Big XII Championships:  Soccer Regular Season, Football Co-Big XII South Champions, Men’s Indoor Track and Field, Equestrian, Men’s Tennis Tournament, Men’s and Women’s Outdoor Track and Field, Baseball Regular Season Co-Champs, Baseball Tournament.  

Total: 9 Big XII Championships, or 30% of Big XII Total Championships.  

Rest of Big XII?

Texas: 5

Oklahoma: 2

Texas Tech: 1

Oklahoma State: 5

Baylor: 5

Nebraska: 4

Mizzou: 2

Kansas: 2

Kansas State: 0

Iowa State: 0

Colorado: 0

(Note: Numbers won’t add up to 30 due to co-champions in football and baseball)

Thanks for playing everyone.  See you again in 2011-2012.  Expect the same end results.  Aggie Athletic dominance.  

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Like what you have read?  You can expect stories and thoughts like these here on Midnight Yell in the future.  For up to date information:


Follow us on twitter:  http://twitter.com/#!/themidnightyell

 

And become a Facebook Fan:  http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Midnight-Yell/213863318650418

 

Future Stories:  Be on the lookout for thoughts regarding 2011 Aggie Football Signee LeMarc Strahan not being able to make it to campus and the impact it will have on the 2011 Aggie Football season, as well as what South Carolina winning the College World Series means to college baseball:  could a blue print for championship teams be emerging?  And with Nebraska leaving the Big XII today, was two of the greatest games ever at Kyle Field involving the Cornhuskers in '98 and '10?  

 

 Thanks and Gig 'Em

-----Ranger222

 

 

Great Gifts for Men from Personal Creations

Do you have trouble getting gifts for men? Some of us do. Worry no more. Here is a great gift idea.

A galvanized beverage tub from Personal Creations is just the thing to get for a guy. When he finds it so convenient to have his friends over for a few cool drinks, he'll thank you for it. Check out the site for more gifts for men.

Come to think of it, a beverage tub is also just the thing for a housewarming gift. Summer's here and barbeques just won't do without cold beverages. A beverage tub would be one perfect gift for a new homeowner!

Inset shows beverage tub on a stand.

News Wars Expected Soon In Chicago

The Last Weekend

Chicago radio market watchers are anticipating CBS Radio to start an FM simulcast of its top-rated News 780 AM WBBM anyday now, perhaps as soon as Tuesday 7/5.  

The FM side of the simulcast would be the company's underperforming AC 105.9 FM WCFS, branded as Fresh 105.9.

CBS Radio is expected to start the simulcast in advance of Merlin Media's expected flip of 101.1 FM WKQX.  Randy 'The Merlin" Michael's is expected to flip the Rock Alternative outlet to a talk or a N/T format no later than mid-August. Merlin will be the majority owner of WKQX and 97.9 FM WLUP after its purhcase from Emmis is okayed by the FCC. Emmis retain a minority interest.

Robert Feder at timeoutchicago.com reports incoming Q101 news chief Andy Friedman is busy assembling a staff of known Chicago radio news voices, including Charlie Meyerson, Rob Hart and Lise Dominique.

TomZTake: It will be an interesting battle to observe. It will also be interesting to see how CBS Radio brands the new simulcast, since they already have a WBBM-FM in the market.  The CHR is branded as B96.9 FM.  Would CBS get new calls for B and move the WBBM-FM calls to 105.9FM?  Stay tuned.

WNOK, Q94.3 Square Off In CHR Battle In Columbia

UPDATE FRIDAY 6AM:

After apparently stunting with a CHR format for two days, Q94.3 suddenly started the clock ticking to a new format.  Look for  a noon start Friday.

LISTEN HERE.

Thursday posting:

The squirmish started in Columbia, SC Wednesday as Classic Hits "The River"  94.3 FM WWNQ flipped, now branded as Q94.3.

The Double O Radio facility is aiming at Clear Channel's 104.7 FM WNOK, which posted a a 7.1 Share 12+ TW in the Winter 2011 Arbitron.  "The River" came in with a 1.1 share.

Here's the 10am sample music hour from Q94.3:

Rihanna - S
Martin Solveig - Hello (w/ Dragonette)
Bruno Mars - The Lazy Song
The Script - Breakeven
Lady Gaga - The Edge Of Glory
Neon Trees - Animal
Katy Perry - E.T. (Futuristic Lover)
David Guetta - Where Them Girls At (w/ Flo-Rida & Nicki Minaj)
Tinie Tempah - Written In The Stars
Taylor Swift - The Story Of Us
Britney Spears - Gimme More
Eminem - Love The Way You Lie (w/ Rihanna)
J. Lo - On The Floor (w/ Pitbull)

Here's the WNOK playlist, also from the 10am Wednesday:

Cee-Lo Green - F You
Taylor Swift - The Story Of Us
Britney Spears - Till The World Ends
Maroon 5 - Misery
Rihanna - S
Avril Lavigne - Smile
Black Eyed Peas - Just Can't Get Enough
Colbie Caillat - Bubbly
Enrique Iglesias - Tonight (w/ Ludacris)
Rihanna - California King Bed

As far as coverage area. WNOK's 90,000 watts dwarfs, WWNQ's 2550 watts.

You can listen to Q94.3, here.

Listen to 104.7 WNOK here.

Google settlements as a genre: an holistic approach and the hippo in the bath tub

"Online Distribution of Copyright Works: Judge Chin Rejects Google Books Settlement" is the title of an article just published in the CPI Antitrust Chronicle, 2 June 2011 (CPI stands for 'Competition Policy International,' by the way).  The authors, Isabel Davies (Consultant,Boyes Turner) and Holly Strube (a solicitor with the same firm), examine the rejected Amended Settlement Agreement which Google and its counterparts reached and conclude that

"The time has come to look afresh at copyright issues in particular, and IP issues in general, and agree on a structure to deal with these challenges on a holistic basis, perhaps by moving forward with multinational supplementary agreements. 

It is not suggested that multinational co-operation will be easily achieved but, in our view, this process must begin without delay. Certainly Google has served notice that it continues its interest in developing its business in this area and doesn’t intend to cease its activities ..."

I agree that a holistic approach is needed and feel that it should be able to encompass not merely the copyright and competition/antitrust issues but also, to the extent appropriate, the knock-on effect on hard copy and electronic publishing, the retail book sector, the information-supplying industries and -- perhaps most importantly in the long term -- the advertising sector.

To put it in terms of a metaphor, we should ask not just whether the hippopotamus will fit into the bath tub but what precisely happens to the water it displaces: whether the hippo fits or not is an entirely different issue from whether there's room in the tub for anyone else once the hippo's in it, whether there's any water left after the hippo gets out, who gets soaked or where the surplus water runs off to -- but all these effects need to be accounted for.  If the hippo's application to occupy the bath tub is judged solely by the criterion of whether it fits, these other issues remain troublesomely unaddressed.

Fiber Maps At Your Fingertips

You’d like to move to higher bandwidth services, but you have no idea what that is going to cost. Horror stories of fiber optic construction costs abound. How can you tell if the cost of moving up from copper to fiber optic bandwidth services will be trivial or unacceptable?

The best thing you can do is get a set of competing quotes from many carriers that have facilities in your area. That’s going to take a lot of time and energy, isn’t it? Not if you approach it the right way. By going through a telecom broker, like Telarus, Inc., the effort on your part is next to nothing and you’ll have results quickly. Moreover, you get a comprehensive report that gives you pricing from all the important carriers in your marketplace.

Want to find out right this minute if there is fiber nearby? You can do this in a matter of seconds with just a quick click to the Ethernet Today Shop For Ethernet search box. All you need to do is enter the street address of your building, city, state and zip code and the system will automatically search the database and give you a map and list of buildings lit for Ethernet fiber optic service nearby.

Why Ethernet? The best prices for higher bandwidth services have changed from SONET services, such as OC-3, OC-12 or OC-48, to Ethernet over Fiber services such as 100 Mbps Fast Ethernet or 1000 Mbps Gigabit Ethernet (GigE). If you request pricing, you can also ask for equivalent SONET service prices so you can compare and see how much you are saving. In some situations, you may already be set up for SONET and happy with the arrangement. That’s fine, but you might as well get better pricing on your next contract.

Location is everything when it comes to fiber optic services. The best situation is already being in a building that is lit for the fiber optic service you want. The bandwidth level isn’t important. What is important is that someone has already paid the cost of bringing in the fiber and getting it working. Fiber has so much bandwidth capacity that there is plenty for whatever your needs require, even if another tenant in the building is already connected to that carrier.

What if you want Ethernet and your building is only lit for SONET? Have a look at the cost figures, including any construction charges, and decide whether it is better to just stick with SONET bandwidth or have Ethernet brought in. Sometimes you can get what’s called Ethernet over SONET that has better pricing than the traditional OCx service levels.

Don’t despair if you aren’t in or next door to a building lit for fiber optic service. Carriers are more competitive than ever. One or more may well waive the construction fees to get your business. The chances of this increase dramatically if you round up other tenants in the building and all offer to subscribe to fiber services with a very attractive combined bandwidth.

Here’s something else. Even buildings too expensive to light with fiber can get bandwidths far above the traditional T1 lines that come in on telco copper. Today’s Ethernet over Copper technology bonds multiple pair to bring in bandwidths of 10, 20, 50 and even 100 Mbps. That’s done over already installed copper wiring, so construction costs are minimal to nothing. This much bandwidth is adequate for many, many businesses.

Are you at least curious as to what fiber optic services may be nearby? If so, instantly check for lit buildings near your location and then request the pricing and recommendations you need to get the best deal for the least cost.

Stocks Going Ex Dividend the First Week of July

Here is our latest update on the stock trading technique called 'Buying Dividends'. This is the process of buying stocks before the ex dividend date and selling the stock shortly after the ex date at about the same price, yet still being entitled to the dividend. This technique generally works only in bull markets. In flat or choppy markets, you have to be extremely careful.

In order to be entitled to the dividend, you have to buy the stock before the ex-dividend date, and you can't sell the stock until after the ex date. The actual dividend may not be paid for another few weeks. WallStreetNewsNetwork.com has compiled a downloadable and sortable list of the stocks going ex dividend during the next week or two. The list contains many dividend paying companies, all with market caps over $500 million, and yields over 2%. Here are a few examples showing the stock symbol, the market capitalization, the ex-dividend date and the yield.

Brandywine Realty Trust (BDN) market cap: $1.6B ex div date: 7/1/2011 yield: 5.3%

Raytheon Company (RTN) market cap: $17.5B ex div date: 7/1/2011 yield: 3.5%

Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD) market cap: $74.0B ex div date: 7/1/2011 yield: 3.3%

Aircastle Limited (AYR) market cap: $966.1M ex div date: 7/5/2011 yield: 3.4%

American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) market cap: $2.5B ex div date: 7/6/2011 yield: 3.5%

OGE Energy Corp. (OGE) market cap: $4.9B ex div date: 7/6/2011 yield: 3.0%

Campbell Soup Company (CPB) market cap: $11.1B ex div date: 7/7/2011 yield: 3.4%

The additional ex-dividend stocks can be found at wsnn.com. (If you have been to the website before, and the latest link doesn't show up, you may have to empty your cache.) If you like dividend stocks, you should check out the high yield utility stocks and the Monthly Dividend Stocks at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com or WSNN.com.

Dividend definitions:

Declaration date: the day that the company declares that there is going to be an upcoming dividend.

Ex-dividend date: the day on which if you buy the stock, you would not be entitled to that particular dividend; or the first day on which a shareholder can sell the shares and still be entitled to the dividend.

Record date: the day when you must be on the company's books as a shareholder to receive the dividend. The ex-dividend date is normally set for stocks two business days before the record date.

Payment date: the day on which the dividend payment is actually made, which can be as long at two months after the ex date.

Don't forget to reconfirm the ex-dividend date with the company before implementing this technique.

Disclosure: Author did not own any of the above at the time the article was written.

By Stockerblog.com

Opinion: Bring The Jersey Boys Back To NJ 101.5

From Anne Mikolay, ahherald.com

New Jersey 101.5 (Not New York! Not Philadelphia! Proud to be New Jersey!) has been my radio station of choice for years. In the early morning, Jim Gearhart keeps me updated on what's going on in our state. As I am driving around mid-day, Dennis and Judi keep me company. And while I am on the road from 2:00 pm to 7:00 pm daily, The Jersey Guys make me laugh.

While I was out of state last week, my son sent me an urgent text message: “101.5 canceled The Jersey Guys!” I couldn't believe it! 101.5, are you kidding me? How could you cancel the funniest guys you have in your program line-up? It seems station management did not renew the contracts of Ray Rossi and Casey Bartholomew, aka The Jersey Guys, and replaced the duo with Deminski and Doyle. Deminksi and Doyle? Didn't I listen to them back in the 90s? In my humble opinion, the fact that I remember their names and not much else about them doesn't bode well for the new program. No offense to Deminski and Doyle, but isn't replacing a popular team with radio personalities from the 90s taking the station backward rather than forward?

If you are going to miss The Jersey Guys, too, please go to the “Bring Back The Jersey Guys to 101.5” facebook page and let your voice be heard, or email the 101.5 program director, Eric Johnson at Eric.Johnson@mrgnj.com. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Come on, 101.5, give us back our Jersey Guys! Without them, your station may be “proud to be New Jersey,” but it will be nothing special.

Read More.