Obama, Romney Go Mobile for Money
Posted: February 21, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: CMO Site, mobile, obama, politics, romney, square Comments OffThe Obama and Romney campaigns are using mobile technologies to collect political donations.
Both campaigns will use Square. Additionally, Romney supporters can download a copy of the candidate’s Believe in America jobs plan by tweeting about the book via Pay with a Tweet. The book is No. 9 on the Amazon Kindle best-seller list.
Read the rest of my blog post, Obama, Romney Go Mobile for Money, at The CMO Site.
Crime in suburbia
Posted: February 20, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized Comments OffFrom The Landmark (subscription required):
[Editor's note: there were 25 suspicious items this week.]
Holden
Monday, February 6
5:36 a.m. Suspicious vehicle, running unattended, Main St.
Tuesday, February 7
4:07 a.m. Disturbance with prisoner, covering camera with toilet paper, spitting and banging on floor
10:43 a.m. Police out with loose dog, Malden St.
4:28 p.m. Police out with two skateboarders, Princeton St.
5:13 p.m. Skateboarders on Princeton St. refuse to leave property
10:01 p.m. Suspicious vehicles in lot, Holden St.
Wednesday, February 8
12:58 a.m. Suspicious vehicle, Main/Reservoir Sts.
2:30 a.m. Suspicious vehicle sitting outside house on Oakwood St.
6:32 a.m. Police check on individual wanted by Boston PD, Princeton St.
10:14 a.m. Loose dog complaint, Highland St., library
1:06 p.m. Persons report they paid for tree service that wasn’t rendered, Main St.
1:51 p.m. Sex offender registration renewal, Main St.
4:06 p.m. Caller reporting dispute with employee, Boyden Rd.
8:26 p.m. Teens smashing bottles on the side of Princeton St.
Thursday, February 9
9:22 a.m. Narcotics violation, high school, Main St.
9:24 a.m. Narcotics violation, high school, Main St.
1:30 p.m. Two kids on ice, Main St.
4:13 p.m. Suspicious vehicle, person videotaping neighborhood, Brentwood Dr.
5:10 p.m. Chainsaw left beside Malden St.
6:04 p.m. Person took bottle out of pile of rubbish and began walking around, Reservoir St.
7:34 p.m. Young female walking down Dogwood Cir. with no coat on, picked up by brown van
9:37 p.m. Police check on suspicious vehicles in parking lot, Highland Ave.
11:23 p.m. Suspicious vehicle parked behind business, Wachusett/Manning Sts.
11:34 p.m. Suspicious vehicle, Manning St.
Friday, February 10
7:59 a.m. Small gray dog running loose, Causeway St.
9:13 a.m. Checking on vehicle regarding road rage incident, Industrial Dr.
12:08 p.m. Downed line repaired without detail officer, Pleasant St.
1:44 p.m. Police assist person locked out of home, Malden St.
7:21 p.m. Group of youths walking through neighborhood, causing disturbance, General Hobbs Rd.
7:32 p.m. Caller reports youths back, causing disturbance, Nichols St.
10:07 p.m. Large animal in Cranbrook Dr.
10:25 p.m. Suspicious vehicle, Main St.
10:32 p.m. Police check suspicious person, Main St.
11:53 p.m. Suspicious vehicle, police move people along, Old South Rd.
Saturday, February 11
12:00 a.m. Suspicious person dressed in black walking, Main St./Park Ave.
10:11 a.m. Dog ran away, Main St.
3:41 p.m. Vehicle lockout, Reservoir St.
5:31 p.m. Large group of kids harassing caller, Nichols St.
11:29 p.m. Suspicious white van in Union St.
Sunday, February 12
6:38 a.m. Private investigator in area of Colonial and Edgewood
7:29 a.m. Male in woods raking, Paugus Rd.
Paxton
Monday, February 6
9:46 a.m. Caller reports large box in travel lane of Pleasant St.
10:17 a.m. Person at station to speak with officer about a collection box for the Heart Association, Pleasant St.
6:54 p.m. Assist person locked out of vehicle, Tanglewood Rd.
Wednesday, February 8
10:12 a.m. Person at station reporting suspicious activity on his property, Pleasant St.
12:30 p.m. Police go to business on Maple Ave. to speak to person about suspicious activity
Thursday, February 9
11:40 a.m. Person at station for car seat inspection, Pleasant St.
Friday, February 10
10:28 a.m. Suspicious vehicle parked in driveway, Pleasant St.
3:59 p.m. Police assist person locked out of vehicle, Pleasant St.
6:13 p.m. Two suspicious vehicles in area of Richards Ave.
Princeton
Monday, February 6
2:24 p.m. Two men approached caller’s house and tried to get information from her neighbors, Esty Rd.
Tuesday, February 7
11:09 a.m. Two loose boxer dogs, Main St.
10:23 p.m. Caller reports “very strange sound” similar to jet engine, Willson Rd.
11:02 p.m. Caller reports loud “jet engine” sounds, can’t sleep, Gregory Rd. Found to be mechanical issue with ski area snow guns
Thursday, February 9
4:04 p.m. Hubbardston PD reports car into guardrail, Rte.
62. Found to be in Hubbardston
6:45 p.m. Caller hit coyote, Goodnow Rd.
Saturday, February 11
2:27 p.m. Horse caught up in rope, Wheeler Rd.
Rutland
Monday, February 6
7:36 a.m. Loose dog, Carly Cir.
9:53 a.m. Person at station to speak with officer regarding the Internet, Main St.
11:25 a.m. Caller reports someone in business parking lot is doing drugs, Maple Ave.
12:51 p.m. Caller’s neighbor is burning trash in fireplace, Kosta Ave. Referred to fire dept.
2:48 p.m. Dead cat on Rte. 68
5:20 p.m. Suspicious white pickup truck in area all day, Birchwood Rd.
Tuesday, February 7
2:20 a.m. Assist Barre PD with Breathalyzer during booking, Main St.
8:29 a.m. Male sitting in silver pickup parked on sidewalk, John Robert Dr.
5:27 p.m. Suspicious vehicle parked at end of driveway for long time, Barre Paxton Rd.
9:22 p.m. Suspicious vehicle pulled onto property, Glenwood Rd.
Wednesday, February 8
3:36 p.m. Person at station to speak with officer about phone she received, Main St.
11:32 p.m. Black Lab tangled up in bushes behind house, Mary Way
Thursday, February 9
7:13 a.m. Suspicious van parked in front of residence, Forbes Rd.
11:51 a.m. Person at station to return GPS that does not belong to her, Main St.
Friday, February 10
8:32 p.m. Suspicious vehicle following female, Central Tree Rd./Naquag St.
9:51 p.m. Police assist person looking for lost dog, Glenwood Rd.
Saturday, February 11
3:27 p.m. Three dogs running in caller’s yard, Campbell St.
4:06 p.m. People yelling and screaming for two hours, Main St.; officer wanted
8:58 p.m. Snowmobiles and four-wheelers on lake causing lot of noise, Pommogussett Rd.
11:18 p.m. Report of gunshots, Rolling Ridge Rd.
Sunday, February 12
10:55 a.m. Suspicious pickup truck parked on Maple Ave.
Sterling
Monday, February 6
12:51 p.m. Caller reports receiving a call from a person from Las Vegas. Person bringing money and carrying a gun. Advised possible prank call, Rowley Hill Rd. Known scam call
Tuesday, February 7
7:56 a.m. Animal complaint. Summons served, School St.
7:58 a.m. Animal complaint. Summons served, Cole Rd.
4:50 p.m. Noise complaint, chain saws used for three hours, Flanagan Hill Rd.
Wednesday, February 8
8:03 a.m. Car “stalking” neighborhood.
Found to be private investigator, Bean Rd.
9:29 a.m. Person found tool box/tools all over Justice Hill/Upper N. Row Rds. Appears to be electricians tools
Thursday, February 9
7:26 a.m. Suspicious vehicle, Clinton Rd.
4:52 p.m. Person arrived home to find back door kicked in, property missing, John Dee Rd.
9:12 p.m. Truck went down Colby Rd. and knocked over people’s lawn markers
9:53 p.m. Vehicle drove up road toward cell tower, Pine Wood Ln.
Friday, February 10
8:05 a.m. Report of dead dog beside Redemption Rock Trl./John Dee Rd. Found to be fox
9:02 a.m. Report of female looking for address, confirmed home health aide, Clemence Ave.
12:59 p.m. Scam call from person claiming family member needed money in Mexico, Worcester Rd.
1:28 p.m. Scam caller advised person she had won $5 million and only needed $250 for delivery of money, Birch Dr.
3:58 p.m. Moped and helmet inside fenced area Heywood/North Row Rds.
Saturday, February 11
8:08 a.m. Suspicious male, Princeton Rd.
8:46 a.m. State police report male went to side of building with pipe or object in his hands, Chocksett Rd.; all set, worker shutting off trucks
12:36 p.m. Person found stray dog, Laurelwood Rd.
Problems of a first-world suburban shopper
Posted: February 20, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: robots, shopping, walmart, worcester Comments OffSigns in the store are informing customers that the Greendale Sam’s Club will close and the new club off of Route 146 will open this spring (no date specified).
From Holden, it’s about equidistant to the B.J.’s in Leominster. Market Basket is in nearby Searstown Plaza, in the case that I’m buying less than a year’s worth of something. Of course, there’s a B.J.’s near the new Wegmans in Northborough.
But, Bill Randell has been reporting that Market Basket may be coming to the former Diamond Chevrolet in Worcester, which makes in-city shopping viable again.
All this is necessary, of course, until robots are ready to do our bidding:
Kroger debuts kiosk concept at area college campus
Page left blank
Posted: February 20, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: green, printing, publishing, technical documentation, UBS Comments OffI thought that we were done with this.
For years, in technical manuals, we’d left a blank to make the pagination work out properly. Standards and conventions dictated that the first page of a chapter or section should be on a right-read page (recto). If the previous chapter ended on a right page, we’d need a filler.
Somewhere along the line, people got worried that someone would think that something had been left out of the manual. To make sure that we dealt with that hypothetical catastrophe, we started putting “This page intentionally left blank.” on blank pages that were, thus, no longer blank.
Fast forward a couple of decades. Few people care that technical manuals have chapters starting on a right-read page. We’re also more conscious of dead trees.
I was wrong. Google Ngram, which scans books for occurrences of pa phrase or keywords, shows that we’ve been increasing our usage of this tree-killing practice.
So, I guess I should be surprised to find that UBS sent us a four-page Form 1099 with printing one side and this on the back:
The challenges of a site editor
Posted: February 9, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: adolescents, editing, humor, leadership Comments OffThere are a couple of good stories out on the Fast Company website. One profiles Nancy Lee Gioia, Ford’s director of Global Electrification and her views on leadership in an business that is in an innovate-or-die mode.
The other story shows how a young British bartender is financing a startup from his own earnings.
Good stories that, when placed on the same page, remind us that many bloggers never quite outgrow their smirking adolescence.
via Fast Company on Leadership
Problems copying and pasting HTML links in Chrome browser
Posted: February 9, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: android, chrome, firefox, html Comments OffThe release of Chrome beta for Android has led to, once again, try to use Google Chrome as my preferred web browser. It’s fast, secure, and has a number of slick features that make it an enjoyable resource.
The biggest problem that I’ve had, and one that continues, is the way in which it handles copying and/or pasting of HTML and other rich text elements. Lemme explain:
When I am writing a blog post, I often need to link to other stories or sites. The Make Link extension for Firefox allows me to copy the page address and either selected text or the page’s title. I can then paste it into my blog editor.
For example, if I want to include a link to a story on The Onion, I go to the page, use Make Link to grab the title and URL, come back to this window, and paste it so it looks like this: New Biography Reveals Einstein Devised Theory Of Relativity On Paper Because He Wasn’t Smart Enough To Invent Microsoft Word | The Onion – America’s Finest News Source
Doing the same thing with a comparable extension, such as Create Link, in Chrome results in this:
<a href="http://www.theonion.com/articles/new-biography-reveals-einstein-devised-theory-of-r,27313/">New Biography Reveals Einstein Devised Theory Of Relativity On Paper Because He Wasn't Smart Enough To Invent Microsoft Word | The Onion - America's Finest News Source</a>
When I use a clipboard viewer, I can see that sometimes the info is created as an HTML fragment and, other times, it’s just text. I’m not sure why Create Link or similar extensions aren’t creating true HTML links.
Chrome on Android, I should note, is an excellent replacement for the stock browser on my phone.
Google thinks that I’m between 35-44
Posted: January 26, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized 1 Comment »According to Google, Mashable blogger Sarah Kessler is a Middle-Aged Man. If you have a Google account, your Ads Preferences page will show you how Google presents you to its advertisers.
When I was that age, Google didn’t exist.
Happy Birthday, Mike
Posted: January 26, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized Comments Off
Sandra and Mike at the camp. (h/t Chris Daniel for the photo)
This week in chutzpah
Posted: January 22, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: chutzpah, Costa Cordia, godaddy Comments OffWhile we might have thought that Newt Gingrich would have retired the trophy by now, there are a few candidates who might yet be players:
- As bad as the behavior of the Costa Cordia captain was, including reportedly ordering dinner from the ship’s galley while the ship was foundering on the shoal, Carnival, the cruise line, takes it up a notch. They’re offering stranded customers a 30% discount on future cruises.
- GoDaddy manages to go back to the Well of Tastelessness with a Super Bowl ad that has Danica Patrick and health guru Jillian Michaels painting a naked model like a race car. Among other things, GoDaddy CEO Bob Parsons got a lot of unfavorable press for his Elephant-Killing “Safari”.
- A convicted drunk driver sues the relatives of the people he killed for his “pain and suffering.”
Boston Globe discovers Worcester twice in one day
Posted: January 22, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized Comments OffNicole Apostola noted the Globe story about the Blackstone River’s status as the nation’s most polluted river and Worcester’s fight to keep it that way.
The Globe also carried a follow-up about Tim Murray’s, um, complicated relationship with former Chelsea housing chief Michael McLaughlin.
More on my Telegram Towns blog