it's our anniversary

Come this Sunday
we met a year ago
Come next Sunday
we will live in two different states
approximatley 900 miles apart
and still
we are in love
with the idea
of being
in love
with
one another
but of course
I wonder
what will happen
one year from now

posted by lynne | link to this | comment () | trackback (0) |

beware online financial transactions

I really don't want to say too much at this time since fraudulent transactions are currently pending investigation. But an online financial service that I used was somehow hacked into, either by my following a link in an email that was a fraud or someone hacking into my online account. These people were able to get a lot of my banking and other financial information and further conducted fraudlent activity other than where they initially made their hack.

It's funny, b/c when ecommerce first came along, as well as all these online financial services, I was mad wary of using them. Eventually I gave in. It made things quick and easy. And for bill paying, it definitely cuts down on writing checks and purchasing stamps. This does not mean I would not trust my own bank's secure service and make transactions there, I probably still will. But all I have to say to you folks is I am out of a significant amount of money right now b/c of this and terribly stressed out about it. What if I can't recoup my funds? I'm not trying to scare you, but all I am saying is that you make sure you are using a secure service. That any time you send money over the Internet you see a lock somewhere in the browser's status area or elswhere on the site as you are connecting to make the transaction. Make sure the URL begins with an https instead of simply http. And it's even better if a new window opens in which you make the transaction, so that you're certain it is secure. I have learned a lot from this experience, and I wouldn't wish it on anyone else.

I know I'm not saying a lot here about what actually happened to me, but I don't want to be too harsh on any of these institutions...b/c they are here to serve us and they are trying to do their best. Besides being a journalist, and especially since the activities are under investigation, I know a little something about libel and defamation on the Internet. In other words I shouldn't be too hasty about what I say and spit some foul-mouthed expletives against anyone. And I really shouldn't use anyone's name here.

PS: to any of you having problems using my comments, I am having it looked into right now. I know some folks post and it doesn't go up. I get the email notifications, but don't see a lot of the posts. When I have time, I put them in myself since I have it all in the email notifications, but I can't always do that. So do know, that if you post and everyone doesn't get to see it in what J. feels is too small of a comment box, at least I know what you've said. BTW, J. I made it a little bit larger.

posted by lynne | link to this | comment () | trackback (0) |

how do the new FCC rules really stack up?

If you're still unclear about how the new FCC rules will affect online publishing, the Online Publishers Association has clarified it a bit in its recent weekly newsletter. They also provide links to cogent analysis from reports at CNET news.com, Wired News, Salon, Shirky.com, Online Journalism Review, and Media Life.

If you've been missing out on the debate, here's a synopsis culled from Alternet. And the way I see it, it's not a very good thing. If media is in the hands of the few, then won't we just get the same news, information, and entertainment all the time. Capitalism, I tell ya'. I want my free media. Sounds like it's high time for bloggers to rise up. Anyway, here's the Alternet lead-in paragraph from "TECHSPLOITATION: FCC and Anti-FCC," by Annalee Newitz:

"Everyone from feminists in the National Organization for Women to gun-lovers at the National Rifle Association has been protesting the recent Federal Communications Commission decision to change the way it regulates media ownership, allowing big-media corporations like Viacom to garner more audience share than ever. The June 2 decision permits media companies to own several types of media outlet (like newspapers and TV and radio stations) in the same market at the same time; more important, one company can now own up to 45 percent of television stations nationwide (this is up from 35 percent). The decision is so patently creepy that even media mogul Ted Turner and Senate Commerce Committee chair John McCain are pissed off."

posted by lynne | link to this | comment () | trackback (0) |

he's patiently waiting for a media stunt for me to flow on

Ok that didn't really work in the 50 style I was going for, but anyway... kevin.daily is waiting for me to comment on this Village Voice cover article by Ta-Nehisi Coates that basically deals with the unrealness of gangsta rap. In essence, the article speaks to the fact that most gangsta rap is fiction and not fact. Well, it's art, so I think most of us knew that even if something was true, there was major embellishment going on. But my commentary is coming K.didly, just give me a minute. I handed it out in the race and ethnicity course I teach last night and we got into some heated debates. Let me just fall back and put it all into perspective before I give you something to chew on. In the meantime...talk amongst yourselves. And while you're doing that, let me tease you with a quote from the article:

"But not much more. At its core the hubbub around Get Rich and the return of gangsta rap is crack-era nostalgia taken to the extreme. Imagine—articulate young black men pining for the heyday of black-on-black crime. Like all nostalgia, neo-gangsta is stuck in history rather than rooted in current reality. The sobering fact is that the streets as 50 presents them, brimming with shoot-outs and crack fiends, do not exist. Of course, drugs are still a plague on America's house, and America's gun violence is a black mark on the developed world. But millennial black America is hardly the Wild West scene it was during gangsta rap's prime. Gangsta could once fairly claim to reflect a brutal present. Now it mythicizes a past that would fade away much faster without it."

posted by lynne | link to this | comment () | trackback (0) |