I.P. 50.63.197.22, Rochester, NY

Well...this is very interesting.

You may recall a recent post about some odd SPAM I'd been getting as responses to my new site, Sports Greats Journalism Archive.  I get e-mail notifications of these pending comments.  Here's what they look like:

Computer Network??

Today while I was working with folders in my computer, I accidentally clicked on the "Network" folder.  I seem to recall looking in it once or twice at some point in the distant past, but I don't recall seeing anything like this:

You know, I'm slightly computer-idiotic to say the least.  What does all of this mean?  Should I be concerned?  I didn't even know I was on a "network."  I know that two of the computers listed across the bottom are ones I see in my Windows Media Player "Other Library" choices.  Not sure how specific computers end up there.  Similar music tastes, maybe?  It's that big field of blue screen icons that interests me.   I Googled me up some info that indicates "Workgroup" is the default group name of your computer.  But, still--why these computers specifically?

Quitters Inc.

I've never read a Stephen King novel, though it's always been in the back of my mind to do so.  A friend just happened to tell me about King's short story, Quitters Inc.  I haven't seen anybody with severed fingers around, but the plot line sounds very, very familiar.

Elements of A Valid Contract

The parties to the contract must be of legal age, sane, sober, of sound mind and
under no legal handicap or duress. Persons who might lack legal capacity are minors, people who are intoxicated or those adjudged incompetent.

More Strange SPAM at SGJA

Since I moved Sports Greats Journalism Archive to Wordpress, I've discovered that when someone comments on a post there, I get the I.P. address info.  I think some of these hackers can hijack and I.P. address, but still, there must be some significance to the address I see.  There are also websites that can tell you the location of the I.P.  I've got a couple from China that I think are just random, generic spam.  Here are a few very strange comments I find noteworthy.  Sometimes I think someone's trying to communicate to me in code.  Naaaaa--I must be crazy: 

Letter to S.I. Regarding Lance Armstrong

J. Paul Zoccali
San Francisco, CA  

Editor, The Mail

Sports Illustrated

Re: Scorecard/"Finished," September 3, 2012 Issue

Dear Editor,

Bravo on your recent article, "Finished," which very neatly wraps up the Lance Armstrong doping scandal fairly and with perfect pitch.  60% of those surveyed not believing Armstrong is guilty, despite USADA's stockpile of damning testimony staring him in the face, serves as an apt illustration of an instance in which passion for sports heroes can be a bad thing.  Indeed, it is inarguable that if Armstrong was not concerned about being officially exposed by a guilty verdict, his stance would be, "Let's go to court, so I can spank your ass right out in the open."  I know mine would be, whether I had a personal dynasty at stake or not.

Best Regards,
J.Paul Zoccali

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A Glimpse of Pre-Giuliani New York

This is really interesting for someone who didn't arrive in New York until late 1996.  The drastic changes that occurred there during the mid-90s were a common and sometimes polarizing topic among New Yorkers then, with many hard-scrabble natives bemoaning the "Disney-fication" of Times Square, etc.  Nevertheless, I heard some things about the old upper west side that were hard to believe after seeing how relatively clean and crime-free it was in '97 and after.

This clip says it all.  In six years in the city, including residing in two different burroughs, I never saw graffiti inside a subway car anything like this: 

It might also surprise you to know that around '99 or so, New York ranked No. 1 as the safest big city in America.  Hard to believe, I know.  Whether you love or hate Rudy Giuliani, he was widely popular as Mayor there until he made the controversial move of pushing for the removal of a work of art from the Brooklyn Art Museum.  Of course, his lasting legacy will be his cool-handed leadership during and after the events of September 11, 2001.  In the end, I'm sure most New Yorkers would agree he did a great deal to make the city a better place.

See the full blog-post about that subway ride here:

http://gothamist.com/2012/08/20/video_a_subway_ride_to_coney_island.php

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Ad Age Report: A&E Beams Ads Into Your Head

Since I've been working on the new blog, Sports Greats Journalism Archive, I've been doing some research on advertising and marketing.  In the process, I stumbled on this very interesting article from Ad Age magazine--a respected source in the field--on a billboard that targets individual passers-by with a direct message from an audio spotlight.  The product on the billboard is the cable-TV program, "Paranormal State" appearing on--where else?--A&E.

http://adage.com/article/news/hear-voices-ad/122491/

Fascinating.

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Favicon Trouble in Blogger

You know, I've been so busy working on my new blog, Sports Greats Journalism Archive, that I've been neglecting C.B.S. a bit.  Of course, it's morphed into nothing but a log of strange computer and Internet "glitches" I experience anyway.  In my more paranoid-schizophrenic moments, I'm compelled to think it's all part of a DNS attack.  But why would anyone want to do that to li'l ol' me?

Well, I created a favicon for the future home of Sports Greats Journalism Archive, which you can visit here: http://sportsgreatsjournalismarchive.com/.  (Someone mentioned something to me about having the domain name.  Check.)  A favicon is that itty-bitty square with the site logo that appears in the browser tab and your bookmarks.  Here's the Sports Greats Journalism Archive favicon:

Cool, huh?  I like it because of the obscure rock music reference. (If only "2SG" was appropriate and would fit in that tiny little square.)  So, I thought, why not add the favicon to the current SGJA blog on blogger?

In this blogger interface page, you can see a long rectangle in the upper left corner of  the blue area labeled, "Favicon."  In the bottom right of that rectangle is the "edit" link:

Simple, right?  Well, I uploaded the image successfully, as you can see indicated in the image above, but like the many other the gadgets (WordPress calls them widgets.) I've attempted to add to the blog, the favicon does not appear.  I've refreshed the window several times.  The only gadgets that appear on my blog are default ones, I take it--blog archive and e-mail subscription--those tiny little vertical grey tabs on the right at SGJA.  It's really strange, especially considering that, as shown above, the image uploaded successfully.

In case you're wondering, "gadgets" are features such as the ones seen in the column on the right of this blog with links to other blogs, hit counter way down on the right, and my photo.  There are many others.  I've attempted to add several to Sports Greats Journalism Archive, but none appear.

Odd, no?

While we're at it, I guess I should mention this, too.  Below is an image of what you see when you first start a blog in blogger.  It's the generic look of the template before you make visual aesthetic decisions, etc:  

For whatever reason, I'd say maybe half the time I click on SGJA to open it, the version you see above is what opens.  I get the felling this really is just a glitch in blogger because the new blogger platform interface has many options and changes may take time to take effect.  Nevertheless, I can't help but wonder if that's what other people are seeing when they visit.  I've looked at the site on other computers and it usually appears correctly.  Maybe it's just my computer.

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New York Angels No-Go

Nope--it's not a major league baseball mix-up.  New York Angels is a seed-funding private investment group.  In yet another cyber oddity on my computer, their website simply will not open. 

The last time I had this problem was with, as you might recall, blogger previews and before that, my Twitter account.  There have been other such oddities I haven't posted.  I would call  it strange, but I've gotten used to it.  I guess I must be on to something.  (I'll find the right person.)

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