Tim Russert…last of the great journalist

June 13, 2008, 4:51 pm
Washington Mourns Loss of Tim Russert
Susan Davis reports on Russert’s death.

The shock of the untimely death of Tim Russert, host of “Meet the Press,” reverberated across and outside Washington today as the politicians, candidates and pundits who sat across the table from Russert on his popular Sunday morning news show mourned his passing. According to news reports, Russert, 58 years old, died of an apparent heart attack while at work in Washington. (See Tom Brokaw’s news report.)

Tim Russert (Associated Press)
Speaking in Columbus, Ohio, Barack Obama recalled meeting Russert for the first time at the Democratic National Convention in Boston. “He’s somebody who overtime I came to consider not only a journalist but a friend,” Obama told reporters, “There wasn’t a better interviewer in television, a more thoughtful analyzer of politics and he was also one of the finest men I knew, somebody who cared about America, cared about the issues, cared about his family. I am grief stricken with the loss and my thoughts and prayers go out to his family. And I hope that even though Tim is irreplaceable that the standard that he set in his professional life and family life are standards that we’ll all carry with us in our own lives.”

John McCain offered similar remarks, calling Russert “a great journalist and a great American.”

“Tim Russert was at the top of his profession, he was a man of honesty and integrity. He was hard but he was always fair. We miss him,” McCain said. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and we know that Tim Russert leaves a legacy of integrity of the highest level of journalism and we miss him and we will miss him a lot,” he said.

“The momentous nature of this election will not be captured as well without Tim Russert,” said Democratic pollster Peter Hart, who has worked since 1989 with Russert on the Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll.

In 1989, Russert coordinated with Al Hunt, then the WSJ’s Washington bureau chief, to form the first media-sponsored poll so that the network and the newspaper would have a public-opinion source independent of the candidates’ own polls. They enlisted one pollster from each party; while the Republican pollsters have changed, Hart continues to conduct the polls.

“It was the first media poll to use outside pollsters and became the standard,” said Hunt, now Washington chief for Bloomberg News, and a longtime friend of Russert. “We put it together seamlessly. In 16 years, we always had fun and never had a disagreement. That’s because he was always right.”

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Damn! One of the last great journalist and a great American. My Sunday mornings will not be the same. Whoever takes over has some gigantic shoes to fill.

Itchy & Scratchy

I have been so disappointed in my effort…or lack there of…to lose weight. I have put on a whopping 60lbs in the last 5 years. Although I don’t look overweight, I feel every bit of those 60lbs, especially now that I have become very sedentary. So as a “motivator” I decided that I would not shave until I lost 15lbs to 20lbs. I was surprised at how well my beard has come in, but my face is on FIRE! It itches and it literally feels like I can feel each hair growing out of my face. Of course I decide to do this during the summer months…not exactly smart for someone that easily perspires.

Well it certainly has motivated me…and for a couple of reasons. Those mentioned above and that wifey hates it. At least it will get me started on a path of health. As I get older, I am increasingly concerned with my health. A major factor for the concern being that I am adopted and know nothing about my families health history. One really never knows when you’re going to get the call from the big guy up in the clouds; but I figured if I can hedge the bet a little and get in shape, I will be better off in the long term.

I think blogging about it will also help and plan to link some of the sites I have been visiting to increase my interest in workout programs vs. the standard gym rat mentality. Some pretty nifty workout programs and cheap ways to get an effective workout without having to leave home. Also what is interesting is that it seems like more people are starting to trade in the barbells and weight machines for more functional exercise techniques that require a greater output of energy, but with less time. Some of this I am familiar with because of my previous experience in martial arts; which employs a lot of the exercises at these sites. Stay tuned and I will update my weekly results.

300 lbs and counting…check in next week.

Fake Hookers + Fake Credit Cards + Fake 13yr olds = Marketing?

“What a virtual world we travel through sometimes. A (relatively) innocent marketing ploy designed to draw in backlinks for a financial services comparison website in London has stirred up media attention ranging from the front page of Digg to coverage on Fox News.

When money.co.uk posted a story titled 13 Year Old Steals Dad’s Credit Card to Buy Hookers, the idea was that it could be read as a humorous parody piece that could get attention from social media sites, yield quality backlinks, and draw in hundreds of thousands of visitors. The backlinks would help the site achieve higher rankings on search engines, especially for the target keyword phrases that would include the words “Credit Card”.
The story did will. Very well. It hit the front page of Digg and rose in the “Top in All Categories” section on its way to nearly 2,500 diggs. It was reviewed over 200 times on StumbleUpon and received moderate attention on Reddit and Mixx. Outside of social media, the story was picked up by several online publications and yielded an estimated 6,000 backlinks for the site.

The problem was that most who read it didn’t pick up on the fact that it was fake.

“The thing is, I tried to make it as ridiculous as possible so it would
be obvious that it would be fake,” said Lyndon Antcliff, a writer and Internet marketer in an interview on Wired.com.

There is now a disclaimer on the story that says, “This story is a parody and is not intended to be taken seriously.”

Some of the news sites that picked it up have removed the story, including news.com.au and GameSpot UK. Others still have the story live, including TV3 and G4TV.

In addition to the disclaimer on the original post, Money.co.uk posted an apology, removed associations with the marketing vendor, and added a sentence to their About page regarding fake stories..

A handful of articles reporting that the story was fake have been posted, but none have been promoted to the front pages of social media sites.

Through all of this, the question must be asked: Are websites being forced to resort to parody to be able to market their services? “Link Bait” is a term that comes to mind that is preached about by many in the search engine optimization world but achieved by only the most skilled. In essence, it refers to any content that, for whatever reason, can draw in natural inbound links from websites.

In this case, the link bait was obviously a wild story. Sometimes it can be a video or story that adds value and the entices related websites to use it as a resource. Other times, it can be a tool or widget that webmasters can put on their sites that will help them (and the source) achieve a desired goal.

With the heavy emphasis that search engines place on inbound links, many websites are desperate for any form of viral link-building. It may not be “ethical” through some perspectives, but it is arguably justifiable in the competitive Internet marketplace.

Until the search engines come up with a better ranking system, we can expect sensationalized parodies to continue to pop up.”
— http://www.nowpublic.com/tech-biz/fake-hookers-fake-credit-cards-fake-13yr-olds-marketing

I recall this story and thinking there is no way a 13 year-old had that kind of balls to do what the media claimed in this initial story…but again, I don’t put much past anyone. After reading this story, it is funny how the media has become so desperate for the next “big” story and very few actually practice journalism in my opinion. All we really got was a story and very little follow-up. I guess if you think about it though, it plays into the media’s need to stay edgy and bring attention to their “brand” to what in my opinion has become an overcrowded medium. Hooray for the Internetz!

It’s been a long time…

“…I shouldn’t have left you,
Without a strong rhyme to step to.
Think of how many weak shows you slept through
Times up, I’m sorry I kept you.
Thinking of this, you keep repeating you miss
The rhymes from the microphone soloist.
And you sit by the radio, hand on the dial, soon
As you hear it, pump up the volume!”

…well, I am no Eric B or Rankim…but I’m back again and should start to post regularly.

I just finished my first semester as a grad student. What an eye opening experience that has been. Work, family and now an MBA? I’m not just burning the proverbial candle at both ends, but doused the candle with some kerosene then lit it with a stick of dynamite. But it’s all good. It has shown me how resilient I really am, but also need to really work at not procrastinating.

Well, lots to get caught up on…bought an Apple TV, my iPhone, GTA IV, my thoughts on the election, the family and etc. Stay tuned!

Crossfit

I started a new workout program about a week ago. The concept of the program is based on more functional and strength based exercises, focusing on technique and mechanics. The inspiration to look at “alternatives” to the traditional lift x amount of weight y times started to bore me. I had discussed in an earlier post the need to drop some of the new additions to my waist, but the have been inconsistent. What I really enjoy about Crossfit, is that you cannot necessarily plan a workout. Instead, a workout of the day (WOD) is posted to their site, which can also be scaled to your level of fitness. I would highly recommend reading and doing the research before jumping in. I have jumped in, but quickly realized I needed to look at scaled versions as well as build some of the basic movements required to be successful with the Crossfit program. So far, I have lost 5lbs. I think once I am comfortable with the mechanics (BTW — you will never stop learning…but just get better), the pounds should come off quickly. I also have been working hard at watching and being responsible for what I am eating. Nutrition is definitely key.

I think as a motivator, I will also post the workout and track so that I can stay motivated and track my progress.

295 and counting!

Peace!!!!

Nuff’ said…..

Nooooooooooo!!!!: The Follow-up…

Well…took my computer to Apple for my scheduled diagnosis. After a couple of test, it was determined that a logic board was most likely the issue and only for a mere estimate of $857 dollars…oh noes!!!!!

So I call my buddy Mac Dork to give him the news and get an opinion on how I should protect the hard drive…in which we both agreed that removal was the best and safest way before I took it in for repair. So I get home and start taking the screws out and notice that the screen where the memory stick seems to be pushed out a little further than usual. *Light Bulb*….okay….more like a flickering candle…I then realized the problem. About a month ago I put some memory in and in my haste…I did not make sure the stick was seated snugly. Needless to say fixed the problem and now my baby is purring like a kitten once again. To Apple’s credit, they did ask about the memory and thought it might have been the the issue initially, but again…wanted to run a diagnostic.

All in all…happy i was able to fix the issue for a measly $0 dollars and a couple of gray hairs. I will admit, part of me was hoping to leverage this into a new Macbook Pro. Oh well…time to come up with a new scam…errrr…plan.

Noooooo!!!!!!

Well…my iMac has been randomly “shutting down” since Sunday. Finally called today to get it to Apple for a “look see” and determine the diagnosis.

Sidebar: I have to say, without sounding like a Apple fanatic, their customer service is OUTSTANDING! Although I was not able to get an appointment tonight, they went ahead and scheduled me for a visit tomorrow.

Anyways, did some research into the issue through the internet and seems like this has happened before. A couple of possibilities…mostly hardware. Hopefully nothing too serious.

I’ll report my findings tomorrow.

Guess who’s bzack!!!!

Been awhile…so big ups to my peeps on the internetz! You know who you are…

My hiatus has been because of a few things…but mostly laziness (but honestly, I have been really busy). Having a family is such hardwork…but worth it all. My little one is getting so big. She just turned 2 in June and sooooo smart. I am truly blessed. So much more on that to come.

Work has been going very well. I have been there a year and could not be happier; great boss, great location…not too mention the pending promotion (…hoping some $$$ to go along with it too…more never hurts )

Well…so much to talk about and will start posting regularly again.

Technorati Tags: Family

Life…

…has been so busy. I have not had much time to post so I miss the “therapy”. So much has happened…some downs…but mostly ups. My daughter is walking and talking since I last wrote about her. She is so amazing…and so bright. She turns 20 months in a few days and talks as well as any 2 yr old and figures out things so quickly. She counts to twelve and knows most of her ABC’s. As one of my friend’s says, “she’s been her before.”