Well, Christmas Break has already started, and I’m already sort of bored. Sort of. Of course I’m going to be idle – it’s almost basically expected for people my age to be idle when there’s no school, I guess. Not to justify schooling in any way. It’s just temporary mental slavery for future capital. How sick is that?

So, on Friday, I chilled out with my Advising Group (in other words, my group for advise), and I just had a giant, approximately 1000 calorie, Double Cheeseburger with French Fries at the side. Apparently, I forgot to even bring money that day, so someone had to invest in me. The thing is, I have to pay 15% interest now. Meaning I owe about 23 dollars. Kind’ah sucks, but hey, I ate it out. Up to that extent, it was a good deal. He was the only one wanting to invest, so what the hell else could I do?

So I ate my burger and such, and was extremely full.

This was at Dave & Buster's by the way.

Good thing you get the card to play all the arcade games for free.

All I did was eat and watch everyone else use their cards up until they finally had to do what I was doing. I actually gave my card to one of my friends looking to get some tickets to buy things from the shop. He bought a giant teddy bear, and bought me candy that I told him he owed me.

I think my trip would’ve been much more fun had I (1) brought money, and/or (2) used my card up for Guitar Hero. Dang. I really wanted to play Guitar Hero for the first time. The guitar is so phallic, it must’ve been a turn on (of course, I’m completely kidding arounfdBut then these girls and these two guys had to hog the goddamn game after so much waiting. Seeing as I’m self-conscious, especially when doing something new, I would not think of joining them. My fingers would break and would not be available for lick-sucking action.

I know the graphics look corny, but it's because of the music that I felt like playing (though I did not).

So I missed my opportunity. But, ‘ey, who gives a fuck?

Because, really, the best came after that, when I finally got home. And I know that seems ironic, but it’s true. I gave Abe my e-mail, and he finally got on that day, and was so fucking awesome! I found out all sorts of things that made him seem even more alluring. But, too bad for you, he got so up close and personal, I have to respect it, so I won’t reveal much of what we talked about here.

Right when he first got on, I felt my heart jump with giddyness.

After the conversation, I felt a sense of impending doom.

But it was still awesome.

So now I’m always eager to talk to him? Unfortunately, he holds a very busy life, in my opinion. Especially this vacation, he will be packing up, and visiting elsewhere to celebrate the Christmas spirit. I forget exactly when he will be leaving, but I just hope I get to talk to him some time during this vacation, really. He has even less time to get on when it’s not a school vacation.

Now I’m anxious as Lucifer was before he was thrown down into the pits of the underground and dubbed Satan by his self-righteous observers and haters.

Ah! Also, I’ve recently downloaded some PDF-versions of Austrian economics books and libertarian political books, which I’m highly proud of. I got all of them from the Mises Institute. Particularly Man, Economy, and State: An Economic Treatise with Power and Market: Government and Economy by Murray Rothbard, that is extremely long. I’ve only gotten up to prices and supply and demand in the context of bartering (direct exchange), and it’s quite a difficult hurdle to get through.

This is a humongous peace of economic sacralige, which means it's probably amply correct. And it seems to me that the Austrian economic theory is so far completely sound.

I’ve also downloaded the following works by Murray Rothbard: For a New Liberty,  and The Ethics of Liberty, as well as the Study Guide version of Man, Economy, and State with Power and Market.

Deoarece astazi a trebuit sa-mi caut cateva alternative, am gasit cateva programe ce v-ar putea fi de folos si voua pe viitor. Asa ca m-am decis sa impart lista cu voi mai ales pentru ca sunt gratis.

• 3D Studio Max
  • Blender 3D
  • Freyja
  • Imagine3D/Organica
  • Wings 3D
  • Art of Illusion
  • K-3D
  • Moonlight|3D
• Adobe Acrobat Standard
  • CutePDF
  • PDFCreator
• Adobe Illustrator
  • Inkscape
• Adobe Photoshop
  • Paint.NET
  • The GIMP
• Adobe Premiere
  • Jahshaka
• Adobe Reader
  • Foxit Reader
• AOL Instant Messenger (AIM)
  • Gaim
  • Miranda IM
• Corel Draw
  • Inkscape
  • Paint.NET
  • The GIMP
• Cubase
  • Ardour
  • Audacity
• FL Studio (formerly Fruity Loops)
  • Ardour
  • Audacity
• Flashget
  • Free Download Manager
• Go!Zilla
  • Free Download Manager
• Google Talk
  • Gaim
  • Miranda IM
• ICQ
  • Gaim
  • Miranda IM
• Internet Explorer
  • Mozilla Firefox
  • Opera
• LightWave 3D
  • Blender 3D
  • Freyja
  • Imagine3D/Organica
  • Wings 3D
  • Art of Illusion
  • K-3D
  • Moonlight|3D
• Lotus Suite
  • Open Office
• Mac OS
  • Linux
• Mathematica
  • Maxima
• MATLAB
  • SCILAB
• Maple
  • Maxima
• McAfee VirusScan
  • AntiVir PersonalEdition
  • avast!
  • AVG
  • Clam AntiVirus
• Microsoft Office
  • Open Office
• MSN Messenger
  • aMSN
  • Gaim
  • Miranda IM
• Norton AntiVirus
  • AntiVir PersonalEdition
  • avast!
  • AVG
  • Clam AntiVirus
• Norton Ghost
  • DriveImage XML
• Outlook Express
  • Calypso Email
  • Courier Email
  • Pegasus EMail
  • Thunderbird
• Paint Shop Pro
  • Paint.NET
  • The GIMP
• Partition Magic
  • GParted
• Pro Tools (Digidesign)
  • Ardour
  • Audacity
• Quicken QuickBooks
  • TurboCASH
• QuickTime Player
  • Media Player Classic
  • QuickTime Alternative
  • VideoLAN
• RealPlayer
  • Media Player Classic
  • Real Alternative
• Sage
  • TurboCASH
• Vet Anti-Virus
  • AntiVir PersonalEdition
  • avast!
  • AVG
  • Clam AntiVirus
• Windows (operating system)
  • Linux
• Windows Media Player
  • VideoLAN
  • Winamp
• WinRAR
  • 7-Zip
  • ICEOWS
  • ZipGenius
  • UnzipThemAll
  • IZArc
• WinZip
  • 7-Zip
  • ICEOWS
  • ZipGenius
  • UnzipThemAll
  • IZArc
• Yahoo! Messenger
  • Gaim
  • Miranda IM

With Digsby, you can instantly integrate their MSN, Yahoo, AIM, ICQ, Jabber, Facebook, and even Google accounts into one interface! Download this time saving softward today.

http://nyshopexchange.dealshop.us/

EPISODE 46

Yes, the Carolyn and Joe show worked on Black Friday, why? Cause Danny is back in the studio! And whenever Danny is back in the studio be prepared for stories that will blow your mind away. In this episode, Danny calls James out, and prank calls him live on the air, and of course more! Enjoy!

Subscribe in a reader

Now you can send encrypted secret messages over Yahoo Messenger or Windows Live Messenger using BitDefender Free Instant Message Encryption tool.

Normally, texts are sent in clear form and any simple Network Analyzer program will be able to capture the messages easily.

Get the Encryption Tool BitDefender Chat Encryption here. Both parties will require to install the software to communicate securely.

Technology continues to advance at a mind-blowing pace.  However, the advances we make may not be the best for us as individuals or as a society.  One of my recent thoughts revolves around this trend to be constantly connected to someone or something.  The demand and proliferation of text messaging cell phones, “smart” cell-phones, twitter, Facebook, etc… makes us constantly “on” and available.  Is this really a good or healthy thing?

I can remember, back in my day (which was a while ago), that failure to answer the home phone wasn’t interpreted as an insult or some form of hidden slight against the caller.  All that could be inferred by this was that I wasn’t home or available to answer the phone.  I didn’t meet up with the caller the next day to face indignant wrath and the question “why didn’t you answer your phone.”  It was understood that I was away from the phone doing what I needed to do, most of the time out working or playing in the fresh air or some other form of activity that took me away from the phone.  No big deal.

Well, times certainly have changed.  Now, if you don’t answer your phone or, at the very least, listen to your voicemail and respond within a “reasonable” period of time, people get all bent out of shape.  We are “expected” to be constantly available.  Failure to answer or respond is met with recriminations and antagonism.  We now live in a society of “implied insult” for failure to respond quickly.

What I’ve noticed is this constant connectivity is really not much of a blessing.  As a time management expert, consultant and trainer, I find that most people don’t consider the amount of time that is lost to text messaging, email, and phone conversations, all of which can be considerable drains on their time.  As people learn and apply time management principles, their carefully crafted weekly and daily plans get derailed by these interruptions.  Because we’ve accepted the principle that we MUST respond to these distractions or face the wrath of the people who are “communicating” with us, we choose to respond to the exclusion of our schedule.  All the gains we see and are documented benefits of practicing effective time management can be erased by the interruption of the instant communications we tie ourselves to.

So, my recommendation is to set aside time in your day to respond to text messages, update twitter, update facebook, reply to email, and all the other instant communications we are barraged with and stick with your plan.  By responding to the instant communication requests, we give control of our time to others and we may be sacrificing accomplishment of those things that are most important to us.

That’s my observation and opinion.  Of course, you are welcome to disagree with me.  That’s the beauty of our country – we are allowed (at least for now) to disagree and voice our opinions.  You might want to do that while we are still a democracy and have the right to speak out, because that freedom seems to be slowly eroding along with most of the other tenets established by our founding fathers.

Until later….

With the vast internet and all of the many services available the more you know can never hurt you. It is important to know what you want from a type of service before joining, doing some research, and picking the best service to fit your needs.

Sadly in every service I have ever used there are always these people that try to turn that service into something it’s not. If a service is feature rich, they want a lite version…if a service is lite they want more features. Why people don’t pick the service they want in the first place has always baffled me. For me I look for the most simplistic set-up, that is reliable, has a liberal privacy policy, and can load on several different kinds of devices with no issue. In this pursuit I watch dozens of products, join several to test them out, and actually use the ones I like the most. Along the way I try to point my logical path out to others.

Two products for email I have been speaking praises about for those that are looking for a strong feature set are Zenbe and Orgoo. For me these services have too much going on, but I think some people might find them useful. In recent months though I have stepped away from that praise. So a little update:

Zenbe: is still kicking but apparently is a much smaller service than I had thought. Earlier in the year they launched a paid Business service…while at the same time they turned off sign-ups for the free version. Since that time there has been no commitment to the free service from the Zenbe Team and no updates. A team that is so small that it can’t maintain all its products is worrying. I am downgrading Zenbe from a “use” to a “watch”.

Orgoo: This service basically is an amped up email/chat mash-up. It is way more than just email with a chat window. For those people obsessed with chatting in a email window this would be a very exciting service. However, it went offline more than a month ago due to a censorship issue and hasn’t been herd from since. I am down grading Orgoo from a “watch” to a “stay tuned” Ill let you know when or if they will be back up.

One downside to all the many services coming out is that not all of them will make it. The days of having just a couple providers that are very stable are gone.

Well the two services I really liked are basically off the table now. On to some new picks!

1. Zoho Mail: Take the simplicity of Gmails interface, add the ability to have several inboxes to manager multiple accounts (not one universal one, each account gets its own inbox within the same window), no threaded emails like Gmail, unlimited storage, a good user policy, optional add-on services like a notebook and online office editor, built in chat,  a well established company, and you get Zoho Mail. My rating “use it”.

2. Fuser: Collect all your email accounts and social networks in one place. Once there you can reply to emails, social networking content, even send a tweet all from one place instead of a five different websites.  My rating: “try it”

For more on my rating system check out the Rating Page

Our Instant Message Reference Service is popular! It is so popular, we are facing several problems trying to keep up with it. The problems:

• While our current IM aggregator allows multiple librarians to be signed in simultaneously, it doesn’t allow librarian1 to field a question without librarin2 seeing it and vice versa. Confusion often ensues when answers are typed into the wrong IM conversation. For example, I might answer the question “What floor are the MLs on?” with something like, “It’s open 9-4 Mon-Fri” and my colleague might answer “What are the Writing Lab’s hours?” with “They’re on the 5th floor”. Meanwhile the students are left to wonder…”Huh?!”
• Currently, all IM questions are handled by the librarian(s) at the reference desk and often, to avoid the problem described above, only one signs in during a given shift. We’d like to have ALL available librarians signed in to field questions at their convenience whether they are at the service desk or in their offices.
• In order to provide point of need access to IM Reference Service we have embedded chat box widgets in several library web pages. The boxes appear 24-7 with a small message that reads “tucookchat is offline” during our off hours. We’d like to make it more obvious when service is or is not available, and list alternative contact information for hours in which IM Reference is unavailable.
• A large percentage of our IM traffic comes from “guests” using our chat box widgets. Unlike patrons contacting us from their personal IM accounts (such as AIM, Yahoo! Messenger, and Google Talk), we are unable to capture chat transcript from our guest users, which can be useful for training, research, and annual reports.
• And for all transactions, from guests or otherwise, we currently have to manually track statistics.
• Oh, and did I mention that our IM aggregator is free and our budget it small?

However, do not dismay, I’ve found a possible solution to these and other problems. LibraryH3lp to the rescue.

Created by Eric and Pam Sessoms, the dynamic duo of programmer and librarian, LibraryH3lp is a hosted Instant Messaging service that could solve our problems in the following ways:

• It allows multiple simultaneous operators, but only connects the patron to the librarian who first responds. Once this connection is made, LibraryH3lp notifies your colleagues that the question has been answered.



• If you find you need backup, LibraryH3lp allows you to transfer questions to other operators within your institution. You’ll be able to see who is signed in and available, IM them to make sure they have time to help, and transfer questions to colleagues with special knowledge and/or shorter lines.
• LibraryH3lp offers a helpful tool for creating widgets that appear as chat boxes when operators are available and display a customized message when no one is logged on.
• Unlike our current aggregator, LibraryH3lp captures chat transcripts from patrons accessing the service through chat box widgets in addition to those accessing the service though popular IM providers such as AIM, Yahoo! Messenger, and Google Talk.
• Transcripts and statistical information is gathered on the LibraryH3lp server and can be downloaded to a local server and/or deleted at any time.
• While not free, LibraryH3lp is very affordable. They charge an annual fee based on the size of your institution.

This post is a response to a discussion on LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/groupAnswers?viewQuestionAndAnswers=&discussionID=9267732&gid=67134&trk=EML_anet_qa_ttle-cnhOon0JumNFomgJt7dBpSBA in which the discussion was about predators seeking out children through search profiles on social networking sites…

Protect your kids be learning more below from my response in that thread.

_______________________________

It has been my experience in law enforcement that what you wrote about is true.

Parents, listen up….

Bad people (predators) will comb through social networking profiles looking for information that suits their desire and will work with or expand on that information to groom a child. For example, type in your home telephone number with the area code into Google with the hyphens, and again without the hyphens, and see what you get.  Also, Google your child’s name, especially if they are into sports.  predators do as much.

Also, predators will use search fields to refine what they are looking for, it is easier than reading through profiles.  With a little bit of information a predator can begin to watch open chats to glean more information, or use seemingly innocuous profile information of a target child to refine the target (match up the name of a school in a profile to a geographic region, then do a last name search in a phone book or public records within that region).  A predator will then track the target child by following them in various social networking sites, and/or engage them in a chat through that site or other similar online service to further the grooming (chats or online contact) or collection of information.

My law enforcement experience allowed me to pose undercover as a child and be groomed and arrest predators.  I would like to reveal more here to parents about how they work but for two reasons I won’t, 1. because I don’t want predators out there to come learn it, and 2. because law enforcement relies on predator conduct to catch them.  Suffice it to say that with a bit of computer savvy and a small bit of information a predator can move from having a little bit of information about a child  to being able to learn where that child lives or goes to school and find them in the real world. (think map point and Google earth, recall the Google search of your phone #)

Generally these travelers and groomers don’t snatch the child right off the street because they want a relationship with them.  They want the child to be a willing partner.  The predator wants to arrange a meeting with them (this is real bad and should be prevented by all means).  The predator uses the info to maintain a regular communications relationship online with the child so that if or when an attempt to meet is arranged within that communication, the childs defenses are down as the child has been lied to and believes this person is an acquaintance or friend.

Here’s the bottom line, there needs to be a much larger role of parental supervision in matters involving a child online, and there is no need for a child in a social networking environment to have any profile of any kind that reveals personal information.

And parents…. understand that some of your kids are maintaining more than one social networking presence; although they may show you their Facebook or Myspace account for your approval, there is likely to be one they don’t show you and that one is the problem.

Listen, if a predator learns how to find a child, or the home phone number, or anything that can lead them to the area or place where the child lives and goes to school, you and your home have been compromised, it affects the safety of the whole family..

Solution:  begin a much more restrictive policy in your home about being given all passwords and usernames to online services that require them.  If you do not get compliance from your child then password protect the operating system so the machine will not boot up for your child until you enter it for them, or until they give you all passwords and usernames.  Maintain and update that list!

And feel free to log on as your child and see who says what, that can be quite revealing.

Thanks for reading,

Kevin Owens
www.e-copp.com

http://ecopp.wordpress.com/

http://twitter.com/TheBlueKnight

Mr. Radio DJ playing on my car radio this morning, I can honestly say that I missed listening to you.

You ask why I pose this statement? It’s simple, no matter how many times you can play a sound byte or YouTube video, nothing beats the concept of live. Actually being there or tuning in to watch a favorite show air. Watching the Today show at the actual time it airs or listening to a morning show with listeners calling in live with a question or request, these concepts before the era of Hulu are not as popular with the immersion of social media. Sure, you have a convenience factor with TiVo and iTunes. It would be the same on your favorite location (laptop, iPhone, etc.) with the show, but knowing it is new and fresh makes it something great, for that split second.

I fear that the younger generation will never experience this same feeling, in a world of easy accessibility of the media materials. It is sad to understand this, because I personally had great stories where I would go to a friend’s home to watch favorite shows, where we would have crazy car rides, listening to radio personalities give away tickets to the 9th caller, because it was never the first caller. Those stories and feelings will exist only with a specific generation.

But, I also realize that a generation is coming up knowing only Myspace and Facebook. Where Tweeting will be the new AIM that my generation grew up using religiously. I think this time is a new experience for them, and their stories will exist in equal greatness, but in a unique way. Isn’t that idea simply fascinating.

The following answer was submitted to an incoming question by email.  the email was:

Hello,

Good article in today’s paper.

In addition to buying your program, what software do you recommend for my kids computer.

Thank you, David Z.

and my response…….

Thanks for reading the article and for emailing us.  I appreciate your interest.

The e-Copp program is a great tool for parents and teachers as an early education and training program to teach kids up to the 4^th or 5^th grade how to be safe online.  It is a four part series of animated short that deal with the main issues of online activity.

As far as software goes what most parents are interested in is protective software, software that includes parental controls and other aspects to know where a child surf on the web and that traps all incoming and out going emails, instant messages, and chats.  In addition to software there are physical devices that capture keystrokes so a parent can review all typing done by a child.

Most computers come with some level of parental control.  In the Control Panel on Windows machines individual users can be set up and each user can have usage settings set according to a parents wishes.  Also, the Control Panel has an area for Internet usage (connectivity and/or security) that can be set.  Most search engines like Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Internet Explorer have settings or options menus built within them to limit kids access and exposure to online content.  These search engines also have a History files to see what has been visited over time.  It is simple to instruct the computer to delete the history from the browser upon exit or shutdown.

Things get more tech savvy from here with freeware that can be downloaded to read the Internet Temporary files and .dat files so a person (parents, analysts, police) can read the totality of web sites visited by that particular computer.  Such sites include the sites intentionally visited and the sites that a user was redirected to.

A further delve into the computer takes us to the registry files.  Many people fear to go there because a wrong setting change in a registry hive of the operating system can permanently change your computer and how it operates, even disabling it requiring higher end service repairs to get the registry straightened out.  However, like anything, it can be learned and practiced and isn’t so dreadful once understood.  Knowing how to read or search the registry hives yields great information on the use of a computer.

A lot of the parental control software derives its information output from these types of files making the process easier.

I hope this answer helped, in fact, I think I will use your question and my answer in the next blog posting for e-Copp.

In the signature below are other links for your review.  We always appreciate comments and visits to the blog and being followed on Twitter.

Thanks again for your interest and question,

Best Regards,

Kevin

The following short items are items I recently posted my twitter page, http://twitter.com/TheBlueKnight. What is interesting is they are recent, they are real and two of them involve teachers.  The two teacher incidents are in Ohio, imagine what is really going on across the country.   Each item has a link (I shortened the URL to make it fit in Twitter) to a reliable story about each incident.

use e-Copp to teach your kids, we did the work, we made the lesson plans, we set up the curriculum, and we made it inexpensive.  Educate your kids!  Education and supervision is the best prevention

One case is a teacher who was convicted of sex with a student who is back teaching at another school.

Another case is a Columbus, Ohio, teacher who was found with 200,000 kiddie pron images on his computer… imagine, a teacher right in the classroom with kids.  I don’t know if he ever harmed or took advantage of a child, but it seems he fueled his desire online.   He has full access to kids, he has superior authority over those kids, he has public trust over those kids, he has leverage (through grading) over those kids, and through teacher/parent meetings he has the ability to groom parents.   Why would a teacher groom parents The reason is if his behavior (like is kiddie porn collection) comes to light there will be a hue and cry from parents such as, “really…I don’t believe it, we knew him.”  or like, “he’s not that way, we had him at our home.”  or like, “he was always nice to use when we met.”  or like, ” he was always so good with the kids”.  Ya think?

The last case is truly tragic, a 7 year old girl missing from the Orange Park area of Florida.

Cincinnati teacher convicted of sex with student is teaching in school again, http://is.gd/4uoAO. Protect kids with educations, use e-Copp

A Columbus, Ohio School teacher is arrested when FBI finds 200,000 kiddie pron images on his computer!! http://is.gd/4uopt Get e-Copp!!

e-Copp is a great program to protect kids from real dangers, & the dangers are very real, http://bit.ly/4f4RMN

With children settling back into their desks for another year of learning, many of them will have homework assignments that will require them to research material on the Internet.  As a large resource, the Internet can assist young minds discover useful information for homework and school projects.  And after doing their school work, many of these same students will use the Internet for leisure activities like surfing the net, chatting with friends on social networking sites or playing video games.  It is here where parents should be wary and pay particular attention to what their kids are doing on the computer and not rely on it as a co-babysitter with their television sets.  Although the Internet has many positive attributes, the increasing dangers posed to children should raise caution flags for parents.
There is a natural naiveté of young people to just how dark the World Wide Web can be.  Combine that with casual lack of oversight by parents or the misplaced confidence in screening software and it mixes up a recipe for serious problems for the lives and psyches of our kids.
For children 10 years and under, early exposure to pornography is particularly troublesome.  Whether accidentally or deliberately, porn can find its way onto your computer screens when your child is on it.  Make no mistake that their little minds are not hardwired for such imagery and there are indications revealing disturbing trends where some children are acting out sexually on other children as a result of this corrupt visualization.  Children do not understand such imagery and sometimes have a hard time expressing what they have seen.  Not withstanding the blurring lines for law enforcement on determining culpability of young violators, it is crystal clear that children have been victimized.  The poison of porn has always been problematic for adults but now it is corroding our children’s minds primarily through easy Internet access.  With over 40,000 porn sites on the Net, this toxic influence will likely get worse.

Poisonous pictures can also lead to other even more serious risks.  It can begin with kids’ on-line chatting.  Children can easily develop a trusting friendly relationship with a complete stranger based on keystrokes in the comfort of their homes.  Most offenders openly solicit victims on-line through bringing up sexual topics, engaging in cyber sex or transmitting sexual pictures. This is done through the anonymity provided by the Web.  Phone encounters may progress after on-line activity and then can advance to actual physical encounters. Many cases of abuse involved face-to-face sexual encounters, some of these involving some form of sexual contact between the offender and the victim.  The offender is not considered a stranger to the child for they feel they have created a “trusting” friendship.  Many crimes occur after the offender builds that relationship on-line with the victim.

And for our young teenagers, the hip appeal to social networking sites such as My Space and Face Book are not without serious risks and parents are negligent if they dismiss their teen’s participation as nothing more than “kids being kids.”  Moms shouldn’t delude themselves into thinking that their sons and daughters are just kibitzing with their friends inside networks only secure to those pals with passwords.  Visits or browsing throughout these systems can lead them to some bizarre stuff.  Also, teens can set up two networks, one they show their parents and one that they access to outside their supervision.  Ask yourself why they would do this.  Also “friends” can become estranged and we all know that ex-friends are capable of sharing those old secrets, i.e. site access of ex-friends.  Instantly outsiders are accessing private information and downloading pictures without permission.  These personal pictures can then be altered in very inappropriate and degrading ways.  These “notebooks” are not secure and safe. Many so called “outsiders” can gain access to personal information and befriend anyone listing personal information about them.  It is why it is so important to always know who children are chatting with.

Also, parents and teens should be especially vigilant in posting those innocuous pictures of them at the beach in their bathing suits, at school in varsity jerseys, with friends, family, or honestly any photos at all.  Once those pictures are out, they can easily get lost in an electronic universe where retrieving them is unrealistic.  So for every Dad and Mom who is uncomfortable with the idea of a picture of their daughter wearing her swim suit being a screen saver for a pedophile two states over, careful oversight of what your kids post is in order.  Actually, if anyone thinks that it is only kids visiting these sites, they are wrong.  There are thousands of registered sex offenders in this country of which too many are in non-compliance.  Don’t mislead yourself that plenty aren’t regularly visiting these networking sites to “socialize.”  Older adults pose as teenagers and young teens pose as older to gain access to the web sites. Nothing is honest and almost anything goes.
With teens spending almost 15 hours a week online, parents need to maintain strict time management of their kids’ access to their computers.  Although not fool proof, screening software can help in controlling their access to some visual trash and hate speech.  But being a nosy parent is a critical behavior that could help protect your child from unhealthy imagery and the luring efforts of Internet child predators.  Don’t be afraid to look over your kid’s shoulders when they are on-line, “snoop” when they are off-line and ask questions. Have the computer situated in an open family environment. Kids are less likely to be secretive when the computer screen is in view of their family rather than in private in their bedrooms.  Consistent open channels of communications are critical for parents and kids.  By working together as a team, children and parents can present formable barriers to better protect their families.  To learn more about how to keep your children safe while using the Internet, please visit our website at www.e-copp.com.

Lisa M. Owens RN, MBA

Tom Wetzel, suburban police lieutenant

www.e-copp.com

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

Irish politician Edmund Burke (1729 – 1797).

With our signature Internet safety program e-Copp now in schools, we are confident that young students will make better decisions when using a computer after they participate in this special educational opportunity.  They will learn how to better protect themselves from on-line victimization because the risks to children from predators, fraud, and pornography are serious.  By having teachers, students and parents work as a team, children can learn at an early age how to stay safe while using the Internet.  Our team at Blue Knight Productions encourages you to order e-Copp today for your school.  To learn more about this important effort, please visit our website at www.e-Copp.com or call us at 440.942.9257.  Thank you and have a blessed week.  Respectfully, Tom Wetzel

I posted the following on Linked In as a response to a comment posted by Mary Kay Hoal, the Founder/President/COO of Yoursphere Media Inc.

____________________________________

Hi, I have created a site by adults for parents.  The parents go to the site to learn how to protect kids from online dangers.

Consider this quote…
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
Irish politician Edmund Burke (1729 – 1797).

I am the good man who has done something!

I am a police officer who has investigated internet crimes against children.  My investigation was in an undercover capacity posing as a child so bad guys would come after me online, groom me, and lure me out to violate me.  However, I and the team I worked with would arrest them.

I was completely amazed at the width, breadth, and depth of depravity of online predators’ desire for children that I felt an educational component for kids on a mass scale was necessary to augment the efforts of law enforcement.  I developed a program with my partner titled e-Copp which means educational Children’s online protection program, and intend for it to be that program on a national scale.

To propel the program I need parents and family friendly businesses to support me by using the program and a show of support.  I need parents help to use the program or get their schools to use it.  I need the business community to come to me as program supporters.  I will even allow a business to advertise in the books that come with the program (and online too)  if they support me with an e-Copp support sticker in their window and a link on their business site.

With the exponential growth of on-line crime, sexually explicit web sites, sexually oriented spam, predatory solicitation of children, and the increased use of the internet in both home and schools, e-copp is your primary resource for on-line safety and child protection.

e-copp is an elementary or home school based children’s educational program dedicated to protecting children through awareness of Internet dangers and instruction on dealing with them. OUR GOAL IS TO PREVENT THE VICTIMIZATION OF CHILDREN FROM PREDATORY INTERNET ACTIVITY. It is an empowering program that provides adults and teachers the tools needed in taking an active role with children’s internet experiences.

The program is an interactive animated DVD featuring characters who experience trouble online and are rescued by the main character, Lil Copper and her sidekick DoubleClick. The animations are in four parts and are created in age appropriate language that will not alarm children.  The DVD comes with a teachers manual and a student workbook.  The DVD and workbooks can be bought individually or as a kit.

It is made by two cops and their wives.  Cops and moms… created by cops, approved by moms, and kid tested!

This program is simple, place the DVD in the tray and press play.  The curriculum and lesson plans are all set up on the DVD.  Parents and teachers do not need to do any set up or lesson planning.   It’s done. The kids watch a chapter on the DVD then do a chapter in the workbook.  Kids see and hear the DVD and read and write in the workbook.  We have worked hard to cement the safety message in a kid friendly manner so kids never fall prey to the lies and grooming of predators.

I created a web site that is being revamped and re-released in November called www.e-copp.com.  It is up now in its original state and you can view it for more info.  Bookmark it to come back when the new site is complete in early November.

To get the program you can use the contact page at that site to arrange it with me or go to the ebay store I just put together (and am still adjusting) at http://stores.shop.ebay.com/Blue-Knight-Productions-Inc.  To stay in touch with followers and to gather comments, opinions, & feedback I created an e-Copp blog page at http://ecopp.wordpress.com/ as well as a twitter page at http://twitter.com/TheBlueKnight. I am also on linked in.

So, as a cop I have investigated, arrested and created; now I need the public, the parents and business to help.  Use the program, teach your kids.

Thanks for your time, please leave comments.

Kevin

I thought as the creator and co-owner of Blue Knight Productions and the e-copp program to have as our first post in our first blog a testimonial for a recognized educatior int he Cleveland, Ohio, area.  Thanks to all who have been of so much help and guidance to us and our work.  Enjoy!

A TESTIMONIAL

by Rosemary Nemeth

Master Teacher Adjunct Prof. for John Carroll University, 4th grade Teacher at Gesu School,  2000-2001 NTTI Outstanding Teacher of the Year, the 1989 Master Teacher of the Year for the Cleveland Catholic Diocese.

______________________

e-Copp is an excellent interactive curriculum for children, teachers and parents! Educational Children On-Line Protection Program defines e-Copp. e-Copp totally opened my eyes to the dangers that exist on-line. Crimes against children are happening on-line. e-Copp promotes safety for your children. In addition, e-Copp educates children and adults on how to properly deal with email, chat rooms, instant messaging, on-line shopping etc. e-Copp also offers fantastic guidance on the appropriate avenues to seek assistance with on-line problems, abuse and crimes. I highly recommend e-Copp for schools and families. If you care about your children, you need to take a serious look at e-Copp!!!

Meebo—instant messaging everywhere.

Meebo is a web based instant messaging program that supports multiple platforms, such as AIM, Yahoo!, MSN, Google Talk, MySpace IM, Facebook Chat, and more.  Founded in 2005, “Meebo lets users gather their friends on a single buddy list where they can communicate in real-time across different IM platforms, communities, and traditional social networks.”(www.meebo.com)

How does this apply to libraries?

Here are some real life scenarios that I’ve thought of (2 I have even used!).

Meebo comes in handy when…

1. You’re in a very large library (think University) with multiple floors. You’re nestled in on the 4^th floor with your cappuccino, and you want to ask a reference librarian a question.  She/he is all the way down on the 1^st floor and you don’t want to leave your laptop and comfy spot.  All you have to do is go to that library’s website, look for the Meebo icon, and chat away!  The librarian will not even know that you’re being lazy.
2. You’re at work and notice that your local library’s catalog shows that a copy of that book that you’ve been dying to read is on the shelf.  You don’t want your boss to hear you making a personal call, so you Meebo chat the public librarian and ask her to pull the book off the shelf and hold it for you.
3. You’re at home and it’s late.  The library is closed.  You log on to Meebo, send an IM, and the librarian will get it in the morning when she/he logs on,   Sometimes this is much easier than e-mail because if the question is general, you don’t always know who to send the e-mail to.
4. You have a personal question that you don’t want the rest of the world to hear.  IM is silent, except for the little ding you hear when you send/receive a message.  Instant Message keeps your question private and anonymous.

Don’t be afraid to instant message a librarian!  Sometimes an internet conversation is a nice break from long days of face-to-face customer service.

iPhone (and iPod touch) users unite!! For those of you that haven’t heard, Ping! is a new app available for the iPhone and iPod touch that allows users to instant message each other without using any of your text messaging package. Basically it’s the iPhone version of Blackberry’s BBM. If you’ve got an iPhone or iPod touch download it quick, it’s still free. Ping! still has a few bugs, but I think it’s popularity will force the developers to fix them quickly and probably look to start charging for it too. So hurry!

The advent of the Internet has turned the world upside down.  Now we know information more than ever and knowledge is literally at our fingertips.  Between desktop computers, netbooks, laptops, cell phones, and smart phones (are there dumb phones?) people are definitely connected.  In the business world companies are hiring social media experts and advertising has come to a crossroads, creating new models for product development with the revolution of social networking.  Oprah has embraced Skype as a way to connect with her audience.  Even Regis and Kelly have a weekly viral video segment (Regis doesn’t even know what the Internet is).

What has the Internet done for songwriters?  A friend and I were talking today about how she and a co-writer were songwriting through email.  I asked her how she met this person and she said online.  She is now writing music with a co-writer that would have previously been a perfect stranger had it not been for the Internet.  Just last week she was in a co-writing session and the third songwriter was present via Skype.  I asked her what she thought of all of her “.com” writing experiences; she said they were interesting.

It comes down to it being a double edged sword.  The Internet is enabling co-writers to connect across geographic boundaries.  Now creative minds are getting the chance to connect, when before it might not have been possible – this is amazing.  A few months ago I was writing lyrics with a friend through the chat feature on Facebook!  The double-edge is that the human contact is missing, the person isn’t there to judge the body language.  This is a little different if you are songskyping, but it is hard to get context and vision out of instant messaging and emails.

There is also the issue of technology malfunctioning.  We want to believe that it will always work, but there will be times the Internet is down or the service is unavailable.  These road blocks are an obvious wet blanket to the fire of creativity.  Songwriters need a trusting and carefree environment to open their minds and their hearts.  If technology becomes a difficult beast, then I can only imagine the “shut down” of creativity.

Contrastingly, the potential use of songskyping could be fantastic.  What if there is a sudden illness in the family and a songwriter has to relocate?  The use of Internet would provide avenues for that writer to continue his or her work.  Think of the hit songwriters that want to write with Taylor Swift or Jason Aldean, using Skype, the artist can connect with the writer here in Nashville and write on their tour bus.

I don’t believe that these Internet tools will replace Nashville networking.  You still have to get out there and meet people and know the town.  However I do believe we will begin to hear stories of hit songs being written in non-traditional ways using technologies like instant messaging, email and skype.  Good luck to all of you songskypers out there!