Twitter #Music Is Here!

Twitter Music App

Twitter #Music is now upon us… What is this and what can it do for you?

Twitter #Music is a service by Twitter that allows you to discover music.  How does it allow you to discover music? It uses Twitter tweets from its users that mentions song from iTunes, Pandora, Spotify, and other music serivces.  Twitter then uses this information and lets you see what’s popular at the moment.

TwitterMusic

The website is laid out in tiles.  You can hover over a tile and click the play button for a 30 second preview of the song.  You can also follow that artist by clicking the Twitter bird icon that shows up in the top right corner as you hover over a tile.  There are different sections you can find music, such as: Popular, Emerging, Suggested, #NowPlaying, then your own page of artist you follow.

Screenshot (1)

Like the website… the iOS App has a tile layout as well.  The tiles are interactive.  These expand when you touch on one to emphasize the song/artist you are listening to.  With the iOS App, you can login to your Spotify or Rdio account to listen to full length songs.  Once you press play, it will continue to play each song from left to right.

Swiping from left to right (and vice versa) takes you to different sections.  As mentioned above, you can see what’s Popular, what’s Emerging, what’s Suggested, what’s #NowPlaying, and your profile.  You can also access drop down menu by pressing the top bar to then select a section.

This app is definitely something special.  I will update as I play more with this app for a complete review…

robert1ee

Statue of Liberty: The Truth…

You may have seen the following being passed around on the Internet and on FB:

The Original Statue of Liberty (false story)

Internet rumors have prompted new research into the origins of the Statue of Liberty, American’s 151-foot-tall monument to freedom erected in New York Harbor in 1886.

The traditional view, as taught to American schoolchildren for the past hundred years, holds that Lady Liberty was created to commemorate the friendship forged between the United States and France during the Revolutionary War. By 1903, when the statue was inscribed with Emma Lazarus’s poetic words, “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” it had come to symbolize America’s status as a safe haven for refugees and immigrants from every corner of the world.

The rumors, which have circulated in various forms and served as the direct inspiration for National Park Service anthropologist Rebecca Joseph’s decision to revisit the Statue of Liberty’s past, tell quite a different story:

A History Lesson
It is hard to believe that after my many years of schooling secondary and post) the following facts about the Statue of Liberty was never taught. Hundreds of thousands if not millions of people including myself have visited the Statue of Liberty over the years but yet I’m unable to find one person who knows the true history behind the Statue- amazing. Yes,amazing that so much important Black history (such as this) is hidden from us (Black and White). What makes this even worse is the fact that the current twist on history perpetuates and promotes white supremacy at the expense of Black Pride.

During my visit to France I saw the original Statue of Liberty. However there was a difference, the statue in France is Black. The Statue of Liberty was originally a Black woman, but, as memory serves, it was because the model was Black.

In a book called “The Journey of The Songhai People”, according to Dr. Jim Haskins, a member of the National Education Advisory Committee of the Liberty-Ellis Island Committee,professor of English at the University of Florida, and prolific Black author, points out that what stimulated the original idea for that 151 foot statue in the harbor.

He says that what stimulated the idea for the creation of the statue initially was the part that Black soldiers played in the ending of Black African Bondage in the United States. It was created in the mind of the French historian Edourd de Laboulaye, chairman of the French Anti-Slavery Society, who, together with sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi,proposed to the French government that the people of France present to the people of the United States through the American Abolitionist Society, the gift of a Statue of Liberty in recognition of the fact that Black soldiers won the Civil War in the United States.

It was widely known then that it was Black soldiers who played the pivotal role in winning the war, and this gift would be a tribute to their prowess. Suzanne Nakasian, director of the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island Foundations’ National Ethnic Campaign said that the Black Americans’ direct connection to Lady Liberty is unknown to the majority of Americans,BLACK or WHITE.

When the statue was presented to the U.S. Minister to France in 1884, it is said that he remonstrated that the dominant view of the broken hackles would be offensive to a U.S. South, because since the statue was a reminder of Blacks winning their freedom. It was a reminder to a beaten South of the ones who caused their defeat, their despised former captives.

Documents of Proof:

1.) You may go and see the original model of the Statue of Liberty, with the broken chains at her feet and in her left hand. Go to the Museum of the City of NY, Fifth Avenue and 103rd Street write to Peter Simmons and he can send you some documentation.

2.) Check with the N.Y. Times magazine, part II_May 18, 1986. Read the article by Laboulaye.

3.) The dark original face of the Statue of Liberty can be seen in the N.Y. Post, June 17, 1986, also the Post stated the reason for the broken chains at her feet.

4.) Finally, you may check with the French Mission or the French Embassy at the U.N. or in Washington, D.C. and ask for some original French material on the Statue of Liberty, including the Bartholdi original model.

However… there seems to be a lot of confusion going on here.  For starters.. the statue above depicting a black woman was actually made in 2007 to mark the 159th anniversary of the 1848 Emancipation from slavery.  This statue is located in St. Maarten (that’s in the Caribbean for those that don’t know).  Below are a few more images of this statue.  (funny… since in these pictures there are tropical plants… I wonder where in France he went to see tropical plants???)

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Also… Snopes does awesome research here: http://www.snopes.com/history/american/statueofliberty.asp

Out of everything that I have read… I have come to the conclusion that these accusations are nothing put false truths.  Until I see more evidence that this statue or what he is saying is truthful, I will continue to believe what I have researched to be truthful.

robert1ee

 

Facebook App VS Facebook HTML5

As of late, Facebook has been making a lot of its users frustrated with the iOS and Android App that it has.  The App freezes.  The App doesn’t load correctly. The Notification Bar will not load properly (you will see a number but when looking at your notifications, there will be nothing new showing up).  And at times, the App doesn’t even load profiles.

Here’s something interesting though… Facebook has created a mobile HTML5 version of their site.  If you go to facebook.com in on your smartphone, you will see, what appears to be, the same look as the App that you also have on your phone.  Here’s another interesting thing… the HTML5 version loads quicker!  Its Notification Bar is accurate in displaying new  notifications!  It loads the newly designed Timeline for profiles and tad faster!

This all makes you wonder… why should I even use the actually App then???

The App does offer the “pull-down to refresh” feature.  The HTML5 just automatically checks for new updates.  The App does feel more comfortable to people.  The App does uses the screen real estate better.  But besides these few features, the HTML5 version and the App version, both look the exact same way.

If you are having problems using the Facebook App, then try going to facebook.com, and you might be surprised at how much better it really is!

 

-The Other Point of View

The Amazingly-Lost Wonderfully-Ruined Social Media Known As Twitter

First off… I want to start off saying: I love Twitter.  I respect what Twitter is wonderful at doing.  I enjoy the interactions and communications that happen between users to spread information from one part of the world to the next part of it.  Hence, posting this blog to Twitter still shows my joy in using such service…

So what am I talking about???

About 5 years ago when I started using Twitter, I enjoyed getting important information from people I followed about worldwide events.  It was, if you will, a “geek” place to “hangout”.  It allowed for events to be told around the world within seconds of it happening, instead of days by the papers.

OK? So get to the point…

Twitter is now filled with dirt.  There, I said it, its nothing but spam.  So many people follow so many people, that the individual is lucky to even be heard.  It has come down to this… How come I can get more interaction on news with Facebook than I can with Twitter?  Where did Twitter go wrong?  What did Facebook do right?  These questions are actually really hard to answer…

But I do have a theory…

The average person is getting tired of going to two different social media platforms, constantly, to get their information, and/or, to tell their own information.  Facebook, hands down, is the heavy weight champ when it comes to social media.  You can have your family, close friends, friends, old friends, acquaintances, and your extended friends of friends.  You have hundreds of Apps that connect with Facebook to add more interaction to your already existing interactions.  Twitter… you follow people and hope they follow back.  True, Twitter is completely open.  Any person can view another persons information anytime they want (unless the account is locked). But again, you can get more interaction with the groups on Facebook than you can on Twitter.

I just think that Twitter has turned into a monster.  The once very-richly-informative news site, has turned into nothing but useless information that no one really cares about.

Again, I love and respect Twitter for what is stands for… but I just don’t use it as much as I use to anymore…

-The Other Point Of View

Why Does Anyone Care About… Pt I

Driving down the street, I see many vans/SUV owners that love expressing their love of their family by using decals of every member in it… Have you seen these?

Question number 1: Why, why… omg… why do you think anyone cares?

Question number 2: This is a wonderful way to stalk a family and who’s in it, isn’t it?

Question number 3: (Please insert Question number 1 here!!!)

I really don’t understand why people do this.  And sadly, I’ve seen pets added to the mix now.  In fact… my sister posted a picture on Facebook showing a crossover that had nothing but cats on the back.  Talk about a lot of pussy in one house… lol

I wish I could ask these people why they feel its “cool” or “important” for everyone to know who is in your family. And to follow that question… Ask them if they have ever thought about stalkers cause now I know who your wife and children are.  Geeeeez.

-The Other Point of View