Sunday column: I’m on Facebook, RU?

Facebook.
It’s evil.
It’s addicting.
It’s genius.
I have a 17-year-old niece with a Facebook page. I also have a 75-year-old grandfather with a Facebook page.
And yes, I Facebook. I’ve had a page for seven months now … joining originally so I could have a place for our radio show, The Rant, to develop online fans. Now, I log in daily to connect and re-connect with classmates, friends and family; post pictures and “status updates” so the aforementioned friends and family can see what I’m up to; and sharpen my wits (and waste time) playing online word games.
Just this week, I discovered that a college friend of mine — with whom I once shared a 3 a.m. road trip to the beach, which was five hours away … just because we were bored — lives 30 minutes north of me and has a wife who works at Wyeth.
Why’s this odd? We went to college together in Texas. I still don’t know how he got here.
But he found me on Facebook.
Small world.
Some of you are probably pumping your fists at the clouds and asking me as if I were sitting next to you, “What is this Facebook you speak of?”
It’s a Web site, a social-networking site that asks you to create your own page, put as much information about yourself as you want, and start the process of adding “friends.” Sounds simple enough, right?
It’s a Web site that has made its 24-year-old CEO a ba-ga-zillionaire. This week, Facebook.com added its 150 millionth member. The site now has users on every continent, and half of them log in at least once a day.
According to an article on Slate.com, if Facebook were a country, it would be the eighth-most populated country in the world … ahead of Japan, Russia and Nigeria. It is predicted Facebook’s population will double to 300 million people by this time next year.
It leads to the question, RU on Facebook?
If not, wth?
I know, I know. Some of you think it’s a waste of time. And you’re probably right. Others think it’s just a Myspace rip-off. And it may be … but Myspace is slowly rolling toward extinction and may just get there before the newspaper does.
If, you know, you’re one who thinks newspapers are heading that way. I don’t, but that’s not the point.
People are using Facebook for much more than just a time waster. Business, non-profit organizations, advocacy groups and many others are using the site for more than just their own personal benefit.
Temple Theatre’s group, which has 158 members, uses Facebook to invite Sanford residents to upcoming shows and make them aware of current fundraising efforts.
The soon-to-be-opened Steele Street Coffee & Wine Bar created a Facebook page this week to keep people updated on its opening and, I’m sure, to announce future news.
Also on Facebook: The Artist’s Loft, Star Community Theatre, Lee County High School student and alumni group, a group dedicated to longing for a Starbucks and Sanford …
There’s even a group dedicated to naming the “Seven Wonders of Sanford.”
I may soon join this group, just to nominate a wonder or two.
And not to be outdone, The Herald has joined the Facebook ranks with its own page. Our recently created site has already garnered 177 “members,” who will all have access to big breaking news alerts, Facebook discussion boards and other amenities once we get the ball rolling. It’s another initiative to expand our newspaper’s online reach, adding to the blogs and recent sanfordherald.com updates.
I know this has all seemed like a Facebook.com commercial, but I can assure you, they’re not paying me … much. Kidding. The last thing they need right now is advertising. Word-of-mouth seems to be doing just fine.
And I’m glad I joined. Just last month, I saw my nephew’s photo just minutes after he was born. So did my grandfather. So did my wife.
And we all had a chance to instantly comment on it, download it and send it to our friends and their friends’ friends.
Here is the commercial though — if you do join, search for The Herald and join us. If the trend continues, you’ll soon be in the minority when it comes to Facebook access. Then your friends will “lol” at you.
And who wants that?

The Rant: January 29

We had to go a half-hour shorter this week because of our “office retreat” Wednesday morning, but that doesn’t mean we couldn’t cram 90 minutes of fun into this week’s episode.

This week, we talk about Jon’s moving into a house formerly owned by an older woman (and the benefits of having a seat in the shower); local headlines; Super Bowl commericals and much, much more.

Enjoy.

Lost 5.3

There were several revelations in the third episode of Lost’s fifth season (entitled “Jughead”) … but two of them stuck out most — and they very well could be related.

The first revelation: Penny and Desmond named their son Charlie
Now, when Jennifer (my wife) and I heard this, we both immediately thought, “Why would they name their son after Charles Widmore, Penny’s father who hated Desmond, made his life a living hell and was nearly responsible for killing him?”
Then, of course, much later … we realized, they named their son “Charlie” after Charlie. THAT Charlie. The man who risked his life for Desmond to dive into the Looking Glass and drowned to assure that Desmond would one day meet up with his Penny.

Revelation No. 2: The aforementioned Charles Widmore was the young guy on the island.
Yup. Locke learned that Charles Widmore … the same Charles Widmore who sent men to the island (we presume) to kill our survivors, planted a fake plane in the ocean as a cover-up so nobody would discover the island and has pretty much made the lives of our islanders very complicated was on the island at one time. A young, strapping Widmore was about 18-22 on the island in 1954 … the year Locke, Faraday, Miles, Charlotte, Juliet and Sawyer traveled to during one of their many time-traveling trips ever since Ben “moved the island.”
That would make Widmore between 68-72 these days (which looks about right).
The fact that he was on the island (and we presume came to eventually understand its “powers”) gives credence to his no-holds-barred desire to return.

Now, I know speculation has become rampant about whether Penny and Desmond’s “Charlie” ends up being “Charles Widmore” … and that’s not out of the realm of possibility since this whole time traveling thing has been introduced.
If that’s the case, Penny and Desmond could very well be the Adam and Eve the islanders discovered the bones of back in Season 1.
It’s really enough to make your head explode.

The time traveling part of the show has made these “reviews” really difficult to write, so I’ve avoided going into too many plot details. I figure anybody reading these has seen the episodes and therefore, have an idea of what I’m talking about.

I like the introduction of the Faraday-Ellie-Charlotte-Theresa love square.
THEORY ALERT (I really just thought this one out …): Perhaps Charlotte (the woman he told the Others in 1954 he was in love with and therefore, wouldn’t do anything to blow the island up) is Faraday’s and Theresa’s (the woman in the coma in present day) daughter.
He’s expressed his love for her, and we’ve seen him over-protective of her the past two seasons.
But have they kissed? I don’t recall. It’s in no way been a “romantic” love … so I’m going to go out on a limb and say he’s protecting his daughter.

I loved this episode for several reasons. First off, anything with the Desmond time-travel storyline is intriguing to me, and I enjoy seeing the story arc that eventually leads Locke to the casket, which we saw at the end of Season 4.
It was also full of great one-liners, and Sawyer’s character, though reduced to a shirtless one-liner machine, is the show’s consistent funny bone.

Three episodes down this season, and I’m well dug-in. I don’t even care if any of my guesses or theories are correct. They rarely are.

Lostpedia link for Episode 5.3
Episode Trivia (from Lostpedia)
• Jughead was the code-name for an actual nuclear test that took place in 1954.
• “Jughead” appears to be a Mark 16 nuclear bomb. The Mark 16 is more properly designated TX-16/EC-16 as it only existed in Experimental/Emergency Capability versions. Design yield was 6-8 megatons. Five units were manufactured in January 1954, and deployed in an interim “emergency capability” role with the designation EC-16. By April 1954 they were all retired.
• The clothing worn by the Others resembles a mid-20th Century US Army or National Guard uniform with nametape. They carry M1 Garand, the standard infantry rifle issued to US troops from 1936 to 1963 and distributed as surplus to US allies after WWII, suggesting that they took the clothes and weapons of the dead US soldiers.
• Ellie states that there were only 20 survivors at the beach camp before the attack. Subtracting the 8 known casualties in “The Lie” and the two redshirts killed by the claymore mines, there are now at most only 10 beach camp residents alive on the island, Sawyer, Juliet, Daniel, Miles, Charlotte, Rose, Bernard, and three redshirts.
• For the second and third times in the series, Juliet refers to herself as an “Other” (the first time was in “The Other Woman”). Juliet is the only one of Ben’s people to refer to herself as such.
• The Others speak “Vulgar Latin” as their common tongue, a language considered dead that has gone into decline since the 9th century to disappear almost completely from the 17th century on.

Dog Park: Chapel Hill’s Southern Community Park

Honey (left), Miles (bottom left) and a big ole’ Bernese puppy dog at the Dog Park at Southern Community Park in Chapel Hill.

So we’re driving to Chapel Hill Sunday — dogs in tow — to visit the dog park in northern Chapel Hill, a park I reviewed last year.
As we were driving on 15-501 however, my wife rubbernecked as she looked out the window at a fenced-in field full of dogs and bundled-up owners (it was in the lower 40s Sunday). “Was that a dog park,” Jennifer asked.
“I don’t know,” I said. “I’m driving.”
Yes, I’m helpful like that.

So we turned around to check it out, and sure enough — Chapel Hill’s biggest dog park was there. Big black tall fences, tons of running room, lots of trees, several benches and trash cans for the “poo” … and it was all clean (except the poo).
If you’re familiar with Chapel Hill, then you know about Southern Village, a community of cookie-cutter (though nice cookie-cutter) homes surrounding a downtown straight from “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Around the community are walking trails, roller hockey rinks, basketball courts and other good, clean, fun stuff.
And now — a dog park.

Despite the weather being cold and murky, the dog park was packed. I can only imagine the crowds will double/triple on a nice spring Sunday. A few of the dogs in the park were crazy … a giant poodle picked on Miles and made him tuck tail, but all in all, the owners at the park were “well behaved” … if you go to a lot of dog parks, you know what I mean.
People care about a few things at dog parks — cleanliness, safety, crowd size and owner responsibility. After one visit, the Southern Community Dog Park (I don’t know the official name) seemed to pass on all accounts.
The great thing for Sanford dog owners is it seems to be the closest one … though not by much. It’s about six minutes closer than the park in northern Chapel Hill, and it seems to be about the same distant or shorter from Sanford as the dog parks in Southern Pines and Wheeler Road in Raleigh.

Pros: Huge. Aside from the no-fence run-as-you-will park in Southern Pines, this appears to be the largest dog park in the area. I’m not the biggest fan of mulch, but it sure beats mud. The mulch isn’t so bad here. It’s softer. Has a big area for smaller dogs, too.
Cons: This place will be PACKED in the spring. I’m just warning you.
Grade: **** (out of five)

Other Dog Park reviews:
MARTIN PARK (Southern Pines)
CHAPEL HILL DOG PARK

The Rant: Inauguration edition

Snow forced The Rant to delay a day (that’s what we get for broadcasting from a college campus), but we returned for a one-hour show Thursday to discuss Jonathan Owens’ trip to DC for the inauguration, the Oscar nominees and other local headlines.

Enjoy.

Lost: 5.1, 5.2

Let’s do the time warp again, shall we?
My favorite episodes of Lost in the past have dealt with time travel. “The Constant” and “Flashes before your eyes” both dealt with Desmond, the time-traveling guest to the island, and it turns out, both set up what looks to be the theme for Season 5 of Lost.

I’m sure newcomers to the show were thoroughly confused with “Because you left” and “The Lie,” the back-to-back season openers that show us what immediately happened to the islanders once Ben turned the giant wheel that “moved” the island. It seems Locke, Sawyer, Juliet, Faraday, Gilligan and the Skipper are now bouncing through time like a skipping record (which was cleverly used to open the episode, skipping through Willie Nelson’s “Shotgun Willie”).

But I’m guessing Lost isn’t for the “newcomers” anymore. Lost isn’t trying to gain new viewers … the final two seasons are all for the many of us who’ve been around the first four years. Lost is going deep into sci-fi territory now, and for nerds like me, this is a good thing.

Gone are the flashbacks, and flash forwards, at least for now. Like our characters bouncing around in time on the island, Lost is jumping three years ahead, three years back, 20 years back, into the future, etc. to tell this year’s story. It’s already answering major questions — why Richard never ages, why he asked Locke to pick the compass, who the white-haired lady was in Desmond’s time travel — and bringing up more mysteries at the same time. So much went on in these two hours that it’s going to take me another look-see online to gather it all in.

Long story short, I love the direction the show is going. I love the storyline of Jack and Ben trying to get the Oceanic 6 (and Locke’s body) together for a return trip to the island. I love the Faraday-Desmond angle (though I’m wondering why Ben isn’t going after Penny just yet … does he want revenge for his daughter’s death or does he want to get back to the island in 70 hours? Which is more important?), and I love that Faraday showed up in the 70s.

Future reviews will be more detailed, and I may even start adding my predictions and thoughts each week. I came into this season spoiler-free, and it helped me appreciate the show more. Hopefully, I can stay that way all season long.

LINKS
Lostpedia’s round-up of Episode 1, “Because you left”
Lostpedia’s round-up of Episode 2, “The Lie”
Doc Jensen’s review of Episode 1 (great reading)
Doc Jensen’s review of Episode 2

The Rant delayed a day

Central Carolina Community Colllege is closed today, and therefore, our studio is closed as well.
The Rant will return tomorrow with inauguration talk and much more.

Tomorrow’s Herald … sneak peek

If you want to see tomorrow’ front 10 hours in advance …. let me know what you think.

Keepsake ready-to-frame copies of Wednesday’s front page, commemorating the inauguration of President Barack Obama – on 11×17 photo paper – will be available to purchase from The Herald beginning Friday.
The souvenir pages are $7.50 each, or $5 each for two or more copies. Order by calling The Herald’s circulation department at (919) 718-1233, or by e-mail at circulation@sanfordherald.com.

Sanford’s snow storm

I’ve been like a little kid today for the last three hours, and it’s only 9 a.m.
I’ll post all the photos we take today, and for the paper, we hope you’ll e-mail us your snow photos for possible publication.

Jonathan’s in D.C.

The Herald’s Jonathan Owens is in Washington, D.C. now through the inauguration, and he’ll be providing us with his own blend of coverage/insight from the biggest event in D.C. in a long time.
Watch for his coverage in The Herald this week, and read his blog at jonbowens.wordpress.com.