Published at the Editor's Weblog, the blog for the managing editor of the Lee Clarion.
For those out there keeping record, Brian Conn, director of public information, has officially become friends with Lee University President Paul Conn.
We've previously tracked Paul Conn on Facebook when he became friends with Vice President Carolyn Dirksen and his wife, Darlia Conn.
The most curious thing about it, however, is that the "Paul Conn" profile on Facebook isn't run by the president, even though the page originated with his personal e-mail address.
We've previously written about that mystery here.
So why are important Lee figures, including members of his own family, embracing the impostor Conn?
Perhaps it's all in an attempt to find out more information about the fake Conn. Or maybe they're simply jumping on the bandwagon, after his 157 other friends, mostly students.
But curiously, the fake Conn has only accepted friend requests from faculty lately, while it seems the dozens of students who request friendship never become official anymore.
It's as if the university isn't investigating the potential dangers of having an impostor unclearly representing the college president on a social network as big as Facebook.
What if the impostor Conn began posting inappropriate comments on the walls of other faculty members? What if the impostor Conn updated his status with unprofessional or disgraceful messages?
There are a million things that could go wrong, but so far the Connman has remained fairly quiet, not uploading any photos or writing on any walls. It's a solitary existence. Maybe it's a leopard waiting to strike, or perhaps just an alumni controlling the web personality of a man he admires.
No matter the man behind the mask, it's funny that a director of public information should become friends with a man whom, in reality, he knows nothing at all about.
Friday, December 26, 2008
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Top Ten: Things Lee Students Want for Christmas
Published at the Editor's Weblog, the blog for the managing editor of the Lee Clarion.
If you asked the students of Lee University to compile a Christmas list of all the things they'd like Santa to give their college this December 25, we bet you'd find the following items in the top ten.
Well, without any further ado, the top ten things Lee students want for Christmas:
10. A golf cart for every student.
Seriously. Faculty and staff zoom around on those carts like its part of their job. If everyone's complaining about so few parking spots, why not include the cost of a new golf cart in every student's tuition. They take up much less space when parked, and students could sell them back to the school at graduation. If not a golf cart, then perhaps a Segway Human Transporter would work. Sure there's the trolley, but it only runs during prime hours on school days and if you miss it, you miss it. A golf cart for every student? That's the true meaning of "no one left behind."
9. Free cross cultural trips.
$60,000 may not be an expensive amount for college tuition now days, but it surely isn't cheap. Requiring cross cultural trips that can cost several thousand dollars in addition to tuition can be a bit of a burden. Unexpected costs really do pile up, and a cross cultural trip can make up a big chunk of that. Yes, there are cheaper options, but Lee is known among higher education institutions for these trips. Why not go one step further?
8. Elevators in the Conn Center.
It's a humongous room, but as Lee's student population continues to rise, the Conn Center seems to get smaller each semester. With seats filled on the mezzanine level, there's usually no choice but to climb to the balcony. And it seriously can be a climb for some students. I wouldn't be surprised if chapel ushers start handing out pickets, camming devices and cord locks to prepare students for the ascent. Even if the balcony was never created for handicapped access, installing elevator shafts isn't a bad idea. So what do you say? Help those freshmen keep all fifteen.
7. Cheaper textbooks.
Don't get us wrong, we really enjoy paying close to $600 for textbooks every semester, but it's just not feasible for us to do it anymore. Since the economy turned sour and the pockets of every Lee student are about as empty at the Conn Center on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, it just doesn't seem right anymore to pay that much for textbooks. As one Lee professor stated recently, the publishers of the textbooks are pressuring the authors of these books to put out new editions to stay in print, even when the new editions have little or no more important information. Honestly, truthfully, most Lee classes could use textbooks from ten years back and still learn the same amount, if not more. When students expend all of their spending money for the semester on textbooks in one day, something's wrong.
6. Rollover meals.
There are students who wouldn't be in college if it wasn't for the meal plan. Learning? Nah. Making lifetime friends? Yeah, right. Three delicious all-you-can-eat meals every day of the week? Sign me up, give me every scholarship you've got, I'm going to college! You see, food can be quite the impetus on a campus like Lee University, and as much as students enjoy 10, 15, or even 21 meals a week, tears start rolling down their cheeks when they find out that the breakfast they missed yesterday will never return. After all, the meal plan barely gets some french fries and a drink at the PCSU food court. If students were able to utilize the meal they missed out on the day before by adding an chicken sandwich to their order, wouldn't that be helpful? That and removing the two-hour wait between using those meals.
5. A football team.
"Lee Football: Undefeated since 1918" read the t-shirts popularized by Redemption Shirts, a start-up initiated by two enterprising Lee students. Well, Lee students want to see a defeat of Lee's football team by any other college team out there. Sure, it's argued that starting a football team at Lee would cost more than anyone's willing to pay and that real talent wouldn't show up for years, possibly decades. But let's forget that. There's plenty of land craving a football stadium on Lee's campus. Simply demolishing the PCSU and digging up Alumni Park should provide enough space. And as for players? Take them from Lee's rugby teams. You don't really think they're practicing to play rugby, do you? They're too hard-core for that.
4. An indoor pool.
If Bob Jones College can have a swimming pool, why can't Lee? What's to stop the student population from hiring a few helicopters to transplant the Centenary building and uncover that dusty old pool legend claims is lurking beneath? A glass-encased swimming pool dome connected to the Higginbotham Administration Building? Why, there's nothing better. And that whole mixed bathing thing... Why can't faculty and students share the pool? Lee could even save money on filling it with water by pumping in a few thousand gallons from the underground lake beneath the Conn Center. It's all definitely plausible.
3. Shorter lines at Jazzman's Cafe.
Chapel has concluded and the race is on. Usually those students standing at the exits with cards in hand during the benediction all have one thing in mind: Jazzman's deliciousness. Ever watch them sprint from the Conn Center lobby to the outside door of Jazzman's, only to realize it's still locked while they witness 20 other students being let in from the other side. It's a cruel dog-eat-dog world. Ever wonder why that is? It's because of the sickeningly long lines that seem to form at the campus coffee shop every Sunday evening and sometimes throughout the week. I've mentioned it before, Jazzman's needs to either create an express line or solve the problem some other way, preferably soon.
2. More parking on campus.
It's been a gripe for decades. Even though local churches offer more than enough parking space in their expansive lots, it's still not as close to the center of campus as students would like. You can count on it once a year, always in the middle of "Ask the President Chapel," one student with the same question: Why can't Lee build a parking garage? One president with the same answer: Higher tuition anyone? I propose we answer the question once and for all with a simple poll of the entire student body: Ocoee Street Park, or Ocoee Street Parking Lot? Most students couldn't even tell you where Lee's Ocoee Street Park is, mostly because they never use it. There's space there to provide more parking than all of the spots behind the Conn Center and Sharp-Davis. The only catch? That's probably the land Lee will use to build a School of Communication and the Arts one day, connected directly to the Dixon Center.
1. Faster wireless Internet completely across campus.
It's the one thing all Lee students have at the crest of their Christmas list. As any good admissions counselor will note, there's a handful of dormitories and academic buildings that have Wi-Fi access for students and faculty, but that handful only accounts for 16 locations. That's less than half of the locations on campus that should have wireless. Eighteen locations, ten of them residential, are currently without Wi-Fi.
If you asked the students of Lee University to compile a Christmas list of all the things they'd like Santa to give their college this December 25, we bet you'd find the following items in the top ten.
Well, without any further ado, the top ten things Lee students want for Christmas:
10. A golf cart for every student.
Seriously. Faculty and staff zoom around on those carts like its part of their job. If everyone's complaining about so few parking spots, why not include the cost of a new golf cart in every student's tuition. They take up much less space when parked, and students could sell them back to the school at graduation. If not a golf cart, then perhaps a Segway Human Transporter would work. Sure there's the trolley, but it only runs during prime hours on school days and if you miss it, you miss it. A golf cart for every student? That's the true meaning of "no one left behind."
9. Free cross cultural trips.
$60,000 may not be an expensive amount for college tuition now days, but it surely isn't cheap. Requiring cross cultural trips that can cost several thousand dollars in addition to tuition can be a bit of a burden. Unexpected costs really do pile up, and a cross cultural trip can make up a big chunk of that. Yes, there are cheaper options, but Lee is known among higher education institutions for these trips. Why not go one step further?
8. Elevators in the Conn Center.
It's a humongous room, but as Lee's student population continues to rise, the Conn Center seems to get smaller each semester. With seats filled on the mezzanine level, there's usually no choice but to climb to the balcony. And it seriously can be a climb for some students. I wouldn't be surprised if chapel ushers start handing out pickets, camming devices and cord locks to prepare students for the ascent. Even if the balcony was never created for handicapped access, installing elevator shafts isn't a bad idea. So what do you say? Help those freshmen keep all fifteen.
7. Cheaper textbooks.
Don't get us wrong, we really enjoy paying close to $600 for textbooks every semester, but it's just not feasible for us to do it anymore. Since the economy turned sour and the pockets of every Lee student are about as empty at the Conn Center on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, it just doesn't seem right anymore to pay that much for textbooks. As one Lee professor stated recently, the publishers of the textbooks are pressuring the authors of these books to put out new editions to stay in print, even when the new editions have little or no more important information. Honestly, truthfully, most Lee classes could use textbooks from ten years back and still learn the same amount, if not more. When students expend all of their spending money for the semester on textbooks in one day, something's wrong.
6. Rollover meals.
There are students who wouldn't be in college if it wasn't for the meal plan. Learning? Nah. Making lifetime friends? Yeah, right. Three delicious all-you-can-eat meals every day of the week? Sign me up, give me every scholarship you've got, I'm going to college! You see, food can be quite the impetus on a campus like Lee University, and as much as students enjoy 10, 15, or even 21 meals a week, tears start rolling down their cheeks when they find out that the breakfast they missed yesterday will never return. After all, the meal plan barely gets some french fries and a drink at the PCSU food court. If students were able to utilize the meal they missed out on the day before by adding an chicken sandwich to their order, wouldn't that be helpful? That and removing the two-hour wait between using those meals.
5. A football team.
"Lee Football: Undefeated since 1918" read the t-shirts popularized by Redemption Shirts, a start-up initiated by two enterprising Lee students. Well, Lee students want to see a defeat of Lee's football team by any other college team out there. Sure, it's argued that starting a football team at Lee would cost more than anyone's willing to pay and that real talent wouldn't show up for years, possibly decades. But let's forget that. There's plenty of land craving a football stadium on Lee's campus. Simply demolishing the PCSU and digging up Alumni Park should provide enough space. And as for players? Take them from Lee's rugby teams. You don't really think they're practicing to play rugby, do you? They're too hard-core for that.
4. An indoor pool.
If Bob Jones College can have a swimming pool, why can't Lee? What's to stop the student population from hiring a few helicopters to transplant the Centenary building and uncover that dusty old pool legend claims is lurking beneath? A glass-encased swimming pool dome connected to the Higginbotham Administration Building? Why, there's nothing better. And that whole mixed bathing thing... Why can't faculty and students share the pool? Lee could even save money on filling it with water by pumping in a few thousand gallons from the underground lake beneath the Conn Center. It's all definitely plausible.
3. Shorter lines at Jazzman's Cafe.
Chapel has concluded and the race is on. Usually those students standing at the exits with cards in hand during the benediction all have one thing in mind: Jazzman's deliciousness. Ever watch them sprint from the Conn Center lobby to the outside door of Jazzman's, only to realize it's still locked while they witness 20 other students being let in from the other side. It's a cruel dog-eat-dog world. Ever wonder why that is? It's because of the sickeningly long lines that seem to form at the campus coffee shop every Sunday evening and sometimes throughout the week. I've mentioned it before, Jazzman's needs to either create an express line or solve the problem some other way, preferably soon.
2. More parking on campus.
It's been a gripe for decades. Even though local churches offer more than enough parking space in their expansive lots, it's still not as close to the center of campus as students would like. You can count on it once a year, always in the middle of "Ask the President Chapel," one student with the same question: Why can't Lee build a parking garage? One president with the same answer: Higher tuition anyone? I propose we answer the question once and for all with a simple poll of the entire student body: Ocoee Street Park, or Ocoee Street Parking Lot? Most students couldn't even tell you where Lee's Ocoee Street Park is, mostly because they never use it. There's space there to provide more parking than all of the spots behind the Conn Center and Sharp-Davis. The only catch? That's probably the land Lee will use to build a School of Communication and the Arts one day, connected directly to the Dixon Center.
1. Faster wireless Internet completely across campus.
It's the one thing all Lee students have at the crest of their Christmas list. As any good admissions counselor will note, there's a handful of dormitories and academic buildings that have Wi-Fi access for students and faculty, but that handful only accounts for 16 locations. That's less than half of the locations on campus that should have wireless. Eighteen locations, ten of them residential, are currently without Wi-Fi.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Google aims to polish Chrome while leaving GMail lagging
Published at the Editor's Weblog, the blog for the managing editor of the Lee Clarion.
News came today that Google plans to take its new Web browser, Google Chrome, out of beta soon.
Chrome was first released as beta software just three months ago.
Let's compare that with GMail, Google's Web-based e-mail client, which rolled out on April 1, 2004. More than four years later, it's still in beta.
So why is Chrome so impatient and speedy? Or why is GMail such a sloth? What's going on at the Googleplex that the wheels are turning in such a fashion?
Well, GMail needs a little help before it finally becomes mainstream. Google needs to give users an unlimited amount of inbox space (similar to their near-bankrupt competitor Yahoo). Google also needs to allow for image signatures on e-mails.
As for Chrome. It's too simple and simplified. The only thing Google can do at this point is take away features.
News came today that Google plans to take its new Web browser, Google Chrome, out of beta soon.
Chrome was first released as beta software just three months ago.
Let's compare that with GMail, Google's Web-based e-mail client, which rolled out on April 1, 2004. More than four years later, it's still in beta.
So why is Chrome so impatient and speedy? Or why is GMail such a sloth? What's going on at the Googleplex that the wheels are turning in such a fashion?
Well, GMail needs a little help before it finally becomes mainstream. Google needs to give users an unlimited amount of inbox space (similar to their near-bankrupt competitor Yahoo). Google also needs to allow for image signatures on e-mails.
As for Chrome. It's too simple and simplified. The only thing Google can do at this point is take away features.
Monday, December 8, 2008
I printed a Facebook photo. It was the size of a business card.
Published at the Editor's Weblog, the blog for the managing editor of the Lee Clarion.
The news arrived yesterday that Facebook videos are now available in high definition.
Facebook's videos also have an embedding option now, for viewers to watch on external sites. The new features show just how serious Facebook is about catching up with YouTube, which just recently announced HD video uploads as well.
While Facebook is making steady improvement to becoming a premier player in online video, I feel it's leaving the company's real star product lagging behind in the mud: Photos.
Facebook is by far the king of photo storage, sharing and viewing online. With close to 2 billion pictures, the site continues to add over 60 million more every week.
But the photo portion of the site is as stagnant as a used tic-tac-toe board.
When Facebook was relaunched with a new, wider interface only months ago, it seemed obvious that the extra space could be used for larger images and videos. Well, video is taken care of but photos seem smaller and smaller as time goes on.
Ever try using a Facebook photo for your desktop picture or to print on a calendar or fame on the wall? The quality is horrific.
Even though photo size is limited to save storage space and maintain a fast load time for pages, just the option to view or download larger sizes of an image would be an amazing improvement.
Enough people have high-speed Internet, Facebook. The demand is there. Facebook could solidify its lead in online photo sharing, or, stand by and watch other companies chip away at marketshare.
The news arrived yesterday that Facebook videos are now available in high definition.
Facebook's videos also have an embedding option now, for viewers to watch on external sites. The new features show just how serious Facebook is about catching up with YouTube, which just recently announced HD video uploads as well.
While Facebook is making steady improvement to becoming a premier player in online video, I feel it's leaving the company's real star product lagging behind in the mud: Photos.
Facebook is by far the king of photo storage, sharing and viewing online. With close to 2 billion pictures, the site continues to add over 60 million more every week.
But the photo portion of the site is as stagnant as a used tic-tac-toe board.
When Facebook was relaunched with a new, wider interface only months ago, it seemed obvious that the extra space could be used for larger images and videos. Well, video is taken care of but photos seem smaller and smaller as time goes on.
Ever try using a Facebook photo for your desktop picture or to print on a calendar or fame on the wall? The quality is horrific.
Even though photo size is limited to save storage space and maintain a fast load time for pages, just the option to view or download larger sizes of an image would be an amazing improvement.
Enough people have high-speed Internet, Facebook. The demand is there. Facebook could solidify its lead in online photo sharing, or, stand by and watch other companies chip away at marketshare.
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