Category: Twitter

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behind cal poly’s green door?

behidthegreendoor

We may never know what goes on behind Cal Poly’s very secretive ‘green door.’

I was saddened to learn that our Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a California Bill that would close the secrecy loop hole that our public educational institutions have in hiding many of the things they do. Although business in places like the Cal Poly foundation are done , not in Arnold’s smoke filled rooms, but with folks sucking down mineral water and munching crispy creams… it’s all done without the public’s knowledge. The cat has been left in charge of the canary.

In addition, the  Cal Poly foundation — being private — does not have to abide by many of those archaic fairness rules that public institutions must follow. The foundation has a virtual monopoly in campus food service and virtually every other economic activity on the Cal Poly campus. Don’t try to have a charitable tamale fundraiser on campus… they won’t allow the ‘competition.’  By the way, there are no ‘bargains’ on campus… the foundations pricing policies are greedy from a pricey used textbook at the book store ( which they buy back for virtually nothing) to buying a cup of coffee anywhere on campus. They even operate a store in town, so much for not competing with the private sector.

BTW, having been involved in retail pricing and marketing on college campuses, let’s just say that the foundation has a sweet deal with no competition! And in my humble opinion, somebody is making a lot of money…. a lot of money on the backs of students and employees.

So… how is this money being made and where is that money going? Well, thanks to Arnold, we may never know.

Roger Freberg

By the way, for some reason Google likes Cal Poly and this post will not be found there… however, it will be searchable on Twitter,Yahoo and Bing

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social media addiction?

Do you need Twitter-Craig?
Do you need Twitter-Craig?

A little known subject for study is the threat of social media on the very fabric of western civilization…. or so they tell us. This goes along with the supposed threat of video games turning our children into ninja assassins and the supposed wonders of bike helmets saving our lives when we run into a semi tractor trailer hitting us at 45 mph. There have always been folks who like to ruin what most of us call ‘fun’  … including making us wear stupid bike helmets which may help you if you run into something no larger than a bee.

Social media has been a wonderful way to communicate with others as well as following the activities of those who wish to share what they do. As a fan of sports and communication, it has been fun to follow the ‘tweets’ of SC football coach Pete Carroll or Twitter’s “Ev”… although these two energized folks make coffee nervous. The truth is that you better like what folks say if you follow them… because they might send you 13 tweets in one day! Besides, like all things …you learn to manage your world.

On a personal note, it is really nice to communicate with family and view their lives ( as they communicate with others and post photos) discretely.

So my advice to fellow Boomers, get on Facebook and slowly — in a phenomenological way — expand your universe to include that which otherwise you might miss in your busy lives. It’s worth the effort.

Let the kid in you never grow up.

Roger Freberg

PS. remember on this diet, you can have all the ‘tweets’ you want!

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new phones for old

Dad's New Phone
Dad's New Phone

I think the last time I bought a new phone Aladdin was trading in his old lamp for a new one… and I felt the same way about it. My old phone ( a Treo) had great sentimental value to me as it had belonged to my daughter Kristin. The Treo was already getting fairly ‘long in the blu tooth’ but it was a big upgrade from the General Patton era ‘portable phone’ I had been using. Finally, I upgraded.

The htc phone from Sprint takes a bit of getting used to, but I am enjoying it immensely…. especially being able to see full screen versions of Facebook, tweet , watch video and all the typical stuff with 8 gigs of memory. My Uncle Cal ( a physicist by training ) would have loved it.

Now — as my daughters say — I won’t look too ‘hobo’ when I interact with the technophiles in San Francisco this weekend.

Roger Freberg


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How to build a good reputation with social media

Karen giving a Social Media Lecture at Cal Poly
Karen giving a Social Media Lecture at Cal Poly

Our daughter   Karen has always enjoyed the internet beginning with her first ‘Val Kilmer’ fan site  in the 7th grade.  Soon,  her site evolved to a discussion platform for her track and field friends along with publishing a popular web based newsletter. During this time, she encountered many of the troubling issues that face athletes, celebrities and almost everyone who frequents the internet. The same questions came up over and over: how do I make a good reputation?  How do I prevent a bad one from developing?  And How do I get old stuff  ‘off’ that continues to cause problems .

Today, Karen gave a lecture on the impact of social media on reputation management to a Psychology class at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and hoped to answer some of these questions for students. By ‘iclicker’ , she discovered that virtually all of the students were on social media! Consequently, many students find themselves haunted by embarrassing pictures of themselves on the internet and some deeds … well, that they wished others didn’t know about. By example, Olympian swimmer Michael Phelps learned this the hard way.  I am told, Karen offered helpful advice.

It was something to think about…

Roger Freberg

(too bad Cal Poly administrators weren’t around to listen)


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Pete Carroll wants Will Ferrell on Twitter

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fh5KweP3qdo[/youtube]

Isn’t everyone on Twitter, yet? Laura has 2 Twitter Accounts and so does my daughter Karen. I ‘tweet’ with one account… but I do so with a nice collection of chefs! Here’s our family twitter accounts:

http://twitter.com/rogerfreberg

http://twitter.com/kfreberg
(plus a secret one… well.. one I don’t know about)

http://twitter.com/biopsych
http://twitter.com/lfreberg

Wasn’t this fun?

Roger Freberg