2:20 PM – NOT GUILTY of everything except lying to police.

2:18 PM – Casey Anthony found not guilty of 1st degree murder. Not guilty to aggravated child abuse.

2:16 PM – Jury is present.

2:14 PM – Judge speaks and asks for jury to return to court room.

2:14 PM – Everyone is rising.

2:13 PM – Verdict about to be read – stay tuned.

2:09 PM – Less than 10 minutes for verdict.

2:06 PM – Casey is biting her nails inside the courtroom and appears to be very nervous.

2:03 PM – Casey Anthony enters court room.

2:02 PM – Jose Baez (Defense Attorney) enters court room.

1:56 PM – Baez is not in the courtroom and neither is Casey Anthony the defendant.

1:51 PM – The 3 prosecutors are in the court room, all defense attorneys except Baez (but he still has 25 minutes).

1:49 PM – George and Cindy Anthony are now in the court room.

1:35 PM – People entering court house, no signs of George and Cindy Anthony yet.

1:26 PM – The jury has reached a verdict and it will be announced at 2:15 PM eastern time. Tune into In Session at 2:15 PM for live coverage of the verdict!

1:22 PM – Linda Drane Burdick entered the courthouse shortly before a verdict has been reached.

1:20 PM – Mason and Frye have entered the courthouse.

Deliberation Clock: 10h:40m:33s

All times are eastern.

If you have been glued to the TV these last 6 weeks, you are not alone. Casey Anthony, who is accused of murdering her 2-year-old daughter (Caylee in June 2008) now waits for a verdict from the jury.

(AP Photo/Joe Burbank, Pool)

What has been named as the trial of the century is now in its 2^nd day of jury deliberations. If you are one of the millions following this trail and now the verdict, you can get up to the minute updates by following @InSession on Twitter.

We just passed the nine hour mark in which the jury of twelve is still deliberating to decide the faith of Casey Anthony. There are some experts who believe today a verdict will be reached and I am assuming it is all because the twelve jurors came dressed for the occasion.

The O.J Simpson trial began January 24, 1995 and went to the jury on September 29, 1995. The jury came to a verdict in less than four hours. This verdict has surpassed that time already and if I had to predict when the verdict will be reached in this case,  I’d go with Wednesday, July 6 by 3:00 PM eastern time.

Once the jury has a verdict, Judge Perry will send for the jury. Trial clerk Karen Delpilar will read the verdict in open court.

Anthony is charged with first-degree murder and six other charges. If convicted of first-degree murder, she could be sentenced to death or life in prison.

Do you think Casey Anthony will be found guilty of 1^st degree murder?

Former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich found guilty in corruption trial on almost all counts. The sad part of this whole trial is the wasted money that was spent on this case and the one before it. Rod Blagojevich is the fourth Illinois governor to be convicted of crimes, not a good track record for a state trying to clean up its image. The Rod Blagojevich case hasn’t been the hottest topic in the news the last few weeks and for good reason, read on.

After 9 days of deliberating, the jurors told the judge on Monday that they have reached a verdict on 17 of the 20 counts against him. Next up – sentencing time and that should put this behind us.

Rod Blagojevich guilty verdict is not even warm compared to the Casey Anthony case – the mother accused of killing her 2 year old daughter Caylee Anthony in 2008. The Casey Anthony case has become an addiction for many people who can’t seem to stay away from the TV screen. It could be the trial of the century and maybe just as popular, if not more popular than the O.J. Simpson trial.

How many more corrupted Illinois officials are still out there? Four of our last eight governors have been convicted of felonies. That’s not a good statistic, in fact it tells a really grim story about the entire state and how deep it could be in corruption.

It is our hard earned tax dollars that pay these crooks to plan out their scams and corruption for the betterment of themselves and not the people.

Whatever happened to “government is supposed to exist for the good of the people?”

Bye-Bye Blagojevich!

Today, I am taking a day off from tech writing and focusing on something much more important. Each year more than half a million babies are born premature and/or are very sick. We are fortunate to have such a great foundation called March of Dimes to help generate money for research. The mission of March of Dimes is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth, and infant mortality.

If you are a parent who went through this experience or you know someone who has, you know how hard it is to go through this journey in hope that the newborn child will survive. It is up to us to chip in and help these newborn babies who one day will be the same babies taking care of us one day. Please support this great mission by donating any amount you can afford by visiting my March of Dimes page at http://www.marchforbabies.org/techjaws. Your support and care will make a difference!

You can also help by sharing the link above with your friends and family on Facebook or any other social network you are a member of.

Your gift will support March of Dimes research and programs that help moms have full-term pregnancies and babies begin healthy lives.

Thank you for caring and sharing!

I don’t want to come off hypocritical as I have used my own blog to vent against a community, but fortunately for me it was a fan website and not my job. Back in 1999, I started blogging so I guess you can say I invented the blog just like Al Gore invented the internet.

On my gaming fan site called DFWorld.com now DFWorld.info, I wrote a month article called “Truth Be Told.” I would write about all the ramblings that went on in the community, tournaments and whatever was worthy of news. In some cases I was kind, but many times ruthless and the fans of DFWorld loved it.

Suspended ... Natalie Munroe. Photo: AP

With today’s technology and social networking, a high school English teacher in Philadelphia was suspended from her job after she blogged that her students were “rude, disengaged and lazy whiners.” Her biggest mistake was sharing her blog article on Facebook with a handful of friends until one student discovered the article and shared it on Facebook and that’s when it went viral.

Here’s an excerpt from the blog

“My students are out of control,” she wrote. “They are rude, disengaged, lazy whiners. They curse, discuss drugs, talk back, argue for grades, complain about everything, fancy themselves entitled to whatever they desire and are just generally annoying.”

If you are going to vent about people at your work place, try doing it one on one with a friend or family member and not on a public domain where there’s a risk of it being seen by your boss or co-workers.

Source: Reuters

I read a story a few days ago about a family who’s neighbor recently registered as a sex offender and I was curious to see how many registered sex offenders were in my neighborhood. I was amazed on the amount of sex offenders registered in my area – I found 103 offenders and 18 non-mappable offenders in my city within a 10 mile radius. The city I live in is one of the safest cities in America voted by Good Morning America in 2010.

If you would like to know how many registered sex offenders are in your neighborhood or if you would like to get alerts for new registered sex offenders, you can visit the Family Watchdog web site.

Tips to stay safe from the Family Watchdog Web Site

Parents

• Always know where your children are.
• Put your children’s emergency identification (name, address, phone number) on their clothes.
• Teach your children your home phone number and to how call 911 if there is an emergency.
• Agree on a specific time when children must return home.
• Contact law enforcement authorities immediately if there is any suspicious or unlawful activity.
• Purchase and watch The Safe Side video with your children.

Children

• Always tell your parents where you are going.
• Never enter any home without getting your parent’s permission first.
• Never get into any vehicle, unless your parents know and have said it’s OK.
• Always wear reflective clothing at night.
• Never approach any house that is not well lit.
• Remember anything weird that an adult says or does to you and tell your parents immediately.
• Run away from people who offer you candy or other treats or want you to help look for their puppy or kitten.
• Scream, run and fight if anyone tries to grab you or make you to go with them.
• Don’t play in areas that you are unfamiliar with.
• Stay on well-lit streets and always use the sidewalk. If there is no sidewalk, always walk facing traffic.

It’s also important for parents to keep close tabs when children are using the computer for online activity.

Facebook bolsters that they have over 500 million users, but how many are active and how many of those accounts are duplicates or spam accounts? This is not the same as when McDonald’s use to publicly display that they served over 250 million. I am sure many of those were repeat customers and not unique customers.

The Facts

In September 2010, according to Compete.com statistics, Facebook had 130,812,106 unique visitors.

Facebook Missing 370 million users found.

What’s a Unique Visitor?

When a visitor comes to a web site for the first time, the web site drops a “cookie” into their browser. This cookie allows the web site to identify the visitor and track them as a Unique Visitor regardless of how many pages they visit on the same site.

How does Compete.com calculate a unique visitor?

The Unique Visitors metric only counts a person once no matter how many times they visit a site in a given month. Unique Visitors are typically used to determine how popular a site is.

Where are the other 370 million users? I think I found the missing users and more than likely they’re made up of duplicate and or spam accounts. I think Facebook should make a valid claim by stating that they have more than 130 million active users.

Facebook – “Over 130 million users logged in each month”

I would love to have a web site that had 1/100^th the traffic FB gets, who wouldn’t?

Retraction: I miss some facts about Compete stats that was brought to my attention by one of my trusted visitors, Giedrius Majauskas, who does keep me honest from time to time. Compete measures U.S. traffic only. According to some traffic sources, the U.S. currently makes up 32% of all Facebook visitors. If we do the math, Facebook gets approximately 130 million U.S. visitors and 407 million global unique visitors. This would suggest that Facebook still doesn’t have 500 million active users and only 407 million based on the math. This data is from June, 2010.

Thank you,

Giedrius Majauskas

I was wrong once again! (Even the best writers we know get it wrong some times).

The Magic Carpet ride held in Spring Grove, IL this past Sunday, August 29, was a charity event for Children of Fallen Riders.  There were close to 500 bikers participating and what a great way to launch the riders when Tallan Latz played the Star Spangled Banner. I am sure if Jimi Hendrix was alive he would of been proud and amazed like I was. This young talented guitar player is truly amazing, but what’s even more impressive, is how he handles himself. He is a very mature young man.

When I asked Tallan what inspired him to play, he replied;

“If Joe Satriani can play like that, so can a kid.”

I was floored, because Joe Satriani is my favorite guitarist and I had the privilege seeing Satriani play in concert 9 times.

Tallan Latz performing at the Harley-Davidson Museum-Milwaukee on April 23, 2010 for the “Guitars for Vets” benefit.

Tallan Latz one day will be mentioned in the same sentence of Guitar virtuosos like; Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Yngwie Malmsteen and Robert Petrucci.

I would like to thank Tim Adkins and Susie Kleiner at Leathers 4 U and Carpets 4 U for organizing this great event. I would also like to thank Franco for taking my wife on the bike ride. It was a great event with awesome people, music, and for a great cause!

Note: I recorded Tallan playing the Star Spangled Banner at the Magic Carpet Ride with my iPhone, but the sound wasn’t good so I opted to use Tallan Latz performing at the Harley-Davidson Museum-Milwaukee on April 23, 2010 for the “Guitars for Vets” benefit.

I can’t wait until next year!

Soul-to-Soul and TechJaws together are raising money to support Children of Fallen Riders, an upcoming charity event being held on September 13th, in Fox Lake Illinois, called The Magic Carpet Ride.

Bikers come from many walks of life from business men to blue collar workers. No matter what kind of person you are the wind through your hair and the two wheels beneath you are like no feeling that compares.

Bikers are husbands, fathers, mothers, sons, daughters and friends. When the loss of any one of those happens there are people left behind with financial burden. Children of Fallen Riders support those that are left behind and we are asking you to reach down in your heart and donate to this great charity. Whether it be a $1.00 or $2.00, every little bit counts, you can make the difference.

Whatever amount you donate, your name and a permanent link to your website will be placed below as a thank you from Soul-to-Soul, TechJaws and Children of Fallen Riders.

If you live in Illinois and you would like to attend this great charity, please visit Children of Fallen Riders.

Please comment here with your web address and Paypal email if you have made a donation.

Thank you for caring!

Donations so far

Jennifer – http://connectwithyourteens.blogspot.com/
Susie – http://soul-to-soul.com
Frank – You know who
Jason – http://www.jasonzuckerman.com/
Hart – http://www.petlvr.com

It’s not too often that I rant, but this post is just what the doctor ordered. I will try to keep this at a PG-13 rating, but I can’t make any promises as I am upset at what I read in the news yesterday.

When I was a kid I despised doing homework and like some kids the excuses were plenty. In fact I used the excuse once that my dog ate my homework. This is not to far from the truth as some dogs like the sound of paper crinkling. But a cat downloading child pornography takes the cake!

A Florida man arrested for downloading child pornography on his computer told Sheriff’s deputies that it was his cat, not him, who downloaded the child porn. (Give me a freaking break!)

Keith Griffin of Jensen Beach, Florida, was arrested and charged with 10 counts of possession of child pornography after detective found more than 1,000 child pornographic images on his computer.

The problem I have with this story is that authorities found over 1000 child pornographic images. Who are you crapping Keith? You obviously have a mental issue and an obsession with children which is sick, very sick. What’s next? My Cockatoo hacked into some ones bank account.

This man needs a lesson and a hard one at that. The punishment, if it was me dealing it out, would be castration, point blank! No appeal process, no retrial, no nothing. Get your balls on the cutting block and take it like a man.

We live in a world with a lot of sick and deranged people who are possessed over the sickest things. A child should be protected, mentored and cared for and not exploited.

I would love to hear comments about this story.