An Online New York Tale - Being All You Want To Be - Online Meetups

Before I segue into this post, our condolences to the family of Daniel Brandt for the senseless violence visited upon him this weekend past.

The world wide web allows anyone with a computer and simple typing skills to be anyone or anything that they want to be online. For example, if you would like to appear the most popular, the smartest, richest or sexiest, you can achieve this by employing some photo capturing and photo touchup skills, using the mouse right click copy and at least Adobe Photoshop to alter the image(s) that you would like to use.

People online copy and steal the identity of people online casually, then create myspace, craigslist, blackplanet and facebook profiles, initially to make their page more popular. To continue to perpetuate the lie or lies, these identity thieves will contact other people with popular pages on these social media websites and will engage in conversations, geared towards collecting pictures or images of this unsuspecting person.

When these fraudulent people decide to come out of their online shadow world, they will attempt to arrange a meeting in some obscure place, at an ungodly hour. This is a recipe for disaster and is a red flag that this meet up is up to no good. Why then do they succeed? As long as there are people click on spam or get caught in the so-called "Nigerian scams", these online soiree's will continue to occur and caution and common sense will be thrown to the wind.

What follows are situations and phrases that people use which should present a red flag and what you should do when confronted with these:

If someone contacts you on a social media website such as Myspace or Facebook or up to and including Craigslist, Blackplanet, Migente or Asianavenue and you view their profile and they either have no picture or one picture and they have been online for more than 30 days, pass them by. Of course, you can ask them if they have any pictures of themselves or if they have any updated pictures. They will give you the following answer(s):

1. I'm not on my computer; I'm at work. This is my favorite: If you are on your company computer and are on a social media website such as Myspace or Facebook during your work hours or even during your lunch or break, you should and most likely will be fired. Corporate America does not allow this and it is a fire-able offense due to liability and company image issues.

2. I'm not on my computer; I'm at my friends house. If my friend or relative wants to use my computer, he or she better be uploading a resume to a job board or typing one in a Word document. If they want to use my computer to visit Myspace, Facebook or some other such social media website, let them go to a library or an internet cafe.

3. I work for the government and I can't put myself out there like that. If there was an Internet alert button on your computer, you should press it when you see this common response. If putting your picture up on a social media website, in good faith, will circumvent national security, you shouldn't be chatting in stealth mode on that same social media website.

One of the best ways to weed out pretenders online is to use one of the most popular instant message services (Yahoo, AOL or MSN) and establish a live web cam session. Even this has it's pitfalls. When a stranger online asks you if you have a web cam and asks you if they can see you live, do not allow them to view your live web cam, unless they show their live web cam images and then only if they show you themselves first. What follows, again, are some of the typical bogus replies to basic questions you should ask if someone is attempting to view live, moving images of you online and what your response or actions should be when confronted with them:

If someone asks if they view your live web camera (web cam) images and you ask them if they have a web cam and they reply in the following manner, pass them by:

1. I'm at my job and I don't have a camera on my work computer. This is one of the most common and bogus replies. If someone is at work and is able to start up Yahoo, AOL or MSN instant messenger, without it being blocked, they must work at an online porn website. No reputable company will allow its employees to chat via ANY instant messenger, which includes viewing someone else's web cam images.

2. My web cam broke and I sent it out for repair. This is the most comical and the most insulting--in that order. Web cameras cost between $10 and $50. No web camera manufacturer would even take the time to repair even a brand new or warrantied camera. This indicates that fraud is brewing and you should immediately end this conversation.

Additional and great care should be employed when doing a live online video conversation with a stranger. Although the person in the camera you are viewing is moving, their camera may be a recorded video stream that is fed through the instant messenger via a file. This is done to gain your trust so that you start your camera and they can then "screen capture" your moving web camera images and sell that content to unscrupulous websites. (See http://www.camgrab.tk/)

Having said all this, the questions that begs an answer is, "How do I protect myself online or when I'm on a social media website?" The following is a list of precautions to take to prevent identity theft and also to weed out or filter those who would attempt to put you in harms way, both on and offline:

1. When posting your photo or video images online, put a watermark over the photo and video image. Do not place this watermark at the bottom of the page. Put the watermark on your body in the photo. If someone tries to erase this, it will destroy the image and render the image useless. If your stolen photo appears on a questionable website as far as taste is concerned, having a watermark with your email address or your own personal websites' address, will prompt a viewer to visit your website and let you know that your picture is being used fraudulently or commercially and without your permission. There are some very good people online and they will let you know.

2. If someone wants to meet you online or take the initial online conversation offline to a phone conversation or a meeting, ask them to verify themselves. This is done very simply: Have them take a picture and in that picture, ask them to hold up a copy of that days' current issue of the daily newspaper or a handwritten sign, which they hold in front of them, showing their email address, screen name and your screen name and the current days date. If they take a day or two to do this, pass them by. They probably need to get the person who is in cahoots with them to take this photo and it's requirements. (Make sure that you already have a photo or photos with the same requirements that you are asking them to provide). It takes no time to take a photo and because all digital cameras have automatic settings, you do not need someone to take the photo for you.

3. Never, NEVER, ever meet someone in a location that is not public or unfamiliar to you. You should know how to get to that location and how to leave that location. This same location should always, ALWAYS be in a public place and well traveled by others. Never, never, EVER meet someone after hours be it very early in the morning, when there is little to no pedestrian traffic or late at night, when the same atmosphere is present.

Finally, my personal advice is simple. Don't use the Internet for dating purposes. There are too many people with leaks in their helmets to chance a meeting. There are so many more venues for casual meetings and potential dating interests in the first person that the Internet.

Most people up to no good online, view the Internet as some cyber-fantasy world and the people or characters that they meet in it as some other worldly or imaginary figure found in most computer games.

A Gem of a New York City Restaurant

I was taken out to dinner a few weeks ago by some of the sales staff of my former employer as they felt that I helped them with some sales leads, (I'm a Search Engine Specialist) and I was asked to choose the restaurant. Now I always remembered watching the old "Odd Couple" TV show with Jack Klugman and Tony Randall and it seemed that every time Oscar went into a restaurant in that show, it looked similar to Smith & Wollensky on 3rd Avenue in Manhattan. So I chose this as the place to eat.

We met on a Friday evening in the summer, so I knew we wouldn't all get their till 7 or 8pm. I arrived at 6:30pm and the maître d'told me to have a seat at the bar and have a drink and not to worry about my reservation, as most of the reservations made would be late. I thanked him and sauntered over to the bar.

I ordered my standard Vodka and Cranberry. Now, I believe I can drink with the best of them. In fact, I believe I can trace my lineage back to the earliest drunken sailors on Roman galleys. I digress. Have you ever went to a bar in New York, ordered and consumed your drink and the cranberry juice tasted like something other than cranberry juice and the vodka was hiding in another glass or another bar? This drink prepared was perfectly made; the desired effect I was seeking was achieved.

I normally have three or four drinks, especially with dinner but I had only one for the entire night! We were seated comfortably on the second floor and the waiter came and asked us what we wanted to start with and we all ordered water and he brought out some fresh and warm bread. We all decided that we would have the seafood appetizer (there were four of us) as a starter, tomato and mozzarella salad in a vinaigrette seasoned sauce.

The main fare for me was the well done "Hulk Hogan" prime rib (I added in the Hulk Hogan moniker for effect) with seared asparagus. The other members of my party ordered a T-bone steak dish for two or was it three. The final member of the party ordered a fish dinner; something filleted.

I like a restaurant, whose wait staff seems genuinely interested in your comfort and the enjoyment of your meal. Not the wait staff who will say anything to appear groveling to get the end-of-meal tip. Our waiter gave us our space, made suggestions and really made sure our dining experience at Smith & Wollensky was going to be something to fondly remember. I recommend Smith & Wollensky strongly as they provide a value for the money spent, for the comfortable seating and for satisfying the ancestral drunken sailor in me.

They are conveniently located at 49th Street and 3rd Avenue, with transportation nearby (6 train at 51st and Lexington and the E, V and 6 train at 53rd and 3rd Avenue). It is minutes from Penn and Grand Central Stations. Visit their website at: smithandwollensky. I took some photos to show try and capture some of our dining experience.




The outside of Smith & Wollensky






The stairway to the upper level. Notice the photos of previous patrons, showing that Smith & Wollensky has a rich history in New York.





This was the Appetizer (Note the Shrimps on Steroids)










This is the steak I had. I was watching my weight, so I washed down my meal with a small diet coke.









This was the two-person T-Bone steak


Overall, the experience was pleasant and the staff warm and friendly. There is good value and you will not leave Smith & Wollensky expecting to have a midnight snack at home.

A Lazy Sunday Afternoon in Central Park New York

I always strive to find something unique or something that can only be found in New York City, so with camera in hand, I went to Central Park this past Sunday. Of course, the standard fair for summer in Central Park are the bicyclist, the horse drawn carraiges and just the casual strollers. I entered the park at 72nd Street on the West Side and I heard music off in the distance. So I surmised; where there is music there art people.

Lo and behold, I came across a large crowd of people standing behind barricades and lining the perimeter of an oval. Inside this oval, in the center was a DJ booth and around this oval were people roller skating to old style club and disco music.

There were couples, roller skate daredevils, children and some adults as old as 68 years old--all on roller skates, moving and body spinning to the music. One gentlemen named Kelly had his own headphones on and was shirtless and was skating backwards around the oval and all the while avoiding other skaters.

The organizers of this group, clad in purple, let it be known that all were welcome to don a pair of skates and join in but with one prerequisite: Leave the negativity outside the barricades! After watching the skaters for awhile and seeing that they have been doing this for quite some time, it's easy to see why such a large crowd was at this "event". It does not go without saying that roller dancing is very good exercise and good clean fun and to see this in the middle of Central Park was interested and a pretty good way to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon.

It was apparent that most of the skaters were older but not old people who grew up in a simpler time. Some newbies or people for our current generation might want to venture to Central Park on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon, close to the 72nd Street, West Side entrance and follow the music. The skaters will show how when they were growing up, they lived in a simpler, easier time.

I was about to leave for the day, when the dj (DJ E) put on MFSB's Love is the Message, arguably the still reigning national anthem of the New York club and dance circuit. How could I not capture "The Message" on video with roller skaters grooving to this?



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These roller skating dancers are usually in Central Park on Saturday and Sunday between 2 and 6:30pm. Come check it out. It's good, clean fun.