Saturday, July 6. 2013
Prior postings on the subject are Here and Here.
It turns out I know someone who works in the corporate complex that owns prweb who is well versed in network abuse issues, and the situation is getting looked into. So I plan to stop stirring up trouble for the time being.
Friday, July 5. 2013
after the link spam incident discussed here i sent a polite inquiry to prweb asking whether link spamming using links to their service was a ToS violation. They have responded:
Dear Richard,
Unfortunately, PRWeb can't control where our users choose to post their press releases. It may not have even been an individual client who sent this spam release, but a spam bot.
We apologize that your blog site has been spammed with this release. Unfortunately, PRWeb didn't send the spam email and thus we have can't regulate this kind of activity
Best regards,
Marti
PRWeb Editors
PRWeb, a Vocus, Inc. Company
5160 Industrial Place, Suite 103
Ferndale, WA 98248 USA
This is of course, fundamentally unsatisfactory. They have Terms of Service which their customers must agree to and the ToS can of course contain limitations on how they use the links.
Now to ask the person whose name is on the release about the link spamming incident.
Someone just tried to link spam a blog I manage. It got kicked into automoderation. I found it somewhat entertaining, as the link was to a press release on www.prweb.com plugging an online reputation management service. It appears that they are not worried about having an online reputation for link spamming.
I'm not revealing the details just yet, as it is a possibility that this is a Joe-Job. But more than likely it's someone setting up as a reputation consultant who isn't really very competent or knowledgeable about what they're doing.
In the meantime, I have submitted a inquiry to prweb as to whether or not link spamming is a violation of their Terms of Service. I'll be very interested to hear their response.
Thursday, July 4. 2013
the other thing that happened 150 years ago was the surrender of the Confederate forces in Vicksburg, Mississippi to Grant, after a brilliant campaign. Vicksburg would have a number of effects:
- Grant's reputation would be cemented, leading to his becoming General in Chief
- The Confederacy would be cut in half as the Federals regained control over the Mississippi River
- Federal commerce on the Mississippi would be restored
It is hard to over emphasize the impact of this victory, which is overshadowed by the fact that Gettysburg happened at the same time. Grant would go on to fix the situation at Chattanooga that had resulted from Rosecran's bad day during the Chickamauga campaign before heading east. And Grant was the first commander in chief to truly understand what would be needed to end the war.
Grant had intended to command from the west, but after taking command, he would decide to place Sherman, his most trusted subordinate, in command in the west, while he shadowed Meade & The Army of the Potomac.
150 years ago today - the day after the battle
First, some things missing from the film
I already talked about day 1. For day 2, the film focuses almost entirely on Joshua Chamberlain and the 20th Maine on Little Round Top. So what's missing? Well, lots.
Chamberlain's Regiment was part of Strong Vincent's Brigade. Vincent's Brigade was rushed in to cover Little Round Top after General Warren discovered it was uncovered and that the Confederates had figured that out. All the regiments in Vincent's Brigade were heavily involved, and Vincent himself was killed that day. Now why was Little Round Top uncovered? Because General Dan Sickles had ignored instructions and moved his forces forward from Cemetery Ridge to the Peach Orchard and the Wheatfield. Sickle's forces were not sufficient to extend to Little Round Top, so they were anchored on Devil's Den. There was intensive fighting in the Peach Orchard, the Wheatfield and Devil's Den, none of which is covered in the film. And the film doesn't cover any of the fighting going north along the line, wrapping around Cemetery Hill and Culp's Hill.
Day 3 in the film is all about Pickett's charge, but ignores all kinds of other fighting that day.
Context
Generally missing from most Gettysburg discussion (film or otherwise) is context. Meade is often criticized for failure to pursue, but actually the Army of the Potomac followed Lee for 10 days, almost trapping Lee against the Potomac River. Meade seems to have come up about one day short on catching Lee, but Lee's escape wasn't exactly a cakewalk.
Some recommended books
Gettysburg: The Last Invasion Allen C. Guelzo
Gettysburg Stephen W. Sears
Plenty of Blame to Go Around: Jeb Stuart's Controversial Ride to Gettysburg Wittenberg & Petruzzi
One Continuous Fight: The Retreat from Gettysburg and the Pursuit of Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, July 4 - 14, 1863 Wittenberg, Petruzzi & Nugent
Protecting the Flank at Gettysburg: The Battles for Brinkerhoff's Ridge and East Cavalry Field, July 2 -3, 1863 Eric Wittenberg
Gettysburg's Forgotten Cavalry Actions: Farnsworth's Charge, South Cavalry Field, and the Battle of Fairfield, July 3, 1863 Eric Wittenberg
Monday, July 1. 2013
Most of the focus will be on a small town in South Central Pennsylvania. What happened there is significant and fascinating, but generally it is overemphasized at the expense of the real action.
In the western theater, forces under General Grant had successfully executed his novel campaign plan, with the result that he had Confederate forces under siege in Vicksburg Mississippi, and the Confederacy was about to be split in two as the Federal government gained complete control over the Mississippi River. Arguably this was far more important to the course of the war than what happened at Gettysburg.
Vicksburg
By July 1st, Grant's brilliant campaign had settled into a siege. The defenders of Vicksburg had no way out and it was only a matter of time until they ran out of supplies. This moment would be coming soon. In addition to splitting the Confederacy, Grant & Sherman would also start to set a pattern for future operations that would carry through Sherman's march through Georgia in 1865. The pattern? Unable to occupy Jackson Mississippi, Grant would send Sherman to raid Jackson instead, and Sherman would destroy the railroads, the warehouses and the factories, leaving nothing in Jackson of value to the Confederacy.
Gettysburg
The events of the first day are only partly described in the film. The film omits entirely the intense fighting on the west side of the town which lasted until the two Federal Corps were overwhelmed by Confederates coming from the west and the north. The Federal forces would stream through the town and settle on Cemetery Hill, where the remainder of the Army of the Potomac would arrive for the second day's battle.
We shut down our satellite TV a few months ago, and mostly haven't missed it. We can get the Rays games we want to watch via MLB TV, well except for the Yankees games and the weekend national broadcasts. We can get most other things via Netflix, Amazon Instant Video and Hulu+.
What we can't get are two events on NBC Sports, the Tour de France and F1 racing, because the TV Cartel (the cable and the Satellite providers) have decreed that they are the only way you can see these things. There is no technical barrier, there is even an NBC Sports app for my iPad which would stream the events - but I can only access the stream if I have an account with Dish, or DirecTV, or Time Warner, or Comcast, or whoever.
And it sucks, because these are the only two things they have to offer me, and they charge way, way too much money to make it worth while.
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