WON'T YOU BE MY CELLMATE?

K-Mac: Less of a danger to this community

NBA, NHL, Spring Training, March Madness.

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All of the above have combined to make your regular contributors too damn busy to, uh, contribute.

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But because madness isn't just confined to March, we must lose a little sleep posting this so you can lose a little sleep thinking about it.

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What the hell is with these guys anyway?

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From KUTV.com

Former ESPN Producer Arrested In Salt Lake City... Again

SALT LAKE CITY - A veteran freelance sports producer who worked for ESPN was again arrested in Utah this week for violating the terms of his release -- prior to a trial on child pornography charges.

Kevin Stewart McMahan, 50, was arrested last June at the Salt Lake City International Airport after authorities reportedly found several images of child pornography inside of his luggage. Officials searched his bag after a screener spotted a lighter inside.

Authorities then had his checked bags pulled off the airplane and allegedly found nearly 50 DVDs and videos on his laptop computer of juvenile boys performing sexual acts. Also reportedly found were hundreds of explicit photographs of young boys being molested.

At that time, he was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on numerous counts of sexual exploitation of a minor and drug possession.

In the days after, a judge agreed to release McMahan as long as he complied with a series of demands. One stipulated that he could not use a computer until at least his trial was completed.

On Monday, McMahan was re-arrested after admitting to some computer use. He was taken into custody and was later determined by a judge to be a danger to the community.

McMahan will next appear in court on May 1 to face the original charges from last summer.

McMahan has not worked for ESPN since his intitial arrest, according to ESPN managers.

Just plain sad.

BARRON BEHIND BARS BULLETIN

Don't look so down, Dan. That guy in Cell Block B says he'll be gentle with you.

From the South Florida Sun-Sentinel:

Freelance CBS technician gets 10 years in Lauderdale child sex sting
By Joel Marino Sun-Sentinel.com

SOUTH FLORIDA - A former CBS technician accused last year of attempting to make arrangements to film himself having sex with a child was sentenced to 10 years in prison in Miami federal court today, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Daniel Barron, 56, was also sentenced to 15 years of supervised release, the department said.Barron, a freelance technical manager from New Jersey, was in Fort Lauderdale on Sept. 29 covering a Miami Dolphins game for CBS-TV.

He was arrested that weekend in an online predator sting operation handled by the St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office, the department said. For the sting, a Sheriff's Office detective entered an Internet chat room titled "Open minded parents" and posed as a father with a young daughter. Barron approached the undercover investigator in the chat room and arranged for the "father" to deliver him his 11-year-old daughter, authorities said. Barron used his CBS-owned laptop to conduct the dialogue,according to an arrest report.

Barron drove to a parking lot in the 1300 block of Southeast 17th Street in Fort Lauderdale, where he thought he would meet the girl and her father, police said. He was arrested. St. Lucie investigators coordinated with Fort Lauderdale police, the Broward Sheriff's Office and U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to make the arrest.

A Fort Pierce grand jury indicted Barron on charges of coercing and attempting to engage in sexual activity with a person under 18 years of age on Oct. 25.

He had been held in a St. Lucie county jail until his trial.

15 years of supervised probation sounds like he's going to be a tech manager again one day.

If he makes it through those first 10 years, that is.

SNOWY WEATHER & SLIDING SUV SINK SNF TRUCK

click image to enlarge

NEP's "ND-3 A", used by NBC for Sunday Night Football, was involved in an accident in Kansas on Wednesday.

Details aren't available yet, but judging by these photos featuring scattered equipment and missing bay doors, we'd hate to see how the other vehicle looks.

Stay tuned for updates...


UPDATE 2/2: "ND-3 A" was broad sided by a SUV that lost control in the snowy conditions. The belly bays were ripped from the mobile unit. Somehow though, nobody was hurt.

The truck is currently being repaired at Mobilized Systems in Cincinnati.

"ND-3A" is expected to miss only one show, and NEP will replace it with "ND-4A".

Survive The Lambeau Fields In Your Life

This may be the last post about the weather at the NFC Championship game.

It also may be the most important, especially if you have ever been under prepared when working shows in inclimate conditions.

(These are not paid endorsements. We're just passing on some products that our colleagues have found to be of great help in doing their jobs.)

SealSkinz is a family-owned California company that makes breathable waterproof gloves, sock and hats. Their Ultra Grip gloves allow for very fine finger movements on focus controls or cable connectors.




From their website:

In late 1993 after successful field trials, Danalco commenced the
manufacture of SealSkinz®, the first fully waterproof sock designed for the
recreational industry.

In 1997, after almost seven years in development, Danalco commenced the
manufacture of waterproof gloves -- a highly durable, flexible, watertight
yet comfortable glove to be used by anyone needing waterproof protection.

In January 2000, Danalco once again set the standard for waterproof
protection with the launch of its WaterBlocker socks -- which have a patented
in-cuff seal that helps keep feet dry even when they are submerged in water!

The latest SealSkinz® ChillBlocker® Socks and gloves in addition to being
completely waterproof are fleece-lined to provide comfort in climates reaching
30 degrees below zero.

NEOS Overshoe is based in Vermont and makes a wide variety of weatherproof footware that fits OVER your regular shoes.


According to their website:

In addition to providing 100% waterproof protection and unmatched slip
resistance options, the NEOS® Industrial line offers supreme comfort by allowing
your workers to wear their favorite footwear underneath their NEOS® overshoes.

Workers can now wear their own steel-toed work boots, sneakers, or even
custom prosthetics and still enjoy superior protection.

Many veteran freelancers swear by their products. And if they may cost more, try to remember the last time your hands or feet were under protected from cold temperatures or water. How much would you have paid for comfort then?

SURFING (the net) WITHOUT SPENDING (your per diem)

I've been confronted with a common problem amongst free-lancers: how to get onto the Internet without getting gouged by the hotel or having to rely on a weak, intermittent, or password protected press signal at the venue.

Well, for those of us with a Sprint Treo freedom is nigh. We can use them as modems for our laptops. There a couple of different approaches to this end ranging from the entirely legal and very expensive to what we could euphemistically call "creative" and free.

To stay within the law Sprint requires a "Phone as Modem" contract costing $39.99 per month. That's a lot of money if you ask me. In addition Sprint requires basic data services starting at $15.00 per month to get the ball rolling. That's $660.00 for an Internet connection? C'mon!

A second method requires basic data services and a visit to PDAnet to pay for and download their software. It's $34.99 for the software and it loads easily. You can be surfin' the net within minutes using the USB sync cable that came with your phone. PDAnet will not take any responsibility for any additional fees should Sprint notice your additional data usage but from my experience it's only those folks downloading music or movies that cause any concern.

A further, more creative method requires just basic data services, a little ingenuity, and the desire to stick it the "man". It may be the most challenging technically but for tech geeks like us it's a piece of cake. I suggest a Google of the phrase "Internet on Air" which will lead you to Trevor Harmon's web page detailing directions for your 650, 680, 700 or 755p. It took me about 30 minutes to download the hack, get a trial version of Resco Explorer (which is a really cool software program - think Windows trees for your phone) and then move the hack via Resco to my phone's RAM. Again, common sense use of data services is suggested. Simply checking your mail and surfin' the net shouldn't be a problem.

One additional note: I used the USB cable that came with my 755p because I have a pre Bluetooth laptop but if you have Bluetooth on your laptop you can surf via Bluetooth.

Now that's cool.