Most people are completely oblivious as to what SOPA is. We hope that a tech blackout DOES occur so you can whine and call and complain that your cat photos aren’t viewable on the Internet. The Young Turks, no affiliation (yet), explain it above pretty well, but we’ve added some additional information below. We’ve given several examples of who is supporting it in past blogs and highly encourage you to go take a look before you logon to the Internet one day and have a stroke because you can’t look at cat photos on Facebook.

More info about it states on this pastebin:

Stop Online Piracy Act(SOPA) is a bill that would create America’s first Internet censorship system. In a nutshell, its similar like the censorship in China, Iran, etc. For more info look at http://www.americancensorship.org.

Time Magazine’s Graeme McMillan wrote this about it:

SOPA: What if Google, Facebook and Twitter Went Offline in Protest?

Can you imagine a world without Google or Facebook? If plans to protest the potential passing of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) come to fruition, you won’t need to; those sites, along with many other well-known online destinations, will go temporarily offline as a taste of what we could expect from a post-SOPA Internet.

Companies including Google, Facebook, Twitter, PayPal, Yahoo! and Wikipedia are said to be discussing a coordinated blackout of services to demonstrate the potential effect SOPA would have on the Internet, something already being called a “nuclear option” of protesting. The rumors surrounding the potential blackout were only strengthened by Markham Erickson, executive director of trade association NetCoalition, who told FoxNews that “a number of companies have had discussions about [blacking out services]” last week.

According to Erickson, the companies are well aware of how serious an act such a blackout would be:

This type of thing doesn’t happen because companies typically don’t want to put their users in that position. The difference is that these bills so fundamentally change the way the Internet works. People need to understand the effect this special-interest legislation will have on those who use the Internet.

The idea of an Internet blackout should seem familiar to anyone who’s been paying attention to the debate so far. In addition to a blackout already carried out by Mozilla, hacking group Anonymous proposed the same thing a couple of weeks ago, suggesting that sites replace their front pages with a statement protesting SOPA. That suggestion itself came a week after Jimmy Wales had asked Wikipedia users about the possibility of blacking out that site in protest of the bill.

As a way of drawing attention to the topic, it’s something that will definitely work. Just Google alone going dark would cause havoc online, but the idea of it happening at the same time as Facebook, Twitter et al. follow suit seems almost unimaginable.

The question then becomes how to translate the inevitable confusion and outrage from those who don’t know what SOPA is into activism. The key, I assume, lies in the execution of the blackout: Will the sites that voluntarily go down be entirely unavailable or will they follow the Anonymous-proposed model of replacing the front page with a statement explaining what is going on, why and how users can best become involved in the discussion? If the sites do go entirely dark, is the hope that the resulting outrage will be enough to fuel news stories about the reason behind the decision? And that users will not transfer their frustration to the sites themselves, as opposed to the bill they’re protesting?

The fact that Facebook and Twitter are both said to be considering taking part in the blackout is simultaneously heartening and worrying. The former because, well, they’re standing up for what they collectively believe in — and that’s a good thing. But the latter because the lack of availability for social media on the proposed blackout day feels like it’s giving up the best chance to harness the frustration and energy people will feel about the temporary loss of the Internet as they know it, and a great possibility to focus and direct that energy into productive activism against SOPA. Then again, it may take losing Facebook and Twitter to really drive home how dramatically SOPA could affect the Internet.

All of this may come to nothing, of course. The companies may decide not to black out their sites and find other ways to protest SOPA. That could be for the best; collectively closing down the most trafficked sites on the Internet to prove a point will certainly garner a lot of attention, but the effects it’ll have beyond that (and the reactions it’ll cause as a result) are difficult to predict and could easily end up causing a backlash against the sites responsible at a time when they least want it. But still … just try to imagine an Internet without Google, Facebook or Yahoo. Even for a day. Almost makes you want it to happen, just to make people realize how reliant we are on the Internet as we know it now, doesn’t it?

Some content originally reported at:

http://techland.time.com/2012/01/05/sopa-what-if-google-facebook-and-twitter-went-offline-in-protest/

http://act.ly/5cz

Might as well preface this with: A) It’s technical, B) It’s personal, and C) We gave them ample opportunity to make this problem right before we had to take the issue into our own hands. And in light of recent SOPA problems with GoDaddy, we hope this testimonial is even more of a reason that you don’t use their service. Speaking of, their real CEO, Warren Adelman, put out a statement about SOPA stating that because the Senate couldn’t come to a consensus that GoDaddy was no longer supporting SOPA. Read that again if you need to figure out why we’re astonished or read the whole article about SOPA and GoDaddy sucking. Now, on to the show!

We affiliated ourselves with GoDaddy, a.k.a. GoDaddy.com or Go Daddy, Inc., as an ICANN domain provider back in 2006 before we went public and as a reseller in 2008 to offer competitive pricing and an alternative storefront when we did begin offering public services. As a reseller, they take one of their other companies, Starfield Technologies as well as Wild West Domains (remember this name, it’s key to what went wrong) and have your WHOIS/Registration information pass through them. Since then, we’ve obviously learned that there are just as viable alternatives to domain acquisition and purchases than dealing with GoDaddy, often for pennies more or less. And our network continues to grow.

Looking for a way to keep costs the same or lower and provide the same if not better service, we looked at integrating what was called GoDaddy’s AnyCast DNS now called ‘Premium DNS’. We suspect that they stopped calling it ‘AnyCast DNS’ because you can’t serve DNS from one datacenter and honestly call it AnyCast… sort of a technical oxymoron. This was to be used as an extension of our services and as an alternative to running solely our own network of DNS servers. We didn’t jump in with both feet, but we were deep enough to start losing air before it was too late.

We called and spoke to a sales representative about their services a long time ago, long before our trust was broken and our issue ever occurred. At the time, we declined moving forward with their DNS service because there was no way to CNAME or create a hostname for the servers that matched a domain name of our own as we said a moment ago. When GoDaddy added the ‘vanity name servers’ bit to the DNS service, we were more interested. We called back several months later and spoke to a sales representative that we had make sure with her supervisor her statement was accurate and ordered the Premium DNS service because we were able to not hand out a string like a CDN does. At the time, we had been hosting our own servers and wanted at least one extension off of that for even more redundancy. Since we already had our .com at GoDaddy at the time with the core hostnames coming from GoDaddy, it was easy to say yes to testing out something for like $2.99 a month since we were paying much more than that per DNS server.

Before I get too far into this, a very important part of hosting relies on DNS. DNS to the layman is a server or network system which broadcasts the IP address or location of a server by converting the name of a top-level domain like turkreno.com into an IP address. DNS serves out usually every request that goes through a network and it also plays a very large part in the latency, or speed, in which content is found. There are times when a network is undiscoverable or slow just because of routing issues with backbone service providers. Those providers in the United States, such as AT&T, Global Crossing, Layer3 and others actually run the flow of the Internet and usually own the fiber optic cable on which it runs. So, when a DNS server does a query, the response or reply may tell your traffic to go to Washington first, because that’s where the first router is between you and the domain that resolved and the server you’re asking for, then further “hops” to other locations until your request reaches its destination. Having multiple servers, or an AnyCast-type network, that are within multiple datacenters around the world where those backbones are routed through provides what’s known as a Point-of-Presence (POP) and will decrease latency since the answer is locally cached to that router. In a worst cast scenario, the traffic where a network client requests a site that isn’t cached by the ISP, which is the usual case, the router may have to search or query the router ahead of it to search for a resolving DNS server, thus creating latency. Speed is of the essence and maybe that explains why this improvement is important for any network.

Digressing back to what happened is most likely easier if we just put it into a handy mind map and bullet out the entire issue here for those who don’t want to view a huge PDF. For months this issue was up on the whiteboard in the office and it took precisely that long to fix all of the screwed up issues that happened. We ended up making a mind map chart of what went wrong and we’ll go from there.

GoDaddy Network Failure Mind Map

PDF of the Mind Map — MP3 of the Voicemail

• GoDaddy Network Failure
• Cause/Reasoning
  • > TurkReno.biz hijacked to place to DNS records outside of our control by GoDaddy D/B/A Wild West Domains. Explained in further depth within “Effects”.
    • >> Premium DNS with AnyCast Network selected to improve upon POP in RackSpace ORD1 and DFW
    • >> Inquired about “AnyCast DNS” when plan was released and declined to move forward for fear of the effects that happened.
    • >> Told by sales associate that we could use “vanity name servers” in lieu of hosting our own recursive name servers.
      • >>> This sounded great. It’s much easier to tell a client, even if they’re technically minded, a human friendly and readable address.
    • >> Save money for same DNS purpose without self hosting part of the network. Expansion.
    • >Effects
      • >>> Apathetic responses from GoDaddy
        • >>>> Call from the Office of the President
          • >>>>> Spoke to “Jordan”
            • >>>>>> ”Main concern was getting feedback on how to prevent this in the future” – Actual Results:
              • >>>>>>> Apathetic
              • >>>>>>> Totally on GoDaddy’s Team
              • >>>>>>> Lacking in Technical Expertise, or at least playing extremely dumb.
            • >>>>>> No actual conclusion met. Essentially a feedback loop.
            • >>>>>> Refunded for AnyCast DNS service, but refused to compensate for any outage or brand damage we experienced.
        • >>>> Calls from Manager stating 4 days after the fact that this was due to “Vanity NS’s” not usable with ANY Domains outside my account, even ones within GoDaddy/DPR/WWD
          • >>>>> Recorded message to be put on CDN
            • >>>>>> Voicemail from GoDaddy – Epic admission of what we originally should have been told 5 days before.
            • >>>>>> Phone call from “Jeremy” stating exactly WHY this went wrong. GoDaddy states that you are not allowed to use vanity name servers with domains outside of
          • >>>>> Lack of information on purchase, would have left alone had known this information.
            • >>>>>> To this day, GoDaddy still has not corrected their website to prevent other users from this pitfall.
        • >>>> E-mails from Call Supervisors stating that they would not rest until this was made right.
          • >>>>> Never followed up to me directly after Presidents office called.
      • >>> Call to Registries
        • >>>> Placed call to NeuStar (.biz)
          • >>>>> Told to discuss this matter with Verisign since all domains affected were .com / .net, opened ticket #00406445
        • >>>> Placed call to Verisign (.com/.net)
          • >>>>> Opened ticket #6271
            • >>>>>> Verisign verified that a Wild West Domains employee modified the TLD causing the outage. Exact time of modification given by Verisign was 10:56:36 GMT.
            • >>>>>> Also recalled while on the phone with GoDaddy. GoDaddy support was extremely apprehensive about being on the phone and pretended as if what they were hearing didn’t happen.
      • >>> Distrust of clients
        • >>>> Letters from Client of Clients seeing once sites began re-resolving the message on our end stating to contact the webmaster.
          • >>>>> Clients e-mailing complaint letters
          • >>>>> Clients of Clients e-mailing stating that their travel plans had been ruined.
          • >>>>> Clients stating no traffic, business hurt
      • >>> Inability to correct problem without GoDaddy intervention
        • >>>> Shutdown of 39 Domains for 6 days
          • >>>>> Isolated to our account – per phone call and obvious reasons.
        • >>>> Several tickets opened without our ability to see any of the entry before the ticket was submitted. Basically the equivalent of a person summarizing everything you said on a call into one sentence and submitting it for you on the general contact form of the main website.
        • >>>> Interestingly never shown any of the tickets until after a technician responded to them, no way to reply to them either once responded other than rehashing the entire issue.
        • >>>> Investigative measure taken to identify scope:
          • >>>>> Used kloth.net and robtex.com as an external source to verify local terminal commands.
          • >>>>> Brought GoDaddy on the phone and conferenced in Verisign to have a verbal confirmation recorded by Go Daddy Corporate that WWD/GDI took our traffic offline.
          • >>>>> Purchased full listing of affected domains from domaintools.com to use as a reliable and neutral 3rd-party verifier to event.
            • >>>>>> 39 total domains verified affected by the change.
          • >>>>> Local terminal commands verified events.
            • >>>>>> Primary *nix command: dig turkreno.biz +trace
            • >>>>>> Discovered pleasedropthishost26787.turkreno.biz and pleasedropthishost26788.turkreno.biz – Totally unauthorized.
      • >>> Requests for Reparation
        • >>>> Invoice to GoDaddy
          • >>>>> GoDaddy Cites legal agreements (ToS) on site and says they will not pay any invoice.
        • >>>> No Reparations can be made at this time based on the notes found. Upon further review, subject to change.
      • >>> Removal/Termination of GoDaddy Security Scan from the primary website – Found to be worthless anyway.
      • >>> Deleted TurkReno.biz to attempt to clear GoDaddy NS Records
        • >>>> TurkReno.biz never returned or offered to be returned by GoDaddy. Deleting the domain did not make an immediate difference nor any measurable difference at all that would have happened on other odds.
          • >>>>> TurkReno.biz repurchased on a different ICANN registrar after the domain totally expired out of the Neustar registry as an available domain.
  • >Aftershock
    • >> Anti-GoDaddy Marketing Campaign with Twitter: #ShermanMarchesAgain Launched – (Thanks Tom)
    • >> Boycotting of GoDaddyBowl.com and all things related to the form GMAC Bowl in Mobile, AL.
    • >> Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, StumbleUpon and Digg following made aware of dissatisfaction.
    • >> Recourse against TurkReno Incorporated.

We spent hours on this with them. Hours we want back from our lives. Maybe we can save you some time. Switch hosting to us, we’re not on GoDaddy’s crappy 4GH Network or whatever they want to call it. Or maybe you want to contact the Office of the President for GoDaddy. No problem, here’s all of their contact info:

E-Mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Phone: 408-505-8828

CEO: Warren Adelman

Alt. Numbers to GoDaddy Corporate Offices: 408-505-8800

So, when you think of DNS hopefully GoDaddy won’t be the first that comes to mind. We’ve got an awesome platform setup to accommodate multiple types of needs, including those of web masters using Linux or WHM/cPanel. Contact us if you’re interested. It’s private for the time being, but will be live soon.

Don’t trust GoDaddy with your DNS, their SysAdmins know NOTHING of how to complete a ticket and they COULD be stealing your traffic, or worse, blocking it because their tech support knows NOTHING.

2011 was a year full of surprises, failures, catastrophes, losses and laughter. We first covered 2011 with Alabama Moon, a movie based on a book by Watt Key about Moon Blake. Supposedly this film took place in Alabama, but it was filmed in Canada and Louisiana. Fail. Read More about Alabama Moon.

In March an Earthquake and Tsunami struck Japan causing manufacturing and supply outages from mega-corporations like Sony and Canon. It took almost the rest of the year just to get some of the companies back on their feet again while others just shifted jobs to other parts of the world. Read More about the Earthquake and Tsunami.

Later in March, the White House called for a “New” copyright crackdown law citing that they wanted the US Congress to fix “deficiencies that could hinder enforcement” of intellectual property laws. Netflix and Hulu later gained an unprecedented momentum (thus filtering out pirate traffic vs. legitimate traffic) and later in the year SOPA took center stage where the Internet went into a rage. Read More about the Call for Copyright Crackdown.

In Late April, the Sony PlayStation Network outage occurred near simultaneously to the Amazon EC2 outage. Foursquare, Quora, Amazon, Sony, Apple, Reddit, Hootsuite, Wattpad – all went down. The only group to naturally take credit was “Anonymous” for the lawsuit Sony rightfully brought against George Hotz aka GeoHot for purportedly jailbreaking the PS3. Read More about the Sony PSN Outage Timeline.

In mid-May, the US State Department drew attention to the effect Social Media was having on the Internet landscape stating that it had become a “must-have communication tool. The Wall Street Journal put out a graph that indicated that while only a fraction of millions of people had visited websites like Coca-cola and Starbucks, almost 10 to 15 times that had visited their Facebook pages. We outline the Social Media aspect and as the question “Is It Time to Shut Down Your Website” in this retrospective.

On October 5th, 2011, Apple co-founder, CEO and American icon Steve Jobs passed away. Noted with the creation of innovations such as the iPod and iPhone, millions remembered Steve Jobs by e-mailing Apple how he changed their lives. To this day, that memorial can be seen here: http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/. We reposted his Stanford Commencement Address that still inspires many in our blog “Remembering Steve Jobs“.

In mid-October, we announced the upcoming 3rd Annual South Alabama Film Festival which took place in Downtown Mobile November 4th through the 6th bringing commerce and Independent entertainment to the area. Movies such as Wrestling For Jesus, Missing Pieces, Prairie Love, Man of Deeds and The Reconstruction of Asa Carter were featured. Read More about the South Alabama Film Festival.

Later in October, we reposted an article by Tomer Tagrin citing Steve Jobs at the Apple World Wide Developers Conference in 1997 in which he stated “Focusing is about saying ‘No’”. The video of the original conference as well as the article by Tomer can be read here.

The iPhone 4s and iOS 5 launched in late October. As subscribers of Google Voice, we posted some handy instructions for those who wanted to manually swap over their line to a new device. Read More about Activating Google Voicemail on the AT&T iPhone 4s.

On Halloween, we got word that Google had chosen Mobile, Alabama to launch their Mobilize Mobile campaign. At first, we didn’t believe it because of the source announcing it. But it did later happen. Read More about the Rumor of Google Coming to Mobile Alabama.

Also on Halloween, we resounded our own feelings about the banking industry, specifically Regions Bank, charging from $3.00 to $7.50 for debit card usage. We also got pretty ticked off when a “friend” didn’t repay a loan and illustrate just how much Regions can doublespeak when they want to. Read More about Banking: The Importance of Not Bearing False Expectations.

November 1st, 2011 brought some joy to PS3 MMO players around the world when Sony Online Entertainment made DC Universe Online Free-To-Play. Read More about DC Universe going FTP here.

Exciting for us, and maybe not for you, but we had Hibachi On The Go open up in Daphne, Alabama opened in November. Pretty good Japanese food and at a more affordable price than a sit-down sushi restaurant. Read More about Hibachi on the Go. Love the seaweed salad.

Also in the beginning of November, after leaving the area Checkers, also known as Rally’s in other parts of the country, reopened at it’s founding location in Downtown Mobile. The first 100 people got free Checkers fries for a year. Read More about the free fry giveaway.

Amidst the earlier speculation, Google actually DID come to Mobile, Alabama. We got a chance to meet Jason Spero, @speroman on Twitter, Director of Google’s Mobile Division in the Americas, see a few of our competitors, and learn more about the Mobilize initiative. We posted an online schedule of events and a link to the Mobilize website here.

Late November, we posted an important blog about the lessons we’ve learned on Twitter. Namely we wanted to emphasize to engage your followers and those you find interesting. It’s a good read and we hope you find it helpful. Read more about Twitter Best Practices Learned With Hard Knocks.

Client Brad Sundberg, who’s list of achievements are longer than this post, of BSUN Media Systems posted a very helpful guide to the Do’s and Don’ts of Black Friday Shopping. It’s still good for next year so take a look.

At the beginning of December, the long awaited Final Fantasy VI, also known as the SNES version of Final Fantasy III, launched on the PlayStation Network. Listed on multiple blogs, websites and magazines, this game has won top 10 and above in accolades for Must-Have RPGs. Read More about Final Fantasy VI.

The Thomas Hospital Foundation on December 9th announced that artwork by Elizabeth Goree was available to support the foundation during the holiday season. They also shared information on a Family Fun Project that anyone can do. Read more about the Thomas Hospital Foundation Christmas Greeting Program.

GoDaddy Sucks. And this is just Part 1. We illustrate what SOPA is, why GoDaddy was supporting it (we still think they are), and how it’s a major crux to the Internet. PR stunt by GoDaddy? Totally. Read More about GoDaddy Sucks and Here is Why – Part 1 – The SOPA Truth.

Just before Christmas, we shared a rather interesting and concerning video about how Siri, the newest feature of the iPhone 4s, could kill people. It wasn’t true, of course, but technology may concern people like this in the future. Consider yourself warned and Read More about When Apple’s Siri Kills People.

And in the continued SOPA controversy, Anonymous decides to declare war on the Sony PlayStation Network – again. Yawn. These kids are annoying, but if you want to Read More about Anonymous Declaring War on Sony for SOPA Support, be our guest.

Ending the news in December, barring nothing important happens between now and midnight, The day after Anonymous declares war on Sony more companies including Sony Electronics, Nintendo and Electronics Arts drop their support for SOPA. We also outline our stance on SOPA. Read More about Who Dropped SOPA.

From everyone at TurkReno Incorporated, Have a Happy New Year and a Prosperous 2012!

The film, produced by Alabamians Kenny McLean and Lee Faulkner, follows eleven-year-old Moon Blake (Jimmy Bennett), who has spent most of his life hiding out in the forests of Alabama with his anti-government father who clings to conspiracy theories and trusts no one. Moon’s life suddenly changes when the land is sold and his father dies. Knowing only what he learned from his father, Moon decides to follow his last instructions: make your way to Alaska where “people could still make a living off trapping.”

In the path of civilization, Moon quickly lands himself in a reform school where he meets the mean-spirited Constable Sanders (Clint Howard) and learns what friendship is all about. With the help of Mr. Wellington (John Goodman), Moon adapts and learns to survive in the outside world. “Being involved with this movie has been the experience of a lifetime,” said Lee Faulkner. “When I read Watt Key’s novel I knew it would make a perfect family film.”

“Alabama Moon’s” Alabama ties run deep. Watt Key’s novel and the movie are set in the forests of Alabama; Key, Faulkner and McLean all reside in Fairhope, a small city in Baldwin County, Alabama; and one of the actors in the film, Uriah Shelton, lived and attended school in Fairhope.

Alabama Moon is a classic kid’s film complete with adventure and survival that most of us only dream about, which is what makes it great for the entire family. The film was awarded the Dove Foundation Family Approved seal in 2010. The non-profit foundation is dedicated to advocating for families and moving Hollywood in a more family-friendly direction.

Alabama Moon Website – http://www.alabamamoonthemovie.net

Alabama Moon Release Schedule

3/18 Birmingham

Rave Patton Creek
Rave Lee Branch
Premiere Tannehill
Premiere 16 (Gadsden)
Cobb Hollywood 16 (Tuscaloosa)

4/1 Mobile
Crescent Theater
Hollywood 18
Rave Jubilee (Daphne)
Rave Wharf 15 (Orange Beach)

4/1 Pensacola

Rave 18

Media Contact:
Gina Gregory
Public Relations Director
MDi media group
251.438.6999
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill may have a significant impact on local businesses for months or years to come. Many of our clients have questions about how to pursue claims with BP for loss of income resulting from the disaster. Click here for a summary of the claims process to assist you in seeking compensation for your business. For more information, please contact your HBK advisor.

For more information, please contact your HBK advisor or call your local HBK office:
Foley: (251) 943-5499
Fairhope: (251) 928-2443
Spanish Fort: (251) 626-0846
Brewton: (251) 867-3809

For more information, please see the latest news on the following links:

Eastern Shore Chamber of Commerce: http://www.eschamber.com/
Hartmann, Blackmon & Kilgore, P.C.: http://www.hbkcpas.com/
Alabama Gulf Coast Convention & Visitors Bureau: http://www.gulfshores.com/issues
Deepwater Horizon Response: http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/

Photo Courtesy of the Mobile Press-Register.

We’ve gotten a lot of calls since the oil spill happened and it’s put everyone on pins and needles. But, truth be told: We’re still fishing and the catches couldn’t be better! We’ve been commercial fishing east of the spill and went out on 3 different trips this weekend alone. We’d like to just share with you a few quick facts that seem to be misunderstood across the web (This is from the Gulf Shores Conventions and Visitors Bureau):

Gulf Oil Spill Update, Sunday, May 16, 11:30 a.m. – http://www.gulfshores.com/issues

• Beaches across the island are clear. Sporadic quantities of tarballs were found washed up on the beach Tuesday in areas between Lagoon Pass in Gulf Shores west to Fort Morgan. Contracted crews immediately went to work to clean the affected areas.
• There have been no reports of oil odor along the beaches of Gulf Shores, Orange Beach or Fort Morgan. At its closest point, the slick is approximately 50-60 miles away from the most western tip of our island.
• The Alabama Department of Public Health and Alabama Department of Environmental Management stated that there is no foreseeable need to close beaches and, short of a drastic change, they have no plans to do so.
• Tarballs travel independently of an oil slick and are not an indication that the slick itself will travel in the same direction or to the same area. The oil slick still has not reached the beaches of Gulf Shores and Orange Beach and, according to NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) forecasts, is not expected to for at least 72 hours. Forecasts beyond 72 hours are not available.
• According to NOAA, tarballs DO NOT pose a health risk to the average person. However, beachgoers are advised not to pick them up if they encounter any on the beach. Click here to read NOAA’s information about tarballs.
• NOAA is providing daily updates to the closed fishing area, based on changes in the size or direction of the oil slick. To view the most recent map, visit http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov/.
• Although NOAA has closed commercial and recreational fishing in a limited area between the mouth of the Mississippi River and Florida’s Pensacola Bay, there is a large area of the gulf still open. Charter boats are leaving Orange Beach, Gulf Shores & Fort Morgan every day to fish areas up to 25-30 miles out and in our inshore waters.

We would absolutely love to take you out on either one of our boats, the Action CAT or the Emerald Spirit. Either boat can make sure you have the best vacation possible while visiting the beautiful Alabama Gulf Coast. Give us a call and let us give you a memorable vacation you’ll want to return to year after year!

DO NOT BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU SEE ON THE NEWS ABOUT THE OIL SPILL! EVERYTHING ON THE ALABAMA COAST IS JUST FINE! (Or at least it was when we wrote this…now, it’s really, really bad.)

We are tired of the fear-mongering and it has had a direct impact on our clients income which in turn hurts our income because they no longer have a budget to advertise in some cases. One thing that this has taught everyone is that regardless if it’s true or not (in this case it’s not), the fact that someone who has a very loud microphone keeps talking about it (AKA the media), the more tourists don’t want to come visit. There are not dead, oiled birds, dolphins or tuna on our coastline. There are not tar balls washing up that would be any different than any other day at the beach (it’s normal for tar balls to wash up at the beach). And there is no smell of oil in the air. The local media reported that there were tar balls but that they were not confirmed to be caused by the oil spill and that LESS THAN A DOZEN were found. Again, that’s not more than normal. Dead fish? Happens all the time. Is it the chemicals in the water? What makes you think there weren’t already chemicals in the water from boats before the oil spill?

It’s no longer comedic or a joke. We’ve gotten fed up with it and the tone of this article surely is indicative of that. And we’re not the only ones. The Eastern Shore Chamber of Commerce has spoken out against this fallacy of oil covering our beaches and the Gulf Coast being somewhere no one can visit right now too, and we commend them for it:

Originally Posted at: http://www.eschamber.com/bus_news.php?newsitem=357
Friday, May 14, 2010

Dear Friend,

We are urgently working to combat the negative national media message and get the facts out to the United States and the world that the Gulf Coast, including Alabama, is open for business. Our goal is to pass the truth on. Yes, there is an oil spill, is it as bad as they say? You be the judge. At the bottom of this message is a link to information updated daily. It includes reports from NOAA, and daily pictures of the beaches in Baldwin County, Alabama. The beaches of Alabama and the Mobile Bay are very important to us all.. we are all working to be proactive and ready to protect our waterways and natural habitats, WE are committed to keeping you updated with the facts – not the fear factor.

The Eastern Shore Chamber of Commerce
www.eschamber.com

Here are a few facts from that link:

• The Alabama Department of Public Health and Alabama Department of Environmental Management stated that there is no foreseeable need to close beaches and, short of a drastic change, they have no plans to do so.
• Tarballs travel independently of an oil slick and are not an indication that the slick itself will travel in the same direction or to the same area. The oil slick still has not reached the beaches of Gulf Shores and Orange Beach and, according to NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) forecasts, is not expected to for at least 72 hours. Forecasts beyond 72 hours are not available.
• Although NOAA has closed commercial and recreational fishing in a limited area between the mouth of the Mississippi River and Florida’s Pensacola Bay, there is a large area of the gulf still open.
• All appropriate preventative measures, including oil-absorbing booms, are being used along Alabama’s beaches, bays, inlets and sensitive areas in an effort to prevent oil from reaching our shores. Researchers and scientists have indicated that any impact directly on the beaches can potentially be cleaned effectively and fairly quickly.

GO TO THIS LINK FOR PICTURES , MORE INFORMATION AND DAILY UPDATES!:

http://www.gulfshores.com/issues

Darrelyn
Darrelyn J. Bender
President/CEO
Eastern Shore Chamber of Commerce
P.O. Box 310
Daphne, AL 36526
251.621.8222
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What do you do in a case like this? Well, first: Speak out. Comment here. If you don’t think that’s good enough, call WALA, WKRG, or WPMI, The Press Register and the entire conglomerate of sites that run AL.com and NOLA.com and tell them to stop running stories about it. Second: Go share this and blog about it yourself. Third: Tell all of your friends it’s OK to come to the beach and business is still open for EVERYONE. This is a very passive-aggressive move from our own people! Airing headlines that bleed to lead, putting statements and then following up with “inconclusive” facts. Shame on you local media for ruining your own town and our economy!

The South Alabama market cannot take this. This is unjust and it’s all from the media! Speak out and tell them to quit!  AND DON’T LET THEM DISTRACT YOU WITH ANOTHER STORY!! (People won’t stop thinking it’s unsafe to come to the beach until THEY SAY ITS SAFE – which it IS!)

Taylor S. Ripley
CEO – TurkReno, Inc.
PO Box 2361
Daphne, AL. 36526
(251) 279-0278

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It has been a bumpy but exciting ride and TurkReno Inc. is living proof that a business that is client and service oriented can be successful under any market conditions. The company has become one of the most reputable providers of IT services with satisfied clients all over the world. We have risen through the ranks of our competitors and have become the #1 Eastern Shore IT service provider in our area by maintaining and expanding on the excellence we consistently achieve in the projects we undertake in the name of our clients.

We understand that our success hinges on the success of our clients and we know that reliability and dedication are the most the important qualities of any partner. TurkReno’s service packages are designed with you, our client, in mind. Service packages that consist to be a complete, custom solution that is adaptable to any project or requirements. Some of the services we offer include:

• Website Design – Increase your business’ exposure and revenues with a custom designed website created by talented and certified professionals. With the added support of our complete web development solutions, we can create any solution that works.
• Website Hosting – A reliable and fast service to house your website – second to none in this area guaranteed;
• Print Advertising – A good advertising campaign targets your potential customers through numerous channels and one efficient and effective way is by using our print advertising service. We can provide you with any type of printing or publication that you may need, be it 1000 business cards or 1,000,000 flyers, we can take care of it;
• Computer and Server Repair – Our licensed, certified and experienced technicians will keep your company running and efficient by taking care of all your IT maintenance needs;
• E-commerce Web Site Design – Let us design your custom e-commerce website so your products can reach the whole world. Increase your sales by being available to potential customers 24/7.

We, at TurkReno Incorporated, believe in growth and innovation, which has positioned us as an industry leader. We are constantly expanding our range of services to provide the best and most complete solutions to our clients in Daphne, Spanish Fort, Fairhope, Point Clear, Foley, Orange Beach, Bay Minette, Gulf Shores, and Mobile, Alabama.

We celebrate one year of existence, growth and progress; of creating hundreds of successful websites for businesses worldwide; of undertaking amazing projects and consistently delivering results. We celebrate one year of creating a family of clients that will withstand the tests of time and the harshest market conditions under our wings. We know not what the future may bring, but we are confident that the only way for us to move forward is together as partners.

Most importantly, we want to thank each of our loyal clients and customers who have helped us become who we are today. Without you, we would not be here and our services would not be needed. Thank you so very much. We look forward to several more years to come, providing you each with outstanding and service that is superior to no other IT company in this region.

Cordially Yours,

Taylor S. Ripley

President and Chief Technology Consultant

TurkReno, Inc.

Over the past few months, we at TurkReno have had a wonderful time supporting our clients and meeting new clients providing professional services such as Website Design, Website and E-mail Hosting, and Search Optimization from both the aspects of Social Networks and Natural Organic Searches. From a recent statement by Taylor S. Ripley, Owner of TurkReno, he gave the following information:

“To our existing clients: Thank you several times over. Without people and businesses like you, we would not exist and we owe it all to you.” He later moved to say that (the clients) should “Continue to rest at ease as you have from the beginning of your service” and that “Your continued support and requests have been or are being completed with one-hundred percent of our ability. As always, we look forward to how we can use the latest trusted and stable technology to serve your needs.”

“To our new and potential clients: If you’re not with us, we offer our website for you to review in consideration of becoming one of our clients. We have expanded our portfolio three times over since we began November of 2008 and continue to have room for any and all additional clientele. Our deployment strategy for the Mobile Bay area was solid and we have continued to be prosperous since our initial launch. We offer Web Design services which consist of basic HTML or CSS designs, to completely dynamic Content Management Systems that are scalable enough to operate as social networks or ecommerce platforms. Our servers are connected to seven ISP Backbones: AT&T, Cogent, Global Crossing, Level3, Savvis, Abovenet, Comcast, and Verio. Wherever you are, we are too.”

In regards to Search Optimization, Mr. Ripley commented that: “We can easily show you how to aggressively take over any natural and organic search result terms with very little money or investment. Our methods are tried, tested, and proven ‘white-hat’ techniques that work one-hundred percent of the time since they are based off of International Website Design Standards. We are also prepared to help you embark or further your journey on services such as Twitter, Digg, Mixx, Facebook, and MySpace as well as help you get listed in key local directories.”

Mr. Ripley later went on to say: “The TurkReno Content Network, comprised of every client hosted by TurkReno, has a wide variety of media including Advertising Agencies, Fine Clothiers, Detective Agencies, Corporate, Legal Counsel, Adventure and Sports, City-Wide Directories, Unique Handcrafted Goods Sales, and other Basic Informational websites.”

“We want your business and want to offer you the chance to let us serve you with one free month of hosting. This is a limited time offer and a hosting contract is required to continue to use our hosting after the first 30 days. All sites are subject to content approval and our Terms of Service. All that you need to do to take advantage of this offer is contact us via our website and mention code ‘HOST-RENO’ and we will take care of your needs from there.”

At TurkReno, we don’t just make impressive websites, we create solutions that work. Contact us today via our website, http://www.turkreno.com, via telephone at (251) 279-0278, or via our contact form at http://www.turkreno.com/contact-turkreno.html. TurkReno, Incorporated, is based in Daphne, Alabama and services the surrounding Baldwin County cities: Fairhope, Spanish Fort, Foley, Elberta, Orange Beach, Silverhill, Robertsdale, Gulf Shores, Point Clear, Bay Minette, and parts of Rural Baldwin County. Our website hosting and website design service is available internationally.

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