Greg Harland Interview - Oakland Mayor's Race

On Monday, Greg Harland, a candidate in the Oakland Mayor's Race, was kind enough to open his Oakland Hills home to talk about why he's running for Mayor of Oakland and his view of how Oakland needs to be changed. The full 23 minute interview is on video above; what's presented are some highlights of our discussion. Again, the style of this blogger is to give a candidate a platform, not to attack them.

Greg Harland is a mild, smooth, white, bespectacled business man who grew up in Oakland, California for most of his life, since 7 years of age. Harland graduated from Oakland High School, class of 1964. He lost his father, a pilot on the USS Yorktown, in a crash at Alameda Naval Air Station when he was a boy. Harland grew up from hard times that he's reluctant to openly talk about, to, with the help of friends, the business entrepreneur he is today.

Why run for Mayor of Oakland?

Harland got the idea to run for Mayor of Oakland while sitting at the dining room table talking to a friend. He said "I wish I could run for Mayor of Oakland," and the idea grew from there. Eventually, his wife, who resisted the idea, slowly came around to supporting his desire to run.

Harland mentioned that Don Perata being the front runner in the Mayor's Race at first scared him into the idea of not running, then after some sleep that night, he woke up and changed his mind.

Harland wants to change Oakland

"From the time that I first came here, Oakland really hasn't changed a lot. Three things remain constant: there's always been high unemployment, high crime, and we've never had a full staffed police force. Those are three things that I really want to change."

Harland says Oakland has to start with a balanced budget, which he believes can be done by decreasing "police and fire compensation." Harland wants to renegotiate contracts with police and fire down to a level that's "healthy" for the sustainable future. Harland, who lives not far from California Governor Candidate Jerry Brown, says Oakland pays its police officers at rates higher than cities like Los Angeles.

Hardland says decreasing the unemployment rate can be done by "bringing jobs to Oakland" and points to the Enterprize Zone program as a "valuable tool" to do that.

The Enterprize Zone is a program established 20 years ago in Oakland and has various tax reduction programs designed to encourage manufacturers to build facilities in Oakland. It's a program that goes back to the time I was an intern with the Oakland Redevelopment Agency, and another Oakland Economic Development staffer, Heather Hensley, worked on the establishment of Oakland's Enterprize zone.

Greg Harland says Oakland can draw solar energy business to Oakland using the Enterprize Zone and claims Oakland lost 5,000 jobs to "companies that wanted to come here" but were not sold on Oakland using programs like the Enterprise Zone.

Harland paints a picture of people who have "chronically" used Oakland's resources without paying back in tax revenue. Harland says this has been a problem, or "these people" since he has lived in Oakland. Harland thinks bringing more jobs to Oakland that they can do is a way to solve that problem.

What Harland has learned about Oakland

A person running for any office in Oakland learns something about the City they didn't know before. In Harland's case he says it was how "dysfunctional" Oakland's City Hall was. "It just seems crazy. I don't know what they are doing or what they are thinking about."

"I think the citizens are ready for a change," Harland says. His campaign slogan? "Restoring the city to the people."

Greg Harland's website is at Harland4Mayor.com

Dog lovers versus cat lovers: does your preference reveal your personality?

Most of us recognize the most divisive issues in America today are racial, cultural, political, religious, financial, and gender related, amongst others. Yet in spite of the ever widening differences among us, isn't it ironic that we will vehemently describe ourself as either a 'dog person' or a 'cat person'? Or perhaps you're neither, but certainly you've developed opinions about what these seemingly polarizing preferences reveal about a person's personality.

Dog people, for example, are truly puzzled by a cat person's affinity for an animal that provides seemingly little open affection or cooperation. They question the value of a pet that resists performing the sorts of tricks that dogs do, and appears aloof or opportunistic at best, towards their owners. And though most dog lovers will recognize cats as lower maintenance pets, they question the value of an animal that will silently sneak up behind you, lash out at you unprovoked, and never, ever, risk their own lives for their owner the way a faithful dog might.

Cat people, on the other hand, scoff at a dog's blind devotion to their owners. They see the eager willingness of a dog's obedience as a sign of inferior intelligence to a cat's clever independence. To a cat person, dogs are desperate for attention of any kind, are willing to beg shamelessly, and are too easily willing to forgive human transgressions. They know a cat's affinity for their owner is earned, since it is not instinctual, unlike a dog's need for social contact.

So that said, which do you prefer, and why? For the first time, recent research on this topic (see article reposted below) reveals personality traits that are common amongst dog people and cat people. (If it isn't clear to you already, this author is a self-proclaimed cat person.)


Research Shows Personality Differences Between Cat and Dog People


AUSTIN, Texas — There really is a difference between "dog people" and "cat people," according to new research from a University of Texas at Austin psychologist.

In a paper to be published later this year in the journal Anthrozoös, Sam Gosling finds that those who define themselves as "dog people" are more extraverted, more agreeable and more conscientious than self-described "cat people."

Fans of felines, on the other hand, are more neurotic but also more open than their canine-loving counterparts.

"There is a widely held cultural belief that the pet species—dog or cat—with which a person has the strongest affinity says something about the individual's personality," says Gosling, who conducted the study with graduate student Carson Sandy.

Yet numerous studies that have tried to tackle this question in the past have failed to find convincing evidence for consistent differences between the two kinds of pet lovers. Gosling's paper is the first to provide a clear portrait of what cat and dog people tend to be like.

"This research suggests there are significant differences on major personality traits between dog people and cat people," he says. "Given the tight psychological connections between people and their pets, it is likely that the differences between dogs and cats may be suited to different human personalities."

As part of the research, 4,565 volunteers were asked whether they were dog people, cat people, neither or both. The same group was given a 44-item assessment that measured them on the so-called Big Five personality dimensions psychologists often use to study personalities.

According to the findings:

* Forty-six percent of respondents described themselves as dog people, while 12 percent said they were cat people. Almost 28 percent said they were both and 15 percent said they were neither.
* Dog people were generally about 15 percent more extraverted, 13 percent more agreeable and 11 percent more conscientious than cat people.
* Cat people were generally about 12 percent more neurotic and 11 percent more open than dog people.


This article was respectfully published by Dr. Christina Villarreal, clinical psychologist in private practice in Oakland, CA

Gosling, a professor in the Psychology Department, is a leading authority on human personality. He is the author of "Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You" and recently made international headlines with his findings that people's Facebook pages reveal their true personalities, not their idealized personalities.

For more information, contact: Gary Susswein, College of Liberal Arts, 512 471 4945; Sam Gosling, 512-471-1628.

Tila Tequila's Army Will Put Hitler's Army to Shame with the help of God -- by Nikky Raney

My friend Andrea and I have made a youtube vlog entry that will explain the headline.

Tila claiming she will outdo Hitler's army. Tila's claims of Rihanna and Katy Perry signing their souls to the devil. Defamation and lies. Tila and her blasphemy. And the fact that we don't hate Tila. So watch it, it's seriously entertaining & worth the watch.

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Keep up with my Future of Journalism blog.

Also posted HERE

Tech News: E3, Microsoft, XBox 360, Call Of Duty, Gears Of War, Kinect, etc. - John Draper

Microsoft kicked off their press conference at this year's E3 with a demo of Call Of Duty: Black Ops.

Mark Lamia, Studio Head of Treyarch, took the stage to show the game play demo of the new Call Of Duty game.  He begins the demo crawling through tunnels burrowed in the ground, climbing over the dead bodies of fellow soldiers hacked to pieces.  Following his partner through the tunnels, he turns the corner to see his leader stabbed in the throat by an enemy.  Then he emerges in an underground bunker where he is surrounded by the opposition.  The screen fades to white.  New scene:  His character finds an enemy camp in the jungle.  There is a firefight.  He then climbs into a helicopter.  An NPC (non-playable character) takes the controls and gets the chopper off the ground, then lets the player take over.  He flies through a lush green river valley, shooting down enemies and blowing up enemy bases.

The game looked fantastic.  Fast paced, great graphics, and very captivating.  Call Of Duty: Black Ops will be released November 9th of this year.  Here's the official trailer:



Don Mattrick, Senior Vice President of Interactive Entertainment at Microsoft announced a new agreement between Microsoft and Activision which will make all Call Of Duty add-ons and map hacks available on XBox 360 first now through 2012.

Kojima Productions then came out to announce Metal Gear Solid Rising, which focuses more on precision swordsmanship.  It's a new direction for the Metal Gear franchise, which previously was more gun-oriented.  Trailer:



Then came the demo of Gears Of War 3.  Cliff Bleszinski, Design Director at Epic Games, came out with some colleagues to show off the 4-player story-based co-op mode (I like to call it "hyphen mode" for short :P).  There were laser beams shooting down from the sky and giant snake/tree things popping out of the ground and giving birth to monsters.  It was amazing!  Bleszinski also said this Gears iteration would introduce a new game play mode which he called "beast." This is Beast Mode:



This was followed by a trailer for the mediocre-looking Fable 3.

Then a trailer for an XBox exclusive title from Crytek called Codename Kingdoms, which looked kind of like a video game version of "Spartacus: Blood and Sand."

After that Creative Director of Bungie, Marcus Lehto, emerged to introduce Halo: Reach.  This game looks great.  Spectacular graphics.  The screen was filled with crisp, clear, detailed images.  Not to mention *geek moment* SPACE BATTLES!

This is a clip from G4TV where Bungie shows off a game play demo of the new Halo:



ESPN announced an agreement with Microsoft to make over 3500 live and on-demand sports events available to XBox Live Gold members free of charge.  Some of the sports available will include college football, college basketball, NBA, MLB, and soccer.

Then came probably the biggest announcement Microsoft had up their sleeve, and the main focus of the rest of the conference:  XBox Kinect.

Previously code named "Project Natal," Kinect is a sleek receiver that hooks up to your XBox 360, circumventing the need for controllers.  XBox Live Corporate Vice President Marc Whitten said of Kinect, "This is what happens when technology gets out of your way."

Kinect responds to gestures and voice commands.  When watching videos or listening to music, a user has to simply say things like "XBox, play music" or "XBox, stop" to control playback functions.

Another feature will be VideoKinect, which is XBox Live's version of video phone.  You'll be able to have a live video chat with others on XBox Live or Windows Live Messenger.  You can watch videos together, and the camera automatically tracks your movement so you can walk around the room and remain on screen.  A built in microphone eliminates the need for a headphone.

The games that will ship with Kinect are:

Kinectimals-
Basically Tamagachi in HD.  In the demo a young girl played with a tiger cub named Skittles.  The cub interacted with her petting and commands to do tricks.  When she hid behind a podium, the cub looked around for her.  Cute but pointless.  Kids will love it.

Kinect Sports-
More interactive than WII Sports.  You actually use your whole body to play.  No mats, no controllers.

Kinect Joy Ride-
Cart racing and stunts.  Looks fun.

Kinect Adventures-
This one looks fun too.  Your character stands on a platform or float on what looks like a roller coaster and you jump, duck and dodge to avoid obstacles and move the platform.  The game takes photos and videos of you in action which you can post to the web.

Other games that will be available at launch time are YourShape: Fitness Evolved which is a full-body workout game and Harmonix Dance Central - a high energy full-body choreography game.

Kinect launches in North America on November 4th of this year.

Next was a preview of Star Wars for Kinect, which looks great, and is due out next year.

Then Bill Gies and Dan Greenawalt of Turn 10 Studios introduced Forza Motorsports for Kinect, which is also due in 2011.

Finally, the new XBox 360 Slim was unveiled.  It's smaller, sleeker design holds a highly amped-up CPU inside.  View the full specs here.

IGN shows you the new XBox 360:



To wrap things up, and this is one major reason I wished I could be there, Microsoft gave a new XBox 360 Slim to everyone in the audience.


That's all for Microsoft's press conference.  Stay tuned, because tomorrow I'll summarize the press conferences from Nintendo and Sony.

Chris Klein of American Pie arrested on DUI

Chris Klein

Pop Culture cult movie American Pie Star Chris Klein was arrested for DUI today, Wednesday morning. According to TMZ.com, Klein was found with almost three times the legal limit of alcohol in his system. Klein has his second DUI arrest in six years.

Chris Klein was traveling on the 101 Freeway at 3:13 AM PDT. TMZ reports California Highway Patrol Officers "observed (Klein) weaving from the #3 lane into the #2 and #4 lane westbound US 101 at Woodman Ave."

In other words, Klein was really toasted.

No "big hit role" since American Pie

Chris Klein's visibility as an actor surfaced with the surprising popularity of American Pie after it's release in 1991. Klein played a high school lacrosse player who falls for Mena Suvari's character in the high school coming-of-age flick.

Since American Pie, Klein's landed steady work, but no "big hit" film roles. That could change if and when Sam is released, but it's in the pre-production stage as of this writing. Sam is about "An alpha New York City male is magically transformed into a beautiful girl, falls in love with his best buddy, and learns what it means to be a woman."

Here's Chris Klein talking about his character "Oz" and playing in American Pie:



Klein's bail was set at $25,000.

NJ (New Jersey) State Trooper Shot; committed suicide

Scott Graham, a New Jersey State Trooper was found shot dead on the side of an exit ramp from the Garden State Parkway at 7:30 AM Wednesday according to multiple sources. Graham reportedly died of a self-inflicted gun shot wound and was pronounced dead on the scene.

The 35-year old NJ Trooper Graham was found in a marked New Jersey State Trooper police car. Graham was a 10-year veteran on the New Jersey State Police force.

New Jersey Attorney General Paula Dow was escorted to the scene, but did not issue a statement to the press as of this writing.

NJ State Trooper Scott Graham's death comes less than two weeks after a another New Jersey State Trooper was struck and killed by a passing car as he was helping in a search for two people believed to have abandoned a vehicle.

Seattle cop punches black woman; another Seattle police race issue

In 2010 Seattle Police now have not one but two separate incidents of racism. The first one occurred on May 7th, as Seattle Police officer Shandy Cobane was captured on video kicking and innocent Latino man in the face on April 17th and saying "I'm going to beat the Mexican piss out of you, homey. You feel me?" Here's the video:



Cobane gave a tearful apology after his actions were publicly shown. Seattle's Latino community called the action "outrageously racist."

Now, another Seattle Police officer is caught on video, this time Officer Ian P. Walsh is hitting a black woman, 19-year-old Marilyn Levias, in the face with a clinched fist in the process of trying to arrest her. Moreover, the officer was yanking and pulling her clothes nearly off. He didn't need to do all of that; he was investigating a - get this - jaywalking stop.

A jaywalking stop. Seattle Police cop Ian P. Walsh punched a black woman over a jaywalking stop. Here's that video and I warn you, it's more graphic than the other one:

To anyone who sees this and immediately rushes to defend the Seattle cop, remember that just because someone in authority does something does not make their actions correct. This was wrong, and all for a jaywalking ticket according to The New York Daily News.

Racism still exists. This corner would bet $1,000 that Seattle cop would not have punched a white, blonde college woman, let alone stop her regarding a jaywalking claim. Moreover, the Seattle Police are backing Officer Walsh's actions over a jaywalking ticket. Does Seattle need money so badly it's willing to let its police officers beat up and arrest black women over jaywalking ticket claims?

Stupid. Just stupid. And damn racist, too.