Monday, August 09, 2010

Ramon Ayala out of jail, rushed to hospital

U.S. Musician Ramon Ayala, in jail since December 11, 2009 for alleged ties and actions with organized crime, and committing money laundering activities, was released from jail Monday and taken to the hospital.

King of The Accordion.

Ramon Ayala is called the King of The Accordion. Ayala's been in 13 movies, won a Grammy four times, and recorded 105 albums, but for all of that, is still known as a person with a big heart who gives an annual Christmas party at his home in "Rinconcito en el Cielo" (or "A Rinconcito or corner or nook in the sky") located in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas.


Ramon Ayala is the victim of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, nothing more. He was arrested during a raid and while playing for what turned out to be a member of a drug cartel in Tepoztlan, Mexico.

Reportedly, for Ramon Ayala, as with most musicians, a gig is a gig. Ayala did not know his customers were drug runners.

Released for Medical Reasons

Ramon Ayala was released from prison due to undisclosed health problems, and returned to the United States.
Enhanced by Zemanta

Jim Edmonds traded from Brewers to Reds

MARYVALE, AZ - MARCH 01:  (EDITORS NOTE: THIS ...Image by Getty Images via @daylife
Jim Edmonds 
Jim Edmonds, considered trade material after turning 40 years old and even though he's turned in good numbers batting .286 and playing center field, was traded from the Milwaukee Brewers to the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for 28-year old Chris Dickerson.

The Milwaukee Brewers get the younger Chris Dickerson and think he can contribute, even though he's missed much of the season due to hand injury.

Dickerson's "On-base Plus Slugging" or OPS percentage is .789 and was .853 in AAA ball; a rate over .900 is considered the range for elite players.

The Reds reportedly think Jim Edmonds's experience can help them more than Dickerson's athleticism.

Will Tron Legacy be the 2001: A Space Odyssey of the 21st Century?



Tron LegacyImage via Wikipedia
Post the Comic-Con 2010 trailer introduction, and the sound that Ain't It Cool News' Harry Knowles said "shook his balls," Disney's Tron Legacy is rocking the Sci-Fi and fantasy world. Fans - the term "Fanboy" is banned in this space because it implies an immature group - are searching for and consuming any content related to the December 17th 2010-release of what looks to be a classic. And that raises this question: will Will Tron Legacy be the 2001: A Space Odyssey of the 21st Century?

2001: A Space Odyssey was not just the first movie to effectively give an idea of what it would be like to live and work in space, it was also a colorful, confusing mental trip. It was the focus of books and websites on its meaning and to this day commands the attention of a new generation of science fiction fans. The bet here is that the stylistic Tron could have almost the same impact, but not quite there.

The reason is where 2001: A Space Odyssey was grounded in a possible reality, Tron and Tron Legacy are part of a fantasy World that no one knows really exists at all. Who knows what it means to be digitized? Do you live? But even with that, Tron presents a World detailed enough for fans to want to learn more about.

While it may not reach the status of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Tron Legacy will come close. That's the prediction here.

Oakland Mayor's Race: Rebecca Kaplan interview first take



Last week, Friday morning, Oakland Councilmember (At-Large) and Oakland Mayor's Race candidate Rebecca Kaplan met this video-blogger at an appropriately Oakland location, The Merritt Cafe and Bakery.

There, we were warmly greeted by Merritt Bakery Owner Charles Griffith, and sat down to a brunch of excellent chicken and waffles for Kaplan, and eggs, corned beef and hash for this video-blogger.

Rebecca KaplanImage by spotreporting via Flickr
Rebecca Kaplan at The Oscar Grant Protest

This is not the full blog about the interview, but an introduction. Kaplan and I talked about the issue of earlier this year and got that out of the way off camera.

On camera, we talked about the impact of the Federal Court decision to declare Proposition 8 (or Prop 8) unconstitutional, Kaplan's take on Oakland's police cost problem, how the Oakland Mayor's Race was going for her, and how she would handle a range of issues if she was elected Mayor of Oakland.

Thus far, Oakland Mayor's Race competitors Don Macleay, Don Perata, Councilmember Jean Quan, Greg Harland, Terrance Candell, Joe Tuman (two inteviews; one has appeared) and Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan have been interviewed on video for this space.  That's seven of the nine candidates with just Orlando Johnson and Larry Lionel Young Jr., a new comer, remaining.

But of all Oakland Mayor's Race candidates, only Terrance Candell and Larry Lionel Young Jr. have filed papers officially establishing his intention to run for Mayor of Oakland, according to The Oakland Tribune.  Why Councilmember's Kaplan and Quan failed to file early is a question, as is the case for the other candidates.  It sends a weak message of true interest in being Mayor of Oakland.

And on that note, Larry Lionel Young Jr. needs to get his campaign act together. Young has no search-visible website or blog post and other than newspaper mentions including (now) this space, and a YouTube-posted video of a home he's trying to sell where the video title mentions that he's running for mayor, has only issued a one-sheet a the last Oakland Mayor's Race candidates forum.

Larry Lionel Young Jr. must stop treating the run for Mayor of Oakland as an afterthought, and demonstrate some real interest in it by having some "online marker" about himself and how to contact him via email. Otherwise, the Internet void Young created for himself will be filled by someone else.

Stay tuned.

GSI Commerce losses become Internet news after Undercover Boss

Image representing GSI Commerce as depicted in...Image via CrunchBase
GSI Commerce, a company you may have never heard of, has risen to the very top of Internet search trends because its boss appeared on the TV show Undercover Boss.

 The TV exposure revealed some unfortunate news. According to The Wall Street Journal, GSI Commerce, which develops develops and operates e-commerce sporting goods businesses for retailers and other organizations stock shares dropped 5.8 percent after news of its losses.

Before Monday's news, GSI Commerce enjoyed stock gains of 65 percent over the past year. But GSI Commerce also posted overall losses in seven of its nine last quarters. Most recently it lost $25 million or about 41 cents a share and that was up from a $13 million loss or 27 cents a year before.

But for all of this, why is the GSI news number one on Google Trends, and without any one region dominating the search? Because its boss went on the TV show Undercover Boss. GSI Commerce President Michael Rubin appeared on the show, then told Leader Telegram Review he now requires corporate managers to spend time at their call centers.

But will that stem GSI Commerce losses? Time will tell.

Naomi Campbell perjury? Blood Diamonds Charles Taylor by Suzannah B. Troy




The global world owes Naomi Campbell a great thank you for bringing awareness to the Charles Taylor, an ex-Dictator, oops I meant to say ex-President of Liberia , and alleged war criminal.   It takes a super model to do this even if it is for the wrong reasons and that is an understatement!

If it was not for Charles Taylor sending her a bag of "blood diamonds" most people would not know his name or even be aware of his monstrous acts.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_diamond.  I recommend you take a look at his Wikipedia page but it won't give you enough information on the "blood" aspect of these diamonds but informs you of the Hague taking the amorous Charles Taylor to court for crimes against humanity.  Naomi Campbell never imagined she would be a player in the actual trial and resisted testifying but unlike NYC, USA she couldn't wiggle her way out of this trial.  Too see video footage of Campbell testifying click here.

Leave it to NPR to get right to the heart of the war crimes where almost every article and Wiki page sounds light.

If you have gotten this far and not read the brilliant reporting by NPR you need to stop and read the article.   Zennie has an ad pop up and than you will read the most disturbing interview and a bit of optimism regarding the 1st African Woman President and she replaced Taylor.  Below click on super model and you will see Nelson Mandela with Taylor.  Please explain that photo op to me.


Not that a super model would let crimes against humanity get between her and diamonds and by the way after bragging to anyone who would listen, Naomi was very disappointed at the lack of size and beauty of these baubles but that is not her biggest problem.


Naomi Campbell's biggest problem is that she may have allegedly lied under oath about the diamonds and there is testimony by her former agent as well as Mia Farrow, a very talented actress and humanitarian.   Click on the link for Mia Farrow and you can read her testimony which is straightforward as in Campbell was well aware she was getting a gift of diamonds from Charles Taylor.

If it is proven Campbell perjured herself she is in BIG, BIG trouble, bigger than the Hope Diamond.   She is not in NYC anymore where the rich and connected can get away with almost everything and walk away...Yeah, I have to repeat this sentence because it just galls me.

Even driven by vanity and stupidity, Naomi Campbell has done good because if you were not aware of the monstrous Charles Taylor you are now and hopefully the Naomi Campbell name will make more people around the world aware of what his actual crimes against humanity are.

Campbell was not motivated to bring attention to the horrific abuses to African people by the ex-warlord Charles Taylor who is also said to have  help fund Al Qaeda but she did so she is owed a thank you in a way but she may find herself in the first really deep hole she might not be able to climb out of.

There are better ways to bring attention to the crimes against humanity in Africa and also help make a difference.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt flying to Nimba for Angelina to give birth to the beautiful Shiloh was a front line act. Angelina Jolie said to People Magazine, "We want to tell the world how magnificent this country and the people We love this part of the world."

Sounds like Naomi Campbell if she gets lucky will have a long term community service position to help Africa or she may be heading to jail for perjury. Are super models allowed to go to jail?

Google News now has Zennie62, but still plays news favorites

The great development is that as of August 5th, Zennie62 is on Google News and listed as a blog. This marks the culmination (you can almost hear that assistant coach from American Pie saying "culmination") of over a year of template testing, blogger recruiting, configuration changes,  new blogging techniques, and a whole new media organization, and it's fitting.

It's fitting because the same blog posts this blogger installs at SFGate.com, the website at the San Francisco Chronicle, start at Zennie62.com first. Yet, Google News would treat the SFGate.com version with index priority over the exact same blog version. That's just not right. Both should get the same Google News exposure. And so now that Zennie62.com is on Google News, you'd think that would be the case, right?

It's still not the case. If I post the same content, the SFGate.com version is posted over the Zennie62.com version. I have to make a new blog post about the same subject for both the SFGate.com blog post and the Zennie62.com blog post to appear in the listings. But that's not true for SFGate.com and Bloomberg News, and here's an example to prove it.

In checking the Zennie62.com Google News listing regarding Jodie Fisher and the Mark Hurd Sex Scandal, this blogger cyber stumbled over a dual listing: one post called "Ex-HP Contractor Fisher Says She's "Saddened" by Hurd's Exit" on SFGate.com and Bloomberg.com. What's more, both listings were right next to each other, San Francisco Chronicle over Bloomberg as you can see here:


And that's because SFGate.com and Bloomberg have a content partnership. But there's no "partnership notice" that a publisher must fill out for Google News; this duplicate happened because Google News still irrationally favors news sites over blogs.

The Google response is that an algorithm is responsible for this, but my counter is that the algorithm is a cyber-representation of someone's ideas.

That Zennie62.com is on Google News is a major milestone, but Google News still must replace the "big news website" prejudice that's displayed there from time to time.

Thanks,

Z