ZennieAbraham.com Vlogger Zennie62Media CEO : Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Meet Broke Ass Stuart of San Francisco

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Short on money? Trying to figure out how to make it in New York or San Francisco after having just lost your job? Want to find the best pizza slice for cheap? That's where Broke Ass Stuart comes in. I met him a while back when he was just getting his business going and now its become something of a small success, and he a micro-celebrity. But one thing's clear..

He's got a great idea.

"Who are we?" He asks. Then Stuart provides this manifesto:

We write for busboys, poets, social workers, students, artists, musicians, magicians, mathematicians, maniacs, yodelers and everyone else out there who wants to enjoy life not as a rich person, but as a real person. Namely, we write for you.

The website is geared toward living the cheap life. It has tips on everything from shopping to dating. For example, Stuart's section on "sex and dating" has the quirky perspective of a set of writers who've seen one too many off-the-wall dates.

There's "What Your Girl’s Male Celebrity Crushes Say About Them", next to What Your Dude’s Female Celebrity Crushes Say About Them, and both by Anna G, since no male Broke Ass writer has bothered (or is it dared) to take on the task of speaking up for the men of the Bay Area.

Then we have "Dating and Life Lessons from Mad Men’s Peggy Olson" and creatively presented by (again) AnnaG, who instructs women to...

Sleep with someone younger just for shits & giggles

Though you don’t have to act like an Ann Margaret-25-year-old-acting-like-a-14-year-old to do it, but generally, more often than not, it’s a totally fantastic idea to go to a bar, pick up a younger, hot dude and have a one-night stand on your own terms. Mention that you work on Madison Avenue if he wants to find you.

As you can see this is almost all in fun. The San Francisco section of the website lists events you can attend for free, or for a wee fee where noted.

Finally Stuart, who calls himself "The Editor in Cheap" features the "Broke Ass Of The Week", featuring Jesika Gorton as this week's winner. Who knows? Next week it could be you -- if we avoid the Tsunami. (Well, you, not me. I'm in Georgia.)

In all, "Broke Ass Stuart's goddamn website" is a fun take with some really good ideas for things-to-do roped in.

Spot.us - The future of American Journalism

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Spot.us is a San Francisco Bay Area-based, unique approach to the problem facing American Journalism: money. It's founder and now my friend David Cohn created the company to solve the problem of how to fund the work on an investigative journalist. After starting in a bootstrapped fashion, Dave received a good grant from the Knight Foundation to grow his media business.

What Spot.us does is act as a kind of clearing house for story ideas and their authors. One can go to the site and bid on whatever reporters concept is posted. Reporters can use it to raise money for their story project or projects.

At first there were only a handful of stories and video pitches at the site; now there are well over 200 of them by website count. That number reflects both the dire financial straights of journalism, especially in California, where Spot.us' stories are concentrated. But it also shows that there is money out there for those who have a story others feel is worthy of funding.

The base pledge level is $20 and many of the stories in "seeking funding" status have raised hundreds, and in some cases thousands, of dollars. No, one can't consistently make their monthly rent from Spot.us but the service, coupled with other online-generated income, could give a savvy reporter a decent living, even in the Bay Area. Moreover, the reporter would be covering stories they value and not someone's media company.

One example of a story in search of money is a project on Google, called "Questions of Privacy Around Google Book Search." Eric Klien, the reporter who works for KPFA in Berkeley, writes:

Google's bid to digitize millions of books, to be searched, read and purchased online has drawn fire from the publishing industry. Less well known are the serious concerns of privacy advocates that the project represents...A coalition of authors and publishers – including best-sellers Michael Chabon and Jonathan Lethem is urging a federal judge to reject the proposed settlement in a lawsuit over Google Book Search, arguing that the sweeping agreement to digitize millions of books ignores critical privacy and speech rights for readers and writers. The group filed an objection to the settlement Septemeber 8....I plan to explain this somewhat geeky, internet privacy issue as compelling radio story, with passionate and intelligent voices.

As of this writing Klein has raised $180 of the $280 he needs to get started.

Spot.us needs a widget for blogs

One app that would really make a difference for this organization is a widget that posts the stories and allows one to bid on them without having to visit the site. That way viewers can come to Zennie62.com and bid on the stories. Seriously. Such a widget would extend Spot.us' reach and gain more money for the journalists who use it.

I think the future of Spot.us is a bright one, but I have to admit it opens the door to questions of "who funded what story and why." But frankly ad revenues have always held major away over what gets published or what newspaper is allowed to survive, so I suppose that's nothing really new.

Today, website and video traffic determine what becomes news just as much as ad revenues, so the more things change, the more they stay the same.

AFC South Wrap Up Week 3

AFC South Wrap Up Week 3

By Rafael Garcia
Sr. Contributing Writer-Football Reporters Online
Southeast Region

New York Jets 24 Tennessee 17
If they thought they could not find another way to lose the Titans were wrong. Once again it was special teams that killed their hopes of win number one this year. They are now 0-3 and history shows that teams that start 0-3 do not make the playoff too often. Rookie Ryan Mouton was back in action and I would bet he wishes he had another week to heal up. He fumbled a kickoff and a punt and the Jets scored touchdowns on both errors. The first one helped put the Jets up 14-0 early and the second put them ahead to stay. Now head coach Jeff Fisher is taking a bunch of questions as to why he kept his faith in the rookie. The secondary is also thinner after Vincent Fuller broke his right arm on a heck of a collision. Quarterback Kerry Collins could not complete a pass in the late stages of the fourth quarter. He has accepted full responsibility for his play but did not get help from his receivers. He was also under a lot of pressure from the Jets defense as they forced him to hurry throws and hit him several times. He finished 15-37 for 170 yards and a quarterback rating of 41.5. Fisher announced that there will be no changes in the lineup despite the 0-3 start. Running back Chris Johnson ran for 97 yards on 22 carries but did not score. They did better on defense this week as they held the Jets to 229 total yards but made rookie Mark Sanchez look good especially on third down. They had four turnovers with the Mouton fumbles and two interceptions by Collins. They are now in a hole that is very hard to get out of in the NFL. They will have to address the return game and maybe get some help in the secondary. During the off season they did not re-sign Chris Carr because they could not promise him time in the secondary and they could sure use him now. There is much work to do if the Titans stand any chance of making the playoffs. It is rare after a 0-3 start but it can be done.

Jacksonville 31 Houston 24
After one of the biggest wins in franchise history last week the Texans were looking to keep that feel good feeling they had. Instead they ran into Maurice Jones-Drew who had a big day. He had his first 100-yard game of the year running for 119 yards and three touchdowns. The Jags ran for 184 and that was the third straight opponent with over 180 yards on the ground against the Texans. It was especially heartbreaking when QB Matt Schaub went 26-35 for 300 yards with three touchdowns and one interception. The touchdowns all came in the first half though and he could not produce after that. But Drew was a one man wrecking crew on this day and the Texans find themselves at 1-2 and back to the drawing board. Houston had there chances to stay in the game and failed to make it count when Chris Brown fumbled the ball at the goal line and the Jags got it back. Another chance happened when Dunta Robinson forced a fumble but the Texans went three and out to blow another opportunity. Mistake after mistake cost them so when in the third quarter LB Brian Cushing had a late hit penalty and it cost the Texans when Jacksonville scored off the penalty. Each team is now 1-2 and two games behind division leader Indianapolis.

Indianapolis 31 Arizona 10
If there were any questions regarding Peyton Manning they were answered Sunday as he went 24-35 for 379 yards and four touchdowns. He appeared to make the right call every time as he moved Indy up and down the filed against a weak Cardinals defense. The Colts gained a total of 505 yards of offense and on defense gave Kurt Warner fits all day long. Indy also got two turnovers deep in their territory to stop Arizona drives. The Colts defense also rebounded against the run allowing only 24 yards on 12 tries to the Cards. The offense is moving crisply behind Manning and the Colts are all alone atop the AFC South at 3-0 with no one in their sights at this time. Looks like the Manning brothers like it in Arizona as Peyton won on his first trip there and brother Eli won the Super Bowl here.

NFC South Week 3 wrap up

NFC South Week 3

By Rafael Garcia
Sr. Contributing Writer-Football Reporters Online
Southeast Region

New England 26 Atlanta 10
It was one of those dreary days in Massachusetts and each team was looking for a 3-0 start. Things turned out the way of the Patriots as they held the ball for almost 40 minutes. Tom Brady was 25-42 for 277 yards and a touchdown and Fred Taylor scored once while rushing for 105 yards on 21 carries. Kicker Stephen Gostkowski chipped in with four field goals of his own and the Falcons never threatened. The Patriots defense did a good job of holding down the Falcon running game as Michael Turner got 56 yards and the team had a total of 58 yards on the ground. Still the Pats have to work on finishing a drive to get more points on the board. The have to be more effective in the red zone. Brady was able to cut down on his two game average of 50 passes a game and hand it off to Taylor. The Patriots continue to show faith in running backs that have done their time elsewhere only to come to New England and continue to excel. On the other side of the ball the Falcons offense just didn’t have enough time with the ball. They came in with confidence and were shut down. Matt Ryan could not get on track and finished 17 of 28 for 199 yards but no touchdowns. TE Tony Gonzalez was held to one catch which was one more than the Patriots planned on letting him get. The defense could not stop the Pats until it was too late on the drives that ended up in field goals.

New Orleans 27 Buffalo 7
They came to Orchard Park to see their beloved Bills but they also came to see if Drew Brees was the real deal. What they saw was a Saints defense that held Terrell Owens without a catch and held the Bills without a first down on their last five possessions. Owens was his old self missing an opportunity in the first half when he was wide open down the right sideline. QB Trent Edwards went 20-35 but could only manage 156 yards in the air. The offense could not score so they had to rely on a trick play off a fake field goal to get a touchdown. As for Brees, he ended his streak of 22 straight games with at least 200 yards passing and another of 12 straight games with a touchdown pass. He also fell short of the record for most touchdown passes in the first three games (11) and has nine. The game was not decided until the fourth quarter when running back Pierre Thomas scored twice and John Carney kicked a 35-yard field goal to cap a 17-point barrage. The Saints defense held the Bills to 235 yards of offense and forced them to punt nine times. Now the Saints find themselves at 3-0 on a day where Brees was normal for a day. If they can play with this kind of defensive intensity and Brees can be his usual self the rest of the league will have to take notice of the South front-runners.

New York Giants 24 Tampa Bay 0
Defense was the name of the game here. It told how bad the Bucs offense is as well as their defense. The Giants marched 80 yards on 12 plays capped by a six-yard Brandon Jacobs’s touchdown. The touchdown may not have happened if the Bucs could have held on to one of two interceptions they almost had. They fell behind 14-0 by the half just like they fell behind to Buffalo last week. The offense was horrendous in getting just 86 yards total. Yes, that’s would be under 100 yards of offense. They did not have a first down until late in the third quarter and about 50 of those yards came after Byron Leftwich was pulled. The defense allowed the Giants to kill the clock and score on offense as they had three long drives that ended in touchdowns. Second year backup Josh Johnson replaced Leftwich and at least moved the offense a bit more. Leftwich finished a miserable day going 7-16 for 22 yards. The Bucs are bad and they know it. Head coach Raheem Morris is going to have to make some major changes and now.

Dallas 21 Carolina 7
The second game at the Taj McJerry went a little better for the Cowboys. The defense came through with turnovers and big plays. They kept Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme struggling as he threw two more interceptions. DeAngelo Williams could not come through getting only 64 ineffective yards on just 11 carries. Delhomme’s bad luck continued when Terrence Newman picked him off and ran it back 27 yards for the score in the fourth quarter. He was also sacked twice in the quarter as well. Newman had a great day as he shadowed Carolina star receiver Steve Smith all game long. Smith managed just 38 yards on four catches. They allowed the Cowboys to dominate the line of scrimmage, as Williams could find no room to break one. Still the score was 7-0 Carolina at the half and the Panthers went into the locker room with hope for a better second half. It didn’t work out that way as they got a measly 96 yards of offense and just five more first downs the rest of the way. The Panthers had so many chances to make this a game but they continue to struggle on offense. They are playing without confidence and with no sense of urgency. Delhomme plays as if he has forgotten what got him here. They now sit at 0-3 with nowhere to go but up. Or could it get any worse in Carolina?

Detroit Lions Fan Gone Wild video shows how men can hate women

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This video, called "Detroit Lions Fan Gone Wild", is the most popular video on YouTube today. It's also a massive shame. The video, created Sunday at the Detroit Lions game against the Washington Redskins, and where the Lions won their first game, shows just how men can hate women and in this case get away with it.

Look at the video here:

It shows a woman, a Lions fan by the jersey, and yes drunk and with her female friend, in an argument with another Lions fan who's a man. I can't hear what's being said clearly at first. But what bothers me is the man calls her names like a "dumb b___" and people laugh at her, again all men, one of which also says the same thing to her.

Ugly.

Then the police show up and even as they're talking, the man still makes offensive comments to her and the police end up taking her off in handcuffs.

Publicly drunk? Yes? But hey the guy was out of line for talking to a woman like that. In fact, all of the men were.

Is this where we've come to as a society? Where there are no gentleman and its ok to treat a woman like that? I believe had the man stopped talking to her in the abusive way he was, she would have calmed down. But he kept egging her on.

What do you think?

Take my poll below:

More fun polls on pollsb.com

"Detroit Lions Fan Gone Wild" video shows how men can hate women

Miley Cirus has a big appetite she posts on Twitter. Miley cut the junk!

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I normally get updates on celebrity tweets, but pop star Miley Cyrus' tweets have presented a huge appetite of late. So much so I wonder how she's going to maintain the figure she presented at the Teen Choice Awards?

This one:

Check this out from Miley Cyrus Twitter page:

Just ate bbq chicken, 8 cali rolls, a frosty, and fries. Ughhh Use your imagination.about 13 hours ago from UberTwitter

Just ate WAY to much cheesecake. On that note... Goodnight everyone.1:24 AM Sep 28th from web

I am on tour dancing for 90 minutes straight and some how I am more out of shape than when I started. Hmm.... Catering?6:38 PM Sep 26th from web

i just got a corndog and i liked it7:45 PM Sep 25th from web

Just drank a coke for the first time in a lonnngg time. Tonight should be interesting.7:06 PM Sep 25th from UberTwitter

Mommy look! My face matches my cupcake!!!! :) http://pic.gd/8a65a9 6:29 PM Sep 24th from UberTwitter

Miley's yummy cupcake

Miley, it's not the catering but what you're putting in your body! Let's see, corndog, cheesecake, a frosty and fries, a Coke, and a cupcake! Cut the junk!! Try fruits, salads and veggies (spinach!) and, ok, a really good burger for meat protein.

But Miley you're putting junk in your trunk and after a while people are going to notice the junk in your trunk.

Max Baucus versus health care reform?

After all, he's introduced a bill he says is intended to promote a bi-partisan reform solution. Nobody except the few who reap enormous profits thinks we can leave the situation "as-is." We know costs are sky-rocketing. We know the insured end up paying for the uninsured when they show up at the ER, and that the bankruptcies triggered by medical bills aren't some "magic wand" solution that has no consequences for the people who don't get paid what they're owed. But Senator Baucus may be talking out of both sides of his mouth.

Following the success of Barack Obama's election to the White House, here's what Max Baucus said:

"In 2009, Congress must take up and act on meaningful health reform legislation that achieves coverage for every American while also addressing the underlying problems in our health system. The urgency of this task has become undeniable."

~Senator Max Baucus, (D-MT)
Chairman, Senate Finance Committee
12 November 2008

Insurance actuaries and CEOs know, for example, that the number of elderly Americans is on the rise, and that their health care is costly - but the solutions haven't been coming from their industry. Are they competing to find and provide solutions?

So, what do you think this powerful chairman of the Senate Finance Committe really hopes to do?

The number of uninsured has steadily increased; the profits of the insurance companies have, too. The profit motive works for a lot of things, but it's not the right model for delivering health care, let alone health care payments.

Phoenix a "hell hole"? Arizona capitol was a great Super Bowl host!

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I just read where Republican Arizona Governor Jan Brewer let slip a comment that the state's capital, Phoenix, was a "hell hole".

I really beg to differ.

I attended the 2008 Super Bowl where Phoenix was the host city and I had a really great time. The fun started on the flight to Phoenix from Oakland:

Where I got a good look at the Phoenix metro area, which looked pretty inviting to me. I'd never seen so many homes with pools and palm trees from above!

And sports agent Leigh Steinberg held a kick-ass party:

Ok, it's the SUPER BOWL, but just because a city had it doesn't mean it was the best host, ok? For example in Detroit, which hosted the 2005 Super Bowl (Pittsburgh Steelers versus Seattle Seahawks), the downtown was well-planned but none of the extra police officers knew their way around.

So when it came to getting directions, forget it. The first words out of their mouths were "I'm not from here." Ok. So what are you doing working the Super Bowl I asked? While the parties there were fun, Detroit's weather and ill-informed police officers made getting around a horrible effort.

Phoenix did a great job by contrast. Ok, it's obvious the city needs more downtown development but it's also evident the municipality is making moves to clear that problem.

Arizona's governor could try and help Phoenix rather than tossing insults at a city she represents as an elected official, and that at least tries to improve itself with events like the Super Bowl.

British govt. promotes sex, orgasm; so does Canada!

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I just saw this and had to share it! LOL! Apparently the British Government was on to something when it created a plan to have a "pleasure based" sex education program, even if the target market was too young. Here's my vlog on that:

Now Lianne George reports that a woman-focused sex shop called "Good For Her’s" founder, Carlyle Jansen has gotten calls from local Toronto high school teachers.

Apparently sex-ed in Canadian schools is just thrown off to the math or phys-ed teacher and not to anyone trained to teach it or appropriately talk about it.

That's where Jansen comes in. George writes:

In her workshops, Jansen urges teens to ask about anything and everything, from masturbation, gender identity and same-sex feelings to sex toys (which they keep on hand in case the subject comes up), why people like oral sex, and why that particular act should go both ways. She encourages them to role play in order to learn how to broach difficult conversations. For instance, how do you raise the subject of condoms in the heat of the moment?

While in the British case bringing such education to small kids was inappropriate, it reads that with high schoolers, the Canadian teachers taking this path are doing a lot of good. Sex. Ed.

But I've got to wonder what's up with sex-ed in American schools? Given the stories I've heard, we're not teaching it so well either! If you have any view or story, send an email (forget the comments section on any of my blogs - it will just get lost there!)