Crystal Bowersox and Danny Gokey wow American Idol

After reporting that she was sick with an illness reported to be related to diabetes complications, Crystal Bowersox is now the talk of American Idol and Idol alum Danny Gokey is getting rave reviews for his rendition of "My Best Days Are Ahead of Me."

Thankfully, Crystal Bowersox emerged from her sickness (and was not disqualified) to help Fox' American Idol show draw 23.5 million visitors from 8 to 10 PM Wednesday, leading the Nielsen ratings race for that time slot.

Crystal Bowersox condition threw the entire American Idol show schedule into a state of change. Originally set for Tuesday night, the female singing portion of the show was moved to Wednesday night because of her sickness. Bowersox did not disappoint her fans, turning in an amazing performance.

Danny Gokey released his new, first album My Best Days in this month, March. After his third place performance on the eighth season of American Idol, Danny was signed to no 19 Recordings and RCA Records according to Wikipedia.

Chile, Taiwan, Haiti, Japan - 6-plus earthquakes in the last 48 hours

Chile, Taiwan, Haiti, and Japan all have had 6-plus earthquakes in the last week, with Haiti experiencing a major aftershock after the 7.0 Haiti Earthquake. Whatever is going on, it's now clear to many that the World is experiencing large earthquakes at a greater rate.

The Taiwan Earthquake was 6.4 on the Richer Scale and hit today.



The Taiwan Earthquake was centered in Kaohsiung and 3.1 miles below the ground. The quake disrupted train service and sent pedestrians running into the streets.

As of this writing, there's no claim that the Taiwan Earthquake is related to the giant 8.8 Chile Earthquake or for that matter the quakes in Haiti and Japan. But one element of evidence is obvious and that's the sheer timing of all of these great quakes.

Something is going on.

Stay tuned.

Student protests nationwide brings Internet traffic to a crawl

If you're in the Internet business and rely on traffic for revenue, today's a slow day. If you're wondering what the cause is, it's the millions of students, teachers, and people protesting college tuition increases and budget cuts nationwide. The only way this blogger could make such a determination is via the use of data from GetClicky, which measures traffic for the blog pages at SFGate.com. (And soon to switch from Google Analytics to Get Clicky for Zennie62.com.)

There's no universally known place to get up-to-the-minute Internet usage and visitor information as of this writing. (In other words, something that measures visitors to every website in the World and reports it at once. If someone knows of such a source, please send an email.)

The blog posts written today have appeared in Google Trends and recent posts, like the one on Chealsea King, are indexed on the first page of a search for, in this case, "Chelsea King": it's 8th down in a Google Search as of this writing.

So placement performance is normal. But what's happened is that traffic is down a dramatic 77 percent today, Thursday, over Wednesday. As of this writing there are 6,587 visitors, and 177 are online now. That number of visitors online is an upward trend from the 50 and 60 and in some cases just 40 earlier today, which means Internet usage is slowly returning to normal.

The students and teachers were out in force today. Indeed, with all of the preparation for this weekend, I managed to get out and make video interviews with the protesters in Oakland. They were of all shapes, sizes, and colors, and not all students: teachers and office workers too. Everyone's angry, and they should be. I was told a massive rally was to form at San Francisco's Civic Center, later tonight.

The University of California and really the colleges around the country should be ashamed of the society they've allowed to grow up around them. We spend more on prisons than on education and allowed a quasi-police state to form around us. I hope the students and teachers get out in force online and have any elected official who's voted against education gain a wave of negative blog posts and comments, fund their challengers, and get them booted out of office.

Stay tuned.

Videos show cruise ship hit by wave Wednesday

Related searches: tsunami, tidal wave, earthquakes and oceans, genoa, ship travel, ocean liner, cruise industry news

Two dramatic videos below show a huge wave slamming into a cruise ship called the Louis Majesty. The Louis Majesty was headed for Genoa at the time of the wave hit Wednesday evening in the Mediterranean Sea.

The wave hit occurred off the coast of the North Eastern Calolonia region of Spain. Five people were reported injured and two dead. The Louis Majesty was carrying 1,350 passengers and 580 crew members.

Raw video:



AP video:



The wave was said to have been as high as a three story building.

This blogger also found the video below of a cruise ship being tossed about by large waves. As of this writing it's not known if this is the Louis Majesty.




Stay tuned.

Oscar nominees Jeff Bridges, Sandra Bullock, to present at Academy Awards

Related searches - crazy heart, the blind side, an education, invictus, inglourious basterds, oscar news

Oscar nominees Jeff Bridges and Sandra Bullock join fellow nominees Matt Damon, Anna Kendrick, Carey Mulligan and Quentin Tarantinoto as presenter at the 82nd Annual Academy Awards this Sunday.

Bill Mechanic and Adam Shankman made the announcement today via The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). Carey Mulligan, Sandra Bullock, and Anna Kendrick are first time Oscar nominees. Bullock and Mulligan are competing for the Best Actress Award for their performances in The Blind Side and An Education respectively. Jeff Bridges has earned his fifth nomination, this time for his amazing performance in Crazy Heart. Matt Damon's up for Best Supporting Actor for Invictus - his third time as an Oscar nominee. And the mighty Quentin Tarantinoto is up for Oscars for directing and writing Inglourious Basterds.

This blogger will leave for LA Friday to cover the Oscars from the Night of 100 Stars Party on Sunday, and on Friday and Saturday attend various Oscar-related events, thanks to AMPAS.

Sander Levin replaces Pete Stark and Charles Rangel during ethics investigation

Related searches: ethics investigation, democratic politics, rangel ethics, sander levin chairman, nancy pelosi, bush irag war, new york politics

California Democratic representative Pete Stark had an executive career that must rank as one of the shortest in history. After just one day as Chairman of The House Ways and Means Committee, Pete Stark, who took over for ethics-clouded Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY), was replaced by Sander Levin (D-Michigan) according to The Associated Press.

According to Roll Call, Democrats took issue with Stark's appointment by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)because of his unpredictable outbursts. What Roll Call's Tory Newmyer and Steven T. Dennis wrote in explaining the reasons behind Stark's ouster was both hilarious and sad:

But the 78-year-old Stark has a reputation among his colleagues as a loose cannon with a history of off-color remarks including calling then-Rep. Scott McInnis (R-Colo.) a “little wimp” and a “fruit cake” and accused then-Rep. Nancy Johnson (R-Conn.) of being a “whore” for the insurance industry. But that’s not all. Stark also has ethics troubles of his own and, recently, health problems, which sidelined him from 22 percent of House votes last year — the fifth-worst participation record in the chamber.

Stark also called Blue-Dog Democrats "brain dead" and in 2007 said that President George W. Bush sent troops to Iraq to get their “heads blown off for his amusement” according to The Hill.

Pete Stark's obviously saved his best lines for conservatives.

The whole affair has to give Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) fits. She's being attacked by some in the media for making "missteps" but it reads more like she's herding cats. Someone should have stepped in and advised her not to make the moves she's made, rather than watching her do it, then complaining about it. But if Speaker Pelosi acted on her own without seeking counsel and getting contrary advice, then the attacks are deserved.

Stay tuned.