By Dr. Bill Chachkes Executive Editor-Football Reporters Online
I hear It’s “Always Sunny” in Philly, but that doesn’t keep Eagles Owner Jeff Lurie or Team President Joe Banner from lying right through their teeth when they talk about the costs associated with running the Linc. Raise your hand if you have ever been to the Linc….I have. It’s a nice place to watch a game, both in the seats and in the Pressbox. Can anyone really justify a 7digit “misc. expenses” tab for a stadium? I hope that doesn’t count food costs for the media. All Mr. Lurie could manage for us that day was Turkey or Ham sandwiches…Even though I’m not a fan of Pork product, I have no plans to shoot them from my helicopter like one politician suggests we do to immigrants. Lurie should produce movies about politicians who get elected and then go against the people who elected them, then he could see how he’s going against the fans of the team he owns. Most Philly fans Love Mike VICK, but that has to still be some that miss Donovan McNabb…
Do the NFL owners want to do the same thing to it’s players? If the owners really wanted to “come back to the table” and get a deal done with the players, they wouldn’t be waiting for the April 6th Court date before Judge Richardson. I like Mr. Goodell as a person, he’s always been nice to me, but he didn’t really think his letter to the players would be taken seriously when the owners for the most part prove time and time again how they can’t be trusted?
We are beginning to hear a lot of news from the “Camps” of players awaiting to be drafted next month about “who’s gonna kill it” at their pro day or how many NFL teams have invited me for a work out. What these guys have not realized yet is that the NFL that they are waiting to be selected into is going to be much different then they were hoping for. It’s going to have a rookie wage scale, and none of these guys will be “instant” millionaires like I have my “Instant Oatmeal” twice weekly….No, those days are gone. Hope you weren’t planning on paying off all your babies mommas with your signing bonus.
Football needs a “breath of fresh air”, and that just what the UFL’s Hartford Colonials did this week by hiring Jerry Glanville as their new Head Coach & GM. Not that Chris Palmer’s pressers were boring (he is a nice man too), But clearly as evidenced by the phone conference he gave to some of us media types yesterday he’s ready to ‘Shake it up” at “the Rent” this season. I look forward to being at a few of those post game press conferences…I’m even going to e-mail him my list of “dead” people he should leave tickets for…now that the statue of limitations has run out on The Doors’ Jim Morrison for the 1969 arrest in New Haven, Maybe he’ll be up for a Colonials game….but seriously, people are finally starting to take the UFL seriously(even though I did from day one, I was one of the people at the first UFL press conference…) and people should see it for what it is: competitive football. Maybe Coach Belichick could learn something about charismatic behavior from Coach Glanville….I heard he already got into a “Tweet-Fight” with Newsday’s Bob Glauber, with the Coach inviting him up to a game…Bob, if your reading this and you show up to the game and I’m there, I’d be glad to introduce you around…You’ll get to see that pro football goes beyond the NFL…
I’m so Tired of these” Rumor” football sites who just publish stories to get their traffic numbers up. Do you guys actually go out and hunt these stories down? Or do you come up with this “junk” while your in the “reading” room?
So Ohio State Head coach Jim Tressel wants to stand with his players and be suspended 5 games because “Maybe he didn’t do enough” to instill the right behavior in his players. I’m ok with his feelings, but these kids still should have sat out that bowl game….
Thanks to former Vikings DE and Retired Players Association President Carl Eller for joining us on the show last Thursday night. He was very pointed in his remarks about current players who take for granted what they have…
I heard about this great organization founded by a High School running back in Ohio who wants to help H.S. athletes who are severely injured while playing sports. Just google “rush for a cause” and find them on Facebook…
Finally, I’m headed down to our nation’s capital to speak to the sports management program students at Catholic University tomorrow. The Wed. & Thur. shows will be broadcast from The University (Wed. Night), and The Glory Days Sports grill in Broadlands, Va.(Thur. Night). Saturday we will be scouting and interviewing the athletes at the First BSN football combine of the season. Starting tonight, The Tuesday PFNYC show will be weekly again, until just after the draft…
This former soldier asks you to please pray for the people of Japan, and support our Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, Airman, and Coast Guardsman who defend our religious and political freedoms every day.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
99ers News Alert: GOP Takes Meeting on HR589 - 99ers Data Base Created
This is a 99ers News Alert: GOP leadership takes Democrats up on their offer to meet on HR589 - And Rhonda Taylor (tireless long time 99er advocate) creates a badly needed 99ers Data Base. (see below)
According to Arthur Delaney of the Huffington Post today:
GOP Leaders Agree To Meet With Dems To Discuss Bill For Long-Term Unemployed
From the article:
WASHINGTON -- Republican leaders in the House of Representatives have agreed to meet with two Democrats to discuss longshot legislation for the long-term unemployed, the members' offices confirmed Tuesday.
Reps. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) and Bobby Scott (D-Va.) introduced legislation earlier this year to provide 14 additional weeks of unemployment benefits to Americans who've been out of work for six months or longer. Lee and Scott have spoken frequently about the struggles of so-called "99ers" -- people who still haven't found work after exhausting the maximum 99 weeks of benefits available in some states.
The Lee-Scott proposal received zero initial support from Republicans because it would add roughly $16 billion to the federal budget deficit. Lee and Scott later announced they'd be open to finding budget cuts to offset the cost of the benefits, something Democrats have generally refused to do for federal extended jobless aid typically enacted during recessions.
Given that concession, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) have agreed to meet with Lee and Scott sometime in the next few weeks to discuss possible cuts to fund the benefits.
The story goes on to say:
Cantor's office suggested he would steer the conversation toward job creation instead of just providing another 14 weeks of benefits.
"Leader Cantor looks forward to the meeting and would like to broaden the conversation to focus on ways to grow the economy, spur investment and create jobs rather than simply extending unemployment benefits in some instance beyond the maximum of 99 weeks currently permitted," a Cantor spokesman said Monday in a statement to the OC Register.
Cantor spokesman Brad Dayspring elaborated in an email to HuffPost: "The point was basically that the Leader believes that the best unemployment program in America is a job, so rather than only talking about extending benefits, we should be having a broader conversation about growing the economy, spurring investment, and allowing businesses to hire."
Lee and Scott haven't suggested what they'd be willing to cut, and House Democratic leaders have remained silent about the prospect of offsetting the cost of unemployment benefits. Last year, then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told HuffPost she considered offsetting benefits "a completely bad idea," though many conservative Democrats have said they support doing so.
The thing is though that after an entire year without any income, after the 2 previous years of unemployment, most 99ers - if they were hired today would not have the bus fare or gas money to get back and fourth to that job long enough to get that first pay check. Consequently the millions within the 99er Nation NEED SOME MONEY in order to survive long enough to get that elusive job that will be their saving grace. Congress seems in no big hurry to do either create jobs or help the 99ers survive - but good lord we certainly must help Libya, Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen and every other country that needs it.
HR589 would cost $16 Billion and help desperate, forgotten 99er families to survive. American's involvement in Libya is likely to cost far more than that and not help even 1 Jobless American.
Did you hear it? Ed Schultz is the only one in TV media news who keeps mentioning the 99ers at all these days. Last week he did so on this Wednesday show - even in the midst of covering the horrific events as they unfolded in Japan.
Well last night big Ed did it again (see video at 3:13) when, during an interview with Laura Flanders, Ed was slammed Speaker Boehner for his comment: "The United States has a moral obligation to stand with the Libyans" , even as he stands idly by and does NOTHING for the 99ers.
Finally, Rhonda Taylor of Rhode Island - prolific 99er advocate extraordinaire has created a data base for 99ers. The purpose of this is to have a way to contact as many of those in the 99er Nation for protests and gives her a geographical "map" of sorts so she will know how many busses will be needed and from what locations for the big Washington 99er convergence planned for this Spring.
Rhonda has proven herself trustworthy and since she will be administering the 99er Data Base - I have already registered and suggest all unemployed Americans do the same. We are all 99ers. Some of us are the 99ers of yesterday, others the 99ers of today and the rest of the unemployed are the 99ers of tomorrow. Don't wait for it to happen to you. Register now here.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
U-Cubed Press Releases Show Grim Jobs Statistics - Despite Washington Rhetoric
The U-Cubed Press Release below shows very grim Jobs Statistics - Despite the Washington Rhetoric to the contrary.
In their most recent Press release today, U-Cubed tells a far more reality based version of the American Jobless fiasco than our own government has recently reported. Perhaps Washington reports the skewed, bogus UE rates to justify their refusal to do anything about the problem. The old "Washington Two-Step"= If we ignore it and say everything is fine, maybe we can fool just enough voters to avoid doing any real work and still keep our own jobs.
U-Cubed Press Release 3-22-2011: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
UCubed’s Unemployment Brackets Showcase Grim Statistics
Washington, D.C., March 22, 2011 – Citing recent metropolitan unemployment numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Ur Union of Unemployed (UCubed) released its updated “Marching to Madness” unemployment brackets.
The brackets are the latest installment of UCubed’s aggressive ad campaign on Facebook meant to draw attention to the national jobs crisis. Users were asked to fill out the unemployment brackets, ranking the city they believed is suffering the most. Today’s version has been filled in with actual rankings from the BLS.
“As predicted, there were an estimated 28.4 million ‘upsets’ in our unemployment bracket tournament,” said UCubed Executive Director Rick Sloan. “That’s the real number of Americans in need of a job. The real number of Americans pleading for policymakers to take action in creating a national jobs agenda that will put America back to work.
“Today, more than three years since the collapse of our economy, our nation’s leaders have yet to take bold action to address the jobs crisis. Washington’s indifference in the midst of this historical national emergency is appalling.
“The jobless want to go back to work. And they want to go back today. The time to create a national jobs agenda is now.”
Of the top 64 metropolitan areas, the city of Fresno, CA, recorded the highest unemployment rating in the “Marching to Madness” unemployment brackets with 17.2 percent! For a complete look at all the cities, click here.
Also see UCubed's ad campaign on Facebook.
Ur Union of Unemployed, or UCubed, is a community service project of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) designed to assist the millions of unemployed and underemployed Americans, and to provide them with a structure that allows them to take advantage of their growing numbers. For more information, visit Ur Union of Unemployed.
Dear UCubed Leaders & Activists:
As predicted, an estimated 28.4 million were “upset” in UCubed’s “Marching to Madness” unemployment bracket tournament. Of the top 64 metropolitan areas, the city of Fresno, CA, recorded the highest unemployment rating with a whopping 17.2 percent! Las Vegas, NV, followed with 14.9 percent.
UCubed created the unemployment brackets in a continual effort to draw attention to the national jobs crisis – and the lack of bold action on the part of our nation’s leaders in addressing this important issue. Washington’s indifference in the midst of this historical national emergency has been appalling. Today, more than three years since the collapse of our economy, millions of Americans remain in need of full-time work – yet, little has been done to create jobs.
The time to create a national jobs agenda is now. The jobless want to go back to work. And they want to go back today.
Show your support for the unemployed by clicking “Like” on UCubed's page on Facebook.
For a complete look at how your city stacked up in our “Marching to Madness” brackets, click here.
In Unity – Strength,
Rick Sloan
Executive Director
Ur Union of the Unemployed
Fresno, CA Ranked #1 "Most Unemployed" City by U-Cubed
Eight California cities made the U-Cubed March Madness Unemployment brackets, but Fresno, CA ranked #1 "Most Unemployed" City with an unemployment rate of (17.2).
From the U-Cubed website:
As predicted, there were an estimated 28.4 million “upsets” in UCubed’s “Marching to Madness” unemployment bracket tournament. Out of the top 64 metropolitan areas, the city of Fresno, CA, recorded the highest unemployment rating with a whopping 17.2 percent! Las Vegas, NV, followed with 14.9 percent.
“It makes you wonder how policy makers can simply turn a blind eye,” said UCubed Executive Director Rick Sloan. “There are millions of Americans in need of full-time work, yet nothing has been done to create jobs. The pleas of the jobless have gone unanswered.
“Washington’s indifference in the midst of this historic national emergency is appalling.”
UCubed created the “Marching to Madness” unemployment brackets in an effort to draw attention to the national jobs crisis. For a complete look at how your city stacked up, click here.
Show your support for the unemployed by clicking “Like” on UCubed’s page on Facebook.
San Diego made it into the "Somber Sixteen" bracket. It was one of eight cities in the "Golden State" to rate the dubious distinction among the Nation's worst cities to find employment. Aside from San Diego (10.3) and Fresno, the other 6 California towns were: San Francisco (9.2), Sacramento (12.6), San Jose (10.8), Riverside (14.3), Los Angeles (13.1) and Bakersfield (12.2). [All but Bakersfield made the "Somber Sixteen" roster level] California is way above the national unemployment rate and you can see - many of the largest cities have unemployment rates soaring far above the current (12.7) UE rate for our state. In fact, among the 14 areas with jobless rates of at least 15% , 12 were located in California.
The U-Cubed bracket has many other eye opening unemployment facts that paint a grim picture for the "Jobless Recovery" our so called "Leaders" in Washington keep avoiding and refuse to address. Be sure and check out who placed in the: Irate Eight, Fed-Up Four and Terrible Two brackets.
Seems that the only economies and human suffering Washington cares enough about to do anything at all are in the middle east and NOT here in the USA.
[The donation button below is for Paladinette. If you like what I write please donate so I can keep on fighting for the 99ers! Thank You!]
Monday, March 21, 2011
Dancing With The Stars Season 12: Kirstie Alley Over Hot Kendra Wilkinson
And while some wondered if 60 year old Kirstie Alley (in photo) was good enough to even dance on Dancing With The Stars, they're applauding now, because from all online accounts, she was terrific. Even hotter than any of Hugh Hefner's playmates, at least in dancing acumen.
Alley lit up Twitter:
chemicallycalm I'm surprised, Kirstie Alley did a really good job.
Twitter - 1 minute ago
MikelsMindsEye Kirstie Alley's 60??? I need to cut her a little slack...she looks great. #DWTS
ksblack Still processing Wendy Williams' performance on DWTS. Kirstie Alley was HOT!
Twitter - seconds ago
Hef was in the audience, and alongside former Colts Wide Receiver and Kendra's husband, Hank Bassett, was cheering for Wilkinson. And it looked, for a while, as if she would light up the scoreboard as well as the television screen, but a few missteps with her partner Louis Van Amstel, led the judges to give them all sixes for a total of 18 points.
"Stars" judge Len Goodman had the sound bite of the show when he told Kendra, "You had my attention, if not always for the right reasons." The judges, Ann Inaba, Bruno Tonioli, and Goodman, all commented on Wilkinson's technical failings. In all it was enough to put her a point behind Romeo.
With his sexy partner Chelsie Hightower, who was back for the fifth time on "Dancing," Romeo Miller, aka Lil' Romeo, also the son of rapper Master P, burned up the floor, producing a dance that was part lovemaking, part romantic, and all fun. The two were so energetic they caused Tonioli to gush that he was "moving with" them all over, and leaned right into Goodman in the process. For their efforts, and minus some issues with footwork, they earned a 19.
But Kirstie Alley was the surprise. The actress, who said she "moved like a white girl" in the preview segment, showed she learned a thing to three, and with her partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy, scored a 23, just behind Ralph ("The Karate Kid") Macchio, who with his dancing mate Karina Smirnoff, turned in the evenings' best performance: a 24 out of 30.
All dancers survive - for now. The eliminations start March 29th.
A New Zennie62 Blog Under Construction
A new Zennie62 blog is under construction, and about 60 percent complete, but well enough along the way to show you and ask you to check it out.
It's called Zennie62Blog.com and you can see it here: http://zennie62blog.com . It reflects a switch from Blogger to Wordpress for this flagship blog of the 96 blogs in the network, and also a switch from "free" to a paid hosted server environment.
I had the idea for a while, but Executive Editor Nikky Raney, who prefers Blogger, was understandably resistant. But after Google focused more on "original content" as a factor in Google News submissions, and because we were producing original content, and Google wasn't favoring Blogger blogs for Google News (even though Zennie62.com was on it) I started to think about a switch.
Also, I'd taken the Zennie62.com blog as far as it could go in template changes on the Blogger platform. The simple fact is Google has not installed a full permalink system on Blogger, so what we get are URLs that don't have all of the words in a blog title, if the title is longer than four words. So you have to do a "workaround" just to deal with that problem.
It's a huge problem because it means that one word which may cause you to get more traffic because it's in your URL is left out of Blogger's permalink design.
That can translate into thousands of dollars of lost potential ad revenue. Moreover, Wordpress does not have that problem; I think its something Google does deliberately to counter the wave of massive impact millions of well-optimized Blogger blogs would have on the media climate today.
There's a reason even Matt Cutts, Google's Engineering "public face" switched from Blogger to Wordpress a few years ago. I should have taken Matt's cue and did it then, but I was stubbornly married to the idea that I could push my Blogger blogs to new levels of performance. I did that, but now and with what I've learned, I want to apply that to this new, even more powerful blog under development.
Making this switch is not easy, but it's worth it. I feel like I'm building the new Enterprise.
It means learning a new programming language, PhP, "on the go." It means locating a good hosting service, finding the appropriate design theme, then one-by-one, installing the files from that theme into the server. It means re-coding some files to meet certain needs, particularly in the area of Google AdSense ads. It means working on a strategy to transfer the remaining blogs posts, after already moving over 7,000 posts to the new blog.
And it means working on a system to transfer links and URLs to the new blog so that a search allows a reader to come to the new blog, rather than the old one.
The Zennie62 Blogger blog will be used as "Zennie2005.blogspot.com" and a place for YouTube video placement and for occasional blog posts pointing to activities at Zennie62Blog. Eventually, "Zennie62.com" will point at the new blog, and be the "go to URL" for it. But I prefer to keep "Zennie62Blog" for SEO purposes.
The process of making the new blog from scratch has been exciting; I love the challenge of building new platforms.
First, Wordpress just may be the most powerful blog platform on the planet today (which is old news to some of you). Second, Google seems to have deliberately avoided making a Blogger that completes with Wordpress in the area of SEO. Even before my focus on it, the Zennie62Blog.com platform started to be listed on Google and generate comments for existing blog posts! Third, the new Zennie62Blog.com is already Google News ready, as I have found plugins specifically for that purpose, and installed them.
Zennie62Blog.com will be positioned to compete with news blogs from PerezHilton.com to The Huffington Post and ProFootballTalk as well as Red State and the great liberal blogs at Banter Media. While that may seem like a tall order to some, let me inform you we have over 9,000 blog posts going back to 2005. We also have the 96 Blogger blogs to use to "point" at the new blog - those blogs will remain and with their own unique content.
We have the over 2,000 videos on what will be called the Zennie.tv video network. And we have our social media and broadcasting base, including what stands at almost 30,000 Twitter Followers, with an objective of 1 million. That's the perfect foundation from which to build this new blog and explains why I assert we're in a great place to catch those blogs.
Finally, as Old Media continues to prove it's not capable of succeeding in the digital space, this is the best time to attack. To strike while the iron is hot. Blogs will rule media in the 21st Century, and with over 70,000 blogs made each day as of this writing, that forecast is becoming all the more true each day.
Stay tuned.
It's called Zennie62Blog.com and you can see it here: http://zennie62blog.com . It reflects a switch from Blogger to Wordpress for this flagship blog of the 96 blogs in the network, and also a switch from "free" to a paid hosted server environment.
I had the idea for a while, but Executive Editor Nikky Raney, who prefers Blogger, was understandably resistant. But after Google focused more on "original content" as a factor in Google News submissions, and because we were producing original content, and Google wasn't favoring Blogger blogs for Google News (even though Zennie62.com was on it) I started to think about a switch.
Also, I'd taken the Zennie62.com blog as far as it could go in template changes on the Blogger platform. The simple fact is Google has not installed a full permalink system on Blogger, so what we get are URLs that don't have all of the words in a blog title, if the title is longer than four words. So you have to do a "workaround" just to deal with that problem.
It's a huge problem because it means that one word which may cause you to get more traffic because it's in your URL is left out of Blogger's permalink design.
That can translate into thousands of dollars of lost potential ad revenue. Moreover, Wordpress does not have that problem; I think its something Google does deliberately to counter the wave of massive impact millions of well-optimized Blogger blogs would have on the media climate today.
There's a reason even Matt Cutts, Google's Engineering "public face" switched from Blogger to Wordpress a few years ago. I should have taken Matt's cue and did it then, but I was stubbornly married to the idea that I could push my Blogger blogs to new levels of performance. I did that, but now and with what I've learned, I want to apply that to this new, even more powerful blog under development.
Making this switch is not easy, but it's worth it. I feel like I'm building the new Enterprise.
It means learning a new programming language, PhP, "on the go." It means locating a good hosting service, finding the appropriate design theme, then one-by-one, installing the files from that theme into the server. It means re-coding some files to meet certain needs, particularly in the area of Google AdSense ads. It means working on a strategy to transfer the remaining blogs posts, after already moving over 7,000 posts to the new blog.
And it means working on a system to transfer links and URLs to the new blog so that a search allows a reader to come to the new blog, rather than the old one.
The Zennie62 Blogger blog will be used as "Zennie2005.blogspot.com" and a place for YouTube video placement and for occasional blog posts pointing to activities at Zennie62Blog. Eventually, "Zennie62.com" will point at the new blog, and be the "go to URL" for it. But I prefer to keep "Zennie62Blog" for SEO purposes.
The process of making the new blog from scratch has been exciting; I love the challenge of building new platforms.
First, Wordpress just may be the most powerful blog platform on the planet today (which is old news to some of you). Second, Google seems to have deliberately avoided making a Blogger that completes with Wordpress in the area of SEO. Even before my focus on it, the Zennie62Blog.com platform started to be listed on Google and generate comments for existing blog posts! Third, the new Zennie62Blog.com is already Google News ready, as I have found plugins specifically for that purpose, and installed them.
Zennie62Blog.com will be positioned to compete with news blogs from PerezHilton.com to The Huffington Post and ProFootballTalk as well as Red State and the great liberal blogs at Banter Media. While that may seem like a tall order to some, let me inform you we have over 9,000 blog posts going back to 2005. We also have the 96 Blogger blogs to use to "point" at the new blog - those blogs will remain and with their own unique content.
We have the over 2,000 videos on what will be called the Zennie.tv video network. And we have our social media and broadcasting base, including what stands at almost 30,000 Twitter Followers, with an objective of 1 million. That's the perfect foundation from which to build this new blog and explains why I assert we're in a great place to catch those blogs.
Finally, as Old Media continues to prove it's not capable of succeeding in the digital space, this is the best time to attack. To strike while the iron is hot. Blogs will rule media in the 21st Century, and with over 70,000 blogs made each day as of this writing, that forecast is becoming all the more true each day.
Stay tuned.
AT&T Buys T-Mobile
Mashable.com reports that AT&T has bought T-Mobile for $39 billion.
For T-Mobile customers (like myself) this could be a good thing, because AT&T has the iPhone as well as many other features that T-Mobile does not currently have. Many T-Mobile customers that have questions regarding this change, and it seems so strange that since T-Mobile is putting out commercials about 4G that it is about to be bought out by AT&T.
PC Magazine reports that this could be a huge in for AT&T - because AT&T would become the nation's largest carrier and get better coverage, 34 million more customers and an opponent is eliminated.
It also reports that T-Mobile's owner has been struggling and T-Mobile has been in the fourth place spot as a carrier.
This is unfortunate for T-Mobile employees who will be facing major lay offs.
The lack of choices will be unfortunate for the consumers because there will be less to choose from and not as much flexibility.
For those with questions read the PC Magazine post that answers questions for the specific consumers of T-Mobile and AT&T by clicking here.
 |
| PC Magazine |
For T-Mobile customers (like myself) this could be a good thing, because AT&T has the iPhone as well as many other features that T-Mobile does not currently have. Many T-Mobile customers that have questions regarding this change, and it seems so strange that since T-Mobile is putting out commercials about 4G that it is about to be bought out by AT&T.
PC Magazine reports that this could be a huge in for AT&T - because AT&T would become the nation's largest carrier and get better coverage, 34 million more customers and an opponent is eliminated.
It also reports that T-Mobile's owner has been struggling and T-Mobile has been in the fourth place spot as a carrier.
This is unfortunate for T-Mobile employees who will be facing major lay offs.
The lack of choices will be unfortunate for the consumers because there will be less to choose from and not as much flexibility.
For those with questions read the PC Magazine post that answers questions for the specific consumers of T-Mobile and AT&T by clicking here.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
We Need Beer Money Song By 69 Degrees At Powell St. BART, San Francisco
Two men who were sitting on the floor in the lobby of the BART Powell Street Station and singing this really catchy tune called "We Need Beer Money," so I paid them and made this video.
Moreover, I will share a percentage of any money made from this video with the men who make up 69 Degrees. They deserve it!
They said that they were also going to play in front of AT&T Park before the SF Giants Baseball games this season, be on the look out for them.
The one problem is the Facebook page they mention is such that it's hard to identify who they are. But that should work itself out.
And on that idea train, BART should have some kind of program to help promote the street singers and performers who are very talented people just trying to make ends meet. They add to the color and culutre of the Bay Area Rapid Transit System.
Mac Book Pro And iPad 2 Line: A Day At Apple Store San Francisco
Mac Book Pro And iPad Line: A Day At Apple Store San Francisco. This started as a visit to check on an iPad 2 for my Mom (who still has to be talked into the idea of having on, but it will be good for her to use it). As I approached the Apple Store on Stockton in San Francisco's Union Square, I noticed (couldn't miss) a line of people who were sitting on lawn chairs. They were waiting to buy iPad 2 tablet computers...at 9 AM the next morning.
(That would be this Saturday morning at 9 AM.)
While at the Apple Store, I learned from an Apple representative (who didn't want their name used) that the people first in the line, all elderly and Asian, had waited since 12 noon that day (in the rain) and were buying the iPads for export and "do this regularly." That's the Apple person's statement.
(I went over to talk with them but they all said they couldn't speak English. Or they managed enough English to tell me they couldn't speak English. They were friendly enough, but also bundled, a little cold, and a lot tired.)
While looking at the iPad 2, I inquired if I could upgrade my MacBook I bought last fall after an emergency. After a good talk, and to my surprise, the Apple Store people helped me. I was able to upgrade my MacBook. That was really great because I was trapped in a situation where I had to buy the 2010 MacBook just before the upgrade. Thanks Apple! You guys rock!
(That would be this Saturday morning at 9 AM.)
While at the Apple Store, I learned from an Apple representative (who didn't want their name used) that the people first in the line, all elderly and Asian, had waited since 12 noon that day (in the rain) and were buying the iPads for export and "do this regularly." That's the Apple person's statement.
(I went over to talk with them but they all said they couldn't speak English. Or they managed enough English to tell me they couldn't speak English. They were friendly enough, but also bundled, a little cold, and a lot tired.)
While looking at the iPad 2, I inquired if I could upgrade my MacBook I bought last fall after an emergency. After a good talk, and to my surprise, the Apple Store people helped me. I was able to upgrade my MacBook. That was really great because I was trapped in a situation where I had to buy the 2010 MacBook just before the upgrade. Thanks Apple! You guys rock!
Mac Book Pro And iPad 2 Line: A Day At Apple Store San Francisco
Mac Book Pro And iPad Line: A Day At Apple Store San Francisco? Yes. Read on...
This started as a simple visit to check on an iPad 2 for my Mom (who still has to be talked into the idea of having on, but it will be good for her to use it).
As I approached the Apple Store on Stockton in San Francisco's Union Square, I noticed (couldn't miss) a line of people who were sitting on lawn chairs. They were waiting to buy iPad 2 tablet computers...at 9 AM the next morning.
(That would be this Saturday morning at 9 AM.)
While at the Apple Store, I learned from an Apple representative (who didn't want their name used) that the people first in the line, all elderly and Asian, had waited since 12 noon that day (in the rain) and were buying the iPads for export and "do this regularly." That's the Apple person's statement.
(I went over to talk with them but they all said they couldn't speak English. Or they managed enough English to tell me they couldn't speak English. They were friendly enough, but also bundled, a little cold, and a lot tired.)
While looking at the iPad 2, I inquired if I could upgrade my MacBook I bought last fall after an emergency. After a good talk, and to my surprise, the Apple Store people helped me. I was able to upgrade my MacBook.
That was really great because I was trapped in a situation where I had to buy the 2010 MacBook just before the upgrade. Thanks Apple! You guys rock! Thanks to store manager Angela, and assistants Ricado and Nicholas, I now don't feel like I was caught at the hind in of Apple tech.
The new Mac Book Pro 13 is, by my estimation, one-third faster for video compression compared to my 2010 Mac Book Pro. This video made with my Flip Video Ultra HD Camcorder would normally take about 30 minutes to compress - this did it in 20 minutes.
Overall, it's faster to respond, the speakers are a bit louder when playing Come Together by The Beatles, and it has a few treasures, like Thunderbolt and the HD FaceTime Camera, I've yet to try.
Stay tuned.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Couch at 386 Euclid in Oakland Reflects Lack Of Pride Of Place
The couch you see in the photo that was at 386 Euclid Avenue near Lake Merritt in Oakland, California is gone now. But it was there for a good six days straight (at least), and is the latest in a totally awful set of examples of the overall lack of price of place that's exhibited in the Adams Point area.
Not that Adams Point is the only place in Oakland that exhibits this problem, but the one within my immediate sphere of influence. I took three photos of this couch and placed them on my Facebook page. But something should be done about this beyond my cyber-complaints. It's a clear sign that many people in the neighborhood just don't care how it looks.
It's not the first time this has happened.
The first time, for me, was last year, when someone left, in order as you walk up Euclid, a couch, two chairs and a table, and a mattress. All between 378 and 380 Euclid and right in the walk path.
What really galls me is we have a nice place to live. Many of the homes are classic Victorians that recall the days when such homes dominated the Lake.
And with this, you'd think someone would care enough to report this. Well,OK, I did. But I feel like the minority here because the first time I took note of the problem I complained to some one riding by on a bike, who came out of one of the homes on that part of the street. Instead of saying anything in agreement, the biker looked at me like I was nuts and said "It's not me."
Yeah, I know. I know.
That wasn't the point.
I just wish he'd have cared.
Red Riding Hood Reviewed
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Red Riding Hood with Amanda Seyfried is rated PG 13 with some violence, a tad bit of gore and a steamy make-out scene which almost leads to sex but stops short.
The ending is the real kicker, because throughout the entire movie the audience is trying to guess who the wolf is. Which one is the wolf? Well, no one will be correct in guessing who the wolf is so just enjoy the movie to the end.
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Seyfried's character, Valerie, is arranged to be married to the sweet boy, Henry, who comes from money, but she has her heart set on the bad boy, Peter, that she used to catch rabbits with when she was younger. When the wolf kills someone in the town she runs to her grandmother and tries to figure all of this out.
The movie is directed by Catherine Hardwicke which explains why it is kind of Twilight-esque in reference to the directing of the first Twilight movie which was the only movie in the Twilight saga which was also directed by Hardwicke.
Currently on IMDB the movie is rated 4 out of 10 stars.
One thing is for sure picking between Henry played by Max Irons or Peter played by Shiloh Fernandez; while Henry may have the charming accent and sweet boy charm, Peter and his bad boy ways along with those sexy eyes that scream "Don't mess with me" makes it a very hard choice in the end for Valerie.
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