The second TechCrunch Disrupt Hackathon is this Sunday in New York City, and promises good food and fun, and working wifi!
This time, the location is Pier 94, at Pier 94, at 755 12th Ave, at 55th St. & 12th Av., in New York. A location that overlooks the Hudson River, and perfect for anyone who wants to take a dip after one of Michael Arrington's interviews.
Over 500 programmers are expected at this year's Hackathon, and you can visit this page (click) for more information.
Arianna Huffington Talks With Arrington
In the post AOL TechCrunch world, what would TechCrunch Disrupt be without a talk with Huffington Post founder and AOL content chief Arianna Huffington.
Think Michael will get this kind of treatment from Ms. Huffington:
Probably not.
Stay tuned.
Friday, May 20, 2011
May 21 Doomsday: Harold Camping Blames Gays, Crits San Francisco
In the video below, the Oakland-based Camping says...
"It's always been Homosexuality to some degree. But never where it is accepted in country after country, state after state. We've wonder what is really going on that this is accepted so rapidly, and all over the World. That is a tremendous sign that we are at the threshold of Judgement Day....It was always very interesting to me, that here is Family Radio that is insisting on the truth of the Bible and trying to tell the whole World living right next door to San Francisco. How interesting that God has placed us here, right in the cesspool.
Here's the video:
Well, it seems all of this "complex math" that led Camping to the May 21st Doomsday was really basically done to give some justification for his own issues with Gays.
Geez.
Judgement Day May 21, Harold Camping In Oakland, CA
Well, it looks like Oakland's got a center-stage position in this story of Judgement Day May 21, The End Of The World 2011, or The Rapture, or The Apocalypse, or whatever.
Harold Camping, the founder of Family Stations, Inc., and the producer of the assertion that the end of the World was coming, well, tomorrow, Saturday, May 21st, is based not in San Francisco, as I reported in my video-blog denouncing his prediction...
But is right here in Oakland, California.
According to a company profile dated December 6, 2010, Family Stations, Inc, is located at 290 Hegenberger Rd., Oakland, CA 94621, United States.
The number is (510)568-6200, (510)568-6190 fax, and the website is at http://www.familyradio.com
Now don't go down there bugging the man, please. Just because he made a prediction you and I don't agree with doesn't translate into idiotic behavior from you. It's Friday, find something else to do.
After all, it's not the end of the World.
Harold Camping, the founder of Family Stations, Inc., and the producer of the assertion that the end of the World was coming, well, tomorrow, Saturday, May 21st, is based not in San Francisco, as I reported in my video-blog denouncing his prediction...
But is right here in Oakland, California.
According to a company profile dated December 6, 2010, Family Stations, Inc, is located at 290 Hegenberger Rd., Oakland, CA 94621, United States.
The number is (510)568-6200, (510)568-6190 fax, and the website is at http://www.familyradio.com
Now don't go down there bugging the man, please. Just because he made a prediction you and I don't agree with doesn't translate into idiotic behavior from you. It's Friday, find something else to do.
After all, it's not the end of the World.
Oakland Coliseum Vs. Golden State Warriors Litigation Update
The interesting news of litigation between the Oakland Coliseum and the Golden State Warriors mentioned in my last blog post just became more interesting. It was hard to get any good intel from what has been a closed-session conversation as of Apr 15, 2011. And one document that was, at one point on the Coliseum's website and referring to this legal battle, was interestingly removed.
But some light emerged at the website of Keker &Van Nest, and one lawyer named Daniel Purcell, who claims:
And I put that in image form, in case Mr. Purcell was urged to take down the text by his client (and the same text appears on the profiles of three other Keker lawyers too). It's here now.
So the Coliseum got $32.25 million from the Warriors? What was it used for? What was the problem to start with?
Thanks to Keker's lawyers, we have some new information not noted anywhere else online, at least thus far.
Stay tuned.
But some light emerged at the website of Keker &Van Nest, and one lawyer named Daniel Purcell, who claims:
Golden State Warriors v. Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum: We represented the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority in a series of disputes with the coliseum's professional basketball team. These disputes, involving tens of millions of dollars, arose over more than ten years and involved miscellaneous claims and cross-claims. Over the course of four arbitrations, we collected $32.25 million for our client.
So the Coliseum got $32.25 million from the Warriors? What was it used for? What was the problem to start with?
Thanks to Keker's lawyers, we have some new information not noted anywhere else online, at least thus far.
Stay tuned.
Overstock Oakland Coliseum Naming Rights Controversy Update
UPDATE: Oakland Coliseum vs. Golden State Warriors new litigation information.
The title above is about perfect because the City of Oakland and the County of Alameda allowed the Oakland - Alameda County Coliseum Authority to take just $7 million for a naming rights agreement for the Oakland Coliseum that was worth much more, and let them do it even as Overstock.com is involved in, to this day, and with the same County of Alameda in a court battle where the County seeks $15 million in damages over alleged fraudulent pricing practices by the company.
The deal - which in a very irresponsible editorial, the Oakland Tribune actually, strangely, praised - was done netting no better monies than were raised in 1998 for the Network Associates Coliseum naming rights deal.
That was at $7 million.
If now former Oakland City Attorney John Russo is correct about the City of Oakland taking actions and making decisions that are "morally questionable," then it seems the Overstock.com naming agreement falls into that category.
Something is clearly wrong. This blogger has asked not one, but three Oakland City Auditors to look at the Oakland Coliseum, and each one, from Norma Lau to currently and sadly Courtney Ruby has come up with some kind of excuse.
Ruby's claim is lack of resources, but that didn't stop her from looking at the ABC Security issue, or fiscal issues over at the City Administrator's Office last year.
For some political reason, the Oakland Coliseum is shielded and protected from real scrutiny from most organizations, save for the Alameda County Grand Jury.
Last year, the Grand Jury looked at the Coliseum, but only from the narrow point of view of the failure to hire a full-time executive director. The Coliseum Authority balked at the need for one, and also brushed off calls for the kind of long range planning that was done by the Oakland Coliseum before the Authority existed.
Really, it did.
In a report that you can see with a click here, the Coliseum Authority wrote:
Let's stop there for now.
Doesn't "The Joint Powers Agreement's stated purpose is to issue bonds to construct and acquire public capital improvements at the direction of the City and The County" call for long range planning? Of course it does.
It's too bad the Alameda County Grand Jury didn't call on this blogger to testify, not that I asked them to do so. But, when I worked as Economic Adviser to Oakland Mayor Elihu Harris, Bob Quintella, who was then the President Of The Oakland Coliseum, with Peerless Coffee head George Vukasin as chair of the Coliseum Board, took me on a mini-tour of his office, complete with a presentation of a large map of the property the Coliseum owned, and future plans for its use.
The Business Plan written by Ezra Rapport, the Oakland Deputy City Manager who brought the Raiders back to Oakland, that was prepared for the Coliseum Authority in 1996, and read religiously by this blogger, called for not just an executive director, but for some kind of planning activities to be done.
Also, the original resolution that formed the Coliseum JPA, called for the addition of a 20-person board of private sector people, on top of the current eight public officials. But that part of the resolution has never been enabled.
In other words, the elected officials don't seem to want the input of Oakland and Alameda County's private sector. Otherwise, why have such a provision go 15 years without being implemented?
The operation of the Oakland Coliseum Complex raises a lot of questions, and another is this: why is documentation referring to "ongoing litigation" with the Golden State Warriors no longer available online?
Just another question.
Stay tuned. This is a mess.
The title above is about perfect because the City of Oakland and the County of Alameda allowed the Oakland - Alameda County Coliseum Authority to take just $7 million for a naming rights agreement for the Oakland Coliseum that was worth much more, and let them do it even as Overstock.com is involved in, to this day, and with the same County of Alameda in a court battle where the County seeks $15 million in damages over alleged fraudulent pricing practices by the company.
The deal - which in a very irresponsible editorial, the Oakland Tribune actually, strangely, praised - was done netting no better monies than were raised in 1998 for the Network Associates Coliseum naming rights deal.
That was at $7 million.
If now former Oakland City Attorney John Russo is correct about the City of Oakland taking actions and making decisions that are "morally questionable," then it seems the Overstock.com naming agreement falls into that category.
Something is clearly wrong. This blogger has asked not one, but three Oakland City Auditors to look at the Oakland Coliseum, and each one, from Norma Lau to currently and sadly Courtney Ruby has come up with some kind of excuse.
Ruby's claim is lack of resources, but that didn't stop her from looking at the ABC Security issue, or fiscal issues over at the City Administrator's Office last year.
For some political reason, the Oakland Coliseum is shielded and protected from real scrutiny from most organizations, save for the Alameda County Grand Jury.
Last year, the Grand Jury looked at the Coliseum, but only from the narrow point of view of the failure to hire a full-time executive director. The Coliseum Authority balked at the need for one, and also brushed off calls for the kind of long range planning that was done by the Oakland Coliseum before the Authority existed.
Really, it did.
In a report that you can see with a click here, the Coliseum Authority wrote:
The Authority disagrees with this finding. This recommendation will not be implemented directly by the Authority for the following reasons: The Joint Powers Agreement under which the Authority operates by agreement of the City of Oakland and The County of Alameda as well as the Management Agreement among the Authority, the County and The City, delegates limited power to the Authority. The Joint Powers Agreement's stated purpose is to issue bonds to construct and acquire public capital improvements at the direction of the City and The County...
Let's stop there for now.
Doesn't "The Joint Powers Agreement's stated purpose is to issue bonds to construct and acquire public capital improvements at the direction of the City and The County" call for long range planning? Of course it does.
It's too bad the Alameda County Grand Jury didn't call on this blogger to testify, not that I asked them to do so. But, when I worked as Economic Adviser to Oakland Mayor Elihu Harris, Bob Quintella, who was then the President Of The Oakland Coliseum, with Peerless Coffee head George Vukasin as chair of the Coliseum Board, took me on a mini-tour of his office, complete with a presentation of a large map of the property the Coliseum owned, and future plans for its use.
The Business Plan written by Ezra Rapport, the Oakland Deputy City Manager who brought the Raiders back to Oakland, that was prepared for the Coliseum Authority in 1996, and read religiously by this blogger, called for not just an executive director, but for some kind of planning activities to be done.
Also, the original resolution that formed the Coliseum JPA, called for the addition of a 20-person board of private sector people, on top of the current eight public officials. But that part of the resolution has never been enabled.
In other words, the elected officials don't seem to want the input of Oakland and Alameda County's private sector. Otherwise, why have such a provision go 15 years without being implemented?
The operation of the Oakland Coliseum Complex raises a lot of questions, and another is this: why is documentation referring to "ongoing litigation" with the Golden State Warriors no longer available online?
Just another question.
Stay tuned. This is a mess.
End Of The World May 21st, Harold Camping, Dominate Search
After Saturday, May 21st, or what the Christian Radio Broadcaster Harold Camping calls 'End Of The World May 21st,' Camping should consider a job in Internet Marketing. As of this writing, Mr. Camping's wild, prediction, driven by his own homespun math and logic, only loosely based on The Bible, have come to dominate search.
Now, not less than five search terms related to Mr. Camping's work are among the Google Trends: "End Of The World May 21st," "may 21 doomsday," "may 21 rapture," "judgement day," amd "judgement day 2011."
On top of that, "Harold Camping" has been a Twitter top trend.
And all of that for something that will turn out to be just another day, as I predict:
But it's wild that, of all people, Harold Camping would earn this much attention. But, basically because he's the only person saying it, and because digital media has amplified his voice, it's hard to turn anywhere without hearing about "End Of The World May 21st," or anything else.
And if you think it's bad now, wait until Friday progresses.
Stay tuned.
Now, not less than five search terms related to Mr. Camping's work are among the Google Trends: "End Of The World May 21st," "may 21 doomsday," "may 21 rapture," "judgement day," amd "judgement day 2011."
On top of that, "Harold Camping" has been a Twitter top trend.
And all of that for something that will turn out to be just another day, as I predict:
But it's wild that, of all people, Harold Camping would earn this much attention. But, basically because he's the only person saying it, and because digital media has amplified his voice, it's hard to turn anywhere without hearing about "End Of The World May 21st," or anything else.
And if you think it's bad now, wait until Friday progresses.
Stay tuned.
Lafayette, CA Event: Empowering Women & Girls on May 24, Veteran's Memorial Hall
An email was sent to me announcing a very important event for the evening of May 24th:
Unfinished Business: Empowering Women & Girls on May 24, at the Veterans Memorial Hall in Lafayette at 3780 Mt. Diablo Blvd, from 7 PM to 9 PM. RSVP at UnfinishedBusinessRSVP@gmail.comPlease, take time to attend this very worthwhile event!
Featuring Gina Otto (photo), bestselling author or Cassandra's Angel. Cassandra's Angel is about the stories we've been given by the people in our lives about who they think they should be....and dropping those stories to become who you were meant to be. The evening will be dedicated to discussing empowerment among women and girls, focusing on a process of mentorship and self expression as told in the book, to achieve personal growth and self esteem.
This program is open to all girls and women, but is also a really great Mother/Daughter event! Our mistress of ceremonies will be actress Nicole Ari Parker, (http://www.nicoleariparkeronline.com/) who in addition to her work on screen, has received the 2010 "Maverick Award" Women Empowering Women, and the 2010 "Renaissance Woman of the Year Award" from Collective Renaissance.
Nicole is the founder of Sophie's Voice Foundation, a 501c3 dedicated to research, education and eradicating Spinda Bifida, a preventable birth defect.
This will be an inspiring evening that will catalyze the attendees to become young girls and women of consequence.
The event is FREE and it would be a shame to have an empty seat in the house. Please share this with your friends, family and networks. Thank you for helping get the word out.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Patients Rating Doctors: Let's Pay Popular People More!
Patients Rating Doctors: Let's Pay Popular People More!
Obligatory conflict-of-interest announcement: I am paid an hourly salary by a local government. My patients may fill out satisfaction surveys for other physicians in other settings, but they don't for me.
Part One of Three: My patient only had 20 minutes to wait for the van headed to detox. The people who had worked to get him into a detox program already numbered in the double digits. Sam (not his real name) was the classic public inebriate - he woke on sidewalks with the shakes, vomited blood on a regular basis, had lost most of his teeth, and was such a frequent victim of head trauma that depressions and scars ridged his balding skull.
Over the last week, our substance abuse counselor had daisy-chained together an impressive series of phone calls, blood tests, and clearance forms to line him up for one of our rarely-available detox beds.
Only 20 minutes to go.
But it was 20 minutes too long for him.
Sam wanted pills to help his shakes, and he wanted them now. When I told Sam the nurses would bring them as soon as they could and that I needed to examine him before the van arrived, his head turned away, and his arm-crossed rocking picked up speed.
With a sideways look at me, he pulled from his jacket pocket his trump card - a crumpled prescription. He showed me how, just that morning, an emergency room doctor had already given him a prescription for Librium (a long-acting withdrawal drug, with high street re-sale value).
He was telling me that he didn't need all this hassle.
Librium is, by any measure, a dangerous drug, with a narrow gap between helpful and lethal. If you shake out one or two extra pills to try to quell the violence of your withdrawal symptoms, or you take a dose, feel better, and then succumb to the lure of a readily available bottle, you can die. (Or, perhaps worse, go into a coma and endure prolonged, intensive, and expensive suffering.)
Librium is extremely dangerous to a serious inebriate and is a big cause of the markedly short lifespan of people like Sam. But Librium is also a really quick and easy way to get someone to leave your ER happily.
Despite Sam's shakes, coughing, and symptoms that indicated he might be vomiting blood again, he had spent less than an hour from check-in to discharge in his Librium-producing ER visit.
Sam saw me looking at his ER client satisfaction survey and discharge instructions, and he said, "I want my prescription back. I'm not waiting any more."
Disclaimer: Identifiable patients mentioned in this post were not served by R. Jan Gurley in her capacity as a physician at the San Francisco Department of Public Health, nor were they encountered through her position there. The views and opinions expressed by R. Jan Gurley are her own and do not necessarily reflect the official policies of the City and County of San Francisco; nor does mention of the San Francisco Department of Public Health imply its endorsement.
Dick Ebersol, XFL Creator, Leaving NBC Sports
The first thought that comes to this blogger's mind is apparently Comcast's not into paying what talented people are worth. Dick Ebersol, who not only formed the XFL, but developed and produced Sunday Night Football, now called Football Night In America, and many successful Olympics telecasts, and with Lorne Michaels, Saturday Night Live, is worth a king's ransom.
But Ebersol, who also lost one of his two boys in a plane crash in Colorado in 2004, also said he was just plain tired from all of the plane travel from event to event.
He deserves a break, but also that's a lot of talent just sitting around on a couch. Maybe too much talent.
Stay tuned.
Zazzle Bay To Breakers - Carol And Candy Want The Floats Back
Now that the 100th Bay to Breakers, and the first to be called "Zazzle Bay To Breakers," is over, it's time to consider improvements for the future. On that note, this blogger had the pleasure of meeting two runners (who were also participants and party goers, given the nature of things B2B) at the Park Chalet Restaurant after the race.
They were happy, talkative, and wonderfully opinionated.
Carol And Candy Want The Floats Back in the Bay To Breakers:
The sisters and San Francisco natives both said this year's event was "sparse" as Carol said "it's just the ambiance of everyone on their having such a good time. It seemed kind of sparse without the floats."
The Floats were disallowed for 2011 because they were seen as "rolling bars" distributing alcohol, leading to problems with falling down drunk people. In 2010, the party activity was so intense in the heat of the day that the Crossover Drive underpass was essentially blocked for emergency traffic, as this video from 2010 shows at the 4:42 mark:
This year, as upcoming videos will show, it was a lot tamer at the Crossover Drive underpass. In all, observers said the 2011 Bay To Breakers had fewer mishaps and problems than the year before.
The logical conclusion is that the new rules helped, but I still contend all of these problems would be almost totally eliminated if a big name group like The Rolling Stones or The Black Eyed Peas, or Lady Gaga took the stage at The Polo Grounds. Then, the action would be in that area, rather than all over the streets in Golden Gate Park.
Would it be perfect? No. But the crowd direction would be predictable; everyone would want to be in or close to the Polo Grounds. And the concert would go on until near dusk, insuring that people didn't have time to wander around because the Bay To Breakers was over and the Footstock was closed.
But we can toss around many different ideas for Bay To Breakers 2012. After all, we've got a year to go.
Well, unless Harold Camping gets his way!
They were happy, talkative, and wonderfully opinionated.
Carol And Candy Want The Floats Back in the Bay To Breakers:
The sisters and San Francisco natives both said this year's event was "sparse" as Carol said "it's just the ambiance of everyone on their having such a good time. It seemed kind of sparse without the floats."
The Floats were disallowed for 2011 because they were seen as "rolling bars" distributing alcohol, leading to problems with falling down drunk people. In 2010, the party activity was so intense in the heat of the day that the Crossover Drive underpass was essentially blocked for emergency traffic, as this video from 2010 shows at the 4:42 mark:
This year, as upcoming videos will show, it was a lot tamer at the Crossover Drive underpass. In all, observers said the 2011 Bay To Breakers had fewer mishaps and problems than the year before.
The logical conclusion is that the new rules helped, but I still contend all of these problems would be almost totally eliminated if a big name group like The Rolling Stones or The Black Eyed Peas, or Lady Gaga took the stage at The Polo Grounds. Then, the action would be in that area, rather than all over the streets in Golden Gate Park.
Would it be perfect? No. But the crowd direction would be predictable; everyone would want to be in or close to the Polo Grounds. And the concert would go on until near dusk, insuring that people didn't have time to wander around because the Bay To Breakers was over and the Footstock was closed.
But we can toss around many different ideas for Bay To Breakers 2012. After all, we've got a year to go.
Well, unless Harold Camping gets his way!
End Of The World Not May 21st - Harold Camping Wrong
As this blog post is written, today is Thursday, May 19th, 2011. If Christian Radio Broadcaster Harold Camping has his way, Saturday May 21st will be The End Of The World. It's not necessary to go into a lot of detail to explain that Mr. Harold Camping is wrong.
Rather than immediately point to any Biblical scripture that reads "The World Will End On May 21st 2011," Camping points to a self-created math that leads him to that conclusion. But, really, it's a conclusion Camping would have come to an asserted without numbers.
It's just like Google using an algorithm to express what really is a set of opinions about how Internet search, and the placement of news, should work. Google execs are fond of pointing to this 'black box' that produces a result, but the fact is, if that black box comes up with a search outcome that's not in favor with their views, it will be altered.
Mr. Camping, originally a Berkeley-trained Civil Engineer long before creating the ministry of Family Stations, Inc., used a mathematical system of his own design to generate his result, which has really nothing directly to do with the Bible. In fact, in an interview in New York Magazine, Camping says...
— but there’s nothing in the Bible that holds a candle to the amount of information to this tremendous truth of the end of the world. I would be absolutely in rebellion against God if I thought anything other than it is absolutely going to happen without any question.
In other words, forget the Bible, the end of the World is nigh!
In this way, Camping is very much like another "expert" on what God is, does, and intends who was attacked in this space: Steven Hawking. Hawking is as certain that Heaven's a "fairy tale," much as Camping is sure that the World will end this Saturday, and both hide behind math and science to prove their points.
And the media gives them a ton of attention.
Yikes, man. Yikes.
Camping's backers are every bit as self-righteous as Hawkings's and just as annoying. Both are wrong, but in Camping's case, all it take is for us to wake up and see Sunday, May 22nd, 2011 to know it.
For Hawking, we have to pass away. Or talk to Don Piper:
Stay tuned.
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