Pier 39 Fleet Week 2007 San Francisco Party - Video

I'll get back to politics, but here's some fun. My good friend Beth Schnitzer invited me to Pier 39s Fleet Week Party held October 5th 2007 on the roof of the parking lot at Pier 39 in San Francisco. It's a killer event that drew over 600 people and provided a great backdrop for products and events from various sponsors from Bauer's Limousines -- http://www.bauerslimousines.com -- to Sheri's Berries. There's great food and music and people, like Movie Critic Jan Wahl. This is the first movie in a series.

Hillary Clinton - Iowa Pork: The Other White Meat

Well, that's what it reads if you look at the photo. It features Hillary Clinton flipping burgers while wearing an apron that reads "The Other White Meat" and standing just in front of an under a sign that reads "Iowa Pork."

Man, I can't make this one up!

Microsoft Buys 1.6 Percent Stake In Facebook - TechCrunch

Well, it a story of numbers and eyeballs equaling investment value. In this case, to the tune of a 1.6 percent stake that causes Facebook to be valued at $15 Billion.

The buyer of that portion of the company is Microsoft -- not Google -- and for $240 million. What Microsoft will do with Facebook is another guess. But for the present, Michael Arrington at TechCrunch liveblogged the press conference today. Here's the result:

Call Notes

Call is beginning at 2:07 pm

Viveck Varma, MS, Owen Van Natta, Facebook, Kevin Johnson, Facebook, Brandee Barker, Facebook are on the call.

Viveck is saying the press release below has minor errors and will be re-issued. We will update it as it becomes available. He’s actually reading the entire release to the call participants.

200,000 new users register for Facebook every day.

Microsoft ad deal was extended to 2011 early this year.

Owen and Kevin:

Owen is saying this investment will help Facebook grow. They have nearly 50 million active users. This alliance will help them create the best user experience.

Kevin - “this deal signals a major advertising syndication win for Microsoft.” This is a “win-win-win.”

Now taking questions


Q: How do you support valuation?

Vivech: Online advertising is $40b/year, will grow to $80b per year. Equity stake in facebook is a strong statement of confidence in MS’ ad platform and in facebook. If you look at FB growth and think that they will get to 200 million users in future, combine that with monetization opportunity along with modest rev/user/year, the valuation is supported.

Q: Signal a bigger partnership around other products?

A: Nothing specific, but the partners will be doing a lot more together over time.

Q: Why Microsoft over Google?

A: (Owen) We were fortunate to choose from partners. We have existing relationship with MS and we had the opportunity to expand it.

Q: Any new restrictions on platform developers?

A: No new restrictions

Q: (mine) Any other investors in this round?

A: No comment, not saying one way or the other (JMA note: this suggests there may be other investors even beyond existing ones).

Q: Will we see any reciprocity? Any FB apps integrated into any MS properties?

A: Not announcing anything right now.

Q: Josh Quitner - who else was interested in investing?

A: Not announcing anything.

Q: Why did MS only take a 1.6% stake? Does this money affect FB IPO plans?

A: No real answer. Investment was the best fit for both companies.

Q: Is this deal just for banner ads?

A: partnership extends across adcenter platform for MS, not disclosing anything around web search advertising. Deal does not include web search ads like Google/Myspace deal.

Q: Any minimum payment that is guaranteed under ad deal? If so, will it be disclosed?

A: Viveck is saying they are very pleased with current deal, but strategic deal, way collaborating together, equity position provides economic and strategic value of overall partnership. “We feel very good about the deal.” Owen is saying that they want to focus on innovation and user experience, and this deal allows them to do this.

Q: (Om Malik) What kind of performance on FB from previous ad efforts? What will FB use the money for?

A: Viveck: we continue to see monetization improve, many initiatives underway to drive it higher. We’re seeing great progress on deal so far. Won’t discuss specifics on click throughs, etc., both parties have agreed to keep that confidential. At a high level, both parties see monetization on an eCPM basis improve. Owen: We’ll use the capital to continue to fund innovation and growth; we plan to expand employee base dramatically next year to 700 employees; doubling user base every six months; international growth is very important.

Q: How did deal come together? Also, what kind of collaboration between two companies? How deep will it be?

A: Owen: we’ve been working with MS for over a year, constantly talking about evolving partnership. MS is doing a huge amount of building around adcenter.

MS is Facebook’s exclusive advertising partner, expanding from U.S. to global in today’s announcement.

Q: Does adcenter have access to profile data in serving ads?

A: user trust is core, as is providing highly relevant ads. want users to feel like trust is not violated in any way.

Call is ending at 2:38 pm PST.

Donnie McClurkin Not Anti-Gay - Barack Obama Not To Attend "Embrace The Change" Tour

After much yelling and screaming from some bloggers, Senator Barack Obama decided not to attend the "Embrace The Change" tour the campaign is sponsoring. But the tour goes on.

The idea of the concert tour was to reach out to the religious community, but the opponents to the idea of the concert looked at the record of Donnie McClurkin. The claim of these bloggers is that Donnie McClurkin is anti-gay.

The problem is they're wrong.

This is what the Chicago Tribune wrote:

Gospel singer says he is not anti-gay
By Kelley L. Carter | Tribune staff reporter
7:13 PM CDT, October 23, 2007

Gospel music superstar Donnie McClurkin says he was surprised to wake up Tuesday morning to a media firestorm.

The 47-year-old Grammy Award-winning musician is scheduled to perform this weekend at Sen. Barack Obama's three-day concert series in South Carolina. But in the wake of accusations by a gay-rights group that McClurkin falsely asserts that homosexuality is a choice, bloggers are calling for the Democratic presidential candidate to cancel the singer's Sunday night appearance, saying McClurkin's views are anti-gay and incite hate.

McClurkin told The Associated Press on Monday that "sexuality, everything is a matter of choice." But on Tuesday he told the Tribune that his ideals, and most importantly his ministry, were severely misconstrued.

"I don't believe that even from a religious point of view that Jesus ever discriminated toward anyone, nor do I," McClurkin said in an exclusive interview with the Tribune. "Most of the things that were said were totally out of context and then other things weren't true."

"My only concern is to be in place with Sen. Obama in unity and bring all the factors together for the sake of change," he said. "That's my only thing. Of course some agents have twisted it as though he [Obama] were embracing a racist or a Nazi, and that is anything but true."

McClurkin and Obama first connected last month in California at an Oprah Winfrey fundraiser for the Illinois senator.

"I believe in his stance. I believe in his platform and his agenda. So when they asked me if I would be a part of it, there was no problem," said McClurkin, who has performed at both parties' conventions and identifies himself as a Democrat. "We don't have to agree on everything, but we do have to agree on the main thing: that there needs to be change and I believe he is the candidate to bring it."

For years, McClurkin has talked from the pulpit about how he was raped by a male family member as a child. It was that act, he has said, that sent him into living as a gay man for the better part of 20 years. He now says he is straight and that his ministry is open to those who say they no longer want to live as a gay person. What he doesn't do, he says, is crusade against homosexuality.

"There's never been a statement made by me about curing homosexuality. People are using that in order to incite anger and to twist my whole platform on it. There's no crusade for curing it or to convert everyone. This is just for those who come to me and ask for change."

I think what's happened is some of these liberal bloggers are just plain stupid, and don't look into things. They just shoot off their mouths. This is combined with some Gay activists who struggle to compare themselves with those who are Black, using a "Straight White Male Centric" point of view.

That's where a Straight White Male is viewed as normal, and everyone else is not, so from that perspective, a Gay person can compare themselves to someone Black.

But it's a crock.

The simple fact is that being Gay is a choice. Being of a skin color is not. Just because a person choses to be Gay does not mean their civil rights should be violated. But it is a choice.

I've dated women who said they were Lesbian, has sex, then got married, or in one case, was married, then Lesbian, then dated me.

If your head's spinning, think about mine!

After Seeing Mark Cuban Dance, Marie Osmond Faints - Video

Well, if you saw Mark Cuban's nerdie dance number, you'd faint too. He was booted. Here's the video...

Barack Obama Rally Boston 10/23/07

Barack Obama Rally Boston 10/23/07
Originally uploaded by stevegarfield

Senator Obama was endorsed by Mass Governor Deval Patrick at a huge rally in Boston Common. Here's the video of Governor Patrick's speech:

Patriotism Gives President Bush A Bellyache!

I guess even President Bush gets a stomach ache from the Iraq War he started. In this photo, he's holding his hand down on his belly rather than on his heart. Now, if he just ended the War In Iraq, he'd feel a lot better.

San Diego Hills Fire - Is President Bush "Disaster Challenged?"

According to White House Press Secretary Dana Perino and the AP:

"The last thing California needs right now is a trip from the president to take away assets." Later, she said Bush and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger agreed during a phone call that Thursday was the best day for Bush to come.

Geez. First, the famous 9-11 delay, then the failed Katrina Response, and now the San Diego Hills Fire . It seems we have a President who's disaster challenged. In events like this, a proactive president would send in the troups.

What's that you say? They're in Iraq?

Oh.

One more reason to end the war.

San Diego Fire - 1,750 Homes Destroyed or Damaged, 100 Businesses Effected

This is the forth day of the raging series of fires that have destroyed or damaged 1,750 homes, closed 100 businesses, and scorched 263,000 acres of land. All of this has resulted in over 500,000 people being displaced from their homes over this time.

I've heard reports of people coming down just to volunteer to help. If you're anywhere but there, it's hard to understand exactly what's going on or the enormity of it, untill you see something like this Google Map here.

The map shows that it's not one fire but many fires spread around a vast area. I count 20 in all, and raging in size from the 200,000 acre Witch Fire to the 160 acres Walker Fire. Whatever the case, the fires -- even the small ones -- are very large in size.

So large, they dwarf the 1991 Oakland Hills Fire. That disaster covered 1,520 acres; this one consists of several blazes, all save for three between 10 and 100 times larger than the Oakland Hills Fire.

It's a series of fires too large for standard fire fighting systems to tackle.

In a mess that really can be traced back to Proposition 13, San Diego County has no fire department, only "a hodgepodge of operations". LA Biz Observed explains this problem in more detail:

Expect a bunch of stories over the next few days about how San Diego was not prepared for this week's firestorms - despite the area having gone through the Cedar Fire disaster in 2003. Steve Erie, the prominent UC San Diego political science professor, tells the WSJ that "the only lessons applied were those that don't cost any money. ...In terms of new fire prevention or fighting capabilities, we have barely made any progress." One central problem, Erie says, is that unlike L.A. County, San Diego doesn't have a countywide fire department. That leaves what he calls a “hodgepodge” of operations.

And while the region tries to cope with a giant disaster without the tools needed to do so properly, Qualcomm Stadium fills with evacuees, seen as a "constant panorama of families in pain and kids trying to figure out why their worlds were grabbed from them.”

So are we.

More on this, but for now, let's watch this video made by Cory Williams, "Mr. Safety" on YouTube, who lives in the fire area:

Chertoff: Lessons from Katrina being applied to fire response

Finally,some sense of competence has returned to the White House.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Tuesday that lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina will be used in the federal government's response to wildfires in Southern California.

"I think there's no question that [there were] a couple of the lessons from Katrina which we have put into effect here," Chertoff said.

"First of all, planning and preparation in advance for these kinds of challenges, so that we have worked together and planned together with the Defense Department and with state authorities well in advance of the crisis. That's been a big help here," Chertoff said before boarding a California-bound Coast Guard jet with Federal Emergency Management Agency Director David Paulison; Mark Everson, president and CEO of the American Red Cross; and Matt Bettenhausen, homeland security adviser to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

"Second, we have really flooded the zone as quickly as possible by staging assets to deal both with the firefighting issue and with the response issue," Chertoff said.

Federal emergency agencies and the White House were heavily criticized for their slow response to Katrina. But White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said that since then "integration, additional communication and cooperation amongst the state, local and federal governments have improved."
Chertoff said federal officials began discussing over the weekend the need to have FEMA ready, "and as we saw the evacuation issue becoming more prominent, and the number of people seeking shelter becoming more prominent, we sprang into action yesterday.

"So we've been monitoring the situation continuously. The president's been on top of it. We've been on top of it. And we're going to continue to stay ahead of this as far as we can."

After speaking with Schwarzenegger late Monday, President Bush early Tuesday declared an emergency for seven California counties. He said the order "opens up the opportunity for us to send federal assets to help the governor and those who are fighting these fires."

Chertoff said Tuesday that he hadn't waited for the paperwork to be signed before staging assistance.

"We have been moving cots, blankets, other supplies into the area of San Diego so that we can handle any necessity for additional sheltering capacity," he said. "We've also moved air assets to be poised to take flight when we do have the opportunity to deal with the fire, once the winds begin to die down."

Bush said he is sending Chertoff and Paulison to "listen, develop an inventory of supplies and help we can provide."

The Pentagon has set up a plan to help provide shelter for evacuees and offered a battalion of 800 Marines from Camp Pendleton, north of San Diego, to help fight fires. The Navy has offered an Aegis cruiser, a guided missile destroyer and two fast frigates to support evacuation efforts. The Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve have also sent six C-130 aircraft specially set up to drop water and fire suppressant on the fires.

FEMA is using Naval Air Station Moffett Field, a former naval air station in the San Francisco area, as a staging area for supplies and equipment.

Paulison said his agency is shipping 25,000 more cots and blankets and has 130 generators there.

Off Base? Giuliani Roots For Red Sox To Win WS

Mr. wishwasher continues to show his lack of credibility and committment to a common cause.

Yankees Diehard Says He's Pro-American League

BOSTON (CBS) ― Brace yourselves, Yankees fans.

Former New York City mayor and devoted Yankees fan Rudy Giuliani says he will be rooting for the Red Sox during the World Series.

Giuliani made the admission during a campaign stop at a Boston restaurant. "I'm rooting for the Red Sox," the Republican presidential contender said in response to a question, sparking applause.

"I'm an American League fan, and I go with the American League team, maybe with the exception of the Mets," he said. "Maybe that would be the one time I wouldn't because I'm loyal to New York."

Which raises the question -- if you're loyal to New York, why would you root for the enemy?

Many New Yorkers aren't quite sure, and are quite stumped by his comments.

"Sellout, traitor," one New Yorker told CBS 2. "He's a traitor. You always go with your home team."

Some think Giuliani said he will be rooting for the Sox because he is in Boston. But the Republican presidential candidate said he would make the same admission when he heads to Colorado in the next week or so. "In Colorado you will see, I will have the courage to tell the people of Colorado the same thing -- that I am rooting for the Red Sox in the World Series."

But the whole rooting for the American League squad just doesn't good enough for most Yankee fans.

"How can he go against the Yankees like that? It's unbelievable," another fan told CBS 2.

So does it bother you that Giuliani will root for the Red Sox? Vote in our online poll on the right and tell us what you think!

San Diego County Fire - First-Hand Blogger Accounts

Having went into the Oakland Hills Fire area to help my friend and her parents move out of that area, I can only immagine what San Diego and Malibu dwellers are going through. Here's the first-hand accounts of bloggers on the scene:

Spinnerdude


Ryanstask


Howlingpoint (gave me the idea for this post)


A Life In The Day


Grrrrrrl


Hey Freak


Tenth Muse


Nate Ritter

(also on Twitter with up-to-the-minute info)