Ad:Tech SF - Digital Marketing's Must-Attend Event In San Francisco

 

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When we first established Sports Business Simulations, we launched the new site on June 22, 2003 and got just three unique visitors all day long.  I had the stupid idea that if you build it -- the website with sim games -- they will come.  I realized within one day I was totally wrong.

In my quest to find answers to improve our traffic I discovered for myself an event that I at first wasn't sure I should go to, but then was glad I did.  That event was Ad-Tech, which takes place Tuesday through Thursday of this week at Moscone Center West..

Where Web 2.0 conferences are more about glitz and gitter and parties, Ad-Tech is more about nuts-and-bolts website marketing and promotion.  It's where you find affiliate marketers and shopping cart software makers and website ad creators actively trying to find a fit with you and your web business.

I'm not taking anything away from Web 2.0, which is a fantastic networking event, but Ad-Tech is a place to do deals for your web business that can help you in some way.  But if it's your first Ad-Tech and you don't have an understanding of what digital marketing is or how to separate the good vendors from the "ok" ones, I have some advice for you.

Just take the time to go to the keynotes speeches, look around, and get to know the vendors.  Get a bag and stuff it with material.  And learn who wants to deal with you and who acts like you're gum shoe.  I'm serious, because that happened to me two years ago.  One company that places ads on websites like mine just made me stand around waiting for five minutes (think about it) to talk to someone; when they finally realized I was an Internet site builder and operator and not the Roto-Roter man, they talked to me, and even then they didn't take me seriously.

"Well, we only deal with people who have blogs and websites", the rep said.   No kidding.  You can imagine where it went from there.  After all, why would he assume I don't have a blog or a website, rather than a lot of them?

Huh? 

Now I was dressed business casual so no problem there, right?  And here's where the matter of race could come into play, right?  Because what logical reason would anyone have for ignoring me?  None. Then they would say, "you're playing the race card" to which I would respond, "racism is a form of rejection without reason other than skin color; what logical reason did you have for rejecting me" -- in fact, that's what happened.  (Hey, women go through this crap, too!) I gave them a piece of my mind and then walked away.  I found another ad placement company to work with.

That's the beauty of Ad-Tech and a good reason why you should "kick the tires" of the personalities first.  Learn who you want to deal with and don't want to deal with.  If that example I gave happens to you, don't argue as I did, just walk away.  

The other good reason to check out Ad-Tech SF is just to learn what the state of the art of thinking in digital media is.  This year's event looks exciting, as Jimmy Whales, the founder of Wikipedia will speak at a keynote adress, as well Kevin Rose, the founder of Digg, and Jason Kilar the CEO of Hulu (an awesome site).  There's also the AdSense Publisher Forum on Wednesday, which is an event for all of my friends who I tell "You've got to sign up for Google AdSense" so they can place ads on their blogs. 

Also, go to as many parties as you can.  For example there the "Advertising 2.0" party Tuesday night at the "W" Hotel, who's lobby is the "in" place to hang for the tech community at these events.  And there's the Affiliate Summit Beer Garden, which is a must, because affiliate marketers are without a doubt the most fun folks in the digital media industry.  You'll find many of them are from places like Vegas or Florida, or Colorado, and are an interesting mix of "smart" and "party", which makes their events smart parties to attend.  But to be sure, according to the AdTech folks there's the ad:tech SFAMA Mixer, Digital Social Media Networking and Oldtimers Foundation parties to check out, too.

To sign up, just click here: Facebook Invite Page 


So, go to Ad-Tech SF and follow my instructions, I guarantee you'll have a blast and learn a lot.

As for me, I had to travel to Atlanta for family matters so I will not be able to attend but in order to blog about it, I've asked my friend Molly Fuller, the founder of the cooking class company "Hands On Gourmet", to go in my place and use Twitter to tweet what she sees and her impressions.  That material will be used for my blog.  It will be great to get her view of Ad-Tech as a first-timer.

Giants try to pick up a free agent receiver and other pre draft notes

Giants try to pick up a free agent receiver and other pre draft notes

It seems that the reports hold some truth at least: The Giants want to swing a deal with the Browns to get Braylon Edwards, who is another talented but "difficult" to work with receiver. Edwards may have some problems working with new Browns and Ex Jets Head Coach Eric Mangini, which seems to be the main issue right now. The Browns want a #2 and a #5 pick in this draft, plus receiver Steve Smith. The Giants countered with the two picks plus receiver Dominik Hixon. What some people are missing is that Edwards isn't Burress. He's two+ inches shorter and 15 pounds lighter. Can he play the same "Jump Ball in the End Zone" game? Sure he can. But if Hixon also goes in the deal the Giants would still need to get another "taller" wide out in the Draft or Via Free Agency to help stretch the defensive backs.

I'll cast my vote for Brian Robiskie early, or Ramses Barden late. I prefer to see a team built through the draft rather then through free agency. To pick up one, two or three players that is is one thing, but there is no way you can get 20 players through free agency without going past the salary cap, at least this year. Now let's see if there still is a salary cap next year. Seattle Seahawks GM Tim Ruskell seems to agree with me that "there isn't really a franchise player in this draft." He told the Sporting News this weekend "(At #4), you think of who will make an impact on your team as quickly as possible-except for a QB. That guy your going to groom."
Right on Tim! Every team i've ever seen play that continually won in post season did so because a G.M or a scouting director took the time to build the team through the draft and not through trades and free agency.

Things are heating up for next weekend at the NFL Draft. We will bring you the latest news all week and from the draft both days.

Our Blogs are at: nflbiz.blogspot.com, and nfldraftmag.blogspot.com
Our websites are www.footballreportersonline.com and to order our NFL Draft Guide (E-Book-PDF) please go to www.gridirondraftguide.com

Last Thursday on our Internet radio show/ podcast at Football Reporters Online was our 2 Hr. mock draft show. This week we have out 2 Hr. Preview show Thursday night at 9pm eastern, and our 45 min. Day one wrap up sunday morning at 12:30 am, plus a two part total recap on Monday the 27th at 7:30 eastern (pt.1) and Thursday the 30th at our regular 9pm eastern slot (pt. 2). The Shows can be heard at www.blogtalkradio.com/Football-Reporters or on iTunes at Keywords: Football Reporters.

On Saturday and Sunday we will team up with Sports Business Simulations, Black Athlete.com, and Consensus Draft Services to bring you all the NFL Draft coverage you could need I would love to hear from you at : askdrfootball@gmail.com or at 1-866478-5982.

Boston Tea Party? Not so much... -By Tom Hayes

-Let’s skip past questions of who benefited from Bush-era tax cuts, and move right on to the guts of the question: are taxes unfair, and is a tea-bag an apt modern rallying symbol?

People having trouble making ends meet have reason to wish bank and credit-card fees were less onerous, and we naturally resent the inevitable burden of any tax they think is unfair. Money is tight for most of us, but we don't want to become the next Somalia, either - we value government services as much as - if not more than - our founding fathers did when they included phrases such as, "insure domestic Tranquility," and, "provide for the common defense," in the preamble to the U.S. Constitition. Today we just want the burden to be fair.

And that tea-party tie-in? That was a reach. We might've bought it if the whole movement really was spontaneous - but with 8 months of planning, to settle on "tea bagging" is frankly embarrassing. The media coverage reminded me more of Alice in Wonderland's Mad Hatter than it did of colonials risking their lives and livelihoods to thumb their noses at distant despots (they sure didn't want anybody recording their presence for posterity.)

Read More | Digg this story

Ready for those "first 100 days" report cards? - By Tom Hayes

Summary:
Some reports suggest that despite numerous successes and his warm reception at the Summit of the Americas, U.S. President Barack Obama is under pressure to do more about Cuba in particular. Yet Hugo Chavez wants to be our friend, now, and Raul Castro has just made a speech in which he said that Cuba is ready to talk to the U.S. about virtually every topic, explicitly including political prisoners (one of the major sticking points for decades.)
When the inevitable flood of "first 100 days" summaries come out, the marks are going to be better than any in recent memory. There's a lot of work remaining, particularly on the President's big three priorities (Education, financial and economic reform featuring green jobs, and Health Care reform) but the Obama administration is clearly working in high gear. Most of the doom and gloom will come from domestic detractors, and much less from elsewhere in the western hemisphere where we're clearly seeing the result of Obama extending his hand in friendship.

Former harsh critics and foes see it as politically expedient to unclench their fists; cooperation is increasing for the first time in nearly a decade. In a time of unprecdented uncertainty, hope is flourishing abroad and at home.
Read the rest of the article at Democracy for America.

DFA & MoveOn provide incentive for GOP to let Franken be seated

By now you've read or heard that despite Al Franken winning the court case, the GOP intends to keep him out of the Senate. The folks at Democracy for America and MoveOn came up with a great idea, and some of you will already have read the note from Charles Chamberlain, the Political Director of Democracy for America:

DC Republicans have plenty of incentive to keep Al Franken from being seated. So DFA found a way to flip the incentive. They're teaming up with a brand new partner, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC), to launch the "Dollar a Day to Make Norm Go Away" Campaign.

If thousands of people donate just $1 a day every day that Norm Coleman refuses to concede, then dragging it out doesn't seem like a good idea for the GOP anymore.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP

All the donations will go to directly to the PCCC - the new group formed by former MoveOn and their partners to help bold progressive candidates run effective campaigns and win.

“After a seven-week trial, 1,717 exhibits, 142 witnesses and 19,181 pages of pleadings, motions and briefs, the trial court left little doubt about its decision,” writes the St. Paul Pioneer Press’ Rachel E. Stassen Berger.

“Point by point, the judges dissected Coleman's case in their 56-page decision Monday. Point by point, they dismissed it. The double-counting Coleman alleged existed during the recount? Unproven, the judges wrote. Coleman's objection to using an Election Day count in lieu of lost ballots from a Minneapolis precinct? Dismissed, the judges declared. His complaints that the state voter-registration system was not up-to-date and was flawed? No, they wrote, it's ‘trustworthy.’"

The GOP is prolonging the fight for political reasons, but former Senator Norm Coleman's participation is disenfranchsing the voters of Minnesota who are served by one Senator during this pointless posturing. I'm not sure Coleman feels he has any choice, but I know I do.

Susan Boyle: Boyle Sings "Cry Me A River" On CD Made in 1999

 

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The now wildly famous Scottish Singer Susan Boyle, who wowed the World with her singing audition on "Britains' Got Talent" one week ago today (how time flies) and who's background was featured on my video called "Just Who Is The Singer Susan Boyle?", said she sang many times in the past.

Well, one of those occasions was the basis for a CD made in 1999 and recently found by The Daily Record in the UK, and is now taking YouTube by storm.

It's no wonder. You've just got to hear her sing "Cry Me A River".  Seriously. 

Ms. Boyle's amazing talent has been a part of her for a long time, just waiting to be discovered. Now it's happened. But to put in perspective regarding what emotions seem to drive her, Ms. Boyle's father passed in 1997, just two years before this, so I wonder if he was in her thoughts when she produced this amazing recording.   I write that because Boyle said recently -- on CNN's "Larry King" -- that what she sings fits the mood of the moment. 

Here's the video:

President Obama Meets President Chavez (reuters) - No audio

From manwanwa at YouTube:

President Barack Obama extended a friendly hand to America's hemispheric neighbors on Saturday at a summit in the Caribbean where he offered a new beginning for U.S.-Cuba relations and sought out Venezuela's fiery, leftist president for a quick grip and grin.

At the Summit of the Americas in this island capital, Obama signaled he was ready to accept Cuban President Raul Castro's proposal of talks on issues once off-limits for Havana, including the scores of political prisoners held by the communist government. Obama shook the hand of Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, a leader who once likened his predecessor to the devil, and casually exclaimed, "Como estas?"

Responding to the overture, Chavez walked over to Obama at a meeting, patted the president on the shoulder and handed him the book, "The Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent" by Eduardo Galeano, an essay that argues against U.S. and European economic and political interference in the region.

Saturday was the first full day of meetings in the two-island nation of Trinidad and Tobago, just off Venezuela's coast. Obama was taking part in a series of plenary sessions, group gatherings and one-on-one meetings that the White House hoped to squeeze into a busy schedule. He hoped to make time for individual sessions with leaders from Canada, Colombia, Peru, Haiti and Chile, aides reported.

At his first meeting with South American leaders, Obama waited several minutes while security officers and members of the media pushed noisily into the room. Somebody accidentally hit a light switch, prompting Obama to ask: "Who turned off the lights, guys?" He said he hoped events would go more smoothly during the meeting where he said he would talk to the leaders about energy, security and other topics. "I have a lot to learn and I'm very much looking forward to listening," the president said.

In an opening speech to the 34-nation gathering on Friday, the president promised a new agenda for the Americas, as well as a new style.

"We have at times been disengaged, and at times we sought to dictate our terms," Obama said to loud applause. "But I pledge to you that we seek an equal partnership. There is no senior partner and junior partner in our relations."

Obama also extended a hand to a leader Ronald Reagan spent years trying to drive from power: Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega. The Sandinista president stepped up and introduced himself, U.S. officials reported.

Yet soon after, Ortega, who was ousted in 1990 elections that ended Nicaragua's civil war but who was returned to power by voters in 2006, delivered a blistering 50-minute speech that denounced capitalism and U.S. imperialism as the root of much hemispheric mischief. The address even recalled the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba, though Ortega said the new U.S. president could not be held to account for that.

"I'm grateful that President Ortega did not blame me for things that happened when I was three months old," Obama said, to laughter and applause from the other leaders.

But perhaps the biggest applause line was his call for a fresh start in relations between Washington and Havana.

"I know there's a longer journey that must be traveled to overcome decades of mistrust, but there are critical steps we can take toward a new day," he said.

On Tuesday, Obama ordered an easing of travel and remittance restrictions for Americans with relatives in Cuba. Within hours, Castro - who took over from his ailing brother Fidel a year ago - responded with an offer of talks on "everything" that divides the two countries.

The White House welcomed the offer, but suggested actions would be better, such as releasing some of Havana's scores of political prisoners.

Added Obama: "I am not interested in talking for the sake of talking. But I do believe that we can move U.S.-Cuban relations in a new direction."

Cuba became a dominant issue even though the summit was taking place amid the worst global downturn since the Great Depression.

To Latin American nations reeling from a sudden plunge in exports, Obama promised a new hemispheric growth fund, an initiative to increase Caribbean security and a new regional partnership to develop alternative energy sources and fight global warming.

But most of all, he offered an end to old hemispheric arguments.

"I didn't come here to debate the past," Obama said. "I came here to deal with the future ... We must learn from history. But we can't be trapped by it."

NFL Draft: Matt Stafford, Avoid The Detroit Lions

 

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YouTube, Yahoo, MySpace, Metacafe, DailyMotion, Blip.tv, Stupid Videos, Sclipo, Viddler and Howcast





A Message to Georgia QB Matt Stafford regarding the NFL Draft. 

Matt, one week from today you're going to be in New York for the NFL Draft as player and I as media .  Many people expect The Detroit Lions, holding the first pick in the player selection event, to make you the number one pick. I've got some advice for you:

Don't let 'em.

Matt Stafford (photo from Google Images)

Matt, the Detroit Lions are an organization of rich tradition, but a history of failure. The Lions have never reached the Super Bowl and playoff appearances have been few and far between.  And the ownership has focused more on hiring personalities than building a winning organization. You won't win there. 

Why? 

Take a look at the NFL coaches who have won.  All have one thing in common: they're known for systems.

Vince Lombardi, the legendary coach of the Green Bay Packers was known for one play, the Power Sweep, which the Packers ran to perfection winning Super Bowl's I and II. 

Chuck Noll was the four-time Super Bowl winning coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers who's system consisted of a trap-based running game and aggressive pass-blocking on offense and on defense the "4-3 Stack Overset" alignment. That was the basis for the Tampa Defense that was created by Coach Tony Dungy, who was a Steelers assistant.

Coach Dungy took that Tampa Defense to the Indianapolis Colts where he was reunited with his old college coach and now offensive coordinator Tom Moore, who installed a unique spread offense, and that team set NFL records for wins and playoff appearances, and won a Super Bowl. 

I could go on, and on.  Tom Landry was the father of the 4-3 Defense and "zone" pass coverage with the New York Giants in the 50s, then refined the concept, creating the "Flex Defense" as head coach of the Dallas Cowboys where he won two Super Bowls.

Coach Bill Walsh is the father of the West Coast Offense and won three Super Bowls with the San Francisco 49ers (and indirectly two more, as his system was still used after he left), and for good measure A Pac 10-Championship at Stanford. 

You getting the picture, Matt? 

Jim Schwartz as Lions' head coach and Scott Linehan as its offensive coordinator are not known for a system that works.  Name an NFL Quarterback that Linehan developed into a Super Bowl winner? 

None.

While Linehan is known as a coach who's pass-patterns Urban Meyer used for his spread offenses at Utah and Florida, it's Meyer who won with a new total offense he created, and not Linehan. 

Coach Linehan recently said they find the players and then make the plays for them, which means he's got no idea what he's going to do. 

Don't go to Detroit, Matt.  You won't win there.

So where should you go? 

Denver, where Head Coach Josh McDaniels has a proven, modern offensive system. And New England, where Bill Belichick has the best situational offense in the NFL.  You can learn of Tom Brady.  But if you go to Detroit, don't say I didn't warn you.  But if Linehan reveals his system as a result of this little attack of mine, maybe things will change. 

We'll see.

Good luck.

NFL Draft: Matt Stafford, Avoid The Detroit Lions

 

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter!

YouTube, Yahoo, MySpace, Metacafe, DailyMotion, Blip.tv, Stupid Videos, Sclipo, Viddler and Howcast





A Message to Georgia QB Matt Stafford regarding the NFL Draft.

Matt, one week from today you're going to be in New York for the NFL Draft as player and I as media . Many people expect The Detroit Lions, holding the first pick in the player selection event, to make you the number one pick. I've got some advice for you:

Don't let 'em.

Matt Stafford (photo from Google Images)

Matt, the Detroit Lions are an organization of rich tradition, but a history of failure. The Lions have never reached the Super Bowl and playoff appearances have been few and far between. And the ownership has focused more on hiring personalities than building a winning organization. You won't win there.

Why?

Take a look at the NFL coaches who have won. All have one thing in common: they're known for systems.

Vince Lombardi, the legendary coach of the Green Bay Packers was known for one play, the Power Sweep, which the Packers ran to perfection winning Super Bowl's I and II.

Chuck Noll was the four-time Super Bowl winning coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers who's system consisted of a trap-based running game and aggressive pass-blocking on offense and on defense the "4-3 Stack Overset" alignment. That was the basis for the Tampa Defense that was created by Coach Tony Dungy, who was a Steelers assistant.

Coach Dungy took that Tampa Defense to the Indianapolis Colts where he was reunited with his old college coach and now offensive coordinator Tom Moore, who installed a unique spread offense, and that team set NFL records for wins and playoff appearances, and won a Super Bowl.

I could go on, and on. Tom Landry was the father of the 4-3 Defense and "zone" pass coverage with the New York Giants in the 50s, then refined the concept, creating the "Flex Defense" as head coach of the Dallas Cowboys where he won two Super Bowls.

Coach Bill Walsh is the father of the West Coast Offense and won three Super Bowls with the San Francisco 49ers (and indirectly two more, as his system was still used after he left), and for good measure A Pac 10-Championship at Stanford.

You getting the picture, Matt?

Jim Schwartz as Lions' head coach and Scott Linehan as its offensive coordinator are not known for a system that works. Name an NFL Quarterback that Linehan developed into a Super Bowl winner?

None.

While Linehan is known as a coach who's pass-patterns Urban Meyer used for his spread offenses at Utah and Florida, it's Meyer who won with a new total offense he created, and not Linehan.

Coach Linehan recently said they find the players and then make the plays for them, which means he's got no idea what he's going to do.

Don't go to Detroit, Matt. You won't win there.

So where should you go?

Denver, where Head Coach Josh McDaniels has a proven, modern offensive system. And New England, where Bill Belichick has the best situational offense in the NFL. You can learn of Tom Brady. But if you go to Detroit, don't say I didn't warn you. But if Linehan reveals his system as a result of this little attack of mine, maybe things will change.

We'll see.

Good luck.

On "Crazy Right-Wing Extremists" v. Susan Boyle

 

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On "Crazy Right Wing Extremists."

You can't please everyone, especially conservatives.

What's interesting regarding the outcome of my Susan Boyle video-blog of two days ago is the reaction I received from some viewers toward what I considered to be a throw-away line at best. I was trying to state that in a news World where we hear about "nasty pirates, mean internet commentators, and crazy right-wing extremists it's great to have some good news in the form of Susan Boyle's performance and story.

My blog post was clear as a bell, but I discovered you can't combat the insecurities of the reader; they're going to think what they want to think depending on their background and beliefs. It's literally impossible to anticipate every reaction to what's written, so better to just go for it.

As I state in the video, about 15 percent of the commenters focused on the "crazy right-wing extremists" part of the sentence and came up with some really weird interpretations. One person used the term "bigoted" to describe what they thought of my comment. In point of fact, being a "crazy right-wing extremist" is a behavior and not a race or ethnicity. For some to "go there", as the term is used, was pretty gauche to say the least.

I can't spot a "crazy right-wing extremist" on the street at a distance, and I certainly don't know what "crazy right-wing extremists" wear to a concert. But what I do know is the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has released a report that points to "right-wing extremists" as a threat to the safety of the country. Moreover they're reportedly growing in numbers. Remember, Oklahoma City Bomber Timothy McVey was a member of a "crazy right-wing extremists" or "White supremacist" group, so the FBI and Homeland Security have reasons to fear what these organizations might do.

Why support them, then?

And why be so sensitive to the use of the term "crazy right-wing extremists" that one would think I'm referring to a person who's "right wing" and calling that normal person names like "crazy" when I never made such a claim? It should come without explanation that one is who "right wing" is normal. But maybe right-wingers are hyper-sensitive now?

What's the deal with that?

Whatever it is, it is crazy to me. The people who reacted to my statement on "crazy right-wing extremists" need to stop looking for fights where they don't exist and cease acting like, well, "crazy right-wing extremists"! When reading, they should give someone the benefit of the doubt and stop looking for negatives to point to. Then they can see the real story.

Zennie62 On Susan Boyle Fan Site

 

A friend sent an email that my video "Who Is Susan Boyle" is featured on a new Susan Boyle fan site. Here it is > Susan Boyle Fan Site.

And on the matter of "Crazy Right-Wing Extremists, here's my video response:

The Death Of YOUTUBE!!! as we know it - By Brandon Keating Sr

I know it has been a while since I have posted, but I ran across something today that was quite disturbing. This is only directed to people who love youtube for what it once stood for. If you have some time, Please watch.

Susan Boyle: Just Who Is The Singer Susan Boyle?

 

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Unless you live under a rock, you know about the Scottish woman who has taken the industrialized World by storm: Susan Boyle.

Ms. Boyle, who appeared on a reality TV show called "Britains' Got Talent" last Saturday, April 11th and wowed a cynical audience and the judges, including the irascible Simon Cowell (also of American Idol) with her powerful performance of "I Dream A Dream" from Les Miserable.

What surprised millions - and does not make a great statement about our World industrial culture but is a great example of the power of online video distribution as the video has been seen over 15.9 million times on YouTube (I counted over 10 videso with over 200,000 views) as of this writing - is that someone who looks like her could sing like that.



But who Susan Boyle is as a person is a story of a good simple woman winning over a bad, complicated society. Ms. Boyle is 48 years old, unemployed, and she says never married or "kissed" which means she's a virgin. I do not laugh here because I think of her more as pure rather than question anyone's desire for her or perceived lack of same.

The Worldwide sensation lives in her childhood home in West Lothian, one of 32 council areas in Scotland, and which has Grapevine, Texas as its sister city, meaning they can claim her too.

Ms. Boyle cared for her mother until the elder Boyle's passing in 2007 at the age of 91; her father passed away 10 years before. Living alone, Susan attends Church each weekend and it was there that her singing talent developed, and where her late mother encouraged her to sing, but Boyle had reportedly stopped singing and did not know how she would do on that Saturday night she shocked the World.

Susan's life has not been one without pain. She was abused and starved of oxygen at birth as a result of that and has a learning disability because of the act. Ms. Boyle says she was teased by classmates, and apparently the scars of their comments remain to this day. Very sad.

What I identify with is, I myself having lost two fathers to prostate cancer in 2005 (my stepfather and my biological dad), and the same year my Mom was diagnosed with breast cancer (she's still with me), one becomes painfully aware of their own mortality and the desire to "make one's mark" becomes ever intense. Susan Boyle's stirring song was as much a testimate to the power of the human sprit and a form of grieving as it was a display of talent. Susan wanted to make her mom smile, but in doing so made mothers all over the World smile -- my Mom called and said Boyle was the next Julie Andrews.

So, in a World of nasty pirates, mean internet commenters, and crazy right-wing extremists, we have to stop and embrace Susan Boyle for making us smile.

Visit "The Alley" On Grand Avenue

I just went around Oakland to really get out of the house, which means heading to places like Luka's, Cafe Van Kleef, and other venues. It's to socialize -- some of my best blog story tips have come in this way. But it's also to support the local businesses. In this case, the crowds generated by the successful appearance of Green Day at the Fox went away and downtown Oakland and the Lake was largely full of locals. So I dropped into The Alley really to get a copy of their menu, and the walked over to a drinkery called Smitty's two doors away.

Now I am not comfortable with Smitty's at all. Sorry but some of the clientele look like they're going to take hostages! Hey, I'm serious -- some rough-looking folks hang there. Not that I would not help raise money for an event there, but geez. I've had it with this "We're Oakland and so it's ok not to excel or be ambitious, in fact we'd prefer it if you want to be a loser."

Whatever.

That's why I'm happy for places like Pican and Flora, where you feel good for liking nice places and preferring to be around people who can dress appropriately!

Geez.

CNN Needs To Axe Lou Dobbs

I don't know how many times I need to write or say this, but I'm sick and tired of Lou Dobbs. His entire CNN show is based on some outdated conservative idea that even he can't define and his shows have no example of his thinking being challenged. It's nuts. Why CNN has this guy on is unbelievable to me.

Tea Parties in the works since August 2008

Stephen Leser of OpEd News (OEN) provides revealing information regarding the "Tea Party" domain:

You can repeat the research easily yourself. It's just a matter of looking up registration information. Check it out:
http://who.godaddy.com/whoischeck.aspx?Domain=CHICAGOTEAPARTY.COM

Please note the date of creation, August 3, 2008.

Things that make you go "Hmmmm..."

Some are trying to portray these protests as "spontaneous, grass roots" protests that are a natural "organic" response to Obama's economic policies (including those that are extensions of the GOP/Bush bank bailouts.) Leser points out the date the idea was conceived "not only predates the implementation of Obama's policies and his Presidency, it predates Obama being officially named the Democratic Nominee for President."

Now a lot of us wish taxes were lower, and suspect the rich already milk the system to pay lower tax rates despite what the rhetoric implies, but the facts support the assertion that this movement is anything but "spontaneous."

That's not exactly spontaneous, grass-roots sort of organizing.

"Who is Zachary Christenson, the owner of the domain? In turns out he is a right wing radio talk show host in the Chicago area with ties to several major Republican think tanks, and the Koch company, a Chicago area based conglomerate which heavily funds several Republican think tanks. These same Republican think tanks, like Freedomworks, the Cato Institute and Americans for Progress, just happen to be the primary groups behind the "Organic, Grass Roots" Tea Party protests. If you read the leadership of these think tanks, they are all led by heavy hitters in the RNC like Dick Armey and Steve Forbes...."

Imagine the solutions we could be creating if the GOP was willing to work together with the new administration. Instead, these "spontaneous, organic" Tea Party Protests, and the curiously naive "tea-bagging" rallying cry were planned over a period of months. They are evidently orchestrated, bought, and paid for by GOP operatives with the full knowledge of the RNC. It's no surprise the conservative media outlets are in full support; it makes for fine infotainment.

"...protest too much, methinks."

Are the people insisting it's the government that's promoting bad behavior doing anything they can to keep people from noticing the they arearrogantly promoting bad behavior? That's positively Rovian.

If you want to know the truth, my friends, follow the money.

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Simon Cowell Leaving "American Idol"? YEAH!

 

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I just read the news that Simon Cowell, the British entertainment mogul who's terrible bedside temper brings an edge to the popular reality TV show "American Idol" is now considering leaving it. My reaction? YEAH! DO IT!

Look, I never really watched American Idol at all -- but I've seen at least once -- and the reason was Cowell. I've got to be honest. I don't like it when people are mean to each other when they're supposed to work together in the real world, and I like it even less on reality TV. Cowell tossed insults at fearful contestants like they're hand grenades then he sits back and watches them cry!

Maybe Cowell is the perfect poster child for our fashionably rude society, and if that's the case and his departure would help improve American Culture, then the faster the better.

Cowell says he's tired; that going between two countries and doing three shows is hard "so one had to go" he told the British press. All I can say is please let it be "Idol" so he's not on in the American states for a while.

(And after unknown Susan Boyle's beautiful, blow-you-away rendition of "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Miserables on "Britains Got Talent", I'm willing to be he's not skipping out on that show.)

Cowell's departure is good for Idol. Even Ryan Seacrest says this, pointing out the ratings drop I referred to earlier. But even then American Idol still rules the ratings its time slot. Maybe Americans like a villian, and Cowell is that. He told Seacrest to "Come out of the closet" and has been called childish, insulting, and a ton of names I can print here.

So who would replace Cowell? Well, someone mean, childish, ambitious, and cold for starters. For fun, let's make a list. Here's mine:

1. Dick Cheney for throwing President Obama under the bus, or trying to.

2. Sarah Palin for throwing everyone under the bus she's worked with.

3. Jamie Foxx for telling 16-year old Mylie Cyrus to make a sex tape and use heroin.

4. Rush Limbaugh for everything.

5. Chelsea Handler for having a cheap, racist TV show.

6. Alec Baldwin for yelling at his young daughter.

7. Jim Cramer, who I like but can wreck a company's stock in moments.

8. Naomi Campbell for throwing her cell phone at an employee.

9. J.J. Abrams for messing-up the San Francisco Skyline in "Star Trek" '

10. Perez Hilton who tosses made-up Internet rumors around weekly.

I'm sure you have your own list. Let's see it! Make a video of your "Top 10." I left "me" out because I didn't use the term "ego". I have a large one.

MN court declares Al Franken leading vote-getter. And the beat goes on...

Former Senator Norm Coleman has ten (10) days to appeal to the state Supreme Court. Once the petition is filed, it could further delay the seating of Minnesota's second senator for weeks. Bet he will - because even though Coleman once said he'd concede if the court found in Franken's favor more recently said he'd appeal all the way to the Supreme Court unless he won. Coleman isn't about a legal resolution, he's about staying in power - or, at best, letting the Republican machine drag out the contest at the expense of the citizens he claims to care about. How long will the GOP keep disenfranchising Minnesota voters? The citizens of Minnesota only have one Senator because they're not willing to play by the rules.

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Somali Pirate Attacks Point To Need For Somalia Aid

 

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Today, Easter Sunday, an after an kidnapping affair that lasted for several days, American sea Captain Richard Phillips was rescued after NAVY Seal Snipers took three precision shots and killed three pirates from Somalia.

Conservative blogs and websites like "HotAir" have unintelligently called for us to go into Somalia and "bomb" the pirates, but such saber-rattling will only kill innocent women and children. In other words, "American Machismo" worked to rescue the captain, but it will not work for the resolution of this problem.

In what can be described as a "growth industry" pirating in Somalia is a function of the country's lack of a government, weak economy, little military funding, and lack of financial aid from the World. In order to stop these attacks, the people of Somalia themselves must be helped.

What will work is increasing aide to Somalia and helping them establish a central government but from a distance, not via invasion. Somalia has been without a true central government since 1991, and that country's civil war. (And the United States doesn't need another incursion into that country, or for that matter another situation where American solidiers are killed, which were the events captured in a movie called Black Hawk Down.)

We can't afford to take on the task now. But we can work with the United Nations and other countries impacted by piracy to improve the Somali economy. Somalia is poor. According to the CIA, its' Gross Domestic Product is just over $2 billion, and the average life expectancy is just 47 years old. That's right: 47 years old.

So when the average Somalian hears that a pirate's making as much as a share of $22 million for a heist, that's attractive. Indeed, the BBC reports that Somalian pirates are "living the high life" becoming very wealthy even by American standards in a country that's very poor by the World's standards. So much so is the economy a problem and piracy attractive that recruiting participants has become easier over the years. The monetary spigot has to be shut off in two ways: economic and military, but we can't afford to constantly patrol several hundred thousand square miles of ocean to watch every action a band of pirates might take.

Aid to Somalia must be increased -- dramatically. But for now, I don't expect these attacks to stop, indeed, the lure of money and the culture that's developed around it is too intense to be curbed by America's success at recovering its people, even if the pirate hostage-takers were killed. They will try again, perhaps with some other country's vessel, but they will strike again.

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Special Interests inside the beltway fight health care reform

President Obama has issued an executive order establishing the White House Office of Health Reform intended to oversee "the federal government's comprehensive effort to improve access to health care, the quality of such care, and the sustainability of the health care system." Governor Howard Dean, M.D., and Democracy for America have launched the "Healthcare for All" campaign at StandwithDrDean.com, and over a quarter of a million people have enthusiastically joined in, spreading the word.

Both initiatives will help spur on reform in the health care insurance industry, and not a moment to soon. According to a recent article from Maggie Fox of Reuters,

"U.S. government economists predict that public and private health spending will hit $2.5 trillion this year, taking up a 17.6 percent share of gross domestic product. Yet studies suggest Americans get poorer care than people in other industrialized countries that have national healthcare plans, and 46million Americans have no health insurance at all."

While Howard Dean is a visible and credible public face, the effort requires your commitment, too. Change doesn't come about in Washington unless politicians know their constituents are paying attention to an issue. You've got to keep writing to them, and to newspapers, and inform your friends, neighbors, and co-workers about the shabby state of affairs caused by insurance company profiteers siphoning off lavish pay and bonuses that drive up all our costs but add no value to the health care industry.

You can help financially, too, even if you're not the sort to write to congress.

The President has nominated Nancy-Ann DeParle (who worked in the Clinton administration) to be Counselor to the President and Director of the White House Office of Health Reform. Barack Obama has a grand vision, he knows the system is broken and he's working to bring meaningful change so that health insurance works for people instead of just corporate profits despite the powerful special interests fighting to influence your representatives in Congress to leave the system just the way big insurance likes it. Don't let the folks in D.C. forget you're out here, watching.

"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

The President's plan will promote public health and require coverage of preventive services, including cancer screenings. Catch the fever - make some noise!

President Obama Was Correct To Bow To King Abdullah; Conservatives Are Idiots Here

Warning. If you're conservative, you're not going to like this post, ok? But the fact is President Barack Obama was correct in his act of bowing to Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah. It's called - drumroll please - the right protocol. What it does reflect, is the end of American Machismo in foreign affairs. You know what I mean. The desire to show we're better than someone else, (because they're different) which could be thought of as a kind of racism since the basic idea is to put someone down because of their race. President Obama is a breath of fresh air here. He seeks to make partnerships around the World, not line up new candidates for industrial exploitation.

Conservatives are upset because many it seems want Obama to show America as tough. OK. That got us September 11th 2001, or what we call "9-11." Yes, much of our foreign relations have been tied to America showing its military or economic muscle over the decades, but now the era of Pax Americana is over. We have to use another approach. It's called diplomacy. But the general, accepted rule is Royalty outranks heads of state. The idea is a President is only such for a few years, but Kings and Queens are that for life.

Obama not only did the right thing, even if his press secretary is trying to make it go away, but Obama signaled a major shift from how America has dealt with the Arab world, and he did it at the right time. We need to have a better image around the World.

Also, bowing is considered a move of affection in East Asia and Obama was expressing just that. What masks an appreciation of Obama's act is simple, pure, American ignorance. The xenophobic idea that one who's of the USA doesn't need to know about another country or its customs, but that everyone should know about ours. It explains why so many of us don't know another language let alone english, or embrace the themes of other cultures. Here, the San Francisco Bay Area is different from America (come to think of it, so is Manhattan and Seattle and LA, and Miami). We don't have that problem to as great a degree as in, say South Carolina, and at least in what I call the "Inner Bay Area", which is between the Pacific Ocean and the Hayward Fault line.

But other parts of America need a whole sale intellectual cleanup. And yes, we have a lot of appologizing to do around the World because we've screwed up so much of late -- that's what created 9-11. Remember our ill-advised President Clinton-directed 1993 Somalian incursion under the idea of a humanitarian mission, when it was really an occupation? It was Osama Bin Ladin's group that got us out of there. And successful, they were emboldened to consider an attack on America which led to 9-11.

The Chicago Sun Times ran a shameful opinion piece on this matter and Sun Times Columnist Steve Hunley wrote a column that represents the macho, non-thinking American more concerned with being tough than being smart. I just hope he's not that way.

Frankly, Rambo was a dumb movie and an even dumber idea. Best to leave him where he belongs -- in the past.

On Brain Solis Post "Can the Statusphere Save Journalism"? No.

Brian Solis wrote a TechCrunch blog post where he states ask "Can the Statusphere Save Journalism?" With all due respect to Brian, he missed the real problem with journalism: money.

Conservatives Can't Stand Being Outside The Lines So They Throw Bricks

O Willie's right. (Or Oliver Willis.) Conservatives, basically shut out of the policy-making process in Washington, have taken to throwing stones and acting, well, immature. But they keep stumbing all over themselves, you know? Take Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, who's own attempt to get her voice into the mix is consistently mangled by some bad news coming from her own family.

And she's a well-known Conservative! If it's not her family issues, it's Rush Limbaugh running off at the mouth to get part of his $400 million, or Michael Steele trying to find his manhood, or Chip Saltsman stocking up on racist songs to put on a CD!

No wonder they're angry!

Founders Seek to Buy Skype Back From EBay

The European duo who created Skype and sold it to eBay for billions may have another trick up their sleeve: buying it back. The founders of Skype are said to have approached several private equity firms to make a bid for the Internet calling service.

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Fort Worth Cop breaks nose of deaf man for not obeying orders

FORT WORTH - A deaf man ended up with a broken nose after he found himself in a struggle with a Fort Worth police officer.

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Did ASU snub President Obama, or just blow an obvious opportunity?

After a day of digging and talking to ASU staff and faculty, it seems this may have been more of a bureaucratic snafu than a political snub. Many have questioned whether such a decision not to award Obama an honorary degree could be racially motivated. ASU is intent to say - after the gaffe - that they will "honor Obama in every way possible."

Dawn Teo kept at this story, which was one of the hottest items yesterday at the Huffington Post, and she discovered a university administration about as jittery as cats in a room full of rocking chairs by the look of it.

Faculty and staff at ASU have taken a lot of heat over this issue. Laurie Chassin co-chairs of the ASU Honorary Degree Committee along with Christine Wilkinson, but she is on sabbatical this year and is not involved in this year's evaluations. She reportedly received death threats, though, after this story hit national news on Thursday. An ASU spokesperson said they started receiving hate-email within minutes after the story was published on Huffington Post. Crow's office was barraged with so many calls that many went straight to voice mail.

Dawn's discovered that when the President accepted the invitation to speak at the ASU commencement, the news was top secret, because Obama's press team wanted to announce the story together with the other commencements at the President would appear - but stopping leaks inside the beltway is difficult to say the least. It seems likely the right hand at ASU didn't know what the left hand was up to...

...but they sure did bungle the opportunity, and the coverage, and end up with a lot of egg on a lot of ASU faces.

Meanwhile, as you'd likely expect, the White House seems utterly unconcerned over the snafu in Arizona. There's been no mention of it I can discover via the White House blog or briefings. Today's message was largely about hope that the anecdotal signs of an economic turn-around might signal the start of broader progress reversing the downward spiral, though it's clear the recovery will not be quick.

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Promise Technology, RAID, Cloud Computing and UC Berkeley

 

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I happened on a number of blog posts about a company called "Promise Technology" and became more interested in these terms: "RAID" and "Cloud Computing" and because my grad school, Cal Berkeley is apparently at the center of the creation of this technology. Also, I think, particularly in the wake of the San Jose fiber-optic cable crime of yesterday, it's important to shed a light on the little-known areas of technology and how they impact us.

Promise Technology (according to its website) is "a global leader in the storage industry and as an innovator in RAID technology". OK, fine and dandy, but what's "RAID technology" and why is it important? First, when David Patterson, Garth Gibson and Randy Katz created RAID according to Wikepedia at Cal in 1987 and confirmed by Scientic Commons , it was called "Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks" but some companies now call it "Redundant Array of Independent Disks". Ok, but why is it important?

It's important, and Cal Professor David Patterson's a Macher in this field. Patterson led the creation of RAID technology, increasing storage capacity dramatically and opening the door to the creation of the kind of web servers used today. But really it started as combining small disk drives into something called an "array" which is a way of arranging information so that each part can be gotten according to some specific code index -- in other words it's a way of "filing" information in a certain order then using that order to, say, make a calculation of something. We do this every day when we teach kids to count the number of items in a case, that number of items is an array of sorts. Programmers get computers to do that same act by writing arrays as in this case (ok, simple yes, but I want people to at least be exposed to these ideas.)

Thus, RAID is a storage technology that uses arrays and is widely used in the corporate world. Promise Technology is one of a number of companies that uses this Cal-created technology to store information or more to the point of what Promise does, is make hardware that "sees" an array of hard drives and stores, receives, and protects that data that's in them.

As an old Cal student and booster I hope you see this example of where our dollars public and private go at the university. At present, we need to change our spending priorties do that great California institutions like UC Berkeley get more money fro the State of California. California spends more money today on prisons than education; that wasn't the case when RAID technology was created. Cal's leadership and innovation in computer technology has helped transform the World around us for the better and caused the launch of a new industry and companies like Promise Technology.

Indeed, RAID served as a foundation for what we now call "Cloud Computing" which is using the Internet to, say, use a spreadsheet, rather than an old disk or CD that had a copy of, say, Microsoft Office and Excel on it. If you're thinking of Google Docs, you're on the right track.

So the next time you're poking around online and see some technical term you don't recognize, stop and research it rather than clicking by it. It will expand your understanding of the world and it may cause you to appreciate your public university more than you do.

Fiber Optic Cable System Vandalism A National Security Problem

 

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On Thursday April 9th a criminal incident impacting nearly a million people in three counties of Silicon Valley went largely unnoticed by the media, both mainstream and blogs, yet has enormous national security implications far beyond the scale and scope of September 11th 2001 or "9-11" and potentially impacting millions of Americans. What was it and why?

On that day, someone one or a group of people cut a fiber-optic and landline network placed beneath a manhole cover in San Jose, California. No one knows who did it, but the act crippled operations in hospitals, stores, banks, and supermarkets. No one could make a call using a cell phone or regular phone, or get information from the Internet. The full extent of the impact of this act is as of this writing not known, but imagine not being able to call the police or the fire department or your loved one for any reason especially if they need your help. And forget using "Skype", the Internet phone service, because access to the Internet itself was down.

That's what happened yesterday.

To explain the importance of this, I go back in time in my own life, to 1988.

Then, I worked a temporary job at a firm called "The San Francisco Consulting Group" (SFCG) in of course San Francisco, California, and which still exists. (I must report I write this without contact with anyone at the firm. My friend who was a partner there and told the firm to work with me, Michael Taylor, passed away due to brain cancer in 2003 and who's survived by his wife and my friend Sandra Taylor.)

In an innocent conversation the human resources representative discovered that the person hired to help them with spreadsheets - me - was using a software program called "STELLA", knew the modeling paradigm "System Dynamics" or "SD" and as it happens "SD" was used by SFCG, so my value immediately increased dramatically. Michael and his staff wanted to use System Dynamics to make this "economic soft landing" computer simulation for a client.

What was changing is the provision of access by long distance companies to the cable fiber-optic lines owned by AT&T. With all of these companies now able to "poach" off lines owned by AT&T, the firm was certain to lose money, the question was "how much."


At the time, the Internet was not invented by Al Gore, but the fact was then and is now that national communications depend on the same fiber-optic and coaxial cables that are mostly owned by AT&T and were vandalized in San Jose.

In 2006, I pointed to the communications system that was established as vulnerable to attack by a hacker. I wrote in my Zennie62.com blog:

The Old Economy firms are threatened by the continuation of a process that started almost 20 years ago: the constant and inexorable decrease in market value that they have suffered since the mid-80s. A chain of events started when the Federal Government forced the then-powerful AT&T to share its cable lines with other long distance providers as part of the breakup of AT&T. Ever since that point in the early 70s, the "Baby Bells" have been trying to slow the rate of decrease in market share and in any way.


Now, the only proof I have of this is rather powerful. In 1988 I was to be hired as part of a consulting team led by The San Francisco Consulting Group. I was to constuct a System Dynamics model of the US long distance telephone industry. That team was to determine how the market for long distance service was changing and how the client -- GTE -- should respond to this change. In other words, how they should achieve "a soft landing" as their market share decreased. The schematic I created for the model was formed to have a pattern of numerical behavior such that each long distance company was losing market share as new players arrived on the scene.


That was before the emergence of the Internet, which didn't become a major factor in how we communicate until 1995. But after that year, the number of Internet-equipped computers increased dramatically, as did the number of Internet-based services and companies. In 10 years, we've went from dial up to DSL to Broadband, and the one constant in this process has been the use of phone lines used by companies like AT&T.


Ever hungry for new forms of revenue generation, the firms that provide Broadband service -- and standard telephone service -- saw a way to cut off competition from the "Vonages" of the World: force them to pay for faster Internet speeds.

In this, they found the perfect driver to increase revenues and at the same time hamper the growth of the Global Economy. It's easier now than even before in our history for a small business to have a global reach using the World Wide Web. The cost barrier to entry for many is close to zero if one knows how to find the free services needed.


But from the perspective of thee AT&T's of the World, their revenue gain would be unescapable; absent a way of hacking the system, billions of users would have to pay them for faster access, thus introducing a new barrier to entry for small companies in the Global market.

To put it simply and to repeat my message folks, the fiber-optic cable lines that AT&T  created in the late 40s and up to the 80s and then had to share with new firms in the 90s and beyond, that sunk infrastructure of lines that carry the information that makes up what we call the World Wide Web, and the cell phone and telephone communications industry is still largely concentrated in the same system that was the victim of vandals in Silicon Valley on Thursday.  But when the matter of security has been discussed in the past, it was always from the perspective of stealing information from the network, not destroying it as was the case on April 9th. 

All the vandals did yesterday was open a manhole cover, go down below ground to the space under the streets that holds our fiber-optic system, find the lines, and cut them, then escape the scene of the crime just by climbing our and running away from the scene of the crime. Again, no suspects were captured as of this writing. No security camera was in place to "see" the crime. No locks on the manhole covers. Nothing. A group of people went in and then got out and crippled much of Silicon Valley's economy and lifestyle in the process. But it could have caused the loss of life just be not being able to contact and help someone in need.

And to add insult to injury, the talks about fiber-optic security that are available online only concern someone tapping the lines to get information, not destroying them altogether. The assumption is others will want to maintain the lines, but that's a terrible guess to make. This act of vandalism proves that there are people who want to cripple our economy and may have stumbled on something. We have to stop them.

How do we know this wasn't a dry run for some larger act of vandalism? Sorry to be a conspriracy theorist, but hey, I've got reasonable evidence to back my concern. I now state that a well-financed anti-USA terrorist effort could successfully cripple much of America's Internet and communications infrastructure in much the same way that vandals damaged fiber-optic cables on Thursday. Prove me wrong. Where's your counter-evidence?

This is such an important issue that the Federal Government, and specifically the Federal Communications Commission should work with the Department of Homeland Security to first eliminate the development of an Internet access system that's in the control of a few large corporations because of the problem of having such an important system concentrated in the hands of a few.  It's not that they're bad; it's a matter of protection. 

Municipalities should call for an end to Comcasts' exclusive control of cable access in cities like Oakland. The overall objective must be decentralization and redundancy (in other words having more than one of the same lines) of Internet-related access and control. We have to lay new lines of cable to act as a replacement and redundancy system for what's there now and make sure that those lines are secure from vandalism -- right now, given the events of Thursday April 9th, I write with great concern that our national system of fiber-optic cables is not secure and subject to attack.

I welcome anyone out there to prove I'm wrong. I already have my example of why I'm right in San Jose -- where's your proof?

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Tiny "Smart Car" Spotted In Oakland Rockridge BART Parking Lot

I was walking from my car to Olivetto's in Market Hall last night to meet a friend for dinner when I spotted a really small car in the Oakland Rockridge BART Parking Lot, where I parked. I mean this car was tiny and at the rear had one word on it: "Smart." So, I removed my handy Flip Video Camera from my suit pocket and made this video blog about it.



As I filmed and talked I was totally both taken and scared by the sheer size of the vehicle (tiny), so I did some research. According to various online sources and this rather disjointed Wikipedia page, the Smart Car was the creation of the same person who came up with the Swatch Watch. That device -- a simple, monotoned plastic-looking timepiece -- was a hit with Valley Girls in the 80s. And that discovery explains why the car looks like, well, a Swatch..car?

The car in the video is called a Smart Fortwo, or "for two" as in two people. It's created by Mercedez Benz to this day, even though the Wikipedia seems to imply otherwise. The Smart Fortwo was brought to America over a year ago.

Still, I would not be caught driving one -- it's too small. I can't see surviving an accident in this thing at all. How small does a car need to be? And how much gas does it use? According to this site, it's 33 in the city and 41 on the highway. That's terrible considering its size and what a Prius can do. But the good news is unlike that hybrid car, the price is about $12,000. Still, I think it should be about $7,000 -- I'd pay for that just to drive it on the golf course!

SF Giants Baseball Opening Day; Party Economy Still Active In San Francisco

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San Francisco and the SF Bay Area have developed what I call a "party economy" where to the layperson people have events with food and drink and music everywhere, but really are marketing gatherings to present a restaurant or a type of drink or even a car. These happenings are the lifeblood of San Francisco and are prevalent during the Opening Day Game of the San Francisco Giants' baseball season as my video will show.

The game pitting the Giants against the Milwaukee Brewers was one I did not see much of. I was too busy talking to old friends and meeting new people and I wasn't the only one. Even with the wet weather, which eventually cleared, spirits were high, smiles were many, and at some events people dressed as if it was 90 degrees outside.

I went to meet friends in what has become an annual ritual for us, even though I live in Oakland, like the Oakland A's and even made a game called "The Oakland Baseball Simworld." But my good friends live in San Francisco and are in the marketing and promotions business, and have relationships with me that are over 10 years in the case of two of them, Beth Schnitzer and Randy Gordon, who helped me form the bid to bring the 2005 Super Bowl to Oakland (we lost to Jacksonville at the Atlanta Fall NFL Owners meeting in 2000). From those two I've developed a long list of friends and contacts in the restaurant, political, media, and hospitality areas. All of them come out on baseball opening day.

The parties were many and most of the visits were unplanned; I had no idea where we were headed next until we were at an event. We left the game early in the eighth inning, as I was literally dragged to a gathering thrown by Epic Roasthouse on the waterfront, the new eatery created by San Francisco restauranteur Pat Kuleto and Pete Sittnick, who's Epic's managing partner.

The party was part vodka promotion and part networking fest, but for me since about 70 percent of the party attendees were with our group, it was a kind of family day by the Bay. Then we went across the Embarcadero to Gordon Bierch and were treated to a great spread of food and drink by the marketing manager and staff of the legendary bistro.

Good friends who are also business contacts are a kind of way of life in the Bay Area, and especially in San Francisco, where its developed into an art form. These are my best friends, but also have helped me in various ways in building my business. Why San Francisco has evolved in that way is the stuff for another blog, but for now it's a way of life.

The event was for Blue Angel Vodka, and because of the name I expected to see the planes fly overhead. But what I got was a great time presented by Sittnick, who told me that people were "tired of talking about the Recession" and want to party. All the better for Epic Roasthouse and the people employed to staff the party, including three "dressed to sell vodka" women from Davis, California who told me what "Cow Tipping" was (where they actually turn over a poor cow) as I had no idea at all. Seriously. (In fairness, they said it was something they did when they were young and never again.)

And people were indeed out spending money. But not as much as even last year just by an observation. You could see it in the stands, where the third deck at AT&T Park was about half full. You could see it around the grounds where not as many were walking, but then it was the rain as much as the economy. That written, it was still crowded.

What I took from today's event was that the Giants have some offensive firepower from what little I saw of the game, but equally important, people are still out trying to drum up business and consummate agreements and partnerships to bring in money. Americans are losing their jobs at big firms and in government departments, but it's a great time to be an entrepreneur, especially in San Francisco on Giants Opening Day.

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