This staggering figure will only lend to the current economic turmoil surfacing throughout the United States.
BOSTON (CBS) ― A newly released report estimates that $1.7 billion will be lost in productivity during the two weeks of March Madness.
March Madness is when the NCAA holds its men's college basketball championship tournament, and an estimated 37.3 million workers participate in office pools. The report prepared by global outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc., says the annual distraction could cost as much as $1.7 billion in wasted work time when the tournament starts on Monday and ends April 7.
Up to 1.5 million workers are expected to watch games online from their desks.
The report is based on the number of people expected to participate in office pools, the amount of money they earn and the amount of work time in March Madness related activities, such as tournament conversation at work and watching live videos of the games during business hours.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Be part of the solution: Patience is a virtue
Obama's Misunderstood speech in Philadelphia wasn't about race, it was about the fundamental Christian virtue of forgiveness. Color-based prejudice shaped the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, and he obviously made some over-the-top statements during some sermons, but the message is much broader than race.
We all make mistakes. Nobody is perfect. But we can learn. It is short-sighted to assume the mistakes are the person, and Obama is using this opportunity not just to showcase his diplomacy in dealing with the delicate, potentially divisive issues of color-oriented prejudice, but also to remind us of the cornerstone of his philosophy: We must forgive. We must distinguish the person from their actions. We must dare to hope that they can learn, and grow, and change for the better.
Though in context Reverend Wright's words are not so outrageous as the soundbites made it seem, Obama was right to point out the errors in Wright's thinking, and statements; he remains righteous in his willingness to nonetheless embrace the man.
We all make mistakes. Nobody is perfect. But we can learn. It is short-sighted to assume the mistakes are the person, and Obama is using this opportunity not just to showcase his diplomacy in dealing with the delicate, potentially divisive issues of color-oriented prejudice, but also to remind us of the cornerstone of his philosophy: We must forgive. We must distinguish the person from their actions. We must dare to hope that they can learn, and grow, and change for the better.
Though in context Reverend Wright's words are not so outrageous as the soundbites made it seem, Obama was right to point out the errors in Wright's thinking, and statements; he remains righteous in his willingness to nonetheless embrace the man.
Barack Obama Rules YouTube After Historic Speech
On the heels of what many have called one of the greatest speeches in history, Senator and Presidential Candidate Barack Obama's video of the speech has been seen over 4 million times and as of this writing dominates YouTube. Early this morning it was the number one video with just over 2 million views, but also there were different copies of the same video posted on YouTube by different channel owners.
Five of the top ten videos this morning were the Obama speech, and a whooping 15 of the top 20 in the "News and Politics" section of YouTube were all the same speech. As of this writing, Obama still rules the News and Politics section of YouTube with 9 of the top 20 videos and if one counts the Iraq Speech video, 10 of the top 20 on YouTube's News and Politics section were Obama videos.
I've not seen this kind of video view performance by a candidate since Ron Paul and that wasn't one speech, it was a combination of supporter-made videos and appearance videos. This, for Obama, is all for one speech, his presentation called "A More Perfect Union".
Now, one would think that the number of videos of the same Obama speech on YouTube would stop there, but not so. I clicked over to the second page of top-viewed videos in the News and Politics section, and saw that another 11 of the top 20 most-seen videos on the second page of the "News and Politics" section were the Obama "A More Perfect Union" Speech. That means of the top 40 videos as of 11:43 AM, PST on March 20th, 2008, 22 of the top 40 videos in the News and Poltics Section were of the Obama speech.
That's amazing.
It means not only that there's a hunger to see the speech, but to see it repeatedly and for people who did not have a chance to see the orginal telecast to view it for the first time. The speech is drawing so many views that we should start looking at it as a television show unto itself, with a nielsen rating. That rating today, starting from 2 AM to now, would be about a "5" share because I estimate that about 5 million people have seen this on YouTube alone. And that does not count the Barack Obama website or any other video distribution company that has a file of the video in its system. So we could safely say that the speech ranks a "6" overall. Not bad for an online version of a 37 minute speech.
Plus, that does not include the ratings for the actual television version of the speech.
But it also means that Senator Obama's message is out and that it's being warmly received. From this perspective, it must be reported that Senator Obama objective of causing a new level of dialog about race has been achieved and with rousing success.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Mission accomplished?
Be part of the solution: Every journey begins with a single step
Barack Obama has the plan to get us out. The time is now.
Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope... and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.We are at a defining moment in our history. Five years after the start of a dumb war, we're ensnared in a quagmire that's ruining our ability to take care of our own problems, while it generates ill will that drives people into the camps of terrorists who seek to destroy our very way of life. Imagine what we could have done with all the money we've spent in Iraq.~Robert F. Kennedy
Barack Obama has the plan to get us out. The time is now.
Hillary Clinton's Schedule Shows Events W/ Whoopi Goldberg and David Copperfield
Hillary Clinton's schedule as First Lady was just released today and it's about 11,000 pages of information on daily schedules. What's there? Well, a lot of "private meetings" and blocked out names. I started by looking at the year of the Lewinsky scandal's announcement: 1998.
I see that she had a number of "soft events" for 1998 and buttressing my claim that after the Lewinsky Scandal Hillary Clinton had less contact with actual policy makers and more ceremonial duties as a percentage of the whole, for example, Clinton was entertained by Whoopi Goldberg and David Copperfield on February 8, 1998.
Well, it's no wonder the star of "The View" is so blindly behind Senator Clinton; she thinks's she's going to be invited to tell jokes to her again!
The schedule also notes that David Copperfield escorted the "First Lady" from the audience to the stage. But I have to ask if she went backstage with Coppperfield, as so many other women have done. In fact, this is the perfect pattern of Copperfield: taking women from the audience and up to the stage and then. Well, then. Well, do you think Copperfield hit on Hillary Clinton?
Nah!
There's more here, but the initial read is that Hillary Clinton had no obvious high level meetings or gatherings that would indicate great foreign policy experience beyond the health care focus of her first few months and certainly not after the Monica Lewinsky Scandal.
Stephanie Agresta Shows Boobs at BlogHaus at SXSW By Scobble
Wow, now here's a picture you would not expect to see from a "tech" event, but it's here. Stephanie Agresta, whom I met last year, was at SXSW (South By Southwest) in Austin, when blogger Robert Scobble took this photo.
But Stephanie's more than this. She's a New York-based Internet Marketing Consultant with a great track record and solid clients.
Here's one of Stephanie's videos made at SXSW:
Francisco Da Costa Gets The Outster From Chris Daly in SF
Who is this guy? Well he's not the greatest person. He's a local San Franciscan who I give space to here because he's also pissed off a lot of people, but not in the same way as Mike Cherico.
In his opposition to a local development project, Francisco Da Costa managed to hurl racial insults at just about everyone. Check out what Heather Knight at the SF Chronicle reported:
Activist quits Prop. F coalition over controversial writings
Heather Knight - SF Chronicle, March 19, 2008
A heated debate over two June ballot measures that would dramatically reshape San Francisco's Bayview-Hunters Point has taken an ugly turn over one proponent's Internet postings, which people on both sides of the campaign are calling racist, sexist and anti-Semitic.
Francisco Da Costa, a City Hall gadfly and environmental activist, has long posted his controversial thoughts on Bayview-Hunters Point and City Hall politics on various Web sites. But apparently nobody took much notice of his rants until he became a signed proponent of Proposition F. That measure would mandate that half of the new homes built under redevelopment plans for the Hunters Point shipyard and Candlestick Point be affordable.
Proposition G, the competing measure, is backed by Lennar Corp., the construction company that wants voter approval to remake the area. It has pledged that 25 percent of new homes will be affordable and calls the 50 percent mandate a "poison pill" that would kill the project.
Da Costa blasted the many high-priced political consultants and media men hired by Lennar for being "Jews that make so much money off poor people in the Bayview and want to make more."
He also wrote, "History sure will repeat itself but this time it will be reminiscent of a time when Crystals fell from the ceilings and there was a hue and cry." Many have read this as a reference to Kristallnacht, the night in 1938 Germany that saw the destruction of Jewish neighborhoods.
Da Costa also blasts African American supporters of Prop. G, alluding to them being slaves to Lennar by writing they can "partake in the bread crumbs - the same old way the Plantation was run - Masta, Masta, Masta."
When Da Costa's writings surfaced in recent weeks, they were promptly condemned by several political clubs including the powerful Democratic County Central Committee. The committee last week also voted to endorse Lennar's Prop. G and oppose Prop. F.
Scott Wiener, chair of the committee, said the group voted on the merits of the measures, but noted the Prop. F campaign's embracing of Da Costa even though his style was well-known at City Hall and raised eyebrows.
"It's one thing if you associate with someone and then out of the blue they say something offensive," Wiener said. "It's quite another thing if you have someone with a track record of acting in a really inappropriate and bizarre way, and then you consciously choose to make that person your main proponent."
Supervisor Chris Daly, Prop. F's most prominent backer, said he has heard Da Costa speak at multiple Board of Supervisors meetings and that his public testimony can be "uncomfortable." But Daly said he only became aware of Da Costa's writings on Thursday. The next day Daly said he asked Da Costa to step aside as a proponent of the campaign, which he agreed to do.
"We had a problem within the coalition and we dealt with it," Daly said. "It would be great if we could discuss the merits of the measures and vote them up or down based on the merits."
Da Costa told The Chronicle that he "never, ever" meant for the crystals comment to be taken as anti-Semitic, but he doesn't regret the other remarks. He said they reflect his anger at the city's most powerful people doing nothing to help children and the elderly in Bayview-Hunters Point.
"It's not politically correct but it's frustration," he said. "I say it as I feel it."
According to Giannina Miranda with the city's Department of Elections, San Franciscans will receive voter information handbooks before the June election - with Da Costa's name as a proponent of Prop. F even though he has asked for it to be removed.
"The proponents cannot remove their name right now," she said. "It's past the deadline."
In his opposition to a local development project, Francisco Da Costa managed to hurl racial insults at just about everyone. Check out what Heather Knight at the SF Chronicle reported:
Activist quits Prop. F coalition over controversial writings
Heather Knight - SF Chronicle, March 19, 2008
A heated debate over two June ballot measures that would dramatically reshape San Francisco's Bayview-Hunters Point has taken an ugly turn over one proponent's Internet postings, which people on both sides of the campaign are calling racist, sexist and anti-Semitic.
Francisco Da Costa, a City Hall gadfly and environmental activist, has long posted his controversial thoughts on Bayview-Hunters Point and City Hall politics on various Web sites. But apparently nobody took much notice of his rants until he became a signed proponent of Proposition F. That measure would mandate that half of the new homes built under redevelopment plans for the Hunters Point shipyard and Candlestick Point be affordable.
Proposition G, the competing measure, is backed by Lennar Corp., the construction company that wants voter approval to remake the area. It has pledged that 25 percent of new homes will be affordable and calls the 50 percent mandate a "poison pill" that would kill the project.
Da Costa blasted the many high-priced political consultants and media men hired by Lennar for being "Jews that make so much money off poor people in the Bayview and want to make more."
He also wrote, "History sure will repeat itself but this time it will be reminiscent of a time when Crystals fell from the ceilings and there was a hue and cry." Many have read this as a reference to Kristallnacht, the night in 1938 Germany that saw the destruction of Jewish neighborhoods.
Da Costa also blasts African American supporters of Prop. G, alluding to them being slaves to Lennar by writing they can "partake in the bread crumbs - the same old way the Plantation was run - Masta, Masta, Masta."
When Da Costa's writings surfaced in recent weeks, they were promptly condemned by several political clubs including the powerful Democratic County Central Committee. The committee last week also voted to endorse Lennar's Prop. G and oppose Prop. F.
Scott Wiener, chair of the committee, said the group voted on the merits of the measures, but noted the Prop. F campaign's embracing of Da Costa even though his style was well-known at City Hall and raised eyebrows.
"It's one thing if you associate with someone and then out of the blue they say something offensive," Wiener said. "It's quite another thing if you have someone with a track record of acting in a really inappropriate and bizarre way, and then you consciously choose to make that person your main proponent."
Supervisor Chris Daly, Prop. F's most prominent backer, said he has heard Da Costa speak at multiple Board of Supervisors meetings and that his public testimony can be "uncomfortable." But Daly said he only became aware of Da Costa's writings on Thursday. The next day Daly said he asked Da Costa to step aside as a proponent of the campaign, which he agreed to do.
"We had a problem within the coalition and we dealt with it," Daly said. "It would be great if we could discuss the merits of the measures and vote them up or down based on the merits."
Da Costa told The Chronicle that he "never, ever" meant for the crystals comment to be taken as anti-Semitic, but he doesn't regret the other remarks. He said they reflect his anger at the city's most powerful people doing nothing to help children and the elderly in Bayview-Hunters Point.
"It's not politically correct but it's frustration," he said. "I say it as I feel it."
According to Giannina Miranda with the city's Department of Elections, San Franciscans will receive voter information handbooks before the June election - with Da Costa's name as a proponent of Prop. F even though he has asked for it to be removed.
"The proponents cannot remove their name right now," she said. "It's past the deadline."
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