The 2010 World Series is "upon us" as the late, great Oakland Raiders announcer Bill King would say, and it's the San Francisco Giants vs. The Texas Rangers. And it's fair to say the San Francisco Bay Area is just plain manic and it started before the Giants won The Pennant.
One reason for my absence from SFGate.com and SeattlePI.com, other than obessively working on the now growing Zennie62.com and bring in bloggers (want to blog about the World Series, drop me an email), was that this video blogger was out making new content. (I also thank the people who reminded me of my service to the community, something that slipped by in my quest to remake media. It's gratifying to know that there are local readers who care about this space. I will publicly tell you that SF Bay Area Media is more damaged than ever, and that's due to ego and bad management that's for another time. The happy end note is there's opportunity in chaos!!)
Here's the latest videos, all on the SF Giants.
What's so awesome about the 2010 World Series, Giants v Rangers is that the San Francisco Party Economy is in full swing. The first game is Wednesday night, and at the same time that for some reason, the San Francisco Chapter of The American Marketing Association elected to have a meeting on digital media marketing!
Just shows you what the SF-AMA knows, as the best vehicle for digital media marketing is sports, and they're missing the premier event in San Francisco - the World Series. SF-AMA should make the meeting a viewing party!
But I digress. It's celebration time. What better place to start than Saturday at The Brick Yard Restaurant and Bar at 1787 Union St (at Octavia), a great place to watch sports, and where the SRO crowd went totally nuts after Giants Pitcher Brian Wilson's final strike out:
(Well, OK, sometimes people do get too excited. A woman I met who's visiting from Boston and med school, got doused with beer during all the celebration. But that was more a regional issue; a lot of locals were getting doused with beer and loving it.)
Brick Yard owner Darren Matte, who gets what great service is about, says you should call him now (415) 400-4712 and info@brickyardsf.com to reserve a table for Wednesday night:
After that celebration, the streets of San Francisco went nuts as people cheered and honked their horns in the rain. From The Brick Yard, where the crowd spontaneously sang "Don't Stop Believing," to The Bus Stop down the street, where the drinks flowed as people whooped and hollered, to the streets of The Marina District, where drunk guys who could hardly stand up were loudly saying "GO GIANTS." Get ready, because it's going to be that way for the rest of this week:
But the party got started before last weekend, as The Giants beat the Phillies in the NLCS. This blogger attended Momo's Restaurant next door to AT&T Park where a female Phillies fan openly let her love for her team be known to any Giants fan there - and there were a lot of them. Unfortunately, she reports having a beer bottle thrown at her not once, but twice at AT&T Park. And in this video one male Giants fan was so massively hammered while talking to her it was impossible to make sense of what he was saying, and to a degree it seemed threatening. But it wasn't all bad - we had the "Yes On 19" crowd, too. Check it out:
And this video made from what were the best seats I'd had for a Giants game or any big game including the seven Super Bowl's I've attended - right along the 3rd base line for last Thursday's game:
Finally, I took my dear friend Emily to the Giants Braves game since we both go back and forth from here to Atlanta. She's a die-hard Braves fan and a great baseball fan, so it was a hoot:
So I am ready and I hope you're ready for what's going to be an awesome week. GO GIANTS, and please, be nice to the visiting Texas Rangers fans. Show the best of San Francisco and Oakland. We know there are ass holes out there, we don't need be reminded of that all the time.
GO GIANTS!
And stay tuned.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Jennifer Mee 'Hiccup Girl' Charged With Murder
Time NewsFeed reports that Jennifer Mee, the girl who is known for hiccuping 50 times in one minute back in 2007, is one of the three people arrested and charged with first degree murder after a botched robbery.
According to CBS News the 19-year-old admitted involvement in a fatal shooting in St. Petersburg Florida. She allegedly "lured a 22-year old man, Shannon Griffin, to a home where two male accomplices allegedly robbed and shot him."
In Florida first degree murder charges can lead to the death penalty.
 |
| Mee's Mugshot |
The whole nation felt bad for this young girl, but now she is being seen in a different light.
It seems unfortunate now that she had that fame, because if she had just been another person then this news would not have made it to national headlines. These things happen every day all over the country without being reported on in any publication other than the ones locally, but when a mini-celebrity or someone who was once a public figure in some way gets involved with this it becomes nationally recognized.
Written by Nikky Raney
Journalist & Blogger
Editing is Important
X-posted at The Future of Journalism
The title of this blog post should make the reader say "DUH! Any piece of writing that is going to be submitted for publication (even a blog post) should be edited.
Fact-checking is also extremely important, but that's going to be another blog post.
No one is going to get the lead perfect the first time writing it, and if someone thinks that the lead (first sentence for those who didn't know) written the first time is good enough then that person is incorrect.
When writing an article that just has a direct/summary lead (just answering the who, what, where, when) then maybe the lead doesn't need to be worked on as hard, but for indirect/delayed leads (will be explained later) the lead needs to be worked on.
The first draft of any sort of post (article or blog post, but mostly an article written by a journalist) should not be the only draft done before submitting for publication.
With print journalism there is usually an editor/copy editor that can go through the copy (the draft) and edit it in accordance to the style guide used with that publication (like the AP Style Guide). There are certain universal rules that all style books follow (which again, will be discussed in another blog post). Wow, there are a lot of other blog posts I need to make - or maybe I need to make "pages" so that when there's a "glossary term" that isn't understood by the readers I can just put a link to the page and voila! Or have the pages on the sidebar.. I'll figure that out.
Anyway, if there isn't an editor to go through and look through the copy then that responsibility is left to the reporter/writer. With anything that is published there needs to be editing, because no one ever gets it perfect the first time. To hand in the first draft written of an article is just foolish - sure it may be good enough to be published and well done, but it can always be better.
Checking through a document for grammatical and spelling errors can really help the credibility or the writer and/or publication. Simple spelling errors and grammatical errors really can make the entire post and publication look bad.
Even this post will be read through thoroughly and edited, re-worded, etc. before the "PUBLISH POST" button is clicked. Sure, it might take more time - but it's better to look something over and be able to be proud to have your name attached to that piece.
As an editor (I have been a Managing Editor and right now I am newly appointed as the Executive Editor for Zennie62.com) it is very hard not to read through any piece of writing without judging based off the errors made. Proofreading should always be done as well, but that goes without saying...or maybe it doesn't.
It's just disheartening to look through posts on CNN.com (or God forbid in an issue of Newsweek) and see errors that could easily be prevented if there was more time spent editing. If it is an emergency story that needs to be out there IMMEDIATELY then it is understandable as to why there wouldn't be as much editing done (like for a web story), but afterwards the post should be edited.
It is just a huge pet peeve to see no effort going into these news stories. Effort in getting interviews and actually writing and doing the research is another story, but after the entire thing is written the person should be proud of the work and want to edit it to make sure there were no mistakes.
More on editing later.
Now it's time to edit this post and click the "PUBLISH POST" button.
The title of this blog post should make the reader say "DUH! Any piece of writing that is going to be submitted for publication (even a blog post) should be edited.
Fact-checking is also extremely important, but that's going to be another blog post.
No one is going to get the lead perfect the first time writing it, and if someone thinks that the lead (first sentence for those who didn't know) written the first time is good enough then that person is incorrect.
When writing an article that just has a direct/summary lead (just answering the who, what, where, when) then maybe the lead doesn't need to be worked on as hard, but for indirect/delayed leads (will be explained later) the lead needs to be worked on.
The first draft of any sort of post (article or blog post, but mostly an article written by a journalist) should not be the only draft done before submitting for publication.
With print journalism there is usually an editor/copy editor that can go through the copy (the draft) and edit it in accordance to the style guide used with that publication (like the AP Style Guide). There are certain universal rules that all style books follow (which again, will be discussed in another blog post). Wow, there are a lot of other blog posts I need to make - or maybe I need to make "pages" so that when there's a "glossary term" that isn't understood by the readers I can just put a link to the page and voila! Or have the pages on the sidebar.. I'll figure that out.
Anyway, if there isn't an editor to go through and look through the copy then that responsibility is left to the reporter/writer. With anything that is published there needs to be editing, because no one ever gets it perfect the first time. To hand in the first draft written of an article is just foolish - sure it may be good enough to be published and well done, but it can always be better.
Checking through a document for grammatical and spelling errors can really help the credibility or the writer and/or publication. Simple spelling errors and grammatical errors really can make the entire post and publication look bad.
Even this post will be read through thoroughly and edited, re-worded, etc. before the "PUBLISH POST" button is clicked. Sure, it might take more time - but it's better to look something over and be able to be proud to have your name attached to that piece.
As an editor (I have been a Managing Editor and right now I am newly appointed as the Executive Editor for Zennie62.com) it is very hard not to read through any piece of writing without judging based off the errors made. Proofreading should always be done as well, but that goes without saying...or maybe it doesn't.
It's just disheartening to look through posts on CNN.com (or God forbid in an issue of Newsweek) and see errors that could easily be prevented if there was more time spent editing. If it is an emergency story that needs to be out there IMMEDIATELY then it is understandable as to why there wouldn't be as much editing done (like for a web story), but afterwards the post should be edited.
It is just a huge pet peeve to see no effort going into these news stories. Effort in getting interviews and actually writing and doing the research is another story, but after the entire thing is written the person should be proud of the work and want to edit it to make sure there were no mistakes.
More on editing later.
Now it's time to edit this post and click the "PUBLISH POST" button.
YouTube Asked To Remove 700 Anwar al-Awlaki Terrorist Videos
According to The New York Daily News, Anwar al-Awlaki is the Yemeni-American cleric who inspired the Fort Hood massacre and Christmas undies bomber.
But will that action called for by NY Rep. Weiner really help? YouTube's not the only video distribution service; the people who posted it can just as easily go to someplace like Dailymotion.com.
Moreover, taking down the videos just makes it harder to spot his sympathizers. In other words, having a place online where we can track his sympathizers's locations as they listen to him is valuable.
Taking Anwar al-Awlaki's videos down just seems rather narrow-minded.
For too long, before 9-11, people like Anwar al-Awlaki or Osama Bin Ladin were not known to much of the World. Even with that, they still recruited people. The best situation for America is to keep the videos up and active so reasonable people can hear the stupidly of his message.
Oakland City Council Election: Precinct Walking For Libby Schaaf
What was most enjoyable was meeting the people who make up the area around the Montclair Shopping District. We started with a coffee-table meetup at Montclair Park, led by Oakland Councilmember Jane Brunner, who gave us a good pep talk to get us going. More along the lines of what to say and not to say, than anything else. Meanwhile, a group of joggers went on their circuit, and people were just getting out to run errands. We were on our way.
A Lot Of "Joe Tuman For Mayor" Signs
This is just a fact: there were more "Joe Tuman For Mayor" signs around the area we canvased than for anyone else running for office at any level. Period. To write a blog post without noting that would be dishonest. On that note, Clinton Killian, Libby's challenger, also has some lawn signs visible, thanks to his supporters. It's great to see that Oaklanders are really engaged in this election, and even more so than I expected.
A Team Talk
We - Libby's parents Bob and Barbara Shock, and myself - had a strategy where Barb would take one side of a street, and Bob and I the other. Since Bob's more like your kindly grandfather, I felt it was better for him to do the knocking while I was on hand for background information. That teamwork succeeded in launching into conversations about what the voters wanted in a councilperson.
The best quality for the new councilmember is to be effective: to be able to take action to fix the streets and roads of the neighborhood. That calls for a feel for Oakland's City Hall and a knowledge of who to contact to handle a problem. The second quality is to be able to listen, and carefully, and for a long time. I can comfortably say Libby has both qualities and our job was to share that view with the people we talked to.
The Sprinkler
The Saturday walk was not without its interesting developments and mishaps. There was the large live turkey in a person's backyard and visible from the road. That thing must have been three feet tall! Seriously. That was one big turkey.
Then there was the sprinkler. Someone had their sprinkler set such that when you walked up their walkway to ring their bell, the water sprinkler, pointed at the path, would shoot a spray of water at you. That happened to me, and thank God I'm fast enough to dodge the stream or I'd have gotten pretty wet. Check out the video!
Folks, if you are not home, turn off the auto-sprinkler, or if you don't want to be visited by precinct walkers, put up a sign. It will be honored. But the sprinkler in my face? Not cool, but one of the hazards of doing a good deed of that kind.
Stay tuned.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
College graduates debt increases
CNNMoney.com has an article with a headline that is very eye catching: College grads: $24,000 in debt.
As a college student, this article is very overwhelming.
During Obama's State of the Union address I had blogged about it on The Future of Journalism and there was a part about Obama saying that he does not want students to be in debt for having an education, and he made a point to really emphasize that he wants to help make it possible for students to go to school and get an education without going in bankruptcy.
The exact part of the speech referred to above is:
"...When we renew the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, we will work with Congress to expand these reforms to all fifty states. Still, in this economy, a high school diploma no longer guarantees a good job. I urge the Senate to follow the House and pass a bill that will revitalize our community colleges, which are a career pathway to the children of so many working families. To make college more affordable, this bill will finally end the unwarranted taxpayer-subsidies that go to banks for student loans. Instead, let's take that money and give families a $10,000 tax credit for four years of college and increase Pell Grants. And let's tell another one million students that when they graduate, they will be required to pay only ten percent of their income on student loans, and all of their debt will be forgiven after twenty years – and forgiven after ten years if they choose a career in public service. Because in the United States of America, no one should go broke because they chose to go to college. And it's time for colleges and universities to get serious about cutting their own costs – because they too have a responsibility to help solve this problem..."
When seeing posts about going into debt, students are probably finding Peter Thiel's offer of $100,000 to drop out of school very tempting.
The CNN Money article says that student debt is on the rise and "fewer graduates are getting jobs to pay back what they borrowed."
To make the college student feel more overwhelmed add onto the fact that unemployment rates are high and unemployment rates for college graduates jumped from 5.8 percent in 2008 to 8.7 percent in 2009 - which is the highest annual rate on record.
There is even a new term "boomerang kids" which refers to college graduates who move back home - which according to CNN Money is 85 percent.
Students with the most debt, over $29 thousand, are from New Hampshire, and students in Ohio are said to have the lowest, under $16 thousand.
Surprisingly CNN Money says, "Schools in the lowest average debt group included California Institute of Technology, Hampton University, CUNY Hunter College and Princeton University."
By Nikky Raney
Journalist & Blogger
Unemployment panic: What is a 99er to do?
Unemployment panic is rampant in America today, but what is a 99er to do without money to eat, a place to live or even the necessities to continue their futile job search?
According to Open Congress last week:
"There are about 20 major pieces of legislation being considered for floor time in the lame-duck session, and it’s hard to predict what the dynamic in Congress is going to be after the election. For example, what happenes if Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid [D, NV], who controls what gets voted on in the Senate, is defeated in the mid-terms? Does he scramble to pass a last legacy bill on food safety or renewable energy instead of spending the final days of his 24 year career fighting for a temporary extension of benefits for the unemployed folks that he has already spent a good deal of time fighting for? Incentives and motivations will change significantly depending n what happens on Nov. 2, so, if you care about there being a lifeline for the millions of long-term unemployed after Thanksgiving, the best thing you can do right now is start making as much noise about this as you can."
Most 99ers have been without UI income for 8 months. After living on what little UI pays for 99 weeks (out of many more weeks unpaid) the 99ers are dropping like flies. Losing your home to foreclosure, eviction or just over staying your welcome at the relative’s, the street is now the new home of many who used to qualify as “the American middle class.”
One 99er (name withheld by request) recently told the San Diego Unemployment Examiner: “The constant fear and desperation I feel is unbearable. I do not know what to do. My life is an out of control spiral downhill and I cannot do anything to stop it. I am sick of being afraid all the time and yes I have considered ending this nightmare more than once - I just cannot do that to my family. My family cannot help me anymore and I feel so guilty for needing the help they have provided. Most of them live very far away, but I may soon need to pack up and move in with them. I cry myself to sleep every night just thinking of what a failure I am now that I can no longer support myself.”
It is true that this 99er has options that many do not. Thousands are already on the street or in shelters. Some have been just too depressed or scared to live this way any longer, so they give up on life completely.
Unemployment is likely to remain above 9 percent for the rest of this year, and for much of next. That means the ranks of the long-term unemployed will swell even further. This “Jobless Recovery” has been the trend so far in this recession, and it's not likely to stop now. Are we just going to leave the long term unemployed without incomes and without job opportunities? Without money to spend in their wrecked local economies, thus making it harder for those economies to generate new jobs? If this is the economic theory Washington is going to embrace amid terrible joblessness in America, then God help us - because we have far more to worry about than the Tea Party nut jobs going to Congress.
What we really need are public jobs for all 7 million of the people who have been unemployed for well over a year. I'd like to hear politicians touting a plausible scenario for creating quick, useful public jobs on that kind of scale in this sluggish economy immediately upon Congress’ return - even as they pass a Tier 5 and extend UI filing deadlines soon to expire.
Washington had better take heed to the suffering that is rampant in the USA due to the lack of income from jobs or UI benefits before we see the frustrations of Americans break out on Main Street, as it would appear it is just a matter of time before this century resembles the tragic desperation of the Great Depression of the last century. I can’t see 2010 Americans taking this much longer before they begin fighting back with possibly catastrophic results.
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