New Unemployment Claims Fall to 3-year Low - Yeah Right...

According to the Associated Press today, new unemployment claims fell to a 3-year low - but that is not the whole story.

WASHINGTON (AP) - The number of people requesting unemployment benefits has plunged to a nearly 3-year low.

That supports the view that companies will increase the pace of hiring this year.
The Labor Department says applications for unemployment benefits fell by 20,000 to a seasonally adjusted 368,000 last week.

It was the third decline in the last four weeks. Applications are now at their lowest level since May 2008.

Ohio reported 1 of the largest declines, with jobless claims down by nearly 1,500 in the most recent week.

Upon release of this news,the Main Stream Media is reporting this is proof that the economy is getting better. HOGWASH!

It is important to note that new unemployment claims at a rate of 368,000 per week still means that the US is losing jobs at a rate of 19 million per year - and that is only those who file or even qualify for UI benefits. So what exactly is so good about that?

As long as the 30 some million of unemployed and underemployed in this country have little or no money to spend in the economy and Washington keeps cutting taxes on the rich and corporate elite and supplementing big banks on the backs of the poor, this country will continue to spiral down into an economic black hole which inevitably will result in a “Have Nots vs the Haves” revolution. (There are millions of Have Nots to every one of the Haves in the USA)

The thing is exactly how bad does it have to get in America before we get off of our collective BUTTS and make Washington listen? How much BS are you willing to tolerate? Only you can decide for your selves.....

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Playboy's Josie Goldberg At Oscar Party Says Chinese Girls Taking Jewish Men

All this blogger can say is Reality TV Show Star Josie Goldberg (Millionaire Matchmaker) is a riot. Josie's known for wanting to be the next Ana Nicole Smith, and, aside from posing in Playboy a while back, so came to the right place: The Night Of 100 Stars Oscar Party is produced by people who were good friends to Ms. Smith, and still mourn her passing at this annual event.

The video from the Oscar party tells it all, but let's just say there's no regulator between Ms. Goldberg's brain and her mouth. The six-feet tall blonde with lots of hair and nice legs will tell you a lot of things, mostly about her wants.

(What she doesn't want is to be in Star Magazine again and about her increase in weight, as they did mention last December 2010.)

For example, she wants to be involved in The Screen Actors Guild at a high level, and makes a great spokesperson for SAG's value as a union for actors. (The only thing is, Josie didn't know what the Wisconsin Protests were all about when I asked her. Josie! What's up with that?)

Anyway, Ms. Goldberg also directly says she wants a Jewish guy, and "any Jewish guy" (of any color) will do, but claims they all want "Chinese girls," not her.  (Awww...)  She also wants a "big guy," and says that "African American men don't like me. They like Chinese girls." Which I think she's nuts for saying. (Notice a pattern here?)

(Plus, I think Josie's masking. When she told me she dated "athletes" I assumed she meant black men within that group, so I said so. But Josie gave me a racially-coded answer: that she dates "Volleyball players," which is code word for white guys. Lame. How many black guys play Volleyball?)

Anyway, I told Josie she's wrong about that one; she just doesn't know enough brothers. But in retrospect if you're a "Chinese girl,"  watch out. Josie think's your stealing men from her!  But I guess if you're Korean or Japanese or just Asian, it's cool - Chinese girls, watch out!

But it's all in fun and it makes for good pub.  I think Josie really only means half of what she says, poor thing.   The trouble is, I can't tell which half!  

GDC 2011 San Francisco Quick Hits: Prototype 2, Samsung Photo App

Some really quick, brief early morning Game Developers Conference hits.

NOTE: San Francisco Hotel Parc 55 has a GDC Bar Special - 55 percent off the second drink for GDC badge holders. Go to the hotel at the corner of Sacramento and Battery in SF's Financial District. The Parc 55 sent out a Twitter Tweet to inform folks including me.

First, before I get to the other GDC stuff, I'm complaining about my Samsung Galaxy's photo app. Normally it's supposed to upload photos to my Flickr account, but for some #$$% reason, it's freaking not working. I took five photos at GDC events last night - none are in the smartphone or on Flickr. I don't like that, man.

Anyway.

Activision and Radical Entertainment took over much of the lobby at the W Hotel, the unofficial hub of GDC activity, as always. The gaming company roped off a little rectangle of space, set up finger food, had a check-in girl, and the usually overly nervous security guy checking for wrist bands, and held court as Studio Hesd Ken Rosman fielded questions about the new game.

If you don't know it, Prototype is best described as the basic "angry loner bald white dude looking to get into a battle" game, of which there are so many variations they're all starting to blur into one. In this case, it's about Alex Mercer vs. Sgt. James Heller, who is set out to destroy him because of the BLACKLIGHT infection that Mercer has caused to spread, and kills Sgt. Heller's family.

But I gotta say, Sgt. James Heller, and Alex Mercer both look like Eminem. Still, the graphics on the game are KILLER. It's virtually 3D, which means at some point it's going to be 3D.

Just saying.

It's a also a great candidate for a movie of some kind, but the storyline has to be deeper than the video game, if it's to be successful. Watch for more on this at Comic Con 2011 because I'm informed the game producers have been in talks about Prototype as a movie - nothing solid as of this writing.

Oh, and a video interview is coming. But...

Beyond that, I'm still steaming about this Zeevex "little people" marketing crap. Here:



And on a good note, the Blacks In Gaming event - held at the same time as the GDC Developer Awards, so guess what I missed - was a rousing success. While my video will come in a few hours, it must be said that with 300 people in attendance, and about a 50 percent black makeup, "BIG" proves that people of all stripes will come to such a gathering.

Look, it's got free food, Microsoft's sponsoring it, and the people are fun. It's really cool to meet black men and women who are real tech heads with a story to tell.

Ok. More later.

Loretta Devine, Adele On Grey's Anatomy, On The Oscars And Blacks

Grey's Anatomy's Loretta Devine ("Adele") made a majestic appearance at The Night Of 100 Stars Oscar Party, explaining to my line partner who represents the mom's watching, that her lovely dark green dress was made by Haro, the jewelry was by Fenix Jewelry, and the purse by Mary Francis.

Devine, who plays one of the most popular characters on Grey's Anatomy ("I'm still there after all these years."), informs us that she's also in a new movie with Pastor TD Jakes (called Jumping The Broom), and comes out on Mother's Day. She's also in Madea's Big Happy Family.

Devine went on to gush over Melissa Leo's performance in The Fighter, saying she hoped Leo would win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress (she did), and said she saw most of the Oscar Best Picture nominees.

OK. Harmless, enough.

So I asked Devine for her view the idea that there were not enough blacks in the Oscars, siting Whoopi Goldberg's statements about the New York Times article pointing to this problem. Devine said that while Whoopi's statements on her being omitted from the NY Times article were not correct considering what the author's intended (and I realized were were going "off-track" here in subject) on the matter of not enough blacks on the Oscars she said "I don't know how they (at the NY Times) could include everybody because there have been so few (blacks) nominated. And in a way, I guess you could say the same thing about the NAACP. How many white actors have won NAACP's? So I guess it depends on how you look at it."

The comment was so unexpected, I couldn't help but crack up. But it was also unfortunate.

I wonder what the NAACP would think of that view? It just goes to show that when things are going well for some people it's hard for them to sympathize with the problems of others.

But that said, here's hoping for more years of Ms. Devine on Grey's Anatomy.

Zeevex Use Of Little People At GDC 2011 Disturbing

Zeezex Awful Use Of Little People - GDC, originally uploaded by zennie62.

While there's a lot going on at 2011 The Game Developer Conference here at Moscone Center, and videos and interviews yet to be compressed and uploaded, this issue had to be pushed forward, now.

A company called Zeevex, which offers a micro-payment transaction service that can be used in online games and other types of digital content, and seems to be an attractive alternative to PayPal, is at GDC.

Zeevex is using a rather unusual and unfortunate way to promote its product on the floor of the Game Developer Conference: it's employing little people as part of an effort to get show goers to put on Mohawks. If they're spotted with the Mohawk, they win some kind of prize.

Oh, and you can't just put on the Mohawk, either. You have to win the right to wear it by - get this - playing a kind of slapping game with one of the little people. I only made the video so you could see what I was talking about, but could not bring myself to play the game - it's too insulting and I was just not with it. I tried to mask my feelings just to do the video. While it's a kind of game in the sprit of GDC, that it employs these poor people is just shameful.

I think the man who seemed to be leading the band of people knew I wasn't really "hip" with what they were doing just because I was making a vlog while he was talking, and sported a GDC badge that reads "MEDIA."

But with all that, the band seemed to be navigating GDC without mishap. It's not that people don't have a problem with what Zeevex is doing - people in the media room I talked to did - it's just that people are too focused on whatever else they're interested in.

Sad.

Well, off to the Blacks In Gaming function. Yep. Another party.

Nikky Talks about Carbohydrates

Homework from Debby: "Google the carbohydrates: I want definition of all the different types. then I want a list of foods that are in each category."

All information obtained through google searches and various health web sites. These are just my notes to show to you all the hard work that goes into a detox - it's worth it. Debby helps me educate myself about what is going into my body with her little projects for me. Ignore the grammar - this is strictly a blog post that should be regarded as a page from a notebook or diary, good information maybe a bit scattered, but worth reading. I reworded everything I read and researched into my own words.


Carbohydrates:

A carbohydrate is an organic compound with the general formula Cm(H2O)n, that is, consisting only of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, the last two in the 2:1 atom ratio. Carbohydrates can be viewed as hydrates of carbon, hence their name.

Major classification of carbohydrates Debby are--

MONOSACCHARIDES
DISACCHARIDES
OLIGOSACCHARIDES
POLYSACCHARIDES
NUCLEOTIDES


Monosaccharides--> glucose, fructose, galactose
glucose is the main sugar metabolized by the body for energy
galactose combines with glucose to form lactose in milk - it is converted within our bodies to glucose by the liver to provide energy.
fructose is absorbed and converted into glucose by the liver just like lactose - it's also like fruit, honey, and high fructose corn syrup.

Disaccharides-->
Sucrose , Lactose, Maltose
Lactose - forms from condensation of glucose and galactose . It's a beta-glycosidic bond that some people can't digest which is why some people are lactose intolerant
Sucrose - found in common table sugar and composed of glucose and fructose. It is an excellent natural preservative found in jam and sugar cane and even maple syrup.
Maltose - It is used in alcohol production through a process of fermentation. Glucose, maltose and other sugars are converted to ethanol by yeast cells in lack of oxygen. Uncommon in nature but can be formed through the breakdown of starch by the enzymes of the mouth.

Carbohydrates with more than two simple sugars are oligosaccharides or polysaccharides. Responsible for storage of glucose and other sugars in plants and animals.

Oligosaccharides -> Raffinose and Stachyose. Composed of repeating unites of galactose, glucose and fructose. These are in beans and legumes. They cannot be absorbed through the small intestine - they are metabolized by bacteria in large intestine to form unwanted gaseous byproducts.

Polysaccharides - Complex carbohydrates. Naturally allowing for storage of large quantities of glucose. Starch is major storage. Potatoes, beans, bread, pasta, rice. Some forms are indigestible like gum.

Nucleotides - Sugar of importance in DNA and RNA. Breakdown of glucose for energy and can be used for the synthesis of compounds.

Carbohydrates give us energy, dietary fiber, break down the fatty acids.
Biological recognition processes

Monosaccharides ->
Orange Juice
maple Syrup
Limes
Pork
Celery
Candy Bars
Lemon
Squash
Sweet potatoes
bananas
pineapples

Disaccharides -- citrus fruits, milk, vegetables, beans

Debby Kaplan is amazing. Make sure to visit her web site http://yourfitday.com

IPad 2 Apple Announcement

On March 11, 2011 the IPad 2 will be launched and available in stores. USA TODAY reports that Steve Jobs promises faster performance chip and front and rear facing camera for photos and video chats - they will also be thinner.

The price of the Ipad 2 will probably be starting around $400 and will come with cool new cases that are in different colors.

Also new information includes:

The new iPad uses a new A5 chip that Jobs says is twice as fast, along with a promised nine times faster graphics performance. It comes in two colors, white and black, and is 33% thinner and lighter, at 1.3 pounds instead of 1.5.
Apple will offer a HDMI connector, allowing iPads to plug into flat screen TVs. Unlike most devices, which offer slots, Apple will offer a $39 accessory that fits into the iPad 30-pin opening, and connects to a TV.
The electronics icon also offered a new kind of protective case, a "smart cover" for the iPad, based on magnets, which slips over the iPad and puts the unit to sleep when not in use. The case can be used to prop the iPad up as well when on an airplane, for instance.