Shaq O'Neal Retires Via Tout; Congrats To Michael Downing

On Wednesday, Shaq - or Shaquille O'Neal - retired via Twitter and Tout, but really, the big story is that the legendary NBA Center and most of all LA Laker, did it via Tout.

This blogger's introduction to Tout came in an email from a friend: Michael Downing. Michael's a serial entrepreneur best known for GoFish and for TransMedia Capital.

Until now.

I met Michael one late Thursday night four years ago at the Balboa Cafe in San Francisco's Marina District, and as many frequent readers of my blogs know, one of my favorite hangs.

Our conversation started with him asking me what business I was in, and my reply was "Internet." We proceeded to a talk so long we left after the Balboa closed.

Yep. After.

We stayed in touch, and then, on March 30th of 2010, I received an email from the man who's now "Entrepreneur in Residence at Stanford Research Institute." This one:

Zennie


I hope you are well – and my apologies for the random email coming end-of-day, but I wanted to reach out and personally invite you to a brief sneak-peek of Tout – the new company I co-founded in partnership with SRI (Stanford Research Institute) this last year.


Tout is all about delivering a new kind of social-communications-experience enabling people to share their unique perspective on life through simple, short video updates from their smartphones.


We are launching Tout.com to the world in less than 1 week, and in advance of that date, I am personally inviting about 100 of the most interesting people I know in technology, media and entertainment to give it a test-drive.


If you want to be a part of the Sneak-Peek before launch, here’s what you need to do:


1. You need an iPhone 3GS or 4… if your on Android or BlackBerry we will be launching those versions shortly


2. Go to (My Tracking URL) hit Sign-Up-Now in upper right of page


3. Once your register with an email address and password, you will get a verification email – be sure to click “confirm your account” link to verify


4. On your iPhone, go to the APP Store and get the TOUT application (from Tout Industries)

My problem was I had not an iPhone, but a Samsung Galaxy Variant Smartphone. Just the perfect Android phone that Tout wasn't yet ready for at the time. But, and this is a big "but," I could add a link from my YouTube videos, and, at 1,470 videos and counting, I've got a lot of them.

Michael wrote:

Zennie


We gotta get you going
let's talk tomorrow - we got some great blogger/celebrities prepping now, you would be perfect
'555-555-5555.'


Let me know when u can chat tomorrow

So I tried to track Michael down via phone, and in the interim joined, created a channel, and actually posted a Tout from my Georgia Down YouTube video.

Which for some reason that may be related to the slick new website design, isn't there any more; so I had to install new YouTube video links.   

But the Shaq announcement explains why I'd not got a call from Downing after the emails.

I was tossed for Shaq.

Wait. I was tossed FOR Shaq?!

Cool!

Nice work Michael!

Oakland Sideshow Still The Happening In East Oakland

Unless you've had some doubt, let this blog post put to rest the idea that the Oakland Sideshow is dead. It's not. It's alive and well on International Boulevard, as this video, made during the East Bay Dragons event, and uploaded today on YouTube by wbr510, shows:



The East Bay Dragons are the same group linked to sideshow activity, and were the focus of the murder of a San Leandro man on Sunday night. But But Phil Baker, the East Bay Dragons vice president, told the San Jose Mercury News that "the clubhouse was closed early in the evening and all their members had gone home or elsewhere."

That would seem to exonerate the Dragons from the Sunday night shooting, but the video above points to the Dragons as the producer of this sideshow.  And care must be taken not to associate that video with that incident simply because the SJ Mercury News account points to a night-time sideshow - the one captured in this video below.

Second Video Shows Dragons Sideshow at Night





The third video, below, uploaded May 31st, which would be Tuesday, shows the East Bay Dragons Party, which appears to have occurred indoors, in a large room, and by association connected with the sideshows of that Sunday.




The videos point to a sideshow that did occur on the East Bay Dragons watch.  Oakland Sideshows are associated with the rash of murders and violence in East Oakland, even though there have been fewer of them than in the past.

Stay tuned.

Springfield, MA Tornado Hampers Boston Weather In Year Of Deadly Twisters

Whatever the reason, it seems America's facing a number of lethal tornados in 2011, the latest in Springfield, MA, which is hampering weather conditions in Boston.

Here are two videos which shows the tornado itself as it makes its way through Springfield.



And in this video below, the camcorder operator, recording the action from his office window on Bridge Street in downtown Springfield, says "it's frikin' tearin shit apart. Oh my God."



According to a new Wikipedia page specifically created to track tornados, there have been 1,415 such events in the United States in 2011, and 1,007 of them confirmed.

Moreover, this year was described as an "exceptionally destructive and deadly" one for tornados, as 519 fatalities have been recorded in America alone. That's the largest number of deaths since 1936.

Springfield Tornado Causes "A Lot Of Damage"

This latest tornado struck at 4:30 EST this afternoon, and has, according to WTNH News 8 of New Haven, Connecticut, caused "extensive damage," with windows blown of out of cars and buildings.

An eyewitness, Carlos Alamo, explained to News 8's Sara Welch, that "strong winds started shaking the house." So he told his wife that they should "get into the bathroom" because there was no shelter. Here's the video from WTNH's YouTube page:



Stay tuned.

Paladinette’s Jobless Talk Takes June Hiatus - 99er EXLAX Attack Building Momentum

Last month it was announced that Paladinette’s Blog Talk Radio show “Jobless Talk” will take a June hiatus after this Friday’s broadcast, meanwhile the 99er EXLAX Attack is building momentum on the social networks.

“Unfortunately, it is unlikely any real MOVEMENT will take place in Congress (re: Unemployment issues, benefits or jobs) during June anyway. Hopefully, the unemployed masses will hop on the band wagon and flood Washington DC with tons of laxatives, coupons, emails and post cards in the 99ers “EX-LAX ATTACK”, sending Congress and Obama a clear message.”

We have a Facebook Event created PLEASE RSVP: EX-LAX ATTACK on Washington DC

You can find printable post cards at: http://twitpic.com/549is6 and http://t.co/8Ra7oy8

TWEET THESE:

#99ers: EX-LAX ATTACK - Print on card stock and mail to Washington http://t.co/RQPrEpK

#99ers: Mail EXLAX 2 Congress. GET THEM MOVING on HR 589! http://exm.nr/j4Q98N

Post cards you can print and send to congress for the Ex-LAX attack: http://t.co/8Ra7oy8

It is suggested that the emails, faxes, post cards, laxative mailers, etc. begin on June 6, 2011 [D-Day] and continue through Father’s Day or even the July 4th Holiday. The important thing is that as many people as possible participate. You do not need to be unemployed or even a 99er to help Washington GET THE MESSAGE: Get your constipated butts moving on HR 589 and a REAL Jobs Bill NOW! We cannot wait!

I suggest you Twitter bugs out there tweet these to all your media & Political contacts lists, celebrities and activists. Post all this information on your social networking sites and try to get as many folks as possible to join in this important effort.

By now we should have a willing army of advocates to step in and overwhelm Washington with tons of messages whenever the need arises. This would be proof of our political clout - but even with an estimated 7 million or more UI exhaustees out there, sadly the dedicated “show of force in numbers” has been sorely lacking during most of the past year. Exactly HOW BAD do YOU want to SURVIVE?

It is time to step things up Nation! August is right around the corner (and you know every August Congress takes the entire month off). July has yet another recess for a holiday and with Labor Day approaching - after this month (June) Washington DC will be in session maybe 15 days between mid-July and mid-September. Do you really want to go another winter with NOTHING?

It is really up to you. ‘You have NOT because you demand NOT.’ If you would only visibly and vocally swarm Washington by constantly pestering them to demand better - even from your own home town streets - we’d have had our solution by now and could be benefiting from that new job, paid training program, or benefits extension instead of dying a slow, painful desperation as we wait in limbo for poverty to consume our dreams as Congress lives the “GOOD LIFE” on the American Tax Payers’ money.

[Please donate so I can keep on fighting for the 99ers! Thank You!]

NBA Finals - Lebron James Was Right About The Miami Heat

Game One of the 2011 NBA Finals is history,  the Miami Heat prevailed 92 to 84, and this blogger's still shocked the Heat are even there, let alone winning over The Dallas Mavericks.

Look, the decision in this space was to root for LeBron James, because last year, when Mr. James was making a big media show of his decision to leave the Cleveland Cavs, the word here was to go to the Chicago Bulls.

James selected the Miami Heat, saying he was going to South Beach, and making it sound like a vacation in the making. I wrote off LeBron at that point, figuring he was more interested in the honeys in the sand than getting a ring.

And LRMR Marketing's clients list potential in Miami? I really wrote that off. Chicago, with its incredible list of major corporations and marketing talent, is a hot bed for marketing companies - a perfect place for LRMR Marketing.

But what did I know? LRMR Marketing remained in Cleveland, not moving to Miami. And while LRMR exists, James, needing more fire-power, is with CAA.

Meanwhile instead of chlling on South Beach, LeBron put in hard work on the court. The result is not just the 2011 NBA Finals, but today's win. I'm rooting for him.

There's nothing wrong with wanting the best for yourself, and that's all James wanted for himself. James had the right idea in making a show of his decision to leave Cleveland, failing only at capturing the resultant web traffic revenue from the occurrence. Then James and the Heat caught hell for a flashy, smoky party to celebrate the merger of The Big Three.

I saw nothing wrong with it.

Then, Miami started out 9 wins and 8 losses, and this corner wrote them off for dead. But that's where the team found itself and its character, eventually playing better, and ultimately vanquishing the bully on the block, The Boston Celtics.

Anyone who can't like this story has something wrong with them.

Still, it's too early to crown the Heat. It's just Game One. But win or lose, at least applaud LeBron James for a job well done this year.

Homeless - Homeless Alcoholics Need A Wet House

Homeless alcoholics need a wet house.

When you sleep with your bottle, you've passed a milestone in your addiction. You've got to have it against your chest, all night, easy to reach. Your relationship to it is like other people's relationships with their smart phones; it's crucial to your existence, always clutched in your hand. You feel unsettled when you can't see it, until it's easier to just sleep with it.
But there are other, worse stages to come. As I ask my clinic patients about them, I hear a ding in my mind, like an elevator does each time a door opens, each time a patient answers yes.
Do you wake with the shakes? That means that you're so addicted that you begin to withdraw every night as you sleep. Ding.
Do you wake up in the night to take a drink? Your brain must be bathed in alcohol, awash in the acrid sea of it, at all times. You can no longer make it to morning. Ding.
Do you seize if you stop drinking? Deprived of alcohol, your tender brain begins to crackle and sizzle, and then ignites like a gas-explosion - ka-whoom - as a depth charge of neurons fires. Ding.
Can you remember how this happened? It looks like something hit you pretty hard, sir, the way your cheekbone is caved in here under all this blood. Do you remember? You never remember what happens when you're drinking. Ding. Ding. Ding.
At what point does society decide that someone has become a danger to himself because of his addiction? And what can be done about it?
The large numbers of public inebriates on our sidewalks represent a financial, ethical, and moral crisis in cities across America. These suffering humans also represent a public health crisis. Mortality rates are sky high, with life expectancies equal to, or worse than, those of people living in the most devastated, violence-riddled pockets of our globe.
The issue of people drinking themselves to death on a sidewalk is one that unites and divides us in unpredictable ways, crossing "normal" divisions of politics, compassion, and fiscal conservatism. There are those who want a person slowly dying in plain sight to at least have a roof over his head. There are the more law-and-order, throw-the-bums-out types, who just want public inebriates off the streets. And no one can look at the eye-popping cost of this public, drawn-out suffering and death without thinking that, at $8 million dollars a year in health care costs for 100 people, there has to be a better - and cheaper - way.
Disclaimer: Identifiable patients mentioned in this post were not served by R. Jan Gurley in her capacity as a physician at the San Francisco Department of Public Health, nor were they encountered through her position there. The views and opinions expressed by R. Jan Gurley are her own and do not necessarily reflect the official policies of the City and County of San Francisco; nor does mention of the San Francisco Department of Public Health imply its endorsement.
Photo credit: George Erws via Flickr
Read more...

PBS Website Hackers LulzSec Praise Zennie62, Media Misses Message

LulzSec is gaining fame for hacking into the website's of Fox, Sony, PBS, and it seems AT&T, by reading their Twitter tweets. Of course, the actions of the group of what Parmy Olson at Forbes.com says are four people (I think more) are lost on the mainstream media.

While the LutzSec folks say they're out to just have fun, their real intent in much greater, and necessary.

It was that observation I arrived at after reading a vast number of Twitter tweets, articles, and blog posts about LulzSec, then writing my own take that appears on Zennie62.com and on SFGate.com. After seeing it on Twitter (because I shared it with them), the group issued this tweet:

LulzSec The Lulz Boat

A fine article: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/abraham/detail?entry_id=89990 @Zennie62

13 hours ago

Cool.

Now at this point you might get the idea I'm egging LulzSec on. No, I'm not. They're going to do what they do regardless of my take. But, as a person who has intense disagreement with the way much of the media operates online, and an overall lack of understanding or interest in the Internet on their part, I see this as a much-needed cleansing.

What should come from these efforts are better and more secure website systems, and a lesser degree of corporate arrogance when matters of Internet operations are considered. What should also happen is the media should devote more time and effort to understanding and explaining what groups like LutzSec do.

Any one who thinks it's just for fun only sees what LutzSec wants them to see. The truth is, they do it because the website systems of many large companies allow them to do so. That goes for many news organizations.

If you think the PBS website hack was just playing around, don't think so. Every news website should look at what LulzSec has done and make sure their systems are secure so it doesn't happen to them. To think the unthinkable, imagine if the group had simultaneously hacked into three major news websites and posted the same Tupac story? Given the connections to Google News and other news aggregators, the damage to the media system would have been tremendous.

Yet, for now, this is possible.

It's possible, in part, because Google itself has subordinated blogs in favor of news websites, thus opening the public to such an effective attack. It's possible because a number of news websites are arguably not as secure as they could be.

This is a real problem. And look at it another way, LulzSec's not attacking websites where data exists that can really harm innocent people if it's compromised. These folks have a plan, and it's not about hurting society.

I'm not supporting what LulzSec is doing, I'm only explaining it's true implications to a public and a mainstream media that seems clueless. This idea of the hackers just having "fun" is only pablum, and the media's eating it up.

Stay tuned.