NORAD Santa Tracker - Christmas Eve Santa Tracking

This year, 2010, once again this blogger is following (kinda) the Santa Tracker, but while tree trimming, wine drinking, and talking, and listening to Nat and Frank (Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra).

 But here's my NORAD Santa Tracker Video, because I just had to!



This business of going to the NORAD website to track Santa Claus' trip around the World is rather cool, but I'm in the middle of watching It's A Wonderful Life, so I decided to embed the tracker right here in my blog:



As of 6 PM PST / 9 PM EST, Santa Claus is , well, he's moving really fast! (If the embed doesn't work in your browser, click on the NORAD link.)

Merry Christmas!

Santa Baby 99ers Christmas Unemployment Song

Presenting the Santa Baby 99ers Christmas Unemployment Song, or The Santa Baby 99ers Song, on Christmas Eve.

Donalee King (in photo from Zennie62.com), who goes by Paladinette, at Zennie62.com, created this variation of the classic Christmas Song Santa Baby.

King, a blogger who also has her own blog called Jobless Unite,  is one of the so-called "99ers," those who's unemployment benefits have ran out after the 99-week limit, and seek an extension of benefits, or better yet, a job.

In seeking both, the San Diego resident has become a tireless advocate for the jobless. Her work on this song landed her notice by the LA Times.

The video is below, followed by the lyrics, which are graphic but worth reading and singing...if you dare!

(In fact, if you're in Oakland, California, print out the lyrics, take them down to The Alley at 3325 Grand Avenue, present them to Rod Dibble at the piano, and ask he would accompany you in song. Santa Baby is a song he knows how to play.)




Lyrics to video song Santa Baby - 99ers Style 2010

Congress Baby, the 99ers need a tier 5......to survive

I know you’re HEARTLESS P@#*s But....so what?

My children need some dinner tonight!

The car got repo’d and the rent is awfully late...but wait

You only care for the rich that’s a B*@#H

there’s millions of us dying out here

We can’t afford a Christmas tree

While you’re all buying Cartier at Tiffany

You bailed out banks Greece and Haiti too

I think it’s time the 99ers heard from you

Obama baby, just help the 99ers please

and... don’t tease

Been a really tough year

Out here

I Hope Your change is comin’ tonight

Obama honey, you sold 99ers flat out

no doubt

and now it’s snowing out,

My stomach’s growling

I need some food and shelter tonight

Sherrod honey, Schumer and that Stabenow too

Were through we all trusted you

but senate baby your lies have left us hurtn’ out here

We’re not rich - guess we don’t count

The dirty little secret you won’t talk about

There’ll be no jobs again next Year

It’s time you kicked your senate’s butts into high gear

Congress baby just pretend to care for us poor

once more - come on it’s just a check - so what the heck?

there’s millions of us dying out here!

That’s right I’d rather work than fight

Hurry Congress there’s 99ers dying TONIGHT

Merry Christmas!

Festivus 2010: No Mediaite Festivus? What Gives?

Festivus, that annual celebration for the rest of us, is upon us, once again. But in 2010 Festivus just don't feel like, well, Festivus.

The idea was first introduced in Seinfeld, Jerry Seinfeld's long-running television comedy, as an alternative to what some perceive as the commericialization of Christmas.

But this time, Festivus doesn't feel like Festivus, and maybe that's because the idea was started by a long-cancelled TV show, rather than a religious event?

At any rate, I know Festivus isn't as huge this year, because Mediaite's not mentioning it at all. Last year, the online media watchdog publication had a Mediaite Festivus of the top 50 media influencers in 2009, and that I talked about in my vlog here:



This year, zip.  Nada.

And while Festivus is a Google Trend, some of the blogs and articles don't seem to be focused on it in the title heading.  Festivus is more the day that, say, an NFL football game is being played.

I think AOL's David Knowles got it right when he observed that Festivus lived on, although Seinfeld reruns were "dated."  I think Festivus is headed in the same direction.  But there's still Christmas, and always will be.

Now, for this blogger, Christmas is about giving, not necessarily buying. It's also a celebration of the time of Christ's birth.

That's forgotten.

An aside.

For some reason there are people who just want to be mean. They want to be mean 24 and 7, and so they hate Christmas. Can't stand it. Those people are sad sacks. There's nothing wrong with being nice to people and giving to them in honor of the birth of Christ, and because it's just a plain nice thing to do.

As I said to someone who explained the common rationale for not celebrating Christmas, in other words, it's commericialized, "Christmas is something you do with society. Why does it have to be about you?"

Don't be selfish. Get into the sprit. Give of yourself.

Happy Festivus and Merry Christmas!

Blogging, YouTube, and Video-Blogging for Dollars

If you've ever wondered how one can make money blogging and video blogging, this 30-minute, three-part video series I stumbled over a few minutes ago can give you some guidance.

On March 24th, 2009, I was a guest of Christina Marie on her show SF Live. The subject was "Blogging, YouTube, and Video-Blogging for Dollars," but in truth, I just came up with that title, because we didn't have one for the show. The video says "Political Focus" but that wasn't our objective at all.

Here, I talk about how you can get started in blogging, and what a blog is. Christina and I then talk about how to make money with blogging, the Google AdSense ad platform, blog sponsorship, and affiliate marketing.

Then the focus shifts to video-blogging, and something called The YouTube Partner Program, which I've been a part of since 2007.

At the time I just started the TV show The Blog Report With Zennie62, and was fresh off an incredible year where my work was featured on CNN many times.

The video information, even thought it's just over a year old, is a little dated. 12 Seconds.tv just shut down a month ago. And this was before I started blogging with different news websites, in addition to Zennie62.com. So I have more advise that works well for a new video.

Is this self-promotion, too? YEAH, of course it is! And you should learn to do it yourself; this economy's not going to improve any time soon, and whining about what others are doing is not going to make it any better. You have to get out and become a doer yourself, not a complainer. You think Google doesn't promote itself? Ha! You should have seen Google VP Marissa Meyer at LeWeb talking about the firm's newest products!

But I digress.

Here's the video set:

Part One:



Part Two:



Part Three:

Celebration, Florida in Walt Disney World has first murder

This news is a surprise to this blogger who, at the age of 10, wanted to work for WED Enterprises on what was then called The EPCOT project. Celebration, Florida, the Disney new town that is part of the 27,443-acre Walt Disney World property, has experienced its first murder homicide.

According to CNN.com, 58-year-old Matteo Giovanditto was found dead in his home,an apartment building in the small town, according to police spokeswoman Twis Lizasuain.

The Orlando Sun-Sentinel reports that a Corvette registered to Giovanditto was found "somewhere in Kissimmee" Florida. There's no official cause of death.

Celebration, Florida is EPCOT

The location of Celebration, Florida, actually part of Walt Disney World, although news reports erroneously have it outside of the resort complex, was at first slated to be for a small airport that was to serve WDW visitors. Meanwhile, the only "town" holding residents was to be EPCOT itself.

But after Walt Disney's death in 1966, the 70s Energy Crisis, and its impact on tourism and Disney's stock price, Disney executives, including then CEO E.Cardon Walker, made the controversial decision to give up on the real "Experimental Prototype Community of Tommorrow."

Instead, Walker issued the idea that EPCOT itself would be expressed throughout Walt Disney World. The idea for EPCOT itself, and the property it was to be located on in the middle of the Disney property, about three miles north of what is now Celebration, was transformed into the combination future-World and World Showcase of today.

Here's Disney's video on the original EPCOT:



More on this later today.

Happy Rosh Hashanah : President Obama's Wish, Stephen Hawking's Error

President Obama is joined by this blogger in wishing you a Happy Rosh Hashanah. Here's Obama's video from yesterday:

Prof. Stephen Hawking

Come to think of it, since Stephen Hawking elected to introduce his book The Grand Design and declare that God did not create the Universe, it's fair to say that for him, Rosh Hashanah's not good, eh?

You'd think Hawking would show some respect for Jews by not releasing his book just a day before Rosh Hashanah, right? Talk about flunking his performance review. Geesh.

This blogger still can't understand why Stephen Hawking would write a book trying to debunk the existence of God, but not The Devil. Makes you wonder if his book itself's the Work of The Devil.

From this vantage point, Stephen Hawking looks just like the religious zealots he and his fans rightly criticize. Two sides of the same coin.

I prefer the edge. It rolls, if you know what I mean.

Happy Rosh Hashanah

CNN's Ed Henry's Kendrick Meek Interview Was Awful

Ed Henry pays more attention to his hair than interviews

CNN's Ed Henry gets hammered all too often for his interview approach, which often has nothing to do with the concerns of the subject he's interviewing. Take the interview he just conducted with Florida Congressman Kendrick Meek today, Sunday.

Congressman Meek just beat challenger Jeff Greene for the Democratic Nomination to be Florida's next Senator. With that, does Ed Henry talk about the campaign? No.

 Ed Henry opens with a not-veiled and wrong-headed attack on the Obama Administration's Economic Stimulus package. The questioning had nothing to do with the Florida Senate race against GOP challenger Marco Rubio.

Instead of giving the viewer what was expected, Ed Henry used Kendrick Meek to do Henry's White House crit for him, or at least tried to.

If Ed Henry wants to take political positions against the White House, he should quit CNN and become a columnist or a blogger. The strategy of trying to use one interview subject to make news about something having little to do with that subject, as Henry clumsily tried to do with President Obama last year (and Wonkette made him look like a fool for doing it) not only doesn't work, it makes Henry look plain silly.

If Ed Henry doesn't know about Florida politics, don't waste my time interviewing Florida politicians. I watched the interview expecting to learn something about the events of last week and about Congressman Meek. Instead, what I got was a big dose of Ed Henry grandstanding for the right to ask irrelevant questions.

Ed, don't do that again. Please. Do your homework before an interview.

Restoring Honor: The I Have A Dream Speech Anniversary

We can't allow crackpot talk show hosts to glen or for that matter to beck America into forgetting that Saturday, August 28th was the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King's I Have A Dream Speech. This blog post is a small action of "Restoring Honor" to that day in 1963.

The ten minute speech was given on Saturday, August 28th 1963 in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC; the event drew over 200,000 people. The address is ranked as the top speech in history.

What is forgotten in all of the silliness of yesterday's faked emotionalism, aside from the fact that Dr. King's greatest moment was nearly glen becked by the media, was the actual speech of 1963 came at a time in this blogger's life (I was born in 1962) when white America's view toward blacks in America was largely screwed up.

(It's not accurate to say "America's view" because it implies either that blacks were also treating other blacks the same way, which wasn't the case, and that blacks and other minorities had the same levels of freedoms that whites in America enjoyed in 1963; not so.  Truth, painful as it is to deal with, is the truth. Skin color was the issue.  You could claim to be a black conservative at the time, and that would not save you from racism.)

Blacks and whites could not marry and even something as simple as going to the bathroom was segregated by race. Many of the freedoms younger African Americans are used now to weren't even allowed then. And beatings and lynchings of blacks, particularly in the South, were all too common.

It's always said that one must know history, if only to avoid repeating it. That's what "Restoring Honor" really means.

For those of you who have not seen the I Have A Dream Speech, the video of it is below, followed by the text of what Dr. King actually said.



Here's the text of the speech from MLKOnline.net:

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation. [Applause]
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity.

But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition.

In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check -- a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God's children. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the determination of the Negro. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.

And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor's lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

Tila Tequila attacked - TMZ video shows Gathering of the Juggalos attack

"Tila Tequila attacked" and "Craigslist Killer" or "Craigslist suspect dies" bring up the same range of thoughts, and because of the YouTube comments from some members of the group called the Juggalos on this video:



There's a comment war, and the similarity between some of the Juggalos who went to The Gathering of The Juggalos, the event started by music group The Insane Clown Posse, and Philip Markoff, The Craigslist Killer, is that both may appear to be quite normal but have very dark sides to them. Both either harmed or advocated for women, in this case Tila Tequila, to be harmed.

The comparison brings to light an issue of concern and that's the "underground angry" dude. That person can't be stereotyped, accept that the person's generally male. It could be Omar Thornton, or a Juggalos member, or Philip Markoff, The Craigslist Killer, who committed suicide over the weekend.

Image via Wikipedia

Insame Clown Posse Performs for Juggalos

In Philip Markoff, The Craigslist Killer's case, he was set to marry the lovely Melissa McAllister, who for some reason believed he was a normal guy. Meanwhile, Markoff was said to have been using Craigslist's Erotic Services area to lure other women and murder them, although now that he's dead, that will never reach a court of law to determine the truth of.

Still, Markoff was in jail and apparently thought his life going forward wasn't worth living. Apparently, because foul play has not been ruled out in his death.

Anti-Social Behavior on The Rise?

Is anti-social behavior on the rise? Until the Gathering of The Juggalos and the Tila Tequila attack, and then the numerous comments that Tila "deserved" what happened to her, which is a sick thought, this space would not have believed so.

But there's a lot of activity to demonstrate otherwise.

In closing, this blog is not intended to be a put-down of The Insane Clown Posse, only to point to an issue they, as the creators of the Juggalos Movement, need to get a handle on ASAP.

Hartford Distributors Manchester, Connecticut shooting deaths at 9

According to The Hartford Courant in Hartford, Connecticut, Omar Thornton, who faced disciplinary action at Hartford Distributors, Inc., opened fire and killed what is now said to be nine people in Manchester, Connecticut, then was shot by police.

Earlier reports were that Omar Thornton shot himself; he did not. It was called a "cop shooting" because Omar Thornton did not put his gun down, so police opened fire.

According to Fox CT News video on the Hartford Courant page, and via the mother of a woman, Kristi Hannah, who dated him for eight months, the shooter, 34-year old Omar Thornton, who's African American, complained of racism to his employers, but they did nothing.

John Hollis, a Teamsters Union official said that Omar Thornton, who was a driver with Hartford Distributors, was a "discipline problem" and the union was bringing Thornton in to "remedy" the problem.

Thornton shot a number of people, and as of this writing, it's not known how many because what once stood at seven killed just rose to nine killed, so we don't know how many were injured in some kind of way. Here's the exact quote from the Hartford Courant regarding Omar Thornton's possible motive for the shooting at Hartford Distributors:

Joanne Hannah, who lives in the Enfield neighborhood where Thornton lived until about a month ago, said her daughter Kristi had dated Thornton for eight years. Thornton, who is black, had complained about being racially harassed at work. Thornton brought his complaints to his superiors, who did nothing about it, she said her daughter told her.

A New Trend: blacks who kill over racism

It seems there's a new and to this blogger, disturbing "small" trend of late where black men are as likely to commit workplace shootings as any white male.

Stephen Hill

The last person that comes to mind was was porn star Stephen Hill in Van Nuys, California, who, in June, went off and killed one person and stabbed another at the Ultima DVD office. Hill was black, and like Thornton, was about to be fired from his job. In Hill's case, he was called a "wacky guy" and no one mentioned racism. But then, no one who was close to him was interviewed at the time.

This is disturbing because I and my generation (I turn 48 tomorrow) was raised to be hardened and to expect racism, to point it out, but to not react violently to it.

Because racism is a mental illness, people who are racist are to be treated with pity and avoided.  That's the way I'm conditioned to think.

Frankly, you just didn't hear of someone black who would open fire and kill anyone over racism. We were instructed that it was a sickness that's "just part of the deal" and something you needed to overcome to be successful.

This small trend says nothing good about the overall mental strength of the next generation of black men. If one who's black and make expects to be successful in America, reacting violently to racism can't be considered an option.

Stay tuned.

Megan Avalon shows FBB female muscle before next contest

San Francisco Bay Area Female Bodybuilder and Personal Trainer Megan Avalon has a growing fan base to go with her growing muscle size and shape.

Fresh from her sports model division win at the Oakland Silver and Black bodybuilding contest, Megan Avalon shows how she's worked on her body even more by adding an inch to her already impressive biceps and worked to develop her calves and hamstrings.



The Marin-based woman who calls herself "Barbie with Muscles" has also served as a spokesperson for websites like Zennie62.com and bikini fashion companies. But Megan's focus is on serving her personal training clients and building her body to its ultimate potential.

Watch for Megan Avalon in more contests, this fall 2010 bodybuilding season.

LeBron James to Miami Heat - Chicago Bulls better choice

LeBron James, the now-former Cleveland Cavaliers player, joined the Miami Heat, in what this space views as a terrible mistake. LeBron James should have stood up to the questions if he was ready to fill Michael Jordan's shoes and went with the Chicago Bulls.

Joining the Chicago Bulls not only would have given the Bulls a powerful combination of Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah, the newly signed Carlos Boozer, and James, but also placed LRMR Marketing, LeBron James' fledgling marketing company is the big city where marketing talent is pervasive. LRMR Marketing would have grown by leaps and bounds.

But for Maverick Carter to skip out on New York because of the New York Knicks management, and let that news get out was not smart. If the issue was racism, Carter should have said so. But if not - if it was a style issue - it was better to work through that to form a good relationship.

LRMR has not signed a single company; what they have LeBron James former agent, Aaron Goodwin of Oakland, CA, got for LeBron, including the $90 million Nike Deal. But being in Chicago, with its marketing community and sports-sponsorship-oriented corporate base, combined with the buzz that LeBron brings, would have been formidable.

Instead, James has the Sun of Miami Beach, but not enough to put LRMR Marketing over the top.

Lebron James to NY Knicks, then to Chicago, then to Miami Heat

LeBron James 

Where is Lebron James going? Yesterday, it was the New York Knicks because they got Amare Stoudomire. Then Chicago got Carlos Boozer and it was LeBron taking his 23 to The Bulls. Then, overnight, the pendulum swung over to The Miami Heat with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.

Kevin Blackistone, Jason Whitlock, Ian Thomsen, good friend Monte Poole, and all the other Old Media brothers should relax. It's not Lebron James's fault everyone's interested in what team The Chosen One (let's face it, the media branded him that) is going to.

It's an Internet age, and James would be totally foolish if he wasted the eyeball opportunity on this moment. And let's face it, it's a moment we've all waited for. As this is written, LeBron's still one of the top Twitter trends. Not bad to stick there for 24 hours.

That's what life's all about: your first kiss, the prom, college parties and sex, big basketball games, getting married, your first child, and watching LeBron select his next team. Right now, it looks like that team's going to be The Miami Heat, but it seems a bit, well, stupid to take his marketing company LRMR Marketing to Miami and not New York City.

But, if US Magazine is to be believed, James is planning a big party at South Beach at the W Hotel South Beach this weekend. But for a pay cut?

The Miami Heat would reportedly pay him just $99 million and that's less than the $100 million Amare Stoudomire's getting from the New York Knicks and far less than he would get if he remained with the Cleveland Cavaliers. LeBron can fly to Miami and live in South Beach and still play and live in New York City with the money he makes.

LeBron James to Miami? I'm not sold on that one.

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Brazil vs Portugal World Cup 2010 | USA v. Ghana Saturday

The Brazil vs Portugal World Cup 2010 match ended in a tie Friday. The long-anticipated match pitted the Number one Brazil team against the number three ranked Portugal team, so while you'd expect an epic battle, the actual result was described as "lackluster".

Brazil, playing without three it its stars, performed at a lower level with their replacements. Julio Batista, Dani Alves, and Nilmar put in a good effort, but it wasn't enough to win. Portugal, which obliterated North Korea 7-0 earlier in the week, showed none of the form expected after such an amazing performance.

Instead, what we got was sloppy play by both sides.

There were seven yellow card cautions, four for Portugal and three for Brazil, and that was in the first half. There were a total of 29 fouls.

USA v. Ghana Saturday

The USA Soccer team takes on the Ghana Black Stars in a single elimination, do-or-die match Saturday at 11:30 AM PDT / 2:30 PM EDT. President Barack Obama paid a call to the USA team Thursday to congratulate them on their victory and give them vocal support leading to the battle against Ghana.

If you're in Oakland, a great place to watch the match is the Era Art Bar in downtown Oakland near the corner of Grand and Broadway. Here's the video from Wednesday's great win:



USA! USA! USA!

iPhone 4 antenna and problems mar Apple product debut

The Apple iPhone 4

Apple's long awaited iPhone 4 is out today, and a long line formed near Apple's Flagship Stores in New York and San Francisco, and around America and the World. The iPhone, an innovative cell phone that's changed the way such devices are developed, has a number of new features that have created a lot of excitement. But the Apple IPhone 4 also has bugs with its antenna and other features that have marred it's debut.

The most exciting new feature on the iPhone 4 is the ability to created and edit high-definition video, which you can then upload to YouTube. This makes the iPhone the first smart phone designed for video-blogging use and can change the face of media. On Wednesday night ABC News Nightline featured an impressive segment that was shot entirely using the iPhone 4.

The other cool feature is video phone calling: the ability to talk to a person and see their face as they talk. It's a wild feature that calls into question how concerns about how teen "sexting" will morph into a concern about what this space will call "sexviding" or the act of one making a video phone call just to send a sexy video of themselves to the other person. (More on that later.)

But beyond launching a new teen social trend (and the prediction here is that "sexviding" will be that trend), the iPhone 4 also has a few problems. The most noted one is the issue of the antenna.

The tech blog Gizmodo notes that the iPhone 4 loses reception when you hold it by the antenna band, which happens to be the way you normally hold the phone. Gizmodo presented this YouTube video by Fame Foundry which shows the problem:



The antenna band is wrapped around the sides of the phone, so when you hold it, you're bound to touch the band, and cause the AT&T (man I hate AT&T) reception bars to decrease to nil, meaning no reception. You have to hold the iPhone 4 by the glass, which is a weird way to handle the product, to get reception.

Gizmodo asked users to confirm the problem by making their own video and that's what has happened. Thus, the Apple iPhone 4 is such that you can't use it effectively by holding it. It seems Apple could have installed a retractable antenna, rather than one that part of the phone's casing. Illogical. (As a note, Gizmodo has various fixes for iPhone users, the most effective one being scotch tape.)

The other problem most noted is with a "yellow spot problem" on the screen that Apple reports will go away within a day "or so."  The reason given is apparently that Apple was so busy rushing the iPhone to delivery that a kind of bonding agent was not given enough time to evaporate.

Stay tuned.

Cystic Fibrosis life expectancy longer than most thought

Diet is one big reason 

Cystic Fibrosis is at the top of search trends Thursday because it was found that the disease, in which the person suffering from it develops an ulcer in the pancreas, can be managed due to advances in treatment. Those advances have caused a larger group of people to live past age 40. 30,000 Americans and 70,000 people around the World have Cystic Fibrosis as of this writing.

According to the Associated Press, Cystic Fibrosis treatment include inhaled medications and a chest - vibrating vest to clear airway clogs. The Cystic Fibrosis disease causes a mucus to build up in the lungs, clogging them and leading to life-threatening infections. That same mucus also clogs the pancreas so the body can't properly digest food.

Cystic Fibrosis generally showed up in kids, who didn't make it to become adults. But what's happening now is that Cystic Fibrosis is showing up in people later in life. What's found is that proper care leads to longer life, but there's something the AP article does not address.

The impact of the non-smoking movement

Not discussed is the impact of the non-smoking movement on Cystic Fibrosis patients. It's wildly known that smoking can harm Cystic Fibrosis patients, but not talked about is the impact of the non-smoking movement and the attack on the spread of second-hand smoke.

Also not considered is the impact of the diet and vitamins movement. Also, exercise is an important consideration. Why those factors aren't mentioned in the AP article is a head-scratcher.

BP Gulf Oil Spill - oil eating bacteria; Gov. Crist visits Osprey Biotechnics

This update to the blog post on the call for oil-eating bacteria to be used in the clean-up of the BP Gulf Oil Spill Disaster: Florida Governor Charlie Crist visited the firm that makes the oil-eating bacteria.

Crist needs to tell Obama about Munox 

According to The Bradenton Herald, Governor Crist was the guest of Sarasota, Florida-based Osprey Biotechnics and to see their product, Munox, first hand, last Thursday. Crist said he was "impressed" with the oil-eating bacteria product.

Crist reportedly met with Osprey Biotechnics officials for 40 minutes, and Secretary Mike Sole, of the Department of Environmental Protection called Osprey officials last Thursday.

Crist said he "may" mention Munox to President Obama in his weekly conference call. Governor Crist should change that "may" to a "will". The only logical reasons Governor Christ would stall on mentioning the Munox product to President Obams is, again, a lack of desire to have the BP Oil Spill problem quickly resolved, or because someone connected with the oil industry has said they don't want their oil assets destroyed.

Governor Crist's response should be not to care about the oil assets, or the oil that was spilled into The Gulf of Mexico. Governor Crists' first responsibility is to the health and welfare of the people of the State of Florida. And right now, both have been severely compromised.

Osprey calculates that 55 gallons of Munox could treat 36.5 square miles of water in the Gulf of Mexico. That's just a little more than about the amount of gas a large Ford F350 holds. That means Munox is powerful stuff. Governor Crist should hold Osprey to its performance claims and get that product into the Gulf of Mexico as soon as possible, like now.