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.