Zennie's ZeitgeistZennie's ZeitgeistZennie Abraham's Look at Pop Culture, Current Events, and His Life 
Articles
Twitter attack a national security issue
2009-08-06 20:02:00 More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter ! | Get my widget! | Visit YouTube | Visit UShow.com A funny thing - well ok, not so funny thing - happened this morning at 6 am while I slept comfortably and soundly: Twitter was down. Something called a "Denial of Service" which resulted in this message according to TechCrunch: We are defending against a denial of service attack, and will update status again shortly. As of 8:16 PST Twitter was up again, and seems to be fine now, but they're still defending against the attack! What does all this mean? It signals just how vulnerable these small business private sector Internet systems are, and this is a matter of national security. It's far beyond Twitter Phishing, which I talked about here: ...but it underscores the point that Twitter is the constant focus of some kind of attack. Let's not forget that for all of its 44 million visitors last month and its powerful role in the Iran protest, the San Francisco-based company... More About: Security , National , National Security , Attack
George Sodoni the health club killer hated women
2009-08-05 22:05:00 Late last night several cable news stations reported a shooting at the LA Fitness club in Collier Township, Pennsylvania. Reportedly, the man walked into the gym and according to the press conference on CNN shot his guns (he had more than one) 31 times, wounding 10 people and killing three, all women. Today, it was revealed that the man's name was George Sodoni. No, he was not foreign born. He was not minority. He was a typical-looking Caucasian male but with a huge problem: he hated women. According to reports, Sodoni hated women so much he expressed his views on his own blog, which I can't link to because its being investigated by police. But my point here is to be watchful of anyone who has such an issue with any group of people that they would consistently express hatred or frustration for them online. George Sodoni In Sodoni's case, he not only hated women but black men because he felt we were getting the white girls he wanted to date and believed to be "hi... More About: Women , Health , Killer , Club
Matt Leinart's Twitter account: if fake, should be removed
2009-08-05 18:08:00 Earlier today I wrote a blog post regarding "Matt Leinart's tweet" where he supposedly wrote that Arizona Cardinals Quarterback Kurt Warner was "kinda old". The tweet was written on February 1st during the time of the Super Bowl where the Cards took on the Steelers in Tampa. Obviously a story like this has some legs, so it carries. But now the claim in some quarters is the Twitter account is fake. The specific contact represents Arizona Cardinals Media Relations, which is an outrage. That the Cardinals knew this account existed and allowed it to remain active is terrible and a massive blunder. In a new media environment "media relations" does not stop at contacting the press, it also encompasses online content. For the Arizona Cardinals to not understand this is not good for its players or its organization. Shifting the blame toward me will not remove them of their responsibility. And not that I don't believe it's not fake but my concern is if Leinart and the Cardinals... More About: Fake , Account
Matt Leinart thinks Kurt Warner's "old" - a Twitter fake
2009-08-05 11:12:00 More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter ! | Get my widget! | Visit YouTube | Visit UShow.com Matt Leinart at the 2006 NFL Draft: Special Note: It's said that Matt Leinart does not Twitter, but this account I report on below with his tweets on it back in February is still up and active. I wrote a new blog post about Matt's Twitter problem and the importance of online reputation management. Below is what I originally reported. It remains as a cautionary example of how not to handle one's digital identity. Hopefully Leinart takes the steps to remove the Twitter account, as should have been done months ago. I happened to see the New York Times article focusing on NFL Coaches prohibiting players from using Twitter in meetings and during training camp. I had to chuckle because the Twitter frenzy is already alive with funny and controversial tweets all over the place. Just ask Arizona Cardinals quarterback Matt Leinart, who tweeted this (as of this writing): Locked a... More About: Fake , Kurt
President Obama it's your birthday; mine too!
2009-08-05 03:49:00 More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! | Visit YouTube | Visit UShow.com President Obama , it's August 4th, the day you were born in 1961 in Hawaii. Happy Birthday . It's also my birthday and I'm one year behind you. I didn't know that when we met at the Mark Hopkins on St. Patrick's Day of 2007, but when I realized we had that in common it made me reevaluate a lot of events in my life. On my birthday, I wish to share my thoughts with you and everyone. For a long time I told people that because I was that one year behind you, I was always one year away from greatness. But I don't think that anymore. I'm great, just in a different way. You see, that you are president makes it ok for me to be who I've fought to be for most of my life: smart, confident, arrogant, caring, intellectual, nerdy, caring, a trekker, a vlogger, a blogger, and other adjectives - positive ones. I fought to be me because I never wanted to be a stereotype. I have k... More About: Mine
Tom Hayes - Let's talk about euthanasia and abortion
2009-08-04 19:56:00 Abortion is a proven "wedge" issue, in the finest tradition of Karl Rove's masterful divisive politics, and it's arguably being used that way again right now in the health-care insurance reform debate. The mainstream media is commercial, so they're far from immune from the effects of the money being spent to spin, shape, frame, and control this debate. Most of us, frankly, have "good enough" insurance, and we all get to make the choice to keep our current system. In fact, of the 5 out of 6 covered Americans, fully 3 out of 4 of them say they're mostly satisfied. So let's be clear: this isn't about the majority, this is about the 1 in 6 Americans who aren't covered. 1 in 6 - that's not quite 50 million Americans. Now, nobody's proposed socialized medicine - if they had the doctors wouldn't be mostly in favor of reform. But it's a tested sound bite that shaves off a few votes. Did you know they need more billing clerks at Duke Medical Center than they have nurses? Does... More About: Abortion , Talk , Euthanasia
Twitter should partner with YouTube
2009-08-04 09:07:00 More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter ! | Get my widget! | Visit YouTube | Visit UShow.com This just in, according to TechCrunch, Twitter now has almost as many monthly unique visitors as Craigslist. Well, TechCrunch didn't include Craigslist's visitor statistics in its blog report, I did, but the point is at 44 million unique visitors, Twitter is just shy of Craigslist's 50 million as of May 2009. If there was any question how large Twitter has become, or how important, that stat should answer it. But with all of this traffic, where's the revenue model? Is it just burning venture capital cash or is there a plan? (Spark Capital's Todd Dagres says there's a money-making plan and his firm has pumped $35 million into Twitter with the confidence the approach will work.) As of this writing, Twitter is free of charge and is devoid of ads. While different approaches have been discussed, here's one I've not seen before. Partner with YouTube. In the model I envi... More About: Youtube
Lou Dobbs home to "birthers" and white supremacists
2009-08-03 21:49:00 More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! | Visit YouTube | Visit UShow.com On YouTube.com After years of ducking complaints about his occasionally offensive coverage, Lou Dobbs , host of CNN's Lou Dobbs show, may finally see either the end of his days of pretty much getting away with whatever "fact" he puts out, or the end of his show altogether. As one who went on a video attack regarding his economic views a while back - see below - I'm glad to see it. But Lou's idiotic views on the economy pale in comparison to his use of story angles from white supremacists groups, even to the point of using websites representing such views as sources. Indeed, one Newsvine blogger SkeeterVT links the current "birther" movement and Dobbs coverage of it to white supremacists groups, but it's not Dobbs first time helping such wingnuts. More after my "Lou Dobbs in an idiot on the economy" video: Dobbs is friend to white supremacists Google "Lou Dobbs white ... More About: Home , White
Iron Girl, Title IX, and the strong woman movement
2009-08-03 00:39:00 I just returned from my monthly visit to Georgia, where my Mom's living. I always enjoy the relaxed atmosphere of the semi-rural town she lives in outside Atlanta, but I can't help noticing one thing: all of the fat people, especially the women. Suburban Georgia seems to have missed the "strong woman" movement, which is what the "Iron Girl " competition is all about. Ironically, Iron Girl's held today in Atlanta! (Now, when I refer to strong woman I'm not limiting the term to women who engage in powerliting or feats of strength. That's on the extreme end but the same lifting techniques and equipment used by extremely strong women are employed on a normal basis by many women today. I'm exploring the growth of that practice and women in athletics, like the members of the U.S. Olympic Women's Synchronized Swim Team who talked about the torch issue in my video .) Iron Girl: for women only According to its website, Iron Girl started with just two events in 2004 and... More About: Woman , Title , Strong
Valleywag's Ryan Tate hates the term "Fox News Bonehead"
2009-08-01 03:47:00 In my multi-part blog entry on Erin Andrews (which included the video above) I ran across an little gem by now-Valleywag Editor Ryan Tate regarding the website activities of one Fox News correspondent Courtney Friel, who was one of the guests of Fox News star blowhard Bill O'Reilly on the matter of the nude video of ESPN's Erin Andrews. I got after Tate for using this title: Secret Bikini Shots Of Fox News "Bonehead" Because I was under the impression that Tate was using someone else's quote to about her to channel (a popular term now) his perception of Friel. I was under the impression Tate himself believed Friel to be a "bonehead" because in the blog post he didn't write the text to separate himself from what he wrote. Well, the ever-observant Tate saw my blog post and sparked a great and friendly email exchange (Ryan's cool) where he wrote: I quoted the term, twice. Why do you quote things you don't necessarily agree with? Usually because they're interesting. That doe... More About: Term
Sgt. Lashley's Letter To Prof. Gates: I Am Not An Uncle Tom
2009-07-31 05:32:00 From PoliticsNewsPolitics on YouTube: Sgt. Leon Lashley, the African-American cop on scene when James Crowley arrested Prof essor Henry Louis Gates , writes a letter saying that he is not an "Uncle Tom" and regrets being known as a "black sergeant." He asks Prof. Gates what he can do to make things better, and let him know if he did anything wrong.CNN's Don Lemon reads the letter to viewers More About: Letter
Obama "Beer Summit", Crowley Press Conference - history!
2009-07-31 04:05:00 More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! | Visit YouTube | Visit UShow.com YouTube ,Yahoo, MySpace, Metacafe, DailyMotion, Blip.tv, StupidVideos, Sclipo and Viddler Thursday, President Barack Obama held a "Beer Summit", as some have called it, with Harvard Professor Henry Lewis Gates, Jr., Cambridge Police Sergeant Officer James Crowley, and Vice President Joe Biden, bring an end to an unfortunate but necessary event in American Cultural history, and starting a new chapter in American race relations. It was the first time in American and world history a sitting president met publicly with a white police officer and the person the officer arrested, a black man. And to add to the moment, the president is African American. I think the teachable moment President Obama referred to was that two gentlemen of seemingly different stripes but of one culture can not only meet, but (as they agreed to do) meet again and again. Sgt. Crowley assists Prof... More About: History , Press , Press Conference
Oakland Shootout and Sideshow - a review
2009-07-30 05:50:00 More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! | Visit YouTube | Visit UShow.com On YouTube.com Yesterday I posted a blog entry which contained set of videos from the YouTube channel of "EASTOAKLAND106", and contained scenes that were shocking. One showed two young black men basically exacting an ugly form of "street" justice on a white man in East Oakland . The other videos were created during "The Sideshow ", an activity featuring muscle cars revved to full-throttle by their drivers, spinning donuts in the middle of the intersection of 106th and Mac Arthur Blvd. The YouTube channel contained other videos that together gave the viewer a real picture of what was going on (or "going down") in that part of Oakland. I made the decision to create the blog to get the attention of the normally placid blog reader, tossed a steady diet of texts about celebrities, sports, and Erin Andrews. These videos showing the real life in East Oakland are there, but bloggers... More About: Review
Hands On Gourmet- Tip: How to Cut a Cantaloupe Melon
2009-07-28 16:46:00 My friends from the great company Hands on Gourmet talk about the proper way to peel a melon. For more go to http://www.handsongourmet.com More About: Melon , Hands On
John Edwards has a sex tape?
2009-07-28 08:29:00 More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! | Visit YouTube | Visit UShow.com In the story that will not die, we now learn that John Edwards , the former North Carolina Senator and VP running mate to John Kerry, now reportedly has a sex tape. According to Rush & Molloy, the gossip columnists of the New York Daily News, Edwards former aide Andrew Young just finished a book proposal that described first, that he is not the father of the child of Rielle Hunter, John Edwards mistress, second, that Young just happened to see a sexually-explicit videotape as he was unpacking after moving to California from the East Coast, where he lived with Rielle Hunter, Edwards' mistress, and Young's wife and family. The story is known by now: in August of 2008, after the heat of the Democratic Primary had cleared and just before the Democratic National Convention, former Senator Edwards admitted he cheated on his wife Elizabeth starting in 2006, while she was battling bre...
Erin Andrews voted most influential TV reporter
2009-07-27 22:41:00 More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! | Visit YouTube | Visit UShow.com From the "You've gotta be kidding me" department, we have the news that ESPN's on-air reporter Erin Andrews has been voted "the most influential TV reporter" in a contest established by website Mediaite.com. If you're wondering just who Erin Andrews is and have been under a rock, first consult my video above, then come back here. To recap, Erin Andrews is the ESPN reporter that was the focus - literally - of someone taking a peephole camcorder video of her in the nude, in a hotel room. The suspect has still not been identified or captured as of this writing, while some believe it may have been a co-worker at ESPN. With that action, Erin Andrews has emerged from unknown to known, and to "most infuential reporter" in two-weeks. Before we look closely at that, let's see who she passed up to gain the lofty title. The Mediaite Power Grid contains 290 reporters in its selection ... More About: Reporter
Chevron Richmond issue: new video shows job loss impact
2009-07-27 20:54:00 More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! | Visit YouTube | Visit UShow.com Apparently someone was paying attention to my call for videos from last week's Richmond City Council meeting where I reported that California Attorney General Jerry Brown visited a packed council hearing room and got passed a resolution to allow him to get involved in the issue of the stopped Chevron plant construction order. A number of comments on my blogs pointed to video links but then out-of-the-blue, Chevron itself stepped forward with their video, and it's a good one: The video shows the workers impacted telling their stories in much the same way that laid off plant construction electrician Dennis Roos told his story to me. The video was apparently created last Tuesday, at the Richmond City Council hearing. One worker in the video said "I've got a family. I've got four girls. I've got a house payment. A car payment. I was really dependent on this job." In the ... More About: Video , Loss , Issue
Alexis Cohen's Death caused by 23-year-old New Jersey man
2009-07-27 17:23:00 From MTV.com - Police have arrested a 23-year-old New Jersey man in connection with Saturday morning's hit-and-run death of two-time "American Idol" contestant Alexis Cohen. The Asbury Park Journal reports that Daniel Bark was arrested at 6 p.m. on Sunday and charged with causing Cohen's death by reckless driving and then leaving the scene of a collision. More About: Death , Year
SF AIDS benefit features Jersey Boys, American Idol stars
2009-07-27 06:02:00 More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! | Visit YouTube | Visit UShow.com On YouTube.com This Sunday, August 2nd (yikes, two days before my birthday!) The San Francisco-based Richmond / Ermet AIDS Foundation (REAF.org) features the 15th annual presentation of "Help Is On The Way: No Business Like Show Business." I've attended this gala over the last four years and I've got to tell ya it’s a load of fun; a mix of a little serious, a lot of energy, and a ton of talent. (The video above is from last year's event, where San Francisco luminaries like Harry Denton were holding court in the pre-show auction lounge, joined by "Austin Powers", "Dean Martin", and others.) Before I explain why you should attend, let me give you some background. REAF was founded by Barbara Richmond and the late Peggy Ermet in memory of their sons, John Richmond and Doug Ermet, who both lost their lives to AIDS. In 1995, the two women launched a musical AIDS benefit to h... More About: Stars , American Idol , Features , American , Idol
Sarah Palin fairbanks Governor's Picnic
2009-07-27 01:25:00 Sarah Palin's last day in office as Governor of Alaska is today. Whatever the reason, I think she made a big mistake in stepping down. More About: Sarah , Picnic
President Obama's beer bust with Gates and Crowley: a beer poll
2009-07-26 06:30:00 More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! | Visit YouTube | Visit UShow.com YouTube.com , Yahoo, MySpace, Metacafe, DailyMotion, Blip.tv, StupidVideos, Sclipo and Viddler What started as a calamity threatening to divide America has seemingly ended in a planned beer bust at the White House, courtesy of President Barack Obama himself. The ill-advised (in my opinion) arrest of Harvard Professor Henry Lewis Gates by Cambridge Police Officer Sgt. James Crowley four days ago caught the attention of the nation, but it was President Obama's comment that the Cambridge Police "acted stupidly" and the rather terrible response by the Cambridge Police Union at its press conference , which created a much-needed national conversation about race, law enforcement, and American culture. Regardless of where you stand on this issue, there's no doubt that it has been the political talk of the day, even if much of it was disjointed, nasty, and ignorant, especially on... More About: Beer , Poll , Bust
Henry Louis Gates arrested for being "uppity black man"
2009-07-24 11:21:00 More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! | Visit YouTube | Visit UShow.com YouTube, Yahoo, MySpace, Metacafe, DailyMotion, Blip.tv, StupidVideos, Sclipo and Viddler It's all over the Internet: Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates was arrested by Cambridge police officer Sgt. James Crowley after trying to pry open the lock, which was already damaged, to his own Cambridge home with the help of his driver, who picked him up from a trip to China. President Obama, in a press conference on his health care initiative, chimes in by saying "the Cambridge Police acted stupidly." President Obama's totally right. Here's why. Professor Gates problem was that he was being "an uppity black man" against an officer who looked for "uncommon" versus "common" elements to connect with Gates - no connection, or "uncommon leads to an arrest. On the plane from Chicago to Atlanta yesterday, I was in first class on United Airlines (the luck I enjoy as the son of a forme... More About: Arrested , Black
Marina Orlova talks about the Blunderbuss: HotForWords
2009-07-24 03:10:00 Marina Orlova's terrific show has a new and interesting segment on a kind of shotgun called "The Blunderbuss." More About: Marina
Erin Andrews peephole tape draws Bill O'Reilly, Michelle Beisner
2009-07-23 22:10:00 More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! | Visit YouTube | Visit UShow.com The search trend that will not die, "Erin Andrews peephole tape" just drew in its latest mainstream media victim of the drug of titillation, Bill O'Reilly, then for good measure, Jason Witlock of the Kansas City Star unwittingly throws Michelle Beisner into the mix. Now, Michelle Beisner's the top search on Google Trends because of the Erin Andrews peep show video scandal, Witlock digging up that story, and the male desire to see her, too, (90 percent of my 34,000 video viewers - as of this writing - on this matter are men) and Bill O'Reilly has the nerve to bring two more blondes on his show to talk about a blonde, Erin Andrews, who's privacy was violated, and show the offending video mainly because CBS decided to do it first within the mainstream media camp! Oh brother. Plus, what we have is a great case of racial profiling. My video on this matter (which has one very ...
Are the "Obama's foreign born" folks being racist?
2009-07-23 18:40:00 I'm not sure most of the people who are harping on this "birth certificate" issue even believe it's true; I think they're mostly looking for something to badger the winner with. It's amazing what people will do when they're feeling bitter.Are there racists among them? I assume so, but I'm not sure what fraction it is, let alone if it's the majority. As for the rest of them, logic isn't at issue with most in this situation. It's an emotional response, just as many reactions are in the political arena. There were nut-cases dogging every President in recent memory, forcing them to spend time and attention on trivia - taking their time and energy away from the larger problems facing the people of this country.Many of them, in this case, have trouble feeling any sort of sense of commonality - or community - with the duly elected former Senator for any number of reasons: some because he's not white, some because he's a Democrat, some because they think he's trying to impose so... More About: Foreign , Racist
Sotomayor's decisions are "based more on the merits and facts of the cases"
2009-05-27 15:53:00 Legal experts cited by Reuters in a piece by Steve Holland say Judge Sonia Sotomayor doesn't appear to be either particularly liberal or conservative on business issues, with decisions based more on the merits and facts of the cases than an ideological approach to the law.Replacing a liberal justice with one who decides cases on their merits rather than politics doesn't mean the GOP will just give her a pass, they have to at least appear adversarial for the sake of their base - but despite predictable wailing and knee-jerk gnashing of rhetorical teeth from the usual extreme right info-tainers pandering for ratings, the folks in DC expect Ms. Sotomayor to be confirmed as a Supreme Court Justice.A comment from 2005 may prove sticky if quoted out of context, but this is no activist ideologue. Judge Richard C. Wesley, a George W. Bush appointee to the Second Circuit, said:"Sonia is an outstanding colleague with a keen legal mind. She brings a wealth of knowledge and hard work to all h... More About: Facts , Cases , Decisions
Zennie Abraham: 180 iReports to Date, 74 aired on CNN
2009-05-27 13:51:00 Wow, I had no idea I had so many iReports tagged for use by CNN, 74! Out of 180 iReports submitted, that's about a 40 percent rate, not bad overall. More About: Abraham
Zennie on CNN's "Money and Main Street" as iReporter
2009-05-27 13:41:00 Embedded video from CNN Video Thanks to the iReport team for this. They and Anderson Cooper are the best! More About: Money , Main , Street , Main Street
The California Supreme Court’s Illogical Prop 8 Decision
2009-05-27 09:42:00 More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! On YouTube Tuesday, May 26, 2009 will go down as an eventful San Francisco day, sunny, and yet dark, and one that saw a lot of people marginalized who didn’t want to be. But then, who does. Before I turn to who said what, and who got arrested, I stick my head right into the belly of the beast, the California Supreme Court’s decision. Today, in first upholding Prop osition 8, the voter-approved initiative to make same-sex marriage illegal that passed in November 2008, and yet protecting the 18,000 same-sex marriages that were done before the passage of the initiative, the California Supreme Court successfully stood logic on its head. I’ve just read the Court’s entire 167-page decision, and while I understand the reasons given by the majority of justices (six supporting the decision, one against it and even then the six judges that agreed were not perfect in their union) I’m concerned with the l... More About: Decision
Owen Thomas Lands At KNTV Digital From Valleywag; Starts May 26th
More articles from this author:2009-05-25 11:56:00 Owen Thomas , who introduced me to the great libations at what was once Moose's in North Beach during the Valleywag Friday happy hours of a few positive GDP growth cycles back, then left the helm of that Gawker-run tech gossip site, has landed on his feet at KNTV Digital , according to "Broadcasting & Cable". Reportedly, Thomas will manage the NBC Bay Area website, nbcbayarea.com, but I'd guess absent the interesting, biting, and at times down right wild commentary that spared no one. Well, almost on one. He and the other Gawker staffers had this soft spot for Internet celebrity Julia Allison. But I digress. Owen Thomas with Julia Allison Hanging On The Friday meetups stopped well before Thomas depature, but knowing him I'm sure something close to what used to be will materialize. But I say "congratulations, Owen!" The next one's on me! And on a personal note thanks for the tips! More About: Owen 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
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