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United flight turbulence - pilot was a pro!

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! YouTube , MySpace , Metacafe , Blip.tv , StupidVideos , Sclipo and Viddler I've been in Georgia for a week now - most of the time I've been sick - but I'll never forget the flight to get here. Now, I've flown thousands of times and come here each month, but the way this United Airlines flight shook while entering Atlanta airspace scared the heck out of me. Turbulence? Sure. I've felt it before – a lot actually - but usually during the flight, not at the end of the flight. Apparently the Georgia weather included more than a few storm clouds; because of this our landing was delayed 12 minutes. But then I guess the pilot got cleared to land because we just dived into the most terrible clouds I've seen in a while and all hell broke lose. The plane shook, at one point before the video violently (which is why I turned it on) and the Airbus A319 airframe produced this kind of loud whi

Oakland Laying Off Almost 100 People

The City of Oakland is laying people off. This sad news comes from the Oakland Tribune and will take place this week in the wake of the massive City of Oakland budget shortfall projected to go to as much as $100 million. The departments impacted include Parks and Recreation, finance, human services and others. In total the Mayor's budget calls for 250 people to be let go.

Downtown Oakland's Massive Thursday Party

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! To say that Steve Snider - my friend known for the revival of the downtown Oakland party scene and who served on the Mayor's Sports and Entertainment Task Force, and is now part of the Uptown District team that's behind this party to take place tommorrow - gets involved with anything small would be a joke. While "Oakland Uptown Unveiled" isn't the largest event ever held in downtown Oakland, it's certainly the biggest one for the Uptown. This area, which just five years ago was still considered a place not to be for any but the most experienced Oaklanders, has taken off. Where the Broadway / Grand development is today was once the home of a sleepy rental car establishment. Luka's across the street was the long time location of "The Hof Brau" where old-timers spent a day talking with friends and eating large meals. Another Oakland of another time. Now, the area

Oakland Women Brag to KMEL About Beating! From SFist

This is classic from the blog SFist : After taking turns brutally beating Seals at her Oakland salon and videotaping the entire thing, because Seals' ex-boyfriend allegedly asked them to do so, the two mental giants went on-air and had the following conversation. Ahem: Sana G (KMEL DJ): "Which one was the one doing the karate kicks to the face? Was that you?" Caller #1: "Right here, this my sister." Caller #2: "... that was me, man. That b---- deserved everything they got, that she got. And if you would have been there and on the situation, you would have respected it." WHAT???? One more example why we live in scary times.

Christopher Rodriguez 12- Year Old Forgives Jared Adams, Who's Stray Bullet Shot Him

I remember when this happened because Rodriquez, then 10-years old, was not far from the car wash on Pleasant Valley and 51st near Piedmont Avenue on the Saturday this happened. The whole neighborhood was buzzing about it. Now, he's forgiven Adams , which shows a lot of strength for anyone, and he's paralyzed from the accident.

Digital Britain? How about Digital Oakland?

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! On YouTube.com The Twitterverse is abuzz with the news of the "Digital Britain" report introduced by Stephen Andrew Carter, the Minister for Communications, Technology and Broadcasting or "Lord Carter" in the UK. The idea of the report is to lay a framework for future development of the digital media industry in Britain. But this is a terrible first start; it's just a PDF report! ( You can get it here! ) When I think "digital media" I expect a video, podcast, and blog complete with a website of some kind. Not in this case. There's no real good website at all, just pages and a forum that has way down in the page an embed of a video from the first Digital Britain event, a stodgy affair featuring a bunch of older British white guys, rather than a diverse set of young people, the common theme in the industry. That's the problem. Digital industry policy should b

Oakland: Home Of The MaiTai, Not The Drive-By

Will Viharo of Parkway Theater fame has a new effort to have the Mai Tai named the official drink of Oakland . So far he reportedly has At Large Oakland Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan on board. Why? Because it's true! Vic Bergeron invented the original Mai Tai recipe at his Oakland restaurant (Trader Vic's, formerly Hinky Dink's) in 1944, as he plainly states here. Now it's a grassroots movement, spearheaded by Mano Thanos, co-owner of The Conga Lounge in the Rockridge neighborhood of Oakland (for which I do freelance PR, along with Forbidden Island of Alameda.)   Ok. I'm in support of this; why not?

Iran Elections: Iranian Culture to blame for a rigged outcome

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! YouTube , Yahoo , MySpace , Metacafe , Blip.tv , Sclipo and Viddler Iran held its national election process to select its next president on Friday, June 12th. With all the televised demonstrations and Internet buzz it was logical to believe Iran's current leader, the not-well-liked President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , would be beaten by his progressive challenger Mr. Hossein Mousavi. Indeed, late on Friday in America, some reports were that Mousavi was on pace to upset Ahmadinejad considering the vote count. But by Saturday that was not to be; the Iranian Elections Commission annouced that Ahmadinejad was the winner with 62.6 percent of the popular vote compared to 33.75 percent for Mousavi.   Did he really win?    The outcome upset many who believed it was rigged and caused violent street protests that are still going on as of this writing on Sunday ( Twitter is the best place to keep up with the devel

Oakland Mexican Cuisine Mexicali Rose Restaurant

From yellowpages on YouTube - 701 Clay St Oakland, CA 94607 (510) 451-2450 - Hungry for some carne asada? Craving a margarita? Satisfy your palate and your hunger at the original Mexicali Rose Restaurant in Oakland, California. Serving authentic Mexican dishes and drinks since 1927, this family-owned restaurant makes a great place for family and friends to gather and celebrate a special day. Call for catering.

Hans Reiser Murder Trial - Nina Reiser Body Found

From linuxguru1968 on YouTube - http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/0... Investigators confirmed Tuesday that a body a prominent software engineer led them to is, in fact, that of the estranged wife he was about to be sentenced for killing, pulling closer together the final pieces of a murder mystery. Hans Reiser was convicted in April of first-degree murder even though Nina Reiser's body had not been found. Reiser, 44, showed police the body in exchange for the possibility of a lighter sentence, prosecutor Paul Hora said. The deal would allow Reiser to plead guilty to second-degree murder, providing for a lighter sentence, but deny him the right to appeal. It still must be approved by a judge and was made with the support of Nina Reiser's relatives, Hora said. "Now the family gets to pick the burial site, not the defendant," Hora said. Dental records, jewelry and clothing helped confirm the woman's identity, police said. The cause of her death is still being inv

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger answers Ellen DeGeneres

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! Who's minding the Guv's tweets? California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, the target of comedian Ellen DeGeneres Twitter and email-based campaign to stop his proposal to reduce the time animals are kept in shelters from six days to three days, answered DeGeneres on Twitter today: @ TheEllenShow We are eliminating funding but shelters determine time before euthanization. about 12 hours ago from web       @ TheEllenShow We can only spend money we have and can't afford many programs, for example, health care for children. about 12 hours ago from web       Basically the Guv's claim is shelters themselves make the timing decision, but that's passing the buck, really. The bottom line is the reduced funding would almost certainly cause such a lowering of time, which is what outrages Ellen and many who've been informed of Schwarzenegger's proposal. But what's got me really tw

Ellen DeGeneres starts Twitter campaign "Tell Gov. Arnold"

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! In just less than an hour ago, comedian Ellen DeGeneres has started a Twitter / email campaign informing her 1.9 million Twitter followers to email California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger en masse in an effort to stop him from reducing the time animals are kept in shelters from six days to three days. Important: Tell Gov. Arnold not to limit time animals are kept in shelters from 6 days to 3. Email him: http://www.gov.ca.gov Pass it on.   In other words, what the Governor's proposing is that an animal that currently has just six days time in an animal shelter before it is sentenced to death by euthanasia would have only three days time if the Guv gets his reported wish, which, as Franny Syufy informs us on her blog is ... barely time for owners to discover their cat missing, track him down to a local shelter, then arrange for his release. Why the Governors' people decided to pick on defenseless a

Oakland Considers Budget Solutions, Just Not Mayor's - Chip Johnson

In today's SF Chronicle, Chip Johnson explains that the City of Oakland is considering a number of solutions to the estimated $100 million budget shortfall, just not the ones Mayor Ron Dellums has suggested, like borrowing $24 million from the city's reserves. I'm surprised the Oakland Redevelopment Agency Budget's not a target for borrowing. Hmmm..

Parkway Theater: Pat Kernighan must lead now!

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! The "Save The Parkway Theater" movement, once a seemingly happy collection of like-minded Oaklanders, has rapidly degenerated into the same kind of feckless factionalization that's doomed the effort to keep the Athletics baseball team in Oakland. Yes, once again, we have groups that don't talk to each other and with different agendas and a common problem: a lack of leadership from the elected officials involved. In the case of the Athletics , it was Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums (until he began to really insert himself into the process and call for meetings) and now it's Oakland's District Two Councilmember Pat Kernighan. (A bit of housecleaning: I like Pat; I really do. Always have. But I don't like the way she handles community controversy and this is an example.) Four Factions When the Parkway Speakeasy Theater closed after its last show on March 22nd 2009, a rag-tag group of

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger follows Zennie62 on Twitter!

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! Ok. As of this writing I have over 3,500 Twitter followers . Normally one follows those with more Twitter followers, unless the Twitter account has quality Twitterers following them; that's true for me. I've learned that such a position attracts the larger Twitterers, like Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger , who has over 200,000 Twitter followers himself. Now, he's following me! What? You've got issues with him? Hey, it's Ahhhold, baby! Yah know? Of course I followed him back, which means we're Twitter friends. Very cool. A pipeline to California's governor who has a pipeline to this blogger - nothing to sneeze at. It's prized. It doesn't mean I voted for his initiatives in the last election; I didn't. But truth be told I voted for him twice in the California gubenatorial races starting in 2002. Why? Because as a Dem, I felt the California Democrats needed a shakeup,