United flight turbulence - pilot was a pro!

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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 whining noise I've never experienced before. All of this is in the video. Through it all the pilot was a pro. After that three minutes of terror so close to the airport, he landed smoothly. I guess that's why he makes the big bucks, or I hope he does.

I wonder to this day if we could have waited another few minutes and gotten around those clouds. As I exited the plane, the pilot had just emerged from the cockpit; I said “Nice landing. Thanks.” He tipped his hat and breathed a sigh of what had to be relief.

Michael Vick, PETA Wants Your Brain Scanned; What About The Rooneys?

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Michael Vick, you've spent two years in the slammer for running a business that revolved around dog-fighting and harming our furry friends. Now, you're confined to your home and reportedly a $10-per-hour construction job. Think you're going to be forgiven? Ha! Michael, you're going into a harsh United States of America, with far less religious people than there used to be. Think I'm kidding; just check out the Pew study that reports more people than ever don't declare a religion.

That's a bad thing because it means they don't subscribe to the concept of forgiveness, Michael. I don't care what anyone tells you, a person who has no religious background or interest is a person to be feared because they don't have a moral compass to guide them. (And if they tell you otherwise, run, don't walk, to the nearest exit!) So forget winning 20 percent of America over, they're long gone. That group has to have someone to hate to make themselves feel alive, and they're going to pick you as their target.

Oh, and PETA wants your brain scanned to see if you're a psycho. I'm serious.

PETA? You know them. PETA stands for "People for The Ethical Treatment of Animals," and their cause is certainly just and it's a great organization to be sure. But PETA has failed in its history to really get vocally involved in curbing dog racing, and remained silent when it was revealed that The Rooney Family, which owns the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers were owners of a dog racing business.

What? You didn't know that? Yep. They owned, ah, excuse me still own, the Palm Beach Kennel Club. And while PETA has expressed its displeasure with dog racing, it never mentioned the Rooney's activity or asked Steelers President Dan Rooney (and Ambassador to Ireland) to take a brain scan.

What? Folks tell you dog racing's less violent than dog fighting, so that's ok? I'd like to meet those people; yeah, right. According to PETA - yep, PETA - dog racing culture selectively breeds such that dogs who don't make "the cut" are killed. Just like the kind of activity you were punished for, right Michael?

Yet where was PETA when the NFL worked with the Rooneys to restructure their ownership agreement with investor partners and all of this dog racing business was revealed? Silent. Quiet.

And what did NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell say? Well according to ESPN and the Associated Press he said:

"The initiative frankly was that they had changed their business operations, and the gambling operations had gone more into gambling," Goodell said. "It was of greater concern to us than the original horse racing and dog racing. That initiated some discussions, and it really just had to get resolved for the club."

So let me get this straight: gambling was more deemed more problematical than dog racing? Now, I love the Commissioner - he's a treasure and a smart political operative - but maybe he should have said "gambling, dog racing, and horse racing are all activities we're concerned with and want the Rooneys to get out of as soon as possible," don't you think?

Me? What do I think? I'm outraged! I really am.

Where's PETA? Where were the calls for a brain scan of the Rooneys? And why the hell isn't anyone on their tail about this?

Michael, people will offer all kinds of reasons: they're rich; you're not. They're white; you're black. They're connected; you're not. Whatever the reasons it's not right. And while it's not just that they go unpunished for their activities and you get raked over the coals, you also can't point a finger at them. That would be wrong and you're not the right messenger. Keep your head high and pray to God for all the strength you're going to need to navigate through the sea of clowns and jokers you're about to deal with.

PETA wants your brain scanned. Do it. Get it over with, then visit Oprah. Then maybe, just maybe, someone will put the ball in the Rooney's court.

Just pray baby.

Get The Zennie62 Widget Made By Steve Kloft!

 

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Right out of the blue, I get this email from my friend Steve Kloft, who's an established Internet marketing guru, announcing he's created a widget containing links to my SFGate.com postings, my main blog Zennie62.com, my Twitter tweets, and my YouTube videos!

Steve, thanks a million! That makes up for the 600 mb Bay to Breakers videos I'm still uploading, the nutso cyberstalkers , and all the crap I've had to deal with that comes with just expressing my opinion! But as I've said before, there are good people out there, fortunately I know them and they have away of just appearing when you need a boost: Steve's an example.

Here's the widget:



You can get your own copy at this link:

http://www.widgetbox.com/widget/zennie-abraham

And thanks again, Steve! That was a bolt out of the blue!

Star Trek Formed My Longtime Friendships

 

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Today the long awaited Star Trek movie is out and like any nerdy Trekker, I'm excited. I got our tickets 10 days ago and didn't have to stand in line, contrary to what you might think. But the real story here is that on Saturday, May 9th, I'm going to see Star Trek with my long time friends Bill Boyd and Lars Frykman.

This is an Oakland Trekker story in brief.

Bill, Lars, and I met in Oakland in 1976 when we were 14 years old at what was then called Bret Harte Junior High School, now Bret Harte Middle School. I was new to Oakland, having moved with my mom to the city from Chicago as my mom was in search of better schools for me. How times have changed!

The Bret Harte Star Trek Club

I was a big Star Trek fan and wanted to start a club at Bret Harte. I had no clue how to do this, so my friends said "You should talk to Bill Boyd or Lars Frykman!" So I was introduced to Bill, who at 14 had the deepest voice I've ever heard in my life, and has the same voice today! Then there was Lars, who's just unique and uses terms like "GROK" the meaning of which I've forgotten.

At any rate, Bill and Lars are white; I'm black. But in Star Trek, as Doctor McCoy once said, "People are different. You get used to those things." We formed a diverse set of people, all interested in science and led by Craig Pryor who famously worked through all of the problem sets in our calculus book before the end of the semester. But whom I bested in a massive debate on American versus foreign cars - I took American and won!

But we were and to this day are great friends. At Bret Harte in 1976 we made the most money of any club at our carnival taking in $104.76. We did it with a game Craig came up with where you throw a set of "Tribbles" (from the Star Trek episode "Trouble With The Tribbles") our moms made from fur and stuffing at a ping pong ball suspended from the air from a vacuum cleaner.

You laugh.

But Star Trek was the show that brought all of us together and caused us to work conventions in Oakland and have parties and get girlfriends. And it was because Star Trek continues to show a positive view of the future and how we relate to each other.

I can't wait for Bill, Lars, and Craig to see this and I can't wait to see Star Trek, even if the movie messes up the San Francisco Skyline.

New TV Show by Zennie62's On BART and Oscar Grant

On Saturday, May 2nd, my new television show starts. It's called "The Blog Report With Zennie62" and features the use of my video blogs in a weekly 30-minute format broadcast and co-produced by CoLoursTV in Denver. The start time is 3:30 PM Pacific Time, 6:30 PM Eastern Time and the show is replayed at 11:30 PM and 2:30 PM respecfully.

If you don't have a TV you can see the live stream at CoLoursTV.org. or Zennie62.com

The first show focused on selected events that occured after the shooting of Oscar Grant by BART Officer Johannes Mesherle on New Year's Day. It opens with my walk through a riot-ravaged downtown Oakland where I talked with many people about what happened, including a group of kids who were some of the rioters. Then we focus on the words of "DaveyD", America's foremost hiphop reporter and voice of the street, who shares his observations of how Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums handled the situation. And finally we hear from Dellums himself. This is not the last time I will visit this issue, but it's a good place to start the show.

The standard format is to present politics, news, sports, and tech in some combination for each show. Sometimes it's me talking about an issue; other times it's me talking to someone else, and with this show we will feature the work of other video-bloggers. It's a vloggers' playground.

The show will have a deliberate vlogger feel. Videos that you see on my channels at YouTube, Blip.tv, and other places make up the show. There's no studio; the camcorder is the star instrument. That means we can go anywhere at anytime and quickly make a video. It also means I can share what's happening in the news on the blogsphere in video form and show it on "The Blog Report". A lot of ground we can cover considering I never dreamed of having my own television show, but this whole road I've taken has been totally unplanned by me.

"The Blog Report" all started last year when I met Art Thomas who's the Executive Vice President with CoLoursTV at a media walk-through for the Democratic National Convention in Denver. He lived in Oakland before moving to Denver and so we had a lot to talk about. I was looking for a sponsor for our show at the time, so I sent a proposal to Thomas. That exchange turned into an idea for placing our videos on CoLoursTV and that became the concept called "The Blog Report With Zennie62".

Our first concern was how to get the videos up on television without a loss of at least the quality that is seen on Blip.tv and Viddler, which have the sharpest video uploads (that written, I love YouTube and the quality's really improved over time such that it's competitive with the two, but YouTube's best system is the website design and its "viral" nature as well as The YouTube Partner program.) I think we solved that problem and I understand the TV version looks even better than what you're going to see here.

I look forward to your feedback and questions. We're seeking sponsors and there are some organizations we simply want to establish strategic partnerships with, so please contact me. The possibilities for this are many and should serve as an example for a possble future for newspapers as well.

If you're a video-blogger located anywhere in the World and have material that's not longer than 4 minutes tops, notify me via email at zennie@sportsbusinesssims.com and we'll go from there. I prefer the video is already uploaded on some site, Brightcove, Blip.tv, YouTube, etc, so I can see it.

I wish to thank Art Thomas, Damon Purdy, and Tracy Winchester of CoLours TV, as well as Steve and Bernard who made me look good in the promo. I also wish to thank Google / YouTube for their support and encouragement and specifically Chad, Emily, and Hunter. A big loud shot-out to the iReport team at CNN: Lila, Henry, Rachel, David, Nicole Saldi, and the rest. And thanks to the team at CNN Special Projects, Errol and Jessica, and to Roland Martin and his staff at CNN for discovering me. Finally, thanks to the San Francisco Chronicle for seeing the value in how I do what I'm doing and providing a platform. To the National Football League and Commissioner Roger Goodell, Greg Aiello, and Frank Supovitz ("Mr. Super Bowl") And of course, thanks to my Mom and my relatives in Chicago and Tennessee.

A List of Atlanta's Gastropubs At Access Atlanta

More at AccessAtlanta: “The term gastropub popped into our lexicon back in the ’90s to denote a public house offering food better than the usual pub grub. Now we’ve got gastropubs all over Atlanta — where you can have a meal (and a good time) that’s more than just a beer and a basket of chicken fingers.”

Paul Krugman is WRONG about The Obama TARP Plan

Economist Paul Krugman has been attacking the Obama / Geitner Troubled Assets Relief Plan (TARP) as using taxpayer money to pay investors to take the assets off bank's hands. But he offers no alternative. Paul is wrong in that he wants the "bad assets" to remain on bank statements, but for what? To continue to freeze the credit market? His blog posts in the NY Times on this matter are intellectually sloppy at best. That -- for a Nobel Prize winner -- is terrible.

Krugman sets up straw person examples to prove the idea that the investor spends little of his or her own money -- but that is the idea. I do not know why he comes up with these half-baked statements at all. Perhaps he is just angry that Obama did not pick him to be economic advisor.

Road Trip: We hit the Atlanta Auto Show

Few of the highlights that would pull you to Atlanta Auto Show

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Brides and prejudice: Planning a gay wedding in the South

Lesbian editor Kirsten Ott opens up about the happiness and heartbreak in planning a gay wedding in the South in the cover story of The Sunday Paper, a weekly newspaper in Atlanta, Georgia

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Bobby Valentino Kiss Magazine Photoshoot

Atlanta's own Bobby V dropped in for a photoshoot with Kiss Magazine and celebrity photographer Treagen Kier. Check out some behind the scenes photos here

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"Real Atlanta Housewife," Lisa Wu Hosts EF Mag Launch Party

Explore Fashions, Inc. will be having their official launch party for their new online publication EF Magazine (www.efmag.net), Monday, March 16, 2009, hosted by “The Real Atlanta Housewives” star, Lisa Wu Hartwell.The event will be from 10:00pm-3:00am and will be open to the general public.For more information, visit www.explorefashions.com.

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Airports' homeless resist efforts to remove them

His bags propped neatly beside him, Roger Gleen is among a dozen or so ticketless passengers at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, folks with no destination in mind. Throughout the night they often blend in with stranded fliers, a shoeless foot or tattered clothes some of the only signs they're not ordinary travelers. Some roam

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10,000 metro Atlanta foreclosures up for sale in April | ajc.com

The foreclosure problem in metro Atlanta appears to be worsening. More than 10,000 lender-owned properties are scheduled to be sold on courthouse steps next month, according to EquityDepot.net, which tracks foreclosures. The 10,138 figure for 13 counties /

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Atlanta Weathers Water Damage

Atlanta homeowners are prone to water damage any time of the year; from storms to broken pipes water is no match for Kiwi water damage and repair services. On call 7 days a week and 24 hours a day, Kiwi water damage and repair of Atlanta reduces the risk of mold, mildew and bacterial contamination associated with water related damages.

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Atlanta ammunition supply is severely constrained

Mike Jones was at the Walmart sporting goods counter in Fayetteville, Georgia this evening, looking desperately through the empty shelves for ammunition to feed his .45 ACP pistol. He did not find any, and his said that this was the second store he had visited in less than a week.

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Hip, Chic Interior Design in Domicile section of Jezebel Mag

Interior design article highlights unexpected and unique renovation of a 1949 home in Atlanta. Cool ways to introduce uber-modern into a traditional, classical architectural home.

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Stormy Daniels Performs at The Pink Pony in Atlanta Georgia

Stormy Daniels the 2007 AVN Contract Star of the Year and 2008 AVN Award Crossover Star of the Year is Performing 2 shows each night at 8:30 pm and 11:30 pm at the Pink Pony in Atlanta Georgia, March !6th, 17th and 18thDon't miss Pink Pony, The hottest girls Atlanta has to Offer and Stormy Daniels, This Hot Blonde will get your blood rising.

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AVID Design Continues Expansion, Adds 2 Web & Multimedia

Atlanta healthcare marketing group AVID Design continues to thrive, despite the challenges and pressures of being a small business in a troubled economy

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The National League East Lowdown

The Atlanta Braves have missed the playoff for 3 straight years. Many might think that is because the Braves have fallen from their historic run through the 90s. I feel that might have something to do with it but also the N.L. East has built some absolute stud teams over the last few years.

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Star Trek Movie: Where Are The Black Men?

There's a lack of Black men in the Star Trek trailers and director J.J. Abrams called and invited Tyler Perry to be in the movie to make up for the oversight

How Zennie62 (Zennie Abraham) Makes A Video-Blog

This is the companion video to my segment on "Why I Vlog" and shows the process I use to make a vlog: camcorder, computer, and software. I recommend a MacBook computer with iMovie, a Flip Video camera and a basic camcorder.

Employee Free Choice Act: Fox Facts vs. actual facts

Fox News has also aired on-screen text claiming that "current law requires workers to vote by secret ballot"; in fact, current law already allows a union that shows it has the support of a majority of workers to represent the workers if their employer voluntarily agrees to recognize the union.

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This Week's Atlanta Underground Music Events

A run-down of this week's hottest and most promising concerts and music events in Atlanta.

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No bids for Vick's mansion

The auction of Michael Vick's Atlanta-area mansion failed to attract a buyer. WSB reports.

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Clark Howard: What to do if you're laid off

Many years ago, I had the opportunity to start an Atlanta-based civic program called Career Action. The program's goal was to provide free resources to help the jobless and underemployed find steady work.

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Atlanta Wages a Civil War Against Allergens & Air Quality

Atlanta advocates of clean air are quietly waging a civil war against allergens and other common air quality culprits that lead to Asthma or other causes of respiratory distress in collaboration with Kiwi air duct cleaning services.

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Terrell Owens Released (Cut) By The Dallas Cowboys Today

After three years, 3857 yards and 38 touchdowns, the Dallas Cowboys released wide receiver Terrell Owens. Rhis was a mistake as Owens is an exceptionally talented athlete who has no off-field problems and years left in him

Rush Limbaugh Is Wrecking The GOP And I LOVE IT!

http://www.zennie62.com -- Rush Limbaugh's idiological rants are out of touch with an economic reality that will keep The Democrats in power for at least the next 10 years. The reason is the economy itself and the need for government investment.

Between 1960 and 1999 the U.S. Economy added 20 million new jobs every 10 years, but from 1999 to today, only about 4.7 million new jobs. What happened to the 15 million jobs? They went overseas to countries like India, France, and north to Canada. And with jobs goes wealth. It's a key reason America's now the 3 largest exporter whereas we were number one for years, until 2004. We're now behind Germany and China.

All of that wealth lost has resulted in wrecked credit over time. We have to have jobs to afford our mortgages and our population did not stop growing through this period. But what happened was that we started to lose jobs from the remaining stock of them. Remember, we have millions of people that aren't even being counted in our economy -- they don't exist for employment purposes. The "Joe The Plumbers" of today are the steel workers of yesterday. With a thriving growing manufaturing industry, we were able to employ Americans and jobs were plentiful. Not today.

With this weak World Credit system we need government spending to replace the private investment spending that's gone. Indeed, with fewer businesses there's less private investment spending -- goverment must catalyze the growth of business.

All of this calls for an activist government and that's something -- that need -- will keep The Democrats in power for years to come.

Atlanta Has Snow? Wow. Snow Has Fallen In Atlanta!

Atlanta snow fun for some | ajc.com: “
It may not stick, but for many in Atlanta Sunday’s snow was quite a sight to behold — and to enjoy.”

-- And the AJC has photos -- looks like a lot of snow. I'm in Cali right now, but I could come and throw a snow-ball or three.

Atlanta PeaceTree Run Featured At AJC.com

More at AJC.com The PeaceTree run is coming up and you will be able to register for it in 12 days as of this writing. Race organizers expect 50,000 people to sign up, making it as large as the San Francisco Bay To Breakers.