"Frankenstorm"

October 28, 2012.  Joe Lizura wishing the best for New Jersey and New York.  Well it was bound to happen sooner or later, a possible direct hit by an enormous and powerful storm to the most densely populated region of the U.S..  They've had a lot of notice, let's hope everyone is following directions and being safe, including my family in New Jersey. 

Here is the latest on Hurricane Sandy. 

[UPDATED: 2:30 p.m. ET]

"Superstorm." "The Perfect Storm." "Frankenstorm."

Whatever you want to call it, the East Coast is bracing for Hurricane Sandy, a "rare hybrid storm" that is expected to bring a life-threatening storm surge to the mid-Atlantic coast, Long Island Sound and New York harbor, forecasters say, with winds expected to be at or near hurricane force when it makes landfall sometime on Monday.

According to the National Hurricane Center, the Category 1 hurricane was centered about 260 miles southeast of Cape Hatteras, N.C., and 395 miles south of New York City early Sunday, carrying maximum sustained winds of 75 mph and moving northeast at 10 mph.

[Slideshow: Latest photos from Hurricane Sandy]

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg ordered the immediate, mandatory evacuation for low-lying coastal areas, including Coney Island, the Rockaways, Brighton Beach, Red Hook and some parts of lower Manhattan.

"If you don't evacuate, you're not just putting your own life at risk," Mayor Bloomberg said at a news conference Sunday. "You're endangering first responders who may have to rescue you."

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's message was a bit more blunt. "Don't be stupid," Christie said Sunday afternoon.

Earlier, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the suspension of all MTA service--including subways, buses, Long Island Railroad and Metro North--beginning at 7 p.m. Sunday. New York City Public Schools will be closed on Monday, the mayor said. City offices and the New York Stock Exchange, however, will be open for business.

Sandy is expected to continue on a parallel path along the mid-Atlantic coast later Sunday before making a sharp turn toward the northwest on Monday--with the Jersey Shore and New York City in its projected path.

But the path is not necessarily the problem.
"Don't get fixated on a particular track," the Associated Press said. "Wherever it hits, the rare behemoth storm inexorably gathering in the eastern U.S. will afflict a third of the country with sheets of rain, high winds and heavy snow."

(Weather.com)

A tropical storm warning has been issued between Cape Fear to Duck, N.C., while hurricane watches and high-wind warnings are in effect from the Carolinas to New England. The hurricane-force winds extend 175 miles from the epicenter of the storm, while tropical storm-force winds extend 520 miles--making Sandy one of the biggest storms to ever hit the East Coast.

"We're looking at impact of greater than 50 to 60 million people," Louis Uccellini, head of environmental prediction for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told the Associated Press.

"The size of this alone, affecting a heavily populated area, is going to be history making," Jeff Masters wrote on the Weather Underground blog.

"I can be as cynical as anyone," Christie said on Saturday. "But when the storm comes, if it's as bad as they're predicting, you're going to wish you weren't as cynical as you otherwise might have been."
Meanwhile, emergency evacuations were being mulled by state officials in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and even Maine.

"This is not a coastal threat alone," said Craig Fugate, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said during a media briefing early Sunday. "This is a very large area."

Forecasters also fear the combination of storm surge, high tide and heavy rain--between 3 and 12 inches in some areas--could be life-threatening for coastal residents.

According to the National Hurricane Center summary, coastal water levels could rise anywhere between 1 and 12 feet from North Carolina to Cape Cod, depending on the timing of the "peak surge." A surge of 6 to 11 feet is forecast for Long Island Sound and Raritan Bay, including New York Harbor.

The storm surge in New York Harbor during Hurricane Irene in September 2011, forecasters noted, was four feet.

I'm wishing the best for my family! 

Joe Lizura
www.joelizura.com
www.linkedin.com/in/joelizura
www.twitter.com/joelizura

The Electoral College

Joe Lizura on set for a Starbucks fundraiser

9/29/12.  My daughter asked me the other day about how the electoral college worked and why there was one.  Today I saw a nice explainer piece on Yahoo, so I thought I'd share it:

THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE AND HOW IT WORKS

Presidents are elected not by national popular vote but by an 18th century constitutional compromise called the Electoral College.

HOW IT FORMED

When framers were drafting the U.S. Constitution, there were two competing ideas on how to elect the president. One group said Congress should do it; the other said it should be a national vote of eligible citizens. There also were disputes over how much slaves should count in representation in Congress and over how power would be distributed between small and large states. The compromise became part of the second article of the Constitution, although the words "Electoral College" are not included. The electors pick the president and vice president.

VOTE TOTALS

Each state gets one electoral vote for each of its representatives in the House and Senate. The District of Columbia gets three votes. All told, there are 538 votes in the Electoral College. A candidate must have at least 270 to win. Except for Maine and Nebraska, states award all their electoral votes to the candidate who wins the state. In Maine and Nebraska, votes are apportioned by congressional districts. So in 2008, even though John McCain won Nebraska's statewide popular vote, Barack Obama won the 2nd Congressional District and earned one of the state's five electoral votes.

HOW IT WORKS

Each state's electors will meet on Dec. 17 in their home states and cast their votes for president and vice president. Congress will meet on Jan. 6, 2013, to conduct an official tally of the electoral votes. Vice President Joe Biden will preside and declare the winner.

PROBLEM AREAS

If no candidate gets at least 270 electoral votes, the election goes to the newly elected House of Representatives. Each state delegation in the House gets one vote, and a candidate must win a majority of the states to be elected president. This happened in 1824, when Andrew Jackson won the most popular votes and the most electoral votes, but four candidates split the electoral votes and no one received a majority. The race went to the House and John Quincy Adams, who came in second, was chosen as president. Three other times, candidates won the Electoral College even though they lost the popular vote — in 1876, 1888 and 2000.

This doesn't answer all the questions, so I'd also suggest going to Wikipedia and reading more as well, and that link is here: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_college

It's good to read and appreciate how our political system works - remembering that our system is actually a Republic for of governement - from the Pledge of Allegence:  "And to the Republic for which it stands, one nation ....."

Joe Lizura
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_lizura
www.joelizura.com

Andy Williams R.I.P.

Joe Lizura San Diego, California. September 26, 2012.  Well, it's late in the day here and before I go to bed I wanted to share a few thoughts about the passing of Andy Williams.  It's been sad lately with the number of very talented actors, singers, songwriters and comedians passing away - It's almost as though the "old guard" of entertainment, whom we usually forever remember as young, are slowly leaving us with memories that will never take the place of the real thing. 

Andy Williams is someone whom I always admired and respected as a very talented singer, actor and performer.  His musical work was second to none with 18 gold records and countless television episodes and specials.  I can remember very clearly the sounds of Andy Williams playing on my parents record player even though I was just a little boy. 

His Christmas specials and albums were wonderful and two of my favorite songs - Moon River and The Theme From "Love Story" will always be remembered as though I was still a youngster.  Yes, it was a bit of a sad day for me knowing that the world lost such a talented man.


Here is big part of the story from the San Francisco Chronicle that mentions just a few of his accomplishments:

With a string of gold albums, a hit TV series and the signature "Moon River," Andy Williams was a voice of the 1960s, although not the '60s we usually hear about.

The singer known for his easy-listening style and his wholesome, middle-America appeal was the antithesis of the counterculture that gave rise to rock 'n' roll.

"The old cliche says that if you can remember the 1960s, you weren't there," he once recalled. "Well, I was there all right, but my memory of them is blurred - not by any drugs I took but by the relentless pace of the schedule I set myself."

Mr. Williams' plaintive tenor, boyish features and clean-cut demeanor helped him outlast many of the decade's rock stars and fellow crooners such as Frank Sinatra and Perry Como. He remained on the charts into the 1970s, hosting hugely popular Christmas television specials and becoming closely associated with the holiday standard "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year."

Mr. Williams, who continued to perform into his 80s at the Moon River Theatre he built in Branson, Mo., announced in November that he had been diagnosed with bladder cancer and vowed to return to performing the following year, his 75th in show business.

The 84-year-old entertainer died Tuesday night at his Branson home, his Los Angeles publicist, Paul Shefrin, said Wednesday.

He became a major star in 1956, the same year as Elvis Presley, with the Sinatra-like swing number "Canadian Sunset." For a time, he was pushed into such Presley imitations as "Lips of Wine" and the No. 1 smash "Butterfly."

But he mostly stuck to what he called his "natural style" and kept it up throughout his career. In 1970, when even Sinatra had temporarily retired, Mr. Williams was in the top 10 with the theme from "Love Story," the Oscar-winning tearjerker. He had 18 gold records, three platinum and five Grammy nominations.

Mr. Williams was also the first host of the live Grammy Awards telecast and hosted the show for seven consecutive years, beginning in 1971.

Movie songs became a specialty, including his signature "Moon River." The longing Johnny Mercer-Henry Mancini ballad was his most famous song, even though he never released it as a single because his record company feared such lines as "my huckleberry friend" were too confusing and old-fashioned for teens.

"The Andy Williams Show," which lasted through the 1960s and into 1971, won three Emmys and featured Williams performing his stable of hits and bantering with guest stars.

He was born Howard Andrew Williams in Wall Lake, Iowa, on Dec. 3, 1927. In his memoir, Mr. Williams remembered himself as a shy boy who concealed his insecurity "behind a veneer of cheek and self-confidence."

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/music/article/Andy-Williams-Moon-River-singer-dies-3897683.php#ixzz27eJZiCSl

 

- Yes, we lost a good one today, but we get to keep the memories.  R.I.P. Mr. Williams.

 

Joe Lizura

Joe Lizura on Linkedin

Joe Lizura on Twitter

wikipedia for joe lizura

www.joelizura.com

www.allowancemedia.com

 

Joe_Lizura - Lochness Monster Story

August 8, 2012 Joe Lizura San Diego, CA.  So I stumbled upon this interesting story about the latest sighting of the "Nessie" more formally known as the Lochness Monster.  Here is a link to the story from the MSN homepage.  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48496067/ns/technology_and_science-science/

What's interesting about the story is not so much the fact that there is another claim of a sighting of the Lochness Monster itself - it's interesting, but because of its distance from the shoreline and lack of other objects to be used as a reference point to the size of the "hump" thought to have been photographed, it's more likely not the monster at all.

But that wasn't what was of interest to me.  What really caught my eye was the Castle in the background of the picture, which doesn't look too spectacular in the photo.  I saw the name of the castle was the Urqhart Castle.  Just for fun, if you want to read a great story about the castle, click here on the Urqhart Castle link - it turns out that in it's day it was one of the largest castles in all of Scotland!  It's history is also well documented, so in a kind of nerdy way, it's a fun little read - check it out!  Oh, and as for the photo of the monster in the lake - is it just me or is there nothing in the water to see at all???

Have a great weekend!

Joe Lizura
www.joelizura.com
www.linkedin.com/in/joelizura
www.twitter.com/joelizura
www.allowancemedia.com/about_us

Joe Lizura Not Guilty verdict for Roger Clemens

Joe Lizura not guilty for Roger Clemens - breaking news.  June 18, 2012.  Finally some good news for Roger Clemens, as the jury just found him Not Guilty on all six charges being brought against  him by the federal government.  After almost 3 million dollars in tax money and 46 witnesses, the verdict came back Not Guilty.  So now the questions are:  How is the government going to repair his image and who is going to pay back the taxpayers for this fiasco?

The reality is both of those questions are rhetorical and nobody pays back the taxpayers and the government just walks away leaving the impression that Roger Clemens used steroids (or at least lied about using them) and the government just did a bad job of losing their case.  At the very least, let's hope the Not Guilty Verdict results in Roger Clemens getting all of his legal bills and expenses paid back.  And as the article here suggests:  http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/roger-clemens-verdict-not-guilty-six-counts-204828190--mlb.html  It will be interesting to see if he gets into the Cooperstown Hall of Fame on the first ballet - let's wait and see.

Joe Lizura - http://www.joelizura.com/
Joe Lizura Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Lizura
Joe Lizura Homepage
Joe Lizura Linkedin - http://www.linkedin.com/in/joelizura
Joe Lizura Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/joe.lizura
Joe Lizura Twitter - www.twitter.com/joelizura

The Love of Baseball



Joe Lizura



Joe Lizura. San Diego, 5/29/2012.  Here is an interesting article about Barry Bonds wanting to move forward after the years of testimony and trials regarding any association he had with steroids while in baseball. His hearings and trials have been going on for so long, that I really felt he deserves to move ahead with his life.  In fact, I feel like all these guys have been through enough including the latest casualty, Roger Clemens who has spent untold weeks and months in the middle of hearings and testimony.  I was never a Giants fan, but his story made me want to support him - check it out, here is the link: http://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow/la-sp-barry-bonds-giants-20120529,0,7072284.story?track=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+latimes%2Fmostviewed+%28L.A.+Times+-+Most+Viewed+Stories%29  And now here are my thoughts about the whole "steroids and baseball" controversy now fully a decade old - baseball in America is an interesting thing because it is more than a sport, (basketball is a sport) baseball is both a sport and past-time.  Baseball has outlasted fortune 500 companies, times of prosperity and times of war.  Baseball has been a sport that teaches children to work as a team, to invest hard work and to both win and lose.  Right now however, we as a nation are losing.  Picking on the game of baseball by lawyers, politicians and advocates is ruining the game, ruining the respect and reputation of players and wasting untold millions and millions of taxpayer dollars. 



Barry Bonds

 Baseball isn't perfect, and neither are the politicians on the panels investing the game, I personally am tired of having my tax dollars wasted trying to trick ballplayers into "obstruction of justice" charges by having them deny use of steroids and then have someone else testify that they used them - this has gone on and on for years and it's pointless.

So here is what I think would be an excelled move:  The president should pick a day, say July 1, 2012 and pardon all ballplayers prior to that date for any association with steroids or steroid use.  The very next day a very powerful law should go into effect that makes it illegal to use any steroid in baseball - simple as that, if you are caught using steroids, you are suspended for the rest of the current season and if you are caught a second time, you are banned from the sport.

Let's stop bashing the game and the players, and let's stop wasting our money.  Just my thoughts.

Joe Lizura