DRONES FOR HIRE:
http://video.nytimes.com/video/2012/02/17/technology/100000001364648/drones-for-hire.html
E-NOTES: WHEN THE NEWS IS NOT ENOUGH. THE BLOG OF E. ETHELBERT MILLER
Sunday, February 26, 2012
I will be at the DC Jewish Community Center at 1PM today. Filmmaker Shukree Hassan Tilghman will be talking about his documentary "More Than A Month." I'll be moderating a 45 minutes Q&A session.
http://www.communitycinema-dc.org/tag/more-than-a-month/
http://www.communitycinema-dc.org/tag/more-than-a-month/
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| SHUKREE HASSAN TILGHMAN |
Saturday, February 25, 2012
of note:http://www.ofnotemagazine.org
G is in town to give a Fulbright talk tomorrow:
G is in town to give a Fulbright talk tomorrow:
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| Grace A. Ali photo by Ethelbert |
So what's an Obama to do? For a spell all the talk was about the economy. With unemployment numbers going down and the economy moving into foreplay what can Republicans do to halt the romance? Oh- here comes the rising gas price story. This will get a big push as summer nears. The public will be told to take a vacation on the porch. Bad news out of the Middle East will be part of the blame. It's either gas problems or passing gas with old social issues. Is abortion news making a comeback? Or maybe we are waiting for the Supreme Court to set the tone. From healthcare to affirmative action, the Court will be busy this year. I'm already running on fumes.
http://diverseeducation.com/article/16821/
BUT DO YOU REMEMBER THOSE DAYS OF SLAVERY WHEN WE HAD FULL EMPLOYMENT?
Big Drop In Black Unemployment Stirs Hope, Anxiety - New America Media
Big Drop In Black Unemployment Stirs Hope, Anxiety - New America Media
The United States Labor Department reported unexpected news that the Black unemployment rate dropped from 15.8 to 13.6 percent, in January, the lowest unemployment rate for African- Americans in almost three years.
The report sent a hopeful sign that unemployment among Black men declined from 15.7 to 12.7 percent. Similarly, the unemployment rate for Black women dropped from 13.9 to 12.6 percent.
The report sent a hopeful sign that unemployment among Black men declined from 15.7 to 12.7 percent. Similarly, the unemployment rate for Black women dropped from 13.9 to 12.6 percent.
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Wild Swans
by Edna St. Vincent Millay
I looked in my heart while the wild swans went over.
And what did I see I had not seen before?
Only a question less or a question more;
Nothing to match the flight of wild birds flying.
Tiresome heart, forever living and dying,
House without air, I leave you and lock your door.
Wild swans, come over the town, come over
The town again, trailing your legs and crying!
by Edna St. Vincent Millay
I looked in my heart while the wild swans went over.
And what did I see I had not seen before?
Only a question less or a question more;
Nothing to match the flight of wild birds flying.
Tiresome heart, forever living and dying,
House without air, I leave you and lock your door.
Wild swans, come over the town, come over
The town again, trailing your legs and crying!
CULTURE CLUSTER IN THE FORECAST
Website: http://TEDxWDC.com
Date: Saturday, March 24 2012
Location: 1901 Mississippi Ave. SE
Washington DC, 20020
Washington DC, 20020
Tickets Include
● Full day of incredible speakers from the DC creative community.
● Cocktail Reception and live entertainment after the event.
● Coffee and pastries throughout the day.
● Shuttle to and from Congress Heights metro station.
About TEDxWDC
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TED has created a program called TEDx. TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. Our event is called TEDxWDC, where x=independently organized TED event.
Join Us and follow us at:
DEAR GOD, SHOULD WE STOP SPREADING THE NEWS?
http://www.fpif.org/blog/grand_mufti_of_saudi_arabia_real_muslims_dont_tweet
http://www.fpif.org/blog/grand_mufti_of_saudi_arabia_real_muslims_dont_tweet
Friday, February 24, 2012
Women of Architecture: Architecture and the Great Recession
Thursday, March 8, 6:30 - 8:00 pmIt is difficult to exaggerate the chilling effect of the economic slowdown on architecture. A panel of developers, architects, and design experts examines how the building industry is responding to profound challenges created by the current recession and how the building industry is responding to the prolonged economic downturn. Mara Liasson, Fox News and NPR, provides opening remarks and then moderates a discussion among the following panelists:
- Shelia Cahnman, group vice president, HOK
- MaryAnne Gilmartin, director of commercial and residential development, Forest City Ratner
- Cathleen McGuigan, editor-in-chief, Architectural Record
- Claire Weisz, WXY Architecture + Urban Design
1.5 LU (AIA)
“Women of Architecture: Architecture and the Great Recession,” part of the Women of Architecture series, is a collaboration between the National Building Museum and the Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation to celebrate Women’s History Month.
Register now.
Howard Dodson Jr. Named Director of Moorland-Spingarn and Howard University Libraries Scholar Noted for Raising the Profile of Harlem’s Schomburg Center |
| WASHINGTON (February 24, 2012) – Howard Dodson Jr., a national leader in the movement to preserve African-American history, has been named the new director of the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center and director of the Howard University Library System. Dodson retired last year from his position as director of Harlem’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture after 27 years of service. "Dodson brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise as the new leader of Moorland-Spingarn Research Center and University Libraries," said Howard University President Sidney Ribeau. "He will be instrumental as we execute our research agenda and preserve our cultural treasures." The Moorland-Spingarn Research Center (MSRC) is recognized as one of the world's largest and most comprehensive repositories for the documentation of the history and culture of people of African descent in Africa, the Americas, and other parts of the world. As one of Howard University's major research facilities, the MSRC collects, preserves, and makes available for research a wide range of resources chronicling the Black experience. “We have too few centers that are documenting the global Black experience. Moorland has been one of the most important ones for nearly 100 years,” Dodson said. Its collections include more than 175,000 bound volumes and tens of thousands of journals, periodicals, and newspapers; more than 17,000 feet of manuscript and archival collections; nearly 1000 audio tapes; hundreds of artifacts; 100,000 prints, photographs, maps, and other graphic items. The collections are used by scholars, museums, students, and other researchers from Howard University and throughout the world. Information provided by the MSRC is regularly used in exhibitions, video productions, news programming, and a wide range of publications. | ||
Dodson’s immediate priorities at Howard University include increasing Moorland’s hours: providing twenty-four hour service in Founders Library, and enhancing the interior environments of both. He also plans to expand access to collections and make the libraries more active partners in student learning and university research. Finally, he plans to revitalize and upgrade the University’s library system, the newest member of the Washington Research Library Consortium. Dodson is credited with extending the reach and reputation of the Schomburg Center through major exhibitions and acquisitions. Today, the Center is recognized as one of the leading institutions of its kind in the world. Dodson became chief of the Schomburg in 1984. Under his direction, the Center’s holdings doubled to 10 million. Acquisitions included the collections of Malcolm X, Lorraine Hansberry and Maya Angelou. Publishing projects Dodson spearheaded have included numerous microform editions of collections of original documents, a six-volume encyclopedia of African American history and culture, and a 30-volume collection of writings by African-American women. Under Dodson’s stewardship, the Schomburg Center has been an innovator in using the Internet to increase access to library materials. He enhanced the quality of the Schomburg Center’s exhibitions, public programs, and special events. Attendance tripled to 120,000 people per year. Dodson was born in Chester, Penn., in 1939. He graduated from West Chester State College in 1961 with a degree in social studies and secondary education and in 1964 received a master’s degree in history and political science from Villanova University. Dodson joined the Peace Corps in 1964, serving for two years in Ecuador and later as a national Peace Corps staff member. He then entered a doctoral program at the University of California, Berkeley where he focused on the comparative history of slavery in the Western Hemisphere. Through the years, Dodson has lectured widely on various topics nationally and internationally. His books include Becoming American: The Africa-American Journey; In Motion: the African-American Migration Experience; Jubilee: the Emergence of African-American Culture; and The Black New Yorkers: The Schomburg Illustrated Chronology. In recognition of his contribution to the development of the Schomburg Center, Dodson has been awarded honorary doctorates by Villanova University (2007), the City University of New York (2004), West Chester State University (2004), Adelphi University (2004) and Widener University (1987). In 2010, Dodson was designated a New York City “Living Landmark” by the New York Landmarks Conservancy. ABOUT HOWARD Howard University is a private research university that is comprised of 13 schools and colleges. Founded in 1867, students pursue studies in more than 120 areas leading to undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees. Since 1998, the University has produced two Rhodes Scholars, two Truman Scholars, a Marshall Scholar, 24 Fulbright Scholars and 11 Pickering Fellows. Howard also produces more on campus African-American Ph.D. recipients than any other university in the United States. For more information on Howard University, call 202-238-2330, or visit the University’s Web site at www.howard.edu. | |||
EAR-UP! WITH JOHN PARKS
Buddy Guy: 74 Years Young
“The blues,” Robert Johnson once said, “is a low-down, aching chill; if you ain’t never had ‘em, I hope you never will.” But Johnson’s description is just one kind of blues.
Everyone has the blues sometimes and blues music is an expression of the condition of life. Johnson’s apocryphal story about making a deal with the devil in exchange for the talent to play the guitar dramatized in the 1986 film Crossroads, is legendary in the music world. Fortunately, deals with the devil aren’t prerequisite for singing and playing the blues. As rankings go Buddy Guy is among the best. Rock guitarist Eric Clapton claims him as his favorite.
Blues singer/musician Buddy Guy has an unforgettable sound. It can be highly charged and feverishly intense or a relaxed, groovy mood. Either way Guy brings it on with a lot of feeling drawn deeply from his well of life experience.
George “Buddy” Guy, born in 1936 in Lettsworth, Louisiana, grew up in a sharecropping family picking cotton. The blues music that he heard on the radio helped him engineer aspirations beyond the life stifling limitations of sharecropping, a deceivingly benign word for debt peonage. By the time he was a teenager he had become good enough to play the clubs in Baton Rouge and his hometown of Lettsworth.
Eddie Jones, better known as Guitar Slim was one of Guy’s initial influences. Slim is well known for his 1954 hit “The Things (That) I Used To Do.” http://youtu.be/HCeb-28W26k. Slim was also known for his engaging showmanship and stage presence. B.B. King was another influence. Guy blended the styles of both men.
Guy’s career moved steadily, but slowly. From 1960 to 1967 his body of work expanded with a 7 year stint at Chess records. There he recorded with Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf, Little Walter, Sony Boy Williamson, Willie Dixon and on Koko Taylor’s rocking hit “Wang Dang Doodle.” http://youtu.be/qp5NIxWdUbI.
Although Guy was a major influence on Stevie Ray Vaughn, Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix the appeal of his music broadened after the release his 1991 album Damn Right, I’ve Got the Blues after which came six Grammy awards and a 2005 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He was inducted by Eric Clapton and B.B. King.
With his club Buddy Guy’s Legends hosting live blues 7 nights a week, Guy has become a mainstay of the Chicago blues scene. It may well be the best place to get the best of southern culture north west of the Mason Dixon Line.
Living Proof is Guy’s most recent album. For the most part it is biographical extolling on ‘Thank Me Someday” his humble beginnings while boasting his autodidactic skills on the guitar. There is always room for a testosterone declaration in blues music. In keeping with the tradition of like “I’m Your Hoochie Koochie Man,” (http://youtu.be/HgAcDLZr6Gs) “Mannish Boy,” (http://youtu.be/aUFCZHWK89k) or “Boom, Boom,” (http://youtu.be/rOyj4ciJk34), Guy’s “74 Years Young” claims “I’ve got a few good tricks up my sleeve/I know everything that a good woman needs…when it comes to loving I ain’t done/I’m 74 years young.” While the lyric is a boast Guy’s clam delivery belies its claim. If you’re looking for proof it’s in his solo. The title song “Living Proof” though is a testimony to the power of faith. “This Is Where the Blues Begins,” is a subdued, contemplative song featuring Carlos Santana riffing over Guy’s lyrics, “…the same old fight you just can’t win,” punctuated Santana solos.
Living Proof is a mild version of Guy’s signature hard charging style. The last three tracks, “Let The Door Knob Hit Ya,” “Guess What” and “Skanky” are ample reminders of the energy and passion that Buddy Guy brings to the blues.
Hear the complete album
Track list:
74 Years Young
Thank Me Someday
On The Road
Stay Around a Little Longer (feat. B.B. King)
Key Don’t Fit
Living Proof
Where the Blues Begins (feat. Carlos Santana)
Too Soon
Everybody’s Got To Go
Let The Door Knob Hit Ya
Guess What
Skanky
Video feat B.B. King “Stay Around A Little Longer”
At the “White House: Red White and Blues,” which will air on PBS February 27. 2012, Buddy Guy got President Obama to sing the first bars of “Sweet Home Chicago.”
| Daily Buddhist Wisdom | |||
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Thursday, February 23, 2012
Breaking News Alert The New York Times Thursday, February 23, 2012 -- 5:29 PM EST ----- National League M.V.P. Wins Appeal on Positive Drug Test Ryan Braun, the reigning most valuable player in the National League, has successfully appealed his positive drug test and will not be suspended for the first 50 games of the 2012 season. A three-person panel that heard Braun’s appeal upheld his argument by a vote of 2-1. Until now, no player is known to have successfully appealed a positive test result. The test that has now been overturned was taken during the 2011 postseason, in which Braun played left field and batted cleanup for the Milwaukee Brewers, who beat the Arizona Diamondbacks in the first round and then lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Championship Series.