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Organizing Notes
Bruce Gagnon is coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space. He offers his own reflections on organizing and the state of America's declining empire....
About Me
- Name: Bruce K. Gagnon
- Location: Brunswick, ME, United States
The collapsing US military & economic empire is making Washington & NATO even more dangerous. US could not beat the Taliban but thinks it can take on China-Russia-Iran...a sign of psychopathology for sure. @BruceKGagnon
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Friday, September 12, 2008
Edited by Dan Reilly in California, this film covers key Global Network issues through commentary from activists Loring Wirbel, Jackie Cabasso, Helen Caldicott, and former Pentagon official Phillip Coyle. Short comments include visuals that weave together the story of the Pentagon's plan for "full spectrum dominance" via space technology. The film documents the fact that the U.S. has already militarized space, and that Ballistic "Missile Defense" is really about creating an offensive first-strike attack system.
There is also important footage in the new documentary that looks at Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific as it was used by the U.S. in the past to test atomic weapons, and how it is used now to test Star Wars systems. The film also shows images of world-wide demonstrations against the militarization and weaponization of space. A viewing of this film would surely stimulate discussion, and will lead many to want to take action.
The cost will be $15 each (includes all shipping/handling). For outside the U.S. please add an additional $5.
Just make check out to GN and send to address below or pay via our secure credit card Donate Now button on our web site.
We think you will find this video very useful for showing during our October 4-12 Keep Space for Peace Week and other occasions.
Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space
PO Box 652
Brunswick, ME 04011
Thursday, September 11, 2008
The corporate plan is now fully in motion. Trivialize the campaign, appeal to emotions, ignore the important issues like Iraq and the widening of war in Afghanistan and into Pakistan. Ignore the economic crash. Ignore the massive loss of jobs. Get the angry working class focused on issues of sex, race and the "social issues" instead of class and corporate power.
The oligarchy clearly understands that America's racism can be played like a fiddle as Sarah Palin's job is to drive home the point that she represents "American life in the 1950's" when whites were "happy" and people of color were under control.
Demographics show that in just a few years time blacks and Hispanics will be the majority population in the U.S. Efforts are now underway to ensure that the ruling elite will stay in power by destroying "democracy" as we know it. By ensuring that political campaigns become "money races" that have nothing to do with relevant issues those in power understand that more and more of the public give up on voting. They hope that future elections will be left to the white minority elite with the money to play the game of monopoly democracy.
It's a cynical ploy but by driving people away from the voting booth the oligarchy plans to win.
This is the same strategy now being implemented in Canada, England, Australia, and most other countries around the world. The corporate interests are locking down "democracy" to ensure their interests prevail in the coming time of scarcity.
It was heartening to see yesterday that Republican/Libertarian U.S. Congressman Ron Paul brought Cynthia McKinney and Ralph Nader together for an alternative party unity event. This is the kind of alliance building beyond the two corporate parties that is much needed. It won't have any immediate effect but long-term could serve to bring the growing numbers of disaffected voters into the camp of those who are pushing for ballot access law changes which are crucial if we ever hope to break the current log jam. By coming together these disparate forces also begin to break down walls of distrust and begin to see they share many common concerns.
Organizing against empire is always a one-step forward, two-steps back process. We have a long way to go before we can begin to break down the walls of the entrenched power structure. Until it happens the "electoral" corporate bread and circus will continue. Look for more debates about pigs, lipstick and the like.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
And just what do these aerospace corporations want in return for funding this "grassroots space movement?" They are asking NSS to lobby for massive federal expenditures to move the arms race into space, to fund the space technology infrastructure to put mining colonies on the moon and Mars, and to support the development of space-based solar power technology that would put centralized solar production in corporate hands rather than development of decentralized solar technologies on homes and businesses back here on Mother Earth.
As one NSS leader puts it, citizen involvement in space drives power at the Congressional "negotiating table for funding."
Because of the growing budget deficit in the U.S., the weapons industry worries that space technology funding will take a hit. They are now moving to preempt that problem.
With heavy funding from the industry the NSS is undertaking a "five year Strategic Plan" and "building a stronger Space Movement is a key component of that plan."
NSS says, "Recently, the space community has become concerned about the relatively low level of support for space among America's youth....In order to strengthen the Movement, additional emphasis will be placed on chapter development and grassroots organization. We will not only appeal to people via intellectual argument, but also to their emotions through the use of space art and other media."
The aerospace industry understands how things work. If you want to control the discussion and change public perception, then you must create the grassroots thunder. NSS confirms this by saying, "The media, the public, politicians, and historians all view something to be of greater importance when it is a movement as compared to when it is not."
And since there is not presently a "pro-space movement" the industry has decided to create one.
There is much money to be made if the public can be convinced that we should spend our dwindling tax dollars on space technology. The Mars Society says that the Earth is a rotting, dying, stinking planet and that we must move our civilization to Mars and that Congress must appropriate funds to "terraform" Mars. And what does terraform mean? It means turning the dusty dry red planet into a replica of the Earth - alive and green and habitable. Just imagine how much that would cost? Imagine the profits for the aerospace corporations to be given such a mission.
Space technology development is very expensive. Just one illustration - the International Space Station was originally supposed to cost the public $10 billion, but the price tag has grown to over $100 billion and it is not yet finished. By the time the space station is completed it will be an outdated technology and on we will go to the next round. Already the aerospace industry is working on the successor programs to the space shuttle and the space station. But in order to get these massive projects funded it must create a citizens base - a movement.
Some years ago I attended a pro-space development conference at Cape Canaveral in Florida. I went to a workshop on Mars where the speaker was the head of the tourist facility at the Kennedy Space Center. Why him, what did he know about Mars? His message was simple - unless we get the kids, who will be taxpayers in 20 years, to support these space missions to the moon and Mars, we are sunk. So, he said, we are doing a complete renovation of the space center tourist facility on a Mars theme and increasing our efforts to bring school children into the space center.
On the other side we have the Global Network organizing international opposition to these plans for "everything space". We understand that we can't have social progress in the U.S. and pay for "everything space" at the same time. We are also hearing from our GN affiliated groups in Sweden, England, France, South Korea, Italy, Australia, Japan, India, and other nations that their countries are being dragged into the space technology game because the U.S. needs allies to help fund this very expensive new direction. The challenge becomes global as we try to hang onto our national resources to protect life for the future generations right here on planet Earth.
Yes indeed, we do need a space movement. It's just a matter of which kind we need. And the real question each of us must answer is "which side are you on?"
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
While here we froze a bunch of veggies from our prolific garden. I had the best crop of tomatoes ever. We've still got more beets than we can handle.
I've got two Chicago radio interviews this week thanks to a volunteer in that city who arranged for both of them. Good things come in bunches.
I need to get working on my talks for my up-coming trip to the Nordic countries. I leave on September 18. I've never been to that part of the world before and am very excited about the visit. Sweden, Norway, and Denmark are all being pulled into the U.S. space warfare technology orbit.
Maine U.S. Senate candidate Herb Hoffman announced today that he will officially file to run as a write-in candidate after the Democrats prevailed in keeping him off the ballot. I heard that one Democratic party activist asked Rep. Tom Allen (the Democrat in the race) why they had worked so hard to keep Hoffman off the ballot. His response, "Because I need to win."
I recently asked an activist friend in Ohio why John Kerry and the Dems did not fight for the voters in Ohio after the massive election fraud by the Republicans in the 2004 national elections. He told me it was because the Dems do it all the time themselves. I can now see what he meant.
Monday, September 08, 2008
The recently signed agreements between the U.S. and Poland, and the Czech Republic, to deploy "missile defense" interceptors and a Star Wars radar in those countries has already triggered a return to the dangerous times of the Cold War. As the U.S. and NATO expand their military operations into Eastern and Central Europe, and into Central Asia, we are seeing that Russia and China are reacting with grave alarm.
The recent Georgia-Russia crisis is only the first of what we fear will be many more rounds in this provocative U.S. military encroachment on Russia and China. (Read Bruce's blog for specific analysis on the situation.)
To say it is all about oil and natural gas is an understatement. To say that the Republicans and Democrats are united in this aggressive U.S. military expansion in the Middle East, Central Asia, and Eastern Europe would also be an understatement.
The U.S. is sadly heading for resource wars at the very time we need to be moving away from dependence on fossil fuels and massively funding alternative technology development.
Because of the nature of the Global Network's agenda, we are right smack in the middle of these issues. Our work against expansion of space technologies and our efforts calling for the conversion of the military industrial complex have long come from a simple analysis – if we want to stop current wars and prevent a space arms race and new wars then we must deal with the fact that the U.S. economy is addicted to military spending. If we don't deal with the jobs issue, if we don't create a new vision for the future that lies outside of "endless war" for oil, then we are likely to lose this critical struggle for peace.
In recent years the Global Network has begun to shift toward this strategy of helping to identify and promote a positive alternative vision for the future. We've been working with our members nationally and internationally to help bring back to life the idea of conversion of the global war machine so that we will have the collective resources to deal with the coming harsh effects of climate change. We have been encouraging the peace movement to make this specific demand on the political system; we've been challenging the environmental community to see the connections between enormous spending for endless war and the lack of funds to effectively deal with global warming; and we've been urging workers inside the weapons production facilities to begin to speak out in favor of converting their work places to build solar, wind power, and public transit systems that will provide their children and the future generations a chance for life on our Mother Earth.
We are living in the most trying time we can remember as activists. But it is also the most fertile time, as we see the general public casting about for answers to the dramatic problems that we face today. So while we have many obstacles, like the corporate domination of governments around the world, we also see the awakening of a consciousness among the people. Many have become despairing and disillusioned about the chances for change today. They have every right to see things as difficult as they truly are. But many people are also more determined than ever to dig in and make the kind of dramatic advances that we must have in order for real change to happen.
No matter who is elected as the next president of the U.S. in November we are going to have our work cut out for us. Everyone will need to get on-board the organizing train if we hope to bring sanity, peace, and sustainability to our world.
We truly hope the Global Network can continue to be part of this important movement to articulate and help bring about the positive changes that we must have. But for us to stay involved, we urgently need your financial help. For us to keep working alongside you tomorrow, we need your support today.
The Global Network has always worked hard on a very meager budget. We have prided ourselves in doing more with less since our founding in 1992.
Please take a moment and send us a donation of $25, $50, $75 or $100 today. You know that you will get your money's worth out of us and you know that we will continue to stand by your side as we work together to build the new political culture and the new vision for the future that we so desperately need.
Best wishes to you always,
Bruce K. Gagnon
Mary Beth Sullivan
Outreach Coordinator
PS If you'd like to make a secure on-line credit card donation you can do so by using the red Donate Now! button on this blog site.
Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space
PO Box 652
Brunswick, ME 04011
Sunday, September 07, 2008
This report covers the period of Aug 30 - Sept 3 as I traveled to St. Paul, Minnesota to participate in protests outside the Republican National Convention (RNC) and speak at an alternative conference called Peace Island.
On August 31 the national Veterans for Peace (VfP) held a protest that began with speeches at the state capitol in St. Paul and then took the 500 participants downtown to the RNC center. VfP had just held its annual national conference nearby and the protest was the finale of that event. There was a pretty strong police presence along the march route and at the end almost a dozen people were arrested for climbing under a tall black steel fence that had been constructed to "protect" the RNC from protests. All the arrests, and police response, that day went without any problems.
Immediately upon my arrival in St. Paul I began hearing about local police "preemptive" raids on private homes where protestors and alternative media activists were staying. The police trashed some of the places and arrested some of the people. Search warrants had been obtained to look for guns and other possible weapons but none were ever found. But just reporting the search warrant descriptions of "possible weapons" in the local papers had a chilling effect on the local population I am sure.
We also began to hear about people who were driving into the St. Paul area in cars that "looked suspicious". Some of these people were stopped and searched and handcuffed with faces buried on the ground by the side of the road. One green bus, an ecological teaching program was on its way to St. Paul for the events, was stopped and the mother, father, 17 year-old daughter, and three chickens were detained by the cops. The three people and chickens were eventually released but the bus was impounded for the entire time of the RNC convention. Environmental sustainability is now a "radical" message one has to guess.
On September 1 an even larger protest was held - again first gathering at the state capitol with a march of over 20,000 people (my estimate)right to the RNC center. The march had a wonderful spirit and went without hitch. Many students were there doing creative things like marching bands, dancing and singing as we walked through the city. Thousands of people stood all along the march route, many of them holding signs and cheering the festive parade along. I walked near the front with the large Iraq Veterans Against the War and Veterans for Peace delegations. I saw friend Ray McGovern who used to work for the CIA. He's come to Maine twice for events I organized and I was glad to see him out on the streets. He's been getting treatment for cancer and was very happy to be in the march.
The march worked its way back to the state capitol and it took almost two hours for the tail end of the parade to return. Local media reported that a "disappointing" 10,000 were in the march while organizers reported 40,000 from the stage.
Upon returning back to the home where I was staying we watched the evening news to see reports about the wonderfully positive protest. Virtually nothing was reported. Not one picture was shown of the huge crowd snaking its way through the downtown of St. Paul (known by the way as a liberal Democratic city). Instead what we saw shocked us. The media was having a field day reporting on a very small number of young anarchists who, after the large march had finished, began to break some windows and burn some trash cans in the streets. The riot equipped police, who had silently lined the march route just hours before, now swung into action with batons flying, horses stomping, and tear gas canisters screaming back and forth. For the next couple of days this was virtually all the news that came out of St. Paul about the protests - "Protesters turn violent."
On September 2 I spoke at a conference in St. Paul called Peace Island: Hope in a Time of Crisis - A Solutions-Driven Conference. This event was organized as a positive alternative to the RNC and had many notable speakers. It was an honor to have been invited to attend and I must thank John & Marie Braun for arranging for me to speak. They had hosted me on a speaking trip some four years ago in St. Paul and felt that it was important to include the space issue in the Peace Island event.
At this conference I spoke as part of a plenary session panel and then did a well-attended breakout session after the plenary. I was asked to speak about "Weapons in Space: Environmental Consequences and Solutions." In my talk I brought back many of the themes that I used in my recent talk at the Global Greens conference in Sao Paulo, Brazil - we can't dream of dealing with the coming reality of climate change unless we immediately begin to convert the military industrial complex to sustainable technology development. Recognizing that many people are focused on the current election process I used the example of Obama's proposed energy plan to spend $150 billion during the next 10 years on creating "green technology." Very commendable, but just one minor problem. When you do the math you discover that Obama proposes to spend $15 billion per year on green tech development while the U.S. is now spending $14 billion per month on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I hope the point is obvious.
While at the event I did a one-hour taping of a public access TV program that plays on eight Minnesota stations and also was interviewed by a California Pacifica radio program.
As I headed back to Maine on Sept 3 the progressive community was still shocked by the arrest of Amy Goodman and two of her Democracy Now reporters. How could the police in St. Paul think for a moment that they had the right to arrest media people in addition to the many other questionable arrests they were making?
The whole RNC crackdown on democracy was alarming and raises many questions about the next couple of years. Will we continue to see the diminution of our freedoms and liberties? Will the Democrats stand up and protest against these assaults on our civil liberties? Will there be real change after the November elections?
But as I reflect on the recent events in St. Paul another troubling question arises. How does the non-violent community deal with the fact that violent protests can erupt in our presence that end up clouding and virtually wiping out our message? Are these "anarchists" really on some level government agents provocateurs implanted in our midst to stir things up and redirect the message? While in St. Paul I asked other activists the question, "What do we do about this violence?" and over and over again the response to my query was "I don't know."
One organizer I spoke to said he had given up on the idea of protests as an effective way to speak out and to offer our own messages to the public. But then, with the media under corporate control, what vehicles are we left with to communicate with the public?
When I arrived home on Sept 3 I immediately had to refocus on the Sept 6 protest planned here against the Navy's Blue Angels airshow and our Maine Veterans for Peace protest that I was helping to organize. Over 200,000 spectators were expected at the event. So on Sept 6 we gathered at a park in nearby Brunswick and walked the two-miles to the Navy base where we held a vigil and rally at the front gate as the hundreds and hundreds of cars streamed into the base for the "show" which we called a military recruiting gimmick. During this time I reflected on the importance of this protest and the understanding that our presence at this base created much discussion and some level of reflection amongst those going into the base.
Does protest still have a place? No doubt in my mind. Do we still have much work to do in communicating with those who wish to bring violence to these events. Absolutely.
I remember years ago reading Player Piano, author Kurt Vonnegut's first novel, which was published in 1952. Wikipedia reports that "the dystopian[1] story takes place in a near-future society that is almost totally mechanized, eliminating the need for human laborers. This widespread mechanization creates conflict between the wealthy upper class—the engineers and managers who keep society running—and the lower class, whose skills and purpose in society have been replaced by machines."
In the book the young people, who had no role or stake in society, rebel and violently destroy the machines as a way to dramatically reject the social order and attempt to recreate a new society.
As the limited and over-hyped violence in St. Paul played out I flashed back to Vonnegut's book. Are these the seeds that our present society has planted? We now have few jobs, other than joining the military, for working class youth in America. We've taught them that violence is the way conflict is settled. Is it any wonder that some number of disaffected youth turn their simmering rage and loss of purpose into street violence? These are questions that the peace community should be raising in our local discussions.
My next trip takes me to Sweden, Norway, and Denmark from Sept 18-29. I will be speaking at the European Social Forum in Sweden and then touring the three countries to learn and speak about their growing role in space militarization.


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Des Moines, Iowa (CNN) - The communications director for Herman Cain's presidential campaign has resigned, CNN has learned.
Ellen Carmichael told CNN on Saturday her decision is firm but not yet finalized.
"I have resigned but the paperwork's not final," Carmichael said.
Carmichael explained her decision is a personal one and that she's pursuing other professional opportunities. She also said that her assistant, Francis Boustany, is also leaving for professional reasons.
CNN asked Carmichael about the Republican presidential candidate's reaction to her departure. Carmichael is well known to the political press corps as a reliable and responsible promoter of Cain's message. She was recently recognized at a CNN event as part of a new generation of newsmakers. And Cain has often publicly praised Carmichael.
"It's a very amicable departure," Carmichael said. "He wished me the best of luck. And I will forever be fond of him and appreciative of this opportunity."
In June, two other staffers left the Cain campaign. CNN asked Carmichael if her and Boustany's departures are a sign of more trouble for Cain.
"No comment," she said.
"I have served Mister Cain for more than a year," Carmichael added. "We've had ups and downs. We've had tons of money and very little money. And I've stuck through some very difficult and some very rewarding times on the campaign. And it was just time for me to go pursue other professional opportunities."
The timing of Carmichael's resignation is sure to raise eyebrows. Cain's candidacy is currently generating headlines, having recently won a Florida straw poll, seeing some momentum in some polls and earning some positive reviews for recent debate performances. On Friday, the candidate snagged a spot on NBC's "Tonight Show with Jay Leno."
Carmichael insists her decision is "not reflective of any particular current event."
"I am incredibly fond of Mister Cain. I think he's a fantastic candidate and a great person of the highest character. And I think he has an important voice and an important message. My decision to leave is not a reflection of any sort of displeasure with Mister Cain."
CNN contacted the Cain campaign for reaction but did not receive a response.
Follow Shannon Travis on Twitter: @ShanTravisCNN
"Mr. Cain"...perfect example of a bloated ego presenting itself as confidence. Take a cold shower, Herman.
Cain will never last in the Republican Party It amazed me he would sign up to be part of a Party who is racist and has spent every day since President Obama was elected slandering him with racist lies, disrespecting him because he is biracial, and doing everything possible to make him seem not worthy, not legitimate, and other hate-based tactics.
President Obama is the ONLY one who has real family values and real Christian values. He is the ONLY one fighting for the PEOPLE, fighting for jobs, economic recovery, and equality for all. He is a brilliant man and has proven what a great leader he is. His list of accomplishments is long – both domestically and many great foreign policy successes.
Good lucl Herman – but you are with the wrong Party -one that will never let you advance.
This spells bad news for his campaign
Wow that's not nice in the middle of the campaign?I guess they don't think Cain will win.
The poor woman probably tired of talking about pizza.
THEY got to her. Last night she was BRAINWASHED!!!
Incredible that you don't mention his new spokesperson, former Rumsfeld spokesman JD Gordon. This guy is a big deal, yet you portray it in a fashion like the campaign must be falling apart.
The check bounced and getting paid is very personal.No comment means that Cain is dead like Bachmann, Ginrich and Rick Bush. The desperate GOBP are begging ANY warm body to run. Snooki Palin will ride in on her black horse to repeat 2008.
And so it begins. The descriptive interview above is one of the most thinly veiled "I'm outta here!!"" excuses on paper. Now you know something's ugly in that camp. Cain's win over Perry in Florida was probably too much for the Right Wing. Oh no. That will not do. Shocker. Convenient that shortly thereafter and seemingly for no particular reason, Sarah Palin gut punched Cain, by calling him "Herb". DO YOU REALLY THINK SHE CAME UP WITH THAT ON HER OWN? Don't count on it. Cain probably knows that too. And why right out of the blue? Not out of the blue. You can bet she was "loaded" with that "Herb" reference by her "friends who are not Washington insiders". With Cain's knees wobbling from that name callin' and for whatever the reason, Carmichael is now about to distance herself. I'm not certain that Mr Cain ever really believed he's a Tea Party favorite. He was just "brainwashed" by the Right.
She must have realized that Cain's upside down 666 plan was about as realistic as claiming the earth is flat.
CNdNc makes it sound like she's leaving due to some implosion. Notice there's no mention of the highly respected big gun coming in to take her place.

subset: commoncrawl


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In my last "Ask the iTunes Guy" column of the year, I discuss turning on Grid View in playlists, making playlists from folders of songs, adding tags to your tracks, and identifying the duration of selected tracks in iTunes 11.
Q: I use playlists to sort classical music—and when I click a playlist, I like to see its albums in Grid View. I could manually click through dozens of playlists and turn on that view for each one, but is there a way to turn this view on, all at once, for all of my playlists?
Unfortunately, no. iTunes assumes that you want playlists to appear in List view, which displays individual tracks. In addition, your playlists are at the left of the window, and the View button is at the right, so if your screen is big, you'll have to do a lot of mousing to change it. I recommend that you make the iTunes window as small as possible while still showing playlists and the View button, and then go through all of your playlists and change views.
For more information on the changes to iTunes' views, see " Understanding the new views in iTunes 11."
Q: I store a lot of music in folders. Each folder contains an album or live sets. I'd like to import these folders to iTunes as playlists, where each folder becomes a playlist with the folder name containing the music stored in that folder. Is there any way to do this?
If you have the sidebar visible (View > Show Sidebar), you can drag individual folders to the right of the word Playlists in the sidebar. iTunes will then create a playlist with the name of the folder and copy the contents of the folder over.
A more robust option is Doug Adams's Drop to Add and Make Playlists AppleScript. Drag a folder containing an album or live show onto the applet, or double-click it and choose a folder. (Alternatively, you can drop multiple folders, or a folder containing other folders, onto the applet.) At that point, you can choose to name the playlist after the folder name, or to identify it in Artist-Album format. The applet will then import the files into iTunes and create the playlist with the name format you've chosen.
Q: Is it possible to place one's own tags or flags on songs? I would like to mark tracks that I have used for certain purposes, but I can't find a way to do so.
You can do this in a couple of ways. If you don't rate many of your songs, you can use ratings to flag them. For example, when I listen to music, I rate as one-star any tracks I encounter that have problems in them, such as ripping glitches.
Another possibility is to add comments to your tracks. Select a track and press Command-I, and a Comments field will appear in the Info window. You can put any text you want here; for example, you might add a keyword or tag that will serve to mark specific tracks.
After adding comments, you can search for tracks based on the text in the Comments field in a smart playlist. Choose File > New > Smart Playlist; select Comments Contains in the Smart Playlist window; and in the empty box to the right of your rule selections, enter the text that you want to search for.
You can also sort by comments, if you're in Songs view. Press Command-J to display the View Options window, and check Comments in the Personal section. A Comments column will appear. Click the column header to sort by comments alphabetically.
The smart playlist method is probably easier, since you can create a playlist for each specific tag you use.
Q: Before version 11 of iTunes I could always highlight subsets of my playlist to see how much time all of the songs would take to play. With version 11, I can't figure out how to display subsets of time. The total time of the playlist is visible at the top but that's not adequate. Is there any way to get this information?
Yes—but by default, iTunes 11 has hidden it. In iTunes go to View > Show Status Bar. Select some tracks in your playlist, and look in the status bar to see their total time.
Q: I regularly purchase music content from iTunes and then convert the AAC files to Apple Lossless. I think I am hearing a sound quality improvement on my home stereo system, but after doing a bit of research, I am wondering now if the only thing I am accomplishing by upsampling a purchased AAC audio file to Apple Lossless is using up more hard drive space?
Short answer: Yep.
Long answer: Lossless files are great for letting you retain full sound quality in a smaller file size than uncompressed audio would occupy. But you can't get back any of the information discarded when encoding lossy audio files (such as AAC or MP3); consequently, as you suspected, converting them to Apple Lossless will balloon their file size without improving their sound quality.
[Ask the iTunes Guy is a regular column in which we answer your questions on everything iTunes related. If there's something you'd like to know, send an email to the iTunes Guy for consideration.]


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Race into NASCAR's championship round begins at Kansas
Not much has changed through NASCAR's first two rounds of playoffs: Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin are still favored to race for the championship and the other two contenders are a crapshoot.
The path to the championship finale begins Sunday at Kansas Speedway, the first of three races in the title-setting third round. It's a fairly straightforward series with ensuing stops at Texas Motor Speedway, like Kansas a 1.5-mile intermediate oval, then half-mile Martinsville Speedway, NASCAR's shortest and oldest active track.
At stake are four slots in the winner-take-all Nov. 8 finale at Phoenix Raceway and no obvious indicators on who will be challenging Harvick and Hamlin. The two have combined for 16 wins in 32 races this season and have hoarded enough points that it would likely take some sort of sudden collapse to keep the favorites from advancing to the finale.
Harvick, the points leader, had a mediocre second round but doesn't seem too concerned about these next three races.
"I think these racetracks are right up our alley, especially the first two," Harvick said.
Hamlin has won NASCAR's last two visits to Kansas, a turnaround after several so-so races. He's the betting favorite to win Sunday and believes his Joe Gibbs Racing team has a strong database for winning three consecutive races.
It would certainly give Hamlin a head-start on championship preparations.
"We could go the next two weeks and really shift our focus from Texas and Martinsville to putting all of our resources towards Phoenix," Hamlin said. "That would certainly be a benefit for whoever locks in right off the bat."
The other six playoff drivers can earn an automatic berth in the finale by winning but otherwise have a tense stretch of three races ahead.
With four wins this season, including one in the first round of the playoffs, Keselowski has been the only driver close to competing with Harvick and Hamlin. He won the 2012 title under a different format and has never raced for the championship since the elimination rounds debuted in 2014.
"I think there are three or four drivers competing for the final two spots," he said. "We're all very similar. It's probably going to come down to the wire at Martinsville."
This is the fourth consecutive year Elliott has advanced into the semifinals and he's again trying to advance to the finale. Earlier visits this season to Kansas and Texas were disappointing and Elliott knows he's got to be steady to make it to Phoenix.
"We're not going to try to reinvent the wheel. We don't want to get too far off the beaten path," Elliott said. "I feel like for us, when we've been at our best and as a team, myself included, performing at the level that we're all capable of doing, I feel like we've contended with the best of the series this year."
Logano has struggled on intermediate tracks since his February victory at Las Vegas and acknowledges that not practicing during COVID-19 protocols has hampered his ability to adapt to the high-downforce aerodynamic package.
He's in his first season with crew chief Paul Wolfe and now, with a month to go, the duo believes they've found a rhythm.
"It just took a little bit for Paul and I to understand what makes the car tick," Logano said. "What makes it tick with me? Without practice, that's really hard to do."
Truex is seeking a fourth consecutive berth in the finale. He won the title in 2017 but has been runner-up the last two seasons.
Top-three finishes could get him into the final four, but he believes he's close to reeling off some victories. His only win of the season was at Martinsville in June.
"We need to make something big happen, and I think that we are ready to make it happen," he said.
Bowman is in the semifinals for the first time in his career and likely qualifies as a darkhorse to make it through to the finale.
But Bowman likes his chances, particularly at Kansas, where he's logged four top-10 finishes in 10 career starts.
"I feel like we can go be phenomenal there," Bowman said. "Kansas and Texas are two opportunities for us to win. It's probably going to take a win to make the round of four."
Busch is a wild-card in that he probably would not have been picked to advance this far in many brackets but has really turned his performance up the last six weeks.
A second-round victory at home track Las Vegas gave Busch a boost and he's seeking to win his second Cup title – 16 years after his first championship.
After his win at Las Vegas, also an intermediate oval, he was looking ahead to the third round.
"If you fast-forward to Kansas and Texas, it's a mile-and-a-half, so everything is just pointing in our direction right now," he said. "We thought we were a top eight team if things went perfectly."
Hollywood Casino 400
When: Sunday, 2:30 p.m.
Where: Kansas Speedway, Kansas City, Kansas (267 laps, 400.5 miles)
Last year: Denny Hamlin won after starting 23rd.
Last race: Chase Elliott came from far back in the field to win on the Roval in Charlotte, his second consecutive win there and fourth in a row on a road course in the Cup Series.
Playoffs: Kevin Harvick will take a 13-point lead over Hamlin and a 32-point edge over Brad Keselowski into the weekend. Elliott is fourth, 40 points back.


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The Mindy Project Casts American Horror Story Alum as Danny's Ex-Wife
There's nothing scarier than an ex-wife. Unless that ex-wife also once played the resident nymphomaniac on American Horror Story.
Chloe Sevigny has been cast on The Mindy Project for a multi-episode arc as Danny's ex-wife, Christina, TVLine reports.
TV Scorecard: What's renewed? What's canceled?
Christina is described as a well-traveled war photographer who's been with some intimidating men in foreign locales - which obviously makes the normally masculine, confident Danny (Chris Messina) insecure. Christina is excited for a romantic dinner with Danny but is disappointed when something suddenly comes up.
Danny's oft-mentioned by never seen ex-wife will appear in at least three episodes of the freshman comedy beginning in April. The casting comes on the heels of The Mindy Project's second-season renewal, which was announced Monday along with pick-ups for The Following, New Girl and Raising Hope.
Since her Golden Globe-winning turn on Big Love, Sevigny has guest-starred on Law & Order: SVU, Louie, Portlandia and American Horror Story: Asylum.
The Mindy Project airs Tuesdays at 9:30/8:30c on Fox. Are you excited to meet Danny's ex-wife?
View original The Mindy Project Casts American Horror Story Alum as Danny's Ex-Wife at TVGuide.com
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When we received a query from Colleen Flood inquiring about the history of chicken fingers, nothing came to mind except silly jokes about chicken lips and hen's teeth. After all, chickens don't actually have fingers, do they?
Many of us have memories of "chicken fingers," "fish sticks," and other forms of mystery meat composed of who-knows-what portions of who-knows-what animal's anatomy. It's oddly discomforting to know that the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)-an agency that prides itself on creating lengthy definitions for cuts of meat and, for that matter, just about anything else we might consider consuming-has no definition for anything called "chicken fingers." The term is clearly commercial in nature, but it's an interesting story as to when it first appeared-and why.
To answer the first part of the question, we need look back no further than the early 1990s, when health-conscious Americans worried about consuming red meat but didn't want to give up the convenience foods of which they'd become accustomed. Boneless, skinless chicken breasts seemed like the ideal dinnertime solution.
Now, if you've ever skinned and boned a split chicken breast, it probably wasn't a perfect replica of the uniformly thin, boneless, skinless chicken breasts found in restaurants and in grocery stores. Yours, like mine, was probably thicker and rather uneven, with parts falling off in a most unprofessional manner. The reason for this can be found in the structure of this cut of poultry. A chicken breast is composed of two separate muscles: a large, flat piece, shaped like a longish rounded triangle, and a tapered narrow flap that's not unlike the tenderloin in beef. In order to fabricate a chicken breast that is tidy, trim, and at an even thickness so that it cooks at the same rate, the two fillets must be separated.
Given that most Americans prefer to have pieces of protein on their plates that are large enough to cut, the larger, triangular portion lends itself more to dinner. But what of the smaller fillets, the tenderloins, commonly known as "tenders"? The savvy answer for chicken producers was not to try to make a dinner portion out of the tenders, but to sell them as something else: finger food.
Americans love to eat casually. Just about anything we can eat with our hands, we do. When someone saw that chicken tenders sort of looked like fingers, and could be eaten with fingers, a stroke of marketing genius happened. If you've ever watched an episode of Mad Men, you may be able to visualize the kind of brain-storming session that could lead to the creation of an anatomical feature that nature never intended.
Compare the two fillets: both are equally low in fat, both are equally tasty, and both cook almost equally fast-actually, fingers tend to cook more quickly. Yet the chicken fingers sell for approximately 7 cents more per pound, wholesale, than the larger cut. When you consider that between three and six million pounds of chicken fingers are sold each year by conventional chicken producers including Tyson, Purdue, and Pilgrim's Pride, you can understand the drive to push chicken fingers. Essentially, it creates millions of additional revenue each year.
It's at least comforting to know that "chicken fingers" are not in the same category as the dreaded mystery meats of our school days. Whereas nuggets are mass-produced out of various scraps and trimmings and then bound together with soluble protein and salt, just like sausage (at least we hope, although we have lingering doubts), the fingers are real chicken breast meat-which is why Jamie Oliver included them in his redesigned school lunch program. It was a brilliant idea, taking a junk food that children already liked and replacing it with a healthier, more natural item that they would not automatically reject. Chicken fingers also lend themselves to quick-and-easy preparation in a variety of recipes-a characteristic that helped Oliver wear down the resistance of the food-service personnel, which was essential to the success of his school lunch program as well as his Emmy award-winning television program, Food Revolution.
The fact of the food's success is no mystery at all, not when you consider how simple it is to turn a chicken fingers recipe into a family-pleasing dinner And let's just be thankful that your children will never have to wonder if real chickens have "nuggets."
I'd like to thank Bill Roenigk of the National Chicken Council and Sylvia Small of the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association for their help with this article.
Chicken fingers article © 2010 Gary Allen. Photo © 2007 hddod. All rights reserved.


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Massachusetts family sues ski resort over child's injury
Five-year-old seriously injured when instructor collided with her
A family has sued the Jay Peak ski resort, saying their five-year-old daughter was seriously injured by a former snowboard instructor during a skiing lesson.
The lawsuit filed in federal court in Burlington says Juliana Kane of West Newbury, Mass., was on a beginner trail on April 17 when William Vincent came down the hill at a high rate of speed and collided with her.
The lawsuit says the girl suffered a liver laceration, concussion, partially collapsed lung, and other injuries.
Vincent, of Enosburg, and the ski-school instructor, Jenn Leveillee of East Berkshire, are listed as defendants. Resort president Bill Stenger told the Burlington Free Press Vincent had been fired a week earlier for an unrelated incident.
Stenger said he was unaware of the details of the accident.


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Story by
Matthew Panzarino
Matthew Panzarino was Managing Editor at TNW. He's no longer with the company, but you can follow him on Twitter. Matthew Panzarino was Managing Editor at TNW. He's no longer with the company, but you can follow him on Twitter.
Back in August, I wrote an article about a talk that Steve Jobs gave in 1983 at the Center for Design Innovation. That talk covered a wide range of topics from wireless computing to the project that would become Google StreetView.
Now, reader Marcel Brown has unearthed an original cassette tape of that speech, and it turns out that there was an additional 30 minutes or so of Q&A after the main talk.
The topics are fascinating. Among them are computer networking, a concept that would become the App Store and that Apple had already started creative work on what would become the iPad—27 years before it was released.
When asked how computers are all going to work together, he talks about the inevitability of a universal networking standard, that will allow them all to communicate.
"We are putting a lot of computers out that are made to be used in a standalone mode, one person, one computer," says Jobs. "But it isn't very long before you're going to get a community of users that want to hook them all together. Because ultimately, computers are going to be a tool for communication. Over the next 5 years, the standards for doing this are going to evolve, they all speak a different language right now."
He then tells an amusing anecdote about a telephone installer that illustrates how very much networking was still in its infancy at that point.
Then, he talks about a networking experiment done by none other than Xerox, at the infamous Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) where, as the Promethean myth goes, he first saw technology that Apple later licensed for the Mac—including the mouse and the concept of windows.
"They hooked a hundred computers together on a "local area network", which is just a cable that carries all this information back and forth. And, an interesting thing happened when they did that…" says Jobs, explaining the concept of distribution lists—which would later evolve into bulletin boards and then websites—that kept people up to date on topics of interest like volleyball, or Chinese food. "Before long," he says, "there were more lists than people."
This revelation was the one that Jobs says sparked the idea that networking computers (and later, the Internet that connected those networks) was going to bring people together with these common interests that they had.
"We're about five years away from solving the problem of hooking these computers together in the office," he continued, "and we're about ten years away from solving the problem of hooking them together in the home. A lot of people are working on it, but it's a pretty fierce problem."
Jobs was nearly spot on with his prediction of home networking ubiquity, because when 1993 rolled around there was significant adoption of the 'Internet' and by 1996 it was a household word.
Then, he straight up states, in 1983, that Apple wants to make what would become the iPad.
"Apple's strategy is really simple. What we want to do is we want to put an incredibly great computer in a book that you can carry around with you and learn how to use in 20 minutes. That's what we want to do and we want to do it this decade," says Jobs. "And we really want to do it with a radio link in it so you don't have to hook up to anything and you're in communication with all of these larger databases and other computers."
Unfortunately, Jobs was about 27 years off in his prediction of this book-like device, but it's insane to think about how early Jobs decided on the iPad as the future of Apple. From 1983, with a bit of a pause on his ouster, until now, it was always about the iPad.
Jobs acknowledges that they don't have the technology to put that stuff in a book, so they put the best technology that they had in Lisa, the computer that Apple was releasing that year. As we know, it took them a significant amount of time to actually make that happen. Jobs goes on to talk about how selling business-class computers will finance Apple's work on smaller and smaller versions of their consumer computers until they can finally "fit it into a book and sell it for under a thousand dollars."
Obviously, it can be argued that Jobs was referring to the book-like MacBooks or MacBook Air computers, but throughout the introductory speech in Aspen, Jobs refers to mobile pocketable computers, saying that "one of these days, when you have portable computers with radios stuck in them, you'll be walking around Aspen and [retrieve your messages]."
Shortly thereafter, Jobs talks about the inefficiency of delivering software via disks to retailers and sets forth Apple's plan for what would become the App Store. He describes the long path in printing software to disk, shipping it out, sitting on a shelf and translating it back when a customer installs it.
"Where we'll be going is transmitting this stuff electronically over the phone line," Jobs says of where software purchasing was headed. "So where when you wanna buy a piece of software…we'll send tones over the phone to transmit directly from computer to computer, that's what we'll be doing."
Ironically, he compares the software model to the radio model, which offers songs as a 'preview'. He talks up digital software delivery as a way to offer previews of software for a limited time, something that the App Store still doesn't do. "I don't know how we're going to do it," he says, "but we need a [software] radio station."
Jobs talks about a variety of other subjects like typefaces on computers, using them for graphic design, as well as access to information and privacy in the age of distributed networking. He touches on voice recognition being a decade away at least, something that also took a lot longer to get realized.
You can head over to Brown's blog to listen to the whole thing yourself (the Q&A starts about 21 minutes in), and be sure to check out my original article for the topics covered in the first minutes of the speech.
Image Credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images, AFP/Getty Images
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The somm's evolving role in today's modern restaurant
I experienced an interesting approach to wine-and-food pairing the other day at Hakkasan San Francisco, which opened recently in the Financial District.
The somm staff invited me to participate in their weekly tasting. This is where they take 5 or 6 wines they're considering for placement on the wine list. Then, the kitchen prepares a dozen small plates of menu items. The team tries each of the foods with each of the wines; everybody gets a chance to voice an opinion, and, eventually, a decision is made as to whether or not the wine in question is versatile enough to go with the food.
Indulging in this kind of exercise seems like a lot of fun, and it is: Hakkasan's Asian-inspired food is fantastic. But it also underscored the complexities of coming up with perfect pairings. For one thing, not everyone agrees about everything. What works for me might not work for you. Also, the kind of food they serve at Hakkasan is very complex. Each diner doesn't just have one plate of food, like a steak or broiled salmon. Instead, there's lots of little things, and I assume parties share their plates with each other. So everybody's eating and drinking all kinds of stuff, which kind of makes the concept of "the perfect pairing" obsolete.
We were asked to rate each wine and food pairing on a scale of 1-5, where 1 is "undrinkable" and 5 is "thrilling." I had only one five: a sake made from red rice with braised pork belly. (The other somms seemed surprised I had only a single five.) I had no "undrinkables," but I did have a bunch of 2s (acceptable). These were mostly for a Kabinett Riesling from the Nahe. I found it too sweet for most of the plates, which again surprised the somms: they loved it. To me, sugar in a wine should never dominate the food, but with this Riesling, it did. For example, the jasmine tea chicken had an earthy, flowery bitterness that the wine's sugar clashed with. In theory you might think that a slightly sweet Riesling, with its natural high acidity and low alcohol, would go well with Chinese food, but for me, it didn't.
The most surprising wine was a Wynns 2011 Black Label Cabernet Sauvignon, from Coonawarra (13.5% alcohol). Cabernet with Chinese food? Absolutely! I wouldn't have known that before the tasting. It went well with almost everything, from the har gau (shrimp dumplings) and puffed daikon to the vegetarian chicken, tofu aubergine clay pot and Champagne cod.
Another wine that was tremendously versatile was a Chardonnay-Roussanne, made privately for Hakkasan by Qupe from Bien Nacido fruit. It was so balanced that it seemed to find its sweet spot beside almost everything. Another red wine, a Chateau Unang Grenache-Carignane from the Côtes du Ventoux, was fine with some things (scallop shumai, crispy duck salad) but disturbing with others (the har gau brought out its tannins, while its fruit overwhelmed the daikon puff).
The more I hang out with sommeliers the more interesting I find their job. I asked them what their biggest problems or hassles were; I thought they'd say impolite, pushy customers but, no, it was merely the organizational and logistical difficulties of being on the floor during dinner and having so many things happening at the same time. Lots of juggling. You have to multi-task to be a somm (or server, for that matter).
Thinking about perfect pairings, there are really very few of them, especially with Asian fare, which can be mild, savory, sweet, spicy and fatty, all at the same time—plus packed with umami. It's not like 100 years ago, when you drank Yquem with the foie gras or red Bordeaux with the beef—simple pairings that made sense because they didn't have this fantastic array of international ingredients available. Nowadays, a wine has to do double- or triple-duty, pairing well with a myriad of things, and if there are 4 or 6 people in the party, it has to be as nimble on its feet as a Cirque du Soleil acrobat. The somm's job is to find those wines and then help the customers understand them. (Of course, they also have to work within a financial framework so that the wines they buy make business sense.) I find myself continuing to be fascinated by the evolving role of the sommelier in today's modern American restaurant scene.
What you've described as the somm's role is what it should be. Unfortunately, what the experience often turns out to be, is a person with an interest in only: Burgundy, German rielsing, and whatever recently re-discovered region in favor by the oeno-police. This coupled with a subtle (or not so subtle) derision of any wine orders that they feel are too "obvious".
Sure there are exceptions, but so many somms are insufferable
The red queen effect strikes again. One of my first wine loves was cab Shiraz blends in the Coonawara. Wish that blend was more accepted in the US.
The Farmhouse Inn restaurant organized a "battle somm" (my name, not theirs) last winter that really brought home to me the particular skills of the best somms. The concept was each night (there were three dinners) three somms were invited to pair wines with a four course meal prepared by the Farmhouse kitchen. Every diner ate the same four courses and drank the same wine pairings. The somms presented their pairings and explained the thought process behind them, and each diner was free to rate the somms for the quality of their pairing, the quality of their presentation/explanation, etc. The winner of each evening met in a final. What really engaged me about the experience was that I had an opportunity to see how each of three somms approached the same wine pairing challenge. They came at it from very different angles, and were for the most part adept at explaining what they did and why. I found it very educational and wish there were more events like it.
An American fusion-tapas tasting! Sounds like great fun! Let me know if you can't make it and ever need a stand-in!
For a routine food and wine pairing, without having to raid the piggy bank for the perfect match, I've always found a dry Rose' or inexpensive Cava or sparkling wine to always deliver a satisfying food/wine experience. They always seem to navigate the thread of simple wine/complex food and complex wine/simple food axiom.
I agree that sommeliers have a very difficult job. Wine is generally the most expensive component of a bill at a restaurant. There are not a lot of $75, $150 or $300 entrees. I think sommeliers could make their lives a lot easier if they did the following:
1) Reduce the size of their wine lists. The day of the large wine list is over. Wine lists should be more focused with fewer selections. In my humble opinion, the perfect size is between 75 and 150 bottles.
2) I can't believe we have been walking into restaurants and we are handed a wine list without a tasting note for each wine on the list. Now I know some places provide a short description, and a small number of restaurants have the list on an iPad, but the majority don't.
3) Also, when you are handed the food menu, why don't they point out a few wines on the list that would go well with certain dishes.
All I do is review restaurant wine lists in the San Francisco Bay Area, and point out the best values, and if the consumer had a little more transparency, I know they would make quicker decisions when it comes to choosing what bottle to purchase, and they would end up spending more money. Time is money for the consumer and the restaurant. The faster that bottle gets on the table the better for both parties.
I once worked in a Chinese Restaurant in Asia as a Somm, and it is a overall different environment.
some of my humble opinions: the difficult part of working in such places is the problem come from internal resource at times. It might be the boss who is not very much into wine business, or some of the colleagues are not used to sell beverages (okay we drink tea!).
Some guests might just want a bottle of wine for its prestigious value-added effect — they might not be thinking about the actual pairing. It would be a different issue if they do want pairing; we do not serve by courses and there are always a few dishes on the table, mixing vegetables and meat.
Furthermore, there are actually "sub-cuisine"; the dishes from North China and South China emphasize on various ingredients.
The list would go on and on….
by the way, how about a bottle of Grüner Veltliner with Chinese Steam Fish?
Sounds like you had fun! Thank you for sharing how challenging the somms job really is. There is nothing better than being at the hands of a very talented one who is intimate with their menu and wines as you describe in this article. Some of the most interesting wines I may have never tried come up this way…trusting their talent.
"I asked them what their biggest problems or hassles were; I thought they'd say impolite, pushy customers but, no, it was merely the organizational and logistical difficulties of being on the floor during dinner and having so many things happening at the same time. Lots of juggling. You have to multi-task to be a somm (or server, for that matter)."
that is the truth! as a floor somm in chicago, my focus is not wine. it is our guests, my service team, my bartenders, my hosts, and everything in between. my wine knowledge helps me navigate our 400+ bottle list with guests, but if someone needs a fork or to be taken to table 34 or the bar is out of vermouth and i'm free, guess what i'm doing? lol. i love it though.
and to dr and those who think somms are stuck on burgundy, riesling, etc. – you're right. and honestly, it's no fun. everything has its place and what i love about being a young somm is challenging some of those conventions. =) (though the only thing i can't get behind are most australian shiraz and fino sherry. if i want to eat burnt raspberry candlewax with bitter chocolate or cheese, feet, and brine i'll save my money and do just that.)
diana "silenusandme" hawkins


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Universal Pictures is near a deal with Carl Erik Rinsch to make his feature directing debut on "47 Ronin," the epic period samurai swordsmen tale that will star Keanu Reeves.
Scott Stuber is producing through his Stuber Pictures banner, with Pam Abdy also aboard in a producing capacity.
Pic is a priority project for Universal, and it is unusual to see a first-timer entrusted to helm a film with a large budget and tentpole aspirations.
Rinsch, who shoots commercials for RSA, has been on Hollywood's radar. RSA owners Ridley and Tony Scott previously had discussions with Rinsch to direct a prequel to "Aliens," until Ridley Scott decided to return to the franchise he launched.
Rinsch is known for shooting visual and stylish blurbs for such brands as Mercedes, Sprite, BMW and Heineken.
Actioner "47 Ronin" tells the famous fact-based story of a band of samurai swordsmen who avenge the death of their master in 18th century Japan. The Chris Morgan ("Wanted") script was tailored so that the half-Asian Reeves can play one of the swordsmen. The picture mixes the fantastical elements of films like "The Lord of the Rings" with battle scenes of the sort found in "Gladiator" and "300."
Walter Hamada, Chris Fenton and Erwin Stoff are exec producers.


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NEW YORK — Prosecutors have serious questions about the credibility of a hotel housekeeper who has accused former International Monetary Fund leader Dominique Strauss-Kahn of raping her, and they are taking the extraordinary step of seeking a substantial reduction in his pricey bail, a person familiar with the case said Thursday.
The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss matters not yet made public in court, told The Associated Press that prosecutors have raised issues about the accuser's credibility in the case against Strauss-Kahn, but would not elaborate on what those issues were.
A separate law enforcement official who is familiar with the case, but not authorized to speak about it publicly, told the AP that the issue was not necessarily about the rape accusation itself, but about troubling questions surrounding the alleged victim's background that could damage her credibility on the witness stand. The official refused to elaborate.
The New York Police Department, which investigated the case, declined comment. The woman's lawyer did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment.
Strauss-Kahn, who faces a court hearing Friday, has been under armed guard in a Manhattan townhouse after posting a total of $6 million in cash bail and bond. He denies the allegations.
Prosecutors with the Manhattan district attorney's office had argued against his release in May, citing the violent nature of the alleged offenses and saying his wealth and international connections would make it easy for him to flee.
"The proof against him is substantial. It is continuing to grow every day as the investigation continues," Assistant District Attorney John "Artie" McConnell told the judge. "We have a man who, by his own conduct in this case, has shown a propensity for impulsive criminal conduct."
The New York Times first reported that investigators uncovered major inconsistencies in the woman's account of her background, citing two law enforcement officials. One of the officials told the Times that the woman has repeatedly lied since making the initial allegation May 14.
The discoveries include issues stemming from the asylum application of the 32-year-old woman, who is from Guinea, and possible links to criminal activities such as drug dealing and money laundering, one of the officials told the newspaper. The Times reported that senior prosecutors and Strauss-Kahn's lawyers are discussing whether to dismiss the felony charges against him.
Another person familiar with the case, speaking on condition of anonymity for the same reason, said earlier Thursday that Strauss-Kahn may get his pricey bail and house arrest arrangement eased in the case at Friday's court hearing. The person declined to detail what the new bail arrangements might be.
Strauss-Kahn lawyer William W. Taylor would say only that the hearing was to review the bail plan. The district attorney's office declined to comment.
If the case against Strauss-Kahn collapses, it could once again shake up the race for the French presidency. Strauss-Kahn, a prominent Socialist, had been seen as a leading potential contender and challenger to conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy for next year's elections — until the New York hotel incident embarrassed Strauss-Kahn's party and left him in the political wilderness.
Socialist Party chief Martine Aubry announced her own presidential bid this week, after having long been expected to throw her weight behind a Strauss-Kahn candidacy.
New doubts about Strauss-Kahn's accuser would also revive speculation of a conspiracy against Strauss-Kahn aimed at torpedoing his presidential chances. Within days of his arrest, a poll suggested that a majority of French think Strauss-Kahn — who long had a reputation as a womanizer and was nicknamed "the great seducer" — was the victim of a plot.
Strauss-Kahn was held without bail for nearly a week after his May arrest. His lawyers ultimately persuaded a judge to release him by agreeing to extensive — and expensive — conditions, including an ankle monitor, surveillance cameras and armed guards. He can leave for only for court, weekly religious services and visits to doctors and his lawyers, and prosecutors must be notified at least six hours before he goes anywhere.
The security measures were estimated to cost him about $200,000 a month, on top of the $50,000-a-month rent on a town house in trendy TriBeCa. He settled there after a hasty and fraught househunt: A plan to rent an apartment in a tony building on Manhattan's Upper East Side fell through after residents complained about the hubbub as reporters and police milled around the building.
Under New York law, judges base bail decisions on factors including defendants' characters, financial resources and criminal records, as well as the strength of the case against them — all intended to help gauge how likely they are to flee if released.
Defendants and prosecutors can raise the issue of bail at any point in a case. It's common, if asking a judge to revisit a bail decision, to argue that new information or new proposed conditions change how one or more of the factors should be viewed.
The maid told police that Strauss-Kahn chased her down a hallway in his $3,000-a-night suite in the Sofitel hotel, tried to pull down her pantyhose and forced her to perform oral sex before she broke free.
Strauss-Kahn's lawyers have said the encounter wasn't forcible, and that they have unreleased information that could "gravely undermine the credibility" of the housekeeper. The defense was using private investigators to aggressively check out the victim's background and her story, but the Times reported that it was investigators for the prosecution who uncovered discrepancies.
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly has said the detectives investigating the case found the maid's story believable.
"Obviously, the credibility of the complainant is a factor in cases of this nature," Kelly said in May. "One of the things they're trained to look for, and what was reported to me early on, was that the complainant was credible."
The woman's lawyer has said she is prepared to testify despite a "smear campaign" against her.
The Associated Press generally does not identify accusers in sex crime cases unless they agree to it.
Strauss-Kahn, 62, was in New York on a personal trip. He left the hotel shortly after the alleged assault — to have lunch with a relative, his attorneys have said.
During his initial bail hearings, prosecutors noted that Strauss-Kahn was arrested on a Paris-bound plane at John F. Kennedy International Airport, and that they could not compel his return from France if he fled. His lawyers have underscored that it was a long-planned flight, and they've said he wants to return to court to clear his name.
He resigned his IMF post after his arrest.
An updated, authorized biography of Strauss-Kahn was released in French bookstores this week with new material addressing the New York incident and claims of sexual assault against him by a French novelist. It includes interviews with his wife and sister and appears to be a vehicle for a vigorous defense of the former IMF chief.
Strauss-Kahn's wife, prominent television journalist Anne Sinclair, describes being "very worried" about the case. She calls him "a good, honest and reliable man" and says "I believe in him more than ever."
His sister Valerie is quoted in the book as saying she's "sure he's incapable of violence toward a woman."
The biography was initially published two weeks before the May incident.
The new material also includes comments from Strauss-Kahn in an interview with author Michel Taubmann earlier this year dismissing accusations of sexual assault against him by novelist Tristane Banon.
She did not make a criminal complaint at the time of the 2003 incident, and her lawyer says she was pressured to keep it quiet by her mother, a regional official in Strauss-Kahn's Socialist Party. The Associated Press is identifying Banon as an alleged victim of sexual assault because she has gone public with her account.
Woman In Strauss-Kahn Case Goes From African Village To Front Page
Not A Surprise! Strauss-Kahn Pleads Innocent To Rape Charges
Today's Freedom Fighters
Jonathan Majors Video Evidence, 'Woman Recanting' Assault Claim Will Clear Actor Of Charges, Lawyer Says
'Get Out Of The Country': Video Shows Black Man Kicked Out Of School CRT Meeting As 'Racist Woman' Stays
Actress Jodie Turner-Smith Says Having 'Light-Skinned' Baby With White Husband Helped Her Confront Colorism
Genius Black Teens Solve Math Problem Believed to Be Impossible For 2,000 Years
Thanks, Ron DeSantis: Florida School District Pulls 'Ruby Bridges' Movie After 1 White Parent Complains
Graphic Videos Showing Tekashi 6ix9ine Being Brutally Beaten In Florida Gym Go Viral
Look-Alike Black Actors Who Should Be Cast As Fictional Siblings


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Hello Friends!
Hope your Monday has been bearable. Mine has consisted of running errands, doing laundry and packing but I can't complain because we are preparing to leave for New Mexico tomorrow morning.
Grace is very excited! We will be visiting my Grandmother, Aunt and Uncle who I haven't seen in forever! We are hoping to explore many of the artistic communities there, as well as the Gila National Park. I have my camera packed so I'm hoping to capture some lovely shots to share. In the meantime, I wanted to leave you with some beautiful images from New Mexico!
I will try and pop in and do some posting but I'm not sure of the internet connection…so we'll see! We will be back the first week of February!
Have a wonderful week!!


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If you teach math with The Bridges in Mathematics Kindergarten curriculum and have been hoping and searching for clear, simple, one-page kid-friendly directions to go along with each work place from Unit 3 ....here they are! :)
Each colorful work place instruction page was thoughtfully designed to make it simple for both students and teachers to see:
✅What the standards based learning goals are
✅What materials are needed (with beautiful visuals)
✅How many students can play (more visuals)
✅What the directions are (in clear, simple words, with helpful visuals so even our youngest readers can make sense of the plan)
✅Suggestions for fun variations, extensions, and support could be implemented (some ideas from Bridges & some I've gathered on my own over the years)
Each work place is color coded to help keep you organized (Unit 1 all have a red heading, Unit 2 are orange, Unit 3 are green, etc.).
Disclaimer and Permission: . This resource is directions for the work places, but does NOT include any of the game boards, spinners, or materials needed to play the games. I have full written permission from The Math Learning Company to create and share this.


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...for my friend still up in that Skyway.
Recent Posts from my Official Site
My Official Site and Side Projects
Monday, August 31, 2009
Images From My All Time Favorite Films: Vincent Gallo's Buffalo 66 (1998)
Saturday, August 29, 2009
A Moon in the Gutter Q&A With Director Jeffrey Goodman
Recently I had the chance to watch and write on a terrific new modern noir starring Tom Sizemore and Sasha Alexander called The Last Lullaby. This incredibly effective film is the first feature from a very talented young filmmaker named Jeffrey Goodman. Jeffrey has been gracious enough to take part in this Question and Answer session for Moon in the Gutter that I hope everyone will read and enjoy. Those of you who have already had the chance to see The Last Lullaby know that Jeffrey is a major talent to watch, so I hope this interview on his background, influences, and experiences making his first film will prove interesting. For those who haven't seen the film, I hope it will cause them to search it out as it is a real winner.
MOON IN THE GUTTER: Can you tell us a bit about your background and how you first became interested in film?
JEFFREY GOODMAN: It really happened my third year of college. I was on a program that year in France. And it was the first time I was exposed to Godard and then to a slew of other things.
France is always an incredible place to be a cinephile. But that year, 1994-1995, the energy was particularly potent. Tarantino had just won the Palme D'Or for Pulp Fiction and all of 1995 the French were celebrating the 100th anniversary of their baby, the cinema. That energy, that year, got me in deep and has seemed to engulf me ever since.
MITG: Who were some of the filmmakers who inspired you to become a director, and whom among your peers do you continue to get inspiration from?
JG: My favorite contemporary is probably Andrew Bujalski. But I'm also a big fan of David Gordon Green. The guy that made me want to become a filmmaker was Godard. But the other guys I really love are Michael Mann, David Lynch, Howard Hawks, Takeshi Kitano, Abel Ferrara, Michael Cimino, Jacques Becker, Orson Welles, Abbas Kiarostami, Carl Theodor Dreyer, Raoul Walsh, Fritz Lang, Leos Carax, Jean Eustache, George Cukor, and Robert Bresson.
MITG: Tell us a bit about how The Last Lullaby came to be and lead us through the process on how a lower budgeted independent film gets made.
JG: Patiently. And definitely with a little luck.
I first made a short film from Max's story. And that eventually led to us expanding it into The Last Lullaby. I quickly realized that to make Lullaby the way I wanted, I would probably need to raise the money myself. And so, after living in Los Angeles for a little over seven years, I came back to my hometown of Shreveport, LA. I put a business plan together and fortunately was able to find the financial support. I have 49 investors in all, 48 of whom are from the Shreveport area.
MITG: I was really impressed with both the look and sound of the film. Can you talk on your behind the scenes collaborators on the film?
JG: Once again, another area where I was very fortunate. Granted, I had very clear ideas on how I wanted the film to look and sound. But, without the right people in the key positions (Cameraman, Production Designer, Sound Mixer, and Composer), there's no way I could have accomplished these things.
I looked at a good many reels before finally hiring our people and want to quickly mention a few words about each of them:
Richard Rutkowski (Cameraman) -- His work on the movie Blackbird convinced me that he had the right aesthetic. But then when I mentioned Killer of Sheep and we had a conversation about it, I knew I had found my man. Richard's maybe the only guy on set that worked harder than I did.
Elizabeth Mickle (Production Designer) -- Beth had recently done Half Nelson. But what really impressed me was the long phone conversation we had about All the Real Girls. We totally connected, and I knew she knew what we were after.
Scott Clements -- Dave Koplan, our producer, found Scott. And he did an amazing job. For a shoot where we were flying from one location to another, the sound was pristine. To have a guy deliver sound like that as you enter post is truly one of the greatest gifts someone can give you.
Ben Lovett -- Probably the single most difficult person to find for the film was our composer. Every reel I listened to sounded too big or too symphonic for the intimacy and feel I was after. Finally, late in the game, Ben's reel came to us. And after the first track, it was clear.
MITG: Along with your direction, the thing that struck me the most about the film was the wonderful work of your two leads, Tom Sizemore and Sasha Alexander. How did they come to be in the film and what was it like working with each?
JG: We cast Tom first. And really, actually, he came out of a pretty unremarkable process. Once we hired our casting director, Emily Schweber, the first request we gave her was to try to land us a name actor in the lead role. So once Emily was on-board, she immediately called up all the major agencies and management companies in Los Angeles. She told them about the role, our shooting dates, and the amount of money we had to pay the actor. Then they generated names that she brought back to us. Tom's name came out of this process. And, as he was already on a short list of mine, I immediately asked her to get him a copy of the script.
A few things were really important to me for the role of Price: a. That he was believable as a hitman. b. Was middle-aged. c. Was believable as Midwestern. One of the things that jumped out at me when I first read Max's story was that it was different from most other noir I'd read. It was neither urban (Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, or New York) nor ethnic (Italian or Irish). And so even though we were filming in Louisiana, I really wanted to respect the rural, Midwestern quality of Max's work.
Once we had Tom on-board, it was all about rounding out the picture. I knew I was gonna give the film a fairly "invisible style". And that the movie would really hinge on whether or not the audience related to this bond that Price and Sarah had. Emily brought Sasha to my attention, and I was impressed by this fascinating combination of strength and vulnerability she seemed to carry.
Both Tom and Sasha were extremely committed to the film and to making their work together ring true and believable.
MITG: Some of Tom Sizemore's personal problems have made some filmgoers forget what a powerful actor he is. He's wonderful in this role and brings so much damaged humanity to it. Was it exciting for you as a young filmmaker to be working with someone who has worked with everyone from Scorsese to Mann, and was there any hesitation in casting him due to his sometimes-shaky rep?
JG: I was very excited to work with Tom. I'm a long time fan of his work and thought he was perfect for the role. Sure, because I raised the money, there was definitely some concern of, "What if he acts up?" But, I had such a strong team (producer, etc.) alongside of me that I finally felt okay taking the leap.
MITG: I was really struck with how well you used the score (which is wonderful by the way) in the film, in that you never let it overwhelm a scene. The spare way you used the score reminded me of something like Michael Small's music in Klute, and it is so refreshingly different from the way most films use music now. Can you discuss the relationship between a score and a film as you see it?
JG: That's so funny that you mention the score to Klute. I was actually trying to get my hands on it during the editing of Lullaby as I thought it was close to what I wanted. But it's a really tough score to find. I still don't have it. Think I lost the two or three times I bid for it on e-bay or maybe it's not even available. I can't remember.
But to answer your question, I really wanted to use as little music as we possibly could. I was trying to get back to that feeling of The French Connection, Klute, McCabe & Mrs Miller, Shampoo, movies that all let the natural sounds of the scenes drive the majority of the moments. I really wanted to get far away from wall-to-wall music. Ben (the composer) and Philip (the editor) were both very helpful in making this happen. I can't say that there was necessarily a philosophy about when to use the music as much as there was this desire to have as little of it as we could without making things unbearably spare.
MITG: The Last Lullaby has been getting a lot of justified acclaim. Has there been any experience in particular regarding a festival or kudo that really stands out to you so far?
JG: Any kudo feels great, you know. So much of this process seems to be tall hills and difficulty that the occasional acclaim feels absolutely incredible. Probably the two best moments for me though, as far as this goes, is seeing Sasha win Best Actress at the San Diego Film Festival and Ben recognized for his music at the Brooklyn International Film Festival.
MITG: When will the film hit DVD and will it contain any extras?
JG: I expect the "first run, limited edition" DVD will be available in the next four weeks or so. We'll be offering this off the film's website and in conjunction with Neoflix, who is also handling the online sale of Ben Lovett's Original Score for the film. This "limited edition" version will just contain the movie. But I'm optimistic that in the future there will be a DVD with special features.
There's a good number of people who have been waiting to see the movie and haven't had the opportunity yet. So I thought it was important to go ahead and get a DVD out.
MITG: What's next for you?
JG: My next project is with Peter Biegen, one of the two writers of The Last Lullaby. Right now, the project's entitled Peril and is about a young boy, alone and on the run. I've raised the first round of financing for the film and am waiting for Peter to deliver the first draft of the script. I'm thinking of films like Kes, L'enfance nue, Germany Year Zero. I'm hoping to really place the audience in the head space of this young, alienated boy.
MITG: I always love to read filmmakers lists of some of their favorite works. Would you care to share 5-10 films that you can't imagine life without?
JG: Films I can't imagine life without. Wow, okay. Pierrot Le Fou, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Stranger Than Paradise, Shoot the Piano Player, La Chienne, The Shop Around the Corner, Funny Ha Ha, Kings of the Road, The French Connection, and Blow Out.
Thanks again to Jeffrey Goodman for taking the time to do this. More information can be found on Jeffrey's official blog. It was a real pleasure, and please seek out The Last Lullaby and keep supporting independent film!
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|Markup: Linguistic Ontology
Traditionally markup has been defined as systematic annotation designed to reveal a text's
typographical and informational structure. Linguistic markup might be broadly described as annotation representing: (a) the grammatical structure
of text couched in the focus language and (b) the structure of documents presenting a linguistic description or analysis of such text. These two
kinds of linguistic markup are required in the digitization of such language documentation as paradigms, word lists, dictionary entries, and glossed text.
Rather than proposing specific markup recommendations as in the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI), the E-MELD group
at Arizona proposed constructing an environment for comparing data sets using possibly different markup schemes. The central feature of the
environment is an ontology of morphosyntactic terms with multiple inheritance and a variety of relations holding among the terms.


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ALG Editor's Note: As the following featured story clearly demonstrates, the left is lying—knowingly lying—to build pressure for more gun controls over American citizens. Their ultimate goal is to take advantage of the porous US-Mexican border and the increased danger of Mexico continuing to descend into being little more than a narco-state in order to justify gutting the Second Amendment and passing confiscatory gun-control laws. Stories like the following expose both the strategy and its insidious intent.
While 90 percent of the guns traced to the U.S. actually originated in the United States, the percent traced to the U.S. is only about 17 percent of the total number of guns reaching Mexico.
By William La Jeunesse and Maxim Lott
Thursday, April 02, 2009
EXCLUSIVE: You've heard this shocking "fact" before — on TV and radio, in newspapers, on the Internet and from the highest politicians in the land: 90 percent of the weapons used to commit crimes in Mexico come from the United States.
— Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said it to reporters on a flight to Mexico City.
— CBS newsman Bob Schieffer referred to it while interviewing President Obama.
— California Sen. Dianne Feinstein said at a Senate hearing: "It is unacceptable to have 90 percent of the guns that are picked up in Mexico and used to shoot judges, police officers and mayors … come from the United States."
— William Hoover, assistant director for field operations at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, testified in the House of Representatives that "there is more than enough evidence to indicate that over 90 percent of the firearms that have either been recovered in, or interdicted in transport to Mexico, originated from various sources within the United States."
There's just one problem with the 90 percent "statistic" and it's a big one:
It's just not true.
In fact, it's not even close. The fact is, only 17 percent of guns found at Mexican crime scenes have been traced to the U.S.
What's true, an ATF spokeswoman told FOXNews.com, in a clarification of the statistic used by her own agency's assistant director, "is that over 90 percent of the traced firearms originate from the U.S."
But a large percentage of the guns recovered in Mexico do not get sent back to the U.S. for tracing, because it is obvious from their markings that they do not come from the U.S.
"Not every weapon seized in Mexico has a serial number on it that would make it traceable, and the U.S. effort to trace weapons really only extends to weapons that have been in the U.S. market," Matt Allen, special agent of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), told FOX News.
A Look at the Numbers
In 2007-2008, according to ATF Special Agent William Newell, Mexico submitted 11,000 guns to the ATF for tracing. Close to 6,000 were successfully traced — and of those, 90 percent — 5,114 to be exact, according to testimony in Congress by William Hoover — were found to have come from the U.S.
But in those same two years, according to the Mexican government, 29,000 guns were recovered at crime scenes.
In other words, 68 percent of the guns that were recovered were never submitted for tracing. And when you weed out the roughly 6,000 guns that could not be traced from the remaining 32 percent, it means 83 percent of the guns found at crime scenes in Mexico could not be traced to the U.S.
So, if not from the U.S., where do they come from? There are a variety of sources:
— The Black Market. Mexico is a virtual arms bazaar, with fragmentation grenades from South Korea, AK-47s from China, and shoulder-fired rocket launchers from Spain, Israel and former Soviet bloc manufacturers.
— Russian crime organizations. Interpol says Russian Mafia groups such as Poldolskaya and Moscow-based Solntsevskaya are actively trafficking drugs and arms in Mexico.
— South America. During the late 1990s, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) established a clandestine arms smuggling and drug trafficking partnership with the Tijuana cartel, according to the Federal Research Division report from the Library of Congress.
— Asia. According to a 2006 Amnesty International Report, China has provided arms to countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Chinese assault weapons and Korean explosives have been recovered in Mexico.
— The Mexican Army. More than 150,000 soldiers deserted in the last six years, according to Mexican Congressman Robert Badillo. Many took their weapons with them, including the standard issue M-16 assault rifle made in Belgium.
— Guatemala. U.S. intelligence agencies say traffickers move immigrants, stolen cars, guns and drugs, including most of America's cocaine, along the porous Mexican-Guatemalan border. On March 27, La Hora, a Guatemalan newspaper, reported that police seized 500 grenades and a load of AK-47s on the border. Police say the cache was transported by a Mexican drug cartel operating out of Ixcan, a border town.
'These Don't Come From El Paso'
Ed Head, a firearms instructor in Arizona who spent 24 years with the U.S. Border Patrol, recently displayed an array of weapons considered "assault rifles" that are similar to those recovered in Mexico, but are unavailable for sale in the U.S.
"These kinds of guns — the auto versions of these guns — they are not coming from El Paso," he said. "They are coming from other sources. They are brought in from Guatemala. They are brought in from places like China. They are being diverted from the military. But you don't get these guns from the U.S."
Some guns, he said, "are legitimately shipped to the government of Mexico, by Colt, for example, in the United States. They are approved by the U.S. government for use by the Mexican military service. The guns end up in Mexico that way — the fully auto versions — they are not smuggled in across the river."
Many of the fully automatic weapons that have been seized in Mexico cannot be found in the U.S., but they are not uncommon in the Third World.
The Mexican government said it has seized 2,239 grenades in the last two years — but those grenades and the rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) are unavailable in U.S. gun shops. The ones used in an attack on the U.S. Consulate in Monterrey in October and a TV station in January were made in South Korea. Almost 70 similar grenades were seized in February in the bottom of a truck entering Mexico from Guatemala.
"Most of these weapons are being smuggled from Central American countries or by sea, eluding U.S. and Mexican monitors who are focused on the smuggling of semi-automatic and conventional weapons purchased from dealers in the U.S. border states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California," according to a report in the Los Angeles Times.
Boatloads of Weapons
So why would the Mexican drug cartels, which last year grossed between $17 billion and $38 billion, bother buying single-shot rifles, and force thousands of unknown "straw" buyers in the U.S. through a government background check, when they can buy boatloads of fully automatic M-16s and assault rifles from China, Israel or South Africa?
Alberto Islas, a security consultant who advises the Mexican government, says the drug cartels are using the Guatemalan border to move black market weapons. Some are left over from the Central American wars the United States helped fight; others, like the grenades and launchers, are South Korean, Israeli and Spanish.
Some were legally supplied to the Mexican government; others were sold by corrupt military officers or officials.
The exaggeration of United States "responsibility" for the lawlessness in Mexico extends even beyond the "90-percent" falsehood — and some Second Amendment activists believe it's designed to promote more restrictive gun-control laws in the U.S.
In a remarkable claim, Auturo Sarukhan, the Mexican ambassador to the U.S., said Mexico seizes 2,000 guns a day from the United States — 730,000 a year. That's a far cry from the official statistic from the Mexican attorney general's office, which says Mexico seized 29,000 weapons in all of 2007 and 2008.
Chris Cox, spokesman for the National Rifle Association, blames the media and anti-gun politicians in the U.S. for misrepresenting where Mexican weapons come from.
"Reporter after politician after news anchor just disregards the truth on this," Cox said. "The numbers are intentionally used to weaken the Second Amendment."
"The predominant source of guns in Mexico is Central and South America. You also have Russian, Chinese and Israeli guns. It's estimated that over 100,000 soldiers deserted the army to work for the drug cartels, and that ignores all the police. How many of them took their weapons with them?"
But Tom Diaz, senior policy analyst at the Violence Policy Center, called the "90 percent" issue a red herring and said that it should not detract from the effort to stop gun trafficking into Mexico.
"Let's do what we can with what we know," he said. "We know that one hell of a lot of firearms come from the United States because our gun market is wide open."


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Invite to REPURPOSE Opening in the form of pizza delivery
Dean Arbuckle accepted a surprise pizza delivery from Prof. C.J.Yeh of the Communication Design Dept. today. This was no ordinary pizza. No extra cheese, mushrooms or pepperoni. But the ingredients were purely artisan-made! "Dear Joanne," the delivery slip read. "Please … Continue reading
Posted in Student Exhibit Tagged C.J. Yeh, Communication Design Dept., Red Bull Space, Repurpose 4 Comments