(This is an update on an earlier blog post called "Snow in Atlanta".)
The Atlanta, Georgia area is getting a healthy dose of snow, and this blogger, taking care of his mother's home in suburban Atlanta, is in the middle of it. The snow is coming down fast and here's the video of it all:
To think. Exactly one week ago on Friday, I was in balmy South Beach, Miami, Florida for the Super Bowl festivities...
Now I'm here.
The snowy conditions have forced thousands of flight cancellations at Atlanta-Harsfield-Jackson Airport. But flying in the snow is one thing; driving in it something else. For those of us trained by their fathers to drive in midwestern snow, this is not a problem. But then, it's the other Southern drivers that really concern me.
Reportedly, this is supposed to go on all day long, and it has done that and is still snowing albeit at a really slow rate, then we reportedly get a break on Saturday, and it starts up again Sunday.
That trip into Atlanta I planned never happened; I've got snow to shovel.
Stay tuned.
Friday, February 12, 2010
University shooting at Alabama-Huntsville: Dr. Amy Bishop is suspect
A university shooting at Alabama-Huntsville University has neuroscientist Dr. Amy Bishop as the key suspect (the Huntsville Times reports Bishop's Harvard-trained but what relevance that is to the story is a mystery). Bishop's being held, along with her husband, but has not been charged with a crime as of this writing. Three people, all Alabama-Huntsville faculty members, are dead.
Amy Bishop joined the UAH faculty in 2003. With her husband, Jim Anderson, Bishop created a portable cell-incubator called "InQ" which won the couple an award in a state competition and won $25,000 of seed money in a business competition, money they could use to start a company around the invention.
A search for the name "Amy Bishop" revealed a web page that had this text, instead of Bishop's profile:
Dr. Bishop was also working on a cybernetics project called The Neuristor, using neurons as we use integrated circuits in a living computer. Bishop wrote:
Amy Bishop was reportedly denied tenure. What happened after that, a hypothesis, may be that Bishop went off when she perceived the University as trying to take and profit off of an idea she developed, just as they were getting rid of her. At that point, Bishop may have went berserk.
Stay tuned.
Amy Bishop joined the UAH faculty in 2003. With her husband, Jim Anderson, Bishop created a portable cell-incubator called "InQ" which won the couple an award in a state competition and won $25,000 of seed money in a business competition, money they could use to start a company around the invention.
Amy Bishop
A search for the name "Amy Bishop" revealed a web page that had this text, instead of Bishop's profile:
There has been a shooting on campus. The shooter has been apprehended. The campus is closed tonight. Everyone is encouraged to go home. Classes are cancelled for tonight. Any additional cancellations or changes will be announced as they become available. There is a Command Center set up at Madison Hall Room 109. Counselors are available in University Center Rooms 125, 126 and 127 for anyone who wishes to speak with a counselor.
Dr. Bishop was also working on a cybernetics project called The Neuristor, using neurons as we use integrated circuits in a living computer. Bishop wrote:
Neuroengineering
My laboratory's goal will be to continue in our effort to develop a neural computer, the Neuristor™, using living neurons. This computer will exploit all of the advantages of neurons. Specifically, neurons rich with the nitric oxide NO dependent learning receptor, N Methyl D Aspartate receptor NMDAR, will be utilized. These have previously been studied in the context of induced adaptive resistance to NO IAR. For the Neuristor™ we will take advantage of the IAR phenomena since it has been demonstrated that IAR neurons express more learning and memory receptors NMDAR as well as increased neurite outgrowth. The neurons that we are currently using are mammalian motor neurons. We are exploring the possibility of using neurons derived from adult stem cells, and from bony fishes provided by Bruce Stallsmith Ph.D. This laboratory has created a portable cell culture incubator, the Cell Drive™ that is an ideal support structure for the Neuristor".
Amy Bishop was reportedly denied tenure. What happened after that, a hypothesis, may be that Bishop went off when she perceived the University as trying to take and profit off of an idea she developed, just as they were getting rid of her. At that point, Bishop may have went berserk.
Stay tuned.
Bill Clinton out of hospital and back to work today
Former President Bill Clinton is out of the hospital in New York City and back to the same schedule he maintained before he complained of a "discomfort" in his chest on Thursday.
The 42nd President of the United States walked out of New York Presbyterian Hospital Friday after an overnight stay to have two stents installed to restore healthly blood flow. President Clinton had quadruple bypass surgery for four blocked arteries in 2004.
President Clinton was joined by his wife, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and his daughter Chelsea Clinton at the hospital.
As I said in this video, Clinton needs to take time from his Bush - Clinton - Haiti work to get some rest:
Stay tuned.
The 42nd President of the United States walked out of New York Presbyterian Hospital Friday after an overnight stay to have two stents installed to restore healthly blood flow. President Clinton had quadruple bypass surgery for four blocked arteries in 2004.
President Clinton was joined by his wife, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and his daughter Chelsea Clinton at the hospital.
As I said in this video, Clinton needs to take time from his Bush - Clinton - Haiti work to get some rest:
Stay tuned.
Tim Wise speaks in Oakland: anti-racist activist
Even with the election of President Barack Obama, America is still plagued by racism, according to author Tim Wise. The anti-racist activist was in Oakland last week discussing his most recent book, "Between Barack and a Hard Place: Racism and White Denial in the Age of Obama."Students packed a Laney College classroom Wednesday, Feb. 3 Tim Wise lecture, part of the campus' Black History Month lecture program.
Wise -- who is white -- said the recent economic downturn, fear over health care reform, the changing demographics of America, and the election of the first African American president in the U.S. has caused great anxiety for white people in America. The rise of the “Tea Party” demonstrations and much of the backlash against the Obama administration is due to a perceived loss of “white privilege.”
"For the first time you actually have to realize that America’s not just about white folks,” Wise said, referring to the luxury of America being seen as a nation for white people. “When all of a sudden that changes, an awful lot of people aren’t ready.”
“All of a sudden you have a white America” no longer “totally convinced that everything’s going to be okay. He added that the economic collapse has caused many white people to feel as if they are “losing” the country and wanting “their” country back. “They’re talking about going back to the day when they were the norm. They could take it for granted that they were the norm.”
During the question and answer period, his advice on confronting subtle or subconscious racism was confrontation, critically. He said some whites may not be conscious of their racism, but by asking questions or critiquing racist remarks and statements, people who are not overtly or intentionally racist, will improve.
“You don’t want to just jump on them, you want them to think,” Wise suggests.
Read the complete article or watch a video recording on TheBlackHour.com.
Snow in Atlanta, Georgia coming down fast
The Atlanta, Georgia area is getting a healthy dose of snow, and this blogger, taking care of his mother's home in suburban Atlanta, is in the middle of it. The snow is coming down fast and a video of it all is coming soon.
The snowy conditions have forced thousands of flight cancellations at Atlanta-Harsfield-Jackson Airport. But flying in the snow is one thing; driving in it something else. For those of us trained by their fathers to drive in midwestern snow, this is not a problem. But then, it's the other Southern drivers that really concern me.
Reportedly, this is supposed to go on all day long, then we get a break on Saturday, and it starts up again Sunday.
That trip into Atlanta's looking all the more risky.
Stay tuned. Video coming.
The snowy conditions have forced thousands of flight cancellations at Atlanta-Harsfield-Jackson Airport. But flying in the snow is one thing; driving in it something else. For those of us trained by their fathers to drive in midwestern snow, this is not a problem. But then, it's the other Southern drivers that really concern me.
Reportedly, this is supposed to go on all day long, then we get a break on Saturday, and it starts up again Sunday.
That trip into Atlanta's looking all the more risky.
Stay tuned. Video coming.
DC Metro train Red Line derailment is second incident in one year
DC Metro train Red Line derailment is second incident in one year
A DC Metro train derailed for the second time in the young 21st Century. On Friday, the first two cars of the DC Metro Red Line train derailed at 10:13 am EST, as it was leaving the Farragut North Station. There were 345 passengers, but only three were injured.
Here's the Associated Press video:
While some passengers reported they didn't feel the train derailment, the incident marks the second major DC Metro accident in less than a year. During the Monday evening rush hour of June 22nd of 2009 a DC Metro train crashed into another one right in front of it, killing nine people. It was the worst accident in the DC Metro rail system's 33 year history.
DC Metro crash video from YouTube:
DC Metro crash video from AP:
The DC Metro, MARTA in Atlanta, and BART in the San Francisco Bay Area, were all developed and built in the 70s by Westinghouse, which created the ROHR cars (see here and here). Now, with the DC Metro's two accidents, it's time to ask if these systems are in need of a major overhaul.
A DC Metro train derailed for the second time in the young 21st Century. On Friday, the first two cars of the DC Metro Red Line train derailed at 10:13 am EST, as it was leaving the Farragut North Station. There were 345 passengers, but only three were injured.
Here's the Associated Press video:
While some passengers reported they didn't feel the train derailment, the incident marks the second major DC Metro accident in less than a year. During the Monday evening rush hour of June 22nd of 2009 a DC Metro train crashed into another one right in front of it, killing nine people. It was the worst accident in the DC Metro rail system's 33 year history.
DC Metro crash video from YouTube:
DC Metro crash video from AP:
The DC Metro, MARTA in Atlanta, and BART in the San Francisco Bay Area, were all developed and built in the 70s by Westinghouse, which created the ROHR cars (see here and here). Now, with the DC Metro's two accidents, it's time to ask if these systems are in need of a major overhaul.
Dan Abrams on NBC; expands Mediaite with Geekosystem
Dan Abrams (in photo), who at one point had his own show on MSNBC, was on NBC again Friday after a bit of a television hiatus to start the media news website Mediaite. Now, TechCrunch has taken note of Publisher and founder: Dan Abrams's new site called Geekosystem.
This young, black, bald, geek blogger was totally underwhelmed by Geekosystem because it seems to reflect what Geek culture looks like from a young, white, frat boy perspective. (Not that Dan Abrams is such a person). Not the term "Geek" wasn't used to describe that view. Geekosystem, to the extent such a thing really exists - and it does - contains blacks, whites, Asians, Latinos and Latinas, Indians, and a large number of people of color.
The Geekosystem also contains a large number of women that aren't represented in Dan Abrams' version of The Geekosystem.
One woman that Dan Abrams should be aware of is Jane McGonigal at The Institute for The Future, who spends much of her time not only playing games, but making games and studying how people interact within a game structure, which could be anything from a board game to, well, the whole World. Yet, there's nothing about, say, the top 10 female programmers or game developers.
But on that note, Geekosystem's "Top 10 Programmers" does include one woman, indicating the influence of Dan Abrams associate Rachel Sklar, maybe? One can only hope.
In fact, that's the problem. Geekosystem's Editor-At-Large is not Rachel Sklar, but Andrew Cedotal. Nothing against Andrew, but Dan was better off having Rachel fill that role. Of course, the bias here is that Rachel's a friend of this blogger, and this blogger is a contributor to Mediaite, but the overarching issue is the theme, message, and direction of Geekosystem: it's a mess that does not live up to its mission:
It's the in the "oft-overlooked personalities" that Dan Abrams new venture fails. More often than not, the "oft-overlooked personalities" are geeks who women and people of color. A token mention does not solve the problem; a total Geekosystem overhaul is necessary.
This young, black, bald, geek blogger was totally underwhelmed by Geekosystem because it seems to reflect what Geek culture looks like from a young, white, frat boy perspective. (Not that Dan Abrams is such a person). Not the term "Geek" wasn't used to describe that view. Geekosystem, to the extent such a thing really exists - and it does - contains blacks, whites, Asians, Latinos and Latinas, Indians, and a large number of people of color.
The Geekosystem also contains a large number of women that aren't represented in Dan Abrams' version of The Geekosystem.
One woman that Dan Abrams should be aware of is Jane McGonigal at The Institute for The Future, who spends much of her time not only playing games, but making games and studying how people interact within a game structure, which could be anything from a board game to, well, the whole World. Yet, there's nothing about, say, the top 10 female programmers or game developers.
But on that note, Geekosystem's "Top 10 Programmers" does include one woman, indicating the influence of Dan Abrams associate Rachel Sklar, maybe? One can only hope.
In fact, that's the problem. Geekosystem's Editor-At-Large is not Rachel Sklar, but Andrew Cedotal. Nothing against Andrew, but Dan was better off having Rachel fill that role. Of course, the bias here is that Rachel's a friend of this blogger, and this blogger is a contributor to Mediaite, but the overarching issue is the theme, message, and direction of Geekosystem: it's a mess that does not live up to its mission:
The mission of Geekosystem is to unite all the tribes of geekdom under one common banner. There’s a lot of overlap between the different families of geekery: The geeks who are into gadgets and computers are often one and the same as the geeks who are into comics and sci-fi are often just the same as the geeks who are fueling the culture of the Web — one forum or imageboard at a time. As the site’s name suggests, Geekosystem recognizes and celebrates these interconnections and the oft-overlooked personalities that hold it all together.
It's the in the "oft-overlooked personalities" that Dan Abrams new venture fails. More often than not, the "oft-overlooked personalities" are geeks who women and people of color. A token mention does not solve the problem; a total Geekosystem overhaul is necessary.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)