Ten Failed Tech Trends for 2005: "High Fidelity Digital Audio
Most digital audio on portable players is highly compressed. For the majority of pop and rock music, that's not a big deal. Recordings are often 'too hot' even for CDs, and compressing already distorted audio doesn't have much audible impact. But compressed MP3, WMA, and AAC files often will throw away too much.
This isn't exactly a new argument. The iPod and its camp followers in the digital audio player business seem to be the modern incarnation of the 1960s transistor radio. Way back then, audiophiles complained vociferously about how the transistor radio was creating a generation of consumers who couldn't appreciate quality audio. That lament is echoed by industry pundits (me included) who yearn for even higher-fidelity sound than current CD technology can deliver.
While a scant few players do support lossless compression formats (mostly FLAC), lossless formats are generally unavailable for portable players. As the storage capacity of these players increases, the designers seem to think you want to watch tiny video, rather than listen to clean, pristine, losslessly compressed music. So we get ten gazillion songs in 128KB format, rather than a few hundred encoded with lossless compression."
Ten Failed Tech Trends for 2005
Shut Him Up, Shut Him up!
MichaelMoore.com! : Latest News: "THE bound and bullet-riddled body of an Iraqi student leader has been found, a few days after he led a campus march alleging fraud in last week's election, a students' group said.
The body of Qusay Salahaddin was found close to a hospital in the northern city of Mosul with his hands bound behind his back and marks of strangling on it, a hospital source said.
Gunmen took Mr Salahaddin, president of Mosul University's students' union, from his house last week and bundled him into the trunk of a car before driving off, said Mohammed Jassim, a friend of the victim. He said Mr Salahaddin used his mobile phone to make last-ditch pleas for help.
'Save me, the Peshmerga have kidnapped me,' Mr Jassim quoted Mr Salahaddin, a Sunni Arab, as saying before the line went dead, apparently referring to Kurdish militia groups operating in northern Iraq.
Residents of ethnically mixed Mosul frequently blame rival Arab and Kurdish groups for the city's daily staple of murders, assassinations and kidnappings.
No group has claimed responsibility for the killing."
Top News Article | Reuters.com
Top News Article | Reuters.com: "WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Get ready for a minute with 61 seconds. Scientists are delaying the start of 2006 by the first 'leap second' in seven years, a timing tweak meant to make up for changes in the Earth's rotation.
The adjustment will be carried out by sticking an extra second into atomic clocks worldwide at the stroke of midnight Coordinated Universal Time, the widely adopted international standard, the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology said this week.
'Enjoy New Year's Eve a second longer,' the institute said in an explanatory notice. 'You can toot your horn an extra second this year.'
Coordinated Universal Time coincides with winter time in London. On the U.S. East Coast, the extra second occurs just before 7 p.m. on New Year's Eve. Atomic clocks at that moment will read 23:59:60 before rolling over to all zeros.
A leap second is added to keep uniform timekeeping within 0.9 second of the Earth's rotational time, which can speed up or slow down because of many factors, including ocean tides. The first leap second was added on June 30, 1972, according to NIST, an arm of the U.S. Commerce Department.
Since 1999 until recently, the two time standards have been in close enough synch to escape any need to add a leap second, NIST said.
Although it is possible to have a negative leap second -- that is, a second deducted from Coordinated Universal Time -- so far all have been add-ons, reflecting the Earth's general slowing trend due to tidal breaking.
Deciding when to introduce a leap second is the responsibility of the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service, a standards-setting body. Under an international pact, the preference for leap seconds is December 31 or June 30.
Precise time measurements are needed for high-speed communications systems among other modern technologies. "
Mentally Unstable Man Killed on Airplane
Mentally unstable man shot dead by US Feb Air marshalls. The flight was coming from Columbia and landed in Miami. It's understandable that these federal agents are there to protect people from "Terrorists" post 9/11. But did they act too fast? The time line on the events leading up to the shooting will probably be different on every outlet of news today. But ultimately-was this use of force necessary?
Anarchism
Anarchism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "Thomas Jefferson said the native American Indians 'never submitted themselves to any laws, any coercive power, any shadow of government. Their only controls are their manners, and that moral sense of right and wrong, which, like the sense of tasting and feeling in every man, makes a part of his nature...' and 'I am convinced that those societies (as the Indians) which live without government, enjoy in their general mass an infinitely greater degree of happiness than those who live under the European governments' (Notes on Virginia and Letter to Colonel Carrington)."
Creative Component :: design, development & consulting � Music Selling Dilemma : iTunes NOT TO BLAME
Creative Component :: design, development & consulting � Music Selling Dilemma : iTunes NOT TO BLAME: "In 1999, I released my CD, Flashlight Tag at Midnight on my own label, Poetic Wax Records. I chose to press 1500 copies through DiscMakers. I was thrilled when Discmakers offered free internet distribution through a company called The Orchard. The Orchard had a strong partnership with the great CDNOW.com. Like I said, I was thrilled.
The way the plan worked was: I sent The Orchard a box of 20 CD’s, which they would distribute for me. If anyone ordered from CDNOW.com [now Amazon.com], The Orchard would mail the CD to the recipient. I know this because I tested it.
I know for a fact that I sold more than 20 CD’s through CDNOW.com. It wasn’t a hot seller, but I watched the ranking and the sales, which was public information.
I let the whole issue go, but out of curiosity, I searched on Amazon.com, and my CD is still out there. I then went to iTunes, and my CD is out there too! Now this is really the crooked part. So you’re telling me that anyone can buy my music at iTunes, and I won’t see a penny of it!?
How do I know this? Because the CD’s are out in my garage. I signed-up for physical distribution of my CD — to move product, yet my CD’s are still here at home."
Seed: What Buddhism Offers Science
Seed: What Buddhism Offers Science: "The experience of consciousness is entirely subjective. The joy of meeting someone you love, the sadness of losing a close friend, the richness of a vivid dream, the serenity of a walk through a garden on a spring day, the total absorption of a deep meditative state—these things and others like them constitute the reality of human experience. And all of these experiences—from the most mundane to the most elevated—have a certain coherence and, at the same time, a high degree of privacy, which means that they always exist from a particular point of view."
World news from The Times and the Sunday Times - Times Online
World news from The Times and the Sunday Times - Times Online: "ELLEN Johnson-Sirleaf, a Harvard-educated former banker, made history last night by becoming Africa’s first female president."
PE.com | Inland Southern California | Inland News
PE.com | Inland Southern California | Inland News: "When police officers intentionally fired their guns over the past five years, they were aiming at animals at least half the time, according to records from four Inland police agencies.
In most cases, officers had no choice, law-enforcement officials say. They had to shoot because vicious dogs were threatening human lives. But some pet owners and animal-rights groups wonder whether too many dogs are being killed unnecessarily."
Bush meets Dalai Lama
My Way News: "'The Dalai Lama is not a mere religious figure. He is a political refugee who has conducted activities splitting China and undermining national unity,' said Chu Maoming, spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington."
BBC NEWS | South Asia | Fears for Indian 'marathon tot'
BBC NEWS | South Asia | Fears for Indian 'marathon tot': "Budhia Singh, who recently ran 60km (33 miles) in six and a half hours, has appeared in a spate of TV commercials.
The state government says it also fears the long distances may be damaging the boy's heart and lungs.
His mentor, Biranchi Das, dismissed the fears, saying Budhia had regular medical check-ups.
Orissa's sports minister, Debashis Nayak, said the government would not be a mute spectator to the exploitation and would intervene, if necessary, to 'save his future'.
Budhia recently ran non-stop from the holy town of Puri to Bhubaneswar, a distance of 60km (37 miles).
A few days before that, he ran non-stop from Bhubaneswar to Cuttack - 35km.
During a recent visit to Orissa, former top Indian runner, PT Usha, also said running for 50 to 60km so frequently could have disastrous long-term consequences for Budhia's health"
PE.com | Inland Southern California | Riverside Metro
PE.com | Inland Southern California | Riverside Metro
It's very sad when a former friend ends up making the local paper for foolishness.
The breaking of the Monica Lewinsky scandal and this year's Live 8 concerts were voted among the most influential Internet moments of the past 10 year
News: "The second most influential moment voted by the committee came in 1998 when the 'The Drudge Report' -- a then little-known, one-man news site -- beat the mainstream media in breaking the scandal of Lewinsky's affair with President Bill Clinton online.
The Drudge scoop paved the way for the blogging revolution and foreshadowed future online scoops, the committee said. "
Nabbed killer agrees to return to Texas - Nov 7, 2005
CNN.com - Nabbed killer agrees to return to Texas - Nov 7, 2005: "Thompson offered authorities no resistance when arrested, said Marianne Matus, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Marshals Service."
Could it be that he suffered such a culture shock that this convicted killer was more then willing to go back.
Weakened by domestic blows, Bush seeks validation abroad
BREITBART.COM - Just The News: "'Often in second terms, presidents concentrate more on foreign policy because what seems to happen is that their domestic authority tends to get undermined,'"
'I Will Eat Your Dollars' - Los Angeles Times
'I Will Eat Your Dollars' - Los Angeles Times: "'419 is just a game, you are the losers, we are the winners.
White people are greedy, I can say they are greedy
White men, I will eat your dollars, will take your money and disappear.
419 is just a game, we are the masters, you are the losers.'
'Nobody feels sorry for the victims,' Samuel said.
Scammers, he said, 'have the belief that white men are stupid and greedy."
Oscar Zeta Acosta
Oscar Zeta Acosta: The Biography Project: "Acosta is most well known as the author of two of the most important novels of the Chicano Protest Movement, Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo (1972), and The Revolt of the Cockroach People (1973). Both novels are highly acclaimed as major contributions to the Chicano literary renaissance. They are semiautobiographical and relate to Acosta's search for self-identity in the midst of an Anglo society at a time of great social unrest within the Chicano community. "
"My Beef With Big Media" by Ted Turner
"My Beef With Big Media" by Ted Turner: "Today, media companies are more concentrated than at any time over the past 40 years, thanks to a continual loosening of ownership rules by Washington. The media giants now own not only broadcast networks and local stations; they also own the cable companies that pipe in the signals of their competitors and the studios that produce most of the programming. To get a flavor of how consolidated the industry has become, consider this: In 1990, the major broadcast networks--ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox--fully or partially owned just 12.5 percent of the new series they aired. By 2000, it was 56.3 percent. Just two years later, it had surged to 77.5 percent."
In L.A., immigrants bypass English - World News - Webindia123.com
"In ethnically diverse Los Angeles, many immigrants find that learning Korean, Spanish or Mandarin is more important than English."
Dalai Lama: Hopeful signs in China of interest in Tibetan culture
Newsday.com: Dalai Lama: Hopeful signs in China of interest in Tibetan culture: "Tibetan Buddhist practice is not incompatible with Western science and that both traditions can learn from each other. "
"The majority of Americans still believe that salvation is possible only through Jesus Christ," he said.
The Dalai Lama did not address Hough's remarks directly but said, "If you look at the life of the Buddha, he evolved in an atmosphere of religious plurality."
Mysterious 'Ball Of Fire' Seen In Fla. Skies
local6.com - News - Mysterious 'Ball Of Fire' Seen In Fla. Skies
Could this be a cause of the Hurricanes? Celestial Inferno, unexplainable (sic).
Pocatello Idaho State Journal: Forecaster leaves job to pursue weather theories\
Pocatello Idaho State Journal: Forecaster leaves job to pursue weather theories\: "the Yakuza Mafia used a Russian-made electromagnetic generator to cause Hurricane Katrina in a bid to avenge the atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima."
HoustonChronicle.com -
HoustonChronicle.com -: "'I'm trying to make it a fairy tale so they won't panic,' said Nathan, who had four grandchildren in tow. 'I have to be strong for them.'"
Reality is not for the weakminded
Freedom Fighter of the Month
Axis of Justice | Freedom Fighter of the Month | Agatha Schmaedick: "In the wake of the Hurricane Katrina disaster, 20-year old Gibson found an abandoned bus on the streets of New Orleans. Stranded in a ruined city, and low on supplies, Gibson decided to use this bus for a rescue mission."
The Clash of Fundamentalisms
"what we have experienced is the return of History in a horrific form, with religious symbols playing a part on both sides: ‘Allah's revenge,’ ‘God is on Our Side’ and ‘God Bless America.’"
Zapata of Mexico
"Zapata emboldened the zapatistas in their struggle to win back control of ancestral community lands."
Russia, China work together to form of new world order in 21st century
"At present, the Russian-Chinese relations are the highest point they have ever gotten to during the entire history of the bilateral contacts"
Turn Left: Liberal Unfriendly Places - Riverside
Turn Left: Liberal Unfriendly Places - Riverside: "Lovely Riverside. Once the playground of the Hollywood Elite, what Palm Springs is today, is now one of the many degenerating cesspools of the concrete suburban nightmare known to the rest of the world as LA. "
'new journalism order' ?!?!?!?
"politicians 'of every persuasion' had gotten better at applying pressure on the conglomerates that own the broadcast networks. He called it a 'new journalism order.'"
The War for Latinos
"'We were watching a puppet show when all of a sudden a military song is playing in the background. I thought that was weird but kept watching. A couple of minutes later, all of us were looking at pictures on a TV screen of people in the Army giving food and supplies to kids in Iraq. My friends and I thought that was really weird--and got out.'"
Fox offer to send Mexican laborers
Like I've said before, good for business bad for the people. Fox's noble idea to remain a whore to the United States Government is a cost effective idea.
ABC News: Chavez Criticizes U.N. Reforms in Speech
ABC News: Chavez Criticizes U.N. Reforms in Speech: "'This is very suspicious … tomorrow or sometime in the future, someone in Washington will say that the Venezuelan people need to be protected from the tyrant Chavez, who is a threat,' he said in a speech that was broadcast on state-run television in Venezuela.
Chavez said Washington's 'imperialist' policies threaten not only foreign governments but also U.S. citizens, noting that hundreds of Americans have died fighting in Iraq.
'The majority of them are blacks, most of them Latinos,' Chavez told the crowd of 250, which included Dominicans and Puerto Ricans."
Chavez: U.S. Plans to Invade Venezuela
"We are coming up with the counter-Balboa plan. That is to say if the government of the United States attempts to commit the foolhardy enterprise of attacking us, it would be embarked on a 100-year war. We are prepared." - Hugo Chavez
Viva Chavez!
Is L.A. next?
FEMA declared in August 2001 that the three mega-disasters most likely to hit the US were (1) a terrorist attack on New York City; (2) a Category 5 hurricane hitting New Orleans; and (3) a major earthquake on the San Andreas Fault. Now we’ve had the first two. Is L.A. next?
For comment and analysis we turn to DAVID L. ULIN. His new book, The Myth of Solid Ground: Earthquakes, Prediction, and the Fault Line Between Reason and Faith is out now in paperback. Mike Davis calls the book “a wry, hugely original, and scary exploration of the unstable boundaries between science and folk magic in California’s culture of disaster.” Dave Ulin is the new editor of the Los Angeles Times Book Review.
ALSO: Does New Orleans have a future? ANDREI CODRESCU, the poet and novelist born in Romania who lives in Louisiana, says “New Orleans had a great period, and now it is going to sink into some kind of glorious mess, like Venice, and become just a tourist spot. People will come . . . to feel the grandeur of what was once there.”
PLUS: the life and music of Jimi Hendrix: CHARLES CROSS is the author of Room Full of Mirrors: A Biography of Jimi Hendrix. Charles Cross will be reading and signing at Book Soup on Sunset Strip at 7pm Wed.
PLAYLIST: “Hey Joe” (Smash Hits); “All Along the Watchtower” (Experience Hendrix); “Room Full of Mirrors” (The Jimi Hendrix Experience)
QUOTABLE: Bill Maher’s message to George Bush: “Mr. President, this job can’t be fun for you any more. There’s no more money to spend–you used up all of that. You can’t start another war because you also used up the army. And now, darn the luck, the rest of your term has become the Bush family nightmare: helping poor people. Now it’s time to do what you’ve always done best: lose interest and walk away. Like you did with your military service and the oil company, and the baseball team. It’s time.”
RECOMMENDED: “This American Life: After the Flood.” GREAT interviews – listen online at http://www.thislife.org/ -- scroll down to “After the Flood” -- click on the Real Audio icon.
For more info, links and audio, check the show website www.JonWiener.com
ABC News: Plague-Infected Mice Missing From N.J. Lab
The begining of the end has arrived. Let the mice run amuck in every city and every town.- Death has arrived
Former Rage Against the Machine vocalist Zack de la Rocha performing with Son de Madera
A discussion with Lawrence Scarpa, co-founder of Livable Spaces, and Sim Van der Ryn, UC Berkeley professor of architecture, will focus on sustainable building and design. The conversation with two of the country’s leading “green architects” is followed by a next generation fashion show showcasing young designers committed to fashion made from natural and sustainable materials.
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
As bodies recovered, reporters are told 'no photos, no stories'
A demonstration in control of media warrented by infamous "superiors orders" scapegoat.
But of course, Mr. President; it's the easiest thing to do: Bush Takes Responsibility for Blunders
It's also the least you can do, because you know are rich man because of it.
This is the page
As the cliche's go: a picture is worth a thousand words.
come to your own conclusion. What is necessity? What is right, what is wrong? What can we do.
Don't Divid and take sides, there too much to loose.
Castro: U.S. hasn't responded to Katrina offer
HAVANA, Cuba (CNN) -- Cuban President Fidel Castro told more than 1,500 doctors Sunday night that American officials had made "absolutely no response" to his offer to send them to the U.S. Gulf Coast to help victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Castro, a longtime adversary of the United States, initially offered to send 1,100 doctors and at least 26 tons of supplies and equipment, but the Communist leader announced Sunday during a televised speech that he had increased the number of physicians to 1,586. Each doctor would carry about 27 pounds of medicine.
"You could all be there right now lending your services, but 48 hours have passed since we made this offer, and we have received absolutely no response," Castro said at Havana's Palace of the Revolution.
"We continue to wait patiently for a response. In the meantime, all of you will be taking intensive courses in immunology and also something that I should be doing -- an intensive brush-up course in English."
Besides Cuba, several other countries and international agencies have offered money and supplies to the hurricane victims. (Full story)
In the past, Cuba has refused U.S. offers of aid, the most recent following Hurricane Dennis. That storm killed more than 10 people in the Caribbean island nation in July.
At that time, Castro said he would not accept help from Washington because of the U.S. trade embargo against his country. The United States has no diplomatic relations with Cuba.
Castro has named the Cuban rescue team the Henry Reeve Brigade in honor of an American who fought with Cuba's rebel forces during the Cuban War of Independence against Spain that began in 1895.
The doctors who have been mobilized went to South Asia after the December tsunami and have worked in other disasters.
Mars Make Movie Magic Texas psychedelic funk rockers let it all hang out on film
Rolling Stone Interview
Jul 2005
As they prepare for their August tour with System of a Down, the boys of Texas psychedelic funk rockers the Mars Volta -- singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala and guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez -- are ready for their close-up. And this won't be your normal band DVD.
"It will incorporate humor and live footage, and be shot on film, which doesn't happen anymore these days," says Rodriguez-Lopez, who is directing the movie.
In that spirit, the guitar prodigy rented five 16mm cameras to shoot Volta's March 13th gig at London's Brixton Academy, during their headlining tour in support of their sophomore breakout, Frances the Mute. He also captured a spiritual moment in Sweden: "We played an old cathedral, and the backstage was all amazing stained glass. I lit that up!"
Rodriguez-Lopez also says he has footage from the group's very first rehearsal -- "when we were a bunch of junkies and losers." (Clean for three years, the guitarist will only indulge in the occasional post-show smoke.)
The Mars Volta's stint with System kicks off on August 4th in Long Beach, California, just five weeks after the band was forced to cancel the rest of their European tour due to Rodriquez-Lopez's severe abdominal pains. All fixed up, the duo is set to tour North America through August 30th in Quebec City
What are these Bush Republicans afraid of? Dirty looks from the help at the country club?
"Most of these illegals come to work to send money back to their families. They are not bad people. But because they are predominantly young and male, they commit a disproportionate share of violent crimes." - Pat Buchanan
"Why should U.S. citizens be assaulted, robbed, raped and murdered, and have their children molested, because their government will not enforce its own laws?" - P. Buchanan
"Who can guarantee that, of the untold millions of illegals here, and the scores of thousands ordered deported for crimes who have disappeared into our midst, none is a terrorist waiting for orders to blow up a subway or mall and massacre American citizens?" -P. Buchanan
This is one man of many that will never understand that this land cannot be bought (but has) through any kind of system and because this land was never ours to begin with - but since he has the omnipotence of money and fear of what he already knows, he defends himself and manipulates "Americans" into drawing lines; Lines that were put there so that this country could be sold back to you.
You are herby ordered to Leave at once
The Bracero Program
The braceros converted the agricultural fields of America into the most productive in the planet.
The program under which more than three million Mexicans entered the U.S. to labor in the agricultural fields ended in 1964. The U.S. Department of Labor officer in charge of the program, Lee G. Williams, had described it as a system of "legalized slavery."
http://www.calstatela.edu/faculty/fbalder/decade.html
Last week the Juarez inter secretarial migratory labor office announced that group labor contracts expiring Seat. 15, would not be renewed.
Today the Juarez office, headed by Alberto Monroy, canceled contracts with the two farm associations which were scheduled to run until Dec. 31.
I need to go to the Doctors
I'm optimistic in this conservative town where Rivers die. Will it really change? I can only hope and help. 45 days & we'll see something.
Vecinos - Americanization & African Americans as neighbors or Why I Want to be a Puerto Rican
The only brave thing I did growing up in Sacramento, California, was to go see Malcolm X when he came to Sacramento. At a time when his audiences were largely restricted to African Americans, I went. Bravely, stupidly, not knowing that I would be a problem at the door. There I was, a brown child at the door, with these two men at the door looking at me, computing behind their eyes: Who in the hell is this Mexican kid, what does he want? They let me in. I do not forget that act of generosity today.
The continuing tales of Mr. Danger & The imperial Lady
"He's a private citizen. Private citizens say all kinds of things all the time,"- Donny "Rummy" Rumsfeld on Pat Robertson's call to assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
Televangelist Calls for Chavez' Death
TG:Pat Robertson, read your bible. Tell me where it say's that this is ok.
PR: I'm the founder of the Christian Coalition of America, of America as in: we don't give a fuck about anyone else. We will take and will pillage. The entire world is ours to conquer despite the cost of innocent lives lost. I'm safe, I've got money & protection which with my guns I will bear them for all to see.
TG: You pig, your just a megalomaniac, fucking sinner. Hell is awaiting you.
The Right to Survive
Mexican Hopefuls Eye Voters in L.A. - Yahoo! News
How could you just take the money and just forget?
Can we break bad habits of ignorance, almost inescapable; but with optimistic sacrifice we can overcome.
Riverside's Least Known
Forget Alien Ant Farm, Voodoo Glow Skulls, Blink+11-182.....all fine entertainment.
But The Bellrays are the real deal.
From today's L.A. Times:
Fast forwardFresh off a strong residency at Spaceland, the BellRays are working on material for their third album, which is drawing interest from three indie labels. Of course, vocalist Lisa Kekaula is nearly an industry herself: That's her belting out "Revolution Get Down" on a Nissan commercial; she's in the U.K. as one of the lead singers for Basement Jaxx; and she'll join the likes of Greg Dulli on Sept. 17 to perform with MC5 surviving members Wayne Kramer, Michael Davis and Dennis Thompson at UCLA's Royce Hall. The BellRays play Sept. 12 at the Viper Room.
Zoo Life
There are plenty of things that are out of your control, mine, and theirs. If a system or government is the deciding factor in the decision to stay or leave, don't expect to find what your looking for anywhere else. Our system is not perfect and never will be, although its not fucked. Its good enough, easy to survive in as are most of the systems in most of the countries around the globe. The issue of power will always be an issue. Can you guess why? Well why would a hord of people try to change a system which they are survivng in. It feels good to point out the many flaws of our government, its like rebeling w/o consequence, its actually one of the few rights we americans exersize. But it also feels good to have a job, a house, food, a/c, heat, the list goes on. In the back of all of our minds the question arises: would we really give up these things to make our system better, would we give up our life? I'm being extreme, but nothing is going to change if we don't sacrafice our comfortability. This is why nothing will change, I'd like to watch the walls of the U.S. Gov't crumble to the ground but it won't happen in mylife time. And its not because I hate the government, I love the ideals set forth by our founding fathers. But those ideals are like two human legs supporting an elefant and ass's body fused together making some hellish freak of a systems that works, somehow it still works.....somehow. We make it work, we don't try to bend the prison bars because we're too comfortabe to move. Like animals in a zoo who don't try to escape because they've got everything they need and wouldn't ever give that up.
Does This Sound Like Home?
RIVERSIDE - As city officials, police and more than 100 community members gathered at an Eastside restaurant Monday night to discuss the recent spate of gang violence, someone was in the parking lot slashing tires.
Susan Medina, owner of Zacatecas Restaurant on University Avenue, hosted the community meeting to discuss the shootings that have terrorized the Eastside this summer. The Eastside Think Tank, a grass-roots community organization, planned the event.
Medina said two cars' tires were slashed in her parking lot, and she had received an anonymous call earlier in the day telling her to cancel the event.
"They said this is not neutral ground," Medina said.
Over the past few months, at least a dozen people, not all of them gang members, have been shot in suspected black vs. Latino gang violence. On Saturday, four people were shot in two incidents.
A Nigerian man visiting from Oklahoma was in critical condition after he was shot without provocation across the street from the restaurant, police said.
At Monday's meeting, Mayor Ron Loveridge said, "Too often we've gathered here with the same kind of anger. I'm not sure what thinking out of the box is. But it's probably time to do that."
Loveridge and Deputy Chief Andy Pytlak assured the crowd that the Police Department has a suppression effort in the works.
Pytlak acknowledged that the violence had risen to an unconscionable level. He said the department has concentrated its patrols by uniformed officers in the area. Such a high-visibility crackdown, he said, should help to "keep gang members' heads down for a while."
Pytlak said the extra patrols will continue for at least a month.
"There are people on the Eastside who are even afraid to come out of their doors," said Woodie Rucker-Hughes, president of the Riverside branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and a Think Tank member.
Another Think Tank member, Riverside Community College Trustee Mary Figueroa, said, "It doesn't matter now whether you're involved in a gang." What matters, Figueroa said, "is the color of our skin."
She and others at the meeting blasted city leaders for displaying "selective outrage." Figueroa said the Wednesday shooting of an 11-year-old neighborhood girl caught in gang crossfire wasn't quite enough to generate widespread anger. It took a tourist getting shot on the Eastside to really get people's attention, Figueroa said.
"What I don't want to hear is 'the community needs to step up to the plate,' " Figueroa said. "We do," she added, demanding more action from the city.
Lifelong Eastside resident Valerie Silva said she wonders whether there's really anything that residents can do.
"Do you get involved?" she asked. "Do you not get involved? Is it too dangerous?"
Lt. Alex Tortes, the Eastside area commander, said Monday morning, "It's the wild, wild West out there."
Tortes said the community will have to share information with police if they want to catch the shooters.
"They're not people coming from outside the community," Tortes said. "They're family members."
In Arizona, Remove Grass, Get Rebate - Californians keep wasting resources
Grass is a thing of the past!
Bringin' Up the Rear
But we're number 1 (or close to it) in sprawl!! WooT, WooT!! Get me the hell outta here.....
August 8, 2005
L.A. County Tops the Nation in Employers but Not Wages- From Associated Press
For the most chances to get a job, consider working in Los Angeles. But if you want to earn a high wage, try New York City. A new U.S. Census Bureau report being released today shows that populous Los Angeles County leads the nation with the largest number of businesses while Manhattan tops the chart with the highest average salary. The bureau's 2003 County Business Patterns report analyzes business establishments in more than 1,000 industries on the national, state and local levels. The data are used by business planners to study economic activity.
In the report, Los Angeles County had 235,000 businesses, followed by Cook County, Ill., with 128,000 and Manhattan, also known as New York County, with 103,000.
In 2003, businesses in Los Angeles County had 3.8 million workers, who earned $147 billion. Cook County had 2.4 million employees, who made $102 billion, and New York City had 2 million workers and a payroll of $148 billion.
Among the nation's most populous counties, Manhattan had the highest average annual salary per worker at $73,000; the lowest average was in Riverside County at $29,000.
Rounding out the top five counties with the largest number of businesses are Harris County, Texas, with 86,000 and Orange County with 83,000.
Home Town Violence: soldiers without a purpose
Old wise men always have young followers, offspring and kin waiting with pride in line to take their places. These men are only perceived as wise to the fresh weak minds. They already have been brought up in an environment that is not conducive to positive change and usually reside less than desirable areas of town which affects their outlook until it turns to sour reality. They know nothing better than that what is influenced from their founding fathers: pride for ghosts and respect which they think they deserve. They are unable to take responsibility for themselves until they have only a few ways out. A few of these being prison and addiction and all along their lifetimes learning how to survive while gaining a sense of belonging from the same old men that taught them this the only way in their chaotic world.
There are exceptions to this and it requires the utmost optimism that they can change their reality any time they want, they cannot lay blame on the man or woman, they need to look in the mirror of life and see things how they are at this moment and how they’ve gotten this way; from this, these young people can see into the future further than tomorrow and gain the will to change, in the end some leaders prevail and those that don’t their followers will always fall short.
There is no fear in love as John once said and these soldiers have merely been fighting fear with fear and I can hope they are struggling to abandon the idea that it is the only way.
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