Citing concerns over visitor safety, officials in Tokyo have temporarily banned the use of UAVs in 81 public parks throughout the city. An announcement released Tuesday explains that violators could face fines up to ¥50,000 ($8,000) for violating the…
Officials at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn, New York, confirmed that Derrick Griffith, dean of student affairs and enrollment management, was one of seven people killed in the derailment of the Amtrak train.
The college says the 42-year-old Griffith served Medgar Evers students and the community “with passion” and that he was “a champion for the downtrodden.”
It says he formerly was a school principal and in 2003 he founded the City University of New York Preparatory Transitional High School. He also was executive director of Groundwork. Inc., an organization formed to support young people living in high poverty urban communities.
Griffith joined Medgar Evers College in 2011 as assistant provost, the first of a number of roles he would fill at the college.
A month ago, he received a doctorate of philosophy in urban education from the City University of New York Graduate Center.
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While Ellen DeGeneres has been busy digitally dressing our own Matt Lauer in a series of barely-there outfits for months now, she’s also had her eye on some serious fashions for her fans.
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It’s weird being without a smartphone. It feels as if something is missing. That anxious feeling has a name — nomophobia — (no-mobile-phone-phobia) and researchers have found a way to evaluate how severe a person’s nomophobia really is.
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It’s a year since the EU ruled that people have the “right to be forgotten” online, in the process ordering Google to remove links when people ask it to. Here’s how they decide who deserves to have their requests granted.
Practical effects have gotten incredibly scarce in big-budget summer blockbusters, so it’s pretty refreshing to learn that every ride in Mad Max: Fury Road’s apocalyptic menagerie isn’t CGI — they’re all functional and drivable. Production designer …
Hank Thomas, one of three living Freedom Riders still alive from the May 14, 1961 bus firebomb attack in Anniston, Alabama, spoke before a mixed audience at a Georgia college recently. His message wasn’t just one of racial reconciliation. It was about “allies.”
Photo of the poster for the event taken by the author.
For those who don’t know, the Congress Of Racial Equality (CORE) sent out two integrated teams to see if bus terminals were desegregated or not. When they reached Anniston, Alabama, a mob attacked the bus. At the climax, the Greyhound bus was firebombed. Thomas and fellow bus passengers were then beaten as they escaped, and received little help from the local hospital.
Photo of the sign commemorating the firebombing of the Greyhound bus outside Anniston taken by the author.
“That was America,” Thomas pointed out. “That wasn’t Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union or the Ukraine.”
One might expect Thomas to be pretty angry, condemning whites, but that wasn’t his message. It was one of unity, between blacks and whites, as the key in the civil rights struggle.
“When we won World War II, the headlines said ‘The Allies defeat the Nazis,'” he told the audience and those who had to watch the event in the overflow room. “They didn’t say one country alone, but ‘The Allies.'”
Thomas continued “And we had allies in the civil rights struggle. Whites stood and marched with us. The Jews were out there. There were even Holocaust survivors with us on the picket line. This grateful Gentile says thanks…Lest that I forget thee, O Jerusalem.”
When a student asked him for advice about the difficulty of biracial conversations, Thomas had a surprise in store for us. “We’ve always heard that whites have to start the conversation. But blacks should go out of their way to talk with whites, and not just about sports.”
Thomas also talked about how he, and some other members of the civil rights movement, served in the military. Thomas received several medals, including the Purple Heart, fighting for America in the Vietnam War.
“What will your legacy be?” he challenged the students, staff, faculty, administrators, and members of the community.
Afterwards, when we got a chance to chat at the college dining hall, I asked “what should the media do?” After all, he had been critical of some media coverage of racial relations.
“The media has a social responsibility to report the positive, not just the negative,” Thomas told me. He then brought up a story about how he tried to call the press about a low income school he was helping, which had a record number of ROTC members get into service academies. “They weren’t interested in covering the story. But when someone called them about a rumor of a gang fight, they showed up in 15 minutes. Good news about racial relations is all over the place. You just have to cover it.”
Surveying the LaGrange College campus cafeteria, Thomas added “Here’s a good example. This is one of the most integrated groups of students I’ve ever seen. The only place I’ve seen this much integration is at Ole Miss, where they are making a conscious effort to promote blacks and whites sitting together.”
Site of the future Freedom Rider Park to commemorate the events of May 14, 1961. Photo by the author.
John A. Tures is a professor of political science at LaGrange College in LaGrange, Ga. He can be reached at jtures@lagrange.edu.
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This is definitely not “excellent” news for “Simpsons” fans.
Harry Shearer, the comic and actor who provides the voices for numerous iconic characters, including Mr. Burns and Ned Flanders, appears to be leaving the show. Shearer tweeted a message late Wednesday that he said came from an attorney for James L. Brooks, one of the show’s executive producers:
from James L. Brooks’ lawyer: “show will go on, Harry will not be part of it, wish him the best.”. (1/2)
— Harry Shearer (@theharryshearer) May 14, 2015
Brooks, who is also active on Twitter, has not yet responded.
“The Simpsons” was recently renewed for two more seasons. However, over the weekend, TMZ reported that Shearer had not yet signed a new contract and was negotiating over back-end and merchandising.
On Twitter, Shearer indicated that the reason for the apparent impasse was something else entirely:
This because I wanted what we’ve always had: the freedom to do other work.
Of course, I wish him the very best. (2/2)
— Harry Shearer (@theharryshearer) May 14, 2015
Along with the characters of Mr. Burns and Ned Flanders, Shearer provided the voices of Principal Seymour Skinner, Smithers, news anchor Kent Brockman, the Schwarzenegger-esque action hero Rainier Wolfcastle and more. His role in 2013’s “Four Regrettings and a Funeral” episode even won him an Emmy Award for Outstanding Character Voiceover Performance.
Shearer has had a prolific career beyond his work on “The Simpsons.” He was a cast member twice on “Saturday Night Live,” and portrayed Derek Smalls in “This Is Spinal Tap” and other “Spinal Tap” projects. He also frequently collaborates with fellow “Spinal Tap” bandmate Christopher Guest, appearing in the films “For Your Consideration” and “A Mighty Wind.”
Shearer, who blogs for The Huffington Post, recently portrayed President Richard M. Nixon in the “Nixon’s the One” series.
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The Samsung twin flagships have had their fun, sort of, so now it’s LG’s turn in the spotlight. Considering the rivalry between the two Korean companies, it feels fair to subject the LG G4 to the same torture, er, tests as the Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy S6 edge. After all, the G4 is not as fragile-looking as the other … Continue reading
The music streaming business has already been quite crowded and tough the past few years, and there is no indication that it’s going to let up any time soon. Rdio might be already feeling that pressure even more, with the likes of Spotify gaining more and more traction. As a stop gap measure, the streaming service is introducing Rdio Select, … Continue reading
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