Thursday, July 15, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
5 Fun Ways to Help Your Kids Learn Math Online
Rebecca Zook is an online female math tutor who has been helping students get math into their brains for seven years. She blogs about learning at Triangle Suitcase.
We’ve sorted the contenders from the pretenders and found five genuinely fun ways to help your kids learn math this summer. These unique technologies go way beyond the world of flashcards, and use surprising tools including rap music, adaptive technology, psychological research and wailing guitar solos.
They’re fun. They’re easy to use. And they aren’t lame.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Check out the Apple Museum’s latest video that explores thirty years worth of Apple computers in just two minutes. Ah, nerdy nostalgia.
The Apple Museum - 30 years in 2 minutes
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Eminem honors Dr. Dre at ASCAP's 23rd Annual Rhythm and Soul Awards Ceremony
The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) held it's 23rd annual Rhythm and Soul Music Awards last night at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, where some of music's biggest names were recognized for their contributions to music. Dr. Dre was honored with ASCAP's Founders Award.
DJ Kid Capri took the stage to perform a set of songs reflecting his career. A presentation package was played highlighting Dr. Dre's career. From his days with the band N.W.A, his solo career and as work as a producer. Clips of the videos for the songs "Let Me Ride", "Gin and Juice","California Love","Rich Girl" and "Family Affair". Snoop Dogg and Eminem spoke of how they admired Dr. Dre as a person and his work. Dr. Dre was also showed in various clips during his career which included him talking about critics, saying, "You can't critique my sh-- unless you have done half of the stuff I have accomplished."
Eminem made a surprise appearance to present the award the award to Dr. Dre. Eminen thanked Dre for believing in him. "It would have been a lot easier for Dre to dismiss me like most people did...the white kid with the funny voice... "but he didn't. He stepped up to the challenge because he saw something in me. ... He changed the face of music and he changed my life he stated.
Dre then took the stage to accept the award, "I'm living an incredible life," he said. "Making a living doing what I love and having people love it. I can't even explain what that feels like", as he fought back tears.
Dre paid respects to his mother, who became pregnant with him at the age of 15. "She was always told by family, friends and neighbors or whatever, she was going to ruin her life and mine," he said.
He also thanked his wife, whom he described as his in-house A&R and Jimmy Iovine, chairman of Interscope-Geffen-A&M Records, for being with him through ups and downs, and his fans for always being there.
Some of the other top awards were Songwriter of the Year to Ne-Yo and the duo C. "Tricky" Stewart and The-Dream, who tied with six chart-topping singles each.
Jermaine Dupri, Johnta Austin and Manuel Seal for Song of the Decade for "We Belong Together.", which they wrote for Mariah Carey.
Matthew "Boi-1da" Samuels was honored for Top Rap Song "Best I Ever Had," which he wrote for Drake.
"Blame It" by Jamie Foxx and featuring T-Pain earned writers Christopher Henderson, Brandon "Note" Melancon, The-Dream, C. "Tricky" Stewart, and Nate Walka the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Song of the Year.
Ernest Estee Bullock for writing " Souled Out" which was the Top Gospel Song.
EMI Music Publishing was honored with the Publisher of the Year award.
The ASCAP Vanguard Award went to Janelle Monae. Performing at the event were Dondria, Miguel and Gucci Mane. In attendance at the event were Prince, TI,Ron Artest and Ryan Phillippe to name a few.
Check back for more details on the awards from the red carpet to the show from your LA Music Examiner who was on the scene.
For more information on Dr Dre, please visit: Dr. Dre
For more information on ASCAP, please visit ASCAP Awards.
* Home * About o Contact & Licensing o New Site / Old Site * Lifestream * Opentape A Little More Justice in Mississippi
A Little More Justice in Mississippi
Henry Dee
Settlement Reached in Civil Suit Charging Franklin County, MS Role in 1964 KKK Murders
On Monday, June 21, Franklin County, Mississippi agreed to a settlement in an historic civil suit with the families of Charles Moore and Henry Dee, two 19-year-old Black men who were kidnapped, tortured and murdered by members of the Ku Klux Klan on May 2, 1964.
“This is the first time, to my knowledge, that any civil lawsuit against public officials for collaborating with the KKK has reached the point of settlement,” said Margaret Burnham, lead attorney for the family members who brought the suit against Franklin County. Klansman James Ford Seale went to prison in 2007 for his role in the murders; this landmark civil suit addressed the roles of Mississippi government officials in the double murder and subsequent cover-up of what had occurred.
“It’s a bit of a stretch to say they were ‘held accountable,’” Burnham added, “because they did not admit to the facts we presented.”
“I’m convinced there’s nothing else that I can do to get any more truth,” said Thomas Moore, brother of victim Charles. Moore said further that African Americans in his home county “are joyful that somebody brought Franklin County officials to reality and to the way they treated other people.”
Thomas Moore and Thelma Collins, sister of victim Henry Dee, filed the civil suit against Franklin County, MS in August, 2008. The suit focused on the respective roles and actions from 1964 to 1967 of Franklin County Sheriff Wayne Hutto and Franklin County Deputy Sheriff Kirby Shell, both now deceased. “In the aftermath of the killings,” according to the complaint by Moore and Collins,
Sheriff Hutto misled the Plaintiffs when they inquired of the Sheriff about their loved ones. Further, Sheriff Hutto deceived the Plaintiffs into thinking he knew nothing of the whereabouts of Moore and Dee when in fact he did.
Throughout 1964, Hutto and Shell misled investigative agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation about the murders, concealing their participation in the events of May 2, 1964, the day the two young men were killed.
Hutto and Shell covered up their role in these crimes, deceiving law enforcement officials as well as the Plaintiffs. Plaintiffs did not become aware of the participation of Hutto and Shell as co-conspirators until the federal indictment was returned on January 24, 2007. Nor could Plaintiffs have discovered Hutto and Shell’s culpability before the indictment. The U.S. Justice Department immunized Charles Edwards, one of the coconspirators and, on November 3, 2006, obtained from Edwards a full statement of the crimes revealing for the first time ever the involvement of Franklin County on the day the men were slain.
Thomas Moore holds photo of his brother, Charles. (Postcard for Mississippi Cold Case, created by David Ridgen.)
“The settlement didn’t need to happen,” noted documentary filmmaker David Ridgen, “if Franklin County officials would have simply apologized to the Moore and Dee families for the actions and inactions of their officials in colluding with and in some cases participating in the Ku Klux Klan’s reign of terror during the civil rights era.”
Ridgen’s film Mississippi Cold Case documented Thomas Moore’s quest to learn the truth about what happened to his brother Charles and to Henry Dee. In their work together on the film Ridgen and Moore uncovered evidence that led to the indictment, trial and conviction of Klansman James Ford Seale.
“I am proud of Thomas Moore for being the juggernaut that pushed this civil suit forward with his lawyers,” Ridgen said, “and I am hopeful that it will lead to civil trials in the near future that will hold Mississippi and elsewhere, state and county, accountable.”
“This is a case about unconscionable crimes and unconscionable deception,” Moore and Collins charged in their complaint.
It is also a case about the systematic denial by Franklin County of law enforcement protection to African-Americans and to whites suspected of opposing the Klan’s campaign of racist terror.
It is a case about the collusive and unlawful relationship between the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan and Franklin County.
Franklin County officials stated in their resolution that they do not condone “the horrific deaths of Charles Moore and Henry Dee. “The county desires not to imply the deaths were anything but abhorrent.”
But the county denied any responsibility for the deaths of the two 19-year-old Black men. The officials resolved that the county had not “caused or contributed to the deaths of these two young men. These deaths are believed to have resulted solely from the criminal actions of the Ku Klux Klan.”
In their resolution, the Franklin County officials questioned the evidence in the civil complaint, drawn substantially from the evidence presented in the criminal trial of James Ford Seale that led to his conviction.
George Colllins, President of the Franklin County Board of Supervisors, who signed the resolution accepting the terms of settlement with Thomas Moore and Thelma Collins, had no comment when he was reached on the phone on Tuesday night.
“What we sought to prove was common knowledge at the time,” Margaret Burnham said, “that these crimes could not have persisted without the support of local officials….There is no statute of limitations on murder, no expiration date on moral obligation, and there should be no impunity for human rights violators.”
“I am satisfied with the verdict of the criminal trial, and I’m satisfied with the settlement,” concluded Thomas Moore. “I ran the race and I fought a good fight. I am finished with this case.”
“I am at peace for the first time in 46 years,” Moore said.
(Cross-posted at Civil Rights Cold Case Project)
Podcast
Thomas Moore, phone interview by Ben Greenberg, June 22, 2010 [7:11m]: Hide Player | Play in Popup | DownloadDocuments
- Franklin County Board of Supervisors Resolution (PDF)
- Statement, Civil Rights and Restorative Justice, Northeastern University School of Law (PDF)
- Moore v. Franklin County Complaint (PDF)
Additional Coverage
- Michele Norris, “Miss. Officials Agree To Settlement In ’64 Slayings” (NPR)
- Jerry Mitchell, “Lawsuit over ’64 deaths settled” (Jackson Clarion-Ledger)
- Jonathan Saltzman, “Justice follows decades of silence” (Boston Globe)
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