March 2011Monthly Archives

o.m.g.

In 1492, Christopher Columbus landed in what is now the Bahamas, changing the world forever. But was he first non-indigenous person to reach the Americas? Vikings got there before him, and possibly Polynesians too…and those are just the sane theories.

Before we get started on this, I want to make one thing clear – this isn’t about who “discovered” the Americas. That, of course, happened somewhere between 13,000 and 40,000 years ago when human beings first traveled from northern Asia to the Americas, probably by boat

. It’s certain that indigenous people discovered America.

Here’s the question I want to consider: between the first wave of human settlement of the Americas all those thousands of years ago and the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492, how many other groups reached the Americas? And, for that matter, did any indigenous groups from the Americas ever travel to other continents? To those questions, science offers one easy answer, one shaky but decent possibility, a whole lot of racist claptrap, and even more crazy speculation based on the flimsiest of evidence. So let’s dive in, shall we?

Everyone’s curious about jailbreaking their iDevices, but so many myths swirl around that it’s easy to get confused about exactly what jailbreaking is and why you might try it. That’s why we’re separating jailbreaking fact from fiction, one rumor at a time.

Jailbreaking isn’t an arcane science, but it’s surrounded by enough rumors to make deciphering the truth quite a problem. Most of these rumors seem to have stemmed from cautionary tales from the media—and Apple itself. But are we really at risk of turning our nice, shiny iPhones into lifeless bricks? We decided it was high time to sift through some of the rumors to reveal the facts about jailbreaking.

Photo Credit: FRED ZWICKY/JOURNAL STAR

I’ve seen a number of stories over the last year

about iPads being used to help children with autism. One I spotted today at TimesReporter.com

– thanks to a tweet by Tracey Weil of Tales2Go

– is maybe the most compelling one yet.

Theocracy in America

Should we be more worried about radical Islamists or Christian fundamentalists?

A. Barton Hinkle

| March 29, 2011

Listen to Audio Version (MP3)

America faces the clear and present danger of a takeover by theocrats who want to impose their religion on everyone else. The only problem is, we don’t know which religion.

During the 2008 presidential campaign one Fox News executive repeatedly tried to smear Barack Obama with charges of “socialism.”

Liberal watchdog group Media Matters has uncovered audio that indicates Fox News Washington managing editor Bill Sammon was just engaging in what he called “mischievous speculation.”

In 2009, Sammon told an audience aboard Mediterranean cruise sponsored by a right-wing college that his 2008 attempt to link Obama to socialism was “a premise that privately I found rather far-fetched.”

“Last year, candidate Barack Obama stood on a sidewalk in Toledo, Ohio, and first let it slip to Joe the Plumber that he wanted to quote, ‘spread the wealth around,’” Sammon said. “At that time, I have to admit, that I went on TV on Fox News and publicly engaged in what I guess was some rather mischievous speculation about whether Barack Obama really advocated socialism, a premise that privately I found rather far-fetched.”

During the 2008 campaign, the then-Washington deputy managing editor repeatedly suggested that Obama had socialist tendencies.

On Oct. 14, 2008, Sammon said that Obama’s comment to Joe Wurzelbacher “is red meat when you’re talking to conservatives and you start talking about ‘spread the wealth around.’ That is tantamount to socialism.”

In early February, Media Matters obtained an email where Sammon offered talking points to Fox News staff, linking Obama to socialism and Marxism during the 2008 campaign.

“If Fox News really cares about its ‘reporting,’ they will fire DC exec Bill Sammon over this,” former MSNBC anchor David Shuster tweeted Tuesday.

During the 2008 presidential campaign one Fox News executive repeatedly tried to smear Barack Obama with charges of “socialism.”

Liberal watchdog group Media Matters has uncovered audio that indicates Fox News Washington managing editor Bill Sammon was just engaging in what he called “mischievous speculation.”

In 2009, Sammon told an audience aboard Mediterranean cruise sponsored by a right-wing college that his 2008 attempt to link Obama to socialism was “a premise that privately I found rather far-fetched.”

“Last year, candidate Barack Obama stood on a sidewalk in Toledo, Ohio, and first let it slip to Joe the Plumber that he wanted to quote, ‘spread the wealth around,’” Sammon said. “At that time, I have to admit, that I went on TV on Fox News and publicly engaged in what I guess was some rather mischievous speculation about whether Barack Obama really advocated socialism, a premise that privately I found rather far-fetched.”

During the 2008 campaign, the then-Washington deputy managing editor repeatedly suggested that Obama had socialist tendencies.

On Oct. 14, 2008, Sammon said that Obama’s comment to Joe Wurzelbacher “is red meat when you’re talking to conservatives and you start talking about ‘spread the wealth around.’ That is tantamount to socialism.”

In early February, Media Matters obtained an email where Sammon offered talking points to Fox News staff, linking Obama to socialism and Marxism during the 2008 campaign.

“If Fox News really cares about its ‘reporting,’ they will fire DC exec Bill Sammon over this,” former MSNBC anchor David Shuster tweeted Tuesday.

How do we fight social injustice when so many seem to have lost hope? According to provocative intellectual Cornel West the answer is simple – love.

On Monday’s Riz Khan we speak to the bestselling author who argues that we are living in “catastophic, catatonic, and catalytic” times but we must face them with compassion.

We live in an age where we have photos of Mercury. Mars is mapped. We have seen the surface of Venus. We have photographed the gas giants.

Strange times have befallen us, times of utter wonder:)