April 7, 2006

Afromerica Urban Survival Kit? Is there anybody out there willing to part with $75.00 for this?

March 15, 2006

I'm Back!!! Nearly sixty days since my last post, but like usual its time to stir the waters. How many of you read news from other parts of the planet? Let me rephrase that. Is the American media your only news source? I found this article on a British web site and the headline immediately grabbed my attention, “Picasso 'stole the work of African artists'”.

Wait; hold on a second or two, because I've never heard this accusation before. It turns out that many of Picasso's works have never been exhibited in South Africa until recently. The gallery where 84 of Picasso's original works are being displayed contains 29 African sculptures similar to the artist's own collection.

Picasso never visited Africa , but his interest in African art is well documented, and he was even an avid collector of African art. When questioned on the subject Picasso is famously declared “L'art nègre? Connais pas" – “African art? Never heard of it”.

Complete article as posted on the British web site http://www.telegraph.co.uk

January 15, 2006

Over the last few days I've heard the phrase ‘Ministerial Alliance' mentioned several times. Who are the alleged members of this elusive group?

This past Wednesday (January 11, 2006) the Ministerial Alliance was to present their program for the week long MLK Celebration.

Prenis Williams stood in front of the podium and announced the topic for the evening ‘Prayer & Praise / Reflections on Dr. Martin Luther King as a brother in the ministry'. His eyes scanned the sparse audience assembled before him and the only minister in the building was Rev. V.P. Perry and he was asked to come forward.

Rev. Perry came forth and gave a powerful and edifying address on the history of a revolution that changed the course of America. It is the opening remarks of Rev. Perry that haunt me; “… I'm saddened and disappointed that no other members of the Ministerial Alliance are present …”

Thursday night during the NAACP presentation the question was posed to identify the leaders of the black community and once again there was the phrase ‘Ministerial Alliance'. Most of the ensuing conversation about the Ministerial Alliance leadership was not elevating.

January 2, 2006

Florida teen skips school and supposedly flies alone to Iraq. I'm sure you've heard the story of Farris “Bueller” Hassan by now. Don't know what it is about this story but something just strikes me as being odd.

What was his reason for going to Iraq? Farris says he felt guilty for living in a large house in South Florida, driving a nice car and hanging out with friends without the fear of suicide bombers. And he tops that off with his desire to help the Iraqi people. Now that's hard for me to swallow because Farris is an American citizen (born in the good old USA just like me).

Originally Farris claims that no one knew of his intentions and he did all this without his parent's knowledge, but today CNN reports that his father helped him obtain a visa to enter Iraq from Beirut. Not only that but he also disclosed that he spoke with his son almost daily.

Look at his travels:

December 11 – Departs Miami
December 12 – Amsterdam, Netherlands
December 13 – Kuwait City, Kuwait-Iraq border
December 14 – ?????
December 15 – Beirut, Lebonon
December 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24 - ?????
December 25 – Baghdad
December 26 - ?????
December 27 – Walks into the offices of the Associated Press
December 28 – 101st Airborne takes custody of him

With all the restrictions and security of post 9/11 has somebody found a way to bypass the system? Remember, no one found it strange that students cared more about flying planes than landing.

December 15, 2005

Christmas falls on Sunday this year and the buzz in the news is about mega churches closing on Sunday December 25, 2005. What's next? Churches closed on Easter? Sounds silly, huh?

But think about it, we have managed to remove Christ from Christmas and Easter is slowly morphing into a spring Halloween.

How many children know nothing of the birth, death and resurrection but eagerly entertain the notion of Santa and the Easter bunny?

December 11, 2005

Where are our priorities? I suppose that by now you've read in the Amarillo Globe News that you can adopt a dog or cat that was rescued from the hurricane.

Thousands of people dislocated, homes destroyed, families uprooted, Katrina housing subsidies ending and on top of that it's the Christmas season.

Have we come to a point where our concern is greater for a dog than our brother?

December 9, 2005

Mexican Gang targeting black women for murder at Wal-Mart. Does this sound familiar to anyone? Have you gotten this email or a similar version?

Do not forward this email because it is false. Details and the history of the 'Mexican Gang' rumor can be found on the SNOPES web site.

Click here http://www.snopes.com/crime/gangs/memphis.asp

If you had seen this article on the cover of a supermarket tabloid, would you have given it a second thought or just dismissed it as being false? Take a moment to question information received by email before forwarding it to a friend. The Internet is still relatively new as a widespread method of communication and we need to become savvy about identifying electronic hoaxes and scams.

The Internet contains a wealth of valuable information, but keep in mind that your 13-year-old neighbor can publish on the Web as easily as the Amarillo Globe News can!

December 5, 2005

Just got an urgent email from a friend, alerting me of the latest virus danger, subject line reads 'VERY IMPORTANT WARNING'. It warns not to open a PowerPoint file named 'Life is beautiful.pps'. Turns out that it was just another email hoax. Any harm done? After all he was just trying to help, by alerting me of a potential threat to my computer.

Well actually in his eagerness to help he became more of a threat than the harmless hoax. Let's do the math. His email was addressed to more than 11 people. We'll round that number to ten, so if those ten forward the email to another ten recipients. And this process continues for five more iterations.

Q: How many emails sent?
A: Eleven million one hundred eleven thousand one hundred and ten (11,111,110)

What, you doubt that the cycle could be sustained at the rate of ten? How about five?

10 x 5 = 50
50 x 5 = 250
250 x 5 = 1250
1250 x 5 = 6250
6250 x 5 = 31250
31250 x 5 = 156250

Now don't forget to sum all the equations to get the total number, so that makes 195,310 emails sent.

Hmm? Surprised by the results? Plug in three and the results are 10,930. Try two and the results are 1,270 emails.

If each recipient averages sixty seconds to read the email, what's the total time expended on this hoax? If you take the low end of the spectrum, 1,270 emails would be 21 hours. Move up one notch to 10,930 emails, now the time leaps to an astonishing 7.59 days. Might as well go up one more rung, 195,310 emails equal 4.52 months.

So what's my point?

If my friend had taken 60 seconds to google 'Life is beautiful.pps' he would have known it was a hoax and deleted the email. Possibly not wasting 4 months of valuable time propagating a hoax and most importantly it would saved you from listening to me ramble.

December 2, 2005

Since Monday I've received the Wizards of Winter.wmv, christmashouse.wmv or xmaslights.wmv file as an email attachment several times. The file depicts a yard and house decorated in Christmas lights, the flash of the lights are set to music. The file is large (almost 5 megs) and can't be sent to some email accounts.

Some talented person spent a huge amount of time and effort to create this tiny masterpiece and I think it would be a disgrace if you couldn't receive this file because your email prohibits large file transfers. So right click here to download the Wizards of Winter file. Enjoy the light show.

December 1, 2005

The comments above were posted to the blackamarillo.com Shout Box by CJ Rich. On Monday 11/21/2005 a copy of this post was sent to the Principles and Assistant Principles of Palo Duro High School asking for a reply. No response has been received.

I agree with CJ. The struggle to change the Tascosa High School mascot was a long hard fought battle and is still an open wound to some THS alumni. Was there any justification for PDHS playing Dixie? The majority of the PDHS students are non-white; could this be a valid argument for playing Dixie? After all there are still narrow minded individuals in our ranks who believe that the color of their skin gives them the right to use the 'N' word.