The Unintended Consequences Of Diversity

After years of insisting that the key to a better world is diversity, the City of Atlanta is learning that a more diverse population may lead to some unintended consequences:

There are fears in Atlanta's black community that its declining presence in the population could shrink its political influence and endanger social policies that support diversity, Mayor Shirley Franklin said Friday.

It seems that all of those wonderful "social policies that support diversity" have led to an increase in the Hispanic and Asian populations. Unfortunately, the city also saw a decline in the black population as more and more of these residents are moving to the suburbs to take advantage of better real estate values and (as Mayor Franklin calls them) "so-called better schools". Overall, the Black population in Atlanta has declined from 70% to 60% during the '70s and '80s.

So, the lesson for today is diversity is desirable only until one's political influence is threatened.

How delightfully progressive...

June 6, 1944

Here, in this place where the West held together, let us make a vow to our dead. Let us show them by our actions that we understand what they died for. Let our actions say to them the words for which Matthew Ridgway listened: "I will not fail thee nor forsake thee.''

Strengthened by their courage, heartened by their value [valor], and borne by their memory, let us continue to stand for the ideals for which they lived and died.

"The Boys of Pointe du Hoc"

President Ronald Reagan

June 6, 1984

Lawyer Too Sleepy To Defend His Client

Charles Curbo is asking for a new trial due to the fact that his sleepiness prevented him from properly representing his client:

"The court constantly rushed defense counsel, who the court knew had little sleep on account of the hours that the court was keeping for no good reason," Curbo wrote.

Actually, the reason the court was keeping such long hours was to accomodate Tony Wolfe's need for dialysis treatments, which would cause the trial to start late on those days.

The best part? Tony Wolfe is Charles Curbo's client.

Spam of the Month

And now, the first in a new series here at GHS: Spam of the Month.

There are millions and millions of unsolicited e-mails sent every day. Some manage to rise above the crowd. These are those stories:

From Mrs. Aminatu Abubaka Arikama. [Buba for short]

Dear, [Yes, sweetheart?]

I am Mrs Aminatu Abubaka Arikama, from Sierra Leone republic, residing in Cote d'Ivoire. I am married to Mr Abubaka Arikama, who deals in Cocoa and Gold business in Cote d'Ivoire for twenty five years before he died in the year 2002. We were married for twenty years and God give us a son, his name is Abubaka Usman Arikama Jr who is 22 now, and because of my husband love to me he refused to marry another wife [Huh?!?]. He died after a brief illness
from food poison which lasted for only four days [must have been some of that time release food poison]. Since his death I decided not to remarry or get another child outside my matrimonial home [how noble!], my husband relatives was responsible for his death because they want to inherit the entire legacy, I was ill and my son is still a little boy [Little? I thought he was 22?].

Before the death of my husband he deposited a huge amount in a suspense [Oh, the suspense!]account with a bank here in Cote d Ivoire [Of course he did], Since my Doctor told me that I have a little time left (about Six months) due to cancer problem [Christ, you have cancer too? This has not been your year!]. Having known my condition and I can not survive this cancer illness, and I don't want to lose my only son, I decided to transfer this fund and my son out of this country.

I took this decision because I don't want to lose every thing my husband has worked for, and my husband relatives are not even good at all because they are responsible for the death of my husband in other to have all his properties and I don't want my husband's efforts to be used by those that conspired for his death [Yeah, only non-conspirators and complete strangers on the Internet need aply!] and they will still kill my son if they have the opportunity.

Contact me only on email address; as soon as I receive your reply of accepting to help me I will give you all the details including your percentage for assisting us.

Thanks.

May God be with you.

From Mrs. Aminatu Arikama

I guess the Ethiopians resolved all of their banking issues, since I haven't gotten one of their e-mails in a long time.

Dave Cockrum: 1943 - 2006

Sad news today. Dave Cockrum, the man who gave the Uncanny X-Men a second chance at life, passed away on November 26 after a long battle with diabetes:

The artist laid the groundwork for an unparalleled comic book success story when, in 1975, he launched the "new" X-Men alongside writer Len Wein and editor Roy Thomas. GIANT-SIZE X-MEN #1 and the reinvigorated UNCANNY X-MEN grew to legendary status, the impact of which is still felt in today's comic world. Cockrum's first tour of duty with the characters was from 1975 to 1977, and he then returned to his creations from 1981 until 1983.

The man created Colossus, Storm, Phoenix, Mystique, and Nightcrawler - featured most prominently in the last X-Men movie. That, my friends, is what we call a legacy.

The AP story adds a couple of nice details, sure to resonate with any true fanboy:

In his Superman pajamas and with his Batman blanket, Cockrum died in his favorite chair at his home in Belton, S.C., early Sunday morning.

The article also mentions that Cockrum will be cremated wearing a Green Lantern t-shirt.

Cockrum's passing also brings attention to a long-standing stain on the comics industry, the issue of creator's rights. For years, creators of a lot of comics most popular characters received little or nothing in the way of recognition or royalties for their work, even though their creations went on to make millions for the publishing companies. Sadly, Dave Cockrum found himself in the same situation. Fortunately for him, writer Clifford Meth and comics legend Neal Adams petitioned Marvel Comics to do the right thing, which they eventually did.

A nice little tribute site can be found here.

The End of an Era

I'm in mourning today. I just learned of the passing of a very, very old friend.

WKLS FM, 96Rock in Atlanta, GA.

Yes, that's right, a radio station. But not just any radio station. 96Rock was the station for me and my friends during late elementary school, all of high school, and during college. That's a lot of years out of my life, so I suppose I'm also mourning my lost youth, and the memories of happier, simpler times.

96Rock was there for me when I first began to discover and explore my own awareness of music. Remember arguing with your parents over what station would be playing on the car radio? Well, 96Rock was always my choice.

As the name implied, 96Rock was Atlanta's home of rock n roll. In the early 80's, a lot of the heavier stuff got played - Ozzy, Iron Maiden, Nazareth, AC/DC, all in their album-oriented glory. Then, a TV commercial featuring Paul Schaeffer announcing that "our voices had been heard. Enough of the heavy stuff!" From then on, it was a steady mix of the Clash, Aerosmith, The Cars, The Police, plus all of the classic stuff (Led Zep, The Who, Stones, Beatles). I was exposed to everything that made rock great during those days - the best of the British Invasion, the supergroups of the 70's, Southern Fried rock, plus all of the newest mainstream goodness. Back then, you didn't just listen to the music, you lived it, you loved it. I think that's what made the AOR format so great - you didn't just hear what was popular, you heard what was good (at least in the DJ's opinion), and it was never the same. During those days, 96Rock provided the soundtrack to my life.

I can still remember hanging out in my room at night, the lights off, just laying there listening to Willard spin the "Perfect Album Side"...

Listening to Kaedy Kiely in the afternoons. Kaedy has forgotten more about rock music than most people will ever know. I had a huge crush on her...

The Friday 5:00 Whistle. The official end of the week for a lot of years. Once those songs started playing, you knew the weekend was officially here...

Christopher Rude in the mornings always made me laugh...

Honestly, Pink Floyd and Comfortably Numb would have meant nothing to me without 96Rock.

It's no secret that radio has seen better days. With competition from the Internet and IPods, radio stations have had to struggle to stay profitable. Unfortunately, the best business decisions are rarely the best programming decisions, which is why a great legacy station like 96Rock had to die its slow death. A regular poster on the Radio-Info site sums it up nicely:

Radio is no longer flesh and blood; it’s becoming a playlist on a media server connected to an antenna run by suits. Nothing lasts forever. RIP 96Rock.

I suppose I'm part of the problem myself. My intense hatred of what passes for today's "popular" music has kept me listening to a steady diet of talk radio and my IPod for years. It's not that I haven't wanted to listen to 96Rock, it's just that I've long since gotten out of the habit of relying on radio for my musical entertainment. It's okay, though. Today's 96Rock is certainly not the same glorious station I listened to in my youth. Those days are truly gone. However, I would liked to have been listening as the station breathed its last. I understand the last song played was Baba O'Riley by The Who.

Which, by the way, was the very first song ever played on 96Rock.

So we have come full circle, and it's nice that someone thought to end it on that note, rather than just playing the next song in the rotation. It's nice that someone remembered.

And of course, those of us in the teenage wasteland will never forget.

Adventures in Mobile Blogging

I'm in my car, in a parking lot, enjoying my lunch hour.

Not very exciting in itself, but I'm blogging about it anyway.

You gotta love technology.

Mobile Blogging

Very cool.

I got a new Cingular 8125 smartphone over the weekend. Yes, it was expensive, and no I didn't need it. However, the phone is very cool, and has a ton of great functions. One of things I did with the new phone is something I've wanted to do for a while - mobile blogging. I just used the phone to send an e-mail message to Blogger's mobile site, and that message was uploaded as a regular post.

I look forward to doing some more mobile blogging in the very near future. I'll just drive around, see what there is to see, and blog about it.

Technology is a wonderful thing.