And Hunter’s own Veralyn Williams was on WNYC’s Brian Lehrer show along with Jennifer Nedbalsky, a founder of the GMC and Giovanni Mato, editor-in-chief of Word on the Street.

The very fact that the states in the U.S. continue to execute anyone, even if they are “guilty,” is deplorable. The justice system’s propensity to convict and sentence indigent people, black men in particular, is a practice that must end now. Every citizen deserves a fair trial, no matter what his or her race or economic status.

Yet, this injustice is not new. It has historical ties going back to the institution of slavery, the post-Bellum oppression of black communities and the thousands of lynchings of the early 20th century. This makes the execution of a black man in Georgia even more disparaging.

I beg you, the men and women of the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles to take the higher moral ground and reconsider the case of Troy Davis.

Think of the consequences of executing an innocent man. It would be tragic and prove that justice is not blind.

Think of the implications of executing a ‘guilty’ man. Execution is not a proven deterrent of crime. To the contrary, it demonstrates that the so-called correctional system is punitive and does nothing to ‘correct’ or help those who are warehoused in prisons across this nation.

Sincerely,

Fivel Rothberg

Take action at http://www.amnestyusa.org/troydavis

I was also excited that my son, Noam, got to meet them.  He had a lot of fun playing around with Angela’s interactive flash / video piece – which can be seen below.

in terms of the subject matter, the interview with mr. goldstein was interesting because it was great to hear a government official talk directly about issues that don’t neccessarily get touched on. in particular, i was interested in hearing where the advertising money goes. the gps / credit card machines in nyc cabs now have the capability to display ads on their screens. it was not clear who directly benefits – the medallion owner, fleet owner, or machine vendor. it seems like it’s simply a means of reducing costs for the medallion owners as they pay less money in leasing fees on the machines if they agree to have ads on the screens.  Yet from a taxi driver’s perspective, they could care less because they still pay a 5 % service charge with every credit card swipe.  And the cabbies aren’t particularly happy about hearing the same ads cycle over all day.  One person I spoke to, Bill, joked about how “these are the same people who had recorded celebrity voices – including Elmo – telling passengers to ‘buckle up’ every time they got in the cab.  It drove cabbies nuts.”  Can you imagine hearing Elmo say “Buckle Up For Safety” over 30 times a day?  yikes.

just from a filmmaking perspective what i find amazing is that everytime you turn off the camera people say far more coherent and interesting things than when on-camera. on the one hand it tells you just how practiced some folks are at acting ‘natural’ when on-camera. on the other, there must be filmmakers out there who have some amazing techniques that get people to relax.

there’s also the fact that i didn’t notice the subject’s lav mic wire had come out from behind his tie and was dangling across his body. yikes. during the interview i was just concentrating on asking the questions, listening to his responses and going with the flow of the conversation. then, after looking at the footage – wham – there it is. it feels like such an amateur mistake. and who wants to make amateur mistakes? grrrr.

that being said, i’m going to go over the footage again tonight. b/c i know the wire wasn’t visible the entire time, so there must be useful segments in there.

The conference was inspired by a game called Peacemaker, which was developed by ETC graduates at Impact Games. Apparently ETC and CMU have an incubator program for start-ups coming out of the program. And Impact benefited from this program, obviously. The game is essentially a “God” game that places players in the shoes of either the Palestinian President or the Israeli Prime Minister. And unlike the typical video game scenario, one must “wage peace” to succeed. Players have various methods with which to wage peace, such as making a speech, sending in military forces, contacting the UN, etc…

Although I’m from Philly, I’d never been to Pittsburgh. And for some reason I had it in my head that it would be a very similar place. But no, I was pleasantly surprised by the new scenery. It’s certainly has an Appalachian feel to it, with the three rivers converging among hilly streets, a slew of victorian houses, etc.. We didn’t have much time to wander around. Okay, none really. But we did get a tour. Pittsburgh has a ton of cathedrals, and because we were at a game-related conference, we all thought of how they could have been levels in Zelda or Super Mario Bros.

The conference opened last Wednesday afternoon with unremarkable speeches at the main campus. In the evening we gathered at the Entertainment Technology Center facility, which is adjacent to the Ohio river. The center takes up about three floors of a modern building, which also houses some science labs. Coming from Hunter College, the facility is all the more spectacular. Electronic gadgets, toys and all kinds of games abound. The students have collaborative studio space to work in which looks like it came right out of Silicon Valley – which it essentially did. The primary faculty are ‘alums’ of big corporations like Disney, Pixar and LucasArts. And those are just a few of the places that students end up.

So, it’s a bit surprising that Peacemaker came out of that program, and that this program is even holding a conference related to technology and peace.

Computer Science 50: Introduction to Computer Science I is a first course in computer science at Harvard College for concentrators and non-concentrators alike. More than just teach you how to program, this course teaches you how to think more methodically and how to solve problems more effectively. As such, its lessons are applicable well beyond the boundaries of computer science itself. That the course does teach you how to program, though, is perhaps its most empowering return. With this skill comes the ability to solve real-world problems in ways and at speeds beyond the abilities of most humans.

Check out some pics from the event below:

next event:
Mixer & Presentations
Thursday / / 11.15.07 / / 7 – 10p

Hunter College Black Box
695 Park Ave. / / Room 543 HN

6 train to 68th St / / F train to 63rd St.
enter on 69th St. btwn Park and Lexington
elevator or stairs to fifth floor

free & open to public
electronicsocialclub {ATT} gmail {dot} com

eyespeakima.org