November 12, 2010 · 6:53 pm

Wireless Explosion « Washington and Lee University News

Oh, how things have changed since the dark ages when I first went to W&L in the fall of 1977 and lived in an unair-conditioned dorm with a shared phone down the hall.  And I thought I was cutting edge back then with both a TV and a record player/stereo in my room….

I was also the only Freshman with a stick vacuum cleaner for the carpets I brought with me…

For the past two years, Washington and Lee’s Information Technology Services, in collaboration with the Office of Institutional Effectiveness, has surveyed incoming first-year students to find out what kinds of technology they are bringing to campus. Those of us in the manual-typewriter and clock-radio generation of college students can only look in awe at what we’re seeing on campus today, especially the explosion in wireless devices.

For instance, about 60 percent of the entering students this fall brought smart phones with them. Smart phones are defined as those cell phones that offer data service, including Web browsing and e-mail. That represents a significant increase of 21 percent over just one year ago. As Jeff Overholtzer, director of strategic planning and communications for ITS, indicates, this is only the beginning. “We expect the increase in ownership of smart phones to continue. Virtually all students use cell phones, and use them in many ways, including texting (99 percent); the Web (61 percent); Facebook (59 percent); e-mail (55 percent); personal calendar (45 percent); and music (34 percent).”

When it comes to computers, only two out of 466 entering students did not bring one. On the other hand, 36 students brought two more more computers. And laptops now represent almost 99 percent of the total computers. While Macs had been in a steady climb in recent years, that trend leveled out this year, with about 61 percent of students bringing Macs.

More:   Wireless Explosion « Washington and Lee University News.

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November 12, 2010 · 5:06 pm

It Get’s Better: Canadian Ex-Gay Parody

Never let it be said I’m too politically correct to have a sense of humor…

I loved this….

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November 11, 2010 · 9:56 pm

Real Men

I love Joe Jackson.  This is one of my favorite songs and videos from the 1980’s.

So many layers….and still so – if not more – relevant today…

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November 11, 2010 · 9:43 pm

Tea party politicizing Dancing With the Stars? – Washington Times

Gag me….

Bristol Palin is one of the four finalists on “Dancing With the Stars,” the No. 1 rated show in the country, a fact that has bedeviled some fans and critics.

The 20-year-old daughter of the former governor of Alaska has consistently earned low scores from the show’s on-camera judges, but those scores are combined, a la “American Idol,” with the contestant’s call-in vote, where Miss Palin is a juggernaut.

The show’s producers think tea party voters who back Sarah Palin have turned “Dancing With the Stars” into a referendum on the power of grass roots political muscle.

via Tea party politicizing Dancing With the Stars? – Washington Times.

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November 10, 2010 · 10:31 pm

Sources: Pentagon group finds there is minimal risk to lifting gay ban during war

Surprisingly good news….

A Pentagon study group has concluded that the military can lift the ban on gays serving openly in uniform with only minimal and isolated incidents of risk to the current war efforts, according to two people familiar with a draft of the report, which is due to President Obama on Dec. 1.

More than 70 percent of respondents to a survey sent to active-duty and reserve troops over the summer said the effect of repealing the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy would be positive, mixed or nonexistent, said two sources familiar with the document. The survey results led the report’s authors to conclude that objections to openly gay colleagues would drop once troops were able to live and serve alongside them.

via Sources: Pentagon group finds there is minimal risk to lifting gay ban during war.

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November 10, 2010 · 10:08 pm

Decision Points – The Obama Version

This is going to be interesting…

President Obama left town and promptly got backed into the deepest corner of his still-young political life here. He now — finally, unavoidably — has some irreconcilable choices to make. How he makes them will define the rest of his term, his chances in 2012 and even the ultimate meaning of his presidency.

Although the Tea Party views the president as an incorrigible leftist, the fact is that Obama sold much of his agenda on the theory that activism in government could in fact save money. He also accepted much of the Reagan orthodoxy on tax cuts, or at least accepted the political reality of their popularity.

But now numbers — fiscal and political — are inescapably forcing him to choose. You simply cannot extend all of the Bush-era tax cuts, fight one and a half wars abroad and a security war at home, and hold Social Security, Medicare and other educational and health programs together and more or less unharmed

More: Decision Points – The Obama Version.

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November 10, 2010 · 8:43 pm

Soap Star Grant Aleksander Resumes Classes at W&L after 30 Years :: Washington and Lee University

Interesting article for the W&L and theatre friends.  I didn’t realize he and multiple Tony Award Nominee Rob Ashford also went to my college, Washington and Lee University, in Lexington, VA about the same time I did….

While his fellow students at Washington and Lee University may not recognize him around campus, his fans would know Grant Aleksander immediately.

He is the actor who portrayed Phillip Spaulding on the daytime drama “Guiding Light” at different times between 1982 and 2009. He also appeared in television series and movies, including the 1986 movie “Tough Guys” with Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas. Aleksander, 50, has now returned to W&L to complete his theater major 30 years after he left to pursue his acting career.

AND

Aleksander said he left W&L after his sophomore year to transfer to Tisch School of the Arts at New York University because he thought that he needed to go to a big theater school. “My assumption that I needed to be in New York because that was where the work was being done was correct,” he said. “But I was wrong to think that I needed to go to a big theater school. I learned an enormous amount about acting at W&L because I got to actually do it. I was in a lot of productions here and some of them were very difficult.”

“My time at W&L was really a pivotal time for me. I met the love of my life, who was a Lexington resident at the time, during a W&L production of Hamlet (he is married to attorney and former actress Sherry Ramsey) and we’re still happily together. I have nothing but wonderful memories of my time here. Now, it’s 30 years later and I’m surprised at how comfortable I feel back here in this environment. The school feels much as it did when I was here before, although there are some new buildings such as the sororities and the Lenfest Center.”

In addition to teaching acting classes, Aleksander is also assistant director to Mish for the Stephen Sondheim musical “Assassins” to be performed at the end of October in the Lenfest Center. Mish described “Assassins” as more of an acting piece than singing and dancing. “That’s one of the reasons I really enjoy working with Grant on this. Plus, we’re getting twice as much done in a shorter amount of time,” he said. “While I’m working with one group, he can take another group aside to work with them. And the students love him. They sort of know about his career but it doesn’t faze them and he doesn’t allow it to.”

Aleksander has also paved the way for a group of students to watch a rehearsal of the revival of “How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying” starring Daniel Radcliffe in New York City, courtesy of his friend and Tony award-winning choreographer Rob Ashford, who roomed with Grant at W&L .

via Soap Star Grant Aleksander Resumes Classes at W&L after 30 Years :: Washington and Lee University.

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November 8, 2010 · 10:32 pm

John F. Kennedy Photos from 1960 Campaign Published for First Time [PHOTOS]

Hard to believe it was 50 years ago today that JFK was elected President…

One of my first memories, as a very small child, is the JFK assasination coverage on TV….

Marking the 50th anniversary of the day that John F. Kennedy was elected president of the United States, a trove of new photos taken during Kennedy’s campaign against Richard Nixon has been released for the first time.

Taken by staff photographers at Life magazine, the new images were captured as Kennedy crisscrossed the country in the spring and summer of 1960 in his attempt to become the youngest man ever elected president. They show Kennedy in a variety of situations, from standing atop the hood of a station wagon while addressing a small West Virginia crowd, to quiet, more contemplative moments inside hotel rooms.

via John F. Kennedy Photos from 1960 Campaign Published for First Time [PHOTOS].

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November 8, 2010 · 12:01 am

Rielle Hunter Sought Affairs With Famous Actors: National Enquirer

I don’t need to comment, this says it all….

Rielle Hunter, the blonde film producer whose affair with John Edwards rocked the political world, is allegedly still on the prowl.

According to the National Enquirer, the same publication that blew the Edwards sex scandal wide open, Hunter recently visited Los Angeles — and tried to get in touch with at least a couple of famous men. The Enquirer reports that Hunter sought out “Friends” star Matt LeBlanc.

According to the article, Hunter told a friend that “if she can’t marry John Edwards, then marrying a famous actor is high up in those dreams of hers.”

Hunter is currently locked in a lawsuit with ex-Edwards aide Andrew Young, who could face jail time over a dispute about a John Edwards-Rielle Hunter sex tape.

More information about Hunter’s West coast trip can be found in the latest issue of National Enquirer.

via Rielle Hunter Sought Affairs With Famous Actors: National Enquirer.

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November 7, 2010 · 10:35 pm

Howl

We saw this film about Allen Ginsburg tonight and really, really liked it.  The trailer really doesn’t give you a clear picture of how creative the film really is.  There are a lot of layers depicted in black and white, animation and color cinematography.  It’s really good…

As my partner, Steve, said so well:  “If you love literature and/or Gay history, you must see “Howl”.

It’s also a fascinating study of the court case where they tried to have “Howl” declared obscene.  Makes you want to draw some parallels to today’s uptight conservatives…

 

 

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