Daily Archives: June 23, 2012

Freedom Fest celebration begins with an elusive duck

Posted: June 23, 2012 at 9:18 pm

The official brochure presented by The Austin Area Chamber of Commerce says June 30, but for many listeners of KAUS Radio the magic moment comes at 7:35 a.m. Monday when the first clue in the Golden Duck Treasure Hunt is announced.

Although he doesnt know what the clue will be, KAUS Radios John Wright assumes it wont provide much to go on. The clue is important, however, because it will likely have a bearing on the next clue and the one after that, he explains. Its more fun when the game lasts.

Clues are provided by the 'Clue Crew,' he said, and we dont even know who they are.

What is certain is that the Golden Duck has become a solid fixture of the Freedom Fest program.

Its been going on longer than Ive been here, Wright said. I know it goes back to Cedar River Days. They dont even ask us if were going to do it anymore.

Hes also sure of the rules: The duck must be hidden on public land and inside the city limits; he or she cant be under water; cant be buried; and cant be more than five feet off the ground.

The rules are there to make sure that the hunt is safe, Wright said.

While there are 22 events listed in the Chamber program for Freedom Fest 2012, two will be new to most people.

The Raptor Center of the University of Minnesota has promised Festival Director Jeff Baldus that it will bring an American Bald Eagle to Family Day in the Park at Bandshell Community Park on July 3. The Centers 45-minute shows are set for 3 p.m., 4:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. at the Kids Game Area.

And the Austin Fire Department has challenged fire departments from the surrounding area to a battle of the barrel from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. on July 4 at Ninth Place S.W. The contest decides who can best handle a fire hose to move a barrel down a cable. After the battle, kids will have an opportunity to give it a try.

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Freedom defeat Things for sweep

Posted: at 10:12 am

It was a 1980s theme night at Consol Energy Park Friday, and when the Florence Freedoms Davis Harris stepped into the batters box in the top of the seventh inning, a picture of Rocky Balboa, the fictional pugilistic character made famous by actor Sylvester Stallone, was displayed on the large video board in right centerfield.

It was indeed appropriate because Harris would deliver a knockout punch to the Wild Things.

Harris, who at the time was 0-for-11 in the series, smacked a two-run RBI that was the key hit in a four-run inning that send Florence to a 5-3 victory and sweep of the three-game series.

It was a good series for us, Florence manager Fran Riordan said. We played very good defense, had good starts from our pitchers and our bullpen made some good pitches when we had to.

Harris hit came one batter after Florence scored the games first run, breaking up a pitchers duel between the Wild Things Jhonny Montoya (1-1) and Freedom lefty Andres Caceres (3-1).

Both starters were fun to watch tonight, Riordan said. Montoya threw strikes with two pitches and got outs with his changeup. Caceres covered both sides of the plate.

With both pitchers dominating, about the only excitement in the first six innings came when Washington third baseman Taylor Oldham lost a single and was called out for using an illegal bat in the first inning. Oldham, the Wild Things No. 3 hitter, singled to apparently put runners on first and second with one out.

However, Riordan came out of the visitors dugout and pointed out to home plate umpire Kirk Domanick that the barrel of Oldhams bat was smugged with reddish-brown paint, which Riordan said was illegal and came from rubbing the bat against a railing when the teams played in Florence.

Domaniclk and base umpire DW Brown looked at the bat, and though the paint mark had nothing to do with the flight of the baseball on the hit, ruled that Oldham was out and Washingtons Will Arnold had to return to first base. Brown also confiscated the bat and took it to the umpires room.

Riordan said that under normal circumstances, he would not have mentioned anything about the bat to the umpires.

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Freedom defeat Things for sweep

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'Liberty' Comes to Warner

Posted: at 10:12 am

For more than a century, the Statue of Liberty, a gift of friendship from France to the people of the United States, has been a universal symbol of freedom and democracy. Dedicated in October 1886, Lady Liberty quickly came to represent hope for millions of immigrants who entered the U.S. through New York, as they set out to make a life for themselves in the land of dreams.

Ironically, the statues uplifted torch, meant to suggest enlightenment by her creators, instead represented a message of welcome to anxious immigrants who had survived an arduous journey. And, over time, the statues official Web site notes, Liberty emerged as the Mother of Exiles, a symbol of hope to generations of immigrants. She became an icon of immigration, reinforcing the idea of America being a melting pot of many cultures.

Over the last 126 years, since the statues dedication, millions of stirring stories of immigrants have emerged, but few have come to life like that of Liberty: A Monumental New Musical, making its world premiere at the Warner Theatre in Torrington by special arrangement with Theresa Wozunk. With book and lyrics by Dana Leslie Goldstein, music by Jon Goldstein, and under the direction of acclaimed New York stage director Igor Goldin, Liberty opens June 30 and will continue through July 14 at the Warner.

This is a fantastic opportunity for local audiences to see a professional production before it heads to New York, said Warner Theatre executive director John Bonanni. Our community of actors and volunteers are excited to inaugurate the Warners new professional development program, serving as an incubator for a commercial run in New York.

Liberty, according to the Warner, is a production that conveys the story of a young immigrant who arrives from France in 1884 amid anti-immigrant fervor. With powerful political forces working against her, and only a precious few on her side, she is befriended by fellow immigrants from all corners of the world. Libertys compelling and sometimes uncertain journey leads her to becoming the symbol of all immigrants, winning over the people of the United States and taking her rightful place in New York Harbor.

Featuring an entirely original score, Liberty has only been performed in pieces at venues such as the Lower East Side Tenement Museum and the New York Immigration Coalition. It was presented as a developmental workshop as part of Mayor Bloombergs Immigrant Heritage Week, as part of the grand reopening of the crown of the Statue of Liberty on July 4, 2009, and, most recently, as part of the official celebration of the 125th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty National Monument last year. As the show prepares for an off-Broadway premiere in New York City, it marks a first for the Warner Theatre, which has never before developed and premiered a new musical prior to its commercial New York run.

Ive been with the show two or three years now, Mr. Goldin said, noting that he has been with other shows from the beginning. Liberty existed before I came aboard and though I havent worked on new shows by design, I tend to enjoy it more than established shows. I like to develop a production. Its certainly more challenging, and you become completely immersed in it. There is so much of you invested in it.

Twenty-year-old Madeline Brewer, who is stepping into the role of Liberty, feels the same way. Ms. Brewer graduated in May from the American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA) in New York City, and said this is her first leading role. She relishes the opportunity to shape the character for audiences who will meet Liberty for the first time June 30.

Its been crazy, but its been an awesome experience, Ms. Brewer said enthusiastically after a musical rehearsal for the production. At AMDA, were taught how to make a role our own, how to develop a character, and I have certainly had the chance to do that with Liberty. Ive discovered some things come organically, such as how I relate to her. You definitely develop a character like this differently, because you cant see how others have done it, and thats great for me as an actress.

For a first gig, she said at a press event after she was introduced to the community, this isnt too shabby. Continued...

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The Liberty lands on National Register

Posted: at 10:12 am

MURPHYSBORO The Liberty Theater has been a Murphysboro landmark from almost a century, and now its being recognized as a historically significant building by National Park Service.

The Liberty was recently named to the National Register of Historic Places, making it the sixth building in Murphysboro to garner the honor. Liberty Director Lois Murphy said the process took almost 18 months and involved hours of work.

There was lots of research and everything, she said. It was time-consuming, but I thought it was worth it and not too expen-sive.

Mayor Ron Williams said the national recognition is good for the city.

I think that The Liberty Theater being place on list is just a great, great thing Murphysboro, he said. With all effort thats gone into it with renovations and improvements, its finally paying off. It is for Murphysboro and the area a really neat building that has been saved from ruin.

Rachel Malcolm Ensor, an SIU professor and co-owner of Historic Property Consultants, helped write The Libertys proposal to the Illinois Historic Preservation Board, a first step in getting National Register of Historic Places recognition.

Criteria for making the list include significance in architecture, archaeology, engineering and culture. Historic places may be associated with the lives of significant persons in the past, embody the distinctive characteristics of a type of place or era, or yield important information about history or prehistory.

For The Liberty, its connection was with events that made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of history.

Ensor said The Libertys close affiliation with Hollywood was an important factor in it being placed on the register.

The Liberty Theater falls right in line with the development of the cinema in the United States, she said. Originally The Liberty was a flicker theater for little 15-minute flicker pictures. As the movie industry changed so did the Liberty.

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Liberty Jet Experiences Unprecedented Growth in Aircraft Management

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RONKONKOMA, N.Y., June 22, 2012 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- Liberty Jet Management, based at Long Island MacArthur Airport (KISP), has added its second aircraft in as many months. Three more jets will be coming on board in July, including a Global Express.Industry leaders can only describe Liberty's unprecedented growth as an outstanding achievement, in that the expansion was accomplished so rapidly in 2012. Being the first, nationwide, value based jet management company resonated among aircraft owners immediately throughout the United States. Christian Deputy, President of Liberty Jet, commented that, "Liberty Jet is truly the only aircraft management company offering complete transparency when managing these aircraft."Liberty has amassed a level of talent rarely seen in aircraft management companies. Deputy further commented that, "Liberty has thrived because of this mission statement of transparency."Despite the current challenging economic climate, Liberty Jet has increased its workforce by 80% over this past year nationwide, and has opened additional offices in Chicago and Philadelphia as well.

(Photo:http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120622/CG29486)

Liberty's newest addition is a state of the art 2006 Piaggio Avanti II. Dave Mendelson, Chief Operating Officer, commented that, "this aircraft will help us fill a niche in the Northeast turboprop market with its low operating cost and short field performance." Mendelson also commented that, "the aircraft for all intents and purposes is brand new, and we expect it to be extremely busy."

For more information about Liberty Jet call 1-800-879-2345, or visit Liberty at http://www.libertyjet.com.

Media Contact: Christian Deputy, Liberty Jet Management, 1-800-879-2345, cdeputy@libertyjet.com

News distributed by PR Newswire iReach: https://ireach.prnewswire.com

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Iranians Flash Mob Against APPLE's Discriminatory – Fifth Ave – Video

Posted: at 10:11 am

21-06-2012 16:50 This flashmob was organized by Havaar, Iranian Initiative against War, Sanctions and State Repression. Follow us on Facebook: "Join us as we 'flash mob' against APPLE's discriminatory, undemocratic and unethical policy of not selling products to Iranian people because their country is under economic sanctions by the US Apple has decided that internet freedom, equal rights and free communication are not company policy. We must take this opportunity to raise awareness about how sanctions are themselves human rights violations for depriving people of the digital tools of modern free speech and democracy, as well as, hurting the lives of ordinary people through economic starvation. Also we must take a stand against the growing culture of intolerance against Iranians in the US."

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Do you lose free speech rights if you speak using a computer?

Posted: at 10:11 am

It took guts for the New York Times to publish an op-ed by Tim Wu, the Columbia law professor who coined the phrase "network neutrality," arguing that the First Amendment doesn't protect the contents of the New York Times website. A significant amount of the content on the Times websitestock tickers, the "most e-mailed" list, various interactive featureswere generated not by human beings, but by computer programs. And, Wu argues, that has constitutional implications:

Protecting a computers "speech" is only indirectly related to the purposes of the First Amendment, which is intended to protect actual humans against the evil of state censorship. The First Amendment has wandered far from its purposes when it is recruited to protect commercial automatons from regulatory scrutiny.

OK, I fibbed. The target of Wu's op-ed was Google and Facebook, not the New York Times. But accepting Wu's audacious claim that computer-generated content doesn't deserve First Amendment protection endangers the free speech rights not only of the tech titans, but of every modern media outlet.

No one believes that the output of computer programs, as such, are protected by the First Amendment. It would be ridiculous, for example, to argue that the First Amendment barred the government from regulating a computer that controlled a nuclear power plant. But when a firm is in the business of providing information to the public, that information enjoys First Amendment protection regardless of whether the firm creates the information "by hand," or using a computer.

Wu's argument depends on drawing a sharp distinction between constitutionally protected human speech and computer speech that is unprotected by the First Amendment. But closer examination demonstrates how nonsensical this distinction is. To make the point, we don't need to look any further than the grey lady herself.

Articles published by the New York Times are often composed using word processors, and pages in the print newspaper are laid out using page layout software. The nytimes.com website is sent to readers by a Web server (a computer program) and rendered by a Web browser (also a computer program).

Of course, Wu isn't talking about those programs. He means programs that are directly involved in the production or selection of content. But the New York Times website has plenty of examples of those too. The home page features an automated stock ticker. A box on the right-hand side of the page shows "most e-mailed" and "recommended for you" storiesalso generated automatically. The millions of ads the Times shows its readers every month are almost certainly chosen by computer algorithms.

In 2010, the Times produced an interactive feature called "You Fix the Budget." Users were invited to try to balance the US federal budget by choosing a mix of spending cuts and tax increases. A January feature, called "What Percent Are You?," invited readers to enter their household income in order to see how it compares with others in hundreds of metropolitan areas around the country. Features like this would be impossible to create "by hand."

On election night, the Times typically has an extensive section of its website featuring election results from around the country, complete with maps, charts, and poll results. These features are updated in real time, far too quickly for a human staff to keep them up to date.

The Times employs Nate Silver, a statistician who collects thousands of poll results and produces sophisticated mathematical models of election outcomes. These models are complex enough that his results could only be generated by a computer, and indeed even Silver himself can't always explain exactly why the model produces a particular outcome.

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