Graphex 44 Recap | ADCT ? Art Directors of Tulsa

Thank you to everyone who participated in Graphex 44. We had a great turnout, and a great time. Jakub Hartleib kicked the night off with beautiful (and delicious) food, while Mark Kuykendall set the mood with some chill vibes. Guests strolled through our makeshift gallery of winners, a truly inspiring showing.

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Our Graphex 44 team worked tirelessly to put together this year?s show. The awards segment was short and sweet, and each category was introduced by a local artisan. From violin makers, to grass tenders at ONEOK Field, and brewers at Marshall?s, we kept people guessing who would pop up next. At the end of the awards, we hope you were surprised to see a new feature: comments from this year?s judges. As you know, our judges were experienced, unbiased designers from across the Midwest. Alan from Leo Burnett commended Tulsa on our design and our barbeque, while Shawn from Blacktop Creative gave a special shout-out to this year?s Raffe Award recipient, John Hammer.

Congratulations to all the winners. Thanks to your hard work and participation, we were able not only to inspire each other, we also fueled future designers through scholarship awards. And between the winner?s books* and the photobooth, we all had a little souvenir to take with us. What was your favorite part of the night?

*One award was originally omitted from the book, though we did announce it during the show. That piece was the identity for Hoteles M, by Cubic. Winston Peraza, creative director; Sean Ball, art director; Hoteles M, client. This received a Merit for Identity.

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Graphex 44 Winners

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Motion Graphics

Gold(video)

My Ditch Witch Drilled It Testimonial Video

Littlefield Brand Development

Mike Rocco, creative director

Jason Jordan, associate creative director

Darshan Phillips, art director

Chris Barricks, writer

Brandon Bergin, editor

Ditch Witch, client

?

Gold (motion graphics campaign)

Know Your Trash Videos

Littlefield Brand Development

Mike Rocco, creative director

Jason Jordan, associate creative director

Katy Kite, art director

Chris Miller, designer

Cullen Koger, writer

Tulsa Authority for the Recovery of Energy, client

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Bronze (motion graphics)

Osage Money Drop TV Commercial

Walsh Branding

Kerry Walsh, principal & creative director

Heath Potter, creative director

Tammy Chick, managing principal & senior account manager

Terri Hibberd, account executive

Jennifer Bighorse, Osage marketing director

Mike McGuire, Osage marketing manager

Osage Casino, client

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Bronze (video)

YMCA Program Video

Littlefield Brand Development

Mike Rocco, creative director

Jason Jordan, associate creative director

Matt O?Meilia, writer

Chris Miller, editor

Brandon Bergin, editor

YMCA of Greater Tulsa, client

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Identity

Gold

Endless Entertainment logo

Loftis & Ball

Sean Ball & Damian Madray, creative direction

Sean Ball, art direction & design

Endless Entertainment / Damian Madray, The Madray, client

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Gold

Bevworks logo

Katy Kite, designer

Joseph Breaux, client

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Gold

Coney I-Lander Logo

Walsh Branding

Kerry Walsh, principal & creative director

Cassie Drake, lead art director

Annell Dornblaser, account executive

Coney I-Lander, client

?

Silver

Pop Co-Op Logo

Studio Savage

Jeffrey W. Savage, creative director & designer

Peter Kraemer, illustrator

Pop Co-Op, client

?

Silver

Scissortail Brewing Co. Logo

Hammer designs

John Hammer

Scissortail Brewing Co., client

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Bronze

Tulsa Run Logo

Cubic

Winston Peraza, creative director

Tina Fincher, art director

Katy Livingston, designer

Jeff DeGarmo, programmer

Tulsa Sports Commission, client

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Merit

Station8 Logo

Station8

David Clark, creative director & designer

Morgan Middleton, designer

Aaron Mays, designer

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Merit

Sam Kaplan Photography Logo

Loftis & Ball

Sean Ball & Sam Kaplan, creative direction

Sean Ball, art direction & design

Sam Kaplan Photography, client

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Merit

Bodega System Logo

Justen Renyer, designer

Bodega System / Grant?s Tomb Records, client

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Merit

Hoteles M Logo

Cubic

Winston Peraza, creative director

Sean Ball, art director

Hoteles M, client

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Editorial

Gold

Selser Schaefer Architects Newsletter Vol 2 No 3

Station8

David Clark, creative director

Morgan Middleton, designer

Laura Crouch, copywriter

Western Printing, printer

Selser Schaefer Architects, client

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Silver

Operation Scissortail

Carl Brune

Steve Lackmeyer & Jack Money, authors

David McNeese / Cooper Ross, photography

Carl Brune, design / production

Jim Tolbert, Full Circle Press, Oklahoma City, publisher

Everbest, Hong Kong, printer

Full Circle Press, client

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Institutional Literature

Gold

Hoss Pumps Capabilities Brochure

Studio Savage

Jeffrey W. Savage, creative director & designer

Cody Johnson, photographer

Mark Brown, copywriter

Western Printing, printer

Hoss Pumps, client

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Bronze

ONEOK 2012 Annual Report

Walsh Branding

Kerry Walsh, principal & creative director

Heath Potter, creative director

Nealay Patel, art director

Annell Dornblaser, account executive

ResourceOne, printer

ONEOK, Inc., client

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Bronze

Alliance 2012 Annual Report Set

Walsh Branding

Kerry Walsh, principal & creative director

Heath Potter, creative director

Paul Woodard, lead art director

Margaret Coughlin, account executive

Susan Dornblaser, writer

ResourceOne, printer

Alliance Resource Partners, client

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Bronze

Kinslow, Keith & Todd Brochure

Staion8

David Clark, creative director

Aaron Mays, designer

Morgan Middleton, designer

Laura Crouch, copywriter

Western Printing, printer

Kinslow, Keith & Todd, Inc., client

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Merit

Pop Co-Op Advocacy Brochure

Studio Savage

Jeffrey W. Savage, creative director & designer

David Noah Roberts & Jeffrey W. Savage, copywriters

Cody Johnson, product photographer

Pop Co-Op, client

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Advertising

Gold

Jakob Trollback Lecture Poster

Justen Renyer, art director

Bayley Jackson, designer

Mickey Smith, designer

Adrienne Samuel, designer

Stefani Billings, designer

Katie Amos, designer

Jason Camarse, designer

Laney Fisher, designer

Alyson Stejskal, designer

Oklahoma State University Graphic Design Club, client

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Silver (campaign)

15 Faces for 15 Faces Print Advertising Campaign

Studio Savage

Jeffrey W. Savage, creative director & designer

Shane Bevel, creative director & photographer

Kristen Turley & Morgan Phillips, copywriters

Komen for the Cure, Tulsa, client

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Bronze (campaign)

Get Your Hands on Tomorrow Posters

Littlefield Brand Development

Mike Rocco, creative director

Jason Jordan, associate creative director

Katy Kite, designer

Cullen Koger, writer & associate creative director

?

Merit (campaign)

Know Your Trash Print Ads

Littlefield Brand Development

Mike Rocco, creative director

Jason Jordan, associate creative director

Katy Kite, designer

Matt O?Meilia, writer

Cullen Koger, writer

Tulsa Authority for the Recovery of Energy, client

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Dimensional

Silver

ecoVINO HeliBiker Red Pouch

Station8

David Clark, creative director

Morgan Middleton, designer

ecoVINO Wines, client

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Direct Mail

Silver

Katy + Matt Wedding Invitation

Katy Livingston, designer

Letterpress of Tulsa, printer

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Merit

Chandelier Invitation / Call for Entries

Walsh Branding

Kerry Walsh, principal & creative director

Heath Potter, creative director

Nealay Patel, art director

Annell Dornblaser, account executive

Hayden Cantrell, account coordinator

Living Arts of Tulsa, client

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Merit

Mingo Direct Mail

Cubic

Libby Bender, creative director

Jeff Savage, art director

Katy Livingston, designer

Sean Ball, designer

Greg Tatum, illustration

Mingo Press, client

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Merit

Cubic Holiday Card

Cubic

Winston Peraza, creative director

Katy Livingston, art director

Sean Ball, art director

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Environmental Graphics

Bronze

Coney I-Lander Signage

Walsh Branding

Kerry Walsh, principal & creative director

Rod Clifford, director of environmental graphics

Cassie Drake, lead art director

Annell Dornblaser, account executive

Claude Neon Federal Signs, fabricator

Coney I-Lander, client

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Merit

Mozilla Webmaker Festival Exhibition Graphics

C. Speligene / Fearless Design, Inc.

Mozilla, client

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Interactive Design

Best of Show

Gold

Saxum Website

Saxum

Matt Reiswig, design

Michael Staub, information architecture

Adam Munns, development

Grant Zellner, copywriting

Josh Welch, photography

Chad Bianco, photography

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Silver

St. Gregory?s University Website

Littlefield Brand Development

Mike Rocco, creative director

Jason Jordan, associate creative director

Candace Chupp, art director

Kellen Conrad, graphic artist

St. Gregory?s University, client

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Bronze

Station8 Branding Website

Station8

David Clark, creative director

Aaron Mays, designer

Laura Crouch, copywriter

Ralph Cole, photographer

?

Merit

Christopher Smyk FW 2013

Steve Loftis

Christopher Smyk, creative director

Daniel Martinez Matallana, photographer

Steve Loftis, design & development

Christopher Smyk, client

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In-House Design

Merit

OSUIT Marketing Department Workflow Chart

Kim Woodard, art director & designer

OSUIT, client

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Merit

Petrochemicals

PennWell

Charles Thomas, art director & designer

Donald L. Burdick, author & copywriter

William L. Leffler, author & copywriter

PennWell / Professional Education Products Group, client

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Illustration

Gold

Get Your Hands on Tomorrow Poster

Littlefield Brand Development

Mike Rocco, creative director

Jason Jordan, associate creative director

Katy Kite, designer

Cullen Koger, writer & associate creative director

?

Silver

Aida Poster

Studio Savage

Jeffrey W. Savage, creative director & designer

Jeremy Luther, illustrator

Tulsa Opera, client

Quik Print, printer

?

Silver

Daughter of the Regiment Poster

Studio Savage

Jeffrey W. Savage, creative director & designer

Jeremy Luther, illustrator

Tulsa Opera, client

Quik Print, printer

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Photography

Advertising

Gold

The Baron of Black Gold

Jeremy Charles Photography

Jeremy Charles, photographer

Cale Chadwick, art director

Kyle Brumley, creative director

Darcy Bond, project manager

Black Gold Casino ? Chickasaw Nation Division of Commerce, client

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Gold (campaign)

Philbrook MIX ? Mixology Event

Jeremy Charles Photography / Melissa Lukenbaugh Photography

Jeremy Charles, photographer

Melissa Lukenbaugh, photographer

Philbrook Museum of Art, client

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Silver (campaign)

Elephants In The Dark

Cody Photography

Cody Johnson

First Baptist Jenks, client

?

Merit

RT80 / Ditch Witch advertising shoot of a real trenching site.

Amatucci Photography, Inc.

John Amatucci, phtographer

Genny Pankey, art director

Littlefield / Ditch Witch, client

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Books

Bronze

Black Mesa book

Jeremy Charles Photography / Travis Hall Photography

Jeremy Charles, photographer

Travis Hall, photographer

Denny Schmickle, designer

Nathan Gunter, copywriter

Mary Beth Babcock, project curator

Black Mesa project, client

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Editorial

Gold

Storm Rolls into Hoot Owl Ranch

Jeremy Charles Photography

Jeremy Charles, photographer

Black Mesa project, client

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Gold

Oklahoma Wildfires

Jeremy Charles Photography

Jeremy Charles, photographer

Corbis Images, client

?

Silver

Oklahoma Wildfires

Jeremy Charles Photography

Jeremy Charles, photographer

Corbis Images, client

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Institutional

Gold

Slum Rain 1

Cody Photography

Cody Johnson, photographer

First Baptist Jenks, client

?

Silver

Slum Rain 2

Cody Photography

Cody Johnson, photographer

First Baptist Jenks, client

?

Merit

Slum Rain 3

Cody Photography

Cody Johnson, photographer

First Baptist Jenks, client

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Miscellaneous

Gold

Graphex 43 Raffe Award

Genevieve Pankey, art director & designer

David Majestic, trophy co-designer & fabricator

Art Directors Club of Tulsa, client

?

Silver (campaign)

Bishop Kelley Auction Pieces 2013

Littlefield Brand Development

Mike Rocco, creative director

Jason Jordan, associate creative director

Genevieve Pankey, designer

Matt O?Meilia, writer

Bishop Kelley High School, client

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Silver (campaign)

Tulsa Art Studio Tour Branding

Cubic

Winston Peraza, creative director

Katy Livingston, art director

Sean Ball, art director

Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition, client

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The Raffe

John Hammer

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Source: http://www.artdirectorsoftulsa.org/2013/blog/graphex-44-recap

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Lost in translocation? How bird song could help save species

May 22, 2013 ? Translocation -- or moving animals to safer places -- is a vital tool for saving species from extinction. Many factors influence the success of these new populations, including habitat quality, predators, capture and release techniques, the number and sex of individuals, and their genetic diversity. Now new research, the first of its kind, published in the British Ecological Society's Journal of Applied Ecology suggests bird song could also be important.

Ecologists from the University of Waikato and Lincoln University in New Zealand studied the North Island k?kako, an iconic bird with a haunting, organ-like song. Once widespread in the North Island, loss of habitat by deforestation and predation by rats, possums and stoats decimated the population. By 1999, fewer than 400 pairs remained, and between 2001 and 2007, several pairs were moved from Te Urewera National Park to two other reserves: Boundary Stream Mainland Island and Ngapukeriki.

To find out how moving the k?kako has affected their song, the researchers made hundreds of recordings in the three populations and analysed differences in song using sonograms. They then used playback experiments to discover how birds from one population reacted to another populations' song.

They found the songs of translocated birds had diverged substantially from the source population, becoming less diverse with shorter and higher-pitched elements. According to Dr Laura Molles from Lincoln University: "Not only how k?kako sing in translocated populations, but also what they sing differs from k?kako in the source population."

The greatest changes were found in the population that had been translocated for longest, indicating the songs may become more different over time. But despite the divergence between each population's song, the playback experiments showed that the birds could not yet tell them apart.

"The songs diverge because birds such as k?kako learn their songs from parents, siblings and neighbours. As translocation usually involves only a small number of indivuals, they will take with them only a small portion of all the song elements in the larger source population. Subsequent variation in small populations will depend on that subset of songs and will then differ from the larger song pool in the source population," Dr Molles explains.

The study has important implications for conservation. Although in this study the k?kako populations have not been separated for long enough to cause song incompatibility, it will occur in time, the authors say. Once that happens, releasing additional birds into these populations could be problematic because song incompatibility could make interbreeding difficult.

As a result, says Dr Molles, conservationists should consider song variation as part of bird reintroductions: "We need to be aware that behavioural factors like song can also affect translocation success and recovery of endangered birds, and adapt our management of these populations accordingly. This means that we may have to work harder but the good news is that if we consider one more factor that we now know may also affect translocation, we will be more likely to succeed in conserving birds."

The North Island k?kako is one of New Zealand's most iconic bird species. The size of a common pigeon, both males and females have blue-grey plumage with black masks and striking bright blue wattles. Both sexes sing, and pairs duet, with a haunting voice and the birds' astonishingly varied organ-like notes can be heard over 1km away.

They have limited flying power, instead moving like squirrels through the branches and gliding from hill tops to valleys. They live in the temperate rainforest, feeding mainly on fruit and leaves. Once widespread, their numbers collapsed due to deforestation and predation by rats, stoats and possums, and by 1999 fewer than 400 pairs remained. Thanks to translocation to safe offshore islands, numbers have increased to around 800 pairs today.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/IyZIhnh9iHk/130521230046.htm

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HTC One for T-Mobile: what's different?

By most accounts, the HTC One is the most compelling Android smartphone on the market today, but only three of the major US carriers are wise enough to sell it. Up until this point, we've put the AT&T and Sprint models through their paces, and now we have an opportunity to round out the trio with T-Mobile's version. Given the carrier's recent shift to an unsubsidized pricing model -- which brings lower monthly fees in exchange for purchasing your phone outright -- you may be in for some sticker shock with the HTC One, which runs $580, but you can also pay $100 down with installments of $20 per month over the course of two years.

If you're currently on the fence about whether the HTC One is right for your needs, you'll definitely want to check out our full review, which features an in-depth look at the phone's design, camera and the many novel features that you'll find with HTC's custom software environment, Sense 5. Here, we'll explore the subtle nuances of T-Mobile's version, with plenty of benchmarks, impressions about the voice quality and battery life, an overview of the bundled apps and a comparison to the One's closest competitors on T-Mo. There's plenty to cover, so join us after the break as we explore everything that you need to know about the HTC One for T-Mobile.

Gallery: HTC One for T-Mobile review

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, HTC, Google, T-Mobile

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/xyczi9XtCuE/

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NASA Mars rover Curiosity drills second rock target

May 20, 2013 ? NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has used the drill on its robotic arm to collect a powdered sample from the interior of a rock called "Cumberland."

Plans call for delivering portions of the sample in coming days to laboratory instruments inside the rover. This is only the second time that a sample has been collected from inside a rock on Mars. The first was Curiosity's drilling at a target called "John Klein" three months ago. Cumberland resembles John Klein and lies about nine feet (2.75 meters) farther west. Both are within a shallow depression called "Yellowknife Bay."

The hole that Curiosity drilled into Cumberland on May 19 is about 0.6 inch (1.6 centimeters) in diameter and about 2.6 inches (6.6 centimeters) deep.

The science team expects to use analysis of material from Cumberland to check findings from John Klein. Preliminary findings from analysis of John Klein rock powder by Curiosity's onboard laboratory instruments indicate that the location long ago had environmental conditions favorable for microbial life. The favorable conditions included the key elemental ingredients for life, an energy gradient that could be exploited by microbes, and water that was not harshly acidic or briny.

NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Project is using Curiosity to assess the history of habitable environmental conditions inside Gale Crater. After a few more high-priority observations by the rover within and near Yellowknife Bay, the rover team plans to start Curiosity on a months-long trek to the base of a layered mound, Mount Sharp, at the middle of the crater. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

More information about Curiosity is online at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/msl , http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/ . You can follow the mission on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/marscuriosity and on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/marscuriosity .

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/B0Lxli31_qY/130520173205.htm

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Editorial: Google confuses magic with middling as it steps into music ...

First of all: that name. Google Play Music All Access. Perhaps Google's presenters realized, as they were driving to the I/O keynote, that they had forgotten to name the new music-streaming service, and came up with that clunker backstage.

Unique? Magical? It's easy to dismiss those claims within minutes of signing up.

Jump to the keynote, where Chris Yerga described All Access as "a uniquely Google approach to a subscription service," and remarked, "Here's where the magic starts." Unique? Magical? It's easy to dismiss those claims within minutes of signing up. Prosaic and useful, yes; unique and magical, no. All Access is nowhere near an innovation. The major ecosystem companies, each of which started with groundbreaking technical development, now seem to fashion their business destinies on buttressing their networks with products innovated elsewhere, plugging holes to sway existing users from drifting out of the system. It's not a new story, but always a sad one.

Music-streaming services have been around for about 14 years. Rhapsody, a grizzled veteran in the current crop, launched in 2001 after two years of development under different names. Spotify, the poster brand for music streaming in 2013, lifted off in 2008. So there are well-established norms that users can and should expect in a streaming service.

A big catalog is the first expectation -- all the majors and a long tail of smaller labels and indies. A modern streaming service is batting .300 if it offers 20 million tracks.

Size isn't everything; it's what you can do with it that counts. Basic interactivity includes whole-track and album listening (obviously). Playlisting is important, so you can build that perfect 50-track set of pulsing electronica for an afternoon of desk work in headphones. Accumulating a library of favorites is a necessary function, via a cloud collection plus, ideally, the option of downloading music to a phone, tablet or computer for offline listening.

Social and sharing are increasingly vital music-discovery functions -- and just fun for users who are always visible in their community circles. It's not only outward sharing that matters (to Twitter, Facebook, et al.), but also sharing of playlists within the service, epitomized by 8tracks.com. Speaking of discovery, the service should do its part by offering a genre directory (the smarter and more granular, the better), editorial recommendations, reviews and connections to related music.

Google is more flexible than Pandora inasmuch as the user can peer inside the "radio" playlist and swipe away queued-up tracks, with what is arguably the platform's coolest feature.

Finally, a streaming service should offer some kind of passive option for a lean-back experience -- pushing music to users when they tire of exploring and pulling. That usually means some kind of misnamed "radio" or "station" feature, which, behind the scenes, is an array of curated playlists. GPMAA (who doesn't love acronyms?) emphasizes the push / pull quality of its curated streams by marketing the service as: "Radio without limits."

That tagline is clearly intended to contrast with the highly passive Pandora experience, the pre-eminent alternative to terrestrial radio in homes, cars and stores. (Over the past few years, when I have asked a retail proprietor about the store's music selection, I have increasingly heard the "Pandora" answer.) Google is more flexible than Pandora inasmuch as the user can peer inside the "radio" playlist and swipe away queued-up tracks, with what is arguably the platform's coolest feature.

In fact, it's really the only cool feature in what is otherwise a pedestrian and sketchy streaming service. All Access covers most of the expected bases, though not all of them. Google is planting a premium flag in the ground by withholding an ad-supported free layer (like Spotify), venturing instead down the all-subscription path with a monthly fee ranging from $7.99 to $9.99. (You get the lower price if you join during the first month.) I see commenters backing away from that value proposition, and it's easy to understand why someone with equity in an existing platform might not want to switch to a new copycat service.

At the same time, I see enthusiasm from Android users eager to add "celestial jukebox" music streaming to their eco-platform, which represents a larger and more meaningful investment than, for example, having built a bunch of playlists in Spotify.

I can imagine today's GPMAA as a starting point from which Google will weave some ecosystem magic. But even as a starting point, this platform is immature for discovery and community. Right now, the service is not connecting well with Google+ (or any other social network), which seems like a no-brainer whose implementation is probably forthcoming. More seriously, you can't follow other users from their playlists. Search is bizarrely bad. Blues guitarist Ana Popovic does not appear when you search for "ana popovich." Seriously, Google? Your flagship search engine understands any misspelling I throw at it, but one extra letter makes your music search fall to the ground twitching? That'll get fixed.

Google is following, not leading -- reacting to a market migration away from music downloads toward streaming access.

But for a company famous for its lengthy (and free) beta launches, the first impressions of the non-beta All Access are underwhelming. More important, for a company with a legacy of technology brilliance, this service feels like it was mailed in as a prop for the ecosystem.

Google is following, not leading -- reacting to a market migration away from music downloads toward streaming access. Apple will follow behind Google, if rumors hold true, and Apple is endowed with an explicit anti-subscription stance in music.

From leadership to following. It's good ecosystem business, admittedly, like renovating a house rather than reinventing rooms. But I cannot avoid a feeling of sadness, and even a trace of disdain, seeing this perfunctory service, with its lumbering name and aggressive pricing, soldered quickly into the Google / Android machinery. Gmail redefined email on its first day and remained respectfully in beta for five years. Times change. I'll ponder that while listening to my Rhapsody playlists.

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Brad Hill is a former Vice President at AOL, and the former Director and General Manager of Weblogs, Inc. He listens to music on Rhapsody (FTW), Spotify, Rdio, SoundCloud and 8tracks.

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/20/google-confuses-magic-with-middling-as-it-steps-into-music-streaming/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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Obama's approval rating survives scandal week

Here's one place where the president didn't have a dramatic week: in his approval ratings. According to two polls ? the Gallup daily tracking poll, and a CNN/ORC International poll released Sunday ? Obama's approval rating has more or less remained steady as potential scandal upon potential scandal blew up the news cycle.?

RELATED: Obama's Second Term Isn't Dead Yet

First, here's CNN's poll, conducted over May 17-18. According to their survey, Obama's approval rating is at 53 percent. While that's a two percent rise since early April, the difference is within the margin of error of the survey, so we'll say that the president's approval rating here remained steady. Forty-five percent of Americans, meanwhile, disapprove of the job the president's doing.?

RELATED: What Are the Solutions to This Week's Scandals?

Gallup's results are similar. Right now, the president is registering a 50 percent approval rating, with a slight increase over the course of Scandal Week that's within the survey's margin of error. Here's Gallup's tracking polls, graphed, since the end of April 2013:?

RELATED: Obama's Scandal Pivot: Dare Congress to Actually Pass Laws

RELATED: Republicans Want to Slow Down the Scandals

But that doesn't mean Americans aren't paying attention to the administration's troubles this week. While a separate Gallup poll this week found that American attention to the Benghazi and IRS stories this week was actually below average for other news stories they've tracked, most Americans (54 percent for IRS and 53 percent for Benghazi) were following the stories either "very" or "somewhat" closely, and most (74 percent and 69 percent, respectively) believe both stories warrant further investigation. In the CNN poll, majorities of respondents believing the IRS and Benghazi stories (55 percent) are important to the nation, while 53 percent would say the same about the AP phone records story.

RELATED: Which House Committee is Investigating Which D.C. 'Scandal': A Scorecard

One further note: according to CNN's results, it looks like Americans are are at least a little less likely to buy that the Benghazi and IRS stories represent the exposure of a conspiracy on the part of the White House: While a majority (53 percent) of Americans are dissatisfied with the president's handling of the Benghazi attacks and the ensuing political aftermath, 50 percent believe that the administration's inaccurate statements after the attack represented what they believed had happened at the time. Forty-four percent believe the administration intentionally misled the American public. Similarly, 55 percent of Americans believed the IRS acted on its own to target "Tea Party" and "Patriot" groups for extra scrutiny, while 37 percent thought the agency was acting under the White House's orders.?

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obamas-approval-rating-survives-scandal-week-002337512.html

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Five Best Monday Columns

Farai Chideya in?The Nation on minority representation in the media?Farai Chideya takes stock of those trusted to report the news, and wonders why she sees so few minorities in the newsroom: "We are witnessing the resegregation of the American media. The 2012 annual survey of the American Society of News Editors found that while total newsroom employment dropped 2.4 percent in 2011, the loss in minority newsroom positions was 5.7 percent. Between 2007 and 2010, ASNE noted, the minority job losses were even more pronounced." The reason, she says, is monetary: "The issue comes down to money. Mainstream journalism, with its endless unpaid internships, has come far from its working-class newspaper roots. Getting your start in journalism often doesn?t pay. Instead, you have to chip in to join the club. ... News managers can make a short-term case for unpaid intern labor, or layoffs that decimate the recently hired, more diverse segments of their staffs. But a long-term recovery for our hard-hit news industry requires an investment in talent, even if that talent doesn?t come from family money. This reliance on un- or underpaid labor is part of a broader move to a 'privilege economy' instead of a merit economy?where who you know and who pays your bills can be far more important than talent." Ross Perlin, author of?Intern Nation, echoed the same sentiment in an interview with NPR: "The internship has become virtually a requirement for getting into the white-collar workforce."

RELATED: Five Best Wednesday Columns

Lindsay L. Rodman in?The Wall Street Journal?on the data of sexual assault in the military?Dealing with the epidemic of sexual assault in the U.S. armed forces will require accurate data of the actual problem, writes Lindsay L. Rodman, who criticizes a recent report which estimated that approximately 26,000 sexual take place in the military each year. ". The truth is that the 26,000 figure is such bad math?derived from an unscientific sample set and extrapolated military-wide?that no conclusions can be drawn from it." She continues: "It is disheartening to me, as a female officer in the Marine Corps and a judge advocate devoted to the professional practice of law in the military, to see Defense Department leaders and members of Congress deal with this emotionally charged issue without the benefit of solid, verifiable data. ... The estimated 26,000 service members who fell victim to unwanted sexual contact in 2012 is higher than the 19,000 estimate based on the 2010 WRGA survey (the survey wasn't conducted in 2011). Does this mean that there was a 34% jump in just two years? The data are too unreliable to tell. ... These numbers vary widely because incidents involving unwanted sexual contact cannot accurately be extrapolated military-wide using this survey." Over at CNN, Maia Goodell adds that the military justice system is unequipped to adequately address sexual assault: "A friend told me that in the 1960s, a teacher told her she needed to sleep with him to pass. She said: "We just called that life." Now, in the civilian world, it's called sexual harassment, and it's illegal.The military hasn't had the benefit of that change. Civilian judges (not Congress, and not the military) made up special military immunities, loosely called the Feres doctrine, to block it. It's time to overrule them."?

RELATED: Five Best Monday Columns

Pankaj Mishra at Bloomberg View on wealth and freedom in China What, asks Pankaj Mishra, does the developlment of China say about "the Anglo-American faith in the onward march of liberalism and democracy"? He explains: "It has achieved spectacular growth without embracing electoral democracy. Moreover, the state controls the commanding heights of the globalized economy. This will not change anytime soon. ...?Here is the question before us: Is the model sustainable, and what implications would its failure have for China and the larger world? The late modernization of Japan and Germany, though largely successful, did not lead to peace in Europe and Asia. Rather, economic crises and growing social unrest led to greater authoritarianism at home and jingoistic expansionism abroad. ... China may turn out to be another cautionary lesson in the dangers of a country arriving too late in the modern world, with its elites determined to regard liberal democracy as an unaffordable luxury." Meanwhile Louisa Lim at NPR notes how the country's growth has altered its civic character: "Money is the be-all and end-all in modern day China."?

RELATED: Five Best Thursday Columns

George Packer in?The New York Times on the 21st century celebrity?Why do we worship celebrities like Mark Zuckerberg, Sean Parker, and Martha Stewart? "Our age is lousy with celebrities. They can be found in every sector of society, including ones that seem less than glamorous," writes George Packer. "There is a quality of self-invention to their rise: Mark Zuckerberg went from awkward geek to the subject of a Hollywood hit; Shawn Carter turned into Jay-Z; Martha Kostyra became Martha Stewart, and then Martha Stewart Living. The person evolves into a persona, then a brand, then an empire, with the business imperative of grow or die ? a process of expansion and commodification that transgresses boundaries by substituting celebrity for institutions.?Instead of robust public education, we have Mr. Zuckerberg?s 'rescue' of Newark?s schools. Instead of a vibrant literary culture, we have Oprah?s book club. Instead of investments in public health, we have the Gates Foundation. Celebrities either buy institutions, or 'disrupt' them." Packer remains skeptical that our celebrities, even those who rise above empty face, offer anything like a model for the good life: "We know our stars aren't inviting us to think we can be just like them. Their success is based on leaving the rest of us behind." As a symptom of this arrangement, Packer singled out school reform, whose patron saint, former D.C. Chancellor Michelle Rhee, was profiled in?The New Republic, where Nicholas Lemann hinted at the same dynamic Packer speaks of: "The education-reform movement comports itself in this strident and limited manner is that it depends so heavily on the largesse of people who are used to getting their way and to whom the movement?s core arguments have a powerful face validity."

RELATED: Five Best Monday Columns

Elizabeth Kolbert in?The New Yorker on the danger of the Keystone XL pipeline Elizabeth Kolbert weighs the advantages of building the?transcontinental?Keystone XL pipeline, which would shuttle enormous amounts of tar sands oil from Canada to the United States. "The arguments in favor of Keystone run more or less like this: Americans use a lot of oil?more than eighteen million barrels per day. It has to come from somewhere, and Canada is a more reliable trading partner than, say, Iraq," she begins. "If the arguments in favor of Keystone are persuasive, those against it are even stronger. Tar-sands oil ... starts out as semi-solid and has to be either mined or literally melted out of the ground. In either case, the process requires energy, which is provided by burning fossil fuels. The result is that ... significantly more carbon dioxide enters the air than for every barrel of ordinary crude?between twelve and twenty-three per cent more." The pipeline will burden the future, Kolbert argues: "Were we to burn through all known fossil-fuel reserves, the results would be unimaginably bleak: major cities would be flooded out, a large portion of the world?s arable land would be transformed into deserts, and the oceans would be turned into liquid dead zones. If we take the future at all seriously, which is to say as a time period that someone is going to have to live in, then we need to leave a big percentage of the planet?s coal and oil and natural gas in the ground."?John Fiege at?The Huffington Post explains why the decision will be difficult for President Obama no matter where he decides to throw his support: "With this pipeline, he faces a decision about the economic future of America with outsized symbolic significance: will we go further down the old road of the oil economy ... or will we take a bold turn toward building a new economy based on low-impact, renewable, domestic energy? The president does not want to make this choice, even symbolically. He knows that approving the pipeline would be wrong for the country and for the planet. But doing the right thing would alienate the most powerful industry in the world and disrupt the very fabric of our oil-based economy. So he drags his feet."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/five-best-monday-columns-141444521.html

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One in 10 teens using 'study drugs,' but parents aren't paying attention

May 20, 2013 ? As high schoolers prepare for final exams, teens nationwide may be tempted to use a "study drug" ?- a prescription stimulant or amphetamine -- to gain an academic edge. But a new University of Michigan poll shows only one in 100 parents of teens 13-17 years old believes that their teen has used a study drug.

Study drugs refer to stimulant medications typically prescribed for the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); commonly prescribed medicines in this category include Adderall, Concerta, Ritalin, and Vyvanse.

Among parents of teens who have not been prescribed a stimulant medication for ADHD, just 1% said they believe their teen has used a study drug to help study or improve grades, according to the latest University of Michigan Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health. However, recent national data from Monitoring the Future indicate that 10% of high school sophomores and 12% of high school seniors say they've used an amphetamine or stimulant medication not prescribed by their doctor.

Sometimes students without ADHD take someone else's medication, to try to stay awake and alert and try to improve their scores on exams or assignments. Taking study drugs has not been proven to improve students' grades, and it can be very dangerous to their health, says Matthew M. Davis, M.D., M.A.P.P., director of the C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health.

"Taking these medications when they are not prescribed for you can lead to acute exhaustion, abnormal heart rhythms and even confusion and psychosis if the teens get addicted and go into withdrawal," says Davis.

"What we found in this poll is a clear mismatch between what parents believe and what their kids are reporting. But even though parents may not be recognizing these behaviors in their own kids, this poll also showed that one-half of the parents say they are very concerned about this abuse in their communities," Davis says.

White parents were most likely to say they are "very concerned" (54%), compared with black (38%) and Hispanic/Latino (37%) parents.

Despite this concern, only 27 percent of parents polled said they have talked to their teens about using study drugs. Black parents were more likely to have discussed this issue with their teens (41%), compared with white (27%) or Hispanic (17%) parents.

"If we are going to make a dent in this problem, and truly reduce the abuse of these drugs, we need parents, educators, health care professionals and all who interact with teens to be more proactive about discussing the issue," says Davis.

Over three-quarters of parents polled said they support school policies aimed at stopping abuse of study drugs in middle schools and high schools. Overall, 76% of parents said they believe schools should be required to discuss the dangers of ADHD medication abuse.

Another 79% support a policy to require students with a prescription for ADHD medications to keep their pills in a secure location such as the school nurse's office -- a requirement that would prohibit students from carrying medicines of this nature that could potentially be shared with, or sold to, other students.

"We know teens may be sharing drugs or spreading the word that these medications can give their grades a boost. But the bottom line is that these prescription medications are drugs, and teens who use them without a prescription are taking a serious risk with their health," Davis says.?

Full report: http://mottnpch.org/reports-surveys/one-ten-teens-using-%E2%80%9Cstudy-drugs%E2%80%9D-are-parents-paying-attention

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/BeA1mHx0gWw/130520094454.htm

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Small Fla. city wonders who won $590.5 million Powerball jackpot

ZEPHYRHILLS, Fla. (AP) ? Some lucky person walked into a Publix supermarket in suburban Florida over the past few days and bought a ticket now worth an estimated $590.5 million ? the highest Powerball jackpot in history.

But it wasn't Matthew Bogel. On Sunday, he loaded groceries into his car after shopping at the Publix. He shook his head when asked about the jackpot.

"It's crazy, isn't it?" he said. "That's so much money."

It's an amount too high for many to imagine. Compare it to the budget for the city of Zephyrhills: This year's figure is just more than $49 million. The winning Powerball jackpot is 12 times that.

Whoever has the ticket hadn't come forward as of Sunday morning.

"This would be the sixth Florida Powerball winner and right now, it's the sole winner of the largest ever Powerball jackpot," Florida Lottery executive Cindy O'Connell told The Associated Press. "We're delighted right now that we have the sole winner."

Publix spokeswoman Maria Brous said that there are a lot of rumors about who won, but the store doesn't know. "We're excited for the winner or winners," she said.

O'Connell said Florida has had more Powerball winners than any other state but did not give any indication whether anyone had stepped forward with the winning ticket in Saturday's drawing.

But plenty of people in Zephyrhills ? population 13,337 ? are wondering whether it's someone they know.

Joan Albertson drove to the Publix early Sunday morning with her camera in hand, in case the winner emerged. She said she had bought a ticket at a store across the street, and the idea of winning that much money was still something of a shock.

"Oh, there's so much good that you could do with that amount of money." Albertson said. "I don't even know where to begin."

Zephyrhills is a small city in Pasco County, about 30 miles northeast of downtown Tampa. Once a rural farming town, it's now known as a hotbed for skydiving activity, and the home to large retiree mobile home parks and Zephyrhills bottled water.

And now, one lucky lottery ticket.

"I'm getting text messages and messages from Facebook going, 'uh, did you win the lottery?'" Sandra Lewis said. "No, I didn't win, guys. Sorry."

Sara Jeltis said her parents in Michigan texted her with the news Sunday morning.

"Well, it didn't click till I came here," she said, gesturing to the half-dozen TV live trucks humming in the Publix parking lot. "And I'm like, wow I can't believe it, it's shocking! Out of the whole country, this Publix, in little Zephyrhills would be the winner."

With four out of every five possible combinations of Powerball numbers in play, lottery executives said Saturday that someone was almost certain to win the game's highest jackpot, a windfall of hundreds of millions of dollars ? and that's after taxes.

The winning numbers were 10, 13, 14, 22 and 52, with a Powerball of 11.

Estimates had earlier put the jackpot at around $600 million. But Powerball's online site said Sunday that the jackpot had reached an estimated $590.5 million.

The world's largest jackpot was a $656 million Mega Millions jackpot in March 2012.

Terry Rich, CEO of the Iowa Lottery, initially confirmed that one Florida winning ticket had been sold. He told AP that following the Florida winner, the Powerball grand prize was being reset at an estimated jackpot of $40 million, or about $25.1 million cash value.

The chances of winning the prize were astronomically low: 1 in 175.2 million. That's how many different ways you can combine the numbers when you play. But lottery officials estimated that about 80 percent of those possible combinations had been purchased recently.

While the odds are low for any one individual or individuals, O'Connell said, the chance that one hits paydirt is what makes Powerball exciting.

"There is just the chance that you will have the opportunity, and Florida is a huge Powerball state," O'Connell said. "We have had more winners than any other state that participates in Powerball."

The longshot odds didn't deter people across Powerball-playing states ? 43 plus Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands ? from lining up at gas stations and convenience stores Saturday.

Clyde Barrow, a public policy professor at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, specializes in the gaming industry. He said one of the key factors behind the ticket-buying frenzy is the size of the jackpot ? people are interested in the easy investment.

"Even though the odds are very low, the investment is very small," he said. "Two dollars gets you a chance."

Lewis, who went to the Publix on Sunday to buy water, said she didn't play ? and she isn't upset about it.

"Life goes on," she said, shrugging. "I'm good."

___

Rodriguez reported from Des Moines, Iowa.

___

Follow Tamara Lush at http://twitter.com/tamaralush.

Follow Barbara Rodriguez at http://twitter.com/bcrodriguez.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/small-fla-city-wonders-won-powerball-jackpot-163342761.html

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Did the Associated Press blow an Al Qaeda informant's cover?

How bad was the Justice Department?s going after the phone records of Associated Press writers and editors?

Very bad, according to most journalism professionals worried about sources ? especially whistleblowers ? refusing to talk for fear of Big Government retribution.

?First Amendment radicals ? I count myself among them ? resist any and all such intrusions,? writes Reuters columnist Jack Shafer. ?You can?t very well have a free press if every unpublished act of journalism can be co-opted by cops, prosecutors and defense attorneys.?

RECOMMENDED: How much do you know about the US Constitution? A quiz.

But it?s still unclear how serious the leak was that led to the AP?s scoop about a foiled terrorist plot in Yemen and then to the sweeping search for the leaker. Did it in fact ?put people at risk,? as President Obama suggested this week?

Duke University Law School professor Christopher H. Schroeder, who was Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Policy in the Obama administration from 2010 to 2012, obviously is not a disinterested source.

But he makes a good point about why the Justice Department went to such lengths to find the source of the leak regarding a story involving what could have been a successful underwear bomber tied to Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula targeting a US airliner.

?What went completely without mention in the initial coverage was the fact that thwarting this plot was not the objective of the ongoing undercover operation,? Mr. Schroeder wrote on Huffington Post this week. ?Its true objective was to gain enough intelligence to locate and neutralize the master bomb builder, Ibrahim Hassan al-Ashiri, who works with an Al-Qaeda affiliate, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).?

?Penetrating AQAP is incredibly difficult,? Schroeder continued. ?This double agent provided a rare opportunity to gain critical, life-saving information. Whoever disclosed the information obtained by the AP had not only put the agent's life and his family's life in danger. He also killed a golden opportunity to save untold more lives that now remain at risk due to al-Ashiri remaining at large.?

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Ken Dilanian of the Los Angeles Times reports on the widespread dismay the leak caused intelligence agencies working with the CIA around the world.

?The informant, reportedly a British subject of Saudi birth ? was trained and outfitted with the latest version of an underwear bomb designed to pass metal detectors and other airport safeguards,? officials told Mr. Dilanian.

?Even after the informant left Yemen with the explosive device and turned it over to his handlers, U.S. intelligence officials believed they could use him to help disrupt and destroy the terrorist network,? Dilanian writes. ?British intelligence officials, who played a key role in the secret operation, were furious, a British diplomat said. Saudi intelligence officials also were dismayed, U.S. officials said.?

Politically, going after journalistic sources as aggressively as the Obama administration has is seen as yet another ?scandal? these days. But not everyone agrees.

?Veteran prosecutors have a far more measured response: It?s complicated,? writes Politico?s James Hohmann.

?These lawyers recognize the threats to a free press but say the dangers of national security leaks ? and the difficulties in finding the leakers ? sometimes force the government?s hand,? Hohmann writes. ?The actions of the Obama administration were unusual and deserve careful scrutiny, they say, but do not automatically equal a clear-cut abuse of power.?

?I don?t think it?s a scandal,? John Dean, Richard Nixon?s White House counsel who served jail time for his role in the Watergate cover-up, told Hohmann. ?It?s certainly not Nixonian.?

It may not be Nixonian as Washington scandals go, but it spotlights the administration?s attitude toward leakers that?s gotten more criticism than praise.

?But the man who U.S. officials believe designed and built the underwear bombs, Ibrahim Nasiri, remains at large,? observes Ken Dilanian of the LA Times. ?Finding him would have been a top goal of the operation with the informant.?

RECOMMENDED: How much do you know about the US Constitution? A quiz.

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/did-associated-press-blow-al-qaeda-informants-cover-204613666.html

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Up to 60 injured after car drives into Va. parade

Emergency personnel respond to one of the people hit by a car, at right, during the beginning of the Hikers Parade at the Trail Days festival in Damascus, Va., Saturday, May 18, 2013. Witnesses said the car drove into a crowd at the parade and hurt several people, but the nature of their injuries wasn't immediately known. (AP Photo/Bristol Herald Courier, Earl Neikirk)

Emergency personnel respond to one of the people hit by a car, at right, during the beginning of the Hikers Parade at the Trail Days festival in Damascus, Va., Saturday, May 18, 2013. Witnesses said the car drove into a crowd at the parade and hurt several people, but the nature of their injuries wasn't immediately known. (AP Photo/Bristol Herald Courier, Earl Neikirk)

Hiker "Quinoa" talks about being given credit for saving the lives of Carson Balckburn, Dalton Thomason, and Faith Ritchie after he ran them and others off the road with a water gun during a festival parade in Damascus, Va., Saturday, May 18, 2013. Just as the children ran off the street, a car came down the road and struck several people. (AP Photo/Bristol Herald Courier, Earl Neikirk)

DAMASCUS, Va. (AP) ? About 50 to 60 people were injured Saturday when a driver described by witnesses as an elderly man drove his car into a group of hikers marching in a parade in a small Virginia mountain town.

It happened around 2:10 p.m. during the Hikers Parade at the Trail Days festival, an annual celebration of the Appalachian Trail in Damascus, near the Tennessee state line about a half-hour drive east of Bristol.

Washington County director of emergency management Pokey Harris said no fatalities had been reported.

The injuries ranged from critical to superficial, he said. Three of the victims were flown by helicopters to regional hospitals. Another 12 to 15 were taken by ambulance. The rest were treated at the scene.

At a news conference, Damascus Police Chief Bill Nunley didn't release the driver's name or age but said he was participating in the parade. Multiple witnesses described him as an elderly man.

Nunley said the man's 1997 Cadillac was one of the last vehicles in the parade and the driver might have suffered an unspecified medical problem when his car accelerated to about 25 mph and struck the crowd on a two-lane bridge along the town's main road. The driver was among those taken to hospitals.

"It is under investigation and charges may be placed," Nunley said.

There were ambulances in the parade ahead of the hikers and paramedics on board immediately responded to the crash.

Nunley cited the "quick action" by police, firefighters, paramedics and hikers to tend to the victims, including a Damascus volunteer firefighter who dove into the car to turn off the ignition. The firefighter, whose name wasn't released, suffered minor injuries.

Nunley said about 1,000 people participated in the parade. Nunley said the driver was a hiker, too ? someone who had traversed the Appalachian Trail in the past.

What caused the car to drive into the crowd wasn't immediately known. A thud could be heard, people yelled stop, and at some point, the car finally stopped.

Witnesses said the car had a handicapped parking sticker and it went more than 100 feet before coming to a stop.

"He was hitting hikers," said Vickie Harmon, a witness from Damascus. "I saw hikers just go everywhere."

Damascus resident Amanda Puckett, who was watching the parade with her children, ran to the car, where she and others lifted the car off those pinned underneath.

"Everybody just threw our hands up on the car and we just lifted the car up," she said.

Keith Neumann, a hiker from South Carolina, said he was part of the group that scrambled around the car. They pushed the car backward to free a woman trapped underneath and lifted it off the ground to make sure no one else was trapped. Another person jumped inside to put it in park.

"There's no single heroes. We're talking about a group effort of everybody jumping in," he said.

Mayor Jack McCrady encouraged people to attend the festival on Sunday, its final day.

"In 27 years of this, we've never had anything of this magnitude, and is it our job to make sure it doesn't happen again," he said.

McCrady said a donation fund was being set up to assist the injured, some of whom don't have medical insurance.

"We want to make sure they don't suffer any greater loss than they already have," he said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-05-18-Virginia-Parade%20Crash/id-d9b7233d9ab3463f861f7745bd99aa00

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Beatles' guitar auctioned to the tune of $408,000

By Alex Dobuzinskis

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A custom-made electric guitar played by the late John Lennon and George Harrison of the Beatles sold at a New York auction on Saturday for $408,000, said officials with the company behind the event.

The semi-hollow-body guitar, manufactured by the VOX company, was sold to an unidentified U.S. buyer at the "Music Icons" event organized by Beverly Hills, California-based Julien's Auctions and held at the Hard Rock Cafe in Manhattan.

Julien's said previously it expected the guitar, which was the centerpiece of Saturday's sale, to fetch between $200,000 and $300,000.

Harrison played the instrument, distinguished by two symmetrical flared shoulders on the upper body, while practicing "I Am The Walrus," and Lennon used it in a video session for the song "Hello, Goodbye," according to a statement from Julien's Auctions.

Both songs were on the Beatles' 1967 album "Magical Mystery Tour."

The VOX guitar was a prototype instrument custom-built for Lennon in 1966, said Martin Nolan, executive director of Julien's. Lennon gave the VOX guitar as a gift in 1967 to Yanni "Magic Alex" Mardas, who was the electronics engineer for the band's Apple Records label, the auction house said.

The instrument, displayed in recent weeks at a museum in Ireland before the sale, was sold a few years ago by Christie's Auction House for a little over $100,000. Nolan said the latest buyer, who sent a representative to Saturday's auction to bid on his behalf, wished to remain anonymous.

Lennon was shot to death in New York in 1980 by a deranged fan, and Harrison died of lung cancer in Los Angeles in 2001. The surviving members of the Beatles are Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr.

(Reporting and writing by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Steve Gorman and Peter Cooney)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/beatles-guitar-auctioned-tune-408-000-033318408.html

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Giving Homeless Abercrombie & Fitch Gear After CFO 'Cool Kid' Scandal Won't Help, Activists Say

By Jamie Utt, The Good Men Project

The internet is in agreement: Fuck Abercrombie & Fitch.

The collective outrage has produced some fantastic responses. My favorite comes from Amy Taylor who proclaims:

?I am proud to say that I may be a not-so-cool kid and the extra pounds I carry may not be a thing of beauty, but I am nothing like you or your brand -- and that, Mr. Jeffries, is a beautiful thing.?

But inevitably, as is par for the course on the interwebs, there are going to be some responses that are less than fantastic, that despite good intentions, actually end up furthering oppression rather than combating it.

Enter the #FitchTheHomeless campaign.

Related story: Dear Mr. Jeffries - An Open Letter From an 'Uncool Kid'

I?ve seen a number of people posting this on Facebook and Twitter with captions like, ?Awesome!? and ?Perfect.? and ?Brilliant!!?

But when a friend posted it to my timeline asking for my thoughts, I immediately was left with a pretty terrible taste in my mouth.

This ?campaign? is neither ?Awesome!? nor ?Perfect.? or ?Brilliant!? And here?s why:

While I am sure the creator had good intentions (?I can humiliate Abercrombie & Fitch while helping people in need!!!?), what it ends up doing is using people experiencing homelessness as pawns to make a political statement.

And that?s really not okay.

Setting aside the immature digs at the physical appearance of Abercrombie CEO Mike Jeffries, the essential premise of the video seems to be:

Abercrombie & Fitch wants only ?attractive? people to wear their clothes, so let?s rebrand them by putting the ickiest people in their clothes that we possibly can, and who?s ickier than homeless people!?!?

So the White man who created the video puts on his White Savior cape, buys up a bunch of second-hand Abercrombie merch, and heads to a community this is, in every respect, not his space to invade: Skid Row.

Skid Row and Gentrification

The narrator/creator is right in asserting that Skid Row has ?one of the largest concentrations of homeless people? in the U.S., a reality that is a direct result of policies by local authorities that attempted to concentrate the city?s entire homeless population into one area with few resources and services.

But what he ignores is that he?s not the only (seemingly) wealth-privileged White dude going into Skid Row. It is the site of some pretty intense gentrification. And while the influx of capital will indeed mean some new services for the area?s transient and homeless population, it will also undoubtedly mean that many homeless people are scattered to other parts of the city without much support.

So let?s be clear: when the narrator says, ?at first, people were reluctant to accept the clothing? (before making a joke that all people who wear Abercrombie & Fitch are ?narcissistic date rapists? ? hilarious!), it likely has nothing to do with his little crusade.

It?s much more likely rooted in a healthy distrust of White Saviors who have long come to the neighborhood to do feel-good charity or in a resentment of the White money that is transforming Skid Row.

Charity vs Justice

And then there?s our White Savior friend?s statement of, ?It was time to do some charity.?

An incredible friend, ally, and social justice activist named Cheryl Clark offers trainings for social service non-profits aimed at helping them understand exactly why charity is not what they should be striving for. In short, she helps these social service agencies recognize that charity stems from a place of paternalism ?-?I know what you need, so I am going to give it to you whether or not you actually need it.?

As an alternative, she offers a model that she calls ?neighboring,? whereby the non-profit empowers community leaders from the population being ?served? to dictate the direction, scope, and nature of service while engaging non-profit staff and volunteers in building relationships and investing themselves in the community.
Her point is that charity is, despite popular ?wisdom,? not in fact a good thing. It is paternalism based in privilege, and it tends to further oppression rather than helping create justice.

So, Mr. #FitchTheHomeless, what the folks in Skid Row need is not your charity. In fact, neither you or I could ever say what they need. Only the folks in Skid Row can make that determination.

So PLEASE do not encourage well-meaning folks of race and class privilege to charge into homeless peoples? spaces with their Abercrombie & Fitch gear. If you want to donate some clothes, at least do so through accountable organizations that have done the work to build accountable relationships among people experiencing homelessness.

Dehumanization of People Experiencing Homelessness

But what really bothers me about the video, though, is not the paternalism or the blatant expressions of race and class privilege described above.

What bothers me is the way that this #FitchTheHomeless campaign contributes to dehumanization of people who are experiencing homelessness.

If you notice, nowhere in the video do we hear the stories or voices of the people the narrator claims to serve. In fact, we see quite the opposite: quickly changing images of people who seem to fit common stereotypes of what homelessness looks like.

And aside from not really helping anyone, the creator of the #FitchTheHomeless campaign uses people experiencing homelessness as tools, pawns in his socio-political campaign against a wealthy corporation that?s run by an asshole.

And when people are reduced to tools for your campaign, there?s a word for that: dehumanization.
A few companies recently have been criticized for hiring homeless people to carry devices that emit a wireless internet signal. In the words of this ABC news report, stated without irony, ?The company turned homeless people on the streets of Austin into wireless hotspots.?

Did you catch that? The folks who were hired were transformed from being homeless PEOPLE to being objects ? devices for public consumption.

And this #FitchTheHomeless campaign is not really any different. It communicates two things:

1. Homeless people are tools that we can use for our funny viral campaign against a corporation AND
2. Homeless people are the opposite of ?attractive? and ?cool.?

They are the, in fact, the single most dehumanized and othered population in the United States, so they are perfect for making our political point.

And this happens within the context that the most people do not even cognitively recognize people who are experiencing homelessness as human beings. And that is not hyperbole. Collaborative research from Duke and Princeton found that when presented with images of ?homeless people,? the Medial Prefrontal Cortex ? the section of the brain that lights up when we recognize other human beings ? does not light up.

Yup ? Your brain and mine are not even recognizing ?homeless people? as people!!!

And this dehumanizing campaign DOES. NOT. HELP.

So, Mr. #FitchTheHomeless, Stop.

And to the rest of my readers out there, if you?re considering participating in this little game, Don?t.

This post was reprinted with permission from The Good Men Project, in partnership with Change From Within.

Also on HuffPost:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/17/abercrombie-fitch-homeless_n_3293624.html

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LG Nexus 4 shows up in white at Google I/O (hands-on)

A checkerboard-style glitter pattern with a white background? Yes, please. We've always been impressed by the elegant look and feel of LG's Nexus 4, announced alongside Android 4.2 last October, and now Google is making an ivory version of the device available to (hopefully) the masses. The twist: it still hasn't been officially announced, despite the fact that a conference like I/O would be the perfect time and place to do so. While Google chose not to take advantage of the situation to show the unicorn Nexus to the world, real-life units have been discovered floating around Moscone West. Androidandme's Taylor Wimberly happened upon one of them at the show and was gracious enough to give us a brief moment or two with the device.

There isn't any surprise associated with this particular beaut, as it's packing the same design and specs as we've already seen in the original black model (sorry, LTE hopefuls). The pattern on the back actually doesn't stand out as much as it does on the black version, as it happens to blend in with the white a little more. We also noticed the same set of tiny nubs on the bottom that mysteriously appeared on the black version a few months ago. Lastly, the white Nexus is rumored to be the first device with Android 4.3 when it officially launches, but this particular version we saw only sports 4.2.1. There's not much else for us to write about the new color, but let's face it -- you're here for the pictures, which you can gaze upon below.

Gallery: LG Nexus 4 in white at Google I/O

Myriam Joire contributed to this post.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, Google, LG

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/kUH0fg3mafs/

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