Blacks and disproportionality go hand in hand. It’s old news, really. Blacks make up roughly 13 percent of the population, yet commit over half the nation’s violent crimes. (Source)
Blacks make up roughly 13 percent of the population, yet they accounted for 50 percent of AIDS cases in 2005. (Source) No doubt some of these patients contracted AIDS through blood transfusions, rape, or other “accidental” factors, but the vast majority got HIV through sex and shared drug needles.
More sad stats: In 2006, black women, about 6.5 percent of the population, accounted for 47 percent chlamydia cases. Blacks accounted for 69 percent of gonorrhea cases and 43.2 percent of syphilis cases. (Source)
A lot of people have come to see the mp3 player as an extension to their body [...] they won't leave the house without the device anymore. The music collection that they carry with them is a reflection of their identity and without an mp3 player, a lot of people feel incomplete. More and more people have become emotionally dependent on a piece of commercial technology. - Between Ears
In a post titled Space-Time Distortion, I told you that my iPod and Dell DJ MP3 players stopped working at the same time. Weird. But they’re both fixed now, and the music lives. I didn’t realize how much I used those things until I couldn’t use them anymore. It felt like I was going through withdrawal.
Update (11/14): Roger Clegg expertly breaks down Barack Obama’s interview on “affirmative action.” That’s race preferences, to you and me. I’ll appear on NPR’s News & Notes today around 1 p.m. ET to discuss UCS’s comprehensive review proposal and other topics.
Clarification: The UC System has a two-tiered approach in admitting students. First, they must be eligible, based on grades, scores, and a set of required courses, to enter the UC System. Second, once a student is deemed eligible to enter the system, comprehensive review of his file determines on which campus he’s placed (Berkeley, UCLA, San Diego, etc.). This is the selection portion of the process. The Board of Admissions proposes to extend comprehensive review to the eligibility portion, de-emphasizing grades, scores, and required courses. Again, despite the convoluted explanation in the 17-page proposal, UC is attempting to get around state law by factoring in an applicant’s race. From the proposal (emphasis in original):
BOARS recommends that the present practice of providing a guarantee of admission to all students who meet a narrow set of criteria based on course-taking, GPA, test taking, and test scores be replaced. The new policy would guarantee not admission, but consideration for admission through a comprehensive review at each campus of application, to all students who meet certain basic criteria of academic achievement.
Sounds good in theory, doesn’t it? But wait and see what happens. Suddenly, the number of black and hispanic students will rise, but the grade and score gaps will remain the same. If comprehensive review is applied equally across the board to all who apply, why would it disproportionately benefit blacks and hispanics (as I predict it will) and not, say, Asian students with high grades and scores (or low grades and scores) with hard-luck stories of their own? If applied to all students equally, wouldn’t a higher number of white students who would not have made the cut under the old criteria be admitted under the proposed relaxed standard?
I was so busy this week, I forgot about my “blogiversary.” On Monday, November 5, this blog turned four years old. LBC has received about 3.9 million unique visitors since I signed up with Site Meter in May 2004.
Once again, thanks for reading my blog.
Blogging is in the blood, baby.
Update (11/10): My new title: Writer-in-Residence at Biola University.
About Vegas: If you had no conscience and a lot of money, you could have a really good time/get in big trouble (the same thing, in most cases!). Now I know why people say, “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.”
This photo was taken yesterday by Jim of Gateway Pundit. More photos here. Pictured: Matt Sheffield of NewsBusters.org, me, and Soren Dayton of RedState.org.
10:05 a.m. PT: It’s Day Two of the Blog World Expo/GodBlogCon Convention. Biola University professor Paul Spears will discuss “Trafficking in Substance: A Blogging Dilemma: The Case for Blog Euthanasia.” Christians interested in God blogging need to be representatives of a “bigger thing.” What does it mean to have “substance” on your blog?
Paul says Christians have a responsibility to enable our audience to come to an understanding of larger things. It takes work, but there’s no other way around it. This assumes you want your blog to be significant, to come from a place of substance and help other Christians in their walk toward Christ. Paul showed a series of famous paintings. These artists created the kind of beauty that lasts. Lofty idea for mere bloggers, but we should strive to create something meaningful that endures.
What’s the story we’re telling? For me, I want to share the story of how Christ affects lives, my own and other people’s. There’s more than enough blogging out there about the latest trends and hottest politic topics. What we need is transcendence.
1:20 p.m. PT: Ran into Matt Sheffield, blogging pal since the early days, and Henry Copeland of BlogAds, who remembered attending my faith blogging session at BlogNashville back in 2005. Met Andy Beal of Marketing Pilgrim. I did some consulting work through one of his former companies.
Rhett Smith is up. He’s discussing social media sites like Facebook and how Christians can use the “new media ministries” in youth ministry. Rhett does youth ministry and was reluctant to create a page on MySpace. His online forum was getting little traffic, so he decided to try MySpace. He started getting visitors to his site. He also joined Facebook, a site that I have yet to get into.
Rhett said he had to go where the teens are. Put yourself in the shoes of high school kids, he said, or young adults. They’ve always had the online world, with social networking sites. For an oldster like me, even though I’m a blog consultant, I have no use for MySpace or Facebook. Yet. If you do youth ministry, of course, you’ll need to familiarize yourself with those sites.
[UK update side note: I mentioned my desire to go to the UK to a couple of people this morning and got two more leads on places to stay. Cheaply. One sounds really cool - Related to C.S. Lewis. I'll keep you posted.]
5:17 a.m. PT: Hi, my name is La Shawn, and I’m a coffeeholic. And I like to get up at 4 a.m.
I’m in Vegas, blogging before dawn. Lots of bloggers to try to meet today. Over the next two days, bloggers from many parts of the blogosphere – including Christian, political, business, tech, culture, sports, military, legal, and the “podosphere” – are here, talking about how to make money from blogs, win friends, and influence people. Bloggers will discuss how to use the new medium for God’s glory and connect the body of Christ in the digital age. Bloggers will show others how to use the “long tail” to their advantage. Business owners will learn how to hire bloggers. And on and on.
I probably won’t have time to meet all the bloggers on my list. Eric Olsen, a guy who created a little site called Blog Critics (and published a concert review I wrote) a few years ago and built it into an influential (press credentials), money-making venture, is near the top. I have a long list of business and tech bloggers I want to meet, many of whom don’t know me, I’m sure. Reading their blogs helped me shape my consulting business, and I continue to learn from them every day.
I’ll be on an NPR show called “The State of Nevada” this morning, along with fellow Godbloggers Joe Carter and Professor John Mark Reynolds, to talk about Blog World Expo (read convention updates here). The segment will air on KNPR between 9-10 a.m. PT.
I might be able to update this post today with photos and what’s happening at the convention. There seems to be an issue with the wireless.
9:37 a.m. PT: There’s something comforting about being around other Christians, even strangers.
“Even in cases of rape and incest, I do not believe the unborn baby should be killed. Is that clear enough? I’ll make it clearer. Even if a man rapes his 13-year-old daughter and impregnates her, the baby should live.”
I repeated what I wrote and what I believe. Even so-called pro-life people draw the line at rape and incest. Not me, for the reasons I stated in the post.
In a quest to “reclaim his art on the Internet,” singer and musician Prince is going to sue sites like YouTube and eBay over unauthorized use of his work. Fans (and haters?) upload his videos and auction copies of his CDs and other merchandise in violation of his copyright, he claims. (Source)
In a post titled The Long Tail of Independence, I said that Prince was wasting his time and money. I advised him to embrace technology and use it to his advantage. How?
Make a “content agreement” with YouTube, and share the wealth. YouTube’s content is “created” by users. Part of what makes the YouTube model successful is that users have the run of the place, sort of like the blogosphere. They have a “stake” in the business. In a Web 2.0 universe, we create the content, and that content connects us to one another in ways no one even imagined 10 years ago. Just short of shutting down the Internet, there’s no way to stop these connections from forming. That’s what Prince is trying to do. Instead, he should create his own official channel on YouTube (like others) and profit from it.
Yeah, Las Vegas is a little tacky (the strip), but so what? I’m looking forward to it. I’ve never seen the city, only the slot machine-filled airport on a layover.
You may recall that I mentioned attending two concerts on Hanson’s “The Walk Tour” so far. Well, I have an opportunity to attend a third. Just by “coincidence,” Hanson is playing in Las Vegas this Thursday night. All I have to do is let the publicist know I’ll be in town and…but I won’t.
The only thing stopping me from going to the venue, possibly walking in the door past a long line of excited girls and young women, and talking to the guys before the show is…pride. I’m too old to be any band’s groupie (although they don’t make me feel like one – last time I saw them, I didn’t want to bother them with picture-taking, but one said, “Hey, guys, let’s take pictures!” – yeah, I had my camera with me, buried deep in my bag, but they didn’t know that), and I don’t want to give the appearance of being a groupie, either. (But if I were 20 years younger…) Those guys are so nice, though.
Anyway, I look forward to having dinner with fellow Christian bloggers that night. I’m not sure if it’s too late to sign up for GodBlogCon. If not, come on out! My presentation is on “writing well in the new media,” or something like that.
Update (11/7): A reader writes: “Life is short…go to the concert!! Don’t worry about the groupie thing…you never know what God is up to…maybe He needs you at the concert. Enjoy Vegas!”
Ever heard the term Web 2.0 and wondered what the heck it meant? Well, it’s complicated. But it’s simple. It depends on your perspective.
One of Saturday’s presenters, Judith Howard Ellis, showed a video at the end of her presentation. Earlier this year, I’d watched the same video. Loved it. You’ve probably seen it, too. Michael Wesch, Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Kansas State University, created the video to explain Web 2.0. His explanation is fascinating in its simplicity yet profound (and a little flattering) in its far-reaching implications.
But don’t go by me. Click the arrow below to watch “Web 2.0 … The Machine is Us/ing Us.”
Update (11/6): I’m online so much (working, playing, wasting time) that if someone stole my television, I probably wouldn’t notice until I was ready to watch “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.”
About 80 percent of adults go online. Not particularly earth-shattering news, but interesting.
I was giving my presentation at the World Journalism Institute conference for Christian journalism students. The plan was to share my testimony and its relevance to how and why I started blogging, then discuss what Christians can do with a blog.
Things didn’t go as planned.
For some reason, I sounded as though I were on the verge of tears while talking about my former drinking problem. I expanded on it when I didn’t intend to, and I didn’t flesh out my points about what Christians can do with a blog. I don’t know what happened. My own testimony has made me cry before, but not in years.
I’ve been feeling directionless lately, and that morning I asked God to point me in the direction he wanted me to go, no strings attached. You see, whenever I ask God to illuminate his plan for me, I typically do so with conditions. I’m not really trusting him because I have a clear vision of what I want to do. What I end up doing is praying that he allows my will to happen. I ask him to make my wishes come true. So far, that hasn’t worked out very well. So yesterday morning, I took a leap of faith and said, “Whatever you want me to do, God, show me. Even if it’s just two steps in front of me, illuminate the path ahead.”
I don’t know if that prayer had anything to do with the incomplete presentation. Several people thanked me for sharing my testimony, and several more asked about my blog consulting services. I’ll keep you posted on how God is answering that “illuminate the path” prayer.
I don’t know what I was thinking coming up here without a jacket. I’m blogging from the hotel lobby because my room won’t be ready until three o’clock. (Idle hands are the blogger’s workshop.)
After this, I think I’ll brave the chilly weather and walk around. After all, I am in New York City. I’ve got to soak up some of the sights. I’ve always wondered, though, why anybody would want to live in a place with so many people per square whatever. No offense to New York City-ers. It’s nice to visit and all.
“We will make every effort, implement every tool, and take every step to ensure the laws against illegal immigration are enforced.”
It does a patriot’s heart good to know an elected official has the bal…I mean nerve to talk like that on the record. In this ultra-PC world, can you believe a white American elected-to-office male would say that? I almost cried yesterday when I read Matt Blunt’s plain, direct words. Thank goodness for Americans like him. More from the article:
Blacks and disproportionality go hand in hand. It’s old news, really. Blacks make up roughly 13 percent of the population, yet commit over half the nation’s violent crimes. (Source)
***Live-blogging at 
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In a quest to “reclaim his art on the Internet,” singer and musician Prince is going to sue sites like 
Yeah, Las Vegas is a little tacky (the strip), but so what? I’m looking forward to it. I’ve never seen the city, only the slot machine-filled airport on a layover.
Is this thing on? Test, test…