Katie Couric: ‘what is an internet?’

17 years ago, there was this strange thing spreading around the world called ‘an internet’ …like a devilish spider web that kids were using to communicate and sell drugs. “At?” “Around?” “About?”   Let’s be honest, “@” really should mean ‘around’ anyway.

In this 1994 clip, Couric, Gumbel, and Vargas struggle to make sense of the “Today” show’s new email address, which at the time contained a strange and foreign ‘@’ symbol.

“I wasn’t prepared to translate that, as I was doing that little tease — that little mark with the ‘a’ and then ring around it,” says Gumbel.

“At?” asks Vargas.

“See, that’s what I said,” says Gumbel. “Katie said she thought it was ‘about.’”

“Or ‘around’ or ‘about,’” Couric says.

Gumbel adds that he had only seen the mark but never heard it said aloud, and then asks, “What is the Internet, anyway?”

“Internet is that massive computer network,” says Couric. “The one that’s becoming really big now. A lot of people use it to communicate.”

Not completely confident in her attempt at an explanation, Couric asks a producer to help her out, and the trio look frustrated as they try to grasp the concept.

Current “Today” show host Matt Lauer aired the clip this morning and had a good chuckle with colleagues Al Roker and Ann Curry.

“It’s easy to laugh now,” he said, “but we all felt that way. It was a mystery to all of us.”

Lauer then joked, “I talked to Bryant last night about that clip and he has become quite tech savvy — he just bought a Sony Walkman.”

Video: Classical guitar orchestra playing Jurrasic Park theme

Here is your daily dose of classical guitars, John Williams, and dinosaurs. Happy  Monday. – Jordan

And don’t worry, they also mastered Beethoven.

Nada on 91x // The Tree Ring

          

Hope you had a really great weekend. Yesterday, I was invited on the San Diego radio show 91x that plays all things San Diego-independent music. I’d never been on the radio before, aside from a few college courses I took way back when, but this was the real deal, headphones and all. I invited a few of my friends who also work at Invisible Children, they brought the pie and moral support. I was interviewed about my music blog called Friends With Both Arms, which is really cool because it started a year and a half ago in the summer of ‘09 back in Toronto. Really humble beginnings, really just me blogging about music I loved, in my bedroom. Since then, I’ve been able to do some really cool stuff through it, like connect with likeminded bloggers whom I so admire, put on neat shows and get mixtapes from my favorite artists. 

I mostly wanted to talk about how inspired I’ve been by the San Diego music scene, artists like Joel P West and the Tree Ring, and Writer. We played a few songs off the Tree Ring record that will soon be released. In fact, they’re having a record release party on Feb. 12th at the San Diego Women’s Club. You definitely need to check out this band if you haven’t heard them before. 

Making and saving history

Egypt has been consuming my mind. I have literally been spending the past week transfixed to Al Jazeera’s live stream reports and hitting the refresh button every 5 seconds on all the major news sites. What is happening in the streets of Cairo is beautifully compelling and terribly sad. Today is the 7th straight day that activists have come together to force out president Hosni Mubarak–who has been ruling Egypt with an iron fist for the past 30 years.

Egyptian protesters have increased pressure on their government by organizing a “million-man” march on Tuesday in both Cairo and Alexandria. According to the BBC, “the only change the protesters will settle for is Mr. Mubarak’s removal from office.”

Besides making history, the youth of Egypt are also saving it. On Friday, there were reports of looting and damages to Egypt’s national museum but in a statement released to the public, one of Egypt’s largest libraries is being protected by a group of

students whose patriotism and pride have been fully awakened:

The young people organized themselves into groups that directed traffic, protected neighborhoods and guarded public buildings of value such as the Egyptian Museum and the Library of Alexandria.

The safeguarded group is even collaborating with the military to ensure that the nation’s valuables are kept from further destruction. I am in awe and will continue to be consumed with all things Egypt until there’s a resolution. – Jordan

Moving video: ‘Why we protest’

I saw this video this morning and wanted to share it with you all. It is a well spoken British Egyptian protesting in solidarity with his people in Cairo. Some of you might be saying ‘why are they so upset… if Mubarak is so horrible, why haven’t I ever heard of him until now?’ Well at least that’s what I was asking. If that’s you, read this.

This whole thing has made me think of the civil rights movement of the 60’s. Cairo is more dramatic and fundamentally revolutionary, but I think of the way we are watching Egypt with bated breath as history unfolds, and how back in the 60’s and 70’s the world must have been watching us in much the same way. It gives me that powerful sense of history in the making.

Watching this man speak with such sincere emotion, you can see how moving ideas like ‘liberty’ and ‘hope’ can be for the oppressed. He is brought to tears at the promise of change in his home country. After all, this is why Invisible Children exists in the first place: standing in solidarity with the invisible. – Jedidiah

Peter Wolf Crier // Habitat House

Peter Wolf Crier ♦ Untitled 101 from Brandon Tauszik on Vimeo.

This passed Sunday we put together a last minute attic show with my boyfriend’s band, Peter Wolf Crier. They played an incredible set at the Loft at UCSD and caught their breath long enough to head over to the Habitat House where a handful of friends were waiting for them to perform a stripped-down set in our friend Zack’s attic. It was so cool to have all of our friends there, sitting cross legged and attentive on scattered pillows watching Peter and Brian pour whatever they had left into these songs. It was filmed by a few of the guys in our art department including Brandon Tauszik, Chadwick Gantes and our music team’s Kenny Laubbacher. The other friend I have the pleasure of sitting across from all day at work, Alex Collins was there in full force, as well- a required participant for any/all epic shows I’ve ever been to. It was really cool to see the IC family rally around this, and it especially meant a lot to me. Check out the video above- and go here to catch the remaining tour dates for them at Retribution Gospel Choir. 

CNN: Protest in Egypt turn more violent

Thousands of Egyptian protesters took to the streets of Cairo today demanding change and freedom from economic woes. This morning at least three people were killed in riots, which now increases the death toll to at least 10. The Egyptian government restrained the use of Internet and other communication devices to disrupt further riots.

Read the article below from CNN and this interesting article from Mother Jones that explains why these protests started. – Jordan

Egypt sends army into streets amid mass protests

Cairo, Egypt (CNN) — The Egyptian army patrolled the streets of Cairo with armored personnel carriers Friday after thousands of angry anti-government demonstrators clashed with tear-gas firing police.

As the government cracked down on protesters across Egypt, opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei, who returned home to Cairo to join the demonstrations, was placed under house arrest, a high-level security source told CNN. ElBaradei, a Nobel Peace Prize winner and former head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog agency, was warned earlier not to leave a mosque near downtown Cairo where he was attending Friday prayers.

Authorities imposed a curfew from 6 p.m. to 7 a.m. local time in Cairo, Alexandria and Suez, where the largest demonstrations took place Friday. In Cairo, vans packed with riot police circled neighborhoods before the start of weekly prayers in the afternoon. Later in the day, Egyptian soldiers moved onto the streets for the first time since the unrest began Tuesday.

But protesters, fed up with economic woes and a lack of freedoms, defied security warnings to demand an end to President Hosni Mubarak’s authoritarian 30-year-rule. Protesters hurled rocks and chanted that the dictator must go. “Down, Down, Mubarak,” they shouted. A plume of smoke billowed over the Nile River as chaos reigned in the bustling metropolis. A truck drove over the 6 October Bridge firing tear gas at point blank range. Police confiscated cameras from people, including guests at the Hilton Hotel.

The Muslim Brotherhood — Egypt’s largest opposition bloc — urged its followers to protest after prayers, the first time in the latest wave of unrest that the group has made such a call. In the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, at least 1,000 protesters gathered and youths hurled rocks through black clouds of gas. Crowds ran through the streets toward the city’s central square.

Further south in Suez, 15,000 riot police were out, using tear gas to disperse crowds, state-run Nile TV said. Riot police also confronted protesters in the cities and towns of Ismailia, Fayoum and Shbin Elkoum, according to the anti-government group Egyptian Liberation. In Jordan, meanwhile, about 1,500 protesters amassed in downtown Amman and hundreds of others turned out in other cities, witnesses said. Egypt’s Interior Ministry forbade protests Friday, but some Egyptians were going door to door in Cairo, urging their neighbors to participate.

A Facebook page devoted to the demonstrations accrued more than 80,000 followers as of Thursday afternoon, compared with 20,000 the previous day. But hours ahead of the protests, the internet went dark in parts of the country. Some text messaging and cell phone services appeared to be blocked. Servers of Egypt’s main internet provider were down early Friday, according to multiple services that check whether servers used by specific sites are active. Servers for the Egyptian government’s sites and for the U.S. Embassy in Cairo also appeared to be down.

“We are closely monitoring the situation and are aware that communication services, including social media, are being blocked,” U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Thursday. “We continue to urge Egyptian authorities to show restraint and allow peaceful protests to occur.” Authorities arrested a prominent Muslim Brotherhood leader early Friday, detaining the party’s main speaker, Issam al-Aryan, according to a relative. Police came to al-Aryan’s Cairo home at 2:30 a.m. local time, his son-in-law said. Other government critics voiced their opinions — amazingly — on state-run television. A popular morning show on state-run Nile TV included comments from guests calling for the resignation of government officials and increased dialogue between authorities and arrested protesters.

The network carried coverage of the protests, even calling them large and peaceful. In the past, state-run media might have ignored such demonstrations or blamed them on unsavory people. The protests in Egypt follow days of unrest that have roiled several Arab countries. Demonstrations in Tunisia led the president to flee that North African nation. Then came protests in Algeria, Egypt, Yemen and Jordan. Essentially they are pro-democracy protests by people who are increasingly frustrated with the accumulating wealth of the elites in their respective countries, while a majority of the citizenry faces bleak economic prospects.

“They all want the same,” said Emile Hokayem of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in the Middle East. “They’re all protesting about growing inequalities, they’re all protesting against growing nepotism. The top of the pyramid was getting richer and richer.” People are also fed up with authoritarian regimes that do not afford the people proper representation.

“Fundamentally it’s a question of dignity. People’s dignity has been under assault for decades,” Hokayem said. Opposition leader ElBaradei said Thursday that people have taken to the streets because they “realize the regime is not listening, not acting.” “The barrier of fear is broken,” he said. “And it will not come back.” He called for demonstrations to be peaceful and for Mubarak’s government to stop detaining and torturing people. He said that a violent response from the government is “counterproductive” and that the regime should promote democracy and social justice. “I am asking the regime to listen to the people before it is too late,” the opposition leader said.

Mubarak has not been seen in public for some time. He is 82 and there has been speculation of failing health. Many Egyptians believe Mubarak is grooming his son, Gamal, as his successor, a plan that could be complicated by demands for democracy. The protests have led to unprecedented violence this week. At least six have died in the demonstrations so far, according to Egypt’s Interior Ministry.

Read the rest of the article here.

GOOD: Transparency-Africa in the shadows

I can not get a grip on the statistics from this transparency provided by GOOD. One-fourth (1.5 billion people) of the global population has absolutely no access to energy. New York City alone consumes the same amount of electricity as all sub-Saharan African countries. I am not New York City but this morning I took a hot shower, had a warm cup of coffee, and made some toast without thinking twice about my accessibility to electricity. I flip a switch–coffee is ready. I turn the faucet on–hot water pours out. What if we were a part of the 1.5 billion people who didn’t have access to that? Our every day routine of instant-everything would be drastically different.  We would discover a whole new way of living. Instead of flipping a switch, it’d be off to gather fire wood. Something to think about… – Jordan

Video: The Way We Get By

Meet Joan, Jerry, and Bill. For the past 6 years they have greeted nearly one million American soldiers at a tiny airport in Bangor, Maine. The three gather daily to thank U.S. troops departing and returning from Iraq. They inspire me. I am trying to hold back the tears. – Jordan

The Way We Get By – Trailer from The Way We Get By on Vimeo.

BBC: Ugandan gay rights activist murdered

This is appalling. In light of Martin Luther King Jr day last week, and the liberty movements in northern Africa, we are especially fired up here at Invisible Children these days. Over recent years, we’ve received heat from the most conservative people in Uganda for our inclusion and focus on women’s education and empowerment. And as many of you have seen in the news, the anti-homosexual movement in Uganda is alive and well. There is a conservative momentum in Uganda that is powerful and fearful of international influence. When Barrack Obama condemned the anti-homosexual legislation, people took to the streets with signs that read “Obama Back Off.” Of course not everyone thinks so viciously, but it is a tragic state of affairs that openly gay activists can lose their lives in the country we hold so dear.  Read more below.  – Jedidiah

Uganda gay rights activist David Kato killed

BBC | 27 January 2011

A Ugandan gay rights campaigner who last year sued a local newspaper which outed him as homosexual has been beaten to death, activists say. Police have confirmed the death of David Kato and say they have arrested one suspect.

Uganda’s Rolling Stone newspaper published the photographs of several people it said were gay next to a headline reading “Hang them”. Homosexual acts are illegal in Uganda, with punishments of 14 years in prison.

The BBC’s Joshua Mmali, in Kampala, says it is unclear whether the death is linked to the Rolling Stone campaign but police have said there is no connection between Mr Kate’s activism and his death. The police say that though they have arrested one suspect, the main suspect – who they say lived with Mr Kato – remains on the run. An MP recently tried to increase the penalties to include the death sentence in some cases.

There has been a recent spate of “iron-bar killings” in Mukono, where Mr Kato lived, in which people have been assaulted with pieces of metal. Witnesses have told the BBC that a man entered Mr Kato’s home near Kampala, and beat him to death before leaving. His Sexual Minorities Uganda (Smug) group said Mr Kato had been receiving death threats since his name, photograph and address were published by Rolling Stone last year.

Frank Mugisha, the group’s executive director, told the BBC’s Network Africa programme he was “devastated” on hearing the news from New York. “He was killed by someone who came in his house with a hammer, meaning anyone else could be the next target.” Mr Mugisha said Mr Kato had recently been concerned about the threats he had received. Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called for a swift investigation into his death. “David Kato’s death is a tragic loss to the human rights community,” said HRW’s Maria Burnett. He had campaigned against the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, which appears to have been quietly dropped after provoking a storm of international criticism when it was mooted in 2009.

Following a complaint by Mr Kato and three others, a judge in November ordered Rolling Stone to stop publishing the photographs of people it said were homosexual, saying it contravened their right to privacy. Several activists said they had been attacked after their photographs were published. Mr Mugisha called on the Ugandan government to step up security for gay people. “We’re strongly asking every gay and lesbian and bisexual and transgender person in Uganda to watch out for their security … [they] should take extra caution.”

Rolling Stone editor Giles Muhame told Reuters news agency he condemned the murder and that the paper had not wanted gays to be attacked. “There has been a lot of crime, it may not be because he is gay,” he said. “We want the government to hang people who promote homosexuality, not for the public to attack them.” “Iron-bar killings” were common in Uganda when former leader Idi Amin was in power in the 1970s. A rapid response police team has been sent to the area and several suspects have been arrested over the killings.