 
QUOTES...
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Retiring and moving on to... jasonlamberton.com!
Botched Article for the Buff n' Blue
Reposting of "I Have a Dream"
Challenger Memorial
NASA: Deaf, Dumb and Blind
Deaf Love Survives Challenger Disaster Intact!
message to Virgin Galactic
Clerc Free College at Tent City, Gallaudet
The Past, Present and Future
GALLYNET-L message: Thomas Samuels editorial
A peek behind the curtains of a persona (mine)
A Letter To Dr. Mike Adams
Racist Threat
Behind the Stages of a News Segment on Location
Whizzing by Mathematically at 27 MPH
08/01/2004 - 09/01/2004
09/01/2004 - 10/01/2004
10/01/2004 - 11/01/2004
11/01/2004 - 12/01/2004
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01/01/2005 - 02/01/2005
02/01/2005 - 03/01/2005
03/01/2005 - 04/01/2005
04/01/2005 - 05/01/2005
06/01/2005 - 07/01/2005
07/01/2005 - 08/01/2005
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10/01/2005 - 11/01/2005
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11/01/2006 - 12/01/2006
04/01/2007 - 05/01/2007
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rumination.
n.
The act of pondering; meditation.
blog.
n. a personal Web site that provides updated
headlines and news articles of other sites that are of interest
to the user, also may include journal entries, commentaries
and recommendations compiled by the user; also written web
log, Weblog; also called blog (thanks, dictionary.com!)
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Retiring and moving on to... jasonlamberton.com!
This blog is already an ancient clunker of a jury-rigged and cobbled-together blog, before blogs became a cultural phenomenon, complely changing the power balance between the people and those powers that be. I can no longer effectively blog using this method, because, like using grandma's spare tank of stale old-fashioned leaded gasoline in your new ethanol-guzzling hybrid car, it just doesn't work that way. For long, at least (before you get indicted for pollution in your new eco-friendly car, if you can even get it to work, let alone sustain operations).
This blog can't do RSS feeds, for one. That means people have to "discover" my blog. RSS helps feed my blog posts to a distributor, which sends my posts all over the world, such as deafread.com. It's very tedious and trying to try and make design changes using outdated coding methods without causing a domino effect, so I finally launched jasonlamberton.com 2.0. It's gonna be sleek, modernized, simpler and more effective. Nothing fancy now, it's a work in progress, as usual.
Really, it makes navigating to my website much easier. Just type in www.jasonlamberton.com and you're there! Goodbye from this part of the site, though, it'll always be here as an archive. See how much I have evolved and watch how much I will evolve!
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Botched Article for the Buff n' Blue
Pah! I have finally written something, after such a long time suffering from a bout of writer's block. Granted, that affliction still ails me, but I am trying. I was asked to do an article for the Buff and Blue, and after long procrastinating, I did it at the last-minute and missed the deadline. Alas, this article won't get published in today's issue, but I am kind of relieved, because I am not quite satisfied with the quality of the article. So, I'll have 2 weeks to come up with a better article and meanwhile, relegate the article to this blog so I didn't write for nothing!
The Future By Jason Lamberton The future is nigh. I'm going skydiving this Saturday, and after that hopefully form a Deaf skydiving team. Only one small step for man, but it will be a giant leap for Deafhood. I just watched a clip on YouTube.com of a guy who strapped rocket engines to each of his feet, donning a WingSuit (a skydiving suit that has wings, essentially enabling one to fly). It blew my mind. I never imagined when I was a kid, that we could essentially be Supermen when we were older (or Superwomen)! That's what I'm gonna do. 'Course, I have to get my Accelerated Freefall certification first. What's the point of all this? It is to fly, to attain the superhuman powers long afforded us for generations, superpowers denied us because of our seemingly Untouchable sub-human status as "handicapped" things to be pushed to the fringes of society. Growing up Deaf, I never even once thought it possible to be an astronaut. Even though I wanted to be an aerospace engineer, I didn't consider trying to become an astronaut because I knew that I would be laughed at at every mention. Now no more! I got arrested on Black Friday and saw things I wasn't supposed to see during our red-carpet treatment at the DC Police Academy, which acted as a temporary deaf prison. After getting my mug shot, we (5 or 6 of us) were herded to a spot just outside a big classroom (actually, 2 classrooms with a partition pulled back). While waiting in the queue, I happened to browse a bulletin board, which had a lot of interesting information, such as a poster of the 7 signs of terrorism to look out for (which raised a couple red flags in my mind!). One very scary piece of information that I picked up was a flyer - stamped "For Law Enforcement Eyes Only" - about a terrorist at large right here in the United States, named Adnan el-Shukrijumah. The flyer mentions the fact that he stole 250 pounds of radioactive material from a nuclear engineering lab at a university in Toronto and crossed the border. They have been looking for him ever since! I wonder why we, the public, were never informed of that? Probably to minimize panic, because 250 pounds of radioactive material is a lot to mess around with, if you're an al-Qaeda pilot-turned-terrorist. (It's funny that I brought up a real terrorist, because it's we who were branded the terrorists by our dear JKF) But, I digress. I thought about a lot of things while being incarcerated in that classroom-turned-jail room (the boys and girls were separated). Granted, that DVD movie playing in the corner was a bit distracting- the flick was Crash. Laying on one of the mats on the floor, one of the things that crossed my mind and lingered about for a bit was the fact that I might have just threw my future away by getting arrested. A blotch on my record! NASA probably isn't keen on hiring ex-cons as astronauts. That thought really pissed me off, but toughened the resolve to forge a great future not only for myself, but my fellow citizens of Deafhood. Needless to say, to become an astronaut takes a lot. Since there is no questioning the intellectual capabilities of deaf persons, the matter in question for NASA and any other entity able to launch humans into space, is the physical ability for any potential deaf astronauts to be safely launched into orbit and be brought back in one piece - no easy feat - despite the fact that we are in the 21st century. Again, back to the point. What am I trying to say? What does Gallaudet have to do with all of this? Why did I, a former President's Fellow, get arrested? Because Gallaudet shattered my dreams, blew out my flame. Before that happened, I was going at it alone, pursuing an encompassing research project which I received zero support from Gallaudet. It was research using a computerized glove to track the sign-language movements of the hand and arms and also research work on 3-D ASL animation. Clearly, Gallaudet's priorities did not include innovating work of ASL. With the ouster of Jane Kelleher Fernandes, it is incumbent upon ourselves to define what the future means to Gallaudet, and most importantly, ourselves. We, as individual particles within the organic Gallaudet system, should ensure that the system strives for excellence. That means Gallaudet should push the envelope of what it means to be a Deaf person, to demolish any remaining barriers and help promote deaf persons to venture onto paths rarely traveled. For example, Gallaudet could do all in its power to help increase the number of deaf pilots. Gallaudet could even have a skydiving team, like some of the other universities around here do. Even better, Gallaudet could use its muscle and lobby NASA to start accepting deaf applicants into their Astronaut Candidate Program. That'll surely keep the media eye on us, and this time, on the abilities of our citizens, not our disabilities.
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Reposting of "I Have a Dream"
Challenger Memorial
For my 27th birthday on June 8th, I went to visit the memorial of the space shuttle Challenger at Arlington Cemetery. By doing so, I kept to my tradition of celebrating my day of birth by not opening gifts, but doing something commemorative that keeps me on my path towards destiny. Two years ago, I, on a whim, bought a cheap plane ticket to London and saw the Transit of Venus. I also visited the Westminster Abbey and visited Isaac Newton's tomb. Here's what I said about it in my "about me" page:
I visited his tomb at the Westminster Abbey last summer, one of the most spiritual experiences I ever had. Traveling to London to celebrate my 25th birthday, which coincided with the June 8, 2004 transit of Venus, barely visible from America. Westminster Abbey is very strict with their no-picture policy, but knowing that I was there to specifically pay my respects to Sir Isaac Newton, they led me into a cordoned-off area, off limits to the general public, where his tomb was at. The priest then told me to take as many pictures and videos as I wanted. I couldn't believe it, I was able to lay my hands against his sarcophagus, and kneel on his grave, literally inches away from his body (if it is still there). Ever since then, I have striven to emulate him. Click for pictures
This year, I had no idea what I would do on my birthday, up to the day of reckoning. I don't think I ever had a birthday party ever since I was in grade school. That happens when your birthday falls on a date where everybody's out of town! As you can see, I have lately focused on space. It is a fire in me that has burned ever since I can remember. That is what led me to impulsively decide to visit the Challenger memorial in order to remember Astronaut Judith Resnik, who had a deaf family member and cared very deeply about the deaf. She was known for always wearing a ILY necklace. Forty days after the Challenger tragedy, the destroyed remains of the shuttle cabin was found in the Atlantic Ocean. Almost no remains were found. What WAS found were only a few strands of Judy's hair and her ILY necklace.
That fact was like pouring gasoline over my burning desire to travel to space. I am absolutely sure that if Judy Resnik was still alive today, she would strive to help us work with NASA to change their rules about deaf people traveling to space. I was very curious whether if I could find pictures of her wearing the ILY necklace, and after some research at the library, I sure did! Below are some pictures of Judy's ILY necklace with enhanced closeups of the "I Love You" hand, both on Earth and in space. It is a bit blurry, but there is no question that she was wearing something that meant a lot to her- a love for the deaf. How come no one ever knew about this?!
 click for full-size version
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NASA: Deaf, Dumb and Blind
NASA has been changing for a long time and will continue to change till it is dead. Then it will see brighter days as a reorganized entity. I am very curious to see what will happen to NASA down the years. Will they continue to be the strong force that brought glory to America during the moon-landing Apollo years? Will they enable American technology to take us to Mars by 2025, as President Bush promised? Or will they keep on struggling to survive in this American utopia of budget cuts and stifled development due to malformed beliefs?
Many people no longer believe that it is important to go to space anymore nowadays. So we spend hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayer (our) money to occupy a couple countries in the name of self-defense. Remember that $4,000 worth of taxes you paid? Since our federal budget is maybe 10 trillion dollars, 500 billion dollars is maybe a good number to represent the cost of our military needs ever since 9-11. That's 5% of your taxes, which translates to 200 dollars, worth maybe 1-3 days of wages. That'll buy the Army a lot of bullets.
That's all you are worth to the government a couple boxes of ammunition, because the Navy can't really buy much with $200. To finance a rifle, the government has to tax maybe three of you. Even much more for those F-35 jets, while we are fighting like dogs in Iraq? When the time comes to fight Iran, even more of your money will go to pay for the new bunker-busting nukes currently under development. By then, more than a trillion dollars would have been spent. $1,000,000,000,000. On conquest.
Conquering Space sounds a helluva lot better! If NASA had a trillion dollars, we would very much be on our way to Mars! I would LOVE to see a Martian return on my $200 investment! Instead, we'll probably eat some radioactive dirt in a return of our $200 investment if we continue our Middle Eastern adventures of violence.
Wow, we humans are powerful, ain't we? We got the power to both cure our ailing space program, which's deathly deaf, dumb and blind, and the Earth of its cancers with nuclear weapons tonight (but not deafness) ! In that process will fruit a lot of revolutionary contributions to anti-aging, communications, metallurgy, energy, the list goes on and on. A battle with China to see who reaches Mars first sounds a lot more fun than watching mushroom clouds rise over Tel Aviv and Tehran. The Chinese are already on their way to the moon! Taikonauts will be walking around on the lunar surface in the next decade. Where will we Americans be? Nuked roast? I most certainly hope not!
By the way, I just realized that the cure for deafness the hearing people have been looking for all along has been right under their eyes! It's sign language. It cures us of our disability and makes us normal. It gives us the power to smash out of the glass ceiling, er, fortress that we're stuck in! Knowing how to sign for hearing people can be very useful. Astronaut Mike Mullane says that the military has a hand-signal system in the case of radio communications blackouts. Army snipers most certainly use gestures to stay in stealth mode while on the hot trail. Since there are sometimes failures in radio communications, an astronaut would be served very well if he or she knew sign language while doing a spacewalk. In an emergency, communications can be established via sign language. Spacewalking astronauts are at the mercy of computers, if they fail, they are closed in their own claustrophic universe, unable to communicate to the outer world, er, space. Sign language gives them (us) that transcendental ability.
Why don't we encourage Iran to convert their Shahab-3 missiles to launch satellites? Israel would most certainly help them. The Israelis are one of the best when it comes to rockets, I bet they could build a shuttle and go to space if they weren't so afraid of all the Muslims threatening their very existence. All that money spent to protect their 400 nuclear bombs could finance a united Israeli-Palestinian space program. I bet that Dr. Ahmadinejad would most certainly agree to scrap his nuke program and sign up for that program! He is a civil engineer, so the scientist in him could help lead him to peace, rather than his religious side, which calls for the Apocalypse to commence.
I tell you, the day NASA allows deaf astronauts, I'll rejoice like it's the second coming of Christ! That'll a sign of a healthy NASA (and world)!
Where has all the excitement gone? It used to be sooo exciting whenever a space shuttle would lift off. Does anybody know that there's gonna be a shuttle launch next month? Or even that the Russians has a shuttle of their own that flew only one unmanned mission? If this was the 1960's, our astronauts would be more famous than the American Idol contestants! How about a new reality show, an astronaut corps show? That would be so cool!
How sad that Buran, the Russian shuttle, flew only once. I think it was a beautiful clone of our shuttle!
source of photo
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Deaf Love Survives Challenger Disaster Intact!
When the space shuttle Challenger blew up, it seared a permanent brand on my cerebral cortex. It was 1986 and I was only in the first grade. I will never forget the shocked face of my six-year-old deaf classmate (I was voluntarily mainstreamed till the 7th grade) who told me that a rocket just exploded. I will never forget the TV images in the first-grade classroom: billowing white twin arcs of smoke straddling the bright orange fireball that used to be the space shuttle Challenger. And get this. It is literally the only thing I remember from first grade apart from Ronald Reagan (I thought he had horns- the sign for President mainfested by Mom- I was curious who that was on the TIME magazine cover, that rugged guy with the cowboy hat). I remember pre-school and kindergarten. I even remember the names of the teachers- Mrs. S. for preschool and Mrs. O'Bryan for kindergarten, and Mrs Miller for second grade. Mrs. First Grade has a blank face. I remember images from the regular school year from all these grades, except for First. The only thing I can remember is the space shuttle disaster! I must have used up my whole quota of forty freshly-grown brain cells on that single day of January 28, 1986. Wow. That's 20 years ago!
I even remember the faces and names of each crew member- I will never forget them. I know Christa McAuliffe is probably the most well-known of all seven- because she was supposed to be the first schoolteacher in space. But, I never forgot the other woman, Judy Resnik. There was always this something about her. I finally know why.
I am now reading this really (read: REALLY) good book called Riding Rockets by Mike Mullane, a NASA astronaut. Before this becomes a book review betraying the title of this post, I highly recommend this book. (Thanks, Jules!)
Mullane gives intimate details of the NASA astronaut program- stuff I never expected to learn- such as having to wear via velcro a bladdered condom (which comes in three sizes) in the case of dire bladder emergencies during shuttle takeoff/landings. How embarrassing that must be, to have every part of your anatomy, especially the nether regions, scrunitized and measured! But that won't stop *moi* from going to space! I just hope I don't get measured in an air conditioned room on a cold morning! I would sure hate to receive a rubber some sizes too small. That would be one catastrophic O-ring failure (pun intended)!
I felt as if I grew some kind of attachment to Judy Resnik as the pages flipped by. Mike Mullane was obviously very fond of her, flying a mission with her before STS-51L. That meant months and years of training together. If he wasn't married, he would have fell for her. They would be an astronaut couple (like Sally Ride- she had an astronaut husband, I never knew that!) It must have been a very difficult time for NASA when Challenger blew up. Yet again with Columbia. We're talking about the cream of the crop here, the best of the best, all dead. Then the bombshell. Judy Resnik had a deaf family member. She was very passionate for the rights of the "disabled and hearing-impaired." She always wore a ILY necklace.
Almost nothing was found from the wreckage. From the book, page 230:
"I saw a few strands of Judy's hair in the wreckage... and I found her necklace." He didn't have to say any more. I knew the necklace. Judy always wore it... a gold chain with a charm displaying the two-finger-and-thumb sign language symbol for "I Love You." She had a hearing-impaired family member and the necklace was her display of support for those with similar handicaps... Like the flash of a camera, I continued to see it no matter where I looked- the crushed cockpit, Judy's hair, her necklace. A ILY handshape necklace being one of the only things to survive the crash intact. Very interesting and poignant! Reading this book is like a steroided-up rollercoaster ride for the soul.
The book plays with my emotions as if I was a woman.The prospect of being one of the the first Deaf in space excites me to the point of bursting (I got higher SATs than the author, hehe), but reality swiftly administers a dose of depression because I know it's gonna be a long, hard struggle to de-disable myself in the eyes (and ears) of NASA and especially global society-at-large. It is really them that's deaf, dumb and blind, not us! We are the light of the world.
NASA looks upon deafness with patronizing puckered noses, hiring a couple deaf workers here and there to appease the multiculturalists and political correctors. They outrightly ban Deaf people from becoming astronauts. If NASA had offered me an astronaut job, I would have accepted rather than rejecting them the first time around. I refuse to work under glass ceilings, because if I do, chaos ensue. Instead of pleasing my bosses, I become invisible and go to work smashing the glass ceiling to smithereens. If NASA ever wants to make another unsolicited job offer to me (without me ever applying), they had better let me destroy that darned glass cathedral first! (I need helppppp!)
NASA has this awesome program called Microgravity University- they welcome submissions from universities to conduct experiments on Vomit Comets, aircraft that goes through parabolic swings to achieve virtual weightlessness in 30-second intervals. A dream project! I got plenty of ideas, some of them feasible, that would quickly sell the NASA bureaucrats. I am very confident on this. I read some of the proposals, it would be easy to do a better job than many of them. It wouldn't be hard to get selected- there are many proposals that are accepted ever year. The historically Black Morehouse college has a project this year. It makes absolutely no sense to discriminate against the deaf. If Gallaudet submitted a Nobel Prize-caliber project, we would get rejected no matter what, because they don't allow deaf people to participate in this very educational and innovative program. To be rejected would be treacherously discriminiative. If all fails, I might feel compelled to hijack the Vomit Comet! (hey you NSA spies, lower the red flags. I was just kidding).
Seriously, NASA could be hurting their cause. It was AGB who came up with the telephone, and he was trying to invent a hearing aid in the first place. Suppose it is discovered that persons who are born deaf have a natural genetic inclination to be not space-sick? Mike Mullane says in the book that 50% of astronauts suffer miserably from space-sickness (Acronymically called SAS- Space Adaptation Syndrome, in Nasaese). They don't know why. Perhaps our dead cochleae would make us better astronauts? We would be much more efficient. Deaf people are already known for their ability to do work that requires high levels of concentration. Frankly, hearing people stink in many aspects!
I wish I had a weapon to make the entire world deaf. A ear-splitting ultrasonic weapon that disintegrates the cochelae of humankind. Then, everyone would finally love the Deaf based on necessity. I know the military already has this type of weapon. C'mon, Rummy, use it! Bring on paradise! Much better than a nuclear holocaust, no? Let the clash of civilizations be a war of acoustical weapons, not bullets, bombs nor fissioned atoms.
I just woke up. I was dreaming. Back to reality. Now I am confused.... To be deaf or to be hearing? That's a tough choice - for them, not me. To live in blissful silence amid the chaotic cacophony of modern civilization is a genuine blessing from God. The Deaf is the ONLY group of people in this world that has members in EVERY country, EVERYWHERE in the world, even The Democratic People's Republic of Korea- DPRK (which's the north one - the south one calls itself ROK- Republic of Korea. It's OK to scoff and/or laugh).
It is becoming more and more evident that we are the world's only hope. I deeply care about the deaf folks in Pyongyang and beyond. If we nuke Kim Jong Il, there would certainly be plenty collaterally dead deaf Pyongyangese. So would there be dead deaf Persians in Iran if we nuke them (when and after there are countless dead deaf Israelis after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad lives up to his promise). So far, the alternative is to spend billions in space missions to bring foreigners peacably together in one capsule, 240 miles up there in the International Space Station. Alternative? The UN, where everyone's ready to wipe each other off the face of the earth. The only type of unity seen these days is when they unite to condemn - on paper - the on-going genocide in Darfur. Either that or to condemn Israel in another 185-3 vote for building a wall while giving Hamas a free license to launch their Arafat (new generation of the Qassam) rockets towards Israeli schools. That after knowingly turning a blind eye to the Rwandan machete de la genocide a couple years ago.
This world is a farce. Does sovereignty mean anything these days? The most important thing is to remember, never surrender your own personal sovereignty or God's to someone else. That might be a church, country, team, group, boss, job, school, possessive lover, or anything that really prevents you from realizing your role and true purpose in this grand cosmic opera.
We have much more at stake than the normal hearing person. War affects the Deaf everywhere. We are all intimately connected. What does an average hearing American have in common with the average North Korean? Nothing, save this earth and its air. But its a whole different story if the American and North Korean in question are deaf. They would be like brothers, exchanging life stories in an instant. Only if the hearing could open their blind eyes to that fact!!! At Gallaudet, we have deaf Africans - Hutu and Tutsi, living as brothers. Deaf Middle Easterners and Jews best friends, oblivious and invisible to the usurped religion-cults that perpetuate the enemies' unquenchable thirst of blood for each other. Only if the hearing people in Rwanda and the Sudan could open their eyes to that fact. *sigh* So much bloodshed in this world. It has to stop, or we the deaf will be next. We are like wild beasts to most hearing people. Only if they realized the truth: that they ARE the beasts themselves.
*Judy Resnik photo credit*
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message to Virgin Galactic
A message I sent to Virgin Galactic... (somewhat edited, i took out some passages i deemed unnecessary). This probably isn't very blog-friendly, but... some word fodder.
I'll keep this short and sweet and to the point, which means I have to abstain from my usual modest demeanor. I have been a pioneer all my life. There is no question that I will be one of the first Deaf people in space. NASA's prohibition against deaf people from flying into space is but an obstacle for me to hurdle. Think of me as the civilian version of Mike Mullane.
Being deaf is actually an advantage in space, because we won't need to deal with radio equipment, and floating in space, our visuospatial, 4-dimensionedial sign language will gain another dimension! Think about it... We would be propagating ripples in the human evolutionary theater of the universe.
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Clerc Free College at Tent City, Gallaudet
Something I have been thinking about lately- this is verbatim from a sheet of paper I jotted on a couple of days ago-
Declare independence from the KingBOT dictatorship.
*A dream unless we all HELP*
Courses:
- Astronomy (course materials from MIT's OpenCourseWare-link)
- Statistics of Poker and Blackjack
- Deaf History/Studies (Deafhood)
- Outdoors/mountaineering
- International Sign Languages
- Science (mycology, meteorology, physics, etc)
- Film
*Online video clips of classes
*Credit/certificates
*FUNDRAISING*
Donations from CSD, alumni, NAD, Greeks, organizations, individuals
- Nominal stipend for volunteers
- Tent classroom
- Course materials
- Web hosting, streaming
FUTURE HOME @ HAWAI'I
Kendall Green is OURS.
If GUAA approves, the Gally administration can't prevent us from "seceding" Tent City!
I intend to elaborate with more details in a vlog soon-
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The Past, Present and Future
I have died and came back to life. My blogolife, that is. I gotta say, Gallaudet killed my spirit of life. It was a slow, draining death. I was like an apple tree picked of its every morel, then came winter. I lost each and every leaf. Spring then came, bringing with it a severe drought, thereby preventing me from growing a fresh batch of leaves (then flowers, and ultimately, apples). Disaster then hit- a hurricane uprooted me, killing me off. In analogical terms, that is what Gallaudet did to me.
My B.S. years studying Computer Science wasn't so bad. In fact, it was good enough to both get a job offer from NASA and get accepted into the doctoral program in Computer Graphics/Animation at George Washington University. NASA was (and still is) a dream job, and a very good paying one! I have always wanted to be an astronaut - even much more ever since my team won the best mission at Space Academy (Space Camp), out of dozens of competing hearing teams, with me in the Commander's seat.
I do not usually stray from my modesty, but it still bothers me that I sacrificed a LOT in order to serve my people and Gallaudet. I believed that I could contribute much more towards improving technology for the deaf if I opted to become a President's Fellow and obtain my doctorate rather than pursuing my dream at NASA. How mistaken I was! It was the system at Gallaudet that drained me of all my life-sustaining energy before sending me on my way.
I came to Gallaudet with a pioneering spirit, a spirit that never found a home there in the two years I was a President's Fellow. It was like as if it never occurred to King Jordan and Jane Fernandes that I, the President's Fellow, existed. You could count the total number of Fellows on two hands. King Jordan never had the courtesy to personally welcome us to Gallaudet. That task went to the Provost (which should make it the Provost's Fellows Program). We had one group meeting with her. That was it. I never had a mentor, even though they were supposed to ensure I had one. In other words, I had absolutely no support from Gallaudet. In a previous post, I talked about this in more detail.
It seemed as if they preferred me to teach Algebra for the rest of my life, rather than do some pioneering work on ASL animation and the AcceleGlove. Imagine, the AcceleGlove was included in the March 2005 Reader's Digest list of "inventions that will rock your world"! And, Gallaudet wouldn't allow me to take one less course in order to do work on this project. I had to be a full-time student in the eyes of Gallaudet, and the only way to do that was to drop all my research work. I wouldn't. So Gallaudet didn't renew my fellowship.
So, you have it. That's how and why I writhed up and died. Because you and only YOU are ultimately responsible for yourself, I have been in a process of resurrecting myself (the blogopersona of Jason Lamberton) for the past year. What a ride!
The future is on its way to becoming the past. Vlog. Mute Mushrooms. Secession from Gallaudet. Clerc College. Hawaii.
Next blogopost.
Viva la resurreccion!
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GALLYNET-L message: Thomas Samuels editorial
For the first time in this unfolding saga regarding the Gallaudet president and the desire of the Deaf to intenstify the struggle for our self-determination with destiny, I spoke up. I have been wanting to speak up for a longggg time, but for some bizarre reason, I felt completely mute for the past couple of weeks (actually, months!) I think I suffer from a case of a writer's shut-down as a result of being overwhelmed with too much things I wanted to say. It's starting to come out... I hope. :) Anyway, below is what I sent to the popular Gallynet-L listserv-
Thomas Samuels editorial in the Washington Informer newspaper
I picked up a copy of the Washington Informer newspaper yesterday at Cluck-U on H St. (yes, it's quite addictive!) and flipped through it from back to front, as I usually do newspapers. Lo and behold, on page 16 of the May 11-17 2006 issue, there was a guest editorial by Thomas Samuels titled "Gallaudet Rebuffs Black Presidential Candidate"
After some checking (I only started subscribing to Gallynet very recently), apparently, this article hasn't been circulated at all, nor anyone even mention it, and Thomas Samuels is the President of the National Black Deaf Advocates! I wonder why no one has mentioned it. I then checked washingtoninformer.com and was perplexed to be unable to find the article there, because I wanted to copy/paste it here so you could send it on to everyone else.
I would OCR the article, but alas, I don't have OCR software.. so am attaching an PDF of the editorial if you wanna read it. (link to PDF)
I am cc'ing this email to the publisher and editor of Washington Informer so maybe they could do something about it, ensure that it is posted on the Web, because I find it very puzzling that all the other editorials, letters to the editors, etc would be posted on the Web, but not Mr. Samuels' editorial. Maybe I did overlook it, but the op/ed page on the web lists only 2 out of the 3 columns from page 16 of the the newspaper. I do know that if the sole Black-authored article was excluded from washingtonpost.com, and all the other authors were white, it would smack of racism, however unintended.
It really bothers me that a Black newspaper would slap me in the face, not with some racist comment about white people, but with some form of audism! The hearing African-American community could very well learn a lot from watching the Deaf, black and white (and brown and pink and all other colors, of course), hand in hand, united! We are truly a role model for all the peoples of this world. How sad, only if nearly everyone weren't so blind to that fact. That's the purpose of the Deaf, to make this world a better place. All we have to do is to continue to scream loud enough for allll the deaf(hearing) people of this world to finally OPEN their eyes and learn something about what peace is all about!
I really wish that the BoT picked Glenn Anderson as our next president, with either Ron Stern or Steve Weiner as Provost. That would be the perfect antidote to the poison that is permeating throughout Kendall Green. I always thought that Glenn would be our next President, even though deep in my heart, I wished that Ron Stern would be President. It was very shocking to learn that he was one of the 3 finalists, because I didn't know that he actually applied! And to the exclusion of the person who I thought would be the next Gallaudet president. Why does the *evil system* keep on slapping us all in the face all the time?!
Yes, indeed. Gallaudet is poisonous enough to the point where I have just about given up on the prospect of getting my PhD with Gallaudet in the picture. I have no future at Gallaudet with Jane Fernandes as President of Gallaudet. No way is she going to let the demise of Gallaudet interfere with the destiny of the Deaf.
We can't always automatically think that Gallaudet's president is the leader of the deaf world. Lloyd Johns wasn't the messiah of the Deaf, was he? Or even Merrill? They were merely presidents of Gallaudet, so that doesn't mean Jane Fernandes automatically becomes our Leader of the Deaf World. With a leaderless Gallaudet, I have NO reason to stick around Washington, DC and all its Republicrat Demonic poison flying around. Capitol Hill has infected Gallaudet. I ain't gonna let myself be infected. Dodo?
Last week, I applied for the PhD program in Astronomy at the University of Hawaii at Manoa (Honolulu). No kidding. That's where I am headed next. Already, I got three Gallaudetian friends to follow me and start planting the seeds of a new Martha's Vineyard! Ya know, the Hawaii school for the deaf (HCDB) is only minutes from the University of Hawaii. It would be very fitting if we picked up where Jane Fernandes left off, wouldn't it?!
-In Solidarity for a Self-Determined Deaf Destiny,
Jason Lamberton, unemployed and nearly destitute former President's Fellow (one of the living, walking proofs of Jane Fernandes' failures as provost)
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A peek behind the curtains of a persona (mine)
I once took a Myers-Briggs personality test before my body became an adult (I can't recall with certainty which profile I fit, as my personality evolves over time). Today, I came across a website where you can take the test. I gave it a try, and I really do think that the results I got back does reflect my current level of sanity, er, state of mind. My mental status was determined by a truncated list of multiple-choice questions, which is impressive. I recall answering much more questions than I did when I took the real thing as a teenager - on paper - it was during the good 'ol days, the mid-late nineties, when computer-based testing was still only a million-dollar theoretical idea.
Below the results below is the link to the test where you can go and Freudisquely psychoanalyze yourself. (Yes, I just intentionally mind-boggled you)
Your #1 Match: ENFP
The Inspirer
You love being around people, and you are deeply committed to your friends.
You are also unconventional, irreverent, and unimpressed by authority and rules.
Incredibly perceptive, you can usually sense if someone has hidden motives.
You use lots of colorful language and expressions. You're quite the storyteller!
You would make an excellent entrepreneur, politician, or journalist.
Your #2 Match: INFP
The Idealist
You are creative with a great imagination, living in your own inner world.
Open minded and accepting, you strive for harmony in your important relationships.
It takes a long time for people to get to know you. You are hesitant to let people get close.
But once you care for someone, you do everything you can to help them grow and develop.
You would make an excellent writer, psychologist, or artist.
Your #3 Match: ENTP
The Visionary
You are charming, outgoing, friendly. You make a good first impression.
You possess good negotiating skills and can convince anyone of anything.
Happy to be the center of attention, you love to tell stories and show off.
You're very clever, but not disciplined enough to do well in structured environments.
You would make a great entrepreneur, marketing executive, or actor.
Your #4 Match: INTP
The Thinker
You are analytical and logical - and on a quest to learn everything you can.
Smart and complex, you always love a new intellectual challenge.
Your biggest pet peeve is people who slow you down with trivial chit chat.
A quiet maverick, you tend to ignore rules and authority whenever you feel like it.
You would make an excellent mathematician, programmer, or professor.
Your #5 Match: ESFP
The Performer
You are a natural performer and happiest when you're entertaining others.
A great friend, you are generous, fun-loving and optimistic.
You love to laugh - and you like almost all people equally.
You accept life as it is, and you do your best to make each day fantastic.
You would make a good actor, designer, or counselor.
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A Letter To Dr. Mike Adams
Last night, I sent an e-mail to Dr. Mike S. Adams, a really cool guy (read: smart and funny and conservative but open-minded gun-loving fella) whose column I regularly read at townhall.com Oh yeah, he is also a criminology professor at the University of North Carolina. I wish that Gallaudet had someone like him, he would really clean up house!
Gallaudet has so many areas where they could improve, especially in issues such as campus security brutality against the students, often arising because of the security forces' struggle to fluently speak in American Sign Language to the students. And it's at a deaf university! Well, "brutality" may be a tad bit a strong word to use, but, hey, a campus security officer killed a deaf man (Carl Dupree) back in the early '90's, choking him to death because he didn't understand (I am assuming) the officer's verbal and badly sim-signed (speaking and signing at the same time) commands to heed his commands. And at that football field riot last fall, the campus security officers were complicit in the willful embargo of effective two-way communication when the security officers AND the DC police handcuffed Deaf hands behind the back, not in the front! That was the final straw before the students finally overwhelmed the cops and successfully tore down the goal posts. Oh yeah, also, Eric Smith, the Deaf Olympian (wrestling) who was shot to death by the Chicago Police because they couldn't communicate with him. (a friend just IMmed me this link to an article about the murder)
ANYWAY, I guess that was just a mini-vent. This is really something big simmering under the surface, I have never seen anything done to improve the channels of communication between the Deaf and Hearing in times of crisis. History shows that in crises, the Deaf are violently suppressed. Like Santayana would say, we are doomed to see history repeat itself again and again. I just remembered the picture of the army pointing automatic rifles at 2 spread-eagled Deaf Blacks in New Orleans after Katrina, posted on I think Ridor's blog, but that is for later, examples and examples keep on popping up like this.
Back to the point of this blogopost. I sent Dr. Adams an e-mail because he often discusses issues such as freedom of speech, gun rights, morality in the modern world, and so on, from a largely legalocriminal perspective, and metes out the occasional advice in situations such as suppression of free speech on campus. I did think of contacting him regarding Gallaudet's prohibition of the Tower Clock yearbook a few years ago, confiscating copies that students already had in their dorm rooms. But, I never got around to it, and he seems to be a busy guy. But, when it comes to the safety and security of the Deaf population, and when I see a threat, it is important enough for me to spend quite some time typing this lengthening post, suppressing my bodily messages that it wants to shut down because of a failing muscuospinal system (in human terms, my cricked neck is supported by a knotted, aching back). That was just a bit therapeutic!
He often pokes fun at the gay community, exposes their hypocrisy (all groups have some form of hypocrisy or other, even the Deaf). I wonder what the Deaf Gay Militant (formerly terrorist) Ridor would say to that! ;-)
In the name of the public knowledge of the greater good, I thought I would post the letter below. I don't usually publicize my e-mail correspondence!
Hi Mike,
My name is Jason Lamberton, I hope you heard about the cop car-surfing incident somewhere on the blogosphere last week. I was the one who snapped the pictures of the cop surfing on the hood of a police cruiser, laughing as he ran a stop sign. It was not my intention to bring down the DC police department, and seemingly, this is mushrooming into a big thing. 6 cops got suspended for a month without pay, 2 lost rank. I really did not want the attention I got, like the news crew hovering outside my house for 5 hours before I finally let them interview me. I always thought I'd become famous for discovering some new type of energy, not this.
The reason I am contacting you is because I received a very racist, badly-veiled threat from a person saying stuff, details that seems to point to one of the cops directly involved. It is quite obvious, the person who wrote the comment on the dcist.com posting about the incident used words that indicates that he was there. I copied/pasted what he said below, in case you don't have much time to go to my blog at www.jasonlamberton.com/blog.htm and read what I said in response, in addition to the pictures that I snapped and how it all unfolded in some of my recent posts.
The Officer on the hood had just injured his leg and could not walk on it. He had just chased a suspect 5 minuted [sic] earlier. Things are not always how they look. Also, clearly you can see the lights are not flashing, and the vehicle was traveling very slow.
I hope somneone [sic] robs you, breaks into your house, and steals your computer, you need another hobby. I hope then when your [sic] crying in the corner calling 911 because you need the cops that they don't show, that will give you a complaint.
I am positive you are one of these "people" that moved into DC from the burbs and paid way to much money for you house that your realtor told you was in a good neighhborhood [sic]. DONT HATE THE POICE [sic] BECUSE [sic] YOUR AN IDIOT and moved into a crime area because you were conned by your agent. Now blame the police?? MOVE BACK TO THE BURBS WE DONT WANT YOU HERE!! JUST BECAUSE YOUR [sic] WHITE AND HAVE MONEY DOES NOT MEAN WE ARE GONNA KISS YOUR ASS. I am so sick of you liberals [sic] fools. Leave the police only [sic]. THE POLICE ARE THE ONLY THING THAT SEPERATE [sic] US FROM CHAOS. You obviously are to [sic] weak to protect yourseld [sic] and you know it. You have proven that in a most COWARDLY fashion by sending in your little picture and not identifing [sic] yourseld [sic] . COWARD, YELLOW .
I do not want to take up too much of your time, I just wanted to see what you might advise me to do- as I enjoy reading your columns and I don't know who else to go to, everyone says I should be afraid but they have nothing to suggest what I should do. I am very frustrated knowing that I am disempowered from adequately defending myself or my property in DC. I am always on the lookout for any would-be robbers or muggers, I really, really wish I had a gun. If someone was breaking in my home, as that "cop" implied that someone would do, how do I defend myself? If I was able to call 911 (I am deaf and my videophone doesn't have 911 dialing capabilities), it would take the cops at least 45 mins to arrive, a common experience with some of my deaf neighbors. Talk about taxation without representation! I am almost tempted to buy something from the black market if I have to.
Thanks. That's all I can say for now, before I go to sharpen my vintage World War I German sword in case some suspended cop decides to make up his lost salary by stealing all my scientific stuff I use to carry out my often-spontaneous mad-science experiments!
cheers,
Jason Lamberton
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Racist Threat
I have indeed been threatened, seemingly by a racist black cop. I finally read the DCist.com article about the cop car surfing incident and the comments made, and one comment made by the anonymous "Your all Wrong" just totally unnerved me-
The Officer on the hood had just injured his leg and could not walk on it. He had just chased a suspect 5 minuted [sic] earlier. Things are not always how they look. Also, clearly you can see the lights are not flashing, and the vehicle was traveling very slow.
I hope somneone [sic] robs you, breaks into your house, and steals your computer, you need another hobby. I hope then when your [sic] crying in the corner calling 911 because you need the cops that they don't show, that will give you a complaint.
I am positive you are one of these "people" that moved into DC from the burbs and paid way to much money for you house that your realtor told you was in a good neighhborhood [sic]. DONT HATE THE POICE [sic] BECUSE [sic] YOUR AN IDIOT and moved into a crime area because you were conned by your agent. Now blame the police?? MOVE BACK TO THE BURBS WE DONT WANT YOU HERE!! JUST BECAUSE YOUR [sic] WHITE AND HAVE MONEY DOES NOT MEAN WE ARE GONNA KISS YOUR ASS. I am so sick of you liberals [sic] fools. Leave the police only [sic]. THE POLICE ARE THE ONLY THING THAT SEPERATE [sic] US FROM CHAOS. You obviously are to [sic] weak to protect yourseld [sic] and you know it. You have proven that in a most COWARDLY fashion by sending in your little picture and not identifing [sic] yourseld [sic] . COWARD, YELLOW .
I sicced all the spelling and grammatical mistakes that idiot made just for the fun of it. That just so shows I'm smarter than him. If he is really that smart, he wouldn't dare do anything to me. Or he WILL really get sicced.
Here's what I had to say in response to that poorly-veiled threat:
This makes me REALLY, REALLY wish DC allowed guns. I would run out and buy one right now.
Did you READ my blog, Your all Wrong? You got it ALL wrong!
I am DEAF and I can SEE. I got EYES. I can't hear whatever it was, woo-woo or EEEooEEE, but I clearly saw the blue and red light flashing.
I CAN'T call 911. I don't have a phone that I can use. I use a videophone, which doesn't have 911 capabilities. If someone breaks in my place, I am screwed and probably will end up dead.
That is why I seriously need a gun.
The DC police has Deaf blood on their hands. Anyone remember the Gallaudet murders? They busted the wrong person and a second student got killed as a result (should I also mention that the 2nd victim was a Muslim?) . If the cops had SIMPLY checked up on Eric Plunkett's (the first victim) credit cards, they wouldn't have interrogated Thomas Minch (the innocent accusee) to the point where he confessed to the murder and almost got thrown in prison for the rest of his life if Jose Mesa (the killer) didn't brutally stab Benjamin Varner (the 2nd victim) to death for his wallet. So, there you have it, if the cops simply checked up on Eric's credit cards, they would have found that Jose Mesa was using it all along and arrested him instead of Tommy, and then a Muslim wouldn't have gotten martyred and an innocent student's reputation ruined for life (we Deaf people are a small community) and never was able to return to Gallaudet after it all. All because of the DC police's fault.
Deaf people don't trust the cops, period.
Moreover, you who just threatened me... You obviously are a RACIST BLACK. I am tired of all the black racism against whites. I totally got nothing against blacks except those who hate whites. To tell ya the truth, blacks have it better than Deaf people because YOU all can communicate, we are isolated in our little world.
DEAF PEOPLE were here FIRST, before any BLACKS. I moved here because of Gallaudet! Gallaudet was founded in 1864. Deaf people have been living around here for 142-and-counting years. We live peacefully amongst the Black and Hearing White residents, it's us whites who get robbed all the time. So, don't tell us to leave. We aren't telling those who came for the MLK riots and stayed to leave. You have to help yourselves, just like Bill Cosby said, like the Deaf are helping ourselves. A higher percentage of whites than blacks died from Hurricane Katrina, by the way. So, if Louis Farrakhan said that whites blew up the levees to kill black people, that means whites conspired to kill a higher number of whites just so a few blacks and asians and all other races could die? Sounds like what is about to happen to Iran after they try to wipe Israel off the map.
There was a deaf student from Gallaudet shot in a leg by some thugs who repeatedly robbed several deaf students. The cops still haven't caught these bad people.
Now, thank you very much, if something happens, the first suspect will be the police themselves!
I warn you, anyone who breaks in my house will be met with preventative measures to ensure my life and safety. This is a bonafide threat against ANY would-be rogue cop-turned-robber plotting any kind of revenge against me.
This threat was made last week, and I probably wouldn't take it as seriously as I am now if I didn't learn from someone who formerly worked for the DC police that her old boss gave her insider info- 6 cops got suspended for a month without pay, 2 lost their ranks! Whoa! There's 6 pissed-off cops with nothing to do for a month, with families to feed and a loss of at least $3,000 in salary. DC just saved themselves maybe 25,000 dollars, gee! (If I get a reward, the cops will DEFINITELY seek my blood). It would be nice, though, as I have zero income right now. I need some more scientific equipment for some of my experiments. My experiments was why I had the camera with me, I was photographing my various scientificisms for the books I'll start publishing soon. And if the cops kill me, I'll become a martyr for both science and the Deaf people. Yet another reason for the cops to think twice before doing something foolish in an act of racist retribution.
Not my fault, anyway. I am absolved of any and all blame in this matter. It was that cop who went car-surfing's responsibility (to maintain and uphold appropriate conduct of a on-duty police officer in public) totally his and the driver who provided the car-wave for the cop to surf on. I just happened to bust him, like cops just happen to bust people who fail to make a complete stop at a stop sign. A bad ankle doesn't give him the right nor authority to car-surf, period. PERIOD. It was not my decision to suspend them (nor was it my decision to be in the right place in the right time, with a camera handy, already set in the burst mode).
If I was the one who metes out punishment of the cops, I would just let the cops' wives (or domestic partners, or mothers) take care of them. I am pretty sure that their loved ones aren't too happy that the kids' daddies risked their lives (and livelihoods) doing something so foolish without thinking twice. Again, the cop(s) don't seem to be very bright, judging from the badly veiled threat he made, (if it was him or some other rogue cop ally) and how SIX cops handled the situation.
The DC cops have yet to earn the respect (and trust) of DC's Deaf population. People always fail to realize that Deaf people ARE a force to be reckoned with. We shut down an university before, we can do other things as well. The police failed to prevent a mob of Gallaudet students from tearing down the goal posts after their undefeated football season last fall, so the overwhelmed cops instead resorted to baton-swinging, hitting students at random, cuffing them with their hands behind their backs, effectively forbidding any way for them to communicate, ignoring repeated pleas from student leaders to cuff hands in the front, not the back, to allow them to communicate.
They clearly don't know what to do with us. We overwhelm them so easily when we mass in numbers. The cops should never forget that. Want evidence? I know who hid the videotape of the cops hitting the students, and I ain't telling. If I get another threat, this will go public. I know that Chris Gordon, the NBC4 reporter who interviewed me on TV, would love to air the tape of several overwhelmed cops hitting students with batons randomly with no effect. It just made the situation worse and the students, who had hitherto been repelled several times, surged again and basically made the DC cops fail yet again at their mission to protect life and property on Kendall Green.
And those are the people who we have to trust our lives (and money when we get robbed or burglarized) with, because in DC, we are not allowed to have a pistol or rifle in order to defend ourselves from a person about to kill. Not even tasers are allowed! for protection from all the gun-wielding thugs around here. Luckily, it is legal in DC to own a shotgun. I think I will go out and buy one today. Is it better to get a legal lethal weapon or an illegal, but nonlethal taser? Break the law or be safe? I pick my life over the law ANY DAY. That's what happens when there's taxes without representation. There's nobody to represent us, to demand the right to defend ourselves from the thuggistic low-lifes who think they rule the streets like kings. That will not last.
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Behind the Stages of a News Segment on Location
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