~ AN AFROCENTRIC GATEKEEPERS PALACE FOR INFORMATION ~


Otta Benga, Formerly Enslaved
The Epitome of a Nubian Knight

Otta Benga, Formerly Enslaved<br>The Epitome of a Nubian Knight

Followers of Nubian Knights Network
"Thanks For The Support Everybody!!!"

QUOTATIONS OF "BLACK"

"Whenever I use BLACK it relates to some history of Africans in that particular place. It’s the idea of the color BLACK as a metaphor, or as a representation of African-Americans. It’s the notion of BLACK- BLACKNESS - and all its other meanings in relation to the history of race..."

- Fred Wilson



"Most of my fortitude to continue doing the work comes from the moral outrage I feel about the injustices that Black people endure disproportionately daily."

- N. Abdul-Wakil



"In the end, what matters is not skin shade but pan-African consciousness. Loving your complexion, your nose, lips, hair length and texture, no matter what the politics or trends decide, and simply be. That's the problem with us (African folks). We're still learning how to love ourselves. So used to glorifying others and putting others first..."

- Dredlocks Tree

The REEL Black Same Gender Loving Filmography Resource (A 24/7 ONLINE FILM DATABASE)

The REEL Black Same Gender Loving Filmography Resource (A 24/7 ONLINE FILM DATABASE)
Click The Pic To Access The Film Library Database! (166 Films)
LAST UPDATE: Monday, December 3rd, 2012

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Google To Launch Ultra High-Speed
Gigabit Networks In The U.S.To
Challenge Broadband Providers




Mark Sullivan, PC World
Feb 10, 2010 1:13 pm


Google said Wednesday it will build a series of "ultra high-speed" fiber optic broadband networks that will pump out 1GB bps (bit per second) connections to the lucky “50,000 to 500,000 people” within their reach.

Analysts have long speculated on Google’s fiber holdings. The company has been buying fiber lines in the US for some years now. Now Google appears ready at last to run real networks on the fiber. Google also has close ties with fiber infrastructure wholesalers like Level 3 and Broadband.com.




Google says it will use an open access model, where the owner of the network sells wholesale space on the network to third party ISPs, who will then sell broadband service to consumers under their own flag. Here's Google's own description of the plan.

Google isn’t talking about building a nationwide network. In fact, based on Google’s announcement, the network will reach but a tiny slice of US broadband consumers. So it’s mostly symbolic at this point.

And Google certainly isn’t the first to do this: the fiber-based Utopia Network covering 18 cities in Utah has operated under the same model. The big ISPs worked feverishly in the Utah state legislature to stop the Utopia Network in its early days. But the network got built, and has been active for years.

Verizon's FiOS network is proof that consumers want the speed of fiber broadband. But most broadband is still delivered over copper lines to US households, and at a price per bit that is among the highest in the world.

But this is Google we’re talking about. It has massive influence in business, and, increasingly in regulatory circles. The announcement comes right on the heels of the federal government releasing the first round of funding for broadband networks to rural and underserved areas. It appears to be intended as an adjunct to the FCC’s own Broadband Plan, as if to say: “See, you can do it like this.”

Google loves challenging old business models with new technology ideas. Today’s announcement is the search giant’s opening salvo in a challenge to US broadband, which is monopolistic, slow and sees openness as a threat to profits.

“We hope this will serve as an example to other network operators that the open model should not be feared, but should be emulated,” Markham Erickson, Executive Director of the Open Internet Coalition, said in a release today. Google is the marquee member of the group. “Profit and openness are mistakenly seen to be in conflict; in fact we believe they are synergistic and amplifying,” Erickson said.

Google hopes that the new model will fire up the business of being a small, local ISP. That can only be good. The regulators have allowed the huge ISPs (AT&T, Verizon et al) to dominate the broadband business with sheer scale, forcing the smaller guys out. Imagine buying internet service from Bob’s ISP at a reasonable price; oh, and you get 1GB of throughput.

I sincerely hope the tech and telecom communities rally around what Google is trying to do here. The planned fiber networks are not big enough to excite the suspicions among privacy conspiracy junkies that Google is only running the networks to collect more data about us, and as a new platform for its advertising business.

If the network goes national, those will be important questions to explore. For now, though, Google has a rare opportunity to put real pressure on large ISPs like AT&T and Comcast to sell more bandwidth for less money.

I can get behind that.

Nile Ruff at the Kennedy Center
(with your help) - VOTE NOW!!!
Voting Ends MIDNIGHT On February 14th, 2010


Hello friends -

Our daughter, Nile Ruff, is a semi-finalist for a District of Columbia College Access Program Performing Arts scholarship of $10,000. You can play an important role in her achieving finalist status by viewing her audition video and voting on it.

Your vote (plus the judges' ranking) will determine 10 finalists who will compete for the top $10,000 prize at the Kennedy CenterGala on March 8th.

PLEASE VOTE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE and send this message to as many friends, family members and perfect strangers as you can! You may access the website and vote for Nile anytime between now and February 14th before midnight by visiting HERE.

To ensure one vote per email address, a brief registration process is required to vote (click "Register Here!" at the top right corner of the page). Then please scroll through the contestant photos to find Nile Ruff and click on hers (if you are not already on her page), view the video and click on the number of stars you'd like to give her -- we suggest 5! Of course, if you have more than one email address, you can register and vote using each one. ;-)

Nile says in her essay, What Dance Means to My Life -- "Dance is more than a physical thing; it can also be quite spiritual. The wind I dance around, the ground I dance on, and the sounds that compose my beat make me feel like I’m surrounded by whoever created me."

You can read her entire essay on her page on the site. We're so happy to support our daughter as she pursues her dream.

Thank you so much for your help! We'll let you know the results.

- Patricia Elam and Coles Ruff



Nile Ruff
A Precious Baby Gurl!