Director: Dominic Howes & Joel WeberTHE LISTENING PROJECTScreening will begin at 7:30 PM with 84 minutes of film, followed by a Q and A with the filmmakers.The Official After Party will continue right next door at Stub and Herbs where you can continue to mingle with the filmmakers and local film community. Fearless guests will also have the chance to have everyone listen to them, as they rock out to GUITAR HERO. Be ready to be aurally stimulated the entire night as Fearless Filmmakers turns TWO!Who: Featured Filmmakers include Executive Producer Jim Pohlad, Co-Directors Joel Weber and Dominic Howes, Production Coordinator Carrie Bush and Editor Todd GrabeOfficial After-Party to follow next door STUB AND HERBS complete with FREE DRINKS, FREE FOOD, BIRTHDAY CAKE and the opportunity to rub elbows with the local film community. Entertainment provided by YOU, as we “listen” to each other rock out to GUITAR HERO.7:30 p.m.

[OSC]

There is quite a bit of activity in the blogosphere about this initiative. Have a look… Continue reading More on the Call for a Presidential Debate on Science and Technology Policy →

How people respond to the U.S. government’s attempts to censor some war-related images comes down to whether or not they are supporters of President Bush, a new study suggests.Researchers at Ohio State University surveyed 600 people and asked them if they were interested in viewing photos or videos of the caskets containing dead U.S. soldiers arriving in the United States from Iraq and Afghanistan .The catch was that, prior to being asked whether they wanted to view the images, half of the survey respondents were told about a U.S. government policy which prevents the widespread dissemination of such images through the media.One prominent psychological theory suggests that when people are told they can’t see something, they want to see it even more.”This is not at all what we found,” said Andrew Hayes, an associate professor of communication at Ohio State University and one of the authors of the study.In general, Bush supporters expressed less interest in viewing these images than respondents who didn’t support Bush in the 2004 election. However, how Bush supporters responded was affected by whether they were first told about the policy.Among Bush supporters first told about the policy, only 28 percent expressed some interest in viewing the images, after adjusting for the influence of such factors as the respondent’s age, sex, and education. However, among Bush supporters who were not first told about the policy, 49 percent expressed some interest. So being told about the policy reduced rather than increased Bush supporters’ interest in seeing the images, Hayes said.In contrast, 70 percent of people who didn’t support Bush in the 2004 election expressed interest in seeing the images, regardless of whether or not they were told about the policy.[Source: OSU Press Release]

You’ll remember that some time ago (ten, eleven minutes?) I reposted (from gregladen.com) an interesting story about a study of how the mind works. I did that because I knew that the researchers involved in this study have a new survey up on their web site, and that you might want to know about it. From Heather Gray, one of the researchers:

…we recently revised the mind survey, just in time for the presidential primaries. Now our respondents are asked to judge pairs of American politicians– for instance, is Barack Obama or Rudy Giuliani more capable of being honest, exerting self-control, or feeling pain? Aside from collecting some fascinating data about perceptions of the politicians, we’re attempting to replicate the original findings regarding dimensions of mind.

You may enjoy taking the survey. It is here.

Don’t Forget: The Listening Project, December 13, at the Oak Street Cinema!

The City of St Paul is a Free Speech Zone

Some inside info on the upcoming Republican National Convention from our own blogospheric correspondent on the East Side…

I have deep roots in the East Side of St. Paul. It is where I really started getting involved in politics through campaigns. I volunteer as treasurer for one of the legislators on the East Side, Tim Mahoney (DFL 67A.) So, I am happy to see that the cop in charge of security for the 2008 GOP convention is an East Sider.

Click to see the video

First, I want to say that we should not forget that this was a horrific event, and that I’m sure we all mourn for the dead and their families.A fellow blogger in the science and technology world lost a close friend in this shooting, and has written about it here.Now, I want to ask two difficult questions. Continue reading The Omaha Shooting →

Do you live in the Twin Cities Area? Are you doing anything next Thursday, December 13th at about 7.30PM?Come and see the film The Listening Project

Born in Philadephia, reared in the Bay Area and schooled by his lifelong addiction to world travel, Twin Cities-based filmmaker Dominic Howes has spent the last 10 years trying to get accustomed to Minnesota winters — and says he’s still trying.But Howes admits that ice and cold are nothing compared to the dangers of “land mines and insurgent forces” in Afghanistan, one of 14 countries he and Rikshaw Films partner Joel Weber visited last year for their documentary, “The Listening Project.” (The screening will be Thursday, Dec. 13 at Oak Street Cinema in Minneapolis as part of the “Fearless Filmmakers” series.)”My American-ness has always been a subject of conversation in my travels whether I wanted it to be or not,” says Howes, for whom “The Listening Project” afforded an opportunity to capture that subject on digital video. Funded and conceived by executive producer and philanthropist Jim Pohlad, the documentary collects the opinions of dozens of people around the world — from Afghanistan to South Africa, China, Israel and Palestine. All are asked, “What do you think of America?” *

Continue reading Let’s Hear it for The Listening Project →

The allegations against the Rev. Ted Haggard and Sen. Larry Craig have a common thread: A 50-year-old former prostitute from Denver named Mike Jones claims he had sex with both. *

What are the odds of that happening?[hat tip: CMF]