Kumar/Korea/Strike
Mr. Penn, who played Kumar in “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle” and starred in “The Namesake,” ended his run on the medical drama “House” as his character, Lawrence Kutner, committed suicide. “House” star Hugh Laurie had hinted at a major shakeup on the show, and Fox created a “memorial” for Dr. Kutner, complete with a tribute video and Facebook fan page.
But the fictional death also sparked a flurry of Internet searches from people unsure whether the character or Mr. Penn himself was dead. Several queries, including “kal penn death” and “did kal penn die” landed on Google Trends earlier today, indicating how frequently Internet surfers have been searching those phrases. Yahoo Answers also features a few questions from confused viewers, as do Mahalo and WikiAnswers.
Allison Puccioni, an imagery analyst at Jane’s Information Group, said Musudan had been largely dormant for about two years until January. Since then, as satellites have photographed people and vehicles moving outside the rocket facility, she has been studying it as activity picked up. “We knew the thread would be test, assemble and launch,” she said.
Days before the launch, she said, photos showed black sedans, an indication that VIPs were been driven in to see the missile.
“At this point, we have so many images, we could practically do a flipbook animation sequence of the entire thing,” Ms. Puccioni added. “You can’t get the whole story, but if you know enough about the features of the area, little things can tip you off.”
The song’s pro-labor lyrics include “Get ready to strike, get ready to walk the line” and “Protect my health care, don’t lower my wages / Realize, recognize, mobilize, stay alive” and even a shout-out to technicians who support U-verse, AT&T’s TV service.
It was co-written by Ray and Rachael Rodriguez, AT&T employees who are active in the Communications Workers of America Local 6222, as well as Riley Wallace, a Toronto hip-hop artist whose stage name is Special.
Ms. Rodriguez, who works as a customer service representative in AT&T’s Houston office, said the idea struck as she and her husband realized that most of the U-verse technicians he works with have been with the company for fewer than two years. “We just felt we had to come up with a creative way to reach this next generation of union workers,” she said.
