Here it is

This is what I've come up with after a few hours of working at it: http://progressivefriends.tumblr.com/

What do you guys think? It's softer on the eyes, a lot easier to use, better organized, and 50x more attractive.

I tried to leave a bunch of different kind of posts for you to see. There are video, music, photo, and quote posts up. I really wanted to make the video one an official post over here, but I didn't transfer it.

Avocado Egg Rolls

Avocado Egg Roll - Copycat Recipe
34 min | 30 min prep

SERVES 2 -4 , 3 eggrolls

dipping sauce

3-4 teaspoons white vinegar
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon tamarind pulp
1/2 cup honey
1 pinch powdered saffron
1/2 cup chopped cashews
2/3 cup fresh cilantro
2 garlic cloves
2 green onions
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 cup olive oil
egg rolls

1 large avocado, peeled, pitted, & diced
2 tablespoons sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, chopped
1 tablespoon minced red onion
1/2 teaspoon fresh cilantro, chopped
1 pinch salt
3 egg roll wraps
1 egg, beaten

Stir together vinegars, tamarind, honey, and saffron in a microwave safe bowl, and microwave for 1 minute.
Stir until tamarind is dissolved.
In a blender, Puree tamarind mixture, cashews, 2/3 cup cilantro, garlic, onions, sugar, pepper, and cumin.
Pour mixture into a bowl and stir in oil.
Refrigerate until ready to use.
Gently stir together avocado, tomatoes, onion, 1/2 teaspoon cilantro, and salt.
Distribute filling evenly onto center of each egg roll wrapper.
Position a wrapper so that a corner is pointing toward you; fold the bottom corner up, 1/4 of the way over the filling.
Brush remaining corners and edges of the wrapper with egg, roll up from side to side, fold top corner over all and press to seal.
Repeat with remaining wrappers.
Continue by deep-frying the egg rolls in 375 degree oil for 3-4 minutes, until golden brown.
Drain on brown paper bags.
Slice egg rolls diagonally across middle and serve with prepared dipping sauce!
ENJOY!

Nutritional Info Here

No Warp Speed For You!

“Last year, a group of physicists figured out that achieving warp speed had the potential--depending on how we did it, at least--to create a black hole that would suck up Earth and destroy us all.”

I just had to post this. If I was at home I would look up “warp speed” in the Popular Science archives (do it Joe!)

Odd Tax Deductions

It’s that time of the year again. Time to be mindful of the vast amounts of money we give our Federal Government. And it’s not enough for them by the looks of our deficit. I don’t blame people for trying to get back as much as possible. Here are some of the crazier stories I found….

This one was so outlandish that Dittrick actually faxed us the two-page itemized receipt to prove it: "We live in an Amish community here, and we had an Amish guy who tried to take a deduction for his buggy with velvet interior, the whole works. It was tricked out. He was legitimately Amish, but with all the accoutrements on this buggy, when they're supposed to live the simple life, it was absolutely hilarious," she says.
How pimped out was his ride? According to the receipt, this baby came equipped with dash lights, kick plates, tinted windshield, speedometer, hydraulic brakes and dimmer switches. The standard buggy costs $2,675; this pimped-out version ran $3,545.

Exotic dancer Chesty Love who successfully deducted her breast augmentation on her tax return. Ms. Love argued she augmented her breasts to size 56 FF in order to increase her earnings. The IRS challenged the deduction, labeling the procedure "cosmetic surgery." But a tax court judge sided with Ms. Love, likening her silicon breasts to a costume that was only useful in her business and allowed her to claim a depreciation deduction.”

Oscars

I have to get in the shower and stuff, but I was just curious if you guys watched the Oscars. I ended up watching it over the past two days. I really like Sandra Bullocks speech a lot.

Edit: I picked ellen's photo, cuz I like her - simple as that.

Midwestern Towns Sue Manufacturer of Weedkiller

Fifteen Midwest towns and cities have filed suit against the manufacturer of Atrazine a chemical that is used on cornfields. Despite being banned by the European Union years ago tens of millions of pounds are used in the US every year on corn and other crops.

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois by 16 cities in Kansas, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, and Iowa. The communities allege that Swiss corporation Syngenta AG and its Delaware counterpart Syngenta Crop Protection, Inc. reaped billions of dollars from the sale of atrazine while local taxpayers were left with the financial burden of filtering the chemical from drinking water."

The EPA won't restrict it's use.
"In America, though, farmers continue to spray the weed-killer heavily on corn, sugarcane and other crops throughout the country. As a result, some portion of the more than 60 million pounds of atrazine applied annually makes its way into streams, rivers, lakes and drinking water supplies. The problem is at its worst in the spring, when atrazine is applied most heavily, then washed by rain into waterways."

This is a classic example of the true cost not being reflected. Cheap corn is not cheap. If companies had to pay the cost of what they pump into the environment corn would need to be even more subsidized more than it already is.
We give the subsidies and pay to clean up their mess. What do you think the true cost of those one dollar McDonald’s hamburgers is?

From Lisa

Joe,

I'm reading the posts but am having problems logging in - SOS - alphanumeric characters - and that is WHAT I am using. I'm out here but I can't get in again.


Lisa


Child of the Universe
Disciple of Peace

Please let Kerry know too. Thanks.

Humming Bird vs. Praying Mantis

Air Quality Warning

This is the first time I've ever heard of this. What the fuck does it mean?

http://weather.weatherbug.com/IN/Valparaiso-weather/severe-weather-alerts.html?units=0&stat=CITES&zip=46385&AppName=MacOSX_MacLite_Intel&version=0.9.0.0&zcode=Z6199&uid=d9830866-1101-4718-b18c-ff8e69aeda77

GOP Hypocrites

Well, well, whaddya know. Kerry, this is a follow-up to a post of yours last week about the California lawmaker who was arrested for DUI after leaving a gay bar. He is the one who voted against gay rights issues.

http://www.queerty.com/ca-sen-roy-ashburn-im-gay-and-stand-by-my-anti-gay-votes-20100308/

Jello Shots

I passed out after I wrote about going to write about jello shots and never made that post. They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions. I think I live on that road as of late. So they were all really good. If you look here you can find the recipes. I made:

Chocolate Covered Cherry
Peach Schnapps with vodka in cherry jello
Amaretto in Cherry Jello

They all went over really well. The chocolate covered cherry one went over very very well though. I'm actually thinking about making them without alcohol to steal a quick sweet snack every now and then. It didn't taste like a drink even if you were trying to find it. It was just delicious. The chocolate crunch layer was awesome.

I gave drinking an honest effort and I just don't like the feeling, I tend to get upset easily, and I get less social. Sometimes I get really quiet with weed, but I'm generally more fun and social with other people and I enjoy everything so much more. I must have caught myself judging other people and rolling my eyes like 5 times last night - I don't want to be that person. I really liked the first jello shot. If you ever have a party or need to take something to a party, these are a crowd pleaser.

Lake Michigan

That picture is giant and really neat (for me at least). It makes the lake look small, but I never knew how many islands were up north. I'm going to ignore all the wikipedia type stuff and talk about some of the more interesting stuff. My favorite being the Chicago Tidal Wave of 1954. It's so strange that some of this monumental local history is so hard to find on the internet, but it is.

Al that I can find now is something that says a rogue wave 3-10 feet high hit the coast (not very freakish event really) and the worst hit was Montrose Harbor. There was a ton of damage, a few people killed, and lot of people were washed into the lake. The way it is described makes it sound like a tsunami. ""IT DIDN'T come in like a wall," Keating said."The water just started to rise and kept going until it was maybe 6 feet higher than usual."It stayed up there for a couple of minutes and then receded."
Click here to read more about it with original photos and stuff. I had definitely seen a documentary on this but I have no luck in finding the video on the internet, but from both that and stuff I've heard just from living here, it was epic. I'm sure you have your own local legends that are so inflated you'd think the world was about to end at the time. That's what this was.

"But does La Niña explain another odd incident that came about at 3:52 p.m. Sunday? At that moment, the National Weather Service issued a seiche warning for Lake Michigan, near Chicago: "Public reports of a drop in Lake Michigan water level at Chicago by 2 feet in the last hour indicates that a seiche is affecting the water levels of Lake Michigan." Time Magazine 2008

There was a warning in 2008 for Chicago-proper again because the lake dropped 2 feet in a matter of hours. They compare it to a bath tub, in that the lake is completely enclosed and pressure pushes the water away from the shore during an epic storm and then it rushes back and slams the coast. Here's what Time Magazine said about it 2 years ago.

Is this super boring to you? It's strange when you have a relationship with the lake and you hear these stories about how violent she is, but you've never seen it. I mean I've seen 6-10 foot waves crashing into seawalls and stuff here, but some really freaky shit happens that most people think it's harmless because it isn't an ocean.

I'm going to break the rest of this up into segments. I think I'm going to approach the weather and the reputation the lake has next. For example where I live is an official meteological anomaly, well about 10 miles east of here and then some of the shipwrecks.

Whoa...

Acrobatic thieves hit N.J. Best Buy avoiding cameras, motion sensors, alarms in daring heist. Their feet never touched the floor.

I have a sneaking suspicion that they will not be caught, but even if they were, let them go. They fucking earned that merch.

No Reason

The Coolest Guy In The World

I just wanted to post this real quick incase you guys haven't seen it....

Sunday Open Thread

There are a few things I have bookmarked in a sort or queue for posts I wanted to tease a commercial. There are some strange things in science as well as unexplained anomalies that interest me like the Baghdad Battery pictured above that I want to look into. Some of them I know about a little already and while looking those up, I've come across some I don't know anything about. As part of my effort to distance myself from more in depth political news, I'm going to look into science news. I know that is something you guys are interested in too so it will hopefully give some cool things to put on the blog. Now that Popular Science directory is up so I can likely find more information than just a web search too.

I'm leaving for a party in 2 hours so that is why I'm not posting that stuff now. I want to be around when you guys comment so we can have a discussion - that is my favorite part of our blog. That post Kerry made about where I live kind of opened my mind to local history and reminded me of a few strange things about Lake Michigan that is known but hasn't been explained or studied and that will probably be my first post.

So what has been going on with you guys? Lisa what have you been up to? You've been kind of quiet lately. How far apart do you guys live? I don't know whether it is the weather (with the exception of today) or maybe the fact that I haven't been following politics, but I sincerely feel a lot less down lately. I'm actually kind of doing stuff. I think you guys should take some time to celebrate where you live a little bit that you don't miss the sun for a solid 3 or 4 months. This is just my speculation but I think not seeing the blue in the sky and the green on the trees really has an affect on people, mental health wise, too. There are scientific studies that have looked at how colors do stuff to our psyche, which is why I always paint my most used rooms a pewter blue.

I'm just wasting time here and rambling as if we were having a conversation, which is kind of crazy because your not here. One more thing, I'm going to write about those jello shots after I submit this and put it in the draft folder on Blogger so I can pull it up tomorrow and just write what people thought of the taste. I still haven't even tasted them. I only had one from a batch that I fucked up last night. It was still good.

Edit: I want to put some feelers out there about the blog too. I think Indigo is gone for good (leave a comment if your not) and so if it is just us, I wanted to ask if we could move the blog to a different addy that is a lot more attractive and a whole hell of a lot easier to use. Look at this and this (password is "ourmovie"), then tell me what you think. I'm actually going to beg: Please can we move it.

Great Monologue

The new SNL is mostly bad, with some very good stuff sprinkled in every once and a while. Zack Galifinacous - probably spelled wrong - was on last night and the monologue was hilarious. He has stoner/outcast/intelligent kind of humor and he likes to play with words and meanings in case you aren't familiar with him. Check out his monologue.

It's Never Too Late

Popcorn Festival

I was reading about where Joseph lives and I found this.

"It all began in 1979, when the idea to bring a festival to the city popped up in the minds of the Valparaiso city leadership. Who better to solute than a Valparaiso native who became a household name with his very own brand of popcorn? Orville Redenbacher – America’s Popcorn King - was the inspiration behind the very first Popcorn Festival and the Nation’s First and Finest Popcorn Parade."

And the city is old! According to Wikipidia the first log cabin was built in 1834! Washington State wasn't even a twinkle in anyone's eye yet.

Gorilla's on Mars

That's what some people think. http://www.marsanomalies.com/

Gridlock

I'm starting to think this healthcare debate isn't about healthcare at all. We've been focusing on it for so fucking long, I'm beginning to think that it is a distraction from the financial crisis. Democracy for America has gotten 59 senators to say sign on saying they support a public option. Yet the white house and republicans are arguing about something more conservative than that? Surely that would pass easily. Logically, it just doesn't add up. More than 25% of his term has been losing one battle. Just one.

Man's Penis Struck By Lightning

"My friends used to tease me, and I used to tease them back saying my penis might have extraordinary ability, but it doesn’t", Jurkovic has been quoted as telling tabloid 24 Sata. He is very happy to have a functioning penis.”

It also melted his bike and now he won't go outside when he hears thunder.

Can't say that I blame him.

Valpo Velvet

The city I live in is called Valparaiso, like Valparaiso, Chile, but we all call it Valpo for short. --Holy, comma, Batman!-- It means biggest port in some native tribe in the Americas, I think. Anyhow it is an old country/farm town that has grown from a Back to the Future type 50's community. Average income here is really high for the state because we have a lot of retired professional athletes, doctors and lawyers from the surrounding cities like Gary, and a ton of executives from the City. We also have 4 or 5 college campuses.

Since there is so much money here per capita everything is corporate just about. Much more than anywhere I've ever lived. The thing is it is liberal money for the most part. Only the poor people vote republican in it. So we are one of like 3 key counties that carried Barrack in the general and turned Indiana blue. Probably the most actually because a lot of people here know Obama or Michelle from work, and there were so many campuses to recruit volunteers and an endless stream of money for the campaign. I had never thought about how incredibly influential my area is on politics before but you can at least partially thank my community specifically for not getting healthcare reform and the general movement in politics to put corporate interests above civic interest: We are why you have Evan Bayh in the Senate (at least had - hooray!). Does that paint a clear picture for you?

We also have an underclass obviously and a strong middle class (my demographic) because of all the steel mills and factories on the lakefront, and BP oil has a growing presence. So we do have one of the strongest union-oriented populations in the country too. That isn't relevant to this post, but I didn't want to purely paint us in that negative light.

Since I was in high school, two cities closer to Chicago, we've lost the majority of our locally owned institutions. I mean even the gas stations and bakeries. The gas station chain that we had forever that was only in like 10 locations but catered to community needs was called Family Express and they've turned into a major regional corporation that goes into cities buy a station across the street from the most popular mom and pop with the lowest price in gas and undercuts them by 20-30 cents for about a year when they buckle and sell to the corporation across the street. I grew up with the kids of that family and it went from caring about the community to just sucking the money out of your pocket. Panera bread, Starbucks, and Walmart have stamped out all but one bakery in the entire region with the likely exception of Gary (I don't go there so I don't know).

Corporations are sneaky when they come in here and will set up a subsidiary and a facade for the area as if they were a small company like Fair Oaks Dairy and Farm. That is the place I took my Grandma on the field trip with her nursing home and said I'd post pictures of, but didn't. I didn't know until I went there that they were a super mega corporation, because their packaging is so deceptive. They own most of the corn fields around here now. All up and down the interstate from Chicago to Indianapolis and the interstate and state road that both run east/west. So they are getting corn subsidies up the ass, buying out local farms and killing jobs, setting up dairies and pumping the cows full or corn (which isn't natural and isn't healthy for them) and somehow mark their chocolate milk (what I bought from them) organic. They own 10's of thousands of acres of farm land and probably bought out most of the dairies too, but that is pure speculation.

Anyhow if I want to eat healthy like get a bad assed salad, in Miami/LA/Chicago/Indianapolis there would be a ton of places I could go. Vegan places, vegetarian places, deli's, local diners (we do have 3 local diners), and just a bunch of places before I'd have to go to Cheesecake Factory or something. Well here, I'm shit out of luck. If I want to eat something kind of healthy I pretty much have to go to Arby's to get a Market Fresh Sandwich (not healthy at all) or McDonalds for a Salad (and then a healthy dressing from the store). I could do any one of those moderately priced corporate places like Applebees or Fridays, but I hate those places, except for the bar at Fridays.

Last night I thought I would get an ice cream cake to take to a party on Sunday night and I wanted to see if places other than Baskin Robbins, Dairy Queen, or Coldstone had them and some site came up in Texas where they were talking about a billion local places and it got me thinking and I remembered Valpo Velvet from high school, and the first thing that caught my attention was a big Anti-Walmart rant on the page I got sent to. Then I saw their twitter and it was over. Here is just a part of their Walmart rant:

To all of our loyal customers: That note above is actually from Wal-Mart's website, quite contradictory to how they actually do business. A lot of people have asked us to keep you updated our situation at Wal-Mart. After months of trying to keep our ice cream in Wal-mart, and months of Wal-Mart moving us, taking us out, and putting our product in the back room, they finally told us that Corporate did not want us in anymore. So we are officially out of Portage, Michigan City, and Valparaiso, a blanket decision....with no explanation, but it is not hard to notice that they put a cheaper product on the shelf, one that definitely will make THEM a higher profit. This was our biggest account, and our sales were strong. We know a lot of our loyal customers went to Wal-Mart to get our ice cream and we just want you all to know that it certainly was not our doing to have it removed. We did everything right, but ultimately greed won out. We are not sure if there is anything that will change the decisions of people sitting down at the corporate office, but at least we can let them know that their rash decisions actually affect people in America. We have come to the conclusion that Wal-Mart claims they support the local guy, but in reality, that is not true. They have also kicked out other local businesses out of their stores in the last couple of months. They make profits the way they want to, and then give back to the community on their terms.

I guess they buy everything they can locally for their ice cream and stuff as well as the little sandwich wrap/carry out/lunch type store they have that I didn't know about before. To my surprise the Brown Family still owns it and the owners actually work their store and come up with new menu items everyday, like crab bisque soup (yum!). It appears that they are foodies. Now I just got extremely high with my friend and went to school to talk care of some applications, test results, and shit like that and forgot about going there. I'm hoping to go later today when I do get hungry and I can comment more about the actual store later, but the point of all this is, I didn't know there were places like this still in my area. It looks like they try to prop up other local restaurants and distributors too and they all advertise for each other for free. That is where the idea came from for me to want to build something that competes with the corporations. I'll go into what later.

I'm interested in any webistes or personal stories you have with dealing with local companies/distributors, and if you know of any directories to find them. Maybe some small business resources you might now. I want to get down to the average cost of utilities and stuff in my plans. I'm obviously going to start very general first, but eventually that's where I want to go. I just want the fictional company to support community in every way possible so it can almost function as a community center too. I just want inspiration for stores, and I know for a fact that Portland is one of the most community focused cities in the country with tons of small shops. Unfortunately the recession has hit me hard so I had to cancel the plans I had for going out there (for a different purpose). Now I have to try to learn from a distance. Anything at all would be helpful on successful shops, especially ones that are new versus carrying a customer base for a few generations. Side note: It says that Valpo Velvet has been offered to come out with a pint line, but I didn't see if it was national or not. If it is maybe you'll see their product over the next 5 years or so. I wonder if they'd sell out with all that money if it went down that way... I hope not bc I think this is going to be my new favorite spot to hang out and use their wifi. What should I tag this?

Edit: I forgot to add that I didn't go to local shops to support local business in other cities. I just went because the food was always better. Damnit, there was one more thing I wanted to add but I just forgot. I guess I'll just post it in the comments when it comes back to me.

OMG

Just when you think you have heard it all...

"A South Korean couple who were addicted to the internet let their three-month-old baby starve to death while raising a virtual daughter online, police said."
Story here.


Speaking of bad parents this is something Lisa mentioned the other day and I just saw the story.

“Washington (CNN) - Will Sarah Palin and her family be starring in a new reality television series? Not quite, a source close to the former Alaska governor tells CNN.”

But she is pitching a show and get this, in addition to the networks and Fox (which I would expect) she is also talking with The History Channel and A&E.

Manic Whim

I think along with the script thing, which I've been neglecting lately... I think I'm going to come up with an extensive business plan for a mom and pop store to kinda work at over the next few years. I'm waiting on my friend to come and get me so I'll ramble for a second...

I think we are going to see a resurgence of local mom and pop shops, farmers markets, and the general philosophy of supporting small business when this is over or it winds down. We were kind of inching there the few years before the collapse as a country, but my generation was really embracing stuff like urban farming, flower bombing, and organic food - a market some corporations were finding a way to sneak into. This is just initial thinking that is pretty ignorant and totally anecdotal, but I really think this is where we are going to go. The fact that liberalism and extreme progressivism has had an explosion (no pun intended) since the last election only goes to support that idea.

I'm going to a place today called Valpo Velvet which I will post about after I get some of their food, but this place is an institution here and has been around since the 20's I think. I thought they only sold ice cream, but I guess I was extremely wrong. I'm not sure if I am going to stick with this idea for more than a few days, but I'm going to start putting stuff on paper today. It's not that I have an intention of starting this business or that I'm wanting to make millions or anything, but if I can come up with some solid ideas over the next few years and a few pounds of pot, I'll share it with the local business around here to help boost my own community and benefit from it that way. It really isn't about the money.

I need a name for the project, so I can tag it appropriately. What is something catchy and short? It's my own one man exploratory committee that will hopefully teach me more about civics. Oh yeah, the reason I want to share it with you guys too is that, I think small business thrives more in your region than anywhere else. Maybe you can give me ideas or tell me about the local shops around you. I don't think it has to be as expensive as most people think. One idea I had in the shower just now was based off when Kerry told me about bison meat. We have a bison farm here... That is the kind of thing that people would want to try and would set the store apart from chains. Buffalo Burgers or Buffalo Steak...

The video below is of a man who stood up to Pepsi and opened his own soda shop that sells over 500 brands. The amount may be off because I haven't seen it in a long time, but his story is what counts. He discusses CRV laws (the 5/10 cent returns on glass bottles), corn syrup, and distributors. It doesn't seem like a ten minute video on soda business would be interesting, but you'd be surprised. Also, I may have already posted this on the blog. I'm having a hard time remembering if I've discussed stuff on here or not. It's because I pretty much post everything I'm interested in on this blog, and I don't know if certain things I was really into happened BB or AB. That's cute right - BB/AB?

If this is interesting to you, here's what I would find really helpful beyond general comments: the mom and pop you frequent the most or like the best, names for a tag, or any resources on relative information. I'll discuss the ideal kind of store I have in mind and strategy on the blog later. I've already got some good ideas, then I'm going to smoke in a few minutes which will give me better ideas. I'm totally manic right now. I wonder if I'm not bipolar.

Neil deGrasse Tyson on Twitter

He's my little geek-crush and I just watched him on the daily show. He promoted his twitter and it is every bit as amazing as you'd think.

"Why10-ft blue aliens with 3 fingers & USB pony tails who live in a Keebler tree shows no imagination: http://to.pbs.org/cbyrZH"

"MathQuiz: If train goes 80mph for 3hrs betwn 2 cities, what country are you in? USA. Trains in Europe China Japan go 2x as fast"

"All quakes alter mass within Earth's crust, affecting our rotation rate. Chilean quake made day 1.26 millionths of sec shorter."

"Skycast: Full Moon tonight. Ever wonder about its effects on human behavior? #TAM6 2m 30s http://bit.ly/9aVX8V"

You Can Ring My Bell

This Spells Trouble for Me

Everything beneth this is copy and pasted from Wired.

Gadget nerds: Prepare to lose the rest of your day to awesomeness. PopSci, the web-wing of Popular Science magazine, has scanned its entire 137-year archive and put it online for you to read, absolutely free. The archive, made available in partnership with Google Books, even has the original period advertisements.

Head over to the site and you’ll see a simple search box. Of course, the first thing I typed in was “jet pack”. This, naturally enough, returned plenty of results, including a rather dangerous-looking hydrogen peroxide–powered contraption with a belt-mounted controller. The article was printed in the December 1962 issue.

You can’t go directly to an issue to browse, but once you have arrived somewhere by search, there are no restrictions on scrolling around. You’ll also find a properly hyperlinked table of contents in each magazine. The early years are a little dry: I browsed an issue from 1902, and it made the average math textbook look like a Dan Brown novel (only better paced), so I’d recommend starting in the optimistic, tech-loving 1950s.

Oh, and did I mention it works great on an iPhone? Good luck getting any work done today.

Another Conspiracy

Papal Aide Linked to Gay Prostitution

Here we go again - why is this no surprise?

http://www.gaynewswatch.com/Page.cfm?PageID=22&SID=7864

My Favorite Conspiracy

Have I shared this with you guys already?

Richter Scale, Earthquakes

Since we're discussing earthquakes I thought it would be helpful to link to some info about the Richter Scale and what the different magnitudes mean:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richter_scale

Yes, Another GOP Hypocrite

Surprise!

A state senator, who has voted against every gay rights measure since being in office, was arrested for a DUI after leaving a gay nightclub in Sacramento.



His male passenger was not identified.

Eathquake, Pacific Rim

OK, don't know if you have heard this yet but there was yet ANOTHER earthquake in the Pacific Rim. This one was in Taiwan - so we have Japan, China,Chile, and now Taiwan within the past couple of weeks or so.

Something is happening in this geological area but I haven't heard anything yet connecting the dots.

Legos Star Wars

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

We were talking about Legos the other day and I thought you would get a kick out of this.

A Brief History of Everything

I heard of this the other day but hadn't seen it until now.

Happy Day

It's 33 and mostly sunny. It feels like fucking summer! I haven't even been wearing a coat, it's completely awesome. I just wanted to share something good, instead of bitching for a change. How are you guys doing? Kerry, are you feeling better? Ok, I'm off to take an entrance exam now, think positive thoughts for me. I hope the greatness continues today.

DADT, GOP, DoD

Okay, this really ticks me off:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100303/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_military_gays

Gay people have served in the military for centuries. Homosexuality occurs in nearly 500 species so it obviously isn't a "choice" but rather something that is "hard-wired" into living beings.

When I was in the US Army I know I served with lesbians and bisexuals and I also likely served with gay men that I didn't know were gay. I never once felt threatened by any of them. If anything, I felt (and was) more threatened by heterosexual men who thought that because I was in the Army I deserved whatever I got from them.

Most of the members of both the GOP (but especially them) and Democrats have never even served in the military yet they try to come across like they fully support the military (which is a bunch of crap) and they salute our veterans (which is also a bunch of crap). I remember a GOP National Convention where many Young Republicans were interviewed about serving in the military and they all had something "better" to do or believed they could "serve" by being political shills.

Now this. The overwhelming majority of the people actually on active duty could care less and favor the repeal of DADT. How many people in critical MOSs (Military Occupational Skill), such as linguists, have been discharged for a prejudice that seems to be primarily based on religious dogma?

Oh, here's the link to the article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100303/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_military_gays

Explain Myself

I realize any normal person isn't going to sit and listen to all that I've posted. However, some people in my life have REALLY appreciated me making them cd's of shit I think they'll like and probably never heard before. It's not as much as when I was younger, but like right now there are two people who have asked me to make them cd's for their birthdays over buying them something or taking them somewhere. I take it extremely seriously. I have them list a few of the songs that they jam to the most and then I listen to them a few times and start a playlist, where I'll put like 50-75 songs. Listen to the songs they've told me about again and think about what I hear them jamming to when they drive and stuff, and go thru a few cycles of deleting songs until I have about 20 tracks.

I love to share music, movies, and other types of art. I just love it. These are all songs I think are the cream of their genre. I'm always on the search for new music and when I share stuff like that, I always get exposed to new people. So I apologize if you think that annoying, but I'm operating in the mindset that you might listen to a few and end up buying a cd or downloading a certain artist. It's increasingly hard to find someone who you can play from start to end and I feel that people are backing away from music because of it. Which is sad. So here are some people who's work you can do that with from what I listed.

Jill Scott - Who is Jill Scott (multiple grammy wins)
John Mayer Trio - Continiuum
Madeleine Peyroux - Careless Love
Jolie Holland - Escandida
Queen Latifah's - Dana Owen's Album
Any Nina Simone collection
Any Astrud Gilberto collection
Any John Lee Hooker collection

I also appreciate you sharing anything with me that you really like. That is how I got into Paul Simon who I feel I cannot live without now and Jack White. For some reason I had passed them off before they were shown to me. I LOVED those Billie clips, because I had never heard them before, even though I have quite a few of her songs on my computer. Ok, I'll leave you with one more clip and then I'm done for probably a long time. By the way, if you'd like to brag about seeing BB King, I'd love to be on the receiving end of that. I feel like I've waited too long and I'm pissed that I didn't pay for the Riding With The King tickets - they were just a little too expensive for me. This is a Tori Amos studio recording of a Jazz Standard for the movie "Mona Lisa Smile" which she performed in the film in costume and it is fucking brilliant.

Current and Contemporary Jazz

Forewarning. There is a section on here that features pop artists who have crossed over into Jazz proper at least once that isn't at all what you'd expect from them. Most notably Queen Latifah who put out a cd under her real name Dana Owens.

This is an odd thing to say and seems pretty unlikely, but if you love Billie Holiday then you will love this lady. She is like the reincarnation of Billie. Her voice is strikingly similar and all her songs sound like this. I'm trying to find her version of "I wish I Could Shimmy like my Sister Kate," but am not having any luck. This is her best song as of the last time I looked into her:

Madeleine Peyroux - Don't Wait Too Long


Jill Scott - The Way
I've bought her cd about 3 times for myself due to scratching, and have given it out as a gift 5 times or so. She becomes all their favorite, but they are people I know who are into this kind of music. Great Jazz. She played Big Mama Thorton in a movie that I'm going to clip out and post soon.


Amel Larrieux - For Real
I don't know much about her. I've only got the one album, but this song as well as a few others are extremely well done.


Diana Krall - Maybe You'll Be There
Another Canadian doing Jazz. She's the one I think I tried to get a duet with Natalie Cole in the music post I did first, but couldn't find. Maybe I did? This is my favorite song (and live performance) of hers. She's like the new Tony Bennett and sings with him an awful lot too. This is a live version of the song from Paris. It spoke to me when I broke up with my ex and he moved to LA, so it might be more sentimental for me than how good it really is. You decide.


Jolie Holland - Old Fashioned Morphine


Jolie Holland - God Damned Shame


John Mayer Trio - Waiting on the World to Change
Fucking phenomenal cd.



Queen Latifiah - Simply Beautiful
Her best song here imo. Player in top right corner.



Zap Mama - Damn Your Eyes
Raw natural talent that hasn't been seen for a long time. She's from Belgium where there is a very strong and talented scene right now. This song is in english, but she sings in dutch, french, and several african languages too. There is no embedding on that video so you have to click thru. The next video is her and Jasper Steverlinck (another insanely talented Belgian) singing at a Tommy Hilfiguer festival. She's another artists I'd give my right arm to see live.

This shouldn't be in this post, but this is Jasper singing U2's In the name of love, better than U2 ever performs it.


Vivian Green - Emotional Roller Coaster
She's pretty good, but I like everyone else on this list better. Not all her songs are this good.


There there is an even larger movement in jazz regarding instrumentals which I'm only going to post one song. The technology has advanced so much that there is a ton of innovative stuff being done with instrumentals, that just couldn't be done before. It is so accessible now to people who just couldn't afford to gather a ton of musicians, and now you don't have to.

Jazz Standards

I've had to break this up a lot as I'm making these posts because Jazz is such a general term. These are some of the standards which we all pretty much know, sang by legends. Where the post before it is more original and pure. This is just more pop than Jazz in my mind.

Nina Simone - Mr. Bojangles
Ahhh... Nina Fucking Simone, "The Priestess of Soul." This is my favorite version of this song. Nina is a fucking America Queen in my book. First black woman to go to Juliard. She is an artist I actually took the time to kinda get to know more about. She probably is the person who really elevated me into a connoisseur.

She showed me what a music was really about. It's not about melody, it's not about the performer, and it's not about the money. Nina Simone taught me that Music is how we get in touch with our soul. It's a vehicle for that part that makes us who we are, what makes us living creatures. It IS the definition, and science is only starting to understand the question. In personal relationships I've only told 2 guys I've ever loved them, out of maybe 15. I love Nina Simone.




Ella Fitzgerald - Hard Hearted Hanna
I'm actually not a huge fan of Ella (blasphemy?), but this is like a great style of jazz that I can't get enough of. I can go into detail why I don't really like her if you ask. It's just not something I'm going to offer up, if no one is interested though.


Sarah Vaughan - Whatever Lola Wants


Vikki Carr - Silencer
This should have been a James Bond song. Actually, I'm not a fan of those movies, so it may be.


Dinah Washington - Since I fell for You


Eartha Kitt - Smoke Gets in Your Eyes

Jazz

Even though Chicago has nearly an equally rich Jazz history, I am A LOT less versed than I am in Blues. We have a shit ton of really bad ass Jazz rooms in Chicago. I thought I'd share a few older things that I like that are Jazz them I'm going to do a post of current artists. The thing with Jazz is that I only mostly know instrumental artists where vocals take a backseat. I like swanky trios, quartets, and quintets. Especially the live recording with participating audiences like Ramsey Lewis, who may be the artist I respect the most. He's nearly a god in my mind.

Astrud Gilberto - Samba de minha Terra
This is non existent on the internet for some reason. Maybe I have it labelled wrong, please click thru and listen to it because I just uploaded it specifically so you can hear it. If you are only going to listen to one out of all the others, please let it be this one. It actually involved a few minutes work for me.

Astrud Gilberto - Fly me to the Moon


Astrud Gilberto - Take me to Aruanda


Ramsey Lewis (Still WILDLY active in the Chicago scene, but I've never seen him) - Wade in the Water (Live Recording)

Ramsey Lewis - Hang on Sloopy (live)
Ramsey Lewis - The "In" Crowd (This is live video, but the actual live released recording is my absolute favorite Jazz song ever)


Tommy Dorsey - I'm Getting Sentimental Over You
A vinyl recording complete with lots of crackle (for Kerry). This is a song I'd use in a movie if I wrote one, but a better recording. Enoch Light has a really fantastic recording, but it is absent on the interwebs and I can only upload one audio file/day at Tumblr. This is really light jazz but VERY emotional, which is my kinda bag.


Louis Prima - I've got you under my skin
I know that everyone recognizes his voice and most people can't exactly place it. He was the Orangutang in Jungle Book. I always thought he was the inspiration for Desi in Lucy too, but that is my own speculation.

Amazing Animal Discoveries

Article from Yahoo!

http://buzz.yahoo.com/buzzlog/93436?fp=1

Stars Photo Gallery

Just ran across this page while going thru my e-mail. Some amazing images of star formations from National Geographic that can be downloaded for desktop wallpaper.

Beautiful!

http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/photos/stars-gallery?source=email_inside#5112_600x450.jpg

If You Weren’t Disgusted Enough Already....

Some companies drop heath insurance coverage without telling employees...

"It's a practice that's on the rise, says Kristin Milam with the state Department of Insurance. State law requires that companies give their workers 45 days notice if they're going to drop coverage. Milam says that employees of businesses that don't follow the law often find out their coverage has lapsed when they go to the doctor's office."

Billie

1955 wonderful rehearsal recording





In the original recording she has more of a voice but in this she has more emotion

Robert Johnson

I found a movie about Robert Johnson, but alas, I can not find a trailer to link to and it's not on Netflix.

This Is Just Mean

In 1964 British Marines were given LSD without their knowledge. I took it ONCE and never will again. It would be horrifying to get it that way. You would think you were going crazy. Most of these guys seem to have taken it OK.

Guess Who This Is

Growing Up Rich

Have a close friend who grew up wealthy or ever date anyone who has? It's really funny when they don't know how to do something that we (normal people) think is general knowledge. In this clip, which I edited to the correct spot, Anderson Cooper is confronted with a can of whipped cream. Let it play, because the issue compounds.

Warning, you are going to play this a few times just to see if what just happened was genuine. Be sure to look at Kelly's face at 2:20 and her utter disbelief. She gets stunned and her jaw actually drops.

50 Photos of Chile

http://blogs.denverpost.com/captured/2010/02/28/news-8-8-earthquake-in-chile/

Just for Fun

I thought I'd stroll thru my iTunes and pick out a few of my favorite songs that I totally catch grief for all the time from my friends, because it's very not "normal" or "cool." Just about everyone one of my friends subscribes to a specific scene, whether it be heavy metal, gay, jam-band, or emo. I pretty much reject all that bullshit and like it all. Actually though, I tend to consider a lot of heavy metal garbage. I call it "noise" and it pisses my stoner friends off really bad.

Anyhow, I figured Kerry may take a sick day and who knows you guys may enjoy it. Also, I responded with what I consider the best of specific artists Kerry commented on, just incase you were interested in more. I'm not trying to push it on you. I swear. Here we go.

Edith Piaf - Non, Je Net Regrette Rien (with English Subtitles laced with 3 or 4 original live performance videos of Edith in the
50's. This song is so powerful and even if you don't know what it means, she still gets the emotion across to you. It means "No, I don't have any regrets" I believe and like I said, it is subtitled in English. The author of the video disable embedding. I'm trying to sell this to you, because I think anyone would appreciate it even if it wasn't their cup of tea. It literally legendary. They just made an Oscar winning movie about her.


Tony Bennett & K.D. Lang - Dream a Little Dream of Me Player is in the top right corner.

Natalie Cole & Diana Krall - Better than Anything I would pay 1,000 dollars to see Diana Krall live. Just saying.

Bessie Smith - Muddy Water


Oscar Brown - Brother Where Are You


Big Mama Thorton and Buddy Guy (who I'm actually an aquantience of) - Hound Dog


Big Mama Thorton - They call me Big Mama (Just know that I love the shit out of Mama Thorton and I won't post anymore)


John Lee Hooker - This is hip


**!!!**Etta James & B.B. King - There is Something on Your Mind


Susan Tedeschi - Hurt So Bad


Baby Washington - Breakfast in Bed


Lightnin' Hopkins - Lonesome Road


And of course a list like this wouldn't be complete without Robert Johnson.

To Stop Getting Infections You Have To Stop Taking Antibiotics?

Uh oh! The pharmaceutical industry is not going to like this one bit.

"OSLO, Norway -- Aker University Hospital is a dingy place to heal. The floors are streaked and scratched. A light layer of dust coats the blood pressure monitors. A faint stench of urine and bleach wafts from a pile of soiled bedsheets dropped in a corner. Look closer, however, at a microscopic level, and this place is pristine. There is no sign of a dangerous and contagious staph infection that killed tens of thousands of patients in the most sophisticated hospitals of Europe, North America and Asia last year, soaring virtually unchecked.

The reason: Norwegians stopped taking so many drugs."

Look at the TV

Ani DiFranco - Fuel

I think there are a few posts below the 3 or 4 music videos I put up. I know one for sure that I compared the new social secretary of the white house to someone else. I just didn't want you to think this was all there was at a glance.

Sound of Silence (cover)

General Strike - Federation

This might be a repost, but I'm working at a theme. Can you spot it? :-)


'We're working towards eradication
We'll rid the world of all oppression
Thru world-wide social revolution
We're sick and tired of their constant lies,
democracy is just a clever disguise.
Our willingness to fight we will energize
Then a free society we will realize.
Capitalism is an evil crime:
They plunder the earth and steal our ????
so you better eat your turkey
and you better drink your wine
cuz your days are numbered bushwah swine.'

Poignent

Isn't this song more relevant now than it was when she wrote and performed this? Of course, I urge you to listen to it again and listen to the lyrics, but please don't think I'm being pushy. I'm just feeling artsy and emotional right now and I'm literally sharing the stuff I'm looking at with you as I view it for myself.

Real Talking Piano

This is worth watching.

Recovery Day

I got really messed up on sleeping pills and tequilla, an unintentional kind of thing and I feel ill. So I'm just looking at Huffington Post and they showed this lady, who is the new White House Social Secretary. I don't care about the other lady getting fired or anything, but look at her photo above. Then look at the photo below.
That is Amy Pohler from Saturday Night Live (remember she played Hillary in the Palin Sketch?). That is her in character as Leslie Knope on her show Parks and Recreation where she plays an inept city politician wannabe in Pawnee Indiana. Isn't the resemblance uncanny? The hair and make-up are so similar too. I just thought it was really funny. Here is a clip of her in that show if you want to see something funny right now.