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Republicans continue their nationwide campaign to restrict voting
Republicans in the Texas House pushed past objections from corporate giants such as American Airlines and Microsoft, and fierce protests from Democratic lawmakers and voting rights advocates.
The 81-64 vote came after often-heated debate on the floor of the Texas House with Democratic lawmakers pressing the bill's author, GOP Rep. Briscoe Cain, to cite examples of the election fraud the bill sought to prevent.
"We don't need to wait for bad things to happen" to take action, Cain responded at one point.
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The vote moves Texas closer to joining a host of other states racing to change the ground rules for future elections, following former President Donald Trump's repeated and unfounded claims that voter fraud contributed to his loss last November. Around the country, Republicans have cast their effort as needed to restore voter confidence in the integrity of elections. But critics say the nationwide push aims to retain GOP power in key battlegrounds by making it harder for people of color and younger voters to cast their ballots.
There is no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election.
"Most of these changes are unnecessary to make voting more efficient or to prevent fraud, which is quite rare in our elections," said Richard Hasen, an election law expert at the University of California at Irvine. "These measures are political and are being passed on a partisan basis for partisan reasons."
The Texas measure, which requires a third reading before it is sent back to the Texas Senate, would empower partisan poll watchers, increase penalties for voting crimes and bar counties from sending unsolicited applications to vote by mail. It included Democratic amendments, including one that would allow election officials to call the police to remove disruptive partisan poll watchers.
"Under the cover of darkness, the Texas House just passed one of the worst anti-voting bills in the county," Sarah Labowitz, policy and advocacy director of the ACLU of Texas, said after lawmakers voted to advance the bill in the early morning hours Friday. "SB7 will target votes of color, voters with disabilities and the civil servants who run our elections."
A separate measure approved previously by the Texas Senate is more expansive. It would allow poll watchers to videotape people receiving assistance to vote and would ban drive-thru voting and other measures employed in urban areas in 2020 that made it easier to vote in the pandemic.
Those provisions still could make into the final law.
In Florida, DeSantis said the new law would "increase transparency and strengthen the security of our elections." Its critics, such as NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson, called it a "horrifying reminder" of democracy's "fragility."
The law brings sweeping changes to Florida's election rules, such as imposing new identification requirements to request vote-by-mail ballots or to change an address. It also limits the location and hours of ballot drop boxes and requires election workers to monitor boxes. Election supervisors face a $25,000 fine for the failure to do so.
Texas and Florida — both populous and diverse states — are just the latest Republican-led states to move forward with voting restrictions.
Georgia and Iowa already have passed far-reaching election restrictions. Montana has tightened voter ID requirements and ended same-day voter registration. Bills to tighten voting rules also are advancing in the battleground state of Michigan.
And this week, the Republican majority in the Kansas legislature overrode Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly's vetoes of controversial election bills. As a result, it's now a misdemeanor for someone in Kansas to collect and return more than 10 ballots — which opponents say will hamper efforts by churches and other organizations to help the elderly and disabled vote.
Meanwhile, legislation introduced Thursday by Republicans in the Ohio House would significantly revise election laws there. Among other things, the GOP package co-authored by Republican state Rep. Bill Seitz would tighten voter ID requirements, eliminate a day of early voting and limit drop box locations to local election offices.
Asked about the moves in Texas and Florida, White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Friday said, "The President's view — the fact of the matter is that these laws make it harder to vote. That's not a good thing."
She said Biden will leave it up to the Justice Department and Attorney General Merrick Garland to make any decisions about whether to intervene in states implementing restrictive voting measures.
Arizona 'audit'
In Arizona — a state Biden narrowly won last November — a controversial election audit demanded by Republican state senators of the 2020 ballots cast in Maricopa County is underway. Two previous audits by county elections officials found no evidence of widespread voter fraud. The state's results have long been certified.
This week, the head of the US Department of Justice's civil rights division wrote to the president of the Arizona Senate, suggesting that the recount by a private contractor of some 2.1 million ballots could violate federal law that requires state and local officials to maintain ballots and election materials for 22 months.
Justice Department official Pamela Karlan also warned that the plan by the recount contractor, Florida-based Cyber Ninjas, to knock on voters' doors to confirm their addresses could violate federal laws banning voter intimidation.
Ken Bennett, the former Republican secretary of state who is acting as the liaison between the private contractor and Senate Republicans, said there's no plan to intimidate voters. "If somebody knocks on your door and you don't want to answer their questions, you don't have to," he said.
Senate Republicans in Arizona show no signs of retreat. One state lawmaker, Republican Sen. Wendy Rogers, tweeted this week: " 'Justice' Department – you need to stay in your lane. Do not touch Arizona ballots or machines unless you want to spend time in an Arizona prison."
Trump has cheered on the recount effort.
On Thursday, Rep. Elise Stefanik, a New York Republican and vocal Trump ally, said she "fully" supported the privately conducted audit in Arizona. Stefanik is the leading contender to replace Rep. Liz Cheney in US House Republican leadership following Cheney's public repudiation of Trump's election lies.
"When you talk to any voter across this country, certainly at any Republican event, they are focused on election security and election integrity," Stefanik said during an appearance on Steve Bannon's show this week.
"It is important to stand up for these constitutional issues and these are questions that are going to have to be answered before we head into the 2022 midterms so that the American people have faith in our election system," she added.
CNN's Dianne Gallagher, Stephanie Becker and Maegan Vazquez contributed to this story.
Opinion: Arizona 'audit' serves a nefarious purpose
Capitol riot defendant gets permission from judge to call his mother, a co-defendant, on Mother's Day


In current year Manomav Engineers has booked another project from prestigious client KPV. More Information about the client is available at .
1) ME will enter in association with a big venture with a large portfolio.
3) Processes for time Management of project will improve.
Manomav expects a revenue of Rs. Rs.1,350,000.00 in their books from the current deal.
In the current year, Manomav Engineers has booked another project from prestigious client Jayna kitchenware. More Information about the client is available at.
This Project is a High-end Residential Project of Industrialist Mr. Naresh Jain, Jayna industry into kitchen sinks.
With Booking of this Project, Manomav Engineers will have many Benefits. Few are listed below.
1) It will give exposure to Industrial Clients.
2) With this, we are doing three high-end residential projects with the same jobs.
3) Learning of ME Team for High-End Finishing Items will grow.
4) Process Improvement for Design and coordination.
Manomav expects a revenue of Rs. Rs.650,000.00 in their books from the current deal.
In current year Manomav Engineers has booked another project from prestigious client Jayna kitchen ware. More Information about the client is available at .
This Project is a High end Residential Project of Industrialist Mr. Naresh Jain, jayna industry into kitchen sinks.
With Booking of this Project ME will have many Benefits. Few are listed below.
2) With this we are doing three high end residential projects with same jobs.
3) Learning of ME Team for High End Finishing Items will grow.
In current year Manomav Engineers has booked another project from prestigious client M S Goyal & Associates.
This Project is a High end Residential Project of Industrialist Mr. Goyal.
With Booking of this Project ME will have many Benefits. Few are listed below.1) It will give exposure to Industrial Clients.
2) More Penetration in High End Residential Project.
Manomav expects a revenue of Rs. Rs.600,000.00 in their books from the current deal.
With this new project a new style residence will develop in Punjabi Bagh.


The PX2 Studio Shanghai is owned and managed by Sissy Yang. We has produced the best fine art giclée reproductions, portfolio & exhibition prints in Shanghai since 2006. PX2 Shanghai is a natural continuation of her drive to remain the best in the field.
PX2 stands for large format printing, proofing, photography and design. We service clients ranging from major advertising agencies to professional photographers, artists and designers. Museums, galleries and photography- and art festivals such as the Shanghai Biennale,Pingyao and Lianzhou Festivals of Photography and some of the 2010 expo pavilions are all relying on us for their production needs.
Our paper selection includes the Canson Arches Papers; Epson Photo papers, Ultrasmooth, Pearl, Somerset Velvet and Enhanced Matte Photo Paper; Hahnemuehle Photo Rag, Baryta, Pearl and Bamboo; Arches Watercolour; and more. All these fine art papers are time tested and proven to last. We also print on the 17 new papers of the Canson Infinity Digital Fine Art & Photo -brand that are crafted in the Canson and Arches mills for museum quality fine art & photo inkjet prints on both paper and canvas.
As a professional fine art print studio,we have best Eizo screen with the color mersure equipments and 5500K standard light system. PX2 offers all the necessary amenities for successful digital printing and proofing. We use a fully ICC color-managed workflow that ensures color accuracy throughout the process. The supply of ICC output profiles enables our clients to soft-proof and do on-screen color corrections on their calibrated monitors. We work with GMG ColorProof that provides color-accurate contract proofing for highest quality demands.
The PX2 Gallery presents a wide range of innovative exhibitions and events focusing on contemporary photography, graphic design and related work.
Located at 1st Floor,No 15,Lane 647,Wei Hai Lu,Near Mao Ming Lu.We are in the center of Shanghai. Just 3mins walk from the famous 696 WeiHai Studio. Subway Line1 and Line2 are next to us.


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Ramón Pérez de Ayala y Fernández del Portal (9 August 1880, in Oviedo – 5 August 1962, in Madrid) was a Spanish writer. He was the Spanish ambassador to England in London (1931-1936) and voluntarily exiled himself to  Argentina via France because of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939).
He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Background

Pérez de Ayala was educated at Jesuit schools, the experience of which he satirized in the novel A.M.D.G. (1910). The novelist Leopoldo Alas was among his professors, and Alas's "intellectual novel," focused on ideas and philosophy, would influence Pérez de Ayala's own fiction. There is some debate regarding to which generation of Spanish writers Pérez de Ayala belongs. His early realistic novels reveal ties with the Generation of 98. However,  some argue that Ramon Pérez de Ayala was a member of the Generation of 1914, a group which did not entirely fit with either the Generation of 98 or the Generation of 27. Like his political ally José Ortega y Gasset, he was a liberal republican and opposed to the Spanish monarchy, as well as a professed Anglophile who sought to import the English parliamentary system to Spain.

He was elected to the Royal Spanish Academy in 1928, and received nominations for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1931, 1934 and 1947. He was appointed director of the Prado Museum in 1931 a position that he left temporarily in 1932 to become the Spanish ambassador to Britain. Perez de Ayala received an honorary doctorate from the University of Oxford in 1936. He was succeeded as director of the Prado Museum by Pablo Picasso in 1936.

After 1916, his novels became increasingly mature and lyrical, his characters becoming symbolic representatives of general human problems. To this period belongs his masterpieces, Belarmino y Apolonio (1921) (translated as "Belarmino and Apolonio"), Tiger Juan (1926) and El curandero de su honra (The Healer of his Honour) (1927).

La paz del sendero (The Peace of the Path) (1903), El sendero innumerable (1916), and El sendero andante (1921), his major poetic works, show the influence of French symbolism. He also wrote satiric essays and dramatic criticism.

Works available in English
Belarmino and Apolonio (1990) Quartet Books.
Honeymoon, Bittermoon (1974) University of California Press.
Sunday Light. In:
 Tiger Juan translator Walter Starkie, J. Cape, 1933,

References

External links

1880 births
1962 deaths
People from Oviedo
Members of the Congress of Deputies of the Second Spanish Republic
Politicians from Asturias
Spanish male writers
Modernist writers
Writers from Asturias
Members of the Royal Spanish Academy
Directors of the Museo del Prado
Exiles of the Spanish Civil War in Argentina
Colegio de la Inmaculada (Gijón) alumni
University of Oviedo alumni
Spanish diplomats
Exiles of the Spanish Civil War in France
Exiled Spanish politicians

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Kate Gardiner (21 September 1885–29 January 1974) was a New Zealand mountaineer. She was born in Wavertree, Liverpool, Lancashire, England on 21 September 1885. She was the daughter of Frederick Gardiner who made the first ascent of Mount Elbrus.

In 1930 she made first ascents with her guide Walter Feuz in the Canadian Rockies of Mount Lyautey, Mount Sarrail, Mount Foch, Mount Bogart, Warrior Mountain, and Mount Galatea. Other notable first ascents include Mount Prince Henry (1919), Mount Alcantara (1929), Foster Peak (1933), and White Pyramid (1939). She would eventually complete 33 first ascents in the Canadian Rockies.

References

External links
History of Gardiner Hut

1885 births
1974 deaths
New Zealand mountain climbers
People from Wavertree
Female climbers
British emigrants to New Zealand


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Talking It Out Online Film Festival Opens This Weekend
Available for online streaming this May for Mental Health Awareness Month, with the top 3 films to be determined by an audience vote
Beginning this week for Mental Health Awareness Month, Piccione Arts will be presenting the first annual Talking It Out Online Film Festival, showcasing a diverse range of 21 short films centered around the theme of mental health awareness this coming May.
Starting on May 6th at 12am EST, seven films per weekend will be available for OnDemand streaming over the course of three weekends.
Week 1 - May 6th-8th
Letters (dir. Lina Green) - United States
Demons (dir. Janaya Jaree Chapman) - United States
Don't Be a Stranger (dir. Omid Iranikhah) - United States
Solito (dir. Max Laurent & Gabriel Moreau) - France
Happenings (dir. Erica Lecce & Liz Spruell) - United States
Brothers First (dir. Damari Butler) - United States
Plagued Heart (dir. Liam Jeanson) - United States
Week 2 - May 13th-15th
No Pain No Gain (dir. Markesha Cooper) - United States
Anxious (dir. Laura Dorn) - United Kingdom
U vs You (dir. Cara Diaz) - United States
Last Ride (dir. Soda Persi) - United States
Lasagna (dir. Irith Fuks) - Netherlands
Bobby (dir. Cortez Mack & Daniel Merrick) - United States
Good Evening (dir. Hubert Górski) - Poland
Week 3 - May 20th-22nd
Cruel and Unusual Therapy (dir. Gina Marie Rodriguez) - United States
ksms (dir. Ula Warzeé) - Brazil
In Her Head (dir. Seth Michael Richards) - United States
Faces (dir. Charly Wenzel) - United States
Silent Voices (dir. Maria Fe Picar) - United States
Two Souls (dir. Ariel Finks) - United States
The Essence of Adolescence (dir. Joshua Nelson) - United States
On May 23rd, audiences will be emailed a private link and encouraged to vote for their favorite film, with the winners to be announced on the festival's Eventbrite page on May 31st at 7pm EST.
Free tickets and our exclusive donation link are available now at www.eventbrite.com/e/talking-it-out-a-virtual-arts-festival-2021-2022-season-tickets-133631201521
About the Talking It Out Virtual Arts Festival
Currently in its second season, the Talking It Out Virtual Arts Festival is an ongoing production of Piccione Arts, which has brought online theatrical performances to audiences worldwide since 2020.
Founded by Anthony J. Piccione, the first Talking It Out performance was presented live at the Dramatists Guild Foundation's Music Hall on March 10th, 2019. At the time of the initial readings, Michael D'Antoni wrote a rave review of the event for Five-Star Arts Journals, describing it as having "nothing less than pure, unadulterated, genuine, unpretentious focus on the agonies and anguish of mental illness, while also celebrating the triumphs and accomplishments over those living with, or those living with someone who suffers from mental health issues."
Originally intended to be a one-time event of minimalistic staged reading of short plays, the event has since been revived as an ongoing festival of plays - as well as an expanding line-up of additional arts programming including a film festival presented each May - presented online via digital platforms. Upon the first live screening of Talking It Out in November 2020, playwright & critic Jan Ewing praised the festival in a review for Hi! Drama for having "drawn from a wide range of ages and genders" and for "detailing the pain and distress encountered not only by those suffering from the various disorders, but also those who support them." Each of the plays is presented by an ensemble of actors from different corners of the world, highlighting various issues of mental illness - ranging from anxiety, depression, autism, ADHD, PTSD, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, dementia, and more.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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SEOUL, Jan. 31 (Yonhap) — K-pop girl group TWICE will be honored at this...
SEOUL, Feb. 2 (Yonhap) — K-pop boy group Tomorrow X Together's latest album sold...
SEOUL, Feb. 2 (Yonhap) — Three new songs from K-pop rookie NewJeans exploded onto...
NCT 127 draws 700,000 spectators in 2nd world tour
K-pop boy band NCT 127 has completed its second world tour, "Neo City:The Link," which has...
TXT's new album sold 1.8 mln copies on 1st day, highest after BTS
K-pop boy group Tomorrow X Together's latest album sold more than 1.8 million copies...
TXT's new EP exceeds 2 mln copies in preorders
K-pop boy group Tomorrow X Together broke its own record as preorders for its...
'Birthday' becomes 1st mln seller from Red Velvet
K-pop girl group Red Velvet has recorded its first million seller with its latest...


Description: Loyola University New Orleans is a Catholic institution that emphasizes the Jesuit tradition of educating the whole person. Loyola¬s unique combination of quality faculty and academic programs/facilities; an ideal size that fosters a positive learning environment and individual student attention; and the centuries-old Jesuit tradition of educating the whole person distinguishes us from other institutions. The Jesuit tradition of academic excellence fosters self-discovery,values,and critical thinking.The university serves 5,500 undergraduates and graduate students. Loyola School of Law offers full-time studies to day students and a part-time evening program for working adults.
Rev. Kevin Wm. Wildes S.J.
Mr. Frank E. Scully Jr.


National coach Pietro Ghedin named the provisional squads for the two upcoming friendly matches against Czech Republic on the 27th May and Austria on the 31st May with both games due to be played in Austria.
The game against the Czech Republic will be played at the Sportzentrum Worgl while the clash with Austria will be played at the Worthersee Stadion in Klagenfurt.
Goalkeeper Andrew Hogg who has been inactive since January was left out of the squad along with Andre Schembri who is getting married while Under-21 internationals Cain Attard, Ryan Camenzuli, Llywelyn Cremona and Luke Montebello were all included. A new face in the squad is England-born midfielder Luke Gambin who plays for Barnet in the League Two.
Tim tajjeb… imma ma nistax nifhem l-eskluzzjoni ta'l-aqwa skorer Malti..
forsi ghandek ragun fuq Lydon Micallef. pero ghandi kurzita liema mil-players f'dik il-lsta mhumiextajbin bizzejjed biex jilaghbu fil-lig Malti. tista issemmi min huma?


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News Feature | March 8, 2017
Iowa Considers Nutrient Exchange To Address Water Quality Issues
By Peak Johnson
Iowa is considering legislation to introduce a nutrient exchange in the state. Under the law, treatment or manufacturing facilities that discharge pollution would be able to pay farmers to reduce nutrient run-off from their land, giving the facilities more discharge flexible.
Radio Iowa reported late last month that Republican Representative Chip Baltimore said that the potential law is "about sparking 'collaboration' rather than confrontation to clean up the state's surface water."
"At least in my conversations, there's broad-based, very generic … interest in a nutrient exchange," Baltimore is quoted as saying during a House subcommittee meeting. "We've got some pilot projects that are out there that are working their way through, but I think having some formal recognition of the nutrient exchange may help move that process along."
The Gazette reported that last month during a hearing on Iowa water quality legislation, "a part of House Study Bill 135 that would allow 'nutrient exchanges' came under fire from opponents of corporate agriculture."
"This bill does nothing to stop pollution," Jessica Mazour of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement told a House Agriculture subcommittee. "It further passes the cost of cleaning up Iowa's water on the public. We shouldn't have to subsidize cleaning up the water from the pollution they created."
Tim Whipple of the Iowa Association of Municipal Utilities promoted the plan by saying that it would enable participants "to be able to share and work outside the boundaries of a city."
He added that it would be cheaper to address nutrient issues upstream, improving water quality and flood control, rather than having to build water and wastewater treatment facilities.
Other states have similar laws for nutrient exchange on the books. According to the Chesapeake Bay Nutrient Trading Program Policies, "Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia introduced nutrient trading programs to provide wastewater treatment plants with flexible options for meeting and maintaining permitted nutrient load limits."
For similar stories visit Water Online's Nutrient Removal Solutions Center.


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Stonham Barns Sunday Car Boot runs throughout the Summer / Autumn – April to November. The Car Boot is one of only a few Traditional ones where you can really enjoy a friendly, peaceful day in the countryside at a venue that has so much for everyone to see and do with up to 150 sellers on any one Sunday morning.
Stonham Barns is around 8 miles from Framlingham, so why not come and have a great day out at Suffolk's friendliest Sunday Car Boot and come & see the NEW Stonham Barns with so much on offer. Early risers can get there for 7am but the sensible ones turn up from 8am!


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Ronald J. Falk, M.D.
Allen Brewster Distinguished Professor of Medicine | UNC-Chapel Hill
Ronald J. Falk, MD is an expert in glomerular disease, lupus, vasculitis, dialysis, ANCA-mediated vasculitis.
Publications Photos Videos Documents Audio
Dr. Ronald Falk is former chair of the National Kidney Foundation's council on glomerulonephritis (1995-1998). He has served in various capacities for ASN, including on the annual meeting program, training program directors, post-graduate education, and nomination committees. He was elected to the ASN council in 2006 and began his term as president on November 13, 2011. He was co-director of the glomerular disease course during Renal Week (now called Kidney Week) from 2000-2005 as well as a faculty member for the ASN Board Review and Renal WeekEnds (now called Highlights). Falk also served as deputy editor of NephSAP, an education journal for nephrologists. He initiated the ASN Kidney Week podcast series,which are on-site interviews that consistently rank as the most popular society podcasts. He is also a frequent host of ASN podcasts throughout the year.[5]
Falk played an important role in securing a $61 million Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) from the National Institutes of Health in 2008. UNC is one of only 60 universities in the country to receive a CTSA. Falk was instrumental in designing the North Carolina Translational and Clinical Sciences Institute (NC TraCS), which is the home of the CTSA at UNC. He continues to serve as the chair of the TraCS Institute Study Section, which reviews all grant pilot funding.[6]
Falk also currently leads the UNC Solid Organ Transplant Program, a multidisciplinary clinical program that manages every step of the transplant process, from early identification of those in need of a new kidney, liver, heart, or lung to survive to their treatment, surgery, and recovery.
Industry Expertise (3)
Education/Learning
Medical/Dental Practice
Areas of Expertise (4)
University of Minnesota Hospitals: Fellowship, Paediatric Nephrology
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill: Residency, Internal Medicine
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: M.D., Medicine 1977
ANCA Disease: Where Is This Field Heading?
2010 ANCA disease remains a subject of great experimental and clinical interest. The subcategories of names and descriptions for this collection of vasculitides and necrotizing glomerulonephritides is still a subject of some debate. The various forms of ANCA disease share some characteristics, and similar therapies are often recommended for overlapping categories of disease. The immunopathogenic effects of myeloperoxidase and proteinase 3 antibodies are well established, and good mechanisms for initiation of disease are starting to emerge, particularly the role of autoantigen complementarity. Here we examine these various topics and discuss an approach to treatment.
Plasmapheresis therapy for diffuse alveolar hemorrhage in patients with small-vessel vasculitis
American Journal of Kidney Diseases
2003 Unlike Goodpasture's syndrome with diffuse alveolar hemorrhage (DAH), there are few studies examining therapy for patients with DAH associated with antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated small-vessel vasculitis (SVV).
Small-vessel vasculitis
1997 Vasculitis is inflammation of vessel walls. It has many causes, although they result in only a few histologic patterns of vascular inflammation. Vessels of any type in any organ can be affected, a fact that results in a wide variety of signs and symptoms. These protean clinical manifestations, combined with the etiologic nonspecificity of the histologic lesions, complicate the diagnosis of specific forms of vasculitis. This is problematic because different vasculitides with indistinguishable clinical presentations have very different prognoses and treatments.
Anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibodies induce neutrophils to degranulate and produce oxygen radicals in vitro.
1990 Anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibodies (ANCA) are in the circulation of most patients with pauci-immune necrotizing vasculitis and pauci-immune crescentic glomerulonephritis. The current study demonstrates an effect of these autoantibodies on neutrophil function in vitro. ANCA cause normal human neutrophils to undergo an oxidative burst and degranulate. Both ANCA phenotypes (i.e., cytoplasmic-pattern ANCA and myeloperoxidase-specific ANCA) induce neutrophil activation. ANCA sera and purified immunoglobulins significantly increase the release of reactive oxygen species when compared with controls. ANCA, in a dose-dependent manner, induce the release of primary granule contents. These effects are markedly enhanced by priming neutrophils with tumor necrosis factor. Flow cytometry studies demonstrate the presence of myeloperoxidase on the surface of neutrophils after cytokine priming, indicating that primed neutrophils have ANCA antigens at their surfaces to interact with ANCA. These observations suggest an in vivo pathogenetic role for ANCA. We propose that, in patients with necrotizing vasculitis, ANCA-induced release of toxic oxygen radicals and noxious granule enzymes from cytokine-primed neutrophils could be mediating vascular inflammation.
Anti-Neutrophil Cytoplasmic Autoantibodies with Specificity for Myeloperoxidase in Patients with Systemic Vasculitis and Idiopathic Necrotizing and Crescentic Glomerulonephritis
1988 Anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibodies have been found in patients with systemic arteritis and glomerulonephritis. We studied the disease distribution and antigen specificity of these autoantibodies. Anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibodies were identified by indirect immunofluorescence microscopy in 27 of 35 patients with idiopathic necrotizing and crescentic glomerulonephritis, in whom the manifestations of disease ranged from injury limited to the kidney to systemic arteritis. The incidence and titers of the autoantibodies did not differ between patients with disease limited to the kidney and those with systemic disease. Anti-neutrophil immunostaining was detected in 5 of 11 patients with lupus nephritis, 4 of 71 patients with other renal diseases, and none of 50 normal controls. This distribution of autoantibodies was confirmed by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using neutrophil lysate as antigen.
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Imagery in the vision drawings arrives to me during times of contemplation or meditation: usually when I am sitting or walking in nature. Images advance and recede in my mind like events recalled from adventures in sleep, their flow and ebb operating according to a principle that is not foreign to me, but is beyond my control. I note them down in an attempt that is itself meditative, so the completed drawings can be used as aids for further meditation. Their forms focus my vision. Their essence incites a feeling I can only describe as a quickening: something coming alive. This essence is of greatest importance to me, and helps me determine whether I have made a successful work. I am not interested so much in the quality of line or the wash of a particular colour or the visual accuracy with which I have or have not rendered a form. Not necessarily. I am interested in how formal elements work together to transmit the emotional and spiritual significances of what I have "seen". The heart resonance. The revelation. The first waking second after a dream.


text:
[![Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/octoblu/meshblu-relayr.svg?branch=master)](https://travis-ci.org/octoblu/meshblu-relayr)
[![Code Climate](https://codeclimate.com/github/octoblu/meshblu-relayr/badges/gpa.svg)](https://codeclimate.com/github/octoblu/meshblu-relayr)
[![Test Coverage](https://codeclimate.com/github/octoblu/meshblu-relayr/badges/coverage.svg)](https://codeclimate.com/github/octoblu/meshblu-relayr)
[![npm version](https://badge.fury.io/js/meshblu-relayr.svg)](http://badge.fury.io/js/meshblu-relayr)
[![Gitter](https://badges.gitter.im/octoblu/help.svg)](https://gitter.im/octoblu/help)

A Meshblu connector for use in Octoblu or with other services.

### Setup Instructions

### Travis

1. `gem install travis`
1. `travis login`

#### Travis (S3)

For use if you need to push your browserified version

1. `travis encrypt [S3_ACCESS_KEY_SECRET]`
1. add the generated key to the .travis.yml file under `secret_access_key` in the s3 deploy section.
1. also add the s3 `access_key_id` to the same section

End result should look like this:

```yml
deploy:
  - provider: s3
    access_key_id: [S3_ACCESS_KEY]
    secret_access_key:
      secure: [S3_ACCESS_KEY_SECRET]
    bucket: [UPLOAD_BUCKET] # octoblu-cdn
    region: us-west-2
    skip_cleanup: true
    detect_encoding: true
    local-dir: deploy
    upload-dir: [UPLOAD_FOLDER] # js
    on:
      tags: true
      all_branches: true
      node: '0.10'
```

#### Travis (NPM Deploy)[http://docs.travis-ci.com/user/deployment/npm/]

1. `travis encrypt [NPM_ACCESS_KEY]` - this key is found in `~/.npmrc`
1. add the generated key to the .travis.yml file under `api_key` in the npm deploy section.
1. also add the npm `email` to the same section

End result should look like this:

```yml
deploy:
  - provider: npm
    skip_cleanup: true
    clean_up: false
    email: [NPM_EMAIL]
    api_key:
      secure: [NPM_ACCESS_KEY]
    on:
      tags: true
      all_branches: true
      node: '0.11'
```

### Usage

#### Gateblu Installation

Use (gateblu)[https://gateblu.octoblu.com/] to run this as a device.

#### Manual Installation

1. `npm install meshblu-util -g`
1. `npm install meshblu-relayr` or `git clone [GIT_URL]`
1. go into connector folder
1. `meshblu-util register -t device:meshblu-relayr > meshblu.json`
1. `meshblu-util claim`
1. `npm start` or to start with debug `DEBUG='meshblu-relayr*' npm start`

### Platform Dependencies

Edit the package.json to change the platformDependencies. This will show up when installing the connector in Octoblu and Gateblu.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Will mandatory alcohol ignition interlocks stop drunk drivers?
On behalf of Law Offices of Matthew D. Dubin posted in Car Accidents on Friday, March 30, 2012.
In Washington state, when someone's license is suspended or revoked for a drug or alcohol-related driving offense, he or she is sometimes given an Ignition Interlock License. These licenses allow such drivers to drive vehicles that have been equipped with ignition interlock devices, which do not allow the vehicle to start if it detects alcohol on the driver's breath.
Seattle residents may be aware that the federal government is considering making similar technology mandatory in all cars--meaning each and every driver would be subject to such tests. Federally-funded research is currently taking place to determine whether it would be feasible to require all automakers to include alcohol blood level testing technology as standard equipment in new vehicles, as a measure to prevent car accidents.
While the rate of drunk driving has actually shown a bit of a decline across the nation, drunk drivers are still at fault for almost one-third of traffic deaths in the U.S. In fact, drunk drivers kill 11,000 people a year.
Researchers say that requiring each and every driver to prove they are under the legal blood alcohol limit each time they get behind the wheel would cut back on senseless and tragic car accidents. The technology would be less obtrusive than the clunky breath tests that those with Ignition Interlock Licenses deal with. Two of the technologies being tested include tissue spectrometry and distant spectrometry. The tissue spectrometry ignition interlock involves a touchpad that detects alcohol in human tissue; and the distant spectrometry includes a system of sensors throughout the cabin that read alcohol on the driver's breath, and is smart enough to distinguish the breaths of the cabin's different occupants.
Hey guys! Beautiful work! I would really like to see full pic and I agree with the author. For more information, contact with the car accident attorney who can help assess your situation and determine their legal rights. When a car accident, most people place their requirements on their own insurance. But if major damage or even a fatal accident involvement is best to assess your situation with a personal injury lawyer who specializes in car accidents, car or motorcycle.
Remember that alcohol is a drug. All drugs can not only affect your vision, but your decision making capabilities. Driving under the influence of any drug puts your life and others at risk.


text:
October 10, 2009 archive
Weekend News Digest
By ek hornbeck in News
Weekend News Digest is an Open Thread
29 Top Story Final Edition.
From Yahoo News Top Stories
1 Clown beams message of water conservation from space
Sat Oct 10, 1:00 am ET
MONTREAL (AFP) – The first clown in space, Guy Laliberte, has launched a 14-city poetic planetary extravaganza to promote clean drinking water, from the International Space Station.
The billionaire space tourist and founder of Cirque du Soleil described his journey as a "poetic, social mission."
The two-hour live One Drop show, broadcast online Friday included guests Al Gore, Bono, Salma Hayek, Peter Gabriel, Shakira, Canadian astronaut Julie Payette and a musical theatrical performance by Laliberte's circus troupe.
Aunty Mame is a big fan.
Open Thread, Weekend News Digest
Can the Hero Model Save the Publishing Industry?
By BruceMcF
Burning the Midnight Oil for Breaking the Silicon Cage
Some time ago, I asked the question, What Can Newspaper Reporting Learn from Yuricon?. Now I turn the question on its head to ask what Yuricon can learn from Yuricon.
This is set up by Erica Friedman (@Yuricon on Twitter), posing a hypothetical at the Yuricon blog … would they pay upfront:
$50 for a 5 issue subscription to a 200 page per issue manga (graphic novel)
$60 for 4 issues of a 300 page per issue manga
For several days, until I put ChrisCook and Erica's "5 things Niche Companies Do Right", I was in this "modern meaning of the term 'subscription'" mode of thinking. But then I made a wisecrack, and it got me thinking of an older meaning of the term "subscription", and what might be termed a "Hero Model of Publishing".
Breaking the Silicon Cage, Limited Liability Companies, Manga, peer-to-peer finance, publishing, Yuri, Yuri Monogatari, Yurikon
Afghanistan and American Morality
By buhdydharma
Simulposted at Daily Kos
In my view, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Obama for one central idea. An idea so vital to world peace that the prize was not just deserved, but that it was in fact necessary.
That idea that Obama would restore American Morality.
Something that got dreadfully and tragically, and incredibly harmfully lost over the last eight years.
The lack of American Morality is far and away the greatest threat to world peace in the 21st century. Everyone agrees that America is the most powerful nation in the world. When the most powerful nation in the world, a nation that possesses enough firepower to end life on earth, loses it's moral compass, it changes from a force for good to a force for evil.
Evil like…torture.
Shutting Pandora's Box
By cabaretic in Barack Obama, Politics
Democrats, particularly Progressive Democrats, have been collectively incredulous. The motives and tactics driving the rancor and bile spewing forth from Republican politicians, Fox News, talking heads, pundits, entertainers, and conservative citizens seems so unjustified and so irrational. Looking back to what we recently came through might be the best way to understand this reactionary response. We must believe that one election cycle or one President can undo the blight upon the human psyche or the sustained abuse upon our sacred institutions, sense of safety, and peace of mind. President Obama has been Chief Executive for less than a year, but what we've all learned, much to our chagrin, is that change that you can believe in is slow and incremental.
The reaction of conservatives is directly proportional to the massive amount of fear-mongering, manipulative tactics, and irresponsible governing perpetrated by the Bush Administration. That we on the left are not as affected by this steady barrage of fear and loathing is merely a reflection of the fact that we were hardly the ones to believe in it in the first place. We were the target of scorn, not the targeted audience. One cannot discount for a second the combined evil we were all exposed to for eight long years and that this degree of emotional torture cannot be whisked away with the stroke of a pen, an award, or a sizable agenda. It did not arrive overnight, nor will it depart like a thief in the night.
The old adage of how to cook a frog comes to mind. As the story goes, one doesn't place the frog immediately into boiling water, else the animal would jump out. Instead, one places the frog in lukewarm water and incrementally increases the temperature, allowing the animal to slowly adjust. Eventually the frog is tricked into staying in water hot enough to kill and then thoroughly cook it. This is what has happened to the conservative movement and why we face such a challenge in reversing course. They have been subtly and not-so-subtly manipulated by the doctrine of opportunist neo-conservative thought to the point that conservatives cannot see any common ground with the left. What made this strategy particularly effective and insidious is that it was implemented little bit by little bit until the combined evil was much greater than any individual part.
It should surprise no one then that we've seen this degree of nonsensical, uncompromising, petty, sheer hatred of liberals and President Obama. The Bush/Rove Doctrine might as well have been a a commandment to despise that which opposes you, forsake common humanity for single-minded gain, use any means necessary to win, and never accept the blame for mistakes. We on the left have mentioned this battle plan upon the American public in oversimplified, outline form so frequently that it borders on platitude, but we haven't gone much deeper. For Republicans and conservatives, however, Bush Administration tactics have left a devastating legacy than will not easily be corrected. We need to ask ourselves if there is anything much we can do to refute it. The GOP itself must recognize the damage and make ends to reverse it. If they do not, then this perspective will further calcify and we ought to expect more of these ridiculous nontroversies and petty partisan attacks. Shelving our skepticism for a moment, we need to understand that humans are much more impressionable and easily duped than our frustration with immediate results will allow. We are clamoring for systemic change, but that comes with time. No President ought to have to clean up messes he or she didn't create, but that's the foremost challenge facing our current President, and one that has and will continue to impede what he wants accomplished.
The Ancient Greek fable of Pandora's Box is an allegory to explain the paradox human nature. Simultaneously blessed and cursed with the gift of curiosity, Pandora opens a particularly tempting box and unwittingly unleashes a plethora of ills upon the human race. However, it must be mentioned that what is last to leave the box is the gift of hope. A more Biblical illustration would be that of Adam and Eve, who ate the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and in so doing were banished from the Garden of Eden. I find a Jewish interpretation to be most instructive in this instance.
According to the Jewish tradition God commanded Adam and Eve not to eat from the tree that was to give free choice and allow them to earn, as opposed to receive, absolute perfection and intimate communion with God at a higher level than the one on which they were created. According to this tradition, Adam and Eve would have attained absolute perfection and retained immortality had they succeeded in withstanding the temptation to eat from the Tree. After failing at this task, they were condemned to a period of toil to rectify the fallen universe. Jewish tradition views the serpent, and sometimes the tree of the knowledge of good and evil itself, as representatives of evil and man's evil inclination.
Perhaps each of us must toil to rectify our own sin or even take the time to rectify someone else's sin. I believe this to be a function and a role we must all take on as part of being human. It might not be fair, but life is rarely just as we would wish it to be. In this instance, the President, the Congress, and we ourselves are going to have to first reverse trends that have now become entrenched. Some of them have their Genesis eight years prior to today, some of them came into being in 1980, and some of them date back to the 1960's. The hope lies, I firmly believe, with a strategy of persistence and steady pressure that ought not to be perceived as a failure if it does not garnish immediately discernible results. Sometimes it doesn't take an Act of Congress to make a major impact on someone or even on the debate itself.
Bush Administration, cabaretic, change, conservative, Democratic Party, evil, good, GOP, liberal, manipulation, neoconservative, Pandora's Box, reform, scripture
Nukes and Iran
By jimstaro
There's a reason I'm posting these backwards, how any view is up to them.
No matter what is thought about the leadership of Iran, by the World, especially as to it's treatment of it's citizens, the fact remains, as pointed out in part three, they are surrounded by Nuclear Powers and Weapons. So if really seeking their own they do so as to defense of their threatened country and it's citizens, and talks had ceased to disarm or rid the world of. New cold war mentality, yep!!
Greg Thielman, Iran, Israel, New Cold War, Nuclear Weapons, Nukes, Pakistan, Ray McGovern, United States
Perhaps the FEMA Internment Camps are a Good Idea Afterall
By Zwoof
There over 600 prison camps in the United States, all fully operational and ready to receive prisoners. They are all staffed and even surrounded by full-time guards, but they are all empty. These camps are to be operated by FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) should Martial Law need to be implemented in the United States.
We missed an opportunity to capture 1,000,000 or more of the paranoid parasites when they came to Washington to Teabag Health-care Reform. But don't worry, we can easily lead them into a trap.
PLAN A:
I.Kidnap the leaders
A. Send in the Black Helicopters to whisk away Beck, Hannity, Limbaugh
1. Straight jackets should be size 'Portly' with extra large head openings.
2. Transfer to Black Jets at the secret base in Mena, Arkansas
3. Guantanamo
B. Replace them with duplicates
1. This may require cosmetic surgery; kidnap Michael Jackson's doctor.
2. Follow me below the fold ::
Docudharma Times Saturday October 10
By mishima
Saturday's Headlines:
For Presidency in Search of Success, Nobel Adds a Twist
How world views Obama Nobel Peace Prize
Health-Care Bill May Not Get Single GOP Vote in the House
Oregon dam's demise lets the Rogue River run
The art of protest in Iran
Yemen child soldier tells of his hatred for al-Houthi rebels
Silvio Berlusconi: I am inferior to no one in history
Hadron lab scientist held on terrorism charges
Burma's generals allow envoys to meet Suu Kyi
Taleban claim victory in Kamdesh after attack on US Camp Keating
Kenyans not ready to leave camps
Argentina's cradle of tennis stardom
Docudharma Times
Late Night Karaoke
Random Japan
Lawmakers who won a seat in the recent national elections earned ¥2.3 million for working just two days in August, thanks to a law that "guarantees full monthly remuneration to Diet members even if they are in office for a single day."
It was revealed that the newly launched Consumer Affairs Agency pays a monthly rent of ¥800 million for its offices in Nagatacho-¥300 million more than it would have paid at another building in Bunkyo-ku that the agency had been considering.
Electronics giant Sharp has teamed up with the National Institute of Informatics to develop an infrared system that will "prevent pirates from recording films at movie theaters."
Concerned by the number of patients hospitalized for schizophrenia compared to other industrial nations, Japan's health ministry has announced a plan for slashing the figure by the year 2014.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications reported that, for the first time ever, more than a quarter of Japanese women are aged 65 or older.
The International Criminal Court; When Does IT Step Up?
By Michael Gass in Politics
I'm sure everyone here has read this wonderful essay by tahoebasha3. To follow up on it, I think we must examine the role the International Criminal Court plays.
This excellent article brings out a very interesting point:
The move may give some wider latitude to the relatively young International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, legal experts say, though this is disputed. Currently the ICC indictments and trials are drawn mostly from cases of genocide or war crimes in Africa.
And there, to be precise, is the problem…
Sometimes You're the Warrior, and Sometimes You're the Bug
By AmericanRiverCanyon in Religion
Most of us, I suspect, go through our lives with this niggling little feeling of "if only" we had our act together, we could really do something with it. Or do something better. If only we were more organized, had more energy, better tools and gidgets, or had taken a different course of study, or if our parents didn't hate us, or if we hadn't gotten sick, or if the car hadn't come over the center line….
Other times, like a Phoenix, we arise from what should have just been one flat out disaster that we should not, no way, no how, have survived, and yet we did, leaving us puzzled as to why. We had a chainsaw and gas when the tree hit the car, we trusted our instincts, our tracking skill, and our horse and found the trail back, we came up to the edge of the cliff and… didn't fall off, the seat belt held and the embankment wasn't too steep, the life jacket worked and somebody pulled us out. Or we pulled them out. We traded for firewood and didn't freeze to death. We found a job or received a gift unexpectedly, just in time. We were in the depths, and bounced just so, and came back up gasping.
And still, have this little insecurity. It could be better, right? We got through the week, clawing, kicking, and screaming, resigned to just surviving the dreadful thing… the ogre bosses, the obligations, the whiny relatives, the disappointments, the crazy destructiveness of our political system, waking up at 4am exhausted, now,not having to do that soul killing monotony for a day … What if…
Friday, Reflection, spiritual warrior
Some of Obama's "common challenges of the 21st century"
By jamess in Barack Obama
President Obama Will Accept Nobel Peace Prize as a Call to Action
"I will accept this award as a call to action —
a call for all nations to confront the common challenges of the 21st century.
. . . we must all do our part to resolve those conflicts
that have caused so much pain and hardship over so many years . . ."
– President Barack Obama
United States Mission to the United Nations
What are some of those "common challenges of the 21st century"?
The US government hosted UN link above, identifies some of these global issues:
Nonproliferation & Disarmament
Poverty & Development
Human Rights & Democracy
21st Century, Brookings Institution, framing, Global Community, Human Condition, Nobel Award, Nobel Peace Prize, Planet Earth, Susan Rice, United Nations


Although speech recognition is getting better and better, it keeps making mistakes that often annoy us. Much more than humans would do in similar situations. And we have been trying to make it better for decades. What's wrong with it?
Scientists are constantly testing and trying to improve speech recognition in adverse conditions, such as when the ambient noise is quite high (like in a busy restaurant or at a cocktail party), or with highly accented speech (for instance when a foreign is talking), or when the speaker is in a situation of stress (like a fighter pilot during flight), or in presence of sever distortions (such as with a bad telephone connection or a highly reverberating room. While in all these situations human listeners can do pretty well, even if not perfectly; speech recognition systems instead degrade pretty badly. And sometimes, even the best recognizer in the best possible conditions, takes one word for another in a quite surprising manner. No matter what we do, computer speech recognition is still far from human performance.
One of the common notions, especially in the commercial and practitioner's world, is that if we had more speech data to learn from, and faster computers, the difference between machine and human performance will go away. But that seems not to be the case. Using substantial amounts of data (thousands of hours of speech) in conjunction with faster and faster computers produces only modest improvements that seem to get closer and closer to the flat zone of diminishing returns. So, what's wrong with speech recognition?
Recently at the International Computer Science Institute in Berkeley, under the auspices of IARPA and AFRL, we started a project called OUCH (as in Outing Unfortunate Characteristics of Hidden Markov Models) with the goal of giving a stab at what's wrong with the current speech recognition and why, no matter what we do, we can't get as close to human performance as we would like. Nelson Morgan is leading the project and working with Steven Wegmann and Jordan Cohen.
One of the issues has to do with the underlying model. All current speech recognizers are based on a statistical/mathematical model (known as Hidden Markov Model, or HMM) that was introduced in the mid 1970s. In order to be able to work with it and avoid unbearable complexity, the model makes strong assumptions, which are not verified in practice. For instance, one of the strongest assumptions is that consecutive spectral snapshots of speech (we call them "frames") are statistically independent from each other. We know very well that this is not true, but without making believe it were, the math of HMMs would become too complex to handle, and we would never have enough data to be able to estimate their parameters effectively. In science we often make simplifying assumptions just for the purpose to be able to handle things, even if we know that the assumptions are wrong, hoping that inaccuracies caused by the assumptions are small enough to be neglected. This is the case with Newtonian physics of masses and gravitation, which works for small-scale objects, but turns to be wrong when we talk about masses of the size of planets, stars, and galaxies. While we can predict with a fairly high accuracy the motion of a tennis ball, we will never be able to predict and explain events at the galactic level using Newton's equations. No matter what, we would need a different model to account for that scale. Similarly, while we are able to recognize speech with decent accuracies using HMMs in good acoustic conditions, if we want to reach human comparable performance in adverse situations, we would probably need to use a different model. Which model we don't know yet, but definitely we know that HMMs as we know them may be inadequate, especially for human-like accuracies. Indeed HMM have done have served us well until now, but we need something different to be able to move ahead. We hope that this research will shed some light on the next gerneration of computers that understand speech.
~ by Roberto Pieraccini on July 3, 2012.
really like what you're saying and the way in which you say it. You make it entertaining and you still take care of to keep it sensible. I cant wait to read much more from you. This is really a terrific website.


Khayelitsha's first upmarket restaurant and bar opened in December.
Milk Restaurant and Bar is the brainchild of former Vasco da Gama footballer turned entrepreneur, Siphelo Jalivane, who sold his house and car to realise his dream of owning the establishment on the corner of Makabeni Road and Zantsi Street in Khayelitsha.
"When he started building there was a lot of interest, so from that he got strength to get funding and raise more money to start the business," said Milk's PR manager, Luthando Tshaya.
"Since we opened it has been very well received. The venue can hold up to 250 and we had to stretch to 300 because the demand was too high and he had to get more furniture.
He said that the restaurant was an opportunity to bring an upmarket lifestyle to residents of and visitors to the township.
"If you look at it all, the people who are in town and places where there seems to be more upmarket places, it's the middle black class who come from the township.
"They moved out of the township, they actually come back to the township on the weekend because this is their safe space.
"People can even come from the airport and enjoy an upmarket restaurant. We don't want people to have to drive to town and back to enjoy fine dining and good music.
Top Chef SA runner-up and private chef Ayabonga Gope popularly known as the Cook Dude, will head up the kitchen. Eighty percent of the 50 staff members are women, as Mr Jalivane wants to up-skill and empower women and youth in his community.


How did Kricket get her name?
In response: Hi Elizabeth. Kricket is bouncy and fun and very energetic and never stops talking and singing and moving around. Even before birth he was always jumping and kicking so the name stuck.
Kricket is a nickname. For his safety we don't publish his real name.


Subject Harbours - Jamaica - Port Antonio ; Jamaica - Port Antonio.
Description This chart shows the territories and harbour of Port Antonio on the island of Jamaica.
Publisher Paris : J. N. Bellin.
Collection (special) West Indies - Maps.


The Clarity 133296 is an universal USB car charger that comes for use with the Clarity Phones and Headphones.
The Clarity XLC3.4 Plus and 133296 has many exciting features for users of all types. It's one of FactoryOutletStore's best selling Severe Hearing Loss Corded Phones 50-60 dB . You can extend the lifetime of your Clarity XLC3.4 Plus and 133296 with the purchase of a FactoryOutletStore Factory Protection Plan. See the Clarity XLC3.4 Plus and 133296 gallery images above for more product views. The Clarity XLC3.4 Plus and 133296 is sold as a Brand New Unopened Item.


For our second year at Loyola University's Wellness Fair, Greg, Katie, Reggie, Monique and I were ready for the crowd!
Last year we were completely caught off guard by how many students would be interested in reiki, and didn't make the best use of the time they spent waiting in the long line.
This year, we were better prepared! We passed out our informational handouts and suggested students watch our intro video on their phones while waiting, so they could learn about reiki before getting to the front of the line.
Most did, and had lots of intel and great questions by the time they sat down. It saved us a lot of time in explanations, which adds up over the course of more than 80 demos!
We feel blessed to be able to share these experiences with so many, and educate the public about energetic approaches to wellbeing. Thanks to Loyola for having us. See you again next year!


text:
Category: Music (Page 1 of 5)
Greg Storey: "I got into grunge, but I never bought into MiniDisc." Ah, MiniDiscs. I never bought into them, either.
That article and blog post brought Greg back to his first listen of Nirvana, which reminded me of my own "Smells Like Teen Spirit" experience, discussed here previously. I still have these moments: a few weeks ago, a car stopped on the corner of 99th and Broadway blasting an amazing jam, and I stopped to Shazam it, and the driver and I shared a moment as my family chuckled at us both. Music serendipity is a favorite ethereal phenomenon of mine.
George Thorogood feat. very special guest Tommy Conwell and the Young Rumblers
Opening acts create regrets, don't they? I went to a good amount of rock concerts over the years, and I always, always arrived in time to see the opening act, even though I rarely cared about them. What's interesting in retrospect is the moments where I should have been more dialed in, and realized what a treat I had seen (Tommy Conwell notwithstanding, although I did buy his first two albums).
For exampe: I saw Sonic Youth and Social Distortion open up for Neil Young in 1990 or 1991 before I knew who either band was. Sonic Youth! Supporting "Goo!" But I thought their set was meh, a wall of guitar noise but not my thing. Sigh. Social Distortion had some catchier tunes (one was on the radio at the time), so I didn't mind them, and it did have the effect of keeping them in my brain for many years after, so I guess that's something. Neil Young was good that night which redeemed me a little bit—I believe this was the "Ragged Glory" tour, with Crazy Horse, so the wall of guitar noise just kept on coming.
I went to the H.O.R.D.E. Festival in the summer of 1992, to see Blues Traveler (good call) and the Spin Doctors (guilty as charged). We spent the day and saw all five acts. The middle band was Phish, in their trampolines-on-stage period, which was fine enough, and if I'd paid more attention or smoked pot maybe I'd have caught a 30-year wave, but instead I still listen to "But Anyway" and not the Phish station on Sirius XM.
There were plenty of bands that didn't matter, of course. Good old Tommy Conwell, for example. Forgotten names like My Sister's Machine, who opened up for King's X one time (and whom we ran into at a rest stop on the way home). And some marginally interesting moments, like seeing Angelfish, who opened up for (I think) Live, then broke up, leaving Shirley Manson free to join Garbage, and me free to say I saw her in concert before she was famous; and the lucky ones I actually dialed into and enjoyed, like Living Colour at Shea, opening for the Rolling Stones.
But then, in 2013, I went to a Justin Timberlake concert, and the Weeknd opened, in support of his debut album. We knew at the time that he must have been talented to get picked for that slot, but we thought he sucked. Shows what I know.
On rock radio
I'm a radio guy. Always have been. I founded my high school's radio station; I was an FCC-licensed DJ my first week of freshman year of college; I flip stations incessantly in the car before switching to streaming or recorded music.
I'm also primarily a rock guy, which has made for a somewhat depressing situation for awhile, as New York hasn't had a proper rock radio station in six years, since 101.9 WRXP turned into WFAN's FM simulcast. So I was elated to find out that 92.3—which was a rock station for many years during its Howard Stern era—flipped formats in November after being sold, and became an alternative-rock station.
But what's been great about Alt 92.3 is *how* they're doing alternative. Alt 92.3 is alternative but not just rock. They're mixing it up, which is a delight: no one needs a succession of post-Nirvana grunge acts. Music has evolved past that. Instead, they touch on hip-hop, EDM and college-radio favorites.
Alt 92.3 is also not afraid to go pop. Would I consider Imagine Dragons to be alternative? Not specifically, but their music adds variety, and keeps the other listeners in my car happy. The station is playing Childish Gambino as I type this.
They mix in new and old, and it works. It's not too old; NYC already has WCBS-FM for "oldies" (which tragically now includes music from my high school years) and Q104.3 for "classic rock" (which has ossified rather spectacularly). But their '90s rock selections fit in great.
What do the Red Hot Chili Peppers and St. Vincent have in common? Not much, except they both make great music, and now they can both be found on the same radio station in New York. It reminds me of Los Angeles' KROQ in its heyday—interesting, exciting, serendipitous, fun.
This is the kind of radio station I want. After years of relying almost exclusively on Sirius XM and iTunes for music, I'm tuning into 92.3 FM daily. I hope and pray that as Alt 92.3 matures they maintain this approach. Keep it up.
(Some of these thoughts are also on Twitter.)
Farewell, iPod
I first got an iPod the year it came out. I asked for it as a holiday present from my parents. They didn't know what to make of it. "It's like a Walkman, but it's four hundred dollars?"
"Yep," I said. "Totally worth it." It was the size of a deck of cards and twice as heavy. It was also an engineering miracle, the first example of Apple's now legendary blurring of digital software, hardware and the everyday world.
I still have that iPod, as well as several others, up to and including my iPod Classic, which I still like more than the Music app on iOS. I've largely given up on the iPod, though, its lack of connectivity and relative clunkiness ceding to my iPhone 7 Plus, which contains my work apps and a whole lot of music. I cling to my MP3 library, but in time, I'll get back into streaming media (I haven't had a subscription since Rdio shuttered) and my local files will fade, too.
Most people have done what I've done—and sooner than me; I only gave up on my iPod in the past few months. We are at the conclusion of the iPod era, which Apple formally ended this week, discontinuing the Nano and Shuffle.
My kids still have an iPod, and my wife uses one when she goes for a run. We'll have a long, slow goodbye in our household. But the future keeps arriving, and Apple, never one to linger, is ready to move us forward. Thank you, iPods, you served us well.
33 1/3 albums and 78 songs
Around the turn of the century, I started sifting through my good-sized music collection to compile a personal best-of series. The working title and conceit, "Personally Counting," helped create one of my most fascinating personal projects, and one that stood incomplete for nearly five years. The goal: whittle down my music collection into a must list of 33 1/3 albums and 78 songs (clever clever), omitting compilations and redundancy wherever possible. To quote my own notes, these are "not important songs, because being great in stature isn't the same as being wonderful," although more than a few items on this list are indeed both.
Not that my opinion is more or less valid than anyone else's; my tastes are fairly easy to pinpoint (minor chords, three-part harmonies, great verse-chorus transitions) and my breadth does not quite achieve the state of relentless fanaticism that defines great music critics. It was a fun personal exercise, though, an expanded Desert Island Discs that would define to my own satisfaction the most indispensable and important items of my 20,000-song-strong music collection.
I actually finished the list, with a nice editorial flair, but never wrote a corresponding article. In 2001 and 2002 I endured a lengthy battle with my ears; when I got engaged, I misplaced the list–handwritten on old Billboard stationery–and never attempted to create it anew.
One night in June 2005, while gleefully sifting through a large folder of magazine clippings of music to explore, I found the list and typed it up. I meant to post it here but never did, although I managed to hang onto the file. A recent Facebook meme of people posting their 10 essential albums from high school brought this to mind, and so I pulled it up again. I think 15-plus years of aging is long enough, so here we go.
I present these lists in their original compilation (which includes much of this introduction). It is in alphabetical order by album/song title and only lightly edited. Some noteworthy additions are tacked onto the back end of the list. The text is from 2005, which has made for a doubly interesting experiment–some of the items I originally presented without supporting statements, as I no longer viewed them the same way, while others grew in stature in varying ways. Any 2017 text additions are in [brackets].
Herewith:
33 1/3 Essential Albums
"Achtung Baby," U2: Most critics and longtime fans cite "The Joshua Tree" as the best U2 album, but I found "Achtung Baby" a lot more exciting. Here's a band that has achieved career perfection, and rather than do it again, they nearly explode, integrating synthesizers and aural realms into their anthemic rock. Still a great listen.
"Are You Experienced?" Jimi Hendrix Experience: Little needs to be said in support of Jimi's coming-out party. Not one of my regular listens but an important piece of my musical knowledge base. (I'm honestly surprised, four years on, that this made the cut back then.) [Middle-aged me is a bit glad that it did.]
"Bedbugs," Odds: It pains and fascinates me that one of my absolute favorite bands is an act that achieved no traction despite four strong pop-rock albums. "Bedbugs" is the best post-Beatles power pop album I know, more anthemic and interesting than most of its peers, the kind of album that keeps presenting new favorites every year or so as gems are uncovered or rediscovered.
"Breakfast in America," Supertramp: Fun, playful, a little bit campy, very MOR. Not a shred of credibility for me to include it here, I know. But I'll be damned if I were to ignore "Take the Long Way Home" and "The Logical Song" in a personal best-of list.
"Center of the Universe," Giant Sand: Howe Gelb's best album is more like a great half-album. The first eight songs are good, sort of peculiar, a little grating–then the album screeches to a halt, and Gelb breaks into "Sonic Drive-In," and from there it's just wonderful.
"Control," Janet Jackson: My favorite dance album, and an undeniably strong one. Janet's coming-of-age story was perfectly captured by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, and I still know all the lyrics.
"Destroyer," Kiss: The first album I ever owned and still a great listen. I now cringe when I look back at some of it–how did my mother let me sing along to "Sweet pain/My love will drive you insane"–but the sound is transporting and defined my youth. It remains the strongest recorded effort by one of the most visually influential bands of the 1970s.
"Don't Say No," Billy Squier: Man, I'd love to rediscover this album one of these days. I dug Billy Squier in the early '80s, thanks to his heavy MTV airplay and the radio-ready follow-up "Everybody Wants You." Derivative though it may be, this is a great rock album to me.
"Dots and Loops," Stereolab: Heresy for Stereolab fans, of which I am not one. I am, however, still in love with this CD; its soundscapes are at once invigorating and soothing to me. I still listen to this at bedtime every few weeks.
"Electr-O-Pura," Yo La Tengo: The best indie album from indie rock's best band. The range of sounds and emotions is fantastic, and "Moby Octopad" is transporting.
"Entroducing…" DJ Shadow: I can say without much hesitation that within this list of 33, and despite my preference of perfect power pop, "Entroducing" is a singular recording and a notch above the rest. The range of styles and moods folded into it envelops me and holds my attention from start to finish. I hate starting this album without finishing it. What rock album makes someone say that?
"Exile in Guyville," Liz Phair: Cock rock from a cocky woman–what's not to like? "Exile" forces you to sit up straight. I loved that quality.
"41," Swell: I'd never heard the cinema expression mise-en-scene applied to an album until I found this one, and its immersive quality still excites me. The down-on-my-luck acoustics are unlike any other album I know. Swell's other CDs are good, too, but none are as unique.
"Freedom," Neil Young: way gone from my listening circuit nowadays, but a simply terrific rock album, the reinvigoration of a career and a powerful statement by one of rock's singular artists.
"Girlfriend," Matthew Sweet: Between the purity of its execution and the sensitivity of its lyrics (something I normally neglect) Sweet achieved rock perfection on his third album. It's so good that I can't listen to it unless I'm in the right state of mind–I listen to the more playful "Altered Beast," his follow-up, far more often. But this album is the best.
"Gun Shy Trigger Happy," Jen Trynin: I don't get it either–maybe there's a Billy Squier derivation within it. Something about this album grabs me, and I can listen to it straight through, singing along with every song. Fantastic unheralded rock. [By the way, I still adore this largely unknown album, and I always wish Jen hadn't left the music business.]
"Kick," INXS: Not much to say here, except that 15 years on, every song on this album is still pretty fun.
"Led Zeppelin IV": I was 14 when I found this LP in someone's spring cleaning discard bin and played it on a half-busted record player. In one day I shifted from pop fan to rock fan. Played-out or not, these are some of the best rock songs ever recorded.
"A Love Supreme" and "Blue Train," John Coltrane: Listing both of these probably breaks my own rules, but truly, how to fairly select one or the other?
"Mama Said," Lenny Kravitz: There was a time when I drove a car with a Sony Discman nestled between the front seats, an adapter snaking into the car's cassette deck, and for months this album and "Time's Up" (see below) went wherever I went.
"No Protection," Massive Attack v. Mad Professor: I bought this album on recommendation of a review that said, "This is the perfect album to have sex to." I never drank or did drugs; music was always my elixir, and albums that evoke emotions and bring me somewhere else are the ones that grab me. With a review like that, how could I ignore it? And indeed, this disc retains its transporting quality. Good for late late nights, dim lighting and, y'know.
"…Nothing Like the Sun," Sting: A very good album made great for me with "Fragile."
"Odelay," Beck: Creating genre mash-ups ahead of everyone else. Consistently great.
"Rumours," Fleetwood Mac: Go ahead, make fun. I'll stand by this outpouring of emotion and musical power, and pop it in whenever I want to get mad and sad and passionate about things.
"Rubber Soul," The Beatles: The pivot point between pop-ditty Beatles and maharishi-acid Beatles, where sophistication had entered their songs without overtaking them. "Revolver" is almost as good.
"Sap," Alice in Chains: The 1/3 mentioned above, four great songs on an acoustic EP from a sludgy grunge band, full of desperate harmonies and minor chords. Just my thing.
"Some Friendly," Charlatans UK: My first exposure to Britpop and still my favorite.
"Supergrass," Supergrass: perfect later-period Britpop for the turn of the century. "Moving" is a one-of-a-kind song, and the rest of the album is playful, strong, and unforgiving.
"Symphony or Damn," Terence Trent D'Arby: Just because, although I'm long over it now.
"Three Feet High and Rising," De La Soul: For all the reasons this is a seminal rap album, it's my favorite of the genre.
"Throwing Copper," Live: Not a sophisticated selection, but man, is this a great rock album. Anthemic, crisp, exciting, emotional: everything clicked on this second album. I followed Live for years and was amazed at how limpid their music became. But from start to finish this album rocks.
"Time's Up," Living Colour: The best album by one of the most underappreciated bands of the past 20 years. Living Colour were breaking down walls before it was cool to do so, and "Time's Up," with its live studio recordings, was their strongest effort. It's a bit dated today but no less important.
"Wish You Were Here," Pink Floyd: Now here's an album I never listen to–I only have it on cassette–yet it is forever lodged in my brain. It brings me a wide range of memories, and notably, I like this album mostly because I had friends who liked it, rather than having discovered and fallen in love with it on my own. Years later, though, I am transported to my past with it; and frankly, a Pink Floyd album is not a bad way for that to happen. Not to mention that the production and soundscapes are terrific.
Revisions, 2005: Four years on [heh], most of the album list retains its power, despite my having moved away from regular listens to many of these albums. I still play "Bedbugs" and "Entroducing" as much as anything in my collection; they'd have to top a ranked version of this list. Removed without hesitation: "Symphony or Damn" and "Odelay." Added: "Weezer" (the Green album) and, if I can cheat, Stevie Wonder's "Song Review" compendium. [Meanwhile, 2017 me is trying to parse how I didn't fit a King's X album in here, and thinking I was crazy to cut "Odelay" out.]
"A Day in the Life," Beatles: Because I still consider this their crowning musical achievement.
"Abacab," Genesis: Enveloping.
"And Fools Shine On," Brother Cane: One of those songs that I just love to sing along with.
"Angeles," Elliott Smith: My favorite of his mood-mope runes.
"Are You Gonna Go My Way," Lenny Kravitz: The first time I heard this song, I nearly fell out of my chair. Then I saw the video and it almost happened a second time. Proved that Lenny is a rock star.
"Army of Me," Bjork: This tune has become popular for remakes, but the original is hot.
"Battleflag," Lo-Fidelity All-Stars: No comment, although it's still catchy.
"Big Fat Funky Booty," Spin Doctors: Still funny and still fun, if you divorce it from all the crap that surrounded the Spin Doctors once they got big.
"Black Velvet," Alannah Myles: I used to walk around high school singing this song, I liked it so much at the time.
"Brown Paper Bag," Roni Size + Reprazent: Just listened to this again after a few years away. Drum 'n bass like this really had potential. Best in genre, and a really compelling, exciting song.
"California Dreaming," The Mamas and the Papas: Harmonies don't get better than this.
"Criminal," Fiona Apple: This makes the list feel like it was from a long time ago, but on reflection, this is still one heck of a song.
"Cult of Personality," Living Colour: the band's defining moment, and one of the most powerful rock songs I know. This was the first album I bought on CD, too.
"Dazed and Confused," Led Zeppelin: * The deepest and scariest rock I knew.
"Detroit Rock City," Kiss: * Still their coolest accomplishment.
"Double Vision," Foreigner: From the days when rock to me meant 66 WNBC AM. [In 2017, the AM radio guy in me proudly listens to Yacht Rock Radio on Sirius XM.]
"Dust in the Wind," Kansas: no comment.
"Emotional Rescue," Rolling Stones: At the age of 7, I didn't know Mick Jagger from his young swaggering days, but I knew the guy half-seducing, half-threatening his girl was a man to pay attention to.
"Everybodys 1," godschild: Godschild somehow put out more than one album. I say "somehow" because the lead singer's voice is cringe-inducing. Still, this song is very cool, and it followed me around for a long time.
"Fanfare," Eric Matthews: It's a shame he doesn't put out more of his own music, because his perfectionism really plays well. The horns!
"Feelin' Alright," Joe Cocker: That voice.
"Fell on Black Days," Soundgarden: Those minor chords.
"Fly Like an Eagle," Steve Miller Band: More minor chords! Also, the effects on this song were so cool back in the day.
"Fragile," Sting: * Sting's prettiest song, so relaxing and distant and just a little bit frightening. A wonderful combination.
"Funk #49," James Gang: Guitars, baby, guitars. I will forever respect Joe Walsh as a result.
"Gimme Shelter," Rolling Stones: For the howling woman and the tonal quality of the recording, which completely pulls the listener into another place.
"Hotel California," Eagles: I spent countless hours with this song, first learning the lyrics, then deciphering what they meant, then learning this song on piano (where it really doesn't belong), then singing it to myself as I played. I did this with a few other songs, too, but most of them are even more embarrassing to mention.
"I Feel Love," Donna Summer: World's greatest disco song. Giorgio Moroder's thumping, swirling bass is ethereal.
"Indifference," Pearl Jam: Back when Pearl Jam mattered, this song, full of Eddie Vedder's pain and boozy intonation, was truly special.
"Invisible Sun," The Police: More minor chords for my enjoyment.
"Jam on It," Newcleus: I used to sit on the floor of my bedroom re-recording this onto cassette tape during Jack the Wack's Top 5 at 9 show to see how much of the "da-dahhh, da-dahhh" I could get before Jack talked over it. Years later I discovered the 12″ version of the song, with twice the lyrics, and fell in love with it all over again.
"King of the World," Steely Dan: Steely Dan occurred in two phases for me: the poppy songs of my youth, and all the other amazing jazz-rock I found when I got the boxed set in my 20s. "King of the World" is my favorite discovery of the second round.
"Lady Madonna," Beatles: For a time, my second-favorite Beatles song.
"License to Confuse," Sebadoh: When I got the "Bakesale" CD, I put it in my car's changer, and it didn't have any words on the disc, so for months I didn't know who it was–but I knew I couldn't get enough of the dynamite first track.
"Light Rain Blues," Taj Mahal: I could [should] write a lengthy essay about Taj. "Light Rain Blues" is the one we sung along to [when we discovered him in summer camp], the tape of which I still have. Taj is terrific–this is but one representation of his body of work.
"Like the Way I Do," Melissa Etheridge: Before she became famous for being a lesbian crossover star, and before Alanis Morisette lay claim to angry chick rock, "Like the Way I Do" burst out of rock radio with a woman slinging a 12-string guitar like nobody's business.
"Mary Sunshine Rain," dada: Once upon a time there was a CD store called Phase One Music in Chatham that was one of the first outlets with listening stations. You'd take any disc in the store, bring it to the register, and they'd hand you the CD and headphones and you'd set up shop at a CD player with no time or quantity limit. I'd heard "Dizz Knee Land" on the radio and was wondering what the band dada was all about. The guitar and harmonies in track two got me. I still love them.
"Moby Octopad," Yo La Tengo: * Just amazing.
"More than a Feeling," Boston: no comment.
"Moving," Supergrass: * Almost as riveting as "Moby Octopad," if considered heavily, but Supergrass probably didn't, so it's better to kick back and rock along with it instead.
"Nothingness," Living Colour: A moment of tenderness, albeit bitter, from an angry band.
"On the Loose," Saga: I still find the keyboard and rhythm section in this song to be driving and exciting. The video was great in the early MTV days as well.
"Only the Lonely," the Motels: props to myself for remembering to include this one.
"Open Sesame," Kool and the Gang: Early Kool and the Gang is uniformly good. Long before I knew that, though, I knew this song, which was a favorite on the "Saturday Night Fever" soundtrack. Leave it to me to dig the heavy R&B song while everyone else was singing along with the Bee Gees.
"Paperback Writer," Beatles: For a time, my favorite Beatles song.
"Parasite," Kiss: my favorite Kiss song, no small statement considering I have two dozen Kiss albums.
"Plush," Stone Temple Pilots: Perfectly wistful, and those minor chords again.
"Policy of Truth," Depeche Mode: Ethereal and moody, and–say it with me–minor chords.
"Pop Life," Prince: Once upon a time, my favorite Prince song.
"Pure," Golden Palominos: * A gentler "Policy of Truth," right down to the chords.
"Rabbit One," Masters of Reality: for one brief, shining moment, Masters of Reality were the world's greatest rock band, having convinced Ginger Baker to play on their sophomore CD. The drumming makes the album. This track is its standout.
"Rhinoceros," Smashing Pumpkins: I never got heavily into the Pumpkins, but when their popularity was at its peak, I rediscovered their debut album and this sprawling rock anthem.
"Shine On You Crazy Diamond," Pink Floyd: Take it for what it is.
"Sign O' the Times," Prince: The sparseness made me pay attention to the lyrics at an impressionable time in my life (read: age 14).
"Solomon's Ride," Giant Sand: One of Howe Gelb's best songs, and the track that introduced me to Giant Sand. No one else crunches into their chords like this.
"Sour Girl," Stone Temple Pilots: Power pop nugget.
"Southern Man," Crosby Stills & Nash: no comment.
"Stairway to Heaven," Led Zeppelin: for all the blatantly obvious reasons. Historically speaking, I should really have the Doors' "Riders on the Storm" on this list, too.
"Still of the Night," Whitesnake: For its youth, for the perceived freshness and excitement of the album, for the way my camp friend Nate's eyes went wide as he said "He's bowing his guitar!" and we believed it. Not until much later did I learn David Coverdale's back story.
"Stone Cold," Rainbow: Damn, this song was cool. And, yup, full of minor chords.
"Stone in Love," Journey: Minor minor minor chords. This is still my favorite Journey song.
"Summerland," King's X: The coolest song executed by a very cool band. Other King's X songs are just as strong, but this one is a nice keystone for their work.
"Superstition," Stevie Wonder: Nowadays I may have opted for "Boogie On Reggae Woman," but truly, nothing beats this rock/soul breakdown from the master.
"Sweetness and Love," Odds: * I love many an Odds tune, but "Sweetness and Love" continually stands out.
"Synchronicity," The Police: * The driving polyrhythms and challenging lyrics kept me riveted.
"Take the Long Way Home," Supertramp: Makes me want to.
"The Chain," Fleetwood Mac: * Frankly, I'm surprised I didn't choose "Tusk."
"The Down Town," Days of the New: An unremarkable song, but something in it always gets me going.
"The Stroke," Billy Squier: * The hallmark song off "Don't Say No" and the one that got the most attention from MTV (excluding "Christmas Is the Time to Say I Love You").
"The Way It Is," Bruce Hornsby and the Range: Ah, Bruce Hornsby is a quiet favorite of mine; I don't listen to him nearly enough. He peaked early with "The Way It Is," but what a way to start.
"Time Capsule," Matthew Sweet: I know there are minor chords in here, and the sound is perfectly suited to my tastes, but in actuality the bittersweet lyrics and subtle twist in the last chorus make this song a keeper for me.
"Vital Signs," Rush: For no good reason, still my favorite Rush song.
"When the Levee Breaks," Led Zeppelin: * I always dug "Levee" and thought it strange that I did. [Middle-aged me understands.]
"Where the Streets Have No Name," U2: no comment.
"Where's Summer B.?" Ben Folds Five: For a while there, I really liked Ben Folds, and this is still a great selection.
"White," Discussion," Live: Easily the best song Live ever recorded. Hearing this at the end of "Throwing Copper" blew me away.
"Wish You Were Here," Pink Floyd: For the sentiments.
"You're Not Very Well," Charlatans UK: First track, first album, just right.
Revisions, 2005: I still feel good about most of these 78 songs, although I have new ones since 2001 that I'd like to include: "Island in the Sun" (Weezer), "Words" (Doves), "If This Ain't Love" (Spiller), something by Komeda. It's easier to find, and stay committed to, four minutes of perfection than 40. I also didn't know how to count in 2001: there were accidentally 79 songs on this list instead of 78 (I mercifully deleted "Zooropa").
Takeaways, 2005: As I went through this list in rediscovery, I loved the nuggets I discovered. For example, I have two Living Colour songs on in the 78 and one album in the 33, but the songs aren't on the CD. I also have two Rolling Stones songs in the 78, and despite their many great albums, I never listened to them on an album basis. I find this to be a reminder of how much I like the album format, and I hope it doesn't fade too far in this download- and shuffle-ready world. [Ah, well.]
A list of musicians of some renown that I did not know were still active but are, and have gigs at the Foundry in Athens, Ga., this summer and fall
Denny Laine
Either the Foundry is a fascinating music venue, or the old rock n' roll hands are going down fighting, or maybe I just need to get to a show more often. (I'm thinking a bit of all three.) Also, the Foundry is a pretty cool joint. Good choice by the UX STRAT folks and their sponsors for the happy hour there.
This is a roundabout way of noting that I'm speaking at the conference tomorrow, on the subject of customer experience and how to successfully embed the discipline within a product hierarchy. I'll post a link to the video here or on Twitter if one becomes available. Very good conference, by the way—highly recommended if you're a UX professional.
Hey, Master DJ
As the parents of two perceptive and opinionated children, my wife and I grant a substantial amount of self-determination in their young lives. So when, on a lengthy road trip, our seven-year-old son asked to control the iPod, I saw no reason not to hand it to him. We stretched the cord as long as it could go, I handed over the iPod—a Classic model, with 17,000 songs on it—and he started exploring from the back seat.
The result, blasted into the car after a minute or two of silence: AC/DC's "Caught with Your Pants Down."
This track immediately became the soundtrack to our vacation. "Can I DJ?" followed by a big guitar riff and, roughly a minute later, lots of laughter at the chorus.
Our story would end here, with a smirk, were it not for our four-year-old, who, of course, also asked to DJ, and who, it should be noted, is a very good reader already. The first time he got ahold of the iPod, he clicked into albums, directly into Genesis's "Abacab" (thanks, alphabetization!) and landed on "Keep It Dark." Nice choice. He decided he liked the song and played it several times, not least because he knew how to find it.
His second track: "Rape Me."
We're thinking on the next road trip we're going to have to bring the kids' iPod with us.
Don't look back, you can never look back
DJ Shadow's "Building Steam with a Grain of Salt" in a Chevy ad is our generation's Deadhead sticker on a Cadillac. http://t.co/w5QgZ1dqiC
— David Wertheimer (@werty) November 20, 2014
I casually tweeted that late one night in November, having caught the commercial on TV. The thought keeps coming back to me. Not only is it a parallel moment, it's also a reflection of how the music industry has evolved in the three decades since "Boys of Summer" dominated charts and airwaves during the rise of classic rock.
Back then, music was more entrenched in defining societal moments. Henley, the former frontman of the Eagles, a band regularly dismissed as lightweight despite selling a hundred million albums, had begun forging a more thoughtful identity as a solo artist. From his first album, Henley reached #3 on Billboard's singles chart with the song "Dirty Laundry," a political commentary on negative advertising that still rings true today (and which remains catchy, if dated).
Henley's social commentary began to mesh with introspection by 1984, when "Boys of Summer" was released. Coupled with a moody, award-winning music video, the song aimed to capture the nostalgia felt by the Baby Boomer generation as it first confronted aging. Henley, 36 years old when the song was written, had seen America grow from the postwar 1950s to the Reagan era.
"Boys of Summer," besides being a pretty big hit—a top-five single in the U.S., anchoring an album that sold three million copies domestically, and a track still spun on classic rock radio stations—is memorable for its wistful lyrics, particularly this one:
Out on the road today, I saw a Deadhead sticker on a Cadillac
A little voice inside my head said,
'Don't look back. You can never look back.'
Henley, of course, is referring to the juxtaposition of cultures represented in this act: the counterculture and independent spirit of rock 'n roll, a respected but decidedly fringe band and musical genre, a subculture defined by carefree living, illicit drugs and beat-up Volkswagen vans, unceremoniously showcased on the back of the preeminent American luxury vehicle. He thought his generation had sold out. The concept abhorred him; to this day, Henley doesn't license his music, and actively combats its commercial use.
Fast forward to now. Josh Davis is 42, five years older than Henley was when "The Boys of Summer" was released. As a 24-year-old, Davis, recording under the moniker DJ Shadow, recorded "Endtroducing…," a striking pastiche of sampled music that is widely regarded as one of the most innovative albums of the recorded music era.
Nearly 20 years on, "Endtroducing…" has sold fewer than 300,000 copies, making it a prototypically seminal work: revered, respected, imitated, yet still somewhat fringe. Not unlike the Grateful Dead in 1984, who, after 15 years of touring, were still something of a sideline in the rock pantheon, selling albums without mainstream exposure (that came a few years later, in 1987, when "Touch of Grey" became an unlikely pop hit).
Except life has changed a lot in thirty years. In 1984, the music industry had one of its boldface names singing on a hit song about the peculiar sight of an independent act getting co-opted by mainstream tastes. By contrast, in 2014, it's the independent act that's being co-opted—but willfully, for a payout, to sell perhaps the most mass-market automobile on the road, the Chevrolet Malibu.
The ad is still running, and every time it airs, it reinforces our comprehension of the era we're in, while reminding us of the parallels to music history of the generation before.
Tempted to make a playlist of awesome TV ad rock tracks. The folks in agency music departments are the new rock radio program directors.
— David Wertheimer (@werty) January 13, 2015
I don't begrudge DJ Shadow his income, and certainly, music consumption has reached a point where people are discovering songs and artists via TV commercials. (Also, "Building Steam with a Grain of Salt" is a fantastic song, so it's a nice 30 seconds.) But it couldn't be further away from the ideals and disappointments Henley so powerfully noted a generation ago.
Obsolete vs. useless
Quartz and Wired is making a big deal today out of a new survey that shows 58% of American households still have a VCR.
"It shows," writes Christopher Mims*, "that a majority of Americans are holding onto a device designed to play a media format that isn't even available anymore."
But there's a reason for this "lingering on past their expiration date," as Mims nicely puts it: old VHS tapes.
While millions of Americans have moved on from tape formats, decades of media were created and stored on them before discs, drives and cloud storage appeared. And while it's easy to replace that videotape of "Dirty Dancing" with Blu-Ray or a stream, doing so with home movies and one-offs taped from live TV is much harder. Many families have paid for a service to migrate their essentials; mine has dubbed its childhood videos from Super-8 to VHS to DVD over the past 15 years. But many others have not. And until they do, they're not ditching their VCRs.
I still have roughly 800 cassettes in my possession (well, technically, they're in my parents' basement, to my mother's ongoing chagrin, but still), including a number of bootlegs, one-offs, hard-to-find albums, and irreplaceable moments, from a Taj Mahal concert at summer camp in 1989 to my college radio shows. It'd be great to digitize them for posterity. But seeing how hard it is even to move all my CDs to MP3, the digitizing of my tapes won't come for awhile. And while I wait for myself, I'm glad to have a working cassette deck, still gorgeous in its anachronistic 1988 glory.
So color me unsurprised at the persistence of the VCR. It remains peripherally useful for many, even in the rarest of moments. And so it remains, unbothered in many homes' wall units, biding its time, and probably blinking ––:–– as usual.
* Of course, Mims is the author behind the recently infamous "2013 was a lost year for tech," which suggests he's in the dot-com-needling-provocateur game right now, much like Farhad Manjoo a couple of a years ago.
The best-selling albums of all time
Per independent research, the top 10 albums and millions of copies sold, worldwide:
1. Michael Jackson, "Thriller": 66,200,000
2. Soundtrack, "Grease": 44,700,000
3. Pink Floyd, "The Dark Side of the Moon": 44,200,000
4. Whitney Houston et al., "The Bodyguard": 38,600,000
5. The Bee Gees at al., "Saturday Night Fever": 37,200,000
6. The Eagles, "Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975": 36,900,000
7. Bob Marley, "Legend": 36,800,000
8. Led Zeppelin, "IV": 35,700,000
9. AC/DC, "Back in Black": 35,700,000
10. Shania Twain, "Come on Over": 35,400,000
Domestically, the U.S. top-selling albums list isn't all that different, but it's somewhat cheesier.
1. Michael Jackson, Thriller, Epic, 29,000,000
2. Eagles, Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975), Asylum, est. 29,000,000
3. Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin IV, Atlantic, 23,000,000
4. Billy Joel, Greatest Hits Volume I & Volume II, Columbia, 11,500,000
5. Pink Floyd, The Wall, Columbia/Capitol, 11,500,000
6. AC/DC, Back in Black, Atlantic, 22,000,000
7. Garth Brooks, Double Live, Capitol Nashville, 21,000,000
8. Shania Twain, Come On Over, Mercury Nashville, est. 21,000,000
9. Fleetwood Mac, Rumours, Warner Bros., 19,000,000
10. The Beatles, The Beatles (White Album), Apple, 9,500,000
Just below the top 10 in the U.S. are several of the global top sellers, plus "Boston," which apparently doesn't scale on a worldwide level.