Most of you know that I'm a trumpeter. I'm just a hack; I've been playing for about 6 years now, and at long last some of the things I've been doing are finally starting to gain some traction. Charlie Parker may have been right; he studied the chord changes to "I Got Rhythm" in all keys for a number of years. Many of his originals are based on that chord progression. There is something natural to it, while I was practicing last night, I noticed that I didn't get lost in the chart, it's very easy to follow along. Then there's the II-V motion through the A section...it's all related so multiple scales work over it for soloing.
Last year, I also quit studying and practicing my scales according to the cycle of fifths; I started moving through a modal series instead, and was surprised to learn that they flowed much easier and I picked up tunes a little quicker when I worked this way. Soloing is easier too...so there must be something to that. But then again, I started playing because of one musician, one album, one song. "Freddie Freeloader, from Miles' "Kind of Blue". I can listen to that over and over and I always hear something new...and that high Eb that Miles hits in the 6th chorus sends chills down my spine every time. KofB is one of those albums that on my mythical "5 albums you'd take to a desert island", but that's a blog for another day.
Of course, I also have family history, too. My father was on the faculty at Berklee College of Music here in Boston for 40 years...the number of people and musicians that I knew as a kid as a matter of course is astonishing....and we recently mourned the passing of Herb Pomeroy, one of the founding faculty members of Berklee and someone I have known since I was 8 years old....he played with Bird, you know. My Grandpa was a trumpeter too...(whose horn I inherited and now play...) but he goes back even further to the big band era. Gramps worked with Vaughn Monroe, The Four Lads, Hildegarde, Ella....and Satchmo himself. I have not one, but two personally autographed pictures that Gramps got the summer I was born...they're among my most prized possesions.
"Yeah, great TriSec. Why are you telling us this?" I can hear you asking...
It's been said by numerous experts that the solution for peace in Iraq is a diplomatic one, not a military one. Peace cannot be created at the barrel of a gun. Considering our track record in Iraq, however, the United States cannot be the agent of diplomacy, because we are not trusted there (for that matter - we're not known for waging peace, at least not with this president). Many experts have suggested it will require the intervention of Iran and Syria to bring the Sunnis and the Shia to the table together.
Here we go again. The House has decided to put aside contempt charges against Bolton and Miers. Why? Politico tells us:
Senior Democrats have decided that holding a controversial vote on the contempt citations, which have already been approved by the House Judiciary Committee as part of its investigation into the firing of nine U.S. attorneys, would “step on their message” of bipartisan unity in the midst of the stimulus package talks. [...] “Right now, we’re focused on working in a bipartisan fashion on [the] stimulus,” said House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.), indicating that the contempt vote is not expected for weeks, depending on how quickly the stimulus package moves.
Brendan Daly, a spokesman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), said “no decision has been made” as to when a criminal contempt vote would be held by the House.
Who can forget the movie "Dr. Strangelove.."? One crazy general sets the wheels in motion towards MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) with the people in power seemingly unable to cope with the diplomacy required to prevent it. Released in 1964, it brought attention to the insanity that is our nuclear weapons program.
Agreements were put in place with SALT I in 1972, and SALT II in 1979. There have been other lesser dimplomatic achievements since then, but it seemed everyone understood that to fire a single nuclear missile would result in MAD.
The west must be ready to resort to a pre-emptive nuclear attack to try to halt the "imminent" spread of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction, according to a radical manifesto for a new Nato by five of the west's most senior military officers and strategists.
Calling for root-and-branch reform of Nato and a new pact drawing the US, Nato and the European Union together in a "grand strategy" to tackle the challenges of an increasingly brutal world, the former armed forces chiefs from the US, Britain, Germany, France and the Netherlands insist that a "first strike" nuclear option remains an "indispensable instrument" since there is "simply no realistic prospect of a nuclear-free world".
We'll start this morning as we always do, with the latest casualty figures from the warron terra, courtesy of Antiwar.com:
American Deaths Since war began (3/19/03): 3929 Since "Mission Accomplished" (5/1/03): 3790 Since Capture of Saddam (12/13/03): 3468 Since Handover (6/29/04): 3070 Since Election (1/31/05): 2492
Other Coalition Troops: 307 US Military Deaths - Afghanistan: 480
We find this morning's cost of war passing through $487,842,800,000.00
Let us for today, remember all the work that Martin Luther King did. It was so much more than this speech. He worked to end poverty, to improve labor conditions to end the war. When he was murdered in 1968, he was in Memphis, supporting labour. He was calling for a radical redistribution of wealth in this country. he told the striking sanitation workers '"All labor has dignity, but you're doing another thing. You are reminding not only Memphis, but the nation that it is a crime for people to live in this rich nation and receive starvation wages."
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial "outside agitator" idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds.
August 02, 2007 Dear Ms Jones * (*not my real name) Thank you for selecting ________ Health Insurance. We appreciate the confidence you have expressed in our organization and consider every interaction an opportunity to exceed expectations and invite your ongoing critique of that objective.
Your new cards will be arriving shortly, and if you have any questions concerning your coverage, call our Customer Service Department at our toll free number ###-###-####. You may also visit us at ____________.com where you will find a variety of helpful information under the Member section.
Again, thanks for choosing __________ where Innovative Health Care is Designed Around You.
Sincerely, Paula Dixon Individual Membership Administrator
************
From: Chris Cook To: Velveeta Jones Subject: Re: Why is my rate so damn high 08/26/07 Hey girl! I have spoken with Phil, my rep at ___________ to inquire about the rate. There may be some red flag from the medical survey, that's all I can figure out right now. Phil says he will be contacting you (or someone will be) to speak with you about the issue.
Well, if it's before 7am on a Saturday, that can only mean one thing. Your Loyal TriSec is off to donate platelets.
The separation of individual blood components is done with a specialized centrifuge (see apheresis). The earliest manual forms of plateletpheresis are done by the separation of platelets from multiple bags of whole blood collected from donors or blood sellers. Since each blood bag (usually 250 ml or 500 ml) contains a relatively small number of platelets, it can take as many as a dozen blood bags (usually from 5 to 10 bags, depending on the size of the blood bags and each donor's platelet count) to accumulate a single unit of platelets (enough for one patient). This greatly increases the risks of the transfusion. Each unit of platelets separated from donated whole blood is called a "platelet concentrate".
Modern automatic plateletpheresis allows the blood donor to give a portion of his platelets, while keeping his or her red blood cells and at least a portion of blood plasma. Therefore, no more than three units of platelets are generally harvested in any one sitting from a donor. Most donors will donate a "single" or "double" unit, however the occurence of "triples" has been increasing as more suitable donors are recruited.
Because platelets have a life-span of just 5 days, more platelet donors are always needed. Some centers are experimenting with 7 day platelets, but this requires additional testing and the lack of any preservative solutions means that the product is far more effective when fresh.
Even though red blood cells can also be collected in the process, most blood donation organizations do not do so because it takes much longer for the human body to replenish their loss. If the donor donates both red blood cells and platelets, it takes months, rather than days or weeks, before they are allowed to donate again (the guidelines regarding blood donation intervals are country-specific).
In most cases, blood plasma is returned to the donor as well. However, in locations that have plasma processing facilities, a part of the donor's plasma can also be collected in a separate blood bag (see plasmapheresis).
I've been a longtime blood donor, and was just starting on my fifth gallon when I switched over to platelets...if you're already donating, why not give it a try?
When I was young, we always believed that America had a sterling reputation. We were the shiny example of what a great country should be, with opportunity and freedom for everyone. We were the country that rode to the rescue of other countries, that supported the good guys and took on the bad guys. We were the silver in a world full of pewter.
My how times have changed. In the last 7 years we've gone from being the best friend to the bully. We've gone from being the possibility of hope to the prodigal son. We've gone from being the challenger of nations to the child in the corner.
By now, most of you have already heard that Canada - Canada - has put us in the same catagory as Syria and Iran (two countries that Bush refers to as evil) as "torturing" countries.
OTTAWA, Jan 17 (Reuters) - An official Canadian government document has put both the United States and Israel on a watch list of countries where prisoners run the risk of being tortured, CTV television reported on Thursday.
The revelation is likely to embarrass the minority Conservative government, which is a staunch U.S. ally.
The document mentions the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba where a Canadian man is being held. CTV said the document was part of a course on torture awareness given to Canadian diplomats to help them determine whether prisoners they visited abroad had been mistreated. It said the document mentioned U.S. interrogation techniques such as "forced nudity, isolation, and sleep deprivation."
Other countries on the watch list include Syria, China, Iran and Afghanistan, CTV said.
The next wave of problems will come from prime borrowers who bought too much house or borrowed too much against it," said Michael van Zalingen, director of home ownership services at Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago. A "prime" borrower is one with good credit.
Real estate agents warn that some high-income borrowers have already been forced to sell or leave their homes and more will follow. Especially those who used their homes as ATMs, withdrawing cash via home equity loans.
"For those who utilized home equity loans for five to ten years to finance their lifestyle, the chickens are coming home to roost," said Chicago-based real estate agent Marki Lemons.
I beg to differ. These are not wealthy people as the title of this article states. These are upper middle class people, at best. Actually they really are middle class, living larger than they can.
When the Sub prime market bottomed out a few months ago, newspapers across the country, including our very own local paper, the AJC, were filled with reader comments saying that people who fall victim to these loans and lose their houses deserve what they get, many reasons were written but the basic idea was that they should not have spent money they didn't have or they didn't deserve a home if they had bad credit. The comments went even further with many people saying that the government should not do anything because so many people felt, as they sat back in their nice upper middle class swivel throne and wrote to the editors "I pay my bills on time, I have good credit, why should I bail them out?" "If you can't afford to pay, why buy a house?" or the best... "They should have known better." Typical republican thinking I thought, but I tried to see their POV. I tried. I couldn't.
Well now the market of those very people who sat in judgement of the Subprime loan victims are at the precipice. The middle class. No, these people are not wealthy. (Thom Hartmann has wonderful riffs on this issue a lot) They have extended credit lines that they now must repay... and they can't. Continue reading...
100 comments(Latest Comment: 01/18/2008 03:10:43 by Mondobubba)
