Birds on A Wire by Jarbas Agnelli

It has been done before. Anyone who has seen PBS non-commercial commercials will recognize the idea.



This time the birds do the composing and the author really does transcribe their work note for note. For more videos by Jarbas Agnelli check out his Vimeo channel.

Damien Jurado's Abilene on the Finally Friday Freakout

It is a new year and a new decade. I think. Zero to nine but there is no year zero and yet we place a zero at the end to show the beginning of future time.

Then a bunch of people will argue about the start of the decade for three years. Well, it is a non-toxic thing to blovate about. I've seen comments threads hi-jacked with people on both sides trying to prove that they are right.

Some people will attempt to validate their intellectual self-worth by explaining how this decade thing works and expect the other person to believe it. Others will take pride in showing just how ignorant they are and will fight to the bone to prove it.

Mud will be flung but not around here.

Anyway, I wanted to find not just old classics but new to me artists as well. If it has a good beat or story that is pretty much all I need. This is a performer named Damien Jurado. He has story songs and can sing with his pants up. That goes a long way with me.

The name of this song is Abilene.



This is What I Know:

• I found him at Daytrotter.
  
• He has a blog that he post occasionally to called I Am Caught In The Trees.
• Damien has a MySpace page and you can check out stuff there as well.

You should know I'm going to diving into Daytrotter and similar sites to find more musicians I don't know about. That is a might interesting neck of the woods. Daytrotter finds artists and invite them to record in a studio. You can download the music free and get exposed to music the radio stations are willfully ignoring for syntho-spuds.

Now be kind. I did say that some of the folks I'll find are new to me but you might have know about them for eight years.

What can I tell you? I've been busy. There was a time I knew what was happening in contemporary music. Not my fault radio tried and succeeded to kill off innovation. Radio drove me away because I aged out of the demographic pool.

I've been a podcast girl for a long time now. Will continue to be one but I need to mix more music along with the words. Time to try new again. Find musical kin folks. Allow more than I know in the door.

Well, it is another day in the life. Breath deep and step forward.

There is no turning back.

Project Midnight II - Call for NYE Photos and Video

Mary Matthews at Video Pancakes is going for number 2 in collecting photos and videos of what folks are doing at the stroke of midnight 2010. She is hoping to gather midnighters from around the world in their time zone.

Here is an example from last year:



So you want in? Cool head on over to the information post and follow the instructions.

Slingers Teaser Via Mike Sizemore

The people that I meet online lead me to other people I should know. Some days I drop into another world.



It is a intro for a potential new show, not clear if it is traditional television or perhaps a new web serial. Works for me either way.

Senior Health Info form the National Institute of Health

More stuff from the conference to pass on. The National Institute of Health has a website designed specifically for seniors.


This is reliable health care information from the government. In addition, there is a speedy way to change the text size. There is an option to change the contrast on the page; in this case you can have a high contrast black or white web page. You also can have have the page read itself to you or your relative.

You don't have to be a senior to appreciate some of the features.

National Novel Writing Month Coming Up

Yeah, I'm gonna get right on that as novel soon as we can confirm that 36 hour day that start on Friday afternoons. I got a couple of books in me but I can honestly tell you not a one of them will see the light of day this year.

It ain't gonna happen. But for those of you game enough to get pump happy with the words, well, I salute you.

From a distance cuz somebody needs to cheer you folks along the route. In case you hadn't heard it is coming around once again in November. Yep, November 1st is National Novel Writing Month.

This is Chris introducing the members of the team:



So whether you are a lead and wood pulped scratcher or a keyboard jockey blessings and happy communion with 50,000 or more words that you will transform into stories.

Open Congress – Please Read the Actual Health Care Bill

Ok, I know that the newspapers and the media told you that this has become a non-issue that there will be no public or single pay option. That is a lie. It is still a big deal.

But we have to participate. You and I as citizens have some responsibilities. One of them is to be informed an the other is to speak.

What I am asking is not easy. Read the actual bill. You can do so at Open Congress.org

I’m not asking you to support or condemn the bill. I’m asking you to make an effort to read it and find out for yourself. There are a lot of pages. Yes, it will take some effort.

BlogHer is working with the Sunlight Foundation. Nancy Watzman will be posting information that can help you to understand what is going on.

You, American citizen, are still responsible for learning for yourself, not what shock jocks, political pundits and people who don't need health insurance because they are wealthy will tell you.

Make the effort.

If you don't want to go to Open Congress.org then hippy-hop over to The Library of Congress - Thomas.gov and search for HR 3200

Warp11 Baby - She'll Makes It So

It is a cleaning, web surfing, creating and relaxing weekend for me. I need to be nice to myself, in fact it is a spoil myself silly weekend on the Stoop. I'm doing what I want to do, not what I have to; say hallelujah, come on get happy! I ain't got to work on Monday.

Oh yeah! To the matter at hand. Want to give a hat tip to Violet Blue for leading down the path of Trek inspired music, created by a band called Warp11. This is fine ditty known as She'll Make It So



Not my usual musical genre but I like it, music has got a good fun vibe and It Is Star Trek Damnmit!

The deal with the Universe is I do one thing for the home, one for my body and then I play on the Internet for x amount of time. Soon as I get a handle of those pesky BX codes the blog will get spruced up too. Full speed ahead.

Amnesty International PSA by Leo Burnett /Lisbon

Not much to say about this public service announcement except I doubt that you will see it on American television or any of the new digital channels. Might interrupt that infomercial flow.



Then again, you would need to know a little something about history to understand the point of the PSA. A lot of the context of the PSA was not listed as a questions on the No Child Left Behind tests.

For more info on what you can do to make the world a better place visit Amnesty International.

Queen Rainia on Educating Women

Sometimes all you have to do is convey your words plain and simple. It will take me a life time to be this succinct. One day at a time. In the meantime, no matter where you are on the planet do your best to insure that women continue to have access to education.



Don't be smug if you live in a western country. We have functional and non-functional illiterate people. The costs to the society is immense. Covertly or overtly teach or share what you know.

Dreams Fulfilled - Journeys to Science Ph.D Bloggers

Visibility.  There is still a need to document the work being done by women, particularly in the sciences. It is even more important to educate people outside of the science world because it can literally save lives. More on that later in my post. One of the benefits of going to a science blog is that another person is telling me they are traveling the distance between a dream and actuality. If they can do it maybe I can too.

This post was inspired by FairerScience hosting a blog carnival on dreams of a more equitable society. Prudence Motowo is from Zimbabwe.  It is one thing to say that you want to be a scientist but there is a lot of work involved in gaining that higher degree. In a video from 2007 you can learn about Prudence’s area of research and her climate transition from Zimbabwe to the English winters. 

In 2008 Prudence had to defend her dissertation in what folks in the UK call a “viva.”  This is a video of the moments after Prudence Mutowo became Dr. Prudence Mutowo.

Disgruntled Julie is working on her Ph.D in Oncology. Her blog is a mixture of what she is doing in and out of the lab. The first post I read was explaining a dilemma about a presentation she needed to give to her peers. In this passage you can clearly see that she loves what she does:

My program is in cancer biology, rather than biochemistry or pharmacology or structural biology, so we are tied together by the fact that we study cancer, not by the way in which we study cancer. 98% of the program studies cell signaling and knockdown genes in cells and in animals, and while they produce some hot science and generate some pretty cool results, the techniques they use are all same old, same old in so much as we see the same thing every week.

Then I come along, and my results come from surface plasmon resonance and circular dichroism and fluorescence polarization, and I talk about things like molecular modeling with structures from co-crystallization…That’s what I love about my project – even though it’s taking me a long time to generate worthwhile data, my presentations are always interesting, because I am the black sheep of the program doing something COMPLETELY different than everyone else (all biochemistry/biophysics), and people are interested to learn about what it is that I am doing.

Nightmares On The Journey

Now just because you think your dream is a good idea doesn’t mean that all educated people are going to respect or encourage you. Even in the halls of science, there are people who will be threatened by a woman’s presence . Melissa at Confused At A Higher Level, dreams about if there will ever be any increased representation in physics by women:

I have become less optimistic the longer I have persisted in physics. Initially, I imagined there existed a few old guards resistant to change, but that the attitudes and actions that hindered women in physics were on their way out. Yet I have had physicists of my generation say appalling things to me, and I continue to be disappointed in the complacency of people who claim to be allies.

What does make me optimistic is that women who have had 30+ year careers say that they have seen improvement over the course of their careers. However, now that the blatant discrimination is gone, the challenges are more insidious. For that reason, I think Virginia Valian’s book, Why So Slow? The Advancement of Women, might make good required reading for scientists.

Honoring The Dead and Saving Future Lives

In 1989 a man walked into an classroom at the Ecole Polytechnique. This man killed 14 women students. This is a statement of fact. It does not tell the story. Alice at Sciencewomen fills in the details about what happened in her post on We Remember the Montreal Massacre. You see, in most stories they remember the name of the killer. Alice list the names of the women who were killed. 

Most stories also remember that he stated that he wanted to kill “f*cking feminists.” It did not matter if these women were or were not feminists. They were women who dared to dream. In our world, that is enough to get you killed. Thesis with Children wants you to know that the fear echoed south of the border. 

I understand that fear because when you are in a male dominated environment or course of study you are told both covertly and overtly that you as a woman do not belong. I bring this up because there is a fictional movie based on the events of December 6, 1989. You can view a trailer of the movie, or read more about it at IMDB’s Polytechnique page. Canadians are conflicted about the movie. There is an article in the The Star.com that talks about film and what memories it invokes.

Unfortunately it might become the cultural record of fact. This is another person that is revising and re-interpreting the actual experience. I do not know if those of us the U.S. will have access to this movie.  To be honest, I don’t think I would see if I could. Watching women being killed is not entertainment to me.

We can save future lives by educating our children that all people have the right to be educated. We can be verbally respectful of women who choose their life path, whether that is a SAHM, a Bio-Medical engineering or a mom who is a Ph.D.

We can save future lives by telling our truths in our writings, photographs and recordings. We can no long allow people to tell our stories if we are capable of doing so ourselves.

We can save future lives by following our dreams.

Gena Haskett is a Contributing Editor at BlogHer where this article first appeared.

JibJab - 2008 The Year in Review

Well, many folks are saying good riddance to 2008. It did bring some people to consciousness, if only for a little while. It was a personal and national roller coaster of a year for me.

I'm just thankful that I made it to the end of the year. I had four or five life events in a row and that is three too many.



The year went by me so quick I never got a good grip on it. Kinda like this video from the good folks at JibJab.

2008 had a wow finish and the cliffhangers that get to play out in 2009? Don't know if I want to know but it is like a good thriller. Must turn the page.

Slide into it easy folks,

Enjoy.

Playing For Change - Stand By Me

I'm still tearing up and I don't mind. Hat tip to Sumner at Meaningful Life for posting this video. This is a selection from the documentary "Playing for Change: Peace Through Music. This is a world wide collaboration of Ben E. King's Stand By Me.



I lost it when I saw the guy from New Orleans. When the brother from Amsterdam started wailing I was a lost cause. Everybody else in the video damn near broke my heart. Music can do that to you, hurt and heal at the same time.

There is a web site you can visit to get the full scoop. http://playingforchange.com
I don't know much more than that. When I can stop sniffing, I'll give it a look see.

5:43pm Update: Just learned from the Tweets that Bill Moyers interviewed Producer Mark Johnson about the documentary.

Declarations - Videos on Women's Voices on Voting

I want to start sharing some of the amazing documentation that is out their regarding problems with voting, independent voices and a reminder of a certain Declaration.

Voter Machine Problems In West Virginia
From West Virginia citizen Virginia Matheny tells of the problems she had with touch screen voting.



Independent Voter Voices
There are other political parties in America. And there are people to do not cleve to a specific political party. This is an opportunity to hear from Jackie Salit, with a potential new vision of participation of Independent voters.



Young People Speak Old Words
We finish with the next generation giving a recitation of some of the lines in the Declaration of Independence.

VoterEd CA - California State and Federal Voter Identification

This comes under the heading know before you go. You do not have to show identification before you cast a ballot in California. That does not mean that you will not be asked. Now all you have to do is produce your copy of the office Sample Ballot and Voter Instruction guide, flip it to the back cover and bada bing end of story. Your name, address and polling place appear, that means you are registered.

Well, no. If this is your first time or there is a problem you might need to show some form of identification. There are at least 30 forms of voter identification that is acceptable. You can check out Barclays Office California Code of Regulations located at the California Secretary of state web site. It is a .pdf file and just jump down a few pages to see the list.

Here is just a sample, the full list is in the .pdf:

(A) driver's license or identification card of any state;
(B) passport;
(C) employee identification card;
(D) identification card provided by a commercial establishment;
(E) credit or debit card;
(F) military identification card;
(G) student identification card;
(H) health club identification card;
(I) insurance plan identification card; or
(J) public housing identification card.

There is a heck of a lot more. Do not expect your poll worker to know all 30 forms of acceptable identification. Take no chances. And if you hear one giving misinformation to another person do the right thing and tell that person (or have a printout) of what is acceptable for casting a vote.

Know your rights, know the issues and then go vote.

Steal Back You Vote Video - Please Watch

It might be too late but at least you should double check to make sure that you can vote. If your are African-American, Latino/a American, Asian-American or you have a name that you have to spell more than three times make sure you can vote.

Hat Tip to Truth Out



Those that are in process of losing their homes, I know you have much more important things to think about and voting isn't one of them. But the bastards are kicking legal voters who are in foreclosure off the rolls and that isn't right. When you get settled get your registration taken care of, if you just got paroled in California you can vote if you registered.

Think of Florida. Think of Ohio. Not telling how to vote mind you That is up to you. Take it back. Take your country back!

High Fructose Corn Syrup Ads and Evaluating Information

The Corn Refiners Association currently has two TV commercials abut the consumption of High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS).  In this commercial we view a backyard party where two moms get to talking.

You can also view the ads at SweetSurprise.com set that was created to support the ad campaign.

Let me say to the food producers and refiners of American that I am quiet capable of expressing why I chose not to eat certain food products. I tend to use full sentences like “I don’t like the taste.”, “I don’t trust how it is made” or “When I eat that particular food I get a headache.”

The commercials are insulting and really underestimate the growing national concerns about the quality and safety of food products. That is how I feel. However I also need to find the facts to back up my feelings and perceptions.

So what I want to attempt to convey is a simplified way to research and learn about a product I only know from a consumer standpoint.

Questions and Identifying Sources

I start with my questions. My questions might be different from yours; you might know more about HFCS than I do. These are questions that I have from viewing the commercials.

• Is it a natural product? Is eating HFCS harmful?
• Why are they doing this now? HFCS has been on the market since the 1970s.
• How do I eat HFCS products in moderation?

When you start to look for information you want to get as close as you can to the primary source as possible. In this case the primary source happens to be the creator of the commercials.

(Note to Science folks, I know this means something different in your terminology but I’m going for a concept and I’m on the Library/Information Studies side of the fence.)

Now certainly I’m going to review the Sweet Surprise web site. At the FAQ page there is a list of statements made to support their belief that HFCS is a natural product, comparing the refinement to sugar and honey. There is also HFCS Facts.which is more of a trade organization and the actual Corn Refiners Association that gives the actual process in making HFCS:

High fructose corn sweeteners begin with enzymes which isomerize dextrose to produce a 42 percent fructose syrup. By passing 42-HFCS through a column which retains fructose, refiners draw off 90 percent HFCS and blend it with 42-HFCS to make a third syrup, 55-HFCS. Further processing produces crystalline fructose.

Yeah, that sounds like it was just plucked off the tree. I also learn that Americans are consuming at least 42 pounds of HFCS per year according to the Corn Refiners Association Web site.

Secondary Sources

Next I want to find secondary sources that take the information provided and evaluates, support or refute the claims and statements. At this point I’m looking for nutritionists, dietitians, scientists and similar authoritative sources.

• Katherine Zeratsky R.D. from the Mayo Clinic
• Medically Speaking from the University of Maryland Medical Center mp3 audio interview with Mary Beth Soldus
• Karen Collin on Sugar, corn syrup, or calories?
• Radhia Gleis Certified Clinical Nutritionist video called Conspiracy for Fat American and High Fructose Corn Syrup
• American Medical Association – The Health Effects of High Fructose Syrup 

Everybody Into The Pool

In this final stage I’m looking for folks that have a stake about the topic. I’m a little more open so I want to find those people that have health issues such as diabetics, food allergies, or those folks that are required or choice to be on a low carbohydrate diet. Also I want to hear from others that have something to say about the topic.

So I am reading an article from Lazslo Pentek, a Beekeeper  who has an opinion about HFCS.  Ed Brayton over at Scienceblogs on Government Subsidized Obesity, Debra at The Ethicurean on this specific ad campaign, The Organic Consumers Association article on Corn, Used and Abused.

I’m checking in with food bloggers like The Slow Cook who has thoughts about the FDA switch of allowing HFCS to be called natural when it initially said it was not.  Wannabegreen did a count of the number of  HFCS items in the cupboard. Karina’s Kitchen  writes about Sugar Blues and alternatives to Sugar. Marion Nestle on-going posts on high fructose corn syrup.

I could keep going but my fingers are cramping up.  

My point in doing this was to demonstrate that you can get the information that you need to make an informed decision about a topic. A positive from this silly campaign is the recognition that consumers have the power to let food producers know what they will and will not accept. Information, good. Misinformation, bad.

Is High Fructose Corn Syrup bad? From what I have read there isn’t enough legitimate research done to confirm or disprove. I do know that we are being involuntarily fed way too much sugar in products that we don’t expect to be loaded with sugar. But there is not one single reason for Americans packing on the pounds. However there is enought responsibility that both consumers and food producers need to step up and accept.

That is a rant for another time.

This post originally appeared on BlogHer.

A Million Dollars Without The Music Company or RIAA Having Boo To Say About It

I wake up. I'm feeling good cuz I had a full night sleep. I check my RSS fees for the latest action. I'm reading AppScout and not only is Virgin Mobile Canada exploiting the Spitzer situation but there are people who paid 98 cents to hear his fee for services bed partner "sing."

With her vocal chords. You can sing with other parts of you body but yeah; Two million people. She gets 70% of the total profit.

Me, I want to know exactly how much. So after I found out what is 70% of .98 cents I did the calculations and then cyphered up 0.686*2,000,000 downloads = $1,372,000. In the spirit of one of the classic video bloggers of all time Drinking With Bob I quote, "Are You Freaking Kidding Me"?

Now I'm not hating on her original choice of career. I'm all for it. If the market place wants to pony up pennies to hear what her mouth is doing when it is unoccupied with her other professional duties so be it. I just hope the girl opens a ING account.

Here is the other story being ignored. Besides banks violating your financial privacy and turning information over to the Feds.

Anybody with promotion, not talent can make money quickly independent of the recording companies. A chunk of cash. Over a million dollars worth of cash. No manager, no agent, no A/R or accounting or bookkeeping malfunctions.

Just a bit to the online distributor and the bulk of the cash to the performer. I've been saying this for years. I've been waiting for folks to catch on but I didn't think the example would come quite this way.

Viva la independence and keep those dental dams and condoms handy. Seriously, I give her major props for insisting on protecting herself. If any good comes out this it will be an increase in condom sales by those in the business and those of us just trying to get busy.

In Memory of Gospel of Colonus

3/16/09 Update - Had a rough week, needed a little touch-up. The DVD still rocks the house: love the part where Oedipus is trying to sing his way into Colonus.

10/17/2008 Update - Hell must have have froze over because WNET and PBS are releasing the DVD of the Philadelphia performance. By the time you read this I will have pre-ordered my copy from Amazon.com and will be dogging the UPS guy something fierce. Thanks so much to Ivan in Jersey for the head's up.

The following is my original post on the play. Sadly the YouTube link is history but hey, do the right thing and buy the DVD.

PBS Great Performances aired this play twice about 20+ years ago. It was an Off-Broadway play and a recording was made of one of the performances. For those that saw the play it invokes passion. Mr. Morgan Freeman is lyrical to the Nth degree as the Narrator.

Let me repeat this, this is a drama set to music based on the Greek story of Oedipus. It is not a gospel play. But this production had members of the Blind Boys of Alabama, J.J. Farley, Jevetta Steel, Sam Butler, Robert Earl Jones (with that wonderful voice) and a chorus that is just amazing.

In this selection, our man Oedipus has arrived at Colonus. He is petitioning for temporary residency. The locals are hesitant. These are the opening negotiations.



For those of you who have seen any version of the play I'm sorry to tell you that there is no legal DVD or VHS copy available. Even the bootleg action is kinda shaky. Um, not that I would know about that kind of thing.

I don't. Really. I got nothing for you. I checked the Great Performances' web site and in the FAQ they state that due to the cost of paying for clearances for the music and the performers there is no way for them to release it for sale.

PBS has no current plans to re-air the program. And after 20+ years I don't think they are about to budge on this point. Not that it hasn't stopped at bunch of you from asking. Myself included. But seriously, if they want to make some money re-run this at pledge time.

PBS said that a cast album is available on Amazon.com. You can hear other samples from the performance. I'm sure quiet a few folks have it on VHS tape in their closet from the original on air recording. Be very, very nice to those people.

And for the low life SOB that has taken another person's copy and didn't give it back a pox upon your soul.

Other Resources:

• Review of the play at Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway
• Wikipedia Citation of the Play with a brief description and song list
• IMDB page on the Gospel At Colonus

BlogHer Acts Global Health Initiative

September 3, 2007 Update. It has been decided that Maternal Health will be the focus of the BlogHer Acts Global Health Initiative.

For more information visit http://blogher.org/blghers-act-global-health-initiative-chosen

Prior post with voting chart removed:

Here ye, gather round and make your selection. Now is your opportunity to let your opinion be known about where the BlogHer women folk should direct their attention for the next year.

Men folk and Trans-gendered folks are welcome to participate but the goal is to find out which area we collectively can have on making a change to an existing need. We will find out if women focused action is all talk or can we move that mountain.

Or at least make one person's life better because of our actions.