Go Back

To the way things were. Many many nostalgic pictures. Enjoy. Read this fella's profile. Taking pictures since he was a very young boy.

Jr.

I just put a new favorite to the right. The Generator Blog. Go for it.

Some Unmerited Privilege

Some of us had all of these. Some of us had some. All of us had some.

The right place
The right time
The right era
The right daddy
The right mother
The right grandparents
The right schools (see daddy above)
The right IQ (see daddy, mother, grandparents above)
The right color
The right benefactors
The right scholarships
The right opportunities
The right connections
The right jobs
The right co-workers
The right team
The right family
The right friends

etc...

You get the point.

“All is grace.” – The last line of George Bernanos’ The Diary of a Country Priest”

Another Park, Another Sunday - The Doobie Brothers

Julie Stamm
Golden Gate Park

Fabulous! At least to me. I suppose it depends on where you "were" in 1974.

From their What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits album.

Stunning

Go To Church.

HT: Fred

For Your Edification

Heard on NPR today about a young rapper named "T-Pain" who is "all that" these days.

The subject turned to the massive amounts of money record companies make in selling ringtones, short clips of songs that can be downloaded to your phone. While the entire song will cost you $0.99, a ringtone runs $2.95!

Anyway...

From the story:

Ringtone expert: "People call them a personalization product. The ringtone is sort of making a statement to everyone around: 'Hey, this is what I'm all about."

Narrator: And T-Pain is singing about a lot of things that people want to be all about.

Ringtone expert: "His biggest tone to date that we've had is 'I'm N Love (Wit A Stripper)'."

That ringtone has been downloaded 5 million+ times at $2.95 a pop.

God bless America.

Nimoy Sings Rogers Sings Tillis

8 covers of "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To Town." And yes, one by Spock himself.

HT: Fred

After Being Away...

I thought I'd better make this good... or not, depending on your taste.

Led Zeppelin's Long Beach, CA concert from 1975. All for the taking. (Right click on song titles, Save Target As..."

"After finishing the first round of shows that year in the states, Robert Plant and his wife were in Greece on vacation when they got into a serious car accident. The injuries would force Led Zeppelin to put the tour on hold. The few early shows from that spring were all there would be. When the band returned more than a year later much of the magic was lost. This recording is Led Zeppelin at its peak!"

Classic Classic Rock.

HT: Fred

10

Michael Wade over at Execupundit has issued a brilliant list of 10 commandments for one of America's all-time greatest holidays. Obey!

In West Virginia for the long weekend. Posting will be nil or less. Cheers! Be thankful!

It's A Winner - Sort of JT Unplugged

James Taylor's "One Man Band," a new CD/DVD set of live recordings and the stories behind the songs. The set list is drawn from Taylor's recent concerts at the Colonial Theatre in the Berkshires and features new performances from some of the iconic singer/songwriter's most beloved recordings including "Something in the Way," "Carolina in my Mind," and "Fire and Rain," interspersed with Taylor's insightful and humorous anecdotes on the inspiration for the songs.

"This set is an intimate retrospective of 40 years worth of songs and the people, places and events that inspired them," said Taylor. "I am very grateful to Don Mischer, Sydney Pollack, and Hear Music for taking great care with what are very personal songs for me and my fans."

Pilgrim Joke

Q: Why did pilgrims have buckles on their hats?

A: Because the wanted them to match their shoes.

Multee Taskking Cood Bee Dumming Us Dowoon

Our cell phones and computers, says novelist Walter Kirn, had us convinced we could do five things at once. But neuroscience is now finding that the mental gymnastics required actually dumbs us down.

Posting about it here.

Article in Atlantic Monthly, November. (For subscribers.)

Big Yellow Taxi

Kat over at Keep the Coffee Coming has posted a great cover of the classic Joni Mitchell song by Counting Crows. Enjoy.

Tangled Web Woven

Quick and clever.

Short Attention Span Lit

A 55-word story every day. I didn't count the words, but the concept is cool.

The Church Secretary
by Colin Jaffe

"Sorry, Father Byerly only takes confession by appointment now."

"Seriously? Fine. When's free?"

"We're booked until Saturday at two."

"Saturday's fine."

"Name please?"

"Wait a minute. Shouldn't it be anonymous?"

"Well, you can't do appointments without names, can you?"

"Good point. Okay then. Umm... John. John Smith."

She sighed. "That's your eleventh confession this week, Mr. Smith."

(Sha)Zamzar

Anyone with even a little bit of geek in them simply must know about Zamzar. So here ya go. I tested it and it works well. Don't use it if you are in a hurry though. Converting a Word Document to a PDF took an hour or so. But there is no software to load. Huge number of file types that can be converted "from" "to."

HT: The Stingy Scholar

Pure Voice

Two from Anne Murray. Snowbird is just a great memory. I Believe in You is a Bob Dylan cover.


Snowbird


I Believe In You

Kevin Max - Platform

The Hound of Heaven comes to mind when I hear this song. It's a wonderful melody. From KMax's The Imposter album. 2005.

Brave New World is 75

Margaret Atwood in the Guardian discusses the prescience of Huxley's Brave New World after 75 years.

Meanwhile, those of us still pottering along on the earthly plane - and thus still able to read books - are left with Brave New World. How does it stand up, 75 years later? And how close have we come, in real life, to the society of vapid consumers, idle pleasure-seekers, inner-space trippers and programmed conformists that it presents?

The answer to the first question, for me, is that it stands up very well. It's still as vibrant, fresh, and somehow shocking as it was when I first read it.

The answer to the second question rests with you. Look in the mirror: do you see Lenina Crowne looking back at you, or do you see John the Savage? Chances are, you'll see something of both, because we've always wanted things both ways. We wish to be as the careless gods, lying around on Olympus, eternally beautiful, having sex and being entertained by the anguish of others. And at the same time we want to be those anguished others, because we believe, with John, that life has meaning beyond the play of the senses, and that immediate gratification will never be enough.

(Mash up graphic is mine.)

The Future of The Big Mac

You may just not need fries with "that." Scroll down.

HT: Grow A Brain

Realism

My creation.

1K

Celebrate with me my 1000th post. How can something so meaningless mean so much? To my uncountable (ok, maybe 3 or 4) non-readers across these fruited plains, thanks for dropping by. I love you guys! Regards, Eclecticity

The Hunt

My boy, a native son of Louisiana, got to spend 4 days with his uncle and cousins recently in the bayou hunting and fishing. Yes that would be some furry prey he's holding up proudly. He'll eat 'em too when prepared to his liking.

Enjoy

Waste some time with this. See it through. I haven't a clue about it, but it is amusing as hell.

Wrong Enlightenment Mountain

Steve Winwood - Why Can't We Live Together?

A great artist covers a great song. From his About Time album. 2003.

Songza: Do It.

Songza lets you listen to any song or band.

Search for it: It's that simple. Very cool.

Beware Be Very Aware

What is one to make of this? The average American will not care a whit about this. But if you are above average take a stab at interpretation like I will:

"WASHINGTON (AP) - As Congress debates new rules for government eavesdropping, a top intelligence official says it is time that people in the United States changed their definition of privacy.

"Privacy no longer can mean anonymity, says Donald Kerr, the principal deputy director of national intelligence. Instead, it should mean that government and businesses properly safeguard people's private communications and financial information. "

Full article here. "Intel Official: Expect Less Privacy"

My interpretation: First, most people do not equate privacy with anonymity, so he's setting up a straw man to knock down. I'll tell you my name, just stay out of my business, off my phone line(s), and what I do on the internet.

Second, he is basically saying the government can obtain and maintain as much information about your private communications and financial information that it wants. We're just supposed to "trust" that the government will keep it private for us - "properly safeguard it."

Yeah right.

Remember dear non-reader(s), the topic at hand is "government eavesdropping." Are we not all asleep? Does this sound like an American term to you?

HT: Vox Day. He has choicer words to say about all this.

Fishing For Color

On Cape Cod. By yours truly.

Too Bad, But Somebody Has To Do It

Gone for a few days. Posting may be sparse.

This is an "OH SHIT" if I've Ever Seen One

Here kitty kitty kitty.

Another Teddy Bear

"If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn't sit for a month. "

"The things that will destroy America are prosperity-at-any-price, peace-at-any-price, safety-first instead of duty-first, the love of soft living, and the get-rich-quick theory of life. "

Theodore Roosevelt

Whatever Happened To "Hugs Not Drugs?"

13 year old gets two days of detention for hugging.

HT: Drudge

Names For The Times

If the Beatles Were Born Today.

HT: Grow A Brain

From The New Sheldon Wet/Dry

And You Were Expecting Something Less?

These things must just come up randomly. But maybe ardent superficiality suggests some sort of high intelligence. Not!

Two By Donovan

I have been a music freak from a young age. I remember these from when I was 11 and they still affect me positively today.

Hurdy Gurdy Man

Lalena

A Slam Dunk Of Slam Dunks!

You have just got to see this.

Cat Eating

Just to set the record straight.

"Although Chinese do eat cats, this is a very rare practice. As stated the Chinese will on occasion eat cats, but they are an expensive delicacy and most of the Chinese I know have never eaten any in their entire lives nor do they really wish to. To slip cat meat into a pork dish is a little bit like slipping caviar into a hamburger under such circumstances. If a good quality Chinese restaurant were to ever serve a cat, it is much more likely that it would be done after hours to a special clientele consisting of Chinese. Most Chinese restaurant owners are fully aware that most Americans (rather ignorantly, I feel) become more excited over the mistreatment of cats than they do over the mistreatment of Chinese waiters and waitresses (a much more common and ugly practice in Chinese restaurants). Therefore, proprietors would take special care to hide such a meal from their neighbors and regular customers. In fact, just recently I offended a Chinese restauranteur by misusing my Mandarin Chinese abilities to attempt to order a bowl of dog soup in his establishment. He informed me, in no uncertain terms, that not only would he never serve dogs, as he would be closed instantly, but it was very unlucky to even speak of such things in his place!" Peter Huston

This from a guy who has eaten cat in China. Read the whole thing here.