Flippin' Kites

In Bb

2009-12-07T01:31:00.001-05:00

Technology is moving us further and further into the realm of life being played back to itself.....

Here is another example:

http://inbflat.net/

Dandelion - Caffeine Free Coffee Substitute

2009-11-23T23:13:00.003-05:00

new information provokes new interest...

so, I have known about the health benefits of dandelion for awhile, yes, I'm referring to that beautiful weed. for starters, if people are unaware, the leaves of the dandelion are totally edible and when raised as a crop versus just allowing the weeds to grow they produce beautiful nice sized leaves (this is also true for oats before they were considered to be grown as a crop, another topic). One of the main health benefits of dandelion is its ability to clean out and detox the liver, this is best done between the last 9 days of summer and the first 9 days of spring.

but, now the really cool part...

i found today you can also use dandelion root to make caffeine free coffee. in NYC, i might get hit over the head for even suggesting such sake religious ideas. For some however, a great tasting, caffeine free, coffee substitute, that is easy to make...might make some HOLLA! I haven't been able to make it yet, I went today to the farmers market, but they didn't have any.

Dandelion is best harvested in the early spring and late fall, so I'm a bit late, but I will keep searching, and if not, next spring...it is on.

Basically, you would get your dandelion root, cut it up, throw it in a food processor, toast it in the oven, put it in a jar, and make it the same way you would coffee or tea. you could also really grind it up into a powder and make it that way too. just throw on some boiling water and you are set.

here is the best website that i found if you are interested for better cooking instructions:

http://www.prodigalgardens.info/dandelion%20coffee.htm

As the Heart Turns....

2009-10-18T11:19:00.002-04:00

Incredible ingenuity.....

Heart-shaped art with gears

Swine Flu Vaccine Info

2009-10-18T11:17:00.002-04:00

Here is some interesting information regarding our friendly vaccination that the government is rushing to deliver us.

http://www.naturalnews.com/z026717_swine_flu_flu_vaccine_swine_flu_vaccine.html

It's all in the mind

2009-10-16T12:48:00.001-04:00

Taste the imagination......Believe in the rainbow

The Fastest Clapper in the World

2009-10-14T03:31:00.001-04:00

This is the fastest clapper in the world. Dig to the beat of his clapping hands.

Kent "Toast" French, The World's Fastest Clapper

Toast | MySpace Videos

The Vader Sessions

2009-10-08T08:52:00.001-04:00

Darth Vader finding his roots in the Vader Sessions.....

The Referendum

2009-10-08T06:06:00.001-04:00

Thank you Tina for sending me this article. I think it is an interesting read as a lot of my childhood friends and I are entering our early thirties. We are all versions of parallel universes the others chose not to take.

Tim Kreider's article is an interesting read. Also, if you have time, check out his web site (at the bottom of the article). His "enemies" list is very funny.

The Referendum

Yiddish with Dick and Jane

2009-09-27T05:17:00.001-04:00

Language learning made fun....

http://www.thepostmanscorner.net/da/movies5556.swf

Waterslide to the extreme

2009-09-19T03:08:00.002-04:00

A German man slides down a hill and off a ramp and lands in a special place. The mathematics involved must be immense.

http://www.microsoft.com/germany/aktionen/mach-es-machbar/en-us/default.aspx

Draining water in different hemispheres

2009-09-17T17:01:00.001-04:00

Ewan MacGregor shows us how water drains on different sides of the equator.

Doc Ellis' no Hitter on LSD in 1970

2009-09-10T11:20:00.001-04:00

I had never heard this story, and I think it is my favorite sports story of all time. Doc Ellis pitched a no-hitter on LSD in 1970.

Awesome...

I got it in the can

2009-09-10T11:14:00.000-04:00

This is just genius marketing.

Billie Jean by Adam Ben Ezra

2009-09-09T19:01:00.001-04:00

I started playing bass guitar a few months ago. Tehila asked if I could play the theme from Seinfeld. When I googled to hear it, I found this guy playing an incredible version of it. A friend then showed me this. I went to see ihm perform and he did the Billie Jean song live. Much, much better than the video. He played for an hour and a half, and it was one of the most entertaining shows I had ever seen.

Azrieli

2009-09-09T15:42:00.001-04:00

176
Originally uploaded by The Passing Strange

Tel Aviv has three towers known as Azrieli Towers. One is circular, one is a triangle, the third is a square. A photo I shot awhile ago.

My Favorite Things

2009-09-06T17:57:00.002-04:00

Coltrane is Coltrane, but listen to the band....McCoy Tyner and Elvin Jones....YEAH!

Sweet Child of iPhone

2009-09-06T17:55:00.003-04:00

Technology is leaping. Guitar Hero to the next level.

A Simple Plan

2009-08-26T09:42:00.002-04:00

From the T-Shirt company Threadless.

A Matter of Size

2009-08-26T09:08:00.004-04:00

Last week, Tehila and I went to the cinema and saw an Israeli movie called "Sipur Gadol" (Big Story). It's English name is "A Matter of Size." It won awards at the Tribecca Film Festival in New York. It really is one of the most pure comedic and fun pieces of cinema I've watched in a long time. I really enjoyed it. The Weinstwin Brothers are going to remake it for American audiences. I don't really think it is necessary, but I thought I'd post the trailer here. If you get a chance to check out the original before Hollywood redoes it to their tastes, I would reccomend it.

A matter of size
Uploaded by coolvibesinfo - Check out other Film & TV videos.

Unicorn Planet

2009-08-22T09:32:00.001-04:00

I know it's dumb, but I laughed outloud more than three times and needed to post Unicorn Planet.

How to Peel and Seed a Pomegranate

2009-08-22T08:15:00.002-04:00

How To Peel And Seed A Pomegranate - For more of the funniest videos, click here

Peeling and seeding a pomegranate always looked so difficult to me. I drink a lot of fresh juice here, but sometimes it's nice to munch on the seeds.

Zelda theme on the Theremin

2009-08-20T12:41:00.001-04:00

Theremin - Wiki - an early electronic musical instrument controlled without contact from the player. It is named after its Russian inventor, Professor Léon Theremin, who patented the device in 1928. The controlling section usually consists of two metal antennas which sense the position of the player's hands and control oscillators for frequency with one hand, and amplitude (volume) with the other. The electric signals from the theremin are amplified and sent to a loudspeaker.

Ants create a lifeboat in the Amazon jungle.

2009-08-10T09:18:00.001-04:00

Pretty amazing. Video showing an army nation of ants grouping together for survival. I think the best part, is how they do it, by linking their legs and arms. Pretty neat. And also, the vicious attack!!! ooo.... every good flick has to have the danger scene.

Martin Solveig - Jealousy

2009-08-08T07:40:00.002-04:00

Martin Solveig's 'Jealousy' is one of the funkiest tunes I've heard in awhile

no embedding:

Click here for Funky

G.I. Joe: Resolute

2009-08-07T17:02:00.002-04:00

The new G.I. Joe movie debuts today, and apparently it really sucks. Bad. As in, three seven year olds playing with toys could probably come up with a more convincing plot and more compelling acting. So, to pass the time, I found this series of animated shorts for GI Joe that was aired during Adult Swim on Cartoon Network and I thought I would post the first one on here. Just ya know, so we all don't get too bummed that Hollywood made a disappointing film about toys.

Meatloaf on the Old Grey Whistle Test

2009-08-07T12:26:00.002-04:00

Wow, pure emotion.....Meatloaf in his younger days. Their faces, their emotion, their energy. Unmatched......

Japanese Binocular Soccer

2009-08-05T09:30:00.001-04:00

This is what happens when Binoculars, a Soccer Ball, and the Alien-Nation of Japan Meet...It is something rather spiritual and magical!!

2009-08-04T12:58:00.002-04:00

This is a video showing Bansky sneaking his artwork into various museums in NYC and hanging his art on the wall.

Banksy's Site: http://www.banksy.co.uk/

Banksy as denoted by Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banksy

Picasso. in motion, painting on a glass wall.

2009-08-04T12:55:00.000-04:00

Vegetable Orchestra

2009-08-01T08:58:00.002-04:00

German orchestra that makes instruments from veggies......

Why I'm not Posting

2009-08-01T08:32:00.003-04:00

I thought a formal declaration was in order to explain my absence. I am currently traveling in England. I'm here for a yoga workshop (the official reason Tehila reluctantly agreed to my sojourn) in Oxford.

I flew into London, took the tube directly to Camden and within 120 seconds commenced drinking the fine, bitter, English ales of England.

And since then my life has been a blur, like a feather floating in the wind. A different couch (or floor) every evening. New pubs, new friends, new cities and towns.

Last night, while reading about the history of Oxford, I came across this and thought I'd share.

St. Scholastica Riot

Oxford Martyrs

St. Frideswide

Oxford is one of the more impressive cities I've ever been. It has stunning architecture, history, natural beauty, intellectual fortitude, intricate streets hiding faraway pubs, and happens to be one of the most multicultural places in the UK.

Cheerio good chaps, let's have another cup of tea....

Craig Ferguson explains why everything has gone wrong

2009-07-30T14:46:00.002-04:00

Mr. Ferguson is the host of the Late Late Show on CBS. He has sort of taken the late show monologue into new territory. I think he's pretty clever and also very personal. He once opened a show with a twelve minute long monologue on overcoming alcoholism and why he won't make fun of celebrities who are going through personal issues. Anyway, the last line here that gets bleeped out is "now we have the fucking Jonas brothers!"

Shatner covers Palin

2009-07-28T18:51:00.002-04:00

William Shatner reads verbatim a portion of former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin's resignation speech. I think Conan was right - she speaks in poetry!

Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britian

2009-07-28T15:11:00.001-04:00

The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain plays the theme from "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly".

KOW!

2009-07-28T04:57:00.001-04:00

KOW! is a band from central Florida. Unknowingly, we grew up with having one of the most impressive groups I've ever heard. They were just someone in our music scene. I still play KOW! for people, and they are always asking me where they can get some.....

Passing Legislation - KOREAN STYLE!

2009-07-25T10:29:00.002-04:00

In this interesting video clip, we see how the South Korean government follows the traditional democratic principle of brawling with fellow legislators in order to discuss and pass laws. If only we could be so organized in the United States, we might finally have something done regarding universal health care.

Watch the video here.

Berditschew - the exhibition

2009-07-23T03:40:00.004-04:00

Remembering Through Art: The creation of a “Mind-room” where the Past meets the Present …

Before 1941, Berditschew was the centre of Jewish culture in the Ukraine. Twenty thousnd Jews lived in the town when the German troops began their occupation.
When the town was liberated in 1944, fifteen Jews were still alive.
At a remote, unused airport runway, thousands of them were shot.
Between 2007 and 2009 the research team visited Berditschew regularly searching for information regarding the horrific events which had taken place.

The exhibition is not about the factual re-telling of events but rather seeks to engage the visitor on an emotional level through the combined use of photographs, moving pictures and sound.

http://www.berditschew.com/

Editing Sarah Palin

2009-07-21T17:14:00.002-04:00

This really sings to my heart. The Literary Editor of Vanity Fair takes the red pen to a recent speech by the famous ex-governor of Alaska. The difference is drastic. Although this copy is a bit like seeing sausages getting made, it is interesting to look at. And I applaud the editors for not trying to change the message of the Governor, but rather focusing strictly on syntax and grammar.

Read the edits here.

The Pen Story

2009-07-16T02:32:00.001-04:00

The PEN Story

Source: www.youtube.com

This is the PEN Story in stop motion. We shot 60.000 pictures, developed 9.600 prints and shot over 1.800 pictures again. No post production! Thanks to all the stop motion artists who inspired us.

History of the Wilhelm Scream

2009-07-15T04:31:00.003-04:00

And here is the history of the Wilhelm Scream. I can relate to what these directors feel. It was probably a lot more fun to use before everyone knew about it. Such is the way things are...

The Wilhelm Scream

2009-07-14T10:02:00.004-04:00

The Wilhelm Scream is a copy and paste job that sound editors have been throwing into movies since the 1950s. It's been used in over 130 movies and is a bit of a joke between Hollywood sound editors. It's interesting to see how there are little things hidden in plain sight.

New York City Cops Take Down Superman without Kryptonite

2009-07-11T06:06:00.003-04:00

Batman and the Statue of Liberty were involved too.....

Story

RoboGeisha

2009-07-08T16:04:00.000-04:00

I agree with Ed's last post. DANGER!!!

I'm not sure if this is a real movie or not, but I know what I'm buying Tehila for next Hanukkah.....Bust MachineGun

HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! Fried Shrimp...TENGU MILK!!!!!

ROBOGEISHA!!!!!

Danger!

2009-07-07T22:20:00.001-04:00

World Domination

2009-07-02T18:53:00.002-04:00

Forget about the Chinese.....Here's an article about a mega-colony of ants.

Ant mega-colony takes over world

Matt Walker
Editor, Earth News

A queen and worker Argentine ant have many, many relatives

A single mega-colony of ants has colonised much of the world, scientists have discovered.

Argentine ants living in vast numbers across Europe, the US and Japan belong to the same inter-related colony, and will refuse to fight one another.

The colony may be the largest of its type ever known for any insect species, and could rival humans in the scale of its world domination.

What's more, people are unwittingly helping the mega-colony stick together.

Argentine ants (Linepithema humile) were once native to South America. But people have unintentionally introduced the ants to all continents except Antarctica.

These introduced Argentine ants are renowned for forming large colonies, and for becoming a significant pest, attacking native animals and crops.

In Europe, one vast colony of Argentine ants is thought to stretch for 6,000km (3,700 miles) along the Mediterranean coast, while another in the US, known as the "Californian large", extends over 900km (560 miles) along the coast of California. A third huge colony exists on the west coast of Japan.

The enormous extent of this population is paralleled only by human society

Entomologists reveal the ant colony's true size

While ants are usually highly territorial, those living within each super-colony are tolerant of one another, even if they live tens or hundreds of kilometres apart. Each super-colony, however, was thought to be quite distinct.

But it now appears that billions of Argentine ants around the world all actually belong to one single global mega-colony.

Researchers in Japan and Spain led by Eiriki Sunamura of the University of Tokyo found that Argentine ants living in Europe, Japan and California shared a strikingly similar chemical profile of hydrocarbons on their cuticles.

But further experiments revealed the true extent of the insects' global ambition.

Read the rest of the article here.

Fireflies - Selection, Predators, Pulses and Light

2009-07-01T10:16:00.002-04:00

LINCOLN, Mass. — Sara Lewis is fluent in firefly. On this night she walks through a farm field in eastern Massachusetts, watching the first fireflies of the evening rise into the air and begin to blink on and off. Dr. Lewis, an evolutionary ecologist at Tufts University, points out six species in this meadow, each with its own pattern of flashes.

Along one edge of the meadow are Photinus greeni, with double pulses separated by three seconds of darkness. Near a stream are Photinus ignitus, with a five-second delay between single pulses. And near a forest are Pyractomena angulata, which make Dr. Lewis’s favorite flash pattern. “It’s like a flickering orange rain,” she said.

The fireflies flashing in the air are all males. Down in the grass, Dr. Lewis points out, females are sitting and observing. They look for flash patterns of males of their own species, and sometimes they respond with a single flash of their own, always at a precise interval after the male’s. Dr. Lewis takes out a penlight and clicks it twice, in perfect Photinus greeni. A female Photinus greeni flashes back.

“Most people don’t realize there’s this call and response going on,” Dr. Lewis said. “But it’s very, very easy to talk to fireflies.”

You can read the rest of the article here.

Koreans, stress, and death

2009-07-01T05:55:00.003-04:00

When living in Korea, I learned that it is not uncommon for Koreans to take their own lives. It felt like it happened much more than anywhere I had ever heard before. I wonder if these are the ties of Confucianism that are still connected to Korea's modern culture? That if one has lost respect, it is better to take one's life than live with shame.

Here are 3 recent stories I've read:

New York

Celebrities in the Media in Korea

Los Angeles

Polyglots

2009-06-26T18:42:00.002-04:00

One of the things that I've always wanted to do and I kick myself in the butt for not ever getting started on is learning another language. I feel like if I really just put some time into it, there are two or three languages that I could become proficient in, but unfortunately, I'm lazy. Then I heard about Sir John Bowring, a former British colonial governor of China who could reportedly speak 100 languages and had knowledge of 200+. I'm not sure whether that's true or not, but Wikipedia has a list of people who knew multiple languages. And I am impressed. Damn, I'm lazy!

Natural Processes

2009-06-23T17:04:00.001-04:00

Natural Processes
Originally uploaded by The Passing Strange

1,325 Views. Interestingly enough, this photo has the most views on my flickr account. The second place photo only has 792 views. Why are people so enamored with my elimination processes?

And if you zoom in real good, you can see a little extra special something. Thanks Ed for capturing this special moment of New Orleans oh so long ago....

What's your #1 on Flickr?

Ken Jacobs (score by John Zorn & Ikue Mori)

2009-06-23T04:56:00.007-04:00

The embedding not working, try this link :
http://www.ubu.com/film/jacobs_celestial.html

Ice Cream Truck

2009-06-22T18:21:00.001-04:00

It's SO hot in Florida right now...

(made by The Glue Society, an Australian artist/prankster outfit)

Hanging Out

2009-06-21T10:02:00.002-04:00

Nerd-In-Chief

2009-06-20T19:44:00.003-04:00

John Hodgman roasts President Obama at the Radio and TV Correspondents' dinner. Watch out for the D&D reference, Keith...

Board Game Olympics!

2009-06-19T11:39:00.002-04:00

Yesterday I attended the single best event I have been to since I have lived the past year of my life in NYC. the Board Game Olympics!! A group created by a few guys residing in Brooklyn, known as MetroMetro. They set up shop back in 2002 trying to establish more playing and less working in their lives. Their main gig is setting up all extensive city scavenger hunts, but have since expanded trying to incorpate new ideas ultimately expanding the vision and smaller locations of NYC.

Not only did I get to compete in Board Game mania, but I spent my first real night in Park Slope. Good people, good vibe, and best of all, no hipsters. It was perfect.

The teams were designed 4 to a team, with 12 teams competing. The games were as follows:

2 on 2 Jenga
Team Trivia Pursuit
Team Pictionary (it is amazing some of the things we had to draw, just for fun, try drawing Don King, or shallow) what a great game!!!!
1 on 1 Connect Four
1 on 1 Battle Ship
2 on 2 Memory
and for the final Team on Team Operation

My team, "In the Observatory with the Candlestick" tied for 4th, a place I am content with. We dominated pictionary, I single handedly destroyed a Kiwi in battleship, overall it was a beautiful thing.

I was recently mistaken about a week ago, stating to a friend that I needed to spend more time with children because I was craving some good old board gamage, when it was explained how wrong I was. That what I really needed was a dose of adulthood, that is where I would find my board gameing, nerd loving, feast...how true those words were.

Board Game Olympics was was like a dream in heaven!

Dental Tower

2009-06-19T11:27:00.000-04:00

Word Detective

2009-06-19T04:03:00.002-04:00

The Word Detective solves any mysteries concerning the origins of expressions and words.

http://www.word-detective.com/sitemap/

THe site contains alot of historical knowledge about some common and not-so-common words we use in the English language. I hope this solves some conundrums you might be having.

Mushfake

2009-06-19T04:00:00.003-04:00

In my academic studies, I came across this word: mushfake. Its common usage is when one takes an item and uses it for a purpose it wasn't intended. Such as when Uncle Buck uses a snow shovel to make giant pancakes in the movie "Uncle Buck."

I came across this web site:

http://www.mushfaketoday.org/

It's a program promoting the arts for inmates in prison. I thought the concept of the word and the intention behind this program deserved some flippinkites attention.

Be creative - Mushfake today!

Furoshiki

2009-06-15T09:01:00.003-04:00

Furoshiki is a technique of folding cloth in order to produce functional equipment. It is a Japanese invention, and strikes me as much like origami. I could see busting out some of these techniques with a towel in a MacGuyver-like situation, so I'm furiously taking notes...

Obama Scales Back His Plans

2009-06-09T14:47:00.001-04:00

After visiting a Denny's, President Obama has decided to change many of the priorities of his administration.

Obama Drastically Scales Back Goals For America After Visiting Denny's

Being Born Backwards by Woody Allen

2009-06-06T07:56:00.002-04:00

He makes a strong case.....Click on the image to see it more clear.

Who Pooped?

2009-06-05T10:03:00.002-04:00

The Minnesota Zoo has created this fun website that teaches kids about animal digestive habits. Fun and informative!

http://whopooped.org

Steve Martin's First Film: The Absent-Minded Waiter

2009-06-05T06:40:00.003-04:00

He wrote it and starred in it. Buck Henry and Teri Garr also act in it. It was nominated by the Academy Awards as best short film in 1977.

Acoustical Liberation of Books in the Public Domain

2009-06-04T04:13:00.002-04:00

LibriVox: free audiobooks

LibriVox volunteers record chapters of books in the public domain and release the audio files back onto the net. Their goal is to make all public domain books available as free audio books.

http://librivox.org/

Many languages.
Not the most flexible search tool, but for free....

Volunteer to record if your language or preferred genre of literature is underrepresented.

All in the Family

2009-06-03T05:50:00.003-04:00

Interesting tidbit I learned recently. Berry Gordy, the founder of Motown, and Jimmy Carter, the 39th president of the United Sates, are half cousins. Both of them are sixth cousins to Elvis Presley.

We are, truly, all interconnected...

Comparisons to 1930

2009-06-03T03:19:00.006-04:00

This blogger is summarizing the Wall Street Journal each day for the corresponding day in 1930.
You may draw from it what you will, and learn some history in the process...

(this is a new blog so it is only one day so far)

http://newsfrom1930.com/

Skif Dank Article

2009-05-29T13:39:00.001-04:00

Ed sent me this link about a band we grew up going to see. Over the years we've become friends with them, and on their new album, I'm playing some trumpet parts. I thought the article should be displayed here. World, I give you Skif Dank!:

Skif Dank still poppin' up on local punk scene

Written by: News-Journal Editor
May 28, 2009 10:53 AM | No Comments

Now we know -- Pete Townshend was just kidding when he penned "Hope I die before I get old" way back in 1965. Right, Pete?

Back then Townshend was a 20-year-old pup of a rocker. Do the math: Pete is now past the age of eligibility to sing the Beatles' "When I'm 64."

Here's what Marc Tomestic, drummer with the Daytona Beach rock/ska-punk/pop-punk band Skif Dank, had to say about the "O" thing: "I have contrasting thoughts. I feel old and I am old ... there aren't many bands around here who've been together as long."

That was Tomestic when I interviewed him in January 2000, for a story about how Skif Dank not-so-suddenly found themselves to be THE veteran rock band on the local original music scene.

If band years were calculated like dog years (and they should be), then Skif Dank is now 112 years old.

These days the Dank includes two members who were there when the band first pumped plutonium pellets into their horns and guitars back in 1993: Tomestic and singer-guitarist Billy Bradford. They'll be in action with longtime Dank trombone player Jon "Ceesaw" Cecil and a few new mates as Skif Dank performs at 9 p.m. May 30 at Jack's Stadium Sports Bar and Grill, 2225 S. Ridgewood Ave., South Daytona.

No, Skif Dank hasn't gigged continuously since forming in the era when grunge and Lollapalooza ruled the rock 'n' roll universe. They disbanded in August 2000, played a reunion gig two years later and have been performing and recording intermittently (OK, erratically) ever since.

Still, to put Skif Dank's achievement in perspective, consider: Subtract those two years between breakup and reunion, and the Dank's run is still twice as long as Nirvana's stay on this planet, and two years longer than Led Zeppelin's reign.

The Dank have been a monument to local rock 'n' roll two years longer than the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's museum has existed in Cleveland.

During the first leg of its run (1993-2000), Skif Dank released five independent recordings, toured the country seven times, won two Orlando Music Awards, and kept the banner of original rock flying over Daytona Beach for a longer period than almost any other band.

And they did it all while having to keep their feet in the real world of day jobs and bills due -- which to my mind says something about Bradford, Cecil and Tomestic's rock 'n' roll hearts.

It's one thing for the Mick Jaggers and the Pete Townshends of the world to keep sloggin' on (may the rock gods of Valhalla bless 'em). It's quite another to stare at your busted guitar amp and decide to log a few thousand more miles on your car's bald tires so that you can repair the amp before your next gig.

Of course, all this talk about Skif Dank's longevity would be hollow if their music sucked.

I've been fortunate to hear tracks from the band's upcoming new album. Such awesome, caffeine-laden new songs as "I Got Mine," "Little" and "1KMPH" will make Townshend shake his cane in ska-punk/pop-punk ecstasy.

"Enjoy yourself -- it's later than you think," Tomestic wrote in a recent e-mail to friends and fans announcing this weekend's Skif Dank show.

Now that's a more worthy rock 'n' roll credo than "Hope I die before I get old."

Bob Dylan's John Brown

2009-05-26T07:09:00.002-04:00

I never heard this before last night. Bob Dylan........

Alan Watts on Psychedelics

2009-05-25T11:56:00.002-04:00

"When you get the message, hang up the phone."

I couldn't have said it better. Thank you, Mr. Alan Watts

Land fantasy

2009-05-22T05:56:00.001-04:00

Sand Fantasy

2009-05-20T05:24:00.001-04:00

Ilana Yahav is a sand artist. She uses light boards and sand to make motion art. I watched a few of of her creations, and I was so relaxed watching her art. Here is one entitled "Green Dream." Her other work is equally as peaceful.

Information Age Prayer

2009-05-16T05:45:00.001-04:00

For all those lazy religious zealots: INFORMATION AGE PRAYER

I like how they sell religious packages.

From the website:

About Information Age Prayer

Information Age Prayer is a subscription service utilizing a computer with text-to-speech capability to incant your prayers each day. It gives you the satisfaction of knowing that your prayers will always be said even if you wake up late, or forget.

We use state of the art text to speech synthesizers to voice each prayer at a volume and speed equivalent to typical person praying. Each prayer is voiced individually, with the name of the subscriber displayed on screen.

At Information Age Prayer we think our service should be used like a prayer supplement, to extend and strengthen a subscriber's connection with God. Traditional prayer is an integral part of this connection and should never be forgone, even after signing up.

You can subscribe for yourself, or you can purchase a subscription as a gift to friends or family.

Best tune of the eighties

2009-05-15T07:52:00.001-04:00

If you don't know TuxedoMoon, you should be aware that not only they played music in the eighties, but they are its best expression. I'm always amazed at this tune whenever i listen to it. Do you like it ?

Bobby on Improvisation

2009-05-14T08:52:00.003-04:00

Thanks Hamutzi for sending that link over. I've been a big fan of McFerrin's ever since I found one of his albums ("Paper Music") many years ago. It's one of his first classical albums where he is combining vocal music with orchestration and taking his first steps as a classical conductor. In my mind, he was always that guy he did "Don't Worry, Be Happy." That album opened me up to what an incredible force he is musically.

I was phishing around his site and read what he wrote on improvisation. As an educator, theatrical improviser, and aspiring musician, I can really connect into what he's pointing towards.

Here it is:
I am passionately committed to improvisation, and don't think that any music student in the country should be allowed to graduate unless they've studies it for a term, a year. They need to get back to their own music making, get past the paper. Mozart, Bach, Beethoven - they were all great improvisers. What we have now has been written down, and we forget that it began as improvisation. In some ways, the best part of their music making has been lost.

Improvisation is basically movement - the courage to take steps. You play one note. And then you play another note. That's it. You just keep going. They don't have to go together melodically, or be in a scale; movement is the important thing. You don't have to know anything about theory, you don't have to know what you're doing. Kids don't. Three, four, five year old kids don't know any music theory when they sing. They don't know what a 'picardi third' is. They don't know what an 'Ionian mode' is. Or a 'Dorian mode'.
Major minor thirds. They just sing.

When you get older, it's harder and harder to improvise. Part of the problem is that judgmental voice that says what you're doing doesn't sound right. I used to have students do drawings of their own 'judges' - and then we'd crumple them up and throw them into the trash. We all have these thoughts, these inhibitions. I had them too; I had to 'exorcise my demons'.

When I was developing my own approach to improvisation, the only thing I had to practice was getting over the fear of doing it. I think that's the only thing that really hampers people from improvising: they're just afraid of looking like a fool or not having enough ideas. It's a risk. Most people are afraid of it. It's like opening a door to a dark room and going in. You don't know what you'll find. But I find that fascinating.
The best way to start improve is to just do it. sing . Improvise every day for about ten minutes. Get a cooking timer, set it up for ten minutes and go. At the end of two minutes you're going to start getting very, very bored. Two minutes are going to go by and you're going to think, 'What is this all about? I don't know how to do this; I don't know what I'm doing, etcetera, etcetera.' Keep going. Don't stop. It's like Natalie Goldberg's book, Writing Down the Bones: keep your hands moving. It's the same with improvisation. Just keep going. Even if you're just singing one note. Go for ten minutes and don't stop. That's it. You just move. Just keep moving. Motion.

You can talk about structure, making it last longer, but you have to start with those first steps. Some people freeze up and stand there, thinking they have nothing to play. You've got everything to play: your morning breakfast cereal, the misunderstanding you had with your teenage son last night before you went to bed, your emotions - you can lay them all!

It doesn't matter where you land. Just the act of leaping is where it's at for me. That's the big lesson: the process. I've heard this from all kinds of people who call themselves artists - that it's not so much the final result, it's the joy of the journey that's the important thing.

voice layers of Bobby McFerrin - Don't worry Be happy

2009-05-14T04:42:00.004-04:00
Bobby McFerrin is one of these musicians that somehow are not well known by many people. It might be because people - at least many that I know of - raise their music taste on their first 20th-30th years of youth...

People who study at music schools - they all know Bobby McFerrin, that - much as Stevie Wonder - did wonders to harmonies and nowadays music (and still do).

His website includes a "play ground" for two of his songs, where you can add the layers of the music (all made by his lips, no instruments) - one by one, and understand the beauty of harmoni...
LINK - check it out...

Bubble Wrap

2009-05-13T19:41:00.002-04:00
Here's a website that lets you pop that bubble packaging wrap. Fun for hours!

Only in America

2009-05-13T15:42:00.003-04:00
I don't even want to tell you what this web site is selling. You have to see for yourself.

http://inventedbyamother.com/

I'm just shocked. My jaw is open, and I'm not quite sure about the universals anymore - gravity, the speed of light, there being a Law & Order episode on TV anytime of day.

Land of 1,000 Dances and WWE

2009-05-12T08:27:00.002-04:00
At the request of Keith...

The Grant Study

2009-05-12T08:20:00.003-04:00
The Grant Study is a longitudinal study of Harvard graduates from the 1940s that tracked many of them their entire lives. Its purpose was to learn about the lives of these men, but it ended up revealing many complexities in the human condition - what makes us happy and how do we survive through suffering. It's a long article, but very interesting. A person's life and perspective can be completely different (and often is completely different) at age 20, 40, 50, even to the 80s.

Link.

Let's Get Happy

2009-05-07T09:11:00.002-04:00

Time just published the 100 most influential people of our time. This was a link sent to me from a dear friend of mine, Ben, who said I helped him become happy through his friendship with me. I thought I'd pass this on. Let's get happy, people!
Nicholas Christakis

By Dan Ariely

Social scientists used to have a straightforward, if tongue-in-cheek, answer to the question of how to become happy: Surround yourself with people who are uglier, poorer and shorter than you are — and who are unhappily married and have annoying kids. You will compare yourself with these people, and the contrast will cheer you up.
Nicholas Christakis, 47, a physician and sociologist at Harvard University, challenges this idea. Using data from a study that tracked about 5,000 people over 20 years, he suggests that happiness, like the flu, can spread from person to person. When people who are close to us, both in terms of social ties (friends or relatives) and physical proximity, become happier, we do too. For example, when a person who lives within a mile of a good friend becomes happier, the probability that this person's good friend will also become happier increases 15%. More surprising is that the effect can transcend direct links and reach a third degree of separation: when a friend of a friend becomes happier, we become happier, even when we don't know that third person directly.

This means that surrounding ourselves with happier people will make us happier, make the people close to us happier — and make the people close to them happier. But social networks don't transmit only the good things in life.

Christakis found that smoking and obesity can be socially infectious too. If his thesis proves out, then the saying that you can judge a person by his or her friends might carry more weight than we thought.

Miracle II Soap

2009-05-06T10:40:00.001-04:00
http://www.miraclesoap.com

Divine inspiration led Clayton Tedeton directly to the formula for his original Miracle II Soap and thousands of satisfied users have discovered a multitude of uses. They say it works wonders! Over the past two decades, a host of products emerged from that same inspiration; each miraculous in its own way.

Here is Clayton Tedeton's story, in his own words...

Testimony
of Clayton Tedeton
God's Faithful Servant

It was God who gave me the formula for the Amazing Miracle II Soap. I awoke one night in July, 1980, to see names of minerals all miraculously flashed on my bedroom wall, along with the formulas on how to mix them.

I had been talking to God and He was talking to me. My wife would hear me talking and would ask, "Clayton, what in the world is going on?" And I would tell her, "I don't know, I cannot explain to you what is happening in my life."

I talked to God and He said, "I AM GOING TO GIVE YOU SOMETHING THAT EVERY PERSON THAT I HAVE CREATED ON THIS EARTH WILL NEED, AND AS LONG AS YOU GIVE ME THE GLORY, YOU WILL PROSPER AND SEE MY GLORY." One day later at 1:00 a.m., the formulation for Miracle II was miraculously flashed on my bedroom wall. The days following this I began to assemble and mix this product. The voice of God told me what to name it and how to package it.

As time passed and all this time the voice of the Lord was saying, "IT'S TIME TO GO TO WORK." At this time, I did not know exactly what to do.

In December 1980, I talked to the Lord and said, "I have got to have instructions so that this product can be used." A day later the Lord instructed me to take some of this product to a woman and tell her to use it for everything. I did not know the lady at this time. After three days, she called me and said, "Every time I use this product, the strangest things happen to me, I'm going to have to pray about this."

On the 17th day of April 1982 at 9:00 a.m., the lady called me and said, "Mr. Tedeton, for the last two months the Lord has instructed me to write a set of instructions for that product that you brought me. When can you come and pick them up." That day I picked up the instructions and that same day the voice (which I know to have been God), said "YOU CAN RECEIVE WHAT YOU HAVE ALWAYS DESIRED - CONTENTMENT AND PEACE IN YOUR SOUL."

Langston Hughes' "The Negro Speaks of Rivers"

2009-05-04T11:03:00.002-04:00

The Negro Speaks of Rivers

I've known rivers:
I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the
flow of human blood in human veins.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.
I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.
I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.
I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln
went down to New Orleans, and I've seen its muddy
bosom turn all golden in the sunset.

I've known rivers:
Ancient, dusky rivers.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

1,000 True Fans

2009-04-29T08:14:00.002-04:00
Kevin Kelly is a tech-thinking guy who founded Wired Magazine and has done lots of writing about technology over the years. One of his thoughts that I just came upon has to do with the distribution of work by artists. He thinks it is possible for artists to have just 1,000 True Fans to make a living. What's a 'True Fan'?

A True Fan is defined as someone who will purchase anything and everything you produce. They will drive 200 miles to see you sing. They will buy the super deluxe re-issued hi-res box set of your stuff even though they have the low-res version. They have a Google Alert set for your name. They bookmark the eBay page where your out-of-print editions show up. They come to your openings. They have you sign their copies. They buy the t-shirt, and the mug, and the hat. They can't wait till you issue your next work. They are true fans.

He goes on to say that much of this requires a lot of direct fan contact management, which requires taking advantage of lots of the new technologies for keeping people updated with your biz, like Twitter and Facebook. Keep them engaged, let them know what you're doing, and keep them hungry.

It's an interesting read, with lots of interesting comments to the post. Give it a look here.

my first dictionary

2009-04-28T06:36:00.005-04:00

http://myfirstdictionary.blogspot.com/

this blog is fantastically awful...
The Gashlycrumb tinies is the only thing with which i can compare it.

Friendship leads to longer life

2009-04-27T09:27:00.002-04:00
I saw this article in the NY Times about how the benefits of friendship are largely unstudied, especially compared to family relationships. I have been very lucky to have some great friends in this lot in life, and those relationships have for sure been great for my own well-being. I particularly enjoyed this quote from the article:

Last year, researchers studied 34 students at the University of Virginia, taking them to the base of a steep hill and fitting them with a weighted backpack. They were then asked to estimate the steepness of the hill. Some participants stood next to friends during the exercise, while others were alone.

The students who stood with friends gave lower estimates of the steepness of the hill. And the longer the friends had known each other, the less steep the hill appeared.

Link to article.

John Jordan "Buck" O'Neil

2009-04-26T11:31:00.003-04:00
"Buck" O'Neil was named the first black coach in the major leagues by the Cubs in 1962. He was an incredible baseball player in the organization of Negro League Baseball. Last year, Ed told me about a site called American Rhetoric. I've had his speech on my computer for awhile, and I love listening to it. Everything I read about the guy is inspiring. He gave so much back to baseball, blacks, and communities he worked in. Truly inspiring human being.

Here is the link to his American Rhetoric site with the speech I love:

"Buck" O'Neil

Lucille

2009-04-22T16:35:00.001-04:00
A young Little Richard rocking all the "hip" white kids. I appreciated the choreographed steps of the band. He was punk rock before punk rock knew it was punk rock.

Agglomeration

2009-04-20T22:14:00.003-04:00
Word of the day for me: Agglomeration. An agglomeration is basically the word we use when we talk about a 'metro area'.

I thought this was an interesting list of the largest urban agglomerations in the world. It's amazing so many people can live together.

A day in the life of a middle class republican

2009-04-19T11:18:00.002-04:00
This came out several years ago, but in this day where we are having "Tea Party" tax protests around the country, I saw it and thought it was worth thinking about again.

-----

Joe gets up at 6:00am to prepare his morning coffee. He fills his pot full of good clean drinking water because some liberal fought for minimum water quality standards. He takes his daily medication with his first swallow of coffee. His medications are safe to take because some liberal fought to insure their safety and work as advertised.

All but $10.00 of his medications are paid for by his employers medical plan because some liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance, now Joe gets it too. He prepares his morning breakfast, bacon and eggs this day. Joe’s bacon is safe to eat because some liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry.

Joe takes his morning shower reaching for his shampoo; His bottle is properly labeled with every ingredient and the amount of its contents because some liberal fought for his right to know what he was putting on his body and how much it contained. Joe dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air he breathes is clean because some tree hugging liberal fought for laws to stop industries from polluting our air. He walks to the subway station for his government subsidized ride to work; it saves him considerable money in parking and transportation fees. You see, some liberal fought for affordable public transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor.

Joe begins his work day; he has a good job with excellent pay, medicals benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because some liberal union members fought and died for these working standards. Joe’s employer pays these standards because Joe’s employer doesn’t want his employees to call the union. If Joe is hurt on the job or becomes unemployed he’ll get a worker compensation or unemployment check because some liberal didn’t think he should loose his home because of his temporary misfortune.

Its noon time, Joe needs to make a Bank Deposit so he can pay some bills. Joe’s deposit is federally insured by the FSLIC because some liberal wanted to protect Joe’s money from unscrupulous bankers who ruined the banking system before the depression.

Joe has to pay his Fannie Mae underwritten Mortgage and his below market federal student loan because some stupid liberal decided that Joe and the government would be better off if he was educated and earned more money over his life-time.

Joe is home from work, he plans to visit his father this evening at his farm home in the country. He gets in his car for the drive to dads; his car is among the safest in the world because some liberal fought for car safety standards. He arrives at his boyhood home. He was the third generation to live in the house financed by Farmers Home Administration because bankers didn’t want to make rural loans. The house didn’t have electric until some big government liberal stuck his nose where it didn’t belong and demanded rural electrification. (Those rural Republican’s would still be sitting in the dark)

He is happy to see his dad who is now retired. His dad lives on Social Security and his union pension because some liberal made sure he could take care of himself so Joe wouldn’t have to. After his visit with dad he gets back in his car for the ride home.
He turns on a radio talk show, the host’s keeps saying that liberals are bad and conservatives are good. (He doesn’t tell Joe that his beloved Republicans have fought against every protection and benefit Joe enjoys throughout his day) Joe agrees, “We don’t need those big government liberals ruining our lives; after all, I’m a self made man who believes everyone should take care of themselves, just like I have”.

By John Gray of Cincinnati, Ohio, July 2004
http://tvnewslies.org/html/day_in_the_life_of_joe_middle-.html

Heavy Metal

2009-04-18T16:36:00.001-04:00
My mom had a mouth full of amalgam. She has/had so many bizarre health problems. She wound up going to a dentist who believed in natural healing and recommended that the metal come out of her mouth - that it might be poisoning her. She had all the metal removed and her health improved dramatically.

FutureMe.org

2009-04-16T10:23:00.002-04:00
Do you wonder how this is all going to turn out?

Do you want to to reconsider, next year - but with the perspective of today, how this current crisis, illness, relationship, move, concert, whatever will affect you?

FutureMe.org is a website where you can write a letter to your *future* self now, and have it show up in your email box next week, next year, 3 years from now....

The Voca People

2009-04-13T11:52:00.000-04:00
All vocal work

MBT Shoes

2009-04-12T06:27:00.003-04:00
A friend of mine called me today and toldme about these new shoes. They're called MBT (Masai Barefoot Technology) Shoes. The concept is pretty interesting.

Hemp Oil

2009-04-12T06:25:00.001-04:00
Here's a video about the potential healing effects of hemp oil.

Happy Passover !

2009-04-08T03:05:00.004-04:00

"Et la fin du repas indique qu'il a bouclé la boucle, qu'il a fermé le
cercle dans l'espace." A. Artaud, Héliogabale.

i.e. : "And the end of the meal indicates that he looped the loop,
that he closed the circle in space. " A. Artaud, Héliogabalus.

Los Pikadientes De Caborca

2009-04-07T18:32:00.003-04:00
So there are these guys in a Mexican band that recorded a song on their home laptop and handed it out to their friends via memory stick and bluetooth as a cellphone ringtone. Their friends passed it around so much that the song became popular and eventually was played on local radio stations across Sonora, Mexico and people uploaded videos of themselves dancing to the tune on YouTube. One thing led to another and they got a record deal from Colombia.

Click here for the video.

Apparently passing songs by cellphone works in these communities because they have a low rate of computer ownership, broadband access, credit card possession, and itunes accounts. But they do have pre-paid cellphones with bluetooth, so there is a very distributed network there for sharing information and music. I remember seeing people in the Philippines share information on their phones with each other and use them like laptops.

Although it looks like we're breaking away from the corporate music model, when compared to the potential growth of this distributed phone model, are we actually getting anywhere? People use ipods, but they can't talk to each other. I see local music around town and people are still selling CDs...a twenty year old technology. If I want to share it with my friends, I have to take the cd home, burn it to a computer and fileshare it from there, where I could possibly be ratted out by my internet service provider to the RIAA. Or I make copies of the CD to distribute to friends, or I buy more CDs. It'll be interesting to see where things go in the future.

Music Table

2009-04-02T09:23:00.002-04:00
I don't exactly know what's going on here, but I think I like it. This device, which is supposed to be going into production soon, is a table that reacts to the blocks that are put onto it. It creates music based upon the orientation and placement of the different blocks. I love living in the future.

Buddhist!

2009-03-30T23:25:00.003-04:00

from explosm.net

Popularity Dialer

2009-03-30T23:21:00.002-04:00
Have you ever felt like you needed to receive a phone call to your cellphone in a crowd just to feel important? Well, now you can arrange for your phone to be called anytime you like. And a recorded message will be played that sounds like an actual phone conversation in case anybody is trying to listen in on your phone call (or for those with the volume too loud). One of the interesting things about people is that the more new things we discover, the more new ways we find to maintain the old lies.

Rock-afire Explosion

2009-03-28T16:23:00.004-04:00
The Rock-afire Explosion was the robot band that performed at Showbiz Pizza during the 1980s. I remember them from birthday parties held at Showbiz Pizza when I was growing up in New York. Apparently the company that made them still programs them and they started releasing videos to Youtube...here's a Nine Inch Nails performance. It's bizarre...

Louis C.K.

2009-03-23T10:32:00.002-04:00
I think Louis C.K. one of the funnier comics on the scene today. He had a small TV show a few years ago that I thought was raw, intelligent and funny. Like all good shows, the network canceled it. I was surfing the web and came across a clip and wanted to post it. I'm not sure if it's the funniest clip, but it's a start.