Test Your Awareness : Whodunnit?

Test your Awareness with Do The Test's Whodunnit. Who Killed Lord Smithe? How observant are you? How did you do? www.dothetest.co.uk

Milgram Revisited

Four Decades After Milgram, We???re Still Willing to Inflict Pain: "If this is how most people behave, how do we prevent more Holocausts, Abu Ghraibs and other examples of wanton cruelty? Part of the answer, Professor Burger argues, is teaching people about the experiment so they will know to be on guard against these tendencies, in themselves and others.

An instructor at West Point contacted Professor Burger to say that she was teaching her students about his findings. She had the right idea ??? and the right audience. The findings of these two experiments should be part of the basic training for soldiers, police officers, jailers and anyone else whose position gives them the power to inflict abuse on others."

To be fair to our humanity, we also now know a large and significant percent of the original participants did NOT comply, and more still were weeded out because they MAY not; choice was always an option and the danger was mostly when we believed the lab-coat knew more than we did about what was 'safe', so it's not a question of inherent cruelty per-se, but primarily one of trust (again!)in our information sources.

There's Me And There's You

The Matthew Herbert Big Band - There's Me And There's You: Matthew Herbert writes "In an age of such infinite and brilliant possibilities of technique, combined with the urgent politics of now, why have music and musicians lost the urge to challenge, investigate, invent and unite? Without the backbones of principle and enquiry, music is sounding more and more like the background to a non-stop Ford commercial"

"we, the undersigned, believe that music can still be a political force of note, and not just the soundtrack to over-consumption" -- if he can generalize that if-or-else to "healing force" (ie Yue) then I'm with him 100%

Evolution???s Empirical Conundrum

Ontogeny, Phylogeny, Teleology and Evolution???s Empirical Conundrum: "Darwinism includes no anticipatory mechanism whereby genes needed in the future would be present, though dormant, in ancestors. Only a teleological theory would predict an anticipatory genome. Anticipatory evidence would suggest a pre-coded program underlying the process of multi-generational morphological diversification.

And this is precisely what we observe ..."

The World of Tomorrow

The World of Tomorrow, 30 years before Apollo 8 first circled the moon (which was 40 years ago today) -- note the cameo staring Elektro; the first android was last spotted in the 1960 Mamie Van Doren film "Sex Kittens Go to College" (find it on youtube with a search ;)

The future is not what it was. Never has been.

Candy Canes Fight Germs

Discovery News: "Peppermint has long been touted as a digestive aid, but new research shows just how potent a bacteria-buster it is ...

While peppermint's germ-killing powers have been previously documented, the new study is the first to report the antimicrobial activity of two other mint family members -- Mentha villosa and Faassen's catnip -- along with another non-mint herb, bluebeard.

Essential oils for horseradish, garlic, hyssop, basil, marjoram, oregano, winter savory, and three types of thyme also showed potent bacteria-busting abilities."

when exactly did we stop ritualizing the use of things that were good for us, and become obsessed with pursuing foods and goods that would kill us instead?

Mistletoe Meds Fight Cancer

Discovery News: "Another reason to celebrate under the mistletoe this holiday season is that researchers have just determined a medicine made out of fermented mistletoe (Iscadore) may prolong the lives of cancer patients.

The plant is Viscum album, the most common holiday mistletoe of Europe, and the species that first inspired the tradition of couples sharing a kiss under its evergreen leaves and waxy berries."

Curiously I was unable to locate any mistletoe anywhere around town; there was some questionably botanically accurate plastic sprigs at the Dollarama, but once upon a time you could actually buy mistletoe, and for years I had a preserved sprig that we'd put up each year, until that one year we forgot to pack it away and said, "that's ok, we'll put it someplace safe for now, and put it with the other xmas stuff later."

Songs of Christmas

Alan Lomax Collection - Songs of Christmas: "Some of these rhymes, bits of plays, songs, dances, etc go back hundreds or thousands of years. I wouldn't really want to listen to this album a lot, but it's fascinating to hear this stuff once or twice (or perhaps once a year). A couple of the tunes though, are totally captivating and unlike anything I've ever heard (and I've heard a lot of things). It can transport you to another time and place, when we really experienced the dark of winter and embraced its impenetrable stygian gloominess at the same time that we called forth to the return of effulgent daybreak."

From Rounderstore: "Songs of Christmas From the Alan Lomax Collection was recorded by Alan Lomax and several of his colleagues in Britain, Ireland, Italy, Spain, the Southern U.S. and the Caribbean between 1950 to 1964. At the time, commercial forces were overwhelming local traditions, and many folk cultures stood on the brink of great upheavals that would forever alter their ways of life."

Driving in a Winter Wonderland

Green Blog: "We live in a beautiful, but treacherous area of Ontario. The roads can be a real challenge during the winter, what with the low tempuratures and high winds. Living in such close proximity to the Great Lakes makes our area extremely prone to Snow Squalls, causing dangerous whiteout conditions.

Well, the snow has started to fly folks, and I???d be lying if I said I wasn???t just a little nervous about it."

#ChangeGovCA

What and who is the change we need? : Remarkk!: "Many of us are watching with rapt attention what???s going on in the transition to an Obama administration in the United States. I???ve been amazed at how the technologies of participation are being married to the philosophy of transparency in very real and exciting ways. An administration-in-waiting that blogs with open commenting! And offers a Seat at the Table for open policy conversations and submission of documents!

Inspired by these developments and the work of Laurence Lessig and Joe Trippi with Change-Congress.org and Open-Government.us, I registered the domain ChangeGov.ca, with an eye to it being a place for a new conversation for a multi- and non-partisan movement of Canadians interested in changing our institutions of government to reflect our times. I don???t know what this might become, but ..."

heh, nothing like a plan without a plan :) - here we have a raging bandwagon of "GenWe hits the homeland" primed to take on the creaking relic of the Canadian Civil Service, sort of a Starbucks version of the Xinhai Revolution. After watching, and waiting and watching, the tweets, the sites, the really odd bored-room videos, I can't say as I've seen much in the way of any Actionable Sense, so whether this is netgeek ADHD or whether it will make haste to the library, do the due diligence and infiltrate the neurology of our old political system remains to be seen; as one who sat on the periphery of flora.ca (where we just wanted to save taxpayers some millions in license fees, create open access to services and nationalize some national property), I can only wish them luck, but who knows ... I never thought Facebook would work either! (Does it? Work, I mean)

Hypnotic Brass Ensemble (Teaser) on Vimeo

Hypnotic Brass Ensemble (Teaser) from Matthew Maaskant on Vimeo. An interview with the band as well as concert footage from their Toronto Opera House show 2008. Look for the full version soon! Shot for www.shomerde.com

It's hard to fathom just how fast these Arkestra sons have shot from guerrilla street-busking to a globe touring; it all started by playing what they love, taking their message to where the people are, and letting everyone share the love any way they wanted.

Astral Organics

A Cow Jumped Over the Moon: Erik Davis writes "I mean really, folks, what is more interesting? High school physics reminders about the miniscule tidal forces emanating from the moon? Or the fact that our society's stumbling, and somewhat last-ditch embrace of organic food production is enlivened in some parts with a mystically organic worldview as well?

This organic world-view is not science, but it is a poem of science, one that resonates with ancient and hidden networks of sympathy that link our ordinary world with cosmic forces."

the second biodynamics article to hit the radar in as many months ... strange when held against the mainstream agri-science, but then, so was aromatherapy until we knew of neuroscience and gene-program activation; Nature's truth is all too often far stranger than we can imagine.

The Radiophonatron

The BBC Radiophonatron ...

we are the superior composers.
we have the supreme website.
you will play. you will PLAY. YOU WILL PLAY!!!!

boom boom worp noo-nah whizz CRASH!

The Story Behind the Classic

Charlie Brown Christmas: The Story Behind the Classic: "CBS initially balked at A Charlie Brown Christmas. After all, it addressed some challenging themes: Besides the frank expressions of alienation that Peanuts had embraced from the beginning, the show raised questions not only about the commercialization of Christmas ??? 'A racket run by a big eastern syndicate,' Lucy confides to Charlie Brown ??? but about faith itself. And the network execs just didn't think jazz and Christmas mixed."

Who knows how many kids ??? and I'm sure one of them ??? A Charlie Brown Christmas has turned on to jazz. In fact, I'd bet ACBC introduced more people to jazz than Miles Davis' ubiquitous, iconic Kind of Blue. Just like Charles M. Schulz's cartoons, Guaraldi's music doesn't condescend to kids one bit. Children ??? and people in general ??? have significantly better taste than the media often give them credit for, and that realization is one of the many joys of hearing this music.

A Taste for Mastery

We're Only Human: "These findings, reported in the December issue of Psychological Science, may explain the power of hobbies. But more than that they sound a warning to those choosing jobs and careers. Hard work and mastery may give us a measure of satisfaction, but pleasure also drives mastery and expertise. There may be good psychology beneath that old saw: Do what you love."

head bangers stuck between rock and a hard bass

Head and neck injury risks in heavy meta: a report on the British Medical Journal on the head and neck injury risks in heavy metal - Possible interventions to reduce the risk of injury caused by head banging include substitution of adult oriented rock and easy listening music including Michael Bolton, Celine Dion, Enya, and Richard Clayderman, for heavy metal; and personal protective equipment.

How intelligent are intelligence tests?

Whitehead responds @ Neuroanthropology: "social, musical, artistic, and ???bodily-kinaesthetic??? (including dance and sports) skills have been important since the ???dawn of civilization??? whereas logical scientific thought only came to the fore after the European Renaissance (Atkinson et al., 1993: 476). But the very term we use to define our species ??? Homo sapiens ??? presupposes an evolutionary trajectory ultimately directed towards the production of scientists.

The idea of a ???general??? (as opposed to social) intelligence is at best dubious."

It's only 30 years since my ignored and abandoned thesis on the futility (and dangers) of 'intelligence' testing of children, and while still not "accepted mainstream science" there are at least now a few scatterlings who are beginning to see some sense in what I'd wanted to say.

This question came up the other day at our local grocers, in a conversation about how it seemed that Engineers are said to be so 'smart' and yet seemed to have a tunnelvision proportionate to their scores, some Mensas among them seeming nearly autistic in their pre-occupations with trivialities. I noted how 'intelligence' when properly defined should include one's ability to navigate and co-exist in an environment, ecological validity if you will, and clearly a definition which most of us in the environment-trashing western 'civilzation' would fail.

That lead us to an enlightening discussion of our local 'wild man', a true woodsman who walked away from life among Men some 35 years ago and now makes his home in the depths of the local forests and swamps, only occasionally seen 'slumming' among us mere mortals in the village here. "He doesn't want 'help'," the grocer explained, "he's very happy where he is."

Fifty People, One Question

Fifty People, One Question.

The Vimeo tags really say it all: "Question, answers, happy, sad, funny, emotions. Brooklyn, NY"

Babs Gonzales - Be-Bop Santa Claus

Like...Dreamsville has a Christmas present for you, and Babs has this Christmas wish:

"Have a crazy cool Christmas, but don't get knocked out!"

Three Little Bops

Via Skipper Bartlett, from 1957, a bop-ish Looney tunes short With Shorty Rogers and Stan Freberg, and yet another of my pre-school indoctrinations to ultra-hipness.

The Big Bad Wolf he learned the Rule:
You gotta get hot to play real cool!

It's true. Early childhood education is very important.

Varo: Musica Solar

Arthurian Legends Illustrated - The Female Quest of Remedios Varo: "'[In Solar Music] . . . a woman plays a stringed sunbeam with her bow, and the music releases the birds in nearby trees from their cocoon-like capsules. Where illumination from the sun falls, it makes both the forest floor and her mantle green; but [Page 83] it is her own music, rising in arcs from the point where her bow touches the strings, that releases the birds from their torpor ... the creator in Solar Music has the power to affect her environment not by accident or by fate but because she is atTUNEd to the sunlight.'"

Wynton Marsalis on Learning to Hear

Ethan Iverson interviews Wynton Marsalis: "People need education. It should be our right for our whole country. You???d be taught how to listen to stuff. That???s not a revolutionary concept. People know it takes education to learn things -- whether shooting a basketball, writing with your writing hand, putting a suit on, shining your shoes ??? there???s education all the time."

After reading the whole of Ethan's interview, I have to confess a new respect for Wynton Marselis, even if I maybe can't completely dig his exacting adherence to the rules; first off, he's not alone in that approach, nor is it anything peculiar to Jazz as there are scads of musicians out there in all genres who consider preserving the tradition to be paramount, and I do respect and appreciate that, it just doesn't fit my boundary-probing habits.

As Bucky Fuller put it, "Every time I draw a circle, I want to step out of it."

Nonetheless, Wynton shows himself here to be open, intelligent, compassionate, human and a cat who probably deserves every penny he gets.

A Short Lecture on God

John Cleese - The Scientists (1980)

Delivered to you from a laboratory deep in the heart of Northamptonshire, England, a short lecture on God. Other educational John Cleese Podcasts are available at http://www.johncleesepodcast.co.uk

Boz Scaggs?

Singers Unlimited: Peter Hum writes "Scaggs' voice does lend itself to jazz, I think. It's interesting and his delivery has the gravitas to handle a substantial jazz ballad without any nudge-nudge, hey-I'm-singing-jazz! on his part."

"Timbrally, it's hornlike at times, somehow appealingly nasal. Scagg has contracted out the musical direction to the heavyweight arranger Gil Goldstein, who brings an almost Gil Evans-like sense of colour to the best songs.

Overall, Scaggs has made a CD that will delight his fans, go down easy on jazz-lite radio, and not offend jazz fans overly."

Money, Money, Money

N.A.S.A. (Squeak E. Clean & DJ Zegon) assembled an all-star team (David Byrne, Chuck D, Ras Congo, Seu Jorge & Z-Trip) for this track from their debut album "The Spirit Of Apollo".

The agit-prop video is directed by Syd Garon & Paul Griswold, & features the work of artist Shepard Fairey.

Turn Off the Boob-Toob

Science for Raising Happy Kids: "a new study out shows, once again, a pretty strong link between happiness and NOT watching television. University of Maryland sociologists John Robinson and Steven Martin show that happier people tend to watch considerably less television than unhappy people. We don???t know why ??? if TV makes people unhappy, or if already unhappy people tend to watch more TV. But we do know that there are a lot of activities out there that WILL help our kids develop into happy, well-adjusted individuals. If our kids are watching TV, they aren???t doing those things that could be making them happier in the long run.

I don???t think that television is the root of all evils. I put my kids in front of heinous princess videos all the time: how else would I stay sane? But television viewing is not a happiness habit."

I dare say Internet Watching isn't much better, but I won't.

The Mystery Album

Wrath of the Grapevine: The Irate Pirate writes "This album is top-notch. Both musicians are at the top of their game, and one is a world-class virtuoso. And yet, chances are, you haven't heard of them. And I'm not going to tell you about them. In fact, I'm not even going to tell you they're names, or the name of the album. And there aren't any ID3 tags to help you either. The iTunes database won't tell you, and unless you have a very sophisticated ear, you won't be able to guess.

Which means my post won't be deterring any potential sales of the artist's music, and the artist also won't have any chance to benefit from the publicity."

For the curious, here is a teeny clue; for the rest, just sit back and enjoy the sounds, and ponder how it could be that Mr Pirate could possibly be doing any artists evil harm more than the significant harm they can do to themselves by hiring agents to block such sound-sharing actions.

The Triadic Chromatic Approach

Casa Valdez Studios: "Without going into full detail, the idea of the triadic chromatic concept is to take either major, minor, diminished or augmented triads and move them around chromatically and in random inversions. If you don???t repeat the same inversion twice in a row and move chromatically on each successive triad you will be borrowing from the twelve-tone row. Triadic lines created in this way have a strong forward motion and resolve themselves often. George argues that lines created using this concept are even more likely to resolve than lines created using chord-scales. He notes that scales cover and obscure the underlying chords, but that triads played in this particular way allow you to explore all of the different available tonalities."

Garzone alumni include Donny McCaslin, Josh Redman, Douglas Yates, Kenny Brooks, Chris Speed, Seamus Blake, Mark Turner, Matt Otto, Chris Cheek, and Teadross Avery.

more info on the George Garzone's Triadic Chromatic Approach DVD is available from Jody Jazz Inc

The Story of Doctor Fox

Amazing Stories from the History of Science: "His polished performance so impressed the audience that nobody noticed that the man standing at the lectern wasn???t just Myron L. Fox from the Albert Einstein School of Medicine: he was also the attorney Amos Feders from ???Falcon Crest??? and the vet Dr Benson from ???Columbo???, who looked after the inspector???s dog. Myron L. Fox???s real name was Michael Fox, and he was an actor ... and he didn???t know the first thing about game theory."

A journalist later wrote in the Los Angeles Times: "There are implications in this study, though, that even its instigators have not perceived. If an actor makes a better teacher, why not a better congressman, or even a better President?" Seven years later, Ronald Reagan became the US President.

The Cool Sounds of Glacial Rock

The Orchestra Made of Ice: "Musician Terje Isungset, not content with experimenting on stone and glass, decided to use what was available around him, and being Norwegian that happened to be ice. But not just any old ice, Insungset chips away at a 2,500-year-old glacier."

Bye Bye Bettie

Bettie Page, Queen of Pinups, Dies at 85: "There were Bettie Page playing cards, lunch boxes, action figures, T-shirts and beach towels. Her saucy images went up in nightclubs. Bettie Page fan clubs sprang up. Look-alike contests, featuring leather-and-lace and kitten-with-a-whip Betties, were organized. Hundreds of Web sites appeared, including her own, which had 588 million hits in five years"

two more eulogies, one, from Monster Island, shares more pics, the other, from Like...Dreamsville, shares some memories, and some Applied Page-science soundtrack files.

'Let Me In!'

Simon's Cat. Too true for words.

Ethan on Lacy on Monk

via Ethan Iverson, a hand-out said to have been penned by Steve Lacy after his tenure with Thelonious Monk. read it. daily.

Status: Lost in Tokyo

Gary was finally able to get out of the driveway, but ended up getting lost in Tokyo.

Ethan on Lacy on Monk

via Ethan Iverson, a hand-out said to have been penned by Steve Lacy after his tenure with Thelonious Monk. read it. daily.

Status: Lost in Tokyo

Gary was finally able to get out of the driveway, but ended up getting lost in Tokyo.

My Photos - Remembering to Breathe

My Photos - Mobile Uploads

ultra-cold in the parades loosed some corks and pads; applying the field-hospital dressing via bbq-lighter and tweezers assisted by one small hand.

Happiness is contagious

Los Angeles Times: "Knowing someone who is happy makes you 15.3% more likely to be happy yourself, the study found. A happy friend of a friend increases your odds of happiness by 9.8%, and even your neighbor’s sister’s friend can give you a 5.6% boost.

“Your emotional state depends not just on actions and choices that you make, but also on actions and choices of other people, many of which you don’t even know,”"

apropos to the Season, and yet another cognitive chicken and egg problem elegantly solved by a simple cultural ritual

Happy 30th "Star Wars Holiday Special"!

StarWars.com: "Yeah, you read right -- we're actually giving a shout-out to the sadly misguided 'Star Wars Holiday Special'. Why? Because as fans of all things Star Wars, we think every aspect of that faraway galaxy is worthy of some love, even if that means tough love. And with the 'Holiday Special' turning 30 this week, we thought it deserved a bit of charitable coverage, seeing as how its older, smarter, more successful brother -- A New Hope -- was given its own three-continent 30th anniversary Celebration convention and all.

For those who have never seen the 'Star Wars Holiday Special', it was a two-hour variety show that many feel suffered from over-extended scenes, kitschy dialog, and cheesy special effects. Airing just once on the night of November 17, 1978"

Imagine Harvey Corman on an off-day. No, seriously, an off off-day, just imagine. Now turn the camera on; legend has it George's ex-wife's scorn was behind this release, and Lucas has sworn to track down and destroy every last bootleg.

ah yes, the Life-Day Song; memorable like a root-canal (actually, I think I have a kind of shell-shock PTS about it) - I keep a copy in a coffee can buried in the back yard in hopes Lucas will detect it and pop by for a film-burning visit. He hasn't, so far.

Beany & Cecil - The Wildman of Wildsville (1959)

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYTWETp2srE&hl=en&fs=1]
A Bob Clampett Cartoon with Lord Buckley (or Scatman Cruthers?) as Go Man Van Gogh - heading out the wilds of Wildsville, where the local's are so hip, they don't even get a square meal.

undoubtedly another of the seminal moments in my young impressionable TV years. Way out, way out past the Kingston Tree-O.

Happiness is contagious

Los Angeles Times: "Knowing someone who is happy makes you 15.3% more likely to be happy yourself, the study found. A happy friend of a friend increases your odds of happiness by 9.8%, and even your neighbor???s sister???s friend can give you a 5.6% boost.

???Your emotional state depends not just on actions and choices that you make, but also on actions and choices of other people, many of which you don???t even know,???"

apropos to the Season, and yet another cognitive chicken and egg problem elegantly solved by a simple cultural ritual

Sun Ra Explained

ShoMerde - Sun Ra’s Chart Explained: "Following the momentous appearance of the Sun Ra Arkestra under the direction of Marshall Allen at the Palais Royale in October 2008, local astrologer Julie Simmons ran down the founding father’s chart on morning jazz program, AM/FM with Ron Gaskin, that until recently, broadcast on CKLN FM. With little or no prior knowledge of the man or his music , she nonetheless, hits some solid notes in providing an insight to the enigma that is Sun Ra."

"He was like he was from another star ..."

For the impatient: listen/download the mp3 here

Happy 30th "Star Wars Holiday Special"!

StarWars.com: "Yeah, you read right -- we're actually giving a shout-out to the sadly misguided 'Star Wars Holiday Special'. Why? Because as fans of all things Star Wars, we think every aspect of that faraway galaxy is worthy of some love, even if that means tough love. And with the 'Holiday Special' turning 30 this week, we thought it deserved a bit of charitable coverage, seeing as how its older, smarter, more successful brother -- A New Hope -- was given its own three-continent 30th anniversary Celebration convention and all.

For those who have never seen the 'Star Wars Holiday Special', it was a two-hour variety show that many feel suffered from over-extended scenes, kitschy dialog, and cheesy special effects. Airing just once on the night of November 17, 1978"

Imagine Harvey Corman on an off-day. No, seriously, an off off-day, just imagine. Now turn the camera on; legend has it George's ex-wife's scorn was behind this release, and Lucas has sworn to track down and destroy every last bootleg.

ah yes, the Life-Day Song; memorable like a root-canal (actually, I think I have a kind of shell-shock PTS about it) - I keep a copy in a coffee can buried in the back yard in hopes Lucas will detect it and pop by for a film-burning visit. He hasn't, so far.

Beany & Cecil - The Wildman of Wildsville (1959)

A Bob Clampett Cartoon with Lord Buckley (or Scatman Cruthers?) as Go Man Van Gogh - heading out the wilds of Wildsville, where the local's are so hip, they don't even get a square meal.

undoubtedly another of the seminal moments in my young impressionable TV years. Way out, way out past the Kingston Tree-O.

Sun Ra Explained

ShoMerde - Sun Ra???s Chart Explained: "Following the momentous appearance of the Sun Ra Arkestra under the direction of Marshall Allen at the Palais Royale in October 2008, local astrologer Julie Simmons ran down the founding father???s chart on morning jazz program, AM/FM with Ron Gaskin, that until recently, broadcast on CKLN FM. With little or no prior knowledge of the man or his music , she nonetheless, hits some solid notes in providing an insight to the enigma that is Sun Ra."

"He was like he was from another star ..."

For the impatient: listen/download the mp3 here

Sun Ra Explained

ShoMerde - Sun Ra???s Chart Explained: "Following the momentous appearance of the Sun Ra Arkestra under the direction of Marshall Allen at the Palais Royale in October 2008, local astrologer Julie Simmons ran down the founding father???s chart on morning jazz program, AM/FM with Ron Gaskin, that until recently, broadcast on CKLN FM. With little or no prior knowledge of the man or his music , she nonetheless, hits some solid notes in providing an insight to the enigma that is Sun Ra."

"He was like he was from another star ..."

For the impatient: listen/download the mp3 here

A Letter to the Leaders

A Letter to the Leaders of the Four Federal Political Parties: "I encourage you not to back down on forming a collaborative government via a coalition (please pay close attention to that wording - collaborative government). Equally, however, I encourage you to extend an olive branch to Mr. Harper, to enable his active participation in developing the economic strategy for this country, assuming he is willing to truly collaborate. ... A true collaboration invites those who can bring diverse contexts into an environment of active and dialogic engagement. The process is far more complex than debate"

Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one.

After reading Mark's letter on Collaborative Government, I was reminded of my own short paper on applying re-evolutionary industrial organizational theory to our local municipal stalemate. Do I spot a trend here? Like the money-system, perhaps the party-system is similarly racing to a spontaneous re-birthing?

Aurora Borealis, from Orbit

˙uoıʇɐʇs ǝɔɐds lɐuoıʇɐuɹǝʇuı ǝɥʇ ɯoɹɟ sılɐǝɹoq ɐɹoɹnɐ ǝɥʇ ɟo ʇoɥs ǝɥ sǝƃɐɯı llıʇs ɟo ǝɔuǝnbǝs ɐ ƃuısn oǝpıʌ ƃuıpunoʇsɐ uɐ pǝʇɐǝɹɔ ʇıʇʇǝd uop ʇnɐuoɹʇsɐ

A Letter to the Leaders

A Letter to the Leaders of the Four Federal Political Parties: "I encourage you not to back down on forming a collaborative government via a coalition (please pay close attention to that wording - collaborative government). Equally, however, I encourage you to extend an olive branch to Mr. Harper, to enable his active participation in developing the economic strategy for this country, assuming he is willing to truly collaborate. ... A true collaboration invites those who can bring diverse contexts into an environment of active and dialogic engagement. The process is far more complex than debate"

Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one.

After reading Mark's letter on Collaborative Government, I was reminded of my own short paper on applying re-evolutionary industrial organizational theory to our local municipal stalemate. Do I spot a trend here? Like the money-system, perhaps the party-system is similarly racing to a spontaneous re-birthing?

Aurora Borealis, from Orbit

??uo????????s ??????ds l??uo??????u??????u?? ?????? ??o???? s??l??????oq ????o??n?? ?????? ??o ??o??s ???? s?????????? ll????s ??o ????u??nb??s ?? ??u??sn o??p???? ??u??puno??s?? u?? p???????????? ??????????d uop ??n??uo????s??

Aurora Borealis, from Orbit

??uo????????s ??????ds l??uo??????u??????u?? ?????? ??o???? s??l??????oq ????o??n?? ?????? ??o ??o??s ???? s?????????? ll????s ??o ????u??nb??s ?? ??u??sn o??p???? ??u??puno??s?? u?? p???????????? ??????????d uop ??n??uo????s??

YouTube Symphony

YouTube - symphony's Channel: "Interested in joining the first-ever collaborative online orchestra? Professionals and amateur musicians of all ages, locations and instruments are welcome to audition for the YouTube Symphony Orchestra by submitting a video performance of a new piece written for the occasion by the renowned Chinese composer Tan Dun (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon). We have tools to help you learn the music, rehearse with the conductor, and upload your part for the collaborative video.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-T_SryRAXuw&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&feature=player_embedded&fs=1]
And how do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice and upload. Send us your talent video performance from a list of recommended pieces. Finalists will be chosen by a judging panel and YouTube users to travel to New York in April 2009, to participate in the YouTube Symphony Orchestra summit, and play at Carnegie Hall under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas.

The deadline for all video submissions is January 28, 2009."

"Jazz would be illegal"

The Public Domain: "James Boyle introduces readers to the idea of the public domain and describes how it is being tragically eroded by our current copyright, patent, and trademark laws. In a series of fascinating case studies, Boyle explains why gene sequences, basic business ideas and pairs of musical notes are now owned, why jazz might be illegal if it were invented today, why most of 20th century culture is legally unavailable to us, and why today’s policies would probably have smothered the World Wide Web at its inception. Appropriately given its theme, the book will be sold commercially but also made available online for free under a Creative Commons license."

If I say my sound is "like woody guthrie and joseph spence" then am I not using those artists' fame to advance my own just as much as if I were to cover a tune by either? Yet that is precisely what happened to John Coltrane for his 'cover' of My Favourite Things, the only 'royalty' due to him was for the mere 'performance' of the work. A deadman's estate got all the rest.

Status: Citizenship

Gary does not WANT to be a citizen of this planet.
It takes too long.
He would much rather stay a citizen of The Greater Uni-Verse.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSNvdLpLx-0&hl=en&fs=1]

"Jazz would be illegal"

The Public Domain: "James Boyle introduces readers to the idea of the public domain and describes how it is being tragically eroded by our current copyright, patent, and trademark laws. In a series of fascinating case studies, Boyle explains why gene sequences, basic business ideas and pairs of musical notes are now owned, why jazz might be illegal if it were invented today, why most of 20th century culture is legally unavailable to us, and why today???s policies would probably have smothered the World Wide Web at its inception. Appropriately given its theme, the book will be sold commercially but also made available online for free under a Creative Commons license."

If I say my sound is "like woody guthrie and joseph spence" then am I not using those artists' fame to advance my own just as much as if I were to cover a tune by either? Yet that is precisely what happened to John Coltrane for his 'cover' of My Favourite Things, the only 'royalty' due to him was for the mere 'performance' of the work. A deadman's estate got all the rest.

Who Owns Nature?

ETC Group News Release: "'About one-quarter of the world's biomass has already been commodified,' explains ETC Group's Pat Mooney. 'With extreme genetic engineering, we're seeing new corporate strategies to capture and commodify the three-quarters of the world's biomass that has, until now, remained beyond the market economy.'"

One QUARTER?? Quite a boast; considering what Oceanographers tell us I might call them out on that one, but the trend is nonetheless disturbing, even without the many GM horror stories

MIT Mobile Web

MIT Mobile Web: "The MIT Mobile Web offers up-to-date information, optimized for different types of mobile devices. Find people, places, events, course news, shuttle schedules, and more. All you need is a mobile device with a web browser and either WiFi or a data plan"

I suppose they call this progress. Well MY campus had a two-colour 24-page booklet with all essential info in one easily replaceable bio-degradable package that could be rolled up to smack flies in the kitchen, or smoothed out for sifting stems and seeds.

Status: Citizenship

Gary does not WANT to be a citizen of this planet.
It takes too long.
He would much rather stay a citizen of The Greater Uni-Verse.

Who Owns Nature?

ETC Group News Release: "'About one-quarter of the world's biomass has already been commodified,' explains ETC Group's Pat Mooney. 'With extreme genetic engineering, we're seeing new corporate strategies to capture and commodify the three-quarters of the world's biomass that has, until now, remained beyond the market economy.'"

One QUARTER?? Quite a boast; considering what Oceanographers tell us I might call them out on that one, but the trend is nonetheless disturbing, even without the many GM horror stories

MIT Mobile Web

MIT Mobile Web: "The MIT Mobile Web offers up-to-date information, optimized for different types of mobile devices. Find people, places, events, course news, shuttle schedules, and more. All you need is a mobile device with a web browser and either WiFi or a data plan"

I suppose they call this progress. Well MY campus had a two-colour 24-page booklet with all essential info in one easily replaceable bio-degradable package that could be rolled up to smack flies in the kitchen, or smoothed out for sifting stems and seeds.