alocispepraluger102

not jazzy at all, but most compelling; kostelanetz did a gorgeous version of one morning..... and, of course, shearing!

While much of the auto world’s attention was fixed on the Paris Motor Show, US manufacturers were keeping an eye on the Texas state fair, where Toyota was rolling out a new pickup truck. Texas is ground zero in the pickup wars that are about to break out across the broad American landscape. Thus, representatives from General Motors, Ford Motor Co and German-US DaimlerChrysler were all on hand for the annual State Fair of Texas in Dallas, which has become one of the biggest stages for new pickup trucks. Toyota…has built a brand-new factory dedicated to full-size pickup trucks deep in the heart of Texas. Once the new plant in San Antonio is fully operational, Toyota expects to sell as many as 200,000 pickups annually, according to Brian Smith, Toyota corporate manager for truck operations. The plant is scheduled to open in November and dealers are slated to begin selling the trucks in February. Toyota also is planning its largest advertising campaign ever in the US to promote the new Texas-built version of the Tundra. The autoblog.com folks produced an overwhelming chunk of coverage from the Chicago Auto Show — a truckload! I guess you could produce a compendium of matching photos of nervous dealers for the American brands. http://www.autoblog.com/2006/02/09/chicago...with-new-tundra

thanks for helping us further understand the reasons for the revival.

hemp: The Julius Hemphill Sextet Over the past thirty-five years Julius Hemphill has earned a reputation as one who broke down boundaries and defied labels. A prodigious composer, who wrote luscious and shimmering sonorities with the ever-present tang of the blues, Hemphill was as comfortable writing for full orchestra as he was for his Sextet or Big Band. THE LAST SUPPER AT UNCLE TOM'S CABIN: THE PROMISED LAND, composed for choreographer Bill T. Jones and featuring the Julius Hemphill Sextet, toured the United States and Europe with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Co. during the 1990-91 season to a chorus of raves. In 1991, Hemphill received a Bessie Award for each of his dance compositions, LONG TONGUES: A SAXOPHONE OPERA and THE LAST SUPPER AT UNCLE TOM'S CABIN: THE PROMISED LAND. An improviser of immense talent and saxophonist who could coax the best out of any musical unit, Hemphill performed in almost every major jazz festival and hall in North America and Europe, including Berlin, Montreal, Kool, Rome, Paris, Den Haag (North Sea), and Warsaw. Julius Hemphill died on 2 April 1995.

now playing some peter gunn style jazz now playing operatic solo versions of beatles hits. PDQ bach?

i would think that Fitzgerald's opinion, though self-serving is more on the mark.

You'll forgive me if I'm skeptical of an economic article from a publication that employs a clown like Donald Luskin and holds him up as a model of brilliant thinking. Anyway, I'm having trouble seeing the correlation between human capital and economic dynamism here. Most of Cuba's big slide has occurred in the period since 1991 or so. This period was not marked by a huge wave of brainy Cubans to Miami, as Brenner seems to suggest should be the culprit. To the extent that that happened at all, it happened mostly in the 1960s and early 1970s. On the other hand, something that did coincide with Cuba's biggest decline was the sudden disappearance of a large, powerful, and paternalistic trading partner, the USSR. Despite what the wacky Randians would have you believe, external structures matter a lot more than the movements of gifted ubermenschen. perhaps a more formidable opinion: http://www.aims.ca/library/TJNotes.pdf

Dog starts car after eating chip A breakdown patrol man who came to the rescue of a woman motorist has managed to get her car started using her dog. Juliette Piesley, 39, had changed the battery in her electronic key fob but was then unable to start her car. When AA patrolman Kevin Gorman arrived at the scene in Addlestone, Surrey, he found its immobiliser chip was missing. Ms Piesley said her dog George had eaten something, and realising it was the chip, he put the dog in the front seat and started the car with the key. Mr Gorman said: "I was glad to get the car started for the member. "They will now have to take George [the dog] with them in the car until things take their natural course. "It is the first time that I have had to get a dog to help me to start a car." Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_n...ies/5382878.stm Published: 2006/09/26 17:29:00 GMT © BBC MMVI

now playing some peter gunn style jazz now playing operatic solo versions of beatles hits.

The Irish Economic Miracle One part fiscal; one part openness. By Reuven Brenner How did Ireland go from being among the poorest places in Western Europe to one of the richest? How did it attract the headquarters of 1,000 international companies? How did it come to rank, by some measures, among the EU’s top 15 original members? With per capita GDP estimated at $37,800 (U.S.), Ireland is now tops in Western Europe. The Irish deserve applause for initiating drastic fiscal and regulatory changes that have gone against the trends set by the EU’s more sclerotic members. But it would be misleading to infer that any society can now emulate these policies and expect similar success. There’s more to the Irish lesson. Ask first these questions: What happened to the financial center that was once in Montreal? It moved — together with some 400,000 people — to Toronto. Where are the Cuban brains? In Florida, and that’s where they prospered while Cuba lapsed into dire poverty. Where is Mexico’s human capital? Ten percent or more has come to the United States. Where did hundreds of thousands of Russian scientists, engineers, and technicians go? Israel. And where has the talent been flowing in Europe? To Ireland: Over roughly a decade, more than 400,000 newcomers have moved there, an addition of 10 percent to the Irish population. Here’s what Ireland did — or had to do — to attract this wave of talent and ambition to its shores. To begin, the obvious: In 1986, Ireland slashed spending in areas such as health expenditures, education, agricultural spending, roads and housing, and the military, while abolishing agencies such as the National Social Services Board, the Health Education Bureau, and regional development organizations. By 1993, government non-interest spending declined to 41 percent of GNP, down from a high of 55 percent of GNP in 1985. Subsequently, it significantly lowered corporate tax rates to 12.5 percent, at a time when the lowest corporate rates in Europe were 30 percent and U.S. rates stood at 35 percent. Since 2004, Ireland also has offered a 20 percent tax credit on research and development. But the true miracle came when, due to these policy changes, Ireland attracted capital and pools of ambitious young people from around the globe. By now, Ireland has one of the youngest populations in the Western world. Between 1995 and 2000, 250,000 people migrated to Ireland (about half of Irish ancestry), which had in 1996 a population of only 3.6 million. Ireland later allowed, along with Britain and Sweden, unrestricted migration to its labor markets from the 10 countries which joined the EU in 2004. Since then the number of people of Irish origin migrating to Ireland has diminished. However, more than 130,000 Poles now live there and, according to recent reports, 10,000 Eastern Europeans arrive every month, on average. A young Polish immigrant to Ireland was recently quoted saying, “If you have ambition in Poland, you come to Ireland.” Not only Poles, but Danes, Iranians, Swedes, Chinese, and Nigerians have come to Ireland, filling both low- and high-skilled jobs. Google’s European headquarters, located in Ireland, employs 800 people. Seventy percent aren’t Irish, and these workers speak 37 languages. According to reports, the company plans to hire another 600 university-educated people, mostly from abroad. Ireland’s population increase is due largely to the influx of low- and high-skilled immigrants. Combined with a significant inflow of capital, this open-door policy has not led to any of the forecasted negative effects that are now at the center of the heated immigration debate in the United States. The unemployment rate in Ireland is now about 4.5 percent; it was in the 15 percent range in 1993. As noted, the country has become much richer, too. Whether speaking countries or companies, success is a result of the ability to attract and retain capital and talent. Businesses and financial markets, rather than unaccountable government bureaucracies, make proper matches between the two. They leverage creativity and ambition to better channels. Fiscal and regulatory changes are a necessary part of the prosperity equation, but they make up the easier part. The harder part is to attract and retain talent. Ireland succeeded not only because of its fiscal changes, but because the country embodies the Western tradition of openness to many tribes. With this in mind, Western countries should keep their borders open to the movement of those hard-working “vital few.” This policy may not only bring enhanced riches to the West, but also turn out to be its best weapon against the dictatorial, close-minded, backward-looking governments from which talent would escape. — Reuven Brenner holds the Repap chair at Desautels’ Faculty of Management, and is partner in Match Strategic Partners. This article draws on his book, Force of Finance. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- National Review Online - http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ZDNjZ...ZGRiOWQ0Y2IxNjk

now playing some peter gunn style jazz

any fellow jerry fans in here?

anyone hear any sonic parallels between lester and lucky? thought i was listening to lester the other night and it was lucky.

Filodiffusione Rome, Italy The fith channel of Italian public radio filodiffusione brings music 24h/d , no ads, no chat, no news, just classical music. Channel V "Auditorium" broadcasts Classical Music and owes much of its uniqueness in the fact that it has access to the RAI Historical Archives, which are a treasure of thousands of recordings of Chamber Music, Orchestral and Operatic works. goes down good......

sinatra did an incredible version of 'dust, with, i think, pete king's orchestra in the early 60's, with a huge string beginning, singing only the lyrics from, you wander down the lane...... . consummate stuff.

this stella artois is as bland as krall's newest cd. marketed as an upscale import, no doubt. no thanks.

and congressmen. point well-taken.

budweiser TILT-6.6% alcohol tastes like orange pop. a great drink for the girlfriend who doesnt like alcohol.

cant wait!

isnt this 'business as usual'?

the middlebrow Heaven Is His Playground The passions of Mitch Albom. By Bryan Curtis Posted Thursday, Sept. 28, 2006, at 6:29 PM ET When we last saw inspirational author Mitch Albom, he stood accused of faking it. On April 3, 2005, Albom, a sports columnist at the Detroit Free Press, published a column saluting two pro basketball players for returning to watch their alma mater play in the NCAA tournament. The column was a misty reflection on the transience of youth and the heady glories of college life—an invention, it turned out. Albom had turned in his column a few days ahead of time, and the pros neglected to show up for the game. In the brouhaha that followed, Albom was roasted by his fellow journalists, while millions of readers, who couldn't have cared less, trudged to the shelves to buy his books Tuesdays With Morrie (1997) and The Five People You Meet in Heaven (2003). Somehow, Albom escaped without receiving the evisceration he deserved. Albom's new novel, For One More Day, provides just such an opportunity. So, here goes: Mitch Albom is a fabulist all right, but not just in the journalistic sense. Albom is literally a teller of fables, a peddler of shallow morality tales for the masses. You can see it in his risible sports writing, and you can see it in his best-selling books. A representative of Starbucks, which will sell For One More Day as part of its new books promotion, told the Los Angeles Times that the chain wanted its literary selections to be "deeply felt." Albom's writing is deeply felt, and dimly thought. He's a huckster evangelist for the soccer-mom set. When Albom came to the Detroit Free Press in 1985, at age 27, he was already deeply felt. In his inaugural column, he declared he would examine "a side of the sports leaf that rarely gets turned over, the human side." For those of us who spend our mornings with our nose buried in the sports page, this was a dire warning. In sports, the "human side" does not usually refer to nuanced, adult emotion. It usually refers to schmaltz—cheap sentiment and "human interest" stories. Albom was staking his claim to become the Bob Greene of sports—a twice-weekly dispenser of fables. His column often starts with a desperate situation ("This is a story about a boxer and a cop and it begins deep in the city … ") and then gradually brightens before depositing the reader in a happy and hopeful state 900 words later. For his columns (since collected in a compendium called The Live Albom), Albom sought out tragic cases—athletes ravaged by injury, athletes imprisoned in rehab, athletes facing impossible odds. (He once reported, incorrectly, that an Olympian from Equatorial Guinea had trained in a river teeming with crocodiles.) Albom's wayward athletes became quasi-biblical figures, sipping something that smelled like watered-down religious redemption. Here's Albom from 1996, on John Foley, a former high-school basketball star who was maimed in a drunken-driving accident: In his last happy moments, he was a guy you might have envied. Handsome, athletic, 6-foot-2, water-blue eyes, a charmer with women. It was close to Christmas and his buddies were out at the Goat Farm bar on Novi Road. John Foley, only 22 years old, had a few beers with them. And a few more … This is a story about how the world changes in an instant. Christmas Eve launches many a drunk-driving story. Some end in death, and those are frightening enough. This one ends in life. This one ends not in how you might leave this world, but how you might rejoin it, damaged forever, limping uphill. This one is the most frightening of all. Albom was one of the most famous sportswriters in America, but it took Tuesdays With Morrie, Albom's first nonsports book, to make him into a best-selling author. In 1994, Morrie Schwartz, Albom's favorite college professor, was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease. The gnomish Schwartz offered himself up to Albom as a "human textbook": an object lesson in how to die. Albom visited Schwartz every week and faithfully transcribed Schwartz's utterances on family and love. "Morrie would walk that final bridge between life and death, and narrate the trip," Albom wrote later. This idea—that proximity to death will reveal all the secrets of the universe—animates just about everything Albom has written since. After the smashing success of Morrie, which sold more than 10 million copies, Albom moved to fiction. Best I can figure, it's because real people, even impossibly inspiring figures like Morrie, were much too human for Albom. The Five People You Meet in Heaven opens as a wizened and benevolent carnival worker named Eddie dies and begins a slow journey into heaven. He is guided on this quest by five people whose lives he touched—a sideshow freak, a lost love, and so forth. In Albom's new novel, For One More Day, an ex-major leaguer named Chick Benetto is an alcoholic and negligent father. When he tries to commit suicide, he awakens to find his dead mother hovering nearby. This time, Mom will take him through the redemptive trip. Even if you accept both as fables, what emerges is a rather unsatisfying vision of heaven. In the preface to Five People, Albom explained heaven as a place where "people who felt unimportant here on earth [would] realize, finally, how much they mattered and how they were loved." In Albom's heaven, you confront your earthly disappointments—your father's neglect, your stunted relationships—in the same way you would if you were sitting down for an interview with Barbara Walters. The afterlife affords you no higher level of consciousness. It merely reveals the mundane secrets of the past. (So that's how Mom paid my college tuition!) The wisdom is dispensed not by God but the author. "Every family is a ghost story," Albom writes in For One More Day. "All parents damage their children," he writes in Five People. And later: "Love, like rain, can nourish from above, drenching couples with a soaking joy." The Five People You Meet in Heaven had its sweet moments. But in For One More Day, Albom has gotten so obsessed with death and its edifying properties that he crosses into some very uncomfortable territory. As he puts it, "Have you ever lost someone you love and wanted one more conversation, one more chance to make up for the time when you thought they would be here forever? … What if you got it back?" Well, what if you did? The last time someone asked me that question, I asked if his elementary school had a grief counselor. It's hard to believe this is an idea hatched by an adult writer—a man who presumably knows that death, and the uneasy feelings that swirl around it, is far too complicated to be solved in a day. In For One More Day, Chick celebrates his extra day with Mom by feasting on her home cooking, reminiscing about Halloween costumes, and, of course, reliving his childhood traumas. What advice does Mom impart to set things right? "Forgive." Forgive who? "Yourself," says Mom. At which point Chick awakens very much alive. My first thought was that this was dreadfully shallow. My second thought was that this Albomian koan seemed awfully familiar. And, sure enough, there it was, on Page 166 of Tuesdays With Morrie. "It's not just other people we need to forgive, Mitch," Morrie says. "We also need to forgive ourselves." Albom is Frank Capra without the requisite frowns. His book-jacket biography reminds us that he "serves on numerous charitable boards"; the cover of the paperback edition of Tuesdays With Morrie boasts that the book has "changed million of lives." Viewed from one year's distance, Albom's Free Press dust-up looks less like an attempt to fool readers and editors than a desperate search for heartwarming material. No wonder Albom couldn't hold himself to the strictures of nonfiction. He feels too deeply. As G.K. Chesterton might have said, journalism is a task garden; heaven is a playground. Bryan Curtis is a Slate staff writer. You can e-mail him at curtisb@slate.com. Article URL: http://www.slate.com/id/2150535/ Copyright 2006 Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive Co. LLC

the peaceful side--billy strayhorn

just listened to 'walt'. bravo! i should throw you a few random topics. bet you could tear them up. aloc

have owned the awesome 'thesaurus' for over 4o years. it is a treasure.

those early morning cats, and jonas, and mike, are incredible, and we love every one of them.