ABCs: Talking Heads & Adverts

Was watching "respected" news show 'This Week' last Sunday and have to say it was utter crap & an hour wasted. Very shallow analysis re: the issues. It's embarrassing how short the American attention span & news-cycle is.

During one segment, the panel kept yabbering on about "no boots on the ground" for whatever new country we're planning to go to war with this time. It seems the details may change but the pro-war narrative remains constant.

Note: This PSA sponsored by BP, Goldman$achs, and Julie's Corner Bar (Port Richmond - Philadelphia)

postscript: wonder if the chemical (weapon) alleged in Syria is the same as the one that U.S. Armed Forces in Fallujah Iraq used back in 2004 (white phosphorus aka "Willy Pete")?


addendum: this is sort of an off-topic comment but Diane Sawyer of ABC World News comes across as a blind hunchback when anchoring though I watched her a couple of months ago when she wore dark heavy-framed glasses... oh my gosh! Such an Intelligent & Beautiful Woman!! MORE PLEASE!!!

Stream: The Replacements - Live Recording

Mats Reunion Gig - 1st Show in 22 Years - Riot Fest Toronto - August 25, 2013

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Hat-Tip: LHB (blog)

Note: Title Link - Dangerous Minds.net

Beer Cheer

(*) Scientists Invent Hangover-Free Beer

(*) List: The Top 10 Beers Worldwide

(*) Just What America Needs: Crabbie’s Alcoholic Ginger Beer

(*) Top Five Beer Brands Implicated in Emergency Room Visits

(*) Unique Artisanal Beers: Hill Farmstead

(*) Amount Each MLB Team Charges For An Ounce of Beer At Their Home Stadium

(*) Best Beer Hangover Cure

BH - Twofer (+ One)

(*) How a Black Hole Really Works

The black hole at the center of our galaxy has been on a near-starvation diet for almost a million years—but now it's time for a snack.

(*) A Black Hole Mystery Wrapped in a Firewall Paradox

This time, they say, Einstein might really be wrong.


(*) MIT Technology Review: Black Hole Analogue Discovered in South Atlantic Ocean

Vortices in the South Atlantic are mathematically equivalent to black holes, say physicists, an idea that could lead to new ways of understanding how currents transport oil and garbage across oceans

Bob Dylan: Portrait of A Self Portrait

The Bootleg Series, Vol. 10 – Another Self Portrait (1969-1971)

CD 1

1 Went To See The Gypsy (demo)
2 In Search Of Little Sadie (without overdubs, Self Portrait)
3 Pretty Saro (unreleased, Self Portrait)
4 Alberta #3 (alternate version, Self Portrait)
5 Spanish Is The Loving Tongue (unreleased, Self Portrait)
6 Annie’s Going To Sing Her Song (unreleased, Self Portrait)
7 Time Passes Slowly #1 (alternate version, New Morning)
8 Only A Hobo (unreleased, Greatest Hits II)
9 Minstrel Boy (unreleased, The Basement Tapes)
10 I Threw It All Away (alternate version, Nashville Skyline)
11 Railroad Bill (unreleased, Self Portrait)
12 Thirsty Boots (unreleased, Self Portrait)
13 This Evening So Soon (unreleased, Self Portrait)
14 These Hands (unreleased, Self Portrait)
15 Little Sadie (without overdubs, Self Portrait)
16 House Carpenter (unreleased, Self Portrait)
17 All The Tired Horses (without overdubs, Self Portrait)

CD 2

1 If Not For You (alternate version, New Morning)
2 Wallflower (alternate version, 1971)
3 Wigwam (original version without overdubs, Self Portrait)
4 Days Of ’49 (original version without overdubs, Self Portrait)
5 Working On A Guru (unreleased, New Morning)
6 Country Pie (alternate version, Nashville Skyline)
7 I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight (Live With The Band, Isle Of Wight 1969)
8 Highway 61 Revisited (Live With The Band, Isle Of Wight 1969)
9 Copper Kettle (without overdubs, Self Portrait)
10 Bring Me A Little Water (unreleased, New Morning)
11 Sign On The Window (with orchestral overdubs, New Morning)
12 Tattle O’Day (unreleased, Self Portrait)
13 If Dogs Run Free (alternate version, New Morning)
14 New Morning (with horn section overdubs, New Morning)
15 Went To See The Gypsy (alternate version, New Morning)
16 Belle Isle (without overdubs, Self Portrait)
17 Time Passes Slowly #2 (alternate version, New Morning)
18 When I Paint My Masterpiece (demo)


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NPR - Stream 15 Songs from 'Another Self Portrait (1969-1971): The Bootleg Series Vol. 10'

Spectrum

Left

(*) In a Powerful Speech, Noam Chomsky Lays Out How The Majority of U.S. Policies Are Practically The Opposite of What Wide Swaths of The American Public Wants

Chomsky: The U.S. Behaves Less Like A Democracy, More Like A Plutocracy


(*) Why Do Some Movements Work While Others Wilt?

March on Washington: Four Guidelines to Beat 'The Man'



Right

(*) Should Voting Be Made Harder?

Pro-Opinion Piece by David Bozeman (former Libertarian Party Chairman)


(*) Sushi & Lobster Money: America's Parasitic End?

Fox News - Meet Another Food-Stamp Queen... And This Time He's a Surfer Dude



Center

(*) The Efforts To Change The Way Public Money Is Managed Are Motivated, In No Small Part, By The Big Fees And Lackluster Performance That Many Hedge Funds And Private Equity Firms Have Delivered To Their Biggest Clients In Recent Years

NY Times: Dodging Wall Street To Cut Fees, Public Funds Take Control of Assets


(*) A Letter to Katharine Graham Offers An Early Window Into How Warren Buffett Thinks About Investing.

1975: The Buffett Memo That Saved The Washington Post's Pension Fund


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Beautiful Decay: Jan Kempenaers

Abandonded Yugoslavia-Era Monuments Look As If They Were Taken From The Future Past

Socialist-era monuments dot the countryside of the lands that once made up Yugoslavia, many of them World War II and concentration camp memorials. The majority of the the monuments were commissioned by then president Josip Broz Tito during the 1960′s and 70′s. Photographer Jan Kempanaers toured the countries that once made up Yugoslavia to document the monuments in this series of photographs. With the fall of socialism and the disintegration of Yugoslavia, the monuments were largely abandoned. The monuments’ neglect is apparent and contrasts severely against their futuristic aesthetic.

The grouping of monuments have not only been abandoned by visitors but also of their meaning and symbolism. They ask serious questions regarding the nature of monuments in the sculptural tradition. What is a memorial when it no longer memorializes anything? -- Danny Olda


Note: Click Title Link For More Photographs

Anna Herman: Picnic Plate

Shredded Chicken Summer Roll With Miso Green Beans and Cabbage

Makes 8 rolls

1 clove garlic, peeled and minced fine
11/2 teaspoons mild miso
¼ cup tamari or soy sauce
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
4 small chicken thighs (bone in) or
1 whole chicken breast (bone in)
24 string beans, blanched and cooled
3 cups very thinly sliced napa or
savoy cabbage
Salt
1 cup chopped cilantro leaves
1 tablespoon minced garlic
chives, regular chives, or
one scallion minced
1 tablespoon fresh mint,
minced
8 dry rice paper rounds
1 medium cucumber cut into
8 wedges

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Mix the garlic, miso, tamari or soy sauce and vinegar together. Use half of this mixture to coat the chicken. Place the marinated chicken in the oven, skin side up, for 20 to 30 minutes until cooked through (instant read thermometer 175 for thighs, 165 for breasts). Let cool.
   
3. Remove skin. Pull the chicken from the bone. Slice very thinly or pull apart with your fingers. In a small bowl toss the cooled green beans in the remaining miso marinade.
   
4. In colander placed over a bowl to catch drippings, toss the cabbage with 1 teaspoon of salt and let sit to soften slightly, for 10 to 30 minutes.
  
5. Add the chopped cilantro, chives, or scallions and mint to the cabbage and stir.
   
6. When ready to assemble, have all your ingredients ready in bowls or on plates near your work surface: One at a time soak or dip the rice paper sheets in water, according to the package directions. Lay each dampened sheet on a clean surface.

7. Along the center of each round lay approximately a quarter-cup of sliced cabbage mixture; top with a few teaspoons of chicken, one or two slices of cucumber, and 2 to 4 marinated green beans. Fold the edges over by about ½ inch, and roll the rice paper around the filling tightly, burrito style. The rice paper will adhere to itself as the roll is completed. Leave completed rolls seam side down on a dish as you complete the remaining rolls. Because the chicken and green beans are well-seasoned, there is no need for additional dipping sauce.

Per serving: 286 calories; 83 calories from fat; 9.2 g fat; 48 mg cholesterol; 29 g carbohydrate; 6.5 g fiber; 4.5 g sugar; 15.6 g protein; 703 mg sodium

Photo Tour: 10 Incredible Tiny Houses in Japan

Note: Click Title Link for all 10 Homes plus Interior Shots & Text

The Figment Project

To honor the anniversary of Andy Warhol’s birthday, August 6, 2013, The Warhol Museum and EarthCam launched a collaborative project titled Figment, a live feed of Warhol’s gravesite which is viewable 24 hours a day, seven days a week worldwide.

Note: Click Title Link for Viewing.


I never understood why when you died, you didn’t just vanish, and everything could just keep going on the way it was only you just wouldn’t be there. I always thought I’d like my own tombstone to be blank. No epitaph and no name.

Well, actually, I’d like it to say “figment.” -- Andy Warhol

NYT: Writers as Architects

‘A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again’ by David Foster Wallace

‘What We Talk About When We Talk About Love’ by Raymond Carver

‘The Falls’ by George Saunders

Note: Click Title Link for more Architectural Renderings plus Commentary Texts

Proof Reading: Editor Error

So You Think You Know Baseball? A Fan's Guide To The Official Rules by Peter E. Meltzer

More than 50 percent of Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Justin Miller's body (including most of his arms) is covered with body art. MLB thought that the tattoos were distracting and ordered him to wear long-sleeved shirts under his uniform when he pitched. Was the league within its rights?

The rulebook does not contain any specific reference to tattoos. Nevertheless, if MLB believes anything about Miller's overall appearance is distracting to opposing teams, it has discretion to take action. In 2004, Major League Baseball established a rule that forced Miller to wear long sleeves whenever he played. "I didn't want to stare him up and down, but we'll see during the course of his stay here how many tattoos he has," said Florida Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez on his first encounter with his newest pitcher. Miller said at the time of MLB's ruling that he was worried the sleeves would be uncomfortable, especially when it was hot. Three years later, though, he had grown accustomed to the extra clothing and said he actually liked it. How does it feel to tell people you've got a baseball rule named after you? "I don't know," he said, laughing. "They just said it's the 'Justin Miller Rule.'"


On July 27, 2010, the San Francisco Giants were playing the Florida Marlins. Giants pitcher Brian Wilson was wearing orange shoes, as he had done in the All-Star Game. Marlins manager Edwin Rodriguez complained to the umpires about the bright color being a distraction for his team. Wilson was fined $1,000. Were Miller's [sic] shoes prohibited by the rules as being distracting?

Not by the rules but by the Major League Manual. Rule 1.11(a)(3) does prohibit a player from wearing a "uniform" that does not conform to that of his teammates. The only rule that specifically references shoes is 1.11(g), which provides in part that shoes with pointed spikes similar to golf or track shoes are prohibited. However, MLB does require that a player's cleats be at least 50 percent of the team's dominant color, which in the Giant's case would be black. Therefore, Wilson subsequently painted half of his cleats black and dubbed them "Nike Air Sharpies." Asked about the situation -- and Rodriguez calling the shoes "too flashy" -- Wilson gave a pretty amusing answer: "Too flashy. I didn't know that's in the rulebook. Oh, it's not in the rulebook. The fact that he thinks these shoes throw ninety-seven to one hundred with cut might be a little far-fetched. I guess we should have these checked as performance-enhancing shoes."


Chapter 1 - Equipment
pages 4-5
 Published by W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. (2013)
1st Edition

Jupiter Cake

Note: Photo Link Via MTS (Twitter)

Food Critic Humor by Craig LaBan

In few Philadelphia neighborhoods is the natural tension of gentrification between blue-collar old-timers and craft beer-obsessed hipsters as palpable as it is in dynamic Fishtown.

I'm guessing the kale cocktail at Cedar Point Bar & Kitchen isn't going to do much to bridge the divide. It's not so much the vague notion of it being either healthy or trendy - the unfortunate love child of smoothie bar and martini madness - as it is simply a repellent thing to sip, with a silty, pond-green texture and a sour-sweet tinge that pushes the boundaries of virtuous drinking beyond reason.

Like much at Cedar Point, the otherwise inviting and casual gastropub with brew taps a-flowing and a gracious deck perched over a corner of the thriving six-point intersection at the northern edge of Fishtown, the drink's downfall may have simply resulted from sloppy execution. Had the kale juice turned? Or had the bartender just not paid much mind?

A basic Old-Fashioned was equally atrocious. When we dared ask for an actual glass for our Sierra Nevada Torpedo, the pint glass arrived still so drenched with dishwater that it rained on our server's hand when he turned it over: "That's how we do it here," he deadpanned.

Click Here To Read Complete Inquirer Review

Open Letter to Barack Obama

Dear Mr. President,

This letter to you is one of concern and sort of a "state of the union" response if you had asked me (a citizen on the street) "How am I doing?"

I would have to answer, "I think you've lost faith in your voter base." I know the President is under extreme pressure, working basically 24 hours a day, not counting golf-hours (haha!), and has information the regular citizen does not have "legal access" to, but it seems you've begun to think that those with large amounts of money, or those in charge of large amounts of monies, ie, donors/bankers, are the "real or average" American. In other words, you've gone GOP.

Mr. President, to be blunt, I think you've failed re: your election platform (2008 & 2012) -- which was basically... We can improve America by being honest & working hard to better our individual & collective selves.

Sincerely,

[Name Redacted]

Postscript: I'm a "Progressive" who also firmly believes that you don't think anybody is a whistle-blower but only a criminal.