Some of you may not know what ProTools is. It’s a digital music-recording system that has all kinds of amazing applications and which has completely changed the way people record music. Unfortunately, it has given rise to the flagrant overuse of something called Auto-Tune, a program that a lot of studio types use to bolster the less-than-stellar vocal talents of certain modern pop-tarts because it can be used to pitch-correct a wobbly intonation (even on the fly in live performance), push a singer’s voice up to high notes that it would otherwise never reach, and flesh out anemic performances in the studio.
It is to music producers what PhotoShop is to magazine editors. It’s cheating. And without it, Britney Spears would never have managed to croak and squeal her way beyond syndicated re-runs of the Mouseketeer Club, let alone become the reigning pop trainwreck of our time.
And just like real women have curves and the occasional unflattering angle, real singers have voices that are sweaty, visceral, sometimes gritty, sometimes silken. It’s the sound of real vocal cords working that ProTools and Auto-Tune simply can’t provide, and it’s that quality that Jill Scott has by the bucket-full.
All hail the new Queen of Soul.
I’d like to dedicate this track to Rush, Bill-O, Michelle MalKKKin, and all the rest of the ideological fluke worms lodged in the vast colon of the Right Wing Hate Industry.
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uh…
TRex!!!
pfffft!
Three?
Whoah! you guys are fast!
FunnyDiva
oh baby.. girlfriend can sing trex.
thank you
6 or 7?
too late!
Where the hell is the video?
Nifty choice, T. Rock on.
video here T
I just read this article. Protools? OMG!
Not that I’d be able to tell the difference, but STILL.
OMG. Now, why didn’t I realize this would be possible?
Could never do a live performance, though. Could you?
the video is playing fine here trex
Suzanne @ 14
Nice to be able to say that, eh Suzanne?
Suzanne @ 14
She said smugly, clearly pleased as punch with her DSL-ing self.
Anyway, evening, all. Just dropped in to see what was up, and hit a LATE LATE NO COMMENTS (lies!) post, so went for it.
Ah well, missed it by that much! Where’s the snacks? I’m hungry!
Wifey-poo is back from church and we’re watching the Eagles at the CMA… So I’ve got to wait…
peanutbutter @ 16
Snacks have been served young lady. Why were you late?????
tis a fine thing to watch the videos in real time i must say (and yes it was rather smug)
Mmm-hm.
She may never fit into a Size 2 gold-beaded gown, but no matter how hard she tries, Beyonce will never, ever be able to make a joyful noise unto the Lord like Miz Jill Scott, ever, ever, ever.
Hail, muse……zzzzzzzZZZZZZzzzzzz….
Baddest Dinos Breathed Like Birds
Yeah, but could they type?
Gotta love it when the editorial page of the NYT goes all Tax Geek.
Gotta love it even more when they get it exactly right.
Dear Senator Schumer,
WRONG AGAIN, YOU PUTZ!
Very truly yours,
/s/burnspbesq
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11…..ref=slogin
persiflage @ 14
Yes, Sheila, it was the Eagles… :P
speaking of ear candy… found this in my travels last nite
Poor Chimpy, he thought he was going to be able to sneak out the back door and leave the stanky diaper pail for someone else to clean up.
All those chickens need a place to roost and they aint gonna wait for 2009.
The Bush Depression.
-GSD
TexBetsy @ 18
Oh I’ve been out whacking people with wooden sticks :-)
peanutbutter @ 27
by people, you mean crash test dummies…
correction TREX
jill can sangggggggggggggggggggg!!
Suzanne @ 28
I mean something along these lines:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=9kHGYbCYW8c
I believe that’s the new york dojo (not mine).
GSD @ 27
Japan stocks at two-month low on yen, Wall St
Japanese Stocks Drop as Dollar Slides, Subprime Losses Widen
peanutbutter @ 16
You should be happy to have missed the snack period. Trust me.
burnspbesq @ 23
Schumer deserves to be tarred and feathered … figuratively speaking of course …
Yes, Sheila, it was the Eagles… :P
—————————————
Oh, how wonderful, please, turn it up. I have earplugs at the ready!
newtonusr @ 32
That’s the last time we drag you away from the computer to prepare food ! *g*
tried to hang in for late late night but mother is tired and sleepy…taking care of teenagers is gard when you’re old LOL… night fellow pups :)
Petrocelli @ 35
Wait until you get a load of the house nachos…
night juslin.
pb, an excellent way to whack! thanks
juslin @ 36
Night!
Suzanne @ 39
It is incredible fun :-)
persiflage @ 34
The CMA’s are on tonite, dayam, I recognize only about half in every category…
newtonusr @ 37
Hmmm…maybe I’ll grab some hotdogs from the fridge then… *blinks*
juslin @ 36
G’ nite Juslin !
GSD @ 26
Dam-! So much red ink!
Double dam-; I followed a link about credit crunch, only to find an article about plunging price for WaMu and suspicions of over-appraisals in its mortgage packages. Speculation of deep troubles for other banks and serious economic damage if it continues.
I work for one giant bank, so far not mentioned in such articles. Job doesn’t pay well, new requirements for stuff I’m really bad at…was about to send off an application to WaMu. A good many of my former co-workers are working there now.
Might not be such a good time, huh?
Maybe I’d better sit down and read thru Naomi Klein’s book – from what I know of her thesis, this week is looking like a prime example of shock after shock to our society (well, and the world).
BTW, thanks to Trex for that Jill Scott piece – definitely cheering in the midst of bad news. She’s great – never heard of her till a few days ago, piece on her on NPR.
… yet!!
Hail Jill Scott! Thanks, TRex!
Sounds like fun.
Okay, I’m going to tell you guys about my adventure at the chiropractor today and then I need to go and eat.
So, the associate physician is doing my x-rays and he asks me what I do for a living.
“I’m a radio announcer,” I said.
“Oh, wow,” he said, and then asked me if I was going to go see Neil Boortz on campus today.
Groan. I immediately knew that I was dealing with a dittohead because nobody else says the words “Neil Boortz” without spitting on the ground or openly retching.
“Oh, who’s that?” I asked, feigning ignorance.
“Oh, he does talk radio,” my doc said, snapping pictures of my innards.
“Oh,” I lied, “I don’t follow politics. Why do you like that stuff?”
Aheh. And he walked gamely into my leeetle trap.
For the next half hour, he offered me reheated Righty talking points and I swatted them out of the water, one by one.
This is what gave me away, when I said, “Why do you believe that, when the state department has clearly stated that Al Queda didn’t exist in Iraq until after the invasion?”
“I thought you said you didn’t follow politics,” he protested.
“Well, of course, I’m following the war,” I replied, preparing to fire my sharpest poison dart, “Wars aren’t supposed to be political contests, are they?”
I refrained from asking him if he’d ever heard of Col. Steven Boylan.
newtonusr @ 37
LOL !!!
Wildly Pedantically Incidentally: The thingie that fixes singers’ pitch in digital audio workstations (DAWs) is a plug-in called Auto-Tune. While ProTools is probably the single most prominent DAW that can host Auto-Tune, there are also about a couple dozen others as well. (Sorry sorry sorry… I do digital music technology for a living.)
making written note to not evah debate TRex over anythang…
peanutbutter @ 12
What do you mean. PB?
CTuttle @ 43
CMA = Country Music Awards? I’ll need the industrial strength earplugs then. I doubt I’d have heard of any of them.
Sorry TRex,
But protools ain’t the problem. It’s autotune and/or melodyne pitch correction. (Yep, someone noted it already.)
Think Cher singing… “Do you believe…” (And don’t tell me that’s the digitech talkbox…)
But then again I’m listening to Justice tonight…
I actually feel like buying Barney Franks a Beer … what a passionate speaker …
TRex @ 48
Or, ‘Baghdad Bob’ Bergner…
peanutbutter @ 30
Wow! Loved watching the tiny woman take the staff away from the big man!
WEll, that’s it for me. Gotta get some rest. Talking with y’all makes me feel better. Sleep well and warm, everybody.
Tena,
My bones tell me the economy is due for a some really bad times.
Last time they told me this was in 1989 and sho’ ’nuff there was a Bush in the Whitehouse too.
-GSD
g’nite tejanarus
Thank you TRex–Jill Scott is FABULOUS!! I’m a female vocalist junkie, so thanks for turning me on to her.
And hellYESSS! Hate on me!!!!
Ooo yeah, TRex.
Excellent choice indeed. I remember some of her earlier stuff when i was still living with my parents. Her voice is definitely the real thing, especially to my trained ear. *grooves* This is why being an audiophile is so much fun!
I’m not surprised about ProTools though, i knew there was something that producers were using to pretty up voices and i could hear it. It’s pretty hard to fool some one attuned to the quirks of the human voice. (and used to manipulating her own)
TRex @ 48
Wish I could’ve been a fly on the wall. I was about to shut down the ‘puter when I saw that post. I don’t even know who Neil Boortz is, but don’t thiink I need to. Go, TRex!
Loo Hoo. @ 52
Well, you couldn’t modify a live performance on the fly, could you? So someone who got famous on a so-called good voice, but who only ever did recordings…well…? Right?
TRex you do know how to have fun with these things.
Ooh, nice tribute to Porter Wagoner!
GSD @ 58
It’s the rest of the world giving us “tough love.” ;-0
peanutbutter – have you had time to mull over the technical issues you were working on this morning wrt the ATT surveillance challenges?
GSD @ 58
… and the time before that too … the S & L disaster (Veep Bush41)
Oh, yeah.
Although washouts like B. Spears prefer to lip-synch their shows.
NEVER FOLLOW NEWTONUSR’S FOOD LINKS.
DANGEROUS.
Petrocelli @ 68
Look at Neil Bush and Silverado S&L…
Loo Hoo. @ 70
Ah good … you’ve found the eleventh commandment … *g*
God night, Juslin. Take good care.
TRex @ 69
There’s a live, hardware-based Auto-Tune product. You could do it.
Loo Hoo. @ 70
Hey Loo Hoo…
We went to a “fish taco” joint, but did anyone actually have a fish taco?
I had the chicken.
aliasofwestgate @ 61
Hiya alias !
TexBetsy @ 64
I was just as polite and bland faced as you could possibly ask. I never raised my voice, and the whole time I had this tone of, “Well, of course that isn’t true. Everybody knows that.”
The best part was asking him what happened to the WMD’s. He tried to tell me that they did find them. “Oh, you mean that Rick Santorum thing? I thought they debunked that.”
Then he tried to tell me they were in Syria, or buried in the desert, or that Saddam moved them before the war. I asked him how that went down with UN inspectors crawling all over the country and US planes flying daily spy missions over Iraq.
From the darkest corners of the Way-Back Machine:
A clip from Canadian television, circa 1965, featuring a young singer named Joni Anderson.
I kinda like her. It’ll be interesting to follow her career.
Petrocelli @ 73
must be why he drove to so cal – he is one of them extreme food types i think – bet he drives all over going from diner to diner double dog daring with stuff like ‘you call that hot’ etc
newtonusr @ 75
Are you saying nobody had a fish taco…?
Hmmm. @ 50
Fixed.
Thank you.
CTuttle @ 71
Is that the scandal Sen. John Glenn and Sen. John McCain’s names were linked?
Evening, gang!
I’m going to try to sleep. With any luck, won’t see y’all again until Thursday night.
Whenever the wingnuts try the “Iraq sent the WMD’s to Syria” line I ask them.
1) Who did Syria support in the Iran/Iraq War?
A) Iran.
2) Who did Syria support in the Gulf War in 1991?
A) Multi-national coalition led by the US.
Final question:
So, why did Syria suddenly decide to save Saddam Husseins’ ass this time?
-GSD
TRex @ 69
While I am full agreeance with the original premise of the above, I would like to point out that in dance-heavy revues, prerecorded vocals fired from the board or sweetened into the mix are a lot more prevalent than the public might suspect.
Nothing wrong with it necessarily, unless the observer just can’t stand the thought of anything less than live.
newspaperbrat @ 82
I believe so, and, I seem to recall Keating’s name too…
burnspbesq @ 78
… not so sure … probably just a flash in the pan … /s
Arrests in US airport badge scam
from BBC World
More than 100 workers at Chicago’s O’Hare airport are found to have fake security badges, with 23 arrested.
Newspaperbrat, sort of. It was Charles Keating and the S&L he ran, the name escapes me at the moment. Same time period, same type of scandal, different S&L.
CTuttle @ 80
no
newtonusr @ 67
Mmmm, thought about it a bit more.
The one thing is, you can’t be sure you’re getting all the directed packets. Any packets you can request, sure. But not packets that are going across some other route.
The internet was originally a military research project. The objective was to keep a network intact despite random and/or unplanned losses of nodes on the network. So if you normally went through A, B, C to deliver packets from A to C, and B got taken out, you’d simply take A, D, C.
The question I have at this point, is where that splitter station is.
I suspect, if they really are tapping into this stuff, then it’s not the one site there. You can’t possibly tap all packets on one trunk. It’s simply not going to happen.
So what I’d do if I were doing something like this, is (the only thing you can do) which is decentralize it. Put up splitter stations on all the main backbones, and you’ll get most of the traffic.
You still have the issues of bandwidth, the sheer amount of data to save off, how to handle all the storage, and how to search thru it. Again, the only way is to do it through distributed and decentralized systems. If that is going on, I’d hazard a guess that it would be possible to figure it out, by checking patterns in packet transmission. Although admittedly splitting packets really leaves few if any finger prints. You just tap in and copy everything.
Still the reason you would be unlikely to pick everything up goes back to the various different routes. Let’s say internal email within a site. There’s no reason for that to route outside and back in, so it won’t appear on any major backbones.
You can also check via traceroute what path a packet will take between your site and another site. There are tools to direct your packets the way you want (although mass use of that is frowned upon, as it starts to degrade the general automatic rerouting algorithms that make internet so reliable in the first place).
Any company that’s concerned about privacy of their data should be encrypting *anything* they send out on the internet. Full stop :-P. I’m sure the NSA has ways of decrypting most things, although PGP got into legal trouble here precisely because it’s just about unbreakable anyway.
Those are mostly random thoughts, though.
newtonusr @ 75
Ya know, you’re right. I had shrimp tacos…
TexBetsy @ 84
Sleep soundly Betsy !
TexBetsy @ 84
Pleasant Dreams, Ma’am!
Nite, TexBetsy. Sleep well.
G’Night TRex and the rest of yous all.
-GSD
Aloha, GSD!
newspaperbrat @ 82
((((( NPB )))))
newtonusr @ 75
I had carnitas on Saturday, but I’ve had Wahoo’s fish tacos innumberable times, and they are a real treat.
I used to play tennis with Wing Lam, and I remember when he announced that he was quitting a cool, high-paying job with a defense contractor to open a restaurant that would do “healthy Mexican food.” Everybody in the bar at the Racquet Club of Irvine predicted failure. Now we all wish we owned stock in Wahoo’s.
great choice, TRex…
I sampled a few of the other clips the YouTube thingy offers at the bottom after the original clip… one called “You Got Me” with the Roots… what a find! I’ll be checking for more of her work. anyone who hasn’t listened to it, I strongly encourage to do so… great big brassy vocal gymnastics… yep. worth another look or three…
TRex @ 81
Thank you, o great muse therapod, for auto-correcting!
GSD @ 96
G’ nite GSD … I’m out as well … G’ nite all !
Nite, GSD.
*waves good night to all departing pups*
Loo Hoo. @ 70
***
More specifically, going to newtonusr’s food links sometimes takes…balls?
Petrocelli @ 102
Buenos Noches, Mi Amigo!
We are the self-correcting blogosphere.
Nighters, GSD!
peanutbutter @ 92
I was thinking along these lines as well. And the splitter you’re talking about would need to be more robust than I imagine it as described.
Rather, I imagine a very local node, like across the street from the switching station, where the real routing would occur.
CD @ 105
Rocky MT. Oysters…?
True, newtonusr, I had the chicken rice bowl. It was satisfatory. The company, on the other hand, was Excellent!
TRex @ 107
Well, it’s the best kind, after all.
Loo Hoo. @ 111
We are a match on all these counts. I had mine broiled. You?
You know how recently there was talk that Reid would ignore Dodd’s hold on the FISA bill? Well, Reid has already ignored one hold by a fellow Democratic senator, Ron Wyden.
Wyden’s hold was on a nominee to the Interior Dept, and while Wyden was back in Oregon a couple weeks ago for the birth of his twins, Reid let the nominee come up for a vote.
The link has more details and a graphic worthy of darkblack, imho.
If Reid can so casually ignore holds from his own party, we are seriously screwed.
newtonusr @ 109
A bridge, rather than a router, would probably do the trick (well, adjust for bandwidth, too). I’m thinking more like duplication — stream comes in one way, goes out two ways and one of those is what’s being recorded. That would leave little to no finger prints, save that of normal bridging.
Or maybe a sniffer, but good god, you can’t run those at high enough speeds to hoover it all up — too much analysis going on of the packets.
You need something that just blindly copyies all packets. I should think a bridge could be easily modified for that purpose.
Niters GSD and Petrocelli and as Suz is wont to say – all the other sleepy pups.
The good twin is telling me that it is time for bed now…
Another reason to take a split -might- be so you could send the copy off of US soil and then back again. Then you might (IANAL) have a stronger legal premise for deep-analyzing the traffic on the copied link. After all, the data came into the US from overseas!
Hmmm.
Loo Hoo. @ 117
Yeah, it’s getting late :-P
Loo Hoo. @ 117
My Good Twin doesn’t seem to be around tonight.
newspaperbrat @ 116
Hey, for the Late, Late crew, it’s second nature, NPB! *g*
Hmmm. @ 118
You’d be able to find that and track down what’s going on, though. It’s got to be siphoned off and stored then and there. Forward it somewhere and you’ve got a trail.
But, they may very well be doing this outside of the U.S. as well. Hell, most governments probably have something like this to some degree, even in Europe…
Broiled. Maybe we’re just plain boring ‘ol DFH’s after all.
I hope not. Just because I was a hippie in my youth doesn’t make me dirty. STG, I take a bath every day!!
It’s been a long day, and tomorrow promises to be equally long, so I must reluctantly go poof.
Pleasant dreams, everyone. I’m dreaming of the DOJ in the Clinton administration, with Mary Jo White as AG, Fitz as head of the Criminal Division and Marty Lederman as head of OLC.
peanutbutter @ 115
Yep. Sounds like a room-full to me as well. Cisco or Juniper is getting paid large for these boxes.
burnspbesq @ 124
Lederman would be awesome! Nite, Burns!
nite burns
nite loo hoo
nite pb
We interrupt our regularly scheduled late night festivities with this bulletin:
NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD VOTES FOR IMPEACHMENT OF PRESIDENT BUSH AND VICE PRESIDENT CHENEY
Tuesday, November 6, 2007, 09:27 AM
Geez, do you think these guys (and women) might be able to get Pelosi to change her table setting?
Bob in HI
Wow, Trex, Jill Scott is the new Queen of Soul! I love her video. Where did you find her?
TRex @ 81
Are you suggesting that there is a way I could serenade all of my best friends here on late night? Dang.
On the other hand, Suz would more likely cut me off entirely.
Speaking of which, we’re reaching the time of year when I am ready to start taking everyone’s suggestions for fixing dry skin. It’s about to get real itchy in TRextown.
And no, I will not give up my freakishly hot showers. Nothing starts my day off on the wrong claw like a tepid shower in the wintertime. It makes me want to bite people.
That job, I’m afraid, is going to take a crowbar.
Maybe we’ll be like Pakistan, LAWYERS IN THE STREEEEETS!!
It could happen.
Cetaphil.
Mmmmm, moisture.
newspaperbrat @ 82
Brand spanking new ( today about noon)! CNN politial has it.
TheOtherWA @ 129
NPR.
peanutbutter @ 122
Sorry, I was unclear. The SF thing, according to Klein, is (or was) a fiber optic splitter on a backbone line. This creates a second fibre optic cable spewing an identical copy of everything passing through the first cable. So it’s a data stream. And you plug the second cable into a cable or radio link that heads somewhere (anywhere) out of the country. Then at the other end of the link, in the other country, you find a cable or radio link that goes back to the US. So (sitting in your radio shack in the other country) you plug the incoming cable into the outgoing cable, and the stream goes back to the US over it. No need to store the data en route, it’s just a great long hose. Where it comes back into the US, you plug it into your analyzer computers. None of this would happen on the public internet, and it wouldn’t get re-routed nor re-switched en route so there would be no additional trace information added to the stream, it would be exactly the same data as when it left the country. So no trail.
TRex @ 131
I know what you mean about itchy skin in the winter. Drives me crazy. The only thing that works for me is slathering on lotion as soon as I step out of the shower. No expensive brands for me, just basic lotion that has a scent I like. And no bargain ones either. They’re useless.
newtonusr @ 125
Yup. Analysis (searching, etc) has to be done post-storage. And now what? You’ve dumped this big mess on to your storage media.
I’m not saying it’s impossible, but two things spring to mind: It’s almost certainly NOT 100% (tho it will be close enough for gov’t work, ha ha I slay myself) and second it’s got to be a much larger room/setup/project than “a single room” — they must be doing this in many places. And if they are, should be relatively easy to figure out where and how (by checking, wait for it, construction records, orders (for the equipement), where delivered, bills, etc).
Now, if they want to be smart about this, they could get a sizeable chunk of the important stuff without nearly the effort (but without being able to say THEY COPY EVERYTHANG!!!) — just target things selectively, and copy all of that. It would be easy to monitor, save, and store the lefty blogosphere, for example. Once you have a list of suspect email addresses, you can tap all that correspondence going back and forth once you ahve its main router. That kind of thing.
wigwam @ 67
I think you’re right. The Australian dollar, once languishing at about 60UScents to our dollar, yesterday made it to US$1 = AU$1, not for long and it dropped back to ninety something cents. Our dollar has moved around, took a beating in the Asian financial problems. It has NEVER, not since we floated the currency in 1983, been equal to the dollar. We’re doing pretty well economically, but not that good.
smapdi @ 133
Does it smell nice?
At the beach, Sharla lent me some of her Gilchrist and Soames products. HUBBA HUBBA!! They smelled so good I couldn’t decide if I wanted to drink them or just roll in them like a dog in something dead.
Jane says we should all use European bath products anyway, cos they don’t let them use all the poisons that American companies use.
Sigh.
I’ve already spent way too much money this month.
Hmmm. @ 136
OK. Gotcha. But this doesn’t make it any easier to analyse the data at the final end. You still have to store it and then go thru it.
Also, if they’ve installed that kind of capacity of private cable, etc. there’s a record of bills, sales, and installation, *somewhere*. Interesting.
persiflage @ 139
The Loonie has never exceeded the USD until recently, too…
TRex @ 140
Check out http://www.safecosmetics.org — this is related to all types of skin products, not just cosmetics. Including bubblebath, etc (which is what I started going thru this for).
peanutbutter @ 141
Right, I wasn’t addressing the analysis aspect, just the legal aspect. I’m still mulling your discussion of that side.
As you keep on, remember money is no object in this application, terabytes of memory and multimillions of dollars per location is not a problem. There are probably entire data storage technologies ijn existence that we civilians have no knowledge of.
Cetaphil has no scent, just like heaven.
waving to all the sleepy pups who left while token was saving the redwoods
Suzanne @ 146
The fabled cottage must be much, much bigger than I imagined.
Hmmm. @ 144
peanutbutter’s analysis began
here…
trex, look for cocoa butter soap with none of those preservatives and chemicals found in the mass produced soaps – will moisturize and cleanse. if you can’t find cocoa butter, look for castile soap.
I shall bid ya’ll a fond adieu! Aloha Oe!!!
Hmmm. @ 144
Hmmm. Look, my background is computer science. While I didn’t get a PhD, I was in the doctorate track for quite some time, and I’ve kept up my contacts. I have a fairly good idea of what’s out there in terms of pushing the envelope on data storage, analysis techniques etc, or I can find someone who does. About the only field of research that tends to get hidden/sucked up into “gummint” research is anything on encryption — we had various math and algorithms students who would be told to back off various approaches by the NSA, or who would have their work suddenly classified, but that’s about it, and that was within the U.S. — other countries had different ideas about that, including Europe.
So, I dunno. I could be wrong, but.. it’s very hard to hide research and results in the geek arena. There are way too many interested people who keep track of this stuff.
Interesting to speculate about, though.
Chamomile exfoliating bar…
PB – youve seen the work Boing Boing has done on this?
Susan Tedeschi is one of the current blues queens.
Hmmm. @ 147
come up for the meetup and see for yourself, cottage is small but there is a whole lotta mother nature surrounding it. token has decided that he, all 9 lbs of him, will be the dog that saves the redwoods during our drought.
peanutbutter @ 151
Ha. I just realized your username. Sorry, I wasn’t addressing you there…I just say “hmmmm” a lot :-O So I might sound snarky or something there, but I don’t intend to!
smapdi @ 153
I don’t follow boing boing…just checked there and there’s a two minute video guide? No audio here, though.
Or another post? (pointer?)
Steve-Er-Rino @ 154
i’ve been listening to a lot of Michelle Shocked lately
CTuttle @ 143
Well, there you go. If our dollar is equal to yours it’s because we’ve improved some and you’ve deteriorated some. I wonder if the Euro will emerge from this as the preferred currency for international trade.
Don’t know how I missed he Reid-Wyden hold “stab in the back” since it was all over the blogs, now that I did a search for it.
D’oh! *sound of hand smacking forehead*
persiflage
That’s what I assume, the international default currency will be the euro. It almost was in ‘04, until the vote on the EU constitution failed in the last two countries. Then people ran back to the dollar, temporarily.
alrighty, i’m fading fast now…if you’ve got other replies etc plz point me back later and i’ll catch up somewhere :-)
night! *waves all around*
I’m done too. See ya tomorrow.
pb – No offense intended and I sincerely hope none received at your end.
FWIW like you I was a CS major (with math minor), that was 25 years ago and I’ve been in the field ever since. I’m sure you know lots of basic research occurs in the private sector and is not disclosed via ordinary academic and professional publishing, i.e. originates in secret and stays there should gov/mil pick it up. This is what I mean about other technologies. See also estimates of the NSA’s absolutely brain-boggling compute capacity — the power consumption alone is staggering — it’s not all used for factoring large primes (attacking ciphers).
Room in the lake for multiple estimates of what is possible technically, yes? I hope?
nite ct
nite pb
PB, I cant find the post, but it was explicit at the hardware level.
Google boing boing is the best I can do.
Hmmm. @ 164
certainly
Meh, Protools is for people with too little talent and too much money to spend. ;)
In all seriousness, there are much better, less vertically integrated (read: Costly), recording packages but, like in video editing, it’s all about what the cool kids think is cool.
TRex:
I’m going to pick a few nits here too, sorry…
ProTools is both software and hardware, and with minor exceptions, they only work with each other.
Other DAW (digital audio workstations) offer hardware and/or software that in some cases tends to be a bit more generic in application: you can use Steinberg’s Nuendo software with interfaces from other manufacturers, for example.
And while, as someone stated previously, there are other competitors, ProTools has more installed systems than all others put together.
May not be the best, although that is arguable, but it’s the most often seen.
And, I have worked on records back in the analog tape days where vocals were flown into a sampler, pitch corrected, and then flown back to tape. So pitch correction isn’t new, it’s just easier to do.
For the most egregious example of Auto-Tune™ used as a “creative” tool, listen to “Do You Believe” by Cher. If you can.
OK, I’ll shut up now.
Suzanne @ 155
Wish I could! The Sweetie and I have other plans — Saturday looks too rainy to go birding now, so it’ll be a day at the Japan Center instead. Next meetup, I hope.
Geez, we haven’t even got room to save all our books, even, and token gets to save the effin’ redwoods…
SteveAudio @ 169
GOD!! Okay!
I now must revert to my imitation of El Gato Negro:
Deed sahmone let a Chihuahua een heere? I kip hearing thees yapyapyapyapyap sound.
So.
hmmm, it is not this saturday – tis next saturday the 17th
TRex @ 171
Aw come on! You know you love me!
Suzanne @ 149
Better yet, use this as an excuse to get a HOT TUB and use all those nice bath oils. Your freakingly hot showers are washing away all your natural body oils that keep your skin… from… getting… um… scaly….
Um, do therapods have natural body oils?
Oh, wait. Better scratch that. Oops, I meant reconsider, not scratch…
(sigh)
Bob in HI
Suzanne @ 172
D’OH! Then it’s a definite Maybe! That week’s up in the air with possible work travel… hopefully it’ll fall through. Thank you again for asking, arigato goziemass.
People who are able to spontaneously install a hot tub in their houses obviously do not work in public radio.
hot tubs are not all they are cracked up to be trex – they attract all kinda riff-raff and flotsom – one time i found my husband’s mistress in ours
gozaimasu
Sweet dreams peanutbutter – all you tech pups never fail to impress and inspire with your grasp of technology.
Suz – thank you for organizing and hosting the first SF/bay and north Monterey bay meetup! So looking forward to a great Saturday afternoon on the 17th!
Waving good niters to all. (poof)
newspaperbrat @ 179
But as Monty Python said, “no poofters”.
Betsy’s back.
Suzanne @ 177
Well, I hope you threw in some lemon halves and Old Bay seasoning, slammed down the cover and turned the heat all the way up. And when she started pounding and shouting, “Oh, my god, let me out! What are you doing?!” that you said, “Boiling the crabs, you lousy tramp!!” and laughed and laughed a spine-chilling evil laugh.
And if you didn’t, can I pretend that you did?
Suzanne, I had to listen to Michelle Shocked’s Anchorange song yesterday after you brought her up in the utubes.
Anybody remember Tanita Tikaram?
SteveAudio @ 169
The worst part? It actually made that effect timbre popular…All over the radio like a jailhouse rash after it went top 10. – Gurgly ass filtered B.S. practically screams ‘can’t hold a note’ to me.
smapdi @ 183
What, with her ONE GOOD SONG that didn’t sound like any of the others on the album??!! HUH??!! THAT TANITA TIKARAM?!
Yeah, I remember her.
But I’m not bitter or anything.
darkblack @ 184
Indeed, well said.
I can remember watching one engineer AutoTune Barbra Streisand. That was a freakin’ waste of time.
TRex @ 182
soy tan lee, trex
What weirded me out was when it started showing up in country songs. That was when I knew that recording software had totally gone all Wal-Mart.
TRex @ 178
Auto-correction is my friend. I Can Learn This. Thank you.
Oh, good, so you won’t mind when I show up at your daughter’s wedding and tell her that story?
Trex, If you see a used copy of “11 Kinds of Loneliness” at Music Barn or what have you, buy it. It is soooo sad and sooo good.
TRex @ 188
As I tell my students regularly, “just because you can, doesn’t mean you should”.
The software is just tools. Give a guitar to, say, Angus Young, and he’ll make you want to rock and dance.
Give the same guitar to Brooks & Dunn, and you’ll want to beat them over the head with it.
TRex @ 190
with ex-hubby in the same room?
different daughter – bride to be is from husband #1, baby girl (just 18) is from the fundy with zipper problems
Suzanne @ 194
Jeebus, girl, you gots you some history.
SteveAudio @ 192
fuckin’ A Steve
SteveAudio @ 195
we all do – just a matter of degrees of difficulty
TexBetsy @ 181
Hi, Betsy!
Bob in HI
And if you give a guitar to Björk, she’ll wear it on her head.
Hi Bob!
SteveAudio @ 186
Probably couldn’t even gliss with her melisma, snapping and popping like swap meet vinyl.
I would counsel two options, advice for the starry-eyed aspiring: Learn to sing for real, or get out of the business.
Be a hand model, encyclopedias door-to-door…Something, anything.
newtonusr @ 196
Made me laugh. Thanks!
darkblack @ 201
I’m engraving that on a monument somewhere. Priceless.
darkblack @ 184
Yeah, up until then the alterations weren’t so bloody obvious. I don’t have all the formal training beyond my own audio talents and years of performance but you can pick it up pretty often. It’s just THAT song let ‘em all out of the bag on the obvious tweaking. *sighs*
Now i like the tweaking when it’s done well in electronica for a purpose. But if it’s just to boost a poor vocalist’s sound? bleagh.
Now that we’re having fun…
It doesn’t just happen here.
School Shooter Kills 8, Self in Finland
I’ve been using Pro Tools since it came out. Some singers have tempted me to use Auto Tune in production, but I like the real thing, even when it sorta sucks.
Ed*ard Teller @ 206
It definitely has a real use, to save a bad note in an otherwise brilliant take.
But like any tool (Marcel, meet foam), it can be overused.
TRex, y should gm.
I was up too late last nite – was still here when the day shifters on the east coast came in all bright eyed and awake.
off to bed – g’nite all
Suzanne @ 209
nite, Suz.
nite suz
Ed*ard Teller @ 206
Sometimes it adds a bit of flavor to the the interpretation as well, i find. I’ve a bit of formal training in vocal technique and can tell easily on the poor voices, no training thing. But i gravitate to those that can present well, even without the perfect voice. But when they can’t present and the voice is poor? i wander off in search of other stuff. Then i proceed to drool in awe of the clear voices that turn up in other places that are out of the mainstream here.
aliasofwestgate @ 204
Oh sure…texture variations, filtering, phasing – that’s all good if it’s congruent with the composition.
I like a Pro Tools format for editing…Get that punch right where it needs to be, non-destructively, instant track copying…Keep the razor blades for the talent.
;>)
Nite, S.
SteveAudio @ 207
I haven’t produced recordings in a studio since I left Seattle 34 years ago. Everything I’ve done up here has been live. My son’s bands’ singers couldn’t have been helped by any version that yet exists of Auto Tune. They wanted to sound a badass a possible. They sounded worse.
O watery, lakey friends, The Sweetie tells me it’s time to get out. All pruny, etc., and if I don’t go do the sleeping, it ain’t gonna get done.
Thank you all for your surpassing excellence tonight. Dream sweetly.
aliasofwestgate @ 212
My latest fem singer songwriter crush is Ingrid Michaelson, went and saw her at the Troubadour last Sat. Man, what precision in her vocals, with no loss of feeling and sould. No AutoTune needed ever, just spot-on singing. Truly a joy to hear.
Homeless: ‘one in four military vets’
Military veterans account for one in four homeless people in the United States, though they are only 11 per cent of the general adult population, according to a report to be released tomorrow. More here
darkblack @ 213
Indeed. The editing process is really rich, sometimes too much so, however.
When I listen to tapes recorded in years past, complete takes by rehearsed players with mad skillz™, sometimes, I yearn for the simpler times.
But then I embrace reality.
Come Come Now,
Autotune(and it’s vastly superior rival Melodyne)
are just tools they can used in a variety of powerful
and expressive ways. For instance I played with a
fabulous funk bassist, and recorded him extensively.
He’s has moved back to the east coast, yet I want some of his poppin love on new stuff…
wala melodyne new funky love.
SteveAudio @ 219
Well, that’s a room, a vibe, right machines, proper preproduction, talent, and desire – a little or a lot, some or all…Infinitely replicable if you don’t mind it being different every time.
;>)
For me it’s remembering a lot of the concerts i was a part of. The bands were almost continually a little ‘off’ in sound, but the final choir i was a part of? Was so much fun and we had a gathering of talent. Worked our asses off to get that ‘perfect’ blend of voices year round, even with the usual personality clashes of all types. So i find tweaking to get a better sound lazy, after all those years of learning how to use my own voice properly. I’m so very far out of practice nowadays, but if i had the chance i’d pick it up again. It’s satisfying to have it click and you see the audience gasp and smile. ^_^
Of course, i remember reality in the music biz too, and sigh. That was high school choir when we had a great director and before budget cuts completely did away with the choir program after i graduated(but bent over backwards to keep marching band).
darkblack @ 221
That’s part of why I enjoy working with John Frusciante so much. Even though he’s a young’un by some standards, he really gets that aesthetic, the idea of a performance rather than an edit.
Hell, I remember working with my 4 tk Teac back in the ’70s, when punching was really problematic. One had to play the part right or get out.
SteveAudio @ 222
Ping pong induced tape saturation blues, in C.
;>)
darkblack @ 224
I’ve got some tapes I need to digitize, when I do, I’ll send the results to you.
Imagine, over 20 tracks on a 4 track. Maybe not a good idea, but that was where my muse was then.
darkblack @ 221
Well, my favorite example of that is listening to Lester Flatt sing “You are my Flower,” which sets my teeth on edge. And yet it has become a bluegrass classic– probably as much because of Earl Scruggs’ clear and skillful, yet simple guitar(!) playing than Flatt’s singing, er, flat. People said it gave the song “character.”
Most of the great singers lose pitch control as they get older. Even Sinatra. So, what to do?
Bob in HI
darkblack @ 224
The last electronic piece I did in the lower 48 before I came to Alaska, used a Buchla, two Teacs and a Revox, pings,reverb and ocean wave recordings, bouy bells and seagulls. It combined the names of John CAGE and JS BACH in an anagram. I called it BACHAGE. It was in C.
bobschacht @ 226
Indeed. Sometimes people just don;t know when to quit.
Or when to use available technology to cure stuff.
SteveAudio @ 224
Worked for Fripp.
;>)
bobschacht @ 225
Infomercials
;>)
Ed*ard Teller @ 227
I would love to hear it, my friend.
darkblack @ 229
“Hi, we’re Graham & Russell from Air Supply…”
Ed*ard Teller @ 226
‘The innocent schoolgirl of the tempered scale’
;>)
darkblack @ 232
with billions of yet unwritten melodies in that simple key alone…
*sighs*
The lot of you guys do what i had been hoping to do when i started classes earlier this year. If my health problems hadn’t interfered i’d be about halfway to the degree by now. The only consolation is that i can eventually go back again, once i get things under more control.
Ed*ard Teller @ 232
‘Its limpid charms are contrasted by the resigned, world-weary airs of B flat, and the brassy come-hither allure of F sharp.’
;>)
‘The lot of you guys do what i had been hoping to do…’
Well, I don’t do very much in the field anymore… ET and Steve have mastered their realms where I have squandered my alms, if you will.
But its never too late for vision and desire.
True that. I also do the streaming DJ thing online at the moment. Which gives me some freedom to share the music i find in other places or with help from friends with access to Europe and the money to ship those imports to themselves. I still get to use my audio skill, but not for anything original.
As the situation stands? I had to have surgery in may to deal with the chronic pain, and that’s a factor when thinking of returning to class while also working a full time job. (the money issue is a whole other story) So for now? The DJing slakes that musical thirst that simmers under the surface, without pushing the limits of my endurance with a punishing schedule. *grins*
darkblack @ 235
db, you have squandered nothing. Perhaps your art has changed direction and expression slightly, but your talent is known to many, and much appreciated.
Ah, well, night falls, and we stand before the sea…
SteveAudio @ 236
Thank you, Steve. I expect all things to pass in their time, but for all the negatives, music was the most rewarding.
From the Brown and Round…Jill has broken it down
Given you carmel flavor, and delivered you from faux saviours
The mix that you have been missin’ is the truth you ain’t been livin
While you’ve been watching awe and shocks
They’ve been robbin’ the bank and stealin’ your stocks
Lyin’ to you bout 9/11, sayin’ killin’ brown people are your keys into heaven
And don’t turn away cause Rudy’s in drag
Makin’ deals with the devil, puttin votes in “black bags”
You’re watchin Hillary cause her votes straddle lines…
Not seein’ slights of hands dealin’ drugs and oil vines…
Your leaders are greedy and waitin on elections
What makes you think you control your selections?
Your hero is dying each day in your name
While you sit on your ass and say “Ain’t it a Shame!”
Speak ill of the Brown and Hang Nooses for Blacks
While all other immigrants flood borders so lax
Trust Putin’s soul while cursin’ Iran
Is the enemy within the real nuclear bomb?
Her words speak the truth and her voice is like tiffany
Her hips are the way a woman’s is supposed to be
Hear what she says and stop the debatin’
Maybe some Brown folks have some answers you could use if you stop “Hate’n
This is bad. I really need to be asleep, but I am too wired. Anyone else still up?
munahminahn
apropos of Jill Scott’s wonderful vocal chords:
Here is a great speech by Larry Lessig
Wow, did anyone already note that TRex’s previous post was highlighted over at Juan Cole’s?
Jill Scott has been one of those artists that I rediscover every few years. I think that part of the cycle’s finally over, as she seems poised to get her due at last.
yo
Mornin’, day shifters (as Suz likes to call us) -
raven -
Man of few words, you are. ;-) What’s happening down your way these days?
Waccamaw @ 246
Aw, I’m one of those dreaded football fanatics and with Auburn coming in Saturday on my 58th I am primed! My wife got railroaded into being prez of the neighborhood garden club so that’ll be fun. Youse?
raven -
Cool…….literally. Fifty-six degrees in the house – brrrrrrrrr. Been waiting a week to get the heat/air people in for servicing but they’re supposed to come this morning. When I turned it on earlier there was a funny smell (which was probably just disuse) but I get hinky about that sorta thing.
Still working on canning the 80 lbs. of Romas I picked Sunday. Was careful to get them at varying degrees of ripeness so it has been possible to spread it out for multiple days. Gettin’ a little old, tho’.
Waccamaw @ 248
A smell is pretty normal the first time you fire the furnace, our tenant freaked out when she lit up the one in her house too. Are you peeling the maters?
clearly bob dylan has been using
Auto-Tune since he first began recording.
he needed to get rid of that Robert Goulet smooth like sunlight hitting honey quality in his classically trained voice to more authentically ‘communicate’ his material.
Mroning Raven, Waccamaw, pdragon…
got a water leak (yah with the well problem..)to deal with. And my landlord says he’s never seen a house so messy. (He’s had a sheltered life, apparently..)
23 clear, breezy. I was working on ladders and it never broke 50 in the shady spot at the cabin ‘Camp Runamuck”.
I just thought I wanted cold weather…
Oh, and the liquor referrendum failed, 3380 to 3841.
MR. Bill @ 251
Is your well drilled or bored?
This toy recall stuff is getting waaay beyond the pale:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/11/…..index.html
“Anyone with Aqua Dots at home should throw them out,” CPSC spokeswoman Julie Vallese said. The toy was named toy of the year in Australia and recently made Wal-Mart Store Inc’s list of top 12 Christmas toys.
No wonder all the retailers are running pre-Christmas sales pre-pre-pre-Christmas. Walmart execs: “Hey, boys – we gotta get rid of this sh*t before the dumb*ss shoppers find out it’s gonna kill their kids.”
But, hey – let’s finish drowning government agencies in the bathtub and keep rewarding the idjits who’ve been put in charge of them; consumers be damned. /s
Waccamaw @ 253
]
I’ll bet there is a run on aqua dots!
1,652 DAYZ AND THE KILLIN’ GOEZ ON AND ON AND..
Citizens Raven, Mr. Bill and the Firewpup Freedom Fighters:
Besides “arroyos” in the back yard and well problems…anybody got a reason ta get outta bed this AM?
KEEP THE FAITH AND TAKE CARE OF EACH OTHER!!
Waccamaw @ 253
when Nixon is given credit for ‘opening’ up China (weird concept) nobody actually envisions a can opener opening up a tin of liquid lead .
but maybe this toy wasn’t made in china?
do we blame the Mennonite hand-crafters for this one?
aqua dots.
blotter acid.
what a bad trip.
NorskeFlamethrower @ 255
Hell yes, we leash up the Bohdisattva and take our morning walk to the bakery for our Joe. Then get back, logon and be really happy that I work from home!
raven -
Thankfully, I got caught up with the ripe ones yesterday so I get a day off. :-) I dunk ‘em in boiling water long enough to get the skins to split so the peeling goes easy. Looked up one of those neat gadgets on the net yesterday that’s supposed to remove seeds and skins and spits out a nice paste. The bloody thing was close to $200.! and since it’s just me and I don’t use *that* much paste, the purchase would be stupid.
Are you in the water conservation area as it relates to Atlanta?
MR. Bill -
So sorry to hear you’re having even more water woes. :-(
Mabel’s Wig Shack -
“Who’d a thunk it?” is gonna be the motto that goes down in history for this administration.
Waccamaw @ 259
We may be in worse shape than the ATL, we’re fed by the Broad River and Bear Creek reservoir and both are in tough shape. The anti-football people, many of whom are our artsy friends, want the season scratched because of the water issues. We also had some half-wit write into the paper that illegal immigrants were using too much water!
Waccamaw @ 260
indeed.
and who could have possibly imagined that planning an unprovoked war of aggression against iraq might have inflamed and even radicalized elements of fundamentalism in Pakistan.
perhaps ‘radicalized elements of fundamentalism’ is an oxymoron?
Mabel’s Wig Shack @ 262
i expect our war of aggression against the afghan people has more to do with problems in pakistan than our war of aggession against the iraqis.
Raven, my well is an old bored one, not very deep.
And yeah, when the headline is “Recalled toys contain Date-rape drug”, we’re far gone from Life as we used to know it.
That the media stubbornly refuses to connect the ‘aquadots’ to the failure of the Feds to police Chinese imports, under the rubric of ’self-regulation’, argues for the break-up of media conglomerates.
raven -
Wasn’t there some football stadium that’s supposed to put the “if it’s yellow” policy in effect wrt toilet use during gametime? Maybe they ought to control the beer consumption to help alleviate the problem. *g*
Is that the same Broad (ie. French Broad) that flows thru’ NC?
WASHINGTON (CNN) — More than 25 percent of the homeless population in the United States are war veterans, although they represent only 11 percent of the civilian adult population, according to a report to be released Thursday.
On any given night last year, nearly 196,000 veterans slept on the street, in a shelter or in transitional housing, the study by the Homelessness Research Institute found.
“Veterans make up a disproportionate share of homeless people,” the report said.
“This is true despite the fact that veterans are better educated, more likely to be employed and have a lower poverty rate than the general population.”
The National Alliance to End Homelessness, which includes the Homelessness Research Institute as its research and education arm, planned a press conference in the morning to discuss the study’s findings.
“These findings highlight the need to provide veterans with the proper housing and supportive services to prevent homelessness from occurring in the first place,” said Nan Roman, the organization’s president. “If we can do that, then we can greatly reduce the number of homeless veterans in general.”
uh, for some reason my comment is awaiting moderation.
Raven I have an old bored well.
Waccamaw @ 265
N booze sales at college games, only bowl games. They said last week that “attendants” were going to flush the toilets but I saw no evidence of that and it was a stupid idea anyway. I think the river may be the same.
Located in northeast Georgia, 23 miles from Athens on Ga. Hwy 281, the scenic Broad River has 70 miles of continuous navigable water. Most of this free flowing river is mild with no rapids. One section has exciting but easy Class II rapids, suitable for beginners yet fun for the more advanced paddler. The Broad has “the Waterfall”; an avoidable 5 ft drop which is a definite “cheap thrill.” The 6.5 mile section -The Broad- contains 7 shoals, each with individual ledges and sloughs.
Our two basic trips are the upper 5 miles ( 2-3 hours) or 10 miles ( 3-6 hours) of moving water and the lower 6.5 miles of class II beginner whitewater ( 3-4 hours). Times will vary depending on water levels, skill levels and attitudes.
Mild and Scenic sections with beautiful views and vista’s of high bluffs, cliffs and of hardwood forest and wildflowers describe the bulk of the river. Most are suitable for day trips or for camping trips of up to 4 days.
The river starts in the National Forest on the eastern slope of the Appalachian Mts and ends at U.S. Corps of Engineer’s Anthony Shoals, a mile long class II rapid with many endangered species of flora and Fauna. These federally protected areas contains historic and prehistoric sites.
The State of Georgia has aquired the first tract of land as part of the Heritage Trail. The Broad River Watershed Assoc. (BRWA) and other groups are working with the State to acquire and protect areas along the entire course of the Broad River and its major tributaries. A great historical link discribes the travels of William Bartram through the Southeast US and Georgia during the mid 1700s and describing the Broad River and the Altamaha River.
The Broad River is close to many other points of interest being only 100 miles East Northeast of Atlanta, 70 miles Southwest of Greenville, S.C., 100 miles Northwest of Augusta, Ga., and 120 Northeast of Macon, Ga.
raven @ 270
The State of Georgia’s stubborn refusal to connect our water issues with development issues is an ongoing scandal.
The State gutted wetland and trout stream protections when the Repugs got the Legislature, and they are just not going to face up to the development interests.
raven -
“although they represent only 11 percent of the civilian adult population”
That word “only” has been roiling my gut ever since I first read this article. In a just world there wouldn’t be ANY homeless, veterans or otherwise. More and more days, this country makes me sick to my stomach.
i expect our war of aggression against the afghan people has more to do with problems in pakistan than our war of aggession against the iraqis.
selise
you may be correct.
i’d forgotten about afghanistan.
what a weirdly convoluted mess.
Waccamaw @ 271
I know there were Nam vets who chose to live in the “bush” when they came home. Recall the stories about PTSD brothers living in the mountains in Washington?
Waccamaw @ 272
I don’t know if you all heard the NPR piece a few days back about the ex-cop producing a “Never get busted again!” Video.
He talked about his salad days of getting multiple busts from car searches, and said they targeted vehicles with ‘Vietnam Veteran’ stickers “’cause a lot of them had drug habits they brought back.”
(He had the good taste to be sorry for slamming into peoples homes, ruining their lives and having their children taken away “over a bag of pot”.)
11% of any population is a hell of a lot of people
And I knew at least 5 vets who lived up in the hills here (only one still alive)in tiny shacks in the woods, hiding from their memories and the rest of the world.
MR. Bill @ 274
good lord.
there are no consequences for consequences are there?
Good morning, pups. It’s TOMC and Cohen in the Times today. TOMC thinks maybe Rudy Giuliani’s leadership is so powerful that people exposed to it find it impossible to doubt the sincerity of his every word. Roger Cohen says the United States must use Gen. Pervez Musharraf’s vulnerability to get more of what it wants.
http://mgpaquin.wordpress.com/
The coffee and tea are ready, and I’ve got hot chocolate too today because it’s COLD!!! It was 36 when I went out to get the Savannah Daily Disappointment. Have a good day, and stay warm.
Mabel’s Wig Shack @ 272
yes.
and as much as i despise the policies of my own government, it scares the shit out of me to think how others, who have really suffered from those policies, must feel.
karma is a bitch when the blowback hits.
i just wish the dots could be connected in an obvious way, so that the sources of the blowback would not remain hidden.
Good morning, pups. It’s TOMC and Cohen in the Times today. TOMC thinks maybe Rudy Giuliani’s leadership is so powerful that people exposed to it find it impossible to doubt the sincerity of his every word. Roger Cohen says the United States must use Gen. Pervez Musharraf’s vulnerability to get more of what it wants.
apparently these fine fine journalists believe we must use gen. pervez musharraf’s vulnerability to get even more and even more and ever more forever rudy giuliani. i for one welcome this beautiful synchronicity.
i just wish the dots could be connected in an obvious way, so that the sources of the blowback would not remain hidden.
the aqua dots!
Mabel’s Wig Shack @ 275
Yeh, that was my reaction exactly.
Have you guys seen this article from e&p:
http://www.mediainfo.com/eandp…..1003668890
If the government and media won’t track causes of “non-combat” deaths in Iraq, I have absolutely NO faith in the accuracy of numbers of homeless vets in this country.
I’m running a little late this morning, but the biscuits are finally out of the oven. Help yourselves…
Good mroning selise, Marion.
I know a couple of Iraq 1 vet who are struggling, one who has just barely avoided homelessness. All hail the military, but screw the soldier seems to be the Rightist operating principle.
Mornin’ all!
MR. Bill @ 285
yes.
honour the troops in theory
screw the soldier in practice
and practice theories forever !!!
Pakistan elections to be held by Feb 15: Musharraf
Pakistan had been scheduled to hold elections by mid-January until the military ruler imposed emergency rule on Saturday and suspended the constitution to the horror of the international community.
Just a thought — one of the problems that vets may be having is the skills they acquired in the military aren’t much use in, or are hard to translate to, civilian life. But don’t let’s have any job training programs… Nope. They’d cost money…
Report: Reagan library can’t find items
And if you enjoy this sort of thing, Traitor Bob Novak is sayin’ In the Washington Post Fred Thompson can’t get the nomination if he keeps not toeing the total anti abortion position. Fun to watch the Right implod.
Just wish there was a Left to fill the vacuity.. http://tinyurl.com/2hegau
Norske asks
Er, coffee?
Good morning pups! It’s a beautiful day.
I’m not gonna let the bad guys steal my joy.
egregious @ 292
Er, coffee?
Good morning pups! It’s a beautiful day.
I’m not gonna let the bad guys steal my joy.
As I’ve said, I grew up on a dairy farm and am programmed to find shit to shovel at 5 am regardless. That and having been the custodial parent and infant care specialist.
I made a spiritual discipline out of it for year, watching the sun rise, or at least, it get light. Sometimes, like Sundays, I can go back to sleep…
wow. i can’t figure out if pat robertson looks like a woodchuck or an otter or what. although i’m sure otters and woodchucks have more natural integrity than his holiness could ever contemplate.
http://www.hinessight.com/
Good morning folks. A lot of employers just aren’t that impressed with military acquired skills, even if they involve advanced electronics, unless they are in the defense industry, in which case, they eagerly snap you up. This from a person who spent many years with both GE and Westinghouse, until I couldn’t do the war industry anymore.
okay. then hinessight.com goes and changes their cover photo!!!
twolf1 @ 289
Part of the problem has to do with a lack of supervision and a “near universal” security breakdown that may have left the mementos vulnerable to pilfering, “the scope of which will likely never be known,” the audit found.
For thugs, run by thugs, scr*wed by thugs. What else is new? ;-(
Mabel’s Wig Shack @ 293
I vote groundhog.
Otters are too cute.
A friend had a stuffed woodchuck/groundhog, arranged in an attack pose. A silly looking thing..
nonplussed @ 294
I’ve seen people argue that the incidence of postal employees shooting up the place is largely due to veteran’s preference, and the fact that so many postal employees are vets.
I think the management culture of the PO is probably to blame (and my dad and late wife were postal employees..)
twolf1 @ 290
“An audit by the National Archives inspector general concluded that the library in Simi Valley was unable to properly account for more than 80,000 objects out of its collection of some 100,000 artifact”
unbelieveable
oops Good Morning!
Alright I gotta get goin’.
Ya’ll take it easy. I’m still wondering why my comment went to moderation…
Tammy Duckworth coming up on Washington Journal.
7:30am – Tammy Duckworth, Illinois Veterans Affairs Department, Director
8am – Rep. John Carter (R-TX), Vet. Affairs Approps. Subcmte., Member | Senate Approps
8:30 – Vincent Boland, Financial Times
9am – Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite, (R-FL) | Homeowners Defense Act: H.R. 3355
9:30am – Mark Klein, Former AT&T Technician
my bold
Duckworth up now! homeless vets
on CSPAN 1 oops
Morning everyone. Woke up to snow on the ground. I hope all the parents of young children saw the warning about the toy ‘Aqua-Dots’. Very lethal.
Morning. Solai, brrrrr…I thought it was cold here.
Fitz! Darn, late again.
That technology has been around for quite a while.
I remember an interview with Geddy Lee from the late 1970s where he was informed that Fleetwood Mac had recently spent over a million dollars in the studio producing a record. He said he would never have been able to figure out how to spend that kind of money on such a task. He surmised that a band had to be pretty bad to have spent that much.
For those keeping tract, this morning 1 € would cost $1.4722. That may be the result of $98 per barrel oil.
Elliott -
I hadn’t checked the full schedule so thanks for the heads up on Klein. S/b interesting to hear viewer call-in reactions on that one. He didn’t come across as effectively as one might wish (on KO iirc) so I hope he does better this morning….also in testimony.
Waccamaw @ 310
your welcome! I didn’t see the KO segment tho, hope he does well on CSPAN
The Guardian has this advice about the dollar, FWIW
http://www.guardian.co.uk/mone…..gncurrency
solai @ 306
23 degrees F. this morning at 7:00 here in Greater Metropolitan Castle Creek. No snow, though – but again, you guys get the lake effect – we get Nor’easters.
More bad news wrt problems encountered by returning vets:
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap…..15904.html
Hey boys and girls – there’s a new thread upstairs.
Toby Wollin @ 313
I went to college in Oswego. Talk about lake effect. We’d get buried.
A Loonie is US$1.0774. Even dollar exchange rate of a Chinese yuan has fallen.
Hi TRex, What is the name of your former (current?) band? Are there any samples of your music on line? I hope so!
Keep up the good work.
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM….Jill Scott!!!
(Homer Simpson Drool Mode)
No, the queen of soul is Erykah Badu. Period.
twolf1 @ 290
Not to worry. They sre ONLY missing 80,000 of the 100,000 items in the inventory! Nobody noticed such a small percentage.
Just call it the consequences of Reagan’s “FREE MARKET” philosophy.
BTW. I was under the impression that Presidents and others didn’t own any items over $20 acquired as gifts while they were President. So are these on loan to the Museum? Or is the Reagan Museum Federally owned?
Waccamaw @ 297
They can’t figure out what they had??? Aren’t these all Federal Properties that had to “borrowed” by the Reagan Library?
I don’t buy the line that they can’t determine the extent. With the exception of items acquired before, and after, his Presidential term they should have accurate records. Or did Daddy Bush screw up and not require accurate inventorying????
cinnamonape @ 321
Clinton did it!
…no, actually Clinton had Sandy Berger do it!
How did he get the life-sized Bonzo statue out the door?
Eric_deneen @ 320
She would probably respond to you the way she did here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNf3OkARYTI
…and be just as charming in the process.