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| compos mentis. Concision. Media. Clarity. Memes. Context. Melange. Confluence. Mishmash. Conflation. Mellifluous. Conviviality. Miscellany. Confelicity. Milieu. Cogent. Minty. Concoction. |
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Silk Road Project Recordings |
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| Topic: Music |
12:47 pm EST, Nov 11, 2003 |
Neyshabur, one of the oldest cities on the Silk Road, was a major cultural crossroads that boasted one of the ancient worlds first universities. It produced many of Irans greatest poets, including Omar Khayyam and Atar, and was also known for its turquoise. In Blue as the Turquoise Night of Neyshabur, Kayhan Kalhor combines Western strings and Indian tabla [TAH blah] (set of drums used in North Indian classical music) with his core ensemble of kemancheh [ke MAHN cheh] (spike fiddle), santur [SAN toor] (hammer dulcimer), and ney [nay] (end-blown bamboo flute). The piece is an arabesque-like elaboration of an Iranian melodic formula called chahargah. According to Kalhor, chahargah means literally "fourth time," and its mood reflects the quiet and introspective atmosphere of the fourth part of the old Iranian daily cycle, from late night until just before dawn. Explains Kalhor, "In this composition, I wanted to highlight the distinct qualities of Persian classical music. At the height of the Persian Empire, the music, poetry and literature of Persia spread to India, Central Asia, Turkey, the Mediterranean and North Africa. Persian music can still be heard today in the music of Andalusia and the Spanish flamenco." The Silk Road Project is a musical collaboration organized by Yo-Yo Ma and funded/sponsored in part by Sony, Ford, and Siemens. I bought the "Journeys" album back in the summer, and more recently picked up the "Caravan" album. At this site, you can listen to high-fidelity streaming audio of several tracks that had to be edited for, or were omitted from, the retail CDs. I like "Blue as the Turquoise Night of Neyshabur." Silk Road Project Recordings |
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Talk of Wiretaps Rattles Hollywood |
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| Topic: Current Events |
11:16 am EST, Nov 11, 2003 |
The case began with a dead fish and a rose in an aluminum pan, left on the hood of a car parked on a Los Angeles street. Taped to the windshield of the car, which belonged to a reporter for The Los Angeles Times, was a piece of cardboard with a single word: "Stop." The discovery in June 2002 unleashed a chain of events that has suddenly entwined many of the Hollywood elite and threatens to turn into the kind of scandal that the show business world has not faced in decades. You know it's big when Lowell Bergman is on the story. (Remember The Insider? "You'd better look into it, because I'm getting two things: pissed off and curious.") Talk of Wiretaps Rattles Hollywood |
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25th Anniversary of 'Science Times' |
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| Topic: Science |
11:04 am EST, Nov 11, 2003 |
The first issue of Science Times appeared 25 years ago, on Nov. 14, 1978. Its guiding principle ever since has been that science is not a collection of answers, but a way of asking questions, an enterprise driven by curiosity. To celebrate the anniversary, we pose 25 of the most provocative questions facing science. As always, answers are provisional. Note the long-standing question at the top of my web log. 25th Anniversary of 'Science Times' |
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'Voices Carry' by Til Tuesday |
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| Topic: Music |
2:04 am EST, Nov 11, 2003 |
I've long known this song, and I'm a big fan of Aimee Mann, but I never recognized or knew that she was the vocalist for this band. This is a Rhapsody link to the song "Voices Carry", by Til Tuesday. You need to have Rhapsody installed to hear the song. Rhapsody has built-in blog support for Blogger and Movable Type. I just had to do a bit of reverse engineering to decipher the URL format, and here we are. You can post pointers to one or more tracks or to an entire playlist. 'Voices Carry' by Til Tuesday |
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RealNetworks in a Venture With Comcast |
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| Topic: Music |
1:56 am EST, Nov 11, 2003 |
The relationship between online music and high-speed Internet access just got a little closer. Comcast is set to announce today that it will offer the Rhapsody online music service from RealNetworks to its nearly 5 million subscribers. Songs come from a digital library of 30,000 albums of music provided by all five major music companies and more than 200 other labels. After reading this article, I decided to check out the free trial of Rhapsody. For $10 a month, it is a pretty sweet offering. It doesn't have everything, but it has plenty to keep you streaming good music 24/7/365 without repeating for a long time. Apparently, the only thing that this "deal" represents, aside from press coverage, is that eventually you will be able to have the $10 added to your Comcast bill, instead of having a separate line item on your credit card. Is that really noteworthy? RealNetworks in a Venture With Comcast |
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President Bush's speech at the National Endowment for Democracy |
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| Topic: Politics and Law |
3:14 pm EST, Nov 10, 2003 |
The roots of our democracy can be traced to England and to its Parliament and so can the roots of this organization. In June of 1982, President Ronald Reagan spoke at Westminster Palace and declared the turning point had arrived in history. He argued that Soviet communism had failed precisely because it did not respect its own people, their creativity, their genius and their rights. President Reagan said that the day of Soviet tyranny was passing, that freedom had a momentum that would not be halted. He gave this organization its mandate: to add to the momentum of freedom across the world. Your mandate was important 20 years ago. It is equally important today. William Safire implores everyone to read this speech. This entry points to the full transcript and video stream hosted by NED. (There is an excerpt missing from the NYT-hosted version.) President Bush's speech at the National Endowment for Democracy |
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Al Gore on Freedom and Security |
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| Topic: Politics and Law |
9:51 am EST, Nov 10, 2003 |
I truly believe that some of the issues most important to Americas future are ones that all of us should be dealing with. And perhaps the most important of these issues is the one I want to talk about today: the true relationship between Freedom and Security. Watch or read the text of Al Gore's speech, given in Washington DC on Sunday afternoon. Al Gore on Freedom and Security |
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| Topic: Politics and Law |
9:48 am EST, Nov 10, 2003 |
With a strong sense of history, George W. Bush last week made the case for "a forward strategy" of idealism in American foreign policy. He dared to place his Big Idea -- what has become the central theme and purpose of his presidency -- in the direct line of aspirations expressed by three of the past century's most far-seeing and controversial U.S. presidents. But let me not join the summarizers. Invest a half-hour in reading this moving exposition of the noble goal of American foreign policy. The Age of Liberty |
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Array of Music Stars to Honor Johnny Cash |
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| Topic: Music |
1:30 am EST, Nov 10, 2003 |
A free concert will be held Monday at the Ryman Auditorium, former home of the Grand Ole Opry radio show, and broadcast Saturday on Country Music Television. Actor Tim Robbins will emcee. Performers will include Kid Rock, Sheryl Crow, John Mellencamp, George Jones, Willie Nelson, and Brooks & Dunn. A large number of news outlets are carrying this AP wire story, posted on Sunday afternoon. It is the only mention of the event that I can find, and the web site of the Ryman Auditorium gives no indication that such an event is scheduled. And it sounds suspiciously similar to the CMA awards show last week. So I don't know if it is actually happening. But if it is, and if you are in within driving distance of Nashville, you owe it to yourself, and to those who are not, to attend this free concert. And set your TiVo for Saturday. Array of Music Stars to Honor Johnny Cash |
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| Topic: Humor |
1:28 am EST, Nov 10, 2003 |
Please do not worry. Scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory are on top of this idea of building an elevator 62,000 miles into space. But just think how silly engineers surely sounded that day some 170 years ago when they proposed digging up every street in every city to lay pipes to every dwelling ... and their ensuing idea to lay wire mazes that would allow everyone to talk with anyone in the country. That and deliver last spring's movies, high-speed spam and "Everybody Loves Raymond." Clearly, nothing like an elevator into space will ever work. This is an editorial from the LA Times. No, not an op-ed from a humorist. It is an unsigned editorial, right after one about Governor Schwarzenegger and before one about traffic safety. The tone of it strikes me as very odd. That, and jabs at "Raymond" seem to be popping up everywhere. Punch Troposphere for Me |
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