The Double A Lounge

You hear all the time about performers who reprimand audiences for their behavior but this is a sad example of when it goes too far.

The performer in this case is a jazz musician by the name of Keith Jarrett.   He’s a legend in the jazz world so his performances are always worth seeking out, but in this case he really stooped to a level that shocked me.  It’s one thing to politely ask, but it’s quite another to be so brutal about i.  He hadn’t even played a note yet and he already had ticked off his audience.  Needless to say, the people who organized the festival he played at won’t be inviting him back.

When we are kids, we have all sorts of high minded ideals about things we want to accomplish.  Most center around things like building a tree fort or riding your bike over big hills - simple stuff like that.  Read this article and you will find out what this kid did to get a Boy Scout merit badge.  Normally a child’s experiment isn’t the reason to delcare a backyard a superfund cleanup site.

If you’ve ever studied the history of the Roman empire, you start noticing some clear reasons why the empire fragmented apart.  I found this article about an interview with David M. Walker who is the Comptroller General of the U.S.  He heads up the U.S. General Accountability Office (GAO) which is essentially the investigative arm of the legislative branch of our government.

He makes some very interesting points about how our current fiscal policies could cause an explosion of debt.  He also makes mention of how the entire country’s physical infrastructure is in dire need of upgrading and cited the recent bridge collapse in Minneapolis as a wake up call.

Well you know someone had to do it eventually.  As this page shows, the air conditioner you use at home doesn’t have to stay at home.  This is like one of those Tim “The Toolman” Taylor kind of projects.  I bet his wife/girlfriend was just beaming with pride as they drove out for a night on the town with that on the roof!

Ever tell someone to go fly a kite?  If you ever do, make sure send them a link to this page about how to make a kite.  What I like about this one is that it uses something as simple as one of the plastic bags you would get from a grocery store.  Similar bargains have also been found in the local dollar stores.  My oldest daughter had a kite from the dollar store that flew wonderfully despite taking a lot of abuse in the process.

This must be something only Germany would consider.  It is a novel idea in a way: have people use to get a message about taking a taxi home instead of their car after drinking a bit.  You figure that people will start drinking then visit the bathroom before they get to the point of being unable to drive.  So, why not keep them interested long enough to get the message across?  This page details how this really works.  It even has working videos on someone using it and how it is made.

To anyone who has ever attended a church in their lifetime, the biggest thing you notice is they make a big deal out of collecting donations.  Usually this is done by bringing around a basket people put money into or with a collection box by the door.  As this article shows, plastic is becoming the preferred way of giving to the church.  I wouldn’t be surprised if they now have automatic deductions from credit and debit card accounts.  Next thing you know they will let you use your cell phone to text in your donations.

This is an interesting table I found that maps out what position each one of the current presidential candidates has on each issue.  Sometimes it’s hard to keep track of where each one stands but I think you’ll notice some fairly consistent patterns that emerge.  In any event, anything will be better than what we currently have.

I ran across this post from a blog by a professional musician.  His name is Daryl Stuermer and for those familiar with the prog rock group Genesis or Phil Collins, Daryl has been playing guitar for them for many years now.  He recently went on tour in Europe with Genesis for their reunion tour and has been posting blog entries after every show.  Catch the pictures of the stage with the extra light show behind it.  Considering all that metal and all the electronics on stage, what possessed anyone to allow them to perform with that going on?  They were lucky that the only thing that happened is that a keyboard quit mid-song.