Today’s Headless Headline: ‘Something Special’ at the Girl’s School, You Say?

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Howard Roberts — Star Eyes

Though mostly unsung while he was alive and nearly forgotten by most guitarists today, Howard Roberts’ bluesy approach to jazz guitar rivals that of Kenny Burrell and his lines are as clean and cogent as the best instrumentalists in the form.

Most people have heard Roberts play without knowing it: as a session man, he backed Peggy Lee on “Fever”; Bobby Day on “Rockin’ Robin”; Shelley Fabares on “Johnny Angel”; Dean Martin on “Houston”; and did the theme songs for the “Twilight Zone,” “The Munsters,” and “I Dream of Jeannie” TV shows. His movie work included playing on the themes for “Cool Hand Luke” and “Bullitt.” He even subbed lead guitar on The Monkees first recordings until Michael Nesmith learned how to play the parts, as well as work with guitar icons like Barney Kessel and Chet Atkins.

Born in 1929, Roberts’ professional career spanned over 45 years and he was still playing and teaching until his untimely death from cancer in 1992. Here he is playing “Star Eyes” — the guitar solo’s incredible.

For more info, go to www.robertsmusicinstitute.com and the Howard Roberts site here.

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Today’s Quote: The Problem with Christopublican Biblical Literalism

“The problem with fundamentalist Christians insisting on a literal interpretation of the Bible is that the meanings of words change over time. A prime example is ‘Spare the rod, spoil the child.’ A rod was a stick used by shepherds to guide their sheep to go in the desired direction. Shepherds did not use it to beat their sheep. The proper translation of the saying is ‘Give your children guidance, or they will go astray.’ It does not mean ‘Beat the crap out of your child or he will become rotten’ as many fundamentalist parents seem to believe.”
— Author Unknown

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What If Rupert Murdoch Had Been Captain of the Titanic?

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‘You Really Got Me’ by The Kinks

This tune by The Kinks is remarkable for several reasons, one being that some credit it as the first ‘heavy metal’ song that led to all the hair bands of the 1970s and beyond. Be that as it may, when “You Really Got Me” boomed out of your car speakers in 1964, even the casual listener couldn’t ignore its raw visceral power compared to the generally sweeter rock songs of The Beatles and other ‘British Invasion’ groups, and even the early R&B-tinged forays of The Rolling Stones that dominated the radio playlists at the time. This was partly from guitarist Dave Davies’ chunky power chords, but mostly because Dave cut the speaker of his cheap amp with a razor blade and pierced it with a pin to achieve a distorted ‘fuzztone’ effect years before pedals were produced that provided such sounds; combined with the minimalist lyrics and pounding beat, it had a gutsy blues edge that grabbed you. Composer and lead singer Ray Davies said he was inspired by the full chordings of The Champs’ “Tequila” and the title refers to Ray’s love of the blues of Leadbelly and Big Bill Broozy, even though he adjusted the lyrics to seem like he’s singing to a girlfriend. “You Really Got Me” inspired The Stones’ “Satisfaction’ that came out a year later and The Who’s “I Can’t Explain”  as well as Eddie Van Halen and countless other guitarists and bands. Unique for its time, here’s a live performance of the tune from 1964:

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U.S. Officials Say Gadaffy Just Days From Leaving Libya

We’ll see if it actually happens. The Libyan despot has been on his way out for months, but never quite makes it. Still, if this turns out to be true, our military involvement in the country should end.

NBC: Gadhafi making plans for leaving Libya

Leader, family could be granted exile in Tunisia, US intelligence reports say

NBC News and news services
updated 8/18/2011 7:57:14 PM ET 2011-08-18T23:57:14
 

Moammar Gadhafi is making preparations for a departure from Libya with his family for possible exile in Tunisia, U.S. officials have told NBC News, citing intelligence reports.

One official suggested it was possible that Gadhafi would leave within days, NBC News reported.

The information obtained by NBC News follows a series of optimistic statements this week from U.S. officials that Gadhafi would soon give up the five-month-old fight and and leave Libya.

 This article contains reporting by NBC News correspondents Jim Miklaszewski and Richard Engel and The Associated Press.

Read the rest here.

 

 

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What Does One TRILLION Dollars Look Like?

Worth clicking the link for the full article from PageTutor.com:

What does one TRILLION dollars look like?

All this talk about “stimulus packages” and “bailouts”…

A billion dollars…

A hundred billion dollars…

Eight hundred billion dollars…

One TRILLION dollars…

What does that look like? I mean, these various numbers are tossed around like so many doggie treats, so I thought I’d take Google Sketchup out for a test drive and try to get a sense of what exactly a trillion dollars looks like.

[snip]

While a measly $1 million looked a little unimpressive, $100 million is a little more respectable. It fits neatly on a standard pallet…

 

Next we’ll look at ONE TRILLION dollars. This is that number we’ve been hearing so much about. What is a trillion dollars? Well, it’s a million million. It’s a thousand billion. It’s a one followed by 12 zeros.

You ready for this?

It’s pretty surprising.

Go ahead…

Scroll down…

 

 

Ladies and gentlemen… I give you $1 trillion dollars…

 Notice those pallets are double stacked.
…and remember those are $100 bills.

So the next time you hear someone toss around the phrase “trillion dollars”… that’s what they’re talking about.

Read the rest here.

Copyright 2011 PageTutor.com

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Today’s Quote-to-Quote: A Quoteload of Quotes on Boats, Rising Tides and Other Shipshape Asides

“A rising tide lifts all boats.”
— A favorite quote of Ronald Reagan’s in the 1980 presidential campaign, used to justify cutting taxes on the wealthy and corporations.

 “It’s been said, referring to the economy, that a rising tide lifts all boats. No, it doesn’t. In practice, the big cruise ships and luxury yachts are lifted, but the little skiffs are swamped and quickly sink.”
— Richard Sherricky

 “An immutable law of the sea is that you always help another ship in trouble, whether you like their captain and crew or not.”
— Hieronymus Sylvan

 “It’s the man who waits for his ship to come in who’s always missing the boat.”
— Anonymous

 “While you’re waiting for your ship to come in, it can’t hurt to take some swimming lessons.”
— Gilda Horowitz

 “Most people would rather wait for their ship to come in than begin building a raft. The problem: the ship they’re awaiting is usually the Titanic.”
— Carleton Quinn

 “The Tea Partiers should realize that the American revolutionaries who threw the tea off British ships in the 18th century were not conservative, Republican, nor senior citizens on Hoverounds.”
— Siobhan Senjac

 “A number of people are sitting in a small boat. All of a sudden, one man begins to drill a hole under his seat. When the people complain, he retorts, ‘What complaint do you have? After all, I’m drilling the hole under my own seat.’ Finally a wise man answers him, ‘We are all in the same boat. The hole may be under your seat, but the water that comes in will make the boat sink with all of us.’ ”
Rabbi Ariyeh Kaplan, from the teachings of the Midrash Rabbah, Vayikra 4:6.

 “We didn’t all come over in the same ship, but we’re all in the same boat.”
— Bernard Baruch

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The GOP’s New Old Brew

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Christine O’Donnell Jacks Around Piers Morgan on Live TV

The infamous ‘unwitch’ Christine O’Donnell, the 41-going-on-13 Teabagger favorite who lost the senate race in Delaware last year when voters realized she was out of her freaking mind, yesterday abruptly ended a book tour interview with Piers Morgan on CNN because he was asking ‘tough’ questions she didn’t feel like answering. Someone should tell Christine that when you’re a controversial figure doing interviews on a book tour, you sometimes have to answer tough questions. Not everyone works for Fox News — not yet anyway — and will happily lob puff balls in your direction for a half-hour.

The Daily Banter has more here.

 

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