Music of the sphere

A mysterious low-frequency hum emanating from the Earth is likely caused by ocean storms. First discovered by Japanese seismologists in 1998, the vibrations have a frequency between two and seven millihertz, inaudible to humans. UC Berkeley scientists propose in the journal Nature that the hum is produced by interactions between the atmosphere, ocean, and seafloor. From a BBC News report:

The daily release of energy required to generate the hum is equivalent to a magnitude 5.75 to six earthquake, say Junkee Rhie and Barbara Romanowicz of the University of California, Berkeley.

Link [BoingBoing]

Versation

Maybe I just don't get the joke, but I have to admit I can't watch O'Reilly on Fox. I find hosts who tell their guests to shut up, and who cut off their guests' microphones simply too offensive and repulsive to watch.

I think O'Reilly's style does not encourage dialog, in fact he seems to want to turn debating into a contact sport. Just so we don't misunderstand each other. I don't have a problem with the content of the O'Reilly show, just with the uncivilized manner in which it is often brought forth. If there is a trick to enjoying that show, do please pass it on, because I don't get it. However you won't be able to leave a comment to this entry, because as a tribute to the O'Reilly Factor I am not allowing any dissent and have turned off the comment field until... well, until the tribute is over. Until then "shut up!" (Insert smiley with tongue out)

Oh, and that reminds me of something Jon's dad calls a "versation" - it's when one person talks or yells and there is no "conversation" possible.

Daily Show viewers smarter than O'Reilly Factor viewers

Bill O'Reilly interviewed Jon Stewart of the Daily Show and called Daily Show watchers a bunch of "stoned slackers." It turns out that Stewart's audience is better-educated and better-informed that O'Reilly Factor viewers (surprise, surprise!).

Viewers of Jon Stewart's show are more likely to have completed four years of college than people who watch "The O'Reilly Factor," according to Nielsen Media Research...

Comedy Central also touted a recent study by the University of Pennsylvania's National Annenberg Election Survey, which said young viewers of "The Daily Show" were more likely to answer questions about politics correctly than those who don't.

Link to Boston.com [BoingBoing]

And Jon Stewart doesn't yell "Shut Up!" either...

Maybe one is a function of the other, i.e. if the host is smarter, the program will attract smarter viewers, albeit less of them - see I-I developmental pyramid...

Answer

I know it is silly and you will groan:

A redneck in a martini glass, chilled but without ice - is a Hick Up

Here is what I learned

Here is what I learned yesterday:

On "works made for hire" copyright is 95 years from the time the work was first published. Higher Octave Music and Luna Negra Music are co-publishers and they are the employers/owners, and you as a writer are considered an employee. So the copyright term is not writer based and the rights don't revert to the writer. You just need to make sure Luna Negra Music is passed on to your heirs or that your heirs can take control of the company.

1990 + 95 = 2085 - Nouveau Flamenco
1991 + 95 = 2086 - Borrasca

Damn, nobody explained that to me in 1989... Well, I don't regret not getting involved, because if I had read all of those pages I would have never been able to record as much music as I have... My contract with Higher Octave in 1989 was about 40 pages long, and the Epic contract in 1991 was over 70 pages...

BUT, I will get those songs back... it might just take a little longer and I will have to leave instructions to my heirs.... : )

Let me explain: apparently since the late seventies all (most?) publishing contracts are describing the music as works for hire, which severely limits the rights of the author. So, even though Higher Octave did not commission NF, I apparently did sign a contract that described the album as a work-for-hire.

Well, in so many ways La Semana is a new beginning for me. I own the master, I own the publishing - upwards and onwards!

Moments

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the number of moments that take our breath away.
- Anonymous

Question #6

Woke up in York, PA this morning. Wonder how they feel about that upstart in the neighboring state calling itself New York? It is the 25th anniversary of the Strand, the local PAC (Performing Arts Center) and the theater is beautiful. Anyway, I thought of another question this morning.....

For 15 points - what do you call a redneck in a large martini glass, chilled, but without ice-cubes?

Brazil: International Environmental Court

Alex Steffen: Brazil is proposing the creation "an international court to assess and punish environmental crimes" at the “Conference of the Americas for the Environment and Sustainable...
[Another World Is Here]

Results

Man, I thought that question was harder than that! You blew the roof off of that sucker! I am going to give out some extra points for the other players that had correct answers.

Kisses = Punishment from Heaven - that is just too good!

The new standings are:
Suzanne - 25 points
Victor - 15 points
Vincent - 13 points
Carol - 10 points
Yumiko - 5 points
Brad - 5 points
Tomita - 5 points
Eric N. - 5 points

Blair's Climate Change Speech

Check out Blair's Climate Change Speech from a couple of days ago here. He is braver than most.
[Another World Is Here]

Question #5

The Good Pain!

Let's get back to the game, shall we?

Sometimes a word spelled and pronounced the exact same way may have very different meanings in two languages. Example: GIFT means present in English and poison in German. Sometimes a word may be written the same, but pronounced differently. Example: PAIN means ache in English and bread in French. Give me 3 other examples in any language for 25 points.

Speak to my right ear, sing to my left

New research shows that babies process language better in their right ears, and music better in their left ears. Previously it was known that the brain processes sound differently in each hemisphere; this new research shows that the differences extend...
[Minding the Planet]

This should be interesting news for developmental tools like Holosync. I have been listening to a Holosync CD for a few weeks and have to say that I am not impressed with the quality, because of drop-outs and such, and when they do use music, I find it terrible and impossible to listen to. The idea itself is intriguing and, I think, further validated by this item above. Also interesting is the conversation between Bill Harris and Ken Wilber - you can find it on I-N or at the Centerpointe site.

Life + Death

Coolmel says:

I don't really care how I get buried, or cremated. All I care about is how I live and how I die. But this option is very tempting. It's less messy than a sky burial.
[Coolmel]

Yeah, I think the tree is a good deal more, shall we say romantic, than the Sky Burial...

Blair To Speak on Global Warming

UK Prime Minister Tony Blair is to make a major address on global warming tomorrow, and is already speaking publicly about his "shock about how the speed of this is gathering."

He will warn of forecasts that sea levels could rise by another 88cm by the end of the 21st Century, threatening 100 million people around the planet.

He will echo the government chief scientist's [Sir David King, mentioned here on WorldChanging] warnings that "unchecked climate change has the potential to be catastrophic in both human and economic terms"...

BBC environment correspondent Sarah Mukherjee said one campaigner who worked closely with the government had said he believed the prime minister wanted to stop climate change - but was not convinced Mr Blair knew what that meant in practice...

The prime minister may also face pressure to take action to push US President George Bush to take climate change seriously.
[Another World Is Here]

We went to Iraq with you, now please stop the Navistar...

City-wide Wifi

Alex Steffen: From Neal Peirce's latest column: "Philadelphia is debating making all 134 square miles of the city the world's largest wireless hotspot. Boston, Atlanta, New York,... [Another World Is Here]

Very nice. Maybe it's only a matter of a few years before we will have Wi-Fi across America? See earlier post

Tree of Death

David Pescovitz: Capsula Mundi is a design for a biodegradable coffin made from starch plastic that holds the deceased in a fetal position. The stunning artwork was created by Italian designers Anna Citelli and Raoul Bretzel:

"Capsula Mundi is planted in the earth like a seed. Above it, to signal the presence of occupied space, is a shallow concave circle dug out of the ground. In the center of which, a tree is planted, the essence of it chosen in life by the dead one, the care of this tree is the responsibility of everyone. The aim is ecological burial, literally a more natural way to decay.
The cemetery will, then, acquire a new look. No longer the overpopulated urban environment with congested architecture, it will be a natural one in contact with the earth, enveloping expansive areas, entire hills consecrated to the cult of the dead. Summarizing, it is a different landscape devoted to the worship of our ancestry: a sacred forest."

Link (via Aeiou) [BoingBoing]

Where can I sign up? A coffin is just a waste of wood, cremation pollutes the air... this looks like the best solution to me... aside from the Tower of Silence. Here is a photo of such a tower from that web site:

Navistar to Sell Giant CXT Truck

As my buddy Ryan put it, the new CXT truck is "not just Muppets silly, it's like 'I can't believe he killed the whole human race,'" kind of silly. The new 21.5-foot truck weighs seven tons and gets about 6 to 10 miles to the gallon. It's essentially a semi-truck scaled back to be a consumer vehicle - but it's still going to cost over $90k.

I'm agog, or agag, or adama, or whatever it is you do when you want to cry for weeks at a time.

Read - Truck maker will sell giant pickup [Money.CNN]

[Gizmodo]

What if they built it - and, gasp, nobody bought it?

He can fly? No, he can talk!

I was locked up on a bus from Milwaukee to New Haven! But yesterday I reached civilization, i.e. the net and discovered that a third clip from our Boulder show in July is now available.

Here is a link to a phone conversation I had with Stuart Davis a few weeks ago. I could talk for hours with Stuart... He is brilliant. We should get our own talk show on HBO or MSNBC!

Buddhas in Storefront Windows

10 Questions with Gary Shandling:

I've been meditating for about 20 years — a kind of Zen Buddhist meditation — and never talked about it because no one understood. And now of course it's become part of our culture, and we see Buddhas in storefront windows. It's weird to me that I do that and happen to be funny. I still can't figure that part out. It's feeling the deep impermanence of life and yet seeing the funny, impermanent side of life. Because it's all a joke. You wanna hang up and not talk to me anymore?

So, he is zany and zeny...

PropagEnda

One of my favorite musicians, Brian Eno writes a book review for an online literary magazine called Zembla, from the UK(?) and suggests a new word.

Stuart's back...

i'm back, sorry for the void in blogs this last week. i was on retreat with Genpo Roshi (Zen teacher, Maezumi's line). i highly recommend attending one of Genpo's Big Mind events. i am so taken with this dude i'm seriously considering asking him to be my teacher. that's something i've never considered doing before with any teacher, and i've been at this for almost a decade now.
[stuart davis's blog]

See ya in Utah...

I recommend reading Stuart's whole post, because I think it is very insightful.

Europe Warned About Warming

Europeans must be prepared to adapt to massive climate change over the coming decades, warn environmental researchers. Among the changes: hotter summers, milder winters and less precipitation in Southern Europe. By Wendy Grossman.
[Wired News]

You mean, gasp, Global Warming is real? Somebody alert the sleeping politicians.

Politics + Children

Plastic::Politics::Ideas: . The majority of children adopt their parent's political leanings, whether it be liberal or conservative. It then becomes a question of who is having the most children.
[Plastic]

From a Plastic discussion following an editorial in the Washington Post. What about this and this for a reason?

Haeftling

Haeftling - According to the CSMonitor:

Everything sold at Berlin's Haeftling (which means "prisoner"), is designed, produced, and used by inmates at prisons across Germany and Switzerland. The line is all the rave in Berlin now - adding to prison coffers in a time of tightening budgets and narrowing the cultural divide between the prison population and the rest of society.

and

German prisons are required to be self-sufficient, and for decades have produced furniture and work uniforms for city or state contractors, even some private clients.

Some cool stuff. I had my credit card ready to order some of the clothing, but while they have stores in Japan and Hongkong already, nothing in the US and no Internet retailer...

Know Your Dictators!

Having problems keeping your Mswatis and Mugabes straight? Parade magazine has a handy guide to the world's ten worst dictators, compiled with the help of...
[Another World Is Here]

Here is a direct link to the Dictator list on Parade.com.

A week ago...

I had a fantastic evening as Genpo Roshi came to my house with Diane from Kanzeon, and Stuart and Tripp from I-I after the Big Mind session at Upaya here in Santa Fe. I had prepared some Trofie al Pesto and we talked until after midnight. I had such a great time that I could not fall asleep until after three am.

I feel I have some unfinished business with Zen. 1978 I traveled via train and boat to Japan, thinking I would spend at least a year there, and possibly longer, to begin Zen study. Instead I decided to become a professional musician and left Japan after only three months. I have always felt that I was not making a choice between Buddha and a guitar, but rather that my studies were delayed. Well, about 25 years later, after meeting Genpo Roshi at Ken Wilber's in February, I started feeling that the time is now.

Are U a Senior?

Bad News for Seniors:

Medicare Premiums To Rise By 17.5%. That's worse, on a percentage basis, than private health insurance's recent increases, and in dollars, the highest ever.
[Backup Brain]

If you are a senior, I hope you have a nice nest egg - that seems like a pretty serious hike.

Global Warning

Alex Steffen: National Geographic has an absolutely incredible issue out -- Global Warning, a compendium of articles, photos and graphics about how climate change is impacting the...
[Another World Is Here]

You mean there really is Global Warming? They should send free issues to a lot of governments, most car companies etc...............

And on the National Geographic site you find this little gem: Test Your Energy IQ - sponsored by...wait 4 it....wait 4 it....wait 4 it....FORD.

Outsourcing fund-raising calls to India

I reported back in September 2003 that an Indian newspaper reported a local company receiving an outsourcing contract from the Republicans for fund-raising calls. The Republicans denied this at the time. Dvorak has an update.

The Telegraph - Calcutta

Indian voices in Bush pitch - Geography error blows lid off campaign outsourcing

The Texas outfit may have actually got away with its outsourcing exercise if it had not been for the poor training given to Indian telemarketers who handled the job. Sources here said the India-based operation was exposed when one American who received a fund-raising phone call on behalf of the Republican Victory Committee wanted to know where the call was coming from.

“The Washington DC of Virginia,” the caller answered. Washington, the US capital, is actually in DC, short for District of Columbia, and Virginia is its neighbouring state.

[Joi Ito's Web]

That's the American spirit! But why stop there? Let's get Indian politicians as well...

See, I would have never noticed, because Caller ID takes care of 95% of solicitation calls and I am hanging up on the remaining 5%.

What To Do About Water

America's Finest News Source asks this week in its "What Do You Think?" column about the UN report that over one billion people lack access to potable water. The reactions are worth thinking about. Consider that of Mark Kunde, Systems Analyst: "This problem will be gone as soon as the earth's temperature increases enough to boil the world's lakes and streams, effectively sterilizing them."
[Another World Is Here]

I remember reading that 90% of the planet's fresh water sources are owned by only 8 multi-national corporations. Look closely at your bottled water next time...Kinda like oil, ain't it.

Bold New World for Bald Mice

Scientists find a way to grow hair follicles on furless mice using stem cells. Now, they hope to extend the research to humans. By Kristen Philipkoski.
[Wired News]

And suddenly, miraculously, politicians think that stem cell research is great and must receive more funding.

WiFi in Amsterdam

Reuters reports that a company called "HotSpot Amsterdam" launched a wireless network today with aims to cover the entire city of Amsterdam. "The first seven base stations are up and running, connecting historic areas that date back to the 13th century, while the entire city center will be covered by 40 to 60 antennas within three months, HotSpot Amsterdam founder Carl Harper said." Covering the entire city will take around 125 stations. Unlike some of the metropolitan WiFi efforts we've mentioned in the past, this will not be free -- but the E4.95/day and E14.95/month rates significantly undercut the far steeper fees charged by Dutch telecoms. [Another World Is Here]

That's cool.

I still believe that the Information Super Highway should be treated like any other public highway and should be available to all via free Wi-Fi access from almost anywhere. I want a smart, but poor kid to be able to steal a laptop and start getting an education.