Ware Wendell

America Without a Middle Class

2009-12-04T00:32:00.001-06:00

Harvard Professor Elizabeth Warren details the difficulties facing hardworking American families.

Helen Vo

2009-12-03T19:46:00.002-06:00

A close friend of mine from Stanford is doing amazing things with her life by bettering the lives of others. Here is a link to her blog. I am fortunate and honored to call her my friend.

Tribute to Stephen Bruton

2009-12-03T19:41:00.002-06:00

A fine tribute to an exceptional artist whose music encompassed all of the American sound.

Stephen Bruton Tribute Video from mitchell on Vimeo.

Quote

2009-11-04T17:32:00.000-06:00

But what is happiness except the simple harmony between a man and the life he leads?
--Albert Camus

Uncorking CDOs

2009-03-17T17:19:00.000-05:00

Crisis explainer: Uncorking CDOs from Marketplace on Vimeo.

Crisis of Credit Explained

2009-03-09T20:22:00.001-05:00

The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.

An excellent explanation of how our economy has come to this place.

Vieux Farka Toure

2009-02-25T20:07:00.001-06:00

Vieux Farka Toure, the son of the great Malian musician Ali Farka Toure, weaves hypnotic guitar lines in this performance:

Jeff Lofton - Jazz Trumpet

2009-02-21T22:13:00.002-06:00

The website for jazz trumpeter Jeff Lofton can be found here.

Ray Charles performs "Ring of Fire"

2009-02-21T20:48:00.001-06:00

This is a slow burn. Pure genius.

Roby "Supersax" Edwards

2009-02-21T19:41:00.003-06:00

A world-class tenor sax player, who blows with feeling, by way of Pittsburgh and Paris. We're very fortunate to have him in Austin.

Dr. James Polk - Austin Jazz

2009-02-19T07:54:00.004-06:00

The website for the Dean of the Austin jazz scene can be found here.

AustinJazz.net interview with Dr. Polk.

Blues Family Tree Project page on Dr. Polk.

Sonobeat Records page on James Polk and the Brothers.

James Polk and the Brothers - Just Plain Funk

artPad

2009-02-18T23:03:00.001-06:00

A free and fun online painting program can be found here.

Decade at Bernie's

2009-02-16T10:56:00.001-06:00

Paul Krugman details our dire economic straits:

The bottom line is that there has been basically no wealth creation at all since the turn of the millennium: the net worth of the average American household, adjusted for inflation, is lower now than it was in 2001.

Dave Merrill at the TED conference

2009-02-12T14:26:00.002-06:00

My good friend David Merrill presents at the TED conference on new human-computer interfaces, demonstrating the power and possibilities of "Siftables":

The Presidents: 5-10-15-20 (25-30 Years of Love)

2009-02-10T13:26:00.003-06:00

Great song.

On Geithner's Plan

2009-02-10T03:03:00.005-06:00

Simon Johnson writes about the need to take on the oligarchs.

Another piece from Johnson.

McClatchy article.

Stiglitz on the bail out.

NYTimes on the action behind the scenes.

Doug Glanville on Privacy

2009-02-10T01:39:00.007-06:00

Former professional baseball player Doug Glanville makes a very important point about privacy.

It is coming to light that many players were evidently juiced, harming themselves and doing violence to the American pastime in their chemical quest for an edge.

The manner in which some in baseball are addressing this issue is equally distressing, however, as they are violating individuals' privacy rights while grabbing headlines.

Perjuring oneself while being asked questions under oath is unconscionable. But not giving a person a chance to address those questions for themselves, reneging on the terms of one's original agreement in the process, is likewise despicable.

A few links on privacy follow:

1) Warren and Brandeis' famous essay: "The Right to Privacy," Harvard Law Review, Vol. IV, No. 5, Dec. 15, 1890.

2) Privacy: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Greenspan is made to confront reality

2009-02-09T23:37:00.003-06:00

Alan Greenspan, the high priest of market fundamentalism, has been made to confront the fundamental flaws and failings of his ideology, which proved so seductive -- and destructive -- in our country for far too long.

The inescapable weakness of deregulation and the laissez faire approaches he proselytized have been exposed in the most painful way as our economy craters.

With unmitigated self-interest as the guiding principal of this philosophy, short term thinking and sharp practices run rampant, producing more Gordon Gekkos than Warren Buffets in the process.

This video should be played in 100 years, so that the country will remember this moment in time and future generations may be spared the same mistakes and the suffering that is yet to come.

Blogger links

2009-02-09T23:08:00.001-06:00

"How can I do more with links?"

Nouriel Roubini and Nassim Taleb

2009-02-09T17:56:00.005-06:00

Two economic realists tell it like it is.

An overview of Taleb's "Black Swan" theory can be found here.

Roubini's Global EconoMonitor can be accessed here.

"I Was Sure I Could Do It"

2009-02-08T23:17:00.009-06:00

Watch CBS Videos Online

To perform in this way under this sort of pressure is more than admirable.

Quotes from the interview with Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger follow:

"It was the worst sickening pit of your stomach, falling through the floor feeling I've ever felt in my life. I knew immediately it was very bad," Sullenberger told correspondent Katie Couric.

"Did you think, 'How are we gonna get ourselves out of this?'" Couric asked.

"No. My initial reaction was one of disbelief. 'I can't belief this is happening. This doesn't happen to me,'" he remembered.

Asked what he meant by that, Sullenberger said, "I meant that I had this expectation that my career would be one in which I didn't crash an airplane."

He said he realized right away that the engines were failing. "It was obvious to me from the moment that we lost the thrust that this was a critical situation. Losing thrust on both engines, at a low speed, at a low altitude, over one of the most densely populated areas on the planet. Yes, I knew it was a very challenging situation."

The plane, Sullenberger explained, lost forward momentum almost completely. "The airplane stopped climbing and going forward, and began to rapidly slow down. That's when I knew I had to take control of the airplane."

"I put my hand on the side stick and I said, the protocol for the transfer of control, 'my aircraft,' and the first officer Jeff immediately answered, 'Your aircraft,'" Sullenberger, 58, remembered.

Asked what was going through his head, Sullenberger told Couric, "I knew immediately that this, unlike every other flight I'd had for 42 years, was probably not going to end with the airplane undamaged on the runway."

But the engines didn't start. "No luck. I mean, I got the AP running, I turned the ignition on, but still, no usable thrust. We were descending rapidly toward the water," he recalled. "The water was coming up at us fast."

"Do you think about the passengers at that moment?" Couric asked.

"Not specifically," Sullenberger said. "I mean, more abstractly, perhaps. I mean, knew I had to solve this problem. I knew I had to find a way out of this box I found myself in."

Asked if he at any point prayed, he told Couric, "I would imagine somebody in back was taking care of that for me while I was flying the airplane."

"My focus at that point was so intensely on the landing," he said. "I thought of nothing else."

"What were some of the things you had to do to make this landing successful?" Couric asked.

"I needed to touch down with the wings exactly level. I needed to touch down with the nose slightly up. I needed to touch down at a descent rate that was survivable. And I needed to touch down just above our minimum flying speed but not below it. And I needed to make all these things happen simultaneously," he explained.

And he had to keep his cool. "The physiological reaction I had to this was strong, and I had to force myself to use my training and force calm on the situation," he said.

He told Couric that wasn't a hard thing to do. "It just took some concentration."

And he told Couric the three-and-a-half minute descent actually felt like three and a half minutes - there was no sensation of slow motion. "I wish it had been. I might've thought about more things on the way down."

Ninety seconds before hitting the water, Captain Sullenberger made an announcement to the passengers and crew. Three simple words: "brace for impact."

"I made the brace for impact announcement in the cabin and immediately, through the hardened cockpit door, I heard the flight attendants begin shouting their commands in response to my command to brace. 'Heads down. Stay down.' I could hear them clearly. They were chanting it in unison over and over again to the passengers, to warn them and instruct them. And I felt very comforted by that. I knew immediately that they were on the same page. That if I could land the airplane, that they could get them out safely," he remembered.

"But there was still a big if," Couric pointed out.

"I was sure I could do it," he replied.

There couldn’t have been a better man for the job: a former Air Force fighter pilot who spent nearly 30 years flying commercial aircraft, specialized in accident investigations, and instructed flight crews on how to respond to emergencies in the air.

"I think, in many ways, as it turned out, my entire life up to that moment had been a preparation to handle that particular moment," he said.

"When you landed, you and the first officer looked at each other," Couric said.

"And we said, 'Well, that wasn't as bad as I thought.' And then we quickly began doing our duties. He was running the evacuation check list while I opened the door and commanded evacuate," Sullenberger recalled.

"Did you give yourself even a few seconds though to acknowledge that you had averted disaster?" Couric asked.

"No, because I hadn't quite yet," he replied. "And I had business to attend to. I had a job to do."

Take a look at the video of Captain Sullenberger's homecoming speech in Danville, California, an example of the power of brevity and quiet understatement.

Captain Sullenberger stated, "Circumstance determined that it was this experienced crew that was scheduled to fly that particular plane on that particular day. But I know I can speak for the entire crew when I tell you we were simply doing the jobs we were trained to do."

The Wicked Pickett

2009-02-08T22:33:00.000-06:00

Kay Ryan

2009-02-08T17:47:00.004-06:00

Charlie Rose interviews the new Poet Laureate of the United States, Kay Ryan.

Ryan casts a wizened, wry eye on the world. An exemplar of her taut and thoughtful poetry can be found here.

Michael Johnson

2008-08-16T12:48:00.000-05:00

200m at 1996 Olympics

400m at Seville in 1999

Jesse Owens -- 1936 Olympics

2008-08-16T12:18:00.000-05:00

An amazingly efficient stride and a great champion.

Links on the Heller opinion

2008-06-27T23:21:00.000-05:00

In its Heller opinion, the Supreme Court confirmed that we possess an individual right to keep arms (viz., a handgun in the home). The extent of this right vis a vis various state and local regulations will be determined through future litigation and case law.

A round up of Heller-related coverage can be found here.

Commentary from the inestimable Prof. Sandy Levinson can be found here and here.

I personally look forward to a time when a right to self-defense, both inside and outside of the home, is recognized in the Constitution.

We shouldn't treat good, decent folks who merely want to protect themselves and their families as criminals. They are not creating the harm; rather, they are preventing the harm from manifesting by thwarting criminal aggression.

So What

2008-06-21T16:40:00.000-05:00

This may just be one of Coltrane's best solos.

A beautiful mind

2008-06-07T01:12:00.000-05:00

http://www.turbulence.org/spotlight/thinking/chess.html

Perhaps brain is the more precise term, as mind may connote consciousness.

Bo Diddley passes away

2008-06-02T12:28:00.000-05:00

An originator who brought a new sound into being, he was rhythm personified.

Bo's beat echoes on.

Reich on the bitterness (and fragility) of the middle and working classes

2008-04-14T12:43:00.000-05:00

An insightful post on his blog can be found here.

Hard working people continue to fall behind in this country, and they aren't happy about it.

Clinton and McCain think it's condescending to state the obvious.

It's called real straight talk. We need more of it and real solutions for the problems that plague our country.

P.S. Here's a related post involving Thomas Frank, author of What's The Matter With Kansas?

P.P.S. And here's a thoughtful reflection by one who was there when Obama made his remarks.

Prof. Randy Pausch

2008-04-11T21:24:00.000-05:00

An inspirational figure who has given us many wise words on how to make the most of our time on this planet.

Sick Around The World

2008-04-11T21:21:00.000-05:00

An upcoming Frontline focuses on how countries that have similar economic systems to ours have addressed health care.

The Great Uncluttering

2008-04-11T21:19:00.000-05:00

Tips on adding some order to your life:
http://www.slate.com/id/2188229/

Respect Yourself: The Stax Record Story

2008-04-07T13:59:00.000-05:00

40 years since the passing of one of the greatest Americans

2008-04-04T18:13:00.000-05:00

Wes Montgomery -- 'Round Midnight

2007-12-09T02:42:00.001-06:00

A melodic, supremely tasteful portrayal of Monk's classic.

Skip James - I'm So Glad

2007-12-09T02:20:00.001-06:00

Ray Charles, Willie Nelson, Leon Russell - A Song For You

2007-12-06T21:04:00.001-06:00

Leon Russell wrote one of the greatest songs ever and Willie Nelson and Ray Charles do it justice.

Otis Redding - I've been loving you...

2007-12-06T20:26:00.001-06:00

Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" -- Theremin Jam

2007-11-16T00:00:00.001-06:00

Austin design blog

2007-11-15T20:43:00.000-06:00

http://ifdaustin.blogspot.com/

Los Lobos - Kiko and the Lavender Moon

2007-11-12T05:48:00.001-06:00

Kelly Joe Phelps - At Jools Holland

2007-11-12T04:11:00.001-06:00

Dr. Lonnie Smith solo

2007-11-12T03:41:00.001-06:00

Derek Trucks' Slide Solo

2007-11-12T02:05:00.001-06:00

Derek Trucks solos in two styles

2007-11-12T02:02:00.001-06:00

Tuvan Throat Singing

2007-11-05T21:56:00.001-06:00

Top U.S. Liberals and Conservatives

2007-10-30T17:49:00.000-05:00

From the Telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/exclusions/uselection/nosplit/listintro.xml

Notable Hybrid and Electric Vehicles

2007-10-25T21:30:00.000-05:00

Aptera -- 300 mpg for under $30,000
http://www.aptera.com/

Tesla -- 0 to 60 in under 4
http://www.teslamotors.com/

Chevy Volt
http://www.chevrolet.com/electriccar/

A More Perfect Constitution for a More Perfect Union

2007-09-17T19:55:00.000-05:00

Prof. Larry Sabato and Prof. Sandy Levinson believe our Constitution needs a structural overhaul.

I agree. Consider the following:

- Money has so overwhelmed the political system that we are left to hope for a benevolent plutocrat to offset the dominant influence of self-centered special interests.

- Partisan redistricting ensures very few districts are competitive, meaning politicians are left to pander only to their base.

- The executive branch usurps the authority of the legislative and judicial branches, and everyone stands around and watches.

- People don't vote because they have little faith that their government will work for them.

The Constitution was never intended to be a static document. Our system of government, as currently constituted, is broken. It's time for a change.

Prof. Sabato's 23 proposals can be viewed here:
http://amoreperfectconstitution.com/23_proposals.htm

Prof. Levinson's site on our undemocratic constitution:
http://www.utexas.edu/law/faculty/slevinson/undemocratic/blog/

Ed Poullard, Creole accordian maker and player

2007-08-22T13:38:00.000-05:00

An article and movie about Ed Poullard, a Creole accordian maker and musician based in Beaumont, Texas.

Les Amis Creole's website.

YouTube clips with Ed Poullard.

Kerouac on life

2007-08-22T11:32:00.000-05:00

"[T]he only people that interest me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones that never yawn or say a commonplace thing ... but burn, burn, burn like roman candles across the night."

-- Jack Kerouac, "On the Road," original draft

Average incomes drop

2007-08-21T00:04:00.000-05:00

"Americans earned a smaller average income in 2005 than in 2000, the fifth consecutive year that they had to make ends meet with less money than at the peak of the last economic expansion, new government data shows...

"Total income listed on tax returns grew every year after World War II, with a single one-year exception, until 2001, making the five-year period of lower average incomes and four years of lower total incomes a new experience for the majority of Americans born since 1945...

"The growth in total incomes was concentrated among those making more than $1 million. The number of such taxpayers grew by more than 26 percent, to 303,817 in 2005, from 239,685 in 2000.

"These individuals, who constitute less than a quarter of 1 percent of all taxpayers, reaped almost 47 percent of the total income gains in 2005, compared with 2000.

"People with incomes of more than a million dollars also received 62 percent of the savings from the reduced tax rates on long-term capital gains and dividends that President Bush signed into law in 2003, according to a separate analysis by Citizens for Tax Justice, a group that points out policies that it says favor the rich...

"Nearly half of Americans reported incomes of less than $30,000, and two-thirds make less than $50,000."

"Average incomes fell for most in 2000-5," New York Times, 8-21-07

Insurance Hoax

2007-08-19T17:12:00.000-05:00

NOW: Home Insurance 9-1-1

http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/333/index.html

Bloomberg: Home Insurers' Secret Tactics Cheat Fire Victims, Hike Profits

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601170&refer=home&sid=aIOpZROwhvNI#

Barbara Jordan on the Constitution

2007-07-30T00:01:00.000-05:00

"My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total and I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminuation, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution."

Congresswoman Barbara Jordan in testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, July 25, 1974

Power and Transformative Change

2007-07-24T17:30:00.000-05:00

“If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightning.”

“Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.”

-- Frederick Douglass

The Founders' Constitution

2007-07-21T17:25:00.000-05:00

A compendium of foundational texts:

http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/

John Adams on Representative Government and Trial by Jury

2007-07-21T16:44:00.000-05:00

"The constitution is not grounded on 'the enormous faith of millions made for one.' It stands not on the supposition that kings are the favourites of heaven; that their power is more divine than the power of the people, and unlimited but by their own will and discretion. It is not built on the doctrine that a few nobles or rich commons have a right to inherit the earth, and all the blessings and pleasures of it: and that the multitude, the million, the populace, the vulgar, the mob, the herd and the rabble, as the great always delight to call them, have no rights at all, and were made only for their use, to be robbed and butchered at their pleasure. No, it stands upon this principle, that the meanest and lowest of the people, are, by the unalterable indefeasible laws of God and nature, as well intitled to the benefit of the air to breathe, light to see, food to eat, and clothes to wear, as the nobles or the king. All men are born equal...

"The judges answer to questions of law: but no further. Were they to answer to questions of fact as well as law, being few they might be easily corrupted; being commonly rich and great, they might learn to despise the common people, and forget the feelings of humanity: and then the subjects liberty and security would be lost. But by the British constitution, ad questionem facti respondent juratores, the jurors answer to the question of fact. In this manner the subject is guarded, in the execution of the laws. The people choose a grand jury to make enquiry and presentment of crimes. Twelve of these must agree in finding the Bill. And the petit jury must try the same fact over again, and find the person guilty before he can be punished. Innocence therefore, is so well protected in this wise constitution, that no man can be punished till twenty four of his Neighbours have said upon oath, that he is guilty. So it is also in the tryal of causes between party and party: No man's property or liberty can be taken from him, till twelve men in his Neighbourhood, have said upon oath, that by laws of his own making it ought to be taken away, i.e. that the facts are such as to fall within such laws.

"Thus it seems to appear that two branches of popular power, voting for members of the house of commons, and tryals by juries, the one in the legislative and the other in the executive part of the constitution are as essential and fundamental, to the great end of it, the preservation of the subject's liberty, to preserve the balance and mixture of the government, and to prevent its running into an oligarchy or aristocracy; as the lords and commons are to prevent its becoming an absolute monarchy. These two popular powers therefore are the heart and lungs, the main spring, and the center wheel, and without them, the body must die; the watch must run down; the government must become arbitrary, and this our law books have settled to be the death of the laws and constitution. In these two powers consist wholly, the liberty and security of the people: They have no other fortification against wanton, cruel power: no other indemnification against being ridden like horses, fleeced like sheep, worked like cattle, and fed and cloathed like swine and hounds: No other defence against fines, imprisonments, whipping posts, gibbets, bastenadoes and racks...

"What a fine reflection and consolation is it for a man to reflect that he can be subjected to no laws, which he does not make himself, or constitute some of his friends to make for him: his father, brother, neighbour, friend, a man of his own rank, nearly of his own education, fortune, habits, passions, prejudices, one whose life and fortune and liberty are to be affected like those of his constituents, by the laws he shall consent to for himself and them. What a satisfaction is it to reflect, that he can lie under the imputation of no guilt, be subjected to no punishment, lose none of his property, or the necessaries, conveniencies or ornaments of life, which indulgent providence has showered around him: but by the judgment of his peers, his equals, his neighbours, men who know him, and to whom he is known; who have no end to serve by punishing him; who wish to find him innocent, if charged with a crime; and are indifferent, on which side the truth lies, if he disputes with his neighbour."

John Adams, Clarendon, No. 3, January 27, 1766

-------------------------------------------------

I believe the above to be the origin of this paraphrased quote, which is often attributed to Adams:

"Representative government and trial by jury are the heart and lungs of liberty. Without them we have no other fortification against being ridden like horses, fleeced like sheep, worked like cattle, and fed and clothed like swine and hounds."

Surveillance Society

2007-07-21T15:51:00.000-05:00

1) "Microchip Implants Raise Privacy Concern," Associated Press, 7/21/07.

2) Justice Brandeis' dissent in Olmstead v. U.S., 277 U.S. 438 (1928) [and see here]:

The makers of our Constitution undertook to secure conditions favorable to the pursuit of happiness. They recognized the significance of man's spiritual nature, of his feelings and of his intellect. They knew that only a part of the pain, pleasure and satisfactions of life are to be found in material things. They sought to protect Americans in their beliefs, their thoughts, their emotions and their sensations. They conferred, as against the government, the right to be let alone-the most comprehensive of rights and the right most valued by civilized men. To protect, that right, every unjustifiable intrusion by the government upon the privacy of the individual, whatever the means employed, must be deemed a violation of the Fourth Amendment...

"Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the government's purposes are beneficent. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded rulers. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding...

"Decency, security, and liberty alike demand that government officials shall be subjected to the same rules of conduct that are commands to the citizen. In a government of laws, existence of the government will be imperiled if it fails to observe the law scrupulously. Our government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by its example. Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. To declare that in the administration of the criminal law the end justifies the means-to declare that the government may commit crimes in order to secure the conviction of a private criminal-would bring terrible retribution. Against that pernicious doctrine this court should resolutely set its face."

3) Minnesota Public Radio piece.

Jefferson on instilling a healthy amount of fear

2007-07-12T23:54:00.000-05:00

"When the people fear the government, you have tyranny. When the government fears the people, you have liberty."

--Thomas Jefferson

Quotes from Lady Bird Johnson

2007-07-12T02:24:00.000-05:00

The following quotes come from the mind of Claudia Taylor (Lady Bird) Johnson:

The clash of ideas is the sound of freedom.

Any committee is only as good as the most knowledgeable, determined and vigorous person on it. There must be somebody who provides the flame.

The way you overcome shyness is to become so wrapped up in something that you forget to be afraid.

Children are apt to live up to what you believe of them.

Every politician should have been born an orphan and remain a bachelor.

It's odd that you can get so anesthetized by your own pain or your own problem that you don't quite fully share the hell of someone close to you.

No news at 4:30 a.m. is good.

Perhaps no place in any community is so totally democratic as the town library. The only entrance requirement is interest.

The First Lady is an unpaid public servant elected by one person - her husband.

This is why we have a Second Amendment

2007-07-11T23:59:00.000-05:00

http://www.katu.com/news/8245062.html

http://www.kptv.com/news/13650797/detail.html

Be sure to watch the video at both links.

Thought

2007-07-11T22:53:00.000-05:00

This country has a very hard time remembering its very short history.

On the Passing of Lady Bird Johnson

2007-07-11T19:03:00.000-05:00

Lady Bird Johnson died today at the age of 94.

Let her be remembered as a true lady, one who possessed uncommon courage and decency, as well as a deep appreciation for the beauty of nature.

The following link discusses her landmark whistle stop tour through the South after the passage of the Civil Rights Act. The grace she displayed in the face of deep-seated hostility proved her to be the original steel magnolia.

http://www.pbs.org/ladybird/epicenter/epicenter_report_train.html

"As she had expected, but had hoped to avoid, Lady Bird encountered angry southerners protesting her husband and his civil rights agenda. She continually found herself having to placate people who called her husband a "n----- -lover" without condoning their racism. As she pulled into Richmond, Va., Lady Bird was greeted by a big banner that read "Fly Away Lady Bird. Here in Richmond, Barry [Goldwater] is the Cat's Meow." In Columbia, South Carolina, people booed and heckled Lady Bird during her speech so that she could not be heard. The state hosts were unable to quiet the hecklers, but with a raised, white-gloved hand and a firm voice, Lady Bird silenced the crowd.

"This is a country of many viewpoints," she told the Columbia crowd. "I respect your right to express your own. Now it is my turn to express mine. Thank you."

Tank Man, Tiananmen Square, 1989

2007-06-23T16:38:00.000-05:00

Photo:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Tianasquare.jpg
Jeff Widener, AP

Videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-m2wqhB5VY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-nXT8lSnPQ&mode=related&search=

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tankman/

Wikipedia entry:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tank_man

Check out a company's carbon footprint

2007-06-21T12:48:00.000-05:00

Look into a company's profile at climatecounts.org.

Austin Blues Society

2007-06-17T19:27:00.000-05:00

http://www.austinbluessociety.org/

www.myspace.com/austinbluessociety

Richard Rorty, remembered

2007-06-16T07:51:00.000-05:00

I have a hard time abandoning the prescriptive for the descriptive. "Ought" retains its place for me (although we shouldn't toss "ought" statements around casually). A world reduced to contingent "is" statements strikes me as chaos.

While our complex existence is awash in shades of gray, and there is room for a great deal of pluralism -- different conceptions of the good -- the world ultimately resolves in black and white -- concepts of right and wrong -- at the margins. We arrive at this point through unflinching reflection, the unrelenting application of reason, and an irrepressible imagination about a more humane and just future. It is crucial to remain intellectually honest and open to carefully evaluating competing claims during this continuous and evolving process.

Nonetheless, I feel the following comments are worth remembering and Rorty's work is deserving of further study, if nothing else than to remind us all to challenge our certitude -- a great deal of which is just native prejudice burnished with the passage of time -- every now and again. -WW

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On the passing of Richard Rorty, an American pragmatist philosopher:

"He believed that moral progress requires the cultivation of imagination and sympathy, an important truth that is too often overlooked."

-- Martha Nussbaum, professor of law and ethics at the University of Chicago

"Make your private life beautiful, and your public life humane, he taught us."

-- Virginia Heffernan, television critic for the New York Times

"Besides being modest, he was a beautiful writer and speaker, extremely sharp in debate though with never an indication of any annoyance or anger; for he refused to personalize disagreement."

-- Richard Posner, judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals, 7th Circuit

"One of the reasons Rorty's view of the world seemed so attractive was that it offered us humans a useful way to think about why it is that we disagree with each other about what those moral truths actually are: If you think you are acting in accordance with the eternal moral truths of the universe, after all, it is likely that you will think of people who think and act differently as being defective, deluded, or downright dangerous. On the other hand, if you think that morality is a matter of contingent vocabularies, you don't have to become a shallow relativist—you can go right on believing what you believe, except that you have to give up the conviction that there's no plausible way another rational person could think differently."

-- Michael Berube, professor of literature and cultural studies at Penn State University

"Rorty believed that human beings must stop looking for some nonhuman or extra-human reality, such as God, nature, spirit, matter, or even human nature; for some thing-in-itself that, though entirely independent of human knowing, would nonetheless provide us with universal laws for governing our actions and our thinking. Rorty believed firmly, and said as much repeatedly, in the predictive capacity of science and its supreme value to human use. He believed that Hitler and Stalin were evil. But he did not believe that, say, the germ theory of disease or revulsion in the face of persecution and fanaticism, no matter how passionately we believe they advance the cause of knowledge or dignity, can yield universal principles or tell us something about the intrinsic nature of reality. We are ineluctably human. No ecstatic encounters with the Other have been scheduled. We are stuck arguing with one another, in order to achieve, not truth, but consensus."

-- Stephen Metcalf

"My sense of the holy is bound up with the hope that some day my remote descendants will live in a global civilization in which love is pretty much the only law."

-- Richard Rorty

Louisiana Music

2007-06-10T04:03:00.000-05:00

Zydeco calendar

Chubby Carrier and The Bayou Swamp Band

Lost Bayou Ramblers

Horse racing

2007-06-10T00:51:00.000-05:00

Top 100 U.S. Racehorses of the 20th Century

Music Theory

2007-06-10T00:42:00.000-05:00

Blues chords

Jazz tutorials

Austin Entertainment, Music, & Cultural Events

2007-06-09T23:59:00.008-05:00

KLRU

Today In Austin

Alamo Drafthouse

Austin Chronicle -- club listings

Austin 360 -- music listings

The CW Austin -- event calendar

Mitchie's Gallery -- community calendar

Diverse Arts

AustinJazz.net

Elephant Room

Antone's

Victory Grill

Austin Blues Society

Blues on the Green

Ruta Maya

Stubb's

Threadgill's

The Continental Club

Gruene Hall

Saxon Pub

Cactus Cafe

UT Austin Butler School of Music

UT PAC

The Paramount and State Theatres

Salvage Vanguard Theater

ColdTowne Theater

Trouble Puppet Theater Company

Long Center for the Performing Arts

ZACH Theatre

One World Theatre

World Music Links

2007-06-09T15:59:00.000-05:00

Calabash Music

Vieux Farka Toure: link, link, link

Tinariwen: link, link

Genghis Blues -- Paul Pena and Tuvan Friends: link

Joji Hirota and The Taiko Drummers: link

Papa B's list: link

Sojay's North African list: link

Marcus Aurelius on life

2007-05-29T10:25:00.000-05:00

"In a word, thy life is short. Thou must turn to profit the present by the aid of reason and justice. Be sober in thy relaxation... pass through the rest of life like one who has intrusted to the gods with his whole soul all that he has, making thyself neither the tyrant nor the slave of any man."

-- Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Part IV, Paragraphs 26 and 31

Churchill on appeasers

2007-05-29T10:23:00.000-05:00

"An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last."

--Winston Churchill

Wiesel on neutrality

2007-05-19T01:24:00.000-05:00

"Take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented."

-- Elie Wiesel

Quotes from musicians

2007-05-18T01:50:00.000-05:00

"Affirmative music was just a thought I had to myself that I could sing something and get people to listen, and maybe they would be better to one another."

-- Pops Staples

"There is a view that jazz is 'evil' because it comes from evil people, but actually the greatest priests on 52nd Street and on the streets of New York City were the musicians. They were doing the greatest healing work. They knew how to punch through music that would cure and make people feel good."

-- Garth Hudson, The Last Waltz, The Band

“Maybe the words that I say is just another way to pray.”

“Our purpose is to educate as well as to entertain.”

“Painless preaching is as good a term as any for what we do.”

-- Curtis Mayfield

"Music is my religion."

"Excuse me while I kiss the sky."

"I try to use my music to move these people to act."

"Music doesn't lie. If there is something to be changed in this world, then it can only happen through music."

"When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace."

"White collar conservative flashin down the street, pointing that plastic finger at me, they all assume my kind will drop and die, but I'm gonna wave my freak flag high."

"Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens."

"Music is a safe type of high. It's more the way it was supposed to be. That's where highness came, I guess, from anyway. It's nothing but rhythm and motion."

"Blues is easy to play, but hard to feel."

"When I die, just keep playing the records."

-- Jimi Hendrix

"All a musician can do is to get closer to the sources of nature, and so feel that he is in communion with the natural laws."

"You can play a shoestring if you're sincere."

-- John Coltrane

"Fate is being kind to me. Fate doesn't want me to be too famous too young."

"Gray skies are just clouds passing over."

"A problem is a chance for you to do your best."

"I merely took the energy it takes to pout and wrote some blues."

"Roaming through the jungle of "oohs" and "ahs," searching for a more agreeable noise, I live a life of primitivity with the mind of a child and an unquenchable thirst for sharps and flats."

-- Duke Ellington

"It isn't where you came from, its where you're going that counts."

"Just don't give up on trying to do what you really want to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don't think you can go wrong."

-- Ella Fitzgerald

"Neither a lofty degree of intelligence nor imagination nor both together go to the making of genius. Love, love, love, that is the soul of genius."

"I thank my God for graciously granting me the opportunity of learning that death is the key which unlocks the door to our true happiness."

"I pay no attention whatever to anybody's praise or blame. I simply follow my own feelings."

-- Mozart

"Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy."

"Music is the mediator between the spiritual and the sensual life."

"Tones sound, and roar and storm about me until I have set them down in notes."

"Recommend to your children virtue; that alone can make them happy, not gold."

"This is the mark of a really admirable man: steadfastness in the face of trouble."

-- Beethoven

"Affluence separates people. Poverty knits 'em together. You got some sugar and I don't; I borrow some of yours. Next month you might not have any flour; well, I'll give you some of mine."

"My version of "Georgia" became the state song of Georgia. That was a big thing for me, man. It really touched me. Here is a state that used to lynch people like me suddenly declaring my version of a song as its state song. That is touching."

"There are many spokes on the wheel of life. First, we're here to explore new possibilities."

"What is a soul? It's like electricity -- we don't really know what it is, but it's a force that can light a room."

-- Ray Charles

"I found out that every person has their own movable C -- 'do.' When you put your sound or your idea into an arena mixed with other things -- if what you're saying has a valid place -- it's going to find its position in that total thing, and it's going to make that thing much better."

"For instance, if you were behind a closed door and I heard your voice, I would know it was you without seeing your face. But can you imagine if sound is that identifiable -- more than your face -- that's fantastic, right?"

"I never really relied upon them to keep time or rhythm for me. In fact, I always prefer musicians that play with me to play independent of myself but with me."

"He's speaking a certain language that I find is very valid in rhythm instruments. Very seldom in rhythm instruments do you hear rhythm sounding like a language."

"It was when I found out I could make mistakes that I knew I was on to something."

"You don't have to worry about being a number one, number two, or number three. Numbers don't have anything to do with placement. Numbers only have something to do with repetition."

"That's what I was trying to say when we were talking about sound. I think that every person, whether they play music or don't play music, has a sound -- their own sound, that thing that you're talking about. "

"I think that those elements -- light and sound -- are beyond democratic. They're into the creative part of life."

-- Ornette Coleman

"Music is your own experience, your own thoughts, your wisdom. If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn. They teach you there's a boundary line to music. But, man, there's no boundary line to art."

-- Charlie "Bird" Parker

"There is two kinds of music, the good, and the bad. I play the good kind."

"The memory of things gone is important to a jazz musician. Things like old folks singing in the moonlight in the back yard on a hot night or something said long ago."

"We all do 'do, re, mi,' but you have got to find the other notes yourself."

"What we play is life."

"You blows who you is."

-- Louis Armstrong

Thought for the Day

2007-05-16T21:17:00.000-05:00

"Life is just a chance to grow a soul."

— A. Powell Davies

Thought for the Day

2007-05-03T14:23:00.000-05:00

It is important to have an idealist’s heart. But in the end, act with a pragmatist’s head.

Vonnegut on Blind Faith in the Free Market

2007-04-24T11:29:00.000-05:00

Some of the loudest, most proudly ignorant guessing in the world is going on in Washington today. Our leaders are sick of all the solid information that has been dumped on humanity by research and scholarship and investigative reporting.

They think that the whole country is sick of it, and they want standards, and it isn’t the gold standard. They want to put us back on the snake-oil standard...

Industries should be allowed to do whatever they want to do: Bribe, wreck the environment just a little, fix prices, screw dumb customers, put a stop to competition and raid the Treasury in case they go broke.

That’s correct.

That’s free enterprise.

And that’s correct.

The poor have done something very wrong or they wouldn’t be poor, so their children should pay the consequences.

That’s correct.

The United States of America cannot be expected to look after its people.

That’s correct.

The free market will do that.

That’s correct.

The free market is an automatic system of justice.

That’s correct.

And so on.

"Your Guess is as Good as Mine," Kurt Vonnegut, In These Times, 12/12/05

Faulkner on freedom and equal rights

2007-04-09T13:53:00.001-05:00

As certain people seek to deny civil rights and impose second-class citizenship on other people in our country, we should remember William Faulkner's words:

"We cannot choose freedom established on a hierarchy of degrees of freedom, on a caste system of equality like military rank. We must be free not because we claim freedom, but because we practice it; our freedom must be buttressed by a homogeny equally and unchallengeably free, no matter what color they are, so that all the other inimical forces everywhere--systems political or religious or racial or national--will not just respect us because we practice freedom, they will fear us because we do."

"On Fear: The South in Labor," William Faulkner, Harper's Magazine, June 1956.

Invent Music

2007-04-08T18:06:00.000-05:00

Dave Merrill, a friend, musical collaborator, and one of the smartest and nicest guys you'll ever meet, is pushing the envelope at MIT, using technology to create new sounds and methods of making music.

Check it out.

One of the best websites I've seen

2007-04-06T17:54:00.000-05:00

Jazz organ great Dr. Lonnie Smith.

American music

2007-04-05T12:59:00.000-05:00

Check out "Jazz Grass," a wonderful album by Slim Richey that marries two distinctly American musical forms: Jazz and Bluegrass.

Political Futures Markets

2007-03-23T16:45:00.000-05:00

Slate has gathered up all of the major political futures markets on this page.

The Iowa Electronic Markets can be found here.

(Somebody keep Jim Cramer away from the trading.)

For comparison purposes, the Survey USA polls can be viewed here.

DISCLAIMER: These links are being included just for fun. This is in no way intended to induce anyone to trade on these markets. What you do with your money is your own business.

The Supreme Court

2007-02-08T15:06:00.000-06:00

Justices Breyer and Scalia converse on their views of the Constitution.

A good PBS site on the history of the Supreme Court.

A look back at 2006

2007-01-01T22:44:00.000-06:00

Ware & Robyn, Austin, Texas, January 2006

Robyn waits for Ware's at his new office, January 2006

Waiting for our flight to Asia, July 2006

A look back at 2006

2007-01-01T22:41:00.000-06:00

Attending a close friend's wedding in Singapore, July 2006

Making new friends, Bintan, Indonesia, July 2006

Enjoying the view at our resort, Bintan, Indonesia, July 2006

Sharing a relaxing lunch on the South China Sea, Bintan, Indonesia, July 2006

A look back at 2006

2007-01-01T22:38:00.000-06:00

The Great Buddha of Kotokuin, Kamakura, Japan, July 2006

A scenic hike brought us to this ancient temple, Kamakura, Japan, July 2006

It's a wonder we caught our train given their limited English signage (typical Americans!), Tokyo, July 2006

Ware puts “The Dude” in Dude Ranch on his 30th, Trophy Club, Texas, November 2006

A look back at 2006

2007-01-01T22:35:00.000-06:00

Happy trails on Ware's 30th, November 2006

Thanksgiving weekend in Times Square, New York, November 2006

Santa's Little Helper, Chicago, December 2006

Trying to stay out of the gutter on New Year's Eve, Austin, December 2006

Deep thought for the day

2006-11-09T15:05:00.000-06:00

"Those who never risk themselves, never fully become themselves."

-- Alexandra Saperstein

The Quiltmakers of Gee's Bend

2006-10-21T17:34:00.000-05:00

If you haven't heard about these ladies, you're missing out.

In the isolated enclave of Gee's Bend, Alabama, over a period of 150 years, women have been turning out some of the most incredible artwork -- in the form of quilts -- I've ever seen.

With their use of bold colors, linear forms, and largely asymmetrical designs, they have married form and function in a stunningly beautiful way. Words can't do them justice.

To see some of these quilts, click here, here, here, and here.

To read and learn more, click here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Items for purchase: a PBS DVD and books.

Deep thought for the day

2006-10-21T17:25:00.000-05:00

Rejection is the occasional cost of doing; it is almost never fatal.

What gives?

2006-10-11T14:11:00.001-05:00

"As the US intensified its airstrikes on Tora Bora, US and Afghan helicopters started to arrive with supplies for the Afghans. Also - as was its pattern elsewhere in Afghanistan - the US began enlisting local warlords. Two - Hazret Ali and Haji Zaman Ghamsharik - would become notorious in the battle for Tora Bora...

"The rift between the two men would seriously hinder US efforts to capture Al Qaeda's leadership...

"Between two and four days later, somewhere between Nov. 28 to Nov. 30 - according to detailed interviews with Arabs and Afghans in eastern Afghanistan afterward - the world's most-wanted man escaped the world's most-powerful military machine, walking - with four of his loyalists - in the direction of Pakistan...

"Pir Baksh Bardiwal, the intelligence chief for the Eastern Shura, which controls eastern Afghanistan, says he was astounded that Pentagon planners didn't consider the most obvious exit routes and put down light US infantry to block them.

"The border with Pakistan was the key, but no one paid any attention to it," he said, leaning back in his swivel chair with a short list of the Al Qaeda fighters who were later taken prisoner. "And there were plenty of landing areas for helicopters, had the Americans acted decisively. Al Qaeda escaped right out from under their feet."

"How bin Laden got away," Christian Science Monitor, 3-4-02

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"Osama bin Laden, America's most wanted man, will not face capture in Pakistan if he agrees to lead a "peaceful life," Pakistani officials tell ABC News."

"Pakistan gives Bin Ladin free pass," Brian Ross, ABC News, 9-6-06

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"The initial American aim in Afghanistan had been not to eliminate the Taliban's presence there entirely but to undermine the regime and Al Qaeda while leaving intact so-called moderate Taliban elements that would play a role in a new postwar government. This would insure that Pakistan would not end up with a regime on its border dominated by the Northern Alliance."

"The Getaway: Questions surround a secret Pakistani airlift," Seymour Hersh, The New Yorker, 1-21-02

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"U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said Monday that the Afghan war against Taliban guerrillas can never be won militarily and called for efforts to bring the Islamic militia and its supporters into the Afghan government."

"Frist: Taliban should be in Afghan Gov't," AP, 10-2-06

Marcus Aurelius on Tranquility

2006-10-03T13:58:00.000-05:00

"Men seek retreats for themselves, houses in the country, seashores, and mountains... But this is altogether a mark of the most common sort of men, for it is in thy power whenever thou shalt choose to retire into thyself.

[T]ranquility is nothing else than the good ordering of the mind. Constantly then give to thyself this retreat, and renew thyself."

-- Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Part IV, paragraph 3

Gandhi's wisdom

2006-09-19T11:16:00.000-05:00

"Action expresses priorities."

"An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching."

"Find purpose, the means will follow."

"Constant development is the law of life, and a man who always tries to maintain his dogmas in order to appear consistent drives himself into a false position."

“Men often become what they believe themselves to be. If I believe I cannot do something, it makes me incapable of doing it. But when I believe I can, then I acquire the ability to do it even if I didn't have it in the beginning.”

"A man is but the product of his thoughts -- what he thinks, he becomes."

"Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed. Always aim at purifying your thoughts and everything will be well."

"There is more to life than simply increasing its speed."

“An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor does truth become error because nobody sees it.”

"Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is the truth."

"We cannot be speakers who do not listen. But neither can we be listeners who do not speak."

"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."

“Whenever you have truth it must be given with love, or the message and the messenger will be rejected.”

“We must always seek to ally ourselves with that part of the enemy that knows what is right.”

“You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind.”

"An unjust law is itself a species of violence. Arrest for its breach is more so."

“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”

"Capital as such is not evil; it is its wrong use that is evil. Capital in some form or other will always be needed."

"The Rich must live more simply so that the Poor may simply live."

"A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history."

"As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world -- that is the myth of the atomic age -- as in being able to remake ourselves."

“Be the change you want to see in the world.”

Biblical truths

2006-09-18T17:16:00.000-05:00

"He has told you, O man, what is good;
And what does the LORD require of you
But to do justice, to love kindness,
And to walk humbly with your God?"

Micah 6:8 (NASB)

"You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

Matthew 22:39

"In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you."

Matthew 7:12

"But let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream."

Amos 5:24

"For I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.' Then they themselves also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?' Then He will answer them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.'"

Matthew 25:42 - 45

Keynes on avoiding a type of fossilization

2006-09-14T11:14:00.000-05:00

"When confronted with new information, I reassess and modify my position. What, sir, do you do when confronted with new information?"

-- John Maynard Keynes, economist

Purpose

2006-09-14T11:03:00.000-05:00

To those who seek to use the term "do-gooder" as an insult or epithet, I would pose this question: What, exactly, would you do with your life?

Wynton Marsalis' Wisdom

2006-08-28T12:00:00.000-05:00

"Sustained intensity equals ecstasy."

-- Wynton Marsalis as quoted in Ken Burns' Jazz documentary