by David Burn | Oct 22, 2005 | Go Big Red
According to Global Rich List, my annual income places me among the top 0.839% richest people in the world (there’s only 50 million people between me and Bill Gates).
There are 5,949,632,435 people in the world poorer (in financial terms) than me.
Global Rich List is the work of Poke in London. Here’s what inspired them to create the site.
We are obsessed with wealth. But we gauge how rich we are by looking upwards at those who have more than us. This makes us feel poor.
We wanted to do something which would help people understand, in real terms, where they stand globally. And make us realise that in fact most of us (who are able to view this web page) are in the privileged minority.
We want people to feel rich. And give some of their “extra” money to a worthwhile charity.
By the way, the world’s 225 richest people now have a combined wealth of $1 trillion. That’s equal to the combined annual income of the world’s 2.5 billion poorest people.
by David Burn | Oct 21, 2005 | Media
Bill O’Reilly speaking with Katie Couric on The Today Show:
“To fight every single day of my life, which is literally what I do in this culture war, this intense battle, it just sucks the energy out of you. So, I’m like an athlete. My body’s going to break down sooner or later under the stress of this.”
Wonkette’s answer:
Would somebody please give this soldier, this athlete, this broken-down, sucked-out four-star general and high-scoring quarterback of the Culture Wars a massage, please? Honestly, he makes Keith Richards look like a Noxema Girl.
by David Burn | Oct 21, 2005 | Music
Once upon a time, we used to trade for live music. Long-awaited packages of tapes, then CDs, would arrive in the mail and the holiday of sounds would commence.
At the Panic show I attended the other night, I took note of how few tapers were present. Are tapers on their way to becoming an endangered species? With all the new download services for live music in place, I believe they are.
iTunes, the mack daddy of music downloads, only carries official record releases. But Live Downloads and Disc Logic offer hundreds of live and unreleased shows for a price. As do some bands, directly from their own sites. Gov’t Mule and Grateful Dead have such proprietary models in place.
Of course, one can still visit Archive.org and find a treasure trove of live sounds therein for free. Given that there is so much live music available for free, why do I, and others like me, willingly pay the above entities for music?
1) Convenience
2) Sound quality
3) Faster downloads
I’d love to hear your opinions on this matter.
by David Burn | Oct 20, 2005 | Go Big Red
by David Burn | Oct 19, 2005 | Lowcountry, The Environment
Island Packet: As the pinch for oil and natural gas supply intensifies, energy companies are beginning a push to seek fuels believed to be off the coast of Hilton Head Island.
Energy industry lobbyists are ramping up efforts to convince state legislators to open up South Carolina’s coast for oil and natural gas drilling. Those efforts come despite federal moratoria on offshore drilling that last until 2012.
Though some state lawmakers insist nothing is in the works for January’s legislative session, lobbyists have acknowledged meeting with legislators on the issue, and the state’s petroleum council actively is soliciting support for exploring offshore resources.
“I’ve had a number of conversations with members of the General Assembly having to do with natural gas drilling,” said Hope Lanier, a lobbyist with Charlotte-based Piedmont Natural Gas, a distribution company that serves upstate South Carolina and parts of North Carolina and Tennessee. “I think there is a lot of positive momentum” for exploring offshore natural gas reserves.
A small provision in a wide-ranging energy bill passed by Congress this summer mandated a national inventory of offshore energy resources, prompting local concern that drilling for oil and natural gas off South Carolina’s prized coastline could be a step closer.
Experts believe most of the oil and natural gas deposits in the South Atlantic region are in an area called the Carolina Trough, a large undersea basin that runs along the coast from North Carolina to northern Georgia. At its closest, near Cape Hatteras, N.C., the trough is about 60 miles from shore.
Near Hilton Head Island, the trough is estimated to be about 150 miles from shore.
by David Burn | Oct 19, 2005 | Music
According to Scranton Police Lt. Jeff Mackie, Mark Loughney, 28, of 1615 Electric St., Dunmore, was arrested after police said he jumped on stage during the String Cheese Incident concert at the Scranton Cultural Center and grabbed the crotch area of one of the band members. Mr. Loughney was charged with disorderly conduct and drug possession.
No mention was made as to which band member suffered the indignation. I’m guessing Kang or Billie, since Keith might be inclined to whack such an offender with his bass.
by David Burn | Oct 18, 2005 | Lowcountry
Island Packet: Some historians and archaeologists worry that widening U.S. Highway 17 in rural Beaufort County will destroy or cover up significant Civil War artifacts and building sites.
Archaeologists hired by the state Transportation Department to probe the area have found remains they think show the location of a Combahee River ferry crossing used in a Civil War raid led by famed abolitionist Harriet Tubman. An earlier study also found an old black cemetery in the area.
More than 700 slaves from plantations in Colleton and Beaufort counties were freed in what is widely considered the first raid in U.S. history to be led by a woman.
Tubman is best known for escaping slavery and helping others to do the same along the famed Underground Railroad, made up of safe houses and secret passages. But no single act in Tubman’s life would free more people than the Combahee raid.
U.S. Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., whose congressional district includes a Confederate earthworks on the Colleton County side of the Combahee, wants the area to be included in a proposed Gullah-Geechie history corridor.
by David Burn | Oct 18, 2005 | Literature
Time Magazine critics Lev Grossman and Richard Lacayo have complied a list of the 100 best novels written in the English language since 1923.
It’s a pretty solid list, but there are some glaring omissions, notably The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy and Dalva by Jim Harrison. My list would also include: The Secret History by Donna Tartt, Bright Lights Big City by Jay McInerney, A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley and All the Little Live Things by Wallace Stegner.
The great thing about lists like this is you can easily see which books you have yet to read and place them on a short list. Some of the books I want to read include: Light in August by William Faulkner, The Painted Bird by Jerzy Kosinski, The Sot-Weed Factor by John Barth, The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark, and Appointment in Samarra by John O’Hara.
Also, I see Richard Ford’s The Sportswriter made the list. I realize Ford is a major talent, but I’ve taken a couple stabs at the book in question and I can’t seem to get through it. Ford’s short story collection, Rock Springs, is more my speed.
by David Burn | Oct 18, 2005 | Music
Young man come ’round, said he’s from Yazoo County
Said he’s going to Vicksburg to court a flower
Well he bought some diamonds and he bought a ring,
And he swore to God that he would do anything
Yeah, because Doreatha, she’s got her own little way
– from Doreatha by George McConnell
I witnessed my first “Doreatha” Sunday night in Savannah. It was one of the more memorable moments from the show. George and JB both picked up their acoustic guitars and George delivered what can only be described as a very Dylanesque performance of his original material. His vocals had a decided “Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat” style about them.
As I contemplate the lyrics, I’m struck by a likeness to the work of William Butler Yeats. Particularly, his poem, “The Song of Wandering Aengus”.
Though I am old with wandering
Through hollow lands and hilly lands,
I will find out where she has gone,
And kiss her lips and take her hands;
And walk among long dappled grass,
And pluck till time and times are done
The silver apples of the moon,
The golden apples of the sun.
Rising from the Riverbed, a documentary about Oxford, Mississippi jamband, Beanland–where both JoJo and George got their start–may help explain this literary connection. I’ve added it to the top of my Netflix queue, so we shall soon see.
According to the film’s promotional site, “Riverbed is a celebration of a time and place, in this case, the last two decades in a small town in Mississippi, a rural area usually known for its writers, from Faulkner to Grisham.”
by David Burn | Oct 17, 2005 | Music
“I really wanna move like I’d like to
Sometimes I remember myself
I really wanna feel like I’m supposed to
Sometimes I remember how to feel” -from “Proving Ground” by Widespread Panic
I had not seen a Panic show in two years, three and a half months. Partly due to the band’s year-plus hiatus, and partly due to a shift in focus. So it was great to “remember myself” last night in Savannah.
George McConnell on lead guitar
The Athens boys took the stage at 7:09 pm and did not relinquish it until 11:30. There were several memorable moments in the show, including a three song run with George and JB on acoustic guitar, followed by three more tunes–Jerry Joseph’s “Chainsaw City,” Grateful Dead’s “Nobody’s Fault But Mine” and Fishwater–all with John Keane on electric guitar to close the first set.
Keane, the band’s record producer, also joined the band out of drums on P-Funk’s “Maggot Brain,” “Proving Ground” and JJ Cale’s “Travelin’ Light” to close the second set. Keane then played on Vic Chestnut’s “Sleeping Man” and Talking Heads’ “City of Dreams,”which served as the evening’s double encore.
Keane’s presence on eight songs really made this show about guitar heroics, with JB, George and John driving each other to take the music higher and higher. Thanks to their fine work a lot of happy freaks were moving as one.
