Song(s) of the Day # 2,300 Langkamer
1 hour ago
Wednesday, 23 June 2010
We Have Ways To Make Your Brain Talk...
On a macabre note, I had every intention of leaving my brain to the Brain Bank, but now I'm having second thoughts: what if they could guess my personnality using the classic method of Physiognomie?
Psychologists have worked out that all personality traits can be divided into five factors, commonly called the Big Five: conscientiousness, extraversion, neuroticism, agreeableness, and openness/intellect. Colin DeYoung at the University of Minnesota and colleagues wanted to know if these personality factors correlated with the size of structures in the brain.
For the study, 116 volunteers answered a questionnaire to describe their personality, then had a brain imaging test that measured the relative size of different parts of the brain. A computer program was used to warp each brain image so that the relative sizes of different structures could be compared. Several links were found between the size of certain brain regions and personality. The research appears in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
More@'ScienceBlogs'
Public Enemy's Chuck D Lashes Out at State of Arizona With New Song
Chuck D and the state of Arizona just don't mix. As Billboard points out, "Tear Down That Wall" is a new track by the Public Enemy MC in which he harshly criticizes the state's new controversial immigration laws, likening them to "Gestapo border control." Chuck D tells Billboard, "The governor is a Hitler."
Chuck famously tussled with the southwestern state in 1991 when Public Enemy released "By the Time I Get to Arizona", which criticized Arizona for not recognizing Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday as a national holiday.
In other Public Enemy news, Billboard reports that the group will release a box set, Bring the Noise Hits, Vids and Docs 3" collecting PE's work since leaving Def Jam. And as previously reported, the new Public Enemy album is being funded by fans via SellaBand. Billboard adds that it will feature guest shots from Tom Morello, Rise Against, and Z-Trip.
Download 'Tear Down That Wall'
David Murray & The Gwo-Ka Masters Live at Bath Festival 31 MAY 2010
Jez Nelson presents American saxophonist David Murray with Guadeloupean drummer-vocalists the Gwo-Ka Masters, recorded in concert at the Bath Festival. This eight piece Creole project is an exploration of Murray’s roots and features the boulagyel, a traditional Guadeloupean version of the beat box, alongside ka-drums, guitar, trumpet, bass and Murray’s fiery saxophone. Murray has recorded prolifically since the mid 1970s, when he moved to New York and became part of the city’s creative loft scene. He is known for his technique, particularly his use of circular breathing, and for the breadth of his work; he is as comfortable in a free music context as he is playing within more formal structures, and has traveled extensively exploring music from around the world.
Steve Coleman – Beba [Pi Records]
Bobby McFerrin – He Ran to the Train [Wrasse Records]
Tyshawn Sorey – Awakening [482 Music]
Stephane Kerecki Trio – Palabre [Zig Zag]
BBC INTRODUCING TRACKS
dBass – Garden
David C Orton – Frisellope
Nick Haward Quartet – Terms & Conditions
DAVID MURRAY & THE GWO KA MASTERS, RECORDED AT BATH PAVILION ON 31 MAY 2010
David Murray – Gete’ segued into ‘Gwo-tet
David Murray – Kiama for Obama
David Murray – Three Days Without Food
David Murray – Tonde
Jazz on 3 Radio Rip
David Murray & The Gwo-Ka Masters concert starts at 39.00 minutes
download link
via grip.org
Bassnectar - Massive Attack Remix (Official)
Available as a FREE download at www.bassnectar.net. Video features fan footage from Summer Camp 2010, Austin, TX, Wakarusa 2010, Reset San Diego, and Bonnaroo 2010.
Conservative talking points change with the weather
I came across an interesting article in Media Matters today. Now that it's summer in the northern hemisphere, stories deriding Global Warming because of cold weather have disappeared in the conservative blogosphere, such as the Drudge Report. I was wondering, since this is an international blog that transcends the equator, do the global warming deniers do the same thing in Australia during this time of year?
Will Bunch @'Media Matters'
Will Bunch @'Media Matters'
@Tom/
A good point - will have to look into that further...bvdub – 2 hours and 20 years
This weekend we have another outstanding mix for you! 2 hours and 20 years has been put together by Brock Van Wey, releasing under bvdub, exclusively for Headphone Commute. It is indeed special, since this is Brock’s first mix made in 15 years with moments of elation. It was made on a 2-hour morning bus ride from Shanghai, where Brock reflected on the last 20 years immersed in electronic music. Carried by his emotional ups and downs, the mix incorporates a verity of tracks along the memory lane…
Be sure to check out bvdub‘s Return To Tonglu (Quietus, 2008), We Were The Sun (Quietus, 2009) and his amazing White Clouds Drift On And On released on echospace [detroit] in 2009 under his real name. If you have time, read also Headphone Commute’s Conversations with Brock Van Wey
… full track listing may appear at a later date …
… meanwhile just listen and experience …
Cover art by Mr. Phil Price – “Shanghai”
Download
HERE.
via kfmw
Gates & Buffett: Get Your Friends To Pay Taxes and We Won’t Need Their Donations!
I am the Founder and Executive Director of a nonprofit organization called Exhale. As the leader, I spend the vast majority of my time raising money. Exhale receives no government funding and we earn our revenue primarily through foundation grants and the generous contributions of individual donors.
Because I am a professional fundraiser and nonprofit leader, you might assume that the idea of America’s most well-known billionaires – Bill Gates and Warren Buffett – hatching a well-marketed plan to get other members of their elite club to give away half of their money to charity would get me excited. You might think that I should spend all my time trying to figure out how to get my hands on it.
You would be wrong.
As Stacy Palmer from the Chronicle of Philanthropy said in the AP article by Donna Gordon Blankinship “the bulk of money raised by charities today comes from non-billionaires giving $5, $10 or $50 at a time.” Palmer followed up with a reality check about the giving patterns of rich people: “only 17 people on the Forbes list of the 400 wealthiest people in America are also on the Chronicle’s list of the most generous American donors.”
Let’s get specific. This means, for example, that instead of paying a million dollars in taxes, a wealthy philanthropist puts his million into his own personal foundation, and by the very laws he helped to create, he is legally only required to “give” a very small percentage – about 5%- of his foundation’s assets to charity every year. Meanwhile, within the shelter of this foundation, he is allowed to forever grow his fortune without taxation.
The consequence of this is that what was supposed to be a million dollars contributed to the public domain through taxes is now just $50,000 only available through charitable contributions. What could have been a million dollars spent towards elementary education is now just $50,000 for a park bench at his alma-mater. What could have been a million dollars to help take care of our elderly is now $50,000 to sponsor a cocktail party at his favorite museum.
Just because wealthy philanthropists have starved the government of revenue doesn’t mean that the things governments have always paid for have gotten cheaper or are no longer needed. Like all of us, we need more than ever to be healthy, educated, and safe, and everything we need costs more than it did before. Except now the government has less money to fulfill its obligations.
And so the nonprofit sector grows in response.
Nonprofits, as advocates for the public good (this is not flowery, self-congratulatory language, this is our actual tax status), have a history of stepping in, filling the void and upholding the responsibility that was once the governments. Even worse, we compete with each other over the $50,000 chump change, wear our sacrifice like a badge-of-honor and accept that the public good is only worth the spare change others are willing to contribute when they feel like it.
We all pay the costs of a system which privileges billionaire elites. We pay the cost when parents and communities have to not only pay their own taxes, they also have to start their own nonprofits, donate their own money and spend their time raising money from others in order to fund their children’s schools. Or pay for their cousin’s cancer treatment. Or maintain a local park.
Through charitable giving, wealthy philanthropists starve the government of revenue. And then they expect us – nonprofit organizations – to beg and compete for their pennies. We must all say no.
Instead of a Giving-Pledge, I encourage Gates and Buffett to use their leadership and their wealth to start a Tax-Pledge. They should ask their fellow billionaires to pay their fair share.
"After the devastating Tsunami in Indonesia some years back, then Australian prime minister John Howard split a Billion dollars with the Indonesian president to set up a charity/charities to deal with the disaster relief efforts. I have yet to find out the name of this charity/charities, though from the article above, it seems finances can accrue and accrue and accrue, with little public or government oversight, and the interest on a lazy half a billion would go a long way to a few of life's little luxuries I guess." - beeden
Because I am a professional fundraiser and nonprofit leader, you might assume that the idea of America’s most well-known billionaires – Bill Gates and Warren Buffett – hatching a well-marketed plan to get other members of their elite club to give away half of their money to charity would get me excited. You might think that I should spend all my time trying to figure out how to get my hands on it.
You would be wrong.
Dirty Little Fundraising Secret
The truth is, for those of who have built our entire professional careers in the nonprofit sector, we know some secrets about philanthropy and giving that the rest of the world does not. We know, for example, that the vast majority of money that is contributed to nonprofit organizations in the United States doesn’t come from the rich. It comes from the poor. We also know that foundations are not the primary source of funding to our sector. People are. Poor people.As Stacy Palmer from the Chronicle of Philanthropy said in the AP article by Donna Gordon Blankinship “the bulk of money raised by charities today comes from non-billionaires giving $5, $10 or $50 at a time.” Palmer followed up with a reality check about the giving patterns of rich people: “only 17 people on the Forbes list of the 400 wealthiest people in America are also on the Chronicle’s list of the most generous American donors.”
Generosity or Tax Advantages?
The main reason our sector (the great, big diverse sector of organizations that hold the tax-designation of 501(c)3) even exists is because several decades ago, a few wealthy Americans found a way to create tax shelters for their wealth within the domestic United States. They started private, philanthropic foundations. These foundations allowed the wealthy to keep their money out of the public domain where democratically elected representatives would decide how best to spend it. They found a way – and created the laws and tax codes to protect it – to keep for themselves what was legally owed to the rest of us.Let’s get specific. This means, for example, that instead of paying a million dollars in taxes, a wealthy philanthropist puts his million into his own personal foundation, and by the very laws he helped to create, he is legally only required to “give” a very small percentage – about 5%- of his foundation’s assets to charity every year. Meanwhile, within the shelter of this foundation, he is allowed to forever grow his fortune without taxation.
The consequence of this is that what was supposed to be a million dollars contributed to the public domain through taxes is now just $50,000 only available through charitable contributions. What could have been a million dollars spent towards elementary education is now just $50,000 for a park bench at his alma-mater. What could have been a million dollars to help take care of our elderly is now $50,000 to sponsor a cocktail party at his favorite museum.
Just because wealthy philanthropists have starved the government of revenue doesn’t mean that the things governments have always paid for have gotten cheaper or are no longer needed. Like all of us, we need more than ever to be healthy, educated, and safe, and everything we need costs more than it did before. Except now the government has less money to fulfill its obligations.
And so the nonprofit sector grows in response.
Nonprofits Aren't Here to Replace Government
But – surprise! – nonprofit organizations are not here to pick up the slack of governments or corporations. Despite what you may think, nonprofits are not a tool designed to meet the massive human and civil needs that don’t go away just because our government can no longer afford to pay for them. No amount of car washes, bake sales, Facebook Causes or charitable gifts from the rich can address the government’s revenue gap fueled by the wealthiest Americans sheltering their billions.Nonprofits, as advocates for the public good (this is not flowery, self-congratulatory language, this is our actual tax status), have a history of stepping in, filling the void and upholding the responsibility that was once the governments. Even worse, we compete with each other over the $50,000 chump change, wear our sacrifice like a badge-of-honor and accept that the public good is only worth the spare change others are willing to contribute when they feel like it.
We all pay the costs of a system which privileges billionaire elites. We pay the cost when parents and communities have to not only pay their own taxes, they also have to start their own nonprofits, donate their own money and spend their time raising money from others in order to fund their children’s schools. Or pay for their cousin’s cancer treatment. Or maintain a local park.
Taxes Solve More
As leaders of nonprofit organizations we should not settle for a role as the stop-gap. Instead, we must lead our organizations to band together and demand the true costs of what we need to fulfill our missions and hold the government – and the wealthy – accountable to their responsibilities for the public good.Through charitable giving, wealthy philanthropists starve the government of revenue. And then they expect us – nonprofit organizations – to beg and compete for their pennies. We must all say no.
Instead of a Giving-Pledge, I encourage Gates and Buffett to use their leadership and their wealth to start a Tax-Pledge. They should ask their fellow billionaires to pay their fair share.
*An earlier version of this was first published on AspenBakers blog.
Aspen Baker is the founder and executive director of Exhale, a pro-voice organization."After the devastating Tsunami in Indonesia some years back, then Australian prime minister John Howard split a Billion dollars with the Indonesian president to set up a charity/charities to deal with the disaster relief efforts. I have yet to find out the name of this charity/charities, though from the article above, it seems finances can accrue and accrue and accrue, with little public or government oversight, and the interest on a lazy half a billion would go a long way to a few of life's little luxuries I guess." - beeden
Searching For The Wrong-Eyed Jesus
In the heart of the south, hidden behind the strip malls and interstates, you might find something you didn't even know you were looking for...
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