Wednesday, June 21, 2017

Trump's Runaway Effect: Tracing the Science of Climate Change and Trump's Denials

by Nomad


President Trump's ignorance of the long history of the science of Climate Change has fueled his irrational denials and conspiracy theories. That, and the prodding and solicitation of special interests. 


First Glimpse of the Ultimate Horror

In the summer of 1982, businessman Donald Trump was celebrating the opening of the 58-story skyscraper, Trump Tower, in downtown Manhattan.
Trump was well on his way to building his own formidable business empire. In that year, Trump reported a personal net worth of $321 million. True, his wealth was built largely on his father’s connections, as well as loans and guarantees for bank credit, it was nevertheless an impressive figure for a man of 36.

Nobody asked but it's doubtful whether or not he took any particular interest in the climate. It is safe to assume he wouldn't have cared whether it was changing or not. Why should he have cared? The topic offered him no path to greater fame nor greater wealth. 

Sunday, June 18, 2017

Sanity Sunday- Four by Vashti Bunyan

  by Nomad


There's probably never been a career quite like that of Vashti Bunyan. In 1970, when her first album, Just Another Diamond Day, was released it was blasted by critics. Commercially, it was a flop, with only a few hundred copies pressed with little to no advertisement.

The experience was enough to make the English folk singer-songwriter, disillusioned and discouraged, turn her back on the music industry and retreat into obscurity. That might well have been the end of the story.

However, in the thirty years that followed, something peculiar happened. The album (along with her singles that never made it on any albums) began attracting the interest among record collectors and bootleggers. Eventually, that reevaluation of her short music career led to official re-issues that album.
This led to inspiring a whole new generation of folk artists and her music has reached a wider audience than ever.

Monday, June 12, 2017

Sanity Sunday- Four by Antonio Carlos Jobim

 by Nomad


Born in Rio de Janeiro in 1927, Antônio Carlos Jobim, also known as Tom Jobim, became known for as the moving force for bossa nova style in the 1960s.  Jobim was a composer, pianist, songwriter, arranger, and singer.
He was described by friend
He was a gentle man highly interested in all kinds of music, from classical and jazz to Brazilian, Latin and American popular music. Even then he was a great talker when the subjects were music and women.
If that photo is anything to go by, I am sure he was a hit with the ladies. Make no mistake, Jobim was a serious artist.
Generally speaking, he was much more intelligent than most musicians, but he respected the ones he considered talented and intelligent. Usually, he lost patience easily when someone argued things without a musical base, with nonsense arguments.