_known as the "father of American music"

Stephen Collins Foster (July 4, 1826 – January 13, 1864), known as the "father of American music", was an American songwriter primarily known for his parlour and minstrel music. Foster wrote over 200 songs; among his best known are "Oh! Susanna", "Camptown Races", "Old Folks at Home", "My Old Kentucky Home", "Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair", "Old Black Joe", and "Beautiful Dreamer".Many of his compositions remain popular more than 150 years after he wrote them.

Stephen Foster
Stephen Foster.jpg
BornJuly 4, 1826
LawrencevillePennsylvania,United States
DiedJanuary 13, 1864 (aged 37)
New YorkNew YorkUnited States
OccupationSongwriter
Years active1844 – 1864
Notable work(s)"Angelina Baker", "Beautiful Dreamer", "Camptown Races", "Gentle Annie", "The Glendy Burk", "Hard Times Come Again No More", "Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair", "My Old Kentucky Home", "Oh! Susanna", "Old Black Joe", "Old Folks at Home"

Excerpt
I can’t tell if this song is a marker in the sand of celebration, a fervent wish made under our breaths, or (most likely) both. Eastmountainsouth is defunct now, with each of the pair making their own music, but I saw them live in San Francisco in 2005 and their powerfully-wending voices were part of the first surge of re-realizing that I needed music in my life that made me feel something. The way they sing this song from 1854 also makes me realize that we’ve collectively been wishing the hard times away for a long while now. Heather Browne, I am Fuel You Are Friends Blog

Composer of music Chilly Gonzales, a profile

Chilly Gonzales, (born Jason Charles Beck; 1972), is a Grammy-nominated Canadian musician who resided in Paris, France for several years, now in Cologne, Germany. Though best known for his first MC and electro albums, he is also a pianist, producer, and songwriter.



 more from Wikipedia 
    
famous song from an Ipad Commercial 
and songs on Soundcloud and artist website



"Chilly Gonzales did an amazing minimix for Annie Mac’s show on Radio 1
It’s a magical blitz of tunes all effortlessly blended together." 
Tracklisting 
Lionel Richie – Hello
Chilly Gonzales — Knight Moves
Giorgio Moroder – the chase
Michael Jackson – Billie Jean
Michael Jackson – Thriller
Van Morrison – Brown Eyed Girl
Van Morrison — Moondance
Soft Cell — Tainted Love
Nirvana — Come As You Are
Wham! — Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go
Queen — Another One Bites the Dust
Bob Seger — Old Time Rock ‘n Roll
The Clash – should i stay or should i go
Survivor — Eye of the Tiger
Still D.R.E – Dr Dre
Eagles – Hotel California
Oasis- Champagne Supernova 
We Are The World
Chariots of Fire theme
Black Sabbath — Iron Man
Phil Collins — In the Air Tonight
Simon and Garfunkle – Sound of Silence
Godfather theme
Van Morrison – Moondance (Reprise)
Frank Sinatra — My Way
Download Radio 1 Minimix 

Listening to Eef Barzelay cover some great tunes.

A lengthy article about the artist who's band is called Clem Snide. 
 buy some music

Fracking giant Halliburton nixes  
NC's chemical disclosure rule

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/05/02/2866836/fracking-giant-halliburton-nixes.html#storylink=cpy

News and Observer excerpt
Commissioner George Howard, CEO at Restoration Systems, a Raleigh company that restores wetlands and habitats, said he was surprised by the turn of events, but hardly distressed by the situation.
Indeed, Howard, who chairs the commission’s Environmental Standards Committee, said he considers the alternate proposal – to disclose chemicals but not amounts – an improvement over the draft rule his committee approved in March.
“I look at it as a list of ingredients versus the recipe,” Howard said.

Related Article: 

Do you promise not to tell? 


Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/05/02/2866836/fracking-giant-halliburton-nixes.html#storylink=cpy


Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/05/02/2866836/fracking-giant-halliburton-nixes.html#storylink=cpy

An interesting response to an Ian Bremmer facebook post: 

"Since 2006, US energy-related CO2 emissions have fallen more than any other nation in the world." 

Number of the Day: 20 percent. That’s the amount by which the Environmental Protection Agency has reduced its estimates of methane leaks during natural gas production. Emissions of the greenhouse gas have been a sticking point for some environmentalists. Now the problem is significantly smaller." - from Ezra Klein, an young newspaperman who shows a lot of promise, but who needs more seasoning and weathering. That is a good thing, because: "“Technological advancements have made the unconventional fossil fuels in North Dakota's Three Forks formation "technically recoverable," the Interior Department’s United States Geological Survey (USGS) announced Tuesday. And by rolling Three Forks into the Bakken shale formation, the region that spans North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana could now produce 7.4 billion barrels of oil, 6.7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 0.53 billion barrels of natural gas liquids. Compared to 2008 estimates, that’s triple the amount of shale gas and double the amount of shale oil that the region could yield.” Zack Colman in The Hill.


Benazir murder case: 
FIA prosecutor shot dead in Islamabad

Triune excerpt

Ali was scheduled to appear in an anti-terrorism court (ATC) 
in Rawalpindi today, pertaining to the Benazir murder case.

Ali was also the prosecutor investigating 
the 2008 Mumbai attacks, in which 166 people were killed.

Read more: benazirbhutto 

Benazir Bhutto (Sindhi: بينظير ڀٽو; Urdu: بے نظیر بھٹو‎,pronounced [beːnəˈziːr ˈbʱʊʈʈoː]; 21 June 1953 – 27 December 2007) was a politician and stateswoman who served as the 11th Prime Minister of Pakistan in two non-consecutive terms from November 1988 until October 1990, and 1993 until her final dismissal on November 1996. She was the eldest daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, a former prime minister of Pakistan and the founder of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), which she led.

In 1982, at age 29, Benazir Bhutto became the chairwoman of PPP – a centre-left, democratic socialist political party, making her the first woman in Pakistan to head a major political party. In 1988, she became the first woman elected to lead a Muslim state[1] and was also Pakistan's first (and thus far, only) female prime minister. Noted for her charismatic authority[2] and political astuteness, Benazir Bhutto drove initiatives for Pakistan's economy and national security, and she implemented social capitalist policies for industrial development and growth. In addition, her political philosophy and economic policies emphasised deregulation (particularly of the financial sector), flexible labour markets, the denationalisation of state-owned corporations, and the withdrawal of subsidies to others. Benazir Bhutto's popularity waned amid recession, corruption, and high unemployment which later led to the dismissal of her government by conservative President Ghulam Ishaq Khan.

In 1993, Benazir Bhutto was re-elected for a second term after the 1993 parliamentary elections. She survived an attempted coup d'état in 1995, and her hard line against the trade unions and tough rhetorical opposition to her domestic political rivals and to neighbouring India earned her the nickname "Iron Lady";[3] she was also respectfully referred to as "B.B." In 1996, the charges of corruption levelled against her led to the final dismissal of her government by President Farooq Leghari. Benazir Bhutto conceded her defeat in the 1997 Parliamentary elections and went into self-imposed exile in Dubai, United Arab Emirates in 1998.

After nine years of self-exile, she returned to Pakistan on 18 October 2007, after having reached an understanding with President Pervez Musharraf, by whom she was granted amnesty and all corruption charges were withdrawn. Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in a bombing on 27 December 2007, after leaving PPP's last rally in the city of Rawalpindi, two weeks before the scheduled 2008 general election in which she was a leading opposition candidate. The following year, she was named one of seven winners of the United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights.[4]

Benazir Bhutto
بينظير ڀٽو
بے نظیر بھٹو
Benazir Bhutto.jpg
Prime Minister of Pakistan
In office
19 October 1993 – 5 November 1996
PresidentWasim Sajjad
Farooq Leghari
Preceded byMoeenuddin Ahmad Qureshi(Acting)
Succeeded byMalik Meraj Khalid (Acting)
In office
2 December 1988 – 6 August 1990
PresidentGhulam Ishaq Khan
Preceded byMuhammad Khan Junejo
Succeeded byGhulam Mustafa Jatoi (Acting)
Leader of the Opposition
In office
5 November 1996 – 12 October 1999
Preceded byNawaz Sharif
Succeeded byFazal-ur-Rehman
In office
6 November 1990 – 18 April 1993
Preceded byKhan Abdul Wali Khan
Succeeded byNawaz Sharif
Minister of Finance
In office
26 January 1994 – 10 October 1996
Preceded byBabar Ali (Acting)
Succeeded byNaveed Qamar
In office
4 December 1988 – 6 December 1990
Prime MinisterGhulam Mustafa Jatoi (Acting)
Nawaz Sharif
Preceded byMahbub ul Haq (Acting)
Succeeded bySartaj Aziz
Minister of Defence
In office
4 December 1988 – 6 August 1990
Preceded byMahmoud Haroon (Acting)
Succeeded byGhous Ali Shah
Chairperson of the Pakistan Peoples Party
In office
12 November 1982 – 27 December 2007
Acting until 10 January 1984
Preceded byNusrat Bhutto
Succeeded byAsif Ali Zardari
Bilawal Zardari Bhutto
Personal details
Born21 June 1953
KarachiPakistan
Died27 December 2007 (aged 54)
RawalpindiPakistan
Political partyPakistan Peoples Party
Spouse(s)Asif Ali Zardari (1987–2007)
RelationsZulfiqar Ali Bhutto (father)
Nusrat Bhutto (mother)
Murtaza Bhutto (brother)
Shahnawaz Bhutto (brother)
Sanam Bhutto (sister)
ChildrenBilawal
Bakhtawar
Asifa
Alma materHarvard University
Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford
St Catherine's College, Oxford
Karachi Grammar School
ReligionIslam
Signature
WebsiteOfficial website


At 14, Taylor Wilson, the youngest person to achieve fusion --


with a reactor born in his garage. Now he wants to save our seaports from nuclear terror.


Tom Clynes, Popular Science Email to a friend » 
Quotes by Taylor Wilson 

“I started out with a dream to make a star in a jar, and I ended up … making things that I think can change the world.”




Physics wunderkind Taylor Wilson astounded the science world when, at age 14, he became the youngest person in history to produce fusion. The University of Nevada-Reno offered a home for his early experiments when Wilson’s worried parents realized he had every intention of building his reactor in the garage. Wilson now intends to fight nuclear terror in the nation's ports, with a homemade radiation detector priced an order of magnitude lower than most current devices.
In 2012, Wilson's dreams received a boost when he became a recipient of the $100,000 Thiel Prize. Wilson now intends revolutionize the way we produce energy, fight cancer, and combat terrorism using nuclear technology. "Kenneth asked a nuclear-pharmacist friend to come over to check on Taylor’s safety practices. As far as he could tell, the friend said, the boy was getting it right. " 

Rest In Peace George Jones, who was buried today. Profile and playlist of songs...

George Glenn Jones (12 September 1931 – 26 April 2013) was an American country music singing legend known for his long list of hit records, his distinctive voice and phrasing, and his marriage to Tammy Wynette. For the last 20 years of his life, Jones was frequently referred to as the greatest living country singer. Country music scholar Bill C. Malone writes, "For the two or three minutes consumed by a song, Jones immerses himself so completely in its lyrics, and in the mood it conveys, that the listener can scarcely avoid becoming similarly involved." Waylon Jennings expressed a common jealousy in his song "It's Alright": "If we all could sound like we wanted to, we'd all sound like George Jones."


Throughout his long career, Jones made headlines often as much for his drinking, stormy relationships with women, and violent rages as for his prolific career of making records and touring. His wild lifestyle led to Jones missing many performances, earning him the nickname "No Show Jones." With the help of his fourth wife, Nancy, he was mostly sober from the mid 1980s until his death in 2013. Jones had more than 150 hits during his career, both as a solo artist and in duets with other artists. The shape of his nose and facial features gave Jones the nickname "The Possum." Jones said in an interview that he chose to tour only about 60 dates a year. In August 2012, it was announced that at the conclusion of his 2013 tour, Jones would retire to spend more time with his family. Titled "The Grand Tour", Jones' final tour was to take place across 60 dates.  read more from Wikipedia 

David Bowie Delivers 42-Word Statement About 'The Next Day'

APRIL 25, 2013 9:20PM ET
David Bowie Delivers 42-Word Statement About ‘The Next Day’
Novelist Rick Moody used scant words in a lengthy essay about new album

By ANDY GREENE 

It’s been almost four months since David Bowie announced he was returning from semi-retirement and six weeks since The Next Day arrived on shelves, but Bowie has yet to utter a word in public, let alone make any sort of appearance, in support of the album. He is starting to crack just the tiniest bit, though.

The Rumpus writer Rick Moody recently asked him to supply a “work flow diagram” for his new album and Bowie responded with forty-two words. Here they are:

Effigies

Indulgences

Anarchist

Violence

Chthonic

Intimidation

Vampyric

Pantheon

Succubus

Hostage

Transference

Identity

Mauer

Interface

Flitting

Isolation

Revenge

Osmosis

Crusade

Tyrant

Domination

Indifference

Miasma

Pressgang

Displaced

Flight

Resettlement

Funereal

Glide

Trace

Balkan

Burial

Reverse

Manipulate

Origin

Text

Traitor

Urban

Comeuppance


Tragic

Nerve

Mystification

Moody then proceeds to write over 12,000 words using Bowie’s own to break down the album. To put it mildly, the man is a big fan. “The Next Day is the unlikeliest masterpiece of the recent popular song, the best album by an otherwise retired classic rock artist in many, many years,” he writes in his introduction. “It kicks the shit out of that recent spate of albums by Neil Young and Crazy Horse, it is better than anything the Stones did since Tattoo You (which is mainly good because of Sonny Rollins anyhow), better than anything Van Morrison has done since Avalon Sunset, better than anything Dylan has done since Time Out of Mind, better than anything Brian Ferry has done since Mamouna (19 years ago), better than anything Joni Mitchell has done since Mingus, better than anything Jimi Hendrix has done since Electric Ladyland, better than anything Elvis Costello has done since Blood and Chocolate, better than anything Paul McCartney has done since Run Devil Run, better than anything associated with the Who since Who By Numbers.”

Now the bigger question: do these 42 words mean that Bowie is gradually stepping back into the public sphere? Might he give us a few sentences next time? Maybe even a whole paragraph, or possibly an interview? How about some sort of performance? A concert? A tour? We shall see what comes, but these are 42 more words from Bowie than we had yesterday. 

Best performing Windows laptops

CNET excerpt

But there's method in Soluto's metrics: "We simply compared the real PCs in the field...We believe it's more representative of reality."
The metrics (see image at top) include crashes per week, hangs per week, Blue Screens (of Death) per week, and average boot time.
Soluto did list the disadvantages of running Windows on a Mac, including that it's more work to set up Windows on a Mac and there may be driver issues.

State Of Things NC

Talking About Politics

NYT > The Upshot

Guernica / Art & Politics

Carolina Journal

Basketball, Lacrosse, etc.

Reason Magazine

BlueNC

Republic Report

SCOTUSblog

The Page

Politico 10

CommonBlog

Roll Call Special Sections

TED Blog

ProPublica: Articles and Investigations

The Progressive Pulse

Huffington Post

Newser Politics

Politico Playbook

Project Syndicate

Xconomy

Politics Daily

AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (AJE)

White House

Politico Huddle

POLITICO

Episcopal Cafe