Trash to Treasure: From Toilets to Tile
http://www.npr.org/blogs/pictureshow/2010/11/29/131672311/toilets-tiles
You wouldn’t expect a landfill to be a place where you could turn something (with a high yuck factor) into a thing of beauty. But decorative tile maker Paul Burns saw an opportunity. He’s taking discarded porcelain toilets and using them to make tile.
Trove of Picassos Surfaces, and So Do Questions
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/30/arts/design/30picasso.html?_r=1&ref=global-home
PARIS — Pablo Picasso gave them as a gift.
So said Danielle Le Guennec, 68, explaining how she and her husband came to possess a box full of 271 previously unknown sketches, paintings and collages by one of the 20th century’s most celebrated artists.
271 Unknown Picasso Pieces Turn Up In France
Hiding From Reality By BOB HERBERT
However you want to define the American dream, there is not much of it that’s left anymore.
Didn’t Dr. Hunter S. have some things to say about “Searching For the American Dream.” ?? JR
Book Review ‘The Dylan in All of Us’
http://www.truthdig.com/arts_culture/item/the_dylan_in_all_of_us_20100909/
Given the seriousness and pretension with which so many rock critics write about their favorite artists, you might expect an academician to bury Dylan beneath mounds of stentorian prose. But Wilentz is no ordinary academic. For one thing, along with Greil Marcus, he edited “The Rose and the Briar: Death, Love, and Liberty in the American Ballad.” For another, he was practically born into the subject. His father, Elias, ran the legendary Eighth Bookshop in Greenwich Village, a store, he says, “that helped nurture the Beat poets of the 1950s and the folk revivalists of the early 1960s.” (Elias also edited “The Beat Scene,” one of the earliest anthologies of Beat poetry.)
JR’s San Juan Mountains Weather Report Update-11/29/10 09:30
Still the Address of Down-Home Sounds
THE sign on the wall of the building that serves as the home of Arhoolie Records here, just north of Berkeley, promises “down home music,” and for 50 years, often operating on a shoestring, and a thin one at that, the label has delivered a rich and quirky mixture of blues, folk, jazz, Cajun, Tex-Mex, country, zydeco and gospel — the full panorama of American roots music — to an equally diverse collection of music fans.
JR’s San Juan Mountains Weather & Snowpack Report-update. 11/28/10 11:00
Weather
The 4 remote weather stations along the Hwy 550 corridor are showing southwest winds and rising RH so the strong short wave disturbance (Pacific NW trough) is moving into the San Juans on schedule. Looks like light snow has begun in the higher elevations and will continue through Monday evening. Most of the models are showing less than 12″ for our mountains.
Snowpack
The snowpack has settled and strengthened a bit from the last two days of warming temperatures. Strong snow doesn’t mean “safe” snow it only means the snow has become more dense/slab like material. Most of the Considerable hazards are drifting toward Moderate but still pockets of Considerable. Most of the slab material is setting on weak faceted layers throughout the thin pack and only needs additional weight from snow or a skier to bring it all to life.
The areas of wind drifted snow in gullies and low lying terrain should be eyeballed with suspicion and concern at and above TL on the north through east aspects for these conditions. This is especially true where a slab pinches off (thins out) near terrain features such as the side of a gully or even as the terrain flattens out. Stress is often concentrated in those areas.
Cormac McCarthy… Links to stories & interviews
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/cormac_mccarthy/index.html
GREAT WRITER, GREAT MACHINE
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2009/12/great-writer-great-machine.html
Irma Thomas: She Sings The Songs
http://www.npr.org/2010/11/03/131040094/irma-thomas-she-sings-the-songs
When New Orleans R&B singer Irma Thomas arrived for her studio session with KPLU, we knew she was ready for any song request we might throw at her. We knew this, because she brought her Book with her.
The Hammer comes down: DeLay convicted.
“While Mr. DeLay long managed to escape the consequences of his corrupt rein over Congress, thankfully, the law has finally caught up with him,” said Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1110/45594.html#ixzz16QRq3YIM
Raul Malo On World Cafe
http://www.npr.org/2010/11/24/131565335/raul-malo-on-world-cafe
Singer-songwriter, guitarist and record producer, Raul Malo has become a venerable force in both Latin and country music. Malo’s career first took off while leading Grammy-winning group The Mavericks. Many of the band’s country-influenced singles hit the charts, and when the group disbanded in the early 2000s, it had won a Grammy and two Country Music Awards. Malo had been doing some solo work on the side, and since then it has become his primary focus. Over time, his Cuban roots have pushed their way to the surface, making for an interesting mix of country, pop and salsa.
JR’s San Juan Mountains Weather and Snowpack Discussion 11/26/10 09:30
WEATHER
Sunday afternoon through Monday evening looks to be another active storm period for the San Juans. Today and Saturday a flat ridge of high pressure will modify the cold temperatures that we’ve had the past two days, but it will be breaking down when the flow begins to back to the SW late today/tomorrow as the next Pacific NW storm deepens and moves into the forecast area early Sunday.
The northern and central Rockies will be favored over the southern mountains for snow fall. We’ll see increasing SW winds and dropping air temperatures Monday/Tuesday then clearing skies with storm passage. It’s too early to forecast storm amounts, but it doesn’t look like a storm with face shots.
A short dry spell on Tuesday will be followed by a series of Pacific storms that could affect the southern mountains Wednesday through Friday, but will favor the central and northern mountains.
SNOWPACK
The cold air temps the past few days have not promoted settlement and strengthening of the snowpack so the CONSIDERABLE hazard is still with us. The recent fierce winds have greatly damaged the pack especially above the trees with very fragile and touchy wind slab conditions. Just about anywhere there is enough snow for skiing you’ll find CONSIDERABLE hazard both above and below TL on the leeward slopes of the recent WSW winds. Watch and listen for cracking or whoomping/talking snow on the steeper wind loaded slopes.
As one can see or feel there are many terrain obstacles lurking just beneath the battered snow surface. It’s ugly right now in the mountains. There has been bar room hubris & tall tales of burials & triggered slides by the more aggressive cultists.
Grocery Bag Lead Test Results Flummox Shoppers
http://www.npr.org/2010/11/26/131601384/grocery-bag-lead-test-results-flummoxes-shoppers
Do you bring reusable bags to grocery stores? They’re good for the environment, right?
Recent lab reports in Florida and New York show that some reusable sacks contain elevated levels of lead. Consumers are grappling with what to do with this news.
BOOKS, AUTHORS AND ALL THINGS BOOKISH-Ray Bradbury in L.A.: Snapshots
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2010/06/ray-bradbury.html
Ray Bradbury, who will be 90 on Aug. 22, appeared at the Mystery and Imagination Bookstore in Glendale on Saturday to help launch “Listen to the Echoes: The Ray Bradbury Interviews,” a new book by Sam Weller.
You’ve Never Heard Curtis Mayfield’s ‘There’s No Place Like America Today’?!
Note: This is a recurring series in which we ask our unimaginably young interns to review classic albums they’ve never heard before. Erik Myers is one of NPR Music’s fall interns.
All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen recently gave me a big book of album covers and told me to choose one I liked, as long as I’d never heard it before. I was to listen to the entire album, and then write about it.
I chose this one.
PRI’s ‘The World’ BBC-Gypsy Jazz Interview
http://www.theworld.org/2010/11/25/gypsy-jazz-band/ scroll down to Gypsy Jazz Band
Three gypsy jazz musicians came to The World’s studio to speak with host Lisa Mullins and demo their music.Download MP3(Photo: Adeline Sire)
The Great Game Imposter-Op-ed Maureen Dowd
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/24/opinion/24dowd.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=homepage
And we wonder why we haven’t found Osama bin Laden.
Though we’re pouring billions into intelligence in Afghanistan, we can’t even tell the difference between a no-name faker and a senior member of the Taliban. The tragedy of Afghanistan has descended into farce.
Strips On Sound: Artist Ed Ruscha Inspires Nels Cline
http://www.npr.org/2010/11/24/131565147/strips-on-sound-artist-ed-ruscha-inspires-nels-cline
In the age of the Kindle, handcrafted book projects by artists are again on the rise. A new work, Dirty Baby, takes that idea to the next level. The book, which has two sides like a record, features poetry and recordings of original music, inspired by work from seminal Los Angeles visual artist Ed Ruscha. The book’s producer calls it a “trialogue.”
‘Ginsberg To Ginsberg’: Two Generations ‘Howl’
http://www.npr.org/2010/11/23/131537497/-ginsberg-to-ginsberg-two-generations-howl
I admit that my initial attraction to Allen Ginsberg was because we shared a last name — a name that he had already made famous with his writing. In my early, dying-to-be-published writer’s brain, that meant there was hope for me, too, if only because someone might think we were related. But then I read“Howl” in high school and fell in love with the words.
JR’s San Juan Mountains Weather Forecast 11/24/10 13:00
Winds have significantly eased off with dry cold front air moving in from the northwest because of a splitting trough. The storm is slowly winding down in the San Juans with periods of gusting winds and snow flurries on the north side of RMP so look for clearing skies later tonight and cold air inversions sinking into the valleys for the next several days. Expect 10-20 degree night time temperatures below normal.
Anticipate a slow warm-up beginning Friday as weak high pressure builds then breaks down with the next open wave trough that will push into the forecast area later Sunday, bringing more snow into western Colorado and lasting into Monday. Looks like a brisk Thanksgiving so enjoy the day with friends, a good meal and a bottle of vino tinto.
TSA Agents “Not Perverts”!?
- The TSA will touch your junk, but its agents “want the public to understand that we’re not perverts.”
Read original story in The Washington Post | Wednesday, Nov. 24, 2010
300 YEARS OF FOSSIL-FUELED ADDICTION IN 5 MINUTES
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJ-J91SwP8w
We created a video regarding fossil fuels, and certainly haven’t neglected population pressures! Check out our Fellow William Ryerson, whose work on population issues is unparalleled. William is founder of Population Media Center and has an excellent chapter in our new book, The Post Carbon Reader. Enjoy it FREE via our website.
Storm update. 11/24/10 09:00
Jerry Roberts
