Kenny makes some good points regarding rap 'music'. I can think of a mere handful of positive rap songs, for example some of Will Smiths body of work, or perhaps Imani Coppola, among others. The very best example of rap music I ever heard was 'Rapture' by Blondie, innovative and clever at the same time. As for the vast majority of rap, I think it proves that some cultures fail to socially evolve, and rather DE-volve. Rap music in general (with a pittance of exceptions) glorifies this devolution.
gaiagirl
JoinedPosts by gaiagirl
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48
Kenny Drew On Modern Black American Popular Music.
by hillary_step inkenny drew jnr.
is the son of the great jazz pianist, now deceased.
his own accomplishments are rich and varied, playing with some of the greatest names in modern jazz and also entering the world of the classical piano with the same success that he has met in the jazz world.. he published a stinging criticism of the 'rap' music idiom, taking bold side-swipes at the true culprits, the record companies on his web site.
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Native American Wisdom
by lovelylil ini wanted to share some pearls of wisdom from a book of native american proverbs.
btw: anyone here from a native american background?.
when we show our respect for other livings things, they respond with respect for us - arapaho proverb.
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gaiagirl
1854 C.E. Chief Seattle quoted as saying "...even the rocks, which seem to be dumb as they swelter in the sun along the silent shore, thrill with memories of stirring events connected with the lives of my people. This we know, Earth does not belong to Man; Man belongs to Earth. This we know, all things are connected like the blood that unites one family. All things are connected."
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They don't make things like they used to thread
by JH inok, you may rant about anything that you find doesn't have the quality it used to have.. i bought a new toaster last week.
my old one was 13 years old, and i just felt like i needed a new one.
so i bought the same make, and similar price that i paid some 13 years ago.
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gaiagirl
My toaster is an old used Sunbeam built in the '50s, and it is a tank. My blender is an old chrome Waring which would inflict serious injury if it ever were to be thrown at someone. I've got several Lava Lamps, and the older ones have a visibly superior flow, apparantly something different in the formula of the Lava in the ones made in Chicago, compared to the newer ones made in China. At any rate, it can pay to shop around at thrift stores and flea markets, as you can often find superior quality products for very much less than the cost of some new junk.
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Gone before his time -- Phil Hartman
by AlmostAtheist ini was youtube'ing the other day and ran across this memorial to phil hartman.
it is only his work on newsradio, but it captures the man nicely.
the song it's set to brought tears to my eyes: .
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gaiagirl
I loved his "Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer" character!
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Skepticism of others
by onlycurious ini invited 2 of my jw employees out to go out with a bunch of women....a night on the town.
yeah!.
anyway, all we are going to do is go to this pottery place where we can sit around and paint pottery together and then go out for a bite to eat.
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gaiagirl
Witnesses are strongly discouraged from "association" with non-believers unless absolutely necessary. One must often associate with others for their employment, but if an event is optional, and especially if it falls on a meeting night, a witness may feel that they would be choosing "worldly" association over association with their spiritual brothers and sisters. If one is recently baptized, they are likely to be even more zealous in this observance.
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Creator Book - Periodic Table - Part 1
by Amazing ini believe in god ... but not because of any watchtower teaching.
it is actually fun to look back and see how they applied very poor logic and nonsense to try and prove their point.
today, the (c) 1998 watchtower book, "is there a creator who cares about you" was placed with me at the door.
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gaiagirl
The periodic table is orderly to a great extent, however there are some interesting exceptions in the 'orderliness' of the periodic table, which reflect oddities in the manner that atoms assemble themselves. The identity of a particular element is determined by how many PROTONS live in the nucleus, as well as any neutrons it may have. If an atom has two protons, it is some form of Helium, even if it has the wrong number of neutrons or electrons. However to be electrically neutral it should have the same number of ELECTRONS orbiting the nucleus as there are PROTONS in the nucleus. Here is the interesting thing...electrons orbit in distinct paths called orbital shells. The first shell is filled with only two electrons, hence Helium cannot easily accept or donate electrons to bond with other atoms, so Helium is a 'noble' gas, it doesn't want to mix or blend with other elements. However, to form the next 'noble' element, one must add protons and neutrons (to form a heavier nucleus, which gives the atom its distinct atomic weight) and also add electrons to maintain electrical neutrality and fill the next orbital shell, which means that one must add 8 electrons, and not just 2. So with 10 protons (plus some neutrons), and 10 electrons for electrical stability, you get the next 'noble' gas, Neon. The rest of the orbital shells surrounding the first two are also filled with 8 electrons, so the table does proceed in a fairly orderly fashion from that point, so much that even before they were discovered in nature, elements were sometimes accurately 'predicted' by observant chemists, 'Hmmm, we have this element with X protons and X electrons, and we have this other element with Z protons and Z electrons, there SHOULD be something with Y protons and Y electrons.' And as it turns out, in more than one instance, there was. However, this doesn't prove 'intelligent design' of the periodic table. It is just a natural property of the way the parts of an atom fit together and the way that atoms bond with other atoms. In a similar manner, any aquarium you will ever see will always have the gravel or sand on the bottom, and the water above, because that is the way the dense gravel and less dense water mix.
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Ubunto/Linux os?
by Gadget indoes anyone here use the ubunto os?
i've been reading a bit about it, and have a spare hard drive i can install it on to experiment without risking my data so i fancy giving it a try.. the main things that concern me are ease of use/setup (once i get used to it), and compatability with other software i use.
for example, will the driver for my modem/printer/scanner/etc be compatable?.
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gaiagirl
I have experimented with various Linux OS, namely SuSE, Caldera, Mepis, and briefly, Ubuntu. I used Mepis for over a year, was happy for a while, but gave up when I installed a new Creative sound card which apparantly could not be configured. I spent a lot of time online at various Linux expert forums, NO one could offer concise instructions on how to configure the sound card and make it work. I suppose if your hardware is supported, it would be ok, since Ubuntu is a free distribution. I chose to go a better way, so after some research, wiped the drive and installed BeOS, available as a free download from BeBits. This worked great, so when the newer version, termed Zeta became available (from Purplus software), I purchased it, and have used it with great success for roughly three years. BeOS/Zeta is superior to Linux because they were written in a much cleaner manner. Most hardware is supported, especially with Zeta. Also, because code is written so cleanly, using BeOs/Zeta really does speed up your computer. Installing new hardware is no problem, if the driver is not already present, download the driver and unzip it to a folder where all your other drivers live. You usually don't even have to reboot the system (although you would for a video driver), just restart the service which that driver supports and it will work.
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Anyone Into Astronomy?
by lovelylil inmy kids are really interested in astronomy lately and it has never been my area of expertise.
they don't do much in school on it, just a few basics.
so i thought we could do more at home.
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gaiagirl
Surely they would enjoy the famous book "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan, with hundreds of beautiful color photos, and very well written text. If you have a used book store nearby, you can often find a hardbound volume for less than $10. There was a sequel called "Comet" also. The videos of the TV series are available as well on VHS or DVD.
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Who believes in reincarnation and enlightenment??
by Aphrodite inwhat are your beliefs based on and how has this been affected by your time as a witness?
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gaiagirl
I believe that every living thing has some measure of "soul", more or less depending on the complexity of the brain and nervous system, but of the same TYPE for all. This essence is also present elsewhere in the Universe, but the development of a brain/nervous system "captures" this essence in a single location, sort of like a radio which tunes to a station. The radio waves are present all around the radio, but the radio tunes to a frequency and locks onto a signal...So beings with well developed nervous systems are able to tune to the signal with greater fidelity, just as a nice stereo can reproduce a signal better than a simple "crystal" radio. When the body dies, nothing happens to the waves which the "body" was tuned to, they are still there, and can be tuned to and reproduced by another body at another time. Enlightenment is the opposite of ignorance, and can be viewed as another word for seeing the BIG picture. Many people have a sort of "tunnel vision" and can't see much except what is right in front of them (sometimes not even that much). Some people even appear to take pride in their lack of knowledge. I think a great many former JWs feel enlightened. Also, study from a broad range of subjects, or at least a broad range of perspectives can give a degree of enlightenment, instead of just one opinion which comes through just one source.
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Pentagram in the Kingdom Hall
by free2beme inwe had a co who thought it was funny to wear a sheriff badge like the one above.
did he realize it was modeled after this?.
pentagrams have long since been symbols of protection and that is why they evolved into sheriff badges.
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gaiagirl
If memory serves, Sandra Bullock had a conversation with a lawman regarding the meaning of his badge, in the movie "Practical Magic".