The Democratic Presidential candidates had their 1st debate on Apr-26 in Orangeburg, SC.
Props to Belize to alerting me to this fact that there was a debate. I don't know much about these candidates so I'll watch this debate. I like what I've read about Richardson's extensive work experience, but I don't know much about him or any of these folks.
All 8 candidates participated:
Joe Biden (Senator-DE)
Hillary Rodham Clinton (Sen-NY)
Christopher Dodd (Sen-CT)
John Edwards (former Sen-NC)
Mike Gravel (former Sen-AK)
Dennis Kucinich (US House of Representatives-OH 10th District, which is northern OH near Cleveland)
Barack Obama (Sen-IL)
Bill Richardson (Governor-NM)
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Playlist - GOAT25 Rap Album
Notice I made a new playlist on my blogspot here in the upper left corner of the page: "Playlist - GOAT25 Rap Album".
I picked my favorite song from each of the 25 albums on my GOAT rap album list.
If you slept on any album from my list, I encourage you to at least STREAM 1 SONG from the album on my playlist to "get a taste" of that album. These albums either have excellent beats, excellent MCs, or both!
RANK GOAT ALBUM FAVORITE SONG
1 A Tribe Called Quest 1993 Midnight Marauders "Lyrics To Go"
2 Nas 1994 Illmatic "The World Is Yours"
3 The Roots 1996 Illadelph Halflife "Ital (The Universal Side)"
4 Talib Kweli 2002 Quality "Get By"
5 Reflection Eternal (Talib Kweli & Hi-Tek) 2000 Train Of Thought "This Means You"
6 Lords Of The Underground 1993 Here Come The Lords "Funky Child"
7 Common 1994 Resurrection "I Used To Love Her"
8 De La Soul 2000 Art Official Intelligence Mosaic Thump "Copa (Cabanga)"
9 Kanye West 2004 The College Dropout "Two Words"
10 Jay-Z 2001 The Blueprint "The Ruler's Back"
11 Wu-Tang Clan 1993 Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) "Cream"
12 Busta Rhymes 1996 The Coming "Woo Ha!! Got You All In Check"
13 Fort Minor 2005 The Rising Tied "Believe Me"
14 Foreign Exchange 2004 Connected "All That You Are"
15 Wyclef Jean 1997 The Carnival "Anything Can Happen"
16 Big Punisher 1998 Capital Punishment "Still Not A Player"
17 Tego Calderon 2003 El Abayarde "Loiza"
18 The Fugees 1996 The Score "Ready Or Not"
19 The Notorious BIG 1994 Ready To Die "Unbelievable"
20 Mos Def 1999 Black On Both Sides "Do It Now"
21 Chino XL 1996 Here To Save You All "No Complex"
22 Young MC 1989 Stone Cold Rhymin "I Come Off"
23 Eric B & Rakim 1987 Paid In Full "I Ain't No Joke"
24 Delinquent Habits 1998 Here Come The Horns "Life I Live"
25 Ice Cube 1991 Death Certificate "Steady Mobbin"
I picked my favorite song from each of the 25 albums on my GOAT rap album list.
If you slept on any album from my list, I encourage you to at least STREAM 1 SONG from the album on my playlist to "get a taste" of that album. These albums either have excellent beats, excellent MCs, or both!
RANK GOAT ALBUM FAVORITE SONG
1 A Tribe Called Quest 1993 Midnight Marauders "Lyrics To Go"
2 Nas 1994 Illmatic "The World Is Yours"
3 The Roots 1996 Illadelph Halflife "Ital (The Universal Side)"
4 Talib Kweli 2002 Quality "Get By"
5 Reflection Eternal (Talib Kweli & Hi-Tek) 2000 Train Of Thought "This Means You"
6 Lords Of The Underground 1993 Here Come The Lords "Funky Child"
7 Common 1994 Resurrection "I Used To Love Her"
8 De La Soul 2000 Art Official Intelligence Mosaic Thump "Copa (Cabanga)"
9 Kanye West 2004 The College Dropout "Two Words"
10 Jay-Z 2001 The Blueprint "The Ruler's Back"
11 Wu-Tang Clan 1993 Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) "Cream"
12 Busta Rhymes 1996 The Coming "Woo Ha!! Got You All In Check"
13 Fort Minor 2005 The Rising Tied "Believe Me"
14 Foreign Exchange 2004 Connected "All That You Are"
15 Wyclef Jean 1997 The Carnival "Anything Can Happen"
16 Big Punisher 1998 Capital Punishment "Still Not A Player"
17 Tego Calderon 2003 El Abayarde "Loiza"
18 The Fugees 1996 The Score "Ready Or Not"
19 The Notorious BIG 1994 Ready To Die "Unbelievable"
20 Mos Def 1999 Black On Both Sides "Do It Now"
21 Chino XL 1996 Here To Save You All "No Complex"
22 Young MC 1989 Stone Cold Rhymin "I Come Off"
23 Eric B & Rakim 1987 Paid In Full "I Ain't No Joke"
24 Delinquent Habits 1998 Here Come The Horns "Life I Live"
25 Ice Cube 1991 Death Certificate "Steady Mobbin"
My GOAT Rap album list - Update Apr-28
Apr-28: I updated the list. The same 25 are there, but the ranking has changed up for the #13-25 albums somewhat
---------
Apr-24
The Straight Bangin blog is doing a "vote" for the Top 25 GOAT rap album list
I put in my own vote naturally using the RYM list functionality. I have a visual display of my list in the jpg photo above, please excuse my newbie jpg manipulation skills (lack thereof).
My criteria:
1 only 1 album per artist
2 primary emphasis on beats, although vocals (rap skill level) & subject matter also a factor
3 judge album by personal replay value to me, not significance in the development of the rap genre's history. Hence some "consensus picks" are missing. Let me preempt "hate mail": you might say I'm an Okayplayer & Latino rapper stan. Although the 90s was the best decade, I actually prefer the maligned 00s to the "golden era" 80s. Foreign Exchange is from North Carolina (& the Netherlands), so don't rant that I'm "hating on the South".
I have Tribe's "Midnight Marauders" coming in as the GOAT. I encouraged you to give that album a listen, to experience its excellence in beats & rhymes, whether it's your 1st or 1o1st time.
Give your own list, or comment on my list, in the comments.
Brooklyn Radio annual rap mixtapes 1979-1990
Brooklyn Radio has made a series of annual rap mixtape/podcast, one for each year from 1979-1990.
Damn if my mp3 backlog wasn't already near infinite, I'd have to download one of these!
Damn if my mp3 backlog wasn't already near infinite, I'd have to download one of these!
Iranian Jews
Interesting article about the Iranian Jews.
Once again, reality happens to be more complex than the 2nd grade, good-vs-evil construct used by Gee Dubbz & the MSM. Israel & Iran are both not completely perfect or completely evil. Shocking.
I suppose you won't see this story in the MSM, who falsely label not agreeing with extremist right-wing Israeli groups 100% of the time as "anti-semitism". I suppose these dudes would label most of their fellow Jews in Israel & wherever else, as "anti-semites", or the term they might use for these folks is "self-hating Jews".
Once again, reality happens to be more complex than the 2nd grade, good-vs-evil construct used by Gee Dubbz & the MSM. Israel & Iran are both not completely perfect or completely evil. Shocking.
I suppose you won't see this story in the MSM, who falsely label not agreeing with extremist right-wing Israeli groups 100% of the time as "anti-semitism". I suppose these dudes would label most of their fellow Jews in Israel & wherever else, as "anti-semites", or the term they might use for these folks is "self-hating Jews".
Friday, April 27, 2007
FileDen
Props to the site FileDen, which lets you have 500 MB of free diskspace, and 5GB of monthly bandwidth if your files are being accessed via the internet.
I've been using it for my blogspot playlist here, but hey you could use 500MB for anything.
If all the PCs you're gonna access have hi-speed internets, then you can use FileDen as a virtual USB-type drive.
I've been using it for my blogspot playlist here, but hey you could use 500MB for anything.
If all the PCs you're gonna access have hi-speed internets, then you can use FileDen as a virtual USB-type drive.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Fascist America, in 10 easy steps
Article by UK Guardian Fascist America, in 10 easy steps. Gee Dubbz is a wannabe fascist dictator.
Gee Dubbz dancing
Gee Dubbz dancing
Quite lame, but to be fair, W does outdances MC Rove.
I hope a youtube jockey on the internets makes a parody of this with the audio of Naughty By Nature's "Hip Hop Hooray", as W's hand-gestures are vaguely like that video.
Quite lame, but to be fair, W does outdances MC Rove.
I hope a youtube jockey on the internets makes a parody of this with the audio of Naughty By Nature's "Hip Hop Hooray", as W's hand-gestures are vaguely like that video.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
USA economic ELE - interview with Gov Acct David M. Walker
The US Comptroller General David M. Walker of the GAO is interviewed by the BBC. Note - Walker is a "career" government official that's been at the GAO since 1998, he's not a Gee Dubbz hack like Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez. In other words (no Gee Dubbz), Walker is actually worth listening to.
The US Government national debt (aka public debt) is at $8.8 Trillion. Using a ballpark figure of the US population of 300 Million, this means each of us Americans has a $29K per capita debt!
But the current national debt is not the economic ELE.
The economic ELE is that the Baby Boomer retirement, will increase government spending due to all of the boomers' Social Security & Medicaid costs. Note that there are relatively more Baby Boomers (40s - 60s "babies") than Generation X & Y (70s - 00s "babies"), so the ratio of current workers to retired workers will decrease dramatically.
Walker says these 3 things will inevitably happen to address this fiscal crisis.
1 cut retirement-related benefits - SSN, Medicaid, etc
2 cut other government spending
3 raise revenue/taxes
Walker didn't even mention other factors that I feel are quite possible
4 reduction in salary growth (or even salary reduction) in many American occupations due to offshore outsourcing to Asia
5 raising energy costs to 2X+ current level due to somewhat of a "peak oil" type situation
Even worse, this doesn't factor in an actual ELE which hopefully won't but might occur, such as
6 global economic depression
7 severe "crash" (say 30%+) in stock market or house market
8 public health crisis like avian flu
9 WMD-type terrorist attack which forces a quarantine of a major city for a decade or more
Bottom line is make sure you & your family save a lot of money, as you can't really rely on the US government or economy, word to Hurricane Katrina.
Damn I never thought Prince's 1999 song would be used in retrospect, but damn it's true. 1999 USA was awesome, I would "party like it's 1999" if the USA economic & geopolitical situation could return to that relative golden era!
The US Government national debt (aka public debt) is at $8.8 Trillion. Using a ballpark figure of the US population of 300 Million, this means each of us Americans has a $29K per capita debt!
But the current national debt is not the economic ELE.
The economic ELE is that the Baby Boomer retirement, will increase government spending due to all of the boomers' Social Security & Medicaid costs. Note that there are relatively more Baby Boomers (40s - 60s "babies") than Generation X & Y (70s - 00s "babies"), so the ratio of current workers to retired workers will decrease dramatically.
Walker says these 3 things will inevitably happen to address this fiscal crisis.
1 cut retirement-related benefits - SSN, Medicaid, etc
2 cut other government spending
3 raise revenue/taxes
Walker didn't even mention other factors that I feel are quite possible
4 reduction in salary growth (or even salary reduction) in many American occupations due to offshore outsourcing to Asia
5 raising energy costs to 2X+ current level due to somewhat of a "peak oil" type situation
Even worse, this doesn't factor in an actual ELE which hopefully won't but might occur, such as
6 global economic depression
7 severe "crash" (say 30%+) in stock market or house market
8 public health crisis like avian flu
9 WMD-type terrorist attack which forces a quarantine of a major city for a decade or more
Bottom line is make sure you & your family save a lot of money, as you can't really rely on the US government or economy, word to Hurricane Katrina.
Damn I never thought Prince's 1999 song would be used in retrospect, but damn it's true. 1999 USA was awesome, I would "party like it's 1999" if the USA economic & geopolitical situation could return to that relative golden era!
Daily Show: Bush 2003 v Bush 2007 debate
Bush 2003 ethers Bush 2007 in a "debate" on the Daily Show, about the use of "timetables" for the Iraq War policy.
CREAM - money rules the 2008 Pres Election
Check this site Open Secrets which lists the amount of money raised by Pres candidates.
Check my table of the money raised by the Dem & Repub polling vote from the USA Today Gallup poll from 2007-Apr-13
CANDIDATE VOTE (PCT) MONEY RAISED (IN MILLIONS $USD)
DEMOCRATIC PARTY
Clinton 31% $36.0
Obama 26 25.7
Edwards 16 14.0
Richardson 3 6.2
Biden 1 4.0
Dodd 1 8.7
REPUBLICAN PARTY
Giuliani 35 16.6
McCain 22 13.0
Romney 9 23.4
NOTE - I excluded the candidates that could NOT RAISE 10% THE AMOUNT OF THEIR PARTY'S LEADER.
This approach only leaves 6 Dems & 3 Repubs. 7th place Dem Kucinich has about $0.3M, far less that 10% of Clinton's $36.0M. 4th place Repub Brownback has $1.8M, less than 10% of Romney's $23.4M.
Unfortunately, it looks like the ability to raise money is going to Schiavo off most of the field way before the first primary in 2008Q1. I wish the ideas, policy, and work experience of the candidates could actually be more relevant.
Hopefully Richardson will
"figure out he's going the wrong route" & "get with a sick-ass click" of fundraisers & "go all out" (c) Raekwon.
Otherwise he'll "neglect it for now, but yo, it's got to be expected. That what? That life is hectic" (c) GZA.
CREAM (c) Method Man
Check my table of the money raised by the Dem & Repub polling vote from the USA Today Gallup poll from 2007-Apr-13
CANDIDATE VOTE (PCT) MONEY RAISED (IN MILLIONS $USD)
DEMOCRATIC PARTY
Clinton 31% $36.0
Obama 26 25.7
Edwards 16 14.0
Richardson 3 6.2
Biden 1 4.0
Dodd 1 8.7
REPUBLICAN PARTY
Giuliani 35 16.6
McCain 22 13.0
Romney 9 23.4
NOTE - I excluded the candidates that could NOT RAISE 10% THE AMOUNT OF THEIR PARTY'S LEADER.
This approach only leaves 6 Dems & 3 Repubs. 7th place Dem Kucinich has about $0.3M, far less that 10% of Clinton's $36.0M. 4th place Repub Brownback has $1.8M, less than 10% of Romney's $23.4M.
Unfortunately, it looks like the ability to raise money is going to Schiavo off most of the field way before the first primary in 2008Q1. I wish the ideas, policy, and work experience of the candidates could actually be more relevant.
Hopefully Richardson will
"figure out he's going the wrong route" & "get with a sick-ass click" of fundraisers & "go all out" (c) Raekwon.
Otherwise he'll "neglect it for now, but yo, it's got to be expected. That what? That life is hectic" (c) GZA.
CREAM (c) Method Man
planet discovered potentially habitable 21 lights yrs away
planet discovered potentially habitable 21 lights yrs away
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Questlove (The Roots) gets hassled by airport security/DEA
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Roland Garros historical analysis: can only young players win RG?
I want to see Fed win the calendar-yr Grand Slam once.
I'd like to see it to see ANYONE do it once in my life, & I think it would be good for the interest in tennis (although dumb SI would probably still give "Sportsman of the Year" to the NFL's 4th best QB). Also, as another commenter mentioned here on TW, it would be great if someone could do it on 4 different surfaces, before the AO switches from rebound-ace to hard court soon (in 2008 or 2009?)
I have heard that the Roland Garros champions tend to be under 25. I'm concerned that Fed may only have a few more chances to realistically win RG, especially since his nemesis Nadal might be the GOAT clay player, and could actually IMPROVE ON CLAY over the next few years.
I did a quick analysis (thanks to Excel & Wikipedia) on the RG champions & finalists since 1990. Note that I calculated the end-of-year (as of Dec-31) age of the player. For instance for 2007, Federer is 26 (YOB=1981) & Nadal 21 (1986).
It turns out that this rule of thumb is basically true. Only 4 of the 17 (24%) RG winners since 1990 have been 27 or older, with 30-yr old Gomez being the oldest.
The average age is 23.8 & the median is 23.
My conclusion is that Fed needs to win RG soon, say this year or in 2008, if he is to ever do it. Also note if he doesn't, he'll be in the same boat as Sampras, with many claiming one can't possibly be the GOAT without winning RG.
DATA
RG CHAMPIONS & FINALS SINCE 1990
Yr Champion Finalist Age_C Age_F
1990 Gomez A Agassi A 30 20
1991 Courier J Agassi A 21 21
1992 Courier J Korda P 22 24
1993 Bruguera S Courier J 22 23
1994 Bruguera S Berasategui A 23 21
1995 Muster T Chang M 28 23
1996 Kafelnikov Y Stich M 22 28
1997 Kuerten G Bruguera S 21 26
1998 Moya C Corretja A 22 24
1999 Agassi A Medvedev A 29 25
2000 Kuerten G Norman M 24 24
2001 Kuerten G Corretja A 25 27
2002 Costa A Ferrero J 27 22
2003 Ferrero J Verkerk M 23 25
2004 Gaudio G Coria G 26 22
2005 Nadal R Puerta M 19 27
2006 Nadal R Federer R 20 25
PLAYER LIST
Player YOB
Agassi A 1970
Berasategui A 1973
Bruguera S 1971
Chang M 1972
Coria G 1982
Corretja A 1974
Costa A 1975
Courier J 1970
Federer R 1981
Ferrero J 1980
Gaudio G 1978
Gomez A 1960
Kafelnikov Y 1974
Korda P 1968
Kuerten G 1976
Medvedev A 1974
Moya C 1976
Muster T 1967
Nadal R 1986
Norman M 1976
Puerta M 1978
Stich M 1968
Verkerk M 1978
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)