M Is FOR MASHUP - August 5th, 2015
What Kinda Thing? Mashup Album
By DJ Useo
With invaluable input from a few choice DJ Useo fans I gathered together one discs worth of my more well received mashups into my new collection. Strangely titled "What Kinda Thing?" ( groovytimewithdjuseo.blogspot.com/2015/08/dj-useo-what-kinda-thing-variety.html ) , the contents include 18 swell mp3 tracks, with covers included, & extra text files chock full of pertinent information.
I hosted the files at a couple of the better sites for that kind of thing, & I chose one track to be the preview. "Don't You Want Mid Life Crisis?" ( Faith No More vs Human League vs HULK ) can be streamed, or downloaded, so feel free to see if this album might appeal to you by checking the preview here
( hearthis.at/vxmfxz7w/dont-you-want-mid-life-crisis-faith-no-more-vs-human-league-vs-hulk/ )
As many of you know, I normally post three tracks at a time, one mainstream-y, one kind'a alternative, & one completely left field mix. This new collection is composed of selections from the first two types. I'm leaving the weird tracks for my next "Frikkenfrack : Useos Strangest Boots" compilation, so you don't need to worry about finding stuff like that among these.
The full playlist can be found as a jpg here ( groovytimewithdjuseo.blogspot.com/2015/08/dj-useo-what-kinda-thing-variety.html ) , but I will mention three tracks just to wet your appetite. These three are sure-fire attention grabbers sure to please you.
01- "Vienna Sativa" ( Ultravox vs Wulf & Gutz )
( hearthis.at/vxmfxz7w/vienna-sativa-ultravox-vs-wulf-gutz/ )
02 - "Beautiful Bus Stop" ( The Hollies vs DJ Fex )
( hearthis.at/vxmfxz7w/beautiful-bus-stop-the-hollies-vs-dj-fex/ )
03 - "Rockin' Catawompus Girls" ( Sparks vs Bogtrotter )
( hearthis.at/vxmfxz7w/sparks-vs-bogtrotter/ )
Look for mirror links for the free album here
( groovytimewithdjuseo.blogspot.com/2015/08/dj-useo-what-kinda-thing-variety.htm )
You can find many more of my mashup albums here
( djuseomashupalbums.blogspot.com/ )
Altogether, I think you'll experience hours of fun listening to the combined rhythms, & melodies found on this free collection.
See for yourself, & drop me a note with your reaction to the tunes. I'll be happy to run them here. See you later.
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Barney Frank: Why Progressives Shouldn't Support Bernie (Politico)
[…] Republicans fear that if Hillary Clinton is nominated fairly easily, while they are locked in a bitter, lengthy, ideologically charged series of primaries with a large cast of characters of varying degrees of plausibility, she gets a head start for the real fight.
Paul Krugman: No Sanity Clause (NY Times Blog)
Just in case you had any illusions about the state of US governance, and the sanity of the party that now controls Congress, the estimable Stan Collender now tells us that there is a better-than-even chance of a government shutdown
Richard J. Light: How to Live Wisely (NY Times)
Imagine you are Dean for a Day. What is one actionable change you would implement to enhance the college experience on campus? I have asked students this question for years. The answers can be eye-opening. A few years ago, the responses began to move away from "tweak the history course" or "change the ways labs are structured." A different commentary, about learning to live wisely, has emerged.
JEFF GORDINIER: "My Dinner With Longevity Expert Dan Buettner (No Kale Required)" (NY Times)
Dan Buettner and I were off to a good start. He approved of coffee. "It's one of the biggest sources of antioxidants in the American diet," he said with chipper confidence, folding up his black Brompton bike.
Hadley Freeman: Why does fashion hate old people? (The Guardian)
Designers appear to favour ever skinnier, sexier and youthful women to model their clothes despite only a tiny percentage of women under 40 being able to afford them. But isn't this a reflection of society's worst fears?
Ursula K. Le Guin: How do you make something good? (Book View Café)
Well, you could start with butter and fresh farm eggs, it's hard to go wrong from there, unless you're a vegan. All right, I'll try to be serious - it's a serious question. But an awfully big one. I hope to get some smaller ones, such as, "Do I have to outline my plot first?" or "How often can I split an infinitive?"
Alison Flood: "Stephen Baxter interview: why science fiction is like therapy" (The Guardian)
The bestselling SF writer talks about the rush to finish the Long Earth series, being the order to Terry Pratchett's chaos and how maths helps him write.
David Bruce's Amazon Author Page
David Bruce's Smashwords Page
David Bruce's Blog
David Bruce's Lulu Storefront
David Bruce's Apple iBookstore
David Bruce has over 80 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
wrote:
took the day off.
, has returned to semi-retired status.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
from Marc Perkel
Patriot Act
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Hot and windy.
Federal Judge Strikes Down Law
Idaho
A federal judge on Monday struck down an Idaho law that banned documentation of animal abuse at livestock operations, ruling that it violated freedom of speech and other constitutionally guaranteed rights.
The measure, approved by the Republican-controlled state legislature and signed into law by Governor C.L. "Butch" Otter in 2014, was crafted in response to a video released by animal-rights activists showing workers at an Idaho dairy dragging a cow across the floor by a chain on its neck and repeatedly beating, kicking and otherwise abusing other cows.
But U.S. District Judge Lynn Winmill agreed with the American Civil Liberties Union of Idaho, the Animal Legal Defense Fund and other groups that sued to overturn the statute in finding that the so-called ag gag law violated protections of free speech under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
"The effect of the statute will be to suppress speech by undercover investigators and whistleblowers concerning topics of great public importance: the safety of the public food supply, the safety of agricultural workers, the treatment and health of farm animals, and the impact of business activities on the environment," Winmill wrote.
The judge rejected arguments by attorneys for the state and Otter suggesting the statute was designed to protect private property and the privacy of agricultural facility owners and not to suppress free speech critical of livestock operations.Winmill also found that the law violated the constitutional guarantee of equal protection since it was substantially motivated "by animus towards animal welfare groups," according to the decision.
Idaho
Michigan Bookstore Offers Refunds
'Go Set a Watchman'
A northern Michigan bookstore is offering refunds to buyers of Harper Lee's "Go Set a Watchman."
Peter Makin of Brilliant Books in Traverse City says some people feel misled about the marketing behind the book. It was written by Lee, the author of "To Kill a Mockingbird."
Makin tells the Detroit Free Press that some readers believed it was a new book by Lee, but "Watchman" was completed before "Mockingbird." Set years later, the book also offers a very different portrayal of "Mockingbird" hero Atticus Finch.
Makin says he's apologized to customers for "being complicit in the marketing." He says his store is based on "intellectual integrity."
'Go Set a Watchman'
Biased Against Women
Office Air Conditioning
Office building managers who set air conditioners to frigid temperatures are not only sending shivers up the spines of workers, they're also wasting money and energy, a new study finds.
Air-conditioning and heating standards in office environments were originally set based on the resting metabolic rates - a measure of how much energy a person uses at rest - for males, the researchers said. In fact, the standards were developed in the 1960s to accommodate the resting metabolic rate of a 40-year-old man who weighs 154 lbs. (70 kilograms), they said. As such, this tends to make temperatures uncomfortable for people with varying body types, particularly female workers.
By adjusting thermostats, building managers can help make employees more comfortable at work while simultaneously saving money from lower heating and cooling costs, said the study's lead researcher, Boris Kingma, a biophysicist at Maastricht University in the Netherlands.
The women's metabolic rates were significantly lower than the standard values based on the 40-year-old man, the researchers found. One reason is that women are generally smaller than men and have a higher percentage of fat cells than their male counterparts, Kingma said. Fat cells produce less heat than muscle cells, which partially explains why women tend to have lower metabolic rates compared with men, he said.
What's more, office workers tend to make more mistakes when they're stationed in chilly office environments than they do in warm ones, a 2004 Cornell University study found. The month-long study showed that when ambient office temperature increased from 68 degrees to 77 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees to 43 degrees Celsius), typing errors fell by 44 percent and typing productivity increased by 150 percent.
Office Air Conditioning
Photos Published
Magic Rock
The Mormon church took another step toward transparency Tuesday with the first published pictures of a small sacred stone it believes founder Joseph Smith used to help translate a story that became the basis of the religion.
The new photos peel back another layer of secrecy for a relatively young world religion that has come under scrutiny for some of its beliefs as its numbers swelled in the Internet age.
The pictures of the smooth, egg-sized rock are part of a new book that also contains photos of the first printer's manuscript of the Book of Mormon. Officials with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints unveiled the photos at a news conference in Salt Lake City.
The pictures in the new book show different angles of a stone that is dark brown with lighter brown swirls. The photos also show a weathered leather pouch where the stone was stored that is believed to be made by one of Joseph Smith's wives, Emma Smith.
The church has always possessed the stone, which was transported across the country during Mormon pioneers' trek from Illinois to Utah in the mid-1800s. But it decided to publish the photos to allow people who prefer visuals to words to better understand the religion's roots, said Richard Turley, assistant church historian. The stone will remain in the vault.
Magic Rock
Voting Rights Restored
California
California restored voting rights Tuesday to tens of thousands of criminals serving sentences under community supervision, reversing a decision by a state official that they could not participate in elections.
Secretary of State Alex Padilla announced the settlement between the state and the American Civil Liberties Union of California, which sued on behalf of nearly 60,000 convicts who became ineligible to vote when then Secretary of State Debra Bowen determined in 2014 that community supervision was equivalent to parole.
Her decision stemmed from a 2011 realignment of the state's criminal justice law that aims to reduce overcrowding in state prisons by sending people convicted of less serious crimes to county jails or alternative treatment programs.
A judge later overturned Bowen's policy, stating that community supervision and parole are different.
Bowen's office appealed the decision, but Padilla, a fellow Democrat, decided to let the court ruling stand.
California
Blooming In Water From California To Alaska
Toxic Algae
A vast bloom of toxic algae off the West Coast is denser, more widespread and deeper than scientists feared even weeks ago, according to surveyors aboard a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration research vessel.
This coastal ribbon of microscopic algae, up to 40 miles wide and 650 feet deep in places, is flourishing amid unusually warm Pacific Ocean temperatures. It now stretches from at least California to Alaska and has shut down lucrative fisheries. Shellfish managers on Tuesday doubled the area off Washington's coast that is closed to Dungeness crab fishing, after finding elevated levels of marine toxins in tested crab meat.
So-called "red tides" are cyclical and have happened many times before, but ocean researchers say this one is much larger and persisting much longer, with higher levels of neurotoxins bringing severe consequences for the Pacific seafood industry, coastal tourism and marine ecosystems.
Dan Ayres, coastal shellfish manager for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, said the area now closed to crab fishing includes more than half the state's 157-mile-long coast, and likely will bring a premature end to this year's coastal crab season.
Toxic Algae
1%ers Cap Weekend With Pledges
Koch Suckers
One by one, the wealthy conservative donors stood up Monday and pledged millions of dollars to the favorite causes of billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch.
For more than two hours over lunch, hundreds of donors gathered at a luxury resort overlooking the Pacific Ocean told each other how much they will give to the various groups backed by the Koch brothers' Freedom Partners - a network of education, policy and political entities that aim to promote a smaller, less intrusive government.
That network in January set an eye-popping goal of raising $889 million over two years, with the two entities most directly involved in the 2016 elections, Americans for Prosperity and a super PAC, planning to spend $325 million through Election Day.
After Monday's lunch, the Koch groups are on track to meet that goal, said James Davis, a spokesman for Freedom Partners.
The three-day Koch meeting that wrapped up Monday with the pledge lunch was the biggest yet of the brothers' twice-annual gatherings, drawing donors - one-third first-time attendees - who must promise to give at least $100,000 a year to Koch-approved groups to score an invitation.
Koch Suckers
Spotted In California
Gray Wolf
California wildlife officials believe that a gray wolf has found its way across the border into the state from Oregon, becoming only the second gray wolf to have ventured into California since the 1920s.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), in a document released late on Monday titled "Evidence of a Wolf in Siskiyou County," said it began investigating after Californians reported seeing a wolf-like creature earlier this year.
The department said it deployed a number of cameras along trails in remote areas of Siskiyou County, in northernmost California along the Oregon border, and captured images of the animal.
Biologists also studied fresh tracks in the area and took DNA samples from scat, although the results of that testing were inconclusive due to the poor quality of the genetic material recovered.
"Based on the photographic images and tracks, CDFW biologists believe that this lone animal is a gray wolf," the department said. "The animal's tracks are significantly larger than those of a coyote, and a comparison of the images with photos of an adult coyote captured at the same site indicate the animal is significantly larger than a coyote."
Gray Wolf
Prime-Time Nielsens
Ratings
Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen for July 27-Aug. 2. Listings include the week's ranking and viewership.
1. "America's Got Talent," NBC, 10.33 million.
2. "60 Minutes," CBS, 8.46 million.
3. "The Bachelorette," ABC, 8.13 million.
4. "NCIS," CBS, 8.01 million.
5. "The Bachelorette: After the Rose," ABC, 7.94 million.
6. "Best of America's Got Talent," NBC, 7.85 million.
7. "The Big Bang Theory," CBS, 7.16 million.
8. "Zoo," CBS, 7.09 million.
9. Movie: "Descendants," Disney, 6.55 million.
10. "Big Brother" (Thursday), CBS, 6.38 million.
11. "Big Brother" (Sunday), CBS, 6.26 million.
12. "American Ninja Warrior," NBC, 6.18 million.
13. "Last Comic Standing," NBC, 5.8 million.
14. "Big Brother" (Wednesday), CBS, 5.74 million.
15. "Dateline NBC Mystery," NBC, 5.65 million.
16. "NCIS: New Orleans," CBS, 5.61 million.
17. "NCIS: Los Angeles," CBS, 5.52 million.
18. "Blue Bloods," CBS, 5.51 million.
19. "Mom," CBS, 5.35 million.
20. "Dateline NBC" (Friday), NBC, 5.09 million.
Ratings
In Memory
Billy Sherrill
Country record producer and songwriter Billy Sherrill, who helped create the smooth "countrypolitan" sound of the 1960s and '70s, has died. He was 78.
Sherrill's production style incorporated over-dubbing, strings and background vocals into country music to encourage crossover success for artists like Tammy Wynette, George Jones and Charlie Rich. He produced hits like, "Stand By Your Man," which he co-wrote with Wynette, "The Most Beautiful Girl," ''Behind Closed Doors," and "He Stopped Loving Her Today."
He worked at Sun Records in Nashville, and then joined the CBS record label in 1964. He won a Grammy Award for co-writing "Almost Persuaded," in 1966. He also worked with Barbara Mandrell, Ronnie Milsap, Johnny Paycheck and Elvis Costello.
Billy Sherrill
| CURRENT MOON lunar phases |
