Tue, 27 Sep 2011
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida’s consumer confidence index rose this month to 64, up three points from a revised mark of 61 in August, which was only two points higher than the record low of 59 set in June 2008, according to a new University of Florida survey.
http://news.ufl.edu/2011/09/27/cc0911/
School Library Journal
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
By SLJ Staff
September 28, 2011
Today marks the first annual Banned Websites Awareness Day, which places a spotlight on the excessive filtering of legitimate educational and social networking sites used by students and educators in many K-12 schools.
The day is sponsored by the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) and is a part of Banned Books Week, from September 24- October 1. AASL has provided resources for media specialists and others concerned with how filtering has affected student learning and the ability of educators to effectively use the Internet as an instructional resource….
According to a recent study by the University of Southern California and the UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY, today’s learners use online media not just as social tools, but they also engage in peer-based, self-directed learning. Through digital media, students discover a degree of freedom and self-paced learning that they might not find in traditional classroom settings.
"School librarians understand that learning is enhanced by opportunities to share and learn with others. The use of social media in education, then, is an ideal way to engage students," adds [Carl Harvey, AASL's president]. "In order to make school more relevant to students and enhance their learning experiences, we need to incorporate those same social interactions that are successful outside of school into authentic assignments in the school setting."…
"Milestone recordings often seem at first to be modest propositions. That was the case with Sheila (1977; Steeplechase), Jordan’s enduring first duet album with bassist Arild Andersen. Synastry fits this profile…" – Point of Departure
Synastry is a partnership between the ground breaking vocalist Jen Shyu and master bassist Mark Dresser that demonstrates new possibilities for vocal and bass improvisation. They reveal a remarkable chemistry together, evoking a range of emotions from plaintively wistful to emotionally intense, with lyrical imagery that is fantastically surreal. A member since 2003 of influential saxophonist Steve Coleman’s band Five Elements, Shyu is well known for her tonally exacting and rhythmically incisive singing. On Synastry, accompanied only by Dresser’s acoustic bass, her voice is thrown into stark relief, giving full evidence to her complete control of microtonal shadings, her deep sense of rhythm, and highly developed ear for lyrical and melodic improvisation. In addition to English and Chinese, she sings in a wholly improvised vocalese that utilizes phonemes derived from her fluency of seven different languages learned through her research of indigenous music in Indonesia, East Timor, China, Taiwan, Brazil and Cuba. Dresser, who is well known for using extended technique to tap the full sonic potential of the acoustic bass, envelops Shyu’s voice in an aura of intimate mystery.
Jen Shyu is the first woman and first vocalist, and Mark Dresser the first bassist to record as a leader on Pi for good reason. They both bring cutting-edge technique along with a wealth of imagination and creativity along with an unwillingness to settle for easy moves. You can’t tell Shyu that she shouldn’t challenge herself to sing with the same attention to harmonic movement, rhythmic assurance and pitch precision as master instrumentalists any more than you can tell Dresser to just play walking bass lines. Together they demonstrate that jazz singing doesn’t have to be trapped in a world of musty clichés; that there exists an exciting new path to the future of this art form.
http://pirecordings.com/
Tracks
by R J Shulman
WASHINGTON – (PTSD News Service) Avoiding a last minute disaster of their own, Congress escaped being responsible for cutting off funding to cover disaster relief by agreeing to offset any spending for assisting communities such as Joplin, Missouri, by generating revenue from new targetd taxes.
"God has been punishing America with natural disasters because He is displeased by the homsexual lifestyle and by those that don’t beliee in him," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, "so it’s only common sense to tax gays and athiests for having to use taxpayer money to clean the messes they’ve caused."
"This compromise is good for the Democrats," said Gail Grovers, a White House spokesperson, "because this will be the first time we have been able to convince Republicans to agree to a tax increase instead of tax cuts to solve fiscal problems."
Senator Bernie Sanders, (I-VT) vigerously opposed the new tax. "If God wanted to punish gays and atheists wouldn’t they be targeted? Yet when was the last time lightening struck a hair dresser as he listened to a Cher CD while working on a fabulous new window dressing yet tornados routinely hit Christian churches and smash double-wides filled with bibles and statutes of Jesus."
Next on tap for Congress is a bi-partisan bill to tax scientists and environmentalists "to cover the funds expended to fight the fires caused by the inflamitory language of these groups whose phony science of global warming is clearly responsible for various states suddenly bursting into flames," said House Majority Whip Eric Cantor.
The Post-Times-Sun-Dispatch or PTSD is a newsource of serious political satire. Don’t let a day go by without PTSD.
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Paul Fell
Artizans Syndicate Sep 28, 2011 |
Jeff Danziger: koch brothers … (gocomics.com)
Tony Auth: the race to 2012 (news.yahoo.com)
"Put up with it and you will get more of it." – Lynne Deal
