Friday Open Thread

by In Wales Fri Sep 7th, 2012 at 11:02:57 AM EST

The sun always shines on Eurotrib

Friday Open Thread | 18 comments (18 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 1)

Ad astra per aspera

by In Wales (inwales aaat eurotrib.com) on Fri Sep 7th, 2012 at 11:03:23 AM EST

Sun's gonna shine in my back door some day (none / 0)

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Fri Sep 7th, 2012 at 12:30:54 PM EST

Re: Sun's gonna shine in my back door some day (none / 0)

I have the privilege of living across the street from a full gospel church, and can hear this genre of music any Sunday by just opening my window...

by asdf on Fri Sep 7th, 2012 at 01:25:41 PM EST
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Re: Sun's gonna shine in my back door some day (none / 1)

But not near the level of Queen Nina.

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin

by Crazy Horse on Fri Sep 7th, 2012 at 02:31:31 PM EST
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Re: Sun's gonna shine in my back door some day (none / 0)

Nina Simone has a gospel-capable voice, but she's singing the blues. And if what you can hear across the street is this good, you're really very fortunate! :)

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Sat Sep 8th, 2012 at 02:10:33 AM EST
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Re: Sun's gonna shine in my back door some day (none / 0)

I suppose it's "had", not "has".

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Sat Sep 8th, 2012 at 02:14:59 AM EST
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Re: Sun's gonna shine in my back door some day (none / 1)

Well, yeah, in this recording she is singing blues. But the whole soul/blues/gospel thing is sort of overlapping...

And yes, it is great having such music so close by. A couple of particularly enthusiastic weddings have spilled out into the street, which was entertaining.

Also, our street is on the route that the local high school band uses for marching practice. They aren't quite as good (!), but it is fun when they go by, too. That's just starting now as the school year gets going and football games take over the universe.

by asdf on Sat Sep 8th, 2012 at 07:28:10 PM EST
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Re: Sun's gonna shine in my back door some day (4.00 / 2)

asdf:

the whole soul/blues/gospel thing is sort of overlapping...

Sure. And there's a gospel input into that piece, just as there's a jazz input.

I envy you the gospel. Not so much the marching bands, though that can be fun.

This weekend in the afternoons I'm on duty on our locavore association's stand at the small local town's Autumn Fair. It's an unfocussed hodge-podge of livestock, farm produce, crafts, army (complete with armoured vehicles and heavy machine guns), gendarmerie and fire brigade recruitment, retailers of all kinds of crap (scary-looking candy for kids), big bar and food where most people are, a couple of marquees for local clubs and associations to present their activities, and a stage where shows are put on -- dance clubs, fashion parade... These are accompanied by a deafening sound system blaring out disco music (conversation impossible across maybe one-third of the fairground, and the club and association marquees are included...).

People just accept it. It seems to me that the big sounds that were exciting as they became possible in the '60s and '70s have finally served to dumb down the culture and sociability of "mainstream" people.

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Sun Sep 9th, 2012 at 03:58:54 AM EST
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Re: Sun's gonna shine in my back door some day (4.00 / 2)

Our local restaurants are owned by old guys, and even in the franchise operations like Starbucks and Jimmy John's (submarine sandwiches) and Home Depot, the owner gets to choose the background music. So there's a lot of "classical" pop music, and the Starbucks nearby plays a LOT of Bob Marley.

One of the few benefits of getting old is that the elevator music is familiar...

by asdf on Sun Sep 9th, 2012 at 10:38:47 AM EST
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Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0)

I went to one of my favourite beer festivals yesterday, at the Est Anglian Railway museum in Chappel.

Sadly, despite glorious weather, the beer quality was pretty iffy and I had an awful lot of poor quality beer, which is something of a rarity at fests these days.

I have been gentle with myself today

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Fri Sep 7th, 2012 at 01:07:20 PM EST

Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0)

Seems like the Democratic convention was successful and dKos seem very pleased with how it all went, especially in comparison with the car crash which preceded it in Tampa.

Nate Silver is making claims about a huge blowout win so I guess we can be confident that Obama will remain in the WH for another 4 years. Nevertheless it remains to be seen whether the dems will be able to retake the Senate or have a filibuster proof majority in either place.

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Fri Sep 7th, 2012 at 01:11:16 PM EST

Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0)

The filibuster is only allowed under the Senate rules. That's the gang where every single member thinks he runs the universe.

by asdf on Fri Sep 7th, 2012 at 01:21:47 PM EST
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Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0)

Seemingly it only applies to democrats, I never noticed 50 votes being a barrier to getting their stuff done in the way that 59 votes stopped dems dead in their tracks

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Fri Sep 7th, 2012 at 01:41:11 PM EST
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Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0)

The Bush tax cuts were passed under reconciliation, presumably to avoid a filibuster (not sure if an actual or threatened one). The Democrats do use it sometimes, but not as often as Republicans.

by gk (g k quattro due due sette "at" gmail.com) on Fri Sep 7th, 2012 at 04:07:10 PM EST
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Re: Friday Open Thread (4.00 / 4)

If the voter demographics in 2012 match those of 2008 Obama will win re-election, remain in control of the Senate, and regain control of the House. If voter demographics match 2010 we're looking at Romney being elected, and a GOP controlled Congress. Thus, each party's narrative and message strategies in their respective conventions.

From the polling numbers it's clear Romney and the GOP failed to convince. Their national numbers remained within the margin of error and Romney's chances of being elected, as computed by Nate Silver, drop from 30.6% to 23.7%. We won't know until next week the affect of the Democratic convention on the national numbers, but that's not the point. In general, for them, the battle is flipping Registered Voters into Likely Voters and that will be found in the state polls.

At the moment, Obama is predicted to win Ohio (72% chance) and without Ohio Romney has no likely scenario for election. Compounding Romney's situation is Obama's 63% chance to win Florida and 73% chance to win Virginia.

For the Senate, most reasonable scenarios for the GOP to take the open Senate seat here in New Mexico, they aren't. The base's insistence on demonizing Hispanics has backfired, shoving the seat into an "Almost Certain" Dem hold category. It's still possible for the GOP to win the Senate but the odds are shrinking.

The House is unknown. There are at least 27 House seats currently held by the GOP Obama won in 2008. That's enough to flip the House. Whether it will happen, or is even possible, are good questions. I don't know the answers. I doubt anyone else does, either. We'll have to wait until mid-October polling.

Ever since I learnt about confirmation bias I've started seeing it everywhere

by ATinNM on Fri Sep 7th, 2012 at 02:32:38 PM EST
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Re: Friday Open Thread (4.00 / 8)