November 20th, 2009, 10:19 am by Dan Lehr
On Nov. 20th, 1969, James Brown recorded a song with a break that seeped deep into a myriad of musical cultures.
I know about this anniversary because as far as I can tell it’s the song I can pinpoint the closest to my own birthday, three days earlier.
The clip above is the entire 9-minute recording. I strongly recommend you hear the whole thing. I love that apparently James didn’t even have a title for the song until near the end. (”the name of this tune is the Funky Drummer. The Funky Drummer. The Funky Drummer.”)
Though the famous beat - I’m positive you’ve heard it even if you haven’t heard this song before - appeared far and wide beginning in the 1980s and early 1990s, there is a bit of tragedy associated with it - that being that while Brown made millions from the artists who sampled the beat (which appears at 5:22 in the above clip), the drummer who’s responsible for it, Clyde Stubblefield, never saw a dime.
And guess what I just learned when researching Stubblefield? Get ready to get your mind blown, after the jump:
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Posted in: Music • Anniversaries • Soul Music | Post a Comment »
November 19th, 2009, 11:14 am by Dan Lehr
Joe Flower at the Health Care Blog has an innovative idea for reforming the healthcare industry: treat & trade patients the way major league owners do baseball players:
“What if your long-term health profile were a corporate asset of your health plan? What if, when you changed health plans, the new health plan had to pay the old health plan for the rights to insure you? Call this a health plan member’s Net Asset Value. If you don’t smoke; have a body mass index of 26 or below; and your cholesterol, blood pressure and resting heart rate indicate basic cardiovascular fitness and so forth, the new plan has to pay a high price for those rights, because you’re a valuable customer: You will pay your premiums, and have a lower risk of making expensive claims. If, on the other hand, you have diabetes, are obese, or smoke (or all three), you have a low Net Asset Value, or none. The new health plan has to take on the risk of your medical expenses (in an environment where they can’t exclude you for your pre-existing conditions), but at least it does not have to pay anything to get you as a customer.
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Posted in: Ideas and Opinions • Healthcare | 1 Comment »
November 18th, 2009, 2:01 pm by Dan Lehr
Talk about a trailblazing painting.
I’m not the first to recognize the tie between the first word in this painting’s title and a current social media site that’s all the rage:
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Posted in: Communication • Images • 20th Century Art • Painting | 3 Comments »
November 18th, 2009, 1:39 pm by Dan Lehr
There appears to be a difference of opinion over exactly which slice of the right wing is essential to regaining victory in ‘10 and ‘12.
Rich Lowry:
“..why should Palin change? She represents less a philosophical strain on the right than an affect and a demographic. What makes her otherwise orthodox conservatism different is the plain-spoken, combative way she expresses it and the constituency she attracts. Her supporters identify with her populist, unaffected vibe and tend to be disaffected with politics as usual — they’re Palin Perotistas. A drastic image makeover would only drive them away.
Republicans need these voters more than ever given the roiling grassroots revolt against Obama’s governance. Without them, they can’t get a majority; they’d be doomed if they were ever to slide into a splinter party. If Palin is their voice and channels their energy productively, she’s part of the Republican answer to Obama, no matter what presidential politics ultimately holds for her. There’s an upside to rogue.”
But Newsweek’s Evan Thomas counters:
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Posted in: Politics • Dwight Eisenhower • Republicans • Ronald Reagan • Sarah Palin • Strategy • The Conservative Identity Crisis | 4 Comments »
November 18th, 2009, 10:23 am by Dan Lehr
So where the heck have I been for the past two weeks?
I suppose an explanation’s in order.
As you may know, my primary job here at NewsChannel 9 is writing and producing newscasts. For most of the past couple of years, my duties have solely been for the 5pm newscast. But with the departure of NewsChannel 9’s Kim Fields, I’ve been saddled with double the duty. In addition to anchoring, Kim also produced the 5:30 (I “boothed” both newscasts). But for the past couple of months I’ve had to produce both the 5 and the 5:30 newscasts. Latricia Thomas, the current producer/anchor for the WDSI Fox 61 News at Ten newscast (WDSI has long had a contract to use our facilities for that), will assume Kim’s 5:30 producing/anchoring duties soon. But we are waiting to hire the right person to fill her position. So here we are.
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Posted in: Biography • Autobi-blog-graphy | Post a Comment »
November 3rd, 2009, 12:30 pm by Dan Lehr
Local blogger Christian Hoeferle was barely two decades old when one of the most significant events of his home country, Germany, happened.
In a must-read post at Chattarati, Hoeferle recalls the mood at the time:
“Amid this emerging uproar, the GDR celebrated its 40th anniversay in October 1989. During his visit to the festivities in East Berlin, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev publicly said: “Trudnosti podsteregajut tech, kto ne reagirujet na shisn,” or, “Difficulties lurk for those who do not react to life.” This quote was later transcribed to mean: “Those who are late will be punished by life itself”.
It was the signal many had been waiting for: the Soviet Union would not stand in the way of the liberation movements in Eastern Europe. And it was Gorbachev’s answer to Ronald Reagan’s famous appeal in June 1987: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”
It was then that we realized: This is serious. However, we still didn’t expect change to happen so quickly. Just a few weeks later, on November 9th, 1989, GDR leaders formally opened the borders. For the first time, East Germans were free to travel to the West. My family sat at home in front of the TV, watching in awe as people lined up in droves at the checkpoints. By the thousands, they crossed the inner-German border to get their first taste of the West.
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Posted in: History • People • Places • Local Bloggers | Post a Comment »
November 3rd, 2009, 11:30 am by Dan Lehr
Former Reagan economist Bruce Bartlett notes some similiarities between the Great Depression and this, the “Great Recession:”
“Unfortunately, the current crisis is caused by the same deflationary forces that caused the Great Depression. Monetarists dismiss this argument on the grounds that the money supply has not only not fallen, but in fact has risen sharply. At the end of September, the money supply (M2) was up by $523 billion over a year earlier–a substantial increase. For this reason, they dismiss the idea that government stimulus was necessary to get the economy moving again. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in: Finance • Government • Happening • History • the Recession | Post a Comment »
November 3rd, 2009, 10:15 am by Dan Lehr
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Daniel Larison reads the tea-leaves:
“Something I don’t understand about the national GOP’s elevation of the NY-23 race to such a high profile is why they think nationalizing House races favors them. Nationally, the GOP remains toxic and its party ID continues to be very low. Nationalizing the race gains the GOP nothing in a traditionally supportive district, but it potentially saddles their preferred candidate with all of their baggage from the past several years. It is also mimicking the absolutely failed Republican tactics of almost every special election of the last three years. With depressing regularity, GOP attack ads have warned voters against such-and-such a candidate siding with Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, when most people outside of Washington don’t know and couldn’t care who these people are. The leading role Palin has had in backing Hoffman, which has also triggered something of a stampede of other national Republicans to try to match her bid for conservative activist support, has to be something of a dream come true for Chris Van Hollen and the DCCC considering her genuinely poor ratings with non-Republicans.
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Posted in: Happening • Politics • Democrats • Republicans • The Conservative Identity Crisis | Post a Comment »
October 28th, 2009, 1:16 pm by Dan Lehr
Above: Newt Gingrich points out that national politicians on the right who’re trying to influence a local election aren’t necessarily doing something that can be defined as “conservative.”
Posted in: Politics • Machiavellian Move of the Week • The Conservative Identity Crisis | Post a Comment »
October 27th, 2009, 9:32 am by Dan Lehr
I’m a fan. And you should be, too.
And Anonymous Liberal spells out exactly why allowing states on the surface to refuse a government-funded public option makes strategic sense:
“..assuming it’s a true opt-out provision, the national plan will initially be available in every state. Undoubtedly there will be calls from conservatives (particularly Republican politicians who are considering presidential runs in 2012) for states to opt-out of the public plan. Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty has already stated that he will lead such a campaign in Minnesota. As we saw with the stimulus bill, however, there is often a stark difference in both priorities and opinions between state-level Republicans and Republicans with aspirations for national office. It is one thing to posture for the national media; it is quite another to actually take steps to deprive citizens in your state from being eligible for a federal benefit. It would not surprise me at all if, when push comes to shove, many state-level Republican (even in very red states) balk at the idea of opting out of the national plan.
[snip]
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Posted in: Happening • Politics • Democrats • Healthcare • Our Elected Representatives • Republicans • Strategy | Post a Comment »
October 26th, 2009, 1:11 pm by Dan Lehr
UPDATE: Metafilter linked her series, & because of that now you can anticipate Aunt B herself reading one of these stories on an upcoming All Things Considered newscast! Congrats, Aunt B!
Original post:
In what’s without question one of the Tennessee blogosphere’s best series of the year, Aunt B’s been tracking down and posting a ghost story in Nashville for each day this month, including this one about a mysterious waitress appearing in a mirror at a Hooters restaurant:
“The staff is usually split 50/50 about how they feel about her. Some of them are terrified, even though she only appears in the mirror and there aren’t weird noises or a feeling like anyone else is present if you’re alone in the dining room. There’s nothing at all creepy about her.
Some of them secretly appreciate, on busy days, when they are so tired of the “clever” comments and the small tips, catching her eye in the mirror and getting a supportive nod or wink.
But eventually the patrons notice. And then it becomes really weird. Usually, one person will see her first and he’ll say something just to the folks at his table. You’ll see them looking at the mirror and then kind of sitting tall in their seats to crane their necks around and check if they aren’t perhaps mistaken. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in: History • Local Bloggers | 2 Comments »
October 26th, 2009, 1:05 pm by Dan Lehr
“Zero longitude” was put on the map, though not without controversy:
“By the end of the difficult summit, which dragged on until “smoke came out”, Greenwich, UK had won the prize of longitude 0º by a vote of 22 to one, with only San Domingo against and France and Brazil abstaining. One of the main reasons for British victory over key rivals Washington, Berlin and Paris, was that 72% of the world’s shipping already depended on sea charts that used Greenwich as the Prime Meridian. It was also convenient that Greenwich’s location insured that the 180º meridian, where formally the date line should be located, mostly passed over water.”
Posted in: History • Places • Anniversaries | Post a Comment »
October 26th, 2009, 11:51 am by Dan Lehr
A.C. Kleinheider and Jon Meacham both try to see some.
[image: the North American Continental Divide, August 1977. photo by my father]
Posted in: Ideas and Opinions • Images • Politics • Landscapes • Photography | Post a Comment »
October 26th, 2009, 9:27 am by Dan Lehr
James Surowiecki:
“In any large group, a few people do most of the work—usually those who are most ideologically committed or who have a direct stake in a particular outcome. So decisions often end up reflecting not the wishes of the group as a whole but those of its most engaged members.
…
it’s far from clear that across-the-board hostility to regulation is really in the best interests of the free-enterprise system. We assume that lobbies always recognize what’s best for their members. But they don’t, and, in the case of climate change, they may very well be missing what the companies that have resigned in protest have seen: global warming isn’t just bad for the planet; it’s bad for business.”
Posted in: Environment • Finance • Climate Change | Post a Comment »
October 26th, 2009, 9:24 am by Dan Lehr
For Democrats: losing power helped some Republicans regain a proper skepticism towards the concept of the unitary executive.
For Republicans: gaining power helped some Democrats recognize their electoral fortunes are going to be increasingly tied to fiscal responsibility.
(photo: sky outside my home, July, 2009)
Posted in: Government • Ideas and Opinions • Images • Obama • Politics • Democrats • Healthcare • Photography • Republicans | Post a Comment »
October 26th, 2009, 9:17 am by Dan Lehr
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Info on the what, where and when over at Chattarati.
Also, check out: vwjobschattanooga.com/
Posted in: Finance • Happening • Local Bloggers • the Recession • Unemployment | Post a Comment »
October 23rd, 2009, 9:10 am by Dan Lehr
“Our shows were not actually written, but they were precisely thought out,” he explained in his memoir. “But the greatest thing about the show, and I think the reason for its success, was that it seemed undisciplined. The more you can make a performance seem spontaneous, the better an entertainer you are.” - from his New York Times obituary.
Above: his answer to the dance crazes of the early-to-mid 1960s, “Do the Mouse.” It also includes some of the brilliant spontanaeity described in the above quote. He also “did the Mouse” on one of the Ed Sullivan shows on which the Beatles appeared.
Posted in: Humor • People • Education • Obituaries | Post a Comment »
October 22nd, 2009, 9:48 am by Dan Lehr
“When men of spirit are born in our times…the ambition to become famous consumes them, & they become rivals in their haste to leave a name to posterity; they publish the fruits of their talents without reflection & without discretion.”
-John Calvin, writing in 1532, from his Commentary on Seneca
image: Andy Warhol
Posted in: Communication • History • Images • 20th Century Art • Andy Warhol • Bloggers in History • Leonardo da Vinci • The 16th Century • The New Media • What I'm Reading | Post a Comment »
October 22nd, 2009, 9:27 am by Dan Lehr
Kevin Drum:
“The problem with modern contrarianism is that it’s lazy. Too often, it’s the sole focus of a piece, and it’s the focus for reasons purely of entertainment or ideology. Which is too bad, because the kind of journalism that’s most useful is the kind that explains both first order things and counterreactions and doesn’t pander to readers’ desires to pretend that the world is simpler than it really is. After all, counterreactions may usually be less important than first-order effects, but they’re still worth investigating. Some tax cuts really don’t raise as much revenue as you’d think. Raising the minimum wage really can have perverse effects in specific slices of the economy. If you’re genuinely interested in knowing how the world works, you want to know this. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in: Ideas and Opinions • Journalism | Post a Comment »
October 21st, 2009, 10:35 am by Dan Lehr
Tom Schaller at FiveThirtyEight.com doesn’t think history’s on her side:
“When an incumbent runs, the party in power wins about two of every three times, but when the seat is open the party in power wins only about half the time. The two-thirds pattern has held more recently, too: Since World War II, there have been 10* elections in which the incumbent–whether he won a first term or succeeded to the White House by death or resignation–has run for re-election: ‘48, ‘56, ‘64, ‘72, ‘76, ‘80, ‘84, ‘92, ‘96 and ‘04. And the incumbent, and thus the party in power, won seven times.
So a strategic politician seeking the Oval Office should, all else equal, wait until she is not running against an incumbent president enjoying the many advantages incumbency provides, from access to the bully pulpit to control over the levers of government. History says the odds are better if you wait.”
I hope Palin fans recognize the hard truth that lies in that statement.
Much more here, including his take on her chances in the primary season.
Schaller fails to mention what I consider the single biggest strategic advantage in not running, which I touched on at this blog back in July: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in: History • Politics • 2012 • Sarah Palin • Strategy | Post a Comment »
October 21st, 2009, 9:31 am by Dan Lehr
Ladies and gentlemen:
It’s long past time to update this ubiquitous ad.
You’ve used it - without any alteration - for years in many magazines. I don’t know how long you’ve used it, but I’d guess long enough to have an extremely high Q score. Don’t get me wrong - it’s a good ad. But at this point it strongly gives off the impression that you’ve encased it in amber. Not to mention the impression that Mr. Hardworking Farm Boy is so dim he’s still brushing up on his Italian. Shouldn’t your product be so simple and effective that he should be on his way to Rome by now?
Here’s a radical idea: advance the story.
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Posted in: Communication | 1 Comment »
October 20th, 2009, 10:30 pm by Dan Lehr
“The graphic above shows the relationship of these broadcasts to known stars in our local neighborhood. Should intelligent life exist around any of these stars, this life may have already received and continue to receive streams of our TV programming.
Our broadcast content may explain their silence.”
Posted in: Communication • Science • Space • Television | 1 Comment »
October 20th, 2009, 2:08 pm by Dan Lehr
Marc Ambinder on the GOP 2012 presidential candidate strategy that omits the Iowa caucuses if your last name isn’t Palin or Huckabee:
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in: Places • Politics • 2012 • Elections • Mike Huckabee • Mitt Romney • Sarah Palin • Tim Pawlenty | Post a Comment »
