Search found 1708 matches

by nut-job
Wed May 09, 2012 12:17 am
Forum: CMG Review of Books
Topic: Beyond Outrage
Replies: 7
Views: 12185

Re: Beyond Outrage

by what basis can someone with an ounce of intellectual honesty make (or believe) such a specious argument? like tax policies in the 1950s were responsible for the growth or the fact that the US was the only major developed economy that wasn't destroyed by the war? its the worst sort of demagoguery...
by nut-job
Tue May 08, 2012 2:45 pm
Forum: CMG Review of Books
Topic: Beyond Outrage
Replies: 7
Views: 12185

Re: Beyond Outrage

It impresses me that he is willing to say that we will need a popular revolt to rectify this, which I have long suspected is true. Of course, no one wants to hear that they are going to have to take to the streets to preserve the hopes and the future of themselves and their children against a rapac...
by nut-job
Mon May 07, 2012 9:58 pm
Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
Topic: Bernstein conducts Haydn with his face [YouTube]
Replies: 21
Views: 12960

Re: Bernstein conducts Haydn with his face [YouTube]

The performance strikes me as properly played, but unremarkable. That sums up my view on Bernstein completely... :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: Haters gonna hate Bernstein performances can be interesting when he goes over the top, like his DG recordings of the Tchaikovsky 6th or Sibelius 2nd, or som...
by nut-job
Mon May 07, 2012 9:54 pm
Forum: Corner Pub
Topic: Clouds’ Effect on Climate Change Is Last Bastion for Dissent
Replies: 382
Views: 80606

Re: Clouds’ Effect on Climate Change Is Last Bastion for Dis

Let me ask you. Do you understand what this graph below is depicting? http://www.palisad.com/co2/gf/st_ca.png Maybe I didn't explain it well enough. The x axis is the surface temperature in degrees K and the y axis is the cloud covered percentage of each individual measurement's sample section. For...
by nut-job
Mon May 07, 2012 4:20 pm
Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
Topic: Bernstein conducts Haydn with his face [YouTube]
Replies: 21
Views: 12960

Re: Bernstein conducts Haydn with his face [YouTube]

Here is the backstory. This is an encore of the finale to Haydn's Symphony No. 88 with the Vienna Philharmonic. That explains everything to me. Bernstein is an 'eyebrow' raising maestro, as he lets his hair down and just enjoys the great music. :mrgreen: What a perfect performance and it is so lovi...
by nut-job
Mon May 07, 2012 4:17 pm
Forum: Corner Pub
Topic: Clouds’ Effect on Climate Change Is Last Bastion for Dissent
Replies: 382
Views: 80606

Re: Clouds’ Effect on Climate Change Is Last Bastion for Dis

living_stradivarius wrote:From a scientific perspective I will be always consider competing theories. As of right now, there isn't a clear refutation of Lindzen's theory, but scientists can and should discuss this outside the political arena.
You don't consider Dessler's work convincing?
by nut-job
Mon May 07, 2012 12:55 pm
Forum: CMG Review of Books
Topic: Beyond Outrage
Replies: 7
Views: 12185

Beyond Outrage

Beyond Outrage Robert Reich I normally don't read political books, but I saw this one available as a Kindle edition for only $3 and decided to get it. Despite the title, it is a reasoned argument, which tries to show that our current economic stagnation is a result of more and more wealth being accu...
by nut-job
Mon May 07, 2012 12:44 pm
Forum: Corner Pub
Topic: Clouds’ Effect on Climate Change Is Last Bastion for Dissent
Replies: 382
Views: 80606

Re: Clouds’ Effect on Climate Change Is Last Bastion for Dis

The problem is that you don't understand the things that you are purporting to explain, and you don't understand any of the criticisms that are made of your explanations. It's awfully hard to understand criticisms that you don't lay out. You are evaluating descriptions of scientific work without un...
by nut-job
Sun May 06, 2012 10:42 pm
Forum: Corner Pub
Topic: Clouds’ Effect on Climate Change Is Last Bastion for Dissent
Replies: 382
Views: 80606

Re: Clouds’ Effect on Climate Change Is Last Bastion for Dis

There is no discussion here. At times I find myself tempted to point out errors in your 'scientific' statements, but in the end I find it impossible because they are not sufficiently defined to even say what is wrong with them. Try me. Ask a question. Maybe I haven't explained some things accuratel...
by nut-job
Sun May 06, 2012 9:24 pm
Forum: Corner Pub
Topic: Clouds’ Effect on Climate Change Is Last Bastion for Dissent
Replies: 382
Views: 80606

Re: Clouds’ Effect on Climate Change Is Last Bastion for Dis

BTW, instead of throwing insults, why don't you participate in the discussion? Do you think any of the points I've raised are legitimate? If not, let's hear why. There is no discussion here. At times I find myself tempted to point out errors in your 'scientific' statements, but in the end I find it...
by nut-job
Sun May 06, 2012 8:44 pm
Forum: Corner Pub
Topic: Clouds’ Effect on Climate Change Is Last Bastion for Dissent
Replies: 382
Views: 80606

Re: Clouds’ Effect on Climate Change Is Last Bastion for Dis

First of all, this is not an accurate characterization. Myself and other skeptics/deniers do not feel that clouds will 'save us'. Our position is more we think that the effects and/or feedbacks of water vapor and clouds cannot be arbitrarily separated from one another and net positive feedback from...
by nut-job
Sun May 06, 2012 12:55 pm
Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
Topic: MET HD: Reviewing the Experience
Replies: 9
Views: 7166

Re: MET HD: Reviewing the Experience

The Met HD performances have been a totally marvelous revelation for me. The sound is superb, the closeups are amazing, the backstage activities are an amazing insight into the makings of an opera otherwise unknown, the interviews are mostly enjoyable..on and on. By the way, these HD showings have ...
by nut-job
Sat May 05, 2012 8:33 pm
Forum: Corner Pub
Topic: Clouds’ Effect on Climate Change Is Last Bastion for Dissent
Replies: 382
Views: 80606

Re: Clouds’ Effect on Climate Change Is Last Bastion for Dis

[In general, and not just in that article but in the climate debate in general, the way the issue of clouds is framed has substantial logical flaws and gaps in it. It certainly does, but not the way you mean. It is contrarian scientists like Lindzen who are defying reason in exploiting an area of u...
by nut-job
Sat May 05, 2012 1:08 pm
Forum: Corner Pub
Topic: A Harvard education - for free
Replies: 7
Views: 4848

Re: A Harvard education - for free

Computer based learning may have great potential, but I would considered an advanced, interactive form of a textbook, rather than a substitute for a University education. People have always been able to teach themselves by studying books, and now perhaps computers are more widely available than book...
by nut-job
Fri May 04, 2012 11:32 pm
Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
Topic: Bernstein conducts Haydn with his face [YouTube]
Replies: 21
Views: 12960

Re: Bernstein conducts Haydn with his face [YouTube]

Garrett, now you see why Lenny was one of the greatest of all conductors. As a music lover who has seen the great one conduct in person on many occcasions, this video is priceless. Notice how the orchestra plays Haydn with such great relish and beauty, that Maestro B. has only to look at them and t...
by nut-job
Fri May 04, 2012 8:41 am
Forum: Corner Pub
Topic: Chen Guangcheng
Replies: 10
Views: 7337

Re: Chen Guangcheng

And what were they supposed to do to keep the wife, who was not in the Embassy, from being beaten? Should the US ambassador have sent the Marine guards at the embassy out to fight the entire Chinese Peoples Army to wend its way to Chen's quarters, rescue the wife, and bring her safely back to the E...
by nut-job
Thu May 03, 2012 4:45 pm
Forum: Corner Pub
Topic: Chen Guangcheng
Replies: 10
Views: 7337

Re: Chen Guangcheng

Could anything be more absurd. The human rights activist Chen Guangcheng escapes house arrest, arrives in the US embassy (apparently after a dramatic car chase), and is subsequently turned over to Chinese police by US authorities, saying that he had "changed his mind" after assurances were given th...
by nut-job
Thu May 03, 2012 1:14 pm
Forum: Corner Pub
Topic: Chen Guangcheng
Replies: 10
Views: 7337

Chen Guangcheng

Could anything be more absurd. The human rights activist Chen Guangcheng escapes house arrest, arrives in the US embassy (apparently after a dramatic car chase), and is subsequently turned over to Chinese police by US authorities, saying that he had "changed his mind" after assurances were given tha...
by nut-job
Mon Apr 30, 2012 2:13 pm
Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
Topic: Do you have a treasured "collectible" from classical music?
Replies: 22
Views: 12813

Re: Do you have a treasured "collectible" from classical mus

I know someone who worked at Polygram and recovered a few choice items from the trash when the cretins who worked there were clearing out some file cabinets. One is a 4x5 Kodachrome transparency of Herbert von Karajan. It's the actual film that was in the camera when they took the photo. Very elegan...
by nut-job
Sun Apr 29, 2012 7:41 pm
Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
Topic: I Have Figured Out Why ...
Replies: 7
Views: 5454

Re: I Have Figured Out Why ...

... the keyboard music of such as JS Bach and D Scarlatti sounds so harsh and jarring to my ears when played on the piano: the harpsichord is a STRING instrument, which explains why music written for it sounds so wonderful when played on the guitar and the lute; the piano is a PERCUSSION instrument...
by nut-job
Sun Apr 29, 2012 2:46 pm
Forum: Corner Pub
Topic: The Rich Need to be Taxed More--Reason # 4,327
Replies: 26
Views: 17652

Re: The Rich Need to be Taxed More--Reason # 4,327

That $5,000 wedding involved hiring wedding staff, planners, and tailors to make dog clothes. If anything, these folks are OVERPAYING people who are less wealthy for something incredibly mundane - it's almost as if they were giving money away! Seems like a pretty good deal for those who bothered to...
by nut-job
Sat Apr 28, 2012 12:03 pm
Forum: Corner Pub
Topic: The Rich Need to be Taxed More--Reason # 4,327
Replies: 26
Views: 17652

Re: The Rich Need to be Taxed More--Reason # 4,327

I don't think "the rich" should be punished. But I don't see why the rich should not have to pay the same fraction of their income in taxes as a typical middle-class taxpayer. I think the dramatic revisions of the tax codes that made investment income subject to a lower tax rate should be reversed. ...
by nut-job
Sat Apr 28, 2012 11:55 am
Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
Topic: What are YOU listening to today?
Replies: 16255
Views: 5350429

Re: What are YOU listening to today?

I never do "comparisons" but sometimes it is fun to listen to a piece in two wildly different interpretations. First I listened to Bach's first Viola da gamba sonata by Harnoncourt and Tachezi. Then the same piece by Maisky and Argerich ('transcribed' for cello and piano). Both were superb. I find B...
by nut-job
Fri Apr 27, 2012 8:47 pm
Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
Topic: What NEW discs/music are you adding to your collection?
Replies: 4708
Views: 2482014

Re: What NEW discs/music are you adding to your collection?

Oh dear, I find myself with a second Complete Bach Edition. http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41ImfdYYIvL._SL500_AA300_.jpg The Hanssler edition is already on the shelves. If I had to pick one, it would be the Teldec set, but they complement each other well. Original instruments vs modern instru...
by nut-job
Fri Apr 20, 2012 7:40 pm
Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
Topic: What NEW discs/music are you adding to your collection?
Replies: 4708
Views: 2482014

Re: What NEW discs/music are you adding to your collection?

First impression is that this release is absolutely stunning.

Image

Music by Poulenc and Francaix by the Linos Ensemble on Capriccio.
by nut-job
Fri Apr 20, 2012 12:58 pm
Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
Topic: Why do the Weasels, Stoats, Mustelids and Ferrets ...
Replies: 30
Views: 16096

Re: Why do the Weasels, Stoats, Mustelids and Ferrets ...

I don't get it. Why would someone think they could make hay from the fact that they lack the discernment to appreciate Faure? :mrgreen:
by nut-job
Fri Apr 20, 2012 10:10 am
Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
Topic: Recordings of fortepiano music on original instruments
Replies: 42
Views: 21108

Re: Recordings of fortepiano music on original instruments

Fortepianos to cars! I love it ... nice transition. Love the cars ... the dollies are nice, too! I have a lot of admiration for Andreas Staier and have some of his recordings. One of the most interesting is of him as a harpsichordist in Spanish fandangos (particularly one with castanets ... what an...
by nut-job
Thu Apr 19, 2012 5:33 pm
Forum: Corner Pub
Topic: How Unfair-Buffet Rule Blockage
Replies: 25
Views: 12807

Re: How Unfair-Buffet Rule Blockage

This is just pure crap, I don't know whether the professor is lying or just an idiot. Borrowing against non-income producing assets is very expensive and risky (you end up paying interest on interest and your loan may get called at the worst time). The interest costs can easily outweigh any savings...
by nut-job
Tue Apr 17, 2012 3:30 pm
Forum: Corner Pub
Topic: How Unfair-Buffet Rule Blockage
Replies: 25
Views: 12807

Re: How Unfair-Buffet Rule Blockage

Many agree that we need a simple tax code, but they don't agree on what it should be. For example, if you eliminate the charitable deduction, that could have a devastating effect on philanthropy and those dependent on it - private colleges, schools, hospitals, museums, orchestras, you name it. In a...
by nut-job
Tue Apr 17, 2012 10:07 am
Forum: Corner Pub
Topic: How Unfair-Buffet Rule Blockage
Replies: 25
Views: 12807

Re: How Unfair-Buffet Rule Blockage

Although I sympathize with the motivation, I think the last thing the tax code needs is another Gimmick. This Buffet rule sounds like a new version of the alternate minimum tax. What we need is a simple tax code. Income is income, no matter where it comes from. The first X dollars are tax free, mayb...
by nut-job
Mon Apr 16, 2012 4:28 pm
Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
Topic: Recordings of fortepiano music on original instruments
Replies: 42
Views: 21108

Re: Recordings of fortepiano music on original instruments

That piano you posted may look great, but it sounds like a barroom piano in need of tuning. :mrgreen: Mozart and Beethoven used such instruments because they had to - it's all there were. We don't have that handicap, or that excuse. This is what happens when one is a Johnny-come-lately to a thread ...
by nut-job
Mon Apr 16, 2012 2:45 pm
Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
Topic: Recordings of fortepiano music on original instruments
Replies: 42
Views: 21108

Re: Recordings of fortepiano music on original instruments

I don't know about you, but despite the poor sound of the off-the-air recording, for me this is just overwhelming, the screaming dissonances of the introduction followed by a glimpse of the sorrows of the world, in a symphony generally felt to be light-hearted. And again at the retransition from th...
by nut-job
Mon Apr 16, 2012 11:22 am
Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
Topic: Recordings of fortepiano music on original instruments
Replies: 42
Views: 21108

Re: Recordings of fortepiano music on original instruments

You can't really find such a widely shared opinion "astonishing," so I assume that's a rhetorical flourish. Anyway, you speak for yourself, I speak for myself. I don't find it astonishing that you would express this opinion, because it is a widely espoused canard. It is precisely that you will hear...
by nut-job
Mon Apr 16, 2012 11:12 am
Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
Topic: Recordings of fortepiano music on original instruments
Replies: 42
Views: 21108

Re: Recordings of fortepiano music on original instruments

That piano you posted may look great, but it sounds like a barroom piano in need of tuning. :mrgreen: Mozart and Beethoven used such instruments because they had to - it's all there were. We don't have that handicap, or that excuse. I must have missed something because I have never read of Mozart o...
by nut-job
Mon Apr 16, 2012 9:12 am
Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
Topic: Recordings of fortepiano music on original instruments
Replies: 42
Views: 21108

Re: Recordings of fortepiano music on original instruments

I've collected Brautigam's recordings of the Beethoven Piano sonatas, made using reproductions of Fortepianos from Beethoven's era. While I have no intention of forsaking my favorite recordings made using modern instruments, they old-style instruments bring a transparency and urgency to the music th...
by nut-job
Mon Apr 16, 2012 8:26 am
Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
Topic: Recordings of fortepiano music on original instruments
Replies: 42
Views: 21108

Re: Recordings of fortepiano music on original instruments

"Purists" in what way? HIP purists who disdain Steinways in older music or those who disdain obsolete pianos in present-day performances? (I guess that gives away which side I'm on. :mrgreen:) ... In a time when charismatic classical musicians are in short supply, and the central repertoire of the ...
by nut-job
Fri Apr 13, 2012 9:58 am
Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
Topic: Lili Chookasian Dies
Replies: 6
Views: 4160

Re: Lili Chookasian, R.I.P.

It's deja vu, all over again.
by nut-job
Thu Apr 12, 2012 10:55 pm
Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
Topic: What are YOU listening to today?
Replies: 16255
Views: 5350429

Re: What are YOU listening to today?

johnQpublic wrote:I don't have that one, nut-job, but if you don't have his "Serenade" (for small orchestra) please try to hear it. It's my all time favorite Francaix.
Is that the "serenade" on this release?

Image
by nut-job
Thu Apr 12, 2012 5:12 pm
Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
Topic: What are YOU listening to today?
Replies: 16255
Views: 5350429

Re: What are YOU listening to today?

johnQpublic wrote:That's a disc I have and plenty of Francaix contains moments of wit and joie de vivre.
Which reminds me, I also have this disc, which I have not had a chance to listen to yet.


Image
by nut-job
Thu Apr 12, 2012 2:30 pm
Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
Topic: Remastering Furtwängler for SACD
Replies: 25
Views: 16482

Re: Remastering Furtwängler for SACD

VERY possible. The music industry is blighted by customer rip-off. This should go on the illegal download thread where this issue was spoken of. The Japs are the worst: pop music, bringing out endless limited editions in slightly different formats so that completeness collectors are bled for an eno...
by nut-job
Thu Apr 12, 2012 1:15 pm
Forum: Corner Pub
Topic: U.S. Visa Rules Deprive Stages of Performers
Replies: 8
Views: 5379

Re: U.S. Visa Rules Deprive Stages of Performers

I've found that story online: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/tomserviceblog/2010/nov/17/musicians-uk-border-agency-rules http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/classicalmusic/2010/11/bso_cellist_denied_entry_to_uk.html String quartets and orchestras travel to the UK and perform there all th...
by nut-job
Thu Apr 12, 2012 12:11 pm
Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
Topic: What NEW discs/music are you adding to your collection?
Replies: 4708
Views: 2482014

Re: What NEW discs/music are you adding to your collection?

Ordered the new set of Chisholm Piano Concerti from Hyperion.

Image

Got tired of waiting for US vendors to list the release at a non-insane price, so I ordered from mdt.
by nut-job
Thu Apr 12, 2012 12:09 pm
Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
Topic: What NEW discs/music are you adding to your collection?
Replies: 4708
Views: 2482014

Re: What NEW discs/music are you adding to your collection?

Listened to the first disc yesterday and today. It contains the Preludes Volume 1, Images set 1 and set 2. Very nice clear sound and beautiful play. For 13 cdn dollar, I think that this box set is a bargain. Matt. When was the set recorded? I have Crossley's recordings of Janacek on Decca, and they...
by nut-job
Thu Apr 12, 2012 11:29 am
Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
Topic: What are YOU listening to today?
Replies: 16255
Views: 5350429

Re: What are YOU listening to today?

This delightful disc of music by Francaix by the Gaudier Ensemble:

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The first piece in the collection, "A huit," which has the same instrumentation as Schubert's Octet, is particularly charming.
by nut-job
Thu Apr 12, 2012 8:59 am
Forum: Corner Pub
Topic: Maybe Blacks Should Give the Trayvon Martin Story....
Replies: 76
Views: 29019

Re: Maybe Blacks Should Give the Trayvon Martin Story....

Hard to see how they will get a conviction, given that second degree murder seems to be legal in Florida. :(
by nut-job
Wed Apr 11, 2012 4:17 pm
Forum: Corner Pub
Topic: American banking: business as usual
Replies: 6
Views: 5303

Re: American banking: business as usual

What's you point? Banks with billions of dollars in assets should be allowed to compete with payday lenders in swindling hapless poor people? so damn the unintended consequences of making ourselves feel morally superior by punishing the banks? low income people need access credit as much as anyone ...
by nut-job
Wed Apr 11, 2012 1:39 pm
Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
Topic: Remastering Furtwängler for SACD
Replies: 25
Views: 16482

Re: Remastering Furtwängler for SACD

I don't know what you mean by "manufactured."
by nut-job
Wed Apr 11, 2012 1:37 pm
Forum: Corner Pub
Topic: American banking: business as usual
Replies: 6
Views: 5303

Re: American banking: business as usual

all the new regulations and focus on banks over the last few years have been a bonanza for the pawn shop and payday lending industries What's you point? Banks with billions of dollars in assets should be allowed to compete with payday lenders in swindling hapless poor people? In the old days big ba...
by nut-job
Wed Apr 11, 2012 11:16 am
Forum: Corner Pub
Topic: U.S. Visa Rules Deprive Stages of Performers
Replies: 8
Views: 5379

Re: U.S. Visa Rules Deprive Stages of Performers

It works both ways. I remember reading an article in the Times describing problems for performers getting into the UK. The Carpe Diem quartet was was traveling to the UK to play music by Taneyev at a chamber music festival. The cellist was stopped at passport control and denied entry because the org...
by nut-job
Tue Apr 10, 2012 6:03 pm
Forum: Corner Pub
Topic: The timing of the health care law
Replies: 74
Views: 30579

Re: The timing of the health care law

I simply looked at Wikipedia's article on the pharmaceutical/medical technology industry and added up the research budgets of the 5 biggest players (3 of which are European). Whether an exhaustive tabulation would confirm this trend, I don't know. The first commercial CAT scanner was made by EMI, th...