Vote today! July 22

Get a sample ballot here:
http://www.mvp.sos.ga.gov/

Polls open til 7:00. Only 10 percent turnout expected in my area -- if it's the same where you live, your vote will REALLY count!!

Stop stealing land, maybe?

"...some of that data may belong to American citizens."

We were assured, by Clapper and the NSA's defenders, that only metadata was being collected on American citizens (for example, "Sally Smith sent an email from IP Address 123.45.678.9 at 11:53:08 p.m. on June 12, 2014, to edjones@acme.cz&quot . We now know that is not true. We now know that the NSA would save the content of the email, and any attachments -- for example the lingerie photo Sally thought only Ed would see. And we know that this "private" communication and attachment(s) could be, and was, accessed by a low-level contractor.

"You can't know which emails to collect until you know which emails to collect." The NSA says that the precedent set by Smith v. Maryland gives them the right to collect all Americans' emails (and, presumably, to record all phone calls). To quote Randy Barnett of Georgetown U.:

How about some bar-b-q music for the 4th?

The $200 open source wearable that enables fully paralyzed people to draw and communicate

Horace Silver has died

The legendary jazz pianist passed away today at age 85 from natural causes.

Check out this great performance of his classic tune "Song for my Father" to get an idea of his greatness:

New Curbs Sought on the Personal Data Industry

Source: New York Times

The Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday called on Congress to protect consumers against the unchecked collection and sharing of their digital data — from websites visited to their marital status — by providing people with tools to view, suppress and fix their information.

The agency also said the little-known companies, called data brokers, that analyze and sell huge amounts of the consumer information for marketing purposes, needed to be reined in and more transparent to the public.

Companies that trade in consumer data, the agency said in a 110-page report about the industry, suffered from “a fundamental lack of transparency.”

“You may not know them, but data brokers know you,” Edith Ramirez, chairwoman of the F.T.C., said in a conference call. It is an industry, she said, that “operates largely in the dark,” yet it has remarkably detailed information that includes online and store purchases, political and religious affiliations, personal income, and socioeconomic status.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/28/technology/ftc-urges-legislation-to-shed-more-light-on-data-collection.html?rref=business&module=ArrowsNav&contentCollection=Business%20Day&action=keypress&region=FixedLeft&pgtype=article

Keep your job in perspective.

Believe me, I know it's hard, since work sucks up so much time and energy. I've had jobs that meant little or nothing to me most of my working life. I'm sure this is true for many more people than are willing to admit it. The saying "Do what you love and you'll never have to work a day in your life" is great for those who can truthfully say it, but I have to be honest and say my work situation is far from that model.

To maintain sanity, I have to relegate work to its proper place in my life. The things that are most important to me (family, friends, hobbies, creative pursuits) produce either zero or minuscule income. But they are what I live for.

My job supports these important activities -- OK, and also it supports a roof over my and my family's head, meals, clothing, transportation, etc. That's all it is, really: an income generator. I get almost no personal satisfaction from it. At least I can say I'm not in a job that I'm ashamed of. It's just not one I care about that much, but it's a good living for my education, skills, and demographics.

You've heard the saying -- either you "live to work or work to live." I'm definitely in the "work to live" category.

I do try to do a good job while I'm working (and my glowing performance reviews attest to that). But in the overall picture, my job is basically a temporary necessity that I put up with while I have to.

Prez and Lady Day die, "Kind of Blue" is born - watershed year

Wow.

Thanks so much for posting this.

Whenever somebody tells me they'd like to know more about jazz but just don't know where to start, I loan them Kind of Blue. That's the best door in I know of.

Trane's Giant Steps (OK, released in 1960 -- but recorded in 1959), Thelonious Monk at Town Hall, Jazz in Silhouette by Sun Ra. And later that year and into 1960, Miles and Gil Evans record Sketches of Spain. It's as though every orchid in the world bloomed at once.



And Sonny Rollins was on sabbatical, playing on the bridge every night, germinating his own musical garden.

Wow.