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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
Bassopotamus
Published Letters: 92 Editor's Choice: 1
I'm not at all a metal fan, but it would seem that the whole genre is missing from the intial list. At least one Van Halen track should be on there (as EVH was a massive influence over later guitarists), probably an early Metallica track of sorts, and maybe Motorhead's Ace of Spades as a Metal/Punk fusion. I'm not sure there is much on the original list I'd kick off, but at least the EVH omission is pretty glaring.
My wife and I used to volunteer for a no kill cat shelter and saw something like this first hand as well. We had a friend who worked as a Vet nurse who was denied a cat because she answered the question "is it ever OK to declaw a cat" wrong. Not "are you ever going to declaw this cat." we generally oppose declawing ourselves, but there are instances where perhaps it is best for the cat. To say never, well that is a little much.
The other thing that was perpetually irritating about the no kill shelter was their contempt for other organizations who do euthanasias. Again, we certainly don't support the destruction of animals, but the shelter's approach was to close to new intakes when it was full, which the Humane society can't do. What they failed to recognize was that their own policies ultimately were dooming cats to be euthanized, albeit indirectly. The moral smugness about it, and the air of superiority, was just unreal though.
By and large, shelters do important work, and are staffed by competent, decent people. I do think, however that HH is right on the money about at least some of them. I've seen it first hand.
To DrKen,
I'm really glad your story turned out well! That is what these shelters are there for.
I think one point that is lost in this is that there are probably more good experiences than bad. It is that there some bad apples out there. Not even bad apples, but just people who's good intentions go awry and ultimately end up as negatives for the animals.
The story I posted earlier was atypical of our shelter (though the attitude about humane society's wasn't). IIRC, they ended up switching adoption directors, because the one was so strict that it was virtually impossible for cats to get adopted out.
I was pretty disappointed that the Trader Vic's in Chicago closed a couple years back. A friend of mine gave me a copy of a 60s edition of his bar guide, and it is quite a lot of fun. It doesn't only cover the tiki drinks, but they are there. IIRC though, for a few of them, they just say to use his bottled mixer rather than giving actual ingredients.
Also, in Minneapolis, there is Psycho Suzy's Motor lounge, which has a pretty good selection of Tiki drinks, most of which will knock you on your butt.
I think the article is right to question the value of hybrid technology, but only to a point.
I don't own a prius, but I borrow a friend's fairly often (I don't have a car at all right now). I do get to feel like I am atoning for driving a 75 Lesabre (8mpg) in a previous life... In a mix of city and highway driving, it does about 44mpg.
Anyway, while there are cars out there now with better mileage and lower emissions, and for cheaper, they are much smaller than the Prius, which is actually surprisingly big inside (not much smaller than my old Taurus in the cabin, but with less trunk). While the fit and the Yaris may beat the Prius on fuel economy and such, they would seem to work better for single people or couples rather than as a family car (although I don't know that I'd want to road trip a prius with 3 kids in the back or anything).
Frankly, for its size, the prius seems like a good price, to get good mileage, and is fun to drive. My only real gripe is it has some pretty heinous blind spots, to the point where I don't know that I'd buy one myself.
While I think the central point, that there hasn't been much in the way of African Americans in rock lately, I think Hannaham is playing with the boundaries of genres to make his point.
This may be the only time I have ever heard anyone refer to Living Colour as funk. There was a ton going on there, but they broke onto the scene as a hard rock band, and their second album, while somewhat overlooked, is an amazing mash up of genres. It actually did break quite a bit of new ground for many of us picking up instruments around the time, because it was so genre bending. You could mix up rock, funk, jazz, r&b and even a little bit of afro pop and get a great record.
On the other hand, Sly Stone is really a stretch as rock rather than funk (anything Larry Graham touches is funky), none of Prince's famous stuff is really rock, and Funkadelic defies easily categorization, but isn't straight up rock either.
The point stands, there isn't much black rock going on these days, but it died long before sly stone, but for a few notables.
Ice T was great, body count really really wasn't. Some of the lyrics were pretty compelling, but Ice T can't sing, and the band was pretty lousy.
Talking about slim pickins in the singer realm after the conservatives sing for you. Doh!
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Once seen as a lunatic fringe, reactionary anti-women groups are courting respectability
Salon headlines in your mailbox
