More Lies, Distractions, and Omissions

After being away from the news for 3+ weeks, I've been slowly re-immersing into the cycle. To my mind the big news of the week is Sy Hersh's piece on the US and Norway (plus others) blowing up the Nord Stream pipelines...an act of terror. Though the MSM is ignoring the story, and the white house in full blown denial, Sy has been getting some alternative press coverage. He was interviewed on Democracy Now, Consortium News, and on AcTVism (which I found the best of the three). Though it was obvious to most of us the US was behind the explosion, it is nice to have the details. The other story which has been largely ignored in the MSM is the environmental catastrophe train wreck in Ohio. This story is finally getting a little coverage. Another poorly covered story is the Peace Rally today in DC, Rage Against the War Machine. Sadly TPTB have used identity politics to cause several speakers to drop out. Aaron hosting Jimmy's show explains...(11 min)
Just use the hypertext link for the YT videos.

Afternoon folks!

It's another good haul this week. I've uploaded a late 60's album from James Cotton and a compilation of harmonica player Junior Parker's tunes. The harmonica goodness doesn't stop there though, there's some early 70's blues rock with the J. Geils Band, the Climax Blues Band and Blues Image's second album (the one with their big hit "Ride Captain Ride" on it). Following that there's a live Emmylou Harris album on which she sings a few tunes that she did early on in her career with Gram Parsons. Finishing up is a double album of Vassar Clements, notably with David Bromberg as a sideman.

Enjoy!

“Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.”
Pablo Picasso

As the flood of breaking news reports, opinions on the sources of the news and suggestions on how to interpret the news I have started to rate the stories on Kubler-Ross Model of five stages of grief. Is the presenter or policy maker at step 1 - denial, step 2 - anger, step 3 - bargaining, step 4 - depression or the final step - acceptance on events related to special military operations in Ukraine?

I only found out about this a couple days ago and am unable to attend but as it could and should be a BIG DEAL - and only will be if people make it so - here's a heads up.

Rally info here:

https://rageagainstwar.com

Thoughts on how to build on/support this are most welcome.

Happy Friday everyone. Hope everybody is doing well. Post any photos, memes, or music you like.

Just like with the Brandt's Cormorants I posted last week, it's also breeding season for the Brown Pelican.

From All About Birds https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Brown_Pelican/overview
The Brown Pelican is a comically elegant bird with an oversized bill, sinuous neck, and big, dark body. Squadrons glide above the surf along southern and western coasts, rising and falling in a graceful echo of the waves. They feed by plunge-diving from high up, using the force of impact to stun small fish before scooping them up. They are fairly common today—an excellent example of a species’ recovery from pesticide pollution that once placed them at the brink of extinction.

Pelicans incubate their eggs with the skin of their feet, essentially standing on the eggs to keep them warm. In the mid-twentieth century the pesticide DDT caused pelicans to lay thinner eggs that cracked under the weight of incubating parents. After nearly disappearing from North America in the 1960s and 1970s, Brown Pelicans made a full comeback thanks to pesticide regulations.

The term artificial intelligence (AI) is being bandied about with regularity nowadays, especially in regards to chatbots, with ChatGPT being the most prolific. Hopefully this piece will help explain the concept of AI in context of its current applications and what that may portend for the future. Included, at the end, I'll let my mind run wild in a thought experiment regarding AI's potential abuse.