1982 was a very interesting year for me. It was a year of major decisions. It was the year I finally started to take control of my life instead of allowing life to control me. Of course, all this stuff didn’t happen until the very end of the year, and there is so much cool stuff to get to before we get to that. So, without further delay, here we go … 1982 in all its splendor and glory.

We begin with an 18-year-old college freshman in the midst of changing his major 15 times. Well, maybe seven.

I went back for my second semester at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on Jan. 17. At the end of that week, I was nearly crushed at a tiny little club in Madison called Merlyn’s while watching Joan Jett’s guitar go over my head and her sweat fall on my person. My roommate, Paul II, got tickets for us well in advance of the show. He was going to write a review for the Mad City Music Mirror.  He knew all about Joan from her previous band, The Runaways, an all-girl punk band. She’d had this Blackhearts thing going for an album or so, and we figured it would be fun. Well, by the time the show arrived, Joan’s first hit single was climbing the charts. ”I love Rock N Roll” eventually hit the top 40. In March, it hit No. 1.

We had no idea she’d become so popular in such a short time. I guess her management didn’t either as this tiny little club was filled beyond capacity. I’m glad there wasn’t a fire. Anyway, this band called The Suburbs opened. They were somewhat dark and from Minneapolis, which back then was a somewhat hip place to be from, musically speaking. They weren’t bad.

We were used to seeing a local band, The Shivvers, perform there, and there was always room on the dance floor. This time, the dance floor was pretty well packed. After The Suburbs finished, my roommate and I managed to slip up to the stage, such as it was. I think this stage couldn’t have been any higher than 18 inches off the dance floor. We stayed right there, just a tad to the left of Joan’s microphone. And that’s where we stayed until the show was over.

It didn’t take long before the crowd to press forward and force us to put our knees against the edge of the stage to keep from falling right on top of Joan’s high-top Keds. The bouncers sitting on the edge of the stage did a good job trying to keep us upright, but we ended up hunched over much of the show. To her credit, Joan saw us getting squashed and asked everyone to back up a bit. It was to little or no avail, however. My roommate was in even more dire straits than I was as he seemed to be crushed to the floor on a few occasions. But he said he was most comfortable that way. As for me, I just tried to keep from falling into a mic stand or guitar as my knees rubbed ever so hard against the stage, which was carpeted.

When we finally got free and left the place, I was so hot that I walked out in the Wisconsin winter carrying my coat. There were holes in my jeans and blood on my knees. It was my own personal badge of honor.

I ended up seeing the Joanmeister two more times that year. She opened for the Police at the Rosemont Horizon in Illinois, and played at the Wisconsin State Fair.

That semester, the tuition was raised $30. My roommate and I considered this somewhat of a minor travesty, and he decided we should write a letter to the editor of the school newspaper, and also send a copy of it to the chancellor, Irving Shain. I have a couple copies of the letter. It ran in the Jan. 28, 1982 issue of The Daily Cardinal. Here it what it said:

Letter to Shain

We, the undersigned, as students of the University, hereby give you, Chancellor Shain notice of a lawsuit currently pending in Kangaroo Court Circuit Number 873. Named as the defendants in this suit are Chancellor Irving Shain, the Board of Regents and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The plaintiffs claim unjust economic and psychological hardship induced by the Regents’ imposition of a $30 tuition surcharge this semester.

The suit seeks the following settlement: The revocation of the surcharge, the refund of all surcharge fees to the students who paid them and, in compensation for the great psychological hardships caused by this unforgivable action, the elimination of the College of Engineering.

The plaintiffs, however, expressed willingness to negotiate an out-of-court settlement. They have cordially invited you to lunch at Pop’s Club in Gordon Commons on Friday, Feb. 5, at noon to discuss this most distressful matter. We sincerely hope that you will attend this important meeting.

Paul A. Swinford

Paul J. Hoffman

Anarchists at Law

We never actually thought the chancellor would show up for lunch at a student hangout, and we never expected the chancellor of a Big Ten university to even respond to this letter that obviously was written in jest. In fact, we figured some secretary would read it, grumble and/or laugh … or both … and toss it in the wastebasket.

So imagine our surprise when we actually got a letter back from the chancellor. I wish I had that letter. But basically what he said was (in a similarly tongue-in-cheek serious tone) he’d love to discuss this important matter with us, but he thought our choice of meeting sites was not up to snuff for a matter of such grave importance. Therefore, would we meet with him and the dean of students, I believe his name was Peter Bunn, at Ella’s Deli, a fine establishment in downtown Madison.

So we did.

The two of us actually had lunch with the chancellor of a Big Ten university twice. And he paid both times, which was cool. We had lunch at Ella’s Deli, then we had lunch at some fancy joint out in Cuba City. It was one of the cooler experiences I’ve had in my life.

Years later, after Chancellor Shain retired, and I’d become a sportswriter at the Milwaukee Sentinel, I wrote him to let him know what had become of me. I think he’s still living in the Madison area, which would make him about 138 years old about now. What a great guy.

Poor Kim didn’t really want to be a popstar, but Daddy marty was a showbiz-vampire minor fifties British Elvis clone whose thirst for fame made him want to live vicariously through his Kids. So when big brother Marty Junior flunked out, it was up to Kim.

A Dad’s cheap thrill favourite on Pop TV in the early eighties.

Aconteceu, virou Manchete.

Manchete faliu, caiu na nete.

Cricai aqui!

E 10 pontos pra quem descobrir quem é a moçoila da foto aqui:

Créditos ao nosso estrombólico LuizMe-Merredi!

Player: Dave Righetti “Rags”

Set: 1982 Fleer, Donruss and Topps

Card Number: 52, 73, and 439 respectively

Why is These Cards are Must Have?: We go from one closer to another.  I thought long and hard about including him on this list, but in the end I decided to put him on here. The reason is that he saved a crazy amount of games in such a short period of time.  All but 5 of his 252 saves were earned during a 8 year stretch that ran from 1984 - 1991, that’s almost 31 saves a year. He was also a wildly popular player with the Yankees and still is considered, behind Mariano of course, the second best reliever the team ever had. Of course his best season by far was 1986 when he went 8-8/2.45/1.15 with 46 saves.  Unfortunately after that big season, he never came close to duplicating it and by 1991 he was suddenly a journeyman reliever splitting the rest of his career between the Giants, A’s, Blue Jays and White Sox.  However, I’ll always remember him as being a bright spot on some pretty lousy Yankee teams.

On a Scale of 1 to 10, How Must Have Are These Cards?: A 1 or 3 if you are a Yankee fan.  Like I said, he is borderline on this Definitive list but I felt he needed to be here. After all he was one of the best closers of the 1980s.  You can find these cards for no more than a dollar each (hopefully a lot less) on eBay.

These memories from 1981 are bought to you by my old Hackbarth Insurance desk calendars that I found a short while ago in a junk drawer.

Here we are in October. Among the items I chose to mark down on my calendar that month were a couple of dates that a Milwaukee-based band called The Shivvers played in Madison, Wis., while I was attending the University of Wisconsin-Madison. My roommate, Paul II, was a big fan of this band, partially because the lead singer was cute and reminded him of Wendy Wu of the British band, The Photos. I’m not sure where he saw them first. But he introduced me to the world of groupiedom.

This band was a power-pop band consisting of a drummer, rhythm guitarist, lead guitarist, bass player and singer/keyboardist. They had some really good songs and were fun to see. Paul II also convinced me that you had to dance to every single song whether anybody else was dancing or not. So, I did … as weird and as self-conscious as I felt at times — I still did. I’m sure people thought we were weird or light in the loafers or something. Most of the time, a bunch of people, females included, joined right in.

We went to see this band every time they were in Madison. And sometimes when they were in Milwaukee on the weekend, we’d go back home to Milwaukee and see them. I procured the “official” Shivvers T-shirt, getting a yellow shirt with black lettering that said “I’ve got the Shivvers.” The “Shivvers” lettering was kind of jumbled as it was meant to evoke a feeling of shivering. Band members started calling us the Bees because of our yellow-and-black wardrobe.

My first real actual date was at a Shivvers show at Headliners in Madison. It was kind of a blind date with a girl I’d met on the phone while I was helping conduct a trivia contest on the student radio station.

We managed to get the band named the top local band in the Milwaukee Journal. My roommate and I and our friends all got the coupons out of the Green Sheet and mailed them in, citing our favorite radio stations, national bands and the like. There was this old guy at one of their shows that winter who kept telling us we’d better make sure all our friends voted for them. So, I made sure everyone put down The Shivvers for their favorite local band. There may have even been a couple I filled out for friends whose musical tastes I was very aware of, and who, given a heart-wrenching speech by me, definitely would have succumbed to my wishes and put The Shivvers down as their favorite local artist. Years later, I found out The Shivvers had been accused of stuffing the ballot box. They had nothing to do with it.

I have to admit that I became somewhat smitten by the lead singer, too, wrote her a letter at Christmastime, asking her if I’d managed to correctly decipher the lyrics of the single they had out on the market, and ended up allowing her to view many of the lyrics I’d penned to that point (most were horrible).

They band has some videos on YouTube, and there is even a Shivvers channel. Here it is: http://www.youtube.com/user/TheShivvers

The two videos on that channel were taped at a Madison TV station for a show on an extremely cold night on Jan. 9, 1982. My friends and I were supposed to go. But my dad wouldn’t let me use his car because it was so incredibly cold. He said that if the car wouldn’t start or we slid off the road, there might be nobody around to help us and we might freeze to death. So, we didn’t go.

The Shivvers eventually moved to Boston, but never got going out there as the lead singer got sick for quite a while.

Also, in that October 1981 calendar I have, I’ve got our vaunted Badger football team beating both Purdue and Ohio State at home to complete a sweep of the three teams that annual held down the top spots in the Big Ten in those days. The Badgers had been very mediocre for a number of years, then all of a sudden ripped off this great streak. They lost at Michigan State and Illinois before coming home to spank Northwestern on Halloween.

Halloween in Madison was a bizarre deal back then. I mean really bizarre. You’ve got a bunch of college kids, the drinking age was 18, you’re in a state that practically encourages drinking at every turn and you’ve got free music and cheap beer available everywhere. Plus, people dress up in costumes. It’s a recipe for disaster, and it often was. By the time I got there, the city has taken to greasing the light poles and electrical poles on State Street, a street where no traffic was allowed except for buses and bikes that ran from the state capital building to the campus.

Anyway, the Badgers finished off a pretty good season in November and went on to play Tennessee in the Garden State Bowl, losing to an unbelievably fast Volunteer squad.

That December, the Green Bay Packers lost to the New York Jets in their final-regular season game of the year, costing them a berth in the playoffs. A win there and they go. But they messed up and the end and missed a long field goal. That seemed to be the team’s modus operandi often during that stretch. Get very close to making the playoffs only to blow it in the last game.

The last week of December, Marquette University always hosted the Milwaukee Classic, a men’s college basketball tournament. There would be two first-round games one night, followed by a third-place game and championship game the next night. My friend, Pat, had an extra ticket for me this time, so I attended both games. Marquette beat Arizona State for the championship that year, and Pat and I got all the Marquette players’ autographs. That included Glenn “Doc” Rivers, who is now the coach of the NBA champions Boston Celtics. It also included Terrell Schlundt, who grew up in Antigo, Wis., my mom’s hometown. One of the dumbest things I’ve ever said I said to Terrell Schlundt during that tournament. When I got his autograph, I mentioned my cousins who lived in Antigo, and he knew who they were. So we chatted briefly about Antigo. Then, when I said thanks, I said, “Win one for me, Terrell.” Man, that was soooooo stupid! I didn’t really mean for it to come out like that. Pat teased me about it for months, adding in a whiny, schoolboy voice that I swear was not in the original line.

Oh well. We also got the autograph of the guy who hit the winning shot in the third-place game of the tournament. I’m going to have to look this one up as I can’t recall the team he played for .. his name was something like Pierre Jeanvier.

Oh shoot. I just found the program from the Milwaukee Classic I had been thinking of. It was actually contested in 1980. Marquette beat Arizona State in 1981. But the Pierre Janvier winning basket came in the third-place game in 1981 as Cal. State-Bakersfield beat Illinois State. We were sitting close, and got the guy’s autograph as he ran off the court. Marquette played Clemson in the championship. That Clemson squad featured Larry Nance, who went on to some NBA success.

Player: Lee Smith

Set: 1982 Fleer, Donruss and Topps

Card Number: 603, 252, and 452 respectively

Why is These Cards are Must Have?: Truth be told, I have been waiting to review this card.  I know I am not in the majority, but Lee Smith is a Hall of Fame pitcher.  It is a travesty that he has not made the Hall of Fame as of yet.  Even if he was a reliever, he amassed 478 saves, when he retired he owned that catagory. currently he number 3 behind only Trevor Hoffman and Mariano Rivera (both of which are ending up in the Hall of Fame.  He averaged almost a strikeout an inning, a 3.03 ERA, a 1.26 WHIP and 31 saves a season (over an 18 year career).  The problem for Lee was that he was never flashy, and over the 18 years, he played on 8 teams.  The one thing about Smith was his incredibly consistency over that stretch of time.  In a position that always seems to have it’s ups and downs, he always remained even keeled.  Last year’s Hall of Fame voting has him at ~43%, he certainly passes my criteria of 300+ saves.  I’m not sure what the hold out is. I mean the Niekro brothers made the Hall of Fame and they were journeymen.  So cross your fingers for this year’s voting and hopefully he will get in.

An interesting aside, his Fleer card has a variation where the Cubs logo is upside down on the back.  This was later corrected in later print runs, but it is a variation.  Below is the error card back:

On a Scale of 1 to 10, How Must Have Are These Cards?: A 7 for all the cards, like I said, he should be in the Hall of Fame, his cards should book for more than $2, but they don’t in my mind he is one of the finest relievers ever that’s why the 7 rating. You can find these cards for no more than a dollar each on eBay.

Mehrbildkarte Dunaújváros | Képzömüvészeti Alap Kiadóvállata, Budapest | No. JT.-2137/22

Die oben gezeigte Ansichtskarte ist am 16. Oktober 1982 von Dunaújváros nach Budapest gelaufen. Frankiert mit zwei Briefmarken zu je 1 Forint die Neubauten aus der Stadt Salgótarján und vermutlich das Stadtwappen, welches auf den dort lange Zeit betriebenen und mittlerweile eingestellten Kohlebergbau verweist, zeigen. Ausgegeben wurde die Marke von der Magyar Posta in einer Reihe mit anderen ungarischen Stadtansichten am 27. November 1972. Der Entwurf stammt von József Vertel.

(1912-1989) Militar de carrera e historiador, Király combatió en la Segunda Guerra Mundial y al finalizar esta se integró en el Ejército Popular húngaro, en donde alcanzó el grado de teniente general y fue miembro de Estado Mayor. En 1951 cayó en desgracia y, acusado injustamente, fue procesado y condenado a muerte, pena que se le conmutó por la de cadena perpetua. En 1956 quedó en libertad. En el levantamiento popular de otoño de 1956 se sumó a los insurrectos y fue comandante de las fuerzas armadas de Budapest y de la Milicia Nacional. Con la derrota de la insurrección se exilió en los Estados Unidos y entre 1968 y 1982 fue profesor universitario en diferentes centros superiores estadounidenses. En 1989 regresó a Hungría. Entre sus publicaciones destaca, por sus aportaciones autobiográficas y documentales, especialmente significativas en el caso del levantamiento de octubre y noviembre de 1956, el libro Honvédségböl néphadsereg (Del Ejército Nacional Húngaro al Ejército Popular), Budapest, Co-Nexus, 1986.

Player: Cal Ripken Jr.

Set: 1982 Fleer, Donruss and Topps

Card Number: 176, 405 and 21 respectively

Why is These Cards are Must Have?: Since 1984 this has been a must have set of cards.  Ripken will go down in history as one of the best players to ever grace the field.  Personally I have all three versions, but my favorite has always been the Donruss.  The Fleer one looks like it was taken on a High School baseball field and the Topps one makes him look kind of sickly.  I like the Donruss one because it’s a great shot of him and he looks all business, like he was in real life. As far as what he did on the field, you have The Streak, his two MVPs and the Rookie of the Year awards, 19 consecutive All Star selections, eight Silver Slugger awards, two Gold Glove awards, 3184 hits and 431 home runs. Interestingly, there are three players on his top ten in similarity who are not in the Hall of Fame Biggio, Kent, and  Dawson.  Biggio and Kent are in, so now what about Dawson?  Yet another argument in his favor.

On a Scale of 1 to 10, How Must Have Are These Cards?: A 10 for all the cards, it’s the Ironman, as close to a Legend as our generation may ever see.  Someone whose name will stand the test of time, someone who you can tell your grandkids you saw play and they would look at you in awe. You can find these cards on eBay for about $10 for Fleer and Donruss, but expect to pay between $25 - $35 for the Topps version.

Have you ever heard of the band, The Who? Here is one of their great songs-

The Who said that this tour in 1982 was their last, but they have done several since then. They actually did a World Tour in 2007.
It was Autumn in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1982. The Who was nearing the end of their farewell tour (they’ve done several since) and it was a big deal at the time. Like many bands in the 80’s, the Who was ready to bypass Milwaukee. The fact that the farewell tour was sponsored by Schlitz, which was moving to Detroit, added injury to insult. A lot of fans in Milwaukee thought their hopes of seeing the Who live ever again were hopeless. In one of the more celebrated stunts in radio history, “Tim the Rock n’ Roll Animal,” a DJ from WQFM (93.3), stepped out onto the 21st story ledge of the station’s Downtown studio and vowed not to come in until The Who agreed to play a show in Milwaukee. For two weeks, the Animal broadcast from outside, urging listeners to “Honk of you love The Who” as they passed the station at 606 W. Wisconsin Ave. One day, Tim got the fateful phone call from The Who singer Roger Daltrey. The band was coming. A mail-in lottery was held for tickets.

“In what has since come to be considered an urban legend, a true hearted DJ named Tim The Rock N Roll Animal decided he was not going to stand for it anymore. As he stepped out onto the 21st story ledge of his tiny independently owned rock radio station’s downtown penthouse, he vowed to stay out there in the cold Wisconsin fall elements until The Who would promise to add Milwaukee to it’s already planned and started American tour.”

I guess when you hear all your teachers and posters in the classroom saying “One person CAN make a difference”, this is a story to prove it.

Scott

No life is complete until it is Cross-referenced. - 8/82

Ein Update von Berlin Beatet Bestes (da die zweite Seite fehlt).

Los Toros, kann man nicht meckern. Kinder und Polizei gemeinsam gegen das Verbrechen mit passender Musik.

[...] Gegründet wurden die ‘Los Toros’ im Jahre 1974 als Vier-Mann-Kapelle. Nach einigen Umbesetzungen erhielt die Formation 1979 ihr heutiges Aussehen. Neben den drei Polizeibeamten Rudolf Eyer (Rhythmusgitarre), Manfred Genesius (Sologitarre) und Michael Mistele (Orgel) kamen mit Heinz Maier (Schlagzeug) ein Werkzeugmacher und mit Guido Ries (Baßgitarre) ein kaufmännischer Angestellter hinzu die ab und zu in die Uniform schlüpfen wenn die Kapelle polizeibezogene Auftritte hat. [...]

Quelle: Beiblatt der Single

Das ist ein Hit: Mein Rad ist registriert.

Quelle: Songtext

Titel:

1. Los Toros: Teufelskreis
2. Los Toros: Langfinger weg (Mein Favorit auf der Scheibe)

Bloomberg.com

By Bob Willis

Nov. 8 (Bloomberg) — President-elect Barack Obama will inherit the worst recession since Ronald Reagan’s second year in the White House, economists said as figures showed U.S. payrolls plunged by more than half a million the past two months.

The economy will shrink at a 3.5 percent annual rate in the fourth quarter and at a 2 percent pace in the first quarter of 2009, nearly twice prior estimates, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. economists led by Jan Hatzius wrote yesterday in a note. That would be the biggest back-to-back contraction since 1982.

The surge in unemployment reflected an economic cave-in in October, when car sales plunged 32 percent, manufacturing contracted the most in 26 years and consumer confidence fell to a record low. The deepening recession puts pressure on Obama to quickly assemble a response and name his economic team…

…The jobless rate in October rose to 6.5 percent and companies slashed 240,000 jobs, for a total of 1.2 million losses so far this year, the Labor Department said. The 1.5 percentage point gain in unemployment over the prior six months was the fastest since the six months ending in Feb. 1982…

…The head of the official arbiter for U.S. economic cycles yesterday said there’s no doubt that the economy is in a recession.

“The evidence is more than compelling,” Robert Hall, who heads the National Bureau of Economic Research’s panel, said in an interview following the jobs report. “It’s conclusive, in my personal opinion.”

Hall joined fellow panelist and Harvard University Professor Martin Feldstein in calling a recession. The eight-member group will meet at a later date to make an official determination because it needs additional details on gross domestic product figures, Hall said…

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aTP1DuSuMY38&refer=home

Historians, too, call Obama victory ‘monumental’

USA TODAY

By Todd Lewan, The Associated Press

It’s political morning again in America. Arguments over flag lapel pins, plumbers and robocalls are fading from memory, and everybody you bump into recognizes that something huge has happened with the election of Barack Obama. In the grocery line, at the post office, over coffee, we all just sense it…

…”I can’t think of another election where the issues were two wars and a crashed economy. There just isn’t any historical precedent for this.” So says Joan Hoff, a former president of the Center for the Study of the Presidency in New York City…

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-11-09-obama-history_N.htm

Army Looking Into Recruiter Suicides

Senator Says Brigadier General Investigating Alleged Suicide Cover Up

Five Army recruiters from the same Houston battalion have committed suicide since 2001, including two since August. Cornyn last month called for an independent investigation in a letter to Secretary of the Army Pete Geren.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=6207478&page=1

Jobless ranks hit 10 million, most in 25 years

Associated Press

By JEANNINE AVERSA

WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation’s jobless ranks zoomed past 10 million last month, the most in a quarter-century, as piles of pink slips shut factory gates and office doors to 240,000 more Americans with the holidays nearing. Politicians and economists agreed on a painful bottom line: It’s only going to get worse.

The unemployment rate soared to a 14-year high of 6.5 percent, the government said Friday, up from 6.1 percent just a month earlier. And there was more grim news from U.S. automakers: Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp., American giants struggling to survive, each reported big losses and figured to be announcing even more job cuts before long.

Barack Obama, in his first news conference as president-elect, said the nation was facing the economic challenge of a lifetime but expressed confidence he could deal with it.

“Immediately after I become president, I’m going to confront this economic crisis head on by taking all necessary steps to ease the credit crisis, help hardworking families, and restore growth and prosperity,” he said after meeting with economic advisers in Chicago. “I’m confident a new president can have an enormous impact.”

Wall Street revived somewhat after two days of big losses. The Dow Jones industrials rose 248 points.

Still, the Labor Department’s unemployment report provided stark evidence that the economy’s health was deteriorating at an alarmingly rapid pace. The jobless rate was 4.8 percent just one year ago.

About 10.1 million people were unemployed in October, the most since the fall of 1983. More people have jobs now, since the population has grown, but it’s still a staggering jobless figure. With employers slashing jobs every month so far this year, some 1.2 million positions have disappeared, over half in the past three months alone.

Like Obama, President Bush expressed confidence that things would get better: “Our economy has overcome great challenges before, and we can be confident that it will do so again.”

But economists were much less upbeat than politicians.

“There is no light at the end of the tunnel, and the outlook is pitch black,” said Richard Yamarone, economist at Argus Research.

And Bernard Baumohl, chief global economist at the Economic Outlook Group, said the report “depicts an economy still in free fall and without a safety net anywhere in sight.”

All the economy’s woes — a housing collapse, mounting foreclosures, hard-to-get credit and financial market upheaval — will confront Obama when he assumes office in January. Unemployment is expected to keep rising during his first year in office, while record budget deficits will crimp his domestic agenda…

…In the 1980-1982 recession — considered the worst since the Great Depression in terms of unemployment — the jobless rate rose as high as 10.8 percent in late 1982 just as the recession ended, before inching down.

Friday’s report was worse than analysts had expected. They had been forecasting a jobless rate of 6.3 percent with payrolls falling about 200,000…

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5ioHc80xKMiATnqCpK0cDKJzk_nPQD94ABSD80

Some neocons were not happy with the Bush team’s response to this 2008 economic “thingy”.

Some were saying the Bush team’s response went against everything conservatives stand for. But it should be reasonable to THINK that conservatives don’t stand for “depressions”. It is reasonable to THINK that if there was a conflict between conservative dogma and the health of the country, the health of the country would take precedence – RIGHT? … RIGHT?? And all Americans ought to believe that a depression is not good for the country - RIGHT?

Is there anybody out there(other than neocons) who believe that “cutting taxes” would solve America’s 2008 economic “thingy”? Even if EVERYBODY’s taxes were cut how would that solve anything? The 1930s depression did teach some a lesson – but it appears that not all absorbed that 1930s lesson.

Perhaps President Bush did go against the neocon’s dogma – but his reason is likely because of a lesson learned from 1930’s history – the Great Depression. He, most likely wanted to do all he could to avoid America’s second Great Depression. It is unfortunate that the “trickle down” effect appears to be “central” to the economic thinking of some of the neocons.

It looks like the frequency of adding bibliophilatelic content slowed down even more during this year. But of course the small engine of bibliophilatelic passion is still running and nearly by chance while thumbing through a stack of postcards I came accross the following envelope, that commemorates the 500th anniversary of Copenhagen university library.

Universitetsbiblioteket København 1482-1982

It was send by the Universitetsbiblioteket itself to the small Zealandian municipality Farum on june 11th 1982 but as it is emptied I will probably never know why. Maybe some overdue notice… However, it is quite nicely stamped and delivered about five months before the official commemorative stamp was issued (november, 4th 1982). Therefore, it is obviously a piece worthy to be part of this virtual collection.

Remake americano de la Cannon de la saga que produjeron en Israel conocida como Polo de Limón.  Anticipa lo que más adelante desarrollaría Paul Feig, y que en España ha pasado a conocerse, gracias a las virtudes de los vídeos virales, como pagafantismo. La película empieza como una típica comedia adolescente con los clásicos clichés de la época y que siguen perpetuándose generación tras generación. Tres amigos: Rick, el típico ligón seguro de si mismo, David el gordo que adopta un rol más belushiano y Gary, el más normal y tímido de los tres; cuyas urgencias vitales vienen motivadas por la explosión hormonal. Así, la primera parte de la película avanza mediante escenas resueltas a modo de esketches, y que se muestran un tanto irregulares. Pero la aparición de Karen (una provocadora Diane Lewis) de la que se enamorará Gary, pese a que ésta empieza a salir con el chico malo que es Rick; provocará un cambio de registro en la película, que se tornará una especie de drama social a lo Mike Leigh.  Con escenas que soprenden por su sordidez y verosimilitud (como la de la prostituta) la película, en este tramo final, sorprende por alejarse de lo que postulaba en un primer momento.

Milgrom

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Ku-Klux-Klan e la P2 di Antonio Di Pietro

Barack Obama ha vinto, è il primo presidente di colore negli Stati Uniti d’America. Obama ha dichiarato di aver vinto anche grazie alla Rete. Inoltre ha dichiarato cherisponderà al popolo e non alle lobby di potere né ai corridoi di Washington.

Gli Stati Uniti hanno una virtù, e nonostante le tante scelte che non ho condiviso del passato governo ed in quello di altri, dimostrano coraggio nel saper affrontare le difficoltà e di saper cambiare con un forte senso di autocritica. Ma cambiare veramente.

Obama è il primo presidente di colore degli Stati Uniti d’America, il suo programma lo vedremo nei fatti e nelle scelte dei prossimi mesi. Negli Stati Uniti la politica si ricongiunge con i cittadini voltando le spalle alle caste.

Obama in America ha definitivamente sepolto il Ku-Klux-Klan , Berlusconi in Italia rispolvera la P2.

Obama in America rappresenta la speranza di un domani migliore, Berlusconi in Italia il triste declino della democrazia.

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For my day job, I was asked to create a bumper/open to use as an intro for our weekend Saturday matinee. I remembered one that I grew up with in the early 80’s that ABC used for theirs, so I dug it up via YouTube and used it as a basis for my design. I loved the groovy feel of it, and I’m a sucker for disco music with heavy strings. That’s also why I love the open to the Buck Rogers in the 25th Century television series, but that’s another blog post. To achieve the desired feel, I used cheesy font, saturated colors and light flare in a pre-composition, and then added blur, noise, more color, brightness and contrast adjustments, and a venetian blind effect to the main composition. I then downsampled the audio to 8kHz 8 bit mono to emulate those high quality stock tv speakers. The audio is a big part of the experience, so make sure you’ve got it. Click on thumbnail for the results.

Dieses Stück war unüberhörbar die Inspiration für Jamie Principles House-Klassiker “Your Love”.

Zum Vergleich Jamie Principle:

Hace un par de semanas hablamos de la conocida banda griega Aphrodite’s Child. Comentamos que esta agrupación (que tuvo, en realidad, una vida muy breve) de rock progresivo había contado entre sus miembros con dos grandes artistas, conocidos mundialmente en la actualidad: Vangelis Papathanassiou y Demis Roussos. Dediquemos algo de atención a ellos…

Concentrémonos el día de hoy en Vangelis (ya habrá espacio para Roussos). No creo que sea necesario dar demasiados detalles acerca de su obra. Todavía siendo parte de AC, este pionero del género New Age comenzó a invertir su talento para la creación de su propia música y el desarrollo de bandas sonoras, apartado en el que ha sobresalido especialmente desde entonces. De entre sus principales (y más famosos) trabajos podemos mencionar la música compuesta para filmes como 1492, Blade Runner (una de las más gustadas… a mí no tanto, pero sí a una gran parte del público ), Missing y, por supuesto, Chariots of Fire. Este último debe de ser su trabajo más célebre, sobre todo el tema principal de la película. De hecho, llegó –logro único para Vangelis- hasta el primer lugar de las 100 mejores canciones de la revista Billboard en mayo de 1982.

En 1979, Vangelis tuvo a su cargo la musicalización de una serie de documentales producidos por una televisora francesa: L Opéra Sauvage. El talentoso compositor griego produjo un grupo de melodías para acompañar a esta serie, que “exploraba la relación entre el hombre, la música y los animales de todo el mundo”. El material resultante tomó la forma de disco, distribuyéndose como Opera Sauvage. El público quedó cautivado con la belleza contenida en todas sus piezas (principalmente en L’Enfant) y, prueba de ello, se le considera hoy en día como uno de los mejores y más conocidos álbumes que Papathanassiou ha  grabado en su carrera.

De este gran disco, escuchemos el tema Hymne (melodía que yo, en lo personal, considero como una de las más hermosas que he tenido la suerte de escuchar… ). Aclaro que esta es la versión original, puesto que también existe otra del mismo Vangelis, grabada posteriormente. Esa no es tan buena…

Fuentes/Referencias: http://elsew.com/ ; http://www.vangelismovements.com/operasauvagemovie.htm ; http://www.imdb.com ; http://www.manticornio.com ; http://en.wikipedia.org

Most of the ghazals we grew up listening to often had heavy duty high sounding words in them whose meanings few people understood. And people not understanding the words would not admit to it either, fearing that he would fall in the estimation of fellow ghazal lovers with such a confession.

Ghazals of 1980s are different. Many ghazals that became popular had simple easy to understand lyrics. take this ghazal for example. I am surprised to note that I actually understand every word of it ! And same was the case with every other listener.

And this was not as if this ghazal was wtitten by just about anyone. It was written by Kaifi Azmi, so there is no question that this song is a proper ghazal. Use of simple Hindi words like “Rekha” must have encouraged even layman listeners to listen to such songs.

Not just the lyrics, even the music and the singing is minimalistic.

And the effect is magic. This simple sounding ghazal from “Arth” is one of the most memorable ghazals from Bollywood movies in 1980s.

Song- Tum itna jo muskura rahe ho (Arth 1982) Singer-Jagjeet Singh,Lyrics-Kaifi Azmi, Music-Jagjeet Singh

Lyrics

tum itnaa jo muskuraa rahe ho
tum itnaa jo muskuraa rahe ho
kyaa gham hai jisko chhupaa rahe ho
kyaa gham hai jisko chhupaa rahe ho
tum itnaa jo muskuraa rahe ho

aankhon mein nami hansi labon par
aankhon mein nami hansi labon par
kyaa haal hai kyaa dikhaa rahe ho
kyaa haal hai kyaa dikhaa rahe ho
kyaa gham hai jisko chhupaa rahe ho
tum itnaa jo muskuraa rahe ho

ban jaayenge zahar peete peete
ban jaayenge zahar peete peete
ye ashq jo peete jaa rahe ho
ye ashq jo peete jaa rahe ho

jin zakhmon ko waqt bhar chala hai
jin zakhmon ko waqt bhar chala hai
tum kyun unhe chede jaa rahe ho
tum kyun unhe chede jaa rahe ho
kyaa gham hai jisko chhupaa rahe ho
tum itnaa jo muskuraa rahe ho

rekhaaon kaa khel hai muqaddar
rekhaaon kaa khel hai muqaddar
rekhaaon se maat khaa rahe ho
rekhaaon se maat khaa rahe ho
kyaa gham hai jisko chhupaa rahe ho
kyaa gham hai jisko chhupaa rahe ho
kyaa gham hai jisko chhupaa rahe ho

Wielka czystka

Rzeczpospolita, 13.12.01,  ŁUKASZ KAMIŃSKI ANDRZEJ KRAJEWSKI

Przejrzyste i jasne kryteria

Powszechna weryfikacja kadr dotknęła także wyższe uczelnie. Decyzję o jej dokonaniu podjęło 27 kwietnia 1982 roku Biuro Polityczne KC PZPR. Dwa tygodnie później minister nauki, szkolnictwa wyższego i techniki skierował do rektorów pismo informujące o rozpoczęciu akcji. Równolegle dokonywano “czystki” w uczelniach podległych innym resortom (AWF, szkoły artystyczne, akademie medyczne). Weryfikację prowadzono “w oparciu o przejrzyste i jasne kryteria”, z których największe znaczenie miała “ocena postaw społeczno-politycznych i zachowań w okresie po sierpniu 1980 roku oraz po wprowadzeniu stanu wojennego”. Jej celem było m.in. “usunięcie z zawodu osób działających aktywnie na szkodę interesów PRL”. Powołano uczelniane oraz wydziałowe (instytutowe) komisje oceniające. W skład pierwszych wchodzili przedstawiciele senatu, wojewódzkiego komitetu obrony, komitetu uczelnianego PZPR oraz ewentualnie komitetów SD i ZSL.

Weryfikacja kadr została przeprowadzona mimo silnego oporu środowiska akademickiego (protestowały m.in. senaty i rady wydziałów niektórych uczelni). Nie powiodły się także próby sparaliżowania akcji komisjom wydziałowym, na przykład poprzez wystawianie samych pozytywnych ocen. Ich decyzje zmieniały, kontrolowane przez władze, komisje uczelniane. W efekcie “wnioski kadrowe” podjęto wobec 11 procent nauczycieli akademickich!

Blisko 1500 osób zwolniono z pracy, pozostałym przedłużano umowy warunkowo na czas określony lub, w większości przypadków, przesuwano ze stanowisk naukowo-dydaktycznych na pomocnicze. Jak z rozbrajającą szczerością przyznawano w oficjalnym sprawozdaniu po zakończeniu akcji, służyło to “rozwiązaniu [stosunku pracy] bez konieczności przestrzegania ustawowych okresów zatrudnienia”.

Na podstawie odrębnych decyzji ministerstwa tylko do połowy lipca 1982 roku odwołano 24 rektorów, 51 prorektorów, 22 dziekanów i 30 prodziekanów. Jak zapowiadano w wewnętrznym sprawozdaniu PZPR, “liczby te ulegną zwiększeniu”. W sierpniu i wrześniu dokonano dalszych kilkunastu zmian.

———-

Jak partia szła na wojnę-ŁUKASZ KAMIŃSKI

Tygodnik Powszechny, 2000

Całkowita weryfikacja wszystkich zatrudnionych, nie tylko pełniących stanowiska kierownicze, objęła trzy środowiska zawodowe: nauczycieli, pracowników wyższych uczelni i dziennikarzy. Najszerszy zasięg czystki przybrały wśród tych ostatnich: pracę straciło ponad tysiąc dziennikarzy. Wśród nauczycieli akademickich z pracy zwolniono w Akademiach Wychowania Fizycznego 48 osób, w uczelniach artystycznych 35, a w szkołach wyższych podległych Ministerstwu Szkolnictwa Wyższego łącznie 1329 osób! Podobna ilość pracowników naukowych została przesunięta na niższe stanowiska (bibliotekarze, technicy, lektorzy), co często było wstępem do zwolnienia. Ze stanowisk usunięto kilkudziesięciu rektorów, dziekanów i dyrektorów instytutów. Ogółem „wnioski kadrowe” podjęto wobec blisko 11 proc. nauczycieli akademickich.

Informacja IPN : Śledztwo - S 84/05/Zk

W sprawie:dokonanego w czerwcu 1982 r. w Katowicach przez funkcjonariuszy państwa komunistycznego pełniących funkcje kierownicze w Uniwersytecie Śląskim w Katowicach przekroczenia uprawnień i złośliwego naruszania praw pracowniczych poprzez podjęcie z przyczyn politycznych decyzji o rozwiązaniu stosunku pracy wobec Mirosławy B. i innych pracowników naukowych, tj. o przestępstwo z art. 231 § 1 kk i art. 218 § 1 kk w zw. z art. 2 ust. 1 ustawy z dnia 18.12.1998 r. o Instytucie Pamięci Narodowej-Komisji Ścigania Zbrodni przeciwko Narodowi Polskiemu

He made the tree on which He hung;

The earth to which it lately clung.

When innocent, it raised leafy arms,

While robins among them lived and sung.

He made the ore from which, by craft,

With forge white-hot and windy draft,

The town blacksmith sledged, with sinewed arms,

Long nails; innocent of greed or graft.

He made the sponge, carelessly raised,

Knew the near pool where it had “grazed,”

Commanding food with tiny arms,

Before beaching innocent and dazed.

He made the sources, rich in ink,

Where artist oft gave his pen drink,

Scrolling with careful, innocent arms:

“The King of the Jews,” making folks think.

He made the men, that unmade Him.

Knew their thoughts, goals, and every whim.

And as they nailed holy feet and arms,

Heaven’s innocence He prayed on them. -eab, fall ‘82

written in Friendsville, Tennessee