MY LIFE - Discussing music with my daughter!

Conversation from last weekend...

Me: "Have you heard Indian electronic dance music?"

Daughter: "Yeah, it's interesting."

Pause.

Me: "You realize that we are one of the few fathers and daughters who could have this conversation?"

SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY: SPACE & SCIENCE A brief history of pi

Everybody knows the value of pi is 3.14…er, something, but how many people know where the ratio came from?

Actually, the ratio came from nature—it’s the ratio between the circumference of a circle and its diameter, and it was always there, just waiting to be discovered. But who discovered it? In honor of Pi Day, here’s a semi-brief history of how pi came to be known as 3.14(1592653589793238462643383279502884197169…and so on).


http://www.techhive.com/article/191389/a-brief-history-of-pi.html

SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY: What Did People Use Before Toilet Paper?

Using the bathroom has come a long way from when ancient Greeks used stones and pieces of clay for personal hygiene. Toilet paper is one of those things that often gets taken for granted in modern times, except for places Charmin has yet to infiltrate. This is definitely one of those unavoidable things in life, so through many centuries and in many cultures, everyone had their own method of staying clean. Be warned: We’re going to get specific.

Read the full text here:
http://mentalfloss.com/article/48950/what-did-people-use-toilet-paper

CULTURE/SOCIETY: Africa's Forgotten Soldiers

Heard this recently in a podcast from the BBC. When I was in Africa, I always thought a book about the African fighters in World War II would make an interesting book!

I first learned about this myself when I was teaching in southern Africa. I was waiting the Immigration office to open from lunch. And it was next to the city park so I was just hanging out there since it was a nice day.

And I checked out the sculpture in the middle on it. On it was listed all the countrymen who had died in World War I and II. Until then, I didn't know that Africans had fought in the World Wars!

I talked to the older folks in the country and they told me of relatives who fought in the north part of Africa and even in Europe!

So if that peaks your interest, give this show a listen! - OlderMusicGeek

Africa's Forgotten Soldiers

Seventy years after the start of the Second World War the overwhelming impression is of a conflict fought on the battlefields of Europe by white troops.

Britain’s war effort was bolstered by soldiers from the white Commonwealth – Australia, Canada and New Zealand and later by the United States.

The war in the Far East is often overlooked, as is the fighting that took place in Africa. Yet one million African troops participated in the conflict, fighting their way through the jungles of Burma, across the Libyan deserts and in the skies over London.

For Africa the war began in 1935, when Italian forces backed by Eritrean troops, invaded Ethiopia.



Ethiopian guerrilla forces, known as the Patriots, continued fighting even after Emperor Haile Selassie fled to England. After 1939 Britain began an intensive programme of recruiting soldiers from across its African colonies. Some were conscripted by force, others were only too keen to sign up.

An intensive programme of training got under way, to turn raw recruits, many of whom had never left their own village, into soldiers.

For a good number it was a real shock: the first time they had eaten processed food, the first time they had seen the ocean, the first time they had been taught to read and write. And all too soon they were transported thousands of miles from home, to fight on foreign soil.

It was years before they would come home, since home leave was almost impossible. When they did return they found little had changed, but their own experiences were entirely new and some went on to fight for their liberation of their own countries from colonial rule.

In this documentary, Martin Plaut hears first hand from the African troops who participated in the war – and who played a critical part in freeing the world from the threat of fascism.

First broadcast 13 November 2009

A link to the original website

POLITICS: What To Do With Our Rebate Checks

Well, I already put the text up 3 months ago, but Ernest T Spoon sent me some cartoons that go well with it, so I posting it again with the cartoons! Plus, I figured I better put them up while they're still topical! - OlderMusicGeek

How to use the rebate

As you may have heard the Bush Administration said each and every one of us would now get a nice rebate.

If we spend that money at Wal-Mart, all the money will go to China.

If we spend it on gasoline, it will all go to the Middle East.

If we purchase a computer, it will all go to India.

If we purchase fruit and vegetables, it will all go to Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala.

If we purchase a good car, it will all go to Japan.

If we purchase useless crap, it will all go to Taiwan and none of it will help the American economy.

We need to keep that money here in America, so the only way to keep that money here at home is to buy prostitutes and beer, since those are the only businesses still in the U.S.