Weekly Ear, July 9 - July 15

Atlanta concert picks

SAT/11 @ 8:00pm
ATLANTA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Nine days before the 40th anniversary of humanity's first steps on the Moon, Mei-Ann Chen conducts Holst's “The Planets,” featuring high-resolution NASA space imagery, plus music from “Star Wars” and “2001: A Space Odyssey.” $21-$59, Verizon Amphitheatre, 404-733-4800, www.atlantasymphony.org

WED/15 @ 9:00pm
NATHANIEL BARTLETT
A five-octave acoustic marimba centers the dramatic musical world of percussionist/composer Bartlett, immersed within hi-def computer-generated sonic environments. Features first Atlanta performances of "Take Flight" by Wisconsin composer Allan Schindler and Bartlett's own "Sound/Space System.” $7. Eyedrum, 404-522-0655, www.eyedrum.org

It's the ideas, stupid!

Entrepreneur and programmer Derek Sivers, founder of CD Baby, talks about the difference between the value of ideas and the people who have them:

The mirror: It’s about you, not them.

If you see a gorgeous painting that fascinates you, does it matter if you find out the artist hasn’t paid her taxes? Would you stop enjoying the painting? ... READ MORE at SIVERS.ORG

Source: sivers.org
Author: Derek Sivers

Opposition to H.R. 2454 likely growing in U.S. Senate

In today's U.S. News and World Report, columnist Peter Roff (Thomas Jefferson Street blog) posits that opposition to H.R. 2454, aka "American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009," is swelling in the U.S. Senate. His article Numbers Adding Up Against Obama's "Cap and Trade" Bill in the Senate (posted July 07, 2009 11:31 AM ET) points to both the thin margin of passage in the House and the statistical distribution of those House votes among State delegations as being among the indicators.

A simple majority in the House is 216. A total of 219 Representatives voted in favor of H.R. 2545, 212 voted against.

Of 255 Democrats in the House, 44 of them (a little over 17%) voted against the bill, while one did not vote.

Political heat is being taken from within their own party by 8 House Republicans for voting in favor of the bill, which passed by only 4 votes. Had only half of those Republicans voted "no" the bill would have failed. Two Republicans did not cast a vote.

View a statistical summary and "who voted how" in the roll call of votes here. ¹

Download the entire 1428 pages of H.R. 2454 (PDF, 2.24 mb), as passed by the House of Representatives on July 6, here. ²

Opponents of H.R. 2454, sometimes familiarly called the "Energy Tax," "Cap and Trade" or "Cap and Tax" bill, are pressing hard for its defeat in the Senate.

—Mark Gresham


[1] from govtrack.us
[2] Document certified by Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Governement Printing Office with a GeoTrust CA from Adobe.

Nothing to waste: The advantage of being under-funded

Entrepreneur and programmer Derek Sivers, founder of CD Baby, talks about marketing as simply "being considerate" without need for the fancy trappings:

Nothing to waste: The advantage of being under-funded

Source: sivers.org
Author: Derek Sivers

The Music May Not Want to Be Free

In the upcoming July 6, 2009 issue of The New Yorker, reviewer Malcolm Gladwell takes on the technological utopian assumptions of WIRED editor Chris Anderson's book, Free.

Malcolm Gladwell reviews Free by Chris Anderson: Books: The New Yorker

Source: www.newyorker.com
BOOKS review of “Free: The Future of a Radical Price” (Hyperion; $26.99) by Chris Anderson. ... READ MORE in THE NEW YORKER

Sony Walkman turns 30

On July 1, 1979, thirty years ago today, the original Sony Walkman made its public debut as the world’s first portable music player...   READ MORE in CREATIVE LOAFING

Moonwalking before Michael Jackson?

Michael Jackson made the moonwalk world-famous during his performance in the 1983 TV special, Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever. But who inspired the King of Pop to make it his signature step?...   READ MORE in CREATIVE LOAFING