text:
I was going to do a list of my favorite records of the 00's, but as I was getting my list together I started to realize it was kind of boring. Really, how many music blogs do you need to tell you the same thing? That's when I began thinking about the records that came out over last 10 years that I thought were criminally ignored, or just didn't seem to get a fair shake. So what I've got for you is a list of my most underrated albums of the decade. Every one of these records shoulda been a hit, but because the world is a cruel, cruel place they never were.
Putting this list together was a lot of fun, because it allowed me to make amends for some records that I missed the year they came out. There is not a year that goes by that I don't discover my favorite album from the previous year in March of the next year. And so it goes….you'll find a lot albums on this list that never made one of my year end lists from the past ten years. I can assure you though, that everyone of these would make my top 100 albums of the aughts. I just thought focusing on the underdogs would be a little more interesting than seeing some list with the same records as every other list out there. Hope that I have half-succeeded. Oh, and yeah, I know that the decade is officially over at the end of 2010, but I start counting at zero.
It's Jo and Danny – Lank Haired Girl To Bearded Boy (2000: Double Snazzy)
This was one of those buys where I was in a record store flipping through CD's and saw a cover that caught my eye. I remember opening it up and seeing that Dan Treacy of Television Personalities had written the liner notes and thinking, that it's got to be good. Unheard, I bought this at some overpriced record shop in Paris (I'm so cosmopolitan) and it soon thereafter became my favorite record for months on end. It's got elements of Mazzy Star and shoegaze, but seems to carve out it's own space making it kind of unclassifiable and kinda special. They would put out three more albums in the decade, but none came as close to perfection as Lank Haired Girl. To this day, I have no idea which one is Jo and which one is Danny.
mp3: It's Jo & Danny – Repentant Song
mp3: It's Jo & Danny – Solar Plexus
The Fall – The Unutterable (2000: Eagle)
It's just like Mark E Smith to come back from near disaster with an amazing album. After being arrested for assault of his then girlfriend Julia Nagel in New York and having his long time band quit on him Smith returned with an entire new band and the Unutterable. He'd done it before, releasing Extricate after Brix left him, so there is some sort of precedence. It's amazing how the Fall can still sound vital some 30 years into it, but they do, and this is example number one for the aughts (see also Heads Roll and Country on the Click).
mp3: The Fall – Cyber Insekt
mp3: The Fall – Dr. Buck's Letter
Moose – High Ball Me (2000: Le Grand Magistery)
Moose never officially broke up, so I still hold out hope. High Ball Me was their fourth and last album. All three previous records were criminally ignored, so why should this one be any different. The perennial underdogs, Moose made such great albums to the delight of those lucky enough to hear them. High Ball Me is no different except that this one got released not only in the UK but in the US, a first for the band. There was no slide in quality on High Ball Me. Incorporating Nilson, Buckly, Hazlewood and House of Love into an intricate wall of sound that Phil Spector would envy. It's downright lush!
mp3: Moose -Can't Get Enough of You
mp3: Moose -Pretend We Never Met
Broadcast – The Noise Made By People (2000: Warp)
Before Broadcast became a laptop band, they were actually a real band and The Noise Made By People was the culmination of their autumnal space-age pop. It had an icy cold and unfeeling demeanor like Nico, but there was a glow to it like the Mamas and the Papas and a fiery intensity like Jefferson Airplane. You get the picture, it has a definite 60's feel to it, but it has it without sounding too derivative. I remember seeing them at the Knitting Factory in LA for their tour to promote the album, and Broadcast as a full band in a live setting so greatly surpassed what they had put down on tape. Trish Keenan's voice, the retro light show, the noise created by the keyboards, but mostly the guitars filled the room with a hazy shade of winter. Take note chillwave/laptop groups, you need a band, otherwise it's just watching a guy clicking a mouse.
mp3: Broadcast – Come On Let's Go
mp3: Broadcast – Echo's Answer
Goldfrapp – Felt Mountain (2000: Mute)
Some of the sounds on Goldfrapp's debut album are otherworldly. It's all strings and computers, but it sounds like it came from outer space. Outer space circa circa 1960, something akin to Peter Thomas's soundtrack to Raumpatrouille. Alisson Goldfrapp looks like she could have been a Bond girl and has a voice to match. Before making Felt Mountain with Will Gregory, she had appeared on albums by Tricky and Orbital, so this record and its cinematic trip hop didn't come out of nowhere, but the yodeling kind of did.
mp3: Goldfrapp -Lovely Head
mp3: Goldfrapp – Utiopia
The Aislers Set – The Last Match (2000: Slumberland)
You know what I do with this album? I probably shouldn't say this, but I only listen to the Amy Linton songs. No offense to Wyatt Cusak (he sings 3 of the 14 songs on the album), but I'm a sucker for that girl group sound augmented with a big wall of guitars and that is what Linton specializes in. The Aislers Set are kind of the Rosetta Stone of Slumberland, the linchpin of the label that links the seminal Black Tambourine to the current crop of bands like Lichtenstein, Brilliant Colors, Grass Widow, and Frankie Rose. If there was a song that came out in the year 2000 that is better than the lead off track The Way To Market Station, I have yet to hear it.
mp3: Aislers Set -The Way To Market Station
mp3: Aislers Set – Hit the Snow
Animals That Swim – Happiness From a Distant Star (2001: Snowstorm)
Admittedly Happiness from a Distant Star is not the best Animals that Swim album, that honor would got to I was the King, I Really Was the King, but Animals that Swim are so good that their third best album (they only made three) is better than anything someone like Sufijan Stevens could ever, ever come up with in his wildest dreams. Singer Hank Stars is like the UK version of Silver Jews' Dave Berman. He paints vivid pictures of the down on their luck and downtrodden characters and does it with such an eye for melody and melancholy that you find yourself swept up in stories about Uncle Mackie, aliens and letter writing.
mp3: Animals That Swim- Mackie's Wake
mp3: Animals That Swim -The Moon and the Mothership
The American Analog Set – Know By Heart (2001: Tigersyle)
Up until Know By Heart, American Analog Set were background music to me, but with this record they seemed to grow some teeth and develop a pulse. It's still mellow, but there is a welcome tension to their songs. The band create a hypnotic swirling sound that is so crisp and clean you could eat off of it. Although the playing is at the forefront (the drumming is lovely), front guy Andrew Kenny comes to bat with some really strong pop songs. The Postman is pretty unforgettable and Aaron & Maria is the poppiest thing that AmAnSet have ever laid to tape.
mp3: American Analog Set – Aaron and Maria
mp3: American Analog Set – The Postman
The Tyde – Once (2001: Orange Sky)
Back in 2001 I wrote that the Tyde answer the question: What if Felt were from Southern California? Darren Rademaker is an obvious fan that Birmingham, UK band, but you can also tell he knows his local history, showing an appreciation of the Byrds and Buffalo Springfield. When this record came out in 2001 I was living down in San Diego, the perfect place to hear it. Once was meant for the beach, surfing, getting good and high and eating at Swami's Natural Food Cafe on a sunny Encinitas day.
mp3: The Tyde -All My Bastard Children
mp3: The Tyde – North County Times
Cornelius – Point (2002: Matador)
Japanese pop alchemist Cornelius is a master of precision and layering on texture after texture onto the frame of a pop song. A song might start with a water drop, become a trickling stream and end up a waterfall. Each part taken by itself seems so basic and simple, but as they layer upon one another the complexity in it all becomes apparent. Cornelius has this uncanny ability to create these engineering marvels and still make them sound vibrant, catchy and exiting. If you ever have the chance to see him live jump at it, you will not regret it. A true master builder at work.
mp3: Cornelius -Drop
mp3: Cornelius – Fly
Radio Dept. – Lesser Matters (2003: Shelflife/Labrador)
Lesser Matters has not lost a spec of goodness since I first heard it back in 2003. I never get tired of Johan Duncanson's sleepy singing over top of the band's over-modulated drums and feedback tinged guitars. I hesitate to call it Swedish shoegaze, but they do seem to worship at the alter of the Mary Chain, albeit with synthesizers and cheap drum machines. Later on in the decade Sophia Copula would put their music into movies and they would become somewhat more well known, but the band still seem to be a secret.
mp3: Radio Dept. -Where Damage Isn't Already Done
mp3: Radio Dept. – 1995
A Frames – 2 (2003: S-S Records)
Any one of the A-Frames records could be on this list. The Seattle goth-punks birthed three albums in the early aughts and every single one of them was worthy. Their paranoid, doom-laden, angular take on punk rock comes off as it was made in A Brave New World. Everything is sterile, there is no emotion, and the skies are gray with nuclear fall-0ut. Their second album, intuitively titled 2 has just enough pop juxtaposed with dread to make it a winner. The band would go on to sign with Sub Pop for their third album, before drummer Lars Finberg would leave to concentrate on his other band the Intelligence. The A Frames are what so-Cal punks DI would have been if they lived in the Pacific Northwest deprived of sun, surf and girls. Feel the angst!
mp3: A Frames -Ionic
mp3: A Frames – Modula
Graham Coxon – Happiness in Magazines (2004: EMI)
Blur. Bleh. Blah. Kind of sums up my opinion of Blur as their career progressed. I just kind of lost interest. Blur guitarist Graham Coxon always seemed like he was the conflicted member of the group, not really embracing their super-stardom, keeping his foot in the lo-fi with his solo albums. After he left the band, his records moved away from the feedback drenched jams to became a lot more structured and pop focused and Happiness in Magazines is easily his best record. He drafted Blur producer Stephen Street to twiddle the knobs and he showed up with his grade A songs. There's the straightforward pop of Spectacular and Freakin Out, but he delves into the blues on Girl Done Gone and is downright funny on Bottom Bunk. I think with Happiness In Magazines Coxon reaches a level of comfortable with who he is and it shows.
mp3: Graham Coxon – Bottom Bunk
mp3: Graham Coxon – Spectacular
Katerine – Robots Après Tout (2005: Rosebud/Barclay)
When this came out, I called it a freak-show in a jewel case. I stand by those words, but I mean them in the best possible way. Just by glancing at the cover you might get the idea that this is not your normal album. Yeah, Katerine is French, so maybe it was cool to walk around in pink silk turtlenecks and women's underwear back in 2005 somewhere in France, but I kind of doubt it. Philippe Katerine's records seemed to be getting stranger and stranger and this is the wacked out amazing culmination. I think I like the really over the top songs the best. The club-y strangeness of Borderline, the disco of 100% VIP and the funky Cornelius-like Qu'Est-Ce Qu'Il A Dit ? No matter what shade of strangeness you gravitate to, you will undoubtedly find it on this record and probably end up dancing to it.
mp3: Katerine -Borderline
mp3: Katerine – Le Train De 19h
Rough Bunnies – Rough Bunnies Saved My Life (2005: Self-released)
Frida and Anna are the Rough Bunnies. They've also been The Flame and Inside Riot, but Rough Bunnies is their favorite band. They're kind of Riot Grrl, they're kind of Moldy Peaches, but mostly they're Swedish punks releasing cd-r's. The songs are immediate and the Bunnies greatest concern seems to be to get it on tape before they forget it. So everything has a ramshackle, but endearing feel to it. The Bunnies are prolific as they are obscure, popping out CD-r's like, umm rabbits. They nearly signed to Alan McGee's Poptones and Fine Arts Showcase did an entire album of Rough Bunnies covers. Where do you start? Rough Bunnies Saved My Life might be their best album, and if you like it there's a treasure trove waiting for you.
mp3: Rough Bunnies -Rough Bunnies Saved My Life
mp3: Rough Bunnies – Dance With Your Shadow
Human Television – Look At Who You're Talking To (2005: Gigantic Music)
Ahh, the jangling 80's. You know the saying, they don't make 'em like they use to. Human Television take it to heart and conjure the ghosts of the Rain Parade, Dumptruck, the Feelies and Let's Active. They write melancholy sounding songs punctuated by bright chiming and jangling guitars. It's a tried and true juxtaposition, and Human Television do it so well that they are excused for not bringing something new to the table. Each and every one of these songs will make you shake your head in wonder at how good it is. How good? To paraphrase the album: sunshine on your face, room spinning round your head good.
mp3: Human Television -People Talking
mp3: Human Television – Tonight's the Night
The Go-Betweens – Oceans Apart (2005: Yep Roc)
2000 marked the release of the first Go-Between album in 12 years, Friends of Rachel Worth, and 2005 marked the release of this, the final Go-Betweens album because of Grant McClennan's sudden death in 2006. On Oceans Apart, McClennan was ever-present with his classic wistful pop songs as always. He always seemed to be able to reel off perfect pop without even trying and Boundary Rider and Finding You are among his best. But, on Oceans Apart it was Robert Forster that put this record on the map as my favorite Go-Betweens album. His frantic opener Here Comes a City, historical reminiscing rampage of Darlinghurst Nights and beautiful Lavender put this Go-Betweens album in the hallowed company of 16 Lovers Lane.
mp3: Go-Betweens -Darlinghust Nights
mp3: Go-Betweens -Boundary Rider
Tom Vek – We Have Sound (2005: Go-Beat)
I can't help but think that if this album was released two or three years later it would have been much bigger. Of course I'm usually wrong about things like this, but singles like Nothing But Green Lights and A Little Word In Your Ear mine similar veins as what James Murphy gets called a genius for. Vek was in his early 20's when he made We Have Sound, writing and playing everything. It was such a stellar debut, and the future looked so bright the guy was wearing shades. That was 2005, oh Tom where have you disappeared to?
mp3: Tom Vek -Nothing But Green Lights
mp3: Tom Vek – If You Want
Blumfeld – Verbotene Fruchte (2006: Sony/BMG)
The number one album of 2006, well at least here at the Finest Kiss. Obviously the band were nonplussed about the dubious honor, deciding to break up in early 2007. Verboten Fruchte is probably the German band's most fleshed out record with lots of keyboards and even strings and horns. Like Love circa Forever Changes they've thrown off their garage rock roots and blossomed into a more nuanced and textured way of doing things. All of that fancy stuff can't mask the garage rock origins of the band, it just shows their restlessness, and wanting to stretching out and trying new things. If you're like me, this record will have you reaching for your German-English dictionary, so you know what exactly you're singing along to.
mp3: Blumfeld – Strobohobo
mp3: Blumfeld – Heiß Die Segel
Kelley Stoltz – Below the Branches (2006: Sub Pop)
There is one group of people who I know loves this record. Advertisers and marketing dickies have latched onto Below the Branches and won't let go. You can't turn on the TV these days without hearing a song from it. Kelley Stoltz can sell other people's products with his music, but has trouble selling his own records. Below the Branches is chock full of classic pop, one listen and you'll want to start a marketing company.
mp3: Kelley Stoltz – Memory Collector
mp3: Kelley Stoltz – Birdies Singing
Holland – The Paris Hilton Mujahideen (2006: Teenbeat)
Almost coming off like a Guided By Voices record with short songs that are so catchy you can't believe he only made them a minute and a half long. Shards of guitar crash down on echo-y bass and keyboards as one man band Trevor Kampman croons with an icy disconnectedness. The production is so clear, yet the songs are so jarring and choppy that they literally reach out and grab and shake you. Kampan is jaded, and down about the state of the world. Paris Hilton Mujahideen is good illustration of the world back in 2006. Not much has changed.
mp3: hollAnd – Boolean Misery Index
mp3: hollAnd – Rapture Is Ready
BOAT – Songs That You Might Not Like (2006: Magic Marker)
Seattle bands that love power pop and have a sense of humor, may sound like an oxymoron, but BOAT picked up the torch that was passed to them from a rich lineage that includes the Young Fresh Fellows, The President of the United States of America, Harvey Danger and even Mudhoney. Songs That You Might Not Like wasted no time in firing salvo after salvo of funny, sad, heart-on-the-sleeve power pop. How could you not like a bunch of guys that drink too much soda, cruise in minivans, destroy noise rock bands, get called reptile boy, have ninjas sitting on their couch at home, and use skeleton keys? This was their first record, and they would only get better.
mp3: BOAT – Remember the Romans
mp3: BOAT – Last Cans of Paint
Pants Yell! – Alison Statton (2007: Soft Abuse)
At first I was perplexed by Pants Yell! naming their record after the Young Marble Giants singer and not sounding anything like them. Then I thought, I named my blog after a Boo Radleys song and never write about that song or the band. I won't deny it, Pants Yell! are twee, but it's twee with melancholy and attitude. They actually sound equal parts Housemartins and Lucksmiths. Singer Andrew Churchman has an instantly memorable voice and this record equals any album from either of those two previously mentioned bands. The only problem with Alison Statton is getting passed the first song More Purple, it's so damn good you'll find yourself hitting rewind and never get to the rest of it.
mp3: Pants Yell! – More Purple
mp3: Pants Yell! – Alison Statton
Pelle Carlberg – In a Nutshell (2007: Labrador)
Pelle Carlberg is a clever fellow. He's got nothing but bad luck, a wonky wheel on his shopping cart, a crap career as a pop singer, and a broken clock. Carlberg got an ace up his sleeve though, his ability to make his mundane life seem so interesting. He's funny, self-deprecating, has a better command of English than most native speakers, and has a pocket full of pop songs that will make your ears prick up. In a Nutshell was his second solo album after his band Edson broke up and it's the one where he put all the pieces together to come up with something that people like Morrissey and Billy Bragg have long since stopped making.
mp3: Pelle Carlberg – Clever Girls Like Clever Boys Much More Than Clever Boys Like Clever Girls
mp3: Pelle Carlberg – I Love You, You Imbecile
Electrelane – No Shouts No Calls (2007: Too Pure)
One of the great disappointments of 2007 for me was Electrelane. After making what I would argue is their best album they went and quit. No Shouts No Calls was the Brighton, England band at their most melodic and immediate. The production is raw with the drums nice and in your face, they way Albini made the Wedding Present sound on Seamonsters. The songs contain elements of twee-pop and Kraut-rock combining to form melody driven grooves. They can be gentle and understated like on Cut and Run or lay it all out on songs like Tram 21 and To The East. I hold on to the hope that they really meant it when they said that they were going on indefinite hiatus, and not really actually quitting.
mp3: Electrelane – To the East
mp3: Electrelane – Saturday
Intelligence – Deuteronomy (2007: In the Red)
Up until Deuteronomy the Intelligence were decidedly lo-fi, but in 2007 the band's mastermind Lars Finberg decided to turn up the bass and make a record that didn't sound like the treble button was stuck at 11. There are elements of darkness that his former band the A Frames excelled in, but the genius of Deuternomy is it's skewed take on pop that he would later take to another level on this year's Fake Surfers. Intelligence records are like trip into the head of Finberg, and his world is a weird, wild, funny place place. Weird like the Residents, wacked like Brainiac but catchy as Devo.
mp3: Intelligence – Moon Beeps
mp3: Intelligence – Secret Signals
Gentleman Jesse – Gentleman Jesse (2008: Douchemaster)
Jesse Smith's likely heros include Nick Lowe, Paul Collins, Elvis Costello and Paul Weller. These names certainly command respect, but the style of power pop that they are so well known for is decidedly out of style these days, and the likely reason that this album got no traction when it came out last year. That's the only reason I can think of because back in the old days when a record like this came out, it was blasting out of dorm rooms and cars everywhere. Nowadays it's all about headphone music and records that need to be heard blasting at full volume into the open air suffer.
mp3: Gentleman Jesse – Black Hole
mp3: Gentleman Jesse – The Rest of My Days


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subset: commoncrawl


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Meanwhile, FSA's friends over at the Farm Bureau are worrying about implementation--from Farm Policy:
"We have serious concerns about the other proposals floating around, which dictate different rules, different crops and different payments. Not only would such programs be a nightmare for local Farm Service Agency offices to administer, but farmers would have the ability to cherry-pick which program works best for them. Because of distortions in price, we'd have a system of farmers deciding what to produce based on government payments rather than market signals."


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By Robin 'Red Hot' Kaye
I don't know about you, but for me, the best day of the year is always the first day of school even though each child comes home with an inch-thick stack of forms to fill out. By the time I finish filling out the forms, I've got a major case of writer's cramp but even that doesn't diminish my happiness.
After enduring a full summer of kids whining about being bored, fighting about one or another of them hogging the TV, or standing in front of the refrigerator complaining that there's nothing to eat but ingredients, I'm subjected to my definition of hell. School shopping.
There's nothing worse than walking through Walmart with three lists of school supplies among one-hundred other frazzled parents, each with their 1.5 children begging for a Dora the Explorer backpack and having temper tantrums when the kids hear the word no. Hell is trying to find two-pocket folders with the metal fasteners in six different colors, and six packs of three different size post it notes while pushing a cart full of $150 of other supplies while not taking your hand off said cart because, lets face it, everyone else's cart looks exactly the same and you don't want to start the process over again. I hang onto my cart like my life depends upon it, and the way I feel when I'm finished, it probably does.
At 7:05 in the morning, after giving my youngest a hug and a kiss goodbye, and saying the words I say every school day "Make it a good day, Sweetie. The decision is yours." I watch her climb the steps of her beautiful yellow school bus and I feel a sense of freedom. I want to do my own version of the Snoopy Happy Dance, but not only is it 7:05 in the morning, I haven't had time to finish my first cup of coffee, and there's a line of cars waiting behind the school bus who witness the show and probably call 911 thinking I was having some sort of seizure. So every year I walk sedately back up the slowly deteriorating concrete steps that make the steep hill from my front door to the street somewhat manageable with my coffee in hand. I step through the front door and am greeted by my very happy dog who is free to do the Snoopy Happy Dance, since, like Snoopy, she's a dog and cares nothing about humans thinking they're insane or epileptic. She's just thrilled to be rid of her competition for Mom's attention. I finish my coffee, clean up what's left of the disaster of the kitchen, and participate in a ritual I've had since the first day my youngest child started first grade and all three kids were going to full-day school.
A very good friend of mine sent me a one-pound box of Sea's Chocolate and a bottle of wine with instructions to open both, run a nice bubble bath, and indulge. After the bath, most of the chocolate (if you haven't eaten Sea's Chocolate you haven't lived) and about a half-bottle of wine, we had an on-line party, which is a necessity since Kay lives in Seattle and I'm in Maryland. We Skype and celebrate our newfound freedom while ingesting a week's worth of calories and catching a nice buzz. I've done this for seven years. The first day of school, I'll fill out all those forms under-the-influence of my lovely Shiraz, which makes the writers cramp tolerable.
Next Tuesday is my first day of freedom. So think of me taking a lovely bubble bath, stuffing my face with chocolate, and washing it down with a fabulous Shiraz and then having an on-line party. Let me know if you want to join me, and tell me what you do to celebrate freedom, or what you would do, if you have a day all to yourself with out kids. Curious minds want to know.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
School Days or is it School Daze
By Robin 'Red Hot' Kaye
Posted by Robin Kaye at 3:00 AM
15 comments:
Congrats on the freedom!
My daughter isn't even 2 yet, but she does to school year-round (preschool-based daycare). But the elementary/middle/high school kids here don't go back until Sept 6, day after Labor Day.
- August 23, 2011 at 9:38 AM
- krisgils33 said...
school starts the day after Labor Day for us. I'm all in on the party!!!
- August 23, 2011 at 10:42 AM
I'd be doing the Snoopy Dance myself but a) school here doesn't start for 2 more weeks, and b) when it does, my schedule goes back to normal hell. I have to get up at 5:30, I spend 6+ hours in the office (instead of 4) being irritated by my co-workers, and I get to add Back to School Night, parent/teacher conferences, and PFC meetings to my life. We won't even talk about chasing down homework or reports, making sure assignments are handed in on time. I'm not sure who gets more school work, them or me. Can we stay in summer just one more month, please?
Not to mention, I'm not ready to send the youngest off to high school; he's not ready! In the words of Kurt's father in "Glee", "He's so little." Sniff.
- August 23, 2011 at 11:15 AM
- Diana Quincy said...
School starts next Monday (Aug. 29) for us. On my first kidless day, I just savor the quiet stillness of the house, make a cup of coffee and head to my laptop for several uninterrupted hours of writing.
- August 23, 2011 at 11:38 AM
- Robin Kaye said...
@ Amanda- Thanks, I'm so looking forward to it.
@Krisgils33-And that's what it is exactly, A Party! Enjoy!
@ Carla - I'm sending my baby to High School too. She said she's ready for high school, she's just not sure if high school is ready for her. LOL I doubt it will ever be.
@ Diana - I'm with you there! Uninterrupted writing time, a thing of beauty!
- August 23, 2011 at 11:58 AM
- Carol Ericson said...
I'm right with Carla on this one! Or at least I was until I lost my day job... I HATE the first day of school and LOVE the last day of school. With school, in addition to working the day job and writing at night, I have to ride the kids to do their homework, study for tests and quizzes, start their projects, go to soccer and water polo games (the fun part), volunteer for various things at school and sports. However, now that I no longer have a day job, I may be joining the moms who relish the start of school...of course, there's still homework. (And as a Californian, I have to point out that it's See's Candy not Sea's - even though you may feel like you're floating on a sea of loveliness when you eat it - especially the peanut brittle.)
- August 23, 2011 at 12:32 PM
- Elizabeth said...
Robin, I always love your blog. Hope your days get less stressful.
- August 23, 2011 at 12:40 PM
- Eliza Knight said...
OMG Robin!!! Were we at Walmart the same day???? WTF?! I hate school shopping! Ugh...
Tuesday sees my oldest going back to school #2 going to kindergarten, and the toddler still home with me... but she's a good baby, do you think she'll mind if I indulge in shiraz instead of morning coffee? I like your ritual! I am definitely joining you on snoopy dancing, chocolate, and possibly the wine! I may have to wait to have the wine until my hubs comes home and can watch the kids, and I fill out the stack of forms... Do you think the school will mind if the emergency cards come back with wine stains? lol
I MISS YOU! We should get together for coffee, lunch or dinner! Or something!
- August 23, 2011 at 12:48 PM
- Brandy said...
I'm starting to think I'm really missing out on something good with the back to school ritual's. But, I homeschool......
- August 23, 2011 at 1:00 PM
- Robin Kaye said...
@ Carol - My dyslexia strikes again. Don't you just hate the homework thing? Two of my three are great at getting it done, the one makes up for it though!
@ Elizabeth - Thanks! We just had an earthquake, I was sitting outside the Safeway working while my son is at school doing his JROTC thing and I grabbed my computer, left my purse and ran into the parking lot. What's that say about me?
@ Eliza - the school never complained about the wine stains before, but then you probably shouldn't tell them you know me. I have quite the reputation. LOL and it's all me, not my kids that started it. Let's do coffee soon. I miss you too!
@ Brandy - I home schooled Twinkle Toes, my ballerina for two years. She's dyslexic and dysgraphic, it was so not fun. We did great though and it was so worth it. When I got her into home schooling, she was so far behind grade level it was scary, now she's back in school and is an A student.
- August 23, 2011 at 2:40 PM
- Debra Key Newhouse said...
I'm past sending my own off to school, but my daughter sent the best video of her middle daughter, 3 yo Yasmine, heading off to Pre-K. After doing the usual "Where are you going today Yasmine?" questions, Yasmine was then asked if she would have a good time at school. Yasmine's little lips quivered and she said "No" and buried her head in her mommy's shoulders.
Sniff. Where are my tissues.
- August 23, 2011 at 4:48 PM
- Kima said...
I have no kids, but work in a library, so I am VERY happy when the midgets go back to school. At least it's quiet during the day!
Hmmmm - chocolate, wine & bubble bath. Sounds good to me!
- August 23, 2011 at 5:01 PM
- Janette Harjo said...
Hi Robin! Just stopping by to join your party! You sound like you've got it all under control here, but being a self-confessed chocoholic I wish you could share your chocolate and Shiraz online!!
No childen here so I don't experience the "Snoopy Happy Dance" syndrom every September. I used to work at a local grade school so the time for my Happy Dance came in June when school let out! LOL!
Keep On Keepin' On!
- August 23, 2011 at 5:01 PM
- Robin Kaye said...
@ Debra - Oh, I remember when I put my youngest on the bus the first time. She has disabilities, and wasn't even walking yet (she'd just turned 3). I carried her onto the bus, they put her in a car seat and this man I'd never met before took my baby away. I was a wreck. Luckily, I got over it quickly.
@ Kima - Oh, I love librarians! Thanks for all you do for us writers and readers. And thanks for putting up with kids all summer long. I send mine to the library regularly . You definitely deserve to join the party on the first day of school!
@ Janet - thanks for stopping by. I'll gladly share the wine and chocolate...It just means I have to buy more!
- August 23, 2011 at 8:50 PM
- Kathy said...
Oh wow Robin for Texas school started this past Monday. Lucky for the kids they have air conditioned schools. The wweather ahs been over 100 dgrees for around the past 40 plus days. Forecast for tomorrow is 107. I mentioned that when I accompanied two great nieces age 7 and 9 to meet the teacher night with them and their parents. I am impressed with their school and teachers. I never had children so I live it vicariously through others. My sister, daddy's mom, bought the girls school clothes, their other grandmother, mommy's mother, bought their school supplies. When we were wandering the PX buying clothes for the little one I ran across a spiral notebook like one I have that the older one had wanted. I picked it up and put it in the cart. I received a phone call informing me I was the worlds best great aunt ever. That makes it special. Forms were filled out on meet the teacher night. Not a whole bunch since the girls have been attending the same school since 2006 for the oldest who is in TAG (Talented and Gifted)Classes. She was goign to reading classes in Pre-K lol. Our younger one is struggling but she's a a social child knows everybody in the school by name and they know her.
- August 24, 2011 at 9:03 PM


text:
Alice Austen Park
Alice Austen House and Park
This park overlooking New York Harbor is named for Alice Austen (1866-1952), an accomplished photographer, who resided at the rustic cottage on the grounds until 1945. Austen was born in nearby Woodbine Cottage. After her father abandoned his family, she and her mother moved into her grandparents' home, the house which now bears her name. Austen was introduced to photography by her uncle Oswald Muller when she was only ten years old. By the age of 18, Austen was highly skilled in the medium and she emerged as one of the earliest women photographers to work outside the studio and pursue realistic documentary photography. Her subjects ranged from high society to new immigrants and she captured memorable images of life in late 19th and early 20th century Staten Island and Manhattan. Austen lived comfortably on her family's inheritance until the stock market crash of 1929 that ushered in the Great Depression. After she and her lifelong companion, Gertrude Tate, made an unsuccessful attempt to run a restaurant, Austen was forced to mortgage the family home. She eventually entered the Staten Island Farm Colony, the county poorhouse. It was not until the last years of her life that she gained recognition for her achievements. At her death in 1952, Austen left behind more than 7,000 negatives, which are now in the collection of the Staten Island Historical Society.
The oldest part of the house dates back to the 1690s when it was part of a farm near the scenic Narrows. In 1844, John H. Austen, Alice Austen's grandfather, bought the property, remodeled and expanded the home in a Gothic Revival style, and named it "Clear Comfort." The house was acquired by the city, along with the park, in 1975. With the aid of Austen's extensive photographs, it was restored in 1984-5 to look as it did in the 1890s. The park has also been replanted according to the garden species depicted in the photographs of Austen, an avid gardener and founding member of the Staten Island Garden Club.
Alice Austen House is both a New York City Landmark and a National Historical Landmark. It is one of 17 historic houses under the jurisdiction of Parks and the Historical House Trust of New York City. The house and garden are operated by The Friends of Alice Austen House, Inc. Another landmark located in the park is the McFarlane-Bredt House which dates to 1845 and is a former home of the New York Yacht Club.


text:
MPG or MPKW?
MPG or MPKW?
The EPA uses some formula, but the easiest thing to do is compare costs. It takes about 2¢ worth of electricity to drive one mile. At $2/gal, and getting 20 mpg, your present car would cost 10¢/mi. So that's 5X your present mileage.
But the quoted figure is around 240mpg equivalent. That must be using other factors, too.
The EPA sticker that came with mine gave the number in kWh per 100 miles. There's a couple of things that I like about that.
First, kWh is a common unit to measure energy, and it's easy to check the rate on your electric bill to figure out what it will cost you to drive the car.
Second, It's also energy/distance, rather than distance/energy as in mpg. Since most people travel a given distance a year and wonder how much energy they will use, it makes more sense to have distance as the denominator--then a varying numerator lets you easily compare cars with varying efficiencies in a linear fashion. Having energy as the denominator would make sense if you had a fixed amount of energy and wondered how far you could get, but I don't think many people find themselves in that situation.
(As an example, mpg numbers are why most people are more interested in bumping mpg in their commuter from 50 to 60, even though bumping mpg in their minivan from 25 to 30 would save twice as much gas. This would be easier to see if we used gallons per 100 miles, which would show the commuter rating going from 2 to 1.667, and the minivan rating going from 4 to 3.333.)
However, not everybody likes kWh hours per 100 miles. The biggest objection is that people used to driving gas cars have no idea what they're looking at. Even if they run the numbers and figure out what they are looking at, it is still hard to compare efficiency between a gas car and an electric car. Some organizations, like X Prize and Consumer Reports, recommend using mpge, where "e" means equivalent. It is exactly mpg for a gas car, but in an electric they figure out how many kWh are in a gallon of gas, and use that number instead. I think the Tesla gets something like 120mpge.
I see advantages to both. Mpge has good short-term advantages that might help get people in to electric cars. But long-term, I think kWh/100 miles is going to be easier to deal with and more useful in getting more efficient electric vehicles.
I can't speak to technical equivalences, at least not without some heavy duty googling, but when I was figuring out cost to drive for the S I compared it to the range on my current car.
I took the range of my car on a full tank of gas (noting the cost of a full tank) and then equated that to "charges" for the S. At the time I was going off of a 230mi battery pack. My current car gets approximately 420 miles to a tank of gas. Given that I'll be too excited to drive in a responsible manner with the S, I guestimated 2 charges for equivalence (or you could say I put in padding for less than optimal battery range).
From here, I was able to look up the time to fully charge from empty based on the different charging solutions and the cost of kWh in my area. This gave me the cost per charge with a simple set of calculations (if I recall correctly, the most expensive equivalence was like $12).
With these numbers, it would be easy to take it a step farther and assign miles to kWh in the same way one finds hours of laptop battery life based on their mAh ratings.
The caveat is that measuring efficiency of these cars in miles per kilowatt would have the same misleading representation as does measuring gasoline based vehicles in miles per gallon. Somewhere out there, an article exists explaining the split between mpg and fuel consumption.
I hope somewhere in my rambling there was a nugget of helpful information.
The reason the EPA even provides MPG is mostly because they're dumb. There's no rational method to equate electricity and gasoline
Trying to equate in terms of energy (joules per gallon, etc.) is ridiculous, since 1) nobody gives a damn, and 2) it provides no meaningful information, as the two types of vehicles utilize
energy in very different ways. Using costs makes even less sense, since, as anyone can plainly see, there is no fixed relationship between the price of a kilowatthour and the price of a gallon of gasoline. There's not even any relationship between the price of a kilowatthour in one state versus another. In their attempt to both
make the consumer aware of the energy consumption of a vehicle and
use terms the consumer is familiar with (MPG) the EPA has managed to thoroughly obfuscate the entire matter. Any semi-intelligent elementary school student knows that miles per kilowatthour is how the energy consumption of an electric car should be expressed.
What, you expected intelligence from Washington?
I don't think it is EPA that is dumb, it is the people they are trying to serve that are dumb. People are used to see mpg-figures so EPA is trying to make meaningful efficiency calculation from kW to mpg-conversion.
That is not necessary very meaningful no matter how you put it, but it can be used to give some rough estimate on pollution figures in electric vehicles....that is until source of electricity is clean. Then all those mpge-figures can be thrown to the garbage can.
I sometimes need to remind myself that average IQ of people is only 100. (As it is by definition. Just don't expect too much from Joe Average).
Let's hope that with the Japanese nuclear accidents it doesn't mean my treehugger self is going to have to make do with more coal generated electric. Damn if I only bought solar panels instead of stock in evergreen solar...
That earthquake was a bad one, it looks like that the entire fault line is shifting there. Bad place to put nuclear plant. There is another very big earthquake coming in Tokyo bay that is already late (category 8-9 Richter, probably also causes massive tsunami just like this one, except epicenter will probably be even closer to the coast line).
Does anybody know where Panasonic is manufacturing those advanced batteries? Laboratories in line of fire? That would be bad for Tesla. Really bad.
I hope LPP experiment gets to the actual results soon. We need clean energy in form that can't cause accidents like this one, can be used everywhere all of time and is mobile.
Then we really could throw the MPGe figures out of the picture and start using MPkWh.
@Peak - you still can buy a PV array. I installed one four years ago (42 panels / 9.5k kWh) and can't tell you how happy I am with them. The ROI is probably 8 years with the CT incentives at the time and the energy costs. I plan on being in my home far longer than that, so it works for me. The economic value to living up to my own tree-hugger standards is priceless! Especially for those 9 months of the year I don't pay for any electricity at all!
According to http://www.teslamotors.com/about/press/releases/panasonic-presents-first... the Model S batteries will be built in a new facility in Suminoe, Japan. That's far to the west of Tokyo.
Milage should be in both miles per kWh and an explicit energy conversion for gas "equivalent."
Seems to be in well-protected place against tsunamis, earthquakes can obviously happen there too, but not that bad.
Unfortunately if I have understood the place of that predicted earthquake correctly it will be between Philippine and Eurasian plates which puts it very close to that place. What happened now was between North American and Pacific plates quite a bit north from Tokyo.
If Google Earth is to be believing one of the major ones happened practically inside Fuji (mountain, not the city). If it did something to the lava in Fuji that can be extra bad. If that does same as St Helens did that's major disaster.
I hope this doesn't cascade to something really bad. It is already bad, but it could have been much much worse.
MPG is a relic from the past, or soon will be. Our brainless EPA or DOT insists that Americans only undersatnd MPG and so they make these absurdly invalid "equivalence measures" to enable the feeble minded American consumer to figure out how efficient or costly this electric is to operate. Miles/kilometers per kilowatthour is the proper specification for mileage for an electric car. Why the Feds find this inappropriate is a mystery yet to be solved, except that they also think we can't stop piling up debt, else the economy might suffer.
Who cares what your mpge or mpkwhr or whatever is? So it costs you 2 cents per mile instead of 2.5? Big whoop. Range is all that really maters for a pure electric car. This is just a relic of ICE mentality.
In my current vehicle when I start it up it says MTE (Miles to Empty) which is usually pretty close to reality with all things considered like outside temp and how heavy my foot is.
For the Model S I think it's reasonable to know the following:
1. From my phone it should let me know max miles to empty if I drove at max efficiency taking into account current and future outside temp. And expected miles to empty taking into account normal driving habits.
2. From my phone it should let me know if I can make a destination and get back based on MMTE and EMTE from #1. And if not, how many more minutes of charging will it take.
I'd list all the others but I believe they are all being implemented by Tesla.
"Given that I'll be too excited to drive in a responsible manner with the S"
That cracked me up. Thanks for the laugh :-)
I figure I'll drive in a responsible manner (I always do, I'm the most cautious driver I know).... but for the first several months at least, I'll probably start taking joyrides through the countryside instead of just driving when I have somewhere to go. :-) So I know what you mean.
If you think you are "cautious driver" get a Yello Flag -CD and play "the Race" while driving. You soon realize that "cautious" is relative term and speed limits are more like guidelines than rules.
Seriously though, I never speed, though I do have real life "heavy foot" so that if I don't pay attention to speedometer I easily drive too fast, especially in a car where speed doesn't feel. One of my friend had a bit sporty car with speedometer light broken in 80s. I drove it (designated driver for that night). When he asked me to slow down a bit I just wondered "why" and he then used a lighter to give light to speedometer. I was doing 120 in 80 speed limit. Without realizing. I wonder how fast I would drive in a car where I can't even hear the engine....
Unless the sound insulation is ridiculously good, you'll probably still be able to hear some gearbox sound.
I find that in the Roadster I can tell my speed better than in an ICE car, because I can hear a slight whine from the gearbox.
I find that in the Roadster I can tell my speed better than in an ICE car, because I can hear a slight whine from the gearbox. (Douglas3)
I had the same experience when I recently test drove the Roadster. At least during the test drive, I liked the sound, which becomes especially audible when accelerating. I hope that they do not entirely insulate it away. But then again, it may become annoying when it is always present. I don't know...
Back on subject, I believe the reason we currently use MPG is because people want to equate what they buy to distance traveled. eg. How many miles can I drive on the 10 gallons of gas I purchased? Makes sense.
People need to know that their cost to drive an EV is dramatically lower than their cost to drive an ICE vehicle. How will they know that? How can they compare? If you start talking about miles per kWh, you might as well talk to the wall. It will do nothing towards getting the regular guy in an EV. But if you tell them "You were getting 25 MPG, but now you will get 120 MPGe", you will get their attention. Then tell them they can drive about 300 miles on about $10 of electricity, and they will be sold. If they are still not sold, tell them they can drive all month for what they are currently paying for gas every week. They'll understand that.
It will be quite a while before anybody (in the USA) who is not a scientist, electrician, or some sort of engineer really understands miles per kWh.
I agree with David M.
I understand kWh but not everyone is a 'nerd' like me.
Some of the average Joe's I wirk with have a hard time with simpler things.
When I look at the costs I use a similar method to kevinf311.
Compare how many miles your current car gets per gas tank, note how much a gas tank costs you.
Take your favorite battery pack option, look up how many kwh it uses, multiply that by the cost of a kwh on your latest utility bill.
I came up with around 2 cents a mile for an electic car and 8 cents a mile for gas.
Obviously this would change if I drove a more efficent ICE car, the price of gas fell, or my electricity went up. However, those are real costs for me, today. If the price of one of those variables changes I can always look at it again.
My only problem is I cant afford the Model S. I am of the crowd that must wait until things come down a bit.
thanks for your contribution. Sorry you cannot afford a Model S right now. It is the Model S customers that will help bring affordable EVs into the market. In the time between, help spread the word to every Joe Sixpack. You found great words to spell the EV magic!
Forget the EPA - they are pushing this MPGe number, of their own making, which, for some bizarre reason, they think will make it easier for consumers to compare mileages. MPKwHR is , of course, the
figure we want - miles per kilowatthour. Everyone knows what they pay for electricity, and therefore can easily figure out the cost per mile. For extended range vehicles like the Volt , we need MPkWhr and MPG, for mileages when running off the battery or range extender
Actually, I was convinced that we've got the numerator and denominator mixed up by this great article: http://physics.ucsd.edu/do-the-math/2011/08/mpg-for-electric-cars/
In relevant part:
"Okay, first of all, MPG (called fuel economy) has always been a poor choice of units. We don't usually put a gallon of gas in the car and drive as far as it might take us. Rather, we tend to have a destination in mind and care about how much gas it will take to get there. The inverse, GPM (called fuel consumption), would therefore be a better measure, and is akin to the measure used in some parts of the world (e.g., Europe's liters per 100 km)."
The author proposes that the metric should be kW/100-miles. "A gallon of gasoline contains 36.6 kWh of heat energy when combusted," so we can compute the kW/100-miles for an ICE or hybrid as 3660/MPG.
Seems more relevant to use MPD (Miles per Dollar) as all my calculations all come back to how far I can go for a single greenback.
Again, I think you've got that flipped around -- I care more about how much it's going to cost to go to a particular place? E.g., if I want to go skiing on the slopes 170 miles away, how much will it cost in my Audi vs. Model S?
I don't know that most of us care too much about what the cost to go 50 miles will be. In the end, the cocktail party conversation will be about how much it costs in comparison to the listeners' ICE car.
My comparison will be the equivalent miles per gallon as computed using kWh per mile, $/kWh, and $/gallon. The computed equivalent will make it evident to ICE drivers that I'll be using much less than that Prius when I take to the HOV lane. And the "green" vogue will make the S more desirable.
Really: how many miles would I have to put on my S to recoup the extra cost over buying the ICE car I would otherwise buy? I'm fooling myself if I think it's all about saving money. It's about a social change toward efficiency and cleanliness and leaving the smoggy past behind, without giving up the fun (this last is to be the legacy of Tesla).
Robert.Boston, the mix-up may be rooted in the fact that Americans highlight how far they can go on a fixed amount of fuel (1 gallon), while in Europe people usually ask how much fuel they need to go a fixed distance (100 km). Google Guru does a great job converting the two units, e.g.,
"20 mpg to l/100km"
-> "20 miles per gallon = 11.7607292 l/100km"
On top, the European test cycle is different from the EPA cycle. For instance, the 528i is EPA-rated 22 mpg(City)/32 mpg(Highway), while the European rating is 6.8 l/100km. The plain mathematical conversion yields:
22 mpg = 10.7 l/100km
32 mpg = 7.4 l/100km
Note I'm not saying anything why or how the article is right or wrong. Just stating that fuel consumption is expressed with nominator and denominator swapped in Europe vs. USA.
One thing every one has to remember:
1 US Gallon = 3.785 liters
1 UK gallon = 4.55 liters
As of today:
1 gallon of US gasoline = $3.33 (as of today, 11,16/2011, MD, USA)
1 Kilowatthour = $0.136040146 (Inclusive of all charges, taxes, etc in Maryland)
($3.33 / $0.136040146) = 24.781 Kwhrs
24.781 Kwhrs * 1000 = 24781 watthrs
(24781 watthrs) / (300 watthrs/mile) = 82.6 miles
As in a ICE vs an EV engine, the bottom line will be dependent on tire pressure, road conditions, driving habits, and other factors.
One thing. Got it. Thanks.
Tesla sales? You might want to use this calculation in each of your US stores (change appropriately for other areas), just to let customers get some idea of where they stand when they want to know how much it costs to drive an EV.
[ Constants (like 300 watt-hours/mile) used here should be changed as per Tesla numbers and local gasoline units; those used here are near forum USA best guess only ]
"Using local electrical Rates and prices for gasoline (Dollars per gallon)"
Re (Rate for electricity) is in dollars per kWh
Dg (Dollars for a gallon)
(1000/300) * Dg / Re = Equivalent MPG
Great suggestion EdG!
Hopefully you suggestion will fly. It will help sales staff get more people to consider the benefits and not just look at the sticker price.
Yes, but, as I've already noted, these numbers don't correlate well with reservations and their respected locality. The Model S is not marketed for those looking to squeeze out value from every last penny. When Tesla markets their lower priced sedan in the future, this will be a more powerful selling point.
Irrational as it is, though, I will feel better unnecessarily accelerating a Model S than I would an ICE. :)
Cheap thrills! The new marketing slogan for Tesla ...
EdG and Brian H
If the Model S is being marketed as sexy, fun, efficient..? How are are you going to make a realistic assessment of the ICE vs an EV engine..? Because it is fun? Why would you shell out $57,400.00 to have the same as an ICE vehicle! Sh****t!!! lots of cars are fun to drive ..! Lots of my friends have fine tuned some incredible engines to some great and incredible performance levels!
Have you ever driven the Autobahn on a regular basis.. That is every day? For a couple of years? Have you ever driven across America (east coast to west coast and back) on the I-80 or back again by the I-90 in winter or spring as a recreational ride?
If you are serious about Tesla, please post your reservation numbers. Let people know you are serious about Tesla (EV vehicles) or just like to blog about your opinions and slag some one who does not agree with your view point.


text:
Flood worries that prompted the U.S. government to blast open a Missouri levee to ease pressure on some towns are rippling down the Mississippi River, leading to more evacuations and unease as the Army Corps of Engineers weighs whether to purposely inundate more land with water.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. | Flood worries that prompted the U.S. government to blast open a Missouri levee to ease pressure on some towns are rippling down the Mississippi River, leading to more evacuations and unease as the Army Corps of Engineers weighs whether to purposely inundate more land with water.
The breach of southeastern Missouri's Birds Point levee was heralded by some Illinois towns along the Ohio River as a needed relief from record flooding, and the man who ordered that action says he may do the same with other Mississippi River spillways as flood prospects mount.
Maj. Gen. Michael Walsh said he understood the frustration at the corps' decision to sacrifice the levee Monday and send a wall of water over 130,000 acres of farmland the state of Missouri tried suing to save. "But this was one of the relief valves for the system," he added. "We were forced to use that valve."
That calculation to draw down the Mississippi and Ohio rivers in the nation's midsection appeared to do its job. On Tuesday night, the Ohio at Metropolis, Ill., measured 54.7 feet, about the same level it had been at the time of the blast. Without that breach, the river was forecast to have steadily crept up to a crest of more than 58 feet.
Sandbagging continued in Metropolis, where the National Weather Service said the Ohio would crest Thursday morning at 55.8 feet. The river has swamped many Metropolis homes and businesses but has stayed out of the city's touristy town square, which is elevated enough to be free of danger.
In Cairo, the Ohio had dropped to 60 feet, about a foot and a half lower than it was at the time of the breach. Cairo, a town of about 2,800 residents, is at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Downstream of Cairo — in southeast Missouri, Kentucky, Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana — concerns are growing as the Mississippi River continues to rise.
Memphis, where the Mississippi was at 43.8 feet Tuesday, could see a near-record crest of 48 feet on May 11, just inches lower than the record of 48.7 feet in 1937. Water from the Wolf and Loosahatchie rivers already has seeped into parts of the suburbs, and some mobile home parks were swamped.
Flood fears prompted an emergency declaration for 920,000 residents in Shelby County, where authorities blocked some suburban streets and about 220 people were staying in shelters. Emergency officials there estimate that some 5,300 homes and businesses could be affected by flooding blamed at least partly on more than 11 inches of rain that have soaked the Memphis area since April 25.
Flooding already has begun in Dyersburg, which is about 70 miles north-northeast of Memphis. Mayor John Holden said that people in parts of that city near the North Fork of the Forked Deer River should evacuate. Farther south, the lower Mississippi River was expected to crest well above flood stages in a region still dealing with the aftermath of last week's deadly tornadoes.
Forecasters say the river could break records in Mississippi set during catastrophic floods in 1927 and a decade later. Gov. Haley Barbour started warning people last week to take precautions if they live in flood-prone areas near the river, comparing the swell of water moving downriver to a pig moving through a python.
With tornados and the threat of rivers gone wild, "we're making a lot of unfortunate history here in Mississippi in April and May," said Jeff Rent, a Mississippi Emergency Management Agency spokesman.
Because the maximum-security Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola is particularly flood-prone, the state plans to evacuate the most medically vulnerable inmates by next Monday, then other inmates later.
Walsh has made clear he may use other downstream "floodways" — basins surrounded by levees that can be intentionally blown open to divert floodwaters — to try to rein in the trouble.
Among those that could be tapped are the 58-year-old Morganza floodway in central Louisiana and the Bonnet Carre floodway about 30 miles north of New Orleans. The 4-mile-wide Morganza has been pressed into service just once, in 1973. The Bonnet Carre — christened in 1932 — has been opened up nine times since 1937, the most recent in 2008.
Unlike the Missouri levee, these floodways can be opened using gates designed for the purpose, not explosives that unleashed the rush of floodwater into Birds Point that damaged or destroyed as many as 100 homes and washed away crop prospects for this year. Walsh said there are no homes in the Bonnet Carre floodway and only scattered homes and farmland in the Morganza one.
Elsewhere, the Army Corps of Engineers said it was holding water in West Virginia's reservoirs in an attempt to prevent flooding from worsening along the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.
On Tuesday, a group of 25 farmers sued the U.S. government in Missouri, arguing that their land near Birds Point had been taken without adequate compensation.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said farmers with crop insurance will be eligible for government reimbursements if their land was flooded. Other help will be available for livestock producers and tree farmers under the same programs designed for natural disasters. People who lost homes may also be eligible for rural housing loans.
Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon said state leaders would push to have the Birds Point levee rebuilt and restore the farmland's productivity. Walsh acknowledged it could be late summer or early fall before the water fully drains off the land, and sediment and moisture could do lasting damage.
After Memphis, the Mississippi is expected to crest May 12 at Helena, Ark., and further south in the following days. Forecasters predict record levels at the towns of Vicksburg and Natchez, Miss.
High water already has shut down nine river casinos in northwest Mississippi's Tunica County, where about 600 residents have been evacuated from flood-prone areas on the inside of the levee, county spokesman Larry Liddell said.
Suhr reported from Metropolis and Cairo, Ill. Associated Press writers Jim Salter in Sikeston, Mo., Cain Burdeau in New Orleans, Erik Schelzig in Dyersburg, Tenn., and Holbrook Mohr in Jackson, Miss., contributed to this report.


text:
I Told My Soul to Sing: Finding God With Emily Dickinson
Kristin LeMay
Paraclete Press, 2012
304 pp., 17.99
Kimberlee Conway Ireton
I Told My Soul to Sing
Emily Dickinson might seem an odd choice for a patron saint, but that's how Kristin LeMay paints her: "I've come to love Emily," she writes, "for exactly those qualities that might appear to disqualify her for sainthood: impiety, inconsistency, irreverence. Saint Emily, patron of all who wrestle with God." When I first read those words in LeMay's introduction to I Told My Soul to Sing: Finding God with Emily Dickinson, I was a bit nonplussed. I wrestle with God, but I'm not so big on impiety and irreverence. But as I turned the pages of this book, I came to love the Dickinson that LeMay has spent ten years reading and studying.
While LeMay makes no claim to be a Dickinson scholar, I think it's fair to say that she knows Emily Dickinson as well as any scholar does, though she approaches Dickinson differently from the way most scholars do, I think—she sees Dickinson not as a puzzle to be solved or a subject to be mastered; rather she adopts the posture of a student approaching her teacher, a disciple her master. She reads Emily Dickinson the way monks read the Bible—slowly, with care and humility and attention, as lectio divina, a form of prayer. And this is what is so appealing about LeMay's book. She writes not about "Dickinson" but about "Emily"—this poet who was first of all a person and who has, over ten years of companionship, become LeMay's friend and patron saint.
This is not to say that LeMay is squishy or sentimental in her treatment of Dickinson. Far from it. She is deeply thoughtful, and she considers many of the questions that have perplexed Dickinson scholars over the decades, focusing particular attention on Dickinson's faith (the book's subtitle, after all, is Finding God with Emily Dickinson): "[W]as she a Christian? Did she believe in God? If so, how so? If not, why not? And what did her belief consist of—if belief it was—at thirty, at forty, at fifty?" LeMay acknowledges the varied answers readers and scholars have proposed—"reluctant Christian, ardent mystic, atheist, agnostic, Buddhist"—and the "tricky evidence" offered by Dickinson's poetry (in which the I may or may not refer to Dickinson herself) and her letters (which are often cryptic or open to many interpretations). In addition, the poems and letters themselves present such contradictory "evidence" that pinning Dickinson's faith to the page is difficult at best and nearly impossible at worst:
Whatever one poem or letter might reveal of Emily's thoughts at the moment of its composition, we have no guarantee that she still thought so after one year, not to mention thirty years. We also have no guarantee that she didn't.
And yet despite the challenges of Dickinson's "inconsistency on the page," LeMay makes several "confident claims" about Dickinson's interior life, including her faith.
The book is divided into five sections; each section is further divided into five chapters. In each chapter, LeMay looks in depth at one of Dickinson's poems, though she also pulls in other poems and excerpts from Dickinson's letters to deepen our understanding of the poem under focus and also to flesh out the portrait of Dickinson that LeMay is painting. The 25 poems that LeMay chooses are not the most commonly cited ones; she wants to "open a window onto Emily's life and thought that might otherwise have remained shut."
In perhaps my favorite chapter, "Doubt," LeMay looks long at "Though the great Waters deep" (F1641), whose final lines read, without irony: "No vacillating God / Ignited this Abode / To put it out." Through the lens of this poem, which Dickinson sent to at least seven different people, LeMay explores the coexistence of faith and doubt in Dickinson's life:
Did she keep writing the poem because she believed its message so fully? … It's possible. But I doubt this is the reason, since other writings from this same period brim over with assertions of skepticism and spiritual unresolved …. It's evident that the "great Waters" she evokes so calmly in this poem just as often drowned her with fear. Yet this period, dark as it was with uncertainty, also gave birth to this poem—seven copies of it …. For all her doubts, Emily looks in this poem's faithful lines toward "that Great Water in the West—/ Termed Immortality—"and shows a surprising amount of trust in the promises of faith …. The coexistence of this peaceful poem with letters of such turmoil suggests to me something true about the relationship between belief and doubt: they coexist …. Doubt and belief, Emily would be the first to say, are not necessarily in opposition. Emily judged that doubt enhances belief, since doubt's uncertainty keeps us hunting after God.
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text: (Reuters) – Apple Inc said it updated its MacBook Pro line of laptops with a high-resolution Retina display, faster processors and higher memory for a starting price of $1,299. The worlds largest technology company also lowered the price of its older 13-inch MacBook Pro by $100 to $1,099. Apple shares were up marginally in premarket trading on Tuesday, after closing at $99.02 on Monday on the Nasdaq. (Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in Bangalore; Editing by Savio DSouza)


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The Bears added a layer of technological know-how to their football staff, hiring Mitchell Tanney as the team's director of analytics.
Tanney, who has been the manager of football products for STATS LLC in recent years, will work with the front office and coaches on "player evaluation concepts and game situation principles," according to a release sent out by the team.
Tanney, a former college quarterback at Monmouth, played in a variety of minor, indoor and international leagues.
The Bears are one of the league's most traditional franchises, but have shown an ability to look at different perspectives. Adding a computerized data/scouting eye is another.
While General Manager Phil Emery had the obligatory old school scout background, head coach Marc Trestman was anything but a conventional hire. Adding someone to use numbers to add to the analysis brings a different perspective to the decision-making process, which can only help.


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- plummeting philanthropy
- diminishing governmental and foundational support
- aging audiences
- competition from world class orchestras on the internet and in movie theaters
- a glut of live entertainment options competing with orchestral concerts
- cuts in arts education
- perceived stuffiness, stiffness and formality of symphonic concerts
The musicians of The Cleveland Orchestra have begun an innovative series in which they perform chamber music in the Happy Dog bar in the Gordon Square Arts District of Cleveland. They are responding to the current environment which is making it difficult for even the top orchestras to thrive. These musicians are not above donning Happy Dog t-shirts and offering their fine musicianship free of charge. Why? It's all about forging a connection between the audience and the musicians.
Just last Thursday The Cleveland Orchestra was stranded in Ann Arbor during a winter storm Guess what the musicians did? Thirty of them gathered at Silvio's Organic Pizzeria at the University of Michigan for an impromptu performance of chamber music where they were joined by world-renowned pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard. It has become habitual for The Cleveland Orchestra musicians to connect to their audiences, even when they're out of town!
The efforts of The Cleveland Orchestra musicians are especially remarkable because the free events are organized solely by the musicians. Instead of looking around for a target to blame for the current socioeconomic environment which is not as supportive of symphony orchestras, the musicians have found a solution. Their performances in Happy Dog have created quite a stir in Cleveland, from which the entire orchestra will benefit greatly.
What else can be done to forge those connections? Well, first of all, the musicians have to be willing to connect to the audience. Columbus Symphony Principal Clarinetist David Thomas started a podcast project a few months ago. He asked the members of the Columbus Symphony to volunteer to be interviewed (by David himself) with the intent of making these podcasts available to audience members so that they'd have the opportunity to learn more about the individual musicians. Sounds like a great idea, right? Yes, it is, but unfortunately, very few musicians agreed to be interviewed, and the project flatlined. (Thank you, David, for trying....)
|David Thomas' house in Clintonville
Some orchestras showcase individual musicians before concerts by having a different musician each week speak a few words about his or her background before the concert begins. Although the musicians always report that it's nerve-racking to speak before a concert, the audiences love that personal touch. Some orchestras create a video bio of each musician for inclusion on the orchestra's website, and of course most orchestras feature photos and brief bios of the musicians on their websites.
I think that post-concert gatherings held in the lobby are an obvious way to forge connections between musicians and audience. The orchestra would not incur any expenses except the fee required to keep the hall (and its concessions) open a bit later. The resulting connections would be well worth whatever it costs to keep the hall open an hour longer.
In the past, some Columbus Symphony musicians have experimented with a "Meet and Greet" in the lobby of the hall as concertgoers arrive. However, many musicians feel that pre-concert socializing interferes with concert preparation. The musicians standing around the lobby trying to greet patrons are not easily recognized as musicians because they don't have their instruments . Also, the patrons entering the facility always seem to be in a hurry to get to their seats. Based upon my observations, pre-concert "Meet and Greet" situations are minimally effective.
But the unexpected encounters between musicians and audience members on their way into or out of the hall provide great opportunities to connect. We're usually carrying our instruments, so everyone knows we play in the orchestra. I vividly recall an incident which occurred before a concert a year ago. I witnessed a couple of musicians walking very quickly toward the hall. They were intently engrossed in conversation, and as the musicians veered around an elderly couple, they nearly knocked them down. The elderly patrons were incensed, and they hissed something about Columbus Symphony musicians not caring about anyone except themselves! It was very unfortunate, especially since the offending musicians, who unwittingly served as the orchestra's ambassadors, never even realized what happened.
After that, I decided to embark on a mission to offer good will to any concertgoer I encountered. I began going out of my way to smile at and speak to anyone who looked at me before and after each concert. Right away, it became clear from the way people reacted that my efforts were appreciated. In fact, I was surprised to find out that some patrons actually knew who I was! That invisible barrier which has existed between musicians and audience does not serve us well. Let's get rid of it!
When we're onstage, we're being watched. I don't like to think about that too much, lest I become self-conscious, but the fact remains that there is indeed a visual aspect to our performances. Perhaps we musicians should even consider smiling now and then when our performance is being acknowledged!
Please help me brainstorm. What ideas do you have to help orchestral musicians connect with the audience?


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Maxon v. Ottawa Pub. Co., — N.E.2d —, 2010 WL 2245065 (Ill.App. 3 Dist. June 1, 2010)
The rules of civil procedure in Illinois permit an aggrieved party to file a petition with the court asking for an order requiring unknown potential defendants to be identified. This is called a Rule 224 petition.
A couple from Ottawa, Illinois got their feelings hurt over some anonymous comments left in response to content published by the local newspaper on its website. Wanting to sue for defamation, the couple filed a Rule 224 petition. The newspaper opposed the petition. (For something similar, see Enterline v. Pocono Medical Center.)
The trial court denied the petition, applying the standards articulated in Dendrite v. Doe and Doe v. Cahill, finding that the petitioners had not presented a strong enough case for defamation to justify the unmasking of the anonymous commenters. Those cases require, among other things, that a party seeking to identify an anonymous speaker make efforts to notify the anonymous party, and present enough evidence to establish a prima facie case of defamation (Dendrite) or survive a hypothetical motion for summary judgment (Cahill).
The aggrieved couple sought review with the Appellate Court of Illinois. Reviewing the decision to deny the Rule 224 petition de novo, the court reversed and remanded, ordering the identification of the anonymous speakers to be made.
In reaching its decision, the court rejected the newspaper's (and amicis') arguments that the trial court should apply the rigorous standards of Dendrite and Cahill. That's not to say, however, that the court left anonymous speakers at great risk of having their First Amendment rights trampled upon.
The court held that the mechanics of Rule 224 adequately protect the potential First Amendment rights of anonymous internet speakers. Here's why, according to the court:
- The petition must be verified – the threat of the pain of perjury should keep out half-hearted claims.
- The petition must state the reason discovery is necessary.
- The discovery is limited only to learning the identity of the potential defendant.
- Most importantly, before the discovery will be permitted, the court must hold a hearing and determine the petition sufficiently states a cause of action.
In this fourth step, the court is to apply the standard it would apply in a Section 2-615 motion. Such a motion is, essentially, the Illinois version of a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim. That is no insignificant test, because unlike federal court and other state jurisdictions, Illinois requires fact pleading. That means the petition needs to include a significant amount of specific information to survive the motion to dismiss.
A troubling aspect of the ruling is the omission from the test of a requirement that the party seeking discovery attempt to notify the anonymous target of the inquisition. The appellate court held that a trial court may, in its discretion, impose such a requirement.
But it would be nice to know that the real party whose First Amendment interests are at stake (the anonymous speaker) is guaranteed a fair opportunity to argue from his or her perspective. After all, it's that party with the real incentive to do so. Let's hope the trial courts exercise that discretion wisely (and that they know in the first place that they have that discretion).
Photo courtesy Flickr user TheTruthAbout… under this Creative Commons license.


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Board thinks younger feds are contributing too much to the plan's safest offering.
The board that administers the Thrift Savings Plan is contemplating changes to the automatic enrollment program.
Some officials have expressed interest in having new hires contribute a percentage of their basic pay to one of the TSP's five lifecycle funds instead of the government securities fund. The TSP launched a program in August 2010 that automatically signs up all new civilian hires to allocate 3 percent of their basic pay to the G fund, unless they choose to end their contributions or change the amount. Participants also receive a 3 percent match and a 1 percent contribution from their agencies, unless they opt out of automatic enrollment.
The G fund is the most stable investment of the TSP's options, while the L funds are a mix of the TSP's G, F, C, S and I offerings, and are crafted to help yield higher returns through diversity. The L funds, composed of the L Income, L2020, L2030, L2040 and L2050, are designed to move investors to less risky portfolios as they near retirement.
Automatic enrollment has increased TSP participation, but new government hires under the age of 29 have too much money invested in the G fund -- likely a result of automatic enrollment's default option, said Renee Wilder, director of Office of Enterprise Planning at the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board during the group's monthly meeting in Washington. The board just completed an analysis of TSP participant behavior and demographics. Gregory Long, the TSP's executive director, said the agency wants to look at whether 3 percent is the right amount for automatic enrollment.
Long said the idea of switching the default fund in automatic enrollment from government securities to one of the lifecycle funds has come up before, but has met some resistance from the Employee Thrift Advisory Council. ETAC, which advises the TSP board on investment policies and the plan's administration, is made up of representatives from employee organizations, unions and the uniformed services. Long, who in the past has proposed the change, said he's "not sure that view is shared by the members of the thrift advisory group."
The TSP board has a meeting in April with ETAC at which they will discuss the idea, among other TSP policy and management matters.
TSP participation rates overall are high, according to the board's analysis. The participation rate among Federal Employees Retirement System enrollees in February was 86.9 percent and 40.2 percent among service members. Wilder said younger TSP enrollees are less engaged than older participants, and the board plans to work on ramping up its outreach to the under-30 crowd.
By the end of 2012, the TSP had about 4.6 million enrollees with $330 billion invested among its 10 fund options.