No, this is not a Baltimore city sewer system resident. This is the world renowned Punxsutawney Phil and maybe it's just a little early to talk about the groundhog or what he implies/represents, I just can't seem to help myself.
As I've grown older, I seem to cope progressively more poorly with winter weather. I don't remember exactly when it began but I would guess something like almost thirty years ago. It probably reached a plateau about five years ago, at which time I vowed to myself to minimize the whole thing in my mind and just cope with it as best I can or . . . no . . . better.
I believe I made some honest progress on that front and even this year in particular I try NOT to complain about cold, snow, heavy winter clothing, snow, shoveling snow, pulling muscles while shoveling snow . . . NONE OF THAT!
But as I sit here at 6AM wondering what to write and hearing that the temperature today will actually reach well into the 50s (F), my icy hands and dog-cold nose (even with the heat ON) are making me pine for warmer weather.
But I honestly and sincerely promise that I will just buck-up and not complain.
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. . . at Brewer’s Alley Songwriters’ Showcase. . .
Tony Denikos, (pronounced "Deh-nigh-kiss"), writes,
records and performs some of the most refreshingly down-home Americana
music in the country. A native of Laurel, MD, Tony's wide range of
influences include artists such as John Fogerty, John Prine, Lowell
George, Graham Parker & Bruce Spingsteen
Tony recently
released his third CD Already Gone (2009). It immediately charted at #2
on the Euro Americana Charts and at #7 on the Freeform American Roots
Chart. Already Gone is a collection of 11 distinctive tunes that
explore the entire spectrum of Americana music. This CD is full of
cutting lyrical wit, breathtakingly personal storytelling and foot
stomping backbeats. There are stories here that everyone can relate to
about love, working class attitudes, hope, regret, forgotten patriots
and unwitting heroes. Fans of roots guitar and fine musicianship will
appreciate the world class cast of players, including: drummer Timm
Beiry (Nils Lofgren, Danny Gatton); bassists Dave Roe (Johnny Cash,
Dwight Yoakam) and Dave Jacques (John Prine, Emmylou Harris);
keyboardist Phil Madeira (Emmylou Harris); and, guitarists Gantt Kushner
and Warner E. Hodges (Jason and the Scorchers).
You can catch
Tony performing his songs at venues and festivals from New York to the
Carolinas � including venues such as Rams Head on Stage ,the Maryland
Seafood Festival, Columbia Festival of the Arts, the Vintage Virginia
Wine Festival and many others. He performs solo or with a band - always
presenting to the listening world a writing style and performance
uniquely his own. His songs will stay with you long after the lights
fade to black....
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. . . (once again) that I will provide the Piano Prelude playing a preposterously paced program precluding the ponderous and pedestrian postmortems practiced proactively by poseurs
Brewer’s Alley Songwriters Showcase
Monday, January 23, 2012 @ 7:30PM
Monday, Jan. 23, 7;30PM at Brewer's Alley Restaurant & Brewery (Songwriters Showcase-Upstairs)124 North Market Street Frederick, MD 21701 Telephone: 301-631-0089 Fax: 301-631-1874
http://www.brewers-alley.com/
(For Ray's complete schedule, see http://www.rayjozwiak.com)
Now You Can Get RAY JOZWIAK-GONZO PIANO Ringtones for your Cell Phone Absolutely Free at: HYPERLINK "http://www.myxer.com/artist/14413289/" http://www.myxer.com/artist/14413289/
". . . The PROTECT IP Act (S. 968) would give the Department of Justice (DoJ) authority to identify and take legal action against websites that market counterfeit or pirated goods.
Illegal downloading of movies, TV shows and music is a real problem that harms industries, kills jobs and hurts our economy. We need strong copyright laws to protect the creative property of artists, and it is important that these laws be followed. However, I share your concerns about this bill. We need to make sure that the solution isn't worse than the problem. Any efforts to strengthen the protection of copyrighted materials must be well planned, avoid unintended consequences, and must not stifle free speech or innovation Legislation as wide-ranging as this needs a more open and thorough review from all sides of the debate. I am pleased that Senator Leahy — the author of the bill — has said he is open to changes to address this and other issues. The current language in the bill needs to be improved before I could consider supporting its final passage. . . "
Senator Barbara Mikulski
Dear Mr. Jozwiak,
". . .SOPA is a hard hitting attempt to address the legitimate problem of illegal downloads of copyrighted work like movies, television shows and music. I believe that artists and the companies that create content should be able to protect their information. However, this legislation forces Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to be the policing authorities on the beat to find, hunt, and shut down illegal pirate websites or the service provider is held liable for the copyright infringement. ISPs will have to maintain a list of banned websites. While SOPA would act as a filter for offending websites, as soon as these websites are shut down, similar copies are set up very quickly. ISPs and the Department of Justice will spend their time going after pirate websites that can be renamed and changed in an instant. I do not believe this is the most efficient way to solve the problem of piracy.
As ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, I work closely on various cyber security issues. Both the Sandia National Laboratory and the Department of Homeland Security took the position that SOPA will hurt U.S. efforts to keep our networks secure and safe from serious cyber attacks. As it stands now, SOPA is a one sided firewall that would hinder our ability to go after the real offenders and threats to our networks, while simultaneously limiting innovation and free speech. I hope that all stake holders can sit down and develop a compromise solution that avoids these problems. . . "
C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger Member of Congress
(from IndieMusic News)
". . . Lamar Smith, the chief sponsor of SOPA, said on Friday that he is pulling the bill “until there is wider agreement on a solution.” “I have heard from the critics and I take seriously their concerns regarding proposed legislation to address the problem of online piracy,” Smith (R-Texas) said. “It is clear that we need to revisit the approach on how best to address the problem of foreign thieves that steal and sell American inventions and products.”
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(from huffingtonpost.com, by Bernard-Henri Levy)
". . . Could we be living in an era of such madness, one that has lost its compass and its points of reference to such an extent that this affair of one of the three major rating agencies' withdrawal of America's and then France's triple "A" has taken on such importance?
Let's go over the facts.
Here is a firm, Standard and Poor's, which fulfills its company's mission, earns its shares on the market, augments and consolidates its profits, and benefits its shareholders by offering -- as it is entitled to -- a specific product called a rating.
Here is a firm that -- and it remains within its rights, but this should at least raise some suspicions -- has never stopped making mistakes, failing to foresee any of the crises that have led the world to the edge of the abyss, from Enron to the subprimes, from Lehman Brothers' bankruptcy to that of the Greek debt.
And here is a firm, still Standard and Poor's, whose criteria of appreciation are marked by subjectivity, as is the case for every human endeavor, one whose methodologies are not only vague, but opaque and, from the little we know of them, stamped with the seal of a singular amateurism. For, if we believe what we read in Le Monde (15-16 January), this withdrawal of France's triple-A rating was the work of a German analyst who, seconded by a Slovene assistant, spent "a few months" gathering "public data", blending them with the results of "some interviews" with "ministers, members of the opposition, and bankers", and then, finally, being "bombarded with questions" during a "visioconference" by a group of "five to fifteen people", none of whom were particularly familiar with the dossier.
Yet, when the verdict falls, when, ending the mounting suspense cleverly orchestrated by its communications service, the agency renders its decree, when it publicly announces the result of the little reflection concocted by these two analysts, goaded on (once again, Le Monde's investigation) by the five to fifteen other individuals who are "more or less experts", it's a thunderbolt, a tsunami of comments and contrition, a national and global earthquake. It's as though Jupiter had roared, as though God had spoken, it's as if truth itself had just fallen from the sky -- and the few voices that attempt to qualify things with, "Yes, it's an interesting point of view, but it's only one point of view and perhaps we would do well to compare these uncertain conclusions with others" are promptly swept away by the tidal wave. . . "
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SOPA and PIPA put the burden on website owners to police user-contributed material and call for the unnecessary blocking of entire sites. Small sites won't have sufficient resources to defend themselves. Big media companies may seek to cut off funding sources for their foreign competitors, even if copyright isn't being infringed. Foreign sites will be blacklisted, which means they won't show up in major search engines. SOPA and PIPA build a framework for future restrictions and suppression.
In a world in which politicians regulate the Internet based on the influence of big money, Wikipedia — and sites like it — cannot survive.
Congress says it's trying to protect the rights of copyright owners, but the "cure" that SOPA and PIPA represent is worse than the disease. SOPA and PIPA are not the answer: they will fatally damage the free and open Internet.
The entertainment industry understandably feels threatened, and well they should. But instead of forcing potential consumers to pay for the crap they come up with why don't they explore improving the quality, the delivery and the price of their PRODUCT!!!!
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". . . When I was about sixteen years old, in prep school, and knew I was losing my childhood faith, I resolved that I would not quite the Catholic Church until I knew why I was quitting, that is to say, until I had dissolved the symbols and knew what they referred to and meant. The whole thing wasn't over until I was twenty-five years old and in Germany. I spent nine years working everything out, and then it just dropped off like a worn-out shirt. That's the knowing thing. If you don't know what the hell that symbol is saying to you, then it's just there as a command, and there is going to be more and more of this hanging on. If you can't use your mind in this rather complex field, I don't know how you are going to work it out.
You become mature
when you become the authority for your own life.
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