Obscure. . .

. . . history. . .

(from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/05/0501_river5.html)
On April 27, 1865, the steamboat Sultana, some seven miles north of Memphis, Tennessee, carrying 2,300 just-released Union prisoners of war, plus crew and civilian passengers, exploded and sank. Some 1,700 people died.

It was the worst maritime disaster in U.S. history, more costly than even the April 14, 1912 sinking of the Titanic, when 1,517 people were lost. But because the Sultana went down when it did, the disaster was not well covered in the newspapers or magazines, and was soon forgotten. It is scarcely remembered today.

April 1865 was a busy month; On April 9, at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia, General Robert E. Lee surrendered. Five days later President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. On April 26 his assassin, John Wilkes Booth, was caught and killed. That same day General Joseph Johnson surrendered the last large Confederate army. Shortly thereafter Union troops captured Confederate President Jefferson Davis. The Civil War was over. Northern newspapers rejoiced.

News of a terrible steamboat tragedy was relegated to the newspaper's back pages. In a nation desensitized to death, 1,700 more did not seem such an enormous tragedy that it does today.

The accident happened at 2 a.m., when three of the steamship's four boilers exploded. The reason the death toll was almost exactly equal to the number of Union troops killed at the battle of Shiloh (1,758) was gross government incompetence. The Sultana was legally registered to carry 376 people. She had six times more than that on board, due to the bribery of army officers and the extreme desire of the former POWs to get home.

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Free. . .

. . . dom

“We cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home.”
-Edward R. Murrow

“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
-Benjamin Franklin

“Freedom lies in being bold."
-Robert Frost

“Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.”
-Abraham Lincoln

“When the people fear the government there is tyranny, when the government fears the people there is liberty.”
-Thomas Jefferson

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Same Old. . .

. . . song?

(from Dylan Ratigan
Host, MSNBC's 'The Dylan Ratigan Show'; Author, 'Greedy Bastards'; Founder, Get Money Out Foundation
Auction 2012: Greedy Bastards and Student Debt)

". . . In President Obama's first speech to a joint session of Congress, he said "education in no longer a pathway to opportunity, it is a prerequisite."  It's no wonder - conventional wisdom says that those with college degrees earn roughly a million more dollars over their lives than those without them.  And there is a vast apparatus of lending institutions and Federal guarantees set up to help put people into college.  They do this not by keeping tuition free or low, as we did as a country after World War II, but by helping people get access to student loans.

This is the essence of what I've been calling The Very Bad Deal, where costs are deferred while benefits accrue upfront.  If you get a student loan, you get to attend college, and college is apparently the key to earning more over your lifetime, to "opportunity".  But student debt has some very nasty tricks and traps that most 18 year olds aren't aware of when they sign on the dotted line, and college may not be the opportunity gateway we've been assured it is.

The scale of the deal is vast and getting bigger - two thirds of those who attend college do so with borrowed money.  In August of 2010, the Wall Street reported that student loan debt surpassed credit card debt for the first time in history.  This amount is now sitting at roughly a trillion dollars.  Higher education inflation is the higher than health care inflation, and two and a half times the rate of normal inflation.  Are students really learning two and a half times as much?

Of course not.  What is happening is that universities have pricing power, and the Greedy Bastard behavior encourages them to compete on facilities and brand-name faculties rather than price and quality.  The Chronicle of Higher Education has described "an arms race of expenditures triggered by the pursuit of prestige."  Student debt also distorts pricing.  If students had to pay the full freight in college, they might be more price-sensitive consumers.  But since the costs of the education they are receiving are hidden, they don't pressure universities to reign in costs.  Lavish living environments, pointlessly luxurious sports facilities, and high salaries for administrators are just symptoms of a system where costs have become irrelevant. . ."

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Two. . .

. . . are better than 0 . . .

OHO
(duo)
Jay Graboski & Ray Jozwiak
Friday, July 5th, 2013
@ 8:00PM

        with Trio Novo
5502 Harford Rd 
Baltimore, MD 21214
(410) 205-5027

Please visit http://www.ohomusic.com
for all things OHO

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Chick. . .

 . . . bull?

"I think we are inviting God's judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at him and say, 'We know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage'" says Chick-Fil-A's Dan Cathy.

First, what God and what judgement are we talking about here?  Second, where or in what direction would a fool shake his fist in order to express this silly sentiment?  Third, this imaginary being to whom he is expressing this anger actually holds an opinion about what the word 'marriage' represents which holds WHAT relevance?

It's only a matter of time before opinions like Cathy's will be totally irrelevant, part of a tiny minority, no longer newsworthy, and dismissable as those of a mere crank.

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Idea Men. . .

. . . are EVERYWHERE. . .

(thanks to http://gawker.com/terrible-people-selling-pork-laced-bullets-to-better-ki-576045292)
"A company called "Jihawg Ammo" is using the tag line: "Put some HAM in Mohamed" in advertisements for their pork-coated bullets.  "Jihawg Ammo is certified "Haraam" or unclean. According to the belief system of the radical Islamist, becoming "unclean" during Jihad will prevent their attaining entrance into heaven. Jihawg Ammo is a natural deterrent to radical and suicidal acts of violence."

Additionally, an Arizona man has conceived a "suicide bomb deterrent" idea.  It is a packet of pig blood affixed to public walls. Theoretically, the blood packet would explode during a suicide bomb, mixing the bomber's blood with that of the pig, depriving him of entering the highly desirable "heaven".

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Dark. . .

. . . Side. . .

. . . NOT Pink Floyd. . .

Oho guitarist and several Baltimore underground talents WERE. . . The Dark Side

(from www.ohomusic.com)
". . . Evolving out of the infamous OHO, Dark Side began as a studio experiment in late 1977. While 70s OHO developed from a weirdly sinister and oddball Ubu/Beefheart approach, Dark Side had a preoccupation with "updated-for-the-80s" 60s pop, manifested in the teen-drama lyrics, neo-Spector production and delightfully squeaky Farfisa organ fills.

The original 6-man line-up recorded 2 EP's in January ("Wholesale Diamonds") and September ("Damaged Goods") 1978 respectively. Thanks to the intervention of Ful Treatment keyboardist, Ray Jozwiak, this incarnation of the band made their only live appearance on a local television program (Baltimore At Ten) in the spring of '78.

The band, reduced then to a quartet, began to play live at the infamous Marble Bar on Franklin St. in downtown Baltimore and The Odd Fellows Hall in Towson, MD. Due to the opportunities afforded by regular gigging, the Side discovered its identity and began to shape its own sound.

An LP (Rumors in Our Own Time/Legends in Our Own Room) was produced with USE guitarist, Paul Rieger, during 1979 and on into early 1980. Joining shortly thereafter, drummer David Reeve (OHO's current drummer) helped the band integrate its various influences and explore a range of music that encompassed 60s R&B, punk, humorous pop, garage and gothic-progressive rock. The band defied easy categorization, living up to the notoriety that Dark Side members Jay & Jeffrey Graboski, Mark O'Connor and David Reeve established in 70s OHO (1973-1977). Dark Side remained true to a music that was stripped down and driving, yet capable of an emotional subtlety not usually associated with bands of their ilk. . . "

Jay's composition You Should Envy Me, originally by The Dark Side, is redone here by the current lineup of OHO, Jay Graboski, David Reeve and me (Ray Jozwiak) . . .




You Should Envy Me
written by John P. Graboski
performed by Oho (rehearsal recording)





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