pianogonzology

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Know . . .

. . . your enemy . . .

(from http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/03/what-isis-really-wants/384980/)
". . . The Islamic State, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), follows a distinctive variety of Islam whose beliefs about the path to the Day of Judgment matter to its strategy, and can help the West know its enemy and predict its behavior. Its rise to power is less like the triumph of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt (a group whose leaders the Islamic State considers apostates) than like the realization of a dystopian alternate reality in which David Koresh or Jim Jones survived to wield absolute power over not just a few hundred people, but some 8 million.

We have misunderstood the nature of the Islamic State in at least two ways. First, we tend to see jihadism as monolithic, and to apply the logic of al‑Qaeda to an organization that has decisively eclipsed it. The Islamic State supporters I spoke with still refer to Osama bin Laden as “Sheikh Osama,” a title of honor. But jihadism has evolved since al-Qaeda’s heyday, from about 1998 to 2003, and many jihadists disdain the group’s priorities and current leadership. . . "

My latest solo offering, Just More Music by Ray Jozwiak, featuring original, instrumental piano music is now available at - Just More Music by Ray Jozwiak

(To Access all Ray Jozwiak - Gonzo Piano music you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
your browser: http://http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/RayJozwiak)

Also, be sure to visit:
http://www.rayjozwiak.com

Monday, November 30, 2015

Gossip . . .

“Don't waste your time with explanations: people only hear what they want to hear.”
― Paulo Coelho

“Strong minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, weak minds discuss people.”
― Socrates

“Word spread because word will spread. Stories and secrets fight, stories win, shed new secrets, which new stories fight, and on.”
― China Miéville, Embassytown

“How would your life be different if…You walked away from gossip and verbal defamation? Let today be the day…You speak only the good you know of other people and encourage others to do the same.”

“Be less curious about people and more curious about ideas.”
― Marie Curie

“If you haven't got anything nice to say about anybody come sit next to me.”
― Alice Roosevelt Longworth

“Isn't it kind of silly to think that tearing someone else down builds you up?”
― Sean Cov

Third-Hand Intelligence
OHO live performance, recorded at 'The Compound' November 2015(OHO consists of Jay Graboski, David Reeve & Ray Jozwiak)

My latest solo offering, Just More Music by Ray Jozwiak, featuring original, instrumental piano music is now available at - Just More Music by Ray Jozwiak

Sunday, November 29, 2015

Human? . . .

. . . jury may still be out . . .

(from http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/amid-latest-controversy-trump-claims-worlds-greatest-memory-n468621)
Truth or lie, supporters lining up for Monday's rally told NBC News it didn't matter. "The only thing I can say and I don't think its bad because it is a human trait, there might have been a slight exaggeration," said Richard Snowden of Nashville, TN who travelled to Ohio to see Trump for the 9th time this political season. "For the most part I don't think it's a criminal offense."Michaelene Clevenger of Columbus also admitted Trump may "bend the truth" and that there are things about him that she wished he wouldn't say, "but the bottom line is he will get American great again."
Chuckling to himself, Rick Spring explained he was laughing "because when the media asks questions about him [Trump] bending the truth" he thinks about Washington, D.C.

My latest solo offering, Just More Music by Ray Jozwiak, featuring original, instrumental piano music is now available at - Just More Music by Ray Jozwiak

Saturday, November 28, 2015

Ah . . .

. . . music . . .

(from http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_music.html#vGMC3c51rp64YyJ9.99)
"Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything."
-Plato

"One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain."
-Bob Marley

"If music be the food of love, play on. "
-William Shakespeare

"I think music in itself is healing. It's an explosive expression of humanity. It's something we are all touched by. No matter what culture we're from, everyone loves music."
-Billy Joel

"Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent."
-Victor Hugo

"Music in the soul can be heard by the universe. "
-Lao Tzu

"Without music, life would be a mistake."
-Friedrich Nietzsche

"It is cruel, you know, that music should be so beautiful. It has the beauty of loneliness of pain: of strength and freedom. The beauty of disappointment and never-satisfied love. The cruel beauty of nature and everlasting beauty of monotony."
-Benjamin Britten

"Where words fail, music speaks."
-Hans Christian Andersen

Scared Money (Don't Win)
from Where Words Do Not Reach by OHO (Jay Graboski, David Reeve, Ray Jozwiak and a host of others)

What do you think?
Tell me at
http://www.rayjozwiak.com/guestbook.html or at
http://www.ohomusic.com

Get your copy of OHO's Where Words Do Not Reach now!

The Ocean City Ditty Video is now on YouTube
and don't forget to visit http://www.ohomusic.com

My latest solo offering, Just More Music by Ray Jozwiak, featuring original, instrumental piano
music is now available at - Just More Music by Ray Jozwiak

Friday, November 27, 2015

Labelling . . .

(http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-06-30/tallying-right-wing-terror-vs-jihad)
". . . Andrew Joseph Stack, who you may remember piloted a small plane into an IRS building in Austin. Stack left a manifesto behind, and it doesn't exactly read like an anarcho-capitalist treatise. Oh, he's mad at the government, all right, but he's mad about ... the 1986 revision to Section 1706 of the tax code, which governs the treatment of technical contractors. Here are some other things Andrew Stack was angry about:

The bailouts of GM and Wall Street
Drug companies and health insurers (Obamacare was then stalled in Congress)
The Catholic Church and the "monsters of organized religion"
The Pennsylvania steel bankruptcies that gutted steelworker pensions
Now-defunct accounting firm Arthur Andersen
Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (because of Section 1706)
The California base closings of the early 1990s
The 1980s S&L crisis
Government aid to airlines after 9/11
His accountant
George W. Bush

Its closing lines are "The communist creed: From each according to his ability, to each according to his need. The capitalist creed: From each according to his gullibility, to each according to his greed." . . ."

The label doesn't help much when it comes to terrorism.

What do you think?
Tell me at
http://www.rayjozwiak.com/guestbook.html or at
http://www.ohomusic.com

Get your copy of OHO's Where Words Do Not Reach now!

The Ocean City Ditty Video is now on YouTube
and don't forget to visit http://www.ohomusic.com

My latest solo offering, Just More Music by Ray Jozwiak, featuring original, instrumental piano music is now available at - Just More Music by Ray Jozwiak

Thursday, November 26, 2015

Must Be . . .

. . . shove

(from http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/outside-voices-careers/2013/07/29/5-secrets-you-should-know-about-hr)
". . . HR's job is to support the company's managers, not to dictate how they operate. Some companies give HR more power than they should – such as letting them control how other departments hire or make promotion decisions. But in general, if you're a manager and your HR department is creating obstacles to your work (for instance, making it harder for you to hire great people or hire as quickly as you need to, or making it difficult for you to address performance problems forthrightly), you should push back. Escalate the situation, or find an ally higher up in the organization who can overrule HR or push for different procedures. . . "

Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Strange . . .

. . . ommission . . .

(http://www.resilience.org/stories/2015-11-19/the-elephant-in-paris-the-military-and-greenhouse-gas-emissions)
". . . There is no shortage of words in the latest negotiating document for the UN climate negotiations taking place in Paris at the end of November – 32,731 words to be precise, and counting. Yet strangely there is one word you won’t find: military. It is a strange omission, given that the US military alone is the single largest user of petroleum in the world and has been the main enforcer of the global oil economy for decades. . ."