I just downloaded the WordPress app for my T-mobile vibrant (galaxy) and am now writing this post with it.

So far, so good. Now my friend Nils should be much happier with me.

I’ll be experimenting with the app to see what the results are, including incorporating images and media from my phone. If it all works as advertised it could be a big deal for me in the future determining whether I use wordpress or typepad for blogs. There is no doubt that a handheld blogging platform would have some real advantages.

The app has a button to add media and when I pushed it, it allowed me to take a photo or record a video, which was pretty cool, so I took a picture of our cat. Now we’ll see where it places it in the blog post.

Elling was not born with the most beautiful or unique voice, but what he does with it is remarkable.  He sings with energy, subtlety and amazing dexterity, often creating melodic and rhythmic lines that work with the rest of the band like an instrumental soloist – as opposed to a vocalist.  He has a very sophisticated approach to singing and he makes things that are very difficult to perform sound effortless.  I think he’s the best male jazz vocalist alive.

In addition to his vocal talents, Elling is an intriguing and stimulating lyricists too.  He works out extended vocal solos with streams of words and poetry that unveil his personal perspectives, beliefs, humor and emotion.  In other words, he puts a lot of himself into his work, but you need to hear how he weaves these thoughts with the music lines to appreciate his immense creative power.

One of my favorite songs of his is “Leaving Again/In The Wee Small Hours of the Morning” from the Nightmoves album.  In this song he puts lyrics to an improvisation recorded by Keith Jarrett.  Truly inspired work.   Here is a video from an appearance he made on Swedish TV4 in October 2007 singing this song,  followed by an interview.  The video incorrectly identifies the song as “Where are you my love?”  The song “Where are you” is on the album, but its a different song.  Regardless, I’m thankful that this video exists.

“95% of what the government does is redistribute wealth.”

“We have socialism for the strong.”

“Its not new.

These comments were all made in a discussion of how tax subsidies work and have always worked.  Maybe this discussion will be on YouTube?

All tax plans do this.  Thanks George for setting the record straight.

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Links below added on Oct 25, 2008

UNC health care weblog

The stem cell blog (search for drosophila)

Clinical correlations (search for drosophila)

University of Pennsylvania

Genomicron

Molecular biology blog

The Trail (Washington Post)

Cutting through the crap

Here are some links to blogs that you might find interesting.

Sense and Nonsense

Bill Moyers interviewing George Soros

Naomi Klein, Milton Friedman and Arnold Schwarzenegger

The end of free market fundamentalism

Why market fundamentalism has failed

The fast answer from the McCain campaign was that they would be donated to charity.

Really?  Let’s see it.  On e-Bay where everybody can see.

They could let Rush have the honors of organizing it, he apparently is familiar with how it works.

If Britney can do it, why can’t Sarah?

I bet that $150,000 worth of clothes could go for twice that amount on e-Bay.

But it needs to close before the election, just in case McCain and Palin are not elected.  The value is likely to decrease as the post-mortem analysis drags her VP selection through the mud-encrusted wringer.

What a talent!

Colin Powell was interviewed on Meet The Press this morning.  He spoke to Tom Brokaw about the damages of the negative messages coming from the McCain campaign.  He posed the right question at one point: ‘Why shouldn’t a 7 year old Muslim child be able to think about being president someday?’

Considering the way the McCain campaign has been carrying on its negative attacks, Powell said he will be voting for Barack Obama.  As voters we can send a strong message to politicians of both parties – vote against negative election tactics this year. The passion of an election is no reason to tear down our principles.

As Bob Herbert wrote in the New York Times, there are much more pressing stories to tell than Joe’s.

Wealth redistribution through tax policy sounds pretty bad, but wealth redistribution has always been a key part of the American dream.  I have to believe that trickle down Reaganomics is another form of wealth redistribution that used tax policies as part of the scheme.

The people that Mr. Herbert wrote about and the thousands of others like them are victims of a different kind of wealth redistribution.  Wherever there are economic bubbles (as there was in housing in this decade) there is wealth redistribution.  Some people get away with more than their fair share and others are left with the pain of their losses.  The mortgage practices of this decade were a massive wealth redistribution scheme with at least some amount of government support and a number of winners but many deeply damaged victims.

We have seen a widening gap between the haves and have-nots in America over the last few decades.  Some call it the shrinking middle class.  To me it seems like it is probably a clear case of wealth redistribution and its a topic worth exploring in a lot more depth.  The question is what has government’s role been in this decline.  We don’t want to become a welfare state, but figuring out what a fair distribution of wealth is a much more difficult question than what is being portrayed in the campaign now.  Its the main reason I don’t believe in unregulated economic systems – it doesn’t look like they work for most of us – whether we are the Joes of the world or the elderly and recently homeless.

The last car I thought I would check out was anything made by Ford.  I just didn’t think they were doing anything interesting except making wide-ass SUVs and trucks.  But the discounts offered in the Mercury News were huge, so I thought I should go in case I was missing something.  And I was, like usual.

I am a tech-geek of sorts.  I don’t have an iPhone – just a regular iPod and a Motorola Z3 with bluetooth.  But both of them work like a charm with the Sync system in the Focus and Fusion.  I’m also an audio-whacko and do most of my listening behind the wheel because I can crank it up there past the threshold of Gretchen’s pain.  I was instantly in love with the ability to talk to my car to hear the music I want on demand (much faster than scrolling the iPod’s interface) and calling people without having to turn down or pause the audio (it does that automatically) and having to wear my hands free earpiece.  Yo, and I was pleased to find out that I can plug in a USB stick with MP3s and it plays them without having a player like an iPod.

The Audiophile sound system Ford offers is very nice – I like it much better than the JBL sound system in our Highlander – which is overly punchy in the low end.  It doesn’t quite measure up to the custom stereo in my Jetta, but its still big, huge and beautiful. The control options with Sync puts it way over the top.

I ended up buying a Fusion from Gilroy Ford.  They were real easy to work and negoitiate with.  I’ve had the car now for just a few days, but I’m really loving it. MIleage is pretty good because its a 4 banger and its a very clean buring engine.  The ride is fine and it seems to want to go down the freeway as fast as I want to.   4 wheel disk brakes, power-adjustable drivers seat, power windows. It doesn’t have sports options like the spoiler and oversized wheels like so many of the big audio cars that are in dealer inventory, but I didn’t want to pay for that stuff anyway.  All I want to do is talk to my car and get instant satisfaction.

And name calling.

The name calling really bugs me and that’s one of the reasons I tend to like Democratic candidates more than Republican candidates.  Republicans can’t seem to leave that one alone.  Heck, they systematically do it, as they are doing now with the “Obama is a terrorist” robocalls.  That is not at all OK with me and my guess is that it’s not at all OK with many others either.

I think the journey is just as important as the goal – and the journey is pretty ugly right now.  I don’t think it’s OK to make viscous lies about your opponent in order to win. The end does not justify the means.

Please join me in voting against ridiculous, fabricated, personal attacks.

One side says the other pals with terrorists.  That doesn’t seem very likely.

The other side says the other is erratic.  That’s probably an overstatement.

Comparing the two, it seems to me the friend of terrorist charge is the more ugly and irresponsibe.  So, I’m voting for Obama – unless his campaign comes up with something more ugly and stupid than what the Republicans are doing.

Send a message to politicians this year. Cut the crap.

Here are the trout pics: (click to see the whole photo)

The wikipedia entry is probably pretty decent, but I wonder what the truth is about how long the bulbs need to be on to ensure long life.

This post at the environmental defense fund’s site is a very interesting read. Make sure to read this comment by lees on March 13, 2008. I don’t know if Dr. Jim Balbus, the author of the blog post was trying to spin this up or not, but I have to say, my bullshit sensors went off just from the way he presented his arguments. The line about throwing them away in a ziplock bag really got to me – talk about a crock of shit.

So, I think we’ve been duped about the great benefits of CFLs. The idea that consumers will somehow become educated on the “proper applications” and disposal of light bulbs is seriously irresponsible.

Its not as bad as WMD, but its bad. Do you know where you can recycle these things? When is the last time you recycled one? How about your workplace? Are you using them there and do you think they are being recycled correctly? I bet most of them are being tossed in the garbage, just like most fluorescent bulbs were for decades.

Rod Serling was such a genius, if only he had directed Bewitched.

Also saw Koko Taylor, she can still belt it out. Great to see here again because I thought that might never happen. I’m telling you, the current version of the Blues Machine is groovin’ and beltin’ in out just like it was 30 years ago.