Big Wheel

There is no data to import. The files are all scanned images. I guess you could try OCRing, but I wouldn't get my hopes up too high. ← This is kind of a shame, since it probably wouldn't take too long for the New Yorker to just OCR the stuff and then index it with Google. (You could do this at home, too, but it would probably take forever to clean everything up.) It would be cool if future versions had some kind of program that could access an index on the Internet or something. It'd probably be pretty simple--just go to newyorker.com, Google whatever you want, and then look up the appropriate page on the DVD.

I plan on picking up Have No Fear when you get those copies back in. Was kicking myself for missing it last time.

I like mine wet. What's the point of putting vermouth in the drink if you can't taste it?

Am I the only one who saw that picture of Chuck and Von and thought of Burt Reynolds on Celebrity Jeopardy?

On everything besides Iraq, Hitchens is fairly far to the left, though not as far as he used to be. I guess political moderation just doesn't agree with some people. Guy ← I think Hitchens's douchebaggish style also has a lot to do with why people detest him. When it comes to Iraq he just can't seem to bring himself to be intellectually honest--instead lumping his opponents together as "objectively pro-Saddam".

Has Konitz been mentioned yet? Should he count?

Frank Morgan would certainly count as a disciple, though I don't know if he ever played with Bird.

Maybe you're thinking of Joe Christmas? I don't think Scott Lasser's posted in at least 4-5 years, unless it was under a pseudonym.

How often does Yourmusic update its inventory? In terms of jazz cds I've probably seen about 40-50 things I have real interest in buying, but once I get all that, the deal is going to be pretty uninteresting unless they acquire more selection. Not a bad place to pick up a bunch of non-jazz albums, though.

Hm, Gary deleted the link he just posted, but Kansas City 7 wasn't on there. Weird, because I definitely remember it in there.

This used to be listed (may be still) in J.D. Aebersold's Double-Time Jazz catalog as one of "100 historically significant recordings." Don't have it yet, but it's one of a very few in that list that almost never gets talked about here.

My office has started using it in the last month. I think we called Cambodia on it a week or two ago.

The video can currently be found at http://www.crooksandliars.com .

It's worse than this, Jim. Contrary to what administration water-carriers like Michael Goodwin are saying , the federal government response was not just "slow." The senior officials weren't just slow in their response, they seemed to have no conception of the situation on the ground well after the public at large had a grasp of the facts (see: Convention Center). And once they did become apprised of the facts, they decided to focus on political damage control instead of, you know, actually saving people's lives. People who say, "well, the feds were slow, but Nagin and Blanco fucked up blah blah blah," are trying to sound like they're just reasonably doling out the blame. What they're really doing is completely trivializing the enormity of the administration's fuckup here.

Bob Williams also happens to be the president of a conservative think tank, the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, and possesses no relevant disaster management experience. I wonder if he has an ulterior motive in publishing this op-ed and appearing all over cable TV in the last few days? Par for the course for the WSJ editorial page. I think I'll just turn it over to the folks at Media Matters.

Total hackery. Just because New Orleans was always poor and high-crime doesn't mean that the feds were not responsible for maintaining order post-disaster. The whole point of a federal response is that local authorities are not equipped to handle natural disasters, regardless of how professional or competent they are to start with. ← Hardly "total hackery." There's more than enough blame to go around on the federal, state, local, and even (in some cases) individual levels. Lots of people and organizations they trusted fucked up on this one. ← Of course there's plenty of blame to go around. That, however, is not what this shitbag is saying. He's arguing that: 1) The NO local police is first and foremost to blame, and that those who disagree are just "Bush-bashing"; 2) That Howard Dean is charging racism--without so much as providing a quote, instead choosing to put Jesse Jackson's words in Dean's mouth; 3) That Ray Nagin, who was a REPUBLICAN until running for mayor, is representative of the Democratic party as a whole; and 4) That it's something extraordinary that the poorest city in America can't magically come up with a better police force. It's a cynical attempt at a whitewash of the Bush administration's actions in New Orleans, laced with spin from top to bottom. Feebly attempting to excuse the inexcusable? That's my definition of hackery. ← What the hell makes you think this guy (Pulitzer Prize winning Michael Goodwin) is doing some kind of pro Bush song and dance? Take your glasses off. ← Hmm, maybe the fact that the Daily News editorial page carries only slightly less water for Bush than the NY Post? Goodwin's bias is well known. link link )

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/09/07/D8CFNMPG0.html ← What total garbage. Those remarks of Dean's were made today, AFTER the NY Daily News's resident asshole wrote his article. And here is the best version of the Dean quote that I could find: Who here doubts that this is true?

Total hackery. Just because New Orleans was always poor and high-crime doesn't mean that the feds were not responsible for maintaining order post-disaster. The whole point of a federal response is that local authorities are not equipped to handle natural disasters, regardless of how professional or competent they are to start with. ← Hardly "total hackery." There's more than enough blame to go around on the federal, state, local, and even (in some cases) individual levels. Lots of people and organizations they trusted fucked up on this one. ← Of course there's plenty of blame to go around. That, however, is not what this shitbag is saying. He's arguing that: 1) The NO local police is first and foremost to blame, and that those who disagree are just "Bush-bashing"; 2) That Howard Dean is charging racism--without so much as providing a quote, instead choosing to put Jesse Jackson's words in Dean's mouth; 3) That Ray Nagin, who was a REPUBLICAN until running for mayor, is representative of the Democratic party as a whole; and 4) That it's something extraordinary that the poorest city in America can't magically come up with a better police force. It's a cynical attempt at a whitewash of the Bush administration's actions in New Orleans, laced with spin from top to bottom. Feebly attempting to excuse the inexcusable? That's my definition of hackery.

Total hackery. Just because New Orleans was always poor and high-crime doesn't mean that the feds were not responsible for maintaining order post-disaster. The whole point of a federal response is that local authorities are not equipped to handle natural disasters, regardless of how professional or competent they are to start with.

I dunno if you've ever seen an evacuation-related traffic jam, Guy, but I sure as hell have (going in the other direction before Andrew, no less, talk about surreal), and believe me, sitting in 100+ miles of bumper-to-bumper traffic can seem just as scary as staying home when the hurricane is only hours away. ← I sympathize, but when the government tells you to evacuate and you have the means to evacuate, you should probably evacuate. Guy ← Of course you should. I guess I was taking issue with calling all people who fall into this category "idiots." Some of us have done the hurricane thing a whole bunch of times and we know how crazy things get in the 24 hours beforehand and how often the worst-case scenario fails to materialize.

I dunno if you've ever seen an evacuation-related traffic jam, Guy, but I sure as hell have (going in the other direction before Andrew, no less, talk about surreal), and believe me, sitting in 100+ miles of bumper-to-bumper traffic can seem just as scary as staying home when the hurricane is only hours away.

That's what I've been saying as well. New Orleans is TOTALLED! Take the insurance money and rebuild up the river. I'm being serious. I would think the insurance companies and taxpayers would be serious too. Why recover a whole city at the expense of $20 billioin+ (hell we could fight another war for that much)only to have it happen again. It will happen again, just as it was inevitable this time. A city on the gulf coast, below sea level WILL have catastrophic floods. Rebuild Biloxi, rebuild Gulf Port but think hard before rebuilding New Orleans. And this from a native of Louisiana who understands what New Orleans means to the region economically. ← After today's events and my own experiences during Andrew, I have to wonder how many insurance claims are going to be actually paid and by whom. These kinds of events seem to stretch insurance companies to the breaking point. In the end, it sounds like things worked out for the most part after Andrew, but there was definitely speculation at the time that companies were going to refuse to pay out.

No Boston? Only about 4hrs from NYC...

My uncle gave me a tape of this record years ago (misplaced it but haven't replaced it with the CD yet due to laziness). But I can still hear in my head those crazy half-steps (or are they quarter-tones?) on the horn entrance to "Turkish Bath"--awesome!

D'oh, I forgot about the cable/broadcast FCC distinction. Still, I think the problem wasn't the question so much as Smith's snotty tone in asking it. Smith sounded like he was less interested in hearing a real answer to his question and more interested in pointing out an idiot. And if that was his point all along, he shouldn't have thrust a microphone in the guy's face (why would you turn the mike over to someone you think is an idiot?) Of course the yahoo comes off as stupid. That doesn't mean that Smith can't also come off as stupid. The whole disaster porn thing is stupid, period.