Guy Berger

Tonight I saw "Invasion of the Body Snatchers". Great movie. Guy

Spaulding is on several Sun Ra recordings from 1958, including the classic Jazz in Silhouette. I do not know if he has earlier recorded appearances, or whether he recorded anything between his Sun Ra tenure and the 1961 date you mention. Guy

Nobody's mentioned this yet, but I got an email from Amazon about this new album: Hopefully someone can post the relevant CDuniverse link. Guy

So Duke University is having a 6 week, 18 program festival celebrating Thelonious Monk. I'm posting the list for selfish reasons -- I can't decide which of the concerts to go to. It's about 2.5 hrs each way for me from Charlotte, so I will probably catch only one or (maybe) two of these performances. I can't do weeknights. Which performances would you recommend as most essential to attend? My number one choice is the Jerry Gonzalez concert, but it's on a Thursday so I probably can't do it. Out of the remaining concerts I'm probably most leaning toward the Weston/Barron double bill or the Barry Harris solo. I'm not a huge fan of solo piano but Harris doing Monk sounds promising.

One thing I prefer about the British version is the boss character. I like the fact that they made David Brent a perversely sympathetic character; I'm a big Steve Carell fan, but Michael Scott is Brent without the sympathetic qualities. FWIW, I was forewarned after watching the Brit version that the American version was "watered down" -- that's definitely not true, at least through the first season. Hopefully I won't be disappointed once Netflix delivers the next set of DVDs. Guy

No, I haven't dealt with serious weight loss. But AFAIK nuts (and fat) are still good for you in moderation. Guy

One of their very best. Guy

I agree -- the stationary bike is perfect for reading the Economist. Unfortunately, my new apt complex doesn't have one, so I (attempt to) read it while on the Treadmill. Guy

So do we - olive oil based marg, too. MG Isn't margarine worse than butter? Or only certain types? Guy

I assume you mean sugar? Coke has very little sodium, and I'll speculate that this is true for most other sodas. Somebody mentioned drinking orange juice -- the stuff you buy at the store has a ton of sugar in it. I am guessing home-squeezed stuff is less problematic. Guy No, he means sodium. Yeah, it's 'low sodium' if you compare it to food, but how many other saltwater beverages do you consume? I got a 12 pack of Diet Coke a while back that they'd missed putting sweetener in, and let me tell you, it was an eye opener! Whaddaya know -- a serving of Coke does have about 2 1/3 times the sodium of a serving of Minute Maid orange juice. That said, unless you are drinking ridiculous amounts of coke (I drank two bottles today) it's probably not going to make a big impact on your sodium consumption. And honestly, if you're agitated about the sodium in coke but unperturbed by the sugar... LOL on the saltwater beverages, Moose. Guy

That's what peeves me off, then the bank turns around and pays you like 2% or less interest on your savings account. They're not running a charity... Guy

I always liked his playing with King Crimson. I think 7/4 meant "every band", not "any band". FWIW, though he probably wouldn't have fit in with Zep due to his busy style, he and Bonham did share a certain kind of groove. Yes's music became less interesting rhythmically after he left. Guy

I assume you mean sugar? Coke has very little sodium, and I'll speculate that this is true for most other sodas. Somebody mentioned drinking orange juice -- the stuff you buy at the store has a ton of sugar in it. I am guessing home-squeezed stuff is less problematic. Guy

Do we really need to insure our citizens against stupidity? Dealing with "reality", we will insure them if "Wall St" will be damaged. What a bag of crap. decent mandatory basic economics courses for high school students (and high school teachers) would be a good place to start. AMEN!!! The fact that a large segment has difficulty understanding basic money matters is not a matter of stupidity, it's just ignorance. Ignorance can be 'cured' through education. and it's a damn shame that we aren't teaching kids basic money skills, nutrition, etc. I hate to admit it, but these skills would be a lot more useful to most of the population than the quadratic equation or even Shakespeare. In truth, I'm not really arguing for 'instead of' but rather than 'in addition to', but as parents can't seem to educate their kids on these matters (mainly because they, themselves, never learned), it would really be a boon to our society for the schools to step in and take up the slack. I agree 100%. (Also with Quincy's comment that students need to have basic probability drilled into their heads.) That said, I was pleasantly surprised by the results of this report (I had very low expectations):

So the solution to the problem of fast & easy money in the past is to make money fast & easy again? Cramer just didn't want to see his investment bank buddies lose their bonuses. i agree completely, but cramer is at least acknowledging the scope of the problem. From what I've seen, Cramer was exaggerating the scope of the problem. Guy

One thing you might want to eat is unsalted nuts -- probably healthier than most other snacks. Guy

FWIW, when I was interviewing for jobs last fall, some employers DID ask for GRE scores. Guy

I'm guessing that in Rateyourmusic's methodology, that would count as a compilation. Guy

I don't think the Fed cares very much about the dollar, if you mean the exchange rate. (As long as there are no huge, sudden swings in its value.) The Fed DOES care quite a bit about inflation. FWIW, a depreciation of the dollar against other currencies would have mixed effects. Driving up the price of imports (foreign currencies becoming more expensive) would probably have some of the effects you suggest, but it would also hurt the pocketbooks of many Americans. Also, American industries that depend on foreign imports would probably see their costs go up. Guy

Amateurs definitely don't make money doing that, unless they are extremely lucky. Guy

Actually, Jazz at Massey Hall (1953) did make the list, but basically you're correct. A compilation of ignorance - at least IMO. It's a list of ALBUMS, so I don't understand the point of this objection. Guy

Do we really need to insure our citizens against stupidity? I said "ensure", not "insure" -- two totally different words. It's pretty clear that many people have trouble understanding financial contracts and that at least in some cases, homebuyers ended up being misled or poorly informed by lenders. I agree with you that once reasonable disclosure of risks has been made, our government shouldn't be in the business of protecting people from their own idiocy. Guy

Beyond ensuring that people who take out mortgages aren't bamboozled by the details of their loans, I'm not sure what can really be done. Guy

Bill Poole is the President of the St. Louis Fed and a notable inflation hawks. Guy