Tuesday, December 11, 2012

RIP Dave Brubeck

At some point in the busy day, it's nice to stop what we're doing, shut down for a few moments, and Take Five...

One of the great ones. RIP.

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Friday, January 20, 2012

RIP, Etta

One of the greats... godspeed, Etta.



Sunday, January 15, 2012

When Rehearsal is More Fun than the Show

A great rendition of one of my favorites...

I bet you won't see a clip like this with Pitbull in it...

(Hat Tip: http://blog.kir.com/)

Friday, December 23, 2011

Merry Christmas from the Family

This is a favorite of mine.  Robert Earl Keen just nails it.  Merry Christmas!

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Merry Christmas

Some Christmas cheer from the New York Sun, ca. 1897:

DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, 'If you see it in THE SUN it's so.' Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?

VIRGINIA O'HANLON.
115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET

VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except what they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You may tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Stewardship... It was nice to know ya...

stewardship: (1) the office, duties, and obligations of one who actively directs affairs; (2) the individual's responsibility to manage his life and property with proper regard to the rights of others.

I realize that a concept such as stewardship must seem a quaint relic from a bygone era.  But did MF Global need some more of it?  Does the CME need some more of it?

Why don't we go and ask their customers?

Who needs stewardship?

Wednesday, November 2, 2011