The Best Album Of The 1980's

Believe me this IS the best album of the 1980's

Some people say it is LONDON CALLING-THE CLASH, or some day THE JOSHUA TREE-U2. If you are really a fan, you could probably argue PURPLE RAIN-PRINCE AND THE REVOLUTION. Of course these are all great records and always have a spot in any shuffle that I am compiling. To me, though, the best album of the 1980's is none of these, and in fact, my album rarely shows up on any list anywhere. My BEST ALBUM OF THE 1980's is:

RADIO KAOS-Roger Waters

I will let Wikipedia describe the album. It is a concept album but it is describes to me exactly what the 1980's were about.

The concept is based around a 23-year-old disabled man from Wales named Billy.

Billy is confined to a wheelchair and is thought to be mentally a vegetable. However, Billy is highly intelligent but has no way of expressing himself. Billy has a twin brother Benny who is a coal miner. Billy lives with Benny, Molly his wife, and their children. Unfortunately, Benny has lost his job in the mines due to the "market forces". One night, Benny and Billy are out on a pub crawl when they pass a shop full of TV screens broadcasting Margaret Thatcher's "mocking condescension". Benny vents his anger on this shop and steals a cordless phone. Next, in theatrical fashion, Benny poses on a footbridge in protest to the closures; the same night, a taxi driver is killed by a concrete block dropped from a similar bridge. The police question Benny, who hides the phone in Billy's wheelchair. Benny is taken to prison, and Molly, unable to cope, sends Billy to live with his uncle David in L.A.. Billy is gifted and can hear radio waves in his head ("Radio Waves" track 1), so he begins to explore the cordless phone, recognising its similarity to a radio. He experiments with the phone and is able to access computers and speech synthesisers, he learns to speak through them. He calls a radio station in L.A. named Radio KAOS (hence the album title) and tells them of his life story about his brother being in jail ("Me or Him" track 3), about his sister-in-law not being able to cope and sending him to L.A. to live with his uncle Dave ("Sunset Strip" track 5), and about the closures of the mines ("Powers that Be" track 4). Billy eventually hacks in to a military satellite and fools the world in to thinking nuclear ICBMs are about to be detonated at major cities all over the world whilst deactivating the military power to retaliate ("Home" track 6 and "Four Minutes" track 7). The album concludes with a song about how everyone, in thinking they were about to die, realises that the fear and competitiveness peddled by the mass media is much less important than their love for family and the larger community. ("The Tide is Turning" track 8).

The album is dedicated "to all those who find themselves at the violent end of monetarism." This and other moments in the album--such as a segment juxtaposing a Ronald Reagan campaign slogan with clips from an old western TV show and an apparent recorded plea from American hostages not to engage in "heroics" to free them--make Waters' political point of view quite clear.


Thanks to Wikipedia I can copy and paste a good description. To listen to it is remarkable, and take away the ICBM's crushing towards the west coast, you could definitely picture this album today.

So It goes

Amazon Versus B&N Versus Borders Versus Independent Bookseller: The Battle Of Bioteams

Today I went on a journey.

This journey began on foot and soon ended in a train. My journey was the search for a book. This book Ken Thompsons BIOTEAMS was recommended to me by a friend, and was also a part of a featured story in the latest WIRED magazine. Bioteams details the subject of Biomimicry, or in lay terms, the adaptation of natures rules into a corporate business team. An example is the way bee's work and converting that idea into a real world scenario( project management).

I knew this book was going to be hard to find. It was published in January with little fanfare. I wanted to test and see if the reliability of the two major booksellers and one independent bookseller would be as reliable, efficient, and dependable as my favorite site, Amazon.com.

I first visited my local Borders. Borders is what Barnes and Noble would be if it was more user friendly. Walking into Borders there is a readily available computer console where I can search the stacks for my book. I had already done advance research and new that both major bookstores kept them in stock. In a pre-journey ranking I expected my best chance was to find this book at Borders.
Sadly the book was not available. I spoke with a floor attendant and she told me that they would easily be able to order this book for me. She said it would take 7-10 days. I did not accept and moved on.

Barnes and Noble, at least the ones I visit are a complicated experience. Whereas Borders offers easy search on certain computer consoles, and the independent bookseller has better customer service, Barnes and Noble is hardly either. Walking in, it took me a few minutes to find the business books. I was able to find a Star Wars section, a Fiction and Literature section, and a section completely devoted to Winnie Cooper( yes from Wonder Years). Apparently Winnie, being not only my first real crush, also is a mathematician who is helping young people succeed in Math. Amazing. ANYWAYS, Barnes and Noble was a complete bust, however they have an exorbitant amount of Donald Trump books. evidently in-stock research does not take in has-beens on there list.

My final jaunt was to an independent bookseller. It was with little hope that I would find the book i was looking for. Most of the times, the hard to find books will be here, but for me my little book wasn't available. I left with my head down and decided that with this little journey, I could officially say that what we know as the modern bookstore is DEAD.

Online booksellers are the way of the future. Not only will they have the book in stock, they will also offer you used books from people who may share the same taste. They will show you books that fit the same description, and they will continue to be on the cutting edge of technology. Easy search, less coffee smells, and customer service that is a click away. I ordered my book in two clicks. It is now somewhere between Omaha and Des Moines and will be in my hands on Wednesday.

So it goes.

Obamaist 1.0

It is true that I am a Republican. For years I have lived a guerrilla lifestyle within the confines of my wife's family. Her family is democratic tried and true. They are altruistic, and liberal, and left. My wife's family believes in everything a good democrat would believe in.

Then comes me.

I am from the rural stretches of Illinois. Down in my neck of the woods, Democrat is a dirty word said with anger more than pride. We believe in guns, and amendments and rights. We believe that George W. Bush is misinterpreted and that Dick Cheney is a national hero. We hated Clinton and Gore and Kerry and believe that if this nation is gonna be safe than George Bush will make us safe.

Then comes Barack Obama.

It is funny. As I am typing this blog, the spell-check does not recognize his name. Something tells me in the near future, all blogs, and Microsoft Word etc will have to adapt to the funny named president. That's right men and gals, I think Obama is going to win.

Obama really is a great story... but I am not writing this to talk about his mother, or his father from Kenya, or his Harvard days. I want to talk about his election for senator in the state of Illinois. On January 20th, on the day of the inauguration-after the champagne is gone and the work needs to begin..Barack Obama needs to stand on that stage in the January cold and thank one person above all for his ascendancy.

God
Michelle

Nope, neither. The person Barack Obama needs to thank is Jeri Ryan... That's correct, Jeri Ryan-the blond beauty who so famously played a half borg in Deep Space Nine, and went to other jaunts as a scandalous character on the OC and as a teacher on Boston Public. Jeri Ryan is the reason that Barack Obama is going to be president. John McCain should cancel his annual trip to the Star Trek convention because it was her that set us on a course for greatness.

You see, Jeri Ryan was once married to an Illinois politician named Jack Ryan. Now Jack Ryan was a charmer, a good lookin' SOB who was destined to be a big name and a big contender for a top tier position. I really believed in Jack Ryan and worked in his campaign as a low level envelope stuffer. I got my mother to be his Iroquois County chairperson, and was excited of the prospects. His only downfall was his name, which if anyone knows, the last name RYAN is like having a raging aces of Herpes. Besides this, Jack was on his way...then came the scandal.

Now I am not too privy on the exact details of the scandal, but Jack once wanted his wife to have sex with him in a public place..call it a dirty nightclub( aren't they all), or an outdoor Sybaris. Either way, the scandal seemed to leave a bad taste in people's mouth. Now, I may not be a love doctor, but is it really a big deal if a man wants to have sex with his wife. I know the public aspect may be awkward, but most sex doctors say to spice it up once in a while. Maybe Jack was indeed from Mars and Jeri was from a Borg Cube. nevertheless, this was enough. The republicans in there desparate scramble decided to draft Alan Keyes to be the candidate. Alan fucking Keyes. It was all but handing the charismatic Obama the election.

I ended up voting for Obama in that election, and then went on to vote for him in this years primary. Sadly my republican brethren, I believe that "YES WE CAN". My only hope is that if Barack does make it up to the dais on that cold day, he will give a shout out to Jeri ryan, or at the very least us his mind to tap the borg collective and give her the props she deserves.