Topic of the day: Facebook censored breastfeeding photo

And Facebook is standing firm on this ridiculous policy

There are only 2 possible explanations:
1) Facebook is too dumb to tell what is porn and what is not.
2) someone is really afraid of female breasts and Facebook is afraid of offending those people.

What do you think?

Album of the day: Passion, Grace & Fire

Any fan of guitar must have heard of the Guitar Trio album by the three legendary guitarists Paco De Lucia, Al Di Meola and John McLaughlin. The less well-known "Passion, Grace & Fire" is recorded by the same group and I actually like this album even better.

Topic of the day: prediction of the breakup of U.S.A.

It's a good thing that my daughter has just learned how to write her name in Chinese today. It's gonna be useful when California become part of China. Don't quote me on this though. This prediction is from Russian Professor Igor Panarin (see this Wall Street Journal article):

He predicts that economic, financial and demographic trends will provoke a political and social crisis in the U.S. When the going gets tough, he says, wealthier states will withhold funds from the federal government and effectively secede from the union. Social unrest up to and including a civil war will follow. The U.S. will then split along ethnic lines, and foreign powers will move in.

California will form the nucleus of what he calls "The Californian Republic," and will be part of China or under Chinese influence. Texas will be the heart of "The Texas Republic," a cluster of states that will go to Mexico or fall under Mexican influence. Washington, D.C., and New York will be part of an "Atlantic America" that may join the European Union. Canada will grab a group of Northern states Prof. Panarin calls "The Central North American Republic." Hawaii, he suggests, will be a protectorate of Japan or China, and Alaska will be subsumed into Russia.

Jump of the day: Robbie Knievel over the Mirage's volcano

Robbie did it!

Happy 2009! Let's hope all of us could jump over danger like Robbie did!

Star of the day: Juan Sebatian Veron

Congratulation to Juan Sebatian Veron, who just won South American footballer of the year!

Even though he didn't play that great at Man U, he's still one of the players I follow.

Issue of the day: invasion of privacy

I came across 2 news articles today and both have to do with invasion of privacy:
1) Georgia requires sex offenders to hand over passwords of online accounts.
2) Oregon governor proposes "mileage tax," which requires the use of GPS for tracking drivers.

Whoever says the big brother era hasn't arrived is in denial.

Musician of the day: Victor Wooten

My buddy forwarded a video of Victor Wooten (on bass) "dueling" with his brother (on guitar) live. Their tapping and slapping techniques are really amazing. And you don't see slapping with thumb on guitar very often.

While it's fun to watch, that's not the type of music Wooten puts on his records though. I listened to his CD "Soul Circus" (the only one with him as leader that I could find on Rhapsody) and most of the tracks are more "song" like (I guess melodic is the right word here) In fact, most features vocals. Among tracks that he appeared on, I really enjoy the instrumental "Liz & Opie" on the compilation CD "Sounds Of Wood & Steel 2"

For more instrumentals, you might want to check out his collaborator, another great bassist, Steve Bailey.

Issue of the day: Gaza violence

I don't always see eye to eye with the Pope but this time I do: Pope condemns Gaza violence

Would somebody listen to the man?

Musician of the day: Andrew York

While I was browsing videos of people playing Ibanez AEG 10 NE on YouTube (after uploading my own :D), I came across some solo guitar works composed by Andrew York.

I went look for his stuff on Rhapsody and found him on two CDs: "An Evening With International Guitar night", and as guest artist on Joe LoPiccolo's "Passages." Interestingly, Rhapsody listed him under New Age Acoustic but he has written a lot of classical works too. I would probably have classified him as Contemporary Classical. In fact, he is better known as a member of the classical group LA Guitar Quartet.

Game of the day: Detroit vs Green Bay

Even though there are so many NFL games that had playoff implications today, my vote went to the one that featured 2 non-playoff teams but made history. Yes, I'm talking about Detroit vs Green Bay. The Detroit Lions finished the season 0-16! No one had a worse record than them ever. What interested me the most is this question: was that a result of not playing hard enough or they have tried their best but their talent level is just not up to par? The irony is: no player on that team want to admit either, I guess.