Create Your Own Music Radio Stations

This is better than Sirius and XM Radio!  And it's free!  I just discovered a remarkable Internet site. It is called Pandora Internet Radio.  With it, you can create your own CD quality stereo MUSIC RADIO STATIONS personally tailored to your taste and any themes you choose.   Getting started is very simple.  Just select the artists and/or songs you want.  The website will do the rest, creating a THEME RADIO STATION based on your selections.  This is not like any other music site on the web.  It is the product of the Music Genome Project in which 50 musical analysts with 4 year degrees in music theory, composition and performance have been analyzing all types of music since 2000 to develop a huge  music database.   It is phenomenally all inclusive.  I assure you, you have not experienced a music website like this one.  It's like it can read your mind and learn your innermost musical taste when you give it just one artist or song.  And you can give it multiple criteria if you want.  Below, is an excerpt from the Music Genome Project website.

Each song in the Music Genome Project is analyzed using up to 400 distinct musical characteristics by a trained music analyst. These attributes capture not only the musical identity of a song, but also the many significant qualities that are relevant to understanding the musical preferences of listeners. The typical music analyst working on the Music Genome Project has a four-year degree in music theory, composition or performance, has passed through a selective screening process and has completed intensive training in the Music Genome's rigorous and precise methodology. To qualify for the work, analysts must have a firm grounding in music theory, including familiarity with a wide range of styles and sounds. All analysis is done on location.

No matter what type of music you like (rock, rap, jazz, big band, classical, modern, oldies, etc), whether you want to listen to background music while working or blast out your favorite theme tunes at a party, I guarantee you will love this site!  I'm not a big music listener, but this site won me over.  Please note:  The site will give you about a 15 minute tease after you set up your first "radio station".  It will, then, ask you to become a member.  Membership is free.  My guess is, by that time you will be hooked, as I was.  Click on the following link to get started:

Pandora Internet Radio

For more information, check out the following links:
About Pandora     Music Genome Project

Healthcare Rationing Has Arrived!

Remember the solemn promise by the President and the Democrats that healthcare reform would NOT result in rationing? Well, it appears the Whitehouse has taken the first step to do precisely that!  A new government study concluded that women should NOT get mammograms as is currently recommended.

The American Cancer Society currently recommends, "Women age 40 and older should have a screening mammogram every year, and should continue to do so for as long as they are in good health."  A study just released by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, however, stated that regular mammography screening need not be started before age 50, and, then, only once every two years, and it, further, stated that women should NOT perform self examinations.  It reached these conclusions despite the fact that 17% of breast cancer deaths in 2006 were among women in their 40s, and many breast cancers have been discovered by women performing self examinations.  So, why has the Federal Government published this study now?

Recommendations from the task force are used as the basis for insurance companies determining what procedures they will pay for.  Adherence is not mandatory, but insurance companies can use the recommendation to reduce the number of mammograms they will pay for.  If insurance companies decline payment for mammograms the result would be thousands less of these procedures performed each year.  And if women cease to perform self examinations, there will be thousands less follow-up procedures.

With the huge pending cost of healthcare reform, the addition of thousands of new patients and the prospect of doctors leaving their practices, rationing is unavoidable.  Despite promises from the President and the Democrats, it, not only, WILL happen, but, with the release of this study, they have begun laying the groundwork for it.  And they didn't even wait until the reform package was passed!

If you don't want your healthcare rationed, you need to let your congressmen and senators know, NOW!*  The House bill has already passed.  If the bill in the Senate passes, there will be a vote on a final package, and healthcare reform will be law, along with the inevitable rationing the Federal Government promised would never happen.

*Enter your zip code in the "Write to Congress" box at the upper right of this page.

Veterans Day Tribute 2009

This morning I rode my Harley to the Florida National Cemetery for the Annual Veterans Day Ceremony. A little girl approached me with her brother in tow and gave me a certificate of thanks that she made in school. It said, "Dear Veteran, I love you. Thank you for not killing nobody." Out of the mouths of babes! Still, it was very touching.

The experience left me thinking about all who served since the birth of our country. She and her brother are the reason we served: to keep them safe! At this moment thousands of brave Americans are far from their homes and families defending us, our country and our way of life. Millions throughout our history put their lives on the line to defend us. Many made the ultimate sacrifice. On this Veterans Day I would like to extend my warmest regards to my military colleagues and all who served.

Political Cartoons

It appears the honeymoon is over between cartoonists and the Obama Administration. Take a few moments to enjoy the political cartoons below. If they are too small to read, click on individual cartoons to see them full size.

[My thanks to Greg Thew for forwarding these]