Instead of working.

Interesting article on someone who quit his computer programming job to become an online musician. Now he spends 6 hours a day online doing Email staying in touch with his fans.

bookofjoe: The blog as job

Bose makes expensive audio equipment including noise cancelling headphones for high end travellers and pilots.

Mr. Bose doesn’t have a computer in his office:

Original concepts don’t come out of computers,” he said. “They come from the insight you have into the problem. Computers are necessary for analysis, to justify your findings.

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From the International Herald Tribune

It is worth noting that the people in the forefront of the patenting of traditional Indian wisdom are Indians, mostly overseas. We know a business opportunity when we see one and have exported generations of gurus skilled in peddling enlightenment for a buck. But as Indians, they ought to know that the very idea of patenting knowledge is a gross violation of the tradition of yoga.

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COLOURlovers :: Blog / 11 Great Color Legends

Time to Think - Ken Rockwell Facts

Regarding the 12 new rules for entering Alberta:

1. Bring your own house.
2. If going to the Oil Sands, bring your own house, school and hospital.
3. If going to Edmonton, wear your flak jacket. This is the murder capital of Canada.
4. If driving to Edmonton, it is also the auto theft center of Canada.
5. If you are bringing drugs, head to West Edmonton Mall, the drug capital of Canada.
6. If you are looking for work, look no further. Minimum wage is $5.60/hour.
7. If you work downtown, parking costs $ 8.00/hour.
8. If you are able to buy a house in Calgary, why not spend the money on a 15 year holiday.
9. If you drive a Hummer, look out. We have the highest gas prices in Canada. ( The Alberta Advantage.)
10. In Edmonton we have 5 hospitals. 10 years ago we had 7. Don’t come here sick.
11. In Calgary the population has exploded. The last road was paved 12 years ago. Calgary is a no parking zone.
12. Remember the Cowboys etc. beating the Indians? It is payback time. They own all the Casinos here.

Edmonton even has a hockey team that was so bad this year that they took out a full page ad in the papers to apologize. But no tickets were refunded.

In quest of a cultural life we went to the Gulf Jazz Festival first night with the two kids. The musicians were very good. Here’s an interview.

First on piano the Swedish

Then a group came on stage with Ricky Ford the American alto sax player. He doesn’t have much of an up to date web site also!

And there was also the guitarist Jarek Smietana. He has a somewhat better web site!

And spontaneously they had Karen Edwards come up at the end and do two songs. She’s got a nice warm voice and apparently though known as a singer she plays a mean piano.

And on the final night we saw the Rosenberg Trio Three brothers headlined by Stochelo, one of the best guitar players I’ve every seen. Quite enjoyable. Stochelo’s inspiration is Django Reinhardt

No photos of the final night. There were more people as it was Thursday night and we were sitting further back, not possible to take photos with the camera phone. On the first night we were in the front row.

Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog: The myth of Cuban health care

I’ve heard of this myth and wondered…

According to Forbes magazine, by the way, Castro is now personally worth approximately $900 million. So when he desperately needed medical treatment recently, he could afford to fly a Spanish surgeon, with equipment, on a chartered jet to Cuba. What does that say about free Cuban health care?

Improve your photography with clasical art.

This is a neat idea. I’ll try it and post some examples later.