Mister Ian's Weblog

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  • K’naan – The Dusty Foot Philosopher

    See his site at: K'naan
    K’naan | The Dusty Foot Philosopher. I think the low bandwidth option gets to the content better but not as snazzy. The high one, plays music. On the low bandwidth here is a link to his poetry worth reading. You wish you had the hip hop track in the background.

    Here is more on Aazon.ca

    I heard him on CBC, cool, I’m buying the CD ASAP. The following link on CBC which will annoyingly open a new window is here says about his music and their other featured artist and they said there is an interview on the CBC Global Village site also but I can’t find it yet.:

    In the early days of hip hop, artist and critics both drew parallels to African oral traditions and the social conscience of Dylan-era folk that soon became buried under a mountain of gangsta imagery. On the next Global Village, two artists uncover the connection and recover the music: Toronto-based Somali rapper K’naan and Senegalese hip-hop group Daara J. We’ve got both recorded live.

    Amazon also says:

    K’naan, former refugee, now based in Toronto makes music that is a mixture of hip hop, African beats and world music intertwined – combining African drums, chants, handclaps, guitars and organic instrumentation sets this album outside the hip hop herd. K’naan creates music with a message. Leaving Somalia at the age of thirteen on what turned out to be the last commercial flight ever to do so, amidst a crumbling society and the end to this day of any form of central government K’naan carried with him a very strong sense of purpose as well as his amazing lyrical gift, which has made him a beacon for other artists a well as those dedicated to global change. Canada only release! With his unique voice and truly authentic style, K’naan brings an enormous dose of realness and urgency to the hip-hop world in a time when people are desperate for it. From a personal and cultural history rooted in poetry (being the grandson of one of Somalia’s most famous poets), K’naan widens the traditional hip-hop perspective. Discovered and produced by Track & Field, same producers that discovered and produced Nelly Furtado, Dusty Foot Philosopher is comprised of 18 total tracks including ‘Smile’, ‘My Old Home’, ‘In The Beginning’, ‘Voices In My Head’, ‘Wash It Down’, ‘Hoobaale’, ‘Rap Gets Jealous’ and more. BMG. 2005.

  • The Best Links 2005 (kottke.org)

    If you are bored there are plenty of links here:

    The Best Links 2005 (kottke.org)

  • The J-Walk Blog: Nap Tips

    This is exactly what I’ve been doing, limiting the Power Naps to 25 minutes maximum based on something I read a while ago. The Men’s Journal article says:

    Here’s how the power nap works: Sleep comes in five stages that recur cyclically throughout a typical night, and a power nap seeks to include just the first two of them. The initial stage features the sinking into sleep as electrical brain activity, eye and jaw-muscle movement, and respiration slow. The second is a light but restful sleep in which the body gets ready — lowering temperature, relaxing muscles further — for the entry into the deep and dreamless “slow-wave sleep,” or SWS, that occurs in stages three and four. Stage five, of course, is REM, when the eyes twitch and dreaming becomes intense.

    The five stages repeat every 90 to 120 minutes. Stage one can last up to 10 minutes, stage two until the 20th minute. Extenuating circumstances, like manning the controls of a jet, aside, experts believe that the optimal power nap should roughly coincide with the first 20 minutes in order to give you full access to stage two’s restorative benefits. In addition to generally improving alertness and stamina, stage two is marked by a certain electrical signals in the nervous system that seem to solidify the connection between neurons involved in muscle memory. “It’s like a welding machine,” says Mednick. “When you wake up, your neurons perform the same function as before, but now faster and with more accuracy,” making the 20-minute nap indispensable to the hard-working athlete looking to straighten out his putter or baseline shot.

    The J-Walk Blog: Nap Tips

    Nap Tips

    Men’s Journal explains how to take a nap: Snooze, You Win. We learn that there are five types of naps:

    • THE NANO-NAP: 10 to 20 seconds Sleep studies haven’t yet concluded whether there are benefits to these brief intervals, like when you nod off on someone’s shoulder on the train.
    • THE MICRO-NAP: two to five minutes Shown to be surprisingly effective at shedding sleepiness.
    • THE MINI-NAP: five to 20 minutes Increases alertness, stamina, motor learning, and motor performance.
    • THE ORIGINAL POWER NAP: 20 minutes Includes the benefits of the micro and the mini, but additionally improves muscle memory and clears the brain of useless built-up information, which helps with long-term memory (remembering facts, events, and names).
    • THE LAZY MAN’S NAP: 50 to 90 minutes Includes slow-wave plus REM sleep; good for improving perceptual processing; also when the system is flooded with human growth hormone, great for repairing bones and muscles.

    I prefer a 10-minute mini-nap.

  • A stranded diver refuses rescue by helicopter

    From Divester

    the Diver didn’t want resuce by helicopter as he’s afraid of heights. This quote by the helicopter pilot sums is all up:

    I have been working on the helicopter for nearly 15 years and although I have seen people reluctant to be rescued, I have never met anyone who flatly refused.

    Divester

  • Christmas Eve

    The Celebration of the Birth of Christ is what is Christmas

    From WebMuseum

  • Home sweet home

    Now the post from Calgary, Canada, North America, Northern Hemisphere, Earth, Solar System, Milky Way. Arrived home on time 4:00 p.m.

    Air Canada Logo

    The Air Canada flight was nice. The seat was comfortable and service and food good. The TV screen was a good size, video on demand. Pretty good, could have been more TV shows though.