News and Ideas from the Bleeding Edge

New recording from the Lone Star Love herd:

More on their Facebook page

Ezra Klein breaks it down:

I ran the numbers on total government employment after the 1981, 1990, 2001 and 2008 recessions. I made government employment on the eve of the recession equal to “1,” so what you’re seeing is total change in the ensuing 54 months, which is how much time has elapsed since the start of this recession. As you can see, government employment tends to rise during recessions, helping to cushion their impact. But with the exception of a spike when we hired temporary workers for the decennial census, it’s fallen sharply during this recession. Note that a Republican was president after the 1981, 1990 and 2000 recessions. Public-sector austerity looks a lot better to conservatives when they’re out of power than when they’re in it.

The implications are huge:

If state and local governments had followed the pattern of the previous two recessions, they would have added 1.4 million to 1.9 million jobs and overall unemployment would be 7.0 to 7.3 percent instead of 8.2 percent.

http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/

Dear friends,

Not much happening around our non-profit dot-org site, not because there’s not much happening, but because we ran out of gas. Boat is sound, but we are out on the ocean without paddle or sail.

When some one -say one of your kids- comes to you for help, you have to figure out what they really want. Maybe they just want encouragement: “You’re not that far out, the tide will probably push you ashore.” Maybe it’s advice they want: “Use that cooler lid for a paddle….”  Or maybe (not often) criticism: “Next time, check the gas BEFORE you leave the dock!”

But sometimes it’s a straight rescue that’s called for, “I’ll toss this rope to you…” and that is what this is about. Interested in helping support folk music? Have some internet skills? Like to volunteer? We are looking for someone to take the helm- is it you or someone you know?

We’ve got a storied history, from our first MP3-by-the-track sales in 1999, through the dot-com bust, web 2.0, and we’ve out-survived a lot of them. It is now time for this sailor to stay on terra firma and take care of “business”, I’m volunteered-out. Sick of the nautical theme? But still interested? Please contact me, ASAP.

Boats rot at the docks, folks, we need to keep it moving. Take this website, please!!!

Sincerely,

Chris

PS Or a huge bequest would be nice.

efolkMusic, 1999-style!

Been there?  From the Internet Archive, what they call the “Wayback Machine“, with a history of the Internet- I think they started before us, as they have us from the very beginning, if I remember correctly.

Here’s the record of efolkMusic beginning on Oct 9, 1999, snapshots through the ages! About the same, really, same rock to push. Luckily the edges have been worn down through the years and it’s a bit easier to roll (Depending on the size of the rock, you don’t always “pick it up and carry it on..” as we have been known to say; more often it’s OGS – of good size – and you ROLL it.)

A month later, Nov 1999, sorry about the missing graphics. Some of these hairpins are kickin’ grass’  as I write, somewhere, I hope: