Miley Cyrus Concert Review

Back from taking my daughter to the Miley Cyrus concert in Nashville. My observations:

1. Average age range of the many children in attendance: 9. Average age of other half of crowd (their parents): 39.

2. Venue (Sommet Center)-excellent facility

3. Concert started at 7 ended a little after 9:30-(I liked that)

4. Her brother's band Metro Station-ugh, not good, lyrics innapropriate for crowd "take your clothes off, we'll just touch", etc. have no idea why the were there (well it's her brother who looks/acts like a younger version of Steven Tyler).

5. The show: Great special effects-she "flew" and rode a motorcycle in the air.

6. The show-way too loud (many kids holding hands over ears (we stuffed tissue in our ears)-about a loud as recent Bon Jovi concert I attended last time.

7. Miley: Um, great voice, good energy and professional for such a young girl (just turned 17). She did her popular songs which crowd loved, Party in the USA, and the finale: The Climb. However, I got the distinct impression she has gone, well, slutty. Lots of bumping and grinding, skimpy clothes, more hard rock type songs. The overall impression is that she is going Britney. I think most parents and probably most young children were excited but saying "where is our Hannah Montana"? -even dissapointed. The parents were somewhat surprised or even offended. Still, most had a good time, but there was some explaining to do for the young ones that Miley is growing up and going in a "different" direction.

Disney Cruise!

'first class'

Carolina Camera: The Sling Shot Man

NASA, Apollo & 40 years

40 years ago, I was in Florida for the launch of Apollo 11 in 1969. Even though I was a kid, I remember it with great clarity as a most awesome experience. I also remember watching on a black and white tv the images of man's first steps on the Moon. Over the years I have followed many NASA programs. I am disappointed that the country could have done so much more by this time--we simply did not have the will to do so.

If you ever get a chance to see a launch in person, it is an experience you will never forget. I have seen a shuttle launch and several of the Apollo launches. The Apollo was much more graceful off the pad and even louder than the shuttle, making the ground shake and the reverberations drumming on your chest were unbelievable even at over 3 miles away. Let me tell you, people wept with tears of joy, relief, awe and pride.

The Apollo mission was one of exploration and adventure. The Shuttle program, while very useful, was simply a glorified shuttle bus to low earth orbit. Will Obama continue Bush's goal to send men to Mars? Will Dems fund any further NASA missions other than the occasional unmanned pod? Will we continue to receive the spinnoff benefits of an advanced space program? Or, will the Chinese and Europeans reap the benefits instead? The shuttle will "retire" in about a year. It will be some time before such a launch will shake the ground again.

Spending

Stimulus Package?

GM

Read Up, Stop It, or pay $$$$

Excellent aticle in the wall street journal on the damage a massive government takeover of the medical system would cost:
How to Stop Socialized Health Care

Daniel Hannan MEP: The devalued Prime Minister of a devalued Government

Vaccine could save millions

This has the real possibility to save millions of lives:

Anti-diarrhea vaccine could save millions

Congressional Hearings-Funny!

Congressman's Son Won't Shut The Hell Up During Hearing

The Detainees - 9/11

Close Gitmo? Why?

An "Intel Star" TV ad -- Sponsors of Tomorrow

This is good

That's it

Well, haven't posted much lately as many things I post on facebook these days. but..
I have become so dissapointed that the Federal government has taken such incorrect action in the last months.

1. Federal bailouts-the federal government should not favor one company over another. Bailout money to banks, GM, anyone, favors that entity over their competition. It rewards bad business decisions. Bush was wrong, Obama is more wrong. It simply is wrong and may be a violation of the equal protection claus of the US Constitution.

2. Massive spending-the stimulus plan is simply too too much. It is deficit spending at that. It is useless and burdensome on the economy and our national security.

Things will improve with the business cycle, but we will then have inflation and a future much more anemic that that which would have happened if government had not mucked it all up. I have read the depression of 1920-21 was worse in some ways that he one in 1929-, but we recovered much more rapidly without any government intervention. Freeing up the economy and making the rules clear is a major role of government--it aint happening folks.

Well, there it is.

John Stossel

I am not a big fan of 20/20--tends to be a lot of dramatic music etc. However, John Stossel is often spot on:

This is Minority Report Technology--Cool!

A Million Dollars a Day Since Jesus Was Born

This is shocking.

Everything's Amazing, Nobody's Happy

Sooo True!

I am India

Are we positioning ourselves to compete or to redistribute? India is on the move, are we?

Do not Steriotype

Who says all Prius owners are Democrats?

Michael Steele

I am impressed with this man. One of his political opponents Bob Beckel writes an interesting article. Here is one passage from that article:

Steele once told me a story that speaks volumes about his determination to succeed: Steele attended college at Johns Hopkins University. In his freshman year, Steele said, his grades were so bad that the dean of students told him he would not be invited to return. His mother forced him to go back to the dean and insist he was prepared to do anything to continue his studies. The dean said "no," but Steele's mother made him confront the dean again. This went on for weeks until the dean, in desperation, agreed to readmit Steele with the proviso that any bad grades would end in his dismissal, mother or no mother. Steele went on to graduate near the top of his class at Johns Hopkins and was elected student body president.

Michael Steele

Economic Worries

Economic change whether it be rising gas prices or changes in the business cycle elicit immediate concern and calls to action. The concern is warranted. Seems we often we over-react to bad news by excessive government response to "save or protect" us or our businesses (bailouts for instance), or by markets that rush in to over buy when the market heats up causing over exuberance and a bubble effect in stock prices. In these times we should be careful to rush to over-react here. Our children will suffer greatly with all this debt. The public often expects immediate action--if it's not better in 30 days, well major action is called for. Thing is with the business cycle, things will get better no matter what government does but it may be a year or more. The question is when it does did we create too much debt? Did we stimulate businesses and individuals in time to jump-start the economy effectively enough to minimize suffering and damage? Here is a good article:

Fox news article

New Office Progress

Check out the progress!

Gary Vaynerchuck and Entrepreneurship

Gary Vaynerchuck is the host of WinelibraryTV

His "show" is a (mostly) daily video blog about wines, business and the New York Jets. He is quite a personality. Watching him you learn a lot about wine, but also about entrepreneurship. He has become somewhat of a celebrity in the online community. His new book "101 wines" is a good read. He spoke recently at the BlogWorld (new media) expo. Very innovative but also down to earth, and in touch with the new (and tried and true) business models of today.  Here is a text summary of his comments, although he has many more:
Gary's Comments at Blogworld
Check out his vlog:
Winelibrarytv

Oh, here is a little taste in a compilation video someone put together:

Oh, Gary if you read this (and he checks all these things out as a good businessman), well, I think you will appreciate my post below on the wounded Navy Seal.

A Sign

The sign on a wounded Navy Seal's hospital door:

(click photo to see larger)

Flip MinoHD First Impression