Errors-To: ecto-owner@ns1.rutgers.edu Reply-To: ecto@ns1.rutgers.edu Sender: ecto@ns1.rutgers.edu From: ecto@ns1.rutgers.edu To: ecto-request@ns1.rutgers.edu Bcc: ecto-digest-outbound@ns1.rutgers.edu Subject: ecto #914 ecto, Number 914 Wednesday, 15 December 1993 Today's Topics: *-----------------* 54.40 info request Santa Klaus - ehrm... Claus = ) Frente ..touch the SUN. its THE SUN! ...touch the SUN! Its the SUN! Re: now _that's_ what I call a delay! Have a Merry Politically-Correct Christmas! Re: Deep Forest's "Sweet Lullaby" & have DCD :) Re: KATE!!! COME BACK!!!!!! Re: Deep Forest's SWEET LULLABY Flesh and Fur Beware the ides of December another boring year end list ======================================================================== Date: Wed, 15 Dec 1993 09:30:27 -0500 (EST) From: Michael Colford Subject: 54.40 info request Hey you Canadians (or other knowledgeable music lovers), Anyone know what 54.40 are up to? Have they done anything (or plan to do anything) since _Dear Dear_? Thanks, Michael ======================================================================== Date: Wed, 15 Dec 93 15:53:54 CET From: Ilka Heber Subject: Santa Klaus - ehrm... Claus = ) Hi there, I got this mail forwarded to me today and as it's quite amusing, I thought I should share it with you! Merry Christmas to everybody!!!!! Ilka = ) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- IS THERE A SANTA CLAUS? ======================= As a result of an overwhelming lack of requests, and with research help from that renown scientific journal SPY magazine (January, 1990) - I am pleased to present the annual scientific inquiry into Santa Claus. 1) No known species of reindeer can fly. BUT there are 300,000 species of living organisms yet to be classified, and while most of these are insects and germs, this does not COMPLETELY rule out flying reindeer which only Santa has ever seen. 2) There are 2 billion children (persons under 18) in the world. BUT since Santa doesn't (appear) to handle the Muslim, Hindu, Jewish and Buddhist children, that reduces the workload to 15% of the total - 378 million according to Population Reference Bureau. At an average (census) rate of 3.5 children per household, that's 91.8 million homes. One presumes there's at least one good child in each. 3) Santa has 31 hours of Christmas to work with, thanks to the different time zones and the rotation of the earth, assuming he travels east to west (which seems logical). This works out to 822.6 visits per second. This is to say that for each Christian household with good children, Santa has 1/1000th of a second to park, hop out of the sleigh, jump down the chimney, fill the stockings, distribute the remaining presents under the tree, eat whatever snacks have been left, get back up the chimney, get back into the sleigh and move on to the next house. Assuming that each of these 91.8 million stops are evenly distributed around the earth (which, of course, we know to be false but for the purposes of our calculations we will accept), we are now talking about .78 miles per household, a total trip of 75-1/2 million miles, not counting stops to do what most of us must do at least once every 31 hours, plus feeding and etc. This means that Santa's sleigh is moving at 650 miles per second, 3,000 times the speed of sound. For purposes of comparison, the fastest man- made vehicle on earth, the Ulysses space probe, moves at a poky 27.4 miles per second - a conventional reindeer can run, tops, 15 miles per hour. 4) The payload on the sleigh adds another interesting element. Assuming that each child gets nothing more than a medium-sized lego set (2 pounds), the sleigh is carrying 321,300 tons, not counting Santa, who is invariably described as overweight. On land, conventional reindeer can pull no more than 300 pounds. Even granting that "flying reindeer" (see point #1) could pull TEN TIMES the normal amount, we cannot do the job with eight, or even nine. We need 214,200 reindeer. This increases the payload - not even counting the weight of the sleigh - to 353,430 tons. Again, for comparison - this is four times the weight of the Queen Elizabeth. 5) 353,000 tons traveling at 650 miles per second creates enormous air resistance - this will heat the reindeer up in the same fashion as a spacecraft reentering the earth's atmosphere. The lead pair of reindeer will absorb 14.3 QUINTILLION joules of energy. Per second. Each. In short, they will burst into flame almost instantaneously, exposing the reindeer behind them, and create deafening sonic booms in their wake. The entire reindeer team will be vaporized within 4.26 thousandths of a second. Santa, meanwhile, will be subjected to centrifugal forces 17,500.06 times greater than gravity. A 250-pound Santa (which seems ludicrously slim) would be pinned to the back of his sleigh by 4,315,015 pounds of force. In conclusion - If Santa ever DID deliver presents on Christmas Eve, he's dead now. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ======================================================================== From: Tim Cook Date: Wed, 15 Dec 93 16:06:45 GMT Subject: Frente Here's a question Australian ectophiles will more than likely to be able to answer. I've picked up a CD e.p. "Clunk" by Frente and it's really good. Have they released any other CDs? ======================================================================== Date: Wed, 15 Dec 1993 16:37:56 GMT From: imy@wcl-rs.bham.ac.uk (Ian Young) Subject: Frente Has it got their version of Bizarre Love Triangle on it? I. ======================================================================== From: "KR. Plowright" Subject: ...touch the SUN! Its the SUN! Date: Wed, 15 Dec 1993 17:30:57 +0000 (GMT) Jens! **MY GOD someone who likes eddi reader!** Its "what you do with what youve got", am i right? If anyone on ecto hasnt heard of her, she was the lead singer of 'fairground attraction' until they broke up. she really has the voice of an angel: better than kates!! (noooo! Please dont flame me! =+) ) The thing is, shes scottish, so she has a wonderful way of pronouncing her r's. I really recomend "mirmama" (e.r.+ the patron saints of imperfection) to any one, as it is one of my favourite albums: if only for the cover of Loudon Wainright IIIs "swimming song". Other than that, look out for Fairground attraction's "first of a million kisses" or "ay fond kiss". Theyre both must-haves! Ive seen her live twice now and the incredible thing is, her voice is better live than on record. If you hear her, you will understand that this is nearly a miracle! -END OF UNSOLICITED RAVE...- BTW, whoever replied to my first post... what's so funny about my name? *feep* (makes small, deflated luxo jr. type noise) =+) ttfn kim OOOO ARGH! this mail has just done a nasty boomerang type thing on me. I dont understand, help! Still, im trying again, si it better work this time, or there'll be trouble, you mark my words!! :-} ======================================================================== Date: Wed, 15 Dec 1993 12:38:48 -0500 (EST) From: King o' Pain Subject: Re: now _that's_ what I call a delay! >Received: from emoryu1.cc.emory.edu by > ns1.rutgers.edu (5.59/SMI4.0/RU1.5/3.08) > with TCP id AA04499; Tue, 14 Dec 93 07:24:06 EST >Received: by emoryu1.cc.emory.edu (5.65/Emory_cc.3.4.12) via MAILPROG > id AA15928 ; Thu, 21 Oct 93 11:10:20 -0400 >wow! I *hate* our system here at Emory. First, a couple of months ago, it decided everyone on ecto would enjoy my post so much that it would send it to them every half hour for a day and a half. Now, it felt I *really* didn't want to send something in October. It would be much better for it to go out 2 months later! I'm waiting for it next to start composing mail for me by itself. Stuart ______________________________________________________________________________ Stuart Myerburg "I need more things. I need more money. Emory Univ. Law School Don't want to work. Want things for free." labspm@emoryu1.cc.emory.edu -Jane Siberry _o_ |< ______________________________________________________________________________ ======================================================================== Date: Wed, 15 Dec 93 09:57:37 PST From: hanson@ast.saic.com (Jeffrey Hanson) Subject: Have a Merry Politically-Correct Christmas! Night before Christmas 'Twas the night before Christmas and Santa's a wreck... How to live in a world that's politically correct? His workers no longer would answer to "Elves", "Vertically Challenged" they were calling themselves. And labor conditions at the north pole Were alleged by the union to stifle the soul. Four reindeer had vanished, without much propriety, Released to the wilds by the Humane Society. And equal employment had made it quite clear That Santa had better not use just reindeer. So Dancer and Donner, Comet and Cupid, Were replaced with 4 pigs, and you know that looked stupid! The runners had been removed from his sleigh; The ruts were termed dangerous by the E.P.A. And people had started to call for the cops When they heard sled noises on their roof-tops. Second-hand smoke from his pipe had his workers quite frightened. His fur trimmed red suit was called "Unenlightened." And to show you the strangeness of life's ebbs and flows, Rudolf was suing over unauthorized use of his nose And had gone on Geraldo, in front of the nation, Demanding millions in over-due compensation. So, half of the reindeer were gone; and his wife, Who suddenly said she'd had enough of this life, Joined a self-help group, packed, and left in a whiz, Demanding from now on her title was Ms. And as for the gifts, why, he'd ne'er had a notion That making a choice could cause so much commotion. Nothing of leather, nothing of fur, Which meant nothing for him. And nothing for her. Nothing that might be construed to pollute. Nothing to aim. Nothing to shoot. Nothing that clamored or made lots of noise. Nothing for just girls. Or just for the boys. Nothing that claimed to be gender specific. Nothing that's warlike or non-pacific. No candy or sweets...they were bad for the tooth. Nothing that seemed to embellish a truth. And fairy tales, while not yet forbidden, Were like Ken and Barbie, better off hidden. For they raised the hackles of those psychological Who claimed the only good gift was one ecological. No baseball, no football...someone could get hurt; Besides, playing sports exposed kids to dirt. Dolls were said to be sexist, and should be passe; And Nintendo would rot your entire brain away. So Santa just stood there, disheveled, perplexed; He just could not figure out what to do next. He tried to be merry, tried to be gay, But you've got to be careful with that word today. His sack was quite empty, limp to the ground; Nothing fully acceptable was to be found. Something special was needed, a gift that he might Give to all without angering the left or the right. A gift that would satisfy, with no indecision, Each group of people, every religion; Every ethnicity, every hue, Everyone, everywhere...even you. So here is that gift, it's price beyond worth... "May you and your loved ones enjoy peace on earth." ======================================================================== Date: Wed, 15 Dec 93 10:59:45 PST From: erik@falcon.kla.com (Erik Johnson) Subject: Re: Deep Forest's "Sweet Lullaby" & have DCD :) Alex writes: |> I hope I'm not getting song and album names mixed up again. Anwyay, |> I'm guessing Deep Forest has been mentioned here before. I tend to |> sort of skim and forget (since my name memory is weak) about all the |> numerous artists talked about in here that I haven't heard. |> |> Well I have heard the song on MTV's 120 Min twice, and like it. |> Anyone with more info? The video was shot in 8 or so different |> countries, many of which were identifiable, and one being Russia |> in particular (Mike Bravo, listen up :). The VJ tried to explain |> but was as vague as Kate. *grin* The music may be from as many |> places as well. |> |> The song reminds me of DCD, but I've only had DCD's _Into the |> Labyrinth_ long enough to listen to it a few times. I like it a lot |> so far. :) Well, I have both _Deep Forest_ and _Into The Labyrinth_ and like both, so I guess I'm qualified to shoot my mouth (keyboard?) off. :-> Deep Forest is the result of a French project to record the songs of the African Pygmys. The resulting tapes were then sampled & mixed with some fairly mundane techno-dance backing music (not *bad*, but not inspiring by itself). If you've seen the video on MTV, the rest of the album is in the same style; they didn't grab an unusual track. I'm not quite sure how I'd describe the result - sort of trancy, dancey, energetic but meditative. I like the album, but I've always loved the hybrids of almost any flavor, including DCD, Enigma, Sky, Renaissance, ELP.... BTW, I'm sure _Deep Forest_ was mentioned here because I mentioned it. :-] I might have heard about it here or on one of the alt.music groups, but I got it around the time I found Ecto, and I mentioned it. Of course, our mailer ate that post for a month before spitting it out, and it may or may not have gotten into the outside world. :-/ Oh, and _Into The Labyrinth_? I heard about DCD here, and picked it up. I *love* it. I've got almost all of DCD now, and they're the best thing I've heard since... well, since Tori & Happy, and that's recent. Oh well. I've heard about so *much* good music on this list, far more than from any other source. Keep the reviews coming! Erik ____________________________________________________________________________ Erik N. Johnson INTP Don't believe the return address. KLA Instruments Corp. The one and only True Address is: San Jose, CA e_johnso@kla.com. Geek: GE/CS d-- -p+ c+ l u+ e- m+(--)* s++/+ !n h+ f+ !g(+) w+ t@ r+@ y+(*) My goliard mind pauses, seized by story. Words weave stronger than rope. ======================================================================== Date: Wed, 15 Dec 93 11:02:03 PST From: erik@falcon.kla.com (Erik Johnson) Subject: Re: KATE!!! COME BACK!!!!!! Alex follows up: |> > >> The show can be heard on all radio stations in North America that carry |> > >> the syndicated radio show Modern Rock Live (from WDRE). The host of |> ... |> > did anyone tape this show? |> |> I posted in gaffa before her scheduled interviews on Z100 (was |> cancelled) in NY and the above that I thought it would be great to |> make an audio tape tree of her interviews. I still think it's a good |> idea but think more should be on it than the one interview, even if it |> means two tapes. Well anyway, see the gaffa post if it's still |> hanging around. I don't know if there will be enough interest. It |> should be easy though. I'd certainly be interested in getting a copy, whether via a full-fledged tree or via someone's kindness. Mark me as interested. Erik ____________________________________________________________________________ Erik N. Johnson INTP Don't believe the return address. KLA Instruments Corp. The one and only True Address is: San Jose, CA e_johnso@kla.com. Geek: GE/CS d-- -p+ c+ l u+ e- m+(--)* s++/+ !n h+ f+ !g(+) w+ t@ r+@ y+(*) My goliard mind pauses, seized by story. Words weave stronger than rope. ======================================================================== Date: Wed, 15 Dec 93 16:00:42 -0500 From: pearceja%pomis.dnet@wl.wpafb.af.mil Subject: Re: Deep Forest's SWEET LULLABY I N T E R O F F I C E M E M O R A N D U M Date: 15-Dec-1993 03:52pm EST From: Lt Jeffrey A. Pearce PEARCEJA Dept: POSF Tel No: 55451 TO: _MAILER! ( _DDN[ECTO@NS1.RUTGERS.EDU] ) Subject: Re: Deep Forest's "Sweet Lullaby" With respect to this Deep Forest thread, I thought you may be interested to know that "Sweet Lullaby" is being used as the music for a commercial for Sony (I think). They even go so far as to show the song title and artist on the screen just like MTV, just not quite as prominently. Jeff pearceja@wl.wpafb.af.mil ======================================================================== Date: Wed, 15 Dec 1993 17:00:48 -0500 (EST) From: Chris Sampson Subject: Flesh and Fur I have to agree (mostly :) ) with Neil? Erik? --My memory ain't what is once was....-- who is aggravated by hypocrisies concerning eating this and not eating that, etc... As for the I'll-wear-leather-but-not-fur debate, *I* defend my position thusly.... I wear leather. I eat meat (beef, pork, vennison, chicken, most things except veal (partly 'cause o'the small pens, partly 'cause I just don't like it)). I won't wear furs, and am, in fact, critical (though not militantly so) of many who do. The key here is intent/the conditions under which said fur is acquired/worn..... Eskimos/Aleuts who wear polar bear or seal furs don't constitute an annoyance to me (in as much as my opinion even matters to them) as we are talking about a culture that has an intimate understanding of the ecology (intuitive) and hunts only what they need (I may be wrong about their purity....). Americans (not the native americans) who buy seal furs annoy me, primarily because they are frequently (though, I guess, not necessarily) vain, prissy, assholes who need to adorn their bodies with a skin that was obtained by (what I am led to believe are) wasteful, greed-motivated, means (again, my info might be part propaganda...). Aboriginals who hunt, say, seals for meat, bones, and a myriad other resources are fine (The Eskimos used, very nearly, the WHOLE Whale, whereas the 1st world is somewhat wasteful in its mercenary approach. Ditto the native Americans and their buffaloes.). Making life (animal, mostly, though not only human life) a commodity and treating it disrespectfully because it doesn't agree with your profit motive is a sure way to piss me off. In short, aboriginals wearing furs are different than Leona Helmsley wearing furs. Okay, no how about the Chinese practices of using rhino horns/deer antlers, etc as aphrodisiacs???? It strikes me as one step towards the ridiculous from the fur (as worn here, by upper middle class types (or wannabes). Rhinos are endangered, are they not? (or, at least, not as plentiful as they might be were they not hunted SOLELY for their horns) Does this strike anyone else as being excessive???? The subtext being:" "It's more important that I look good, Mr./Ms. Fur Seal, than it is that you survive." "It's more important that I get an erection, Mr. Rhino, than it is that YOU survive." As for food preferences, I wish people who are squeamis about certain foods would simply cop to the fact that it's usually an aesthetic issue....For instance, I can't imagine eating escargot, but I DO eat, squid and sushi. I don't need to erect this grand rationalization...the idea of it, TO ME, is gross. My SO thinks the same thing about sushi, so there. Different strokes, and all that. Though I think that saying that prawns are "close" to tarantulas may be stretching the point a little in the opposite direction....:). For that matter, why prefer one type of fish to another, why prefer clams to oysters, why crab but not lobster???? It's simply a matter of what's appealing, again, IMNSHO. Finally, I recognize that there are countless products that I use which involve the "mistreatment" of certain species....One does what one can. BTW, while I'm lukewarm about the idea of boycotts, I have recently decided that Nestles (r) can kiss my ass (and my customer dollars) goodbye. It all comes down, IMO, to the notion of "gratuitous" violence against a species...Animal research in searc of a cure for AIDS? Fine. Putting shoe polish is bunnies' eyes to see what happens? Unh-uh. Better to put a warning on the can of polish "Don't put this shit in your eyes, dummy!" Chris Sampson chris@neuron.uchc.edu ======================================================================== Date: Wed, 15 Dec 1993 15:45:07 CST From: Subject: Beware the ides of December Kim writes: >BTW, whoever replied to my first post... > > what's so funny about my name? I no longer recall what or whom she might have been referring to, but it seems to be something we do on this list. Certainly, it is nothing compared with what I've heard in the apparent same vein on _The McLaughlin Group_. Last weekend I went to a reel of award-winning commercials from the Cannes film festival, and noticed a commercial for a German product was entirely in English. I got to wondering whether the tendency of recording artists on the Continent to record in English (cf. these pages a few months ago) was not so much for the American market as the European one, because while not all Euro- pean nationals speak all European languages, all or most speak English. As I mentioned yesterday, I have Kate's interview from the other night on tape, and would be happy to help if anyone is looking for a dub. Mitch ======================================================================== Date: Wed, 15 Dec 93 14:03:55 PST From: Neal Copperman Subject: another boring year end list Oh boy, year end lists, I can't wait to play. But, as usual, I'm not all that intereseted in playing by the rules, although nobody has actually made any rules. Well, here are the guidelines that I followed. The music must have been acquired in the last year or so. I rated artists, since I frequently bought more than one item, and if i count full length cds and singles, Tori and Happy would have filled up 6 of the top 10, making things even less interesting than they are already. So, 1. Tori Amos - Little Earthquakes, winter, crucify So, I'm slow, but I didn't rush out and get Little Earthquakes when it came out. In retrospect it seems practically indefensible, since if I were rating discs, LE would have been my number one choice, and winter would have been number 2. Mind boggling, overwhelming stuff. 2. Happy Rhodes - Volume I, Ecto, HR^5 And this year was my introduction to Happy too. It may have been the year of Equipoise, but these are the ones I got. I think Volume I edges them out for me, maybe based solely on more playing time. Ecto barely edged out HR^5, maybe just on the basis of length. More Happy has got to be better than less. I'm guaranteed at least a few more years where Happy gets to to my list, since I've got lots more discs to get. Finding Happy and Ecto are on my top 10 events of the year too, if I were to bother to make such a list. 3. Aimee Mann - Whatever Oh look, an album that came out this year. For me, the best of the year, but I really worship Aimee. I think she fits in my Pantheon where many people put Sarah (who oddly I just can't seem to get into on the basis of Solace). Just a wonderful album, with scads of perfect songs. I get a new favorite every time I listen. 4. Heidi Berry - Heidi Berry This one I got based on ecto raves, and it's beautiful. 5. Peter Gabriel - US, Passion Sources US doesn't strike me as much as past Gabriel, but still a great disc. I'd forgotten I bought Passion Sources within the last year. That's an interesting listen. I'll have to get Plus from Us one of these days. 6. Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine, broken When you are having one of those days. 7. JOhn & Mary - The Weedkillers Daughter, Victory Garden I picked up this pair at the J&M show at a small coffeehouse. Apparently unrelated to any tour, but done since Mary was visiting her sister here. JOhn was an original (10,000) Maniac, and their music has some similarities. Great stories, great voices, and Mary plays a mean violin as well. 8. Nirvana - Nevermind, Incesticide 9. Pearl Jam - 10 A doubleshot of behind the times Seatle music. 10. (tie) Indestructable Beat of SOweto/ Kronos Quartet - Pieces of Africa Soweto is definitely the oldest on my list, and supposedly what inspired Paul Simon to Graceland. It's a great disc full of cool rhythms and lively South African tunes. The Kronos disc is Africa from a different angle. I fell in love with the music at shows 2 years ago, and the music is a far cry from the disonance on other Kronos discs. FUll of pretty melodies, exotic instruments, and images of African village life. Plus, I was lucky enough to see half these people in concert this year! Happy holidays everyone. Neal ======================================================================== The ecto archives are on hardees.rutgers.edu in ~ftp/pub/hr. There is an INDEX file explaining what is where. Feel free to send me things you'd like to have added. -- jessica (jessica@ns1.rutgers.edu)