Politically Correct Archaeology

OK, Quick now.  What important things were happening in the western world at around 2000 BP ??  WHAT ??  You do not know what BP is ??  Foolish Human.  It obviously is a newer form of referring to the past, based on radiocarbon dating.  That is, relative to the time that radiocarbon dating was regularly used.
Don't tell me you are STILL confused !!  Don't you know anything ??  OK, BP stands for Before Present (or in more cynical circles Before Physics).

So answer the question.  What important things were happening in the western world about 2000 BP ?
OK, ok, the zero date for the "present" is defined as Jan 1 1950.  Got it ??
Ok, you cretin.  To the non scientific, not "with it", people of the illiterate masses, Use the date 50 BC, instead.

OH, Now you know a few things, eh ??  The Roman Senate tells Julius Caesar that he cannot be a General and a consul at the same time.  Rome completely takes over Judea.  Now you've got it.
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The point of the preceding, highly sarcastic, monologue is to accent all the screwing around with a system of dating that has been used in the "Western World" for the past (approx) 1200 years.  BP, BCE, CE, are all balderdash.  I can tolerate BCE and CE, because they use the exact same dates as the traditional BC/AD, but rename them for Politically Correct reasons.  At least you do not have to run through date conversions to come up with the dates that have been used since Archaeology became a science.

Which is my point.  Everything ever written (in the western world) on the subject of archaeology, with the exception of a small minority of things written since 1950, has used a single dating system.  Simple.  Identical.  Taught in all the schools in the western world.  If you are offended by the dating method used, study or read something else.  Do not try to change a science to fit your pleasure.  Get OVER yourself.

Even the Stupid Nazis did not let the fact that Einstein and Bohr were Jewish keep them from trying to develop the Atomic bomb.   Don't change my life because you happen to be dumber than the Nazis.

By the way, using the "BP" method, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor happened on Dec 7, 9 BP.
John F Kennedy was killed on November 22, 13 PE (Present era).
WTF??? 
[In other words, if you cannot use a dating system that includes dates within your possible lifetime, what good is the system?   Answer:  NO GOOD. ]

The Crap We're "fed".

After  many, many,  years, I'm mad as hell and can't take it any more.  Every time I tune into alternative sources for music, (foreign "radio" on iTunes, MHZ networks "Strictly Global", college radio, and others), I find really cool (and GOOD) music that I have never heard.  Uh Huh Her, Blood Red Shoes, Vampire Weekend, are just three that I have stumbled across in the last week.  There are hundreds more.

The point is, why don't these bands show up ANYWHERE, on ANY venue, in the US ??  I'm in a LARGE city, Chicago, and you would think these new & interesting groups would make an appearance somewhere, in SOME media, in a place this large.  Even the vaunted "The Reader", a free North side newspaper, only has announcements of groups that are touring and happen to be playing in Chicagoland.  In a city THIS large, I should not have to spend hours searching esoteric sources, just to find some new and interesting music.  It should be presented in some readily accessible "venue".

Meanwhile, there are two decent pop music stations in Chicago, but the REST of them are crap.  Music that has been on the radio since the 1950s.  Some are "classic", but most are the same CRAP over and over and over and over . . .

So in attempt to alleviate this situation, I am searching the web for alternatives in other countries.  France, Russia, Serbia, Japan, Spain, Brazil, and The Netherlands.

Just some places to start. 
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Which leads to another question.  Just  WHO  would be HARMED if the current media "titans" in the US were to go bankrupt ????  I REALLY wonder  .  .  .

The Clinton Era.

I am totally FED up with the all the "press" the "Clinton Era" is getting in the media.  The media is BIASED, they LIE, and they are slanted so much as to be horizontal.

The (then) Democratic Congress passed, and Clinton signed, the BIGGEST tax increase in (peacetime) US history.  THAT is how they balanced the budget.  On OUR backs.

Clinton also gets COMPLETE credit for a HUGE surge in the economy.    I will explain only some of the reasons (the technical ones) that this credit is entirely misplaced, and show some of the things that led to the huge economic growth.  They are as follows:

The two main reasons that this era was a bust (BAD for the people & economy in general) are:

1) The Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act of 1999.  This single piece of legislation removed the last
    vestiges of protection of the general population's savings from the possibility of use by
    the "savings institution" in riskier investments.  This act allowed for the merging of
    funds from the "bank" side of a company with the funds in the "investment" side of
    a company.  It allowed consumer's savings to be used in anything the bank decided to
    invest in.
2) the rabid adherence to the credo that de-regulation was the key to a healthy, vibrant
    economy.  The pinnacle of this credo was the complete crushing of Brooksley Born
    in her call for regulation of the derivatives trading industry.  This paved the way for
    the depression that started in 2007.

The following "tech" developments led the way to the huge economic "boom" in the 1990s:

1) the general change, in the server side of computing, from 32 bit to 64 bit CPUs.
2) the commoditization of computer parts.  Motherboards, Hard disks, Graphics cards,
    memory, ALL became affordable for the first time in the 1990s, This allowed businesses
    & individuals to use, learn about, and profit from computers on a scale never before
    possible.  In 1990, I purchased a USED motherboard (Mylex, then the best) for $900.00.
    By 1995, new ones were $125.00.  I built an entire computer in 1996 for $800.00.
3) the maturity of software development, in general, which lead to rapid application
    development, more stable code, and more (interchangeable) software "components".
    Again, for the first time in history.  Plus, there were many more software development
    METHODS available (for the first time). These also helped in creating more stable,
    re-useable code.
4) the de facto data communications standardization (around TCP/UDP - IP) which
    allowed global communication, AGAIN, on a scale never before possible.  Yes,
    there were other "standards", but none of them were in widespread use.  (Bi-Sync
    & SDLC use was waning as mini & micro computer use grew exponentially.)
5) he invention, by Tim Berners-Lee, of HTML and "the World Wide Web".
6) the commercialization of the Internet (stemming from all of the above).
7) the USE of ALL of the above changes in a manner (AGAIN) never before possible,
    to enhance the ability to trade (stocks, bonds, currencies, derivatives, and GOODS
    & SERVICES) on a global scale in volumes never before possible.  For example,
    computer assisted trading has taken NYSE volume from an average daily volume
    of 109 million shares in 1985 to 1.6 Billion in 2005,  a multiple of 14.7.

There are more items that can be added to this list, but you can see some of the important technical changes that helped lead to an explosion of commerce, economic growth, and wealth.
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In fact, it can easily be seen that the world (and the US in particular) became
a better place IN SPITE of the Government, not through any "help" it provided.

Comments, anyone ?

History is written by the Lusers.

YIKES, why can't I get over the fact that nobody is interested in 'facts' anymore. I'm watching this show on 1970s technology, and MAN are they making mistakes, leaving things out, and just not caring at all what they are saying.
They mention the Polaroid SX 70, but did not mention the most important thing about the film in that camera: the picture gets better & better for YEARS after the picture is taken. They show a Pontiac Trans-AM with a TA 6.6 engine, and state it is a 455 Cu-In engine. IDIOTS!
They also mentioned that the oil embargo crippled "gas guzzler" cars. They don't mention that by 1976, ALL was forgotten & Cadillacs, Buicks, Pontiacs, Chevys ALL had BIG engines in BIG car bodies. I guess THC doesn't want us to ignore the environment, even though in real life, we did, BIG time.
Now I appreciate a little "look back", and it is fun, occasionally, to reminisce, but GET IT RIGHT ! Don't try to sound cool, when you are spouting errors & bullshit.
Reminds me of this guy I knew, YEARS ago, who would rant and rave about Grand Funk Railroad. Their concerts, their albums, how cool they were and how cool HE was for being a fan.

Except he didn't know who Mark Farner was.

How to NOT -- DIY.

I have one (for now) gripe with almost all of the "fix-it" home design / repair / DIY TV shows. NONE of these shows show the correct way to PAINT walls with a roller. The painters are seen going this way & that, up, down, side-to-side. The camera comes in after the paint has dried and you can SEE a difference in the surface reflectivity from different parts of the same painted wall.

WRONG ANSWER !!!!

The Right Way:
You first paint the trim & corners, making sure you come several inches out onto the wall surface. THEN, with the roller, you arbitrarily choose a section of wall that is 3/4 the width of both your outstretched arms and 1/2 the height of your raised arm holding the roller. You start with a fairly full roller of paint, and paint a 'W' or 'X' into the center of this arbitrary area you have chosen. The idea is to get several slightly thicker ribbons of paint distributed across the chosen area. You will use these "ribbons" as the source of the paint you will be distributing onto this chosen area. From the initial 'W' or 'X', you paint back and forth, up and down, until the thicker paint from the initial 'W' is distributed as evenly as humanly possible across the entire area you are currently working on.

You then move onto the next section, overlapping at least eight inches (or a roller width) onto the previously painted area. You completely paint one wall at a time. When you think you have evenly covered one wall in the paint of your choice, you have one more task.
Your roller must be lightly painted. I.E., you must have just finished the last section of the wall of the room you are painting. DO NOT PUT ANY MORE PAINT ON THE ROLLER JUST NOW. You grip the roller firmly but VERY LIGHTLY. Starting at almost touching the ceiling, and in the LIGHTEST TOUCH you can possibly do, roll the roller in a straight line, from ceiling to floor down a "single strip" of wall. BARELY touch the wall. A single stroke, at a quick speed from top to bottom. Repeat this, with about an inch overlap, across the entire freshly painted surface of the wall.

The concept is simple. The same exact pressure, the same exact direction, and the same exact amount of paint in these final "finishing touches". This is what guarantees EXACTLY the same grain & finish to the entire surface of the wall.
This is what makes the Sun, or any light from fixtures reflect perfectly across the entire surface of the wall. No changes in reflectivity, or pattern, or albedo. Perfection. The same principle as brushing velvet very lightly, in one direction.

Very simple. It requires a little practice. But your painted walls will have NO roller stroke marks, and the painted surface will look exactly the same across all of your walls. No matter what light, from what direction, or whatever intensity.

Try it and see.