Month: September 2012

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Help! Pop music really is slower and sadder than when the Beatles and Abba ruled the charts

another scientific study showing the shitty state of  Anglo-American music, depressing, bland, boring, etc a previous one proved the obvious they all sound the same which explains the constant lawsuits and accusations of music plagiarism.

 

 

If you think pop music ain’t what it used to be, you may well be right.

Research shows that today’s songs are slower and sadder than those of the past.

And if this dreariness wasn’t depressing enough, they also last longer.

The researchers, who analysed more than 1,000 hits from 1965 to 2009, blame the loss of the feel-good factor on modern acts wanting to be seen as serious and complex – and on listeners who like to think they are more sophisticated.

 

As a result, unambiguously uplifting songs like the Beatles’ Help! or She Loves You are few and far between.

The researchers, from Canadian and German universities, analysed tempo and key of many of the biggest hits of the last 60 years.

In general, a fast tempo and major key makes for a happy song, while a slow beat and minor key denotes misery.

The analysis found the proportion of songs recorded in the minor key to have doubled, allowing sadder tones to predominate.

Modern pop songs also tend to be slower, with just 100 beats per minute, compared with the 116 of the 1960s, and the average duration of a recording has increased from just under three minutes to almost four minutes.

The study, from the University of Toronto and Free University of Berlin, also found mismatch of a minor key with a fast beat to have become more common.

This, said the researchers could be an attempt to appeal to an audience that thinks it is more sophisticated than those of the past.

They said that this change in tastes has left up-beat hits of the past such as Abba’s Waterloo sounding ‘naïve and slightly juvenile to contemporary ears’.

And modern, up-beat tunes recorded in the major key, such as Aqua’s Barbie Girl are often dismissed as being gimmicks.

However, there is at least one best-selling singer who has managed to buck the trend, by recording fast-paced songs in a major key or mode to critical and popular acclaim.

Writing in the journal Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity and the Arts, the researchers said: ‘Lady Gaga has somehow managed to transcend this association.

‘Her fast-tempo, major mode recordings such as Born This Way and Edge of Glory sound fresh while recalling or quoting popular music from an earlier time.’

The findings chime with research released earlier this year which concluded that today’s pop music is louder and blander than the hits of the 1950s and 1960s.

The computer analysis of almost half a million pop, rock and hip hop songs from 1955 to 2010, revealed today’s tracks to be louder, which researchers said is because sound engineers and producers are cranking up the volume at the recording stage.

As a result, if two tracks are turned up to the same volume level on a CD player home, the more recent will sound louder.

Apparently this is not due to better recording equipment, but is an attempt to make music that catches attention and is suitable for playing in noisy venues.

The Spanish study also found evidence that the chords used and the changes between them are simpler, leading to the production of music that is easy on the ear but contains little variety.

Researcher Martin Haro, of Barcelona’s Pompeu Fabra University, said: ‘I think this is related to the role of music.

‘In the 1950s and 60s, music was more artistic and for getting messages across.

‘Now it’s about dancing and relaxing … with groups not so interested in experimenting.’

 

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Did Muhammad Exist? – Robert Spencer lays out his argument that maybe he didn’t exist

 

 

Robert Spencer, from Jihad Watch, wrote a very interesting book called Did Muhammad Exist? Spencer speaks in Los Angeles addressing his argument. He argues that maybe Mohammed didn’t exist at all. Very interesting topic a must for all people in the Muslim world to listen to, especially in the West like the UK, USA America, Sweden, Australia, Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, United Kingdom etc. An interesting idea for atheists Christians Jews Hindus and Buddhists to think about.

 

 

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Anti-Asian racial slur painted on Flushing property

The racist war against Asians continues, fueled by racist Hollywood and their equally racist audience

Lawmakers denounced racist graffiti left on a Flushing storefront that will house the future Mitchell-Linden branch of the Queens Public Library as well as a van parked nearby belonging to a Chinese newspaper and offered a cash reward to try and help find the perpetrator.

“This kind of disgusting display of bigotry has no place in our community,” said state Sen. Toby Ann Stavisky (D-Whitestone). “I hope and have confidence that the NYPD and the attorney general’s office will investigate this hate crime, arrest the perpetrators and bring them to justice.”

The graffiti, consisting of a racial slur directed at Asian Americans, was written in white paint on the building at 31-32 Union Street.

The epithet was discovered Sunday afternoon and reported to police Monday, when it was also cleaned.

“It is truly frightening to see this kind of racial intolerance in our community of Queens,” said state Assemblywoman Grace Meng (D-Flushing). “Queens holds one of the most diverse communities in the country and this kind of behavior should not be tolerated.”

The same slur was also written on a van belonging to the World Journal, a national Chinese-language newspaper in the country with offices in Whitestone.

“It is a shame that in this day and age, when New York City is flooded with diversity, people still hold on to negative feelings towards people who are different,” City Councilman Peter Koo (D-Flushing) said. “We must come together to make the city a safe place for everybody and to abolish the outdated racist sentiments that some of our city’s residents still hold onto.”

The trio of lawmakers are offering $500 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the crime.

Anyone with information can contact the 109th Precinct.

Reach reporter Joe Anuta by e-mail at januta@gmail.com or by phone at 718-260-4566.

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Panorama: Britain’s Crimes Of Honour

 

Qur’an (4:34) – “Men are in charge of women, because Allah hath made the one of them to excel the other, and because they spend of their property (for the support of women). So good women are the obedient, guarding in secret that which Allah hath guarded. As for those from whom ye fear rebellion, admonish them and banish them to beds apart, and scourge them. Then if they obey you, seek not a way against them.”

Qur’an (2:228) – “and the men are a degree above them”

Qur’an (33:59) – “Tell thy wives and thy daughters and the women of the believers to draw their cloaks close round them…” Men determine how women dress.

Qur’an (33:33) – “And abide quietly in your homes…” Women are confined to their homes except when they have permission to go out.

Qur’an (2:223) – “Your wives are as a tilth unto you; so approach your tilth when or how ye will.” Wives are to be sexually available to their husbands in all ways at all times. They serve their husbands at his command. This verse is believed to refer to anal sex (see Bukhari 60:51), and was “revealed” when women complained to Muhammad about the practice. The phrase “when and how you will” means that they lost their case.

Qur’an (66:5) – “Maybe, his Lord, if he divorce you, will give him in your place wives better than you, submissive, faithful, obedient, penitent, adorers, fasters, widows and virgins” A disobedient wife can be replaced.

 

From the Hadith:

Bukhari (88:219) – “Never will succeed such a nation as makes a woman their ruler.”

Bukhari (2:28) – Ingratitude toward her husband (ie. disobedience) can land a woman in Hell. Muhammad explains why women comprise the bulk of Hell’s occupants.

Bukhari (72:715) – A charming little tale in which a woman seeks Muhammad’s help in leaving an abusive marriage, but is ordered by the prophet to return to her husband and submit to his commands.

Bukhari (4:149) – Muhammad’s wives are even trained to defecate on his command.

Bukhari (48:826) – Women have a deficiency of intelligence, meaning that their decisions will not be comparable to a man’s.

Bukhari (58:125) – Women are tradable commodities. A Muslim with two wives offers a fellow Muslim his pick between the two. Muhammad then arranges a wedding banquet.

Bukhari (62:81) – According to Muhammad, the most important part of a marriage contract is the unrestricted access that a man has to his wife’s vagina.

Abu Dawud (567) – “…even though their houses are better for them.”

 

 

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Filipinos win settlement in English-only case

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Filipinos win settlement in English-only case

By Associated Press

Posted:   09/17/2012 08:41:20 PM PDT
Updated:   09/18/2012 06:06:15 AM PDT

 

DELANO — Dozens of Filipino hospital workers in California will share a nearly $1 million settlement in a lawsuit claiming they were targeted by a rule requiring English only at work, federal officials said Monday.

The settlement involves nearly 70 nurses and medical staff members who accused Delano Regional Medical Center in Kern County of banning them from speaking Tagalog and other Filipino languages while letting other workers speak in their native languages, including Spanish, the U.S. Equal Opportunity Employment Commission announced.

The lawsuit, filed in 2010, accused the hospital of creating a hostile working environment for Filipinos by singling them out for reprimands and by encouraging other staff to report them.

The medical center defended its English-only policy as essential to patient care. In a written statement, officials said the hospital did nothing wrong.

Under California law, employers can require workers to speak English if there is a business necessity.

For decades, thousands of nurses from the Philippines have migrated to the United States to alleviate the nursing shortage. More than half of American nurses trained abroad are from the Philippines.

Filipino nurses in Delano said they were called to a special meeting with hospital managers in 2006, warned not to speak Tagalog and told surveillance cameras would be installed, if necessary, to monitor them. No other language groups were included in the meeting, the lawsuit states.

Since then, workers said, they were told on a daily basis by fellow staffers to speak only English, even on breaks. The workers allege they were targets of undue scrutiny, discipline, harassment and threats over the issue.

The hospital’s policy, which requires the use of either English or the patient’s preferred language while care is provided, remains in effect, the hospital’s statement said, though it has been updated.

As part of the settlement, the hospital also agreed to develop strong protocols for handling complaints of harassment and discrimination; adopt a language policy that complies with the Civil Rights Act; and conduct anti-harassment and anti-discrimination training for all staff with additional training for supervisors.

Delano Regional Medical Center is a 156-bed hospital located about 30 miles north of Bakersfield.

 

 

 

 

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Iran cleric badly beaten by woman after warning her about being ‘badly covered’

he asked for it

 

 

An Iranian cleric said he was beaten by a woman in the northern province of Semnan after giving her a warning for being “badly covered,” the state-run Mehr news agency reported.

Hojatoleslam Ali Beheshti said he encountered the woman in the street while on his way to the mosque in the town of Shahmirzad, and asked her to cover herself up, to which she replied “you, cover your eyes,” according to Mehr. The cleric repeated his warning, which he said prompted her to insult and push him.

“I fell on my back on the floor,” Beheshti said in the report. “I don’t know what happened after that, all I could feel was the kicks of this woman who was insulting me and attacking me.”

Since the 1979 revolution that brought Shiite Muslim religious leaders to power, women in Iran have been required to cover their hair and body curves in public with head-scarves and loose-fitting coats, to protect religious values and “preserve society’s morals and security.”

The government condemns short, tight and colourful coats and loosely tied head-scarves, and routinely organizes police patrols to enforce the Islamic dress code. Public surveillance increases in summer when some women opt for flimsier clothing.

Beheshti said he was hospitalized for three days. The Iranian cleric said it was his religious duty to apply the principle of “commanding right and forbidding wrong,” and that he would continue to do so even after living through what he called “the worst day of my life.”

It isn’t the first time that clerics in Iran have been beaten up after delivering warnings, Mehr said.

 

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