The U.S. Model: For years, much of the world did aspire to the American way of life. But today countries are finding more appealing systems in their own backyards.
Not long ago, the American dream was a global fantasy. Not only Americans saw themselves as a beacon unto nations. So did much of the rest of the world. East Europeans tuned into Radio Free Europe. Chinese students erected a replica of the Statue of Liberty in Tiananmen Square.
You had only to listen to George W. Bush's Inaugural Address last week (invoking "freedom" and "liberty" 49 times) to appreciate just how deeply Americans still believe in this founding myth. For many in the world, the president's rhetoric confirmed their worst fears of an imperial America relentlessly pursuing its narrow national interests. But the greater danger may be a delusional America—one that believes, despite all evidence to the contrary, that the American Dream lives on, that America remains a model for the world, one whose mission is to spread the word.
The gulf between how Americans view themselves and how the world views them was summed up in a poll last week by the BBC. Fully 71 percent of Americans see the United States as a source of good in the world. More than half view Bush's election as positive for global security. Other studies report that 70 percent have faith in their domestic institutions and nearly 80 percent believe "American ideas and customs" should spread globally.
Foreigners take an entirely different view: 58 percent in the BBC poll see Bush's re-election as a threat to world peace. Among America's traditional allies, the figure is strikingly higher: 77 percent in Germany, 64 percent in Britain and 82 percent in Turkey. Among the 1.3 billion members of the Islamic world, public support for the United States is measured in single digits. Only Poland, the Philippines and India viewed Bush's second Inaugural positively.
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http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6857387/site/newsweek/
from MSNBC yet....
Bakelite Ray Gun.
[...]an optical projector to accompany live music improvisatorially. Whereas the common kaleidoscope (invented in 1816 by Sir David Brewster) divides an image into 6-12 "slices," the Kaleidoplex fragments an image into no less than 64 segments, and sometimes as many as 4,096 images, all traveling in different directions, “fractalizing” the music.[...]
He was fond of organ music, wrote the definitive biography of organist Virgil Fox, and put out a DVD of Fox playing Bach along with images from his Kaleidoplex Light Organ. You can view a clip 
This advert is the perfect example of why I used to hate the Apple philosophy.
A philosophy that said, "You are too dumb to learn and thats OK".
Apple was a company that use to sell computers whose selling point was that you didnt have to learn in order to use them. In fact, this advert and many others made a virtue out of not having to learn. This was coming from a company that was selling itself as the makers of the best computers for 
This happens to be my favorite Hafler Trio sound-set. When I first heard it, it did a lot to solidify my interests in steady-noise-ambiences where the listener was as much the creator as the creator was the listener. I had read John Cage, sure, but this was contemporary music!! I had no knowledge of the Hafler Trio myths when I first listened, it was just a CD, and it probably marked some of the first times that I started to think about computer-mangled field recordings as possibilities. The CD was stolen from me, but I have recently recovered the sounds via SLSK, and again listened to it a few times with open ears. Although I am not as naive as I was when I first placed it on a pedestal, I think it is a fine recording, bordering on timeless.
Also, I am still looking for a copy of Robert Spridgeon's 1944 masterpiece, 
A LIDER-2 is now available on ebay, 
I am sure that it is not that special of a combination of electronics, really simple effects (PITCH-SHIFT, CHORUS, FLAGER AND SOLO/RHYTHM SECTIONS.) I have a Soviet wah pedal that sounds like complete crap, but there is something about Soviet electronic devices which is very nice, very other-world like.
Notice how it is a one-handed salute, and that the palm of the hand faces outward. The following are a few examples among numerous times where Bush has been seen flashing this 'devil's salute'. 
His lame explanation? According to Bush, what he is doing is not giving the internationally recognized sign for devil worshippers. According to him, he is really giving the sign of the University of Texas Longhorns. But this deception doesn't hold water for two very good reasons. #1 George W Bush never attended the University of Texas. He received his undergraduate degree from Yale University. The University of Texas law school turned him down because his record at Yale was so mediocre. Family connections enabled him to get into Harvard Business school instead. Let's face it - nobody in their right mind goes around continually flashing the sign of a college they never attended, a college that rejected him. I suggest that he picked it up at college all right, but while attending Yale, after joining a Satanic cult called "Skull and Bones". #2 There is another very good reason why his alibi just doesn't wash. Anybody who knows anything about the University of Texas knows that Bush isn't flashing the sign of the Texas Longhorns at all. This following is a picture of a University of Texas student giving the Longhorns salute. 
Notice how BOTH hands are used, and the back rather than the palms of the hands are facing outwards to better simulate Texas LonghornS. It is apparent from the evidence I've accumulated here, that Bush was definitely NOT giving the University of Texas Longhorns salute. He WAS giving the Satanic '
bought them by the box of 10. Still have some of the boxes.
I have some of these, with the box.
and some of these SONY cassettes from almost all eras.
I had a Nakamichi cassette deck, but never any of their cassettes.
I rember a cassette that had a metal body, I think if was made by Memorex, each one was suitably heavy and substantial...they didnt last long in the market!
What an astonishng site; obsessive Russian Geeks!
And look at 
And you?
US soldiers in Iraq approach a car after opening fire when it failed to stop at a checkpo
int. Despite warning shots it continued to drive towards their dusk patrol in Tal Afar on 18 January. 
Inside the car were an Iraqi family of seven. The mother and father were killed but their five children in the backseat survived, one with a non-life threatening wound.
