Musical Diversity Challenge

I'm sure there are people out there in the world who listens to one type of music and one type only. I know I used to be that way when I was a kid, only listening to southern gospel or country until my dad made me listen to other types of music besides that. He told me that there was other types of music out there in the world besides southern gospel and country. I believe now, he was getting tired of me playing those two styles of music.

My brother got wind of it and brought me some CD to listen to, also believe my dad told him about it for help because my brother used to be a music teacher, turned English teacher. Anyway he brought me a new CD every time he would visit us and each time it would be different. They would be from anything from Irish to Opera to music from the sixties. At first I would hate them and would try to give them back to my brother but he would always sneak them back to me, challenging me to listen to them. and since I worshiped my older brother, at the time, I would take up his challenge and listened to them. by the next visit, I couldn't wait to hear the next CD he brought me to listen too.

Now-a-days, I still listen to different types of music but my all time favorites have to be from the sixties, Irish and bluegrass but mostly Irish. If fact now, I just began listening to music from the big band era, mainly between the world wars era. So far I like listening to Andrew Sisters, you would know them better by the song "boogie Qoogie bugle boy from company B."

So I would like to issue a challenge to you all. is there one style of music out there that you listen too and can't stand to listen to what someone else listens too? Well nows' the chance, ask them the next time you see them what they are listening too and see if you can borrow their CD or get the name of the artist and look them up. Or go to the nearest public library and ask for their music selections and start from there. You'll be surprised to see what kinds of music you may like in the end. I know I did...

Here are just some samples of music to listen too:

The Mystic's Dream - Loreena McKennit
Irish Flute Music
Celtic Woman - A New Journey - Mo Ghile Mear
Japaneses Drum Preformance
Chinese Traditional Song
Yanni
Charlotte Church - Dream a Dream
The Andrews Sisters - Boogie Woogie...
Dola Re Dola (Bollywood)

Music of the Universe

Yes you've read the title right. The universe, our universe, the very same one we live in has music and I'm not talking about Justin Beber or Madonna. I'm talking about energy waves from the planets magnetic fields to energy pulsars to anything thing else that creates energy. How do I know this?

I know this because of a show that I watched a couple of nights ago on the science channel. Never once did I even realise that objects in space could make noise. Yes, I also know that space is a vacum and for us to hear a sound there has to be air. We forget one thing though, energy waves, and they do not need air to travel. Its these energy waves that we pick up by our satellites that orbit our world and our radio antennas that picks these energy waves up. They then transform these energy waves into sound waves that we can hear. It is this way that we can hear these sounds or music from the universe.

To show what I am talking about, here are a few videos from YouTube that demonstrate on what I'm talking about. (I must warn you, some of these sounds you hear will be creepy in origin and will cause your hair to stand on end.)

Planet Sounds
Symphonies of the Planets 2
NASA: sound of a black hole
Sounds of our Solar System 1/2
Sounds of our Solar System 2/2
Spectacular Solar Video & Sounds
Sounds of Pluto
Pulsar Sounds
Jupiter Sounds

Pretty amazing stuff don't you think? Leave your comments on what you think about the sounds you just heard.

State anti-bullying laws... a gay rights movement or a true protection for children who are bullied in schools?

(Read the articles before you continue reading this post. This way you'll get a better idea as to what I'm saying.) The 2012 General Assembly: Major "Defensive Kills"; No significant "Offensive Victories" & The anti-bullying legislative forces resort to to bullying inside the state capital. (Click on the link below to read such articles.)
The Kentucky citizen Newsletter (May/June 2012)

You've heard it and I've heard it, children at schools being bullied. You read or hear about it in the news almost every month. In the state of Kentucky, there was a law brought before the house committee called HB336 or the "ant-bullying law" that protects children who are bullied in the schools, on buses or on other school grounds. Sadly this law was stopped or for better terms defeated by a two to ten vote, meaning ten voted for it, two against it.

Let me clarify this little. In order for a bill to be passed in the state senate it must be brought before a house committee of ten or more people. The committee's job is to hear arguments for and against the bill. Once heard, the committee then votes on it, if not enough votes are casted in favor of the bill then it is rejected and does not continue on into the house or state senate to be passed. And in this case it was just shy of two votes to pass on to the house and state senate. Now back to the bill itself.

This bill was defeated by two votes saying that the bill was more about "Gay Rights" than it was about protecting the safety of the children in our schools. I got this information from the newsletter stated in the link above. I might also add, I've watched some of the footage from the State's legislature updates on my local PBS station when I heard that there was a bill for anti-bullying legislation. I must admit, I didn't know very much about the bill until now after reading the two articles from the newsletter, mentioned above.

When I read these two articles, I knew I had to find out more about it because something struck me as odd. One thing, all the testimony I heard on the PBS station wasn't about "Gay Rights", it was about how bad the children were mistreated by their fellow peers and some had committed suicide because it got to the point to where they couldn't handle it no more, even with their parents doing everything they could within the laws of government and school policies to protect their child. But in the end, it wasn't enough.

Second, I felt as if these two articles were politically and religiously motivated, in my personal feelings, because in one article it talked about one of the defenders for the bill was being "physical and verbally abusive" towards the main opposer for the bill. This artical continued to say that it was even done in front of reporters. Which I don't really think is what happened because when I found out about this bill trying to be passed, I watched the news very closely and never once did I hear anything about what was mentioned in this particular article.

Now, I'm not bashing one side or the other, I'm just reporting the facts as I see them.

Going back to the legislative program on the PBS station, The interviews that I've seen for the supporters of this bill, I saw no evidence of the bill being in any way of acting as a part of the "Gay Rights" movement. All I saw was family members who had lost their children because they were bullied to the point where they felt as if there was no other escape other than death. Granted some of the testimonies were from parents who's child was part of the LGBT community but in no way did I ever see them saying that they wanted protection for other children like their own.

Their words, in no particular order, were "I don't want what happened to my child happen to another." I didn't hear them say "I don't want this to happen to another child who is a homosexual like my child was." They wanted to make their children and other children who are being bullied to feel safe while going to school.

Yes, the bill also included the protection of children who are LGBT but it's not limited to just only them. It's to all children who are bullied both straight and Gay alike. Not to one or the other and to say that the bill protects only the LGBT community is complete and utter nonsense.

Bullying isn't just limited to the LGBT community, it geared towards everyone who doesn't conform to some one's belief system. a person can be bullied because he/she doesn't believe in the same moral values as another. Another could be bullied because they are indeed Homosexual. Another, the way they dress (dressing in all black or because they don't have the "right type" of clothing). I could go on and on with the list but I won't because I feel as if you got the point.

So the next time you hear or see anything like the article above, take the time to investigate what they are saying and don't take their word at face value. Because when you dig deeper, you just might discover the real truth...