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It’s not very well know, but that bandleader is none other than our very own bagoh2o. As a youth, before he became a captain of industry.

"Why can’t we see that we’re living in a golden age?"

Or, the column bagoh20 has been waiting a long time to read, but nobody writes because nothing sells more or create more clicks than bad news.

If you think that there has never been a better time to be alive — that humanity has never been safer, healthier, more prosperous or less unequal — then you’re in the minority. But that is what the evidence incontrovertibly shows. Poverty, malnutrition, illiteracy, child labour and infant mortality are falling faster than at any other time in human history. The risk of being caught up in a war, subjected to a dictatorship or of dying in a natural disaster is smaller than ever. The golden age is now.

We’re hardwired not to believe this. We’ve evolved to be suspicious and fretful: fear and worry are tools for survival. The hunters and gatherers who survived sudden storms and predators were the ones who had a tendency to scan the horizon for new threats, rather than sit back and enjoy the view. They passed their stress genes on to us. That is why we find stories about things going wrong far more interesting than stories about things going right. It’s why bad news sells, and newspapers are full of it.

Books that say the world is doomed sell rather well, too. I have just attempted the opposite. I’ve written a book called Progress, about humanity’s triumphs. It is written partly as a warning: when we don’t see the progress we have made, we begin to search for scapegoats for the problems that remain. Sometimes, in the past and perhaps today, we have been too quick to try our luck with demagogues who offer simple solutions to make our nations great again — whether by nationalising the economy, blocking imports or throwing out immigrants. If we think we don’t have anything to lose in doing so, it’s because our memories are faulty.

Look at 1828, when The Spectator was first published. Most people in Britain then lived in what is now regarded as extreme poverty. Life was nasty (people still threw their waste out of the window), brutish (corpses were still displayed on gibbets) and short (30 years on average). But even then things had been improving. The first iteration of The Spectator, in 1711, was published in a Britain whose people subsisted on average on fewer calories than the average child gets today in sub-Saharan Africa.

Karl Marx thought that capitalism inevitably made the rich richer and the poor poorer. By the time Marx died, however, the average Englishman was three times richer than at the time of his birth 65 years earlier — never before had the population experienced anything like it.

Fast forward to 1981. Then, almost nine in ten Chinese lived in extreme poverty; now just one in ten do. Then, just half of the world’s population had access to safe water. Now, 91 per cent do. On average, that means that 285,000 more people have gained access to safe water every day for the past 25 years. (more)

Dude skydives 25,000 ft without parachute

Link to video

Wild poppies at Grass Mountain, Los Olivos, CA

Click Link for blow up

Overherd At Lem's

What we need is to shed all the mandated safety equipment we have to carry into battle so we can fight and win the real fight that the competition is engaged in.

That photo has been around the block. I have to say that it always reminded me more of a white knight going into battle than a cowboy.

I'd like some specific examples of "safety equipment" we need to shed.

ADDED by Lem

There's a sprinkler system over the water pools?? #regulation pic.twitter.com/EUO2S1L4Sf

— Lem (@Lemang01) March 12, 2016

"Man Pays It Forward...."

"....by Donating $10,000 on Behalf of Woman Who Payed for His Groceries"

A modest Christmastime gesture of kindness that a Georgia woman made to a man who'd forgotten his wallet has come full circle to reward her in a big way.

A couple of weeks before Christmas, Smyrna resident Tracy Warshal, 39, noticed the man behind her in line at an Aldi supermarket was shuffling around looking for his wallet, she told ABC News. Realizing he'd forgotten it, Warshal offered to pay for his $7 grocery bill.

"It would have been more of a headache for him to go out and find his wallet," Warshal said.  Warshal called the act of kindness "instinctual" and said "anybody would have done it." When the man asked for her name, she gave him her first name only. Then she told him "Merry Christmas" and walked out of the store, she recalled.

A few weeks into January, Warshal found out the man was looking for her when two representatives for The Piedmont Foundation visited her at work to inform her that he would like to make a $10,000 donation in her name.

Warshal, who works as a scheduling coordinator for the Piedmont Cancer Institute, an affiliate of Piedmont Healthcare, just happened to be wearing a T-shirt with "Piedmont" emblazoned on it the day she stopped at Aldi on her way home from work. That, and her first name, were the only thing the man had to go on, she said.

The man then contacted the Piedmont Healthcare's Vice President of Philanthropy Mendal Bouknight to help track Warshal down and "thank her" for her gesture, Bouknight said in a statement.  “Tracy is an angel and proof that kindness and compassion are always inside you,” Bouknight said.

Warshal hasn't interacted with the donor since the day she paid for his groceries, she said. He wished to remain anonymous, the foundation told her.

Sign inside Getting Crabby at the Stern House

From inside Getting Crabby at the Stern House

"Mom shoots half court shot to win daughter half-priced tuition"

NBC News : A Minnesota mom who nailed a basketball shot at half-court has earned thousands of dollars in school tuition, social media fame, and — most importantly, she says — the chance to raise awareness about families in need of food assistance.

Angela Ramey, of Bloomington, threw the shot on Dec. 4 after a fundraiser at her 9-year-old daughter Grace's private school.

Earlier this month, Grace had won a competition at school by raising $1,200 for Kids Against Hunger, an organization that provides meals to local families. Using the money from the fundraiser, the entire school packed meals to dole out to Minnesota's neediest on Dec. 4.

KLEM FM

Overheard at Lem's:

bagoh20 said... 

Troop: "I miss the 1950's and 1960's" 

and the Mills Brothers, especially when he's feeling frisky. 

November 21, 2015 at 4:41 PM

"McDonald's staff throw a surprise birthday party..."

"...for a lonely 93-year-old widower who has gone to McDonald's almost every day since 2013"

"Homeless enjoy meal of a lifetime after couple call off wedding"

"After a California couple called off their wedding, the bride-to-be’s family decided to turn the extravagant, $35,000 event into a feast for the homeless."

Duane said her 27-year-old daughter called her Monday to tell her she and her fiance had decided not go through with the wedding. Soon after, the family decided to share the nonrefundable event with the less fortunate.

“Even though my husband and I were feeling very sad for our daughter, it was heartwarming to see so many people be there and enjoy a meal,” Duane said.

Part of the wedding price tag includes a nonrefundable honeymoon, so on Sunday, mother and daughter set off for Belize.

“I hope that when she looks back at this, she knows she was doing something good with a bad situation,” Duane said.

Video at the link

KLEM FM

Raucous:

link in case the video doesn't load

"Velvet Merkin" -- that's an LOL beer name. 

The point is parking...

Link to video

KLEM FM

Overheard at Lem's:

This is one of those songs that has that build-up thing going. I don't know if there is a word for it, but it's when a song builds real nice to where it just gets you going and pulls you along with a kind of growing anticipation. Often these songs don't deliver after the build, but this one does. Another one is "Roadhouse Blues" from the Doors. I think these kind of songs are often what we think of as "road songs". I do have a weakness for them.  Link

The Doors' L.A. Woman is even better as a "build-up song." It's probably the best example of an orgasmic phase and refractory phase parlayed into song. Even if you've heard the song a million times, listen again beginning around the 5 min mark--the part where Morrison intones "Mr Mojo Risin" (anagram for Jim Morrison).

The video is pretty interesting too--kudos to the maker.

Link in case the video doesn't load

I put the lyrics after the jump, in case any are unclear.

"It'd mean a lot to me and my brother" (video at the link)

"Sons of fallen Weld County Sheriff's Deputy outbid at auction for dad's squad car; get keys anyway"

Tanner was just 15, when his dad, Weld County Deputy Sam Brownlee, was killed in the line of duty after a police chase in 2010.

Nearly five years later, Tanner and his brother, Chase, were hoping to get one of their dad's prized possessions from the Weld County Sheriff's Office.

As the bids reached $50,000, Tanner's limit had clearly come and gone, just like his dad's car.

"60! Sold it your way, Mr. Steve Wells. Thank you very much," said the auctioneer.

The car sold for $60,000 to a local rancher. Tanner didn't know Wells before Wednesday, but won't be able to forget him now.

As soon as the auctioneer handed Wells the keys, he turned to Tanner.

"Tanner, here's your car," said Wells.

"You had no idea that that guy in the back was bidding and was going to hand you the keys?" asked 7NEWS reporter Marshall Zelinger.

"Nope. I shook his hand and I didn't know," said Tanner. "It means so much to me."

"Michigan Grandfather With Cancer..."

"Takes Up Uber Driving to Pay Off Home for Family"


ABC Breaking US News | US News Videos

"Once I pass away, chances are my daughter, who’s a part-time waitress at a small restaurant in Livonia, will lose the house we live in because she won't be able to afford it anymore," Broskey said. "So I'm doing everything for her and my grandkids at this point. When you find out you're dying, you realize your family and friends are so important."

"Seattle man sent wrong invite for bachelor party now has to go"

"It turns out DiJulio, an information technology worker and a married father of one in Burien, Washington, had been mistaken for a friend of the groom with a similar last name. He sat as a "fly on the wall" for much of the email chain until Monday, when he broke the news after the groom's brother wanted a headcount of people attending the party."

Q13Fox.com reported that DiJulio wrote to the group, "I live out in Seattle, WA and although for a moment I thought it might be funny to just show up and be that guy nobody knows but everyone wonders "who is that guy?", buying a plane ticket for a cross-country flight just to crash a bachelor's party might be a bit over the top (although it would be epic!)

The groom, Jeff Minetti, 34, must have agreed that the party would indeed be epic, so the crew urged DiJulio to pack his bags.The Philadelphia real estate agent asked him to attend both the bachelor party March 28 and his wedding May 2 in New Jersey. The guys started a GoFundMe page called "Bachelor Party 4 Guy I’ve Never Met" and earned enough money to pay for DiJulio's trip, putting any more money raised toward Minetti's honeymoon.

"This is the city of brotherly love," Minetti said, even telling DiJulio he could be his best man. "Any and all are welcome."

KLEM FM

I remember thinking if I could only play drums like that, I'd be happy. I spent countless hours in my parent's basement, trying to pick up just a little of that style. What I lacked back then was a video like this in which the master gives away all his secrets:

There is a very cool series out there from the early 00's devoted to the making of several "classic" albums. I watched this one in its entirety:

Another favorite part of the title song "Aja" is the Wayne Shorter saxophone solo. You can skip right to 45 min 40 sec to hear about that.