The Breakfast Club (Dancing Fool)

One, two, three, one, two, three, one, two, three, one, two, three.

It’s amazing to me (though perhaps it shouldn’t be) how many dances have signatures of three.

Ok, enough with the doggerel, it was making my head ache anyway.

But it’s true enough that an amazing amount of music written specifically for dancing is in 3/4, 3/8, or 6/8 time (not Rock of course which is relentlessly 4/4, or the Polka in 2/4).  I suppose I should take a moment and explain Time Signatures.

Signatures are a notational convention to let the musician know “how many beats are in each bar and which note value constitutes one beat.”  They look like fractions, but mean something entirely different.  The beats per bar is the first number and can really have any value, bars are a mere divisional convenience (like periods), though they do effect the accenting.  The second number, the note value, is almost uniformly 4 or 8.  This corresponds to the duration of each individual note where open notes without a staff last for 4 beats, open with staff 2, solid with staff 1, solid with staff and a flag 1/2, solid with staff and 2 flags 1/4, etc.

What makes it confusing is that solid with staff is called a quarter note because it conventionally (in 4/4 time) takes up a quarter of the bar and a whole note (open, no staff) takes up a whole bar (I think I’ll have some of Chuck Pierce’s Prestone now).

Anyway how many beats also gives you an idea of how the music is naturally accented.  Common (4/4) time is accented DAH, duh, Dah, duh with the 3rd beat slightly less prominent than the first.  Cut time (think Sousa) the same except twice as fast though it’s easy enough to transpose into a 2/4 Polka but then you lose the inherent subtlety of the 3rd beat as all the down (first) beats are accented the same.  Confused yet?  I sure am.

If the beats per bar are divisible by 3 (3/4, 6/8) each bar is accented DAH, duh, duh (or in the case of 6/8 DAH, duh, duh, Dah, duh, duh).  The 6/8 accenting really gives you a better feel for the rhythm of the music as actually played and while you can duplicate it notationally in any signature with the Triplet, if you’re going to be using it with frequency being divisible by 3 is a time saver.

Personally it’s this coincidence of quarter time and third time in the 6/8 and 12/8 signatures that make them intellectually attractive to me though I’m not a composer, have barely any theory, and as a performer am in the words of the immortal Leonard Falcone himself- “Hopeless.”

One of the defining characteristics of modern and post-modern “art” music is using creative time signatures, eccentric accents, and syncopation to distance itself from this “tyranny of the barline” and Stravinsky was one of the strongest proponents, but you can’t dance to it very well.

Back to dancing.  Wikipedia implicitly likens “classical” dancing to Square Dancing and now that I think about it I can see the parallels.  Performed in groups like a line dance, participants were expected to know the moves with a certain interchangability as opposed to individual efforts like the mosh pit mania of Rock or even the stylized but solo (well, pairs) of contemporary ballroom styles.

Excluding the Polka the 3 most popular types were the Minuet and the Scherzo (an uptempo, long format Minuet), and the Waltz all in 3/4 time.  What made the Waltz particularly scandalous was not really the music, which was actually fairly conventional, but the fact that the dance is performed in the “closed” position where you are looking at your partner and can even give them a squeeze if nobody’s watching.

So this morning I’ve decided to illustrate each of those 3 types and as a bonus I’m including Le Sacre du printemps which was so revolutionary in its noise that it nearly caused a riot.

For a Minuet I’ve chosen a piece by Jean-Baptiste Lully who introduced the trio section to the form.

Menuet pour Trompettes

For a Scherzo I’ve selected a piece by Schubert who finished much more than he left unfinished and along with Beethoven really popularized this format in “art” music.

Scherzo Presto from Symphony #6

And for the Waltz you can’t go wrong with some Johann Strauss.  This is Opus 4, Kettenbrücke-Walzer, about a suspension bridge.

Kettenbrücke-Walzer

Oh, Stravinski.

Those kids.  They’ll listen to any kind of cacophony.

Oblgatories, news, and blogs below.

Obligatories

Welcome to The Breakfast Club! We’re a disorganized group of rebel lefties who hang out and chat if and when we’re not too hungover we’ve been bailed out we’re not too exhausted from last night’s (CENSORED) the caffeine kicks in. Join us every weekday morning at 9am (ET) and weekend morning at 10:30am (ET) to talk about current news and our boring lives and to make fun of LaEscapee! If we are ever running late, it’s PhilJD’s fault.

I would never make fun of LaEscapee or blame PhilJD.  And I am highly organized.

The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings.

–Julius Caesar (I, ii, 140-141)

This Day in History

News

Iranian president gives qualified support for western action against Isis

Julian Borger, The Guardian

Friday 26 September 2014 20.24 EDT

Speaking to journalists in New York while attending the UN general assembly, Rouhani appeared to draw a sharp distinction between Syria, where the Assad regime had not been informed of US air strikes, let alone asking for them; and Iraq, where the new government has formally called for military assistance.

He criticised western states for responding late to Iraq’s call for help, claiming Iran had been the first to come to its defence and helped prevent Irbil and Baghdad falling to Isis. He also questioned the value of relying on aerial power alone.

But when asked whether western military intervention would be welcome under any conditions, the Iranian president said: “Whatever steps they take, the legitimate sovereign government of the country must be informed and give its genuine consent.

“We must support any government that requests assistance,” Rouhani said. “The request must come from Iraq. If the sovereignty of the Iraqi government is made central, the campaign can be successful.”

Hong Kong police move in to arrest pro-democracy demonstrators

The Guardian

Saturday 27 September 2014 02.00 EDT

Riot police using pepper spray cleared out more than 100 demonstrators early on Saturday, dragging many away and arresting 13, in the tensest scenes yet in a recent series of protests.

…

“This is an amazing turning point. Hong Kongers usually just lay there and do nothing. This time, we’re really making an impact,” said Suki Wong, a recent graduate who works as an accountant.

Student groups have been spearheading a civil disobedience campaign with democracy activists this week to protest against Beijing’s announcement last month that it would choose who can stand for Hong Kong’s top post of chief executive in elections in 2017.

…

One protester, Wong Kai-keung, said, “We don’t care if we get hurt; we don’t care if we get arrested. What we care about is getting real democracy.”

Call for armed militia to confront voters at polls alarms Wisconsin voters

Zoe Sullivan, The Guardian

Friday 26 September 2014 14.00 EDT

Voting-rights advocates have asked Wisconsin’s attorney general to investigate a Facebook group that purported to call for armed individuals to confront voters at the polls in November.

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The Wisconsin Poll Watcher Militia said: “We prefer our people be armed. Some will be heading to some of Milwaukee, Racine and Beloit’s worst areas. We will be armed with a list of people to look for at each location.”

Patrick Murray replied: “Just so you are aware, I will not report Republicans. Only Democrats”.

Wisconsin Poll Watcher Militia said: “We will be targeting heavy Democrat districts, so it is doubtful this will even be an issue.”

…

Andrea Kaminski, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin, told the Guardian that such an exchange constitutes conspiracy to commit a felony – voter intimidation. “They call themselves a militia, although who knows, it could be two guys with nothing better to do sitting in their basement,” Kaminski stated in a phone interview. Still, she said, “whether anybody will go to the polls or not, they’re already committing a crime because conspiring to commit a crime is a felony.”

US city considers testing sewage to gather data on residents’ marijuana use

Jessica Glenza, The Guardian

Friday 26 September 2014 15.31 EDT

The primary author of Washington state’s recreational marijuana law, attorney Alison Holcomb, made this suggestion to the city’s marijuana policy subcommittee at a meeting on Tuesday. About 50 city leaders and residents make up the group, which attempts to grapple with what legalization means for the city of about 210,000.

“We don’t have really good data on usage and perceptions of harm,” said Jon Snyder, a Spokane city council member. “It’s funny how the sewage thing has really captured people’s imagination.”

Testing sewage could help to determine the extent of marijuana usage in Spokane, where some traditional survey methods have been upended by legalization and others are seen as less than completely reliable.

…

“In some ways, I think my most surprising finding is that it works,” said Caleb Banta-Green, an epidemiologist and professor at the University of Washington’s Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute. “When I first heard about it I was skeptical. I thought, ‘How is this going to be sensitive enough?’.”

Police Behavior in Ferguson Draws Attention of Justice Department

By JULIE BOSMAN, The New York Times

SEPT. 26, 2014

The Justice Department on Friday pressured the Ferguson Police Department to stop its officers from wearing bracelets stamped with the message “I am Darren Wilson,” in solidarity with the police officer who is being investigated for shooting an unarmed black 18-year-old, and from covering up their name plates with tape.

The bracelets, dark blue with white lettering, were photographed on the wrists of several Ferguson police officers who were interacting with demonstrators this week as protests flared up once again in this small city in the suburbs of St. Louis. A grand jury is looking into the shooting of the teenager, Michael Brown, on Aug. 9, and the police department is under investigation by the Justice Department for possible civil rights violations.

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She also said that police officers were reported to have placed black tape over their name plates, a violation of the police department’s own policies.

“Officers’ wearing name plates while in uniform is a basic component of transparency and accountability,” Ms. Lopez wrote. “It is a near-universal requirement of sound policing practices and required under some state laws.” Chief Jackson had met with Justice Department officials on Thursday afternoon.

Police, protesters clash at rally in Ferguson, Missouri: CNN, KMOV

By Carey Gillam, Reuters

Fri Sep 26, 2014 6:29am EDT

A number of protesters were arrested after Ferguson police chief Tom Jackson began marching with a crowd of rally-goers and a scuffle broke out near him, the broadcasters, CNN and St. Louis television station KMOV, said.

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The latest incident comes just hours after Jackson issued a video apology to the parents of Michael Brown, following weeks of heavy criticism and calls for his ouster.

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Jackson spoke directly into a camera and read from a script in the video, released by a public relations firm hired by the city. He addressed Brown’s parents, as well as people whom he called “peaceful protesters.”

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Many protesters have said police left Brown’s body in the street to intimidate the black community. In the video, Jackson said “no disrespect” was intended, and the removal of the body was delayed so officers could gather evidence.

“But it was just too long, and I am truly sorry for that,” said Jackson, standing in front of an American flag and wearing not his uniform, but a short-sleeved polo shirt.

‘It was a crank call’: family seeks action against 911 caller in Walmart shooting

Jon Swaine, The Guardian

Friday 26 September 2014 16.02 EDT

The family of a young black man who was killed by police in an Ohio Walmart while holding an unloaded BB rifle and speaking on his cellphone have called for action to be taken against a 911 caller who claimed he was pointing the gun at people.

John Crawford III was shot dead last month by an officer responding to an emergency call made by Ronald Ritchie, a shopper standing 100ft away, who repeatedly stated to the dispatcher that Crawford was pointing the air rifle at customers.

Surveillance footage and audio recordings released after a grand jury declined to indict the officer who shot Crawford showed that Crawford was holding the rifle at his side and pointing it to the floor at the time when Ritchie alleged that “he just pointed it at, like, two children”.

Crawford’s father and the family’s attorney said that Ritchie, 24, should be questioned by police over the discrepancy between the footage and his allegation, which he made about 80 seconds before Crawford was shot, and confirmed when asked soon after. Knowingly “making false alarms” is a crime under Ohio law punishable by a fine or jail sentence.

A Call to Action Against a Predator Fish With an Import Ban, an App and Even Rodeos

By LIZETTE ALVAREZ, The New York Times

SEPT. 25, 2014

Nearly three decades after a lone venomous lionfish was spotted in the ocean off Broward County – posing as a bit of eye candy back then and nothing more – the species has invaded the Southern seaboard, staking a particular claim on Florida, as well as the Gulf Coast, the Caribbean, and even parts of South America. Spreading gradually at first, and then frenetically from 2005 onward, lionfish have become the most numerous marine nonnative invasive species in the world, scientists said. Along the way, the predators, which hail from the other side of the world and can grow here to 20 inches long, are wreaking havoc on delicate reefs and probably further depleting precious snapper and grouper stocks.

There is no stopping them now, salt-water experts said. But hoping to at least slow them down, marine biologists and government agencies have been intensifying efforts recently to spearfish them out of certain areas that harbor fragile reefs and figure out how they became a threat so quickly and so successfully in the Atlantic Ocean.

…

Figuring out how to combat them what works, what does not has been an exercise in both imagination and frustration. The lionfish derbies, or rodeos, seem to have the best success rate. Groups of divers gather for a day of spearfishing; last week, 22 divers, some from as far away as Texas, strapped on tanks in the Florida Keys and speared 573 lionfish in one day. There is talk of offering bounties, as one university in Mississippi did to create incentives, but money is scarce.

Then there is the gourmet approach. Some Florida restaurants are now buying lionfish, which are light and flaky when cooked, not unlike snapper, and serving them to diners. Once there is a large enough market for them, scientists said, fishermen will pay attention and help haul them out of the sea.

Supreme Court prepares for another round of same-sex marriage arguments

By Michael Doyle, McClatchy

September 26, 2014

Behind closed doors, with even their trusted clerks excluded, the court’s nine justices will gather Sept. 29 to consider hundreds of petitions for the upcoming new term. The most anticipated bunch, by far, would test whether the Constitution encompasses a right of same-sex couples to marry.

“It’s inevitable at this point that the court will recognize marriage equality,” said David Cole, a liberal professor at Georgetown University Law Center. “The question is when.”

…

“You’ve got a chaotic legal situation,” said attorney Michael Carvin, who has argued on behalf of conservative causes before the Supreme Court. “I think they’ll take the case as a fish-or-cut-bait time.”

Why the Fed Will Always Wimp Out on Goldman

By WILLIAM D. COHAN, Politico Magazine

September 26, 2014

The sudden appearance of Segarra’s tape recordings in the news this week was reminiscent of the way that the NFL was embarrassed by the videotape that showed Rice, the now-suspended Baltimore Ravens running back, knocking out his girlfriend in an elevator – all of which suggested the NFL knew about the abuse but gave Rice kid-gloves treatment, as it does in many cases of abuse. The truth is, although both incidents do reveal something about the way the powerful and famous get away with more stuff than the rest of us, there’s no real comparison. The Segarra Tapes actually reveal little or nothing that was not already known, assuming you have a shred of understanding how the Federal Reserve banks actually work. Nor is William Dudley, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, about to get pilloried in public like NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

Sorry, folks, but this is simply the way the New York Fed was designed to behave. The system of 12 Federal Reserve banks, established about 100 years ago by an act of Congress following secret meetings presided over by J.P. Morgan himself at an island off the coast of Georgia, has always existed for the benefit of the commercial and investment banks that created the system, that own the banks and that control their boards of directors. To think that these banks exist for any other reason than to serve their Wall Street masters is complete folly. It has never been so and it will never be so – as long as the current system remains intact – despite what Segarra captured her bosses talking about on tape, without their knowledge.

…

(A)t the inception of the government’s regulation of Wall Street, Goldman Sachs was already advising politicians how to do the job. In a hearing in New York on January 6, 1914, Henry Goldman told the secretary of the Treasury, William G. McAdoo, and the secretary of agriculture, David F. Houston, that New York City needed to have the most powerful and well-capitalized Federal Reserve bank in the system. He thought the New York Federal Reserve Bank should be on a par with the Bank of England, given that New York was the credit capital of the country. He told the committee organizing the reserve banks that unless the New York Federal Reserve Bank was made supremely important, “it will do no more exchange business with New York than at present unless the New York bank is strong enough to handle it.” J.P. Morgan concurred with Goldman’s view-and, of course, the New York Federal Reserve Bank did become the most powerful reserve bank in the system, and Goldman Sachs remains to this day one of the bank’s most important affiliations.

So, to invoke Captain Renault’s immortal words about the gambling going on at Rick’s Cafe, I am shocked, shocked to discover that Federal Reserve System works to further the many interests of Wall Street. Who needs a secret tape to tell them that?

ALEC tries to prove it’s not lying about climate change, fails miserably

Lindsay Abrams, Salon

Friday, Sep 26, 2014 03:30 PM EST

Monday, Google made waves – and kick-started an exodus – by cutting ties with the American Legislative Exchange Council. The reason, according to Google chairman Eric Schmidt? The free market lobbying group is “just literally lying” about climate change.

Unfortunately for ALEC, it’s no longer fashionable to be a climate denier, or to promote climate denial. And it’s proving to be a rather unprofitable position as well. This has put the group in the rather awkward position of having to defend its belief in climate change.

…

Thursday, ALEC upped its game, releasing a position statement on renewables and climate change. Again, it tries to make the case for “free market environmentalism” while insisting it’s not a “climate denier organization.” Again, it gets caught in its own lies.

In the statement, ALEC tries to claim that it doesn’t advocate for the teaching of climate denial in schools. Its model Environmental Literacy Improvement Act, adopted in classrooms across the country, might not teach climate denial outright, but it does encourage teachers to give climate skeptics and deniers a voice, in order to provide students with a “balanced” view of the science. In practice, of course, that doesn’t turn out looking like how a balanced debated between the 97 percent majority and the climate-denying minority should.

First U.S. Stealth Jet Attack on Syria Cost More Than Indian Mission to Mars

Dave Majumdar, The Daily Beast

09.24.14

Fears of a potent Syrian air defense system drove the U.S. Air Force to send its silver bullet force of F-22 Raptor stealth fighters into battle for the first time ever. The Pentagon confirmed on Sept. 23 that the $150 million jets had struck an ISIS command and control facility in Raqqah, Syria with a satellite-guided bomb. That was right after an initial wave of U.S. Navy Tomahawk cruise missiles hit their targets around Aleppo and Raqqah.

But the Raptors’ first mission wasn’t cheap. Together, the missiles and airstrikes cost at least $79 million to pull off, according to a Daily Beast tally.

That’s more expensive than India’s mission to Mars, which was successfully completed Wednesday at a cost of just $74 million.

…

Experts and many Air Force officers expect that the Raptor will fly additional combat sorties in the coming days. “More F-22 missions are a real possibility.  Even in this open-ended campaign, getting the mission done with precision and least possible risk is paramount,” said IRIS Independent Research president Rebecca Grant, which has close ties to the Air Force. “F-22s really do have unique abilities to evade defenses, strike with precision and sniff up information about Syrian defenses. So why wouldn’t it be used?”

Grant said she does not expect any political blow-ups over the Raptor, which was terminated in 2009 by then Defense Secretary Robert Gates-who believed the jet to be a costly and useless relic of the Cold War. Instead of the 750-strong fleet originally envisioned, the Air Force received only 187 Raptors in a move that was viewed by many in Washington as purely political. “This is about doing the job right and the F-22 was simply part of that,” Grant said.

But the F-22 is extremely expensive to operate and difficult to maintain. In 2013 the Raptor cost the Air Force about $68,000 per hour to operate once maintenance and other factors are added in, according to documents provided by the Center for Defense Information.

Meet the new GM crops set to make America’s “superweed” problem even worse

Lindsay Abrams, Salon

Friday, Sep 26, 2014 02:07 PM EST

The old GM crops, manufactured by Monsanto, aren’t working so well any more, as overuse of glyphosate, the herbicide they’re designed to withstand, has allowed weeds to develop resistance of their own. The new ones, Wired reports, are poised to take their place. On the one hand, this makes a lot of sense: if the old stuff isn’t working, that means it must be time for something new. On the other, that’s kind of insane logic, because that new stuff is coming in to solve a problem that was created by the old stuff.

In addition to the risks, to the environment and human health, of increased pesticide use, some see us as being at the precipice of a truly serious disaster. It’s no coincidence that superweeds sound a lot like superbugs, which similarly have become a global threat thanks to the overuse of the stuff developed to keep them in check. And just as with antibiotics, critics of GM crops warn that we’re on a “herbicide treadmill”: an endless cycle of new herbicides and new resistance that keeps speeding up.

And if we end up with no new herbicides? Just as with the post-antibiotic era, the implications of life after herbicides are sweeping. It will mean tough, fast-growing weeds that we have no easy means of stopping. Superweeds have already taken over 70 million acres of U.S. farmland, Wired reports, causing about $1 billion in annual damage. A classic example of just how scary they are, to farmers, is the Palmer amaranth, which is already taking over cropland across the southern U.S. It can grow seven feet tall, with stalks as thick as baseball bats – it’s more, in other words, than your standard weed-whacker can take on. North Dakota named it weed of the year; some refer to it as “Satan.”

Blogs

• Government Won’t Explain Why It Thinks ‘State Secrets’ at Risk in Lawsuit Against Anti-Iran Group, by Kevin Gosztola, Firedog Lake
• Ray McGovern Triumphs over State Department, by Peter van Buren, Firedog Lake
• A National Call: Save Civilian Education, by David Swanson, Firedog Lake
• Day after Escalating Climate Damaging War, Obama Cites “Beyond Vietnam” on Climate Urgency, by emptywheel
• Eric Holder Was The Worst Attorney General For The Press In A Generation: We Deserve Better, by Trevor Timm, TechDirt
• FBI’s Biometric Program Blends Criminal And Non-Criminal Data For ‘Efficiency,’ Obsessed With Tracking Care Providers, by Tim Cushing, TechDirt
• The New York Times Claims that Opposing EU Austerity Leads to Anti-Semitism, by William K. Black, New Economic Perspectives
• Is Economics a Science? Dogmatic Economics Vs. Reflective Economics, by Philip Pilkington, Naked Capitalism
• Justice Department Pushes Ferguson Police to Ban Officers from Wearing ‘I Am Darren Wilson’ Bracelets, by Kevin Gosztola, Firedog Lake
• Twenty-Three People Killed by American Police in the Span of One Week, by Kevin Gosztola, Firedog Lake
• A Bottom-Up Solution to Cross-Border Conflicts: The Case of the Middle East and ISIL, by Nancy Bordier, Corrente
• Zbig’s Plotting over Chilean Sea Bass, by emptywheel
• Prison Commissioner Buried Investigators’ Findings Of Rikers Island Wardens’ ‘Complete Abdication’ Of Responsibilities, by Tim Cushing, Tech Dirt

I’m just a dancing fool