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Gold Member Since 2012
Audited Supplier
Zhejiang Zhongkang Industry & Trade Co., Ltd.

Pellet Stove, Wood Burning Stove, Pellet Burner manufacturer / supplier in China, offering Freestanding Wood Burning Pellet Stove Burner (CR-01), Modern Italian Wood Stoves, Pellet Burning Stoves (CR-02), Italian Wood Pellet Fireplace (CR-04) and so on.

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Supplier Homepage Product Pellet stove/ pellet fireplace Freestanding Wood Burning Pellet Stove Burner (CR-01)

Freestanding Wood Burning Pellet Stove Burner (CR-01)

FOB Price: Get Latest Price
Min. Order: 1 Piece
Port: Ningbo, China
Production Capacity: 500sets Per Month
Payment Terms: L/C, T/T, Paypal

Request a custom order and have something just for you!

Send Customized Request
Basic Info
  • Model NO.: CR-01
  • Usage: Indoor
  • Adjustable Thermostat: Adjustable Thermostat
  • Overheating Protection: With Overheating Protection
  • Installation Type: Freestanding
  • Material: Metal
  • Rating Voltage and Frequency: 220-230/50 V/Hz 110-120/60 V/Hz
  • Heat Area: 30-80sq.M
  • Efficiency: 94%
  • Dimension(W*H*D): 497*986*518mm
  • Fuels: Wooden Case, Honeycomb Board with Pallet
  • Transport Package: 1set/Carton Honeycomb Board with Pallet
  • Origin: Zhejiang China
  • Color: Red & Black
  • Certification: CE, RoHS
  • Remote Control: With Remote Control
  • Style: Modern
  • Type: Electric Fireplace,Stove
  • Rating Power: 3-9kw
  • Hopper Capicity: 20kgs
  • Packaging: Honeycomb Board with Pallet, Wooden Case
  • Net Weight: 83kgs
  • Package Size(W*H*D): 537*1150*580mm
  • Trademark: CHUANRUN
  • Specification: CE, RoHS, SGS
  • HS Code: 85162990
Product Description

Freestanding Wood Burning Pellet Stove Burner (CR-01)

1.Pellet stoves are easy to start and maintain.
2.Ash build-up is minimal but the stove will need regular cleaning.
3.Follow the manufacturer's guidelines for when and how to clean your pellet stove.
4.A shop vacuum works well for this cleaning, but the wood ash must be cold.
5.Burning wood pellets is much cleaner than burning wood in a wood stove.
6.Pellet stoves do get hot on the outside when operating, use care when near and never    leave anything on top of the stove.
7..There is no bark or wood chip mess, and no smoke residue that accumulates on walls and ceiling.

Benefits of Pellet Stoves
1.Clean burning, cost-efficient heating for your home
2.No hassle:
Among the many wood-burning stoves available, pellet stoves are the easiest to operate. You'll typically need to load these stoves with wood pellets just once every day or two-and loading the pellets is a simple matter of pulling out the hopper and pouring the pellets in.
3.Smoke free: Pellet stoves don't produce smoke. This means you'll never have to worry about "smoking out" a room, or dealing with the subsequent dry air and unpleasant smells.
4.Heat safe: With a pellet stove, there's virtually no external heat while it's operating. You can place a pellet stove as close as one inch away from a wall, and it will pose no fire hazard. It's the ideal heating choice for households with children and pets.
5.Environmental and cost advantages
Wood pellets used in pellet stoves are tightly condensed, which makes burning them a low-moisture, highly efficient process. There are less harmful gases released into the air through wood pellet burning than with regular wood-burning stoves.

Freestanding Wood Burning Pellet Stove Burner (CR-01)
Product Item   Wood Pellets Stove CR-01      2015 New !!
Specifications Rating Power3/9KW
CE EN14785 Approved !

Color:  Black
Rating Voltage and Frequency220-230/50 V/HZ
110-120/60 V/HZ
Hopper Capacity20Kg
Consumption for Pellet(Min-Max.)0.5/2.0Kg/H
Automatic Burning Time (Min-Max.)11.5/46H
Heat Area30-80m²
Electronic Consumption75-300W.H
Air inlet/outlet pipe50/80mm
Thickness of Steel, inside/outside3/1.2-2mm
Net Weight83Kg
Package Size(W*H*D)537*1150*580mm

(By 20'GP/40'GP/40'HQ container)Loading QTY around 72/152/152PCS

Freestanding Wood Burning Pellet Stove Burner (CR-01)
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A custom Large Zelda Deluxe with co- ordinating wallet

I posted the prototype for this bag earlier . Here's the final bag and the wallet. This was a custom order. The customer saw the fabric on my Flickr site and asked for the messenger bag plus a wallet made from a co-ordinating fabric. My Zelda Deluxe would not accommodate her laptop, so this order required a new design first!
Here is the result.

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Friday, 6 February 2009

Leaf Brooches

I have the day off today, work is shut because of the snow. I spent the morning making soup, which was yummy, and some leaf brooches that are now for sale on Folksy.

I dont have much green felt left but I should be able to make a couple more leaf shapes, when I can find some pictures of leaves as I am having trouble remembering what different leaves look like.

I am going to spend the afternoon tidying up my craft supplies, things have become a little messy. I hope that sorting my craft items will help to tidy the rest of the flat, that might be a little optimistic.

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text: Guest article by Darren Cassidy, Managing Director of Xerox UK The state of the UK’s healthcare system is never far from the top of the news agenda.  In the past few weeks alone we’ve seen stories ranging from rising pressure on general practitioners (GPs) to increasing cuts for the National Health Service (NHS).  Yet there’s […]


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We recommend annual comprehensive examinations, laboratory tests, and preventative vaccinations to keep your pet healthy & well.  Some of our vaccinations (based on your pet's previous vaccination history) will be good for three years.  We can also provide vaccine titres if you prefer. We help determine with you which vaccines are right for your pet instead of giving every dog or cat the same vaccinations regardless of their lifestyle.

Please bring in any medical history you have on your pet when you come to our office, if it's your pet's first time in.  We would be happy to call your pet's previous Veterinarian if you wish.

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Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Update on City of Tears

So I've been running online again for a few sessions,  testing out the light rules mainly.

It appears to still be a perfunctory dungeon,  and I am debating trying to write it up as an example NGR dungeon (though it seems like a fair bit of effort for just that).  Anyone have any real interest in an NGR only dungeon?


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Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Weird Adventures, The Forgotten Realms and Historical Earth

So when I went to GenCon I had the opportunity to meet Trey over at the Sorcerer's Skull and pick up a copy of Weird of Adventures which I am still devouring and enjoying immensely.  Its a setting book (not a system),  it features the pulp and noir era, and is an incredibly charming style that makes it a great physical artifact so I am 3/3 on the book itself.  But I did notice something that has gotten me on a tangent.

In Weird Adventures things are named similar to their earth equivalents,  but oh so slightly off.  Enough that it is 100% clear what is being referenced such as "The Union", "Borea" and "Yianese".  This is similar to things like Maztica or similar such names in the Forgotten Realms, Fricana in the Quest for Glory games, Bretonnia, Norsca, Tilea and damn near everything in Warhammer, and quite honestly how I have almost always named things in my own games.

Lately I have been thinking on this topic.  In my own games I did this to get across that it was visually and thematically similar to the person, place or thing in question but still different from history.  How different could vary by how much I wanted it to be.  Warhammer was one of my earliest and strongest influences for setting,  Quest for Glory up there strongly too I'd wager, and in the 90's you couldn't escape Forgotten Realms products if you walked into a comic book store,  so this is to be expected.

Since being on G+ however I have noticed it seems easier almost to just use real earth history,  until you want to be VERY clear that something is different.  When I just say something is "Norway" or "Ireland" instead of "Nordland" or "The Keltic Coast" or some other thing people seem to clamp down on the region easier.  Then when I put in something that while visually or superficially similar is very different (Say the Church of Spartacus as opposed to Catholicism, because  I like the imagery but I want some bloodthirsty, pro-dungeoncrawling faith tenants) it stands out more.

So I waffle back and forth on this one.  The idea is clarity and a link to a historical analogue, but also clearly saying "don't assume its the same below the surface".   I am really not sure which approach is better.

1 comment:

  1. This is an idea I've put some thought into (obviously). I think there are different levels of "stand-ins." There's the "names changed to protect the innocent" version, like Golden Age comics or some parody stuff, where the place is really the real world thing just with a different name. Then there's the "cognate shorthand" wherein the thing is far from identical, but a referencing name makes something about it clear by linking it to the RW. For instance, the Union in WA has a different political structure, history, and composition than the USA, but it occupies a similar ideaspace. I sort of view the WA worldbuilding as similar to Howard's in building the Hyborian Age.


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Sunday, June 28, 2009

A response to Looking Back...

In response to my post Looking Back..., Melinda wrote:

I hope this call for an independent progressive, better socialist organization will be followed by an analysis as to WHAT political elements of North America are capable of such an organization. I do not see any. But I am a foreigner and hope to be dead wrong about this.

Would anyone like to take a crack at this challenging question?

The Demise of an Old Friend

Friends tell me of the recent decision of the National Committee of the Communist Party USA to discontinue the print addition of the Party’s newspaper, The People’s Weekly World. The paper, the successor to The Daily World and People’s World, The Worker, and The Daily Worker, has been the public voice of the Communist Party since 1924. I remember well old timers – victimized by the extreme anti-Communist repression of the nineteen fifties – recalling how the paper was the only means for the CPUSA to reach outside of its own ranks during that raging tempest.

The legacy of The Daily Worker includes the treasured “Woody Sez” columns penned by Woody Guthrie and the sports reportage of the legendary Lester Rodney who did more to integrate professional sports than any of the self-congratulatory sports moguls celebrated by the media. The labor reporting was always unabashedly partisan and grounded in rank and file activism. On the cultural front, the paper’s writers often offered a contrarian view, welcome in times of conformity and timidity in the mainstream. Similarly, international reporting provided a refreshing departure from the big media’s subservient spin on the official US government line.

From the nineteen thirties, The Daily Worker and its off-spring were the public face of labor radicalism and socialist advocacy. Through the twists and turns of the US political landscape, the paper remained a place to find ideas that would be expressed no where else. Writers – from Theodore Dreiser to Herbert Aptheker – used the pages of the paper to express views denied in the capitalist media. For most of this period, the CP press was the leading “alternative” mouthpiece for socialism.

Through most of its life, Party leaders understood that the paper played a larger role than determined by paid subscriptions or financial health. It was conceived as an organizational instrument - a spark for activism – to be distributed at mill gates, shop floors, picket lines and mass meetings. Even during its hey-day in the thirties and forties, the Party paper exerted an influence far beyond its mail circulation. Stalwarts like the incomparable Jim Dolson delivered the paper through neighborhoods for decades, serving as a passionate missionary for the Party’s ideas.

In recent years, The People’s Weekly World has sadly followed a script issued by the Party’s leadership towards accommodation with both the Democratic Party leadership and the top rungs of the AFL-CIO hierarchy. For the most part, Marxist and class conscious commentary have given way to shallow, liberal writing and an obstinate, rigid defense of the most timid oppositional forces. More and more, one reads reprints from the liberal press in place of serious, challenging Marxist analysis. Stubbornly, the Party’s top leadership refuses to connect the decline of the paper’s following to the sapping of its traditional militancy.

I am told that the Party leadership has assured the members that the print edition will be replaced by a glitzy, state-of-the-art website that will be more in tune with twenty-first century fashion. But will it reach the millions of unemployed, the striking workers, the massed protesters? Will it demonstrate the passionate commitment of dedicated revolutionaries to the cause of those forgotten by the Democratic Party and left out of decisions taken by the far-removed leadership of organized labor? Will the internet or twitter speak to them or for them? Will it build a cadre of activists interacting with, conversing with, and leading working people?

What was once a powerful tool of agitation and education will become a small, soft-spoken voice in the vast universe of the internet. Where activists brought the Party’s views to the masses through distribution of the print addition, a Google search may now bring those views to the attention of the curious surfer wondering if the Communist Party is still around.

One can only hope that Party members will bring the leaders to their senses.

Zoltan Zigedy


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Saturday, October 12, 2013

The Banks: Serial Offenders

Newspaper accounts anticipate that JP Morgan Chase, the huge banking and  financial services company, is close to an agreement with the Department of Justice over charges brought against the company for its mortgage bond policies leading up to the 2008 economic collapse. JP Morgan Chase hopes to avoid legal proceedings by agreeing to settle the matter for around $11 billion with the caveat, of course, that they are admitting no guilt.

Just over a week ago, the same firm agreed to another settlement of just a bit less than a billion dollars over the trading fiasco dubbed “the Whale.”

In addition, JP Morgan Chase has paid out settlements of $1.8 billion for mortgage-foreclosure practices over the last year.

In the same time frame, the company conceded nearly half a billion dollars for the charge of energy market manipulation. Add another $300 million for claims lodged against mortgage-backed securities.

And we mustn't forget the nearly quarter-of-a-billion settlement against allegations of muni-bond manipulation in 2011.

With these six likely settlements in three years alone totaling about $15 billion in charges over questionable practices, one might conclude that JP Morgan Chase was a serial violator.

It might make one angry that JP Morgan Chase executives receive no penalty-- indeed continue to receive large bonuses-- despite these violations.

It might make one angrier still to scrutinize the long list of earlier settlements and penalties incurred by the firm, including for intimate involvement with the criminally corrupted firms of Enron and WorldCom. One might further mention JP's derivative scam that nearly drove Alabama's largest county into bankruptcy, a maneuver that pressured a three-quarter-billion-dollar settlement.

Further outrage might spring from the company's record fine paid to the United Kingdom's Financial Service Authority in 2010.

Certainly JP Morgan Chase's admission in January of 2011 that it systematically overcharged thousands of overseas military personnel on their mortgages would prompt the ire of many.

And then there is the matter of our government rewarding what appears to be a criminal enterprise with $25 billion in TARP funds to guarantee its managers didn't run the corporate ship aground on the shoals of the 2008 economic crisis! A helping hand to a criminal syndicate.

Understandably, some have suggested that “too big to fail” should be construed as “too big to jail.”

But JP Morgan Chase, like other big time criminal gangs, is quick to throw its associates under the bus to avoid prosecution. The mega-bank has postured as the victim of its own mortgage originators while offering to cooperate with federal prosecutors and deflect attention from its own role. A recent report by investigative reporter, Rich Lord, has shed light on this practice in Western Pennsylvania (Indicted Attorney points a finger at JPMorgan, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 10-6-13). To the surprise of no one but, perhaps, Federal prosecutors, documents have surfaced that prove JP Morgan's foreknowledge of mortgage fraud. Meanwhile, JP has bought immunity by claiming victimhood!

In a brazen statement of contempt for justice, Attorney General Eric Holder excuses banker criminality because “...if you do bring a criminal charge, it will have a negative impact on the national economy, perhaps even the world economy.”
Will “...have a negative impact...?

Has Holder conveniently forgotten that banking industry practices nearly crushed the global economy five years ago?

Maybe the generous contributions that the financial industry makes to both political parties better explains this blind spot in the criminal justice system. Maybe the incentives spread thickly among the Washington legislators by bank lobbyists account for the apparent immunity. Certainly the charming, boyish grin of JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon seems ever welcome in the halls and chambers of government.

It would be unfair to JP Morgan Chase to not note that the other mega-banks are equally criminal in their practices. Just in the last two weeks, CitiBank has incurred a $30 million fine and reached a $395 million settlement, while New York is suing Wells Fargo.

In its entirety, the pattern of mega-bank irresponsibility and criminality is breathtaking. Even more shocking is the realization that these institutions are not above the law, but actually own the law!

To give some perspective, the welfare system in the US-- known since its New Deal inception in1935 as Aid to Families and Dependent Children-- was deemed too expensive, wasteful, and unnecessary by the Clinton Administration and its Gingrich-led Republican legislative rivals in 1996. Accordingly, they dramatically cut a program that provided a floor to the living standards of over 12 million people, 8.4 million of whom were children. In 1996, the program cost a little over $20 billion (under $30 billion in 2012 dollars).

The fines and settlements made by JP Morgan Chase over the last 3 years alone would have paid for over half of the total annual cost budgeted for welfare before its radical surgery at the hands of the bi-partisan government!

Add in the fines and settlement costs of the other serial criminals of the financial sector and we could likely fund a robust welfare system today.

Surely, this is a world turned upside down, a world devoid of compassion for the poor and the needy and blind to the corruption of the rich and powerful.

With Reagan-era ideologues finding happy, well paying jobs with think tanks, big media, and universities, the drum beat of “welfare reform” swept the US in the late eighties and early nineties. They blamed welfare for increasing unemployment, creating dependency, unmarried mothers, and violent crime. The symbol of welfare abuse was the unmarried African American mother of young children living off food stamps and a welfare check. Popular media amplified and exaggerated this image.

And the liberals?

They mounted a tepid campaign of measures to shrink the welfare roles, a campaign that prominent observers like Arthur Schlesinger Junior labeled Reagan-emulating “me-tooism”. He denounced the Democrats as Republican “fellow-travelers.” Thus, it should be no surprise that “welfare as we knew it” was gone by 1996.

With no one to speak for her, it was so easy to demonize a young mother and her innocent children. The cowardly, spiteful courtiers of our ruling class won the one-sided battle to cast millions of this nation's most disadvantaged into greater insecurity.

But Jamie Dimon and his banker cohorts needn't fear the self-righteousness or the indignation of those executive and legislative child abusers who found it so easy to undercut the welfare of children. Their multi-billion-dollar criminality goes unpunished and will go unpunished by the Administration and the two-party legislators who govern our lives. They continue to blatantly rob and prey on us with impunity, knowing that a tolerable spanking is the most they will ever face.

Today, those same legislators of both parties are looking to cut other elements of the social safety net. And the game is the same as it was twenty years ago: the Republicans raise unfounded, irrational fears (in this case, debt, bankruptcy, economic chaos) and the Democrats offer a feeble defense and make an eager “compromise.” Yes, they are coming after our Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.

In the short run, we have to raise hell before they make their grand “compromise.” But in the long run, we have to find and vote for real peoples' candidates and not corporate Democrats. You'll recognize them when they campaign to put the bankers in jail and nationalize the banks!

Zoltan Zigedy


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John Wick: Chapter 2

John Wick: Chapter 2 123Movies Free

John Wick is forced out of retirement by a former associate looking to seize control of a shadowy international assassins’ guild. Bound by a blood oath to aid him, Wick travels to Rome and does battle against some of the world’s most dangerous killers.

Genre: ActionCrimeThriller

Country: , , ,

Duration: 122 min

IMDb: 7.7


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Archive for the ‘Politics’ category

January 19, 2012

Yesterday was the day of the great Blackout Protest against SOPA and PIPA. Thousands of sites participated and it did make a difference!

Four key senators abandon online piracy bills amid web protests

Congressional support for controversial online piracy legislation eroded dramatically on Wednesay in the face of an unprecedented online protest supported by tech titans such as Google, Wikipedia and Facebook.

Several key senators withdrew their support from the Senate’s Protect IP Act, including Tea Party favorite Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), an elected member of his party’s leadership.

Sen. Jon Cornyn (R-Texas), who leads the Senate GOP campaign team, and Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, also retreated from the bill.

Thousands of websites went dark on Wednesday to protest the two Internet piracy bills, the House’s Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Senate’s Protect IP Act (PIPA). At least two California Democrats, Rep. Anna Eshoo and Zoe Lofgren, joined the protests by blacking out their web sites.

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), a leader of Senate conservatives, also came out against the bills, calling them “misguided bills that will cause more harm than good.”

“When protecting intellectual property rights, we must not undermine free speech, threaten economic growth, or impose burdensome regulations,” DeMint tweeted.

My favorite quote from the above has to be this: “Leahy, the chief author of the Senate bill, said the protest is based on a misunderstanding of the legislation. ”

Doesn’t it seem like every time there is widespread protest against some proposed legislation (TARP, Obamacare, NDAA…) the fascists who want it to pass resort to telling us we’re just too stupid to understand their wonderful law? LOL!

I did, however, happen across this video that tells why you SHOULD support SOPA and PIPA:

On a more serious note, I did learn that the President of the MPAA (the leading organization lobbying for SOPA/PIPA) is none other than retired Senator Chris Dodd. Yes, he of the now infamous Dodd-Frank law of new banking regulations and countless unintended (?) consequences.

Chris Dodd actually had the nerve to say that the blackout protests are an “abuse of power“. Do I even need to point out the irony here?

So that’s where we are now. Don’t forget about SOPA and PIPA when the blackouts are over. Harry Reid in the senate insists he will push forward. And as recent history has shown (TARP, Obamacare, NDAA…), however loud the opposition, however unpopular the bill, if “The Powers That Be” want it done it will be done. But maybe this time we’ll have better luck since virtually EVERY big web site in the world is on our side of this fight. We shall see.

Money Bomb Alert

June 8, 2011

Three Things Old Media Keeps Getting Wrong About Ron Paul

May 15, 2011

Whether through laziness, stupidity, political bias or willful ignorance there are three things that most “old media” gets wrong about Ron Paul time and time again. It never ceases to amaze me because they could get any of these things right with just a minimal amount of effort.

1. Money Bombs & Grassroots

Countless articles have described the record-breaking Ron Paul money bombs as being created by his campaign or his “tech team” or even Ron Paul himself. Despite the fact that Congressman Paul has repeatedly and publically said that neither he nor his campaign had anything to do with the money bombs, somehow, old media cannot fathom the concept of purely grassroots driven fundraising.

And make no mistake, every one of the money bombs held on Ron Paul’s behalf were invented, built and maintained by the grassroots. Grassroots supporters created videos for the money bomb sites, publicized the dates through various social networking sites, email and in real life conversations. The only thing Paul’s official campaign ever had to do was put a real-time donation counter on the offical campaign web site and collect the millions of dollars that rolled in. Period.

There have also been a number of articles since Ron Paul announced his 2012 candidacy suggesting that Dr. Paul could be a “kingmaker” this time around by eventually encouraging his supporters to back another candidate. But Dr. Paul’s grassroots aren’t so easily swayed, not even by the man himself. With this bunch, principles and integrity matter. A lot.  If there were another candidate in the race who had lived all his/her life by the same set of core principles, who had a 30+ year record of always voting according to the Constitution, who never once voted to increase taxes or trample on anyone’s civil liberties, then maybe, possibly, the Ron Paul grassroots would have another candidate to back so enthusiastically. At the moment, there does not appear to be another such candidate.

2. Isolationism

This one is even easier (right-leaning media I’m looking at you on this one). Get a dictionary. A good one. Look it up. Here, I’ll even help … Webster’s Online Dictionary. See what it says there?

Isolationism is a foreign policy which combines a non-interventionist military policy and a political policy of economic nationalism (protectionism). In other words, it asserts both of the following:

  1. Non-interventionism – Political rulers should avoid entangling allianceswith other nations and avoid all wars not related to direct territorial self-defense.
  2. Protectionism – There should be legal barriers to control trade and cultural exchange with people in other states.

Isolationism is not to be confused with the non-interventionist philosophy and foreign policy of the libertarian world view, which espouses unrestricted free trade and freedom of travel for individuals to all countries. This “libertarian isolationist” view is best defined as a policy of nonparticipation in foreign political relations, but free trade and affability to all people.

So, an isolationist society is something like North Korea. Ron Paul does not endorse an isolationist society. Period.

3. Racism

Implying a person is racist is always the last resort of  those who know they cannot win a debate with logic or sound ideas. And this is one of those debates (now I’m looking at you, left-leaning media). Ron Paul being racist is a complete impossibility. It is antithetical to everything he has stood for, without compromise, throughout his life.

 “Racism is simply an ugly form of collectivism, the mindset that views humans strictly as members of groups rather than individuals. Racists believe that all individuals who share superficial physical characteristics are alike: as collectivists, racists think only in terms of groups. By encouraging Americans to adopt a group mentality, the advocates of so-called “diversity” actually perpetuate racism. Their obsession with racial group identity is inherently racist. The true antidote to racism is liberty. Liberty means having a limited, constitutional government devoted to the protection of individual rights rather than group claims. Liberty means free-market capitalism, which rewards individual achievement and competence, not skin color, gender, or ethnicity.”–Ron Paul

There you have it. The three things that old media consistently gets wrong even though it would not be at all difficult to get them right. It’s enough to make you wonder why they can’t seem to get it right, isn’t it?

Ron Paul: I’m Back

May 15, 2011

Another outstanding effort from a Ron Paul grassroots supporter:

It’s Official: Ron Paul 2012

May 15, 2011

Ron Paul Money Bomb – Legalize Gold and Silver

May 15, 2011

What all the WikiLeaks “Cablegate” Fuss is About

December 10, 2010

Brilliance from Boing Boing:


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Tag Archives: Hip Hop

Hip Hop History – LL Cool J

LL Cool J – short for “Ladies Love Cool James” – was born in 1968 in Long Island, New York, and grew up in Queens.  He started rapping aged nine, and music provided a way to escape the suffering he endured.  He had a tough childhood because his parents had a violent relationship.  His father shot his mother and grandfather with a 12-gauge shotgun, in front of him, when he was four years old.  Both survived, and in the hospital his mom met her second husband who was just as abusive.  He frequently abused LL mentally and physically while his mom left home to work.  “Roscoe’s constant beating changed me, I went from this normal kid who got straight A’s and loved school to a troublemaker.” wrote LL in his biography.

His grandfather who was a jazz saxaphonist, bought him $2000 worth of equipment including two turntables, an amplifier and a mixer which helped him get into making music.  LL said “By the time I got that equipment, I was already a rapper. In this neighborhood, the kids grow up in rap. It’s like speaking Spanish if you grow up in an all-Spanish house. I got into it when I was about 9, and since then all I wanted was to make a record and hear it on the radio.”  He developed a demo tape and aged just 16, signed to Def Jam, a new label set up in 1984 by Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin.

LL’s and Def Jam’s first single was “I Need A Beat” and it was an underground hit, selling 100,000 records:

The commercial success of “I Need a Beat”, along with the Beastie Boys’ single “Rock Hard”, helped lead Def Jam to establish itself and get a distribution deal with Columbia Records in 1985.

LL left school and recorded his first album, “Radio” which was “a hugely successful mix of conventional song structure and pop-oriented rap.” according to Biography.com. The album’s singles included:

“I Can’t Live Without My Radio”:

and “Rock the Bells” was also a single from the album “Radio”:

Wikipedia explains “The album was primarily produced by Rick Rubin, who provided a sparse and minimal production style. “Radio” also features a sound that is punctuated by DJ scratching, mostly brief samples, and emphasis of the downbeat. LL Cool J’s b-boy lyricism conveys themes of inncer city culture, teenage promiscuity, and braggadocio raps.

LL’s DJ on the album was Cut Creator. A Queens native and former trombonist, he met LL at a block party and they began performing together.  LL also had another DJ, Bobcat.

“Reflecting the new school and ghettoblaster subculture in the U.S. during the mid-1980s, Radio belongs to a pivotal moment in the history and culture of Hip Hop. Its success contributed to the displacement of the old school with the new school form and to the genre’s mainstream success during the period. Its success also served as a career breakthrough for LL Cool J and Rick Rubin. “Radio” has been recognized by music writers as one of the first cohesive and commercially successful Hip Hop albums.”

New School v. Old School

“The new school started in 1983-84 and was initially characterized in form by drum machine led minimalism, often tinged with elements of rock. It was notable for taunts and boasts about rapping, and socio-political commentary, both delivered in an aggressive, self-assertive style. In image as in song its artists projected a tough, cool, street b-boy  attitude. These elements contrasted sharply with the funk and disco influenced outfits, novelty hits, live bands, synthesizers and party rhymes of artists prevalent in 1984, and rendered them old school. New school artists made shorter songs that could more easily gain radio play, and more cohesive LPs than their old school counterparts. By 1986 their releases began to establish the Hip Hop album as a fixture of the mainstream.”

The album “Radio” sold 500,000 copies in its first five months and went on to go platinum.  It entered the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart in December 1985, and remained there for forty-seven weeks, while also entering the Pop Albums chart for thirty-eight weeks in January 1986.  Critics regard it as LL’s greatest work and it ranks in many lists of the best albums / best Hip Hop albums / best Rock albums of all time.

An iTunes reviewer has said of its sound, “Rubin’s production combined the sonic economy of punk rock with the malevolent bellow of a tricked out ghetto blaster, providing the sonic blueprint for an entire generation of Hip Hop producers”.

“Bigger and Deffer”

“Bigger and Deffer” was LL’s second album, released in 1987.  It sold 3 million records in the U.S. alone and was at #1 for 11 weeks on the Billboard R&B chart.  DJ Pooh produced this album.

“I’m Bad” was a single from the album (original video):

“I Need Love” was revolutionary as it is considered the first Hip Hop love ballad.  Wikipedia notes that “It was not the first rap love song, however; in 1982 the Sugarhill Gang had recorded “The Lover in You”, which reached Number 55 on the R&B charts.)  The drums were played with a Roland TR-808 and the keyboard tone was played with a Yamaha DX7.

“I Need Love”:

“Go Cut Creator Go” was another single featuring his DJ:

“Walking With a Panther”

“Walking With a Panther” was LL’s third album, released in 1989.

“Jingling Baby” was a single from the album (original video):

“Going Back to Cali” was also a single from the album.

“Going Back to Cali” (original video):

“The “Walking With a Panther” album however was often criticized by the Hip Hop community as being too commercial, materialistic, and for focusing too much on love ballads. The album peaked at #6 on the Billboard 200 and was LL Cool J’s second #1 R&B Album where it spent four weeks.  The previous album “Bigger and Deffer” , which was a big success, was produced by The L.A. Posse.  The L.A. Posse was made up of DJ Bobcat, Dwayne Simon, and Darryl Pierce.  But on ” Walking With a Panther” Dwayne Simon was the only one left willing to work on it.   Bobcat said he wanted more money for the album after realizing how much of a success the previous album really had become but Def Jam refused to change the contract which made him leave Cool J.  According to DJ Bobcat this is the reason that “Walking with a Panther was met with very mixed reception at the time of its release.

“I’m That Type of Guy” was another single from “Walking with a Panther” (original video):

“Big Ole Butt” was also a single (original video):

“One Shot at Love” was another single, a slow love ballad:

“Mama Said Knock You Out”

In response to the criticism levelled at the previous album, “Mama Said Knock You Out” featured one of the best producers at the time – Juice Crew’s Marley Marl.  Before “Mama Said Knock You Out” was released, many people felt that LL Cool J’s career was waning; his grandmother, who still believed in his talent, told him to “knock out” all his critics.

The title track, “Mama Said Knock You Out” (original video):

The diss record “To Da Break Of Dawn” was named number 11 on XXL ‘s 20 greatest diss records of all time:

“Around the Way Girl”, which sampled clips from the Mary Jane Girls song “All Night Long”:

“Six Minutes of Pleasure” (original video) was a single off the album:

“The Boomin’ system”, another single (original video):

Kool Moe Dee Beef

“LL became the target of choice for striving rappers, with no posse of his own to watch his back” according to The Vibe History of Hip Hop.

LL and Kool Moe Dee had beef, according to Wikipedia becasue “Kool Moe Dee was a member of one of the earliest hip hop crews, the Treacherous Three,  and noted that LL Cool J stole his style, while disrespecting lyricists who came before him by not showing any appreciation, and making claims of being the best, when he was too fresh of a face to have acquired such acknowledgment.  This  started a long-running feud between them. From different interviews and magazines at the time, Kool Moe Dee felt that LL was actually believing his own hype based on the popularity and success of the “Bigger and Deffer”  album.

LL responded to Kool Moe Dee’s attacks with “Jack The Ripper”, the B-Side to “Going Back to Cali”:

Kool Moe Dee fired back with an even more aggressive response entitled “Let’s Go”:

LL responded with “To The Break of Dawn” and “Mama Said Knock You Out”, to which Kool Moe Dee replied “Death Blow”:

LL then replied with “(NFA) No Frontin Allowed” and “I Shot Ya (Remix)”.

Another song where Kool Moe Dee mentioned the beef was “To The Beat Y’all”:

LL believed that his higher record sales proved superiority and that he won the beef.  Kool Moe Dee however believed that the fact LL refused to battle him, showed that his rapping skills were superior, and therefore he won.

Kool Moe Dee commented “I always said that the reason LL can never win a battle is because he talks so much about himself – that he can’t talk about anything else. He used his charisma, energy and vocabulary, which is basically a combination of my style, T La Rock, and Run, but in battling it’s more. Like when I hit him with the Ls (lower level, lackluster etc) it wasn’t just insulting, but it had poetic value to it”. He also continued that part of his issue with LL (as well as Run) were that ….he felt like “nothing that came before them mattered, and that his money could validate that.”

“14 Shots to the Dome”

‘”14 Shots” saw LL adopting the sound of his West coast gangsta rap contemporaries, especially that of Ice Cube and Cypress Hill . Many fans saw this as a jarring departure, and the album met mixed critical and commercial response compared to his previous releases, only being certified Gold by the RIAA’.

I love the beat on this single “Pink Cookies In a Plastic Bag Getting Crushed By Buildings” (original video):

“How I’m Comin'” was a single from “14 Shots” (original video):

“Back Seat” was another single (original video):

Mr Smith

In ’95 LL released “Mr Smith” having starred in a sitcom “In The House”.  The album sold 2 million copies and had several hits.

“Doin’ It” was a single from “Mr Smith” (original video):

“Hey Lover” won LL a Grammy.  It featured Boyz 2 Men and sampled Michael Jackson’s “The Lady In My Life”:

“Loungin’ was another single (original video):

LL collaborated with Keith Murray, Fat Joe & Foxy Brown on “I Shot Ya (Remix)”:

In 1996 LL released a Greatest Hits album.  Then in ’97 he released the album “Phenomenon”.

This is the title track from the album (original video):

“4,3,2,1” featured Method Man, Redman, DMX, Canibus & Master P.

“Father” was another single (original video):

Canibus Beef

“When LL perceived that Canibus’s verse on “4,3,2,1” was a thinly veiled diss against him, he came back with his verse on the same song.

Canibus responded with “2nd Round K.O.”:

LL responded with “The Ripper Strikes Back”:

Shani Saxon in Vibe said that “LL’s new role model status prevented him from getting raw and dirty”.

Wyclef got involved with “What’s Clef Got To Do With It?”:

and LL shot back with “Rasta Imposta” which Shani Saxon called “a welcome return to LL’s not-so-Mr.-Nice-Guy roots”.  But because the battle happened in the aftermath of the murders of Tupac and Biggie, all the artists involved made a point of saying that it wouldn’t get violent.

“Rasta Imposta”:

The G.O.A.T. album letters stood for “The Greatest Of All Time”.  It debuted at number one on the Billboard album charts,and went platinum. LL Cool J thanked Canibus in the liner notes of the album, “for the inspiration”.  LL Cool J prepared for the album by visiting the inmates at Rikers Island a week before writing material for the album. He returned to the basement of his grandmother Ellen Griffith’s house to write some of the tracks.

One single was “Imagine That”:

“Homicide” was another track:

“U Can’t Fuck With Me” is a diss on actor/singer Jamie Foxx, building on a feud between him and LL Cool J that started on the set of the 1999 movie “Any Given Sunday”.

“U Can’t Fuck With Me”, featuring Snoop Dogg, Xzibit and Yayo Felony Artist:

“Ill Bomb” was another track on the album:

LL Cool J’s next album 10 was released in 2002, was his 10th album  (10th including his greatest hits compilation All World).  The album reached platinum status.

“Luv U Better” was a single from 10 produced by Pharrell and The Neptunes:

“The Definition”

“The Definition” album was released in 2004. The album debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard charts. Production came from Timbaland, 7 Aurelius, R. Kelly, and others.

“Headsprung” was the lead single (original video):

“Todd Smith”

“Todd Smith” was released in 2006. It includes collaborations with  112, Ginuine, Juelz Santana, Teairra Mari and Freeway.

The first single was the Jermaine Dupri-produced “Control Myself” featuring Jennifer Lopez:

“Exit 13”

In 2006, LL Cool J announced details about his final album with Def Jam Recordings, the only label he has ever been signed to.

LL and DJ Kayslay teamed up to release his first mixtape as a prelude to “Exit 13” titled “The Return of the G.O.A.T.”.  The mixtape is available here:

Other contributors for this album included 50 Cent, Sheek Louch, Fat Joe, Ryan Leslie, Wyclef Jean, The-Dream, Lil Mo, KRS-One, Funkmaster Flex, Richie Sambora and Darlisa Blackshere.

“Rockin’ With The G.O.A.T. was a single (original video):

“Cry” was also a single:

“Feel My Heart Beat” was another single:

LL has released some other tracks since then.  He has also had a major acting career since 1985 when he played a rapper in the film “Krush Groove”.  He’s also had fashion businesses, written four books and started music businesses.  He has expressed support for both Republican and Democrat politicians but has said he is an Independent.  On his song “Mr. President” he raised political issues (original video):

LL Cool J was in the news in 2012 when he stopped an intruder attempting to burglarize his house , inflicting serious injury on the suspect.  In 2013, he has announced due to popular demand, he would run for Detroit Mayor in the next election. Quoting he will “use the Joe Louis fist to knock people out, with respects to his Momma’s request from years ago”.

He married his wife Simone I. Johnson in 1995 and they have four kids.

His official website is here: http://llcoolj.com/

He’s on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/llcoolj

And Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/llcoolj

Hip Hop History ~ Sha-Rock

Sha-Rock was born in ’62, one of three sisters and a brother in North Carolina.  In one house there was a piano Sha-Rock used to play to take her mind off the violence – Dad used to beat her mom until she left him.  After the family moved, Sha-Rock had to be bused thirty miles to another school which made her mom and her partner Bob furious.  They would also attend rallies and protests and were interested in the case of the Wilmington 10 Black Panthers.  After a shooting incident involving the police and a next door neighbour who was a Panther, the family moved to the Bronx, New York for two years.  Sha-Rock was eight years old.  Bob had a reel to reel tape which was off limits to the kids and Sha-Rock would listen to Isaac Hayes, The Delfonics, and The Sylistics when her parents were out.  In ’71 the family moved to Harlem.  Sha-Rock started listening to Nikki Giovanni, Betty Wright, and Slyvia.

Her first performance was playing the lead part of an African dancer in an African ensemble for Black History Month at IS 10 (also known as Horace Greeley Middle School).  Her mother told her off for looking ‘stiff and scared and not putting her all into it’.  Sha-Rock says “One thing I’ve learned from that experience was never doubt or short change myself.  Don’t get me wrong, mom wasn’t some kind of stage mom that didn’t give her children their props.  But, mom was right.  I was more focused on how the other girls were dancing than perfecting my part in the dance routine and not giving my all.  From that day forward, I learned to focus on me, and what it was I needed to do.  I needed to master the craft; whatever it may be … and then move onto the next”.  in ’73 the family moved back to the Bronx and she attended IS 145 (also known as Joseph Pulitzer Middle School) and then Evander  High School.

Sha-Rock met her friend JJ (MC Jazzy Jeff, not to be confused with DJ Jazzy Jeff) at IS 10 and he went on to become an MC with her in The Funky Four Plus One.  Back then, “He was kind of on the nerdy side, but we both had a lot in common, one thing being we both loved music.  During lunch period, he would always go home and get his boom box [he lived a block away from the school] so we could all hang out in the schoolyard park.  JJ had all of the songs that he had taped from the radio.  Chaka Khan and Rufus’ Sweet Thing, Boz Scaggs’ Low Down, Ohio Players’ Roller Coaster, and Vicki Sue Robinson’s Turn The Best Around to name just a few.”

One day at a house party, JJ introduced Sha-Rock to his cousins, Mike and Pee Wee who were B-Boys, part of the Nine Crew.  Sha-Rock started breaking and became a secret weapon of the crew.  Through breaking Sha-Rock met Keith and Kevin the Nigger Twins, B-boys down with Kool Herc, and others down with Africa Bambaataa and the Zulu Kings.

At one park jam, Sha-Rock heard DJ Kool Herc and two MCs, Coke La Rock and Timmy Timand, the first MCs she witnessed on the mic.  “They would MC by making all of the announcements for the upcoming jams and giving shootouts.  Their rhymes weren’t intense or for a long period of time.  They were known for bigging up the crew and Herc by letting the crowd know whose party it was.  They would shout over the mic “The sounds you hear is deaf to your ear…have no fear ’cause Herc is here.”

While Sha-Rock was attending Evander High School she helped hand out flyers for Richie Tee and overheard him telling another boy about auditions for MCs the Brother’s Discos were having.    She expressed interest and Richie took her to DJ Breakout’s house for the audition.  Here she met Jazzy D who named her Sha-Rock, KK Rockwell and Keith Keith – who along with Rahiem, who joined later, and Jazzy Jeff, were to be The Funky Four Plus One – the ‘Plus One’ being Sha-Rock.  Jazzy D was the manager of the group until Lil’ Rodney C (the member who replaced Rahiem) took over after their first national tour.

After the audition Sha-Rock thought “KK and Keith had rhymes for days.  They had routines that they did together and they sounded good.  I knew I had to come harder … Even though they were amped and hyped up from the way I was rocking the mic, I still had the impression for some reason that they weren’t really feeling the girl on the mic thing.  It was almost as though they weren’t one hundred percent convinced that a girl could really be an MC.”  So she started writing rhymes – the first one, on the bus:

“I realised that I didn’t have any contact numbers for anyone so I could ask for directions.  Then, it all started coming together, my first rhyme.

“I have this book from A-Z.  It’s a little black book that belongs to me.  It has your name, number, and address, too so when I wanna talk I’ll just call up you.  And, when I’m by myself and all alone, I just turn to the Rs and reach for the phone.  Sha-Rock, I’m rocking’ on.”

By that time, the people on the bus were looking at me as if I was crazy because I was mumbling the words.  I didn’t write anything down, so I would recite the words over and over again.”

A few days later at the Boston Secor Community Center Sha-Rock publicly performed as an MC alongside the others for the first time.

In her book “Luminary Icon: The Story of the Beginning and End of Hip Hop’s First Female MC”, Sha-Rock states:

“Although there have been several stories that may have floated around over the years from writers, MCs and some Hip Hop historians about the authenticity of who was the first female MC, forget what you have heard, I was the first female MC.  Females were not extinct from the onset of Hip Hop culture.  I was there from the beginning.  Many groups followed by incorporating a female as well.  There were many females whom had just begun to emerge as up and coming MCs whose intentions were to place their mark on the streets of the Bronx.  Everybody in New York City knew not only was I the first female MC, but I also was the best female MC.” Also. “Depending on what park jams you were at, you may have seen a female rocking the mic, but that did not mean that she was the first female MC”.

Females who were also near the start of Hip Hop include MC Smiley, Peeblee Poo, Lil’ Lee and Queen Lisa Lee.

Regarding MC Smiley; “The first time I had the opportunity to meet MC Smiley, she was a MC for The Mercedes Ladies, and she was a very good MC. One of the stories that I had heard was that she was a MC for the L Brothers, but the Funky Four was already in effect.  We had played and battled the L Brothers many times in the 63 park.  It was a school yard where most pioneers had the opportunity to rock.  However, the only MCs that was rocking at the time with the group was Kevi Kev and Master Rob, who were brothers, and occasionally Starsky, who presently goes by the name of The Cheifrocker Busy Bee.  And besides, MC Smiley was a member of the Mercedes Ladies, in which they have and always acknowledged that I, Sha Rock, was first.”

On Peeblee Poo; “I had met Peebles around 1982 and she was with a group who was called Master Don and the Death Committee.  They had just released their first single called Funk Box Party.  There were several songs that were released also during that year.  Planet Rock by Africa Bambaataa, The Message by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, but when I heard the song Funk Box, I almost lost my mind. . I felt that not only was the beat hot, Peeblee’s style and voice made the song come alive.  And I just had to tell her that.  We begin to form some kind of bond after that. … When I asked Peebles about it, she replied that being the first female was never her claim.  She stated that she was going solely on her claim to be the first female soloist”.

Sha-Rock says of Lil’ Lee “One day, the Brothers Disco had given a jam at 23 park, which was located in the Bronx.  Lil’ Lee had introduced herself to me and she had also relayed to me that she liked the way that I rhymed.  She had asked if we could hang out together.  I agreed.  She never told me she was an MC.  I later saw her at a park jam that DJ A.J. had given and she was rocking on the mic.  Since that day, I hadn’t seen or heard of her rocking at any park jams, or when Hip Hop was moved into the clubs.”

Sha-Rock gives respect to Queen Lisa Lee: “”There were several female MCs whom I’ve had great pleasure of knowing, and still to this day have mad respect for their skills on the mic.  Queen Lisa Lee is at the top of the list … I’ve always felt that she could have been the next Sha-Rock, and to tell you the truth, she probably felt as if I could have been the next Lisa Lee.  Lisa was more than confident about her skills.  And she had a right to be.  She was just that good.”  Taste was another MC, who like Lisa Lee, worked with Africa Bambaataa.

Other female MCs from the early days included the rest of The Mercedes Ladies – Baby D (D’Bora), Sherri-Sher, Zina-Zee, DJ LaSpank, and Eve-a-Def.  Sweet P and Sty-Sty were later members.  Also, MCs Sweet & Sour, and Debbie D, Sparky D, as well as Sequence, the all-female group consisting of Cheryl The Pearl, Angie B (now known as Angie Stone) and Blondy.

The Funky Four Plus One was made up of  Jazzy Jeff, KK Rockwell, Keith Keith, Sha-Rock and Raheim, the last member to join.  DJ Breakout was their DJ.  They were established before Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five, who Rahiem later joined, to be replaced by Lil’ Rodney C.  There was great rivalry between The Funky and The Furious.

Sha-Rock describes how the Funky Four Plus One would perform: ” We became the first rap group to use mic stands in our routines.  We would set them upfront by DJ Breakout and Baron while they’d cut up the song as we rhymed … We were like the hood version of Gladys Knight and The Pips … We had become the first group to incorporate rhyming and harmonizing.  Before us, most MCs were just saying the basic rhymes.  Harmonizing was when the whole group would say a rhyme together in a singing format.”

“Rahiem was also known for bringing a different flavour of harmonizing and singing to the group.  He was an asset to the group because he could mimic any song that was out and could flip it so that the song would fit the routine that we were doing.  He performed as one of the original members of the funky four up until May of ’79.  There were no groups at the time that had that particular formula like us.  We made everyone step their game up. … KK and Keith’s routine allowed them to go back and forth between each other rhyming patterns.  Their routines made the Funky Four even stronger.

“We even started using melodies from sitcoms that were on television, such as Gilligan’s Island.  We would switch it around to MC about what we may have been going through at the time.  Sometimes, we would make up stuff or bragged about material stuff we wanted.  The difference between us and other groups was that we were story tellers.  Each of us could rhyme for minutes on the mic before passing the mic to the next person.”

The Funky Four Plus One had a group of young men and women from Uptown (where Jazzy D and DJ Breakout lived) who would rock with the group whenever they performed, because Jazzy D didn’t want them to be associated with street gangs.  “The men would wear all white shirts with black lettering that read Brother’s Disco.  The females would wear shirts that had Sister’s Disco written across them.  And, of course, I would wear the famous green shirt with yellow letters that read I’m Sha-Rock and I can’t be stopped.

“The Brother’s and Sister’s Disco had many roles.  They would serve as security for the group, but they were also responsible for getting the crowd hyped.  They knew all of our routines and they would echo the last words that we’d say in each line.  The Sister’s Disco would also monitor the behaviour of other females to ensure there were no beefs or problems when it came to me.  As I look back, that could have been one of the reasons why I never had any problems.  Their presence alone would let anyone know that they were here for business.”

“we were also known for having the best sound system in New York City.  It was so serious that we even had a name for our sound system.  We called it the mighty Sasquatch.  That set us apart from the rest.  Our sound system was exceptional.  We made speakers out of fifty five gallon barrel oil cans.  We also put about five or six inch lifts on them so the sound would carry.

“We even incorporated mid range and base speakers inside, and laid them on the ground.  We had a string of tweeters, so if another DJ was DJing in the same park or venue as we were, we could drown them out with the tweeters alone.

“All of the extra bells and whistles we had made the records sound very crisp and clear.  It was as if it was being played live.  You could be seven or eight blocks away from the jam and you still would be able to hear every rhyme clear as though you were there.”

“We threw jams everywhere.  In parks, school yards, and local community centers.  We weren’t making any real money for any of the shows that we were giving, especially outside.  Now, for the jams inside, we did get paid.  BAck then, we weren’t charging a lot of money to get into the jams.  Your average jam would cost anywhere from three to five dollars to get in, a big difference from twenty to thirty dollars that are charged these days.  After the jam, we would at least have enough money to pay for the train ride, cab fair, or enough to get some White Castle.  For us, the payoff came from the recognition and the credibility we received from the streets.  The hood loved us, we loved them, and that was invaluable.”

During the Battle era which swept the New York City area, The Funky and the Furious had several battles.  One battle that meant a lot to Sha-Rock was held at The Audubon ballroom in Manhatten, where Malcolm X gave his historical speech and was gunned down.  Sha-Rock knew in her heart of hearts “that we could take them” but “At times, I felt as though Rahiem thought that we were inferior to The Furious.  I felt that we were number one.”  The night off the battle, Rahiem said he was sick and did not give his all.  Also, “The plan was that we were going to tire the crowd out by all of the routines and the crowd participation that we had in store however, little did we know that they would switch it up on us.  I didn’t know how they did it, but they were able to get the time changed so that they would get on two groups before we did … By the time we were scheduled to go on stage, the crowd was exhausted.”  The Furious won the Battle and the Funky came second.  Soon it was found that Rahiem had planned to join the Furious Five and KK and Keith felt he had sabotaged the Funky’s performance in the battle.  Sha-Rock was upset and also left the group briefly.

In ’79 The Sugar Hill Gang released “Rapper’s Delight” and Sha-Rock explains that even though everyone was feeling the song, “MCs in the communities, however, began to feel slighted.  We had been on the grind for years, and out of nowhere three guys from New Jersey whom no-one had ever heard of had this hit record and the world would know them as the first rappers/MCs.  And, to be honest, I had a problem with that.”

That year The Funky Four Plus One signed to Enjoy Records first, followed by Grandmaster Flash And The Furious Five.  Next they moved to Sugar Hill Records and so did the Furious Five.

“The Sugar Hill Gang’s record was playing on every radio station around the world.  None of us were fans of Sugar Hill Gang, but we respected the fact that she was able to pull it off.  My thoughts were if she could take three non MCs and throw them together to make an admirable success, then Lord knows how far she could take us.  We all felt that if we could sign with Sugar Hill Records, we would reach international stardom. … I think we all had it in our minds that we were going to rock with Sugar Hill Records.  We were young and we weren’t really too concerned with the legal ramifications.  We were just excited to be offered a contract and having the opportunity to tour, like so many young artists are today.”

Rapping and Rocking The House was released in ’79 under Enjoy Records and it was the longest rap record for at least a decade.

That’s the Joint from 1980 – recorded in one take:

The Funky Four Plus One felt that Sugar Hill Records showed favouritism to Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, for example providing for them “a new beat [Freedom] that we had just started rocking to in the Bronx, not to mention it was the hottest song that theDJs were spinning at the time”.

In ’81 Sha-Rock had her first child Sha-ti-a.  Later with her husband Michael Jackson, who she married in ’86, she had Michael, and Sencere, as well as adopting Keith.

In ’82 the group released Do You Want to Rock (Before I Let Go):

In ’83 “Feel It” (The Mexican) came out:

On the first Sugar Hill tour, The Funky Four Plus One performed alongside headliners The Sugar Hill Gang, The Gap Band, Sequence and The Furious Five.  But while The Sugar Hill Gang and Sequence were getting paid, after several sold out performances The Funky only received $500 each, even though the rate was supposed to be $300 per night.

Once off tour the group would set up shows themselves in the Bronx and New York City and earn better money that way, than by shows booked by the label.  They appeared on the Duke Baldwin Cable show as the first Hip Hop group to be shown on Cable TV.  They started doing shows in Downtown Manhattan where punk rockers hung out.  There they met Fab Five Freddy, whose friend Debbie Harry from Blondie was hosting Saturday Night Live.  He said he thought The Funky Four Plus One should appear on the show which they did.   By this time the members of the group only received $800 each in royalties from sales of That’s The Joint.  After months without being given a promised sales report, the group started to try and get out of the contract.  Rodney and KK wanted out but Syvia Robinson would only let these two go, not the entire group.  Sha, Jeff and Keith signed a new contract.  The group was effectively split up.  Rodney C and KK Rockwell became a duo and The New Funky Four were Jazzy Jeff, Keith Keith, Ikey C and Sha-Rock.

Sha-Rock, Queen Lisa Lee and Debbie D formed a new group The US Girls and appeared in the movie Beat Street before disbanding.

Here is a clip from the movie Beat Street featuring Us Girls:

Sha-Rock now lives in Texas with her family, works as a Training Officer in the correctional  field, and volunteers for the Rich Girlz Club as well as educating people about Hip Hop history and culture.  She has received several awards for her contribution to Hip Hop.

Justin Bua has written that “Unlike the majority of today’s female MCs, Sha-Rock wasn’t selling sex nor was she looked upon as being a sex object.  Simply put: she was a talented MC.  She wasn’t flashy, gimmicky, or cliche in any way, shape or form.  She was just a girl from the Bronx who loved to rap and was there first.  There’s something to be said about being the first.  Its easy to look back and glorify the beginnings of a culture.  The truth is, pioneers often suffer, creatively, personally, professionally, because not only are they quickly forgotten, but they also don’t get paid their due.  Its easy to forget how hard it is to be ahead of the curve, to to have your finger on the pulse before everyone else.  Sha-Rock was the first female  MC in the game and because of that she was scrutinised.  Men were stepping to her and trying to battle her.  But when they put her on the spot, they quickly realised her skill set was on par with the best.  When MCs stepped to Sha, she served fools.  As Grand Wizard Theodore said to me, “Sha would tell a story that we all could visualise.  She was ridiculously intelligent; the way she flipped her words was profound.  Sha-Rock was our generation’s MC Lyte.  she was the best of the era”.  While Latifah is the Queen, Sha-Rock was the first to rule.  She paved the way for all future female MCs and for that, we should pay our respect.”

Here website is here:

And her book “Luminary Icon” can be purchased here:

Free Lauryn Hill!

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Singer Lauryn Hill has been sentenced in the US state of New Jersey to three months in jail for tax evasion and three months of home confinement, after pleading guilty last year.

She failed to pay taxes on about $1.8m (£1.2m) of earnings between 2005-07 but all the money had been repaid when she was nevertheless sentenced to jail.

In a statement to the judge, Hill said she had intended to pay the taxes but could not after withdrawing from public life and ending her music career to raise her six kids, five of whom she had with Rohan Marley, the son of Bob Marley – Zion, 14, Selah Louise, 13, Joshua Omaru, 10, John Nesta, nine, and four-year-old Sarah.  She also has an 11-month-old old with another partner.

“I am a child of former slaves who had a system imposed on them,” Hill said in court. “I had an economic system imposed on me.”

Hill told the judge she lives “very modestly” considering how much money her music — she has sold 16 million records — earned for other people.

“Someone did the math, and it came to around $600 million,” she said. “And I sit here before you trying to figure out how to pay a tax debt? If that’s not like enough to slavery, I don’t know.”

“This wasn’t a life of jet-setting glamour,” she said. “This was a life of sacrifice with very little time for myself and my children.”

“I didn’t make music for celebrity status,” she told the court. “I made music for artistic and existential catharsis, which was not just necessary for myself but it was also necessary for the generations of oppressed people who hadn’t had their voices expressed like I was able to do it. Music is not something I do from 9 to 5. It’s a state of being, and like a doctor who delivers babies, I’m on call all the time because that’s the kind of work this is.”

Hill revealed in a message posted to her Tumblr account last month that she’s been working on new music.

“It has been reported that I signed a new record deal, and that I did this to pay taxes. Yes, I have recently entered into an agreement with Sony Worldwide Entertainment, to launch a new label, on which my new music will be released,” Hill wrote. “And yes, I am working on new music.”

On her website, LaurynHill.com, she posted this message plus a link to a new release on iTunes:

“Hello All:

Here is a link to a piece that I was ‘required’ to release immediately, by virtue of the impending legal deadline. I love being able to reach people directly, but in an ideal scenario, I would not have to rush the release of new music… but the message is still there. In light of Wednesday’s tragic loss (of former label mate Chris Kelly), I am even more pressed to YELL this to a multitude that may not understand the cost of allowing today’s unhealthy paradigms to remain unchecked!

– MLH”

Link to new single: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/neurotic-society-compulsory/id644961710

In this Youtube video of a performance, I think the lyrics here express exactly what is going on:

Lauryn has previously said regarding contemporary Hip Hop “I see a lot of potential.  I also see a lot of lost potential” and

“if you trace black music back and watch the pattern you know, see how these black folks found this incredible music that comes from a place of expression, and how it gets co-oped and commercialised and compromised and bitten and appropriated and taken – my struggle has always been to prevent that from happening, and to maintain the soul in everything that I can possibly do”

“The reason why Hip Hop had such a strong voice was because it was a defiant message for a while.  It was basically the voice of the voiceless.  once you become the voice of the corporate, you become a different creature”

I pray that Lauryn Hill keep strong while imprisoned is not only in jail but by the system that is trying to control her and her message.

Grandmaster Flash – Hip Hop History #3

Grandmaster Flash is a legendary DJ who is still gigging internationally and his shows are off the chain – if you get a chance to watch him, go because you will have an awesome night!  A pioneer of Hip Hop from its early days, Flash was born in Barbados in ’58 and grew up in the Bronx, New York.  He says of his dad “My father was a very heavy record collector. He still thinks that he has the stronger collection. I used to open his closets and just watch all the records he had. I used to get into trouble for touching his records, but I’d go right back and bother them.”  At school Flash learnt electronics at a vocational school because his mom wanted him to have a trade.

Some people credit him as the first person to make a crossfader for mixing two turntables.  Crossfaders did exist in some top of the range audio equipment prior to his making one, but the earliest hip-hop DJs didn’t have mixers or access to the expensive top of the range equipment. Kool Herc “got two Bogart amps, two Girard turntables, and then I just used the channel knobs as my mixer. No headphones.”

  As a teenager Flash learnt off other DJs like Pete Jones, Kool Herc and Grandmaster Flowers.  Flash developed Herc’s “Merry go round” technique which was performed visually by watching the record – he made it an auditory technique using headphones.  The “merry go round” came to be called backspin technique, quick mix theory, or beat juggling.  It worked by using two copies of one record so that the break could be isolated and repeated indefinitely (using the fader, to switch to the start of the break on the second record playing, as soon as the same break on the first record finished, and so on).

By using headphones to audition and cue up records before playing them – his  “peek-a-boo system”,  Flash invented “clock theory” now called beat matching – aligning the tempo of records so that they can be mixed together seamlessly.

Flash is also credited with inventing punch phrasing – isolating very short parts such as a guitar lick, vocal or horn hit on a record, and using the crossfader to rhythmically ‘punch’ or ‘stab’ the phrase on top of another record playing a beat.  Like scratching, this is turntablism – using the turntables as a musical instrument.

Flash developed scratching too – moving the record back and forth to cue it up he called “the rub”.  He practiced in his partner Gene Livingston’s apartment, and Genes kid brother – Grandmaster Theodore – took the rub, kept rubbing, and invented scratching!

Like Kool Kerc before him, Flash assembled his own crew, including Melle Mel, Cowboy and Kid Creole which was called Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five.  Incidentally, Cowboy is credited by some with inventing the term “Hip Hop”, by imitating the rhythm of marching soldiers, when he was mocking a friend in the army.  Unlike many DJs at the time, Grandmaster Flash had records released – under the name of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five.

“Superrapping” was released in ’79 on Enjoy Records;

and “Freedom” on Sugar Hill Records:

Flash didn’t perform on most records because Sugar Hill would get funk musicians to recreate disco hits while the MCs rapped over the top.  So the records didn’t necessarily reflect the Hip Hop scene.  In Flash’s performances to this day he still uses the mic a lot as well as scratching, but neither were really captured on vinyl in the early days except for

The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel” in ’81;

This was the first documented scratching captured on a record.

Another significant release was “The Message” in ’82;

although only Melle Mel performed on the song out of the group.  In live performances Flash was central but this wasn’t reflected on vinyl.  Flash sued Sugar Hill for non payment of royalties that year and the group disintegrated.

On his own Flash has regularly released albums since then.  He’s won several awards and has his own clothing line G.Phyre.

His website including tour dates is here: http://grandmasterflash.com/

Afrika Bambaataa – Hip Hop History #2

Born in ’57 in the South Bronx in New York, Afrika’s parents were activists in the black liberation movement, and his mom had an awesome record collection.  He became a warlord of a division of the Black Spades, and expanded it into one of the most successful gangs, with thousands of members.   Afrika visited Africa after winning an essay contest and came back inspired by the communities he visited, wanting to stop the violence and create a community in his neighbourhood.

He changed his name to Afrika Bambaataa Aasim after a Zulu chief who led an armed rebellion which was a precursor to the Anti-Apartheid movement.  With other DJs such as Kool Herc and  Kool DJ Dee, he began hosting Hip Hop parties. And he formed the Universal Zulu Nation, a group of socially and politically aware Hip Hoppers, to use the culture to draw angry kids out of gangs and into being creative.  Zulu Nation was the very first Hip Hop organization, born in ’73.

Musically, Afrika was a producer as well as a DJ who helped develop turntablism.  He  created Planet Rock, a tune which invented an entire genre – “electro-boogie” rap and dance music.

Planet Rock Youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lDCYjb8RHk

Afrika is credited with naming Hip Hop, since the term was used by MCs but he used it as a name to describe the four elements of the culture – DJs’ music, MCs’ lyricism and poetry,  b-boys’ and b-girls’ dancing, and writers’ graffiti art.

He helped spread Hip Hop throughout the world with a European tour in ’82 to promote the values of hip hop based on peace, unity, love, and safely having fun.

In 1983 he released Looking for the Perfect Beat

YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RJlYzBhLg4

His third release was Renegades of Funk

YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYzakWz3JxU

Afrika has supported many social and political causes.  In ’85 he collaborated on an Anti-Apartheid album, Sun City and also in ’89 the Stop The Violence Movement 12″, Self-Destruction which went gold and raised $400,000 for community anti-violence education programs.

In Planet Rock ’98,” he made an early example of electro house. Since then he’s been a judge supporting independent artists in the Independent Music Awards, and is currently working for Cornell University which has the largest collection of historical hip hop music in North America.

150 Out LGBT Rappers

Nuff respect to each & everyone on this list reppin’ da community!  Rappers, MCs, spoken word artists n’ poets past & present.  If I left anyone out or made a mistake I’m sorry ~ just add a comment or email 1ncredible@1ncredible.net and I’ll fix it for next time.

Aron Prince

Age of Consent

Alicia Leafgreen

Angel Haze

Anthony Antoine

Anthony Foxx

Anye Elite

Athens Boys Choir

Azealia Banks

Benni E.

Bobby Lytes

Big Dipper

Big Freedia

Bigg Nugg

Big Momma

(Bone) Intell

Boo Nanny

Cakes Da Killa

Captain Magik

Cee Smith

Courtney Bennet

Damien Crawford

Dat Stud Rapper  / Keyon La Don

Deep Dickollective

Dolo Bangs

Down Low

Drew Mason

Dre Clevr

ether L Banks

Faggot Bruce

Fiona Simone

The Freaky Boiz

Gambino Da CEO

God-Des and She

Grand Royal

Heidi Barton Stink

House of Ladosha

Illuminati Princess

Jacub Perez, aka Scarletto

Jada raye

Jayne Dooe

Jay Squared

JB Rap

Jeremy Gloff

Jonny Cash

Johnny Dangerous

Jonny Makeup

Jonny McGovern

Juba Kalamka

Katey Redd

keKe Promise

Kotic Couture

Lady Lust

Lady Mobsta

Lady Sovereign

Las Krudas

Last Offence

Lil V

Meshell Ndegeocello

Melange Lavonne

Mc Flow

Millie Forte

Miss Money

Miz Korona

Montez Love

Mookie Lock

Ms. Teary

Mykki Blanco

Mz Fontaine

Nasty Nick

Nicky Da B

Nicky Minaj

No Shade

Nfamus Tha Kid

Nesrin Asli

One Deep

Pretty Thugz / Foxxjazell & Prince Cat-Eyez

Q.B. Of Da’ Midwest

Quentin Adams

Renia Ray

Rob B

Sani Luciano

Sissy Nobby

Rigomortis (aka Tre Vasquez)

Robo Sapien

RoShonda Burt

Rusty Lazer

Sgt. Sass

Shay Casiano

Shorty Roc

Sissy Bounce

Sissy Rich

Smut Stud

Scream Club Electrosexual

Soce, the elemental wizard

Sonny Louis

Sony Cobain

Schizo SoulCool

Stephanie Cherry

Sugur Shane

Thee Satisfaction

The Phenom

The Prodigal Son

The Punk of Da South

Tierra Richell

Tim’m West

TNT Tresjur &TeeJay

Tori Fixx

Triple Threat

Vani G

Wheelchair Sports Camp

Will Sheriden

Y. Love

Young Kaii

Yo Majesty / Shunda K

Yung Crusay

Zebra Katz


text:
The Deadman’s Pedal

Alan Warner is a beautiful writer (I’m not referring to his looks, though he is undeniably handsome). Take, for example, this opening sentence from his latest novel The Deadman’s Pedal:

“Some stars still showed in uncertain bleats of light.”

Ignoring for a moment the intense but unshowy alliteration, the use of the word ‘bleats’ effortlessly creates the sense of the stars fading in the dawn. Later on the same page we discover:

“…the car headlamps sliding up the driveway, pushing vast, ghostly blocks of dusty light through the glossed metal fence…”

Again the description is vivid and original, and the sound (the balance of ‘ghostly blocks’ and ‘dusty light’ for example) almost hypnotic. Of course a novel written entirely in this style might prove rather tedious, but Warner also has another great talent as a writer and that is in his reproduction of everyday speech. He is particularly good (as seen in previous novels like The Sopranos) with the dialogue of adolescents (“Look. Crimmo’s getting a big huge massive brassing beamer.”) but here is equally adept at convincingly portraying the more Kelmanesque (surely a word by now) speech of the railway workers. Distinctions are clear, from the slang-laden dialogue of Andy Galbraith, to the slightly more formal speech of Simon, the novel’s protagonist, right the way through to the public school inflected Bultiudes.

Warner is without doubt a skilled craftsman and here he uses that skill to lovingly recreate a particular time and place – the north-west coast of Scotland in the 1970s, his fictional community of the Port. He’s not the first Scottish novelist to return to their roots in recent times – both Janice Galloway and John Burnside have done so in an explicitly autobiographical way. It would not be unreasonable to assume that The Deadman’s Pedal contains some autobiographical elements (and it does, though Warner would only be seven in 1973 when the novel begins), particularly given that Warner has said he began writing it prior to Morvern Callar. A number of critics have described it as Warner’s most ambitious novel to date and it certainly has a sense of history that his previous novels have eschewed: here is Britain before Thatcher, a railway line threatened with closure staffed by militant rail-workers whose ideal is to be paid while not working. That they are all so much older than Simon suggests a vanishing era. The political fights to come are echoed in Simon’s father’s displeasure at Simon’s decision to join the railways – he runs a private haulage company.

The Deadman’s Pedal is also a coming of age story as Simon not only enters the world of work but of love too. This includes a fascination with Varie Bultitude, the daughter of the local aristocracy (the novel opens with a prologue recounting the Queen’s visit to the Bultitude’s residence, Broken Moan, in 1961). Her brother, Alexander, meanwhile introduces Simon to culture in the form of stolen paperbacks and LPs. This is no doubt intended to introduce issues of class into the narrative, but seemed a little too Iain Banks, a Fitzgerald view of the rich rather than a Hemingway one.

The novel features some wonderful set-pieces (again, this has been a common response to it): sexual encounters with Nikki’s sister and later with Varie, a railwayman’s wake, and the flooded track near the end. Equally it has an impressive cast of characters, not only those already mentioned but John Penalty and on the railways, Simon’s father (there’s another great scene where he sacks one of his workers), and Bobby Forth, a fellow school leaver. However, there are times when it feels Warner is a little too in love with his characters, particularly when they are talking, and some scenes would probably have benefitted from editing. Above all, though skilfully written, the story itself can feel a little ordinary at times and certainly doesn’t resonate in the way you would expect a ‘state of the nation’ novel to. Of course, that isn’t Warner’s fault – it may simply be that the novel is not as ambitious as some have claimed.

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text:
The Death Problem

Death has a PR problem in our culture.  Americans tend to view death in a negative light, as something to escape.  We picture a dark, hooded figure, pointing its crooked finger toward another victim, gathering souls for judgment.  We isolate the dead behind fences, in holding pens for the dearly departed, and turn their disposal over to morticians.  We are so opposed to death that anyone who desires death is considered mentally ill or a criminal.  Dr. Kevorkian did eight years in prison for helping people die who wanted to die and were going to die anyway.  But hastening the process, even to eliminate intractable pain, is prosecuted as a crime.

If given a choice between living and dying, who wouldn’t choose life?  It seems like the obvious preference.  We’re supposed to forestall the day as long as possible, just as we measure success in accumulated years.  You may be a life-long loser, but achieving one hundred will finally get you called a winner.

It’s not like this everywhere.  There are cultures where death isn’t regarded with dread, as the destroyer of all that’s good and beautiful, as something to be avoided at all costs.  Instead, death is a necessary part of the life cycle.  It makes room for the new and liberates the old.  Choosing when to die is seen as a basic human option.

In Western cultures, however, like our own, dying is seen as contrary to the natural order.  Adam and Eve weren’t supposed to die.  Death is a punishment, and, like all punishments, becomes something to avoid.  As a result, we spend a surprising amount of time and money trying to deny, sidestep, evade, and defeat the inevitable.

Americans, for example, spend over $10 billion a year on cosmetic surgery.  Between 2009-2010, as the average American income shrank by .6%, we spent 1.3 percent more on breast augmentation, 5.1 percent more on liposuction, 8.1 percent more on eyelid surgery, and 24.4 percent more on butt lifts.  Nothing beats hard times and intimations of death like having a perky behind.

For the more adventurous, we have cryonic storage tanks where you can be frozen after death, in hopes of being revived down the road.  The price ranges from $25,00 to $150,000, if you’re interested, but I’d worry about freezer burn at the lower cost options.  The ballplayer Ted Williams did this.  He even went the extra mile by having his head “neuroseparated” and frozen apart from the rest of his corpse.  Today, they both reside in cylinders of liquid nitrogen, although bored attendants have reportedly played ball with Ted’s noggin.

For those who remember the cheesy 60’s movie called Fantastic Voyage, nanobots are in development to augment our immune systems.  They can be injected intravenously and then targeted to attack particular tumors or viruses, or administer medication internally.  Once fully available, some scientists estimate human life will be extended by a hundred years.

Not to be outdone, other scientists are working on growing replacement organs from tissue, which will work much better than those mechanical things.  Geneticists are trying to crack the code that governs our cellular clocks and aging process.  Artificial intelligence engineers are hoping to implant memory engrams from living humans into robotic androids.  That way, maybe you’ll live on, only this time in a replaceable body.  I could trade in my current, pudgy one with sixty years of wear for the Taylor Lautner model.  For the kinky, you could trade sexes and get to experience life at both ends.

All of these are logical developments of our desire to dodge the big one, but no one seems to publicly question the morality of it all.  At one point does our desire become obsessive?  When does our avoidance lead to serious mistakes?  Do we want a world where people live five hundred years, or never die?  What will we do about Social Security and Medicare?

It’s nice to live longer, but the reality is that not everyone can afford it.  We’ll end up with life spans dramatically diverging between those with and without the resources to survive.  Imagine an upper class, who can afford the best available health care, living one hundred years longer than the lower classes.  Marie Antoinette would be very jealous.

Even if we could afford it, we can’t afford it, because the world doesn’t have space for everyone to live until they’re 202, let along 502.  Overcrowding causes disease, squalor, and resentment.  I think this is why they’re skipping the moon and heading straight to Mars.  Since it has water available, Mars will be transformed into the globe’s refugee camp.  In the meantime, entire societies will live much shorter lives than their richer neighbors.

I believe that is the direction we’re heading, unless we change our cultural mythology in regards to dying and death.  As odd as it sounds, death isn’t an enemy.  I’d sell bumper stickers reading Death Ain’t So Bad, except I’d probably get arrested for encouraging suicide.

I don’t desire to die, but I don’t desire to spend time avoiding it, either.  My spiritual master chose to die, and sanctified death in the process.  It is ironic that cultures claiming his name deny that basic fact.  Having eaten out of a garden throughout the summer, I appreciate all the dying that makes my life possible.  Unfortunately, we’ve only got peppers and broccoli left, and they won’t last forever.  None of us will.

About Bucky Dann

I teach religion, sociology, and psychology at Southwestern Community College in the Smoky Mountains. I have worked in the United Methodist ministry and in the substance abuse field. I possess a Masters of Divinity, a Masters of Philosophy, and a PhD in the sociology of knowledge.

One Response to “The Death Problem”

  1. I enjoyed this. You are so right. There can be no life without death. Unfortunately I have read that through the use of medicines, replacement parts and nanobots immortality will soon be acheivable. I have no doubt that this will of course where the mega-rich will soon be spending all of their money. Imagine a world where the likes of Donald Trump are immortal???

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