Martha Graham
Mississippi River Rising
High river waters have caused the rivers and creeks that feed into the Mississippi to overflow, and experts have warned that there is a possibility that the floodwaters of the Lower Mississippi River could cause the levee system to fail.
"I wouldn't say that this is going to be a disaster, but the modern Mississippi levee system has never been tested under flood conditions like this," said Sam Bentley, the Harrison Chair in Sedimentary Geology at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, CNN reported. "It's probably going to exceed water levels not seen since the Great Flood of 1927: historically the largest ever measured."
Flood waters continued to rise Tuesday as residents and farmers along the river raced to secure their homes and businesses as much as possible from the expected historic flooding.
While the levee system remains intact, low-lying areas will still be flooded with enough water to require a massive cleanup.
National Weather Service meteorologist Bill Borghoff said the river reached 47.85 feet in Memphis early Tuesday, just shy of the record of 48.7 feet recorded during a devastating 1937 flood in Memphis, which led to more than 500 deaths and the flooding of roughly 20 million acres.
Click through the following photo slideshow to see the devastation caused by the overflowing
google music
Google Music Set to Launch Tuesday Without Label Licenses
google music
Sources say Sony Music and Universal proved to be bottlenecks for the cloud-based service, which allows users to upload music to a personal online storage locker, from where they can stream and download files to Internet connected devices.
Proving unable to come to an agreement with all the major labels for the music service it originally wanted, Google is going to pull an Amazon and unveil a digital music locker service without any licensing deals at all during a keynote tomorrow (May 10) at its I/O conference in San Francisco, Google execs tell Billboard.
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Called Music Beta by Google, the service will allow users to upload their music library to a personal online storage locker, from where they can stream and download files from Internet connected devices.
This is virtually identical to Amazon's Cloud Drive, with a few differences. Most notably, the service is available on a limited, invite-only basis limited to U.S. users. Those wanting to use the service will have to request an invite at google.music.com, with priority given to those with the Motorola Xoom tablet and to attendees of the I/O conference. Additionally, Google is limiting the number of songs that can be uploaded to the music locker to 20,000. The service is free while in beta, and the company would not comment on what future pricing options it may have planned.
Clearly, this is not the music service Google wanted to offer. And Google director of content partnerships Zahavah Levine -- who led the company's negotiations with the major labels -- made it clear who she feels is to blame.
"We've been in negotiations with the industry for a different set of features, with mixed results," she told Billboard the night before the announcement was made. "[But] a couple of major labels were less focused on innovation and more on demanding unreasonable and unsustainable business terms."
Sources tell Billboard that Sony Music Group and Universal Music Group proved the bottlenecks in this case. Google wanted to offer a scan-and-match style locker service -- where instead of uploading different copies of the same track to store in a locker for each users, the service would scan users' libraries and match the songs they own to a centralized server, paying rightsholders for each stream. Without the rights to do so, the message from Google is clear -- either get on board or we'll move on without you.
Driving the launch is the completion of Google's new music player app, which will also be unveiled tomorrow. The app is for Android devices that anyone can download. It can be used to play any music stored on Android devices, but can't access music from the cloud unless users are part of the beta.
Insiders reveal that the app was only fully backed about six weeks ago, and until that app was finished Google had no intention of launching any kind of music service -- unlicensed or otherwise. Getting this music player out was obviously a priority for Google, so it could start establishing Android products as music devices in their own right.
While it may not be what Google originally intended, the beta music service shows flashes of what Google ultimately has in mind. For instance, the music app has an Instant Mix feature that creates a playlist based on a single song. The service analyzes the song's characteristics (not just metadata) and pulls other similar songs from the users' music library. Another cool feature is that the playlists created can be synched across devices. So playlists created on a user's mobile phone will immediately show up on a tablet device or Google account online. There's no need to transfer files between devices.
Other features of Music Beta by Google include:
-- Any Web-connected device with a browser or supporting Flash can stream music from the locker. Requires Android-powered devices with the app installed to download and play cached streams.
-- Users who sign up for the locker service will get free music added, similar to how some mp3 players ship with sample tracks. Google negotiated rights to this free music with various rightsholders.
-- All music available to each device is available in a single view, meaning users won't see one list for music stored native on the device and another list of music stored in the locker.
-- Audio quality for streaming files can be as high as 320kbps if the device and network supports it.
-- Optimized for Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) but any Android device version 2.2 or above can support it.
Levine stressed that many more features may be added to the service over time, and that Google will continue to seek licenses with the major labels.
"A large segment of the music industry worked cooperatively and was extremely helpful sorting out the issues of online licensing," she said, giving particular credit to the independent label and publishing communities. "We certainly remain open to partnerships with the music industry for new features and functionality. This is the beginning of what we hope will be a long relationship with music and users and helping users engage with music and artist and fans."
google music
Sources say Sony Music and Universal proved to be bottlenecks for the cloud-based service, which allows users to upload music to a personal online storage locker, from where they can stream and download files to Internet connected devices.
Proving unable to come to an agreement with all the major labels for the music service it originally wanted, Google is going to pull an Amazon and unveil a digital music locker service without any licensing deals at all during a keynote tomorrow (May 10) at its I/O conference in San Francisco, Google execs tell Billboard.
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Called Music Beta by Google, the service will allow users to upload their music library to a personal online storage locker, from where they can stream and download files from Internet connected devices.
This is virtually identical to Amazon's Cloud Drive, with a few differences. Most notably, the service is available on a limited, invite-only basis limited to U.S. users. Those wanting to use the service will have to request an invite at google.music.com, with priority given to those with the Motorola Xoom tablet and to attendees of the I/O conference. Additionally, Google is limiting the number of songs that can be uploaded to the music locker to 20,000. The service is free while in beta, and the company would not comment on what future pricing options it may have planned.
Clearly, this is not the music service Google wanted to offer. And Google director of content partnerships Zahavah Levine -- who led the company's negotiations with the major labels -- made it clear who she feels is to blame.
"We've been in negotiations with the industry for a different set of features, with mixed results," she told Billboard the night before the announcement was made. "[But] a couple of major labels were less focused on innovation and more on demanding unreasonable and unsustainable business terms."
Sources tell Billboard that Sony Music Group and Universal Music Group proved the bottlenecks in this case. Google wanted to offer a scan-and-match style locker service -- where instead of uploading different copies of the same track to store in a locker for each users, the service would scan users' libraries and match the songs they own to a centralized server, paying rightsholders for each stream. Without the rights to do so, the message from Google is clear -- either get on board or we'll move on without you.
Driving the launch is the completion of Google's new music player app, which will also be unveiled tomorrow. The app is for Android devices that anyone can download. It can be used to play any music stored on Android devices, but can't access music from the cloud unless users are part of the beta.
Insiders reveal that the app was only fully backed about six weeks ago, and until that app was finished Google had no intention of launching any kind of music service -- unlicensed or otherwise. Getting this music player out was obviously a priority for Google, so it could start establishing Android products as music devices in their own right.
While it may not be what Google originally intended, the beta music service shows flashes of what Google ultimately has in mind. For instance, the music app has an Instant Mix feature that creates a playlist based on a single song. The service analyzes the song's characteristics (not just metadata) and pulls other similar songs from the users' music library. Another cool feature is that the playlists created can be synched across devices. So playlists created on a user's mobile phone will immediately show up on a tablet device or Google account online. There's no need to transfer files between devices.
Other features of Music Beta by Google include:
-- Any Web-connected device with a browser or supporting Flash can stream music from the locker. Requires Android-powered devices with the app installed to download and play cached streams.
-- Users who sign up for the locker service will get free music added, similar to how some mp3 players ship with sample tracks. Google negotiated rights to this free music with various rightsholders.
-- All music available to each device is available in a single view, meaning users won't see one list for music stored native on the device and another list of music stored in the locker.
-- Audio quality for streaming files can be as high as 320kbps if the device and network supports it.
-- Optimized for Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) but any Android device version 2.2 or above can support it.
Levine stressed that many more features may be added to the service over time, and that Google will continue to seek licenses with the major labels.
"A large segment of the music industry worked cooperatively and was extremely helpful sorting out the issues of online licensing," she said, giving particular credit to the independent label and publishing communities. "We certainly remain open to partnerships with the music industry for new features and functionality. This is the beginning of what we hope will be a long relationship with music and users and helping users engage with music and artist and fans."
Rick Santorum's 2012 Adventure
Rick Santorum's 2012 Adventure
Am I the only political observer who finds it just a tad odd that the likes of fmr. U.S. Senators Dan Coats, Carol Moseley Braun, and Rick Santorum are striving to stage comebacks lately?
After all, here are three figures who, over the past five to ten years, have been rather irrelevant in American politics. Coats retired from the U.S. Senate in '98, while Moseley Braun and Santorum were ousted in their bids for re-election in '98 and '06, respectively. For years, these three appeared toast when it came to the political scene, and now, to the surprise of most political junkies, Coats has now returned to his old U.S. Senate seat, Moseley Braun is very competitive in the Chicago mayoral race vs. Rahm Emanuel, and Santorum, somehow, someway, appears poised to make a bid for U.S. President in '12.
Santorum is who I'd like to focus upon here. After all, I've spent the past two weeks already delving into Moseley Braun's situation, and I spoke at length about Coats's bid last summer. Both of their returns to the political arena have been very impressive, but it's Santorum's attempt at a comeback that has most piqued by curiosity.
After all, just how could this man, who lost his Pennsylvania re-election bid by a hefty 18 points (!) in '06, seriously think he has a shot in a presidential race?
For the longest time, I myself hadn't been able to answer it. Santorum's way to the right of most Americans when it comes to social conservatism, and he hardly has a notable record on foreign affairs or matters of other domestic policy. He eeked-out two U.S. Senate victories by rather narrow margins, and against pretty lackluster candidates to boot. When the Pennsylvania Democrats finally mounted a decent candidate, Bob Casey, Jr., he was completely obliterated in this swing state. (Of course, in a presidential race, if the Republican candidate loses by 18 points in Pennsylvania, they lose by about 15 nationwide - in other words, a complete blowout.)
Then, I think I figured it out.
The first GOP presidential contest, Iowa, is a far different environment than Pennsylvania. The religious right is overwhelming in an Iowa Republican primary, and that is precisely Santorum's base. In Pennsylvania, the prominence of the religious right is there, but only to a certain extent. In Iowa, it's a much stronger force, and Santorum might well have the capability of winning over this base, especially if the likes of Palin and Huckabee were to pass on a run.
That's just the thing, of course - if religious right-friendly candidates like Palin and Huckabee do run, Santorum is toast. In fact, at that point, he probably wouldn't enter the race, anyway. But, if either or both of those major candidates did opt out of 2012, Santorum could find myself a huge opening here. Iowa is a state where the likes of Gary Bauer and Alan Keyes managed to gain traction. Sure, the Iowan support alone wasn't enough to get them very far, but, at the very least, it provided someone like Keyes the momentum and boost in finances to continue on in the race.
That's what Santorum is hoping for - something like a decent third-place finish in Iowa, which will give him the oomph necessary to advance into South Carolina. No, he won't win, but if someone like the moderate Romney does, he'll wind up virtually forced to at least consider the conservative Santorum as his running-mate. Which, of course, would be completely toxic, since Santorum is a dreadful candidate outside of a Republican primary.
Unlike Moseley Braun, I don't much personally admire Santorum. In fact, he's one of my least favorite politicians ever. I find him downright vile. That's not to say, of course, that I'm not completely entranced and fascinated by his bizarre attempt at a comeback.
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