Category Archives: Uncategorized

Now That's A Managed Economy!

China’s Ministry of Education announced this week plans to phase out majors producing unemployable graduates, according to state-run media Xinhua. The government will soon start evaluating college majors by their employment rates, downsizing or cutting those studies in which the employment rate for graduates falls below 60% for two consecutive years.

The move is meant to solve a problem that has surfaced as the number of China’s university educated have jumped to 8,930 people per every 100,000 in the year 2010, up nearly 150% from 2000, according to China’s 2010 Census. The surge of collge grads, while an accomplishment for the country, has contributed to an overflow of workers whose skill-sets don’t match with the needs of the export-led, manufacturing-based economy.

Up and at it

Here's exhibit #1 why Rolling Stones' recent 100 Greatest Guitar Players list is at least 50% bullshit: Tuck Andress.

It starts out a little slow, but around 1:50, he lets it fly.

Let's see Jack White do that!

Even better: after you've watched it, turn the volume down, skip to somewhere in the middle and watch it again; if you didn't just hear him do it, you'd swear the video was sped-up. The guy's a monster. He usually keeps things a little bit more mellow in his usual job as half of Tuck And Patti, but is still totally mind-blowing.

I watched about an hour of his "mastering fingerstyle" lessons on YouTube yesterday and had one of those experiences where you realize that even though you thought you knew a decent amount about something, you actually don't know anything at all. He walked through how one could build up to being able to play four different parts of a song, simultaneously, on a guitar: bass, percussion, guitar and piano; improvising on all four of them in real time. Though I saw him do it, and he broke it all down and built it back up as clear as could be, I still don't believe it's possible. If I ever met him, I'd be embarrassed to even say I owned a guitar.

Also, Andress is Annie Clark's (St Vincent) uncle, and she was a roadie for Tuck And Patti as a teenager.

Knives Are Out

MSNBC:

Those looking for Herman Cain to display a specific and thorough understanding of foreign policy were likely disappointed by tonight's address at Hillsdale College.

Ouch. The press has really turned on Herman.