Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Jay Electronica – Exhibit C+ (Hasan Insane Remix) f. Nas

from 2dopeboyz ::>

Considering the original is already epic, I would never see the reason to redo it. But Hasan Insane took the time out to flip the same sample Blaze used for something fresh. Blending a Nas verse in at perfect timing. Some folks will enjoy this (like myself), while others will talk shit til their fingers bleed. Either way, it gives me another chance to demand suggest ya’ll support Exhibit C on iTunes.

DOWNLOAD: Jay Electronica – Exhibit C+ (Hasan Insane Remix) f. Nas | Mediafire

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Cookin’ Soul Presents: Game & Jay-Z – The RED Album (Mixtape)


Here goes the latest blend/mash-up tape from the Cookin’ Soul trio. Hosted by Don Cannon.


DOWNLOAD: Cookin’ Soul Presents: Game & Jay-Z – The RED Album

Saturday, December 19, 2009

The Apple Juice Kid x Battalion Armour - Beautiful Warriors 2: Louis Armstrong Remixed


The Apple Juice Kid tackles another legend with Beautiful Warriors 2: Louis Armstrong Remixed. The project is a collaboration between AJK and Battalion Armour. Battalion Armour put together a series of six holiday videos featuring six women from six ethnic backgrounds posing to Louis Armstrong, remixed by Apple Juice Kid. The vids are semi-nude and a little racy (check them here). Says Battalion Armour of the project: "I chose Louis Armstrong to provide the soundtrack to the Beautiful Warriors for the whimsical nature of his music and its ability to bridge cultural boundaries with expressions of love. It takes a special type of sound to create the right mood for this ethnically diverse cast of women. The only producer who could give Louis’ music a new twist while respecting the perfection was Apple Juice Kid, who I first met while creating a video for his critically acclaimed Miles Davis Remix album." For AJK's jazz meets hip-hop soundtrack in full, follow me after the jump.

The Apple Juice Kid x Battalion Armour - Beautiful Warriors 2: Louis Armstrong Remixed - Sunshine by treylord

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Joell Ortiz & Frequency - Road Kill [Mixtape]



Good week for mixtapes. Helps, cuz I lost about 5 GB of my music when my old macbook failed, but luckily got a new one.

Joell Ortiz fed the internets with a few freestyles while on the road touring with Slaughterhouse and Tech N9ne. He was killing it with vicious song after song. Here is the culmination of all that, this mixtape entitled Road Kill. Joell's mixtape with Novel, Defying The Predictable, will be out in two weeks. Joell will also be releasing Pre Agent in January and his album, Free Agent, in February. As you can see the boy's going hard for 2010.

>>>Download: Road Kill

01. Ortiz In This Bitch (Produced by Frequency)
02. Soldier
03. Taking My Ball
04. Snake Charmer (Produced by Frequency)
05. I Go Off
06. Popular Demand
07. Run This Town
08. Make It Without You
09. Stalker
10. Vinnie Vega (Produced by DJ Green Lantern & 88fingaz)
11. On Tour
12. Big Money
13. 50 For The People (Produced by Frequency)
14. Crime Wave
15. Election Day
16. Happy Birthday Pun
17. Hello Brooklyn
18. Outro

Daily Throwback: Palin Rap

This doesn't get old. It's actually funnier now.

"How's it go eskimos?" "Ice Cold!"

Stephen Colbert and Speed Skating




Nneka x J.Period - The Madness (Onye-Ala) [Mixtape]


The wait is finally over, as the Nneka x J.Period mixtape, The Madness (Onye-Ala), is finally here! Enjoy 26 tracks of the Nigerian sensation who is sure to sweep the nation with this incredible music. Features on the tape include M-1 (Dead Prez), Jay Electronica, Zumbi (Zion I), Rakaa (Dilated Peoples), Aceyalone (Freestyle Fellowship), General Steele (Boot Camp Clik) & Talib Kweli. Nneka's first US album, Concrete Jungle, will be in stores February 2nd via Yo Mama/Decon/Epic Records.

Download: Nneka x J.Period - The Madness (Onye-Ala) [Mixtape]

1. Can You Hear? (Intro)
2. Let the Madness Begin (J.Period Exclusive)
3. Wake Up World (Interlude)
4. Wake Up Africa (J.Period Remix)
5. The Uncomfortable Truth
6. Untainted Love feat. Damian Marley (Interlude)
7. Spread Love (Brooklyn to Zion) (J.Period Remix)
8. Human Rights (Interlude)
9. Changes (J.Period Remix) feat. M-1 & General Steele
10. Conscious Lyrics (Interlude)
11. Gypsy/Infamous (J.Period Exclusive)
12. Hip Hop Comes From Africa (Interlude)
13. Walking (J.Period Remix) feat. Jay Electronica
14. In Transit (Interlude)
15. Show Love (J.Period Remix) f. Rakaa (Dilated Peoples) & Aceyalone
16. For the Good of Humanity (Interlude)
17. God of Mercy (J.Period Remix) f. Zumbi (Zion I)
18. Suffri (Nigerian in Berlin Remix) feat. Fela Kuti
19. Perseverance is Character (Interlude)
20. Strength/Kangpe (J.Period Dubplate) f. Big Boi (Outkast)
21. Heartbeat (J.Period Remix) feat. Talib Kweli
22. In the Heart of Man (J.Period Exclusive)
23. Symptoms of My Madness (Outtro)

[ Bonus Mix: J.Period Dubplates ]
24. Mind vs. Heart (J.Period Dubplate) f. 2Pac
25. Changes 2 (J.Period Dubplate) feat. Lauryn Hill & John Forte
26. Walking 2 (J.Period Dubplate) feat. Nas

Nneka - Walking (J.Period Remix) f. Jay Electronica by treylord

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

The Roots – Late Night With Jimmy Fallon Sandwhiches EP



Check this out. When The Roots enter and leave a commercial break on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, they perform small sets called “sandwiches”. And since joining the show in March, the crew have composed 1,000 of ‘em. This past weekend, drummer ?uestlove compiled 22 of them into a free EP. Can’t beat that.

Here is the tracklist.

01. Once In A Lifetime
02. Sizuuuuuuuurpin
03. Head Slicer
04. Spain (ft. Chick Corea)
05. The Juice of Chicago
06. Baatin
07. Woman
08. Choir Fire
09. Teen Town
10. Cant Keep Headphones on Head
11. Red Toe Nail Bashing
12. Blinded By The Light (No Douche Here)
13. Caveman for Dennis Quaid
14. Wan Cook Soup
15. Someone Is Late To Dentist Appointment
16. I Get Lifted
17. Werewolf Barmitzvah
18. Like This Anna Torv
19. Breezin (ft. George Benson)
20. EvenzarahlikesTHISone
21. The Suits
22. Usher In That Choir

DOWNLOAD: The Roots – Late Night With Jimmy Fallon Sandwhiches EP

Monday, December 14, 2009

Shaun Boothe "Poor Boy"



Here's a brand new video from Shaun Boothe, the dude who brought you those exceptional unauthorized biographies of Jimi Hendrix, MLK, Obama, Ali, and more. Shaun just dropped his vid for "Poor Boy," off his upcoming album, Hip-Hop in 3D. I'm surprised there haven't been more Queen covers. I can only think of this one and Ice Ice Baby. Video directed by Chris G.


Download Shaun Boothe "Poor Boy"

Awesome video: Mike Posner – Drug Dealer Girl


"Drug Dealer Girl" OFFICIAL VIDEO

Mike Posner | MySpace Music Videos


download remix with Wale here

Best D-O-double G-P-S ever...


Snoop Dogg has voiced a new VoiceSkin for TomTom GPS driving navigation systems. The rapper can be heard giving directions and driving instructions on the application, which is available to download from Voiceskins now. Snoop Dogg has added his own witticisms to the instructions, which include him saying “Keep left ahead, and you’ll be bona fide” and “turn around when possible and keep it ‘G’, ya d-i-g?” As well as providing directions, Snoop Dogg has also recorded a ‘Points Of Interest’ file for the TomTom, containing the locations of places of special significance for the rapper, plus his favourite Los Angeles haunts.

FAIL: The Copenhagen Climate Change Conference

Come on people, can't we all just get along; Copenhagen Climate talks come to a halt as African delegation accuses UN of trying to kill Kyoto...

by John Vidal and Suzanne Goldenberg in Copenhagen, guardian.co.uk,

UN and Danish hosts rush to repair rift as G77 delegate claims scrapping Kyoto would mean 'killing of Africa'

COP15 Africa must stay united

A delegate looks at a giant globe which displays the warming of the world's ocean in the US pavilion at the UN Climate summit in Copenhagen. Photograph: Anja Niedringhaus/AP

One of the two negotiating tracks at the UN climate talks in Copenhagen broke up in drama and confusion today when the Africa group of countries followed by other developing countries accused the chair of the conference of trying to "kill" the Kyoto protocol. They were also objecting to what they characterized as efforts to sideline the poorest countries.

The crisis was then exacerbated after Australia said that rich countries should suspend talks about emission cuts.

The UN and the chair of the conference, Denmark, tried hurriedly to repair the rifts as ministers began to arrive in Copenhagen for the high level political section of the talks. But after the talks were suspended for two hours, observers said that it looked increasingly unlikely that an ambitious deal would now be negotiated by Friday.

Earlier today, it was confirmed that the prime minister, Gordon Brown, will fly to Copenhagen tomorrow, two days earlier than planned.

Brown's spokesman denied the change was due to concerns that the negotiations lacked momentum. "The prime minister has re-prioritized his diary this week to ensure that he can put the time that is required into shaping the next few days," said the spokesman. "He is not seeking to push himself forward but he has taken a personal view that it is important that, if world leaders can, they should get there early."

In the next two days he will meet other leaders who have brought forward their arrival at Copenhagen, including prime ministers Kevin Rudd of Australia, Jens Stoltenberg of Norway, Sheikh Hasina Wajed of Bangladesh and Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia.

The confrontation in Copenhagen began when the Africa group called a press conference in the Bella centre. Seven countries, led by Algeria and including South Africa and Nigeria, said that rich countries were trying to collapse the Kyoto protocol.

This followed moves by Japan, Australia and other rich countries at the weekend who argued that a new single treaty had to be presented to heads of state to be signed.

Developing countries fear that rich nations will ensure that a new treaty will not place strict and legally binding commitments on the developed countries to cut their emissions, unlike the Kyoto protocol.

Victor Fodeke, head of the Nigerian special climate change unit, said any attempt to remove the Kyoto track would be disastrous for the talks. "Africa is on death row. It has been sidelined by some countries. If there is any attempt to remove one of the tracks of negotiations, then it's obvious the train will crash."

Climate conference hall, Copenhagen (Image: AP)
The African delegation is unhappy over moves by the Danish government

"This is of paramount importance. We cannot, we can never accept the killing of the Kyoto protocol. It will mean the killing of Africa," said another spokesman for the group.

"Right now we are going to lose everything. In one or two days they will tell us that we don't have the time to deal with Kyoto protocol issues." said Maria Mbengashe, adviser to the South African minister of the environment.

The extreme sensitivity of the Kyoto issue had been raised earlier by the UK climate change minister, Ed Miliband, who said today, "I am sympathetic to developing countries that they do not want the Kyoto track to be ended before new instruments are in place."

Later, in a fast moving series of meetings between Connie Hedegaard, the Danish climate minister, the G77 and other countries, provisional agreement was reached to continue the talks on two tracks.

"The developing countries have won this round," Lumumba Di-Aping, chief negotiator of the G77 (a group of 130 developing nations) told the Guardian. "Two texts will be presented to heads of state to sign. We won because Africa and other countries stood up."

Yvo de Boer, the executive secretary of the UN talks, said that countries would now go into an open-ended "conversation". "If we try to end the Kyoto protocol now or in the next year, then we face the risk of no second commitment period for 35% of the emissions," he said.

FAIL: the Copenhagen Conference's Carbon Footprint

Tallying Copenhagen’s Carbon Footprint

The food court at the conference center in Copenhagen.
Johan Spanner for The New York Times
The food court at the Bella Center in Copenhagen.

As the world focuses on the effects of climate change in Copenhagen, some observers are focusing on the impacts of the conference itself.

Despite efforts by organizers to green the conference – by using limos fueled by plant waste, serving organic food and tap water (instead of bottled), and offering the free use of 200 bicycles – the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change estimates that the conference will generate about 40,500 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. (By way of comparison, Denmark, the conference host, emitted 72 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2006.)

Most of this is the result of travel to and from Copenhagen by the 15,000 or so participants (not including thousands of journalists), but it also includes emissions that result from energy use at the Bella Center (which has nearly 80,000 square meters of conference space and enough telecommunications infrastructure to handle 80,000 simultaneous phone calls), hotel stays and local transportation.

Martin Nesirky, a spokesman for the U.N. secretary general, said in a news briefing on Tuesday that action is be taken to ensure pollution generated by the conference is canceled out – via an emissions-reduction project in Bangladesh.

“The Danish government says it is offsetting the emissions through a project in Bangladesh that reduces emissions in a brick manufacturing plant,” Mr. Nesirky said. “And the offset more than covers all the travel and emissions related to the conference.”

According to the Danish Ministry of Climate and Energy, the million-dollar project, made possible through an agreement between Denmark, the World Bank and Bangladesh, will involve replacing heavily polluting brick kilns with 20 new energy efficient ones. The kiln swap, the ministry notes, will cut more than 100,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions each year and “improve air quality in one of the world’s most polluted cities.”

Still, groups like Greenpeace say organizers didn’t go far enough in addressing the event’s carbon footprint. Tarjei Haaland, a climate and energy campaigner for Greenpeace, told the Copenhagen post that claims of being “carbon neutral” were effectively meaningless.

Friday, December 11, 2009

FRIDAY THROW BACK: Up Jumps the Boogie

Here's to another good week and a dope song for Trey's house party 2Nite...

Google: Google unveils breakthrough technology to monitor deforestation



New REDD monitoring system out of Google.

Guardian:
Tracking the destruction of the world's forests is to become much easier for scientists and forest managers, thanks to a software tool unveiled by search-engine giant Google's philanthropic arm today.

The software, which uses Google's computing resources to extract scientific information from decades of satellite images of forests, was demonstrated at the UN climate conference in Copenhagen. "We hope this technology will help stop the destruction of the world's rapidly disappearing forests," said a statement on the Google.org blog.

"Emissions from tropical deforestation are comparable to the emissions of all of the EU, and are greater than those of all cars, trucks, planes, ships and trains worldwide. According to the Stern Review – the report prepared for the British government in 2006 on the economics of climate change by Lord Nicholas Stern – protecting the world's standing forests is a highly cost-effective way to cut carbon emissions and mitigate climate change."

The UN mechanism to reduce deforestation is called Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries (Redd), a system whereby richer countries would provide financial incentives to protect forests in poorer nations. For Redd to be successful, however, countries need ways to accurately monitor and report on the state of their forests.

In Google.org's prototype software, environmental authorities or NGOs interested in monitoring forests start with satellite images of their area and track how the size and shape of the tree cover has changed over time. The software can processes the images to extract useful scientific and tracking information about how much the forests have changed.

For the analysis, the Google.org team worked with Greg Asner of Carnegie Institution for Science and Carlos Souza of Imazon. Technology developed by Asner and Souza is used in Latin America to track changes in forest cover – but mainstream use of the models has been slow due to lack of access to high-quality satellite images and the computer power needed to carry out the analysis.

Google.org's solution is to enhance the Asner and Souza models using its own computing power. "What if we could gather together all of the earth's raw satellite imagery data – petabytes of historical, present and future data – and make it easily available on this platform? We decided to find out, by working with Greg and Carlos to re-implement their software online, on top of a prototype platform we've built that gives them easy access to terabytes of satellite imagery and thousands of computers in our data centres," it wrote.

Colby Loucks, deputy director of the conservation science program at WWF-US said: "A cost-effective and transparent approach for monitoring deforestation is needed to help pave the way for a global Redd program. If Google's system can be expanded to cover forests globally and access near real-time imagery, it can potentially be a powerful tool that helps tropical countries monitor forest loss."

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Prince Ea "I Make Smart Cool"



SMART = Sophisticating Millions And Revolutionizing Thought

http://www.makesmartcool.com/

Lupe Fiasco – Solar Midnite



First sign of the apocalypse: Lupe on the New Moon soundtrack. Hot song though.

Mos Def "Supermagic"



Long overdue, but we've got some more visuals from Mos Def's now grammy-nominated LP, The Ecstatic. Mos shines dolo in this new video for "Supermagic." Video directed by Dribblez & Weirdcore. If you haven't picked up The Ecstatic yet, I don't know what you're waiting for.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

FP: Why is the World Bank subsidizing one of the planet's dirtiest fuels?



It's been a while since I've mentioned the report I helped to write about public international financing of coal-fired power plants which can be see HERE. The findings are referenced in this Foreign Policy article:


With the U.N. climate change conference in Copenhagen getting under way this week, the pressure's on for world leaders to come up with some sort of climate agreement. Despite the appearance of a unified plea for action, however, not everyone is playing ball. And one of the shirkers is especially surprising: Even as governments are weighing tough choices to bring down emissions and cope with rising temperatures, the World Bank is financing -- and plans to continue financing -- coal projects to the detriment of renewable energy. In effect, the World Bank is sending the message that coal is not just an acceptable fuel, but also a resource that should be developed with international funding. It's a betrayal of everything the World Bank's member countries are supposed to be working for.

The bank's recently released draft Energy Strategy, which will guide its energy lending and influence partner institutions for the next seven to 10 years and announces its investment in coal, is very, very bad news. Although the proportion of coal to renewable energy is falling, the shift is too little too late. Back in 2004, the World Bank's Extractive Industries Review recommended that the bank "phase-out support for oil by 2008, and formalize its moratorium on lending for coal projects immediately." That was five years ago. Today, the World Bank strategy notes that "In some countries, electricity from coal is significantly cheaper" and the bank "could use its traditional financing instruments to support client countries to develop new coal power projects under certain conditions." Indeed, the Bank Information Center finds that bank funding for coal has increased almost 200 percent between 2007 and 2009.

But even if it saves costs in the short term, each newly constructed coal plant has a life of about 50 years, during which it will emit carbon; rehabilitation extends the life of the plant by an additional 20. So even as World Bank donor countries are fighting political battles to cut emissions, their dollars are funding new World Bank coal projects that will cancel out any hard-won gains.

It's hard to understand why "coal" isn't a dirty word in the halls of the World Bank -- an institution whose mandate is built on the idea of sustainable development. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, coal is the most carbon-intensive of the fossil fuels and is the fastest growing carbon-emitting energy source. Coal's share of world carbon dioxide emissions is projected to increase to 45 percent in 2030, meaning that nearly half of all new pollutants can be traced back to coal. Perhaps most outrageous of all is that climate change driven by such investments will disproportionately affect the poor, those who've had the smallest role in producing emissions.

Mining the stuff also wreaks havoc on the environment. Open pit, strip, and underground mines all cause severe erosion, leach toxic chemicals into nearby streams and aquifers, and push animals and plants out of their habitats. Coal is particularly harmful for public health. A 2009 Environmental Defense Fund study estimated that between 6,000 and 10,700 annual deaths can be attributed to the 88 coal-fired power plants and companies receiving public international financing, including from the World Bank.

Yet even knowing coal's blemished track record, the bank is not only subsidizing coal projects but doing so to an increasing degree. During the 2008 fiscal year, the World Bank and International Finance Corporation (IFC) increased funding for fossil fuels by 102 percent compared with only 11 percent for what it categorizes as new renewable energy such as solar, wind, biomass, geothermal energy and hydropower projects under 10 megawatts. On average, fossil fuel financing by the bank still accounts for twice as much as all new renewable energy and energy efficiency projects do, combined. Bloomberg News reported that thanks to World Bank financing, India's Tata "ultra mega" power plant will have the dubious distinction of being one of the world's 50 largest greenhouse gas emitters once it begins operation in 2012. At this very moment, the bank is considering a loan for the South African electricity company Eskom that would commit $3.75 billion for the 4,800-megawatt Medupi coal-fired power station, currently under construction. According to Reuters, if approved, this will represent the single largest World Bank loan awarded to post-apartheid South Africa -- and yes, it's for a coal plant.

Of course, the bank does know and admit that cutting emissions is a goal it should strive for. But its rhetoric and actions on the topic are mismatched. Whereas the institution claims in its Energy Strategy that it "support[s] countries in their efforts to shift to a low-GHG-intensity path," the hard data on bank support for coal paints another picture. For each thoughtful, renewable project that the bank supports, such as its $20 million investment in the Yemeni Al-Mokha wind farm, there is another coal-fired power plant or emissions-intensive hydropower project on the horizon.

What does this mean in the context of Copenhagen? World Bank-financed projects are a significant source of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, and they're set to grow. When the fossil fuels involved in the World Bank and IFC lending projects for the 2008 fiscal year are combusted, the projected lifetime CO2 emissions from this one year of financing will amount to approximately 7 percent of the world's annual CO2 emissions from the energy sector. That's twice the amount of Africa's annual energy-sector emissions.

What's even worse is that sustainable alternatives to coal exist. The World Bank could use its sizable energy investment portfolio (more than $7 billion) to promote low-carbon development that helps (rather than hurts) emissions targets. It could push the political consensus to do the same. But it's not doing either -- a failure of great magnitude for an institution that's supposed to lead by example, not follow the path of least resistance.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

NYtimes: No Slowdown of Global Warming, Agency Says



Here is a shocker: Global warming is real, and an acceleration of our emissions is resulting in an acceleration of the warming. Dinosaurs also predate mankind, and the H1N1 vaccine doesn't kill you.

NYtimes:

COPENHAGEN — Despite recent fluctuations in global temperature year to year, which fueled claims of global cooling, a sustained global warming trend shows no signs of ending, according to new analysis by the World Meteorological Organization made public on Tuesday.

The decade of the 2000s is very likely the warmest decade in the modern record, dating back 150 years, according to a provisional summary of climate conditions near the end of 2009, the organization said.

The period from 2000 through 2009 has been “warmer than the 1990s, which were warmer than the 1980s and so on,” said Michel Jarraud, the secretary general of the international weather agency, speaking at a news conference at the climate talks in Copenhagen.

The international assessment largely meshes with an interim analysis by the National Climatic Data Center and NASA in the United States, both of which independently estimate global and regional temperature and other weather trends.

Mr. Jarraud also said that 2009, with some uncertainty because several weeks remain, appears to be the fifth warmest year on record.

Addressing questions about the reliability of climate data after the unauthorized release of e-mail messages and files from a British climate research unit that provides data to the global weather group, he said there was no evidence that the various independent estimates showing a warming world were in doubt.

The news conference early Tuesday came after the European Commission reacted to a decision by the United States Environmental Protection Agency to pave the way for federal limits on emissions of carbon dioxide, saying it should give further weight to negotiations under way here aimed at crafting a new global agreement to curb greenhouse gases.

The so-called endangerment finding by the E.P.A. was “an important signal by the Obama administration that they are serious about tackling climate change and are demonstrating leadership,” a spokesman from the European Commission said. The finding “gives new momentum following their announcement of cuts,” he said.

Political leaders in Copenhagen welcomed the ruling, but they were quick to press the Obama administration to do more now to sweeten its offer.

Andreas Carlgren, the environment minister of Sweden, the country that currently holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, said in an e-mail message on Tuesday morning that the ruling “shows that the United States can do more than they have put on the table.”

Connie Hedegaard, the Danish politician who was elected on Monday as president of the conference, said in an e-mail message on Tuesday morning that the ruling in the United States “is a helpful step, as it could provide a larger degree of flexibility in the negotiations.” So far President Obama has signaled a cut emissions by about 17 percent by 2020 compared with 2005 levels. The White House also has indicated that the United States would contribute to a fund to tackle climate change.

The gathering of more than 190 nations in Copenhagen opened on Monday with appeals for urgent action from the United Nations and from officials of countries endangered by warmer temperatures, rising sea levels and other damage such as melting glaciers.

As the climate meeting got under way on Tuesday morning, inside the vast blocks that make up the conference center, environmental groups already were chanting in favor of preservation of forests and handing out symbolic cardboard cutouts labeled as carbon dioxide in the central area.

Representatives from governments said there would be further ceremonial events before the hard negotiating begins, later on Tuesday.

A major reason that hopes have risen in recent weeks is the expectation that Mr. Obama — who plans to attend closing days of the conference next week — will formally commit the United States to making cuts in greenhouse gases. The United States declined to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, a previous agreement on curbing greenhouse gases, because of strong opposition in the Senate and from the Bush administration.

The refusal to ratify the Kyoto protocol has left a lingering mistrust of the United States in other parts of the world. The finding by the E.P.A. is expected to allow President Obama to tell delegates in Copenhagen that the United States is moving aggressively to address the problem even while Congress remains stalled on broader legislation to curb global warming legislation.

Senator Barbara Boxer, Democrat of California and chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said that in light of the ruling, “the president’s appearance in Copenhagen will carry even more weight, because it shows that America is taking this issue very seriously and is moving forward.”

Over the next two weeks, the nations gathered in Copenhagen will try to reach what has so far been elusive common ground on the issue of climate change.

Delegates will try to hammer out some of the most vexing details attending the pursuit of a global climate deal. These include broad cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, particularly from big polluters like the United States and China, and a commitment from wealthy nations to deliver what could ultimately be hundreds of billions of dollars in financing to poor countries, which argue that they are ill equipped to deal with a problem they did little to create.

Several countries announced new emissions goals in the days leading to the meeting here, including China, Brazil, the United States and more recently India and South Africa. But many conference participants have noted that these commitments remain far too low to keep rising temperatures in check over coming decades.

The pledges so far are “not going to get us as far we need to go, to really stay within the two-degree limit,” Koko Warner, an observer with the United Nations University in Bonn, Germany, said Monday, referring to scientists’ recommendations that temperature increases be capped at two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels.

“We don’t want to admit it, because the consequences are so bad,” she said.



Timeline of Global Warming

The Guardian: Copenhagen climate summit in disarray after 'Danish text' leak



Other than the news that global warming is actually happening (who knew?) this is the biggest news out of Copenhagen so far. It's not good. Seriously, this is fucked up.

Guardian:

The UN Copenhagen climate talks are in disarray today after developing countries reacted furiously to leaked documents that show world leaders will next week be asked to sign an agreement that hands more power to rich countries and sidelines the UN's role in all future climate change negotiations.

The document is also being interpreted by developing countries as setting unequal limits on per capita carbon emissions for developed and developing countries in 2050; meaning that people in rich countries would be permitted to emit nearly twice as much under the proposals.

The so-called Danish text, a secret draft agreement worked on by a group of individuals known as "the circle of commitment" – but understood to include the UK, US and Denmark – has only been shown to a handful of countries since it was finalised this week.

The agreement, leaked to the Guardian, is a departure from the Kyoto protocol's principle that rich nations, which have emitted the bulk of the CO2, should take on firm and binding commitments to reduce greenhouse gases, while poorer nations were not compelled to act. The draft hands effective control of climate change finance to the World Bank; would abandon the Kyoto protocol – the only legally binding treaty that the world has on emissions reductions; and would make any money to help poor countries adapt to climate change dependent on them taking a range of actions.

The document was described last night by one senior diplomat as "a very dangerous document for developing countries. It is a fundamental reworking of the UN balance of obligations. It is to be superimposed without discussion on the talks".

A confidential analysis of the text by developing countries also seen by the Guardian shows deep unease over details of the text. In particular, it is understood to:

• Force developing countries to agree to specific emission cuts and measures that were not part of the original UN agreement;

• Divide poor countries further by creating a new category of developing countries called "the most vulnerable";

• Weaken the UN's role in handling climate finance;

• Not allow poor countries to emit more than 1.44 tonnes of carbon per person by 2050, while allowing rich countries to emit 2.67 tonnes.

Developing countries that have seen the text are understood to be furious that it is being promoted by rich countries without their knowledge and without discussion in the negotiations.

"It is being done in secret. Clearly the intention is to get [Barack] Obama and the leaders of other rich countries to muscle it through when they arrive next week. It effectively is the end of the UN process," said one diplomat, who asked to remain nameless.

Antonio Hill, climate policy adviser for Oxfam International, said: "This is only a draft but it highlights the risk that when the big countries come together, the small ones get hurting. On every count the emission cuts need to be scaled up. It allows too many loopholes and does not suggest anything like the 40% cuts that science is saying is needed."

Hill continued: "It proposes a green fund to be run by a board but the big risk is that it will run by the World Bank and the Global Environment Facility [a partnership of 10 agencies including the World Bank and the UN Environment Programme] and not the UN. That would be a step backwards, and it tries to put constraints in developing countries when none were negotiated in earlier UN climate talks."

The text was intended by Denmark and rich countries to be a working framework, which would be adapted by countries over the next week. It is particularly inflammatory because it sidelines the UN negotiating process and suggests that rich countries are desperate for world leaders to have a text to work from when they arrive next week.

Few numbers or figures are included in the text because these would be filled in later by world leaders. However, it seeks to hold temperature rises to 2C and mentions the sum of $10bn a year to help poor countries adapt to climate change from 2012-15.

• For news and analysis of the UN climate talks in Copenhagen sign up for the Guardian's environment email newsletter Green light


VIEW THE LEAKED TEXT HERE

KiD CuDi - Pursuit of Happiness (feat. MGMT & Ratatat)



The official music video for "Pursuit of Happiness" featuring MGMT & Ratatat by KiD CuDi, from his debut album MAN on the MOON: the END of DAY, in stores now!

Directed by Brody Baker.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

WHERE THE F HAS THE NYT BEEN!!!???: Beyond Nostalgia, Vinyl Albums and Turntables Are Returning


Beyond Nostalgia, Vinyl Albums and Turntables Are Returning
Andrea Mohin/The New York Times


From left, Adam Dean, Donahue Lovelace and Eddy Delahoz, all of whom attend the Institute of Audio Research, at the Best Buy in Union Square.

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By PATRICK McGEEHAN
Published: December 6, 2009

At a glance, the far corner of the main floor of J&R Music looks familiar to anybody old enough to have scratched a record by accident. There are cardboard boxes filled with albums by the likes of Miles Davis and the Beach Boys that could be stacked in any musty attic in America.

But this is no music morgue; it is more like a life-support unit for an entertainment medium that has managed to avoid extinction, despite numerous predictions to the contrary. The bins above the boxes hold new records — freshly pressed albums of classic rock as well as vinyl versions of the latest releases from hip-hop icons like 50 Cent and Diddy and new pop stars like Norah Jones and Lady Gaga.

And with the curious resurgence of vinyl, a parallel revival has emerged: The turntable, once thought to have taken up obsolescence with reel-to-reel and eight-track tape players, has been reborn.

J&R Music, at 23 Park Row southeast of City Hall Park, now carries 21 different turntables at prices ranging from $85 to $875. Some are traditional analog record players; others are designed to connect to computers for converting music to digital files.

Rachelle Friedman, the co-owner of J&R, said the store is selling more vinyl and turntables than it has in at least a decade, fueled largely by growing demand from members of the iPod generation.

“It’s all these kids that are really ramping up their vinyl collections,” Ms. Friedman said. “New customers are discovering the quality of the sound. They’re discovering liner notes and graphics.” In many instances, the vinyl album of today is thicker and sounds better than those during vinyl’s heyday in the 1960s and 1970s.

Sales of vinyl albums have been climbing steadily for several years, tromping on the notion that the rebound was just a fad. Through late November, more than 2.1 million vinyl records had been sold in 2009, an increase of more than 35 percent in a year, according to Nielsen Soundscan. That total, though it represents less than 1 percent of all album sales, including CDs and digital downloads, is the highest for vinyl records in any year since Nielsen began tracking them in 1991.

Sales of CDs, meanwhile, have been falling fast, displaced by the downloading of digital files of songs from services like iTunes. Sales of albums on CD, which generally cost half as much as their vinyl counterparts, have dropped almost 20 percent this year, according to Nielsen.

With overall sales down, numerous big music-store chains like Tower Records, Virgin Megastore and HMV have pulled out of Manhattan, leaving music sales largely to online merchants and the few small, die-hard record shops scattered about Greenwich Village and Brooklyn.

One exception has been Best Buy, a national electronics chain that recently opened its sixth store in Manhattan. A year ago, the chain started stocking vinyl albums in about 50 of its stores, including one on the Upper East Side. Their presence, with their alluring cover art, still has the power to stun.

“Some individuals come into our store and they stop in their tracks,” said Andre Sam, a sales representative at Best Buy’s store on East 86th Street. “They don’t expect to see this. You can see them reminiscing as they start looking at the album covers.”

Last week, that store and a new Best Buy on Union Square installed departments, dubbed Club Beats, where customers can test out turntables and other equipment that DJs use to mix music. “They can spin, they can mix, they can scratch, whatever they want to do,” Mr. Sam said.

He suggested that video games deserved some credit for the resurgence of interest in vinyl albums and turntables. Popular games like Guitar Hero and Rockband have introduced young customers to classic rock and pop artists like the Beatles and Metallica, while DJ Hero has inspired some to try their hands at mixing music for real.

Not all of the turntables in these stores are designed to do anything so old-school as spinning actual records. A few models are still made for that purpose, many of them with cables that connect to computers so that the music can be transferred to portable devices. But others simply allow their users to simulate the manipulation of records while the songs they are mixing are being fed from iPods.

Interest from younger listeners is what convinced music industry executives that vinyl had staying power this time around. As more record labels added vinyl versions of new releases, the industry had to scramble to find places to press discs, said Mike Jbara, president and chief executive of the sales and distribution division of Warner Music Group.

“It is absolutely easy to say vinyl doesn’t make sense when you look at convenience, portability, all those things,” Mr. Jbara said. “But all the really great stuff in our lives comes from a root of passion or love.”

RE: What the article doesn't mention is the new digital wave of dj'ing, "vinyl emulation software", that most use for mixing and scratching now. I myself use TORQ, most dj's at bars and clubs use a similar program, usually SCRATCH-LIVE. For me it was a long time coming, the day I no longer had to lug around my cases and bags of vinyl records. Instead, all I need to bring is my computer, a little converter box and two pieces of "blank" vinyl. I can play any MP3 or audio sample that is on my computer, thru the converter box and on to vinyl records that spin on my Numark TTX turntables. This has transformed my, and other dj's ability to have a absolutely huge library of tunes to rock a party with. I don't know the science of it all, but it's insanely amazing and will blow you away IF you've never heard of it before. PEACE

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Common - Misunderstood



It's been out for a while, but flew under the radar for most. Really feeling this song. Love that Nina Simone.

There isn't an official video, but here is the full song:

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Grist: Annie Leonard misses the mark in her new video, “The Story of Cap-and-Trade”

The Story of Cap & Trade from Story of Stuff Project on Vimeo.


I posted this video the other day about Cap and Trade, and said that it oversimplified the issues.

Here is a more complete explanation of what's wrong with this video from Grist:

The greenosphere is all abuzz about a new video from Annie Leonard, creator of semi-famous anti-consumerism video/book The Story of Stuff. It’s being billed as a definitive debunking of cap-and-trade, but it’s more like a perfect representation of all the confusion and misplaced focus that plagues the green left right now.

Now, I suppose I’m generally viewed among greens as a defender of cap-and-trade—or, in the less charitable version, a defender of the “party line,” a shill for the administration, a sell-out “insider,” whatever. A “pro” in the “pro vs. anti cap-and-trade” argument. But that’s not how I see it. It’s more that I think it’s the wrong argument. Activists like Leonard are just mis-identifying the barriers to effective climate action. I’ll have lots more to say on that subject soon, but for now, let’s focus on the video.

The Story of Cap & Trade

The video contains four basic arguments against cap-and-trade:

1. Allowance giveaways are bad. This is true. It would be better to auction 100% of the pollution allowances and use the revenue to invest in clean energy and protect consumers. The bill in Congress gives away too many allowances (Leonard elides the fact that the bulk of them are devoted to consumer protection, though it’s open to debate whether they’ll be used that way, and some Senators are pushing for more giveaways).

The most obvious solution to this is to give away fewer allowances. Yet Leonard and crew imply that allowance giveaways are inherent to cap-and-trade and the only solution is to ditch it. They imply that other “real” solutions would somehow be immune to polluters seeking loopholes and special favors, but never explain why.

The allowance giveaways in the climate bill reflect the power of the fossil fuel lobby. Switching policies would not diminish that power. Reduce that power and any climate policy gets better. The policy isn’t the problem; the power of the fossil fuel lobby is.

2. Offsets are bad. Leonard’s “argument” against offsets, if it can be called that, is fairly typical for this genre. She highlights a few ridiculous-sounding projects from the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), implicitly conflates those projects and the CDM with offsets generally, and then concludes, based on the anecdotes, that offsets are bad and they make cap-and-trade toothless.

The reality is far more complex. The quality of offset projects varies widely, as do enforcement mechanisms. The bill in Congress actually contains some fairly stringent measures for policing offsets. Many people close to international policy negotiations believe that high-quality offsets are a vital measure enabling a stronger international treaty. (See Glenn Hurowitz.) Many think that emissions reductions will prove cheap enough that offsets won’t be extensively utilized in early years. Others think that moving emission reductions overseas short-sells the clean energy revolution needed here in the U.S.

These are complex topics, and they’re not well-served by the simplistic, hand-waving dismissal of offsets in Leonard’s video. Regardless, if you think offsets are a problem, the obvious solution is to reduce the number of offsets. But again, Leonard and crew pretend that offsets are inherent to cap-and-trade and the only solution is to ditch it. Again, they pretend that “real” solutions would be immune to similar loopholes and giveaways.

One more time, from the top: The number of offsets in the climate bill reflects the power of the fossil fuel lobby (and the common impression that reducing emissions will be costly). Switching policies would not diminish that power (or that impression). The policy isn’t the problem; the power of the fossil fuel lobby is.

3. Carbon markets are bad. I hesitate to call this an “argument” in the video, since it mainly consists of using the words “Enron,” “bubble,”“Wall Street,” and “scam” suggestively, without saying anything at all specific about why this commodity market—which would be one of any number of commodity markets, most of which work perfectly well, including the carbon market in Europe—would be uniquely evil. I’m with Kevin Drum: there’s no meat here. I’ve never seen anything to this argument but the kind of suggestive handwaving that’s in the video. I don’t know why the green left has decided that markets are bad, in and of themselves, but it seems both politically unwise and substantively thin.

It’s certainly true that certain financial instruments should be eliminated or regulated more heavily; this is true for financial markets in general. There’s some fairly strong language in the bill about regulating carbon markets; that language will likely be folded into the larger financial market reforms that the Senate will address soon. But no one, outside this narrow topic, is suggesting that markets should be abolished!

Remember, trading of allowances is the feature of cap-and-trade that makes it more flexible than a flat tax that applies to all entities equally. This was always the argument for C&T over a tax. Instead of rebutting that argument, Leonard et al. seem instead to have decided that “market Goldman Sachs derivatives bugga bugga!” suffices.

4. Cap-and-trade is a “distraction” from “real solutions.” Of all the arguments, this is, forgive my bluntness, the silliest. The idea is that cap-and-trade has (for reasons never explained) magically come to dominate the policy conversation and made people forget about other options. “Cap-and-trade makes citizens think everything will be OK if we just drive a little less, change our light bulbs, and let These Guys do the rest.” Whaaat? It does? Any empirical evidence for this? Polls? Surveys? Anything? Honestly, it’s a depressing hallmark of liberalism to view progress—or the impression of progress—as a deflating force. Over on the other side of the aisle, they’re constantly declaring victory. Why do we think they do that? Does it seem to be de-motivating the conservative base?

First of all, there are reasons cap-and-trade has garnered the most support, but C&T bashers are so busy attacking a caricature they can’t see them. Second of all, what is the sociopsychological theory here supposed to be? If we just stopped talking about cap-and-trade, everyone would wake, as though from mysterious trance, and start talking about “real” solutions? The only reason the world hasn’t come together around tough measures that would financially damage fossil fuel companies is that the world’s citizens are, like kittens, distracted by the shiny cap-and-trade bauble?

This is the worst feature of the C&T bashers (and carbon tax advocates): their utter political naivete and Romanticism. There’s no plausible story about power here, and no real effort to tell one. It’s just: “Once everyone hears our clever arguments, the world will unite around Real Solutions!” It’s irresponsible.

The video concludes by saying, “the next time somebody tells you cap-and-trade is the best we’re going to get, don’t believe them.” But why not? Literally nothing in the video even addresses that point! It’s a fundamentally political point that the video just wishes away. At this point the green left desperately needs less Mead and more Machiavelli. Unless greens get serious about identifying the loci of political and financial power, identifying ways to block or leverage that power, and building power of their own, they’re going to lose. Policy arguments are more-or-less orthogonal to that important undertaking, not a substitute for it.

———

There are also some straight-up errors in the video. Europe’s trading system is working, despite relentless hype to the contrary. Any program that caps and reduces CO2 would help those hurt by climate change, even if the money was distributed inequitably. The Clean Air Act does not enable EPA to “cap” carbon the same way cap-and-trade does, and would not serve as an equally effective substitute for a cap. Etc etc.

But my larger critique is that the video, and the bashing of cap-and-trade generally, just misses the point. I’ve got longer posts on this coming up, but here’s a capsule summary: it’s clear that politics as currently constituted, particularly in the U.S., will not tolerate a high price on carbon. So we’re going to end up with a fairly low price, hopefully with mechanisms to automatically raise it over time. A different carbon pricing mechanism won’t solve that problem.

The smart response would be to secure the low-and-rising carbon price and then start pushing other emission reduction policies, namely sector-specific regulations, industrial policies focused on capacity building, and large-scale investments in RD&D. If all the C&T bashers would turn their energy in that direction, we’d be having a much more productive conversation. Instead they’re echoing arguments from Exxon and Don Blankenship, vaguely hoping that if cap-and-trade is politically destroyed, a herd of ponies will thunder in to replace it. Once and for all: there are no ponies.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Emilio Rojas - The Natural [Mixtape]



So I was listening to my "Recently Added" playlist on my Ipod today, and every other song sounded like a new Talib Kweli album that I didn't remember downloading. I checked it out, and it was Emilio Rojas, a mixtape I had downloaded last week to check out. I'm gonna vouch for this guy. It is damn good. Learn is name, and download this mixtape.

The Natural, presented by DJ Green Lantern, has arrived. Mixtape is used loosely here, because this one plays like an LP. Production on the tape is handled by Keelay & Zaire, DJ Green Lantern, Sean C & LV, BOI-1DA, M-Phazes, Nottz, and more.

Download: Emilio Rojas - The Natural

The Story of Cap & Trade - Think It's Not a Financial Racket, Think Again

The Story of Cap & Trade from Story of Stuff Project on Vimeo.



While she's right about the problems, compromising to get the caps in place is the only solution that is negotiable, and will help the developing world with trading REDD credits.

BBC: Iran issues warning over UK yacht crew


BBC:
An Iranian official has said "serious" measures will be taken against a UK yacht crew if it is proved they had "evil intentions".

The five Britons are being detained by the Iranian navy after the Volvo 60 yacht was stopped on 25 November.

The Foreign Office said Luke Porter, Oliver Smith, David Bloomer, Oliver Young and Sam Usher may have "strayed inadvertently into Iranian waters".

The Team Pindar-backed yacht was sailing from Bahrain to Dubai.

Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaie, President Ahmadinejad's head of staff, told Iran's Fars news agency: "Judiciary will decide about the five... naturally our measures will be hard and serious if we find out they had evil intentions."

Foreign Secretary David Miliband said he was expecting the Iranians to make a statement later on Tuesday.



He also said he hoped the matter would be resolved "soon" and that there was "no confrontation or argument".

Mr Miliband said: "This is a human story of five young yachtsmen. It's got nothing to do with politics, it's got nothing to do with nuclear enrichment programmes... it has no relationship to any of the other, bigger issues."

He added: "They were going about their sport and it seems they may have strayed inadvertently into Iranian waters."

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) says it believes the five sailors are being held on the island of Sirri. It said it was seeking confirmation of this from the Iranian authorities. The sailors are understood to be safe and well.

The Iranian Ambassador is due to come to the Foreign Office later to meet with the FCO's top civil servant and permanent under secretary, Peter Ricketts.

Dubai-Muscat Offshore Race organisers said the crew of the Kingdom of Bahrain yacht, who were preparing for a race, may have been "drifting" after experiencing propeller problems.

Louay Habib, from the Dubai Offshore Sailing Club, told the BBC the shore crew for the boat had said "there was no wind at the time, and they told us that they were organising for a tow to come and get them".

He added: "It's purely speculation but they would have probably been drifting... in 10 hours they could well have strayed into Iranian waters."

David Young, said his 21-year-old son, Oliver, was a "fanatical yachtsman" with a great deal of experience and that he was certain his son would be able to "cope with this very well".

But Charles Porter, of Weston-super-Mare, who is the father of 21-year-old Luke, said he and his wife Beverley were concerned.

He said: "We are holding things together as a family at the moment. I haven't spoken to him since yesterday. He was as good as can be expected."

The fiancee of Sam Usher, 26, Nicola Drayton, said: "It's difficult but you just get on, you have no choice."

Of the remaining two captives, Mr Smith, 31, is an engineer from Southampton and his teammate Mr Bloomer is said to work as a sports broadcaster in Bahrain.

The FCO said the men had been on their way to take part in the Dubai-Muscat race.

The British Embassy in Tehran is demanding the immediate release of the five but has so far only had indirect contact with the crew members.

It is thought the Eid holiday could have delayed proceedings in Iran.

FCO officials have spoken with Iran's ministry of foreign affairs and the Iranian embassy in the UK, while Mr Miliband has asked for a phone conversation with his opposite number in Tehran.

The BBC's diplomatic correspondent Bridget Kendall said the FCO had wanted to keep the matter "private" in order to increase the chance of a resolution.

But after five days the details emerged and they had no option but to confirm the story.

Our correspondent said the timing was awkward, coming after the UK condemned Iran's plan to extend its nuclear programme.



The government feared Iran might see the detention as an opportunity for "extra leverage" in relation to the nuclear dispute, she added.

The 360-nautical mile Dubai-Muscat Offshore Sailing Race began on 26 November and ended two days later in the Omani capital's Bandar Al-Rawdah marina.

The Kingdom of Bahrain yacht is owned by the Sail Bahrain project, which aims to promote the island as a yachting destination and was recently launched by Team Pindar.

Team Pindar is owned by G A Pindar & Son Ltd, a family-owned print and publishing business based in Scarborough, North Yorkshire.

In a statement, Team Pindar confirmed Kingdom of Bahrain was stopped by Iranian navy vessels, as it headed to the start of the race.

It is not the first time British sailors have been detained after being accused of straying into Iranian waters.

In March 2007 there was a prolonged stand-off between the UK and Iran after a 15-strong Royal Navy crew was detained by Iran's Revolutionary Guard.

And in 2004, eight British servicemen were held in Iran after being seized in the Shatt al-Arab waterway, where they were training the Iraqi river patrol service.

In both instances, the crews were paraded on television by the Iranian authorities and Bridget Kendall said British diplomats are worried it might happen again in the latest case.

IRAN'S MARITIME CLAIMS
# In 1993 Iran informed the UN of its claims over a territorial sea, a contiguous zone and an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) extending to the continental shelf. Territorial sea: Iran claims sovereignty over a belt of sea, measured 12 nautical miles from its baseline. This extends to the air space above it as well as to its bed and subsoil
# Contiguous zone: An area adjacent to the territorial sea with an outer limit of 24 nautical miles from the baseline. The Iranian government claims the right to take steps to prevent the infringement of laws and regulations
# EEZ and the continental shelf boundary: Within the EEZ, which extends out to the continental shelf line, Iran claims exclusive rights to all natural resources, research and the building of structures. Source: Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, US Department of State