New Diary/Blog

My new Diary/Blog address is: http://www.ottmarliebert.com/diary/
The new RSS feed is: feed:http://www.ottmarliebert.com/diary/?feed=rss2

Please make note of it.

Diary

Blogger has been acting up for days now. I think it is their FTP process. In the meantime you can check ottmarliebert.com/diary for news.

MySpace 2

Warning - MySpace Music accounts are for MUSICIANS. Uploading songs you do not own is a violation of the artist's copyrights and against the law. If you upload songs you do not own, you account will be deleted.

If you would like to show support for a musical group or artist, create a fan club in our GROUP section here.

These are the rules posted on MySpace. I am guessing that the person who set up the Ottmar Liebert MySpace account, let's call him E., pretended to be me in order to get a free musician's account on MySpace. I believe that his intention was simply to let people hear my music and send them to my web site. I had no problem with that and did not contact MySpace, but either somebody else protested or the MySpace police found out that Ottmar Liebert on MySpace was a fan site and not a musician's site and deleted the account yesterday evening. I then opted to claim a new account in my name before someone else did.

To tell you the truth, I am not sure what to do with the new MySpace account. I do not want to take the time to update it often, and I don't want to deal with adding friends, which seems to be a really big deal on MySpace: how many friends do You have?

In any case, I am leaning towards putting up a couple of photos and some music and otherwise just linking to this Diary. Of course, if I had kept my big mouth shut, E. would still be taking care of the Ottmar Liebert MySpace and this chain of events would not have happened. Silence is golden.

Thunder

Incredible thunder storm yesterday evening. It must have been right above my house at some point. The bass-tone of the thunder was a loud rumble and actually shook the wall. It was so surprising and such a powerful physical sensation that I thought that lightning might have hit one of the trees, but it was just thunder - very near. Beautiful. Sublime.

MySpace

www.myspace.com/ottmarliebert
Apparently there is a myspace account in my name and I have lots of friends...
One of the commentators is getting irritated with me -

5/28/2006 1:22 AM - I asked you a question. How about a reply?

- when it should be pretty obvious that I have nothing to do with this... besides allowing it to exist.

South Africa

Treehugger: South Africa To Phase Out Incandescent Bulbs
South Africa has plans to phase out certain types of incandescent bulbs and replace them with more efficient compact fluorescent bulbs. Malebo Mahape, a spokeperson for the Minerals and Energy Department, said the project would first be looking to phase out more readily replaceable bulbs like the 60 watt and 100 watt incandescent bulbs currently widely used in South Africa.

Impressive.

Mouth

Cambodia
Originally uploaded by Upaya.
Joan Halifax Roshi is uploading wonderful photos.

060606

Today is Tuesday, the sixth day of the sixth month of the sixth year of the 21st century. Nice symmetry.

Wikipedia has the exact CMYK color coordinates for the Yves Klein Blue. Nice. Will go to the paint store and ask them to mix some for the door of the studio... I remember looking at Yves Klein's paintings at the Museum Ludwig in Cologne for hours when I was a teenager. This blue has amazing depth - like a blue hole in the canvas that leads... somewhere else... Of course, any paint that I can buy will look different because the secret of the IKB is how the pigment is attached to the canvas. No oil or water, which would dillute the power of the pigment, is used and the process is patented...

Right Hand

I have been using Onymyrrhe on the nails of my right hand and have changed the way I reinforce them with krazyglue and acrylic powder. The link is to the least expensive vendor I could find for the Onymyrrhe nail fortifier and strengthener.

I am now only covering the bottom 1/3 to 1/2 of my right-hand nails with krazyglue and acrylic powder. That allows me to apply the Onymyrrhe to the root of the nail every day. The nails do indeed seem to grow faster, although it is hard to compare because I was in Cancun for three days last week and higher humidity makes nails grow faster as well.

In any case, I performed the gig there with my new nail technique and it worked fine. I do think that this new technique will be healthier for my nails in the long run. (photo will follow at some point)

digital downloads warning

BBC NEWS | Technology | MPs in digital downloads warning
Consumers should be told exactly what they can and cannot do with songs and films they buy online, says an influential group of MPs in the UK. The All Party Parliamentary Internet Group looked at how copy protection systems restrict the way digital movies and music can be enjoyed. Labels on digital content should spell out how easy it is to move from gadget to gadget, said the report.

Right on!

PNM Sky Blue

PNM Sky Blue (tm): Wind Energy for New Mexico | Electricity Power
I signed up for Sky Blue from PNM. This means that 90% (maximum amount available) of my monthly elctric consumption will come from New Mexico Wind Energy.

This link has information by state on companies that sell electricity from renewable sources: epa.gov/greenpower/locator/
thanks marijose

Save the Internet

YouTube - Save the Internets
The internet is under attack by huge telecoms like AT&T. Do Americans care? Musicians like Moby care because your ability to download and listen to music from iTunes and videos from youtube could be in jeopardy. The only way to save the internet from these big companies is through NET NEUTRALITY. Watch this video to see Moby bring the issue of NET NEUTRALITY to Congress...

Monday

Dropped my Prius off at the dealer because the main screen, where everything happens, was going in and out. New part had to be ordered, but car is running fine - I discovered the problem on the way to Albuquerque last Wednesday. Apparently Toyota is aware of the problem.

Jon and I listened to Transit2 today. Wow!

Canton's Flickr

Useful Links

Travel Calculator by NativeEnergy, who carbon-neutralized the movie Syriana

Here is another Carbon calculator.

Here is a handy list of air distances for calculating your carbon from flights - the impact of my flights to and from Australia in July is so large that I am creating more carbon than the average American this year, which I will offset of course!

Carbonfund.org

Popular Science Blog

Popular Science Blog - It’s Pretty Easy Being Green
After going to see Al Gore and the makers of his film, An Inconvenient Truth, speak about the global-warming crisis last week, I was inspired to make some changes to my own energy-consumption habits.

Planet

An Inconvenient Truth - Google Video
Trailer for the movie.

Cancun, Mexico

Cancun, Mexico - a photoset on Flickr
A slideshow of photos I took in Cancun the last couple of days.

Tuesday

Long day. Rehearsal with the quartet (sounded great), then packing up gear, then filling out forms for New Zealand in July. Afterwards I called and cancelled my AT+T long distance service. Just a small gesture, but something I wanted to do. In a little while: another 7 phone interviews with media in Australia, followed by packing my personal bags since we are leaving Santa Fe in the early morning hours. I won't bring my laptop and will be out of touch until Saturday morning. Oh, and I added more live videos to YouTube - see the LINKS on the right side of this Diary.

The Debate is Over

WorldChanging: Another World Is Here: The Debate is Over
This is the way the debate ends: not with a bang but a press availability. President Bush today in a backhand way admitted that climate change is here, but said we shouldn't get caught up in discussion about what is causing it and instead focus on solutions:

'And in my judgment we need to set aside whether or not greenhouse gases have been caused by mankind or because of natural effects and focus on the technologies that will enable us to live better lives and at the same time protect the environment.'

We're all about solutions, of course, but this is no time to ignore science, because, as this Op-Ed notes, scientists are saying that none of the solutions we're yet considering are even vaguely on a par with the magnitude of the threat we face.

Hotness

David Byrne Journal: 5.28.06: Ally G and Global Hotness
Example: Here is Florida (green part) after a 6 meter rise in water level (Greenland ice sheet slips off, as it seems to be doing frighteningly quickly). Maybe that Miami real estate wasn’t such a good idea?

David Byrne watched An Inconvenient Truth and offers thoughts on Global Warming.

Climate

NASA - Impact of Climate Warming on Polar Ice Sheets Confirmed
In the most comprehensive survey ever undertaken of the massive ice sheets covering both Greenland and Antarctica, NASA scientists confirm climate warming is changing how much water remains locked in Earth's largest storehouse of ice and snow.

Thanks V.

Deserts creeping closer

Deserts may be creeping closer to cities - Yahoo! News
Moving the jet streams farther from the equator could disrupt storm patterns, as well as intensify individual storms on the poleward side of the jet streams, said lead author Qiang Fu, a University of Washington atmospheric scientist.

In Europe, for example, that shift could mean less snow falling on the Alps in winter. That would be bad news for skiers, as well as for farmers and others who rely on rivers fed by snowmelt.

'This definitely favors or enhances the frequency of droughts,' Fu said of such a shift.

New Quartet Rehearsals

Today we had the first rehearsal of the new quartet with Jon Gagan, Dave Bryant and Stephen Duros. It sounded wonderful. Stephen adds a great voice to the band and I am looking forward to re-visiting some of the classic material with him.

Walking

I did a lot of walking last week. A friend was in town from Europe and the evenings were so balmy that we walked everywhere. On Saturday we had dinner at the Santacafe, where I took the above photo. It's the former well of the building, covered with a sheet of acrylic or glass... we sat right next to the well and enjoyed the patrons' reactions when they had to walk across or step over the hole...

Neue Leipziger Schule

SITE Santa Fe: Exhibitions
In December 2000, a group of five recent graduates of the prestigious Leipzig Art Academy organized a small exhibition of their works in Leipzig in former East Germany. Unsurprisingly, the exhibition attracted no notice from the international contemporary art community. From that humble beginning, the “New Leipzig School” has expanded to a dozen artists and grown to be an international phenomenon.

Went to see this exhibit on Friday and two painters in particular are amazing. Here is Bretter by David Schnell:

and Container by Tim Eitel:

The paintings look wonderful in the large and tall spaces of the Site Santa Fe building. If you are going to be in Sante Fe sometime soon, I highly recommend a visit.

Touring Schedule

You can find our Touring Schedule by going to the LINKS section on the right side of this Diary - above the Treehugger link and below The Long Now link.

cocteau on Flickr

cocteau on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
After listening to 'Cocteau' on Ottmar Liebert Luna Negra's 'La Semana' I remembered this vase( stored in a closet) I picked up while living in London during the 80's Treat yourself to the artful limited edition version of 'La Semana'. It is an original and outstanding work.

Nice Vase!!