[Rhodes22-list] Investment Advice

Steven Alm stevenalm at gmail.com
Thu Dec 11 16:26:34 EST 2008


Brad,

Pretty interesting article except I don't get how/why it's attributed to
Oswald Spengler who died in 1936.  Asia Times also has Spengler writing
about Obama and Pope Benedict. (?)  A Spengler offspring?

I'm not surprised that Chinese piano students outnumber Americans by such a
wide margin.  Just walk the halls of practice studios of any music school
and it seems every other one is Asian.  I don't agree however with
"Spengler" that only "elite" American parents nudge their kids toward
music.

Funny, I hated piano lessons when I was a kid.  That's not to say I didn't
love music but I rebelled against the structure and the discipline.  How
very American of me!  But somehow I managed to get through lessons on the
sax, drums, trumpet and cello.  Where I excelled the most as a teen was on
the guitar--no lessons, just self-taught.  I decided that guitar players
were chick magnets so I practiced my ass off.

"The Summer of '69" by Bryan Adams sums it up:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuf2YtXs7ak

I'll also mention that all "accomplished" players have a more than normal
amount of obsessive/compulsive syndrome.  It takes a lot of OCS to sit there
and play one little phrase over and over and over until you get it right and
then play it over and over some more.   It also takes a lot of patience to
live with some one who does that every day!   8-)

Anyway, we music teachers have known for years that music students do better
on tests, period.  The study of a musical instrument does good things for
the brain especially in youngsters.  Brain dendrites are the "branches" or
"fingers" that connect one part of the brain to others.  Dendrites are key
to cross-disciplinary understanding.  For example connecting micro-motor
skills with aesthetics.  Studying music has been shown to speed up the
growth of dendrites in children.  We've been trying to get that across to
school boards and legislators for years but they keep cutting our funding.

Right now I have about a dozen college-age piano students and I have to say
they're developing noticeably slower than the fifth and sixth graders I used
to teach.  (A side note:  one of my students is Asian and is doing no better
than the rest--but then again he's American and not Chinese)  I would never
dissuade any adult from starting piano lessons but they would have been much
better off making that choice a lot earlier.

Class dismissed.

Mr. Slim

On Thu, Dec 11, 2008 at 7:49 AM, Brad Haslett <flybrad at gmail.com> wrote:

> Bill,
>
> The thing about Wal-Mart money going to China gets worse -
>
> http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/JL02Ad01.html
>
> I posted the link instead of the story because there's so many good
> links buried within the story.  Slim, you listening?  Go East Young
> Man!
>
> Brad
>
> On Wed, Dec 10, 2008 at 6:05 PM, Bill Effros <bill at effros.com> wrote:
> > *''The federal government is sending each of us a $600 rebate. If we
> > spend that money at Wal-Mart, the money goes to China . If we spend it
> > on gasoline it goes to the Arabs. If we buy a computer it will go to
> India.
> > If we purchase fruit and vegetables it will go to Mexico , Honduras and
> > Guatemala . If we purchase a good car it will go to Germany . If we
> > purchase useless crap it will go to Taiwan and none of it will help the
> > American economy. The only way to keep that money here at home is to
> > spend it on prostitutes and beer, since these are the only products
> > still produced in US. I've been doing my part."
> >
> > Bill Effros
> > *
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