Saturday, August 02, 2008
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Thirty Years Under Headphones
I have made friends with the cicadas blaring in my ears.I hear them everywhere, and apparently so do a lot of other people.....
CHICAGO (Reuters) - One of three U.S. adults already suffers from some degree of hearing loss and the use of personal stereos and an aging population may create a hearing impairment epidemic, researchers said on Monday.
A team at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore estimated that 55 million Americans have hearing loss in one or both ears, with men, whites and the least-educated most affected.
One out of six, or 29 million adults, have some trouble discerning speech, more than previous estimates, they reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
"The prevalence of hearing loss in the United States is predicted to rise significantly because of an aging population and the growing use of personal listening devices. Indeed, there is concern that we may be facing an epidemic of hearing impairment," Dr. Yuri Agrawal of the Baltimore hospital wrote.
It is common for people to ignore or disavow hearing loss, the researchers said, leading to difficulty communicating that can result in productivity problems at work, depression, and less access to health care that ultimately raises the risk of sickness and death.
Hearing loss is common among people 70 and older, according to the report. But hearing loss also affected 8.5 percent of those in their 20s and 17 percent of people in their 30s. Exposure to workplace noise, firearms, and loud music were all risk factors.
Assessing health information collected from 5,700 Americans aged 20 to 69 years between 1999 and 2004 in the federal National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, Agrawal and colleagues found men were twice as likely as women (21 percent versus 11 percent) to have speech-frequency hearing loss in one or both ears.
Whites were more than twice as prone to hearing loss than blacks, and those with less education were more at risk than those who completed high school or beyond.
Also dramatically increasing the chances of hearing loss were smoking, high blood pressure and diabetes.
Screening for hearing loss should begin in young adulthood, particularly for vulnerable groups, Agrawal concluded.
CHICAGO (Reuters) - One of three U.S. adults already suffers from some degree of hearing loss and the use of personal stereos and an aging population may create a hearing impairment epidemic, researchers said on Monday.
A team at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore estimated that 55 million Americans have hearing loss in one or both ears, with men, whites and the least-educated most affected.
One out of six, or 29 million adults, have some trouble discerning speech, more than previous estimates, they reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
"The prevalence of hearing loss in the United States is predicted to rise significantly because of an aging population and the growing use of personal listening devices. Indeed, there is concern that we may be facing an epidemic of hearing impairment," Dr. Yuri Agrawal of the Baltimore hospital wrote.
It is common for people to ignore or disavow hearing loss, the researchers said, leading to difficulty communicating that can result in productivity problems at work, depression, and less access to health care that ultimately raises the risk of sickness and death.
Hearing loss is common among people 70 and older, according to the report. But hearing loss also affected 8.5 percent of those in their 20s and 17 percent of people in their 30s. Exposure to workplace noise, firearms, and loud music were all risk factors.
Assessing health information collected from 5,700 Americans aged 20 to 69 years between 1999 and 2004 in the federal National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, Agrawal and colleagues found men were twice as likely as women (21 percent versus 11 percent) to have speech-frequency hearing loss in one or both ears.
Whites were more than twice as prone to hearing loss than blacks, and those with less education were more at risk than those who completed high school or beyond.
Also dramatically increasing the chances of hearing loss were smoking, high blood pressure and diabetes.
Screening for hearing loss should begin in young adulthood, particularly for vulnerable groups, Agrawal concluded.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Sucker; As In Hook Line And...
Yesterday, I stopped into my friend Tom's record store ("Now Hear This" and the last of a dying breed I must say) and found this:Now, I have owned this on LP, cassette, CD, Remastered CD and:
So, as an early addition to the Monday Night Music Club, this is our weekly selection. One filler, the rest higher than most could ever get. Billy sounded like he wasn't even trying. Piano Man was three years before and Mr. Joel was rumoured to have been under a bit of pressure to write a hit album. I'll put the first eight songs on this album with anyone's work. So now I am the proud owner of.....
1. A remastered (again) CD of the original album
2. Live at Carnegie Hall June 3, 1977
3. DVD of promotional videos, a concert at The Old Grey Whistle Test from 3/78 and a 30 minute documentary on the making of "The Stranger" featuring new interviews with Billy and Phil Ramone
That's along with various librettos and a notebook that Billy was writing in while putting the album together. It's got hand written lyrics, doodles and other interesting stuff. "Anthony's Song" was written about a neighborhood in New York. "The Stranger" is a masterpiece. "Just The Way You Are" reminds me of the overnight show on WQUA Moline and KSTT Davenport, RIGHT Before I got to KC. "Scenes From An Italian Restaurant" is his "Stairway to Heaven", "Vienna" is damn close to my favorite on the record. "Only The Good Die Young" nuff said. "She's Always A Woman" was one of the underlooked classics in his career. "Get It Right The First Time" is a sweet funky number that Liberty DeVito shows his chops. "Everybody Has A Dream" is there. Meh.
One side note, while attending Farm Aid in 1986, John Mellencamp's drummer Kenny Aranoff was backstage cussing the hell out of Liberty DeVito because Billy Joel went on before Mellencamp and DeVito had busted every one Aranoff's drum heads while using his kit. Now that's playing them hard!!!
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