Saturdau Sounds - Trey Anastasio - 2025/03/12 - Kodal Hall, Rochester, NY

This week's musical treat showcases the quieter side of Trey Anastasio, the guitarist for Phish, a band that I like very much and have seen live and listenned to extensively. He's currently on tour playing a series of solo (almost) acoustic concerts and here is one of them, from Rochester, NY earlier this month. 

I said "almost" solo because he's accompanied on a few songs by pianist Jeff Tanksi. Trey is perhaps not quite as accomplished on acoustic guitar as he is on the electric guitar that he plays during Phish shows, but he's more than capable of carrying a solo concert. It also shines a new light on some of the material that he performs with Phish and his own band. 

The performance was captured from a stationary camera just in front of the stage. I am not sure if it's a soundboard or audience recording but the quality is very good and quite listenable. I like it more than I expected to and I hope you enjoy it. 

The USA versus Canada 4

For bloggers like me, the Trump administration is the gift that keeps on giving. There's always something new and exciting to write about. It looks like the current clash between the US and Canada over trade, immigration, and geopolitics is not going away so I'm adding a blog topic, Canada - US, and will likely be posting every week or two about it, depending on events.

Jim Cuddy: "We Used To Be the Best of Friends"

So here's this week's installment.

• What are the impacts of a Canadian election dominated by the man in the White House? "U.S. President Trump is poised to be the top ballot box issue with the Canadian federal election campaign underway."
• Canada Just Checked Trump’s Ego: Carney’s Super-Corridor Sets Stage for a Global Power Shift Without America. "The Maple Curtain Drops: Carney’s Corridor will turn Canada into a Global Superpower as America Watches Helplessly." The author is more optimistic about Canada's future prospects than I am, but it's clear that the US is headed for a period of decline (at the very least) and Canada is well poised to take advantage of that. 
• A Hostile Northern Border. "The idea that Canada is making defense-adjacent security agreements for the purposes of excluding the U.S. is simply unimaginable. And yet it’s happening. Because the United States made it necessary."
• I traded my U.S. medical career for life in Canada. Here’s how the two health systems stack up. "After more than a decade practicing emergency medicine in the United States, I very recently began working shifts in Canada. The differences hit me immediately, and are profound."
• Stanley from Yale to Toronto. "Jason Stanley, currently professor of philosophy at Yale University, will be moving to the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto (with a partial appointment in Toronto’s Department of Philosophy)." In a moment of sychronicity, he is being interviewed by CBC Radio as I type this. 
• Airline Demand Between Canada & United States Collapses, Down 70%+. This is going to have a big impact on US locations that rely on Canadian tourism. 
• With talk of a 51st state, a mystery: Why is Trump obsessed with Canada? (gift link) "Canadians say President Trump’s 51st-state rhetoric is a threat to national security. They’re also perplexed by the origin of his vision for Canadian annexation."

Elections Canada Resource to Combat Election Disinformation

Elections Canada has introduced a resource called ElectoFacts to helo counter misinformation and disinformation about elections and the electoral system. In their press release, they say:

To counter misinformation and disinformation about our electoral process, Elections Canada now flags incorrect information and narratives, and responds by providing accurate information and sources.

'ElectoFacts' is part of Elections Canada's overall efforts to give Canadians the information they need to participate in federal elections. Canadians should have easily accessible and accurate information about the federal electoral process and the safeguards in place to protect it, directly from the source.

The site shows inaccurate or misleading information commonly observed by Elections Canada with accurate information placed beside it.  

This is a good initiative on the part of the government and I hope it gets widely publicized.

 

Featured Links - March 24, 2025

Links to things I found interesting but didn't want to do a full blog post about.

The of winter's snow (I hope)

• American Democracy is not in Decline, it's Dead. "We need to get beyond our own disbelief at how quickly the Trump regime has dismantled the vestiges of a liberal democratic order and implemented an authoritarian regime. We need to recognize reality for what it is. It is no longer appropriate to speak of the United States as a democracy under assault from within, or in decline. The United States is no longer a democracy."
• How Should We Think About the Economics of AI? A conversation between economists Erik Brynjolfsson and Paul Krugman. This is quite interesting. 
• What to know about the bird flu outbreak in wild birds and what it means for backyard bird feeders. "Take precautions around sick or dead wild birds, experts recommend. But you can keep your bird feeder up. Despite the spread in birds and other wild animals, scientists say the threat to the general population is currently low."
• Democrats Fighting Wrong Battle Because Trump Is a Symptom of a Huge Societal Problem. "Basically the Democratic Party needs to focus on how to make people's lives better. Some of that involves regulating technology--like banning the use of artificial intelligence in the college admissions process, banning the posting of fake jobs, prohibiting the use of AI to review cover letters and resumes, perhaps putting hard caps on the percentages of international students at American Universities, limiting the use of H1B Visas, and on encouraging people to disconnect."
• Stupidification. "It's getting worser." A light take on a serious problem.
• The Language of Surrender. "How Euphemism and Distortion Are Making Resistance to Authoritarianism Unspeakable."
• ‘All the birds returned’: How a Chinese project led the way in water and soil conservation. "The Loess plateau was the most eroded place on Earth until China took action and reversed decades of damage from grazing and farming."
• You Can Remove DRM From Your Digital Books, but It's Probably Illegal. "There should be a legal way to back up the books and audiobooks you've purchased."
• 'The universe has thrown us a curveball': Largest-ever map of space reveals we might have gotten dark energy totally wrong. "Findings from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) suggest that dark energy could be evolving over time. If they're right, cosmology will need a new model."
• These identical house designs could soon appear all over Ontario. It's a small step in dragging the construction industry kicking and screaming into the 21st century. 

 

Photo of the Week - March 23, 2025

I took this photo while walking in my neighbourhood. I remain fascinated by the fractal patterns of tree branches reaching for the sun. Taken with my Pixel 8 Pro. 

Tree branches reaching for the sun

 

Saturday Sounds - Philadelphia Folk Festival - 1970 and 1981

This week's musical treat consists of two videos of the Philadelphia Folk Festival. 

The first video is from 1970 and was produced by a small community TV station, WITF-TV, in Harrisburg, PA. It features a large roster of performers, many of whose names I don't recognize. Those that I do know are: John Hartford, John Denver, Oscar Brand, Dave Van Ronk, Bruce "Utah" Phillips, Rosalie Sorrels, Fairport Convention, David Bromberg, Tom Paxton, Doc & Merle Watson, Kate McGarrigle, Allan Fraser & Daisy DeBolt, “Mississippi” Fred McDowell, and Steve Goodman. That quite a list and this is a real treasure for folk music fans. The video quality is surprisingly good for 1970 and the audio is fine.

 

The second video of the Philadelphia Folk Festival in 1981. It was produced by WHYY-TV in Philadelphia and includes performances by, among others:  Richie Havens, Tom Rush, Theodore Bikel, Jonathan Edwards, Dave Van Ronk, The Battlefield Band, Robin & Linda Williams, and Riders in the Sky and is hosted by Oscar Brand. Video and audio are comparable to the 1970 video. 

 

 If anyone knows of more of these, please leave a comment. 

More on Disinformation

It's time for another post with links to articles about disinformation and misinformation. There's been a lot of it recently. 

Vitamin A and Measles: What the data show (and how to talk about it). "RFK Jr. and a new form of germ theory denialism." Bad information about diseases can kill. 

Madonna, Extreme Weather and Disinformation. "There is a connection." No, Madonna did not cause extreme weather in Brazil despite what some conspiracy theorists would have you believe.

Measles Is One Of The Most Contagious Diseases On Earth. "With the Trump administration suppressing public health information, here's what you need to know."

Bogeymen and Trojan Horses. "How to identify and call out Trump and Musk’s fascist tactics." The amount of disinformation spewing from the mouths of these two people is truly staggering. Knowing their tactics can help you avoid it.

The Emperor’s New Philosophy. "Of drunkards, lampposts and economic doctrines." How to understand what Trump is saying about the economy really means. 

Canada’s greatest vulnerability is disinformation, and we have no defence for it. (archive link) "Targeting our population with content normalizing the idea of absorbing Canada aims to destabilize our institutions and sap our will to resist. It exploits intergenerational conflict, denigrates our history and culture, and makes America seem like the land of endless opportunity. The aim, after a couple of years of bombarding social media and torquing its algorithms, is to make us believe joining the U.S. isn’t much of a leap."

As Pope Francis Ails, Outlandish Rumors Run Wild (gift link). "Audio, a photo, medical reports: The truth may be out there, but when it comes to the health of the pontiff, many people prefer more fanciful tales."