Musical prodigies are astounding. This girl is five years old:
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Open thread 6/18/2025 — 13 Comments
I was maybe twelve. Learned the scales, both hands. Took about a week. If somebody would point out Middle C so I could start. Figured I was meant for something else.
The ever brilliant Thomas Sowell weighs in as an American and economist. As a Californian who will be paying 65 cents more per gallon as of 7/1, compliments of a legislature pursuing the climate/environment hoax, we can look forward to a triple crunch, seeing as one of the big refineries is leaving the state due to overeach of regulations. We are in fixed construction contracts, so profits will take a dive while prices on the homefront will rise. I wish the average voter understood some of this.
Supreme Court rules the Tennessee law prohibiting sex change medical procedures for children does not violate the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and therefore the law can be enforced.
Child prodigies can go further in “pure” or “abstract” fields divorced from lived experience.
Like instrumental classical music.
OTOH Youtube has masterclasses that show artists coaching young opera/theater singers. When the coaching leaves technique and turns to interpretation, it sometimes fails abjectly due to lack of real-life experience… most of these people are not yet married, to say nothing of kids… maybe the musical theatre students have hustled at waiting tables or other jobs, but not the conservatory grads.
I remember one example from the great Joyce DiDonato’s masterclasses at Julliard. A young bass was trying to sing Sarastro’s aria “In diesen heil’gen hallen”… Dramatically the character – a philosopher-warrior-king – must comfort the daughter of the evil Queen of the Night, and explain he does not seek vengeance… but it’s really a Western humanist manifesto wrapped in an aria.
He just couldn’t get it.
DiDonato tried everything from her extensive bag of techniques… breath work… character analysis… say it in your own words… She brought a female singer from the audience and had him sing to her… nothing.
He never did “get” the song… and therefore could not put it over. Because he had not lived enough to understand the dramatic situation, and the intellectual/philosophical argument being made.
Extraordinary dexterity and coordination for someone so young. Elegant performance.
That little girl has my prayers and sympathy. Being a child prodigy is very often a bad thing.
Another report on Boelter’s travels.
It’s amazing what people can find out about you.
Don’t take your phone if you don’t want anyone to know.
\https://www.zerohedge.com/political/suspected-political-assassin-tracked-high-risk-countries-rising-red-flags
@ Art Deco > “Democratic pols bullying a local government into raping productive people minding their own business in order to manufacture benefits for the well-connected”
Kelo v. City of New London did not establish entirely new law concerning eminent domain. Although the decision was controversial, it was not the first time “public use” had been interpreted by the Supreme Court as “public purpose.” In the majority opinion, Justice Stevens wrote the “Court long ago rejected any literal requirement that condemned property be put into use for the general public” (545 U.S. 469). Thus, precedent played an important role in the 5–4 decision of the Supreme Court. The Fifth Amendment was interpreted the same way as in Midkiff (467 U.S. 229) and other earlier eminent domain cases.
…
Dissenting opinions
The principal dissent was issued on June 25, 2005, by Justice O’Connor, joined by Chief Justice Rehnquist and Justices Scalia and Thomas. The dissenting opinion suggested that the use of this taking power in a reverse Robin Hood fashion—take from the poor, give to the rich—would become the norm, not the exception:
Any property may now be taken for the benefit of another private party, but the fallout from this decision will not be random. The beneficiaries are likely to be those citizens with disproportionate influence and power in the political process, including large corporations and development firms.[26]
O’Connor argued that the decision eliminates “any distinction between private and public use of property—and thereby effectively delete[s] the words ‘for public use’ from the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment.”[27]
Thomas also issued a separate originalist dissent, in which he argued that the precedents the court’s decision relied upon were flawed. He accuses the majority of replacing the Fifth Amendment’s “Public Use” clause with a very different “public purpose” test:
This deferential shift in phraseology enables the Court to hold, against all common sense, that a costly urban-renewal project whose stated purpose is a vague promise of new jobs and increased tax revenue, but which is also suspiciously agreeable to the Pfizer Corporation, is for a ‘public use.'[28]
Thomas additionally observed:
Something has gone seriously awry with this Court’s interpretation of the Constitution. Though citizens are safe from the government in their homes, the homes themselves are not.[29]
Thomas also made use of the argument presented in the NAACP/AARP/SCLC/SJLS amicus brief on behalf of three low-income residents’ groups fighting redevelopment in New Jersey, noting:
Allowing the government to take property solely for public purposes is bad enough, but extending the concept of public purpose to encompass any economically beneficial goal guarantees that these losses will fall disproportionately on poor communities. Those communities are not only systematically less likely to put their lands to the highest and best social use, but are also the least politically powerful.[30]
I think we’ve seen what happens when promises of one type are made without any accountability.
In spite of repeated efforts, the redeveloper (who stood to get a 91-acre (370,000 m2) waterfront tract of land for $1 per year)[citation needed] was unable to obtain financing, and the redevelopment project was abandoned. As of the beginning of 2010, the original Kelo property was a vacant lot, generating no tax revenue for the city.[3]
…
The final cost to the city and state for the purchase and bulldozing of the formerly privately held property was $78 million.[41] The promised 3,169 new jobs and $1.2 million a year in tax revenues had not materialized. As of 2021, the area remains an empty lot.
There were some good results: several states passed legislation blocking such land grabs. This may also the last time conservatives agreed with some leftist groups: “Opposition to the ruling was widespread, coming from groups such as AARP, the NAACP, the Libertarian Party, and the Institute for Justice.[citation needed] The American Conservative Union condemned the decision”
The NY Times and WaPo thought the case was correctly decided.
Such tiny hands on the young pianist! She did pick a Chopin piece that doesn’t depend much on a huge hand-span. Here’s the Ashkenazy rendition: https://youtu.be/TgYNxdBseBc?si=wvFZETaYOKsnnEMS
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I was maybe twelve. Learned the scales, both hands. Took about a week. If somebody would point out Middle C so I could start. Figured I was meant for something else.
The ever brilliant Thomas Sowell weighs in as an American and economist. As a Californian who will be paying 65 cents more per gallon as of 7/1, compliments of a legislature pursuing the climate/environment hoax, we can look forward to a triple crunch, seeing as one of the big refineries is leaving the state due to overeach of regulations. We are in fixed construction contracts, so profits will take a dive while prices on the homefront will rise. I wish the average voter understood some of this.
https://youtu.be/QTOhFu7RfaU?si=KG4-7kCiwhLPn69a
Supreme Court rules the Tennessee law prohibiting sex change medical procedures for children does not violate the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and therefore the law can be enforced.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/scotus-rules-state-ban-gender-transition-treatments-minors-landmark-case
Child prodigies can go further in “pure” or “abstract” fields divorced from lived experience.
Like instrumental classical music.
OTOH Youtube has masterclasses that show artists coaching young opera/theater singers. When the coaching leaves technique and turns to interpretation, it sometimes fails abjectly due to lack of real-life experience… most of these people are not yet married, to say nothing of kids… maybe the musical theatre students have hustled at waiting tables or other jobs, but not the conservatory grads.
I remember one example from the great Joyce DiDonato’s masterclasses at Julliard. A young bass was trying to sing Sarastro’s aria “In diesen heil’gen hallen”… Dramatically the character – a philosopher-warrior-king – must comfort the daughter of the evil Queen of the Night, and explain he does not seek vengeance… but it’s really a Western humanist manifesto wrapped in an aria.
He just couldn’t get it.
DiDonato tried everything from her extensive bag of techniques… breath work… character analysis… say it in your own words… She brought a female singer from the audience and had him sing to her… nothing.
He never did “get” the song… and therefore could not put it over. Because he had not lived enough to understand the dramatic situation, and the intellectual/philosophical argument being made.
Extraordinary dexterity and coordination for someone so young. Elegant performance.
Thats is remarkable child prodigy?
https://www.theblaze.com/news/phone-associated-with-accused-assassins-home-traveled-to-dubai-nepal-india-and-turkey-report-says?
Back of the book section
https://pjmedia.com/sarah-anderson/2025/06/18/who-are-the-henrys-and-why-is-the-government-stealing-their-property-n4940917
==
Another example, in case you needed one, of Democratic pols bullying a local government into raping productive people minding their own business in order to manufacture benefits for the well-connected. Remember, ‘affordable housing’ is ‘awardable housing’.
that thin line between clever and stupid has been erased,
https://x.com/EricLDaugh/status/1935432515382034815
i’m beginning to think fargo was the optimum view of law enforcement up there,
https://x.com/EricLDaugh/status/1935397044895822050
That little girl has my prayers and sympathy. Being a child prodigy is very often a bad thing.
Another report on Boelter’s travels.
It’s amazing what people can find out about you.
Don’t take your phone if you don’t want anyone to know.
\https://www.zerohedge.com/political/suspected-political-assassin-tracked-high-risk-countries-rising-red-flags
@ Art Deco > “Democratic pols bullying a local government into raping productive people minding their own business in order to manufacture benefits for the well-connected”
Kelo lives on.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelo_v._City_of_New_London
(internal quotes not marked)
I think we’ve seen what happens when promises of one type are made without any accountability.
There were some good results: several states passed legislation blocking such land grabs. This may also the last time conservatives agreed with some leftist groups: “Opposition to the ruling was widespread, coming from groups such as AARP, the NAACP, the Libertarian Party, and the Institute for Justice.[citation needed] The American Conservative Union condemned the decision”
The NY Times and WaPo thought the case was correctly decided.
Such tiny hands on the young pianist! She did pick a Chopin piece that doesn’t depend much on a huge hand-span. Here’s the Ashkenazy rendition: https://youtu.be/TgYNxdBseBc?si=wvFZETaYOKsnnEMS