and snowed.  and snowed.  and more is predicted this week.  but don’t listen to people who tell you that there’s nothing to do when it snows.  i perfected the fine art of the snow angel!

hallelujah!

so what does it take?  a perfect fall…

as illustrated by eric's graceful fall into the snow

followed by…

strong and intentional flapping of the appendages. thank god for pilates...

and then, the tricky part.  the dismount…one must spring from the ground without creating any disturbances in the already formed snow angel.  this is the tough part.  but it helps if you make a face like this…

perfect joe!

and that, my friends, is how you stay sane when you’re snowed in for 36 hours!  well, relatively sane…

Sten and Lex getting up in Rome! This video reveals a bit about their process. Check out more of Sten’s work by clicking HERE!

In the UK the train was usually my last and reluctant choice, though the UK performance isn’t too bad, after all, 90% of British trains arrive on time.

In Switzerland the equivalent is 98% of trains.

But that 8% difference !

Considering a trip from Lindenpark, Zug, to Basel?

 The journey time by train is one hour and thirty-six minutes.  Although this is eighteen minutes longer than the average Zug/Basel journey by car, me and Heidi would always take the train.

Check out the risky connection intervals.

There are only 10 minutes between the arrival of the Zug train at 10.19, and the departure of the Luzern connection 10.29.

…and  just 5 minutes between the arrival of the 10.49 Luzern train and the departure of the Basel train. Yikes!

But even gaps of 2 0r 3 minutes are comfy to the Swiss. You may not be able to set your watch to the trains in Heidiland anymore, but that’s only because the electronic watches are now more accurate than the traditional spring driven instruments 

In the UK this margin would rule out rail travel as an option compared with the car. You would have to build so much safety margin of into the schedule (at least 45 minutes between scheduled  arrivals and scheduled departures), that  the car would be a better bet.

Provided your journey didn’t include the M25, or the M1, or it was on a Sunday morning before 7 am perhaps…..

“In the UK interest rate cuts since the start of the crisis have delivered the average £103,000 floating rate mortgage holder an annual saving of £4,635.Against that the government estimates the net cost of bailing out the financial system at £10bn or £400 per household.”  Lex in the Financial Times today.

There are 26m households in the UK.

But only 11.1m of households have a mortgage and of those, only 55%, or 6 million, are on variable rates.

In other words 100% of households paid £400, but only 23% received savings of £4,635.

Plus all households shared (via pension and other indirect and direct holdings), in the loss of £5bn of dividend income from Royal Bank of Scotland (£3bn dividends in 2007, nil in 2009) and Lloyds (£2bn dividends in 2007, nil in 2009) = £192 per household.

All households via pension other indirect and direct holdings, shared in the loss of billions of market value of the UK quoted bank sector. The £30bn loss of market value of Royal Bank of Scotland alone amounted to £1,150 for every household.

So without really trying I am already up to £1,742 for every household.

Is Lex spinning or being economical with the truth?

Who gains from the gross misrepresentation of the facts?

Follow the money?

Lex, care to calculate what the total reduction in the value of UK bank shares was, divided by households? Who do you think bore that cost? Maybe you need new batteries for your calculator?

Bun rating – Zero,  too much smoke and too many mirrors to see if there is a pattie

A few weeks back we had Main Aim come down to WCUW 91.3Fm in Worcester Ma. Main Aim is a group consisting of two emcees by the name of A.P. and Haze. They are both from Southbridge Ma and definitely represent that raw energy of Hip Hop. When you hear them you think of emcees that come from my golden era of emceeing. It’s almost like traveling in a time machine and bringing back that 97-98 sound of music. They definitely have a good connection as a group and top that with A.P.’s production skills they are a group to keep your eye on. A.P. has released “Da Mic Pro Vol Zero”  as a solo effort that has production from himself, LG , Vanderslice , and Dj Manipulator. With that project being wrapped up A.P. teamed up with Haze and formed Main Aim they are currently working on their first group project and we will follow them as it gets closer to its completion.

We had a special guest that told us the story of how he met A.P. its towards the end of the video but I think it shows how an artist on his grind can leave a lasting impression on a stranger. Big Shout to Snipe

Yours truly Lex  Lue,Brother Men,T Legacy,and Rev will be hittin the airwaves this sunday courtesy of  the hotmix 97.5 broadcast live from Nichols College in Dudley MA. You can tune in at 10pm to catch some of the hottest local indie hip hop and then slow things down at 11pm with the love hour.And you can listen comfortably from your PC at…. http://www.nichols.edu/wnrc and click  listen live online…the movement continues

HHTT interview with Social Light Sounds very own Steadfast. To people who don’t know Social Light Sounds is a multi-state collective that has alot of talent in its ranks. Steadfast is a Washington D.C. native who travels back and forth between D.C. and Massachusetts to perform and collaborate with his crew. During his last visit Steadfast opened up for Masta Ace & Edo G (A & E)  out in Providence R.I. and also for the legendary M.O.P. at the Middle East in Cambridge M.A.  Be on the lookout for Steadfast, to find more info or to buy his LP ( The Joel Hachem Chronicles-All In The LP ) make sure to check him out at http://sociallightsounds.com/new/store/

After the interview on 91.3’s Selective Hearing radio show HHTT had a lil’ cypher with Steadfast out front of the radio station on Main St. in Worcester.

If that wasn’t enough Steadfast recently collaborated with  veteran Worcester MC’s Arablak & Larry Cheeba (L Da Headtoucha) for Give Thanks which will be appearing on Arablaks upcoming Fresh Heir due out 2-24-10.

Give Thanks – Arablack Feat. Steadfast & Larry Cheeba

home, home on the driving range.  where the macys and bandits play.  where seldom is heard a discouraging word and the pies are baked fresh all day.

sung to the tune of “home on the range” obvi.

it’s about that time folks.  sarah’s just now getting out of class (law school rocks!) and swinging through the lex to pick me and my overly packed suitcase up.  oh and we’re also grabbing lunch at blue-to the-sky.  the most yummiest in the tummiest meal in the world.  i’ll have the special sandwich (cuz i am, mom told me so) and sarah will have the chix salad on focaccia.  the usual.

then we’ll sing along with our ipizzle all the way to the atl.