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During my first semesters at the University of Dortmund a break-through in album sales happened. While at the regular record store you had to shell out over DM 20 (that’s Deutsch Marks for all you young kids, the currency they had in Germany before the Euro) for a 30cm album, some entrepreneurial students started to sell those same albums for DM 14.95 or less in the entry hall of the cafeteria (mensa in latin-german).

This is where I got pretty much the whole collection of my albums I still have after so many years. Some of the early and important items in this collection are records from the Doors. Sure, we knew Jim Morrison by name but the other members of the band were more or less face and name-less.

Until today, when I found the great video site called L-Studio. L must be standing for Lexus as this site is hosted on a subdomain of Lexus.com. And why not – BMW sponsors TED, why should Lexus not have it’s own video site with – I have to say – excellent video.

Some of these videos are with and about Ray Manzarek, the creator of the Door’s characteristic keyboard sound. Hear him tell about the Door’s beginnings …

… and then look through the other video for more Ray Manzarek and try not to miss the series of Web Therapie with Lisa Kudrow.

UPDATE: just ran into the new video of Weird Al Yankovic – ‘Craigs List’ – were he pays homage to the doors – in his own special way. And the great thing is that Ray Manzarek actually plays the keyboards in this spoof of the doors! No wonder that Yankovic version sounds so authentic…

The most compelling reason against gun control is the consideration that with gun control and laws prohibiting the ownership and use of arms the law abiding citizen will give up his arms while the criminal, by the very definition of criminal not following the law, will keep and bear his arms. So the next time he wants to rob somebody his chances that the other person is able to defend him or herself are much smaller.

The organization Jews for the Preservation of Firearm Ownership has published a very well made video discussing all the aspect of the second amendment…

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Spread the word!

That was interesting! I ran into some statistics that somebody had collected with the intend to awe us all when we compare these numbers with the numbers of today.

The most intriguing aspect of these numbers is to try to interpolate what we will see in the days of 100 years from now. Looking at Ray Kurzweil’s Book ‘The Singularity is Near’, we can safely assume that the speed of development will increase. Mr. Kurzweil even expect the speed to increase exponentially.

When I look over only my own lifetime I have to admit that that assumption makes sense, but this also means that I don’t have a chance in the world to predict how our world will look in one hundred years.

Now, in order to bend your mind a bit, here are the statistics from 1907:

• The average life expectancy in the U.S. was 47 years old.
• Only 14 percent of the homes in the U.S. had a bathtub.
• Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone.
• A three-minute call from Denver to New York City cost eleven dollars.
• There were only 8,000 cars in the U.S. , and only 144 miles of paved roads.
• The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.
• The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower.
• The average wage in the U.S. was 22 cents per hour.
• The average U.S. Worker made between $200 and $400 per year .
• A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year, a dentist made $2,500 per year, a veterinarian $1,500 per year, and a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.
• More than 95 percent of all births in the U.S. took place at home.
• Ninety percent of all U.S. doctors had no college education.
  (Instead, they attended so-called medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press and the government as “substandard.”)
• Most women only washed their hair once a month, and used Borax or egg yolks for shampoo.
• Canada passed a law that prohibited poor people from entering into their country for any reason.
• Five leading causes of death in the U.S. were:
  1. Pneumonia and influenza
  2. Tuberculosis
  3. Diarrhea
  4. Heart disease
  5. Stroke
• The American flag had 45 stars.
  (Arizona, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Hawaii, and Alaska hadn’t been admitted to the Union yet.)
• The population of Las Vegas, Nevada , was only 30.
• Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and ice tea hadn’t been invented yet.
• There was no Mother’s Day or Father’s Day.
• Two out of every 10 U.S. adults couldn’t read or write.
• Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated from high school.
• Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at the local corner drugstores. Back then pharmacists said, “Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind,regulates the stomach and bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health.”
• There were about 230 reported murders in the entire U.S.A.

What struck me as notable was the fact that hundred years ago 20% of the adult US population could not read or write. Looking at todays numbers that was pretty good, even though we are supposed to come to the opposite conclusion.

I found the following quote:

According to a recent US government report, The State of Literacy in America, released by the National Institute for Literacy (NIL), there has been a significant growth in illiteracy in America. Over 90 million US adults, nearly one out of two, are functionally illiterate or near illiterate, without the minimum skills required in a modern society.

There is no doubt that politicians are celebrities. And just as we want to know how Brad Pitt lives or how Tiger Wood’s House looks we don’t mind looking into the private lives of politicians like George W. or Al Gore.

Now fast backwards some seventy years – do you think that it was different at that time?

I don’t think so. We can easily imagine that there were articles published showing how FDR lived his private life or what Winston Churchill did to wind down after a hard day at the helm of his country.

Wait, in the era there is another figure which is rather famous – - this leader of the the country in the center of Europe – what’s his name – oh yes, Adolf Hitler. Were people interested in him? No, that could not possibly be – he was the epiphany of evil!

Or could it be that at this time he was not considered the manifestation of pure evil. After all, FDR designed the American social security system after what he found in Germany. And even today Sarah Brady works on gun control that Hitler had already then modeled for her.

Maybe he was a celebrity as well and this could be the explanation that indeed in a British magazine ‘Home and Garden’ we find an articles from the 1930’s that immensely reminds me of todays magazine articles visiting stars and starlets homes to have voyeurs take a look.

Without further ado, here a glance in the life of a relaxed Führer.