A new website has been developed that will allow for insertion of photos and which is capable of several innovations not available in WordPress. Take a look at http://vicksburgspeaks.blogspot.com/. Hopefully this site will not experience the problem with pornographic material that occured last year on another site. Your comments on the new site are welcome.

FAWM stands for February Album Writing Month. Can you write 14 songs in 28 days? What are you waiting for… inspiration?
“You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.”
— Jack London
Each February, FAWM.ORG forges a collaborative community where musicians of all walks and skill levels write an album’s worth of material in the shortest month of the year (roughly one tune every other day). So-called “fawmers” are a motley mix of music professionals, students, homemakers, and folks who work dayjobs but rock nightclubs. Join us for the sixth annual FAWM in 2009!
As far as I know, I’m the only Fawmer in the region, definitely the only one in the city. I invite any local musicians to join us in this very fun, very community oriented, song writing challenge. Your songs will have the opportunity to make onto a compilation cd of the best tracks from the challenge, which is sold world wide.

I’ll be more than happy to assist in song writing/recording/editing/etc. This challenge is extremely fun.

Just email me, george@slademania.com, if you have questions. Fawm starts Feb 1st, so register soon!

P.S. It’s all free to participate!

This from a local source, quoting a blog:

You might want to reconsider what you keep in your Safety Deposit box at your bank. This note is from a news blog, which I am passing on to you fyi.
“A family member from Irvine, CA (who’s a branch manager at Bank of America) told us two weeks ago that her bank held a “workshop” where the last two days were dedicated to discussing their bank’s new security measures. During these last two days, the workshop included members from the Homeland Security Office who instructed them on how to field calls from customers and what they are to tell them in the event of a national disaster. She said they were told how only agents from Homeland Security (during such an event) would be in charge of opening safe deposit boxes and determining what items would be given to bank customers.At this point they were told that no weapons, cash, gold, or silver will be allowed to leave the bank – only various paperwork will be given to its owners. After discussing the matter with them at length, she and the other employees were then told not to discuss the subject with anyone.”
Read the entire article at:   http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=10012

The financial crisis currently facing the USA is just a pimple to what our children and grandchildren are facing.  The video linked below, IOUSA, is a prophetic message for the 21st century:

http://www.iousathemovie.com/

If you used the now-closed downtown Vicksburg Post Office for your postal services, you have first-hand knowledge of the effect on your (or your business’s) finances, on your time, and on the additional pollution of the environment caused by the necessary use of a vehicle to travel to the Pemberton PO. This is not merely a Vicksburg/Warren County phenomenon, however. Similar closures are occurring nationwide as the USPS attempts to cope with reduced need for its services, and competition from other reliable and efficient delivery services. Locally, many  neighborhood drop boxes have been removed, so that most city and county residents and businesses who must use the services of the local PO now have no choice but to take the time to drive to the Pemberton location, fight the traffic on Pemberton Boulevard, wait in line until a clerk is free, then return to home or work.

Thousands if not millions of trips via vehicles to centralized post offices are required every day all across the country. The amounts of fuel burned, and the tons of carbon dioxide and sulphur and nitrogen compounds emitted from exhausts, are enormous. Indirectly, perhaps, the USPS is one of the nation’s largest polluters, and a significant contributor to waste and inefficiency.

Your comments and suggestions are welcome.

Audio file. This expert thinks there is little time left to prepare. You may want to take action now…

http://www.howestreet.com/index.php?pl=/goldradio/index.php/mediaplayer/1065

Just for entertainment…

http://blip.tv/file/1592405

The Vicksburg Post reported Wednesday that the Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance has recommended that Warren County Justice Court Judge Richard Bradford III be fined, publicly reprimanded, and suspended for 30 days without pay. Bradford is accused of several different improprieties involving cases coming before him. The Supreme Court will make a final decision in the matter. The Post’s article may be read here:

http://www.vicksburgpost.com/articles/2008/12/10/news/doc494001dfad0a2774999677.txt

You are probably unaware that the U.S. is only 2 states away from rewriting the Constitution. Read the following article and take action as you see fit.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=83364