http://www.longislandexchange.com/profilesLong Island Exchange http://www.longislandexchange.com/profiles/rss.php?header=blogs&id=220 http://www.longislandexchange.com/profiles/rss.php?header=blogs&id=220 Thanks to twitter, I discovered this wonderful report called Freedom in the 50 States: An Index of Personal and Economic Freedom Here is the executive summary.This paper presents the first-ever comprehensive ranking of the American states on their public policies affecting individual freedoms in the economic, social, and personal spheres. We develop and justify our ratings and aggregation procedure on explicitly normative criteria, defining individual freedom as the ability to dispose of ones own life, liberty, and justly acquired property however one sees fit, so long as one does not coercively infringe on another individuals ability to do the same.This study improves on prior attempts to score economic freedom for American states in three primary ways: (1) it includes measures of social and personal freedoms such as peaceable citizens rights to educate their own children, own and carry firearms, and be free from unreasonable search and seizure; (2) it includes far more variables, eve ..... Wed, 6 May 2009 15:05:07 -0500 http://www.longislandexchange.com/profiles/rss.php?header=blogs&id=212 http://www.longislandexchange.com/profiles/rss.php?header=blogs&id=212 The North Shore Chamber Choir PresentsThe Passion and the MessiahSunday, March 15th at 2:00 pmUnitarian Universalist Fellowship, Stony Brook Featuring soloists David Kirk, Leslie McBride, Donna McBrien and Gary Betrino and the 30 voices of the North Shore Chamber Choir, performing the music of Handel and Dubois accompanied by string quartet and piano Tickets are $10 and will be available at the doorFor further information please call 631-929-8549 ..... Wed, 4 Mar 2009 10:03:50 -0600 http://www.longislandexchange.com/profiles/rss.php?header=blogs&id=205 http://www.longislandexchange.com/profiles/rss.php?header=blogs&id=205 At barbershop quartetting, we have practiced very hard. We got together every week, to work on one retard. (From a parody by the Musical Quartet ) If you have ever heard (or seen) the musical Music Man you would probably have heard of the Barbershop Quartet; four voices without accompaniment singing close harmony. If sung right it almost seems that there is a fifth person somewhere in the group.We can define Barbershop harmony as: Four-part, unaccompanied, close-harmony singing, with melody in the second voice, called the lead. Tenor (counter-tenor voice) harmonizes above the lead singer; bass sings the lowest harmonizing notes, and the baritone provides in-between notes, to form consonant, pleasing chords. Barbershop is a melting pot product of African-American musical devices, European hymn-singing culture, and an American tradition of recreational music. Melodies are in the vocal and skill range of the average singer, with lyrical emphasis on simple, heartfelt emotions.The four part ..... Tue, 13 Jan 2009 08:01:51 -0600