That first one's a photo I'd have framed and on the mantle for a lifetime. These days the equivalent would be to make it your Facebook profile picture, I suppose. Margaret Thatcher, R.I.P.

I can only assume that the Hemingway household has some great old school hip-hop jams (on vinyl) in regular rotation on the stereo.

Ricochet has two LC-MS DJs?! Word.

There's no accounting for taste I suppose, so rather than jump into the unresolvable arguments above, I'll offer some historical context and research (book & documentary) suggestions if anyone wants to learn more.

Rap is one part of hip-hop, which is sub-divided into DJs, B-Boys, MCs, and graffiti artists. The creation of hip-hop as a musical genre was fueled by the desire of DJs in NYC to provide continuous music for dancing. Disco DJs (Larry Levan, Francis Grasso, etc.) had already accomplished this by applying the crossfader developed for radio to live DJing, allowing DJs to seamlessly transition between two turntables, and the founders of hip-hop were influenced by disco - DJ Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa (member of disco record pools), and Grandmaster Flash. Hip-hop was founded on August 11th, 1973 (hip-hop turns 40 this year!) at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx - visited and got my picture taken there in 2011.

There are two chapters about hip-hop in this book - "Last Night A DJ Saved My Life: The History of the Disc Jockey".

As a turntable/Serato DJ I'd be happy to spin at the next Ricochet meetup.

I can certainly understand your reluctance, Lance, and why you'd rather not watch the discussion at this time. The most overtly political comments are made by Marc Theissen, and they're made at the beginning during the introduction (the part you did watch). I saw the movie before January 29th (the day of the AEI event), but had also learned that the AEI event was going to take place before I saw the movie, so it was in the back of my mind during and after I watched it. I wanted to answer the question lingering in my mind, "Is that really how the interrogations were conducted?", and the panel discussion answered that for me. Even so, I thought and still think "Zero Dark Thirty" is a fantastic (and even-handed), exciting movie, and will probably buy it on DVD when it's released in that format (haven't stepped up to Blu-Ray yet). Even though I'd already seen the 60 minutes interview with the Navy Seal who was on the bin Laden raid, it was still incredibly exciting to watch that part of the movie.

I joined Ricochet last Thursday because of my reaction to the SCOTUS verdict. I wasn't angry, but I did feel like I had been punched in the stomach. That feeling is still there today. I listened to Epstein and Yoo on the flagship Ricochet podcast and then wanted to hear "Law Talk" the next day, so I joined. Epstein and Yoo's bleak commentary didn't make me feel any better, although I did understand the Constitution/precedents more clearly.

I'm pretty isolated in Fayetteville, Arkansas - surrounded by aging hippies (visit Eureka Springs sometime), liberal undergrad/grad students, angry anthropologist (my department) atheists, and resentful lapsed Baptist/Pentecostal/Non-Denoms (it's the resentful lapsed part that's the problem, not the denominations). It's great to be on Ricochet and be able to talk to other conservatives.

After I finished wondering how to free 1 million people from slavery in the next five years and whether Demi had supported John Ashcroft in the Justice Department's efforts to combat slavery and the global sex trade, I was curious as to who Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore's neighbors in Beverly Hills actually were (while they were still together) and came across this little story from about a week after the Obama inauguration:

http://www.justjared.com/2009/01/29/ashton-kutcher-demi-moore-construction-negihbor/comment-page-4/

Good thing they weren't one of the stars who pledged to be of service to their neighbors.