http://www.downrange.tv/

If you have not seen Michael Bane's newest and greatest project you must check it out.

Jose

Some quick ramblings and a quote until the next post:

So, I have been in a bit of a black hole when it comes to posting and lord knows there has been a lot going on.  You have Don Imus putting his big 'ole foot in his mouth.  You have the atrocities which occur ed on the Virgina Tech campus.  As well as a whole gamut of other interesting going-ons.  For instance the Queen and our president having dinner together, W in a penguin suit, that is an odd pair. 

 

Ok, and now my quote for today, from our nighttime favorite Jay Leno.

 

Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime. Teach a man to create an artificial shortage of fish and he will eat steak.

Jay Leno

 

And of course the Irony is that it is true.  Have a great one!

HOW NOT TO WRITE A RESUME!

This is hilarious, I really do not need to do anything but post the link. So click here and get ready to find humor in the little things.

An excerpt:
If you're claiming a skill, actually have it.

For instance, when your skillset includes:

"filing/editing"but is followed by "Photo Shop" improperly spaced, that means you're not very good at the first one, and you probably don't use the second often enough to know how to spell it. Therefore, you're probably an exaggerator, meaning I can't trust anything else on your resume. Bye-bye.

"Telephone Skills". What does that mean, that you can operate one? Good job. So can a three year old. If you mean one of those multi-line, complicated telephone *systems*, then yes, that is something to put on your resume -- if you were applying to be a receptionist in a busy office. You're not.

"Office Procedures". What the hell does that mean? How is that a skill?

When your resume looks like two boring run-on paragraphs and a list, all of which is centered on the page in the most rudimentary fashion, don't list "graphic design" as one of your skills. Please spare me.

"Treat people with respect" Shouldn't that be a given? Also, why is that your third most-important skillset? Did you have to work very hard at it?

Remington Arms is bought by the owners of Bushmaster.

Ok,
So a little bit of background on Cerberus Capital Management LP again from wikipedia.
Cerberus Capital Management LP is one of the largest private equity investment firms in USA. The firm is based in New York, N.Y., and run by 45-year-old financier Steve Feinberg. Former Vice President Dan Quayle has been a prominent Cerberus spokesperson and runs one of its international units.

Founded in 1992, Cerberus invests primarily in companies which are near bankruptcy and hopes to make the businesses it acquires profitable.

The company has been a voracious acquirer of businesses over the past several years and now includes sizeable investments in sportswear, paper products, military services, real estate, energy, retail, glassmaking, transportation, and building products. Its holdings amounted to $24 billion in 2006.

Ok that is the buyer.. but why is this important? Well among many other things from grocery stores (Albertsons) to Mortgage Companies (51% of GMAC) they also own another firearms company, Bushmaster.

So, again from Wikipedia; Bushmaster Firearms International, LLC is a manufacturer and distributor of guns which is based in Windham, Maine in the United States. Bushmaster's product line revolves around semi-automatic pistol and rifle variants of the AR-15 design. As of the latest 2003 BATF information on firearm production figures, Bushmaster currently is the best selling brand for AR type firearms in the United States.

Well, this is significant because Remington being as large as it is and having such a great reputation among shooters and hunters alike does not sell any AR type firearms. But rather has always focused on more contemporary channels to find customers. So, it is pretty safe to assume that Michael Bane was right when he said that "Green goes Black" because or tradionalist manufacturer with a green logo will soon be selling the hottest trend in the competitive shooting sports AR rifles (commonly reffered to as Ugly Black Guns)

See Shooting Wires press release here


-Jose

Dave Grossman quick Biography

The following is an excerpt from Wikipedia.


Lieutenant Colonel Dave Grossman is an author who has specialized in the study of the psychology of killing.

Grossman retired from the military as Professor of Military Science at Arkansas State University. His career includes service in the US Army as a sergeant in the US 82nd Airborne Division, a platoon leader in the 9th (High Tech Test Bed) Division, a general staff officer, a company commander in the 7th (Light) Infantry Division as well as a parachute infantryman, a US Army Ranger and a teacher of psychology at West Point.

Grossman argues that video game publishers unethically train children in the use of weapons and, more importantly, harden them emotionally to the task of murder by simulating the killing of hundreds or thousands of opponents in a single typical video game. During heights of video game controversy, he was interviewed on the content of his books, and repeatedly used the term "murder simulator" to describe first-person shooter games.

Since his retirement from the Army, Grossman has founded the Killology Research Group and continues to educate law enforcement officers and soldiers in the techniques he has studied for improving outcomes in lethal encounters. He also speaks at civilian events on ways to reduce violence in society and deal with the aftermath of violent events such as school shootings.

On Sheep, Wolves, and Sheepdogs - By: Dave Grossman

The text below was copied from http://hobbes.ncsa.uiuc.edu/onsheepwolvesandsheepdogs.html and I was listening to Cope Reynolds on The Shooting Bench Mar 14, 2007 via a podcast  (minutes 10:16 - 26:44) and this was very interesting.  For all those men and women that serve and protect, to those citizens which carry concealed or open depending on local jurisdictions.  This may further help you understand why you are who you are or why some people are the way that they are.  This is great information.  I did not know where to ask for permission to share this but hope not to be offending anyone by sharing this information I think it is usefull information.

 

 

On Sheep, Wolves, and Sheepdogs - Dave Grossman

By LTC (RET) Dave Grossman, author of "On Killing."

Honor never grows old, and honor rejoices the heart of age. It does so because honor is, finally, about defending those noble and worthy things that deserve defending, even if it comes at a high cost. In our time, that may mean social disapproval, public scorn, hardship, persecution, or as always,even death itself. The question remains: What is worth defending? What is worth dying for? What is worth living for? - William J. Bennett - in a lecture to the United States Naval Academy November 24, 1997

One Vietnam veteran, an old retired colonel, once said this to me:

"Most of the people in our society are sheep. They are kind, gentle, productive creatures who can only hurt one another by accident." This is true. Remember, the murder rate is six per 100,000 per year, and the aggravated assault rate is four per 1,000 per year. What this means is that the vast majority of Americans are not inclined to hurt one another. Some estimates say that two million Americans are victims of violent crimes every year, a tragic, staggering number, perhaps an all-time record rate of violent crime. But there are almost 300 million Americans, which means that the odds of being a victim of violent crime is considerably less than one in a hundred on any given year. Furthermore, since many violent crimes are committed by repeat offenders, the actual number of violent citizens is considerably less than two million.

Thus there is a paradox, and we must grasp both ends of the situation: We may well be in the most violent times in history, but violence is still remarkably rare. This is because most citizens are kind, decent people who are not capable of hurting each other, except by accident or under extreme provocation. They are sheep.

I mean nothing negative by calling them sheep. To me it is like the pretty, blue robin's egg. Inside it is soft and gooey but someday it will grow into something wonderful. But the egg cannot survive without its hard blue shell. Police officers, soldiers, and other warriors are like that shell, and someday the civilization they protect will grow into something wonderful.? For now, though, they need warriors to protect them from the predators.

"Then there are the wolves," the old war veteran said, "and the wolves feed on the sheep without mercy." Do you believe there are wolves out there who will feed on the flock without mercy? You better believe it. There are evil men in this world and they are capable of evil deeds. The moment you forget that or pretend it is not so, you become a sheep. There is no safety in denial.

"Then there are sheepdogs," he went on, "and I'm a sheepdog. I live to protect the flock and confront the wolf."

If you have no capacity for violence then you are a healthy productive citizen, a sheep. If you have a capacity for violence and no empathy for your fellow citizens, then you have defined an aggressive sociopath, a wolf. But what if you have a capacity for violence, and a deep love for your fellow citizens? What do you have then? A sheepdog, a warrior, someone who is walking the hero's path. Someone who can walk into the heart of darkness, into the universal human phobia, and walk out unscathed

Let me expand on this old soldier's excellent model of the sheep, wolves, and sheepdogs. We know that the sheep live in denial, that is what makes them sheep. They do not want to believe that there is evil in the world. They can accept the fact that fires can happen, which is why they want fire extinguishers, fire sprinklers, fire alarms and fire exits throughout their kids' schools.

But many of them are outraged at the idea of putting an armed police officer in their kid's school. Our children are thousands of times more likely to be killed or seriously injured by school violence than fire, but the sheep's only response to the possibility of violence is denial. The idea of someone coming to kill or harm their child is just too hard, and so they chose the path of denial.

The sheep generally do not like the sheepdog. He looks a lot like the wolf. He has fangs and the capacity for violence. The difference, though, is that the sheepdog must not, can not and will not ever harm the sheep. Any sheep dog who intentionally harms the lowliest little lamb will be punished and removed. The world cannot work any other way, at least not in a representative democracy or a republic such as ours.

Still, the sheepdog disturbs the sheep. He is a constant reminder that there are wolves in the land. They would prefer that he didn't tell them where to go, or give them traffic tickets, or stand at the ready in our airports in camouflage fatigues holding an M-16. The sheep would much rather have the sheepdog cash in his fangs, spray paint himself white, and go, "Baa."

Until the wolf shows up. Then the entire flock tries desperately to hide behind one lonely sheepdog.

The students, the victims, at Columbine High School were big, tough high school students, and under ordinary circumstances they would not have had the time of day for a police officer. They were not bad kids; they just had nothing to say to a cop. When the school was under attack, however, and SWAT teams were clearing the rooms and hallways, the officers had to physically peel those clinging, sobbing kids off of them. This is how the little lambs feel about their sheepdog when the wolf is at the door.

Look at what happened after September 11, 2001 when the wolf pounded hard on the door. Remember how America, more than ever before, felt differently about their law enforcement officers and military personnel? Remember how many times you heard the word hero?

Understand that there is nothing morally superior about being a sheepdog; it is just what you choose to be. Also understand that a sheepdog is a funny critter: He is always sniffing around out on the perimeter, checking the breeze, barking at things that go bump in the night, and yearning for a righteous battle. That is, the young sheepdogs yearn for a righteous battle. The old sheepdogs are a little older and wiser, but they move to the sound of the guns when needed right along with the young ones.

Here is how the sheep and the sheepdog think differently. The sheep pretend the wolf will never come, but the sheepdog lives for that day. After the attacks on September 11, 2001, most of the sheep, that is, most citizens in America said, "Thank God I wasn't on one of those planes." The sheepdogs, the warriors, said, "Dear God, I wish I could have been on one of those planes. Maybe I could have made a difference." When you are truly transformed into a warrior and have truly invested yourself into warriorhood, you want to be there. You want to be able to make a difference.

There is nothing morally superior about the sheepdog, the warrior, but he does have one real advantage. Only one. And that is that he is able to survive and thrive in an environment that destroys 98 percent of the population. There was research conducted a few years ago with individuals convicted of violent crimes. These cons were in prison for serious, predatory crimes of violence: assaults, murders and killing law enforcement officers. The vast majority said that they specifically targeted victims by body language: slumped walk, passive behavior and lack of awareness. They chose their victims like big cats do in Africa, when they select one out of the herd that is least able to protect itself.

Some people may be destined to be sheep and others might be genetically primed to be wolves or sheepdogs. But I believe that most people can choose which one they want to be, and I'm proud to say that more and more Americans are choosing to become sheepdogs.

Seven months after the attack on September 11, 2001, Todd Beamer was honored in his hometown of Cranbury, New Jersey. Todd, as you recall, was the man on Flight 93 over Pennsylvania who called on his cell phone to alert an operator from United Airlines about the hijacking. When he learned of the other three passenger planes that had been used as weapons, Todd dropped his phone and uttered the words, "Let's roll," which authorities believe was a signal to the other passengers to confront the terrorist hijackers. In one hour, a transformation occurred among the passengers - athletes, business people and parents. -- from sheep to sheepdogs and together they fought the wolves, ultimately saving an unknown number of lives on the ground.

There is no safety for honest men except by believing all possible evil of evil men. - Edmund Burke

Here is the point I like to emphasize, especially to the thousands of police officers and soldiers I speak to each year. In nature the sheep, real sheep, are born as sheep. Sheepdogs are born that way, and so are wolves. They didn't have a choice. But you are not a critter. As a human being, you can be whatever you want to be. It is a conscious, moral decision.

If you want to be a sheep, then you can be a sheep and that is okay, but you must understand the price you pay. When the wolf comes, you and your loved ones are going to die if there is not a sheepdog there to protect you. If you want to be a wolf, you can be one, but the sheepdogs are going to hunt you down and you will never have rest, safety, trust or love. But if you want to be a sheepdog and walk the warrior's path, then you must make a conscious and moral decision every day to dedicate, equip and prepare yourself to thrive in that toxic, corrosive moment when the wolf comes knocking at the door.

For example, many officers carry their weapons in church.? They are well concealed in ankle holsters, shoulder holsters or inside-the-belt holsters tucked into the small of their backs.? Anytime you go to some form of religious service, there is a very good chance that a police officer in your congregation is carrying. You will never know if there is such an individual in your place of worship, until the wolf appears to massacre you and your loved ones.

I was training a group of police officers in Texas, and during the break, one officer asked his friend if he carried his weapon in church. The other cop replied, "I will never be caught without my gun in church." I asked why he felt so strongly about this, and he told me about a cop he knew who was at a church massacre in Ft. Worth, Texas in 1999. In that incident, a mentally deranged individual came into the church and opened fire, gunning down fourteen people. He said that officer believed he could have saved every life that day if he had been carrying his gun. His own son was shot, and all he could do was throw himself on the boy's body and wait to die. That cop looked me in the eye and said, "Do you have any idea how hard it would be to live with yourself after that?"

Some individuals would be horrified if they knew this police officer was carrying a weapon in church. They might call him paranoid and would probably scorn him. Yet these same individuals would be enraged and would call for "heads to roll" if they found out that the airbags in their cars were defective, or that the fire extinguisher and fire sprinklers in their kids' school did not work. They can accept the fact that fires and traffic accidents can happen and that there must be safeguards against them.

Their only response to the wolf, though, is denial, and all too often their response to the sheepdog is scorn and disdain. But the sheepdog quietly asks himself, "Do you have and idea how hard it would be to live with yourself if your loved ones attacked and killed, and you had to stand there helplessly because you were unprepared for that day?"

It is denial that turns people into sheep. Sheep are psychologically destroyed by combat because their only defense is denial, which is counterproductive and destructive, resulting in fear, helplessness and horror when the wolf shows up.

Denial kills you twice. It kills you once, at your moment of truth when you are not physically prepared: you didn't bring your gun, you didn't train. Your only defense was wishful thinking. Hope is not a strategy. Denial kills you a second time because even if you do physically survive, you are psychologically shattered by your fear helplessness and horror at your moment of truth.

Gavin de Becker puts it like this in Fear Less, his superb post-9/11 book, which should be required reading for anyone trying to come to terms with our current world situation: "...denial can be seductive, but it has an insidious side effect. For all the peace of mind deniers think they get by saying it isn't so, the fall they take when faced with new violence is all the more unsettling."

Denial is a save-now-pay-later scheme, a contract written entirely in small print, for in the long run, the denying person knows the truth on some level.

And so the warrior must strive to confront denial in all aspects of his life, and prepare himself for the day when evil comes. If you are warrior who is legally authorized to carry a weapon and you step outside without that weapon, then you become a sheep, pretending that the bad man will not come today. No one can be "on" 24/7, for a lifetime. Everyone needs down time. But if you are authorized to carry a weapon, and you walk outside without it, just take a deep breath, and say this to yourself...

"Baa."

This business of being a sheep or a sheep dog is not a yes-no dichotomy. It is not an all-or-nothing, either-or choice. It is a matter of degrees, a continuum. On one end is an abject, head-in-the-sand-sheep and on the other end is the ultimate warrior. Few people exist completely on one end or the other. Most of us live somewhere in between. Since 9-11 almost everyone in America took a step up that continuum, away from denial. The sheep took a few steps toward accepting and appreciating their warriors, and the warriors started taking their job more seriously. The degree to which you move up that continuum, away from sheephood and denial, is the degree to which you and your loved ones will survive, physically and psychologically at your moment of truth.

Farmers to Plant Most Amount of Corn Since ’44

 

Business

Farmers to Plant Most Amount of Corn Since '44

By ANDREW MARTIN

Published: March 31, 2007

Growers intend to plant more than 90 million acres in an effort to meet demands for ethanol, food and feed

 

 We are concerned with our dependence on foreign oil, foreign money, foreign products, foreign service (yep have you called a call center lately?)  This is a cause and effect to the increasing oil prices and the increased cost of transportation.   I think it is incredibly important that we will move in the direction of alternate fuels and home grown fuels.  Click the link and tell me what you think about it.

 

-Jose 

 

 

 

Hard work and the gods

"The sweat of hard work is not to be displayed. It is much more graceful to appear favored by the gods. "

  Maxine Hong Kingston, The Woman Warrior, 1976

The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts

And good 'ole TJ already knew it.

I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies.

Thomas Jefferson
3rd president of US (1743 - 1826)

Chinese Cash Moves Could Roil Markets

So the Chinese are doing what we did back in the days of the "Gold Standard"  they trade at a surplus and save approximately $20 Million USD a month into their foreign currency coffers, but with the weakening dollar and low interest rates the Chinese feel it is time to diversify in order to get better returns.  Granted they are starting with a $200 Billion portfolio rather than the full $1 Trillion but still that is a lot of money moving hands and when most of it is already invested in the United States, what will that do to our markets.  I guess only time will tell. 

So it goes,

-Jose

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Economy

Chinese Cash Moves Could Roil Markets

by Anthony Kuhn 

Morning Edition, March 28, 2007 · China holds $1 trillion in foreign currency, which it plans to re-invest for better returns. It will move cautiously, but any rearrangement of such huge sums has the potential to disrupt global financial markets.

You can see the actual NPR story with a working link Here --> http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9177075

 

 

Public Service Announcement, Florida IDPA

The First Annual IDPA Florida Low Light Challenge


This message is to announce that due to the number of entries received, the cut-off date for entries for the Florida Low Light Challenge has been moved up to Sunday, April 15st , or when the first 80 entries have been received. If you are planning to shoot this match, the first all reduced light sanctioned match in IDPA history, please submit your entry without delay.

The match website is: www.flalowlight.com

Lance Biddle
Frank Akey
Match Co-Directors

ps. Changes have been made to the website to make it easier to find the linked pages! If you have had trouble finding the links to the match info, and entry forms pages… the light brown targets on the left side of the home page are the links. The link information is now plainly shown.

Quote of the day: In reference to their positions on Gun Laws, a Liberal and a Conservative are separated by only one thing, a mugging.

Well maybe not really, but then again truth is truth.  You may agree with the 2nd amendment you may not.  But, on the day you need that right, if it has been stripped away from you; be it by your own action or simply a FAILURE TO ACT, you will miss it, need it, want it and BE SORRY!  

 

Just a thought

-Jose

So what do you do when you find out a friend of yours, just got deployed to IRAQ?

So I found out this weekend that a buddy of mine is being sent to IRAQ now, I understand that he is a Marine.  He has trained for this and as a 2nd Lieutenant is excited to lead some of his men.  But then what about the rest of us land side, which are safe thanks to people like this.  They could have chosen the corporate route and been working for a fortune 500 company, they obviously have the leadership skills.  Then you have the conscious choice to defend OUR country, OUR freedom, and ironically create the feeling of safety but they're going into this unsafe, and non-free country.  So now I sit here safe and sound and ask myself, now what what do I do, what do WE do.  So I am open for suggestions... any ideas?

 

 

-Jose

You ever wonder if anybody is listening?

Oh well I guess that is the question I had today as I clicked on that handy little "next Blog" button at the top of the screen. Looked like most of the blogs had never had a comment. I went ahead and left a comment on one just so that person would no at least someone saw it. I wonder if anyone has ever seen this page. I know that I got pretty bored of that next blog button pretty soon when I got 3 pages in a row in a language I could not read. But so it goes I will write down a couple thoughts and think that at least someone has looked at it, otherwise, I guess it may make for some entertaining reading for myself some day in the future.

So if you read this click the leave comment and say Hi. If you are a blogger leave me a link to your Blog I will swing by and take a look.

So it goes,
Jose

Current Books I am reading.

I usually do not have too much time to read just for pleasure but have recently been able to find a bit of extra time and I am currently working on two great books simoultaneously. Here goes a little bit about them.

The first is Freakonomics which is a knock you on your behind, completely different view of the world around us. Written by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner this book takes the ordinary, mundane and sometimes comical and makes you see relationships which you ordinarily would never have caught. Click on the link to Amazon and take a look at the summary you really will be surprised, a book written by economists is a page turner. Seems unlikely but then again "Why do crack dealers still live with there mothers?" Well the book dives into that and other off the wall questions. Like what does the KKK and a real estate agent have in common?

The second book I am working on is more along the lines of self help, personal growth and is entitled The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time, Is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal. This book creates a connection between a corporate executive and a professional athlete. The authors Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz spent years helping professional athletes work on their sprint/rest routines and then figured out that these same routines could truly help the Corporate Athlete. This book is written in the form of small vignettes which allows one to sit down read a couple of pages and continue on with whatever you were up to. Each small story of a different individual allows one to create parallels with one's own faults and try to adopt some of these changes. I have found that using the spring rest mentality, if at the very least, is a great way to brain wash myself to focus on the task at hand by promising myself a rest doing something I enjoy whenever I reach a certain predetermined goal. Give it a try it came highly recommended to me by a Senior Executive I truly respect and I too highly recommend it.

My comment to Michael Bane's Blog

If you have ever been done wrong by a big bank or some other large institution be sure to read Michael's Post here and my reply below, ENJOY!

oh Mike!
If I can only say I have been there. I am an auditor by profession I deal with getting information from people each and every day, both the nice and the not so nice.. To the point that I have a mini tagline that helps get through the day to day: "I am an auditor I do not have feelings” well rewind fast forward no difference, I am 2 days late on a payment with my chase cc, not to mail the payment but it clears 2 days late, a balance I was holding at a reduced percentage gets moved into prime I get charged late fees and interest and all sorts of fees. After many calls to Chase I loose my cool, me loose it, cursing and all, I pay out the nose and close the account (and not that easily either had to pay things had to clear than had to pay the little bit left, then refunded an overpayment…) So I was utterly convinced that I will never bank with Chase again. Fast forward to a month ago, I open up an Amazon cc for the convenience of purchasing on the site and it turns out to be a Chase, I was going to give them another chance, but for you and all the others out there like me I will cancel it tonight when I get home. Sorry for the rant, just wanted to let you know that some of us have gone through it and I will at least do something on my end close my account!

-Jose

Some of my Favorites!

So I figured it would be best to start off by sharing a little bit about myself in the form of links sites I often frequent. A little bit of clicking and you will have an idea of the circle I enjoy within the world wide web. Please leave a comment no matter how short just so that I know someone has been here.

Favorite BLOG: http://michaelbane.blogspot.com/index.html He has an interesting blog up right now discussing the horrors that Chase Bank can do. I have personally been there so I can totally emphasize. Not to mention that Bane is really in the know when it comes to the going ons in the world of the shooting sports, and rumor has it he is pretty good friends with the host of two Outdoor channel shows, Shooting Gallery http://www.shootinggallery.tv/ and Cowboys http://www.cowboystv.com/.

Favorite Talk Show: Tom Gresham's Gun Talk http://www.guntalk.com/site.php Ok I know I may be very comfortable with firearms and very proud of the fact that the USA has stood behind our founding fathers ideas and have not gone the route of the UK and Cuba. But Tom does a great job of having an all inclusive show, love them or hate them Tom will give you equal time and equal opportunity to share your views. Plus he is a bif proponent of taking friends out to the range and introducing new shooters to the fun that are the shooting sports. Yep it is not only hunting anymore. HE PODCASTS TOO!

Favorite Gun Sport: IDPA (International Defensive Pistol Association) http://www.idpa.com/
One of the younger shooting sports (founded in 1996) IDPA manages to keep it fun, keep round counts low, and focus on defensive scenarios rather than just making a game out of it. It is great for the very competitive and the weekend warrior alike. I personally enjoy being able to spend the day with friend, talking and relaxing in a sliglt competitive scenario where we all truly just don't want to be DFL (Dead Freakin Last) or DQ (Disqualified) other than that it would be a sucessful day out.

Favorite Musician: Paul Demond an absolutely amazing saxophonist who was instrumental in the creation of the cool jazz era in jazz history which so easily could have been overshadowed by the Beepop era developing alongside it (think Charlie Parker). His biography really is a page turner as Doug Ramsey provides a great insight into the life of a genious. Paul also wrote one of the most famous jazz pieces of all time Take Five and has one of the most beautiful renditions of My Funny Valentine I have ever heard which is on his Desmond Blue album. He also recorded some wonderful pieces with Gerry Muligan one of these is Two of a Mind. But his true all time partner was Dave Brubeck THE Maestro of the cool jazz piano in my very humble opinion. I would highly recomend their work together on Buried Treasures: Recorded Live in Mexico City which is a not so often mentioned work with some amazing moments of greatness. Although their work as the Dave Brubeck Quartet in general is really how they are known.