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Underappreciated musicians...

I'll start with John Paul Jones, bassist for the rock band Led Zeppelin. Born in England in 1946, John Richard Baldwin, change his name to John Paul Jones and not to be confused with the Naval officer back in the 1700's.
JPJ, was a studio musician, often termed session musician, playing bass guitar, piano, keyboards and mandolin. He knew Jimmy Page long before Zeppelin was formed. JPJ is also credited as a musical arranger and producer. After Zeppelin disbanded JPJ did some solo work. I've heard him singing on a few songs, but I wouldn't consider him a singer. Funny, I don't consider Clapton a singer either!

While he was a strong part of the sound that shaped Zeppelin, his recessive personality often had him cast into the background.
I was playing bass guitar professionally when Led Zeppelin's album hit the American airwaves and he was the bassist to copy. I would listen to his parts over and over again.
While he played keyboards for Zeppelin, his contribution of (Hammond) organ on Your Time Is Gonna Come is a sound masterpiece. I was in a 5-piece band and the keyboards were performed by another member. I still think JPJ's musical taste on that album was flawless.

One of my favorites is Kashmir. From their 6th album Physical Graffiti.
There are a few liver versions on YouTube, but the keyboards get drowned out by guitar and drums. Here's the album version where JPJ is credited for playing the orchestration and a mellotron.




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I need a new cage...

My neighbor is semi-retired and does maintenance around my condo. He called me yesterday to say my dryer vent is clogged. I don't normally do laundry, but I noticed it took more than 2 cycles for the comforter to dry. I haven't checked the vent in... a long time!

So, I went around the back of the building this morning to see. Wow.. there is a cage around the vent that keeps animals from getting inside. It was packed with lint. I'm surprised any clothes or towels dried. Inside the laundry room, I removed the vent hose from the dryer where it connects to the outside wall and inserted the hose from an industrial strength shop-vac but it was only able to get lint inside the vent as the vanes are one-way letting air out and close tightly with the vacuum.

Armed with a broom, screw driver and wrench I used a ladder (yeah, I'm on the 2nd floor) to remove the cage surrounding the vent. I was able to clear the lint from the louver & vent, but it's not worth trying to get all of it out of the holes in the cage.

Good for now, Home Depot sells those cages for $9.
Not a priority and it will happen at a later date!
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Crab-it...

For people who don't know how to parallel park, there's the all electric Hyundai MOBIS with the c-Corner System. Each wheel has a motor and steering control to turn 90 degrees.



Not only can it drive sideways, it can do a 360 degree turn in it's own space and do a tilting 90 degree turn. On the road it can change lanes with all 4 wheels tipping the the car stays straight.




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Joe is going for it!

It's official. As of this morning, President Joe Biden formally announced that he is running for reelection in 2024. It's 6am Joe... are you really up for this?
Currently, Joe is 80 years old making him the oldest US president in history.








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DeSantis: Governor and presidential candidate at the same time...

I'm reading a story tonight that states a Florida lawmaker is introducing an amendment that would allow Governor Ron DeSantis to run for president of the United States and not have to resign his position as governor of Florida.
Isn't that a case of having your cake and eating it too!
Currently, any politician holding office who decides to run for president must resign that position. My guess is it's because you're out on the campaign trail day and night and not at your office serving the people who voted you there.

So, the 'strike-all' amendment was filed earlier today by Republican senator Travis Hutson, whom DeSantis endorsed last year.

If passed, that assures DeSantis can hold on to his position of Florida's governor and be allowed to campaign should he decide to run for president in 2024 and not get the party's nomination and win the election. Sound right?

My, my Ron... what perfect timing you have.




Link:



Always the reader comments are classic:
Richard:
"What good is a law when you can change it on a whim? Would they do that if a Democrat was governor? When you have a body that will change laws to placate one person you aren't far from a dictatorship."

Scott:
"GOP gamesmanship: If you can't win with the cards you're dealt, stack the deck."

Stephen:
"Is he getting a state salary while out politicking???"

AB:
"Also known as the "I don't have a lot of confidence in my chances to win the Presidential election, so I want to keep my old job just in case" bill."

Mystery Team:
"I think the books covering Florida Law have tripled in volume since this guy took office. So much for smaller government."


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Fit my Bit...

About 3 weeks ago I decided to get a low-end fitness watch. It was amazing. Why? Because it could record my blood pressure while the watch was sitting on my desk.

That went back and I ordered a medium priced Fitbit watch.

Expecting better results, I again questioned the accuracy. While 2 times around my community is three-quarters of a mile, it was able to record lots more calories burned than the first watch. It rained one morning and I sat on the corner of the bed strumming guitar. To my surprise, it recorded I had some 1,200 steps and burned lots of calories, more than a brisk around the condos. That model didn't have the ability to check blood pressure. It didn't mater... I returned it too!

What I disliked about both 'fitness' watches is the amount of information they requested of me. I realize height and weight statistics helps it make correct calculations for walking and running. I wasn't a willing participant for food intake, amounts of liquids, messages when I need to be active and at rest.

I cleared the data, personal information and deleted the apps from my phone. Maybe one day I'll train for the Olympics or a local marathon and would reconsider another fitness watch. For now, my answer is no...
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Car shopping... again

Last year I was internet shopping for a new car. Something a little larger than what I currently own. There's nothing wrong with my car, I just want to up-size. With 42,000 miles, the factory tires have enough tread for a few thousand miles more. The problem is the interior noise when driving on the highway is noticeably louder. Less rubber, more road noise.

I bought tires for my previous car a little over 3 years ago for around $600. A few months later I changed cars. Today's prices for new tires with mounting, road hazard and free flat repair is going to run around $1,000. If I'm going to change cars... now is the best time or I'll be buying tires. At that point, I'll wait another year before car shopping again.

A few months ago I went through the motions trying KIA, Hyundai, Nissan, Toyota and Subaru. Nothing jumped out as my #1 choice. They each had some nice features, but none had all the features I really wanted. Strange... the things I think are important aren't many, but to get those items, it requires additional feature packages costing thousands more.
Okay, I'll get over that.

The dividing line is a cross between a hatchback to a small SUV.
Who/What are the possibilities?

Subaru Crosstrek, is a car that's jacked up a few inches. It's big on safety features but weak on the electronics. I do like the old-fashioned hand brake. This is a possible for simplicity.

Honda H-RV is an SUV, bigger for 2023 than the previous model. Lots of features, I didn't like the height of the front hood. The car had an offensive odor, possibly from the leather seats. Maybe that will go away. Good availability, I could have one in the model and color choice within a week.

I'm ruling out both KIA and Hyundai. Beautiful cars, I don't think they are going to last 10 years. That's what I'm seeing in reviews and from personal experience.

Today, I went to Mazda and tried a Mazda3 hatchback and the CX-30 SUV. Both are nice. The SUV has sufficient horsepower, but it was tame both in steering and braking. I tried some rough driving and it wouldn't accept it. Slamming on the brakes didn't happen. It stopped quickly, but the car is very computer controlled and rides like a larger vehicle. I do like the ground height. Seats were firm but comfortable.
The hatchback handling was more to my liking. Quick lane changes and jamming the brakes produces a quicker stop than the SUV.
Both cars have nice seating, but lacked on the 'visual' of the electronics. I'm told the GPS map needs an upgrade. Both have a large (but different) center console, not to my liking and their choice of color is limited. Priced within my budget... Mazda is near the top if I had to choose.
Also, Toyota keeps sending me emails to buy my car... but they have nothing to offer me this year. Three months now they said I could test a Prius Hybrid but all coming in are pre-sold and no chance to test drive or actually sit in one for comfort. They are taking NON-REFUNDABLE deposits to order one with a 2 to 3 month wait. It won't be a Toyota this year.
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The disappearance is noted...

I'm curious why a few recent blogs have disappeared. I noted numbers on my blogs for reference. Two days ago, I had 1,671 blogs and this morning, it's 1,666.
The list of total system blogs showed 71,200 and now it's down to 67,956.
Trimming the fat?

The first thought that comes to mind is storage and bandwidth. At some point, blogs and forum posts will become enormous and the cost of keeping data for years and years becomes expensive. CS is a free site and the need to eliminate some data would become a possibility.

Just a thought... It was mentioned (in a blog) that blogs that didn't comply with the wishes of administration would be deleted. I tried looking for that blog... but it disappeared too!

laugh

(updated)
Blog # 1,667
System blog # 67,957

67,259 on 4-18-23 at 7pm
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They don't come back...

The problem with any dating site is they need to have a reason for new members to return.
They don't come back if there isn't anything to keep their attention. Dating is the number one reason for the bait. While it's great to have a place to post videos, poems, recipes and photos, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter can do the same thing... on a larger scale and while you say you're not there to date, many of the profiles on those platforms do exactly that.

Blogs and forums generally detract from the dating process and you find yourself spending hours in hopes of finding someone, but percentage wise, most bloggers don't date.
I get a few hits a week of looks, likes and messages. They are mostly from women, new members under the age of 35 and a portion of the profiles disappear while a high percent never return.

Scanning the 'New Women in Everywhere' list, I found by page 5 the amount of members who don't return out weight those who do. 50% failure and they have been here less than a week. What is the reason for this and can it be changed?

I used to think a dating site with a chatroom was the place to be and make quick communications that were better than reading blogs and forum threads. Not many dating sites had/have live chat. One place I hang out at actually has a chatroom with never more than 2 or 3 people. Usually, it's guys waiting like sharks for a woman to appear!
laugh
So that isn't working. At least, not on that site.

What we do here is private.
I don't see who you are looking at and messaging.
You don't see who I'm looking at and messaging either.
One site actually had those statistics on the member's profile.
You knew up front who received the most messages, if they actually read them, replied or deleted messages without reading them!
It was only a few seconds to realize it wasn't worth messaging someone who habitually deleted unread messages.

Take the bad with the good. If I remember correctly, you were nagged if you didn't actively message other members and those statistics were on your profile for all to see, so you can look at a member's profile and know if they were actively communicating with other members. I've got to say, the scary part is it revealed who you were messaging with!
I don't recall how long that lasted and I don't want someone to know who I'm interested in. That was worse than High-School dating.

Dating site expectations are too high. You're not going to find a soulmate if they are one in a million, because you may have to go through a million to find one!
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Kokomo and the return of mic...

Many thanks for CelticWitch keeping the flame for miclee who disappeared from CS a year ago. Sadly his enormously long blog disappeared and not archived to sail away into the night. If I recall, that was his 2nd marathon party-style blog of the same subject. Fun.

To everyone's delight, mic made a cameo appearance that squelched any rumor of his P_SSI_G (I'd like to solve the puzzle) so on a high note... maybe in the style of mic, here's the Kokomo blog reincarnated!

From 1988, it's the Beach Boys with Kokomo...

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Travel Bug...

My dad was born and raised in New York City. He and some of the kids in his neighborhood, joined the Navy during WWII and traveled across the Pacific Ocean a few times. He returned home, married and started a family. An amazing fact: he was aboard the battleship USS Missouri where Japan signed a surrender in 1945 that formally ended the war.

When it was time for vacation, I remember lots of road trips of a few hundred miles to upstate New York, Canada and a few trips to Miami to see relatives.

Around the time I was 6 years old, my parents decided to travel by car to California. The uncle who lived in Florida, reenlisted in the Navy as a career and traveled the world. He was stationed in California and moved his family there. They invited my parents to stay with them. The thought was a great idea to get out of New York City. Also, my dad had some Navy friends living in California, so that made the idea more attractive. Our stay was short. Less than a year later and fate had both families locating to Miami, Florida.

Most of the family travels as a kid brought us through the Southern route across America. Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and a few days in Las Vegas! I think I've seen enough endless stretches of desert and mirages. The best memory was the leather fringe jacket purchased at an old west tourist attraction in Tijuana. I wore until it literally fell apart! Miami became my home. I only traveled when necessary and really not for enjoyment.

As a musician, I traveled the East coast a few times, including two tours into Canada. The money was good for a while, but things soured and I was glad to be home, started back at college and anchored myself for many years.

My brother took the Army as a career and made lots of address changes in the US and about 6 years in Germany. My parents traveled to see him at least twice and one had a stop in Italy... Rome and the Vatican. My mom was okay with travel, but it was my dad who had the travel bug!

I've been on a few cruises to the Caribbean, usually sponsored by the company I was working for and twice to Grand Bahama to manage a project assignment for hotel interiors we were contracted to do.

At least 4 trips to Ohio to see my brother... I couldn't wait to return home each time. Probably another Ohio trip is in my future this year.

Ten years ago, one trip took me half-way around the world. Door to door to a major city in South China was about 32 hours and I lost 10 pounds during that trip as I didn't consume food on the flights. Me, food and travel don't always agree. I decided to become semi-retired just as COVID hit, so my travel plans to return were dreams up in smoke.
I'm working on a few long-term projects right now and it won't be this year, but there's hope for an extended visit next year. At least 2, possibly 3 months stay to make it worth my while. My interest is meeting two grand children that I've only seen on video chat. The trip will have meaning and not to satisfy any desire to be a travel bug!



Blog #1,673 and system blog # 71,206.
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The Clarence Thomas fan club...

In the past few weeks, Justice Clarence Thomas has become quite popular in some circles. As of Friday evening, he racked up 786,000 signatures that call for his impeachment.
Justified? 786,000 people think so.



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