News just in... Guitarist and songwriter Robbie Robertson died today at the age of 80. Cause of death: prostate cancer. He battled the disease for about a year.
The Guzheng is a multi-stringed instrument from China that dates back more than a thousand years. Moyun is a young woman who plays pop songs on the Guzheng and posts videos on Youtube and the Chinese equivalent site Bilibili.
Guzhengs come in several sizes, vary in the number of strings and depending on the sound desired can be metal or nylon strings. Plucked with finger picks similar to a Western Zither, the Guzheng has a series of bridges dividing the strings with high notes on a short side and low notes on a long side. This allows for more resonance in the sound and gives the player a full range of high and low notes. Typical of the style, pressing one string on the long side gives a vibrato or pitch bend sound typical of Chinese music.
Here is a short introduction of Moyun and her Guzheng:
Comedian Paul Reubens who was the actor behind the iconic Pee-wee Herman character has died on Sunday after succumbing to cancer. He was 70 years old.
Good or bad things about his personal life will haunt the internet for years... either way, cancer isn't a pleasant way to go.
Story:
Fancy Farm Picnic is regarded as Kentucky's political Super Bowl. Senator Mitch McConnell was there and gave a speech that was drowned out by chants of 'retire' but he continued talking as though he was being supported.
It appears they gave him a standing ovation:
A few years ago a co-worker asked if I had seen an awards show that was televised the night before. I didn't and he went on to explain how he was repulsed to see a grossly obese woman being recognized as a new artist. I think he was annoyed about her 'over the top' personality. It wasn't in my world so I ignored the comment, but I remembered the artist's name Lizzo.
From time-to-time she would appear in the news and I actually heard one of her songs on the radio last month. Hip-hop with a rap lyric. Okay, that must be a calling card for the genre.
Again, Lizzo appears in the news about a lawsuit over s*xual harassment and hostile work environment. It appears to be a 'big girl' issue if it will damage her career or not.
I called up one of her YouTube videos to see what they are talking about.
Good voice, catchy rhythm, video on a budget... but that's okay. I've seen worse.
Due to her weight, I did find it funny she was moon-walking in white combat boots and the special effects of walking on water in a swimming pool of water acrobats.
Cute video and whatever the outcome of her lawsuit, I doubt it would crush the career of this or any musical artist with that kind of energy.
Lizzo - About Damn Time (official video)
Technically true. I was with friends at the park flying model aircraft and the moon was in view in the western sky. I was doing loops with the moon in the background so it appeared that I was flying 'around' the moon.
The weather was awesome, with big puffy clouds and a slight breeze.
I did some screen shots from a video so the images aren't perfect, but it's enough to see a large bird that got into the movie!
On Tuesday August first, Donald J. Trump received his 3rd indictment. This one was for his efforts to undo the results of the 2020 election leading up to the January 6th insurrection. He appeared in court Thursday for the arraignment. Travel from the Regan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia to the courthouse to was by way of motorcade with an entourage of secret service. Private entrance around the courthouse was prepared for his visit. The street to the courthouse was lined with barricades and details of special security.
After leaving the courthouse, he gave a brief speech to news media waiting at the airport and stated “This is a very sad day for America, and it was also very sad driving through Washington, D.C., and seeing the filth and the decay and all of the broken buildings and walls and the graffiti. This is not the place that I left. It’s a very sad thing to see it.”
He blamed this all on president Biden... were you expecting that?
I got to see a news feed of the tree lined highway path back to the airport and unable to catch any buildings along the way. I'm sure there were some between the highway and the courthouse. My plan was to trace the route with Google Earth just to see for myself what was actually visible along the way.
My schedule is super busy right now, having submitted a revised quotation for a project, the GC also wants the drawing revisions. That could take most of today and part of the weekend.
The good news is many of the people on social media who are familiar with the Washington DC area contested Trump's statement about the filth and decay.
Anderson Cooper said: “We should point out that when the former president left office and left Washington, D.C., the city was on lockdown because of the attack on Jan. 6,”
“That is the city he left behind.”
It was noted that damages caused by the Capitol riot exceeded $2.7 million.
Again, it's a case of who do you want to believe?
Trump has been indicted in the Federal probe over the effort to unto undo the 2020 election. In other news, Ron DeSantis ain't doing so well after the NAACP issued a formal travel advisory for Florida, warning visitors that the state has become “openly hostile toward African Americans” under Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’s leadership.
Two major Black organizations announced they are moving their annual multimillion-dollar conferences elsewhere.
Ron's politics is killing tourism in Florida with his fights with Disney.
Since he's been out on a failing campaign trail, Florida gets neglected.
But... maybe that's a good thing as his presence here is quickly turning sour.
These are the two top contenders in the Republican primary.
Issues, issues... let me get you some tissues.
News in Texas where someone accidentally locked their keys in the car with a baby inside.
A group of guys are pounding on the WINDSHIELD, then sending a woman in to pull the baby through the smashed windshield.
What's wrong with this scenario?
Windshields are made from laminated glass to resist smashing.
One smack to the driver or passenger window shatters it into a few hundred pieces where they can safely reach inside, UNLOCK the door and get the baby out!
About 2 years ago, if I needed something not found in stores but available on Amazon, I would have a friend or relative with a Prime account purchase it and drop ship to my address. I would settle the payment when we got together.
That was then and this is now...
I opened an Amazon Prime account and all sorts of things appear at my doorstep. Many of these purchases are less than buying locally or online with other vendors.
Polo shirts... for example, I ordered a dozen different colors this year and shopping for another round to replace some older ones.
Hand tools, electronics, rivet gun, soldering gun, car cover, network switch and cables, model helicopter parts and the list goes on.
I felt guilty returning the FitBit activity tracking watch, but when I went to the distribution center, the guy in front of me had a shopping cart FULL of items to be returned. and... they took them all back!
I guess his Amazon addiction is greater than mine!
Two days ago I blogged about a supermoon where the moons orbit is closest to earth and a full moon will appear twice in the month of August. Also noted is people getting irritated during a full moon. You only have to look at the recent blogs to see that phenomena is true.
Trump's indictment was only gasoline to a fire that already started.
Hopefully, in days to come people will realize that on a dating site where less than 20 people regularly blog, what gets said here doesn't mean 'diddly' in the real world.
Sidney Powell aka The Kraken, the attorney who teamed up with Rudy Giuliani for the 2020 presidential election who alleged that Dominion Voting Systems were set to run an algorithm to take a certain number of votes from Trump and flip them to Biden.
She's been quiet as of late and tonight her name popped up in the news.
"Embattled Trump attorney Sidney Powell helped coordinate with a team of computer experts who succeeded in breaching Georgia election files in rural Coffee County and accessing election data that included voter check-in computers and ballot memory cards, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. Local election officials reportedly gave the group access to equipment that was meant to be protected.
Atlanta-area tech company SullivanStrickler billed Powell more than $26,000 for its work, according to the outlets, which also included attempts to access similar election data in Antrim County, Michigan, and Clark County, Nevada."I've made a few predictions on CS that came true and I've got a feeling a wave of bad karma is going to hit Sidney like the power of and angry voodoo priestess.
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