DrW

Tom Jones' 80th birthday reminded me of this: More goodies from SAHB:

David Crosby

A surprisingly competent BOC cover by a bunch of hippies (sorry, audio only)

I can't see the lines I used to think I could read between Perhaps my brains have turned to sand Brian Eno

As I do not know how often I can visit the site on the weekend, I'll give it away. Meet Bernd Mayländer, the Formula One safety car driver since the 2000 season. He has led more than 700 laps, which is more than some world champions (e.g. Jacques Villeneuve or Emerson Fittipaldi).

No. His schedule is very similar from year to year (at least before the pandemic), with the visit to the US in late October.

Close. During a year on his job, he visits every continent except Africa and Antarctica.

Cars is the right direction. In his job, he drives a Mercedes.

No, this person is European (although this information is not really relevant).

I do not need the name, just the job of this person. The job is unique; he has been in this job for 20 years. I will give further hints as we go along.

Unfortunately, no video...

Another hint (I cheated, too). His wife was/is also a musician, although in quite a different genre.

So, your first argument is that masks cannot stop spreading of the virus. Then you argue that the mask will collect virus particles. If the latter is true, it will stop spreading the virus.

What the good doctor who is quoted here did not take into account is that the virus is most infectious when it is spread in concentrated form, as in droplets or as aerosol. Individual virus particles will rarely do harm. Thus, comparison of the size of the virus itself with the pore size of masks is irrelevant. Even simple masks can significantly reduce the passage of droplets, thus prevent spreading the virus from people who are infected, but asymptomatic.

When we moved into or current home > 15 years ago, there were two streets, each with 6 houses on each side, each house on a 1 acre lot. The rest of the surroundings were cotton fields. We got a wide variety of birds, including scaled quails, northern bobwhites, and burrowing owls. One day a young Swainson's hawk landed on the kids' trampoline and could not take off vertically until we removed some of the safety net. Another year we had a pair of mallards breeding in the back yard (we do not have a pond, but the neighbors do). One day, the female took off with 6 ducklings following in line; they did not return. We were very fortunate that it happened on a Saturday; thus, we could actually watch the exodus. Now the surroundings have turned from rural to suburban, and the variety of birds is greatly diminished. Occasionally, we still get something interesting, like a curve-billed thrasher, a Lincoln's sparrow, or a bronzed cowbird. What has increased is the number of dove species - we now have three (mourning, white-winged, and Eurasian collared).

The pickled beets "fashionably dill" from Pernicious (CA) are my favorites. After finishing the beets, the brine makes a lovely drink (I prefer to add a bit of vinegar). The cauliflower from the same company is delicious, too.

And now for something completely different...

Abbie Carmichael on Law & Order

A Stidham story (which, admittedly, does not have much to do with the original question). In 2014, Stidham was a senior in Stephenville HS (then ranked #1 among 4A schools in Texas). At that time, he had committed to Texas Tech (located in Lubbock, TX). Stephenville was hosting a high school from the Lubbock suburbs, Lubbock-Cooper. The previous year, Stephenville had beaten Lubbock-Cooper 42-28 in the state quarterfinals. ESPN thought this could make a nice story and decided to air the game nationwide on ESPN2. Stidham was pretty good, going 28/35 for 340 yds and 4 TDs. However, the Cooper QB, Kolton Ehlers, was even better. He accounted for 7 TDs (passing and running), and Cooper beat Stephenville 50-39. Why do I remember this? Both my kids went to Lubbock-Cooper HS. My son was a freshman in 2014 and was at the game, because he was in the Cooper "Pirates" band. Kolton Ehlers went to college at Texas Tech, but - to my knowledge - he did not play football. He graduated in 2019 and works at City Bank.

Based on recent experiences, I do not have much confidence in polls. But are you aware that the poll you quote is from 2014? Quinnipiac did the same poll in 2018. https://poll.qu.edu/national/release-detail?ReleaseID=2526 Here, Obama had to give up the first place as "worst president after WWII". I guess you do not need much imagination to figure out the new number one.

Correct. Angela Merkel.

The one group with a similar style I can come up with is ELO. Thus, my guess would be The Move.

"living is easy - here in New York State" Mentioning Jazz/Rock/Fusion at the end of the 60' or the beginning of the 70s usually brings up Chicago (Transit Authority); Blood,Sweat and Tears; or the Mahavishnu orchestra. Here is the British contribution. Robert Wyatt's singing has been better on other occasions, but the rest is top-notch. I especially like the bass used as "lead guitar".

Another underrated band. Their interpretation of "The Weight" (first song in the link) is just as good as the the one from the Band. Spooky Tooth's version of "I am the walrus".