Sunday morning music

 

Joe Satriani needs no introduction to electric guitar aficionados.  He's had a long and extraordinarily talented career, and is one of the top performers in his field.  Go read his bio at Wikipedia to get some idea of how creative he's been, and how many others he's taught and/or influenced along the way.

I couldn't possibly list all his hits and noteworthy performances;  a blog post containing them would take days to write and probably break Blogger's download bandwidth.  Instead, I'm going to take the simple approach and play just one:  "The Forgotten (Part 2)" from his third studio album, 1989's  "Flying In A Blue Dream".

There's an enormous number of his tracks recorded on his YouTube channel and elsewhere.  Go enjoy them all!

Peter

Still up to my ears in administrivia

 

Yesterday's rough and tumble will continue today, with all sorts of loose ends to be tied up and put out of the way.  Nothing earth-shattering (at least, I hope not!) but enough to keep me from blogging as per usual.

Regular blogging will recommence with next Sunday's musical miscellany.  Please amuse yourself with the bloggers in the sidebar until then.  They write good, too!

Peter

Life is getting in the way of blogging

 

I'm being bombarded with various bits and pieces of life, the universe and everything.  I'm arguing with doctors, trying to sort out a tax question, cleaning up and throwing out a bunch of "stuff" in the garage, doing normal domestic chores, and trying to research a particular issue for inclusion in the book I'm currently working on (the second volume of a US Civil War naval trilogy).

Basically, I have to take a day off blogging to catch up with myself and some of these issues.  I'll try to make time to put up a proper blog post tomorrow.

Have fun, y'all!

Peter

Cognitive dissonance - ammunition edition?

 

Fellow blogger Eaton Rapids Joe mentioned Republic Ammunition in a recent post, particularly their low-cost primers.  I took a look at their product line, and was intrigued to find this.

Er... um...

I can understand wanting to give your better half (?) a Valentine's Day gift that expresses your love.

However...

Is it wise to give your (current) better half a Valentine's Day gift that he/she can use against you if they (or you) decide that he/she/you is no longer their/your better half?

Not the sort of "target market" in which I'd like to participate!

Peter

That's mind-boggling...

 

Courtesy of a link provided by DiveMedic, we learn that human breast milk is one of the most complex systems nature has ever devised.

Milk is not just nutrition.
It is information.

. . .

When a baby nurses, microscopic amounts of saliva flow back into the breast. That saliva carries biological signals about the infant’s immune system. If the baby is getting sick, the mother’s body detects it.

Within hours, the milk changes.

White blood cells surge.
Macrophages multiply.
Targeted antibodies appear.

When the baby recovers, the milk returns to baseline.

This was not coincidence.
It was call and response.

A biological dialogue refined over millions of years. Invisible—until someone thought to listen.

. . .

Milk changes by time of day.
Foremilk differs from hindmilk.
Human milk contains over 200 oligosaccharides babies can’t digest—because they exist to feed beneficial gut bacteria.
Every mother’s milk is biologically unique.

. . .

Milk has been evolving for more than 200 million years—longer than dinosaurs walked the Earth. What we once dismissed as simple nourishment is one of the most sophisticated communication systems biology has ever produced.

Katie Hinde didn’t just study milk.
She revealed that nourishment is intelligence.
A living, responsive system shaping who we become before we ever speak.

There's more at the link.

That may be one of the most mind-blowing scientific analyses I've ever read.  I had no idea . . . and I guess most of the scientific and health community didn't, either.  It took one researcher who caught a glimpse of something tantalizing, enough to make her look further and go deeper - and she revealed a whole new wonder of nature.  Here's a TED talk she gave in 2018, before much of the most recent research was revealed.

The more I learn of this sort of complexity in nature, the more I shake my head at those who claim that evolution is responsible for everything, that we're merely cosmic "accidents", that there's no such thing as "intelligent design".  If there isn't, how does one account for the immense intelligence revealed just in the biological system of human milk - never mind everything else about us, and about life?

I know we'll never agree on that, but that's OK.  I'm just going to say, "Thank you, Lord", and leave it at that.

Peter

Fire in the hole!

 

Well, with a news report like this:

Hospital evacuated after 8-inch WWI

artillery shell discovered in patient’s butt

... what other common expression could I possibly use to headline this post?

(Those understanding artillery and/or explosive terminology can doubtless provide other useful terms to describe the situation.  Being a family-friendly blog, at least some of the time, I shall refrain - but with difficulty...)

Peter

Taxes in California

 

Yesterday reader Paul M. made this comment on Larry Lambert's blog.  He's referring to California taxes.

‘Tax us to death’…saw this:

Payroll taxes, Building Permit Tax
, CDL license Tax
, Cigarette Tax
, Corporate Income Tax
, Dog License Tax, 
Federal Income Tax
, Federal Unemployment Tax, Fishing License Tax
, Food License Tax
, Gasoline Tax (currently 44.75 cents per gallon)
, Gross Receipts Tax
, Hunting License Tax, 
Inheritance Tax
, Liquor Tax
, Luxury Tax, Marriage License Tax
, Medicare Tax
, Personal Property Tax
, Property Tax, 
Real Estate Tax
, Road Usage Tax
, Recreational Vehicle Tax
, Sales Tax
, School Tax, Social Security Tax
, State Income Tax
, State Unemployment Tax, Telephone Federal Excise Tax
, Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax
, Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Taxes, 
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax, 
Telephone Recurring and Nonrecurring Charges Tax
, Telephone State and Local Tax
, Telephone Usage Charge Tax
, Utility Taxes
, Vehicle License Registration Tax
, Vehicle Sales Tax
, Watercraft Registration Tax
, Well Permit Tax
, Workers Compensation Tax.

Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago and our nation was the most prosperous in the world. We had absolutely no national debt, had the largest middle class in the world, and Mom stayed home to raise the kids.

When you lay it all out like that, it's a breathtaking tax burden, isn't it?  That list isn't even comprehensive:  it doesn't include firearms taxes, ammunition taxes, and regulatory fees for this, that and everything else.  Now they want to add a wealth tax on top of it all!  They say it'll be a one-time tax, but if you believe that . . .

I wondered for a brief moment why any sane California taxpayer would vote for a government that robs them blind like that, but then I realized that most sane California taxpayers probably don't vote for those measures.  Taxpayers who've drunk the liberal/progressive Kool-Aid do;  but they're not the biggest margin of support.  The people who don't have to pay those taxes, but who benefit from the money they bring in, are mostly the ones who vote for them (and the politicians who impose them).

Peter