 millions of Americans for some kind of new gun controls. And the current occupant of the White House is all too happy to oblige. Last week, the president unveiled the most sweeping new gun control laws since the so-called Brady Bill was passed in 1993, requiring background checks on firearm purchasers in the US. Obama's proposals go much further as I will discuss.
There's a lot to talk about this week. A lot of my contemporaries are offering their predictions for the New Year. But with our nation now over $16 trillion in debt and annual budget deficits over $1 trillion, I don't think there is any way to accurately predict what will happen this year. Another financial crisis could rear its ugly head just about any time.Hi, to all our members.
I can’t believe we are about to go into July. We have had over three months of lockdown and dealing with the many issues during this period. I hope you are all OK and looking forward to getting back out. As you are all aware, the government announced last week the relaxation of the lockdown and social distancing.
As of the 6th July, we will continue to operate as we currently are. Covering medical appointments and essential shopping trips. We will continue to help the local food banks and pharmacies. Although shops and hairdressers will be open, members should remember that if they are over 70 they should take particular care to minimise contact with anyone outside their household. This causes KCT an issue, as many of our volunteer drivers are over 70. Currently we have a pool of just eight drivers.
As of the 3rd August, shielding and for those over 70 lockdown will be eased. We will have more drivers available, so can offer a full service. Due to social distancing, we will not be running any social trips during August.
As of the 1st September, if all is well and there are no changes, we will be fully open. Running all services including social trips to pubs and garden centres.
During this period, all vehicles used will be deep cleaned at the end of each day and you will need to ensure you have a face covering when travelling. Hand sanitizers will be available.
More information will be posted later in the week.You’ll notice I don’t add any salt. The onion soup mix has salt in it already, and my husband and son find plenty of flavor in this as-is. If you prefer, you can add salt to taste. But I’d suggest trying it without the first time around, just to see if it works for you without the extra sodium.
Hints: use a food processor or hand chopper to finely mince the carrots and celery — the finer, the better.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine all ingredients until evenly mixed and spread in a large loaf pan. Bake 1 hour or until done.No on Prop 32 rally.
Local educators, along with public safety and good government advocates, gathered Thursday morning at the Santa Barbara Courthouse to unite in opposition against Proposition 32.
Proposition 32, or the Paycheck Protection Initiative, would ban corporations, unions, and the government from making automatic deductions from employees’ wages for political use. In addition, Prop. 32 would stop government contractors from contributing to the politicians who control the contracts awarded to them, and it would ban corporate and union contributions to state and local candidates.
While the proposition appears to provide much-needed campaign finance reforms, protesters said that voters only need to look a bit deeper to see that the proposition is not what it seems.
Linda Phillips, a representative from the League of Women Voters, said that while the preamble of the proposition expresses what sound like excellent ideas, those ideas are not found in the actual text of the proposition.
The president of the Santa Barbara Teachers Association, Layne Wheeler, said that the initiative places restrictions on corporations that would have zero effect.
“This is just a case of powerful interests trying to silence the voice of teachers and other middle-class workers while carving out exemptions for themselves. It won’t fix the California political system; it will make it worse. It makes supposed restrictions on corporations that will have no impact on them because their payroll deductions don’t go toward politics,” said Wheeler.
Wheeler said that many middle-class Californians have been able to live a stable life with a secure job because of the benefits of unions and that unions are one of the only truly organized voices for the middle class.
Just listened to Lichtbogen with my morning coffee. I heard her playing a little more with melodic fragments. There is a little of that in the SQ but in general our attention is directed towards other things. In particular I heard some scale passages exchanged between instruments that reminds of Joan Tower.
Here is an observation, nothing profound but it seems really important: there is rarely a note that is simply sustained on an instrument. When it does happen, like in the middle of Lichtbogen, we really notice it. Usually, the sound is excited or altered from it's pure state by trills, temolos, extended techniques. Then of course, there are the electronics. The result is a world that is constantly changing like a kaleidoscope.
Just revisited the Kronos recording and just listened to the Adastra live performance for the first time. A couple things I liked in the Kronos were 1. I can actually hear the words of the poem towards the end (I'm still not sure if the poem is really needed) and 2. there is a slight grainy texture to the electronics that adds a bit of color. But overall I think both the Kronos and the Adastra are a bit timid in their use of electronics as a means of blending the sonorities together. And as a result, their interpretations sound pretty "dry", especially in the first half of the work. Meta4 seems to get this and they embrace the electronics, letting it just wash over the quartet like a tidal wave. And while there can be such a thing as too much electronics in a work, I think in this case I prefer more than less because, to be honest, I don't find the underlying quartet writing all that interesting except in a few places.
Anyways, I'll listen to the Guastalla live performance tomorrow. And then as a nice treat for myself, listen to Saariaho's most recent opera Only the Sound Remains on DVD, which I recently bought.
Oh, and I'm clearly wrong in what I wrote here. While the electronics are definitely live, all the instruments have microphones in the Adastra performance, I don't know how I missed the others.
That was so much fun to listen to! Calvinpv really delivered on this one. That introduction also helped get me into the right frame of mind for the listening experience. It's interesting to reframe your perspective into viewing timbre in its whole, raw form as the centrifugal force of the music. I was struck by the beauty of even just singular, isolated lines by themselves because they contain so much color and vibrant, rich frequencies. I wish I could see this live so I could hear the richness of the piece's frequencies at their fullest depth. Saariaho captures a variety of moods that range from being ethereal and serene to really tense and explosive (those "curves of tension" Calvinpv mentioned in the intro), like the fabric of the sound itself is about to rip at the seams. The voices added an interesting effect. The first word that comes to mind when describing the piece is "surreal" but that still seems woefully lacking.  The pieces I've heard by her always remind me of traveling through space and being at mercy of the raw forces of the universe that are totally indifferent to you.
This has definitely piqued my interest in exploring electronic and spectral music, and delving into Saariaho more, she's really growing on me. She's the best composer I've heard so far, in my limited sampling of electro-acoustic music, at actually putting it to music. I'm going to listen to some of the other performances and try it on speakers next time as well. I was listening to it on my headphones, as recommended, but I don't like to crank it up too much for the sake of my hearing. Speakers might capture more depth to the frequencies more, even though Calvinpv recommended headphones as speakers put too much space between the listener and the music. All in all, great reccomendation!
write @ 750- 900 words in a blog style. Include some maps or photos.
write in general about the pandemic and its effects on the food system using the articles/video assigned (# 2-4) and doing a little more research on your own. What was lacking in terms of government intervention in the early stages that could have prevented so much food waste and what imaginative local (and non-local) solutions were created practically overnight to come to so many people’s aid? Write about the work of the food banks across the country, local L.A. non-profits such as No Us Without You, Hunger Action Los Angeles, etc. Read about the work of José Andrés’ World Central Kitchen (https://wck.org/ as one very successful model.
The DotA scene is tingling once again as GEST returns with a new tournament. Classics such as iDeal and iZONE are seen amongst the participating teams.
The backbone of WarCraft 3 DotA returns with the it's monthly edition. It is the Gigabyte eSport Tournament, focusing on South East Asian teams and is especially appreciated in the Philippean scene. The games goes live at 06 CEST (12 SGT) and are a must for all followers of