@wtg I love the mechanical pencil one!!

Makes sense. I used to wonder (this might sound strange) who had more cultural weight (or however you want to put it)-- The Queen of England or The Pope? I chose The Queen of England. My perspective was no doubt due the hegemony of London in English language and culture. And, no doubt because I'm a Protestant. YMMV. Charles III fell flat on his face on the second score. He did well enough on the first one, or at least you can say he's intelligent, educated, and interested in history. I'd like to give him a grade (I'm sure he cares but please humor me). Defender of The Faith. 0 Illegitimate marriage. 0 Bad faith Coronation and wedding vows. 0, 0 Blatant hypocrisy vis a vis his claim to fame-- environmentalism. 0 F- Better luck next time. He would have refused Trump's visit and made an excuse if he had an ounce of character. I don't care what he thinks the Constitution requires (he picks and chooses anyway). He's a rubber stamp to everything Trump has done.

@Steve-Miller oh wow!! What a saga!!! So glad you got it fixed! Esp because flickering lights are the worst!!!

The idea is to swap out a group of powered devices all at once — hence the nickname — turning some things off and replacing them with lower-power alternatives to keep the spacecraft warm enough to continue gathering science data. "... replacing them with lower-power alternatives...." Sounds odd to talk of replacing equipment on a machine that's 15 billion miles away. They must be alternatives that were built in to the original build?

How is it that ICE seems to be able to find these people, but don't seem to have current information on their actual legal status? https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ice-detains-army-sergeant-wife-immigration-appointment-jose-serrano-deisy-rivera-ortega/

This sounds like a very promising development, even if it's at the level 0f 20-40% right now. @mik I'm glad your brother is having such success!

I love being older. I definitely wouldn't go back in time and have to do everything I had to do to get here again. I also have no desire to live forever. I don't even mind aging. I'm trying to be immodest but I've aged well especially given everything I've put my body through including both trauma and neglect. I look ten years younger than I am and have my whole adult life. It's just a fact. I have an intuitive real time knowledge of how women and men react to me. It's a survival mechanism I learned a long time ago. The stress of the last eight years hasn't done me any favors but that's about to end. But I hate the physical problems, and I hate dealing with the medical system! I had the best PCP in Hawaii for seven years; she was a board certified internist, and we developed an affinity for one another, even though that's not something that's "supposed" to happen. Since then, I've met only Doctors, including specialists, who are "phoning it in." I need to take more control over my health. I'm hoping I'll have a better opportunity to do that after I move.

@andyd You might know that Chicago is the most important city in the history of American architecture. It towers (sic) above New York. I don't know if you've been there or seen pictures but it's a beautiful city. The downtown area is especially awesome. We have nothing else that compares to it.

@Bernard said: I think that's the germ I need for this piece. An aria! Chopin loved bel canto opera. Awesome! I suspect that image will be all you need to give is the shape you felt it was lacking.

There's very little more calming and cozy than sitting on the porch in a warm summer rain.

@Bernard said: Yeah, you definitely would not want to hold tension in your hand for the duration of the arpeggios. Exactly. I worked on this (score below) in one lesson with my teacher a bit and it’s better in terms of less tension, but not great. I’ve found spots/ways to release the tension, but it seems to me there shouldn’t be tension in the first place. So I want to take it back to my lesson, but we’ve been busy with my jury piece, so I’ve put it on hold until that’s finished. But in this one (score below, which is octaves) and the other score I posted (which are the arps), I think my problem, or whatever it is I’m doing, is the same. My hand isn’t that small, I think one problem is that I might be stretching more than I need to. And then another problem is not releasing that stretch, so the tension builds. And then I think I need to use my arm, wrist, move my elbow etc., in ways that I’m not doing …. [image: IMG-0887.jpg]