This is an West African kora tune recorded by Toumani Diabate, but this arrangement for guitar by Derek Gripper makes it feel like a tango. I recorded it on my porch in New Orleans. I didn't mean to record the covid ambulance sirens in the background, but I imagine that I'll listen to this later and remember what now was like.

Recorded with a Roland Jupiter X as a live take

Eigentlich ist die Sache klar: Streicht der Reiseveranstalter den gebuchten Urlaub oder Flug, bekommen Kunden ihr Geld zurück. Doch momentan wartet so mancher vergeblich auf die Rückzahlung. Was können Urlauber tun?

Wir müssen uns vorerst von der Hoffnung verabschieden, weit weg zu fahren, um den Alltag und alles Negative hinter uns zu lassen. Was macht das mit uns? Wie können wir uns trotzdem erholen? Eine Psychologin gibt Tipps.

Einsame Wanderpfade, Schäfertradition und archaisch anmutende Feste: In der Serra da Estrela erleben Reisende ein Portugal, das woanders längst verschwunden ist. Man sollte sich das für die Zeit nach den Reisebeschränkungen merken.

Das Fotografen-Ehepaar Antonia und Alexander Feig liebt Mallorca seit über 20 Jahren. Statt klassischer Postkartenmotive zeigen sie episch anmutende Landschaftsaufnahmen, puristische Street-Fotografie und Porträts Einheimischer.

Taiwan hat sich nicht nur bei der Corona-Bekämpfung bestens geschlagen, das Land hat auch alles, was ein Reiseziel braucht. Auf der Insel findet man noch traditionelle chinesische Kultur und eine atemberaubende Natur.

Zur Erholung im Urlaub gehört für viele das Reisen dazu. Sehnsüchtig warten sie auf Lockerungen der Reisebeschränkungen wegen Corona. Bis dahin bleiben aber die Souvenirs vergangener Trips. Zeit für eine Würdigung.

Rory PQ explains what Binaural Recordings are and demonstrates how to use Logic Pro's Binaural Panner device to place sounds at different spatial positions.

/files/2017/01/Binaural-Panning-Thumb.jpg

The post Logic Pro Tutorial: Binaural Panning appeared first on Dubspot Blog.

Five great websites that offer a variety of professional quality sample libraries and audio tools suited for any type of project or genre.

/files/2017/01/Audio-Sample-Websites-Thumb.jpg

The post 5 Websites That Offer Professional Quality Sample Libraries appeared first on Dubspot Blog.

Multitalented musician Michael Emenau examines some of the benefits and pitfalls of using musical scales and offers some creative practices for using them.

/files/2013/11/11142013_Scales_thumb1.jpg

The post Music Theory Tutorial: Working with Scales appeared first on Dubspot Blog.

This plugin spotlight features the Cooper Time Cube MkII by Universal Audio, a unique emulation of the original garden hose-based mechanical delay device.

/files/2017/02/cooper_time_cube_thumb.png

The post Plugin Spotlight: Cooper Time Cube MkII by Universal Audio appeared first on Dubspot Blog.

Dubspot's Winter Sale offers new students 15% off all courses and returning students 25% off until March 13th at midnight EST. Enroll Today!

/files/2017/02/2017-Winter-Sale-Thumb.jpg

The post Dubspot Winter Sale Extended: Enroll Today! appeared first on Dubspot Blog.

Universal Audio releases UAD Software v9.1 along with five new plugins for Apollo Audio Interfaces and UAD Accelerators.

/files/2017/03/UAD-9-1-Thumb.jpg

The post Universal Audio Releases UAD v9.1 + New Plugins appeared first on Dubspot Blog.

Get an in-depth look at Analog Strings by Output, an innovative virtual instrument designed for creating and manipulating string sounds.

/files/2017/03/Analog-Strings-Thumb.png

The post Plugin Spotlight: Analog Strings by Output appeared first on Dubspot Blog.

This plugin spotlight features the Moog Multimode Filter Collection by Universal Audio, a set of truly authentic, analog-sounding Moog filter emulations.

/files/2017/04/Moog-Multimode-Filter-Thumb.png

The post Plugin Spotlight: Moog Multimode Filter Collection by Universal Audio appeared first on Dubspot Blog.

Universal Audio releases UAD Software v9.2 along with five new plugins for Apollo Audio Interfaces and UAD Accelerators.

/files/2017/05/UAD_v92_Thumb.jpg

The post Universal Audio Releases UAD v9.2 + New Plugins appeared first on Dubspot Blog.

'God knows all about us. This is comforting and gives us security and the assurance that we are in His care.'

'The Bible gives us formulas for practices that will keep us grounded in God and are designed to maximize our happiness. What can we do to seek to keep faith alive in our homes and families, even if we have made wrong decisions in the past?'

'As we face the challenges of the twenty-first century, we need to recapture the perception of God that is so vividly reflected in the book of Daniel.'

'We show real faith when we pray to the Lord for what we want but trust Him to do what’s best for us, even if at the time we don’t understand what is happening or why.'

'This week we will look at sola Scriptura in greater detail. We will learn that sola Scriptura implies some fundamental principles of biblical interpretation that are indispensable for a proper understanding of God’s Word.'

Happy weekend, Mefites! I'm in search of some nice things to idly think about that aren't in my immediate view. I'd like to see a wikipedia page you like, of something that isn't in your home.

As always this is just a conversation starter not a limiter; let us know how things are with you, what media are you enjoying, etc. Just no politics please.

Happy weekend, Mefites! This weekend jessamyn says: What's growing? Your garden? Your kids? Your hair? Your aggravation at your friends and neighbors? Your "What I'm gonna do when this is over" list? Your dream journal. Let's talk about growth!

As always this is a conversation starter, not limiter; feel free to let us know about non-growth things that're on your mind too. Just no politics please.

Long ago we started up a group for magical mefites, it has grown into something that includes mefites and nonmefites alike, and I'd like to welcome polytheists, witches, animists, unidentified flying spiritual practitioners (or nonflying) if interested! Zoom meetings are happening.

Currently we have been focusing a lot on how to create resources from the land in connection with spirits and deities in the area. Community preparedness for uncertain times, and just general sharing of our different spiritual practices and growth. There is a zoom meeting tonight (theme of spring and what we are growing) and we might be moving our meetings from monthly to weekly for the next few months.

Message me and I'll get you into the group! Currently using facebook as a base but I am trying to move to a website as much as my technically challenged abilities let me.

I was thinking about making an fpp about how Whole Foods is using a "heat map" of factors to try and prevent unionization. The article is behind a paywall at Business Insider I read it on an archive site. Is there a way to make post that people can read ethically?

Just chat it up, fuzzballs!

If your location is correct, the Humane Society will do the communual cremation for $35 and there's a campus in your city. If that's too much but you can get her there, I'll cover it. If group cremation isn't the correct choice for you for this pet, however, no pressure.

Well, somebody didn't click through before commenting... Great job, 100%

I have a health condition with a high mortality rate, where about one quarter of us die within the first year, and two-thirds of us don't last five years. I'm on Year 4 now and I'm doing okay, and I'm thankful to be receiving excellent care, and I'm generally optimistic that I'll get to stick around for a while.

Ramping up to my diagnosis, I thought my life was over. And that was both utterly untrue and completely true at the same time. You can't really know what it's like until you have the actual diagnosis, and even then it's been a world of surprises. You may or may not be able to do some of the things you would like to do.

For me to deal with it in a healthy way, I kind of had to create a hard line in the sand. I had to take time to grieve the person I'd been before falling ill, take stock of my accomplishments, and most importantly, I had to REALIZE MY ACCOMPLISHMENTS WERE ENOUGH for my lifetime. If I'd been hit by a bus, my life would have been over in a snap, and whatever I'd accomplished by that point would have had to be enough. Taking that pressure off myself was the kindest thing I could do for myself.

I found I had to let a lot of things go and not compare Previous Me to Sick Me. Previous Me was active, enjoyed travel, able to hold down complex and interesting work. Sick Me can't do much of that, but Sick Me does pretty okay for a sick person, and Sick Me does so much more than Dead Me could possibly do! Seriously, compared to Dead Me, Sick Me is a total winner. Sick Me can do a little modest gardening, enough to keep the weeds away. Sick Me can care for my dog and handle the occasional load of laundry. Sick Me finds a lot of joy in my friends and family and internet communities, and has transferred my social life to text, email, and the occasional dining out when the stars align and energy allows. (Metafilter is a lifesaver because I can pick it up whenever my energy level allows and people are so welcoming and understanding.)

As you're waiting for news, it's easy to fall to worry. Please be kind to yourself and don't suffer those fears and losses before you need to. Right now, you are there for your children. Don't put yourself through the punishment of losing them multiple times unnecessarily. And don't say you won't ever get to do a painting class -- I took my first painting class last fall and it was a boon to my soul and it renewed my capacity for beauty.

In the meantime, take as much control of the situation as you need to. Write down a list of questions to review with your doctors. (I've actually typed them out and distributed copies for them to follow along.) You can google, and it's hard not to, but please never tell a doctor that your questions or concerns are coming from google. Also, do not call yourself a hypochondriac -- what you are feeling is what you are feeling, and your concerns are valid and deserving of respect.

Waiting is hard. Please be extra kind to yourself.

"fascinating, and I'm going to assume it's not hoax. But it doesn't so much raise my impression of the inherent decency of humanity as get me wondering what sort of values etc they were propagating at that exclusive school in Tonga."

This is actually pretty well-studied -- I have a friend who did a Ph.D. in the total collapse of local civil authority and what happens next -- and Lord of the Flies is flat wrong. Humans in an emergency situation lean on each other and help each other. If they fall into despair and think survival isn't possible, they might destroy themselves -- but they don't (usually) take others with them. But generally they pool resources, create organization, find ways to help the group, and find ways to care for the helpless and infirm. People get really frustrated when they're NOT able to assist the group, and even people who have very limited physical abilities try to find ways to help, maybe keeping an eye on the little children, or teaching kids to read.

"Because by the time I read Lord of the Flies in Grade Nine or thereabouts, I'd experienced enough suburban schoolyard/playground savagery and whatnot to not really find its extrapolations all that unbelievable."

So part of the problem with children and schoolyard savagery is that we keep them in a HUGELY artificial structure and limit their ability to participate in society and contribute to it. We MAKE them savages by refusing to allow them to contribute to the group. One of the things we know about children who find themselves without adults and with a need to organize and survive (which might be like these boys, in an actual hardcore survival situation, or they might have plenty of food and water and heat and just need to wait for the blizzard to end and grown-ups to fetch them from where they got snowed in) is that they are amazing at it. Given a chance to be competent and responsible, they usually do really really well! And children have a HUGE innate sense of fairness (it's a developmental phase), so kids under 14 or so basically IMMEDIATELY sit down as a group and hash out how they're going to make decisions and hold people accountable. Generally, they decide on a democracy -- it's not "fair" unless everyone has a say -- and that everyone will have to take turns at gross jobs, and create some kind of punishment for those who don't do their work, which is usually either an extra turn at gross jobs or having to sleep in the worst spot (where they otherwise take turns). They tend to be very conscious of what they know about safety (problems come in with what they DON'T know, like not using a grill indoors for heat b/c you can die from the smoke), and cautiously warn each other to be careful cooking and with sharp objects, and take care to learn from each other's knowledge. If one kid knows how to build a fire, the others will defer to his expertise and will have him teach them and follow his instructions carefully.

Kids do CRY a lot more than adults do, and they get their feelings hurt a lot, but kids are also very conscious of and used to the fact that you can't just avoid people or cut them out of your life (kids don't have that power), so they tend to do a really good job reconciling in-group disputes. They might not all LIKE each other, but they find a way to work together and just complain about each other.

Do you remember that reality show that was meant to be "Kid Survivor" and they hoped it would turn into Lord of the Flies, and it was a SPECTACULAR FLOP? The producers had set up better and worse "houses" in the "abandoned town" set and expected the kids to race for a free-for-all to get the best stuff, and instead they arrived, explored, and then all sat down and made a group decision about how to divide it all up. A couple kids tried to be selfish and stubborn, but got shamed into compliance by the rest of the group, and one of their first concerns was that the littlest kids be buddied up with older kids because it would be too hard for them otherwise "and they might get scared." They agreed on a decision-making procedure the first night and basically stuck to it through the show. When one kid was a jerk, they would all go sit around the campfire and talk and talk and talk until the jerk agreed to stop being a jerk. The producers would create survivor-like challenges where the "winner" would get extra food or some special thing, and every single time they kids would either a) refuse, as a group, to compete, because it wouldn't be "fair" or b) agree to compete because it would be fun or because they wanted/needed the reward, but the winner would share his winning equally with the group AND ALWAYS DID.

Margaret Mead said that in her opinion, the first sign of civilization was a 15,000-year-old human grave with a healed thigh bone. Which means that the nomadic group rescued that person, immobilized his femur, and then cared for him for MONTHS while he recovered and could not contribute to the group. Wild animals die if they break a bone. Humans became civilized, she felt, when the group cared for the individual and allowed them to heal from such grievous injuries. Turns out that's still how we roll.

So like, nobody else finds the timing of this story kinda culturally suspicious? We had years of warnings of Africanized bees, and now we've got deadly Asian hornets, at a moment when anti-China rhetoric has reached a fevered pitch? Literally two of these bugs have been spotted in the US, and the guy who is the focal point of the NYT story isn't sure these were even involved, but now the Paper of Record and the entire American internet is talking about Asian Murder Hornets? Gaaaaaaaah I'm just going back inside for a while.

I live most of the year in a small, fairly self-contained village of about 8 people. We do use grid power where we can't get micro-hydro. There's not enough sun to make solar workable (we're in a valley). We all have wood stoves to heat and cook, big gardens, forage for food and medicine, and hunt and fish for meat as well as raise chickens and sheep. Our main needs from the outside world are salt, grains, cooking fats, sweeteners, tobacco, and tea/coffee. There is a large vegetable farm our friend owns up the road, and most of us work there during the summer and we get lots of free produce. We have neighbors we visit to harvest from their orchards and wild berries.

Being totally self-sufficient all on your own is honestly almost impossible unless you are willing to really, really rough it. The things you need depend on your climate, but outside of a few outlier 'lives in the woods by himself in a cave' folks, this is not easy to achieve.

So you need a house. Insulated from heat and cold. This means building a good shelter with air flow and heating. Wood burning stoves are a good solution. If you're in a 4 season climate, you will need between 2 and 4 cords of wood, (60 hours or so of chopping if you know what you're doing) which have to cure for a year before you can use them, even from dead standing. So chainsaw, axes, wedges, and probably a truck. Which means gas. This means money on an ongoing basis.

You need water. A well or a spring, or a creek close enough to the source to not need filtering. This all means pipes or tubing and maybe a pump unless your sources is higher than your house. Also costs money, and needs to be replaced eventually.

You need food. Most gardens are geared to fruits and veg, and you'll need a lot of space to grow enough to live on without supplementing from stores. Depending on where you are, you might be able to harvest some berries and fruit if you have producing bushes/trees on your land. Or you can plant them and wait until they are mature enough to produce. You will need to freeze, dry or can what you pick or it's gonna go bad before you can eat it all. So you need canning stuff (big pot, grabber tongs, hella mason jars, and those lids have to be replaced every couple years). A root cellar (lots of digging! So much!) will keep your root veggies and apples fresh through the winter if it's deep enough. Wash your cabbages and carrots in bleach water every now and then. You'll add a month to their viability. You'll want a dehydrator for sure. you can build a passive solar one, but we use an electric one as fall fruit in an outdoor space is a bear fun time pantry. You need garden tools. They cost money and need to be replaced periodically.

You still need protein. Say you live in a place where you can fish and hunt (in season). You need to pay for licenses for these things. You can trap smaller game, but that's much more challenging. If you are hunting larger game you will need a deep freezer to store (electricity!) or be content with a massive salting / smoking process that will allow you to store meat long term.

You also need carbs. Grains need a lot of land space, and the right climate. Getting them to an edible state means you'll need to thresh, winnow, and grind your wheat/oats/spelt etc. Grinding means you need a stone mill. A hand crank meat grinder isnt going to cut it (literally) but you'll want one anyway for other stuff. Potatoes are a good source, and are easy to grow in the right climate. These need to be stored in a cool dry place away from rodents and insects to last all year.

You need fats. Wild crafted diets are low in fat, which is not always a good thing. Game meat is low in fat, and you can't make cooking oil from it. Deer tallow will make soap and icky candles. You need bees for good candle wax (and honey!) Raising chickens can get you both fat and eggs. But they need a place to roost that keeps them safe from predators.

You'll need fencing to protect your garden from deer and bears. Without an electric fence, your garden and chickens are going to get eaten or trampled. Dogs help with this, as do shotguns.

So you need micro hydro (only if you have an accessible, appropriate water source that has enough flow rate) or solar (if you live in a place that gets enough sun all year round.

You need medicine. Our mainstays are tinctures and teas. A very small sampling: nettle, mint, mullein, poppy, willow bark, chamomile, chaga, lions mane, spruce tips, elecampane, milky oat, pearly everlasting, ghost pipe, pine pollen, raspberry leaf, and red clover.

If you really want to go all out, you need clothing and cleaning cloth, so you'll need to tan leather or weave flax or cotton. We have alpacas we shear for fiber. They are cute and less trouble than llamas, but won't haul anything, so sometimes we have to borrow a donkey if we're pulling things up a steep path. You'll need soap, so save your tallow.

I could go on. But really, this is a massive, MASSIVE effort for a single person. Without access to money or the outside world it is going to be a slog. But wow, if you're into it, go try it! I don't recommend you buy some remote property and cut yourself off from the world to see if you can hack it. One bad winter where you run through your firewood? One bad frost or dry summer that kills your crops? There's a reason people tend to settle together.

So yeah, you need good land, good water, good equipment, many years to get established, some friendly neighbors, and some way to get money when you need it. Or a bunch of people already doing this that like you and want your help.

Go look up a victorian household guide on Project Gutenberg. So many good ideas! They have instructions for making everything from soap to paint.

Good luck!

Copyright 2020 Fresh Air. To see more, visit Fresh Air . DAVID BIANCULLI, HOST: This is FRESH AIR. I'm TV critic David Bianculli. I've watched many broadcast and streaming specials since the coronavirus began affecting our lives, but one in particular really got to me. It was the recent 90th birthday salute to Broadway composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim, featuring performances from an array of musical theater stars. This is Donna Murphy. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) DONNA MURPHY: (Singing) Isn't it rich? Are we a pair? Me here at last on the ground, you in midair - send in the clowns. BIANCULLI: Nothing I've seen on TV since the pandemic hit has impressed me quite like "Take Me To The World," the star-studded 90th birthday salute to Stephen Sondheim. It was shown April 26, is still available for viewing and will be for some time. Aimed to raise funds for a favorite charity of his, Artists Striving To End Poverty, "Take Me To The World" was presented on YouTube and Broadway.com

DAVID BIANCULLI, HOST: This is FRESH AIR. I'm David Bianculli, editor of the website TV Worth Watching, sitting in for Terry Gross. Today on FRESH AIR, one of our favorite interviews from our archive - Terry's conversation with comedian, actor and writer Steve Martin. He's also an accomplished bluegrass musician and has been posting occasional videos on social media playing banjo in the woods. Last month he visited CBS's "The Late Show" with Stephen Colbert in a special socially distanced comedy bit with Colbert sequestered inside his house and Martin with his guitar, strolling in a forest, determined to sing a song that Colbert is just as determined not to hear. (SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE LATE SHOW") STEPHEN COLBERT: So we go now live to Steve Martin in the middle of the woods. Hi, Steve. STEVE MARTIN: Hey, Stephen. Thanks for having me on. COLBERT: Well, Steve, you're certainly welcome. MARTIN: You know, Stephen, I was thinking that something we as people need to remember right now

Updated at 6:12 p.m. ET Andy Serkis, the physically nimble actor largely known for his CGI-assisted roles, did some quarantine reading, performing the entirety of The Hobbit in a livestream on Friday. On a Gofundme page established for the event, Serkis wrote that he would conduct the 12-hour marathon reading of J.R.R. Tolkien's beloved fantasy novel to raise funds for COVID-19 relief efforts. Depending on his copy, that's some 300 pages of Bilbo Baggins' adventure from his humble hobbit hole in the Shire to the mountain lair of the fearsome dragon Smaug – and back again, read and performed by Serkis. The actor began reading the novel at around 10 a.m. in the United Kingdom (that's 5 a.m. ET). "Together we'll face the might of the trolls, journey to the magical Rivendell, encounter the giant spiders in the labyrinths of Mirkwood, and the evil goblins living among the roots of the Misty Mountains, until we meet the dragon Smaug, and see the Battle of the Five Armies," Serkis wrote on

Middle school spans those tween and early teenage years when, for many, puberty hits. Bullies seem to reign supreme. And we begin to grow into ourselves. Like most, writer and reporter Judith Warner was once a middle schooler. She's also the mother of two former middle schoolers. In her new book, And Then They Stopped Talking To Me , she investigates why the middle-school years can be so awful — and what we can do to help make them a little bit better. Interview Highlights On asking people what words come to their mind when thinking of middle school Soul crushing. Shattering. A rush of nausea. Any variation on the word misery that you can come up with. By and large, the answers were so powerful. And yet then there were a couple of people who had good memories too. And that was something that was important for me to hold on to and listen to in more detail. On deciding to write the book It really grew out of a kind of random thought one day when my daughter was in middle school and I

You might not be able to pack your bag, get on an airplane and jet off to some new exciting place right now, but don't worry, you can still travel and explore here with World Cafe Sense of Place. In this series, we take you deep into one city's music scene, and today, we're kicking off our sessions from Los Angeles, with more to come every Friday in May. We start with a bit of an overview from someone who really knows what he's talking about. Nic Harcourt is a legendary name in LA radio. He hosted Morning Becomes Eclectic on KCRW for many years, and now he's a host at our affiliate station, 88.5 KCSN/KSBR. We recently connected with Nic via video chat to find out what's going on right now, the new LA bands you need to be listening to: Freedom Fry, The Buttertones, Los Abandoned, Pure Protein and Brad Byrd. Hear songs from each of them at the top of the playlist below, which also features artists and songs you'll be hearing in the coming weeks. Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit

Dr. Grace Farris is chief of hospital medicine at Mount Sinai West in Manhattan. She also writes a monthly comics column in the Annals of Internal Medicine called "Dr Mom." You can find her on Instagram @coupdegracefarris . Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Samantha Bee is the host of the late night comedy show Full Frontal, so we've invited her to play a game called "Full Backtal." Three questions about the people who stand in for actors when a posterior shot is required, and the star is either unwilling or unqualified to do it. Click the audio link to find out how she does. Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Der Konflikt zwischen seiner Partei und Boris Palmer spitzt sich zu: Die Grünen fordern den Tübinger Oberbürgermeister auf, die Partei zu verlassen, der Beschluss fiel einstimmig. Palmer weist die Forderung entschieden zurück

Die Coronavirus-Pandemie bestimmt weiterhin das Leben überall auf der Welt. Laut Robert-Koch-Institut liegt die Reproduktionszahl in Deutschland derzeit bei 0,83 – ein leichter Anstieg zu den vergangenen Tagen. Sehen Sie alle Entwicklungen hier live.

Wer eine Reise nicht antreten will, hofft, dass sein Geld von der Rücktrittsversicherung zurückerstattet wird. Doch die zahlt nur bei nachgewiesener Krankheit – und nicht bei Pandemien wie dem Coronavirus. Vor allem ein Vorgehen ist riskant.

Der Strompreis ist auf ein Rekordhoch gestiegen – nicht zuletzt wegen der Energiewende. In kaum einem anderen Land zahlen Verbraucher so viel für Elektrizität wie in Deutschland. Doch mit ein paar einfachen Tricks lässt sich viel sparen.

Wenn der Rasen nur langsam wächst und sich Moos breit macht, könnte es am pH-Wert der Erde in Ihrem Garten liegen. Ist die Erde „sauer“, hat also einen niedrigen pH-Wert, hilft die Zugabe von Kalk. Was Sie darüber wissen müssen.

Für fast alles, das verloren gehen kann, ist ein GPS-Tracker ein nützliches Gadget – mit ihm lässt sich bestimmen, wo zum Beispiel das gestohlene Fahrrad abgeblieben ist oder wo man das Auto geparkt hat. Hier erfahren Sie, was Sie im Vorfeld über die Nutzung wissen sollten und welche Produkte ihr Geld wert sind.

Meet our Alumni Spotlight for this month: Tracy Avila!

What is your name: Ricky Grasso What year(s) did you march in the Blue Knights? 2014: Trumpet, Rookout 2015: Administrative Staff 2016, 2017, 2018: Tour Director Present – Administrative Consultant  What section? Trumpet, then administrative ????  Where did you attend high school? Newtown High School – Sandy Hook, CT Education beyond high school? University of Bridgeport (Bridgeport, CT) B.A. Mass Communications, concentration:

Editor's note: This is an excerpt of Planet Money 's newsletter. You can sign up here . A majestic unicorn Pixabay In late March, the scooter-sharing company Bird invited about a third of its employees to attend a thirty-minute "COVID-19 update" via Zoom. The meeting only lasted about two minutes, and it wasn't really an update. With what one employee later described as a "robotic-sounding, disembodied voice," an executive told the 406 employees they were fired. "It felt like a Black Mirror episode," the employee said . (Bird later issued an apologetic statement, saying the employees got severance pay and extended health insurance. Their CEO's salary is also supposed to get cut to zero). The Bird layoffs are part of a widespread collapse in the startup world right now. Billions in investment dollars are drying up. Companies are going bankrupt. Thousands of workers are losing their jobs. Martin Pichinson, a Silicon Valley veteran, says the downturn caused by the coronavirus is