No field trips. No game rooms. No teddy bears. These are some of the CDC's guidelines for reopening schools, childcare centers and day camps safely in places where coronavirus cases are on the decline. The guidance, which also covers restaurants, churches and other public places, was obtained by The Associated Press , which reports that the White House tried to keep it from coming to light. The New York Times quoted Mark Meadows, the chief of staff, as being concerned that the guidelines were "overly prescriptive." The CDC does not have authority to enforce its guidance, which is intended for public information only; the actual policy decisions are up to state and local governments. Schools are closed through the end of the school year throughout much of the country, with the exception of Montana, which welcomed a handful of students back this week. Child care protocols are different in different states. But millions of parents need child care so they can work, and socialization and

If you're bouncing off the walls, we have your antidote. Boast & Drive is a strategic card game for 2 to 6 players bringing to your living room the suspense and excitement of a squash match. Designed in Cleveland; made in the USA! Be the first to own the world's best (and only) squash card game. Every purchase includes a donation to a member program of Squash & Education Alliance.

[Link]

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST: Adjusting to life on the virtual campaign trail has been a challenge for both Joe Biden and President Trump. It's been a particular struggle, though, for the former vice president. Here he is kicking off a virtual campaign rally this week with supporters in Florida. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) JOE BIDEN: Just me? Am I on? UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Yes. BIDEN: Good evening. Thanks so much for tuning in. KELLY: Ouch. Joining us now is NPR political correspondent Asma Khalid. She covers the Biden campaign. Hey, Asma. ASMA KHALID, BYLINE: Hi there. KELLY: So clearly some technical difficulties for the former vice president there. What is his strategy for campaigning when he can't go out and campaign? KHALID: Well, you're right. I mean, he's been hunkered down at his house in Delaware. So we should point out he has not been able to physically go out and campaign because of the virus. This week, the campaign announced this new

STREAM HERE: https://open.spotify.com/track/0ZuUEeXuSvg4uupbGRqzxu?si=YTak2s4-SaafSkR1vG0b4w

Exciting new rapper, singer and songwriter BVNK is a musical product of his environment, having been born in Nigeria, raised in the UK, and now residing in North America – his music is a melting pot of lush R&B, heavy-hitting hip hop, and melodic rap/sung, flavoured with indie music sensibilities, with his life experiences across three different continents informing his storytelling and songwriting. After dipping his toes into the waters last year with two mixtapes including fan-favourite ‘Promises’, Bvnk is set to take 2020 by the scruff of its neck, starting with his brand new single titled ‘SITUATIONS’.

Produced by burgeoning LA-based musician and beatsmith Twelve 92, and taken from his forthcoming debut EP titled XX/XX (pronounced 20/20), Bvnk’s ‘Situations’ sees the Denver rapper-singer taking responsibility for failures in his past relationship, as he croons, “I did something to you, I never said sorry to you”, before kicking off his rap verse with, “tell me what I did to make you feel like I was breaking you”. The track is led by dreamy R&B guitar licks, minimalist drum arrangements, groovy melodies, and an infectious bassline, over which Bvnk showcases his dual singing and rapping talents, and undeniable songwriting dexterities.

Speaking about the inspiration behind the ‘Situations’ track, Bvnk says, “In a time where the world is full of one sided stories, and men thinking that taking responsibility is weak for some reason or the other, with women left having to deal with their toxic masculine energy, I wanted to take the truthful route on ‘Situations’. The song is about me looking into the mirror, taking responsibility, and apologising for the hurt I had caused. Amidst it all, ‘two wrongs don’t make a right’ is the perfect quote that explains ‘Situations’, because I’m ultimately asking for a second chance”.

STREAM HERE: https://open.spotify.com/track/0ZuUEeXuSvg4uupbGRqzxu?si=YTak2s4-SaafSkR1vG0b4w

CONNECT WITH BVNK
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/bvnk_official
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/bvnk_official
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/bvnk_official

The post Denver Rapper & Songwriter BVNK Releases New Single “SITUATIONS’ appeared first on Singersroom.com.

It is normal for college students to find it difficult to understand an essay topic. But the big issue is how to write an essay according to the instructions of the paper. An essay topic related to the role of R&B music may pose a little challenge. Students often need a well-written sample to get the perfect picture of what to write. If you are a student with a similar topic, go through this sample essay, and use it as a guide.

Sample Paper: The Role of R&B Music in Culture

Music connects human beings irrespective of culture, ethnicity, or race, and this has become accepted in many regions of the world. Rhythm and Blue or R&B is of African-American origin born popular in the 1940s but has a growing fan base in contemporary times. The role of the R&B lies in connecting with the people, expressing personality, and asserting cultural freedom.

Rhythm and Blues provide the avenue for musicians in this genre to find expression and connect with the people of a particular culture. Like every human on earth, these musicians have encountered life problems. They face racial discrimination and continuous harassment from law enforcement agents. 

Since R&B had its origin from the Black experience (Shaw 71), the emotional connection is often intense. An example of the experience that triggers the same emotional expression is the case of Trayvon Martins.  George Zimmerman shot and killed Martins on February 26, 2012. R&B uses an incidence like this to find expression and create a familiar voice, especially for the black community. 

The intimacy and the ability to relate to the content of R&B music play an essential role in culture, especially in black communities. Most musicians in this genre use their songs as a platform for passing a message or expressing their personal beliefs. 

Although it can turn into a civil movement or used for political propaganda (Higgins 1), in some cases, it has a humanizing end. Imagine how influential the voices and personality of R&B musicians would be in a time of the global pandemic. These powerful voices can make governments begin to care for the masses. Thus, the outcry will yield better healthcare and lasting infrastructure. 

Freedom to live and practice inherited culture can come under threat by social and political forces. R&B, and the movement it drives, can be a force for good and help in liberating cultures considered to be less civilized.

 Limited understanding of the culture of other people can cause social frictions and the inability to live in harmony. With well-written lyrics and well-presented songs, R&B can articulate the grievances by lesser cultures. This will unite different cultures and generate mutual understanding and respect for all cultures of the world. 

The role of R&B music in culture goes beyond the melody, sweet voices, and instrumentals. It connects people who share a common history, presents an avenue to pass global messages, and becomes a tool for racial and ethnic freedom. With the discouragement of the use of arms and ammunition and the approval of non-violent means, R&B can use its popular music genres to forge unity and understanding between cultures. 

Rounding Off

Once you have written your essay according to the above format, you should go ahead to choose a style of reference. If you look at the sample essay, you will notice some in-text citations. This is in the MLA style or Modern Language style, but you may pick APA style or ASA style depending on the requirements of the paper. 

Some supervisors give students the freedom to choose the style of their choice. The important thing is to pay attention to the instructions for the paper. The lack of following instructions can lead to a failed paper. Thus, you will lose the efforts and money spent. 

It is impossible to downplay the importance of proper research, as this serves as the bedrock for an excellent paper. There are many offline books and tons of online resources that can serve as authentic sources of information. When you gather the necessary ideas and materials, writing an essay on R&B will be easy. 

The reason most students claim to not get materials for their essay is that they did not search in the right places. Google Scholar and JSTOR Research are some of the right places to find materials for academic research. 

The bottom line is to view the sample essay, take note of the thesis statement, and understand how to write the topic sentence and detailed explanation of each point in the paragraph. But sometimes the pressure of academic work can be overwhelming, or you needed to come to terms with the technicality of essay writing. At that point, you may seek help from AffordablePapers to get your essay written for you at a reasonable price.

Reference(s)

1. Tell It Like It Is: A History of Rhythm and Blues

Curled from https://folklife.si.edu/talkstory/2016/tell-it-like-it-is-a-history-of-rhythm-and-blues

2. The Origins and History of R&B Music

Curled from https://www.liveabout.com/what-is-randb-music-2851217

3. Category: R&B

Curled from https://official.fm/rb/

4. How Modern R&B Revitalized Pop Music

Curled from https://www.udiscovermusic.com/in-depth-features/modern-rnb-revitalised-pop-music/

5. Rhythm and Blues' influence on Pop Culture

Curled from https://prezi.com/pf2hsd-bwfhf/rhythm-and-blues-influence-on-pop-culture/

6. R&B CULTURE

Curled from https://prezi.com/tpv5nhfoz5ls/rb-culture/

7. The History Of R&B Music

Curled from https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-history-of-r-b-music#/

The post Essay about the Role of R&B Music in Culture appeared first on Singersroom.com.

Welcomes Grammy Award-Winning Superstar Lyrica Anderson For Latest Edition

Invites Viewers To Donate Live To Historic Memphis Community Orange Mound

April 30th 2020 (Memphis, TN) – Triple threat Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter, and producer, Lyrica Anderson will appear on Beatroot Music’s The Beatroot Suite for a live performance of her new single “Marriott” and Q&A on Thursday April 30, 2020 at 9:30pm ET/6:30pm PT. 

In addition to this fan experience, Lyrica invites viewers to donate live to support COVID-19 relief efforts in Orange Mound—the oldest African-American community in Memphis, TN. Beginning May 2nd, the team will supply residents of the community affected by the pandemic with care packages comprised of food and hygiene items as part of the Zone 6 CAReavan. All residents in Zone 6 are eligible to the generosity of those who donated across the country. 

Tune in and watch on Instagram Live HERE

The Beatroot Suite is a new music initiative launched by artist-centric label services platform Beatroot Music. In addition to empowering artists with tools and resources to succeed independently, the company hosts this innovative online venue as a stage for its talent roster to showcase and discuss new material. Last week, The Beatroot Suite welcomed award-winning, multi-platinum selling songwriter and artist Elijah Blake.

The post Beatroot Music Presents The Beatroot Suite Live Performance + Q&A Series appeared first on Singersroom.com.

http://www.musicxray.com/xrays/1319817 HUNNAFIEDRECORDS - Drop It Off (ft. Gucci Mane, 2CHAINS, & Ric Atari-COKA KAZI)

In this session, Col. Bruce Hampton recorded at Capricorn Studio. Col. Bruce is a legend of Georgia music who has been unafraid to wave his freak flag high since the 1960s. In this interview with Chris Nylund and Jared Wright of the Field Note Stenographers music collective, Col. Bruce introduces us to the numerology of Southern humidity and gives us a glimpse of the weird heyday of a late 60s music boomtown called Macon. A note, in this first story, Gregg is none other than Gregg Allman. Tracks include Say Thanks To Chank, Arkansas and Basically Frightened.

Buffalo Wild Wings is looking to capture the attention of lucrative customers attached to March Madness thanks to a new video and Snapchat campaign called “We Do It For You.”

If you’ve caught yourself wanting to lie in a social situation, you’re not alone. Honesty is a huge part of trust in every relationship but can be difficult to maintain across all sorts of interactions. In this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about honesty and happiness.

The two cheapest and easiest things we can do for our health is sleep more and exercise more, so why don’t we do it? Sleep and exercise have an immense impact on physical and mental health both in the moment and for your future self. In this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr....

Dating back to when we were kids, two weeks into the future seems a lot longer than two weeks in the past. Even as adults we know two weeks is the same length regardless of when it takes place and yet we still experience this asymmetrical mindset. In this episode of Two Guys on Your...

Listen back to a Views and Brews discussion, recorded live at The Cactus Cafe in Austin, Texas, about “The Psychology of Risk and Reinvention” with Two Guys on Your Head. Join KUT’s Rebecca Mcinroy along with Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke to explore when and why we take risks, and what goes into...

Listen back to Two Guys on Your Head recorded live at The Cactus Cafe in Austin, Texas for a Views and Brews, as KUT’s Rebecca McInroy talks with Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke about the psychology of happiness. In this episode, we answer an audience question about money and happiness.

In this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke take audience questions about how much is too much when it comes to social media, and how to get anything done when trying to homeschool your children and work your normal job, during a live virtual Views and Brews.

Where do we consider being at home? When do we feel that we belong in a place and how quickly can we become dispossessed? In its essence, jazz traces various migrations – some arbitrary, some forced, and some chosen – and beyond appropriation and broad-stroke caricature, reveal difficult truths of identity, well-being, and honest relationship....

400 years ago, a group of 20 enslaved Africans were brought to the shores of the Chesapeake Bay for the express purpose of working the land, thus beginning one of the most shameful periods in America’s history. Although Diversity and Inclusion have become a mission of so many academic and corporate entities, the vestiges of...

Karen and Bradley play and discuss Mike Linksvayer's FOSDEM 2012 talk, Creative Commons 4.0 licenses and other opportunities for FLOSS/free culture legal/policy intersections from the FOSDEM 2012 Legal and Policy Issues DevRoom.

Show Notes:

Segment 0 (00:38)

Bradley and Karen suggest that you use the slides below when listening to Mike's talk.

Segment 1 (05:51)

Mike Linksvayer's slides for this talk are available in PDF format and in ODP format.

Segment 2 (33:43)

Segment 3 (34:25)

A special licensing message from Mike Linksvayer.

Segment 4 (35:09)

• Karen mentioned Bradley's favorite movie, It's a Wonderful Life.
• Bradley mentioned Asheesh Laroia, who appears to never blogged about his CC/credit-card-thief freenode confusion story. (48:00)
• Bradley mentioned Fontana's Copyleft.next project . (50:00)
• Bradley mentioned the ST:TNG episode, Unification, Part II, although he kept calling it Reunification during the episode. Please don't write in to complain; he realized the error after recording. (54:39)

Send feedback and comments on the cast to <oggcast@faif.us>. You can keep in touch with Free as in Freedom on our IRC channel, #faif on irc.freenode.net, and by following Conservancy on on Twitter and and FaiF on Twitter.

Free as in Freedom is produced by Dan Lynch of danlynch.org. Theme music written and performed by Mike Tarantino with Charlie Paxson on drums.

The content of this audcast, and the accompanying show notes and music are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike 4.0 license (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Karen Sandler interviews Lennart Poettering and Alan Day during the GNOME Asia Summit 2013. Bradley and Karen comment on this interview.

Show Notes:

Segment 0 (00:38)

Bradley and Karen introduce Karen's interview with Lennart Poettering and Alan Day.

Segment 1 (02:06)

Karen interviews Lennart Poettering and Alan Day about Lennart's Sandboxed Applications for GNOME talk at GNOME Asia Summit 2013.

Segment 1 (35:24)

• Bradley mentioned his comment during the GPLv3 process regarding the Ty Coon issue. (41:20)

Send feedback and comments on the cast to <oggcast@faif.us>. You can keep in touch with Free as in Freedom on our IRC channel, #faif on irc.freenode.net, and by following Conservancy on on Twitter and and FaiF on Twitter.

Free as in Freedom is produced by Dan Lynch of danlynch.org. Theme music written and performed by Mike Tarantino with Charlie Paxson on drums.

The content of this audcast, and the accompanying show notes and music are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike 4.0 license (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Karen and Bradley announce Conservancy's DMCA filing and Conservancy and FSF's joint launch of the copyleft.org project, and then discuss Eileen Evans' FOSDEM 2014 talk, entitled Licensing Models and Building an Open Source Community.

Show Notes:

Segment 0 (00:36)

• Conservancy file a DMCA petition regarding so-called “Smart TVs”. (02:00)
• Bradley mentioned the magic marker that was as circumvention technique under DMCA. Here's an amusing joke press release about the issue. (03:10)
• There isn't much documentation online of Bruce Perens live DMCA violation, but this article appears to be the main one on the subject, and there is also this interview (06:46).
• Bradley and Karen talked about the joint FSF/Conservancy copyleft.org announcement. (09:10)
• Bradley first pulled together the materials for copyleft.org for FSF's CLE seminars, particularly the one in March 2014. (10:00)
• Karen noted that Conservancy donated the time to write up a pristine example of good complete, corresponding source code for a GPL'd product. (11:30)
• Bradley discussed the incorrect GPLv2§2(a) violation accusations that some made against Red Hat regarding its changes to its publication of RHEL's Linux fork. (12:00)
• Karen and Bradley encouraged listeners to submit talk proposals for the FOSDEM 2015 Legal and Policy Issues DevRoom (15:03)

Segment 1 (19:38)

This is a recording of Eileen Evans' FOSDEM 2014 talk, entitled Licensing Models and Building an Open Source Community. If you'd rather watch the video, which includes the slides from her talk, it's available on FOSDEM's site.

Segment 2 (46:40)

• Bradley and Karen discuss Eileen's talk.
• Bradley mentioned the OpenStack CLA fight, which was covered in a panel discussion on FaiF 0x4B. (56:16)
• Karen mentioned the 501(c)(6) issues that OpenStack Foundation has faced, which were discussed already on FaiF 0x4E. (56:34)

Send feedback and comments on the cast to <oggcast@faif.us>. You can keep in touch with Free as in Freedom on our IRC channel, #faif on irc.freenode.net, and by following Conservancy on on Twitter and and FaiF on Twitter.

Free as in Freedom is produced by Dan Lynch of danlynch.org. Theme music written and performed by Mike Tarantino with Charlie Paxson on drums.

The content of this audcast, and the accompanying show notes and music are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike 4.0 license (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Bradley and Karen discuss the VMware lawsuit that Software Freedom Conservancy is funding.

Show Notes:

• Bradley and Karen discuss the lawsuit that Christoph Hellwig filed. (07:37)
• Karen mentioned her LibrePlanet keynote about the VMware lawsuit. (21:30)
• Bradley's talk at LinuxConf Australia 2015, Considering The Future of Copyleft, is available online. (22:04)
• Bradley mentioned the discussion on pump.io about NPR fundraisers. (24:23)
• Bradley mentioned a Debian 8 release party at LinuxFest Northwest, which Microsoft didn't invite him to, since he wasn't willing to give Microsoft his contact info for marketing purposes. (29:16)
• Karen and Bradley promoted the Conservancy supporter program (31:40)

Send feedback and comments on the cast to <oggcast@faif.us>. You can keep in touch with Free as in Freedom on our IRC channel, #faif on irc.freenode.net, and by following Conservancy on on Twitter and and FaiF on Twitter.

Free as in Freedom is produced by Dan Lynch of danlynch.org. Theme music written and performed by Mike Tarantino with Charlie Paxson on drums.

The content of this audcast, and the accompanying show notes and music are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike 4.0 license (CC BY-SA 4.0).

The band Vampire Weekend started in 2006, in New York. Their third album came out in 2013, and was named one of the best albums of the year all over the place, and it won a Grammy. But it took six years for their next album, Father of the Bride, to come out. This album’s also been nominated for a Grammy, for album of the year. And the lead single from it, “Harmony Hall,” was nominated for Best Rock Song.

In this episode, Ezra Koenig from Vampire Weekend takes “Harmony Hall” apart. I spoke to him along with producer Ariel Rechtshaid, and the two of them detailed winding path the song went down, over several years, before it finally took shape.

songexploder.net/vampire-weekend

Who are the 144,000 spoken of in Revelation 7 and 14? Is the number literal or symbolic? This group is called to bring a revival to the church. But they are not the only ones saved.

Who are the 144,000 spoken of in Revelation 7 and 14? What is the "Seal of God"? Part 2 of 2

Who are the 144,000 spoken of in Revelation 7 and 14? Is the number literal or symbolic? This group is called to bring a revival to the church. But they are not the only ones saved.

Who are the 144,000 spoken of in Revelation 7 and 14? What is the "Seal of God"? Part 2 of 2

In this special The Secret Ingredient edition of Views & Brews, KUT’s Rebecca McInroy joins Tom Philpott, food and agriculture writer for Mother Jones Magazine, and Raj Patel from the LBJ school of public affairs, and author of “Stuffed and Starved” and “The Value of Nothing”, to talk about everything from GMOs and Soylent Green, to...

In this special SXSW edition of The Secret Ingredient, Tom Philpott, Rebecca McInroy and Raj Patel talk about technologies that will shape the future of food. Technologies, as it turns out, that might surprise you, mainly biodiversity, and gender equality. Listen back to this discussion, recorded live at the Convention Center in Austin, Texas for SXSW...

In this episode of Views & Brews,  KUT’s Rebecca McInroy joins the hosts of KUT’s The Secret Ingredient podcast, Tom Philpott and Raj Patel, as they sit down with the eminent economist James K. Galbraith author of the forthcoming “Welcome to the Poisoned Chalice: The Destruction of Greece and the Future of Europe” to talk inequality, the Greek...

The Lorano Long Conference brought many great thinkers and activists to the campus of The University of Texas in February to talk about, “New Perspectives on the Contemporary Food System in Latin America.” The Secret Ingredient Podcast’s Raj Patel, Tom Philpott and Rebecca McInroy took that opportunity to talk with Dr. Alexis Racelis from the...

Blitzen Trapper’s Eric Early describes how his musical trajectory was permanently altered by R.E.M. and their breakout album “Out Of Time.” Then bandmate/drummer/actor Brian Koch tells a tale of his family who did very little to encourage his music and how he was inspired by hidden radios, friends with guitars and a young singer-songwriter with whom he now shares a stage.

Ezra Koenig, lead singer and songwriter for the band Vampire Weekend, explains why he recently became obsessed with  "I Don't Think Much About Her No More" by country singer and songwriter Mickey Newbury and explores what it was like to apply country music's direct approach to songwriting to some of the the songs on Father of the Bride.

This episode recognizes women, gender, and sexuality with a discussion of the complexities of gender and sexuality from contemporary and historical perspectives. Our discussants share what they’ve learned from their respective research projects, while exploring how privilege and power function in constructions of gender and sexuality. Ultimately, they agree that listening with empathy to each...

The video below is from one of the four Mailchimp meetups that I hosted in April 2020. In this webinar I covered Mailchimp settings and audiences including tags, segments, importing contacts and much more. There are plenty of questions asked by participants as the meeting progresses. The meetups were attended by Mailchimp beginners as well […]

This article appeared first at ❤ OrganicWeb - Mailchimp training, consulting & integration experts.

These sweatpants are my everyday wear while we shelter in place. I'm looking for something similar but in a much lighter, summer weight. Key features: - elastic waist - roomy in the belly (that's where I carry my excess weight) - pockets (!) - full length pants (31" inseam so not "Tall" but a little longer than some) - made in USA

Working from home on an entry-level 16-inch 2019 MBP running Catalina.

I currently use an ancient 27-inch Apple monitor (so ancient that I have to daisy-chain a Thunderbolt 1-2 adapter and Thunderbolt 2-USB-C adapter to use it). It works fine, but I really miss having my two-monitor work setup (for various reasons, the laptop screen doesn't work for me in this role). Just using Word and Excel and similar here, no crazy graphic demands. Ability to pass through power to the laptop, or to dock other peripherals, would be nice, but is not required. What should I be looking at?

Wrinkle: my desk is against the window the view from which is the one aesthetically appealing aspect of this apartment. There's no way a second monitor won't tragically increase the amount of the view that's blocked, but I would prefer a compact footprint. Maybe one that can rotate to portrait mode?

Me and my partner have decided to form a shared social distancing "bubble" with another of our couple friends. I believe we are following safe protocols for this but wanted to get an honest outside opinion as to whether we could be managing this better/safer/etc.

Here is the situation: I am a musician, and my main music collaborator used to live about a half hour from me. Back in January, he and his girlfriend relocated about 90 minutes away, in a major city that has had a large amount of COVID-19 cases. Where I live hasn't been as bad, but we are all still being cautious.

Musician friend and I are collaborating on a music recording project to combat boredom because we are both unemployed and obviously live gigs are right out. We have been doing most of our planning remotely, via Zoom and phone calls, but every now and again we do have to meet in person as his recording studio is in his apartment and sometimes he and the girlfriend come up here to ease the stir-craziness. We believe we are being safe in our methodology but wanted to confirm.

When we embarked upon this project, we made a pact with each other and our partners that the only people we would allow into our homes is each other. The way this works is, when I have to drive to his place to record, I wash my hands, mask up, and drive down to see him. He lives in a neighborhood with ample street parking near his building. When I arrive, I mask up again, buzz into his apartment, take off my outerwear and shoes immediately and keep it on a hook outside their front door, take mask off and put in my purse leave purse in one spot on a table, hand wash and hand sanitize. He and girlfriend also hand wash and hand sanitize, and have been cleaning all doorknobs and buzzer buttons and handrails of the stairs with disinfectant wipes before I arrive. When we record, we disinfect all microphones, headphones, gear we touch including instruments with wipes before and after use. When I leave, I wipe down the table where my purse was, wash hands again, mask up, drive home. All clothing I wear is promptly laundered.

When he comes up to work with me his protocol is similar: wash hands, mask up, drive to my house, where I have been disinfecting doorknobs and other surfaces. When he arrives, he parks in our drive, his outerwear and shoes stays out on our patio, he washes hands again and hand sanitizes, we rehearse for a couple hours, then he washes hands again, masks up, drives home, masks up, goes into building, washes hands. All clothes he wore go immediately into the laundry. Any surface he touches in my house gets pre-and-post wiped down with disinfecting wipes. We don't record in my home there is no gear to disinfect other than his guitar.

His girlfriend works from home and keeps herself separate from us when we record in their home. My boyfriend lost his job due to COVID but busies himself with projects in his home office while we rehearse in our home. The four of us have mutually agreed that we are the only other folks we will allow in our homes and we follow this safety protocol to the T every time we travel to see each other.

So, question 1) are we being safe enough, or are we being dumb? None of us so far has gotten sick and we are comfortable with our routine. How could we improve our safety protocol? Neither of us stop at gas stations to and from each other; we gas up on our own time and hand sanitize after doing so.

Question 2) Musician friend and I are getting ready to record a video of us performing a duet in his apartment. Our mutual friends know we no longer live near each other, and my fear is that when they see evidence that we haven't been keeping six feet apart at all times in his apartment we will get scorned by our colleagues, or near the brunt of actual anger because they are not aware of our safety routine. How can we explain that we have been talking proactive steps to keep ourselves safe and have chosen to be a somewhat long distance social isolation bubble with each other when we release this video to avoid angry responses? Is it necessary? Musician buddy is ambivalent, but I am a worrier and don't want to inadvertently bring us bad publicity.

Please be gentle with me. We are doing our best and we so far have not gotten sick with this protocol. Our partners are also proactive in hand sanitizing and/or hand washing once one of us leaves the other place. Are we being stupid? Is there a way to explain this succinctly when we release our video to pre-empt any judgement?

Seriously please be gentle. My anxiety is on high alert just from reading the news each day and I really hope this community will refrain from a pile on because we are doing everything we can to keep ourselves and our partners safe.

Any advice would be much appreciated. Thank you.

Twitter has announced it is shutting down its "Legacy Version" on June 1, 2020. I use the legacy version to get the functionality of Legacy Twitter that allows you to have a window open with a Twitter page up, and when a new Tweet happens, a "(1)" shows in the browser tab. How can I get that functionality? The solution needs to work in Chrome & Firefox, and whether I have a twitter account or not. I want to be able to open 3 or 4 or however many tabs with twitter accounts I'm waiting for an update from, and see a notification in the tab header that there's a new tweet.

Buying in the suburbs vs renting in the city? We are living in Vancouver right now, and we love a lot about it, but we could buy a place in the suburbs right now (which might not be true six months or a year from now). We are really torn, and I want some perspective on what moving to the suburbs is really like, and if owning is that much better than renting.

We've been renting a flat in East Vancouver for a year and love a lot of things about it. The proximity to work downtown, the neighbourhood feel, proximity to beaches and attractions, the kids' school (both elementary-aged), cherry blossoms, shopping, all the things people love about Vancouver.

We haven't been saving any money though, because our rent is outrageously high. We can buy a 2000 sq ft condo in Surrey for less than the rent of 1000 sq ft in East Van. We have a small down-payment saved up, but we're not adding to it anymore, so if we are going to buy now is the time. There are some very motivated sellers at the moment and prices have come down, which they NEVER do in the area.

But we are torn. Suburbs mean longer commute (and paying for transit instead of biking to work), longer travel time to all the fun things we love, changing the kids' school, further to the airport/ferry, the awfulness of moving, etc. We would gain some space, some privacy, some autonomy (paint walls! get a hamster!) and some equity.

Have you moved to the suburbs with kids? Was it worth it?

Additional details: I'm a stay-at-home-mom and my wife works right downtown in Vancouver. Both of our kids have ADHD and are ROWDY. Moving to another (cheaper) rental is out-of-the-question. Even though our current place isn't perfect, its good enough that if we continue to rent we just wanna stay here. If we bought, it would be into a strata, with all that entails. We have owned a house before but not in this province.

07-Jul-2015 08:27.

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12-Jan-2015 12:11.

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Samples From Mars has released MPC2000 Snacks From Mars, a freely downloadable sample pack containing vinyl and drum machine sounds recorded and processed through the MPC2000XL hardware sampler. The sample pack contains six pre-mapped drum kits of 16 hits each (96 samples in total), along with 29 grooves in MIDI format. The clipped, filtered and [...]

View post: MPC2000 Snacks From Mars – FREE Samples & Song Contest

Sourc Sync has released Bedford Rascal, a free sample pack featuring the sounds of an old Bedford van. The sample pack contains a collection of percussive sounds, squeaky noises, and processed loops. These were all made by banging, hitting, and otherwise “mistreating” an old van. All samples are provided in WAV format and the library [...]

View post: The Sounds Of An Old Van – Bedford Rascal Free Sample Pack

Analog Obsession has released LALA, a freeware emulation of the LA-2A tube compressor in VST, VST3, and AU plugin formats for digital audio workstations on PC and Mac. LALA is Analog Obsession’s first emulation of the LA-2A Classic Leveling Amplifier. The plugin delivers all the core features of the original hardware unit, along with some [...]

View post: LALA Is A FREE LA-2A Limiting Amplifier VST By Analog Obsession

SampleScience has released Toy Keyboard 2, a freeware sample-based instrument featuring the sounds of the Yamaha PSR-78 home keyboard. Toy Keyboard 2 is a free virtual instrument in VST, VST3, and AU plugin formats for compatible digital audio workstation software on PC and Mac. It features 73 individual presets, including one drum kit. The presets [...]

View post: SampleScience Releases FREE Toy Keyboard 2 VST/AU Plugin

Even if school returns after May 4, the WIAA may allow some competition.

It's starting to smell like spring. The Northwest Flower and Garden Festival, running Feb. 26-March 1 at the Washington State Convention Center, will offer plenty of tips, tricks and displays for inspiration.

The 2020 Northwest Flower & Garden Festival is Wednesday, Feb. 26, through Sunday, March 1, at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle.