DrW

How do you know it was Covid? Did you get tested? My wife had worked in the lab closely together with one of her students about a week ago. On Saturday, the student told her that she had tested positive. On Monday, my wife did not feel very well - sore throat, muscle pains. Thus, she got tested. Tests came back negative. The take-home message: without a test, you do not know that you had Covid.

My suggestion (well, I am a homer): Erik Ezukanma (Texas Tech)

I will never forget him as Maurice in "Coming to America": "Hey, I started out mopping the floor just like you guys. But now... now I'm washing lettuce. Soon I'll be on fries; then the grill. In a year or two, I'll make assistant manager, and that's when the big bucks start rolling in." RIP

Our largest (and best) regional supermarket chain (United) has a rewards program. For every $100 you spend in groceries, you get off 10 cents per gallon at their gas stations (for up to 25 gallons). As we do not drive too much but spend quite some money on groceries, I usually get a credit of around 50 cents per gallon. Unfortunately, alcohol sales are excluded from the reward program.

You could be much further ahead if you would ditch the light crap.

Probably not. However, higher alcohol content should reduce the freezing point. Just ditch the light beer and opt for the real stuff.

This makes it sound as if the NFL forces the players to put the slogans on the back of their helmets. However, this is not the case; it is up to the individual player. Just watch the huddle in games of this season. Some players have slogans, others have the team name.

"The Laws Of The Game" by the U.S. Soccer Federation's Referee Program takes up 36 pages in a rather small format (half letter size).

Good choices. I actually prefer The Nice over ELP. In both cases, their original compositions do not do much for me. However, when it comes to interpretation of classical music or what we now would call "mash-ups", Emerson's early efforts with The Nice seem to be stronger.

Frank Zappa once asked the question: Does humor belong in music? His own answer was obvious. Here is another nice example - XTC posing as psychedelic band, The Dukes of Stratosphear And here an early live recording of the Talking Heads. The sound engineer apparently decided to tone the drums down. Thus, Tina Weymouth's bass seems to be the rhythm section.

However, all the lakes in California that have lake trout are high up in the Sierra, far away from LA.

A few more: Velvet Underground Traffic Soft Machine Brian Eno (early, before his "ambient" phase) Gentle Giant The Slits Gang of Four Cardiacs Ghost of a Saber-toothed Tiger All Them Witches

Something like this happened at the soccer world cup in 1982 in Gijon/Spain. Germany and Austria played the last game of group A. With a 1:0 or 2:0 victory for Germany, both would advance to the next round and Algeria would be out. The first 10 minutes were like a normal soccer game, until Germany scored the 1:0. For the remaining 80 minutes, both teams passed the ball around in their own half without any serious attempt to attack. The German goalie touched the ball twice, once on a pass back from a teammate and once on a throw-in. The Austrian goalie had a similarly quiet afternoon. The game is now known as the non-aggression pact (usually a political term) of Gijon or the "Disgrace of Gijon". The German TV announcer actually refused to comment on the game in the second half. The most important positive outcome of the game was that the FIFA changed their rules so that now all four teams in a group play their last games at the same time.

One of my favorite Pink Floyd songs. Recorded in 1969, but not released until 1971 in the compilation album "Relics". Here is some fascinating documentation of a rehearsal...

Brilliant, but also deeply disturbing...

One of the best songs of Ringo's solo career. The studio recording was the last time three Beatles played together before Lennon's death. Here is an "all star" live version... The song was written by Lennon. I always thought it was more about him than Ringo. Here is John's version, just discovered a couple of years ago...

I liked some of his solo work. This is from his third album (with the "First National Band").

The problem with subtitles is that they distract you from what is going on on the screen. I still remember from my college days in Germany, watching Tarkovsky's "Solaris" in Russian, with English subtitles. I was so busy reading the subtitles, that I missed much of the action on the screen. In addition, as I was sitting in the third row of the cinema, my neck hurt the next day.

Even better... https://www.theknot.com/fashion/mj10-madison-james-wedding-dress

Had to run 5Ks decades ago in the army in Germany; took me around 30 minutes. Since then, I prefer hiking. My daughter recently started long-distance running; she did her first two marathons this year. When she visited from college on Thanksgiving, we went together to a popular recreation spot here in Lubbock, Lake Six. She ran twice around the lake (close to 6 miles) and I did bird watching - saw a beautiful ferruginous hawk (the third-largest raptor in the US, after golden and bald eagles). Nice way to spend an afternoon with your kid...

I find the Megadeth version intriguing. A cover closer to the original, but from an unexpected side...

I would restrict playing the national anthem(s) to events where the athletes actually represent their country, like in the Olympics. Or in European soccer, where anthems are played before games between national teams, but not before games between club teams from different countries.

This is like a Greek tragedy where the choir comments on the actions of the actors... "You must be joking..."

Zappa February 1976 Niedersachsenhalle, Hannover, Germany