We need more

[OneHungLow]

Free thinking people...

[Karearea]

Remembrance

Each year on Memorial Day a service coordinated by the Arcadia Rotary Club and the local American Legion is held to honor 23 RAF trainee pilots and their American instructor who were killed training at nearby Carlstrom and Riddle flight schools during WWII.

Well over one hundred people, many of whom bring floral tributes, congregate at the beautifully maintained British Plot in the Oak Ridge Cemetery.

The one hour service, starting at 10:00 a.m., at which the Sarasota British Club is always represented, is dignified and moving. The Union Jack and RAF flags fluttering overhead add a further touch of Britain to the proceedings.

British RAF Pilots Memorial at Oak Ridge Cemetery Florida

[Karearea]

(have watched the first part, just about to view Part 2)

V For Vengeance - Part 1, 1hr 2m 49s

This is a private, non-commercial project.
Hitler's V Weapons, Summer 1944 - With Operation Overlord, the greatest air and seaborne invasion in history, now underway across the Channel in Normandy, the British people dare to imagine the war may soon be over. But for London and the Kent villages, a new nightmare is about to begin.

V For Vengeance - Part 2, 1hr 11m 53s

[Karearea]

A Christchurch school performance of Stairway to Heaven has wowed the crowd so much it led to a flood of requests for the footage, and has now been viewed more than 150,000 times.

St Andrew's College included the classic Led Zeppelin rock song as part of a prizegiving ceremony on 26 November, with about 3500 people in the audience watching.

The school said it "became the canvas for a showcase of the extraordinary talent within our school community", and the video was compiled "in response to high demand".

"The 100 performers on stage poured their hearts into the performance, leaving the audience in absolute awe. The standing ovation from many parents echoed the sentiment-truly a performance to remember," a school spokesperson said on its Facebook page.

The school rock band and orchestra contributed, and a light show was choreographed.

Centre stage were year 13 pupils Grace Burnett who sang lead vocals and Mia Fraser as lead guitarist, as well as year 12 James McIver on the acoustic guitar.

McIver told Checkpoint : "It was an amazing experience".

Each group that participated had been rehearsing separately, and they only tried it out all together just three days before the event.

"I was pretty nervous in the rehearsals, but it felt pretty natural to get up there and just play on the night," McIver said.

The school's head of music Duncan Ferguson said the school likes to go big with its performances and he was pleased that it had gone down well.

"The response has really blown us away ... It's surprising how many people overseas are commenting on it, and we're hearing from other people not connected to the school, in the different countries, that are really blown away by it."

The song had made sense for this group of pupils, he said.

"This year's particularly year 12s and 13s, a lot are good guitarists and drummers, and there's really an emphasis on rock with them. So we wanted to do something which could blend that and use our school orchestra and our choir.

"This arrangement that we came across which is by the band Heart, who did it as part of a tribute concert to Led Zeppelin, ... we got it arranged for our orchestra and it was the right piece of music for the right year group, so it came together really well."

Once the event was over, and requests for the recording began to flow in, Ferguson said they scrambled to edit the video together, but found a hard drive that had all the wide angle footage on it had been corrupted and those shots were not longer accessible.

So an appeal went out to anyone from the audience on the night who had wide angle video - and those tapes were added to the edit.

The school posted on its Facebook page thanking those who had shared the video, and said its success was down to "the exceptional talent within our team of staff and students".

"We feel incredibly fortunate to have such a dedicated and skilled group, and we thank you once again for acknowledging and directing credit where it truly belongs."

RadioNZ: Christchurch school's Stairway to Heaven cover an online hit

[Boac]

Talk about 'lump in the throat'! That was STUNNING. What talent. An excellent rendition, and all credit to those who did all the editing as well, in view of the problems they experienced.

[PHXPhlyer]

EXCELLENT!
The young lady who did the guitar solo on the bridge was quite good.

PP

[Karearea]

Should you find yourself at a loose end:

3D Paper Snowflakes DIY [3:14]

[Karearea]

Pōhutukawa: The New Zealand Christmas tree [1:47]

History curator Dr Katie Cooper talks about the pōhutukawa as a New Zealand Christmas icon.
(I notice she tends to roll the 'r' slightly in some words, as folk from the southern provinces, Otago and particularly Southland, may do)

*edit to add: apparently she grew up in Gore, Southland; and attended Otago University in Dunedin

The pohutukawa (botanical name Metrosideros excelsa) is New Zealand's best-known and most visible native tree. It is found virtually everywhere along the coastline of the upper half of the North Island.
Translated from Maori, pohutukawa means "sprinkled by spray", which is an obvious reference to the fact that it is usually found along the seashore.
In addition to providing welcome shade for beachgoers in the New Zealand summer, the blaze of crimson flowers it produces from November to January has given the pohutukawa the label the "New Zealand Christmas Tree". Certainly, for generations of kiwis, the flowering pohutukawa is one of the great symbols of the Christmas holiday season. There are in fact several varieties of pohutukawa, producing a range of colored flowers, from scarlet to peach. The tree is also notable for its erratic flowering; different parts of the same tree may flower at slightly different times.

The views are probably of the Campbells Bay/Rothesay Bay/Browns Bay area north of Auckland. The volcanic cone island on the horizon is Rangitoto.

The pohutukawa -"The New Zealand Christmas Tree" [8:40]

[Karearea]

A Spitfire's Story - A film about the history and rebuild of Spitfire MH434 [42:13]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbSNMUdxXtQ

[bob2s]

Wife asked what I did today, said "I changed a light bulb", "What said the wife, I Did the laundry, made the beds, and went shopping"."Yes said the husband
but I have proof of of what I did"

[probes]

Gosh, felt dizzy just watching it!!
He went there to change the bulb, I presume?

Looks painful now and then, but...

[OFSO]

Imagine dropping an essential tool or the bulb.....

[probes]

Yep, and if someone is 'down under' . Around here a really nice guy got killed, as some detail got loose and fell from above while he was repairing a mast - not that high, though - and it fell on his helmet. Unconscious in a second. If it had been in a film, one would have said it's neither realistic nor possible.

[Karearea]

John Marrable - Fighting on Wheels [4:23]

[probes]

The doomed wolves of Chernobyl have developed some genetic adaptations that have altered their immune systems and provide some level of resistance to cancer.
Instead of dying of radiation.
Amazing. As are the other reports of thriving wildlife around there.
Chernobyl wolves have evolved resistance to cancer

[llondel]

That's natural selection at work. The ones with a bit of resistance got to survive longer and breed more, so over time it will have tipped the balance. The harsher the selection process, the quicker it happens.

[bob2s]

Outback Ozzie Pub for your entertainment

[PHXPhlyer]

Paul McCartney reunited with famous bass stolen 50 years ago after online campaign
McCartney has confirmed that he now has the guitar, which was used in countless live shows and classic albums in the 1960s, after it was stolen from a van.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/paul ... rcna139146

Paul McCartney has been reunited with the iconic bass guitar that became a key part of the Fab Four's image during their rise to fame in the 1960s.

McCartney has confirmed that he now has the guitar, which was used in countless live shows and classic albums before it was stolen in 1972.

A statement on his official website, dated Wednesday, said: "Following the launch of last year’s Lost Bass project, Paul’s 1961 Höfner 500/1 bass guitar, which was stolen in 1972, has been returned. The guitar has been authenticated by Höfner and Paul is incredibly grateful to all those involved."

The four-string was thought to be lost or destroyed following its theft from a van. Its unusual violin shape was a key part of The Beatles’ visual style, along with sharp suits and those moptop hairdos.

The guitar was found in the possession of a family in Hastings, southern England, still with its original case. Ruaidhri Guest wrote on X: "To my friends and family, I inherited this item which has been returned to Paul McCartney."


A campaign called the Lost Bass Project was launched to find the missing instrument in 2018 and attracted worldwide attention from Beatles fans and volunteers who claimed to know something about where the bass was.

The campaign said in a statement on its website Thursday: "We are extremely proud that we played a major part in finding the Lost Bass. It has been a dream since 2018 that it could be done."

It continued: "Despite many telling us that it was lost forever or destroyed, we persisted until it was back where it belonged."

McCartney bought the violin-shaped, hollow-bodied Höfner 500/1 guitar in Hamburg, Germany, for 30 pounds (around $37) in 1961 when the young Beatles were on one of their lengthy and arduous residencies in the city, before hitting the big time two years later.

He ordered a custom-made left-handed version from the German manufacturer and liked its lightweight feel and symmetrical look, according to "Tune In," the authoritative account of the Beatles' early years by cultural historian Mark Lewisohn. McCartney had just, reluctantly, taken over the role of bass player from Stuart Sutcliffe.

McCartney was unsure how long the guitar would last — a previous guitar broke and was smashed to pieces on stage. More than 50 years later, the Höfner is in need of minor repairs but otherwise in fine condition, the Lost Bass Project said.

He played it hundreds of times at The Cavern, the Liverpool club synonymous with the Beatles' embryonic stardom, and on early hits such as "Please Please Me" and "She Loves You."

In 1963, McCartney got another almost identical Höfner bass, with the original Hamburg-bought version becoming a backup. But the original was still used occasionally, including on the "Let It Be" sessions, as documented in Peter Jackson's epic "Get Back" documentary.

Beatles memorabilia is big business. A Gibson acoustic guitar, on which John Lennon wrote songs such as "I Want To Hold Your Hand," went missing during a show in 1963 but resurfaced in 2015 and was sold at auction for $2.4 million.

PP

[probes]

That's natural selection at work. The ones with a bit of resistance got to survive longer and breed more, so over time it will have tipped the balance. The harsher the selection process, the quicker it happens.

too bad the supposedly sapient homo does the opposite - sends the fittest to kill and be killed.


But, some REAL science, too :
"Flushing the toilet might be a lot grosser than you had expected.
According to scientists, flushing sends out 'toilet plumes' of tiny droplets which spread through the air to every surface of the bathroom.
But can closing the lid keep you safe from this spray?
Unfortunately, scientists from the University of Arizona say it actually makes no difference whether the lid is up or the lid is down."
Will flushing with the lid down stop your bathroom being peppered with the dreaded 'toilet plume'? Scientists test age-old theory and make a very surprising discovery



[ok-ok, I know it's actually quite serious, but it does sound funny, so...]

[llondel]

I knew this as an irate child, always blamed for the mess by my mother, when I had done a few tests flushing with the lid up and could see that random droplets would land on the seat and nearby surfaces. Didn't have the fancy laser gadgets back then, of course.