David Bradley – Page 58

Quanfusion – Confused quarantine jazz fusion

Delirious jazz noodlings with an ES335 copy, a Telecaster, a Yamaha bass, and a few drum loops.

Jazz improvisation characterized by a sense of experimentation and unpredictability. The instruments listed – an ES335 copy, a Telecaster, a Yamaha bass, and drum loops – a combination of electric guitars and a bass guitar, along with pre-recorded drum loops, which are commonly used in modern music production.

The ES335 is a type of semi-hollow electric guitar known for its warm and versatile tone, while the Telecaster is a solid-body electric guitar that produces a bright and twangy sound. The combination of these two guitars creates an interesting tonal contrast that contributes to the improvisational nature of the music.

The Yamaha bass is a four-string electric bass guitar, which provides a solid foundation for the harmonic and rhythmic elements of the music. The use of pre-recorded drum loops allowed me to explore different rhythmic patterns and textures without the need for a live drummer.

Overall, experimentation and spontaneity were the focus creating a unique and unpredictable sonic experience for the listener.

Everybody’s free (to wear a facemask)

Back in the late ’90s I did a pastiche of the “Everybody’s free (to wear sunscreen)” hit by Baz Lurhmann, but for chemists on the original ChemWeb site, no less, I was their original weekly columnist, so I kind of had a captive audience for many a year over there. Anyway, it was entitled “Everybody’s free (to wear goggles)“. Hilarious, yeah…I know, haha!

Now, I hear there’s a new release from Lez Burham of Strictly Rouge and The Moulin Ballroom fame, this time redone for The Covid Age…

…it’s called Everybody’s free (to wear a facemask). I know, I know, again, hilarious!

The B-side is called “Everybody’s free (to applaud on their doorstep, bang a tambourine on the lawn, or a hit pan with a wooden spoon in their front garden on Thursday evenings at twenty-hundred hourse after their tea and then to make a substantial donation to the NHS careworker support charities)”

Deliberate choice of alternative backing sample for this video…Teardrop by Massive Attack used as the theme music for House MD, see what I did there?

“To you the people of 2020, if I could offer you one tip, not for the future but for right now, it would be wear a face mask.

Stay at home, staying alert is not enough. Stay well.

Wash your hands, don’t touch your face, even if you’ve washed your hands. Don’t bury your head in your hands, if you have to wipe away a tear use an antiseptic wipe. Oh, that smarts.

Sneeze on to your shoulder. Cough into the crook of your elbow. If you don’t know your arse from your elbow, you’re not alone, ask Boris for advice.

Dispose of that Kleenex safely

Don’t go outside too much, don’t drive too far. If you must drive wipe the door handle with antiseptic gel.

Look after your parents. Meet your Mom in the park, but tell her to bring her own picnic. Dad’s not invited but he can meet someone else on the other side of the flowerbeds. Bring a very big picnic blanket, one that’s at least 7 feet by 7 feet. Don’t have a kickabout with your Mom, the ball might be contaminated.

No hugging, no kissing, no singing. Don’t go to the pub. The pub is dry.

Go back to work if you want to, but don’t take the bus, don’t go by train. Avoid cyclists. Conga to church and pray for a vaccine. Stay at home if you don’t want to work.

Applaud the NHS, shake a tambourine, bang a pan, don’t hold a solo gig in your front garden. Donate to charities supporting health workers.

Shop only for essentials. Beer is an essential.

Drink beer. But take off that snotty mask first.

Wash your hands again, don’t touch your first, stand in the corner. Go to the naughty step, you touched someone else’s face.

And breathe…

Another night’s mothing in time of covfefevirus

Not quite as active a night in nor around the actinic lure as it gradually got windier. But, still a reasonable number of specimens seen and a couple more NFYs.

Of interest a leucistic male Muslin, Tawn/Marbled Minor agg (NFY), Willow Beauty (NFY).

Also showing up Flame Shoulder, Common Pug(2), Bee Moth, Waved Umber, H&D, SSD, and non-aberrant male Muslin.

I tried to get an open-wing shot of the Pale Prominent sat on my stone staging, but it hopped off quickly and disappeared. Saw it on my office carpet a couple of hours later, let it fly to the window…got a sort of open-wing shot, but it was too flitty for focus.

Mothing in the time of Covid

Thank goodness for mothing…it’s certainly a distraction from the bleak outlook and political bullshine of the coronavirus, Covid-19 debacle. Thing is for much of this year, there haven’t been many moths drawn to actinic light lures that I’ve heard off. Lepidopterists on the various lep Facebook groups and around our county here have been reporting low number and low diversity.

However, that changed somewhat for my lure on the night of the 75th Anniversary of VE-Day. I’d spent much of the time handling virtual online events, such as my #FEVEG20, but by the evening, just after dark and after a couple of celebrater sherbets, the light lure beckoned.

It was a still, balmy evening, it had dropped from 24 degrees to around 15 Celsius at 23h00 and there was quite a bit of activity around the lure. flies, parasitic wasps, Bee Moths, Pugs, a Brimstone…a Pale Tussock, and more. There was a stunningly white with black spots, female Muslin on a California poppy stem next to the pond 5 metres away from the actinic. Intriguingly, some of the moths were more drawn to a bright LED panel I was using to have a quick look at the frogs in the pond (only one of the two has been visible this last week, #PondLife). No sign of any Box-tree Moth, the notoriously virulent beast from the East. They will emerge soon, I have warned neighbours who have planted a Box hedge that they could see it ravaged. They make nice hedges but now that this invasive species taking hold across various parts of the country, those hedges will succumb.

Anyway, the Pale Tussock had been joined by another by morning in the collecting box, there were more pugs, more Bee Moths, and a couple more Brimstone (not to be confused with the Brimstone butterfly). Here’s the full list of the Saturday morning haul; NFY = New for year:

Bee Moth (3), Brimstone (3), Common Pug (4), Cream-bordered Garden Pea (NFY), Argyrotaenia ljungiana (NFY), Eudonia angustea (NFY), Female Muslin, Flame Shoulder (NFY), Freyer’s Pug (NFY), Garden Carpet (2), Grey/Dark Dagger agg (NFY), Heart and Dart (2), Light-brown Apple Moth (2), male Muslin, Notocelia cynosbatella (NFY), Pale Tussock (2, NFY), Rustic Shoulder-knot (NFY, deceased), Shuttle-shaped Dart (12), Waved Umber.

Still hearing from others that they are hardly seeing any moths and yet some people with mercury vapour lures elsewhere in the country are seeing a whole lot more.

VE-Day Go-as-you-please

I have spent the last week organising another virtual “open mic” session, this one as part of our lockdown, social isolation VE Day celebrations in the village. I persuaded several local musicians to contribute a song or two.

The Fen Edge VE-day Go-as-you-please (#FEVEG) features Barbara “Daphne” Duckworth, Ms Grice (via Nadina Grice), Lucy Maynard, Danielle Padley, Chloe “Clarissa” Watson, David Bradley, Patrick Coughlan, Will Hall (via Stephanie Louise Hall, Julian Lerway. The D&CÂ sequence is by Georgia Duckworth.

It premiered at 08h00 prompt on the 75th anniversary of VE Day, 8th May 2020 in the Fen Edge unEvents group on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/cottenham

Also, right after the main event we had a Django Reinhardt special from father and son duo Alistair Brown and Oliver Brown.

Weave your antiviral facemask from cotton and silk

If you’re wondering what materials to use to stitch together your antiviral mask, it seems it could be that you need a couple of different fabrics for it to work best – woven cotton and a piece of silk or chiffon…

Tightly woven cotton acts as a physical barrier to viral particles and droplets carrying the virus. Silk and chiffon can both build up quite a static charge and this will help trap viral particles electrostatically.

Screengrab from OnlineKyne's facemask howto video linked below

Together the materials will reduce the risk of the wearer shedding virus from nose or mouth into the environment and on to other people or surfaces that others might touch. Conversely, the mask will, to some extent reduce the risk of you inhaling viral particles from the air. The researchers say that substituting chiffon or silk for flannel or using a cotton quilt with cotton-polyester backing could be just as effective. But, Sciencebase would add that it’s not so strong a fashion statement

There is also the added benefit of wearing a facemask in that it will reduce how often you touch your nose and mouth with your filthy, disease-ridden hands. Now go and wash them thoroughly with plenty of soap and warm water for at least 20 seconds!

https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/pressroom/newsreleases/2020/april/the-best-material-for-homemade-face-masks-may-be-a-combination-of-two-fabrics.html

The research paper is in ACS Nano here. OnlineKyne howto video here

Do not mix, drink, nor inject disinfectants, cleaning agents and bleach

Before the Covid-19 lockdown I was working with my Editor at Chemistry World on a feature article on the hazards of handling, and specifically not mixing, different cleaning agents, such as ammonia, acids, bleaches etc. The article was written and edited, then Covid-19 hit hard and other materials took priority in the final editing queue.

However, last week reports came in that showed that accidental poisonings in the USA had risen dramatically during the Covid-19 lockdown compared with the same period last year. Indeed, they are up 20 percent, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Moreover, there were more than 45000 emergency calls related to exposure to disinfectant and cleaning agents. About two-thirds of the incidents involved bleach and the others non-alcohol disinfectants and hand sanitisers. Serious problems can arise with ingestion or inhalation of fumes from any of these chemicals, but worse are the problems if certain ones are mixed as they can produce huge volumes of toxic gases, such as chlorine, and even explosive chemicals.

I spoke once more to my expert witnesses, we did the final edit, and ran the article…

Then, Trump’s illogical thought processes exploded with that ridiculous ill-informed and fundamentally stupid remark about “cleaning” the body of the germ, the virus, it’s tiny, you can’t see it, by injecting disinfectant or radiating someone with ultraviolet light. Neither idea has any basis in medicine and both are incredibly dangerous! Of course, you can kill the virus with disinfectant or soap and water. You can kill it with ultraviolet let, even sunlight will kill it. But, you cannot treat someone infected with it by injecting such chemicals into their body or irradiating them. Sheesh, he makes “Dubya” look almost intelligent…

Anyway, the feature article on not mixing cleaning agents is now live on the Chemistry World website and is getting a lot of reads and a lot of social media shares.

https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/explainer-why-is-mixing-cleaning-chemicals-such-a-bad-idea/4011257.article

Purple Thorn – Selenia tetralunaria

Mrs Sciencebase spotted this fellow roosting in the garden last night…it was the moth that was roosting, not Mrs Sb. It’s a Purple Thorn. So-called because the larva (caterpillar), which is stick-like in appearance has a spiky projection and the adult has a purple hue to its wings.

Its scientific name (binomial) is Selenia tetralunaria. It has four white crescent moon shapes on its wings, hence the tetralunaria of its binomial. Selenia is the genus and there are a couple of dozen of this type of moth around the world, a fraction of the 180,000 different known moths (and butterflies, same thing)

Birds to listen out for during your exercise allowance

While we’re still allowed out of our homes for a period of exercise each day, have a listen out for some of the birds that are singing and calling right now, various migrants and others you may not have noticed above traffic noise even in the countryside previously:

Swallow

Whitethroat

Buzzard

Reed Bunting

Yellowhammer

Kingfisher

Listen to the birds in an English country garden

People often tell me they don’t know what that bird is they can hear singing or calling but cannot see. There’s an international crowd-sourced project called Xeno Canto that has the calls and songs of almost every bird around the world. But, for local friends and family who might want to know what they can hear in the gardens, here’s a small selection of some of the more likely in England:

Chaffinch

Greenfinch

Robin

Blackbird

Great Tit

Blue Tit

Dunnock

Wood Pigeon

Collared Dove

Starling

House Sparrow

Most of these birds will have a song and a call, some of them seem to improvise or do abbreviated versions of their songs and calls. The sound files you can listen to above are just a starting point for learning how to identify birds you might hear in your garden and then associate them with a visual ID.