Trail Mix

Thanks for the stories.
Thanks for the tall tales.
Thanks for being brakeman on the hellbound train.
Thanks for the solar stove and Peggy’s garden.
Thanks for the water harvester.
Thanks for the Mustang Sally bassman rock.
Thanks for Joe Don the Fig.
Thanks for the picks on Buddy’s grave.
Thanks for the blue corn.
Thanks for the Shelter Boxes, Haiti bound.
Thanks for the vest which is going to be a family Heirloom.

Thanks for everything, Bob , it’s been a gas.
___________

If ever we had a Trail Boss it is certainly CBob aka Colorado Bob

– – Craig

They needed that.

After months of reluctance, Germany reportedly plans to send tanks to Ukraine. Reports suggest German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has decided to send at least 14 Leopard 2 tanks. He is set to speak in parliament on Wednesday morning. Ukrainian officials say they are urgently in need of heavier weapons, adding that they hope German tanks will be a game-changer on the battlefield.

Factbox: Tanks for Ukraine: who is lining up to send them to Kyiv? | Reuters:

Jan 25 (Reuters) – Germany, the United States and more allies are poised to announce plans to send tanks to Ukraine, officials and sources say, after Britain said it would send its Challenger 2 tanks and Poland pressed Berlin for approval to send German-built tanks.

Ukraine has until recently faced resistance to its requests for main battle tanks to fight against invading Russian forces.

U.S. officials say Washington is poised to send dozens of its M1 Abrams battle tank, reversing its previous position. The tank has a 120 mm smooth bore gun.

The Year So Far | CT News Junkie:

By Doug Hardy and RJ Matson, Political Cartoonist

Editorial cartoon by R.J. Matson. The year has started off poorly with respect to gun violence. California experienced two mass shootings in three days. First, 10 were killed on Saturday, followed by seven murdered Monday.

CNN:

“No, I was not a drag queen in Brazil, guys. I was young, and I had fun at a festival.”

[so said the same person still seemingly posing and having fun at the 118th U.S. Congress fest serving on] the Committee on Small Business and the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.

Santos had privately lobbied GOP leaders to serve on two more high-profile committees, one overseeing the financial sector and another on foreign policy, but top Republicans rejected that pitch as some chairmen balked at adding him to their panels,…

[foreign policy committee? hmmm, thinking of his foreign campaign donor or mere coincidence?]

I ran across this work by JS Bach last month. The intro was so beautiful that I had to save it for later. Well, this is later.

Some background and explanation from the comment section of the video:

Bach’s Kunst der Fuge is shrouded in mystery. We don’t know whether Bach intended the music as material for practice or performance. The order of the 18 sections is unclear as well and we don’t know whether the piece was ever completed. Shunske Sato made his own instrumentation for the Netherlands Bach Society. “I wanted to bring out the many colours of the work and of my ensemble. Every fugue has its own character. On the basis of the rhythm, time and chromatic lines, etc., you can determine which instrument is most suitable. I’ve studied each part very carefully, in order to decide which instruments are best to use. I wanted the whole Netherlands Bach Society to be heard, so the singers are taking part as well. They sing without words, to vowel sounds. When you introduce singers to the Art of Fugue, you can hardly ignore the example of the Swingle Singers. The sung Contrapunctus 9 is intended as a tribute to their great recording.”

Enjoy, Jack