Oh man. Something about this is just… powerful…
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(Content Warning: As you can see from the title, this is about the Sexual Assault Survivor’s Bill of Rights. This of course means general discussion of sexual assault and rape.)
Those are three words I’m not sure I’ve heard in a really long time. Especially attached to something so good.
Sexual-assault survivors will soon have a federal bill of rights if Barack Obama signs a piece of legislation that has already passed through both chambers of Congress. The House of Representatives unanimously passed a bill on Tuesday requiring that victims be informed of their rights and the progress of their medical forensic examinations, commonly called rape kits, in federal cases of sexual assault.
The Senate’s version of the bill also passed unanimously in May. Once a small discrepancy is resolved in conference, the legislation will go to the president.
If Obama gives it his signature, the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Bill of Rights will ensure that victims are offered a medical forensic examination for free (many are still charged for the procedure); that they are informed of its results; that the evidence gathered is kept for 20 years or the duration of the statute of limitations, whichever comes first; that survivors may request to be notified 60 days before the rape kit is destroyed; and that they may request to preserve the evidence for a longer period of time. The bill also establishes a working group to evaluate the efficacy of its provisions and report back in two years.
I don’t like everything Yes, but I do enjoy their more progressive/symphonic stuff. And I consider Steve Howe to be one of the greats. This was first released on the Yes “Union” album, which I own. It’s a full-on instrumental guitar solo… no other instruments or singing or anything. It’s a bit more simple than other solos, but I absolutely love it. Years ago I tried learning how to play it, but I wasn’t good enough then, and I haven’t tried again in years. I think I’d have a much easier time picking it up now if I tried… and I think I very well might.
This video is from Steve Howe’s own Youtube channel. It shows both his fingering hand his picking hand, so you can see exactly how he plays it. I find it really nice, simple, and atmospheric. I hope you like it, too.
(Trigger Warning: This is about an asshole who raped someone, and his absolutely terrible excuse. I will be quoting from part of the article. It doesn’t go into horrible detail, but still…
Also, I’ll put a content note for incoherent rage and language from me because… this is just…)
I really don’t have words for this, but it needs to be highlighted, because… I just…
Stockbroker accused of rape says he thought woman was crying because of his penis size
A London stockbroker accused of rape says he thought his alleged victim was crying because of the size of his penis.
Daniel Green is accused of raping a woman in her 20s in the offices of StratX last May when she crawled under a desk to go to sleep after a party with drinking and cocaine.
The 26-year-old testified that the two remained in the office after most others at the party had left, and began to have consensual sex, according to The Mirror.
“I looked up and I see a tear on her face. So I sat back. I said, ‘F–k you are crying,” he said, adding that she then told him, “Can you leave please, just go.”
Green said in court that he thinks the woman may have been crying because his penis, which he claims is 10 inches long with a four-inch girth, hurt her.
AAAAHHHH HAHAHAHAHAH AHHAHAHHAHAHH HAUHUDBWIHSJBNXIO SUDBWJIHWBXSJ YOUAREAFUCKINGRAPIST AG_RHUBKJBROIH
*cough*
Sorry. I had no choice but to repeat my Facebook reaction. I just… how… why… you…
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Time for a new series!!!!! Astronomy Picture of the Week!!!!
Totes original, right? I’m… like… the first person to ever think of doing this!
But seriously… I’m not an astronomer, but I’m addicted to the universe. Whether presented in false color or true color, the images sent back to us by our satellites and telescopes are wonders to behold. And I have to start with this…
This image, In Saturn’s Shadow, is why Saturn is my favorite planet… it’s simply beautiful.
In Saturn’s Shadow
Many have been doing it already, but now you have a dedicated thread where you can recommend, and link to, guitar solos you consider amazing. They don’t have to be complicated shred fests (hell… I’ll be highlighting Nirvana’s “Come As You Are” in a future post), but they can be if you think they’re incredible.
The one’s I like the best will be highlighted in future posts in the series, and you’ll get credit, with a link to your comment!
Let me know what you listen to and what you love. And don’t worry about the genre… I’m interested in the guitar solo, not the style. You may even see classical and flamenco show up!… if I’m not careful, that is… 😉
(Quick note about this song: one of the lyrics after the guitar solo is “soon the Gypsy queen in a glaze of vaseline…”. “Gypsy” is, of course, a racial slur. And that’s not up for debate in this post, either, so don’t bother. Just do some research [like reading the link I just posted, and maybe also this one and this one] to understand the history and context for why, and leave it at that. Thanks!)
So this is actually part of a full 30 minute suite by ELP called “Karn Evil 9“, released on their album “Brain Salad Surgery”. This part is the most famous because they often played just this cut live, and it was played on the radio all the time. The opening line (“Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends.”) is somewhat known, as well, often separate from the song (I actually know people who have no clue who ELP are but recognize that line instantly when I say it).
Honestly, if I were to do a “Great Keyboard Solos” series, this would be the first song highlighted, because Keith Emerson was a god of the keys, in my humble opinion. But the guitar solo is amazing, too, which is why I’m highlighting it here. It’s such an amazing solo, another one that’s simple yet powerful. Greg Lake was an underrated guitarist, partly because of how rarely he played it (sticking more to the bass guitar).
This is the studio recording, so no need to actually watch anything… just listen… the guitar solo, BTW, starts at 2:01 and ends at 2:57:
Nope… it’s not about a copyright lawsuit…
(This is another light-hearted post to fill the time while I’m working on the police post. There’ll probably be more light-hearted stuff until I finally have that finished, sourced, and ready to post.)
So… I think at this point it’s obvious that I’m a pretty big fan of Led Zeppelin, and I will generally shell out the absolute maximum limit of what I can afford to purchase basically anything and everything they release officially.
I have a bit of a soft spot for their BBC sessions, from 1969-1971, because that was how I first heard Led Zeppelin. My first Led Zeppelin official release was their 2-disc BBC sessions release, and my very first unofficial recording/bootleg was A Secret History of Led Zeppelin, which was an early compilation of BBC sessions that were not on the official release, plus live tracks from other shows during their 1969 tour (I cannot put into words what it felt like listening to that CD for the first time, but, amazingly, I still feel that every time I put the CD on, and I absolutely love it). Later, Empress Valley, a Japanese bootleg label, came out with The Complete BBC Sessions, which I also have (one of only two “silvers” I ever purchased, and I will never purchase any again because of how guilty I felt [Led Zeppelin should have gotten that money]; I’ve gotten and get all the rest of my bootlegs either for free or, at most, the cost of shipping and blank CDs [for trades]).
So you can imagine how excited I was when an expanded edition of the BBC Sessions was announced. I was all set to preorder it, but then I saw that the music from the Alexis Korner sessions, including the song Sunshine Woman, were included. Now this is interesting, because the official tapes for that show were either wiped or went missing. We only have the sessions because they were recorded off of the radio, so the audio quality isn’t official-level quality. When it was first announced, there were a lot of questions about the music from the Alexis Korner sessions, the main one being the audio quality. And I decided to hold off on preordering the set until more information came out, because, technically, I already have the complete BBC sessions in the Empress Valley release, and the quality is actually surprisingly good for an unofficial release.
Well, Sunshine Woman was recently released online, and I am… unimpressed. If you can get Soundcloud to work, and you’re interested, here’s a link to listen.
Notice anything about the quality?
(Since I’m still working on my promised post about the US police force [I’m doing tons of research for this, to back up everything I say, so it’s a lot of work and I don’t have that much free time, which of course means it’s taking longer than I expected], I thought this would be a good, fun, light interim post.)
So… I listen to a lot of podcasts. I thought it’d be cool to list and talk about podcasts. As I said… I have a lot here, and I am going to list them all, and include links. However, I’m only going to give details on a select few, so this isn’t overly-long.
So here we are… my podcasts: