It’s easy to make the mistake of believing that music is produced as if from “thin air”.  Because we don’t usually appreciate or see all of the work and practice that go into making a song or a musician sound good.  In addition, today’s music is enjoyed with the help of a panoply of technical wizardry including things like UltraSound Amplifiers.

The point is that it takes a lot of hard work and technical expertise – on top of sheer raw talent – to make modern music sound as good as it does.  Which is why we show our appreciation for a great piece of music by clapping (as well as supporting the musicians and their crew by buying their records).

We’re coming up to Remembrance Day where we live and soon we’ll see everyone from average people to high profile public figures sporting red poppies in remembrance of the tragedy of war.  The poppies are a simple replica of the four-petalled red poppies that grow in the field where many of our war dead are buried in France.  They haven’t changed the poppy or its design for as long as we’ve commemorating the dead – which is probably as it should be.  But I sometimes wonder if people should also wear their own custom pins as a way to remind ourselves that each soldier who made the ultimate sacrifice was also a unique individual.

Batteries around our house are almost a scarce commodity.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve needed batteries for my various electronic tools and have come up empty after looking through all the known battery storage drawers in the house.  I’d save myself a whole lot of hassle using aa rechargeable batteries instead.  That seems to be the most common size I have to deal with.