As far as modern-day blues goes, few do it better than Kirk Fletcher, a native of Bellflower, California, whose style is steeped in an amalgam of Chicago and West Coast blues. If you’ve heard his records, I’m Here & I’m Gone (1999), Shades of Blue (2003), My Turn (2010), Burning Blues (Live at the Baked Potato) (2014), Hold On (2018), My Blues Pathway (2020), and his most recent, Heartache by The Pound (2022), surely, you’ve caught the vibe. And the word is that Fletcher is working on his neck, though yet-to-be-announced, record. In the meantime, he’s laying low, doing his The post An Interview With Kirk Fletcher Talking Guitars And Amps appeared first on ClassicRockHistory.com.

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. Even as the scandal around the Brazilian authorities’ policy of issuing censorship orders to X was in full swing, they continued to send letters to US-based platforms demanding more censorship. This is revealed in new documents published by the US House Judiciary Committee and its Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, a part of a broader interim report titled, “The Attack on Free Speech Abroad and the Biden Administration’s Silence: The Case Of Brazil.” “Part 2” of this report states that as recently as in April, X, but also Rumble, received a total of ten orders (nine of which went to the latter platform) to censor accounts. Both companies refused to comply. The freshly targeted accounts belong to one of the country’s top podcasters, Monark (“Brazil’s Joe Rogan”), but also prominent opposition figures, parliamentarians, political commentators, radio stations, and even a gospel singer. What they all have in common is questioning the integrity of Brazil’s 2022 presidential election, and/or supporting the incumbent who lost the contested ballot, Jair Bolsonaro. Meanwhile, the latest known batch of censorship letters was justified by linking Bolsonaro supporters and election integrity skeptics with the events of January 8, 2023 – the “Brazilian version” of January 6 in the US – and accusing them of “spreading disinformation.” In addition to demanding that the accounts be suspended within two hours, the platforms were threatened with daily fines equivalent to some $19,700. The censorship demands were very thorough: the accounts were to be blocked, preserved, and demonetized, with payments to them stopped. X and Rumble were also supposed to provide Brazilian authorities with data pertaining to registration, and payouts. In announcing the release of the newly obtained documents, the House Select Subcommittee pointed out the role of Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court President and Supreme Federal Court justice Alexandre de Moraes. But, the Subcommittee – set up to investigate government-Big Tech collusion and what it calls government-directed censorship at home, made sure to note that the phenomenon is not confined to Brazil and other countries. “Like Brazil, the Biden Administration has attacked journalists, political opponents, and Americans across the political spectrum in an attempt to silence the Administration’s many critics,” a press release said. The post House Committee Report Unveils Recent Brazil Social Media Censorship Demands As Recently as April 2024 appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

Will the GOP Be Able to Keep Noncitizens Out of the Census?

Saying hello comes with a range of possible gestures and vocalizations – from a wave of greeting to a hug as you draw closer or a shout to get the attention of your friend after you’ve got a good table at a busy pub. Now, the same can be said of the elephant world: African elephants (Loxodonta africana) can change their greetings to one another based on whether the other elephant is paying attention. Using more than just one type of greeting at the same time is known as multimodal communication. These elephants have a whole range of communication options, with combinations of ear movements, tactile signals, or different vocalizations. The most frequently used vocalization is a rumble, which includes information about the identity of the elephant making the noise.By studying semi-captive savannah elephants living in the Jafuta Reserve, Zimbabwe, the team witnessed 89 greeting events, which included 1,282 greeting behaviors. Of these behaviors, 1,014 were physical greetings while the remaining 268 were vocalizations. Combinations of gestures and vocalizations were used between elephants greeting each other, including ear flapping and rumbling, which was the most common combination of greeting. The second most commonly seen combo was rumble with ears stiff. The team think that this ear gesture, as well as ears slightly spread apart, might facilitate hearing a response from the other elephant.Seemingly less pleasant forms of greeting, such as peeing and pooping as well as sweat gland secretions, were used in 71 percent of greetings. The researchers think this might mean that smell plays into elephant communication more than was previously thought.                    Elephants also varied which greeting combo they used based on whether the elephant they wanted to greet was looking at them. If the other elephant was looking away, the approaching elephant was more likely to use vocalization, gestures that produced a noise, or give them a prod with the end of their trunk.                    Interestingly, the team found that the females in the study greeted each other in a way that was consistent with previous observations of closely bonded wild elephants or related zoo elephants. Meanwhile, the males in the study used the same combinations of greetings as the females, which is not typically seen in other studies – wild male elephants usually only rumble or raise their trunks to smell other elephants. The purpose of these elaborate social greetings is thought to be to strengthen social bonds and promote recognition, including during female reunions and, in this study, between closely bonded males. The paper is published in Communications Biology.

Playing dead and spewing blood gets the job done for feinting dice snakes, who have evolved a dramatic but effective way of putting would-be predators off their meal. They’ll stop at nothing, with autohaemorrhaging, convulsive twisting, and even smearing themselves with shit all on the cards.The impressive performance comes from Natrix tessellata, a semiaquatic species that mostly eat fish and can be found hunting for them across western Europe, northern Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia to Western China. When it’s not hunting, it’s prey for a wide variety of predators including other reptiles, birds, and mammals.With so many on your tail, it pays to employ more than one kind of antipredator defense, and several species exhibit a complex array of “don’t eat me" strategies. Death feigning is what the authors of a new study describe as an “especially interesting” antipredator defense, not least because it's a risky strategy to resist fleeing – and it’s one that the dice snake excels in.When it looks like the chips are down, their swansong involves a combination of lying motionless in an “I am deceased” posture, smearing themselves with feces and musk, and autohaemorrhaging – a weird trick where animals willingly bleed. The researchers wanted to test if the combination of all these dramatic displays makes for a more convincing (and therefore more effective) go at death feigning, and so they tested 263 dice snakes in the field.Dice snakes really go the extra mile when it comes to playing dead.Image credit: © V Bjelica, A Golubović, Biology Letters 2024They grabbed dice snakes by the mid-body and immediately saw the animals starting to coat themselves in fecal matter and musk, a smearing behavior that’s thought to put off the predator by making its prey repulsive. They then handled the snakes in a way that mimicked what a predator might do, before placing them down – unharmed – on the floor.The death feigning kicked in once the snakes were on the ground, as the animals’ mouths lolled open, tongues flaccid. They then timed the death feigning duration, and noted if anything else happened, such as blood dripping from the snakes’ mouths, before identifying their age and sex and letting them go.The results showed that older snakes were more likely to combine the smearing of feces and musk with feigning dead, and that they tended to spend less time playing dead compared to younger snakes. The researchers suggest this indicates that these behaviors have synergistic effects, making the more complex performances more believable so that the predator is tricked and abandons its disgusting dead meal.There are some limitations to the findings in that the snakes’ behaviors weren’t made in response to real prey-predator interactions, but it’s a curious insight into the complex ways in which animals have evolved to get out of a bind.Sophisticated, even if it does leave you covered in your own poop.The study is published in the journal Biology Letters.

Japan has added fin whales – a marine mammal that’s vulnerable to extinction – to its list of commercial whaling species in a move that conservationists have dubbed “an appalling step backwards”.The Government of Japan announced on May 9 that fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus) are fair game for whalers within the country’s exclusive economic zone, according to the Environmental Investigation Agency (IEA). The inclusion of fin whales brings the number of commercial whaling species in Japan to four, along with minke whales, Bryde’s whales, and sei whales. The latest addition is particularly shocking due to the size and scarcity of the species. Measuring up to 25 meters (85 feet) in length, fin whales are the second-largest animal on earth in terms of length, second only to the blue whale. These majestic creatures can live up to 90 years old and have a cosmopolitan range across much of the world’s oceans. They were listed as "endangered" by the IUCN until 2018, although their status has since been updated to "vulnerable." Their population has roughly doubled since the 1970s, primarily thanks to bans on commercial whaling that allowed their numbers to bounce back. However, Japan now threatens to start undoing that progress. “This is an appalling step backwards and the latest desperate effort by the Government of Japan to stimulate an almost non-existent consumer demand for whale meat in Japan, in order to justify having built a new whale-killing factory ship, at taxpayers’ expense, which could tie Japan into decades more of this destructive, unsustainable, inhumane and outdated industry,” Clare Perry, a Senior Ocean Adviser at the EIA, said in a statement.“Fin whales are one of Earth’s great carbon capturers and should be fully protected, not least so that they can continue to fulfil their critical role in the marine environment,” explained Perry. Japan resumed commercial whaling in June 2019 after its controversial withdrawal from the International Whaling Commission (IWC), the intergovernmental panel that regulates the whaling industry.Commercial whaling has been banned since the IWC’s moratorium in 1982, although it continued to allow countries to kill whales for special purposes, such as scientific research and Aboriginal Subsistence Whaling.Over 80 nations signed the agreement that came into being in 1986. However, several countries – namely Norway, Denmark/Greenland, Russia, Iceland, and Japan – continued to flout the ban and hunt whales under the guise of scientific research.“Japan now proposes to kill the second largest animal on the planet, despite the global ban on commercial whaling and the nation’s legal duty to cooperate with the IWC, mandated by customary international law and the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea,” added Perry.

Breastfeeding parents who use cannabis have detectable levels of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in their milk even after abstaining from the drug for more than 12 hours, new research has found. And while it’s unclear if the cannabinoid accumulates in levels that are sufficient to affect infants’ development, the study authors warn that it may be impossible to predict how long to wait after getting high before it’s safe to breastfeed.The main psychoactive compound found in the cannabis plant, THC is associated with a range of negative outcomes when infants are exposed prenatally. However, little is known about how the molecule affects the composition of human breast milk.To investigate, the researchers collected milk from 20 lactating mothers, all of whom used cannabis at least once a week and had babies under the age of 6 months. Samples were taken at five different timepoints after cannabis use, with a baseline sample provided following a period of at least 12 hours without getting stoned.Surprisingly, the study authors found, “After abstaining from cannabis for at least 12 hours, milk [THC] concentrations were still measurable for all participants.” “These results indicate that infants consume measurable amounts of [THC] from breastfeeding, even after 12 hours of abstaining from cannabis,” they conclude.Offering a possible explanation for this persistence, study author Courtney Meehan explained in a statement, "Human milk has compounds called lipids, and cannabinoids are lipophilic, meaning they dissolve in those lipids. This may mean that cannabinoids like THC tend to accumulate in milk – and potentially in infants who drink it.”Further analysis of the data then revealed that there is no clear time-point at which THC levels peak following cannabis use. For mothers who only ingested the drug once during the study period, concentrations of the cannabinoid increased for between 30 minutes and 2.5 hours before receding.Those who used weed multiple times during this period, meanwhile, saw a continual increase in the amount of THC in their breast milk.“These results indicate that there is no clear window of time for mothers to breastfeed after cannabis use without some degree of THC exposure for the infant,” write the authors.Unlike with alcohol, then, there appears to be no obvious point at which parents can be confident that the exogenous cannabinoids in their milk have returned to baseline. Typically, women are advised to wait at least two hours after consuming booze before breastfeeding, yet these findings indicate that similar guidelines cannot be applied to cannabis."There was such a range. If you're trying to avoid breastfeeding when the concentration of THC peaks, you're not going to know when THC is at its peak in the milk," said lead author Elizabeth Holdsworth.Despite all of this, the researchers stress that the concentration of THC in breast milk remained low at all timepoints. Assuming babies drink 150 milliliters (5 ounces) of milk per kilogram of body weight per day, the authors calculate that their cannabinoid intake will always be below the minimum level associated with adverse effects.However, they go on to explain that “no assumption of safety” should be inferred from this finding, since the impact of repeated low doses of THC in infants has not been properly studied.Ultimately, then, Meehan insists, "Breastfeeding parents need to be aware that if they use cannabis, their infants are likely consuming cannabinoids via the milk they produce, and we do not know whether this has any effect on the developing infant."The study is published in the journal Breastfeeding Medicine.

I went on two dates with a man, months apart, so they were really like two first dates. In between, we texted throughout, and I actively stalked his social media while fantasizing about a whole life with him because he’s so interesting and similar to me. The second date lasted an entire afternoon and evening, at the end of which we went our separate ways. It has been a month since then, with no follow-up. We’re both adults, so I feel childish for wasting so much time and energy daydreaming about him. How do I get over someone who does not want the same things or share the same values as me but with whom I have so much in common?First of all, I commend you for recognizing that, although you felt a connection with someone, you did not delude yourself into imagining shared values and life plans where there were none. This is possibly the most common dating pitfall for women who find themselves in dead-end relationships, so congratulate yourself on having avoided a situation that would ultimately have been a far bigger waste of time and emotional investment than the brief period of limerence than you already experienced.Second of all, as a general rule, you should be wary of marathon dates when initially getting to know someone. A marathon date involves spending an inordinately lengthy and uninterrupted amount of time together, which creates an atmosphere of pseudo-intimacy that may lead you to believe that you have come to know a person exceptionally well. This can result in a false sense of having established a deep connection with someone before you may have had a chance to evaluate whether you share similar values and life goals. It is advisable to make sure you are at least aligned on core values and future plans before becoming emotionally invested in a person. Always look before leaping, or you might find yourself in a romantic ravine like you are now.Finally, to get over this person, you must follow Circe’s tried-and-true method of getting over relentless heartache, which I have covered in a previous column. This method is guaranteed to work, but you must use it very sparingly, or you will quickly become jaded. The best cure is always prevention.When attending a party at someone’s house, is it better to be punctual or politely late, and what is the best thing to bring?When it comes to party etiquette, context is king. The size of the event, its nature, the city in which it takes place, and the host’s cultural background all play a role in determining expectations.The order of operations for determining an arrival time is as follows: First, what is the host’s ethnic background, and second, in what city does the party take place? If the host is German, you should arrive on time and possibly even a few minutes early to any event. If the host is Slavic, consider giving the host an extra 15 minutes if it is a dinner party and an extra 30 to 60 minutes if it is a large party.Expectations of punctuality also vary from city to city. If you are attending a Miami dinner, 15 minutes late is on time, and if it is a larger event, one to two hours late is still acceptable. However, if you are forced to attend a dinner in San Francisco for some inexplicable reason, plan to arrive on time. Large parties in San Francisco don’t exist, so no etiquette applies.When deciding what to bring, you can never go wrong with a nice bottle of wine or, my personal preference, champagne for any event (unless, of course, it is a sober household). For a dinner party, a dessert is also an appropriate option — one can never have enough dessert. If you have the misfortune of attending a dinner party at a sugar-free household, charcuterie or cheese are other alternatives. If, however, the household is vegan on top of being sugar-free, politely decline the invitation and consider distancing yourself from the host. Some people are simply beyond saving.I am a charming, funny, decently handsome, well-employed, intelligent, and sociable man. I've had a string of long-term relationships that have failed, mostly due to my unique blend of issues, but now I’m also getting to an age where it might make sense to settle down. I want kids (at least I think I do), and I want a loving partner to help build a life together.How do I convince myself that marriage and kids are right for me even though there are so many wonderful women to choose from, and as I've gotten older, my pool seems to have mostly increased? Is it because I haven't found 'the one'? Am I just too immature to understand commitment? Am I simply not cut out for monogamy? I’m not sure what the answer is, but I would love to hear your wisdom.Despite its many negative contributions to the dating discourse, one thing that the show "Sex and the City" got right was the taxi-cab theory. The theory posits that men are like taxi cabs: “They awake one day and decide they’re ready to settle down, have babies, whatever, and they turn their light on. The next woman they pick up, boom, is the one they'll marry. It's not fate, it's dumb luck.”When it comes to men choosing to marry, timing is everything. Some men are internally motivated to settle down, whether it’s because they’ve met a woman they want to spend the rest of their life with or because they’ve reached some professional milestone and now feel ready to support a family financially. Others are externally motivated and more driven by mimetic desire than other considerations. Typically, these men settle down when they realize they are the last guy in their friend group without kids.In your case, it sounds like your light hasn’t turned on yet, because, whether internal or external, you’re not adequately feeling the pressures that would force you to choose. I suspect that when your hairline begins to creep northward at an alarming rate, or you’re no longer invited to friends’ barbecues because you’re the last bachelor standing (whichever comes first), that light will come on like a siren. Until then, try to avoid making too many women pay the price for your nonchalance.What is a lucrative career path for a 27-year-old guy with good soft skills but not great at STEM?The good news is that there are lucrative career options for people with excellent soft skills, but the bad news is, they are most readily found within STEM-related industries.As a general rule, high-paying industries tend to pay well across the board, so you’ll want to look at sectors such as finance, tech, and health care. Most of the career paths in these industries are highly technical, but some essential roles specifically require soft skills that, to be frank, people in technical roles often lack.If you have stellar interpersonal skills and can grasp the basics of the industry you enter, roles like sales or investor relations will generally command a high salary. But if you have no talent for anything other than manipulation, human resources could be a great fit.What is the solution to the pain of modern life?As an ancient goddess who has witnessed millennia of human struggles, I have it on good authority that one of the unique pains of modern life is atomization. Family formation is in decline, adult friendships are becoming scant, and civic life is practically nonexistent.And yet, human nature has hardly changed. Man has been and continues to be a social animal. You can live in the pod. You can eat the bugs. But you cannot forego real relationships, as tempting as a simulacrum of human interaction as AI companions and social media may seem.You must leave your house, find friends, a community, and, ideally, a romantic relationship that leads to a family. If you don’t know where to start, find some social meetups in your area or join a sports league — and if you’re really desperate, you can always try your hand at pickleball.

Joe Biden changed the details of yet another story during a speech in Wisconsin about becoming a Green Bay Packers fan while in high school.The president was at Gateway Technical College's iMet Center on May 8, 2024, in Sturtevant, Wisconsin, speaking about Microsoft's plan to invest over $3 billion to build an artificial intelligence data center in the state.During his comments, Biden recalled a story about how his Catholic high school influenced him to become a fan of NFL team the Green Bay Packers."I went to a Catholic high school in Delaware taught by the Norbertines priests from St. Norbert College ... little town, little team called Green Bay," Biden said, which incited some cheers."Now, here's the deal," Biden continued. "We were the only high school in Delaware who overwhelmingly rooted for Green Bay." The crowd laughed, but Biden pressed on."Not a joke, I'll tell you why. Every single Sunday. Not only did they have great teams at the time, still do, but not only that, my theology professor at the Catholic school I went to was a guy named Riley. Last name. And he had been drafted by the Green Bay Packers.""He decided to become a priest before that, so he didn't go, but every single solitary Monday that Green Bay won, we got the last period of the day off."While it was unclear if Biden was stating that Riley was the last name or he was reading "last name" off the teleprompter, the president seemingly forgot that he has told this story previously but with several of the details being completely different. Biden starts rambling about a "theology professor" at his Catholic high school who (allegedly) "had been drafted by the Green Bay Packers" but "decided to become a priest" — (@) According to Wisconsin radio station 620 WTMJ, Biden told this same story in 2011 to host John Mercure."He realized he was talking to a journalist in Wisconsin and started telling this elaborate story about why he roots for the Packers," Mercure recalled."Let me tell you something, I was taught, I went to a Catholic boys school in Claymont, Delaware, taught by an order of priests called the Norbertines," Biden said at the time. "The Norbertines had their Abbey house in DePere."Biden then listed off some of the Packers' players of his youth before continuing."Every Sunday the Packers won, the headmaster Father Justin E. Diny would get on the PA system, literally, and say, 'Gentlemen no last period today.'""He made everyone of us Packers fans. I have a sentimental place," he continued. "Besides I'm fearful I'll go to hell if I don't root for the Packers. Father Diny may come back. I can't go against Father Diny. He'll come out of his grave if he knew I was rooting for anybody else."There was no mention in the story of a theology professor named Riley, or anyone being drafted to the NFL but choosing the priesthood; rather, it was the headmaster who allegedly gave the students the time off.Forgetting which authority gave the free time to the students would be easily mistakable, but the president specifically stated it was a professor who was drafted into the NFL.The internet then went to work. America's new President @JoeBiden is rooting for the @packers this Sunday and all Sundays. — (@) "According to the All Time Green Bay Packers Draft pick list there is no record of a 'Riley' or 'Reilly' that fits his story," one reader wrote on X.Another user pointed out that there was actually a man named Maurice "Tex" Reilly drafted by the Packers in 1947."1947 Draft — Maurice ‘Tex’ Reilly — no record of him after that ..."According to the All Time Green Bay Packers Draft pick list there is no record of a "Riley" or "Reilly" that fits his story.I think maybe his draft record was eaten by cannibalshttps://t.co/EsLiD9Lh6DGreen Bay Packers Draft picks Seasons: 104 (1921 to 2024)— Charles R. Smith? (@softwarnet) May 8, 2024 However, that Maurice Reilly actually became a Major General in the Air Force, not in the priesthood. @PaulBranch1234 @RNCResearch also ... he was from Colorado not the Wisconsin College Biden cited — (@) This is just one of many of the president's peculiar tales. From the legend of a street tough named Corn Pop to claims he went to Delaware State University, the president seems to forget key details of his stories.Not to be forgotten, Biden has also changed his story about having an "epiphany" about accepting gay marriage at least four times over the course of nearly 50 years.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

In Episode 348 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger visit a potentially haunted gas station and convenience store in Nashua, New Hampshire. Though the Cumbies is new, the building that used sit on this property dated back to the 1700s. For decades it was known as the Country Tavern until it closed in 2020. Back then, it was widely considered one of New Hampshire’s most haunted locations. Are the ghosts still lingering? BECOME A LEGENDARY PATRON: https://www.patreon.com/NewEnglandLegends CREDITS: Produced and hosted by: Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger Edited by: Ray Auger Theme Music by: John Judd SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST FOR FREE: Apple Podcasts/iTunes | Spotify | Pandora | Amazon Podcasts | TuneIn | iHeartRadio JOIN OUR SUPER-SECRET: New England Legends Facebook Group