That dipshit, Joe Wilson, is still in the House of Representatives. He was pissed because Obama said illegal immigrants wouldn’t benefit from the ACA.

His yelling at Obama was making political hay; scaremongering that “undeserving” people might get healthcare in the richest country in the history of the world.

Cool! I love Arabic scales, but I’m not good enough with music theory (and practice) to really feel like I could use them. I’ll definitely play with this when I get a chance. Thanks!

They sure taught those kids to respect the police.

Very cool! I just gave it a watch recently.

The act 1 finale is a spectacular piece of music.

Here’s the full show that I watched. Great performances all around (especially from Rosina and Figaro); I usually prefer historical costumes and sets, but this one was fun. Highly recommended!

I’ve been a bit obsessed with one of Cleopatra’s arias from Handel’s Giulio Cesare, Se pietà di me non senti. She’s bummed that she thinks her brother is going to have her killed.

Se pietà di me non senti giusto ciel io morirò.

Tu da’ pace a’ miei tormenti o quest’alma spirerò.

Just heaven, if you feel no pity for me, I shall die.

I shall give up the ghost if you do not pacify my torment

The legacy that reactionaries actually stand for:

Conservatism is the theoretical voice of this animus against the agency of the subordinate classes. It provides the most consistent and profound argument as to why the lower orders should not be allowed to exercise their independent will, why they should not be allowed to govern themselves or the polity. Submission is their first duty, and agency the prerogative of the elite. Though it is often claimed that the left stands for equality while the right stands for freedom, this notion misstates the actual disagreement between right and left. Historically, the conservative has favored liberty for the higher orders and constraint for the lower orders. What the conservative sees and dislikes in equality, in other words, is not a threat to freedom but its extension. For in that extension, he sees a loss of his own freedom.

-Corey Robin, The Reactionary Mind

They want a neofeudalism that returns power to those whom they see as deserving it: White Christian Fundamentalists.

I prefer an e-reader, but I used my phone before I got one. It is nice to always have my books on me with the phone, but the e-reader is much more comfortable for long sessions.

Why do you think Trump would want to cover them up? I bet it’s because he’s a pedo.

Reactionaries have been trying to kill off public schools for decades. They’re the same racist fuckos who opposed integration.

Donald Pleasence’s best role.

Is La La Land worth a watch? I love a good musical.

Dick Cheney walked so that Trump could run out of his diaper and onto the Oval Office carpet.

Evangelicals don’t read most of it anyway. There’s literally a recipe for a potion to induce abortion to be given as a test to see if a woman was unfaithful to her husband.

In case an acorn falls to the ground.

It blows my mind that some people on my team were excited to watch the commercials during the Super Bowl.

I live my life in a way that minimizes the advertising I’m exposed to, and some people are just mainlining that garbage.

I saw Amadeus (1984), which I never had watched before.

It was incredible; give it a watch if you haven’t seen it. Of course it’s largely Mozart fan fiction, but the sets, costumes, drama, acting, and (naturally) music are such a delight.

The Wikipedia article music of Egypt has a decent section on ancient music in the history portion.

But it’s important to remember that ancient Egyptian history is incredibly long and varied. It’s hard to pin down musical styles over thousands of years. The reality is that we don’t really know what the music sounded like, so educated guesses are the closest we can get. Notation would not be invented for thousands of years.

The instruments they used provide most of the insight that we have. Here’s a YouTube video of some people playing reconstructions of period instruments. This would just be a guess at the music, but it is at least informed by later tradition from around the region.

What’s your budget? You can get a ukulele or guitar for fairly cheap, and there are websites full of chords or tabs for songs. You can play hundreds of songs if you just know a few chords.

There are tutorial videos on YouTube to get you started. Play and sing along. You’ll suck at first, but if you keep at it and play every day you’ll get to be pretty good.

“I told you… (deep breath) they all need to have BENCH SEATS in the REAR! WHAT the FUCK do I PAY YOU PEOPLE FOR??? Don’t you KNOW who I AM???”

Hey, those cops look almost as dumb as ours in the US!