RenoVous

Yes, it's Halloween, but it's also Nevada Day - and I'm Battle Born and Raised, as we say. We are one of few states that made a legal holiday of our statehood - the "bank holiday" was last Friday.  We went to a brewery launch for Battle Born Brew. On this day in 1864, Nevada became the 36th state in the Union - it was done in part to secure reelection for Lincoln, and so the process was rushed and allowed even though we didn't have enough residents at the time.  Our constitution was drafted and sent via telegraph (rather than Pony Express) to ensure quickness. In the end, Lincoln's win didn't even need Nevada. Mining not only helped establish the borders of the state, but fueled the economy and population growth. The theme of Nevada Day this year is our counties - Pershing became our 17th county in 1919, so they're celebrating 100 years.  Washoe was one of the original counties established in 1861, and Reno itself was o...

From enjoying pumpkins to adorable costumes! Feel free to share your own Halloween animals!

Last week we started "The Bus" by Shirley Jackson. (Story  Here ) Miss Harper must take the bus home, much to her dismay.  She dislikes the buses and the staff, as well as the ride itself.  So she takes a sleeping pill.   A random passenger speaks to her in her sleep, telling her that they've run away from home.  "That's wrong," she says, "Go back." "Too late.  Go back to sleep." She's then awakened by the bus driver, telling her she needs to wake up and get off, this is her stop.  She's groggy and upset, gathering her luggage as she gets off the bus in the rain, only to realize the bus has left her in Ricket's Landing.  This was not her stop. She manages to flag down a passing car, and they take her to the old lady who runs the roadhouse, whose name is Belle.  Miss Harper is taken by the old house, which reminds her of her childhood home, but she's also sad for the state of the house. She ge...

Kim Kardashian West Amber Valletta Lisa Bonet (but also Jason Momoa) Tuppence Middleton Christy Turlington Gugu Mbatha-Raw Dree Hemingway Zoe Saldana Nesta Cooper Sylvia Hoeks Vogue

"Musical improvisation improves cognitive flexibility and increases inhibitory control." Associate professor of music education, Martin Norgaard: "In tonal jazz, improvisation is not 'free' - it's always tied to the chord structure that the melody is based on." Norgaard is also a violinist: "As a musician, you feel that there's something different about the way your brain is working when you improvise.  You're tapping all your stored knowledge and adapting it to a chord structure in real time." Improvisation is a defining element of jazz music, and players such as Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, and John Coltrane have made the craft look effortless. Norgaard and Mukesh Dhamala, associate professor of physics and astronomy, tested singing pre-learned and improvised music for fMRI. They found decreased brain activity during improvisation.  They believe this is due to immersion - "performing improvisatio...

"The Bus" by Shirley Jackson Story available  Here We'll check back next week and have one more story before Halloween.  :-)

These popped up in my Facebook memories, from 9 years ago.  Rancho San Rafael Park.

Sofia Coppola Gugu Mbatha-Raw Andrea Riseborough Zoey Deutch Rihanna Mackenzie Davis Margot Robbie Winnie Harlow Lupita Nyong'o Victoria Beckham ..............

Credits: NASA, ESA, and J. DePasquale Meet Comet 2I/Borisov. Hubble caught this image on October 12 - the speed and trajectory suggest this object has come from beyond our solar system, and is therefore the first confirmed interstellar comet. Scientists hope to obtain "invaluable clues to the chemical composition, structure, and dust characteristics of planetary building blocks." The comet was photographed 260 million miles from Earth.  It is following a hyperbolic path around the Sun, and is expected to make its closest approach to the Sun in December.  By the middle of 2020, it is expected to pass Jupiter on its way out of our solar system. Crimean astronomer, Gennady Borisov, first spotted the comet in August. NASA

Between vacations, my friend and I have had a small break from music tasting - but today, we checked out the pre-release of MCID from Highly Suspect.  (Full album dropping November 1). This is a band I fell in love with upon hearing their debut single, "Lydia," which came out in 2015.  Hubby and I caught them live in town in October of that year, and it was an awesome show.  I even got my CD signed, which I did for Pa.  (He was home sick at this time - it was the last new band we enjoyed together). "I can't breathe, much less believe the truth." Anyway, onto the new!

On this day in 1958, Chevy releases their El Camino. I personally think the name is used more widely than the Ranchero, which Ford released two years before. Ford was the first car/truck to be sold in the United States, but this wasn't a new concept for them - "Utes" had been used in Australia since the 1930's. The story goes that a farmers wife wrote to Ford Australia and asked for a car that could take her to church on Sunday and take her husband's pigs to market on Monday.  Lewis Brandt is the engineer who first created the "utility coupe" but soon every company in Australia had a version. The Ranchero was mostly a hit, but the El Camino was not.  Chevy actually discontinued manufacturing after two years - until 1968 when it was redone with the SS engine and became a huge success. Production officially ended in 1987, and now all you can get are the classics.  I can't say I've seen many of the 50's versions ...

PEACE Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali "In the wake of the peace process with Eritrea, [he] has engaged in other peace and reconciliation processes in East and Northeast Africa." LITERATURE Peter Handke "For an influential work that with linguistic ingenuity has explored the periphery and specificity of human experience." Also, because the 2018 announcement was cancelled due to allegations within the Swedish Academy, Olga Tokarczuk was awarded this year. "For a narrative imagination that with encyclopedic passion represents the crossing of boundaries as a form of life." CHEMISTRY John B. Goodenough M. Stanley Whittingham Akira Yoshino "For the development of lithium-ion batteries." PHYSICS James Peebles "For theoretical discoveries in physical cosmology." Michael Mayor and Didier Queloz "For the discovery of an exoplanet orbiting a solar-type star." PHYSIOLOGY ...

Rihanna Justine Skye Gugu Mbatha-Raw Emma Stone Margot Robbie Zawe Ashton Lucy Boynton Caitriona Balfe Zoey Deutch Lupita Nyong'o Vogue