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I was hoping this was US issue only, and, as late as this morning, Canada's version of Amazon still said the release date was 7/31. But then I put in the order a couple of hours ago, and the release date had changed to unknown. I decided I would leave it in the order to qualify for free shipping on some other items, but this doesn't bode well.

That's very disappointing and yes it does seem to indicate there is some legal issue. I was going to pre-order, but I'll hold off for a while now.

I don't even know if it exists as a going concern, but I use an all-in-one software package called WaveClean, which allows you to first record the LP or 78 as a wav file and then to de-click and do further scrubbing (and you can set the level of declicking, etc.). I usually stop after one pass of de-clicking.

I'm not taking it personally or anything but I can't wrap my head around allowing visiting teams from presumably Florida and Texas and not from Toronto, where the virus is essentially under control. I would have thought the Jays would establish their own bubble (hotels, gym, etc.) separately from the Pirates. But overall the MLB plan is way riskier than the NHL plan (with far, far too much travel between stadiums). I think the NBA plan wasn't too bad in the abstract except that most of the games are supposed to be in Florida. I'm fairly sure that in all cases there will be so many athletes breaking the rules and the virus spreading out of control that all these experiments are ultimately shut down.

Oddly enough, it looks like the Blue Jays will share a stadium with Pittsburgh Pirates. I'm glad for their sakes, they are not heading to Florida as their home base.

I suppose this was inevitable but 31% of Americans simply no longer believe the number of COVID deaths (they think it is much smaller). Not asked in the survey but clear from the context is that they think this is an intentional smear of the President. This goes up to 62% of Fox watchers. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/21/us-coronavirus-death-toll-public-opinion-poll-accuracy Who knew you could bypass the 7 stages of grief* by simply denying that death occurred in the first place? I'll keep that in mind for future reference. * Of course, denial is actually the first step, but eventually people realize/accept that death has occurred. Not for this cult. They are in reverse.

Looks like alcohol and COVID just don't mix. A few flare ups across Canada, mostly linked to either reopening the bars or to house parties where the young'uns are congregating. The last few days in Ontario, there has been a spike in new cases of people under 35. I know for many of them the odds are that the symptoms won't be all that bad, but of course there will be the unlucky few and then always the risk of spreading COVID further. Certainly, my preference is to more or less close down the bars permanently and push people towards consuming alcohol along with food. I think we are at the point where a combination of complacency and COVID fatigue (the feeling that this will just never be over...) are setting in, and it just means the second wave will be worse than it needs to be. The plans for getting kids back in school in Sept. feels incredibly ad hoc. We're at the point where there really are no good options. The negative impact on kids from not having in-person instruction (potentially for an entire school year) is going to be enormous and cannot just be dismissed out of hand, even in the interest of trying to limit the spread of COVID. I don't have the answers either, but I'm definitely feeling that the unacknowledged costs of the lockdown are going to be huge.

Glad to hear it.

Thanks. I'll check it out. Way, way back when I took a course that centered on Rabelais and artists of his time. That was neat, though I don't remember all that much from it.

Good to know. Should be able to borrow it soon. Reading Kundera's Life is Elsewhere. Also have an e-book version of Kevin Brockmeier's The Brief History of the Dead, which incidentally features a man-made virus that wipes out humanity. Good times... Not sure what will be after this. Maybe Joyce Cary's first trilogy or Don Quixote.

Mine just arrived. It's second pressing, so hopefully none of the issues mentioned above, but I'll be sure to check right away. All the music appears to be correct. I do see the same scrambling of titles on CD 5 as Crisp noticed. Timings are often a bit different than on the tray, but as long as I don't have to swap out one of the CDs for a replacement disc I am fine with it.

Tiny Grimes Profoundly Blue (Muse) And Al Haig-Jimmy Raney Special Brew (Spotlite) Haven't had my turntable set up in ages, but I wanted to transfer these two over.

Yep, the official MLB plan had them criss-crossing the border constantly with no quarantine. The (Canadian) feds officially said No today. Clearly the right decision. So the Blue Jays will either play in Buffalo or Florida. As far as I understand it, hockey is a completely different situation where all the eligible teams come up to two Canadian sites (Edmonton and Toronto) and then they don't leave until the playoffs are over. In fact, only at the very end in the finals would the east and west teams meet. So we'll see.

Toronto has just put an indoor mask policy in place and there haven't been huge pushbacks (that I am aware of or have witnessed). Mask use is also mandatory on the main transit (TTC) and will be mandatory by mid-July on commuter transit (GO Rail). I don't see a lot of mask wearing when just out and about, people walking on sidewalk (maybe 30%), but I guess the science is a bit mixed and masks outdoors aren't as critical. Ontario is hovering around 100 new cases a day (finally better than Quebec!) and Toronto is usually 40-50. So not beaten here by any stretch, but generally looking good (until Wave 2...).

The other big unknown is if COVID is mutating so rapidly to the point that an effective vaccine can't be found or would only be valid for a season or two (which is essentially the case with the flu).

I'm sorry to hear that. Hope things are brought back under control. Most of Ontario moves to Phase 3 this week, though Greater Toronto Area is still in Phase 2. I'm guessing 2-3 more weeks to go for us.

This is just about the most brazen thing I've seen yet. (The allegedly in the title is maybe uncalled for in this case...) https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/delivery-driver-caught-on-video-allegedly-taking-package-he-had-just-delivered-1.5008961 And up here in Canada!

Gaming the system?

I realize this is only a single school board in Alberta, and things are handled a bit looser in the States, but based on the advice of experts, "music classes will not have in-person singing, cheering or shouting. Students enrolled in band will not be able to play wind instruments." So that pretty much completely wipes out symphonic band and choir, leaving only string ensembles. I realize this may only impact a couple of years in these kids' lives (though it might stretch to 3+ years when all is said and done), but it does seem like an important chain is being snapped and Gen Z may end up not having much, if any, musical training. A depressing thought to start a dreary weekend...

An interesting development to be sure... https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/07/jair-bolsonaro-coronavirus-positive-test-brazil-president The Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, has announced live on television he has tested positive for coronavirus. “It came back positive,” a mask-wearing Bolsonaro told a hand-picked group of reporters on Tuesday lunchtime outside his official residence. “There’s no reason for fear. That’s life,” the president added.

David Price has announced he will sit out the shortened season.

I've bought a region-free DVD player (already made region-free) and it worked fine. I also punched in the secret code on a second one and that also worked. Most of the instructions are still floating around in places like Reddit. I'm fairly sure that the sales of DVDs are probably even worse relative to CDs, so this isn't the highest priority of the studios, though they aren't about to abandon the region-locked system. Every so often I consider getting a Blu-Ray player but it is a bit harder to get an all-region player relative to how easy it is to obtain or mod a DVD player.

I suppose (some fraction of) young people were always this stupid and we just hear a lot more about them now with Twitter and TikTok and Youtube, but really this takes the cake... https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/people-in-alabama-are-throwing-covid-19-parties-with-a-payout-when-one-gets-infected-official-1.5007903 "Some young people in Alabama are throwing COVID-19 parties, a disturbing competition where people who have coronavirus attend and the first person to get infected receives a payout, local officials said. The parties are being held in Tuscaloosa, and infected people are urged to attend so others can intentionally contract the virus..."

Our leadership is not looking to bring us back to office yet, but they have spent a lot of time putting down floor markings and such. (On weekends, I go in and then offer "constructive" criticism like telling them all doors into an area are marked one way, so you are literally trapped inside (if you respect markings). It's an evolving thing...) But most of our meeting rooms will only hold 3 people now and the larger ones 6. If you can't have a proper team meeting anyway, what's the point of trying for an in-person meeting if most of the team gets left out? (And while the upper management irks me much of the time, they do take safety seriously. There is no way anyone will be able to sneak in an extra person above what the room is signed for.)

I was able to go inside a used book store and do actual browsing over the weekend (wearing a mask & hand sanitizer, etc.). That was an interesting milestone. I also visited a couple of small art galleries (our major museums are reopening over next few weeks). We've just reopened malls in Toronto and barber shops/beauty salons, though gyms and movie theatres and indoor concerts are all still no-go. I won't go (don't have a car), but one entrepreneur is getting ready to open a drive-in movie theatre in Toronto.