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A lot of the new features and functions mentioned in today's keynote are not of any interest to me, but I realize that to other people they may be exactly what they've been wanting, waiting to see and use, and so will be happily embraced. That's usually the case, though, and somehow things all work out well to everyone's satisfaction when the new features and functionality arrive.
 
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Went to a dear friend's birthday dinner which we organized on his behalf at a nice local restaurant outside on a terrace though indoor dining is open again. That was terrific and such a joy.

In other news, I have been rediscovering, as summer begins (31 degrees next week!) my love for figure skating. No kidding. Please forgive I need to simp a bit on my favourite skaters and it is a decent list.

I recently found Katerina Witt, 1988 Olympic gold champion on Instagram and her website here: Katerina Witt Not only does she look amazing at 56 she has been super busy in many domains.

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Ladies figure skating has changed as the younger skaters (15-17 or so) who can do quad jumps dominate. My current "best girls" are a bit older at 24 and 19 though, and saying this in a respectful way are both gorgeous as well as amazingly talented.

First is Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, current (2021) world figure skating champion silver medalist, 2015 gold world champion. Raised by her schoolteacher mom and became protege of a famous Soviet era coach Alexei Mishin. Did a racy routine to Britany Spear's toxic, can't post the photos spread she did for the Russian edition of Maxim or would get banned (no nudity but pretty racy) but one can Google ;).

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Next Alina Zagitova Olympic gold medalist 2018 games, gold in European championship 2018 and gold 2019 world champion. Very very popular in Japan, was presented an Akita dog by the Japanese PM and is of Volga Tatar ethnicity. Her father is a hockey coach and she fought to get into the Olympic team for 2018. Incredible grace on ice.

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A friend and colleague from the FSU got me up to speed on Russian FS and in women's it is quite tough, both these young women overcame obstacles to get where they are. Ms. Tuktamysheva is on the Olympic roster while Ms. Zagitova has all but retired from competition.

Men next
 
Now for the men, besides the past greats I like such as Evgeni Plushenko and Brian Orser (both coaches now) really admire the following:

Yuzuru Hanyu, 2 time Olympic gold and ... an asthma sufferer.


Try watching this and tell me if this isn't a real fighter.

Nathan Chen from the US, nothing to say but gold in 2022. You heard it here first folks. Also a very kind and serious young man who is very involved in community projects.

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Concerning pairs and ice dance, I am not up to speed yet but have been following the next couple with interest I like their style and they have an unusual background for both:

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Jonathan Guerreiro and Tiffany Zagorski. Mr. Guerreiro was born in Australia to a Portuguese father and Russian mother, Ms. Zagorski hails from London, England and her paternal Grandfather was ethnic Polish from Russia. Ms. Zagroski in particular is quite active on social media aand enjoys engaging with fans.

So forgive me little foray into this sport (quite like tennis too and there is a whole other conversation to be had there with athletes and the media).

I heard something about an iOS 15 and MacOS Monterey - WWDC or something like that. :p:p:p

​

 
I love figure skating -- watching it, that is, and yes, there have been some superlative skaters through the years. it's truly difficult and demanding, being both something which requires technical skills, athletic ability and artistic skills as well. VERY challenging and it's amazing how young people have carried on with it even as it has become more demanding and complex.

Steve, hoping you will get out of that hotel pronto at the appointed hour and at long last be able to return to your own home and your own bed.....whew, it's been a long, long haul for you, hasn't it?
 
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Clix Pix said:
I love figure skating -- watching it, that is, and yes, there have been some superlative skaters through the years. it's truly difficult and demanding, being both something which requires technical skills, athletic ability and artistic skills as well. VERY challenging and it's amazing how young people have carried on with it even as it has become more demanding and complex.

Steve, hoping you will get out of that hotel pronto at the appointed hour and at long last be able to return to your own home and your own bed.....whew, it's been a long, long haul for you, hasn't it?
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Yes I am hoping next time Steve rreads this he is out...I hope you can get vaccinated soon I can't tell you what a relief it is from my end.

@Clix Pix I have been reading and learning a lot about the sport and the technical changes especially for the women singles are really challenging. Imagine "retiring" at the age of 19 like Ms. Zagitova seems to have (well not really she will be doing ice shows and the like). The much younger and lighter skaters Kamila Valieva or Alexandra Trusova seem to be favoured here. Men singles seem to handle it better. Actually I never realized how petite many of these skaters are (I am 5' 5'') the tallest of the single skaters above is Yuzuru Hanyu at 5' 7'' while the women are quite petite. Paris seem to favour the taller skaters.
 
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decafjava said:
Yes I am hoping next time Steve rreads this he is out...I hope you can get vaccinated soon I can't tell you what a relief it is from my end.

@Clix Pix I have been reading and learning a lot about the sport and the technical changes especially for the women singles are really challenging. Imagine "retiring" at the age of 19 like Ms. Zagitova seems to have (well not really she will be doing ice shows and the like). The much younger and lighter skaters Kamila Valieva or Alexandra Trusova seem to be favoured here. Men singles seem to handle it better. Actually I never realized how petite many of these skaters are (I am 5' 5'') the tallest of the single skaters above is Yuzuru Hanyu at 5' 7'' while the women are quite petite. Paris seem to favour the taller skaters.
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I am out thank you and back home enjoying the sunshine. First Covid jab Saturday second 7th August.
 
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Welcome home at last, Steve!! I'll bet you are SO happy!!

About the figure skaters being petite: this is actually better for them, as well as for gymnasts, as it can help with overall body balance and such. Those little bodies are very, very fit and strong, though, certainly far more so than those of most girls their age! Many skaters take dance training -- ballet -- in addition to their skating, which helps with developing grace and elegance in movements and gestures, as well as maintaining that essential control during the moves.
 
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SteveManila1960 said:
New stuff is fine it's already in two places, on my MBA SSD and a USB thumb drive. It's only around 20GB of data.

Think I will focus on the 2TB of data on the older drives :)
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RAID box started up fine but had to squirt a little WD40 on the fan shaft as it squealed in pain at first. Its an ORICO box which I apparently bought back in 2018 didn't realize it was so long ago. I looked at the WD Red'd drive one manufactured January 2013 drive two manufactured July 2016. This is because I once had two WD Thunderbolt Duo boxes sold one with drives in it and one just as a case. I must have mixed up the drives should have kept both the 2016 units.

So I am going to replace the 2013 drive with a new one but leave the other one alone. Set up is RAID 1 so the second drive is a duplicate of the first. If I do get a failure I won't lose anything. I will stick with 4TB as I have used 2.6TB already so will need the space over the next couple of years.
 
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Clix Pix said:
I love figure skating -- watching it, that is, and yes, there have been some superlative skaters through the years. it's truly difficult and demanding, being both something which requires technical skills, athletic ability and artistic skills as well. VERY challenging and it's amazing how young people have carried on with it even as it has become more demanding and complex.

Steve, hoping you will get out of that hotel pronto at the appointed hour and at long last be able to return to your own home and your own bed.....whew, it's been a long, long haul for you, hasn't it?
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To my mind, nothing surpassed the sheer artistry of the Bolero routine of Torvill & Dean; but, sigh, that was years (nay, decades) ago.
SteveManila1960 said:
I am out thank you and back home enjoying the sunshine. First Covid jab Saturday second 7th August.
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Welcome home and stay safe and sane; the very best of luck with it all.
 
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Buying a car then realizing it's got that fun sport button like the new ones. I see a possible speeding ticket in my future. I'm gonna have to leave that button off mostly.
 
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@Scepticalscribe looked up Torvill and Dean's Bolero (several performances including the 1984 Gold Medal one) and just wow!


The best new car feature I like is the inclusion of cameras for backing up and parking and the associated motion sensors.

In other news been back to listening to the same musical pieces over and over. It was the 1812 overture last week and now a remixed soundtrack piece from an anime (Demon Slayer) and as there is a section which had awesome drums (likely synthesized) that brought to mind taiko drums. Guess what I looked up next: Real taiko drumming on YouTube


Wow. Again.
 
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decafjava said:
@Scepticalscribe looked up Torvill and Dean's Bolero (several performances including the 1984 Gold Medal one) and just wow!


The best new car feature I like is the inclusion of cameras for backing up and parking and the associated motion sensors.

In other news been back to listening to the same musical pieces over and over. It was the 1812 overture last week and now a remixed soundtrack piece from an anime (Demon Slayer) and as there is a section which had awesome drums (likely synthesized) that brought to mind taiko drums. Guess what I looked up next: Real taiko drumming on YouTube


Wow. Again.
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Torvill and Dean's "Bolero" (which deservedly won them an Olympic Gold medal, and an unprecedented score of nothing but "perfect sixes" for artistic merit) was electrifying and transformed, utterly revolutionised, ice figure skating.

Nearly 40 years later, it is still spell-binding.
 
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Apple fanboy said:
The scary part there is it was 40 years ago. Doesn’t seem like it!
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Agreed.

But, perfect then, and still perfect.

Spine-tingling and brilliant.

And Nottingham deserves a shout out (of approval); without the wholehearted financial support of the Nottingham authorities, I am not sure that Torvill and Dean (they both had very ordinary jobs before they were in a position where they were able to devote themselves full time to ice figure skating) could have achieved what they did.
 
Scepticalscribe said:
Agreed.

But, perfect then, and still perfect.

Spine-tingling and brilliant.

And Nottingham deserves a shout out (of approval); without the wholehearted financial support of the Nottingham authorities, I am not sure that Torvill and Dean (they both had very ordinary jobs before they were in a position where they were able to devote themselves full time to ice figure skating) could have achieved what they did.
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I never knew that. Interesting.
 
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Apple fanboy said:
I never knew that. Interesting.
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Comparatively speaking, the sums involved - even at that time - were quite small; but, they enabled both Torvill and Dean to devote themselves full time to training and to ice figure skating (leading quite frugal and spartan lives), while they had a leave of absence from their own jobs.

Christopher Dean was a police officer, while Jayne Torvill was an insurance clerk; very impressive on the part of Nottingham (not any national sporting body) to attempt to support their potential by offering financial support at a critical time.
 
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Speaking of Bolero, I was listening to it in the car the other day. I realised that it is the same type of piece as Tubular Bells - starts off really quiet, with just one instrument, then repeats itself multiple times, adding a new instrument each time.
I don't know enough about music to know if that type has a name.
 
These days in figure skating it seems that there is much more emphasis on sheer athleticism, both in solo skating and pairs. More and more is being demanded of the young skaters and their bodies. What was so magical about Torvill and Dean's performance was that they seemed to so effortlessly become the music, exemplify the music, enhance the music, carry it as a part of their own being..... Indeed, a fantastic, elegant, extraordinary and truly memorable presentation!
 
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Septembersrain said:
Buying a car then realizing it's got that fun sport button like the new ones. I see a possible speeding ticket in my future. I'm gonna have to leave that button off mostly.
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My new Honda Civic Sport Hatchback has the "S" (Sport) setting on the gearshift right below the "D", and so far I have not used it since I am mainly traveling around town, in lots of traffic. I am looking forward to trying out Sport mode when on a trip sometime, driving on expressways and turnpikes, etc., as that is where something like this will really shine.
 
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