Marching music for the Pennsylvania Primary, The Cadets, Buccaneers, and West Chester University

Welcome to this year's version of marching music for the Pennsylvania primary. I kick off the music to watch and listen while waiting for results with The Cadets | #DCI2023 | Atlas Rising from Drum Corps International (DCI).

Allentown, Pennsylvania's The Cadets perform a segment from the corps' #DCI2023 production, "Atlas Rising," during the 2023 DCI World Championships hosted August 10-12 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. Allentown, PA | 5th Place | 94.313

Blink and you'll miss the Cadets logos.

Vic Firth Marching brings us The Cadets 2023 | DCI Finals Day Rehearsal | Full Production.

We're going BEYOND the lot to bring you a full (edited together) production run of the 2023 Cadets show entitled 'Atlas Rising.' Recorded in rehearsal on Saturday, August 12th. We hope you enjoy the video!

This is a not-so-stealth DC superhero show, with music from Man of Steel opening the program and a theme from Batman Begins near the end.

It wouldn't be a Cadets highlight post without a Z-pull and The Cadets | #dci2022 | Rearview Mirror has quite the Z-pull!

Allentown, PA | 6th Place | 92.913

Allentown, Pennsylvania's The Cadets perform a segment from the corps' #DCI2022 production, "Rearview Mirror," during the 2022 DCI World Championships hosted August 12-14 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

Vic Firth Marching has The Cadets 2022 | DCI Finals Week Rehearsal | Full Production.

We're going BEYOND the lot to bring you the final full production run of the 2022 Cadets show entitled "Rearview Mirror.' Recorded in rehearsal on Thursday, August 11th. We hope you enjoy the video!

This show was very similar thematically to the 2022 Bluecoats show I featured in Marching music for the Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, and Ohio Presidential Primaries on the Vernal Equinox, a trippy counter-culture road trip. I think it suffered in comparison, even though it had more famous source material, On The Road by Jack Kerouac. Too bad, it was a great show.

The Cadets | #DCI2021 | "...Shall Always Be" had even more nostalgia value.

Allentown, Pennsylvania's The Cadets performs a segment from the corps' #DCI2021 production, "...Shall Always Be," during the DCI Celebration events hosted August 12-14 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

Again, Vic Firth Marching has The Cadets 2021 Full Production | BEYOND THE LOT.

Vic Firth takes you BEYOND the lot with THE CADETS as they perform their 2021 production "Shall Always Be" during the DCI Celebration week in Indianapolis, IN!

The Cadets' greatest hits!

It's ironic that The Cadets slogan/motto is For Holy Name Shall Always Be. They declared bankruptcy and ceased operations this year because of a lawsuit related to my footnote to Failures and abuses of government and adult leadership unite Outstanding Television Movie nominees at the 2018 Primetime Emmy Awards. A moment of silence for The Cadets. You will be missed.

Follow over the jump for the Reading Buccaneers and West Chester University.

NativLang explains 'What Shakespeare's English Sounded Like - and how we know' for Talk Like Shakespeare Day

Happy Talk Like Shakespeare Day! To celebrate, I'm sharing NativLang explaining What Shakespeare's English Sounded Like - and how we know.

Botched rhymes, buried puns and a staged accent that sounds more Victorian than Elizabethan. No more! Use linguistic sleuthing to dig up the surprisingly different sound of the bard's Early Modern English.

I always thought OP (original pronunciation) sounded like a pirate. What do you think?

Stay tuned for this year's version of marching music for the Pennsylvania primary.

For Earth Day, PBS Terra asks 'Stop Saving the Planet?' Change the world instead

Happy Earth Day! Like last year, I'm observing today with a series of videos about fighting climate change, this time from PBS Terra. These take a more heterodox approach, as exemplified by the title of the series, Why It's Time to Stop Saving the Planet*.

We care about the planet. But what if it's time to stop "saving it"?

Western cultures — and even some climate scientists and sustainability advocates — often share the idea that there is the “natural world” and the “human world.” The natural world is seen as pristine and untouched, while the human world is chaotic and ever changing. But all living things change the world around them in order to build homes, eat, drink and move around. In this first episode, join host Rae Wynn-Grant, Ph.D., as she explores how humans can think differently about the way we change the environments around us, how we can do it better, and why doing so could be a key foundation for addressing climate change.

Based on the Jenny Price book "Stop Saving the Planet!"

This video reinforces a point I've been making since the first year of the blog and even before that in my environmental science classes: "economy is dependent on society, which is in turn dependent on the environment. Without an environment, there is no society. Without a society, there is no economy." I asked my students to identify a similar statement in my worksheet for Chasing Ice, which they watched two weeks ago: "What does Balog say about the relationship between nature and civilization?" The answer is that the two are interconnected and civilization depends on nature. I hope my students retain that.

Follow over the jump for the other three videos in the series so far.

Marching music for the Puerto Rico primaries

I have a change of plans for today's Sunday entertainment feature. Instead of the the next installment of marching music for primaries and caucuses being on April 23, 2024 for the Pennsylvania Presidential Primary, as I announced in Troopers, drum corps for the Wyoming Democratic Primary, I'm making today this year's version of Marching music for the Puerto Rico Primary. According to Ballotpedia, the Republican primary is today while the Democratic primary is next Sunday, April 28. That's also National Superhero Day. I already have something planned for next Sunday, so Puerto Rico's marching bands it is today.

I begin with Music Amenities video of Centenaria Banda Colegial, University of Puerto Rico - 2020 Pasadena Rose Parade.

The University of Puerto Rico - Centenaria Banda Colegial performs in the 131st Annual Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade held on Wednesday, January 1, 2020.

I'm repeating what I wrote four years ago about Music213's video — great performance, but camera handling issues. Luis was not alone in having those.

Now for the band I featured first four years ago, Banda Escolar de Guayanilla (BEG) - 2019 Pasadena Rose Parade, again from Music Amenities, who had a different perspective on the performance than Luis of Music213.

From Guayanilla, Puerto Rico

The Banda Escolar de Guayanilla performing at the 130th Annual Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade on Tuesday, January 1, 2019

Neither band has returned to the Rose Parade since 2020, but Banda SUM de Guayanilla performed in Italy last year. El Tropi Duo TV recorded those performances, the most popular of which was Banda SUM de Guayanilla, se roban el show en competencia de bandas en ITALIA. Translation: "SUM band from Guayanilla steal the show in band competition in ITALY."

Muy orgullosos de estos jóvenes representando nuestra Isla en Italia.
Banda SUM De Guayanilla. Segunda Unidad Macaná, Gloria M. Borrero Olivera, excelente participación.

Para aquellos que no pudieron disfrutarlo, aquí este manjar musical.
PUERTO RICO dice presente en ITALIA.

Translation: "Very proud of these young people representing our Island in Italy.
Guayanilla SUM Band. Second Macaná Unit, Gloria M. Borrero Olivera, excellent participation.

For those who couldn't enjoy it, here is this musical delicacy.
PUERTO RICO says present in ITALY."

El Tropi Duo TV has three other videos of this trip, but I'm being a good environmentalist and conserving them for the future. May the U.S. still have meaningful elections in 2028 and may I still be around to participate in them.

I conclude with the band in the preview image, Banda Escolar Yauco - Encendido Navidad 12-8-2023 by JEFR. Translation: "Yauco School Band - Christmas Lighting 12-8-2023."


That was fun to watch, even if I understood only half the narration. It's still an entertaining Christmas show, no matter the language.

That's a wrap for today's installment. I still plan on returning with marching music for the Pennsylvania primary after Earth Day and Talk Like Shakespeare Day. Tuesday will be busy!

Previous marching music for 2024 primaries and caucuses posts.

• Colts, Hawkeyes, Cyclones, and Rose Parade bands, marching music for the 2024 Iowa Caucuses
• The Spartans for a drum corps New Hampshire Primary
• Marching music for the 2024 South Carolina Primary — Carolina Crown, South Carolina, Clemson, and South Carolina State
• Marching music for the 2024 Nevada Primary from University of Nevada, Reno, and UNLV
• Marching music for the Michigan Primary — Legends, U of M, MSU, Rockford, and DeWitt
• Part one of marching music for Super Tuesday on Marching Music Day
• Marching music for Super Tuesday, part two
• Marching music for primaries in Georgia, Mississippi, and Washington plus Democrats Abroad
• Marching music for the Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, and Ohio Presidential Primaries on the Vernal Equinox
• Marching music for the Louisiana and Missouri primaries
• Marching music for Connecticut, Delaware, New York, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin primaries
• Marching music for the Alaska, Hawaii, and North Dakota Democratic primaries
• Troopers, drum corps for the Wyoming Democratic Primary

PBS Eons describes 'The Hazy Evolution of Cannabis' for 4/20

Happy 4/20! Instead of blogging about marijuana legalization, I'm sharing The Hazy Evolution of Cannabis by PBS Eons — science!

How did such a strange plant like cannabis come to be in the first place? When and where did we first domesticate it? And why oh why does it get us high?

Congratulations on telling the smartest stoner jokes on YouTube I've encountered so far. Also, I knew about the relationship between hops and Cannabis my senior year of college, when I looked through Munz and Keck's A California Flora and Supplement and found them together in Moraceae. That bit of trivia impressed my friends 40+ years ago. They have since been moved to Cannabaceae, where they are, as the video states, sister genera. I think that would have impressed my friends even more.

That's it for today's post. Stay tuned for the Sunday entertainment feature followed by Earth Day.

PBS Terra describes how 'This Winter Trend Is Overpowering Global Warming' for Flashback Friday

Happy Flashback Friday! Today's theme is natural disasters from PBS, so I'm sharing Weathered on PBS Terra describing how This Winter Trend Is Overpowering Global Warming.

2024 was the warmest winter on record, so big winter storms are a thing of the past, right? Not quite…a new study reveals that there is a winter-weather trend that OVERPOWERS CLIMATE CHANGE. To better understand this, we are taking it back to March of 1993 to look at The Storm of the Century, which brought record breaking cold temperatures and 20 INCHES OF SNOW to ALABAMA! By going back, we can better answer questions like: What causes this set up to occur in our atmosphere? And why are we still seeing extreme cold and SNOW IN THE SOUTH? Buckle up as our experts talk the jet stream, polar vortex, and this stubborn cold exception so we can answer the ultimate question: Are these winter storms here to stay? Watch this episode to find out.

This is a sequel to the PBS Terra videos I embedded in The connections among climate change, the wobbling jet stream, and the polar vortex explained by PBS Terra and CBS News and PBS Terra's 'Weathered' examines how the wandering jet stream is making extreme weather worse. All three explain how climate change weakens the temperature gradient that keeps the jet stream in place, allowing it to wander, bringing the polar vortex to the U.S. South in winter and record high temperatures to the Pacific Northwest in summer. This is why I prefer climate change to global warming. It's also why I sometimes write "a sick planet is running chills and fever." I expect to write that again when I report on extreme weather in the wake of 2023 being the hottest year on record.

Follow over the jump for a retrospective of the top posts featuring PBS covering natural disasters, past and future.

CityNerd mocks 'Long Beach's Innovative Approach to Climate Change' for Throwback Thursday

For Throwback Thursday, I'm sharing CityNerd's latest, Long Beach's Innovative Approach to Climate Change.

Long Beach, California. Home of one of the busiest container ports in the world, expensive housing, a very long beach, and...over 2500 active oil wells. Yes, you heard that right.

I worked on the construction of L.A.'s subway, which intersected with the Long Beach light rail on the south side of downtown. At that time, the line's northern terminus was at that intersection. I'm glad to read that it was extended into the San Gabriel Valley to become the longest light rail line in the world.

As for all the oil wells, I'm not surprised. I grew up in Los Angeles and just accepted the pump jacks, which my family called grasshoppers, as part of the landscape. I expect a lot of them will be pumping oil for decades to come, regardless of how bad fossil fuels are for the environment in general and climate change in particular.

That's it for the current post. Follow over the jump for a retrospective of the top post featuring CityNerd from the 13th year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News.

'Bankrupt - Borders Book Store' by Bright Sun Films, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse for Wayback Wednesday

Happy Wayback Wednesday! I'm observing today's social media day by sharing Bright Sun Film's latest, Bankrupt - Borders Book Store.

Since the 1970's, Borders Bookstores have been a place of comfort and peace for millions of shoppers. Their unique strategy of offering a cozy place to shop, with tens of thousands of highly trained employees was a winning one that earned the company billions in sales. But, it all came crashing down in 2011 and now, the brand is non existent. Join me today as we find out why.

The two YouTube creators I consider best able to cover this story have now examined it, as Company Man asked "The Decline of Borders...What Happened?" last year. I'm being a good environmentalist by reusing what I wrote then.

I'm revisiting my thoughts about Borders Books from Ten of the companies that went out of business this decade and 9,300+ stores closed this year, two tales of the Retail Apocalypse.

While I didn't realize it at the time, the first Retail Apocalypse story I wrote about on this blog was the demise of Borders Books. I thought it was like the bankruptcies of Jacobson's, whose space in Ann Arbor Borders occupied after Jacobson's moved out to Briarwood Mall, and Montgomery Ward's, which was the first anchor to abandon Northland Mall, the second Retail Apocalypse story I covered here. Both of those were weak companies that went under during a recession, which is when I expect businesses would fail. I thought much the same of Borders at the time, in addition to it being a personal loss. In retrospect, the failure of Borders was much bigger than that and turned out to be a taste of things to come.

At the time, I concentrated on what the store meant to me and outsourced my analysis of why it failed to a LiveJournal account where the analysis is now unavailable...the disappearance of that analysis was a big loss...[it described] a mismatch in corporate culture between the employees, who really believed in the way company had been run, and the top executives, who I think caught something bad when KMart owned the company, the same thing that eventually caught up with both KMart and Sears. Sigh.

All that survives is the Borders.com domain, which Barnes & Noble bought. That's like Toys R Us buying KB Toys — ironic. It's also a sign that the rest of the company's intellectual property wasn't worth saving. Even Hostess had a better fate.

All I have to add to that is that Jake Williams included more of the human story than Company Man Mike and followed up on the fate of the original store number one, although I didn't consider that my store. That was the old Jacobson's location around the corner, the second store number one. When I last visited Ann Arbor for the March for Science during 2017, I saw that it had been partitioned into a bunch of smaller stores. That might have been an even sadder end than the one Jake had.

Follow over the jump for a retrospective of the top posts about the Retail Apocalypse during the 13th year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News.

SciShow invites you to 'Actually Understand Type 2 Diabetes'

I wrote that "I'm a diabetic and...I consider it to be a central organizing fact of my life" in Today is World Diabetes Day and November is National Diabetes Month. Normally, I'd wait until World Diabetes Day to blog about my condition, but SciShow uploaded Actually Understand Type 2 Diabetes on Friday, so I sharing it with my readers.

Type 2 diabetes affects over 400 million people. It can be confusing and difficult to manage, so in this video we'll answer all your questions about type 2 diabetes, including what to eat, what affects your risk, and is there a cure.

Hosted by: Reid Reimers (he/him)

I'm a type 1 diabetic (adult onset), but I found much of the information in this video useful. A1C levels, diet, and exercise are all things I have to be mindful of, too. In addition, the video briefly explained how type 1 diabetes happens as well. As I'm fond of writing, It's always a good day when I learn something new. I hope my readers learned something new, too.

The New York Times explains 'There’s a Tax Season Villain, and It’s Not the I.R.S.' for Tax Day

For Tax Day, I'm sharing There’s a Tax Season Villain, and It’s Not the I.R.S. | NYT Opinion.

It’s the most miserable time of the year: tax season.

Americans are about to spend millions of hours and billions of dollars filing their federal income taxes, and they are pretty sure they know who is responsible for their pain: The misanthropes at the Internal Revenue Service.

But we’re here to convince you that the I.R.S. is not the problem.

Yes, it should be easy to file taxes. And yes, it should be free. That’s how it works in the rest of the developed world, and it could very easily work that way here, too. It is absurd that America’s tax system is so antiquated and complicated that most people must pay someone else to help them pay the government.

So what is standing in the way of progress?

Watch.

I have two things to say about this video. First, I knew I was going to use it today as soon as I saw the preview image. It's Johnny Harris, who demonstrated his skills when he was working for Vox, now working for the New York Times, so I knew the video would be good. Second, I had a good idea who the villain was, and I was not disappointed. May the U.S. finally get a free tax-filing portal. It may be too late today, but maybe next year. Happy Tax Day!