![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
Update from the house of Plague (Day 103 of Year 2)
Well guess who had a positive covid test! It comes with a lot of paperwork, yo...
So, since I work in education (as an administrator, teaching is not for me) twice-weekly lateral flow tests have been a part of life for months by now. (Ditto for the teenager, we are awash with test kits.) Which is why this headline is a little misleading:
Test And Trace Has Lost Track Of Nearly 600 Million Covid Tests
Beleaguered service sent out mass tests but just 14% have been registered as used.
I'm not defending Dido Harding (lord forbid) but as far as I can tell the tests in question are the lateral flow test kits that they've been handing out. Now what's supposed to happen is that once you have the result (for those not familiar: it only takes 30 minutes, it's nice & quick) you register it on the government website. People... do not do this. Well SOME do, but the vast majority simply go 'Oh it's negative' and shove it in the bin. So for once I do not blame Track & Trace - I have no idea how they could incentivise people. Something something civic duty? But then a LOT of these kits were given to teenagers - case in point my 15 y.o. has been very good about testing, but has (apparently) not reported a single result... If you are wondering, registering a test result online is pretty straightforward (you have create a profile the first time, but after that it remembers all your details).
But getting a PCR test sent out and then getting a positive result means spending a LOT of time on the official websites filling out endless questionnaires. I appreciate all the work that has gone into it all, but I am also grateful that I'm not feeling worse than I am, because that stuff took some concentration!
Also praise where praise is due - they're very quick. You get your testing kit the day after you order it, and the results the day after you post them back.
OK, now I'm making myself fall asleep, this is so dull.
Here, have something more fun. This is painfully accurate:
And I have a feeling I've shared this before, but it still makes me laugh:
Daily Dimash: Samal Tau
Now this is one of those songs where I want to say: 'If you watch no other video, watch this one', and not just because it is one of my favourites, or because of Dimash, but for the history of the song. Dimash is very patriotic (not surprising, given the history of Kazakhstan, they only gained independence 30 years ago) and patriotic in this instance means 'proud of his country and deeply invested in the culture' and this is one of his favourite songs to perform. Here is the background (copied from elsewhere) some of which is also explained in the intro:
Samal Tau is an old historical folk Kazakh song and tells the story from the First World War. The name of the author is not known. Kazakhstan was at that time part of the Russian empire. The Russian Tsar issues a decree in 1916 the draft of Kazakhs aged 19–39 years for the army. Samal Tau is the song of these recruits. The place where they came from was called "Samal Tau" in the North Kazakhstan region.
The song contains the words: "We wander tired, very tired for 15 days, almost reached Omsk. Samal Tau, where I was born and raised, was left behind. Elderly parents stayed at home. How are they supposed to live without me?" The song also has information about the age of the author. He is a little over two mushels old. He was born in the year of the cow, which means in 1888, so he is 28 years old.
The instrument's name is Kobyz (Kazakh: қобыз, Qobyz) or kyl-kobyz and is an ancient Kazakh string instrument. It has two strings made of horsehair. The resonating cavity is usually covered with goat leather. According to legends, the kobyz and its music could banish evil spirits, sicknesses and death and imitate animal voices and bells of cattle herds of Kazakhstan steppe. (At the beginning of the performance: howling of wolf, dog's bark and crane cry)
This one is my favourite performance I think. It's from May 2020, so everything was virtual and this was filmed in Dimash's studio. The stripped back feel suits the song incredibly well. (If you set subtitles to 'Autotranslate' and then English, it should work):
Samaltau | Tokyo Jazz Festival 2020
The performance below is the version that is used in the animated video above and which is a very very close second.
October 20th, 2019, at the Closing and Award Ceremony of the 6th Silk Road International Film Festival in Fuzhou, China
(Same performance, but with introduction explaining the history & subtitles: Dimash - Samaltau (with story behind)【KZ_RU_GE_EN SUBS. Unable to embed.)
Dimash also performed Samal Tau as part of the SisterCities event which was held to mark the opening of the week of celebration of the inauguration of US President Joe Biden. There is a lot of talk back & forth between the great and the good before Dimash shows up at around 8:45.
And finally (for now at least) what is listed on youtube as 'Самое лучшее исполнение песни «Самал Тау»' which translates to: The best performance of the song "Samal Tau”:
It's absolutely gorgeous. And one day soon when my head is co-operating I will write about the Faroes and music and culture and how that very much ties in with what I see in Dimash.
Dimash Masterpost
So, since I work in education (as an administrator, teaching is not for me) twice-weekly lateral flow tests have been a part of life for months by now. (Ditto for the teenager, we are awash with test kits.) Which is why this headline is a little misleading:
Test And Trace Has Lost Track Of Nearly 600 Million Covid Tests
Beleaguered service sent out mass tests but just 14% have been registered as used.
I'm not defending Dido Harding (lord forbid) but as far as I can tell the tests in question are the lateral flow test kits that they've been handing out. Now what's supposed to happen is that once you have the result (for those not familiar: it only takes 30 minutes, it's nice & quick) you register it on the government website. People... do not do this. Well SOME do, but the vast majority simply go 'Oh it's negative' and shove it in the bin. So for once I do not blame Track & Trace - I have no idea how they could incentivise people. Something something civic duty? But then a LOT of these kits were given to teenagers - case in point my 15 y.o. has been very good about testing, but has (apparently) not reported a single result... If you are wondering, registering a test result online is pretty straightforward (you have create a profile the first time, but after that it remembers all your details).
But getting a PCR test sent out and then getting a positive result means spending a LOT of time on the official websites filling out endless questionnaires. I appreciate all the work that has gone into it all, but I am also grateful that I'm not feeling worse than I am, because that stuff took some concentration!
Also praise where praise is due - they're very quick. You get your testing kit the day after you order it, and the results the day after you post them back.
OK, now I'm making myself fall asleep, this is so dull.
Here, have something more fun. This is painfully accurate:
Them: "How does writing work?"
— Michael J. Seidlinger (@mjseidlinger) June 21, 2021
Writer: "Umm you type and then you delete. Do a couple hours of research and rewrite. You reread, wonder if anything you say makes any sense. Then you revise."
Them: "So that's how you write a book?"
Writer: "That's how you write a sentence."
And I have a feeling I've shared this before, but it still makes me laugh:
When I say fandom has never changed throughout history, only our access to each other and ready ability to feud in front of crowds of the community and other people. pic.twitter.com/oALgVFqc7B
— Deramin (@otdderamin) December 20, 2020
Daily Dimash: Samal Tau
Now this is one of those songs where I want to say: 'If you watch no other video, watch this one', and not just because it is one of my favourites, or because of Dimash, but for the history of the song. Dimash is very patriotic (not surprising, given the history of Kazakhstan, they only gained independence 30 years ago) and patriotic in this instance means 'proud of his country and deeply invested in the culture' and this is one of his favourite songs to perform. Here is the background (copied from elsewhere) some of which is also explained in the intro:
Samal Tau is an old historical folk Kazakh song and tells the story from the First World War. The name of the author is not known. Kazakhstan was at that time part of the Russian empire. The Russian Tsar issues a decree in 1916 the draft of Kazakhs aged 19–39 years for the army. Samal Tau is the song of these recruits. The place where they came from was called "Samal Tau" in the North Kazakhstan region.
The song contains the words: "We wander tired, very tired for 15 days, almost reached Omsk. Samal Tau, where I was born and raised, was left behind. Elderly parents stayed at home. How are they supposed to live without me?" The song also has information about the age of the author. He is a little over two mushels old. He was born in the year of the cow, which means in 1888, so he is 28 years old.
The instrument's name is Kobyz (Kazakh: қобыз, Qobyz) or kyl-kobyz and is an ancient Kazakh string instrument. It has two strings made of horsehair. The resonating cavity is usually covered with goat leather. According to legends, the kobyz and its music could banish evil spirits, sicknesses and death and imitate animal voices and bells of cattle herds of Kazakhstan steppe. (At the beginning of the performance: howling of wolf, dog's bark and crane cry)
This one is my favourite performance I think. It's from May 2020, so everything was virtual and this was filmed in Dimash's studio. The stripped back feel suits the song incredibly well. (If you set subtitles to 'Autotranslate' and then English, it should work):
Samaltau | Tokyo Jazz Festival 2020
The performance below is the version that is used in the animated video above and which is a very very close second.
October 20th, 2019, at the Closing and Award Ceremony of the 6th Silk Road International Film Festival in Fuzhou, China
(Same performance, but with introduction explaining the history & subtitles: Dimash - Samaltau (with story behind)【KZ_RU_GE_EN SUBS. Unable to embed.)
Dimash also performed Samal Tau as part of the SisterCities event which was held to mark the opening of the week of celebration of the inauguration of US President Joe Biden. There is a lot of talk back & forth between the great and the good before Dimash shows up at around 8:45.
And finally (for now at least) what is listed on youtube as 'Самое лучшее исполнение песни «Самал Тау»' which translates to: The best performance of the song "Samal Tau”:
It's absolutely gorgeous. And one day soon when my head is co-operating I will write about the Faroes and music and culture and how that very much ties in with what I see in Dimash.
Dimash Masterpost
no subject
Wishing you a full and swift recovery ♥
no subject