May 2026 Grab Bag o’ Humour

The violin is known as the violin in classical music. However, in country music it is known as a fiddle. I was wondering if the violin should have a third name for the rock music it’s played in.

We might look at how the violin is used in rock music. For instance, in country music it is played a lot differently than it is in classical music. Maybe this will give us a clue on how to name it.

Jimmie Page is known for using a violin bow on a guitar in Dazed and Confused and a couple of other songs. Maybe rock musicians could call violins “bow partners”. This would enable musicians to find bows to abuse, that much easier.

But really, when it comes to rock music, so many times bands play with a string section or even a complete orchestra. String sections are usually lead by violins. Perhaps we could find a name somewhere in rock, where there is a name but no instrument to go with it. How about a “soda pop laser beam guitar”. Maybe Prism was onto something in Spaceship Superstar. You may question the 4 strings vs. 6 strings, but bass guitars have 4 strings.

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There has been a lot of discussion in Canada that MPs who cross the floor, going from one party to another are anti democratic. People think because they voted for a party that their MP must be a simpleton that unquestioningly follows the party’s tack.

But look when you vote next time. You are voting for a person and a party at the same time.

It is at least as anti democratic for parties to have a “whip” and to make the majority of issues whipped votes. To stay in the party, the MP, regardless of what their riding thinks, must vote to the will of the party.

Floor crossing is something that happens when you put together someone’s name and a party’s name. It is not antidemocratic. The floor crosser is making a stand against their original party and it just may be in the riding’s best interest.

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On the finale of Saturday Night Live they had Will Ferrell hosting and in his stead, his doppelganger, Chad Smith from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, started the monologue before being interrupted by Will Ferrell.

The shocking part of all this is that Will Ferrell and Chad Smith don’t really look that much like each other.

Not anymore, anyways. My belief is if you had them both on twenty years ago they would have looked almost identical to each other.

The sad fact is that in twin land, even identical twins grow differently and grow apart after a long time of perhaps a couple decades.

So I guess it shouldn’t be surprising that doppelgangers also grow apart.

Photographer made it his life work to track down amazing doppelgängers. Here are his best finds.

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.upworthy.com/doppelgangers-photo-project

Gut-Wrenching: This Guy Being Told He Looks Just Like A Celebrity Whose Name Escapes The Woman He’s Talking To Is Slowly Realizing She Is Describing Jon Lovitz

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://clickhole.com/gut-wrenching-this-guy-being-told-he-looks-just-like-a-celebrity-whose-name-escapes-the-woman-hes-talking-to-is-slowly-realizing-she-is-describing-jon-lovitz/

XFP is the latest recombinant variant to be classified and incredibly it is the third of a recent set of recombinants with identical spike mutations. The earlier ones were XFJ and XFM.

I think of them as the "Doppelgängers". Note this is not an agreed variant nickname, nor should it be. There doesn’t seem to be anything stopping other sets of variants or recombinants from ending up the same way, as multiple Doppelgänger packs.

Also note their non-Spike mutations do vary. But the Spike proteins of SARS-CoV-2 are the focus of much study and explain the success of most variants.

#COVID19 #XFJ #XFM #XFP #Doppelgängers
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