Wanna see some more?

would you look at that, fandom.com has started adding completely content-blocking popups to their page that totally prevent you from using the site unless you turn ad block off.

What's the first "big news story" you remember from when you were a kid?

It's something I love to ask mixed-aged groups sometimes because I think it's really interesting to see the responses. I've gotten answers from the Olympics of [whatever year] to Watergate to more recent stuff from my niblings.

The half-circles are called zaï! They're a traditional farming practice in the Sahel desert, and their introduction + reintroduction can be largely credited to Yacouba Sawadogo, the man linked above! He reintroduced and innovated on the zaï on his own farm in the 1980s, and did extensive outreach (along with scientist Mathieu Ouédraogo) to encourage other farmers to adopt them as well.

He also promoted the use of cordons pierreux, which are basically just lines of rocks to reduce erosion, preserve sediments, and increase water absorption.

Got kinda lowkenuinely hooked on Geoff Castellucci after hearing "Sixteen Tons" on VKontakte out of the blue and like, isn't that mastery???

Main q is: some people say the Geoff clones are assigned by octaves and... I wanna draw that! Which other videos beside "Unshaken", "Way Down" and "Folsom Prison" do I have to listen to? (Got the last one on repeat and (ig) Daryl slaps with the subdom energy))) Which Geoffette is which octave?

*case in point: I think that it's Daryl aside from lead Geoff to be capable of the descent into the basement. Sub(counteroctave)Dom(inance). And it's kargyraa magic🤩

(Had to look up what VKontakte was - for anyone else unaware reading this, it's a Russian social media platform)

Sixteen Tons is definitely a classic as far as Geoff's song covers go, and you're certainly not alone in that being your first exposure to Geoff's solo work; it's his second-most viewed video on YouTube for a reason! (It's also his top most-listened-to song on Spotify, beating everything else by a long shot!)

Anyway, you've come to the right blog! 😁

Lemme start by clarifying that the thing of each Geoff clone having a distinct vocal part is not always true, or usually, in fact. It only applies to certain videos/song covers, and "Unshaken" is one of them. (Also, I highly recommend you watch Geoff's "Ghost Riders In The Sky" video if you haven't already, as "Unshaken" was made to me a prequel video of sorts, showing the Riders as they were when they were alive! Its also the first video to have the presence of a 4th Clone, Daryl!)

In "Unshaken", the clones (in case you or anyone else reading this needs a refresher/clarification) are Goff, Daryl, Jeoph, and Jeff, in that order from left to right (so Goff and Jeff standing on the ends, and Daryl and Jeoph sitting in the middle). And you are correct in that Daryl is assigned as the lowest vocalist in relevant videos! From lowest to highest, it goes Daryl, Jeoph, Goff, and Jeff. Daryl and Jeoph stay more at the bass end (though Jeoph gets to be a bit more versatile in "Unshaken" as he's the lead vocallist), and Goff and Jeff stay more in the baritone/tenor ranges.

Other key videos where different "Geoffs" get different vocal roles are in Geoff's four Tolkien song covers: "Far Over The Misty Mountains Cold", "I See Fire", "Song Of Durin", and "The Last Goodbye". My favourites of these are "I See Fire" and "Song Of Durin", and they're also the ones where the vocal role distribution is most easy to take notice of. In these videos, Geoff and his "Geoffettes" play the dwarves from The Hobbit, Fili, Kili, Bofur, and Thorin (and Gimli from Lord Of The Rings as well for "Song Of Durin"). The vocal roles from lowest to highest for these videos are Thorin, Kili, Fili, and Bofur (though Kili as lead vocalist for Misty Mountains and I See Fire is a bit more versatile).

I got the idea from cowcatchers old locomotives used to have.

Anyways, yesterday I uploaded the model to Thingiverse, and just hours after uploading it, the Community Relationship Manager of the whole website left a comment suggesting I enter the model into a competition that's currently being held on the site.

So I did... and now it's in third place not even a day later. First place is $500, but the competition still has a month to go.

Then the Community Manager contacted me again, telling me they want to feature my model in an upcoming design promotion.

Just, what is happening? I mostly made this thing for myself in, like, an hour, and now it's suddenly super popular? This is all a little bit overwhelming 😵‍💫

Other models I worked on for weeks didn't get nearly as popular. I swear, it's impossible to predict what people will like.

Anyways, if you want to print the wheel guards yourself, you can get the model here or here.

I also made a quiet version you can stick furniture felt pads on.

"People back then always married young it's natural!!!" Every single 1800s guide I've ever met casually mentions that, of course, you really shouldn't get married before you're at least 20, and waiting until 25 is usually better.

Or, like. Okay here's a long segment:

Just firmly going "it is crazy sexist to blame The Wife for overspending when thirty seconds of asking questions will immediately establish that her husband was outright lying to her about how much money they had. Talk to your wife like a normal person."

Or--okay, here. A section on being honest and not writing love letters in secret, because that's usually a good sign that there's something untoward going on....

....except that he then immediately acknowledges that sometimes, the reason you're hiding this from your parents is that your parents suck. That there are parents who frankly have not earned the right to approve or disapprove of your partner.

"Men and women being friends with each other is literally normal. Don't be a controlling freak."

"If you have to abuse a child to keep order in your classroom then you're a bad teacher."

Being 43 is wild. People your age are living completely different lives.

Some are grandparents. Some are raising toddlers. Some are newly divorced. Some are newly engaged. Some haven't slept in three years. Some are in St. Tropez posting Aperol spritzes from a yacht

Some look 25

Some look like they personally remember the invention of Tupperware.

#hello again martin and bosco!! sending you boys round for another go :)