Sandringham House - is a country house in the parish of Sandringham, Norfolk, England. It is one of the royal residences of Charles III, whose grandfather, George VI, and great-grandfather, George V, both died there. The house stands in a 20,000-acre (8,100 ha) estate in the Norfolk Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The house is listed as Grade II* and the landscaped gardens, park and woodlands are on the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.

The site has been occupied since Elizabethan times, when a large manor house was constructed. This was replaced in 1771 by a Georgian mansion for the owners, the Hoste Henleys. After 1836 the property changed hands several times until 1862. In 1862 Sandringham and just under 8,000 acres of land were purchased for £220,000 for Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, later Edward VII, as a country home for him and his future wife, Princess Alexandra of Denmark. Between 1870 and 1900, the house was almost completely rebuilt in a style described by Pevsner as "frenetic Jacobean". Albert Edward also developed the estate, creating one of the finest shoots in England. Following his death in 1910, the estate passed to Edward's son and heir, George V, who described the house as "dear old Sandringham, the place I love better than anywhere else in the world". It was the setting for the first Christmas broadcast in 1932. George died at the house on 20 January 1936. The estate passed to his son Edward VIII and, at his abdication, as the private property of the monarch, it was purchased by Edward's brother, George VI. George was as devoted to the house as his father, writing to his mother Queen Mary, "I have always been so happy here and I love the place". He died at Sandringham on 6 February 1952. 

On the King's death, Sandringham passed to his daughter Elizabeth II. The Queen spent about two months each winter on the Sandringham Estate, including the anniversary of her father's death and of her own accession in early February. In 1957, she broadcast her first televised Christmas message from Sandringham. In the 1960s, plans were drawn up to demolish the house and replace it with a modern building, but these were not carried out. In 1977, to mark her Silver Jubilee, the Queen opened the house and grounds to the public for the first time. Unlike the royal palaces owned by the Crown, such as Buckingham Palace, Holyrood Palace and Windsor Castle, Sandringham (along with Balmoral Castle in Scotland) is owned personally by the monarch. In 2022, following the Queen's death, Sandringham passed to her son Charles III.

YouTube

Sandringham Estate Tour: Queen Elizabeth II's Private Home

Sandringham Estate Tour: Queen Elizabeth II's Private HomeIf you have ever wondered about where the Queen spends her Christmases, it's here at Sandringham. A...

Taco Tuesday (is a custom in many US cities of going out to eat tacos or in some cases select Mexican dishes, typically served in a tortilla on Tuesday nights. Restaurants will often offer special prices, for example, "$1 fish tacos every Tuesday night". It is popular in many big cities across the nation, and especially popular in the beach cities of Southern California. Taco Tuesday is similar to Happy Hour in that restaurants vary in their participation, hours, and specials offered. The Wyoming-based fast food restaurant Taco John's was granted a trademark for "Taco Tuesday" in 1989, and has defended against other restaurants using that phrase. Taco John's trademark extends to all the United States except New Jersey; in New Jersey, Gregory's Restaurant & Bar of Somers Point trademarked the term in 1982. In 2019, Los Angeles Lakers basketball player LeBron James began sharing social media posts on Instagram about his family's weekly taco dinners dubbed "Taco Tuesdays". Through shell company LBJ Trademarks LLC, he filed a trademark on the term "Taco Tuesday" for use in downloadable audio/visual works, podcasts, social media, online marketing, and entertainment services. The request was denied by the United States Patent and Trademark Office, stating that Taco Tuesday was "a commonplace term, message or expression widely used by a variety of sources that merely conveys an ordinary, familiar, well-recognized concept or sentiment." In practice, Taco John's has been unable to stop widespread use of the term regardless. Many taco fans disagree with the idea that any one entity can "own" the term "Taco Tuesdays")

YouTube

Taco Tuesday song

The Taco Tuesday Song!#TacoTuesday #TacoSong #Tacos

Off to work...................................

Uncle Sam - On September 7, 1813, the United States gets its nickname, Uncle Sam. The name is linked to Samuel Wilson, a meat packer from Troy, New York, who supplied barrels of beef to the United States Army during the War of 1812. Wilson (1766-1854) stamped the barrels with “U.S.” for United States, but soldiers began referring to the grub as “Uncle Sam’s.” The local newspaper picked up on the story and Uncle Sam eventually gained widespread acceptance as the nickname for—and personification of—the U.S. federal government. In the late 1860s and 1870s, political cartoonist Thomas Nast (1840-1902) began popularizing the image of Uncle Sam. Nast continued to evolve the image, eventually giving Sam the white beard and stars-and-stripes suit that are associated with the character today. The German-born Nast was also credited with creating the modern image of Santa Claus as well as coming up with the donkey as a symbol for the Democratic Party and the elephant as a symbol for the Republicans. Perhaps the most famous image of Uncle Sam was created by artist James Montgomery Flagg (1877-1960). In Flagg’s version, Uncle Sam wears a tall top hat and blue jacket and is pointing straight ahead at the viewer. During World War I, this portrait of Sam with the words “I Want You For The U.S. Army” was used as a recruiting poster. The image, which became immensely popular, was first used on the cover of Leslie’s Weekly in July 1916 with the title “What Are You Doing for Preparedness?” The poster was widely distributed and has subsequently been re-used numerous times with different captions.

YouTube

Who Was Uncle Sam ? Was he a real person?

In this video, I'll answer the question, "who was Uncle Sam?" The United States of America goes by several monikers: America, the U.S. of A., the Land of Op...

Virtual Reality (VR is a simulated experience that employs pose tracking and 3D near-eye displays to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video games), education (such as medical or military training) and business (such as virtual meetings). Other distinct types of VR-style technology include augmented reality and mixed reality, sometimes referred to as extended reality or XR, although definitions are currently changing due to the nascence of the industry. Currently, standard virtual reality systems use either virtual reality headsets or multi-projected environments to generate some realistic images, sounds and other sensations that simulate a user's physical presence in a virtual environment. A person using virtual reality equipment is able to look around the artificial world, move around in it, and interact with virtual features or items. The effect is commonly created by VR headsets consisting of a head-mounted display with a small screen in front of the eyes, but can also be created through specially designed rooms with multiple large screens. Virtual reality typically incorporates auditory and video feedback, but may also allow other types of sensory and force feedback through haptic technology)

Calling it a night..........................

Windor Castle - is an English royal residence that stands on a ridge at the northeastern edge of the district of Windsor and Maidenhead in the county of Berkshire, England. The castle occupies 13 acres (5 hectares) of ground above the south bank of the River Thames. Windsor Castle comprises two quadrilateral-shaped building complexes, or courts, that are separated by the Round Tower. The latter is a massive circular tower that is built on an artificial mound and is visible for many miles over the surrounding flatland. The court west of the Round Tower is called the lower ward; the court to the east is called the upper ward.

There was a royal residence at Windsor in Saxon times (c. 9th century). William I (“William the Conqueror”) developed the present site, constructing a mound with a stockade about 1070. Henry II replaced this with the stone Round Tower and added outer walls to the north, east, and south. In the 13th century Henry III completed the south wall and the western end of the lower ward and built a royal chapel on the site of the present-day Albert Memorial Chapel. Edward III made this chapel the center of the newly formed Order of the Garter in 1348 and converted the fortress buildings in the upper ward to residential apartments for the monarchs. These apartments were rebuilt by Charles II and later reconstructed by George IV for use by visitors of state in addition to the monarchs.

The lower ward includes St. George’s Chapel and the Albert Memorial Chapel. St. George’s Chapel, designed to be the chapel of the Order of the Garter, was begun by Edward IV and is one of the best examples of Perpendicular Gothic-style architecture. It was completed in 1528 and restored between 1921 and 1930. It ranks next to Westminster Abbey as a royal mausoleum and contains the bodies of Henry VI, Edward IV, Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, Charles I, Edward VII, and George V. The chapel also contains the impressive insignia of the Knights of the Garter. Albert Memorial Chapel, built by Henry VII as a royal mausoleum, was restored by Queen Victoria and named in memory of her consort. In this chapel are buried George III, George IV, and William IV.

Aerial view of the castle from the south: from left to right, the Lower Ward, the Middle Ward and Round Tower, the Upper Ward and East Terrace garden, with the Long Walk in the lower right hand corner. The River Thames can be seen in the upper left of the picture.

Windsor Castle, seen from the north; (l to r) Upper Ward, Middle Ward, Round Tower, St George's Chapel, Lower Ward and Curfew Tower

YouTube

Visit Windsor Castle: Official Video

View the official video for visitors to Windsor Castle, the largest and oldest occupied castle in the world, and one of the official residences of Her Majest...

Xian (refers to a person or similar entity having a long life or being immortal. The concept of xian has different implications dependent upon the specific context: philosophical, religious, mythological, or other symbolic or cultural occurrence)

Painting of two xian, Iron-crutch Li of the Eight Immortals on the left releasing a bat and Liu Haichan on the right holding one of the Peaches of Immortality and accompanied by the three-legged toad, Jin Chan. By Soga Shohaku (????), circa 1760................................

The most famous Chinese compound of xian is Baxian (?? "the Eight Immortals"). The Eight Immortals (Chinese: ??) are a group of legendary xian ("immortals") in Chinese mythology. Each immortal's power can be transferred to a vessel (??) that can bestow life or destroy evil. Together, these eight vessels are called the "Covert Eight Immortals" (???). Most of them are said to have been born in the Tang or Song Dynasty. They are revered by the Taoists and are also a popular element in secular Chinese culture. They are said to live on a group of five islands in the Bohai Sea, which includes Mount Penglai.............................

"The Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea"..........................

other Xian......

City in China, home of the famous Terracotta Army.................................

Xi’an was a leader of the X-Men 2099......................

Calling it a night........................

24 hours..............................

"Yes We Can" Song/Ad (is a song produced by The Black Eyed Peas frontman will.i.am, released as promotional single on February 2, 2008. Although the lyrics are entirely quotations from Obama's concession speech in the New Hampshire presidential primary, the Obama campaign had no involvement in its production. The viral music video, shot in a sparse black-and-white, features Obama's image in collage fashion; the performers, among them celebrities including musicians, singers and actors, echo his words in a hip-hop, call-and-response manner as his voice plays in the background. The song was produced by will.i.am, mixed by Dylan "3-D" Dresdow, and the music video was directed by Jesse Dylan, the son of singer Bob Dylan. The music video was released on Dipdive.com and also on YouTube.com under the username 'WeCan08'. It was honored with the first-ever Emmy Award for Best New Approaches in Daytime Entertainment. The video is a collage-style music video inspired by Barack Obama's popularization of the slogan "Yes we can.", which became a secondary slogan for his campaign. During the 2008 US presidential campaign following the New Hampshire Democratic Primary, then-Senator Barack Obama, used the similar English translation of the slogan of United Farm Workers (UFW) – "Sí, se puede" (Spanish for "Yes, you can" or "Yes, it can be done") in his speech. The slogan dates back to 1972 when Cesar Chavez and the UFW's co-founder, Dolores Huerta, came up with the slogan during Chavez's 24-day fast in Phoenix, Arizona. The music video premiered on television on ABC News Now's What's the Buzz entertainment program on February 1, 2008. On February 2, 2008, it was featured on the Obama campaign's community blog, and later promoted as a viral video by the campaign on its website. The clip was played prior to a February 12, 2008, campaign rally of nearly 20,000 at the Kohl Center on the campus of the University of Wisconsin–Madison)

Reaching 26-plus million viewers, this independently produced YouTube video of an Obama speech after a primary loss in New Hampshire to Hillary Clinton led to an online fundraising boom and created a new wave of momentum for the young Illinois senator..............................................

YouTube

Presidential ad: "Yes We Can" Barack Obama (D) vs. John McCain (R) [2008-HOPE]

"Yes We Can," 2008 Barack Obama (D) vs. John McCain (R)Reaching 26-plus million viewers, this independently produced YouTube video of an Obama speech after...

FYI: From my As Seen on TV topic folder

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Calling it a night...............................

Ziggy - is an American cartoon series about an eponymous character who suffers an endless stream of misfortunes and sad but sympathetic daily events. It was created by Tom Wilson, a former American Greetings executive, and distributed by Andrews McMeel Syndication. In 1987, his son Tom Wilson II took over writing and drawing the comic strip. Ziggy, nameless at his conception, has been visible in some form or another since the mid-1960s. Greeting card writer Tom Wilson first drew a Ziggy-like character as an elevator operator offering political commentary in editorial cartoons, but no one would syndicate it. Ziggy eventually appeared in an American Greetings gift book, When You're Not Around (1968) which caught the eye of Kathleen Andrews, a founder of the fledgling startup Universal Press Syndicate, which badly needed a popular comic to keep it afloat. A deal was struck, a name was given, and Ziggy was born. The strip began in 15 newspapers in June 1971, and that number eventually grew to over 600 publications. A Sunday strip premiered on April 1, 1973. Ziggy, the constantly unfortunate but sympathetic protagonist, is a diminutive, bald, barefoot, almost featureless character (save for his large nose). He is often drawn in just his shirt with no pants on, though the lower half of his torso is never seen. He lives in a simple house with a garden, and he is often seen working at an office job, at which his foibles often reflect the absurdities that many readers encounter on a daily basis.

Comment: I relate to Ziggy and he's my favorite cartoon character. We've been setting record high temps here in the Louisville area.

This one goes out to my forum friends up north ... getting all that snow.

Yes, I was Ziggy on Tues. Got between 3-5 inches of snow, got a couple more inches last night but haven't shoveled that yet (have a contract vote tomorrow so I'll shovel before I go to that). Southern part of the state got the brunt of this storm.

Round 3.........................

Animatronics (refers to mechatronic puppets. They are a modern variant of the automaton and are often used for the portrayal of characters in films and in theme park attractions. It is a multidisciplinary field integrating puppetry, anatomy and mechatronics. Animatronic figures can be implemented with both computer and human control, including teleoperation. Motion actuators are often used to imitate muscle movements and create realistic motions. Figures are usually encased in body shells and flexible skins made of hard and soft plastic materials and finished with colors, hair, feathers and other components to make them more lifelike. Animatronics stem from a long tradition of mechanical automata powered by hydraulics, pneumatics and clockwork. Greek mythology and ancient Chinese writings mention early examples of automata. The oldest extant automaton is dated to the 16th century. Before the term "animatronics" became common, they were usually referred to as "robots". Since then, robots have become known as more practical programmable machines that do not necessarily resemble living creatures. Robots (or other artificial beings) designed to convincingly resemble humans are known as "androids". The term Animatronics is a portmanteau of animate and electronics. The term Audio-Animatronics was coined by Walt Disney in 1961 when he started developing animatronics for entertainment and film. Audio-Animatronics does not differentiate between animatronics and androids. Autonomatronics was also defined by Disney Imagineers to describe more advanced Audio-Animatronic technology featuring cameras and complex sensors to process and respond to information in the character's environment)

YouTube

History of Disney Audio Animatronics

A brief history of Animatronics made by Walt Disney Imagineering! Where do you think animatronics will go in the future and did you learn anything new from t...

the first..............

1939: Sparko, The Robot Dog, pet of Elektro, performs in front of the public but Sparko, unlike many depictions of robots in that time, represented a living animal, thus becoming the very first modern day animatronic character, along with an unnamed horse which was reported to gallop realistically. The animatronic galloping horse was also on display at the 1939 World's Fair, in a different exhibit than Sparko's...................

Calling it a night...............................

Balmoral Castle - is a large estate house in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, and a residence of the British royal family. It is near the village of Crathie, 9 miles (14 km) west of Ballater and 50 miles (80 km) west of Aberdeen. The estate and its original castle were bought from the Farquharson family in 1852 by Prince Albert, the husband of Queen Victoria. Soon afterwards the house was found to be too small and the current Balmoral Castle was commissioned. The architect was William Smith of Aberdeen, and his designs were amended by Prince Albert.  The castle is an example of Scottish baronial architecture, and is classified by Historic Environment Scotland as a category A listed building. The new castle was completed in 1856 and the old castle demolished shortly thereafter. The Balmoral Estate has been added to by successive members of the royal family, and now covers an area of approximately 50,000 acres (20,000 hectares). It is a working estate, including grouse moors, forestry and farmland, as well as managed herds of deer, Highland cattle, sheep and ponies. Balmoral remains the private property of the monarch and is not part of the Crown Estate. It was the summer residence of Queen Elizabeth II, who died there on 8 September 2022.

When discussing Balmoral Castle, it is impossible to do so without discussing Queen Elizabeth and her relationship with the estate. Queen Elizabeth's love of the Castle is well documented, and it is no surprise that she chose to spend so much time there during the year. The Queen regularly hosted guests at the castle. Both the drawing room and the study have been used to host dignitaries and special guests. The green interior of both of the rooms is well documented, and the impressive bookshelf located in the study is a real talking point for guests.

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh with their children, Prince Andrew (center), Princess Anne (left) and Charles, Prince of Wales sitting on a picnic rug outside Balmoral Castle in Scotland. (Comment: This was most likely taken some time around 1960 since Prince Andrew is just a baby.)

Canadian Governor General Designate Julie Payette meets Queen Elizabeth during a private audience at Balmoral Castle (Comment: notice that even the Queen is at home, she still has her purse on her arm. I remember my grandmother doing the same type of thing.)

YouTube

Inside Balmoral Castle: Queen Elizabeth II's summer residence

Balmoral Castle, the royal residence in the Scottish Highlands where Queen Elizabeth II spent her final days as England's longest-serving monarch, is also wh...