(See my other Music & Star Wars related posts) – I know Christmas is over for this year, but I just didn’t want to wait a year to post this. The above video was posted to YouTube in December of 2016 by How It Should Have Ended and that video has, as you might expect, almost 8.5 million views. The video was created by James Covenant.
The music though was created back in 1999 by Scott Andersen. You can read his story and download the original audio track from his website.
(See my other Music related posts) – I came across this piece of music a while back. I thought that it was a nice bit of instrumental music. Also a nice change from the Christmas music we have all been hearing.
This video was uploaded to YouTube in May of 2019 by Pandora Journey. It is part of the album “A World Of Color” by “End Of Silence”.
(See all of my Book Reviews) – “Extinction of All Children” eBook was published in 2016 and was written by L. J. Epps (https://www.ljeppsauthor.com/index.html). Ms. Epps has published four novels. This is the first of her “Extinction of All Children” series.
I received an ARC of this novel through https://www.netgalley.com in return for a fair and honest review. I categorize this novel as ‘G’. The story is set near the year 2100 in the American southwest. The primary character is 18-year-old Emma Whisperer, the last child born in Territory L.
The three territories of L, M, and U are part of Craigluy. The people of Craigluy are divided by their economic status and have been sent to the “Low”, “Middle” and “High” territories. After President Esther took office in Craigluy she outlawed further children in the poorer L territory. The people are controlled by President Esther and her elite guards.
Emma hates that she is the last child born. Many resent her. If a child is born it is taken away from the parents and killed. Emma and her family are hiding her older sister and her newborn. When Emma is selected to make a speech to the populace, she takes the opportunity to speak out against President Esther. That puts Emma and her family at further risk.
Will Emma be able to survive? Will her sister and niece stay hidden?
I thought that the 6.5 hours I spent reading this 250-page young adult novel were interesting. I thought that the plot was unique, but there was never much of an explanation as to what had happened to create Craigluy. I have read and enjoyed many young adult novels. While the characters in this story are 18 or older, the book feels to be targeted a much younger audience. The situations and problems do not feel very mature. I am not a fan of the selected cover art. I give this novel a 3 out of 5.
Further book reviews I have written can be accessed at https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/.
My book reviews are also published on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/31181778-john-purvis).
(See my other Podcasts related posts) – I like to listen to podcasts while I am out walking. One of the newer ones I have begun following is “We Have Ways to Make You Talk”. This is a production by James Holland and Al Murray. From their website:
Achtung! Achtung! Comedian Al Murray and historian James Holland are creating a new podcast all about the Second World War. We Have Ways of Making You Talk will be a weekly show exploring the war in close up. The two men will tell battlefield tales and bring forgotten events back into sharp focus. If you’re looking for a comprehensive history, marching through events date by date, forget it. We Have Ways of Making You Talk will roam down forgotten front lines, cast new villains and make the case for unlikely heroes. Each week will also see Al and James bring along a World War Two artifact which will be poked, prodded and examined, before having its full story told. Battle stations!
These are frequently released episodes, but typically only last 10-50 minutes. These two cover all sorts of issues mostly answering questions from listeners. There are more than 80 podcasts ready for you to listen to. If you are interested in WWII history you will find this podcast of interest. Just to give you an idea of what you will find in this podcast, the first few episodes are names are:
If you are interested in the WWII era of history, you may find these three pages of interest.
(See my other Food related posts) – On our drive out west over the past few days we stopped in Flagstaff, Arizona for dinner. We picked the El Tapatio Mexican restaurant from those listed in the Google search as it was close to the Interstate (2004 E. Historic Route 66, Flagstaff, AZ 86004). It was a great choice! As they say on their website:
We pride ourselves as being an authentic Mexican restaurant with all our delicious entrees, dishes, appetizers and drinks. We have a tradition of excellence in our service as well as in our culinary style. Our plates have special recipes that will make you want to come back. We have six locations to serve you better.
The exterior of the restaurant is rather plain, but the inside is very colorful. Because we are both following the Keto Diet, Fajitas are a good meal for us as long as we stay away from the tortillas.
We were amazed at the platter of fajitas that were brought out. The iron platter was flaming when it was placed on our table. The mix of beef, chicken, onion, green bell pepper, orange bell pepper, and red bell pepper. These were the best fajitas we have ever tasted! Unlike many Mexican restaurants, we each got our own plate of rice, beans, and condiments.
If fajitas are not to your taste, the restaurant has many other items on its menu. El Tapatio was started in 2002 with a mobil food truck in Grand Junction, Colorado. In January of 2003 the first restaurant was opened. They now have six locations in Arizona and Colorado.
We were so impressed with the food that we are already planning to stop there for lunch on our way home. If you like Mexican food El Tapatio is a great place to eat.
See my other Location and Food related posts
(See my other WWII related posts) – While driving across country recently my wife and I listened to several episodes of the Stuff You Missed in History podcast. One that I wanted to share is related to WWII and deals with the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion.
The 6888th was an all-black Women’s Army Corps (WAC). unit. It was the only all-black, all-female battalion to serve overseas during WWII. The battalion was organized to work through the large backlog of undelivered mail addressed to troops serving in the European Theater. They arrived in England in February of 1945, then later moved their operation to France.
I thought that this was an interesting story from the WWII era that few had heard about. If you are interested you can find the episode here.
(Top image “Battalion Commander Maj. Charity Adams and Executive Officer Capt. Abbie Noel Campbell inspect the first Soldiers of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion to arrive in England, February 15, 1945.” from Flickr. The second image “Members of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion take part in a parade ceremony in honor of Joan d’Arc at the marketplace where she was burned at the stake“. )
After I released the original post I received this Tweet from Cummings & Cummings LLC (@ccllc2008) and wanted add it to this post:
Support the 6888th Congressional Gold Metal Bill; need #67votes to pass in the #Senate and #290votes to pass the House of Representatives. Eight known #SixTripleEight veterans are still alive
If you are interested in the WWII era of history, you may find these three pages of interest.
(See all of my Book Reviews) – “World War II Battle by Battle” eBook was published in 2019 and was written by Nikolai Bogdanovic. Mr. Bogdanovic has published a few books and has been the editor or translator on many more.
I received an ARC of this novel through https://www.netgalley.com in return for a fair and honest review. I categorize this novel as ‘G’. The book covers the major battles fought in World War II.
I thoroughly enjoyed the 4+ hours I spent reading this 128-page history. While the book was interesting, it was very dry and a bit hard to read. I thought that it did give a good overview of the major battles of WWII. I like the selected cover art. I give this novel a 3.8 (rounded up to a 4) out of 5.
My book reviews are also published on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/31181778-john-purvis).
If you are interested in the WWII era of history, you may find these three pages of interest.
(See my other Music related posts) – The song “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” was written in 1943 by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane. It was introduced by Judy Garland in the 1944 musical movie Meet Me in St. Louis. The song was released as a single and was very popular with US troops during the Christmas season of 1944 though it did not reach the top of the Billboard music chart.
If you are interested in the WWII era of history, you may find these three pages of interest.
Christmas and New Year are coming upon us. For many people, the end of the year and the beginning of a new year are the high time to indulge themselves to something they’ve always wanted. At the same period of time, TunesKit of Shenzhen, Guangdong, a featured and high-rated multimedia software brand, has offered the biggest discounts of the year 2019 – an up to 50% off Christmas promotion. The sale lasts only two weeks and won’t end until January 3, 2020. See more details on the promotion page.
The promotion includes a 50% off special offer, sales of most popular products and bundles for Christmas only. With only half of the original price, you can get the powerful TunesKit Audio Converter, an all-in-1 audio converter that is able to convert Apple Music, Audible audiobooks, iTunes audiobooks, and other common audios to MP3, AAC, FLAC and so on. It is available on the latest Windows and Mac systems.
As for other products, there are discounts ranging from 15% to 30%. To be specific, iTunes M4V Converter, Audio Capture, and Audible Converter will be sold at 20% off and the Spotify Music Converter only takes $25.46. With the help of these DRM removal solutions, watching an iTunes movie at home with family and friends in the cold winter day or playing Spotify music on the Christmas or New Year parties can’t be easier. Besides, users can also get an efficient iOS System Recovery at up to 30% off, which will help you fix iOS device glitches without data loss easily.
It’s a common sense that getting bundles can save you more money than getting the products separately. This is especially true for TunesKit’s “Christmas Only Bundles” because you can enjoy a super 35% – 40% discount during this Christmas season. Bundle of video and audio DRM solutions makes a lot of sense. By purchasing a bundle consisting of M4V Converter and any other audio related program, you can enjoy the best software with the lowest price ever. Moreover, all deals on this promotion have no extra restriction, and users can easily get the discounts without sharing a page or anything else.
“We are celebrating this happy Christmas and we really appreciate the years-long supports from our users, so we hold this special event,” said the marketing manager, Andres Green. “TunesKit’s Christmas promotion is not limited to returning customers and also available to new users. This is the last chance of this year to get the useful software at such a favorable price,” ha added.
See my new macOS Software Directory and find what software is available for the Mac!
Macsome Inc. of Cortaro, Arizona, a professional multimedia software provider, offers a big Christmas sale offers with up to 50% off for both Windows and Mac users. This deals are available for all Macsome products, inclusing iTunes Converter, Spotify Downloader, as well as iTunes video Converter which is compatible with macOS (10.8, 9, 11, 12) and Windows platforms. All will be available on Macsome official website from now until Jan 15th, 2020.
Enjoy Macsome Christmas & New Year Sales Party – Save Up to 50% Off
As the best-selling item of Macsome product lines, Macsome iTunes Converter participates in the promotion at ridiculously low prices than ever before, which will save you $25 from its original price $49.95. This professional iTunes Converter, which works on both Mac and Windows platforms, aims to help you convert Apple Music songs, iTunes purchased songs and audiobooks to plain MP3, AAC, WAV and FLAC with perfectly conversion speed and conversion quality.
Another hot line you can’t miss is Macsome Spotify Downloader. It is an all-in-one Spotify Music Converter. With it, you can download Spotify single track, playlists, albums and podcast. Plus, you can also save any Spotify audio files to MP3, AAC, WAV and FLAC format. Both Mac and Windows version can enjoy its discount at 50% during the Christmas sales season.
Sparkling Macsome Christmas Sale Offers on iTunes Video
If you want to play your iTunes purchases TV shows & movies on the go, M4V Converter Plus is the best iTunes Video Converter you can choose. The M4V Converting software comes with all the typical features which can help you convert iTunes M4V movies to MP4, MOV, WMV, FLV, AVI and any other popular video or audio formats at a high rate of speed.
By using M4V Converter plus, it’ll be easier for you playing your iTunes movie purchases as well as sharing iTunes movie rentals with any people you like. Likewise, you are able to customize the videos’ parameters and convert a batch files at the same time. M4V Converter Plus for Mac and Windows will save you $15 at 30% discount during the Christmas sales season.
Why Choose Macsome?
Are you wondering about why you choose products of Macsome Inc.? Macsome Inc. is known for its quality and service. It is established in 2008. In the past decade, Macsome Inc. is dedicated to development, to provide good products and services for tens of thousands of users all over the world. On the other hand, compared with other similar products in the market, the programs of Macsome are more powerful, more flexibility and easy to use.
Pricing and Availability
This promotion is valid until January 15th, 2020. Anyone who visit our official website can enjoy this special discount with the coupon code macsome10off. Now you can get Macsome Music Converter, including Macsome iTunes Converter as well as Spotify Downloader special offer, save up to 50% off! iTunes Video Converter only need $35, save you $15! For more info, visit the Macsome website.
See my new macOS Software Directory and find what software is available for the Mac!
John's Notes 