[David Herrick]

Sadly, Ronnie Spector passed away today. She was mentioned a couple of times on this thread.

[David Herrick]

As long as we’re touring the world, a Filipino friend of mine once introduced me to this intriguing song. Even though it’s in Tagalog, you can feel the emotion in the lyrics. The lead singer’s name is Lolita Carbon. (I’ve since learned that this is a cover of a song originally written and performed by a male artist, but this is the version I know best.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwE95aY2Dbw

[David Herrick]

About a year ago I discovered on YouTube a talented young lady by the name of Anne Reburn, who has recorded a lot of covers of old songs in which she “clones” herself to produce multi-part harmonies. Here’s her most-viewed video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ran2vgR_ANY

[David Herrick]

For the past week (well, six days actually) Songbird is at V = 601 and C = 1.66.

[David Herrick]

Paul, click on this link:

https://test2.monalisa-twins.com/mlt-club-3rd-birthday/

[David Herrick]

Most of my faves have already been named, but to the list I might add Lesley Gore, Mary Travers (Peter, Paul and Mary), Susanna Hoffs (the Bangles), Marilyn McCoo (the Fifth Dimension), and Mary Weiss (the Shangri-Las).

[David Herrick]

With regard to politicians in space, two U.S. Congressmen flew on the space shuttle. One of them, whose mission on Columbia ended just ten days before the Challenger accident, is the current administrator of NASA.

William Shatner really nailed the concept of the fragility of the Earth in his spontaneous comments immediately after his recent spaceflight:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTfQVMH5SuI

As excited as I am about space exploration and the eventual human colonization of other worlds, it’s sobering to note that even if we completely trash the Earth’s environment it will always be vastly more liveable than any other place we could go. Terraforming another planet, although exhilarating to contemplate, is zillions of times more expensive than cleaning up our own mess.

[David Herrick]

I’m racking my brain and I can’t really think of any memorable photos of Mona and Lisa posing with animals. I keep wanting to Photoshop them into the album cover of Ram or Pet Sounds.

[David Herrick]

It just blows my mind that the viewing habits on Facebook and YouTube are so different, both in the number of views and in the most popular videos. On YouTube in December, Walking in the Air had 152 views per day (ranked #60) and IBMAP had 391 (#27).

[David Herrick]

Some projections for the next month or so based on the latest figures:

When I’m Sixty-Four: 3,000,000 views on Jan. 6th

Starman: 400,000 views on Jan. 7th

Close to You: 200,000 views on Jan. 12th

I’m a Believer: 500,000 views on Jan. 12th

The 59th Street Bridge Song: 200,000 views on Jan. 22nd

Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind: 500,000 views on Jan. 25th

Please Mr. Postman / Wipeout: 2,000,000 views on Jan. 27th

Stuck in the Middle With You: 200,000 views on Jan. 29th

I Bought Myself a Politician: 200,000 views on Jan. 29th

Money (That’s What I Want): 400,000 views on Jan. 29th

Sweet Lorraine: 200,000 views on Feb. 2nd

Note also: Africa is sitting at exactly 800,000 views as I type this.

[David Herrick]

Here are the December stats for the Christmas-related videos: the number of views per day, followed by the percentage change relative to November:

.

Merry Christmas from the MonaLisa Twins (2009): V = 21 (+104%)

WWT / Santa Twins are Coming to Town (2014): V = 1.7 (-30%)

WWT / Santa Twins Behind the Scenes (2014): V = 3.1 (-36%)

Winter Wonderland (2014): V = 28 (+75%)

It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year (2015): V = 75 (+61%)

Wonderful Christmastime (2016): V = 120 (+65%)

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (2017): V = 147 (+108%)

Little Drummer Boy (2018): V = 105 (+72%)

Christmas Album Trailer (2019): V = 17 (+21%)

Snow Falls Softly at Night (2019): V = 71 (+109%)

All I Want Christmas to Be (2019): V = 146 (+97%)

Walking in the Air (2020): V = 152 (+23%)

.

So except for the two DVD ads, we are indeed seeing the expected Christmastime bump in views.

[David Herrick]

Here are the top 20 lists for the dates from December 4th through January 3rd. (Songbird, the newest video, is tabulated only from December 30th through January 3rd due to its rapid change.)

.

simultaneous views:

1) Please Mr. Postman / Wipeout: C = 8.61 (-0.79)

2) Songbird: C = 4.35 (new)

3) While My Guitar Gently Weeps: C = 4.22 (-2.78)

4) I’m Looking Through You: C = 3.31 (-3.01)

5) Drive My Car (2012): C = 3.09 (-4.94)

6) Wish You Were Here: C = 2.68 (-1.82)

7) Nowhere Man: C = 2.46 (-0.96)

8) I Saw Her Standing There: C = 2.12 (-0.86)

9) Sound of Silence: C = 2.06 (-1.56)

10) You Can’t Do That: C = 1.99 (-0.52)

11) If I Fell: C = 1.97 (-0.73)

12) When I’m Sixty-Four: C = 1.72 (-0.62)

13) Lola: C = 1.66 (0.93)

14) Stuck in the Middle With You: C = 1.64 (-1.89)

15) Africa: C = 1.61 (-0.86)

16) MonaLisa Twins Interview 2016: C = 1.56 (-2.37)

17) This Boy: C = 1.41 (-0.28)

18) Till There Was You: C = 1.38 (-0.32)

19) I’m a Believer: C = 1.29 (-0.52)

20) Day Tripper: C = 1.27 (-0.33)

.

views per day:

1) Please Mr. Postman / Wipeout: V = 3035 (-281)

2) I’m Looking Through You: V = 1634 (-1487)

3) Drive My Car (2012): V = 1601 (-2553)

4) Songbird: V = 1579 (new)

5) While My Guitar Gently Weeps: V = 1332 (-974)

6) Nowhere Man: V = 1094 (-429)

7) You Can’t Do That: V = 914 (-241)

8) I Saw Her Standing There: V = 900 (-367)

9) If I Fell: V = 893 (-326)

10) Sound of Silence: V = 866 (-660)

11) When I’m Sixty-Four: V = 847 (-308)

12) Wish You Were Here: V = 793 (-539)

13) Till There Was You: V = 726 (-169)

14) Stuck in the Middle With You: V = 648 (-753)

15) This Boy: V = 602 (-117)

16) In My Life: V = 592 (+33)

17) You’re Going to Lose That Girl: V = 568 (-176)

18) Day Tripper: V = 552 (-144)

19) Lola: V = 520 (-290)

20) I’m a Believer: V = 516 (-209)

.

So like October, December seems to have been another “down” month across the board with respect to viewership. Perhaps everyone was too busy baking/eating Christmas cookies. I’m guessing the numbers will rebound in January, though!

[David Herrick]

Juergen, I wasn’t familiar with the Boswell Sisters, so I looked them up and saw that they recorded a song called Rock and Roll… in 1934! I thought they might be time travellers, but it turns out the song is just about being in a boat on the ocean.

[David Herrick]

JP, you just reminded me of a passage from my favorite children’s novel, The Phantom Tollbooth. I’ll pare it down a bit here:

Milo: “Pardon me for staring, but I’ve never seen half a child before.”

Boy: “It’s 0.58 to be precise. We’re just the average family… mother, father, and 2.58 children. And as I explained, I’m the 0.58.”

Milo: “It must be rather odd being only part of a person.”

Boy: “Not at all. Each family also has an average of 1.3 automobiles, and since I’m the only one that can drive three-tenths of a car, I get to use it all the time.”

[David Herrick]

I don’t really keep up much with research into radiation shielding, but I think it’s generally assumed that any lengthy human missions, such as to Mars, will inevitably result in an unhealthy amount of radiation damage to tissues. It’s hard to imagine designing a covering that is both dense enough to absorb a lot of energy and light enough to prevent the launch from becoming prohibitively expensive due to the excess weight.

My understanding is that most of the negative effects of zero gravity, except for bone demineralization, can be minimized with rigorous exercise. I’ve seen footage of space station astronauts running on a treadmill, with stiff springs attached to their waist to hold them down.