10 March—The worst and most unaccountable president ever and his Second Cabinet of Unqualified Misfits get an undeserved break today because The Monitor is again celebrating International Bagpipe Day. This time you’ll hear a virtuoso solo piper and a virtuoso pipe band recorded at a concert some 30 years ago in the Motherwell Concert Hall, about 15 miles southeast of Glasgow.

Poor Motherwell Hall, built in 1970 and refurbished in 2011, is scheduled to be demolished because the roof is made of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete. RAAC is a lightweight, bubbly form of concrete frequently used in the late 20^th century in Europe and Asia (and just a little in the United States), which is weaker than traditional concrete, is now considered beyond its lifespan, and thus can compromise a building’s structural integrity.

Why was RAAC used? Well, it’s lightweight and provides good thermal insulation. And most of all, it’s cheap. So we wouldn’t be surprised to find it in Litchfield’s penny-wise, pound-foolish Johansen and Breuer schools.

Now for the magnificent music: