One year ago today: March 1, 2016, the Rebel I really wanted.
Five years ago today: March 1, 2012, Jones of the Monkees, R.I.P.
Nine years ago today: March 1, 2008, talking about cabins . . .
Random years ago today: March 1, 2010, critiquing VD (STD) movies.
That Wall Street Watchdog guy was on about Uber, but I could not figure out which side he was on. He appeared against it mentioning various legal actions and reports of rape, intimidation, boycotts—but not in perspective to anything. How many people get robbed in regular taxis? How many bad drivers operate New York cabs? I support Uber not because it is good or bad—I don’t use taxis except emergencies and have not been in one for what, fifteen years or more. And maybe three times total since 1990.
I support Uber because it is competition to the totally corrupt existing taxi system. Nobody can convince me it costs $50 per ride to get downtown. But I’m easily satisfied how it costs $50 per ride to set up taxi-only zones at the airports, to restrict the number of licenses through city hall, and to maintain this degree of corruption top to bottom in the system. To keep taxi concerns at a Mafia-like intensity from the very design of new airports and hotels, to influence peddling at the highest levels, well, that takes a lot of juice.
It ain’t name-dropping because I missed him, but one of my heroes was up at the Auburndale music store earlier in the day. Not only do I love his music, now 50 years old, but “Spiders & Snakes” is the song that taught me how to sing. Yep, Jim Stafford was there until moments before I arrived. I guess I’ll never know if he likes my bass-only rendition of that song. I’m taking my bass into that shop next week to get realigned. I fear the operation will require new strings. This always gives a seasoned bass a lighter tone and a springiness to the notes. That only a guitar player would appreciate.
Say, there was an old Mennonite dude in there getting his guitar dressed and he was one of those roving musicians from before the 50s. The kind of natural pro that could flesh out an extraordinary jazz finger-rhythm to anything. That ultimate Chet Atkins sound if Chet had focused on gospel jazz. Alas we could not play anything in common as the guy either could not or would not strum as it would have entailed him admitting he was letting the bass set the pace. I stress this was not conscious, you’d have to be there to even detect it.
Just something incompatible with the way I play bass, each of us supposing the other guy was not cooperating, that it was the other guy’s job to fall into the groove. I know the guy was no flunky and when his turn came, he produced a $38 royalty check. Something I’ve never come close to, ever. He’s the guy who wrote the tune “Gethsemane” and the check was from Loretta Lynn. He played a few bars, great pickin’, but not anything I could remotely place.
He then told us the tale. With his wife of long ago, he was passing through Nashville. He did something I could never do, he recognized Loretta Lynn’s agent or producer or something. She was not feeling well and holed up in a motel room, so he played “Gethsemane” for the producer, who quickly got Loretta on the phone saying the 19-whatever equivalent of “holy shit you gotta hear this”. They produced his song and he got a check back then for $380. And down to this day, he still gets the odd royalty payment. Isn’t that something? That’s the same music store from around a year ago, where I was astonished by the inventory. Now we know. Jim Stafford shops there.
WWII flak towers.
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This is a picture of vinegar. Wait! I can explain. Have you ever had a poor party? To stay at home and party on $0. It was, um, a little more common during my teens and college days, but not forgotten. The rules are you can eat and drink only what’s left in the cupboard and listen to the radio. You can only make stuff on the cheap and you can’t have coffee, as in the day, if that was short it was reserved for breakfast. I had an ulterior motive to poor party. The goal was to have my first monthly surplus and I helped it along a bit.
Hence the picture of vinegar. Where else do you get a blog that discusses motorcycles, robots, and vinegar tea? With enough sugar, vinegar tea is not only a perky drink, it is good for you. Makes food taste better all the next day. Try it. My poor party favorite has always been toast. Garlic toast, nutmeg toast, sprinkle on the Parmesan. Note this is not regular vinegar, but fruit vinegar. You don’t have to get so fancy.
You can also read and play music, but I didn’t include DVDs. The reason? I tend to use these movies more for distraction than entertainment. Additionally, I did not touch the big bag of rice or the pork roast in the fridge, since a real poor party wouldn’t have any of those. There, how was your last day of February, 2017? And I have another question. How did God know how to make a half lime exactly the right size for a cold glass?
There was another option, but I could not use it. You are allowed to sit on the porch—but I don’t have a porch. I have the plans and the model. I have theory why so many people have porches that never use them. Because they rely on television to entertain them. They lack the skills to keep themselves occupied.
As for the flower garden, there are shoots springing up despite the occasional cold weather. But I don’t know if they are flowers or weeds. I’ve downloaded several articles on making the porch floating structure. I’ve still got lots to do in the bedroom but that porch is a given the moment time permits. It will add a real 192 square feet of living area. You know, I have never seen anybody on any porch in this town yet, though you see a lot in Mulberry if you take the wrong turn through Redneckville.
Where’s my kitchen table and new recliner? I keep putting those off. I miss my old moth-eaten chair from Jerry’s thrift. It was already ancient when I found it but who knows how many times I fell asleep with a book during my long recovery (2005 to 2012)? It was a rocker, not a recliner but it didn’t get the nickname “sleep magnet” for nothing. I say make that chair a priority for April, when I get back from Miami. You’re on.
“Where do forest rangers go to
get away from it all?”
For reading material, I looked closely at the military tactics that allowed the Europeans to drive the Moors out of Spain. Nothing too in depth, but the relevance here is that the way it was accomplished after centuries of failure. It’s common knowledge the cannon is what finally let the Christian armies oust the Muslims but I was looking more for the changes that had to be made to the big picture for these cannons to operate. Manning high tech weaponry with illiterate recruits would not have worked any better in the 1300s than it does in the US army today.
If one considers the cannon arrived from China via a host of states and empires along the route, why is it none of these gained a decisive advantage? Not until the cannon reached near-Europe with the Turks was there much change in warfare since the time of the Romans. We know how tiny Europe, which I think has averaged 37 different cultural divisions or countries over time, constantly sought out innovations that gave them the edge, but why did not the Moors put up a better defense? They certainly had plenty of notice the cannons were on the way.
My conclusion is the adaptability of the different societies. The king is not going to invest in these expensive guns if the support staff isn’t there. You have to get all these trained people together and whip them into shape. The cannon is likely to destroy a lot of what used to be looted, so you have to pay these guys regularly. So what allowed the Europeans to get organized, but not the Arabs? I’m thinking maybe the Christians adapted more quickly to the business-like structure of operating cannons. However, since I could find little to support this, it’s just a wild theory.
But think it through anyway. Running a cannon suits the European business model better, since it requires planning, training, inventory, and a complicated train. You don’t usually see this brand of business in Arab countries, where the successful businessmen tend to be traders. There is not the same incentives for small businesses in those countries to band together or to grow every year as needs be the case in capitalist societies.
So that’s my thinking, that it was not just the cannon. Both sides had them. The requirements were the same, but why did one side produce the artillery men and not the other? Time permitting, I’ll read up a bit more on this. Somebody else must have noticed the same events. Ha, the business model of war. Today, we call it the military-industrial complex.
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