One year ago today: October 10, 2013, home-made array.
Five years ago today: 2009, examining video.
Ten years ago today: temporarily suspended, I will notify you.
MORNING
Over in Miami, here’s JZ demonstrating that he doesn’t mind women “this big”. Note red scooter in foreground, red truck in background. That’s the Denny’s parking lot across from Florida International. He is not going to make this trip because he has to work. Actually, he doesn’t have to, but you know what I mean. I check on the Honda tire and the mechanic swears I didn’t tell him I needed it back this week, but says he can get it done.
The meeting this morning was over a potentially costly change in bank rules. Normally, if I have a Euro account, and say I put $1,000USD into the account, it is converted at today’s rate and I own 792.40EUR. If the dollar fell drastically, I should still have euros. That is what I bought and paid for. Well, here’s the problem.
This new bank rule is not clear. Goofy as it sounds, if I put $1,000 in the account, my statement would report the value in euros, but the money remains in dollars. The conversion is done at the rate on the day I withdraw--with the bank determining whether to use the rate on the day of deposit or the day of withdrawal, whichever is most in the bank's favor! That is just insane. In other words, it is really just another dollar account, not a euro account. I’m mostly certain the rule is worded wrongly, but it is something I have to investigate, like pronto.
NOON
A leisurely drive back gave me time to think. And that is one of the reasons I like to travel, no radio, no nothing. Long uninterrupted hours to deliberate and ponder. How the dumber people are, the more likely they are to make one really stupid mistake from which they never recover. Or, as the current book puts it, forever thereafter clutters their lives with the flotsam from the shipwrecks of their brains.
I won’t display more charts here, but the graph for silver, to the right, is typical of metal prices, but only metal prices. Nothing else, not even oil, shows such a smooth long term change, then leaps to ten times its price in a matter of a year. Draw your own conclusions.
There is something else about silver. Appearance matters when you go to sell it. Most dealers place their better ingots in a distinctive wrapper. When that is intact, selling it back to the same dealer will get you the best price. I'm saying all this because so many don't know about this. Bear in mind, there are overwhelming reasons not to sell back to the same place you buy or even divulge that information, but just so you know, polish your silver before you sell, even slugs. And remove any spots, particularly red spots. Myself, I don't have time.
Speaking of prices, have you ever read The Daily Apple? If you do all the conversions back in time and apply certain modern assumptions, Grok, the caveman, spent $12 on his burger. Anyway, you should read these articles for information on things like how the Interstate Highway system changed the quality of the food you eat.
NIGHT
A complete sell-out show. The average age was around 22, so don’t underestimate what it took to keep a crowd like that partying until past midnight. Now the sad news. This Karaoke show, which is probably easy-going compared to others, just plain tuckers me out. I simply cannot keep up this pace. The plan is to turn it over to somebody younger.
Sorry for the poor photo, but that is me, kneeling arms spread in front of a crowd with their backs to me. They are facing the Karaoke screen on the back wall. And the world can see, that is Jimbo's back wall. This also shows the success of my willingness to let groups or the whole room sing along. That can't happen unless you are reading the room. And man, did I read them right for the Macarena!
I advised them to try somebody else next week. Then I’ll stand back and listen. And see who else will do that job for so little pay. Myself, I would need at least $100 per show to get out there and do what I did tonight. But it will never pay that, so get somebody else. Disagree? Just try it, Pee Wee.
ADDENDUM
There are other factors involved with a Karaoke show, the least of which is that I have no reliable way of moving the speakers to another location. The extra twenty people present tonight were there because a business up the street was closing down. Without them, it would have been a nothing night. The club’s advertising budget is zero, so I think I’ll bow out while the gittin’ is good. Put another way, I think the show will flop and I’d rather let somebody else take the fall.
Here’s another instance that shows the Internet has degenerated to such rabble that one can easily search and not find anything but that which concerns the peasantry. The most enduring trait that defines peasants is that they can only get along with each other. So here is today’s trivia you won’t find on line. What is the name of France’s first luxury cruise liner? Hints: it had a ballroom, a chapel, and a tennis court. No? Okay, it was a sailing ship with five masts? No?
Answer: It was destroyed in a storm before ever sailing. It was named “La Grande Francoise”. And that was in 1511.
