July 18, 2015

Yesteryear
One year ago today: July 18, 2014, another big show.
Five years ago today: July 18, 2010, my almost-job described.
Six years ago today: July 18, 2009, 60% “involvement”.

MORNING
           Hmmm, JZ and I are discovering the impact of this phrase “proof of funds”. It’s self-explanatory, but was not a significant part of business dealings either of us have encountered earlier in life. Since we are not hermits we know this proof was not a big deal before, but it is now. Everywhere we turn, somebody wants proof of funds. But that’s still not the impact to which I refer. Now listen closely, it is the manner and timing of this need for proof that is different.

           This is a cashier’s check. It is essentially a check drawn on the bank’s money, not your own account. Of course, the bank will check to see if you have the money. In that sense, it is what most people think that a check should be. The bank should pay all outstanding checks and deal with their own bad customers. A cashier’s check is like a money order issued by a bank.
           Have you ever heard of ChexSystem. It is a “credit” agency that tracks your history of writing checks. They report (mostly bad information) to banks, so they are essentially a blacklisting operation. Hey, if it was up to me, such outfits would have to pay people for the right to keep files on them.
           I’m saying the request has become a demand, and it happens early in every case so far. It comes across as deep suspicion in a way that tells us the other party has been stung too often. They want to see the money before all else. Ergo, they must be used to people lying to them about money to the degree they no longer take chances in that department. You cannot attend the auction or view the property until after proof of funds.
           Fine. That just means the next step is we discover how we can use this proof (itself) as leverage. Should it become evident that the competition has borrowed their “proof”, we’ll just wait them out. That includes the rabble who slap the money together by forestalling other commitments. I know an awful lot about how that operates, right, Mom? The thrust here is that if you can afford to wait, waiting is an excellent tactic.
           One thing is clear if I make a buy decision. That until September 15, my reserves will run dangerously low. Wise money managers know to always keep a strategic reserve. I know from experience that $3,566 worth of unexpected “emergencies” occur every calendar year. On average. And that has already been eaten up by flat tires, front bearings, a new muffler, and a new alternator. This is risky business, buying houses for cash.
           But not as risky as buying on credit.

NOON
           Has anyone been watching the silver prices? I don’t much, but I figure if anything serious happened with that market, I’d hear about it soon enough. Anyway, at $14,84 per ounce, it is dropping to my latest buy point. No matter how you slice it, the silver market is being manipulated for a massive rip-off. Here’s the graph since 1985, which for the metal market is since time immemorial. Because what happened any earlier has no influence. I’d say it is pretty obvious the manipulation began in 2003.

           By now, I’ve talked to other parties who have bought at auctions and short sales, which are close cousins. They all report the most difficult part of the process was dealing with the banks. Isn’t that interesting? Because unless you are borrowing money, why would anybody put up with nonsense from a bankster? Ah, because they’ve never actually met anyone who didn’t have to. Do you see what I’m getting at here? We are learning to spot the behavior of people who work with banks. Particularly how they presume you have to plod along as slowly as they do.
           Meanwhile, what’s this about the guy who advertised for someone to attend Harvard for him? I saw that ad back in 2013 and presumed it was a joke. The offer was (if I recall) $40,000 per year to attend the classes and take the tests posing as the other guy. Plus a bonus on graduation. If I’d thought for a second it was legit, I would have jumped on it. Anyway, I’m hearing rumors it was for real.

AFTERNOON
           I got a tip that my old band finally found another bass player. I checked the site, and yep, he looks the part. Amusingly, I can tell from his guarded profile that, like myself, he was not comfortable with telling this band too much. From the style of bass he’s using, the way he holds it, and the position of his right hand, he’s the run-of-the-mill bassist that fits the bands concept of the instrument. I’ve got ten bucks says if I can find a video, he comps every song.

           Wait, I spoke too soon. They did post a video on an updated website (no link). He is comping, however since the date indicated means he had only been with them a short period, I withhold judgment. Still, he is comping on key. All the frills that make it the bass line are left out. I am a perfectionist about not doing this. Now, when I say a video, I mean just the one. There are five (videos) in total.
           Three are from the gig I played January of 2014 up in Ft. Lauderdale. Bragging rights are okay in music, since there is no requirement that one ever grow up. And there is no comparison. My solid bass lines are still the tops or trust me, they would have replaced them. I see they are giving the new bass guy the same treatment, making him stand behind the guitarist and not giving him a single note of solo time. Unless he needs the job, he won’t last—and even then as long as he never figures out in that band, you lose money.
           Hence, 60% of their ads still show me on the bass. The new guy may be all they want or need, because that is their attitude. Since he’s faking every tune, they may even feel he “learned the music” as well and as fast as I did. I doubt that, but their standards are very low. You can sort of hear him thump-thumping back there. He knows his passing notes, for sure. They are not the correct ones, but they are on key.

           That’s four videos accounted for, what about the last one? That’s a mystery. If shows them at Flossie’s, where we never played, but the date of January 2014 is squarely when I was the bass man. That’s show-biz. This last item does not surprise me—they have a full frontal of the singer lady. It has got to be the most unflattering I’ve ever seen [of her]. She is actually quite pretty. I told you how she was always dressed to the nines, so unless she’s gained weight or aged considerable in the past 11 months, kill the guy who took that shot. It is so bad, I clipped it off above her eyes.
           Another surprise is I do not recognize the new bass player. That means, essentially, he is not from here. A few phone calls reveals that nobody else knows him either. But they all say he looks just like Whitey. But I know Whitey and he retired up in Bradenton four or five years ago. Don’t wait for me to run into the band any time soon. They never play any place I would normally hang out.
           Um, the new guy who plays bass even told them his last name was “Bass”. Seems legit.

EVENING
           Trump “surges” to number one in the polls. Isn’t that another thing they said would never happen. His critics say his campaigning appeals to upper-middle class whites. Du-uh. Are not they still a majority of the people who vote in this country. I said, “of the people who vote”. Here he is, telling it like it is. You gotta love the way he told off the owner of the Huffington Post, saying she was nothing but a source of trouble, “particularly to her ex-husband”.

           Here he is, giving the Huffington Post the wrong finger. The anti-Trumpers are going wild about his “not a war hero comment”. I listened to the clip and he’s got a point. Anybody who was in the war is a veteran, but getting captured, or shot for that matter, does not automaticlly make you a “war hero”.
           By very late in the evening, I zipped up to the club for libations and met the ex-boyfriend of the barmaid who get my order wrong. He plays guitar and records, so we could talk the same language. And he has the right attitude—that it is better to be in any band that plays out than to wait for the perfect song list to happen along.
           Other than that, I knuckled down and read a thirty-page description on shift registers, which most people use to power displays and flashing light cubes. I see them as a potential way to effectively increase the number of output ports on the Arduino. Or at least avoid using up a precious PWM output for ordinary chores. For those interested, I have chosen the 74HC595, but not yet located any place that sells them. Essentially, it is a chip that accumulates a series of signals (usually 8, making a byte) and outputs them all at once (in parallel). This happens so fast it is perceived as simultaneous.
           Newcomers beware, these shift registers work at the bit level, so the mindless C+ "bit arithmetic" commands are involved.

ADDENDUM
           You know what I’m tempted to do? Take advantage of the fact that so many people don’t know that writing is one of the most heavily regulated of “private” industry for one simple reason. Short of selling your own books at a flea market, there is practically no way to publish and sell anything anonymously in America. When I read the ads for ghost writers, there are a lot of people who would pay to have something they own key-entered into a text file.
           When you think about it, that is precisely what this blog would like. I’ve got 12,000 hand-written pages of material I would love to publish, but this is labor-intensive work. For little reward. But others who lack any keyboarding skills at all are the major component of those seeking to collaborate. Of course, one would charge a flat fee and eliminate all the ass-clowns who want to pay out of future sales. Anyway, it is tempting to run an ad and see what turns up. A page like the one you are reading would be priced around $3.00. Cash.
           And that is nothing for somebody convinced their life story is the next great American novel.


Last Laugh

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