Archive for Life - page 17

My guests for this Mellow Prog Edition of Music Friday are The Moody Blues, a band that was one of the early adopters of an electronic instrument call the Mellotron – I kid you not.  The Mellotron was a predecessor to the Moog Synthesizer popularized mainly by Emerson Lake and Palmer, but others too.  The Moody Blues were…oh come on.  You must know the Moody Blues?  Knights in White Satin, Ride My See-Saw?  I can understand if you’ve never heard of King Crimson, but everybody knows The Moody Blues.  They were possibly the most commercially successful of the prog rockers I think because many of their songs were short enough for radio airplay.  Just a guess -I mean the music was (is) good.  They are also one of the prog rock bands with almost no churn in the  lineup – it has remained nearly constant from their beginning, the only real turnover being at the keyboard postion.  Probably because of the Mellotron.  Just kidding!

I’ve chosen three songs for today.  The first one you may recognize since it reached #24 on the Billboard Top 100 in 1972.  Interestingly, it took four years to get there, since it was originally released in 1968!  Go Figure.  The song?  Tuesday Afternoon.  This a video of a live performance shot By the BBC in 1970.  Enjoy:

Next up is a beautiful song called Eyes of a Child.  It’s a lovely song – the lyrics are very touching.  See if you don’t tear up.  Guys too.

OK, last one.  The Moodies were know for lyrics that were either about peace & love or environmental themes.  A lot of guys couldn’t hang because it was considered too emotional.  I didn’t bother me, because I am secretly a heart ruled person.  Oops – guess the secret’s out.  No matter.  This song asks a question that we all ask ourselves at one time or another – How is it We Are Here?

How is it we are here indeed.  OK, that’s all the music for today.  I hope you enjoyed it!  Use the comments!

Seems there is always some kerfuffle or other these days that has Facebook boiling.  A week or two ago a 19 year old Texas girl who happens to be a cheerleader and big-game humter, posted some photos of her kills on her facebook page.  The hysteria was immediate.  Of course people called for her to be killed, and many hoped they could have the chance to hunt her down the way she hunted those poor animals down, etc.  Not to get into the ethics of hunting (I see nothing wrong with it) here, the point is the mindless rage of the indignant, super intelligent and oh-so-morally superior Facebook mob.

A fellow named Jay Branscomb had a brilliant idea.  He posted a publicity photo of Steven Spielberg posed next to one of the animatronic dinosaurs  from Jurassic Park that looked vaguley like a trophy shot with the following caption: “Disgraceful photo of recreational hunter happily posing next to a Triceratops he just slaughtered. Please share so the world can name and shame this despicable man“

And…you guessed it.  Outrage ensued.  Not universal, though there are more than a few people who posted that they are upset that the endangered Triceratops is being hunted by a rich Hollywood Jew.  Oh, and one facebooker, to show that they are smarter than everyone else and got the joke claimed the dinosaur was “obviously photoshopped”.  LOL

For some of you this may be “Progressive Music 101”, but please stick around.  I think you will be intrigued by what you hear.

I have talked about my music listening habits, starting with exposure to my older sibling’s music, and the AM radio Top 40 formats of my youth.  As I grew into my teen years the FM radio “album” or “free form” formats” gained popularity.  This was a quantum leap in terms of the kinds of music I had access to – artists and songs that were not Top 40 chart material, or limited to the two and a half minute limit for AM radio play.  FM radio is where I first heard so-called “alternative” or “progressive” rock music, such as YES, Emerson Lake & Palmer and Pink Floyd to name a few.  This music was far from the typical popular music formula of the day, the songs were less songs and more extended musical “suites”, with fantasy themed or  philosphical lyrics and 10,20 minutes or more in length.  Today’s song is one of the seminal progressive rock song by the band whose name is synonymous with the genre.  Any guesses?  If you’re not a progger then you have no idea.

The band is King Crimson and the song is “In The Court Of The Crimson King”.  Oddly enough, it was released as a single and reached #80 on the US charts in 1969.  Give a listen:

Very interesting and slightly unsettling, no?  The music of this era fostered many a discussion over the songs’ meanings, and as you may imagine many a discussion was had about this song.  Class Dismissed.

Today I found more confirmation of my belief that most reporters don’t know what the hell they’re talking about when they are reporting.  I posted about it here, and tangentially here.  At The Federalist Mollie Hemingway has an excellent article outlining chapter and verse how many young journalists, including some of today’s “rising stars” lack even the most basic factual knowledge of the subjects they report or opine on.  You owe it to yourself to click that link and read the whole thing – the takedown is epic.  

This dovetails nicely with my proposition that when everything you know is wrong, most likely everything you believe or say is wrong.  I suspect that these  young pundits are journalism school or liberal arts graduates who “want to make the world a better place”, but lack the basic factual knowledge of what the world actually is and how it came to be what it is.  For that reason, their ideas about how to “make it better” not only sound like pure nonsense, but are often actual pure nonsense.

OK, maybe I gave you the wrong idea by saying  Hump day.  Here -watch Mishka the talking dog:

There’s no inflation…unless you count food prices.  And why would you?  Who buys food ?  Ben Domenech writes at The Federalist that “Food Prices Are Soaring and Washington Doesn’t Care”.  Here’s a taste:

“a rational person might conclude that measuring food inflation without counting meat, fruit, and vegetables is like measuring the unemployment rate without counting men.  Here are the increases in a number of food costs, as well as the average hourly earnings, since the end of the recession (June 2009) through May 2014…the increases since June 2009 are: Beef and veal: +35.2%, Pork: +27%, Fish and seafood: +20.1%, Eggs: +33.1%, Dairy: +16.1%, Fresh Fruits: +13.8%. At the same time, Average Hourly Earnings have increased by 10.1%.”

Substantive analysis at the link.  Also…graphs.  So everyone knows that when the Fed increases the money supply (prints money), it results in inflation.  And when the Fed tells you there’s no inflation, it’s…well…

This is just great: the EPA now claims the authority to garnish our wages.  That’s the Environmental Protection Agency.  Claiming authority to unilaterally – bypassing the courts – garnish our wages if we are deemed in violation of their rules.  And I guarantee you that they can find a rule you are in violation of if they wish.

According to this article in the Washington Times the Agency has adopted a rule stating it’s intention to use the authority, a neccessary step before legally asserting the authority.  The garnishment threat would be a powerful tool to get people to agree to expensive settlements with the EPA rather than fighting them.

This dovetails with a post I was going to write about Administrative Law and/or The Administrative State and how it is at odds with our Representative Republic system of government.  In a nutshell, the Administrative State is a power grab by the executive branch.  “Administrations” or “Agencies” such as the EPA, the IRS, FEMA etc etc fall under the executive branch of the Fedral Government.  These agencies are allowed to make “rules” which carry the force of law, but often carry none of the due process protections associated with actual legislation.  Hence, the IRS can seize your property without a court order and now the EPA wants this power, too.  The argument against Adminstrative Law is that if these “rules” carry the force of legislation, then they are in fact legislation.  And legislating is not one of the enumerated powers granted to the executive branch under the Constitution – Congress is the only branch that has that power.  I can’t do the argument justice, so I direct you to some excellent posts at PowerLine.

Why do you care or why should you care?  Admittedly the chances of any suburbanite running afoul of EPA regs are slim.  I said slim…not non-existent.  But if you are a farmer, rancher, or own any property on a lake or river or in a watershed of any kind, you’re chances are better.  And you probably won’t know until it’s too late.  Here is just one horror story.

Any expansion of powers granted to Executive Branch Agencies are, in my opinion, a direct threat to your freedom and mine, and also to our republic.  They should be opposed.

Cross Posted at Men Out of Work Blog

There’s being lucky, and there’s being foolish.

I would call that “pushing his luck”.  His lucky charm is the physical symbol of his belief in his own inate ability to overcome adversity even in the face of long odds.  The situation looks dire – but is it hopeless?  The outlook is grim.

Webster’s defines “luck” as “a purposeless, unpredictable and uncontrollable force that shapes events favorably or unfavorably for an individual, group or cause”.  So “luck” on it’s own allows for the possibility of good or bad outcome.  Perhaps his faith should have rested in his “good luck” charm rather than his lucky charm which may be functioning perfectly in dispensing copious bad luck.  No matter  how random the outcome of this scenario may be, the possibilities are limited based on the situation our character put himself in to begin with.  He “pushed his luck” by walking into a no-win situation.  Were the woves just going to run away?  Or was it “blind luck” of the worst kind that caused him to stumble into the pack?  Blind as in ” I did NOT see that coming!”

I believe that we make our own luck to some extent.  Since luck is the unpredictable, uncontrollable, or purposeless force that shapes the “random” outcomes of events in our lives, we can steer our luck to the good by seeing the possibilities of situations and not entering situations that promise only degrees of bad outcomes.  Such as “will I be killed by wolves, or merely mauled?”  Of course no one has a crystal ball but that’s no excuse for not keeping your eyes open.  And if a four leaf clover helps remind you to keep your eyes open, then that’s your lucky charm.

Much Thanks to Tragedy Series

The answer to the age-old question “How do you get four Boeing 737s into a river?”  Why, throw them off a train, of course.  I mean…duh.  Short story: on July 3rd, a train carrying Boeing 737 fuselages derailed near Missoula, Montana dumping three of the fuselages into the Clark Fork River.  The aircraft sections were enroute from Wichita, Kansas to Boeing’s assembly plant in Renton, Washington near Seattle.  The options for shipping something so large are few, and Spirit AeroSystems, the company that builds the fuselages for Boeing, says that they ship 42 fuselages per month this way.  By the way, the fuselage is the central “tube” section or cabin of the aircraft.

The Clark Fork River is popular with rafters, so imagine floating around a bend and seeing this:

No injuries were reported, and the cause is under investigation.  The train was traveling under the 35 mile per hour speed limit for that stretch of track.

For what seems like decades now we have been warned about the danger of second hand smoke – not just the danger of wafting outdoor second hand smoke from the smokers exiled to their “areas” on the outskirts of society, but the just as deadly second hand smoke coming from inside your neighbor’s apartment or home.  The insidious tendrils of smoke are capable of wending their way through the smallest openings in the walls and creeping into your space where they can do their deadly deeds.  A man’s home may be his castle, but if you live next to a smoker’s castle you are within your rights to dictate that smoker’s behavior because his four walls give you no protection from that stinking scourge.  Of course, we’re talking about Tobacco smoke.  Cannabis smoke?  That’s Different!®

Just Google “second hand cigarette smoke apartments” – I’ll do it  – click here.  You get article after article explaining the health risks of your neighbor’s second hand smoke and advice on how to agitate your landlord to prohibit smoking completely in your complex, or even advice on how to take action against your neighbor smoking on his or her own property.  That is  – if they’re smoking the evil weed tobacco.  If they’re smoking pot – stop bugging us about it!  We can’t do anything because it’s legal.  Or so say the police in Colorado where recreational cannabis use was recently legalized.

I’ve said before that I don’t care if someone wants to smoke pot, especially if it’s legal where they live.  I also don’t care if someone wants to smoke cigarettes, which are legal everywhere last time I checked.  What I don’t like are double standards.  Sauce for the goose should be  sauce for the gander, and second hand smoke is second hand smoke.