* In case you missed it, there's been a huge dustup over President Trump's recent 'order' to American firms to start working their way out of China, and back home to familiar shores. Now, you might think that everyone would be on board with this, right? Well, as it turns out, the true-believer Democrats and Republican Never-Trumpers just won't accept that this could be a good thing for the US. If Trump did it, it's bad. Why? Because, orange man bad. I even got into an argument with one of them, another customer at my favorite rib stand (I've told you all about him before), who found an opportunity to start commenting on the tarrifs. He kept insisting that 'Trump can't tell them what they can do with their own companies!' And my first thought was, 'Man, what rock have you been living under?' The law allowing the President to do just that was passed in 1977, introduced to a Democrat Congress by a Democrat, and signed into law by Democrat President. I asked him whether he even knew what the Council on Foreign Relations was. No. The Trilateral Commission? No. Unable to defend his point, he immediately pivoted to immigration on his way to slavery. (Of course.) So I asked him if he knew that the first slave-owner in America was a black man, or that it was not us, but the Spanish who annihilated the Native Americans. His only recourse at this point was literally to stick his fingers in his ears, and start singing, "LA LA LA LA LA!"
* Maybe you heard about the former CEO of Overstock 'bearing his soul' that (through some bizarre, and very unexpected twist of fate) he's the one with all the answers to the entire Spygate problem, and he's now willing to spill the beans: The FBI (no, wait, just a few of them) were spying (no, wait, surveilling) on everyone (no, wait, just Trump, Cruz, and ... HILLARY! And that right there should tell you what that little headline is really all about. The villians are offering up Clapper, Comey, Strzok, et al, if we're willing to accept that Hillary was just as much a victim as Trump. RIIIIiiiigggghht.
* Suspicions are mounting that the US has been operating a secret nuclear power plant beneath the ice of Greenland with which to power our air base, among other things.
* Been following Brexit? Did you hear the latest from EU president Donald Tusk? He has just as much as said that the EU will not ALLOW the UK to leave the EU. Never mind the fact that the right to leave was written into the European Union's constitution. Never mind the fact that the British voted to leave the EU. The EU is trying to paint this as a situation similar to Abraham Lincoln refusing to allow the southern states to secede from the union. Maybe someone should tell them that the US knew full well that England was behind keeping the south committed to slavery just because they knew it would eventually drive such a schism. Who's behind the UK's desire to flee the EU? Oh! Right. Silly me. Must be ... RUSSIA! No! CHINA! No... wait ... uh ...
* Gold is making a comeback. Seen the prices lately? President Trump ... I've just GOT to read that book of his ... just instinctively senses how to play these guys like a cheap fiddle. And what he's been doing, if you've been following what he actually says vs. what the 'news' says he says, then you've noticed that he's calling out the Federal Reserve, and he's landing blow after blow. Expect earth-shaking news to go completely unnoticed. The media are going to try to scream that he's destroying our entire ecomonic system (they've already started), but the average guy on the street is going to say, "I still get paid. My bank card still works. What's the problem?" And that will be the end of the Fed as we know it, because Trump is going to take away their autonomy. They're going to be audited, found guilty of all kinds of crooked stuff, and our currency will be tied to gold again, and the whole idea of the petro-dollar will go up in a puff of sulfur-free diesel smoke. That's why the price of gold is climbing: Everyone's trying to make sure they have more of it that anyone else, and at least enought to cover their debts. But that presents a problem. How much will that be?
* Whoops! More high-profile names associated with Jeffrey Epstein! Katie Couric, Chelsea Handler, George Stephanopolis, and ... WOODY ALLEN! (No surprise there, eh?)
* And more victims, too! Maria and Annie Farmer were apparently crying foul on Epstein long before anyone else.
* Remember I told you that Epstein's wasn't the only candy-store in town? Well, it looks like another one has just turned up: Liliana del Carmen Campos Puello. And the evidence looks pretty damning. And, of course, boats are involved.
* Absolutely nobody has any respect at all for French president Emmanuel Macron.
* Another suspicious death!
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England is doomed
Hopefully Boris can save them, but I doubt it.
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Day is now officially night
American leftists are denouncing the Hong Kong protestors.
In my opinion, Antifa members ought not be jailed, but rather exchanged, one for one, for Hong Kong's protestors. Let each of them have what they want.
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Crafts
There's a saying in German, "Handarbeit hat goldener Boden." (Hand-crafts have a golden floor.) What this means is that, like the farmer's produce, the labor of skilled workers is always in need. Even if you hit the floor, that floor is made of gold. Just dig.
Having mastered a couple of skills myself, I'm always pleased and impressed to see the work of others who've done the same. One of my skills now allows me to work from home. At least for now. But us so-called 'knowledge workers' aren't the only ones blessed with that option. The fellow who has mastered the craft of building these very specialized Jeep engines also works from home, or rather in a workshop he's clearly attached to his home. And he delivers a product that is in demand because it is so rare and so superior. Sure, his clientele is a very particular and small crowd, but that's enough to keep him going.
But how did he do this?
Well, for one, he didn't just invest in his skills, but in his tools, too.
Every craftsman, no matter how skilled, is just someone else's day-laborer until he has his own tools, and a place to keep them.
So, start with the skill, then the tools, then a place to keep them.
That's why I'm using four different computers right now, all connected to a private network, a curved, 40-inch, 4K monitor, custom keyboard (with backup), multiple headsets, speakers, cameras, etc. for video-conferencing, a real desk, two professional-grade chairs, and the fastest internet connection that I can reasonably afford.
Even this web-site you're reading right now is being hosted on one of those machines.
And that's another piece: Keep expanding your skills. Learn how to use new tools. Maybe even invent your own tools, and market them.
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The Sign of the Coming of the Son of Man
This is the work of a facebook acquaintance of mine based on the works of Anthony E. Larson.
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From my playlist
Today's focus will be on Kate Bush.
Maybe you never heard of her. Maybe you just forgot about her. But Kate Bush was the example that all the other 'unusual' girls were trying so desperately to emulate. But, unlike all the other pretenders, Kate was the real deal. She invented odd. But, oh, that music!
I first heard her music back in 1979, soon after having returned to Germany, courtesy of the US Air Force. My roommate sympathized with my desire to avoid becoming a barracks-rat, like so many of my colleagues already had, so he invited me to join him and his date to a local dance club. And, wow, was that an education.
German girls practically invented male intimidation, sometimes even choosing to dance with each other rather than suffer any offers from any of the males in the place should they find the night's offerings so uninspiring. (And, no, I am in no way exagerrating.) So, other than my very obvious American attire, I didn't look at all out of place nursing my apple juice (the standard alternative for designated drivers, dry drunks, and anyone else not wanting to drink beer), and actually listening to the music ... if you can call it that.
It was my first experience at this dance-club thing, so I wasn't really accustomed the clever way the DJs would blend one song into the next so smoothly that the entire evening sounded like one, long, unbroken (and very irritating) (to a Yes fan) song. But, occasionally, they would break the monotony with something else.
This was when I was introduced to Boney M.'s Rasputin. (Not hard to see why they'd play that, eh?)
Interesting.
And then ... Kate Bush.
What the ... ?!
Wuthering Heights
Remember, if they don't play, click on the title above the video.
I didn't say I liked it, but I was curious. (Maybe you noticed some similarities between her and Cecilia Bartoli?) And, when Pat Benatar covered it on her next album, I started paying closer attention. I even bought her albums, all two of them, at that point, a single military guy having next to nothing else to blow his paycheck on, but that turned out to be one of her milder ... um ... shows? I mean, of course the albums didn't have the video, but I would see them in various places, German TV shows, etc., and what you saw really changed what you heard in a way that was entirely new to me. And all I could say was ... wow.
Wow
Indeed. Wow.
But, then, I saw this ... this ... performance.
Babooshka
Like I said, she invented odd.
Some people really like this, but, to me, she just went from one weird to the next.
The Dreaming
The name comes from native Australians' Dream Time, which is worth learning about.
Sorry for dragging you all through all that ... uh ... art. But, it was necessary for my next point, and that is that a lot of artists go through a phase like that. Not necessarily bad, just, perhaps, a bit too avant-garde for most. Even me. Trust me, Simon & Garfunkel went through the same thing. And you probably won't even want to hear any of that.
Now, don't get me wrong. I didn't dislike her music, and I found her stage presence absolutely captivating, and I was listening to a lot of Vangelis at this time, too (talk about weird!), but, even so, none of it really tripped my aesthetic senses. I listened more out of a sense of fascination than anything else. I even started recording her music videos off my then girlfriend's TV just to watch this ... stuff? I mean, this girl clearly had talent in spades. And you just couldn't take your eyes off her.
And then, something changed from one album to the next with no transition or evolution whatsoever. Kate's music became more melodic, less conflicted, and much more aesthetic. Suddenly, Kate's music was turning up on the hit lists.
Perhaps you recall this one.
Running up that Hill
It did pretty well here in the states, too.
And, while it looked like Kate felt that, all her obvious talent and advantages notwithstanding, she would have to pander after the social justice market in order to make her mark, this was the first and last we would see/hear of such things from her. Well, I mean, excluding that earlier one of a jealous wife stabbing her not-really philandering husband to death. (Missed that? Go back and watch closely. What's she doing to that double-bass? Why does she meet him with a sword?) That wasn't feminazism; just run-of-the-mill jealousy. That said, this little jab at the much-ballyhooed glass ceiling did provide her with her biggest hit ever. But that says more about other women (and too many men) than it does about her.
As for me, I found other fare on that album much more rewarding.
The Big Sky
Welcome to Kate Bush 2.0
And notice that you still really get to see Kate's unusual style in that video, but it's much more ... I don't know ... sane? Plus, she's no longer the only one on screen.
I became an even bigger fan of her work. Many years later, when our kids were beginning to get interested in music, I made mp3 players with 'approved' content. And not just for parental control, mind you, but also to give them a broader and deeper appreciation of the current culture by knowing its past, hearing the music that came before, rather than just what their friends might introduce them to. (My kids are pretty big 1980s music fans as a result.) Naturally, I also included all my favorites from Kate's albums, too, so, yes, my kids are also very familiar with her work.
Even more remarkably, it was my kids who were soon introducing their friends to the music from their own playlists (which was really my playlist), because, as they still maintain, nothing today tops the eighties.
About the same time, my daughter, Gabi, was becoming a weather fanatic, and that because I flew a lot in those days, commuting between our home in Idaho Falls, and Houston, where I worked. As such, weather was always a major concern, so she watched the Weather-Channel obsessively. She even fell in love with that movie, Twister, and we watched it together many times. She spoke often of becoming a daddy-daughter storm-chasing team. She even bought me a Weather-Channel tie that I wore so much, I literally wore it out. (I miss that tie.)
So, this one reminds me of my little Gabi-maus, and those days.
Cloudbusting
That machine is actually a WWI aircraft detection megaphone.
Who knows? Maybe one day...
Love and Anger
Bush's answer to Robert Plant's Addicted to Love, and yet another sheer magical lead guitar.
When an artist's work is used in a movie soundtrack, especially an entire song, rather just a few seconds, you know they've arrived. And this was certainly one of her best pieces so far, and even one of the best music videos ever, ...
This Woman's Work
From the 1988 movie, She's Having a Baby
Remember what I said about the keyboard(ist)s being the only instrument/artist in the band that can stand entirely on its own.
And I do really love that one, but, my favorite Kate Bush song has to be, ...
Moments of Pleasure
Not to be missed is the acoustic version I put in the linked playlist below. It's beautiful.
I can't quite put my finger on it ... yet ... but this one moves me.
I've assembled a chronological list of her work here, just in case you'd like to listen to it all, and decide for yourself.
Enjoying these? We've got a lot more to cover. I'm lining up John Denver, Vangelis, Herbert Grönemeyer, Falco, Richard Wagner, Peter Maffay, Ludwig van Beethoven, Gustav Holst, Blue October, and many, many more. So this could take years.
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