Happy New Year

Happy Holidays

MAGA

How about a read on our lack of comprehension about the poorer qualities of living in America and our mythology of our own national exceptionalism?

That sounds fun doesn't it.

Really though, it is worth a read.
Here is a snip.-

There is a myth of exceptionalism in America that prevents it from looking outward, and learning from the world. It is made up of littler myths about greed being good, the weak deserving nothing, society being an arena, not a lever, for the survival of the fittest — and America is busy recounting those myths, not learning from the world, in slightly weaker (Democrats) or stronger (Republicans) forms. Still, the myths stay the same — and the debate is only really about whether a lightning bolt or a thunderstorm is the just punishment from the gods for the fallen, and a palace or a kingdom is the just reward for the cunning.
Hence, I have never once sees in America a leader saying, “hey! See that British healthcare system? That German union and pension system? Why don’t we propose that? They work!!” Instead, the whole American debate is self-referential — pundits debating Andrew Jackson (LOL) instead of, say, what the rest of the world does today in 2017.

Perhaps this is a context thing.

I remember reading that many Americans thought international travel was too dangerous.
An opinion developed by watching Liam Neison movies...
Really.
Those kidnapping ones.

Anyway...


Link again.

Slick

Comparing tire compounds, no doubt.

Candles

Of course, candles the universal binder of humanity!

We just need more candles!

Dance

I like this.
Always been a fan of art challenging it's audience.
This is such a fun bit of interaction.
The object directing the motion of those hoping to experience it.

So, yeah...

Rubes

Yesterday, I was reading through some comments on a friends social media post.

It was a post about net neutrality.


And there it was, a comment plainly stating this was all about an Obama era enacted rule, impeding freedom.


That was posted by somebody I only know through the internet.
But a person that seemed cool, intelligent, maybe even worldly and with a slight conservative bend.

Others replied with shock, "Dude, have you looked at this issue at all?"


I am still a bit stunned by it.

What sort of blinders does one have to wear to come to that conclusion?
That this FCC move is about Obama stifling internet freedom?
Conservative media tunnel vision, is that it?

Fuck me, man...

Low information voters don't care much about access to information, I guess.

Pants

I am so vain I probably think this song is about me.



Or not...

Really, it's that time of year when I rotate between various Carhartt work pants until the thermostat again reaches above 70 degrees.
My routine.
The seasonal self-swaddling with wind resistant cotton duck and thermal fleece.
Which is probably so sexy that most people are too intimidated to talk to me.

That is probably it...

Endless Summer Bummer

I guess Bruce Brown passed?

Can't even count the number of times I have watched his movies...

Misfire

I was reading in Bloomberg earlier about the pricing slump in gun sales.

It impacting profits and stock prices among all of the manufacturers...


Seems without the constant drum beat of "they are coming for your guns" that has stoked sales for the past few years, the supply/demand ratio is all outta whack in the market.
It is driving a price war at the retail level, thought to be unsustainable.

Manufacturing levels are too high, margins are dropping, stock prices falling, all around band news for the gun business...


Who knew that the NRA's dream of a pro-gun administration would be bad for the companies it lobbies for...


Article here, if you want a look.

Frost

Not a post about Robert Frost...
Perhaps a reminder to go reread something by that Frost however.


No, this is a post about normal morning frost.

Being the first winter I have spent here, it is interesting to see how the weather is different from past places I have called home.

This morning was different.


The cold has settled in here for a few weeks.
Lows in the twenties at night, recently dipping into the teens...
It has been clear, largely, so the front slipping through town last night was a bit sneaky.
I could feel it arrive, those teen temps warmed up to mid-twenties in about an hours time.

This morning, as the sun came up, things looked a bit different.
At first I thought it had snowed, the world had a crystaline veneer.
Not snow though, but heavy frost covering roof tops, the street, the trees...

Sun filtered through a fog.
Not thick fog, but very present and seemingly frozen.
A sheer curtain of mist.

As that fog has burned off, slowly the frost recedes.
Sun rising has gotten the roof tops steaming, but only on one side.
The shade keeping this skim frozen coating in place...
Even still, at mid day.


I have been pleased every morning I see a sunrise light up these mountains faces.
Those bluebird, clear days, when the peaks seem to be illuminated from within.
The clarity seems to be heightened as the temperatures have dropped.
The views, somehow, improved.

But seeing this frost was beyond average window scraping fodder.
Something I had not seen before, I guess...
Sure, frost is frost is frost.
The combination of the cold and fog, how heavily it covered the ground was it's own combination.
Quite lovely to see.