Hysteria, Cont'd

Yeah, so I mentioned headlight stands and their relationship with the world economy yesterday.







It was a thinking day, you know, when you think about things.
That blue tape was part of the thinking, it's where the headers relate to the grill, sorta.







I think about hotrod shit and the rest of the goings on in the world.
And I didn't like the current media firestorm surrounding the economy and the headlight stands I made to go with the last grill.








So I made some new headlight stands today.
I had the other car out of the garage and some time to spend.
I was busy with that, so I didn't fix the economy.







It might make more sense with that same damned cardboard hood top I keep putting on the T.
Really, some day, I will make a proper hood.

I like these/this stand(s) a lot more - it works better with this revised nose.

The lights should flop around less, 'cause they are connected.
It seems a bit more old-timey, or period correct though I am not going for any hotrod time period here.

There are moments when I think I am pretty fuckin' cool.

But that moment has passed, there is garbage that needs to find it's way to the curb. The other car needs to get back into the garage. I need some food.

Hysteria

Yes, somebody lied.

We bought it.
Hook, line and sinker.

I have been pondering headlight stands in the garage all day, and macro-economics.

Divergent thoughts, sure, but that is how I work.
Everything is part of the whole, you know.
The locations of headlights on a Model T relate to the world in a larger sense.

I have been thinking about contemporary media and it’s impact on our current economic situation. Thinking about how our current 24-7 feed of how bleak things are impact our perceptions of the national and global sector.

It wasn’t too long ago that these folks were extolling the greatness of our situation.

If I had a stick to beat all of the people that told me “this is the greatest time to buy a house” – I would wear the stick out.

When you look into their eyes, you can see the sorrow and disbelief.
Somebody lied.
And people believed it.

And we are, perhaps, in the same situation now.
Things are bad, but they are bad in part from the same mass hysteria that generated the housing boom.
If enough folks say that the roof is on fire, you are gonna run out of the building.

As I have been thinking about headlight stands, I have been thinking about this.

There are a great number of experts who said the markets could never fail. The same people who are now saying they might never recover. And their audience still believes them.

That is the rub, for me.

I have, previously, mentioned my distaste for the irrational beliefs of constant growth planning. Really, constant growth? How is that possible?
Yet here we are, gob-smacked that things have gotten worse.
In spite of the fact that we started to believe our own untruths.

We wanted to believe in the lies that the financial “experts” were saying. If the experts believe it, who are we to argue.
But these same experts didn’t believe, as evidenced by swings driven by trivial market reporting.

The experts have demonstrated a lack of confidence by allowing their decision making to be impacted entirely by short term financial reporting.
And continue to do so.

So, sack up, financial experts – or shut up.

There are things to believe in.
But you have to believe in them.
There are industries that will be essential to the world, going forward.
I could illustrate them, but my earnest interest in them is not enough, it is our collective initiative that is required to drive any manner of recovery.
Half-witted Ponzi schemes and media driven mania are our current bailiwick.
Finding true value and investing in it are essential.
Value that contributes to both national and global health and success.

The media has not said this, in part, because the experts have not said this.
The experts won’t say it because they key off of the media, in part.
The feedback loop is continuous.
The lying is perpetuated.

I can look you in the eyes and tell you that I can make something out of a raw hunk of steel – and then do that.
Because I believe I can.
And I then do.
That force and singularity of vision is what is required to drive any recovery.
There are people and industries with that same will, that are will be the future of our economy, which deserve investment review.

I could fall in line and think that the sky is falling, the markets are crashing and the world is ending – but I won’t
The people saying those things are the same that told us all, two years ago, that we would see DOW at 40,000. They said that AIG and Citi were solid. They liked Madoff.
They believed their own lies.

When enough people tell you how great something is, it is reason to be suspect.
The Cheesecake Factory is a fine example of this phenomenon.
The Cheesecake Factory is not great.
It is marginal, at best – but they give you a shit ton of food, so people like it.
Somebody that loves a shit ton of food told their pals it was great and it went from there.

Enough people said the market was great, so everybody believed it.

Somebody lied.

I think I know what to do about the headlight stands, by the way.

History

The Savage Hippy

Ya know, the Melvins fuckin' rock.

The Savage Hippy, from their latest.

Fremont Friday Finale

A bit of the In-N-Out?

You'd like that, huh?

A bit of the old In-N-Out for you?


Also a decent burger, that also gives opportunity to make bawdy jokes like a twelve year old pervert.

The whole "secret menu" thing kinda bugs me - because they tell you there is some secret code menu, and publish it.
I guess you are supposed to commit the "secret menu" to memory.

And I remember enough to prefer my two-by-three animal style...

Dick's

They make a good burger at Dick's.

Plus you get to make all of the obvious dick jokes, when planning your trip to Dick's.


C'mon, you know you are craving Dick's.

You probably can't wait to get your hands on some Dick's.


I could go on like that hours, because I am still a juvenile.

If only they served Beaver brand mustard, at Dick's.
I presume that beyond of the culinary concerns, they choose to not use the Beaver brand solely to save themselves from folks like me.

Phew!

Boy, did you know we came this close to getting smacked by an astroid?





Sure, it is not a massive astroid, but still folks say it would have done some serious damage.
I mean if it hit a city.
It could have, alternately, started a tsunami.


We were so close to sending Bruce Willis and Ban Affleck up in a space shuttle, because when the fate of humanity is on the line people find it comforting to see familiar faces.



And those guys have acted like they know how to save the world.

Everybody agreed, we could probably do without Ben Affleck if things went wrong.

Bruce Willis always seems to make it through those tough situations, like in Die Hard or the losing of Demi Moore to that Ashton dude, so we were less worried about him. He can take care of himself.



A pretty close call...


AIG is already losing $460,000 a minute.
Just imagine if they had a bunch of claims to pay out on top of that.

Storms Ahead for Golf

I was watching CNBC last week, their show The Call with Larry Kudlow.
It has taken me some time to digest what I saw.

Larry Kudlow was incensed, outraged even, that all of this increases oversight of the financial industry was going to have a giant impact on the golf industry.




You read that right, Kudlow spent a half an hour going on about the golf industry.

It seems with all of this bail-out attention, banks and financial companies are reducing or withdrawing their sponsorship from professional golf events.

Apparently, some people think it is bad to use several million dollars of tax payer subsidy to sponsor pro golf tournaments.








Don't people realize how much networking happens at these golf tournament sponsor tents - Kudlow seethed?

Think of all of the deals that have been made at these functions.
(Never mind that the deals that were made at the last few years worth of golf tour tents has driven the world economies into the crapper.)


And then there are all of the bags and clubs, the polo shirt sales.

Folks who have outsourced all of their manufacturing count on sales of golf accessories - and are an active part of this countries economy, sort of.

Balls, think about all of the balls that go into the golfing industry.


(Think about the balls it takes to be outraged that the companies receiving billions of dollars in bail-out funds are reducing sponsorships for a golf tournament, due to pressure from tax-payers and representatives from Congress - and then spout off about it on national television.)

Larry Kudlow was fairway sprinkler of discontent.





Think about the caddies.
Those tireless teenagers, who dream of one day working the circuit as a professional looper.


Think about the market speculators who will now have to network in a significantly smaller hospitality tent with a cash bar.


Think about how all of this god-damned government oversight of where TARP funds are being spent is going to destroy the golf industry.

The golf industry, people!
This is serious.

Wanna Burger?

I am kinda craving a good burger...


Giant isn't bad for burgers.
They do make giant burgers.

Not my favorite burger, though.


The good ones are usually at the old-timey places, dives.

I had great burger at some weird golf-course diner thing, over in Okla-fornia.
But that was months ago.

Small town burgers are usually better than city burgers, I have also noticed.

There is Diablo Burger, between me and Sacto.
It is, likely, the economic center of the little town it is in.
They do make a devilishly good burger.

Joe Brown's, up in Vancouver, is the epitome of old-timey, small town dive.
They also make a good burger.
And malted milkshakes, though the staff will resent your ordering one.

Commando

Do you suppose that she is going commando, on her Commando?