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I spent the day painting yesterday. There are quite a few different techniques for painting, and this set of techniques is particularly esoteric, but I'm pleased with the results.

First, I took a piece of glass, and ran it fairly perpendicular to the ground at speeds around 60 mph. You have to catch floating organic sacules in the air onto the glass, and you have to catch them at certain times of day when they are most abundant. It takes several passes over several miles to spread the organic material properly. Plus, I added extra weight to the glass to ensure the effect would work well. (For enthusiasts, I used several tons of metal, inside of which were several more tons of organic material, in this case grain.)

Then, it's a waiting game, waiting for the sky to achieve a proper hue, dim enough to meld with incandescent lights covered with colored plastic lenses. Placing the glass at the correct chosen distance, the skylight and the incandescent lights have an approximate similar luminescence for proper exposure to be captured by a cell phone camera. The accrued organic material on the plate glass captures incandescent light while pairing with the proper amount of skylight to a degree which doesn't require artificial saturation or any other post-fabrication manipulation.

Whether the results please anyone besides myself remains to be seen.

=M=

P.S. Another way to say it is I was driving grain yesterday, and took a photo at the end of the day, but that isn't very exciting, now, is it.

1 week ago | [YT] | 9

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Dear subscribers,

This week I'll have some songs for you exploring the topic of Folk music. Music genres are very interesting when you dig into them, they range from very general to very specific, often fusing together multiple genres. An example, Bluegrass players who like Jazz and incorporate Jazz into their music might call their music Jazz Grass, or something to that effect.

In the 90s, I was growing up with Punk Rock, but was exposed to multiple other genres as well. One of my musical heroes then and now is Ian MacKaye, who was instrumental in propelling the Punk scene in Washington DC in the 80s and 90s. If you're able, please enjoy this excerpt of an interview with him discussing some introductory thoughts on music.

https://youtu.be/GiE-jX-VLSk?si=sW9Ye...

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4 months ago | [YT] | 2

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I made this phrase to capture the rhythm and melody of the song, as subtly as possible, hoping you might not notice. Did you notice? 😉

youtube.com/shorts/raGWm7QWc2...

4 months ago | [YT] | 0

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Let's give it a try!

Big numbers can really be boggling, as I mentioned before. Stories in the news use big numbers, and it's difficult to get any sense of what they mean, how they translate. I saw some big numbers recently that we can use to hone the skill of understanding big numbers.

Recently I heard we'll be purchasing some new fighter jets, the F-47. I figured I'd try my short hand formula I described earlier to get a sense of the purchase.

As I mentioned, there are approximately 333,000,000 people in America, so if each person put $3 on a table, it would equal $1 Billion.

As I understand, one F-47 costs $20 Billion. So 20 x $3 = $60. One F-47 costs each American $60 per person. So ten(10) F-47s costs $600 per person. One hundred (100) F-47s costs $6,000 per person.

From what I can tell, we are purchasing between 200 - 250 F-47s. The total for two hundred (200) F-47s is $12,000 per person.

As for the total, regarding two hundred (200) F-47s, it would be 200 x $20 Billion, which equals $4 Trillion.

I don't know if this short hand system is helpful or not, but I thought we could give it a try! There are lots of big numbers out there that are difficult to understand. Don't get me started on the speed of light 😂

=M=

P.S. Kind of a fun one: In over-the-road trucking, truck drivers sometimes use "one million miles" as a marker, a measurement of time and distance on the road. That's somewhere the equivalent of going to the moon and back TWICE!! A very impressive amount of driving! That's like driving coast to coast, round trip, approximately one hundred twenty-five (125) times🤯

5 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 6

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Do you know what this is? I was in need of one of these, and there happened to be one on hand. Unbelievably so.

Now, is it possible, in this wide world of activities on planet earth, innumerable pursuits ot every sort, that this item wound up handy at the exact time that I was needing it, exhibiting a presence of mind boggling statistical anomaly? OR is it possible that there are certain types of activities that are sort of linked together, traveling through time and space with a functional relativity?

I had used this item growing up. Had I not used it growing up, I could have looked at it, the VERY item I needed at that moment, and not known what it is for, how it's used, or that it was even there TO be used.

But I did know what it was, and what it was for, and how to use it.

Almost ALL medicine comes from plants. Almost ALL of it. Because plants contain various chemical elements in particular combinations that can be beneficial for causing certain reactions. The day I saw this item, I was in need of specific nutrients, quite desperately. Perhaps even medically. I needed to steam vegetables that contain life-altering nutrients. And when I looked, it was there. Had I never seen this item before, I wouldn't even have known what it was or what it does.

But I had seen one before. I saw this item in the kitchens of my family. My mother, my grandmother, my aunts. I saw it used, I knew what it did. And on this day, it was in a totally unfamiliar kitchen, a non-family kitchen. Is it an incalculable coincidence? OR is it that certain kinds of ideas are hooked together, travel together, live together throughout space and time.

I associate this item, this foldable basket for steaming vegetables, with life, with health, with love, with family, with survival, with emergency AND fun, with necessity AND luxury, with the past AND the future.

After I steamed vegetables in this basket because I knew what it was and how to use it, I felt a LOT healthier. It may even have saved my life that day. And I learned that from my family, and found that other families teach their family members the same important worthwhile practices.

I don't think it's so bizarre that I found that cooking item that day; I think some ideas travel in bundles, packs, groups.

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5 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 8

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A person can glaze over listening to numbers, especially large numbers, causing disengagement. I'd like to share with you a technique I use to understand some of the large numbers of the world's financial discussions. This technique can apply to any country, really, but with different numbers than I use here in America. Anyhow, I've been using this technique for quite a few years now, and it helps me feel less lost when the discussions come up.

It goes like this: In America, there is approximately one third (1/3) of a billion people. If you divide one billion into three, the answer is 333,333,333,333, which is approximately how many people in America. SO, to consider $1 Billion, it equates to $3 per person. To put it another way, if every American were to put three dollars on a table, it would equal $1 Billion.

"One Billion dollars" means "three dollars per person."

Three dollars per person in one year equates to around one penny per day. So, if every person in America put a penny in a jar for one year, at the end of the year there would be an approximate total of $1 Billion.

Let's say America needed to raise $10 Billion in one year, it would equate to each person putting a dime in a jar each day.

If you have trouble understanding these large numbers like I do, I hope this technique can be of some service to you.

5 months ago | [YT] | 4

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"Name that tune" conclusion

I had to go the long way around to tell you about this particular peculiarity about music.

What I was attempting to do was to play you a song, which you probably know, in a manner by which you might not recognize it. The tune is the theme song to the Popeye cartoon, "I'm Popeye the Sailor Man." My hope is that, if you hear it again, it might be immediately recognizable.

Music is a bizarre form, in some ways, making it a unique pursuit with its own set of principles to access. It is even possible to make jokes in a song, playing a part of a song a certain way or adding a song inside another song.

In the Popeye theme song, it uses "Sailor's Hornpipe" in the middle of it, which I do play in my performance. Sailor's Hornpipe is also part of the "Barnacle Bill" song Drew mentions in the comments.

Now that you know all of this, I hope a second listen will be entertaining on an additional level!

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6 months ago | [YT] | 6

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R e p a i r
__________________________________

I quite enjoy repairing things. I don't always know how to repair everything, but I'm usually more than happy to take a look, to explore whatever trouble is the case. Usually I'll learn something along the way. There are, in fact, times I enjoy letting go of an object and purchasing a new one, but it can really be satisfying to repair a thing and keep it going.

Some years ago, twenty perhaps, I decided to figure out how to keep guitar strings functioning after they break. I've found a few different methods, over the years, that work fairly well, and I've surely lost track of how many strings I've repaired. They don't all work again, on a guitar, but sometimes they'll still work for a different instrument.

If all else fails, I'll use the pieces of string for something else - to hang a photograph, to make a tool or a sculpture, or who knows what else they might come in handy for at some point.

Currently, my guitar has three strings that broke and I've repaired. Two of them are visible in the picture, the third required a different method which is not visible.

Much of life seems this way to me: something fails, we pause and assess, determine what is necessary to continue, then take the appropriate action. Sometimes everything necessary to get back in action is already available at one's fingertips.

I hope your day is without failing of any sort, and if there is a failing that it's merely a momentary snag in time. May the melody continue.

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6 months ago | [YT] | 5

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G e n e r a t i o n s
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Do you ever think about generations? To me, it's a fascinating subject, and it has been, ever since I knew there was such a thing.

I suppose the first generation I knew about was the Baby Boomer generation. My guess is I found out about it at the same time as learning a couple other elements, so those elements were tied together for a certain amount of time. As time passes, the elements become clearer and more distinct from each other. What I initially found out - while I was in my teens - was that there had been quite a shift in society in the 60s, because of a boom in people having children after WWII, and that that group of people includes my own parents.

Tied together, in this one lesson, are quite a few elements:
1) There are things called generations, which affect society, both society of yesteryear and society of right now.
2) There are other generations, both before and after the Baby Boomers.
3) There could be reasons my parents and I have the relationship we do that have more to do with larger forces than our individual concerns; that it might not be easy to distinguish between individual activities and generational activities.
4) There are new generations happening all the time, each having been affected by formers, and each affecting latters, to whatever degree.
5) Generational effects could tie into our individual questions in life regarding topics like parenting, government, authority, safety, community, finances.

It was quite a revelation to me when I first heard of generations. You might say it was "mind blowing" or "boggling", but no matter what you call it, it was overwhelming. It was overwhelming because the evidence is so readily apparent and so immediately apparent. I could turn on the news and see it. I could have a conversation with almost anyone and see it. "See it", see what, exactly? I could see how generational knowledge was affecting our decisions on an individual level.

While I was finding out about generations, there were examples of the undulations happening before my eyes. Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" hitting the airwaves. A second Woodstock. The Mtv "Unplugged" series. Meanwhile, bands I was in were renting halls and clubs to hold events, halls and clubs built by former generations. And I knew that my grandparents and great-grandparents had somehow provided for us. They had built those clubs and halls, and passed along attitudes that were open enough yet secure enough to accommodate what we were trying to do, here, many years later. They had provided a space and a spirit for us to explore what we needed to explore.

This is how I found out that generations exist, and that generations matter. It's how I found out that what we do now can provide for or diminish resources for people living decades later. Here I was, a mere teenager in the 90s, hoping our generation would be providers, after having witnessed the provisions left behind by my own grandparents and great-grandparents.

Having found out about generational topics calmed many worries in my life on the individual level. It diminished the rebel spirit, the "rat in a cage" feeling. It helped me look for what really matters in life, and how to distinguish it from the petty, the passing, the cheap. It helped distinguish the individual desire from the generational, or even national or human desire, to be free and happy in a way we know is worthwhile and betters the world for those who will be here decades after we are gone.

Look at all the stuff, in the world, left behind by previous generations and by current ones. it is honestly fascinating to consider all the various efforts that have taken place in order to accomplish this or that goal. How many times we have thought "if we just do this one thing, just buy this one product etc., everything will be solved."

In all honesty, I enjoy the look back. I can also say I enjoy the look forward. Perhaps it can most easily be said that I enjoy the view from this time in my life. I owe that bit of joy to the knowledge of generations, a most fascinating lens through which to view this mortal coil.

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6 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 2

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City and Country

Recently, I was thinking about the time I've spent in city life compared to time I've spent in rural life. There are many differences, but many similarities, too, tons of them.

One difference I found was that, in a busy densely populated area of an urban setting, there are often sizable laundromats. They become your laundromat because of your time spent, regularly going there to do laundry. It's almost an extension of home after a while.

There are common answers to the problems posed of transporting, washing, folding clothes, timing washers and dryers with fellow patrons etc. Often you might see a neighbor with a fold up two wheel wire cart, common and perfect, rolling down the sidewalk and you know where they're headed.

A thing I found incredibly fun about this experience was the merchandise a laundromat might have for sale, including laundry bags. This is a laundry bag from the laundromat in my old neighborhood. These bags lent an air of pride for one's home laundromat. Going from neighborhood to neighborhood, you could see various different laundry bags in wire carts rolling down the sidewalks, and those bags were like flags denoting ones neighborhood and one's devotion this local source of cleanliness!

The city can be full of wonders like this. You almost have to experience them to know they exist; they don't often get brought up, I suppose, because they lack the sensationalism we seem to crave. The same can be said of the country. Some things about this world just take time and first hand experience to know.

Myself, I deeply love both urban and rural experience, and the wide array in between.

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8 months ago | [YT] | 5