I'm Going to Explain Something That No One Else Seems Able To

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The US Stock Market.  At least within the context of the last decade and probably the next decade.  It is all about the value of the US dollar.

The value of the dollar goes down and the Stock Market, (which is a market of stocks), Oil, Gold and all other assets priced in dollars goes up. If the dollar, which was worth a dollar yesterday is only worth 98 cents today, people want more dollars for the same basket of goods.

When the value of the dollar goes up convincingly, all of this stuff goes down.  That's it.  That's all you need to know.

Watch it and you will see that 90+% of the time even to the day that the US dollar rallies  and goes up in value, the market heads down.  More specifically, it is re-priced down.  I say 90+% of the time because the 'market' is not a Swiss Watch.  If it were and were always logical on each and every day it would be too easy to profit from.  People would program their computers to trade and everyone would get rich.  An impossibility.

Anyway, an easy way to think of it is:  When the value of the dollar goes down, OPEC wants more dollars for their one and only world distributed product - oil.  Gold is also easily correlated to movements in the value of the dollar.  Dollar up, gold down.  Dollar down, Gold up.

By the way, don't you love it when they show a picture of stock trading floor traders looking worried or holding their heads in their hands becuase the DOW went down 150 points?  These people make money both ways, coming and going. Please...

The market has been rallying and has lately been held up because of all of The Fed's actions which served to devalue the dollar.  Specifically, the printing of trillions of dollars to buy/trade worthless mortgage paper from the banks and returning real money in the form of US Treasuries - that actually have some value.  They called that Quantitative Easing.  They should have called it Raping America with telephone poles.

The market itself is a bit more fuzzy because it is valued not only by the dollar but by the actions of specific companies.  eg. IBM doubles its sales and profit.  "The market" or at least IBM and Technology stocks are going up regardless.  IBM is worth more dollars even if the dollars are worth more.

I'm not waffling.  I'm saying that on 2 out of 100 days, the dollar and Gold or Oil or the Market or all of these have been up together.  That is an anomaly.  It won't stay that way for long. More than a day or two in fact.

So, when the person from CNN or ABC, or even the Wall Street Journal prints a story with a headline that reads "Stocks Rally on Big Black Friday Sales!" or "Stocks are Sold on Tensions in Middle East!", or any of that nonsense, just smile to yourself, look at what the dollar did and what the market did.

Why do "news people" - some of the dumbest people on Earth anyway - feel it necessary to try to explain the movements of the stock market?  Why don't they just say "Market Up (or Down) Today. No One Knows Why"

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Grey Goose Goes Ninja

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Grey Goose was a cool cat. Always laid back, always engaged with us and the rest of the kitties.  Later when he and his brothers got bigger, he would still love to play with the new foster kittens that came along.

When he sat in the LazyBoy, he would sit like a person would - right paw up on the armrest, back against the back, feet stretched out.  He loved to watch golf.

He was very creative.  Later on he made a hammock out of an Azalea bush..

Back when he was still a kitten though, I was in one of the bedrooms we used to take care of the foster kittens, and I picked him up to take his picture with the camcorder.  All of a sudden, he went Ninja and was vibrating like one of those gag buzzers people hide in their palm and shake your hand and it feels like an electric shock.  I was worried I might be hurting him somehow, so immediately dropped him to the blankets below.  He wasn't hurt, and it was pretty funny actually.  Here is the Vid.

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You Have GOT To Catch This One

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Les McCann, 2004, Germany, Local Musicians,  The Sax player is unreal.  The other people are only fantastic.

At one time, Les (or someone) had these removed.  At least this one is back.  I had posted a note to Mr McCann to either allow them on Youtube or tell me where I could buy the DVD. Don't know if he saw that or not :) But there is no DVD available that I can find.

There were 6 or 7 in this concert set. All fantastic.  I'll post the rest if I find them.

Anyway if you like jazz, you've got to catch this and the others if they re-appear. Get em while they're hot.

Cold Duck Time.  Which is a description of when the brain and body chemicals go haywire in your significant other and you have to wait for them to come back in balance to regain that joyful peace and harmony in your life..

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The Kitten Fostering Days

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So, I'm getting closer to editing a bunch of our video from the fostering days to put together a fun cat/kitten antics video, and I put this one together to start getting familiar with my new video editing software which happens to be Corel Video Studio Pro X3.  

The Mom is Suzie, the first cat we took in to foster and she was pregnant and promptly had Monique and Alphonse the same night my wife brought her home.  They're just a couple days old here.

Then a few days later, three orphaned kittens were brought to the shelter, so they were placed with us, since our Mom cat only had two and was nursing.  My wife was going on about how to rub some of the momma fur on them so she'd be more likely to accept them, as I was dropping them into the crate with Mom.  She took them in right away and began feeding and caring for them.  Those three turned out to be Little Bear, Big Bear and Grey Goose.

Anyway, the video is not real exciting but it's up on Youtube so here she blows.

Belated Veteran's Day - My Dad Served in World War Two

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Dad never told many stories about the war, but he walked all through Italy, France and Germany as an Infantry Sergeant from 1942 through VE Day. 

(btw tissue alert maybe at the end of the post. Was for me anyway)

Here are a couple stories he told us.

• He was in France and an appreciative French family gave him a couple bottles of wine at their residence. He put them inside his jacket near his chest,facing up. After they had left and were making their way through a field, some Germans started shooting at them. As they ran for the cover of the trees, one of the bottles of wine, excited by the up and down motion, popped its cork, hitting my Dad in the chin and making him think he had been shot. He had not been shot.
• He said they were walking down a street in Italy once and a sniper shot and hit his buddy in the belt buckle dropping his pants. They ducked behind a wall and got things back together.
• He told us about the statues he saw of Pompeii volcano victims and it was obvious that some of these people were buried in ash before they even knew something was happening. Some were standing or in other positions, and by the body language were quite relaxed and unaware.
• He said he carried an M1 because “You couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn with a Thompson machine gun”

That was it. That’s all he ever told us and later when we asked about stuff, his answers were honest but short. We didn't ask a lot.  He wasn’t interested on rehashing or reliving any of it. Not with us anyway. And I don’t think with any of his buddies either. He liked Comedy and Variety shows on TV like The Carol Burnett or the Red Skelton show. If some tear jerker came on he’d say something like “Well, this looks like a real laugher” and go somewhere else.

Some of my memories that are about him and not me...

• He had me on our slate roof, 50 feet off the ground when I was 4, and had me tied to a piece of rope which he held and was wrapped around the chimney, while I repaired something about the gutter that I can no longer remember.
• He had me mixing cement in a wheel barrow when I was 6 or so, and laying down some new sidewalk squares. 3 of them. With the troweled edges and all. When I was 7 and 8, we rebuilt the front porch deck. Hammer and nails and nail sets and circular saws.
• About the same time, he had my brother and I (who was also in some of the above projects) down in the basement shooting cigarette butts with single shot .22 rifle at about 50 feet.
• He had my brother and I tearing our bicycles down to their shorts and putting them back together.
• When we were about 4 and 5,he drove us out to one of the roads very near the Greater Pittsburgh Airport in line with the runway, and as a plane came in to land, very low above us, we ducked and he slapped the top of the car and told us the plane’s landing gear had careened off the roof. We believed him.  Later on, we watched one of the first Boeing 707 jets taking off from the "Observation Deck" of the Greater Pittsburgh Airport. A thing of the past to never return.
• During those years, every time we came home from somewhere in the car, he’d pull most of the way into the garage, then tell my brother and I to hop out, go up front and blow out the headlights. We did it. By then we knew the score, but it was fun anyway. Man, I can still smell the car and feel the heat coming out of the front grill as we did that even right this very moment.

He was a heck of a fun Dad and even then we appreciated him a lot.

When he was younger, before and after the war, he had a Harley, an Indian '80, and a Henderson inline 4 cylinder motorcycle. Not at the same time. Once we started to show up, he got rid of them. 

He told us he and his riding buddies would put copper contacts on the wheel rims and install lights and the wiring and contacts necessary to light them up while they rode. Must have been quite a sight. Sorry no pictures. I’d never even seen a picture of that but I’m sure it’s all true.

He had one beer a night, and on Christmas Eve, he had a beer and some cookies we left out for Santa.

Here are some pictures.  I believe they are all prior to his deployment to Europe as none of them depict his rank of Sergeant.  I think now, he didn't take any pictures post WWII in uniform. Rather he was done with it.  I know what some but not all of what the medals and insignias mean.  I'll be posting this every Veteran's day now and add whatever I've been able to learn in the meantime.

I sure miss him, but at the same time, I'm happy he isn't around to see this Cluster of a country he fought so hard for. It would kill him.  I remember one of his oft spoken phrases even back in the 1970's was 'Aw Bullshit!'.  Can't imagine what that would be in 2011.

 The "Kidney Belt" was necessary.  Harley's in those days would vibrate the kidneys right out of your body.

 I remember he said when he got back on break after boot camp, he could do 250 push ups. Wish I could.  That's a Pontiac on the right, not sure about the left. Buick?

Here is the paper money he brought back from the war.  Not sure how Mexico got involved, but thought it was interesting the serial numbers were sequential on these El Banco De Chihuahau notes. Front and back.

Note the 50 cent paper money below.

Backside..

Here is Dad and Mom after the war.  My one year older brother is on the left, and I'm on the right.  Later on, a little sister and a little brother arrived on the scene. At first glance it looks like I might be upset about something but my Mom told me later, I was actually pre-occupied and obsessed with pondering Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, which had just been released a couple years earlier.. Makes sense.

Anyway, they're all gone now.

I Love you Dad.  You were a lot cooler than I'll ever be.

I Love you Mom.

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I'm Sure I'm Not the Only One

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Who looks at the House of Representatives and the Senate as little more than a pathetic bunch of Incompetent, Thieving, Self-absorbed, Not interested in America, No ideas, Blame everyone else Worthless, Money sucking, Country killing vermin.

Generally speaking of course.  Marco Rubio is someone I'd put on the good side of the ledger, along with some others, and of course feel free to pick your own White Hat Team.

But it's just getting Insulting isn't it?  The "Gang of Six".  Six morons self-admittedly stupid enough to come out of a closet, having no idea of the current events regards the deadline on extending the debt, with an absurd governmental-economic "plan" that oblabber grabbed and touted as a "bipartisan" agreement to continue screwing America.  Gang of Six?  Oh, Huffity-Puffity-Puff Puff Puff - We're the Gang of Six!   Really ?  Get over your damn selves already!

Then we got the "Super Committee". Here we go again!  HuffPuffPuff SUPER DUPER Committee!  Six worthless entities of political garbaje that was never going to do anything and even if they did come up with some plan to spare us 1.2 Trillion over TEN Freakin YEARS, Who gives a RATS ASS !?  Like even if they did, anyone would remember 3 months from now? And if they did, the story would be "things change and life's a bitch".  Let alone if they actually stuck to it, it would probably cost more than 1.2 trillion to Audit and Administer over 10 years !!

1...2....3......10 Breathe....

Okay.

Hey Congress. GET OVER YOUR DAMN SELVES !  You want my respect, name your next gang/committee, the Servants of American Citizens. Because that's what you are!

Yes, I'm smiling and relaxed as always.

One More Cup-O-Joe. Before We Go.

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For the impatient among us (hand raised), Skip right to the 0.22 mark.  Man, I am looking forward to buying this kids records and hopefully seeing him live one day.  It's an old tune but I like it.

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Close The Post Office Completely

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Can we not just close the post office?

The vast majority of people have computers and almost everyone accepts online bill payments, and who sends hard copy letters anymore beside women of questionable mental state that write to serial killers in prisons around the country, looking for that ‘special’ relationship with Mr. Right?

What else goes USPS? Outside of junk mail, which has got to be the majority of the USPS volume, I’d say some packages shipped by dysfunctional people who have yet to discover that UPS and FEDEX exist, and Christmas cards. Come on. Outside of the junk mail, UPS, FEDEX, and DHL could easily handle this traffic.

As far as junk mail goes, anyone dysfunctional enough to actually Want that stuff will go to great lengths to get it. So, I recommend having UPS, FEDEX, and DHL depositing large quantities of the stuff at high volume people traffic locations such as in front of Super-Markets, Wal-Marts and Dollar Stores. Places like that.

The following day, the waste collectors would drive by, pick up such material not consumed by afore mentioned purveyors of such and haul it off to be recycled into new junk mail to be delivered the following week. 

Over the holidays such as Christmas, UPS trucks are like stray cats in the neighborhood. Up and down the streets all day long. No problemo with the special occasion greeting and celebratory Hallmark card transport extravaganza.

We’re talking about billions saved that could be freshly laundered into foreign aid or earmarks and consumed by politicians, their friends and dictator-tots around the world.

Well, not all bills are available to be paid on line you say. True. Personally, I get two bills on paper, from the county – water and property tax that are not available to pay on line. When these cretins find out they can’t mail them to me anymore they’ll get a fire under their butts and make them available to be paid on line or see their revenue fall by 99.999%.

Well, Not Everyone has a computer you say. Well, I say anyone without a computer or in a state to not be able to manage paying their bills without the USPS in existence, will simply be given a one way ticket to India or China. Problem solved, and a return on investment beside.

What’s not to like?

I just don’t see any problem with closing All of the post office locations in the USA. Outside of putting all those people out of work. Maybe they could start a company producing something the world wants that sans union overhead they could actually produce, ship worldwide and get rich in the process.

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One For The Admiral !

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So, this kid doesn't even shave yet and plays better than most 60 year old guitar players ever did that I've heard or know about.  Seriously -considering all the stuff I've heard him play so far.

Here's Joe and crew relaxing at home. Or somewhere that he's not wearing shoes anyway.

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The Election Primaries are Coming Up.

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I ask people to consider that putting standard issue politicians in place has not caused America to reverse course on its path to socialism and soft communism that got a healthy kick start by LBJ in the early 60's, and has progressed unabated since and past Democrat and Republican administrations and congressional majorities through to this day in 2011. 

Not even Ronald Reagan closed or altered one of the cancerous, life sucking departments such as Dept of Education.

So, what is the point of putting a red flag on the White House for 4 or 8 years (if that even happens in 2012) only to see the Democrats just pick up where they left off when the voters tire of New Boss Same as the Old Boss - more or less.

Reducing spending and all these other transient talking points are temporary, albeit many are real problems. Concentrating on symptoms is only temporary.

We must start Removing the socialist infrastructure put in by LBJ, Carter, Clinton, and even GW Bush in terms of the TSA and DHS....

I'm voting for Paul or Bachmann in the primary. Bachmann is not seasoned enough? Not enough of an 'experienced' politician?   I see that as a major plus.

If they run anyone either than Paul or Bachmann, I'm writing in Bachmann or Paul. 

If that assures an oblabber victory, then so be it. Maybe that's what the country needs. A little learning through experience. It would be disastrous for America, but standard issue Republicans are also disastrous and suicide, just a slower death.

I will give you that Newt is a sex machine in the debates, but so what.  You might want to peruse this list.  I'm quite sure he has no problem with oblabbercare and is on board with the whole global climate thingamabob, and has profited all over the politic-sphere as well. I have no use for him.

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The Beauty of Pollination

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Fantastic.  Be sure to view in full screen mode.

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Today's Art Exhibit - Bonita Helmer

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Just a Link to Bonita Helmer's Four Worlds paintings.

I like.  Mouse over the image to be able to sequence to the next paintings.  In this series and other paintings, Bonita gives us her visual interpretations of the physics of the universe.  What could be a better subject I ask?

Hope you like it.

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Joe Robinson - Live at The Basement - Nashville

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Just met the cat tonight.  On the internet.  Bass Player is smokin too, nor would I kick out the drummer.


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Waterfall Nebula? Seriously?

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This thing is actually out there.  And doesn't it look like a large creature of some sort getting a drink at the bottom?  And what the heck is that translucent egg looking thing near the top right?

Click the picture to go to the APOD site and get a description

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Just Glanced Through The "News" Page..

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100% Nonsense.

So...Let's do a little More FRANK!  "On the Bus", from his musical autobiography entitled Joe's Garage.  Frank spent a lot of time on the bus.  One of his albums was called 1000 Motels. I don't think it was an exaggeration. Someone spent some time on the video, as it's probably not too bad of a video biography of Frank's performances from the 70's and 80's era.  Without further Ado..

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