I remember reading that putting an animal on the label of a bottle of wine could up sales by 20%. But at least that you could see, and others could admire how well that smoking loon looked on your picnic table, I mean the one on the label … eating loon is one of those haha jokes:
Loon Soup
Put loon and rocks in a pot of water. Boil for eight hours. Throw out the loon and eat the rocks.
Actually, there is a long version, that steals from the old story about the fellow who shows up in town and begs all the food for the soup he makes, even the pot he makes it in, and then gets nothing but praise for being so generous. Sort of like government today. That old story, usually now called Stone Soup, turns out to have rather an interesting history, and many versions, which I will leave you to explore at your leisure, if you have any.
And speaking of leisure, what led me to find out that there was more virtual money than met the eye was the inimitable Russ Roberts. I honestly initially thought bitcoins were probably going to fail, mostly because their best feature is their worst flaw. You just cannot store them securely. Lose your phone or computer, or have it turn into a brick, as occasionally sadly does happen, and your virtual wallet is history too.
Bitcoins are still here, however, and have bred some wannabe’s, one of whom had the sense to put a dog on their invisible coin, and sponsored the Jamaican bobsled team, which has given them a certain virtual je ne sais quoi. But since I don’t know quoi, I will let the President of bitcoin speak for himself, although I think he should be pretty embarrassed that his salary is pegged to dollars, not bitcoins. And who knew they had a president, and why is he called Chief Scientist below? More questions than answers, but money is always an interesting topic:
Gavin Andresen on the Present and Future of Bitcoin
Gavin Andresen, Chief Scientist of the Bitcoin Foundation, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about where Bitcoin has been and where it might be headed in the future. Topics discussed include competing cryptocurrencies such as Dogecoin, the role of the Bitcoin Foundation, the challenges Bitcoin faces going forward, and the mystery of Satoshi Nakamoto.
I also found this discussion interesting, living in a town of both suburbs and infilling the downtown, where mega projects get our councillor all in a tizzy, just bursting to use words like showcase and world class as she plunges our children into a life time of poverty and debt with her stupidity and open houses. Not that I am upset by our upcoming nightmare light rail, which is going to see up to 300 buses an hour on a local street, for two or three years, as they convert the existing system to rail and destroy a few neighbourhoods and a view of the river for a kilometre, right near our house. But progress man, you have to have progress. Or do you:
Some food for thought on what is turning into a rainy day, which my garden is enjoying, and perhaps we can to, if we put our minds to it.
Have a __________ Tuesday!
Good morning? Just a test of the commenting …
Well, it’s not raining, but it’s too wet to mow, so I think that qualifies as a good morning.
Other than that, don’t mind me. Just another one of those ever more frequent moods where I don’t feel the need to comment on much of anything I see on the internet.
Puppy Dog has a sore paw. I’m more concerned with that right now than with the world at large.
…………”tempestuous” Tuesday, but only when one of them wants what the other one has. Will try to keep them occupied with this. (I never knew Puss in Boots was a Spaniard.)
Antonio Banderas … but it is better when you get to look at him!
Looks like Jenny will be wearing a cone for a while. 😥
Uh oh. What is the diagnosis and prognosis? Any nosis at all?
Breaking News: Stocks at new highs, metals and miners still stuck in the mud. 🙄
Nasty cut on left front foot. For most dogs it would be routine, but Jenny is a very aggressive licker, and will have everything down to raw meat in short order if we don’t do something fast. Past experience, sadly.
Might as well have fun with it.
24 Pets Owning The Cone Of Shame
I was going to post a picture of Yamana’s performance since I started this blog but it was too ghastly.
I thought dog #24 had by far the best attitude, although the dog who had destroyed some furniture? it was unrecognizable and a very astonishing amount of stuffing. A serious job well done.
Not a happy camper.
i had a big yellow lab that would speak (bark) with the same enthusiasm and volume that I said “speak!” (yes xty, too much time on my hands) but he would go all the way from super loud down to almost nothing..
the quietest i would just barely exhale enough to make a voiceless ‘puh‘ sound.. and Barkley (who would be laying down at this point, would have his eyes almost all the way shut and just barely make the same sound with like just a tiny part of his slobbery lip barely twitching. good times,… and then Taco Bell.
DP, where’s your review of the Bitcoin interview?? I’d always heard the IMF was actually behind it, as a system failure alternative to sound money, what’s up with that?
i’ll probably be scarce for a while DN. i am moving to another city. there is no work here in Paul Ryan’s backyard – despite the same great economic policies from both D’s and R’s ever since Reagan. (if it don’t work, it’s because you’re not doing enough of it. ain’t that right, trust fund Pauly?) so i am out of money, and out of hope of ever finding a job that will pay me even close to what i’m worth. off to a town that at least has some culture so it is a bit less miserable to be poor.
i too believe that Bit Con is a trial run of sorts. otherwise it would have been shut down hard. remember what happened to the liberty dollars.
i don’t have time to go through the interviews. see you guys later. enjoy what ever nice weather you might get!
skinny pete buys Angie a round, and kicks the juke.
1966 again
Ladle rat rotten hut
http://www.exploratorium.edu/exhibits/ladle/
Dude, have you read “An Underground Education”? Good stuff concerning origins, especially in fairy tales.
This is plain ordinary weird, and I think they are very wasted, but it is oddly on topic:
Okay … Dude Stacker’s video is even more disturbing.
No Pete, never heard of it, but after looking it up on Amazon, I can see it would be interesting.Would I believe all of it? Don’t know, but he sure seem like another gonzo journalist doesn’t he.
Biography
Richard Zacks grew up in New York City, wandering to Times Square when it was still evil. His mother sought to refine his manners with white-glove dance lessons at the Pierre Hotel but that effort failed miserably. As a teenager, he gambled on the horses, played blackjack in illegal Manhattan card parlors and bought his first drink at age fifteen at the Plaza Hotel. He also attended elite schools such as Horace Mann (’73), University of Michigan (’79) and Columbia Journalism School (’81). He majored in Classical Greek and studied Arabic, Italian and French.
His whole life he has felt torn between the seedy and the high brow. He is a born contrarian. His books reflect that, with topics ranging from Joan of Arc’s virginity tests to a vindication of Captain Kidd, from Edison’s electric chair to Mark Twain’s erotic writings. .
Zacks spent the decade of the 1980s as a journalist, writing a widely syndicated newspaper column, as well as freelance pieces for the likes of The Atlantic, Sports Illustrated, and he brings a who, what, when, where and an occasional why to his writing of historical narrative. The N.Y. Times, commenting on his first book, “History Laid Bare”, stated that Zacks “specializes in the raunchy and perverse.” That was two decades ago; he has perhaps evolved since then. His second book, “An Underground Education” became a cult hit; his third book “Pirate Hunter” has sold more than 175,000 copies and TIME magazine chose it among the five best non-fiction books of the year. Zacks has also appeared in four documentaries.
Tall, bald, spry, he still plays full court basketball at age fifty-six, and does his writing in an office, overlooking Union Square Park in Manhattan.
Show Less
I thought this was pretty clever.
Roads Are Socialism
I have actually argued with a highly intelligent fellow about just that subject. Owning the piece of road in front of your house would be onerous beyond belief, let alone getting access to anything. That’s why right-of-ways exist, another repellant challenge to private property rights. Cast out of the libertarian fold, because I think cooperation is a successful strategy.
Sad to say, I am going to face a mountain of unpaid bills, instead of regaling you all with some witty post. My mood is suitably foul.
Well, good buy to bad riddance. Bills paid, but somewhat questionably. More rationalization is going to be necessary, even though we are clearly on an upward swing. I wish I had more interest in accounting, etc. I blame the dyslexia to some extent, as my head almost literally begins to swim when I have been looking and using numbers for an hour or so. Letters I have almost conquered. Less of a mess than it was is I suppose a good enough triumph for this morning.
The cash crunch for me will be this coming school year, where I’ll be funding college tuition for two kids at once. Yikes. But I made my bed, so to speak, and now must lie in it.
Eldest is basically off the bankroll, but the living in NFLD does add a certain amount – I am off to see her at the end of May, and it is just expensive. Just paid Mikey’s college fees for next fall, and somehow middle son is still kind of on our tab despite the passage of time and him not currently attending a school of higher learning. But yes, we just barely survived two kids at once in university …
If I can just tighten the ship a bit by paying more attention, it would be good, and I am beginning to feel determined again.
Pull up a lawn chair and enjoy.
Earl was one of the good guys, btw.
It’s one thing to sit here as a kid from Wisconsin, and say “of course”, but for Earl, as a country music star, with a career and a legacy on the line, from North Carolina, to make a stand like that…holy shit. That’s balls.
Here’s a rare treat. Earl on guitar. Normally reserved for gospel tunes, where a good rippin’ banjo wasn’t considered appropriate.
Oh, man, what I wouldn’t give to play guitar like that.
Excuse me, but I need to go get my banjo out of the case and play something totally unworthy.
Is that popcorn I see in the background?
Somehow popcorn and banjos could go together.
You never know what you might find on the interwebz:
I”m looking forward to part 2. And yes, that is the infamous popcorn patch there behind the banjo.
I’m thinking I’ll post a series of pictures here about the popcorn patch this year…IF we ever get the thing planted. Everything is 2-3 weeks behind here. In a normal year I don’t plant until late May, and now I expect the middle of June, at least. Chance of frost tomorrow night. This will be cutting it close, say with about 90 day corn, to get ‘er done before frost again in the fall. We’ll see.
Dude, what are your plans this year?