Starting Off on a Sad Note.....

Last week there was a death in the family.  My aunt Anne unexpectedly passed away on the 29th.  There was no inkling that anything had been wrong.  My uncle is understandably still in shock over this.  They had been married for 61 years.

I'm going to ask that you keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

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I was away from home for Christmas this time, visiting family and friends in San Jose.  The trip went mainly well.  There was a bad traffic backup in L.A. at high noon due to a big rig catching on fire, which backed us up for seven miles.  At that point it was too late to make that north turn at San Berdoo so I-210 it was.  Once past that, traffic actually moved at a decent pace.

At the Wheeler Ridge split of I-5 and CA 99, the CA Highway Patrol was running traffic breaks onto the I-5 portion, and after that big rig thing I wasn't in the mood to join the parade.  I took 99 up a ways and then cut across on highway 223.  All of 99 probably ought to be resurfaced, but the People's Republic has decided that the bullet train linking Fresno and Bakersfield is more important.

On the return leg of the trip there were Jersey barriers along stretches of 99 north of Bakersfield, but I couldn't tell if they going to resurface or widen it.

Maybe they're destroying a lane of it for the train.

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My schedule was tight; and getting sick for a couple of days didn't help matters any.  If there had been time I would have taken three days to get back, and maybe I would have done the stretch of Route 66 near San Bernardino.  As it was I was trying to get to Quartzsite for the night (an early start helped).

I could have stopped in Blythe, where there are five or so motor inns to stop at for the night, but I don't like Blythe.  I stopped there for a quick refreshment and I saw what I had seen there on a previous trip:  a bunch of loiterers hanging around doing nothing, aside from waiting for you to leave your car so that they could break into it.

There are several hotel/casinos along I-10 near Palm Springs, which would have made for nicer accommodations, and maybe that's what I should do the next time I do this kind of trip.

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I think this is going to be it for this evening.  I'm not yet entirely over my cold and I think an early bedtime this evening would be wise.

Don't forget to pet a dog or a cat.

Merry Christmas!

Wishing everyone out there a most Merry Christmas!

May 2013 bring you joy, prosperity and good health!

The World Was Supposed to End Today

For the past year and a half or so, we've been hearing plenty about how the Mayan calendar was suggesting that the world was going to end today.  The History Channel was running programming on this topic from time to time (and even today, giving us a welcome break from the other non-history programming they show) and these past few days there seemed to be this buildup.  Just one week ago I learned that Shock Top brewing was selling this special "End of the World" brew (I tried some.....and liked it). 

I remember when Mark was telling me two or so years ago about how some folks were saying that this was really it; the world would end on the 21st of December in 2012.  I responded jokingly by saying "that ought to be about right".  Last week someone was saying that the earth's magnetic poles would somehow reverse positions and someone else was saying that the sun would go out for three days, and both of these someones were serious......they were sure it was going to happen.

For the past several months my theory about the Mayan calendar was that they ran out of room, and thus stopped.  I developed some other theories this past week.  It could have been that whoever it was who was doing the calendar reached the solstice for this year and said "the hell with this, I'm not working on this stupid calendar any more!"  Or it could have been that the Royal Chieftain of the Mayans told the guy "you've worked long enough on this calendar, we now need you to help us build some pyramids".  We don't know.

But as for them picking out the date of the solstice, and how they were able to do that.....well we've had people studying the stars for 5000 years or so and my thinking is that some sharp minds figured out that the sun rose at its northernmost point in June while rising at its southernmost point in December.  They figured out that the midpoints were in March and September.  If you're an astronomer/astrologer some thousands of years ago and your king thinks that the stars foretell the future and charges you with figuring it out or have your head chopped off, you're going to spend a few years figuring out where the sun rises each day of the year.  You're going to know which constellations appear in the evening for each month.  You're going to keep track of the moon and the observable planets.  Point here is, is that it shouldn't surprise us that the Mayans knew when the winter solstice would be. 

Civilizations may have used the winter solstice to determine when the year started.  They may have used one of the equinoxes.  A year doesn't have to start on January 1.  It can start on any day that you want it to.  Choosing a solstice or equinox is a more recognizable reference point than the other days.  A year ending on the winter solstice isn't really a bad choice......the days start getting longer after that for the next six months. 

As for those few who really got fixated on this.....who bought into this........who really thought that this was it.........

..........they need professional help.

Some "New" Bachman-Turner Overdrive is out!

My copy of the the latest BTO release arrived in my mailbox a week ago.  It's called "Bachman-Turner Overdrive 40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition".  It's a two CD set, and contains not only two previously unreleased songs, it also has the complete "Japan Tour - Live" album on it with two bonus tracks from their Japan Concerts that were not on the vinyl release of 1977......and that release was only available in Canada.

The two until now unheard songs are "Rough Ride", a Fred Turner composition that didn't make the 1984 album, and "West Coast Turnaround" which was recorded in 1975 for the Head On album, but didn't make that one.  Also is a rehearsal version of "Another Fool".

As a longtime fan it's great to hear "new" material, even if that material has been languishing in the vaults all these years.  It's also great that the well known songs are on as well, even if "Madison Avenue" didn't make this one.

I must also comment on the "Japan Tour Live" material.  I first got this album in 1979 as an import, and couldn't understand why Mercury didn't release this one stateside.  I also couldn't understand why this one never came out on CD.  When Robbie Bachman had his board up, we asked him about this one, and he told us that the master tapes to this one had been lost or accidentally destroyed.  For a long time this was the "holy grail" of BTO material; unobtainable on CD.  It finally made the CD format last year but you had to order it from England, and a snippet of one of the songs was missing.....not to mention that it sounded like a bootleg (the bass was lacking).

This new anthology collection brings us "Japan Tour Live" complete, and with it adequately capturing the bass.

If you're into BTO, you'll want to get your copy as that these days CDs don't seem to stay in print as long as they used to.

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Some odds and ends.

Work has been going well, and I've had the full weekends off again.  I'm not sure how much longer that will last as that I'm being asked about my willingness to work overtime again next year.  2013 will be very busy for us, and my sense is that we'll be busier than we were last year.

These days, that's a good thing.

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With some sadness I have to report that the April Wine official website has taken their forum down.  From what I can gather all interaction between the band and us fans will be via Facebook from here on out.  That's a shame, as that I won't do the Facebook thing, and Myles Goodwyn came out of his shell to start interacting with us in the final six months of the webforum.

I hope that they'll decide to bring back the forums.  I wasn't much of a participant there this year but I sure had fun getting to chat with the fans, as well as with Myles and Brian.

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Weather in southern Arizona has been gorgeous these past few weeks!  I take this as an indication that we're in for a milder than usual winter.  I think we're in for some rain next weekend though.

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That's going to be it this evening.  My sinuses have been killing me this weekend, and I'm turning in early for some rest.

I'll need it; I'm in for a busy week.

The Invention of Counterfeiting

(This is part III of a series I'm doing on money)

It is safe to say that shortly after the Lydians began making the world's first coins, that some enterprising fraudsters got into counterfeiting.  These were very likely practicing criminals who were adept at fraud and innovative in discovering new ways to commit it, and once money in the form of coins began to circulate it undoubtedly had to occur to them that a means of fleecing the honest folks had appeared and they were determined to take advantage of it.  For their product, they would have had to use some amounts of gold and silver, which were used to plate the base metals making up the bulk weight of the counterfeit coins. 

To get the gold and silver that they needed, they would shave the edges of the real coins.  This had two effects on their criminal enterprise.  One, they were able to get the raw material that they needed, but two, if the person that they were passing off the shaved coin to was not aware that the coin was not a full coin, that coin became accepted as such and thus any merchant who accepted the coin at its stated face value was defrauded. 

Coin clipping became prevalent in the early years of coinage and persisted for centuries.  Not only was it practiced by criminals, but kings themselves practiced it in order to increase their own wealth.  This would have course, introduced inflation, as that once the public became aware of this debasement then prices would rise.  That one gold coin that might have purchased twelve sheep would then purchase eleven as that a clipped coin wasn't really worth what the king said it was worth.  And even if the king wasn't debasing currency, counterfeiting would and could introduce inflation depending on its prevalence.

Coins of course, were not the only money that was counterfeited.  Once paper money began to circulate, it also became a target of counterfeiting.  Counterfeiting banknotes was an easier endeavor than striking a fake coin in the sense that the raw materials for this type of forgery were more readily available.  I think that's one reason why counterfeiting for many centuries was an act punishable by death, and that death penalty was meted out when counterfeiters were caught.  Banknotes printed by Founding Father Benjamin Franklin had the warning "To counterfeit is death".  That kind of penalty for counterfeiting might seem harsh by today's standards, but let's look at it from the viewpoint of medieval authority for a moment.

Say that you're a king.  Your government is issuing money to be used as a means of commerce.  You want strict control over the treasury and you want your people to have confidence in the money that they're using as that confidence in your currency is a form of confidence in your rule.  After all, your portrait is on that coin.  That money that is issued by your state has your guarantee that it is going to be worth a set value, and not only do you want your money being used by your people, you also want that money to have the reputation such that it can be accepted by those foreign merchants you're dealing with.  If your money is more widely accepted than that of your rival kingdom, then you have a wider influence.  You wouldn't want anyone messing around with debasing your money (unless you're the one doing the debasing, which I will cover in a future posting).  You want anyone who does it to be caught, and to be put to death. 

Likewise if you're a king, you might want to employ counterfeiting your enemy's currency if you're at war with that enemy.  During the Revolutionary War, Great Britain was counterfeiting colonial currency in an effort to destabilize the Continental Currency that was issued by the Continental Congress.  The Union government counterfeited Confederate banknotes in order to destabilize the South.  Adolf Hitler's regime was working on a plan to counterfeit the currency of the Allies in 1944.  And in more modern times, North Korea is reported to be counterfeiting American hundred dollar bills ("superdollars") in large quantities.  One pound coins issued by the United Kingdom are also being counterfeited, and from the images of those that I've seen they're really good fakes.

Counterfeiting is going to be with us as long as there's a human race.  It's no longer confined to money, as that there are vast amounts of fake consumer goods being counterfeited.  I can walk across the border into Nogales and locate fake Rolex watches rather easily.  My employer has to worry about being stuck with counterfeit computer chips. 

Counterfeiting is not the only means of debasing currency.  I will discuss this more in a future posting, but I think I'm also going to post a story about a guy in New Jersey who counterfeited nickels.  Stay tuned.



Man is Evolving into Ape

'Tis the season to be greedy.....

And so it starts.....

Happy Black Friday, everyone.

I'm in the Mood for Some Music Tonight

I'm taking tomorrow off by necessity.  When driving my truck yesterday my clutch slipped, which means that it's up on the rack tomorrow getting fixed.  So tomorrow is going to be a vacation day, and since I don't have to be at work tomorrow I get to stay up later than usual.  I may post an entry tomorrow, I may not, but when you have a day off you may as well make the most of it......and that includes the evening before the day off.

I like good tunes, and am partial to some of those more obscure tunes that aren't exactly fixtures on the radio but are, in my mind, some good tunes.  So I'm going to present a selection of some favorites and I hope that you will take to the time to listen to them.

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The first tune this evening will be from April Wine.  You may have heard this one before.  It broke back in 1981.

What makes this one interesting is the bridge, which is preceded by "I Don't Care" times three.  The drumming is especially good in the bridge, at 1:39 into the song.

All Over Town

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The next tune is from Creedence Clearwater Revival.  It's a fun one to play on guitar.  It's from their second album, Bayou Country.

Bootleg

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Song #3 is from the Smithereens, from an album released in 1986.

Groovy Tuesday

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This next tune is off of one of the best albums ever recorded, American Woman by The Guess Who.  When several original members reunited for a tour in 2000, this song was in the set.

Talisman

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You remember those old vinyl LPs, don't you?  If this were an LP this would be the last song on the A side, which was sometimes song #5, or song #4.  This evening it will be song #5.

This one is track #5 off of Foreigner's debut album, which is called Foreigner.  The lyrics in this one, in my opinion, are amazing.

The Damage is Done

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Now we're on the B side of what this "album" would be if this were an album I was playing for you.

My Canadian readers may know this song while my stateside readers likely won't know it.  I wouldn't have known about this had it not been for April Wine covering this song.  It pointed me to a jazz/blues band out of Vancouver that I hope to see one day.  That band is the Powder Blues Band, and I've got a few of their records that I picked up when I visited Vancouver in 1988.

Doin' It Right

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This next song has been a longtime favorite of mine for over 30 years.  It's a song that was written by Fred Turner, and I've had a chance to discuss this one with him when we were talking after a BTO concert in 2001.  It's been a longtime favorite of other BTO fans as well, and believe you me, we begged Fred to place this into the setlist.

Fred told me that it wasn't as well known as the other BTO songs, and the promoters only wanted to do the better known songs.  Thus, it never made it into the setlist.

I've been known to make ladies that I've contemplated getting serious with to listen to this song.

I consider it to be one of the best songs ever recorded.  I hope you feel the same way about it.

Madison Avenue

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We're going across the pond for this next tune.  It's from Emerson Lake & Palmer, and it's an instrumental (for the most part) from their Works Volume I album.  Joe Walsh makes a guest appearance on guitar (and vocals towards the end).

L.A. Nights

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Here's a song that has some road trip memories for me.  I heard it on the radio while I was in British Columbia in 1990, and I'm going to guess that I was on TransCan 1 in/near Abbotsford and that I was listening to an FM station out of Vancouver.  CFOX?

I think my next ime on Amazon, I'll be ordering the CD that this one came off of.  Kim Mitchell has been growing on me as of late.

Patio Lanterns

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Deciding what the final song for a post such as this can be difficult, but that wasn't the case this evening.  I knew before I started this post what the last song of the evening would be.  It's one of the best songs ever recorded, and if I were to be in a local band here I would insist that this one be part of the set.  It's from Deep Purple.

Space Truckin'

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Don't forget to pet a dog or a cat.