Valid.

I recently watched a video about the first electronic synthesizer. It was built in 1897, and was housed in the basement of an entire city block in NYC. Several decades later, and it would fit in a suitcase, with far more functionality. It worked, but it was huge and unwieldly, to the point of being completely impractical. It needed to wait until the technology caught up to it, and made it a truly viable instrument, and not just a concept.

Data Centers are like that 1897 synthesizer. It works, sure, but at what cost? It’s expensive in every way, from the building costs, the energy costs, the environmental costs, etc. We have a concept and a prototype, but not a truly viable product yet. Maybe in a decade or two, with a proper goal in mind, we can get there, but right now, Data Centers are just that big, dumb synthesizer that takes up a city block.

Actually exchanging currency for a product is so old school. Now they just need a stock price, make an announcement, and the price goes up, and those in the know make a fortune. Nothing was sold, nothing changed, there was just an announcement, and those who know the announcement is coming, or are actually making the announcement, get to cash in. It was worth one thing yesterday, and it’s worth more today, and that increase is very real money.

There are lots of smoke and mirrors tricks to manipulate stock prices and make money going up or down, and people thinking of new ones every day. Now they’re just creating their own money out of thin air.

And none of it requires any products to be sold.

The ocean is already warming, and these guys want to heat it up even more? Didn’t these guys watch Day After Tomorrow? Because this is how we start a new ice age.

I got some future waterfront property in the Appalachian Mountains.

Herbs.

Grow a pot, or a clump, of chives, basil, oregano, thyme, rosemary, and a bunch of different hot peppers from jalapenos on up to really hot ones.

Those spices will make the stuff you do cook at home taste much better, especially being fresh. Some of them, like chives and thyme, will come back next year. Stick them on a pot, and pring them in over the winter. Also, grow a LOT of basil. It grows slowly, and you can use a lot of it.

So many financial businesses these days don’t really seem to have a product, just a stock price, and they make it go up and down, and bet on it, and that’s all it takes to make money. None of it is real, but it contains pixels on a screen, so it exists enough to buy real products, and that’s all that matters.

I spent a summer in college working in a piano store. It was totally empty 90% of the time, and my job consisted mostly of keeping it from burning down until people came in for piano lessons after school.

They were the local Bosendorfer dealer, so I had lots of time to play a full size concert grand all summer, the one with the 8 extra low keys at the bottom. It was such a smooth playing instrument, that it nearly ruined me for all other pianos. After playing that Bosendoerfer, a mere $50,000 piano felt like a toy.

He’s definitely going to run. EVERYBODY is going to run, and the Progressives are going to do the best.

That’s who I’m looking at, too.

Remember that when he’s asking you to vote for him over some MAGA.

Anything but that!

Back in my day…

We did that for one of the books. We even invited the kid down the street to go with us, for a Tuesday Midnight release on a school night. He told us his Mom said it was all right and off we went.

We had a great night, ate dinner, wandered around the store (the friend had never been in a book store before), and finally bought the book at midnight, and headed home.

We got to his house, and I walked him to the door, and knocked. His Mom answered, and I said, “Here he is, everything went great, he had fun!”

And she said: “Oh! I thought he was in bed. I hadn’t heard from him all night, I just assumed that’s where he was. Oh, well, thanks!” And shut the door.

She’d never known that her kid was gone all evening long and until about 1 AM, and wasn’t even concerned about it.

And live with billionaires under a dome? Nah, I don’t think so.

One is the reason, and one is the rationalization.

There’s no reason to choose between them.

I got a few chores to do, then I’m going to sit down and do an experiment: I’m going to convert a guitar I just got got from a steel string guitar to a nylon string guitar.

It’s an a 3/4 size, all mahogany acoustic, and it sounds good, with good definition in the mid range, and nicely balanced highs and lows, it’s just a bit harsh for my ears. I already have a beautiful 3/4 size that I like, so I think this conversion could mellow out the tone of this new guitar, and give me a sound I don’t already have.

I’m also going to change the nut, saddle, and pins from cheap plastic to bone. That should help, too.

Religious freaks are predisposed to believe the most outlandish nonsense, so they’re the perfect target for political indoctrination. If they can believe in imaginary friends to the point of tithing to them, they’ll do that with a real life guy who promises to protect them from evil, just like Jesus.

Watch “Tim’s Vermeer.”