2009 January » Jay Toups

Gutpuppet to appear January 31

Jan 282009

Scot Ray and Bill Barrett
“Cross-cultural free folk genre bandits”

Gutpuppet is an LA-based acoustic duo, with Scot Ray on 6, 12, & 22 string slide guitars and slide banjo, along with the mind-bending chromatic harmonica playing of Bill Barrett.

Gutpuppet swings the sonic trapeze between Delta Blues, North Indian raga, Bluegrass, and Gypsy imbued transmutations. Watch the video or check out some glowing CDBaby Reviews here. Then come see the show if you’re in the area. If not, check back after the show for streaming audio of the entire shindig.

More info about the concert here.

SarahPAC

Opinion No Responses »

Jan 272009

Name a PAC after yourself? You lost me right there, Mrs. Palin. I don’t like egotists of either sex or party. Especially scheming egotists.

This is laughable, but it had to happen. Palin’s angling for a seat at the table in 2012. Nevermind what happens during the next four years, and with Obama in office but one brief week.

She wants it that bad.

Hey if you like Palin, send her some money. And it better be a lot. Only blind, stupid luck and a boatload of brain-dead-yet-somehow-still-rich Republicans would put this woman in the ring again for leading our country.

I’m sure she’s thinking by 2012 the economy and the environment will both be “peachy” and she’ll waltz back onto the national stage, mouth some choice doggone-its in a few dee-bates, win the election and move right into the White House after the country (or at least a very moral majority) finds it can’t live without with her folksy wit, her stunning intellectual prowess, and her legendary ability to field dress an elk she dropped with her own 30-30.

This woman as President would gut our country the same way George Bush did, which was by any measure badly.

No thanks, Sarah Palin!

Link to SarahPAC

Hoovering, Government Style

Opinion, People No Responses »

Jan 272009

Fascinating testimony from Russell Tice, NSA Whistleblower examining NSA data collection methods and the involvement of major telcos in sharing your (our) information. Was your electronic communication and credit information collected and scrutinized by spooks and their elaborate data mining tools in this massive undertaking? Hmm, sure looks like it. Tice has been speaking out for several years in a brave attempt to uncloak the truth about this country’s wholesale disregard for and invasion of privacy for the sake of keeping us safe.

This man deserves a job in the Obama administration and a bust of his likeness placed on the desk of whoever is running the NSA.

Link to Wired article.

Truckma

Environment, Opinion, People No Responses »

Jan 262009

Well, there’s karma and then there’s truckma. Some poor guy got run over by a monster truck in Wisconsin over the weekend. Turns out he’s been a promoter of monster truck events for over 15 years. While I’m sad the guy lost his life, it rather vividly demonstrates that we tend to attract our particular brand of karma by what we do—for a living, for recreation, for diversion, for thinking (or not).

Link to AP article.

Ain't It The Truth

Opinion No Responses »

Jan 242009

CNBC: The Whole Country Needs A Bong Break from AlleyInsider.

Ode to 44: Godspeed, Mr. President

Energy, Opinion, People, Unbelievable 4 Responses »

Jan 192009

After 8 grueling years we’ve finally got a new president, and with a new attitude that has “can do” all over it. Time for Republicans and Democrats to roll up their sleeves and pitch in to create the solution, which will doubtless be wildly expensive.

God Bless Barack Obama and the United States. We gwine ta need it.

Related: Here’s a nice mashup of obamaiconme posters by Reilly Morse complete with a great version of Allen Toussaint singing “Yes We Can (Can)”. Reilly’s the handsome chap at the end of the vid.

The Problem With Growth Is When It Stops

Environment, Opinion No Responses »

Jan 172009

The Problem With Growth

This morning as I sipped my coffee laced with Irish cream and read the news online, I came across dozens of shots of cars and trucks stacked up in every country that makes or imports them. Even with reduced production, car makers are piling up record inventory.

The return of cheap gas is no accident. People worldwide seem to have lost the taste for non-essential driving. And no wonder automakers are broke. Almost nobody’s buying. Banks aren’t lending. Dealers are folding. Soon you’ll be able to buy cars at fire sale prices. That is if you have ready cash or a 750+ FICO score.

The automobile industry has served as the engine of global manufacturing and trade for at least 50 years. This meltdown will change the industry forever. What survives will hopefully be for the better. There will be fewer large manufacturers like GM, Ford and Toyota. Cars and trucks will be ever more efficient, and built smarter, as the industry sheds outdated technologies and adopts new ones.

But first, a lot of companies with a stake in the transportation industry are going to die and put people out of work—perhaps never to return to the auto industry. Many will seek whatever kind of employment they can find. Flipping burgers, working at Wal Mart, retiring early to enjoy what remains in their pension fund.

Maybe some of the people who exit the auto industry will find a way to retrain and become telecommuters.

We don’t need no stinkin’ car for that.

Too Good To Be True

Unbelievable No Responses »

Jan 152009

Here’s a wonderful video of a complex musical instrument that generates music entirely through mechanical means, reputedly built by John Deere and eventually destined for the Smithsonian. Alas, ’tis but a very clever computer animation and its reported existence is definitely an urban legend.

Oh wait, slime pays if you're Bernie Madoff

Opinion, People, Unbelievable No Responses »

Jan 122009

Perhaps as much as $50 billion evaporates and Bernie Madoff is out of jail on house arrest and a pathetic $10 million dollar bail? Awaiting trial in the comfort of his Manhattan apartment? Yep.

The size of this swindle and the scope of injury and injustice wreaked on investors by one man is breathtaking. And he’s free for the moment at least.

This guy’s sitting in his Easy Boy about now sippin’ his favorite cognac and smoking cigars while having his feet massaged. Yet when some hard luck dude sticks a holdup note under a bank teller’s nose and flees with a wad of cash he goes straight to jail, and no bail.

Meanwhile his lawyers are banking hours and plotting their next moves to keep Bernie Madoff’s sentence as light as possible.

Enjoy your remaining days of freedom, Mr. Madoff. Savor it. Fret about it. It should be a rich experience. Very rich.

Link to Bloomberg article.

Slime Doesn't Pay

Opinion, People, Tech 3 Responses »

Jan 122009

Several years back I worked for a software company run by a madman. How mad? You be the judge. After I left the company I wrote a post about my experience working for the guy. Start reading there for some background.

It’s truly amazing the company is still in business and the madman who founded the company still controls the whole operation. Rumors have long persisted that he hasn’t paid taxes in a number of years. But that’s nothing: In 2007, a young man who worked as a “bodyguard” for the CEO was stabbed to death in a drunken brawl outside a bar in the town where the company is located. And in 2008, he was sued by his former housekeepers for sexual harassment and found guilty. He owes them $330,000 in damages and reparations. And just today, another former employee sent me a link to a news article stating that he was being sued for back rent on his office building.

Quite a swath of destruction for a software company and its unscrupulous owner isn’t it? How many CEOs of software companies even need a bodyguard? The other sad part is that the guy is a talented developer of enterprise software. Software in use around the world in thousands of companies. If these customers knew how tenuous the guy’s grip on his business is, they would do whatever they needed to do to stop using the company’s software because it may not be supported for much longer.

This guy taught me a valuable lesson: Slime, no matter how good it might feel, doesn’t pay.

I could name the company and the man, but I won’t. Even if it is all too true. That would just be too slimy.

Twinkie Media

Environment, People No Responses »

Jan 082009

Most in this country would rather be served the news than be the news. In our stressed out world that definitely seems to be the case. It’s a weird form of oxygen-starved relaxation isn’t it: paddle like a dog to keep your life afloat, and when you can, watch breathlessly what happens to others than talk about (or video, pics, etc.) what happens to ourselves, what we think, what we feel, etc. We’re all in show me mode, deeply skeptical but just as deeply enamored with the media buffet being served up just for us media consumers.

You obviously can’t think for yourself, right? So there’s an umpteen-billion-dollar media industry to help us do just that: tell you how to feel, tell you what to buy, what to think, believe, trust, admire, etc.

Ah, the mental programming of spectatorship is well nigh total isn’t it? As a result, we are a bankrupt nation of non-communicators whose private stories are lost to the wind as we struggle with life’s many variables and scrupulously ignore each other’s stories because we don’t have time or don’t care to get involved. Herculean in scope, tragic in its consequence.

We have us a bonafide cultural wasteland, folks. Too bad. That’s what happens when a people ignores the real news: What’s happening with you, right about now.

I’m happier being myself and engaging with people (even anonymous Internet people) and talking about life than watching what happens to others and giving nothing back to this world we call media.

It’s never been simpler to become a media outlet. You should try it sometime. Set up a blog and keep a journal of pics, or videos, or even write stories about your life and family, friends, etc. In a year or two you’ll see the value and be glad you did. Even if you don’t share it with the rest of the world like I do.

Here are two great places to get started in under 1 minute.

http://www.blogger.com
http://www.wordpress.com

Just outside the office door

Environment, Work No Responses »

Jan 072009

telecommute_trail

I hit the ground running in the new year, literally. The snow has been plentiful over the last several weeks, so yesterday I shut down the computers and snowshoed around the hacienda.

Winter in Elk Country

Environment 1 Response »

Jan 032009

Cow Elk and Baby

We got a bunch of snow this week and that makes foraging a lot more difficult for the wildlife. These two are part of a herd of about 40 that live nearby.

Chop Wood, Shovel Snow

Environment No Responses »

Jan 022009

Tamera and I have our hands full most snowy days just keeping the road driveable and the porch and deck cleared. This is a time lapse of Tamera shoveling out to the driveway taken by our web cam. (The cam is also great for snapping pics of visitors when we’re not around. So don’t get any ideas.)

Goodbye Old Year

Unbelievable 6 Responses »

Jan 012009

Here’s wishing you a happy, healthy and more prosperous 2009!

Photo taken last summer from our deck by Monica Campbell.

Yes last year was a real bummer. But any year when you don’t die is a good year. And in 2008 I managed to tempt fate twice: breaking my left wrist in March and spending 7 weeks in a cast, and then a heart attack in June that nearly did me in.

Thanks to quick action by Michael Campbell, a wonderful local chef, friend and neighbor, I’m still alive. And thanks to God, dumb luck, and karmic providence, for simply being in the right place at the right time. I could easily have keeled over in front of this infernal machine out here in the deep woods, but I just happened to be in town 20 miles away when it happened. I’ve been working from home for over 11 years now. I’m like never in town. But I was on that fateful day. Yay! How cool is that? Very cool. Dying and then being brought back to life is an experience unlike any other. Like winning the lottery or something huge like that.

So if you’re going to keel over, try to be fortunate enough to keel over where there are people nearby. Hopefully with the skills and strength required to apply CPR and mouth to mouth resuscitation if necessary, and for as long as it takes for the ambulance to arrive. Good luck because those skills, like most real skills, don’t grow on trees. Ask 50 people if they know CPR and you might find one person who received basic training at some point.

How close did I come to the great mystery of the hereafter and forevermore? You be the judge, read the newspaper coverage.

I’m enjoying the bonus period, and have been deeply humbled and changed for the better by the experience.

That’s a good thing.

Jay Toups