Month: November 2024

The End of Yellowstone

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So, something happened to Yellowstone.  I think Kevin Costner got sick of playing cowboy “JR” and quit.  Well, good.  It’s a bizarre nighttime soap with a cast of characters that run the gamut from absurd, to revolting to demented.  Now granted, the visuals of Montana and the use of excellent non-mainstream country music does make watching the show interesting from time to time.  But it’s still a weird and wacky cartoon in my opinion.  But Camera Girl loves her some psycho-drama.  So of course we’re in.

And the current situation does appear to be headed for a small screen Armageddon.  The first episode opens up with John Dutton (Costner’s character) dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound in the Montana Governor’s mansion.  His insanely driven daughter Beth and his likeable son Kayce converge on the scene to plan what to do about the death of their father.  But Beth is already sure that the death is murder set in motion by their adopted brother Jamie.

And she’s right.  The flashbacks show that Jamie is in cahoots with a vixen from a hedge fund company that will do anything including murder to get their hands on Dutton’s land to build a resort and airport complex.  And we see deals being made with black ops contractors and other ridiculous things.

Okay, so this could be a lot of fun.  I already know how I think this will end.  Kayce Dutton’s son is half Indian.  I’m guessing the ranch becomes a Native American possession with Kayce as the steward of the land on behalf of his son.  It goes along with a bunch of anti-colonial jibber jabber that Kayce’s wife was spouting a couple of years ago.

But the fun will be a full-fledged shooting war between the Dutton Ranch and the bad guys.  Who knows, there could even be tanks and helicopters with sidewinder missiles.  Kayce is the head of the livestock police (really?) and apparently that gives him access to armored vehicles and other military grade equipment.  He’s not just the dog catcher.

There will be bullets and rocket propelled grenades and all kinds of ridiculous stuff going on.  And as a finale Beth has sworn a blood oath that the last thing Jamie sees before he dies is Beth laughing at him.  Now that I’d like to see.  Because it is the outcome that the show has been working up to from the beginning.  Beth is barking-at-the-moon crazy but Jamie is a cowardly, smarmy, disloyal worm and seeing him get terminated by Beth will be enormously cathartic.  Of course, I’m pretty sure Beth and a bunch of other characters will probably end up dead too.  But that would make the whole crazy thing a little less improbable.  So sure, why not?

So, bring it on, bring it on, bring it on.  Let the lead fly and let all the cowboys, cowboy up.  We’re headed for the last roundup and when the dust settles all the black hats will be pushing up daisies and one cowboy and one Indian and their son will be left living happily ever after.  How can you not love that?  Well, sorta.

It Couldn’t Hurt

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The unthinkable has occurred.  Camera Girl has joined the resistance.  Somehow, she’s discovered the 4B Movement.  I don’t know how it happened.  I keep her inside a hermetic bubble, into which no outside influence is allowed.  Like a Svengali I mold her every thought and gaslight her entire notion of what’s going on in the world.  But somehow, it’s happened.  She has declared herself part of the 4B; No barbecue, burger, brisket or bologna.  And as a further sign of her radicalized state of mind she’s added another 4B’s; no breakfast, bagel. bialy or bacon.  Shades of Lysistrata!

A complete food strike.  It’s diabolical.  And there’s nothing I can do.  I don’t know how to buy or cook food.  I’m not even sure what I currently eat.  The dishes she makes for me are complex and confusing.  If left to my own devices I’ll probably wander through the supermarket buying the easily identifiable items like bananas and seltzer.  It looks pretty bleak for me.  I tried to placate her.  I told her I’d stop watching YouTube videos of Kamala voters screaming and crying.  I told her I’d let her watch NCIS and other girly soap operas.  But she just ignored me.  Her tactic is to eat her meals before I get up in the morning.  When I get up at 10:30 am I can still smell the coffee and bagels wafting around the dining room but all that’s left is an empty coffee mug and some everything-bagel crumbs on a plate in the sink.

I can’t figure out where she’s hiding the food.  I suspect it might be in the kitchen cabinets but because of the illogical way she arranges things I’ve never been able to find anything but trash bags and window cleaner in those places, so what’s the use.  In desperation I’ve been sneaking out to the edge of the swamp looking for the crumbs and crusts that Camera Girl leaves at the edge of the water for Moe the Crow.  I’ll give him this, he puts up a pretty stiff fight for his food.  But I’m just too strong for him.  I will have to get there a little earlier though.  The bread gets very soggy from the ground water almost immediately.

I’m thinking of getting some outside help.  I’m going to write a letter to President-elect Trump and see if he has any advice for me.  I mean he’s always fighting with “nasty women” and he’s managed pretty well for himself.  Well, he did get sued by that harpy who claims he raped her in Bloomingdales.  And he is on his third marriage.  And he did have that Million-Woman March against him back in 2017.  But probably all of those experiences have made him wiser about women and anyway I feel he owes me after I stuck up for him with Camera Girl and all the other women who over the years have argued with me about what a terrible man he is.  Surely that wisdom can do me some good in my present predicament.  The “art of the deal” must have a chapter on food strikes.

Well, if all else fails. I will fall back on what every man has as his birthright; the male brain.  As Shakespeare very beautifully expressed it in Hamlet, “What a piece of work is a man, How noble in reason.”  That’s right, how noble in reason.  We are the thinking animal and we can think our way out of any crisis.  I will buy food myself and by trial and error I will figure out how to cook it.  I can write the equations for the heat transfer of an electrical resistance stove top.  I can figure out the amount of time it takes for a quart of water to reach its boiling point at a particular power setting.  I know how the proteins in animal muscle become denatured at high temperature.  Fire is the invention of some male ancestor of my species and I can master its application to any technology.  As Prometheus is my witness, I’ll never be hungry again!

Maybe if I tell her how nice her hair looks lately, she’ll make me some coffee and a pumpernickel bagel.  It couldn’t hurt.

Cenk Uygur Speaks Truth to Stupid

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This is hilarious. Cenk Uygur is the voice of reason?  Well, compared to a fruit cake like presidential historian and pollster Allan Lichtman and his “13 keys” nonsense about picking presidential winners he is.  Cenk is a Bernie Bro.  But he’s a veritable Einstein compared to Lichtman.  At one point Lichtman accuses Uygur of blasphemy for mocking his keys!  It’s wonderful.  And it may be the exemplar for the whole election.  Blame the voters for being too stupid to see how great everything is under the Biden administration.  Inflation is great, illegal aliens are great, crime is great.  We just were smart enough to enjoy it.

Tom’s World – 20NOV2024 – Gold and Silver Coins

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Tom | Flickr

TomD

Gold and Silver Coins

I’ve been acquiring/collecting gold and silver for the past 21 years. My motivation initially was to keep a store of PM (precious metals) as a hedge against economic “problems” but I quickly discovered that there was an aesthetic component to some of the coins. My 1st purchases were 100 and 1000 oz silver bars (in 2003 cheap) but they were as photogenic as bricks. When I discovered the offerings from some of the major mints around the work, it was a “Whoa” moment. So I started to photo them. It worked out that 2003 was right about the time digital cameras were becoming capable instruments.

Amusing that the owner of APMEX (American Precious Metals Exchange), the largest online seller of PM’s sent me an email in around 2006 asking if I would do all his product photography for him. I was happy for the recognition but I was a 50 something year old Civil Engineer at the time and I appreciate the offer but——

 

 

4 Ducat-  This is a restrike of a 1915 4 Ducat Austrian gold coin featuring Emperor Franz Joseph. The coin contains .44 oz (net) of gold. I’ve got a number of European gold fractionals (fractional oz) and some are quite nice if you manage to get one in good shape after 100-140 years. This coin is from the Austrian Mint

 

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2011 Kookaburra- From the Australian National Mint. The Kookaburra is just 1 of several yearly silver coin offerings from the Mint. All of them are incredibly nice and popular. This series started in 1993, different images each year, 1 oz of silver. As an aside, when I say one oz in the context of PM’s, I’m talking about Troy oz, not standard oz., the difference is 28.35 grams per standard oz vs 31.13 per Troy.

 

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ATB Florida- US Mint, ATB stands for America the Beautiful as in the state quarters  issued for several years. This isn’t a standard issue quarter but a 5 oz silver replica but still minted by the US Mint.  Some of the designs, like this Florida one, are quite nice, but others not so much.

 

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Britannia- By the British National Mint, one oz 24 kt gold. Britannia is the British equivalent of Uncle Sam. The coins were issued yearly, most years of different designs, in both gold and silver. A lot of the coins from this series are spectacular.

 

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Azteca Calendario- This came in different weights up to a kilogram, this one is 5 oz. You can find all sorts of base metal knockoffs of this coin but the real ones from the Casa De Moneda De México (Mexican National Mint) are fairly rare. I had a Mexican contact and we swapped  coins with each other for years. The Casa has  some beautiful coins and popular coins in its catalogue.

 

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Eagles- Silver American Eagles that is, from the US Mint. Probably the most popular, recognizable, desired and produced coins in the world. If you’re going to buy limited silver, get this one. Recognized everywhere and easily traded for cash. When I first started buying these, I paid $5 each, now they’re pushing $40.

 

GAE- As in Gold American Eagle. Ditto everything about the silver eagles. They are in 22 kt gold or 91% but the weight of gold is one full oz. I like that alloy, I’ve got 24 kt gold but it is too soft. I dropped a 24 kt coin once and it dented the he** out of it. Luckily, that particular coin had little numismatic premium and it was still 1 oz of gold after the drop.

 

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Maple Gold- This is the Canadian version of the GAE. These are .9999 gold. It was one of these that I dropped. This is a fairly early one and the image of the Queen is what is known as the “Hottie” Queen. The image was updated as the years went on to reflect the aging queen.

 

Of all these coins shown, only the Kookaburra and Calendario have any premium attached. All the rest, you could buy for close to spot price. For some reason, some years of SAE’s are rarer and the coins can cost you more. But just skip these years.

I might do another coin photo post down the line but I’ve got thousands of shots of beautiful coins and I don’t think that is the direction Photog wants his site to go in. But there are some incredibly beautiful coins series out there, Chinese Pandas, a number of private mint series, Britannias, ATB’s, Australian Lunar series, Australian Kangaroos, Canadian Predator series, Mexican, European coin types beyond count.

I was extremely lucky, one particular friend (now departed unfortunately), influenced me and got me started when I could accumulate most of this when PM’s were a fraction of current cost. I paid $250 for my 1st oz of gold.

TomD

The New Media Landscape

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Long, long ago in a reality far, far happier, there were things called newspapers and something called radio and something else called television.  Each of these was part of mass communication.  And each had its own mode of operation.  One of the most important considerations in all these media companies was the business model.  In other words, how did the newspaper or radio station or television network earn enough money to pay for all of the costs incurred in publishing a newspaper or running a radio or television station and also produce a profit.

And for the most part, advertising was the principal source of income.  For the most part, businesses paid money for ads in the newspaper or commercials during the air time of broadcasts.  And this system worked remarkably well to keep these media businesses profitable and stable.

But in the 1990s the internet started growing from humble beginnings to its present ubiquitous position.  And one thing its existence did was divert all of the advertising revenue that the newspapers and other media companies formerly collected, into the hands of a few large internet companies.  Specifically, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook and X currently capture the lion’s share of this revenue.  And the result of this shift has been the impoverishment of most of the newspapers in the United States.  Even the ones that aren’t teetering on the verge of bankruptcy are just pale ghosts of their former selves.  The network television companies, ABC, NBC and CBS are slightly better off but aren’t looking very healthy either.

And the second way that the internet is endangering these media companies (including the cable television stations) is by providing competition for their viewers.  Netflix and Amazon and others provide streaming services that compete with both the news and entertainment programming that these stations provide.  And with respect to the news programming, the dishonesty and bias of the media news shows over the last few decades has alienated about half of the viewing public.

Throw this loss of audience due to distrust on top of the loss of advertising revenues due to the internet and what you get are companies like CNN and MSNBC that no longer have a viable business model.  When customers cut the cable because they don’t want the cable revenues going to people they hate, then the paying audience shrinks.  And if the shrinking audience scares off the little advertising they have left, then what you’re looking at is a death spiral for these cable news companies.

They’ve tried to mimic the streaming services and fill the gap with subscriptions.  But even delusional cable news executives have learned that no one is paying a monthly fee to see more Joy Reid and Andrea Mitchell.  That’s just not in the cards.  So, if you are Comcast or Warner Brothers-Discover what would you do with these dying companies?  Currently they say they are looking for buyers to unload them on.  To me that seems far-fetched.  Only an idiot would look at MSNBC and say, “Yes, I want to own this.  I know I can make lots of money by putting these people on tv.”

So, what they will do is set up a subsidiary that is made up entirely of these unwatchable channels.  And then they’ll let them sink or swim on their own revenue.  And they will sink.  And that will be the end of it.  The big question is will there be any cable news channels left at all.  Even though Fox News is doing better than their leftist competition they’re not as healthy as they once were.  It may be that cable news is no longer a viable product.  And we’ll find that out too.  Personally, I’d prefer to pay for subscriptions to sources that I like; whether they’re individuals or companies.  And it seems that the shake-out will soon clarify who and what will survive the current media meltdown.  One thing is for sure.  The next presidential election will have to happen without the help of Joy Reid and Dana Bash.  They’ll be working in the retail food industry and too busy at the fryolator to opine on politics.