With progress on the Webb Space Telescope continuing, a million miles from Earth, there’s a discovery here on Earth, 10,000 feet below Antarctic ice.
Looking Back on the Bag
A few posts ago, “Little Green Bag” is in stereo. My copy of the recording, on a CD, is in mono, like the original single.
That very nifty record player looks like a Voice of Music A1272, from 1972. I had one, very briefly. Voice of Music record changers were everywhere on house brand stereos, but five years after the A1272 the company went out of business.
This video has a good view of the complete unit. Not an audiophile quality turntable, but good enough for all practical purposes.
Romantic Critters
When I happen to hear a less frequently played record from the 60’s, I check to see where it peaked on the Billboard Hit chart. This one is from ’66, the ultimate year for Pop music. The opening bass notes seem to have been borrowed from “Blue Bayou”.
Surely this perfectly romantic, swoony delight must have been a #1 hit. Boys liked it, girls loved it, and their moms undoubtedly did too. And yet “Mr. Dieingly Sad” only reached #17! Why? The answer is that it faced some very tough competition.
https://www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100/1966-10-05/
I suppose mothers may have been wary of the possibility their kids would go to the library to find out what “Kama-Sutra” on the record label meant. 😉
Who Rules the Rule Makers?
I’m not as liberal as could be assumed from a lot of what I write here. For example, I think the deadly embrace between Corporate America and Organized Labor contributed to the inflation/unemployment spiral of the 1970’s. It also gave us some of the worst cars ever made.
A liberal theme I have expressed often is my distrust of Wall Street. The Federal Reserve and Treasury have served the needs of investment banks very well, but the big firms aren’t satisfied with borrowing money for free. They want unregulated markets, and the only rules of the game they will follow are the ones they write for themselves.
We are still living with the repercussions of the market collapse in 2008, and there is nothing to prevent it from happening again. In fact, it almost did happen again, as explained in a new documentary, Gaming Wall Street.
The documentary reminded me of a book I read that further explains how the system is rigged, and that markets are free only in the “anything goes” sense. Flash Boys, by Michael Lewis.
Mile Age
I recently said I’ve been driving an average of 4,000 miles/year. Considering the car was purchased five years ago this month, looking at the odometer today I’d say it’s been exactly 4,000.
Tough Guys
I’ve been watching movies featuring Hollywood tough guy Lawrence Tierney.
Tierney reminds me of a guy I knew in college, named Tom, who was a year ahead of me during my freshman year. Tom and his roommate were in the dorm room directly above myself and my two roommates.
We were a nerdy trio, while Tom was a tough guy majoring in Criminal Justice. He was also a major pain in the butt, taking delight in giving us a hard time. When I’d finally had enough of him harassing us, my roommates literally had to hold me back from taking him on. Tom seemed content that I would dare to challenge him, and from then on we were okay.
Tom is introduced a few moments into this video, and you will hear how he put his Criminal Justice degree to good use.
https://youtu.be/cpnU1tKpTKU?t=4336
One of the last screen appearances of Lawrence Tierney was in Quentin Tarantino’s first movie, Reservoir Dogs.
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