Watering Can

The un-watering can

Spotted this sitting on a table at a friend's house. On one hand, it looks kind of cool, the handle is made of the same tubing as the spout. Closer inspection reveals that the tube that forms the handle is the same one that forms the spout. It is all one tube. It comes out of the top, goes over, down and back in the bottom and then continues across the bottom and then out the other side where it forms the spout. It really doesn't make any sense. But then the owner is in marketing and it is entirely possible that they needed a slick watering can for a prop for one of their campaigns and had this thing custom made for this one job, and now that it's over it's decorating his house.

Criminently

Grocer's Price Tag, Front

Grocer's Price Tag, Back

Walking out of Freddie's a week or so ago with a grocery cart full of groceries and I hear a beeping sound. Don't think much of it, the world is full of electronical gizmos that are always clamoring for attention. But it was a little odd. The timing led me to suspect it was the anti-shop-lifting scanner that was hollering. That's weird, because we don't have anything but food in our cart, nothing like some expensive electronical gadget which are the items that usually get tagged this way. (All them electronical gadgets got to stick together, you know, otherwise how are they going to take over the world?)

We get home and Osmany opens the roast and discovers the source of the alarm. Huh. So people are stealing meat now? I'm glad the economy is improving. It is improving, isn't it?

Bhor Ghat

One Hell Of A Climb by Chennai Express at Khandala Hill Station, Bhor Ghats (4K Resolution)
I'm looking for a picture of the Express Train to Hell [tm], and I come across this video (above). It's doesn't look like anything special, but watching it I realize this train is just cresting a very steep hill. It's passenger train, so it's fairly short and light, but it has two locomotives: a diesel at the front and an electric one at the rear. Presumably, this is normally an electric train, but they have enlisted the help of the diesel to climb this hill.

I do a little more poking around and find that this railway dates back to the 1860's when the British were just getting started building the network of railroads all over India. Getting the railroad over this pass was a major challenge. 25,000 Indians died during construction, mostly from disease. Sounds like the project to build the Panama canal. Also led to the death of the chief engineer, James John Berkley.

The Bhore Ghaut Incline

Imperialism Pioneer Of Capitalism by Bill Warren

Clarinet

Swing Republic - Together (feat. Artie Shaw)
When I was in grade school I took up the clarinet. I was never any good at it. I suspect that was because whatever sounds I made never sounded like music to me. They were just a series of notes. The notes were written on the page, I moved my fingers and blew and sound came out. But it never sounded like a tune to me. I don't know what it sounded like to anybody else. Nobody complained, but nobody complimented me either. 

I also remember making an elaborate crayon drawing of a band playing on stage and the guy in front playing the clarinet. 

I do not remember what inspired me to choose the clarinet or make that drawing, and since then I have not heard anybody playing a clarinet that made any impression. That is, until I heard this song by Electro Swing Republic featuring Artie Shaw. Now that clarinet caught my ear but good. Artie Shaw is from the big band / swing music era, but that's all I know. I pulled up a YouTube video of Artie playing Alone Together, but it doesn't seem to be the same tune. I don't know where Electro Swing found this tune, but I think I may have found my clarinet inspiration.

Financial Pests

Walter White, businessman, counting his loot, er, legitimate profits
He's only here because I needed a pic for this post, and this one's pretty cool.

I've been using the online bill payer service at First Tech FCU for years and in general it has worked pretty well. Recently (five or ten years ago?), First Tech merged with a similar outfit in California. I didn't like that because, well, bigger, and well, California. But I understand how it might make good business sense to do that. The only problem I ran into with this change was that checks I deposited by mail took a week to show up in my checking account. Previously it took a couple of days. Okay, fine, I can make a trip to the ATM and deposit the check there.

Recently though they have overhauled their bill pay website and what was once a little clunky but fully functional has turned into a pile of slick looking crap. I've been dunning them to no effect, but yesterday I got a message that tells me that they are not running their own bill paying service, they are farming the actual work out to someone else. Criminently, is it really that hard to find competent programmers? And then I realized, no, that's not the problem, they just don't want to pay them. And besides, Blizzard Entertainment is a sucking whirlpool that is consuming all the programming talent within a zillion miles.

So today I'm looking for a new service and right away I come across something called PayTrust and the next thing I find is a two star (out of five) review on Yelp. Seems PayTrust was started by Intuit / Quicken umpteen years ago and while it may have been the cat's pajamas then, Intuit seems to have lost interest.

Not too long ago Intuit bought Mint (formerly Check, formerly Pageonce). Is Mint any better than Paytrust? I don't know. Intuit evidently thought it was worth buying, but all that means is they think it's going to make money for them. Given their history, I expect them to run it into the ground, but given the scale of these enterprises that is liable to take a decade or so, and by then someone will have created something even more "wonderful".

The Balance has a recent (August this year) review of bill paying services. Top of their list is PayTrust, the same service that got slammed on Yelp.  Next is another service from Intuit, and farther down the list is another one. They also mention MyCheckFree and Yodlee MoneyCenter about which I know nothing.

Of course, the hot ticket in bill paying is Smart Phone Apps, which I am unlikely to embrace, mostly because the dang phones cost $50 a month to operate. If your credit card is giving you one percent back on all purchases (another modern trend that I totally despise), how much do you have to spend every month to pay for your smart phone? That would be $5,000. I wonder if I can pay my mortgage with my credit card.

Pic of the Day

Ford GT via Road & Track

The original Ford GT, the GT-40, won the 24 hours or Le Mans four years in a row from 1966 to 1969, the same four years I was in high school. No wonder I think it's the coolest car in the world, and I think aluminum 427 cubic inch V-8 engines are gods gift to everyman.

Leonard Cohen RIP

Leonard Cohen 1934-2016

Obituary here, via Posthip Scott. I first came across Leonard when I heard Everybody Knows while watching the movie Exotica. I noticed him again when he sang the opening song for the second season of True Detective. Great stuff.


Leonard Cohen - Everybody Knows
About fifteen years ago his former manager stole all his money. Eventually Leonard discovered he was broke and so went back to touring. Hard work for an old man, but good for everyone who got to hear him. Near as I can tell, nobody has figured out where the money (five million dollars) went.