Random Note on E-Mail

I check my gmail about every six months, if I remember.

My primary e-mail is my yahoo account, noted somewhere on this page.

If you have sent me a note to my gmail address, I apologize for not replying. It was not on purpose. As noted, I don't access my gmail account except on rare occasions. I will not reply to gmail.

Again, this is not an investment site: do not make any investment decisions based on what you read at this site, or think you read at this site.

Also, I generally do not discuss Bakken matters privately. If you write me, assume it will be posted (of course, if you tell me not to post it, I won't).  If you want credit for something you send me, let me know. I assume that photographs sent to me are okay to post (unless otherwise stated).

The reason I even checked my gmail tonight was because I noted an LA Times article that said folks were upset by the way Google was managing/changing their "compose" process. I just checked it out. Easy as pie. I am absolutely amazed by the things people complain about.

It does appear Yahoo mail is a bit easier, and certainly nicer to look at, but gmail is fine.

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A Note To The Granddaughters

I'm watching, for the umpteenth time, Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man on DVD. It played in theaters several years ago. When it was first released, I told your Grammy I was going to go watch it at the local theater, and she laughed. I told her she could join me if she wished. She came with me, just to humor me, I suppose. She was blown away by how great the movie was. The music is incredible. It's easy to forget that Leonard was a poet first. 

I've worked hard at trying to understand poetry; having found Leonard Cohen, it has made it easier to understand. Poetry. My brother introduced me to Leonard. Craig used a Leonard Cohen CD to demonstrate the "awesomeness" of the Bose CD player.

I do believe is academicians and publishers were honest, Leonard Cohen would be ranked just slightly higher than Emily as a poet. But trying to knock Emily off the pedestal to be replaced by Leonard Cohen will be as likely as academicians accepting the real Shakespeare.

My carbon footprint is very small but if I have a Leonard Cohen DVD I am happy. Content. Satisfied.

My carbon footprint, when home, is less than 800 square feet. No television and no internet connection. I can sometimes access the internet from the neighbors in this apartment complex; tonight someone named Samantha has left her internet/Air Port open; thank you.

To make Algore happy, I have no car when I am home. I walk a lot. In fact, at home, in San Antonio I walk everywhere because there is no public transportation -- there is, but nothing compared to what Boston has.

As referenced, I get my internet connection where I can; it's "catch as catch can" if that's the phrase. I've gotten to know Starbucks cafes very, very well.

Back to the Leonard Cohen movie:

Nick Cave: a thousand kisses deep. One of my favorite songs.

Rufus Wainwright: Everybody knows. Incredible. His sister provides back up. 
Grammy loves Rufus.

And now, Martha Wainwright: If Grammy loves Rufus, I love Martha.

Leonard even talks "in poetry." Isn't this a great line (he says it with a slight chuckle)?

And there was a very beautiful young woman; she was a poet and she fell in love with ... with ... my friend. I would have preferred her to fall in love with me but I enjoyed hearing the story from his lips. He showed me a poem that he wrote her. I have never forgotten it. It goes, "I am a dreamer living in the past/Of silver nights that came and swiftly went/Your lovely ghost still owns the power of ...." He was not insensitive to the honor that he had received from her but I thought the poem was beautiful....

When talking about Moulin Rouge, Nicole Kidman says she was very nervous before she did a particular scene, but once she was in costume and makeup and took on the personality of Satine, she completely forgot she was "performing" in front of 600 cast and crew members (or whatever it was). Likewise, when one sees Martha Wainwright prepare for her Leonard Cohen song, you can see that she is transforming herself into "another entity" before she steps up to the microphone. I really believe that once she steps in front of the microphone and starts singing she is no longer Martha Wainwright, but she is the person she is singing of -- in this case being called a traitor. And when it was over, she could not get off stage fast enough.

And so it goes. It will be interesting to see if you watch this "movie" when you are as old as I am.

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Anthem, by Leonard Cohen, sung by Perla Batalla and Julie Christensen

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North Korea has US officials concerned according to the LA Times.

Obama administration officials who once hoped that North Korea's young leader could prove to be a reformer are increasingly worried that he might blunder his way into a war.

Even as they publicly describe 30-year-old Kim Jong Un's recent bellicose threats as bluster, administration officials have stepped up visible demonstrations of American military power. The aim, according to current and former U.S. officials, is to highlight for the North Koreans that their Stalinist regime might not survive a war on the Korean peninsula.

A younger leader who might blunder his way into a war. Are they talking about Barack Obama or Kim Jung On? Mr Obama has zero experience in military matters of this size; folks forget that he was seen as being in over his head when he came into office, and I just don't see him as being able to respond as John Kennedy did to the Cuban missile crisis. Chuck Hagel is not Robert Kennedy, perhaps John's most trusted and knowledgeable adviser regarding the Cuban Missile Crisis.

It goes without saying -- but we will say it anyway -- the newly-confirmed SecDef Chuck Hagel inspires no confidence.

The US military will respond regardless of who the commander-in-chief / SecDef are.

North Korea has been on a war footing for decades. South Korea has been getting softer and softer. The South Korean military understands the severity, but the South Korean-on-the-street, to judge from news reports, is not mentally prepared for what North Korea could unleash overnight.

Yes, Washington has every reason to be concerned.

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They say the B-2 flight near the North Korea border cost $2.1 million. That would have paid for 20 tours/month for almost one year. I look forward to the day when the White House is open to Americans again.