Cold Snap Could Send Natural Gas To $5 -- Oilprice -- October 30, 2018

This is pretty funny. For the past 24 hours or so a reader and I have been tossing around "what if ... cold winter ... natural gas shortage?" See this post.

I just stopped at In 'n Out for a Coke and a hamburger (no fries) and then opened the computer. And this is the headline over at  oilprice.com, I kid you not:

But OMG, $5. See this post. Five dollars is nothing. There's enough "slack" in the graphic at that post to push natural gas to $10. LOL.

I think this is going to be fascinating.

But, the betting right now: it will be a warmer winter than usual. My thoughts: it's all relative, and even if it's warmer, once winter is here, all bets are off. We'll see.

Natural gas today? Up about a percent, to about $3.22.

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For The Record

I finished Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Again. Perhaps one of the most difficult books to slog through, on so many levels.

Three hundred seventy three pages long -- an incredible slog -- so much of it must be re-read, but I can only read a few pages at a time. Years ago the word "heavy" was used to describe such writing; I don't know if folks use that word any more. But if you want to experience "heavy" read this book.

You slog through it, wondering how it will end. And there it is. Not only does the book end, with a real ending, a real conclusion, but the reader is amply rewarded for sticking with it. Sort of the same feeling I had when I read the climax in The Great Gatsby.

It's a great book for grandfathers to read while watching their grandchildren grow up with their father.

As much as four-year-old Sophia and I are joined at the hip, Sophia's father is the one true real man in her life. LOL. Father-daughter. Father-son. Really, really special relationships.

To some extent that's what Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is all about. And yet, reviewers and critics never seem to mention that. If pages 369 - 373 don't move you, the reader, emotionally, I don't know what will.

On another note, time for some music.

I'm sure everyone is familiar with Bobby Vinton's recording of Blue Velvet. I never thought about Bobby Vinton's version until I heard Lana Del Rey's version. Compared to the latter's version, Vinton's version is just a bit too upbeat considering the theme.

I heard Del Rey's version some years ago and was blown away; it seemed she interpreted the song perfectly. Interestingly, if I remember correctly, it was one of two songs that seemed to just be added to her "Paradise" album/CD -- not really meant for the album. One wonders why she put it on the album. I always thought it was just a "throwaway" -- a karaoke Del Rey added for some reason.

Tonight, in the mood, I read the wiki entry regarding the song. Many, many people have covered it. But get this, the Del Rey version takes up an entire section of the wiki entry. Who would have thought? One wonders if Del Rey even wonders how her version got so much emphasis considering all those who have covered it, including the one who brought it to #1, Bobby Vinton. As it is, the Bobby Vinton section in the wiki entry seems to be about a third of that given to Del Rey.

There must have been a reason for Apple to have featured Lana Del Rey earlier today -- the NYC, October 30, 2018, event.

Ironically, after writing all that, Del Rey's Blue Velvet doesn't seem to fit right now.

Instead, and if you know the history of the Seekers, this is incredibly poignant.

The Carnival Is Over, The Seekers
From wiki:

"The Carnival Is Over" is a Russian folk song from circa 1883, adapted with English-language lyrics, written by Tom Springfield, for the Australian folk pop group The Seekers in 1965.

The song became The Seekers' signature recording, and the band have customarily closed their concerts with it ever since its success in late-1965. At its 1965 sales peak, The Seekers' single was selling 93,000 copies per day in the UK and is No.30 in the chart of the biggest-selling singles of all time in the United Kingdom, with sales of at least 1.41 million copies in the UK alone. The track spent three weeks at No.1 in the UK Singles Chart in November and December 1965.

As I listen to it (again, for the umpteenth time), I think of Vera Lynn and "We'll Meet Again." Wow, the Brits and music.