Clearing Off The Desk -- For The Archives -- Nothing About The Bakken -- March 21, 2024

Locator: 46819ARCHIVES.

Before we get started: all three major US equity markets post 52-week highs. Apple, plummeting, is the outlier.

• Dow: up 318 points. Trading at 39,800.
  
• NASDAQ: up 110 points. Trading at 5,254.
  
• S&P 500: up 30 points. Trading at 16,480.
  

The links and stories:

A most bizarre story, link here:

I finished the Ed Lansdale biography but will keep it on the shelf as a reference book. It's that good. My notes in draft here. 

In 1968 - 1969, my junior / senior years in high school, I had huge National Geographic maps of Vietnam hanging on the walls of the basement bedroom I shared with my brother. I updated US military activity on the maps. I was pretty "involved" with Vietnam those two years but once in college, it seemed not to be that big a deal for me personally. 

A Walk on the Wild Side, Nelson Algren. 

I was into page 50 of this book when I decided to start over, read more slowly, and really enjoy the writing and all the new words: A Walk On The Wild Side, Nelson Algren, c. 1956. In a very, very "strange" way the book connects me with Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

This is truly a classic. Notes will be posted here. Every page might have a word, phrase, a note that takes me down a rabbit hole. One of the first: a bitch light. And, yes, it's a thing but hard to find much on it. This was an interesting blog -- "a pioneer 'what' light" -- but this was better:

If interested, don't google "bitch light." Rather, google "bitch light" rag grease. If you do that, you will find plenty of references. 

Texas sayings: the list seems to go on forever.

USAF RC-135s. I don't quite remember what led me here. But three great links (oh, yes, now I remember -- photos from the Bitburg AB alumni group on Facebook:

• https://www.af.mil/About-Us/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/104498/rc-135s-cobra-ball/
• https://www.af.mil/About-Us/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/104495/rc-135u-combat-sent/
• https://www.af.mil/About-Us/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/104608/rc-135vw-rivet-joint/

I read this book last night: The Blue Zones, Dan Buettner, c. 2023. Not a recommendation. It was a gift, not something I would buy for myself. His advice for living longer, paraphrasing:

• unless you are an Adventist, drink Sardinian Cannonau wine (a red wine);
• be happy, don't worry;
• laugh, eat, and drink with family and friends, especially with your abuelitos:
• water, coffee, tea, and wine (specifically Sardinian Cannonau wine)
  
• learn to enjoy a plant-based diet; if you must eat meat, a small amount of fish;
• lots of beans;
• did I mention Sardinian Cannonau wine?
• live in the mountains, off the grid;
• wear blue denim;
• walk; lots of walking; no treadmills;
• bike; probably not in the mountains.

Most likely not a Sardinian Cannonau wine drinker: the fourth top executive of Lukoil to tie in the past two years; this one by suicide, age 54. Needs to be fact-checked. Link here and here.

Done for now. I need to bike to Total Wines and More to check out the price of Sardinian Cannonau wine.