“Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.”
Pablo Picasso

Very glad the site is back up and seeing the familiar names in daily readings. Change is often abrupt, this was not one I wanted to adjust to a new normal.

When discussing events and patterns in history I often use Oregon in the story telling for a couple of reasons. First, It was not considered claimed territory by any European nation and significant British and United States interaction with Oregon begins in the early 1800's. Colonization pattern is a repeat of successful practices used on the east coast since the 1500's. The second reason is I have had the fortune of knowing multiple individuals who had personal memories of living in various parts of the state since the late 1800s to present times. Those stories may not always match with official history, but have often been confirmed by reading old newspapers.

I'm still decompressing from my week in hell. I've had this knocking around in my noggin for a few days. I haven't really formulated it into a complete essay, but for the want of something to read on this money induced Black Friday, I'll try to lay it out and maybe you all can help make it somewhat cogent.

The collectivism vs. individualism dichotomy is the focal point of the upside down world we've been living in the past few years, in my humble opinion. Individualism is being suppressed while collectivism is being forced upon us. The push is strong to corral us into a hive-mind existence, both in the physical and conceptual realms. There are strong forces at work as evidenced by this movement towards collectivism emanating from almost all of the western countries of the world, in unison.

We're supposed to give up everything we own, live in small cubicle-like dwellings and eat insects for sustenance. We're supposed to follow state diktats unquestionably and get in line for the latest thing. We're supposed to forget history, a history forged by rugged individualism. We're supposed give all to our so called "betters" for the sake of mankind, or some such. All for the good of us all, like good little automatons. In essence we will become The Borg.

The West is upside down.

Hey! Happy Thanksgiving!

From https://www.makeuseof.com/canva-how-to-create-thanksgiving-dinner-menu/

Welcome back everybody.
Whew! That was a close one. Going days without a dose of C99% was pushing me to consider what I had done to deserve this.
Was it something I said?

Happy to see you got her fixed JtC.
Giving thanks!

Credits ~

Afternoon folks!

Surprise! More great blues this week with Champion Jack Dupree (and Mickey Baker on guitar) as well as a nice of compilation of older blues tunes, many by obscure artists worth a listen. There's a solo acoustic album from John Hammond, The Butterfield Blues Band's East-West album and a more or less straight up rock album by Dr. Feelgood. There's also an interesting album from Geoff and Maria Muldaur, a Steeleye Span album and a David Bromberg album to boot.

Enjoy!