If you think about it, wealth has always been about purchasing the right to resist change. When we switched from hunting and gathering to agriculture, the right to hunt was reserved for kings and lords. The rich are equestrian in a world which has no room for hosss. The rich can have assistants rather than be directly contactable. Even in ancient Rome, the most wealthy patrician families kept this veneer of living in pre-Republican times, maintaining weird and esoteric rituals that were remnants of Bronze Age practices. (cf. Carmen Salieri)

Wealth has also been about purchasing the right to change before others. Going back to the hoss and the Romans, the rich also had hosss before there was room for hosss - when they were a luxury that were only useful for going somewhere fast or riding in combat, before they were useful as work animals. The rich got cars before they were a necessity, phones before they were a necessity, computers and cell phones before they were a necessity.

You're not wrong, of course, it stretches in both directions - but it might be more accurate to say that being rich is about purchasing the right to the lifestyle you choose rather than the lifestyle you need.

Throwing in with the not-thrilled crowd on this one. It reads like how someone who'd heard about the characters but not really put much thought into it would write them.

Reading this again... Maybe he lead a lot of songs for a lot of people that didn't know the words and then didn't know how to handle leading a crowd that knew the words?  It was just one of the two shows that stick out to me as like, oh that was miserable because of the way that performer treated the crowd.  I like it when musicians are assholes too, this was just a different, less cool asshole-ness. (The other show was that flaming lips show- coyne was too nice, that is what I hated.  I've also seen Isaac Brock accidentally slice his arm open, curse at us then end the show and loved it, so yeah, down w assholes.)

Anyways, if I ever get famous I hope I die young.  Woodsy Guthrie never had people talking shit about him because of some shit he did in his late 80s.  Also, sorry to talk shit about Seeger, it is just what I immediately thought of.

Did the crowd seem to dislike it? I dunno, most of the folkies I know understand that when you're leading a large audience in participatory song you want to make sure everyone can sing along. I don't know the specifics of the event, of course.

Welp, so much for beef jerky.

Oh, don't get me wrong, I love regular flavor beef jerky (mainly from Crazy hoss Jerky which I would link to if the filters didn't eat the link) and I prefer flavors that don't drown out the delicious concentrated dried beef taste. But these flavors complement it really well.

Is there a beef jerky revival going on up there, with dudes bringing in all sort of crazy techniques? Down here we're experiencing this phenomenon with beer, everyone seems to be brewing these days.

I don't know if it's a revival but I got into artisan beef jerky this year - partly doctor's advice to cut down on sweet snacks and partly just trying to do fewer but better-quality snacks on the whole. There've been at least a few makers who've been doing Kickstarters for new flavors. This particular Kickstarter was for Epic Sriracha Jerky (no points for guessing their signature product) to produce tabasco, wasabi, green curry and orange flavors, with a sampler of the new flavors as a reward. I haven't tried the orange yet but the tabasco and green curry are both great, the wasabi is a letdown though.

The war is over. We finally won. Christmas at my house has been reduced to vulgar jokes and restaging traditional photos for the 20th time and getting presents we picked out ourselves.

OH NO, BREAKFAST BURRITOS APPEAR. CHRISTMAS SPIRIT IS RALLYING. Wine has appeared. It's a Christmas miracle.

We need the small cousins to come. Without them around we are all too cynical.

Merry Christmas, thou internets.

Hey, merry Xmas. It's not my bag but I hope youse have a good time.

When I have a cold or similar I find a can's worth of cool (not cold) Dr. Pepper with half a lime squeezed in is fantastic.