November 25, 2024
Good morning! Have you been Glicked? Have you gone? Will you go? Tempting, to be sure. Do NOT sing along — please. If there is no God, then to what and/or to whom are we giving thanks? Each other? Leaders? Benevolent dictators? Santa? Cher? Farmers? (Yes!) How is your BitCoin doing? Perhaps that is something to thank?!
- Turkey alert! If you haven’t started to thaw and to brine your turkey, you might be too late… unless your feast is later than Thursday.
- Yesterday, from the very front row, we were treated to a delightfully competent chamber orchestra quintet’s energetic interpretation of Schumann and Dvorak.
- (Sorry, don’t have those Czechoslovakian markings you need for on this typewriter Antonín Leopold Dvořák (/d(ə)ˈvɔːrʒɑːk, -ʒæk/ d(ə-)VOR-zha(h)k; Czech: [ˈantoɲiːn ˈlɛopold ˈdvor̝aːk] ).
- Surprise, surprise, economic pressures are pressuring regular ordinary humans to purchase items where they are the least expensive.
- Eliminate the five percent (multi-millionaires/ billionaires) and the old rules about price, scarcity, and demand appear to be working a little bit.
- Witness the meteoric rise of the Dollar Stores — and the sustainability and growth of behemoth WalMart. (Reference Target Corporation’s most recent numbers, 2024)
- Got an extra banana laying around the house? And a strip of duct tape?
- Sell it at a discount: $6,100,000 — $140,000 less than the one that sold recently at Sotheby’s.
- Approximately eight percent of Minnesotans hunt and kill deer this time of year.
- In researching these data we made a wrong assumption — that the number would have decreased significantly in the last half century, a dying tradition.
- But, we were wrong, the autumn trek into the woods, weapons poised, has actually grown in popularity over the years.
- We were in the same room as the Xcel (aka, NSP) President and learned lots about the future of electricity generation and distribution.
- Guess what?: Artificial Intelligence is a game changer.
- Before two years ago almost no one saw the demand spiking in the way that it is and as it is projected = exponential; wow!
- And, to make it all happen within a zero carbon footprint is a goal — and a promise — of Xcel.
- Related point: The world’s largest user of electricity by nation is, not surprisingly, China.
- I picked it up and read it, but I’m not sure I should recommend it: The Highest Calling, Rubenstein, 2024
- Fascinating tidbits (not Tim Bits, you Canadians!) and anecdotes.
- It might work better as a coffee table book — IF it had pictures, and it doesn’t.
- By now you probably suspect I’m addicted to history, any nugget of the past that might help to explain today or the future.
- And, as such, The Smithsonian magazine is so, so, so very good almost all of the time.
- November 2024 edition: The Lakota and the Legacy of Blue Water… read it and mourn.
- Taxes on real property and personal property have long been a source of revenue for all levels of government in the United States, as far back as colonial times.
- Very few people, Warren is the exception, desire to pay taxes.
- Property tax revolts and frustrations happen about once each year, right about now, when the tax due amounts get announced… right around Christmas.
- Everyone has her/ his story to tell about how their taxes increased more than ever in history, double their neighbor, triple the guy across town; we’ve been there.
- As it turns out, not all places are equal.
- For example, if you lived in Las Vegas or Pittsburgh your taxes would have gone DOWN over the last five years, net of all other things being equal.
- (I get Las Vegas, but why Pittsburgh?! And should we all move there?)
- Indianapolis citizens experienced the largest tax increase the last half-decade, more than 13% per year annualized; will they get a Proposition Thirteen started?
- And, good old heart of the Midwest, Minneapolis, is boringly average at just under six percent per annum increase for a total of 28% — which also seems a bit onerous.
- That’s more than inflation. But, think of poor old Indianapolis — and Atlanta…
- (The above informed by The Minneapolis Tribune, 2024.)
- Even though it’s a holy week, let’s conduct just a tiny little bit of business, OK? Just a tiny bit, but very important:
- Surprise, surprise, employees who are evaluated by skilled supervisors they admire or respect are happier with their reviews.
- Satisfied, motivated, and open to suggestions = 13% more likely than with the same system conducted by a not-as-skilled or empathetic supervisor. (Komm, Etc., et al., 2024)
And it’s time once again for an encore of an all-time favourite poem penned by Watkins, MN friend and Presidential candidate, Eugene J. McCarthy.
The Maple Tree
The maple tree last night
Without a wind or rain
Let go its leaves
Because its time had come.
Brown veined, spotted,
Like old hands, fluttering in blessing.
They fell upon my head
And shoulders, and then
Down to the quiet at my feet.
I stood, and stood
Until the tree was bare
And have told no one
But you that I was there.
c. 1995
