Icewind's Ramblings

Well weeks actually . . . as I was out of town last week on Monday to Kipnuk for a long “day” trip.  It is one of those where you leave the house at 4 AM to get to the airport for an early morning flight.  It just so happened that this was June 21 st which is the summer solstice, the longest day of the year.  When I walked out the door at four the sun was already above the mountaintops to the northeast of town.  With our high latitude we do not have the typical sun rises in the east and sets in the west like most places further south.  During the long summers our sun rises in the northeast about 50 degrees from north not the “normal” 90 degrees “east” heading and sets briefly around 310 degrees not the usual 270 degrees “west”.  So much for the brief explanation as all I wanted to say was the sun was already heading up into the summer sky. I went with the engineers for a progress inspection since I took over these three projects just over three weeks ...

Last week there was the big news that Oprah is retiring from her talk show after 20 + years giving everyone information, book reviews and an occasional prize or two for her loyal fans who were in the studio to see her. Over the years she has tried to stimulate the economy as in the big car giveaway to her audience in 2004 where everyone in her studio opened a gift box with the key to a new automobile inside.  She was helping the auto industry long before they needed their bailout.  Probably better than that forty five hundred bucks the Government gave out. Has anyone ever heard of writing off charity on your taxes?  Hmmmm . . . pretty sure you can or put it as a “business expense.”  In 2008 she made 385 million dollars . . . that could potentially buy 1,428 people a new Cadillac Escalade while still having 285 million left over . . . so essentially she could afford to have all of us drive a new car with enough left over to buy plenty of Black Angus burgers and...

I heard this Neil Young song today and it brought back many thoughts. I have always been intrigued by the lyrics and the possible meanings from which Neil was writing at the time. In different interviews over the years he has said he has no idea and probably was from whatever he was taking at the time (drugs or high fever?). I have always looked at the song from the perspective of past, present, and future. As time has progressed from 1970 until now its possible meanings have also changed when I think about it. I’m going to give you three versions of the song and with each, if you take the time to listen, will bring with it something different. The imagery throughout the song is haunting in one sense, a past from medieval times and the pageantry, painting pictures of a possible lost planet in another, and possibly new beginnings at the end. Either way great music from a long ago time that still impacts the listener if you can stop and take the ti...