A sample of some obscure - and maybe not obscure - tunes from my strange and off-the-wall collection.
Today's selection: John Denver/Emmylou Harris - "Wild Montana Skies" 1983
From the John Denver album "It's About Time". Emmylou Harris provides backup vocals.
The Great Falls Tribune considered it "the best song about Montana". The New York Tribune considers it the "2nd worst song with "wild" in the title - losing out last place to Martin Murphy's "Wildfire" (but then, that's an opinion out of New York ...)
The Western Writers of America chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.
"You seem to be getting swamped with comments going to posts. Does that make it any easier to fill up NAD? Readers seem to like it."
I'm not swamped ... Sometimes a group of comments come in that I think are worth elevating to posts. Sometimes they come in groups and I may spread them out a bit. Sometimes I may miss a comment or two that would make a good post but they remain in the comments. Sometimes I think they make better comments than posts.
I have plenty of material to fill space even if it's just a pretty (or not) picture or two. I usually only put up one post per day but that's not a hard and fast rule.
On the other hand, when I set up this site, I had hoped it would be sort of a community share board where readers would also submit their works for others to enjoy or comment upon - sometimes without my yapping involved.
I rarely censor anything. There was one post in the early days that did get canned; the author agreed and stated that even Gerard would have either deleted or not posted. To date, there have been 7,162 comments submitted with only 1 rejection. Only one reader has been blocked (very early on) and that was a known troll.
So go ahead, submit - or not - most anything you care to share. I will allow links but I prefer to not post something posted on another site unless it's your own (for instance, I will link to a news article but I won't post it). Jean is an example; she often submits things she's posted on her site, Pondering.
Some subjects such as tranzies piss me off enough I (usually) wish to avoid the topic; such topics may get ignored or deleted at my discretion and depending on the phase of the moon.
If you make a comment and prefer it not be posted, mention that. If you'd like to submit a post without making a comment, send it to me at dt@newamericandigest.org
But don't feel obligated to submit anything - this site will carry on for the foreseeable future in any case.
For those that might be interested (if not, close eyes for a moment), NAD averages about 120 visitors per day although those may not be unique visits; the top authors beyond myself are Jean, ghostsniper, Wild Wild West, and Anne; the top viewing countries are US (of course) and China (???) at about ½ US views with Japan and Italy far behind. United Kingdom and Canada get mentioned. Viewers from those last two might be subject to arrest for viewing this admittedly anti-globalist, non-politically correct, and definitely not properly woke site.
So that's all the news that fit to be news for now.
Carry on ...
PS: Comments are not moderated unless they have a lot of links (4 or 5 I think). Comments will appear as soon as they are entered; however, they may be edited by the commenter for a short period of time. If you wish to say something to me without it being public, use the email address. Emails do not get published unless they are a submission for posting.
Submitted by ghostsniper in response to Jean's "Microscopic Welder"
Funny, I did work for Lockheed briefly in 1980 when I worked for Martin-Marietta in Torrance Calif making more money than a single dood should be allowed.
It wasn’t microscopic though, quite the opposite. Using a gantry I loaded 72′ long aluminum wing spars into a 750 ton stretcher and stretched them about 6 inches longer then they were. The explanation given to me was, that when aluminum molecules are stretched they become oval shaped and fit tighter together making them stronger.
An inked benchmark was applied to the surface of the spar and after it was stretched it was measured with a big micrometer and the increased length had to be within a certain range. Sometimes 2 or 3 stretches were required.
After the stretch the spas were loaded into huge train box cars and the cars were pushed into huge ovens and baked at 1440 degrees for 2-3 weeks constant. Supposedly stretching the aluminum makes the spars stronger but also makes them brittle and susceptible to cracking under stress, like when wings “wave” (flex) during flight. When the spars are baked it is similar to ageing and ageing makes aluminum more flexible. Thus, over time (ageing) the aluminum will become such (stressed) that it is not safe to be flown.
At the time I was in a probationary period of 3 months with the steelworkers union and they stipulate you cannot miss work without prior approval. You can’t just call in beforehand and say you’re not coming in. You have to have advanced approval. Well, on the evening of 09Jul80, 2 hours before my graveyard shift was going to start, my mother called and told me my dad in Fort Myers, FL had died and the funeral was in 3 days….
I called my job and explained the situation and that I was going to get a flight out that night. I was told that my message would be passed to my supervisor but I was not given “permission” to leave on the spot.
I skied out of LAX at 1:05am to FM, FL not knowing if I would have a job when I came back. I came back 5 days later and I had been fired. I bummed around for a couple months and tried to find another job but I got down to my last $100 and bought a ticket on the “dog” for 5 days of fun and adventure, back to FM, FL.
It wasn’t all dark shadows bounced off lunar eclipses. Just south of Tampa in a little place named Nokomis a beautiful blonde girl named Rose got on the bus and her and me hit it off immediately. I was going to Fort Myers and she was going 50 miles south to Naples. When the bus stopped at FM I didn’t get off. Her and me lived together for the next 6 months and then tragedy set in. I never heard from her again. Every Nov 5th I think about her cause that was her birthday.
She was a blinding ray of sunlight on a colorless dark night and I never really got over her. I looked her up on the web a few years ago and found out she died in a car crash in 2002.
Not too many heard of this band even in 1967. Out of Phoenix, they released one album. It flopped, the band broke up.
"Superfine Dandelion drew from a lot of fine inspirations on their sole album: Jefferson Airplane, the Lovin' Spoonful, and Buffalo Springfield foremost among them. Good taste, however, does not guarantee a good record. Superfine Dandelion isn't lousy; it's just average and unmemorable. ... the album is still fun. And that's the most important thing, isn't it? Enjoy."
Mike McFadden formed the band with Ed Black and Rick Anderson with Mike Collins at the drummer. McFadden and Black went on to the Goose Creek Symphony - best known for their cover of "Mercedes Benz" - while Anderson (died 2022 age 75) was one of the founding members of The Tubes. Collins went on to not be the Mike Collins that piloted Apollo 11.
Being a 45 junkie at the time, I found this demo 45 and picked it up. Then spilled styrene cement on it :( To my knowledge, the 45 was never formally released.
But most everything can be found on Utube ... I'm hard pressed to find something from the 60s and later not on Utube.
It took several years; I was formally "retired" in 2020; I collect a modest stipend but I left myself open to consulting work. My skill set is highly specialized but overall, has faded from importance in the field. Lately, however, I've noticed a resurgence - probably because my work is involved with fundamentals and the industry moved away ... and discovered that those fundamentals were important but the talent pool had faded away in the interim.
I enjoy my work. I miss the profession. It was a hobby long before it became a profession, and it became a hobby again once I "retired". A hobby is an activity with negative cash flow ...
I recently saw a job posting on LinkedIn. I couldn't have written a better job description for myself: my specific specialty, remote work, pay far above and beyond what I'd ask for in my position here in Idaho (but in line with the last corporate job I held), small start-up, interesting ideas.
Keep in mind many if not most job postings on LinkedIn are ... shall we say ... suitable for questioning.
I pulled out my resume. I looked at it, I thought of the "cost" of returning to the formal work world. 60-80 hour work weeks, air travel between Boise and San Jose, corporate meetings, dressing the part ... dealing with California.
I swore to myself long ago I wouldn't work for a start-up unless I was a principal - my name on the corporate papers. They pay me thousands so they can make millions off my work. I put my resume back into its folder.
But funny thing - as I write this, I look again at the posting, I look again at my resume ... and I ask myself "Should I submit it just to see what happens?"; let them tell me No? What do I do if they say Yes?
That kind of income would certainly help build resources for the coming "adventures". I sure do enjoy the work. I've got patents in the field. I've done the Silicon Valley start-ups before. And ... I'm in my 70s and don't really have the desire to work 10 hour days for a mid-30s boss.
Stay tuned. Wishy-washy is my middle name.
*
I delayed posting this until the wishy-washy faded away. I did not submit my resume ... I'm now officially a "has-been; once-was" in my own mind. It was a good run, ended sooner than I expected.
But gives me time for a new adventure. Doing what ghost does ... sort of ... in miniature.
I have a teeny story about this I’ll relate at the bottom.
Henry Gross, a tremendous vocalist “Simone” from 1973.
Henry Gross - Simone 1973
Simone though I know How you’ve tried not to show That you’ll leave me on my own some day Here in my heart I can say
Simone we’ve begun And darling you’re the one I’ve been saying up these words to say All my life, for today
Oh my darlin’, come and heal me ‘Cause I need to be your loving man Oh my darling can you feel me ‘Said I’m giving you the best I can Oh darling, take my hand
Simone I believe In a while you will see How very fine our love can be Come build your dreams, next to me
Oh my darling, come and heal me ‘Cause I need to be your loving man Oh my darling can you feel me ‘Said I’m giving you the best I can
==================
It was a Friday night and I didn’t have a date so I was driving around in my 66 Mustang convertible with the top down and the radio playing. There was a 6 pak of Bud on the seat and I was throwing the empties over my head and I was 18 years old.
The radio just played Henry Gross’s “SkinKing” song, which I never heard before but liked it, and then they came on with the question, “Who was the singer on the song “Nantucket Sleigh Ride”?*, which I happened to know. If you were the 3rd person to call in with the correct answer you’d win Henry Gross’s “Yellow” album.
I was driving down Highway 41 and was passing the Villa’s and lo and behold there was a phone booth out in the middle of know where. I dropped that dime and was the 3rd caller and got the answer correct. 53 years later I still have that album.
I may not be evil but wicked, mean, and nasty are not unknown. More often than not, I'm against the death penalty. But there are some situations where no doubt exists - "the sooner, the better".
If someone is so mentally defective as to commit heinous crimes, rather than let said defective soul return to society - "not guilty by reason of insanity", or even a "life sentence in a mental institution", the charge should be "guilty by reason of insanity" and such defective soul should be culled from the herd.
Such a soul desperately needs God's judgement. But if one believes in Heaven, one necessarily believes in Hell. And Hell wouldn't exist if all were forgiven.
There seems to be so much of it lately, such acts seem to be no longer be hidden, but celebrated.
In such cases as that below, as well as that Satan spawn that's filled the news lately, and the apparent copycat, it's society's obligation to send such to God for judgement.
The only "right" such a criminal has is the choice of means of execution. Or perhaps the way the KGB supposedly did ... while walking down the hallway, a sudden shot rings out ...
It took a few generations to get into this mess, it'll take generations to 'fix" the illness that has been allowed to affect the country. I don't think we have generations ... I'm not sure we have 3 months.
