Hammer Mill Days

Homeward bound, I wish I was ... Hoo boy, I hope Paul Simon isn't super litigious, like those folks who own the rights to Happy Birthday. Who the hell are they again? And for chrissake, DON'T SING THE BIRTHDAY SONG! Thing is, we will be heading in the general direction of home over the coming week, that is, after our gig on Sirius tomorrow ... depending on how THAT goes. Like most of our interstellar tours, the Ned Trek Live Springtime Extravaganza Tour 2019 is presenting certain challenges and unexpected turns of events. Our concert on Procyon was overshadowed somewhat by a large, dry alien moon. (Fun fact: "dry alien moon" is an anagram of the name Leonard Nimoy.) When I say overshadowed, I mean cast in darkness ... which is problematic when you're playing outdoors. No lights in the venue, because the denizen of Procyon 3 can see in the dark. Interesting evolutionary trick, as it's a binary system, so when Procyon A goes down, Procyon B is over your shou...

On May 7 of this year, Secretary of State Pompeo made some public remarks in Finland that certainly rank as among the most craven ever delivered by a high government official since our founding: "The Arctic is at the forefront of opportunity and abundance. It houses thirteen percent of the world's undiscovered oil, thirty percent of its undiscovered gas, an abundance of uranium, rare earth minerals, gold, diamonds, and millions of square miles of untapped resources, fisheries galore. Steady reductions in sea ice are opening new passageways and new opportunities for trade. This could potentially slash the time it takes to travel between Asia and the West by as much as twenty days. Arctic sea lanes could become the 21st century Suez and Panama Canals." This is emblematic of the prevailing take on climate change. A catastrophic collapse of arctic ice, caused in large measure by our profit-driven obsession with fossil fuels, is seen as just another opportunity to exten...