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Showing posts from August, 2018

The Atlanta Campaign Ends

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Note:  This is the final installment of my high level overview of the Atlanta Campaign which I began back in May. The situation west of Atlanta on August 28, 1864.  Sherman has disengaged from the city except along the trench line at East Point.  A large force under Thomas and Howard is concentrated for a bold move south to cut the Macon and Western Railroad, the lifeline to Hood's army.  Hood has suspicions but no clear idea what is about to happen. August 31.  Sherman's troops are assembled along an 8-mile front to attack the rail road.  Hood has hastily dispersed his infantry and handful of cavalry to protect the rail line.  He correctly thinks that Sherman will attack at Jonesboro, but he fails to realize the threat is much more widespread than that.  Hood's attacks at Jonesboro will be pointless as most of the Union forces are positioned further north.  Atlanta is doomed.    President Abraham Lincoln was worried.  The Union armies and navy had won many vic

A Historic Bull Market

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Yesterday the current stock market made history by becoming the longest-running bull market in history .  The US economy is proving stronger than all the many headwinds that might threaten it .  All this despite the fact that the Dow recently registered its longest streak in "correction" territory in 60 years .  Also noteworthy is the fact that the US manufacturing index is at a nine-month low . It seems counter-intuitive.  Even whether or not this is the longest bull market is questionable . Barron's , not exactly a  liberal journal, makes a strong case that this isn't the longest bull market at all.   This chart indicates that there were four previous bull markets with a duration in excess of 12 years and our bull market is only 9+ years thus far.  In some ways the present bullish run isn't that exceptional at all. In truth it doesn't matter.  This bull market is strong in itself and compared with history (see these interesting comparison articles her

Watching Dr. Strangelove

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Even the film's opening title sequence is unique and famous. One thing leads to another.  My recent reading of Michael Benson's book on the making of 2001: A Space Odyssey led me to want to re-watch that film.  But I haven't gotten around to that yet.  Instead, I renewed interest in  Dr. Strangelove .   Benson makes clear that the success of Stanley Kubrick's 1964 film paved the way for the creative independence and boldness that made  2001 .  This is a review of Kubrick's satirical  film with some added perspectives about the movie by a few of the director's biographers.  This post assumes you have already seen the motion picture. When Kubrick completed Lolita in 1962, his mind was already preoccupied with the nuclear arms race and the concept of thermonuclear war.  This was at the height of the Cold War and the topic was pretty much in the back of every American's mind.  Nuclear war seemed a genuine possibility.  The atomic bombing of Hiroshima a

Catching up with Jackson Browne

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I guess I am going through a musical trip down memory lane lately.   It all started, without any conscious provocation, with one of my latest obsessions, creating music mixes on youtube.  I find that the commercial interruptions are brief and minimal on youtube and it is a great way to make music I enjoy more accessible from any location.  Plus, I love mixing music myself.  It is fun. Anyway, I started off simply with distilling down my favorite tunes by Neil Young in the 21st century ( see previous post ).  One thing led to another, as it always does, of course, and I ended up reacquainting myself with music from the 1970's that listened to in my high school and college days, much of it before I became a hardcore Neil fan.  It is a work in progress, I haven't mixed music by everyone I was in to back then yet. Randomly, I created a Jackson Browne mix.  This was more than just collecting tunes I used to play a lot.  This was also an opportunity for me to listen to albums

The Best of Neil Young in the 21st Century

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Long-time readers know I am a huge, life-long Neil Young fan, something known as a "rustie" in Neil's fandom realm.  Neil is in the twilight years of a prolific career spanning 41 studio albums, 8 live albums, 4 soundtrack albums, among several others.  He has released 59 singles.  This doesn't count any of his collaborative work with Buffalo Springfield and CSNY . I use the term "twilight years" loosely.  Neil has not slowed down any.  His energy level is frequently as high as it has ever been, especially since he reinvigorated himself performing with Promise of the Real beginning about three years ago. Since 1969, like clockwork, he has produced a new album almost every year, not counting the release of 6 archival recordings ( Live at Massey Hall 1971 , one his best live performances, came out in 2007) and his massive online Archives project . Neil's consistently "great" work was put out back in the 1970's with After the Gold Rus