Friday Music

Badfinger was a British rock band that recorded and released four consecutive hits between 1970 to 1972 - Come and Get It (written and produced by Paul McCartney), No Matter What, Day After Day (produced by George Harrison), and Baby Blue (written by Pete Ham and produced by Todd Rundgren).    

As the tale goes it is said that Ham wrote the song about a woman named Dixie Armstrong, whom he had dated during Badfinger's final US tour.  It was the group's last Top 20 single, peaking at number 14 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart.  Forty years later the song reemerged to new fame and recognition when it was featured in the series finale of AMC's Breaking Bad - a reference to the distinctive blue methamphetamine produced by Walter White.  

Excellent cover of the song by the Irish band D-Day...

Creative Destruction

Creative destruction refers to the incessant product and process innovation mechanism by which new production units replace outdated ones. 

This term was coined by Joseph Schumpeter back in 1942.  He considered it 'the essential fact about capitalism'.  Sure, it might make someone squirm but that's what capitalism is all about.  

When I was a child a burger at McDonald’s was fifteen cents.  And a trip to McDonald’s wasn’t a convenience as much as it was a novelty and a special treat.  Nowadays, there is a movement pushing for a $15 and hour minimum wage – for simply standing behind the counter and politely saying ‘Welcome to McDonald’s - may I take your order?’    

We’ve come a long way from 15 cent burgers to $15 an hour unskilled starter jobs so pardon me for sounding somewhat curmudgeonly.  Faced with rising costs agitated by the labor movement – those corporate giants in the fast, consistent and convenient food business are going to respond with technological innovations.  Technology that mimics a tablet such as self-service kiosks for ordering your meal.   

I encountered one of these for the first time in the food court of The Louvre in Paris, France.  Yup.  A McDonald’s in The Louvre.  And it only took me a short while and a couple of tries to figure it out.  Pick your language, place your order via touch screen, insert your chip-enabled card, take your slip and walk over to the queue and someone will hand you your meal or soft-drinks.  Simple and fast.   

It’s not just McDonald’s that has embraced job-replacing technology - plenty of other restaurant operations have turned to this type of technology as a fix for rising labor costs.  A fix that won’t necessarily inconvenience the customer.  

Those $15 jobs aren’t being threatened by immigrants – it is the relentless march of technology.  You can learn more about this technology and additional ideas here.

Quote of the Day

Presidential lying is treasonous. Pointing it out is patriotic.

                                    - Comment found on the web

Business Analyst

I found this device cleaning out a file cabinet at the day job recently – a device dating back to my first year in business.  Back when America was supposedly great.   

click on image to enlarge

My trusty Texas Instruments business calculator.  Technically a Business Analyst-I.  Capable of calculating useful daily mathematical calculations such as square roots, reciprocals, percentage changes and basic arithmetic it was indispensable to a newbie financial guy who might need to calculate a yield to maturity on a bond, a discounted cash flow, a mortgage amortization, annuity or installment loan.  This state of the art electronic wizard even had a small brain capable of storing information briefly for recall and exchange capabilities.  

I found a nine volt battery and fired it up.  The bright red LED display was clear and the math was perfect. This vintage device still works like a charm.  Made in America by Texas Instruments Corporation – Dallas, TX.  The owner’s manual says that if it breaks I can send it to: 

Texas Instruments Service Facility   

PO Box 2500  

Lubbock, Texas  79408   

One year limited warranty doesn’t seem like much anymore.  It’s been 37 years since it expired…

Me and the Kid

Daughter paid a visit a weekend ago.  In town to spend time with her grandmother on the former side of the family she stopped by on Sunday after dropping her rental car.  

We visited - she got her fix of Kopp's, margaritas at Hectors, assisted unpacking and to hang things on the wall at the new day job and visited more.  Dropped her-off the following day before sunup.  Packed in the checked luggage was a double stash of fresh cheese curds for her gulf coast co-workers.  I have long said that if a cheese maker migrated to the deep south and established themselves with a steady supply of fresh cream they could mine the gold found in cheese curds alone.  But I digress.

Short visit and I miss her already...

   

Cuppa...

...Joe.  A big Cuppa Joe.  Steaming hot too.

The dogs are unfazed by the rain and the chill.  Not so much for the people in their lives.  A crappy, cold, rainy, dreary, morning in the city calls for an entire pot of coffee for The Frau and me.

Mud Season is upon us....

Friday Music

Composed by Roy Orbison and Joe Melson in 1960 ‘Only the Lonely ‘was released as a single on Monument Records and was Orbison’s first major hit.   

Here's Chris Isaak's better than average cover of this song.   

Is he channeling both Orbison and Presley?