Americans have been searching for new ways to spend time alone.  

Verizon sifted through the Google Data to find out which hobbies and interests have been  most popular in each state.

People in Alabama searched for DIY classes…  Hawaiins are most interested in Foreign Languages.  Baking is big in Montana… but here in Utah… the thing we wanted to know about most … was Photography.

Which makes sense.  We have more kids.  More Mountains.  Red Rocks.  Spellbinding scenery.   Now I left radio worked in the photography industry for a decade.   And while some people are content to wiggle their phone at an interesting scene… and good enough… others need the Nikon Z7… thousands of dollars worth of lenses… the carbon fiber tripod…  and 20-grand later… they do the same thing as the ones with the iphones.  Snap …snap …snap… snap  …they never put the camera down.

So Utahns who love photography… as someone who’s been in the industry… I’m going to give you a piece of advice that you won’t get in any online classes.  I learned this face-to-face with a legendary photographer on a visit to Australia. He took me to a World War I memorial… and when I started snap snap snap … he pushed my camera down… and said… take a Neurochrome.

A what.

He said a neurochrome   Neuro.  Use your brain… to remember this scene.  Look with your eyes.. not your lens. The problem with us photographers… is that we never stop to look… and remember.  The way normal people do.

So newfounds photographers of utah… before you buy that next piece of gear… my advice… simple advice.  Put camera down.  And enjoy the world… before you try to capture it.

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Over the weekend… Tik Tok was hanging by a thread.  President Trump stood ready to shut it down…because of the possible security risk.  Kids were posting farewell videos.  

At this point… it looks like Microsoft will buy Tik Tok… and turn it into a red blooded All American app… and thank goodness.

If Tik Tok went away… where would our kids go to learn about the hashtag eye bleach challenge.  Exactly what it sounds like.  You put bleach in your eye.

If they shut down Tik Tok.. how would the hashtag fire challenge spread like wildfire.  That’s the one where you douse yourself in flammable liquid …and yeah.  You got it.

If Tik Tok was shut down .. our youth might never discover the hashtag … Penny Challenge.  That’s the one where you plug a phone charger into the wall.  And then slip a penny between the outlet and the charger.  You get fireworks… scorch the wall and risk electrocution.

If Tik Tok was banned.  I’m not seeing a downside.  Nobody’s coming up with a vaccine or curing cancer on Tik Tok.   But  truth is… if it was banned… somebody’d come up with a replacement app.  

Cuz you can’t cure stupid.

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When George washington needed a flag… he showed his design to a seamstress… and she cut out the stars… sewed the stripes… you know the result. 

If George Washington needed a flag today he google "custom flags” and a minute later his Facebook feed would be absolutely littered.  with flag ads.  Cheap flags… Sturdy fl      gs… Rainbow Flags.  Flags that wave batteries not included.  He’d see flags featuring coiled snakes… black stripes…. or stars and bars… but nothing that was exactly right.

So next Ole George would jump on Etsy… where he’d find a custom seamstress ready to turn your art into a hand stitched flag.  Didn’t matter that the woman who owned the Etsy Ross storefront had a string of husbands and a sordid affair or two that might have muddied her reputation on Twitter.

Didn’t matter.  General Washington needed a flag to rally his militia …. so he'd whip out his Colonial Express card and upload his custom stars and stripes design.  Happily paying the extra $30 for rush shipping.   And after Fedex delivered the long cardboard tube… he’d he unfurled the flag in all its glory… and salute.   Of course the next day  an email popped up asking him to rate the transaction.

And as we know from the history books… George Washington gave his flag…. 13 stars. 

In the comments he’d write I’d give this purchase 50 stars… if I could.

And  the flag that’s been burned.. spat upon kneeled before… and flown over Iwo Jima… Gettysburgh … Berlin… and tomorrow ...your front lawn…… has earned… its 50 stars.  

We do drive by birthdays these days.  Happy Birthday America.

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Cirque du Soleil has filed for bankruptcy.  A circus that  ditched the tired concept of elephants on their hindlegs… and instead… reimagined the circus.   We gaped at elaborate costumes and elegant theatrics performed by nimble gymnasts flying, twisting and splashing.

Along the way… Cirque du Soleil… reinvented the price tag for a circus ticket.   Under the bigtop in a shopping center parking lot you’d part with a couple of bucks to see a guy in sequeins  wiggle along a tightrope.  But when you take the circus to Vegas and add next level thrills… the tickets are $275…. until the pandemic.  

Every Cirque performance cancelled for months. 3500 workers jobless.  Workers who give everything for their jobs… a few times… their lives.   There are no safety nets.

With Chapter 11… New investors will pare back the number of shows… and eventually hire back some of their performers…

But for the rest… what kind of work is out there for a jobless contortionist who’s only skill is  dancing with a chainsaw …atop a flagpole?

The future looks bleak… for the very performers who’ve reinvented the circus.   Cirque du Soleil was so original … they even invented their own language.  

The exotic soundtracks at their shows…. its a made up language… they could bring this ishkabibble to any country and it would seem equally exotic.

For 22 years … the “O” must go on.   But now.  The curtain has fallen ..and the only safety net at Cirque du Soleil …  is bankruptcy protection.  

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Sports are supposed to come back by the end of the month.   No fans… but athletes will sweat for our amusement.. starting July 24th for baseball.  July 30th for the Jazz.

Almost forgotten in the rush to return… is the ref.

What happens to the in-your-face fits coaches throw at refs?   a 6 foot socially distant freak out won’t be the same - nor as effective.   And another thing that might not be the same… is the ref’s whistle.

Think about it.  A dude blowing hard into a whistle in the middle of a pandemic.  What could go wrong?

Everything.

Which is why… a lot of refs are looking at electronic whistles.  Hand held electronic whistles the ref blows…  by pressing a button.  Some hockey leagues are moving to the e-whistle.  But there’s no decision from the professional leagues… amid concerns about how loud or soft the whistles are.  For football… do they work in the rain and snow?   And the biggest concern by refs…. is the biggest embarrassment a ref can suffer.   The inadvertant whistle.  Oops sorry… didn’t mean it.  

A slight wiggle of the finger and you stop play by accident.  It’s too much to consider.   But the particles unleashed by a whistle blast… might be the bigger concern this season.

Okay time’s up!

That’s electronic.  Works just fine.

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There’s been a lot of attention  in the past few days about a new fragrance that simulates the smell of outerspace.

If you haven’t heard about this let me catch you up.  A chemist has launched a kickstarter campaign to market a perfume for men?  women?  I don’t know.  It simulates the smell of space.

The product is called Eau de Space.  Created for NASA a   decade ago so astronauts in training could acclimate to the smell… before they slip the surly bonds of earth.

But space shouldn’t smell like anything…  Cause it’s an endless void.. except its not.

Greg Chamitoff … speaking from the International Space Station. 

This kid knows what it is.  He has a youtube channel… so he’s an expert.

Astronaut Chris Hadfield…

Burnt steak and walnuts.  With an occasional wisp of dirty clothes.  So who’d want to wear this fragrance.  Nobody.. we’re not supposed to be able to smell each other these days.  The creator envisions Eau De Space as a learning tool for K-12 science classes.

By the way… this song is Astronaut Chris Hadfield… who performed it while aboard the  internetional space station

He’d be the coolest guy on earth.  But he’s not on earth.  He’s was up there.  Where it smells.  And the kickstarter to bring the smell to your nose… has now raised $40,000.

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If you want to stay safe from Coronavirus… you could hope everyone else wears a mask… you can isolate yourself… OR you can do what Vladimir Putin is doing.

You know.. you run a country… you can’t isolate yourself completely.  The Russian President hasn’t been seen much at all these past few months… but State TV reports…. that those who do hold face-to-face meetings with him… have to first… walk through a tunnel.

They’ve built two of these tunnels.   One at Putin office.  One at his official residence.

When you walk the 6 foot   tunnel your temperature’s taken automatically… nozzles spray disinfectant from all sides… and ultraviolet light shines from above.

Does this sound familiar?

Whether the president was kidding or serious… Putin is actually doing it.  The light… the bleack.  Critics complain that when you get into the tunnel… you ingest the disinfectant.  

Scientists say it won’t stop the virus.

No that’s not true.  This is one of those things if you have to ask… you can’t afford it.  So  put your mask on… and 

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This news affects every pizza slice that warms your palette… every soothing bite of a grilled cheese sandwich….  every taco that crunches under tooth.

The price of cheese has gone insane.

You probably had no idea… but the cheese market works just like the crude oil market.   The only difference… one commodity ends up in your tank… the other in your mouth.

The NY Times reports For oil… the benchmark is West Texas Intermediate Crude.  In the cheese biz… the benchmark is cheddar.   Traders scream buy ..sell.. sell ..sell… on the floor of  the Chicago Mercantile Exchange …trading 40-thousand pound truckloads of mild cheddar.

That’s a lotta mac and Cheese. 

The benchmark is a 40-pound wheel of chedder… which is kind of like a *barrel* of oil.  .

So during the pandemic restaurants closed…. and the price of cheddar plummeted to a buck a pound.  A record low.  Grilled Cheese for everybody.  Then  the supply chain got screwed up… and prices have now whipsawed to $2.80 a pound in a couple of short months.

This is the stuff that will eventually wreck a family budget.

If you say “I don’t eat cheddar"  Every other cheese variety is priced based on that quote for wheel of young, mild, cheddar.

If you want to save some cheddar… the one cuisine that never uses cheese…. is Chinese food.

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So major league baseball is supposedly coming back.  Opening day July 24th… 

But it’s too late for Hampton Farms.

The company is getting crushed by the lack of baseball action.  And with no crowd….    the outlook is bleak.   This line from the song explains why….

Buy me some peanuts and cracker jacks.

Peanuts!  Hampton Farms is the company that roasts the peanuts you buy at big league baseball games.   And they’re not just any peanuts.   It’s a specific breed of peanut called the Virginia.  It’s just big enough… and the shell *looks just right” and the shell opens  perfectly for kid to enjoy at a baseball game. 

One out of every five Virginia Peanuts ends up at a baseball stadium.  But not this year. 

Hampton Farms bought ‘em all up to roast and package… but without baseball … the company has been left holding the bag.   And while Major League Baseball gets ready for a 60 game season… it’ll be played with no fans in the stands.  No peanut shells piled under the seats. 

The peanut industry is planning a promotional campaign urging you to enjoy peanuts while you watch baseball on TV.   But don’t drop the shells on the carpet.

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In major cities… stores have boarded up their windows.  A lot of ‘em aren’t all that open because of the pandemic…. but luxury stores still have luxury goods inside.

Protected by plywood.

The Cartier store on 5th Avenue in New York caters to the 1 percent… thick 1/2 inch boards covers the opulent window displays. … so protestors don’t loot the place.  

What business owner  wouldn’t be nervous?  And cautious.  After all some of these  protests have devolved into violence and looting.

But at the same time… it’s important for many retailers to express support for the people in the streets… who in many cases… are known by another name.  Customers. 

So a lot of brands with boarded stores have decided it’s a bad look.  So they’ve  commissioning street artists to create murals about racial equality on the plywood boards that protect them from riots.

The strategy is decorate... not deserate.

So this summer of 2020 we have retail stores adorned with murals of Martin Luther King Jr… and George Floyd and I can’t breathe .. and raised fists lining the streets in shutdown retail districts.  A cynical but smart business strategy for retailers struggling to make ends meet behind the plywood boards in a pandemic.

But meantime… it’s a great summer for lumberyards.

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