BILL BLOG
Friday August 8, 2025
Friday is bringing the weekend with it! A 91-degree high is on tap for Nashville today.
YESTERDAY
I spent some time online writing with bluegrass great Tim Stafford, who was at his home in Knoxville.
And Tim had an idea he wanted to ride. His Dad served in World War II, and he and his group of men were in a carrier boat and got caught in a horrible typhoon. The incident happened off of Okinawa, and several men were tossed over the rails, and a couple of Marines out of portholes, and drowned.
Hell dropped out of heaven, claiming every rank, anchors were dragging, lightning flashing, but the ship it never sank.
Okinawa Harbor, October '45, sea kept arising, rain baptizing, a lot of good men died.
It was an honor to be the one Tim chose to collaborate with on writing a song with such personal meaning. I told Tim how ironic it was to be writing a song about World War II as I had just written with a World War II veteran last weekend at our Freedom Sings USA retreat in Shiloh, Illinois, with 103-year-old Marine Bob Schultz.
Both Bob and Tim’s Dad were in action, fighting off the kamikazes. I think sometimes fate intervenes, and that yesterday’s song was meant to be written by the two of us.
SONG OF THE DAY
I got word yesterday that my friend and former Aussie Katrina Burgoyne is releasing the sassy song "Stones" as her next single. Katrina is not one to shy away from songs with a little edge, so I shared the idea for this one with her, she loved it, and we wrote it together about a year or so ago. Here's a LIVE PERFORMANCE of her singing "Stones".
HEALTH NOTES
In Colorado, a cat tested positive for the plague. This news comes after an Arizona resident died of the plague last month. Officials are warning that the prairie dog die-off in the region could signal an outbreak of the lethal illness.
Authorities in Florida arrested a woman who allegedly posed as a nurse and provided care to thousands of patients.
A study concludes that eating fries weekly raises type 2 diabetes risk.
HERE’S YOUR SIGN
Me too!
HOUSE BUYING
Turns out that Alabama has the best bargains when it comes to buying a home. The median price is $220,000 compared to the national average of $400,000. The most expensive, you might guess. In California, it’s $825,000. And for that? You might get this if you’re lucky.
FUNNY ONE-LINERS
The publication Living Waters has listed its favorite one-liners. Here are five of those that I thought were pretty good.
Borrow money from a pessimist…they don’t expect it back.
Campers: Nature’s way of feeding mosquitoes.
I wonder how much deeper the ocean would go without sponges.
They told me I was gullible, and I believed them.
I’ve had amnesia as long as I can remember.
MORE AI STUFF
New data reveals a 140% layoff spike in July, with almost half connected to AI and ‘technological updates’. Wow. It seems like every day for the past, I don’t know how long, I have conversations with others about the AI landscape. It’s certainly invaded the music scene as we have AI recordings everywhere, and it’s almost impossible to determine by listening if it’s real or AI-generated. It’s already changing the landscape here in Music City. There are AI programs that allow you to record a song you’ve written and turn it into a full-blown recording, with whatever instruments you want, and as many as you want, for under a hundred dollars per year. That alone is eliminating the jobs of those musicians who were hired to make those kinds of recordings.
Everyone is dancing and trying to figure out how to adapt and survive in the AI world.
HOW ABOUT THIS BAD BOY
There’s a little robot that can run like crazy, break through glass, and it’s strong enough that you can stand on this quadruped robot. Check out the VIDEO.
MEANWHILE
A British tourist visiting Spain was fined $240,000 for flying a drone over a religious festival without a drone license or liability insurance. Or permission. Turns out, you can’t just buy a drone and then fly it anywhere or anytime you want to.
We’ve found that out from our son-in-law, Casey, who is a pilot. We gifted him with a small drone one Christmas, and he’s made good use of it, flying it over castles and beautiful mountains, and landscapes in Europe. My wife and I watched him launch it off the windowsill of a condo we were all staying in when we were in Austria for a few days, near Salzburg.
He explained to us the rules of owning and flying a drone. Pretty amazing.
FOOTBALL
The season is starting to change. College football games start in just a couple of weeks. And last night NFL pre-season games were on TV…or as I like to call them…the “Yawn” games. Boring. And of course, a couple of star players were injured in last night’s meaningless games.
College has no pre-season games. They just start playing for real. For the life of me, I don’t know why the NFL doesn’t do the same. I’d rather watch cornhole games on TV.
JUST A JOKE…I THINK
Photographer to young man:
“It will make a much better picture if you put your hand on your father’s shoulder.”
Father: “It would be much more realistic if he had his hand in my pocket.”
TODAY’S HEADLINE
Four Charged With Insurance Fraud After Dressing Up As A Bear And Damaging Their Own Car In California. (Must have seemed like a really good idea at the time.)
TODAY
Packing for a road trip to Cincinnati this weekend to attend a 50th Anniversary celebration of some dear friends. I see a Skyline Chili stop along the way!
Have a great weekend!
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