Your national security briefing.

I heard that as the Republican nominee, Donald Trump has begun receiving top secret national security briefings. As scary as that may seem on its own merits, my own briefing is not top secret. The U.S. won WWII because the people here were busily engaged in making things and growing food, that fed, clothed, armed and protected nearly the entire world against fascism.

This briefing will be brief. Look around you. We do not need spies to tell us what we can see or choose not to see with our own eyes. Our children and young adults are busily chasing Pokeman, while failing to learn the things that might matter most to our nation...

Making beautiful and useful things is not just about the economy. It is also about the growth of intelligence, about the sharing of meaning, about values and about the continued development of human culture.

When Donald Trump announced that he could murder someone in the streets and his faithful followers would still vote for him, he was probably right. There are still 42% of Americans who would be foolish enough to vote for him, thus putting our whole nation and planet in danger.

I have begun work on what will be the last chapter of my book on box guitars, as it involves their paint and decoration.

Make, fix, create and encourage others to learn likewise.