The Boss

12:34 Friday, 16 May 2025
Current Wx: Temp: 90.27°F Pressure: 1014hPa Humidity: 48% Wind: 4mph
Words: 48

Just because it can't be said enough...

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Moving On

06:40 Thursday, 15 May 2025
Current Wx: Temp: 66.65°F Pressure: 1014hPa Humidity: 95% Wind: 6.17mph
Words: 511

In recent days there have been more than a few moments when I wondered if we were making a mistake. I suppose that's normal. I've been looking at the cameras at Winterfell, and checking the weather from the little station I have set up, and it's been wet and gray for the most part. Not especially cold, but not warm either. It's been beautiful here.

But then I read things like this, and I feel as though we can't get out of here fast enough. The present reality is such that reason and logic have abandoned the field, leaving chaos and malfeasance to hold sway. It's a national problem, but at least it's being contested in the courts at the federal level. Whether or not reason prevails remains very much an open question. In Florida it's endemic, deeply rooted and just "business as usual."

I don't know, and I hate to think about, what scale of disaster it would take to make the citizens of Florida realize that they've been hoodwinked and swindled. Thus far, they've exhibited a very high tolerance for incompetence and demagoguery. Indeed, I think most Floridians mistake them for skill and leadership.

Our showing went well. The buyers are reportedly interested, though there are one or two other properties in the mix. We are supposed to know something tomorrow. I'm not especially optimistic, but they did want to know if we could be out of the house in 30 days. (Yes!)

Weirdly, our next-door neighbors are supposedly interested. I don't think they're serious, and it may just be a reflection of their rather odd nature anyway. But I gave the husband a tour of the house yesterday and tried to explain the solar system. I was inclined to blow them off, but you never know.

We're still sorting and packing and getting rid of stuff. We're supposed to rent another small storage unit today and re-shuffle everything. All the 11"x17" boxes will go into the smaller unit, densely packed. Smaller, lightweight items can go on top. That should leave enough space in the larger unit for the furniture Mitzi wants to keep.

She's off for New Mexico tomorrow, and I'm headed north on Saturday. I'll do a long day on Saturday, stopping in Quantico overnight. Should be an easy day Sunday, with an early start putting me into Winterfell by mid-day. Meeting with a water treatment company on Wednesday. I've got a few other chores while I'm up there, mainly to paint the interior of the garage (it's all OSB), and add another overhead light. But mainly it's to get me out of this house, and into a different frame of mind.

She'll be back in Florida a week before me, but we'll both be here for the first 10 days of June for some family get-togethers, semi-goodbyes and loading up whatever means of transport she decides for items going north, chiefly the refrigerator, which has made the question of what I have to take in the truck a lot simpler.

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No Shit

18:19 Wednesday, 14 May 2025
Current Wx: Temp: 82.51°F Pressure: 1012hPa Humidity: 72% Wind: 5.99mph
Words: 38

This has been pretty much my experience for the last several years.

(H/T Kottke)

P.S. But, hey... "If you mention 'Hitler,' you've already lost the argument." Pretty much shows contempt for history, if you ask me.

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Speaking of Climate Risk

09:46 Wednesday, 14 May 2025
Current Wx: Temp: 77.14°F Pressure: 1014hPa Humidity: 76% Wind: 5.01mph
Words: 473

I'm not sure about the value of these long range forecasts, but I suppose they do give you something to think about. I watched the video presentation (1.25x speed is intelligible.), and downloaded the slides.

By sheer luck, the place we'd intended to be just a summer home, seems to be in a good location for a changing climate subject to extreme weather events. We're on a hill, not in a valley, so no flood risk to speak of. There are no trees on the property, so there's no risk of property damage from falling trees. There isn't a great deal of woodland in the immediate proximity, so wildfire risk seems relatively low.

I worry a little bit about tornadoes, so I asked ChatGPT about tornado formation, duration and travel in hilly terrain, here's what it offered (emojis included):

🌪️ 1. Tornado Formation

• Inhibition, not prevention: Hilly terrain can disrupt the low-level wind shear (change in wind speed/direction with height) that’s important for tornado formation. This makes tornadoes less likely in mountainous areas, but not impossible.
• Upslope flow can enhance storms: In some cases, air being forced up slopes can enhance thunderstorm development, potentially aiding in supercell formation that may spawn tornadoes.

🌀 2. Tornado Duration and Intensity

• Shorter-lived tornadoes: Tornadoes that form in or move into hilly or mountainous areas often dissipate more quickly because:
• The complex terrain can disrupt the inflow of warm, moist air feeding the storm.
• The ground-level friction and turbulence created by uneven terrain can weaken the tornado vortex.
• Weaker tornadoes on average: Tornadoes over hilly terrain tend to be less intense than those over flat plains.

It may be hallucinating, but it sounds reasonable. I don't recall tornadoes ever being a thing when I was living in New York. Apparently they happen now, but we're likely in an area where the risk is less.

Severe thunderstorms pose power outage risks because all of the infrastructure, or nearly all, is above ground and the area is highly wooded. And there's risk of property damage from hail. The garage only accommodates one car, so I'm going to have to add some kind of covered extension to park the Mav under. It'll keep the sun off of it most of the time as well.

The first priority we'll address this summer will be the water treatment. We have a good water supply, but it's moderately hard, and has a pretty high amount of iron. We'll want to treat both.

The second is to install a batter/generator solution for long power outages. My goal is have the battery take the load in an outage, and only run the generator long enough to recharge the battery. We'll see how that works out.

Then I'll look at putting a carport on the garage.

Looking forward to all that.

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No Matter Where You Go...

08:58 Wednesday, 14 May 2025
Current Wx: Temp: 74.73°F Pressure: 1014hPa Humidity: 83% Wind: 3mph
Words: 657

There you are.

There are many reasons why we're leaving Florida, chief among them being climate risk, but equally as much is the political climate. Extreme partisanship has infected state and local government from the governor's mansion all the way down to the school board. It's impossible to have rational discussions on policy matters, and the public interest is lost in a strictly zero-sum view of politics.

New York has its own climate risks, but they're less extreme than Florida, and more manageable from an individual perspective, if you choose your location wisely. Politically, New York is nominally a blue state, though that's almost entirely due to New York City and its environs. Rural New York is largely Republican, though it's a little unclear to me how rabidly MAGA that population is.

I've abandoned social media, though Mitzi maintains a Facebook account. It's useful for her, and she tends to avoid the worst aspects of the interactions on the platform. She likes the marketplace niches, local and neighborhood information pages and some specialized groups.

One of the pages she follows is Hector Has It All, which is devoted to the township of Hector, NY. (I think I have that political division correctly identified.) Burdett, the village we're a part of, is located within the town of Hector. Anyway, she's found it useful for finding services and learning about events in the area.

Well, yesterday someone posted about some demonstrations planned for Watkins Glen, and invited people so inclined to turn out. The post attracted an unsurprising amount of invective and vitriol from partisans of the MAGA persuasion.

It's a little disappointing, not that we were under any illusions that they weren't present, but everyone we've met in the area has been generally wonderful. Which, I suspect, most people usually are, most of the time. It's only in specific contexts that these more regrettable aspects of our personalities manifest themselves, social media being the broadest and most frequent.

But even so, there's a significant difference between that experience in New York, and this one here in St Johns County, Florida. The greatest difference is the population density. St Johns County has a population density of 455 people per square mile, Schuyler County is 54 people per square mile!

The ratio of Democrats to Republicans is roughly similar, 2:1, but there's something different about the whole feeling. Here, if you're not a Republican, it's oppressive. You have to keep your opinions to yourself most of the time, but Republicans feel confident that just about everyone they meet shares their opinion, so they feel free to say whatever pops into their heads, and then you have to bite your tongue or risk starting an argument, which happened recently at one of those driveway get-togethers that happen every Friday on our street.

There are fewer interactions in a rural setting, perhaps less certainty that someone shares your view, so politics doesn't come up as often.

Plus, it's easier to find common ground in New York, especially around taxes! Florida has one of the lowest overall tax burdens of any state, and the governor and legislature are still claiming that Florida citizens need tax relief. This in spite of the fact that it is one of the most vulnerable, and least prepared states to address climate change and extreme weather events. It's an ideological position that serves the needs of the party and its privileged partisans, but ignores the reality confronting the state as a whole.

When we register to vote in New York, I plan to register as an independent, as I did for most of my life until 2016 when the Mad Orange King was first crowned. I'll still donate money to candidates I feel best represent my values, but I don't feel the need to wear some party affiliation as a symbol of my identity.

And I look forward to feeling less skeptical of my neighbors.

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This and That

06:46 Tuesday, 13 May 2025
Current Wx: Temp: 67.3°F Pressure: 1013hPa Humidity: 96% Wind: 6.6mph
Words: 359

We have our first showing today. That's the good news. The bad news is that it's our first showing. The real estate market is inert around these parts. Mortgage rates going up. Uncertainty and chaos fomented by the Mad Orange King.

But it will sell, eventually. Hopefully for a number we can live with.

In other news, I put gas in the Mav on Sunday. 48.6 mpg, calculated from the odometer and the pump. The onboard computer had 48.2mpg on that tank. That's doing mostly errands around here, and after I learned you have to put it in "Eco" mode each time you drive it. I would rather have a small EV pickup, but this is pretty impressive.

Watched Black Bag the other day. Enjoyed it. I kind of want to watch it a second time to see if I'd enjoy it as much. There's a lot going on in that movie, and you're trying to figure out who the bad guy is, so maybe you don't notice the seams?

Also watched Lake George. A good movie, if not exactly enjoyable. Definite Coen brothers vibe. Good performances.

I'm still picking up Nuremberg Diary from time to time. I'm reading it out of sequence. Most recently, I've been reading entries from December 1945. It's a fascinating book. Goering's comments on the Munich Agreement make it clear just how deliberately delusional Chamberlain's "peace in our time," claims were. Keitel said the Russia invasion was a desperate gamble because Germany relied on Romanian oil, which Russia could cut off at any time. Hitler had been gambling all along, and winning, to the astonishment of the Wehrmacht, and figured he could knock Russia out of the war, securing food and fuel against a potential blockade by the Royal Navy. Keitel said they wanted to take Gibraltar to control the Mediterranean, but Franco "didn't want to risk it."

Anyway, still boxes to get packed and sorted. Thursday we're going to do a re-shuffle at the storage place. Get all the cardboard boxes in one unit, leaving the other unit more open for the bulkier stuff. That'll be a workout.

The beat goes on...

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Damage Control

07:05 Monday, 12 May 2025
Current Wx: Temp: 70.92°F Pressure: 1017hPa Humidity: 95% Wind: 16.31mph
Words: 178

It looks like the Mad Orange King is worried about his approval ratings. Ninety-day pause on mutual assured economic destruction, and now an executive order that may lower prescription drug prices. (Sorry for the Apple News link, I let my subscription to the Post lapse because billionaires.)

This is what we get for electing a failed game show host as president. He's the star of his own reality TV series, and his "ratings" are in the (solid gold) toilet. Sure, he's keeping his cult, they'll never abandon him. And he needs "the libs" to hate him to know he's "winning." But those "independents" are the true barometer of his "success," and he's losing them.

So a few "popular" moves, that Stephen Miller doesn't care about. He still gets to stage his performative cruelty show. Hegseth gets to keep playing SecDef. Elon gets to keep siphoning federal databases into xAI. They still get to troll us by admitting white South Africans as immigrants.

It's all still a shit-show.

But it'll probably bump his numbers up a bit.

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This Guy Sounds Traumatized

05:46 Monday, 12 May 2025
Current Wx: Temp: 71.22°F Pressure: 1017hPa Humidity: 95% Wind: 6.91mph
Words: 29

It's a bit of good news (for now), but the Treasury Secretary's affect and demeanor appear to me to be those of someone who just got his ass whipped.

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Bill Gates

09:58 Saturday, 10 May 2025

❝

“The picture of the world’s richest man killing the world’s poorest children is not a pretty one,” he told the Financial Times.

Source
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Wind

07:39 Saturday, 10 May 2025
Current Wx: Temp: 70.93°F Pressure: 1015hPa Humidity: 98% Wind: 1.01mph
Words: 304

I wasn't going to do this morning's mashup, but changed my mind.

Our plans miscarry because they have no aim. When a man does not know what harbor he is making for, no wind is the right wind. Seneca

and

Obstacles look large or small according to whether you are large or small. Orison Swett Marden

Seneca was an ancient stoic philosopher; Marden a self-help, "success" guru from the late 19th, early 20th century.

Again, briefly, these are two quotations selected at random from a Tinderbox document of nearly 500 of them. Most of them are aphorisms of this kind.

Both quotes deal with perception, which is a subjective faculty. I struggle a bit with Seneca's first assertion because it isn't clear to me what a "plan" would be without an intention, or an "aim." But, not having the "right wind," might be considered an obstacle.

What Seneca suggests to me is that, if you feel as though your plan was thwarted by the wind, then your intention was never really your aim. What he's saying is that a "plan" is nothing, if you lack the commitment to achieving the goal. Knowing is subjective, but it is different than guessing, or hoping, or wishing. Knowing is a commitment. "Know what harbor he is making for."

Marden's quote is very stoic as well. While the measurement of size may be objective, the characterization of "large" or "small," is a subjective, relative perception.

"Whether you are large or small," is self-knowledge, implying a commitment to oneself. To "know thyself," requires commitment, and is the work of a lifetime.

At least until such time as you know that the self is an illusion having an experience, in which case, go to the head of the class.

"I don't know, I just go with the flow."

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This Morning's Mashup

06:49 Friday, 9 May 2025
Current Wx: Temp: 70.86°F Pressure: 1014hPa Humidity: 95% Wind: 4.61mph
Words: 59

From Quotations speed-date:

What is this place where thought is useless? Knowledge and emotion cannot fathom it! - Yunmen’s reply to the question of a certain monk.

and

Art always has something of the unconscious about it. - D.T. Suzuki

This particular pairing is unsurprising because a lot of the quotations are related to Zen.

But it's sweet, anyway.

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The Efficiency of Electric Vehicles

09:10 Thursday, 8 May 2025
Current Wx: Temp: 72.36°F Pressure: 1017hPa Humidity: 94% Wind: 1.99mph
Words: 247

This is a nice piece that points out the inefficiencies of fossil fueled vehicles, just in delivering the fuel to the pump.

I love my Maverick, but I'd love it even more if it were a plug-in hybrid. If it were all-electric, that would probably be ideal. There are some interesting things happening with small truck EVs, but they're not ready yet.

I'm just over 1100 miles (1107, just checked on the Ford Pass app) on the Mav right now. I've only put gas in it twice. Mileage at last fill-up was 806.7, so I've gone 300 miles on a little less than half a tank of gas. (Needle's above the mid-line, app says 55%.) The calculated mpg on the last fill-up was 39.6, which was less than the 43.6 I calculated on the first tank. But I think I did more highway driving (less efficient) on the second tank. Plus, wasn't using "Eco" mode each time, because I didn't know you have to select it each time you drive the car. (Really dumb idea Ford. Didn't Ford used to think they had better ideas? They did.)

Once we get more or less permanently situated at Winterfell (I'm guessing two years), I think I'd be a good candidate for a small EV truck. Hopefully, they're available and reasonable. We'd use the EV for most local driving, and the RAV4 for long-distance stuff. At least while gas is still available, that is.

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Potatoes, Peas, Sugar Beets and Spinach

08:59 Thursday, 8 May 2025
Current Wx: Temp: 72.03°F Pressure: 1017hPa Humidity: 96% Wind: 0mph
Words: 37

A bit of agriculture that one might be wise to study.

We're all in this together, and nobody's getting out of here alive.

So maybe, in the mean time, we can all try to help each other.

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Conservation of Energy

07:03 Thursday, 8 May 2025
Current Wx: Temp: 68.45°F Pressure: 1016hPa Humidity: 95% Wind: 5.75mph
Words: 399

Going to try this Quotations speed-dating thing. (I haven't written the function yet. I'm still doing this manually, like an animal.)

Therefore, good and ill are one. Heraclitus

And

Action is doing something, reacting is having it happen. Syd Field

I didn't like this pairing at first, but I guess the idea is to kind of think about this random juxtaposition of ideas and see what comes to mind. So here goes...

"Good and ill are one," is the same as, "Nothing is either good or bad, but thinking makes it so."

Thought is a reaction to an event. It is the subjective evaluation of the consequences of an event (an "action"), which, depending on the observer's point of view, may be either "good" or "ill," or both, if two or more observers have different points of view, or if a single observer subscribes to no particular point of view, and can see both "good" and "ill" in the consequences of an event.

Action is the necessary antecedent to reaction, though I suppose that, at some scale, they may be thought of as being simultaneous. At any rate, it brought to mind Newton's third law of motion, every action has an equal an opposite reaction.

"Binding opposites" was another idea from Heraclitus. (From the strain of binding opposites comes harmony. Fragment 46) Similar, perhaps, to yin and yang, good and ill.

Syd Field was likely describing an aspect of screenwriting, but it's interesting in a broader context. (Or someone wouldn't have made the effort to jot it down as a quotation. I don't recall where this particular one came from. Likely Zen and the Art of Making a Living.)

Being and nothingness, binding opposites. Being is perhaps the negation of nothingness. An equal and opposite reaction, momentum is conserved, energy as well. Zero sum in a one frame, sound and fury in another, depending, I suppose, on the observer's point of view.

Ideas that were explored by Nishida Kitaro.

Nishida writes about experience, reality, good and religion. He argues that the most profound form of experience is the pure experience. Nishida analyzes the thought, the will, the intellectual intuition, and the pure experience among them.[4] According to Nishida's vision as well as to the essence of Asian wisdom, one craves harmony in experience, for unity.[5]

Everything is connected.

Maybe a productive exercise.

What do you think?

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Further to the Foregoing

12:00 Wednesday, 7 May 2025
Current Wx: Temp: 86.43°F Pressure: 1017hPa Humidity: 66% Wind: 5.75mph
Words: 57

This has been in the news locally lately. It's not the first time. And I know someone whose brother was murdered in custody in Texas. And it's been in the news in New York recently too.

As human behavior goes, it seems to be fairly universal. Abu Ghraib.

Seems like we'd have this figured out by now.

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Something New

11:07 Wednesday, 7 May 2025
Current Wx: Temp: 84.61°F Pressure: 1017hPa Humidity: 73% Wind: 3.96mph
Words: 472

I need a bit of distraction these days. There's plenty of work to do, but that gets dizzy after a while. What stays here? What goes there? Do I need this?

Oh? There's an alarm from the hot water heater? Yikes. Weeping union. $190 and all should be well now. Wait for everything to dry out. Of course, just as we're trying to sell the place.

I have this Tinderbox file with about 500 quotations in it. Last Saturday during the meetup, we talked about how to facilitate "discovery" in Tinderbox. That reminded me of something Beck Tench had mentioned in the Forum, six years ago! (Oy!). So this morning I figured I'd try to implement one of the solutions offered to automate selecting two notes at random and presenting them within a container.

It worked, and I've run it a few times. It does offer some stimulus for thinking.

Here's the most recent run:

I was so full of sleep at the time that I left the true way. Dante

And

It is a myth, not a mandate, a fable not a logic, and symbol rather than a reason by which men are moved. Irwin Edman

The first is from Dante's Inferno.

(Summary from Safari: The article describes a journey through Hell, guided by the ancient Roman poet Virgil. The narrator encounters various mythical creatures and souls, including a leopard, a lion, and a she-wolf. The journey serves as a metaphor for the human experience, highlighting the challenges and temptations that individuals face in life.)

Irwin Edman was an American professor of philosophy who died relatively young, at 58.

So, inspiration? Thoughts?

Of course, our present crisis informs my reaction to these two quotations.

The Right's "War on Woke," is the path to Hell. We get failed game show hosts as presidents because men are moved by myths and fables and symbols, which is pretty much Trump to a "T."

But myths and fables and symbols can move people in any direction. Depends on who's putting on the show, I guess.

We may prefer sleepwalking through life. Dreaming, we can't turn our conscious attention to ourselves and our shortcomings.

What I want to do now is to modify this, perhaps turning it into a function that runs each day, copying the $Text of each quotation into a new note that I can copy and paste into the marmot and then riff off of whatever surfaced.

Gives me something to do.

The preceding post was one of the quotations I added to the file when I was reading In The Garden of Beasts, by Erik Larson. Diels was Rudolf Diels, former head of the Gestapo. Something to be said for his observation, given our experience with the number of people dying in custody in jail, and deporting children undergoing cancer treatment.

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"Freud might explain it." or, "ICE, ICE baby"

09:28 Wednesday, 7 May 2025
Current Wx: Temp: 78.85°F Pressure: 1017hPa Humidity: 85% Wind: 5.75mph
Words: 188

In a conversation with a British embassy official that occurred at about this time, quoted in a memorandum later filed with the foreign office in London, Diels delivered a monologue on his own moral unease: "The infliction of physical punishment is not every man's job, and naturally we were only too glad to recruit men who were prepared to show no squeamishness at their task. Unfortunately, we knew nothing about the freudian side of the business, and it was only after a number of instances of unnecessary flogging and meaningless cruelty that I tumbled to the fact that my organization had been attracting all the sadists in Germany and Austria without my knowledge for some time past. It had also been attracting unconscious sadists, i.e. men who did not know themselves that they had sadist leanings until they took part in a flogging. And finally it had been actually creating sadists. For it seems that corporal chastisement ultimately arouses sadistic leanings in apparently normal men and women. Freud might explain it."

Erik Larson

In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin

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Between Here and Gone

08:35 Monday, 5 May 2025
Current Wx: Temp: 68.61°F Pressure: 1013hPa Humidity: 81% Wind: 4.61mph
Words: 28

This is that awkward time, between here and gone. Packing, shuffling, selling, giving away, saying goodbye.

Wondering. Waiting.

Wanting.

This too shall pass.

And the beat goes on...

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Climate Is What We Expect

08:23 Saturday, 3 May 2025
Current Wx: Temp: 71.71°F Pressure: 1015hPa Humidity: 87% Wind: 5.75mph
Words: 516

Weather is what we get.

Except, our historical climate expectations are now mostly worthless. The climate that we boomers grew up in no longer exists. Our present climate has never existed before on this planet.

That's a pretty remarkable statement, but I seldom hear anyone talking about it. I am seeing references to the "old climate," but I haven't seen much discussion about the fact that this climate has never existed before on Earth.

Yes, there have been periods where carbon dioxide levels have been this high, but not with polar ice caps. Not with the landscape altered by human activity.

And as a complex, non-linear dynamic system, it's impossible to make accurate predictions of what trajectory it'll take going forward. Especially as we keep altering atmospheric chemistry through the emission of greenhouse gases, and, soon I expect, the deliberate emission of reflective aerosols in an effort to geo-engineer a solar shade.

Science is inherently conservative. It lags the data. Its predictions are conservative. They lag the phenomena. That should suggest to you that things may get much worse, much faster. How much? If I knew, I could get rich.

Just know that it is happening now, and it is only going to accelerate.

That should be one of the predominant conditions that informs your thinking as you consider your future.

Also know that, while the process is already underway, the likely outcome, a series of accelerating stepwise shocks that ultimately lead to the collapse of this civilization, hasn't permeated the larger consciousness yet.

But it will. And when it does, the available options become fewer, as competition for them increases and only those with the most resources will be able to secure them.

That argues for considering a "first mover" advantage. It does incur a somewhat higher initial cost, in terms of capital and personal disruption and inconvenience. If you're in your prime earning years, with a home, school age children, a good job, it's highly disruptive and costly to relocate. But it gives you the advantage of more choices with regard to where you might wish to go, and how expensive that will be.

You may want to think in the long term here. A place where you can settle. You don't want to have to do this twice. (You probably won't be able to.)

While you may consider housing that is smaller and more sustainable, you may wish to consider having enough space to house relatives, themselves perhaps fleeing a climate catastrophe of some kind, either temporarily or permanently.

If you're a senior, you may wish to consider whether you wish to create a legacy asset. A safer place to pass on to your kids. This gets complicated with blended senior families with several adult children and grandchildren. But it is an asset, and you'll be past caring when it comes time for them to sort it all out. Presumably you can alleviate some of that with wise estate planning.

The point is, the best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago.

The second best time is right now.

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Pro-Social

12:20 Friday, 2 May 2025
Current Wx: Temp: 81.88°F Pressure: 1018hPa Humidity: 58% Wind: 4mph
Words: 615

A few more ideas about how to get to know your neighbors and acquire a few friends along the way.

If you live in a community with a "summer kitchen" amenity, start dropping by there Friday evenings around five o'clock. Bring some snacks. If the rules permit, perhaps some cold adult beverages. If they don't, maybe just some cold beverages. To share.

If you have mad grill skills, make something that smells great. Make enough to share. Show up every Friday. Become a fixture. Add infrastructure slowly so as not to spook the herd. Maybe a bluetooth speaker. Later, some spare napkins or paper plates. Eventually, you'll have a "party box," and you'll be the unofficial host of "happy hour."

People will come down to grill and you'll chat. Get to know a little something about each other. People will get used to the idea that there's usually a group, and more will show up to see what's going on. Sometimes it can get a little awkward as there are people who will welcome this like a drowning person, clinging to you for dear life. So patience, kindness and grace are sometimes necessary and always appropriate. They usually mellow out as they get used to being "around people."

Wrap it up around nine. Enjoy the sunset. That's you, don't chase anyone off. Let it do its own thing. Just don't be the last one to leave unless you're taking responsibility for everything that goes on, which can get weird. Especially if there's a hot tub.

Don't ask.

Got a dog? Get a dog! Walk the dog. You'll meet lots of people.

I guess it can partly depend on the geography of your neighborhood. This place is fairly dense for single family homes. There are a number of Friday driveway happy hours on our street. People bring lawn chairs or beach chairs and sit out a driveway and talk, drink, smoke or whatever.

If your neighborhood is less dense maybe the amenity is a better approach. A single spot where people can gather, if they have a reason to gather, and get to know one another. Similarly, if you're widely spread out, people probably expect to keep their dogs in their yards. But maybe there's a dog park?

We had a little theater at the clubhouse at my condo. I ran "movie night" on Thursdays. Wasn't huge attendance, but I think it only seated 18. But we'd get a fair number of people over time, and some folks who otherwise might have been isolated. Particularly some of our older residents.

I guess people meet at church too. Not my jam, but I've heard good things.

Anyway, I think it's like rain. Need a little nucleating dust particle to gather condensation.

Happy hour at the condo was a lot of fun, and a little bit of trouble now and then. It wasn't always the same folks, but there was a core of regulars, and a rotating cast of other residents who would drop in once in a while.

For those more open places, like at the pool or summer kitchen, you do have to kind of steer clear of politics, or ignore it when it comes up. If you get to know the people well enough, from time to time you might have an opportunity for a civil conversation. It did happen, but it always felt a little fragile. And there were a couple of sharp exchanges now and then. But I think we all knew we had more to lose by that point, than there was to gain by arguing.

Because we're all in this together, and none of us is getting out of here alive.

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A Note to Chris

11:48 Friday, 2 May 2025
Current Wx: Temp: 82.26°F Pressure: 1019hPa Humidity: 56% Wind: 8.05mph
Words: 448

Chris is wondering how to find some new friends. Maybe some dude friends, not just couples friends.

Some ideas that worked, mostly, for me. I'm not the best at being a friend, though. Moving from the condo to this place was a setback for a while. And having a close friend who was also a condo investor turned out to be a mistake. But, that said, some ideas:

Trivia night. You could start out as a couple because it's probably easier to join another team as a couple, and get to know everyone. Then you could choose whether or not you wanted to go as a couple once you were on a team. From there, you can sometimes discover common interests, or someone has an idea for a different activity. But trivia is fun by itself, and it can springboard into other activities.

Join a club. Photography. Astronomy. My neighbor, Pete, is a pretty good friend. They lived right next door, but then sold their place to buy a bigger place in the development next to ours. So we still hang out, just not as easy. He joined the Jacksonville Astronomy Club and they have various programs and observing nights that Pete has invited me along on. He's also into photography a bit. I'm more into it than he is, but I took a class with him to hang out and maybe learn something.

Pete and his wife bought some property up in the Finger Lakes, so we'll still be seeing them in the summers up north! (Pete's also a volunteer snake wrangler, which is a good thing to know in Florida.) Oh, and he's also a retired Physician's Assistant, also a plus.

Got a garage? Buy a dart board. Stand outside at night with the garage door throwing some darts as the neighbors walk by with their dogs. The magic will happen. Maybe a few beers in a cooler can help.

Know your neighbors? Get to know your neighbors. Find "your people." Have round-robin dinner parties with themes.

I'm leaving Florida for many reasons, but lack of friendship isn't one of them.

Investing in social capital is a bit of a skill, and if you're out of practice, it can feel awkward at first. But figure out something you'd like to do. Find the people that do that thing. Join them.

To be honest, Mitzi is the real engine in our social machine. I'm fairly extroverted, but she's a dazzling lighthouse. They like me, but they love Mitzi. So do I, so it's cool.

Anyway, we're all going to be needing friends in the years to come. Best investment you can make in these uncertain times.

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A Good Read

08:17 Friday, 2 May 2025
Current Wx: Temp: 68.34°F Pressure: 1018hPa Humidity: 90% Wind: 4.61mph
Words: 149

This was pretty interesting this morning. (Go ahead, click on the link. Yes, it's a bit of tease. Just open it and leave the tab open if you don't feel like reading it now.)

I have stuff I ought to do, but the past several days have been pretty busy. I'm going to do what I want today.

Probably nothing.

Well, read. Watch some YouTube.

On the last part of the ride this morning, on my street, three deer bounded across the street in front of me. So close that they startled me and I briefly worried about hitting them. (Never would have happened, they were too far away. But still, pretty close.)

The thing that was amazing was how silent they were. No sound. Just three large, brown animals bounding across the road in the darkness. A remarkable moment, herein remarked.

I think my blinking headlight startled them.

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Random

07:05 Friday, 2 May 2025
Current Wx: Temp: 62.74°F Pressure: 1018hPa Humidity: 96% Wind: 4.61mph
Words: 31

The security camera is a never-ending source of amusement.

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James Reeves

06:48 Friday, 2 May 2025
Current Wx: Temp: 63.64°F Pressure: 1018hPa Humidity: 94% Wind: 0mph
Words: 27

When I read James Reeves, I seem to hear Springsteen's State Trooper in background in my mind. (My "mind's ear"?)

Hi-ho Silvero

Deliver me from nowhere...

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We Love Our Gear

06:01 Friday, 2 May 2025
Current Wx: Temp: 64.67°F Pressure: 1018hPa Humidity: 92% Wind: 0mph
Words: 559

This is a paean to Olympus/OMDS micro-four thirds equipment. It's not going to be to everyone's taste. I have no quarrel with it, though I don't feel insecure about my choice in sensor format or manufacturer. I do feel that intimate connection with the cameras though.

Since forever, it seems, people have complained in the various camera forums about Olympus' menu system. I never had that problem. I learned it and it just became how you configured the camera. I can relate to the experience of unfamiliarity people encounter, because I've tried a couple of Panasonic bodies and I couldn't figure the menu system out.

Which is the same sort of unfairness people exhibit to Olympus. I didn't want to figure the menu system out, because I already had a camera system that delivered similar or better results. (Panasonic jpegs back in those days were always a little on the green side to me.)

I started digital photography with a 1MP Kodak point and shoot, quickly throwing dollars at a series of Kodak compacts and "bridge" cameras before I became dissatisfied with the limitations of the small sensor and a fixed lens. (Though I did love that Kodak color.) Searching for a DSLR to switch to, Olympus seemed to offer the most value for money, so that's where I started in 2008 with the E-520, and I've never looked back.

I do think Olympus, now OMDS, does have a corporate culture that embraced a particular point of view, which wasn't one that seemed to align with the rest of the industry. It was never so successful a brand that it could rely on cachet to keep it afloat, like Leica. It leaned into the advantages of a smaller sensor, the four thirds format, to build a system that was compact, but could still deliver professional results.

Some people will object to that, because some people will object to anything. But professionals made their living with Olympus cameras, "equivalence" debates notwithstanding.

Anyway, I have way too many cameras. Nearly all of them by Olympus or OMDS. I've gone through periods of shedding certain bodies or lenses, but still acquiring new ones, the latest being the OM-3. I haven't been shooting as much lately. I expect that to change when we move.

Were we to stay here, I think I'd have to embrace "the obstacle is the way," and use my new truck to get out of this bourgeois, old-age ghetto and find something to catch my eye that didn't depress me. Perhaps that's unfair to "over-55 communities," because there are many nice people who live here. But it's a bubble, and you can feel it.

Listing goes live today. Photos turned out well. I think the house shows well, in that sterile, inoffensive marketing sense that hides the fact that anyone actually lives here. In one of the garage shots, I noticed one of my old magnetic campaign signs was stuck to the workbench. I'd removed the ones on the hot water heater. Missed that one. I don't recall if the realtor is going to use that picture or not. I kind of like it, but who knows if it's wise in these days of hyper-partisanship?

Anyway, the shutter clicks, the image is stored and the counter advances.

The beat, it goes on...

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Bike

05:34 Friday, 2 May 2025
Current Wx: Temp: 64.69°F Pressure: 1018hPa Humidity: 92% Wind: 0mph
Words: 334

Yesterday's walk was probably a mistake. Achilles was more painful than it's been in some time. So this morning I rode my bike at 0500, figuring I'd see less traffic. Not so much, about the same as at 0530. But only one car passed me in the right lane, adjacent to the bike lane. (There's an entire left lane with no traffic in it they could have used.)

I worked up a sweat, but I guess the "intensity" was only "moderate," according to my watch. I don't know if "moderate" equates to "vigorous," but if you asked me, I'd say it felt like it. Apparently you only need ten minutes a day of "vigorous" exercise to keep from losing your mind.

Or something.

At any rate, it was 25 minutes, so maybe it'll count anyway.

Meanwhile, if you're an Amazon Prime subscriber (my subscription renewed before Inauguration Day) they have a mini series, The Road to Pearl Harbor, from 1978, which is excellent. It's kind of a proto-Ken Burns series. Lots of photos and film from the period. Individual episodes are only 24 minutes long, interrupted by commercials, so it's easy to watch only one or a few.

I've seen film I don't recall ever seeing before. Unlike Ken Burns' documentaries, you do see the narrator, Eric Sevareid in this case, and he uses the first person pronoun when he discusses the Spanish Civil War and London during The Blitz.

I'd say the biggest omission I noticed, and it's a rather gaping one in these more enlightened days, is the world's treatment of the Jews trying to flee Germany. But other than that, I thought it touched on many topics overlooked by more recent efforts.

I have have yet to watch the final episode, so perhaps some of that omission will be addressed, but I suspect it'll be focused on the Pacific, given the title.

Much of the early part of the series covers events which will feel very resonant with the present.

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May

08:49 Thursday, 1 May 2025

Current Wx: Temp: 71.33°F Pressure: 1021hPa Humidity: 79% Wind: 3.44mph
Words: 504

Achilles was feeling pretty good this morning, so I tried to go for a walk. I was able to pick up the pace a bit, though it did start to complain a little past a mile. It's barking at me now.

So, slow progress I guess. Better than no progress!

I went out fairly early, it's a beautiful morning, hoping to maybe see a bird or two. I had the 12-200mm super-zoom on the OM-3. Pretty much shut out on wading birds. Plenty of mockingbirds, but I've seen enough of them. The only thing that was semi-worth pointing the camera at was this swallow-tailed kite grooming itself.

It was on the other side of the street from me, so it wasn't backlit for once. But it was pretty far away, so I crossed the street to get as close as I could. Its back was to me, which didn't help. I spent several minutes waiting for it to lift its head up and got a few frames.

This is a bit of a crop, tweaked in Photos. Unremarkable except for the fact that it was the only thing I saw. I wouldn't say the 12-200 is a birding lens, but it was the longest one I had that was easy to carry on a long(ish) walk. Ideally, I'd have had the 75-300, but that's up at Winterfell.

I'm looking forward to getting this tendon healthy, and some new scenery.

Photo shoot went smoothly yesterday. Listing should go live tomorrow. I've made arrangements to fly back to Florida on May 31st. The uncertainty in that plan is in getting to the airport. I've requested a ride to pick me up at 0400. There are two potential problems, one of which is, who wants to get up that early? The second is all the mapping apps don't have our address properly mapped. It'll take you to the house next door.

Hopefully, there'll be some communication the day before and I can brief the driver on the discrepancy. In my experience, that only works about 50% of the time. We tell drivers coming to our place here to not listen to their map app, because it'll take them to the back gate, where they can't get in. Only about half of them ever listen, and then they even tell us that they went to the back gate, even after we told them not to listen to gps.

The good news is the flight wasn't terribly expensive. Not cheap, but it didn't feel like a ripoff. I bought insurance too, because it's late spring and who knows what the weather is going to be? I'll be flying through Detroit, which I suspect may work in my favor. And I'll be getting into Detroit early in the morning.

Mitzi and I will drive the RAV4 back up to New York later in June, where we'll await a contract and closing, if it doesn't happen sooner than that.

The beat goes on...

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