Oh, hi!
Current Wx: Temp: 71.46°F Pressure: 1015hPa Humidity: 95% Wind: 5.75mphWords: 182
I'm sitting here at my "desk," browsing through some pics to upload to Flickr in lieu of doing a blog post when a little fawn appears at my window. My phone is in my pocket. There are no fewer than five m43 cameras sitting on the dining room table to my left. But I did have the little XZ-1 on the desk.
By the time I got it up and pointed out the window, the little fawn had disappeared. (I have one shot with one of its hind legs at the edge of the frame.) But then mama appears.
I had been outside not long before, washing the window with Windex. Deer are curious by nature, and have a phenomenal sense of smell. Apparently they were investigating what the scent was. She stared at the window for what felt like quite some time. I only wish I'd gotten a shot of the fawn.
Anyway, I love it here. I know it's going to be challenging, and not fun sometimes, but so far this feels more and more like the right move.
✍️ Reply by email"I'm ready for my closeup, Mr. DeMille"
Current Wx: Temp: 90.81°F Pressure: 1017hPa Humidity: 62% Wind: 14.97mphWords: 134
I don't know if this is the same one as yesterday, I'm inclined to believe it's not. This is a different window, and I was able to get closer to the action. It didn't really care to have its picture taken, but it paused long enough now and then to get a couple of shots. This one was the best.
Not an example of good macro photography, but something fun to do on an otherwise rainy day.
Water softener is in, and the water seems fine. No taste or smell. It'll be a while before all the water gets changed out of the hot water heater, and I expect some hardness from that as the calcium in the scale already in the tank perhaps dissolves into the softened water. But overall a major improvement.
✍️ Reply by emailSunset 5-27-25
Current Wx: Temp: 73.87°F Pressure: 1018hPa Humidity: 95% Wind: 4.61mphWords: 159
The water softener installer should be here relatively early this morning, so I've got to make breakfast and shower before he arrives. It'll take about five hours to do the install, and I'm guessing the water is going to be off the whole time. Fortunately, I have the "emergency" flushing water jug full, so I won't have to step outside to "water the lilies," as my dad used to say.
This was taking place while the rabbits were still out and about. I'm sure I'll get over this eventually, but I'm not yet.
And I hope that whatever place we build will be higher on the hill, with a deck above ground level, such that those power lines will recede below the horizon line in these shots. I could edit them out, but it's not fine art or anything. They just annoy me. You probably can't make them out at this size, but they're there, just above the horizon.
✍️ Reply by emailNorthern Flicker
Current Wx: Temp: 73.35°F Pressure: 1018hPa Humidity: 95% Wind: 4.61mphWords: 336
Couldn't miss that bright red spot on the back of its head. Shot turned out okay, even through the window. Maybe it has something to do with the angle of the sun and internal reflections in the windowpane? Sometimes they're ok, other times they're rubbish.
There was also entertainment last night when two wabbits were doing, well, something. One would charge the other and as it got close, the other would hop up in the air as the first ran by. This went on for more than five minutes. I know because I shot five minutes of video some minutes after I started watching them.
They eventually stopped horsing around and returned to grazing on dandelions. They seemed quite oblivious to my presence at the window.
What wasn't oblivious was a carpenter bee, who could see either me or the yellow bug-zapper paddle I was holding in my hand. I think it was the paddle, which is bright yellow, with the silver metal grid. As I moved the paddle, the bee moved too. Not away, but to kind of keep it in sight. It was interesting.
The things I do to entertain myself...
Is there a special version of schadenfreude when Elon's BFR fails again? I suspect that they're building these things right at the margins for safety and reliability, well, beyond them really, to get something approaching a usable payload and still have them be reusable. Which is to say, I don't think this thing is going to work out the way Elon hopes it will.
I used to be impressed by the effort. Now I just think it's another waste of resources and talent.
And unless AI can come up with a way to restore earth's climate to something approaching pre-industrial levels without reducing civilization to a pre-industrial state, that's probably a waste of resources and talent as well.
Comedy is tragedy plus time, right? I guess we'll be getting a big laugh out of this in a couple of millennia.
✍️ Reply by emailBold Jumper
Current Wx: Temp: 88.45°F Pressure: 1016hPa Humidity: 65% Wind: 11.5mphWords: 209
A lot of spiders in this place. I evacuated an eastern parson spider last week. This morning, I saw this guy between the kitchen window glass and the screen. It's such a nice day, I opened the sliding glass door, and there I noticed a large-ish spider that was very active and wouldn't pose for a pic, so I couldn't get an ID. It wasn't a wolf spider, or another parson, and so I regret to say I squished it.
Later, before I left the house, I went to close the door, and there was another one. This one got away, crawling back up into the frame of the door.
Before I left, I opened the kitchen window to get a little cross ventilation. The jumper isn't particularly problematic, so I wasn't too worried about it getting into the house. It has pretty much stayed right were it was, but now I'm worried about squishing it if I close the window.
I like jumping spiders, though I've never been especially successful at getting a good shot of one. The eyes are the big attraction, but in this shot the chelicerae are more eye-catching, since the two large front-facing eyes are kind of lost in the shadows.
✍️ Reply by emailWabbit in Wepose
Current Wx: Temp: 78.87°F Pressure: 1018hPa Humidity: 89% Wind: 3.44mphWords: 251
I've been trying to photograph this little rabbit, but I've found that shooting through the window really messes with the image. So I quietly snuck out the front door and crept around to the corner where I could see it.
Then, of course, some large insect started buzzing around me! I figured it was a carpenter bee, but I couldn't see it so I wasn't sure. Anyway, I was able to kind of keep my composure and managed to get a couple of shots.
It's a rabbit. It's not like I'm on safari here or something! Big deal.
Gotta clear out the back of the utility closet for the water softener people. Trying to reorganize stuff to take up less space. This bed we bought has some fancy upholstered frame that makes it impossible to put anything under the bed, which wastes valuable storage space. I looked to see if I could easily remove them, but it doesn't seem like it. I'd have to lift the box spring to see if they're somehow an integral part of the metal frame. It may come to that eventually.
Of course, the real solution is to get rid of stuff!
Nice day yesterday, high got up to the mid-60s, and it was 50°F this morning, which is an improvement over the low to mid 40s it's been since I've been up here. But mostly it's just nice to not be cloudy. I actually love the cooler temperature.
Well, better get to it...
✍️ Reply by emailA Prayer for America
06:13 Monday, 26 May 2025
Current Wx: Temp: 70.43°F Pressure: 1017hPa Humidity: 96% Wind: 4.61mph
Words: 142
I read an editorial about this last night. I hadn't seen this release before. So I watched it this morning, starting about 5:00am, since I was up. I've always been sentimental ("I cry at Kodak commercials."), but this had me weeping. In a good way, I guess.
I'm not surprised that the Mad Orange King is rage-bleating about the Boss. Our sovereign is a jealous king. I don't know that those in the grip of MAGA can hear Bruce, but for those of us who can, it is a source of some solace.
If you wish, check it out:
✍️ Reply by emailRed Sky at Night
Current Wx: Temp: 70.43°F Pressure: 1017hPa Humidity: 95% Wind: 5.75mphWords: 284
Pretty much rained all weekend, including the drive out to Mom's and back. It was nice seeing Mom, and I'm glad I took the time to get out there.
I learned a bit about why Maps sometimes offers routes with "fewer turns." I took 88 up through the Catskill and Alleghany Mountains. It's a beautiful drive, but getting there is about 70 miles of back roads. It wasn't terrible, but it is fatiguing.
The real challenge was after I got off 88 near Schenectady. Then it was a mile here and a less than a mile there, and turn, turn, turn. That was exhausting. Of course it happens right at the end of the journey.
I ended up taking the Thruway home, which is probably 20 miles longer in distance, but only 8 minutes longer in travel time. Much easier drive. A lot of turns getting to the Thruway, which seems like I might have avoided. Traffic was light and I was able to spend most of the drive in the right lane doing about 72 in a 65. Fewer Death Race 2000 drivers as well, which was welcome.
The best part was taking 96 south to Watkins Glen. So pretty, driving past all the wineries and farms.
Stopped at Walmart to get some groceries for the week, got back to the house at 5:01pm, as recorded by the front security cam.
Started noticing some red in the sky as I sat on the couch, so I had to get up to investigate. So many evenings, it looked promising but fizzled out. This time was a little different. It's not spectacular, but it was nice.
And a wonderful way to end the day.
✍️ Reply by emailSpringtime
Current Wx: Temp: 71.53°F Pressure: 1018hPa Humidity: 86% Wind: 0mphWords: 432
I saw a bobcat in the backyard in Florida several weeks ago. It was only the third time I'd ever seen one, and almost six years since the last time I saw one, shortly after we moved in.
I've seen a lot of wildlife here, deer, rabbits, and wild turkeys; but yesterday afternoon I spotted this mama relocating her kittens. I think she only has two, but it's possible I may have missed an earlier effort. I saw her move two from the neighbor to our right, across our yard, to the neighbors on the left. It's a feral cat, or what is sometimes referred to as a "barn cat." I sent the photo to my neighbor to the left as a heads-up. She said they had two barn cats, but don't have pets in the house.
I suspect they may have five now.
Feral cats are a problem for birds. I'll keep an eye out and see if a colony is developing, and if there are any organizations that'll come out and sterilize these guys. But I'll wait and see, many people love their barn cats and it's not something I want to get cross-threaded on with the neighbors.
As you can tell from the photo, it'd stopped raining. But it's started again. Yeesh.
While the sun was out, I spent some time trying to organize the garage. We'll need the shed for storage, but I have to get in there and rip out some insulation material because something is living in the ceiling. That shouldn't take long, but it'll be a messy job. I'll wear a mask and eye protection. Maybe a set of those paper coveralls.
Space will definitely be at a premium.
Killed some time watching that new Apple TV+ movie about the Fountain of Youth. Maybe that's the title? I should know, a full-screen ad pops up for it whenever I visit a story on BBC News, but I don't pay attention.
Bad movie. Don't waste your time. It's National Treasure and The DaVinci Code kind of mashed together, with a little bit of Raiders of the Lost Ark for the climax. Characters are fractal, 1.5-dimensional. Well, the two main characters anyway. The rest of them may be less than one-dimensional. Nice job with sets and VFX though.
So far, all of these Apple TV+ movies have been a big disappointment.
Murderbot has been entertaining, though.
Well, better get cleaned up and pack a few things. Plan to be back here late Sunday afternoon. Maybe the weather will have cleared by then.
✍️ Reply by emailI ❤️ NY
07:38 Friday, 23 May 2025
Current Wx: Temp: 68.79°F Pressure: 1016hPa Humidity: 87% Wind: 0mph
Words: 1261
Did that title without spaces around the heart, and with. What's the proper kerning for an emoji? Seems large.
It has been raining pretty much constantly since Wednesday. Tuesday was nice. I flew the mini 3 and walked around the property using the Seek app to identify plants and trees. It was a bit cool, 54°F about 12° below normal, but clear. Since then "blocking" has kept it solidly overcast and wet, and mostly in the 40s. Is this what Britain is like?
I am tired of the rain, but I haven't soured on our decision. It's soooo quiet here. No leaf blowers, no lawn mowers, no pressure washers. The other day, a wild turkey wandered across the front "lawn." Last night, three deer wandered across. A pair of robins are nesting in the flood lights above the side door. A rabbit lives under the shed and apparently likes the rain about as much as I do, as I haven't seen it since Tuesday when it came out to enjoy a buffet of tender plants here and there in the driveway and around the garage.
Yesterday was recycle day, so I loaded a big pile of cardboard and some cans into the truck and drove them down to the transfer point. On the way there I spotted a flock of wild turkeys in a corn field not far from the house.
When I got to the transfer station, I pulled around to the dumpsters and the guy is talking to someone in a pickup ahead of me. Truck pulls away and the guy says, "She said, 'That's my neighbor!'" I didn't recognize the truck, but apparently it was Lisa, our neighbors to the south. I think the guys' name was Ken, I told him I'd probably forget, but he lives just around the corner apparently. Nice guy.
After dropping off the recycling, I headed into the village to get some dinner. I was tired of eating alone at home. I stopped at The Hungry Burd (Because it's "Burdett." Get it?) and the place was nearly empty except for three women seated at a table and the host/server. It's a seat yourself anywhere sort of place, so I picked a table near the ladies to chat a bit.
I mentioned I lived up on South Hill Road next to Ray and Lisa Combs, and the older woman said, "Ray's my cousin." Small towns, gotta love 'em. The cook was seated with them, and she was the woman's granddaughter. Had a beer, a nice fish sandwich and a little conversation with the ladies.
I've got to start writing names down, because I've already forgotten hers, if I ever got it. But she's snowbird, traveling to Florida for the winter. I've told everyone I've spoken more than a few words to that we were relocating here from Florida, and nobody seemed surprised or thought I was crazy.
On Wednesday, I met with a guy from Martin Water Conditioning, kind of a big outfit from northern Pennsylvania. Jeff was from Pennsylvania, so it was a bit of a schlep up here. The water softener business is kind of, I don't know, icky? It's kind of like buying a car. A lot of claims, a lot of patter.
Jeff had started out as a service technician and moved into sales. They're Kinetico dealers, and Kinetico is a water softener brand. The quote we got was a lot higher than the system we installed in Florida, but Jeff was a really nice guy. Fedex dropped off the workbench I'd ordered from Home Depot, and I had the guy just leave it on the side porch. Thing weighed over 100 pounds. As Jeff was leaving, I went to drag the box into the house (it was getting pretty wet), and Jeff says, "Let me get that for you." I guess he thought I was old or something! Anyway, he brought it in for me which was nice.
I spoke with Mitzi about the quote, and we thought it was high but we were going to go with the "basic" system. Jeff told me that when we build the new place here, they will come out and move the equipment into the new house, and it can provide softened water for both houses. That was something that had kind of crossed my mind, how we were going to use the same well for both houses. But everyone has told me we can't use the same septic tank for both houses. Anyway, I'm sure there'll be a labor charge, but we may add a reverse osmosis unit at that point. There's also a UV disinfecting system, but that requires a bulb change every year. I'm not certain how enduring that supply chain will be, so I'm unconvinced at the moment. Probably no worse than reverse osmosis membranes. Resin lasts a long time, and I can probably stockpile a couple of changes, enough to last me the rest of my life, and a decade beyond. Sediment filters are lower tech, so maybe they'll be available, but I'll likely stockpile a bunch of those too.
In any event, feeling somewhat anxious about our choice, I spent yesterday morning doing a deep dive on water softeners. Can't say I'm an expert now, but I'm a bit more confident we made a good choice. Kinetico is an American company and all its products are built here, and the prices probably reflect that. It does have some unique design features that may preserve the resin media longer, and use less salt. (I don't think salt will be a logistical problem. We live near a salt mine.)
I was worried about the iron content of our water, but he convinced me that the softener could handle it, and my subsequent investigation seemed to confirm that. The county test has us at .2ppm iron, while his in-home test came up with .6ppm. That'll vary somewhat because of all the rainfall we've been having. I ran one of those Home Depot little test strips, and the color matched the .3ppm swatch on the chart. A softener should be able to handle anything less than 10ppm.
I learned there are two types of iron in well water, ferrous and ferric. Ferrous is "clear water" dissolved iron. It turns into insoluble ferric iron when it oxidizes, which it will eventually do. Over time, that's what turns the inside of your dryer orange, and all your white laundry, which I know from experience growing up.
So I called Jeff and told him we'd go with the basic system and they'll be out here next Wednesday to install it while I'm still here. That'll be nice.
I'm going to drive up to Mom's place tomorrow, after I dump the trash at the solid waste transfer station. That's about three and a half hours on the road. I plan to spend the night at my sister's, and I'll visit with Mom again on Sunday morning, heading back here Sunday afternoon, hopefully avoiding a lot of Memorial Day traffic.
Haven't made any progress on painting the interior of the garage, but maybe I'll do something about that next week. It's uncertain when this weather will clear out. If it turns nice, I may just do some exploring. The garage isn't going anyplace.
And the beat goes on...
Oh, just noticed I'm going to have to dig into the weather code for the marmot. That data is for Florida. It's 45°F here, about 24° cooler than what this post is showing.
✍️ Reply by email"The peak of your civilization..."
11:29 Tuesday, 20 May 2025
Current Wx: Temp: 88.92°F Pressure: 1014hPa Humidity: 67% Wind: 1.01mph
Words: 37
"Read the whole thing," as we used to say, back in the day.
(A little spoiler: It wasn't 1999.)
This is why I think it's madness when I hear people like Eric Schmidt. Just another 90GW.
Trtr
✍️ Reply by emailLittle Victories
05:48 Tuesday, 20 May 2025
Current Wx: Temp: 74.16°F Pressure: 1012hPa Humidity: 94% Wind: 4.72mph
Words: 560
I've been mostly trying to distance myself from issues and events in Florida. From my point of view, Florida is a lost cause. It's mired in corruption, extreme partisan politics, and growing more vulnerable to our changing climate. It used to be a leader in good government, now it's little more than a bad joke.
But good things still happen, just not necessarily for the best reasons. Just before I left, people in St Johns County learned that 600 acres of conservation land near the Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve would be "swapped" for various parcels of land throughout Florida, totaling about 3,000 acres, designating them as conservation land, which was intended to make the swap appear advantageous from the standpoint of land conservation in Florida.
Well, these 600 acres contained a section of property owned by the Gate Petroleum company in Jacksonville, owned by the Peyton family and former Jacksonville mayor, John Peyton. The Gate Corporation has been trying to develop that land for years, and a local grass roots organization, Save Guana Now, successfully fought them, preventing the land from being developed.
The land swap was proposed by a shadowy LLC, which probably includes the Gate Corporation, seeking another bite at the apple. "Shadowy LLC," because, well, that's Florida. Forget anything you ever heard about it being "the Sunshine State." Everything takes place out of the light.
The biggest deterrent to Gate Petroleum is that St Johns County is the third wealthiest county in Florida, and the highest median income county in Florida. Here's where the interests of environmentalists and rich homeowners align. There's a lot of money to be made in developing that land, but rich people don't want new neighbors. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend," and so on.
The Mad Orange King's chief of staff is notionally Susie Wiles, a Jacksonville political operative who ran Trump's coronation, er, presidential campaign. I think Stephen Miller is Himmler and Susie is Borman if you're playing along at home. Miller sets the agenda for ethno-nationalism, while Susie controls access to the Mad Orange King.
Anyway, Susie spoke out against the land swap and the deal was tanked.
The whole thing stank, because there was little public notice about this proposal, and it would have been approved tomorrow at the meeting of a little known committee in Tallahassee. But someone spotted it and sounded the alarm.
The bullshit coming from the shadowy LLC's lawyers is hysterical.
“The applicant remains committed to preserving Florida’s natural habitat and supporting the state’s conservation efforts,” the statement reads. “In that regard, we look forward to continued conversations on the preferred method of preserving Florida’s conservation lands and how we may contribute to that critical goal.”
Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit.
Happy to see this happen, but it's emblematic of everything that's wrong with Florida. If that 600 acres wasn't located within that area of exclusive and expensive homes, it would have been developed in a heartbeat. The major reason why Florida has grown more vulnerable to climate risks, beyond the extremes of our changing climate, is that developers keep building more homes in environmentally sensitive, vulnerable areas. But that's Florida, owned and operated by the Republican Party of Florida for more than a generation.
You have to be crazy to live there, and if you aren't already, you will be.
✍️ Reply by emailA Pretty Nice Day
Current Wx: Temp: 80.35°F Pressure: 1013hPa Humidity: 84% Wind: 1.01mphWords: 91
Although it didn't get much higher than 50°F, the skies cleared and it was a pretty nice day. I walked around a bit outside with the camera. This is from the part of the property where we think we're going to build a slightly larger house. Certainly something with more storage space!
Sun just went down. No clouds to speak of, so not especially photogenic. I'll charge the drone tomorrow and fly it.
Anyway, time to watch some Perry Mason and then call it a night.
The beat goes on...
✍️ Reply by emailWe're Still Listening to Eric Schmidt?
14:39 Monday, 19 May 2025
Current Wx: Temp: 89.87°F Pressure: 1013hPa Humidity: 65% Wind: 8.01mph
Words: 54
Maybe I'm just not very bright. That's probably it. But listening to this bullshit scares the hell out of me.
You remember Eric Schmidt. The guy who said "You have no privacy. Get over it." Yeah, I'm sure this is all going to work out just fine.
We are so well and truly fucked.
✍️ Reply by emailWinterfell
05:03 Monday, 19 May 2025
Current Wx: Temp: 73.85°F Pressure: 1014hPa Humidity: 90% Wind: 1.01mph
Words: 1546
(tl;dr: Mitzi made it to Albuquerque. Dave made it to Winterfell. Driving sucks. Maverick gets great mileage. It's cold, wet and gray and feels like home.)
High today is predicted to be 54°F. It was 93°F in Ponte Vedra when I left. I was soaked with sweat as I packed up the truck. It was even 90° in Quantico, where I stopped for the night. Never got much above the 70s as I drove north, 63° in Watkins Glen when I arrived.
Mitzi made it to her hotel early Saturday morning. Like, 0230 early. And she was up and on the go four hours later!
As for me, I was mistaken when I mentioned it had been decades since I'd driven this far solo. I'd driven from DC back to Florida in November '22 when Mitzi stayed behind to look after her grandson for a couple of weeks. But I did that trip in two legs. This time I did nearly the same distance in just one. I stopped below DC, as planned, because I figured it was about all I was good for, and I wasn't wrong.
I'm just not fit for sitting in essentially one position for hours at a time anymore. I developed an ache in my right should from keeping my hands on the wheel, which was a new thing for me. Later on, I developed some kind of cramp or spasm in my left side. It may have had something to do with being dehydrated, because I was limiting my fluid intake to keep the stops to a reasonable number.
For the most part, the drive was benign until I approached Richmond, VA. (Shout-out to Chris ODonnell.) For much of the trip, I'd been staying in the middle or right lane, keeping my speed 5-7 miles above the limit, passing when necessary. Because it wasn't bumper-to-bumper all the way up 95, that made it a fairly low-stress affair.
As I approached Richmond, traffic density increased, though it was no where near as bad as I've experienced it before on a weekday. What also seemed different was the number of drivers who were barreling through traffic at up to 20mph above the posted speed limit, weaving in and out of traffic. I had to be alert for idiots, er, I mean, drivers passing me on the right at incredibly high speed if I planned to move to my right.
Between Richmond and Quantico, traffic density picked up a little more. Then we started getting the compression waves where traffic is flowing along and then suddenly screeches to a halt. There were two occasions where a little red VW Jetta riding my bumper nearly rear-ended me. I try to keep a safe stopping distance between me and the car in front of me, which mostly serves as an invitation for drivers to insert themselves in it.
Both times, I spotted the brake lights far ahead of me and began braking early, trying to modulate it so I could stop without hitting the car in front of me, but also not causing the Jetta to rear end me. When you're close enough you can make out the panicked expression in the face of the driver behind you, you're too close.
All's well that ends well, but it was an awful experience. Especially coming at the end of a long day of driving.
No restaurants to speak of near the motel, so I had an unappealing supper of some micro-wave concoction and a can tuna and crackers. Back on the road at 0633, foregoing the Residence Inn free breakfast, which was still not serving at the advertised time of 0630.
I was hoping an early Sunday morning start would avoid much of the drama of getting around DC. Mostly the case, but on 270, I think, there was another episode of 70-0 sudden stopping, and again, trying to not make the vehicle behind me rear-end me. Accomplished, but it felt like a near thing.
Maps put up an 8-minute delay estimate and I watched that creep up to 16 minutes as cars ahead of me were driving down the left shoulder to a place in the road where they could turn around. Eventually, I came to the site of the disruption. A fire truck was blocking the left lane, purposefully, as people were working to get a vehicle that had apparently lost control out of the median.
After that it was fairly benign again, except for some bizarre driving by a couple of people who couldn't seem to make up their minds how fast they wanted to go. Again, I'm running in cruise control in the right lane, about 7 miles above the posted limit, so 72 in a 65. I can stay in the right lane for a long time when traffic is light, only passing as necessary.
Well, there was this one car, an SUV of some kind that I can't recall, which I passed because they were doing something like 70 I guess. Apparently, this offended them? Because they then passed me and again slowed to 70. This happened twice and so I decided to put some distance between us and got in the left lane and did 75 until they were a tiny spot in the rear-view, and there were several cars between us. (Nobody was zooming up behind me in the left lane, wanting to go faster than 75.)
There was a long stretch of open road ahead of me in the right lane, so I moved over and resumed 72.
Several minutes go by, and here's the SUV again, only now it's behind me. Well, ok, they're not slowing me down, I don't care. Until they decide they want to be in front of me again. And then they do slow down.
We're not exchanging glances, I have no idea what's behind this behavior. When another car passes us doing significantly above the limit, I pull out and follow that car. The whole thing is just bizarre.
But it must be contagious because as I got closer to New York, a little Chevy compact I couldn't name exhibited the same behavior. This time I did take a look at the driver, and it was an older gent, like me. He's in the right lane doing 70, I pass him and resume 72 in the right lane. He decides he has to be in front of me, passes me, and resumes doing 70!
I really don't get it. What's up with that? Are they people who just resent being passed? Maybe they don't like Florida drivers? Maybe it was my license plate. I'm doing my best to not be a maniac (you can decide if doing 7mph above the posted limit is maniacal), and just encountering this bizarre behavior.
Now formerly, I'd have been pretty much staying in the left lane doing between 75 and 80 in a 65mph zone, hoping there wouldn't be any troopers out on a Sunday morning. (And this trip I saw only one car pulled over the whole trip. Probably all out looking for immigrants.) The behavior you encounter there is someone will decide they want to follow you, which is fine, as long as they're not on my bumper. But this trip, I'm trying to keep my speed down, and drive with a less mission-focused intensity. (I'd normally try to reach my destination by a particular time that I'd set as a goal. This time I had no arrival time goal, to try to be more relaxed as I'm driving.)
I'd never encountered this kind of behavior before, and it's unsettling.
The Mav was outstanding. I still have to fill up from the last leg, but the average fuel economy for the first three fill-ups was 36.5mpg, which was nearly all at highway speeds, and significantly faster than the speeds the EPA uses in its testing. EPA estimated highway fuel economy is 33mpg.
The worst tank was the second one at 34.2mpg, which was nearly all I-95, flat and fairly fast. It seems to do better with some hills and variation in speed.
Apart from my aches, the car was comfortable to drive, felt secure on the road. The base sound system doesn't get especially high marks from anyone, but I was pleased with it. I listened to Apple Music's "Focus" channel for the first part of the trip, then the "Chill" channel, and finally "Dave's Channel," which is music it thinks I like, which wasn't wrong. It did repeat a number of songs though, which seemed strange.
I'll be flying back to Florida at the end of the month, then Mitzi and I will drive the RAV4 up, probably starting on the 9th. We'll share the driving so I don't expect to encounter the same issues with shoulder aches and muscle spasms. We stop more frequently, as well, but only a little. We'll press farther, to stay with her daughter in DC, but sharing the driving makes a big difference.
Anyway, I'm here. It's cold, it's windy, wet and gray, but it still feels like home.
Now if we can just get the other place sold...
✍️ Reply by emailNot The Best of Days
14:25 Friday, 16 May 2025
Current Wx: Temp: 94.71°F Pressure: 1014hPa Humidity: 40% Wind: 1.99mph
Words: 673
Took Mitzi to the airport this morning. Another rock hit the windshield of the Mav. Worse than the first time. Chip and likely a crack. Other than that, the drive out to the airport was fairly pleasant, with what seemed like less than the usual amount of traffic.
Even dropping her off at Delta was painless. Usually, there's a lot of cars dropping people off and you have to wait to make your approach. We drove right up and got out. Sweet!
On the way home, I saw there was a significant backup at the 295-95 interchange to the airport, so our timing seemed especially fortuitous!
Got home and Mitzi texted me that her flight had been delayed an hour for mechanical issues. Fast forward several updates, the flight was canceled and Mitzi re-booked herself on a 4:00pm flight to Atlanta, since she was now missing her connection to Albuquerque due to the cancellation.
A couple of hours later and the airport is now shut down with a fire in the parking garage, and nobody can enter or leave, and flights have been halted. Don't know for how long. Hopefully she can still get out on the four o'clock flight, but who knows?
She's taking it all in stride. I'd probably be having a stroke.
In other news, I've done some preliminary Tetris-exercises with the truck bed and stuff I want to bring to NY. Things didn't exactly work out the way I'd hoped, but it'll be ok. Whatever I can't bring up on this trip can catch a ride in the RAV4, or on the trailer or pod or whatever we decide we're going to use.
I plan to button everything up just before sunset because it's pretty hot right now, and I don't want some of that stuff baking in the cab. (That's what it's called, right?) Hope to get on the road by 0600 tomorrow morning.
This will be my first solo drive of any significant distance in over a decade. Well, I'll have Siri, but she's not super helpful in terms of keeping me company or sharing the driving. I'll probably stop every two hours as we usually do. My days of driving through a full tank of gas have vanished in the rear-view mirror.
When I was commuting between Jacksonville and Norfolk, 30 years ago, I'd stop only for gas and grab something to eat from a fast-food drive-thru near whatever gas station I'd stopped at. (For the hygiene curious, it was stop, pump gas, hit the head, wash hands, proceed to drive-thru, unwrap sandwich, hit the 95 on-ramp and go!)
I could usually make that commute in nine and a half hours. I think the shortest was nine hours door-to-door, which involved a fair amount of driving at 90mph. I think I found that you had to routinely try to do 85mph to average 70mph, because you'd inevitably encounter a rolling roadblock of 60-65 mph vehicles occupying both lanes that would require carefully threading one's way through to open road. I often picked up, or joined, a couple of similarly impatient drivers who weren't uncomfortable exceeding the speed limit to the degree that usually meant a "reckless driving" citation, rather than a "speeding" one.
In the final analysis, it only meant saving about an hour of time on the road. That would fail my risk analysis these days, though it often meant arriving in daylight instead of after sunset. I'm still impatient with drivers who can't manage to do the speed limit, but no longer have any wish to be "the leader of the pack." I love adaptive cruise control, but I don't have that in the Mav, and it's often foiled by people who drive significantly below the limit and semi trucks ("significantly" being 5mph or more under the limit).
So, can't say I'm looking forward to it, but I'll be glad when I get there. I guess I should just focus on that.
✍️ Reply by emailThe 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...
✍️ Reply by emailMoving 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.
✍️ Reply by emailNo 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.
✍️ Reply by emailSpeaking 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.
✍️ Reply by emailNo 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.
✍️ Reply by emailThis 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...
✍️ Reply by emailDamage 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.
✍️ Reply by emailThis 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.
✍️ Reply by emailBill Gates
❝“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
✍️ Reply by email
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."
✍️ Reply by emailThis 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.
✍️ Reply by emailThe 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.
✍️ Reply by emailPotatoes, 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.
✍️ Reply by emailConservation 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?
✍️ Reply by emailFurther 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.
✍️ Reply by emailSomething 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.
✍️ Reply by email"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
✍️ Reply by emailBetween 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...
✍️ Reply by emailClimate 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.
✍️ Reply by emailPro-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.
✍️ Reply by emailA Note to Chris
11:48 Friday, 2 May 2025
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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.
✍️ Reply by emailA Good Read
08:17 Friday, 2 May 2025
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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.
✍️ Reply by emailRandom
07:05 Friday, 2 May 2025
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Words: 31
The security camera is a never-ending source of amusement.
✍️ Reply by emailJames Reeves
06:48 Friday, 2 May 2025
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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...
✍️ Reply by emailWe Love Our Gear
06:01 Friday, 2 May 2025
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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...
✍️ Reply by emailBike
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.
✍️ Reply by emailMay
Current Wx: Temp: 71.33°F Pressure: 1021hPa Humidity: 79% Wind: 3.44mphWords: 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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