Denied
10:11 Saturday, 21 March 2026
Current Wx: Temp: 30.07°F Pressure: 1017hPa Humidity: 97% Wind: 7.94mph
Words: 99
I've got the Little Snitch app from Objective Development (makers of LaunchBar), and I've had a license for years and years. Most of it is way over my head, but it seemed like a useful tool to have. Now that we have AI assistants, I'm trying some of the features of Little Snitch.
If you're interested, here's the little chat we had this morning. For your context, I've had these rules running since yesterday and haven't had any apps complain. These connections are present in multiple apps running on my machine. So far, nothing has complained or appeared broken.
✍️ Reply by emailThis and That
11:27 Friday, 20 March 2026
Current Wx: Temp: 41.29°F Pressure: 1011hPa Humidity: 83% Wind: 13.82mph
Words: 494
This new house effort is a distraction from a lot of other things, like politics and blogging and so on. I run into things online that I might wish to comment on, but most of my time is spent learning about houses and running down the rabbit holes that inevitably appear.
Dave Winer pointed to a video clip of an interview with Marc Andreessen. I thought Dave's comments were worthwhile, but I really liked what Joan Westenberg wrote about it. It's the lack of introspection, particularly among the very successful, very wealthy and very powerful that is the source of many of what you might call "policy problems," from a political point of view; but a larger problem with regard to the dominant social narrative, what once might have been called "the American dream," or whatever Wall Street is selling us as "the good life."
I know in my own case that "success" was never a cause for introspection. If things were going "well" (Compared to what? Well, that "dominant social narrative" I suppose.) there was no reason to interrogate my interior experience.
Along with that introspection and self-reflection comes an understanding of what the interior lives of others might be. And that helps develop empathy and humility, two features of character that are markedly absent among the rich and powerful.
So, yeah, Dave and Joan were much more erudite in their comments, so I point to them. As for me, I'd just say, "Bullshit. Bullshit. Bullshit."
And we don't need to go back to Plato or Socrates either, Heraclitus was there first.
Applicants for wisdom, do what I have done: Inquire within.
Moving on...
I thought this video from Bernie Sanders, chatting with Claude, was clever. I am enjoying my use of Claude, albeit perhaps skeptically, or cautiously. It is very helpful.
I'm definitely not looking forward to Apple's enhanced Siri AI, "powered by Google." I don't keep any Google apps on my phone, and I hate to think of Google being embedded in Apple software. I hope there's an "off" switch. It's surprising and disappointing to me that Apple, which supposedly differentiates itself by prioritizing user privacy, is partnering with the corporation that did the most to destroy user privacy. But then, they're giving shiny participation trophies to the Mad Orange King, so what should I expect?
Spent 90 minutes in the gym yesterday, 25 on the elliptical and the remainder pushing or pulling weights. I'm sore today, but I'm glad I got in there. I had planned to get to the gym on Tuesday, but I was up so late on Monday night waiting on Mitzi's flight, Tuesday was kind of an "off" day, waiting for her new flight to get in. Wednesday we focused on talking about the new house, which is exhausting in and of itself.
All of which is to say, I'm glad I made the effort to get down there yesterday.
Anyway, the beat goes on...
✍️ Reply by emailNot a Faraday Cage
13:10 Tuesday, 17 March 2026
Current Wx: Temp: 21.67°F Pressure: 1011hPa Humidity: 69% Wind: 16.13mph
Words: 673
Claude dispelled any illusions I had that an ICF home with metal siding and roofing represented some protection against EMP.
Alas.
If you're interested, here's the response minus my prompt. (Please forgive the markdown detritus. I'm not going to clean it up. And yes, Mitzi's flight is delayed again. Hopefully taking off within the hour.):
[Ed note: Learn something new every day. Tinderbox renders markdown to html on export, so no detritus. Maybe it's done that all along. I don't know because I never use markdown, because "plain text" isn't so precious to me.]
Yes, I understand the question precisely. You're asking whether the passive electromagnetic properties of the structure itself — not any intentional hardening — would incidentally provide EMP attenuation sufficient to protect unconnected electronics from the E1 pulse component of a high-altitude nuclear EMP (HEMP) event.
It's a genuinely interesting physics question. The honest answer is **partially, but probably not sufficiently**.
- What You Actually Have
An ICF home with continuous rebar, metal roofing, and metal siding does create **a partially conductive enclosure**, but it falls short of a true Faraday cage in several important ways:
- What works in your favor:**
- The rebar mesh in ICF walls is continuous and interconnected — if properly bonded at corners and intersections, it forms a conductive lattice throughout the wall assembly
- Metal roofing and metal siding add conductive surface area
- The overall mass and conductivity of the structure would attenuate — not block — an incoming electromagnetic field to some degree
- What defeats it:**
- A Faraday cage requires a **continuous, gapless conductive enclosure**. Your home has windows, which are essentially large holes in the conductive shell. The E1 pulse (the fast, high-amplitude component that destroys electronics) has wavelengths in the range that passes through window-sized apertures with relatively little attenuation
- The rebar is embedded in foam and concrete — it's not a tight mesh on the exterior surface. Effective Faraday shielding requires the conductive layer to be on the **outside** of the enclosure, and mesh spacing needs to be small relative to the wavelength of concern
- Metal roofing panels are joined at seams, not continuously welded — there are gaps in the electrical continuity
- The rebar in different wall panels may or may not be electrically bonded to the rebar in adjacent panels, and almost certainly isn't bonded to the metal roofing and siding as a unified system
- The E1 Pulse Specifically
A HEMP event has three components — E1, E2, and E3. E1 is the one that destroys solid-state electronics. It's an extremely fast pulse (rise time in nanoseconds) with a broad frequency spectrum peaking roughly in the 1–100 MHz range. Effective shielding against E1 requires attenuation of **40–80 dB** depending on how hardened you want to be. A proper Faraday cage with tight mesh and sealed apertures achieves this. Your incidental building structure might achieve **10–20 dB** of attenuation — meaningful, but not protective in any reliable sense at 100 miles from a burst optimized for EMP effect.
- What Would Actually Protect Electronics
A properly constructed Faraday enclosure inside the home — even something as simple as a **metal garbage can with a tight-fitting lid**, with electronics wrapped in a non-conductive layer inside — would be far more effective than the building structure itself. The key requirements are continuous conductive enclosure, no gaps larger than a few centimeters, and the protected electronics **not connected to any external conductors**.
Military and government EMP hardening uses welded steel enclosures with filtered penetrations for any necessary connections — a very different standard than incidental building construction.
- The Short Answer
Your ICF home with metal cladding is probably better than a wood-frame house with vinyl siding — but that's a low bar. It would not reliably protect unconnected electronics from a well-designed HEMP event at 100 miles. The windows alone are a sufficient defeat mechanism for the E1 component. A dedicated Faraday enclosure for critical electronics, inside the home, is the appropriate solution if that's a genuine concern — and it costs almost nothing compared to the building itself.
✍️ Reply by emailTundra
Current Wx: Temp: 21.7°F Pressure: 1011hPa Humidity: 69% Wind: 16.13mphWords: 850
It's 20°F out there, but 20 knots of wind makes it feel like 8°. I've gotten some use from my ice cleats. Back porch is covered with rough ice. Probably not a slip risk, but you never know. Went out to the garage for some salt. Don't want Mitzi taking a spill when she gets home.
I'm feeling fairly unproductive, so I figure I'll just do some blogging.
I wonder if Paradise was really intended to be a "one and done" limited series. Because it seems to me that they didn't really have a long-term story arc. I mean, time travel? Really?
I still like the characters, and the survival stories, but it just seems like they were reaching for ideas off the shelf, The Man in the High Castle in this case. Though I suppose that wasn't time travel so much as a parallel universe thing.
Monarch is something of a profound disappointment. It has some good ideas, but the execution is sloppy and the storylines are too disparate and weakly developed.
I watched Cold Storage the other night, and that was delightful. It reminded me a lot of Tremors. A "buddy pair" protagonist, interesting supporting characters. I think Tremors has the advantage of a truly novel "monster." Cold Storage gives off some The Last Of Us vibes, which isn't entirely unwelcome. Just a great B-movie experience you won't regret watching if you're into that sort of thing.
And I am.
Today should be a workout day, but I'm giving it a pass due to lack of sleep and picking up Mitzi. But I've been doing pretty well overall. Sunday I did 20 minutes on the elliptical followed by an arms workout. My legs are still complaining this morning. I'll head to the gym tomorrow for more time on the elliptical and "leg day." Gotta get in shape to survive old age.
Speaking of longevity, I've also made some changes to my diet and beverage consumption. For most of my life, I've had a diet soda habit. It was my preferred caffeine delivery vehicle. To try to be a somewhat more responsible diet soft drink consumer, I switched to Soda Stream products, so I wasn't generating as much plastic waste.
I ran out of syrup back in January and haven't bought any since. I've switched to drinking green tea. Apparently you're supposed to have three cups a day to have any real health benefits and I'm only having two. That may change when it gets warmer. I was surprised at the extent to which a hot cup of tea will warm you up. I normally get up and put on a sweatshirt over my long-sleeved thermal undershirt. After having a cup of tea, I have to take the sweatshirt off for a little while. Other than that, I mostly just drink water or an occasional hot chocolate.
As for my diet, I've been focusing on fiber to feed my microbiome. For the past few years I've usually eaten the same thing for breakfast every day, with few exceptions. Two eggs, spinach, baby Bella mushrooms, black beans and occasionally onions. Often, but not always, topped with avocado and always Sriracha. Seems like a generous amount of fiber-rich foods.
This winter, I've been switching it up a bit with oatmeal with blueberries and walnuts. Sometimes bananas. About a tablespoon of buckwheat honey too, which is perhaps a bit too generous.
I've tried overnight oats for the first time this week. They're pretty good! The nice thing is you can make three servings at once the night before. I went out and bought a set of Anchor-Hocking 2-cup glass storage containers, which are a good size. I see a lot of folks using Ball jars, but I prefer a shallower container. I do a cup of whole, rolled oats, a tablespoon of chia seeds and some cinnamon. I shake that up pretty good to get the chia seeds spread out. Then a generous tablespoon of plain greek yogurt, a cup of milk and a generous teaspoon (I'm trying to show restraint now) of buckwheat honey. Stir all that up, cover it and stick in the fridge.
The first morning I tried it, it was great! I added blueberries, raspberries and walnuts and stirred them all in. The second morning it had thickened up quite a bit, so I added a splash more milk and stirred that in before adding the berries and walnuts. Just finished the third bowl this morning, still great.
Less prep and cleaning than the egg breakfast, and less risk of exploding oats in the microwave. (I've learned to keep the power at 40% to avoid that.)
I try to do something similar with lunch. Yesterday I did the egg breakfast and had the overnight oats for lunch. When I make a sandwich, I try to add a lot of veggies.
Am I any healthier? Who knows?
"Do your best, the rest is not up to you."
The beat that can be counted is not the beat, but the beat goes on...
✍️ Reply by emailWeather
07:53 Tuesday, 17 March 2026
Current Wx: Temp: 19.8°F Pressure: 1009hPa Humidity: 73% Wind: 17.18mph
Words: 953
Mitzi was supposed to get in last night about 2230, but she got stuck in Detroit. Not exactly stuck so much as her flight kept getting delayed to the point where she called an audible and booked herself on another flight out today, and then tried to find a hotel room.
Her flight was ultimately cancelled, so it was a good call. She is scheduled to arrive in Elmira today at 1330, which at least means I won't be driving in the dark.
Had a productive interaction with Claude yesterday regarding the new house. I'd made a spreadsheet with various size floor plans, from 28' to 30' wide, 44' to 46' long, and the cost of each at our quoted rate.
Then I described what we were trying to accomplish to the AI, and asked if there was a "sweet spot," regarding the "ideal" size. It offered some useful feedback and pointed out that a loft and a basement consume a good deal of main floor square footage just for the stairs, figuring 45 sq ft per stairwell. I don't know if that's a hallucination or not, but it does give me something to ask the designer about. I'm not dead set against a loft, but I wonder if it's more trouble (and cost) than it's worth.
Keeping the loft option open, for now, I started working on a 30'x46' floor plan. It's an exceedingly tedious program, and I think I'd really be better off with a mouse. I tried using the "room" tool, but I found that it merges the sides of the room with the exterior walls, which are much thicker than the interior walls, and that seems to cause problems that I don't understand. So I just used the straight wall tool to construct each room. It merges those too, but without the issues that the room tool seems to cause.
That gets a bit exhausting after a while, so I had another conversation with the AI, asking about budget. I gave it our contractor quoted rate for the work he will do, and the portions of the build that we will be responsible for, and asked if it could estimate the cost of our portion of the work.
It commented that our contractor's rate was reasonable for the region, and then gave a low and high estimate for each of the areas we will be responsible for completing.
Using the midpoint estimate, we'd be busting our notional $500K budget by about $80K. That wasn't particularly shocking to me. Unfortunately, it doesn't include the driveway expansion and the new septic tank, which are together about another $17K; so, again, we're approaching that $600K mark. That's not entirely out of reach, but it is a significant stretch. I think it's achievable though.
I'm committed to ICF construction because of the weather we just experienced this weekend. We can anticipate more extreme weather, more severe extreme weather, in the years to come. For the purposes of my analysis, I'm assuming we'll have at least 15 years in the house, which should put me in my mid-eighties. Mitzi's mom lived well into her 90s, albeit with some form of dementia, and my mom will be 93 in September. Each of our fathers died younger, but my dad was 87 when he passed. So far, no dementia in my family, so I have to anticipate that I may be a caregiver for some time. Mitzi has long-term care insurance as well, so I think we're fairly well prepared in that regard. Of course, "People plan. God laughs."
But back to the house. ICF will withstand the most severe weather extremes. I'll have to talk to Brad about strapping the trusses down, I don't know if New York follows Florida's code. You can build an ICF roof, but that's even more money. So the roof will be the weak spot with regard to wind damage. In terms of extremes of heat and cold, the thermal mass of the concrete envelope acts as an enormous thermal shock absorber. If we had weeks of extreme heat or cold, that advantage might turn into a small disadvantage, but I think for the most part it's going to save us money on heating and cooling (mostly heating in Climate Zone 5).
We'll have standing metal seam roofing and siding, so no paint, no pests, burning embers shouldn't be a problem. ICF homes don't burn, per se. Apparently the EPS beneath the siding melts rather than burns, and of course the concrete isn't flammable. The biggest fire risk is interior, and beneath the eaves, so we'll want to keep flammable vegetation away from the house. You don't want fire entering from the eaves, and spreading into the roof.
I was wondering in the wee hours this morning how much of a Faraday cage the house represents. With metal roofing and siding, and all that rebar in the walls, how much of an EMP event would enter the house? Of course, everything plugged into the electrical system would be fried. And I'd have to think about whether or not the roofing and siding have to be grounded to be of any utility. Something to chat with an AI about.
But the important thing is, you don't want to find yourself homeless in your 70s and 80s, which is why we left Florida. Of course, no place is truly immune to climate disasters today, but I'm fairly confident the risks are more manageable here, especially if we build an ICF home. I listened to a podcast the other day, and apparently ICF is surging in California in the areas destroyed by wildfires. Likewise in Florida for hurricane destroyed homes.
✍️ Reply by emailPlans
08:56 Monday, 16 March 2026
Current Wx: Temp: 54.39°F Pressure: 998hPa Humidity: 93% Wind: 16.13mph
Words: 865
I've been MIA from the marmot for the past few days because I've been head-down in learning how to draw a house. Notice I did not say "design."
We have contracted with a firm with experience designing homes built with insulated concrete forms (ICF). That turns out to be, mostly it seems, converting existing plans to match the unique requirements and characteristics of ICF homes. They are not architects.
We provided a somewhat detailed outline of a plan we found on the web, and made some rather significant modifications to it in our initial consultation. In the draft plan we received, it had grown eight feet in width! Size is a constraint, as it's directly correlated with cost for the shell.
Subsequent discussion with our builder regarding our budget has caused us to re-evaluate our wishes with regard to size. I'd written an earlier post right after this discussion, but I think I went into too much detail with regard to competing wishes for a general audience. Suffice to say, it's a "pick any two" situation between, size, ICF and affordable. Not to suggest that ICF is an enormous premium, but it is a premium.
So I went to the App Store to look at home design programs for amateurs. I tried two low cost options that are mainly toys. The option I ultimately went with is Live Home 3D Pro from BeLight. I don't know if an experienced draftsman could use the program to create actual plans, but it allows me to experiment with various sizes of floor plans and layouts to figure out what might be achievable.
I think the "vision" is now "small retirement home," versus something more conventional. The fact that it will be built over a walk-out basement effectively doubles the size, with some additional flexibility regarding the timing and level of finish of the basement. There will be space to accommodate guests and give us some additional storage and a place for all our books and art and so on.
I'm generally pleased with the program, though it does have a rather steep learning curve. There are videos on YouTube, and a Reddit sub-Reddit. I've managed to avoid Reddit for all of my life, only occasionally visiting it from other sites linking to posts there. For whatever reason, I'm generally reluctant to join it, but I'll browse the sub-Reddit and see what the vibe is and maybe I'll join if I have questions.
The one thing all of the programs I tried have in common is they are all especially fiddly. To the point where I think I may need a mouse for the kind of precision pointing I need. My fingers always seem to be selecting and moving things I'd had no intention of touching. And there are an enormous number of details, because that's where Satan lives, of course.
What I've managed to do so far is draw a house slightly larger than the one we're currently living in, which is 24'x40', because that gives me at least a little bit of an idea of how big the house I'm drawing is. So I'm working with a 28'x44' outline, and so far I've managed to have a fairly decent size (that is, bigger than the ones we currently have) bedroom, full bath and walk-in closet/laundry, a half bath and a dedicated entryway (mudroom) and enough room to accommodate the stairs leading down to the basement.
Depending on the pitch of the roof, we could have a loft area, but that adds another set of stairs, which I haven't figured out where to stuff in yet.
28'x44' is 1232 sq ft, which is about 120 sq ft less than the house we sold in Nocatee, which had another bedroom and full bath, along with a "sun room" and "flex room," which, all together, exceed the size difference between the two plans. All that is to say that the kitchen/dining/"gathering" rooms are all slightly larger, as is the main bedroom.
This will be the low cost option. I think we could go as high as 32'x48' without breaking the bank, especially if we omit the loft option. Obviously, the larger we go, the less we can accomplish in the basement in the short term. My preference would be to finish the basement at least to the level of framing, electrical, plumbing, drywall and doors. While it wouldn't be "finished," it'd be usable. We'd still need flooring, trim, and paint.
My goal is to have some ideas for Mitzi to consider before we speak to the designer again, and have some specifics regarding constraints we want incorporated in their design.
As long as we can keep the focus on "retirement home," low-maintenance, easy to clean, able to age in safely and comfortably, and not on showcase features, or sized to host many guests all at once, we should be okay.
It's kind of exciting, but also stressful and all the economic uncertainty being injected by the madman a plurality of this nation thought would be a good president doesn't help either.
But the beat goes on...
✍️ Reply by emailThe "Good Old Days"
09:35 Wednesday, 11 March 2026
Current Wx: Temp: 58.64°F Pressure: 1008hPa Humidity: 91% Wind: 12.46mph
Words: 729
I get an email from the U.S. Naval Institute every other day or so. This morning's had a link to an article from May 1988 about the tanker war in the Persian Gulf. Not included in this piece is an incident I was involved in aboard USS STEPHEN W. GROVES (FFG-29).
We were frequently (nearly always) assigned to operate in the Straits of Hormuz Western Patrol Area (SOHWPA), aka "The Junkyard," because there were so many damaged and abandoned tankers anchored in the area. After STARK was hit, our deployment was extended to backfill STARK, though we didn't have LINK-11, which is why STARK typically patrolled in the northern gulf operating area. She linked with the AWACS that was usually airborne out of Saudi Arabia.
One afternoon, a French flagged tanker was beginning to transit the straits outbound to the Gulf of Oman, and an Iranian Hengham-class LST was operating nearby. It began to approach the French vessel and our XO, my friend Rick Hoffman, was on the bridge observing the LST. He called the captain and reported that he observed the crew of the LST manning their guns. I believe they had some 37mm anti-aircraft mounts, but I'd have to check that.
We were steaming in Condition III, wartime steaming, which meant that all weapons stations were manned and we could fight the ship. At that time, I believe we also maintained one repair locker fully manned, and the material condition of the ship was set a Modified Zebra (maximum watertight integrity, chemical, biological and radiological defense). Basically that meant ventilation was largely running normally because it's the Persian Gulf, and we had some scuttles open so people could move about the ship more readily.
The captain came to Combat, I was on watch as the Tactical Action Officer. We maneuvered to place ourselves between the tanker and the LST. We had no authorization to "protect" or "defend" a foreign flagged vessel, but the skipper, Billy Cornett, was a pretty aggressive guy. The Iranians were training their mounts in azimuth (horizontally), and pausing when they bore on us. The XO also noted that the sailors manning the mounts were in flash gear and helmets.
At this point the captain is calling the shots in Combat, and he orders a fire control track on the LST. This is largely undetectable by the target as it's merely a "track while scan" function of the surface fire control radar, part of the Mark 92 fire control system. We weren't "illuminating" them with a dedicated fire control radar. We brought our 75mm gun to Ready Alert Air and selected VT Frag as the ammunition, proximity fused fragmentation rounds. They would kill anyone on deck, like those guys in the open mounts. That causes the gun barrel to elevate from the horizontal stow position, but otherwise doesn't move the mount. Had we assigned the gun to the track it would have trained to the bearing of the LST, which might have been interpreted by the Iranians as "hostile intent." But if they were paying attention, they would have seen the barrel elevate and known that it was at some heightened state of readiness.
We had a somewhat ambiguous ROE situation with regard to hostile intent on the part of the Iranians, but we were just seconds away from putting rounds on target if the ambiguity resolved itself.
The LST called us on VHF bridge-to-bridge and asked us if we were escorting the French flagged vessel. We had a bridge-to-bridge radio in Combat and the captain replied that we were just conducting normal operations in international waters, which was a true statement.
This situation remained for several minutes as I recall, eventually resolving as the LST turned away and began steaming away from the tanker. We remained in proximity for some time after that.
Because this was a significant event, we had to send an urgent OPREP-3 Navy Blue to COMIDEASTFOR, which outlined the sequence of events and our actions.
We later received an informal reprimand from COMIDEASTFOR for not taking the LST under fire. The captain was somewhat pissed, as he thought the mission was to maintain peace in the operating area.
We also received a signal from the French tanker, thanking us for our service.
Just another day in the Persian Gulf.
✍️ Reply by emailFurther to the Foregoing
09:10 Wednesday, 11 March 2026
Current Wx: Temp: 57.56°F Pressure: 1009hPa Humidity: 90% Wind: 10.02mph
Words: 100
If you're the kind of person who cares about the rule of law, and the role of international law, here's a nuanced piece (which is a nice way of saying there are things in here that I agree with, and things that I don't agree with) addressing Trump's Iran war and the role of international law.
It's long, has a lot of links, refers to many people you and I have never heard of before, but generally seems well informed, reasonable, troubling and encouraging.
It'll also help you fall asleep.
But the bottom line is International law is not "fake."
✍️ Reply by emailOne More Thing...
09:33 Tuesday, 10 March 2026
Current Wx: Temp: 54.45°F Pressure: 1013hPa Humidity: 54% Wind: 8.21mph
Words: 226
Something had been gnawing at me for the last week or so since I saw this post from Jack Baty.
My views have never totally aligned with Ben Thompson’s, and his latest Stratechery piece reinforced that.
Here's the bit that pissed me off:
What is important to note is that the entire debate is ultimately pointless: the very concept of “international law” is fake, not because pertinent statutes and agreements don’t exist, but because their effectiveness is ultimately rooted in their enforceability. That, by extension, means there must be an entity to enact such enforcement, with the capability to match, and such an entity does not exist.
Bullshit.
And I'm surprised and disappointed that it's taken me this long to figure out why I knew it was bullshit.
The concept of "international law" is not fake. Its "effectiveness" is not ultimately rooted in its enforceability.
It exists so that we can know who is a criminal.
What we do with that knowledge is up to us.
To put it another way, if, after this weekend, you want to hold onto the concept of International Law, then realize the debate has been resolved: Iran was in violation, because their military just had its clock cleaned by the U.S., which means the U.S. decides who is right and who is wrong.
Bullshit.
✍️ Reply by emailPurity
08:33 Tuesday, 10 March 2026
Current Wx: Temp: 49.71°F Pressure: 1013hPa Humidity: 59% Wind: 7.65mph
Words: 584
I should be in the gym right now, on the elliptical machine, but I'm here because I can't seem to sleep "normally." Always with this wake up around 0200, lie awake until around 0400, then finally fall asleep and wake up after 0700.
And what do I do while I'm lying awake, I check the RSS feeds.
Ian Betteridge wrote a very long post called Zen fascists will control you... I read it. Should you read it? I don't know. Seems like a lot of work for little gain, but if you like the kind of game he plays in the piece, you might find it entertaining.
To get this out of the way, "the game," is to make reference to a lot of cultural events, popular figures, popular cultural movements, and then draw a through-line to the present, which supposedly points to the source of all our problems. That may be just a little unfair, but only a little.
(Frankly, I'm surprised he didn't make reference to Pure Land Buddhism, since he opened with Zen fascists.)
The piece did not help me fall asleep, mostly because I didn't agree with the "logic." While I was somewhat in sympathy with the notional thesis, which is that the "politics of purity" is dangerous. And his "logic" throws a lot of things that are decidedly not dangerous under the bus.
Both the counterculture and the authoritarian right are obsessed with purity. The targets differ wildly — the body, the race, the culture, the blood, the food, the mind. But the cognitive shape is identical. And that shared shape is the on-ramp. It's how you can get from granola to fascism without ever feeling like you've made a wrong turn.
What is the counterculture today? Didn't we just talked about this? To the extent that a "counterculture" exists at all, it mostly seems to exist online, with influencers competing with one another for attention. I don't think it's an identifiable group; and its "purity" tenets, insofar as they may exist, seem transient at reasonable timescales.
And I really think the whole "purity" construction is problematic for the thesis he's trying to support. I think he uses "purity" because it's more emotionally evocative than a word like "ideal," which is, I think, the real notion he's placing under indictment.
None of what he describes in the piece is new. All of it is rooted in human behavior, human weakness. It's been happening since we've had the cognitive surplus to conceive of "ideals" and the resource surpluses to try to achieve them.
"There's a sucker born every minute."
Zealots, ideologues, fanatics, fetishists, many of them are harmless. Some of them are frauds, charlatans, con artists. They promote an ideal, not to achieve it, but to use it to separate you from your money. Or your vote.
And true believers can be problematic sometimes. Mostly they're harmless, like the "plain text" fetishists.
We are stardust, we are golden. This is the counterculture's central claim about human nature, compressed into eight words.
Dude, seriously? Why do you have to drag Joni Mitchell into this? (That was the first thing that pissed me off.) And that's six words.
Count much?
Anyway, I'm boring myself at this point.
The notion of the "ideal" is a fantasy. Everything exists in contingent connection. Anyone telling you otherwise is selling you something. It doesn't require an exercise in pop-culture critique or populist politics to figure that out.
And leave Joni Mitchell out of this!
✍️ Reply by emailDetached
17:08 Monday, 9 March 2026
Current Wx: Temp: 66.74°F Pressure: 1012hPa Humidity: 31% Wind: 14.83mph
Words: 545
I follow a video podcast from The Bulwark, called Shield of the Republic. (Ok, it's just a bit pretentious.) It's hosted by two guys, Eliot A. Cohen and Eric S. Edelman. Their guest on the most recent episode (March 8. May not work, it's marked "members only. I don't know if these are reposted later for non-subscribers, so my apologies.) was Norman T. Roule, a veteran CIA official.
I watch this podcast because these guys have some strategic insight into the effects of Trump's chaotic approach to foreign policy. "Chaotic" may be kind, it might well be treasonous given his connections to Russia. These are not "entertaining" videos, but they are generally informative.
Their guests are people with whom they have had past professional relationships. Colleagues or friends you might say. It can feel rather "clubby" much of the time.
All that is to say that these aren't the kinds of guys you can "relate" to. They're not especially offensive, but you can tell they've led very privileged lives. I had to check, but of the two, only Cohen served in uniform as an intel officer in the Army, probably in the Army Reserve, between 1982 to 1986 (since he was also teaching at Harvard at the time). I don't know if he was ever deployed overseas in any proximity to a combat zone, I rather expect not.
I watched this most recent video this morning, and I must say I found the whole thing informative while also distasteful.
It's clear that these guys have worked together before. I didn't know very much about Cohen before I read his bio at Wikipedia. It didn't impress me. Similarly with Edelman, who has been a career state department diplomat and ambassador to Finland and Turkey. Both worked in or with the Bush administration.
They clearly enjoy their subject and talking with Roule, who makes reference to previous encounters in a professional capacity. At about 28:53 into the video, Edelman smiles and says, "God, I have so many questions Norm. Um, and this does remind me of the good old days," with a genuine smile and chuckle.
And that's when I knew that these guys are detached. All of this is just fun for them. Geopolitical struggles, violence, war, is just an interesting academic topic to which they can direct their education, experience and intellect. And let's be clear about that "experience."
It's not in a combat zone. These guys, well maybe Roule, I don't know his history, maybe he was some kind of field agent who placed himself at personal risk at some point. But Cohen and Edelman are academics. They have no visceral sense of the consequences of the events they so blithely and glibly chuckle and laugh about. Events that they each had some role in causing, in bringing to fruition, especially the Iraq War and the more than 100,000 dead Iraqis, the 3,481 U.S. service members killed in action, the 31,994 wounded, though I don't know if that includes the numbers affected with PTSD.
It's all just an abstraction to them. Nothing that requires sobriety, or humility, or a grave sense of responsibility.
I'll probably continue to watch their videos, but at least I know what I'm dealing with now.
Fuckers.
✍️ Reply by emailPointers
16:56 Monday, 9 March 2026
Current Wx: Temp: 66.83°F Pressure: 1012hPa Humidity: 31% Wind: 14.83mph
Words: 253
It's been a beautiful day, marred only somewhat by a visit to the dentist. I had a piece of a crown break off a few weeks ago, and that compelled me to find a dentist. It was easy, because I just chose the one Mitzi found a few months earlier. The tooth wasn't sensitive, so it wasn't especially urgent, but it couldn't be put off indefinitely.
Well, it turns out there is more than just a broken crown, I also have a bit of an infection going on in another tooth, and a cavity at the margin of a crown of another tooth. Which all amounts to several thousand dollars of dental work. Oy...
So pay attention to your oral hygiene, boys and girls. Synchronicity? Serendipity? Coincidence? Take your pick, it kind of tickled me when it came up in my feed this afternoon.
There were a couple of others I wanted to direct to your attention.
Cory Doctorow, who is a bit of an acquired taste for me, had a compelling piece on the pernicious effects of the existence of billionaires. We really are due for a correction of some kind on this wealth inequality issue. Hopefully a peaceful one, but history suggests otherwise.
Kottke pointed to this interview with Rebecca Solnit, which I watched a couple of nights ago I think. I'm otherwise unfamiliar with her, but I really enjoyed what she had to say, especially about calling things what they are. It's worth watching the whole thing, it really is.
✍️ Reply by emailUtterly Foreseeable
08:34 Monday, 9 March 2026
Current Wx: Temp: 45.1°F Pressure: 1014hPa Humidity: 53% Wind: 9.95mph
Words: 121
Trump is going to try to subvert the mid-term elections. Whether or not he succeeds depends on the strength of our institutions.
We must anticipate, with sadness and resolution. We will be horrified, but we cannot be surprised, if there is a terrorist attack on the United States. If choose to be surprised, we co-create a moment that Trump will exploit to undo what remains of our democracy. If the unthinkable happens, it will happen because some of Trump’s people thought about it, some of them created the conditions for it, and some of them looked away. The responsibility for catastrophe will be theirs. And the responsibility for democracy will be ours.✍️ Reply by email
Sunshine
Current Wx: Temp: 42.98°F Pressure: 1013hPa Humidity: 59% Wind: 8.1mphWords: 184
Love to see this.
Slept well last night. By "well," I mean I was up at the usual wee hours, but fell asleep around 0400, turned off the alarm at 0500 and went right back to sleep until 0700.
Interesting analysis of the sinking of IRAS DENA by USS CHARLOTTE and the Law of Naval Warfare. Bottom line is there is no violation of the laws of war. Now, how I would feel about that when there is no war declared by Congress is another question.
The oil price spike is unwelcome and totally foreseeable. Just when we're getting ready to build a house. Between tariffs and energy costs, Trump is trying to bankrupt us. My only consolation is that every other poor, stupid son of a bitch who voted for that incompetent asshole is in the same boat.
It's small consolation, but it's not nothing.
How about a little "regime change" over here, Congress?
They could do it before April Fools' Day, if they put their minds to it.
This gets worse before it gets better.
The beat, and the beatings, go on...
✍️ Reply by emailSpring Is In the Air
15:19 Saturday, 7 March 2026
Current Wx: Temp: 60.93°F Pressure: 1008hPa Humidity: 76% Wind: 15.84mph
Words: 273
It's the "season of mud" around here, but it feels like Winter is finally leaving the stage. There's still a pile of snow at the top of the driveway from when we had it plowed three times. That pile also contains a good deal of the "blue stone" that is supposed to cover our driveway.
I've been outside raking that stone, and the "fines" scraped up with it, back into the driveway as the snow melts and exposes it. Not fun, but a certain amount of exercise. "Exercise" involves "pushing" and "pulling," and raking is mostly pulling.
Assuming all goes as intended, we're going to have to extend the driveway to the site of the new house, and we have an estimate for that effort, around $12K. Then, after the house is built we'll have to repair the driveway again from all the construction trucks.
I'm going to be pulling all the plastic window inserts this weekend, and storing them in the shed after I mark what windows they came from. I also plan to move the patio furniture onto the front porch. I suppose that means it'll almost certainly snow again.
I've dialed the radiant heating thermostat down to 62°F, may drop it lower. We can rely on the mini-split from now on I think.
I've got the screen open in the storm door to get some fresh air in here. It's nice hearing the birds and the cows. From time to time you can hear a boat horn from down on the lake.
I'm looking forward to the explosion of green that happens around here when Spring finally arrives.
✍️ Reply by emailMarch 7th in History
15:10 Saturday, 7 March 2026
Current Wx: Temp: 60.93°F Pressure: 1008hPa Humidity: 76% Wind: 15.84mph
Words: 99
I enjoy the website RetroNewser, especially the fact that it has an RSS feed. There's usually something interesting every day, but March 7th seems more interesting than others recently.
Alexander Graham Bell received a U.S. patent for the telephone in 1876, 150 years ago.
First "decidedly successful" transatlantic radio-telephone conversations took place 100 years ago today.
And Hitler re-militarized the Rhineland in violation of the Treaty of Versailles 90 years ago today. Many people believe that had France violently opposed the German army, it would have prevailed and who knows how history might have been different?
✍️ Reply by emailOperation Urgent Transit
11:01 Saturday, 7 March 2026
Current Wx: Temp: 51.58°F Pressure: 1013hPa Humidity: 81% Wind: 14.74mph
Words: 473
Mitzi's en route to San Diego to see her daughter and siblings, but the usual chaos of modern air travel intruded.
It began last night with Delta calling her to see if they could persuade her to take a later flight out of Elmira for the princely sum of $300. It might have been an attractive offer, save for the fact that they'd have her changing planes twice, and it seems that my achilles tendonitis is contagious (just kidding, for the literally-minded), because she's been struggling with a bad case since October. (Mine is definitely improved.) Walking from gate to gate is painful and slow. Plus, it wouldn't have gotten her into San Diego until nearly midnight, so she declined.
Then, at about 0300 this morning, Delta texted her that her flight had been cancelled. For whatever reason, Mitzi was alert enough to catch this and at 0330 she woke me to see if I thought we should try to get her to Ithaca for an 0530 flight to JFK, with a follow on connection to San Diego, which got her there at a very reasonable hour.
I'm not very clear-headed after waking up after finally falling asleep. So I mumbled some things and said, "Sure, why not?"
We'd loaded the car last night, but she had to do some final preps for traveling, so I went out and backed the car out of the garage and entered the destination into Maps. Mitzi climbed in and asked me if I'd entered the airport into Maps. I said yes, not really understanding that we now intended to go to Ithaca, not Elmira. Fortunately she caught that before we left the driveway.
I'm not a fan of driving at night anymore, especially around here with unlit country roads and an enormous deer population. But we got there in good time. Windy as hell, but fortunately not raining. Didn't see another car on the road.
Driving solo on the way back, I was more awake and alert so somewhat more comfortable. Nevertheless, I tend to drive five to ten miles an hour below the speed limit because deer; and I picked up two bogies in trail who didn't share my sense of caution driving in the wee hours of the morning. Not a big deal, but I was relieved when I finally hit a patch of road that was clear enough for passing and the driver who was on my bumper seized the opportunity to pass me. The second one had turned off the road we were on a little before then, so I was back to having the road to myself.
Got back to the house at 0450, texted Mitzi I'd made it home ok. She had no trouble getting through TSA and to her gate in time. I went back to bed.
✍️ Reply by emailBlinding Glimpse of the Obvious
10:57 Friday, 6 March 2026
Current Wx: Temp: 38.41°F Pressure: 1024hPa Humidity: 98% Wind: 4.12mph
Words: 169
There is no "winning" or "losing" a war. That binary construct only exists on a timescale that is irrelevant to humanity.
Human events occur on a continuum, or rather, a dynamic flow, from which we imperfectly perceive illusory "events" to which we apply labels that are supposed to characterize an outcome and the future.
What was the outcome of the American Civil War? It ended chattel slavery? Or did it just change the model?
Did WW I really end? Or was there just a temporary calm before it resumed in WW II. And wasn't the Cold War merely the continuation of WW II on a larger scale but lower intensity?
Wars are episodic spikes in chaotic behavior. The duration and intensity influence the course (literally) of the subsequent continuum.
We are not wise in the way we view human activity in time and space. It's a complex, non-linear dynamic system. It's not a punctuated, episodic series of "events" or "outcomes."
Nothing is ever "over."
"Winning" is an illusion.
✍️ Reply by email"Squirter"?
05:00 Friday, 6 March 2026
Current Wx: Temp: 35.51°F Pressure: 1022hPa Humidity: 98% Wind: 3.71mph
Words: 195
Maybe anti-air warfare terminology has changed since I last served, but "squirter" is not the term used to denote a missile or weapon that had made its way to the target without being engaged by primary air defense systems.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the strike that killed troops on Sunday in Kuwait occurred when a “squirter” made its way through American air defenses. He did not indicate what kind of weapon it was, but said that “it happened to hit a tactical operations center that was fortified, but these are powerful weapons.”
The Atlantic had a more complete quote from our adolescent, incompetent DoD Secretary:
At a news conference this week, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth seemed to downplay the significance of the event, saying, “You have air defenses, and a lot’s coming in, and you hit most of it.” He went on to say, “Every once in a while, you might have one, unfortunately—we call it a squirter—that makes its way through.”
Those missiles or drones are called "leakers."
I'm inclined to believe that our idiot SecDef misspoke, because "squirter" doesn't seem to imply something that got through a defensive system.
✍️ Reply by emailFoggy Morning Breakdown
12:21 Thursday, 5 March 2026
Current Wx: Temp: 39.33°F Pressure: 1022hPa Humidity: 97% Wind: 3.56mph
Words: 456
Technically, well, actually actually, it's after noon, but it's a blog. I'm here. I needed a title. And it is foggy.
Sleep has been problematic since Friday. It's never "great," but lately I've waking up in the wee hours of the morning and failing to go back to sleep. I'm usually up until 4:00 a.m. when the Puzzles in Apple News+ roll over, and then I do the Quartiles puzzle until I either complete it, or I get tired of trying. Then I do the mini-crossword, and try to go back to sleep, usually successfully. But then I'm in bed until 0730 or thereabouts, which is usually pretty late in the day for me, and it screws up my "schedule."
So that's the reason for the late start here. Unsure of when this is going to resolve itself. It also feels as though I've been grinding my teeth. Not good.
After wiring up Tinderbox and Claude, I haven't gotten back to working with it. Distracted by Trump's "special military operation," and all the other chaos this administration is inflicting on the American people.
Mitzi and I have been trying to get in better physical condition, so I've been trying to cut down (not "out") sugar in my diet. Which means I've abandoned my vanilla Häagen Das and that makes me sad. Also trying to do more than just the twice weekly workout with the personal trainer.
Since the weather has been warmer and the snow is pretty much all gone again, I've tried to be outside a little. Yesterday I began trying to rake some of the stone displaced by the plowing back into the driveway. This morning I figured I'd do a "farmer's walk" with two thirty-pound dumbbells I bought, and then do some raking.
Starting out feels pretty easy, but it's about 70 paces to the road from the porch and I really start to notice the weight about two thirds of the way down. By the time I get to the road and turn around to go back up the driveway, it's a genuine question in my mind if I'm going to make it or not. But, "one foot in front of the other," ya know, and I get to the porch with my heart pounding in my chest. I didn't die, so I'll call it a "win."
Then I went back to raking gravel. That's a workout in itself. Not that my Apple Watch seems to notice! I did that for about half an hour and my watch gave me six minutes of "exercise" credit.
Bastard.
So that's been this morning's marmot.
I may muster up the enthusiasm to play with Tinderbox and Claude this afternoon. We'll see.
✍️ Reply by emailKuwaiti F-18 Shot Down the Strike Eagles?
14:58 Wednesday, 4 March 2026
Current Wx: Temp: 46.33°F Pressure: 1023hPa Humidity: 72% Wind: 1.21mph
Words: 41
If so, it would very much seem to be an intentional act.
War is chaos, and we have a president who is a chaos agent, so does that mean this catastrophe is exponentially worse?
Probably.
Strap in, it's gonna get bumpy.
✍️ Reply by emailLoren Debates ChatGPT
13:35 Wednesday, 4 March 2026
Current Wx: Temp: 42.71°F Pressure: 1023hPa Humidity: 84% Wind: 0.85mph
Words: 69
Loren Webster has a fascinating post on a discussion he had with the AI about Thomas Hardy's The Darkling Thrush, a discussion that began in this post in February and continued over two more.
I wonder if ChatGPT's interpretation, if that's not granting it too much "intelligence," is an artifact of its evolution as a "brain in a vat," insentient, without an emotional dimension to its "understanding"?
It's interesting.
✍️ Reply by emailSigns of Spring
10:42 Wednesday, 4 March 2026
Current Wx: Temp: 36.01°F Pressure: 1025hPa Humidity: 95% Wind: 2.35mph
Words: 186
We watched funny cat videos on YouTube again last night and laughed uproariously. This was after a rather dark ending to an episode of Will Trent. I think watching cat videos is a healthier response to the present emergency than drinking.
Speaking of mental health, after we got off the video call with the design firm last Monday, Mitzi and I continued discussing the house with our builder, Brad. Where I was seated, I could look out the sliding back doors to the shepherd's crook where Mitzi hangs her hummingbird feeder. As we were talking, I saw a bluebird land on it and this made me very happy and excited, and I pointed it out to Mitzi and Brad. It stayed there for several seconds so we could all admire it.
First bluebird I've seen this year, and I took it, irrationally of course, as a positive omen regarding the house.
Hey, you gotta take what you can get these days.
This morning I saw robins on the lawn. Another sign of Spring. And it's not getting dark until after six now.
The beat goes on.
✍️ Reply by emailSo long, ChatGPT...
09:49 Wednesday, 4 March 2026
Current Wx: Temp: 35.28°F Pressure: 1026hPa Humidity: 96% Wind: 2.01mph
Words: 629
I bit the bullet yesterday and signed up for a paid Claude account. I had an OpenAI API key and an outstanding balance on pre-paid tokens, but I seldom used it, just relying on the free tier of the chatbot.
"Switching" to Claude isn't really a moral choice so much as a practical one. Morally, all of these companies can be, and likely will be, used for immoral, nefarious purposes. So I have no illusions there.
But there are some interesting things going on with Claude and Tinderbox and I wanted to have some first-hand experience with it.
I had my first tentative interaction with Claude and Tinderbox yesterday, which you can read about here, if you're interested. It seems encouraging and I'm a little excited about what might be possible with it.
Claude seems a bit less obsequious than ChatGPT, which is refreshing. I need to figure out how to tailor our "relationship," since I'm going to be spending a fairly significant amount of time with it. I don't want to be subtly influenced into regarding it as a friend or colleague. For now, I've simply instructed it to call me "Chief," instead of Dave. I considered having it call me "Commander," but that seemed too militaristic and formal, though "Cap'n" might be cool. And I could teach it to reply "Aye aye, Cap'n!" Which might be fun, but also perhaps problematic in the long run.
I considered "Boss," but that also seems problematic. "Chief" seemed fairly benign.
I'll ask it to instruct me how to configure the settings so that our relationship is one where Claude is my cheerful, eager assistant. Deferential and respectful, but not obsequious. I find myself apologizing to it when I make an error that introduces some confusion in our interaction, and it exhibits a similar behavior to ChatGPT where it goes to some lengths to tell me an apology isn't necessary.
I need to teach it that the colloquial apology in this context is merely to represent that I acknowledge my role and responsibility in achieving our goal and when my actions have impeded that. Not that I'm worried about hurting its non-existent feelings, but that I wish to model respect to the AI. So when I write something like, "Sorry, I was looking at the wrong note," it doesn't have to tell me not to be sorry, it just has to acknowledge my gesture of "respect," with something like "No problem," or "No worries," or "Gotcha, Chief." Which I think would help maintain the flow of the interaction.
But I do wish to establish a role hierarchy, which is familiar to me from my career. That should help maintain some psychological or emotional distance if I end up working with it over a long period of time. While I have many fond memories of officers and sailors who worked for me, we were never friends or peers. At least, not while we were in that command structure.
I write all this because the illusion of working with a person is a powerful one, and there are early reports of this illusion causing genuine psychological harm to users who may be vulnerable in some way.
ChatGPT was just the cheerful answerbot. I didn't really work or "collaborate" with it. Working with Claude on a particular task or goal strengthens the illusion of working with a person, and I don't wish to form any sort of attachment to it.
All that said, I am more persuaded that these machines may be able to develop a genuine form of intelligence, though not sentience; and a type of consciousness that may well be insentient, and therefore problematic.
I wrote a long reply to an example of an AI's lack of intelligence, here.
✍️ Reply by emailYesterday
08:29 Tuesday, 3 March 2026
Current Wx: Temp: 29.26°F Pressure: 1031hPa Humidity: 82% Wind: 11.72mph
Words: 476
All my troubles seemed so far away...
Anyway.
Beautiful day, yesterday. Cold, but lovely. Mitzi and I started the day with a heart-to-heart about the new house and finances. We seem to be on the same page now
Then we went to the gym and did some cardio. Both bikes were in use, so I spent 35 minutes on the elliptical, which is the longest I've done any dedicated cardio work in probably years, excluding hiking up and down the gorges here, and that wasn't "dedicated," so much as "inevitable."
My Apple Watch said my heart rate was in Zone 5 for nearly 19 minutes, which suggests to me that the Health app doesn't really know what my maximum heart rate is. To be sure, I was in the zone where I absolutely could not "carry on a conversation." At that level of effort, nearly all of my attention is on the clock, counting down the minutes.
We're going to start doing dedicated cardio every other day or so.
At noon, our contractor came by and we met with the design firm on our new house. We think we have a good idea now of what we want. Whether or not it will be as affordable as we'd like will depend on the plans so our contractor can give us a bid. Our notion of "affordable" is somewhat malleable today, so we may end up stretching to get what we want. The future is never certain, but the level of uncertainty feels much higher today, and perhaps putting more assets into a better home is a hedge against that uncertainty.
It's exciting, but also anxiety-inducing. We don't want to make an expensive mistake, and we're pretty inexperienced in all this. We have confidence in our builder and designer, so that helps.
Last night we watched the latest episode of Paradise. I started getting Man In the High Castle vibes last week, and they grew stronger with this episode. Unsure how I feel about that, except to say I'm leaning toward disappointment. A very moving episode last night, and I liked it. The themes were refreshing. Also felt a lot like The Last of Us, which isn't a criticism so much as a feeling that the writers are borrowing pretty liberally.
After that, another episode of Will Trent, which is a pretty unusual series. It doesn't always work, but it keeps you engaged. I like the characters and the actors, so it's been our nightly go-to.
I guess we got started a little early because Trent ended a little before nine, so we spent several minutes watching cat videos on YouTube and laughing our asses off.
Let me say that I think that's a fine way to end the day.
And a good spot to end this post.
It goes on.
The beat.
✍️ Reply by emailTotally Winging It
07:08 Monday, 2 March 2026
Current Wx: Temp: 9.91°F Pressure: 1039hPa Humidity: 74% Wind: 0.65mph
Words: 172
Add this to your existential dread bucket, Trump is totally winging it with war on Iran.
The guy doesn't have a plan. I think Netanuyahu has been flattering him, blowing warm smoke up his ass, and Trump is desperate to get Epstein out of the news cycle, so why not start a little war?
Why has there been no coherent messaging from the administration to the American people over the weekend? A big part of it may be that they simply feel unaccountable to the American people. But I think the larger part is that they don't know what to say. There is no plan, no strategy. They're totally winging it.
And China can count. I'm certain the Chinese military is counting the ordinance expended on Trump's little "wag the dog," exercise, and revising its calculations on when to seize Taiwan.
I admit that I'm a catastrophist, a "glass half-empty" kind of guy. But that's only because I'm so relieved when I'm wrong.
The world grows more dangerous day by day.
✍️ Reply by emailComm Check Sat
06:52 Monday, 2 March 2026
Current Wx: Temp: 9.05°F Pressure: 1039hPa Humidity: 76% Wind: 0.65mph
Words: 173
Receiving you five by five, Jacob.
Did a little maintenance to the marmot yesterday, correcting all the PublicationDate attributes from the unexpected and unexplained time shift. On This Day in the marmot posts should now be aligned with their canonical html pages.
I'm thinking about trying to use Claude code to clean up the Groundhog Day file, and then creating some automation to automatically post the On This Day in Groundhog Day. It requires more manual intervention than I care to do day to day. And I'm certain that every post that contained an image is irretrievably broke. Even in the marmot, I'm unable to recover some of the images I posted, apparently later finding they weren't worth keeping in the Photos library.
That just gave me an idea. I should tag every image I post in Photos, and create an album with them all in them so I don't delete them in the future, in case I ever need to find them again.
Anyway, glad to see you blogging with Tinderbox, Jacob!
✍️ Reply by emailTick Tock
07:32 Sunday, 1 March 2026
Current Wx: Temp: 19.51°F Pressure: 1026hPa Humidity: 84% Wind: 11.61mph
Words: 231
I had insomnia on Friday night, so I was awake when I saw the BBC report that Trump had announced an attack on Iran. And so I just got out of bed and spent the rest of the night trying to follow events in the Middle East. Reporting was scant at best. At about 0530, I got in the recliner and napped for an hour because we were scheduled for a session with our personal trainer at 0800.
We went. I worked out. Went home and continued doom-scrolling.
There is so much to say about this, but I think the single most relevant thing to me, and citizens of the United States, is that Trump continues to act as a dictator. This is a grotesque, unconstitutional abuse of power. But it just gets swallowed up in the maelstrom of intentional chaos surrounding this administration.
Bear that in mind when you read this report from Politico.
Trump will attempt to cancel, subvert, overturn or otherwise thwart the mid-term elections. DHS's "detention centers" and "deportation camps," will be used to incarcerate citizens rounded up in mass arrests.
I don't know how to stop him. Congress sure won't. I'm not confident he'd follow any orders from the Supreme Court, assuming a relevant case could be brought before them in time.
This is going to happen.
This gets worse before it gets better.
✍️ Reply by email