What If They're Giving Up ... Strategically?

I'm writing this before the Sunday morning news/talk shows, but I can confidently predict the big weekend topic: Whether Joe Biden's disastrous debate performance is the breaking point at which it's time for him to withdraw (or get withdrawn) from the presidential race, and if so who should replace him.

In the past, I've discounted the possibility that Kamala Harris would be the alternative pick, for two simple reasons:

1. Nobody seems to like her very much, and therefore
2. She wouldn't be able to beat Donald Trump in November

BUT!

What if the people in the DNC's smoke-filled rooms -- the people who would presumably facilitate a midstream change of horses -- have already decided that nobody can beat Donald Trump in November?

If that's the case, Harris might well be their pick of preference.

If Trump's going to win no matter who they pick, why not pick someone they don't want to run in 2028, and someone who ticks certain boxes that can be used to their party's benefit?

"America just couldn't bring itself to vote for a black woman -- THAT's why Trump won; oh, by the way, notice that WE nominated a black woman" would work well as a starting point for trying to get black voters and female voters more firmly back in the Democratic column four years from now.

I've mentioned prospective better replacements for Biden in the past (Democratic governors who've proven they can win in red or purple states), but it's pretty late in the game for that. A Jared Polis, Laura Kelly, or Andy Beshear would have to jump in without much prep or infrastructure. And if no one can beat Trump, none of them want to look like losers if they go for it four years from now.

Then there's Gavin Newsom, who likely also can't beat Trump, who likely also harbors 2028 ambitions, and who's a party insider darling.

The big Hail Mary people have been talking about for months is Michelle Obama, and I suppose they could go that way. I also think she'd beat Trump like a red-headed step-child. But the smoke-filled room types might not think so, and she might not be willing.

At the moment, assuming Biden goes out (and I think he probably will), the plan may just be to let Harris take the ass-whipping in November rather than risk the political futures of any of the better candidates.

Wordle 1107 Hint

Hint: This motor scooter model is the Genuine article (some of my pals, especially Thane Eichenauer, will  recognize the hint immediately).

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First Letter: B

Wordle 1106 Hint

Hint: Most answers to most questions aren't entirely black and white. But today's Wordle is.

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First Letter: Z

So, What Do YOU Think?

I haven't watched any "highlight" clips or anything yet, but this morning's Internet punditry consensus seems to be that Joe Biden "lost" last night's "debate." That includes calls in traditionally Democrat-leaning publications for him to withdraw from the race.

I remain skeptical that two cognitively impaired old guys yelling at each other on TV can produce a "winner" (or really be called a "debate" in any meaningful sense). My default inclination is to assume that both geezers, and America, "lost."

So, while I'm catching up (I'll probably go looking for them there "highlight reels" later today), I'm interested in YOUR opinion of last night's proceedings. Let's talk!

Wordle 1105 Hint

 Hint: If you're several miles away from your home, today's Wordle may explain how you got there.

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First Letter: D

An Experiment

Lately, I've noticed a new pop-up when I highlight text in Microsoft Edge -- "Rewrite with Copilot."

Microsoft Copilot is (according to Microsoft Copilot) "an AI assistant that leverages the power of language models to enhance productivity, creativity, and understanding." It seems to run on GPT-4.

So anyway, here's what this entire post looks like when re-written by Copilot:

Recently, I've observed a new feature when selecting text in Microsoft Edge: "Rewrite with Copilot." 

Microsoft Copilot is described as "an AI assistant that utilizes language models to boost productivity, creativity, and comprehension." It appears to operate on GPT-4. 

Here is how this entire post would be rephrased by Copilot:

So, whose writing do you prefer -- mine, or Copilot's?

Wordle 1104 Hint

 Hint: Like Joy Division, but New.

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First Letter: O

Removed From My Amazon Wish List ...

As I recently noted, I've been using my Aeropress Go (not an affiliate link, and they're wanting more than twice what I paid for it) to brew up my daily espresso (which is then chilled overnight for two cold morning lattes).

And as I noted in that same post, I had added a couple of accessories to my Amazon Wish List to improve the experience.

Those items have been removed. I've got the Aeropress Flow Control Cap on the way (from Walmart, because I had a credit balance there), which should solve the minor problem I have using it to brew espresso.

The problem: The Aeropress drips. Whether you're using paper or metal filters, throwing some coffee grounds in and then pouring water over them results in pretty much instant "pour-over" brewing.

That's fine if you're just wanting drip coffee. But if you're wanting espresso, you need pressure. And if you're not using a high-pressure machine, you need the grounds to steep for at least a couple of minutes instead of dripping through the damn coffee.

There's a kludge that doesn't involve additional accessories: Set the thing up upside down, with the plunger barely inserted. Pour in your coffee, pour in your hot water, screw on the filter and filter cap, wait for the coffee to steep, then flip the thing over and press the plunger to create that pressure.

That kludge is imperfect for at least three reasons. One is that unless you get everything perfectly even and straight, the damn thing wants to fall over. Another is that when you flip it, you have to be careful that the plunger doesn't come out and pour water and coffee grounds all over the counter. And the third is that when you do flip it over, you're getting immediate drip before you start putting pressure on it.

Like the Prismo and the Joepresso, the existence of which seem to have motivated Aeropress to introduce their own version, the Flow Control Camp screws on to your Aeropress and holds all that liquid in until you put pressure on it. Without having to flip the thing over, and without "early dripping" before you start pressing.

So I'm expecting my Aeropress espresso to get both much better and much more convenient when it arrives.

There's still stuff on my Amazon Wish List, though, for those who want to shower me with love and gifts.

I Finally Found A Weakness With My Ultra-Cheap Mini-PC

I've had my $150 CyberGeek Nano J1 Linux Mini PC since last August and remain positively impressed with its performance.

I've also become comfortable enough with that performance that I hadn't bothered checking certain things for a little while.

But for some reason the other day I glanced at the Psensor app ... and my CPU cores were at about 90 degrees celsius!

It didn't take long to figure out why: Slack.

I'm not big on desktop messaging apps, and seldom use them, but recently I've had reason to.

When Slack isn't running, CPU temps are normal (at the moment, 48 degrees celsius).

When Slack is running, they shoot up into the 80s.

And not just when the Slack window is open, but whenever the little Slack status gadget is present in my task bar to aleart me about new messages.

So now I'm relying on email notifications and opening the app every day or two to check manually.

IMHO, that's not really a weakness in the Mini PC, it's a bug in Slack. Any app that produces those temperatures in a machine with four fast CPU cores and lots of RAM needs fixing.

Wordle 1103 Hint

 Hint: If you're doing this, you might be a baker. Or a masseuse.

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First Letter: K

Wordle 1102 Hint

 Hint: Enjoy today's Wordle as you would a fine meal.

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First Letter: S

The "Young" Vote Is Seldom As Important As It Looks

Young voters backing Biden over Trump by 23-point margin: Poll.

That's the headline at The Hill. Pull quote: "The CBS News/YouGov poll found 61 percent of likely voters younger than 30 surveyed support Biden while 38 percent support Trump."

But then we get down into the story ...

"However, only 66 percent of this group [registered voters under 30] said they will vote in the 2024 election, while 94 percent of those 65 and older said they would vote.

The "young" vote would be a big deal ... if candidates could find a way to get that vote out.

Here's what voter turnout by age group looks like historically:

Find more statistics at Statista

I doubt that either the 66% or 94% "I'm gonna vote" responses will accurately reflect real turnout. I'll be surprised if the "young" vote tops 50% or the "old" vote tops 75%.

The poll also doesn't include any third party / independent candidates, so it's even less useful as a predictive tool.

If anyone running figures out how to get those younger voters to the polling place, it could make the difference. But that never seems to actually happen.

I Find the Return from "Cheap But Disposable" to "Expensive But Reparable" Interesting

Kimberlee Josephson, writing at the Foundation for Economic Education, spins a fun yarn about the difference between Gen X/early millennials versus later millennials/Gen Z. That's not how she puts it, but that's how I read it. I won't spoil it for you, but here's MY takeaway:

Growing up as (early) Gen X, I lived through a period where almost everything became cheap ... too cheap to bother repairing if it broke. Transistor radios, cheap stereos and television sets, etc. If it stopped working, it was almost certainly cheaper to just buy a new one than to haul the old one to a shop and hope it could get fixed. Hell, earlier in this century I distinctly remember transistor radios with little earbuds for sale at Dollar Tree (when all the stuff there really was priced at just one dollar).

For me, that extended even to computers. I've never taken a computer to a shop for repair. Either I could repair it myself (e.g. replacing a fan or CD-ROM drive that had died), or I got a new (to me) machine (in fairness, often at a garage sale or thrift store).

But now there are shops that seem to do a great deal of business repairing phones, tablets, computers, etc. 

Just like there used to be lots of shops you could go to to get a radio, television, or vacuum cleaner repaired, or clothes altered because you gained or lost weight or were handing them down to someone a little taller or shorter, etc.

Those shops were disappearing (mostly, anyway) by the time I was a teenager. Now they're back for a new generation of gear that's expensive enough and reparable enough to sustain a dedicated business sector. Particularly with respect to expensive smart phones -- they're worth replacing the screen on. So that kind of shop is back.

Wordle 1101 Hint

 Hint: Say hello to my little camera carrier!

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First Letter: D

"If You Have To Ask Why, The Answer Is Usually Money" -- Trump 2024 GOTV Edition

How many times have I told you that presidential elections come down to turnout?

A metric crap ton of times, that's how many times.

Bill Scher, writing at Washington Monthly, notes that the Trump campaign is "outsourcing" its Get Out The Vote work to an outfit (Turning Point USA) with very little, and entirely unsuccessful, GOTV experience.

Why?

$108 million for Trump-connected grifters/trolls, that's why.

If Trump wins in November it will likely be in spite of, not because of, that (politically, but maybe not financially) dumb decision.

Wordle 1100 Hint

Hint: Preferred instrument for playing reveille or taps.

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First Letter: B

Wordle 1099 Hint

Hint: A dictator's response to the question "may I take your order?"

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First Letter: E

Wordle 1098 Hint

Hint: You might find today's Wordle in a can, or on a brush.

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First Letter: P

Wordle 1097 Hint

Hint: If you're looking for serious daily puzzle action, today's Wordle passes the smell test.

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First Letter: S

Nothing New Under The Sun ...

"In a June 16 interview with the news channel of Ukraine’s army, Armiya TV," Mason Letteau Stallings writes at The American Conservative, "an Azov commander admitted to his unit being used to prevent other Ukrainian units from retreating."

I've seen reports of this sort relating to both the Ukrainian and Russian forces in that ongoing war, almost always trotted out as if they're evidence of something new, brutal, illegal, etc.

Brutal, perhaps. But certainly not new and not likely illegal. The US armed forces have been using the technique for a long time. And in all likelihood it goes back to ancient times.

Wounded men and skulkers were stumbling rearward, seeking defilade, and beyond them the hysterical quaver of the rebel yell came through the crash of gunfire and the deeper-throated shouts of his own soldiers. Grant's first act was to establish a straggler line, including a battery with its guns trained on the road leading out of the uproar. -- The Civil War: A Narrative: Volume 1: Fort Sumter to Perryville by Shelby Foote (not an affiliate link)

That was at Shiloh in 1862. It was far from the only time the technique was used. Pretty much any time troops began to break under the strain of attack, or even when the situation seemed like that might happen, "straggler lines" were set up to force those troops back into battle.

The straggler line is a military police control line, consisting of straggler posts with connecting straggler patrols. It extends across the zone of action, normally immediately in rear of the division medium artillery position. The purpose of the straggler line is to apprehend stragglers, line crossers, and infiltrators. -- FM 101: Staff Officers' Field Manual, US Army

That's from 1955. A little bit of web search magic turns up examples of the phenomenon from at least as late as Vietnam.

There are probably quite a few uniquely negative   things to say about the Azov Brigade, but this one doesn't make the list, at least on the "unique" metric.

A Gift That Keeps on Giving!

Yesterday, I mentioned that the New York Post had excerpted my recent Garrison Center column on the SCOTUS "bump stock" ruling as a "letter to the editor."

In that post, I didn't mention that the entire column was also picked up by the Palm Beach Post (which means that it appears on the web site of every paper in the USA Today chain).

Now I notice that the Palm Beach Post pick-up has resulted in a Newsweek article!

So it's been a pretty good few days on the ol' op-ed front.

Wordle 1096 Hint

Hint: For today's hint, I'll be brief. 

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First Letter: T

A Thing I Try To Avoid But May Be Caught Up In

As a polemicist, I consider idées fixes ... dangerous. While a single answer to every question has its attractions, it seems unlikely and also represents a risk of becoming boring.

But lately damn near every topic/issue I write on seems to boil down, in the end, to the problem of moral panic.

Am I onto something, or just letting myself get obsessed with a one-size-fits-all "answer?"

Post-It Note

One of my recent Garrison Center columns appears in today's New York Post, edited down to "letter to the editor" length (they asked my permission to do the editing, but didn't need to since all my stuff goes instantly into the public domain).

Cool!

Wordle 1095 Hint

Hint: Today's Wordle is US Marine Corps slang for "hat." 

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First Letter: C

Well, That Was a Short Honeymoon

Last night, the Libertarian Party of Florida added four new members to its executive committee (all of whom just happen to be affiliated with the Mises PAC), just in time to pass a motion calling on the Libertarian National Committee to "investigate" the Libertarian National Convention's presidential and vice-presidential nominations due to "allegations that convention elections are invalid due to the inclusion of a sufficient number of ineligible votes that affected the outcome."*

Interestingly, the motion doesn't reference the impact of said allegations, if true, on the elections of party officers and at-large LNC representatives, although the supporting documentation does question two such elections. I wonder if that might have something to do with two of the officers and all of the at-large reps being Mises PAC picks?

After the national convention showed slight signs of a possible turnaround, I was ready to get active in LPF again and help organize an affiliate for my county (the old one disappeared some time back).

So much for that.

I always have limited time, money, and patience for attempting to save LPF and the "national party" from the Mises PAC and from themselves.

That time, money, and patience ran out a couple of years ago, but in a triumph of hope over experience I managed to dredge a little motivation back up. Now I'm fresh out again.

* The meaning of "inclusion of a sufficient number of ineligible votes that affected the outcome" is as follows: The Mises PAC busted its ass to completely rig the national convention, but was only able to partially rig it, resulting in enough entirely eligible but not Mises PAC affiliated delegates being correctly seated, which prevented the Mises PAC from running the table. So now they're seeking other ways to destroy the party, as has always been their mission.

Wordle 1094 Hint

Hint: To solve today's Wordle, focus on all the ones that came before it. 

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First Letter: P

Sometimes I Need A Reminder ...

... of just how much I hate meetings and why I generally avoid roles that require very many of them.

I recently finally formally joined a caucus -- the Libertarian Party Radical Caucus -- and highly recommend that any radical libertarians who happen to read this blog and happen to be LP members do likewise.

But unless you like endless tedium punctuated by compulsive pulling out of your own hair, you should do so before attending any meetings. Maybe even instead of attending any meetings. Just sayin'.

Wordle 1093 Hint

Hint: Trouble with today's Wordle? Have a cup of espresso and think about it -- you'll do fine! 

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First Letter: G

Is It Just Me, @Alexa99?

Apparently not. A little bit of web searching pulls up all kinds of "is my Echo Dot just broken?" and "has Alexa gone nuts?" material from the last few weeks.

Shortly after I returned from that Memorial Day weekend trip, Tamara mentioned that the Echo Pop in our living room hadn't been responding.

So I tested it:

"Alexa [blue 'I'm listening' light comes on], what time is it?"

No response [blue 'I'm listening' light goes off].

Unplugged and plugged back in to reset.

Same problem.

Unplugged and plugged back in again to reset again.

Fixed.

For a little while. Seems to do that every day or so. Sometimes one reset gets it working again. Sometimes it takes two.

Same story with the Echo Pop in the bedroom.

But not the old-fashioned ("3rd Generation") Echo Dot in my home office.

At least not yet.

Maybe because I don't use it as much? Or maybe because there's been some kind of buggy software update for later, but not earlier, device generations?

I understand Amazon's Alexa division has had layoffs. And that they're planning to introduce a higher paid tier of more AI-enabled service. And so on and so forth.

I jumped on the Alexa bandwagon fairly early, and I think I was the kind of customer they were looking for when they sold the devices at cost in hope of using Alexa to drive sales in other areas.

They make additional money from me every month for their higher-tier music service.

I often add consumables to my Amazon cart based on Alexa reminders that it may be time to purchase more laundry detergent, etc.

My natural inclination is to continue dancing with the gal what brung me, but if these reliability issues don't get fixed soon I'll be looking into other options for my "voice-activated personal assistant/music streaming speaker" services.

Wordle 1092 Hint

Hint: Her name is Mary, and John Fogerty left a good job in the city for her.

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First Letter: P

An Interesting Formulation ...

... of equally interesting attribution (hat tip to John Hudak on Facebook for calling it to my attention):

Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.

I'd personally replace "conservatism" with "all forms of statism" in said formulation, though.

Wordle 1091 Hint

Hint: You might find money -- or a dead body -- in today's Wordle.

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First Letter: V

I Suppose It's Time ...

... to actually read Ray Kurzweil. This interview at Wired is fascinating. 

I've added the Kindle editions of The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology (2005) and the forthcoming The Singularity Is Nearer: When We Merge with AI to my Amazon Wish List. I'll probably get around to grabbing them soon myself if no one else gets around to getting them for me sooner.

I'm personally somewhat convinced that we're on the "true" side of the simulation hypothesis, which implies (to me, anyway) that there could be one or more kinds of "afterlife." But developing both extended longevity and an AI-provided "afterlife" within the simulation itself does sound pretty cool, and as prophets go, Kurzweil looks fairly solid.

Wordle 1090 Hint

Hint: Per Kierkegaard, the anxiety that accompanies freedom of choice.

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First Letter: A

Word PSA

majority, n. a number or percentage equaling more than half of a total

Incorrect usage I noticed today:

As it stands, the majority of Bitcoin mining already takes place in the U.S., accounting for 37.8 percent share of the entire network by hashrate ...

Any percentage not greater than 50% isn't a "majority."

Lots of other things wrong with that article, but the particular one just kind of jumped out at me.

If You Don't Trust Me ...

... to keep actual confidential material actually confidential without a signed non-disclosure agreement,  you don't trust me, period.

And that's fine. But let's not blow smoke up each others' asses about it.

I don't sign an NDA unless I have a really good reason to do so, for the simple reason that I don't like intentionally leaving trails of legally binding, but highly interpretable, paperwork in my wake.

I would not, for example, sign any kind of general NDA (for example, one covering "any data or information that is proprietary to the Disclosing Party, whether in tangible or intangible form, whenever and however disclosed") for the privilege of doing minor volunteer work on a political campaign. That would produce a situation of continuing legal jeopardy based on two factors: 1) The Disclosing Party's view versus mine regarding what's "proprietary," and 2) The Disclosing Party's willingness and ability to engage in vexatious litigation.

One really good reason for signing an NDA might be substantial money for a job that's narrow enough for there to be little or no question as to what constitutes covered material and what doesn't. Another might be access to important information I find useful and can use, where the NDA covers very specific other particulars that I wouldn't find useful (or at least not so useful that I couldn't do without them) anyway.

To combine the two examples, suppose I got offered $10k to interview, and write an article featuring, some very wealthy and/or influential person whose views I found incredibly interesting ... and the NDA was very specific in that it forbade me to share the exact location of the person's house I visited, or the names of that person's children. I'd gladly sign that kind of NDA for that kind of purpose.

Wordle 1089 Hint

Hint: I don't know if I should give you a hint on this one -- I'd like to discourage/prevent you from solving today's Wordle!

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First Letter: D

Wordle 1088 Hint

Hint: Like the music of Duke Ellington or Glenn Miller, but in the past tense.

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First Letter: S

I Guess I Just Need To Work Harder ...

... if I want to get individually named on the Ukrainian regime's enemies list. I'm associated with several organizations on the list, and know/work with several people on the list, but apparently I'm small fry.

Wordle 1087 Hint

Hint: Comic books, Japanese style.

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First Letter: M

Don't Get Used To It ...

I periodically become unhappy with this blog's general look, make changes, then later realize I don't like the changes either.

This is one of those "make changes" periods. It may be a few days before I settle on something else I also won't like, but won't start not liking until later.

So keep calm and carry on, etc.

A Disturbance In The Force

One of my daily news/analysis go-to shows is Rising, a production of The Hill.

Or, rather, it was one of my favorites until the other day, when this happened:

It finally happened. The Hill has fired me.

There should be no doubt that @RisingTheHill has a clear pattern of suppressing speech -- particularly when it's critical of the state of Israel.

This is why they fired @kthalps, & it was only a matter of time before they fired me.… pic.twitter.com/lLqgWjgOIV

— Briahna Joy Gray (@briebriejoy) June 6, 2024

One reason I enjoy(ed) Rising is (er, was) the balance/chemistry between Briahna Joy Gray and Robby Soave.

Ms. Gray is a "progressive" (formerly affiliated with the Bernie Sanders campaign). She seems very loosely affiliated with, but not happy with, the Democratic Party.

Mr. Soave is a "libertarian" (currently also affiliated with Reason magazine). He seems very loosely affiliated with, but not happy with, the Republican Party.

The two of them together seemed willing to get into, and capable of informatively getting into, conversations about the news that actually got beneath the completely superficial and made me think. I like thinking. I enjoy getting help thinking.

I don't have anything against the various guest hosts who show up when one of them is missing (and whom I assume are in the process of auditioning to replace Ms. Gray). But I've not noticed any of them, in any pairings, producing the enjoyable and informative content that the Gray/Soave pairing produced.

If I was an exec at one of the major cable news channels, I'd be looking for a way to get those two back together for a "real" TV show. Just sayin' ...

Wordle 1086 Hint

Hint: When three is one too many.

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First Letter: C

Wordle 1085 Hint

Hint: Today's Wordle can mean multiple things, including "therefore" and "in the future."

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First Letter: H

More Coffee Musings

Last August, I mused on my various summer coffee options. Since then, there have been some developments. Not in chronological order:

• My thrift-store Krups espresso machine gave up the ghost (as thrift-store espresso machines will do); and
• I bought an Aeropress Go (not an affiliate link, and I got it on sale for a lot cheaper than the currently displayed price); and
• I decided I didn't like the Aeropress and put it away; until
• Yesterday, I decided to RTFM (or, rather, to do a little Googling, since the actual manual was the first thing that went in the trash when I opened the Aeropress); and
• Decided I like the Aeropress

Since I was thinking of the Aeropress as an espresso machine, it didn't occur to me to actually steep the coffee before giving the water a good hard press through the filter. I was getting what amounted to brown hot water out of the thing.

Using double paper filters and letting it steep for 4-5 minutes before bringing on the pressure produces a decent cup of something close to espresso (from Cafe Bustelo grounds).

So now I'm back in "brew a couple of cups of something close to espresso, refrigerate overnight, have two nice cold brew lattes in the morning" mode rather than "steep regular coffee in the French press, refrigerate overnight, have two not-quite-as-nice cold brew lattes in the morning" mode.

I really prefer espresso to regular coffee. Not just the flavor, but the caffeine content.

To see if I can get from "close to espresso" to "actual espresso," I've ordered a $1.59 ultra-fine stainless steel filter from Temu. My understanding is that paper filters tend to stop a lot of the oils that make espresso more than just coffee. With the paper filters, there's not really any crema on top, and it doesn't have quite the full, creamy mouthfeel caused by the oil droplets the filters block most of.

In the "you get what you pay for ... or at least what someone pays for, and a $1.59 filter just may not do the job" mindset, I've added a higher end filter ($10.99) and something called the Prismo attachment ($30, which is more than I paid for the Aeropress itself) to my Amazon Wish List. So if any of you are depressed every morning just thinking about me suffering from inferior coffee, feel free to cheer yourself up by helping fix the situation.

Side note: One of the more enjoyable aspects of the Libertarian National Convention was getting my customary (any time I'm at a convention) Starbucks Iced White Chocolate Mocha Latte each morning. I generally try to avoid Starbucks, Opus, and other coffee shops between conventions, then treat myself. In the six years between my last physical convention and this one (New Orleans, 2018 -- I attended the 2020 convention virtually and didn't go to Reno in 2022), I probably averaged a little less than one commercial iced white chocolate mocha latte per year, usually from Opus when I happened to be at the hospital visiting or waiting for someone. But I got three -- Friday morning, Saturday morning, and Sunday morning -- from the "licensed to sell Starbucks beverages" hotel shop in DC.

A Caper I Maybe Could Have Been, But Wasn't, Involved In

Thanks to Ken Willey (a Libertarian Party comrade ever since about the time I got active with the LP in Florida) for calling my attention to this piece in The Bulwark.

It's unnervingly "me-adjacent." I know, like, and have occasionally been privileged to work with, three of the main characters (Darcy Richardson, Joe Wendt, and Richard Winger), and also at least occasionally talk with Nicholas Hensley, national chair of the Reform Party (ever since Darcy and I fell one convention vote short of being that party's 2016 presidential ticket).

I will neither confirm nor deny that I was ever reached out to for possible involvement in the goings-on described.

I will, however, confirm that I had no actual involvement in them. I decided very early on that RFK Jr. wasn't a candidate I cared to support, let alone work with or for. In fact, I had pretty much been clean of my addiction to partisan electoral politics for some time, until the idea of going to the Libertarian Party's national convention came up.

Now I'm hooked again. I wonder any of them there $10,000-a-month consulting contracts are still up for grabs.

Wordle 1084 Hint

Hint: Two clues in one sentence: "Yes, Honeydew, I will marry you, but I have one condition -- we can't elope."

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First Letter: M

Some Good Medical News For Once!

Per United Press International:

Common drugs used to control cholesterol, blood sugar and high blood pressure might also lower a person's risk of stroke, a new study finds. The researchers evaluated the risk of brain aneurysms that cause bleeding strokes in patients. ... They identified four specific drugs that appeared to lower the risk of a brain aneurysm, after accounting for other risk factors ..."

It just so happens that I'm on two of those four drugs (metformin and lisinopril), and on another (rosuvastatin) that's in the same class as a third (simvastatin).

It also just so happens that my brother Mike died of ... you guessed it ... a brain aneurysm. Or at least a brain bleed in exactly the same spot where he'd had a brain aneurysm repaired decades before (I don't know whether another aneurysm occurred in the same spot or whether the repair just gave way for some reason).

So if there's any genetic component to a tendency toward brain aneurysms, I'm probably benefiting.

Wordle 1083 Hint

Hint: Today's Wordle could be an anesthetic, a cryptocurrency, or a theoretical element.

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First Letter: E

Post-Convention Note #4

A tweet from the Montana Libertarian Party:

The Montana Libertarian Party has officially rejected Chase Oliver as our presidential candidate.

We have maintained that we will always prioritize Montana first, and we do not believe his campaign advances our goals in this state.

Similarly situated states should follow our…

— Montana Libertarian Party (@Montana_LP) June 4, 2024

The Montana LP entered into an affiliate agreement with the Libertarian National Committee.

Per that affiliate agreement, the Montana LP received representation -- in the form of delegates of its choosing -- at the 2024 Libertarian National Convention.

Per that affiliate agreement, it is the obligation of the Montana LP to support the presidential ticket nominated at that convention.

If the Montana LP didn't want to abide by the results of the convention, it should have disaffiliated itself from the Libertarian National Committee instead of exercising its right to send voting delegates to the convention.

Since the Montana LP has decided to default on its obligations under the affiliate agreement, the LNC should rescind the mutual affiliation. In November. For now, it should go to court to enforce those obligations.

My Next Computer Goal

I really only notice it when I travel -- and although that's infrequent, there's always a chance that it will become more frequent:

My current laptop is a refurbished Dell Chromebook runnning 8Gb of RAM on a 1.1GHz Celeron CPU. The performance ... isn't terrible.

The 11.6" screen, however, is. I'm getting older and I either need to get bifocals or a larger screen. I don't want to get bifocals. My near vision, when sitting at a desk, does fine with a 17" or 19" monitor (I've got a 17" USB travel monitor that I use with the laptop so that I can rock two screens). I only put on glasses when I need help with distance vision (driving, for example).

So I'm keeping my eye out for a good deal on a laptop that:

• Has a 17-inch screen
• Comes with 16Gb of RAM installed (that's what my $150 CyberGeek mini PC has)
• Has a reasonably good CPU
• Either comes with Linux pre-installed or won't turn into a brick if I install it

I'm very happy with my desktop outfit (the aforementioned mini PC and two Insignia 19" flat screen TVs as monitors, running Lubuntu). For traveling, I'd like to recreate that as closely as possible, but 17" screens will do.

When I travel by plane, my laptop and mouse go in my carry-on "personal item," while the travel monitor and full-size USB keyboard go in my checked baggage (or larger carry-on). I'm sure I have, or can easily find, a "personal item" bag that will accommodate a 17" laptop.

I'm keeping an eye out at Amazon, NewEgg, etc., and I always check out the machines I see at thrift stores. I want to keep the cost under $200, which is probably the biggest problem in finding what I need.

Wordle 1082 Hint

Hint: Mozart called it the "king of instruments."

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First Letter: O

Wordle 1081 Hint

Hint: You might find today's Wordle among a wedding party, or working at a stable.

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First Letter: G

AI: The Dead (Probably) Don't Care

"Not everyone would want to be reincarnated as a chatbot," Tamara Kneese wrote at Wired last year.

It's an interesting piece, and it goes into more (a lot more) than that single quote, including the possibly massive investments in maintenance and tech upgrades required to keep a person "alive" as an AI.

But it's that single quote I'm interested in, partly because I'm seeing variations of it (including first-person "I don't want that" statements) all over the place lately.

My POV:

While you're alive, you may not like the idea of being "reincarnated" as an AI chatbot.

Once you're dead, you probably won't give a damn.

If there's not an afterlife, you won't care about anything.

If there is an afterlife, you may not even remember this life, and even if you do you remember it you're likely to have higher priorities than wringing your hands over a piece of software that pretends to be the former you. Maybe you'll be playing a harp around God's throne in heaven, or maybe you'll be reincarnated as a marmoset, or whatever. Either way, you're going to have new you things to do that will likely preclude worrying about AI-simulated old yous.

I guess I could be wrong.

Maybe there's an afterlife in which all we've got to fill our time is watch the people we knew in this life and worry about them, in which case we might feel that AI "reincarnations" are damaging to those people.

Or maybe, if there's such a thing as a "soul," an AI could capture that soul, become "me," and thus prevent me from passing on to heaven, hell, the bardo, etc.

But if there's an afterlife, speculation as to its characteristics is just speculation. We don't possess any kind of real/reliable information on it, so it's kind of silly to obsess over/at this level of detail.

Concerning That Verdict

In August of 2018, I wrote:

Trump paid out hush money -- money secured by a confidentiality agreement --  to his first wife in 1992, when he was not a candidate for public office. And again to his second wife in 1999, when he was not a candidate for public office (he did withhold a payment when she threatened to go public as he prepared his failed campaign for the Reform Party’s 2000 presidential nomination, which I guess could be taken as evidence that he “intended to influence the election”). 

Who else has Trump paid for silence when he wasn’t a candidate for public office, and why? Who knows? 

While it’s obvious that the upcoming presidential election was much on Donald Trump’s mind in October of 2016, it’s not obvious to me that someone paying sex-related hush money on his behalf is a “campaign contribution,” especially if he had other reasons (for example, the potential wrath of his third wife) to not want his sex life on the front page. And his history says he did in fact have other motivations.

 

I've not seen anything since to change my mind on the matter.

On the other hand, I'm not breaking out a violin -- not even the world's smallest violin -- to play a tearful tune and soothe Trump's pain over the felony convictions he just racked up. He's spent much of his life playing stupid games; he shouldn't whine when he wins stupid prizes.

Wordle 1080 Hint

Hint: There's mad, there's raving mad, and then there's this kind of raving mad.

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First Letter: S

Wordle 1079 Hint

Hint: Johnny, as personified by Barry Williams.

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First Letter: B

Not ENTIRELY A Gratuitous Post ...

... even though it does increment my blog post count for June, just in case I'm indisposed and can't write as much over the next few days.

I think I've got some kind of bug. Maybe some kind of slow-to-really-manifest bug that I might have picked up in Washington, DC or traveling to or from there.

The first couple of days home, I expected to feel worn out. I'm not as used to traveling as I once was, and it was actually a pretty hard five days. Anyone who thinks sitting in a meetings for hours on end isn't work has never sat in meetings for hours on end for several days in a row.

By yesterday, I thought I should be feeling a lot better, but I still just felt tired, cranky, and achy.

Today, I have a sore throat. No fever or anything like that. Yet.

I'll be interested to find out whether my travel partner, GregL, is under the weather at all.

Thanks For Asking! -- 06/01/24

"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened." -- Matthew 7:7-8

My answers may not prove as profound as those you'll find in the Bible. But ask me anything (yes, anything) in the comment thread below this post, and I'll answer (in comments or linked from them).

Wordle 1078 Hint

Hint: You might use the smaller version of today's Wordle to wash your hands in; at larger scale, it might be the convergence point for an entire region's surface water.

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New to Wordle? You can play it at the New York Times, and here are some thoughts on how I go about solving each day's puzzle.

First Letter: B