New Temu, Not Same As The Old Temu

At the time Trump's "Liberation Day" tariff fuckery went into effect, I had two orders (actually one order in two separate shipments, one by air and one by sea) en route. Fortunately, delivery times weren't affected. At that point, I stopped even looking on Temu for things I wanted/needed -- less because I anticipated price increases than because I anticipated shipping delays as the tarrifs were implemented at customs facilities, etc.

A couple of weeks ago, I was looking for a particular type of shoe (ankle-height or a little taller, leather or pleather), and decided to have a look at Temu. One immediate change was obvious:

There's always been at least a little bait and switch stuff on Temu. There's a picture of an item. There's a price. When you click through, it turns out that the price is for some kind of accessory (e.g. the front page picture was of a watch for $5.99; turns out a separate watch band is $5.99), while the pictured item is more expensive.

That seems to be on steroids now.

I came across numerous listings for the kind of shoes I was after, with prices like $7.47, $8.63, etc.

Every time I clicked through, the price for the shoes was $22.63 or $27.97, etc., no matter what size or color selected. There was nothing on any of the pages for the front-page price.

I'm not sure how that helps Temu. I'm using up their bandwidth and CPU cycles looking at stuff I'm not going to buy, and I strongly suspect that most other customers will react as I did.

Since then, I've been back to Temu twice, both times to compare prices to Amazon, and I ended up ordering both times because the prices, even with shipping, were better and the items (a motorcycle "cruise control" clamp and a wireless ergonomic mouse) are things I don't need ASAP.

Shipping? Yes.

When you order direct from Temu, there's no shipping charge if you order more than $X worth of stuff. $X seems to vary from order to order, between $10 and $20 for reasons that aren't clear.

But they also sell "Local Warehouse" items. You only get "free" shipping if you order at least $30 worth of stuff from the same seller. And I didn't find anything at either "local warehouse" that seemed worth adding to either order ... so I paid $2.99 shipping.

The first selling point for "Local Warehouse" items is faster delivery. The second, since "Liberation Day," is that the stuff was already in the US, so no price increases from the tariffs.

The second selling point seems to be true, although it's hard to tell because Temu is front-loading "Local Warehouse" items in their listings and you might have to scroll forever before finding a direct-from-Temu version.

On the first point ... well, very mixed results.

I ordered the motorcycle cruise control clamp on June 6. It still hasn't shipped, and won't be here until, tracking says, at least June 24. Normally it wouldn't take that long to get here from China.

The mouse, on the other hand, was ordered on June 9. It got handed over to USPS on June 10. It's supposed to arrive by June 18, it's projected to arrive by June 16, and from past experience I won't be surprised if it shows up on June 14. It's coming from California, so I don't think that's a terrible wait.

But now I know that "Local Warehouse" orders aren't reliably fast. I'd only ordered that way once before, and the item arrived in two days, making it seem at least competitive with Amazon. Now I know better.

Wordle 1454 Hint

Hint: This song is about one:

Not Enough? Get the first letter of today's Wordle after the ads below.

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: V

Follow-Up: Amazon Basics 5-Blade MotionSphere Razor, and a Poll

First impressions here.

I lost track of how many shaves I was getting out of a single blade cartridge at some point after "10," and now I think I'm north of "20."

Today, I noticed a wee bit of drag on the blade. No cuts or grabs, it just felt like maybe the blade was starting to lose its edge a little. So I changed to the second of the two cartridges that came with the handle in my "starter kit" (not an affiliate link).

For the price, I think that's exceptionally good performance.

I've already set up an "every six months" subscription for 16 cartidges (and another handle in the bargain!) at about $15 (not an affiliate link), but I may not need refills that frequently unless I go back to shaving my whole head (except for the chin beard -- it stays). Fortunately subscriptions can be paused, set to different intervals, etc.

One of my expectations is that the quality will remain 1) uniform and 2) high for two reasons.

First, this is Amazon's own "house" brand. They're big enough that they probably order a billion cartridges, with the same specs, from the same manufacturer, at a time and get strident with that manufacturer if they see quality control lapses.

It's also a "subscribe and save" item. On a quick web search, about 35% of their customers do "subscribe and save" on one or more products, so that's a centerpiece of their business model. The quality problems with Dollar Shave Club arose after that growing company was bought by a bigger company which apparently though subscriber loyalty was either guaranteed or didn't matter. Amazon won't make that mistake. If the product is their "house" brand, they'll stay on top of quality. If it's a third party brand, well, inclusion in "subscribe and save" is an Amazon decision and if subscriptions move south and returns move north, the brand probably gets 86ed (as Mr. Comey might say).

So anyway, still very much recommended.

So, poll time:

I Haven't Been to a Protest in Years ...

... but I'm planning to attend the "No Kings" event in Gainesville this weekend.

Not so much because I'm anti-Trump (although I am definitely anti-Trump) as to get a look at the current composition of protests.

Last time I attended one, several years ago -- IIRC, the last one was actually two dueling protests over removal of a Confederate statue from the county courthouse grounds (I opposed the removal) -- there was quite a bit of "woke" nonsense. My surface impression is that "woke" is, thankfully, pretty much dead, but I'd like to investigate further.

Hey, maybe it will give me something to write about. I kind of doubt it -- protests are such boring affairs these days, with silly coordinated chants and every interest group in the world there to explain how it's "really about" whatever they're obsessed with -- but you never know.

I probably won't try to find my old gas mask, but I may take a vinegar-soaked rag in a zip-loc bag with me just in case there's tear gas. Ain't been tear-gassed in ... wow, decades.

Wordle 1453 Hint

Hint: Today's Wordle means "blanket" in Gaelic, but Americans often use it to mean "tartan pattern."

Not Enough? Get the first letter of today's Wordle after the ads below.

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: P

Dog Bites Man

From the San Francisco Chronicle (with photos):

President Donald Trump’s rush to deploy California National Guard troops to Los Angeles has left dozens of soldiers without adequate sleeping arrangements, forced to pack together in one or more federal buildings, resting on the floors of what appear to be basements or loading docks, the Chronicle has learned.

Have a look at that first photo. National Guard troops, sacked out on their gear, a box of MREs on the table.

That has nothing to do with any "rush." It's perfectly normal. It's not "news."

I can't count the number of times I slept on a floor, and was glad to have a roof over my head and some food in my stomach instead of sleeping on the ground with an empty stomach, including in situations like the first few days of guard duty at I Marine Expeditionary Force headquarter in Saudi Arabia, which had been up and running for several months when my unit arrived.

In that particular situation, we were "48 hours on, 24 hours off."

The 24 hours you had "off," there was a living area to go to in another location (trailers set up to hold migrant workers, who had been removed for our convenience). You could get a shower, sleep in something resembling a bed, walk down the street to an "e-club" with near-beer and food vendors, etc.

The 48 hours you had "on," you did four hours standing a post, then four hours on the reaction team, then four hours sleep / personal time, rinse, repeat.

On the reaction team, you slept on the floor in the officer of the guard's office area, with your gear on and your weapon next to you, in case there was an incident requiring immediate manpower/firepower (my only combat engagement of the war occurred when that happened).

During your actual sleep time, at first there were some dirt-floor equipment sheds to throw your vapor barrier mat and poncho liner down in and sack out. Later they converted a fairly large area -- it looked like a set of auto repair bays -- into a sleeping area and got some cots.

All that started on January 1, 1991. The Marine Corps had been there since August, 1990 and we were mobilized and on our way there for a month before arriving. And it was still a clusterfuck, especially at first.

In most situations where we had to go somewhere and be somewhere on anything less than several days' notice, it was like that at least for a day or two.

Here's why:

When a unit gets orders to go from Point A to Point B and do thing C, if there's plenty of time that unit starts making plans and sends an "advance party" to get some things ready. There's still plenty of room for screwing up. The requisition for a squad bay gets lost instead of accepted, the five-ton truck with the cots breaks down, nobody's told the mess hall is shut down for remodeling when they file their request to have a company fed so they don't think to bring several days' worth of rations for 130 troops, etc.

If there's not plenty of time, you pack your trash and get on the road and deal with the little details later.

Shit. Happens.

Whatever you think about those troops -- who they are, what they're doing, whether they should even be there -- unless they're newbies fresh out of boot camp who have never been anywhere except their drill center, they're used to the kind of adhocracy you see in those photos. It's standard operating procedure. They got told to grab their gear and go. They grabbed their gear and went. Everything else gets taken care of as possible.

Wordle 1452 Hint

Hint: The popular "salt water" version of this sweet originated in New Jersey.

Not Enough? Get the first letter of today's Wordle after the ads below.

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: T

Three Words You Hate To See When Motorcycle Shopping

 BRING A TRAILER

But it's better to see them in the listing than to find them out after you've invested time in arranging to see the bike. Especially when you'd also need to invest time in arranging to bring a trailer.

I see a lot of listings that say "bring a trailer." That's fine -- it lets me know immediately that this is not a vehicle that's ready to run down the road on.

I also see a lot of listings that are more annoying: "Great bike. Engine purrs like a kitten, garage kept, never been dropped ... all it needs is two tires, a new carburetor, a throttle cable, a spark plug and coil, a new gas tank, and handlebars! Oh, no title either."

Wordle 1451 Hint

Hint: Get on the boat (or plane)!

Not Enough? Get the first letter of today's Wordle after the ads below.

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

Trump Issues Mask Mandate

By "these people," of course, Trump doesn't mean "the people yelling that they are police, abducting people, throwing them into unmarked vehicles, and taking them to unknown locations."

He means the people who are agin that.

I'm not much of a "there ought to be a law" type, but I see the alternatives as:

• Laws at the local, state, and federal level forbidding "law enforcement personnel" to wear anything over their faces other than prescription eyeglasses or safefy goggles in situations where e.g. breaking glass might be an issue, and requiring them to, at all times, wear very prominent and difficult to counterfeit identifying badges disclosing their full names and the gangs they're affiliated with; or
• A judicial/legal understanding that if some unidentified nob wearing a mask tries to abduct you, yelling "police" is insufficient to overcome a "stand your ground" or similar defense, and that you're going to walk if you pull out your Smith & Wesson .40 and put said nob down like a rabid dog.

As for the National Guard, posse comitatus would seem to put a hard "no" on federal deployment of state militia troops to protect gang members from the public, so maybe it will get shut down quickly. But if not, Gavin Newsom should at least let those troops know that no state taxpayer funds will be spent paying the troops or supporting the operation, and that court-martials and dishonorable discharges will quickly follow future judicial findings of illegality vis a vis the operation in general or any of its aspects.

Wordle 1450 Hint

Hint: You might enter into one on a home, a car, or life.

Not Enough? Get the first letter of today's Wordle after the ads below.

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: L

Yes, More Motorcycle Agonizing

I know that when I finally get bored and give up, that is when the perfect bike will suddenly show up. Superstitious? Maybe. But that's my experience with many things. So as of yesterday, I was leaning against even bothering to go look at that 2002 Buell Blast I found on Facebook Marketplace, and kind of resolved to just thinking about other things and letting the process work.

I woke up this morning with one particular aspect of that particular bike tickling my brain, though:

In addition to being in the engine size range I want, having a sufficient max speed for my needs, etc., the history of the model has one thing going for it. When Harley-Davidson bought Buell and introduced the Blast, they had a reason for doing so. Harley ran a beginners' motorcycle course, and the Blast was the bike they made as an "entry-level" machine that could be used to train new riders, and wouldn't scare those riders as much as a full-size hog, and could also be sold to them as their first "beginner bike."

Yes, I would very much like to find myself on a Triumph Bonneville, Ducati Scrambler, Honda Shadow, etc. ... but to the extent that a motorcycle is simply my personal transportation, there's a lot to be said for a bike that's not some kind of monster, just a dependable ride that can cruise at freeway speeds.

So, this morning, I messaged the seller about coming to have a look at it.

The response -- someone already has an appointment, they'll let me know if it doesn't sell.

But then I found another Buell Blast for sale. This one is for sale by a local student who only wants $600 for it ... because it's suddenly developed some kind of problem starting. I'm going to see if my mechanic friend has some time today to go look at and diagnose it. If it can be made to run at all, I may snap it up. If someone hasn't already. At $600, hopefully I could get it running, licensed, etc. and still be out less than $1,000.

Wordle 1449 Hint

Hint: So far, Wordle has had a different solution every day, 1,449 days in a row -- never the same word a second time. If that changes, today's answer would be the ideal candidate for inaugurating the change.

Not Enough? Get the first letter of today's Wordle after the ads below.

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: R

A Thought On The Future of Motorcycle Training/Licensing

I'm personally kind of looking forward to getting a motorcycle with a "standard" wet clutch / transmission -- control of what gear the bike is in via a foot lever. Of course, I also enjoy driving "stick shift" cars, at least sometimes. In addition to giving the rider or driver more control over the vehicle, they also tend to focus the mind on riding or driving. You have to pay attention, and that's really kind of a safety feature.

BUT!

In Florida (and I think in most states), while you can ride a 50cc scooter with just a regular driver's license, anything bigger than that requires a motorcycle license. And in order to get that license, you have to attend a two-day course and take a test.

So far as I know, all such courses use motorcycles with the "standard" shifting setup. So if you want to ride, say, a 150cc Kymco scooter, or a Suzuki Burgman 650, or a Honda Navi (or clone of same like my Italica Bulldog 150), all of which have "automatic" Continuous Variable Transmissions, you still have to learn on, and take a test using, something like a Honda Rebel 250 (that was the bike I rode; there were several options, all 250cc or smaller IIRC).

More and more people are riding larger scooter and motorcycle platforms with automatic transmissions of either the CVT type or "dual clutch" type. The "no need to work a clutch" thing is a growing category that includes Honda touring and cruising bikes, BMW adventure bikes, electric commuter bikes, etc. I think one driver of that trend may be that a lot of people have been growing up with electric bicycles now, and as young adults think they'd like to stick with two wheels for work commutes and local outings, but don't want to learn to drive the motorcycle equivalent of "stick."

So, I expect one of two things to happen. Either:

• The rider safety courses will switch to using "automatic" bikes and leave learning how to shift on a "standard" bike up to you outside a class/training situation, or
• States will split "motorcycle endorsements" on driver's licenses into two classes. Class 1, you can take the course/test on, and ride, an "automatic" bike; Class 2, you have to take a course on a "standard" bike, and can then ride any bike.

I expect it will be the first option, because I also expect that within a decade or so, nearly all new bikes will be either DCT or CVT. Just like nearly all new cars are sold with automatic transmissions and have been for years.

Wordle 1448 Hint

Hint: The effect of today's Wordle, if you find it morally or intellectually instructive. 

Not Enough? Get the first letter of today's Wordle after the ads below.

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: E

Quite The Little Tiff

A sample of headlines from my feed (no links -- things are changing too quickly to bother):

• Musk backs call to impeach Trump, replace him with Vance
• Trump threatens to cut Musk contracts as feud quickly escalates
• Musk says SpaceX will begin decommissioning Dragon spacecraft ‘immediately’ after Trump threatens contracts
• Steve Bannon Calls to Deport Musk Amid Messy Trump Breakup
• Musk says Trump is named in Epstein files
• Tesla loses $152 billion in market cap after Musk-Trump spat, biggest hit ever

Usually, I'd write this kind of thing off as typical Trump/Musk melodrama and expect it to blow over and for them to be all kissy-face again by next week.

But there's really so much going on that I kinda have to think the "feud" is for real.

And I guess it's the kind of thing we should expect.

Both of these guys are very much in the business of buying other people. Both of these guys are also always for sale as well. It's entirely possible that one or both of them are confused as to who bought who ... but even if not, neither of them has a reputation for staying bought. The potential for things getting ugly should have been pretty obvious. Maybe I would have noticed if I'd cared very much.

If I had to bet on who will "win" the contest, the obvious pick is Trump. He has more money than Musk. It's not his money, but he disposes of trillions and three million government employees, and does pretty much as he pleases with both. His "base" is also more robotically disposed to believe whatever he says than even Musk's most ardent fans. There's a lot he can do with all that to make Musk miserable ... if Musk remains within reach.

On the other hand, I wouldn't be surprised if Musk gets on a jet, moves to a non-extradition country, sets up (very nice) housekeeping, and torments Trump interminably and with impunity. Hell, he might even take Melania with him, then reveal that she had some eggs frozen back when and that he's making babies with her. Yeah, this is that kind of weird situation.

Hmm ...

From the Facebook marketplace listing:

Bike comes with a new rear rim when I had the new tires mounted I was told the back rim is slightly bent. Engine has a leak, it will start no problem.  Selling because I don’t have time for it anymore.

It's a 2002 Buell Blast. 492cc air-cooled engine, disc brakes front and rear, belt instead of chain final drive, 5-speed, supposed top speed of 95 miles per hour, about 16,500 miles on the bike. The exhaust on the Blast is below the engine so no worries about burning an ankle on it (the logic was also to lower the bike's center of gravity.

More a "sport bike" layout than "cruiser," and I don't see any mirrors on it. I'd have to get some bar-end mirrors, and I might want to either move or replace the handlebars to make a more upright position comfortable. I don't know if the leak mentioned is gas or oil, and would need to address that.

On the other hand, it's $925 and doesn't look like it's in terrible shape (pic below is from the listing). 

If the listing is still up tomorrow I may have to go take a look at it. That would be maybe $1100 with tax/tags.

Starting To Plan The Next Motorcycle Trip

This one will be 100 miles or so each way, but almost certainly not all in one day. I'll be helping some friends move into their new house in Ormond Beach, some time in July.

I could head south to just short of Ocala, then take State Road 40 east to get there, I've taken the bike to Ocala before and really don't like US 441 that much (kinda busy, kinda fast). Instead, I think I'll take State Road 100 most of the way (starting east of Gainesville then curving south at Palatka). Looks a lot less busy (State Road 20 runs in the same east-west direction and seems more built out; I've also been down it a number of times in other vehicles, but I don't think I've been further than Melrose on State Road 100, ever).

All three likely routes are in the 100-110 mile range. All seem to have plenty of gas stops along the way (I get about 60 miles out of a tank before the "low on fuel" light starts blinking, after which I probably have 20-25 miles of range left -- I'll carry a 750 milliliter fuel bottle with me just in case).

I tend to leave early anyway, and this really won't be a "hard set arrival time" thing, so hopefully I can put the speedometer on 45 miles per hour a lot of the time, keeping the RPMs at around 6,000 to reduce engine strain and to keep my mileage at more than 70 miles per gallon.

I haven't decided whether to ride with the big hard top box on the rear, or use my saddlebags.  Probably the box, since it's more aerodynamic (my body is already in front of it). All I'll really need to carry are some extra clothes and that fuel bottle.

I'll probably get my 3,000-mile oil and gear oil change done before the trip. I'm coming up on 2,000 miles right now and will put some more miles on it between now and then.

Or maybe the perfect bike will pop into my visual field between now and then and I'll make the trip on something in the 500-700 cc range. If so, I'll probably still take the more scenic, less busy route.

A Perennial Complaint

I'm sure I've brought it up before, and I'm not even going to bother mentioning which platform or online tool I ran into it on this week because it's endemic. Here's what happens:

• You start using a site or tool. It's new to you, and there's a learning curve. Even if you've used similar sites or tools before, there will be differences, and it will take some time to find your way around and get used to everything.
• You get used to everything. It's a fine site or tool. It does what you need it to do, or at least what you expect of it. It does those things reasonably well. You're happy with it.
• One day you get an email announcing a NEW IMPROVED USER EXPERIENCE or CHANGES TO OUR PLATFORM TO ENHANCE [PERFORMANCE, SECURITY, OR SOME OTHER METRIC]. Or maybe not. Maybe you just log in and things aren't quite the way they were.
• You have to re-learn how to use the damn site or tool, and it often seems like it's harder, not easier, to use than it was before.

Yes, I understand that there are sometimes real, valid, necessary reasons for this kind of thing. They may even be reasons you don't see from the user perspective, e.g. New Way B vs. Old Way A puts less strain on the site/tool's servers to achieve the same ultimate functionality, and they'd rather change the process than pay for more hardware to keep up with things.

But all too often, what it really feels like is that they have a bunch of guys in the basement, guys with titles like "User Interface Engineer," who feel an ongoing need to justify their places on the company payroll by constantly screwing with stuff.

It's annoying.

That is all.

Wordle 1447 Hint

Hint: You won't need much to solve today's Wordle -- one single piece of information will be enough.

Not Enough? Get the first letter of today's Wordle after the ads below.

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: D

Don't Fall For This Scam Like the LNC Did

The Libertarian National Committee called yesterday for a "national state of emergency" over the "national debt."

Meh, for the most part, but then we get to this:

As of the time of this writing, every citizen of the United States of America holds a debt burden of over $106,000 as their share of the national debt.

Nope.

There is no such thing as "the national debt."

There is a debt of "the United States," which is a constitutional term of art for the federal government.

A bunch of politicians borrowed a bunch of money.

In doing so, they promised the lenders that, in the future, they would beat money  out of you to pay the lenders back with interest.

Those politicians don't own you. You or your future earnings aren't theirs to use as collateral. Pointing at you and uttering the word "citizen" doesn't magically cause you to "owe" their creditors so much as one red cent.

Wordle 1446 Hint

Hint: To desist (often phrased redundantly with same in legal demands).

Not Enough? Get the first letter of today's Wordle after the ads below.

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: C

Turning Into A Bit of a Refurb

As mentioned the other day, I was planning to throw some nylon "classical" guitar strings on my Recording King Dirty 30s Single O parlor guitar. I decided to do that yesterday.

Things quickly changed, and then things quickly went wrong.

What changed is that when I pulled the guitar out of its gig bag, I remembered that it's an acoustic-electric with a gold foil pickup rather than a straight acoustic. Magnetic pickups don't work with nylon strings (duh).

What went wrong is that as soon as I started to unstring it, the nut came loose ... and then two of the six string pegs broke as I used the peg-puller to remove them.

No biggie with the nut. A little wood glue, done.

I don't remember if the string pegs were original or if they were el cheapos I bought on Amazon or Temu, but instead of hunting up some lying around the house, I decided to just order some reasonably priced brass pegs that ought to look nice on a "tobacco" colored guitar with a gold foil pickup. $5.99 on Amazon (not an affiliate link), with a peg puller and spare nut/saddle included. No use for the nut/saddle at the moment, but even with all that, the pegs were at a good price point. Barely more expensive than the same kind of plastic crap that broke, less expensive than bone pegs with abalone inlay that wouldn't look as good IMO.

The pegs will be here today. In the meantime, I gave the guitar a good dusting and wipedown, and also hit the saddle and fretboard with olive oil (I've seen that recommended both for and against, but it's what I had handy). Both looked a little dry when I bought the guitar, and were pretty sad after a year of sitting in the gig bag. They soaked the oil right up, and I think the coloration looks better with the rest of the instrument. When the pegs arrive, I'll string it up with Martin Retro Acoustics.

I don't remember how much I paid for the guitar, but I do remember that it was on sale for well below MSRP. I think I got a fairly good deal. I wouldn't pay MSRP for this guitar. It's not a bad guitar, but the hardware is pretty cheap, the fret markers are paint rather than inlay, etc.

I like the way it plays, and I prefer playing a parlor-size guitar. Obviously not the volume of a dreadnought, but I mostly play around the house anyway and this one can be amplified if I prefer. The action isn't as smooth, the frets dressed as nicely, or the tone as rich as, say, that of the Epiphone Hummingbird, but that's only to be expected. Here's the guitar I'm referring to:

Update, 06/04: The pegs arrived. Got the guitar strung. Sounds pretty sweet. Except, I forgot about a problem the guitar has, a problem that mostly explains why I put it away for so long. On the high E string, at the seventh fret -- only on the high E string at the seventh fret -- that string is muted/buzzy when playing. Which means the seventh fret isn't tall enough at one end (and only at one end). If the fret was too high, I guess I could file it down. But raising it is a job for a luthier, and the guitar just ain't worth that much. I do have an DIY idea -- dab a thin layer of epoxy on the fret there, let it dry, try it out, repeat until the epoxy makes the fret high enough to get rid of the problem -- but I'm skeptical of it working. Any luthiers reading this? Advice appreciated!

Wordle 1445 Hint

Hint: Root purpose (where "root" refers to a Linux user).

Not Enough? Get the first letter of today's Wordle after the ads below.

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: A

Just To Keep The "Thanks For Asking" Thread Pristine ...

 ... vis a vis the new standard ... one of the "persistent, throw-away account troll" types keeps posting an  assertion and question there, and I keep deleting it, because I don't negotiate with terrorists.

However, the assertion and the question are interesting, so I'll respond here.

The assertion:

You're a gay rights activist.

The question:

Why should someone be gay?

As for the assertion, it is not, strictly speaking, true that I am "a gay rights activist."

At one time I would have called myself that, because 1) I have gay friends and relatives and 2) the rights they have and are entitled to weren't very well respected by, or as a matter of, the law.

That's mostly changed, so I don't find it especially interesting as an "issue" anymore. Most of what gets advertised under the banner of "gay rights" these days isn't about rights, it's about cultural acceptance. While I'd rather see sexual orientation culturally accepted than not, it's not something I'm that interested in being an "activist" for. If someone just really hates the whole idea of gay people, I feel kind of sorry for that person but don't see any reason why I should try to persuade him or her otherwise. If I attend e.g. a Pride event, it's generally 1) because I have friends and/or family there I'd like to say hi to, 2) I happen to be passing by, and/or I know there will be cool merch booths and food stands.

As for the question, someone should be gay for the same reasons someone should have blue eyes or drink beer -- they're born that way and/or they damn well please. Being gay, having blue eyes, and drinking beer are not things that violate others' rights, so I'm not against them.

That is all.

Wait, That's Still Going On?

I thought he defeated it years ago!

First True Temptation Lately ...

... to go ahead and get the bigger bike, even if it means finding a buyer for some Bitcoin. It's a 1993 Honda Shadow 600 VLX.

• $1,500 -- price is right!
• 600cc, right in the engine range I want.
• Cruiser type platform, which is what I want.
• Top speed seems to be somewhere between 90mph and 100mph -- sufficient but not "you are DEFINITELY going to die."
• Only about 15 miles away, so a short first ride home on familiar roads.
• It's a 1993 bike, so it won't have a bunch of that digital garbage I don't want.
• Tires are in good shape and won't need immediate replacement.

Down sides:

• "Miles are unknown the odometer was replaced before I bought it." Odometer reads under 10k miles, but for all I know the engine has 50k on it and is on its last legs.
• Spoked wheels. While I prefer old tech on the dash -- analog speedo/tach/fuel gauge -- I like alloy wheels.
• Disk brake on the front, good, but drum on the rear. Again, I prefer the newer tech on brakes (no mention of ABS, which I don't think was very standard that early).
• Not really a down side:  "Needs some cosmetic work but still looks great." I would plan on some cosmetic work anyway. It's a black bike, and I'd want to get some yellow on there, probably the entire gas tank and highlights/striping on the fenders). The big cosmetic flaw seems to be a torn up seat, something I'd want to correct but could probably wait on.

I will probably wait, because there are down sides. I'd expect to put at least another $1k in the bike over the first year, and for $1k more I can probably get something nice. On the other hand, if the listing doesn't get snapped up quickly, maybe I'll get the money together to make an offer. I do like the Shadows, though. Nice low-seat cruiser, and good-looking.

Wordle 1444 Hint

Hint: Birds do it for functional physical reasons, humans to attract attention to themselves.

Not Enough? Get the first letter of today's Wordle after the ads below.

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: P

I Guess It's a Reasonably Good Sign ...

... that the second anniversary of "Tom quit smoking as of today!"* went by on the first day of last month and I didn't even notice.

That's not to say I never get a craving for a cigarette. But these days that's not very often, and it's almost always when I see someone smoking, live or on a TV screen,  or hear a song about smoking. The first month or so, that craving was always there, though the Chantix, etc. helped knock it down a few notches. And the craving was what I'd call "frequent" (at least once a day, for at least a moment) for most of the first year.

I've tried (and I think succeeded) to not be one of those people who constantly talks about how they quit smoking, or quit drinking, or whatever. But I thought it was cool that I actually forgot when I'd done so. Feels like ... progress.

Listening to this song this morning didn't trigger a craving, really ... but did remind me that I used to smoke and stopped smoking at some point (I had to look the date up).

I did have a brief craving yesterday, but less for a cigarette proper than for an over-priced product (not an affiliate link) that triggered nostalgia for the good old days when most guitar players seemed to be smokers, most guitar players who were smokers seemingly stuck their lit cigarettes between a string and the guitar's headstock when playing, and clip-on guitar tuners weren't a thing yet:

I can't see myself spending fifty bucks on such a thing (I typically spend less than ten bucks on a clip-on tuner), but I have added it to my Amazon Wish List just in case anyone really thinks I should have it. From a technical standpoint, it does seem like a superior tuner in two respects: The screen faces the player to its right in a way that makes it easier to see, and it's USB-rechargeable instead of requiring those annoying flat, round batteries.

I can already feel one of those "playing guitar, a lot" periods approaching. I recently tested my sub-$10 wireless rig (no cable!) with my cheap Glarry jazz bass while stringing/tuning that thing, and also came across three sets of strings I'd set back to use "eventually" (which probably means "soon") -- Ernie Ball Primo Slinky 9.5-44s for the Glarry Telecaster, Martin Retro acoustic mediums for the Epiphone Hummingbird, and some Temu nylon classicals that I may put on the old Recording King parlor guitar. 

I'll probably mess with the Tele first -- the last time I was playing much, it was that guitar with my fairly minimal pedal board -- while I think about finally upgrading from little practice amps to a head (probably this one -- not an affiliate link, also on the wish list) plugged into a decent speaker I have lying around.

* I did smoke about half a cigarette over Memorial Day weekend in 2024; that was a pretty stressful weekend at a Libertarian National Convention, and I was hanging with a smoker and bummed one. But I only made it through half before not really liking it much, so I put it out.

Wordle 1443 Hint

Hint: You're on the course, but not on the fairway or the green. 

Not Enough? Get the first letter of today's Wordle after the ads below.

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: R

Thanks For Asking! -- 06/01/25

Another month, another AMA thread. Ask me anything (yes, anything, but not necessarily if you're anybody), in the comment thread below this post. I'll answer in, or linked from, the same comment thread.

Hot Dogs Tell The Real Story About Comparative Convenience Store Quality

Yes, I'm an easy mark for clickbait, so when I saw the headline "The Best Gas Station Hot Dogs In The US, According To Customers," I went to see the piece at Mashed, mainly to see if the best and the worst (IMO) made a showing. They both did.

The list is not ranked, and the methodology for inclusion leaves a bit to be desired:

[W]e perused online forums, review sites, and social media platforms .... The more positive comments we found about a specific chain, the more likely we were to include the gas station on this list.

Which seems to leave out any balance/ratio of positive to negative comments. So if Chain X's hot dog offering received 10,000 positive comments, it might make the list, even if it also received 250,000 negative comments.

So, QuikTrip and Circle K both made the list. In my opinion, the former belongs there (and, in my experience, in the very top spot), while the latter does not. Here's why:

When I'm able to visit a QuikTrip (they don't have any locations in my area, but I grew to know and love them when I lived up north in St. Louis), the experience is invariably excellent. Not just with hot dogs, but I'll stick to the hot dogs as the example. The roller grill is always full. The hot dogs on the roller grill are always fresh. They're never out of buns. They're never out of condiments. If there's any problem, it gets corrected immediately when called to the attention of an employee, but that doesn't happen very often because at QT they stay on top of things.

When I visit a Circle K -- the predominant c-store chain in my area -- maybe the roller grill has hot dogs (or anything else on it), maybe not. Maybe the hot dogs are reasonably fresh, maybe they've been sitting on the thing for six hours and look like elongated raisins. Maybe there are buns, maybe not. Maybe the buns are soft, maybe they're rock-hard. Maybe the condiment station has onions, jalapenos, sauerkraut, relish, etc., maybe it's empty and the choice is just between packets/bottles of ketchup and mustard (and they may be out of packets and have empty bottles, too).

The roller grill products are pretty much the same, although for some reason Circle K seldom has my favorite, "buffalo chicken sticks," while QT always does. And we're talking about hot dogs here. It's not the products itself in question, it's the ability/willingness to serve that product hot, fresh, with a bun that's also fresh, and with an assortment of decent condiments.

That, in my opinion, comes down to corporate culture.

QT has a "profit-sharing" plan and other employee-happiness stuff going on, and I've run into people who've worked there for a LONG time. In St. Louis, the manager of my nearest QT had a degree in physics ... but just continued with QT after working part-time there in college because he was making more money managing a convenience store than he could make as a physics professor, with less heartburn.

I've simply never had poor service at a QT. The stores are always adequately staffed and the staff is always helpful and friendly. I wondered if the "we can't find help" problems that often get attributed to COVID had hit QT, and had a chance to find out on a trip to St. Louis last year. We flew there but drove back, and during the trip we stopped at two QTs in St. Louis and picked one to gas up / snack up at virtually every chance we had on the way home, hitting our final one in Georgia just north of the Florida state line.

At every QT we visited (the two in St. Louis and, IIRC, four on the drive home), the experience was exactly as described above.

Circle K, on the other hand, seems to have a real problem keeping enough people at work in each store for things to run well. That goes back to before COVID, when my daughter worked at one. The people are friendly, but they're over-worked, which means that when there's a line stretching around the store you're lucky if both registers are operating because sometimes they have one employee trying to do everything. Ringing up sales of pre-packaged goods for waiting customers comes before tending to the roller grill, hooking up new canisters of syrup to the soda fountain, etc.

And believe me, you do not want to see the restrooms at most Circle Ks (at a QT, they're always spotless and I'm always surprised there's not one of those guys standing there to offer you a hot towel and ask if he should call to have your car pulled around front by a valet).

The hot dog listicle is interesting, but it's just about the hot dogs, not about the hot dog buying experience. And, well, for the most part, a hot dog is just a hot dog, so it's the buying experience that tells the real story.

Wordle 1442 Hint

Hint: Most people have at least one; nuns wear theirs. 

Not Enough? Get the first letter of today's Wordle after the ads below.

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: H

Interesting

The Federalist Society, which has spent the last decade publicly fellating Donald Trump at every opportunity, finally got its "sooner or later, he turns on everyone" moment yesterday:

I was new to Washington, and it was suggested that I use The Federalist Society as a recommending source on Judges. I did so, openly and freely, but then realized that they were under the thumb of a real “sleazebag” named Leonard Leo, a bad person who, in his own way, probably hates America, and obviously has his own separate ambitions. He openly brags how he controls Judges, and even Justices of the United States Supreme Court — I hope that is not so, and don’t believe it is! In any event, Leo left The Federalist Society to do his own “thing.” I am so disappointed in The Federalist Society because of the bad advice they gave me on numerous Judicial Nominations.

By "bad advice," of course, he means "recommended judges who have since occasionally told me I'm not above the law."

The tipping point was the US International Court of Trade's ruling on Wednesday that his unconstitutional tariffs are, you know, unconstitutional. Unfortunately, that ruling has been stayed pending his appeal, in which I understand he'll be represented by another judge:

Wordle 1441 Hint

Hint: Don't take today's Wordle literally -- it's just a figure of speech.

Not Enough? Get the first letter of today's Wordle after the ads below.

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: I

Wordle 1440 Hint

Hint: When a judge says no (to e.g. an indictment or motion).

Not Enough? Get the first letter of today's Wordle after the ads below.

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: Q

Wordle 1439 Hint

Hint: Today's Wordle is a real bear ... of the arctic variety.

Not Enough? Get the first letter of today's Wordle after the ads below.

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: P

Gave It Time, Finally Moved On ...

At the bottom of this site, and in the middle of the daily Wordle hint posts, I run an ad  -- a 468 x 60 banner. I do that through a "banner exchange" site, where I earn displays of my ads at other sites for the impressions I deliver here.

I'd been with an exchange called My Banner Ads for ... well, quite some time ... and had probably a million impressions built up / saved back when ads suddenly stopped appearing. When I went to the exchange's site, there was a "moving servers, be back soon" message. Then, a week later, the site was completely gone.

It happens. I gave it a couple more weeks to see if they got back up or are gone for good, and this afternoon I went ahead and set up with Banner Ad Hits, (that's a referral link, in case you're looking for such services). It looks fairly new and runs the same stock script as the previous. These kinds of sites come and go. When they go, I usually assume that they didn't get enough paid subscribers to cover hosting costs and be worth bothering with.

I'm not heavily invested in the idea of serving up ads here. I started doing this particular thing just to fill some space between the Wordle hint and the "first letter" bit so that people who don't necessarily want the latter wn't see it without scrolling down, and any traffic it generates is a bonus.

Happy Birthday To One of the Records That Would Make My "Desert Island" List

Maybe even in the #1 position!

The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan was released 62 years ago today.

Wow.

For some reason, the very first song I remember learning in school is "Blowin' in the Wind" (the second is "Puff the Magic Dragon" ... I suspect my elementary school's music teacher just may have been a hippie at heart; he was also the first guy I can remember that everyone knew was gay and no one cared, even in a pretty uptight little Ozarks town; I didn't know what that meant circa 2nd grade, just that adults would sometimes refer to him as e.g. "light in the loafers" without apparent dislike or condemnation).

It's hard to pick a favorite from the album, but I usually go with this one when pressed:

Motorcycles: Never Say Never?

A few months ago I was catching up on movies and finally watched Venom. Fun flick, from 2018, and naturally what really caught my eye was the motorcycle Tom Hardy was riding. Looked it up. A Ducati Scrambler. Scrumptious, and obviously something I'll never be able to afford.

But is that true? In the last couple of weeks, I've come across at least two used Ducati Scramblers on Craigslist, at prices not far off my notional, one-of-these-days, $5k maximum spend.

My hypothesis:

Quite a few people who can afford that much motorcycle, and who are vulnerable to fad/trend purchasing, went in for the Scrambler they saw in the movie, or one like it, and now they're tired of it (maybe they even decided that motorcycles in general aren't really for them after buying too much motorcycle for their interest/ability). Now, a few years later, they're starting to dust those bikes off and try to get them out of their garages.

If so, I'll expect to see more Scramblers, of approximately that period (2015-2020) hitting the market over the next several years, at reasonable prices. And maybe I'll go that way. It's an 800cc (approximate) bike, which is right at the top of the engine size I'm thinking. Air-cooled (my preference) And it comes in yellow!

Wordle 1438 Hint

Hint: An entertaining competition.

Not Enough? Get the first letter of today's Wordle after the ads below.

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: S

I Was Actually Thinking About A Memorial Day Post Of Some Kind ...

... but one of those anonymous trolls kind of put me off the idea with a "you're a terrible person for not commemorating OUR BOYS!" comment (deleted as soon as I saw it because I've stopped tolerating that shit).

So, instead, two things:

• A 2016 Garrison Center column explaining why I don't think of "OUR BOYS" as the relevant topics of the observance; and
• A speech by Oliver Wendell Holmes that I had never read in its entirety, but noticed in The Bulwark today and remembered one phrase from -- "in our youth our hearts were touched with fire" -- because of Ken Burns's documentary on the Civil War.

Enjoy. Or not.

Third Post! Or, I'm Just Gonna Go Ahead And Say That The Problem Seems To Be At Amazon

The thing started out (and continued as, mostly) a "timely delivery problems" gripe.

But now I've got two instances of a different kind of problem to work with.

In that second post, I noted that Tamara had ordered a pair of shoes, which arrived on time, but which were a different type, color, and size than the ones ordered. We returned those, and are awaiting a replacement pair.

Yesterday, I ordered a 50-foot garden hose, one of those expandable things. An old one, one of two, finally gave up the ghost and I need at least 100 feet total to reach various things. Amazon cheerfully informed me to expect delivery today, and a few minutes ago Alexa told me "garden hose has arrived."

But what had arrived was not a blue, 50-foot expandable garden hose, it was ... a red t-shirt.

That's twice in a week that I've received a product in a timely manner from Amazon, just not the product I ordered. In this case, nothing even remotely like what I ordered.

I won't say I've never received the wrong item before. A few years back, they kept sending me pair of shoes B when I had ordered pair of shoes A. Right size, right color, but a different variant than I ordered It took three times for them to get it right. I think that probably had to do with one lot of shoes from the same brand getting mass-mis-labeled  by type or something, either by the manufacturer or at an Amazon warhouse.

But I can't ever recall ordering a thing from Amazon and just getting a completely different thing from them before. I wish they'd accidentally sent me a Gretsch Honeydipper resonator guitar, or a Chinese motorcycle. Then I wouldn't have bothered with a return.

Wordle 1437 Hint

Hint: A lazy bee (or a continuous B♭).

Not Enough? Get the first letter of today's Wordle after the ads below.

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: D

Well, That Explains A Lot ...

I'm almost completely into "older music." The only "new artist" from the last decade or so who really impresses me that much is Billy Strings.

I've thought about why I don't like most of the newer stuff very much, but other than a lot of it being very hip-hop-influenced and me not really being much into hip-hop, I couldn't put my finger on any particular reason why.

This morning, I ran across one of Rick Beato's videos from a few months back -- embedded below, but the link is to his channel and you should subscribe if you're into music at all -- and the light bulb came on. 

Three words: Bands Have Disappeared.

Being born in the mid-1960s, my experience of music -- rock music, anyway -- was bands. The Stones. The Beatles. Zeppelin. ELO. Rush. Etc. Yes, there were single-name acts (Bob Dylan is the first to come to mind), but it was mostly bands.

To confirm some of the numbers Beato was throwing around, I went and checked the latest Hot 100. On the singles chart, not a single band in the top 20. All solo artists or solo artists "with/featuring" other solo artists. On the album chart, two band albums in the top 20, both of them "greatest hits" type compilations by bands that were big decades ago (Fleetwood Mac and Oasis).

Which brings me back to Billy Strings. Yes, it's a single guy's name and I suppose listeners tend to think of it as him. But most of his music is very much played in a "band" context. Bluegrass, which is inherently a "band" kind of music even if it's got one guy's name on it. Or him jamming with a jam band. He has some cool duets out (e.g. "California Sober" with Willie Nelson, a fantastic performance of "All Along the Watchtower" with Dylan just the other day, etc.), but even that stuff is "band-ish," and I suspect he'd be the first to admit that even when he's a "frontman," he's generally playing band music (I may have embedded it before, but check out "Dust In A Baggie" at the Grand Ole Opry). And while I have the utmost respect for his abilities (and tastes) as a musician, that probably explains why I find him far more impressive than a gazillion other "solo artists."

Anyway, Beato (who also has a great interview with Strings) explains the "what happened to bands?" thing quite well in terms of the ability of solo artists to just plug in some MIDI stuff to sing over, then hire session players for a finished product, and how the music industry finds it easier to deal with one artist rather than with an argumentative group of artists, etc.

It makes me sad.

Wordle 1436 Hint

 Hint: Don't fall for today's Wordle (it's a swindle)!

Not Enough? Get the first letter of today's Wordle after the ads below.

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: G

An Update To A Previous Post (As A New Post, Because REASONS)

The previous post being "Are Shipping/Logistics Problems Running Ahead of Tariff Price Increases?"

The REASONS being 1) I just felt like probably writing enough words to rate a new post rather than an update within the old one and 2) it only just occurred to me that the perceived problem might be area-specific, and 3) hey, I have to write 650 posts this year to meet my goal.

From comments/discussion on that previous post:

[T]he sample size is small. At present, my household has four orders current with Amazon. Two have been delayed. Two have not yet arrived but are supposedly on time.

As of today, one of the four has arrived on time, and three have been delayed.

The single order that arrived on time was one order, but two packages, one delivered direct by Amazon, one by FedEx.

The third order delayed is an Amazon direct delivery that seems to have had two "delays in transit," both between Lakeland and Gainesville, before arriving in the latter location this morning.

So, OK, yes, the sample size is small and the destination point is single, but that's three of four orders, three of five packages, not running on time.

That looks significant. And it might be. Or it could just be one of those weird outlier "clusters."

Suppose the next 96 orders are all "on time." I'd say a 97% on-time rate with the 3% all being in one closely timed chunk was just an anomaly.

Maybe some bug popped up in the delivery estimate software, then got fixed. Maybe there's a transit choke point -- road work, or a pre-Memorial-Day-weekend traffic glut -- somewhere in Florida this week and more trucks than usual are hitting their "return to warehouse if you haven't made it this far by this time" marks.

On the other hand, if the "three of every four orders doesn't get where it's going by the time the vendor says it will" trend continues, I'd say something bigger is going on.

I now have two more orders in process and will be interested in the results.

One of those orders, I placed at least partially just to see what happens. I've been needing a new guitar/bass tuner anyway, so I ordered it yesterday. Its tracking says it is already in Gainesville and will be here today (shipped direct by Amazon).

The other order is another pair of shoes for Tamara, because one of those delivered on time was not the pair she ordered. Yes, I went back and checked to make sure the order wasn't incorrect on my end. It wasn't. The third party seller shipped a different shoe type, and different color, and different size than the order reflected. So those got returned ... and the shipping estimate on the replacement item is significantly longer than on the first pair, one to two weeks instead of four days. I don't know if that reflects "we're having shipping problems and we know it," or "ah, we're out of the correct shoe at the warehouse we shipped from before and are having to ship it from further away," or what.

Wordle 1435 Hint

Hint: Like Carl Perkins's shoes.

Not Enough? Get the first letter of today's Wordle after the ads below.

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: S

Best Foot ... Er, Feet ... Forward

My el cheapo "highway pegs" arrived yesterday, and I could tell immediately they would require some work. Bare metal brackets, no "shims" of any kind included. And yep, once I had them on the Italica Bulldog 150's "crash bar" and tightened, they immediately slipped when I got on the bike and put my feet on them. I was busy with other things and left them for this morning.

This morning, I found an old bicycle tire inner tube and cut two pieces, each wide enough to wrap around the "crash bar" under the clamp and each tall enough to cover the surface area of the clamp and a little below where, when the pegs are down (they flip up when not in use), the inside bottom of the peg itself also comes up against the bar. So both a tighter grip and a less slippery surface than bare metal for anything to slip on.

Tightened everything down, got on the bike, ran down the street and back. Seems to have worked. So now I can lean back and put my feet forward while riding, just like I'm in a recliner watching TV or something. I think I'll like that when I'm out on the country highways without a stop sign every thousand feet. And if I don't like it, well, I'm out nine bucks instead of 90 bucks.

One of the nice things about having a cheap Chinese bike is that there's a lot of cheap Chinese after-market gear out there. I don't feel like I have to buy expensive name-brand stuff unless there are real safety or performance considerations involved.

Update: I took the bike out for a longer, more leisurely Saturday ride. I didn't use the "highway pegs" a lot because that ride took me into town rather than out into the country. To the extent I did use them, they held up without shifting position, etc. As to whether I actually like them, I'm not quite sure. They'll take some getting used to before I decide that I do like them, that I like the idea but want ones with more surface area, or that they're just not worth bothering with.

Wordle 1434 Hint

Hint: In slang, it often goes with "jive."

Not Enough? Get the first letter of today's Wordle after the ads below.

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: S

Are Shipping/Logistics Problems Running Ahead of Tariff Price Increases?

My family orders quite a bit of stuff from Amazon, and occasionally -- occasionally -- there's a delivery delay.

Almost every time, that delay seems to be a US Postal Service thing.

This week, I've got two separate delivery delays, on two separate orders, involving two separate carriers, neither of which is US Snail. One is direct delivery by Amazon, the other is UPS.

Which makes me wonder: Related to the coming (in some cases already here) tariff-caused price increases?

I can see two ways in which that might be the case.

One is that there's a lot more shipping going on as consumers buy stuff before the tariffs hit the prices.

Another is that the shipping services are already laying off, winding down, etc. because they know they'll be shipping less stuff soon.

Or it could just be one of those random things.

Wordle 1433 Hint

Hint: Shakespeare's first was published in 1623.

Not Enough? Get the first letter of today's Wordle after the ads below.

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: F

A Wonderful Discovery!

Two things I love:

1. A good spy yarn; and
2. A good audio or film adaptation of a good spy yarn

For the first, it's hard to get better than John LeCarre, in particular his George Smiley stories.

For the second, at least on the audio end, it's hard to get better than BBC radio plays.

And, I found out yesterday, BBC's George Smiley Radio Dramas are available at the Internet Archive.

Just finishing up the first one ("Call for the Dead"). Nicely done.

Wordle 1432 Hint

Hint: The kind of clock you may need, but may also have a love/hate relationship with.

Not Enough? Get the first letter of today's Wordle after the ads below.

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: A

I Try To Keep This Complaint To Once A Year ...

... but it bears repeating at least once a year.

I hate yard work. I've been completing the latest "mowing" of about 40% of my yard the last couple of days.

Only 40% because the back part, which used to be "wooded," and which I could never really keep up with anyway, is now full of the detritus from my landlord deciding to get rid of all the pines. than 90% of the trees (there were about 120, now there are maybe 10 if you count infant mimosas) disappeared, but not really. There are some unground stumps, lots of small limbs just left on the ground, etc. I'm not going to even try. I wouldn't try if I had a large tractor and a brush hog. A push mower and string trimmer? Nope.

"Mowing" in quotes because it really is mostly "weedeater" work. There are so many little stumps for a mower to damage itself on, so many divots from the heavy equipment used to eliminate those trees, etc. that in most areas it's easier to just walk back and forth with the string trimmer. Cheaper, too (I've ruined at least two cheap mowers in the last three years on those damn stumps, and still haven't found and removed all of them, mostly because I'm not interested in adding to my "yard work" work load).

When we buy a place out in the country, I picture something like this:

The bigger the lot the better, but definitely "wooded," with the house or trailer and outbuildings located in a clearing.

A fence enclosing a SMALL yard around the trailer and any outbuildings. Something I can mow in, say, 15 minutes. Something big enough to give a dog a little roaming room. Something big enough to stick one of those gazebo thingies in for outdoor morning coffee or afternoon grilling/lunch.

The rest -- jungle, except POSSIBLY for a "walking trail" loop that I mow/trim, or pay someone to brush hog, a couple of times a year.

Anyway, the yard is cut. It took a couple of hours a day for three days because I had got lazy and let it go so some of it was slow going and because I spent some time raking/picking up detritus from the landlord's most recent tree murder spree (cutting long limbs off some 200-year-old oaks). For the rest of the "mowing season," which here in north Florida basically starts in March and runs into (at least) October, my plan is to just spend 10-15 minutes a day on it every day as "exercise," which should mean the whole thing gets cut every week or ten days.

Again: I hate yard work. My kids are too old to need a yard to throw a ball in, so it's just wasted time to comply with landlord / local government demands.

Wordle 1431 Hint

Hint: Carried, as in children or long-term problems ... but I repeat myself!

Not Enough? Get the first letter of today's Wordle after the ads below.

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