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Saturday, May 17, 2025

Wordle 1428 Hint

 Hint: It's bigger now than it used to be.

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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: G

Friday, May 16, 2025

Another Plug For Proton Mail

 First the affiliate link, then the reason, then the plug:

  • THE AFFILIATE LINK
  • The reason: I don't know if it is general or "invite only," but I just received, and accepted, an invitation for half off a year of their "Mail Plus" option ($2.49 per month when billed for a year, as opposed to the usual $4.99 per month). If that's available to everyone, it's a really good deal. I took it because I know I'm planning to keep that service, so why not save $30?
  • The plug: While Proton Mail has a "free" version, well worth having if it fits your needs, the "plus" version lets you have up to 10 email addresses (instead of one), 15Gb of storage (instead of 1Gb), support for a custom email domain if you want, and a "hide-my-email" alias function, "Dark Web monitoring" to let you know if any information involving your Proton Mail email addresses got loose in data breaches, a desktop app if you prefer that to webmail, and up to 25 personal calendars (instead of 3).
They've also got other plans with more features (possibly on sale as well?). I'm just plugging the "Mail Plus" tier because it's what I use and I like it.

The "more features" plans include things like more storage (I might be interested in that when they get a desktop app that lets it work like Dropbox), more calendars (I only use one, not the 25 that come with my current plan),  more/better VPN connection options (I find the "free" version of Proton VPN sufficient), the ability to create more "vaults" in their password manager (my level of Proton Pass is sufficient for my needs), more crypto wallets (I do not use Proton Wallet so I don't need that), etc.

Wordle 1427 Hint

 Hint: The one you take when you'd rather not talk.

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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: F

Thursday, May 15, 2025

An Internet Connectivity Reprise

I've been having some connectivity issues lately. My Internet connection seems to be up and down, up and down, and whenever I call my provider (Cox) about it, they do a remote modem re-set. Sometimes that fixes the problem, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes, if it fixes the problem, it fixes it for five minutes, other times for five hours.

The thing is, usually the problem is specific to reaching certain sites/servers. I can reach, hypothetically, CNN or xHamster (thought I'd throw in a little spice there), but might not be able to reach Bing ... or my own shared server hosting account/sites.

This morning, that particular thing tickled my memory, and since I was stuck and unable to work anyway, I decided to see what happened if I connected over ProtonVPN (yes, that is an affiliate link -- if you purchase their premium services, I get some credit toward the costs of my own email/calendar/password manager/storage/VPN account).

Hmm ... hours later, I haven't had a single problem reaching any site I wanted to reach.

I'm considering letting Cox know about that, but that old memory tickler makes me think it wouldn't be worth it.

When I lived in St. Louis, my ISP was Charter. One day, I noticed a Charter truck down the road and workers going into and coming out of a manhole. I got an email notification that my services might be down for some fairly short period of time while they did an "equipment upgrade," and that's what happened.

But, when the service came back up, I could seemingly reach any site on the Internet ... except Rational Review News Digest. Try to reach the front end or the back end of the site, no dice. Just churned and eventually gave me a "can't reach the site" error.

That site being one of my daily workplaces, it was a problem. But I quickly discovered that I could reach the site via a proxy connection, and a little checking around told me that everyone I asked was having no problem whatsoever reaching it by normal means.

So, I called Charter several times, explained the problem, and got told that the problem was obviously with my computer, my cache, my browser, etc., that their systems were working perfectly well. thank you very much.

This went on for a week or so. Then one day I noticed a Charter truck and workers parked at the same manhole cover as before, and 15 minutes later I could reach my damn site. Hmmm.

I don't really mind using a VPN. In fact I should probably use a VPN most or all of the time. But, I think you'll agree, I shouldn't have to use a VPN just because my cable Internet provider has a misconfigured node or whatever.

Wordle 1426 Hint

 Hint: Enthusiastically desirous, like the metaphorical beaver.

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First Letter: E

Wednesday, May 14, 2025

New Shave Gear, First Impressions

TL;DR: I purchased the Amazon Basics 5-Blade MotionSphere Razor for Men with Dual Lubrication and Precision Beard Trimmer, Handle & 2 Cartridges (not an affiliate link); it arrived today; I like it.

Longer version:

Looking back, I see that I started using Dollar Shave Club handles and blades in 2012, fairly early in that service's history. And I liked DSC for a long time. Good blades. Pretty good handles (that they replaced on request as needed). Decent price. Good customer service.

I occasionally took breaks from DSC products. I tried Harry's. I tried a single-blade "safety razor." Other than the low quality of the handle on the latter, no problem with either, but both times I found it more convenient to just go back to DSC.

But DSC has been going downhill for several years now, starting at somepoint after it was bought out by Unilever in 2016, then getting worse after Unilever sold out to an investment firm. The handles don't last as long before they don't want to grip the blade. New blades will arrive that no handle wants to hold on to very well (I think maybe they source from multiple manufacturers and quality control is ... spotty). The shave quality of the blades varies, although it's always pretty good.

So anyway, I canceled my DSC "auto-ship" subscription a few months back and started working my way through my built-up supply of blades, planning to try something else once I ran out. Which I've almost done, but I decided to move early because really having to re-attach the blade cartridge to the handle five times with every shave is just a pain in my ass.

Now: Any time I write about shaving gear, some of you feel the need to tell me about how you've been using the same dollar-store single-blade disposable razor for 20 years, sharpening it by rubbing it backward over jeans every six months, with no problems whatsoever and don't see the point of spending several dollars a year on these new-fangled smart razors that will order their own blade replacements and make omelets to order for you. I only have one thing to say by way of reply:

THAT'S FINE!

You do you. Shaving is a personal thing. Different people have different habits, requirements, rituals, whatever, and it's all good. I'm just telling you my impressions of the gear I choose for my situation. Use it if applicable. If not, don't.

I have a particular kind of beard and you may or may not have that kind of beard.

My whiskers tend to resemble the bristles on a wire brush in strength/texture until I grow them out long enough to get curly and do the beard stuff.

On the other hand, the skin underneath those whiskers has always cut easily.

I like a multi-blade razor (more than two) because it gets the whiskers off in fewer passes, meaning fewer cuts. I don't know if those "lubrication" strips usually do much, but they don't hurt. All of that also helps when I'm shaving my head, which on occasion I do for months or years at a time (right now I'm running a high and tight pompadour, and the top is long enough that it reaches the bottom of my rear hairline when brushed back; usually I keep it in a pony tail).

For shaving cream,  I used to like Jeffrey Tucker's suggestion of using baby oil (which I blogged back in the day but can't find at the moment), but it does leave the skin feeling, well, oily.

These days I use a mug, a brush, and shaving soap (Williams because I like it, it used to be cheap, and I bought a bulk pack of it -- but it seems to be selling for outrageous prices at the moment, so I may have to change when I run out).

So anyway, I ordered the Amazon Basics gear yesterday, and my beard had been growing out from "as short as it gets with barber clippers" length for a couple of days when it arrived this afternoon. I opened the package, inspected the gear, and shaved.




The handle feels substantial and the mechanism for holding the blade seems reasonably solid.

The blade is as advertised (five blades, "lubricating strips").

The shave was quite nice. No cuts, no razor burn, ergonomically sound, minimal number of passes to get everything.

So far, I am pleased, and the remaining variable is to see how long the blade lasts before it feels dull (i.e. pulls at the beard) or the little tabs that hold the blade to the handle give way. My personal standard is that I should be able to get at least five to ten shaves out of a single cartridge, if I'm shaving at least every third day.

If I got five shaves per blade and shaved three times a week, I'd need 32 blades per year. If I got ten shaves per blade, I'd need 16 blades per year. Twelve blades cost about $16, so I am guessing Id be spending $25-30 per year on blades.

BUT! I expect quite a bit less, because I usually grow a winter beard for four or five months (Novemberish to Marchish) each year, when I travel I usually grab a couple of dollar-store disposables so I don't lose my handle if I lose my luggage or forget my razor at a hotel, etc., and occasionally I just run "barber clipper length" stubble for a little while.

One of the nice things about it being an Amazon product is that I can do a "subscription" just like with Dollar Shave Club. If I decide to stick with this razor and these blades after the first two cartridges, I'll order the 12-pack replacement and then, if I'm still liking it a year from now, probably set up a "send me 12 blades once a year (or twice a year, depending)" thing.

Wordle 1425 Hint

 Hint: Small Cuban drum kit.

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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

Tuesday, May 13, 2025

Clickbait That Kinda Puts Me Off The Whole Idea

Screen grab:


It seems to me that eating at Texas Roadhouse would have to be an awfully damn complicated experience in order for it to be possible to make 19 mistakes while ordering (never mind while eating!). 

Would I want to eat at a place where I could plausibly mess up that many times before my plate even arrives?

I've only eaten at Texas Roadhouse a few times, but I've always had good food and a good experience with them.

According to the article, I've made 10 of the 19 "mistakes," but I don't agree that they're all "mistakes," although going the other way on some of them might strike some people as improving their experience. You do you.

One "mistake," for example, is "bypassing the legendary ribs." If I want ribs, I'll go to a barbecue joint or sit next to my smoker for several hours at home, nursing a beer and watching the temperature. I go to a steakhouse for, um, steak.

Another "mistake" is "passing on the sweet tea." I'm just not a sweet tea lover, and if I want that, well, I live in the south and can get real sweet tea (for you damyankees, that's tea with sugar dissolved in the hot water before brewing, as opposed to mere sweetened tea, where the sugar is added after brewing) pretty much anywhere that serves, um, tea.

I do agree that it would be a "mistake" to not have any of the rolls they provide with every meal. Good bread.

A Spoonful Of Sugar (Helps The Medicine Go Down)

I've seen at least one opinionator characterize US president Donald Trump's "offer" to attend Russia-Ukraine peace talks in Istanbul later this week as a "gate-crashing" maneuver that's really all about Trump's ego (no link -- I only noticed it in passing while doing other stuff and don't feel like trying to find it again).

Believe it or not, I try to give Trump credit when and where it's due, so allow me to point out that whether that's what it's all about or not, it's still a good idea.

Why?

Because Ukraine's Volodomyr Zelenskyy has said he will only negotiate directly with Russia's Vladimir Putin, while Putin declines to recognize Zelenskyy as Ukraine's "legitimate" "leader" and would most likely be inclined to send an underling.

If Trump is there too, Putin can pretend he's there to see Trump, not Zelenskyy, that Zelenskyy just happens to be there as well, while Zelenskyy gets to pretend his "only direct negotiations with Putin" position carried the day.

Everybody wins ... which is kind of the touchstone of "diplomacy."

Wordle 1424 Hint

Hint: What's today's Wordle? You already know.

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

Monday, May 12, 2025

And, I Was Wrong ...

... in my previous post predicting that Trump's executive order would merely set maximum prices the US government was willing to pay for drugs under e.g. Medicare. Per NBC News:

Most notably, officials said the policy will not be limited to certain drugs under Medicare, as it was in original version, but will also target medications covered by Medicaid and private insurance.
So, just out-and-out price controls. What could possibly go wrong? Well ...

The administration hasn’t singled out a specific class of drugs for price cuts, but officials said it’s fair to expect that GLP-1s — a class of drugs that includes Ozempic, Wegovy and Zepbound — will be included among them.

As if I didn't already have enough trouble getting the GLP-1 I use (Mounjaro), well, price controls is how you get

SHORTAGES

That's not the fundamental reason to oppose price controls, of course. They're wrong because they involve the state setting, rather than producers and consumers negotiating, prices (just like all state involvement is wrong because it uses force to intervene in market functions). But shortages are the most predictable negative side effect.

Well, hey ... whaddayagonnado?



Preemptive "Drug Prices Executive Order" Post

As I write this, the text of the executive order US president Donald Trump plans to issue today doesn't seem to be publicly available (I could just be looking in the wrong place), so I have to rely on media descriptors. I'll just go with ABC News:

Trump's proposal would likely only impact certain drugs covered by Medicare and given in an office — think infusions that treat cancer, and other injectables. ...  More common prescription drugs filled at a pharmacy would probably not be covered by the new order.

Naturally, Big Pharma is whining about it. No surprise there -- back during the Biden administration, they sued, claiming that it's literally unconstitutional for the US government to offer any price other than what the pharma companies might happen to demand for drugs purchased with taxpayer money.

One of the big dodges they use is pretending that they're operating under conditions of monopsony, i.e. there only being one buyer for their products, giving that buyer undue control. That's true neither in the United States (yes, the US government is a big customer, but even so its payments account for less than half of domestic prescription drug spending) or in general (there are lots of other customers to sell drugs to worldwide).

All of which is coming around to the claim I've heard from a couple of corners, that Trump is planning to impose "price controls" on pharmaceuticals. If the descriptions of the forthcoming order are accurate, nope -- he's just planning to say that one government program will pay X, and no more, for drug Y. The drug sellers will remain free to demand more than X from non-government customers, and remain free to tell the government "no sale, then."

Of course, you know me -- my strong preference is to get government out of healthcare entirely. But if government is in the business of paying for drugs, I see no reason why it shouldn't drive the hardest bargain it can.

Wordle 1423 Hint

Hint: One works/builds it with a curl.

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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

Sunday, May 11, 2025

Mystery Fairly Conclusively Solved

The three candidates for my stomach problems last week were: 1) Norovirus or something similar, 2) "food poisoning," and 3) Side effects of Mounjaro.

The first two would be gone by now, and on Friday I thought they pretty much were. I felt fairly good, and even had my first really substantial meal in Cedar Key with no obvious ill effects.

Then I got home and injected my second weekly dose of Mounjaro (I put it off until my return just in case), and within 24 hours the symptoms were back. Not as severely, but back.

I think I know why.

I've written in the past about the runaround my insurance company gave me even getting the stuff. I never had any such side effects with Ozempic, nor with my first installment of Mounjaro.

BUT -- part of the runaround was "there needs to be another prior authorization or a dosage change," and my doctor did the latter, taking me from 2.5mg per week to 5mg per week.

Such a dosage boost should really not be separated by ta long period of not having the medication at all. The lower dose gets your body used to the drug. But in my case, I had a month of 2.5mg, then 2-3 months of nothing while the insurer fucked around, then all of a sudden 5mg. And that is really messing with me.

Fortunately, my research says that should be a 1-2 week thing, total, and I'm into the second week. So I'll just eat smaller, blander, meals and use famotidine and simethicone for a few more days and hopefully be past it.

Wordle 1422 Hint

Hint: It's often made of wood, and used to fasten other pieces (again, usually of wood) together.

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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: D

Saturday, May 10, 2025

Music Recommendation

Reader Thane Eichenauer would like more music posts. I'll try to get to work on that, but as an aperetif, just a recommendation and video embed.

The recommendation: Almost anything by Billy Strings. Of the "new" crop of musicians -- those who have risen to prominence in, say, the last ten years -- I find him the most interesting and exciting -- I'm not sure there's anyone else from that period who's in his league -- and hope to see him live some time.

The video embed: His 2019 Grand Ole Opry performance of "Dust in a Baggie." All of the instrumental solos are commendable, but damn, that guitar solo is for the ages:



I Don't Really Have Opinions on Popes ...

... because, frankly, I'm not qualified to. I'm not a Catholic. I haven't gone to catechism classes, I don't attend Mass (except for a single midnight Mass at Christmas with a friend once), I can count the times I've even been in a Catholic church on one hand with fingers to spare. I have a very basic grasp of Catholic doctrine, but if you pointed out a pope to me and asked me to carefully analyze his papal words and actions vis a vis Catholic doctrine, I'd tell you you were asking the wrong guy.

I do, however, have opinions on the great number of supposed Catholics who greet every pope -- including, now, Leo XIV -- with gripes that his words and actions are somehow unrepresentative of catholicism (and, therefore, Christianity), because his politics are "wrong," etc.

Just to make sure I had it right, I popped the following prompt to Microsoft CoPilot's AI chatbot: "Catholic doctrine on papal primacy." I got the answer I expected:

The doctrine evolved over centuries, with key developments including:

  • First Vatican Council (1870): Defined papal primacy as a jurisdictional authority, meaning the Pope has universal, supreme, and immediate power over all Christians.

  • Second Vatican Council (1962-1965): Emphasized the Pope’s role within the collegiality of bishops, balancing his authority with the broader Church hierarchy.

  • Papal Infallibility: When speaking ex cathedra (from the chair of Peter) on matters of faith and morals, the Pope is considered infallible.


If you're a Roman Catholic, you presumably believe that Jesus gave Peter (whom you consider the first pope) "the keys to the kingdom of heaven," which he passed down to the popes who followed him via "apostolic succession," and that therefore the pope, whatever else he might happen to be, is the representative of God on Earth.

Either you believe Roman Catholic doctrine on the role and authority of the pope, or you don't.

If you do believe that doctrine, whether you like what he says or does is kind of irrelevant. He's. The. Boss. Because. God. Almighty. Himself. Says. So.

If you don't believe that doctrine -- if you think Pope [insert papal name here] is a dangerous heretic who's wrecking Christianity, rather than the authoritative representative of God on Earth -- then you are arguably not a Catholic, at least as I understand the term.

Either way, why whine about it?

If you agree with Catholic doctrine on his authority and primacy, then you're admitting that where you and he disagree, God says he's right and you're wrong.

If you don't agree with Catholic doctrine on his authority and primacy, abandon the Holy Roman Catholic Church and find another (or no) religion that you do agree with. "Problem" solved.

Policy Change Note (Thanks For Asking!)

The monthly Thanks For Asking! thread is an "Ask Me Anything" feature.

Note that the word "anyone" is not among the three words in that descriptor.

Henceforth, real readers with real questions -- any questions -- will still be able to ask those questions.

People (actually almost certainly one person) who create multiple single-use Disqus accounts to ask stupid, often vile, "questions" will have their questions deleted unanswered. Not because of the questions per se -- while  I doubt real readers of the site / real friends of mine would ask most of them, they're free to if they want -- but because of the idiotic and annoying methods.

That is all.

Restorative!

Dolphins! Saw Dolphins!

Reader GregL and I didn't do as much exploration of Atsean Otie Key yesterday as I had initially expected, probably because I was weak and tired after that early-week sickness and clearly not up to it, but we did make the paddle out to the key, sat and talked on its little beach for a while, then paddled partway around the island into a waterway that splits the island, out the other side, back around, and back to Cedar Key.

On the way out, we saw the dolphins doing a little jumping out of the water, etc. On the way back, not as much but a fin or two. First time I've seen that animal in the wild. Ditto horsehoe crabs and at least one sea turtle of some kind.

I was glad to see that Cedar Key seems to be recovering from Hurricane Helene more quickly than I'd have expected, infrastructure-wise. From the news reportage, I kind of had the impression that all the buildings were just literally swept away, but that clearly wasn't the case. There was plenty of new construction, of course, but a lot of stuff that had withstood the storm surge, etc. and been repaired too. One shop (not open at the moment we walked past -- apparently a number of businesses don't open until late on Friday afternoons and only operate on the weekend) had hand markings next to its door of the water level reached by various hurricanes.

We had a late lunch at Steamers, the restaurant I always hear associated with Cedar Key. They're currently operating at (in tandem with?) 2nd Street Cafe, as their waterfront location was damaged by a fire a few days before Hurricane Helene probably assisted greatly with pre-re-construction demolition work.

Great food and great service. I even had a beer, something I rarely ever do these days. They happen to serve what may be my favorite beer in the world, Big Nose IPA, made by Swamp Head Brewery in Gainesville.

The beer, of course, necessitated a wait before motorcycling home, but that's never a problem when I'm hanging with GregL. We're always able to find interesting stuff to talk about and he's a great conversationalist. He also brought me a dozen eggs (he keeps chickens), for which I'm grateful. They made it home with no breakage in my motorcycle "trunk."

Which brings me to the ride:

I left home at 8am, even though I didn't need to be in Cedar Key until 10:30am. After that early-week sickness, I didn't want to be late if I had to make several bathroom stops, etc. (as it turns out, I didn't, but I didn't want to risk it, and I have a tendency to be early to places anyway). I stopped in Bronson, 15 miles from my home, and topped off the gas tank. Fuelly tells me that the Italica Bulldog 150's mileage for the period between that fill-up and the previous one was 63.6 miles per gallon.

Got back on the bike and rode the remaining 35 miles or so to Cedar Key with no stops. BUT! Since I was in no hurry and there was almost no traffic (I was passed by a total of two vehicles on that 35-mile stretch, and one of those passings was basically in Bronson), I decided to take my time and mostly putt along at 45 miles per hour, keeping the bike at 5,500-6,000 RPM instead of imposing maximum strain on the engine.

Once I got there, I started looking for the kayak rental place. Neither of the addresses listed for it seemed to be in operation (or even in existence based on signage). I rode the bike around town at first, then walked because one of the listed locations was on a road closed for construction. Once GregL arrived, we just went to the big collection of kayaks on the beach and found a sign with a phone number on it. The guy came over from his other business (golf cart rental) within a couple of minutes and we got the deal done. I got the impression that he'd given up on maintaining "office locations," at least temporarily, since the hurricane.

I believed that I had plenty of fuel in the tank to make it back to Bronson to fill back up again, but had a reserve fuel bottle (750 ml) in the motorcycle trunk, just in case. I ended up thinking I was going to have to use it -- my "you are about to run out of gas" light began blinking maybe 15 miles short of Bronson.

But I did make it without touching that reserve bottle, and this time (again per Fuelly) I'm informed that I got a beautiful 74.7 miles per gallon over the 76 miles I covered between Bronson and Cedar Key, both ways (plus some riding around Cedar Key itself). I attribute that to mostly keeping the bike in that sweet 45mph zone both ways instead of pouring extra gas into the carburetor just to eke out another 10-15mph.

Anyway, made it home, interacted with family a bit, then slept like a log. I really needed this trip, and I'm grateful to GregL for taking it with me. I've been meaning to ride to Cedar Key ever since I got the bike, but the route is so ... low-habitation ... that I wanted to be in communication with someone who would also be in the area and could come grab me if the bike broke down.

Note: As usual with me, no photos. I always mean to take some, and I always get caught up in things and forget. Also, on the water, my phone was in an at least somewhat protected thigh bag and I didn't want to get it wet or drop it in the Gulf of Mexico. GregL got some video from the kayak (or at least attempted to -- it was too bright out for him to see his camera's viewscreen very well). If he sends me something shareable and cool, I'll share it.

Wordle 1421 Hint

Hint: It's important in the making of beer or bread.

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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: Y

Friday, May 09, 2025

Wordle 1420 Hint

Hint: Nonsense! Or, the lining of a cow's stomach.

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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: T

Thursday, May 08, 2025

The Shirt(s) Off My Back

I'm kind of particular about shirts. I know people who look good in "polo" shirts, but I don't think I'm one of them. If it's a short sleeve shirt that buttons only at the top, I wear a Henley. If I want to be semi-dressy but not actually dressy, a retro-style shirt of the "bowling" or "1950s" type. And of course lots of t-shirts.

I'm in a slow process of turning over my wardrobe, and the deal is that every time I acquire a new shirt, at least two old shirts go in the donation bag or the "cut up for rags" pile.

This (not an affiliate link) arrived the other day, on sale at Amazon for eight bucks or so:


So now I'm debating with myself which shirt or shirts to discard. I have a pretty ratty Walmart Pink Floyd shirt that's an ideal candidate, but the other one is one I've been struggling with: It's a pink t-shirt with the Word SLINKY and a drawing of a Slinky on it.

I don't know why I'm so attached to that shirt. I picked it up on clearance for $2.99 at, IIRC, Old Navy maybe 10 years ago (I think I've been in Old Navy twice, ever, and the second time was to see if they had any more of that shirt). Now it has a couple of small holes in it and is worn so thin it's nearly translucent, and also very pale, especially in the areas that were exposed to the sun when I inadvertently left it outside for a day. The text and graphic are basically invisible to anyone who doesn't know they're there. It really shouldn't be worn anymore, period, and it definitely shouldn't be worn outside where people can see it. But I just don't want to let it go.

One part of my wardrobe transition is reducing, but improving, my shirt collection. Another part is transitioning from my beloved Thai Fisherman Pants to jeans and cargo pants that offer a little more protection on the motorcycle. I think I've thrown away four or five pairs of the former while buying a carefully curated (by price -- I don't pay more than $20 for pants, and another reason I've moved away from the Thai Fisherman Pants is that they used to be $5.99 to $8.99 and now are often $20+, even before the tariff BS started) collection of the latter. I'm also emphasizing blacks and bright yellows to match the motorcycle. Which I guess kind of locks me in to a motorcycle color scheme in the future.

Or maybe not. If I had a spare $20k-$25k (the latter for certain accessories) just lying around, I think I'd buy the new Harley Davidson Pan America 1250 ST. Yellow is not one of the trim options. Then again, if I had $25k to blow on a bike, I guess I could also afford to take it to a shop and have custom fairing colors done.

It's not just the cool commercial for the movie Thunderbolts, with Sebastian Stan riding one as The Winter Soldier that has me craving that bike, although that is cool:


It's that the bike seems nicely built for things I'd like to do. It's a "touring" and "adventure" bike, so I could ride it 1,000 miles on the freeway or take it down rough country roads, even offroad. And maybe fight bad guys riding in military vehicles. That kind of thing. The engine is waaaay bigger than I really need (supposed top speed: 141 miles per hour), but it just looks like a cool, comfortable, versatile bike.

One of the nice things about Harley: Five years after they release a $20k model, there are all kinds of them, still in decent shape and without outrageous mileage, on the used market in the $5k range. So maybe I'll actually get there someday.


There May Be Some Scattered Thunder Showers Tomorrow ...

... but I'm still planning to meet reader GregL in Cedar Key tomorrow morning for a kayak trip out to Atsena Otie key.

Just gave the Italica Bulldog 150 its pre-trip once-over. Oil's good. Tire pressure's good. I was thinking about sliding my fun new "top box"/"trunk" back a little, but decided to keep it where it is for this trip and then reconsider.

It really hasn't been a very good week, yet. I got sick on Monday, and still don't know if it was a bug of some kind, or a reaction to my Mounjaro injection, or if the London Broil I ate for lunch was "off." I felt generally "yuck" until this morning and put a lot of miles on the toilet (as well as having heartburn). I weighed myself a week or ten days ago, then just now, and I seem to have lost 11 pounds in the intervening period (my total food intake between Monday and today has really been about one good meal). My next Mounjaro injection is tomorrow -- after the trip.

So now you know why I haven't been blogging very much. Or doing much of anything else I didn't absolutely have to get done. I plan on having some kind of light meal tonight to see what happens, but I don't plan on letting anything stop me from getting on the bike and taking off tomorrow morning. Whatever I had, it wasn't contagious even at its height, so there's that.

Anti-Censorship Software Bleg

I'm looking for a script, app, etc. that follows a particular account on X (formerly Twitter) and reproduces the content in a way other than a "retweet" connected to said account.

It's something I thought about before, but this morning I noticed a story about how X (formerly Twitter) has restricted accesss, in Turkey, to the account of Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu at the "request" of the Erdogan regime.

It would be nice for supporters of a particular censored person to help that person get around censorship by reproducing his or her posts in an accessible way -- that is, instead of a retweet that pulls content from the restricted account [likely making that content unavailable where the content is restricted], it just says something like:

"Ekrem Imamoglu posted the following content at [insert time/date here]: [Content]."

Even a few hundred supporters of the person in question using such software would likely make it very troublesome for censorious regimes to keep up with block "requests."

Wordle 1419 Hint

Hint: "Goldilocks" weather -- not too hot, not too cold, not too windy, etc. ... just right and pleasant.

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First Letter: B

Wednesday, May 07, 2025

Wordle 1418 Hint

Hint: The kind of man the Village People sing about being.

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First Letter: M

Tuesday, May 06, 2025

Wordle 1417 Hint

Hint: A collection of rooms or songs.

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First Letter: S

Wordle 1416 Hint

Hint: Be quiet!

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First Letter: S

Sunday, May 04, 2025

Wordle 1415 Hint

Hint: Per Thoreau, "some circumstantial evidence is very strong," as when you find one of these in the milk.

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First Letter: T

Saturday, May 03, 2025

Wordle 1414 Hint

Hint: The person who most famously claimed to be one was probably Lee Harvey Oswald.

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First Letter: P

Friday, May 02, 2025

Recovered Memory!

Next Friday, I plan to ride the motorcycle out to Cedar Key, Florida, meet reader GregL, and kayak out into the Gulf of Mexico (no, I won't be using that other name) to Atsena Otie Key:

Atsena Otie Key Island

I've been thinking of this planned expedition as "the first time I've been on a vessel in the ocean," but I woke up this morning remember that I've actually been on four vessels in the ocean. As a kid, I toured three of them (the WW2 aircraft carrier Yorktown, the merchant vessel Savannah, and a submarine I can't recall the name of at the moment) at Charleston Harbor. As an adult I toured the battleship North Carolina at Wilmington. They were all docked, but technically they were in the ocean.

So I guess this will be the first time I've been on a moving vessel in the ocean (excluding a little "boogie board" less than half the size of my body that I used in the Pacific off California).

If you happen to be off the Florida coast next Friday afternoon, drop by Atsena Otie Key and look for us. Bunch of history in the area, ranging from pre-Columbian habitation to Civil War fighting to John Muir's explorations, in the area.

Wordle 1413 Hint

Hint: This Wordle isn't mine! Does it belong to you? Or to that other guy over there? Or the lady hiding behind the curtain? To what person does it belong?

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First Letter: W

Thursday, May 01, 2025

The Stupid, It Hurts ...

Disclaimer: I'm not interested in helping Democrats beat Republicans or vice versa. I am, however, interested in how politics works, and in other people's misunderstanding of same.


Democrats can win over young Trump voters. Here’s how.

Tag line:

The party should focus on the issue that represents the greatest threat to Gen Z: climate change.

What. The. Actual. Fuck?

To the extent that "climate change" is an "issue," it's been an "issue" for decades.

Including last November, when those Gen Z voters chose Trump.

Who is now doing exactly what he said he was going to do about it by way of getting them to choose him.

Which means they either agreed with him or didn't care about that "issue."

And that makes sense, since almost all voters who care about "climate change" as an "issue" already vote Democrat.

And the thing about "climate change" is that it's a long-term deal. It's unlikely that its causes or negative impacts, if any, will become dramatically more obvious over the next two years than they were last year. Which means that, as "an issue," it's probably going to elicit the same responses from the same voters next November as it did last November.

If you're a Democratic candidate who wants votes from Gen Zers who supported Trump last November, you have two options:

  1. Campaign in a way that makes you look more like Trump than your Republican opponent does (which will cost you votes from people who voted for Harris); or
  2. Campaign on issues where Trump is visibly screwing those Gen Z voters who supported him in a way that they really notice and now object to (even if they thought they would support it). He's raising their taxes and using the money to murder Palestinians, for example. Or he's abducting and deporting their sisters. "'I never thought leopards would eat MY face,' sobs woman who voted for the Leopards Eating People's Faces Party."
Babbling about "climate change" will change somewhere in the general neighborhood of zero votes.

Wordle 1412 Hint

Hint: Expert, as both verb and noun.

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First Letter: A

Thanks For Asking! -- 05/01/25

ASK! [IN COMMENTS]


I'LL ANSWER! [IN, OR LINKED FROM, COMMENTS]

Yes, it's the monthly AMA thread. Let's go.




Wednesday, April 30, 2025

These Guys Are Out Of My League On More Than Just Football

According to Men's Journal:

“I don’t want to offend anybody, I never understood the reason that somebody would want to wear Gucci, or some of these high-end brands,” Kelce told the New York Times. “It’s never appealed to me. I would much rather wear something that symbolized a blue-collar worker as opposed to a suit."

Kelce clearly hinted at younger brother Travis' [s]penchant for wearing expensive clothing while making public appearances with billionaire girlfriend Taylor Swift.

And I do agree with him on his opinion of Travis's clothing choices. Some time back, I went to look at a "trucker's hat," aka a baseball cap, Kelce The Younger was wearing in a photo I saw. IIRC, it was priced at $80. Yes, a baseball cap. Heck, maybe it's a quality baseball cap, but if they're charging more than $10-15 for it, it's very pricy IMO.

So I went to check out American Giant, the "made entirely in America" company Kelce The Younger just announced some kind of brand partnership with (pursuant to which he made the comments about "high-end brands").

Their t-shirts start at $40, and most of them are $55 and up. Polo and Henley style shirts seem to start at $100. Jeans, $175. Sweat shorts, $88. But their trucker hat is "only" $50, so I guess they're somewhat cheaper than Travis's speed.

OK, look, I'm a cheapskate. I admit it. I often shop for clothing at thrift stores and yard sales or, yeah, buy cheap stuff (until Trump's tariffs) at Temu. But I also buy some new clothing at such "high-end" outlets as Walmart, Rural King, and Sam's Club. I'm willing to go as much as $20 for a nice pair of jeans or $10-12 for a shirt I really want.

Jason Kelce v. Travis Kelce on clothing seems to be a difference of degree, with both of them located close to each other and far, far away from me. If I'm paying $100 for a shirt, it needs to be a Chiefs or Eagles jersey signed by Travis or Jason and maybe even game-worn. Which, yeah, I know is never going to happen.

I love both those guys. I love them on the football field (Jason almost made me an Eagles fan before retiring), I love their podcast, etc. But I have to suspec they're a little out of touch with what constitutes "high-end" clothing.

Wordle 1411 Hint

Hint: Today's Wordle avoids work whenever possible.

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First Letter: I

Tuesday, April 29, 2025

Which Is More "Hostile and Political?"

Imposing massive tax hikes on American consumers?

Or showing those consumers just how big those tax hikes are?


I disagree.

If You Thought Trump Was Going To Protect You From Bad Cops ...

... well, if you can read this, you're probably not dumb enough to have ever thought Trump was going to protect bad cops.


And to use the military to up-arm and up-armor them even more, of course.

Wordle 1410 Hint

Hint: Some equate it with ignorance.

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First Letter: B

Monday, April 28, 2025

Wordle 1409 Hint

Hint: Today's Wordle's career options include crash testing.

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First Letter: D

Sunday, April 27, 2025

Is Microsoft's Algorithm Unintentionally Helping Me With Wordle?

Here's my Wordle solution for yesterday:


I can actually explain how I immediately jumped from "TORSE" to "CLASH":

  1. If my starting word is wrong, I try to use a "C" in my second guess.
  2. What comes after an "S" in the next-to-last spot? "E" is a good guess, but that's already eliminated. "H" is pretty high on the likely list. I thought about "SLUSH," but try not to use the same letter twice unless it's obvious or I'm running low on guesses.
Definitely some luck there, but it just seemed like a good guess.

BUT!

It just so happened that my Microsoft-powered "new tab" page had, a few moments before I did Wordle, shown me some click bait related to a band -- The Clash.  So that word was on my mind.

I have to wonder if their algorithm didn't do something like "this user plays Wordle; this user tends to click on stories about music, definitely including 70s/80s punk; today's Wordle answer is CLASH; hey, intersection of clickability!"

It's not the first time I've noticed that the Wordle answer seems related to stuff I noticed on my "new tab" page right after I opened that "new tab" page and prepared to click on my Wordle bookmark.

Wordle 1408 Hint

Hint: Like my yard when I don't get around to mowing it in a timely manner.

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First Letter: W

Saturday, April 26, 2025

Wisconsin Apparently Needs Better Bailiff Training

According to CNBC, judge Hannah Dugan was abducted "on courthouse property" for the "crime" of having informed members of the ICE gang that they needed a real warrant rather than a fake warrant if they wanted to arrest someone there, afterward assisting their would-be victim in exiting the courthouse without encountering the gang's enforcers (unfortunately they did catch him outside).

If the bailiffs had done their jobs correctly, the thugs who came to a courthouse to kidnap a judge would have left in body bags, not with their target.

Wordle 1407 Hint

Hint: Like stripes with polka dots, or Strummer with Jones.

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First Letter: C

Friday, April 25, 2025

Wordle 1406 Hint

Hint: Once you've solved today's Wordle, that solution will describe its own status with respect to you.

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First Letter: K

Thursday, April 24, 2025

Motorcycle Trunk: First Impressions

 It finally arrived (shipped by sea and took its time)!


That's the new motorcycle "trunk," mounted on the Italica Bulldog 150.

Let me get the negatives out of the way first, since they're fairly minor:

  • No mounting instructions included, just a bunch of hardware to sort through, some of which I used and some of which I didn't. I can see why there aren't any instructions -- every bike is a little different, so the mounting procedure and hardware will be different too. I got it all sorted, but at least some kind of rough diagram seems like a necessity for those even less mechanically inclined than myself.
  • Quality? Meh. I would not have purchased this at the standard Temu retail pricing of $35-$45 (depending on vendor). I got one of those "buy $20 worth of stuff, get a big discount on one item" offers, and used it to get this down to $8 or so. That's reasonable, about what I'd have paid for something as nice or nicer at at thrift store or garage sale. It's not terrible in terms of materials or construction. Just nothing to write home about. I expect it to shatter in any significant crash, which is no big deal since I will also shatter in any significant crash and not be worried about the damn trunk.
  • Effect on riding experience, only mildly negative, and that's all about it being harder to swing a leg over and get on or off the bike. I don't think the aerodynamics are a problem, as the box isn't really any wider than I am when I'm sitting in front of it. I didn't notice any performance impact, but I only took it out for a couple of miles to see if it would vibrate loose.
The positive:

  • It didn't vibrate loose. If I decide to keep the thing on there long-term, I'll throw some thread locker on the bolts and re-tighten them.
  • It's big enough to hold my full face helmet (and then some), which means I don't have to keep the helmet in the house and don't have to lug the helmet around every store I go into.
  • It locks, so my helmet and other stuff probably won't get stolen unless the whole bike gets stolen with them.
  • It's probably big enough to hold most of my things for one- or two-day trips. If not, I can remove the trunk, throw my saddlebags over the rear rack, and re-attach the trunk.
I haven't decided how I feel about how it looks. Kinda big, overpowers the look of a small bike. I'm leaning toward keeping it off most of the time and only attaching it when I really need that particular kind/quantity of cargo hauling capacity.

If So, Huzzah!

I haven't seen Sinners yet, and may not see it on the big screen. But it looks like lots of vampire-themed fun and I'll definitely see it at some point, in some format:



One bold claim I've seen in several places -- here's Eileen Jones's version at Jacobin -- is that it's "it’s not a sequel, reboot, or adaptation of anything." Truly original, maybe even escaping the frequent verdict that every movie plot is, in one way or another, just a Shakespeare re-hash.

I'm not sure about that, but the less obviously reliant it is on previously existing "intellectual property," the better.

I'm not going to pretend that I dislike all sequels, prequels, spinoffs, and reboots. Sometimes the second go-round is better than the first (the TV version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer versus the original movie, for example, and the TV version of The Punisher versus the John Travolta / Thomas Jane movie come to mind). But I do get tired of damn near everything being either an eternal franchise or a supposedly "fresh" retread of an old thing that doesn't even bother to change the title, the main characters, etc.

Wordle 1405 Hint

Hint: Barbara Eden played this bottled Basenji export.

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First Letter: G

Wednesday, April 23, 2025

I'm Shocked -- Shocked!

Not that Ron and Casey DeSantis are corrupt scumbags. That's been obvious pretty much from the start.

But it's at least a little shocking that even Republican politicians are starting to mention it.

Wordle 1404 Hint

Hint: A trivial name for catena-trioxygen.

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First Letter: O

Tuesday, April 22, 2025

Wordle 1403 Hint

Hint: Not necessarily an artist, but very visible/showy concerning one's interest in art.

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First Letter: A

Monday, April 21, 2025

After The Actual "Health Insurance" Complaint, Here's The Prospective One

I was discussing this with Tamara just the other day.

She wears a Fitbit, and so do I. I used to wear an Amazfit 5 Band, but then sequential research studies offered me free Fitbits to participate and I said yes (with the second study, I offered to just link my existing Fitbit for them, but they apparently found it procedurally easier to just give me a new one -- so now I should be in Fitbits for several years).

Anyway, wearing a "fitness tracker" -- not just a step counter, but a device that follows your heart rate, blood oxyen, sleep patterns, etc., and syncs with a phone app -- is well on its way to becoming a norm (a quick Bing search says that 21% of Americans wear one), and presumably these devices are going to continue getting less expensive to produce.

I predict that at some point, "health insurance" companies will begin offering, and later requiring or all but requiring wearing of, "free" fitness trackers to the "insured."

It will start off as one of those "aren't we great, free stuff!" things, and then eventually move on to you finding out that if you don't average at least x steps a day, etc., your co-pays go up.

Does anyone disagree (if you think you might, consider that car insurance companies are already on a similar track)?

I happen to like a fitness tracker, and I don't mind sharing the data mine collects with researchers (especially since they pay me in addition to providing pretty nice devices). But I may start looking around for the most privacy-centric fitness tracker to use when I'm not participating in a research study.

I Doubt I'm In A Class By Myself ...

... and at some point I expect to receive an invitation to formally become part of a particular class, where the word "class" implies "class action lawsuit."

I expect the defendants to be a number of "insurance" companies, i.e. PPOs and/or HMOs.

The plaintiffs will be people like me who've had an experience like the following:

  1. My doctor prescribes a drug from the new class of zippity-doo-dah anti-diabetes / pro-weight-loss, etc. "miracle" drugs, e.g. Mounjaro, Ozempic, etc.;
  2. My pharmacy informs me that the insurer has rejected the prescription and requires that it be filled by another pharmacy;
  3. The other pharmacy informs me that they can't fill it until they receive a "prior authorization," which must be requested of the insurer by my doctor;
  4. My doctor requests the "prior authorization;"


  5. The "prior authorization" eventually arrives and I'm able to fill the prescription. One Time. Then;
  6. The pharmacy informs me that my doctor will need to get a new "prior authorization," or change the dosage, or something;
  7. Rinse and reuse some variation of the above sequence.
For the last 15 years or so, I've been on several prescription medications.

This is the only such medication I've had anything like this kind of situation with.

It's fairly obvious that the insurers (I'm sure mine isn't the only one, if for no other reason than that it is one branch of a company with subsidiaries all over the US) are trying to save money by slow-walking provision of the drugs, with a certain number of people just giving up on getting the drugs, dying while waiting for the drugs, etc.

I'm not the litigious type. In fact, I've never personally sued anyone, nor have I ever joined a "class action" suit as a plaintiff (I have received a few small settlements after those settlements have been reached, pursuant to being informed I'm eligible because I qualify as part of the "class").

What I'd like to see happen is for my "insurer" to just stop fucking around and letting my pharmacy provide the drugs I'm prescribed, with whatever reasonable applicable co-pay.

But at this point, when and if I do hear of litigation over this matter, I'll sign on as quick as I get handed a pen.

Wordle 1402 Hint

Hint: What Tennyson's Gareth stared at.

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First Letter: S

Sunday, April 20, 2025

I Guess I Can Take Comfort ...

... that what seems to be a case of the flu isn't part of some kind of major outbreak in my area.

It's not terrible as flu -- or whatever it is -- goes, but annoying. I started feeling lousy yesterday -- runny nose, body aches, fatigue, scratchy throat, but no fever -- and didn't feel any better this morning. My Fitbit sleep score was "fair," but I didn't wake feeling rested.

Kinda sucks. I had planned on attending Easter sunrise service, but didn't feel well enough to (aside from which much of our church's congregation is older and/or immuno-compromised, and I wouldn't want to get anyone else sick.

At least I was able to justify not writing a weekend Garrison Center column. You know, holiday.

Wordle 1401 Hint

Hint: Where you might find berries, briers, or both.

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First Letter: P

Saturday, April 19, 2025

What You Expect And What You Get Are Not Always The Same Thing

I've been plotting for weeks to turn my not-currently-in-use Raspberry Pi 4B into a voice assistant machine using something called Mycroft, in a device-specific format called Picroft.

The essential remaining hardware bit (a cheap Chinese USB mic) arrived the other day, so this morning I burned the Picroft disk image to a USB card, set up the Pi, plugged in the mic and a speaker, booted the thing up ...

... and discovered, while searching for the meaning of strange error messages online, that the Mycroft/Picroft projects are apparently dead and have been for some time.

Oddly, none of that showed up during my original research into implementing the thing.

Not the end of the world. There are apparently newer, better, similar projects. Maybe I'll get one selected and set up next week so I can tell you about something that worked instead of about something that failed.

My main interest in Mycroft/Picroft was that my information wouldn't be going to Amazon for its proprietary business use (including potential forwarding to government agencies), as it does with Alexa. I'm not sure that the available alternatives will preserve any privacy (they seem to be hooking into Large Language Model AI stuff), but I doubt they'll be any worse as far as all that goes.