I Usually Find Amazon's "Prime Big Deal Days" Somewhat Disappointing These Last Few Years

This year isn't really an exception. I did buy two things -- a new motorcycle helmet and a Bluetooth headset to install in it -- and both were listed as "deals," but it was only a discount of about 10%, from ~$70 to ~$63.

It seems like a decade or so ago, there were a lot more discounts that were really deep, 30-50% off, than there are now.

I'd had that helmet and that headset in my "shopping list" for about a month, and 10% off is better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick -- especially since it doesn't include a $4 "digital products credit" I get for choosing "no rush shipping" (I'll spend it on Kindle ebooks -- haven't bought anything new to read in a little while). But I was kind of hoping that a $107 helmet I also had on my list would be on a deal for $70 or less.

The more expensive helmet is a well-regarded Italian brand that almost perfectly matches Lena Mae's "old school matte green" livery.

The helmet I bought is a black and gold Chinese helmet that has the same brand name as my tent. If the specs are accurate, it should be more appropriately sized than my current daily driver (my head circumference is right on the line between "medium" and "large," and the current helmet, a "large," is a little loose). In addition to an internal "sunglasses" visor, it has an extra external swap-in visor in glare-reducing gold.

Both the Italian and Chinese helmets are regular full-face helmets. The current helmet is "modular" so you can flip the whole front up and ride open-face, but I never use that feature. It's more trouble than it's worth, and also you're riding down the road with a big chunk of helmet sticking up and catching the headwind.

Wordle 1935 Hint

Hint: Not brightly.

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First Letter: D

Wordle 1934 Hint

Hint: A coffee bean variety, or the Yemeni port it's named for.

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First Letter: M

Wordle 1933 Hint

Hint: The B-52s headed down the Atlanta highway, looking for this love getaway.

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First Letter: S

Applicable(?) Aphorisms #39

"The greatest wealth is to live content with little" (allegedly Epicurus, but more likely Lucretius)

True, false, good, bad, useful, not so useful, etc.? Discuss.

My thoughts:

The aphorism appears in "Vatican Sayings," a 14th-century Vatican manuscript, attributed to Epicurus but seemingly a partial/truncated quote from Lucretius in On The Nature of Things:

"The greatest wealth is to live content with little, for there is never want where the mind is satisfied."

The actual quote provides some context ... but perhaps the medieval Catholic Church wasn't as keen on to that context to the extent that it preached general contentment, without intellectual enrichment, to the peasantry?

Either way, it's a nod to the virtues of "the simple life," but in the fuller version it promotes "the life of the mind."

Personally, I'm happier when I possess certain material objects that exceed the absolutely, positively necessary minimum but either make life easier or are enjoyable. For example, I'd rather drive or ride than walk unless I'm walking specifically for enjoyment.

On the other hand, given the choice between a free Lamborghini on one hand or a free practical vehicle and library filled with books of my choice, I'd probably take the latter (or take the Lamborghini, sell it, and buy the practical vehicle, the books, and other things both practical and enjoyable).

But let's roll that back even more to the first few words: "The greatest wealth is to live content ..."

No. To me, contentment itself is a form of death. What's life without goals and ambitions, however minor or trivial they might be in the scheme of things?

Wordle 1932 Hint

Hint: Even someone who claims to own no pets will almost always have at least one of these constant annoyances.

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First Letter: P

Wordle 1931 Hint

 Hint: A financial practice of great interest.

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First Letter: U

Thanks For Asking! -- 10/01/26

Happy October! It's the monthly AMA thread -- ask me anything in the comment thread below and I'll answer in, or linked from, the comments (if you're a real reader, that is -- if you're a troll, your question has to be interesting or it will just get deleted).

Wordle 1930 Hint

 Hint: Swanky/posh. Or, alternatively, like a popular snack cracker.

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First Letter: R

NFL Week 4 Picks

Week 4 of the 2026 NFL season kicks off tomorrow night with the Pittsburgh Steelers, I predict, savaging the Cleveland Browns on Amazon Prime Video. Here are my picks -- feel free to join my "leaderboard" at ESPN's "Pick'em" game if you'd like to compare football prediction prowess.

• Pittsburgh Steelers beat Cleveland Browns
• Washington Commanders beat Indianapolis Colts*
• Buffalo Bills beat New England Patriots
• Chicago Bears beat New York Jets
• Jacksonville Jaguars beat Cincinnati Bengals*
• New York Giants beat Arizona Cardinals
• Philadelphia Eagles beat Los Angeles Rams*
• Green Bay Packers beat Tampa Bay Buccaneers
• Baltimore Ravens beat Tennessee Titans
• Houston Texans beat Dallas Cowboys*
• Minnesota Vikings beat Miami Dolphins
• Kansas City Chiefs beat Las Vegas Raiders
• San Francisco 49ers beat Denver Broncos
• Seattle Seahawks beat Los Angeles Chargers
• Detroit Lions beat Carolina Panthers
• New Orleans Saints beat Atlanta Falcons

"Upset" predictions -- predictions on which I disagree with the majority of ESPN Pick'em players -- are marked with asterisks. Any changes I make to my picks will be done prior to kickoff and noted below as well.

Wordle 1929 Hint

 Hint: Per Heraclitus, you'll never step in the same one twice.

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First Letter: R

NFL Week 3 Results

I went 8 right, 8 wrong in NFL week 3, which doesn't seem like a great week. But I apparently did better than most, since I remain in the 93.7th percentile in ESPN's "Pick'em" game. Of my eight incorrect picks, six of them were not upset picks but rather went with the consensus. And two of my upset picks worked out. Correct picks in green, incorrect picks in red:

• Green Bay Packers beat Atlanta Falcons
• Buffalo Bills beat  Los Angeles Chargers
• Carolina Panthers beat Cleveland Browns
• Detroit Lions beat New York Jets
• Houston Texans beat Indianapolis Colts
• Kansas City Chiefs beat Miami Dolphins
• Tennessee Titans beat New York Giants*
• Cincinnati Bengals beat Pittsburgh Steelers
• Seattle Seahawks beat Washington Commanders
• Jacksonville Jaguars beat New England Patriots
• San Francisco 49ers beat Arizona Cardinals
• Minnesota Vikings beat Tampa Bay Buccaneers
• Dallas Cowboys beat Baltimore Ravens*
• Las Vegas Raiders beat New Orleans Saints*
• Denver Broncos beat Los Angeles Rams*
• Philadelphia Eagles beat Chicago Bears

So far I'm 30 right, 18 wrong for the season. I'd like to improve that dramatically, but I guess we'll see whether I'm able to.

Wordle 1928 Hint

 Hint: This equipment makes diving a real gas.

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First Letter: S

Key Motorcycle Choice Metric

While at my local Kawasaki dealership looking at the bike I got, I also sat on one of the other candidates: The KLR 650, an adventure touring bike that arguably answered better to certain characteristics I sought in that it's more configured toward carrying luggage, etc. for touring.

But the KLR 650 has a seat height of 33 inches plus, and I have a 32 inch inseam. So, impossible to flat-foot it on both sides at stops. Even at kickstand lean angle, my toes barely touched the floor. At my age and with my knee problems, not ideal. The time would almost certainly come when I'd roll to a stop, lean the bike over to put my left foot down, and just go on over.

The Royal Enfield Himalayan 450, which had been my target bike, has a slightly, but not much, lower seat height, adjustable from 31.5 to 32.5 inches.

The Eliminator has a seat height of 28.5 inches.

These seem like small differences just looking at the numbers, but it's the difference between stability and instability for a rider of my height/inseam at stops (or,  in off-road or soft-sand-road riding, when needing to get a foot down for a controlled-skid turn).

My other two bikes range from 28.7 inches for the Lifan KP-Mini 150 to 30.7 inches for the Italica Bulldog 150. On the Lifan, I can easily flat-foot it; on the Bulldog, not really ...

... but a factor to co-consider is weight. the Mini and Bulldog are much lighter bikes, coming in at between 220 and 250 pounds, wet. The Eliminator is next up that scale at 330 pounds. The KLR and the Himalayan, 400 pounds plus. An extra 100+ pounds would make a big difference coming to rest with the support of an unreliable knee.

So that turned out to be a big equation for me: If I'm going to ride a tall bike, it also needs to be a light bike, which probably means, at most, a 250cc air-cooled job. And those don't produce quite the power/speed I want for longer rides that entail at least some freeway travel.

I've got more than 200 miles on the Eliminator now and am starting to get comfortable with it. In addition to higher speed potential, it also has taller tires (18" front/16" rear vs. e.g. the Mini's 12" pairing). That sounded scarier to me, but the taller tires handle bumps and potholes a lot better and feel a lot more stable. The rear tire has yet to break loose on the sand roads I ride (including the cow path I live on ... but if it does, that lower seat height will make easier for me to get a foot down.

Wordle 1927 Hint

 Hint: What you'll find at the rear (usually) of an automobile or the front of an elephant.

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First Letter: T

Two of My Favorite Subjects in One Video

The two subjects are tariffs (which I, like all right-minded individuals, oppose) and motorcycles (which I, like most crazy people, love). As is often the case, the video is from Fortnine:

I Keep Affiliate Links Pretty Rare Here, But I'm Doing This One

"Cheap Chinese Junk Haters" can just move along. I learned this morning that Temu has an affiliate program. Yes, that is an affiliate link. If you use it, I get a little piece of the action (which I can withdraw to PayPal or just use to buy stuff at Temu).

PROS OF TEMU

• Low, low prices. Any time I'm looking for something specific, I compare what I find on Temu to what I find on Amazon, at Walmart, etc. I generally stick to small ticket stuff -- I think the most expensive thing I've purchased via Temu has been $30 or less -- but I often find equivalent items for about half the price. And the quality is usually similar (if you buy at Amazon or Walmart, it's likely just as Chinese as anything you'll find on Temu).
• Free shipping under certain conditions. If you're ordering direct from Temu, the minimum for free shipping is usually $20; for "local warehouse" buys (meaning the stuff is already in the US), $30 and it all has to be from the same "local warehouse" seller. But on the "local warehouse" stuff, the shipping is usually $2.99 if you don't want to spend that minimum.
• Order cancellations are easy if the items haven't yet been shipped. The screen warns that your refund may take a couple of days, but I've never seen it take more than a couple of minutes (I've canceled a grand total of two orders, once because I noticed I had put the wrong thing in my cart and then ordered it, once because a couple of minutes after my order, someone told me "we already got one of those").
• If you leave reviews,  negative language apparently triggers an immediate "refund or replace" offer. I've only had that happen once or twice and have never taken the offer because the negatives were little things (e.g. a motorcycle bag made of thinner cloth than I expected).

CONS OF TEMU

• There's none of this "same day / next day" delivery like you'll get with Amazon Prime or Walmart+. The non-"local warehouse" stuff is coming from China and there's a 5-10 day estimated wait time. The "local warehouse" stuff used to arrive really fast, but now seems to take about that long as well. So don't order anything you're in a hurry to get. BUT! there's an "arrives by" date when you place the order, and if it doesn't get there by that date, you get $5 credit to your Temu account.
• It's easy to get hooked into small item impulse purchases. There are a lot of cheap gadgets, gizmos, doodads, etc. available for a couple of bucks. I know someone who falls for that a lot. I quickly developed the habit of only visiting Temu when I'm looking for something specific; if I find and order that thing, and it doesn't hit the $20 free shipping minimum, then I'll look at other stuff and order enough to get free shipping.

So there you have it. That's my pitch for Temu. If you go for it, thanks and you're welcome. 

Wordle 1926 Hint

Hint: A boat like the John B.

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First Letter: S

Applicable(?) Aphorisms #38

"A man is great by deeds, not by birth." (Hinduism, Mahabharata 13.107)

True, false, good, bad, useful, not so useful, etc.? Discuss.

My thoughts:

Seems self-evident to me, but I found it interesting enough to merit a little research into how India got from that claim to the hereditary caste system that remains entrenched there today.

While the Mahabharata and Upanishads do refer to inherent qualities (gunas) and recommend aligning one's occupation and life with such qualities, they definitely emphasis behavior and accomplishment, not any strictly inherited social status.

It took a couple of thousand years for those individual "gunas" to evolve into occupational "varnas," and another thousand years or so for those "varnas" to get codified in e.g. the Manusmriti as legal duties.

In other words, as tends to happen with religion, politics ruined Hinduism in the area of social relations.

But back to the aphorism: Yes, obviously, it's what you do, not who your ancestors were, that matters.

Wordle 1925 Hint

Hint: A poetic lamentation.

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First Letter: E

Motorcycle Accessories/Gear On The Way ...

... because any new motorcycle needs some new stuff, and any motorcycle rider moving into a larger engine class should consider some gear improvements.

• Arriving today from China: A magnetic tank bag and an embroidered keychain with the bike's name ("Lena Mae") on it (I keep a separate, labeled keychain for each bike).
• Arriving soon from China: Mirror extenders and a little six-piece socket tool to supplement the bike's factory tool kit. Also, some stickers for the top case because I'm cool like that.
• Arriving tomorrow from Amazon: Motorcycle boots and a radiator protector.

I generally wear boots when riding, but haven't previously purchased boots specifically made for riding, and that's going to matter if I hit the pavement with a 400-pound motorcycle on top of me while moving at 60 mph (or any mph). I found a pair (Italian-sounding name, but of course Chinese in actual origin) on Amazon for $50 that are CE certified and EN 13634:2017 rated as 1-2-2-1. Those last four numbers signify abrasion resistance, impact cut resistance, transverse sole rigidity, and sole delamination resistance. "1" is basic, "2" is better.

As for the radiator protector, I was a little iffy on it, but after looking at the radiator at less than 200 miles, it looks like it really gets quite a bit of mud splash from the front wheel, so it's worth the $30 investment. It also looks great:

So far, the one really annoying thing about the Kawasaki Eliminator 450 is something I knew before I got it because it was mentioned in literally every video review I watched: The mirrors don't stretch out far enough on either side to really be useable by any person of normal shoulder width. You look in the mirror, you see your shoulder unless you twist your body halfway around to get your shoulder out of the way. Extenders are cheap, so I'm trying them first, but I may eventually just go to bar-end mirrors.

Wordle 1924 Hint

Hint: A forest, in miniature.

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First Letter: C

Happy Birthday to KN@PPSTER

The blog, not the man. The first post here went up 22 years ago today, to the minute.

Wordle 1923 Hint

Hint: Untidy/disorganized in a way that sounds similar to a popular soccer player's last name.

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First Letter: M

NFL Week 3 Picks

 Week 3 of the 2026 NFL season kicks off tomorrow night with the Green Bay Packers taking on the Atlanta Falcons. Here are my picks -- feel free to join my "leaderboard" at ESPN's "Pick'em" game if you'd like to compare football prediction prowess.

• Green Bay Packers beat Atlanta Falcons
• Buffalo Bills beat  Los Angeles Chargers
• Carolina Panthers beat Cleveland Browns
• Detroit Lions beat New York Jets
• Houston Texans beat Indianapolis Colts
• Kansas City Chiefs beat Miami Dolphins
• Tennessee Titans beat New York Giants*
• Cincinnati Bengals beat Pittsburgh Steelers
• Seattle Seahawks beat Washington Commanders
• Jacksonville Jaguars beat New England Patriots
• San Francisco 49ers beat Arizona Cardinals
• Minnesota Vikings beat Tampa Bay Buccaneers
• Dallas Cowboys beat Baltimore Ravens*
• Las Vegas Raiders beat New Orleans Saints*
• Denver Broncos beat Los Angeles Rams*
• Philadelphia Eagles beat Chicago Bears

"Upset" predictions -- predictions on which I disagree with the majority of ESPN Pick'em players -- are marked with asterisks. Any changes I make to my picks will be done prior to kickoff and noted below as well.

NFL Week 2 Results

Week 2 of the NFL season wrapped up Monday night, but I'm just now getting around to sharing my results. Correct picks in green, incorrect in red:

• Detroit Lions beat Buffalo Bills*
• Carolina Panthers beat Atlanta Falcons
• Minnesota Vikings beat Chicago Bears*
• Philadelphia Eagles beat Tennessee Titans
• New England Patriots beat Pittsburgh Steelers
• Green Bay Packers beat New York Jets
• Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat Cleveland Browns
• Baltimore Ravens beat New Orleans Saints
• Houston Texans beat Cincinnati Bengals
• Jacksonville Jaguars beat Denver Broncos*
• Las Vegas Raiders beat Los Angeles Chargers*
• Dallas Cowboys beat Washington Commanders
• Seattle Seahawks beat Arizona Cardinals
• San Francisco 49ers beat Miami Dolphins
• Kansas City Chiefs beat Indianapolis Colts
• Los Angeles Rams beat New York Giants

Eleven correct, five incorrect. Not a bad week. I'm currently at 22-10 for the season and in the 95th percentile among players of ESPN's "Pick'em" Game.

Wordle 1922 Hint

 Hint: The way you're going when you're not going back.

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First Letter: F

Wordle 1921 Hint

 Hint: To add fuel to a literal or metaphorical fire .

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First Letter: S

Wordle 1920 Hint

 Hint: Before cell phones became common, someone who needed to stay in touch carried one of these and looked for a pay phone when it beeped.

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First Letter: P

Wordle 1919 Hint

Hint: When the sun or a lamp really lit things up -- until it went down beyond the horizon or you turned it off.

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First Letter: S

Lena Mae: The First 150(ish) Miles

Perfect mix of a ride yesterday: A few blocks of city street here and there, about 80 miles of "country highway" (including what passes for hills and curves -- near rivers, that is -- in north central Florida), and a little bit of the "sugar sand and ruts" country road action. Finished the day with the odometer at 147 miles.

Running a top box with maybe 8-10 pounds of rain gear, etc. didn't seem to affect the handling or aerodynamics at all, and the bike didn't disappoint on any metric -- speed, power, handling, comfort, etc.

I was especially impressed with the part I was most worried about, that "might as well be dirt single-track" stuff. She just plodded along through sand/ruts with almost no rear-wheel slaloming, etc., none of it wild enough to feel like pending loss of control. If I want to ride on that kind of stuff for fun, I'll crank up the Lifan KP Mini 150 and see how many bones I can break. But when riding to get somewhere, I prefer boring and dependable performance where the terrain gets sketchy (I'm fine with just getting my jollies by riding fairly fast on pavement).

So far, this bike looks like the right decision for my "forever bike." It will get up and go, and it will settle down to low-speed work when that's what the situation calls for.

I think spending a couple of years on cheap, light, small-displacement bikes first actually served me well. 

Those smaller bikes are simultaneously more demanding and more forgiving.

I had to learn to use a clutch that might as well have been made in 1970 before moving up to the modern "slipper/assist" clutch. The difference is quite noticeable. It's just easier and feels slicker. But I've got muscle memory helping me do things right instead of just counting on modern technology to fix my miscalculations for me from the beginning.

I had to learn to get myself out of trouble with ~15 horsepower at my disposal instead of ~45 horsepower.

But at the same time, I only had to worry about wrestling (when it came to that) 260 pounds of motorcycle weight instead of 390 pounds, and I had a lot less money at stake repairing or replacing a badly damaged bike if I messed up, which allowed me to be more comfortable taking some risks to see what happened.

Applicable(?) Aphorisms #37

"The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens." (Baháʼí Faith, Gleanings CXVII)

True, false, good, bad, useful, not so useful, etc.? Discuss.

My thoughts:

Those familiar with my positions on borders and immigration might expect me to wholeheartedly embrace this one. I don't.

While the word "citizen" originally just meant "city-dweller," it has evolved over time to imply that a citizen is someone who -- due to accident of birth in most cases -- owes allegiance to, and has obligations to, a monopoly Westphalian Model nation-state.

A citizen, in other words, is livestock. Most conceptions of "citizenship" pretend that the state has a reciprocal duty to treat its cattle well in some respects, but ultimately a "citizen" exists to be milked, sheared, and slaughtered at will by its owners.

Some might argue that I'm reading too much into that single word for an otherwise inoffensive aphorism, but the origin of the aphorism matters: The Bahá’í faith explicitly and in detail supports a "world government" -- what Shoghi Effendi explicitly defined as "the world's future super-state." 

My political position is not that all people should be brought under the rule of one state; it is that no person should be kept under the rule of any state. So I have to reject this aphorism, even if, in partial agreement with other Bahá’í teachings, I'd like to buy the world a Coke, teach it to sing in perfect harmony, etc.

Wordle 1918 Hint

Hint: Stop being asleep.

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First Letter: W

Wordle 1917 Hint

Hint: "White Christmas" weather condition.

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First Letter: S

For the Most Part, I Won't Be Modifying the Eliminator Myself ...

... but this was an easy, five-minute exception.

BEFORE*:

AFTER:

It's from Wolf Line via Amazon (not an affiliate link). It's a Kawasaki Intruder specific, rather than "universal," rack, rated for up to 45 pounds.

At some point I'll put my large top box on it, probably semi-permanently, but I probably need to run to the hardware store and pick up some large washers first. I have a ride planned for tomorrow and will likely just bungee a backpack with my rain gear, etc. onto it.

UPDATE -- AFTERER:

Instead of waiting to get to a hardware store after figuring out how many and what sizes of u-bolts, washers, etc., I'd need, I decided to just use about 3 million zip ties to attach the top box ... for now. The sheer quantity, and the ability to fasten it from so many different angles, is probably about as good as four or five steel bolts on a rack like this. I may very well go from a top box to a top bag (in concert with my saddlebags) on a permanent basis anyway, and I had the zip ties lying around, so ...

* The "before" photo is not of my actual bike -- I forgot to take one and grabbed an image off the web to show the bike in stock condition. The "after" photo is the real Lena Mae.

Wordle 1916 Hint

Hint: Today's Wordle isn't an English word, it's just a Greek letter. Oh well, I guess the difference is just a matter of degrees.

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First Letter: T

NFL Week 2 Picks

Week 2 of the 2026 NFL season commences tomorrow night at the brand new Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, New York, where the Buffalo Bills will host the Detroit Lions. Here are my picks (also visible at the "ESPN Pick'em" game site; I've created a "leaderboard" for anyone who wants to match their skills vs. mine).

• Detroit Lions beat Buffalo Bills*
• Carolina Panthers beat Atlanta Falcons
• Minnesota Vikings beat Chicago Bears*
• Philadelphia Eagles beat Tennessee Titans
• New England Patriots beat Pittsburgh Steelers
• Green Bay Packers beat New York Jets
• Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat Cleveland Browns
• Baltimore Ravens beat New Orleans Saints
• Houston Texans beat Cincinnati Bengals
• Jacksonville Jaguars beat Denver Broncos*
• Las Vegas Raiders beat Los Angeles Chargers*
• Dallas Cowboys beat Washington Commanders
• Seattle Seahawks beat Arizona Cardinals
• San Francisco 49ers beat Miami Dolphins
• Kansas City Chiefs beat Indianapolis Colts
• Los Angeles Rams beat New York Giants

"Upset" predictions -- predictions on which I disagree with the majority of ESPN Pick'em players -- are marked with asterisks. Any changes I make to my picks will be done prior to kickoff and noted below as well.

Wordle 1915 Hint

Hint: Thin and delicate (like fine hair, or a cirrus cloud).

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First Letter: W

NFL Week 1 Results

Week 1 of the 2026 NFL season wrapped up last night with -- surprisingly to most, maybe even to me just a little -- the Kansas City Chiefs delivering a 31-10 beatdown to the Denver Broncos. Here are my picks and how they panned out -- correct picks in green, incorrect in red:

• Seattle Seahawks beat New England Patriots
• San Francisco 49ers beat Los Angeles Rams*
• Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat Cincinnati Bengals*
• Detroit Lions beat New Orleans Saints
• Tennessee Titans beat New York Jets
• Baltimore Ravens beat Indianapolis Colts
• Pittsburgh Steelers beat Atlanta Falcons
• Chicago Bears beat Carolina Panthers
• Jacksonville Jaguars beat Cleveland Browns
• Houston Texans beat Buffalo Bills*
• Las Vegas Raiders beat Miami Dolphins
• Minnesota Vikings beat Green Bay Packers*
• Philadelphia Eagles beat Washington Commanders
• Los Angeles Chargers beat Arizona Cardinals
• Dallas Cowboys beat New York Giants
• Kansas City Chiefs beat Denver Broncos*

Considering how little attention I paid to the NFL in the off-season, going 11 right, five wrong isn't terrible. It puts me in the 89.8th percentile of those playing ESPN's NFL Pick'em game. Also, I went three of five on "upsets" (where I picked the team to win that most players said would lose).

I still haven't decided whether I'll see this whole season through on weekly picks, because I don't know if I'll remain interested in the NFL. But based on the games I caught at least part of (49ers v. Rams, Jaguars vs. Browns, Texans v. Bills), I very well may.

Wordle 1914 Hint

Hint: The state of a poker hand once all the cards have all been distributed.

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First Letter: D

Not an Exact Color Match to the Tent ...

... but not terrible, either. It's not complete (I require site approval from my wife so I'm leaving the last bit), and it's just barely big enough for the Eliminator, but it will do its job (keeping rain and UV light off the bike).

Wordle 1913 Hint

Hint: In dishwashing sequence, after scrubbing but before drying.

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First Letter: R

Garrison Center Op-Ed -- Trial By Jury: In Praise of the Lone Holdout

[publisher's note: The Garrison Center's web site is having problems that I can't seem to diagnose/correct, so here's the weekend op-ed.]

Trial By Jury: In Praise of the Lone Holdout

by Thomas L. Knapp

On September 4, Judge William Sullivan, of Massachusetts's Plymouth County Superior Court, declared a mistrial in the case of Commonwealth v. Lindsey Clancy.

After seven days of deliberation, the jury was clearly "hung," with one member refusing to support a verdict of "not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility" in Clancy's killing of her three young children.

I suspect I may be the only person in America who doesn't hold strong opinions on what verdict the jury should have reached. 

Yes, I oppose murder. Yes, I'm especially appalled by the murders of children. Yes, I am skeptical of most "insanity pleas." And yes, I'm aware that juries don't always get things right. But I was not one of the 12 people who spent a week in that jury room, carefully considering the trial's 21 days of testimony, its more than 1,500 evidentiary exhibits, and the details of the applicable laws. I don't consider myself qualified to gainsay the conclusions of any of those 12 people.

I do, however, have a strong opinion on the controversy around, and the court's handling of, one juror's filibuster, his insistence on voting his informed opinion and personal conscience despite severe pressure to give in.

On the sixth day, the jury's foreperson sent a note claiming that the holdout juror wasn't following Judge Sullivan's instructions on the meaning of "reasonable doubt." The judge then privately lectured the jurors on the meaning of that term.

Clancy's attorney then petitioned Sullivan to remove the recalcitrant juror, essentially claiming that a single vote to convict in the face of 11 votes to acquit constituted a violation of the law. Sullivan rejected the petition ... but neither the lecture nor the petition should have happened in the first place.

American law recognizes the right of a jury to acquit a defendant "in the teeth of the facts." We call it "jury nullification": The jury decides that even though the defendant did X, the law forbidding X is wrong, at least in that case.

Prosecutors hate that because they prefer convictions at any cost. Judges hate it, because they like to be in charge and don't think anyone should be free to ignore their "instructions."

The lone juror in the Clancy case is a flip side of jury nullification. He decided, based on the evidence he'd seen and the testimony he'd heard, that she was guilty, and he wasn't going to let himself get bullied into saying otherwise. The effect isn't as broad as acquittal -- the prosecutor is free to bring the case again -- but it's the same principle. Jurors get to vote their conclusions and their conscience. Period.

That's important. The American "justice" system is less about actual justice these days than about padding prosecutors' records with plea bargains and convictions to advance their careers, keeping cases flowing through judges' courtrooms without inconvenient delays, and keeping American prisons operating at full capacity. Jurors are our only line of defense against that trend. Respect them.

-30-

about 500 words

Wordle 1912 Hint

Hint: When you make something the center of your attention -- and then see it clearly.

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First Letter: F

After uBlock Origin

I knew that uBlock Origin was becoming ineffectual in Google Chrome, and knew that was going to happen with Microsoft Edge as well, but I didn't know when. The answer (for me, anyway): Yesterday.

The cause, according to CoPilot:

uBlock Origin originally used Manifest V2, which allowed extensions to intercept and block network requests in real time using the webRequest API .... Manifest V3, introduced by Google and adopted by Chromium-based browsers like Edge, replaced this system with the declarativeNetRequest API, which only allows a static set of rules and removes real-time interception ...

Or, in English, a new era of anti-ad-blocking infrastructure is pranging the old ad-blocking infrastructure.

So this morning I went looking for a new ad-blocking solution. I prefer free or freemium, and the the Edge extension I'm auditioning at the momend is Adblock Plus (not an affiliate link).

So far, so good. If you try it because of this post and if it works for you, you're welcome.

Longer-term readers of this blog may recall that I resisted using an ad blocker at all for quite some time. 

In my view, it was a tacit agreement of sorts: Sites agreed to provide me with content, the price of which was that I had to put up with ads. And I stuck to that for a little while until the damn things became so intrusive and annoying that I just couldn't seem to read an article without nine pop-ups every 30 seconds and 39 static ads lining the edge of everything. Then I became a hypocrite on the subject.

These days, if I like a site, I usually turn my ad blocker off to see what happens. If they keep the advertising to a reasonable maximum, I leave the ad blocker off. If the ads make the site effectively unreadable, well, ad blocking gets turned on, or, if I consider the site valuable enough, I might pay cash for the ad-free version.

Applicable(?) Aphorisms #36

"Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present." (Buddhism, Majjhima Nikaya 131)

True, false, good, bad, useful, not so useful, etc.? Discuss.

My thoughts:

Focus on the present seems to be the most common thread in Buddhist practice, because the end of Buddhism is liberation from suffering and its means is achieving nirvāṇa -- a state without desire or sense of self. There's no room in that state for either regret or ambition, so the meditation, etc. used to reach toward the state emphasizes "mindfulness" of nothing but the present.

It's not limited to Buddhism, of course. David Hume (among others) held that we can only know the past and future through inference and that our reality actually consists entirely of the present, because it's our only directly perceivable environment (my first really powerful philosophical influence, Ayn Rand, spent a good deal of time attacking that notion, which happens to have been the subject of my first college philosophy paper).

It seems pretty obvious to me that the idea doesn't lend itself to getting much done in a practical sense, achieving new things, advancing the human condition in areas other than "enlightenment" itself. How would one incorporate feedback from past failures into plans for future successes? Anecdotally, it seems to me that Buddhists who are well-known for anything other than being Buddhists either don't commit to that, or commit to it after they've already made their mark on the world.

Not that I have anything against focusing on the present. That can be very useful when distractions impede movement into one's desired future. But to me it seems like a failure to engage with reality when adopted as a general commitment.

Wordle 1911 Hint

Hint: Today's Wordle is slang -- it may derive from the word "magnificent" (there are competing theories) but tends to be used to mean neat, stylish, or clever. Sorry to get so verbose and shifty, but this one's hard to write a hint for!

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First Letter: N

FortNine Made Me Look This Up ...

... and it turns out that in north central Florida, the whitetail deer breeding season starts earlier than, and lasts longer than, Missouri's. To wit, mid-September through late November.

I'd actually been wondering about that a little due to seeing more deer usual in the roadways lately, but then yesterday Fortnine put out a relevant video on how to handle deer collisions on a motorcycle, something I take a particular interest in these days because it seems like a bad thing:

Full of good advice, but my main takeway is that since deer are most active 1-2 hours after sunrise and 1-2 hours before sunset, I should probably just avoid riding during those hours, at this time of year, within reason.

"Within reason" is pretty broad, especially this year since I am on a new, bigger bike that I'll want to get better acquainted with before doing much night riding anyway. We have a family SUV. I can fairly easily schedule its use for any dawn/twilight outings. That will be safer for me personally, and if I'm going to get a vehicle damaged in a deer collision I'd rather it was Tamara's crappy old Honda than my shiny new Kawasaki.

Wherever you happen to live and whatever you happen to drive or ride, be careful out there. I've been fortunate enough to never have hit a deer myself but I've seen it happen, with driver injuries involved.

Wordle 1910 Hint

Hint: This flower's center is yellow but the petals might be white, pink, blue, or purple.

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First Letter: A

First Round of Motorcycle Accessory Purchases

I have slip-on covers for the two older bikes ... when I remember to use them and I'm not in a hurry.

For Lena Mae, I don't want to leave that to chance. So (not an affiliate link):

Matches my tent in terms of color, or close, and will have room for related stuff to spare. Arrives early next week.

And (not an affiliate link):

Neither of my other phone holders fit well on the bike. This one is supposed to, and it's inexpensive. I may upgrade later to something with a vibration dampener, etc. I keep hearing that the Eliminator's parallel twin vibrates a lot. I haven't noticed that it does so nearly as much as one of my thumper engines. Arrives tomorrow.

I'm already scoping out the saddlebag/tank bag/top box/rack situation, but I'll be taking my time with that one. It's easy to get a thousand bucks deep in luggage, which I don't plan to do. I'll be on a budget but very selective.

Wordle 1909 HInt

Hint: When you say or do something with deadpan humor or without moisture.

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First Letter: D

Meet Lena Mae

 

I got a short test ride before pulling the final trigger. I've put about 30 miles on her, from the dealership home, riding through town to get a taste of how she handles in various traffic scenarios. The answer was, beautifully.

I was wrong about her being the SE model, just a regular Eliminator 450 w/ABS brakes. I actually prefer the non-SE headlight setup (the SE has a cowl that doesn't look as nice IMO), so no biggie.

On my little 150s, going 60mph means tucking head and body down, squeezing the tank with your knees, and keeping the throttle all way. On this bike you cruise to 60 then she asks you what else you got. I haven't gone more than about 60 because this is the break-in period.

In honor of the olive drab (actually "Matte Old School Green") trim, I'm naming her after Lena Mae Basilone.

Lena Mae Riggi was a Marine Corps sergeant (the most distinguished rank in this old grunt's opinion) during World War 2.

So was John Basilone. He received the Medal of Honor for his actions on Guadalcanal, was brought back home to sell war bonds, got sick of that, and asked to be put back into real duty. He met Lena Mae at Camp Pendleton (the main road of which is named for him) while he was training a platoon to go into battle. They married shortly before he shipped out with them. He was killed in action on Iwo Jima.

So, she gets a motorcycle named after her. Not much of an honor, I guess, but it's what I've got to offer, and the name seems to suit the bike.

Wordle 1908 Hint

Hint: In "The Defence of Fort M'Henry" (later set to music as "The Star-Spangled Banner"), bombs did this in the air.

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

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First Letter: B

Week 1 NFL Picks

The 2026 NFL season kicks off tomorrow night with the New England Patriots visiting the Seahawks in Seattle.

I don't know if I'll keep up weekly picks all season or not -- my level of interest is way down this year and will probably remain down unless the Chiefs or Jaguars are just really amazing.

What ESPN used to call "Pigskin Pick'em" is now just "ESPN Pick'em." I'll record my picks there to keep myself honest, and I've set up a leaderboard in a case any KN@PPSTER readers want to provably out-perform me.

This first week set of picks isn't particularly well-informed. It's based partly on last season's results and mostly on my personal prejudices.  "Upset" picks (those picked by less than half of ESPN Pick'em players) are marked with asterisks. Any changes will be made prior to kickoff and noted in an update to this post. Here we go:

• Seattle Seahawks beat New England Patriots
• San Francisco 49ers beat Los Angeles Rams*
• Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat Cincinnati Bengals*
• Detroit Lions beat New Orleans Saints
• Tennessee Titans beat New York Jets
• Baltimore Ravens beat Indianapolis Colts
• Pittsburgh Steelers beat Atlanta Falcons
• Chicago Bears beat Carolina Panthers
• Jacksonville Jaguars beat Cleveland Browns
• Houston Texans beat Buffalo Bills*
• Las Vegas Raiders beat Miami Dolphins
• Minnesota Vikings beat Green Bay Packers*
• Philadelphia Eagles beat Washington Commanders
• Los Angeles Chargers beat Arizona Cardinals
• Dallas Cowboys beat New York Giants
• Kansas City Chiefs beat Denver Broncos*

I'm Already Pre-Shopping Luggage Options ...

 ... for the Kawasaki Eliminator 450 SE. And I already found something interesting:

I hadn't even been thinking about a "sissy bar" backrest, but now I am, for two reasons:

1. It costs about as much with a 22-pound-rated luggage rack as some of the luggage racks I'm looking at; and
2. The bike is comfortable to sit on, but I suspect that cruiser-style seat might be be hard on my lower back on longer rides (which is why I am also considering after-market bench seats, etc.).

I have a top box that would likely fit that rack just fine, and I'm not sure I'd need additional panniers even for longer trips. The engine guard has good mounting points for bags, I could run a tank bag for smaller stuff, maybe even a fork bag for tools and/or ultralight camping gear.

This things would get rid of the pillion seat, but I'm really not expecting to be hauling any passengers, other than perhaps trying to talk Tamara into taking one short ride, early on (I had to haul her to work on my little 50cc scooter once when her car broke down, but she just generally hates the idea).

I won't be making any decisions until I've put a few miles on the bike, but I'm already seeing options that are somewhat less expensive than I had anticipated.

Wordle 1907 Hint

Hint: When you energize the situation in an upward, positive way.

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First Letter: L

Coming Soon

Put a deposit down today, picking up Wednesday:

It's a 2025 (new old stock, not used) Kawasaki Eliminator 450 SE in Metallic Matte Old School Green. Beautful machine. I initially skipped past this bike on the dealership's web site thinking "green -- ugly" but I kept getting pulled back to it and it grew on me. Much more distinctive than their black, white, or gray options.

451cc, liquid-cooled, dual overhead cam, parallel twin engine. 47 horsepower. Listed top speed is 100 mph, but real world tests say 102-103. Anyway, at least 20 mph more than I'll need under ordinary conditions. 150+ mile per tank range, and I expect to stop more often than that whether I need gas or not. If I'm crossing e.g. Nevada and Utah, I will bring a fuel can.

Two things were biggest in making up my mind to just pull the trigger on this rather than looking at others.

One was seat height. I found the KLR 650 taller than I liked to get on and off of, and the Royal Enfield Himalayan 450 is taller than this bike, although not as tall as the KLR. This bike has a seat height of 28.9 inches, and height-adjustable foot pegs. I have an inseam of 32 inches, so I can flat-foot this, and adjust the pegs if I find the rider posture cramped. I may move to a slightly taller after-market bench seat, but I'll give the stock seat a chance first.

The other was that my nearest Royal Enfield dealerships are all ~100 miles away, while my local Kawasaki dealership is 20 minutes away; and that Kawasaki has seven times as many US dealerships as Royal Enfield. Since I don't intend to wrench on this bike myself beyond maybe oil changes, I prefer a nearby dealership for parts (at least) and labor (probably). And when I'm on the road, I'll almost certainly be closer to a Kawasaki dealership than to a Royal Enfield dealership should I happen to break down. There's also the break-in period -- I'd have to get the Himalayan home the first time in 30-minute, sub-50-mile increments on highway. This, I can ride home at mostly street speeds, then take out on short jaunts over a couple of days. 

It's a roadster, not an adventure touring bike, but I think it will handle Florida's worst roads without too much trouble and I have no ambition to explore 50-mile dirt single tracks in the Smoky Mountains. After my own body weight, I have 150+ pounds of capacity for carrying luggage, and I'm already looking at aftermarket racks for that purpose. I almost bought a pretty much color-matching compact tent I saw at a store after committing to this one. I may go back.

For those busting at the seams to ask if it's US-made, the answer is no. Some Kawasakis are US-built, but the Eliminator is built in Thailand.

Wordle 1906 Hint

Hint: When you need this hint to be either spoken or rendered in Braille.

Not Enough? Get the first letter of today's Wordle 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

Affirmation of My Inclination toward a Mid-Size "Adventure Touring" Bike

I've considered petitioning the county to rename my "street" from a number to "Five Lakes Road," because that's how many road-width, tens of feet long, several inch deep puddles it gets between the pavement and my driveway when it rains (fortunately, it's reasonably hard-packed dirt until right after my driveway, at which point it turns into sugar sand and ruts). Here's the first and second ones as seen from the paved road.

Look, it's far from the worst road in north central Florida, and it's less than a quarter mile from pavement to my driveway. On the other hand, I have to ride it anytime I go anywhere.

My daughter really hates that road, because she recently bought a 1988 Nissan 300ZX and has a mechanic currently working on getting it mechanically sound (I think there may even be an engine swap involved). That car has a ground clearance of 5.5 inches. My Lifan KP Mini has ground clearance of 6.7 inches. I haven't bottomed it out on that road, but still.

Speaking of the KP Mini: This morning, as I rode out, I saw a large tree limb lying across the road. As I skirted around it, my front tire caught some slick mud at the edge of one of those lakes, and I nearly went down.

Nearly. After a couple of years of riding, I've finally developed the reflexes and skills to get a foot down and save myself during low-speed slides and such, largely from riding on these medieval European goat track things that pass for roads in Florida. I did stall the bike, but nothing that wasn't supposed to touch the ground did, and I was planning to stop anyway (to get that limb out of the road for future passersby). Hooray.

But the experience showed me that 1) I can handle the "nearly offroad" riding well enough to have a more powerful bike, and 2) something like the Himalayan, with its taller seat height and bigger wheels, will address the mix I want well -- higher pavement cruising speed, better handling on bad roads.

I've really enjoyed the KP Mini. It's taught me a lot about how to ride and specifically about how to get out of whatever trouble shows up in front of, or under, me. But it's time to take off the training wheels.

Wordle 1905 Hint

Hint: The color of natural wool and most computers of the 1980s.

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

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First Letter: B

Applicable(?) Aphorisms #35

"The guest is God." (Hinduism, Taittiriya Upanishad 1.11)

True, false, good, bad, useful, not so useful, etc.? Discuss.

My thoughts:

The four words by themselves don't convey the longer passage's point, IMO. That passage also includes one's parents and teachers as "gods" in the dharmic sense that one has duties toward them (in the case of the guest, the duty being hospitality) and that fulfilling those duties has karmic effects.

Of course, I threw in the dharmic/karmic thing to emphasize the Asian flavor of the specific aphorism. The general idea isn't specific to Hinduism, Buddhism, etc. For example:

"The stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself." -- Leviticus 19:33

"Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares." -- Hebrews 13:2

"Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day, let him honor his guest with his due reward." -- attributed to Muhammad in hadith (Sahih al‑Bukhari).

In most of the ancient scriptural sources, "guest" is not necessarily the same thing as "invited guest." Religions are full of admonitions to treat strangers well.

Even absent the link to the divine, it seems like good practical advice, at least within limits. Perhaps the stranger you treat well instead of badly today, or someone he commends you to, will be the person who treats you well instead of badly later.