Applicable(?) Aphorisms #4

"Yield to overcome; empty to become full." (Taoism, Tao Te Ching 22)

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

Two Things I Like About the Weather in North Central Florida

One is the predictability.

I grew up in a tornado-prone area, where you got (at most) a few minutes' notice that something terrible was inbound.

While I hear about a tornado in Florida now and then, they're not the norm. The norm is that you hear a hurricane may be forming in the Atlantic or the Gulf of Mexico, then a few days later you hear that it has formed and may make landfall in Florida, then a few days after that it arrives and you already have some general idea of what part of the state it will likely come through. Plenty of time to put away anything in your yard that the wind might carry away, stock up on flashlight batteries and bottled water and so forth, or even just plan a family trip out of the area. The storms can certainly be ugly, but they're not surprises.

The other is that the temperature extremes are narrower and shorter.

In Missouri, it gets both colder and hotter than in north central Florida ... and stays that way. You might see periods of several days where the thermometer doesn't reach five above zero or doesn't fall below 90.

In north central Florida, it falls below 20 degrees maybe one or two days every couple of years, and seldom tops 100. And when it does either of those things, it does so for a few hours before warming or cooling by several tens of degrees. For example, tonight it may get down to 19 or 20 degrees, but tomorrow it will be in the 40s. Over the last week, we've had daily lows in the high 20s or low 30s, and daily highs in the 60s and 70s. This summer, even if it hits 97 during the day, it will fall into the 70s at night.

I only see one down side to that, and that's that you have to think more about clothing choices. It might be 30 degrees out when you leave the house (bundle up a little!), and 70 degrees before you're ready to return home (so make sure there's a t-shirt layer you can strip down to if you don't want to get uncomfortably warm).

Wordle 1687 Hint

Hint: When you assign or set aside something, usually as a share of something else (hours of a day, acres of a land parcel, etc.), for particular purposes or persons.

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First Letter: A

Wordle 1686 Hint

Hint: Very large, like Jacksonville's baseball team (even bigger than Steve Miller's big ol' Jet Airliner!).

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First Letter: J

Wordle 1685 Hint

Hint: Like a good pie crust or a bad case of dandruff.

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First Letter: F

They Really Think a Lot of Their Instant Pots, Don't They?

A few years ago (long enough that I can't easily find it on any kinds of order searches), I bought a six-quart Insignia knock-off of the Instant Pot pressure cooker. I vaguely recall that the Instant Pots were the Big New Thing of the Moment, but kind of pricey, and that the Insignia was on a really good sale, probably less than $30, so why not give it a try?

I used it a few times -- I recall making some rice dishes, pasta, and successfully "broasting" a few things -- thought it was pretty cool, then put it away and mostly forgot about it.

Then we moved, occasioning three changes:

• We're having food from "out" less often and doing more cooking at home;
• I'm doing more of the cooking at home, seeing as how I'm here all day working from home, while Tamara's at an office all day; and
• When we moved, the Insignia "Instant Pot" struck me as a thing to use for that. I'm mostly more of an outdoor griller than an indoor chef, so clever devices strike me as handy solutions.

I've whipped up several things in the pressure cooker so far, including attempts at Chinese-style curry chicken (not bad, but I haven't been able to get the spices quite right) and a pretty excellent pot roast.

I like it well enough that I've considered moving up from a six-quart to an eight-quart version, both so that I can do bigger dishes (like, say, a whole ham kind of thing) and because I figure that in the years intervening between my original purchase and now, there are probably new features to do different things with. Also, the actual Instant Pot brand seems to allow the user to choose different pressure levels, while the Insignia doesn't.

But wow, those prices. I usually expect to see electronics and household goods come down in price with wider adoption and brand competition, but it looks to me like this product has gone up across the board, and at a faster rate than inflation would account for. Even the off-brand types are well over $50 for six-quart versions.

So I guess I'll wait. I've seen no signs that the current one is wearing out, and I can always do bigger dishes in the eight-quart slow cooker, or in the oven, or whatever.

If you've got a favorite "Instant Pot" recipe, feel free to share it or link to it in comments.

I also finally tried making something in the new cast-iron Dutch oven -- jalapeño cornbread. I followed the directions to the letter, but it was just awful. Too dense and bland to eat. So I broke it up, threw it out in the yard, and the local crows just loved it. It was gone within half an hour. I may try again, since I don't mind feeding the local crows if it goes wrong again. We've got a standard bird feeder, but I've not seen the crows try it, and I doubt it would work well for them (It's small and their weight would likely cause it to swing wildly on its cable).

Wordle 1684 Hint

Hint: Don't be that way to a heart that's true. Heck, at least telephone.

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First Letter: C

Since It's Suddenly a Buyer's Market ...

... I'm interested in an AR-15.

I think $50 is a fair price given the sudden supply/demand shift. Donald Trump just told his loyal supporters "you can't have guns," so if they're really loyal they should be flooding the market right now.

Wordle 1683 Hint

Hint: Dim (light condition) or swarthy (skin hue).

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First Letter: D

Crass Commercialism: Proton Mail (Again)

I've used Proton Mail (affiliate link -- see details below) for more that three years now, and have used a paid account for more than two years.

I remain very happy with the service -- and when I say "Proton Mail" I mean Proton Mail, Proton Pass (their password manager), Proton Calendar, Proton Drive, and Proton VPN.

They're all good products, although I wish they'd hurry up with a native Linux desktop client for Drive so I can more easily replace Dropbox (there's supposedly a way using rclone, but I haven't been able to make that work).

Their apps are all at least as good as the Google equivalents, but with more of an eye on privacy (encryption, locating in Switzerland so it's not so easy for US feds to get your stuff, etc.).

This morning, I had an email from Proton on a change to their referral program:

Every friend you refer now gets a two-week free trial on any Proton plan, no credit card required. You’ll both receive US$20 in credits when they subscribe to a paid plan, and your maximum referral credit has been increased to US$1,000 — enough for years of free Proton service.

They do have a "free" plan. If you're a big email user it won't be enough for your needs, but I do encourage you to start with the "free" version and only upgrade if you decide it's for you.

I'd recommend Proton even if they weren't offering me $20 spiffs for referrals, but they are. So here's that affiliate link again. Enjoy.

Wordle 1682 Hint

Hint: Hunter S. Thompson's "Power" party/movement during the Battle of Aspen.

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First Letter: F

Helpful Hint of No Commercial Benefit to Me

This time it's not an affiliate link. If you use Woot (not an affiliate link), I get nothing but the satisfaction of knowing I helped you save money.

I don't even remember how I came across Woot, but it's basically a deal site that seems to be operated by, or at least associated with, Amazon.

They've always got a bunch of deals on a bunch of stuff; you can pay using your Amazon account, and the shipping is also by Amazon ("free" shipping if you're a Prime member).

Just as an example, I have a desk arriving today that I ordered for a family member. The normal Amazon price is about $115, but Amazon currently has it on sale for about $65. I ordered it from Woot on Friday ... for $20.

I've ordered stuff through Woot five times now -- electronics and household goods. Every time, I've checked the price on Amazon, and every time Woot's price has been substantially lower. Rough guess is that the average discount is more than 50%.

The down side is that of those five purchases, two were "impulse purchases" -- I might not have bought the things if I hadn't noticed the deal (you get emails and, if you choose, text messages, about the day's deals).

Crass Commercialism: Coupert

When it comes to "earn online," "cash back," etc. programs, I generally don't flog them to KN@PPSTER's readers until/unless I've made sure they're not scams.

Coupert (that's an affiliate link -- if you use it, I get some kind of commission/reward) is a browser extension that lets you track prices and get alerts when what you're looking for falls below a certain price. 

Or, rather, that's why I installed it. But, as Billy Mays used to say, there's more!

• When you go to a product page on e.g. Amazon, Coupert lets you know if there's a lower price at some other online store. That function isn't perfect -- when I was looking for a Raspberry Pi with 16Gb of RAM, it told me there was a much lower price at Newegg, but that turned out to be for the 4Gb version -- but it's saved me money that way at least once (I don't remember on what).
• When you check out at an online store, Coupert offers to automatically test various coupon codes from its database. Most of the time, all the coupon codes are expired or inapplicable, but it did save me $10 on a Walmart grocery order.
• Coupert has a "cash back" mechanism, and also when it does the coupon thing, it keeps count -- after three purchases where it couldn't find a working coupon code for you, you get $3 "cash back." I have redeemed the $3, as an Amazon gift card.

I think Coupert has saved me and/or given me $20 or so in the couple of weeks I've been using it. And hey, A.J. Green is A.J. Green.

Wordle 1681 Hint

Hint: Aerosmith says to "Walk This Way." The Bangles say to "Walk Like an Egyptian." But Stray Cats have the best walk of all.

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First Letter: S

Applicable(?) Aphorisms #3

"What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor." (Judaism, Talmud, Shabbat 31a)

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

Note: The third Golden rule variant. They're not all precisely the same, of course, and the differences seem like points of interest to focus on. Next week we move away from Abrahamic religion.

Wordle 1680 Hint

Hint: Supposed lemming suicide site (Disney actually faked that scene).

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First Letter: C

Particularly Nice Weather ...

 ... for me, anyway.

The forecast tomorrow for my little piece of north central Florida (per Weather.com) has a high of 74 degrees, a low of 57 degrees, a fairly low chance of precipitation (although, as I always tell my wife, if the forecast here has a 10% chance of rain, it will rain), and maximum winds of 15 miles per hour.

Yep, that's mid- to late January around here.

Kinda sucks for most of you, though:

The dangerous monster storm threatening half of the US was bearing down on Friday with 12 states already declaring emergencies and areas typically unused to prolonged Arctic temperatures bracing for power failures and shortages. At least 230 million people are likely to be affected by the massive winter weather system as it forms in parts of the Rocky Mountains and Great Plains and surges across southern and midwestern areas from Friday, blowing up the east coast on Saturday and as far north as Maine by Sunday.

Hope y'all are able to stay warm, dry, and safe.

Thoughts on the Jayco Camper After About Two Months

So far, I am very happy with my "home office" setup in a Jayco 806SD pop-up camper, which I purchased for $720 around the beginning of December.

Exterior-wise, most improvements will be waiting for spring. At the moment, I've got it effectively moisture-proofed using tarps, but I may replace most or all of the canvas with wood framing, foam sheathing, and some kind of siding. It hasn't had to weather a hurricane yet, but it's been through several heavy thunderstorm days with no leaks since I put the tarps on. I replaced the opaque yellow pieces of plastic the previous owner used in the window screens with better-fitting translucent acrylic. And the door got its decoration:

Interior-wise:

• I cut a desktop shape/size of plywood, painted it, turned the factory "dinette" sideways and fastened the plywood to it; that's now my office desk, holding my two computers, two monitors, and various accessories.
• I got rid of the "dinette" bench cushions, since it's impossible to sit on the benches (the desktop hangs over them; the benches are now just storage units.
• Between one bench and the rear pop-out, there's a space with tiny ledges, onto which a little wood platform that the previous house owner left behind fits perfectly. That works as a table for a lamp, USB charging tower, Echo Dot, etc.
• I got rid of the original pop-out mattresses, which were basically old two-inch pads. The front pop-out is now a curtained-off storage area. The rear pop-out is a bed with a real 8" memory foam mattress. I can sleep there when I want (i.e. if I tow the thing somewhere for camping, or when Tamara doesn't want me around), or it can be a "guest bedroom."
• Climate control is still somewhat dicey because, well, it's a drafty canvas-sided camper. I've got a decent space heater and a portable AC unit. When the temperature got down into the 20s the other night, it took me a couple of hours to get it into the 60s the next morning; if the temp hits 75 degrees outside, it's closer to 85 in the trailer unless I run the AC. If I frame the thing in, I may increase floor space by using a window AC unit. Third option: I may have an electrician put in a 30-amp breaker and "RV hookup" so that I can use the roof AC. But no matter what, it will need to be draft-proofed and insulated much more than it is.
• A heavy-duty extension cord brings power from the house to a UPS, into which my computer, monitors, lamp, etc. are plugged. A second extension cord is dedicated for use by the heater or AC at need.

When I bought the thing, I pledged to give it six months, both to decide whether I like having my office outside the house and whether it was adequate to the purpose. I do, and it is. But once the six months is up, I may start looking for a good deal on a larger non-pop-out unit instead of putting more money and time into improving this one. The non-pop-outs are structurally better insulated, and a larger one would have room for amenities like bookcases and so forth.

At the moment, the only real down side to this camper that I'm seeing is that it's not noise-proof at all, which might make podcasting difficult (it's only about 10 feet from the house's central air and heat unit, and the neighbors behind us have some remarkably loud chickens).

Wordle 1679 Hint

 Hint: Not quite a viscount, but more than just a knight.

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First Letter: B

Wordle 1678 Hint

 Hint: Big house! Slammer! Jug! Hoosegow!

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First Letter: C

Wordle 1677 Hint

Hint: Don't be such a square -- think higher power!

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First Letter: C

First Time I've Heard THAT Name in a Song ...

When I was a kid, during a family drive from Lebanon, Missouri to Springfield, Missouri on some business or another, my mom and dad decided to drive a little further and see if a house they'd once lived in was still there (IIRC, it wasn't). The little town was Bois D'Arc, pronounced "Bo-Dark" because MURKA.

I was surprised to hear "Bo-Dark" name-checked in a song referencing several states, but not Missouri, until I did a little Internet searching and learned that 1) there are five Bois D'Arcs in the US, including one each in the four states the song does mention, and 2) it refers to a type of tree, also known as the "Osage orange" tree, for which the Missouri town is named because there was such a tree near the original settlement (it's not common in the area; my mom once said she thought Bois D'Arc was French for "rainbow").

The wood of the Bois D'Arc tree is decay-resistant, making it ideal for the usage mentioned in the song:

With a great big ol' hard-on like a old Bois d'Arc fence post

You could hang a pipe rail gate from

Learn something new every day ... and it's one of my new favorite songs. Kinda reminds me of back home.

Wordle 1676 Hint

Hint: To ruin e.g. a reputation (or, what you might call W.S. Gilbert's creative partner if you knew him personally).

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First Letter: S

Happy Birthday ...

Lysander Spooner would turn 217 years old today had he lived to ages typical of those asserted in the early Old Testament.

I quote Spooner at least once a week to the effect of:

But whether the Constitution really be one thing, or another, this much is certain -- that it has either authorized such a government as we have had, or has been powerless to prevent it. In either case, it is unfit to exist.

But today I'd like to offer a second quote from him that I don't share as often but that's at least as continuingly apropos of current events:

A man's natural rights are his own, against the whole world; and any infringement of them is equally a crime, whether committed by one man, or by millions; whether committed by one man, calling himself a robber, (or by any other name indicating his true character,) or by millions, calling themselves a government.

Web-Based Apps: Two Useful Tools of My Trade, and Maybe Yours

Over the span of several jobs/roles, I monitor -- and link to or otherwise make use of news stories, opinion pieces, and audio/video content from -- more than 200 sites on a daily basis. Over the years I've tried out a lot of tools to make my work easier.

Two important specifications: These tools need to be 1) web-based and 2) cross-platform with respect to the browsers I can access them from. At any given time I might be working from a Linux desktop PC, a Chromebook laptop, or even an Android phone.  With respect to daily workflow, I need to be able to move from my desk to a car to a hotel room and not be messing around porting content from one machine to another.

To find the content, I use InoReader (not an affiliate link). It's a web-based RSS client through which I follow the 99% of my source sites which maintain functioning RSS feeds (shame on the others, but a couple of them are important enough to manually visit as necessary).

To set aside the content for further use, I can't just choose one browser and make sure I keep it synced across all the devices I use. Some of my devices can't run some browsers.  Booky (not an affiliate link) lets me keep nicely categorized bookmarks all in one place on the web and accessible to me whether I'm using Microsoft Edge, Chromium, Chrome, Falkon, Brave, whatever. On any given day, there's a good chance I'll be using at least two of those five.

If your job involves 1) many web sites and 2) multiple computers, you may find both of those tools useful.

Wordle 1675 Hint

 Hint: Like a car treated with Turtle, or a surfboard treated with Sex.

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First Letter: W

Well, That Sucks for the Broncos

In the AFC Divisional Round, the Denver Broncos beat the Buffalo Bills in overtime ... an OT which I did not expect and didn't notice until this morning. I briefly tuned into the game in the third quarter, when the Broncos were well ahead, saw Josh Allen throw an interception, kind of assumed it would be a blow-out, and went back to other things than football.

Blowing that lead and having to win in overtime cost Denver their starting quarterback, Bo Nix, who broke his ankle ... which means they'll be relying on backup  QB Jarrett Stidham in the AFC championship game -- in which they'll probably face Stidham's former team, the New England Patriots.  Even if New England really bobbles it and the Broncos play Houston instead, I'm guessing Denver's post-season is over.

I also didn't watch the NFC side, in which the Seahawks beat San Francisco (I predicted the opposite). So the NFC championship will come down to Seattle versus the Rams or the Bears. My busted bracket, and my continuing predictions after the bust, have the Rams whipping everyone until they lose the Super Bowl, which I still expect, although I'm sad that it will probably be the Patriots rather than the Jaguars giving them the beatdown.

Wordle 1674 Hint

 Hint: Its fruit is used as a spice and dye, but avoid the poison variety.

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First Letter: S

Applicable(?) Aphorisms #2

"Not one of you is a believer until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself." (Islam, Hadith, Bukhari 13)

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

Note: The first three of our aphorisms turn out to all be variants of each other, so I guess we're on an extended discussion of the Golden Rule (or, in the case of the Christian aphorism, a precursor/appurtenance) for most of January. And looking through the AI-generated list, it looks like that may not be the only such grouping by topic/value.

Wordle 1673 Hint

Hint: Like the sun, or like angry speechification.

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First Letter: F

Broke the GoGun SixNeedler Out This Morning ...

Thanks again to Kent McManigal for calling this cool CO2 revolver to my attention with his review.

Mine arrived a couple of days ago, but I didn't have time to mess with it until this morning.

I also didn't mess with it for very long this morning because it's cold out (for north central Florida, anyway -- it was 25 degrees fahrenheit when I woke up and is just now climbing into the 40s) and why stand around in my yard in the cold if I don't have to?

But, I installed a CO2 cartridge, loaded it with the hardened steel darts (about 4" long) that came with it, and tried it out.

I can't really tell you how accurate it is because I'm not a great pistol shot. At five meters, it seemed to be hitting about an inch from where I was aiming. Not bad for my purposes. I don't foresee any situation in which I would 1) need to shoot someone more than five meters away and 2) pick this weapon to shoot them with.

As for how much punch it packs (again at five meters):

• I shot six darts into a piece of half-inch plywood and they pierced it all the way through with about half an inch poking out the other side (I had to use pliers to get the darts back out of the wood); and
• I shot one dart into one of those "decorative tins" that butter cookies come in. Only one because when the dart pierced the metal, went through the interior of the tin, pierced the other metal side of the tin, and stuck itself maybe an eighth of an inch into the plywood behind the tin, the little rubber fletchings/chamber sealers on the dart were stripped off and went flying off somewhere. I didn't want to ruin a bunch of darts doing that over and over again.

I wouldn't intentionally take the SixNeedler to a gun fight, but I also wouldn't want to get shot with it. I suspect it would bury itself completely in a human body (losing those fletchings and having to be dug out) unless it hit bone. Probably not a killer absent a very lucky, or very skilled, shot that got to the brain or heart without encountering bone, but painful as hell (especially if dipped in, say, cayenne oil) and calling for medical attention.

So far, I can't really find anything bad to say about the SixNeedler. It's cheap to own, cheap to use, fun to shoot, doesn't require the kind of range conditions needed for "real firearms," doesn't require the kind of cleaning a gunpowder-fouled weapon needs, and is pretty comfortable in terms of size, weight, and grip.

Wordle 1672 Hint

Hint: It's Speed's last name but his older brother X's first name.

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First Letter: R

So That's Done ...

Got the Raspberry Pi 5 all set up and am posting from it.

I'll still want to mess with some cable management, etc., but tearing down and rebuilding my desktop made it nicer, and I'm most of the way to reproducing my work apps, etc. from the mini PC setup. 

Between the faster CPU, the additional RAM, and running off of a solid state drive instead of SD card, everything is way faster than on the Pi 4 and feels comparable to the mini PC.

Benefit/Cost, Starlink Offer Edition

I'm coming up on my third month with Starlink (crass commercialism: If you sign up for their service via my affiliate link, each of us gets a free month), and this morning I got an email from them with a new (at least to me) thing:

[Y]ou're now eligible to redeem a free Mini Kit for travel, so you can take the same fast, reliable internet you use at home anywhere you go.

Since about my second day with Starlink, I've been considering throwing down another $300+ for a second hardware kit, just so I'm prepared for any equipment malfunctions.

The Mini kit, as it comes, is by default in "standby mode" with "unlimited low-speed data for backup and emergency messaging." If I decide I want to travel with it (or, presumably, use it at full speed right here at my home because my main rig died), I get half off their "Roam" plan.

All benefit so far. I'd never be stuck completely offline, and if I wanted to be fully online I'd just have to upgrade my plan with them.

The cost: It's not actually a "free" kit. I would be renting it for $5 a month on top of my regular Starlink bill.

That still seems like a pretty good deal, unless for some reason I decide to leave Starlink entirely and have to mess around with returning the kit (assuming there's not some kind of hook in the terms of service that makes me buy it in that case). It would get me through any equipment failure bits without having to lay out $300+ in advance of such failure, and provide reliable high-speed Internet access when my family travels.

So, I'll probably do that.

Wordle 1671 Hint

Hint: Big rift, if you get my drift.

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First Letter: C

Two of My Favorite Subjects!

1. Motorcycles; and
2. Money-laundering

Even if you're not interested in motorcycles and don't traffic in drugs, the whole "make it so the gummint can't see where the money goes" angle is both fascinating and educational. And, as usual, these guys just make very entertaining videos no matter the topic.

Going Cool British Rather Than High-Performance Chinese

I woke up this morning thinking that if Bitcoin had gone up in value, I might either buy the Chinese 32Gb AMD Ryzen Mini PC that's been on my Amazon Wish List for a few days, or the CanaKit Raspberry Pi 5 kit in 16Gb (not an affiliate link).

Bitcoin had gone up ... and so had the price of the mini PC.

So I ordered the Raspberry Pi. It even comes with same-day delivery.

I've been in the process of upgrading my Raspberry Pi 4B's accessories -- first an HDMI switch and USB switch so that I don't have to manually mess around with various things to switch between my "daily driver" mini PC and the Pi.

Yesterday, a second HDMI switch and cables arrived so that I can use it in dual monitor mode just as easily. Unfortunately, I ordered an incorrect cable (mini-HDMI to HDMI instead of the needed micro-HDMI to HDMI). Fortunately, when I decided to return it, Amazon gave me a "no-return refund" and credited my account -- pretty nice, considering the mistake was mine, not theirs. Which means I was able to order the correct cable (for an additional 50 cents) and I have a mini-HDMI to HDMI cable on hand in case I ever have a device that needs one.

Also yesterday, a 128Gb USB solid state drive arrived. I burned a Raspberry Pi OS disk image to it, and the Raspberry Pi 4B now boots much faster, opens apps much faster, and runs certain things (loading cached images, etc.) much faster than from SD card. It should last longer too.

Of course, the switches, cables, and SSD will work just as well with the Pi 5 as with the Pi 4B. I'll just move them over and be off to the races. The Pi 4B will either get gifted to my son (who already has my old Pi 3) or put away for future use as a media streaming box or whatever.

It's possible that I'll end up using the Pi 5 as my "daily driver," at least for a little while, but even if I don't I'll have it set up for work so that I have a 16Gb backup rig instead of an 8Gb backup rig for emergencies. It's probably not quite as fast as the Chinese mini PC, but it should at least be close, with a lower power draw. I'll probably get a new 32Gb "daily driver" at some point in the future, but I don't need that as much as I want the Pi.

In certain respects, the Pi is to a Chinese PC as the MGB is to the Mazda Miata -- not as much horsepower, but way more cool. In other respects, the British computer excels the British sports cars. It's cheaper and far more solid and reliable. Anyone who's ever had an MG or Triumph (I had the former via an ex-wife, and my brother had the latter) can give you plenty of horror stories on the weird malfunctions and the expensive fixes to what should be cheap problems. This will be my third Pi and the first two have never failed me in any way.

The MSN Ad Targeting AI Could Use Some Work

Because I use Microsoft Edge as my browser, my default "new tab" page shows me a bunch of news stories, etc., via MSN, that correspond to everything it can figure out about my activities and interests. 

And a bunch of ads for goods and services those activities/interests imply I might be interested in.

My online interactions with material relating to the Grateful Dead being not insignificant, it decided to pile on following the (second) death of Bob Weir.

A couple of examples from yesterday:

In fairness, it has also been showing me stories about Weir and the Dead, and ads for actual Grateful Dead merchandise. But it clearly has a way to go when it comes to accurately matching ads to to topics.

Wordle 1670 Hint

Hint: That thing you do to keep a particular person from finding, or a particular thing from happening to, you.

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First Letter: A

Lock Them Up?

Per NBC News:

The Republican-led House Oversight Committee announced Tuesday that it will seek to hold former President Bill Clinton in contempt of Congress after he failed to appear for a deposition as part of the panel's probe into the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. ... The committee had scheduled a deposition with Clinton for Tuesday morning, as well as a deposition with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for Wednesday. In a letter to Comer, the Clintons said they didn't plan to appear for the depositions.

Contempt of Congress comes with the possibility of a 1-12 month jail term and a fine of up to $100k.

While my own contempt for Congress is endless, and while I'm generally not in favor of incarceration for pissing off politicians, the Clintons have gotten away with so much shit over the years that I couldn't bring myself to feel sorry for them if they finally got the orange coveralls and leg irons treatment.

NFL Wild Card Round Bracket Outcomes, Modified Divisional Round Predictions

The sad thing about a bracket is that a single pick can destroy the final prediction. I went five for six on the NFL's Wild Card Round, but the one I missed involved the team I expected to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl, the Jacksonville Jaguars.

I correctly picked the Patriots to beat the Chargers and the Texans to beat the Steelers in the AFC, and correctly picked the Rams to beat the Panthers, the 49ers to beat the Eagles, and the Bears to beat the Packers in the NFC.

My bracket being busted on the AFC side, I'll move my picks for the AFC Divisional Round, as modified by that outcome, here just for fun:

• The Denver Broncos will beat the Buffalo Bills, and
• The New England Patriots will beat the Houston Texans

The NFC side of the bracket is still at 100%, and I still expect the 49ers to beat the Seahawks and the Rams to beat the Bears in that conference's Divisional Round.

Wordle 1669 Hint

Hint: If you're dining out in New Orleans, I highly recommend this stew.

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First Letter: G

Wordle 1668 Hint

Hint: The Scopes instance of today's Wordle made a monkey of William Jennings Bryan (and it was far from the first time he made an ass of himself).

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First Letter: T

The Computer Improvements Continue

It was nice to get an HDMI switch and a USB switch installed so that I can move from my Oumax "daily driver" mini PC to my Raspberry Pi 4B by pressing two buttons instead of changing keyboards, changing mice, and manually switching monitor input settings.

Nice enough that when I needed to add some things to my Amazon Haul cart to reach the $25 minimum (I was getting some household necessaries and they'd been sitting in the cart for several days), I decided to buy a second HDMI switch and a micro-HDMI to HDMI adapter so that I can run the Pi in dual display mode by pressing three buttons instead of two buttons. Those will arrive some time this week.

After doing some research on CPU loads, temperatures, etc., I also moved the Pi from Manjaro Linux with XFCE as its GUI to the latest release of Raspberry Pi OS, a Debian-based Linux using the PIXEL GUI (a variant of LXDE). In addition to making more efficient use of resources because it's optimized specifically to the Pi, not just to the ARM CPU, its command line interface is more familiar to me than Manjaro's Arch Linux CLI.

Right now, whenever I have a few spare moments, I'm working on getting the Pi set up as a full backup work rig so that if the Oumax takes a shit I'm back up and running immediately rather than having to break out one of my old mini PCs or wait for a new one to arrive.

I'm also thinking about Pi upgrades -- switching from the standard SD card storage to a USB solid state drive would massively increase its read/write speeds and reduce latency. I might even go ahead and get a Pi 5 with 16Gb of RAM. I don't think those changes would get it quite up to the Oumax's benchmarks, but it's just fun to have a viable working computer (the 4B was my "daily driver" for a little while) the size of a pack of cigarettes.

Update: I decided to have a look at USB solid state drives and found a very good sale on one that reviewers say works great with their Raspberry Pi machines. So that's on the way. I'll probably put off further futzing within the OS until it arrives, as I'll plan on burning a fresh OS image to the SSD and booting from that in the future.

Another Reason to Boycott Hilton Hotels

Dallas woman fired for TikTok video warning of ICE agents at Hilton Anatole

When you do business with organizations that openly, actively, and enthusiastically support violent gang activity, you incentivize support for violent gang activity.

Bob Weir Dies Again

One morning in 1983, I was sitting at a "lab table" in a high school science classroom, reading the day's newspaper. I looked across the table at my friend Victor Weir, and asked him "are you related to Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead? He just died of a drug overdose."

They weren't related, but the possibility that they were related is the only reason I remembered that incident circa 2000, when I got together with my Deadhead wife and eventually noticed that Weir was alive and well. Again. Not sure when the programmers re-combobulated our simulation's timeline and the cleanup algorithm failed to erase that from my memory, but it was sometime during that 17-year period.

He died yesterday. Again. RIP.

Wordle 1667 Hint

Hint: It comes in six flavors, including "charm" and "strange."

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First Letter: Q

Don't Know Why I Didn't Think of That Before ...

In a post the other day, I wished that I could buy the GoGun SixNeedler (as reviewed by Kent McManigal) with cryptocurrency.

Kent suggested that I ask them when they will be accepting crypto. So I did. The answer: "I don't think we will any time soon."

Oh, well.

But then I remembered that Bitrefill (that's an affiliate link -- if you use it and spend $200, each of us gets $5 worth of Bitcoin), in addition to selling gift cards for various stores, also sells a "virtual Visa." I've never bothered with it before, because generally when I buy something with a credit or debit card, I just spend cash directly. When I spend crypto, I either spend crypto directly or convert it to a gift card for the store I'm purchasing from.

So anyway, I bought a $180 "virtual Visa" using Bitcoin. With Bitcoin fees, it came to a US dollar value of about $183.

And the SixNeedler, with tax and shipping, came to $179.42.

It's on the way:

I don't rock a huge arsenal, even though I've always loved shooting (and had a secondary MOS as a Quantico-trained marksmanship instructor in the Marine Corps). Guns can quickly become an expensive hobby, so I restrain myself. Our household has fewer than ten firearms, and several of them are family heirlooms, not for regular use.

For example, my dad's single-barrel .410 shotgun, which he bought in (IIRC) the early 1950s. Its stock was rotted out, so one of my uncles carved a very nice one out of a walnut stump. Then dad exploded the end of the barrel while hunting, and had it repaired (which ended up shortening it). When I was a kid in the 1970s, he took it to a shop and had the metal re-blued. I fired it once or twice in my youth, and will probably never fire it again.

I don't think we're under-arsenaled or anything, but the SixNeedler fills one niche that none of our other guns fills -- I can take target practice at the homestead with it, without having to invest significant money in a range that's safe for more powerful weapons. And while it's not the gun I'd carry if I knew I was going to a gun fight, it can put a hurt on someone, and for everyday open carry it's mean-looking enough (the barrel is 9mm and it's not obvious that it "only" shoots hardened steel darts with 9mm bases) that e.g. muggers would likely see it and opt for softer targets.

I'll probably review it here after I've received it and tried it out. If I really like it, I'll either buy the "official" chest holster or look for a workable chest or shoulder rig. I might even buy a laser sight for its Picatinny rail ... but I kind of doubt it. Its effective range is about 25 meters and any defensive use would likely be shorter than that. 

Applicable(?) Aphorisms #1

"Love your neighbor as yourself." (Christianity, Mark 12:31)

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

Applicable(?) Aphorisms: An AI-Generated Ministry Activity

This morning, I had reason to think -- for the bazillionth time -- about a particular aphorism (Mencken's "hobgoblins" bit), and it occurred to me that it might be fun for KN@PPSTER's readers to discuss various aphorisms, from various sources. Are those aphorisms true, false, good, bad, useful, not so useful, etc.?

Just picking out a bunch of my favorites didn't sound as fun as having an external source for aphorisms I might not necessarily agree with myself. Even as an ordained minister, I actually prefer discussions to sermons when it comes to discussing "the truth."

So, I went to Yupp (that's an affiliate link -- if you sign up through it, we both get credits for using, and rating, AI models) and entered the prompt "Generate a list of 51 aphorisms from the scriptures of the world's religions and philosophies." That's one aphorism each week for the remaining weeks in 2026.

The list generated by GLM 4.7 was nice, but it organized the aphorisms in an ordered list by group such that all of the aphorisms from each group were together. Qwen3 Max Thinking Preview mixed them all up, which seems better for serial discussion. I'll be using the latter list so that we're not discussing Christianity for a month straight, Stoicism for three weeks, Islam for two weeks, etc.

My plan is to post an aphorism each Saturday and close comments when the next aphorism is posted.

The usual rules: Everyone's welcome, but pseudonymous trolls have to make their comments interesting if they want those comments posted/discussed.

First one coming in a few minutes.

Wordle 1666 Hint

Hint: Monday, for Susanna Hoffs.

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First Letter: M

Office Remodel -- Easier Than Expected

Repositioning the Jayco 806SD's "dinette" didn't require any cutting of the base after all. That, and attaching the painted plywood with wood screws, took maybe ten minutes. The teardown and then re-setting-up of the computers, monitors, lights, etc. took maybe another 20 minutes at each end.

My expectation that I would be blocking entrance/exit to the camper when seated at the desk turned out to be incorrect. If anyone but me actually had a reason to enter or leave, they'd have plenty of room to do so. In fact, even though I have a bigger desk surface now, the camper actually looks and feels bigger/more open. For one thing, the monitors are against/parallel to one wall instead of perpendicular to that wall and acting as a sort of half-wall separating the camper fore and aft. For another, the "dinette" benches are now just low-sitting storage boxes instead of having back cushions sticking up a foot and a half.

I don't see the point of a rolling office chair in such a small space, and I didn't want to get a permanent chair until I was sure the setup I envisioned would work out. I'm using a dining room chair today, and  Tamara will pick up a simple folding chair from Home Depot on her way home from work tonight (my son uses the same one at his desk, and I tried it out to make sure I'd like it).

At the moment, the camper's internal lighting is a couple of USB-powered lamps. I'll probably get a higher-lumen, solar-powered "chandelier" format lamp to hang from the center beam. I may also pull down that sheet hanging over the port windows. I might or might not install blinds. They're north-facing windows, so it's not like I'd be getting glare from them.

I Want That ...

... but haven't yet found a way to pay for it with cryptocurrency, which I'd prefer.

"That" is the GoGun SixNeedler (not an affiliate link), as reviewed by Kent McManigal.

It's a "pepperbox" style, CO2-powered revolver that fires hardened steel darts.

I wouldn't solely rely on it for home defense, but in situations where it's enough, it would be less messy than the 9mm, .40, or 12-gauge options already on hand.

It also looks like it would be a reasonable shoulder-holster carry option while motorcycling -- big and ugly enough to serve the self-defense function of people noticing it and just deciding not to fuck with you in the first place.

And it could be used for target practice at home without as much work to create a range environment that would be safe for e.g. 9mm pistols or .223 rifles.

Air and CO2 weapons have come a long way since I was a kid, when they were basically just BB guns with a little extra oomph. These days, there are numerous models that serve as plausible small game and self-defense alternatives.

If anyone knows of a retailer who takes crypto for the SixNeedler, let me know in comments.

Wordle 1665 Hint

Hint: As bits in bytes (or in dollars).

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First Letter: E

Tomorrow Is A Camper Office Improvement Day ...

I've been busy with other things (helping my wife and kids finish the move into the new house while getting my day-to-day work done, celebrating holidays, etc.), but now it's time to get back to work turning the "office in a pop-up camper" into something a little less cramped and more enjoyable.

This may not look like much, but it's one of the most important parts:

It's a 30"x 48" piece of plywood (some leftover material from a previous project, which I brought over from the old house), with its first coat of paint drying (eggshell interior paint left over from the previous owner's remodeling of the house prior to us buying it, left behind). I'm a "reduce, reuse, recycle, upcycle" type. Not for environmental reasons but more because I'm a cheapskate who hates to waste anything.

Right now, my (cramped) desktop is the Jayco 806SD's included "dinette," which is about 29"x36". I'll be turning that sideways (which may require a cut to its plywood base for positioning) and using wood screws to attach the plywood to the top.

Then, instead of sitting on one of the "dinette" benches, facing the rear of the camper, I'll be sitting on a chair, facing the port side of the camper. My dual 24" monitors will no longer sit in a very steep "V" toward each other, with the risers at the very edges of the surface.

If my measurements match my vision, the two "dinette" benches, which have storage beneat the seats, should still open and should remain relatively accessible. I might store some of my smaller musical instruments (lap steel guitar, melodica, ukuleles, etc.) in one of them, and perhaps office supplies or whatever in the other.

The down side is that when I'm working, it would be difficult for anyone to come into the trailer and get around me (I guesstimate that my back will be about two feet from the camper door), but that's not really a down side -- I don't know why anyone else would be trying to come in.

My plan is to do this tomorrow -- anything after 7am or so on Friday is effectively my "Saturday" on the work front. I can't see it taking more than a couple of hours, but best to have an open time frame when you're tearing your computer rigs down, rebuilding your desk, and getting set back up.

I have clear acrylic on the way to put in the camper's door windows. The previous owner had a couple of poorly measured opaque plastic sheets for that; I used some old campaign signage to replace those temporarily, but it will be nice to have the option of looking out the window.

Most of the remaining work will likely wait until spring and warm weather, and for dry days. An online weather atlas tells me that March has an average of 15 rainy days in March, with an average high temperature of 76 degrees.

On one of those dry days, I'll remove the tarps from the roof, give it a thorough cleaning, use silicone caulk around anything attached, and put down a nice double coat of roof sealant. I only had one, very small, leak before tarping the roof, so I expect that will get things fully right.

On another couple of those dry days, I'll take measurements, frame and sheathe removable/stowable walls for the main body of the camper, cut out the existing canvas, and install the walls. If the acrylics I have coming for the door work out well, I'll probably get a couple more for use as windows. Natural light is a nice thing to have.

Once that is done, Bitcoin value allowing, I'll look into a rooftop solar array sufficient to power everything in the camper, including its rooftop AC unit, my computers and monitors, etc. It will have to be a setup that can either be left in place when the camper travels, or that is easily removed and stowed.

Of course, the camper is just sitting here right now, but longer term I'm thinking about buying a used pickup truck with a hitch and some kind of roadworthy Internet access device (maybe the Starlink Mini?) so that if I want to travel and camp without missing work, I can.

Everything beyond tomorrow's stuff is highly provisional, though. I may come across a larger, nicer camper at a reasonable price ($1,500 or less) and decide to empty this one out, crank it down, and remodel it for use as a chicken coop. I do want to give this one at least six months (one down, five to go) before making such a decision, but if I find myself leaning in that direction I'll hold off on putting time into further improvements.

A Writing Conundrum

A quote, variously attributed to John Casey, "unknown," and others:

Writing is rewriting; rewriting is writing -- from the first crossed-out word in the first sentence to the last word inserted above a caret, that most helpful handwritten stroke.

So, if someone gave an AI a bunch of prompts (character names, plot elements, etc.) and told it to write a story, then rewrote the story, would AI or the rewriter be the author?

I assume that's already happening, by the way; I wouldn't be surprised if there are whole novels on Amazon that are largely AI-generated.

I haven't yet used AI to generate so much as a paragraph of fiction myself (when I use it, it's to get quick answers to questions, after which I check the sources/citations if I plan to use the information), but when I get back to trying to write fiction, I could see myself at least asking AI to generate paragraph-length stuff detailing particulars (e.g. "write a description of a burglar picking the lock on a residential door") and then using those particulars as a guide for the narrative.

Wordle 1664 Hint

Hint: A detonation -- or a really good time.

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First Letter: B

Wordle 1663 Hint

Hint: The nut that made Stuckey's famous.

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First Letter: P

Wordle 1662 Hint

Hint: Power of the pizzazz/zing type.

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First Letter: O

A MAHA Step in the Right Direction

One need not be "anti-vax" in general to believe that American infants and children get way too many shots at the recommendation (and in some cases mandate) of government. After one of our kids had a negative reaction (not fatal or permanently debilitating, but requiring an ER visit) to a vaccine as a baby, Tamara and I elected to forgo most of them with both kids. Now that they're adults, they've chosen to get some and to not get others, which is how it should be.

Anyway, The Hill reports:

The CDC will now recommend children receive 11 vaccines, rather than the current list of 17, putting it line with the much smaller country of Denmark. 

The CDC said it will recommend all children are vaccinated against diseases “for which there is international consensus.”

The Hill also describes that policy change as "seismic," which seems over the top. It's just a reduction in line with international medical consensus; that consensus may be right or wrong, but exceeding it by more than 50% seems more "extreme" than going with it. Why should kids get far more vaccines than they need? Any time you stick a needle in someone and inject a foreign substance there's some risk involved, and it's not clear that there's a positive risk/benefit ratio in e.g. three shots for a sexually transmitted disease (hepatitis B) between birth and 18 months unless maybe the kid is Jeffrey Epstein's.

RFK is right on some things, and this is one of them.

NFL Post-Season Bracket

You can actually see the bracket here (at ESPN's Pigskin Bracket Challenge), but I'll break it down in plain text as well:

Wild Card Round, AFC:

• Broncos have a bye
• Texans beat Steelers
• Jaguars beat Bills
• Patriots beat Chargers

Divisional Round, AFC:

• Broncos beat Texans
• Jaguars beat Patriots

Conference Championship, AFC:

• Jaguars beat Broncos

Wild Card Round, NFC:

• Seahawks have a bye
• Rams beat Panthers
• 49ers beat Eagles
• Bears beat Packers (corrected in this post thanks to an alert commenter -- see linked bracket).

Divisional Round, NFC:

• 49ers beat Seahawks
• Rams beat Bears

Conference Championship, NFC:

• Rams beat 49ers

Super Bowl:

• Jaguars beat Rams

Disagree? That's fine, but rando talk is cheap. If you want to put your bracket up against mine, you can do so at this link. If not, feel free to STFU.

NFL Week 18 Results

I went nine right, seven wrong for the week -- not a terrible performance, and I did move up from 79.5th percentile to 80.7th percentile among players in ESPN's Pigskin Pick'em Game ... but it really should have been better. I expected the Chiefs to at least be able to beat the damn Raiders; I expected the Broncos to sit their star players versus the Chargers rather than vice-versa; and even with the Eagles sitting their starters, I still expected them to easily handle the Commanders. Oh, well. Correct picks in green, incorrect in red:

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

I ended up with a season record of 161 correct, 109 incorrect,

Wordle 1661 Hint

Hint: Not yet a mare, but aging in that direction.

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First Letter: F

After Additional Research ...

... I decided that a new mini PC can wait.

The AMD Ryzen models with 32Gb of RAM that I've been looking at ARE a lot faster than my Intel N100 with 16Gb of RAM ... but I don't think I'd really see any of that additional speed. My system monitor usually tells me I'm using nowhere near my CPU capacity or RAM for the things I do.

So the big difference I would see would be in temperature and/or power consumption, and those differences would be negative.

Since I have less capable but adequate emergency backup PCs if the current one should have a severe breakdown, there's no hurry. The next PC probably will have more RAM and a better CPU, but I'll get it when I need it, instead of just deciding I want it.

Wordle 1660 Hint

Hint: Impromptu pursuit group.

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First Letter: P

It Just Might Be Time, And An Annoyance

It's been 2 1/2 years since my dog died.

She was a "rescue" from some people who were moving into a place where they weren't allowed to take her. She was supposedly about four years old, and lived another eight years. She had the "collapsing trachea" problem that's common in Chihuahuas (she was part Chihuahua, part some kind of terrier -- probably Jack Russell, and probably some other things). One night she went to sleep and just didn't wake up. Her name (not given by me) was "Cookie Monster." She was a silly little mutt who loved her humans. Good dog.

Now that we're in a new place with a fenced yard, I'm finally thinking about getting another dog.

I don't do the "particular breed, registered/purebred/with papers" thing. Nothing against it, but I personally prefer finding an animal that I like, and that seems to like me, and that needs a home.

It doesn't seem like that long ago that I started seeing small "rehoming fees" advertised when people put pets up for adoption. Emphasis on "small" -- never more than $50, and with Cookie Monster it was $20. It seemed like an instrument to establish that you really wanted a pet and weren't just scooping up every puppy you could find for a research lab or something.

Looking at "pet adoption" listings early today, I saw numerous ones with two things in common:

• Heavy emphasis on breed (specific breeds, not mixes);
• They're puppies; and
• "Rehoming fees" of several hundred dollars each

Those aren't rehoming fees. These people are just selling puppies. And they're probably doing so on a recurring basis as often as their pregnant bitch or bitches deliver a litter.

Like I said, nothing against that ... but why not just be honest about it instead of pretending that the selling price is a "rehoming fee?"

I'm in no hurry. I'll eventually come across a dog needing a home who gives me the "AH -- MY HUMAN HAS FINALLY FOUND ME" look, either randomly or because I happen across one of those event tents the area pet rescues hold periodically and decide to take a walk around.

I don't really discriminate on breed myself, and would actually kind of like a pit bull -- every one of them I've met is just a great big baby -- but my son has read too many mauling stories and would have a cow. We probably don't have room for a dog and a cow.