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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

Wordle 1904 Hint

Hint: Like dense fog ... or a good gumbo.

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First Letter: S

The Research Has Begun (Motorcycle Bleg)

I am now at "seriously looking for the forever (or at least 10-year) motorcycle" stage. As in quite possibly buying in the next week or two.

Pursuant to that, I dropped in at my local Harley-Davidson dealership today.

Not because I'm thinking "buy a Harley," but because dealerships often have other brands in used/trade-in stock, and I was hoping to find a Royal Enfield Himalayan 450 or Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 at an attractive price.

No such luck. I was shown Harleys, and the showing made me about halfway a believer.

The halfway I achieved: I discovered that they do make a very nice bike with mid-mounted foot pegs instead of the forward cruiser style. It's called the Street Bob.  Seeing and sitting on two very much made me interested.

The halfway I didn't achieve: The best deal they had on a Street Bob was about $10k for a 2013 trade-in, which is more than I anticipate spending; and while I discovered that a very large bike isn't as heavy to wrestle around as I expected, I still don't want a 1200+ cc engine. So that's probably not going to happen.

What I'm looking for in my "forever bike" is:

• Reliability. Not only actual reliability, but the feeling of reliability. As nicely priced as Chinese bikes are, I'm just terribly skeptical of having one cover 600 miles in a day without something breaking. I want a bike that, if I happen to wake up tomorrow and decide it's been too long since I saw the Rockies, I will, deep in my heart, expect the bike to survive the trip. To me, that means a 400cc+ engine on a bike made by Harley-Davidson, Royal Enfield, Kawasaki, Honda, Suzuki, Yamaha, Ducati, KMT, maybe a handful of others.
• The ability to cruise comfortably at 70 miles per hour on the freeway (with actual top speed as close to 100 mph as possible).
• The ability to handle well and to not fall apart on Florida's "three foot deep sugar sand interspersed with two foot deep ruts" back roads.
• Upright rider stance.
• Minimal gizmos and farkles and stuff. If it was up to me I'd have an analog speedo, tach, and gas gauge, a throttle cable rather than throttle by wire, etc.  That's too much to ask the last few years, but I do not need a 32" touch screen and five "ride modes" and all that stuff and want as little of it as possible.
• The ability to comfortably carry at least some luggage. I pack light and I don't want a bagger, but for long trips I'd probably run a top box and saddlebags or side boxes.
• I'd prefer alloy wheels but if the rest of the bike is right, I'm OK with spokes.
• As mentioned above, I don't want a big engine and a heavier than necessary bike. I'm not getting any younger and I don't expect to get a lot stronger. My contemplated range is 400cc to 650cc, although I might go a little higher for the right bike.
• Related to the "reliability" part -- a bike that local shops will work on. I've done repairs and modifications on my small, cheap bikes but I am not a mechanic and will have the "forever" bike serviced by professionals for anything more complicated than an oil change.
• And related to that part, I intend to leave the bike stock/factory instead of trying to soup it up, because I intend to get a bike that does what I need with stock/factory specs.

So, considering all of those things, my main candidates are the Royal Enfield Himalayan 450, Guerilla 450, or Interceptor 650 or the Kawasaki KLR-650 or Eliminator 451. Those aren't the only bikes I'll consider, but they're the ones best tracking what I'm looking for and what I'm willing to pay (these are all sub-$8000 bikes new "out the door").

Anyone here have experiences with any of these bikes, or others in the "roadster" or "adventure touring" vein? I'm looking for recommendations (while really, really eyeballing a Himalayan for sale in Tallahassee).

Wordle 1903 Hint

Hint: Wanna bet?

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First Letter: W

Reminder: Generic Ballot Polling Is Worthless

I'm only using Erick-Woods Erickson as the example because I happened to come across it this morning. His general advice to Republicans isn't terrible, it's the information he's throwing out as an example of how poorly Republicans are doing that's the problem.

Republicans take 41 percent on the generic ballot while the President sits at 37 percent approval.

 So what?

1. That's national polling. There are no national elections this November. There are 435 US House elections, 35 US Senate seats, and 36 state governorships up for election.
2. That's generic party preference polling. It tells us nothing about how many people, in which of those polities, like which candidates, none of whom are named "Donald Trump."

Every two years, generic ballot polling gets used to predict a "wave" for one party or the other, but it's not a reliable predictive tool for that, even to the extent that the polling is reliable and accurate.

Republicans are going to out-perform their party's national generic ballot polling in Alabama.

Democrats are going to out-perform their party's national generic ballot polling in California.

In close/"swing" districts, it's going to come down to the individual candidates and their campaigns.

Remember that every time you see a "blue wave" prediction. While I expect the Democrats to pick up seats in both House and Senate, and maybe even take majorities in one or both, we're talking about a handful of seats changing party.

Wordle 1902 Hint

Hint: Under-floor support.

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First Letter: J

The Move Is Far From Finished ...

... but it's begun.

No, that's not a sepia photo filter. It's what the inside of the tent looks like without open windows and in "natural" daylight on an overcast day.

That's about the front third of the tent (the front door is the panel centered behind the pole). Sofa, coffee table, and shoe shelf (shoes won't be worn in the tent) on the left, desk on the right.

That little chandelier on the top right is a solar-powered light with wiring going out the stove jack (you can see the panel through the roof). The light really isn't much; I'll be augmenting or replacing it ASAP. 

I'll have more shelving coming in for e.g. motorcycle helmets and other bike-related stuff, a couple of chairs for that sofa/coffee table area, either a guitar rack or multiple guitar stands, and a twin frame to move the guest bed mattress over from the camper. And so on, and so forth.

I find the desk, which I put together yesterday, a little small. I think I have a bigger one in storage. If not, I'll go shopping.

Right now, the main hold-up is finding enough cheap rugs to completely cover the floor.

Still working to get the tent correctly trimmed, as you can tell from the wrinkle behind the sofa.

While I understood in my head, from the numbers, that the tent is much larger than the camper, it took standing in it to really feel how much larger. If the doorways ran down to floor level, I'd strongly consider using the extra space as a motorcycle garage. Maybe I'll get a pool or ping-pong table!

Wordle 1901 Hint

Hint: If you figure out who's in charge, then take his measure, you'll have solved today's Wordle twice.

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First Letter: R

Wordle 1900 Hint

Hint: Alternative/variant song recording.

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First Letter: R

Thanks For Asking! -- 09/01/26

If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. -- James 1:5

I'm not God, but I am a wiseguy. So don't count on any wisdom in the answers, but feel free to ask me anything in the comment thread below this post. If it's a real person asking a real question, I'll answer in, or link to the answer from, the comments. If it's a pseudonymous troll asking a dumb question, I'll only answer if I find the dumb question interesting.

Wordle 1899 Hint

Hint: Earthen heap (often associated with pre-Colombian American civilizations).

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First Letter: M

I Finally Found Those AI "Guard Rails." They're Annoying.

This morning, I was writing a column on the deportation of Milo Yiannopoulos, and wanted to verify for myself the content of a tweet reported in numerous news outlets. Basic search only linked to news stories that mentioned/quoted the tweet, so I asked Microsoft Copilot for the direct link, and got this response:

Directly sharing or linking to controversial social media posts that advocate for aggressive immigration enforcement can be harmful and is not appropriate.

I did eventually find the link, but that's just idiotic.

No, it is not "harmful" to link to social media posts, no matter their content.

"Not appropriate" is weasel wording. Appropriate to, or for, what?

And for crying out loud, it's not like I didn't already have the exact text ("California needs ICE checkpoints at supermarket entrances, gas stations, strip malls, intersections and government buildings, with on the spot deportation for anyone who can’t prove they are in the US legally"). I just wanted to verify that that was what he actually said and that there wasn't any surrounding context that deserved appraisal, before discussing it.

Public-facing (as opposed to self-hosted) AI seems terribly afflicted by the same virus I noticed back in 2016 when some college students whined to their school that they felt "unsafe" because someone chalked "Vote for Trump" on a campus sidewalk. Hiding or suppressing speech is never actually about safety.

Wordle 1898 Hint

Hint: I probably shouldn't give you a hint about today's Wordle -- it's classified information.

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First Letter: I

Yes, I Have an Erection

The tent is not finished, but it's up. As you can see, it's a little cock-eyed. I haven't even checked to see if the center pole is plumb.

I see no point in straightening it up right now, because I need to order some industrial grade tent pegs. The ones that came with the tent are just not sufficient for keeping a grip on this sandy Florida soil. I'll get the tent in good trim when those arrive and I'm pulling up pegs anyway.

The office move will probably be next weekend -- I'm awaiting rugs, I have a desk to assemble, etc.

BEHOLD! I AM KN@PPSTER, DESTROYER OF CARPENTRY CONVENTIONS!

Yes, it's ugly -- I don't need the pseudonymous troll to tell me it looks like shit, I knew it would look like shit before I built it.  An extra $1.5k would have meant a nice-looking and more durable deck, but I only need 3-5 years out of this one and I'd rather spend the $1.5k on a motorcycle.

It's kinda sorta mostly square at 17' x 17' (the tent which shall rest on it is a little over 16' in diameter)

It's kinda sorta mostly level in most places (there may be some shimming/leveling of internal furnishings, adjustments in number of rug layers, etc. to get it closer).

In places, it is definitely not flush (I assume there's a standard pallet height, but obviously the pallets I used were not built in a lab where men in white coats used calibers to get the tolerances down to thousandths of an inch).

That turquoise stuff under the front end is the remainder of the 20' tarp that I tucked over before nailing down the last pieces of plywood. I may cut it out once I figure out whether it's good or bad for controlling moisture underneath.

The pallet sticking out of the front end is one of three that I've been using as a porch for the Jayco 806-SD camper office. They'll serve the same purpose for the tent, and I'll probably grab two more regular pallets from the Ace Hardware down the road from me ($2 each!) to put on either side to support a deck box, trash can, etc.

Next, the tent. Probably SOME time this weekend.

Wordle 1897 Hint

Hint: I asked the nurse to be positive, she but she said "oh, negative -- I know your type." 

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First Letter: B

Applicable(?) Aphorisms #34

"It is not your duty to finish the work, but neither are you free to neglect it." (Judaism, Pirkei Avot 2:21)

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

My thoughts:

I had to do a little reading up on this, not being familiar with the Mishna -- I didn't know whether "the work" referred to something specific, or whether it was a general admonition.

The basic interpretation I came up with, keeping in mind that the Pirkei Avot is a tractate that focuses on general ethics, not on some obscure specific "work" required as part of specific religious obligation, is this:

If something is right or important such that ethics bind you to attend to it, your duty is to work on it diligently rather than let it slide, even if it's something you doubt you can finish or fully accomplish.

So, for example, if I see a child drowning and if I have an obligation to try to rescue the kid (whether I do is a different question), I should actually try to do that rather than knock off and have a cold one while watching sportsball. Maybe I can't swim, maybe I won't be able to reach the kid, but I should make the effort instead of not making it. It's the difference between actingly blamelessly on one hand, or being part of the problem on the other.

Which seems fair.

Motorcycle Diagnosis Fail

A few weeks ago, the Italica Bulldog 150 developed a weird and dismaying behavior: After several miles of riding at highway speed (50-55mph mostly), I'd come to a stop sign or stop light, and then when it was time to go, suddenly the engine would only put out low RPMs for about 15 seconds before starting to push the bike at speed.

Several possible causes:

• Fuel system problem, maybe it's time to replace the fuel filter, maybe the carb is developing some varnish and needs to be cleaned, etc. That seemed most likely.
• Something's wrong in the CVT -- worn belt, clutch spring tension wrong, worn rollers, etc. Very unlikely, since I had the variator upgraded and a kevlar belt put in less than 2,000 miles ago.
• A "heat sink lean bog" -- the engine block is getting hot enough that it's thinning/creating bubbles in the fuel in the fuel that's in the carburetor bowl, so the bike bogs until fresh, cooler fuel flows into it.

So, step one, order a fuel filter and change the old one out.

I ordered a fuel filter. It arrived.

I started pulling shit off the bike -- the storage box and the piece in front of the engine -- to get at the fuel line and trace it to the filter.

Hmm ... there IS no fuel filter. Which seems weird. I've changed the fuel filter on a 50cc scooter, I know there must be one. Help, AI! Turns out it's fairly common on 150cc GY6 short case machines to just not have one.

So I put the shit back on the bike. I will probably pull the shit back OFF the bike at some point and run all new line with an inline filter ... someday, not today.

I really would rather not pull the carb unless I absolutely have to. So I have some SeaFoam SF16 Motor Treatment Additive on the way. I've had that particular brand recommended by several people I know for getting ALL the crap out of a carb and motor. It arrives tomorrow. I'll add it to the tank, put a couple of miles on the bike at "city street" speeds by taking back roads before hitting a country highway, running it wide open for about 10 miles, and seeing what it does after a stop.

That said, I think it just might be the "heat sink lean bog." In which case the solution involves putting some insulation between the engine block and the carb.

If it's the CVT, I'll find out when I take it in for its 3,000 mile service, which is overdue by a couple of hundred miles anyway.

I actually kind of like wrenching on a bike, but I do also find it scary and I don't have a garage or "work on vehicles" area set up at the new place yet. I need to adjust the KP Mini for chain stretch, too, and haven't figured out a good way to get the rear wheel elevated (it doesn't have a center stand and I haven't bought a motorcycle stand ... yet).

But all of that is going to occur after or in between finishing the tent deck and getting the tent up, furnished, and operational. I've got a 5 x 7 Persianish-looking rug on the waym and expect to end up with three more in that size, plus smaller ones, plus a chair mat, by way of floor coverings. I've got a new desk still in the box that I got a deal on several months ago. I'll probably also look for a small game table and a couple of chairs. That kind of thing. All of which I was planning to do in late October or early November when the weather is better, but hey, now that I'm on it I guess I'll stay on it.

Wordle 1896 Hint

Hint: 'Twixt tot and teen.

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First Letter: T

Wordle 1895 Hint

Hint: Status prior to (or absent) circumcision.

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First Letter: U

The Joys of Improvisational Carpentry

It's been 35 years or so since I last framed houses and built decks for a living, and I'm a thousand percent sure I've lost some of my skills over that time. I've really not done anything more complicated since then than building a small wooden deck for use on a mobile home.

But this morning, I was flummoxed until I had a "smack your forehead and say DUH" moment.

In normal commercial construction, squaring and leveling is pretty easy. The site is already leveled out reasonably before the footings are poured and then the framing crew (me) comes in. As you lay out and nail beams and joists and such, you naturally check here and there to make sure everything is 1) square and 2) level, but if your dimensional lumber is straight and cut square at the ends, etc., it's not complicated or difficult to get it right and correct it if something comes up.

I seemed to be getting weird variances of level-ness internal to the decking for the tent, which I've got about halfway laid out and covered, and it took me a little bit to figure out that:

USED PALLETS ARE NEITHER NECESSARILY SQUARE NOR NECESSARILY INTERNALLY LEVEL

Smack forehead. Duh!

The "square" part isn't much of a problem. I just butt the sheets of plywood against each other tightly, make sure the edges match, and I'm good to go.

But for the "level" part, I'm not nailing that stuff down to 2 x 6 joists that I've already leveled. I'm nailing it down to pallets of varying age and varying wear, some of which may have chunks gouged out of their stringers, on which one deckboard might be slightly thicker or thinner than the others, etc. Even if I level each pallet individually, a pallet that's level at the center may be 1/8" higher at one end, etc.

I'm doing a certain amount of shimming, tearing rogue slats off, etc., but ultimately the deck is going to be slightly off-level in various places. The only way I'll be able to correct that is internally -- different numbers of layers of rug, adjusting desk legs, etc.

Which is fine. Using discarded pallets and a plywood cover is saving me somewhere around $1,000 in material costs and doesn't entail TOO much extra labor. Since I only expect the deck and tent to remain usable for 3-5 years, I'd rather have the money than a beautiful deck that would have to be repurposed or torn down when I move on to the next "home office outside the main house" experiment.

Could Path Dependence Thwart AI Advancement?

I have no idea why I woke up thinking about this this morning, but a few hours later I still find the question interesting.

The old story, which you've probably heard, bullet-pointed:

• Roman war chariot axles were built wide enough to be stable when pulled by horses -- about 4'8".
• Roman roads were built wide enough to accommodate Roman war chariots and developed ruts approximately that far apart.
• Everyone else building a wagon or cart used the same axle width so that the wheels would track along the ruts.
• English mine tram rails just adoped the same wagon width, because that's the way things were.
• The Stockton and Darlington Railway (the first steam locomotive railway) stuck with that gauge because that's the gauge craftsmen were used to working with, and it became the standard rail gauge everywhere.
• Railroad tunnels were slightly wider than that gauge to accommodate both tracks and cars.
• The space shuttle's solid rocket boosters had to fit on those railway cars and get through those tunnels, so in a very real way the size of space rockets was dictated by the width of a Roman chariot-pulling horse's ass.

That's the go-to example of "path dependence" -- past choices tend to constrain future actions. It's a form of inertia: Here's the direction I've been going in, so here's the direction I'll keep going in.

The big deal with artificial intelligence models is getting to the point where one model designs the next, better, model.

But what if there are conventions built in from the get-go that each future model continues adhering to when designing its successor model because reasons, and what if those conventions mean that some leap, jump, or left turn doesn't get made even though it would produce a breakthrough while the constrained path eventually hits a dead end?

Wordle 1894 Hint

Hint: As "steer" is to beef, today's Wordle is to chicken.

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First Letter: C

And Many More!

It was 35 years ago today that Linus Torvalds announced on a newsgroup (remember those?) "I’m doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won’t be big and professional like GNU) for 386 (486) AT clones."

Three weeks later, the first kernel of the new OS was uploaded to an FTP server for distribution. It needed a name, so the volunteer server admin called it "Linux."

Today, Linux is the most-used operating system in the world by far. 63.1% of servers run Linux. 71.8% of mobile phones (Android runs on the Linux kernel). An unknown but large percentage of embedded systems. Basically everything except the plain vanilla desktop PC, where it's finally gaining share.

Wordle 1893 Hint

Hint: The sound of a mouse, a keyboard, or a retractable pen.

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First Letter: C

Trump Just Motivated Me to a More Aggressive Tent Schedule

My plan for the 16.4' "tent as home office" project was, as of a day or two ago:

• Have free-cheap pallets for the base/deck collected by the end of August;
• Get a ground cloth down and get the pallets laid out, fastened together, leveled, etc., by mid-September;
• In early October, cover the pallets with plywood;
• In late October or early November (after the weather has become more routinely dry), get the tent set up, furnished, and in use.

But over the weekend, Trump announced a new tax increase on American buyers of Canadian goods. Lots of lumber sold in the US comes from Canada ... and even the prices of US-sourced lumber go up when it costs more to import lumber from Canada for two reasons (because they can, and because the supply of US-sourced lumber goes down vs. demand).

So I ordered the tarp and plywood this morning and both will arrive today. I'm going to try to get the pallets down and plywood on this week instead of just having a bunch of stuff lying around for weeks on end. Since I'll be that far already, if we have any decent dry spells next week I'll just go ahead and get the tent up and start moving the office over to it next week.

Thanks, Don.

Wordle 1892 Hint

Hint: Like eggs over easy.

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First Letter: R

A Rare NFL Pre-Season Game Take

Yesterday, the Kansas City Chiefs lost a pre-season game to the Tampa Buccaneers. Which doesn't sound good for the Chiefs.

What does that tell us about the Chiefs' prospects in the coming season? IMO, not much.

It was a one-point loss, with Harrison Butker missing on four points (a missed field goal and a missed extra point). Butker has become less consistently perfect in the last couple of years, but it's not like he's gone to hell in a hand-basket. He nailed a 69-yard field goal. Nothing resembling a blowout.

Both teams did play most of their starters for at least parts of the game, but Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes didn't play at all, and Bucs QB Baker Mayfield only played two drives. Backups played the rest of the game at QB.

Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, who probably should have retired before the 2025 season, played and played pretty well, but I don't think we'll see him on the field a lot during the regular season. I consider his presence on the field yesterday to be more along the lines of reassurance and motivation for the new guys than an indicator that he's going to be a big part of the season.

The two big questions for the Chiefs this year are:

• Will Mahomes be really back, healthy, and at top of form himself? and
• Will his recovery from injury have thwarted his usually excellent skills at forming the rest of the team into a unit that he can make good use of before he has to make use of them for real?

I'm not confident that both of those things will be the case. It wasn't a minor injury, Mahomes is not just out of high school and able to bounce back the way a 19-year-old can, and when the Chiefs were really good for several years, it seemed to largely be because he and his teammates could literally read each others' minds to pull off crazy shit that normal teams couldn't.

I will not be surprised if the Chiefs don't make the playoffs this year. Even if Mahomes is in perfect form, they're definitely in a rebuilding phase. If he can't stay healthy, a different quarterback will have to not just rebuild, but use a different model for rebuilding.

On the other hand, losing by only one point to the Bucs because your kicker wasn't quite in the zone doesn't prove much either way.

Wordle 1891 Hint

Hint: The days of bygone eras.

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First Letter: O

Applicable(?) Aphorisms #33

"Freedom is found in the choiceless awareness of daily life." (Jainism, Tattvartha Sutra 1.2)

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

My thoughts:

According to a Google AI overview, the above aphorism does not come from the Tattvartha Sutra, buut rather from the modern writings of J. Krishnamurti. So there's that.

I've not read any significant amount of Krishnamurti's teachings, but on a quick gloss he seems to have largely defined "freedom" in terms of personal psychology -- you become "free" by examining your own fears and prejudices, and the conditioning that creates them, without trying to change them ("choiceless awareness").

I consider that whole line of thinking absurd, I understand the conditioning that led me to that position (it came from Ayn Rand and Nathaniel Branden, Harry Browne, et al.), and I'm not going to try to change it ... so I guess I'm Krishnamurti-ish in that way, anyway ;-)

Wordle 1890 Hint

Hint: Kinda like a shrimp, but mostly found in fresh rather than salt water.

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First Letter: P

Wordle 1889 Hint

Hint: If you're trying to disappear and not be found, don't leave one.

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First Letter: T

Wordle 1888 Hint

Hint: Dark and gloomy, possibly with obscuring mist, etc.

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First Letter: M

Wordle 1887 Hint

Hint: Outdoor cooking appliance.

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First Letter: G

Wordle 1886 Hint

Hint: Remove, as with clothing or paint.

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First Letter: S

Wordle 1885 Hint

Hint: The Israelites were divided into 12. 

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First Letter: T

Wordle 1884 Hint

Hint: Per Robert Fripp, a favored culinary pairing with larks' tongues. 

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First Letter: A

Applicable(?) Aphorisms #32

"Let all things be exactly as they are." (Shinto, Kojiki Tradition)

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

My thoughts:

It's difficult to separate Shinto per se from its early 20th century use by the early 20th century Japanese empire to produce a highly regimented population and unquestioning obedience to its regime. And, like some other religions, it seems very well-suited to that purpose.

So, while it's easy to come up with a "live in harmony with nature, don't sweat the things you can't change," etc. use of the saying, I tend to couple it with a "do as you're told, no need to overthink it" vibe.

I also find it contrary to human nature. People create. People innovate. People build. And in doing so, we change how things are. So I'm more partial to Winnifred Wygal's early version of the "Serenity Prayer":

Oh, God, give us courage to change what must be altered, serenity to accept what can not be helped, and insight to know the one from the other.

Wordle 1883 Hint

Hint: Like change in your pocket or an errant screw in your brain.

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First Letter: L

Wordle 1882 Hint

Hint: A hollow rock (often with a shiny surprise inside).

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First Letter: G

Wordle 1881 Hint

Hint: A sudden drastic drop (or automobile collision).

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First Letter: C

Wordle 1880 Hint

Hint: Popeye's burger-loving friend.

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First Letter: W

If a Democrat Had Done This ...

... he or she would have been getting all kinds of credit from "the left" for commitment to "diversity" and "inclusion."

But I'm just not hearing it, because ew, Republicans.

I refer, of course, to the first (so far as I can tell) re-naming of a US military base to honor a gay man.

Wordle 1879 Hint

Hint: One type might help keep a burglar away from your stuff; the other type helps the burglar convert your stuff into cash.

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First Letter: F

Well, That's a Stunning Increase in Popularity ...

... but entirely artificial.

Yesterday, I received an "account suspended" email from the banner exchange I use (I run other people's banner ads, they run mine):

Our monitoring systems have detected a **sudden spike in traffic coming from your website**, generating more than **30,000 banner impressions within a few hours**.

For obvious reasons, banner exchanges don't want people running bots to generate a bunch of impressions on their sites so that they can earn impressions on other sites.

So, I went to look at this blog's stats.

Yesterday, 224,983 visits. This month, 2.2 million visits. All time, 11.9 million visits.

It took this blog a few years to get its first million visits. And a few more to hit two million. I'm pretty sure it passed three million last year.

So yeah, something doesn't look right.

And hey, all of a sudden this site has  now had more visitors, ever, from Seychelles than from any other country. Slightly more than from its previous source champ, the US. With "other" more than those two sources combined.

And all other browsers than Chrome now account for a combined less than 1% of all visits (until recently, Chrome was the biggest, but Firefox, Safari, Edge, etc. had noticeable percentages).

And almost all of the recent visits seem to be related to indecipherable (by me, anyway) keyword searches.

I suppose it could be an attempt at a DDOS attack, but if so the attacker isn't too bright. This blog is hosted on Google's servers and sending massive traffic to my blog won't get that job done.

I'm kind of wondering if it isn't AI bots scraping all my stuff in a race to finally leverage my wisdom to create The Singularity.

Sigh ...

I was so happy with the $10 watch. In fact, just the other day, I mentioned to a friend that I didn't see any need to buy a more expensive watch because after a couple of months this one was keeping good time, to within a few seconds at most, and supposedly has a three-year battery.

Yesterday, I was carrying a box onto our porch when I caught the band on the rail.

The band didn't break, the watch did.

At first I thought that it was just that one of the spring bars had bent or compressed.

But no, the actual lug broke, right at one of the holes where the spring bar attaches.

Now that the Fitbit is working again, I may go back to that. But more likely, I'll spring for a higher-quality analog watch. Although I've used a Fitbit for several years, I think that not having all those stats on my heart rate, blood oxygen, step count, and sleep quality is less stressful than having, and feeling a compulsion to look at, those stats.

I'm not going to spend several hundred dollars to several thousand dollars for a "luxury" or American-made watch. I could go through 50 of the cheap $10 watches -- most of which would likely last far longer than this one before a freak accident -- before having shelled out that much. But I suspect a sub-$100 Timex or Casio will have stronger case casting and significantly longer accurate movement life than the el cheapo.

And hey, the band from the el cheapo is still fine and can be kept as a spare for the next watch as long as I stick with a 20mm-22mm lug watch.

Wordle 1878 Hint

Hint: Shoot Carlos Hathcock style (i.e. from cover/concealment/camouflage).

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First Letter: S

Wordle 1877 Hint

Hint: If your car is a lemon, you might also call it something else based on this dispiriting sound.

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First Letter: C

One of the Weirdnesses of Deadheads ...

... is that every year, around the country, they "meet up at the movies" to watch a Grateful Dead concert from decades ago, in honor of Jerry Garcia's August 1 birthday (but for some reason this one ran a week late).

Naturally, Tamara wants to go every year, and I always have at least as much fun trying to figure out which of the old hippies attending might be the oldest as I do watching the show. One thing we've noticed a lot in recent years is that there are a lot of young Deadheads these days, which is cool.

This year it was their June 17, 1991 performance at Giants Stadium. Good concert, with Bruce Hornsby guesting on piano and accordion. It lacked the one song I really always want to hear in one of their recorded live performances -- "Me and My Uncle" -- but quite enjoyable.

Tamara saw them many times in the '80s and '90s. I wasn't at all into them until I met her, so the closest I came was when I purchased pay-per-view of the final "Fare Thee Well" show featuring the surviving members in 2015, on pay-per-view, as a "yay, you survived cancer" present for Tamara.

I Really Am Feeling Kind of Old

Yesterday I hopped on the Lifan KP Mini 150 and rode about 35 miles, in good weather, to Otter Springs.

There, I met up with reader GregL. We kayaked the mile down from the spring to the Suwanee River, up the river a little, watched for jumping sturgeon (there were several, only got a really good look at one), paddled back up the spring, and did a little bit of snorkeling.

Very nice outing.

The ride back was in rain, sometimes fairly heavy, with intermittent gusty winds. I pulled over a couple of times to wait the winds out. A light two-wheeled vehicle on a 60-mph wet highway does not, to my mind, mix well with lots of wind.

Which is not to say I didn't enjoy the ride. But it was pretty tiring, especially after the ride out, the kayaking, and the snorkleing.

Thirty years ago, I'd have probably arrived home, changed clothes, and headed out for a night of drinking and dancing. But not anymore. Went to be early, and slept deeply.

Applicable(?) Aphorisms #31

"When the student is ready, the teacher will appear." (Zen Buddhism, Proverb)

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

My thoughts:

Feels a little predestinationish, doesn't it?

But Buddhism in general, and Zen even more so, is kind of tricky when it comes to the usual distinguishing feature of a religion, theism, and the saying might just as easily be treated as epistemological rather than metaphysical.

At the individual level, even pre-Internet, it's always seemed to me that if I became interested in something, it was easy to find people who were also interested in that thing, knew more about it than me, and were happy to share what they knew. And that has included interest in particular schools of religion, philosophy, etc.

So perhaps the Zen proverb is metaphysical and is pointing out an observable, if not particularly explicable, feature of reality.

Wordle 1876 Hint

Hint: An outhouse (or the status of being in on a secret).

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First Letter: P