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What I Hear
Nov. 11th, 2025 11:37 amPolitician: "Friends, let me tell you about MAHA..."
Curly: "Aha! Razbanyai siati benefuchi timinharongi. Paradeecke mahiha."
Politician: "Friends, let me tell you about MAHA..."
Curly: "Aha! Razbanyai siati benefuchi timinharongi. Paradeecke mahiha."
Bathroom Work
Sep. 23rd, 2025 06:35 pmI spent much of the past week doing long-planned work in the upstairs bathroom. I installed a second, higher shelf (after having to buy more support brackets when I couldn't find those I bought a few months ago) and put some items on it, freeing room on the lower, earlier shelf. I had to change my design a couple of times, mainly due to not being able to locate a stud despite careful measuring! (There are now lots of small holes in the wall.)
The past couple of days I've devoted to scraping and painting the wooden surround of the upstairs bathroom window, which is now in the new shower. After putting on the first coat I resolved to find a better brush for the second. I found a better brush. I also found the missing shelf brackets! The second coat looks much smoother than the first, partly due to the better brush. After checking for coverage I tossed the brush and what was left of the can of paint.
I'm using the downstairs bathroom for my showers just now anyway, so there will be plenty of time for the paint to dry. I still need to remove the masking tape, sweep out the shower pan and reinstall the shade.
(no subject)
Sep. 13th, 2025 11:54 amI really like this You Tube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@WristwatchRevival
"YouTube
Wristwatch Revival
I'm Marshall, I love watches and found a passion for watchmaking. I like to find broken or neglected vintage watches and bring them back to life, restoring history and letting someone enjoy them for years to come. I'm not a watchmaker by trade, but I do love the hobby and I hope you'll see why on this channel!"
I just wish I had the fine motor control to do this work.
Nothing New
Jul. 13th, 2025 09:03 amI'm currently reading and enjoying _A Square Meal_ by Jane Ziegelman and Andrew Coe. This book is about how diets in the US changed during the Twentieth Century. I'm up to the early Thirties.
There's a lot of material about the effects of the Great Depression and various relief efforts on what and how much people ate. One of the strongest arguments against relief by politicians and businessmen was that there was work available but people just didn't want to work. That giving them food (or anything else) would just make them lazy and dependant. Many programs intended to help people had work requirements for "able bodied" men which had to be fulfilled before their families could receive any government help.
This didn't work any better then than it did any other time it has been tried. Yet people keep trying it.
Not only did getting work depend on work being available, but many people had "invisible" disabilities which prevented them for medical reasons from doing physical labor. Many of those making the rules didn't take this into account; if the person wasn't obviously disabled, they couldn't be disabled. They just didn't want to work. Others in authority simply didn't care, claiming that these people were able bodied no matter what doctors said. Some of those making the work requirement demands did so for political reasons, or to excuse their own inaction. Others cared more about their budget than the people they were supposed to be helping. Having someone starve because they didn't meet some arbitrary standard was handwaved away, or simply denied.
You see the same thing happening today. There's nothing new, except the increasing accumulation of history showing us what works and what doesn't.
Masks 26 Printed!
May. 31st, 2025 10:15 amMasks 26 Published! AlephTwo has brought out my Twenty-Sixth Masks story as both a paperback and as a Kindle e-book, as of May 30, 2025!
"It was supposed to be a working vacation, teaching martial arts to members of the UN branch which dealt with rogue supers. It turned out to be far more work than anticipated."
At: https://books2read.com/u/mdenAO
Predetermined?
Apr. 16th, 2025 10:18 amI know (apparently) a great deal more about biology than those British judges who recently passed down their revealed wisdom about what makes men and women. There has been no mention in the news about how their ruling deals with natural exceptions. As just one example, what about XY individuals with androgen insensitivity?
The exception tests the rule. If a rule - or law - cannot deal with exceptions it is a bad rule (or law).
One spokesman explained that they weren't making a biological determination, simply producing a guideline for legal purposes. Okay. It's a bad guideline.
Yeah, I know; bureaucrats want to put things in a few folders a possible. This is ridiculous.
*That* Photo...
Apr. 11th, 2025 05:11 pmThe origin of that photo, from the end of _The Shining_:
https://petapixel.com/2025/04/08/the-original-stock-photo-that-appears-in-the-shining-has-finally-been-found/?utm_source=join1440&utm_medium=email&utm_placement=newsletter&user_id=66c4c7485d78644b3abbe20c
https://petapixel.com/2025/04/08/the-original-stock-photo-that-appears-in-the-shining-has-finally-been-found/?utm_source=join1440&utm_medium=email&utm_placement=newsletter&user_id=66c4c7485d78644b3abbe20c
The Original Stock Photo From 'The Shining' Has Finally Been Found. It had been lost for 45 years.
https://petapixel.com/assets/uploads/2025/04/The-Shining.jpg
Folks;
Hoo, boy, what a night! The emergency sirens woke me just before 1:00 AM. I got up and tried the radio but all any of the stations I listened to had to contribute was general storm survival info. I realized the only radio I had with weather channels was in the basement, so I decided to try the TV instead. That was much better. Two Lexington stations had continuous coverage, with radar and other info. (There may have been more, but those are the ones I watched.) Unfortunately, just as one of the stations got to Franklin County the cable went out!
It came back on after a few minutes, and I was able to stay informed. The cable went off the air repeatedly for less than a minute at a time over the next hour-plus. The storm moved through fast; at times it was clocked going at over 80 MPH. Straight-line winds matched. There were multiple tornado warnings but these weren't as pervasive or long lasting as the severe thunderstorm warnings.
Finally got back to bed about 2:20, and woke just after 10:00 AM. Don't know how much damage was done locally, yet. Will check later.
There is more bad weather on the way, too.
Once More, With Feeling
Mar. 27th, 2025 11:23 am| <input ... > <input ... > | |||
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Overture From "Tommy"
Mar. 12th, 2025 04:23 pmBack in the Seventies I became aware of Tommy, both the album and the movie. I also heard a piece which was identified as "The Assembled Multitude." It was obviously from "Tommy," probably from when when he is at his camp near the end, but I couldn't find the piece on the album, and it wasn't in the movie. Now, there was a lot from the album which wasn't in the movie or had been edited to fit. I figured the piece was a single version of the Overture, since the album Overture was about twice as long.
Decades later, I discovered that "The Assembled Multitude" was a cover band which specialized in popular versions of rock standards. They had released a shortened version of Overture for radio play.
A Hymn For These Times
Feb. 1st, 2025 05:09 pmThis was written for one of my stories, and is for WWI and its immediate aftermath, but it seems appropriate for this era:
"A Praise of Bravery; A Prayer for Peace"
I dream of flying.
I dream of soaring over the battlefields.
Ypres.
Flanders.
Gallipoli.
I dream of bravery and fear,
Of struggle and pain,
Of victory and death.
Of lives and bodies spent
To gain yards.
Or nothing.
I dream of the rulers.
Of how they waste their soldiers,
Their citizens, entire nations,
Without care.
As if playing some child's game writ large,
And in blood.
Their only goal to move pins on maps.
I dream I cry out to God:
We are so weak and small,
While the world is so horrible
How do we make it better?
God replies:
You are greater than you know.
Raise your voices, raise your fists.
Show those you fear your true strength,
And they will fear you and listen,
And the world will be better.
I dream of a world of peace and plenty.
Where those few who wish violence
Are caught and taught
A better way.
I dream of flying.
Masks 25: Double Down Has Been Published!
Jan. 23rd, 2025 10:05 amAlephTwo has brought out my Twenty-Fifth Masks story as a Kindle e-book through Amazon, as of January 22, 2025!
You can get the book here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DTJM6429
"A charitable institution which gets its money from cage matches between supers turns out to have a sinister counterpart."
Superhuman Music
Dec. 15th, 2024 11:53 amOne of the things I explore in my "Angel of..." stories is how a superhuman might enjoy and even perform music.
The main character loves music, and has actually composed some. As well, he plays multiple instruments.
Excerpt from "Angel of Europe" in which members of a superhuman WWII commando team crash a US military dance:
The piano was not an expensive one, but it was in tune and mechanically sound. Which meant he felt free to indulge himself, and even show off a bit. The first piece he played was "12th Street Rag," performed both well and fast. Aaron actually heard someone ask ironically how many fingers he had. Then came "Turkish March." When Aaron finished, someone joked that the keys were smoking.
