December 21, 2025

Yesteryear
One year ago today: December 21, 2024, a long & busy day!
Five years ago today: December 21, 2020, a generic day.
Nine years ago today: December 21, 2016, $280, ouch.
Random years ago today: December 21, 1981, we were still kids.

           I did make muffins for breakfast, but that aroma you are inhaling is baking bread. Top story, because I never could do it right. Here’s some background, I usually make half a recipe, since why fail with two loaves? This time when I proofed the yeast (which is now as expensive as bread used to be), I unthinkingly put the whole package into the mix. It was ready in eight minutes, so here is the dough rising in the back bedroom. It’s the best spot that is not in direct sunlight. To my surprise, it did what it was supposed to. My intention was to make muffins, but this was a bread recipe so I turned it into a pan. See addendum for results. My mighty blog reduced to watching yeast rise.

           A chunk of San Francisco known for voting Democrat just lost electricity last afternoon and overnight. Electric vehicles stalled everywhere. What’s the connection? Their power company has “totally committed” to hiring DEIs for some years now. I’d pay to see the video. In around another two weeks, the statute of limitations runs out for arresting the J6 hoaxers, meaning they got away with it. Most of these time-limit laws are in enacted by people who control the courts enough to wait out the distance.

           Today’s excitement amounted to stringing out the extension cable, then running the Hyundai for ten minutes. Howie was over to say the Xmas lights are spectacular this year. That’s over in Bartow, in the White Raven Estates. Like where they have professionals come in to install the displays. You drive through and the music on the radio matches the pulsing of the lights. It has a mini-drive-in theater where you watch Charlie Brown tapes. I haven’t been there in years because there’s a great library across the way.

           Here’s a success that I rate as a failure. I finally got the Arduino to loopback, as shown here with some excellent text. What’s the deal? This was the latest IDE from Arduino, downloaded and installed. I will uninstall it and delete all findable subdirectories. Because it would not operate the serial monitor unless the computer is connected to the Internet. Those sneaky bastards, but I have older versions that work just fine. Investigating further, I see they have a cloud version of the IDE. It is self-activating and runs in the background but I caught it right away. I remember the Morse Code incident and the last thing you want is some Internet AOL knowing you can program microcontrollers. Not if you are smart, anyway.

           My property alert has been silent for 95 days, so I peeked at Zillow and Trulia. The reason was easy to spot, prices have stopped falling. They have also stopped climbing. Overall, prices are twice what they should be, but housing closer to downtown is now appearing at less than $200,000. Disturbingly, the site I use to monitor crime now shows all but the richest enclaves of Nashville as red or orange. You might want to peek at that link, which has a curious statistic of the amount crime costs each resident. Last year it was $598. Also, the crime mix. In Nashville, identity theft is almost non-existent. Probably because it takes brains.

Picture of the day.
The Tintina Fault.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.

           Nothing to add but yard work. Dragging the bbq to the back where it can be used for burning yard scraps instead of waiting for a barrel to fill. Moving at half speed, I got some lumber moved around. Here’s the screws for the compressor box, now costing 25ȼ each. It turns out the two driest roofs I’ve got are the scooter and laundry lean-tos. And they are beginning to fill up with stuff, which is expected. As a telling indicator of how this weakness goes, I had planned to clean the nails out of the pile of pallet skids—and got too weary just lifting the crowbar.

           The good news, in a way, is what stopped me was the dark and skeeters again. How ironic the best days in Florida are also the shortest. The boxes, most of which are stackable, have the positive effect of getting me organized. Today I found that tool that converts tale to digit, it is called the “Dazzle” and it seems in operating condition. But I don’t recall if it needed software. All meaningful VCR material has long been digitalized here but I recall this unit, sold by a company called Pinnacle, could convert input to AVI, which would put my Movie Maker skills back into use. It’s a long shot, but this is why I never throw out software.


           Checking the news, the Wall Street Journal talked about a rare-earth metal discovery in Utah. It’s big, 8,000 acres and the mining company has already sunk over 100 boreholes. Some seeks ago I explained that rare-earth does not mean scarce, but hard to extract. The report states the metals are in clay beds and that is the significant fact. Clay is relatively very easy to mine and it is composed of tiny tubes, at the nano-scale. As a bonus, the deposit reportedly is the bottom of an ancient lake.

           I’ve only read books on geology, so don’t quote me on fine details here. While the clay can absorb the metals, if that video I just watched on titanium is typical, it will be very expensive to refine. It says here the clay is called halloysite, and is used for medical and weapons. If nothing else, this find could shake the Chinese up a bit. Their mines are remote, while this lode is commuting distance from Provo. This news also comes at a bad time for China, which is experiencing manufacturing stagnation, and they are not getting their own way in the South China Sea. Didn’t the US just sell Taiwan some defense rockets?
           Here is a picture of me making two cups of tea. Exactly. This spot just needs a picture. For balance and such.

           BitCoin ATMs. I’ve been meaning to delve into that. Worded another way, welcome to the American wasteland. Nobody, anywhere has straight answers and once more, every so-called “tech savvy” person I know in the universe has only the shallowest, minimalist grasp on the system. Simple questions stump them. Questions like, “just how anonymous is it really?” and “is there a way to buy with cash’. These and most questions related to not being a dumb, trusting, unwary potential dupe are just going to get you some blank stares. Why the questions all of a sudden?
           There is a BitCoinATM at the local discount grocery. It usually has an “Out of Order” sign, but it is still there after six months, so it must be in use. As usual, even the staff that work right beside the machine cannot answer basic questions. The machine says it accepts cash, but right above the intake slot there is camera staring at you with directions on how to have your picture taken. Which negates the primary reason for using cash. Yes, I know, hold up a picture of Donald Duck, but there is nobody to ask if this might cause further problems. A digital wallet is requirement, but that’s another topic where you won’t get any answers.

ADDENDUM
           This is a good shot of the dough, because once in the oven it collapsed. It’s still the best I’ve done from scratch except by luck. The only change I spot is doubling the yeast, which is not a permanent option. I’ve had success with automatic breadmakers years ago. If I can proof yeast, remind me to keep an eye out in the Thrift after Xmas for a good one. The result to day was tough and crumbly, with not quite enough salt to bring out the flavor. Also a bit chewy, but I got yeast to rise, so there’s hope.

           Silver opened at $68.97 in Singapore. What delights me is behind the curtain. I derived my theory of paper silver versus real silver independent of newscasts. And guess what newscasts are now finally talking openly about? There was an unspoken cap of $60(+/-) per ounce that the central banks seemed to avoid, but I could not prove it. They also favored their big tradings over night and weekends when the market is out of public reach. Yes, I realize my understanding of this was spotty—but it’s clear I knew something funny was going on. They were manipulating the market via the indexes. And this last weekend didn’t work for them worth a damn.
           Most banks hold short positions on silver. If you don’t follow such things, it means betting you can buy something for a lower price in the future. The deal is that by the deadline, you MUST buy it at the going rate. In the past, they would just pump the Asian market full of low-priced silver certificates just before a Monday-morning short. But something appears to have gone wrong this time. My guess? When silver hits $100, there is panic. When it hits $200, there is hysteria. When it hits $500, give me a call. Private deals only, Comex need not apply.

Last Laugh