June 17, 2026

Yesteryear
One year ago today: June 17, 2025, north of Mongolia.
Five years ago today: June 17, 2021, great American IQ die-off.
Nine years ago today: June 17, 2017, exactly 56 miles.
Random years ago today: June 17, 2004, five monks.

           We are on the verge of a storm that may never happen, but the Florida-wise know better than to start any big outdoor projects. I decided to shuffle over to the pile left by the neighbor for a closer look. Two solid wood wood, that is, not particle board. With my bad eye on the horizon I tested myself to the limit salvaging every useable piece. Here are around 20 slats destined to become tote boxes. They are strung together and me with no scissors.

           Years ago Ii developed a method to make my written words anonymous. Today, I use it for a different reason. I thought you might find this amusing. Take something you typed and use translation software to change it to any non-Latin language, then use different software to swap it back. Now compare the two versions to reveal two shockers. One, the very best translators in the world are not very good with English, and all on-line translation apps, especially Google, have an anit-White stance whenever they can.
           Nowadays I run headlines and/or first paragraphs through the process. There is something systematically funny going on in Europe. From total pro-immigrant propaganda to a more “maybe this wasn’t such a good idea” position. Somebody is planning on mass expulsions and they have been very careful to stay quiet so far. Good morning, we had apple pie for breakfast. No word from the guitar player, who last week discovered it is still work to play in a band.
           Then some smart aleck posted on like how all 15 COVID-vax related complications (speech impediment, asthma, chronic itching, short attention span) were identical to 1970s pre-faggot behavior. Complete with photos, statistics and case histories. While I have you all interested in salvaged wooden slats, here’s a challenge for you. The decorative head and foot boards had mating pieces stain a nice dark finish you can see here. They are not quite suitable for boxes, although I’ll try, and not strong enough for much else. If you can come up with something, leave a comment. I have nothing to match that color, so try to think of an integral product.

           I called it right on the new guitarist. The guy has nothing and is in no position to take on the added chore of working up a band. I’ve repeatedly stressed how playing in even the lightest-duty band is akin to a part-time job. Even an already-working duo is going to take up four hours per week, gigging or not. It’s like scuba diving, a few hours does not sound like much—until you try it. I have him an easy out, saying practice today is canceled because I have gear torn apart in my kitchen. Mostly true.
           It would seem it is his girlfriend pushing him to get into any diverson, which makes sense now. Also, I was dismayed at how little skill the guy exhibited to everyday problems, just little things like bending the prongs or tilting the unit backwards. He finally admits his only vehicle is that motorcycle and I know and it is monsoon season again. In fact, y’day a real growler just missed here by a couple miles and he’d have been stranded. The twist is that I now have 12 new tunes in my vocabulary and nobody to practice them with unless I head over there.
           Here’s one for you. The thousands of Brit fans who came to the USA for the sports game say they don’t want to leave. They don’t feel safe in England and are not allowed to wave their flag in pubs. I’m not laughing, honest sort of.

Picture of the day.
Miley Cyrus at 33.
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           In over two hours, I tested myself and the result is failure for output, but reasonable for overall health. The sky cleared and I dismantled the lumber in the oppressive afternoon heat, with humidity at 86%. I guarantee you would not like it. But it felt nice across my back and, what’s the word, hale on my chest. My ten or so trips across the yard were embarrassingly slow but I did not have to stop for breaks. I estimate the total distance was a half-mile, so don’t write me off just yet.

           I worked myself to a standstill on purpose. The house across the way is still full of workers most days. I think maybe some larger renovation company is sending over a crew whenever there are slack times otherwise. They seem to have unlimited tools and materials. And vocabularies to match.
           You know the old quad box electric outlets? This is my wooden version. This one is designed for one switch and one duplex outlet. There is a GFCI, but it is located well away on the plug end. This model is not waterproof and will have a rope carry handle. The metal and electrical parts are exposed, but they are recessed below the rim of the container. No nonsense.

           I ate half an apple pie at noon. I hope your day went as well, not so for Iran. Yes, they have surrendered repeatedly—but always without handing over the goods. They have learned from a long string of weak US admins that ceasefires provide time to reload. And they did it again, launching the Shaheds not at US assets, but at innocent foreign tankers. It is taking them kind of a long time to figure out Trump isn’t falling for their fake peace deals.

           What has my interest is the repurposing of the A-10, the Warthog tank-buster. That AESA radar mentioned y’day ties into this picture.as I did some calculating. The A-10 is designed for low-speed loitering and the Shahed’s average speed is around 100 mph. You don’t need Einstein to figure out the beams could be directed to track multiple targets simultaneously. For the A-10 closing from behind, they would be sitting ducks.

           Okay! By 5:00PM, I’m fine again, so let’s shoot a star and learn something. It is 17:12:53 GMT and I choose the star called Ankaa. Aires is/was at 056° 35.0’ and Ankaa has a sidereal angle of 353° 15.2’, declination S62°23.4’. Aires has moved 003° 13.8’ since the hour. Translated to Google, Ankaa is at -53.0640 x -62.3744. We are in the frigid South Atlantic roughly equidistant from Bouvet and Bellingshausen Islands. As Bouvet is already well-internetted, let’s look at the other. Bellingshausen was not even visited until 1964 (by helicopter), the nearest habitation is in the South Sandwich Islands, around 600 miles away.

           I’m here looking at a slat of wood, wondering, is this my destiny? If so, it’s not so bad. I’m not whooped out from the toil earlier, a good sign. Here’s a piece of wood staring back at me, 26-1/2” long by 2-3/8” wide by 0.43” thick. I have one of those idiotic decimal inch calipers, although I think tenths of an inch is a good idea.
           Then needing a laugh, I went on some sites showing women complaining about men. Always good for some chuckles. The overall most common but not explicitly stated is bellyaching. Women persistently feel the man is never “doing enough”. I was unable to get any specifics on what 'enough' could mean.

Last Laugh