I Am Home

The surgery sites are finally registering pain. Not bad enough to get the Norco Rx filled and just a bit more than Tylenol can silence. The catheter is both more annoying and a sharper pain when in certain positions.  And a 250 ml of urine sloshing about in a bag on your ankle is annoying, but at least there are nighttime visits to the toilet. Although I would gladly trade that for this nuisance.  I should get priority seating with my urologist to find a solution to this inflamed prostrate gland.

A Shockingly Positive Japanese Perspective on Trump's Pearl Harbor Joke

Click over and read.

Musk Puts His Money Where His Mouth Is

3/21/26 Axios:

"Elon Musk said Saturday he'd be willing to pay the salaries of TSA agents during the Homeland Security shutdown, as President Trump suggested the possibility of using ICE agents to keep airports moving instead..  

"

• "Based on TSA's headcount, Musk paying officer salaries could run more than $40 million a week, a rounding error for the world's richest person."

Sure not a rounding error for TSA employees!

Not A Particularly Important Story, But I Still Got a Laugh

3/18/26 Yahoo News:

'The rise of the 'good-enough dinner': Why Gen Z is ditching the perfect meal prep for 'girl dinner' and 'boy kibble'...

"Even Harry Styles weighed in on these popular eating habits. During a recent interview with Brittany Broski’s Royal Court, he joked, “My sister always talks about the idea of girl dinner. Boy dinner, I've discovered, is just eating a rotisserie chicken over the sink.”

What a Drag It Is Getting Old

What i thought was constipation which causes what is known as urgency urination (you feel the need but nothing comes out) turned out to be a prostate gland that has blocked the urethra.  It is was miserable.  The Urgent Care got me in quickly and when I could not produce a urine sample they did a bladder scan and saw that there was no shortage of urine. They attempted to insert a catheter which was not as bad as I expected.  

The problem is benign prostrate hyperplasia not cancer  I am in ER now.

UPDATE: The ER fiest attempt at inserting a Foley catheter was both very painful and unsuccessful. For a second attempt with a smaller diameter, they used what sounded like "Gyrojet" that applied lidocaine and I think may have enlarged the path. The next try at the catheter was unpleasant but not desperately painful.  

Relief! My bladder is no longer screaming at me. The catheter is a little annoying at insertion point but not really painful.

Next, they ran me through a CT scan to look for bowel obstruction.  My daughter reminded me that some ago, I had a partial bowel obstruction which they fixed by medication. They are also looking for kidney stones (and I suspect bladder stones).  

I was supposed to leave Saturday for a cruise to Cabo San Lucas with my daughter, son-in-law, grandkids and son. That is not going to happen.  I have a urine bag attached to that catheter and the prospect of traveling with this stylish fashion accessory does not sound pleasant.  I am hoping my urologist will advance me in the queue for an appointment next week.

UPDATE 2: The ER doctor suggested antibiotics for the appendicitis which is about 50% successful in Europe. The surgeon made the case that because about 50% of the time you still need to remove it within two years, we should just remove it and nit have it reoccurring at what might be a less convenient time  it was done pretty quickly. Unfortunately, the inflammation it caused to the prostate gland did not diminish enough to remove the catheter so I an srill here this evening and I will need to have my urologist so a Roto-Rooter of the urethra through the prostrate gland next week. This will be a great nuisance  

The PA thinks the antibiotics probably have reduced inflammation enough to remove the catheter here and let me out.

Stories That Make My Day

 3/18/26 Breitbart:

On Tuesday, California agreed to a settlement with the Second Amendment Foundation, Firearms Policy Coalition, and other plaintiffs, and will pay over $1.3 million to cover the plaintiffs’ attorney fees.

The settlement arose from a lawsuit that was filed against California’s Marketing Firearms to Minors Law, which crossed into First Amendment territory by banning firearm advertisements.

Breitbart News quoted Ninth Circuit Judge Kenneth Lee’s September 2023 majority opinion against the law, where he wrote “…that [the Marketing Firearms to Minors Law] does not directly and materially advance California’s substantial interests in reducing gun violence and the unlawful use of firearms by minors. There was no evidence in the record that a minor in California has ever unlawfully bought a gun, let alone because of an ad.”

I am pretty sure Judge Lee meant ever unlawfully bought a gun throuigh licensed dealers. I have no doubt that many have done so from other gang members. This is a big win for my friend Don Kilmer who pursued this absurd case for a number of years. 

In a larger sense than just guns: the idea that advertising sells people stuff they do not already want is absurd. If advertising can create demand, explain the failures of the 1950s Edsel, the IBM PCJr,, and New Coke. At most advertising influences choice: do you want our over-sugared breakfast cereal? 

I am sorry for California taxpayers, but there are consequences to electing idiots.

7 Tons Incoming

We are supposed to be watching for these. 3/17/26 Channel 19 News:

"CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - A fireball lit up skies across Northeast Ohio Tuesday morning after a seven-ton asteroid entered the atmosphere and broke apart over Medina County, NASA confirmed.

"The space agency said the meteor was first detected at 8:57 a.m. off Lake Erie near Lorain. It traveled more than 34 miles through the atmosphere before breaking up, with some fragments falling to the ground."

Admittedly, 7 tons is pretty small but because KE=1/2mv**2 and anything hitting our atmosphere is moving at 25,000 mph, the energy is truly frighteningly stupendous. 

On the plus side, look for burned rocks in your back yard.  If they are magnetic, even better. These are valuable if authenticated. If you think you hit pay rock, call your nearest university geology department. They want to check it for residual radiation and they can tell you if you got lucky.