I Think These Bumps on the Horizon Are Oil Wells

Gasoline has been below $2.50/gallon.  Nice.

Clanker Domination

I went into a convenience store east of New Orleans.  I grabbed a Milky Way bar and put it under the camera.   I scanned it told me it wanted.  I put in a $10 bill and received my change.

We seem to be short a low skill workforce.   The question is whether we can get enough clankers operational soon enough 

We are still not at the Idiocracy sequence where the hospital clerk has a register with buttons with headache and broken limb icons.  The clanker solution is likely going to be superior. 

Employees Must Wash Hands Before Returning to Work

"If no employee available, wash your own hands."

Really Dark Sky

For an area with as many businesses as this has, the sky was surprisingly dark.  Of course, sky glow tends not to be an issue from somewhere with this little human presence. 

Shocking! Islamic Welfare Fraud

And not in Minnesota.   11/24/25 Jerusalem Post:

Over a billion Swedish kronor, or more than $100 million, in taxpayer-backed funds intended to support preschools and schools in Sweden have been siphoned off through an Islamist-affiliated network engaged in welfare fraud, an investigation by the Swedish newspaper Expressen revealed last Wednesday.

This came after police raided an apartment in Gavle, north of Stockholm, where several individuals who were connected to radical and violent Islamist extremism were staying. 

30 degrees north latitude

I have not been this far south in a while.  At these latitudes the Sun goes down and gets dark fast 

Paragraphs Worth Quoting

 12/24/25 Business Insider:

He said robots can be fitted with different weapons, like machine guns or grenade launchers, to fire at Russian positions. It means they can attack while keeping Ukrainian soldiers safer, as Russia is likely to return fire to wherever the attack comes from, and can also drive closer to Russian positions to launch the attacks.

He said ground robot systems are best when they work like Lego, with soldiers able to put the same system together in different ways to perform different functions, rather than having many different systems to use.

So Legos really are educational toys! 

Three Days Above 11,000 Steps

The Most Beautiful Temporary Housing Ever

Over the last few years, our daughter has arranged vacations for all of us that were often memorably unique. This last year in Paris we stayed in a hotel in Paris which was a retrofitted fin de siecle or early 20th century building.  

The elevator was right out of a Monty Python skit. It was just big enough for my wife, myself, and one overnight bag.  (One, not two.)  

The bedroom had one meter between queen size bed and window.  Had this been that Monty Python skit, at least two of us would have rolled out the window during the night.

The bathroom was so small and odd that I became stuck in the tub.  The shower had only one door so I took a bath.  Then I discovered that I could not pull myself out.  The surface was so slippery and my upper body strength was so depleted after the double bypass surgery that I was unable pull myself up.  My daughter had the brilliant solution of me putting on my hiking boots to get enough friction to push myself out.

All memorable.   Even that Paris Monty Python skit hotel was at least well located: dominated by the Eiffel Tower, walking distance to the Seine and Notre Dame.

We are in a condo in Orange Beach, Alabama. It is 3 bedrooms on the top floor of a 15 story tower.

I wish there was an easy way in the Blogger app to change picture orientation. 

And all for $300 per night!

The beach was cold and windy (maybe 35 before windchill).  The water was in the 60s. If you got in, you were staying until summer.

Building is still underway and this pelican seemed unafraid of people. 

Saying the Quiet Part Out Loud

I mentioned a couple days ago about Australia deciding that not only they need even stricter gun control laws that do not work but free speech also needed some restrictions.

12/23/25 Telegraph quoting the New South Wales premier:

I acknowledge that we don’t have the same free speech rules that they have in the United States and I make no apologies for that, we have got a responsibility to knit together our community, that comes from different races and religions.”

As the article points out, America is pretty multicultural and still has free speech.

We Left New Orleans Today

On our way along the Gulf Coast we saw a sign for the Jefferson Davis Home & Presidential Library.  I thought it odd that there was a Ppresidential library for a traitor.  Only after paying admission did I notice it was not the government that operated it but the Sons of Confederate Veterans.   If you are thinking of the scene at the (Klaus) Barbie Museum in the incredibly funny Rat Race, good.  Not that odd or funny but the gift shop had stuff that would appeal to Lost Causers.

The tour of Davis' home (after his release from prison) was well done and not offensive to history.   (One minor error: Library of Congress has never used Dewey Decimal system numbering.  This is a pretty deep in the weeds tangent to the docent's presentation. 

The house sits right on the Gulf Coast and became for several decades a Veterans home.

French Quarter Road Signs

French Quarter street signs not up where you would expect but in the sidewalk 

My wife pointed out that if you sitting atop a carriage, looking down at the sidewalk makes sense.

"I Am So Trained!'

12/27/25 Los Angeles Times:

An hour after midnight Jan. 1, as a small brush fire blazed across Topanga State Park, a California State Parks employee texted the Los Angeles Fire Department’s heavy equipment supervisor to find out if they were sending in bulldozers.

“Heck no that area is full of endangered plants,” Capt. Richard Diede replied at 9:52 a.m, five hours after LAFD declared the fire contained.

“I would be a real idiot to ever put a dozer in that area,” he wrote. “I’m so trained.”

 

Not Quite Interview With The Vampire

But still quite ancient house retrofitllted as hotel.

Nothing Suspicious Here

12/27/25 New York Post:

Embattled Rep. Ilhan Omar’s husband’s venture capital firm quietly scrubbed key officer details — including former Obama officials — as scrutiny grows over the family’s skyrocketing wealth, The Post has learned.

Omar (D-MN) went from nearly broke to being worth up to $30 million in just a year — as a massive, up to $9 billion fraud scheme involving the Somali community in her district unfolded right under her nose in Minnesota.

Close to 90 people have been charged so far, including at least three with direct ties to the lefty Squad member, though she has not been charged.

Can you imagine the legacy media response to a Republican getting that rich that quickly? 

Nothing As Entertaining As Watching Eurocrats Defend Censorship

12/27/25 The Hill.

I suspect many Europeans still support free speech.  Their governments not so much.

Headed to New Orleans for Vacation

Christmas Gift From My Wonderful Wife

It attaches to the telescope eyepiece  and holds your cellphone so thst you can adjust the camera on your phone exactly over the eyepiece. 

Using a Televue-85 as a spotting scope is like playing a Stradavarius at a bluegrass fiddling contest.  

A couple of things to watch for:

1. If you have a 2" barrel eyepiece all the positioning will be different from a 1.25" barrel eyepiece.   I am going to mark screw positions with nail polish for each.

2. Your camera app has Pro settings under More.  This includes manual adjustment of ISO and shutter speed.  It is no substitute for a proper DSLR.  The app only goes from ISO 50 to ISO 3200.  Shutter speed from 1/6000th to 10 seconds.   For some applications this is fine.  And of course you can use the apps zoom feature as well.

3. It comes with a remote shutter using Bluetooth so you take a picture without touching the phone.

3.i had hoped this would way enough less than a DSLR to not affect balance of the telescope on the mount.  The gadget itself does not.  The camera adds enough weight that I have to attach weights to the far end of the telescope.

4. The Otterbox case makes it just thick enough to get a poor purchase on tge phone.  I wonder if I might find a cellphone that has been abandoned (a really low weight one).   I can transfer photos to my PC through PhoneLink for Windows.  Then I can leave my phone in the Otterbox.  

Still a neat little gadget, especially when used on my larger scopes where balance is less of an issue. 

Waiting Periods Struck Down

 This decision Ortega v. Grisham (10th Cir. 2025) actually happened in August striking down New Mexico's waiting period law.

Cooling-off periods infringe on the Second Amendment by preventing the lawful acquisition of firearms. Cooling-off periods do not fit into any historically grounded exceptions to the right to keep and bear arms, and burden conduct within the Second Amendment's scope. In this preliminary posture, we conclude that New Mexico's Waiting Period Act is likely an unconstitutional burden on the Second Amendment rights of its citizens. We also conclude the other preliminary injunction factors are met and that Plaintiffs are entitled to an injunction.

Why this is now current is that New Mexico asked for an en banc appeal.

This matter is before the court on Defendants/Appellees’ Petition for Rehearing En Banc, and Plaintiffs-Appellants’ Response in Opposition to Petition for Rehearing En Banc. The petition and the response were circulated to all judges of the court who are in regular active service, and a poll was called. The poll did not carry. Consequently, the petition is DENIED.  Judges Moritz and Federico would grant the petition. Judge Federico has filed a separate dissent from the denial of en banc rehearing, which is joined by Judge Moritz.

All 12 active judges on the 10th Circuit heard this.  Only two voted for en banc appeal. 

This matter is before the court on Defendants/Appellees’ Petition for Rehearing En Banc, and Plaintiffs-Appellants’ Response in Opposition to Petition for Rehearing En Banc. The petition and the response were circulated to all judges of the court who are in regular active service, and a poll was called. The poll did not carry. Consequently, the petition is DENIED.  Judges Moritz and Federico would grant the petition. Judge Federico has filed a separate dissent from the denial of en banc rehearing, which is joined by Judge Moritz. 

Waiting periods are among the dumbest gun control laws.  If done as part of a background check scheme, I can see the logic.  But dealer firearms transfers already go through a background check.  These are just harassment.

Murder is largely done in the wee hours:

It turns out that many murders happen after midnight and into the wee hours. Crimeinamerica.com, which analyzes federal and state criminality data, concluded after reviewing 2018 FBI data that the deadliest time of day is midnight-1:00 a.m. Homicide figures stayed relatively high until 3 a.m.

“We are talking about a massive amount of data thus the findings remain relevant,” crimeinamerica.com site administrator Leonard Sipes, a former senior specialist for crime prevention for the Department of Justice’s clearinghouse, told Oxygen.

More recently, Denver Police Department homicide figures showed that the wee hours were indeed most deadly. Of the 96 Denver homicides during 2021, more than a third, or 35, took place between midnight and 5 a.m., reported westword.com.

If a person is so angry that a waiting period will stop them from committing murder, I am skeptical that waiting seven days will change anything.

Ken Burns' American Revolution

We finished the last episode this evening.  It is an astonishing, mostly makes you proud to be an American piece of work.  There are parts that are ugly and many Americans probably know little or nothing about:

1. The barbarous treatment of Indians allied with the British including intentional extermination of women and children.

2. The pretty ferocious mistreatment of Loyalists by Patriots and vice during the war and afterwards.

 

3. The substantial part that both free blacks, slaves, and Indians played in the American military. 

Many of you know that Lord Dunmore offered freedom to slaves who ran away and fought for the British.   I was surprised to find out how many of these runaways were returned to slavery by their owners at the end of the war.

To Burns' credit it closes by emphasizing how the Founding principles of representative government and liberty became organizing principles of revolution around the world since.

Also surprising was his postscript about the Bill of Rights mentions "the right to keep and bear arms." Not in a militia, not as allowed by public safety, and not even ignored.  I guess this constitutes progress. 

UPDATE: They dropped a "Framers were Deists" claim in the middle of one episode that had no connection to the larger themes.  As I have blogged here, Jefferson and Paine were arguably Deists (although Paine finally went full atheist later in life, leading to a rather strong letter from Franklin admonishing him for this).  As regular readers of my blog know, state constitutions often limited the franchise or elective office to Christians, sometimes specifically Protestants, and continued state establishments of religion well past the Revolution.  I assume this was done to make modern evangelical Christians look ignorant.

"Unexpectedly": You Keep Using That Word.

"I do not think you know what that word means."  11/21/25 New York Times (behind a paywall; open in a private browser window):

"Inflation Unexpectedly Slowed to 2.7% in November"

Remember the Droid Army From Star Wars I?

That eas science fiction then.  Now?  This Earth.com article details humanoid robots being assigned to border duty.  Not on our border.  Stop clutching your pearls and looking for the fainting couch.  The Chinese border.   There is a video that if real is pretty disturbing but only because I grew up watching Colossus: The Forbin Project and Terminator. 

Has Our Government Does Anything Besides Investigate Epstein?

12/24/25 BBC News:

"US authorities have discovered more than a million more documents potentially related to the late paedophile Jeffrey Epstein that they plan to release in the coming days and weeks, officials say."

Do you have idea what a million more documents means?  What else has DOJ done the last 20 years?

More GDP Growth News

12/23/25 Guardian doing its best to rain on the parade and not quite successful:

"The US economy surged over the summer, the commerce department announced on Tuesday in one of the final snapshots of the nation’s finances to be released in 2025.

"Gross domestic product (GDP) – a broad measure of the value of goods and services – rose at an annualized rate of 4.3% over the third quarter, far higher than expected and its fastest rate in two years.

"The surprisingly strong growth “reflected increases in consumer spending, exports, and government spending that were partly offset by a decrease in investment”, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis....

"The US economy has demonstrated resilience in a year of extraordinary challenges. Trump announced sweeping tariffs in April on the US’s major trading partners and while he has watered down or rolled back many of the levies, the uncertainty they have caused has rattled businesses and consumers.

"The US economy contracted in the first quarter of 2025 as businesses tried to get ahead of Trump’s threatened tariffs with an unprecedented surge in imports. But GDP growth soon recovered, spurred on by massive investment in artificial intelligence and robust consumer spending."

Yes, we need to cut government spending to reduce the deficit and stop adding to the national debt.  But all the doomsayers about Trump’s tariff policies are looking increasingly wrong 

What Will the Left Do Next?

 12/23/25 Guardian:

The US economy surged over the summer, the commerce department announced on Tuesday in one of the final snapshots of the nation’s finances to be released in 2025.

Gross domestic product (GDP) – a broad measure of the value of goods and services – rose at an annualized rate of 4.3% over the third quarter, far higher than expected and its fastest rate in two years.

Clearly, Trump’s policies are not hurting us much. 

Why I think AI is Less Dangerous Than Everyone Assumes

1. A professor tells me a student turned in a paper with this sentence: "insert your name here".  If you are so lazy that you cannot read it first before submitting it....

2. While waiting for Sherline to respond to my request for technical assistance with my shorted out spindle motor, I decided to see if I could use AI to 3D print the refractor lens cell.  

CoPilot understood my prompt and seemed to have produced a Python script that a FreeCAD add on can convert it to a Free CAD object 

Okay.  I asked CoPilot to help me install the add on.   The first instructions failed.  So it walked me through installing git and eventually I got the add on installed in FreeCAD.  

After multiple false starts (many commands do not work as CoPilot thought and to be fair, they were logical assumptions).  I was able to get objects created.  Continued attempts to get an isometric view of the parts continued failing.  I may yet get this operational using CoPilot but it is a lot of "this is the error, what next?"  I suspect with enough hours, I will get something useful out of it. 

Like court decisions and briefs filed by lawyers, AI is so often wrong that it is at best a useful tool. It is not a replacement for a human. I asked it if it was learning from its misstatements about how FreeCAD worked.  The answer was that while it used its mistakes to guide me toward a real solution, it does not feed that knowledge back into its knowledge based.  This seems like a severe deficiency  

Bill Wiese

Are you a reader?  If so, email me.  Firstname@firstnamelastname.com

Thank Goodness They Are Going Full Authoritarian

 12/22/25 BBC;

On Monday, the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) recalled its parliament to debate a raft of new laws such as banning the phrase "globalise the intifada", limiting the number of guns one person can own, and greater police powers for protests.

NSW Premier Chris Minns said some may feel the changes had "gone too far" but they were needed to keep the community safe.

As usual with progressive thinking they are overapplying an idea.  The rest of us recognize this as prejudice.  Only a small number of gun owners and a small number of pro-rape protesters are a problem, so lets ban everyone  

New Cite

 U.S. v. Harrison, 153 F.4th 998, 1022 (10th Cir. 2025) citing Second Amendment Limitations and Criminological Considerations.

Pothead convicted under 18 USC 922(g)(3).  The citation is to the article Don Kates and I wrote about disarming suspect groups with no awareness that the intoxicated were not generally disarmed, even temporarily, back then.  

Trying to use CoPilot to Create an Object to 3D Print

My spindle motor on the mill has shorted out.  It will be at least a week before I can resume machining. 

I explained to CoPilot that I needed two parts that come together to hold a 52mm diameter .65" thick lens. 60mm OD, 52mm ID, 50mm at the ends to keep the lens in place, 6-32 holes through the two pieces.   It understood what I wanted and produced a python script to make STL and STEP files for the two parts.   Then I would install Cadquery in FreeCAD and import those files.

Of course, importing CadQuery into Free CAD produced lots of errors that if I still had a functioning brain would have only slowed me down a little.   The stroke took away so much of my capacity.   If anyone had a guaranteed solution to this, I would gladly spend $100,000 to get it back.

For that matter, do any of you have FreeCAD and a 3D printer?

The Reiner Murder Tweet That Trump Should Have Made

12/19/25 Daily Mail:

Nick Reiner was suffering with worsening schizophrenia and became 'erratic and dangerous' when doctors changed his psych medication weeks before he allegedly murdered his parents, insiders say."

Untreated or inadequately treated mental illness is at the heart of a very large fraction of U.S. murders and most mass murders.  Fix that, and the guns do not matter.

The Reiners had their son in a very expensive treatment program.  They were trying.

EV Advocates Missing the Big Problem

12/19/25 Autoblog reporting on an EV advocate group's claim that even without the tax credits, EVs are cheaper than ICE engines.

This is very possible, but as the article points out, it assumes homeownership so that you can recharge at night when electricity is theoretically cheaper.  (I say theoretically, because where I live, there is no time of day discount.)

What the EV advocates are missing is how long it takes to recharge on a trip, assuming you can find a recharger  A relative has a Rivian SUV.  It is an amazing car.  It is substantially quicker than my Cadillac and not much inferior on cornering, I think.  (Batteries low in the car means low center of gravity.  This greatly simplifies getting good vornering.)  A recent long trip to Tri-Cities found problems getting recharged on the trip.

I really like EVs.  They are conceptually simpler, require less maintenance, and are generally better performing cars. Until they solve the omnipresent refueling comparison to gasoline, they remain a 21st century solution.

Criminal Behavior Has Consequences Even For a Judge

12/19/25 New York Post:

"Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan was found guilty of helping an illegal migrant evade immigration agents as they attempted to serve him with a warrant during a court appearance.

"Dugan was busted in April on felony obstruction and misdemeanor charges after she helped Mexican national Eduardo Flores-Ruiz and his lawyer sneak out a back jury door when ICE agents showed up at the courthouse to detain him, prosecutors said."

Especially for a judge the consequences should be severe.  Will Gov. Walz reappoint her to the bench once she is out? Count on it.

Chasing the Wrong Problem

Q2/18/25 Guardian:

"The federal government will launch a new gun buyback scheme in response to the Bondi beach terror attack in what Anthony Albanese says will be the biggest collection of weapons since the Port Arthur massacre nearly three decades ago.

"It comes as New South Wales announced a suite of gun control measures including capping the number of firearms most recreational shooters can hold at four."

One of the terrorists had a license for six guns.  I have seen no evidence that either terrorist used more than one gun in the attack.

The more sensible solution and therefore not under consideration:

"Announcing Sunday as a national day of reflection for the 15 victims of the Bondi attack, Albanese confirmed information from the Office of National Intelligence that showed the shooters had used a regular online video game feed from terror group Islamic State.

"Albanese faced questions over whether intelligence failures had contributed to the killings. He said there was no information to suggest sharing of data could have prevented the carnage."

How Much Racism Remains in America?

I know it persists but articles like this involving anti-Asian racism invented by a gay Chinese-American activist suggests thst demand exceeds supply.  An 18-month sentence for creating fake racism should get the message across.

Global Warming is Going to Starve Us All

12/15/25 Reuters:

"Earlier this month, the Canadian government announced record harvests of spring wheat and canola for 2025. And because most of the grains produced in Canada are shipped and consumed abroad, those gains have major implications for the rest of the world's ability to feed itself affordably.

Australia, another large global grain exporter, has also reported rising crop yields despite drier conditions.

The Suit Writes Itself

12/16/25 ABC 7:

"SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Reparations for Black San Franciscans are back on the table after the Board of Supervisors gave final approval Tuesday of an ordinance to create a fund aimed at addressing harms caused by past discriminatory city policies.

"The measure does not allocate any initial city dollars, a move that may have helped secure support from the board's moderates after repeated years of city budget shortfalls. Instead, the ordinance establishes a framework to receive future contributions - whether through city appropriations or private donations."

How quintessentially progressive.   A program with no funding yet.  I suppose if the progressive billionaires want to fund it, there is no equal protection violation on the revenue side but there is on the administration side.

Remember: slavery was never lawful in San Francisco or California.   San Francisco is also remarkable in having an 1850s civil suits by a black woman for discrimination on a streetcar which she won.

I Went Hunting for This as I Was Preparing for Spring Semester

 There is a famous quote from Samuel Johnson deriding Revolutionary whining about being treated like slaves: "how is it that we hear the loudest yelps for liberty among the drivers of negroes?"  There were Revolutionaries who saw the logic and freed their slaves.  After the war, northern states start to abolish slavery.  There is also a curious indirect way in which the Revolution frees many slaves.

Lord Dunmore was Virginia's last royal governor.  As he realized that the Patriots had him greatly outnumbered, he retreated to a Royal Navy warship and declared that slaves who fought for Britain would be freed:

On November 7, 1775, Dunmore issued a proclamation that established martial law and offered freedom to slaves who would leave patriotic owners and join the British army: "I do hereby farther declare all indented servants, Negroes, or others (appertaining to rebels) free, that are able and willing to bear arms, they joining his Majesty’s troops, as soon as may be, for the more speedily reducing this colony to a proper sense of their duty, to his Majesty’s crown and dignity."

Within a month 300 black men had signed up with Dunmore’s "Royal Ethiopian Regiment." While the regiment grew to only 800 men, his proclamation inspired thousands of enslaved people to seek freedom behind British lines throughout the Revolutionary War.

In addition, many masters sent their slaves to fight in the Revolutionary militaries with the promise of freedom.  Some failed to keep their promise so Virginia fixed that.  11 Hening 308 (1783)

Commemorating Indian Help During the Revolution

 During the starving time at Valley Forge, Oneida warriors led by Polly Cooper walked hundreds of miles carrying corn to feed them.  Polly Cooper provided training in how to cook white corn to get maximum nutritional benefit from it. She is being remember during this 250th anniversary year with a coin.

Govern, Do Not Do Social Media

12/15/25 AP;

"WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Monday blamed Rob Reiner’s outspoken opposition to the president for the actor-director’s killing, delivering the unsubstantiated claim in a shocking post that seemed intent on decrying his opponents even in the face of a tragedy."

He could have pointed to the hints that Reiner's son's mental health problems were a factor or even better, let friends and family grieve.  Trump needs to govern more and social media way less 

Letting the left determine how he reacts is playing into their hand 

Global Warming Willl Starve Us All

 12/15/25 Reuters:

Earlier this month, the Canadian government announced record harvests of spring wheat and canola for 2025. And because most of the grains produced in Canada are shipped and consumed abroad, those gains have major implications for the rest of the world's ability to feed itself affordably.

Australia, another large global grain exporter, has also reported rising crop yields despite drier conditions

.

You might almost wonder if increased plant food in the atmosphere makes crops grow better.

Buck 110 Knife Clip

My wife found this perfect Buck 110 lockback at the side of the road.  It slips out of my pocket too easily, so i ordered an add-on clip from NWLynch.  I needed to tap 2-56 holes.  And yes, for all the tips and drills that I own, I needed to buy both.

It holds in my pocket very nicely.

Change

12/14/25 Bloomberg discusses how the Stste Department switched from a sans serif font to a more traditional serif font and what this all means.

What is tells me is that there should be more focus on the words than the typeface as long as they are not using a font like Hostage.  That could be entertaining however..

Light Pollution

We were invited to a house in Wilder last night, a town well away from Boise.  I could still barely still 3rd magnitude stars.  Industrial plants such as Simplot's potato operations are surprisingly bright.  Boise does not help either. 

Appropriately Named Rep. Stalker (D-KY)

Explains why white kids need to be feel bad about their race.

As usual, a privileged person assumes she is privileged because of her race.  That she is privileged because Mom and Dad stayed together and created a stable home for her never occurs to her.

Million Monkeys, Million Typewriters, Million Dreams

I had q dream last night involving the word "rengulate."  There is no such word. But it kept coming back in multiple dreams  It is not a verb although it has the form of one.  It is not a category of animal like an ungulate.  Why did my subconscious create this verb. Can any of you assign a meaning for what seems to be a perfectly fine, million monkeys, million typewriters, million years word?

I Have Had Weeks Of Not Busy

This has allowed me to spend time on hobby activities.   Suddenly, College of Western Idaho's LMS (learning Management System) Canvas is operational for me to prepare for my spring semester class.  I am headed to New Orleans and Alabama on vacation December 27th, so i am attempting to get this all done before I leave.  I have taught this class before using the Blackboard LMS.  It is not like starting from scratch but about three hours per week of instruction to move to Canvas.  It is pretty tiring so I cannot spend all day at it. Blogging needless to say is lower priority. 

Adventures in Optics

That 52mm 152mm F.L. achromatic lens arrived Monday.  It seems a decent piece of glass for its intended purpose: a wide angle low power finderscope.  I had considered making the rest of the scope from carbon fiber composite, but this is perilously close to polishing a cow pie to perfect brilliance.   It turns out that perfectly respectable refractors can be made from lens like this and PVC plumbing pipe.  SCHEDULE 40 pipe in 2" nominal diameter is just about exactly the right size for this.  A 2" to 1" nominal size coupler allows you to use a PVC tube that is 1.31" OD.  To make go through the coupler I will bore through the coupler.   The 1" nominal tube will need boring to accept the 1.25" eyepiece.  I will tap the coupler to accept a thumb screw.  This will five a drawtube for coarse focus.  I have a helical focuser that goes into the draw tube for getting this nice and sharp.

Another fitting whose purpose is unclear (at least for plumbing) is the right ID for the achromat lens to rest in it.  I will put some 52mm O-rings at the front to hold the lens in place.  I need to figure some way to add set screws for adjusting the collimation of the lens to the tube.  I suspect my solution will only be approximate and that is probably good enough for intended purpose  

Bored? In Need of a Research Project for Your Colonial American History Class?

 I happened on this collection of estate inventories at the Colonial Williamsburg website.  Searching for gun produced 354 matches.  Gathering up all that data and summarizing it might be interesting.

Using the Rotating Table

LinuxCNC's axis GUI shows what the program will do and while it does it.  This is the first time I have written code using the rotating table and seen the display.

I am not sure how useful this really is.  It looks like a hose reel.

Grand Jury Transcripts Release

12/9/25 CNBC:

 A New York federal judge on Tuesday ordered the unsealing of grand jury materials and other documents related to the prosecution of Ghislaine Maxwell, the British socialite convicted in 2021 of procuring underage girls to be sexually abused by Jeffrey Epstein.

Judge Paul Engelmayer's order came at the request of the Department of Justice, which cited the Epstein Files Transparency Act that Congress passed last month.

So what will Democrats claim now?  Trump's DOJ asked for their release and here they are. This 12/8/25 Bloomberg News article is paywalled but the headline shows that the PreCrime Investigation Division now has a PreNews Reporting Division: "As Epstein Files Deadline Nears, Here's What Might Emerge."

Peaky Blinders is Not Islamic Enough

 12/9/25 Yahoo News:

Four Afghan men who dress up as the Peaky Blinders have been arrested by the Taliban for violating “Islamic values”.

The group, all in their early 20s, who are known online as the “Jebrael Shelbys” after the Shelby family in the BBC crime show, were arrested in the Herat province in western Afghanistan.

The men parade around their township of Jebrael imitating the characters from the show, which is set in interwar Birmingham.

I guess dressing up as people who beead others with a knife for believing wrong would have been okay.

Can We Be Next?

 12/9/25 NBC News:

Can children and teenagers be forced off social media en masse? Australia is about to find out.

More than 1 million social media accounts held by users under 16 are set to be deactivated in Australia on Wednesday in a divisive world-first ban that has inflamed a culture war and is being closely watched in the United States and elsewhere.

Social media companies will have to take “reasonable steps” to ensure that under-16s in Australia cannot set up accounts on their platforms and that existing accounts are deactivated or removed.

Australian officials say the landmark ban, which lawmakers swiftly approved late last year, is meant to protect children from addictive social media platforms that experts say can be disastrous for their mental health.

“With one law, we can protect Generation Alpha from being sucked into purgatory by predatory algorithms described by the man who created the feature as ‘behavioral cocaine,’” Communications Minister Anika Wells told the National Press Club in Canberra last week.

While many parents and even their children have welcomed the ban, others say it will hinder young people’s ability to express themselves and connect with others, as well as access online support that is crucial for those from marginalized groups or living in isolated parts of rural Australia. Two 15-year-olds have brought a legal challenge against it to the nation’s highest court.

Supporters say the rest of the world will soon follow the example set by the Australian ban, which faced fierce resistance from social media companies.

They can express themaselves the way several thousand generations of young people have done: face to face with friends; through art, music, repairing stuff and playing (remember what that is).  Or like my friends and me, learning to program computers* and doig dangerous projects involving low grade explosives and hydrogen balloons.  None of us lost fingers.

*Building web pages with SquareSpace or editing silly cat videos does far less intellectual development than learning how to write interrupt service routines.

 

Tensions Increase Over Taiwan

 12/8/25 BBC:

Japan has protested after Chinese fighter jets locked radars on Japanese aircraft as tensions between the two nations worsened.

Locking radar onto an aircraft is considered a threat because it can signal a potential attack. Japan said there were two such incidents Saturday off its southern Okinawa islands.

Japan said it scrambled fighter jets in response to the Chinese J-15 fighter jets, while Beijing accused Tokyo of "harassing" its forces during a training exercise. No injuries or damage were reported.

Diplomatic ties between Japan and China have spiralled since last month, after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi suggested that Tokyo could take military action if Beijing attacked Taiwan.

Beijing views self-governed Taiwan as part of its territory and has not ruled out the use of force to "reunite" with it.

Both sides have since engaged in increasingly hostile rhetoric towards each other, with the widening rift affecting daily life for citizens in both countries.

I keep hoping Xi thinks before acting stupid.  The U.S. and its allies Singapore, Phillipines, Australia, and Vietnam could interdict Chinese exports and perhaps more critically oil imports through the Straits of Malacca and South China Sea.  Invasion of Taiwan would ratchet up existing G7 anger at Chinese trade policy to a level from which China might not recover for years. I also think Chinese military might may turn out to be at Russian levels of corruption and incompetence.  The energy Xi has put into prosecuting military corruption at the general officer level hints that this problem may be present at lower ranks as well. If you know (or suspect) your superiors are dirty, why not get a piece of the pie for yourself?

Adventures in Optics Part 2

This part with the threaded end holds the lens and a 2" ID pipe slides into the non-threaded end.

The threaded end was 1.91" ID, so it would have partially obstructed the 2" diameter (actually 52mm) of the lens.  I was going to amputate the threaded version but then I found this threaded end cap:

I now have a cool dust cap that will never wear our or get easily lost.

I still have a few holes to drill here and there.  This ring goes inside the threaded fitting part to both center the lens in the tube and allow me to put setscrews in that fitting to press that ring for collimation adjustment.  

This started out as something else and needed to go from .5" to .25" wide.  Cutting on the mill would require tightening it down more in the mill vise than would be advisable for a weak, brittle material like PVC.  The lathe was the obvious choice.  Cutting that much off using the standard lathe tool is not practical. I do not have a parting tool for the lathe.  Perhaps I should get one.  

Solution: put it on the three jaw on that rotary table.  Bring 1/8" endmill to the outside of the ring.  Cut down into the ring very slowly.  Rotate the table at 50 inches per minute 

This is a cheap, likely only so-so strategy for collimation, but this is a finderscope, not a high end refractor so good enough 

This is how it will look after I get the lens in place.  The big ring on the left is a union to hold the main tube and eyepiece draw tube together.

One more thought.  The drawtube is now very thin wall.  1.31" OD and 1 25" ID.  I doubt that a thumbscrew would hold in such think material.  I will cut a 1.5" OD, 1 31" ID x .5" piece of carbon fiber to glue on the end of the drawtube, then tap a hole for the thumbscrew.   The black of that part will go nicely with the black of the helical focuser as contrast to the rest.

I am still waiting on 52mm ID O-rings.  In the meantime, flat black paint on interior and bright white on exterior. 

Paint.   I should have thought this through before pulling out the paint cans. Tape all holes on the inside before spraying interiors.   Then tape all holes on the exterior, paint exterior and interior. Then remove all tape on interior and paint again.  Then remove retake interior holes and paint exterior again.  Otherwise you get spray through the holes.  I will then touch the ends with a brush.

I Have Always Considered the 1970-72 Malibu One of the Outstanding Body Shell Designs of the Era

A roommate at the beginning of time bought a 1970 Malibu.  So imagine my pleasure at reading this SupercarBlondie article about a guy who restored his 1970 SS with a little change from stock: "Montana man gets his 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle rebuilt as a 1,200HP beast."  Yes a twin turbocharged Chevy Big Block.

I shudder to think what top speed on this might be.  They weighed about 3500 pounds as I recall.  

Taboos as Protection

I overheard our youth pastor, who is Navajo, mention that snakes and reptiles are taboo in his culture.   This should be no surprise.  The Southwest is awash in rattlesnakes and Gila Monsters both of which are venomous.

Do You Wonder Why We Have So Msny Leftist Cat Ladies?

7/25 Journal of Psychistric Research:

Highlights

• •
  Mental health hospitalization rates are higher after abortion than deliveries.
• •
  Risk is elevated for psychiatric disorders, substance use, and suicide attempts.
• •
  Patients with preexisting mental illness or age <25 years are most at risk.
• •
  Risk of mental disorders is greatest within five years of abortion.
• •
  Risk of most mental disorders disappears 17 years after an abortion.

Conservative Woman reports on efforts to legalize abortion until birth in Britain, which like most European nations has much more restrictive abortion laws than Roe v. Wade America.

We Stayed in a Very Nice Hilton in Richland

 As usual carpets demonstrate too many interior designers did way too much acid long ago.

Or these are the color version of UPC bar codes.

Making That Wide Angle Finder

 I need a way to hold the lens in a weird PVC part that slides over the end of the 2" tube.  

But I also need to make sure it is held securely against the front.  So I cut a piece of 2" tube about 3/4" long.  I will slit this so it locks the lens in position and screws hold it in the weird fitting.  The internal lens holder and external tube need holes that are exactly 120 degrees apart so...

The internal lens holder sits in a three jaw chuck, which screws on to a rotating CNC table, which is attached to a tilting table at 90 degrees.  If this had many features, I would write a program.  Instead, I use semiautomatic mode to position the center drill at top of tube, tell it to cut to 0,5" down, back up, then rotate 120 degrees.

The Princes Are Not All in Nigeria

 12/3/25 Department of Justice:

The CEO of a Fresno-based home health care company was arrested at San Francisco International Airport while attempting to board a flight to Nigeria. He is charged in a criminal complaint alleging that he fraudulently obtained more than $7 million in payments from the Department of Veterans Affairs for services that were never actually rendered, including care purportedly rendered to veterans weeks after they had died, U.S. Attorney Eric Grant announced.

 

Am I The Only Person Who Sees An Inconsistency Here?

 12/5/25 CNN:

During interviews with the FBI, the suspect arrested in the pipe bomb probe told investigators that he believed the 2020 election was stolen, providing perhaps the first indication of a possible motive for the bombs placed near the DNC and RNC headquarters, people briefed on the matter said....

The bureau believes the man compiled bomb-making supplies for months before leaving the viable explosive devices outside of the political offices.[emphasis added]

So was this BLM activist preparing bombs before the stolen election?  Or did he just come up with this excuse in the hopes of getting in on the J6 pardons?

Orange Peacemaker Bad!

 12/4/25 AP report:

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump praised the leaders of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda for their courage as they signed onto a deal on Thursday aimed at ending the conflict in eastern Congo and opening the region’s critical mineral reserves to the U.S. government and American companies.

The moment offered Trump — who has repeatedly and with a measure of exaggeration boasted of brokering peace in some of the world’s most entrenched conflicts — another chance to tout himself as a dealmaker extraordinaire on the global stage and make the case that he’s deserving of the Nobel Peace Prize. The U.S. leader hasn’t been shy about his desire to receive the honor.

Instapundit.com observes correctly that the journalists "slammed Trump in about every third sentence of their report."  I wonder if any of these journalists ever wonder why they need to be attacking Trump for following Jesus' suggestion, "Blessed are the peacemakers."

69 Today

 I fel healthier than at any time since 2014.

Not What I Was Expecting in the Los Angeles Times

 12/5/25 Los Angeles Times:

MEXICO CITY — Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has repeatedly insisted that she will not allow the U.S. military to fight drug cartels inside her nation’s borders.

“It’s not going to happen,” Sheinbaum said last month after President Trump yet again threatened such an operation. “We don’t want intervention by any foreign government.”

But while Sheinbaum passionately defends her nation’s sovereignty, recent polls and interviews from across Mexico show that a significant number of people here in fact welcome more American involvement in their country’s battle against organized crime — including having U.S. boots on the ground.

Slightly more than half of Mexicans surveyed by polling firm Mitofsky said they believe “U.S. authorities should enter Mexican territory to fight organized crime and arrest its leaders.” A third of respondents to a poll by El Financerio newspaper said they support the deployment of the U.S. military to Mexico to combat cartels.

The reason is obvious.   Many Mexicans believe their military lacks the capacity to do the job, likely because cartel wealth and intimidation has compromised so much of the Mexican government.  

I really cannot blame Mexicans for this.  Mexico is a poor country.  The prospect of a million dollar bribe there is likely equivalent to $10 million here.  I would like to think most of our officials would not be swayed by a bribe but $10 million for most Americans is an unimaginable amount of luxury.

The intimidation factor may matter more.  Organized crime has always benefited from being able to threaten family and friends.  In a nation where very few people may lawfully possess arms and police are as likely as not on the cartel payroll, what is your alternative?

Oh Boy! A New Word!

Scromiting.  11/3/25 The Hill reports on vomiting while screaming caused by "cannabis hyperemesis syndrome (CHS)" which a relative who lives in a pot-friendly state developed. 

Remember: it's natural, how bad could it be?

"

The "That Was My Roommate's Jeans" Defense is Not Going to Work

12/3/25 KBOI:

Velasco was taken into custody and booked into the Ada County Jail. Further investigation led officers to a Boise hotel room linked to the case, where they found approximately 12,785 grams of methamphetamine and 101 grams of fentanyl powder. Both substances tested presumptive positive.

"This seizure represents a major disruption to the flow of dangerous drugs into our community," said Boise Police Lt. Terry Weir. "The amount of fentanyl recovered in this case is enough to kill over 500 people. Our officers see firsthand how methamphetamine and fentanyl contribute to overdoses, and this case highlights the importance of proactive policing and strong investigative work."

Amazing What Two Million Illegals Leaving Does to the Rental Market

12/2/25 CNBC:

A slew of new supply is still making its way through the multifamily housing market. That, coupled with weakening demand, especially from the youngest workers, is pushing vacancies up and rents down. 

The national median rent for apartments fell 1% in November from October, and now stands at $1,367, according to Apartment List. It was the fourth consecutive month-over-month decline. Apartment rents are down 1.1% from November 2024 and have fallen 5.2% from their 2022 peak. 

"Earlier this year, it appeared that annual growth was on track to flip positive for the first time since mid-2023; however, that rebound stalled out and reversed course during a particularly slow summer," according to Apartment List researchers.

After hitting a record high for this index, which dates back to 2017, in October, the national multifamily vacancy rate remained at 7.2% in November. 

The historic surge in multifamily construction over the past few years is now pulling back, but a good supply of new units is still coming online at a time of much weaker demand.

The stack of articles about dropping rental rates around the country here is good news everywhere.

 

Probate

The attorney pursuing my illegitimate half-brother's inheritance informs me that the full probate process is not required because he has been dead more than two years.  Something called Summary Administration will satisfy Florida's Unclaimed Property Office.

More About Balcony Solar

I mentioned a couple days ago.  When I searched on amazon for "balcony "plug and play" solar" I got matches that look interesting.  A long-time concern that I have had about PV systems as civil defense is EMP damage.  If you bought one of these and put in a Faraday cage, you would have a post-apocalyptic power solution that you could be pretty sure will work.