Science fiction, fantasy, and mystery writer. Singer (sorry, no shows) & nudist (in my home). Beer, cat, cheese, coffee, pie and wine friend. Left IBM and Silicon Valley for the southern Oregon life but I miss the ocean. We're too far inland. Gotta move.
They repaved one of Ashlandia’s major arteries this past spring. We dealt with that construction since it began with an overpass last fall. But it all was completed this past May.
The results are an awesome and quiet street, smooth as a reflecting pool on a windless day.
Today, they have marked it with the familiar spray paint directions about where to dig the road back up. Which is really, like, depressing. Couldn’t all that work have done at the same time back when so that they don’t need to tear nice road up?
No; that’s been asked and answered before. Different agencies and priorities are involved.
Journalists and the media seem to have concluded that Trump has lied so much that they no longer report it. Continuing to make insane claims, such as in this instance, about electric boats being too heavy to float and getting electrocuted if they sink, they’re also shrugging. Yet they relentlessly go on about President Biden’s age.
This is from the Robert Reich July 8, 2024 column that I’m sharing from Jill Dennison’s post.
“So I said, ‘Let me ask you a question,’ and [the South Carolinian] said, ‘Nobody ever asked this question,’ and it must be because of MIT, my relationship to MIT — very smart. He goes, I say, ‘What would happen if the boat sank from its weight? And you’re in the boat and you have this tremendously powerful battery and the battery is now underwater and there’s a shark that’s approximately 10 yards over there?’
This story and its absolutely bonkers points should be all over the news every day. This is the individual the GOP is supporting for the powerful position of President of the United States.
Donald Trump is claiming an electric boat would be so heavy it would sink. Really? Really?? Really???
So, that electric boat would be heavier than all those cruise ships out there? You’re probably seen the ads for these floating cities lit up with electricity at night. These electric boats will be heavier than battleships, cruisers, destroyers, and aircraft carriers? They all float, don’t they?
The largest aircraft carrier in the U.S. Navy is the USS Nimitz. It weighs over 100,000 long tons. It typically carries 64 full-sized aircraft on it and has a crew of 5,000. Yet, it doesn’t sink. It floats. Moreover, it has a nuclear powerplant and nobody is getting electrocuted.
Yes, the story was briefly covered, mocked, really, in the USA Today, NewsWeek, MSNBC,Washington Post and other outlets. But, come on, man, think about what Donald Trump was asking and claiming. Think about the fact that millions are promoting as the next POTUS.
IMO, Donald J. Trump shouldn’t be anywhere near an important office where decisions are made regarding the welfare of the nation. That the GOP fully supports this man who wonders about getting electrocuted by an electric boat says boatloads about what they are as a political organization.
That more media attention is being paid to President Biden’s age over Donald Trump’s remarks pretty well indicts our media as pretty damn useless when it comes to this election. As Jill put it, they’re failing miserably.
And then the media wonders why their readership keeps dropping.
Smoke has cleared out in a reprieve for Ashlandia. Temperatures, sadly, remain close to the ‘we’re living in a place that’s hotter than hell’ zone.
It’s Tuesday, July 9, 2024. Excessive heat warnings still dominate our local news and conversations. ‘Only’ reached over 104 F at my house yesterday. Yes, that was an improvement, but with the smoke and the nocturnal temp falling to ‘only’ 71, our house didn’t cool much overnight. Right now, it’s 74 at our place and it’s expected to reach 103 F and dip to 68 F tonight. Tomorrow, fingers crossed, temperatures will not enter the triple digit realm. We’ll stay cooler, in the upper 90s, until Saturday, when 100 F is predicted for a final burst before the temperatures fall into the low 90s for a period.
The high heat has moved authorities to declare an extreme heat danger emergency, curtailing outdoor activities such as cutting grass and using power tools which might ignite a fire.
It’s important to count my blessings, though. We’re not flooded out of our homes as midwesterners were in June. Nor are we without power as several millions are in Texas after Beryl’s visit. We’re not trapped by forest fires as in parts of California and Oregon, nor are we in the seriously hot levels of Las Vegas (new record of 119 F) or Palm Springs, California (new record of 124 F). Overall, too, my wife and I have food and shelter security, sanitary conditions, and a place to call home that affords us safety and privacy.
The cats are coping. We keep Tucker in. Long-haired, with thick stuff, he’s elderly and needs to be protected more. Young Papi is better at adjusting, it seems. I give both kibble water several times a day. They love it at night, when it finally cools, and the back door is left open. They just lie inside on the living room carpet, enjoying the cooler air as it comes in, admiring their backyard domain.
We’re still enduring being without AC. It is getting more difficult as the relentless heat plagues us. The AC part that was to have arrived yesterday will now arrive on July 12. Why? No reason given but with the weather around the nation, I can easily envision supply chain disruptions caused by flooding, heat, and fire.
EXCEPT — and here is the part where I get irked — their tracking updates showed the part to be not far from me, in fact, 300 miles away by car yesterday at 1 AM. Maybe the truck was involved in a traffic accident or robbery. Don’t know, but that swing from here today to four days away without amplifying information is difficult to swallow. Maybe I’ll just call a repair being.
EXCEPT — Just received an email saying that it’s in the next town and is out for delivery. Like, WTF, man, get your story straight. Hope it arrives soon, and that it fixes my issue. Fingers and toes all crossed and knock on wood.
Today’s music is by Lil Wayne. Called “Mrs. Officer”, it was released in 2008, but The Neurons heard it on the radio yesterday, and it’s just titallating the crap out of them. So it’s in my morning mental music stream (Trademark smokin’) at high volume today.
You familiar with this song? Quite crazy.
Yeah, doing a buck in the latest drop I got stopped by a lady cop, haha She got me thinking I can date a cop, haha ‘Cause her uniform fit her so tight She read me my rights She put me in her car, she cut off all the lights She said I have the right to remain silent Now I got her hollering, sounding like a siren Talking ’bout (wee-ooh-wee-ooh-wee) yeah (Wee-ooh-wee-ooh-wee) Yeah (wee-ooh-wee-ooh-wee) yeah And I know she the law, and she know I’m the boss And she know I get high above the law And she know I’m raw, she know I’m from the streets And all she want me to do is fuck the police Talking ’bout (wee-ooh-wee-ooh-wee, wee-ooh-wee-ooh-wee) Yeah (wee-ooh-wee-ooh-wee) yeah
Mindfloofness(floofinition) – Practice of keeping awareness of what animals are doing, or their locations. Origins: circa 1430, Republica of Floofica.
In Use: “Leading the floofsitter around the house, Barb told her, ‘You need to exercise mindfloofness with this gang, because the dog will get a notion to do something, and then get the cats involved, and the next thing you know, it’s floofhem.'”
In Use: “Whenever the doorbell rang, Tessa needed to immediately have more mindfloofness, because both the cat and dog loved ambushing visitors in a secret little game which they seemed to play.”
Watching events through one of the coffee shop windows, he saw a car suddenly appear out of nowhere and wheel into a parking lot. Where’d that come from, he wondered, studying the lines of traffic. Just a white BMW SUV. Not the newest model and not the largest one.
The driver and passenger emerged. Neither looked human. Holy shit, he thought, straightening, eyes widening. Both of them were tall, pale green and – naked? Squinting hard against the glaring sun, he focused as intensely as possible.
Yes, they were nakd. He looked around the coffee shop, hoping another witness to what he was seeing was noticing. But the rest of the shop denizens were into their laptops, phones, and books. None seemed to see the two tall, naked, green aliens walking away from a white BMW toward the bakery across the street.
Then both changed, becoming a middle-aged couple, he in khaki cargo shorts with a green polo shirt, she in a yellow sun dress showing naked brown legs, and sandals.
He’d seen enough, though. He knew what he’d observed and pounced on several conclusions. Aliens were arriving in spaceships that looked like cars.
It made perfect sense, explaining the recent spate of bad driving he’d noticed, the unusually heavy traffic, and why others’ political thinking so frequently seemed alien to his own.
It was a perfect storm of clarity, and only he knew it.
Another Monday begins its stay, we can’t have it any other way. Sold in code, set in stone, Monday, Monday is how the day is known.
It’s also July 8, 2024. Over half the year gone, and what have we learned?
Today’s high is expected to be 108, about a forty degree climb from where we’re at right now. Yesterday topped off at 105 F at my homestead. So on the one hand, it reached only 105 F yesterday and the temperature began dropping, um, ‘rapidly’ at about six. It’s a relative thing, saying ‘rapidly’. I took it as a welcomed change but then saw an orange sunset painting the blinds. Hmmm, said The Neurons, we had a clear sky so why is the sunset now that color?
Particulates, of course. Wildfire smoke, of course. So the smoke cooled the air by blocking the sun with its pollution. But there’s a fire to worry about. A mixed bag, as they say.
This wildifre is known as the Salt Creek fire. One of three locally experienced fires over the past several dsay, the other two were contained and extinguished. Here’s an explaination about the situation out of the morning’s update on Salt Creek:
Fire activity naturally decreased last night when the sun went down and temperatures dropped. With this advantage, resources overnight were able to put in a mix of bulldozer and hand line constructed with tools along the entire northern portion, as well as the southwest border of the fire. The eastern and southeastern portion remain largely unlined and will be the focus of Monday’s day shift. Today, 321 personnel are assigned to the fire, including 12 20-person crews, nine engines, 10 water tenders, seven bulldozers, and six tree fallers. Snags, or hazard trees, are present throughout the fire and may fall unexpectedly. This, along with steep terrain and hot conditions are hazards for firefighters on the line today. Aircraft will be heavily used again today as soon as possible, including one Type 3, two Type 2 and three Type 1 helicopters that are exclusively assigned to this incident. Air tankers will be ordered again as needed.
The Salt Creek Fire was first reported Sunday afternoon just after 4 p.m. Both ODF Southwest Oregon District and Lake Creek Fire District initially responded. When firefighters arrived on scene, it was estimated to be 2-5 acres and growing quickly in the hot, dry and windy conditions.
Thanks to the ODF and the well-established system for fighting these fires, and the brave individuals doing it on our behalf.
The Neurons have “Man In A Box” by Alice in Chains from 1991 in the morning mental music stream (Trademark ashy). The song received a lot of play time on the stations which I listened to back then. I was back in the USA and living in the Mountain View/Sunnyvale area on the Peninsula between San Jose and San Francisco, CA. I remained in the military then, my final tour, doing space ops in the blue cube at Onizuka Air Station.
The song came to me last night. The temperature was still warm and I awoke drenched in sweat. The words, sweat box, spun up. Hence, the song.
Stay positive, be strong, and Vote Blue in 2024. Coffee and I have negotiated a settlement and I’m now sipping away. Here’s the music. Cheers
Michael Seidel, writer 