Rain Gryphon

Today was voting day! We went about 11am or so. All of the six voting stations were in use, and I actually had to wait to vote. And everyone, with about two exceptions, were people my age and older. That seems to be a thing. I'm definitely in the "never misses an election" camp. I think I've missed one, perhaps two, in my entire life, both in Ohio. Ohio has this weird practice where if a school tax levy fails (as they normally do in a general election), the school board can then schedule a special election, just for the levy. Obviously, they advertise it as little as legally possible, because that biases the pool toward teachers and parents, so the levy susally passes.

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I ought to look into being a poll worker in November. Politics is one of my chief amusements.

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The Indiana Beventh District has a candidate named Honest Gabe Whitley! One wonders if he changed that just for the election?

Today, for the first, and almost certainly the last time in my life,I saw the total eclipse. The weather was perfect, warm and sunny, a rarity in Indiana for April. The maternal parent and I discussed going to the Speedway for the viewing party, but ended up instead driving about 20 miles south of Kokomo, where we parked on an access road for an electrical substation out in the middle of miles of fields. The Porter County Sheriff and his family joined us, as did another family with children. In all, there were probably 12 to 15 cars parked within sight of us, with people standing beside them watch the sun, which is not a shabby crowd for the middle of the country.

I've seen partial eclipses before, of course, and this started out that way, with the light slowly dimming, and the heat of the sun slowly lessening. The last few minutes before the totality, though, were like nothing I have ever experienced. It is deeply, rather unexpectedly unsettling to watch the sun dwindle to a slender crescent, and then be hidden behind the moon. The warmth of the sun dies concurrently with the light. For some reason, that's disturbing, even when you understand what is happening. I can empathize with accounts of terrified savages seeing this just happen out of nowhere.

When there's nothing left but the narrowest arc, it's possible to glance at the sun (still painful to look at) and see plainly the arcuate shape, surrounded by a deformed-looking spray of sunshine. And then came the first of the "diamond ring" formations, lasting only a few seconds, and then the Totality, with the eerie black sun surrounded by the corona, and a sprinkling of stars clearly visible around the corona.

It lasted only a bit more than three minutes, but seemed simultaneously both longer and shorter. A nearby robin who had been singing stopped. You could see lights in a machine shed down the road. Everyone stared at the black sun, spellbound. And then, suddenly, I got a brief, momentary glimpse of a string of Bailey's Beads, before the second, much more spectacular "diamond ring" heralded the reappearance. The robin started singing again. We sat and watched the process run in reverse for 20 minutes or so, before we started driving back. Most of the others were leaving then as well. It is amazing to me how quickly humans can adjust to novelty.

How vanishingly rare must worlds be with a moon and sun the exact size for this to happen, and yet here we are, and the shadow passed within a few miles of where I live. A day to remember.

Forza! Forza Ferrari! That's the way it's done!

The Tubby Tyrant has gifted tractors to potato farmers. No word about any implements for them, and the farmers have to buy their own fuel. No phosphate fertilizer to be had anywhere either, since the fertilizer factory exploded four years ago and isn't yet repaired. Still, the lucky farmers are now expected to demonstrate their gratitude by reaping a record harvest.

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It's annoying to me that Reuters (and other news sources as well) keeps calling what's happening in Haiti "protests". When you're shooting off guns, and setting buildings on fire, that's rioting, at the very least.

It's beyond annoying that while American taxpayers are being asked to pay for the Kenyan expedition (which was Haiti's idea), the Haitians themselves have 500 million dollars to pay Venezuela for petroleum products.

So, in Angola, they have this potion that you can drink, and if you're a witch, it poisons you. You know exactly where this is going...

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Polish farmers protesting. The video is well worth watching. I wish them well. If enough of us kick and make trouble, perhaps we can avert the dystopia that the globalist elites and the climate alarmista have planned for us. God willing, we'll manage it before any serious economic disruption has come to pass.

It's enough to break my brain as well, that as loudly as the EU professes to see Russia as a terrible menace, they are more than willing to destroy their agricultural sector through cheap imports and over-regulation. If war does break out, you're going to see starvation in Europe.

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I've finally managed to acquire a set of those beautiful gem-soloured anodized aluminium tumblers! When I was a child, those looked *so* Space Age to me, and now they still have that cachet, but now are Mid-Contury as well. I think those originally came out in the mid to late 50s ( AMNH concurs). I wanted some so badly as a child in the 60s, but we never got any (they were "tacky", that irrefutable complaint). By the time I was old enough to afford them for myself, they were gone. You'd see damaged and worn sets for sale in Goodwill, but that was it. Now I finally have them!

They're all lovely, but the red is my favourite, called Ruby Red, but in realiry a deep rose madder tint. I noted at the store that Ball (the canning company) now offers slightly squat aluminium tumblers in bare metal. I may get some of those and try to anodize them myself.

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The EU have removed their unjust sanctions on Nikita Mazepin, although his career is already ruined.

I've begun playing with Dall-E.

Click to embiggen.

Sparrows enjoying their bath. There's a square waterdrop right in the middle, and the droplets overall don't show the sort of specular highlights I'd expect on a sunny day. Also one birds head angle makes his neck look broken, but I've seen them do that, so...

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Click to Embiggen.

My old Narnia character, Moonstone. This one came out pretty close to model, although his mane should be bluer, and his coat white. Pale blue and lavender works well, though. He always was rather effeminate.

I'm reminded now of Twilight Sparkle correcting with "I'm lavender", when someone calls her purple.

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On the whole, seriously easy to use and get good results. Progress marches onward.

So, in North Korea they have a "youth coal mine", where kids can prove their loyalty to the Tubby Tyrant by digging coal, all to advance the majesty of the Glorius North Korean People, as one naturally longs to do. One shaft had been closed as dangerous. They decided to re-open it, the better to hit their government-mandated production targets. Because it was dangerous, they decided to send only orphans to work in it, apparently without any training. You know what happened next.

This just breaks my brain. It's like they're trying, with desperate ingenuity and enthusiasm, to be the most over the top hellscape of a country imaginable.

I would honestly love to visit the place, but I know I'd never get out alive.

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The whole "let's send African police to Haiti" thing seems to have quietly died. I doubt that it's much of a loss, really.

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So. the election year is finally underway. Trump drove the steamroller in Iowa. I think there's no real doubt that he'll be the candidate.

Vivek Ramaswamy, of whom I had never heard until last year, put in a spirited performance. He was probably my third favourite overall (behind DeSantis), and would have been my second had I judged him electable.

Haley, I predict, will stick it out through South Carolina before she admits that she hasn't a chance. DeSantis I'm not sure about.

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Sunny, but desperately cold here. My car still starts, though, *and* I can refuel it. One can't say the same for the EVs. Apparently there are dead electric cars abandoned at recharger points all over the midwest, since they can't be charged, and in some cases can't even be started, when the weather is too cold. That would be a hell of a thing to find out. You stop to charge, and find you're not getting home tonight.

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The FAA has a DEI program which includes deliberately hiring people of low intelligence, and people with psychological problems. Surely this will make air travel safer for all of us.

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The UN are blithering about how nitrogen asphyxiation may constitute torture. I have to think that constitutes basic intellectual dishonesty on their part - either that or DEI has led them down the same path as the FAA. The reason there are so many nitrogen deaths in industry is that there's absolutely zero discomfort when you're asphyxiated by nitrogen. The carbon dioxide exchange cycle continues as always - there's just no oxygen coming. People topple over unconscious with no warning at all.

If it ever comes to the point that I commit suicide, I'll chose either nitrogen asphyxiation, or else stab myself through the heart, depending on how bloody-minded I happen to be at the time.

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Edit: Remove sentence fragment.

So, during WWII, there was a Ukrainian named Roman Shukevych, who seems to have been a real piece of work. He was, at various times in his life, a political assassin, a bank robber, a mass murderer, and a Nazi battalion commander. Like the Canadian Nazi, he "fought the Russians", and so became a Ukrainian hero. They built a museum in Lvov to commemorate his life and adventures.

This morning, a Russian drone crashed into it and burned it to the ground, along with all of its contents, a total loss. To add insult to injury, Jan 1st is the birthday of Stepan Bandera, the chief Ukrainian Nazi.

The real kicker, though, is that the Russians weren't aiming at the museum. The Ukrainians shot down a passing drone, and it crashed on the museum. God, it seems, does have a sense of humour.

The Canadian Nazi Debacle sputters onward, like some multi-part firework which, every time you think it's done, begins to fizz and pop and shoot out more coloured fireballs. Now Israel has their say.

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So, the local rag helpfully announced that our Congressman, Rudy Yakym, was coming to town to meet constituents. Rather less helpfully, they posted the article exactly 15 minutes before the scheduled meet 'n greet.

As a practical matter, with the Speaker removed, I suspect he's staying in DC anyway. Still, this paper has a record of this kind of incompetence.

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Annular eclipse coming on October 14th! We'll be in the 40% band. I've got some UV/visible/IR neutral density filter glasses ordered.

Next year's total eclipse passes directly over Indianapolis. The Speedway's selling tickets to sit and watch :)