Long TIme No See

Last Friday and the Friday before that there was no internet service at all. Today, it was .08Mbps upload. I have a connection now, however.

There's not much to report on the book front. I've made more progress, but it's nothing to brag about. While I was away, I had a big sinus infection that affected the tooth with the abscess. It was terrible. The abscess seems to have settled down presently. There's a drama to it, but it's just not interesting. It's been a bad time recently.

Here's a picture I took in the driveway. It looks like two leaves, but it's actually one. Normally, they turn yellow all over. I've never noticed one with a green center. My guess, and only a guess, is that it was dying on the tree and fell off. I don't think the weather has anything to do with it. It's been a very cool summer with temperatures in the 80s for the most part. Usually, it's about 99F this time of year. It was about 90 yesterday and 78 right now because of the rain.

The worst weather was a heat spell in June in which it was in the 90s during the day and the 70s overnight with high humidity. Right afterward it dropped into the 50s two nights in a row, well below normal. There have been a few days in the 90s lately, but the forecast is showing 80s in the near term. The media focuses on the heat out west because of shortsighted political goals, but it's not like that everywhere else. The dog days of August are yet to appear, but I'm cautiously optimistic for a cool August and a great September.

Have a great weekend.

Yes, I Thought It was a Conspiracy

It was another week of incremental progress on the writing front. Considering how bad a week it was, I can't be too disappointed.

I ran across a few interesting news articles this week. I've mentioned before that gas prices are artificially high. I found a couple of articles to prove it. The first one is from the 1st: Biden adviser: ‘Liberal world order’ demands enduring high gas prices. “What do you say to those families who say, ‘Listen, we can’t afford to pay $4.85 a gallon for months, if not years. This is just not sustainable’?” “What you heard from the president today was a clear articulation of the stakes,” Deese answered. “This is about the future of the liberal world order and we have to stand firm." Ouch.

The second article from the 5th goes along with that. Oil from U.S. reserves sent overseas as gasoline prices stay high. "More than 5 million barrels of oil that were part of a historic U.S. emergency reserves release to lower domestic fuel prices were exported to Europe and Asia last month, according to data and sources, even as U.S. gasoline and diesel prices hit record highs." Ouch.

 The third article is about cl*m*t* ch*ng*. Rare 'triple-dip' La Niña could bring another year of intense hurricanes and drought to the US. "The cooler climate pattern is predicted to persist into a third winter." "After two years of La Niña — El Niño's cooler counterpart — the South Pacific may be facing a potential third appearance of La Niña in a row, which could bring more rainfall to an already-saturated eastern Australia and continue the trend of intense hurricane seasons along the east coast of the United States, and drought conditions in the country's southwestern states." In other words, the drought and high temperatures out west have nothing to do with cl*m*t* ch*ng*. They're because of a La Niña pattern. Temperatures have actually dropped in other locations. Every article that blames California's problems on cl*m*t* ch*ng* is propaganda.

Feel free to share these articles, especially the La Niña one. The mainstream media is censoring the facts.

Have a great weekend.

Incremental Progress 2

After a bad bout with the abscessed tooth, it's settled down, and I have a little more energy. Nevertheless, progress on all fronts has been slow this week. My next dental appointment is on the 12th. Hopefully, I can get something done. Internet speed is slow this Friday but not as bad as previous Fridays. I've put off ordering fiber internet because of the dental bills. Once I get past this next appointment, I'm tentatively thinking of putting the order in.

Have a great weekend.