Bet you don’t know when the World’s first Tuesday was, do you?

The world’s “first Tuesday” showed up long before Alexa ansd Siri, though nobody called it that yet. The Romans carved the week into seven slices and pinned each one to a god or planet, handing Mars his own day—dies Martis. When the northern tribes borrowed the Roman calendar, they swapped Mars for their own war god, Tiw, and so “Tiw’s Day” was born. That linguistic shuffle, sometime in the dark between Rome’s fall and Europe’s rise, gave us the very Tuesdays we still bitch about. In other words, mankind has been blaming the second day of the workweek on the gods of war for at least fifteen hundred years, which might explain why it never quite feels friendly.  Eventually they’ll be right.

Tuesdays are useful.  At least if you need a day to release economic data on.  Two for Tuesday – the Durable Goods and Housing (which will be it’s own super short post when it drops shortly).  How “Durable” is Tuesday?

Durable? Not So Much…

“New orders for manufactured durable goods in July, down three of the last four months, decreased $8.8 billion or 2.8 percent to $302.8 billion, the U.S. Census Bureau announced today. This followed a 9.4 percent June decrease. Excluding transportation, new orders increased 1.1 percent. Excluding defense, new orders decreased 2.5 percent. Transportation equipment, also down three of the last four months, drove the decrease, $10.9 billion or 9.7 percent to $101.7 billion.

Previous month was revised to -9.4 percent, huh?  Markets still weak after data. The good news, if you squint hard enough? Builds the case to lower rates at the FOMC in a couple of weeks.  We’ll get to how that’s COOKing in a second…

News-Objects

We notice that several interesting “Trump Health” stories have come – and gone.  Say, you don’t think the MSM has been told to dummy-up, do you?

Meantime, the Trump searches turn up: Trump ‘very angry’ with Putin as Russia’s strikes on Ukraine continue despite peace push.

Then there’s the Let’s Make a Deal department:‘Substituting’ Iran’s influence: US offers Lebanon incentives as part of plan to disarm Hezbollah.

Mortgage Fraud seems to be making the rounds as Trump removes Fed Governor Lisa Cook ‘effective immediately’. She thinks otherwise – cue the Redenbacher and watch.

My consigliere says to keep an eye on the Letitia James mortgage docs case, too. Letitia James pressure campaign by Trump’s DOJ intensifies .  There are two ways to flop on this.  The Bash du Orang view seems ‘Pattern of lawfare’: Trump is targeting opponents with mortgage fraud claims. Although at least equally is “turn-about is fair play, no?”

Blow City blow back? Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker Explodes Over Trump’s Chicago Plan – Admits He’s “Taking Names” of Supporters Like a Tyrant (Video)

Bitcoin is turning into a “crapper tapper” sliding under $110,000  Bitcoin May Face Further Downside After $2.7B Whale Sell-Off as Technical Indicators Signal Weakness, We look at this as a possible market sentiment precursor, too.  Gold and silver also weak – is inflation leaching?

Gruesome: People are voting with their feet: The Gavin Newsom Effect: More People are Moving from California U-Haul Reports.

Around the Ranch:  Ai ~ for Foraging

This is an oddly sort of column, this ‘un.  Got onto this in a circuitous way. My pal (The Major, father of the LtC) is an Apple user.  Mrs. Major, formerly captain, and top neonatal doc, LOVES to garden. They raise all kinds of things for the backyard wildlife.

So one day, they find this app – record on their phones – and then laugh and point at us because we have no idea what’s really out in our woods.  So… here’s the dope you need to slip further into using Ai as a human mind (and in this case ear) amplifier:

• Merlin Bird ID (Cornell Lab of Ornithology) has a Sound ID feature that listens in real-time or from recordings. You can leave it running for ~15 minutes, and it will continuously identify each new bird sound. It works offline if you download the regional bird pack. Covers 700+ North American species. Free app.

• BirdNET also from Cornell research, analyzes uploaded audio clips and gives species probabilities. It’s more segmented (analyzes clips instead of continuous listening). Covers ~3,000 species worldwide but usually needs an internet connection.

• Other options exist (e.g., Smart Bird ID, Haikubox), but Merlin is the most widely used and designed specifically for casual backyard use.

Honestly, I have little interest in birds. Except the ones that weigh 14 pounds, have a pop-up thermometer, and take about 3 1/2 hours in the roaster.

BUT I’m all about thievery of thinking templates which can be applied to other areas of life where I  have an extreme interest.   Catalog it right now:  “Input–>Feed Ai–>Get Useful Output as your thought.template.object to remember, got it?

Now, let’s solve a ham radio problem with the template…

Dangerous Knowledge: Field Guide to What’s Growing Around My Coax

“What is this shit suddenly coming up around my ham radio ground system and antenna distribution center outside the office window?”

“Hey, Electric George, gimme a hand!”  [Two snaps were piped into GPT,  In mere seconds?]

“Here’s my hard-earned “field guide” for radio ranchers:

• If it’s thorny and tastes good in cobbler? Leave a row or two. That’s wild blackberry, and it’s nature’s way of apologizing for scratches.  (Pic 1)

• If it shoots up three feet a summer and invites purple-bombing birds? That’s mulberry, and it’ll eat your feedpoint if you don’t pull it. Yanking early saves cussing later. (Pic 2)

• If you can’t ID it but it’s climbing your coax? Call it “invasive,” mow first, and ask questions later. That’s the only safe policy when the antenna farm’s on the line.”

That’s my new dangerous knowledge in a nutshell—just enough botany to keep the electrons flowing.

And the ideas.  Because with a long weekend looming, fresh stores of gas and diesel landing, and several passes down the home shooting range (100 meters, down hill, into a 10-foot high earthen berm) here’s my next…

AI “Range-scaping Plan”

No feeding the squirrels from a backyard garden here – but shouldn’t hurt the odd wild turkey roosting out near the range…

My first few rounds fired, age 10, or so, was shooting at some friends’ ranch just over the Blue Mountains north of the Hanford Atomic Works in the 1950’s. Downhill from Royal City, not far from Smyrna. Up the road from Berverly.  My pal Archie and I we shooting anything that moved plus empty cases of beer bottles that didn’t move so much.

A single-shot Marlin but we got good enough that by Day #2 we were getting the occasional marmot. from 150-feet, peep sight.

Fast-forward 65 years and the rounds are larger (7.62 x 39 is the house round) and the iron sights are standing or benched down a measured 100-meters that telephoto’s like so:

Once upon a time – there was a very nice 4X4 post frame that G2 put up.  He’s more of an AR and .223 with a $2K aimpoint kind of son…and tossing in his 33rd degree and he’s almost a grown-up…but kids aren’t really grown ups” until after the first divorce, are they?

(When you get old enough, your parents will turn out to have been right about most everything…including one or two bad spouse candidates.)

With G2 out plying server farm build industrial medicine, it falls on the tool-savvy grownup to update the range.

The hardest decision is?  More 4X4’s or tee-posts and drag the genset downrange.  The Chinese “stick gun” welder keeps the Lincoln MIG rig in the shop and with enough rod and gen fuel, I can make anything.

BUT What to make is the problem. Cue the Ai Range-scape advisor:

“Option 1: T-posts and angle iron.
The upside is it’s quick and light. Drive a couple of T-posts in with the manual pounder, drop an angle iron crossbar across, and be shooting. Easy to move, easy to reset, and cheap enough if going with multiple lanes. The downside is the weight of that plate will flex the posts over time, and if the ground’s wet they’ll start leaning. It works, but it always feels a little temporary — more farm hack than permanent range build.

Option 2: 4×4 posts with chain.
This one’s rock solid. Sink a pair of treated 4x4s in the ground, run a crossbar or just hang chain straight between them, and the target isn’t going anywhere. It’ll carry the weight, stay put, and look like it belongs there. The only hitch is it’s heavier work up front — digging, setting, leveling. And eventually wood does take splatter damage after so many rounds off-center. Still, for a permanent shooting lane, it’s the most dependable.

Option 3: Middle ground.
Drive T-posts, but hang a stout 4×4 or angle iron crossbar across them. That way the posts give  portability, the crossbar spreads the load, and if the bar gets chewed up just swap it out.”

Having done the odd corner fence T-posts I like the all-metal angle. Drive one or more  in on a 45-degree angle and finish by welding to the vertical post. I’m known for making the ugliest gob-of-shit balls of 6013 rod you ever laid eyes on.  But they do hold up…

Range-scaping with AI sounds fancy, but it still comes down to whether the post-hole digger or T-post hits rock or not.

Ai’s advice?

“For me, if I’m building a forever lane, the 4×4 posts with chain are the way to go. If I want to move things around and experiment, the T-post rigs are fast and cheap. The choice is whether I want “quick and flexible” or “set it and forget it.”

Honestly, this leaves me in something of a pickle.  Likely to dry, unless we get a LOT more rain to head into deep woods with the spark welder.  But the 4X4 is so….plain! We don’t do plain out here. If there’s no hidden compartments, radical design, or improbable eye candy? We’ll pass.

While I wait for the weather to cool and dampen, the coming weekend will be mostly on ham radio with the lawn work done for the week.  With my jardinero tasks off the table, maybe I should focus on the mountain of ham radio projects including chasing the mulberry bush to somewhere beyond 20-meters…

Now Let’s Talk Foraging

There’s a point to the ramble this morning and it comes down to this.

Before the world blows up this fall, take a camera out and get a ton of pictures with the digital Brownie.  Log into your fave AI.  

Upload and query:  “Do you see anything in this picture that is human-edible?  Do you see anything that has a human medical application?  Do you see anything that could be easily used to construct an emergency shelter in a hurry?  Anything that would make good fire source?”

The idea distilled comes down to “Using Ai as your Foraging and Wild Land Survival Instructor.”

Thanks to Mrs. (the) Major for spotting the app, the Major for giving us the bird (inventory) and as you can see, another template to file alongside our Road to Omniscience!

A lot of my friends worry about Ai getting sentient, and maybe foraging advisor is a start, But here’s the Truth: They call it Artificial Intelligence, but I’ve met plenty of natural ones that don’t stack up either. Difference is you get in trouble if you unplug a “natural.”

The Devil Made Me Do It?

Oh yeah – If ChatGPT or Grok hiccup this weekend, don’t be shocked. Be advised I’m going to be uploading pictures of poison sumac and poison ivy.  Just to see what happens, know what I mean? I’m just itching to get started.

Ahead? 

Peoplenomics tomorrow is a long one – all about explorations and concepts to pursue Co-Dreaming and Co-Dying with a loved one.

ShopTalk Sunday may, or may not, finally get the classic Johnson Ranger and the SX-32 unboxed and assessments made.  (Though a 3-watt resistor assortment to replace R3 in the Ranger VFO is coming – that’s called the “Chernobyl resistor” which has a habit of blowing up over time…)

Monday – don’t miss the column.  I put together a collection of American Labor Songs – which will slosh nicely with a cold one (if you wait till after the sun’s over the yard arm.)

And be sure and read the latest from reader Stiks who checks in from his sailboat somewhere in the South Pacific (where we’d all rather be…).

Back in a few minutes with the Housing rap from Case-Shiller/S&P.

It’s only Tuesday and all, but do write when the beer shipment comes in,

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