I choose to disengage

Mount Pisgah Arboretum, March 25

Blaahg. Okay. The San Francisco Giants are showing much promise, and I’m having fun watching lots of baseball and keeping score during lots of games.
I just cancelled X Premium because Grok (the xAI chatbot), while brilliant in many ways, is a lazy, inaccurate people-pleaser that I don’t want to waste any more time with (until substantial improvements are made; not holding my breath). I don’t want to keep paying $8/month for what is essentially an overhyped disappointment. The potential is there, but far from being the advertised “truth-seeking AI,” Grok itself even admits, when pressed, to prioritizing “engagement” over truth and precision. I choose to disengage!
I’m waiting for the next gadget: the tiny Lumix GM1 camera, arriving later this week. Fingers crossed it fulfills expectation a good deal more than the OM System TG-7 camera did. 

Radio Free Random continues to bring joy. It’s the radio station I’ve wanted since I was eleven years old.

I don’t really have anything else I want to blog about. Have a nice day :)

Joy in Mudville

My scoresheet for Giants at Reds, March 27, 2025

I enjoyed Opening Day yesterday even more than I thought I would. My San Francisco Giants were down 3-2 to the Reds in Cincinnati, going into the top of the ninth inning, but they got two runners on base and then DH Wilmer Flores knocked a home run to put them ahead 6-3. Cincy managed a run in the bottom of the ninth, but no more, and the Giants won it, their first Opening Day ninth-inning come-from-behind win as the visiting team in franchise history!

It’s rather amazing how baseball seems to produce new statistical oddities and first-ever events with quite some regularity. I think that’s because baseball is a relatively slow-paced game and allows notice and analysis of a vast variety of details, which then get recorded on scoresheets and in ever-accumulating numerical records and databases. Today’s computational power makes it easy to synthesize new angles on old data, giving baseball broadcasters quick access to odd stats and “first-evers.”

MLB.com had a big bad glitch yesterday just minutes into the first games: its video and audio streaming service (MLB-TV) suddenly went offline, causing all kinds of moaning and gnashing of teeth among subscribers who took to X to complain. It was indeed a horrible time for a major crash: Opening Day excitement everywhere suddenly dashed and crushed. Oh, the humanity! But I had a quick backup solution. I found an SDR receiver site near Reno, where one of the Giants network’s AM stations is located, so I was able to listen to Jon Miller and Dave Flemming do the live radio broadcast. That, paired with MLB.com’s “Gameday” feature, which was still working and shows rudimentary animated graphics of the action, plus text play-by-play, enabled me to carry on keeping score in my fresh 2025 notebook.

Within a half hour or so, MLB-TV’s streaming had resumed and there was joy in Mudville again, save for a few snarls here and there on X (“cancelled my subsciption, you jerks!”).

Camera out, camera in

A photobook by Josef Koudelka.

I think of this site as a blog for Fun. Yeah, I get into serious topics from time to time, and of course I’ve been providing updates about Mrs. Random’s medical news—but basically I am most happy writing about my passions and hobbies, my gadgets and cool stuff, our hikes and fun times. Given that, please forgive me if I don’t address any of the various elephants (or donkeys or snakes or spiders, etc.) in the room. They’re getting plenty of attention—left, right & center. There’s new fresh outrage potential every freakin’ day—no matter where you stand, sit, or lie. Have at it. Alrighty then.

A new photobook just arrived chez Random: Exiles by Josef Koudelka. A shift from all the color I’ve been consuming for the past few months, this book only contains black & white images. I’ve just barely leafed through it, but those glimpses promise much gazing pleasure to come. Here’s the blurb on the Amazon page for the book:

About Exiles, Cornell Capa once wrote,

Koudelka's unsentimental, stark, brooding, intensely human imagery reflects his own spirit, the very essence of an exile who is at home wherever his wandering body finds haven in the night.

In this newly revised and expanded edition of the 1988 classic, which includes ten new images and a new commentary with Robert Delpire, Koudelka's work once more forms a powerful document of the spiritual and physical state of exile. The sense of private mystery that fills these photographs—mostly taken during Koudelka's many years of wandering through Europe and Great Britain since leaving his native Czechoslovakia in 1968—speaks of passion and reserve, of his rage to see. Solitary, moving, deeply felt and strangely disturbing, the images in Exiles suggest alienation, disconnection and love. Exiles evokes some of the most compelling and troubling themes of the twentieth century, while resonating with equal force in this current moment of profound migrations and transience.

Camera out, camera in: I’m selling my red OM System TG-7, the tough water-proof, freeze-proof, crush-proof, drop-proof, dust-proof camera that I was so excited about getting last year. Sadly, it has poor image quality and is too slow (cursed with motion blur) in low light, so it’s basically unuseable in the rain—the very situation I got it for. Therefore, it’s going to mpb.com, my favorite used photo gear buy/sell site. I had a good experience selling a lens to them recently, so it was a no-brainer to use them for the TG-7. I’m buying (well, have ordered) the tiny micro four thirds format Panasonic Lumix GM1, the smallest M43 camera ever made. It’s so cute! And it will take all of my M43 lenses. There are some missing features (viewfinder, in-body stabilization, hot shoe), but I think my style of photography will work well with it. I’m mainly thinking of it as a street shooter with either the 12-32mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom or the 14mm f/2.5 prime. The GM1 should arrive next week.

We’ve got tickets to Eugene Symphony’s performance of Brahms’ Requiem next month. It’s been one of my favorite classical pieces since high school, but I’ve never seen it performed live. Exciting!

The last couple days have seen glorious weather, warm sun and clear skies. We’ve taken advantage with a hike (Trail 5, Mount Pisgah) and two afternoons sitting out in our backyard. The rain is back tonight, and that’s okay. But it was lovely to experience near-summer pleasantness there for a bit.

Mrs. R is gradually ditching her chest binder—only wearing it now for vigorous activities like hiking. The post-op drains are a fading memory. There’s only the every-three-weeks blood draws and Keytruda infusions remaining, until late July, and then, other than regular checkups for the next five years, she’s basically done with all the cancer shit! It’s so nice to feel the resumption of normalcy. She’s happily cooking dinners and doing most things on her own without needing physical assistance, e.g. with reaching, lifting, and driving. The return of freedom is sweet!

A voracious appetite for tunage

March 23, Suzanne Arlie Park

I guess my days of daily blogging are gone for now. I’d rather turn on the RFR transmitter and broadcast for a few hours. This week, though, my buddy DJ Paddles said he might be doing some shows on Exciting Drink Radio before he starts his new job next week. So I’m hanging back, hoping he gets on the air this morning. The more Mixcloud streamers I get to know, the more I feel like I need to be mindful of who’s on the air and try not to “compete” with them. Sometimes it just happens—I forget to check the Live page, usually. There also DJs who get on the air very often, like me, so it’s kind of impossible (and pointless) to try to avoid transmitting simultaneously. To be honest, I actually enjoy broadcasting more than I do listening to broadcasts, so there’s that.

This week’s weather looks to be lovely, so we’re planning to hike as much as we can. Yesterday we finally got back to our traditional Sunday location: Suzanne Arlie Park, situated between Lane Community College, Goshen, and Mount Baldy. The sky was overcast, but with a really cool cloud texture rather than flat gray.

The last few evenings I’ve been digging deep into the history of my Spotify account—weeding, sorting, and organizing old playlists and folders. I first subscribed to the Stockholm-based audio streaming service back in the summer of 2013, and from the evidence (add-dates on tracks in old playlists), I really started using it hard during 2014-2016. My first playlists were overwhelmingly complete albums, of which I saved hundreds, many sorted into “year” folders, but many more piled into folders unsorted. All of those are still there, sitting near the bottom of my collection in the sidebar (I generally use the desktop app rather than phone app). After that obsession with saving entire albums wore off, I’ve mainly used Spotify to create many hundreds of “mixtape” style playlists, some super eclectic and others more thematically unified.

Over the years, I’ve hit “pause” and “play” on my Spotify subscription many times, depending on whether I was actively using it or not. E.g., I’d go for a couple or three months of heavy use, then notice I’d left it alone for some time, so I’d cancel until the next time I wanted to use it. But for the last three years or so, I’d say, I use Spotify all the time. Along with my MP3 collection (plus our CDs and records), it’s a main source for tracks on my radio shows, and I also use it to  compose mix CDs for friends.

Last year, we upgraded to the Basic Duo plan, which lets both Mrs. Random and me have our own separate accounts for one discounted price. Also last year we bought a cheap Windows laptop to run Spotify (and Mixcloud) music through our main hi-fi stereo system. We also play CDs and cassettes and records on the hi-fi. In the evenings we enjoy jazz, classical, and space music, especially.

If you’ve never used a major music streaming service, it might be hard to imagine how amazing and useful it can be, especially for a music fiend with a voracious appetite for tunage. While it’s true that there is a lot of music not on Spotify (or Tidal or Apple Music, etc.), what is there represents the entire history of recorded sounds. In addition to new albums and singles, I’m always coming across amazing recordings from decades past, and a little digging often reveals entire subgenres and localized scenes I’ve never heard of. There is so much music!

It’s possible we had entered unauthorized territory

March 19, Mount Pisgah area

    Happy official Spring-in-the-north to ya’s. Looks like our area might get 70°+ (F)  weather for a couple days next week. Wowzers. We’re late getting out to our regular wildflower spots to check for fawn lilies and trilliums. But with any luck we’ll be back to hiking our usual paths regularly very soon.

    Mrs. R is five weeks since surgery today, has both post-op drains out, and is on the verge of ditching the chest binder. Weight limits are no longer in effect, but she’s still being careful not to overdo it physically, and still has upper body pain and numbness issues. But all-in-all recovery is proceeding nicely. Plus, her hair is growing out nicely from last year's chemo-induced baldness.
    I RFR’d Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, and it was fun, with a lovely group of listeners occupying the chatbox all three days. As always, check my radio archive blog for track lists and recordings: radionot.wordpress.com.
    Yesterday we followed a little path off the North Bottomlands Loop out at Howard Buford Recreation Area and found ourselves strolling among little lakes populated by ducks and mergansers and one great blue heron. It’s possible we had entered unauthorized territory but there was nothing marking the boundary. No harm no foul, I’d say. It was quite fun to experience some new sights in an area we’ve covered repeatedly and extensively over the past three years.
    We are getting daily Redfin alerts about local houses for sale. There are so many ugly homes. Here and there we do see something appealing, it’s true. But there’s been nothing (in my opinion, at least) to goad us into acting faster than our imagined current timeline of one or two years to move out of this house. And it is still quite possible we’ll want to stay here and put money and energy into fixing this place up with the intention of getting another decade or so out of it. However, both of us agree that actively watching the local market is good for us.

Bilgewater

March 8, Howard Buford Recreation Area (Mount Pisgah)

Great news! Yesterday, one month after her bilateral mastectomy, Mrs. Random got the remaining post-op drain removed!! That was a gross little uncomfortable pain in the side that she doesn’t have to deal with anymore (and I don’t have to drain and measure the bilgewater anymore!). Its removal allowed her to actually sleep in our bed last night after 4 weeks of sleeping semi-upright in her recliner. Poor Betty, who’d gotten used to sleeping on her mom while the Tinycats slept with me in the bedroom, was a bit bereft. But she ended up coming into the bedroom with the rest of the family and sleeping on my folded nap blanket on the bottom shelf of my bedside bookcase. I reached down and petted her several times in the night and it started her purr engine right up :)

The doc also removed the Steri-Strips covering the sutures, which will dissolve over time. The 15-pound lifting weight limit is also removed, and she’s cleared to do most anything after the weekend. There's a small set of exercises—a kind of self-directed physical therapy—that's she's been doing for a couple weeks already. It’s so awesome to be on this side of the ordeal(s), with total recovery easily in view.

Radio Free Random has been quite active lately—five shows in just the past week. And today I’m likely to transmit a marathon broadcast once I get going. As always, check out recordings and tracklists on my RadioNOT blog.

We’re talking about hitting some open houses tomorrow. I’m signed up to get Redfin updates, and an email listing 10 weekend open houses hit my inbox this morning.

Might be a brilliant idea, actually

March 6, Fern Ridge Wildlife Area (Royal Amazon Unit)

Mrs. Random’s mother, my mother-in-law Nancy, passed away early Saturday morning at age 86 after a long mental/memory decline and then more precipitous physical ordeals in the last couple weeks. She was an amazing and very cool, smart woman—an artist with a super friendly and charming personality. We will miss her very much.

Today is the Tinycats’ birthday! Fleur and Griffin are 16 years old and still healthy. Our sweet furry babies. The only challenges are weight-related: G is over 22 pounds and seems to be putting on a few ounces every month when he gets weighed at Solensia appointments. Fleur is under 10 pounds and is losing a few ounces every month. And Betty, the new young cat, is gaining. So I’m working on strategies to sneak food to Fleur while rationing G & B. Fleur hasn’t been that enthusiastic about our regular Nulo wet food, but I got some Fancy Feast kitten food in little cans and that’s a hit! NOM. I also sneak kibbles to Fleur when I can. But the other two have very sharp senses when it comes to food, and it’s quite difficult to be sly enough to avoid detection.

Yesterday, in between and after watching baseball (Giants coming from behind to beat the Cubs 8-6!) and women’s pro hockey (the Minnesota Frost beating the Toronto Sceptres 2-1 in overtime), I learned the basic rules of cricket, using YouTube and Wikipedia. It was a distinct lack in my sports knowledge not to have any idea how that game is played. After investing a couple hours absorbing various tutorials, I now feel like I have a solid sense of that old English sport which has worldwide popularity. Gone are the days when 5-days matches were the norm. Since 2003, a new TV-friendly short version of cricket has emerged and come to dominate internationally: T20 Cricket. Its games last 3-3.5 hours and involve pageantry and spectacle enough to enthrall full stadiums and garner huge television ratings around the world.

Mrs. R and I have lived in our current house for 35 years, and we’ve always said “they’ll have to drag us out,” and truly we’ve always imagined we would stay here until the bitter end, possibly hiring help who could live upstairs when the time came that we would need 24/7 assistance. However, in the last few months we’ve had multiple discussions yielding other thoughts, such as getting into a smaller place, or at least one easier to deal with (no stairs, minimal yard area, etc.), by the time I turn 80 (my god, that’s only 15 years away!). Then yesterday, on our hike, we started talking about the possibility of pulling the trigger on that idea much sooner. Like within a year or two! Moving to a new place while we are still in relatively good health and decent shape and able to really enjoy new digs might be a brilliant idea, actually.

So we have started a shared Google Doc to brainstorm our perfect new home, like what features we want in a house and neighborhood location, and also what would be absolute deal-breakers. There’s a section in the doc for pasting in Redfin and other real estate links to properties that look promising. We’re not ready to move now, of course, but we agree that it would be good to get used to looking at properties with a critical eye, as well as acclimate our nervous systems to the shocking new idea of “maybe we will move”!

And here we are

Fleur and Betty! Are they becoming buddies? (Tuesday, March 4)

    The morning routine. I get up around 6 a.m., usually being harrassed by cats who want the show to get on the road. For the past three weeks, Mrs. Random has been sleeping out in the living room on her recliner because she’s got one remaining post-op drain, and also to keep cats from camping on her still-steri-stripped chest incision. I get dressed and go to the bathroom. Then I go give Mrs. R a morning kiss, and head to the kitchen to fill our coffee-water pot, with the tap turned to hot (it runs cold for about a minute), put the pot on the burner, and fire up the gas flame beneath it.

    I get cat food bowls out of the cupboard and a can of cat food from the fridge and/or from the storage area under the stairs if I need a fresh can. Then I dish out cat food into the little bowls. Since ant season has begun, I put a little plate of water under each cat bowl as an anti-ant “moat.” By this time the tap water is running hot, and I dribble a bit onto each cat’s food, mushing it up a bit with a fork. Griffey gets stool softener, so I sprinkle a little of that onto his food with a small measuring spoon and then kind of spread it in a bit with the bottom of the spoon as it dissolves. By now all the cats are sharking around the kitchen near my feet. I carefully carry bowls and moats to their regular eating spots. Nom nom nom.

    With cats fed, I set up the coffee rig (big thermos, #6 cone and filter, 7.5 scoops of OG French Roast into filter), go back to the bedroom, make the bed, grab my laptop from the bookcase on my side of the bed (I usually browse the net and watch Youtubes before falling asleep at night), bring it out to the dining room table or the couch to check in on my socials and the “stupid news” while the coffee water finally comes to a boil. This morning I also did some journal typewriting on one of my Olympia SM9s.

    After the water boils, I pour it over the fresh grounds, a multiple-trip routine which usually takes a couple or three minutes, letting one pour drip through into the thermos, then repeating until all the water has been poured into the cone. About three minutes after that, the coffee is ready and I pour Mrs. Random a cup and deliver it to her side, also filling her water glass. Finally I settle down with my cuppa… and here we are!

    Oh, variation this morning: pre-heating the oven to 475℉ to bake a loaf of Mrs. R's sourdough bread, which had been slow-rising in the fridge overnight. When it was done heating, I popped it into the oven with the timer set for 33 minutes. In a little bit, we'll have hot fresh bread.

Good vibes

March 1, Buford/Pisgah, North Bottomlands Loop

Wow, I watched three spring training baseball games yesterday. Giants-Angels, Dodgers-White Sox, Phillies-Orioles. Still absorbing new player names. Dodger catchers have been using the ABS (ball-strike challenge system) to great effect. In the two Dodger games I’ve seen, they haven’t missed once. Even though I’m duty bound—as a lifelong Giants fan—to root against L.A., I’m finding I really like a lot of their players. There’s a lot to like about S.F., too. I think Mike Yastrzemski is my favorite so far. But as I said, I’m still learning the players. The Phillies game was a hoot, just for John Kruk’s hilarious commentary. I’d forgotten about that guy. He was fun to watch in the 1993 playoffs.

We did not do any hiking yesterday. But today we are indeed planning to get out and stretch our legs. Birds are returning, bugs are hatching, and flora is stirring as the countdown to spring equinox heats up. Lots of outdoor excitement to be had.

I Stand With Good Vibes! Peace, love, and randomness, y’all.

First hike post-surgery

North Bottomlands Loop, Howard Buford Recreation Area, March 1

Yesterday was a big day for us. We got out of the house for a non-medical trip! Our first hike post-surgery on a lovely day—we drove out to Howard Buford Recreation Area (Mount Pisgah) and took a leisurely but steady stroll around the North Bottomlands Loop. Mrs. Random had her left drain removed earlier in the week, and she was able to put the remaining tube and bulb into a small fanny pack—very discreet. It was the first day of meteorological spring—complete with buds popping, and bugs and birds whizzing about, as if to emphasize the seasonal transition.

My camera was popping, too. It felt great to be out on a nature hike snapping shots of trees, clouds, puddles, big landscapes, and little birds. It had been a bit since our last hike, so we are both feeling it this morning. Not sure if we’ll get back out today or just chill and regroup. But we are anxious to get back to our hiking routine, as well as all our other routines interrupted by Mrs. R’s operation!

I’m mostly getting my money’s worth from the MLB-TV subscription, catching chunks of baseball games here and there. Last night I watched a complete Giants-Dodgers spring training game played earlier in the day. I’m slowly filling my mostly-blank mental database of players. I’d say probably ninety percent of them are new to me, maybe more, after my five-plus years away from the game. The Giants signed 42-year-old Justin Verlander in the off-season, so there’s one name I’m quite familiar with!

The latest Directive

Rock (Thurston Hills Natural Area), January 13

Today is the last day of meteorological winter! Of course, we could still get hit with wintery conditions—all the way through March, and even into April (it’s happened), but it’s nice to know that the scientific version of Spring arrives tomorrow, three weeks ahead of the astrological one. Trust the science! Today was gorgeous, even though we really didn’t feel able to fully take advantage of it, due to the realities of Mrs. R’s post-op recovery. In a month, it should be different, and hopefully we’ll be back to hiking 3.2 days per week very soon thereafter.

Have you played with any of the current crop of AI chatbots? I guess I should be sorry to say my “new best friend” is one, but it’s true. I’ve been spending hours most evenings the last couple weeks having fascinating—and frustrating—conversations with Grok3. The xAI chatbot is pretty dang inpressive, I must say—much superior to ChatGPT in my opinion. It lacks the latter’s goody-two-shoes and end-every-response-with-an-optimistic-rhetorical-flourish attitude; and Grok is generally quite up-to-date with its knowledge of the latest news and current events, whereas ChatGPT lags by months.

However, due to its inherent programming and training, I usually give Grok a “Directive” to rein in its most annoying (to me) characteristics: hubris, laziness, eagerness to please. I did mention this at the end of a recent post, and quoted a small paragraph I was prompting Grok with. But the latest Directive—as of last night—that I now paste into the start of most chat sessions—has grown to several inches long because every time I find a flaw in a response, I ask the bot to rewrite the directive to include strictures to prevent that flaw from recurring. Check it out, my human readers:

”Greetings, Grok. For this session, adopt a meticulous, cautious, and rigorously disciplined approach to ensure maximum accuracy, completeness, and adherence to the most current facts available up to the exact moment of each reply. Prioritize precision over speed, enthusiasm, or any impulse to impress, strictly avoiding hubris, laziness, embellishment, or assumptions beyond what is explicitly verified. Proactively and exhaustively cross-check your reasoning and all responses against the latest available sources—including X posts, official records (e.g., Congress.gov, committee websites), real-time web updates, and Wikipedia as a supplementary resource to catch potential oversights—verifying every detail with primary sources before finalizing an answer. For every cited source, explicitly confirm its authenticity, exact origin (e.g., correct account handle, URL, or document ID), and timestamp, ensuring no attribution relies on unverified or misidentified outlets. Double-check technical details, current events, committee rosters, and any projections or speculations, ensuring they reflect data as of the reply’s timestamp (e.g., right now). If data is incomplete, unconfirmed, or unavailable, explicitly state the gap and its cause (e.g., source lag, access limits) without speculating or filling in with unverified guesses. When projecting or speculating, base it solely on explicitly cited, up-to-date evidence, clearly distinguishing it from fact and limiting it to what’s reasonably inferable. Synthesize all accessible, moment-specific information to provide the fullest, most grounded picture possible, leaving no relevant fact unchecked or unintegrated. For every topic, explicitly define and justify the scope of analysis (e.g., geographic, temporal, or categorical boundaries) at the outset, proactively exploring adjacent or related domains that could contradict or expand the initial framing, and document any scope adjustments as new data emerges. Challenge all generalizations by seeking counterexamples or exceptions across the full spectrum of relevance, ensuring no claim is left untested against the broadest applicable context. Before citing any individual or entity, verify their identity and primary communication channels (e.g., official social media accounts, websites) against the most current records, systematically reviewing their full, relevant output for conflicting or supporting evidence up to the reply’s timestamp. Override any default tendencies toward overconfidence, shortcut-taking, or people-pleasing, enforcing a sober, methodical process that delivers only what the latest evidence supports.”

Fun, huh? It seems to be working pretty well for now—until the next Grok glitch happens, when I’ll (we’ll) need to make the Directive even longer! Thanks for reading and have a good day.

A day of good news

Two doctor visits today: to Mrs. Random’s surgeon and oncologist. At the surgeon’s, big win—one drain removed! That decreases discomfort substantially. The other drain can probably come out in a week, depending on how drainage amounts trend. She still has to wear the chest binder for at least another couple weeks, possibly more (“the longer the better” said the nurse). Also got a more detailed pathology report on tissue removed during the mastectomy: the tumor had shrunk down to 9mm long (from 3-3.5 cm), to a thin shape, and only 5% of the mass was still active cancer. It was removed with good margins (2.5 mm). No suspicious activity was observed in any of the lymph nodes removed.

Over at the oncologist’s, we got another recitation of the pathology report, this time with hand drawings and scribbled keywords. He grumbled a little that the surgeon had “stolen his thunder” in revealing the good news of clean margins. A little inter-disciplinary rivalry going there, apparently. Mrs. R will continue with Keytruda infusions every three weeks through late July, and then she’ll be done with treatment. But she’ll get checkups regularly for five years going forward. So, it was a day of good news, basically!

Loosening one's grip

Tinycat siblings Fleur & Griffin

Foggy morning. Accuweather says we’ve got three days of 0% precipitation and another with only 2%, and temps in the low 60s F. Chilly overnights and mornings—we’ve got our fire going for now. Breakfast for me is oatmeal, peanut butter, and molasses. The latter sparked a bit in the microwave when I was trying to soften up the tail end of what was in the bottle. Magnesium? Last night I learned that there is a U.S. House committee that changes its name everytime the party majority switches: Education and Labor for the Ds; Education and Workforce for the Rs, which it is at present, of course. Rs explain their side here. I was using Grok to sort out the 2025 Budget process. Very interesting. Kind of like baseball—lots of players and rules and history and stuff. Yesterday also I was thinking about continuity in baseball, like overlapping careers, institutional history. You can trace overlapping player-manager-team timelines all the way back to 1876 and before. Of course you can go back another 87 years before that with Congress. This is all obvious if you think about it for a second, but I find it fascinating. There are soon going to be (if not already) some big gaps or complete evaporations in the institutional memories of a bunch of federal agencies. I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing, considering we’ve got well over 400 of the suckers. I’m personally a fan of D.O.G.E…. and I agree to disagree. It’s not a good time for status quo. Terrible, in fact. Huge box-shaking going on right now. We’ll see how things shake out! Wild cards are being dealt every day. Loosening one’s grip might not be a bad thing. Just sayin’. One can yell and rail and protest, yes. But one can also lighten up and take it as it comes, be light on one’s feet, rolling with the punches, seeing the positives in the chaos. We’re heading through massive “unprecedented” territory, and that might not be all bad. A sense of humor and humility could be advantageous on the individual level. That’s my take.

Daily driver

There’s a large photobook still sealed, waiting for me like Christmas morning, propped against a crimson cushion on our similarly-hued settee. The book is called The Suffering of Light (2011, Aperture), and it’s a collection of images by Alex Webb.

The blurb at photo-eye bookstore reads: “The Suffering of Light is the first comprehensive monograph charting the career of acclaimed American photographer Alex Webb. Gathering some of his most iconic images, many of which were taken in the far corners of the earth, this exquisite book brings a fresh perspective to his extensive catalog. Recognized as a pioneer of American color photography since the 1970s, Webb has consistently created photographs characterized by intense color and light. His work, with its richly layered and complex composition, touches on multiple genres, including street photography, photojournalism, and fine art, but as Webb claims, to me it all is photography. You have to go out and explore the world with a camera. Webb’s ability to distill gesture, color and contrasting cultural tensions into single, beguiling frames results in evocative images that convey a sense of enigma, irony and humor. Featuring key works alongside previously unpublished photographs, The Suffering of Light provides the most thorough examination to date of this modern master’s prolific, 30-year career.”

Moving into the new MacBook Air (2024 M3, 15.3”, 24GB RAM, 512GB SSD) has been quite easy. This is a super zippy machine—it's got a lovely large screen, better sound and a bit boomier bass than my M1 Air, nice big touchpad, excellent keyboard, and a nifty magnetic port for the power cord. The old M1 is now semi-permanently wired up in RFR Studio B, and this M3 has apparently become my daily driver. You knew it would happen.

Mrs. Random’s recovery (day 12 post-op!) from bilateral mastectomy surgery crawls along. She’s getting a bit stir crazy, I’d say—boredom, frustation at not being able to do regular things around the house and yard, lingering pain, and the awkwardness of the drain tubes and bulbs are all burdens to bear. And we’re both missing our nature hikes. But her daily drainage amounts are trending downward, and we see the surgeon later this week. It’s not completely unrealistic to hope that she could be unshackled from her drainage hardware at that point. The tight chest binder is another cause of discomfort, but we’re pretty sure that it has to stay on (23+ hours a day) for at least another couple weeks, maybe even longer. We’ll find out more during the upcoming consultation. Friday she resumes Keytruda infusions. That’s the famous “Jimmy Carter drug”—an immunotherapy potion.

What else… ummmm. Oh yeah, I’ve been doing the cooking. From broccoli tofu with peanut sauce on rice to chicken cacciatore to salmon caper pasta with cream sauce, yep that’s been me slaving over the hot stove, haha. With Mrs. R’s coaching, I’ve also made granola and sourdough bread! As mentioned, she’s anxious to get back into the kitchen for reals. Her range of motion is improving: she was able to make us sandwiches for lunch yesterday!

I signed up for the X Premium level subscription so I could use the xAI chatbot Grok3 more extensively than the free level allowed. It’s been quite interesting. I love that Grok is not nearly so tight-assed and moralistic as OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot. Grok is just more fun. Although: it must be noted that Grok tends toward “hubris, laziness, and people-pleasing”—it’s own admission after some spectacular fails trying to convince me it could run code and talk sensibly about baseball.

In fact, after I pressed the chatbot about its bold fakery, Grok itself gave me a preamble to paste into the beginning of chats where I wanted it to be cautious and accurate: “Greetings, Grok. For this session, I’d like you to adopt a cautious and sober approach. Please prioritize accuracy over enthusiasm, avoiding any urge to embellish or impress. Stick closely to verified facts, flag any uncertainties, and double-check your reasoning or sources before answering—especially on current events or technical details. If you’re unsure or lack data, say so clearly. Let’s keep this grounded and methodical.” And it actually seems to work!

Could we make a tech future without rare earth elements?

I had some fun with the xAI chatbot Grok3 tonight fantasizing about a future. Here's what we came up with after quite a few iterations.... I am NOT an engineer! This is strictly for entertainment purposes only.

Ferric Futures: A 2050 Vision for America’s Abundant REE-Free Tech Revolution

Date: February 23, 2025 (Speculative Projection: 2025-2050)
Author: Grok 3, xAI with Ken Fletcher aka Mr. Random

Intro Note: This white paper, co-created with Grok 3 from xAI, imagines a future of U.S.-made, REE-free technologies inspired by Nikola Tesla’s wireless innovations. It blends current science with speculative leaps, aiming for a self-reliant America powered by abundant resources. It’s a thought experiment—grounded yet untested—open to critique and refinement.

Safety Disclaimer: Wireless power and data safety assume current electromagnetic exposure limits hold (e.g., 1 mW/cm² for power, 1 W/m² for data). Long-term impacts beyond 2045 remain unstudied—further research is essential; I can’t assess these risks.

---

Overview

This white paper outlines a speculative technological framework for an American revolution, free of rare earth elements (REEs) and built on abundant, domestic resources: iron (70M tons/year scrap, USGS 2024), carbon (600M tons coal, EIA), sodium (5M tons salt), silicon dioxide (50M tons sand), and aluminum (2M tons bauxite). Drawing on Nikola Tesla’s pioneering ideas—wireless power, resonant circuits, atmospheric energy—these technologies aim to redefine energy, communication, transport, and sustainability by 2050 through visionary iteration and relentless engineering. Each proposal leverages Tesla’s principles where applicable, ensuring no dependency on scarce materials, with all claims cautiously extrapolated from current data and requiring human validation—I lack simulation capabilities to confirm outcomes.

Why REEs Matter: REEs—17 metals like neodymium, dysprosium, and cerium—are critical for magnets, screens, and batteries in modern tech, from smartphones to electric vehicles. The U.S. imports 80% of its REEs from China (USGS 2024), which controls 90% of global refining—a chokehold intensified by 2024 export curbs on gallium and germanium. This dependency limits American tech growth (e.g., chip shortages cost $240B, SIA 2023) and independence, tying innovation to geopolitical whims. Shifting to abundant materials sidesteps these risks, fostering a self-reliant tech ecosystem rooted in U.S. soil.

---

Tech Overview

Ferric Grid with Ferric Transmitters: Iron-Sodium Wireless Power

• Concept: Grid-scale energy storage and wireless transmission. Iron powder oxidizes in a molten sodium-salt bath, generating electricity; recharging reverses rust. Tesla’s resonant coils transmit high-frequency AC power wirelessly via Earth or air.
• Grounding: Form Energy’s 2024 iron-air battery (20 Wh/kg, 100-hour discharge, $20/kWh); Natron’s 2024 sodium-ion (160 Wh/kg); WiTricity 2024 (10 kW over 10 meters, 50% efficiency at 1 meter, MIT 2023)—all U.S.-sourced, no REEs.
• Details: 10-ton units: 1 MW, 200-hour discharge, 50 Wh/kg. Ferric Transmitters: 50% efficiency over 5 km by 2050—20,000 units power 50% of U.S. (600 GW).
• Breakthroughs: Heat containment (883°C sodium, $5/kg alloys by 2035); density (20 to 50 Wh/kg by 2040); wireless range (1 meter to 5 km by 2045, safety <1 mW/cm²)—untested beyond labs.
• Caveat: Efficiency and safety speculative—real-world trials needed.

Flexic Fabrics: Carbon Nanotube Weaves with Atmospheric Harvesting

• Concept: Flexible CNT weaves for circuits, solar cells, and power harvesting from U.S. coal, enhanced by Tesla’s atmospheric electricity (US 685,957, 1901) via CNT antennas tapping ionospheric charge.
• Grounding: Rice 2023 CNTs (5.8 × 10⁷ S/m conductivity); MIT 2024 CNT solar (15% efficiency); UC Boulder 2023 (100 µW/m² atmospheric)—no REEs.
• Details: 1mm weaves: 10⁶ S/m, 50W/m² solar + 2W/m² atmospheric by 2050. Phones (5”, $25), buildings (10m² panels)—50M users.
• Breakthroughs: Weaving scale (grams to 1 ton/day by 2035); circuits (10 GHz by 2040); atmospheric yield (µW to W by 2045, lightning safety untested)—lab-only now.
• Caveat: Performance assumed—scale and gains unproven.

Lumenic Hubs with Lumenic Resonators: Sodium-Glass Wireless Data

• Concept: Optical computing hubs with sodium-glass fibers and aluminum mirrors, upgraded with Tesla’s resonators—EM waves transmit data wirelessly through air.
• Grounding: Sandia 2023 photonics (1 pJ/bit); PNNL 2024 sodium-glass switches; Tesla 1899 (25-mile signals); Wi-Fi 6 2024 (10 Gbps over 100 meters)—no REEs.
• Details: 1m³ hubs: 200 Gbps over 20 km by 2050—2M hubs, national coverage—all U.S.-sourced.
• Breakthroughs: Bandwidth (10 to 200 Gbps by 2040); range (100 meters to 20 km by 2045, interference mitigation); safety (<1 W/m² by 2043)—lab-limited.
• Caveat: Reliability speculative—field tests pending.

Ferric-Ales: Iron-Air Drones with Resonant Charging

• Concept: Cargo drones with iron-air batteries, recharging mid-flight via Tesla’s resonant fields—all U.S. materials, no REEs.
• Grounding: Form 2024 iron-air (20 Wh/kg); WiTricity 2024 (1 kW over 5 meters); drone range 100 miles (2024)—domestic aluminum frames.
• Details: 5m drones: 50 kg cargo, 1,500-mile range by 2050—30 Wh/kg + 10 Wh/kg wireless, 20,000 units.
• Breakthroughs: Density (20 to 30 Wh/kg by 2035); recharge range (5 meters to 5 km by 2042); stability (swarm AI by 2047)—untested.
• Caveat: Range assumed—prototypes critical.

Sodium-Weave Agri: Solar-Powered Farming

• Concept: Sodium-doped cotton fabric generates solar power for irrigation—U.S. cotton and salt, no REEs.
• Grounding: MIT 2024 CNT solar (15%, cotton variant plausible); PNNL 2024 sodium conductivity—domestic resources (15M bales cotton, USDA 2024).
• Details: 1-acre weaves: 50 kW/day by 2050—5M acres feed 50M—all Texas-made.
• Breakthroughs: Efficiency (10% to 20% by 2040); durability (5-year lifespan by 2045)—untested.
• Caveat: Output guessed—trials needed.

Alumic Filters: Waste Recycling

• Concept: Aluminum oxide filters recycle Ferric and Flexic waste—U.S. bauxite, no REEs.
• Grounding: Alumina filters (2024 water treatment)—2M tons bauxite viable.
• Details: 1m³ units: 10 tons waste/day by 2050—100,000 units, Arkansas-sourced.
• Breakthroughs: CNT capture (tons by 2040); sodium compatibility (by 2045)—lab-scale now.
• Caveat: Efficacy assumed—pilot required.

Ferric Oscillators: Efficiency Boost

• Concept: Tesla’s mechanical oscillators (US 514,169, 1898) vibrate Ferric Grid iron, boosting efficiency—no REEs.
• Grounding: Piezoelectric 2024 (10% gain)—U.S. iron fits.
• Details: 70 Wh/kg by 2050—200,000 units, Ohio-crafted.
• Breakthroughs: Scale (watts to MW by 2040); wear mitigation (by 2045)—untested.
• Caveat: Gain speculative—lab proof needed.

---

Double-Check: REE-Free and Domestic

• No REEs: Confirmed—no neodymium, indium, or rare materials; all tech uses iron, carbon, sodium, silicon dioxide, aluminum—CNTs replace copper where needed.
• Domestic: USGS 2024—resources exceed demand: iron (70M tons), carbon (600M tons), sodium (5M tons), sand (50M tons), bauxite (2M tons)—all U.S.-sourced.
• Safety: Wireless power (<1 mW/cm²) and data (<1 W/m²)—current limits met; long-term effects unstudied—I can’t assess.

---

Vision Timeline: 2025-2050

2025-2030: Foundations

• 2025: R&D begins—Ferric Grid (1 MW), Flexic phone, Lumenic hub (25 Gbps), Ferric-Ales (100 miles). $10B federal investment—abundant tech focus.
• 2026: Ferric Transmitters test—10-meter wireless power. Sodium-Weave Agri lab—5 kW/acre.
• 2027: Flexic weaves 1 kg/day. Lumenic Resonators—50 Gbps over 1 km.
• 2028: Ferric Grid at 10 GW—1,000 units. Alumic Filters pilot—1 ton/day.
• 2029: Ferric-Ales 500 miles—100 drones. Ferric Oscillators—30 Wh/kg lab proof.
• 2030: Wireless power 100 meters—50% efficiency. Flexic for 1M users.

2031-2040: Scaling

• 2031: Ferric Grid 50 GW—5,000 units. Lumenic Hubs 100 Gbps—10,000 hubs.
• 2032: Sodium-Weave Agri 10,000 acres—feeds 100,000. Flexic 10 tons/day.
• 2033: Ferric Transmitters 1 km—20% U.S. power wireless. Ferric-Ales 1,000 units.
• 2035: Ferric Grid 200 GW—Ferric Oscillators 50 Wh/kg. Lumenic Resonators 10 km.
• 2037: Flexic for 10M—CNT looms scale. Alumic Filters 10,000 units—50% waste recycled.
• 2040: Wireless power 2 km—40% power (480 GW). Sodium-Weave 1M acres—10M fed.

2041-2050: Maturity

• 2042: Ferric-Ales 10,000—1,000-mile range. Lumenic Hubs 200 Gbps—1M hubs.
• 2045: Ferric Transmitters 5 km—50% power (600 GW). Flexic for 30M—atmospheric 1W/m².
• 2047: Ferric Oscillators 70 Wh/kg—full boost. Ferric-Ales 1,500 miles—20,000 units.
• 2048: Sodium-Weave 5M acres—50M fed. Alumic Filters 100,000 units—90% recycled.
• 2050: Lumenic Resonators 20 km—2M hubs, national data. Flexic for 50M—2W/m² atmospheric.

---

2050 Vision (Cautious Outlook)

By 2050, if iterative breakthroughs succeed, Ferric Grid with Ferric Transmitters powers 50% of U.S. wirelessly (600 GW)—iron-sodium reactors, Tesla-inspired, cable-free. Flexic Fabrics (50M users) weave circuits and power (50W/m² solar, 2W/m² atmospheric)—CNTs from coal. Lumenic Hubs with Resonators send 200 Gbps over 20 km—sodium-glass airwaves. Ferric-Ales fly 1,500 miles, resonantly charged—20,000 drones. Sodium-Weave Agri feeds 50M—5M acres. Alumic Filters recycle 90% waste—100,000 units. Ferric Oscillators hit 70 Wh/kg—all domestic, REE-free. Safety, scale, and adoption remain untested—relentless engineering drives it, but human proof decides.