Another cold morning. This is the lowest I’ve seen the temperature since we move to Virginia in 2019.

Earlier in the week we were expecting negative temperatures. This is a bit better.

Of course Gracie loves it outside and it’s hard to get her back in the house. 🥶

Screenshot of the weather. The temperature is 6F this morning.

I’ll probably be sharing these over the next few days because it’s cold. 🥶🤣

Screenshot of the temperature, it’s 11F.

Murderers and Thugs

⚠️ Before reading any further I’m posting links from writers I really respect who have chosen to use a service that supports and publishes Nazi content. I won’t mention the name here but if you’ve followed me on this blog or on Mastodon you’ve heard me mention it.

I’ve encouraged both of them to leave and find better places to write but I’m a nobody so my begging goes unanswered (by unanswered they don’t interact with their audience much.)

I’ve made a rule not to link to these writers and others as long as they’re using this despicable service but with the murder of Alex Pretti I felt it necessary to ignore my own rule for the moment.

Paul Krugman

It has been clear for a long time, to anyone willing to see, that the people running the federal government — Trump, Miller, Noem, Bovino and more — are monsters.

Robert Reich

He’s coming after all of us who oppose his tyranny and brutality. All of us who defy his dictatorship. All of us who challenge his out-of-control, murderous goons.

Murder. Alex Pretti was murdered in cold blood for what? Filming ICE agents and trying to pick a woman up off the ground.

The man was shot 10 times. If that’s not an intentional act meant to kill him, I don’t know what is.

Our democracy is collapsing. When future generations of Americans and other countrymen write about the Second American Civil War they will name Minneapolis the event that catalyzed Americans to act. To use violence against violence.

Donald J. Trump, you are a thug, racist, pedophile, and rapist. You can now add murderer to that list.

It’s a dark time in the world and to have a once great nation fall this quickly is gut wrenching.

Link to eyewitness statement.

It’s pretty darned cold this morning and the wind definitely doesn’t help.

12F with a feels like of 4F and you can feel every bit of it. 🥶

Coffee with Bug.

My wife brought these home for me a couple weeks back. Boy oh boy are they dangerous! 🤣 Eating one leads to two leads to… You get the picture.

A Murder in Minneapolis

Daring Fireball

But I want to add another note. The main footage here comes from bystander Caitlin Callenson. Here’s her full 4m:25s footage, uncensored, hosted — with credit, and I hope, permission — on the YouTube account of Minnesota Reformer. Be warned that it shows Good being shot to death (albeit sans gore), and contains many loud profanities. This is very good and clear footage. It is difficult viewing but you should watch it. Callenson was very close to Good’s vehicle. I’d say about 30 feet or so. You can see why she thought to start filming before the murderous agent drew his gun and fired.

Go watch that video. When the ICEholes get out of their vehicles you can hear Ms. Good tell them “go around.” One agent approaches aggressively and tries to open the door. The other one is saying something but it’s hard to make out.

Then the asshole agent shoots her on the face. Once he does that he walks to the SUV, checks it out, turns around and walks away, ultimately LEAVING THE SCENE.

That man needs to get out of this kind of work if he’s that afraid.

He also needs to be brought up on murder charges, which he won’t, because the Trump administration is full of sissies who must’ve been bullied on their grade school playground so they hate everyone and have to carry a gun to feel safe.

Goodbye RetroSnap 😔

In an email today from RetroSnap. (This site for this link may disappear soon.)

Alex here, founder at RetroSnap and the geekiest geek of retro gadgets. You may be receiving this message as part of a store-wide notification. If you have already received your order, please disregard this email.

We’re writing to share an important update regarding our store.

Due to recent increases in international import tariffs and related cross-border compliance costs, we’ve been forced to make the difficult decision to close our store and discontinue operations. These tariff changes are outside of our control and have made it impossible for us to continue operating sustainably. Please note that our business email will also be deactivated shortly.

So, I ordered one of these for Kim in early December, for Christmas. It still hasn’t arrived and I was really worried it wouldn’t get here, but I just checked and it’s due in Richmond, VA today. That’s a relief.

Also, thanks you damned Jackass in the White House whose last name rhymes with Dump. Those tariffs have been a real boon to the economy, right? 🤬

Jackass.

Still Plugging Along

I’m mostly well now. I still have a cough that’s working hard to get those last remnants of irritation out of my lungs but I’m mostly whole. 🤧

I made it to the coffee shop this morning because I really need to work on Stream. It’s been three or four weeks since I’ve been able to work on it and I miss it.

I have lots of thoughts swirling around in my pea brain this morning. Mostly around a strong desire to retire. Retire from working for someone else, not retire from working. At this time of the year I always think about what it would be like to work on my own stuff full time. Stream and top secret project would get so much attention. I looked at top secret project last week for a moment and realized it’s been over a year since I touched the code. That didn’t seem possible but the dates don’t lie. My brain though it had been a few months, not over a year. It was a shock to the system. I’m not gonna be here forever and someday I may not want to write code any longer. Who knows? I certainly don’t. The way I feel about things now I can see writing code until I drop dead behind my keyboard. Someone finding me face down, my computer in some weird state from my face unintentionally issuing a command. 😄

Of course, as it stands today, I still need a job and I’m very happy to have one.

Oh, sorry for missing Saturday Morning Coffee yesterday. My body needed the sleep. I managed to sleep until 4:30PM and still sleep last night. I’m still tired this morning. This darned bug took it out of me.

Charlottesville Weather

I know I’ve said this many times but the weather in Charlottesville is completely unpredictable. It can be 30F and snowing and 80F and sunny the next.

When I got up with the dogs this morning it was 13F. According to our forecast it’s going to be 60F and sunny Christmas week.

It’s been cold and snowing off and on for a few weeks now. I was hoping for a white Christmas, instead it’s gonna be warm and sunny. 🤣

I’m outside putting up Christmas decorations and it’s cold, 35F (2C), but I really am enjoying it. I’ll take this over 80F with 80% humidity any day.

It reminds me of being a kid in the San Joaquin Valley of California on days with dense Tule fog.

Finally got a little snow. ❄️

Picture of the snow in our front yard.

My Home Desk Setup

Does anyone ever take honest pictures of their desk setup? Seriously. They’re alway super clean and uncluttered.

Mine? Mine is a mess, all the time. With random trinkets and junk all over the place.

I moved one item before taking this picture because it had my address on it. Other than that, this is how it looks most days.

A picture of my desk setup.

This biting horsefly landed next to me and the darned thing is huge!

I’m tellin’ ya, east coast bugs are scary.

I think it’s planning on eating me. 😳

Kim’s Porch Friends

Kim hangs two ferns on our porch every summer. She has to hang new ones because the birds that nest in them destroy them.

As I was taking pictures of the two babies in this shot the one on the left flew away. The other one is still hanging out.

On the other side of the porch we still have two smaller babies hanging out.

Two baby House Finches in their nest. Preparing for their first flight.

Kim’s gardenia is very happy.

A gardenia

Hello little feller.

A little lizard with blue tail.

I just looked at my Cotton Bureau store earnings. I’ve sold one t-shirt and one phone case, if I’m reading it correctly. 🤣

Thank you to whoever bought the t-shirt. I do appreciate the business! 🙏🏼

I bought the case. Guess I should go grab a t-shirt while supplies last!

I messed with my Lock Screen and Home Screen a bit today. I updated McClockface to use the Get Schwifty style. I like it.

The Lock Screen is super simple. Black with the simple text “hello, human”.

My iPhone Lock ScreenA screenshot of my iPhone Home Screen.

Had to run to our storage to get our ice chests, corn hole stuff, and ice cream maker and found this fella. Yeah, he’s long dead, but very impressive!

A big beetle of some kind on my open palm.

Our grandkids love putting “makeup” on our happy garden monk. 😃

A garden statue of a monk painted with sidewalk chalk.

Our little bunny friend is in the front yard tonight!

A grayish bunny eating in our front yard. Unfortunately they blend in with the rocks. Sorry!

The Sad State of our Nation

Seth Abramson via Bluesky

Stunning how media has turned passage of the Abominable Bill into a will they-or-won’t they romcom with a July 4th deadline for Cinderella to kiss the prince, rather than a situation in which multiple members of Congress say they’re terrified they or their families will be killed if they cross Trump

This is what we’ve come to. I hope these member of Congress stand up and do what’s right for our nation.

Mike Brock • Techdirt

Let me be specific about what I mean. This week, Donald Trump posted explicit orders on Truth Social directing federal law enforcement to conduct “Mass Deportation Operations” targeting “America’s largest Cities” because they are “the core of the Democrat Power Center.” He used the term “REMIGRATION”—language borrowed directly from European fascist movements. He accused Democratic officials of treason for opposing him. He framed resistance to his orders as hatred of America itself.

We are a fascist nation and that’s disgusting. My sincerest hope is we can force that orange asshole out of office after his four year reign of terror is over.

My grandson loves Spider-Man.

Here are the various different types.

Hand drawn picture of the various different Spider-Men. By my grandson.

Kim’s berries are looking pretty happy. They’ve struggled for years to produce berries.

A berry bush, with some berries on it.