Regular readers may recall that we are very into using hugelkultur mounds, in which wood is buried under a planting mound to supply nutrients as the wood rots, store water in the mound like a sponge, and to keep the soil in the mound aerated as the wood mass shrinks over time. In the fall of 2019, we put in a hugelkultur mound for strawberries. Here is a shot of that mound under construction, wood on the trailer on the right winds up in the trench, subsequently covered by the dirt pile on the left: » ( Read more of Strawberry Runner Explosion… )
True Confessions of a Covid Denier
Mid March, just as a pending lockdown of the Dallas/Fort-Worth (DFW) area was being announced, I was turning onto I-30 heading back to Tennessee. My trusty Infiniti FX35 (aka “Missy”), with which I have weathered many client engagements, was full to the brim with client material, after what was to be a many-months onsite assignment was suddenly converted into remote. My one-month stay in DFW, my corporate apartment lying within view of the airport compound, managed to span the rise of the well over-hyped Covid hysteria, including seeing urban DFW natives converted almost overnight into preppers. Good for them, more on that later.
Open Source Rocketry
I recently stumbled across some fascinating videos by amateur rocketeer Joe Barnard, whose BPS.space YouTube channel is chock full of interesting projects. Armed with a 3D printer, model rocket components and some fairly simple custom electronics, he has created some amazing results. One interesting video series is his model rocket silo project (more video links given later in the article), including the launch of a fin-less vectored-thrust rocket from that silo that reminds one of a submarine-launched ballistic missile.
What really caught my eye, though, was his three-engine vectored-thrust Falcon Heavy model, shown to the right in mid-flight (the center engine did not ignite during this flight). In that pic (taken from a video linked far below), the thrust vectoring for this fin-less model is clearly visible, particularly with the right-most engine. Other test flights show more dramatic vectoring, more on this later. To his credit, Joe doesn’t filter out his failures, but instead documents his process, warts and all, including crashes, flameouts, fires, control losses and so on.
Happy Moon Day!
The first Moon landing was 50 years ago today. We’re celebrating today with Moon cookies (chocolate chip cookies with the chips mushed in while they are warm, making little craters). We should be celebrating today on the Moon itself, but Nixon, Ford, and Carter put an end to that.
Prior to the landings, a proposed Space Launch System (not the wimpy rebranded Shuttle version of SLS or current SLS concepts) would leverage the existing designs of the Apollo program to re-use the Saturn V third stages, and derive new designs from that stage, to implement a number of elements that would remain in space. One of these elements was to be a nuclear-powered tug that would ferry cargoes between Earth orbit and lunar orbit, needing only reaction mass to be resupplied periodically (hence the use of the third stage tanks).
Carter, a nuclear engineer, made a unique contribution to grounding humanity by banning the reprocessing of nuclear fuel wastes, leaving 95% of the available energy locked away and fueling instead concerns over nuclear waste storage. As a result, instead of trans-lunar tugs, we have 20 times the amount of nuclear waste, and waste which contains the vastly longer-lived isotopes that would otherwise be burned as fuel.
Yellow Vests and You
The growing Yellow Vest (Gilets Jaunes) phenomenon in France is an important milestone in the evolution of resistance to the globalist self-selected elites. Unsurprisingly, the usual globalist suspects are using their power and influence to divert attention from this movement, and to subvert or muddy the waters regarding their intentions. Here is what I’ve been able to glean from what information has been leaking out, the various opinions and reactions, and how this movement educates us about our own domestic future.
Selecting A Rural Area
I was invited by NC Renegade to speak in Murphy, North Carolina, about local government topics. This talk centered around a process for selecting a rural area, and how the growing threat of the criminal + local corruption alliance can affect that decision. We really appreciate the hospitality shown to us by the NC Renegade team that weekend, it was a great experience. Video of the presentation, shot and posted by NC Renegade, is shown below.
Official Lies
If you or I, as private citizens, filed a false tax return or other government document, then we would probably get prosecuted, at least for perjury, and perhaps for fraud and other bad things depending on the circumstances. But what happens when government officials file false documents, and then as a result get access and control over hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayer money? Is there even so much as a “bad puppy” stern gaze? Let’s find out.
Trump Targets Obamacare
I’ve been remiss in giving credit to President Trump (EGK) for his accomplishments against formidable opposition in every direction. Sure, there have been some things that have been disappointing, but the wins are worth the setbacks, and we’re far better off than with HRC. One looming win we’ve got our eye on here is the attack on Obamacare.
As I’ve written here before, Obamacare is arguably the most destructive force ever wielded by the deep state against small businesses. The more one digs into it, the more one finds minefields and booby traps for the unwary, as well as a massive shift of health costs from the irresponsible to the responsible, in addition to the deliberate targeting of small businesses.
Homeschool CLEP: Macroeconomics
This week, our 16 year old homeschooled daughter body-slammed the Macroeconomics CLEP, earning another three hours of college credit for the whopping cost of less than a hundred bucks. This one is an especially satisfying victory because macroeconomics is one of those voodoo subjects; it isn’t intended to make any practical sense, it is just another way of propagandizing college kids. By testing out of it, she now gets to sidestep what would otherwise be a semester-long exposure to deep state Keynesian poz, including having to write papers on how much the Federal Reserve loves the little children, and why tax policy serves the noble and glorious purpose of herding the ignorant and bumbling populace this way and that for its own good.
Farewell, Uncle John
John W. Armstrong Obituary [1941-2018]
Master Chief John W. Armstrong (USN ret.) was born in Gulfport MS to Walter Lewis Armstrong, Sr. and Ina Murray-Armstrong on February 20, 1941 and died in San Diego CA on June 11, 2018. John moved to Ellisville MS in 1947 from Woolmarket MS and was raised there by his widowed mother. He attended Sand Hill Grammar School and Ellisville High School. John enlisted in the U.S. Navy at the age of 17 and completed his recruit training in San Diego CA. John progressed from Seaman Recruit to Master Chief during his 30-year Navy career, serving primarily in the Pacific Fleet.
John’s first ship was the U.S.S. James E. Kyes (DD-787). After that tour, John served on the U.S.S. Mansfield (DD-728), where he was wounded in action off the coast of Vietnam and received the Purple Heart. Subsequent ship tours included the U.S.S. Leonard F. Mason (DD-852), U.S.S. Providence (CLG-6), U.S.S. Fort Fisher (LSD-40), U.S.S. Kirk (FF-1087), and U.S.S. Reeves (CLG-24). He was home ported in Japan for 17 years during these tours and completed a shore tour in Orlando RTC FL as a drill instructor and two shore tours in San Diego. John retired in 1988 in San Diego and resided at his home in Chula Vista the remainder of his life. In retirement, John enjoyed attending ship reunions and visiting with his many shipmates. He also worked with Ryder Student Transportation and First Student as a bus driver and contract manager.
John was preceded in death by his parents, two wives [Tsugiyo Ueno-Armstrong and Mitsuko Doi-Armstrong], one brother [Master Chief Walter Lewis Armstrong, Jr. (USN ret.)], three sisters [Flora Marie Armstrong, Dorothy Armstrong-Baugh, and Rebecca Armstrong-Jefcoats], and two nephews [Gary Wendell Jefcoats and John Paul Armstrong]. He is survived by one brother [James Dewey (Jeanette) Armstrong], as well as numerous nephews and nieces. John will be laid to eternal rest at the Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in San Diego alongside his beloved wife, Mitsuko. Fair winds and following seas, shipmate.
Uncle John was an inspiration for me as a kid and he and my Uncle Louis (as the family wrote it) greatly influenced, by their examples alone, my picking the Naval Academy over the Air Force Academy. I mentioned him in “Starving the Monkeys”:
As my Uncle John, a war veteran Navy Master Chief, once told his newly minted Second Lieutenant nephew, “it is a crime to send untrained men into battle”. In my experience, the Navy and the Marine Corps would not once commit this crime, offering able instruction to all who would learn.
Uncle John taught many. As part of a fleet inspection team, he was also responsible for much of the Pacific fleet’s readiness in his era. He taught my family and me something new each time we talked to him.
We’re going to miss his wisdom.