Working-with-your-hands Wednesday

 

Mystery tool So, what is this thing?

Two places to visit on my bucket list

I've always wanted to go to California, mainly to amble about Inyo County, the location of the Lone Pine area and the Alabama Hills, which have featured in probably hundreds of westerns. And, of course, being a desert rat, I'd like to see Death Valley. 

In fact, if California were a normal state - i.e., not run by flashy commies as if it were a giant asylum for the feeble-minded - I would even consider living there (probably in Inyo County; the well-known actor, Elisha Cook, Jr lived in Big Pine, and only came down out of the hills to Hollywood when he was filming a movie).

Maybe the state will be approaching a turning point before too long: "California Has Become Uninvestable".

California is still rich in both natural beauty, and for now human capital, but if tech companies start investing elsewhere a lot of the jobs will follow. Austin is already a tech Mecca, and AI companies will look outside California for reliable energy. California's quality of life advantages are being eroded by damaging policies, and not everybody wants their kids to become gay communists.

Because of the sheer perversity of human nature, the people of California may have to drink the bitter cup to the dregs before they come to their senses; but it could happen - though, unfortunately, probably not in time for me to buy a little piece of desert wilderness before I check out.

The other place that interests me is Cuba. The country seems to be teetering on the verge of collapse, and, may it please God, we will live to see the country free of its long-standing dictatorship in the next few years. It will take a lot of investment to bring this country back after more than six decades of communism, but I think there is great potential. Strangely (or maybe not), Cuba may wind up making a comeback before California. So, while I may not get my rancho in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, it's just barely conceivable that that condo in Trump Tower/Havana is within my grasp.

And now, a word from our sponsor

 

Competing tactics

Don Surber: ICE won’t melt but maybe anti-ICE is.

Organized Democrat and communist opposition to the removal of illegal aliens in Minnesota and elsewhere has been melting of late.

Fox reported the protesters, insurgents and rioters are fighting among themselves as the winter drags on and their tactics turn public sentiment against them.

Haw!

This is hilarious

An American went to a location where he saw a member of the Minneapolis ICE Watch

He brought his own whistle

He blows it and waits for all the ICE Watch activists to come running to waste their time

This is gold. “You blow that whistle and next thing ya know… pic.twitter.com/3q8pNA4w3G

— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) February 7, 2026

Too bad about the Washington Post laying off half of its work force

I mean, where else are we standard, garden variety, middle class folk going to learn about all the exciting life choices that exist in the big city?

H/T: Friend and commenter JeffS

Classical corner

"And God Said", from Arthur Honegger's oratorio, King David (originally composed as incidental music for Le Roi David, a play by Swiss writer and playwright, René Morax).

As an alternative to watching the Super Bowl...

...you might enjoy these basset hound races. Look closely, though; their blazing speed makes them a mere blur.