Category Archives: Home Life

Stuff going on in my personal life.

Names you don’t hear anymore

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On Tuesday night, at age 91, my aunt* Mardell died. I have never met another person with the name of Mardell. I’ve been a bit sad and nostalgic the last few days.

There are a lot of other names from my childhood I which I have never, or extremely rarely, hear anymore. I probably will only rarely again hear them associated with any living person. For some reason they are almost all on my dad’s side of the family.

All children of my great grandfather:

  • Ada
  • Alden
  • Ardis
  • Helena
  • Pet**
  • Sadie***

Others of the same generation:

  • Cecil
  • Claude
  • Charlotte (my maternal grandmother)
  • Elsa
  • Ida
  • Lorne
  • Ollie
  • Orla
  • Oscar
  • Lillian
  • Van (my maternal grandmother’s husband for a while)
  • Verna (my maternal grandmother’s middle name)

My dad, his cousins, friends, and neighbors:

  • Ally
  • Clinton (as a first name)
  • Doyle
  • Donzal
  • Drexel
  • Edna
  • Ernestine
  • Gladys
  • Gwen
  • Harriet
  • Lowell
  • Manual
  • Mardell
  • Ned
  • Skyler

Friends of mine growing up:

  • Lethco (only person on this list who is still alive)
  • Verl

* Technically, she was not my aunt. However, my father’s mother was a sister to aunty Dell’s mother AND my father’s father was a brother to her father. Also, for several years, both families lived in the same household. Dad was an only child but he had three double cousins he grew up with. My brothers and I called these siblings of his uncles and aunt.

** Although this was just nickname for Patricia, I don’t know that I knew her
real name was Patricia until years after she had passed away.

*** I know someone who named their dog Sadie. But I don’t know any living humans with that name.

Wow!

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I suspect the real numbers are about half this:

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One of my daughters listens to the same books on the same account as I do and we talk about them. Still, those are larger numbers than I expected.

Bump stock ban unconstitutional

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Good news:

Today the en banc U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms regulation extending the federal prohibition on machineguns to “bump stocks” is unlawful, as Eugene noted in a post below. In Cargill v. Garland, the judges split 13-3 on the merits, and the 13 in the majority divided on the rationale. Eight of the judges concluded the statute is unambiguous. Five additional judges concluded that, insofar as the statute is ambiguous, it should be interpreted not to cover bump stocks under the Rule of Lenity.

As I have said before, it is not unreasonable to assert that my grandkids will be participating in machine gun sporting events in high school.

My dream will have been realized.

Moscow murder suspect arrested

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Here are a sample of the stories.

The new information is essentially the same in all articles:

A 28-year-old man, Bryan Kohberger, was arrested Friday morning in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains in connection with the murders of four University of Idaho students, law enforcement sources told ABC News.

Sources said that authorities knew who they were looking for and had tracked Kohberger down to Pennsylvania.

A SWAT team entered the location where he was staying in order to take him into custody Friday. Kohberger appeared before a judge Friday morning.

Moscow police officers, members of Idaho State Police, Moscow city leaders and University of Idaho officials will hold a news conference at 1 p.m. local time Friday.

It will be interesting to find out how they came to suspect and track him to Pennsylvania. One of the stories suggest it was the white car:

But the case broke open after law enforcement asked the public for help finding a white sedan seen near the home around the time of the killings. The Moscow Police Department made the request Dec. 7, and by the next day had to direct tips to a special FBI call center because so many were coming in.

I wonder if I was close to the target with my suggestions.

This is also interesting:

A Ph.D. student by the same name is listed in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Washington State University, which is a short drive across the state line from the University of Idaho. Messages seeking more information were left for officials at WSU.

Named, in part, after Joseph Morris

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Brother Doug has been doing some digging into our family history. This is a tidbit of interest he sent me.
In the battle of the Morrisites, north of Salt Lake City, on June 15, 1862, the sheriff shot Joseph Morris in cold blood AFTER he had surrendered. Mrs. Isabella Bowman rushed forward and said, “Oh, you horrible, blood-thristy murderer, what do you want to kill him for?” The sheriff said, “no one shall call me that and live”, then he shot Mrs. Bowman and killed her. The sheriff later stood trial and was acquitted, probably with an all Mormon jury. When W.W. Davies and his wife moved to Deer Lodge, Montana and had a child on June 17, 1866, they named him Joseph Bowman Davies. I believe he was named after Joseph Morris and Mrs. Bowman, who were murdered seconds apart almost exactly four years earlier.
As you know, you were named after your two great-grandparents. Thus I believe you were in part named after Joseph Morris.

More context:
The Morrisite War. Our family history of this is different than the official history. The family history is based on interviews of our great grandfather Joseph Davies, son of W.W. Davies. W.W. Davies was a witness to the shootings of Joseph Morris and Isabella Bowman.
W.W. Davies was the leader of a Latter Day Saint schismatic group called the Kingdom of Heaven, which was located near Walla Walla, Washington from 1867 to 1881.
W.W. Davies believed himself to be the reincarnated archangel Michael, and the biblical Adam, Abraham, and David. And after his sons, Arthur and David (reincarnated Jesus Christ and God the Father) were born, according to family lore, he declared himself to be the holy spirit* as well. Therefore, I am a direct descendent of God, the holy spirit.

Update: Brother Doug just sent me this from Grandma’s autograph book:
Autograph book of Charlotte Davies given to her by Joseph Bowman Davies (1)
The book was given to her by her father, Joseph Bowman Davies.
Also this (the story about the kidnapping would be a complete blog post):

Lace Mother made on petticoats I was wearing when Dad kidnapped me

* The truth of this claim was disputed after both Arthur and David died of diphtheria and W.W. was unable to resurrect them.

Quote of the day—Nick Wilson

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At this point, we don’t know just how big of a deal Bruen is. Is it an existential threat to all our laws? … There are so many unanswered questions at this time.

Nick Wilson
Senior director for gun violence prevention at the Center for American Progress
November 27, 2022
[If he really doesn’t know “how big of a deal Bruen is” then he is in massive denial.

I have questions too, but mine are along the lines of, “When are we going to start prosecuting these criminals like Wilson?”

I have some expectations of having machine gun sporting events in our high schools in a decade or so. This will be the realization of my dream as my currently youngest grandchildren enter high school.—Joe]

News you might use

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This is probably too good to be true. I would have thought someone would have noticed the correlation before if the consumption of certain foods reversed Alzheimer’s.

scientists at Tufts University are working to understand what might slow the progression of the disease. They tested 21 different compounds in Alzheimer’s-afflicted neural cells in the lab, measuring the compounds’ effect on the growth of sticky beta-amyloid plaques. These plaques develop in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s.

The team found that two common compounds—green tea catechins and resveratrol, found in red wine and other foods—reduced the formation of plaques in those neural cells. And they did so with few or no side effects.

The applicability of this to humans drinking green tea and red wine are somewhat tenuous. The experiments were done on an artificially grown 3D neural tissue model. I presume the treatment was done via the nutrient bath or some such thing. So there was no passage of the active compounds through the digestive system, into the blood stream, and through the blood brain barrier to the brain.

Still, the risk/reward ratio for drinking green tea and/or red wine (and/or eating grapes) is favorable.

Moscow mass murder update

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More information on the tragic mass murder in Moscow Idaho last Sunday as been slowing dribbling out. It seems that the information raises as many questions as it answers.

Here are the points of interest I have found:

University of Idaho victim’s friend says dorm door-lock code wasn’t usually activated. I’m not too surprised. When my family lived in Moscow we always locked our doors. But I know people that leave the keys in the ignition of their vehicles when at home.

Over the last few days, police officers have come knocking at a local home improvement store to inquire about potential sales of a Ka-Bar knife – as they continue to try to locate the murder weapon. They appear to be specifically looking for a knife “with a smooth edge on one side and a serrated edge on the other.” But the picture they provide is of a knife without any serrations. My reading on Ka-Bar knives seems to indicate that Ka-Bar’s an not typically serrated.

Autopsies were conducted on November 17th. The Latah County Coroner confirmed the identity of the four murdered individuals and their cause and manner of death as homicide by stabbing. The coroner stated that the four victims were likely asleep, some had defensive wounds, and each was stabbed multiple times. There was no sign of sexual assault. This same posting tells us, “At this time in the investigation, detectives do not believe the two surviving roommates … are involved in the crime.” Also, there are over 128 people in law enforcement involved in the investigation. This includes the Moscow Police, Latah County Sheriff’s Office, Idaho State Patrol, and the FBI.

The 911 call that led to the discovery of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle’s bodies was not made by their roommates, I don’t really trust parts of this report. It could just be former LAPD detective Mark Fuhrman wanted another 15 minutes of fame and speculated on things for the camera.

One of the University of Idaho murder victims called the same person seven times shortly before she was killed, her sister claims… “Kaylee calls [the man] six times between 2.26am and 2.44am. From 2.44 to 2.52 Maddie calls [the man] three times, then Kaylee makes a final call to him at 2.52am,” Alivea said. If this was after the attack started, why didn’t they call the police? See also this report which identifies the person the victims called as “Jack”.

Mass murder with edged weapon

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Four University of Idaho students were ‘left to bleed out’ in brutal targeted stabbing attack: Blood is seen oozing through walls of home – as cops call the scene ‘the worst we’ve ever seen’:

  • Sources in Moscow, Idaho, say the house where four students were brutally murdered Sunday was the worst they have ever seen
  • There was so much blood that it oozed through the walls of the three-story house near the University of Idaho campus
  • ‘We have investigators who have been on the job for 20, even 30, years, and they say they have never seen anything like this,’ one police source said
  • Police are now trawling through the contents of trash cans near the scene looking for the ‘edged weapon’ the killer used

This hits harder than it would have had it happened in some distant city, I drove through Moscow on Monday night on my way to Boomershoot territory. I graduated from the University of Idaho as did my ex-wife, one of her sisters, and her mother. My brother and his three children all attended the U of I. My three children, my father, and numerous cousins and high school friends attended the U of I as well. I owned a home and lived in Moscow, at least part time, from about 1990 to 2012. One of my daughters and my ex still live less than 20 minutes away.

It got even more disturbing with this:

Fry said investigators believe two other roommates were home during the attack, but they were “not injured.” When asked if they had been involved in a hostage situation, Fry said no. He did not speculate on why the crime was not reported until noon when uninjured, living people remained in the home, and, to protect the “integrity of the investigation,” would not confirm if the surviving roommates were the ones who called 911. Fry did say that the roommates were still at the house when police arrived.

“We don’t know why that call came in at noon and not in the middle of the night. … We’re investigating everything still to try to pull all the pieces together,” Fry said.

I found out about the murders via a text message from Mike B. Mike played a big role in getting “campus carry” through the Idaho legislature. It didn’t help these students but it might give a number of students comfort and safety in the coming weeks.

One has to wonder… Since this is getting so much attention, and the murderer(s) have got away with something like a nine or ten hour head start on the police, if there will be copycats. Knives are almost completely silent, never need to be reloaded, unrestricted sales, no serial numbers, easy to make, found in every home, etc..

If the murders had been with a gun it would have been called a “mass shooting” and more calls for gun control would have been in the headlines before the bodies were cold. So what will the gun control advocates have to say if “mass stabbing” becomes a trend here? “Common sense knife control”?

What I will say about the potential for copycats is, “People, show any copycats why you don’t bring a knife to gunfight.”

We live in interesting times

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UN warns up to 345 million people marching toward starvation:

The U.N. food chief warned Thursday that the world is facing “a global emergency of unprecedented magnitude,” with up to 345 million people marching toward starvation — and 70 million pushed closer to starvation by the war in Ukraine.

Because of the wettest and longest spring we have ever experienced, my brothers on the farm were only able to get about 1/3 of the spring crop in this year. The little bit of lentils they were able to plant did not yield nearly as much as usual. I think the mid-west yields are below average as well.

We live in interesting times.

Idaho sunsets

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I see the most amazing sunsets when I am in Idaho. I’m not certain why. I suspect it is because I spend more time outdoors and there are far fewer buildings obstructing the view.

Here is a sample of what I saw tonight. The only editing on the first two is that they are both cropped a little bit:

IMG_7744CroppedIMG_7746Cropped

I took this one with my phone and is unedited:

20220907_192038

I sent it to Barb and she said:

WOW!!!!!

That picture is insane.

Agreed.

News you can use

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From Neuroscience News:

Research led by Drs. Yuhai Zhao and Walter J Lukiw at the LSU Health New Orleans Neuroscience Center and the Departments of Cell Biology and Anatomy, Neurology and Ophthalmology, reports for the first time a pathway that begins in the gut and ends with a potent pro-inflammatory toxin in brain cells contributing to the development of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). They also report a simple way to prevent it.

…

The highly potent neurotoxin BF-LPS is a natural by-product of GI-tract-based microbial metabolism. Bacteroides fragilis abundance in the microbiome, which is the source of the neurotoxin BF-LPS, can be regulated by dietary fiber intake.

“Put another way, dietary-based approaches to balance the microorganisms in the microbiome may be an attractive means to modify the abundance, speciation, and complexity of enterotoxigenic forms of AD-relevant microbes and their potential for the pathological discharge of highly neurotoxic microbial-derived secretions that include BF-LPS and other forms of LPS,” Lukiw explains.

The researchers conclude that an improved understanding of the interaction between the GI tract-Central Nervous System axis and the GI-tract microbiome and Alzheimer’s disease has considerable potential to lead to new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies in the clinical management of Alzheimer’s disease and other lethal, progressive, and age-related neurodegenerative disorders.

It has been estimated that Americans eat 10–15 grams of fiber a day on average. The USDA recommends that women up to age 50 consume 25 grams a day and men 38 grams. Over age 50, women and men should consume 21 and 30 grams daily, respectively.

Eat your lentils, chickpeas (garbanzo beans), and shredded wheat*. One half cup of lentils contains 7.8 grams of fiber. The same amount of Chickpeas contain 6.3 grams of fiber. One cup of shredded wheat contains 6.2 grams of fiber. Other sources of dietary fiber may be substituted.

* We grow lentils, chickpeas, and wheat on the farm.

Clearwater county growth rate

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This is from the most recent annual report of the electrical utility cooperative in north central Idaho:

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Boomershoot is located in Clearwater county. There was nearly a 30% increase in cooperative members in just one year. People are leaving the blue states and moving to Idaho. I have posted about this before. But I did not know any county by county numbers.

Another indicator is that recently I was talking to a guy that works for a construction company out of Orofino (Clearwater County). They mostly do  earth moving and concrete stuff. He said they have a three year backlog.

We live in interesting times. Prepare appropriately—If it is not too late.

The second 100 years*

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I like living in the future.

I suspect this is the same or nearly the same technology I have referenced before.

Scientists are working on a drug that lets you live for 200 years

Adding another 100 years to your lifespan might be the stuff of science fiction but scientists are working on a miracle drug that would make it a reality.

The drug, taken in pill form, works by eliminating cells that contribute to the ageing process in the human body, thus potentially doubling our lifespan.

Human ageing is hurried along by cells called ‘zombie cells’, scientifically known as senescent cells. These cells stop dividing over our lifespan, accumulate inside our bodies, and eventually release compounds that speed up ageing.

The drug has been tested on mice in a 2020 trial and the result was improved physical function and extended health and lifespan. Scientists are now working on replicating the result in humans.

…

The pills are reportedly already in the human trial stage and could very well hit the market within the next ten years.

Revolutionary technological development is frequently “ten years” away for several decades. I’m hoping I live long enough to hitch a ride but it may not be ready until my children ready to taken advantage of it.

* Deliberate reference to an obscure television show I used to watch

Earth and sky

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I was in Idaho yesterday. Among other things I was getting the Boomershoot weather station and webcam back online. A bunch of weeds had grown up high enough that the solar panels were severely shaded and the batteries had discharged to the point that everything shutdown.

20220629_191509

Despite the “bird repellent” wires, birds had used the rain gauge as a toilet:

20220630_172958

Everything is now fixed.

It was nearing sundown as I was leaving and I noticed an unusual cloud formation:

20220629_204757

The sky picture goes with the earth pictures I took not too far away earlier in the day:

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20220629_161922

This was formed where there was standing water on clay which dried up.

When my brothers and I were growing up we would sometimes marvel at a similar formation a short distance from the house. There was the added thrill of seeing sparkles in the “mud chips”. We wondered if it was gold or silver. It was probably just fine sand, but still we found the formations fascinating.

Quote of the day—Michael Snyder

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A historic economic nightmare is here, and the guy in the White House is all out of answers.

So buckle up and try to enjoy the ride.

The months ahead are going to be quite chaotic, and you probably don’t even want to think about what is coming after that.

Michael Snyder
June 2, 2022
Americans Will Never Forget The Historic Economic Collapse During Joe Biden’s Presidency
[I want an underground bunker in Idaho.—Joe]

Interesting

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Barb and I like cruises, but I’m not sure we like them this much:

When Angelyn Burk, a recently retired Seattle accountant, decided to crunch some numbers one evening last year, she made a stunning discovery: It would be cheaper for her and her husband to spend their retirement perpetually aboard cruise ships than to continue living on land.

“This is how I want to retire,” Angelyn, 53, decided in that moment. “Life is too short.”

She turned to her husband, Richard Burk, and said: “We can do this. Let’s make cruise ships our home.”

To her delight, he was onboard. The couple had thoroughly enjoyed the nearly 10 cruises they had been on together in the past, and they have a mutual love for travel as well as a shared disdain for airports.

They looked online and determined that, on average, they could string together voyages on various cruise ships for markedly less money than their collective cost of living on land. All they had to do was hop from ship to ship with some small breaks in between.

“We calculated that we can probably live reasonably well with about $100 a day together, with what we’ve saved up,” said Richard, 51, who retired as a computer programmer last month.

$100/day per person? At first thought that seems high but after some estimates and crunching my own numbers including infrequent things like home maintenance, vacations, and car purchases that probably isn’t far off. But looking at the cabin type and cruise lines we prefer the cost would be significantly more than $100/day per person. I did find cabins in that price range. So, if you didn’t mind having a tiny interior cabin with no view you could live your life like that.

The risk of being a victim of violent crime would be much lower. You would get maid service and great food with no time investment in shopping, cooking, washing dishes, etc.. My gun activities such as competition and reloading would be left behind. And we would not see our long time friends nearly as often.

I’m thinking the answer is no. But it is an interesting idea…

I need some new t-shirts

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Don’t tell Barb, she thinks the 250+ shirts I had back in 2013 were sufficient, but I have found some shirts calling out to me.

Here is a small sample:

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Stack Up and Try

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SAVE THE DOGS – ABOLISH THE ATF

Hearing loss reversal

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Restoring Hearing: New Tool To Create Ear Hair Cells Lost Due to Aging or Noise

Hearing loss caused by aging, noise, and some cancer therapy medications and antibiotics has been irreversible because scientists have not been able to reprogram existing cells to develop into the outer and inner ear sensory cells — essential for hearing — once they die.

But Northwestern Medicine scientists have discovered a single master gene that programs ear hair cells into either outer or inner ones, overcoming a major hurdle that had previously prevented the development of these cells to restore hearing, according to new research published today (May 4, 2022) in the journal Nature.

This is great news! I grew up driving extremely noisy tractors without hearing protection. And even with hearing protection after shooting some guns under certain conditions I can tell I had too much exposure.

I like living in the future.

News you can use

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Vitamin D, Omega-3s, and Exercise May Reduce Cancer Risk in Older Adults

Engaging in exercise and taking nutritional supplements may reduce the risk of invasive cancer in healthy individuals aged 70 years or older, a new study suggests.

Researchers observed a 61% reduction in the risk of invasive cancer among patients who completed a home exercise program and took vitamin D3 and omega-3 fatty acids daily.

Hmm… that seems like a worthwhile thing to do for the reduced risk.