Damn the Flemings, damn the Walloons

Good morning, Stroock's Books people, and Happy Tuesday.

Temps will climb into...the low 70s today. Wow. We're enjoying the cold snap. 

The girls are home. In their absence We got used to the house being clean and organized. Everything is back to normal. 

Sports wrap: Not even presidential intervention could save the American soccer team. Belgium dominated throughout. The US looked like it was on the backfoot the moment the match began. Losing to a fake country like Belgium...We're sure the Americans will do the honorable thing. 

We saw the matched at a neighbor's house. Our Chindian immigrant neighbors cheered on their adopted home team. One friend from Ghana explained stoppage time rules to us. We had Indian rose flavored ice cream. 

DOGE report.

Just an excellent all-around day. After vowing to focus on the nuke novel we cranked out two scenes in World War 1990: Thatcher's War and finally have a good idea of where things are headed. Exit question: how to handle the Brit assault on Dublin airport?

The First Monday of the Second Part

We had lots of much needed rain here last night and this morning. Right now a light drizzle is coming down. That's four days in a row with at least some rain. 

The fam returns this afternoon, thank the Lords of Kobol. And so begins the second stage of summer. 

Let's just try to stop worrying and relax. 

We watched a lot of World Cup yesterday. Don't FIFA shame us. 

Norway was playing the refs as well as the Brazilians. Brazil is obviously the Kansas City Chiefs of FIFA. We watched the officials do everything they could to give Brazil a chance at a game tying goal. 

Mexico vs England was the best soccer game we've ever seen, which ain't sayin' much. During the last 20 minutes, England's goal was under siege. The limeys made a heck of a defensive stand. We were impressed. 

Overall, were we not entertained?

At The Times of Israel, a profile of Netanyahu's chief electoral rival, Gadi Eisenkot. The headline and subhead: 'Gruff and unpolished, Gadi Eisenkot is becoming the face of the anti-Netanyahu movement. The plainspoken ex-IDF head embodies a shift from the PM’s slick style, which has come to define Israeli politics. But after surging in the polls, he now faces a brutal campaign as Netanyahu’s chief foe...' This is very interesting*. 

Polls remain where they've always been, Bibi's Likud leading followed by Bennett, Eisenkot, and Lapid. At the moment an election would probably result in a hung parliament. But beware Netanyahu enthusiasts, the Bibi fatigue is real. [How would you vote?-Ed]. We'll put it this way, if one wants to make the case for Bennett or Eisenkot, we're listening.  

DOGE report.

Okay, we have a vague outline of the first part of the Dublin op. At least we know what we're writing this morning. 

We spent a good chunk of yesterday working on the details of the DEW line story. The prot-a-gon-ist (IYKYK) is a nerdy kid from Cincinnati who likes electronics and is obsessed with baseball. And he's really disappointed that his beloved Reds were destroyed with the rest of Cincinnati. If you know your baseball history, you know what the Reds were up to in 1975. 

* Yes! 'In terms of one of Israel’s most intractable and urgent issues, integrating its growing Haredi population into mainstream society, Yashar proposes two initiatives: First, expanding national service for all Israelis, including Arabs and Haredim, the vast majority of whom do not currently enlist, with a particular emphasis on military service. Second, mandating the study of a core curriculum (generally including subjects such as English and math) in all schools, including ultra-Orthodox ones that eschew secular subjects.'

Will's Good Idea for the Week of 7/5/26

Happy July 5th to all you Brits out there tired of hearing about America 250. Canadians too. 

The heat has broken and temps will only reach the high 80s today. We got some badly needed rain last night. More rain is expected tonight and tomorrow. 

Yesterday we mowed the lawn and cleaned the house, mostly because we were bored. We remain morose. The girls return tomorrow. 

We caught some of America 250 last night and watched part of Trump's speech. It was fine, but we've seen the schtick before.

What Will's Watching: Project Hail Mary. We've about 20 minutes left. But so far, 'Amaze! Amaze! Amaze!' IYKYK.

Furthermore, this blog believes there are only three important space/NASA movies: The Right Stuff (where we've been), Apollo-13 (where we're trying to go), and Interstellar (why we stopped). These all show the evolution and eventual stagnation of the Space Program. When NASA launched the shuttle in 1980, school stopped so we could all watch. When was the last time that happened because of NASA?

This blog morphed into Will's Diary so gradually we hardly even noticed. 

Well have some in depth and cutting edge political analyses this week [Um....yay?-Ed].

Will's Good Idea for the Week of 7/5/26...Throughout July we'll be working on World War 1990: Thatcher's War. But this month we'll be prioritizing the 5th nuclear novel. This is the big push to finish the rough draft by the end of the month. We gotta get another book out there. We've eight finished stories and 40,000 words. This blog believes it needs 2-3 more stories and 20,000 words. DEW line this week and lay the groundwork for another story. 

Patriotic Saturday Updates

Good morning, Stroock's Books reader(s) and happy July 4th. 

At about 7 PM last night the National Weather Service issued a severe thunderstorm warning promising 70 MPH winds and nickel sized hail. We tracked the storm on the Weather Channel ap, a band of yellow and purple sweeping down southeast from the mountains. We sat on the deck and watched the ominously low and dark clouds roll in. Some places got slammed but we only got some much needed rain. We felt very let down. 

100 + yesterday. Temps won't be quite as bad today. But as we write (9:37 AM) the temp is 87 degrees, American. Heat breaks tomorrow. 

It's America's 250th anniversary.  We've been around for 52/250, huh one fifth of America's history. Look, what could we really add? What can we really say except happy Fourth of July. 

On a personal note, we'll say again, there has never, in three thousand years, been a better place for Jews than America, and that includes Israel. It is worth recalling President Washington's letter to the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, Rhode Island: 'May the Children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants; while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and figtree, and there shall be none to make him afraid.'

With the fam still gone we'll treat today like a normal work day. We write this from the Donut which is seeing spritely business this morning. 

DOGE report.

An excellent week, especially so given that we had two dentist and a doctor appointment. 

We've done most of what we wanted to do with World War 1990: Thatcher's War up to the Dublin attack. We've really no idea how to handle the Dublin attack. And now idea what happens after. World War 1990: Thatcher's War is 56,000 words. 

We wrapped up the Soviet Salyut story and began the DEW Line story. We've still no idea what this is about. The 5th nuke novel is 38,000 words. 

The Temps and the Percentages have Risin

Mr. Mojo Risin'...

We arise with a sense of melancholy, moroseness even. 

So we saw the urologist, 20-30 percent chance he says. He wants to do a biopsy. No rush, he said. They'll call next week to schedule. Hmmm...we are much less sanguine about this than before. 

When did we start fretting about air conditioning? [Last summer, during the AC Wars-Ed]. No need to fret at all. The new unit is functioning perfectly, perf, as the kids say. We set the thermostat to 78 yesterday and the AC kept the temp there till early evening. The thermostat topped 80 degrees, but the house gradually cooled after that. Today we'll set the thermostat to 75 degrees and see what happens.

This time of year, FB memories shows us the photos we uploaded from our vacations to Rehoboth Beach in summers past. We'd always go the first week of the summer after dance recitals and classes were over. Our last Rehoboth vacation was in 2017. Oldest Daughter would have been eleven. Yep. in 2018 we went to France and Great Britain. In 2019 we visited the land of Eire. 

DOGE report.

A good day yesterday with Thatcher's War. Three scenes are coming together. You know, we have no idea how this novel ends. 

We had the germ of an idea for 5th nuke novel story, in the US. Something about army units gathering somewhere outside a nuclear blast. We shall let this idea percolate. 

Probably a bad idea, but if one knows us on FB one saw this post: Hear me out: World War 1990; the Irish Trilogy.' Yes, with Thatcher's War being 55,000 words...[Oh stop-Ed]. We could conceivably [I said stop-Ed]. Ed's right. As the president in Star Trek VI: The Best One said, 'Just because we can do a thing does not mean we must do that thing.' 

Thursday Title Withheld Upon Request

Good morning, Stroock's Books affiliates, and happy Thursday.

Temps will push past 100 degrees today. Wish us luck. We approach the heatwave with great unease [Not great fear and trepidation?-Ed] That too. No idea why. The AC just switched on at 9:11 AM, 78 degrees. And then it cooled and switched off. Just the way we like it. 

Sigh...that early onset summer morosity (huh, that's actually a word) has really set in. We really haven't been able to get into the America 250 thing. Bah! We swipe at the air and drink our coffee.

The dentist finished our tooth cleaning yesterday. The foot seems recovered from the gout attack. Today we visit the urologist to discuss the results of our MRI. We are not enthused. 

Last night, the Bosnian-Herzegovinian fell to the USMST. Take that you Bosnian-Herzegovinian bastards. [Seriously?-Ed] No, not really. 

1000 days since the October 7th Massacre. 1000 days of war. 1000 days of progress. The Times of Israel reports that the Gaza border area is rebuilding and even growing, 'Over 92% of the region’s residents are back home, joined by more than 5,000 new residents, the directorate reported.' And Israeli Hayom tells us that 6,000 Jews will make aliyah to Israel this summer. Israel renews and grows. Remarkable. 

DOGE report.

Things are fine. We did some light work on Thatcher's War yesterday. the pre-Dublin stuff is about as good as we can make it for now. We admit we don't really know how to proceed on the Dublin op. We don't want to do an A then B, A then B, telling of the op. To put it another way, we don't want to relive the Battle of Derry [Londonderry-Ed]. Shut up, Ed. You're from Liverpool.  We want to show the fighting at Howth, LE Sive, and the various British columns converging in Dublin. 

Ah, and just like that the creative dam is breached. Actually we've just gotten the juju for a trio of scenes leading up to Dublin. Ser goot, as the Krauts, reeling from their World Cup travails, would say. 

In the 5th nuke novel, what happens up at the DEW line? We don't know. 

Midweek 1st July

Good morning, Stroock's Books weekenders and Happy Dominion Day to all our Canadian reader(s) out there. 

Related, a new season of Shoresy, we learned, is on Hulu. 

Ah, there's that fear and trepidation we're always warning about, brought on by solitude and the heat wave - even though we have a brand-spanking-new AC system. 

Also we had a massive gout attack yesterday. It just snuck up on us at the gym, right in the small of the left foot. This was a bad one, but it passed. The foot is still sore though, as is the left toe from the gout attack the other day. 

Supreme Court...no complaints. The court went 3 for 3 yesterday as far as Stroock's Books is concerned. Sorry, fellow MAGA hats, the 14th amendment is absolutely clear, 'All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.' If one is born in America, one is an American. However, Section V states, 'The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.' Couldn't congress end birthright citizenship?

And there's an important principle here. In many countries, say Whogivesadamnistan*, if your parents are from Slobovia, you won't be Whogivesadamistani since your parents aren't Whogivesadamnistani even though you were born in Whogivesadamnistan.

What Will's Watching: on the recommendation of a friend, To Live and Die in LA. This is a noir film, an 80s cop film about a pair of Secret Service agents very often at odds as they try to bring down a counterfeiter. William Dafoe is a nihilistic criminal. William Peterson is driven to revenge for his partner. John Pankow is a reluctant agent.  To Live and Die in LA was directed by auteur William Freidkin. Watch the film as a product of its time and place. Watch the film for its style. And there's a hell of a twist, 3/4.

DOGE report.

We finished the Soviet Salyut station story yesterday. 

*Term borrowed from M Steyn, upon whom we wish good health.