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. 

The Last Tuesday of the Month

Good morning, reader(s) of Stroock's Books and happy Tuesday morn.  

Because we ain't sat it enough waiting rooms and enjoy filling out paperwork, we took ourself to the dentist yesterday. We'd had some gum sensitivity issues for a few weeks and wanted to make sure something serious wasn't happening. The dentist took one look and said, 'Yep that's periodontitis'. X-rays confirmed nothing more serious. So we got half our teeth cleaned and will go back on Wednesday to get the other half cleaned. 

The gums feel better already. 

The heat wave's arriving. Temps will only reach the low 90s today but they'll hit a hundred tomorrow. Heh, one year ago today we were fighting the AC wars with Gold Medal Service in similar temps. 

Anyway, the European AC wars are amusing AF. the elites put up plenty of excuses. AC causes the global warmening. AC is bad for a neighborhood's aesthetics....yada, yada, yada. This is about America. Something like 90 percent of American homes have AC (one may not actually need AC in Fairbanks, Alaska. We don't know). The Euro-elites can't countenance anything American. If Ursula Van der What's-her-Name allowed AC, why the Europoors would want big honking SUVs and guns next. Reminder, were Britain to join the United States, it'd be the poorest state in the Union. 

The Euro-AC wars are both sad and hilarious. 

The Times of Israel reports, 'A Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist who held hostages in the Gaza Strip and commanded members of the terror group as they invaded Israel during the October 7, 2023, onslaught, was killed in a strike this week...' And another one's gone...and another one's gone...another one bites the dust...' Honestly, if you're on camera participating in the October 7th genocide, your only long term option may be to surrender to the Israelis and hope for a lenient prison sentence. 

DOGE report.

We finished the BAOR story. 

We edited and read through a good part of World War 1990: Thatcher's War.  

It's the last day of June. We should be considering our July writing plans. 

The Good, the bad, the Monday

Good morning, Stroock's Books reader(s) and happy Monday.

Ack, we got gout, in our left big toe. Serves us right. Too much whisky last night and it wasn't even Irish Whisky; The Matsui, 4/5.

A heat wave is a'coming. Despite our brand new HVAC we wait for the heat wave with [Don't say it-Ed] great fear and trepidation. 

We're seeing the urologist on Thursday for our MRI follow up. The internet says we've a 10-20 percent chance of having prostate cancer, which is a damn sight better than the 50-70 percent chance before the MRI. They will almost certainly want a biopsy. 

We're trying to remain positive. But the fact remains that we've felt great fear and trepidation about many things in recent weeks/months. HVACs, rattles in the car, Hormuz negotiations....we've always been something of a worrier. The worrying has gotten worse in recent years. 

New York remains unsafe for Jews. Arial Plashkin writes, 'I am addressing you, Jews of New York, in the same way the Jews of my grandparents' extended family addressed relatives in Europe in the 1930s. Berlin? New York? Who can tell the difference?' Quite right. We maintain vigilance. While we wear an Israel hat out, and Israel themed T-shirts to the gym, we've not flown our Star of David flag since October 7th. Stabby lives in Chindia too. 

Israel terminates, terminates with extreme prejudice, yet another perpetrator of the October 7th genocide. If one is on camera within Israel on October 7th, celebrating the capture, rape, and murder of Israelis, then one will never again start a car without breaking a sweat. 

What we got this week? We should finish the rough-rough draft of World War 1990: Ireland, up to the Battle for Dublin. We must needs figure out how we're getting the Irish Ranger Wing from Letterkenny to Dublin...ah, there we go. 

We'll tidy up a few nuke novel stories and maybe start the Dew Line. 

Cubans in Angola ain't a bad idea, not a bad idea at all. 

This post is ending on a better note than in began. 

Will's Good Idea for the Week of 6/28/26

A faire Sunday morn to Stroock's Books reader(s) across the northern hemisphere. 

We had constant drizzle yesterday and today promises to be humid and cloudy. The weather feels like mid-August, not late June. We don't like it. We don't like it at all. 

We are morose and generally ill at ease. 

Will's Good Idea for the Week of 6/28/26.

We are expanding the Protestant violence aspect of World War 1990: Thatcher's War. This includes Prod terrorist attacks, but also RUC action against the UVF, UDA, UFF, Red Hand, etc etc. Also Protestant paramilitaries have cordoned certain Prod neighborhoods in Belfast. The Ulster Defense Regiment will clear them out.

In the DEW line nuclear war story, the main character is a nerdy guy from Cincinnati who likes baseball. And he's super pissed that the Soviets blew up Cincinnati just as the Reds were getting good. 

We've not come up yet with any more international story ideas for the 5th nuke novel. The book already has two, the Soviet Salyut station, and the Egyptian officer on the banks of the Suez. We can't help but feel we should do an international story about a world leader. 

Saturday Updates

A rare miss yesterday from Stroock's Books. Meh. 

We are alone, except for the cats. 

It's already quiet here and we don't know what to do. 

Good morning, Stroock's Books weekenders and shabbat shalom.

We've lots of traffic to this blog of late. No idea why, nor really where from. 

FB tells us that 6 years ago today we were at the Bedminster, New Jersey Trump rally.  

We went to a couple of those. 

FB also tells us we posted this 11 years ago today, 'Final grades in, I suspect for the last time.' So it was....so it was.

The things.

Things are coming along fine. We advance slowly but inexorably, on multiple fronts.

We were all over the place with World War 1990: Thatcher's War. We started the Protestant crack down chapter and wrote a couple of scenes and added a few scenes to other chapters. World War 1990: Thatcher's War is 53,000 words. 

We worked on the BAOR story all week and made it much better and almost finished it. We got some good ideas for the DEW line story. We should be able to begin the DEW line next week. The fifth nuke novel is 35,000.

We don't have the flu....yet

Yawn...Happy Thursday, Stroock's Books readers. 

Yesterday we were finally able to relax a little. But we admit a sense of melancholy falling upon us. 

Mrs. S and the girls are off to Indiana today to visit family, leaving us alone for ten days to worry and stew. We approach the next week with [Great fear and trepidation?-Ed] great fear and trepidation.

Middle Daughter's childhood BFF took us for a drive around the block. We gripped the door handle the entire time. Then they went for froyo.  

Cargo ships and oil tankers are transiting Hormuz and the Iranians are pissed about it. And look at that, oil has dropped below 70 quid a barrel. This blog suspects lifting the blockade helps America in the short term more than it helps Iran. Victor Davis Hanson is always right.

Will's sports wrap. Our mother's ancestral soccer team lost 3 nil to Brazil. Last night the Phillies came back with two out in the top of the ninth, after doing so in spectacular fashion the night before. That's baseball, Susan, as the late Mr. John Sterling used to say. 

DOGE report.

We read through and did a lot of work on the BAOR story. Some narrative inconsistencies remain. Sometimes the signalman tells General Tuzo he has a message. Sometimes it's the battalion sergeant. Not a huge deal, but why the difference? 

We wrote a new scene and edited a couple of scenes and pondered what scenes must needs be next in World War 1990: Thatcher's War. 

Our grognard mailed us - yes mailed - some notes for the Dublin attack; autistic weirdo. Paranoia strikes deep, it was once sung. and we looked upon the envelope with [Not great fear and trepidation again?-Ed] great fear and trepidation again. Should we have refused delivery? That clip is exactly how we approached the letter, which contained nothing but a piece of notebook paper upon which the grognard had written notes in incredibly neat and small letters. Everything was fine, no white powder or anything. [That's what he wants you to think-Ed]. We'll be on the lookout for flu-like symptoms. 

Or 3.6 Rontgen

Good morning, gentle reader(s) of Stroock's Books, and happy midweek. 

We got quite a lot of rain these last few days. Good. New Jersey needed the rain. 

As we write this the temps are a cool 62 degrees. 

Related...Europe is going through a bad heatwave. Dear Euros, one 800 BTU window AC unit will keep an entire floor comfortable. Pro tip: install the unit in the window by the stairs to keep the upstairs from overheating. 

Kinda related...oil is trading at around 71 quid this morning. Falling oil prices are helping Trump more than lifting the blockade is helping the Iranian economy. 

So we got our MRI results back, 3 PI-RAD. In English that means the MRI was inconclusive. At first we were offput by the result. Miffed even. But then we realized the doctor looked at the MRI and didn't say, 'Oh my god! Look at that tumor!' Rather, the MRI found no conclusive evidence of a tumor. Then we did a little research, and it seems 3 PI-RAD translates to a 20% chance of cancer. Or to put it another way, there's an 80% chance our PSA 12 level was caused by something else, like exercise related inflammation.

We have a follow up next week. They'll probably want to do a biopsy. Ick. 

In the meantime, let's just try to relax* and enjoy the early summer. Breath....

We've no insights into yesterday's NY primary elections, other than we're glad Mamdani's cronies won. So glad. These are the Democrats. 

DOGE report.

We were kinda all over the place yesterday but we got some things done. We had to drive one kid to her summer internship and another to her friend's house 15 minutes away. 

We're breaking through on the DEW Line story idea. 

We read through the BAOR story. 

*Situations like this trigger feelings 52 years in the making, sometimes. Let's just say we've learned to be wary of people in authority claiming that we just need to do one more thing and everything will be fine. See for example and also....