Stars Blue, Eclipsed

Good morning, Stroock's Books astronomers. Yes we saw the eclipse through light cloud cover here in Bridgewater It occurred just as the first of the Stroocklettes came home from school. We looked right at it through our fancy windows wearing a pair of sunglasses. This was a mistake, but we're all better now. 

Well, Hamas says it can't locate 40 living hostages in certain humanitarian categories. What's the over/under* for 40 hostages being alive? Of course Hamas has rejected the latest ceasefire offer. Prime Minister Netanyahu says they've set a date for the Rafah offensive. Several Israeli outlets report that the government is buying 40,000 tents for housing resettled hostages. 

Ramadan ended yesterday. Eid ends tomorrow. We expect Iran to retaliate against Israel soon. Various reports claim Iran will strike from Iranian territory, or use proxy militias, or strike an Israeli embassy. An embassy attack would be proportional. Which would be wise. Iran would also be wise to stay the hell out of the way as Israel is under enormous pressure right now. The Mullahs are in a tough place actually. Do nothing and look weak. Do too much and provoke Israel's wrath and maybe piss off the US.** 

We got the Pancho Villa short story together, but have yet to write the ending. This is because we don't know how the story ends! Scene: a troop of cav scouts in the dusty town of San Miguel de los Anchondo, searching for Villa. Carncistas closing from the west. Villistas closing from the south. Scouts enter a warehouse and find....We've a self-imposed deadline, next Monday, as we're sick of thinking about the story. We've no plans to think of Pancho Villa at all today. [Or even think at all, even-Ed] Thanks. 

So today we'll be looking over the Titan II missile silo story in War Night: and Other Stories of the Great Nuclear War of 1975. Then we'll turn it over to a USAF friend (not a missileer) just to get his thoughts on interactions, air force etiquette, etc etc. We'll look at our Lexington story tomorrow. 

*We know nothing about gambling. Game props, splits, totals... it's all Greek to us. These damnable online wagering commercials make sports just that much harder to watch. Even baseball runs these adverts now, which is a hell of thing. Maybe MLB should apologize to Pete Rose?  

**Unlikely as Obama has been appeasing Iran for over a decade.