Pick me up and shake the doubt.
ESOTERIKOS DAIMONAS: Where NTodd's thoughts come to die.
Saturday, July 4, 2026
Crown Thy Good with Brotherhood
I, too, sing America.I am the darker brother.They send me to eat in the kitchenWhen company comes,But I laugh,And eat well,And grow strong.Tomorrow,I’ll be at the tableWhen company comes.Nobody’ll dareSay to me,“Eat in the kitchen,”Then.Besides,They’ll see how beautiful I amAnd be ashamed—I, too, am America.
Langston Hughes.
#throwbackindependenceday
From the roof of Arrivé. (2019)
Everybody loves a llama parade. (2018)
Amateur fireworks in Estacada. (2017)
Off to the Moon
Cool story bro https://t.co/0HSgvygYI4 pic.twitter.com/lvwPG2YfQ8
— Chris Combs (iterative design enjoyer) (@DrChrisCombs) July 4, 2026
No shame in being an adolescent nation when we're still the only one to put A Man on the Moon:
With just eleven days to go until launch, Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins spent the July 4 weekend at home, a last visit with their families before heading to the Cape. There had been precious little time off these past seven months; even their time at home was often claimed. A specialist would come by to give an informal briefing; evenings were spent holed up in the study with flight plans and training documents. Most of the time, though, they weren’t even home.
Life’s July 4 issue, with the cover story, “Off to the Moon,” included the customary report from the home front—Armstrong fishing with his sons, baking homemade pizza, and playing piano duets with his wife, Jan; Collins trimming roses in the backyard; Aldrin taking his kids to AstroWorld—but the truth was, those things would never have happened if an outing with family hadn’t been a PR requirement.
Since January, Slayton had tried to keep the press at a distance, simply because Armstrong’s crew had so much training to pack in. Even so, the men had made time for this or that reporter to come by the house and ask questions about their lives and their mission. Finally, Slayton gave in and agreed to a last press conference, and Armstrong’s crew spent most of Saturday, July 5, talking to the media.
At this point, the men were well into their twenty-one-day pre-mission medical quarantine, and so on this summer afternoon they strolled onto the stage wearing hospital masks1 and did not remove them until they had taken their places inside a plastic-enclosed booth. A few reporters grinned back at them from behind their own masks. One asked whether any precautions had been taken to prevent the men from catching germs from their own families. Collins answered, “My wife and children have signed a statement that they have no germs . . . . Seriously, there are no special precautions being taken.”
But the journalists directed few questions to Collins; they were much more interested in his crewmates, and especially, his commander. For seven months now, Armstrong had been telling interviewers that he wished the press would convey that Apollo 11 was a massive group effort, that it was a mistake to focus on him, but he had not been successful. At the press conference one reporter suggested to him that, as the first man to set foot on the moon, he would be so famous that his personal life would cease to exist. He added, “Do you have any thoughts on this prospect?”
“I suppose,” Armstrong said, smiling shyly, speaking in characteristically measured words, “if there is any recognizable disadvantage to being in the position I’m in then that’s it. I think that’s a fair trade.”
In other space news, I'm watching ID4:
Fingers crossed for today pic.twitter.com/OwYYEykhL4
— Terrible Maps (@TerribleMaps) July 4, 2026
In conclusion: Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon July 1969, A.D. We came in peace for all mankind.
1 - LOfuckingL.
PS - The pic in that first tweet is Jim Irwin saluting during Apollo 15.
The Greatest Question Was Decided, Which Ever Was Debated in America
Jefferson, despite owning slaves himself, called slavery "morally depraved." Its shameful that so many so easily write off the evil these slavers committed as simply a product of their time. https://t.co/dRHLcuH4WT
— Emo Morales 🇵🇸 (@Gompers_Stomper) July 4, 2026
John Adams wrote to Abigail on July 3, 1776:
A Resolution was passed without one dissenting Colony “that these united Colonies, are, and of right ought to be free and independent States, and as such, they have, and of Right ought to have full Power to make War, conclude Peace, establish Commerce, and to do all the other Acts and Things, which other States may rightfully do.”
You will see in a few days a Declaration setting forth the Causes, which have impell'd Us to this mighty Revolution, and the Reasons which will justify it, in the Sight of God and Man. A Plan of Confederation will be taken up in a few days.
I have no doubt but that my dearest Friend is anxious to know how his Portia does, and his little flock of children under the opperation of a disease once so formidable.
I have the pleasure to tell him that they are all comfortable tho some of them of complaining. Nabby has been very ill, but the Eruption begins to make its appearence upon her, and upon Johnny. Tommy is so well that the Dr. innoculated him again to day fearing it had not taken. Charlly has no complaints yet, tho his arm has been very soar.
She also mentioned the pox on July 14:
Nabby and Johnny send duty and desire Mamma to say that an inflamation in their Eyes which has been as much of a distemper as the small pox, has prevented their writing, but they hope soon to be able to acquaint Pappa of their happy recovery from the Distemper.
So the miniseries got the timing right, at the very least. But here's more important commentary in that same letter:
May the foundation of our new constitution, be justice, Truth and Righteousness. Like the wise Mans house may it be founded upon those Rocks and then neither storms or temptests will overthrow it.
I cannot but feel sorry that some of the most Manly Sentiments in the Declaration are Expunged from the printed coppy. Perhaps wise reasons induced it.
She first responds to John's remark about a "Plan of Confederation", but follows up with a lament about the same passage regarding slavery that Jefferson was so salty about. Abigail was aware of the edit(s) because her husband sent along the original Rough draught that he'd copied out.
Naturally, her keen eye would spot the difference, and she was never shy about calling out our national hypocrisy. F'rinstance, here's a letter from 1774:
I wish most sincerely there was not a Slave in the province. It allways appeard a most iniquitious Scheme to me-fight ourselfs for what we are daily robbing and plundering from those who have as good a right to freedom as we have. You know my mind upon this Subject.
Yet here we are in the Year of our Lord 2026, with reactionary forces trying to deny the history that Abigail Adams herself witnessed and rightfully found appalling. It seems the real Greatest Question - whether our republic is strong and mature enough to own up to its past - has yet to be decided.
Selah.
1 - I can never not point out John Dickinson's appearance (starting at 1:40). The man argued and voted against independence, then went on to fight in the war defending it. We call that Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit.
8647
I am more and more convinced that Man is a dangerous creature, and that power whether vested in many or a few is ever grasping, and like the grave cries give, give. The great fish swallow up the small, and he who is most strenuous for the Rights of the people, when vested with power, is as eager after the perogatives of Goverment. You tell me of degrees of perfection to which Humane Nature is capable of arriving, and I believe it, but at the same time lament that our admiration should arise from the scarcity of the instances.
RIP, Portia, you would've loved the Trump Era. Anyway, I like quoting AA's stuff because not only was she very wise and insightful, we actually have access to the real stuff she wrote, in contrast to a lot of ostensibly wise stuff the Founding Fathers allegedly said.
F'rinstance, at the end of that John Adams scene from my previous post, Franklin busts out a famous line:
God bless the King. Who else could have brought such a spirit of unity to this Congress? We will now all hang together. Or, most assuredly, we will all hang separately.
First of all, he didn't say that in 1775:
It is said that, at the signing [of the Declaration of Independence], Franklin had replied to John Hancock’s comment that the signers must all hang together by saying, “Yes, we must, indeed, all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately.”
I'm not mad at the script writers because, in fact, he didn't even say that in 1776:
[N]o biographer of Benjamin Franklin has ever been able to establish that he said, “We must all hang together, or most assuredly we will all hang separately.”
That is according to Robert I. Fitzhenry in the preface of the “Harper Book of Quotations, Third Edition.”
“Tradition says that if he did not say it, he should have, and it has gone down in history as his,” Fitzhenry wrote.
Docr. FRANKLIN was for retaining the [impeachment] clause as favorable to the Executive. History furnishes one example only of a first Magistrate being formally brought to public Justice. Every body cried out agst. this as unconstitutional.
What was the practice before this in cases where the chief Magistrate rendered himself obnoxious? Why recourse was had to assassination in wch. he was not only deprived of his life but of the opportunity of vindicating his character.
It wd.. be the best way therefore to provide in the Constitution for the regular punishment of the Executive where his misconduct should deserve it, and for his honorable acquittal when he should be unjustly accused.
So I applaud that brave Air Force Major for reminding everybody of one particular remedy, ineffective as it has been to date. I'd also like to remind our current obnoxious Executive that if he wants to have the same awesome legacy of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, he's got the opportunity to patriotically follow suit.
In conclusion (borrowing from Abigail's letter): may justice and righteousness be the Stability of our times, and order arise out of confusion.
A Flint, a Flint, My Republic for a Flint!
Tents, soap, shoes and blankets are also greatly wanting. The army recently took shipment of 50 crates of rifles, all without the flints required to shoot them!
Right after that, President John Hancock bangs his gavel and gravely intones the words condemning all present as rebels whose punishment will be death by hanging. Very dramatic. Presumably this is on November 13, 1775, although the record just dryly notes:
On motion made, Resolved, That a Committee be appointed to prepare a declaration, in answer to sundry illegal ministerial proclamations that have lately appeared in America.
No mention of flints (or soap, etc), but we'll come back to that. First, Congress crafted a reply on December 6, which includes this rhetorical question:
Can proclamations, according to the principles of reason and justice, and the constitution, go farther than the law?
250ish years later, SCOTUS says, "no." So we've got that going for us, I guess. Anyway, back to the flints. Same day:
A return being laid before Congress of the number of flints in this city, amounting to upwards of 200,000,
On motion made, Resolved, That the committee of inspection of this city ∥and liberties of Philadelphia∥ be desired to purchase said flints for the use of the Continent, and that in making the purchase, attention be paid to the resolution of Congress against raising the price of goods.
It was a real issue that came up quite a bit, which brings us to July 4, 1776:
Resolved, That an application be made to the committee of safety of Pensylvania for a supply of flints for the troops at New York...
A Letter from General Washington, dated New York, July 3d, was laid before Congress, and read...
That letter?
I must entreat your attention to an application I made some time ago for flints. We are extremely deficient in this necessary article, and shall be greatly distressed if we cannot obtain a supply. Of lead we have a sufficient quantity for the whole campaign, taken off the houses here.
July 4 continues:
Resolved...That the Secret Committee be instructed to order the flints belonging to the continent, and now at Rhode Island, to be sent to the general at New York...
Resolved, That Mr. [Henry] Wisner be empowered to send a man, at the public expence, to Orange county, for a sample of flint stone...
Resolved, That the Board of War be empowered to employ such a number of persons, as they shall find necessary, to manufacture flints for the continent; and, for this purpose, to apply to the respective assemblies, conventions and councils, or committees of safety of the United American States, or committees of Inspection of the counties and towns thereunto belonging, for the names and places of abode of persons skilled in the manufactory aforesaid, and of the places, in their respective states, where the best flint stones are to be obtained, with samples of the same.
I focus on this to make a ponderous point: the Declaration wasn't the end of things (hell, it wasn't even the beginning). The unsexy details of securing our independence like procuring flints and soap and tents continued. In addition to those sundries, other larger matters also needed to be addressed. Jefferson recalled in the lead up to July 4:
[T]t was thought most prudent...to postpone the final decision to July 1. but that this might occasion as little delay as possible a committee was appointed to prepare a declaration of independence...Committees were also appointed at the same time to prepare a plan of confederation for the colonies, and to state the terms proper to be proposed for foreign alliance.
250 years ago, we didn't have a frame of government (Articles of Confederation, 1781) or necessary foreign alliances (France, 1778). There was still a lot of work to do. Which fact remains true today.
Selah.
Friday, July 3, 2026
Out of the Way, It’s a Busy Day
What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.
No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.
No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.
No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.
No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.
A poor life this is if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
William H Davies.
Shiver in My Bones Just Thinking About the Weather
I would say that it is befitting the legacy of John Quincy Adams that nobody had any questions https://t.co/8MbPwW7Wg6
— David Grossman (@davidgross_man) July 3, 2026
I replied:
No questions because all the answers you need can be found in his meticulous diary. Wanna know the weather in St Petersburg, Russia, on July 3, 1812? You bet he recorded it...
However, I did have a question after looking at JQA's entry for July 3, 1812: what the hell is that temperature notation?
The answer appears in his diary as well, albeit obliquely. Here's August 12, 1783 (when he was in Paris with his dear ole dad):
I met the Abbé Arnaud at the Thuileries. and we walk’d together together to Passy...The Abbé has travelled thro’ Poland, and talk’d a good deal about that Country. For the Climate he says that for the first fortnight in November it commonly snows there continually, and from that time untill the latter end of February, a continuation of very severe colds he has seen Reaumur’s Thermometer at the degree of 28 below. 0. This is quite different from the weather at Petersburg.
That is his earliest reference to the Réaumur scale, which subsequently pops up 108 more times. There are also a few hundred mentions of "Fahrenheit’s thermometer" beginning in 1786.
It seems Adams started systematically recording weather data in August of 1807 using Fahrenheit, presumably because he was in the United States at the time. Looks like it didn't last long, but he picked back up again in St Petersburg for his New Year's resolution in 1811, clearly using Réaumur (without notation). Returning to America, we see the other scale again. A real code switcher, that John Quincy Adams.
In conclusion: when in Russia, do as the Russians do.
The Advantage of Encouraging Foreigners Was Obvious & Admitted
Mamdani being a Muslim immigrant who has risen to the Mayor of NYC and a prominent voice in Democratic politics is a testament to the opportunity America offers all people. That this clown hates that shows he doesn’t understand America at all. pic.twitter.com/TJgYmr7gOC
— Poker and Politics (@PokerPolitics) July 3, 2026
Declaration of Independence, Grievance VII1:
He has endeavored to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither...
Fun footnote:
Secret agents were sent to America soon after the accession of George the Third to the throne of England, to spy out the condition of the colonists. A large influx of liberty-loving German emigrants was observed, and the king was advised to discourage these immigrations. Obstacles in the way of procuring lands, and otherwise, were put in the way of all emigrants, except from England, and the tendency of French Roman Catholics to settle in Maryland was also discouraged.
The British government was jealous of the increasing power of the colonies ; and the danger of having that power controlled by democratic ideas, caused the employment of restrictive measures. The easy conditions upon which actual settlers might obtain lands on the Western frontier, after the peace of 1763, were so changed, that toward the dawning of the Revolution, the vast solitudes west of the Alleghanies were seldom penetrated by any but the hunter from the seaboard provinces. When the War for Independence broke out, immigration had almost ceased. The king conjectured wisely, for almost the entire German population in the colonies were on the side of the patriots.
The United States of America is a country of immigrants. This fact was debated and codified into our Constitution, so shut your unpatriotic pie holes, you ignorant, racist MAGA fuckwits.
1 - The elided part does suggest that our Revolution was a land grab by greedy slavers, but we don't need to get into that here.
An Answer to the Declaration of the American Congress
While John Adams was salty about how long it took to declare independence, Thomas Jefferson was salty about editing:
The pusillanimous idea that we had friends in England worth keeping terms with still haunted the minds of many. For this reason, those passages which conveyed censures on the people of England were struck out, lest they should give them offense.
The clause, too, reprobating the enslaving the inhabitants of Africa was struck out in complaisance to South Carolina and Georgia, who had never attempted to restrain the importation of slaves, and who, on the contrary, still wished to continue it. Our Northern brethren also, I believe, felt a little tender under these censures, for though their people had very few slaves themselves, yet they had been pretty considerable carriers of them to others.
Funny that he called out hypocrisy in a sort of meta fashion, as Thomas Paine was salty about that. This was the clause in question:
He has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating it's most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating & carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither. This piratical warfare, the opprobium of INFIDEL powers, is the warfare of the CHRISTIAN king of Great Britain. Determined to keep open a market where MEN should be bought & sold, he has prostituted his negative for suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or to restrain this execrable commerce.
And that this assemblage of horrors might want no fact of distinguished die, he is now exciting those very people to rise in arms among us, and to purchase that liberty of which he has deprived them, by murdering the people on whom he also obtruded them: thus paying off former crimes committed against the LIBERTIES of one people, with crimes which he urges them to commit against the LIVES of another.
Is it for them to ſay, that it is tyranny to bid a ſlave be free ? to bid him take courage, to riſe and aſſiſt in reducing his tyrants to a due obedience to law ? to hold out as a motive to him , that the load which cruthed his limbs ſhall be lightened ; that the whip which harrowed up his back ſhall be broken, that he thall be raiſed to the rank of a freeman and a citizen?
It is their boaſt that they have taken up arms in ſupport of theſe their own ſelf-evident truths - "that all men are equal" - that all men are "endowed with the unalienable rights of life , liberty, and the purſuit of happineſs."
Is it for them to complain of the offer of freedom held out to theſe wretched beings? of the offer of reinſtating them in that equality, which, in this very paper, is declared to be the gift of God to all ; in thoſe unalienable rights, with which , in this very paper, God is declared to have endowed all mankind?
Yet another reason that "natural rights" was a shitty foundation for our independence.
Selah.
Short, Sharp Shock
Head Quarters, Cambridge, July 3, 1775.
Parole Lookout. Countersign Sharp.
The Colonels or commanding Officer of each Regt. are ordered forthwith, to make two Returns of the Number of men in their respective Regiments, distinguishing such as are sick, wounded or absent on furlough. and also the quantity of ammunition each Regim. now has.
It appearing by the Report of Henry Woods, the Officer of the main guard, that one William Alfred is confin'd for taking two horses, belonging to some Persons in Connecticut, but that he has made satisfaction to the injured parties, who request that they may not be longer detain'd as witnesses: It is ordered that he be discharged, and after receiving a severe reprimand, be turned out of camp
Footnote on the Parole/Countersign:
The countersign was the password given daily to distinguish friends from foes and to prevent unauthorized persons from gaining entrance to the camp. It must be given to sentries, to whom it is known, before the lines can be passed. The parole was a password imparted only to officers of the guard and such other officers as had the right to visit the guards. This to prevent any unauthorized interference with the sentries.
A little more:
[S]election of the parole and countersign was intended to impress wisdom upon the lonely sentinel, who was forced to remember the words if he was unwilling to accept their lesson. The parole Industry was given with the countersign Wealth, Neatness with Gentility, Inoculation with Health. In time of danger the parole Look out with the countersign Sharp must have suggested to the sentinel the path of duty.
I just liked this little slice of camp life and discipline. The 'inoculation' parole in particular I find interesting. Carry on.
Thursday, July 2, 2026
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