Finished: The Living Reed, by Pearl S. Buck 📚. A novelization of Korean history from 1881 to 1945, of which I knew essentially nothing before reading. I’m not sure I know how much after - like Buck’s other books, this is quite romanticized, and focused more on personal stories than historical analysis. Slow and lush writing makes for pleasant reading though.

“Mossy Elephants”

Olympus E-M10 IV with 14-42 kit lens @ 15mm, f/5, 1/125s, ISO 3200. O’Leary Trail west of MacDuff Mountain.

Trailside rock formations covered with moss

Finished: The Rising Tide, by Jeff Shaara 📚. A historical novel covering WWII’s Mediterranean Front roughly from the tank battles of North Africa to the Allied invasion of Italy. It mixes the prime movers (Rommel, Eisenhower, and so on) with a couple of regular soldiers. As far as I can tell the historical content is accurate, though much of the dialog is clearly imagined. Does a good job of showing the political side of the upper echelons of the military.

“Starflower”

Olympus E-M10 IV with 14-42 kit lens @ 42mm, f/6.3, 1/15s, ISO 1600. O’Leary Trail west of MacDuff Mountain.

Starflower in the woods

“Sand Two Bits”

Olympus TG-6 @ 5.4mm, f/3.2, 1/800s, ISO 100. At Baker Beach.

The US has a radio-free zone. If we had an AI-free zone, I’d move there.

“By-the-wind Sailor”

Olympus TG-6 @ 7.8mm, f/4, 1/160s, ISO 200. At Baker Beach.

By-the-wind Sailor stranded on the sand

“Loneliness”

Olympus E-M10 IV with 14-42 kit lens @ 42mm, f/11, 1/1600s, ISO 800. Shot at Baker Beach.

A single bird on an empty beach

Judge: Trump Administration ‘Unquestionably’ Violated Court Order on Deportations

And they’ll no doubt violate his order of remedies too. The Constitutional crisis is here, and there may not be any way to stop it.

Diseases are spreading. The CDC isn’t warning the public like it was months ago

So the way to make America healthy again is just to claim that there are no diseases. Seems legit.