Michael Audette

@sojournermemoirs

Abolish ICE, Dissolve DHS. Their proper mission has ended. Flaneur, Maker, Photographer, Sojourner Mostly Digital and Analogue Monochrome Film. Color when it's called for. “A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.” ―Lao Tzu

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Michael Audette@sojournermemoirs· Jul 14

From The T-Rex Dept., Subsection A www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2026...

Complete T-Rex Skeleton, being sold into a private collection, for a whole lotta money.

Michael Audette@sojournermemoirs· Jul 14

From an archive site, an FT analysis/op-ed on the Trump Savings Accounts. Let me just add that the grift angle is that the accounts will be managed (with 'appropriate' fees) by large financial institutions with ties to the administration. archive.is/rLqXl

cgi of a piggy bank graphic expressing the wealth gap in the US.

Michael Audette@sojournermemoirs· Jul 13

From NPR Zeke Emmanuel (Rham's Brother) has an intriguing new book out on evidence/science indicated ways to promote good personal health. This is a happy, useful read on a day sparse with joy. www.npr.org/2026/07/13/n...

Emanuel takes a back-to-basics approach, based on evidence, to maintain good health in his book.

And though the title is a bit tongue-in-cheek, he points to evidence that people who are in the habit of eating ice cream have a lower risk of metabolic disease, despite the fact that it has lots of sugar and fat. Researchers have dubbed this the "ice cream paradox." There's data from 2015 that suggests "that ice cream is actually pretty good at preventing development of type two diabetes, and dairy in general is good at preventing type two diabetes," Emanuel says.

Michael Audette@sojournermemoirs· Jul 12

A rare phone-cam shot from me! This Beetle was about the size of an American Kennedy Half-Dollar.

Photo of a large, mottled green shelled beetle.

A phone-cam shot.

Michael Audette@sojournermemoirs· Jul 12

Warning: The following post demonstrates lack of character on my part: I guess he got more than he bargained for when he agreed to go on Fox and talk about his 20 minute conversation with McConnell. Now they can chat for eternity.

Senator Lindsey Olin Graham, dead at age 71.

Michael Audette@sojournermemoirs· Jul 11

Like Sand Through an Hourglass, So are the Days of My Life

Image of an hourglass, by Nathan Dumalo, from Upsplash.

Michael Audette@sojournermemoirs· Jul 4

Or Kafkaesque (Das Schloss) Pardon me, I'm The Land Surveyor...

Michael Audette@sojournermemoirs· Jul 3

Simple graphic, reading "Nadir, 2 July 2026, 5:35pm"

The best thing about encountering a personal nadir (the lowest point on a dish shaped curve, or a personal bottom) is that from there, everything faces upwards, even if you have no idea how to get there.

I'll unpack the elements and dynamics of my Nadir elsewhere at another time, but my immediate move is to set aside my plans and ideas (not to discard them, but to move them out of my mental workspace). I'll start from scratch, going to the leftover idea and plan pile as needed and appropriate.

Michael Audette@sojournermemoirs· Jul 1

From The Ya Think? Dept. www.msn.com/en-us/news/o...

Photo of Phil Weiser, Dem. candidate for Colorado Governor.

In validation of certain Historical Philosophical Models, there's a Hegelian antithesis at work in reaction to MAGA.

Michael Audette@sojournermemoirs· Jun 24

Risk is Everywhere. And Crisis=Opportunity The Admin and its crappy monetary policies are speeding us towards crisis, and we were doing just fine on that destination without their assistance. finance.yahoo.com/markets/opti...

Screenshot which reads:
Today, he sees a new opportunity as risks bubble up around private credit. But instead of betting directly against the sector, he's focused on potential second-order effects and is shorting some of the $1.8 trillion market's biggest backers: insurers.

Robinson is ramping up bearish wagers on firms from Lincoln National Corp. to MetLife Inc. and even Berkshire Hathaway Inc. through the use of credit default swaps, derivative contracts designed to protect investors against a default. His firm, Altana, is launching a new fund, into which it is also investing its own capital, to protect against what he sees as an inevitable downturn in private credit, a cooling-off in AI hype, and the impact of declining liquidity on corporate valuations.

Michael Audette@sojournermemoirs· Jun 22

Let's talk about pools and their science for a minute. With an >actual< Pool-Guy! youtu.be/vbqGWTxwZEA?...

screeenshot of an archived story on a pool guru's take on The Reflecting Pool Brew-ha-ha

Michael Audette@sojournermemoirs· Jun 19

#bike #bicycles No wonder my current fixie setup kicked my ass when I changed over to the 14t cog! Discussion and explainer in ALT.

Screenshot of Sheldon Brown's online gear-gain calculator in gain inches.

I was calculating the gain for the 16 tooth freewheel I just ordered, and I decided to calculate the gain for the 14t fixed gear cog I'm currently using for general road work.

75 gain inches is what Sheldon recommends for general road work, and I'm riding at 90.4! I used to ride at 85 gain inches back when I was in my 50s, and that made the eyes of my LBS (Local Bike Shop) mechanic go wide. And he was in his 20s at a racing-oriented shop.

Here I am, riding at 90.4 inches, and I turn 68 in less than 2 weeks.

FWIW, I have this setup on my Montague Boston, a purpose built fixie with track forks on the rear, 700c full sized folding cycle. I replaced the stock flat/riser bars with a trekking/butterfly riser, inverted, so that I can go aero, hands on the forward hook, forearms resting on the rear hook. & here I am, at 68, still riding with my bar tops set about 4 inches below my saddle height.

This is my daily rider and commuter cycle, with a rack and pannier.

The 2 tooth difference should make for a 1 inch difference in where the rear hub rests on the track fork (properly, track bikes and purpose built fixies don't have 'dropouts,' they have 'track forks' into which the hubs go).

I rarely ride with a freewheel, but I figured I was just getting old after I went to the 14t cog and it was kicking my ass on two 20-30 minute commuter rides five days a week. I think I will add a chain tensioner for use with the freewheel, in case the position of the rear hubs put the rim beyond the rim-brake reach.

90.4.
Frack. I must be a tough old bastard.

Michael Audette@sojournermemoirs· Jun 19

Eh, remember that after Stalin, Nikita Khrushchev was a reform agent. theconversation.com/fall-of-khru...

ikita khrushchev and Jack Kennedy.

Not sure if this was before or after Cuban Missile Crisis.

Michael Audette@sojournermemoirs· Jun 19

Trump borrowing library. @Leavennworth.

image of older man in library, wearing prison orange jump suit

Michael Audette@sojournermemoirs· Jun 15

(Best Gomer Pyle Voice) Surprise, Surprise, Surprise! The Iran Peace Deal Trump is turning victory in Iran into an American humiliation The terms of the deal are as yet unclear. But it seems that he has betrayed his allies and handed Iran undeserved gains www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/06...

Michael Audette@sojournermemoirs· Jun 15

A nice morning for me, so far. Feist is the featured guest at the top of Acoustic Cafe's Listen page, and the pour-over coffee tastes good in my mouth. Acoustic Cafe sounds good in my headphones. www.acafe.com/listen Hosted by our own @radiorobreinhart.bsky.social

Excellently done 3/4 portrait of (Leslie) Feist, who turns 55 this week.

Her Canadian Prairie heritage and upbringing wears well in her music and we hope in her health.

Michael Audette@sojournermemoirs· Jun 13

at 8am, the air temp is 77deg.(F), but Real-Feel is 95.

Michael Audette@sojournermemoirs· Jun 11

I'm not sure if watching Fellini's "8 1/2" while feeling moribund and stuck was the right move or not. But the ending, which looks dire, resolves in hope. Kinda like The Knicks, I suppose. tubitv.com/movies/10005...

image of The Director, Guido, who stands in for Fellini himself.

Michael Audette@sojournermemoirs· May 29

#photography A snapshot of catamarans, beached on the shore, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, under a textured grey sky with passing thundercells. The camera is an old Canon G9 compact, with 12mp CCD sensor. This is a camera generated digital monochrome with emulated Sepia toning.

Beached catamarans on The Myrtle each Shore, under the grey, textured clouds of passing thundercells.

Digital Monochrome, with emulated sepia toning.

Taken with an old Canon G9 compact camera, 12mp CCD sensor, with Image Stabilization.

Photog Trivia:
Sepia toning came out of attempts to stabilize the silver prints of the 19th-Century. It was made from chemicals extracted from cuttlefish, which feature in Asian and some European cuisines.

https://training.seafish.co.uk/fish-and-shellfish-guide/shellfish-species/cephalopod-species/cuttlefish/

Michael Audette@sojournermemoirs· May 29

#photography Digital Monochrome with emulated Sepia toning. A plane coming into Myrtle Beach through a set of thundercells passing through the area. Crop from a larger photo that included The 2nd Ave. Pier.

Crop of a larger photo, jet coming in, thundercell puff above.

Digital Monochrome with emulated Sepia toning, taken with an old Canon G9 compact camera with 12mp CCD sensor, Image Stabilization.

Cropped using GIMP in Linux.

Photog Trivia:
Sepia toning came out of attempts to stabilize the silver prints of the 19th-Century. It was made from chemicals extracted from cuttlefish, which feature in Asian and some European cuisines.

Slightly tilted snapshot of the 2nd Ave. Pier, Myrtle Beach, and a jet coming in to land in Myrtle Beach, passing between a series of passing thundercells.

Taken with an old compact camera, a Canon G9, 12mp CCD sensor, with Image Stabilization.

Photog Trivia:
Sepia toning came out of attempts to stabilize the silver prints of the 19th-Century. It was made from chemicals extracted from cuttlefish, which feature in Asian and some European cuisines.

Michael Audette@sojournermemoirs· May 29

Snaphot of my friend, Sue, who hates her photo taken. Her Birthday Dinner, on The Shore of Myrtle Beach, at Damon's.

Photo of a broadly tattooed blond woman, cringing away from her birthday meal of Prime Rib.

Sue hates having her photo taken.

This was with an old Canon G9, with 12mp CCD sensor, digital monochrome with emulated Sepia toning.

Michael Audette@sojournermemoirs· May 27

#photography #film Rant: I was radicalized and activist before this, but now this trump shit is cutting into my analogue photography! This shit cannot stand! It's time for me to buy a supply of silver nitrate crystals and learn wetplate technique. Photog like it's 1899!

Screenshot of silver futures commodity market.

The price of photographic film and the x-ray film I use in my largest camera as an economical substitute has more than tripled in a year!

This is why!

The film manufacturing industry must be lagging current market price by 4 months or so.

Time for me to lay in a stash of silver nitrate crystals and work on learning Wet Plate technique.

Thank heavens I didn't sell my 1914 Eastman View 1 in Whole Plate!

Photog like it's 1899.

Michael Audette@sojournermemoirs· May 27

The goal of War is to create in your enemy the loss of will to fight. Trump's team got our ass whooped. & The Epstein Files are Still Out There! www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2026... ($24bn) Cash in exchange for a memorandum of understanding exposes president’s vulnerability to the ire of voters

Michael Audette@sojournermemoirs· May 21

Digital monochrome from my 5 mile walk.

digital monochrome of a lock with chain.

Michael Audette@sojournermemoirs· May 18

The Copse just outside of the town limits, photographed from inside the town limits, across a newly plowed field. This was taken half an hour before sunset, in the shaped light. #photography.

The Copse in yesterday evening's setting sunlight.

Canon R100, Canon EFS24mm prime lens on a $35 aftermarket adapter.

Michael Audette@sojournermemoirs· May 18

On My Five Mile Ride. #photography #monochrome

Haywagon, with the round bales of the first cutting.

Round Bale, side view, in digital monochrome with an emulated green filter.

Michael Audette@sojournermemoirs· May 15

While reading how some of the classic voyages handled exposition, I revisited Fenger's epic sailing canoe voyage. I've visited the actual boat in this tale, now hanging in the lobby of the public library in Bruce Mines, Ontario. The librarians are unsure of how she came to rest there. #travel

ALONE IN THE CARIBBEAN

CHAPTER I

THE *'YAKABOO" IS BORN AND THE CRUISE BEGINS

"Crab pas mache, U pas gras; U mache touop, et li tomhe nans chodier*'

"If a crab don't walk, he don't get fat; If he walk too much, he gets in a pot."

— Fj'om the Creole.

IS it in the nature of all of us, or is it just my own peculiar make-up which brings, when the wind blows, that queer feeling, mingled longing and dread? A thousand invisible fingers seem to be pulling me, trying to draw me away from the four walls where I have every comfort, into the open where I shall have to use my wits and my strength to fool the sea in its treacherous moods, to take advantage of fair winds and to fight when I am fairly caught — for a man is a fool to think he can conquer nature.

Michael Audette@sojournermemoirs· May 14

Delilah, wriggling on the grass. She was rescued from a shelter one hour before she was scheduled to be euthanized. She's a very gentle girl with a quiet nature. #dogs #photography

Delilah, wriggling on the grass.

German Shepherd with a simple, quiet, gentle nature.

Michael Audette@sojournermemoirs· May 13

From The Trump's Misbegotten Wars Dept. Iran has used the "Truce" to restore it's ability to make war. The only party in this which has lost the will to fight is The US.

Women walking past a ballistic missile in Tehran
Iran has moved its munitions to other locations, protecting them from US strikes Credit: AFP via Getty Images

Iran has rebuilt most of its missile infrastructure along the Strait of Hormuz, according to US intelligence assessments.

The regime has reportedly restored operational access to 30 of its 33 missile sites along and around the narrow maritime chokepoint through which roughly a fifth of the world’s oil supply passes.

According to people with knowledge of the assessments, Tehran has also retained roughly 70 per cent of its pre-war missile stockpile and mobile launchers.

About 90 per cent of its underground missile storage and launch facilities are now considered “partially or fully operational”, The New York Times reported.

Michael Audette@sojournermemoirs· May 13

Hello, AI Data Centers. Hello, Trump's Misbegotten Wars. "US Power Prices Climb 61% Faster Than Inflation as Demand Surges" archive.is/CxXXG#select...