Cool and crisp, clear and sunny later. So nice. Like a gift. I stayed inside most of yesterday, nursing my back, but when I did go out it was fantastic. More please.
Short story, I was trying really hard not to make my back worse or backslide on the progress I’d made. Lost a day. But that’s ok if I’m back to normal today. At least if I’m back to 85% or more of my normal. Sometimes you just take what you can get.
Dunno what I’ll do today. If I’m feeling good, I’ll try some things with the caveat that I’m being very careful of my back. Probably won’t mow the lawn, or move cabinets and scrap metal around. But who knows? Stuff needs to get done.
And I’m just the man to do it! Kinda, sorta, maybe. I can at least half ass it.
Do what you can, with what you have, where you are. Right?
And stack.
nick
Thursday. Good morning!
Glad your back is improving, Nick.
Busy day today. Two meetings at work, one of which is likely to turn nasty, because some home truths need to be told to people who won’t want to hear them because they are they smartest and most important people in the room. Ah, well.
The sun is shining outside, and the birds twittering, so that is nice. Have a good day.
That smells suspiciously of “What’s the worst that can happen?”
In your case, your tenants are going to tell you “We found a problem” and D1 is going to tell you that one of the guys in the halfway house is really kind of cute and they’ve been talking and he’s just misunderstood. Oh, and the transmission is going to fall out of whatever vehicle you’re driving. Not just today but everything you drive for the next two weeks.
NOTE: If all that does come to pass, it wasn’t my fault for jinxing you. It was Bad Orange Man’s fault.
52F and still dark out.
Coffee is in the mug though.
@SteveF, I’d never tempt the universe like that. Never I say. I’m just misunderstood.
n
LOL, Chicken Boy, or should we just call you “Harbinger”?
Would you care to share it, please, Paul? I have venison in the freezer and a food dehydrator that I want to try out.
– has there been a retailer that filed in the last 10 years that didn’t file again and bow out permanently during that time?
No mention of expiring financing and aggressive expansion in this article, but does mention expensive leases.
n
H/T SiG
10, 000
n
A lot of the C-suite names resurface repeatedly at failing retailers. Consider Taco Julie or the resumes of the individuals at the center of the scandal at Kohl’s last year which led to the CEO being fired after three months.
Bloomin’ Brands will be the next to go. I’ve noticed more closed 90s era Outback Steakhouse buildings around Austin in the last few months.
Sure, the Outback reopens in another building nearby, but the restaurant is always smaller.
I put my jerky recipe here: https://remsset.com/files/Jerky.txt
Hope you like it. There’s other stuff in that folder, too.
Cesar Chavez and Jeffrey Epstein—Twin sons of different mothers?
I had big plans yesterday, but after some initial efforts was struck down by stomach issues, out of the blue.
Nothing but milk and white bread after late morning for me.
Not sure what today will bring, really dragging this am.
Bah.
40 young organizers sail to Cuba
https://hotair.com/david-strom/2026/03/19/this-would-be-the-funniest-thing-n3813013
Praying for ice berg, or maybe a warm welcome from the Cesar Chavez Memorial Hospitality Committee.
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2026/03/what-if-us-navy-isnt-in-hurry-to-reopen.html?m=1
We have the provisional transit fee schedule for the Strait of Hormuz right here ….
Thanks, Paul!
Whew, that’s quite the Rogue’s Gallery of abusers right there.
The Fat Burger at our local casino finally closed last week. The Chapter 11 finally caught up with them. A burger joint called “Irv’s Burgers” is going in the spot.
They have tater tots, so I’m not grieving the loss of Fat Burger. Patty melts and dogs, too.
Reminds me it’s been a while since I made tater tot casserole.
At least one known unindicted murderer.
If you’re about to hit the thumbs down, then I assume that you’ve been out to the Dike Road Bridge on Chappaquiddick and peered over the edge into the abyss … or lack thereof.
I have.
Suffocated.
Irv is probably the name of the Fatburger franchise holder.
And that reminds me that I have probably eight or ten pounds of tater tots, french fries, chicken bites, and so on in the freezer. I got them for The Child, Spare Kid, and … er, I need a nickname for the other friend who used to come over to play computer games with The Child and get something to eat. (She’s the Chinese girl I mentioned previously, the one whose parents don’t allow junk food in the house. They also don’t allow her to play computer games because she needs to be practicing for SATs, or more lately filling out college applications.) Anyway, I have a bunch of them and suppose I ought to eat them. The Child doesn’t eat many meals here and when she does she’d rather have pot pie, chili, or something else that I cook from scratch. (Unbelievable, right? A teenager choosing to eat something other than tots and tendies? What’s going on here?)
Three are in hell and the other is married to Hillary. So, four of the same thing.
This looks very tasty! The amount of liquid smoke raised an eyebrow on me. My experience with that stuff is a little goes a long way. Every time I use it I find myself thinking I should’ve used a little less. Though, admittedly, I’m married to a woman that isn’t a huge fan of smokiness in her food, so I’m a little gun shy using it.
“Three are in hell and the other is married to Hillary. So, four of the same thing.”
Jimmy Carter is enjoying lots of new friends to darn socks with.
It’s a West Coast franchise with a couple in Vegas already, but the parent might have been the FB franchise in the casino. I’ve never been to one, but am going this weekend to the closest one to try it out.
I’m not a bankruptcy attorney, but wouldn’t closing all stores and shutting down operations be Chapter 7 not Chapter 11?
I’m fine with $2 frozen cheezeburgers. No need for a $26 one. I appreciate that it tastes good, and it’s big, but it’s not $20 better, and I COULD make one at home if I wanted the bigger patty or extra ingredients.
Hamburgers are supposed to be a quick and cheap meal, not a dining experience.
n
7,11,13, they all offer different protections and different paths forward. That’s all I know.
n
In the spirit of the AI conversation on here a couple days ago, here’s what Chat GPT had to say:
Prompt: As succinctly as possible, what is the difference between Chapter 7, Chapter 11, and Chapter 13 bankruptcies?
Response:
Chapter 7: liquidation. A trustee can sell nonexempt assets to pay creditors, and many debts may then be discharged. Used by individuals and businesses.
Chapter 11: reorganization. Usually for businesses, though individuals can use it too. The debtor typically keeps operating and proposes a court-approved plan to restructure and repay debts over time.
Chapter 13: repayment plan for individuals with regular income. You usually keep your property and pay some or all debts over 3 to 5 years under a court-approved plan.
In plain English: 7 = sell stuff, 11 = restructure, 13 = payment plan.
A Whopper and drink are $10 at the local Burger King. $20 will probably be considered “cheap” in a few years.
Until Wall Street stops protecting SHAK from reality, other players will try to go after that market.
BurgerFI going Chapter 11 hits home because we like their Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza subsidiary and try to go whenever we are in Florida.
Call it cynical but it occurs to me that longer the “chain” stays in “business” the longer the C-suite keeps getting paid.
I ordered some pottings soil, fertilizer and the like from Walmart, delivered today. They are limiting quantities, so I will try an identical order tomorrow.
Spring has sprung it seems.
The best deal at our local casino is a cheeseburger and fries for $5.99 24/7, but you have to eat in the cafe. We always get free water with it since any drink is $4.99. You can’t beat it and the fries are really good.
The second toilet in our house was seeping water under the caulk line. I pulled that, and the wax seal was a mess. I replaced it with the jumbo wax. The flange is rusting, but still serviceable. I cleaned it up and dried it well. No leaks so far, so I’ll caulk it today to glue it to the floor. I probably saved at least $100 in Vegas by doing it myself instead of hiring a plumber/handyman.
I always use the jumbo wax rings when reseating a toilet. (That is, two out of two times. We’re not talking about a huge sample size.) I figure the extra $5 is well worth my time in not having to redo the job in a year.
I cut off four inches of my beard today, leaving about a quarter inch. The wife is going to be unhappy. I feel naked now.
The second toilet in our house was seeping water under the caulk line. I pulled that, and the wax seal was a mess. I replaced it with the jumbo wax. The flange is rusting, but still serviceable. I cleaned it up and dried it well. No leaks so far, so I’ll caulk it today to glue it to the floor. I probably saved at least $100 in Vegas by doing it myself instead of hiring a plumber/handyman.
The going rate around here is $250. I doubt that Vegas is cheaper.
“Elon Musk disputes claims in Houston Cybertruck crash lawsuit”
https://www.chron.com/texas/article/tesla-cybertruck-crash-22085729.php
“The Tesla CEO took to X to dispute blame over the recent dashcam video showing a Cybertruck crashing on a Houston overpass.”
Turning off the FSD four seconds before the crash is not good.
“Houston’s $1.3B Ship Channel Bridge is now getting a new name”
https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/ship-channel-bridge-richard-tapia-22085843.php
“Harris County commissioners voting unanimously on Thursday to give it an identity.”
“The Ship Channel Bridge is currently budgeted at $1.3 billion, according to the Harris County Toll Road Authority, and construction for the main bridge first began in March 2018, but is slated to be completed in 2028.”
Being innovative on bridge design is not a good thing.
I like that they renamed the bridge after Rice University Prof Tapia who will be 87 in a couple of days. I think I took trig with him in 1977. I got a B.
“We All Have Rawwrs Together”
https://www.schlockmercenary.com/blog/we-all-have-rawwrs-together/
“I’m working on the bonus story, “Refulgence of Refuge,” and the final panel has to do quite a bit of heavy lifting. If you’re familiar with book 19 then you know (spoiler alert) that a civilization of feathered raptor-oids among Earth’s dinosaurs was rescued by an advanced civilization. “Refulgence of Refuge” gives us the details of this rescue, and because of the title, which literally means “shininess of the safe place,” I need to make the some panels, especially the last one, live up to the word “refulgent.””
“Back when the only version of THE LION KING was the original animated feature Sandra and I came up with a term to describe certain kinds of triumphant endings: “we all have rawwrs together.” And of course the JURASSIC PARK franchise features several iconic closing scenes in which a dinosaur (the t. rex, usually) goes “rawwr” with a cool backdrop.”
So the big meteor destroyed a nascent dinosaur civilization. Cool !
There is picture of the meteor in the next blog entry. Looks cool but it is not cool.
https://www.schlockmercenary.com/blog/progress-report-the-impact-panel/
“NASA doesn’t like SpaceX HLS Manual Controls”
https://thesilicongraybeard.blogspot.com/2026/03/nasa-doesnt-like-spacex-hls-manual.html
“This Tuesday, March 10 (yesterday as I write), NASA released a report on their management of the HLS -or Human Landing System – that has been under development contracts to SpaceX and Blue Origin. While NASA originally contracted SpaceX alone, after Blue Origin and Dynetics sued NASA, even though NASA couldn’t afford to build more than one model HLS, Blue Origin was contracted to deliver their lander, the Blue Moon MK2.”
“With two competitors producing lunar landings, an atmosphere of wanting more competition began emerging, and neither company has said much about their landers other than releasing some good computer renderings of their vehicles. That means yesterday’s NASA report has made for some interesting reading. To begin with, they admit the fixed price contracts have worked well for the agency.”
Nope, I want actual controls, no punch this button on a screen.
From a friend:
“I was abducted by aliens once. They didn’t wear clothes and I was surprised to see they had three testicles.”
“That’s right, they were extratesticles.”
IIRC one of the capsules had lines inscribed on the window so that a last ditch, everything went to heII effort, the pilot could use the lines as guides for manual re-entry and splashdown.
If everything in the capsule is fly by wire anyway, the interface to the wires isn’t the weak point, it’s the robustness of the control system that interprets the human inputs, wherever they come from.
IE, manual discrete buttons don’t matter if they are still talking to the control system to do anything. I suppose you could argue that each button still gives access to whatever it controls but if you lose the TP, you lose all access to everything, but I’d have to see a single line control diagram to be convinced that the buttons would matter at all.
Modern cars are mostly drive by wire now, some without mechanical connection between the steering wheel or brake pedal and the systems they provide input to, I think. It’d be dumb to do that, but the world is full of dumb things.
n
“I Got Around SXSW in Tesla Robotaxis: The Rides Were Better Than the Buggy, Juvenile App”
https://www.pcmag.com/news/i-got-around-sxsw-in-tesla-robotaxis
“AUSTIN—If Tesla Robotaxis were halfway as ubiquitous as Elon Musk’s posts about the self-driving possibilities of his company’s vehicles, this city would be crawling with these cars.”
“The reality of booking Robotaxi rides during SXSW here was mixed: They were only intermittently available, and the trips were basically fine.”
“Over five rides—three at night, two in the day, none on highways or in rush-hour traffic—I didn’t see these modified Model Y cars commit any road-safety violations worse than slightly exceeding the speed limit to keep up with traffic.”
“And at no point did I see any intervention from the human “safety operator” who occupied the front passenger seat on every ride. Two of them were willing to engage in idle banter, two others stayed silent, and one outright refused my attempt at conversation: “I’m sorry, I’m only here for safety reasons.” (Fortunately, Robotaxis allow you to link your music streaming account so you can have your own personal soundtrack.)”
Dennis Taylor’s “Flybot” book calls them Traxis.
“US Carrier Pulling Back From Iran Operations To Crete Port After Suffering Fire”
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/us-carrier-pulling-back-iran-operations-crete-port-after-suffering-fire
“America’s largest and most advanced aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, is pulling away from the Middle East region as it nears a record-long deployment and after it suffered a major fire which damaged living quarters and other areas.”
Oh my.
The three tablespoons of liquid smoke, take that as a guideline. Start with one tablespoon. Taste the marinade. Walk away, drink a beer or whatever, then taste the marinade again.
Before adding meat.
“Sweep of the Blade (Innkeeper Chronicles)” by Ilona Andrews
https://www.amazon.com/Sweep-Blade-Innkeeper-Chronicles-Andrews/dp/108014398X?tag=ttgnet-20/
Book number four of a six book paranormal fantasy romance science fiction series. I reread the well printed and well bound POD (print on demand) illustrated (kinda) trade paperback published in 2019 by the author that I bought new on Amazon in 2023. Note that “Ilona Andrews” is the pseudonym for a husband and wife writing team. And yes, this is science fiction, there are spaceships, teleportation devices, beam weapons, and space stations. I own the two following books in the series and will reread them soon.
Dina Demille is an innkeeper in Red Deer, Texas. Only her Victorian inn is not like a typical bed and breakfast, it is an intelligent magical haven named Gertrude Hunt for aliens coming to Earth or using Earth as a way station. Dina does have a permanent guest, a retired Galactic aristocrat named Caldenia who is hiding from several bounty hunters, who paid for permanent room and board.
There are many inns like the Gertrude Hunt on Earth, that is because Earth has been designated as Neutral Ground for the various Galactic races, many of whom don’t get along. Earth is neutral ground because it it is the only planet with twelve wormholes for immediate transportation in the Galaxy. That’s why Caldenia is safe within the confines of Gertrude Hunt, the inn has many powerful weapons to protect itself and guests. Several of the bounty hunters are still chasing Caldenia for the massive bounty and have taken on the Gertrude Hunt Inn to their dismay.
Dina rescued her sister Maud who had followed her exiled husband to the closed planet Karhari being used as a penal colony with their daughter. Any space ship shuttle landing on the closed planet without permission would be shot down. And the Holy Anocracy (represented by House Krahr, the space vampires) does not give landing permission to any one outside their clan. So Dina got Arland, the Marshal of the House Krahr who owed her a favor, to take her to the planet and help rescue her sister.
Arland Krahr is an unmarried man and Matilda Demille, Maud, is a widowed woman with a five year old half vampire half human daughter. The daughter cannot go to public schools on Earth due to her ever present fangs. And Maud is a trained fighter who can hold her own with any of the space vampires. So Arland invites Maud and her daughter home to his planet to meet his family. His family occupies the entire planet…
The authors have a website at:
https://www.ilona-andrews.com
My rating: 6 out of 5 stars (yup, this is and was a 6 star book)
Amazon rating: 4.8 out of 5 stars (14,699 reviews)
Lynn
The 401k folks have been nagging to designate a beneficiary. So I did that. Told my brother but don’t expect much because stock market and stuff. He was like “whatever, thank you”.
Today I had the thought to call the bank. Yes, one can designate a beneficiary on an account. . It avoids probate and all that. I have to go to a branch to set this up.
See, in the current will, the two kids get the house and land and everything else here.. They can argue out how to divide it all. Don’t care, I’m dead. The insurance company thinks this house is worth almost 500 grand. Plus the other 24+ acres is worth something.
My plan is so my brother gets the bank accounts.
My hope is he’s smart enough to realize the t-bills will trickle into checking in ten grand deposits. And to chill for a couple of years as the t-bills stop renewing.
Muslims on board or just one of those things?
This might actually be Trump’s funniest moment Japanese Reporter: Why didn’t you tell us before you struck Iran? Trump: “Why didn’t you tell me about Pearl Harbor?”
No patent potential in a physical button.
Plus, all current user interface tech sits downstream of the art department on “Star Trek The Next Generation” and the rest of the Stage 8/9 “Star Trek” shows.
Turkey meat sticks suck. I prefer dried beef with zero sugar.
Thursday bedtime. A shirt -r day at work. Part of the shirtyness was my office reaching 27C (80F) during the afternoon, despite the blinds having been closed all day and the air conditioning in the building allegedly being on. If that continues, I am WFH indefinitely.
Friends are coming for dinner tomorrow. I am going to make comfort food: bangers and mash with onion gravy.
Looking forward to testing Paul’s jerky recipe. I have no idea where to get liquid smoke, but big river will probably know…
Turkey meat sucks.
Fixed it for you…
Republic of Somaliland Drops Some CRAZY-DAMNING Receipts About Ilhan Omar
https://twitchy.com/samj/2026/03/19/so-extradition-republic-of-somaliland-account-drops-some-crazy-damning-receipts-about-ilhan-omar-n2426205
Omar entered the U.S. claiming to be the daughter of another man. Some people would call that immigration fraud–I know I would–and if fact, the law sees it as immigration fraud.
Round up the lot of them and boot their anit-Semitic jihadi asses out of our country.
https://redstate.com/bobhoge/2026/03/19/thousands-of-iranian-regime-leaders-children-study-in-the-us-what-could-possibly-go-wrong-n2200413
One just self-deported to go back to pay respects to her room-temperatured father. If that passport isn’t flagged there is someone at State that needs a new assignment cleaning restrooms.
Out! Out jihadist filth!
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2026/03/lefties_scramble_to_rename_all_their_memorials_to_pervy_cesar_chavez.html
Who recently died?
Who wants to take the mantle?
What bigger turd was about to hit the radial impeller?
cui bono?
You can skip the liquid smoke. Last time I looked in was in the section with bullion cubes and such. Comes in a small bottle, maybe 6 ounces.
Just taste the marinade. More pepper slash cayenne is better because the pepper fades as the meat dries.
I’ve been doing stuff all day. Just stuff. Def not crawling under the desk to fish some Ethernet through the wall.
Tomorrow. For sure Comrades!!!!
Maybe.
I’ve been experimenting with a WiFi 6E router with the 6 GHz band that will go into my wife’s crash pad once she starts a trial run with the VA in San Antonio.
If you have a 15-20 foot distance or less to connect, my unscientific tests show twice the download speed on the 6 GHz “E” connection than my WiFi 5 router. 380 Mbps vs 170 Mbps.
Interestingly, upload speeds are slower on that band, but, again, the testing is unscientific.
Brand is … sigh … TP Link. I’m not using that as the primary router, but when I tried a new-ish Asus router, the initial setup involved cliking through on a disclaimer and the Amazon Alexa logo popped up in one of the menu options on the admin page.
I’d rather have the Chinese spying on me than Bezos.
The Legend of Jeff …
Sometimes turning the wi-fi router maybe 90 degrees makes it all good. Like, polarized sunglasses.
Just a thought.
Mint has quirks. Quirks to me.
Power settings are somewhat random about working. Might be my PC. But it works fine for a few days and then “nah, we ain’t even gonna turn the monitor off”. Takes a couple of re-boots to make it all work….
I was pissing around exploring settings. I clicked ok, somewhere, no clue where I was, and my shortcuts or whatever next to the the “start” menu button vanished.
I have no idea where I clicked. Anyway, I went into the Menu and r-clicked and added stuff back to the panel. But now the icon spacing is different. No clue what is different.
I had Raspberry Pi running. I hosed it while messing with config files to auto mount the USB drive at boot. “Boot sector is locked” or some such. No big deal. I can format that sd card. I had a spare sd card. So I installed piCorePlayer. I don’t need the entire Pi OS thing going on, I just want my little Pi thing to run the music server.
The entire Pi OS thing is pretty damn awesome. It’s not a ball of fire on a pi3b+ whatever. But on a $90 computer it’s fantastic. But I don’t need that. Gotta say, the tiny little PC is faster than the useless Win7 AMD crap laptop I have.
Hey. I wonder if Mint will install on my Toshiba Tecra? That was running Win98. That was a nice machine.
Ok. So I have it all working. piCorePlayer. Pretty sure I set up ssh. What is my password? Dunno. What I wrote down is incorrect. How do I reset the password? Without wiping and re-installing? I don’t know what to goog or duck for.
It’s not a big deal. I want to be able to use FileZilla to add new music. Because it’s simple.
Like tossing files to my website.
But I can play the “shut down the server, pull the power, move the USB drive to my PC and copy the files.” BS game. And reverse.
Either way I have to tell the server software to rescan the library.
Not being a smart ass. I have zero way to test for your speeds.
I’m on Starlink and the best I ever get is 320 down. Usually. Sunday morning and clear skies. Rest of the time is 150 pushing 225. It’s good. It’s snappy fast.
So, Nick, the day is winding down. Did your tenants call with news of a crisis? Did the transmission fall out of your truck? Did your daughter give you disturbing news about her latest crush?
I’m guessing that none of those, or at most one, came to pass, meaning that those of you -cough- Denis -cough- who called me a storm crow are wrong! Not only wrong but libelously wrong! Meet me at dawn, sir. Bring your sword.
(Though considering our locations, dawn tomorrow is impractical. Dawn on some unspecified day in the future is probably the best that can be managed at this point.)
@stevef, well played but not gonna get me sir. NO WAY am I going to say , out loud, that calamity didn’t befall me. Even writing that caused me to knock twice on my wooden desktop.
n
Federal Appeals Court Seems Skeptical of Reciprocity Argument
https://bearingarms.com/camedwards/2026/03/19/federal-appeals-court-seems-skeptical-of-reciprocity-argument-n1231932
Reciprocity for drivers licenses and marriage licenses is universal in the U.S. Why should it be any different for carry licenses, particularly when it it the only one that is a constitutional right?
Note that when gay marriage was legalized by some states there was no state that prohibited gay marriage that argued that their own more restricted law invalidated the marriage of visitors.
Federal Appeals Court Seems Skeptical of Reciprocity Argument
https://bearingarms.com/camedwards/2026/03/19/federal-appeals-court-seems-skeptical-of-reciprocity-argument-n1231932
Reciprocity for drivers licenses and marriage licenses is universal in the U.S. Why should it be any different for carry licenses, particularly when it it the only one that is a constitutional right?
Note that when gay marriage was legalized by some states there was no state that prohibited gay marriage that argued that their own more restricted law invalidated the marriage of visitors.
The judiciary thinks that the second amendment is a second class amendment. They need to be educated.
I’m a 2A absolutist. (As should come to a surprise to no one.) A Constitutional absolutist, for that matter at least where the black letter gives absolutes. (Again, as should be no surprise.) Every law, regulation, or tax which impedes the right to keep and bear arms is unConstitutional on its face.
Actually, that is not true. Consonant with my Constitutional absolutism, I do not believe that incorporation, the imposition of the federal constitutional provisions on the state and local governments, is valid. The federal Constitution applies only to the federal government except where it’s explicitly stated to apply to the states or to the people. (eg, states are prohibited from coining money.) Either that or the “equal protection” law needs to be carried down to all laws, so that different jurisdictions can’t even have different traffic laws. That said, if we’re going to accept incorporation as commonly viewed, then every anti-gun law is invalid.
FIFY
The above is their warning. If they do not directly mend their ways, they need to hanged from lampposts.
I’m a 2A absolutist
– me too. Where they founders wanted exceptions, they listed them in the Amendments.
All three branches conspired to control the populace and ignore the 2A, as they have ignored the others. Of course, we were warned.
—–
It’s 64F now, down from 72F at dinner time. And time for my shower and bed.
—–
@stevef – get some sleep!
n
Alas, I have, to my shame, no sword*, and even if I did have one, I believe they are frowned upon in intercontinental travel baggage.
Given the difficulty of air transport with long pointy things, I suggest we satisfy honour with something available at the venue. Champagne corks at ten paces (magnum or Jeroboam at your choice), and then we drink the propellant…
Brown Hen and who else as seconds?
*I did order a Skean, which hasn’t arrived with me yet, although this excellent book has. I suspect the skean is even less luggage-able than a sword.