Stephen's Thoughts

GM... Stick To Your Knitting - 27 October 2026

Picto Diary - 20 to 24 October 2026 - Hoover Retreat

The Economic and Security Commons (also called the Commons Initiative) is the Hoover Institution’s most ambitious multi-year effort in decades, launched in April 2026. Drawing on a phrase favored by the late George P. Shultz, it asks how the United States and other free societies can respond to accelerating geopolitical shifts, rapid technological change, and eroding confidence in democratic institutions. At its core is a framework of voluntary cooperation among free peoples—one that addresses shared problems while reaffirming opportunity, the social contract, and American leadership.

European Phoenix? - 19 October 2026

Picto Diary - 7 to 19 October 2026 - Trike

TIMDT’s e-trike is working out on several counts.

Tame, Don't Poke, the Bear - 18 October 2026

Putin in the Catbird Seat (29) - Deals! More Deals!

"Breakneck" by Dan Wang

Wang's warning that the US is in danger of forgetting its long held "process knowledge" (Fogbank) thereby raising the cost and slowing the pace of its own needed manufacturing recovery should be a wake-up call.

"Artemis" by Andy Weir

In short, Artemis is an aluminum city built from local rock, oxygenated by the same industrial process that produces its metal, powered by nuclear reactors, and shaped as double-hulled, half-buried spheres optimized for pressure, radiation, and minimal imported mass—all in service of a tourism economy near the Apollo landing site.

Stories of Abel A DeWitt, Margaret M Watson and their Children

Picto Diary - 01 to 06 October 2026 - Koessler in Ivins

Koessler visiting Ivins.

Billy Gene Dickerson, Elite Marksman - 05 October 2026

"The Martian" by Andy Weir

I believe mankind's survival depends on the work today being carried out by Elon Musk. Read "The Martian" to help catch a vision of Musk's quest.