Just did some rowing

The past two-and-a-half years have been tough for a lot of people, and I'm no exception.  For me, the ordeal began in late January/early February of 2020 when I developed an abscess in my big toe.  I was unable to wear a proper shoe on that foot for a while, so my freedoms of travel and exercise were restricted.  I was also scared of the possibility of the infection spreading and maybe having to amputate my foot or something.  It was quite distressing.

Then Covid happened, and the lockdowns, and so on and so forth.  At the same time, I was struggling with trying to find a dietary solution to my migraine issues.  I put on weight the past two years, had little energy, and spent a lot of time drowsy and perhaps even in a pre-diabetic state.

So I was dealing with many stressors at once, and I fell out of my exercise habits.

The past few months, though, have seen some improvement.  Not much, but enough to make me think there's some hope after all, that I'm not doomed to continue declining until I die of old age before I'm fifty.

Today, I did something I don't think I've done since before the pandemic.  I did some rowing exercises.

I don't have a rowing machine.  What I do have is an elastic exercise band with a door anchor.  I also have an audio file of the "rowing of the galley slaves" scene from Ben-hur, and I listen to that while rowing.  Moving my arms in time with the hortator's drumbeats from that scene is a heck of a workout.  

It was only a couple of minutes of exercise, but I'm feeling pretty blitzed right now.  It's a good feeling, though, and I'm glad I did it.  Hopefully this will be the start of a new habit.

That's the moral of the story: no matter how many times you fall out of an exercise habit, you can always start it up again.

Woodworking likes and dislikes

After doing some casual woodworking, I'm still very much a novice at it.  Frankly, I suck.  But I've learned what I like and don't like about it, so I thought I'd share.

I like chiseling.  This is my favorite woodworking thing to do.  When I'm chiseling out a mortise, it's sort of a zen thing.  I enjoy using the chisel for paring, too.  I could chisel all day, or at least until my aching back makes me quit.

I'm ambivalent about drilling and sawing.  Meh.

I really hate sanding.  Even when using a power tool like an orbital sander or sheet sander, sanding still sucks.  It's just the worst, man.

I haven't used my woodburning pen enough to know if I'll enjoy it or not.  Time will tell.  So far, though, using it has been awkward, and I'm not confident at all with it.  I need a lot more practice.

Gaps

There's an old saying on Wall Street: gaps want to be filled.

No, it's not sexual or anything like that.  It refers to when the market gaps up or gaps down.  The market then "wants" to trade within the space of the gap.

I bring this up because the market has gapped down recently, but there's no sign of the gaps being filled.

The market gapped down from June 9th to June 10th, and then again from the 10th to the 13th.  (The 11th and 12th were the weekend, so those days aren't on the chart.)  That's what a gap down is: white space between the bottom of one candlestick and the top of the next one.

I don't know what to make of this.  I know the Fed is driving the price action right now, but the 75-basis-point hike wasn't exactly a surprise, so one would expect the conventional wisdom--that the gap would be filled in a later trading session--to still be in play.

The only thing I know is that the ruble has strengthened against all major currencies and gold, so the ruble was the place to have your money these last few months.  Of course, the sanctions mean we Americans aren't allowed to invest in Russian stuff, so no gains for us.

We're obviously in bear market territory.  That's been the case for a while now.  The only question is where it will bottom out.  I fear we've got a ways to fall yet.

Interesting weapon

One of the weapons currently being used in the conflict in Ukraine is the VSS Vintorez.  It's an unusual thing.  It has a stock and a 7.9-inch barrel, so it would be classified as a short-barreled rifle here in the U.S.  It has a built-in suppressor and fires subsonic ammunition, so it's designed from the ground up to be quieter than the typical firearm.

The action and controls are similar to those of the AK.  It has iron sights and the usual-for-Russian-rifles left-side scope rail.

The round it fires is the 9x39, a 7.62x39 round necked up to accept a fatter and heavier bullet.  It's less like a rifle round and more like a magnum pistol cartridge with a spitzer bullet.

The overall length of the weapon is 35 inches, and the weight is under six pounds, so it's a handy little thing when worn on a sling.  It uses a ten-round or twenty-round detachable box magazine.

Personally, I think this would make an awesome home-defense gun, especially because of the built-in suppressor.

Anyway, it's a quirky and unusual weapon, but I think it's pretty cool.

Angles and Saxons

I recently googled the differences between Angles and Saxons.  We usually refer to both tribes in the same breath as "Anglo-Saxons," but they were separate groups, so there were presumably some differences, right?

Googling didn't help much, though.  The internet seems to think the two groups were basically identical.  And maybe they were.  I don't know.  I'm not a historian or an archaeologist.

What I did discover, though, was that the two tribes occupied different parts of continental Europe, though they were neighbors, and they settled different parts of Britain (though again ended up as neighbors).  Was one tribe chasing the other?  I don't know.  It's an interesting thought, though.  Maybe the Saxons found themselves squeezed between the Franks, Frisians, and Angles, so they got in their boats and headed for the frontier (which at the time was Britain, since the Romans had just pulled out, presumably leaving the place in some manner of disarray.)

We know the Angles and Saxons fought each other in Britain, so even if we don't view the two tribes as very different, they certainly felt otherwise.  

In modern England, there are definitely some cultural differences between East Anglia and southwestern England.  Do any of those differences have their roots in differences between Angles and Saxons?  If so, to what degree?  My guess is that most of those differences are the result of the Great Heathen Army establishing the Danelaw a few centuries later, but I don't actually know.

Anyway, it's an interesting topic.