Rice can do amazing things. Like resurrecting dead wet electronics. Oh I don’t know if it has saved my old devices yet. But I have it working on them at the moment. And I have hope. They are good old devices and I hope to see them working again. And if they don’t, they gave me good service long after most of their kind died of old age. If they are dead now, then I got more out of them than I had any right to expect.
It’s good to be home. It can be tiring as well. I came home to water in my basement thanks to all the rain. That was not so nice. Fans and AC are up and running, sucking the water out, and I’ve pulled the wet carpet samples so they can dry as well. I may also have lost three old phones to water flowing where it shouldn’t have. Which is technically anywhere in the house. I have dried them out and will see if it works, but they may be lost causes. That would be unhappy, but such is life. Sometimes things just give up their last life for you and that is how it goes. It is still good to be home.
It’s technically the 5th, but I’m home again from spending time with family over the Fourth of July. Saw plenty of nice American flags, a lot of family, and some amazing fireworks. Now I’m home, after having left early in the morning to beat the afternoon traffic through the Twin Cities. Reading an interactive AI novel on audio settings so I could talk to it the whole way. That kept my brain active so I didn’t have to stop more than a couple times for food, fuel, and bathroom breaks. It was a good drive, and even the road construction didn’t slow me down as much as it did on the way up. I’m happy to be home.
Happy Fourth of July Two Hundred Fifty. Not many nations make it this long. Fewer make it much longer. Rome did it in some fashion, though the Roman Republic disappeared into the Roman Empire which made it another thousand years. China as a system lasted longer, but each Dynasty was basically a new government and new nation. The British Empire has lasted for significantly longer in some form or another, but once again it has gone through many changes. America is the oldest Republic. We have the oldest Constitution still in effect. The men who created us had a number of firsts, and that is why we call it the Shot Heard Round the World.
America did something different back then. Even before we used the name America. We were the United States. Columbia, in informal terms. That is why our old nation state lady was Columbia, not the much later Uncle Sam or Lady Liberty. We were Columbia, forging a new way for people to live. A new identity as a people and a nation. Not a realm. No kings. We did it in a way others did not. And because of that, we have existed for two hundred fifty years and helped to drive the world into a new golden age of prosperity.
Rejoice in two hundred fifty years of Columbia, Uncle Sam, Lady Liberty, and America. The Free. The Brave.
I’m celebrating Fourth of July with family right now.
Fourth of July 250. It is the first time I have seen some of the family in many years. Some only four years ago when Mom died. Some when my uncle died eleven years ago. Some much longer than that. We see each other on facebook and other social media every day, but that’s not really the same.
Something that was awesome along the way? I drove through a lot of small town Minnesota to get here, and I loved seeing the rows and rows of American flags. The construction equipment with flags the size of houses hanging from them. It was all so amazing. One gets so used to seeing so many people hating on America in the news, on TV, or on social media. Getting out of the big city and touching the grass of normal America is just so… perfect.
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