Riddles In Ezekiel

This blog explores how to crack longstanding mysteries from the Book of Ezekiel. Ezekiel's riddle weaves across many other stories. Also, a trip report on our hunt for better 3d filament. Finally, a brief headline review.

Hunting For Exhibits

For many months I have been on a hunt across the text looking for stories that provide details for the exhibits that make up the Tent of Time. Subtle details are spread around. Designing actual models demands knowing all the details.

I recently shared the detail of Jacob preparing sticks in the water troughs that he was preparing for use in his own copy. His preparation indicates there is color banding on those sticks. This detail ultimately impacts the design of the branches for the vine and fig tree.

So I have been hunting for stories that may be adding details to the already known exhibits. I have also been hunting for stories that might be revealing some missing exhibit. I worry that I might be missing something entirely.

Several months ago Ryan restored to the TT most of the content from the first chapter in Ezekiel. He told me at the time it does not fall by Acts 15 filter rules, so there was no reason to be so aggressive in taking this out. On the other hand, it was unclear to him what that chapter might be about. By restoring it, he said, it would make it a target for lots and it would show up in weekly reads so we could think about it.

My own personal lots have taken me to that chapter numerous times ever since. Joshua has been taunting me to figure it out. This past week it finally started to make sense. In the end, this is providing serious additional details for one of the known exhibits. Let me share the discovery process with you here.

Ezekiel 1

The link here is to Ezekiel chapter 1 in the BRB. This is the opening chapter in his book. It begins with the idea that the skies were opened, and he saw visions of god. It continues, with a rather strange vision that is detailed starting at verse 4.

Of course this could just be a vision that takes place "out in the world" and so without connection to any of the exhibit items. But proving that this is NOT part of the exhibits is hard to do. On the other hand proving that this IS related to a specific item is also hard to do. It is a riddle, after all.

The riddle finally started to crack when I realized I should use the same trick I originally used with Bible Time. In that study, the trick was to read the Bible under the lens of STEM. Look at the math of the timeline, and not worry about the stories around that math, at least not at first.

Instead of using year intervals like Bible Time, the use of a Prime Factors analysis is often helpful for cracking these sorts of riddles. This sort of study will tell us if this story in Ezekiel rhymes with something we already know.

There is a mathematical progression down through Ezekiel's vision. There are 4 beasts each with 4 wings. For each wing there is a hand of man. These details are calling out the prime factors.

This is also like a decision tree. It can be used to create a table about like an ASCII table. A decision tree resembles something like the Fig Tree. The Fig Tree has a central trunk and then it branches out in factors of 2 up through the outer rim of that tree.

Perhaps Ezekiel is seeing the Fig Tree here? Like in a storm?

The problem is the math in Ezekiel, though similarly constructed, is not the same. Ezekiel has 4 beasts x 4 wings/beast x 5 fingers/wing = 80 total fingers at the tips of the decision tree.

The Fig Tree's math is 5 layers of joints of 2 ways each up each side of the tree. 2 ^ 6 = 64 around the top edge. Then, up the Fig Tree, some branching points are empty, reducing the total number. Though the total theoretical rim is 64, in the final design there are 2 runs of all the alphabet glyphs, or 50 around the top edge. Even then, it can be configured with only 22 letters on each side, or 44 around the top. This short configuration looks to be used when configuring the Fig Tree for ciphering.

So the Ezekiel math does not rhyme with the Fig Tree math. Ezekiel is seeing something different. The prime factor that causes the trouble is the number 5, the number of fingers on a hand. Ezekiel is not giving a different vision for the Fig Tree. This passage is dealing with something else.

Crown

Several blogs ago I spelled out possible math for the rim of the crown object. That rim, I suggested, should be a timeline counting 80 years instead of my currently presumed 70 years for a total timeline value. Psalm 90 suggests 70 years inside of 80 years.

Probably the Megiddo Mosaic is hinting at this too, with the 8 sides of the area around the 2 fish. The mosaic, of course, then needs a factor of 10 to grow those 8 staffs out to 80 years. The woven trim on that floor shows how that was done too, lap the circle with 8 sides, going around 10 times.

While Ezekiel's vision has a binary progression similar to the Fig Tree, it has math that matches what will become the crown item in the upper room. Ezekiel appears to be giving details for that item that are not given anywhere else. The trick now becomes figuring out what Ezekiel is adding to the crown.

Center Content

What is different about the Ezekiel vision is that he is filling in content inside the circle of the crown. I have previously considered this item to be something drawn on the walls of what ideally would be a circular upper room.

I mostly want to imagine Bible Time like timeline content on those walls. I also imagine the scroll library in that room, so maybe half high book shelves surround that room too. (Think hand made rolled scrolls in those shelves.)

In order to fill in the circle of that room the surfaces available are either the floor or the ceiling. Downstairs the mosaic is on the floor. But Ezekiel is telling us that he is looking up at the skies, so he is looking up at the ceiling in the upper room. He is giving us a vision of the skies as painted on the ceiling of that upper room.

In the end, he is telling us what should be drawn on that ceiling.

Let me pick up that story from vs. 4 and suggest what might be on that ceiling.

Looking North, Fire

In the vision Ezekiel is looking north. I initially took this as a compass direction. But north on the ground means something very different in the sky. the north pole, extended into the sky, is the center of rotation for all stars in the northern hemisphere. Ezekiel is calling out the rotating nature of this whole design by the use of the term "whirlwind."

If we are sketching in the content of a circular room, then the north pole or north star, Polaris, will sit in the middle of the room. The crown object around the rim of the room will be the celestial equator.

Chances are pretty good the room itself is supposed to have a star map of the northern hemisphere drawn on the ceiling.

Hanging down from the middle of that room is light, what Ezekiel describes as a fire. The room needs light. So there is now the need for a lamp hanging down from the center of the ceiling in the room to give the room some light.

The room is forming the Paleo letter Oo, with a circle at the outside and a dot in the middle.

We know from the Qu Map studies that the Oo on the USA and World Qu maps both involve large telescopes for looking up at the night sky. So it is reasonable from that study to think the room built to form an Oo letter has the night sky on the ceiling.

If this room's ceiling is a star map, then we better understand the basics of mapping out stars. Those basics may inform the rest of what Ezekiel is writing about.

Navigating The Celestial Sphere

The link here is to a Youtube video that explains the theory behind the measurement system for the stars in the sky. There are several key details that matter.

1) Because stars are so very far away, it is possible to imagine all stars as drawn on a sphere. This does not matter if the observer is at earth, or Mars, or the sun. Observers at the planets or the sun in our solar system all see the star pattern the same.

If you watched all of the video about Pluto in last week's blog, the probe that went past Pluto then took a photo of the nearest actual star. For the first time ever in a photo, the assumption of the stars being drawn on a sphere was not correct. For the rest of us, the assumption of stars drawn on a dome still holds.

By the way, this may suggest the ideal ceiling shape for the upper room is a dome. This may suggest why early Christian churches used domes. The Orthodox still do use domes. This would be a cultural memory of what Joshua built at Capernaum. So, back to details from Ezekiel's story...

2) The earth's axis of rotation is projected out against the dome of the stars. This forms an axis through the sphere that the stars are drawn on. This spot can be seen by watching the night sky as it rotates. It rotates because the observer is on the rotating earth. The point of rotation is on the earth's rotational pole.

3) That axis then creates an imaginary celestial equator out against the field of stars. Similar to the lines used to map earth, a similar set of lines is used to map the sky. So on the field of stars is an imaginary equator.

4) For earth based map lines, Greenwich is used for the zero line when measuring distances east and west. Capernaum, and the Jordan river valley would be better, so we need to remain cautious about use of a modern measurement system instead of a textual measurement system. For the stars, the current spring equinox is used as the zero point, or the equivalent of the prime meridian in space. At least this is a technical choice instead of a political choice like Greenwich.

5) The units of measure are degrees when measured up(+) or down(-) from the equator. And time, a 24 hour daily clock, is used for measurement around the sphere of the stars. The zero point for that clock is at the spring equinox.

Once I saw that astronomers use time to measure distance around the skies, I could then see a natural map to the crown object around the room being used as a timeline. These are naturally the same.

Get A Map

So my next step was to order a Northern Hemisphere star map from Amazon. I will post a photo on Telegram when this blog goes out.

I last cared about such a map when I had a college roommate that took an astronomy class. I chided him about why would he ever need such a class for his future work?

Now the tables are turned.

First point is the zero point, so the spring equinox, is at center top. The hours progress around the outside. They increase to the right from that center. This fooled me from the video linked above. The video looks at the sphere from the outside. But the map looks at it from the inside. Beware.

Another point, not on the map, is that spring equinox is shifting slowly through history. It takes around 26,000 years for that equinox to move all the way around the field of stars. This is the same order of magnitude as the overall prophetic timeline. So this quality of the timeline is now tied to earth and is now tied to the crown object.

That star map has the top center defined at a certain calendar date in historical time, so the modern star map will stay fixed as long as human civilization survives. The spring equinox will continue to move on the map, but very slowly.

The map also shows the line where the sun and planets move against the backdrop of the sky. That line is on the right side of the map. That line leaves the northern hemisphere at the bottom of the map, so 12 hours around.

Within the map are a series of constellations. There were 48 ancient constellations. Modern sky maps list 88 modern constellations. Their names and complete star map coverage were fixed by about 1930.

The idea being that people could learn the entire map as students. So when later discussing some discovery in the sky, the conversation can start with the name of the constellation where the topic takes place. This idea may turn out to be important to us later.

The rest of the map is simply showing all the constellations and stars in the northern sky. A similar printed map does the same for the southern sky.

Constellations In The Text?

Once I had the map in hand, I realized I needed to figure out what, if any, constellations are listed across the text itself. Where might we be seeing inspired text referencing places in the sky?

The first step in that was to realize that Ezekiel 1 may already be referencing constellations. Picking up at Ezekiel 1:10 we find that on the right is the face of a son of man, then a face of a lion, then on the left is a face of an ox and then the face of an eagle. Could these be on the map?

Not having taken an astronomy class in college, I was left to my own devices. Searching the internet filled in some of this story. Wikipedia to the rescue.

Orion

Even on the modern star map, Orion, the man or hunter, is on the right side of the modern northern star map. From there, moving clockwise around, Ezekiel is calling out 3 more constellations around the edge.

Leo

On the lower right is Leo, the lion.

Boötes

On the lower left is Bootes. This constellation is named after an ox man, or ox herder. Ox is good enough for the text of Ezekiel.

Aquila

Then finally, on the upper left is Aquila, the eagle. That we went around in order, from right to left, and called out 4 primary constellations is strongly supporting the idea that Ezekiel is looking at the northern hemisphere sky and he knows the constellations.

This suddenly brings up other issues. Aquila is not only a constellation name, it is also a NT biblical name. Priscilla and Aquila first make their introduction at Acts 18:2, and ultimately show up as a pair in 5 places in the NT.

So now, this strange ceiling may be decoding other stories found in the text. Or else the reverse is possible, other stories in the text may be decoding places in the sky. Let me return to this more below.

More Constellations?

Once these first 4 constellations were found from Ezekiel, it became evident that the 4 faces, with 4 wings, with 5 fingers, were mapping out the sky to celestial equator locations, so to the time, around the crown.

The units might not be the same as used on modern maps, but the idea that locations in the sky could be called out in the text was now getting support.

But, aside from basic geometric locations, are there other constellations called out in the text?

Yes.

There are a few others that are well known. Let me list them here for completeness. Note these names are not always the same between the Greek and Aramaic texts, so this is an issue that translators have disputed in the past. At best we can only survey this topic until we have the audit work finished.

Pleiades

Aldebaran

Taurus

The book of Job has several references to Pleiades and Aldebaran. The links above are to the Wikipedia pages for those 2 stars. But, these are in the constellation of Taurus, also linked above. Taurus is the Bull, which is another Biblical word which now may be another hidden reference to stars. Also interesting to note that Pleiades and Aldebaran were interesting in ancient times because they were bright stars. Pleiades is a cluster of 7 stars, sometimes called the 7 sisters.

Ursa Major

The Mazzaroth in Job 38:32 is found in Greek as the Bear, sometimes with satellites or cubs. So Ursa Major would be the constellation. Her cub would be Ursa Minor.

Gemini (Twins)

Castor

Pollux

Another constellation mentioned in the text are the Twins, known as Gemini, which have 2 primary stars, Castor and Pollux. Castor is one of the brightest stars in the night sky, itself made up of 6 individual stars. These names show up on the ship in Acts 28:11. This is perhaps a parable for Pluto, but may also be an important place in the sky.

More?

The stars and constellations I've listed above show up in well known lists of references to constellations given in the Bible. I was surprised there were not more given in standard lists.

Beyond this list I could immediately see a few more, that are very important to us around here. I started thinking about the Megiddo Mosaic and the 2 fish in the middle. Perhaps those fish are a constellation? Not like I have thought much about constellations for a long time.

Pisces

Pisces is yet another constellation along the celestial equator. This constellation is 2 fish, just like in the mosaic. But this constellation has another important use that may explain why someone put 2 fish on that floor.

The Ecliptic and the celestial equator both intersect within this constellation. This is the location of the spring equinox and it is the zero point on current sky maps. It sits middle top on the printed map. Perhaps Pisces is at the rough middle point in the current cycle around the main timeline? Also, this marks the spring equinox which was probably close to events in Passion Week. I don't have ready tools for checking this.

Virgo

Virgo is at the bottom of the star map, so at the fall equinox in September. Virgo depicts a maiden with an ear of grain. So a young woman with bread. Virgo, like Pisces is where the Ecliptic and the celestial equator both intersect, so it is in some sense paired to Pisces.

At this it becomes evident we need to turn back to the feeding of the 5000 where the 2 fish and 5 loaves are lifted to the sky. That parable is now dealing with the 2 constellations at the equinoxes. It makes that parable related to the upper room, at least.

Feeding 5000

Ryan and I debate which telling of the feeding of the 5000 might be the inspired version. I am linking here to the Luke version because it includes details that agree with the rest of the story in this blog.

The first issue is that this is a general parable about multiplying the 625 stories of the text into 5000 more stories. It starts with 2 fish and 5 loaves of bread. Joshua has the 5000 sit down in groups of 50, so 100 total groups. 100 groups is another star parable which I will return to below. Joshua lifts the fish and loaves to the skies, then divides them to the people. Then 12 baskets of leftovers are collected.

Joshua is lifting these to the skies because this is a parable about the skies. 2 fish at Pisces and 5 loaves at Virgo, the 2 ends of the sky in his day. These 2 are 1/2 way around the main timeline if our current historical epoch is 1 time around the sky.

In terms of the upper room, the additional volumes want to be kept in that room, and this parable is saying as much. The 5000 sit on a mountain, so upstairs, that is the room where these are kept. The parable is depicting the constellations of Pisces and Virgo on the ceiling.

The 12 baskets collected at the end are a reference to the 12 tribes. All lists of 12 are lists of tribes in some way. But, given the context, 2 fish and 5 loaves, those 12 must also be sky measurements. These have names, they are called the Zodiac. I cringe because of the use of this for horoscopes. But bear (Ursa Major) with me.

Zodiac

The link here continues with another Wikipedia article. It explains that the Zodiac was originally a simple way to divide the circle of the calendar year into 12 equal 30 degree parts using the 12 constellations around the celestial equator in the night sky.

Those 12 baskets of stars, in order, have the constellation names: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces.

I have already covered some of them above. This simply rounds out the set. But lists of 12 in the text are also lists of the 12 tribes, in order. Other than the problem of a phasing this Wikipedia list to the 12 tribes list of Revelation 7, we can now map tribes to constellations. Hint, Pisces, the 2 fish, is likely Joseph the double portion holder. The rest should line up in order. I have not checked this whole list yet, there may be secrets hidden in the others.

These ancient signs in the sky should have features that can be mapped to what we know about each tribe given in the text. I take this as a future Bible study.

This parable is adding yet another detail to the room. The 12 tribes are reflected around the room, so around the timeline cycle. The 12 points, or stars, atop the crown make up a single pass around the room. So the room is like a single year. 10 passes around the room will be like 10 years, which is how we get the factor of 10.

So there must be another trick. Via the mosaic we can see 8 sides of the room map out to 80 years. So a calendar year must also have a division of 8 parts. The prime factors of Ezekiel 1 can easily be used up to make all this go. We are only missing a prime factor of 3, which the Mosaic gives us in the 48 markers around the 2 fish.

The math of this room is starting to fall into place given a growing list of references in the text. The room itself is like a stacked set of wheels. Different wheels are turning at different rates of time. At one end, there is a single complete pass around the room across all of historical time. At the other is 1 pass around the room each day, the standard 24 hour clock. There are a bunch of other passes around the room at other time scales.

Let me back up and explain the seating arrangement at the feeding of the 5000. What are we to make of 100 groups of 50?

Parable of The Lost Sheep

The link here is to Luke 15:3, the parable of the Lost Sheep. Long time readers here may remember this story was given to a prophetic friend of ours to explain what happened when her son was abducted by a UFO.

The people on the UFO told the boy they were from a different branch of the human race, not descended from Adam. When forced with the question from the son about where is that in the Bible, this story was given prophetically as the answer.

The 99 live in the skies, we earthlings are the fallen. There are 99 other branches of the human race which are not, and remain in right relation with Joshua.

So go back and think about the feeding of the 5000 parable. The best version was earlier in Luke, by the way, where the 5000 are subdivided into 100 groups of 50, and where the 2 fish and 5 loaves are expressly lifted to the skies.

That feeding of the 5000 story is a parable of the skies. It is telling us that we can see those systems in the night sky. Ultimately, there will be around 100 stars, or maybe star clusters, up there that have human habitation around them.

Given that earlier parable, those 100 likely additionally break down into tribal groups of 12 baskets, so roughly 8 stars make up each tribe out in the skies.

Perhaps the tribal grouping stories that matter so much to the text and to world history are simply an on-ground expression of what is going on up there?

Land and Skies

The link here is to a quote in John 3:12 in the BRB. This is Nicodemus coming to Joshua at night. The night sky, so the stars, are the backdrop for what Joshua tells Nicodemus. Let me quote it for you here, Joshua speaking. 12) "If I have told you about that which is on the land and you do not believe, then how will you believe me if I tell you about that which is in the skies?"

It appears that those additional volumes have much to say about things in the skies. The room where those scrolls should be kept has a star map on the ceiling. There is something more to be learned about what is going on in the skies given what is in those ciphered texts.

This subject is running long. So far, only back stories on Ezekiel 1. We will return again to Ezekiel in a future blog.

Road Trip

Ryan and I spent Tuesday this past week traveling to Vancouver, WA, to visit the factory where Proto Pasta 3d printing filament is manufactured. Let me give you a trip report.

Since returning from the Museum of the Bible in DC I have been working on the shop and the tooling in order to be better prepared for the next round of fabricating the exhibits for the Tent of Time.

To that end I am adding 2 more large bed Vorons to the 3d print farm. I am also making sure all 3 Voron printers are current in terms of electronics and hot-end parts. They will all be able to do multiple materials which makes the farm more efficient to run.

When Trump started talking tariffs on China my attention turned to the issue of filaments. Every filament I have used for years is ultimately from China. This strongly suggests availability and price is going to be a problem going forward. I was already not happy with my filament selection, so this was a good reason to rethink filament.

I started by pulling up a list of all 3d printer filament manufacturers in the USA. Of that list, the company making 3d filament in Vancouver, WA, stood out for several reasons. I decided at that point I needed to go visit the place. I had a long list of questions. Ryan agreed to go with me, so we were off on a road trip.

Proto Pasta

The link here is to their website. I spent an evening exploring it before Ryan and I hit the road. Driving south was through a huge downpour. Neither of us thought to check the weather. We arrived safe, but it was not a fun drive.

We normally do lots before walking into any business cold. We did the same here. A polite summary is that I should have asked Joshua about Chinese filament earlier. Then, we were told to go into the store.

The biggest point in their lineup is how most of their filament is HTPLA, which marks their plastic as a high temp version of PLA. I have been debating use of ABS instead of PLA for temperature stable transport. ABS is stable at higher temperatures than PLA, but with the downside that it is very much harder to 3d print. ABS also suffers from dangerous fumes.

Their counsel to us was to work the exhibits to make them look as good as possible. PLA plastic is much easier to make look pretty. Then they suggested to work the transport issues later.

But, also, there is a trick to the transport problem that they explained. 3d models tend to go limp in heat because they do not have enough 3d printed exterior perimeter layers. Mind that single aspect of the 3d printing process and transport should not be a difficult problem. Use of their HTPLA makes this problem even less likely.

Since most of our models are large, they already have the need for several exterior perimeters. So, heat is not a reason to leave their HTPLA for ABS. Staying away from ABS is a very good thing. The trip was already worth the time and trouble.

Specialized Filaments

I will post on Telegram a pic of their shop filament exhibit. They have quite a selection of filaments. They have a wider variety of specific filaments than I have seen with any single Chinese supplier on Amazon.

They sell smaller spool sizes as well so it is reasonable to buy useful sample sizes for every filament in their entire lineup. So selecting specific filaments can be done without needing to buy whole 1 kg spools. Using them as a supplier means a dramatically easier way to test print using unusual filament color schemes.

Previously, in order to get a variety of colors, I have started to mix and match from different suppliers. This is a big problem because each printer configuration should be tuned to the specific brand of filament, sometimes even color of filament. By choosing a single reliable supplier makes our 3d printer farm easier to manage.

Metal Infused Filament

They have a series of filaments that include powdered metals within the plastic filament. This requires larger than standard 3d printing nozzles and it requires hardened nozzles to prevent wear. But, otherwise, these filaments produce parts that can be finished to look like real cast metal parts.

I had never before seen actual 3d printed plastic parts that looked and felt like real cast metal parts.

The precious metals form the basis for many of the models in our set of exhibits, and I took a future to-do to work out what might be possible in terms of building parts that look like they are actually built with ancient materials and methods.

This looks possible. For now I am still mostly focused on the geometry for the exhibits, but a lesson from this trip is that fabrication will become a focus in the future. It was evident from sample prints in their shop that layer lines need to be removed on finished parts.

Wood Color Selection

Some of our exhibits are 3d printed plastic but when built using ancient materials would have been done in wood. To do this well requires filament that has shades of brown that look like raw or finished wood.

Their selection of browns was better than anything I had seen on Amazon. Ryan and I picked out a couple of browns that we will be trying on the next round with the vine. These probably also transfer to the Fig Tree and Table.

Matte Finish

Several places within our exhibits want matte finishes. Most of the wall mounted exhibits would have been done as quilts in ancient times. Cloth is not gloss finish. We purchased sample size spools and will be experimenting with matte finish even for white, black and gray.

Artistic Filament

Maybe half of the filaments that they produce have some sort of fleck within the filament itself. I have never even tried this sort of filament in part because of the risk of whole 1 kg spools becoming scrap if the tests turn out bad.

I was not even thinking about this category of filament while we were in their shop. But once I slept on it, I decided we need to sample some of these specialized plastics for fabricating our own exhibits. The Vine and Fig Tree are flowering trees. These specialized plastics may make the leaves and petals take on an artistic form that we haven't yet even imagined.

This new understanding of what is possible was partly driven by the various finished models they had on display in the front room of their shop. These specialized plastics produce amazing looking finished parts. We need to try and reach the same level of finish in our own 3d printed parts.

Final Thoughts

Switching to Proto Pasta is going to seriously up our game in terms of what sort of fit and finish is possible with the exhibits for the Tent of Time.

We may end up needing to add tools specifically for finishing of 3d parts. Sanding, weathering, oxidizing, clear coat finishing and tumbling are ways to make parts loose their 3d printed origins and make the final exhibits look spectacular.

No wonder Joshua was telling us we should have done this earlier.

Shop Work

The rewiring for the original Voron was finished this week, except for the wiring around the extruder. I previously ordered the electronic boards for the upgrade for the wiring for the extruder. This puts a small Raspberry Pi computer in the hot end at the end of a simple cable out from the main controller. That small computer removes a mess of wiring.

But, because this was not a kit, there was no source for a pre-made wiring harness for this. I needed to make the wiring used within the hot end myself. Not a problem, I foolishly thought when I planned this out.

The connectors are the smallest I have ever used. Commercial quality crimping of such small connectors probably involves either large magnification or else microscopes. It also likely involves wire with specific insulation thickness.

Other than for what are called Dupont connectors, which I used in High School, and which are now huge relatively speaking, I don't have the equipment to do this with ease.

I cannot source wire which I know will work with otherwise poorly specified plugs. These problems put the wiring harness fabrication work outside of my ability to reasonably do in the shop.

The fix is to order plugs with short lengths of wire already crimped and attached. These are called pig tails. This makes the wiring problem one of soldering wires the old fashioned way, with a wire stripper and heat shrink tubing along the runs of wire. This I can do easily in the shop. The various wiring kits with plugs and wires took several days to correctly select and then order and get delivered. The last of those wiring kits showed up late this week.

At the same time, I am also rebuilding the extruder to work with the Box Turtle filament feeder. This needs 2 extra filament sensors along the filament path within the extruder and it requires a filament cutter within the hot end. All of this requires unusual 3d parts designs for the mounts for those sensors and related parts. I found a Github repo for those parts and printed them a week ago.

But when I went to assemble them I found they could never have been used by any real person rebuilding the extruder for this task.

I went back and searched again, and turns out there was a different git repo, with a name differing mostly based on capitalization, that had the good part designs. (AI driven search can be a terrible waste of time.) Those clean parts were reprinted this week. Assembly should begin next week.

Headline Review

Trump has been the main source of headlines this week. Most readers here probably know Trump threatened to impose tariffs on products inbound from much of the world. He relented on that earlier this week, imposing a 90 day wait period for most of the world... Except China.

This is getting personal. It will be good once there are actual American based suppliers for electronic parts. Realistically they do not exist right now.

Chinese Sellers on Amazon Panic

The link here is to a long Zero Hedge article detailing the problem that Trump is creating for companies in China that use Amazon as the US dealer for their products.

Shenzhen China, a single city of 17.5 million people, has 102,000+ individual companies selling on Amazon. Maybe 50,000 other companies selling on Amazon are in other large Chinese cities.

Anyone who pays attention to electronics knows nearly all fundamental electronic parts in the world are made in that city, and nowhere else, the skills having been lost in other places. The efficiency of a single huge city making this stuff brings unmatched economy of scale.

Want a pre-crimped electronic pig tail? There is almost nowhere else to find such a thing. Want a resistor? (Pull up, 47k ohm, for a wiring harness?) Almost no other city can source this part, sold in sets of 100 for around $5 on Amazon. (Amazon should sell them individually themselves for $1. I digress.)

I wish it was not this way. Trump is right. But this is going to cause trouble for a long time. The risk to any American electronics factory builder is that a Biden 2.0 presidential administration reverses all that Trump is now doing to restore trade balance. All of American business is now becoming a political bet, not an economic bet.

Apple Scrambles

This is another link on the same topic. Apple rented 6 jumbo jet freighters to try and beat Trump's tariffs for smart phones. Here I have no sympathy for Apple. High end products should always have been made in the USA. Apple has announced plans for US based manufacturing. Factories take some time to setup. Until then, trouble for Apple and their customers. Other articles suggest Apple retail shops have been swamped with customers trying to get ahead of future price increases.

AI Messing Up Search

Everyone regularly using search knows that AI is reducing the effectiveness of search. Often, it is like being forced to ask an idiot a technical question, or like asking a lost child where are your parents. Of course rarely, AI search is like an idiot savant, and able to answer what sort of very rare connector is used on a single type of 3d printer hot end.

The problems get even worse for businesses using internet advertising. The link here is to a Zero Hedge article dealing with small business impacts of AI in search results.

AI in search breaks long standing economic models for how websites are funded. AI in search can effectively collapse website traffic and so collapse related real customer orders. I suspect the whole internet is going underground because of AI.

Victory Museum, Moscow

One of Judge Nap's regulars, Larry Johnson, was in Moscow a few weeks ago for an interview with the judge of Russian FM Lavrov. Larry made a comment about his trip and said one of the highlights was when he visited the Russian World War II museum in Moscow. The Russians call that war The Great Patriotic War. They lost 27,000,000+ people in that war.

The link here is to a well done and respectful video of a tour of the grounds and then interior of that museum. In our expanding understanding of Russia's part in the 1000 year reign, and of the affinity of Russia to Joshua during World War II, this museum becomes an important place to understand.

It tells the story of World War II from the Russian side. So the modern prophetic replay of the crucifixion of Joshua. Most precisely, Russia cares about the 3 hours of darkness during passion week. I would expect eventually to find a day-accurate prophetic timeline listing the main battles in that war.

There are 6 areas where Russia fought the Nazis that have key exhibits in that museum. Some of them, like Kursk, find the Russians still fighting European Nazis. Europe and the USA are a disgrace.

Note the dome on the Orthodox chapel early in this video. Likely a cultural memory of the dome inside the upper room. This video is 24 minutes well spent.

More Later,

Phil