It's the fourth of July. Independence day, here in the USA. I'd write an essay about what it means to me as a veteran, but anything I might say has been covered, more eloquently, elsewhere.

Oh, and, even though she won't read this, I have to say that I think mactavish is wrong... just as American troops shouldn't be commanded by non-American generals, American troops shouldn't be judged by anyone but American courts.

We are the modern Rome. There are those who would return a negative judgement against an American serviceman, for no other reason than that he was an American. As a former serviceman, I think that part of the implied contract between the soldier and the government is that no one will get the chance to use me as a pawn in their grudge against America.

Anyway, that's not what I wanted to write about. I wanted to write about metalworking. Lindsy Books has an interesting selection on building your own metalshop, including casting metals using grocery-store charcoal.

I find myself drooling over the idea. The MicroKinetics CNC benchtop lathes and mills are exciting and attractive... but there's no way I'll have that kind of money this year.

Building my own, on the other hand, just takes time, and a small amount of money.

At least, it's promising. I think I'll order the books and take a look at it.