PlanktonPunkt Designs puzzles available in CreateJigsawPuzzles
link to order print on demand PlanktonPunkt Designs jigsaw puzzles (printed in China)
PlanktonPunkt Designs POD products in Printify
link to order PlanktonPunkt Designs print on demand wares from the source
PlanktonPunkt Designs POD products in Etsy
A link to order from a selection of PlanktonPunkt Designs print on demand wares from Etsy
Testing variations on a photo of tree bark (2026, June 2nd). I was thinking about uploading this or a shorter version to Etsy under my shop profile as an enticement for people to look at my designs. Also to Pinterest, if the video is short enough, and a higher resolution version into YouTube (as of June 28th, 2026, my previous art video about yellow flowers had had massive 7 views total – popularity eludes me.)
Be forewarned, this video is over 2 minutes long.
Been busy with PlanktonPunkt Designs, trying to optimize my tags for Etsy (and Amazon) SEOs. That is surprisingly heavy work with uncertain results, but obviously my previous tags did not work since almost nobody visited my listings.
While searching for words people might be interested in, I noticed eucalyptus having sufficient number of fans to show up in searches. Also, insulated coffee mugs. So I made eucalyptus art. And recycled my design onto multiple items, including insulated coffee mugs.
While working on that, my print provider advertised a multi-item listing for themed items and of course I had to try it. Long story short, I now have a 5-item listing of desk mats (three sizes), a spiral notebook, mobile phone stand, a black ceramic mug (two sizes) and a black insulated mug, all with maximalist eclectic Summer Eucalyptus art based on a photo of an eucalyptus blooming in California summer. At least I hope it qualifies as maximalist and eclectic, but I could not define the style any better. At least I like the image, so there is that.
I have posted the multi-item listing on Etsy, and it is now available for US customers. I don’t dare to even contemplate Amazon, and I have not yet explored the multi-item option (if any) for Printify pop-up store.
Mockup of Summer Eucalyptus Desk mat, 16″ x 32″ version, 3mm thick neoprene
Also a Father’s Day in United States. Congratulations to all the fathers, it is, unironically, an important task.
Since today is a celestial event, this is a good place to mention an update on K2-18b, this potentially hycean exoplanet, that may or may not harbor life (it resides in a habitable zone of a red dwarf but the spectral signs of biosignature molecules are not very reliable and the molecules may also have been formed by abiotic means.) Now, SETI had included this solar system to their radioastronomical survey for alien radio signals. They did not find any, but got plenty of data for future negative controls.
IMHO, microbial life on exoplanets and larger moons is likely (how common is another matter), but assumption that alien civilizations would communicate via strong radio transmissions seems oddly specific. I expect that if we ever find proof of advanced material civilizations, it would be something like Dyson structures or remnants of extraterrestrial advanced materials not formed by natural processes.
I thought to get some photos of the sunset of the longest day of the year, but gray clouds had crept over and obscured the sky. It often happens in Berkeley, days are sunny but as the evening sets, the cloud cover spreads from sea to hills. I did not get up there, but in many nights, the blanket of water which is cloud cover over the flats is fog or mist in the hillside. So, instead, here is a picture of jasmine flowers, size reduced from the original taken earlier today.
These are either from South Berkeley or from North Oakland, the city border crosses the block where the plant grows.
Still eschewing traditional celebrations.
Decided instead to make an art video illustrating some variations in a theme, based on a photograph of some yellow flowers (looks like they are related to agaves or aloes) taken in Berkeley, CA, June 2nd, 2026. Just as a demonstration of the types of designs I have so far usually used for PlanktonPunkt Designs.
I am planning to make more of these, occasionally (the next one will probably be about tree bark), and post them here, Pinterest and/or YouTube.
Nearly slipped by me – apparently it is no longer 24th of June (6 months from Christmas Eve, on St. John’s Day) but by government edict on Saturday closest to Summer Solstice. So, this year Friday, 19th of June is Juhannusaatto, a Midsummer Eve’s celebration in that peculiar country.
An example of June 19th flowers in Berkeley, CA
National traditions of Midsummer Eve include retreat to country cottage, preferably along lake or sea shore, having a barbeque (hot dogs and chicken are popular, pork and fish, and more rarely beef work, too), having a communal bonfire party and/or more private sauna are also typical, as is getting drunk. Government typically publishes PSAs warning about traffic accidents (due to the massive exodus emptying cities to summer cottages, some drivers already under influence) and boating accidents or other forms of drowning (don’t drink and boat, or drink and swim.)
My photos today are from urban California, so the Finnish lake video with swaying birch branches and sunlight glimmering on water (taken on late May, not on Midsummer Eve) is from last year.
Lake in Finland, May 28th, 2025
I have been busy designing but still keeping an eye (or ear, in case of YouTube videos, which I treat as partial podcasts) on commentary online. Here are some niggling vignettes:
Food
Pakistan and India have had a literally killer heatwave, which has also devastated chili producers in Sindh.
Meanwhile, fuel crisis in Russia (not due to the Iran war, the other war, remember?) has caused the central government to prioritize deliveries in western parts (most of the Russians live west of Urals), which means agriculture in Irkutsk region did not get fuel. I don’t know how much Irkutsk region contributes to global food supplies, but I doubt we can afford to lose any more capacity, anywhere and Russia is one of the main exporters.
And now a big warehouse for frozen goods, Big Bear 7, meant for consolidating all Los Angeles frozen food storage under one roof, has caught fire. Bad news for Angelenos, but since all centralized systems are vulnerable to catastrophal collapse when a critical node fails, one must wonder about the wisdom of concentrating all food in one spot… In general, the Western food systems are overly consolidated with four seed companies having a stranglehold over 80% of corn seeds and nearly 80% of soy bean seeds, and USA occasionally having a chicken shortage due to failing fertilization rates in one of the few chicken breeding corporations.
Molten Salt Cooling
Normally, when I think of this term, it invokes nuclear power generation. However, there is a domestic molten salt cooling method, which may be of interest in saving electricity costs on air conditioner. Note: I have not tested this myself, but it looks relatively cheap to experiment with, so it might be of interest.
Apparently, Glauber salt melts at 32.38 degrees Celsius, storing heat in the process, and by mixing the salt with polymers and nucleating agents (chemical, not nuclear physical) to prevent sedimentation, one can build a flat container (to maximize the surface to volume) heat sink to suck the afternoon heat from a living space. Whether it is as cheap and easy as these, clearly AI assisted/generated videos promise is a different issue. One genuine caveat is that what goes in must come out, i.e., for the cooler to work the next day, the previous day’s heat must dissipate over colder night, so this method will not work in steady heat but will require hot days – cold nights environment. YMMV.
Weather
Has been warmer this year. The spring in California has advanced earlier than I recall from previous year. Flowers are blooming (and withering) earlier and I have snapped a fraction of my photos as a memento to haphazardly ‘document’ their blooming times. Scientists were earlier this year worried that week’s earlier season of Joshua tree bloom would be out of sync with yucca moth breeding, but I haven’t heard any news after the initial worry. I suppose the moths figured it out, probably by using the same environmental cues as the Joshua trees.
Now, they are predicting a super El Nino at 40% probability, meaning heating, droughts, floods, and of course, bad harvests.
Jacaranda, May 31st, 2026, Berkeley, CA
On a lighter note, I realized I had not added a video recently – here are some yellow-orange flowers, June 06th, 2026
My Friday on the first week of June was a series of side quests and grinding.
It began with Microsoft having blocked my (leisure) computer due to Trojan. Then I went back to sleep and overslept. My smart phone and work machines were OK, so I could check my morning non-leisure emails. Which included checking final details of a reimbursement which had to be finalized this week. And social media. And non-essential websites. I planned to drop my infected laptop (silenced, because the alarm was blaring whenever the lid was open) to a repair shop, go to check the amount to add into the reimbursement, visit a nearby internet cafe to finish the reimbursement, then go somewhere to continue my designs. I wanted to do gift mug designs.
Despite the late morning, after getting my first espresso and discovering that the computer repair shop was not open yet, I instead went to a two county trip to discover what more was owed to me in reimbursements. Less than 3 dollars on top of everything. I should have let it go. Also, the schedule was now too tight for me to do leisurely stint in an internet cafe. Because I had to update the reimbursement info via email and read an online form, I did not have time to do other things on this trip. Except to stop for espresso and donuts. The repair shop was open by the time I got back to my home county, I left my machine there, and then went to coffee shop to finish my reimbursement form. And do some writing. And to idle. At least the reimbursement thingy is done. I hoped (the following week I needed to sign up for a new payments platform to receive my payment…) And then the computer repairman phoned that the machine was ready.
He had had to eliminate a hacked browser. Which deleted, not only all my open tabs, but also my bookmarks. I don’t want my bookmarks into cloud. In any case, if I had not had time to read them before, I would not have time to read them now, either – all my time seem to go nowadays into mindless little tasks that multiply every single year as the digital task masters invent new things to do with our free time. And if there is time is left over after the ‘helpful’ modernization (all these fancy new apps, not to mention in general dumping the stuff that company workers used to do onto their hapless clients via AI – when phoning to a customer service line, I vastly prefer human call center workers, because they can comprehend the concept of a problem beyond a limited set of preprogrammed alternatives), this time will be further eaten by some regulatory requirement or paperwork or some such nonsense. But in any case, at least my machine was repaired fast, by a human, and I am too tired to care about my unread websites.
This round ended in the afternoon. I rested for a while, after which I spent time doing laundry and updating my product SEOs. That is a long grind. visiting a coffee shop for a while. After the coffee shop visit, before I had finished the SEO for the second listing of the day, I realized that I may need to update my mockups to be compliant with new New York advertisement code, since that applies to all online shops that (potentially) sell also in New York. Better to be safe than sorry, when it comes to the whimsical enforcement of opaque rules. Because of this extra work, I dislike New York government – IMHO it is worse than California government, and that is saying something. And now I am typing here, with dinner (a quick takeaway) waiting.
I thought I would be that day designing gift mugs but I was delayed again. Regardless, my SEOs are still probably a disaster (and I don’t know if my ongoing fiddling with them will help or worsen the situation.)
It has been some time since my last jigsaw puzzles, so I thought I should add a couple.
A photo of tree bark, manipulated for color saturation, tone, brightness and contrast. It is amazing how colorful some trees are once properly appreciated. 80 pieces.
And here is a lily. I like the metallic shine of the Plastic wrap filter but I don’t think this can be easily converted into good looking physical item. 117 pieces.
Information about this got into my feed some time ago and I got interested, and this morning I started looking for info about the June 10th 2026 deadline for filing an abatement for interest and late payment penalties (part I of the text behind this link.)
I am not a tax expert but I thought I should post the links here in case it is of interest or use to someone else. Even though the filing deadline, according to the articles, is already next week.
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/05/11/kwong-v-united-states-tax-refund-deadline.html
Update: Looks like the deadline is July 10th, 2026. My bad. Or a benign Mandela Effect affecting the texts on different sites? (Much, much more likely, my bad.)
Looks like Peter Thiel, the Palantir billionaire, has moved his wife and children to a safer country, namely Argentina. Paranoids like me would be curious, why?
Mr. Thiel bankrolled J D Vance’s career, and with his Palantir surveillance and Anduril military intelligence company, is one of the powers behind the throne for Trump administration. If someone knows what is happening and when, it would be him. And considering that he is probably one of the most powerful men in USA, if not in the world, idea of him moving his family to safety from what is supposed to be the world’s most powerful superpower, despite owning a substantial fraction of its oligopoly of violence and being a billionaire.
I first read about it yesterday morning and got curious.
Some of these articles speculate that he might be fleeing billionaire taxes. Ultra-wealthy in general have been buying additional residency permits and passports in various countries for “just in case”, often to park their assets to lower tax region. Maybe Mr Thiel was tax planning, but I think he has a small army of accountants and lawyers, not to mention a layered multinational corporate structure to minimize tax consequences, even if Palantir and Anduril would need to be nominally American to officially maintain security clearances. Some mention that he is worried about nuclear war and the Southern Hemisphere would be less affected by the exchange.
I thought that maybe the fire he was fleeing was not nuclear but from torches of pitchfork crowd. The sentiment online has during past few years considerably hardened on both left and right sides of the isle against billionaires and AI and surveillance state, and Mr. Thiel represents all three, and probably knows about the rising sentiment, having the first hand access to online moods.
Then, later yesterday, I saw a link to this posting…
I instinctively mistrust when an anonymous leak is fed through influencer (which used to be a mainstream paper like New York Times and it famous Deep Throat), but if true, could explain why Mr. Thiel felt a need to relocate, at least his family, despite being very influential individual in US politics, due to providing the tools for the surveillance state (and modern military).
Also, while I understand the need to protect his family, his quest for additional passports (New Zealand and Malta were mentioned) feels in this light a bit like a rat fleeing a sinking ship after gnawing a hole in the hull. In any case, he does not seem to have much loyalty to United States. The same could be said about the other 0.001%ers, who have helped to grow this Doomsday Machine of an economic system and are scouring the globe for bugout residencies – loot a country and flee with profits to the next jurisdiction.
What I would like to know, what are the 0.001% going to do when they run out of countries to loot? What is the end game? A luxury bunker? Face the torches and pitchforks? (And in reverse, what is there for us peasants after everything is gone)? Is there a backup plan? (Other than build an AI master and hope that it will solve the mess – BTW did they hear that it only takes 250 data points to poison even a large LLM? Do they trust the input data? Or do they just “Trust The Plan” – assuming there is one?)
By the way: New Zealand, which was fashionable some years ago, is now suffering from energy crisis brought by long-term malinvestment, meaning any bunkers there better be stocked with fuel. And anything else imported with planes or ships that require fuel to function.
