David Siskind | Sunday, 25 January 2026
Finally, feet on the ground in LA. It was touch and go getting my “Fit to Fly” certification from docs in Cambodia. In the end I enlisted an old friend and her daughter, both excellent physicians, and they, with the open and collegial cooperation of a Cambodian internist, went over all the data and decided the likely problem was due to mechanical trauma resulting in a burst Baker’s cyst. So much for any radical interventions or delays returning home. During the 15 hour leg from Singapore to LA, I performed my stupid little dance movements hourly in a narrow walkway between the two banks of restrooms mid-plane. I landed in fine fettle with almost a bounce in my step, feet relatively slender and beautiful. No clots. Customs was a breeze. Global Entry gets more efficient every time I travel. Almost no holdup at all taking 2 or 3 minutes, tops, waiting in line. Easy peasy - then home.
I was eager to get back to my frequent Pan Pacific Park casting practices and went out this morning. Paul convinced me to emphasize the Spey Cast series and I dug into the double speys for the first time in a year. He said that beyond learning these casts for their obvious utility, in rivers and generally, for change in direction, spending a month or two training them up has a WTF effect, encouraging qualitative leaps in a student’s casting skills across the board. I believe it, so I'll do it.
Knowing how to make the casts is a little different than knowing how to train them, for me at least. For instance, working on the double spey this morning, dangle to the left, sweep to the right shoulder, I had a little difficulty after making the D-loop, finding enough room going forward to apply anywhere near-nuff power compared with even a languid cast with a full backcast. I want to explore this more tomorrow and I’m looking for a way. Even though there aren’t many movements in the Spey cast, it is still more complicated than an ordinary pickup and laydown. So it might pay to break it down. Maybe learn to place an anchor anywhere, then learn to form the full D with the anchor in its plane. Also examining where the anchor has to be for an effective jump-roll cast as line length varies. I’m just throwing these out for my own consideration, in an effort to build a set of constraints that will allow me to train around simpler tasks that will ultimately speed putting these together. I’m hoping in a day or two.
I went back to Rob Gray’s How We Learn to Move, where he discusses "Stochastic Resonance.” How with proper constraints, ideally developed by a skilled trainer, variation can be allowed and encouraged as repetition then allows the learner to reinforce ideal results. The right moves pop out of the noise. This stuff appeals to me. I fear just repeating movements without this can lead down a rat-hole, slowing progress and reinforcing ineffective movements. Resonance is likely occurring but around poor and random cues, creating a disordered result. I think about my thermodynamics classes more than 50 years ago. Entropy, usually defined as a measure of disorder, is also seen as a function of the multiplicity of possible states, which, in casting, could include the natural variability we bring because we are not machines and intentional variations of grip and stance. Without constraints variability around the whole cast increases, goals and cues are obscured and results show it. I’m going to think a little more about breaking this down a little.
There’s more trouble in Minnesota today. Alex Pretti, a registered nurse, filming DHS agents and assisting a woman who was knocked down to her feet was pepper sprayed twice, pushed face to the ground, both hands visible and shot 10 times as he lay lifeless. The agents then scattered. The Minnesota authorities, police included, are outraged, investigations are being blocked by the Feds. This is bad. The needle has jumped out of its groove and all of a sudden new worlds of possible outcomes seem plausible. I could try to handicap them but what do I know? I’ve read so many; election cancellations, corrupted vote counting, the absorption of a willing Alberta, crushing of dissent, another stroke, a general’s uprising, the 25th amendment, impeachment. All of these could be imagined more credulously than ever I remember. Add Davos and the cluster around Greenland to the mix and I’m not sure how to think about what I can possibly do to make a difference. The multiplicity of outcomes seems entropic. Three more years of this level of violence seems like the end.
Help,
David Siskind