Progress in Paradise...

Progress in Paradise...  You may recall the Mormon horde that swept through our property two weeks ago, making massive brush piles from cleaned-up deadwood and brush, and ripping out almost a half mile of five-strand barbed wire fence.  In the interim Debbie and I cleaned up and burned all the smaller brush, but a good-sized stack of larger wood remained.  In between rainstorms last week, I sawed up about half of these logs.  This morning, I sawed up the rest of them.  The result is roughly a half cord of 18" logs.  Some of these need splitting, but otherwise it's all good firewood.

About three-quarters of the logs were black willow.  That wood burns hot and clean, but it's relatively soft.  The rest is box elder (a kind of maple), and that wood is hard – so hard that cutting it up made the chainsaw blade smokin' hot, and required quite a bit of physical effort to get the blade to “bite” into the wood.  There was one particular box elder log, about 20' long, that looks like it has been drying out for many years.  I'm going to save the pieces of that one for turning on my lathe.

Now I'm back in the house, recovering from the (substantial) physical exertion of all that sawing.  Plus, it's actually warm outside (about 80°), and that added to the physical impact.  I'm about to help my recovery along by eating some beef stew that my lovely bride just finished cooking.  As soon as she gets the gravy made, it's time to eat!  After I recover from eating that meal, we'll go load up all that wood in my pickup, and then stack it in the shed.  That's the last step to finishing up the work done two weeks ago by the Mormon horde...

Update (4:30 pm)...  All the wood has been moved and stacked.   It turned out to be more like 2/3 of a cord.  With that plus the additional half cord or so that my neighbor is giving me, I should be nice and toasty in my office all winter!

The beef stew was delicious, by the way.  You should have been here!  There are some leftovers, but they'll be gone long before any of you can get here :)

After all the hard work today, we decided that we felt like ice cream floats.  We just got back from a jaunt to Ridley's, where we got some Americana sodas and some Tillamook ice cream.  They're in the deep freeze now, and in an hour or so we're gonna have us a good old fashioned ice cream float!

Update (6:30 pm)...  Those ice cream floats (I had vanilla bean ice cream in black cherry soda) were every bit as good as we were hoping.  Yum!  Now for a walkie with  the doggies, and we're off to bed.  I suspect I'll sleep well tonight...

Robins in Paradise...

Robins in Paradise...  While we were sipping our tea and coffee on our balcony this morning, we noticed a pair of robins were frequently flying into a mostly-dead tree in our front yard.  This tree is on our project list to be replaced, but we won't be doing that for a while – there's a busy robin's nest there!  The photo at left below shows the nest, which is just over 6 feet off the ground.  That photo includes nearly the entire still-living tree.  The right photo shows the four chicks in the nest...

Paradisical Perambulations...

Paradisical Perambulations...  Debbie and I and the three dogs took a most pleasant walk up the road to our east this morning.  The day could hardly have been nicer: blue sky with a few puffy clouds, 68°, 30% humidity, and a light breeze from the south.  Lush green fields and pastures completely surrounded us.  The dogs bounded through an alfalfa field that's nearly ready to cut.  A few photos and a bounding video:

If Bernie Sanders didn't actually exist...

If Bernie Sanders didn't actually exist ... then right-wing comedians would have to invent him.  But ... he does exist!

An interesting failure...

An interesting failure...  Are we alone in the universe?

Progress in Paradise...

Progress in Paradise...  Yesterday was the first day that the lawn was dry enough to even think about mowing – and the grass was nearly 6" high on average.  The rains over the past 10 days really pushed the growth.  So I mowed the whole yard, which worked better than I was expecting – the mower never sank into the soil, and the blades never clogged up with wet grass (though I did eject a few truly magnificent grass blobs!).

After I finished mowing, we headed up to WalMart to buy fertilizer.  My brother Scott (aka Mr. Green Thumb) recommended Ironite, but the price of that (for our 3 acres of lawn) stopped me.  We went for this stuff instead, for a small fraction of the cost.  Strictly by the numbers, it should be good stuff, with nitrogen, potassium, and iron.  We'll see.  I spread 300 pounds of it yesterday afternoon in less than an hour, thanks to the tow-behind-the-mower fertilizer spreader I bought last year.  That thing works great!

While I was doing all that, Debbie went to work getting our balcony ready for use this season.  You can see the result in the photo at right, which I took just a few minutes ago (just after sunrise this morning).  The view is to the southwest, over the Little Bear River's bottom and into the Wellsville Mountains.  The little red cafe table you can just barely see comes with a couple of matching chairs, and there are four pots with roses and some other flowers.  This is a very pleasant spot to sit and enjoy our morning caffeinated beverage, or a glass of wine in the evening.  This morning we were visited by a hummingbird checking out the roses – and that immediately prompted us to order some hooks to hang hummingbird feeders off the balcony rail.  If we're lucky, we'll attract some orioles too.  We've seen a pair of Bullock's orioles along the irrigation canal on the south side of our property.  If we keep food out, maybe we'll attract some more, like we did in Jamul!

Dog lovers...

Dog lovers ... prepare to bawl your eyes out.  Poh the dog's great adventure...

Firewalls are dead?

Firewalls are dead?  That's just one consequence of the changes that are sweeping the tech world.  If you're interested in enterprise IT security, the presentation at right is quite interesting.

I'd say that firewalls have been relatively ineffective for quite a few years now.  Keeping a single firewall patched and configured correctly is a big job all by itself, perhaps impossibly so.  Keeping all the firewalls a typical enterprise has patched and configured correctly is harder by a couple orders of magnitude.  Add to that the fact that by their very nature, the protections of firewalls lag behind the threats in the real world.  Firewalls are never up to date, even if you have the latest patches and configurations applied.  Making the publicly-exposed apps secure is the first and most obvious step; making all apps secure is the holy grail.

In my last job before retiring, I worked with over a hundred large enterprise customers.  There was a wide range on competence in their approaches to security, but by far the most popular approach was something like “buy all the right stuff, know all the right buzzwords, but actually know very little”.  There were a few enterprises I worked with that actually had very competent, right-on-top-of-things security teams who took their work very seriously – but these were notable exceptions.  There were many occasions when I was allowed physical access to “secure” facilities with no proof whatsoever of who I was (not even an ID check!), and many is the time I was allowed to plug my laptop right into their network.  On a few memorable occasions I was given access credentials (including administrative access) to the company's critical systems.  One time I called into a customer – a household name that anyone would recognize – I had never personally met, and at the end of the phone call I had VPN access and their Windows Domain Administrator credentials.  Crazy!

But my favorite unsecurity experience involves a government organization (of course!).  I won't name the city involved, but it was a large western U.S. city with a recently centralized IT department.  The IT facilities were scattered around the city, in a couple dozen places; these were the formerly standalone facilities for each of the city departments.  I arrived in town to help them deploy a test version of our product, and that required setting up a server in each of these facilities.  The IT manager handed me a key ring with labeled keys for each facility, a spreadsheet with credentials for each server (they had about 200), gave me a map of the facilities locations, and told me to go for it.  I was never asked for any identification, never asked to maintain confidentiality, and nobody even asked me for the keys and spreadsheet back!

I was frequently amused by IT organization's focus on things like firewalls.  Most of them had far worse security problems than out-of-date firewalls, and the problems didn't appear to be on anyone's schedule to be fixed...

Porcupine Reservoir is full!

Porcupine Reservoir is full!  We took a drive up there (map at right) this afternoon (photos below) and were delighted to see that the dam is spilling over – the reservoir is full to the brim.

This is most excellent news for all of us in the southern Cache Valley who depend on Porcupine Reservoir for our summer irrigation water.  Just a month ago everyone here was worried about a water shortage – now we're actually a little bit ahead of the water curve.  Most years the draw from the reservoir would already have started.  Not this year!  We're sopping wet at the moment.  The storm total ended up being 3.7 inches just north of Paradise, and it will have been something similar over the entire southern Cache Valley.

This is such a pretty drive for us, south from our home through the beautiful farms and towns of Paradise and Avon, then up the canyon to the reservoir.  There isn't any stretch of that drive that isn't pleasing to the eye.  This time of year, the fields are full of babies: colts, calves, kids, lambs, and more.  The trees and waterways are full of chicks and fledglings.  The fields are lush shades of green, as are the hills all the way up to the mountain peaks.  Lots of plants are still in bloom, though that's winding down.  The smells of farms and forest fill our nostrils on the whole trip, and the sounds of farm animals, birds, insects, and frogs are with us all the way.  As I write this the sun is setting, and around our house we hear dozens of birds complaining about the night time that is about to start.

We feel lucky as hell to live here...

The new peace...

The new peace...  An excellent short documentary on the astonishing reduction in war-related deaths since WWII.  There were no surprises in here for me, but I'll bet that for most people born after about 1980 it's chock full of 'em...

Medical instruments of a century ago...

Medical instruments of a century ago...  I don't generally suffer from the “good old days syndrome” – and things like these are amongst the reasons why.  Not to mention the fact that I would never have reached my age (62) a hundred years ago, because back then they had no idea how to treat my pernicious anemia.  I would have died from it a couple of decades earlier...

Powerless in Paradise...

Powerless in Paradise...  We were without power for several hours yesterday.  The outage was caused by someone hitting a power pole just north of our place, snapping it off at the base.  The pickup that hit the pole ended up in the irrigation canal alongside the highway, with its nose aimed right at our neighbor's (Tim and Jeannie D.) house!  When I walked over to see if I could help, the police on scene told me everybody was ok; no serious injuries.  Both Tim and Jeannie were away at the time of the accident, so I called Tim to let him know what happened – and he told me someone else had hit that same pole just a few years ago!  The thing must have a target on it :)

We need a generator.  We've lost count, but this is either the fifth or sixth power outage we've had this year...

Best dog story evah?

Best dog story evah?  My pistol-packing mama thinks it just might be:

A guy is driving around the back woods of Montana and he sees a sign in front of a broken down shanty-style house: 'Talking Dog For Sale'.  He rings the bell and the owner appears and tells him the dog is in the backyard.

The guy goes into the backyard and sees a nice looking Labrador retriever sitting there.

'You talk?' he asks.

'Yep,' the Lab replies.

After the guy recovers from the shock of hearing a dog talk, he says 'So, what's your story?'

The Lab looks up and says, 'Well, I discovered that I could talk when I was pretty young. I wanted to help the government, so... I told the CIA.

In no time at all they had me jetting from country to country, sitting in rooms with spies and world leaders, because no one figured a dog would be eavesdropping.'

'I was one of their most valuable spies for eight years running...but the jetting around really tired me out, and I knew I wasn't getting any
younger so I decided to settle down. I signed up for a job at the airport to do some undercover security, wandering near suspicious characters and listening in.  I uncovered some incredible dealings and was awarded a batch of medals.'

'I got married, had a mess of puppies, and now I'm just retired.'

The guy is amazed. He goes back in and asks the owner what he wants for the dog.

'Ten dollars,' the guy says.

'Ten dollars? This dog is amazing! Why on earth are you selling him so
cheap?'

'Because he's a Bullshitter. He's never been out of the yard'

Curiosity finds layers on Mars...

Curiosity finds layers on Mars...  Tiny, thin layers.  I'm no geologist, but to me this says WATER.  All the ways I know that such layers can form involve water with minerals in solution, either invading a crack, or evaporating from a flat surface.  This image was taken with the MAHLI camera, so it is highly magnified.  It was processed with focus-merge, so there is an unusually deep field of focus.  (Many) more here...

“...because our feeble American brains cannot fully comprehend the awesomeness of organized labor.”

“...because our feeble American brains cannot fully comprehend the awesomeness of organized labor.”  Snatched from an excellent post by Frank Soto on Ricochet...

Two ways to see this...

Two ways to see this...  Watch the video at right, then read this.

Most software engineers viewing this will have the same reaction I did: some variant of “Holy crap!” Why?  Because that robot is doing something that is incredibly challenging to program, especially in real time.  Almost every element of that robot, from sensors to actuators, poses a very difficult programming challenge.  That challenge is even harder if the solution you're seeking is a general one (i.e., let this robot run anywhere and jump over obstacles) as the MIT program is, and not a specific one (i.e., jump over this set of specific obstacles). 

Most other people will look at this and say something like “Well, this is cool and all, but what else can it do?  Just run?”

And in a very roundabout way, that's why I'm not too worried about artificial intelligence powered robots taking over the world anytime soon :)  It's just too damned hard for conventional computers and conventional programming methods, no spectacular breakthroughs are around the corner (at least, none that I know of), and consumer expectations are light-years ahead of the reality.  I suspect that the spawn of Roomba is what we can reasonably expect for quite a long time...

Lawn freckles...

Lawn freckles...  For some time now, I've been trying to figure out why we have clumps of darker green, faster growing grass in our lawn.  I called them “lawn freckles”, and the grass in them is what I'd like the whole lawn to have.  You can see one of these freckles in the photo at right.

At first I thought these freckles were actually a different kind of grass that somehow was getting established in our lawn.  Then I noticed that the freckles would come and go.  The final clue was that the freckles never appeared where I didn't walk the dogs.  That's when the lamp of understanding was illuminated: lawn freckles are where the dogs pooped and we failed to pick it up (with three dogs, it's sometimes hard to keep track of who's doing what at any given moment). 

After doing a little reading (and multiple sources agree), I've discovered that the reason we have these islands of goodness instead of islands of burned spots is simply that its been raining all the time!  When the rain stops – and it may have done so now – we're going to have little brown burned spots all over, instead of these freckles.

But I think the real message is that my lawn desperately needs some nitrogen.  I think I'll be visiting the fertilizer store sometime soon now...

The “Coyote Principle”...

The “Coyote Principle”...  Via my lovely bride:

California

The Governor of California is jogging with his dog along a nature trail. A coyote jumps out and attacks the Governor's dog, then bites the Governor.

• The Governor starts to intervene, but reflects upon the movie "Bambi" and then realizes he should stop because the coyote is only doing what is natural.
• He calls animal control. Animal Control captures the coyote and bills the state $200 testing it for diseases and $500 for relocating it.
• He calls a veterinarian. The vet collects the dead dog and bills the State $200 testing it for diseases.
• The Governor goes to hospital and spends $3,500 getting checked for diseases from the coyote and on getting his bite wound bandaged.
• The running trail gets shut down for 6 months while Fish & Game conducts a $100,000 survey to make sure the area is now free of dangerous animals.
• The Governor spends $50,000 in state funds implementing a "coyote awareness program" for residents of the area.
• The State Legislature spends $2 million to study how to better treat rabies and how to permanently eradicate the disease throughout the world.
• The Governor's security agent is fired for not stopping the attack. The state spends $150,000 to hire and train a new agent with additional special training re the nature of coyotes.
• PETA protests the coyote's relocation and files a $5 million suit against the state.

Texas

The Governor of Texas is jogging with his dog along a nature trail. A coyote jumps out and attacks his dog.

• The Governor shoots the coyote with his state-issued pistol and keeps jogging. The Governor has spent $.50 on a .45 ACP hollow point cartridge.
• The buzzards eat the dead coyote.

And that, my friends, is why California is broke and Texas is not.

Here in Utah, I think the solution would be even cheaper than in Texas. Our governor would most likely grab a nearby rock and bonk the coyote over the head, costing the taxpayers nothing...

Adventures in Paradise...

Adventures in Paradise...  Just before we headed for bed last night, Debbie happened to glance out the window (it was still light), and noticed that our neighbor's horses were all excited about something.  That's unusual behavior for them at that hour, so she looked around a bit for the source of the excitement – and noticed that another neighbor's cow and sheep had escaped their paddock.

That cow (which is named Anabelle) is about a year old, and is a Dexter.  The photo at right is not of Anabelle, but it looks a lot like her.  Those are small cows, bred to be useful for both milk and beef.  They're also notoriously ornery.  When we spotted Anabelle, she was practically dancing around the neighbor's parcel – she looked like she was about as joyful as a cow could possibly be.  The sheep just followed Anabelle all over the place.

Well, we watched for a minute to see if our neighbors (Nick and Maria S., plus five kids) saw what was happening.  We called them, but got their answering machine.  Figuring they must not be home, we ran out – I dashed over on my ATV, and Debbie drove over.

By the time we got there, a couple minutes later, two of the kids (the only two who were home) had seen the commotion and were out trying to herd them back in.  Another couple of neighbors also came over to help, and after just a couple minutes more, Nick and Maria came home with the rest of the kids.  We had quite a crowd out there trying to corral the miscreants!

Nick quickly found the escape point: Anabelle had pushed the bottom of one stretch of fence up and out.  He fixed that, and the rest of us ran around like mad men trying to convince Anabelle that she should go back in the paddock.  Anabelle did not want to go back – she was really enjoying her freedom.  Maria, we discovered, was already quite fed up with this ornery cow.  We all sense hamburger (or possibly a sale) in Anabelle's future.

Debbie and I came home laughing about the experience.  The animals' escape had turned into a very enjoyable social outing for us and several neighbors :)

Adventures in Wally World...

Adventures in Wally World...  After a most enjoyable lunch at Jack's, we stopped at Walmart on the way home so I could run in and get a few supplies.  I was standing in front of the paper towel display, somewhat bewildered by the selection on offer and trying to figure out which I should buy.  Where I was standing was near the end of an aisle, so there were two passages near me – the aisle I was in, and the cross-connector aisle it abutted.

As I wrestled with my paper towel decision, I suddenly heard mad giggling.  A little girl – maybe six or seven years old – burst around the corner.  She looked like she was part Chinese, with long jet-black hair arranged in pony tails with big red ribbon bows tying them.  Those pigtails were flying completely out of control, and she was waving her hands and giggling as she ran behind me.  I turned around to watch her – her joy was infectious, and by the time she passed me and I was watching her disappear down the aisle, I was laughing myself.

Until suddenly I was knocked over, flat on my face.  My empty shopping cart went scooting down the aisle, and I flipped over to discover that I had a young lady stretched out on top of me.  It was the little girl's mother, a Chinese woman who was perhaps 25 years old, and in the process of changing her countenance from one of laughter to one of shock.  Just as I was figuring out what had just happened to me, the little girl came running back – crying.  It couldn't have been more than three seconds since she ran by laughing and giggling, and here she was somehow already crying and fearful.

A minute or so later, the little girl (named Chamomile!) was back to being happy.  Her mom was just fine, and she was now worried about me.  I was myself now pondering a completely different problem, this time of physics: how on earth could this woman (named Suzy), who couldn't weigh even 90 pounds and was only about 5' tall, have knocked me down with such force?  I figure she must have traveling at about 0.5 C (half the speed of light, for you non-nerds) to have pulled that off!

Suzy fussed over me for a while, but eventually I convinced her that I wasn't likely to die anytime soon, didn't need an ambulance or even a medical exam, and she and Chamomile left to do their shopping.  I finished mine and got into a checkout line with my shopping cart.  It looked like something out of a cartoon, with giant plastic wrapped collections of paper towels piled perilously high.  The clerk checking me out looked at my cart resignedly, and started scanning things.  As she was ringing up my stuff, Suzy came over to check on me again.  She seemed surprised to find me still conscious and apparently functioning :)  After she left, my checkout lady was very curious about why all the fuss from Suzy, so I told her the story.  She said, with a serious face, "We frown on knocking customers down at Walmart!" – and then cracked a smile.

All in all, I didn't really mind getting knocked down...