Shocker!

Yesterday morning when I left for work, our house looked just like it has for the past ten years or so.  When I got home yesterday afternoon, things had changed a bit.  Roughly half our old roof had been stripped off, down to the wood.  An enormous (40 cubic yard) dumpster was parked in our driveway.  And a large amount of building materials were piled in front of our house.

While I was away at work, our roofing contractor showed up (on the promised day, at the promised time!), the dumpster showed up (as ordered), and the demolition crew went right to work.  That's very comforting for this homeowner who's just entered into another large contract (the last one didn't work out so well).  This time we did everything the way you're supposed to: we verified the license of the contractor, verified his bond and insurance, checked with the BBB and every other online source we could think of, and checked his references.  All good.  Fingers crossed!

There's something about the human brain (well, mine, at least) that is thrown out of kilter when there's a large change to your environment. This happened to me upon seeing our house when I came home – it just looked so wrong!

Kindle DX Update...

Questions, I get questions...  Now that I've had my Kindle DX for a couple weeks, what do I think of it?  Am I using it?

The more I use it, the more I love it.  And I'm using it a lot.  I've got just over 150 books loaded onto it now, and about 135 of those were free (mostly from Project Gutenberg).  I've read 3 books on it, and I'm nearly done with the fourth (Robinson Crusoe, by Daniel Defoe – last read when I was a kid, and much better even than my memory of it).  I no longer even think about how to use it; it's become as intuitive as turning the pages in a book.

Last night, just for fun, I tried the text-to-speech feature that's built into the Kindle DX.  I have heard computer-synthesized text many times, and had never been impressed with it, so my expectations were low – but I was pleasantly surprised by the Kindle's computerized reader.  The male voice was clear, the speech had (mostly) appropriate inflection and pauses (like a human speaker would make), and it was perfectly understandable.  I let it read an entire page of Robinson Crusoe, which included a dozen or so place names and other proper nouns that text-to-voice systems often screw up (because they're not in its internal dictionary).  Everything was pronounced either perfectly or very close to it.  I had no trouble whatsoever understanding the entire page.  I could imagine listening to a book on my commute with this thing...

Debbie has been resisting even looking at the Kindle.  Last night she borrowed it to check it out.  I'm gonna hazard a guess here: we're likely going to be a two-Kindle family someday soon...

Climate Absolution?

Not so much...

Beautiful Ontario Lacus Lake...

Beautiful, that is, if you don't mind the oxygen-free atmosphere, or swimming in a mixture of liquid methane, ethane, and propane at a temperature of -300°F!

A Hot Weekend...

We had a hot weekend – the first, really, of the season (much later than usual).  This morning it's much cooler, back down to the level of early last week.

Saturday I made some lime gelato, picking and choosing ideas from several recipies.  The result is very good – tart and smooth.  I learned one thing that's worth passing along to fellow citrus-dessert lovers: an easy way to get the flavor from the zest, without the bitterness.  It's simple: simmer the zest in a little water-and-sugar mixture.  By adding sugar you raise the boiling point of the water; this makes it more effective at dissolving the oils in the zest that bear the flavor.  After ten minutes or so of simmering, just run the mess through a sieve, saving the now-zesty sugar water.  Yum!

We spent Saturday morning talking with a roofing contractor, and in the end, deciding to use him.  I'll keep you posted on how this goes.  Our new roof will be bright red, made of Kynar-covered 24 gauge steel.  We're having the fascia covered and soffits put in as well.  The steel roofs are completely fireproof (a very attractive feature out here in the  chaparral!), and they are not as hot as you might think, because they reflect more sunlight than a conventional shingle roof does.  In addition, as part of the work, we're having 12 dormer-style ventilators installed, which should considerably cool down our attic (and thence our house) by removing the hot air via convection.  That's the theory, anyway...

The Feynman Algorithm...

Here it is:

1. Write down the problem.
2. Think real hard.
3. Write down the solution. 

Har!

Much more here...

Clamorous Needs...

Peggy Noonan, at the top of her game:

Youth is supposed to bring vigor and vision. In general, however, I think we find in our modern political figures that what it really brings is need—for greatness, to be transformative, to leave a legacy. Such clamorous needs! How very boring they are, how puny and small, but how huge in their consequences.

You'll want to read the whole thing...

People and Probability...

Interesting piece on how people perceive and think about probability...

Women in Software Development...

Why are programmers overwhelmingly male?  Eric's theory: women are unwilling to eat shit.

Twelve Hours in the Chaparral...

Yesterday afternoon when I drove home, we had some unusual weather: thunderstorms, complete with rain and lightning, and dramatic lighting effects.  Usually these storms are confined to the tallest mountainous areas, ten or fifteen miles east of us.  We had several periods with enough rain to thoroughly wet the dry ground.

Debbie got home an hour or so before I did.  On the way home, she drove along Campo Road (State 94) near Steele Canyon High School.  She spotted a frightened little dog there, and stopped to get it out of the road.  She opened the door to her truck and the dog jumped right in, obviously happy to get out of her precarious situation.  The dog was an older female Shiba Inu, and it had a collar with a phone number and the dog's name: “Bandit”.  By the time I got home, Bandit was in a crate in our living room, looking calm and unruffled by recent events and the strange people and animals surrounding her.

Debbie called the number on Bandit's collar, but got only an answering machine.  She left a message, but nobody had called by the time I got home.  I tried googling the phone number, on the off chance it was listed someplace, and struck gold: it was listed as the business number for a web site selling boats.  From there I was able to find an email address, and I fired off a message about Bandit.  An hour or so later, I got a response from Ray: yes, Bandit was their dog – and they didn't know she was missing, and were very happy to hear she was safe!  Ray called his wife Carol, and a few minutes later Carol called us: she was on the way out here to pick Bandit up.

But Carol had to drive from Pt. Loma, a long way from Jamul.  It turns out they were putting new flooring in their house, and while all that work was going on they had left Bandit with a friend who lived out near Jamul.  Then the thunderstorms started, and most likely all the noise spooked Bandit into fleeing their friend's yard.  Next thing you know, Pt. Loma Bandit is lost in Jamul!  Carol made it out to our general neighborhood, but called us from her cell phone, lost about five miles away.  We told her to park, and we piled ourselves and Bandit in Debbie's truck.  A few minutes later, Carol and Bandit had a happy reunion.  A nice happy ending to a lost animal story...

When we pulled into our driveway, we noticed that the mosses on the boulders in our yard had all turned bright green from the moisture.  The heat and humidity were still oppressive, so we left the house closed up and the air conditioning on all night.  This morning it's clear in our area, and as I walked the dogs I could see the Milky Way, bright and crisp, stretching from our north to the southwest, nearly directly overhead.  A planet (Saturn, I think) was bright, high in the eastern sky.  To our west, some low clouds were lit up by the cities.  The air was still humid, and therefore full of scents.  I could hear the tree frogs, out because of the rain.  I also heard several birds calling, perhaps an owl whose cry I don't recognize.  The dogs were excited by traces of some animal that had visited us; no telling what that was.

A most unusual twelve hours in the chaparral!

Cold to Hot...

We've had unseasonably cool weather for the past few weeks, but that ended quite abruptly yesterday.  When I got home from work, the house was at 88°F – and we had to resort to turning on the air conditioner for the first time this year.

Last year we turned it on in May.

The forecast for the next few days is for temperatures approaching 100°F.  The chaparral summer has officially arrived...

Feline Smile of the Day...

Via my catty wife:

Ouch!

Clive Crook – who is not a global warming skeptic – rips into the several ClimateGate investigations...

End of the Road for Telecomms?

Eric thinks this invention, coupled with Google's support, just might do it...

Warrior Song: U.S. Marines Version...

I read recently of a study that asked the leaders of military and paramilitary organizations worldwide what force they would least like to oppose. Over 80% of the respondents put the U.S. Marines at the top of that list.

Hooah!

Operator Error...

Those of us in the software business are very aware of the “operator error” problem – some behavior the user didn't expect, but which was actually caused by something the user unwittingly did.  With software, most of the time the real problem turns out to be a misleading or unobvious user interface design.  Some fraction of operator errors, though, are things you're never going to be able to fix by redesigning the user interface.  For example, if someone insists on putting their name into a field labeled “street address”, there's probably nothing you can do about it.

Toyota's notorious “sudden acceleration” problems turn out to be a case of operator error – users (overwhelmingly senior citizens) were stomping on the accelerator instead of the brake.  It's not obvious to me what one can do about such a thing...

If Obama's the Answer...

Forwarded by my lovely wife:

Obamopoly...

From reader Simi L.  Click to enlarge:

Government Prosecutorial Abuse...

Scary stuff...

Huh?

I don't know if this is real or if it's parody, so I don't know whether to laugh or cry:

Stay away from the History Channel. Unlike most of the other networks, they don't even try to make their stuff believable.

Quotes on Programming...

Stack Overflow has a thread with a great collection of quotes about programming, like this one:

If debugging is the process of removing software bugs, then programming must be the process of putting them in.

-- Edsger Dijkstra

Bumper Sticker of the Day...

Another from the collection my mom forwarded to me:

Hummingbirds...

Via reader Simi L.:


I gotta see this flick!

I Don't Care...

My mom forwarded me an email that was allegedly sent by “a housewife in Brunswick.”  A quick check on Snopes showed that it was actually an edited version of a column by Doug Patton of GOPUSA – and I think the original was even better.  It's short, so I've reproduced the whole thing:

First, Newsweek pulled a Dan Rather on us, running a fabricated story just because they wanted it to be true. They told the world that an American guard at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detention center had ripped pages from a prisoner's Koran and flushed it down a toilet. As a result, innocent people died when practitioners of Islam rioted in protest in Afghanistan.

Oops, said Newsweek, it seems we can't back up our story. Oh well, it's probably true; we just can't prove it. (Isn't it convenient for Newsweek that the media now have "Deep Throat" to talk about so they can revel in their glory days and divert our attention from their criminal negligence.)

The lie heard round the world about the flushed Koran has caused convulsions in the Bush Administration and forced the Pentagon to launch an investigation of unfounded allegations contained in an unsubstantiated story. The results of said investigation are now in, and it seems there are at least five incidents of "mishandling" of the Koran at Gitmo.

Well, guess what? I don't care!

Are we fighting a war on terror or aren't we? Was it or was it not started by Islamic people who brought it to our shores on September 11, 2001? Were people from all over the world, mostly Americans, not brutally murdered that day, in downtown Manhattan, across the Potomac from our nation's capitol and in a field in Pennsylvania? Did nearly three thousand men, women and children die a horrible, burning death that day, or didn't they?

And I'm supposed to care that a copy of the Koran was "desecrated" when an overworked American soldier kicked it or got it wet? Well, I don't. I don't care at all.

I'll start caring when Osama bin Laden turns himself in and repents for incinerating all those innocent people on 9/11.

I'll care about the Koran when the fanatics in the Middle East start caring about the Holy Bible, the mere possession of which is a crime in Saudi Arabia.

I'll care when Abu Musab al-Zarqawi tells the world he is sorry for hacking off Nick Berg's head while Berg screamed through his gurgling, slashed throat.

I'll care when the cowardly so-called "insurgents" in Iraq come out and fight like men instead of disrespecting their own religion by hiding in mosques.

I'll care when the mindless zealots who blow themselves up in search of nirvana care about the innocent children within range of their suicide bombs.

I'll care when the American media stops pretending that their First Amendment liberties are somehow derived from international law instead of the United States Constitution's Bill of Rights.

I'll care when Clinton-appointed judges stop ordering my government to release photos of the abuses at Abu Ghraib, which are sure to set off the Islamic extremists just as Newsweek's lies did a few weeks ago.

In the meantime, when I hear a story about a brave marine roughing up an Iraqi terrorist to obtain information, know this: I don't care.

When I see a fuzzy photo of a pile of naked Iraqi prisoners who have been humiliated in what amounts to a college hazing incident, rest assured that I don't care.

When I see a wounded terrorist get shot in the head when he is told not to move because he might be booby-trapped, you can take it to the bank that I don't care.

When I hear that a prisoner, who was issued a Koran paid for by my tax dollars, is complaining that his holy book is being "mishandled," you can absolutely believe in your heart of hearts that I don't care.

And oh, by the way, I've noticed that sometimes it's spelled "Koran" and other times "Quran." Well, Jimmy Crack Corn and -- you guessed it -- I don't care!

Bumper Sticker of the Day...

From a collection forwarded by my mom:

The Climategate Whitewash Continues...

Environmental scientist Patrick Michaels has an interesting column up at the WSJ, in which he lambastes the recent Muir Russell report that essentially exonerated all the Climategate scientists and their organizations.  He also says this:

Climate Research and several other journals have stopped accepting anything that substantially challenges the received wisdom on global warming perpetuated by the CRU. I have had four perfectly good manuscripts rejected out of hand since the CRU shenanigans, and I'm hardly the only one. Roy Spencer of the University of Alabama, Huntsville, has noted that it's becoming nearly impossible to publish anything on global warming that's nonalarmist in peer-reviewed journals.

Read the whole thing.

Rosetta Does Lutetia...

Early indications are that the Rosetta robotic explorer's flyby of the asteroid Lutetia was a rip-roaring success.  An early photograph release of Lutetia at the closest point of the flyby is at right (click to enlarge).  More data will be forthcoming soon...

The Woman Marine Pilot...

Via my mom:

The teacher gave her fifth grade class an assignment: Get their parents to tell them a story with a moral at the end of it.

The next day, the kids came back and, one by one, began to tell their stories. There were all the regular types of stuff: spilled milk and pennies saved. But then the teacher realized, much to her dismay, that only Janie was left.

“Janie, do you have a story to share?”

“Yes ma'am. My daddy told me a story about my Mommy. She was a Marine pilot in Desert Storm, and her plane got hit. She had to bail out over enemy territory, and all she had was a flask of whiskey, a pistol, and a survival knife. She drank the whiskey on the way down so the bottle wouldn't break, and then her parachute landed her right in the middle of 20 Iraqi troops. She shot 15 of them with the pistol, until she ran out of bullets, killed four more with the knife, till the blade broke, and then she killed the last Iraqi with her bare hands.”

“Good Heavens!” said the horrified teacher. “What did your Daddy tell you was the moral to this horrible story?”

“Stay away from Mommy when she's been drinking.”

Har! And hooah!

Kindle DX, Latest Generation...

I've been thinking of buying a Kindle for quite some time now.  Earlier models all had some deficiency or other that stopped me, but when the new Kindle DX came out I knew the time had finally come.  I ordered it, and it arrived on Thursday afternoon.

Just 48 hours later, I am completely and totally addicted.

First thing I did was to find a few books I've been wanting and ordered them.  The most expensive one was 40% off of the printed book price; the cheapest was over 75% off.  Finding the books and ordering them was very easy to do right from the Kindle.  It has a built in 3G (cell phone) that it uses to contact Amazon for this purpose.  It worked perfectly the very first time, with no setup required.  Amazon has done a magnificent job making the Kindle's technology transparent to the user.  You don't have to know anything at all about how it works in order to use it – you just point and click, and stuff happens.

Then I started exploring a bit, and discovered that there are many free (or nearly so) works of literature available.  These are books on which the copyright has expired, and they're now in the public domain.  Most of these were typed in by volunteers (such as from the Gutenberg Project).  I downloaded some of these in just a few minutes, and now my Kindle has things like The Wizard of Oz, the complete works of Charles Dickens, and Pride and Prejudice.  Wow!

But it gets even better, I discovered.  You can directly download eBooks from Project Gutenberg and other such eBook libraries, all free.  About thirty seconds after I read this page, I had a copy of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea on my Kindle. 

This is just amazing – this little device, the size and weight of a modest book (though much, much thinner), holds about 3,500 books that I can take anywhere.  Never again will I run out of reading material on a flight!  Or anywhere else...

I Used to Love America More...

Oh, man, does this resonate with me...

Bumper Sticker of the Day...

Part of a collection forwarded by my mom:

Nice Article About Our Software...

My company's products are featured right now on the front page of InformationWeek, including a video demonstration of parts of the product.  Where the article is talking about discovering systems, mapping connections, and workflow...it's talking about the bits and pieces whose development I'm responsible for.  Woot!

10 Reasons...

Via my brother Mark:

When your friends can't explain why they voted for Democrats, give them this list. So they can then pick a reason.

10. I voted Democrat because I believe oil companies' profits of 4% on a gallon of gas are obscene but the government taxing the same gallon of gas at 15% isn't.

9. I voted Democrat because I believe the government will do a better job of spending the money I earn than I would.

8. I voted Democrat because Freedom of speech is fine as long as nobody is offended by it.

7. I voted Democrat because I'm way too irresponsible to own a gun, and I know that my local police are all I need to protect me from murderers and thieves.

6. I voted Democrat because I believe that people who can't tell us if it will rain on Friday can tell us that the polar ice caps will melt away in ten years if I don't start driving a Prius.

5. I voted Democrat because I'm not concerned about the loss of millions of babies through abortion so long as we keep all death row inmates alive.

4. I voted Democrat because I think illegal aliens have a right to free
health care, education, and Social Security benefits.

3. I voted Democrat because I believe that businesses should not be allowed to make profits for themselves. They need to break even and give the rest away to the government for redistribution as the government sees fit.

2. I voted Democrat because I believe liberal judges need to rewrite the Constitution every few days to suit some fringe kooks who would never get their agendas past the voters.

1. I voted Democrat because my head is so firmly planted up my rectum it is unlikely that I'll ever have another point of view.

Sign of the Day...

Judgment Day Cometh - in November!

A lot of Tea Partiers would identify with the message of this song...

Thousands of Roman Coins Found...

Near Frome, in Somerset, England, a guy named Dave Crisp, armed with a metal detector, found a large jar containing over 50,000 Roman coins buried about a foot deep.  Archaeologists believe the jar was buried somewhere around the year 300 A.D.

What a cool find!

I don't know exactly where Dave Crisp made his find, but I have visited the town of Frome a couple of times.  It's along the path of one of my favorite drives in England, between Salisbury (where Stonehenge is) and Exmoor National Park, on the way down to Cornwall...

Bomb the Mullahs!

The United Arab Emirates' ambassador to the U.S. is saying publicly that the U.A.E. would support a preemptive strike on Iran's nuclear capability.  Rumors have been swirling for months that many Arab countries were privately supporting such a move, and even that some (particularly Saudi Arabia) were covertly supporting an Israeli strike.

To anyone reasonably well informed about the Middle East, this isn't really very surprising – the Persians (Iranians) and Arabs have been at each other's throats for centuries.  To any Arab, the notion of the Persians obtaining the strategic advantage of a nuclear weapon would be all but unthinkable – an existential threat much like the threat that they themselves present to Israel...

Friends of Israel Statement...

Here.

Unemployment Benefits are the Best Stimulus?

Arthur B. Laffer says, very politely, that Pelosi is an idiot...

Geek T-Shirt of the Day...

It says:

I Reverse Polish Notation (Heart)

Excellent!

Predictable...

There's absolutely no surprise here...

Uh Oh...

Every morning I glance at this graph (Google's unemployment index).  It's updated roughly weekly.  This morning it spiked to nearly double what it was just a few weeks ago.  For whatever reason, lots more people are googling for unemployment-related terms.  It's hard to see how this could be good.  The fear, of course, is that the much-feared “double-dip” recession is upon us.  I sure hope not...

Mac Tips and Tricks...

Great collection of terminal hacks...

Back to Work...

We had a lovely dinner last night, just Debbie and I and our good friend Jim.  First course was salsa and chips, but what a salsa!  Roast corn, roast poblano peppers, avocado, roast green onions, tomatoes, and cilantro.  Excellent stuff!  Second course was barbecued pork ribs, with an apricot-based barbecue sauce, accompanied by an absolutely perfect potato salad – oh, most excellent stuff.  Finally, for dessert: homemade French vanilla ice cream with chocolate chips, smothered in a homemade fresh cherry topping.  My belly hurt when we were done, but my taste buds were very happy indeed...

I've got a very busy schedule on this short week; blogging may be light...

Unarius Documentary...

I've written about the Unarians before.  They're a group headquartered in the nearby city of El Cajon, California.  Amongst many other things, they believe that a group of 33 inter-galactic civilizations is going to land representatives on the Earth someday soon.  The only reason I have any interest in these loonies is because they've purchased land in Lawson Valley, not far from our home, where they are preparing a landing site for these representatives.  We've spotted their “flying-saucer car” driving around on a few occasions.

The following three-part series is a very straightforward documentary about the group.  It contains scenes of the flying-saucer car and of their landing site in Lawson Valley.  It also contains many clips from Unarian productions, and many of those are laugh-out-loud funny.  Until, that is, you remember that the Unarians boast a world-wide membership in the thousands.  They walk among us...

Only Israel Has No Right to Defend Itself...

To me, Israel is the only essentially sane and sober government in the Middle East.  Theirs is a lonely plight, far more so than it should be...

The Value of Competition...

What does it mean to have dozens of valedictorians in a single high school class?  Joe Bell's take is one that I mostly agree with...

Russian Spies Had Secure Communications...

Though they looked like the Keystone Kops in general, one thing the Russian spies apparently did right was communications security.  They used steganography, and their communications were never detected, much less decrypted...

A New Contender for High-Density Energy Storage...

An interesting new development from Washington State University.  Their scheme is a compression system, akin to the compressed-air storage systems, but on a molecular level with a vastly higher ratio between uncompressed and compressed states.

There are a few challenges to be overcome, however.  First, the required compression currently can only be achieved in a laboratory diamond anvil compressor – which can only compress tiny quantities at a time.  Secondly, the material used in the system is xenon difluoride (XeF₂), a powerful chemical agent that's dangerous to handle.  Despite the challenges, there are possibilities here...

Planck's First Whole-Sky Image...

Six months in the making, the highest-resolution whole-sky infrared image.  As usual, click to enlarge...

Morning Feel-Good...

Watch it through to the end – this kid is having a great time, and shows it!

Australian Humor...

Well, not really – Snopes says it's fake, and has been rewritten for other countries as well.  But the snide answers are still funny as hell.  Via my faithful reader and mom:

__________________________________________________
Q: Does it ever get windy in Australia ? I have never seen it rain on TV, how do the plants grow?
A: We import all plants fully grown and then just sit around watching them die.
__________________________________________________
Q: Will I be able to see kangaroos in the street?
A: Depends how much you've been drinking.
__________________________________________________
Q: I want to walk from Perth to Sydney - can I follow the railroad tracks?
A: Sure, it's only three thousand miles, take lots of water.
__________________________________________________
Q: Are there any ATMs (cash machines) in Australia ? Can you send me a list of them in Brisbane, Cairns, Townsville and Hervey Bay?
A: What did your last slave die of?
__________________________________________________
Q: Can you give me some information about hippo racing in Australia?
A: A-Fri-ca is the big triangle shaped continent south of Europe.
Aus-tra-lia is that big island in the middle of the Pacific which does not...
Oh forget it. Sure, the hippo racing is every Tuesday night in Kings Cross. Come naked.
__________________________________________________
Q: Which direction is North in Australia?
A: Face south and then turn 180 degrees. Contact us when you get here and we'll send the rest of the directions.
_________________________________________________
Q: Can I bring cutlery into Australia?
A: Why? Just use your fingers like we do...
__________________________________________________
Q:Can you send me the Vienna Boys' Choir schedule?
A: Aus-tri-a is that quaint little country bordering Ger-man-y, which is...
Oh forget it. Sure, the Vienna Boys Choir plays every Tuesday night in Kings Cross, straight after the hippo races. Come naked.
__________________________________________________
Q: Can I wear high heels in Australia?
A: You are a British politician, right?
__________________________________________________
Q: Are there supermarkets in Sydney and is milk available all year round?
A: No, we are a peaceful civilization of vegan hunter/gatherers. Milk is illegal.
__________________________________________________
Q: Please send a list of all doctors in Australia who can Dispense rattlesnake serum.
A: Rattlesnakes live in A-meri-ca which is where YOU come from. All Australian snakes are perfectly harmless, can be safely handled and make good pets.
__________________________________________________
Q: I have a question about a famous animal in Australia, but I forget its name. It's a kind of bear and lives in trees.
A: It's called a Drop Bear. They are so called because they drop out of Gum trees and eat the brains of anyone walking underneath them. You can scare them off by spraying yourself with human urine before you go out walking.
__________________________________________________
Q: I have developed a new product that is the fountain of youth. Can you tell me where I can sell it in Australia?
A: Anywhere significant numbers of Americans gather.
__________________________________________________
Q: Do you celebrate Christmas in Australia?
A: Only at Christmas.
__________________________________________________
Q: Will I be able to speak English most places I go?
A: Yes, but you'll have to learn it first.
__________________________________________________

The Ongoing Creation Story...

Via my mom:

In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth and populated the Earth with broccoli, cauliflower and spinach, green and yellow and red vegetables of all kinds, so Man and Woman would live long and healthy lives.

Then using God's great gifts, Satan created Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream and Krispy Creme Donuts. And Satan said, "You want chocolate with that?" And Man said, "Yes!" and Woman said, "and as long as you're at it, add some sprinkles." And they gained 10 pounds. And Satan smiled.

And God created the healthful yogurt that Woman might keep the figure that Man found so fair. And Satan brought forth white flour from the wheat, and sugar from the cane and combined them. And Woman went from size 6 to size 14.

So God said, "Try my fresh green salad." And Satan presented Thousand-Island Dressing, buttery croutons and garlic toast on the side. And Man and Woman unfastened their belts following the repast.

God then said, "I have sent you heart healthy vegetables and olive oil in which to cook them." And Satan brought forth deep fried fish and chicken-fried steak so big it needed its own platter. And Man gained more weight and his cholesterol went through the roof.

God then created a light, fluffy white cake, named it "Angel Food Cake," and said, "It is good." Satan then created chocolate cake and named it "Devil's Food."

God then brought forth running shoes so that His children might lose those extra pounds. And Satan gave cable TV with a remote control so Man would not have to toil changing the channels. And Man and Woman laughed and cried before the flickering blue light and gained pounds.

Then God brought forth the potato, naturally low in fat and brimming with nutrition. And Satan peeled off the healthful skin and sliced the starchy center into chips and deep-fried them. And Man gained pounds.

God then gave lean beef so that Man might consume fewer calories and still satisfy his appetite. And Satan created McDonald's and its 99-cent double cheeseburger. Then said, "You want fries with that?" And Man replied, "Yes! And super size them!" And Satan said, "It is good." And Man went into cardiac arrest.

God sighed and created quadruple bypass surgery.

Then Satan created HMOs and is now working on OBAMACARE.

The devil you say!

Biggest Flag Evah!

Happy Independence Day!

It's sunny and cool (just 67°F as I write this) here; a simply gorgeous day.  I played the video below just a few minutes ago and greatly enjoyed it; I hope you do as well...

Chaocipher Revealed...

John Byrnes' Chaocipher has long intrigued cryptanalysts, mainly because how it worked was never revealed and nobody could be sure that it was even real.  That has now changed: the entire system is now in the public domain, and it's both real and clever...

What Do You Get...

What do you get when you combine a cell phone with a camera, a few LEDs, and some very clever software?  A biological microscope, that's what.

Aydogan Ozcan's fiendishly ingenious idea is to use the processing power of the computer in modern cell phones to analyze an image taken with special side-lighting to create the equivalent of an expensive microscope for just a few dollars worth of plastic and LEDs.  Bravo!

Cosmic Watercolor...

From the Wide Field Imager at La Silla...

Motivational Posters, Founding Fathers Edition...

A great collection of motivational posters like the one at right, from The Art of Manliness...

The Economic Distortion of Criminalization...

The DEA helped Equador locate and confiscate a 30-foot long submarine in the jungle near the border with Columbia. DEA Andean Regional Director Jay Bergman said in a statement: “The submarine’s nautical range, payload capacity and quantum leap in stealth have raised the stakes for the counter-drug forces and the national security community alike.”

So the drug lords are financing the design and clandestine construction of a sophisticated, high technology, stealth submarine to deliver tons of cocaine to the U.S. market.  That can't be cheap – millions of dollars, certainly.  This only makes economic sense because cocaine is an illegal substance.  Take away the legal issue and transporting cocaine on high-tech submarines would be ridiculous.  It's very reminiscent of what happened during Prohibition – the high-tech of the day was liberally deployed in alcohol smuggling, and on a very similar scale (in economic terms).  The only interesting difference is that the physical volume of modern day illegal substances is much smaller than the physical volume of alcohol.

It's time to reconsider our drug criminalization laws.  Their only real beneficiaries are the drug lords and their submarine designers...

Today We Celebrate...

It's still just us, in the United States.  But maybe someday everyone will be able to celebrate their freedom from tyranny...

Flag for the Fourth...

Via reader Simi L.:

Quote of the Day...

By James Taranto, in Best of the Web Today:

We'd say anyone who thinks that John Kerry's passion is the answer is asking the wrong question.

Oh, yes. Yes, they are.

Your Chance to Grade Obama...

CBS is currently running a poll to see what Americans think of Obama's performance.  Surprisingly they're allowing people to see the results (after taking the poll), and they ain't purty  Have your say, and see what your fellow Americans are thinking...

Dolphins...

My mom forwarded a video of a “dolphin stampede” in the Sea of Cortez.  I've seen such things myself, while in the U.S. Navy cruising in the Pacific and Indian Oceans.  A little searching on YouTube turned up this video taken off the coast of San Diego.  Wherever these “stampedes occur,” they're really something to watch...

Thank You, Mr. President...

My mom forwarded this letter to me (by email).  I did some poking around the inter-tubes, trying to locate its origin – this is the closest thing I could find, and I won't call it authoritative by any means.  But whatever the letter's provenance, it raises some interesting points (some of which I've raised myself on this blog).  The general point is that Obama's incompetence and socialist tilt have roused the ire of many Americans – which has already played out to the Democrat's sorrow (think Scott Brown), and looks like it will do even more so come this November...

Written by a 82 year old very wise lady. She gives us a whole new slant on the amazing job Obama is doing:

That is right - I will say it "(THANK GOD FOR THE PRESIDENT)."

1. He destroyed the Clinton Political Machine - Driving a stake thru the heart of Hillary's Presidential aspirations - something that no Republican was ever able to do. Remember when a Hillary Presidency scared the daylights out of you!

2. He killed off the Kennedy Dynasty - No more Kennedy's trolling Washington looking for booze and women wanting rides home. American women and Freedom are safer tonight!

3. He is destroying the Democratic Party before our eyes!

Dennis Moore had never lost a race - quit
Evan Bayh had never lost a race - quit
Byron Dorgan had never lost a race - quit
Harry Reid - soon to be GONE

These are just a handful of the Democrats whose political careers Obama has destroyed! By the end of 2010 dozens more will be gone.

In December of 2008 the Democrats were on the rise. In the last two election cycles they had picked up 14 senate seats and 52 house seats. The press was touting the death of the Conservative Movement and the Republican Party. In just one year, Obama put a stop to all of this and will probably give the house, if not the senate back to the Republicans.

4. He has completely exposed liberals and progressives for what they are. Every Generation seems to need to relearn the lesson on why they should never actually put liberals in charge. He is bringing home the lesson very well.

Liberals tax, borrow and spend - check
Liberals won't bring themselves to protect America - check
Liberals want to take over the economy - check
Liberals think they know what is best for everyone - check
Liberals aren't happy till they are running YOUR life - check

5. He has brought more Americans back to conservatism than anyone since Reagan. In one year he has rejuvenated the Conservative movement and brought out to the streets millions of Freedom Loving Americans. Name me one other time in your life that you saw your friends and neighbors this interested in taking back America !

6. His amazing leadership has sparked the greatest period of sales of firearms and ammunition this country has seen. Law abiding citizens have rallied and have provided a "stimulus" to the sporting goods field while other industries have failed, faded or moved off-shore.

7. In all honesty one year ago I was more afraid than I have been in my life. Not of the economy but of the direction our country was going. I thought Americans had forgotten what this country was all about. My neighbors, friends and strangers proved to me that my lack of confidence of the Greatness and Wisdom of the American people was flat wrong.

8. When the American People wake up no smooth talking teleprompter reader can fool them!

Barack Obama woke up these Great Americans! Again I want to say Thank You Barack Obama! This is exactly the kind of hope and change we desperately needed.

You can say what you want about the South,
but you never hear of anyone retiring and moving north.

Pelosi and the Voters...

Here's serial idiot Pelosi with another outrageously stupid pronouncement (this time, that unemployment benefits are the fastest way to create new jobs). 

But she's downright brilliant compared to the voters who have returned her to office every two years for the past 24 years. 

Laugh, and Cry...

Pretty much at the same time...

Scary Charts...

Calculated Risk puts these charts together each month when the government releases its employment reports.  The first chart (at right) is the scariest one.  It's comparing percentage job losses occurring during each of the post-WWII recessions.  The current recession's job losses are far deeper than any of them, and it appears likely that the deep losses are going to last much longer than any of them.  Not good, not good at all.

The dotted line at the end of the current recession's line shows something interesting – the job situation with the effects of the census-taker jobs removed. For the 2010 census the federal government hired almost 400,000 temporary workers – more than ten times the hiring in any previous census.  (Side note: the administration tried to justify this hiring as a stimulus measure – ludicrous given the temporary nature of the jobs – but almost certainly the real motivation was to distort the census numbers in a way that would favor Democratic-leaning regions.  According to some estimates, nearly 80% of the census-takers worked in districts that voted for Obama.)

The second graph (at left) is nearly as frightening as the first.  The red line shows the unemployment rate since 1960.  The only previous time we had more than a year of above-9% unemployment was in 1982-1983, for a year and a half.  I remember this period well; I was trying to get a little business started and times were very tough indeed.  We're clearly going to go over one year of above-9% unemployment again, and probably then some. 

But to some extent the books have been cooked: these days the official unemployment number is (in my opinion) artificially lowered by removing those people deemed to have stopped looking for work.  This month a half million people were removed from the unemployment number for that reason; without this ”adjustment” the number would have gone up.  I am very suspicious of arbitrary adjustments like this – it's something that cannot be directly measured, is therefore estimated, and is therefore subject to political pressure.  If these adjustments are removed from the current number (as they are for pre-2000 numbers), the current unemployment would be approximately 11.9% – and we would have been over 9% for 19 months right now.

My conclusion is that this recession is far deeper and broader than the government announcements would have us believe.  For political reasons the Obama administration is hiding the truth from us – at least until after the mid-term elections in November...

For a Camouflage Person...

Sweet Daughter (a four year-old girl) drew the picture at right and asked her mother to give it to a “Camouflage Person” (a soldier).

Read the story.

Hamas Garbage Trucks...

Hamas, the well-known peace-loving organization that controls Gaza, has come up with a new way to bedevil the Israelis: garbage trucks that are actually disguised Kasem rocket launchers.  These look like a bit like the much-feared Soviet rocket launchers of WWII, but thankfully Hamas doesn't have them in the vast quantities that made the Katyushas so terrifying...

Factoid of the Day...

Retiring Justice Stevens was a WWII cryptographer.

Something to Look Forward Too...

The biggest tax hike in history is just six months away...

Amazon Tote...

Just when I thought Amazon had pretty much perfected the art of online retailing, they find another way to make it even better.

Dang!  They're going to own the world, I think...

Growth...

A rare work-related post:

The company I work for is growing very rapidly, and many of us are changing roles as that growth accelerates.  In my case, that means that I'm moving from being an individual contributor (something I love doing) to being a team leader.  This is not quite as much fun for me, but it has some offsetting rewards – especially the standing to help shape the future of some pieces of our product. 

So I'm building a little team.  I've got two great guys on my team now (one whom I've been working with for over a year, one just starting).  I've got two openings that I'm trying to fill – I'm looking for insanely great programmers with a strong large-enterprise IT gear familiarity (that is, people who know about things like big routers, switches, SANs, NAS, fabric switches, datacenter architecture, UPSs, etc.).  We work in Java and JavaScript (client- and server-side).  If that's you, or someone you know, there may be a mutually beneficial opportunity here – so please write me!

Knuth's Announcement...

Apparently this was more of Knuth's famous humor.  His earthshaking announcement was just an announcement of the latest version of Tex.

Sigh...

Twelve Boxes of Chocolate Ice Cream...

Via my mom:

I was reading and Dad walked over and stood in front of me with a very long face and whimpered “I only have 2 boxes of ice cream left”

SIGH!

Thankfully they are on sale this week and I shall purchase another 12 boxes...and so my life goes on and on and on...

Anyone who knows my Dad knows about his obsession with planning his next meals. We all speculate this is derived from his Great Depression-era childhood. Whatever the cause, he spends a significant part of his life thinking about where the next meal is going to come from. For example, anytime he and I went on a trip together, the moment we got underway in the car you could be sure that the next thing he'd say would something like “So...where are we going to eat lunch?”

So my mom's story seems completely in character, especially if you know about his chocolate ice cream fetish. I can easily imagine how is brain reacted upon seeing a mere 2 boxes of chocolate ice cream remaining: “Oh, noz! What am I going to eat for lunch?!?!”

Recovery...

Let's hope the voters in November 2012 see things as clearly as this demonstrator does! 

Via my mom...

Your Tax Dollars at Work...

The Deepwater Horizon well has been belching great gobs of oil into the Gulf of Mexico for months now.  Our federal government has been spending millions of dollars, hard at work on mitigating the damage and finding a cure.

Or at least, that's what Obama would have you believe.  The reality is just a bit different.  Just this morning comes the news that finally the federal government has decided to allow foreign nations to help us out.  That would be those foreign nations that own more than 90% of the world's oil spill cleanup equipment, and who have been clamoring to help since the day the well blew up.  Stories like this one have been in the press for months now.

Isn't it comforting to know that the government showing such speedy, sensible response is the same one who's going to be taking care of you if you have a medical emergency? 

Quote of the Day...

By Mary Elizabeth Williams:

And you can't build an empire on dicks.

Today's the Big Day...

What's Knuth going to announce?

The Real “Great Depression”...

The press of late has taken to calling our current recession “The Great Depression”.  Accepting this characterization requires either a breathtaking ignorance of history or a complete disregard for the objective truth.  Either way, not a vote of confidence in our lamestream media.

The photo at right is one of many iconic photos of impoverished Americans in the 1930s.  My own father remembers those years – just 70 years ago, a mere blink ago in the historical record.  In that Great Depression, millions of Americans were under existential threat – lacking such basics as food and shelter.  The recent history of the area where I live (Southern California) was greatly affected by the mass migration of the “Okies” from the dustbowl of Texas and Oklahoma.

In today's press-styled “Great Depression”, nothing even remotely comparable is taking place.  Our lamestream media is doing the nation a great disservice by pretending otherwise.  But then there's nothing new about the lamestream media doing the nation a disservice, is there?

McDonald v. Chicago...

Randy Barnett finds the important bit.

Interesting how the much-disparaged Justice Thomas is the one to successfully ressurect the 14th Amendment's “Priveleges and Immunities” clause...

Senator Byrd Dead at 92...

I'll leave it to (many) others to write his obituary.  Here I want to talk about another issue: his successor.

Replacing a Senator is controlled by state law, not federal – so each state has different rules.  As best I can tell through some research this morning, West Virginia law contains two different rules:

1. Replacing a Senator less than 30 months before the end of the term.  In this case, the governor appoints a replacement who serves until the end of the original term.
   
   
2. Replacing a Senator more than 30 months before the end of the term.  In this case, the governor appoints a replacement who serves only until an interim election is called, at which point the voters elect a replacement to serve until the end of the term.

West Virginia's governor is a Democrat, so the appointment will almost certainly be to another Democrat.  Senator Byrd's term expires in January 2013, so the magic date is July 3, 2010 (if my math is right).  That means that the second rule should apply.  And that means there is at least the possibility of a Democratic loss in the interim election...

Non-Newtonian Fluid Dynamics...

“Non-Newtonian fluid” is just a fancy way of naming a liquid that gets thicker when you disturb it. The liquid in the video is a mixture of cornstarch and water. The videographer did something clever to remove the blur you'd expect: the video camera takes 30 frames per second, and the speaker is vibrating at 30 Hertz (cycles per second). The result is much like using a stroboscope...

Balance in All Things...

Via my mom:

And GOD Created New Jersey ...

GOD was missing for six days. Eventually, Michael, the archangel, found him, resting on the seventh day.

He inquired, "Where have you been?"

GOD smiled deeply and proudly pointed downwards through the clouds, "Look, Michael. Look what I've made."

Archangel Michael looked puzzled, and said, "What is it?"

"It's a planet," replied GOD, and I've put life on it. I'm going to call it Earth and it's going to be a place to test Balance."

"Balance?" inquired Michael, "I'm still confused."

GOD explained, pointing to different parts of Earth. "For example, northern Europe will be a place of great opportunity and wealth, while southern Europe is going to be poor. Over here I've placed a continent of white people, and over there is a continent of black people. Balance in all things."

GOD continued pointing to different countries. "This one will be extremely hot, while this one will be very cold and covered in ice."

The Archangel , impressed by GOD's work, then pointed to a land area and said, "What's that one?"

"That's New Jersey, the most glorious place on earth. There are beautiful mountains, rivers and streams, lakes, forests, hills, and plains. The people from New Jersey are going to be handsome, modest, intelligent, and humorous, and they are going to travel the world. They will be extremely sociable, hardworking, high achieving, carriers of peace, and producers of good things."

Michael gasped in wonder and admiration, but then asked, "But what about balance, GOD? You said there would be balance."

GOD smiled, "Not very far from New Jersey is Washington, DC. Wait till you see the idiots I put there."

Now my mom seems to think that this story implies good things about New Jersey.  But with a little searching, it's clear that every state has claimed their place in this parable.  In other words, you can compare any state favorably to Washington, DC – especially in terms of average IQ.

My version of this story would replace “Washington, DC” with “New Jersey”, and “New Jersey” with ”Idaho”, “Montana”, or “Wyoming”.  There now, doesn't that sound right?

Way to Go, Joe...

Biden's defeatist attitude reminds me very much of Jimmy (“wear a sweater”) Carter.

Whatever else happens this November, I hope the election brings a crop of positive, can-do types to Congress – 'cause the current bunch is just making me crazy...

Biden, go stick your head in a bucket and leave it there, will ya?

It's Long Past Time to Put an End to This...

The headline reads “Pope deplores Belgian sex raids, stresses autonomy.”  This is in reaction to the Belgian police searching the home and office of an Archbishop.

Now I have no idea whether the police raid was based on reasonable suspicion, but the pope's objections weren't along those lines.  He's objecting to the very idea of police investigation of Roman Catholic officials.  He claims that the Roman Catholic church is entitled to its own independent investigation, the results of which would be reported to police.

What the pope wants is exactly what has been happening for the entire history of the United States.  I'm not familiar enough with practice in other countries to know if the same tradition holds there.  I say “tradition” because at least in the United States there is no law to this effect – it's just what's been done before.  Tradition, in other words.

There is ample evidence that this tradition has failed our children.  In case after case in the past couple of decades, we've all discovered that the Roman Catholic hierarchy has been actively hiding the disgusting behavior of their own members, moving repeat offenders from parish to parish and refusing to deal with the problem – or even to acknowledge it.  The church's version of this is consistently that the offending clergy are being treated “pastorally.”  They appear to believe, contrary to all evidence, that the offending clergy can somehow heal themselves with the aid of their religion.  There is zero evidence that such healing takes place, and much evidence to the contrary.  To this outside observer (I am not a Roman Catholic), the behavior is a combination of denial and hiding.

The pope has got it exactly backwards.  Instead of insisting on independence and handling the “problem” within the church, he should be welcoming the police investigations and legal proceedings as much-needed assistance in ridding the church of a shameful plague – a plague of their own making...

Unemployment Index...

This is today's Unemployment Index (of unemployment-related Google searches).  The big dip from mid-April to early June has been erased; it's now back into the highest territory it's ever been in.

As I've said in earlier posts about this index, I'm not really sure what to make of it.  It is, to say the least, a very unconventional “measure” of unemployment.  It indicates something, I'm sure, but I don't know what.  For some reason, between mid-April and today, far fewer Americans were googling for information about unemployment.  Why?  What does that actually imply?  And what does the recent jump indicate?  

One thing that jumps out at me: the recent dip in this index almost exactly corresponds to the recent tip in the stock market indexes – the inverse of the relationship I'd expect.

How to Hand-Draw a Hologram...

I would never have guessed that this was possible. 

Years ago I read an article describing an algorithm for converting a 3D software model into the blobs and squiggles that make up a hologram.  That looked like a lot of fun and an interestingly complex challenge, so I put that on my list of “things to do when I have spare time.”  There is commercial software that does this today, to visualize things like new building designs without actually building a model. 

But to do hand draw a hologram?  That thought never crossed my mind...

I'm So Glad...

...that I no longer program in C. 

Reason #2,496: I don't need spiral expression decoding rings.

G8 and G20 Meetings...

Lots of pronouncements (e.g., a five-year “deadline” for Afghanistan, condemnation of North Korea's sinking of a South Korean naval vessel) coming out of the G8 and G20 meetings in Canada – but so far as I can tell, not a single actual action.  Call it blather and bluster over substance.

The saddest part?  I'm not even slightly surprised...

Melting Ice and Sea Level Changes...

Here's a very accessible (no math, for you mathophobes) explanation of why ice melting doesn't raise sea levels in the manner you might expect it to. I've read the same points before in very technical papers...

I Miss Rummy...

Donald Rumsfeld was at the Pentagon on Friday, attending the unveiling of his official portrait.  He gave this short speech:

Some might ask how our country has endured? Well, it should be no mystery. It is because we are a free people, blessed with a free political and a free economic system – Where we are: free to think and act; to believe and protest; to vote and petition; and, yes free to succeed, to fail, and to start again.

The night satellite image of the Korean Peninsula, my favorite as many of you know well, captured many miles above the earth, tells the whole story. Below the 38th parallel, South Korea is bathed in the light of dozens of cities, monuments to that nation’s freedom. In one of the most successful economies in the world, millions of South Koreans go about their work, creating opportunity and prosperity for themselves and their families. North of the DMZ is darkness. There live exactly the same people, with the same natural resources. But those millions of Koreans labor not for themselves or their families, but for a regime that enslaves them.

The stark difference between the free and the unfree is illuminated in that picture. The boundless energy of human beings is most assuredly not unleashed by governments of boundless power. That energy is unleashed only by free political institutions and free economic systems.

But because we are free, as a people, we face choices:

We can choose to engage with the world, strengthening alliances with our friends, expanding trade agreements, deterring potential foes, and taking the fight to them when necessary. Or we can retreat, or make the truly tragic mistake of modeling our country after systems that are obviously unsuccessful. If we choose the latter path, let there be no doubt, we are certain to fail the generations to follow.

On September 12, 2001, hard hats unfurled an American flag over the still burning and deeply scarred Pentagon. Joyce and I wanted to include that scene in this portrait because those traits of resilience and perseverance – while remarkable – are not uncommon for the men and women of this Department. They are what built and sustained this country. And they are what I saw every day in the men and women I served alongside in the months and years after the worst terrorist attack in our nation’s history.

To each of those who serve – military and civilian – or have served, and to your families, there will come a time when the achievements you’ve made, and the trials you’ve endured, will recede into history. But although time will pass, and memories fade, certain important things will remain always – your pride of service and the appreciation of a grateful nation.

This country – which has treated me so well, and which offers so much opportunity for us all – exists and prospers because the members of the United States armed forces, have stepped forward and volunteered to protect it. In a very real sense, America is their gift to the future.

Impressive man, Mr. Rumsfeld.  He'll be 78 next month.  Nobody in the Obama administration even comes close to his intellectual horsepower...

Declaration of Independence, Version 2.0...

From Day-by-Day.  Read the whole thing!

Cowboy Rules...

Via reader Simi L. (himself a Californian):

1. Pull your pants up. You look like an idiot.

2. Turn your cap right, your head ain't crooked.

3. Let's get this straight: it's called a 'gravel road.' I drive a pickup truck because I want to. No matter how slow you drive, you're gonna get dust on your Lexus. Drive it or get out of the way.

4. They are cattle. That's why they smell like cattle. They smell like money to us. Get over it. Don't like it? I-10 & I-40 go east and west, I-17 & I-15 goes north and south. Pick one and go.

5. So you have a $60,000 car. We're impressed. We have $250,000 Combines that are driven only 3 weeks a year.

6. Every person in the Wild West waves. It's called being friendly. Try to understand the concept.

7. If that cell phone rings while a bunch of geese/pheasants/ducks/doves are comin' in during a hunt, we WILL shoot it outta your hand. You better hope you don't have it up to your ear at the time.

8. Yeah. We eat trout, salmon, deer and elk. You really want sushi and caviar? It's available at the corner bait shop.

9. The 'Opener' refers to the first day of deer season. It's a religious holiday held the closest Saturday to the first of November.

10. We open doors for women. That's applied to all women, regardless of age.

11. No, there's no 'vegetarian special' on the menu. Order steak, or you can order the Chef's Salad and pick off the 2 pounds of ham and turkey.

12. When we fill out a table, there are three main dishes: meats, vegetables, and breads. We use three spices: salt, pepper, and ketchup! Oh, yeah ... We don't care what you folks in Cincinnati call that stuff you eat ... IT AIN'T REAL CHILI!!

13. You bring 'Coke' into my house, it better be brown, wet and served over ice. You bring 'Mary Jane' into my house, she better be cute, know how to shoot, drive a truck, and have long hair.

14. College and High School Football is as important here as the Giants, the Yankees, the Mets, the Lakers and the Knicks, and a dang site more fun to watch.

15. Yeah, we have golf courses. But don't hit the water hazards - it spooks the fish.

16. Turn down that blasted car stereo! That thumpity-thump ain't music, anyway. We don't want to hear it anymore than we want to see your boxers! Refer back to #1!

A true Westerner will send this to at least 10 others and a few new friends that probably won't get it, but we're friendly so we share in hopes you can begin to understand what a real life is all about!!!

Out here in Lawson Valley, while we live by a set of rules that are a far cry from the metrosexual downtown San Diego rules, we haven't quite made it to the cowboy rules.  But we're closer to that end of the spectrum than the other.  And being the old curmudgeon that I am, I just love the display of American attitude!

Geek Humor Video...

This is the trailer of a mock movie, created to promote the JavaZone conference in Europe.  It's in (I think) Norwegian, but with English subtitles.  It's chock full of insider-geek jokes, right down to the names of the actors.  It's geeky-wonderful.  Via reader Simon M., whose email pointer to this greatly lightened my mood this morning (thanks, Simon!):

The DISCLOSE Act...

See this collection of links for all the disgusting details.  The Center for Competitive Politics has a summary analysis (and will send you a more detailed one).  The text of the bill itself is online. 

I'll summarize it like this: the Democrats of the House passed a bill that essentially “tweaks” the First Amendment in their favor –, by making it more difficult for anyone other than unions and certain favored lobbying groups to get their political messages out to the public.  If it manages to pass the Senate, Obama has already publicly stated that he'd sign it.  This would be just in time to make it harder for anyone other than the Democrats to get their message out in the upcoming November elections, which are guaranteed to be the most contentious in many decades.

The only good news in all this is that the consensus of legal pundits is that the bill doesn't stand a chance of winning a Supreme Court challenge (but of course, those take time and money).

    Rope.
    Congresscritters.
    Some assembly required.

Are you pissed off yet?  Let's throw all these bums out come November!

Voyager 2 Repaired...

Voyager 2 was launched 33 years ago, and it's been collecting science data that whole time.  Last month it started sending back bogus data (from almost 9 billion miles away).  Engineers at JPL diagnosed the problem, figured out how to fix it, transmitted new software to the satellite, and rebooted its computer.  When the computer restarted, the problem had been fixed – and Voyager 2 is now returning data normally again.

I can't think of anything I've owned for 33 years that's still functional, and certainly nothing even close to the complexity of Voyager 2.  And that's in our nice, protected, radiation-free home on Planet Earth!  I'm amazed at what our little fleet of space-faring robots has managed to accomplish.  Voyager 2, like so many others, just keeps plodding along, sending back tons of good science data and contributing much to our understanding of our local part of the universe...