It Begins...

Most of us are still recovering from the shock of the attack on Congresswoman Gabby Giffords.  The more calculating political class is falling over over themselves to take advantage of the moment.  The winner for first strike: Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy is preparing gun control legislation, continuing our apparent national obsession with blaming the tools rather than the perpetrator.

Glenn Reynolds (aka “The Instapundit”) has a piece in today's Wall Street Journal on another manifestation of the left's “Don't let a good crisis go to waste!” tactics.  He's disgusted with the left's instant blaming of the Giffords shooting on Sarah Palin and the Tea Party.  His conclusion:

Where is the decency in blood libel?

To paraphrase Justice Cardozo ("proof of negligence in the air, so to speak, will not do"), there is no such thing as responsibility in the air. Those who try to connect Sarah Palin and other political figures with whom they disagree to the shootings in Arizona use attacks on "rhetoric" and a "climate of hate" to obscure their own dishonesty in trying to imply responsibility where none exists. But the dishonesty remains.

To be clear, if you're using this event to criticize the "rhetoric" of Mrs. Palin or others with whom you disagree, then you're either: (a) asserting a connection between the "rhetoric" and the shooting, which based on evidence to date would be what we call a vicious lie; or (b) you're not, in which case you're just seizing on a tragedy to try to score unrelated political points, which is contemptible. Which is it?

I understand the desperation that Democrats must feel after taking a historic beating in the midterm elections and seeing the popularity of ObamaCare plummet while voters flee the party in droves. But those who purport to care about the health of our political community demonstrate precious little actual concern for America's political well-being when they seize on any pretext, however flimsy, to call their political opponents accomplices to murder.

Where is the decency in that?

One-Liner Smiles...

Via reader Dr. Simi L.:

1. My husband and I divorced over religious differences. He thought he was God and I didn't.
2. I don't suffer from insanity; I enjoy every minute of it.
3. Some people are alive only because it's illegal to kill them.
4. I used to have a handle on life, but it broke.
5. Don't take life too seriously; No one gets out alive.
6. You're just jealous because the voices only talk to me
7. Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder.
8. Earth is the insane asylum for the universe.
9. I'm not a complete idiot -- Some parts are just missing.
10. Out of my mind. Back in five minutes.
11. NyQuil, the stuffy, sneezy, why-the-heck-is-the-room-spinning medicine.
12. God must love stupid people; He made so many.
13. The gene pool could use a little chlorine
14. Consciousness: That annoying time between naps.
15. Ever stop to think, and forget to start again?
16. Being 'over the hill' is much better than being under it!
17. Wrinkled Was Not One of the Things I Wanted to Be When I Grew up.
18. Procrastinate Now!
19. I Have a Degree in Liberal Arts; Do You Want Fries With That?
20. A hangover is the wrath of grapes.
21. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a cash advance.
22. Stupidity is not a handicap. Park elsewhere!
23. They call it PMS because Mad Cow Disease was already taken.
24. He who dies with the most toys is nonetheless DEAD.
25. A picture is worth a thousand words, but it uses up three thousand times the memory.
26. Ham and eggs: a day's work for a chicken, a lifetime commitment for a pig.
27. The trouble with life is there's no background music.
28. The original point and click interface was a Smith & Wesson.
29. I smile because I don't know what the heck is going on.

Pyracantha...

On our frequent drives from home to Descanso, Cuyamaca, Pine Valley, or Laguna, our route takes us up Japatul road to where it meets Interstate 8.  Along that road there is a house on the west side with a beautiful collection of mature Pyracantha (Firethorn) plants.  Some individual plants are about 10 feet high and perhaps 12 feet in diameter.  Every year those plants treat us to a gorgeous display of orange-red berries, but this year (presumably because of the early rains) they were especially spectacular.  Enjoy (as always, click to enlarge)!

A Satisfying Repair...

A couple of months ago, I bought a Das Keyboard (at right) for use at home.  It has the mechanical switches whose “feel” I've long missed.  My typing isn't as fast or as accurate on the modern keyboards with (usually) rubber dome switches.  So I splurged a bit (these things are expensive!).  Within a couple of weeks, the constrast between my keyboard at work and my keyboard at home was unliveable, so I bought one for use at work as well.  I love my Das Keyboards!

But my keyboard at home developed a truly obnoxious problem.  The left-arrow and up-arrow keys (just to the right of the right shift key) started working intermittently.  For a while, they'd work only if the keyboard was tilted toward me (with the top edge higher than the low edge).  Then they stopped working altogether.

I contacted support at Das Keyboard, and very quickly they said they'd never seen this particular problem before, and offered to exchange the keyboard.  That's entirely appropriate support, for which they should be lauded – but it wasn't what I wanted.  Now that I've grown so attached to my Das Keyboards, I was loathe to have to use something else for the few weeks it would take to send my old keyboard back and get a new one in return.

So I decided to try to fix it myself.  I've designed switch-based keyboards, so I'm very familiar with how they work.  There's really not much to go wrong in such a keyboard – it's just switches, diodes, and printed circuit board – any of which I ought to be able to fix.  So to work I went.

The first step turned out to be the most challenging: getting the danged thing open!  I'm not sure I would ever have figured it out if it weren't for this lovely post (thank you, Geoff Breach!).  Thanks to his precise directions, I was able to open my Das Keyboard, and without breaking anything.

The next step was to study the situation.  I had a good clue (what every debugger wants most!): two keys simultaneously failed in the same exact way.  This means it was extremely unlikely to be a key switch problem, as the chance for two of them to malfunction identically was vanishingly small.  It had to be something in common between the two, and that could only be a diode or a printed circuit trace.  It took just a minute or so to figure it out.  In the photo at right (click to enlarge), you can see what I discovered.  The two orange ovals at right show one of the terminals on each of the up-arrow and left-arrow switches: they are connected.  A long skinny trace (highlighted by the arrows) connects them to one terminal on the enter key switch.  The enter key always worked fine.  The problem had to be an intermittent break in that skinny trace connecting them.

A little work with my DVM quickly confirmed this hypothesis.  While measuring the resistance between the enter key's terminal and the up-arrow key's terminal, I twisted and prodded the circuit board.  Sure enough, the resistance varied all over the place, from infinity to near zero ohms.  Somewhere on that trace there must be a hairline crack (so thin I couldn't spot it, even with a magnifier).  So I tried a brute-force repair: I soldered a piece of hook-up wire between the two terminals.  Voila! I reassembled it all without difficulty, and now my Das Keyboard is now as good as new.

I haven't the words to describe how satisfying it was to be able to troubleshoot and fix this.  Silly, I know, but true nonetheless.  Note that in the process of repairing it myself, I violated the terms of my warranty, so now my keyboard is truly mine.  I'm sure the Das Keyboard folks would sternly disapprove.  I'll tell them anyway, as they may be interested to know of a potential manufacturing quality issue...

Where Does Good Code Come From?

xkcd has a cartoon that will resonate with every experienced developer:

Too Dumb to Fight...

From Strategy Page:

... But the fact that a quarter of high school graduates who tried to join failed the written exam attracted less attention. The main reason for this is that fact that most of the uneducated high school grads are minorities (mainly blacks and Hispanics) from urban schools. Those schools are failure factories controlled by teachers unions, bureaucrats who are willing to sacrifice education for jobs and more benefits. You do not want to mess with teachers unions, as they have a lot of political clout and can make life miserable for mainstream journalists and their editors. What is scarier about the failure rate of high school grads is that the armed forces entrance exam tests for skills common to most civilian jobs. Survey civilian employers, and you will find that they see the same failure rate among applicants who are high school grads.

Trust me, industry has noticed.  A significant fraction of outsourcing is motivated by the need to find talented, well-educated workers...

WTF Kitty!

Music and Dogs...

Those Tricksy Employment Reports...

From a WSJ piece on Friday's unemployment report:

The unemployment rate fell to 9.4% from 9.8%, which led to celebration in some Washington quarters. But that improvement was largely because 260,000 eligible workers dropped out of the labor force.

The unemployment report these days, as reported by our curiously uncurious lamestream media, is biased by the “adjustment” described above: unemployed workers who have stopped looking for work (usually because they've given up) are not called unemployed for the purposes of this report.

So this time, as it has several times in the past year, the unemployment rate “declined” mostly because we stopped counting 260,000 unemployed people as unemployed.  This gives the public (most of whom have no idea this trick is being used) a decidedly incorrect impression about what's happening.

On the flip side, when the job market finally does start to (really) pick up again, many of those so-called discouraged workers will start looking for work again.  When that happens, they'll be counted as unemployed once more – and the reported unemployment number will go back up!  Once again, the public will be deceived – but this time, they'll think the situation is worse than it really is.

Wouldn't it be simpler and better to just report the real number, and to separately report how many have just plain given up?  I certainly think so.

Meanwhile, some conservatives are already anticipating a schadenfreude moment around the summer of 2012.  They're thinking that the economy will likely be improving by then, the unemployment rate will appear to be going up (for the reasons given above) – and Obama will be running for reelection...

Autism-Vaccination Link...

Several readers have asked what I think of the recent news that the British Medical Journal is calling the infamous Wakefield study an “elaborate fraud”.  My reaction – that this is old news ” is nicely summarized in the Wall Street Journal.  I'll add this: the kerfuffle generated by the Wakefield study is an instructive example of how dangerous the combination of science funding mechanisms, public scientific illiteracy, and yellow-sheet journalism can be...

Java Byte Code...

A good article and basic introduction.  There's remarkably little literature on this topic...

A Better Way Home...

A beautiful story about one of my personal heroes, Richard Feynman...

Why OK?

Did you ever wonder why the buttons you click on your computer say “OK” and not “Do It”?  Well, just in case you've been losing sleep over that very question, here's the answer – and it's probably not what you're expecting!

CBO Report on Savings from Repealing Obamacare...

This is from an email sent by Sandy Davis (of the CBO) to Congressional Hill staffers:

We have been asked to provide the revenue and direct spending components of that total. Extrapolating the estimated budgetary effects of the original health care legislation and accounting for the effects of subsequent legislation, CBO anticipates that enacting H.R. 2 would probably yield, for the 2012-2021 period, a reduction in revenues in the neighborhood of $770 billion and a reduction in outlays in the vicinity of $540 billion, plus or minus the effects of forthcoming technical and economic changes to CBO’s and JCT’s projections.

Translation from bureaucratic-speak: repealing Obamacare will (a) reduce spending by $540 billion, and (b) reduce taxes by $770 billion.

If you've paid attention to the news reports, you might be forgiven for thinking that this analysis is in direct contradiction to an earlier analysis the CBO did, wherein they notoriously said that Obamacare would reduce costs to the government.  But it's actually not a contradiction at all.  In that notorious report, they were “scoring” the Obamacare legislation, at the request of the Democrats.  They were given a set of (demonstrably false) assumptions, and told to compute what the costs of Obamacare would be given those assumptions.  The CBO must do what it is charged with doing; they delivered the requested computation and did not deliver what they weren't asked for: a review of the validity of the assumptions. 

This time they were asked to do something much more concrete: given reality, how much would we save by repealing Obamacare. 

Answer: $1.3 trillion.

Tango Mike Mike...

Via my mom:




Some years ago I read a book about Master Sergeant Benavidez' actions that day in Vietnam.  I don't recall, at this remove, the name of the book or its author.  But I do recall being absolutely awed by the demonstrated courage.

I had not heard about the Special Forces' use of “Tango Mike Mike”.  I couldn't verify it from sources online, but...I hope it's true.

Search Engine for Electronics Parts...

Octopart.  And they've just added Digi-Key's entire catalog.

The Internet is awesome!

A Question of Character...

Peggy Noonan on her good game still:

But it's a great mistake when you are in a leadership position to want to be like everyone else. Because that, actually, is not your job. Your job is to be better, and to set standards that those below you have to reach to meet. And you have to do this even when it's hard, even when you know you yourself don't quite meet the standards you represent.

Mystery Solved? Why the Sun's Upper Atmosphere is so Danged Hot...

It has long intrigued me that nobody had a good explanation for this.

Keyboard Alternative?

I have an iPad, and while I like many things about it, there's one thing that drives me to distraction: typing on its !()$&^!)_$@ built-in keyboard.  If I need to type more than about 5 letters, I'll switch over to my laptop.  It's that bad, at least for someone like me who is used to touch-typing at a reasonable speed.

This looks like it might be an interesting alternative, though currently only for Android.

BPotD...

Thevetia peruviana, from Botany Photo of the Day.  As usual, click to enlarge.  Gorgeous!

Why Parents Drink...

Via my mom:

A father passing by his son's bedroom was astonished to see that his bed was nicely made and everything was picked up. Then he saw an Envelope, propped up prominently on the pillow that was addressed to 'Dad.' With the worst of premonitions, he opened the envelope with trembling hands and read the letter.

Dear Dad:

It is with great regret and sorrow that I'm writing you. I had to elope with my new girlfriend because I wanted to avoid a scene with Mom and you. I have been finding real passion with Stacy and she is so nice. But I knew you would not approve of her because of all her piercing, tattoos, tight motorcycle clothes and the fact that she is much older than I am. But it' s not only the passion...Dad she's pregnant.

Stacy said that we will be very happy. She owns a trailer in the woods and has a stack of firewood for the whole winter. We share a dream of having many more children. Stacy has opened my eyes to the fact that marijuana doesn't really hurt anyone. We'll be growing it for ourselves and trading it with the other people that live nearby for cocaine and ecstasy. In the meantime we will pray that science will find a cure for AIDS so Stacy can get better. She deserves it.

Don't worry Dad. I'm 15 and I know how to take care of myself. Someday I'm sure that we will be back to visit so that you can get to know your grandchildren.

Love, Your Son John

PS. Dad, none of the above is true. I'm over at Tommy's house. I Just wanted to remind you that there are worse things in life than a Report card That's in my center desk drawer. I love you. Call me when it's safe to come home.

Husbands and Wives...

From reader James M.:

A store that sells new husbands has opened in New York City, where a woman may go to choose a husband. Among the instructions at the entrance is a description of how the store operates:

You may visit this store ONLY ONCE! There are six floors and the value of the products increase as the shopper ascends the flights. The shopper may choose any item from a particular floor, or may choose to go up to the next floor, but you cannot go back down except to exit the building!

So, a woman goes to the Husband Store to find a husband. On the first floor the sign on the door reads:

Floor 1 - These men Have Jobs

She is intrigued, but continues to the second floor, where the sign reads:

Floor 2 - These men Have Jobs and Love Kids.

'That's nice,' she thinks, 'but I want more.'

So she continues upward. The third floor sign reads:

Floor 3 - These men Have Jobs, Love Kids, and are Extremely Good Looking.

'Wow,' she thinks, but feels compelled to keep going.

She goes to the fourth floor and the sign reads:

Floor 4 - These men Have Jobs, Love Kids, are Drop-dead Good Looking and Help With Housework.

'Oh, mercy me!' she exclaims, 'I can hardly stand it!'

Still, she goes to the fifth floor and the sign reads:

Floor 5 - These men Have Jobs, Love Kids, are Drop-dead Gorgeous, Help with Housework, and Have a Strong Romantic Streak.

She is so tempted to stay, but she goes to the sixth floor, where the sign reads:

Floor 6 - You are visitor 31,456,012 to this floor. There are no men on this floor. This floor exists solely as proof that women are impossible to please. Thank you for shopping at the Husband Store.

PLEASE NOTE:

To avoid gender bias charges, the store's owner opened a New Wives store just across the street.

The first floor has wives that love sex.

The second floor has wives that love sex and have money and like beer.

The third, fourth, fifth and sixth floors have never been visited.

Symbolic Reading...

The Republicans are going to read the current version of the U.S. Constitution on the floor of the House today.  This is mainly a symbolic gesture to reinforce the notion that the U.S. is a land of laws, not of (powerful) men.  It's also an acknowledgment of the role of the Tea Party in the Republican's newly-won majority.

The reaction of the left to this reading is instructive.  It's almost entirely negative, ranging from hand-wringing about the cost (that's rich, after the last two years of spendathon!) to entirely predictable snide remarks about the irrelevance of the literal Constitution to governing today.

This symbolic act is a bit like having a powerful flashlight that one can shine into the warren of Congress-critters to illuminate those who see the Constitution as fundamental to our way of governing, and those who would prefer to ignore that pesky, dusty old document.

Bring on that flashlight, Speaker Boehner!

Reentry Blackout...

...a possible solution.

Nice, Free, Open Source Hex Editor for OS/X...

HexFiend.

WTF, Japan?

One hardly knows what to say...

In the early ’90s, Sega held 65% of the US video game console market, had millions of fans, and was considered one of the premier creators of modern gaming entertainment. Today, they are helping you play with your pee. The Japan branch of the multinational company recently announced that they are testing their Toylets male urinal video game at select locations around Tokyo. Toylets uses a pressure sensor located on the back of the urinal to measure the strength and location of your urine stream. A small LCD screen above the urinal allows you to play several simple video games including a simulator for erasing graffiti and a variation on a sumo wrestling match. At the end of a game, the screen displays advertisements.

2011 is a Prime Year...

The number 2011 is a prime number, and it's the sum of 11 consecutive primes:

157 + 163 + 167 + 173 + 179 + 181 + 191 + 193 + 197 + 199 + 211

Is that enough geekiness for you on a fine Thursday morning?

Obamacare Repeal Bill...

Here's the full text of the Obamacare repeal bill, due to be voted on by the House next week:

A BILL

To repeal the job-killing health care law and health care-related provisions in the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the “Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act”.

SECTION 2. REPEAL OF THE JOB-KILLING HEALTH CARE LAW AND HEALTH CARE-RELATED PROVISIONS IN THE HEALTH CARE AND EDUCATION RECONCILIATION ACT OF 2010.

(a) JOB-KILLING HEALTH CARE LAW. — Effective as of the enactment of Public Law 111–148, such Act is repealed, and the provisions of law amended or repealed by
8 such Act are restored or revived as if such Act had not been enacted.

(b) HEALTH CARE-RELATED PROVISIONS IN THE HEALTH CARE AND EDUCATION RECONCILIATION ACT OF 2010. — Effective as of the enactment of the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (Public Law 111–152), title I and subtitle B of title II of such Act are repealed, and the provisions of law amended or repealed by such title or subtitle, respectively, are restored or revived as if such title and subtitle had not been enacted.

This is almost certainly a symbolic vote: the Senate, still Democratic-controlled, is most likely going to vote this down – and even if somehow they passed it, Obama would surely veto it and there aren't the votes in Congress to override it. Even so, it's a very useful procedural effort, as it puts the Tea Party/Conservative marker down on the table, hard – and forces the Progressives to openly show their hand. It will be very interesting to see which Progressive Congress-critters (House and Senate) can't work up the gumption to vote “no” on this (they know that a “yes” vote will come back to haunt them on their next campaign)...

George Washington...

Here's a nice collection of quotes from George Washington.  A couple of my favorites were in there:

If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to slaughter.

The very atmosphere of firearms anywhere and everywhere restrains evil interference - they deserve a place of honor with all that's good.

The MOS 6502...

Some of us (hardware and software engineers, that is) are ancient enough to actually remember the MOS 6502.  A photomicrograph of it's top layer is at right (as always, click to enlarge).  The 6502 was the microprocessor at the heart of some of the early successful systems, such as the Commodore 64, Apple II, and Atari 2600.  I remember it well and fondly: it was cheap, fast, and easy to design in.  I incorporated it into several of my early projects, mainly as the processor for peripherals in a Z80-based system (because the Z80 could run CP/M, an early “operating system”).

These days, the 6502 is thought of more as an antiquity, something to be conserved in a museum.  Which is exactly what these folks are doing!  I was led to that site by a fascinating article on Bill Mensch, the guy who manually laid out the six masks used in manufacturing the 6502 – with no errors.

Top 25 Movies of 2010...

By box office receipts per week.  This makes a beautiful graphic, even more so because it's interactive on the author's site.

I haven't seen a single one of these movies.

Fascinating Side-Effect of the Kindle...

One that I certainly wouldn't have foreseen: sales of bodice-rippers are soaring, and all the growth is in the Kindle editions.

Strange are the ways of the world...

Beautiful Science Video...

Here's a rare treat: a rich, gorgeous animation about the interplay between the Fibonacci Sequence and nature.  It even comes with an excellent explanatory page, aimed at a non-scientist audience.  Oh, I'd love to see more like this!

Just When I Thought...

...that I couldn't possibly be any more disgusted by Arnold Schwarzenegger, he goes and does this.

Rope.

Tree.

Schwarzenegger.

Some assembly required.

The Gate to Hell...

Ran across this in my web surfing yesterday.  It's apparently a left-over Soviet mistake, deep in Turkmenistan.  More photos here.

The Greatest Country Ever...

From Rich Lowry of The National Review:

Our greatness is simply a fact. Only the churlish or malevolent can deny it, or even get irked at its assertion. When a Marco Rubio talks of the greatness of America, it’s not bumptious self-congratulation. Our greatness comes with the responsibility to preserve our traditional dynamism and status as a robust middle-class society. To paraphrase the Benjamin Franklin of lore, we have the greatest country ever — if we can keep it.

Read the whole thing.

It's not patriotic blathering if it's true...

Rain...

First rain of the new year: 0.59" (1.5 cm) over two days.  The mountain valleys of San Diego are greener than they've been in 8 or 9 years.  Streams are running.  Sheets of water seep over exposed mountain rocks.

And our rainy season has just begun!

TSA Statistics...

Via my mom:

Year to date statistics on Airport screening from the Department of Homeland Security:

Terrorist Plots Discovered     0
Transvestites                133
Hernias                    1,485
Hemorrhoid Cases           3,172
Enlarged Prostates         8,249
Breast Implants           59,350
Natural Blondes                3

New Year's Wishes for My Friends...

Also passed along by Jim M.:

My Wishes for You in 2011:

May peace break into your home and may thieves come to steal your debts.

May the pockets of your jeans become a magnet for $100 bills.

May love stick to your face like Vaseline and may laughter assault your lips.

May happiness slap you across the face and may your tears be that of joy.

May the problems you had, forget your home address.

In simple words, may 2011 be the best year of your life!

The Brothel...

This little story comes from reader Jim M.:

The Brothel

The madam opened the brothel door and saw a rather dignified, well-dressed, good-looking man in his late forties or early fifties.

'May I help you sir?' she asked.

'I want to see Valerie,' the man replied.

'Sir, Valerie is one of our most expensive ladies. Perhaps you would prefer someone else', said the madam.

'No, I must see Valerie,' he replied.

Just then, Valerie appeared and announced to the man she charged $5000 a visit. Without hesitation, the man pulled out five thousand dollars and gave it to Valerie, and they went upstairs.. After an hour, the man calmly left.

The next night, the man appeared again, once more demanding to see Valerie. Valerie explained that no one had ever come back two nights in a row as she was too expensive. But there were no discounts. The price was still $5000.

Again, the man pulled out the money, gave it to Valerie, and they went upstairs.. After an hour, he left.

The following night the man was there yet again. Everyone was astounded that he had come for a third consecutive night, but he paid Valerie and they went upstairs.

After their session, Valerie questioned the man, 'No one has ever been with me three nights in a row. Where are you from?'she asked.

The man replied, ' Ontario '.

'Really?', she said. 'I have family in Ontario .'

'I know.' the man said. 'Your sister died, and I am her attorney. She asked me to give you your $15,000 inheritance.'

The moral of the story is that three things in life are certain.
1. Death
2. Taxes
3. Being screwed by a lawyer

Munich Jazz...

Franz M., my friend and fellow collector from Munich, Germany, sends along this video of a jazz band he and his wife Ellen saw on New Year's Day.  He said they were “as always, very beautiful”.  Their taste in jazz parallels my own:

Tommy...

Many moons ago, before my beard was gray, I lived on my parent's farm in New Jersey.  I had a “shack” behind the house where I did a lot of my early experimentation with electronics.  Some TV repair shop (remember those?) gave me a broken stereo record player – one of those all-in-one units the size of a refrigerator on its side.  This was a vacuum tube design with “electrodynamic” speakers (meaning that they had electromagnets instead of permanent magnets).  By today's standards, it was quite a monster unit.  I remember that it had 18" diameter woofers, and three or four other speakers, all coupled with (for those days) a relatively sophisticated cross-over network.

One of my first successes in electronics was to fix that thing.  That's more of a feat than you might think, as I had no schematics.  I reverse-engineered the audio amplifier and discovered a blown-up resistor that prevented a key bias voltage from being generated.  This was in 1969, a month or two before the first moon landing, and I can still remember the hand-drawn schematic I made – and the overwhelming flush of victory when I figured out what the problem was.

Within 15 minutes of finding the problem, the stereo was up and running – I'd scavenged a replacement part from a broken TV.  After that, the stereo was my constant companion in my little electronics shack.

A year or so later, I bought a double vinyl album: “Tommy”, by The Who.  I couldn't afford to buy many records, and those few I did were played very often.  “Tommy” sounded particularly good on that stereo, so it got played extra often.

A few years later, I was in the U.S. Navy and something happened to that album (I don't remember what, exactly).  I've not heard “Tommy” since.

Until today, that is.  I just purchased it from iTunes, and I'm listening to it as I write this post.  There are several things about this experience that are kinda freaking me out.

First, the flood of memories about that shack.  Suddenly I'm remembering all sorts of details that I haven't thought about in many, many years.  There are very strong associations between that particular music and my very earliest engineering experiences.

Second, I still have perfect memory of that album.  As each song plays, I know what's coming next.  I know the words to every song.  The “Underture” is playing now, and every note in it is as familiar as the back of my hands.

Third, I am frequently startled by the different sound of the music, all of which can be accounted for the the difference in quality (by any measure!) between that old stereo and the way I'm playing it back now (through iTunes on a Mac Powerbook, through top-notch computer speakers).  I hear details clearly now that I've never heard before, and they surprise me.  But it's all good!

Powerful stuff, music is...

Blizzard...

Taken in New York last week.  Sure glad I wasn't there...



Nice job on the video, though...

The Therapy Dog...

Lea is our oldest dog; she's a field spaniel, about 13 years old.  She's still in good health, but creaking a bit, and her sight and hearing aren't what they used to be.  She spends a lot of her days curled up in a dog bed.

I just spent about five minutes down on the floor, next to her on one of those beds.  She kissed me, grunted, and made happy faces while I held and caressed her.

Best five minutes I've had in a while...

What Does a Big Government Bureaucracy Look Like?

Like this:

California Academic Performance Index (API) * California Access for Infants and Mothers * California Acupuncture Board * California Administrative Office of the Courts * California Adoptions Branch * California African American Museum * California Agricultural Export Program * California Agricultural Labor Relations Board * California Agricultural Statistics Service * California Air Resources Board (CARB) * California Allocation Board * California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority * California Animal Health and Food Safety Services * California Anti-Terrorism Information Center * California Apprenticeship Council * California Arbitration Certification Program * California Architects Board * California Area VI Developmental Disabilities Board * California Arts Council * California Asian Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus * California Assembly Democratic Caucus * California Assembly Republican Caucus * California Athletic Commission * California Attorney 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Commission * California Democratic Caucus * California Demographic Research Unit * California Dental Auxiliaries * California Department of Aging * California Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs * California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control Appeals Board * California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control * California Department of Boating and Waterways (Cal Boating) * California Department of Child Support Services (CDCSS) * California Department of Community Services and Development * California Department of Conservation * California Department of Consumer Affairs * California Department of Corporations * California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation * California Department of Developmental Services * California Department of Education * California Department of Fair Employment and Housing * California Department of Finance * California Department of Financial Institutions * California Department of Fish and Game * California Department of Food and Agriculture * California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF) * California Department of General Services * California Department of General Services, Office of State Publishing * California Department of Health Care Services * California Department of Housing and Community Development * California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) * California Department of Insurance * California Department of Justice Firearms Division * California Department of Justice Opinion Unit * California Department of Justice, Consumer Information, Public Inquiry Unit * California Department of Justice * California Department of Managed Health Care * California Department of Mental Health * California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) * California Department of Personnel Administration * California Department of Pesticide Regulation * California Department of Public Health * California Department of Real Estate * California Department of Rehabilitation * California Department of Social 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Research * California Division of Land and Right of Way * California Division of Land Resource Protection * California Division of Law Enforcement General Library * California Division of Measurement Standards * California Division of Mines and Geology * California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) * California Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources * California Division of Planning and Local Assistance * California Division of Recycling * California Division of Safety of Dams * California Division of the State Architect * California Division of Tourism * California Division of Workers Compensation Medical Unit * California Division of Workers Compensation * California Economic Assistance, Business and Community Resources * California Economic Strategy Panel * California Education and Training Agency * California Education Audit Appeals Panel * California Educational Facilities Authority * California Elections Division * California Electricity Oversight Board 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Branch * California Regional Water Quality Control Boards * California Registered Veterinary Technician Committee * California Registrar of Charitable Trusts * California Republican Caucus * California Research and Development Division * California Research Bureau * California Resources Agency * California Respiratory Care Board * California Rivers Assessment * California Rural Health Policy Council * California Safe Schools * California San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission * California San Gabriel and Lower Los Angeles Rivers and Mountains Conservancy * California San Joaquin River Conservancy * California School to Career * California Science Center * California Scripps Institution of Oceanography * California Secretary of State Business Portal * California Secretary of State * California Seismic Safety Commission * California Self Insurance Plans (SIP) * California Senate Office of Research * California Small Business and Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise Certification Program * California Small Business Development Center Program * California Smart Growth Caucus * California Smog Check Information Center * California Spatial Information Library * California Special Education Division * California Speech-Language Pat hology and Audiology Board * California Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) * California Standards and Assessment Division * California State Administrative Manual (SAM) * California State Allocation Board * California State and Consumer Services Agency * California State Architect * California State Archives * California State Assembly * California State Association of Counties (CSAC) * California State Board of Education * California State Board of Food and Agriculture *California Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) * California State Chil dr en's Trust Fund * California State Compensation Insurance Fund * California State Contracts Register Program * California State Contracts Register * California State Controller * California State Council on Developmental Disabilities (SCDD) * California State Disability Insurance (SDI) * California State Fair (Cal Expo) * California State Jobs Employment Information * California State Lands Commission * California State Legislative Portal * California State Legislature * California State Library Catalog * California State Library Services Bureau * California State Library * California State Lottery * California State Mediation and Conciliation Service * California State Mining and Geology Board * California State Park and Recreation Commission * California State Parks * California State Personnel Board * California State Polytechnic University, Pomona * California State Railroad Museum * California State Science Fair * California State Senate * California State Summer School for Mathematics and Science (COSMOS) * California State Summer School for the Arts * California State Superintendent of Public Instruction * California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS) * California State Treasurer * California State University Center for Distributed Learning * California State University, Bakersfield * California State University, Channel Islands * California State University, Chico * California State University, Dominguez Hills * California State University, East Bay * California State University, Fresno * California State University, Fullerton * California State University, Long Beach * California State University, Los Angeles * California State University, Monterey Bay * California State University, Northridge * California State University, Sacramento * California State University, San Bernardino * California State University, San Marcos * California State University, Stanislaus * California State University (CSU) * California State Water Project Analysis Office * California State Water Project * California State Water Resources Control Board * California Structural Pest Control Board * California Student Aid Commission * California Superintendent of Public Instruction * California Superior Courts * California Tahoe Conservancy * California Task Force on Culturally and Linguistically Competent Physicians and Dentists * California Tax Information Center * California Technology and Administration Branch Finance * California Telecommunications Division * California Telephone Medical Advice Services (TAMS) * California Transportation Commission * California Travel and Transportation Agency * California Unclaimed Property Program * California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board * California Unemployment Insurance Program * California Uniform Construction Cost Accounting Commission * California Veterans Board * California Veterans Memorial * California Veterinary Medical Board and Registered Veterinary Technician Examining Committee * California Veterinary Medical Board * California Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board * California Volunteers * California Voter Registration * California Water Commission * California Water Environment Association (COWPEA) * California Water Resources Control Board * California Welfare to Work Division * California Wetlands Information System * California Wildlife and Habitat Data Analysis Branch * California Wildlife Conservation Board * California Wildlife Programs Branch * California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) * California Workers Compensation Appeals Board * California Workforce and Labor Development Agency * California Workforce Investment Board * California Youth Authority (CYA) * Central Valley Flood Protection Board * Center for California Studies * Colorado River Board of California * Counting California * Dental Board of California * Health Insurance Plan of California (PacAdvantage) * Humboldt State University * Jobs with the State of California * Judicial Council of California * Learn California * Library of California * Lieutenant Governors Commission for One California * Little Hoover Commission (on California State Government Organization and Economy) * Medical Board of California * Medi-Cal * Osteopathic Medical Board of California * Physical Therapy Board of California * Regents of the University of California * San Diego State University * San Francisco State University * San Jose State University * Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy * State Bar of California * Supreme Court of California * Teach California * University of California * University of California, Berkeley * University of California, Davis * University of California, Hastings College of the Law * University of California, Irvine * University of California, Los Angeles * University of California, Merced * University of California, Riverside * University of California, San Diego * University of California, San Francisco * University of California, Santa Barbara * University of California, SantaCruz * Veterans Home of California

That's a list of the California state government agencies.

Sheesh.

That's where the money that the theiving legislators are stealing from me is going.  Looks to me like at least 95% of them should just be disbanded!

New Year's Eve...

We had a very nice evening last night.  Debbie and I, our neighbors Jimmy and Michelle, another neighbor Paula C., and Jimmy's sister Jackie, all got together for a luscious meal.  We all contributed to its making and to it's destruction.  The menu:

champagne and Chambord 

broiled scallops wrapped in bacon

southwestern crabcakes with homemade tarragon tartar sauce

scalloped potatoes

broccoli

prime rib roasted with parsnips, carrots, potatoes, and onions

fresh berries (blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries) in zabaglione sauce

all the wine we could drink

For some reason I can't quite put my finger on, I didn't have much appetite this morning!

I stayed up to the ungodly hour of 10:30, but my head was in danger of hitting the table so I went home (and I drove Paula back down the hill as well; she was also ready to go home).  But Debbie, Jimmy, Michelle, and Jackie rang in the new year, playing cards until 12:30.  By that time I was sound asleep!

725...

That's how many new California state laws go into effect today.  Just the state laws, mind you – that number does not include new county, municipal, or federal laws.

Sometimes it really feels quite hopeless.

And then I think: Rope, tree, legislator.  Some assembly required...

You Are Trying to Confuse Me With Facts!

Excellent take-down of progressive hypocrisy and hogwash:

New Year's Resolution...

Suggested by reader Doug W.:

Morning Walk...

We slept in this morning until just before sunrise; lovely, that was.

I took the dogs out into the dim light for their walk, with Race off-leash.  Our yard looked almost like it had snowed, but it was just frost.  According to our thermometer (which is 15 feet in the air), we got down to 32°F; it was probably a few degrees colder right on the ground.  Say, 28°F – enough to make a fine coating of frost, given the humid air.

In the course of his usual pine-cone chasing, Race discovered that this morning he could skid on the frosty grass.  He started zooming around the yard, then holding all four feet stock-still so he'd skid.  He had a couple of really good skid runs, over 10 feet long.  For whatever reason, it was obvious that Race was really enjoying this; he kept right on doing it.  In fact, I had a great deal of trouble getting him back into the house, as he'd discovered that going down a hill while skidding was even better than the relatively flat parts of our yard!  That border collie is one smart puppy...

The three field spaniels, meanwhile, completely ignored the skidding opportunities.  Instead, they were completely absorbed by the new smells they were finding.  The three short tails were all wagging like made, and all three noses were snuffling about in the frosty grass.  They didn't want to come back in, either – but in their cases, I could drag them back in by the leash!

The Christmas Bird...

Via my mom:

Venn Diagram: People Who Touch Your Junk...

Via reader Doug S.:

As the Instapundit would say: heh!

Snowflakes Like You've Never Seen Them...

Snowflakes under an electron microscope.  The photo at right (click to enlarge) is “3D” – cross your eyes to fuse the two halves into a single center image and it will pop out at you.  More fascinating photos at the link...

Analemma...

This beautiful photo montage of the analemma comes from APOD, of course...

Continuous Air Fare Checking...

Interesting daemon written in Perl that continuously searches for the best fares for a particular trip.  Might be quite useful for someone in a long-distance relationship!

North American Dialects...

Here's a fascinating little web site that's chock full of information about the English dialects of North America.  There are even audio samples you can listen too!

Rain, More Rain...

Check out the rain gauges at right – we're now over 30 inches for the year with the 1.25 inches we got yesterday and last night. 

Our ground is saturated, there's standing water all over the place, and our temperatures are down near the freezing mark.  Meanwhile, all the plants have decided it's spring, and they're growing like mad – we have hundreds of bulbs growing in our yard, and the thickest blanket of actual grass (instead of weeds) that we've seen in ten years or so.  If we get a hard frost (quite possible in the next few days), some of these plants are going to suffer...

Digital Nativity...

If you have even a passing acquaintance with the modern online world, this will make you laugh until you hurt.  Via Frankie T.:

Primes, Visualized...

Here's a nice post about the Ulam spiral and related visual patterns made from primes – along with the code to generate them!

Romance Novel Material?

My wife forwarded this short story to me, with the subject line “Romance novel material”:

He grasped me firmly, but gently, just above my elbow and guided me into a room, his room. Then he quietly shut the door and we were alone. He approached me soundlessly, from behind, and spoke in a low, reassuring voice, close to my ear.

"Just relax..." Without warning, he reached down and I felt his strong, calloused hands start at my ankles, gently probing and moving upward along my calves, slowly, but steadily. My breath caught in my throat. I knew I should be afraid, but somehow I didn't care. His touch was so experienced, so sure. When his hands moved up onto my thighs, I gave a slight shudder, and I partly closed my eyes. My pulse was pounding. I felt his knowing fingers caress my abdomen, my ribcage. And then, as he cupped my firm, full breasts in his hands, I inhaled sharply. Probing, searching, knowing what he wanted, he brought his hands to my shoulders, slid them down my tingling spine and into my panties. Although I knew nothing about this man, I felt oddly trusting and expectant. This is a man, I thought. A man used to taking charge. A man not used to taking "no" for an answer. A man who would tell me what he wanted. A man who would look into my soul and say...

"Okay, ma'am," said a voice. "All done." My eyes snapped open and he was standing in front of me, smiling, holding out my purse. "You can board your flight now."

What is she trying to tell me?

Caring for Your Introvert...

This resonates strongly.  Nobody who knows me well will be surprised.

One of My Heroes Died on December 23...

I first read about Fred Hargesheimer about 15 years ago.  Fred was a P-38 pilot in WWII, shot down over Papua New Guinea, hidden and nurtured by natives.  He survived the war and went on to become a successful businessman (with ERA and Univac).  Later he went back to the natives of the Nakanai tribe, and offered to help.  He started with a school, but did much, much more for the tribe, trying to repay them for saving his life (at great risk to themselves).  Eventually he was given a great honor by the tribe, and just a few years ago the wreckage of his plane was found (after all these years!).  Fred was, of course, an old man by then – but the tribe knew he'd really want to see the wreckage.  So they cleared a helicopter pad in the jungle nearby the wreck, and arranged for him to be helicoptered in, and then carried through the jungle to the wreck.  Fred was able to positively identify the plane.  Here's a more detailed version of his story.

There's much more to Fred's story, of course.  I recommend his book The School That Fell From the Sky; read it and you'll see why I call Fred one of my heroes.

Fred Hargesheimer died on December 23.

More Linux Tricks...

A dandy little collection...

Cassini Visits Rhea...

Cassini is still traipsing about the Saturnian system, producing vast quantities of quality science.  As it gets nearer to the end of its mission (in particular, as it runs out of fuel), the mission planners are sending it on ever more risky endeavours.  Most especially they are sending it closer and closer to Saturn's satellites (this is risky because the gravitational field of these satellites attracts more space junk that could kill Cassini, and because some of these satellites even emit dangerous materials).

Just in time for the holidays, Cassini snapped this closeup of little Rhea, looking a bit like a Christmas tree ornament...

Milk and Butter are Good for You?

Nutritionists change their mind so frequently, and offer conflicting results so unashamedly, that a lay reader has a great deal of difficulty keeping track of what's good and what's bad.  I've basically given up myself, and have pursued a course of mindless eating for pleasure, moderated only when my body gives me unambiguous feedback or when my wallet runs out.  But I still read about the scientists hard at work trying to understand all this.  The latest missive: turns out that milk and butter may help you resist diabetes.  Well, that's nice – I drink a lot of milk!

So You Lost Your Election...

Iowahawk does it again.  Put down your morning beverage and cruise on over to read his latest masterpiece.  My favorite line (hard to pick just one!):

I removed my Congressional experience from my resume. How do I explain the 28-year gap?

Claim you were in prison.

Morning Walk...

Cold and clear this morning; the barometer is rising and you'd think we're in for a typical wintry sequence of mornings like this one.  But the forecast calls for rain on Wednesday, cloudy days through the end of the week, and more rain on Sunday...

Out with the dogs at 3:20 am, and my old friend Orion hangs just above the southwestern horizon.  Another week or two and he'll disappear.  The moon was high overhead and very bright, even though it's less than half lit.  I could see colors in the yard, and the distant mountains were clearly visible.

The three field spaniels focused on one particular spot alongside our driveway, doing their usual intense olfactory absorption.  Today I got down on the ground with them and smelled the same patch of ground.  I could only smell the earth and the grass, nothing else.  The dogs were fascinated by my joining them; didn't quite know what to make of it.

Race, the border collie, did something quite unusual for him.  A neighbor's dog was barking, objecting to our presence.  Race got his hackles up, and took off out the gate (unlike the field spaniels, he was off-leash).  He ran up the patch of ground between my neighbor's fence and our fence, and headed over to the neighbor's fence to get in his dog's face.  Much growling and posturing ensued.  With some difficulty I managed to call Race back.  Next time, he's going out on the leash.

As we walked back toward the house, I heard the low call of an owl nearby.  With some effort (as the calls were very intermittent), I located it – high in one of our eucalyptus trees.  I could just barely make out his silhouette against the bright sky; from the size and shape and call, it had to be a barn owl.  Be afraid, little mice...

Have a Doggy, Doggy Christmas!

'Cause we sure are...

From all of us, to all of you:

Merry Christmas!

Rain!

The graph at right says it all – nearly 8 inches of rain, in just 5 days.  Several times during this storm, the rainfall rates were amongst the highest we've seen here in 11 years.  Awesome storm!

Today, our creeks are running strongly, the moss on all the rocks is bright green, the seeps on the hills are starting to flow (making bright shiny spots on the rocks), the sky is blue and clear, it's cold, the birds are chirping...life is good in Lawson Valley!

And more rain is forecast for this weekend...

Another Obituary...

Via Debbie:

Please join me in remembering a great icon of the entertainment community. The Pillsbury Doughboy died yesterday of a yeast infection and trauma complications from repeated pokes in the belly. He was 71 and rollin in dough.

Doughboy was buried in a lightly greased coffin. Dozens of celebrities turned out to pay their respects, including Mrs. Butterworth, Hungry Jack, the California Raisins, Betty Crocker, the Hostess Twinkies, and Captain Crunch. The grave site was piled high with flours.

Aunt Jemima delivered the eulogy and lovingly described Doughboy as a man who never knew how much he was kneaded. Born and bread in Minnesota, Doughboy rose quickly in show business, but his later life was filled with turnovers.. He was not considered a very smart cookie, wasting much of his dough on half- baked schemes. Despite being a little flaky at times, he still was a crusty old man and was considered a positive roll model for millions.

Doughboy is survived by his wife Play Dough, three children: John Dough, Jane Dough and Dosey Dough, plus they had one in the oven. He is also survived by his elderly father, Pop Tart.

The funeral was held at 3:50 for about 20 minutes.

Rain...

Just over 4" (10 cm) storm total – and two more days of storm to go.  Woo hoo!

Rain...

We've still got three more days to go, but we're over an inch and a half (4 cm) at this point.  Another half inch and calendar 2010 will be the wettest year we've seen since we moved out here some 12 years ago...

If I Didn't Have Any Pets...

Via Debbie:

If I didn't have dogs and cats, I could walk around the yard barefoot in safety.

My house could be carpeted instead of tiled and laminated.

All flat surfaces, clothing, furniture, and cars would be free of hair.

When the doorbell rings, it wouldn't sound like a kennel.

When the doorbell rings, I could get to the door without wading through fuzzy bodies who beat me there.

I could sit on the couch and my bed the way I wanted, without taking into consideration how much space several fur bodies would need to get comfortable.

I would have money, and no guilt to go on a real vacation.

I would not be on a first-name basis with 6 veterinarians, as I put their yet unborn grandkids through college.

The most used words in my vocabulary would not be: out, sit, down, come, no, stay, and leave it ALONE.

My house would not be cordoned off into zones with baby gates or barriers.

I would not talk 'baby talk.' 'Eat your din din.' 'Yummy yummy for the tummy'...
My house would not look like a day care center, toys everywhere.

My pockets would not contain things like poop bags, treats and an extra leash.

I would no longer have to spell the words B-A-L-L, W-A-L-K, T-R-E-A-T, O-U-T, G-O, R-I-D-E, C-O-O-K-I-E.

I would not have as many leaves INSIDE my house as outside.

I would not look strangely at people who think having ONE dog/cat ties them down too much.

I'd look forward to Spring and the rainy season instead of dreading 'mud' season.

I would not have to answer the question, 'Why do you have so many animals?', from people who will never have the joy in their lives of knowing they are loved unconditionally by someone as close to an ANGEL as they will ever get.

How EMPTY my life would be!

That Explains It!

Via Debbie:

Some of you will recall that on July 8, 1947, a little over 62 years ago, witnesses claim that an unidentified flying object (UFO) with five aliens aboard crashed onto a sheep and mule ranch just outside Roswell, New Mexico.

This is a well known incident that many say has long been covered up by the U.S. Air Force and other federal agencies and organizations.

However, what you may NOT know is that in the month of April 1948, nine months after that historic day, the following people were born:

Albert A. Gore, Jr.
Hillary Rodham
John F. Kerry
William J. Clinton
Howard Dean
Nancy Pelosi
Dianne Feinstein
Charles E. Schumer
Barbara Boxer

See what happens when aliens breed with sheep and jackasses? I certainly hope this bit of information clears up a lot of things for you.. It did for me.

No wonder they support the bill to help illegal aliens!

iCarols...

Via Debbie:

An Obituary...

Via my mom, this obituary allegedly published in the London Times:

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:
- Knowing when to come in out of the rain;
- Why the early bird gets the worm;
- Life isn't always fair;
- and Maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children.

It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an aspirin to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims.

Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death, by his parents, Truth and Trust, by his wife, Discretion, by his daughter, Responsibility, and by his son, Reason.

He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers;
I Know My Rights
I Want It Now
Someone Else Is To Blame
I'm A Victim

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone.