Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Quips...
Said by Steven Wright, via reader Jim M.:
I'd kill for a Nobel Peace Prize.
Borrow money from pessimists -- they don't expect it back.
Half the people you know are below average.
99% of lawyers give the rest a bad name.
82.7% of all statistics are made up on the spot.
A conscience is what hurts when all your other parts feel so good.
A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.
If you want the rainbow, you have got to put up with the rain.
All those who believe in psycho kinesis, raise my hand.
The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.
I almost had a psychic girlfriend...But she left me before we met.
OK, so what's the speed of dark?
How do you tell when you're out of invisible ink?
If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something.
Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm.
When everything is coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.
Ambition is a poor excuse for not having enough sense to be lazy.
Hard work pays off in the future; laziness pays off now.
I intend to live forever... So far, so good.
If Barbie is so popular, why do you have to buy her friends?
Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.
What happens if you get scared half to death twice?
My mechanic told me, "I couldn't repair your brakes, so I made your horn louder."
Why do psychics have to ask you for your name?
If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried.
A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking.
Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.
The hardness of the butter is proportional to the softness of the bread.
To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research.
The problem with the gene pool is that there is no lifeguard.
The sooner you fall behind, the more time you'll have to catch up.
The colder the x-ray table, the more of your body is required to be on it.
Everyone has a photographic memory; some just don't have film.
If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you.
If your car could travel at the speed of light, would your headlights work?
Links of the Day...
Creepy, yet engaging. With animation and special effects, a few minutes of video can show decades of aging. It happens slowing enough to be almost imperceptible, yet still all within just a few minutes...
Michael J. Totten has a new Kickstarter project running, to finance a reporting trip to Cuba. I'm in – he's one our best independent journalists, a refreshingly blunt observer in the dark corners of the world. As I write this, his project is just $365 short of its tiny $8,000 goal. If you can, and are so inclined, go support him – he's a resource we need in this crazy world...
Maybe it can be unseen? Scientists come up with a way to selectively erase memories. Man, I've seen some things I'd love to be able to forget! Where do I get some?
Because Obama. Hybrid Prius tanks and your own senator for a year! Oh, my. I can't decide whether to laugh or cry – this spoof is funny, but also too damned close to reality...
Judge OKs TSA lying. This is how we all get enslaved to the bureaucrats. Dolores Umbridge would feel right at home there.
We're going to see many things like this. As drone technology evolves, people are going to find more and more useful ways to leverage eyes in the sky. Farmers today, who knows what tomorrow?
When you've lost Bruce Schneier... The crypto community is a-buzz over a comment by Bruce Schneier that strongly implies he no longer trusts NIST's elliptic cryptography standard. Presumably he's concerned about the existence of an NSA backdoor.
He should have canceled the speech. So says Peggy Noonan, and I agree. He didn't have much to say, and he said it badly...
I don't even like Jello. So why is this so fascinating?
So wrong, on so many levels. The WSJ editorial board weighs in with a good analysis of Putin's rescue of The One. You just can't make this stuff up!
The missing symbol. An evocative artifact of 9/11 that won't be in the 9/11 museum. Why not? Short answer: progressive political correctness...
man ascii and four other very useful *nix commands. Three of these were new to me. I'll use them, if I can remember them :)
Ginormous aquifer discovered in Kenya. They sure need the water badly in many parts of Africa. I worry, though, about aquifer depletion as has happened in the western U.S....
Amazing acrobatic duet. Via my mom...
Michael J. Totten has a new Kickstarter project running, to finance a reporting trip to Cuba. I'm in – he's one our best independent journalists, a refreshingly blunt observer in the dark corners of the world. As I write this, his project is just $365 short of its tiny $8,000 goal. If you can, and are so inclined, go support him – he's a resource we need in this crazy world...
Maybe it can be unseen? Scientists come up with a way to selectively erase memories. Man, I've seen some things I'd love to be able to forget! Where do I get some?
Because Obama. Hybrid Prius tanks and your own senator for a year! Oh, my. I can't decide whether to laugh or cry – this spoof is funny, but also too damned close to reality...
Judge OKs TSA lying. This is how we all get enslaved to the bureaucrats. Dolores Umbridge would feel right at home there.
We're going to see many things like this. As drone technology evolves, people are going to find more and more useful ways to leverage eyes in the sky. Farmers today, who knows what tomorrow?
When you've lost Bruce Schneier... The crypto community is a-buzz over a comment by Bruce Schneier that strongly implies he no longer trusts NIST's elliptic cryptography standard. Presumably he's concerned about the existence of an NSA backdoor.
He should have canceled the speech. So says Peggy Noonan, and I agree. He didn't have much to say, and he said it badly...
I don't even like Jello. So why is this so fascinating?
So wrong, on so many levels. The WSJ editorial board weighs in with a good analysis of Putin's rescue of The One. You just can't make this stuff up!
The missing symbol. An evocative artifact of 9/11 that won't be in the 9/11 museum. Why not? Short answer: progressive political correctness...
man ascii and four other very useful *nix commands. Three of these were new to me. I'll use them, if I can remember them :)
Ginormous aquifer discovered in Kenya. They sure need the water badly in many parts of Africa. I worry, though, about aquifer depletion as has happened in the western U.S....
Amazing acrobatic duet. Via my mom...
12 Years Ago...
Twelve years ago this morning, 2,977 innocent people, mostly American, were killed by al Qaeda terrorists who hijacked four aircraft. Two were crashed into the World Trade Center in downtown Manhattan, one was crashed into the Pentagon, and one went down into a field in Pennsylvania (presumably because the passengers overpowered the hijackers).
Like most Americans, I will never forget the shock and horror of that day, or our fears in the days immediately following. I mourn those 2,977 innocents, and each year on this day I take a few minutes to remember them.
I also will never forget how this nation came together in response. I celebrate that American spirit each year on this day. But that sure didn't last long, did it?
As the years go by and our ineffective, intrusive, and downright un-American response to 9/11 congeals into institutional concrete ... I'm beginning to think that the cure was worse than the injury. The TSA appears to be nearly completely ineffective, but costs billions of dollars each month and is as entrenched as any bureaucracy I've ever heard of. The NSA revelations, still slowly and painfully rolling out, collectively reveal how precious little our government doesn't know about us. The only thing that seems to have truly been improved is our intelligence capabilities, and I'm really just hoping for that – inferring from the lack of successful follow-on attacks that our intelligence gathering must be working...
Like most Americans, I will never forget the shock and horror of that day, or our fears in the days immediately following. I mourn those 2,977 innocents, and each year on this day I take a few minutes to remember them.
I also will never forget how this nation came together in response. I celebrate that American spirit each year on this day. But that sure didn't last long, did it?
As the years go by and our ineffective, intrusive, and downright un-American response to 9/11 congeals into institutional concrete ... I'm beginning to think that the cure was worse than the injury. The TSA appears to be nearly completely ineffective, but costs billions of dollars each month and is as entrenched as any bureaucracy I've ever heard of. The NSA revelations, still slowly and painfully rolling out, collectively reveal how precious little our government doesn't know about us. The only thing that seems to have truly been improved is our intelligence capabilities, and I'm really just hoping for that – inferring from the lack of successful follow-on attacks that our intelligence gathering must be working...
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Scam Alert: Repair Saver...
I'm sure that you, like me, have received deceptive marketing mail before. There's one that we get repeatedly – several times a year – that is a great example of the genre.
The cover of the mailed piece looked like this (with my name and address blacked out):
The warning, with its notice of a $2,000 fine and 5 years imprisonment, sounds really scary, doesn't it? I can just see some nice little old lady reacting to that in exactly the way these marketers want her to: to open it up and find out what she has to do in order to avoid being thrown in the hoosegow. While that warning is accurate, it's got nothing to do with this letter – it's the penalty associated with interfering with any first class mail. It's there only to impress you with how vital it is for you to react. In sales terms, they're building a sense of urgency.
When I saw that warning on the outside, I knew it was going to be some kind of sales pitch on the inside:
Now, if you read this carefully enough, it's obvious that they're trying to sell you something. In this case, it's an extended warranty. I have no idea if their insurance product is any good, though I do know that in general extended warranties – especially for cars – are a really bad deal for the consumer, and rife with fraud. For all I know, this company is selling a perfectly good product. But they're sure doing it deceptively, starting with the outside of the piece.
Inside, the first thing you see is that they know about the car you have. We do, in fact, own a 2010 Toyota Tundra. How this company knows that, I have no idea. But it makes the marketing piece look more legitimate, doesn't it? Nice deception.
Then you get the all-uppercase, scary looking notice that your factory warranty has expired, and you will now be responsible for repairs. Well, of course I will be – if, in fact, our factory warranty has expired. It has not expired, though, and we still have considerable coverage left on it – for precisely those things this extended warranty covers. Very, very deceptive – it sure looks like they're trying to get me to buy a warranty for something already covered by my Toyota warranty!
I called the 800 number and got a pleasant fellow named Corey. He verified that the company name was “Repair Saver” Then I went online to try to find out about the company, and discovered ... nothing. Almost certainly that means the company is not actually Repair Saver, but instead another company doing business under that name – another deception, and this time it's one that is notorious in the extended warranty industry. By operating under many names, and changing them frequently, these companies insulate themselves from careful consumers trying to find out about them. Most especially, they don't want you to find out about all the unhappy customers they have. It sure looks to me like Repair Saver is one of those.
I really hate this sort of deceptive marketing. I make it a point to never do business with a company using such tactics. They've lost my trust as a consumer without me ever buying one of their products...
The cover of the mailed piece looked like this (with my name and address blacked out):
When I saw that warning on the outside, I knew it was going to be some kind of sales pitch on the inside:
Inside, the first thing you see is that they know about the car you have. We do, in fact, own a 2010 Toyota Tundra. How this company knows that, I have no idea. But it makes the marketing piece look more legitimate, doesn't it? Nice deception.
Then you get the all-uppercase, scary looking notice that your factory warranty has expired, and you will now be responsible for repairs. Well, of course I will be – if, in fact, our factory warranty has expired. It has not expired, though, and we still have considerable coverage left on it – for precisely those things this extended warranty covers. Very, very deceptive – it sure looks like they're trying to get me to buy a warranty for something already covered by my Toyota warranty!
I called the 800 number and got a pleasant fellow named Corey. He verified that the company name was “Repair Saver” Then I went online to try to find out about the company, and discovered ... nothing. Almost certainly that means the company is not actually Repair Saver, but instead another company doing business under that name – another deception, and this time it's one that is notorious in the extended warranty industry. By operating under many names, and changing them frequently, these companies insulate themselves from careful consumers trying to find out about them. Most especially, they don't want you to find out about all the unhappy customers they have. It sure looks to me like Repair Saver is one of those.
I really hate this sort of deceptive marketing. I make it a point to never do business with a company using such tactics. They've lost my trust as a consumer without me ever buying one of their products...
Lyons Fire: the Final Final Update...
Debbie and I were able to drive up to the edge of the Lyons Fire burned area, right at four corners (where Lyons Valley Road meets Skyline Truck Trail and Honey Springs Road). We drove a little ways up Honey Springs Road to get a view of the burned area.
There were quite a few fire crew members still on scene, both down by the roads and up in the burn. A spotter plane circled overhead the entire time we were there (photo at right), and a tanker was working the fire as we approached. CHP has Lyons Valley Road to the east of Four Corners closed off (presumably it's also closed at the intersection with Japatul Valley Road).
The burned area that we could see is shown below. In the left-hand photo, north is about at the left edge; in the right-hand photo, east is about at the right edge. The fire burned right to the top of the ridge at right, and quite possibly beyond that – we simply couldn't see from where we stood, and we couldn't go down Lyons Valley Road to see directly, as it was closed.
Here's a very rough map (below) I drew by hand to show the burn boundaries. I can't tell for 100% sure, but it appears to me that the fire crews managed to protect all the homes on the north side of Lyons Valley Road. I don't believe there were any structures in the burn areas uphill from those homes along Lyons Valley Road.
The burned area that we could see is shown below. In the left-hand photo, north is about at the left edge; in the right-hand photo, east is about at the right edge. The fire burned right to the top of the ridge at right, and quite possibly beyond that – we simply couldn't see from where we stood, and we couldn't go down Lyons Valley Road to see directly, as it was closed.
Here's a very rough map (below) I drew by hand to show the burn boundaries. I can't tell for 100% sure, but it appears to me that the fire crews managed to protect all the homes on the north side of Lyons Valley Road. I don't believe there were any structures in the burn areas uphill from those homes along Lyons Valley Road.
Links of the Day...
Clear thinking alert! Bruce Schneier is the best source for calm, clear analysis of security issues that I know of. His blog is consistently interesting and informative (and on my daily read list), as evidenced by this recent post on the NSA's huge security problem, and on one blood price we're paying for the TSA's security theater...
What the hell is happening to my country? A co-founder of the Sooner Tea Party (Oklahoma) is going to be tried on charges of blackmail and computer crimes – for sending an email demanding that his state representative do his job...
Let me get this straight... Kerry says something stupid that the State Department quickly backpedals from, then Putin says “What a great idea!”, Obama says “Yeah, baby!”, and Assad says “Sure, we'll give away all our chemical weapons!” If someone wrote a novel with that plot, I'd call it implausible. As I will the idea that Assad will actually give away his weapons, acquired with much expense and effort. I think he's playing precisely the same game Sadaam did: let the foreigners in, delaying any military action against him, and then evading and hiding like crazy. Bet you anything that Obama claims victory...
They don't understand business. In fact, they detest business. Obama thought he could pay for part of Obamacare simply by taxing the crap out of medical companies. Now we're all paying the price: those companies, faced with hundreds of millions of dollars in new tax obligations, are laying off employees, abandoning promising research, and relocating to other countries. The Obamanoids say this is “unexpected” – I call bullshit on that...
Stomp the stupid! How should you respond to a petition asking you to do something technically stupid? If you're Linus Torvalds, you do it like this:
Where do I start a petition to raise the IQ and kernel knowledge of people? Guys, go read drivers/char/random.c. Then, learn about cryptography. Finally, come back here and admit to the world that you were wrong. Short answer: we actually know what we are doing. You don't. Long answer: we use rdrand as _one_ of many inputs into the random pool, and we use it as a way to _improve_ that random pool. So even if rdrand were to be back-doored by the NSA, our use of rdrand actually improves the quality of the random numbers you get from /dev/random. Really short answer: you're ignorant.The first computer bug. Found 66 years ago by Grace Hopper, whom I've written about before...
Where can I buy some of these? Gut bacteria that let you eat and be skinny...
Bomb Obamacare. Instead of Syria. So says Sarah Palin, whose PAC recently released the “death panel” ad at right...
Lyons Fire: Final Update...
The fire now has an official name: the “Lyons Fire”, and it's listed on the CDF incident site. As of 7 pm last night, they're calling it 250 acres and 10% contained. This morning's HPWREN view from Los Pinos looks better than that report sounds: there isn't the slightest trace of smoke visible:
We saw CDF aircraft flying over the fire site several times yesterday afternoon and evening, and we heard them early this morning as well. My somewhat educated guess is that they're doing both visual inspections and infrared inspections, looking for hot spots that need attention.
The speed and efficacy of the firefighter's response was very comforting to us. When you're living in the midst of tens of thousands of cubic meters of highly flammable fuel, as we and our neighbors are, it's really good to know that competent firefighters have got your back...
Early this morning we were awakened by a completely unexpected sound: rainfall. We didn't get much – just 3mm, or just over 1/10th inch – but it was very welcome nonetheless. This morning when we got up, we were completely fogged in – that's normal for March or April, but definitely not for September! It brought a very welcome coolness and dampness, and though it's not enough water to reduce the fuel flammability for very long, it must have been very welcome to the fire crews (assuming they got the same)...
We saw CDF aircraft flying over the fire site several times yesterday afternoon and evening, and we heard them early this morning as well. My somewhat educated guess is that they're doing both visual inspections and infrared inspections, looking for hot spots that need attention.
The speed and efficacy of the firefighter's response was very comforting to us. When you're living in the midst of tens of thousands of cubic meters of highly flammable fuel, as we and our neighbors are, it's really good to know that competent firefighters have got your back...
Early this morning we were awakened by a completely unexpected sound: rainfall. We didn't get much – just 3mm, or just over 1/10th inch – but it was very welcome nonetheless. This morning when we got up, we were completely fogged in – that's normal for March or April, but definitely not for September! It brought a very welcome coolness and dampness, and though it's not enough water to reduce the fuel flammability for very long, it must have been very welcome to the fire crews (assuming they got the same)...
Monday, September 9, 2013
Lyons Valley Fire Update...
“I think you're looking pretty good right now.”
Just heard that from the CDF fire crews. Just before that, they said that they were down to just hot spots left; the fire was basically out.
Three cheers for the fire crews! A bunch of people in Lawson Vally, Lyons Valley, and Deerhorn Valley are breathing a little easier...
Just heard that from the CDF fire crews. Just before that, they said that they were down to just hot spots left; the fire was basically out.
Three cheers for the fire crews! A bunch of people in Lawson Vally, Lyons Valley, and Deerhorn Valley are breathing a little easier...
Lyons Valley Fire Update...
Current view from Lyons Peak:
From all I can see and hear, it looks like the firefighters (both in the air and on the ground) are making great progress. On the scanner I heard concerns from fire crews about the fire burning toward Carveacre Ranch, but the latest photo looks like they've largely knocked it down. These things can flare up in a hurry, especially if the wind kicks up, so we're not out of the woods until they've doused every hotspot...
I just heard the fire crews order 500 lunches. Hard to believe there are that many in the fire crew!
From all I can see and hear, it looks like the firefighters (both in the air and on the ground) are making great progress. On the scanner I heard concerns from fire crews about the fire burning toward Carveacre Ranch, but the latest photo looks like they've largely knocked it down. These things can flare up in a hurry, especially if the wind kicks up, so we're not out of the woods until they've doused every hotspot...
I just heard the fire crews order 500 lunches. Hard to believe there are that many in the fire crew!
Fire in Lyons Valley...
The fire is being actively worked as I write this (2:35 pm). Debbie and I saw an observation plane orbiting, three tankers attacking the fire directly. We also heard ground fire crews talking on the scanner.
The wind is light, out of the north. The fire appears to be burning both to the south (presumably driven by wind) and to the north (which is uphill from the fire's perspective). We're guessing that the fire crews will be able to contain it at the ridge west of Lawson Peak, if not before. We certainly hope so, as our home is only a mile or so from that ridge.
Below are a couple of shots from the east-pointing HPWREN camera on Lyons Peak. As always, this is our best information, as it's nearly real time (the photos are updated every 2 minutes, 24 x 7).
The top shot was taken at 1:44 pm today, the bottom at 2:28 pm. As you can see, the fire teams have already made a lot of progress. Go, firefighters!
Links of the Day...
Wait – they needed someone to tell them? Little Rock, Arkansas has a new teacher dress code: they must wear underwear. Teacher's union objects strenuously...
Well, she should know... A Russian immigrant to the U.S. worries that we're becoming what she fled from over 30 years ago. She has a handy checklist of the characteristics of socialist countries:
Gulp.
- Controlling people by making them dependent on government for basics such as medical care, property rights and income.
- Applying separate standards in medical and other services for government employees and acolytes vs. the rest of society.
- Brainwashing the population starting as early as possible with propaganda that is pro-central government and anti-free market capitalism.
- Polarizing society by dividing people into groups by ethnicity.
- Controlling speech, enforcing political correctness and attempting to suppress opposition media.
- Collecting citizens' personal information using all resources available, including NSA programs.
- Intimidating opposition through Justice Department investigations of journalists, IRS intimidation of groups and individuals who oppose government policies, and information collected on citizens that becomes quite handy.
- Demonizing and destroying the livelihood of anyone — from members of the Tea Party to rodeo clowns — who dares to criticize the president.
- Controlling economic resources via EPA and other regulations despite negative economic consequences.
- Conducting show trials of freethinkers, such as the 13 felony counts brought against Internet prodigy Aaron Swartz, potentially leading to 30 years imprisonment.
- Calling for sacrifices in the name of the collective good, promises of a bright future and endless lies about disastrous government failures here and now.
This is what the Internet is for, right? Team drumming, the DrumCat way...
How's that climate change working out for ya, eh? Arctic ice cover this year is 60% greater than last year. Right on cue, the warmists are bleating that this is not evidence against global warming – even though they hooted and hollered last year about the decrease being solid evidence to the contrary. Hypocrites and shoddy scientists, they are..
Knave or fool? Is Obama's foreign policy the product of his incompetence, or his belief that America is a force for evil in the world? Norman Podhoretz, no dummy he, argues knavery in a very scary piece...
So this is what a super-power sounds like! John Kerry, on the planned American attacks on Syria: they will be “Unbelievably small.” Ooooh, I bet Assad is really scared now!
Oh, please, no. Just no. Please! Elections have consequences, and the 2012 elections might have some particularly bad ones...
Interchangeable, they are. Dave Carter, writing at Ricochet: “What we are witnessing is a disturbing and seemingly unstoppable coalescence of both major parties into an amalgamation of autocrats, ambitious to maintain their own power and anxious to relieve us of our property and liberty.” Makes me want to stock up on guns and ammunition...
Sunday, September 8, 2013
Data Compression: Curiosity's “Focus-Merge” Images...
The Curiosity rover currently exploring Mars has an interesting image manipulation capability on board that is effectively a form of data compression, albeit a very unconventional one.
Since early in the days of digital cameras, photographers have realized that there are ways to combine multiple digital images of the same scene to provide a better composite image. One of the first uses of this technique was to increase the camera's effective depth-of-field with a technique called focus stacking or focus bracketing. The idea is simple enough: you take several images of precisely the same scene, but each with different focus settings. Then you combine the parts of each image that are in focus, so that the entire resulting image is in focus.
Focus stacking is particularly useful in macro (close-up) photography, because the lenses used have very shallow depth of field. Digital photographers routinely use focus stacking today, generally with software such as Photoshop. You might start with images taken at 4 or 5 focus settings, then combine them carefully to get one image as a result. This is especially useful with studio or product photography, where your subject is stationary.
From the perspective of data size, this is a very inefficient process. To get a single final image, you have to move several full size images from the camera to your focus stacking software. For an earthbound digital photographer, that's a few seconds of time as the memory card gets read. For Curiosity, millions of miles away on Mars, it's an entirely different story – it has to send all those images over a very slow communications link.
Now Curiosity has a macro camera (the MAHLI imager), and it has a major depth-of-field challenge. It's designed to capture images of rocks for geologists to study, and those rocks generally have surfaces that are far from flat. But sending multiple images for focus stacking over that slow data link is a more bandwidth than they'd like to use. The solution: implement focus stacking right on the Curiosity rover, so that only the final, all-in-focus image has to be transmitted. The MAHLI team calls this technique “focus-merge”
How do they accomplish this feat, normally done with human manipulation?
First, the MAHLI team built an in-focus sensing capability into the camera that extends across the entire image. On every image, the camera knows which pixels are in focus and which are not. This is similar to (but more extensive than) the multiple-areas autofocus capability of most high-end digital SLRs today. This in-focus data is stored with each image taken.
Then for any given rock that MAHLI is imaging, they'll take several photos (2 to 8, depending on the rock's depth variation) at different focus settings. Software on board Curiosity then scans all the images pixel-by-pixel, choosing the image with the best focus for each pixel. It also creates a visualization map showing the image selected at each pixel (using 2 to 8 gray levels, with blacker being more distant).
To anyone who has done much macro photography (as I have, with wildflowers), the result approximates magic: extreme close-up photos with essentially infinite depth-of-field. I really can't use this technique with wildflowers, because the darned things are highly unlikely to be still at microscopic scales. But I can envy the result nonetheless.
Here's a recent Curiosity focus-merge image of a rock's surface (on top) and it's matching focus map (at bottom):
Since early in the days of digital cameras, photographers have realized that there are ways to combine multiple digital images of the same scene to provide a better composite image. One of the first uses of this technique was to increase the camera's effective depth-of-field with a technique called focus stacking or focus bracketing. The idea is simple enough: you take several images of precisely the same scene, but each with different focus settings. Then you combine the parts of each image that are in focus, so that the entire resulting image is in focus.
Focus stacking is particularly useful in macro (close-up) photography, because the lenses used have very shallow depth of field. Digital photographers routinely use focus stacking today, generally with software such as Photoshop. You might start with images taken at 4 or 5 focus settings, then combine them carefully to get one image as a result. This is especially useful with studio or product photography, where your subject is stationary.
From the perspective of data size, this is a very inefficient process. To get a single final image, you have to move several full size images from the camera to your focus stacking software. For an earthbound digital photographer, that's a few seconds of time as the memory card gets read. For Curiosity, millions of miles away on Mars, it's an entirely different story – it has to send all those images over a very slow communications link.
Now Curiosity has a macro camera (the MAHLI imager), and it has a major depth-of-field challenge. It's designed to capture images of rocks for geologists to study, and those rocks generally have surfaces that are far from flat. But sending multiple images for focus stacking over that slow data link is a more bandwidth than they'd like to use. The solution: implement focus stacking right on the Curiosity rover, so that only the final, all-in-focus image has to be transmitted. The MAHLI team calls this technique “focus-merge”
How do they accomplish this feat, normally done with human manipulation?
First, the MAHLI team built an in-focus sensing capability into the camera that extends across the entire image. On every image, the camera knows which pixels are in focus and which are not. This is similar to (but more extensive than) the multiple-areas autofocus capability of most high-end digital SLRs today. This in-focus data is stored with each image taken.
Then for any given rock that MAHLI is imaging, they'll take several photos (2 to 8, depending on the rock's depth variation) at different focus settings. Software on board Curiosity then scans all the images pixel-by-pixel, choosing the image with the best focus for each pixel. It also creates a visualization map showing the image selected at each pixel (using 2 to 8 gray levels, with blacker being more distant).
To anyone who has done much macro photography (as I have, with wildflowers), the result approximates magic: extreme close-up photos with essentially infinite depth-of-field. I really can't use this technique with wildflowers, because the darned things are highly unlikely to be still at microscopic scales. But I can envy the result nonetheless.
Here's a recent Curiosity focus-merge image of a rock's surface (on top) and it's matching focus map (at bottom):
Links of the Day...
Armchair parkour. The helmet camera really brings it home...
I don't think there's a practical cure. You don't have to know much history to understand that the safest time in human history is right now. It never ceases to amaze me how few people seem to understand this rather basic (and quite verifiable) fact. This ignorance, unfortunately, drives a lot of public policy (both directly and indirectly, via elections)...
I'm a big supporter of gun rights, but... Iowa is granting concealed carry permits for blind people. Their laws require it.
A majority of low information voters can't be good. I'm glad to see leaders taking note of this problem. Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor: “Less than one-third of eighth-graders can identify the historical purpose of the Declaration of Independence, and it's right there in the name.”
Sad cat diary. If you own a cat, this will resonate :)
Tyrants rule us. What else can you call a government that won't even let you know how many security-related inquiries it makes? Yahoo! reports that it supplied customer content (presumably email and/or chat) to the government for 4,604 requests (each of which may encompass information on multiple individuals). Yahoo! states: “The U.S. Government does not permit us to disclose additional details regarding the number of requests, if any, under national security authorities at this time, or even to separate them in aggregate from other requests.” We're not allowed to know how our own government works. That's tyranny.
At this point, color me completely unsurprised. The Obama administration secretly removed Bush-era restrictions on NSA spying on American citizens. We can't believe anything these bozos tell us!
Speed riding on Mont Blanc. Via reader Simi L. Be sure to go full screen...
Jury to decide whether science data is accurate? A judge has ruled that Michael Mann's defamation suit against the National Review (prompted by this Mark Steyn post) can proceed. To prove defamation, Mann will have to prove that the allegations in Steyn's post are false – which means we may end up having a jury decide on the “truth” of the science. In my opinion, that's a very bad idea...
I wondered about these... I once saw a giant concrete arrow, in a remote area of the Ruby Mountains in northern Nevada, and I could not figure out what the heck it was for. It's all the Post Office's fault!
Ouch. Conrad Black, writing in the New York Sun:
Wow! Now this is some juggling. A team of jugglers!
Embarrassed, repelled, and outraged. How does our military leadership feel about the Obama administration's preparations for intervention in Syria? Robert Scales, retired U.S. Army Major General and former commandant of the U.S. Army War College, writing in the Washington Post:
How much does a bullet cost? Between the time Nidal Hasan (the Fort Hood Shooter) killed 13 and wounded 30, and his sentencing next week, U.S. taxpayers will have paid him over $300,000. We've also paid over $650,000 just to house him. A bullet certainly would be less expensive. Seems like a win for process over common sense. Just sayin'...
I don't think there's a practical cure. You don't have to know much history to understand that the safest time in human history is right now. It never ceases to amaze me how few people seem to understand this rather basic (and quite verifiable) fact. This ignorance, unfortunately, drives a lot of public policy (both directly and indirectly, via elections)...
I'm a big supporter of gun rights, but... Iowa is granting concealed carry permits for blind people. Their laws require it.
A majority of low information voters can't be good. I'm glad to see leaders taking note of this problem. Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor: “Less than one-third of eighth-graders can identify the historical purpose of the Declaration of Independence, and it's right there in the name.”
Sad cat diary. If you own a cat, this will resonate :)
Tyrants rule us. What else can you call a government that won't even let you know how many security-related inquiries it makes? Yahoo! reports that it supplied customer content (presumably email and/or chat) to the government for 4,604 requests (each of which may encompass information on multiple individuals). Yahoo! states: “The U.S. Government does not permit us to disclose additional details regarding the number of requests, if any, under national security authorities at this time, or even to separate them in aggregate from other requests.” We're not allowed to know how our own government works. That's tyranny.
At this point, color me completely unsurprised. The Obama administration secretly removed Bush-era restrictions on NSA spying on American citizens. We can't believe anything these bozos tell us!
Speed riding on Mont Blanc. Via reader Simi L. Be sure to go full screen...
Jury to decide whether science data is accurate? A judge has ruled that Michael Mann's defamation suit against the National Review (prompted by this Mark Steyn post) can proceed. To prove defamation, Mann will have to prove that the allegations in Steyn's post are false – which means we may end up having a jury decide on the “truth” of the science. In my opinion, that's a very bad idea...
I wondered about these... I once saw a giant concrete arrow, in a remote area of the Ruby Mountains in northern Nevada, and I could not figure out what the heck it was for. It's all the Post Office's fault!
Ouch. Conrad Black, writing in the New York Sun:
“But for this administration to redeem its credibility now would require a change of direction and method so radical it would be the national equivalent of the comeback of Lazarus: a miraculous revolution in the condition of an individual (President Obama), and a comparable metamorphosis (or a comprehensive replacement) of the astonishingly implausible claque around him.”I think the first chance for Lazarus to return is after the next election – and I'm not too optimistic about that, either. Especially after the 2012 elections...
Wow! Now this is some juggling. A team of jugglers!
Embarrassed, repelled, and outraged. How does our military leadership feel about the Obama administration's preparations for intervention in Syria? Robert Scales, retired U.S. Army Major General and former commandant of the U.S. Army War College, writing in the Washington Post:
They are embarrassed to be associated with the amateurism of the Obama administration’s attempts to craft a plan that makes strategic sense. None of the White House staff has any experience in war or understands it. So far, at least, this path to war violates every principle of war, including the element of surprise, achieving mass and having a clearly defined and obtainable objective.I find it very plausible that Scales is well plugged into our military leadership's thinking, and what he reports is even more plausible...
They are repelled by the hypocrisy of a media blitz that warns against the return of Hitlerism but privately acknowledges that the motive for risking American lives is our “responsibility to protect” the world’s innocents. Prospective U.S. action in Syria is not about threats to American security. The U.S. military’s civilian masters privately are proud that they are motivated by guilt over slaughters in Rwanda, Sudan and Kosovo and not by any systemic threat to our country.
They are outraged by the fact that what may happen is an act of war and a willingness to risk American lives to make up for a slip of the tongue about “red lines.” These acts would be for retribution and to restore the reputation of a president. Our serving professionals make the point that killing more Syrians won’t deter Iranian resolve to confront us. The Iranians have already gotten the message.
How much does a bullet cost? Between the time Nidal Hasan (the Fort Hood Shooter) killed 13 and wounded 30, and his sentencing next week, U.S. taxpayers will have paid him over $300,000. We've also paid over $650,000 just to house him. A bullet certainly would be less expensive. Seems like a win for process over common sense. Just sayin'...
Why Old Men Don't Get Hired...
Via reader Jim M.:
An old man went to a job interview, given by the human resources manager. The conversation went like this:
Manager: “What is your greatest weakness?”
Old Man: “Honesty.”
Manager: “I don't think honesty is a weakness!”
Old Man: “I really don't give a shit what you think.”
Saturday, September 7, 2013
Links of the Day...
It ended well, thanks to them: young oglers rescue a kidnapped girl. They also helped your curmudgeonly, doomy blogger feel a little hope for our country. Well, for Texas, at least...
Despite the Obamanoids best efforts to spin it: The Friday jobs report was more of the same: the announced unemployment number was notionally lower, the real number much higher, and the workplace participation ratio is as bad as it was when Carter was president. Even worse, the last two months were revised downward. There seems to be a pattern here...
Australians are celebrating: in yesterday's elections, the Labor party (roughly like our Democrats) has been overthrown, and the conservatives (still fairly progressive by our standards) are taking the reins. There's hope down under. James Delingpole is a bit more cautious: “...it will require a huge pair of balls (possibly a pair even bigger than a man can reasonably fit into a pair of Speedo budgie smugglers) and a will of iron to resist those siren voices that trouble all conservative incumbents: the voices that urge caution in doing anything too radical because conservatism, being essentially nasty and selfish, should never be deployed except in moderation.”.
Not that I really want to hear from them: But, say, where have all those anti-war celebrities gone?
Why do these things always seem to come from Japan? It took 11 years, but the 17 ton steel beetle lives!
“A complete stud.” A sheepherder in the La Sal Mountains (where Debbie and I were in late July) was gored by a bull elk, and rescued by wildlife workers releasing Rocky Mountain goats. The sheepherder is fine...
Naturally, California is first in line: The California legislature passed (and Governor “Moonbeam” Brown has indicated he'll sign) a bill that would start a transition to electronic license plates. These plates would show advertisements on stationary cars, would give indications if stolen or expired, and would transmit your position to government computers. This raises large security concerns, and somehow you just know that progressive political ads will run non-stop, for free. And of course we are unsurprised to discover that a California company is promoting this. Follow the money...
Some comfort... I use 1Password to generate and store my passwords, and I've had some concerns about that in light of recent revelations about the NSA's crypto capabilities. AgileBits, he people who make 1Password, respond in style.
Sounds like a strange weapon: Penitentes – thin blades of hardened snow – in the Chilean mountains. APOD.
The next big thing? A woman drops out of college 10 years ago and starts a company (Theranos) making miniaturized blood testing gizmos that are a lot faster, better, and cheaper than today's lab tests. Awesome! Where do I go?
Word. James Taranto, in Reductio ad Obama. The man has an enviable way with words, and he's been on a roll recently...
Looking back... Captured by the tail camera on the second flight of the Virgin Galactic's second-rocket powered flight. If I had the kind of money needed for the ticket, I'd be signing up for a ride...
Obama's quagmire. The Iranians will punish us if we attack, and Russia will help Syria. The world's tallest economics blogger weighs in with some clear thinking...
Sweet. The husband of a pregnant woman makes a touching composite video from one second of each of her pregnant days.
Solar eclipse on Mars: captured by the Curiosity rover.
Armchair exploration: of Mercury. Fully interactive map, with science data overlays, all driving by the ongoing MESSENGER robotic exploration of Mercury. New data is added periodically...
Despite the Obamanoids best efforts to spin it: The Friday jobs report was more of the same: the announced unemployment number was notionally lower, the real number much higher, and the workplace participation ratio is as bad as it was when Carter was president. Even worse, the last two months were revised downward. There seems to be a pattern here...
Australians are celebrating: in yesterday's elections, the Labor party (roughly like our Democrats) has been overthrown, and the conservatives (still fairly progressive by our standards) are taking the reins. There's hope down under. James Delingpole is a bit more cautious: “...it will require a huge pair of balls (possibly a pair even bigger than a man can reasonably fit into a pair of Speedo budgie smugglers) and a will of iron to resist those siren voices that trouble all conservative incumbents: the voices that urge caution in doing anything too radical because conservatism, being essentially nasty and selfish, should never be deployed except in moderation.”.
Not that I really want to hear from them: But, say, where have all those anti-war celebrities gone?
Why do these things always seem to come from Japan? It took 11 years, but the 17 ton steel beetle lives!
“A complete stud.” A sheepherder in the La Sal Mountains (where Debbie and I were in late July) was gored by a bull elk, and rescued by wildlife workers releasing Rocky Mountain goats. The sheepherder is fine...
Naturally, California is first in line: The California legislature passed (and Governor “Moonbeam” Brown has indicated he'll sign) a bill that would start a transition to electronic license plates. These plates would show advertisements on stationary cars, would give indications if stolen or expired, and would transmit your position to government computers. This raises large security concerns, and somehow you just know that progressive political ads will run non-stop, for free. And of course we are unsurprised to discover that a California company is promoting this. Follow the money...
Some comfort... I use 1Password to generate and store my passwords, and I've had some concerns about that in light of recent revelations about the NSA's crypto capabilities. AgileBits, he people who make 1Password, respond in style.
The next big thing? A woman drops out of college 10 years ago and starts a company (Theranos) making miniaturized blood testing gizmos that are a lot faster, better, and cheaper than today's lab tests. Awesome! Where do I go?
Word. James Taranto, in Reductio ad Obama. The man has an enviable way with words, and he's been on a roll recently...
Looking back... Captured by the tail camera on the second flight of the Virgin Galactic's second-rocket powered flight. If I had the kind of money needed for the ticket, I'd be signing up for a ride...
Obama's quagmire. The Iranians will punish us if we attack, and Russia will help Syria. The world's tallest economics blogger weighs in with some clear thinking...
Sweet. The husband of a pregnant woman makes a touching composite video from one second of each of her pregnant days.
Solar eclipse on Mars: captured by the Curiosity rover.
Armchair exploration: of Mercury. Fully interactive map, with science data overlays, all driving by the ongoing MESSENGER robotic exploration of Mercury. New data is added periodically...
 |
| Sample image from interactive science data map of Mercury... |
Friday, September 6, 2013
Musical Musings, Memories...
I think almost everyone has had the experience of listening to a piece of music that transports you back to some other time, place, and experience. There are several such pieces that zap my brain like that, and I occasionally discover a new one. Here are three that get me every time:
Tommy (The Who): Takes me back to 1969, when I was consumed in learning about electronics. I spent many hours in a disused chicken shack that I'd converted into an electronics workshop, building lots of home-designed projects that occasionally worked. I couldn't afford to buy parts, so I scavenged them from old vacuum tube radios and televisions that local repair shops (remember them?) gave me. I played this album repeatedly, on an old Motorola stereo (vacuum tubes and electrodynamic speakers!) that I'd scavenged and repaired...
Kodachrome (Paul Simon): Takes me back to 1973, when I was attending U.S. Navy technical schools in Mare Island (Vallejo), California. On the weekends I jumped into my old beater of a car and cruised north to Yolo County, between Davis and Dixon, to go skydiving. I drove through miles and miles of fragrant fields, windows open and hot, humid air pouring in, and this song playing loud on my cassette deck. Happy times, and this song takes me right back there...
Smoke on the Water (Deep Purple) Takes me back to 1975, when I was a few short miles off the coast of South Vietnam, in the South China Sea, as Saigon fell to the North Vietnamese forces. The USS Long Beach (which I was stationed on) was part of a task force that was picking up refugees. We had many ARVN helicopters land on our aft deck, just barely big enough to hold one of the CH-47 Chinooks they were mainly coming out in. Each time one landed, a large working party (including me!) would push it over the side to make room for the next one. While we worked, someone had this song playing in a loop, very loud. It was an eerie scene – frantic refugees (men, women, and children), laden with valuables, running around terrified; multimillion dollar helicopters being tossed over the side like garbage; even more helicopters running out of fuel and landing close alongside (sometimes very close!); and a motley assortment of overloaded boats heading for us. Every ship in the large task force was experiencing similar things; together we took back over 25,000 refugees to the Phillipines. A few notes of that song and I'm right back there in that maelstrom...
Tommy (The Who): Takes me back to 1969, when I was consumed in learning about electronics. I spent many hours in a disused chicken shack that I'd converted into an electronics workshop, building lots of home-designed projects that occasionally worked. I couldn't afford to buy parts, so I scavenged them from old vacuum tube radios and televisions that local repair shops (remember them?) gave me. I played this album repeatedly, on an old Motorola stereo (vacuum tubes and electrodynamic speakers!) that I'd scavenged and repaired...
Kodachrome (Paul Simon): Takes me back to 1973, when I was attending U.S. Navy technical schools in Mare Island (Vallejo), California. On the weekends I jumped into my old beater of a car and cruised north to Yolo County, between Davis and Dixon, to go skydiving. I drove through miles and miles of fragrant fields, windows open and hot, humid air pouring in, and this song playing loud on my cassette deck. Happy times, and this song takes me right back there...
Smoke on the Water (Deep Purple) Takes me back to 1975, when I was a few short miles off the coast of South Vietnam, in the South China Sea, as Saigon fell to the North Vietnamese forces. The USS Long Beach (which I was stationed on) was part of a task force that was picking up refugees. We had many ARVN helicopters land on our aft deck, just barely big enough to hold one of the CH-47 Chinooks they were mainly coming out in. Each time one landed, a large working party (including me!) would push it over the side to make room for the next one. While we worked, someone had this song playing in a loop, very loud. It was an eerie scene – frantic refugees (men, women, and children), laden with valuables, running around terrified; multimillion dollar helicopters being tossed over the side like garbage; even more helicopters running out of fuel and landing close alongside (sometimes very close!); and a motley assortment of overloaded boats heading for us. Every ship in the large task force was experiencing similar things; together we took back over 25,000 refugees to the Phillipines. A few notes of that song and I'm right back there in that maelstrom...
Links of the Day...
There and back again... Nick Berry has another nice brain-teaser, with a little easy algebra in the proof. His additional examples neglect the non-linearity of speed vs. drag, but no matter – the results are the same anyway...
The more I hear about Snowden's NSA leaks, the more I think the man is a hero – and the more worried I am about what the hell is happening to my country...
Awesomely detailed drawings of animals, like the example at right...
Peggy Noonan has a good piece in today's WSJ on the Syrian issue, but the best part is the addendum at the end:
Political commentary in the days of yore: Napoleon Bonaparte in a chamber pot (at right). Awesome. Let's bring it back!
Through reader, friend, and former colleague Aleck L.., I've discovered that one of my favorite books (Ambrose Bierce's The Devil's Dictionary) is out of copyright and available on a web site and in free eBook form. Hooray!
Another great, short TED talk, this time on the beauty (and primal sexuality) of prime numbers. Mathophobes, do not fear – the talk is almost entirely free of weird symbols and head-exploders. Via reader and friend Simon M. I've lost track of how many times I've spent an entertaining and informative few minutes watching one of the TED talks – it's a great web resource.
The more I hear about Snowden's NSA leaks, the more I think the man is a hero – and the more worried I am about what the hell is happening to my country...
Peggy Noonan has a good piece in today's WSJ on the Syrian issue, but the best part is the addendum at the end:
A point on how quickly public opinion has jelled. There is something going on here, a new distance between Washington and America that the Syria debate has forced into focus. The Syria debate isn't, really, a struggle between libertarians and neoconservatives, or left and right, or Democrats and Republicans. That's not its shape. It looks more like a fight between the country and Washington, between the broad American public and Washington's central governing assumptions.On Yahoo's new logo... General reaction from the serious business community is about like this, which could be summarized as “WTF, Marissa?” But Megan McArdle wins the pithy comment contest (and her piece reflects my own reaction):
I've been thinking of the "wise men," the foreign policy mandarins of the 1950s and '60s, who so often and frustratingly counseled moderation, while a more passionate public, on right and left, was looking for action. "Ban the Bomb!" "Get Castro Out of Cuba."
In the Syria argument, the moderating influence is the public, which doesn't seem to have even basic confidence in Washington's higher wisdom.
That would be a comment on more than Iraq. That would be a comment on the past five years, too.
“Rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic” has some new competition for phrase meaning pointless business activity at failing firm: “rearranging the fonts in your logo.”
Through reader, friend, and former colleague Aleck L.., I've discovered that one of my favorite books (Ambrose Bierce's The Devil's Dictionary) is out of copyright and available on a web site and in free eBook form. Hooray!
Another great, short TED talk, this time on the beauty (and primal sexuality) of prime numbers. Mathophobes, do not fear – the talk is almost entirely free of weird symbols and head-exploders. Via reader and friend Simon M. I've lost track of how many times I've spent an entertaining and informative few minutes watching one of the TED talks – it's a great web resource.
Thursday, September 5, 2013
Links of the Day...
N.J. “Weedman” on his acquittal via jury nullification. I haven't made up my mind on the use of jury nullification, but this is a great example of how it can be a positive force in America...
Thomas Sowell, on Obama's foriegn policy team: “They're all bozos on that bus!” Well, that's not exactly what he said, but that's what he meant...
Ace notes: an actual culprit in the Benghazi disaster is named – by Al Jazeera America. The Obama-worshipping lamestream lapdog media continues to ignore the entire incident, as it most inconveniently shows The One and his minions to be bumbling fools...
Just what we need for Washington politicians: “Rats spent hours in a state of chilly suspended animation after researchers injected a compound into the animals in a cold room. The animals’ heart rates slowed, brain activity became sluggish and body temperature plummeted.”
Mark Steyn, The Blasphemy Police: “It's creepy and unnerving how swiftly the West's chattering classes have accepted that the peculiar sensitivities of Islam require a deference extended to no other identity group.” Indeed it is. Equally unnerving to me: the manner in which the multi-culti crowd manages to cheerfully ignore all the manifest conflicts between the Islamic world and their cherished ideals of tolerance and moral equivalence...
Snapshots from space history, an online collection of space images. At right is an image of the surface of Venus, returned by the Soviet's Venera 14 in 1982...
Yesterday I posted about my experience with Acxiom's About The Data site, showing the data collected about me on the web. Looks like Megan McArdle (Big Brother Apparently Needs Glasses) and Ron Miller (Marketers may think they know all about me, but they don't) had basically the same experience...
The EPA raids a gold-mining town in Alaska, looking for dirty water – with a force of nearly a dozen heavily-armed, body-armored on an EPA SWAT team. What the hell is happening to my country?
Math test: 3 times 4 equals what? Anything you want it to, so long as you can explain how you got it. After you get out of school, though, those completely unreasonable employers are going to insist that 3 times 4 equals 12...
Siskiyou County votes to secede from California. My household did, too. Unlike Siskiyou County, we can actually act on our vote – we're headed for much-less-wacky Utah one of these fine days...
Scientists surprised when a chemical reverses the effects of Down syndrome in mice. They're surprised because the chemical normalized the growth of the cerebellum, and reversed the Down syndrome symptoms of learning and memory deficits – which nobody knew the cerebellum had anything to do with. It's amazing to me how little we know, even today, about how the brain actually works...
James Taranto, in the excellent The Buck Stops Here:
In the WSJ's editorial today, The Beltway Choom Gang: “Not since Nixon have we seen a Presidency so disdainful of the law, but at least Nixon had enough respect for legal appearances to break the law on the sly. This Administration simply declares it won't enforce the laws it doesn't like and calls it virtue. The media then give this a pass because Mr. Obama's decisions mesh with their own policy preferences. ” Just another manifestation of The One's assumption of royalty...
Heathkit: the news of my death has been greatly exaggerated. Really? I'd love to see “real” Heathkits come back. I'd buy at least one just for the nostalgic rush it would provide...
A crack in the wall of NSA's secrecy. Good...
School is a prison, and damaging our kids. I have a lot of sympathy for this position. My memories of school are dominated by boredom and bullying. I learned almost nothing useful in the classroom – I attended school, but mainly taught myself – and dreamed of being elsewhere. My professional career (hardware and software engineering) was entirely based on self-taught math, science, and technology – and my school experiences were more of an impediment than an enabler...
The weird, wacky world of x86 processors...
Thomas Sowell, on Obama's foriegn policy team: “They're all bozos on that bus!” Well, that's not exactly what he said, but that's what he meant...
Ace notes: an actual culprit in the Benghazi disaster is named – by Al Jazeera America. The Obama-worshipping lamestream lapdog media continues to ignore the entire incident, as it most inconveniently shows The One and his minions to be bumbling fools...
Just what we need for Washington politicians: “Rats spent hours in a state of chilly suspended animation after researchers injected a compound into the animals in a cold room. The animals’ heart rates slowed, brain activity became sluggish and body temperature plummeted.”
Mark Steyn, The Blasphemy Police: “It's creepy and unnerving how swiftly the West's chattering classes have accepted that the peculiar sensitivities of Islam require a deference extended to no other identity group.” Indeed it is. Equally unnerving to me: the manner in which the multi-culti crowd manages to cheerfully ignore all the manifest conflicts between the Islamic world and their cherished ideals of tolerance and moral equivalence...
Yesterday I posted about my experience with Acxiom's About The Data site, showing the data collected about me on the web. Looks like Megan McArdle (Big Brother Apparently Needs Glasses) and Ron Miller (Marketers may think they know all about me, but they don't) had basically the same experience...
The EPA raids a gold-mining town in Alaska, looking for dirty water – with a force of nearly a dozen heavily-armed, body-armored on an EPA SWAT team. What the hell is happening to my country?
Math test: 3 times 4 equals what? Anything you want it to, so long as you can explain how you got it. After you get out of school, though, those completely unreasonable employers are going to insist that 3 times 4 equals 12...
Siskiyou County votes to secede from California. My household did, too. Unlike Siskiyou County, we can actually act on our vote – we're headed for much-less-wacky Utah one of these fine days...
Scientists surprised when a chemical reverses the effects of Down syndrome in mice. They're surprised because the chemical normalized the growth of the cerebellum, and reversed the Down syndrome symptoms of learning and memory deficits – which nobody knew the cerebellum had anything to do with. It's amazing to me how little we know, even today, about how the brain actually works...
James Taranto, in the excellent The Buck Stops Here:
Of course we could be wrong. Maybe Obama really didn't set a red line. It could have been a case of mistaken identity. Perhaps on Aug. 20, 2012, the world sneaked into the White House, donned an Obama mask, strode into the press room and took questions.Stephen Hayes' lead in The Hawk's Case Against Obama on Syria: “Perhaps historians will provide a clear understanding of Barack Obama's head-snapping decision to pause his administration's urgent case for military strikes in Syria to seek the formal authorization he says he doesn't need from a Congress he disdains.” Perhaps. More likely, I think, is that history will settle on the story of Obama the Fool...
If so, the world did a bad thing and will need to be punished. But we hope that whoever has authority over such matters will have a little compassion for the world's predicament. It isn't easy carrying the weight of Barack Obama on your shoulders.
In the WSJ's editorial today, The Beltway Choom Gang: “Not since Nixon have we seen a Presidency so disdainful of the law, but at least Nixon had enough respect for legal appearances to break the law on the sly. This Administration simply declares it won't enforce the laws it doesn't like and calls it virtue. The media then give this a pass because Mr. Obama's decisions mesh with their own policy preferences. ” Just another manifestation of The One's assumption of royalty...
Heathkit: the news of my death has been greatly exaggerated. Really? I'd love to see “real” Heathkits come back. I'd buy at least one just for the nostalgic rush it would provide...
A crack in the wall of NSA's secrecy. Good...
School is a prison, and damaging our kids. I have a lot of sympathy for this position. My memories of school are dominated by boredom and bullying. I learned almost nothing useful in the classroom – I attended school, but mainly taught myself – and dreamed of being elsewhere. My professional career (hardware and software engineering) was entirely based on self-taught math, science, and technology – and my school experiences were more of an impediment than an enabler...
The weird, wacky world of x86 processors...
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Far Worse than Carbon Dioxide...
At a news conference in Washington today, President Obama announced that he is directing the Environmental Protection Agency to act immediately to enforce a new set of regulations to limit emissions of dihydrogen oxide gas, or water vapor, one of the primary causes of catastrophic anthropogenic climate change.That dihydrogen oxide is nasty stuff!
“The world faces a crisis,” the president intoned, “and America must lead. We have taken the first step by limiting carbon emissions, but that cannot be effective unless we deal with the larger menace posed by dihydrogen oxide pollution as well. Since Congress has failed in its duty to pass the required laws, I, as president, am directing the EPA to move unilaterally to issue and enforce appropriate regulations.”
The importance of dealing quickly with the dihydrogen oxide crisis was dramatically made clear by EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, who showed charts comparing current atmospheric CO2 levels, at 400 parts per million, with those of water vapor, which are now greater than 10,000 parts per million. “And not only do dihydrogen oxide levels exceed CO2 more than twenty times over,” Ms. McCarthy said, “but each molecule of DHO has greater greenhousing effect. So we need to get control of this without delay.”
Read the whole thing...
A Novel Concept...
Acxiom is one of the largest companies that specialize in collecting data about Internet users. Their main customers are marketeers looking for new prospective buyers of their products. The data they have comes from many sources, including cookies, web site tracking technologies, and partnerships with web stores that share purchase and browsing information.
None of that is new. What is new, though, is that Acxiom is making your data available to you. Once they confirm your identity, you can view what they know about you – and if you find errors, you can even correct it. You can also opt out, meaning that Acxiom will stop selling your data to marketeers. That is a novel concept: openness.
You can do this yourself by visiting About The Data. Scroll to the bottom and click the orange button to start the process. It took me about five minutes (and three tries!) to successfully identify myself – but once I did that, the rest was easy.
They've broken down the information they hold on you into several categories. It was fascinating to look at. In my case, at least, I was surprised by how much they didn't know, or had wrong. They have my name, address, and email all perfectly. They didn't have any of my phone numbers, their income and economic data was wildly off, and the shopping information they have is heavily skewed to Debbie's purchases. Since she does much more shopping off Amazon than I do, I suspect this means Amazon doesn't report our purchases – thank you, Amazon. After absorbing my profile there, I realized that I kind of like what they're presenting to marketeers – it's so far off that it will keep the predators at bay :)
None of that is new. What is new, though, is that Acxiom is making your data available to you. Once they confirm your identity, you can view what they know about you – and if you find errors, you can even correct it. You can also opt out, meaning that Acxiom will stop selling your data to marketeers. That is a novel concept: openness.
You can do this yourself by visiting About The Data. Scroll to the bottom and click the orange button to start the process. It took me about five minutes (and three tries!) to successfully identify myself – but once I did that, the rest was easy.
They've broken down the information they hold on you into several categories. It was fascinating to look at. In my case, at least, I was surprised by how much they didn't know, or had wrong. They have my name, address, and email all perfectly. They didn't have any of my phone numbers, their income and economic data was wildly off, and the shopping information they have is heavily skewed to Debbie's purchases. Since she does much more shopping off Amazon than I do, I suspect this means Amazon doesn't report our purchases – thank you, Amazon. After absorbing my profile there, I realized that I kind of like what they're presenting to marketeers – it's so far off that it will keep the predators at bay :)
Sixty Eight Years Ago...
The surrender of Japan to the Allied Forces in World War II, ending the war that killed many millions of soldiers and citizens. U.S. Admiral Nimitz is shown signing the surrender document, on September 2, 1945. Folks in my parents' generation all know exactly what they were doing when they first heard the news of Japan's surrender.
I've read hundreds of books about World War II and its participants, from both an Allied perspective and an Axis perspective, giving me a context that most people don't have. Despite that, I still am amazed that such a thing could happen just a few years before I was born.
And I fear it could happen again...
I've read hundreds of books about World War II and its participants, from both an Allied perspective and an Axis perspective, giving me a context that most people don't have. Despite that, I still am amazed that such a thing could happen just a few years before I was born.
And I fear it could happen again...
That's One Way to Do It!
Your tractor-trailer truck is involved in a traffic accident and catches fire. How do you put it out? You get some help:
Links of the Day...
New password cracking software can test 8 million passwords per second...
Here's a service whose inflation-adjusted price appears to be constant over millennia...
New interferometric radio telescope delivers high resolution (< 0.1 arcsecond) images...
A very strange insect cocoon (at right):
The NSA prefers hacking network routers and switches. Me, too...
The West's Libyan intervention was a disaster. Foreshadowing for Obama's Syrian intervention?
DNC Chairman claims there are “dozens” of allies that will join our intervention in Syria – but then says she can't name them. The Obama gang sure look lame when you compare this with Bush's stunning success corralling a coalition to invade Iraq...
Wacko Birds vs. Angry Birds: Matt Welch weighs in on the Syria intervention. I sure wish Matt would run for national office...
Are you pregnant? Here's an easy way to earn some pocket change. One hardly knows what to say...
An English professor – progressive, of course – denies that Stalin ever killed any Soviet citizens. I used to think this sort of thing was really dangerous, but then I discovered that many college-educated young people have no idea who Stalin was, when he lived, or what he did. That's an even bigger problem!
An oasis in a volcano, in the middle of a desert, in the middle of nowhere (at right). Known locally as the “Oasis of Mosquitoes”!
I knew they were skimping on the fuel! Things airline pilots don't want you to know...
Don't mess with Mother Nature! She's got a bite to match her bark...
Celebrities patent the darnest things...
Here's a service whose inflation-adjusted price appears to be constant over millennia...
New interferometric radio telescope delivers high resolution (< 0.1 arcsecond) images...
The NSA prefers hacking network routers and switches. Me, too...
The West's Libyan intervention was a disaster. Foreshadowing for Obama's Syrian intervention?
DNC Chairman claims there are “dozens” of allies that will join our intervention in Syria – but then says she can't name them. The Obama gang sure look lame when you compare this with Bush's stunning success corralling a coalition to invade Iraq...
Wacko Birds vs. Angry Birds: Matt Welch weighs in on the Syria intervention. I sure wish Matt would run for national office...
Are you pregnant? Here's an easy way to earn some pocket change. One hardly knows what to say...
An English professor – progressive, of course – denies that Stalin ever killed any Soviet citizens. I used to think this sort of thing was really dangerous, but then I discovered that many college-educated young people have no idea who Stalin was, when he lived, or what he did. That's an even bigger problem!
I knew they were skimping on the fuel! Things airline pilots don't want you to know...
Don't mess with Mother Nature! She's got a bite to match her bark...
Celebrities patent the darnest things...
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
The One Pisses Me Off, Part 827,395...
A few days ago, President Obama made some remarks on Syria that included these:
I think that choice of words reveals an essential truth about Obama: his presumption of the status of a monarch. This is no surprise, certainly – his behavior fairly screams that presumption. But to have him actually say it in a public context is somehow especially infuriating. He's openly flaunting his belief that he possesses the unlimited powers of a monarch.
And at the same time, he (lamely) punts the Syrian intervention decision to Congress.
William F. Buckley, Jr. famously said “I'd rather entrust the government of the United States to the first 400 people listed in the Boston telephone directory than to the faculty of Harvard University.” I'll paraphrase that slightly and say I'd rather have a President randomly chosen from the Boston phone book than have Obama.
Hell, I'd rather have Biden than Obama...
Now, I have not made a final decision about various actions that might be taken to help enforce that norm. But as I've already said, I have had my military and our team look at a wide range of options. We have consulted with allies. We've consulted with Congress. We've been in conversations with all the interested parties, and in no event are we considering any kind of military action that would involve boots on the ground, that would involve a long-term campaign. But we are looking at the possibility of a limited, narrow act that would help make sure that not only Syria, but others around the world, understand that the international community cares about maintaining this chemical weapons ban and norm.There's one part of the remarks above that really pisses me off. It's this part:
...my military...Last time I checked, that military belonged to the United States of America, not this president (or any other president).
I think that choice of words reveals an essential truth about Obama: his presumption of the status of a monarch. This is no surprise, certainly – his behavior fairly screams that presumption. But to have him actually say it in a public context is somehow especially infuriating. He's openly flaunting his belief that he possesses the unlimited powers of a monarch.
And at the same time, he (lamely) punts the Syrian intervention decision to Congress.
William F. Buckley, Jr. famously said “I'd rather entrust the government of the United States to the first 400 people listed in the Boston telephone directory than to the faculty of Harvard University.” I'll paraphrase that slightly and say I'd rather have a President randomly chosen from the Boston phone book than have Obama.
Hell, I'd rather have Biden than Obama...
Prince Rupert's Drop...
I have read about Prince Rupert's Drops, but I had never before seen one demonstrated – especially not at 130,000 frames per second! If you're interested in science, you'll enjoy this 7 minute mini-documentary...
We're Doing It Wrong...
Via reader Jim M., who thinks there might be a bit or two of wisdom in here:
I am over 60 and the Armed Forces thinks I'm too old to track down terrorists. You can't be older than 42 to join the military. They've got the whole thing ass-backwards.
Instead of sending 18-year olds off to fight, they ought to take us old guys. You shouldn't be able to join a military unit until you're at least 35.
For starters, researchers say 18-year-olds think about sex every 10 seconds. Old guys only think about sex a couple of times a month, leaving us more than 280,000 additional seconds per day to concentrate on the enemy.
Young guys haven't lived long enough to be cranky, and a cranky soldier is a dangerous soldier. 'My back hurts! I can't sleep, I'm tired and hungry.' We are bad-tempered and impatient, and maybe letting us kill some asshole that desperately deserves it will make us feel better and shut us up for a while..
An 18-year-old doesn't even like to get up before 10am. Old guys always get up early to pee, so what the hell. Besides, like I said, I'm tired and can't sleep and since I'm already up, I may as well be up killing some fanatical son-of-a-bitch.
If captured we couldn't spill the beans because we'd forget where we put them. In fact, name, rank, and serial number would be a real brainteaser.
Boot camp would be easier for old guys.. We're used to getting screamed and yelled at and we're used to soft food. We've also developed an appreciation for guns. We've been using them for years as an excuse to get out of the house, away from the screaming and yelling.
They could lighten up on the obstacle course however... I've been in combat and never saw a single 20-foot wall with rope hanging over the side, nor did I ever do any pushups after completing basic training.
Actually, the running part is kind of a waste of energy, too... I've never seen anyone outrun a bullet.
An 18-year-old has the whole world ahead of him. He's still learning to shave, to start a conversation with a pretty girl. He still hasn't figured out that a baseball cap has a brim to shade his eyes, not the back of his head.
These are all great reasons to keep our kids at home to learn a little more about life before sending them off into harm's way.
Let us old guys track down those terrorists. The last thing an enemy would want to see is a couple million pissed off old farts with bad attitudes and automatic weapons, who know that their best years are already behind them.
HEY!! How about recruiting Women over 50...in menopause!!! You think MEN have attitudes?? Ohhhhhhhhhhhh my God!!! If nothing else, put them on border patrol. They'll have it secured the first night!
Monday, September 2, 2013
Tweet of the Day...
Put down your morning drink, then read:
For those of you who don't understand this: Americans renamed “French fries” to “freedom fries” in response to France's refusal to join with us in our invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Today, the French renamed American Cheese to "Freedom Cheese"Awesome.
For those of you who don't understand this: Americans renamed “French fries” to “freedom fries” in response to France's refusal to join with us in our invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Quote of the Day...
In England, a six year old wants to know why he only gets one pound (about $1.60) per week in pocket money. The BBC business editor, writing in The Guardian, gives him a worthy answer:
You are given £1 a week because the people who look after you think that's fair. And even if you think it is not fair, they have all the power and all the money, so there is little you can do about it.
You could scream and scream till they give in and give you more pocket money, but that is not a nice way to behave (although some so-called grown-ups, such as movie stars and bankers, have been known to do that). So you will have to acquire some power, and there are two ways to do that. There is capitalist individualism, which is for you to become brilliant at doing something people need, so that people pay you lots of money to do it. Or there is the syndicalist way, where all the six-year-olds gang up together and ask the grown-ups nicely to share their money with you (democratic socialism) or where you threaten to break the grown-ups' things unless they share their money with you (revolutionary socialism).
On Syria...
Reader, friend, former colleague, and Idaho real estate mogul Doug S. sends along this tongue-in-cheek summary of all the reasons why we shouldn't intervene in Syria. The Wall Street Journal today summarizes the reasons why we should. Foreign Policy tells us what the big consequences of a Syria attack will be. Michael Yon publishes the pithiest Obama criticism, a comment by Adam Holloway (member of the U.K. Parliament): “Outrage is not a strategy. I thought military action always had to have a purpose behind it – so what is the endstate here? Hit, and then hope?”
Me? I'm with Sarah Palin: let's let Allah sort it out...
Me? I'm with Sarah Palin: let's let Allah sort it out...
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