Thursday, August 20, 2015
Morning in Paradise...
Morning in Paradise... Miki (already less resplendent), Race, and I took our usual morning walk, but it was harder than usual. The air this morning is notably worse than yesterday; the smoke is now thick enough to feel raw on the throat, and it made my eyes water. When we started out on our walk, the sun was over the Wasatch Mountains, but was a red ball so dim I could look directly at it. By the time we were done with our walk, it was a bit brighter, but the day still looked like a heavily overcast day. In the last photo you can't really see the Wellsville Mountains (west of us) at all, whereas normally they are so clearly visible you don't realize they're 15 to 20 miles away. It will be nice indeed when this smoke clears off...
Why we should legalize murder for hire...
Why we should legalize murder for hire... Excellent piece, but ... you have to read it to the very end to understand why I said that. Via friend, former colleague, and dogged reader Doug W...
Seen in an ad...
Seen in an ad... This appears in a free classified ad hosted by a local news web site. The news site is trying to provide a useful service to its audience, but this kind of leech is taking advantage of it. What makes me most sad about this is that ads for ludicrous, obviously fraudulent products like this must occasionally work – there's no other reason why anyone would bother to place them. Most likely the person they do work with is the kind of person you'd least like to be victim to it: the elderly or weak of mind. I've redacted the contact information, as I don't want to give this despicable parasite any additional exposure...
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Why should you be skeptical of climate models?
Why should you be skeptical of climate models? One reason might be that a simple model (so simple you can do the math on a calculator or slide rule!) does a better job of predicting temperatures than any of the IPCC models...
Geek: evil code commit...
Geek: evil code commit ... to make before you leave your job. This assumes, of course, that you're willing to burn a lot of bridges, with geekly napalm.
The closest thing I've ever seen to this was a “code bomb” that an angry employee committed about a week before he left. This was at an electronic stock trading company, and the code bomb added a random number of shares to an order, intermittently (a few times a day). So, for instance, a trader might place an order to sell 1,000 shares of IBM, and it would be turned into an order to sell (say) 1,400 shares instead. Fortunately we caught this during testing, before the software ever got released to a real trader. That one could have been bad. We just fixed it and moved on; the company never took any action against the ex-employee. I don't think we ever even told him that we'd found his bomb...
The closest thing I've ever seen to this was a “code bomb” that an angry employee committed about a week before he left. This was at an electronic stock trading company, and the code bomb added a random number of shares to an order, intermittently (a few times a day). So, for instance, a trader might place an order to sell 1,000 shares of IBM, and it would be turned into an order to sell (say) 1,400 shares instead. Fortunately we caught this during testing, before the software ever got released to a real trader. That one could have been bad. We just fixed it and moved on; the company never took any action against the ex-employee. I don't think we ever even told him that we'd found his bomb...
Turkish is an interesting language in the first place...
Superconductivity at -70°C!
Superconductivity at -70°C! I was all excited when I saw that headline – that's a far higher temperature than previously found. Then I saw this little detail: the superconductivity occurs only at 1.5 million atmospheres of pressure. Sheesh. I won't be doing that at home anytime soon!
Wednesday, August 19, 2015
And another nice day in Paradise...
And another nice day in Paradise... Race, (the resplendent) Miki, and I did our usual walk this morning, but the experience was anything but usual. The haze we noted yesterday was far worse today. Mountains more than about 4 miles away were completely invisible. The air smelled like a wet campfire at some distance. Though the sky was cloudless, the sun was dim and the lighting diffuse. The wildlife all seemed subdued; few birds were in evidence. Wildlife, in general, react strongly to fires. This probably smells like a possible fire approaching to all the animals and birds...
After our walk, I poked around for a few hours moving and setting up sprinklers. I've now finished putting quick-disconnects on all my hoses and sprinklers, which makes the job of setting them out much less tedious (no screwing and unscrewing hoses).
Then it was time for Debbie's second physical therapy appointment, and like the first, it went very well. Observable progress was in evidence, and if you watch her it's clear she's gaining confidence and strength. She'll be on her feet soon!
As a treat, we took ourselves out to Jack's Wood-Fired Pizza. Of all the restaurants we've sampled in the area, this one holds the strongest claim to being exceptional – not just “for the area”, but in an absolute sense. We had a truly enjoyable meal: mushroom soup (a lovely soup with a light broth and a touch of cheese), pizzas (we each had our own tiny pizza), and lemon cake with fresh berries for dessert. Scrumptious!
After we got home I had a brief respite until the UPS man drove up. He dropped off several packages, amongst them Debbie's new recumbent exercise bicycle. Naturally it was a kit, with a dozen or so major parts and a nice collection of hardware. Thankfully the directions were crystal clear, all the parts were there, and they even included all the necessary tools. Two hours later, I finally got it all put together and working. It's a nice piece of gear, and at least right now looks like a good value for the money...
After our walk, I poked around for a few hours moving and setting up sprinklers. I've now finished putting quick-disconnects on all my hoses and sprinklers, which makes the job of setting them out much less tedious (no screwing and unscrewing hoses).
Then it was time for Debbie's second physical therapy appointment, and like the first, it went very well. Observable progress was in evidence, and if you watch her it's clear she's gaining confidence and strength. She'll be on her feet soon!
As a treat, we took ourselves out to Jack's Wood-Fired Pizza. Of all the restaurants we've sampled in the area, this one holds the strongest claim to being exceptional – not just “for the area”, but in an absolute sense. We had a truly enjoyable meal: mushroom soup (a lovely soup with a light broth and a touch of cheese), pizzas (we each had our own tiny pizza), and lemon cake with fresh berries for dessert. Scrumptious!
A nice day in Paradise...
A nice day in Paradise... Miki, Race, and I started off with our usual walk. The skies were notably hazy. We've read that the haze is actually diffuse smoke from the wildfires currently burning in northern California, eastern Oregon, and northern Nevada. The only wildfires in Utah right now are small and south of us, which is not upwind. This haze may continue for some time, as the fires are in no danger of being controlled. I'm not real happy about the haze, but it beats the heck out of being in actual danger from the fires, as we used to be in southern California...
The major event on our walk from the dogs' perspective was a weasel running across the road about 50' in front of us. Race, especially, went on full “Get the animal!” alert, straining at the leash so hard that I had trouble keeping control. He was so disappointed when I didn't let him off-leash to go chase the weasel!
Some photos:
A little later we loaded up all three dogs and headed for the groomer in downtown Logan. There we dropped off the two field spaniels for a (much needed) haircut, and continued on with Race. We headed out to Bear Lake, where we had a nice meal at the Cafe Sabor. I had a burrito that was big enough to house a dog or two; all I could do was to eat the meat out of it. Debbie had a chipotle chicken salad that she completely demolished. We got into a conversation with our waiter, who told us about a spectacular wildflower site: the shores of Lake Bloomington. That small lake is over 9,000 feet high, and is in the bottom of a north-facing glacial bowl. It's a 20 mile four-wheel trip, followed by a two mile hike – just the sort of day trip we love. Gotta check it out next year!
After that we headed out on a clockwise circumnavigation of the lake. We were actually a bit disappointed. Partly this was because of the haze obstructing what would have been gorgeous views of the lake's famously blue water (the color is due to tiny suspended particles of limestone). Mostly, though, it was due to the fact that nearly all the lake's shores are built up with resorts – and this time of year, those resorts are crowded. Also the state parks with their beaches and boat rentals were also crowded. This was less true on the eastern shore, but still the scene was much different today than it was in the late winter when we last passed this way. The few stretches of lakeside with farms were pretty, but one can't help thinking that they will soon be developed as well. Indeed, on a couple of the farms we passed there were “Coming soon!” billboards advertising the imminent availability of lots on big meadows that were even then being mowed for hay. It made us sad.
There was one moment of sheer joy on the eastern shore, though. Not so much for us, but for Race. We let him out on a boat ramp, and as I took him (on leash) down toward the water, he started whimpering in anticipation. When I let him off leash, he raced down to the water and leaped in. He started playing with the wavelets, batting at them with his front paws and biting any that had the impertinence to show some white water near him. We let him play for ten minutes or so, and he came back one very happy dog. Also very wet :)
As we came around the southwestern quadrant of the lake, we decided to try a four-wheel road back toward Hardware Ranch (close to our home). We didn't have any maps, but we had a general sense of the direction we needed to go (southwest), so we just headed that way. That route was much more to our taste than the lake route. We saw one deer early on, but (to Debbie's disappointment) no other wildlife – unless you count steers and sheep, which we saw plenty of :) To my surprise, there was good signage on these mountain roads – much better than we're used to in a National Forest. We ran into signs pointing to Hardware Ranch early in the trip, and just followed them. It was interesting for us to see this back country for the first time. The variability was greater than we expected, with patches of meadows, aspen forest, conifer forest, mixed forest, pinyon/juniper/sage territory, streams, cliffs, and narrow canyons. It really wasn't what we expected at all.
After emerging onto paved roads at Hardware Ranch, we zoomed up to retrieve our two field spaniels, now almost unrecognizable in their resplendence. That won't last long :)
The major event on our walk from the dogs' perspective was a weasel running across the road about 50' in front of us. Race, especially, went on full “Get the animal!” alert, straining at the leash so hard that I had trouble keeping control. He was so disappointed when I didn't let him off-leash to go chase the weasel!
Some photos:
A little later we loaded up all three dogs and headed for the groomer in downtown Logan. There we dropped off the two field spaniels for a (much needed) haircut, and continued on with Race. We headed out to Bear Lake, where we had a nice meal at the Cafe Sabor. I had a burrito that was big enough to house a dog or two; all I could do was to eat the meat out of it. Debbie had a chipotle chicken salad that she completely demolished. We got into a conversation with our waiter, who told us about a spectacular wildflower site: the shores of Lake Bloomington. That small lake is over 9,000 feet high, and is in the bottom of a north-facing glacial bowl. It's a 20 mile four-wheel trip, followed by a two mile hike – just the sort of day trip we love. Gotta check it out next year!
After that we headed out on a clockwise circumnavigation of the lake. We were actually a bit disappointed. Partly this was because of the haze obstructing what would have been gorgeous views of the lake's famously blue water (the color is due to tiny suspended particles of limestone). Mostly, though, it was due to the fact that nearly all the lake's shores are built up with resorts – and this time of year, those resorts are crowded. Also the state parks with their beaches and boat rentals were also crowded. This was less true on the eastern shore, but still the scene was much different today than it was in the late winter when we last passed this way. The few stretches of lakeside with farms were pretty, but one can't help thinking that they will soon be developed as well. Indeed, on a couple of the farms we passed there were “Coming soon!” billboards advertising the imminent availability of lots on big meadows that were even then being mowed for hay. It made us sad.
There was one moment of sheer joy on the eastern shore, though. Not so much for us, but for Race. We let him out on a boat ramp, and as I took him (on leash) down toward the water, he started whimpering in anticipation. When I let him off leash, he raced down to the water and leaped in. He started playing with the wavelets, batting at them with his front paws and biting any that had the impertinence to show some white water near him. We let him play for ten minutes or so, and he came back one very happy dog. Also very wet :)
As we came around the southwestern quadrant of the lake, we decided to try a four-wheel road back toward Hardware Ranch (close to our home). We didn't have any maps, but we had a general sense of the direction we needed to go (southwest), so we just headed that way. That route was much more to our taste than the lake route. We saw one deer early on, but (to Debbie's disappointment) no other wildlife – unless you count steers and sheep, which we saw plenty of :) To my surprise, there was good signage on these mountain roads – much better than we're used to in a National Forest. We ran into signs pointing to Hardware Ranch early in the trip, and just followed them. It was interesting for us to see this back country for the first time. The variability was greater than we expected, with patches of meadows, aspen forest, conifer forest, mixed forest, pinyon/juniper/sage territory, streams, cliffs, and narrow canyons. It really wasn't what we expected at all.
After emerging onto paved roads at Hardware Ranch, we zoomed up to retrieve our two field spaniels, now almost unrecognizable in their resplendence. That won't last long :)
Tuesday, August 18, 2015
“A Disgrace to the Profession”
“A Disgrace to the Profession” That's the title of Mark Steyn's latest book, which I read yesterday. I bought it without high expectations, despite being a big fan of Mark's works – mainly I hoped in a small way to support him in his legal defense (he's being sued for defamation by Michael Mann). I already knew, from reading some reviews and Mark's own description, that the book's premise was a collection of quotes by other people (not Mark) about Michael Mann and his (in)famous “hockey stick” graph. So my expectation was for a lightly annotated collection of quotes – amusing and entertaining, but perhaps not particularly enlightening.
The reality is much different.
First of all, Mark's additions to the quotes aren't just brief annotations. They are entertaining, witty expositions of the context for each of his featured quotes. He describes the person he's quoting and the situation in which the quote was made. Often the featured quote is buttressed by additional quotes, from the same person or others. Each chapter (generally just a few pages at most) is devoted to a single quote, and each could stand alone but is more powerful as a component of the collection.
This book, it turns out, is a wonderful primer for anyone who wonders why anthropogenic global warming (AGW) skeptics are skeptical of the hockey stick. It's an equally useful primer for anyone who thinks “the science is settled”. An impressive array of what I'll call real scientists beautifully articulate why they are unimpressed with Dr. Mann's “science”.
I thought of myself as fairly well-read on the subject of AGW. I've probably read 25 or so books on the subject, and I've plowed through hundreds of emails from the ClimateGate dump. I participated in some of the data analyses. I've read countless articles in the media. Nevertheless, Mark's new book was full of surprises for me.
Most of all, this book is an absolutely devastating summary critique of Michael Mann, both personally and professionally – as well as the premier product of his scientific research, the infamous “hockey stick”. Anyone who cares to investigate Mann's scientific perfidy for themselves will find this volume to be the perfect starting point for their investigation. Each chapter provides a lead (sometimes several!) to credible, authoritative critics of Mann's work.
I wonder how Dr. Mann perceives this book? Surely it must give him a taste – a bitter, foul taste – of what he's up against in a fight with Mark Steyn. That's not a battle I'd be eager to fight, that's for sure :)
The reality is much different.
First of all, Mark's additions to the quotes aren't just brief annotations. They are entertaining, witty expositions of the context for each of his featured quotes. He describes the person he's quoting and the situation in which the quote was made. Often the featured quote is buttressed by additional quotes, from the same person or others. Each chapter (generally just a few pages at most) is devoted to a single quote, and each could stand alone but is more powerful as a component of the collection.
This book, it turns out, is a wonderful primer for anyone who wonders why anthropogenic global warming (AGW) skeptics are skeptical of the hockey stick. It's an equally useful primer for anyone who thinks “the science is settled”. An impressive array of what I'll call real scientists beautifully articulate why they are unimpressed with Dr. Mann's “science”.
I thought of myself as fairly well-read on the subject of AGW. I've probably read 25 or so books on the subject, and I've plowed through hundreds of emails from the ClimateGate dump. I participated in some of the data analyses. I've read countless articles in the media. Nevertheless, Mark's new book was full of surprises for me.
Most of all, this book is an absolutely devastating summary critique of Michael Mann, both personally and professionally – as well as the premier product of his scientific research, the infamous “hockey stick”. Anyone who cares to investigate Mann's scientific perfidy for themselves will find this volume to be the perfect starting point for their investigation. Each chapter provides a lead (sometimes several!) to credible, authoritative critics of Mann's work.
I wonder how Dr. Mann perceives this book? Surely it must give him a taste – a bitter, foul taste – of what he's up against in a fight with Mark Steyn. That's not a battle I'd be eager to fight, that's for sure :)
Progress in Paradise...
Progress in Paradise... Yesterday started out with a big step for Debbie: her first physical therapy after breaking her knee's “knuckle” in early June. Seems like forever! But there she was yesterday morning, hobbling into the physical therapy room at the clinic in Millville. Wess, the therapist, was quite impressed with the extension (straightening) and flexion (bending) that Debbie demonstrated. He pronounced it far better than he was expecting, and predicted that within 6 to 8 weeks she'd be walking normally again, including stairs. He started her out on a set of exercises, emphasizing a stationary bicycle. We're going to get one (on order already, actually) so she can do this as often as possible, as Wess told us it was one of the best possible exercises to get her quads back into shape. From my perspective, it was really good to see her start to do some of the things that she's been unable to for almost three months now...
In the early afternoon I took Debbie up to get her hair and nails done. I dropped her off and ran a couple errands myself, then came back and waited for her. “Waited” is the important word in that sentence. It took four and a half hours for the crew to finish working on her. I've never watched this process before, and I'd prefer never to watch it again. The intermediate steps are ... somewhat disturbing. At one point her head looked like something out of a cheap science fiction horror movie, with layers of tin foil, foul-smelling liquid drizzling, and a distinct vapor trail following her anywhere she went. I spent the time reading a book I'd just received. The book was excellent (I've nearly finished it) and will be the subject of another post.
Today we'll be gone most of the day, on a sight-seeing and recreational eating trip. We'll be circumnavigating Bear Lake (30 miles or so northeast of Logan) and eating along its shores. While we're out enjoying ourselves, two of our dogs (Mo'i and Miki, field spaniels extraordinaire) will be in the torture chamber, having their hair cut. We expect them to forgive us in the early evening, right around their supper time :)
In the early afternoon I took Debbie up to get her hair and nails done. I dropped her off and ran a couple errands myself, then came back and waited for her. “Waited” is the important word in that sentence. It took four and a half hours for the crew to finish working on her. I've never watched this process before, and I'd prefer never to watch it again. The intermediate steps are ... somewhat disturbing. At one point her head looked like something out of a cheap science fiction horror movie, with layers of tin foil, foul-smelling liquid drizzling, and a distinct vapor trail following her anywhere she went. I spent the time reading a book I'd just received. The book was excellent (I've nearly finished it) and will be the subject of another post.
Today we'll be gone most of the day, on a sight-seeing and recreational eating trip. We'll be circumnavigating Bear Lake (30 miles or so northeast of Logan) and eating along its shores. While we're out enjoying ourselves, two of our dogs (Mo'i and Miki, field spaniels extraordinaire) will be in the torture chamber, having their hair cut. We expect them to forgive us in the early evening, right around their supper time :)
Monday, August 17, 2015
Televangelist expose...
Praise be to the IRS, that most permissive of agencies!Humor is a surprisingly effective way to pillory a travesty. We could use some more of this...
Sunday, August 16, 2015
Speechless, I am...
A negative example of state government...
A negative example of state government... California, of course. This site has a compendium of California governance incompetence that is mind-numbingly long. From now on when someone asks me why I left California, this is where I'm sending them. Oh, the incompetence! It burns, it burns!
The site linked was written by Andrew K. Dart, whom I had never heard of before. He's written extensively on a broad range of subjects. I haven't read any of his other stuff, but simply from the quantity I can tell this is one very engaged fellow. I googled him and found nothing except moonbat lefties ranting about how crazy he (Andrew K. Dart) is. That's an endorsement if I ever saw one!
Via my lovely bride of 34 years (today!)...
The site linked was written by Andrew K. Dart, whom I had never heard of before. He's written extensively on a broad range of subjects. I haven't read any of his other stuff, but simply from the quantity I can tell this is one very engaged fellow. I googled him and found nothing except moonbat lefties ranting about how crazy he (Andrew K. Dart) is. That's an endorsement if I ever saw one!
Via my lovely bride of 34 years (today!)...
Developing from scratch...
Developing from scratch... This article really piqued my interest. It discusses something I've run into quite often, but hadn't thought it out as much as this author does.
A surprising (to me, at least) number of times in my career, I've run into a situation where an engineer I'm working with simply has no idea how to start attacking the problem. Usually if I (or someone else) sketched out an approach and design, they'd be able to take it from there – but that first step was impossible for them to take. Every time I ran into that, I was just astonished – because that first step, for me, is the part that is the most exciting and rewarding. It's the part I like the best about engineering!
Thinking back on the occasions this has happened to me, I'm remembering an occasion when I asked an engineer who worked for me to try to figure out a way to compress the color information in an image. He sounded very interested in the problem, and went off to go work on it. A few days later, I stopped by his office to see how he was doing – and he had gotten exactly nowhere. He had no idea at all how to approach the problem. I don't mean that he had no ideas left – I mean he had had no ideas at all! We talked about it for a while, and together came up with several approaches – and he was actively participating in the brainstorming. Eventually we settled on an approach of mapping 24 bit RGB color space to an 8 bit RGB color space, using a technique to choose the closest point in the 8 bit space to the original point in 24 bit space. That's a fairly obvious approach, and once we settled on it, he was able to implement it in just a couple days. But he couldn't, somehow, take that first step himself.
I still have no idea why some engineers can take that first step, and others can't. I do know that those who can are in a distinct minority, and all the more valuable because of that...
A surprising (to me, at least) number of times in my career, I've run into a situation where an engineer I'm working with simply has no idea how to start attacking the problem. Usually if I (or someone else) sketched out an approach and design, they'd be able to take it from there – but that first step was impossible for them to take. Every time I ran into that, I was just astonished – because that first step, for me, is the part that is the most exciting and rewarding. It's the part I like the best about engineering!
Thinking back on the occasions this has happened to me, I'm remembering an occasion when I asked an engineer who worked for me to try to figure out a way to compress the color information in an image. He sounded very interested in the problem, and went off to go work on it. A few days later, I stopped by his office to see how he was doing – and he had gotten exactly nowhere. He had no idea at all how to approach the problem. I don't mean that he had no ideas left – I mean he had had no ideas at all! We talked about it for a while, and together came up with several approaches – and he was actively participating in the brainstorming. Eventually we settled on an approach of mapping 24 bit RGB color space to an 8 bit RGB color space, using a technique to choose the closest point in the 8 bit space to the original point in 24 bit space. That's a fairly obvious approach, and once we settled on it, he was able to implement it in just a couple days. But he couldn't, somehow, take that first step himself.
I still have no idea why some engineers can take that first step, and others can't. I do know that those who can are in a distinct minority, and all the more valuable because of that...
Animations of mechanisms...
Anchors away!
One such occasion was our arrival in Auckland, New Zealand, in the mid '70s. Protesters opposed to the nuclear power (and weapons) on board our ship tried to blockade the port, but we came right through them (sinking two small sailboats in the process, but thankfully nobody was hurt). After the ship anchored a mile or so offshore, the crew had several days of liberty in New Zealand. At night, some of the protesters sneaked out to the ship and installed homemade steel structures onto our anchor chains, underwater where nobody could see them. These were designed to prevent the anchors from being raised.
Those devices didn't perform as intended, mainly because the capstan winch that raises the anchors was ridiculously powerful, as was the cast iron bushing that the chain passed through on its way into the chain locker. When the protesters' devices hit that bushing, the winch didn't even slow down – it just dragged them right through it, squashing and smashing them beyond all recognition. In the process huge clouds of dust and steam were raised (the squashing generated a lot of heat), and bits of metal were flying in all directions at high speed. I was standing on a deck above and behind the bushing, and pieces of metal were screeching by me – but I wasn't hit by anything. A couple sailors on the anchor deck weren't so lucky. The worst injury was a broken arm, and there were lots of lacerations and punctures. Nothing serious, fortunately. The bosun's mates took a while to figure out what the heck was going on. By the time they got the winch stopped, all the protesters' devices had been dragged through the bushing and destroyed. They just had to clean the bits of wreckage out of the chain, and kept pulling up the anchor. Those protesters had no idea of the power and strength of the anchor system...
Seeing the cloud of rust dust on the photo above brought that all back...
Glass houses...
Don't say “alien”!
Don't say “alien”! At least not in California. We escaped in just the nick of time. From our current perch in Utah, it looks like Jerry Brown has gone around the bend. But then, it looked like that back in the '70s, on his first run as governor...
Morning in Paradise...
Morning in Paradise... It's a special day for us: our 34th wedding anniversary. It hardly seems possible that so much time has passed by since we said “I do” in the little chapel in Bonita, California – but then we think of all the experiences we've shared, and we wonder how the hell we fit that into just 34 years. We're hoping for 34 more, just as wonderful as the first 34...
We had some odd weather last night. No rain (or storm of any kind) was forecast, but around 4 am one passed right over us. It dumped two tenths of an inch of rain in about an hour, quite by surprise. The storm was very oddly shaped – sort of like a cigar, about 12 miles long by a half mile wide. It swooshed from west to east, right overhead, with a fairly intense rain cell centered basically on our house. There was much lightning and thunder, including a couple of giant crashes that shook the house very nicely. By daybreak the storm was ten or fifteen miles east of us, and the sun rose through thick haze. Our valley was also full of haze.
Miki, Race, and I set off on our morning walk just after the sun rose. The weather was the sort that flower photographers dream of: rain dotted everything with droplets, the humidity kept those droplets there for an extended time, and the haze made for perfect, white, omni-directional lighting – there wasn't a shadow anywhere. Naturally I didn't have my macro photography gear with me :) I did take a few flower photos with my iPhone, and I'm surprised how well they came out. I suspect it won't be too long before my cell phone's camera is so good that I won't even want a “real” camera any more...
We had a lot of good bird watching this morning. I got to see a kite hunting less than 100 feet from me, hovering briefly in many spots, perhaps 35' high. We never saw him stoop, but I had several minutes of great views of his hovering. We had a large flock (> 100 birds) of white-faced ibis fly over us, just a few feet over our heads. There were a dozen or so hawks (I haven't identified the species yet, but not red-tailed) perched where they could look over the alfalfa fields. One we saw hunting in the style of a pueo in Hawaii, swooping low over a barley field trying to provoke some little rodent into frightened flight. Miki flushed two pairs of quail, plus a male meadowlark. Great bird watching!
Roger's corner garden is looking positively luscious...
On the way back, three Paso Fino horses came over to the fence to see us. One of them was browsing just a couple feet from the fence, and Race kept darting under the fence to try to nip his nose. The horse flicked away every time, annoyed but not nipped :) I couldn't stop Race from doing this; it was like he was compelled...
We had some odd weather last night. No rain (or storm of any kind) was forecast, but around 4 am one passed right over us. It dumped two tenths of an inch of rain in about an hour, quite by surprise. The storm was very oddly shaped – sort of like a cigar, about 12 miles long by a half mile wide. It swooshed from west to east, right overhead, with a fairly intense rain cell centered basically on our house. There was much lightning and thunder, including a couple of giant crashes that shook the house very nicely. By daybreak the storm was ten or fifteen miles east of us, and the sun rose through thick haze. Our valley was also full of haze.
Miki, Race, and I set off on our morning walk just after the sun rose. The weather was the sort that flower photographers dream of: rain dotted everything with droplets, the humidity kept those droplets there for an extended time, and the haze made for perfect, white, omni-directional lighting – there wasn't a shadow anywhere. Naturally I didn't have my macro photography gear with me :) I did take a few flower photos with my iPhone, and I'm surprised how well they came out. I suspect it won't be too long before my cell phone's camera is so good that I won't even want a “real” camera any more...
We had a lot of good bird watching this morning. I got to see a kite hunting less than 100 feet from me, hovering briefly in many spots, perhaps 35' high. We never saw him stoop, but I had several minutes of great views of his hovering. We had a large flock (> 100 birds) of white-faced ibis fly over us, just a few feet over our heads. There were a dozen or so hawks (I haven't identified the species yet, but not red-tailed) perched where they could look over the alfalfa fields. One we saw hunting in the style of a pueo in Hawaii, swooping low over a barley field trying to provoke some little rodent into frightened flight. Miki flushed two pairs of quail, plus a male meadowlark. Great bird watching!
Roger's corner garden is looking positively luscious...
On the way back, three Paso Fino horses came over to the fence to see us. One of them was browsing just a couple feet from the fence, and Race kept darting under the fence to try to nip his nose. The horse flicked away every time, annoyed but not nipped :) I couldn't stop Race from doing this; it was like he was compelled...
Saturday, August 15, 2015
Just another day in Paradise...
Just another day in Paradise... Debbie and I had a lovely day today. We went to Herm's for breakfast. I had their “Florentine Benedict” (poached eggs on tomato and spinach, on thin grilled English muffins totally drowned in Hollandaise sauce) and Debbie had southwestern steak and eggs. The cook nailed Debbie's request for having the steak charred on the outside and “warm” on the inside.
Then we took a drive down to Porcupine Reservoir (13 minutes from home), which feeds our irrigation water. I took this photo from about halfway along the north side of the reservoir. It appears to be about 15' below full, which is better than average for this date. In other words, we have plenty of irrigation water.
I talked this morning with a solar power company, from whom I had requested a proposal. The proposal is for a supplemental solar system, producing enough power for the entire house (and selling some back) in all seasons other than summer, and enough to knock down the cost of running the air conditioner (about half our total electricity bill all by itself!) to zero. If we get the sizing right, that means we'd have an average monthly electrical bill of about $40, and it would be zero except for three months in the summer. The proposal came in substantially less than I was expecting (when Federal and state rebates are figured in), so there's a good chance we're going to move forward with it. We want some features that are going to cost us a bit more, so the proposal is being reworked – but I'm not expecting a substantial change. The biggest feature we want is to have the panels mounted on our shed roof instead of on the house; that basically just requires some underground wiring to be done.
One feature of the inverter being proposed (a SolarEdge SE6000) I found quite interesting. Their inverter has the ability to monitor each individual solar panel, even when they're wired together in “strings” as they usually are (because the higher voltage of a series arrangement increases the voltage and decreases the gauge of wire required). They do this with a widget they call an “optimizer” that goes on each panel. These monitor the voltage and current being contributed by that panel in real time. The communications between the optimizers and the inverter are through a serial channel, so there's relatively little wiring required for all those optimizers. Clever, these Aussies (SolarEdge is an Australian company)!
Next up for us was grocery shopping at Macey's. Our shopping list was unusually big, because Debbie is feeling the urge to start cooking again (after 75 days away from the kitchen!). I felt like I was shopping for an army :) When I staggered up to the checkout counter, the clerk was the daughter of one of our neighbors: Azure S. She still lives with her folks (whose animals are in the photo below), but is soon to travel to South Korea for her mission. Azure, when she checked me out, was astonished at how much food I'd purchased (she's checked me out several times these past few months). When I explained to her that Debbie was ready to start cooking again, though, it made instant sense to her :)
Later today we saw the animals belonging to one of our neighbors being let out into their newly-fenced pasture. These critters have been living in a tiny paddock for nearly a year, but now have an acre of lovely green pasture to spend some time in each day. They all love it, but Annabelle (the cow) is the most demonstrative of the bunch. She practically dances for joy when let out of the paddock. This photo was taken out our office window, from the second floor of our house – those animals are quite close to us (and even closer to our shed).
We love living out here!
I talked this morning with a solar power company, from whom I had requested a proposal. The proposal is for a supplemental solar system, producing enough power for the entire house (and selling some back) in all seasons other than summer, and enough to knock down the cost of running the air conditioner (about half our total electricity bill all by itself!) to zero. If we get the sizing right, that means we'd have an average monthly electrical bill of about $40, and it would be zero except for three months in the summer. The proposal came in substantially less than I was expecting (when Federal and state rebates are figured in), so there's a good chance we're going to move forward with it. We want some features that are going to cost us a bit more, so the proposal is being reworked – but I'm not expecting a substantial change. The biggest feature we want is to have the panels mounted on our shed roof instead of on the house; that basically just requires some underground wiring to be done.
One feature of the inverter being proposed (a SolarEdge SE6000) I found quite interesting. Their inverter has the ability to monitor each individual solar panel, even when they're wired together in “strings” as they usually are (because the higher voltage of a series arrangement increases the voltage and decreases the gauge of wire required). They do this with a widget they call an “optimizer” that goes on each panel. These monitor the voltage and current being contributed by that panel in real time. The communications between the optimizers and the inverter are through a serial channel, so there's relatively little wiring required for all those optimizers. Clever, these Aussies (SolarEdge is an Australian company)!
Next up for us was grocery shopping at Macey's. Our shopping list was unusually big, because Debbie is feeling the urge to start cooking again (after 75 days away from the kitchen!). I felt like I was shopping for an army :) When I staggered up to the checkout counter, the clerk was the daughter of one of our neighbors: Azure S. She still lives with her folks (whose animals are in the photo below), but is soon to travel to South Korea for her mission. Azure, when she checked me out, was astonished at how much food I'd purchased (she's checked me out several times these past few months). When I explained to her that Debbie was ready to start cooking again, though, it made instant sense to her :)
We love living out here!
3%
3% That's the percentage of Democrats who think Hillary is telling the truth about the email server. Wow.
Then there's this:
Then there's this:
Hillary Clinton agreed to turn over her private email server to the FBI Wednesday after it was alleged that emails sent over her personal account could be compromised outside the possession of the government. Here are some of the contents of Clinton’s emails that have been inspected thus far:Ha!
- 2016 fundraising email sent out at 11 p.m. on Nov. 4, 2008
- Rarely included hyphen when typing “cover-up”
- 200 unread emails from John Kerry
- Reminder sent to White House staff on Dec. 14, 2011 that unmarked turkey sandwich in fridge is hers
- 16-year-long friendly email exchange with Linda Tripp
- Heated back-and-forth with graphic designer about which direction arrow in campaign logo should point
- 8 different terse emails to Obama found in drafts folder
- Not one email sent during 72 hours following Benghazi attack
- Email sent to herself on Aug. 11, 2015 warning whoever reads it that nothing is going to stop her from becoming president this time
Just trying to help, for crying out loud!
Just trying to help, for crying out loud! Via my lovely bride:
Today I had to go to Lowe's. As I approached the entrance, I noticed a driver looking for a parking space. I flagged the driver and pointed out a handicap parking space that was open and available.
The driver looked puzzled, rolled down her window and said, "I'm not handicapped!"
Well, as you can imagine, my face was red!
"Oh, I'm sorry," I said. "I saw your 'I'm Ready for Hillary' bumper sticker and just assumed that you suffer from a serious mental disorder."
She gave me the finger and screamed some nasty names at me.
Boy! Some people don't appreciate it when you're just trying to help them out!
NSA announces plans...
NSA announces plans ... to transition to a cryptography suite resistant to attacks by quantum computers. I'll take that as confirmation that the NSA at least assesses quantum computers in the hands of adversaries as possible. It wouldn't surprise me a bit to discover that the NSA has had them for a while...
Friday, August 14, 2015
Mankind's greatest achievement...
On the surface, that chart just shows the percentage of people living in “absolute poverty” over time (1820 to present). That term (absolute poverty) was coined by the World Bank some time ago to represent those people whose income is so low that they do not have access to survival necessities: food, water, and shelter. We're not talking about medical care, SUVs, or smart phones here – we're talking about staying alive. Currently the World Bank pegs that at 1.25 “International Dollars” per day. Those International Dollars are not at all the same as U.S. dollars; they're an imaginary currency and are adjusted for the buying power in each country, so this measure takes into account the different costs of food, shelter, and water in, say, the U.S. vs. Somalia. Obviously poverty is a challenging thing to measure, and is to some degree subjective (I'm sure the Clintons think they're poor). But it's a measure that at least attempts objectivity, and is better than anything else I'm aware of.
The red area on that chart shows what percentage of the world population lived in absolute poverty in any given year. In 1820, nearly 95% of the world lived in absolute poverty. In 1950, shortly before I was born, that was down to 72%. It was over 50% when I was in high school, and I still vividly remember the news stories about people starving to death – especially in south Asia, Africa, and China. Today the absolute poverty rate is down to 14% (and still falling). The decline of the absolutely poor is a remarkable thing all by itself.
Even more remarkable: why the rate of absolute poverty has declined.
Several economists have run similar analyses, and gotten the same results: the percentage of people not living in absolute poverty is almost identical (over time) to the percentage of people living in capitalist societies. You need to think about that to absorb its full meaning, but it boils down to this: capitalism creates wealth, and any other form of societal organization ever tried does not. It really is that simple.
Progressives, socialists, and (U.S. style) liberals are in denial about this. They don't want it to be true. They would hate it if it were true, so they must deny it. But it is an easy-to-observe fact that no socialist, fascist, monarchy, or dictatorship ever, in the entire history of the world, raised the average standard of living for its citizens (discounting the short-lived effects of borrowing or selling assets, seen most recently in Venezuela and Greece). Only in capitalist societies do we see a consistent track record of poverty being reduced and citizen standard of living increasing.
I've never yet had a progressive (much less a socialist or communist) admit that fact to me, despite the absolutely ludicrous amount of historical confirmation. To do so would require admitting that those nasty, conniving, scheming capitalists might not be evil people after all.
And that would never do, obviously...
Field Spaniel Plate...
When I picked up the box from the Post Office, I was surprised how big it was. We opened it and found a layer of shredded newspaper – great crushable shock absorbing material. Inside that was a second box. Opening that, we discovered a layer of bubble wrap. Actually, it was six layers of bubble wrap, each one meticulously taped up. Inside all that bubble wrap was a cradle of Styrofoam, also carefully taped up. Inside that was another layer of bubble wrap, a layer of Saran wrap, a layer of tissue paper, and – finally! – the plate itself. Naturally, after all that packaging it was in perfect condition. I'm pretty sure you could have driven an M1A1 tank over the original box without damaging the plate! I sent a note to the seller to tell them just how impressed we were with the packaging. Oh, and the plate, too :)
Debbie is now on a quest to find a nice stand for it, so we can put it in our hutch full of field spaniel-related art.
The artist is James Skerrett. He's a couple years younger than I am, and has specialized in ceramic art (especially dogs) for most of his career. The plate isn't particularly valuable, but it fits very nicely indeed into our collection, and the proceeds went to benefit the breed's health (through the Field Spaniel Health charity in England). Double win!
Really simple explanation of the world economy...
Really simple explanation of the world economy ... using cows. Hilarious!
Morning in Paradise...
Morning in Paradise... Debbie and I slept in this morning; we didn't get out of bed until after 5 am (that really is late for us!). I let Mo'i out into the back yard at about 6 am, and just after that it started to rain. No rain was in the forecast, so we were surprised by this. As we were drinking our tea and coffee, there was a tremendous lightning strike a half mile or so northeast of us, followed by a house-shaking thunderclap with no reverberations. The dogs were suddenly very still and quiet. I think they're quite impressed by the thunder gods here :)
Around 7:15 it looked like the rain was over (the radar showed nothing), so Miki, Race, and I took off for our morning walk. The sun was up through a notch in the Wasatch Mountains, and the sky was full of clouds. This made for some beautiful lighting effects, which show up in some of the photos below.
The last photo shows the end of one pipe out of a wheelie line system. I hadn't seen this before. What I found interesting there was the “gear” that engages with the pipe connected to it to provide the means to transmit the considerable torque required to move the pipes. The movement uphill, especially when the pipes are full of water, might require several hundred foot/pounds of torque. I'd been wondering what kind of a joint could do that; this one will do it quite nicely. The pipes themselves are a bit thicker than the pipes used on hand lines, presumably for the same reason (torque transmission)...
Around 7:15 it looked like the rain was over (the radar showed nothing), so Miki, Race, and I took off for our morning walk. The sun was up through a notch in the Wasatch Mountains, and the sky was full of clouds. This made for some beautiful lighting effects, which show up in some of the photos below.
The last photo shows the end of one pipe out of a wheelie line system. I hadn't seen this before. What I found interesting there was the “gear” that engages with the pipe connected to it to provide the means to transmit the considerable torque required to move the pipes. The movement uphill, especially when the pipes are full of water, might require several hundred foot/pounds of torque. I'd been wondering what kind of a joint could do that; this one will do it quite nicely. The pipes themselves are a bit thicker than the pipes used on hand lines, presumably for the same reason (torque transmission)...
Thursday, August 13, 2015
If you, like us, are dog lovers...
I knew these new-fangled semiconductor thingies were just a fad!
I knew these new-fangled semiconductor thingies were just a fad! Vacuum tubes are back...
French cop arrests Brit...
French cop arrests Brit... Via my pistol-packing, switched-to-Mac mama...
For my American readers who have never been exposed to British cars: not only do the Brits drive on the wrong side of the road, they have their driver side on the wrong side of the car! This is most confusing to any non-Brit who rents a car over there, as I can attest to with my personal experiences. The Brits aren't alone in this – most of their former colonies (Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, etc.) also drive on the wrong side, as does Japan. The map at right (click to embiggen) shows all these backwards-driving countries in blue...
Study the picture carefully first, then read on...
This actually happened to an Englishman in France who was totally drunk.
A French policeman stops the Englishman's car and asks if he has been drinking.
With great difficulty, the Englishman admits that he has been drinking all day, that his daughter got married that morning, and that he drank champagne and a few bottles of wine at the reception, and many single malts scotches thereafter.
Quite upset, the policeman proceeds to alcohol-test (breath test) the Englishman and verifies that he is indeed totally sloshed.
He asks the Englishman if he knows why, under French Law, he is going to be arrested.
The Englishman answers with a bit of humour,
"No sir, I do not! But while we're asking questions, do you realize that this is a British car and that my wife is driving . . . . . on the other side?"
A challenge for automated vehicles...
A challenge for automated vehicles... Google and Apple are (currently, at least) leading the charge to built automated, driverless vehicles. Tesla is an up-and-coming contender, and some European makers are also making tentative moves. It seems like something that is almost certainly going to happen – there are just too many compelling reasons for doing so. Perhaps the single most compelling reason is highway efficiency: with robotic drivers, traffic can run safely at full speed with much smaller intervals between vehicles, because the robotic drivers will have vastly faster reaction times. Other compelling benefits include increased safety and an interesting alternative to intra-city mass transit.
In the past few years, Google and Apple have made a lot of progress, to the point where they are now making test runs of driverless cars on real highways. So many of the problems have been solved (or have clearly reachable solutions) that developers are now starting to face a thornier problem: how should a robotic vehicle behave when there is a moral or ethical element to a driving decision? There are many examples of such decisions. Here's one simple example. Suppose you're alone in your car. You drive around a turn on a twisty two lane road, and you see an impassible cliff on the left, a truck coming toward you in the left lane, a giant boulder in the right lane, and a meadow with lots of people in it on the right. You can't go off the road to the left, because the cliff is stopping you. If you go into the left lane, the oncoming truck will crush you. If you hit the boulder, you'll be killed. If you drive off the road to the right, you'll probably mow down 10 people, killing them, but you'll be fine. Most human drivers would choose to drive off the road to the right, because you'll live – but ten other people will die. What should the robotic driver do? Should it take the action that kills the least people? In that case, you're gonna die, because the robotic driver will choose the boulder. Should it act to save itself and you? In that case the ten people are gonna die. The only real certainty is that no matter what the robot chooses to do, the car manufacturer is going to be sued.
Right now there are no laws or regulations regarding that sort of moral or ethical decision-making by robots. If you're a science fiction reader, you'll probably remember that this is a problem Isaac Asimov foresaw in his robot stories and novels, and which formed the basis of several of them. We have plenty of challenges figuring out the right thing for people to do, and when the decision maker is a robot it gets much more challenging. The main driver today is a desire by the manufacturers to avoid litigation and damage to their reputations, but almost certainly the government is going to get involved at some point – and we'll end up with a giant set of regulations as impenetrable and useless as the tax regulations are today. This article is a good introduction to the issue. I'm certain this is an area that will evolve quickly, so it should be interesting to watch over the next decade or so...
In the past few years, Google and Apple have made a lot of progress, to the point where they are now making test runs of driverless cars on real highways. So many of the problems have been solved (or have clearly reachable solutions) that developers are now starting to face a thornier problem: how should a robotic vehicle behave when there is a moral or ethical element to a driving decision? There are many examples of such decisions. Here's one simple example. Suppose you're alone in your car. You drive around a turn on a twisty two lane road, and you see an impassible cliff on the left, a truck coming toward you in the left lane, a giant boulder in the right lane, and a meadow with lots of people in it on the right. You can't go off the road to the left, because the cliff is stopping you. If you go into the left lane, the oncoming truck will crush you. If you hit the boulder, you'll be killed. If you drive off the road to the right, you'll probably mow down 10 people, killing them, but you'll be fine. Most human drivers would choose to drive off the road to the right, because you'll live – but ten other people will die. What should the robotic driver do? Should it take the action that kills the least people? In that case, you're gonna die, because the robotic driver will choose the boulder. Should it act to save itself and you? In that case the ten people are gonna die. The only real certainty is that no matter what the robot chooses to do, the car manufacturer is going to be sued.
Right now there are no laws or regulations regarding that sort of moral or ethical decision-making by robots. If you're a science fiction reader, you'll probably remember that this is a problem Isaac Asimov foresaw in his robot stories and novels, and which formed the basis of several of them. We have plenty of challenges figuring out the right thing for people to do, and when the decision maker is a robot it gets much more challenging. The main driver today is a desire by the manufacturers to avoid litigation and damage to their reputations, but almost certainly the government is going to get involved at some point – and we'll end up with a giant set of regulations as impenetrable and useless as the tax regulations are today. This article is a good introduction to the issue. I'm certain this is an area that will evolve quickly, so it should be interesting to watch over the next decade or so...
Morning walk in Paradise...
It was a clear, crisp morning here; not a cloud in the sky. I'd been up a bit earlier, hoping to see some of the Perseid meteor shower, but had no luck on that. They must be avoiding northern Utah for some reason :) We were so early that other than a few flitting birds we didn't see any animal life at all, though we certainly heard a lot of bird chatter on the way back.
Wednesday, August 12, 2015
Quantum effects all around us...
Quantum effects all around us... Most of us generally perceive the world around us as essentially Newtonian – that is, for any event or action there is a predictable outcome. For example, if I throw a ball up into the air, I know it's going to come down – and I know, to a fair degree of accuracy, where it's going to come down. Newtonian.
If you know anything at all about the world of quantum physics, then you know that it's full of very strange and counter-intuitive phenomena. Some of these things are extremely difficult to wrap one's brain around. Yet quantum physics famously describes all sorts of observable phenomena with spectacular success. We're forced by this success to concede that way down at the sub-atomic scale, where quantum phenomena generally happen, there really must be quantum weirdness happening. But it's safely hidden at those teensy-tiny scales, so we can ignore it and get along in live just fine by pretending we live in a strictly Newtonian world. Personally, I'm much more comfortable that way :)
This morning I read this fascinating article, which has several examples of quantum phenomena that we can perceive. There is considerable (and increasing) evidence that some senses (for animals and humans) are dependent upon quantum phenomena. One that seems particularly convincing to me is the discovery that fruit flies can distinguish between chemical substances that are identical except for the isotopes of some of the constituent atoms. Unless you want to believe that tiny little fruit flies are carrying around a mass spectrometer, then quantum phenomena are the only way anyone can think of to explain this. The article has several other examples as well. For instance, there's evidence that at least some enzymes employ quantum tunneling – and nobody even has an alternative theory for how they work. There's also the one example I've previously read about: work that started five years ago strongly suggests a quantum explanation for the otherwise mysteriously high efficiency of photosynthesis. That's how nearly all plants employ sunlight.
Fascinating stuff. I'm looking forward to hearing more about it...
If you know anything at all about the world of quantum physics, then you know that it's full of very strange and counter-intuitive phenomena. Some of these things are extremely difficult to wrap one's brain around. Yet quantum physics famously describes all sorts of observable phenomena with spectacular success. We're forced by this success to concede that way down at the sub-atomic scale, where quantum phenomena generally happen, there really must be quantum weirdness happening. But it's safely hidden at those teensy-tiny scales, so we can ignore it and get along in live just fine by pretending we live in a strictly Newtonian world. Personally, I'm much more comfortable that way :)
This morning I read this fascinating article, which has several examples of quantum phenomena that we can perceive. There is considerable (and increasing) evidence that some senses (for animals and humans) are dependent upon quantum phenomena. One that seems particularly convincing to me is the discovery that fruit flies can distinguish between chemical substances that are identical except for the isotopes of some of the constituent atoms. Unless you want to believe that tiny little fruit flies are carrying around a mass spectrometer, then quantum phenomena are the only way anyone can think of to explain this. The article has several other examples as well. For instance, there's evidence that at least some enzymes employ quantum tunneling – and nobody even has an alternative theory for how they work. There's also the one example I've previously read about: work that started five years ago strongly suggests a quantum explanation for the otherwise mysteriously high efficiency of photosynthesis. That's how nearly all plants employ sunlight.
Fascinating stuff. I'm looking forward to hearing more about it...
Morning in Paradise...
Morning in Paradise... Yesterday morning and this morning, I took Race and Miki on our usual morning walk. They've missed it for the past week while I was visiting with my mom. They practically tore my arm off when they figured out where we were going :) It feels great to me, too, to get back into the routine.
We had a gentle, light rain for most of last night. I'm not sure how much we actually got, as my rain gauge overflowed while I was on my trip – but I'll guess it was about a quarter inch. This continues the unusually wet summer we've been having.
Our walk was full of the aromas raised by the rain last night. The sky was still cloudy, and the air was slightly hazy from the evaporating groundwater. The farmers are all still running their irrigation, so I know we didn't get anywhere near an inch of rain. We saw three yellow-headed blackbirds along the irrigation canal in front of our house – first of those we've seen on our property, though they're fairly common in Cache Valley. We also saw lots of hawks perching anywhere they could along the edges of fields. I know the rodents (especially voles) are active diggers right after a rain, so I speculate that the hawks know this and are looking for a fast food meal. Go, hawks, go! And come down to my field, please!!!
Some photos from this morning:
We had a gentle, light rain for most of last night. I'm not sure how much we actually got, as my rain gauge overflowed while I was on my trip – but I'll guess it was about a quarter inch. This continues the unusually wet summer we've been having.
Our walk was full of the aromas raised by the rain last night. The sky was still cloudy, and the air was slightly hazy from the evaporating groundwater. The farmers are all still running their irrigation, so I know we didn't get anywhere near an inch of rain. We saw three yellow-headed blackbirds along the irrigation canal in front of our house – first of those we've seen on our property, though they're fairly common in Cache Valley. We also saw lots of hawks perching anywhere they could along the edges of fields. I know the rodents (especially voles) are active diggers right after a rain, so I speculate that the hawks know this and are looking for a fast food meal. Go, hawks, go! And come down to my field, please!!!
Some photos from this morning:
“Live Free or Die”...
“Live Free or Die”... That is, famously, New Hampshire's state slogan. So which Democratic candidate do these folks like best? Bernie-the-socialist, by a fairly wide margin.
You would be forgiven for thinking that the entire state has lost their marbles. But think about it for a moment. In a field dominated by The Hillary, O'Malley, maybe Biden, and Bernie – who would you choose?
You would be forgiven for thinking that the entire state has lost their marbles. But think about it for a moment. In a field dominated by The Hillary, O'Malley, maybe Biden, and Bernie – who would you choose?
Scratch one of the least worst candidates...
Scratch one of the least worst candidates ... and what do you see? A big-government public money spender. Scott Walker, of all people, is going to approve spending $400M tax dollars for a basketball stadium.
Why would he do this? Because it's politically advantageous, of course. The voters want their pacifier stadium, just as the Roman citizens wanted their circus and gladiator fights. A politician who actually believed in something, and stuck to that, is almost certainly unelectable.
Sometimes I think a dictatorship wouldn't be so bad. At least, not if I got to pick the dictator :)
Why would he do this? Because it's politically advantageous, of course. The voters want their pacifier stadium, just as the Roman citizens wanted their circus and gladiator fights. A politician who actually believed in something, and stuck to that, is almost certainly unelectable.
Sometimes I think a dictatorship wouldn't be so bad. At least, not if I got to pick the dictator :)
San Juan disaster...
The EPA says the incident was an accident. Read the article I linked above for an alternate view that's widely believed in Colorado (where many, many residents despise and fear the EPA). I'm not sure what to believe myself, but whatever the cause it's a big problem for an area we love. Most of the roads, trails, and places we visit are unaffected, but the town of Silverton and the entire Animas River Valley downstream are devastated...
This is why...
I've seen three flash floods in my life, all from safe perches. I was never stupid enough to camp in the bottom of a canyon. The onset of this one (the best I've ever seen captured) is faster than any of the three I saw. If those people had been in their camp, they might not have survived. As it was, everybody was fine.
These floods are caused by rainfall potentially far away from the stream bed. The runoff pours into the creek bed 10, 20, or more miles away and just heads downhill. You can have a flash flood in a dry creek bed that hasn't seen rain for 1,000 years. You can also have a flash flood in a dry creek bed that hasn't seen any water flowing for hundreds of years – one of the floods I witnessed was like that, with no water flow in recorded history and no sign of water flow remaining in the creek bed at all.
Planned Parenthood: the hole gets deeper...
I weep for my country...
Fifteenth class of pentagonal tiles discovered...
Brief jet on comet 67P captured...
The lettuce-growing experiment on the ISS has captured attention in the media recently. That utterly worthless experiment cost (it took over a year to grow lettuce that the astronauts ate most of in one meal) nearly as much as the entire Rosetta mission. It's a great example of the screwy priorities used to allocate space exploration funds. The Rosetta mission is worth, scientifically, many thousands of lettuce-growing experiments. There is an almost infinitely long list of unfunded robotic explorer mission proposals. But the money goes to lettuce growing, and other manned missions instead. Stupid, stupid, stupid...
Morning shocker...
Morning shocker... My morning routine is to sit down with my first cup of tea, fire up the computer, and open a folder full of news bookmarks in tabs. The first site that pops up is the Drudge Report, and this morning here's what I saw (at right). Reading more deeply, I see that Hillary has turned over her email server (you mean that thing hasn't been dissolved in acid?) and a thumb drive with (allegedly) all her emails on it. Aides are being investigated. The investigation is circling her, and tentative jabs directly at her are starting to happen.Ordinarily I'd dismiss most of this as exaggeration and wishful thinking on the part of the interpreter. But ... I can't imagine Hillary would turn over that evidence unless (a) she was forced to, or (b) she had “cleaned” it somehow. The (b) scenario would almost certainly lead to even worse problems for her, though, as it's extremely unlikely that they could actually clean up that email server without leaving traces of what they did – and a blatant cover-up like that would take down even Hillary, I think. So I think the most likely scenario is (a): she was forced to. What would force her? The only thing I can think of is the imminent threat of actual charges or arrest. “They” (the DOJ and FBI) must have the goods on her.
Oh, I hope so. I hope this is the end of the ludicrous candidacy of the utterly unqualified, incompetent, and entitled Hillary...
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Home in Paradise...
Home in Paradise... I had a wonderful visit with my mom – and also got to see my brother, sister, and brother-in-law (who's still trying to figure out how he managed to get attached to this crazy family). Normal blogging will resume shortly! But first I have a pile of stuff to catch up on...
Thursday, August 6, 2015
Macs, Macs, and more Macs...
Macs, Macs, and more Macs... I'm sitting in my mom's house right now, with a Mac Powerbook Pro (my laptop), a Mac Mini (the computer I've put together for my brother), and an iMac (the computer I've put together for my mom).
This process has been quite a bit easier than I was imagining, especially for my mom. She's had a Windows computer for over 20 years now, and she had it connected to several devices (especially printer and camera) and of course had lots of software she really wanted to keep (most especially her games).
Bringing up the basic operating system was, of course, as close to trivial as you can get with these things. They're Macs, after all :) Moving 110GB of data from my mom's computer was easy, and took just a couple hours. Making the files work on the new Mac was much easier than I expected – most of them just worked. In fact, the only exception was some .wma audio files she had. I had to Google for, oh, 10 seconds or so to find a good converter for them. A few minutes later, all of them were converted to .mp3 – and they all work just fine.
I was dreading the printer. It's an older HP inkjet. I Googled around a bit and discovered that support was supposed to be built in to OS X. I tried it – just plugged in the USB – and it just worked. Then I went for the camera (a Nikon Coolpix S4300). This time I didn't even Google – just plugged in the USB cable – and the next thing I know all the photos were downloaded into Apple's Photos program.
Experiences like this are why I own nothing but Apple computers these days. Despite my IT background, I'd much rather not spend my life troubleshooting stupid compatibility issues. Moving her to a Mac was actually far easier than the last time I helped her upgrade to a new computer, when we moved from Windows to Windows.
The best news of all, though, is that my Mom isn't having much trouble with a brand new (to her) operating system. In fact, the most trouble she's had so far involved her new mouse. Both of us were laughing like maniacs over her inability to bring up a right click menu. She appeared to be doing all the right things, but the menu stubbornly refused to pop up or stay up. Then I'd try it and it would work immediately. We still haven't figured that one out :)
Her house smells really good right now. She's roasting a stuffed chicken for our dinner, and it's getting to the point where the aroma is making us all crazy. My brother Scott is arriving shortly. That chicken isn't going to last long :)
This process has been quite a bit easier than I was imagining, especially for my mom. She's had a Windows computer for over 20 years now, and she had it connected to several devices (especially printer and camera) and of course had lots of software she really wanted to keep (most especially her games).
Bringing up the basic operating system was, of course, as close to trivial as you can get with these things. They're Macs, after all :) Moving 110GB of data from my mom's computer was easy, and took just a couple hours. Making the files work on the new Mac was much easier than I expected – most of them just worked. In fact, the only exception was some .wma audio files she had. I had to Google for, oh, 10 seconds or so to find a good converter for them. A few minutes later, all of them were converted to .mp3 – and they all work just fine.
I was dreading the printer. It's an older HP inkjet. I Googled around a bit and discovered that support was supposed to be built in to OS X. I tried it – just plugged in the USB – and it just worked. Then I went for the camera (a Nikon Coolpix S4300). This time I didn't even Google – just plugged in the USB cable – and the next thing I know all the photos were downloaded into Apple's Photos program.
Experiences like this are why I own nothing but Apple computers these days. Despite my IT background, I'd much rather not spend my life troubleshooting stupid compatibility issues. Moving her to a Mac was actually far easier than the last time I helped her upgrade to a new computer, when we moved from Windows to Windows.
The best news of all, though, is that my Mom isn't having much trouble with a brand new (to her) operating system. In fact, the most trouble she's had so far involved her new mouse. Both of us were laughing like maniacs over her inability to bring up a right click menu. She appeared to be doing all the right things, but the menu stubbornly refused to pop up or stay up. Then I'd try it and it would work immediately. We still haven't figured that one out :)
Her house smells really good right now. She's roasting a stuffed chicken for our dinner, and it's getting to the point where the aroma is making us all crazy. My brother Scott is arriving shortly. That chicken isn't going to last long :)
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