Peak.AR...

WIN!  Simon M. passed this little gem along.  I am in awe of this little enhanced-reality app.  All this awesomeness is free, too.

I downloaded the app in a few seconds (from the iTunes store), and fired it up.  There was no configuration required.  When it started up, I aimed my iPhone at the local horizon and got an image (through the iPhone's camera) much like the one at right (click to enlarge).

What you're seeing there is a realtime video display of whatever your smartphone is looking at, but the mountain peaks are overlaid with a little symbol and an annotation giving you the peak's name and altitude. 

I live in a fairly obscure valley (Lawson Valley) in the foothills of the coastal range in San Diego County.  The “peaks” immediately around me are really just the tops of slightly larger-than-average hills; all of them are less than 3,000' high.  Peak.AR knew the names and altitudes of every one of them – even several local peaks whose names I've never been able to find, not even on Geodetic Survey maps.  Peak.AR must have access to an amazingly large database of peaks!

Highly recommended, a 10 on the awesomometer.  Their home page is here.

Balance of Power...

Here's a fascinating chart of historical Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the nine “Great Powers”, back to the year 1 AD, and projected forward to 2050 (using a projection from Price Waterhouse Coopers).  Note that the timescale is non-linear, so be careful interpreting the trends.  The biggest surprise for me was India, pre-1800 – I don't know much about India's history, I guess.  As usual, click to enlarge...

Weep for Our Future...

Game On!

Via Simon M., this musical tribute to Rick Santorum.  So far as I've been able to discover, this video was not sponsored or paid for by the Santorum campaign; it appears to be a genuinely spontaneous expression of support for him.




I haven't commented on the Republican horse-race much, as I'm not finding it very interesting, and certainly not inspiring. It looks like it's coming down to one of three possibilities:

1. Romney (not exciting, not scary)
2. Santorum (slightly more exciting, much scarier)
3. Random candidate from a brokered convention (who knows what to think about that?)

The last time the Republicans had a brokered convention, Reagan emerged the winner.  That sounds great, except for one little niggling detail: there's no Reagan anywhere in sight...

Obama Blew the Grand Bargain...

An exposé in (of all places!) the Washington Post lays it all out quite nicely.  The bottom line: a grand fiscal bargain was within reach last year, but Obama – Obama alone – trashed it.

Now mind you I'm not entirely sure that the grand bargain would have been better than the current mess.  For instance, had we in fact reached a bargain, Obama's prospects for re-election would almost certainly have been better.  Nevertheless, it is dismaying to see the incompetence by our chief executive on display...

Our Political Class is Unserious...

That's not exactly new news, I know.  Alan Blinder has a piece in today's WSJ that nicely outlines the “fiscal cliff” we face in 2013.  That would be the cliff that our national politicians (a) created, and (b) are doing nothing whatsoever about.  His lead:

At some point, the spectacle America is now calling a presidential campaign will turn away from comedy and start focusing on things that really matter—such as the "fiscal cliff" our federal government is rapidly approaching.

The what? A cliff is something from which you don't want to fall. But as I'll explain shortly, a number of decisions to kick the budgetary can down the road have conspired to place a remarkably large fiscal contraction on the calendar for January 2013—unless Congress takes action to avoid it.

Well, that gives Congress plenty of time, right? Yes. But if you're like me, the phrase "unless Congress takes action" sends a chill down your spine—especially since the cliff came about because of Congress's past inability to agree.

Do go read the whole thing. It's quite depressing...

Snow on the Mountain...

At higher elevations in our local mountains, it's still cold enough for snow – and with the current storm, we have plenty of it.  Debbie and I took a drive up and around Cuyamaca Mountain yesterday afternoon.  These photos will give you some idea what we ran into.  We thought the snow-covered flowers (like the blue ceanothus below) were particularly beautiful.  As usual, click to enlarge...

Rainageddon Update...

We're now at 2.7 inches (7 cm) of rain for the storm (click to enlarge the graph at right), and the NEXRAD radar shows more headed our way.  The forecast calls for a 40% chance of rain today, then fair weather the rest of the week.  Man, are we wet!

Rainageddon Update...

We're at 2 inches (5 cm) of rain for the storm.  The image below shows the NEXRAD radar image at 6:31 am this morning.  This time I've turned on storm tracks (that's the “Z1” with an arrow) and precipitation monitor.  The blue areas show frozen stuff (snow, in other words) in the mountainous areas.  When the weatherman says “scattered showers”, this is what it looks like on the radar...

The image below is from my rain gauge, showing all the rain in the past few days (the time is GMT).  The most intense rain was near the end of the day on the 17th, which was in the early afternoon yesterday (PDT) – we got a half inch in a half hour, a veritable downpour in these parts...

Space Shuttle Video...

NASA released this video pieced together from footage shot on two shuttle missions.  The cameras are mounted at several points on the solid-fuel boosters, which broke away from the shuttle itself shortly into each flight, roughly 30 miles high.  The footage shows not only the “boost phase” (where the solid-fuel boosters are actually firing), but also the boosters' re-entry through the atmosphere and splashdown in the ocean.  There are two boosters on each launch, and often one can be seen in the other's camera as they tumble toward the earth together.

This particular video has been enhanced in two ways.  First, flight data (such as altitude and speed) has been superimposed on the video.  I found this data fascinating.  For example, you can see that the boosters arc up after detachment (carried by their inertia), then arc down, gain speed, and finally are slowed down as they re-enter the atmosphere.  Second, audio has been added in the studio.  I don't know where they got the audio from, but I thought it added a lot to the experience of watching the video.

Here it is:

Jamul Casino: More Details from the Tribe...

Raymond Hunter, Chairman of the Jamul Indian Village, says:

The Jamul Indian Village has been working for many years to develop a gaming facility on our federal tribal trust land. This effort has not been without controversy. We are now creating a new vision for our gaming project, taking into account the concerns of our neighbors and the County of San Diego. Our newly designed project will create jobs for our neighbors, allow the tribe to become self-sufficient, and enable us to share gaming revenue with local governments and charities. We believe this can be achieved while respecting the environment and our neighbors’ concerns.

Some of the most important changes in our project’s design speak to its most pointed criticism. The total size of our gaming project has been cut by more than half from our proposal in 2006 – and this includes eliminating a proposed hotel. Building height of the gaming facility will now be reduced to 45 feet above grade as seen from Highway 94. This allows us to strategically use the contours of our land to provide parking below street level and outside the line of sight. These critical changes reduce the overall footprint of our project and, as a result, the oak and willow-studded stream traversing our reservation will be maintained in its natural condition.

The visual impact of our facility will be largely mitigated by its careful design. The earth-tone colors and natural materials of the exterior reduce the project’s visual impact by matching it to the background of the surrounding area. We will adhere to the county’s dark sky and sign ordinances. We will use native plants and the natural terrain to further limit views from roadways. This will not be a glitzy Las Vegas-style gaming facility with lights and signs. The project will be subject to a vigorous environmental process meeting state and federal standards.

This project will enable our tribe to be a greater asset to our community by generating revenue-sharing dollars for public safety, education, traffic mitigation and critical government services. The Jamul tribe has lived here for a very long time and has been recognized by federal officials since the 19th century. We only occupy a fraction of our ancestral lands and we have a responsibility to our members to seek the most effective economic development of this land for our future financial viability and cultural legacy.

We examined other economic development opportunities in the past. However, Indian gaming has proved to be the most successful means for federally recognized tribes to achieve self-sufficiency. Although Jamul Indian Village is eligible to receive federal money, our gaming project has not been funded with federal funds.

For federally recognized tribes such as ours, the proven path to achieve economic self-sufficiency has been Indian gaming. The Jamul Indian Village has had a gaming compact with the state since 1999. Our compact allows gaming of limited size and scope and only with a comprehensive regulatory system requiring state, federal and tribal participation. Our compact has been formally approved by the U.S. Department of Interior. Now we are working to create a gaming facility that will adapt naturally into our environment and community.

We will soon release our initial proposed plan. At that time we will also seek additional community feedback before finalizing these plans. We hope that our neighbors in the Jamul and Dulzura areas will recognize that we are genuine in our effort to accommodate our neighbors’ input. We have, in fact, made significant changes in our development plan in response to many of the objections that have been raised in the past. Our new vision for the Jamul gaming project embodies a smaller, high-quality facility that is respectful of our neighbors, our environment and the culture of the Jamul Indian Village. We are hopeful that our neighbors can come closer to supporting our new vision.

If you would like to comment or make recommendations to the Jamul tribe, you can contact us here.

Rainageddon Has Started...

As of this post, we've had exactly 1 inch of rain from this storm – and we've only just begun.  Below is what the NOAA NEXRAD radar showed just before this post:

The Survivor...

You won't realize it when you start watching this short video, but ... it has a (very) funny ending:

Light Dancing...

I don't like this music, and I don't like modern dance.  But I was fascinated by this:

The RNC Did This!

The RNC is upping their game – this doesn't look like the kind of humor that would be employed by cigar-chomping back-room boys...

USA: The Highest...

The highest what?  The highest corporate income tax rate.  In the world.  Starting on April 1st.  From an opinion piece in today's WSJ:

April 1 is a date that every politician and business executive in America should circle on the calendar. That's when Japan cuts its corporate tax rate to 36.8% from 39.5%. The United States will then hold the title of highest corporate tax rate, with average combined federal and state profit levies of 39.2%.

Yes, that's higher than Sweden. Higher than Russia. And China, Mexico, Denmark and even France. Doesn't it make you want to break out in a chant: U-S-A, U-S-A? 

I can almost hear the progressives cheering.  “Yes!”, they'll say.  We're leading the world, as we should be.

Me?  I just cry for my country's future.

And, as always, remain amazed at how little attention issues like this get from everyday people.  As though they don't matter...

Table, Rising...

This is an impressive piece of design, and woodworking: a folding table made from a single sheet of wood.  Lots of details, and photos of the actual table, at the designer's site...

Awesome Customer Service Stories...

Here's a very nice collection of great customer service stories.  I'd seen about half of these before...

ServiceNow IPO News: on Fox News!

There's no new news about a potential ServiceNow IPO in this story.  But the venue is new: Fox News!  I got to this page through a link on the Fox News home page.

The search term “servicenow ipo” is still the number one driver of traffic to my blog...

Rainageddon...

Last night on my drive home, I heard a radio announcer talking about the rain storm expected to hit us tonight as “rainageddon”.  It earned this moniker because of the amount of rain expected: up to 2 inches (5 cm).  Anyone from a place like, say, Hawai'i would be greatly amused by this.  We consider 2" of rain to be “rainageddon”, but there that would barely qualify as a morning shower...

This morning the dogs and I took our morning walk through a thick cloud.  Visibility was about 100 feet.  When we walked down to the end of our driveway, our house was gone; just a vague fuzz of light in its direction. 

As usual, Race was all about the pine cone.  I kicked; he was happy.  The three field spaniels, though, were in a frenzy of smelling, just as they always are in wet air.  The three of them would run around, seemingly at random, until one of them found something enticing.  Then upon some signal not apparent to me, all three would congregate at that spot – noses together, bodies angled precisely 120° apart, forming a perfect three-pointed star.  After sufficient sniffing of the exquisite spot, in concert they'd break off and commence the random searching, separately, again.  This pattern repeated ad nauseum for our entire walk.  The usual peeing and pooping occurred, mind you; it was just incidental to the real mission of smelling...

Just another morning in Jamul!