Pulling Jupiter Out of Orbit...

From James Lileks (who is visiting San Diego) in his Bleat of April 8th, talking about the San Diego newspaper (surely the Union-Tribune):

... I ordered something chickeny and opened the papers.

The papers suck. Pardon the language, but for heaven’s sake, the papers sucked. The papers sucked hard enough to pull Jupiter out of orbit. I had gotten used to the underwhelmingly ordinary Arizona paper, but the LA Times and the San Diego paper were a new level of sucktitudinousness. The SD paper was like a slab of Sominex pounded into thin folded sheets, and I don’t know if it was the lead story – “Sweeping Regulatory Powers Sought,” or something equally deadly – or the cookie-cutter design, but man, that thing was dull; when I finished I felt like I’d put 50 cents into a soda machine, got nothing, and realized I didn’t really want any soda anyway. On to the LA Times, which surprised me – I have almost no experience with the paper, except its reputation, which surely was exaggerated. Well. I blew through it quickly, and when I was finished the only impression it left was astonishment that a market that large had such a weightless, arid, aimless paper. It has the typeface of a better paper, but that’s about it. I finished both before I was halfway through my Ironed Chicken Sandwich – really, it was so thin, that’s probably how they cooked it – and I spent the rest of my time reading the internet on my iPhone.

I wandered down the street to a coffee shop, had some ice cream, and finished my news reading on the iPhone.

If I’d never had one of those “you know, newspaper might be in trouble” moments, that would have been it. Actually, that morning I’d spent a solid half hour at the airport with the Wall Street Journal, which was and is a great paper. Why? Four things: Diversity of subject matter, a focus on subjects not easily given to ideological slants, quantity of stories, and lively writing.

“The papers sucked hard enough to pull Jupiter out of orbit.” Mr. Lileks, there's a reason why your readers love you...

Celebrating in Estonia...

Juri Estam has an interesting article published on Publius Pundit. It's about Estonia and Estonians, and my long-time readers will know that I have a special interest in that land. This description of the end of Estonia's first independent existence is apt:

When I think of Estonia and her forcible incorporation into the USSR by the Soviet Union, I am often reminded of Kitty Genovese, the New York City woman who, in 1964, was stabbed to death near her home in the Kew Gardens section of Queens. The Genovese case became know for the psychological phenomenon called the "bystander effect", in which violence is perpetrated on someone within hearing of neighbors, but the cries are not noticed.

But this is not a bitter article, not at all. It's a brief look back at the journey of independent Estonia, the entire history of which fits into a single person's lifetime – some elderly Estonians today can still remember the Estonia's first declaration of independence. The article's conclusion sounds very, well, American:

Soon, ceremonies will take place in the city of Parnu on the Baltic Sea in Estonia at the place where the Endla Theater -- the birthplace of Estonian independence -- was blown up by a hostile power in 1961. 90 years ago on February 23, Estonians proclaimed to the world in Parnu their desire to be free. Although actual memories of the Endla Theater now live on only in the elderly, Estonians of all ages give thanks that the only soldiers they will see in Parnu on Independence Day, other than the ones accompanying invited dignitaries, are their own. The message to everyone in the world who enjoys freedom is that one really does need to remember to give thanks in a conscious manner for liberty - something that can all too easily be replaced by a life in the absence of freedom.

Take it from the Estonians, we know what we're talking about.

And how very un-European! The majority of the ethnic Estonians I know would largely agree with Juri's sentiments in this article. The Estonian citizens I know who are ethnic Russians are decidedly more mixed in their views, leaning much more strongly towards either pro-Russian or pro-Eurosocialist views.

Estonia ranks as one of world's most free economies. I'm a bit worried about the long haul for them, because of the drag associated with being a member of the European Union (there are benefits as well, of course). Juri Estam, a prolific writer with many articles on the web, seems to share my concerns on that point. But the existence of so many Estonians of like mind with Juri Estam is cause for great hope...

Cure for Intense Desire...

Feeling randy? On the shelves of your local grocery store you will find a product originally invented as a “cure” for intense sexual desire. The inventor was a minister who was convinced that horniness and masturbation (known then as “venereal excess”, “aching sensibility”, or “carnal exercise”) were the source of many of mankind's (and womankind's) problems. Somehow he got from that notion to the need for a special diet to suppress these feelings and, er, activities.

Ponder that the next time you munch on a graham cracker.

Yup, a graham cracker – invented in 1829 by the Presbyterian minister (and nut case) Sylvester Graham. For the above-mentioned purpose.

Read more about Reverend Graham from Cecil and Barbara.

Botany Photo of the Day...

This is not my photo – it was taken by Jackie Chambers, and it's just one more example of the beautiful photos published every day on the Botany Photo of the Day web site. You can sign up there for emails (once a day) that give you a convenient link to the latest...

Even More Desert Flowers...

These are the last of the photos from my visit to the desert two weeks ago. This batch are the ones that I haven't yet identified. The teensy yellow ones at right carpeted areas just south of S-2 and 78 (near Scissors Junction), in some places covering more than an acre.

Friends visited the desert this past weekend, and they tell me that nearly everything is past prime already – only the ocotillo and cactus are still looking good. My next weekend is (sadly) devoted to doing my 2007 tax returns, so it's unlikely that I'll get out there.

Closer to home, the ceanothus are gorgeous right now, and we have a few other flowers out as well. Most are still in the future, though. Our streams are still running, and our front yard is dominated by (gasp!) grass instead of fillary and other weeds. That won't last long, but we're sure enjoying it while we can. It's novel for us desert-dwellers to look out our window and see lush greenery!

I'm Baaaaack!

And to kick things off, here are a few more flower photos from two weekends ago...

I've been putting in some long hours at work, doing something very different and exciting with a small team of developers. Yesterday we hit our first milestone, very successfully. Software products are never actually “finished” – there are always bugs to fix and more features to put in. But there are usually a few identifiable moments in a software product's life, such as the first time you look at the product and think “Dang! We've really got something here!” That's the milestone we hit yesterday...

That's a lupine above and right; and some assortments below...

Light Blogging...

No worries, folks – just some obligations at work that are eating my time up. I ended up working straight through the weekend, and didn't get out to the desert as originally planned. I'll be back in a jiffy!

Oops...

From the “I can't decide whether to laugh or cry” pile:

Some 3,000 scientific robots that are plying the ocean have sent home a puzzling message. These diving instruments suggest that the oceans have not warmed up at all over the past four or five years. That could mean global warming has taken a breather. Or it could mean scientists aren't quite understanding what their robots are telling them.

This is puzzling in part because here on the surface of the Earth, the years since 2003 have been some of the hottest on record. But Josh Willis at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory says the oceans are what really matter when it comes to global warming.

In fact, 80 percent to 90 percent of global warming involves heating up ocean waters. They hold much more heat than the atmosphere can. So Willis has been studying the ocean with a fleet of robotic instruments called the Argo system. The buoys can dive 3,000 feet down and measure ocean temperature. Since the system was fully deployed in 2003, it has recorded no warming of the global oceans.

So...here we have an elaborate attempt to actually measure global warming; an experiment lauded because it would be immune to all the distortions of atmospheric temperature measurement that global warming skeptics have been complaining about. And the measurement shows (drum roll please) no warming trend.

What's a Goreacle Groupie™ to do? Why, blame it on a slight “breather” in global warming, or question the data, of course!

Based on past experience (i.e., ignoring satellite temperature measurement data, as it doesn't show any global warming trend), I predict this data will quietly disappear. The scientists who gathered it will all get large grants to produce more computer models instead of gathering that pesky real data...

Desert Dandelion...

Here's a few photos of desert dandelion (Malacothrix californica), all on the Carrizo Badlands Overlook...

Parish's Poppy...

Parish's Poppy (Eschscholzia parishii) from the little no-name valley just south of Box Canyon, east side of S-2.

Cholla...

This is one of the several cholla species that grow in the Anza Borrego Desert, but I'm not certain which one it is. I liked the look of the new growth on it...

RIP, Arthur C. Clarke...

Arthur C. Clarke died yesterday at the age of 90, in his home in Columbo, Sri Lanka. He was the last of the surviving “Big Three” of science fiction (Clarke, Asimov, Heinlein) who had such an impact on the people who grew up in the '50s and '60s, as I did. He was a prolific author of both short stories and novels, but nothing he did was as well known as the movie 2001 Space Odyssey that he made with Stanley Kubrick.

In the early 1970s, I was in the Indian Ocean with the U.S. Navy, and I had occasion to visit Sri Lanka (then known as Ceylon). Clarke was one of my boyhood heroes, so I looked him up – and got an invitation to dinner with him. Those of you who know me have probably already heard the story – the experience wasn't a particularly pleasant one. I won't repeat the story now, out of respect. But that bad experience aside, Clarke's body of work is something that has given me great enjoyment and even inspiration. I'm sad to know that there will be no more.

I'll leave you with one of my favorite Arthur C. Clarke quotes:

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

Cacti...

It's your morning dose of desert wildflowers, this time of three species all found in the little no-name canyon just south of Box Canyon on the east side of S-2. These photos were all taken last Saturday.

At right are the flower buds on a prickly pear, just about to burst into bloom. Hopefully it will still be in bloom when I return next week...

Very few of the larger barrels were in bloom – perhaps four individuals out of hundreds. The best of them is definitely yet to come...

Blue Phacelia...

These blue phacelia (Phacelia distans) were all found along Oriflamme Canyon Road, between S-2 and the junction with Rodriguez Canyon Road. The displays were just awesome!

Returning Birds...

Spotted two birds in our yard for the first time this year (they're returning from their wintering over): a male Bullock's Oriole, and a Northern Flicker. The oriole spent about an hour eating from our hummingbird feeders; a gorgeous individual that appeared to be in full breeding plumage. We're hoping he'll nest here this year. The flicker was doing what flickers do best: strutting around our yard eating ants. We could support dozens of flickers on our ant population!

Chuparosa...

The chuparosa (Beloperone californica) was much more evident this wekk than last week, and I was able to get a few decent photos (out of over 100 taken!). These are my favorites from the lot…

If you're not familiar with chuparosa, you may not realize that at any given moment you're only likely to find a few individual plants with lots of bloom on them. It's very common to find a good-sized bush with just a couple of blossoms – so it can be quite challenging to find them (since the bush is a non-descript gray color)! On yesterday's trip, I only saw three chuparosa with abundant blooms; one of them is in a photo below. All the rest of these were on plants that had less than a half dozen blossoms…

As always, you can click on any photo for a larger view…

Desert Visit...

Debbie and I ventured down to the Anza-Borrego Desert yesterday, wandering around near S-2, from Ocotillo to Scissors Junction. There was some difference in the wildflower situation from last week to this week, but not as much as I'd have expected. The biggest single difference was the desert dandelions, which have exploded in carpets near the Carrizo Badlands Overlook. Some other noticable things: the ocotillo near Ocotillo now have very visible buds, and a few individuals are actually in bloom; there are quite a few more desert poppies than last week, the blue phacelia (especially in the lower reaches of Oriflamme Canyon) are even better than last week (hard to believe!), and we saw just a few prickly pears in bloom. One big disappointment for me: I planned to hike up to one of the California poppy patches near the low end of Oriflamme Canyon, but it was unseasonably cold yesterday (in the low 50s on the desert) and very windy, and the poppies were all curled up tight – I could just barely make out the orange cast to the patches that last week were almost fluourescent. Oh, well; I'll try again next weekend…

Despite the windy conditions I was able to take quite a few photos. I don't have time to post them today, so I'll be dribbling them out over the next few days. For starters, though, here are a few photos of a common species of butterfly in the Anza Borrego (though I don't know what it is). At right is one feeding on a blue phacelia in the lower Oriflamme. At right below is one that I noticed because of the noise and motion: it was flappy so energetically that I could hear it from ten feet or so away. I took this picture before I understood what was happening – it was caught in a spider web. I carefully pulled it out of the web, and then pulled off all the strands I could see clinging to its legs and wings. It fluttered away, apparently no worse for the experience.

As always, click on any photo for a larger view...

Geek Truck...

A new license plate holder graces my truck – a gift from my friend (and co-worker) Bow Ruggeri. Service-Now is the company where I work. The sentiment expressed on the bottom could be my motto these days – I'm having ever so much more fun as a practicing engineer (again, at last!) than I ever did in any executive position…

Thank you, Mr. Bow! And if you see a big white Tundra pickup with this on the back, you'll know you're behind SlighlyLoony…

Is Al Gore in Town?

The “Gore Effect” struck Jamul and vicinity yesterday and last night: we had some very odd weather – unseasonably cold temperatures (28°F), rain (always welcome!), and … ice pellets. The NOAA forecast actually said “ice pellets”, which is something I'd never seen before. I'm not sure what the difference is between hail and ice pellets; what we got was the size of kernels of corn.

And we got a lot of them! Enough to color the yard, cover our roof, and in certain spots form “drifts” a couple of inches deep. Very weird! The photo at right shows the view up the hill in our back yard: mossy rocks, manzanita, and ice pellets. The dogs weren't sure what the heck was going on, until one of them (Miki) figured out that the ground was covered with one of his favorite treats: ice cubes. Then he started to eat our yard…

The photos below show the pellets along the side of our driveway, close up, and around our peach tree (which is in bloom right now). Very odd!

Mr. Gore: please stay in loony land, wherever that might be – and stay away from Jamul!

As always, click on any photo to get a larger view…

M104 Hubble Remix...

Courtesy of Astronomy Picture Of the Day (APOD), this spectacular “remix” of previous Hubble photos of the galaxy known as Messier 104 (M104). This image (click to enlarge) was created by applying new image processing technology to old photos (like the ones at left, below), extracting much more useful information in the process.

The new image processing technology is an elaboration of wavelet processing, a technique that's been around for over ten years, but is still being improved. You can read all about the new stuff here. Be sure to scroll all the way down to the bottom for a really nice demonstration of the power of this new technique...