More Dogs...

Here are the promised videos...

Dogs...

Now comes the important part of our trip: the dogs!  Racer and Miki had the time of their lives yesterday.  After the long drive from home to Mt. San Jacinto, they were visibly surprised to find that when they got out of the truck they were in a doggie wonderland.  Lots of space to run around in!  Lots of new smells!  Lots of things to play with – especially pine cones.  Racer has a thing for pine cones; they are by far his favorite toy.  Then there was the stream – oh what fun to run and splash in it!  After a couple of hours of running around like crazy, they crashed on the drive home, sleeping like logs...

Here are some photos from the day; videos will follow:

Streams...

Mt. San Jacinto is a very dry mountain, especially on the eastern flanks.  We spent the day on the north side, which isn't quite a desert environment but doesn't look so very far from it.  The soil is mainly decomposed granite and sand, with very little organic material – so the drainage is practically perfect.  The result is powder-dry soil, lots of dust, and almost no running water.  Except, that is, while the snow pack is still melting – and it was melting while we were there yesterday.  So we had some running water – little rivulets to small streams.  We found one very near the end of Black Mountain Road that was a delight both for us (visually) and for the dogs (much more viscerally).  Some scenes from that stream:

Snow Plant...

Here's one of the stranger members of the flora in the area: the snow plant (Sarcodes sanguinea), a parasitic plant.  My father and I saw lots of these in the Mt. Lassen area a few years ago, and I saw them many times when hiking around Mt. San Jacinto in the 1970s.  I haven't often seen them in the act of emerging, though...

Scenery...

All along Black Mountain Road, one is treated to beautiful vistas.  To the northwest, on a clear day (like yesterday), you can see Mt. Baldy some 65 miles away.  Just 20 miles to the north is San Gorgonio peak.  Both of these were snowcapped, as was the upper elevations of Mt. San Jacinto visible to our south.  We hit just a bit of snow, in shaded areas above about 7,500 feet.  Here are some of the scenes that caught our eye:

Indian Paintbrush...

Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja) wasn't very plentiful, but the few specimens we saw were beautiful – a deeper, purer red than we normally see around home...

Flowers...

Some minature wildflowers that occurred in the lower elevations in sandy flats along the road.  The purple patches were visible from a long distance, but the tiny, sparse little white blossoms were almost invisible until you were upon them...

Manzanita...

One of the delights all along Black Mountain Road are the manzanita.  With all the water this year, most of them are loaded with bloom.  Depending on our altitude (this varied quite a bit over the course of the day), we caught them anywhere from just beginning to bud to absolutely bursting with bloom.  The species found on Mt. San Jacinto are different than the ones we have, just 150 miles south (but much lower altitude).  The species I photographed all day long was my favorite, with bright red or pink flowers than any of our four species have.

Grasshopper...

I've no idea what kind of grasshopper this is, but it was abundant all along the lower reaches of Black Mountain Road...

A Mini-Vacation...

Yesterday Debbie and I took two of our dogs (Miki and Racer) on a one-day vacation: a trip to Mt. San Jacinto, about 150 miles north of our home.  We spent most of our time up there on a leisurely drive along Black Mountain Road, with frequent stops for short walks and explorations.  We finished our day with dinner at the Gastrognome in Idyllwild, long one of our favorite restaurants.

The next few posts contain photos from our trip...

Why Can't They See?

My mom sent along the photo at right as one in a collection of absurdities.  It nicely illustrates the paradox that many before me have pointed out: if psychics can predict the future, then why can't they (a) forsee circumstances such as the one at right, (b) get rich by forseeing stock price movements or real estate values, (c) avoid accidental trauma themselves or their loved ones, (d) etc., etc.?

The few times in investigational writings when I've seen such questions raised, the replies of the psychics are such obvious claptrap that one would think nobody would buy their story.  Yet billions of people around the world persist in believing this sort of magical thinking, in the face of such abundant contrary evidence.  Why can't they see the truth in front of their faces?

The Hell You Say...

Via my mom:

George Bush, Queen Elizabeth, and Vladimir Putin all die and go to hell. While there, they spy a red phone and ask what the phone is for. The devil tells them it is for calling back to Earth.

Putin asks to call Russia and talks for 5 minutes. When he is finished the devil informs him that the cost is a million dollars, so Putin writes him a check.

Next Queen Elizabeth calls England and talks for 30 minutes. When she is finished the devil informs her that the cost is 6 million dollars, so she writes him a check.

Finally George Bush gets his turn and talks for 4 hours. When he is finished the devil informs him that the cost is $5.00.

When Putin hears this he goes ballistic and asks the devil why Bush got to call the USA so cheaply.

The devil smiles and replies: "Since Obama took over, the country has gone to hell, so it's a local call."

Depending on your frame of mind when you read this, it can be either comic or tragic...

Lessons Learned from 13 Failed Software Ventures...

Often there's more to learn from failure than from success.  I've learned more than many have ...

Attitude in Programming...

Jonathan Edwards has an interesting post about the importance – the primacy, really – of attitude in programming.  The basic message is that when there's a choice between simple, readily digestible way to do something and a more complex but also more elegant or beautiful (to a sophisticated or accomplished programmer), then choose the simple way every time.  Making those choices for the simple means the overall piece of software will be less complex, more bug-free, more easily modified, etc. 

I couldn't agree more, but I don't the picture is quite as clear as he paints it (and I suspect Edwards would agree).  For example, one of the tensions in making such choices lies with deciding exactly what is simple and clear.  I had an experience a couple of years ago that illustrates this.  I'd written a small piece of code (in Java) that made use of the exclusive-or operator (“^”).  To me, that was obvious, simple, and clear – and obviously simpler than the alternative.  But my colleagues disagreed, because they didn't know that operator.  To them, writing (a && !b) || (!a && b) was simpler and clearer than a ^ b (where a and b are boolean values) which was a huge surprise for me!  I eventually settled on the code a != b, which satisfied both of us.  The point is that it's not always easy to decide exactly what constitutes simple and digestible – but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be your goal...

Quote of the Day...

From an excellent piece by Peggy Noonan, who seems to be seeing clearly once again:

But Mr. Obama was supposed to be competent.

Full Moon, Round Two...

Walking the dogs at 3:30 am again, but this morning the moon is a bit higher in the sky, and much brighter than yesterday.  My walk was in the moon-shadows of the pines along our driveway, but from there I could see the entire eastern end of Lawson Valley all lit up with the moonlight.  It was bright enough to see some colors; the hills were distinctly brown and green, and the native grasses on our hillside that have gone to seed were waving their reddish-beige heads in the gentle morning breeze.  A little desert scent wafted in on that breeze; not much compared with a month ago, but still enough for anyone who knows the chaparral to recognize.

The dogs, as usual, couldn't care less about the beauty around us.  As I got near our gate, all four were nose-down, intent on absorbing the essence of some night-time visitor.  But then a surprise!  A rabbit suddenly bolted from about 4 feet away – and of course all four dogs immediately lunged after it just as hard as they could.  This overwhelmed my ability to hold them back, as the force vectors on the leashes were all pointed the same exact direction  – across the bottom of our yard.  So off we went, four dogs followed by an ancient software engineer, trying my best to stop them, or at least slow down their breakneck pace.

Somehow I managed to stay upright.  The rabbit disappeared under our fence about 150 feet from our driveway, and the dogs stopped.  They seemed surprised that I was still behind them, and I was a bit surprised myself.  They resumed their random walking, the force vectors on my leash hand once again largely canceled out, and I was able to drag the four dogs back toward the house and my morning tea...

AGW Loses at the Premier Formal Debate...

Lord Monckton (a well-known advocate for AGW skepticism) represented the “pro” side in a debate for this motion put before the Oxford Union Society:

That this House would put economic growth before combating climate change.

In that somewhat detached world of formal debate, this provoked a gasp heard 'round the world, as Lord Monckton was supposed to lose. Big.  Instead, he won, 135 to 110.

AGW skepticism (or even better, a more generally skeptic view) seems to be taking root even amongst the young, idealistic, credulous kids at school...

Would Global Warming Really Be All Bad?

Interesting piece over at Watts Up With That?...

There's a Reason Why Farmers are Smarter...

But it just may be a different reason than you imagined...

Full Moon Morning...

Out at 3:30 am to walk the dogs, and there was a nearly full moon hanging just above the horizon to our southwest.  It cast enough light for me to walk easily without a flashligh.  Our local horizon is comprised of mountains, and from our driveway the moon was hanging at the bottom of a deep “notch” in the horizon, with a mountain to either side of it.  Simply beautiful.

The four dogs, of course, couldn't have cared less about the beautiful moon.  As usual, they were noses-down, checking out who visited our yard last night.  I'm sure that if they could only talk they'd be able to give me a detailed list...