Light Blogging Alert...

I'll be on the road for the next few days, visiting with my folks in Virginia.  I will have Internet access, so there may be the occasional post nonetheless...

Dennis Ritchie, RIP...

Any serious programmer, and certainly any programmer who worked in the '80s or before, will know who Dennis Ritchie was.  Amongst his many accomplishments: co-creator of UNIX, co-creator of the programming language “C”, and co-author of widely read and influential books.  I never met Dennis, but I count him as one of the teachers who most impacted me.

Ritchie died this past weekend, after a long illness.  Rob Pike, Ritchie's long-time friend made the announcement last night...

Welfare Dogs...

Via reader Dave H.:

This morning I went to sign my dogs up for welfare. At first the lady said, "Dogs are not eligible to draw welfare." So I explained to her that my dogs are mixed in color, unemployed, lazy, can't speak English and have no frigging clue who their Daddys are. They expect me to feed them, provide them with housing and medical care. So she looked in her policy book to see what it takes to qualify. My dogs get their first checks Friday.

Damn, this is a great country.

Smooth Atacama Boulders...

In the extreme dryness of the Atacama desert in Chile, there are large fields of boulders on the flat desert floor.  The midsections of these boulders are worn smooth.  Such smoothing is normally caused by erosion involving water, but this desert has virtually none.  So why are those boulders smooth?  In a word: earthquakes.

Get Government Out of Space!

Looks like the Obama administration is doing exactly what they said (while campaigning) they would never do: gut the space science program to fund the manned space program.  I'm beginning to think the Glenn Reynolds is right: if you want to know what the Obama administration is going to do, just assume it's the opposite of what they say.

From an article by Lou Friedman (for 30 years the director of the Planetary Society):

We’re in a similar situation today. Behind closed doors, the administration is deciding on NASA budget cuts that may not be in the best interest of either the agency or the American people. Having caved in to Congressional special interests on the Space Launch System (SLS), the administration is now prepared to sacrifice science and exploration programs in order to prematurely start its development, with requirements that will neither be met nor needed for more than a decade.

Imagine a NASA that for ten years (say, 2015 to 2025) ceases to explore the solar system and stops looking deep into the universe. Already, the administration has said that flagship missions to explore the outer planets will cease. Voyager, Galileo, and Cassini will be followed by nothing. Already, the administration has deeply cut the Mars program, reducing American plans to support a 2016 European mission and taking away funds that were to be used for a 2018 follow-on to Mars Science Laboratory, leading to Mars sample return.

Now, news reports and reliable sources are saying that the administration (in the form of OMB) may refuse to allow NASA to proceed with any joint Mars exploration plan with Europe. This decision would destroy the whole NASA/ESA Mars collaboration that has been built in the past several years. The collaborative plan was to have the US provide an Atlas launch of a European Trace Gas Orbiter mission (with several US instruments) in 2016, and then NASA and ESA would jointly develop a sophisticated astrobiology and sample cache rover mission in 2018. OMB seems to be cutting out the American role in the 2016 mission and refusing to let NASA commit to the 2018 collaboration. (ESA has sent a letter to NASA saying that ESA has committed about $1 billion to the joint NASA-ESA mission, but that financial commitment depends on the US formally committing to its role in the mission. We hear that OMB has refused, thus far, to let NASA respond positively).

The administration has also punted the James Webb Space Telescope. The current plan states that they will support JWST, but they do not specify either a budget or where the money will come from. Are they going to leave that to Congressional special interests too?

Moonlit Morning Walk...

I got up a little early this morning, about 2:15 am, and took the dogs out for their morning constitutional.  The moon was high in the southern sky, and nearly perfectly full.  There was virtually no haze, so it was unusually bright outside.  I could clearly see colors around the yard, and could easily make out the mountains on the other side of our valley, about two miles away.  The dogs behaved as if it was daylight, especially Race – he scampered all about, chasing a pine cone. 

I heard the rustling of something largish uphill from us, and after some searching I found a pair of eyes looking at me: a coyote, about 100 feet away, on the other side of our yard's hurricane fence.  My dogs never knew he was there.  The coyote and I watched each other as we finished our walk and went back inside.  I wonder what went through his mind as he watched us?

The Comedians are Merciless...

Some political humor, via reader Simi L:

The liberals are asking us to give Obama time.  We agree...and think 25 to life would be appropriate.
--Jay Leno

America needs Obama-care like Nancy Pelosi needs a Halloween mask.
--Jay Leno

Q: Have you heard about McDonald's' new Obama Value Meal?
A: Order anything you like and the guy behind you has to pay for it.
--Conan O'Brien

Q: What does Barack Obama call lunch with a convicted felon?
A: A fund raiser.
--Jay Leno

Q: What's the difference between Obama's cabinet and a penitentiary?
A: One is filled with tax evaders, blackmailers, and threats to society.  The other is for housing prisoners.
--David Letterman

Q: If Nancy Pelosi and Obama were on a boat in the middle of the ocean and it started to sink, who would be saved?
A: America!
--Jimmy Fallon

Q: What's the difference between Obama and his dog, Bo?
A: Bo has papers.
--Jimmy Kimmel

Q: What was the most positive result of the "Cash for Clunkers" program?
A: It took 95% of the Obama bumper stickers off the road.
--David Letterman

People Flows...

Ever wonder how many people immigrate into, or emigrate out of, any particular country?  Here's a cool web site that lets you investigate exactly these questions.  For example, here's emigration from Mexico – and there were some surprises on this for me...

The Phony Consensus...

The media finally seems to be catching up to the news that the so-called “consensus” on antropogenic global warming (AGW) isn't a consensus at all.  The Daily Herald published this piece of commentary recently.  The lead:

The end is near ...

... that is, for the myth that scientists have reached "consensus" on global warming and climate change caused by humans.

The theory (more accurately called a religion for the redistribution of wealth) has taken a number of body blows in recent times -- although the climate-change lobby is still straining to impose its view on the world. For example, Time magazine issued a screed headlined "Who's Bankrolling the Climate-Change Deniers?" The piece wonders why any doubts linger. Time says, "an overwhelming scientific consensus that says it does."

Interesting shift in the media consensus!  The piece refers to the Global Warming Petition Project, which so far has collected over 31,000 signatures from scientists skeptical of AGW.  Some consensus!

Feynman on Curiousity...

Another beautiful video:

Employment Chart Roundup...

The Big Picture has an enormous roundup of charts showing employment data from this recession as compared with past recessions.  It's quite informative, though a bit depressing.  I recommend a ready supply of alcohol before studying these.  Just one example below:

Paid Protesters?

Check out what the Power Line guys found...

121,000 Feet...

Awesome video of an amateur rocket launch.  The payload reached 121,000 feet in altitude, right at the very edge of outer space...

Feynman on Beauty...

One of my heroes, Richard Feynman, talking about beauty – in a monologue that is itself beautiful...

Original Sin...

Forwarded by reader Jim M.:

Stress Busters...

My mom sent along a collection of “stress buster” photos.  This one, for some reason, especially caught my fancy...

Wall Street Protesters...

An annotated photo showing the hypocrisy (or stupidity?) of the Wall Street protesters.  Sent along by reader Simon M.:

A Walk on Cuyamaca...

Yesterday afternoon, Debbie and I had a very pleasant hike up Cuyamaca Mountain, with two of our dogs (Miki and Race).  We walked up the Fire Lookout Road (the paved road), as that's the only trail that our dogs are allowed on.  This area all burned over in the 2007 wildfires, and we haven't been here very much since then – it makes us sad to see all the old-growth forest gone.  The view was very nice, though.  You can see Cuyamaca Lake near the center of the photo, and to the right of the peak in the distance you can even see a piece of the Salton Sea.  Very little haze yesterday.

Well, most of the old trees are gone, but not quite all of them.  You can see in the photo above that there are some survivors, though in the distance you can see thousands upon thousands of tree skeletons, like the one at left.  We passed hundreds like this on the way up the mountain.  As we got closer to the top, we saw more and more survivors of the 2007 wildfires (like the Ponderosa at right), many of which are charred up to 15 or 20 feet from the ground.  We also saw something that was most encouraging: hundreds of young pine trees, and unbelievable numbers of baby cedar trees.  In some places, the baby cedars (all less than 2 feet high) looked like some kind of ground cover, a veritable mat of greenery.  These babies are too young – maybe just a year – to be fire pioneers.  I'm not sure what caused this cedar explosion, but it sure is nice to see.  The peak of Cuyamaca looks like some kind of development – there are several buildings in various stages of construction, some heavy equipment, and building materials in piles all over the place.  I'm not sure what they're doing up there, but the result is that the peak area is almost unrecognizable to someone like us who has been visiting there for thirty years...

The big excitement on the hike was spotting a king snake (Lampropeltis zonata) on the way down. This little fellow was right in the middle of the road! We don't see king snakes very often – it's probably been 10 or 15 years ago that we last saw one in this area. I used to hike a lot in the San Jacinto area, where I saw them quite often. If you're not familiar with king snakes, they're not poisonous (though the look a lot like the deadly poisonous coral snake). In fact, they eat poisonous snakes!

Last but certainly not least, here are my companions on our delightful little walk.  After we finished our hike, we repaired to the Descanso Junction Restaurant, where I had a burger (great, as always) and Debbie made a small dent in the prime rib special.  She brought home a box with enough beef leftover to make a meal for the both of us!

Despite being surrounded by the evidence of the 2007 wildfires, we both enjoyed getting back out in the mountains again – it's been a while since we went hiking in our local mountains...

Military Uniform History...

Via my mom, who finds this history eminently believable:

During the recent royal wedding, the millions around the world saw that Prince William chose to wear a uniform that included the famous British "red coat." Many people have asked, "Why did the British wear red coats in battle?"

Well, a long time ago, when Britain and France were at war, during one battle, the French captured a British Colonel. They took him to their head-quarters, where the French General began to question him. Finally, as an afterthought, the French General asked, "Why do you British officers all wear red coats? Don't you know the red material makes you easier targets for us to shoot at?"  In his casual, matter-of-fact, way, the officer informed the General that the reason British officers wear red coats is so that if they are shot, the blood won't show, and the men they are leading won't panic.

And that is why, from that day forward, all French Army officers have worn brown trousers.

Speaking Truth to Power...

Pat Condell, doing his usual awesomely good job...