Solar Filament, Erupting...

An awesome image from APOD:

Science and Political Correctness...

In an article titled The Return of the Ugly, Racist Pseudoscientist with a Small Penis, scientist Satoshi Kanazawa relates his experiences when his scientific investigation ran headlong into political correctness.  It's a dismaying tale for anyone interested in advancing science, but not really surprising – scientists are, after all, as human as the rest of us.  As I read his article (which relates a story in psychology), I was thinking about climate science and how political correctness and financial rewards have distorted the field.  The impact of political correctness on science varies wildly according to the particualr field of science.  For example, political correctness has little impact on nuclear physics, mathematics, or inorganic chemistry – but a lot on anthropology, psychology, climatology.

The only defense I know against this sort of thing is to be a determined skeptic – don't believe anything without reproducible evidence to support it...

A Tale of Two Vasectomies...

I suspect most adult men wouldn't expect an email from their mother with a subject line like that.  In my family, it's well within the bounds of normality :-)  A great joke with an unexpected political twist:

A man goes into the hospital for a vasectomy. Before the procedure a very attractive nurse comes in and takes his vitals, then tells him to take all of his clothes off. When he is fully undressed she instructs him to lie down on the table.

The man obeys. The nurse then takes all of her clothes off and climbs on top and has her way with him.

Upon the completion of the act the man catches his breath and asks what that was all about. The nurse informs the patient that studies have shown that before a vasectomy if the man has an ejaculation, he will be more relaxed and that the vasectomy is easier for the surgeon to locate and sever, thereby making the surgery safer, more efficient and quicker.

The nurse then wheels the patient to the operating room. While they are going down the hall the patient looks through a window to the right and sees six men in a room masturbating. Curious, the man asks, "What are they doing in there?"

The nurse responds, "They are getting vasectomies too, but you have Blue Cross and they have Obamacare."

I sense support for Obamacare rapidly declining amongst men...

Some Travel Photos...

Debbie and I traveled to northern Idaho in the first week of September.  As is my want (:-), I took a few photos along the way.

First up: a bed and breakfast, just north of Grangeville, Idaho.  We stopped and talked with the proprietor and his wife for a while.  They clearly had some fun with this.  The “fire hydrant” at right is actually a functioning outhouse.  The beagle is a room you can rent – note the window just forward of his ear.  Cute.  There are several rooms like this.  We zoomed by, both of us exclaiming...then turned around to come back and check it out.  These are definitely “dog people”!

The main reason for our trip was to visit our property near Hope (which is on the north shore of Lake Pend Oreille).  We hadn't been there for over ten years, and it was high time for us to check up on it.

Our property is in a little “island” of private property inside a National Forest; we get to it from a National Forest gravel road.  Take that road a few miles further and you'll come to the Lunch Peak lookout, seen at left.  This looked much different than our memories of it, but we can't tell if that's because our memories are faulty or if the place has really changed.  Neither of us, for instance, remembered the lookout as being enclosed.  Nor did we remember it being locked and inaccessible.

On the way up and back from Lunch Peak, we stopped at a couple of places to pick huckleberries, which are prevalent in any open area.  They were just beginning to turn red for the fall color when we were there; this made it very easy to spot patches of huckleberries!  They were delicious – juicy, sweet, deep purple.  Yum!

My favorite aspect of our property is the water running through it.  As a denizen of the high desert, running water seems quite exotic – and large quantities of running water even more so.  There are three streams running through or alongside our property.  The photos below are all time exposures (20 seconds to 60 seconds) of the three.  As usual, click to enlarge.

One of the days we were there, we drove up to Bonner's Ferry (very close to Canada) to do a little sightseeing. Just south of Bonner's Ferry we ran across this barber shop, called “The Barber Ship”. You can just barely make out the sign in the photo at right.

The entire building is tilted at a rakish angle, as though the Barber Ship were cresting a wave.  However, the floor inside is level – which makes for an odd-looking room in which two of the walls appear to be dangerously tilted.  We found lots of humorous signs all over Idaho, but more in Bonner's Ferry than anywhere else.  We're not sure where this culture of commercial humor came from, but we sure enjoyed it.  We also had a great meal in Bonner's Ferry – so good we had to come back another day for a repeat.  The place was called Papa Byrd's Bistro, and it had spectacularly good soups, the best pizza I've had in years, and an equally spectacular sandwich.  If you're ever up in Bonner's Ferry, don't miss that joint!

The last day we were in Idaho, we made a big loop over into Washington state, back through the National Forest to Priest Lake (in Idaho), then back to Sandpoint.  Just west of Priest Lake, we ran across the Roosevelt Grove of ancient (and giant!) cedar.  If you suffer from arborphilia (as I do), it's a place you won't want to miss.  Trees that are thousands of years old and towering over your head, with the trunks to match.  They look healthy, too (our conifers in San Diego County are suffering from years of drought and the ravages of bark beetles, though on the whole our cedars look better than anything else).

In the parking lot for Roosevelt Grove, we came across a phenomenon we've seen before: butterflies apparently attracted to the minerals on the ground.  Usually we've seen this alongside mudpuddles or on damp earth; here it was on bone-dry soil.  Later in the day we saw even more of them, for miles on the shoulders of a gravel road.  Whatever the reason, we've found you can approach these butterflies quite easily – they appear to be lost in rapture or something, not paying much attention to the large, dangerous humans stalking them with a camera!

Our Beautiful Old Girl...

Just a moment ago, as I was working away in my office, I heard a soft snoring start up behind me.  I turned around in my chair to find Lea, our oldest dog, splayed out on the carpet, and I managed to snap the photo below without waking her. 

When I'm working at home I often find that she's parked herself close by me, seeming to take comfort or pleasure in my presence.  Some might say she's an unattractive dog – her weepy eyes build up dried mucus that we have to constantly clean, and her nose is similarly caked.  Her hair is all scraggly; she suffers from some unidentified disorder that has made her formerly luxurious, curly coat look more like a moth-eaten rug with a hormone problem.  We don't give her haircuts often because it stresses her out, and at her age, she doesn't need that.  She's otherwise actually quite healthy, and considering that she's about 16 years old (already much older than your average field spaniel attains), that's really saying something.

I think she's the most beautiful dog in the world.

Whenever I pay attention to her, she's ecstatically happy and her tail wags as fast as it can go (though that's not so fast these days).  She's always at the door to greet me when I come home, and mourns from the doorway when I leave.  She squeals with gratitude when I give her a treat (which I'm going to do right now - some warm milk).  I can do no wrong in her eyes.  She loves me no matter what mood I'm in, no matter what I'm doing. 

I make a point of spending some time with Lea every day, because I don't know how much longer she'll be with us.  She's given us more pleasure and love than we can possibly reciprocate, though we try.  She's my beautiful girl, and don't you say otherwise...

Amazin' Blaze...

Awesome!

Geek: Fast Inverse Square Root...

There's a well-known “hack” that approximates an inverse square root (i.e., 1/x^0.5, or x^-0.5) with just a few adds, subtracts, a shift, and a multiply – and the “magic” hex constant 0x5f3759df.  On hardware lacking single-cycle floating point operations, this is remarkably efficient compared with the conventional approach.  I've used it myself, about 10 years ago, to speed up calculations in a Monte Carlo bond valuation simulation.  It was one of the few algorithms I've ever used whose inner workings were a complete mystery to me.

But it's a mystery no more, thanks to a lovely blog post on Hummus and Magnets, by Christian Plesner Hansen.  This post also links to a nice Wikipedia article on the same subject. I'm left in awe of the inventor's cleverness – the insight that the floating point's bit pattern could be mathematically manipulated is a classic hacker's trick.  And now I have a new tool in my hacker kit, as I've discovered that the algorithm can be extended to cover any power between -1 and 1.  Awesome!

Steyn Takes the Obama Administration to the Woodshed...

The inimitable Mark Steyn weighs in on the debacle in the Middle East.  An excerpt:

But Hillary Clinton and Gen. Martin Dempsey are guilty of something worse, in the Secretary of State's weirdly obsessive remarks about an obscure film supposedly disrespectful of Mohammed and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs' telephone call to a private citizen, asking him if he could please ease up on the old Islamophobia.

Forget the free-speech arguments. In this case, as Secretary Clinton and Gen. Dempsey well know, the film has even less to do with anything than did the Danish cartoons or the schoolteacher's teddy bear or any of the other innumerable grievances of Islam. The 400-strong assault force in Benghazi showed up with RPGs and mortars: that's not a spontaneous movie protest; that's an act of war, and better planned and executed than the dying superpower's response to it. Secretary Clinton and Gen. Dempsey are, to put it mildly, misleading the American people when they suggest otherwise.

But do go read the whole thing...

It's Wrong...

Via my lovely bride, something that has been much on my mind recently (as I contemplate the outrageous taxes we're about to have stolen from us by The One's administration and his sidekick, Governor Moonbeam):

Oh, Hell Yeah!

Via my mom, these most excellent posters:

If Obama is Elected for a Second Term...

Via reader Simi L.:

I'll say!

Freedom of Speech...

The Obama administration has taken some actions in the past days that should raise the hackles of every American.  Unfortunately, these actions are not surprising.  Even more unfortunately, they haven't raised the hackles of every American – just a few of us nutcases who believe in the importance of free speech.

It started with the official reaction to the Benghazi murders: both Obama and Hilary Clinton, in their comments, criticized the maker of the film that allegedly sparked the events in Benghazi.  Leave aside for a moment the question of whether that assertion is accurate, and assume for the sake of this discussion that it was accurate.  The making of that film, no matter how offensive or abhorrent anyone found it, is a classic exercise of the quintessentially American right of free speech.  The entire point of that right is to allow any American citizen to express how they feel on a subject, especially when that expression offends someone else.  The administration bluntly and directly criticized an American citizen for exercising his rights as a citizen.  That most definitely raised my hackles.  Does it raise yours?

Then the administration asked YouTube to take down the film's trailers.  Google (who owns YouTube) refused.  Good for Google.  Shame, shame on the Obama administration – they are directly attempting to quash an American citizen's right to free speech.  If it's unobvious to you why this should scare you, consider this: how would you feel if an American president succeeded in getting YouTube to remove political advertisements for your party, because they were deemed offensive.  Not the same thing?  Oh, think about that very hard – because in reality those are exactly the same thing.

This morning I read that the alleged maker of the film “voluntarily” allowed himself to be questioned by federal probation officers.  The provocation was clearly the making of the film, an expression of his right to free speech as an American citizen.  The pretense was investigation of a parole violation.  It is obvious to any observer that this is official harassment, plain and simple.  The government is harassing an American citizen because he had the temerity to express himself.

Are your hackles up yet?  Yes?  Good.  Remember this, please, when you vote in November.

Just to be clear to any left-wing freakazoids who might read this piece: I do not endorse the film in question in any way, shape, or form.  I've viewed the snippets up on YouTube, and I find them quite offensive – on an artistic level.  I'm pretty sure I could do better, and I've never made a movie in my life.  With respect to the content, it's easy for me to imagine that Muslims might be offended by it – just as Christians were offended by the “art” showing a cross in urine, or the Madonna as a porn star.  It has messages (I think – the movie is so badly done that I'm not entirely sure I understand those messages) that I don't agree with.  But none of that matters.  What matters is that the maker of that movie is an American citizen, and every American citizen has the right to express his or her beliefs and feelings on any subject – even if those beliefs or feelings offend someone else.  That is one very precious right, one that Americans enjoy almost uniquely (though few Americans seem to know this).  Even Canadians have restrictions on their free speech!

Obama never had any chance of getting my vote in November.  However, if I were planning to vote for him, these recent actions would change my mind – all by themselves, they are more than enough reason to deny him a second term.  I hope there are some other Americans who feel the same way...

Rules of Engagement...

Reader and friend Larry E. writes:

Ambassador to Egypt Anne Patterson “did not permit U.S. Marine guards to carry live ammunition,” according to multiple reports on U.S. Marine Corps blogs spotted by Nightwatch. “She neutralized any U.S. military capability that was dedicated to preserve her life and protect the US Embassy.”
http://freebeacon.com/reports-marines-not-permitted-live-ammo/

So I guess we never learn from history. I served With Greg on Camp Pendleton before he volunteered for Marine Security Guard. He and others in his detachment were unarmed when they were gunned down in a cafe' in San Salvador.
http://www.msg-history.com/HistoricalItems/HP_SanSalvador_1985_Weber.html

Prior to that, the bombing in beruit was made possible because the Marines there were not allowed to carry live ammo.

Do not send the US military anywhere and then take away their ability to perform their duties and worse, take away their ability to defend themselves.

My son is deployed to Afghanistan. The rules of engagement give every advantage to the enemy. Can anyone explain why we are still there? The President isn't committed to it. Congress isn't committed to it. The country sure as hell isn't committed to it.

Those making these decisions and worse, those in congress shirking thier responsibilities should be in prison.

And instead of being in prison, our citizens keep re-electing them.  This does not say good things to me about my country's future.  I have one last remaining hope, which is that the events of the past four years wake up enough voters that they kick the sniveling socialist bastards out of office.  I know, I know...it is but a very slim hope...

Personally, I advocate for a Patton-style set of rules of engagement: whenever we commit our forces to be in harm's way, we should give them authority to do whatever it takes to get their job done.  There is no way to have a kind or moral war; a war is by definition what happens when those things are lost.  The only sane thing you can do is to win, and win as overwhelmingly as you possibly can...

Snotty Receptionist...

Another geezer joke from my mom:

Yesterday I had an appointment to see the urologist for a prostate exam. Of course I was a bit on edge because all my friends have either gone under the knife or had those pellets implanted...

The waiting room was filled with patients. As I approached the receptionist's desk, I noticed that the receptionist was a large, unfriendly woman who looked like a Sumo wrestler.

I gave her my name.

In a very loud voice, the receptionist said,

"YES, I HAVE YOUR NAME HERE; YOU WANT TO SEE THE DOCTOR ABOUT IMPOTENCE, RIGHT?"

All the patients in the waiting room snapped their heads around to look at me, a now very embarrassed man. But, as usual, I recovered quickly, and in an equally loud voice replied,

'NO, I'VE COME TO INQUIRE ABOUT A SEX CHANGE OPERATION, BUT...I DON'T WANT THE SAME DOCTOR THAT DID YOURS."

The room erupted in applause!

Do not mess with old retired guys...

What's in the Box?

Via my mom.  Since my 60th birthday recently, she seems to have become an endless source of geezer jokes  :-)

A little old lady went to the grocery store to buy cat food. She picked up four cans and took them to the check out counter.

The girl at the cash register said, "I'm sorry, but we cannot sell you cat food without proof that you have a cat. A lot of old people buy cat food to eat, and the management wants proof that you are buying the cat food for your cat."

The little old lady went home, picked up her cat and brought it back to the store.
They sold her the cat food.

The next day, she tried to buy two cans of dog food. Again the cashier said "I'm sorry, but we cannot sell you dog food without proof that you have a dog. A lot of old people buy dog food to eat, but the management wants proof that you are buying the dog food for your dog."

So she went home and brought in her dog. She then was able to buy the dog food.

The next day she brought in a box with a hole in the lid. The little old lady asked the cashier to stick her finger in the hole. The cashier said, "No, you might have a snake in there."

The little old lady assured her that there was nothing in the box that would harm her. So the cashier put her finger into the box and quickly pulled it out. She said to the little old lady, "That smells like sh**."

The little old lady said, "It is. I want to buy three rolls of toilet paper."

Don't mess with old people!

They Don't Know...

My dogs just don't know.  They don't know about the horrifying events in the Middle East.  They don't know about my work being crazy-busy (after returning from a week off).  They don't know about the November elections.  There's so much that they just don't know.

They do know that their morning walk with me is a joyful time, one that they anticipate with nearly as much joy as the act itself (they nearly lose their minds when they hear the sounds I make when getting ready in the morning).  The three field spaniels know that this morning it's humid (we had a small rainfall yesterday), and their noses are working even better than usual.  They snuff in all the smells of the morning, most especially the “pee-mail” left for them by other dogs and coyotes.  The border collie, as usual, knows about pine cones – which he relentlessly searches out and deposit in front of me so I can kick them, and he can chase them.

Joyous dogs.  Their joy is infectious, lifting my mood.  They do this every morning, without knowing.  They are great therapy.

The morning sky this morning was like lead crystal – black, black background with bright stars dotting it.  The Milky Way, crisp and textured, extends from the northeast horizon to the west.  Orion is high, Sirius low in the east.  Venus is also bright and low, north of Sirius, while Jupiter is overhead, close to the Pleiades.  A glorious morning for stargazing.

Sometimes I wish I didn't know some things...

Life Expectancy...

I've long known that the widely published “life expectancy” numbers are very misleading at best, and greatly understate the age the average person living today can expect to attain.  However, I had not previously seen a good explanation of why these published numbers are “wrong”...

Obama in His Own Words...

Embassy Attack...

Headlines on this morning's news are all about the killing of our Ambassador to Libya, and three others.  The news reports are contradictory, but it looks like the four died in a rocket attack on their car, as they left the U.S. Embassy – itself the target of a mob attack.  This all instantly reminded me of 1979, and the mob attack on our Embassy in Tehran, Iran – and Jimmy Carter's pathetic response.  Somehow I expect the same here.

The blogosphere is, as you might imagine, full of thoughts on these events.  The best post I read was this one from Dave Carter, the truck driver/philosopher on Ricochet.  An excerpt:

Did you get that? We condemn the people who offended these cretins,….not the cretins. Pardon me, but just what in the hell is happening to our country? Is this the inheritance purchased at Normandy? Bunker Hill? Khe Sanh? Brave men risked their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor so that an American President could grovel with this pathetic, weak-kneed, sickly, statement? What a despicable statement of historical ignorance and what an awful confession of outright cowardice!

Well said, Mr. Carter. Well said.

Don't miss the whole thing...

Cop vs. Lawyer...

Via my mom, who reminds me (as if I could forget!) that she's part Scottish:

A London lawyer runs a stop sign and gets pulled over by a Glasgow policeman.

He thinks that he is smarter than the cop because he is a lawyer from LONDON and is certain that he has a better education then any Jock. He decides to prove this to himself and have some fun at the Glasgow police's expense!!

Glasgow cop: "Licence and registration, please."

London Lawyer: "What for?"

Glasgow cop: "Ye didnae come to a complete stop at the stop sign."

London Lawyer: "I slowed down, and no one was coming."

Glasgow cop: "Ye still didnae come to a complete stop. Licence and registration, please."

London Lawyer says: "What's the difference?"

Glasgow cop: "The difference is, ye huvte come to complete stop, that's the law. Licence and registration, please!"

London Lawyer says: "If you can show me the legal difference between slow down and stop, I'll give you my licence and registration and you give me the ticket. If not, you let me go and don't give me the ticket."

Glasgow cop says: "Sounds fair. Exit your vehicle, sir."

The London Lawyer exits his vehicle.

The Glaswegian takes out his baton, and starts beating the living daylights out of the lawyer, and says, "Dae ye want me to stop, or just slow doon?"

She's part Scottish, but we don't want to know what other part is...