NASA dumps a whole bunch of photos...

NASA dumps a whole bunch of photos ... from the Apollo missions.  The example (from Apollo 12) at right is just one of thousands...

Science isn't perfect, part 29,479...

Science isn't perfect, part 29,479...  Warmists should ponder this...

Robots are not about to take over...

Robots are not about to take over...  Elon Musk, Bill Gates, and other very smart people are amazingly (to me, anyway) credulous on the subject of artificial intelligence and the dangers thereof.  So far as I'm concerned, that's on a par with people in the 1800s being terrified that going 50 MPH would prevent us from breathing (an actual, published, widely-believed fear).  Why?  This fellow has a good post about that.  And here MIT offers some additional evidence, though that's not their intent.  They're saying “Wow! Look at this!  We built a robot that (sort of) learned how to grasp things, on its own (sort of)!”  I read that article and think: 60 years of research and AI can't even duplicate one of the many feats of learning of a human infant. 

The singularity isn't close at hand, folks.  It's not even within sight of the Hubble telescope, wealthy and smart pundits notwithstanding...

Quote of the day...

Quote of the day...  This time from the blog of Eric S. Raymond, on the subject of gun violence in the U.S.  He says:

Nobody wants to be honest about this except a handful of evil scumbag racists (and me).  Thus, the entire policy discussion around U.S. firearms is pretty much fucked from the word go.

He concludes that the right policy decision would be to decriminalize drugs and then see what the next highest driver of gun violence is.

I agree with that, though I don't share his optimism about how much gun violence would decline absent the war on drugs.

Eugene Volokh has a great post today on the same subject, too...

Birthday in Paradise, continued...

Birthday in Paradise, continued...  Yesterday afternoon we went (per Debbie's birthday wishes) for a wildlife-seeking drive up Blacksmith Fork Canyon toward Ant Flats.  We were a bit disappointed with the wildlife at first, as all we saw was some trout.  Then Debbie spotted a kingfisher (we think they're belted kingfishers we're seeing, like the one at right, which is not my photo, dang it!) and we felt a bit better about our success.  Shortly afterwards Debbie spotted something much more interesting: a young beaver!  It was roughly half the size of the adult beavers we've seen, and chugging fast downstream.  We're guessing it was born this past spring.  This was in Mill Creek, roughly a mile on Ant Flat Road from the turn off of state 101.  We had two good sightings of it, just 30 seconds or so each.  It disappeared from our view fairly close to its lodge, so we suspect it ducked in there to get away from us.

After that we headed to Jack's, Debbie's choice for a birthday dinner.  There we had a delicious soup (“chicken velvet”), an equally delicious pizza, and a killer dessert we've had several times before – their lemon cake, which we split a single gigantic piece of (my photo at left).  We always have great food and friendly service at Jack's, and yesterday was no exception.  But we had a special treat yesterday: the woman who creates their soups was there, and actually served us our soup.  We had a chance to talk with her, and telling her how much we've enjoyed her soups over the past year and a half.  When we discovered who she was, I told her that I felt like I should get out from my booth, then bow and genuflect before her.  Her smile and obvious pleasure at our enjoyment of her soups was a lot of fun for us :)  We talked with her for a while about her various creations, and she brought over a sample of another of her soups (one I couldn't possibly eat, though: cream of jalapeno).  That was a great experience, and especially nice as it was Debbie's birthday dinner.

Then (again at Debbie's request) we headed out over the pass toward Liberty for some more wildlife viewing.  We saw almost nothing this time.  There were a few deer in the farmers' fields before we got into the National Forest, but otherwise not a darned thing.  We did hear some intriguing bird calls (like a meadowlark, but with a different “tune”), but never managed to spot them.  Instead of wildlife, we got weirdness and a beautiful sunset.  In the first two photos below are bundles of bamboo sticks we found carefully hung on some tree trunks.  There were five bundles within a few feet of each other.  We couldn't imagine what the heck they were for, but guessed it might be an insect habitat.  A little googling led me to think they are intended for either mason or leaf-cutter bees.  Then about a quarter mile away, we found the “thing” in the next three photos.  It was lying on the ground, semi-hidden from the road behind a tree trunk.  On examining it carefully, I saw that it was made from layers of plastic foam with cardboard tubes inserted.  Five sides were covered in thin aluminum held together with duct tape (is there anything that duct tape can't do?).  The sixth side was open, but facing down.  After photographing it, I put it back exactly where it was.  Another insect habitat?  I couldn't find anything by googling, so this one remains a mystery.  Finally, the last photo is of the gorgeous sunset we enjoyed as we exited the canyon and drove toward Avon.

It was an especially lovely day in Paradise...

Debbie had a little birthday celebration...

Debbie had a little birthday celebration...  She had a beer with a couple of her best friends!

Putin vs. Obama...

Putin vs. Obama...  Reader Simi L. passed these along.  I was incapacitated for a while by a potent combination of laughter and despair...

Great low-key rant...

Great low-key rant ... from an old TV show.  Reader, former colleague, and fellow Duke's mayonnaise lover Doug S. passes this along.  He was reminded of it by the Bill Whittle video I posted a couple days ago.

My first thought on viewing it: I can easily imagine this happening here in Paradise.  Today.  I cannot imagine it happening in San Diego anytime in the past 50 years.

I'm not entirely sure what to read into that thought, but it's a good example of why I feel so much at home here...

Dowsing for water...

Dowsing for water...  This is very popular here, a bit to my surprise because in general the people I know here are big on science, and not at all believers in magic or direct supernatural intervention (at least not in everyday life).  It's also surprising to me for another reason: so far as I can tell, you can drill for water anywhere here and you'll strike water.  I've also had people use dowsing in an effort to locate underground water pipes.  We have a large number of such pipes here (mainly for irrigation), so there's a very real danger of digging into one and breaking it.  Of the five efforts to locate a pipe by dowsing that I have witnessed, all failed outright.  Yet the belief continues :)

This article has a great discussion of the entire phenomenon, including a possible explanation for the generally unexplained (and documented) success of dowsers for siting wells.  The explanation makes sense to me...

Flying past Pluto...

Flying past Pluto...  All images forming this video are from the New Horizons spacecraft, of course.  The apparent time is greatly accelerated, but slows down near the planet.  You'll want this full screen!

Microservices cargo cult...

Microservices cargo cult...  A good post, and a good example of the plague of “cargo cults” that the software industry suffers tremendously from.  I count the entire “agile” development methodology craze amongst them, along with the Ruby programming language (which reminds me strongly of dBase of years ago), and the more fervent practitioners of functional programming.

There: in a single sentence I've probably alienated 90% or more of my colleagues :)

Rainy birthday in Paradise...

Rainy birthday in Paradise...  It rained off-and-on most of yesterday, and today is shaping up the same way.  The rain has been very gentle, so we haven't accumulated much, though.

Today is Debbie's birthday – a “milestone” birthday that she'd really rather not think about, or discuss.  I'm just thankful that we live in a time, place, and circumstances that allow us to reach such a pinnacle of ancientness and still be at least partly functional :)  Her birthday present is a day to do whatever she wants (which I suspect means we'll be out looking at wildlife) and dinner wherever she wants (which she's now whittled down to a list of four places).  It will be a nice day...

An amazing story...

An amazing story...  I hope Americans never forget it...

Friends in Paradise...

Friends in Paradise...  We spent the last couple of days with Jim and Suzy F., friends from our former life in San Diego.  I've known Jim since the late '70s, when he and I worked together on a custom version of Tarbell Basic to support automated power supply testers.  How's that for weird?!?

In the photo at right, we were all at Herm's having wonderful breakfast together.  Note the gigantic cinnamon roll to Jim's right – that put a big smile on his face.  We did a lot of talking, showed them a couple of local spots (Porcupine Reservoir and Hardware Ranch), and then this morning saw them on their way for a week in the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Park.  This is a great time to visit there – lots of wildlife and much smaller crowds – and neither of them have ever been there before.  We're hoping they have a grand old time.  They'll be back again next Saturday just before they go home...

Good neighbors in Paradise...

Good neighbors in Paradise...  On the advice of Debbie's physical therapist, I ordered a treadmill (exercise machine) last week.  It came yesterday morning, in a box that weighed 300 pounds.  I knew ahead of time that it would be quite heavy, but I expected it to be a kit – lots of parts and even more nuts and bolts.  I figured that no one part would weigh more than 100 pounds, which is small enough that I could carry it upstairs to be assembled.

Well, that would have been true of just about anything big and heavy we've purchased – but not this thing.  There were a number of parts that were small and light, but ... there's also one gigantic piece (the actual treadmill) that weighed 205 pounds.  I was able to strap that to a cart and get it near the front door of the house, but there's no way I would be able to get that into the front door and upstairs to the TV room where Debbie wanted it.  It wasn't just the weight that was a problem, either (though that was bad enough!).  It's also the shape and dimensions, which would require tilting it onto its side to get it through the doors.

Once I concluded that I needed help, there was only one thing to do: call my neighbor Alan L., who is my connection to the local adult male Mormons – the members of the ward that we live in.  I made that call, and he organized five strong men to come to our house this morning.  At the appointed time, they all gathered – big, burly men with broad smiles and firm handshakes, all eager to lend a hand.  Sixty seconds after we started, the 205 pound behemoth was in its appointed place.  With all those muscles available, it wasn't even challenging.  More handshakes and broad smiles, and all but Alan went about their day.  Alan, his son Zack, and I talked for a while about lots of different things, just socializing, and then they were on their way too.

That's a completely normal thing in this neck of the woods.  If they need help on something I know how to do, they know they could call on me, too.  It's very comforting to know there's plenty of help all around us, anytime we need it.  It's part of the very strong sense of community here, which is most definitely a big part of why we love living here.  So different than California!

Morning walk in Paradise...

Morning walk in Paradise...  The dogs (Miki and Race) were excited this morning, because for the first time in three days they got to go on our morning walk.  It was wet and muddy from the rain the past two days, but at least it wasn't raining on us this morning!  Photos from our walk below.

Yesterday we picked up a fifty pound bag of corn for “Bucky”, the injured buck who's staying on our property.  I put some out yesterday, and this morning it was all gone.  I've put out some more now.  We figured we'd better feed him since Scott N. mowed and baled all the alfalfa that he's been living on.

The big attraction of today's walk, for me, was all the dramatic lighting.  For the dogs, it was the smells that the wetness brought to them, plus the 8 million piles of dirt from the voles digging new tunnels in the rain-softened soil.  Those piles make the dogs so happy to smell!  They must be drenched in vole stink!

In the next-to-last photo below, you can see the five birches I just planted, along with (in the background, toward the left) one of the three willows.  This is for those readers who complained that I had all that verbiage about planting them, and no photos!

Paradise town council excitement...

Paradise town council excitement...  Two open seats, three candidates – an actual contest!  Woo hoo!  Break out the popcorn!

I don't know any of the three people running (Vic Little, Martel Lowe and Terrill Preece), which is at least slightly surprising as Paradise is quite a small town and I've met a significant fraction of the inhabitants.   Debbie and I won't get to vote for any of them, though, as we live just outside of the town's boundary...

The stupid!

The stupid!  It burns!  It burns!

When I first saw this, I didn't believe it was real.  It just had to be a parody.  Published in the Onion, right?  But then I did a little googling, and discovered that it really did happen. 

I don't want to believe it.  But Google wouldn't lie...

Light blogging alert!

Light blogging alert!  We've got guests this weekend, so I won't find myself sitting in front of my desk very much.  I know they think of “early morning” as around noon, though, so I might have a bit of time in the mornings :)

Charon, moon of Pluto...

Charon, moon of Pluto ... as we've never seen it before.  This is a synthetic photo, false colored using data and images collected by the New Horizons explorer.  Heretofore Charon has been no more than a few pixels on a Hubble telescope photo – now we're seeing real detail.  Awesome job, New Horizons team!  Via APOD, of course.  Full resolution version here.  More information here...