I love these videos...

I love these videos...

I'm not sure...

I'm not sure ... that the majority of young people (say, under 30) in the U.S. will understand that this is parody.  If you do understand that, it's funny as hell...

Curiosity is climbing!

Curiosity is climbing!  The first picture below is looking behind its track, and it's easy to see that Curiosity is gaining some altitude as it climbs up the slopes of Mt. Sharp.  The second photo shows the Naukluft Plateau it's currently climbing up to.

Comet 67P, blowing off some steam...

Comet 67P, blowing off some steam...  Beautiful photo captured a few days ago by the Rosetta robotic explorer.  It's still orbiting the comet, but later this year they're going to try to make a soft landing on the comet.  This is something the orbiter was never designed to do, and there's a very good chance they'll break something on Rosetta when making the attempt.  If they succeed, though, there's the chance they'll get to do some more interesting observations right from the surface...

Pluto and Charon...

Pluto and Charon...  This is a recently downlinked photo taken by the New Horizons robotic explorer last July.  Look how close to each other these two appear to be!  I'm not sure what the plane of Charon's orbit is (relative to the camera), so some of this could be an illusion of sorts.

So I did a little research, and found this table.  From that table, I computed a few ratios of distances to planets to moon diameters:

Pluto::Charon 16
Earth::Moon 111
Saturn::Titan 237
Jupiter::Ganymede 203
Mars::Phobos 231

So Charon really is unusually close to its planet.  The next closest such ratio is that of our own moon, and it's seven times as large!  If the moon was proportionally as far from Earth as Charon is from Pluto, it would be just 55,616 kilometers (33,370 miles) away.  It would look huge in the sky – the full moon would span 3.6° in the sky, occupying 50 times the sky it does now.  That what Charon would look like as seen from the surface of Pluto.  Wow!

Changes on the surface of Titan...

Changes on the surface of Titan...  The amazing little robotic explorer Cassini has now been poking around Saturn and its moons long enough to have captured multiple images of the same places years apart.  On the giant Saturnian moon Titan, the science team has isolated one particular feature that's exhibited some dramatic changes (shown in the image at right; click to embiggen).  There's lots of speculation about why those changes are occurring, all interesting – but it really is just speculation at this point.

Isn't it amazing that we're looking at the surface of Titan like this?  I remember reading science fiction stories about exploring (and exploiting) Titan, and I don't believe any of them came close to capturing just how weird and wonderful a place it actually is...

The world is a complicated place, part 4,992,527...

The world is a complicated place, part 4,992,527...  Mostly it looks hopeless, too.  The subject this time is Myanmar (Burma to those of us old enough to remember vinyl records).  What a friggin' mess!

I think I'm actually immune now...

I think I'm actually immune now ... to the siren lure of the latest and greatest software architecture fad.  I've been increasingly skeptical over the past 30 years or so as I observed that no architecture really seemed to change the pesky fact that large software projects are complicated and hard, but I believe I have now reached the plateau: complete and total immunity.

Why do I say this?  Because I read this article and my only reaction was to find it amusing.  There wasn't the slightest shred of disappointment over the latest candidate for The Ultimate Software Architecture turning out to be just another way to do the Same Old Thing.

It's a shame I only reached this level after retiring :)

If you're interested in politics...

If you're interested in politics ... and you don't regularly read the Ace of Spades blog, you're missing a real treat.  Not only is it often wickedly funny, it's also chock-a-block full of excellent commentary, sharp observations, and much-needed political memory.  Here's an example from a post made last night, the tail end of a section about Donald Trump in a post grading the Republican candidates' performances in last night's debate:

His answers to questions about Trump University and the budget were somewhat uncomfortable to watch, in much the same way that it is uncomfortable to watch a bus full of circus clowns crash into a school for blind children and even worse the clowns were doing their "Gasoline Comedy" act that day and now all the blind children are on fire and the clowns are trying to squirt water on them with their stupid lapel-flowers but the flowers are just squirting out more gas and the children are crying tears of fire out of their Unseeing Dead Eyes and holy shit a couple of the clowns look like they have boners and they're chasing around the fiery blind children trying to rub up on them with these bobbling clown-boners with big red bulbs on their tips.

In other words, as Trump would say: Not the best. Really not terrific. A real mess!

Grade: I don't even know how to even start grading this. As far as a letter grade, I give a red X carved crudely through the face of a rotting pig with a bunch of stripper-glitter tossed on it.

At this point I consider Ace of Spades therapeutic – because the only sane thing to do in this election is to find some way to make it entertaining!

Old style, new data...

Old style, new data ... for this map of Mars, from an interesting blog that must have set a record for the longest time between posts.  I got to get me one of those!  Via friend, former colleague, and Idaho mogul-of-everything Doug S...

A really nice surprise...

A really nice surprise...  After we went to bed last night, but while we were still awake (reading, both of us), I got a text message from my friend Aleck L.  He wanted to know if I was still up (he knows about my early bedtime), and if I was interested in taking a Facetime (video) call with him and two other of my friends (and former colleagues): Frankie T. and Jimmy Y.  Of course I'd be interested!  It turns out they were all three back together in San Diego, and they thought of me. 

That call was a hoot!  The surprise factor made it even better.  It's so fun to get back together with old friends, and three at once is more than three times better!  My facial muscles still hurt from smiling so much :)

Bright black holes?

Bright black holes?  A fascinating read for anyone interested in cosmology...

Comet dust...

Comet dust...  Literally!  These tiny grains of dust from Comet 67P were captured by instruments on the Rosetta spacecraft...

The government is about to screw something up again...

The government is about to screw something up again...  That was my first thought when I saw this headline:

Curbside recycling may get scaled back in rural Cache County

Cache County is where we live.  But then I read the article, and it looks instead like common sense being applied in a careful, thoughtful way.  By a government!  Unbelievable!

A million people at risk?

A million people at risk?  That's one estimate of how many people might be killed if the Mosul Dam (in northern Iraq) collapses.  The official estimate is a half million people.  There seems to be a consensus by dam engineers who know the project that the collapse is something that could happen at any time, and only immediate action could possibly prevent it. 

The engineering behind this dam is particularly interesting.  The dam could only be built where it was if there was continuous maintenance, mostly for plugging holes in the bedrock it rests on.  The near-continuous state of war in Iraq since '91 – most recently the brief occupation of the dam by ISIS – prevented that from happening, and the result is a predictable disaster.  It's not clear at all that the Iraqi government will be able to muster the resources to save the dam, or all those people.

Wars have consequences, and some of them are really bad...

Maybe, just maybe, there really is a serious criminal investigation underway...

Maybe, just maybe, there really is a serious criminal investigation underway...  I speak of the DOJ's investigation of Hillary Clinton's private email server carrying classified information.  Yesterday's grant of immunity to a Hillary State Department staffer – one involved in setting up that email server – is a significant step, and one that's hard to imagine if there wasn't a serious investigation underway.  These grants of immunity are offered in exchange for open testimony, generally only when the testimony of an insider can get the information needed.  When someone has been granted immunity from prosecution, they can no longer rely on the right against self-incrimination – because they can't incriminate themselves when they have immunity.

It will be most interesting to see what comes out of this...

A couple of busy days in Paradise...

A couple of busy days in Paradise...  Yesterday morning my brother Scott emailed with some not-so-great news.  He'd heard awful noises emanating from the basement, and subsequently he had no running water anywhere in the house.  It wasn't anything obvious like a circuit breaker.  I ran up to his cabin, found the pump controller, and it had a fault light showing.  But what did that light actually mean?  The well pump there was a type and brand unfamiliar to me.  The pump is made by Grundfos and is a variable speed type.  That means it varies it's speed as needed to keep the pressure steady no matter how much water is being drawn - and there is no conventional pressure tank.  I knew nothing about such systems, and had never heard of the brand.  So I did the obvious thing: I Googled it.  

A minute later I was talking with Matt, a very knowledgeable fellow who led us through some basic troubleshooting.  Shortly thereafter we decided we needed Matt to help us on site, so he threw some parts and tools into his truck and headed out to the cabin.  He got there around 2:30, diagnosed the problem as the pump within 15 minutes, and then got right to work pulling the old dead pump, replacing it with a shiny new one.  He'd brought all the needed parts, along with the right tools.  Long before nightfall he had the new pump running, the we'll head reassembled, and lovely water flowing in the house.  

Yet another stellar experience with a local craftsman...

As a manager and executive...

As a manager and executive ... I heard some version of this so many times: employees (or prospective employees) just not believing that the laws of economics should apply to their labor.  That is, they didn't think their compensation (their pay) should be related directly to the value they delivered to the company.

I've heard many variations of this over the years, enough that they form patterns that I can now pick up very early in a conversation.  For instance, there's the “my pay should be related to how hard I try” version, wherein the employee believes that what's actually accomplished is not important, but rather how hard one tries.  Then there's the “but it’s the right thing to do for this cause I believe in” version, as if companies should pay their employees on the basis of a philanthropic goal, and not the company's profit.  And then there's my all-time favorite: the “but I have this advanced degree!” version, wherein the employee believes that their credential should determine their pay, and not their actual ability or accomplishment.

All of my attempts to advise people with such beliefs were fruitless, so far as I could tell.  They just went through life bitter and resentful about their compensation, which of course they generally believed was too low (exactly one person ever complained to me about being paid too much, though quite a few people really should have!).  That one person was an interesting case: he worked for me in a company that was struggling, and very clearly understood that if he made less money he was less likely to be laid off.  He was one of the most highly compensated engineers in the company at the time he made the request.  What he didn't realize was that we often asked key people to take a pay cut in lieu of being laid off, and that's what we did with him on a subsequent round of expense cutting.

Reflecting on this makes me glad (once again!) that I'm retired...

Where can you get a good dinner near Logan?

Where can you get a good dinner near Logan?  This post is aimed at giving some information to our fellow dog people who will be attending the 2016 Field Spaniel Society of America National Specialty show, which will be at the Cache County Fairgrounds in Logan in May.

All of the restaurants we talk about here are marked on this map.

You won't have any trouble finding a great place to eat dinner in Logan!

For a fancy, classy dinner close by the fairgrounds, you won't do better than Le Nonne.  It's an upscale Italian restaurant frequented by people more full of themselves than most locals, and comes complete with oh-so-pretentious waiters and pricey wine – but the food really is outstanding and the atmosphere more like you'd find in a big city joint.

Jack's Wood-Fired Oven is one of our favorite haunts.  Outstanding pizza and a selection of beer are what they're most known for, but we'd rank their soups amongst the best in the area – and their lemon cake dessert is terrific.

The Elements is within an easy walk of the fairgrounds, and is another place with a bit more class and atmosphere than usual for our area.  We've found their menu a bit hit-and-miss, and variable from visit to visit – but still generally quite good.  Their flavored lemonades (raspberry and mango!) are a favorite of ours, and they serve alcohol.  Unusually for Logan, they're open on Mondays.

If you're looking for a place with laughter and free-flowing margaritas, Cafe Sabor is a Mexican restaurant (though if you're from Southern California or some other place overflowing with “real” Mexican restaurants, you might question that description :)  The food isn't always particularly authentic, but it's tasty (especially after a margarita or three!) and plentiful.

For famously friendly service, belly-stuffing comfort food, and traditional diner fare, Angie's is the place to go.  It's a little further away, but well worth it.  It really lives up to its motto: “Where the locals eat”  They do!

A slightly more exotic venue can be found at Thai House, a newly-opened restaurant just a few blocks from the fairground.  It's decent Thai food in a nice setting, a bit pricier than we expected (restaurant prices around here are generally quite low).  We suspect that the one time we went (just a few weeks ago) they were still getting their kinks ironed out – the Yelp reviews at the link are a star or two better than we'd have given it.

Last on our list, but certainly not the least: a local institution, the Maddox Ranch House.  I've only listed it last because it's not in Logan at all – it's 25 miles to the southwest, in Perry.  But ... if you're craving top-notch beef, then this is a restaurant you have got to find a way to get to.  They raise their own beef cattle, which is probably all you need to know.  Yes, it really is that good!  I'm told their lamb, fish, and chicken are also excellent – but I've never gotten past the beef menu...

This...

This ... made my day :)  You really, really need to watch this one all the way through...