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Travels and Images
WEEK 8 2005
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Saturday 26
February
2005
Saturday
- not a lot to say. Got up late, went out to lunch with my father,
spent the afternoon at Fry's Computers.
While talking to a salesman there it came out that he was an ex-Sun
engineer, and still loved Solaris on the x86 platform. Another guy came
up and had a question - it turned out that he, too, was a silicon
valley employee that had been 'outsourced' a couple of years ago.
In the evening we watched 'Riddle
of the Sands', an old VHS tape I picked up for a quarter at a yard
sale. It's an amusing mystery/spy story, set, we realized at length,
before WWI.
It has a young Michael York in it, and some nice sailing scenes - I had
the impression that the director actually understood sailing and
enjoyed the photography of the same. It's not amazing cine, but sometimes you can
tell when directors and actors are enjoying their work.
Apparently the book itself, circa 1903, is heavy with nautical terms
and Edwardian sentiment - I plan to read it, now that I've seen the
movie.
Friday
25 February
2005
Friday - on the road.
Another cat picture...
Thursday 24 February 2005
Thursday
- a beautiful sunny morning. I went for a walk - the Tehachapi's to the
north have a snow cap, the San Angeles to the south none.
Update: Actually the taller mountains the the Angeles do have snow on
them. It just wasn't visible earlier.
It seems that the Baby Name Wizard might come in handy - four couples that I know of are
expecting. Odd. This time last year there weren't any, that I can recall
I see that I've lost internet connectivity for the second time this
afternoon. What a pain.
Wednesday
23 February 2005
Wednesday - researching some thermodynamic
stuff. Somewhat interrupted by the cat laying on the text every time I
actually start to get anywhere. Sigh.
There's a quote to the effect that "a man who can concentrate his mind
completely, for fifteen minutes, can solve any problem in the world".
The author of the quote was clearly an Business major, any Engineering
major knows the thrill of starting on a thermodynamic problem, and
looking up after a bit to discover that it is four hours later.
The rain seems to be breaking, the big low off shore has now moved
inland. We did get a nice five minute hail storm out of it today, and
an eerie green sunset under some jet black clouds.
Tuesday 22
February 2005
Tuesday - not as much rain.
Over at the Achenblog
the author makes a post about his kids leaving all the lights on. Immediately an enviro-nazi emails
him on how his children should
have been brought up, and insults his child raising skills. He properly
mocks this (sigh) Californian...
The
other day I sent my middle child to clean the interior of my car
with Windex, and she found a bottle of "Windex" with a yellowish
substance inside. I assumed it was new Lemon Scent Windex (or
whatever), and dispatched her to the car. The interior is now fully
coated with furniture polish. I drive through a world enveloped in a
dense haze. I see shadowy figures, and fuzzy glowing lights that may or
may not be traffic lights. It's a terrible way to go through life, but
I'm too busy to track down the real Windex, and have chosen simply to
adapt.
Same thing with household
fixtures, appliances, pipes and other things
that break, or begin to leak, or show signs of being at the end of
their days. You could spend a lot of money bringing in a pricey
professional to fix them, and you could also try to fix them yourself.
But sometimes you just have to do nothing, and hope that these things
somehow manage to heal.
Heh. Read
the whole thing... Heck, read the whole weeks entry about his child
raising techniques while the spouse is away.
Another remarkable image, the moon Rhea against a backdrop of Saturns
rings-
Monday
21 February 2005
Monday - still overcast and raining. Not
as heavily as yesterday. Heh. I saw a report that Los Angeles has more
rain this year than Eureka!
There is an article
over at the Space Review on the NASA budget Hearings. Aeronautics is
not even on the radar, apparently.
Once could argue that aeronautical sciences are mature and don't need
the NASA/NACA resources they once did. Once could argue the converse,
that space is still, apart from weather and communications satellites,
pie-in-the-sky stuff. But the argument probably should happen publicly
- somewhere (Congress?) other than USENET and the NasaWatch comment
section! I'm neutral on this I think, I like space and airplanes both, but to gut the aeronautical
research budget (and I think a nominal 25% to 50% cut qualifies)
without even a discussion is
just plain wrong.
Okay, interesting, NasaWatch
has a link to an editorial at the Virginia Daily Press on this. "Bring
Back the NACA".
Of course there will be huge cuts in Langley's aeronautical budget and
personnel, so cries like this from the local press are to be expected.
Which doesn't mean they aren't correct.
A split mission like the NASA charter is always difficult to manage,
the temptation being to focus/fund/staff one mission to the detriment
of the other is always present. The FAA, with it's split charter to
promote air
travel and
to make said air travel safe has had
similar problems in the past.
Sunday 20 February
2005
Sunday - lots of rain. In fact it rained
steadily from noon until well after midnight, perhaps the steadiest
rain I can recall here in the Antelope Valley. The street is flooded.
Most of Southern California is getting hammered.
Mostly I just spent the day reading and watching teevee. Not much else
to do in this kind of weather.
The Baby
Name Wizard
will tell you how popular a name has been since 1900. In real time,
with really cool graphic effects. As you type each letter the plot
shows all possible names, refining down as you finish. "Cassidy" and
"Britney" are going strong. Sadly my own first name seems to have been
losing ground since the Edwardian
Age ended.
If you think
this is
bad...try searching for "Orville" or "Wilbur".
