Travels and Images
WEEK 8 2007
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Saturday 24 February
2007
Saturday
- a nice cool morning.
"An investigation by
Florida election officials into an 18,000-vote gap
in a 2006 Congressional district last November has concluded that the voting
machines worked properly, but that Floridians once again
could not comprehend the ballot."
[via Captains'
Quarters] (emphasis mine)
A first analysis using the Bell
Curve for IQ would suggest that you need to have an IQ
greater than about 80 to successfully fill out a ballot in
Florida:
So much for high tech voting methods. To mangle Schiller:
Against stupidity, the gods - and geeks - struggle in vain.
Friday 23 February
2007
Friday
- a storm blew through Thursday night, with rain here in the valley and
leaving snow on the ground in Tehachapi. Indeed I got a call from some
friends up there that the roads were closed due to snow and ice. Neat.
Still home sick. I could have gone in, but I want to be shed of this
thing and get back to the
boat work.
I've a lead on a used Monitor
wind vane...
Heh. The Wiki link I mentioned yesterday, for the Dresden Files,
mentions
The
Evil Overlord List.
Thursday
22 February 2007
Thursday
- home sick with a bad cold. Bah. A mild fever and chills. And a very
runny nose.
On the bright side, I'm getting caught up on TV. Star
Trek: Voyager, now out on reruns, happened to play
the
episode with the first encounter with Seven of
Nine.
Ratings apparently indicated that their geek audience might
be willing to suspend disbelief about hot sci-fi babes in leotards and
high heels wandering about star ships; it should be noted that Star
Trek: Enterprise had a Vulcaness in a leotard,
T'pol,
from the very first episode.
Also watched: Special
Unit 2 and The
Dresden Files (both set in Chicago for some reason. Tax
breaks?).
Wednesday 21 February 2007
Wednesday
-
Tuesday 20 February 2007
Tuesday
- on the road, back to Lancaster.
Questions for
prospective astronauts. [via Division of Labor]
It starts:
1. Who of the following do you most resemble?
A. John Glenn
B. Scott Glenn
C. Glen Campbell
D. Glenn Close
The author also shed
some insight on mountain rescues,
with relevance to the Mt. Hood debacles of late. There's a
term
for the practice of people taking greater risks because of the
probability of mitigating factors, but I can't recall it (I
mean, besides stoopid).
People driving more recklessly
because of seat belts, air bags and anti-skid brakes is an example that
comes to
mind.
Monday 19 February 2007
Monday
- relaxed some more. Took it easy.
Went over to Glen Cove to check on the old boat. It was dry and tight,
a nice change from the Richmond slip. It needs paint and varnish though.
It was a nice day and I wanted to go out, but couldn't get the outboard
started. With the wind and tide in the state they were in that made it
very difficult to get out, and probably impossible to get back in
through the narrow entrance and interior channels if I did
manage to get out.
The Coronado felt small
after the NorSea, a lot less intimidating.
But it was nice to sit on the boat and lunch, enjoy the sun, and walk
down to the seawall and talk to the fishermen. They were catching
stripers, sturgeon and sharks, same as always. Nice to know that river
is still alive.
Sunday 18 February
2006
Sunday
- not a lot to say. It was a nice day, hung around with Dad.
Somewhere, and I can't find the link now, I read an article about how
fewer books are butchered abridged
when put into audio format. The occasion was the recent issue of a 62
hour recording of War and Peace. People are beginning to
expect the whole book.
A book I mentioned recently,
'Six Frigates',
was butchered by abridgment. Two of the most famous naval actions of
the frigates - The Constitution
vs Java, and Constitution vs Guerriere - were cut out
completely. Very annoying.
