Julia Graduates today

5th grade - she's done - now on to middle school.

Scary

More Wildlife at home

Today, I was quite surprised to find a deer in the yard. A poor picture, but it was the best I could do... (she moved away quite quickly when I approached)

Some tomato plants are loosing their leaves. I wonder why?

Adsense

Still after a few posts, the references to RUP from a few months ago are still pulling Adsense into those kinds of links. My post was a joke, but of course, Adsense isn't smart enough to figure this out.

I thought the thread between some former associates was a hoot, but then humor from a machine? Perhaps too much to expect...

Julia's in a magazine!

Get your own - Open publication

First thing into the pool

On vacation in Nice, CA. It's uncanny, I could have predicted this.

Obscure measurements

Recently, I send in a comment on the Technorama podcast listener line about this subject, what I said was that I prefer latency to be measured in nanofortnights. Chuck and Kreg didn't believe it, but this is a "real" measurement, obscure yes, but certainly in the days of the VMS operating system, with the TIMEPROMPTWAIT variable, in units per microfortnight.

A microfortnight is 1.2096 seconds, thus the nanofortnight is 1.2096 milliseconds. Both are plenty obscure, but they generally used to slow users down, allowing them to set the parameter properly only after having given the matter some thought.

Yes, the following week, I voice-mailed Chuck and Kreg with this info, so they wouldn't think that I was just making this up.

Late Afternoon at the Beach

At the end of day, nothing beats finding a bunch if shells in a cache. It doesn't matter at all if they are common shells... Nope, these are precious!

Technobabble

Technobabble (a portmanteau of technology and babble) is a form of prose using jargon, buzzwords and highly esoteric language to give an impression of plausibility through mystification, misdirection, and obfuscation. This is not to be confused with jargon itself, but rather technobabble is a conscious attempt to deliver jargon to outsiders, without insight or comprehensive explanation, to make unsound or unprovable arguments appear to have merit. (Wikipedia)

I recently ran across an excellent example of this, but more importantly, the comments are "priceless"...

---

... this new umbrella methodology also includes the Rational Unified Process for our Software Development Lifecycle. However, keep in mind RUP is a software process a, not a methodology, and the other part of the equation that Blueprinting methodology entails is Business Visualization which is a Business Engineering Process. RUP for instance focuses more on the scoping of a project from the perspective of what is the most technology complex business problem or event. Our Business Visualization Engineering Process focuses on cross-boundary value chain workflow of related business activities (components) and includes for instance measurement and simulation. ...

Commenter 1: I've reread this twice and still can't get it.....

Commenter 2: It’s code. Extract every nth character to form the secret message. N depends on a complex lifecycle method of complex unified workflow umbrellas from the perspective of technology visualization of rational business scoping. Get it now?

Commenter 3: Here is a classic message of yesteryear. Whenever I need a smile I always go back to this one. (posted almost 2 years after the original message)

Commenter 2: Cross-boundary value chain workflow? Huh?

Commenter 3: My cross country value pack of workflow volume measurement, regarding relative performance when compared to the business visualization engineering process until unified in measurement and simulation reality…is just fine. And you?

Commenter 1: from the essence of quantum physics the value chain of oxygen interfering with carbon dioxide has now required a new visualization of the underlying semantics required by the earth's warming interior as engineered by the "goriest" warming of the physical exterior related to relativity as bespoke by Einstein.

Bottled or Tap?

Around our house, we use tap water almost exclusively, but interestingly - there are lots of people who simply don't believe this is safe. Our own situation is a little tricky, in that we have our own well, and we do our own R.O. filtration for the main tap where we usually drink from. But this "lots of people" quote comes from a recent article on Skepticality regarding this very topic.

I encourage you to click this link, or the link above, for a read (listen) of this fine work from Derek and Swoopy.

Gawd - Politics

Other than religious horse-pucky that occasionally comes across my desk, the current administration ability to shovel it just amazes me ...

Read this NYTimes article and tell me if you are not incensed by this.

...top Bush administration officials repeatedly tried to weaken or suppress important public health reports because of political considerations...

would not allow him to speak or issue reports about stem cells, emergency contraception, sex education, or prison, mental and global health issues.

This is from the last Surgeon General.

... discouraged him from attending the Special Olympics because ... (of) ties to a prominent family (The Kennedy's) ...

“I was specifically told by a senior person, ‘Why would you want to help those people?’ ” Dr. Carmona said.

Hopefully, we can avoid going back into the middle ages under this administration.

Oh, you want a different opinion? How about this?

At the annual fireworks display

Julia wearing her "light rings".

Remember what this country stands for. Stand up and make a difference.

Web today

I came home yesterday and my son had they TV on. Paris... He said it's been all that's been on for the last week.

This made me realize that since I'm connected to the news via other means: web, podcast, etc. I get to have a richer experience regarding what's going on around me. Without the web I would probably have to settle for Paris, and that's a sad commentary.

Instead, I know what stem cell research is going on (think growing your own vertebra for surgury on your own back), that a 1957 Plymouth buried then, in Tulsa, to celebrate Oklahoma's then 50 years of statehood is being dug up (and it doesn't look good), what archeologic finds have just been discovered, about a town being wired for phones via wifi, that Gene Roddenberry is being inducted into the SF Hall of Fame (did you know that before all that Star Trek stuff, he flew B17's and also flew for PanAm?) and on and on...

But network news has Paris for us instead... Pllllleeeeeaaaasssseeeee.!!

Interstate 405

I was looking for some other piece of information, but stumbled, instead, upon this gem of a film from 7 years ago.

This film, produced in 2000, was 3 minutes long, took 4 months to make, before the kinds of film making tools that are available today. Still, this work, rivaled what the major motion picture studios could produce.

Link here or here

It is also very funny.

Bees again

Almost a month later, and I'm still working on the bees (that originally showed up in a tree more than a year ago).

As the humane approach, I've avoided any kind of insecticide, after all there are a lot of bee deaths out here in California as humans encroach upon their habitat. And we really need them to pollinate the plants, like all of that fruit that grows in the valleys to the south of us... Got a nation to feed, after all.

What I have done is stuff plastic bags into the holes at the base of the olive tree. A few years ago, I had tried the expanding foam thing, you know, the kind of stuff you can buy at the hardware store to "seal" up the cracks around your door moldings, etc. To keep energy costs in check... Bees just love this stuff, after it drys and hardens, they just eat right through it, sort of like ants and their tunnels.

So this year, I've tried the plastic bag trick, but I have to do this in the early a.m., when I can see by daylight, and the bees are still cold and not moving around. Evening, well... let's just say, I'm too tired to do much after about 8pm...

My results are mixed, in that the bags have a natural sort of expanding mechanism that on their own must be tied to some kind of mechanical property of the plastic itself, you know, sort of like those "memory" metals that remember their shape. I'm not saying that the bag wants to be a "bag" again, only that it doesn't want to be a "hole plugger". Anyway, give the bees an inch, in that the bag expands out a little, and those little industrious bees, they push like heck until they find a little opening, and BAMM! they are Free!

I'll keep you posted.

**** Update: I really jammed the plastic in the hole, it's staying. That's the good news... The bad news- they have found a crack higher in the tree trunk for ingress/egress...

Where do those socks go?

check out this great story at 365tomorrows.com

http://www.365tomorrows.com/05/26/now-we-know/

of course there is always this story

http://www.familydaze.com/sample06.txt

Towel Day is this Friday

Towel Day is celebrated every May 25 as a tribute by fans of the late author Douglas Adams.

More information can be found at wikipedia.

The event was first held in 2001, two weeks after Adams' death on May 11, and since then annually. On this day, fans carry a towel with them throughout the day. The towel is a reference to his popular science fiction comedy, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Domestic Violence Awareness

Earlier this year, one of the people that works in a call center for a wireless carrier in Rancho Cordova, CA lost her life to domestic violence. This employer is/has been committed to remember her and to take further action to promote domestic violence awareness, they have:

• Awarded a grant to a Sacramento-based domestic violence prevention agency, in her memory. The funds will be used to develop and offer domestic violence awareness training at local businesses.
• They have Offered workshops on campus, including both grief and awareness sessions.
• Posted the EAP and National Domestic Violence Hotline numbers in break rooms.
• Provided an easy way for employees to make matching grants to the same agency, in her honor.

Violence at the hands of a loved one, or former loved one, remains a part of the lives of too many.

You too can make a difference:

• Be observant. Offer your support and concern if a coworker exhibits possible signs of domestic violence and any EAP program, which usually offers confidential assistance.
• Urge anyone who confides in you to call #HOPE from a Verizon Wireless phone. It’s a free call to the National Domestic Violence Hotline. They can also call from any phone to 1-800-799-SAFE (7233)
• Encourage the coworker to also speak to his/her supervisor. They can help if they are made aware.
• Recycle your old phone through HopeLine to help support efforts to end domestic violence.

Ophone

You are probably going to laugh at this one...

Comes in 3's

Today when I came home from work

1. The bees in the tree in the far corner of my property took up residence in the base of a tree right next to the garage.
2. I started to flood them out with water, delivered by garden hose, but noticed that the water pump was running start-stop; a clear sign that my new air-volume control is not keeping enough air as a cushion/spring in the water tank. The easy way to resolve this is to turn off the water and allow the tank to drain to about half-way.
3. I told my wife I was "adding air to the water tank" and it would be about 30 minutes... About 10 min later she tells me that she didn't make the connection between my statement and the literal fact that the water would be off, as she was brushing her teeth and couldn't rinse her toothbrush off.

Later, water back on, flooding recommences, bees are mad again; I'm keeping my distance.

Cake

I helped the wife deliver a cake to a baby shower today. She is making cakes for the experience, she puts a picture of each of them into her "portfolio" which she takes with her on her job interviews.

She has other photos from school HERE
my personal favorite