I know a lot of liberals fervently hate Hot Air, but totally trust me on this one, go there and watch the video[!]
I don't care if you're an irrational bible thumping conservative or a pot smoking homosexual liberal or any member of the spectrum in between. Every single one of us should agree that this is what free speech is all about.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
"This is all hogwash" says head of global warming panel.
Rajendra Pachauri, the head of the U.N. Panel that shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, said "this is all hogwash"
I readily admit I've taken the man's words completely out of context, which is no different than what global warming enthusiasts do with their climatological data. So I figure that makes it ok....
I readily admit I've taken the man's words completely out of context, which is no different than what global warming enthusiasts do with their climatological data. So I figure that makes it ok....
Friday, January 11, 2008
A new link in my list
Rogue and Poet has won the coveted and disputable "honor" of being added to my list of blog links. I like the cut of this fellas jib. Jan. 11th poem was pretty darn good.
Orchard Ornithology
Out doing a little more for my fruit trees when suddenly I noticed a bird that was a little different than our usual jays, wood-peckers, flickers, finches, sparrows, gros-beaks, tow-hees, juncos, and chickadees. This one has a swept back tuft on its head. Then it hit me: Cedar Waxwings! Yee-ha, they are back for their mid winter visit. Unfortunately they (a pretty good sized flock) were too far up in the tallest black walnut tree for me to get a good picture.
Wishing a fun, feathery day to you all.
Wishing a fun, feathery day to you all.
Further evidence of Global Warming?
After we in Southern Oregon had the coolest, wettest summer in about 20 years, now it's snowing in Baghdad! Of course some moron climate alarmist is gonna come out and say "This proves the globe is getting warmer!"
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Single ladies listen up!
Or perhaps I should say, read up: A girl's guide to geeks Highly inaccurate, but it's worth a few giggles anyways.
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
rain, wind and frustration
Brrrr... went for a walk this morning with the wind a cutting blast blowing down from snow covered hills. Rain just barely above freezing pelted nearly perpendicular to the ground.
My newest computer just fried its hard-drive so I'm a little irritated with technology right now. Gotta dig around in my scrap pile and see if I've got an old 6gig drive I can stick in there until I can afford a new one.
Everybody stay dry and out of the wind and be happy.
My newest computer just fried its hard-drive so I'm a little irritated with technology right now. Gotta dig around in my scrap pile and see if I've got an old 6gig drive I can stick in there until I can afford a new one.
Everybody stay dry and out of the wind and be happy.
Monday, January 07, 2008
Tech geek irony
Getting a smug chuckle from watching the G4 TV [channel 73 in the Rogue valley] coverage of the CES in Vegas. Here's a show entirely populated by geeks and techies at an industry event composed of nothing but cutting edge tech. But for some reason their audio feed is running about 2 seconds behind their video feed. It's like a really badly dubbed Japanese movie! Considering how often AOTS dogs on everyone else's inferior use of tech this is really quite funny.
Sunday, January 06, 2008
Fielder Mt. snow
The snow stopped about 100 feet above our farm last night. What a lovely, cold, stark morning. The land and air washed so clean you could smell it, that crisp metal-y smell of nearby snow.
Modern education
This is what "outcome based education" will get you:
Flunked: 14 Signs of a Deficient Intellect
Flunked: 14 Signs of a Deficient Intellect
Saturday, January 05, 2008
Did earthquakes trigger levee break?
There were 3 earthquakes ranging from 3.8 to 4.2 RS to the east of Fernley, NV about 30 miles (details) in the hours preceeding a levee break that has forced the rescue of 3,500 people.
The last quake was at 4:03am, just about 20 minutes before the levee failed completely.
The last quake was at 4:03am, just about 20 minutes before the levee failed completely.
Friday, January 04, 2008
The death of advertising
I am getting so sick of the advertising on tv. It's bad enough what I've got to pay for the privilege on a monthly basis, cable, subscription, tv upkeep etc. I mean, I already pay to have the signal brought to my house.
I figure that in a given week I watch 2 hours a day for 6 days. 20 minutes of each hour (at least) is wasted on commercials. That's like, uhmm... 4 hours a week. At minimum wage that amounts to an additional fee of 29 dollars a week! 1500 dollars a year, and for me that's been at least 30 years. The advertising industry owes me $45,000 damn it! And the same goes for anyone else trapped in the insidious tv addiction.
I say we put together a class action suit and sue for it! It'd keep the lawyers busy at least.
I figure that in a given week I watch 2 hours a day for 6 days. 20 minutes of each hour (at least) is wasted on commercials. That's like, uhmm... 4 hours a week. At minimum wage that amounts to an additional fee of 29 dollars a week! 1500 dollars a year, and for me that's been at least 30 years. The advertising industry owes me $45,000 damn it! And the same goes for anyone else trapped in the insidious tv addiction.
I say we put together a class action suit and sue for it! It'd keep the lawyers busy at least.
Global warming fallacies
Found this interesting and revealing graphic on the placement of temperature stations around the globe. [click to enlarge] It is readily apparent that the majority of new stations in the last 50 years have all been near the equator. I'd be willing to bet that if you graphed these placements the resulting figure would look like a hockey stick. Anyways, one thing is for sure: if these additional sites are being included in the global average, that average would only appear to increase. In fact, any progressive comparison would be invalidate by the inclusion of these additional sites.
Thursday, January 03, 2008
Night-time animal conundrum
During a brief nocturnal sojourn I cross paths with an interesting animal.
Seen at a distance of about 30 feet in flash-light it looked sort of like an opposum. After it ran away into the shrubs I walked by where it had been. A distinct and pungent aroma of skunk filled the air there. And yet, that was no skunk. To add to the oddity was the way it ran off. In my 36 years of living in Oregon I've never seen skunk or opposum run away like that. I've walked up to within 5 feet of opposum before and he just hissed at me and waddled off. Don't need to explain why skunks never run off.
So what was that critter? Way too fast for skunk but smells like skunk, way to fast for opposum but looks like opposum.
Ahhh, the wonderful mysteries of night.
Seen at a distance of about 30 feet in flash-light it looked sort of like an opposum. After it ran away into the shrubs I walked by where it had been. A distinct and pungent aroma of skunk filled the air there. And yet, that was no skunk. To add to the oddity was the way it ran off. In my 36 years of living in Oregon I've never seen skunk or opposum run away like that. I've walked up to within 5 feet of opposum before and he just hissed at me and waddled off. Don't need to explain why skunks never run off.
So what was that critter? Way too fast for skunk but smells like skunk, way to fast for opposum but looks like opposum.
Ahhh, the wonderful mysteries of night.
Warm winter evening
After a week of frost and ice this sub-tropical stuff makes me feel down right smothered. Times like this I can really tell my people are from northern Europe. Come on neandertal genes, mellow out! Gonna have to go tromping in the cold dark and kill me a mammoth. Well, an evening walk anyways.
Doesn't help that my American lifestyle means I'm carrying about 80 pounds of totally unnecessary flab. Sure, it turns on the ladies, but is it worth it?-)
Dreamt about my weird little ol' Amerindian friend Syd last night. She picked me up hitch hiking near the coast in her little red volkswagon. She used to live across the road from me when I was doing computer programming in Veneta. We lost touch a few years back because of an obviously stupid remark I unintentionally made. In my dream we went to the grocery store and got some chips, it was a sunny day and some young men were playing hackysack in front of the store and she joined in. Considering how poor Syd's health was last time we spoke this dream somehow makes me think she might have passed beyond. The boys she was playing hacky with resembled the son of a classmate who recently passed. I dream about the dead a couple times a year, it always freaks me out a little. Especially when it's someone I had unfinished business with. Sorry about that comment Syd, I didn't mean to offend just chose my words poorly.
On that creepy note I'll wish you all a loving, life filled night with no misunderstandings.
Doesn't help that my American lifestyle means I'm carrying about 80 pounds of totally unnecessary flab. Sure, it turns on the ladies, but is it worth it?-)
Dreamt about my weird little ol' Amerindian friend Syd last night. She picked me up hitch hiking near the coast in her little red volkswagon. She used to live across the road from me when I was doing computer programming in Veneta. We lost touch a few years back because of an obviously stupid remark I unintentionally made. In my dream we went to the grocery store and got some chips, it was a sunny day and some young men were playing hackysack in front of the store and she joined in. Considering how poor Syd's health was last time we spoke this dream somehow makes me think she might have passed beyond. The boys she was playing hacky with resembled the son of a classmate who recently passed. I dream about the dead a couple times a year, it always freaks me out a little. Especially when it's someone I had unfinished business with. Sorry about that comment Syd, I didn't mean to offend just chose my words poorly.
On that creepy note I'll wish you all a loving, life filled night with no misunderstandings.
You could be a TV critic too!
Or for that matter so could your pet monkey.
Troy Patterson over at Slate.com holds forth on last night's Leno and Conan return to tv without writers. Considering the content of his column, it's easy to see why the world is getting on fine without any guild writers. I can hardly think of a better example of shallow elitist drivel; really makes me sad that I was too tired from working to stay up and watch Jay and Conan. I bet they were actually pretty good standing on their own two feet again.
Wouldn't it be super if Jay and Conan let some bloggers write for them? I bet they'd be way funnier than tired ol' WGA writers.
Troy Patterson over at Slate.com holds forth on last night's Leno and Conan return to tv without writers. Considering the content of his column, it's easy to see why the world is getting on fine without any guild writers. I can hardly think of a better example of shallow elitist drivel; really makes me sad that I was too tired from working to stay up and watch Jay and Conan. I bet they were actually pretty good standing on their own two feet again.
Wouldn't it be super if Jay and Conan let some bloggers write for them? I bet they'd be way funnier than tired ol' WGA writers.
Storm #1
It is just raining down out there. The ground was still frozen at 6am but it's about 43 right now and raining even harder than it was when I started typing.
NWS says this is the first of 3 storms and that tomorrow's will be even worse. Won't be much pruning going on but I've got plenty of other work to do. My barn is still a huge mess and I've got like 20 other projects that could all use my attention plus whatever I manage to do with the computer. Maybe I'll summon the courage to write that pruning guide now. If I'm really courageous I'll tackle a neat MAKE project I saw and cobble together my microscope and an old webcam. That should satisfy both the geek and scientist in me.
Lots of weird stuff going on in the news. We're all gonna be so sick of hearing about the campaigns by November, uhg I'm totally saturated on Iowa already.
Everybody keep dry and happy.
NWS says this is the first of 3 storms and that tomorrow's will be even worse. Won't be much pruning going on but I've got plenty of other work to do. My barn is still a huge mess and I've got like 20 other projects that could all use my attention plus whatever I manage to do with the computer. Maybe I'll summon the courage to write that pruning guide now. If I'm really courageous I'll tackle a neat MAKE project I saw and cobble together my microscope and an old webcam. That should satisfy both the geek and scientist in me.
Lots of weird stuff going on in the news. We're all gonna be so sick of hearing about the campaigns by November, uhg I'm totally saturated on Iowa already.
Everybody keep dry and happy.
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
Pruning endurance
Standing on a twelve foot ladder holding a ten foot pole pruner can give one very sore shoulder muscles. That's been my major chore this morning and the brisk air is the only thing keeping the job from being truly irksome.
I keep hoping I could marshal the time to post a rudimentary pruning guide up here that I was putting together earlier but there always seems to be some other chore stopping me.
Mom's running errands in town and dad's putting a new faucet in the kitchen sink. Like always, that's more work than the words make out. 1945 built house has some crummy piping in it.
I've started getting a line on boxes for this years tomato harvest. Next week dad will contact his friend Dave at GreenLeaf Industries to see if they can provide about 3000+ tomato plants this spring and early summer. I've already found sources for a couple miles of support wire and that just leaves finding a stick mill for the stakes. We used to get tomato stakes from the Meur mill on Redwood highway but they got bought out by Albertsons and bulldozed shortly after.
Wishing you all a comfy, safe winter day.
I keep hoping I could marshal the time to post a rudimentary pruning guide up here that I was putting together earlier but there always seems to be some other chore stopping me.
Mom's running errands in town and dad's putting a new faucet in the kitchen sink. Like always, that's more work than the words make out. 1945 built house has some crummy piping in it.
I've started getting a line on boxes for this years tomato harvest. Next week dad will contact his friend Dave at GreenLeaf Industries to see if they can provide about 3000+ tomato plants this spring and early summer. I've already found sources for a couple miles of support wire and that just leaves finding a stick mill for the stakes. We used to get tomato stakes from the Meur mill on Redwood highway but they got bought out by Albertsons and bulldozed shortly after.
Wishing you all a comfy, safe winter day.
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
Pause before the push
Today was another slack day, with the ground hard frozen and the air sucking moisture away from everything.
I suppose it wasn't really a slack day, just felt that way to me. I did plenty of work today; cleaning up, pruning, writing software, working on assorted high tech and low tech machines. But in my mind there is a creaping and insidious awareness of the recently turned season.
The days are getting longer now. Bit by bit, even under the frost, plants are beginning to swell. A faint vibration in their osmotic attentions.
This year's growing season promises to be especially hectic. You see we've made arrangements with a local grocery store chain to start providing our high quality locally grown tomatoes to their produce departments. This will at least triple the amount of tomatoes we have to raise. Since tomatoes are something we do especially well demand may even be higher than that.
So my subconscious casts days like this in the light of a surging urgency. Only a matter of time until time will be the only matter.
Hoping you all are getting a fine and frisky start on this freaky 2008.
I suppose it wasn't really a slack day, just felt that way to me. I did plenty of work today; cleaning up, pruning, writing software, working on assorted high tech and low tech machines. But in my mind there is a creaping and insidious awareness of the recently turned season.
The days are getting longer now. Bit by bit, even under the frost, plants are beginning to swell. A faint vibration in their osmotic attentions.
This year's growing season promises to be especially hectic. You see we've made arrangements with a local grocery store chain to start providing our high quality locally grown tomatoes to their produce departments. This will at least triple the amount of tomatoes we have to raise. Since tomatoes are something we do especially well demand may even be higher than that.
So my subconscious casts days like this in the light of a surging urgency. Only a matter of time until time will be the only matter.
Hoping you all are getting a fine and frisky start on this freaky 2008.
Feedburner Frustration
Been struggling with Feedburner and RSS for the last couple of hours, trying to get my blog posting to update correctly. Unfortunately, at least for Google Reader, I seem to be up Stuff Creek. I'll probably be forced to write my own XML page for RSS of the material or something, I suppose. For some reason Feedburner doesn't accept the validity of the XML currently being generated (by blogger I guess.)
Come one folks! Blogger, Google Reader and Feedburner are all owned by Google. Company with 16,000 employees many of them millionaires and they can't get a simple range of interoperability working. Cheese!!
Come one folks! Blogger, Google Reader and Feedburner are all owned by Google. Company with 16,000 employees many of them millionaires and they can't get a simple range of interoperability working. Cheese!!
Frog buloney on the web
The Uk's "the telegraph" is demonstrating just how bad journalism has become. They have a panic article about "Virus threatens mass extinction of frogs" but don't specify what virus. When I ran a search down I got articles going back to Feb 17, 2007 describing the same "Amphibian Ark" project but in that case it was a fungus not a virus. Still no definite explanation of which fungus or virus or trans-dimensional frog hunter is leading to the extinction of frogs.
We had frogs and toads serenading here well into mid-November, several weeks later than usual.
This project just strikes me as one more special interest boondoggle. Don't get me wrong, I care deeply for the environment and frogs. So much so that I actually work to make sure my farm is nature friendly.
What bugs me is how often we are being poorly informed or just plain misled by the media and so-called specialists. Exactly how many amphibians are dying? Not just "might die" or "could lead to the biggest mass extinction since the dinosaurs" Heck, that'd be like 10 times the number of amphibians that there are in the world. Where are we gonna get these extra frogs from before we can extinct them?
We had frogs and toads serenading here well into mid-November, several weeks later than usual.
This project just strikes me as one more special interest boondoggle. Don't get me wrong, I care deeply for the environment and frogs. So much so that I actually work to make sure my farm is nature friendly.
What bugs me is how often we are being poorly informed or just plain misled by the media and so-called specialists. Exactly how many amphibians are dying? Not just "might die" or "could lead to the biggest mass extinction since the dinosaurs" Heck, that'd be like 10 times the number of amphibians that there are in the world. Where are we gonna get these extra frogs from before we can extinct them?
Monday, December 31, 2007
Open source media
The Viewer's Strike of 2008 is a pretty great idea. Throw in a transparent mesh network layer built around 802.11 or the public broadcast bands and there'd be no way the legacy system could reimpose its will on the people.
Happy 2008!
Wishing happiness to everyone, especially anyone reading here. May this new year bring us all enthusiasm, good will and well being.
Redneck hobbies
(Warning! not suitable for some non-redneck viewers) I laughed so hard I thought I was going to injure myself.
Going RSS
Been enjoying the Google Reader for compiling all my news, science and tech feeds so I got inspired and ran up the syndication code for my site (links under my profile)
Friday, December 28, 2007
Another assault on (Un)reason
I'm on a roll tonight.
Uncle Al has a sermon about the seven deadly virtues. Ol' Ben Franklin would love this guy.
Uncle Al has a sermon about the seven deadly virtues. Ol' Ben Franklin would love this guy.
Enjoying wikipedia
Been following assorted trails from the mathematics portal and found my way into regions of belief and uncertainty. Found a new (to me...) definition which amused:
I'm not saying that's my viewpoint, only that I found the definition amusing.
I encourage anyone who has the means to contribute to Wikipedia; in my opinion it may turn out to be one of the great endeavors of the human race.
Ignosticism—the view that a coherent definition of God must be put forward before the question of the existence of God can meaningfully be discussed. If the chosen definition isn't coherent, the ignostic holds the noncognitivist view that the existence of God is meaningless or empirically untestable. It should be noted that A.J. Ayer, Theodore Drange, and other philosophers see both atheism and agnosticism as incompatible with ignosticism on the grounds that atheism and agnosticism accept "God exists" as a meaningful proposition which can be argued for or against. The ignostic would say, "I don't know what you're talking about when you refer to God. Unless we first figure that out, debates over whether god exists are meaningless."
I'm not saying that's my viewpoint, only that I found the definition amusing.
I encourage anyone who has the means to contribute to Wikipedia; in my opinion it may turn out to be one of the great endeavors of the human race.
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Dave Lindorff: The voice of the world farting
Excuse my crudeness!
The article "Global Warming Will Save America from the Right...Eventually" by Dave lindorff had me laughing so hard I just had to type it.
Every time I try to be open minded and consider all the points-of-view, someone like Lindorff comes along and spoils any chance of my listening objectively to liberals for at least a couple of days. This man is a typical slogan chanter, a sin to be found on both sides of the political aisle for sure. But you've got to wonder if this fella has ever had an independent thought. He's certainly never experienced objective skepticism.
The Will to Doubt, Mr. Lindorff, the will to doubt.
The article "Global Warming Will Save America from the Right...Eventually" by Dave lindorff had me laughing so hard I just had to type it.
Every time I try to be open minded and consider all the points-of-view, someone like Lindorff comes along and spoils any chance of my listening objectively to liberals for at least a couple of days. This man is a typical slogan chanter, a sin to be found on both sides of the political aisle for sure. But you've got to wonder if this fella has ever had an independent thought. He's certainly never experienced objective skepticism.
The Will to Doubt, Mr. Lindorff, the will to doubt.
Snowy day
Kept myself busy with an oddment of assorted ephemera and chores today. Snow fell in flurries and blowing showers almost all day.
Mom and dad took down most of the holiday decorations today. Dad has been suffering from a bit of ear and sinus infection the last couple days, probably brought on by the cold and recent increase in candy consumption. His blood pressure has been running high this last week so the doc has him on some new BP medicine which seems to be taking hold now.
Gonna go have a cup of chicken soup now. Hope y'all are enjoying life.
Mom and dad took down most of the holiday decorations today. Dad has been suffering from a bit of ear and sinus infection the last couple days, probably brought on by the cold and recent increase in candy consumption. His blood pressure has been running high this last week so the doc has him on some new BP medicine which seems to be taking hold now.
Gonna go have a cup of chicken soup now. Hope y'all are enjoying life.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Doubly wireless blogging
Not really sure how this post is going to look when I'm done. I'm using my new wireless keyboard and mouse while routing the video output through my ol' tv set. Text is little and a little blurry. But it is really nice to kick back in a comfy position and be able to control this machine. If I ever get liquid I'll invest in a big screen tv that accepts 1024x760 resolution. Or maybe a projector. That will make writing code a smooth cool breeze.
It's snowing outside at the moment. Flurries been blowing through all day.
Hope you are all happy and well.
It's snowing outside at the moment. Flurries been blowing through all day.
Hope you are all happy and well.
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Merry Christmas
A fine, frozen Christmas morning here in Southern Oregon.
Gifts have been exchanged, much sated happiness abounds. I got a wireless keyboard and mouse. Will make computing more delightful. Also lots of clothes, some candy treats and other cool little tools and items. I gave mom one of those little indoor fountains and dad a new craftsman screw-gun, and of course other minor items.
Wishing all of you as fine a day or better.
Gifts have been exchanged, much sated happiness abounds. I got a wireless keyboard and mouse. Will make computing more delightful. Also lots of clothes, some candy treats and other cool little tools and items. I gave mom one of those little indoor fountains and dad a new craftsman screw-gun, and of course other minor items.
Wishing all of you as fine a day or better.
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Energy Victory
Been listening to Robert Zubrin on C-span. Wow! he's not the world's best public speaker, but he's sure got his ducks in a row when it comes to energy independence. Once more I'm ferociously pissed off at my government for not listening to someone like him. His website and book are here. If you can afford to buy, let me borrow it when you're done!
But seriously, listening to him one comes to realize really how easy it would be to solve a plethora of problems while also freeing America from its oil addiction.
Keep up the good work, Mr. Zubrin.
But seriously, listening to him one comes to realize really how easy it would be to solve a plethora of problems while also freeing America from its oil addiction.
Keep up the good work, Mr. Zubrin.
Friday, December 21, 2007
Evening contemplations
Train rumbling by in the night, sound the horn in darkness 'neath moonlit sky
Snow covered ridge so cold, so beautiful
Lights on the freeway moving, always moving
Silhouette trees dreaming in their winter slumber
Feral cat filching a snack in my barn
Christmas gifts that (desperately) need wrapping
Shadows silently reading
Snow covered ridge so cold, so beautiful
Lights on the freeway moving, always moving
Silhouette trees dreaming in their winter slumber
Feral cat filching a snack in my barn
Christmas gifts that (desperately) need wrapping
Shadows silently reading
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Senate kicks global warming in the butt
Over 400 Prominent Scientists Disputed Man-Made Global Warming
Well, at least they (our representatives) aren't totally full of you-know-what
Well, at least they (our representatives) aren't totally full of you-know-what
Lakota Seccession
I have mixed feeling about this but I'm so pissed-off at my so-called government right now that I've gotta tell the Lakota people "Rock on, you crazy aborigines!" I totally hope you kick DC's butt. DC isn't even representing those citizen that want to be part of their institution anymore.
Interestingly, this is parallel to one of the "ShadowRun" story lines (the books, not the games) I wonder if the authors knew about the '74 proceedings or if they just came up with this?
Interestingly, this is parallel to one of the "ShadowRun" story lines (the books, not the games) I wonder if the authors knew about the '74 proceedings or if they just came up with this?
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
More political Cr^P from DC
The illustrious "More-ons" in Washington DC have done it again. Spending literally trillions on every foible, abuse and social corruption and now they've cut the R&D and science budgets (details at ScienceNow, the AAAS website)
If anyone had a doubt about our government belonging to OPEC and/or big oil, just check out the fact that they cut funding to the ITER project which WAS the world's most advanced fusion project and was slated to deliver loads of cheap electricity at some point in the next 50 years. No radioactive byproducts, no CO2 and no oil dependence, we gotta make sure that doesn't happen.
Any hope for MIT's proposed geothermal plants is pretty much toast.
We might not mind these cuts, if a matching amount of the pork had been cut from their budget or if the border fence had been left intact. Arrrrrgg!!
If anyone had a doubt about our government belonging to OPEC and/or big oil, just check out the fact that they cut funding to the ITER project which WAS the world's most advanced fusion project and was slated to deliver loads of cheap electricity at some point in the next 50 years. No radioactive byproducts, no CO2 and no oil dependence, we gotta make sure that doesn't happen.
Any hope for MIT's proposed geothermal plants is pretty much toast.
We might not mind these cuts, if a matching amount of the pork had been cut from their budget or if the border fence had been left intact. Arrrrrgg!!
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Forgive my laughter....
From Muslim Rage Boy: Warning, bloody and macabre, but This would be freakin' hilarious (if it wasn't so true)
I'm sure Youtube will yank it shortly, they just hate the first amendment.
I'm sure Youtube will yank it shortly, they just hate the first amendment.
Monday, December 17, 2007
Government Spending Transparency
Another FINALLY! moment.
The feds have finally started to comply with recent transparency legislation making it possible for us to see how they're wasting our money. Check it here.
On the Oregon page it is quite clearly visible to see when the feds stopped paying their taxes on the O&C railroad lands which they confiscated and will not return to our stewardship. From 2005 on there has been a precipitous drop in money coming to southern Oregon. They should either return those lands to us or pay what they promised.
Update
Been digging around there a bit and can already see the pattern of obfuscation we have come to expect from our government. The database is difficult to access and search, browsing is all but impossible especially when done by category. Listings are limited to the first 500 of tens of thousands or all of them, no page-by-page display. Typical methods of keeping the public from using it. God forbid they issue an actual database interface so someone could use datamining on the set. How about allowing us to download the data as a spreadsheet, would that kill anyone?
The feds have finally started to comply with recent transparency legislation making it possible for us to see how they're wasting our money. Check it here.
On the Oregon page it is quite clearly visible to see when the feds stopped paying their taxes on the O&C railroad lands which they confiscated and will not return to our stewardship. From 2005 on there has been a precipitous drop in money coming to southern Oregon. They should either return those lands to us or pay what they promised.
Update
Been digging around there a bit and can already see the pattern of obfuscation we have come to expect from our government. The database is difficult to access and search, browsing is all but impossible especially when done by category. Listings are limited to the first 500 of tens of thousands or all of them, no page-by-page display. Typical methods of keeping the public from using it. God forbid they issue an actual database interface so someone could use datamining on the set. How about allowing us to download the data as a spreadsheet, would that kill anyone?
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Rain peaceful
Just a light sprinkle going on right now, not enough to even switch the radar from "Clear air" mode.
The ground is wet and the sound of a running chainsaw fills the air. Should check and see if it is a burn day.
Soon will be leaving to weld, cut and machine.
Wishing you all a peaceful and rewarding day.
The ground is wet and the sound of a running chainsaw fills the air. Should check and see if it is a burn day.
Soon will be leaving to weld, cut and machine.
Wishing you all a peaceful and rewarding day.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Global Warming?
Brrr.......
Spent most of yesterday working at Bro's shop on a forced-air heat extractor for our wood stove. Will make it much more efficient. Probably do the same today.
The turkeys are back, gleaning the apples from our numerous trees. Some of them have taken to flying up into the trees to get the apples hanging there. Guess they like to eat in peace. The turkeys are the only spots of color out there now; everything else is covered in frost. Thank god for global warming.
Hope y'all have a fine, comfy day.
Spent most of yesterday working at Bro's shop on a forced-air heat extractor for our wood stove. Will make it much more efficient. Probably do the same today.
The turkeys are back, gleaning the apples from our numerous trees. Some of them have taken to flying up into the trees to get the apples hanging there. Guess they like to eat in peace. The turkeys are the only spots of color out there now; everything else is covered in frost. Thank god for global warming.
Hope y'all have a fine, comfy day.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Religion of Peace
If anyone is still open minded about the Religion of Peace, they should read this.
Monday, December 10, 2007
cold and fog, frost and cloud
Fielder mountain is covered in frost and fog. A low lying cloud darkens the northern sky, casting Fielder in the image of dark fortress or frost giant realm.
Pruning apples as often and for as long as I can stand it. The air is about 33 in the shade. Out in the sun, the wind is up so I'd say out there it's about 20. Brrrr...
Been suffering through a light flu the last couple days. Low level nausea, sore swollen joints, intermittent fevers. The usual winter funk, actually quite mild compared to some I've had. Still icky feeling. Grateful for the mildness of it, considering the alternative.
Gotta go be useless. Hope y'all are doing well.
Pruning apples as often and for as long as I can stand it. The air is about 33 in the shade. Out in the sun, the wind is up so I'd say out there it's about 20. Brrrr...
Been suffering through a light flu the last couple days. Low level nausea, sore swollen joints, intermittent fevers. The usual winter funk, actually quite mild compared to some I've had. Still icky feeling. Grateful for the mildness of it, considering the alternative.
Gotta go be useless. Hope y'all are doing well.
Saturday, December 08, 2007
Pray for Rae
Taking a few minutes after some clean-up in the north barn and I came across the comment from Rae-Ann telling me she had a burst appendix last week. Wow! what a bummer. Everybody send her a bundle of wellness and happy wishes. She said she's out of the hospital and slowly recovering but that is still a very heavy illness to suffer from so I'm sure a little well-wishing is appropriate.
Get well Rae.
Get well Rae.
Insomnia and mortgage crisis, part 2
Apparently I'm not working hard enough during the day to get a good nights sleep.
Cspan is reviewing some mortgage crisis hearings from Wednesday. I am still astonished by the situation that the mortgage industry is putting itself into. Facing imminent foreclosure catastrophe brought on by their own practices, that industry acts as if it is not composed entirely of human beings. Can you imagine sticking a thumb-tack into your arm and then saying "Ow!" and then sticking yourself again and again until you bleed to death? That's exactly what the mortgage industry is doing to itself.
No one is holding a gun to the head of these people saying "you better foreclose on these loans" or "you've gotta raise those interest rates or I'll blow your brains out!"
All these banks have to do is to act, well, human. Alter their loans to make it possible for people to continue to pay. Why do they need congress to hold their hands and walk them to the potty?
In the words of Brian Regan "I give up on this species...."
Cspan is reviewing some mortgage crisis hearings from Wednesday. I am still astonished by the situation that the mortgage industry is putting itself into. Facing imminent foreclosure catastrophe brought on by their own practices, that industry acts as if it is not composed entirely of human beings. Can you imagine sticking a thumb-tack into your arm and then saying "Ow!" and then sticking yourself again and again until you bleed to death? That's exactly what the mortgage industry is doing to itself.
No one is holding a gun to the head of these people saying "you better foreclose on these loans" or "you've gotta raise those interest rates or I'll blow your brains out!"
All these banks have to do is to act, well, human. Alter their loans to make it possible for people to continue to pay. Why do they need congress to hold their hands and walk them to the potty?
In the words of Brian Regan "I give up on this species...."
Friday, December 07, 2007
No news is no news
Christmas shopping again this morning, had to take some stuff back and get the right things.
Pruning most of the afternoon, both grapes and apples. Been planning on writing up a short "pruning tips" post with a couple of pictures from the orchard but haven't had the energy to do so yet. Got the pics made already, just need to transfer them and come up with appropriate text describing the pruning process as I see it.
The last couple of days when I take a break and come into check the web for news I have been sublimely disappointed. It seems like this is the dullest time of the year for informational material. It's as if the news and science sites I usually peruse are barely even trying, just repeating a lot of stuff going back over the last 6 months with different titles or variations on the same explanations. Even the search engines are becoming balky and uncooperative. When I enter a search I have to wade through a crap-pile of commercial sites and advertising much of which is only remotely connected to what I entered in my search. Oh, for the carefree days of Gopher to return!
Hope everyone out there is feeling fine and acting kind.
Pruning most of the afternoon, both grapes and apples. Been planning on writing up a short "pruning tips" post with a couple of pictures from the orchard but haven't had the energy to do so yet. Got the pics made already, just need to transfer them and come up with appropriate text describing the pruning process as I see it.
The last couple of days when I take a break and come into check the web for news I have been sublimely disappointed. It seems like this is the dullest time of the year for informational material. It's as if the news and science sites I usually peruse are barely even trying, just repeating a lot of stuff going back over the last 6 months with different titles or variations on the same explanations. Even the search engines are becoming balky and uncooperative. When I enter a search I have to wade through a crap-pile of commercial sites and advertising much of which is only remotely connected to what I entered in my search. Oh, for the carefree days of Gopher to return!
Hope everyone out there is feeling fine and acting kind.
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Very large smoke plume on Fielder Mountain
A very large plume of smoke, presumably from a large fire, shot up from the slopes of Fielder Mountain above I-5 near the small city of Rogue River, Or. today shortly after 3:00 pm. The smoke appeared to originate from the vicinity of a quarry operation known to use explosives in its mining process. The column of smoke was approximately twice the size of that caused by a burning three bedroom house. The cause of the fire could not be ascertained from this location but the color of the smoke was alternately white to dark, dirty gray with only hints of petroleum black. Most such mining operation use ammonium nitrate/fuel explosives which are also highly combustible in open air. Speculation is running in that direction as to the cause.
Monday, December 03, 2007
Rainy goose day
It is like, totally pouring out there. Has been all morning.
Did some Christmas shopping this morning, taking advantage of a free trip into town as mom was getting a perm today. Got most the stuff I was looking for in gifts and a few more items for some of my art projects.
As we pulled up the driveway we were astonished to see about 50-60 geese parked in the field below the grapes. Probably a lot of good food out there leftover from this year's crops. Was quite a flock, here's a pic:
Did some Christmas shopping this morning, taking advantage of a free trip into town as mom was getting a perm today. Got most the stuff I was looking for in gifts and a few more items for some of my art projects.
As we pulled up the driveway we were astonished to see about 50-60 geese parked in the field below the grapes. Probably a lot of good food out there leftover from this year's crops. Was quite a flock, here's a pic:
Friday, November 30, 2007
The Privilege of Labor
Spent a good part of the day working with Dad and Bro, putting in steel gate and fence. Digging post holes, mixing cement, holding tape or level. I always feel lucky when I get a chance to work productively with my family. Especially when we do something as attractive as the work we completed today. Here's a pic of the fence we put up:
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Another night of autumn insomnia
Going to be helping my brother put in some iron fencing tomorrow so of course since I need to be well rested my insomnia has kicked in.
A few small showers have been blowing through. Only 1 degree above freezing so we can expect the surrounding mountains to be dusted with snow in the morning light. Should be lovely and nicely timed for the upcoming Christmas season.
Wishing you all a fluffy blanket of night and a bright, vigorous morning.
A few small showers have been blowing through. Only 1 degree above freezing so we can expect the surrounding mountains to be dusted with snow in the morning light. Should be lovely and nicely timed for the upcoming Christmas season.
Wishing you all a fluffy blanket of night and a bright, vigorous morning.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Cold work
The clear weather has been keeping me real busy.
Frost and fog turn the world that ghostly pastel this morning.
Wishing you all a comfy day.
Frost and fog turn the world that ghostly pastel this morning.
Wishing you all a comfy day.
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Happy Gratitude
I was gonna go with "Happy Thanksgiving" but then I decided to be just a little weird.
Wow! it is frozen up outside. Frost has painted the world in eerie paleness. A flock of geese were hunkered down in the field below our vineyard. We had some white corn and assorted other stuff in that field, now disced down, so they should have something to fill their bellies (or crop or whatever) today too.
I want to thank everyone who visits here for my enjoyment of their enjoyment. One off reciprocal happiness as it were. May all of you be pleasantly stuffed and sleepy today.
Wow! it is frozen up outside. Frost has painted the world in eerie paleness. A flock of geese were hunkered down in the field below our vineyard. We had some white corn and assorted other stuff in that field, now disced down, so they should have something to fill their bellies (or crop or whatever) today too.
I want to thank everyone who visits here for my enjoyment of their enjoyment. One off reciprocal happiness as it were. May all of you be pleasantly stuffed and sleepy today.
Autumn Insomnia
Well, I can't sleep again. 1:42am, uhg....
Had a great day (yesterday) it was cold but clear all day so I got a lot of pruning done. Dad got a bunch of firewood cut up.
There's nothing good on tv late at night I have discovered. Adultswim used to be pretty good but they've lost their touch in laziness. Bring back SpaceGhost Coast-to-Coast and use some better tech to make the interviews more "live" and get better guests.
Oregon PBS is having a hearing about predatory loan practices. I'm so weirded out by that whole thing, an entire sector of our economy is committing suicide. All they need to do is stop foreclosing and give these homeowners a chance to hang onto their houses, but like the proverbial lemmings they just keep heading over that cliff. How about this, you bunch of idiots, take possession of the houses that are loaned against then lease them back to the occupants at a rate they can afford. That way you can show both capital inflow and real property value on your spreadsheets. Give people the chance to buy their houses back at a later date and they'd be sooo happy and your company(ies) could survive this disaster. But no, that'd make too much sense; why don't you just keep boarding up empty houses, putting families on the street and going bankrupt, that'll help everybody.
Well, gonna make another attempt at sleep. Hope y'all are resting well.
Had a great day (yesterday) it was cold but clear all day so I got a lot of pruning done. Dad got a bunch of firewood cut up.
There's nothing good on tv late at night I have discovered. Adultswim used to be pretty good but they've lost their touch in laziness. Bring back SpaceGhost Coast-to-Coast and use some better tech to make the interviews more "live" and get better guests.
Oregon PBS is having a hearing about predatory loan practices. I'm so weirded out by that whole thing, an entire sector of our economy is committing suicide. All they need to do is stop foreclosing and give these homeowners a chance to hang onto their houses, but like the proverbial lemmings they just keep heading over that cliff. How about this, you bunch of idiots, take possession of the houses that are loaned against then lease them back to the occupants at a rate they can afford. That way you can show both capital inflow and real property value on your spreadsheets. Give people the chance to buy their houses back at a later date and they'd be sooo happy and your company(ies) could survive this disaster. But no, that'd make too much sense; why don't you just keep boarding up empty houses, putting families on the street and going bankrupt, that'll help everybody.
Well, gonna make another attempt at sleep. Hope y'all are resting well.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Deep thinking
There's more going on here then meets the eye. Literally. The human world's mass mind is connected in an unprecedented manner. Loose and free, messages flash across dendrites of glass and copper. Axons of human minds flutter in a quantum superposition of opinions. Histories and circumstances play like tree shadows flashing by on a sunny autumn drive.
Million gallon buckets of data deluge the net in the form of pictures, text, video and a plethora of other formats. Meta-minds layered high in the frontal cortex swim in deep seas of truth and fiction. A lightning flash of insight rumbles away into the distant, thunderous thoughts echoing off hillsides of adamant dogma.
Mixed metaphors splash across the canvas of our ideas like paint spilled by a child.
Million gallon buckets of data deluge the net in the form of pictures, text, video and a plethora of other formats. Meta-minds layered high in the frontal cortex swim in deep seas of truth and fiction. A lightning flash of insight rumbles away into the distant, thunderous thoughts echoing off hillsides of adamant dogma.
Mixed metaphors splash across the canvas of our ideas like paint spilled by a child.
Monday, November 19, 2007
Another FINALLY! moment
I've been saying this for like, six years now. There are plenty of people sitting around America who would love a chance to do something as important as protecting our borders with some of their spare time and the technology to allow them to has been around for well over a decade now. I'm sure my friends and family have reached that "here he goes again" stage when I talk about it.
With a little open source cooperation from the public we could come up with ways to work in teams, accelerate response rates and filter erroneous reports. The stats totally support the fact that the public attention resources are there; 43,000 hits per hour.
With a little open source cooperation from the public we could come up with ways to work in teams, accelerate response rates and filter erroneous reports. The stats totally support the fact that the public attention resources are there; 43,000 hits per hour.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Enjoyably busy Sunday
After a hearty homemade breakfast I lazed around for most of the morning. Watched the movie "Fantastic Four" which I had been told by friends and assorted reviewers wasn't very good. My respect for those opinions has been seriously damaged because it was a freakin' great movie. Terribly similar in style to the original comic books, with some great special effects.
Then I installed a dvd burner in the computer that my good friend Del gave me. Everything went smoothly in that operation and I've already backed up many gigabytes of my important files.
Used the afternoon to clean up, prune and study. The weather was unusually fine, in fact we set a record in Medford today, 68 is the new high last record was 67 in 1937. Huh, what do you know they must've had global warming back then too. I'm sure that after the rains we've been having mushrooms will be going nuts. At least for a couple more days until the temperatures start to drop.
Everyone be happy.
Then I installed a dvd burner in the computer that my good friend Del gave me. Everything went smoothly in that operation and I've already backed up many gigabytes of my important files.
Used the afternoon to clean up, prune and study. The weather was unusually fine, in fact we set a record in Medford today, 68 is the new high last record was 67 in 1937. Huh, what do you know they must've had global warming back then too. I'm sure that after the rains we've been having mushrooms will be going nuts. At least for a couple more days until the temperatures start to drop.
Everyone be happy.
Friday, November 16, 2007
Rain and other eventualities
It is raining quite hard out there. Will be another day of clean-up and minor repair work. Gotta go get a hair cut (ick!) used to have a girlfriend who would drop by and cut my hair but that is long past. Quite a difference between having a lovely lady brighten up my day and having to endure another visit to the barber shop.
Nothing special to report from the dream realm and everything else I can think of is unworthy of blogging.
Wishing you all a fine day with good traction.
Nothing special to report from the dream realm and everything else I can think of is unworthy of blogging.
Wishing you all a fine day with good traction.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Technorati redux
Technorati Profile
This is the second time I've had to reclaim my blog at Technorati. Come one fellas, your right to the "Tech" part of your name is slipping...
This is the second time I've had to reclaim my blog at Technorati. Come one fellas, your right to the "Tech" part of your name is slipping...
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
A good tip for fellow bloggers
On a number of occasions, especially when I am offering gardening advice like "How to grow eggplants" or "how to grow tomatoes" my articles have been ripped off by other sites, a blatant violation of my copyrights. What really makes it irritating is that these are always vulture ad sites or some other gimmic pile of crap.
Dailyblogtips has a great idea about how to hurt those "scrapers" which use adsense, a most common advertising medium from Google. I'll be using this technique for sure and so should anyone else who gets ripped-off by such a-holes.
Dailyblogtips has a great idea about how to hurt those "scrapers" which use adsense, a most common advertising medium from Google. I'll be using this technique for sure and so should anyone else who gets ripped-off by such a-holes.
Monday, November 12, 2007
Free-speech-alicious
Here's a neat article and google-map. It lists all the countries where access to the internet has been restricted.
Classic Oregon Storm
Big, fat rain drops are rattling down on the roof of my barn. Been watching this slow moving amoeba of precipitation on the nexrad all morning.
Had a lot of weird, depressing dreams last night. Can't really recall more than a few snippets but definitely left me feeling, blah. Between bouts of cleaning I will spend a few minutes meditating-concentrating and try to expunge these somber reflections.
I'm trying to "beam" or channel some of this rain to our drought stricken fellows in the southeast. Rae, you might want to make a rain circle in your yard for me to tune into so I have a target.
Y'all have a funny, funky day now.
Had a lot of weird, depressing dreams last night. Can't really recall more than a few snippets but definitely left me feeling, blah. Between bouts of cleaning I will spend a few minutes meditating-concentrating and try to expunge these somber reflections.
I'm trying to "beam" or channel some of this rain to our drought stricken fellows in the southeast. Rae, you might want to make a rain circle in your yard for me to tune into so I have a target.
Y'all have a funny, funky day now.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Pretty funny-15 Laterals
I don't know if this is, as they say in LA, fur-reals, and I've never been much of a football fan but it is quite humorous. Check it here.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Worth noting
Found an article at Slashdot that makes me say "Finally!" Some people have begun using modern tech to improve on the classic MRI. This is something which should be available in any home that wants it. No way an MRI machine is more complex than an Escalade or any other fully modern car so why should they cost so much more? With the removal of the dependency on enormous magnets I really hope this gets pushed directly into commercial production.
Rock Work
Of all the pics I took, only these two looked any good. The wall looks to good to do it the disservice of displaying it in an ugly fashion.
Friday, November 09, 2007
Sun shines through
The fog lifts early this morning, portend of a weather change.
Gold and red cherry leaves glow outside the high northern window of my barn.
The mountain fading green into brown.
Yesterday dad and I spent much of the day laying stone on a rock wall for his friend Terry Spencer. Yes we also do a little rock work now and then, it's sort of genetic; we're dutch. The wall we are working on looks really choice. My da is a powerful good stone juggler. We're supposed to work there this afternoon again and I'll try to remember my camera.
Hope y'all have a fine and laughing day.
Gold and red cherry leaves glow outside the high northern window of my barn.
The mountain fading green into brown.
Yesterday dad and I spent much of the day laying stone on a rock wall for his friend Terry Spencer. Yes we also do a little rock work now and then, it's sort of genetic; we're dutch. The wall we are working on looks really choice. My da is a powerful good stone juggler. We're supposed to work there this afternoon again and I'll try to remember my camera.
Hope y'all have a fine and laughing day.
Thursday, November 08, 2007
75%
We are the water that knows.
The water that walks,
the water that talks.
Water remembers and water forgets.
In the sky we hide our heads.
Our reflections reflect themselves in puddles
which we see with eyes of water.
The wind blows in and out
of lungs of water.
The ripples of our thoughts
trickle through the deep parts of the earth
and are lost
in water.
The water that walks,
the water that talks.
Water remembers and water forgets.
In the sky we hide our heads.
Our reflections reflect themselves in puddles
which we see with eyes of water.
The wind blows in and out
of lungs of water.
The ripples of our thoughts
trickle through the deep parts of the earth
and are lost
in water.
More political mumbo-jumbo
I'm wondering if Porkbusters is going to have anything to say about this. Looks like Trent Lott is going to get to have bacon for breakfast after all.
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Foggy morning
Lovely fog covers my world this morning. The air outside is perfumed like a giant cup of exotic tea. Probably from all the leaves on the ground.
Have come up against a number of consistent barriers in my programming so I'm taking a little time off and putting my energy into getting the rest of the farming tear-down under way. Was gonna say "done" but done is a long way off yet.
My biggest problem in programming right now is that winXP interferes with some of my install package. Keeps preventing me from installing files to the system32 directory so I'll probably switch to registering their location in Program Files instead. Which of course requires a complete rewrite of my install package. Uhg.
Hope you all have a fine day.
Have come up against a number of consistent barriers in my programming so I'm taking a little time off and putting my energy into getting the rest of the farming tear-down under way. Was gonna say "done" but done is a long way off yet.
My biggest problem in programming right now is that winXP interferes with some of my install package. Keeps preventing me from installing files to the system32 directory so I'll probably switch to registering their location in Program Files instead. Which of course requires a complete rewrite of my install package. Uhg.
Hope you all have a fine day.
Monday, November 05, 2007
Hmmmm...
I've been trying to stay away from politics in my writings here because such discussions tend to bring on unreasonable vehemence in a certain sector of our population (which sector cuts across all political categories, by the way.)
However, this was a thought provoking article from the L.A. Times. Layers of deception wrapped in swathes of confusion under a heaping, steaming pile of mystery.
However, this was a thought provoking article from the L.A. Times. Layers of deception wrapped in swathes of confusion under a heaping, steaming pile of mystery.
Saturday, November 03, 2007
A handful of apple tree
Cold air, puffy clouds blowing by. The branches sway and bob as I pull myself up another notch.
The cloth and metal harvest bucket hanging from my left shoulder is already heavy with apples. But the best are near the top. I find a branch that will (briefly) hold my 250 pounds. That gives me a toe hold to the largest top branch which 19 years of pruning have tenderly developed into the perfect step. Rough lichens increase the friction of my grip, securing me almost like velcro.
Pluck, pluck, plux. The bucket grows heavier. A few apples have to be plucked with my right hand and dropped overhead into the bucket. The few bruises won't have time to darken before they are cut up and dipped in sugar water and cinnamon for the drier.
One last largish apple and I begin the gnarly descent. Not trusting the small branch quite so much on the way down, I quickly shift my feet through the intricate patterns necessary to descend the tree. Waves of energy wripple and surge through the noontime air and sun. With my hand closed tight on the biggest up-branch I set foot at last on the lowest 3-fold bifurcation of the trunk. Lowering my bucket to the earth, I close my eyes and breathe deep the air and sky. The smell of tree, the rough touch of bark and lichen. A shimmering curtain, prayer or meditation take your pick, envelopes the orchard with my love for these moments.
Wishing you all a day like this.
The cloth and metal harvest bucket hanging from my left shoulder is already heavy with apples. But the best are near the top. I find a branch that will (briefly) hold my 250 pounds. That gives me a toe hold to the largest top branch which 19 years of pruning have tenderly developed into the perfect step. Rough lichens increase the friction of my grip, securing me almost like velcro.
Pluck, pluck, plux. The bucket grows heavier. A few apples have to be plucked with my right hand and dropped overhead into the bucket. The few bruises won't have time to darken before they are cut up and dipped in sugar water and cinnamon for the drier.
One last largish apple and I begin the gnarly descent. Not trusting the small branch quite so much on the way down, I quickly shift my feet through the intricate patterns necessary to descend the tree. Waves of energy wripple and surge through the noontime air and sun. With my hand closed tight on the biggest up-branch I set foot at last on the lowest 3-fold bifurcation of the trunk. Lowering my bucket to the earth, I close my eyes and breathe deep the air and sky. The smell of tree, the rough touch of bark and lichen. A shimmering curtain, prayer or meditation take your pick, envelopes the orchard with my love for these moments.
Wishing you all a day like this.
Friday, November 02, 2007
Pix Flood
Cynthia's recent comment reminded me, so I broke out the ol' hp digital camera and download all the pix I've taken.
Here's a small sample from the last 6 weeks or so...
Here's a small sample from the last 6 weeks or so...
Stressfully Lazy
It's another lazy Friday for me, and it really shouldn't be. Thus is stress produced, a difference between my expectations and reality. Rational consciousness imposes high fees for its use.
Will got out shortly and pick some apples or start cutting in the vineyard to relieve my concerns; albeit a futile gesture.
Spent part of this morning getting my WebBlazer software up and running on this computer. For some weird reason WinXP installs all but one of my components (Attach.dll) in the C:\Windows\System32 directory, so for the time being I have to hand install and register it to make it work. Nice to be able to shred through Wikipedia articles now, but I gotta fix that glitch before going public with this thing. Think I'll put out a demo model and then finish the microsiccade and image display functions for the registered version.
Hope you're all having a great day. A special shout-out to my lady: wherever, whenever, whoever; a smile for you ;-)
Will got out shortly and pick some apples or start cutting in the vineyard to relieve my concerns; albeit a futile gesture.
Spent part of this morning getting my WebBlazer software up and running on this computer. For some weird reason WinXP installs all but one of my components (Attach.dll) in the C:\Windows\System32 directory, so for the time being I have to hand install and register it to make it work. Nice to be able to shred through Wikipedia articles now, but I gotta fix that glitch before going public with this thing. Think I'll put out a demo model and then finish the microsiccade and image display functions for the registered version.
Hope you're all having a great day. A special shout-out to my lady: wherever, whenever, whoever; a smile for you ;-)
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Wirelessly yours
Mom and I spent most of yesterday in Medford getting her car worked on at Lithia. It's still there and we had to rent a car and it's still going to cost over $1000 to finish getting the defroster fixed. Dang it Toyota! don't you have any pride or sense of responsibility in your product? Does the word "integrity" mean anything to car manufacturers? Granted the Camry is a pretty nice car, but come on!
While we were in Medford I grabbed a wireless router at Circuit city (Netgear WGR614 or somethin' like that, 29$ after rebate...) So that I am now blogging to you from high in the vaulted loft of my barn. The 21st century has some pretty dang cool things. In 1979 you couldn't have had your own wireless digital network for any amount of money. Now it costs about 64$ if you buy everything new. I supposed off eBay you could get a complete setup for a lot less. 5 more years and they'll come in your cereal box ;-)
Cloudy day but only the faintest trace of precipitation. Gotta go be useful.
Y'all be happy now.
While we were in Medford I grabbed a wireless router at Circuit city (Netgear WGR614 or somethin' like that, 29$ after rebate...) So that I am now blogging to you from high in the vaulted loft of my barn. The 21st century has some pretty dang cool things. In 1979 you couldn't have had your own wireless digital network for any amount of money. Now it costs about 64$ if you buy everything new. I supposed off eBay you could get a complete setup for a lot less. 5 more years and they'll come in your cereal box ;-)
Cloudy day but only the faintest trace of precipitation. Gotta go be useful.
Y'all be happy now.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
A good night's sleep
Wow, got over 9 hours of sleep for once. Delightful. Lots of weird dreams though. Dreamt I was leaving Grants Pass via the south exit when suddenly my car and everyone else's just stopped running. Had to walk the 6 miles to home. But then I came across a dude pulling a trailer on Foothill Blvd. and (as is the logic of dreams) his truck was running so I got a ride with him the last 3 miles.
Today will only be slightly a day of rest for me. Lots more clean-up to do before we can have a real day of rest. Plus I want to work on some of the projects I had to post-pone during the harvest season.
Hope you all have a restful and rewarding day.
Today will only be slightly a day of rest for me. Lots more clean-up to do before we can have a real day of rest. Plus I want to work on some of the projects I had to post-pone during the harvest season.
Hope you all have a restful and rewarding day.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Last Day !!!
Last Day! Last Day! Last Day! Last Day! Last Day! Last Day! Last Day! Last Day!
Ok, so I'm obviously pretty excited about today being the last day of sales at the produce stand. Still lots of work to do in the end-of-season tear-down but at least the artificial timing constraints imposed by a commercial outlet will be gone. And best of all I won't have to put up with anymore corn-peelers.
Tonight we will have celebratory pizza. Wish I had a girlfriend to invite over to share, that'd make it a perfect evening. But, oh well. I've never been able to summon tears for overturned dairy products.
Gotta go get girded. Y'all have a super day.
Ok, so I'm obviously pretty excited about today being the last day of sales at the produce stand. Still lots of work to do in the end-of-season tear-down but at least the artificial timing constraints imposed by a commercial outlet will be gone. And best of all I won't have to put up with anymore corn-peelers.
Tonight we will have celebratory pizza. Wish I had a girlfriend to invite over to share, that'd make it a perfect evening. But, oh well. I've never been able to summon tears for overturned dairy products.
Gotta go get girded. Y'all have a super day.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
This is freakin' super cool
Scientists Create Quantum Cascade Laser Nanoantenna This could reveal many new valuable answers about how cells function.
Autumn vicissitudes
A thick, creepy fog shrouded the world this morning. Around noon the sun burned through and brought a smooth warmth to the colors of the world.
At lunch I saw a delightful goshawk harassing a murder of crows. At about 2/3rds the size of a crow I could imagine what a feast one of them would make for her.
Tired now. Still much hard work to do before we close. That'll almost certainly be this Saturday. After which some small part of the world will enter into a new phase of things.
Good night and many blessings upon you all.
At lunch I saw a delightful goshawk harassing a murder of crows. At about 2/3rds the size of a crow I could imagine what a feast one of them would make for her.
Tired now. Still much hard work to do before we close. That'll almost certainly be this Saturday. After which some small part of the world will enter into a new phase of things.
Good night and many blessings upon you all.
Monday, October 22, 2007
Fall in bloom
It was such an amazingly beautiful fall day yesterday that I couldn't bring myself to leave it and sit at the computer. But a chilly, foggy, breezy morning like this makes it easy.
We've got one week of the sales season left. Should be pretty easy to get through especially since the entire week is supposed to be a lot like yesterday. That warm but mellow autumn sun and all those vivid colors on the land create a perfect atmosphere for a finale week.
Wishing y'all a lovely day.
We've got one week of the sales season left. Should be pretty easy to get through especially since the entire week is supposed to be a lot like yesterday. That warm but mellow autumn sun and all those vivid colors on the land create a perfect atmosphere for a finale week.
Wishing y'all a lovely day.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Anybody ever hear of UAT?
Saw this ad for degrees in artificial life design and programming on G4tv last night. I've been working with artificial life since high school (cellular automata and a simulation of planaria worms for instance) as well as genetic algorithms since about 1989 so I was interested.
But I can't find out much about the school : University of Advanced Technology. If anyone knows anything about them give me a shout out.
Wishing you a fine and blustery Halloween season evening.
But I can't find out much about the school : University of Advanced Technology. If anyone knows anything about them give me a shout out.
Wishing you a fine and blustery Halloween season evening.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Reading Wednesday
Uhg! what a slow day in business. Stupid ODOT had the road blocked up all morning, totally killed the chances of anybody stopping.
We had vigorous rain showers and some small winds this afternoon. Enough to shake all the water from the awning in front of the stand. Probably didn't help the customer's mood either. It is a very lovely fall season though; nothing can kill my delight in that.
The extra time was used, if not wisely or productively at least not frivolously. Read a bunch and formulated some things for the new version of my web-blazer.
Hoping you are all productive and happy.
We had vigorous rain showers and some small winds this afternoon. Enough to shake all the water from the awning in front of the stand. Probably didn't help the customer's mood either. It is a very lovely fall season though; nothing can kill my delight in that.
The extra time was used, if not wisely or productively at least not frivolously. Read a bunch and formulated some things for the new version of my web-blazer.
Hoping you are all productive and happy.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Lovely Fall Sunday
Ran to Medford, got supplies. Mellow autumn sunshine all afternoon long- after a dim gray morning of fog.
Foliage color is getting like flashbulb quality brightness in places around the valley. Will have images soon.
Last week of picking corn and we're supposed to have rain starting tomorrow after 11am.
Got a last few chores to do this evening so I don't have to do them in the morning.
Y'all have yourselves a mighty fine night now.
Foliage color is getting like flashbulb quality brightness in places around the valley. Will have images soon.
Last week of picking corn and we're supposed to have rain starting tomorrow after 11am.
Got a last few chores to do this evening so I don't have to do them in the morning.
Y'all have yourselves a mighty fine night now.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
beneath the sea of fog
It is cold and foggy out there this morning. Supposed to get warm later. We used to go into the mountains to cut firewood and often passed above these thick blankets of fog to look down upon our hidden valleys. Occasionally a hilltop poked out above the fog, looking like some island or wizard's fortress.
Dad is off helping Terry with his landscaping so mom and I will run the stand ourselves today. No biggie, with so little business and so little to harvest we can easily handle a day like this.
Well, gotta go hook up for work. Y'all have a fine day now.
Dad is off helping Terry with his landscaping so mom and I will run the stand ourselves today. No biggie, with so little business and so little to harvest we can easily handle a day like this.
Well, gotta go hook up for work. Y'all have a fine day now.
Friday, October 12, 2007
A nice autumn day
Had a pleasant day down at the vegetable stand. Finally got a load of good corn in from the final field of the season. Sweet and delicious. That field should have made a week ago but the cold, wet weather held it off.
Many small birds and at least one flock of wild turkeys have began to make use of the residue in the earlier fields. Our farms produce a huge outflow of life. All sorts of fowl and fauna plus lady bugs by the ton. I always have to laugh when I hear an environmentalist rant against agriculture because of all the life it destroys. Dang stupidest thing I ever heard.
Hope you all have a happy, insightful and open minded evening.
Many small birds and at least one flock of wild turkeys have began to make use of the residue in the earlier fields. Our farms produce a huge outflow of life. All sorts of fowl and fauna plus lady bugs by the ton. I always have to laugh when I hear an environmentalist rant against agriculture because of all the life it destroys. Dang stupidest thing I ever heard.
Hope you all have a happy, insightful and open minded evening.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Nice boring rainy day
Slow business in the rain today. The Douglas fir tree besides our stand played eerie Halloween creaky music on the metal side of the building.
Got some reading done and a little more work on the ol' WebBlazer speed reading software. That was a fun project and I'd like to get it back on the market again but I feel it is necessary to add a couple more features before I go to the trouble of building an install package.
Not much else to report. Stay dry and be happy.
Got some reading done and a little more work on the ol' WebBlazer speed reading software. That was a fun project and I'd like to get it back on the market again but I feel it is necessary to add a couple more features before I go to the trouble of building an install package.
Not much else to report. Stay dry and be happy.
Anybody want a nice farm?
Not mine though, my brothers. They've run into a bit of financial difficulty and so are getting ready to sell their place.
It's a really nice little farm, about 7 acres with a Huge barn on it. My brother has raised turf and horses there.
Here's a google earth of the location. The largest gray rectangle is the barn.
View Larger Map
That's an older image so you can't see all the trees they've planted around the border. The place is about a mile away from 2 different I-5 exits with easy access to three large communities; Rogue River, Grants Pass and Medford. It's surrounded by pastures and nearby mountains with the Rogue River itself just a stone's-throw away for lots of recreation, fishing, boating, kayaking, etc..
I'm not sure how much he's asking yet (will get back with some more pics and a price) but it's going to be well below market value and equity cap due to circumstances.
Gotta go get to work now, hope y'all have a great day.
It's a really nice little farm, about 7 acres with a Huge barn on it. My brother has raised turf and horses there.
Here's a google earth of the location. The largest gray rectangle is the barn.
View Larger Map
That's an older image so you can't see all the trees they've planted around the border. The place is about a mile away from 2 different I-5 exits with easy access to three large communities; Rogue River, Grants Pass and Medford. It's surrounded by pastures and nearby mountains with the Rogue River itself just a stone's-throw away for lots of recreation, fishing, boating, kayaking, etc..
I'm not sure how much he's asking yet (will get back with some more pics and a price) but it's going to be well below market value and equity cap due to circumstances.
Gotta go get to work now, hope y'all have a great day.
Sunday, October 07, 2007
Harsh week
Bad weather, slow traffic, low product supply along with a menagerie of outside events pressing in on us made this a difficult week.
Dad and I spent this morning planting Brussels sprouts and other mixed cole crops. Had to cover that with deer-x even though there's a pretty effective fence around the field. Would be just like one to find a way through the barb wire.
Then we spent the rest of the afternoon picking mixed pumpkins, winter squash and gourds. And I do mean mixed, a lot of these things are volunteers from last years pumpkin/gourd/squash patch and some intermingling of bloodlines has occurred. With delightful results. I'll try to find time for some pics.
Getting tired now, gotta go get ready for tomorrow.
Hope you all are well and happy.
Dad and I spent this morning planting Brussels sprouts and other mixed cole crops. Had to cover that with deer-x even though there's a pretty effective fence around the field. Would be just like one to find a way through the barb wire.
Then we spent the rest of the afternoon picking mixed pumpkins, winter squash and gourds. And I do mean mixed, a lot of these things are volunteers from last years pumpkin/gourd/squash patch and some intermingling of bloodlines has occurred. With delightful results. I'll try to find time for some pics.
Getting tired now, gotta go get ready for tomorrow.
Hope you all are well and happy.
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Tektenamaru
Numerous forces both social and natural are at work producing tremendous stresses on my family and I at the moment. Too complex and varied to enumerate suffice to say an ominous looking cloud hangs overhead both in the figurative sense and the "tomorrow's forecast" sense.
This sort of thing is to be expected going into fall I suppose. It was about a year ago when Cassie had her accident and 2 years ago we lost uncle Tobe. These and many other traumatic experiences seem to proliferate in the history of autumn.
Halloween is a thoroughly appropriate holiday for the season.
Wishing you all wellness and safety.
This sort of thing is to be expected going into fall I suppose. It was about a year ago when Cassie had her accident and 2 years ago we lost uncle Tobe. These and many other traumatic experiences seem to proliferate in the history of autumn.
Halloween is a thoroughly appropriate holiday for the season.
Wishing you all wellness and safety.
Monday, September 24, 2007
2nd day of Fall
I usually try to get on here and write something on the equinox but it has just been a very tiring week. So I made my weekend as restful as possible.
Fall is here and you can definitely tell, all the plants have slowed their production noticeably and this morning it is 36 degrees (Fahrenheit) out there. Also there is that autumn feeling in the air. We're already taking pumpkins and corn shocks down to the stand for the early decorators.
Gotta go cut squash and grapes soon. Hope your day is comfy and stress free.
Fall is here and you can definitely tell, all the plants have slowed their production noticeably and this morning it is 36 degrees (Fahrenheit) out there. Also there is that autumn feeling in the air. We're already taking pumpkins and corn shocks down to the stand for the early decorators.
Gotta go cut squash and grapes soon. Hope your day is comfy and stress free.
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