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Tuesday, February 11, 2003
MAP of the Universe The first results from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe are out. The probe, launched in 2001 has an orbit around the Earth that keeps in the the shadow of the moon. Today's New York Times (obligatory "registration required" here) has this story about the new data. Dig the turn of phrase at the end of this paragraph: By comparing their data with other astronomical observations, the astronomers said, they had arrived at a definitive measurement of the basic parameters that characterize the universe, including its age, geometry, composition and weight. The result, they said, is a seamless and consistent history of the universe, from its first few seconds, when it was a sizzling soup of particles and energy, to the modern day and a sky ribboned with chains of pearly galaxies inhabited by at least one race of puzzled and ambitious bipedsThe results do not refute the Big Bang theory in any way. And, hey, it's not every day that I get to say "anisotropy," even though it is a way cool word. Saturday, February 08, 2003
Clarence Clemons Today's Palm Beach Post features this story (possibly local, but AP-writer Antigone Barton attributed) on E Street Band saxaphone player (and Palm Beach local) Clarence Clemons. The Big Man recently turned 61 and is going strong, at least with the help of some aerobic exercise before each three-hour show. More Loopage Mark Lane has some info up in this post about a parade and picnic today, Saturday, 8 February 2003, that the Save the Loop folks are putting on. While no one has asked me, I think someone might say, "Tim, given how anti-developer you seem to be regarding the beach, what's with your fence-sitting regarding The Loop?" Good question. I find it hard to convince myself that some or many of the Save the Loop folks don't have mixed motivations in the matter. I think they ought to make explicit the impact of development in that part of town on their own property values. Those parts of the loop that are already developed are home to some pretty pricey houses. Would more development in that part of town have a negative or positive impact on the net worth of folks in those parts of the loop that are already developed. I mean, we're talking increased traffic, which is a downer, but we're also talking new development of high value, which should increase values. That's not a show stopper: I'd just like to see it made more explicit. (The trick is not to not have conflicts of interest. The trick is to make them explicit so they can be managed openly.) My concern is that the entire story is being framed as strictly environmental, preservationist, recreational, when it ought to be obvious to anyone who takes the ride that there are financial impacts, too. I can't drive past a riverfront million-dollar home with a "Save the Loop" sign in the front yard without cynically asking what the primary objective of saving the loop is: Preserve a shared asset or protect one groups' property values while refusing to allow others to develop their properties. If it's truly a shared asset, then maybe the county, or the state (yeah, right) should buy the appropriate properties. Or seize them with fair compensation through imminent domain. And, to further attempt to answer the original question honestly, I live two blocks from the beach, but ten or so miles from The Loop. The Loop is not in my backyard. Friday, February 07, 2003
While I Was Out Phil Spector got arrested. See this obituary of the victim of the murder Spector allegedly committed. From Joe Bob Briggs in Slate. And while at Slate, there's this article on the weird world of the Wall-of-Sound man himself: "By the mid-'70s Spector was a deeply disturbed control freak, pulling guns on studio engineers, incarcerating artists in various style mansions. At different times he has terrified the wits out of people as different as John Lennon, Leonard Cohen, the Ramones, and Michael Jackson's sister LaToya." But that sound.... I think it's time to whip out "River Deep, Mountain High." It's Alive! My laptop's back. Duration of the problem epoch: About two weeks. It started acted weird about two weeks ago tomorrow (Saturday, 8 Feb). Called IBM about it a week ago tomorrow. (Time on hold: five minutes. Time in consultation with service rep "Noman": about thirty-five minutes.) The box for return service arrived Tuesday, went out Wednesday morning, and returned today, with my computer (IBM ThinkPad T22) repaired just fine. Say what you will about IBM, a three-year warranty is a good thing. Also, I found the service tech on the phone to be knowledgable and understanding; that is, he didn't try to force me to do things I'd already tried to solve the problem just because they were turning up next on his screen. Also, he skipped a few steps when he authorized me to return the computer for repair because it was clear that going through those steps weren't going to solve the problem. While it was a pain to be without this trusty little beast, I'm really happy with how IBM handled this. They had also previous taken good care of me when my old machine, an IBM ThinkPad 760ED had gone down. I had bought it used (i.e., previously leased) from them, but they took care of it under the original warranty. That's http://www.ibm.com. And, yes, I would buy another computer from them. Wednesday, February 05, 2003
Technical Difficulties My laptop, which is my primary compute engine, is down. It's in the box, ready to make it's way back to IBM's repair contractor in Memphis (of all places). So, for those few who read this with some regularity, please expect a reduced rate of blog entries for the next while. Monday, February 03, 2003
Dr. Kalpana Chawla Today's New York Times had this story on Shuttle Columbia astronaut Dr. Kalpana Chawla. Saturday, February 01, 2003
Shuttle Columbia The loss of Space Shuttle Columbia is horrible news. I saw it go up just sixteen days ago and posted pictures of the launch (here) as seen here from sixty or so miles north of Cape Canaveral. I knew it was coming home today, but I wasn't as keyed into the return time as I had been to the launch. The Shuttle approach goes over Orlando, and they hear the sonic booms of the braking manouver there, but, to my knowledge, there's nothing to observe directly here in Daytona Beach. My sympathies go to the crew members' families and friends, and to those who are affiliated with the shuttle program. My hope is that we (take your pick: as species or as nationality) continue to go into space. This tragedy is an opportunity for all of us to renew our committments to such exploration. The risks associated with space flight will never go away, but the activity is worthwhile and noble, even, in some ways, essential. Let's honor the memory of the Columbia crew -- and of all who have died in making space exploration a reality -- by remaining determined to explore beyond the planet. Somewhere on a shelf at home, there's an old VHS tape of the initial Columbia mission with John Young and Robert Crippen. That was back when HBO was about the only cable network, and it carried the NASA feed of Columbia's launch and successful return. It was a worriesome flight, both because of the risks of the launch -- the solid rocket boosters whose O-rings failed in the Challenger flight -- and those of the return -- no one had ever piloted an unpowered flying brick home from space previously. Now the possible negative outcome of the second of those concerns has apparently made itself manifest. As we wait, possibly months, to find out what happened, let's remember and respect the accomplishments of all the people who have left this planet and seen it from above. Friday, January 31, 2003
Not Just Left Turns Big race here this weekend. The Rolex 24. What? You didn't know there was a road track at DIS? No Cars? On the Beach? The Volusia County Council has put the idea of ending driving on the beach on their list of long-term goals to be considered. Possible time frame: By 2010. The story is here from the Daytona Beach News-Jounal. It seems to this one that the County Council, by and large, views beach driving as beach parking. The Council, as an ensemble, seems to view the relationship between the beach and cars as one of a parking lot, at best, with the driving part simply a nuisance, largely partaken by heathens and louts from landlocked counties. I'm not sure if they understand the simple pleasure of driving on the beach for the simple pleasure of driving on the beach. My guess also is that if Gigantic Investment Corporation ("Building Tomorrow's Condos Today") told them, "Sure, get rid of the beach driving, and we'll build on sites where all the mom and pop beach motels are," the Council would say, "How soon?" "Follow the money," and, "Watch your wallet," are phrases to keep in mind regarding most anything the County Council does. The beach is an incredible resource that has to be protected and preserved: I don't have any doubts about that. But, like many human situations with well-established contexts, there's rarely a one-size-fits-all solution. I would miss being able to drive on the beach were the opportunity taken away from me. Thursday, January 30, 2003
The New Europe CNN has this report on how the leaders of Britain, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Denmark, Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic are backing the U.S. in the confrontation with Iraq. The jointly-signed article correctly identifies Iraq as the intransigent party that must comply with international demands. Noted absent friends: France. Germany. Waiting on Maglev Volusia County has a high-tech secret: American Maglev Technology's manufacturing and testing facility in Edgewater. You'd think that with something as slick and potentially spiffy as magnetic levitation technology for rapid transit and people moving, folks would be hyping the activity, using it to play up Volusia County's potential as a place for research and technological growth. On the other hand, with results like these, reported in today's Orlando Sentinel, maybe there's a pretty good reason very few around here talk about it. Maybe it's just another local boondoggle. I first became aware of the local maglev connection through an a brief article on American Maglev in IEEE Spectrum, an article that's not online right now. On the other hand, at a local IEEE meeting we once heard about what sometimes passes for high tech locally: the new Advanced Technology Center (aka the Vo Tech school). Sunday, January 26, 2003
More on The Loop In this post, Mark (Flablog) Lane points all to Save the Loop, a new organization here in Volusia County devoted to preserving a collection of roads known as The Loop. Lane has written previously about this (here and here and here), and I've put some loop photos available for perusal here. This is not an endorsement of the organization. Yet. But there's every reason to listen to what these folks are saying and to consider seriously their point of view. American Splendor The ever watchful Shattered Buddha / Dragonleg notes (here) that a film about left-wing Cleveland comic book artist/writer Harvey Pekar took a best film award at the Sundance Film Festival. Anyone who ever saw Pekar on Letterman -- or who read Pekar's piece about being on Letterman -- knows that Pekar is a curmudgeon who does nothing at all to disprove the notion that there's no room for fun on the left. I know nothing about the film, so I have no idea how Pekar comes across in it. If it's something he's responsible for, probably smarmy and self-righteous; if it's something someone else produced, he probably comes across as someone who doesn't know what a self-righteous jerk he seems to be. I wonder if this makes the copies of American Slendor, Pekar's comic book, that are buried somewhere in the comic book box worth more. Hello? E-bay? Addendum: What I hope is my better nature is telling me I ought to add that I haven't paid any attention to Pekar's work since the early 1990s, so my characterization of him above is based on that, not current knowledge. People change sometimes. Saturday, January 25, 2003
Too Geeky? Is using Mathematica to do the interpolation to figure out how much water and oats and salt to use when making three servings of oatmeal (aka "oats") too geeky? See, the instructions on the package (Publix brand) only cover one, two, and six servings, and the relationship is not linear (proportional). Sometimes, it's okay to use an elephant gun to kill a fly. And can one ever really be too geeky? Not Snow Okay, so it's been cold. Rather cold in places it's very unfrequently that cold. Places like here in beautiful Daytona Beach. But that stuff that some people claim they saw in the air yesterday was not snow. An Embry-Riddle professor of meteorology uses the term "snow like" in this story about the cold weather from the Daytona Beach News-Journal. Meanwhile, AccuWeather was calling it "ocean-effect snow": You know, like the "lake-effect snow" the weatherdrones on The Weather Channel go on about (and that people in upstate New York and the like know all about). Anyway, I didn't see any snow or anything snow like, and I don't know anyone who actually did. (Thbbbpt!) Sounds more like a cold-induced mass hallucination to me. Darwin Award Nominee WaPo (internet) frontpage headline: "Dog Assault Ends Man's Life". Teaser: " Virginia man accidently shoots himself while beating his wife's Shar-Pei.". Story: Here. Thursday, January 23, 2003
Wednesday, January 22, 2003
Rights Deferred The Metro Council of Nashville and Davidson County (Tennessee) has delayed its third and final consideration of an ordinance that would add gay and disabled people as folks not to be discriminated against in matters of employment and housing. My read of the Tennessean article (article here) left me unclear as to whether this was a move that will increase likelihood of the bill's final passage or whether it means that whatever gets passed will be so watered down as to be meaningless. Monday, January 20, 2003
Martin Luther King: I Have a Dream This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.Read the whole speech here. Likely Broken Blog I pulled one of those "forgot the closing quotation marks" around a URL the other day when I added the (unpulished until now) addendum to the PETA/leather post. I apologize for the weirdness. The added text was supposed to end, "Should we plan for vegan bikers at Bike Week. (Or should I use this page for Bike Week links?) Saturday, January 18, 2003
Friday, January 17, 2003
Doug & Bruce's Excellent US-1 Adventure Palm Beach Post writer Douglas Kalajian and photographer Bruce Bennett recently put together a series on what locally used to be called the Dixie Highway. New Englanders would know it as the Post Road. That's right, I'm talking US 1. This link takes you to an index of the nice photos and enjoyable articles. Save the Naughas! It was eventual -- after all, there are four billion people on this rock -- that PETA would someday take on people "into leather". The result is shown below.  The story (here) is from Cybercast News Service (whatever that is). (Link via Instapundit.) Addendum: Does this mean that we can expect PETA to take on bikers and local bike leather vendors? Should we plan for vegan bikers at Thursday, January 16, 2003
Saddam: "Just Doing Research" This just in from BBspot. Baghdad - Iraqi President Saddam Hussein today told investigators he is not developing nuclear or biological weapons, but instead has been doing research for a book on weapons of mass destruction he hopes to see published next year.Read the whole article here. Six Degrees of Frank Zappa Mark Lane points out (here) that former Florida (U.S.) senator Paula Hawkins had her voice sampled by Mr. Frank Zappa for a piece, Porn Wars, on the Frank Zappa Meets the Mothers of Prevention record. Weird Sunshine State Political Trivia -- Hawkins' voice was sampled in the Frank Zappa song "Porn Wars" ( Frank Zappa Meets The Mothers Of Prevention, 1985) repeating the phrase "fire and chains and other objectionable tools of gratification in some twisted minds." Yahoos to Protest Equal Rights Wacko Kansas minister Fred Phelps and his hateful crew are headed to Nashville to protest Metro Nashville's consideration of law protecting gay and lesbian citizens from unmotivated discrimination in employment, housing, etc. Story here from the (Nashville) Tennessean. Tuesday, January 14, 2003
Rock Notes Geez, what is up with Pete Townsend? The latest: He's been released from jail. The Who having been faves of mine from way back (say, ninth grade), I'm hoping this is all as Townsend describes. But what he's saying, like so many things he's said previously regarding sexuality and sexually-related things -- you know, his "I know what it feels like to be a woman, because I have been one" followed years later by "just kidding" -- just comes across like bullshit. Second, about Maurice Gibb and the Bee Gees. The Bee Gees were a great band long before they hit huge with the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. Songs like "I Started a Joke" and "Lonely Days and Lonely Nights" put then on this one's radar screen around the same time as, say, the Who. They were headliners in the second arena rock show I ever saw: At the Municipal Auditorium in Nashville in the summer of 1971 (I think. First rock show was Credence at Cobo Hall earlier that same summer. Eat your heart out Mr. Instapundit). I'm sorry to hear of another of the brothers Gibb passing away. Turning on the Lighthouse The lamp in the lighthouse at the Ponce de Leon Inlet here on the Volusia County beachside is being restored and should be shining again by this coming summer. Story with photos here (including a good lighthouse shot) from the Daytona Beach News-Journal. There's also this photo by N-J photographer Jim Tiller that was on the N-J's web site front page this morning, but isn't featured in the article. Salad in a Bag Today's New York Times has this story on one of the more useful conveniences of modern life in the USA. Monday, January 13, 2003
QotD "I did not anticipate this, but a lot of things have happened over the last three years that could not be anticipated and you have to deal with the realities of the situation." -- Steve Case, on resigning as chair of AOL Time-Warner. From this article in The Washington Post. The Earth, As Seen From The Moon Among the crew onboard Thursday's Space Shuttle launch (STS-107, shuttle Columbia) will be Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon. Among his gear will be this image of the Earth, as seen from the moon, that was drawn in the early 1940 by then 14-year-old Petr Ginz. Ginz perished in the Holocaust. A press release from Yad Vashem, the Israeli agency responsible for Holocaust remembrance, is here. (Link from Instapundit.) Sunday, January 12, 2003
Vlogging, Shvlogging Word on the blog street is that Vlogging is the next thing. Just what the world needs: Childhood fantasies of being the teevee newsman realized. My fantasy is to be on Letterman doing a stupid pet trick with our dog. Ladies and gentlemen, for your entertainment and edification, here's (455kb, .mpg format) Ursa the chocolate lab, catching a piece of ice and then eating it. Or double click the image below. |
