Universe

I consider this more a piece of art than science, which isn't to say it doesn't perfectly express our place in the universe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17jymDn0W6U&feature=player_embedded

I very seldom offer video links - take six minutes and watch this one.

More About First Flight

I'm told the temperature on the taxiway was 36 degrees; it was probably a degree or two warmer in the primary viewing area, since there were so many of us packed together. We had walked over a mile and waited an hour in the cold before 787 Airplane #1 even turned on its engines - there was a cheeer when we heard them spinning up. I watched closely through my monocular for the closing of Door 1 Right; a person nearby had a scanner tuned to Boeing's ground control frequency. A number of people had brough cameras, some were texting... and quite a few were watching our stock price, curious if 1st Flight would have a noticable effect.

First one, and eventually three news helicopters posted themselves over the field, one coming within a hundred feet of the crowd just barely off the ground to get close up shots.

I was standing in the NW corner of the primary viewing area, right on the taxiway. I was just one row back from the North edge, and about three from the West edge. We discussed whether the plane would take off to the north or south, and how well the flight would go. The landing of some regular business jet traffic was viewed with interest.

At a few minutes after 10:00AM, Door 1 Right closed and the stairway pulled away. The plane began to taxi from its stall onto the runway. It passed us, still at taxi speed, and turned around out of my sight to the south.

A pair of chase planes made a pass over the field south to north, then came around for another pass. As they did, perfectly timed, the 787 brought its engines to takeoff power and rolled down the runway. It wasn't quite in my sight when it rotated off the runway, but it can't have been more than 100 feet up when it came into sight. One of the chase planes passed right over my head. Time by my watch: 10:26AM.

The flight of three climbed slowly away to the north, fading out of sight into the distance and the clouds. I watched until I couldn't pick them up any more in my monocular.

Hours later, back at my desk, I watched on video as the plane touched down in Seattle.

This will be something that I'll never forget.

FIRST FLIGHT!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQM3xFg2Myg

The 787 lifted off on its maiden flight at 10:26AM local time. I was out on the taxiway with what must have been thousands of other employees.

I have a big grin on my face right now. SHE FLEW!

Puppy Filk

TTTO: "Pop goes the weasel"

Round and round the living room floor
The puppy chased the chew toy
Round and round the living room floor
Squeek! Goes the chew toy.

This is what I get...

... for not keeping up with the news.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125883405294859215.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

On November 20th, hackers published 61mb of data they got from a climate change research group. The data includes over 1,000 emails, many of which I'm quite sure the senders would rather had never seen the light of day.

A lot of people who've been busily poking holes in AGW research for years are practically dancing in the streets.

What bothers me the most is that if the hackers are caught, they will be punished for releasing information that the 'owners' were legally required to release, but didn't, under various FOI requests in two countries. Yes, the hackers broke the law. Apparently, however, so did numerous climate 'scientists' who've been getting quite a lot of taxpayer funding to research a problem they KNEW wasn't as bad as they were claiming.

From scanning a few other articles on the subject it seems that most of the media is going to play up the fact that it was a hack and play down the importance of what was released.

Paranoia

You're not paranoid if they're really out to get you.

Sunday I played in my first Paranoia RPG game since... the KGB game sophomore year of college? Something like that.

Gid-R-Ley returned to Alpha Complex, this time as a member of the Armed Forces (laser rifle and mystery grenades!) as part of a team of five crack troubleshooters (or are they troubleshooters on crack?) charged with protecting the 425 Mark IV Warbot. So far we're down five clones (I got first death!), with one person down two and one person down none. All of the kills have been by party members. As near as I can tell the greatest danger to the 425 Mark IV Warbot is us. The second greatest danger to the party are the mobile anti-personnel mines that appear have somewhat suicidal artificial intelligence, and pain sensors. You know you're in Alpha Complex when a mine says "Ouch."

Much hilarity, much laser fire, and in the war between the Gamemaster and the Players we seem to be ahead on points. :-)

Is this a joke?

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120602661

"State Department Office Reaches Out To Muslims
"A new division opened in the State Department this year: the office of the Special Representative to Muslim Communities. Farah Pandith's mission is to reach out to the world's 1.2 billion Muslims. She tells Steve Inskeep the office will influence how Muslims perceive the United States."

Well, judging by the "Special Representative's" comments and responses to questions, we don't want to talk about anything remotely substantive or relevant. Lots of doubletalk. Lots of evading questions.

The only silver lining I see here is that fanatic muslims probably won't want to talk to a female envoy at all, so at least she won't spend a lot of time with the communities that are calling for jihads against us.

As for her bright hopes for the new generation... is this the generation only 40% of whom think islamics executed the 9/11 attacks? 47% of whom think of themselves as muslims first, americans second at best? And that's in the US. She's talking about the world.

Puppy Training

Kaylee had her first puppy class wednesday night. At first she was completely terrified - shaking and cuddling up as close to me as possible. She came out of her shell about halfway through, however, and spent a fair amount of time sniffing other dogs and trying to leap upon humans.

Overall things went fairly well - by comparison Kaylee is actually relatively obediant and not a barker. I'm not sure if she's actually an above-average puppy (in which case I really feel bad for most puppy owners) or if we've just got a class of hard cases.

Veteran's Day

My friends, to Absent Companions.

Puppy Love

Well, Kaylee has now been part of the family for over a week.

I have never seen anything more clearly and completely happy to see me than Kaylee after I came home from my first day of work. She jumped all over me, up to twice her height off the ground, panting like mad and wagging her entire body. She then proceeded to bounce around the house like a gas molecule for several straight minutes.

Her greetings have gotten a little less intense each day, but she still puts on quite a show.

Kaylee has had her first bath, which went better than I expected, and her first nail clipping, which did not. Training is going slowly; I'm hopeful that formal classes will help. Her behavior at night is much better (quieter and for longer periods). At some point I may even be able to sleep through the night again. :-}

Houston, we have a puppy!

Last night I picked up a girl. Dark brown eyes, white hair, very cute, about 10" tall, four legs, one tail...

Yes, I now have a puppy. Her full legal name is Nordic Whisper Kaylee Emma Raskob. The first two are the fault of the breeder, not me. Her call name is Kaylee.

All she's got is a mouth, so the whole world looks like a chew toy, but we're making a lot of progress already. She's extremely hyper, and did NOT want to go to sleep last night, but I can get her to settle down when necessary. I also got her to sit three times this morning. :-)

While this blog isn't going to be all puppy, all the time, Kaylee will have a starring role for the foreseeable future.

Awesomeness

Nathon Fillion rocks. Castle rocks.

Monday was the 'Halloween episode' of Castle (the TV show) for this season. It opens with Richard Castle (Nathon Fillion) accessorizing himself in a Halloween costume that is strongly reminiscent of Mal Reynolds, complete with sidearm, suspenders, and brown overcoat. He then walks into another room and asks his daughter's opinion. In answer to her question "what are you" he replies "a space cowboy!" She counters, "didn't you wear that like five years ago?"

I swear, I don't know how they kept straight faces for that exchange.

For those who don't keep track, the movie "Serenity" opened September 30th, 2005. Firefly aired in the 2002/2003 TV season.

Oh, Castle is a pretty good TV show in general. It just happens that this particular opening is awesome.

Puppy, sleep, and Grey's

So, I think Grey's Anatomy has finally, clearly, and permanently jumped the shark. I think last season was a general downhill slide, though with a few excellent moments, but killing George and then this season... well, I'm considering stopping watching it. It seems highly unlikely that the season will recover to the point where I'll want to buy the DVD set.

I've been having some insomnia lately - had two nights late last week where I just couldn't get more than four hours of sleep. No idea why, or if it will continue.

And to finish on a positive note, last night I visited the Prospective Puppy! For those not in the loop, an American Eskimo breed puppy is in my very near future. Katie (tentative name) is an overly enthusiastic and energetic critter (so... she's a puppy). She also has needle sharp teeth, which she over uses slightly. We took to each other right away, however, and the future includes plans for quite a bit of formal and home training which should correct the "everything is interesting and everything is a chew toy" problem.

Optimism

It is rare for me to think that I'm an optimist. However, when something that looks like it is going well at first turns out to be bad for the Nth time, I have to wonder.

Yes, I'm talking about work.

Every time I think the 787 is going to fly, it gets delayed again. Dissapointments happen at a lower level even more often.

So am I an optimist who's pessimistic about being an optimist? Does that even make sense?

I'm a Redshirt!

Many years ago, I played FASA's Star Trek RPG. I played the security chief on an original-series era Larson class destroyer (USS Leyte). One of the stats you roll for is a straight percentile dice roll for luck. I rolled a 99 - the highest score possible. This perhaps explains how I managed to survive going down on landing parties with the captain, XO, communications officer... I eventually did a halloween costume for my character, red shirt and all.

But this post isn't about that. Well, not any more than what's already been posted.

I am, once again, a redshirt.

See, there's an author called John Ringo who seems to like racking up high body counts in his books. He also tends to give little paragraph/page length blips about some of the people he then immediately kills. Fans understandably dubbed these redshirts, and quickly found that the author was willing to use fan's names to avoid having to come up with names on his own. A year or so ago I emailed Mr. Ringo with a question about a plot point in one of his books that had been bugging me (he generally writes internally-consistant and fairly realistic fiction, so aparent plot holes bug me more than they do in some other author's works). He responded, clearing up the point and quite successfully explaining how it wasn't a plot hole. I thanked him and offered my name for redshirting should he choose to use it.

Looks like he has!

http://jiltanith.thefifthimperium.com/Collections/LiveFreeorDieChapters/LiveFreeorDie_05.php

This is a (authorized) snippet from a book that is not yet published. It includes a brief conversation between the principle character and, drumroll please: "James Raskob, President, CEO and Chief Engineer of AMTAC".

I've been planning on getting the book since I saw the synopsis (I've bought digital or print copies of most of Ringo's books), now I'm wondering if I should try to get an autographed copy. :-)

For the record, I have no idea if I die, turn out to be a villain, turn into a recurring character, or have more than the one scene in the snippet. Regardless, I'm kind of pysched to see my name in print.

Winery Wedding

This weekend I attended a wedding at a winery in Ohio. I've been to many weddings, and I'm no stranger to Ohio, but this was the first time I was ever at a winery.

The wedding (and socializing with other friends in town for the wedding) was fun. I danced, drank, and swapped stories with a number of good people. As weddings go, this one was very short - just 15 minutes from beginning to end.

I was swept up into the group that pranked the newlyweds car - putting over 100 baloons in it, attaching a pair of handcuffs to the steering wheel, and scattering various other items throughout, in addition to the inevitable window markings and beer cans tied to the trailer hitch. I tried to be the voice of moderation. In any case the bride seemed rather amused at the pranking (it has been something of a tradition in this group of people), so all's well that ends well.

The dinner after the wedding was also at the winery. There were about 70-80 guests invited (quick guesstimate is that about 90% showed up), about 65 bottles of wine of about a dozen different varieties (no, I am NOT kidding), and about 150 freshly-made cupcakes (in place of wedding cake). I drank quite a bit of wine and not enough water, which may have contributed to some of the more energetic dancing I did. :-)

Should anyone ever be near Cleveland and interested in wine, I recommend the Buccia Winery, http://www.bucciavineyard.com/ . Try their Candlelight wine if you get the chance.

Flying Southwest Airlines to and from continues to make me appreciate them. Free-form boarding may not be for everyone, but I really like the way some of the attendants spice up the announcements. "We never anticipate a loss of cabin pressure. If we did, we wouldn't have showed up to work today... if you are seated with a child or someone acting like a child..." I still don't take the safety briefing seriously, but they do make me pay attention.

Well, it has potential

Those who've known me only during/since college might be a little surprised to find that growning up I was, and so some extent still am, a hard-core railfan. Yup, railroads, especially the 'glory days' of steam engines, are something I find fascinating, beautiful, and (important to my engineer's brain) practical and replete with fine mechanical engineering.

I'll admit my membership in NARRP has long since expired, and I couldn't even find my mileage log for the last train trip I took, but I still love the rails.

So I feel compelled to give overdue credit for pushing an upgrade to the sad state of long-distance passenger travel in the US to PBHO's administration. http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/09/04/16/A-Vision-for-High-Speed-Rail/
I discovered this initiative just today.

What I'm not sure of is just how much horsepower is behind this. On the one hand, PBHO has his hands full trying to ruin healthcare in this country, declare one of the principle gasses I exhale a harmful polutant to be taxed, and generally mucking up our economy by printing money. On the other hand, even Amtrak has managed to squeeze budget dollars for the Acela service in the Northeast Corridor. If Amtrak can find the money for new equipment, you know the time for it has come.

In fact, I've been half-expecting a push for high-speed medium and long-distance passenger service in this country ever since 9/11. The technology was there even before that (I have a t-shirt bought about the X-2000 when it did demo trips in the Northeast Corridor back in 1993), and it seemed like the jumpstart it needed might have arrived in finding something that made air travel even LESS customer friendly. (See my various rants about the utter uselessness and in some cases INcreased risk of air travel under the TSA.)

Of course, $13 billion, while hardly spare change even in these days of trillion dollar deficit spending packages, is still only a tiny fraction of what the Federal Government puts annually into the interstate highway network, while remaining an order of magnitude more than Amtrak's current budget.

So is this a sop to common sense that will be abandoned in the compromises over health miscare, or a massive boost to the passenger rail industry? Neither? Both?

From the Frontlines: Banner War

This weekend was Banner War.

It. Rocked.

I'd planned to arrive friday evening, but had to stay 2 hours late at work. So I went up Saturday morning instead. After waking up far earlier than I prefer on a weekend, I packed up the car and arrived to find that the mundane site gate wasn't open yet (Google's directions said the trip would take about twice as long as it did).

Finally on site, I checked in with the household that had recruited me (in advance!) - Methelstede - and pitched camp. I processed into court with the house. Only three houses were competing this year: Methelstede, Ravenstream, and the inevitable Red Plague. Redstone and Gremlin were both fighting for Methelstede, so the odds were rather heavy against Ravenstream and horrifyingly bad against Red Plague (though that never seems to bother them).

Rapier followed court, with three battles. A round robin (point to Ravenstream, not surprising since they outnumbered us 3 to 1 and had all the white scarves and cadets in attendance), a duel (rubber band guns at eight paces, finished with swords if necessary) which we managed to win on kills, and a "tavern brawl." The latter deserves some attention - we started by entering the tavern, which included a table and several empty 2-liter plastic bottles. These were ruled to be glass, and could be used as bludgeons or broken to be used to stab. After some warm-up trash talking lay on was called and much violence ensued. Now outnumbered only 7:3, we scored one point for best use of terrain, but failed to defeat Ravenstream. Final rapier war points were 4:3 Ravenstream:Methelstede - not bad for how badly outnumbered we were! The rubber band guns used in the duel were my own brand-new pair of matched pistols.

I spent a little time on the thrown weapons range learning a bizarre but functional method for throwning spears.

Then came Court, where to my shock I was called up and entered into the Order of the Silver Dolphin! This is the bottom level Baronial service award; specific mention was made of my helping out with Ursulmas. The Silver Dolphin comes with a scroll and my first SCA medallion.

Then came Bardic. Bardic was amazing, with six truly impressive entrants (including myself). There was a couple from the Kingdom of Trimaris who'd just moved here, one of whom is a Bardic Laurel. There was another couple which is the Baronial Bardic Champion and the Baronial Herald (won Judge's Choice for the Heraldry-themed catagory). There was a knight, who did a belly dance imitation as part of one of his entries and was the overall winner (well deserved, though I don't envy the judges trying to pick a winner from that field!). Two pieces were required, one on the theme of war and one on the theme of heraldry. I opened the competition with a non-judged piece that the Baroness had ordered me to create, about my death in the Sable Rose tourney at Midhaven's Championship.

(TTTO "Danny Boy"), words by Roger Gridley:
Oh Roger boy, the Sable Rose is calling,
To fight with skill, and die with artistry.
And though you'll fight inspired by your fair lady;
You'll mostly die, so better make it good.
Ten times upon the field of honor you will stand,
Five times you'll win, defeating your proud foe,
Five times you'll die, upon their swords or daggers,
Oh Roger boy, oh Roger boy, how will you die?
(Spoken)
A touch! A touch! I do confess it!
'Tis not as broad as the heart of a Pelican,
Nor as deep as the documentation of a Laurel,
Nor yet as fierce as the blow from a belted Knight,
But 'tis enough, 'twill serve.
(Fall over dead).

My competition pieces were my own Ballad of King Rorik, and a filk about making a heraldic submission in the SCA to the tune of Officer Krumpke (from West Side Story). The Ballad of King Rorik got Judge's Choice for best war-themed entry. The war point went to Methelstede.

The Bardic competition and inevitable follow-up bardic circle lasted three hours.

Sunday morning I awoke and entered into the dance contest, doing a war brawl (yes, that's not how it is spelled, but it is how it is pronounced) and an english country dance (along with many others from all three competing households). War point to Methelstede. I danced with only short breaks for several hours.

Methelsted won the War by a noteworthy margin, although Ravenstream gave quite a fight, splitting the points in mang catagories, and Red Plague almost certainly got the highest points-to-people ratio. From a personal stand point although I didn't score any points directly for Methelstede, at least one point went to them in every catagory I competed in. :-)

Before closing court I helped do the Town Cry announcing court - which I think may be the first time I've done a real town cry.

One other minor thing of note. The parking at Banner War is a ways from the event site itself. On my way to park after pitching camp I picked up someone who was hiking up to get to his car. Later when I was heading up to drop my fencing gear at my car I was offered (and accepted) a ride from a different person. Both of them were complete strangers to me. Karma can be a good thing.

I was completely wiped out and my legs are still aching this morning, but between my Dolphin, bardic, fencing, and everything else this was a wonderful event for me.

SuperBot!

Faster than a speeding Mars Rover, more powerful than a Roomba, able to leap chain-link fences in a single bound, its...

Precision Urban Hopper!!

http://sliceofmit.wordpress.com/2009/09/21/explosive-pogo-stick-robot-leaps-over-25-foot-obstacles/

OK, so the name isn't very exciting.

Dog Show

Saturday I went to a dog show for the first time.

Amusement: it was held in a venue that had a sign at the main gate clearly noting "No dogs allowed (except service animals)."

There is a really amazing variety of dogs in the world. Tiny little puppies you can pick up with one hand, huge things that look more like a small horse, fluffy, short-haired, smart looking, dumb looking...

I spent some quality time with a pair of american eskimo dogs named Cora and Gandalf. I got a very good vibe about the eski breed.

A somewhat desparate keeshound owner roped me in to show one of her dogs - she had two and the handler she'd planned to have show the other one was delayed. So at my first dog show with no clue what I was doing I led the dog around the ring. Luckily the judges are looking at the dog not the handler - the dog got a ribbon. :-)

I am planning to get a dog before the end of the year. Mostly for companionship, and partly as a watchdog (not a guard dog - I just want an alarm system).

Things just keep getting better!

I just got my first-ever traffic ticket - expired tabs on my license plate. I honestly didn't know they were expired (yes, I know it is my responsibility to know), and thought the state sent a reminder when they were getting close (they certainly did last time).

So instead of going out to lunch today with a friend, I'm going to the local emissions testing station.

Instead of relaxing this weekend and looking forward to a dog show tomorrow, I get to write a check for $124.

Dream - NOT my usual type

I've spent a lot of time wondering if I should post this at all, but somehow I feel compelled to.

WARNING: this is probably about a hard PG-13 rating at least and includes descriptions of disturbing events of a sexual nature. It was NOT a happy dream.

I had a dream the night before last. I was an employee (male) in a brothel. About a dozen of us were in a room with two rows of beds - I was on a bed in one corner. Clients arrived, and the one who came to me was highly upset to find that I was a guy (I think everyone else in the room was a female and that's what he had been expecting). A bouncer came in when the guy started yelling and the client grabbed him - I persuaded the client to let him go, that he could have first pick of the girls next round.

The girl next to me - to my right - was new, and very nervous. She seemed reluctant and scared, but willing or at least accepting; I'm not sure why. Her client was also a little unsure - I got the impression that he hadn't done this before (paid for sex at least, had sex at all...?). She undressed on the bed, clearly trying to follow some sort of guidelines on how to behave, but not sure about the details. Part way through I held her hand (the beds were very close together), which seemed to help her get through it, though it made her undressing even more awkward. I felt very sorry for her, and wished I could do more. The client, ah, lay down with her (the dream was somewhat graphic), and she kept holding my hand; I could feel her squeezing it. She was in some pain, but I could tell that holding my hand made it a little easier for her. After a while of this the clients' time was up, and they left. I asked her something - I can't remember the exact question now, but I was gently asking her if she was OK, if it would help her to talk to me about it. I felt that she had been raped, even though she hadn't objected.

The scene shifted - I was still a brothel employee (same place), but now I was on duty greeting clients and matching them up with employees. It seems less important that I describe this part in detail. Suffice to say that it seemed I was a junior and relatively powerless employee trying to do the best I could do avoid trouble and make life a little better for the other employees. They, in turn, liked and appreciated me, despite being somewhat under my orders and in a much worse situation than I was. The place I was in (the name was repeated in the dream, but I can't remember it now) was considered a high quality brothel, and often catered to very rich and/or powerful clients, one of whom brought several bodyguards with him and wasn't above threatening my life.

Well, that's what I feel I needed to say. I don't know why I felt so strongly compelled to write about this and publish it - this is NOT the sort of thing I'd consider putting up on any blog in normal circumstances.

In most of my dreams I'm somewhat powerless - unable to speak, walk, etc. Most of the time I don't remember them in any detail - nothing close to the detail I wrote here, which in turn is only the outline of what I remembered of this dream. I've had several 'erotic' dreams in the past, but none of them were ANYTHING like this.

To anyone who's made it this far, I would greatly appreciate your thoughts, no matter what they may be.

Big Headlines Today!

The Good:

1st Rocky extrasolar planet discovered!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32876479/ns/technology_and_science-space/

OK, perhaps "lava" or "molten" might be better than "rocky", but the thing is solid. At 3,600 degrees F, but solid (WAY too close to its star).

The Bad:

PBHO's administration supports extending several provisions of the "Patriot Act".

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/09/15/obama-supports-extending-provisions-patriot-act/?test=latestnews

So much for "change".

1,000 Days

Today is my 1,000th day of paid work for Boeing. That includes 43 days when I came in on a weekend or holiday to work.

I have also racked up 121 days of paid time off: 49 holidays, 39 days of vacation, and 33 days of sick leave.

I have worked 1,352 hours of overtime - noticably more than my 968 hours of paid time off.

In other work-related news, for a few years now I've kept a dish of mint patties (Pearson's) at my desk for general consumption. I buy the big boxes of them at Costco as my personnal contribution to keeping everyone's breath nice and minty. This morning I came in to find that someone had left one of these boxes on my desk - I'm guessing as a token of appreciation. Well, I appreciate it, and the mints will keep coming. :-)

Blah

I hate being one of the blind men trying to describe the elephant. Especially when I konw what the elephant actually looks like.

Where were you?

Where were you, eight years ago, when you heard about the 9/11 attacks?

I was at Carnegie Mellon. I checked my morning news feeds and saw one of the early notices of the 1st plane crashing into the WTC. I forwarded it to several of the campus electronic bboards (several people later told me that message was the first word they had of the attacks). I was watching the news in the Old Student Center when the second tower fell. I spent much of the day in Roselawn 6 with APhiO brothers watching the news - I remember the heart-stopping moment when we heard a plane overhead, and everyone in Roselawn slowly went outside to stare up at the sky.

For my parent's generation, it was the Kennedy Assasination; everyone remembers where they were when they first heard the President had been shot. For ours, it is 9/11.

Where were you?

Waldo & Magic Inc?

Robert Heinlein wrote a novella many years ago on the premis that wireless electrical power had become commonplace. Among other things there turned out to be problematic health effects from the amount of energy being accidently absorbed by the human body.

I hope some of the people testing this:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/09/02/wireless.electricity/index.html

are up on their Heinlein. High levels of RF energy - of just about any radiation, in fact - are very bad for the human body. Magnetic fields can be a problem too, though I expect most of the problems there would be due to modern personal electronics being minimally shielded. Trying to power your brand-new wireless powered phone and... ZZT! You just killed your old-school battery powered PDA.

One week

It has been a week, and it still hurts. I still catch myself looking down on walking into a room at home to make sure I'm not about to step on the cat. I still expect him to jump up on the bed at night.

I was at college when my father died - although the disruption to my life was great, my day-to-day existance after the funeral was much as it had been before I got the news. This time the disruption is smaller, but far closer to home.

"Improvement"

A recurring theme lately has been news reports that the economy is improving, with evidence such as a decrease in the number of new unemployment claims, lower than expected losses on company balence sheets, etc.

It makes me wish differential equations was a mandatory subject in school.

A decrease in the rate of descent is NOT the same thing as an increase. We're still going down, we're just not going down AS FAST.

IMO, the recession isn't actually 'over' until we've not just started going UP again, but regained all the lost ground of the down swing.

Loss

Today at 7:58AM the vet put Seran (our cat) to sleep. He'd been living with diabetes for several years, though up until two weeks ago he was coping well. However by this morning he was in serious pain, having difficulty breathing, and hadn't eaten anything in two days, despite us trying everything from baby food to bread with alfredo sauce. He was 17 years old, and had been my cat for seven or eight years - a quarter of my life.

He is, and will be, sorely missed. He was a good cat.

I buried him in the back yard at about 9:30AM.

From the Cavalry Raid: Warren War

Last night I spent three hours in the car in order to attend a bardic competition at an event. I didn't do anything else at the event, mind you. I'm classifying this as a cavalry raid.

There were six entrants, and I made it to the final round. I turned in quite respectable performances in each of the five rounds, but in the final my opponent (Arundel or some such - sp?) knocked it out of the park. He deserved the win - though I'd have loved a chance to go best two out of three with him!

My entries:
1st round, theme "broken heart": The Roman Centurion's Song (poem by Kipling)
2nd round, theme "revenge": Black Jack's Lady (song by Heather Alexander)
3rd round, theme "air": converted to 'wind' and thus to 'winds of fortune', "Here me now..." from Man of la Mancha.
4th round, theme "witch": The Rising of the Wheat (story by me)
5th round, theme "ghost": The Phantom of the Opera (from musical of the same name)

After the bardic a group of us played around with AL Weber - a little bit of Cats, and a lot of Jesus Christ Superstar (turns out the just-became-champion had played Judas in a production...).

Irony

Boeing Commercial Airplane Export Control group just gave us all pens as thanks for making our desks secure for Family Day.

The pens are clearly marked "Made in China".

A logical conclusion I'd never reached

http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff200/fv00170.htm

Per the environmentalists, Solar Power is good.

Per physics, Solar Power is Nuclear Power.

Therefore, Nuclear Power is good!

Alternate:

Per the environmentalists, Radiation produced by Nuclear Power is hazardous to living creatures.

This is a big problem for plants.

Aboard

It may be over two years late, but the 787 is still a beauty. I just got back from a trip to the 787 final assembly line, where I got to step aboard a Dreamliner for the first time.

Airplanes are representative of the difference between my personal intellect and emotions. I KNOW that commercial air travel on a first-world airline is not just safe, but absurdly safe. It is safer than cars, trains, boats, ships, or just walking down the street. Yet, I still cannot sleep on a plane - the best I can manage is a half-sleeping state. Again, I find aircraft systems fascinating - both technically and aesthetically. I know a great deal about their inner workings. But I can't make myselft trust them. There's no logical reason for it, but my emotions aren't under the control of logic.

Perhaps part of the problem is the TSA. I firmly believe (and this is both intellect and emotion) that they make flying less safe. Perhaps part of the problem is that I know what they are trying to do, and I disagree with their whole philosophy, not just how they apply it to produce regulations and processes. Also I think from a strict constitutional standpoint the TSA screenings are illegal (because they are done by the federal government, not by any party to the contract between me and the airline).

It doesn't change the fact that it was a thrill to go aboard a 787, and I'd be even more psyched to go on a test flight.

But I wouldn't be able to sleep.

Perhaps there really will be change!

It must be April Fool's Day, or snowing in Hell. A government appointee has recently taken an office he is actually qualified for!

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200909/fema

Craig Fugate is now the head of FEMA.

He's worked as a volunteer firefighter and a professional paramedic. He reportedly has no political connections to PBHOJ. He's an advocate of individual preparedness, objects to the media 'celebrating' people who refuse to evacuate when ordered, and conducts unscheduled disaster drills. I think if I weren't straight I'd be in love.

Anyone want to take bets on him being fired within a year?

I Love a Parade!

Wednesday evening I was in a parade for the second time in my life.

I'm currently working up to do sword work with a belly dance troop and I was conscripted^H^H^H recruited to carry one end of the troop's banner in a local parade. I also had my dance sword and was wearing a highly elaborate vest that included small mirrors.

The parade was only half a dozen blocks long but was rather fun, and included a horseback troop, a tractor towing a train of children's wagons, and various other cars, scooters, etc.

Guitar Sidekick

Last night I practiced playing the guitar for the first time. Yes, I've been meaning to do this since the Midhaven Champions a month and a half ago.

I am certainly never going to be a master, but I think that given sufficient practice I will be able to augment my singing with some reasonable guitar strumming and picking. I managed to tune the guitar, and also to play two chords (E minor and A minor, iirc).

My fingers are still a little battered, but hopefully they will adjust.

4th of July Part II: The Getty Villa

Well, it has been several weeks since the 4th of July (in fact, it has been exactly a month, but hey), and I'm still a little in awe of the Getty Villa Museum.

Most museums are either fairly drab backdrops to their exhibits or, IMO, eyesores that detract from them due to trying to hard to be 'artistic' themselves. The Getty Villa is neither. For those who don't know, the Villa is almost a recreation of a Roman villa house and surroundings. If the modern display cases were removed and the rather less than artfully concealed modern security and safety equipment hidden it could do an excellent job as a living history structure all by itself - the building is a work of art, one of both high quality and, as far as I can tell, high fidelity to the styles and traditions of Roman art. The collection is rather modest in quantity, but impressive in quality. I found the coin exhibit and discussion particularly noteworthy, though the almost complete lack of arms and armor bothered my slightly given the militancy of Roman culture.

While perhaps only of limited interest to those who aren't into Etruscan/Greco-Roman art and history (the collection is quite narowly focused), it is a treat for those who are, with a cafeteria that is tailored to the subject as well as some excellent and creative exhibits.

One other slightly low note was the giftshop, which was small in both size and in variety - oddly, considering the lavish space available.

All in all, however, the museum is a gem that is more than worthy of the artifacts it presents.

From the Rear Echelon: WA Ren Faire

Saturday I led of party of three who braved the heat to visit the WA Ren Faire in its new location. The Faire didn't happen at all last year due to permit issues, which made braving 90 degree weather with no cloud cover seem reasonable... at the time.

The new site, sadly, has no shade aside from the booths themselves and some extremely rare trees. The old site had a number of fully shaded areas from tree cover alone. The weather on saturday included only a fitful and slight breeze - just enough to taunt us.

However, I think the trip was worth it. The gypsy equestrian show is always worth the time - there is just something about someone standing on the back of a trotting horse doing a backflip onto another trotting horse behind them. :-) In addition I acquired a new pair of fencing gloves and a larger hit, both of which I'd been rather in need of.

The heat did get to us, however, and after just a few hours we departed. If the weather is better I may make another trip on one of the coming weekends.

Harry Potter and the Half-Baked Script

Harry Potter Movie Review Template:

This is my review of Harry Potter and the [insert rest of name here]. The recurring cast turned in a stellar performance with the limited material they were given to work with. The casting team was also very successful in getting [insert name of non-recurring star here] in their role as [new faculty member of the book here], which they brought off as if they'd been playing the part for years themselves.

Also of note were the special effects, particularly [insert slightly oversized monster here], which looked very life like and yet magical. While impressive, some of the effects, such as [insert magical form of transportation here] seemed rather more distracting than convincing.

Quite why Steve Kloves believes he is a better writer than JK Rowling is uncertain, as the changes from the book to the script have left out information critical to the plot and character development. While I admit [insert name of book here] has its own plot holes, surely the movie would be better served trying to close one or two of them instead of opening new ones?

In particular, I was disappointed by the reduction in Ginny's character, given her importance to the series as a whole. Bonnie Wright seems to be a highly capable actress (doubly so given her age), and I would greatly enjoy seeing her enact her scenes as they were written, or at least somewhat close to the way they were written.

All in all, we are left with a movie whose plot can probably only be fully understood by those who are very familiar with the book, yet sufficiently different that someone familiar with the book will probably still be confused and dissapointed.

Hopefully, the studio will agree with the petition to turn [insert name of next book here] into two movies rather than one, and will sack Mr. Kloves.

Note that Mr. Kloves should be replaced by Mr. Goldenberg for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

Ad Astra

"If this capsule history of our progress teaches us anything, it is that man, in his quest for knowledge and progress, is determined and cannot be deterred. The exploration of space will go ahead, whether we join in it or not, and it is one of the great adventures of all time, and no nation which expects to be the leader of other nations can expect to stay behind in this race for space.

Those who came before us made certain that this country rode the first waves of the industrial revolution, the first waves of modern invention, and the first wave of nuclear power, and this generation does not intend to founder in the backwash of the coming age of space. We mean to be a part of it--we mean to lead it. For the eyes of the world now look into space, to the moon and to the planets beyond, and we have vowed that we shall not see it governed by a hostile flag of conquest, but by a banner of freedom and peace. We have vowed that we shall not see space filled with weapons of mass destruction, but with instruments of knowledge and understanding.

Yet the vows of this Nation can only be fulfilled if we in this Nation are first, and, therefore, we intend to be first. In short, our leadership in science and industry, our hopes for peace and security, our obligations to ourselves as well as others, all require us to make this effort, to solve these mysteries, to solve them for the good of all men, and to become the world's leading space-faring nation.

We set sail on this new sea because there is new knowledge to be gained, and new rights to be won, and they must be won and used for the progress of all people. For space science, like nuclear science and all technology, has no conscience of its own. Whether it will become a force for good or ill depends on man, and only if the United States occupies a position of pre-eminence can we help decide whether this new ocean will be a sea of peace or a new terrifying theater of war. I do not say that we should or will go unprotected against the hostile misuse of space any more than we go unprotected against the hostile use of land or sea, but I do say that space can be explored and mastered without feeding the fires of war, without repeating the mistakes that man has made in extending his writ around this globe of ours.

There is no strife, no prejudice, no national conflict in outer space as yet. Its hazards are hostile to us all. Its conquest deserves the best of all mankind, and its opportunity for peaceful cooperation many never come again. But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas?

We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon, we choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too."

-John F. Kennedy, September 12th, 1962.

More Proof that Cats Rule the World

Dogs have owners. Cats have staff.

Why? Well, recent research indicates that many cats can put a bit of a human baby's cry into their purr - an 'insistant purr'; pet me now!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8147566.stm

Since humans are biologically programmed to respond to a crying baby, we're also less likely to ignore a cat using this insistant purr. As if the big eyes and the fur weren't bad enough.

Blueberry Bonanza

Sunday night my gaming group had a blueberry-themed dinner. It may come as no surprise to those who know me that this was at my suggestion.

The menu included:

Drinks:
Blueberry vodka
Sangria (with blueberries, rasberries, orange chunks, red wine, strawberry lemonade, and blueberry vodka)

Snacks:
Fresh blueberries
Blueberry muffins
Chocolate covered blueberries

Entrees:
Chicken with blueberry sauce
Blueberry pancakes (blueberry or maple syrup to taste)
Omlettes (with some combination of bacon, mushrooms, various cheeses, and blueberries)

Dessert:
Blueberry pie (whipped cream or ice cream to taste)

I also attempted to provide blueberry wine, but the store, while having just about every other form of fruit wine known to man, did not have it and couldn't order it in time. Seriously, between the asian pear wine and the boysenberry wine, there wasn't room for blueberries?!?

4th of July Part I: Medieval Times

For my 4th of July weekend, I went down to southern California to visit friends and family.

While I was there five of us went to Medieval Times: http://www.medievaltimes.com/

I have to say, they know how to put on a show.

The pre-show showed a delightful sense of humor; at a 'knighting' ceremony a child was knighted, leading the chancellor to remark that it must be summer, because the (k)nights are getting shorter. Our server at dinner gave us "Campbell's Cream of Dragon Soup" and "Fresh Roast Buzzard."

The show itself, however, favored the dramatic. There was a plot, which included a tournament in celebration of a peace treaty. Mostly, however, there was nicely done stunt fighting, including lancework on horseback, swordwork on horseback, melee combat on the ground with a mix of sword, case of sword, axe, mace, flail, and hand-to-hand. Dramatic fog was slightly overused, but overall I was impressed by the quality of the fighting - no swinging from wildly out of range here! Lances were splintered and sparks struck from swords.

One little bit that made quite an impression on me was a falconer. I've always known birds of prey could dive at very high speed, but that's the fastest I've ever seen a big bird go in level flight!

There are six knights, each of which has a section of the audience to cheer for them. We got the Yellow Knight, Don Eduardo del Rey of Navarre. He did manage to defeat one opponent in single combat before getting taken out himself.

A great time was had by all. If you're ever near one of the franchise locations, I highly recommend it. SCA members, please check your detailed period knowledge at the door.

From the Frontlines: Midhaven Champions

This weekend was the Shire of Midhaven's Champions event as well as a Sable Rose tournament (the Sable Rose is a group that is trying to bring more pageantry into SCA fighting among other things). Despite worthy competition, I was judged the winner of the Bardic championship, with a rendition of Don Quixote's introductory song from Man of La Mancha. I am now the proud bearer of a hand-made guitar that is the champion's regalia - so I need to learn to play the guitar. :-}

I also fought rapier, coming in second in the rapier championship (OK, there were only two of us), and winning Best Death in the Sable Rose rapier tournament. The Sable Rose was double round robin (everybody fights everybody else twice), with three fighters. Among other things, I died gasping out:

A touch! A touch! I do confess it.
'Tis not as wide as the heart of a Pelican*,
Nor as deep as the documentation of a Laurel**,
Nor yet as fierce as the blow from a Knight***,
But 'tis enough, 'twill serve.

I also had my inspiration come out after a different death, weep over my corpse, then come on to my killer in an attempt to get a new champion. The fighting was remarkably clean and fun. For our off-hand weapons, the Baroness chose a card with a random off-hand weapon on it... or "lady's choice" which meant we got to try to convince her what weapon she should have us use. After the first bout in each set, we swapped weapons (in one of my fights where we were both assigned open hand, we swapped gloves) with out opponent.

In addition to fighting and singing, I also watched belly dancing, equestrian competitions, and some other stuff.

I emerged from the weekend sunburned, dehydrated, exhausted, and somewhat battered.

It was awesome!!!

*A Pelican is one of three top orders in the SCA, given for service.
**A Lauren is another one of the top orders, given for period arts, crafts, research, etc. They are known for being able to document every stitch of their work.
***A Knight is the third top order, given for heavy combat skill and chivalry (both are required).

Summer cleaning

As part of changing jobs (still working for Boeing, just a different group), I have deleted over 1,000 old emails; over 80% of what I had, including various long-term stowage folders.

I am now working in the main factory building at the Everett site, in a cubicle farm which appears to have been inspired by MIT's Infinite Corridor.

One of these things...

...is not like the others.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6514737.ece

Russia, China, India, and Brazil (?) have formed a coalition to “create the conditions for a fairer world order”. Russia still caries the mantle of the USSR in the political world, and China and India each have a billion people (literally) and rapidly growing economies. Brazil has... has... a really good soccer team? OK, they're the fifth in the world in terms of both area and population. But there's three or four European powers ahead of them economically, plus Japan, and despite the EU nations systematically butchering their cold-war militaries, I don't even want to think where they stand on the list militarily. OK, technically they have an aircraft carrier. Put it up against a USMC helicopter carrier with a normal air wing and I wouldn't give a nickle for its chances.

I'm not happy about any multi-national polity being formed with the subtext of "we've had enough of the 'Pax America'"; I also don't think we've actually had a 'Pax America' since the cold war ended. I'm more puzzled than anything else right now, though, because I really can't see how Brazil fits into the picture. If there were five other mid-sized up-and-coming nations, sure, they'd fit nicely on the list.

It has been a long time since I posted. I've been to New Mexico, I'm preparing a for a lateral transfer at work, and I don't think we're getting the whole story on A/H1N1 aka Swine Flu, aka Frankenpiggy Flu (my own suggestion).

Magnetic spoons and titanium sporks

I was at a restaurant the other day, and, as I often do at this particular establishment, was playing with the silverware. They polish/wax/whatever the tables very well, and you can, for example, spin the knives and even make the water glasses slide a little distance. I happened to notice that my knife stuck to my spoon. Since there was nothing sticky on either utensil, I concluded one of them was magnetic. A check against other silverware on the table revealed that it was the spoon that was magnetized. I was able to move the spoon around the table with other items of silverware, which easily kept my amused until our food arrived. I even demonstrated this for the waiter.

Yes, I'm easily amused sometimes.

A while back, I got an email from ThinkGeek announcing some new products, including Spock's Spork - a limited edition (1701 items) titanium spork with the USS Enterprise logo. I am too much of an original series trekkie to resist that, especially since I've felt that a titanium spork was something I'd enjoy having for a while now, just never got around to buying one.

I wonder if Spock would find a spork logical or illogical? Is the spork, perhaps, named for one of the partners in the famous lawfirm of Spock, Spilk, Spork and Rodenberry?

From the Frontlines: Boar's Hunt

OK, this past weekend I attended Boar's Hunt, a local SCA event. I did a number of things, including throwing javelins, axes, darts, and knives, fighting rapier, marshalling rapier, competing in a bardic championship, competing in a chess championship, and, for the first time, I got called up in court! I won the chess championship (2-0 plus a forfeit), and was called up by the Baron and Baroness to recieve my prize. :-)

Overall, the event was exhausting but very satisfying.

Memorial Day Weekend

My friends, to absent companions.

This weekend I hauled two cubic feet of rock, six cubic feet of compost, mowed the lawn, and got a lot of sleep.

Unsurprisingly, it took most of my willpower to get up this morning in order to go to work for a dog-and-pony-show 'design review'. Despite my lead's attempts to mislead, obfuscate, and spin there was still quite a bit of criticism forthcoming, almost all of which the design deserved. I really need to get out of this group.

Grey's Anatomy's season finale still has me stunned. I haven't gotten to re-watching it yet, but I intend to. Perhaps that will allow me to process it better.

The weather this weekend was nearly perfect - sunny and very slightly cool - just right for working outside, fencing, etc. This morning was rather dreary, leading my carpool to comment that for once the weather got its timing right.

I observed a moment of silence at 3:00PM; did you?

Hair

Some of my hair is now 7" long.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled reality, already in progress.

Star Trek

SPOILER ALERT! This post is about the new movie. SPOILERS AHEAD!

OK, knowing this was "due" to be a bad Star Trek movie, I went in with limited expectations. But I did go, because I like the original series.

The bottom line is that, IMO, it was a good movie, which was true to the spirit of the original series and its characters while being somewhat more advanced in visual appearance.

Did it have largish plotholes? Yup. Technical discrepencies and logistical problems you could fly a starship through? Oh yeah! Some violations of 'cannon' (even with the whole 'alternate timeline' thing)? Yes.

Guess what folks, so did the original series.

This is Star Trek! It is NOT a hard-sci-fi show. You KNOW the one redshirt who isn't a major character that goes along with the landing party is going to die. Especially is he's the only one carrying the demolition charges. Kirk is going to be a ladies man, Spock is going to be logical to the point of relieving himself of command (he did that in The Original Series too!), McCoy is "a doctor, not a physicist!" Scotty will be givin' it all he's got, Captain! Uhura will open hailing frequencies and... oh wait, she's got character development!!!

The Enterprise will, by process of elimination if necessary, be the only starship in the sector. Seriously, the rest of that fleet was doomed just by being in the same movie.

So, yes, this was Star Trek. It was pretty good Star Trek, too; well acted, nicely timed, with a nice mix of humor and drama. The high point for me was McCoy; if the new actor didn't look so different I'd swear they rejuvinated Deforest Kelley.

I'm sure a lot of fans will dislike the movie, but I hope that it does well and more are made with this new team.

Turnshoes

"I wept that I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no feet - then I took his shoes."

"Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes. That way, you're a mile away and you have their shoes."

A few weeks ago I took a class on how to make SCA-period shoes. Specifically, medieval turnshoes. Here's what I got done during the class - one shoe, mostly finished (most people who take the class don't get that far during it, though one person did both of his).

Most men lead lives of quiet desperation...

... but not these men; they made their desperation shout!

-John Wilkes Booth, "Assassins" (Musical)

I'm sure I'll never shoot the President of the United States (for a variety of reasons ranging from not being temperamentally equipped to be an assassin to not being a very good shot). I'm sure I'll never be visited by the ghost of John Wilkes Booth. I'm sure I won't have catchy musical numbers backed by a chorus that appears from nowhere, though that last one I regret somewhat. :-}

I saw "Assassins" twice while I was at C-MU; once in freshman year performed by Scotch & Soda, once my senior year performed by the Drama department. Aside from "Into the Woods" (which is a member of the conspiracy against me), Assassins is the only play I've seen live from more than one group. I've seen more versions of "Oklahoma!" than you can shake a stick at (been in one of them, for that matter). But "Assassins", while I don't especially like it... speaks to me. Again, no, I don't intend to assassinate anyone. But the desperation, the desire to have my life mean something - THAT, I understand.

What do any of our lives mean? Children, friends, our deeds, our words; what is it we're supposed to pass on to history?

I've been spending a lot of time researching Tables of Organization and Equipment (TO&E's) for the US Army in WWII. For what is possibly the most studied and documented war in history, and for the millions of men who served in the US armed forces during it, there is a surprising lack of detailed information. Part of that is the chaotic nature of the subject, and part of it is the understandable lack of interest by veterans in the theoretical TO&E of their unit. A man can be proud that he served in 2nd Platoon, A Company, 9th Infantry Regiment, when they did this or that deed of valor on a day that everyone has heard of. They often include notes on who was actually with them at the time (from which one can derive the TO&E that existed in practice). Understandably, they seldom copy down the War Department publication listing how many rifles the platoon was issued.

How much quiet desperation is lost in "2/A/9IR: 1O, 40E, 3BAR, 1SR, 36R, 1C"?

Am I just one more R in the tally?

I Dreamed Last Night...

...I got on the boat to Heaven!

Well, actually, more like Pittsburgh, and NO, that isn't some metaphor for hell!

At least, it never has been, for me. Perhaps I should say "had been".

My dreams are no more coherent, sane, and useful than anyone else's (except for that brief and terrifying period of prophetic dreams, but this wasn't one of them, I think - you simply can't accidentally start a tractor-trailer combo from the trailer).

But everyone's dreams sometimes slip in a little telegram from the sub-conscious to the conscious.

The past is prologue. Is mine one of those prologues that is completely different from the main story?

I don't FEEL older

But, I am.

Of course, every day I get older, but changing into a new decade... well, that only happens once in a while, and makes you feel a lot more than one day older.

So, now I need to update my "About me" on this blog, as I am no longer a "Twenty-something male human."

Pray attend!

Verily, th' English Language doth decay like a dampen'd tree stump.

Thus, tis meet to revive 't by th' expediant of speaking in the form of the Bard o' Avon.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/04/21/talk.like.shakespeare/index.html

In Chicago at least, April 23rd shall be "talk like Shakespeare day". :-)

The surest sign...

...of intelligent life in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us.

So, at least, Calvin and Hobbes say. For a six-year-old child, Calvin can be pretty smart sometimes.

But one former astronaut (and who would know better?) claims that we have been visited by extra-terrestrial intelligence(s).

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/04/20/ufo.conference/index.html

Edgar Mitchell is a little bit "out there" himself; and I'm not talking about the whole walking on the moon thing (he was #6 of the twelve people who've walked on another celestial body). Still, I hate to criticize a prominent C-MU alum too much; we don't have many to spare. :-}

Is there other intelligent life in the universe? From a purely statistical point of view I'm sure there is, though I certainly can't prove any of it even knows of our existance, much less has visited Terra within the life of the human race. I tend to side on the "our government isn't competent enough to keep it covered up" side of things, however.

What do you think?

Oh - it was a busy weeked, but I'll post more when I have a chance to upload pictures.

Non-cardiac chest pain

OK, first off, my doctor has concluded that there is no reason to believe anything is wrong with my heart.

That said, Wednesday I went to the clinic at work with chest pain, elevated blood pressure, and shortness of breath.

I've now had my first 12-lead EKG (as the patient - I can't count how many I've administered but it is certainly at least in the hundreds), and my first X-ray in roughly two decades.

My medic-sense told me that it probably wasn't cardiac... but my internal medic also told me that it would be very stupid to assume that, especially given that my father died of a heart attack at a not particularly old age.

The CP is mostly gone now (my doc thinks it was an infection that spread to the chest; makes sense to me), and my BP has returned to normal.

Why an elevated BP and SOB? Well... I'm going to make a wild guess... stress at work. This week my lead is back after 3 weeks vacation and it seems that nothing I did while he was gone meets with his approval.

All's well that ends well, I suppose.

IOU

With the mortgage on the house, I chose to itemize deductions on my federal taxes this year. A conservative calculation (which I used) reveals that the feds took over a week's pay from me that they now have to give back.

The annual interest-free loan to the federal government usually doesn't bother me, but... over a week's pay?!?

How much do you owe/are you owed by the fed this year?

The Wonders of Science

It may be a hoax, but it is a brilliant idea either way:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,514158,00.html

Chocolate inhalers - take a breath of chocolate in four flavors; no calories!

Cursed

Maybe I haven't broken my TV curse after all. :-(

For quite some time, it seemed that every show I was interested in got cancelled either before I even found out about it (reruns), or within a season of me first watching it on TV, or REALLY went down the tubes in the same period.

OK, this is hardly statistically unlikely; most shows don't last past a season, and in any given year there are more shows in reruns or on video/DVD than in production.

Still... Crusade, Firefly, Three... I've got some shows on my all-time favorites list that died horrible deaths.

Then Grey's Anatomy rolled around - I picked it up in its 2nd season, and it still seems to be doing OK in its 5th. Aside from childhood shows like Sesame Street and Square One, that's the longest I've ever watched a show that was in production.

But this TV season, just as I was starting to watch a lot of TV (~one show a night on average) three more graves have been added. The one that is the most disappointing is Life On Mars (US version, not UK). I actually posted about it on this blog last year as a show with promise - I was right, as far as the 17 episodes actually made go. It was a good show... right up until they cancelled it.

The TV networks seem to have unrealistically high expectations for new shows - within a matter of months they are expected to generate a massive following, often despite shifting time slots, gaps in production, and non-existent off-network advertising. News flash to the major networks: I, like many people, only watch your network when I expect there to be something on I want to watch. I don't troll it looking for new shows - most of the shows you broadcast aren't worth my time. Your news coverage is biased and has an even lower percentage of useful content than your website. Reality TV isn't, and I thought Survivor was a boring idea the first time around (let alone the 8th or 50th or whatever you're on now).

Oh well.

Requiescat In Pace, Life On Mars.

The next logical step in the banking bailout

www.foxtrot.com

I wish Foxtrot was still running daily.

April Fools! We're going to tell you the truth!

From CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/04/01/april.fools.pranks/index.html

"It's April Fools' Day -- when media outlets around the world take a break from the serious business of delivering news and play fast and furious with the facts."

I thought that the major media outlets played fast a loose with the facts all the time?

I think that as an April Fool's joke the mass media should conduct in-depth reporting on nothing but verifiable facts with no spining or slanting of the stories.

Of course, that might cause the end of the world as we know it.

Nature wins again

Google has their expected April Fool's joke on their webpage, practical jokes are flying... but up here in Puget Sound Mother Nature is getting the last laugh, as usual.

It is snowing.

TANSTAAFL

The extended group I work with at Boeing had a 'recognition lunch' today (basically they take everyone out and buy them lunch).

However, we had a $10 limit on what we could actually order, which didn't give us many options on the menu. The real problem, however, was that we didn't get food until we'd been sitting there for well over half an hour. Add in the actual eating of lunch and travel time and we spent about an hour and three-quarters away from our desks as our forty-minute lunch allowance.

IIRC, the rule of thumb is that engineers cost the company ~$100/hour (including salary, benefits, office space, computing, etc.), which would mean Boeing paid $110 for my $10 lunch.

Robert A. Heinlein wins again.

(For the uninitiated, There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch.)

Oh no!

During gaming last night it was pointed out that my current character is management. This point was confirmed a number of times during the session.

I didn't realize I'd created an evil character.

Mirror, Mirror...

I was born and raised in Massachusetts (postal abbreviation MA), and now live in Washington (postal abbreviation WA).

Flip and M upside down and you get a W.

MA: East coast state with a liberal urban east and a (fairly) conservative rural west.
WA: West coast state with a liberal urban west and a (fairly) conservative rural east.

Both states have their largest city wrapped around a seaport. Both states almost invariably vote democrat for president.

Furthering the "mirror image" idea: MA has high income tax. WA has no income tax. Seven states (including WA) in the US have no income tax. Seven states (including MA) in the US have a flat income tax.

The next state east of MA (NY) is shaped kindof like a backwards "L".
The next state west of WA (ID) is shaped kindof like a forwards "L".

Both MA and WA have about 6.5 million (+/- 100,000) people.

Both MA and WA have double "8's" in their year of admission to the US (MA 1788, WA 1889).

Both the US Senators from MA are male democrats, and it has a male democrat governor.
Both the US Senators from WA are female democrats, and it has a female democrat governor.

WA is the leading producer of rasberries in the US.
MA is the 2nd leading producer of cranberries in the US.

MA has the busiest light-rail system in the country.
WA has the largest ferry system in the country.

The March of Agincourt

Part IV of the material I presented at Champions.

Competition Entry #2: The March of Agincourt

Knights may charge, rain may fall
We’ve got longbows; kill ‘em all!
Horses charge o’er muddy field
Stand by me, I’ll never yield!
Clothyard shaft, bow of yew
Aim your longbows high and true
Nock a shaft and call the cry
HOW MANY OF THEM CAN WE LET FLY!

Hold the line with sword and axe
Make them pay a bloody tax
They’ll cut your fingers off your hand
So string your bow and take a stand
I’ll not be ransomed if we loose
And those at home won’t like the news
So draw your bow and call the cry
HOW MANY OF THEM CAN WE LET FLY!

Guard your king and country well
Send these Froggies back to hell!
Win the war, I’ll win the bride
All English chests will swell with pride
Clothyard shaft, bow of yew
Aim your longbows high and true
Pile their bodies to the sky!
HOW MANY OF THEM CAN WE LET FLY!

God give us your blessing now
To your glory we all bow
Do not avenge my father’s crime
Upon my country, not this time!
Although we’ll die if that’s our due
Let us live to honor you!
We’ll sing your praises to the sky
HOW MANY OF THEM CAN WE LET FLY!

Knights may charge, rain may fall
We’ve got longbows; kill ‘em all!
Horses charge o’er muddy field
Stand by me, I’ll never yield!
Clothyard shaft, bow of yew
Aim your longbows high and true
Nock a shaft and call the cry
HOW MANY OF THEM CAN WE LET FLY!

A Period Piece

Part III of my Bardic Championship material.

Or: There ain’t no Peace in Period!

What we are searching for here is FACT – if you’re looking for glory, the knights are over on the tourney field.

Up until recently, modern historians were completely unaware that Henry V had originally intended to sing an inspiring song to his troops to motivate them prior to the battle of Agincourt. His musicians practiced night and day for three days before the battle. The damp and their exhaustion, however, caused them all to get sick (most likely with dysentery, which afflicted much of Henry’s army, though sources are vague on the subject). Without music to accompany him, Henry was forced to improvise a speech instead. A manuscript including the song was discovered in the tomb of one of Henry's knights by the noted archeologist Dr. Jones in 1938.

So much is historical fact. But rumors and gossip continue to ascribe the most fantastic events to Dr. Jones’ expedition. The idea that he disturbed a secret lab researching the uses of thiotimoline is of course absurd, and that he destroyed the lab in some feat of heroics is even more so. Equally annoying is the contention that the damage to the portion of the manuscript containing the music was due to gunfire or some sort of ancient booby trap rather than the well-known ravages of time. If research on thiotimoline was in fact being carried out so early, why do none of Dr. Asimov’s (perhaps the greatest expert on thiotimoline in history) papers on the subject discuss it?

We can be grateful to Dr. Jones for not encouraging such nonsense, instead providing a simple, rational, account of his findings. We can also be grateful that he was methodical enough to copy the text of the song from the manuscript before it was further damaged.

We cannot, of course, be sure of the music that was intended to go with the text of the song, but a detailed study of other works composed by the same minstrels leads me to believe that I have constructed a piece that I believe is in keeping with the music of the times, which I will now perform.

References:
1., Jones, I., "Examinations of a Knight's Tomb in France," Archeology Yesterday, Volume 4, Number 2, 1938.
2., Asimov, I., "The Endochronic Properties of Resublimated Thiotimoline", Journal of Astounding SCIENCEFiction, 1948.
3., Asimov, I., "The Use of Endochronometers in the Analysis of Thiotimoline", Proceedings of the 12th Annual meeting of the American Chronochemical Society, New York, NY, 1959.

Anniversary

Its that time of the year again!

This blog is now two years old, with 387 posts to date.

Who are you?
A man who no more knows his destiny than a tea leaf knows the history of the East India company. Yeah, I'm going through one of those "we don't know a millionth of 1% about anything in the universe" phases.

What do you want?
Sleep. Sleep would be good. Philosophy is not for the exhausted.

Why are you here?
Because I refuse to quit before I finish. I'm not sure when or if I'll finish, or how I know I will, but I've done enough quitting in my life.

Where are you going?
Lately I feel like I'm in the Red Queen's Race, where one must run as fast as possible to remain in the same place. The good I manage to do seems easily smashed by the evil and stupidity of others, yielding no net beneficial result.

Who do you serve, and who do you trust?
I serve the Consitution of the United States of America, which (especially lately) is not at all the same thing as the government of the United States of America. I try to serve my friends and family. I trust... a very, very small number of people.

OK, way too many typos in writing this - I really need more sleep...

The Myth and Mystery of Agincourt

Part II of the material I presented at All Champions

Or: Luckily Shakespeare isn’t our only source

The Battle of Agincourt took place on October 25th, 1415, on a rather muddy field in France between Tramecourt and Agincourt (both woods and towns). Henry V had taken the port of Harfleur after a siege which had taken a larger than expected tole on his army, and was marching to Calais (then in English hands) to rest and refit his army. Weakened by dysentery, harassed by French forces, and on hostile terrain in bad weather, Henry’s army was intercepted by a French force which outnumbered them by less than 3:2 (a recent proposal by Professor Anne Curry), over 10:1 (a common early estimate) or somewhere in between. By any measure at the time, Henry’s army probably looked like the underdog. The French, it seems, were certainly confident of victory.

The day, however, would prove otherwise. Although the exact sequence of events is disputed, the battle proceeded more or less as follows. The French initially held their position, knowing that Henry would have to engage them in order to get through to Calais and perhaps leery of attacking English bowman after battles such as Crecy. Henry also preferred not to attack, having emplaced wooden stakes to protect his archers in his initial position. After some hours however he advanced his own army, halting at long bow-shot (~300 yards) and re-emplacing the stakes to protect his archers. The bowmen then opened fire on the French line, which finally caused the French to commence an assault. Slowed by the mud, crowded together by the narrowing field of battle (the tree lines slanted towards the English position on both sides of the field), and under a constant rain of arrows, the French were in bad shape by the time they reached the English line. The French cavalry was unable to breach the line of wooden stakes, and the infantry was exhausted by the march across the field under fire. The compressed field prevented the flanking maneuvers that the French seem to have planned for; although one small unit of French troops did reach the English rear, they spent their time looting the English camp rather than attacking the army’s rear. Henry’s army, having fought off two waves of French attacks in over three hours of fighting and having exhausted at least their ready supplies of arrows, saw the French reserve still in front of them and had word of their camp under attack from the rear. Henry ordered that most of the prisoners taken to that point be killed for fear they would rise up against their captors while they were fighting the third line. But the French third line did not attack, instead withdrawing from the field.

With more than a six-fold variance in the odds against the English and similar variety in the estimates of the forces on either side (somewhere around 5,000-7,000 for the English being the most common estimate, but ranging from 4,000-12,000, with far greater ranges for the French), one would expect a great deal of variety in the casualty figures as well, and indeed this is the case. Estimates of the English dead run from under a hundred to nearly two thousand, with casualty ratios of between 6:1 (favoring the English) and over 50:1! All that we can say for sure is that the English achieved a major tactical victory.

Marching Towards Agincourt

Part I of the material I presented at All Champions

Or: a Drunkard’s Walk

I first read about the battle of Agincourt in grade school, in the book Miniature Battles. The quick account caught my eye, both because of the power of the English Longbow and the odds against the English that they nevertheless overcame. Although my interests at the time were more in the Roman Empire, I seldom bypassed Agincourt when re-reading the book.

In high school I took an elective class on Shakespeare’s plays, one of which was Henry V. From the first reading, the chorus’ calling upon the muse spoke to me; I would later recite the first half for a poetry contest, and today I will present the entire prologue. We also watched Kenneth Branagh’s Henry V, with Derek Jacobi’s brilliant role as the chorus and the beautiful song “Non Nobis Domine.”

I was hooked.

I have been unable to determine exactly when Henry V was released. Certainly it was within a few years of 1600, which puts it at the ragged edge of the SCA’s period. However since a printed version appeared in 1600, I feel that it qualifies as a period piece.

Oddly enough, I had been in the SCA for three years before it really occurred to me that Agincourt was period battle.

To digress slightly, filk isn’t something I do, it just happens in my head – it is who I am. It is, to mangle a phrase, 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration, but the 1% pops into my head whether I like it or not. So the final line of the March of Agincourt popped, fully formed, into my head one day and rapidly became a draft of the first verse. There, however, I got stuck. Bits and pieces of couplets drifted about, seldom forming verses, for more than a year. Inspiration struck again, and the bits lined up into three verses. While I wasn’t quite satisfied, I decided it was good enough for Champions – how could I do a Bardic competition without filk?
Then, yesterday morning (no, I’m not kidding), inspiration hit a third time. The third time was, indeed, the charm, and I am pleased to present the full four verses (plus the reprise of the first) here today.

In researching Agincourt, I came across a reference to another song; Osprey’s Agincourt 1415 mentions a victory song “with the refrain ‘Deo gratias Anglia redde pro victoria.’” Although the book gave no more detail, the internet did. Words, a picture of a period copy of the music, and performances by several groups of “The Agincourt Carol” were all readily available. Interestingly, the song appears in Laurence Olivier’s 1944 version of Henry V, which had costumes provided by the same house that would provide them to Kenneth Branagh 45 years later.

While filk comes naturally to me, period music is a stretch. However, with the strong encouragement of my wife I will present today as a solo entry “The Agincourt Carol.”

What part of GIGO don't you understand?

What is this magical power people ascribe to computer models?

Garbage In, Garbage Out, is bad enough, but when you put in good data and get out garbage, why do people assume that a little tweaking of the model will help?

Computers are STUPID, people. They know not a single thing about the real world. They do EXACTLY what we tell them, and thus they cannot be ONE SINGLE BIT smarter than a person even at their best.

Something that gives you a result that is off by a factor of three is probably not a useful tool. Something that gives you a curve that is of the wrong shape AND off by a factor of three is JUNK. It is USELESS. YOU need to start over.

"Our computer models (which we've tweaked so much that they produce the 'correct' data from random numbers, not just the 'real' input) say this will happen. You need to change your life because of our models!"

So, how about this carefully collected hard data I've gathered that contradicts your model?

"No! It is a computer model! Data? We don't need no stinking data!"

There are times I wish that theoretical computing classes were mandatory. Then again, I also often wish that for logic, basic mathematics... there's actually quite a list.

Sigh.

From the Frontlines: All Champions

The Barony of Aquaterra had All Champions this weekend. I entered for bardic, but didn't win (Lady Soelig won Bardic Champion). There was much entertaining singing, dancing, and storytelling, but I'm kinda drained from the whole "1st formally judged bardic contest" bit.

In the rapier championship, her Excellency directed the outgoing champion to fight the incoming champion in an exhibition fight with the only lethal shot being to the big toe. High marks to her Excellency. :-)

I also played a period game whose name I cannot remember. It involves a square, gridded board with 24 black pawns arranged around the edge and 12 white pawns and a white king in the center, with the object being for the white king to escape to one of the corners. Rather interesting, though not as much as chess.

Ice Tsunami

A combination of weather effects has caused ice to push off Lake Superior, breaking windows on shorefront property and pushing into houses. A small number of people have been evacuated.

http://www.wnem.com/news/18885556/detail.html

I have seen the effects of (water) tsunami's, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes... but this is a new one on me.

OK, I give up

I admit it, the weather faked me out. Early last week I took the liner out of my jacket. Today I'm going to put it back in.

While it can be highly convenient to only have one jacket that serves as both light and heavy coat, it can also be somewhat annoying.

I also no longer believe that my imagination is overactive. I never would have imagined you could belly dance to "Tainted Love", however this weekend I watched a troupe do just that. In fact, that was one of the best performances of the weekend. Nor would I have imagined belly dancing to "I'm a Lumberjack (and I'm OK)." Yup, saw that too.

13 miles

That's how far I've walked this week, at a minimum. 2.6 miles each morning from my house to the vanpool pickup location (I'm vanpooling to work currently).

My ankles are starting to object.

How do you get to work?

Wiiiii!

OK, I'm not particularly fond of console games (I do not now and never have owned a gaming console, though I've spent plenty of time on those belonging to various friends). I'm not particularly fond of bowling (only done it once, and quite possibly set a world record for the highest number of gutter balls in an evening).

But Wii bowling... well, rocked.

Quite a bit of it was the Wii itself; unlike any other game remote I've ever handled, I felt like I could get this one to do what I wanted (most of the time - the one attempt at Wii Duck Hunt was a dismal failure). In addition to bowling and the shoot 'em up, I raced cows (yes, cows. Don't knock it 'till you've tried it.), fished, and played pool (8-ball). Despite not even understanding the rules of some of these games, I could generally at least get the remote to do what I wanted. In the case of the fishing game this involved catching the wrong fish, but I caught the fish I was aiming for, so whose fault is that really?

Perhaps someday in addition to my board games, miniatures, armed puffs, RPG's, card games, and computer games I too will have console games.

4th Edition

This Sunday I played my first session of 4th Edition D&D.

I note with some interest that this is the 13th post I have flagged as "gaming". Coincidence? I hope so.

Anyway, I'm not wild about 4th Ed., but it is interesting. D&D 3.5 had many connections to reality (yes, lots of magic too). I especially noted that carrying capacities for people and animals were very close to reality, bows shot realistic distances, and non-magical items generally conformed somewhat closely to reality.

4th edition... well, I'm still working my way through the rules, but the limited concurrence with the laws of physics present in 3.5 seems to have gone out the window. Carrying capacity? An "average" PC can carry three times the load an "average" person can. Range? Well, they don't explicitly link map squares to feet anymore, but unless the squares got a whole lot bigger... not so much.

This in itself, of course, doesn't make a bad system. In fact if anything 4th Ed seems streamlined - all the nitty gritty bits that can slow things down are filed off.

But I like the nitty gritty bits! OK, I'm weird. I'm sure if I had a pet dragon, he'd be wyred too.

Still Falling...

The close today, at 7,105.94, is less than half of the 14,279.96 all-time max for the DJI... set 501 days ago.

50% in 500 days. Who'd have thought that would happen a few years back?

We're also down a third from the Pre-bailout close of 10,796 in early October.

On the plus side, we've only gone down about 10% since inauguration day. Some silver lining, eh?

Falling, falling, falling...

The Dow Jones Industrial Average set a new 52-week low today at 7,249.47. That's only a little more than half the historical maximum, set on 10/11/07 at 14,279.96.

Of course, on the plus side, only about 10% of that drop has been in the last four months.

Pass this one around!

I don't know if it is real or not. If it is real I know it doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell of getting very far (even in Texas).

Edit: it is real. Washington's can be found at: http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?year=2009&bill=4009

But I LOVE IT!!!

http://www.creativeminorityreport.com/2009/02/be-it-resolved-take-hike.html

Excerpt:
RESOLVED, That this serve as notice and demand to the federal government, as our agent, to cease and desist, effective immediately, mandates that are beyond the scope of these constitutionally delegated powers
End Excerpt

Basically, the resolution calls on the Federal Government to stop the unconstitutional use of its powers.

I think this may be the first piece of legislation I've seen in my lifetime that perfectly matches my political beliefs.

Have I mentioned that I love this?

The Big Picture

I spent some time this past weekend rifleing through magazines. An article in The Economist (I'm pretty sure) is sticking with me.

It had a chart of US Government spending as a percentage of the US GDP going back around 200 years - by far the longest period I've seen such a chart cover. It was somewhat shocking to note that with a few brief exceptions, government spending didn't exceed 10% of GDP until the 20th century, but after the WWII peak to nearly 50%, never dropped back there. Current spending is some 1/3 of GDP.

What I've spent a few hours here and there looking for since is a chart of different countries spending as a percentage of GDP plotted together. If anyone can point me the right way I would really appreciate it.

I've been thinking a lot of just how 1/3 of our GDP can be government spending. How is this sustainable? OK, OK, we've seen quite clearly that it isn't. I see how in the wartime economy of WWII we could spend nearly 50%... but what are we doing today that is anything like the equivalent? In three years the US went from a second-rate power militarily to the overall leader worldwide, doing the bulk of the industrial work in crushing two other world powers in the process. What have we done in the last TEN years that even approaches that? The line continues to trend upwards, BTW.

I've grown increasingly leary of government spending over the course of my life. I'm starting to wonder if we're even able to reverse the trend without destroying the system.

All I hear lately is talk of nationalizing (using different terms most of the time) banks, industry, you name it. I feel like nothing is pushing the US forward except the tremendous inertia built up by the pushing of the prior century, and we've forgotten how to push at all, except backwards.

From the Almost Frontlines: Ithra

Another season, another Ithra.

I made a brass circlet, began work on a leather scabbard (for a sword), attended a fascinating class on the technical and material reasons for cultural bow designs, a less fascinating but still interesting one on Viking technology, especially longships and longhouses, and learned to walk with a sword balanced on my head.

Just another weekend in the SCA. :-)

Its the quiet ones you have to watch

But the loud ones get listened to whether they deserve it or not.

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1878358,00.html?cnn=yes

I often think that describing human beings as intelligent gives us far too much credit.

Technical Difficulties and Loose Ends

Note the first: I'm still sick. This cold just won't let go.

Note the second: It may be my imagination, but I think my computer at work has my cold too.

OK, Grey's Anatomy rolled around Thursday evening. Or rather, it almost rolled around. It sorta rolled around. It rolled around without sound. Yup, every other channel had sound, but not ABC. Luckily I was eventually able to watch the episode online... with a few more technical difficulties.

However, I think there were technical difficulties with the production of the show too; I usually associate that many loose ends with a multi-part episode or the season finale. And where the heck is George? He's had no more than a token appearance in the last two episodes (maybe more, I'm not really sure). Don't get me wrong, I like the rest of the cast too, but he seems to be getting left out a lot - ironic considering he was initially left out of promotion to resident.

I spent some time this morning looking over the US Public Health Service Commissioned Corp. I didn't realize they had engineers in addition to the various health care specialties. Since I suspect most of the population of the US doesn't even know that the USPHS has a uniformed branch I don't really feel bad about the lack of knowledge, but I am intrigued.

Coughcoughcough

The latter half of last week and this weekend I've been dealing with a cold.

I've tried a great number of things over the course of my life to reduce the frequency with which I get colds and their severity once I get them.

12-hour Sudafed, Airborne, Tylenol Extreme Cold, massive doses of Vitamin C, high fluid intake, low fluid intake, high activity level, low activity level, 6-hour Sudafed, zinc, cough drops, Riccola, tea with lemon, chicken soup, gargling with salt water, sleeping sitting up, Vix, hot showers...

I wonder how much of the human race's theoretical productivity has been lost to colds, directly or indirectly.

What do you do when you get a cold?

My First Earthquake

OK, it isn't the first time I've been in a place that got a minor earthquake, nor is it the first time I thought I felt something at about the right time.

This morning was, however, the first time that I'm quite sure I felt an earthquake. At about 5:25AM Seattle got a 4.5 or 4.6 (U-Wash and USGS preliminary numbers respectively) earthquake. My house shook as if it had been hit by a truck, but there was no apparent damage.

Ouch

Climate Sensitivity Reconsidered
http://www.aps.org/units/fps/newsletters/200807/monckton.cfm

Quote:

Conclusion
Even if temperature had risen above natural variability, the recent solar Grand Maximum may have been chiefly responsible. Even if the sun were not chiefly to blame for the past half-century’s warming, the IPCC has not demonstrated that, since CO2 occupies only one-ten-thousandth part more of the atmosphere that it did in 1750, it has contributed more than a small fraction of the warming. Even if carbon dioxide were chiefly responsible for the warming that ceased in 1998 and may not resume until 2015, the distinctive, projected fingerprint of anthropogenic “greenhouse-gas” warming is entirely absent from the observed record. Even if the fingerprint were present, computer models are long proven to be inherently incapable of providing projections of the future state of the climate that are sound enough for policymaking. Even if per impossibilethe models could ever become reliable, the present paper demonstrates that it is not at all likely that the world will warm as much as the IPCC imagines. Even if the world were to warm that much, the overwhelming majority of the scientific, peer-reviewed literature does not predict that catastrophe would ensue. Even if catastrophe might ensue, even the most drastic proposals to mitigate future climate change by reducing emissions of carbon dioxide would make very little difference to the climate. Even if mitigation were likely to be effective, it would do more harm than good: already millions face starvation as the dash for biofuels takes agricultural land out of essential food production: a warning that taking precautions, “just in case”, can do untold harm unless there is a sound, scientific basis for them. Finally, even if mitigation might do more good than harm, adaptation as (and if) necessary would be far more cost-effective and less likely to be harmful.
In short, we must get the science right, or we shall get the policy wrong. If the concluding equation in this analysis (Eqn. 30) is correct, the IPCC’s estimates of climate sensitivity must have been very much exaggerated. There may, therefore, be a good reason why, contrary to the projections of the models on which the IPCC relies, temperatures have not risen for a decade and have been falling since the phase-transition in global temperature trends that occurred in late 2001. Perhaps real-world climate sensitivity is very much below the IPCC’s estimates. Perhaps, therefore, there is no “climate crisis” at all. At present, then, in policy terms there is no case for doing anything. The correct policy approach to a non-problem is to have the courage to do nothing.

End Quote

Wow. On many of the issues involved I don't share the absolute confidence implied by the authors' conclusion, but that has to be the most dense, comprehensive, and sweeping rejection of anthropomorphic CO2-driven global warming I've ever seen.

From the Frontlines: Ursulmas XXVII

Ursulmas is a nice event for my because I live about 15 minutes from the site - talk about the ideal day trip!

For the first time I spent some effort helping out with the running of this event. Mostly I was just a go-fer, but I also spent about four hours collecting Gods only know how much money at Gate and two hours marshaling for rapier, along with a good twelve hours go-fer-ing. Add in a tournament I actually fought in (5 wins out of 11 fights, and with her permission I killed the Queen Inge (sp?) of An Tir!), some shopping (bought a hip flask with a wolf's-head pattern sand blasted onto it and a hook to hang my buckler from my gear), and general mayhem and it was quite a weekend!

I have a few regrets; due to my time at Gate I missed the Sable Rose Tourney (and I had a great death planned, too - perhaps next time). I also wish I could have followed through on the prep activities I said I'd help with; the Autocrat seems to have forgiven me (staying to the end Sunday probably helped), but I'm resolved to do a better job next time.

I'm going to address killing the Queen a little more; our Queen is a (fairly junior) rapier fighter, and fought in the Bear Claw Tourney (the one I fought in) as well as a few others. Before each tourney she informed the assembled fighters that they had her permission to try to kill her. My impression of the SCA is that a king is expected to look after himself more or less (although plenty of fighters are happy to cover his flanks on the war field), but going for a queen tends to mean belted knights jump out of the woodwork to pound you into the dirt. I was thus rather relieved that her majesty gave us leave; I'm not sure I would have felt right fighting her otherwise.

And it is really fun to say that I killed the Queen with her permission. :-)