Monthly Archives: August 2020

August 31, 2020 · 21:20

Micro Lizards

We appear to have had a new hatching of lizards in the bushes by the driveway. For the last couple of weeks when walking by I’ve been seeing just a bit of motion out of the corner of my eye. But while I was waiting for the helicopter to come back up from the baseball fields yesterday, I must have been waiting long enough and motionless enough for not one but two little dudes to come back out for a few rays.

This is the “big” one of the new crop, about a third the size that we normally see here.

He was set to head back into those bushes at the slightest twitch by me. Thankfully, twitching the camera around didn’t count.

He finally figured, “Screw this, if I’m going to wait, I’ll at least wait where it’s sunny!”

This guy is the smallest I’ve ever seen out and about. Do you even see him? I thought it might be a leaf, twig, or some lawn debris.

Nope, he’s an extremely tiny lizard dude. Those bricks are just under four inches wide (I just went out in the dark and measured…) so he’s less than two inches even with that tail. And boy, when he decides to skedaddle, he is GONE. I guess that’s how he gets to grow up to be a bigger lizard.

There’s at least one other, about mid-range in size between these two, who was sunning on top of an box that Amazon had left on the porch yesterday. He was as surprised as I was when I picked up the box without noticing him. Not to worry, he didn’t have to jump – I put the box back down so he could bug out into the bushes.

A quick search found an article that says Western Fence Lizards lay clutches of eight to thirteen eggs in May and June, which typically hatch in August. That sounds like the ticket here! I’m glad we’re doing it correctly, I would hate to be in trouble with the lizard police!

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Filed under Critters, Photography

August 30, 2020 · 23:53

Rescue

We hear helicopters pass by all the time – LA’s a busy place. Between police, fire, television, traffic, military, and just business aircraft, helicopters are not uncommon.

But most are just passing by. When you hear that heavy beat from a big one and you hear it for five, ten, fifteen minutes, then something’s going on. If it’s circling, that’s always a police helicopter. If it’s hovering, and REALLY making a racket and rattling the windows, then it’s probably a fire department chopper. Which in turn means one of two things: a brush fire (not uncommon right now) or a rescue.

Today it was another rescue, the second in about three weeks.

You’ve seen plenty of pictures of Castle Peak that’s directly off to our west, with the baseball and soccer fields at their base. You’ve seen it on fire, you’ve seen it under a comet, and one of these days you may see the view looking back this way. It’s in a wilderness park and folks climb it all the time. Folks also underestimate the difficulty level of the climb all the time. And if they fall and break a leg, or collapse due to heat exhaustion, they need to get rescued, often by helicopter.

When I finally paid attention to the fact that I had been “feeling” the beat of that heavy, hovering helicopter (I had on my noise cancelling headphones) and went out, it was just descending below the neighbor’s house, down onto the baseball fields. I could hear the engine wind down but not stop, holding there for about ten minutes as the patient was offloaded into an ambulance.

I was hoping he would come right overhead – if it were an LA County helicopter he would have, heading back to Van Nuys Airport to the east. The one a couple of weeks ago did, and he ended up making a couple of trips from the mountain to the baseball field, so there might have been several folks hurt.

Today we got one of the Ventura County helicopters. (They’re blue and yellow, LA County’s helicopters are orange and white.) Not sure what the distinction is that would cause them to call one or the other, although the county line does run right along the base of the mountain on this side. Maybe it depends on where exactly you get hurt?

When he was done he went straight back out to the west, toward Camarillo Airport. Their base is right next to our CAF hangars out there, so I’m familiar.

What if you get hurt on the Ventura County side, but roll down the mountain to the LA County side? Do they each take half?

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Filed under Flying, Los Angeles, Photography

August 29, 2020 · 22:44

Moon Triangle-Ish

Over the last couple of nights the moon, a little past a quarter full, has been sailing past Jupiter and Saturn, all positioned high in the evening sky, bright and beautiful.

Last night:

That’s Jupiter on the right of the moon, Saturn a bit dimmer to the upper left.

At some point the three of them made a nice, even triangle – I was on the wrong side of the planet to see it.

Instead, tonight the moon had passed that point and was now on the far side of Saturn, at least from this viewpoint.

One would assume that if the Moon had been transported to where it was literally on the other side of Saturn:

  • It would look much smaller and more dim
  • There probably would have been major headlines to go along with the catastrophic, world-wide earthquakes, tidal waves, and other calamities associated with a gravitational disruption of that scale.

We also notice that the zoomed in views both nights, with all pictures taken on my iPhone, are grainy as hell. But as they say, the best camera is the one you have with you at the time.

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Filed under Astronomy, Photography, Space

August 28, 2020 · 22:08

Payroll Playlist

One of my major tasks for the day was spending several hours reviewing, coding, and then doing data entry for our payroll. It’s not rocket science, and it’s critical to get it right, but it’s pretty routine and a bit boring, which is a deadly combination. I find that having a good set of tunes helps.

I hit “Shuffle” on my “Favorites” list, and was well rewarded. I do love, love, love me some eclectic music mixes!

Amanda Palmer & Grand Theft Orchestra Want It Back
Paul Simon American Tune
Yes Owner Of A Lonely Heart
Huey Lewis & The News I Want A New Drug
Lee Ann Womack I Hope You Dance
Supertramp Gone Hollywood
Brad Paisley The World
Taylor Swift Teardrops On My Guitar
Loggins & Messina House At Pooh Corner
Stan Rogers Barrett’s Privateers
Jimi Hendrix All Along The Watchtower
Amanda Palmer & Grand Theft Orchestra Do It With A Rockstar
Travis Tritt Ten Feet Tall & Bulletproof
Brad Paisley Sleeping On The Foldout
Big & Rich 8th Of November
Genesis Anything She Does
Garth Brooks The Cowboy Song
Toby Keith A Little Too Late
George Strait I Can Still Make Cheyenne
Toby Keith I Love This Bar
U2 Bullet The Blue Sky
The Chicks Let ‘Er Rip
Kenny Chesney She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy
Gretchen Wilson Redneck Woman
Depeche Mode Master & Servant
They Might Be Giants Istanbul (Not Constantinople)
Elton John Indian Sunset
Rascal Flatts Oklahoma-Texas Line
Rascal Flatts Skin (Sarabeth) [Hidden Track]
Keith Urban Sweet Thing
“Chicago” Soundtrack Cell Block Tango
Rascal Flatts Fast Cars & Freedom
Collin Raye I Think About You
Billy Idol Dancing With Myself
Garth Brooks If Tomorrow Never Comes
Garth Brooks Much To Young (To Feel This Damn Old)
Jackson Browne Running On Empty
The Chicks Some Days You Gotta Dance
Queen Sombody To Love
Paul Simon Homeless
Linkin Park One Step Closer
The Pretenders Back On The Chain Gang (Live)
Garth Brooks Unanswered Prayers (Live)
Journey Open Arms
Pat Benetar Love Is A Battlefield
Martina McBride My Baby Loves Me
Oingo Boingo Dead Man’s Party
The Nails 88 Lines About 44 Women

For an added bonus, who can ID the six songs of these forty-eight had me turning the headphones up to ELEVEN?

 

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Filed under Music

August 27, 2020 · 22:12

Some Days

Some days you’ve listened to one too many news reports about evil monsters trying to destroy our country.

Some days you’ve read too many comments by equally evil sycophants helping to spread hate and lies.

Some days you’ve gotten one too many incredibly frustrating and annoying emails asking for an explanation of things you’ve already explained too many times using simple words and short sentences.

Some days you just keep writing and deleting emails because you’ve still got that one brain cell that knows better than to hit send.

Some days you just want to do something simple like mail a package or hang a picture and you can’t because the whole freaking world has you tied up like the Lilliputians tied up Gulliver.

Some days the only things you want to do are the things you know you’ll probably regret.

Some days you just have to hold it all inside and hope for the best.

Some days.

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Filed under Paul

August 26, 2020 · 23:24

A Lunch Thought

I was making lunch today when I realized that, on the one hand, we’re getting really low on that spray bottle of Grey Poupon mustard, and on the other hand, there seems to be an awful lot in there considering that not much is coming out!

You can tap on it and pound it a bit on the counter top to move some of it down to the spout, but that technique has limited efficacy. My brain being what it is (sick, broken, warped, bizarre – yes, I think I like “bizarre” the best!) it occurred to me that what I really need is A CENTRIFUGE!!!

It could be one of those lab-type things, the size of a food processor that gets up to 1,000 G’s, but they’re several thousand dollars and seem to all be custom designed to ONLY hold test tubes. I need something more generic. More impractical. More…ridiculous.

I need to ride along with the bottle(s), to control the experiment. I need to get to NASA. Or Baikonur, either way. Russian centrifugal force is as good as any. Physics is physics. 20 G’s is 20 G’s.

We could do preliminary testing of the theory on a carnival ride. These things can pull 3 G’s – that would be a good start. I’m not sure how they would feel about me getting on with a collection of condiment bottles, but these things are run by minimum wage teenagers and carnival workers, so I’m sure that slipping them a fiver will grease the skids!

It will be an adventure!!

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Filed under Farce, Photography

August 25, 2020 · 23:21

Kubrick

I’m fried, don’t have two brain cells to rub together. I’m also out of new photos to share and I’m too tired to start hunting through thirty years of photos at this time of night to find something. And an actual conversation or thoughtful article? Please! NOT!

But I do notice that on cable (The Movie Channel) it’s apparently Kubrick Week – “Eyes Wide Shut” and “A Clockwork Orange” are on tonight, and I’ve seen “The Shining” on in the last couple of nights. Or maybe it’s just Psycho Week – I also see “Carrie,” “Dressed To Kill,” and “Basic Instinct.”

Anyway, let’s stick with Kubrick, one of the finest directors ever.

What’s your favorite Kubrick film, and why? Inquiring minds want to know. Answer in the comments.

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Filed under Movies

August 24, 2020 · 23:30

An Ancient Magik

How was your Monday?

I was busier than god, deadlines for work shooting by me like a biker gang in the slow lane of the 405 Freeway, when I got up to get a soda. When I came into the kitchen…

Why is there water all over the floor? Where’s it coming from? This seems “off nominal.”

Oh, the water runs all the way down to the other end of the kitchen and under the stove. This seems “way, WAY off nominal.”

It turns out that something in the fridge, where the water feed line comes in to supply water to the ice maker and cold water dispenser, had committed suicide and was spraying water all over. Couldn’t find a shutoff, couldn’t move the fridge, but I could hear water running back there, so the short term solution was to turn off the water main to the house.

In the end it got fixed, the water’s back on – but we have no ice maker for a while.

Oh! NO!

Worry not, my friendly readers. I am a practitioner of an ancient Magik, a dark lore handed down from father to son for generation on generation.

I… (insert drum roll!) …can make ice without an ice making machine.

It’s complex, involves incantations and ancient artifacts, relics from an older, gentler age. (The Sixties – work with me here!) The ice will be in a different form than you are used to, a manifestation of my ice making abilities which will leave you in awe.

The cult’s rules forbid me from revealing all, but I can give you a glimpse into the mystic realm…

Use this ancient wisdom carefully and wisely!

(Now, wasn’t reading this drivel better than watching the RNC tonight? You’re welcome!!)

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Filed under Disasters, Farce, Photography

August 23, 2020 · 20:07

WTF Facebook!

I’m looking for a bit of feedback if anyone cares to give it.

I’ve been on Facebook for over eleven years now, joining at the beginning of 2009. I find it useful for some things, and there are certain groups (in particular, my high school friends) for which I still use it as my primary communication and news conduit. And being active on Facebook (as well as Twitter, this site, Instagram, YouTube, and so on) is a big plus when trying to get accepted to NASA Socials, which I dearly love attending.

Facebook isn’t without its benefits.

But let’s face it, Facebook just becomes more actively evil by the day. It gets harder and harder to get content and stay connected to friends and family because what you get to see and who gets to see your posts is controlled by vague, mysterious, out of our control algorithms. More to the point, groups of fascists, terrorists, Putin’s kompromat, and the insane fringe elements of our society are using Facebook to disseminate lies, misinformation, propaganda, and outright bullshit to people who should know better, but don’t.

Facebook sucks.

With all of that being the case, what I’ve seen in the last month or so is the most frustrating bit of all for me – a DELUGE of ads. However, I don’t know if I got lucky for eleven years and somehow was never exposed to the horrors of Facebook ads every third or fourth post 24/7/365, or if something’s changed for everyone now.

This is where I can use some feedback from y’all. Is it me? Or did Facebook suddenly decide to fuck us all over starting a couple weeks ago?

For me, I would occasionally see an ad here or there, maybe a couple a week, for at least the first at least 8 or 9 years. It wasn’t a big deal. Most days I never saw an ad at all.

Then, about a year or two ago, I would have “ad days” every couple of months, where when I first logged on I would see an ad every third or fourth post. I would see three or four as I scrolled down my timeline, but as I deleted them, they would go away after seeing five or six, and that would be it. They were annoying, but there seemed to be a limit. Maybe 15-20 a day for a single day every now and then.

Then it was 20-25 a day for a single day maybe once a month.

Then 30-40 a day for a single day maybe every other week.

But always, when I got to that limit, it was like having survived a week of being bored to death waiting to be called for jury duty. Once I hit my limit and had paid my pound of flesh by going through X ads, I was off for a few weeks or a month.

Until late July, about a month ago.

Since then, EVERY time I connect, whether it be on my desktop, my phone, my iPad, EVERY! SINGLE! TIME! it’s an ad every 3rd or 4th post, all day, every day, 24/7.

And it’s like nails on a blackboard.

So before I walk away from Facebook permanently and just delete my account, or at a minimum just stop using it except maybe to check for messages once a week from high school classmates, I’m looking for context and a little information from you.

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Filed under Social Media

August 22, 2020 · 23:25

Make Art – August 22nd

Because it’s been a while. Playing with the latest version of Photoshop.

What is it?

“Take a picture of something routine, mundane, and ordinary – make art.”

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Filed under Art, Photography