Author Archives: momdude

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About momdude

Space cadet | Family dude | Photographer | Music lover | Traveler | Science fiction fan | Hugo Award nominee | Writer | 5x NASA Social participant | KC Chiefs fan | LA Kings fan | Senior Director of Finance & Administration for ALS Network | Member & former staff Finance Officer at the Commemorative Air Force SoCal Wing | Hard core left-wing liberal | Looking for whatever other shenanigans I can get into
January 16, 2022 · 23:14

Playing With Cinematic Mode In A Most Meta Way

The iPhone 13 has a built-in video mode called “Cinematic” and there’s an ad running on TV where it’s demonstrated. I hadn’t looked up any instructions, but figured that Apple products are usually pretty intuitive, so I decided on short notice (the ad had just come on TV) to see if my intuitions were correct.

They were.

While recording the video in Cinematic mode, just touch the screen to indicate where you would like to focus. In this video, watch as the focus shifts from the soda can in the foreground, the KC Chiefs hat behind that, and the television showing the Apple iPhone ad in the distance.

This is pretty cool!

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Filed under Paul, Video

January 15, 2022 · 23:28

A Flock Of Condors

Out at the CAF SoCal hangar today. It was rainy and gray, but the cloud base lifted a little bit around noon, and we got visitors.

The Condor Squadron flys out of Van Nuys Airport and is a common site in SoCal airshows, event flyovers, and other aviation events.

They perform formation flying in their AT-6 “Texans” on their missions. The “Advanced Trainer” was used in the US, but the same design in England during WWII was known as the “Harvard.”

With those old round engines, the “Texan” has a very distinctive “blaaaaaaaaaaat” sound as the prop tips break the sound barrier.

That sound carries well and the Condors’ practice routines often carry them over our house, so you’ll often see me running around the house yelling, “TEXANS!” and grabbing a camera to run out and catch them flying by.

With the rain and fog it had been quiet, but the arrival of the four Condor aircraft at full throttle over the runway took care of that. It was great to see them!

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Filed under CAF, Flying, Photography

January 14, 2022 · 23:51

Wishing

Oh, to be out here someplace in a Goliath-class scout ship, a new system to explore, wondering which of the gas giants or Earth-like worlds we would explore first.

I may be excessively channeling my inner Calvin and Hobbes. Although my Hobbes is a stuffed dolphin, not a tiger, but all the better for exploring those water worlds!

This is not necessarily a bad thing, by any means, by the way.

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Filed under Paul, Photography

January 13, 2022 · 23:57

Random Old Photos – January 13th

When it’s been a long day in the middle of a long week in the middle of a long month after several long months… Throw a dart at the photo directory!

Big surprise! I was someplace taking pictures of airplanes!

2006. McCarren Airport, Las Vegas.

Give me an airport, a camera, and a couple hours to kill before our flight, I’ll be predictable.

To be honest, 2006 must have been a weird year. I actually had to look through about a half dozen directories before I found something that didn’t give me PTSD.

Work related, a couple of jobs ago, but time and selective amnesia had erased some of those memories. Nothing too nasty – an awards ceremony, folks I hadn’t thought of in probably fifteen years, an office move.

Damn! Good things there were planes too!

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Filed under Flying, Photography, Travel

January 12, 2022 · 23:39

Ice Ice Baby

In this case, a thin layer of it at about 30,000′, called cirrostratus nebulosus clouds.

Quite the pleasant surprise when you’re just going out to stretch your legs!

Other critters besides me were impressed. There was a pack of coyotes, sounded like a half dozen or more, howling away and carrying on something fierce. It sounded like they were down on the next street downhill from us to the west.

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Filed under Astronomy, Photography, Weather

January 11, 2022 · 23:03

Abandonment Eve

“Art is never finished, only abandoned.” – Leonardo da Vinci

“A poem is never finished, only abandoned.” – Paul Valery

“A work of art is never finished. It is merely abandoned.” – E.M. Forster

“Books are never finished – they are merely abandoned.” – Oscar Wilde

It seems that Valery said it first, in French, but you get the idea.

I would note that the same applies to many, MANY things in life. In my particular case tonight, I note that large, complex business projects often fall into the same category.

Would this have anything to do with the meeting tomorrow, annual budget, December financials, and various other miscellaneous documents?

Mmmm…maybe. Is the Pope Polish?

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Filed under Deep Thoughts, Paul

January 10, 2022 · 23:40

DIY Silver Lining

It’s “suboptimal” at best to be sitting at my desk at 23:15, especially after having been here pretty much constantly, going like a demon, since about 08:15 this morning.

But if you have to make your own silver lining (and it doesn’t look like the cavalry is coming over the hill to do it for me any time soon) you can do worse than setting up the monitors on your secondary computer with this view.

On the left, the Shiodome Rail Tracks in Tokyo. (If you’re bored, try to use Google Earth to figure out exactly where the camera by matching up buildings and landmarks.) My son turned me on to this feed a while back since he was passing through there periodically. It’s very calming and the trains rumbling below are wonderful white noise.

On the right, Venice as seen from the Hotel Filu. This channel plays light classical music all the time (lots of Vivaldi, Pachelbel’s Canon in D, that sort of thing) and you can watch the boats go by. Tonight (my time) as I was working it was dawn in Venice, where the skies are clear and brisk and the sunset was wonderful!

Yes, very much places I would like to be rather than at this desk. One of these days…

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Filed under Castle Willett, Photography, Travel

January 9, 2022 · 22:47

Brighter Days Ahead

Physically and astronomically, at least. The political and social aspect of “brighter” are much more uncertain.

But erase us from the planet in an eyeblink and the rest of the biosphere in the Northern Hemisphere will merrily go onward toward June 21st with each day getting more hours of daylight.

The winter solstice is three weeks behind us, the Christmas lights are off and it’s a bit darker out there for that.

The moonlight waxes and wanes from night to night and that porch light can only do so much. Orion can guide our way, but we’ll have to bring our own inner light to our actions and attitudes.

Be kind. Be aware. Be responsible.

Get fully vaccinated. Wear a mask. Stay away from indoor crowds. Socially distance.

Be intelligent. Stay out of the cults that seem to be fracturing our society.

Be an adult but hold tight to a childlike sense of wonder.

Balance maintenance of a healthy skepticism with an open mind driven by facts.

Have fun.

Enjoy life.

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Filed under Uncategorized

January 8, 2022 · 23:45

Last Light – Christmas 2021

As usual, we’re the last house on the block with our Christmas lights still up. There are a couple around the area, but not many. So the time has come.

I don’t know if I’ll actually get the lights down tomorrow, although they come down a lot faster than they go up. But the power needs to be cut tomorrow.

So, here’s last light for this year.

Let’s see what happens in 2022. Ten and a half months from now, will we even be in this house?

If so, I’ve got some ideas on where to add even more lights. Perhaps fewer commitments in 2022 will allow more time to do a more extravagant job.

If not, well, let’s just say that in the great Zillow hunt of 2022, one set of considerations includes how the roofline would look all lit up, how much roofline there is, how many other trees, bushes, and yard structures there are to cover in lights, whether the house is on a street where everyone within ten miles will see the glow on the horizon… You know, the usual things!

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Filed under Christmas Lights, Photography

January 7, 2022 · 23:52

Layers In The Troposphere

Sometimes, you just need to MAKE time to look at the clouds.

If you didn’t get to do that today, here, please, use some of mine!

Sometimes you’ll even spot a quarter moon hanging up there in the late afternoon.

Or a hawk or two, or crows, or crows harassing hawks, or a flock of goofy juncos taking their chance to bolt for cover while the crows are harassing the hawks.

Mostly today I saw layers. Some low, dark clouds, some puffy white stuff at about 5,000′, and some thin, icy streaks at about 15,000′.

It would have been a nice day for flying.

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Filed under Photography, Weather