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

Random Old Photos – October 29th

Twenty years ago, my one and only trip to the tip of Cape Cod.

It was very, very flat and very, very windy and sandy. We did not go swimming, no matter how competent that lifeguard looked.

Does that sign say “Danger” or “Dancer”? Twenty years that’s haunted me…

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Filed under Photography, Travel

Maybe It Wants To Rain

Probably not. But it sure looks like it wants to.

There’s more going on than just the coastal low clouds and fog moving in. Through some of the gaps in the clouds it looked like some significant cloud building and cumulus clouds rising up in the afternoon heat. But no rain.

Driving home I could see virga falling from the cloud bases in a couple spots, but nothing was hitting the ground.

Our last measurable rain was in April, which is normal, and the forecast says there’s a 50%+ chance of a third of an inch or so on Saturday. That would be nice.

But I’m not going to hold my breath waiting. We’re not to the rainy season around here yet.

Can’t wait!

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Filed under Photography, Sunsets, Weather

Decorating For Halloween

I don’t do nearly as much decorating for Halloween as I do for Christmas. By an order of magnitude.

So it’s two strings of lights instead of dozens and dozens.

A couple of skulls and a skelaton instead of a huge, decorated Christmas tree.

A couple of large, faux spiders instead of huge wreaths on the front door.

A couple of illuminated faux pumpkins and a couple of yard signs.

Up here on top of the hill, odds are that we will get zero trick-or-treaters on Thursday night, and no one except the immediate neighbors will even see that we have any decorations up at all.

That’s okay. We’ll see what happens when we find the Forever Home. But for now, this will do.

I just hope I don’t end up with too much leftover candy and have to eat it myself. I’m trying to behave and watch my weight, blood glucose figures, blood pressure, and A1C numbers. Really!

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Filed under Castle Willett, Photography

Six-Year Anniversary Of My Murder

At least two separate “AI” driven social media algorithms reminded me that it was the six-year anniversary of my murder.

As noted at the time, I had it coming.

And the next time you think AI is going to save us all, or even give you a correct answer to a simple question (“How many ‘r’s’ in ‘Strawberry?’), consider how stupid it is to be reminded of the anniversary of your own murder. Unless a lot of crows are involved, that doesn’t make much sense.

 

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Filed under Paul, Photography, Silly Shit

The Stupidest Timeline

If you live off in the country or a rural-ish area or even a small city where things are a bit more normal and less “cool,” you might be lucky enough to not yet have seen one of these abominations in person.

In Los Angeles, we’re not so lucky. I present to you the Tesla Cybertruck, officially the ugliest, most useless, most disfunctional piece of shit ever put on the American roads.

For months now I’ve been seeing them almost daily just driving to the office and around down, but this was the first time I had seen one parked (at my office) and got up close to it. It’s worse up close, just hideous.

From all of the constant reports of massive recalls, to social media postings about how fragile and troublesome they are, to just the simple ugliness of everything about them, it’s astonishing that there are Elon Musk cult brodudes that are paying $100K to $120K or more for them, only to have them be broken and useless at the drop of a hat.

We are indeed living in the stupidest timeline. Even aside from the politics of the day, the MAGAts, the new American Nazis, and everything involved with our deteriorating and collapsing society, THESE are the clearest sign that we’re devolving into a dystopian nightmare.

My money says that the Venn diagram comparing Cybertruck dudes to MAGA cult members is a perfect circle…

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Filed under Curiosities, Los Angeles, Photography, Politics

The Planet Revolves THAT Way

…and the Sun disappears below the horizon over THAT way.

Or it might be more accurate to say that the western horizon is rising up and obscuring our view of the Sun. The pretty pink clouds are gravy.

Six billion years of angular momentum just being conserved. We’re just along for the ride.

Enjoy the trip!

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Filed under Photography, Sunsets

Immature Blooming Beauty

Same day, next branch over.

A week later, when the mature flower was fading and turning brown, this one was there to keep me smiling every time I went out to my car. Since I was going out every morning at about 8AM (I’m back working in the office for a few weeks…😬) I appreciated it.

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Filed under Flowers, Photography

Mature Blooming Beauty

It’s been a tough year for the roses with all of the heat, but my favorite popped out a couple a while back:

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Filed under Flowers, Photography

Comet A3 Abides

It’s a lot dimmer than it was a week or ten days ago. No longer naked-eye visible, especially in the light-polluted and hazy suburbs of Los Angeles.

But the iPhone can still see it, these photos being 5.3 second exposures on a tripod mounted iPhone 13. From my front porch, about 19:30, still visible with binoculars, just look to the left of the top of the palm trees and then up a bit. (Again, the big swoopy arcs of light on the far right and left sides are lens flares and reflections from the street light at the left and the bright lights on the neighbor’s house on the right.)

It’s like a little dandilion seed aflutter across the cosmos, although this one has a tail of ice and dust that’s millions of miles long.

It has been a joy to see. If you haven’t seen it yet and your sky is clear tomorrow or Wednesday, give it a shot, it’s not too late!

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Filed under Astronomy, Photography

A Honkin’ Huge Orange Moon Rising

Wandering into the kitchen just before 21:00 tonight I looked out of the windows into the back yard and saw the honkin’ huge Moon, orange as a pumpking, rising in the northeast.

It’s a couple of days past full moon, but still really bright, and being so close to the horizon and shining through Los Angeles’ haze and light pollution, it was far, FAR from white.

Further out in the yard the color became more prominent.

I stood out here for a while, the owls hooting in the trees, the orange moon rising, and some occasional fireworks going off in the distance, presumably in celebration of the Dodgers’ win over the Mets that sends them to the World Series against the Yankees next weekend.

If the weekend has to end (and it really SUCKS that it has to!), this (and the Chiefs’ win to put them at 7-0 and the Kings’ win over the Ducks) isn’t a bad way to enjoy it.

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Filed under Astronomy, KC Chiefs, Los Angeles, Photography, Sports