Murderbot

Have you read the “Murderbot” books by Martha Wells? No? Why the heck not? They’re WONDERFUL!

Are you watching the new “Murderbot” series on Apple TV? No? Why the heck not? It’s WONDERFUL!

(Have you noticed? There’s a theme here…)

I urge you to start watching the series ASAP, four episodes out, six (I think) to go in Season One, a new one every Friday. It covers the events of the first book.

Then go read the books, which go well beyond this first season’s story, and see why soooooo many people love Murderbot.

Just don’t touch them or make eye contact. They hate that…

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Filed under Entertainment, Science Fiction

Proof Of Life – May 29th

SOOOOO angry tonight. Or frustrated. Or both.

Our payroll is due tonight and I just found out that they’ve COMPLETELY redesigned their data entry interface with zero warning, and it SUCKS!!! I always thought that the early implementations of QuickBooks Online was the worst program I’ve ever seen or used – this is giving it a run for its money.

The data entry that usually takes 30-45 minutes has already taken over an hour and I’m only a third of the way through it – at this pace it will be 1:30 or 2:00 AM or later before I’m done. And that assumes that there aren’t any more surprises or re-designs or other complications later, like when I want to get a report to verify that I’ve entered all of the data correctly.

WTF were they thinking??!!

Meanwhile, for reasons that make no sense at all to me, I got to thinking about how I don’t know how to stand for pictures without looking incredibly awkward. For example:

This has always been a favorite in this category. Prague, 2006. Calling Dork Central! What exactly am I doing with my arms, and why does it look like they’re both broken?

This is a little better. At least I found something to do with my hands. And these days I’m about 50 pounds lighter, so that helps…

Back to battle with the “new & improved” payroll software or I’ll NEVER get to bed tonight!

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Filed under Freakin' Idiots!, Paul, Photography, Travel

Beautiousness

Between work deadlines, forever home house hunting, preparing to move sooner rather than later, and *LIFE*, I’m overwhelmed enough so that I don’t know the day of the week without checking my watch, the day of the month is iffy at best, and even which month we’re in can be a crap shoot. Given that, it’s no surprise that I’ve lost track completely of what the current phase of the moon is. I sorta remember a full moon a while back, but was it a week ago? Two weeks ago? Closer to three? Who knows!?

Apparently it was about two and a half weeks ago. While doing a lap of the back yard just after sunset, I spotted this:

My first thought was to think “cool!” and move on. I wasn’t going to take a picture or spend another second on it, I’m swamped. (Remember?)

But then I came to my senses. I took the picture specifically to share tonight as a reminder to stop, look around, pay attention to the beauty and wonders that are lurking everywhere. (Can beauty lurk?)

Life’s short. Listen to Ferris Bueller. “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

Take time to smell the roses. Or say hello to the crescent moon hanging up there in the sunset clouds.

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Filed under Astronomy, Photography, Sunsets

Stained Glass – May 27th

St Michael’s Cathedral in Brussels.

The messages and stories and sentiment might be lost on me – I’ve done my time and I’m not a believer.

But I’m still always drawn to the beauty and craftsmanship that’s lasted for centuries.

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Filed under Art, Photography

A Horsie I Think

Still looking at clouds. I’m usually not that good about seeing shapes in them (for example, some of my finest work is pretty basic, at best) but this one just leapt out at me this evening.

It’s running from left to right, and its head is turned to look at me. See it? Tail, hooves, ears, butt?

Wait, aren’t horse butts called “withers?” Eeeehhhh! 🚨🚨🚨Wrong! 🚨🚨🚨 The shoulders, or highest point on the back, are the withers. So what is the back end called? Just horse butts?

If we’re going to buy a horse property for our Forever Home (we’re NOT!) I’m going to have to learn the lingo.

(It’s apparently “hindquarters,” and the high point of the hindquarters is called the “croup.”)

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Filed under Forever Home, Photography, Sunsets, Weather

501′ Overhead

FAA regulations say that over a populated area if you’re not landing or taking off you need to be at least 500 feet high. We had an LAPD helicopter the other day “orbiting” over a spot about two blocks away (never did figure out what the fuss was about) which meant for about 15 minutes, we had him coming back around right overhead every 60 seconds or so. As low as he could get, so, probably about 501 feet overhead.

Here in our neck of the woods in the big city, between fires, crimes, accidents, rescues, and other emergencies, this happens three or four times a year. There are, of course, areas of the city where this happens three or four times a day. Here, not so much. (That’s a good thing!) How often does it happen elsewhere? In Springfield, Vermont in the 1970’s I don’t think I saw a single helicopter anywhere in five years. Your experience is somewhere between those two extremes.

But it’s a good excuse for me to grab the camera and go look at our personal air show.

Sorry about all of the spots – they’re from dust on the sensor of a decades-plus-old camera. Normally I clean up images I post here using Photoshop, but I just realized that I haven’t re-installed it on this new computer after I got it in March. Another task to add to the punch list for finishing up the install.

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Filed under Flying, Los Angeles, Photography

Dragon Reentry

SpaceX Dragon spacecraft have started splashing down in the Pacific Ocean off of San Diego. Tonight there was a Cargo Dragon coming back from the International Space Station and its track brought it in from the northwest to the southeast, following the California coast and coming right over Los Angeles at about 10″35 PM.

I was thinking of shooting a Facebook Live video, but the Dragon came over Castle Peak a minute or two earlier than I had expected and it was going a LOT faster than I expected. I’m used to seeing ISS going over and it can take close to ten minutes to go from horizon to horizon if it’s going straight overhead. Dragon took 1:29. It was slower after breaking using atmospheric drag, but it was also MUCH lower.

Dragon had a long, colorful tail, not unlike a SpaceX Falcon launch, but missing the exhaust trail that a launch will leave.

These first three pictures were taken about 4-5 seconds apart – that spacecraft was making tracks!

Once it got down toward the southern horizon, somewhere south of Long Beach and near Oceanside, the trail faded as the spacecraft slowed further and the parachutes came out.

But the show wasn’t over. The other thing that was expected since we were nearly right under the path was a sonic boom. As it went over the Dragon was doing WELL over Mach 1, and about 2:34 after the Dragon faded from view, a LOUD Boom-Boom, double sonic boom rattled the windows. Outside it was quite noticable – it was heard even inside the house, as The Long Suffering Wife came out to make sure that I hadn’t tripped and fallen and slammed into the door or wall. No tripping, no crashing, just spacecraft returning to Earth.

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Filed under Photography, Space

Caterpillar Cloud

I came out the front door just around sunset and started the exit rituals. I said hello to the mourning dove hiding in its nest above the door. I said howdy to the medium sized lizard  who was catching the last solar rays on the west-facing front porch. I dropped and gave it a couple of push ups for competition and recognition – it did more, but mine were bigger, so we called it a draw and it scurried off into the bushes.

Then I noticed the isolated and gorgeous catepillar-shaped cloud hanging up there in the sunset sky.

Timing is everything. While it wasn’t going to get pink or orange or truly SPECTACULAR, it was brilliantly white and fluffy and feathery in a darkening sky. It was well above average, and these days that’s worth paying attention to!

If only I had wings to go do barrel rolls around it, through it, touching it, feeling the cold moisture on my face.

But I don’t. *sigh*

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Filed under Paul, Photography, Sunsets, Weather

Random Old Photos – May 22nd

Looking at houses in the Apple Valley, Hesperia, Victorville area (“high desert” or “Victor Valley”) there are quite a few houses that are advertised as “horse properties.” At least, they’re zoned to allow horses. Most don’t have any equipment, stalls, barns, or other necessities, but if you want to invest a few tens or hundreds of thousand dollars in building it, you too can have horses!

Of course, there’s also the place that had all of that, along with at least two mules. We thought about it, especially if the mules could be included in the sale price. (Didn’t happen – probably dodged a bullet there!)

I am not completely ignorant of the ways of the equine critters – just 99.9999% ignorant. When I was a kid growing up in Kansas City we lived on the edge of the housing tract, with a farm over the back fence. Shetland ponies were always there to feed and pet and play with.

And I have been on a horse more recently than 1967. 2005, twenty years ago, to be exact.

Thank goodness we found a slow, old, swayback nag that was safe for me to get on.

God knows what happens if our fantasy forever home has two acres, a barn, a watering trough, and more horse stuff. Of course, I’ll have to learn the real words for all of that horse stuff.

Adventures await!

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Filed under Critters, Forever Home, Photography

You Can’t Take A Bad Picture Here – May 21st

There are places on the planet where it is damn near impossible to take a bad picture, no matter your equipment, skill level, or whatever. I’m sure there are folks who somehow do manage to screw it up, but they’re in a different class from us mere mortals.

For example:

Entrance to Cabo San Lucas harbor.

The town and inner harbor at sunset.

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Filed under Photography, Travel