Varifrank is Back!!!

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Today, I wrote this as a comment to a post on neo-neocon:

You can get sent to a good blog from the unlikeliest of places.

I got hooked on blogs because of a link on MSNBC's website (of all places) directing me to Today, I was "Unprofessional"..., about the tsunami that hit Indonesia on Christmas Day, 2004.

I'm glad that's still archived and available, as its' author (Frank Martin - "Varifrank") has retired from blogging and "Gone Flyin...".

I miss him, and his analysis's.
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Why do I think so much of him? If clicking on that link doesn't show you, then no amount of words from me could explain it.

After posting that comment, I took another look at that page I had linked to, clicked on the "Main" link, and...

HE'S BACK!!! ( Varifrank )

I guess there's no such thing as a retired blogger.

UPDATE - 12 Mar 2010 - The "HE'S BACK!!!" may have been premature; since his new post, around New Year's eve, he appears to only be using Twitter now. Twitter (and my antipathy towards it) were the subject of a post I was considering, but neo-neocon went and beat me to it ( I’m a blogger, not a tweeter ).

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"Avatar" -- I want to see it AGAIN!

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There I go, violating common sense, and Lord knows how many rules of reporting and reviewing, by putting the bottom line, not just at the top, but in the very title of this review.

So, sue me! This is how I felt like presenting it.

I've NEVER written a movie review before (as will be painfully obvious from reading this), but I'm going to speak my piece anyway.

I've seen a number of attacks on this movie (several from bloggers on my "Blogs I Like" list) accusing James Cameron of making an anti-American, pro-environmentalist, way too PC movie, with little or no originality to it..

I beg to differ.

I don't recall any countries named in the movie; the soldiers depicted are mercenaries hired by a corporation (in this future, corporations appear to be at the top of the food chain). The lead is supposed to be an ex-marine, but lots of countries have marines and it is not specified which one he is from.

Many of the plot points are not necessarily comments on our current situation, but can be found in classic science-fiction going back more than half a century.

The idea of a warrior, sent to live among a people, deciding he'd rather be a part of them is NOT a ripoff of "Dances With Wolves", but is a very human story that likely predates writing and could well be part of sagas passed down from one generation to another by word of mouth.

The one thing you could convict Cameron on is lack of originality in the story.

BUT, to the best of my recollection, he has never claimed the ideas to be original. I think he has even said that himself in interviews.

What I think counts is how well it is done, and here, he really shines.

By not tapping into the $20,000,000.00 club for his actors, you get people that are more believable as their characters, instead of trying to get past that you are looking at George Clooney, Matt Damon or Tom Cruise.

I decided to go all the way and see it in IMAX 3D. This is probably the best 3D work I've seen to date; it is used, not as a gimmick (I don't recall any cheap tricks of throwing thing at you just to make you duck), but as an integral part of the story, to heighten the feeling of reality.

I'm going to cut this off, here, for further reflection on what I've seen.

Is this the best movie of the year? No, probably not even close.

Is it the best science-fiction movie of this year?
THAT will take some more consideration; at the moment, I'm inclined towards "District 9" for that honor.

Well then, is it any damned good at all? HELL YES!!!

WHY more consideration? I can see one similarity with Titanic; during the approximately nine months it was in theaters in Houston, I saw it quite a few times. Each viewing seemed to disclose things I hadn't noticed before.

My first impression is, "Pretty Damned Good".
My gut feeling is that repeat viewings will only add to that.

See it for yourself.

(Note added Sunday morning: This is a good example of how NOT to post anything.  I was in WAY too much of a hurry to put something up, with ideas only half-formed, and boy does that show! That's why it cuts off so abruptly;  I didn't know where to go next.  I stand by what is in there, but, it's sadly incomplete and I well know it.  I hope to do better next time.)
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Snow

An Air Force buddy of mine, now living in Montana, sent Christmas Greetings to me, noting...

"Winter has set in fairly quickly here, first a week of below-zero weather with no snow, then a week with lots of snow, and now just jumping back and forth across the freezing mark with mixed rain and snow. Makes driving very interesting".

I know what "interesting" can mean in those temperature ranges.

The most harrowing driving I've ever experienced was in Arkansas, one Christmas, when I left my mom's house (near Fort smith) to head to my brother's place in Little Rock.

The road was iced over (no biggie; I had handled that before), but the temperature was only around freezing, and then freezing rain fell on top of that. Absolutely the slipperiest I have EVER experienced. LOADS of fun on a two-lane road through moderately hilly country, with oncoming traffic in the other lane. I really think that if I had stopped and got out and braced myself against something, I could have pushed my truck sideways with one hand.

By the time it had started, I had been about twenty miles on the way, with another hundred or so to go. Seeing the insanity of continuing, I turned around and made it back to mom's house instead, only managing to have ANY directional control by putting the right wheels off the edge of the road, in the slush on the shoulder.

The only other experience that approached it was in 1988 when I lived in Michigan and was flying all over the place to install software for the company I was working for.

I lived in Mt. Pleasant (in the center of Michigan's lower peninsula), and flew out of Lansing (about 65 miles south), parking my truck in the lot at the airport. About Thanksgiving, coming back from one of those junkets, I had to take a commuter flight from Chicago to Lansing.

As we were in the landing approach, the plane began climbing again, just as the pilot announced that freezing rain was coming down on the Lansing airport and we would continue on to Flint instead (about 60 miles east; that freezing rain extended almost all of the way there, as well).

So, we got to Flint and I wondered, "Are they going to put us up in motels, or what?"

It turned out to be "what". They put us on a bus, to be driven back the 60 miles, most of it through freezing rain. (Normally, Michigan handles that by having trucks dump brine on the road to melt the ice. That trick works best AFTER it stops coming down. While it's still coming down, forget it!) .

That bus was sliding all over the place. I'll confess to being nervous on airplanes, particularly during the landing approach, but I don't recall EVER being so scared as on that bus trip.

After FINALLY reaching the Lansing airport, one more ordeal awaited. Try walking about a hundred yards on that kind of wet ice to reach your truck, while handling two bags, then to find an inch of ice coating the truck. Fortunately, I had a knife so I could chip away enough to be able to get the door open and get it started.

With it STILL coming down, I didn't even want to think about driving 65 miles north, at night, to get home then, but crept into Lansing instead and found a motel to wait it out.

Next morning, it had stopped, the brine trucks had done their thing, and heading the rest of the way home was uneventful.

Having grown up in San Antonio, and having lived in Arkansas for a short while, I had some experience with snow, but it's kinda rare in what would eventually be my adopted home town of Houston.

In 1984, I moved up to the aforementioned Mt. Pleasant, in Michigan, to join a seismic exploration company as a data-processing manager. That fell through in 1986, when the bottom dropped out of the petroleum industry and I eventually wound up with a software development company instead, remaining in Michigan until 1994 when that company opened an office in Houston and I didn't need all that much persuasion to come back down here.

I had spent ten years in a state where snow is sometimes measured in feet (on Jan 1, 1985, the New Year was celebrated with almost a yard of snow), usually beginning around Thanksgiving and remaining until spring.

Trust me; the novelty wears off very quickly.

Shortly after arriving in Michigan, I was given this primer on what to expect..
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Dear Diary...

Aug 12 - Moved to our new home in Michigan. It is so beautiful here. The mountains are so majestic. Can hardly wait to visit them with snow covering them. I love it here.

Oct 14 - Michigan is the most beautiful place on Earth. The leaves are all turned all the colors and shades of red and orange. Went for a ride through the beautiful mountains and saw some deer. They are so graceful; certainly they are the most wonderful animal on Earth. This must be paradise. I love it here.

Nov 11 - Deer season will start soon. I can't imagine anyone wanting to kill such a gorgeous creature. Hope it will snow soon. I love it here.

Dec 2 - It snowed last night. Woke up to find everything blanketed with white. We went outside and cleaned the snow off of the steps and shoveled the driveway. We had a snowball fight (I won), and when the snow-plow came by we had to shovel the driveway again. What a beautiful place. I love it here.

Dec 12 - More snow last night. I love it. The snow-plow did his trick again to the driveway. I love it here.

Dec 19 - More snow last night. Couldn't get out of the driveway to get to work. I am exhausted from shoveling. F***ing snow-plow.

Dec 22 - More of the white s**t fell last night. I've got blisters on my hands from shoveling. I think the snow-plow hides around the curve and waits until I'm done shoveling the driveway. A**hole!

Dec 25 - Merry F***ing Christmas! More friggen snow. If I get my hands on the son-of-a-bitch who drives that snow-plow, I swear I'll kill the bastard. Don't know why they don't use more salt on the roads to melt the f***ing ice.

Dec 27 - More white s**t last night. Been inside for three days except for shoveling out the driveway after the snow-plow goes through everytime. Can't go anywhere; car's stuck in a mountain of white s**t. The weatherman says to expect another 10" of s**t tonight. Do you know how many shovels full of snow 10" is?!!!

Dec 28 - The f***ing weatherman was wrong. We got 34" of that white s**t this time. At this rate, it wont melt before next summer. The snow-plow got stuck up the road, and that bastard came to the door and asked to borrow my shovel. After I told him that I had broken six shovels already shoveling all the s**t he pushed into my driveway, I broke my last one over his f***ing head.

Jan 4 - Finally got out of the house today. Went to the store to get food, and on the way back a damned deer ran in front of the car and I hit it. Did about $3000 damage to the car. Those f***ing beasts should be killed. Wish the hunters had killed them all last November.

May 3 - Took the car to the garage in town. Would you believe the thing is rusting out from that f***ing salt they put all over the road?

May 10 - Moved to Georgia. I can't imagine why anyone in their right mind would live in that God-forsaken state of Michigan.
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(Author unknown. The "mountains" references suggest the upper peninsula. Many variations can be found, and while this one is for Michigan, I suspect that all snow-belt states have their versions.)

Merry Christmas, y'all :-)
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Dynamics of the Afghanistan War Made Simple

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From Strategy Page: Murphy's Law: A Picture Is Worth Total Confusion

December 17, 2009: Dealing with the security situation in Afghanistan is explained a number of ways.
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These descriptions get increasingly more complex when you get your information from American military and intelligence organizations. An example of how complex this can become is available here: Afghan+war+diagram.jpg

Everything clear now? :-)
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A Profound Sadness at the Polling Station

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I just voted today, in the runoff for Mayor of the City of Houston.

The sadness in the title is because of the sample ballot printed in Vietnamese that was taped to the wall.

I don't know if I can adequately describe the disservice this does to the Vietnamese, but I'm going to give it a shot anyway.

In one of my previous careers, I worked for a consulting engineering company here in Houston, evolving from an electrical draftsman to an electrical designer (much the same as an engineer, but sans license and seal; my work required approval by a registered engineer).

The drawings we cranked out had WORDS on them, and they were legal documents. A contractor makes his bids on what you SAY; not on what you might mean. You may specify items that are of better quality than the minimum required to meet code, but sloppy language gives the contractor leeway to make a bit more by substituting that minimum in lieu of what you intended.

It can be very mortifying to call him on that, only to have this "good ole boy" type contractor (who might look and sound right at home on the old "Dukes of Hazzard" TV show) display a PhD level of English comprehension as he pulls out your drawing and points to your words, accurately saying, "That ain't what it says right there!".

Guess who eats the cost of fixing it in that situation? Sloppy language can be very expensive.

In the mid-seventies, our company had people from China (both Chinas), India, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, and Egypt. During that same period, the only Hispanics who came in did so at night to empty the wastebaskets, because those who applied for technical positions did not have enough English comprehension to handle the employment application; victims of a "bilingual education" system that did its' best to make things easy for them instead of emphasizing mastery of English.

With, probably the best intentions in the world, they were ghetto-ized into menial jobs from which they would be too busy just surviving to be able to work on educating themselves to escape to something better.

This was in the mid-seventies, after the fall of Saigon and the subsequent arrival of hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese refugees to our shores.

Vietnamese children, barely off the boat, were winning spelling bees across the country, because their parents had this peculiar notion that the best way to make it, in a new country and a new culture, was to master the language.

So, remembering that, my reaction to seeing that poster is, "God O'Mighty! What are we doing?"

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A True Professional's Perspective on Climate Change Data...

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In my very first post on this blog ( A Perspective on Man-Made Global Warming (Excuse me: "Climate Change") ) I argued how microscopic a timeline of recorded data was being used to make really long-range predictions on climate behavior, and that it was irresponsible and dangerous to mandate actions based on those predictions.

In his latest post ( How Not To Create A Historic Global Temp Index ) AJStrata goes into painful (his word; I call it "exquisite") detail about the absolute criminal stupidity of the demonstrated adjusting of temperature data to fit the desired conclusions of the alarmists.

All emphasis below is mine.

The momentum that build up behind the man-made global warming fad (and it is nothing more than an unproven hypothesis surrounded by a silly fan club) has not allowed the basic approach to be tested or challenged. You had a movement build up around an idea, which launched the idea into ‘established fact’ before the idea was validated. It probably will never be validated because the methodology is flawed to its core – as I will explain in painful detail.

To create a global temperature index for the past 30 years – and then project that back to the 1880’s (when global temp records were began) and then project it back centuries before that – is not trivial. And in my opinion the current approach is just plain wrong.

I take this position as someone who works ‘in space’ – where we have complex and interrelated models of all sorts of physical processes. And yet we have to keep refining the models to fit the data to do what we do. Climate science naively (and ignorantly in my mind) does just the opposite; it keeps adjusting the data (for no good reason) until they get the result they want!

He goes on at length, and despite his "painful" description, I think you'll find it a fascinating read. His main point is...

You DON'T adjust the data!

PLEASE, give it a look.

He makes my points with a professionalism and eloquence of which I can only dream.

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"The Dog Ate my Data"...

...is the name of a very good site devoted to AGW (Anthropogenic Global Warming), and especially to the cynical manipulation of data in order to further the cause of alarmists.

Many thanks to a commenter at The Strata-Sphere for this link: The Dog Ate my Data: RAW v ADJUSTED GHCN Data showing a very nifty animated graph of raw versus adjusted temperature data for Brisbane, Australia.

I could expend thousands of words without making the point any clearer than that graph.

PLEASE, give it a look.

I'm adding this site to my Blogroll.

(Truth in advertising: From this, and other post and comments by myself, you might infer that I'm a little skeptical of the Global Warming/Climate Change agenda. Well,.. You've got me! Guilty as charged. :-)

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"Don't forget the money angle, Paul"

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Richard Mullins, in a reply to a comment of mine on Redstate (that used the "Pure naked power" quote from my previous post), is the source of the title to this one.

He noted correctly that money and power go together, and singled out Al Gore as a prime example. I have no argument whatsoever with his observation.

BUT...

With the High Priests of this new religion, money is incidental.

Simple greed can be reasoned with, bargained with, and/or bought off.

Messianism cannot.

With power, you can get the money. The reverse doesn't always hold true. With real power comes control, to a degree of which money can only daydream.

I have often joked that a liberal's worst nightmare is that somebody somewhere is doing something without his permission.

I believe, to the very depths of my soul, that The Won falls into this catagory.

Just look at all of the pictures of him out there, in that head-back pose so he's looking down at you even when he's seated, with a smug all-knowing expression that almost screams, "Humility is not even in my vocabulary; What have I got to be humble about?!"

Those pictures are out there (you don't need Photoshop to produce them) because he provides countless opportunities for people to catch the true him (he is a "wysiwyg" president), and I doubt he even cares if some people see him for what he is.

This Ayatollah wannabe probably believes that the USA has been on the wrong track ever since it discarded its' fealty to the King and adopted the attitude that mere people could manage their own affairs without someone telling them what to do.

This attitude of "I was born to bring enlightenment to you" has been explored in detail in this analysis ( Understanding Obama: The Making of a Fuehrer ) that appeared months before the election.

What makes him so dangerous is this attitude makes it extremely difficult for him to compromise in the face of reality. Bill Clinton could see the writing on the wall and adapt to changing circumstances as easily as breathing. Obama simply cannot.

So, if you figure on him seeing the light anytime soon; well... don't hold your breath.

UPDATE 07 JUN 2010 - That link above no longer goes to the article.
Try this one instead: Understanding Obama: The Making of a Fuehrer"
UPDATE 14 JUN 2010 - The original link works again (YMMV).
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What's this "Climategate" fuss all about?

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A Link Worth Saving...

Understanding Climategate's Hidden Decline ...

I've mostly said my piece on Climate Change in various comments, and in my very first post here, but that was mainly about the sheer arrogance of predicting long term climate trends from the microscopic recorded history we have on the subject.

Whatever the suspicions I may have had of some of the researchers and advocates of man-made global warming, I never went so far as to accuse them of making up data out of nothing and throwing out (I mean literally "THROWING OUT") data that didn't fit the conclusions they were after.  I really was not that cynical.  From what I'm seeing lately (for really good coverage of this, check out AJStrata's  The Strata Sphere ); apparently I'm far too naive.

Almost as bad is the almost complete absence of coverage of this from any of the major networks, and only grudging mention in a few U.S. newspapers (the Brits are doing a much better job of this).

This is NOT just a scandal of a few purloined emails;  it is the perversion of science to cold-bloodily create propaganda, to justify putting the government in complete totalitarian control of our industries, our economy, nearly every detail of how we live.

This will be (and is being) fought for at the highest levels as literally BILLIONS of dollars are at stake.

What's at the bottom of all this?

Pure naked power.

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Ah, Hell!...

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Yesterday, Friday, Dec 4, 2009, SNOW paid one of its' rare visits to Houston.

The motion and reflectivity make them look larger, but they were big wet flakes, a bit over postage-stamp size, that melted as soon as they hit the ground.  This was about 10:30 AM, and the temp didn't get below freezing until late in the afternoon, by which time the snow  had stopped falling in my part of town.

I so much wanted to grab the camera and go out a bit southwest of town, where there was more activity (up to 4 inches in some places), but was intercepted by a call to come into work early.  By the time I got off, it was freezing, but the snowfall was all over where I was.

So, no opportunity for winter-wonderland shots this time.

However...

Snow is a very rare occurrence here.  Dec 4 is the earliest time on record for it to show up.  Also, we got visited last year.  This is the first ever recorded instance of it happening two years in a row.  And, winter is still over two weeks away.

Could get interesting.
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A Brief Coda to "A Parking Space to Die For"

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WHY the primeval rage and urge to MURDER over a parking space?

In an email exchange with a good friend over the posting, I expanded on the territorial premise.  If she sees this, she'll recognize this post as a rehash of what I wrote to her.

An assigned space is very much like an extension of your home.  Imagine returning to your home or apartment to find someone else occupying it.  Blood has flowed over less.

As for what I had vowed when I put my car in the Guest area, I almost felt like renewing that vow when I moved my car from it.  The one open spot I had found was directly under a tree.

The problem with trees is that they attract birds.  LOTS of birds.
Need I fill in the rest?

That oughta do it.  Continuing would redefine "Beating a dead horse".

"Them's my last words on the subject!"

(~Steve McQueen, "Tom Horn")

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A Parking Space to Die For

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The picture below was taken this morning from my bedroom window.

See that parking space designated as # 736?  It's reserved.
That's mine.

See that orange VW GT1 parked in it?
That AIN'T mine.

I came home from work, late last night, to discover this.

This (bleeped-out) left me with the choice of:
 1) Become him, and steal someone else's space.
 2) Park in the unprotected Guest area at the front of the complex.
 3) Park on the @#$%^&* street.

Problems with:

1) I don't WANT to be like him. Besides, what if that someone else is in better shape than I am (most people are), and has MY grace and temperment on this issue?

2) The day before, we all got notices warning us to be careful, because someone's car was broken into in the guest parking area.

3) Do I really have to explain my feelings on parking on the street?

So, I took photos of that car, wrote down its' VIN number, and vowed to K*LL the SOB if anything happened to my car while it was parked in the guest area.

A talk with the apartment manager this morning disclosed that he knew the owner, that the guy just hit the wrong space (his was a couple of spaces over) and he would talk to him today and resolve it. Just stay cool.

This twisted set of priorities isn't new with me. Normally I am  a very shy, retiring sort of person, who avoids confrontation as much as possible (Too "chicken" to start a fight? Maybe so.), but when my parking space is violated I fall prey to thoughts that would cause Hannibal Lecter to seek therapy.

I mean, that reserved parking space is almost as sacred as the vehicle that it was meant for. ("What's more chickensh*t than f**king with a man's automobile?  I mean, don't f**k with another man's vehicle."  ~John Travolta, as Vincent Vega, in "Pulp Fiction")

How rational is that?  Maybe, just a little. That car of mine is a major investment; one I'd have great difficulty in replacing in my present circumstances. So, would losing it KILL me?  It just might.

But, I had the same feelings way back when my financial situation would have rendered such replacement as a nuisance rather than a catastrophy.

I cannot claim this feeling is "rational" (except in my present circumstances :-),  but I know for a certainty that I am not alone here.  Perhap's it's some primordial territorial imperative: Threaten my car, or my parking space, and "May God have mercy on your soul; I probably wont."

BE CAREFUL WHERE YOU PARK!  :-)

UPDATE: The owner of that car found a strongly-worded note from me on his windshield, moved his car and left a very gracious apology on my windshield (after I had reclaimed my space), and a bottle of wine with the apartment manager as further apology.

As he handled this incident far more professionally than I did, I sincerely apologize for what I called him earlier in this post, thank him for this, and can only say to him: "We're cool!".

This is still more practice at writing. I'm finding it easier to just let the words come, and I think I did a reasonably good job (this time) of staying on-point and not wandering all over the map.

Update - 17 Sep 2011 - This ancient post appears to have gone viral the last few days, mostly visited by people coming directly from facebook.  If you don't mind, I'm really curious about just what brought you here.  Thanks.

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Some rambling thoughts on Houston

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I had hoped to do more in this blog (and still do), but life has a way of intruding.

One thing I had in mind was photo essays on Houston, and on why I like this place so much.

When I first came here, in 1964, it was not with great enthusiasm. Our family was living up in Arkansas at that time, and here I was, fresh out of the USAF, and seeing Arkansas as oblivion as far as job prospects go. At that time, I had an aunt and uncle in Pasadena (next to the east side of Houston), so I would have a place to stay while job hunting.

While in the Air Force, I had made a lot of bus trips through some pretty grimy industrial towns in the northeast (names withheld to protect those who have since improved a bit) and expected the same of a city known primarily for its' refineries.

What I found, instead, was one of the cleanest and friendliest of large cities I have EVER encountered. Also, one of the most diverse in culture.

Sure, Hollywood simply cannot set a scene here without showing someone in a Stetson hat, but that ain't the norm here (Houston Chronicle columnist Jeff Millar once observed that "If you see someone in a Stetson hat in Houston, it's either a Yankee tourist on vacation, or a professional athlete").

For the "diversity" side to this town, I wanted to get a shot of a shopping center I remembered in the southwest side of town. That shot would have shown store signs in English, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Hindi, Arabic, Hebrew, Russian, German, French and God knows what other languages (I've just counted twelve among the ones I've listed), just in ONE shopping center alone.

But, it's gone now, scattered to the winds, and replaced by (typical for here) yet MORE shopping malls.. All of the different elements I listed remain in Houston, but relocated.

Major parts of my city are as ephemeral as cloud patterns.  When I worked here, in engineering a long time ago, I observed that the builders of the pyramids just wouldn't have cut it here. We periodically tear down things here, only to replace them with something very much like what we just demolished. When structures get much over 30 years old, watch out.

It didn't occur to me then, but now I wonder if the fact that Manhatten is built on granite, and a lot of Houston is built on gumbo might have a lot to do with that; maybe you just reach a point when the developing cracks in the structure make demolition and replacement more practical than continuing upkeep.

Places I lived in as a child in San Antonio (more years ago than I like to contemplate) are still there, while apartments I had in my early days in Houston are now ancient history and replaced with, you guessed it, townhouses and condos.

Had the Alamo been in Houston, I fear it would have been replaced with a Burger King long ago. (On this gumbo, it probably would have settled and crumbled into rubble before the battle was fought).

Well, I see I've once again rambled all over the place, but I'm going to leave it as is. I still like the diversity photo-essay idea, and when I can I'll keep on the lookout for a center like the one that now appears to be history. This town's over 600 sq. miles in area; the chances of finding other such should be pretty good.

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FINALLY, a title picture I can use.

The weather finally cooperated and I got a chance to take some photos, one of which is now the background for the main title. It may change in the near future if I manage to improve on this.

At least, I'm getting some practice with the camera. I was impressed by its' features, but recoiled at all the various options and settings (explained somewhat, in micro-print, in the owners manual).

But, one can just set the Auto mode and start shooting. The other options I can get acquainted with at my own pace (much like the way you teach yourself programming; learn basics first, and add bells & whistles as you go).

Whatever the merits of this title picture, at least I'm not violating anyone's copyright by using it.


Now, I can get on with the rest of the things I want to do with this blog, making full use of the gift from a wonderful friend above.

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"Announcing your plans is a good way to hear God laugh."

~ Ian McShane, as Al Swearengen, in "Deadwood"

Originally, the title of this blog was to have a really nice night shot of Houston as a background. Then I realized that, since that shot was an image I found somewhere on the internet, there might be copyright issues with using it.

I explained that, in a text image replacing that shot, and announced, "So I will go out and do my own shooting, and when I get one I REALLY like, it will go here."

Today was a day off for me, and the Weather Channel predicted only partly cloudy, so I thought it a good day to go and do it. Well, almost nothing but solid overcast today.

I wanted bright and sunny, so I could try out my new polarizing filter to get really dramatic dark blue sky as a background. I loved those things when I was into 35mm photography, ages ago.

First obstacle to that was overcome weeks ago; to wit my camera wasn't made to accept filters.

Said camera is a new Canon Powershot SX-10-IS. It LOOKED as if it had filter threads in front of the lens, but in fact it did NOT. What it had was concentric ridges and grooves with which to hold the lens cap, fitting inside in front of the lens.

An internet forum search disclosed that some people had successfully screwed 52mm filters into those grooves, but I see real problems there.

If the filter has a steel rim and threads, you could probably do this fairly easy, cutting a new set of threads into the aluminum body of the lens assembly. So far, so good.

BUT, if you remove and replace the filter, you are dealing with the new threads that were cut intersecting the original grooves, giving wonderful opportunities for cross-threading, and eventually winding up with a chewed up mess. I wasn't too keen on taking that chance.

On the front edge of the lens barrel are a couple of very low flanges, making a bayonet mount for the strange little lens hood that comes with this camera.

An outfit called Lensmate offers an adapter that uses this mount, and has a rim threaded for 58mm filters. It's reasonably priced (mine was 17.99 + 3.99 shipping), and they'll get it to you, by first class mail, within a few days of you placing your order.

If you are, or about to be the proud owner of this particular camera, or similar Canon models, this is something you should definitely check out.

Full day tomorrow, so have to wait until Friday for another chance at getting the kind of shots I want. That night shot is going to be very hard to beat.

(Truth in advertising: After posting this, I've noticed a ton of typos, and gone back and fixed them. My writing is very undisciplined at this time; while commenting on the perversity of the universe, I managed to drift into a commercial for Lensmate. I don't have a problem with THAT; they ARE a good outfit. But, I need to practice staying on the point a little better. Maybe just doing more of this will be good practice. :-)

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A Perspective on Man-Made Global Warming (Excuse me: "Climate Change")

For my very first post here, I'm gonna recycle a comment I have placed in a LOT of other people's blogs (Hey! Recycling is good for the planet, right? RIGHT?!!! :-)

My biggest problem with global warming is the absolute certitude of some of its' proponents (Example: Al Gore stating that "The science has been settled!").

Let’s try for some perspective, time-wise...

For those comfortable with the metric (S.I.) system, imagine a line about 4.6 kilometers long (a bit under 3 miles). That would represent the 4.6 billion year age of the Earth at 1,000,000 years/meter; 1 mm (about the thickness of a paper clip) would represent a THOUSAND years.

That line would span the downtown area of quite a few large cities, with some to spare. Here in Houston, the downtown streets are 16 to the mile, making their spacing about 100 meters. Thus, that line would be about 46 blocks.

The reign of the dinosaurs ended around 65 million years ago (65 meters, about 2/3 of a city block down that line from today).

The first of our ancestors verging on intelligence may have emerged from 2 to 4 million years ago (2 to 4 meters, say 6.5 to 13 feet; your living room could be around 4 meters in one of its' dimensions).

What we call "modern" man may go back 40,000 years or so (40 mm, TWO FINGER-WIDTHS on that line).

Written history goes back 6000 years (six millimeters, 1/4 inch on that line).

Fahrenheit's thermometer is around 300 years old ( 0.3 mm, you’re approaching the thickness of a business card now, or the diameter of a grain of salt).

The portion of that time-line during which precise temperature measurements were recorded would be literally microscopic.

And from that tiny portion, we dare to make really long range climate predictions, and mandate actions based on them? And decide to totally destroy our economy because of them?

I live about three miles west of some of Houston's major downtown buildings, so it's very easy for me to visualize that line.

Taken across the street from my apartment complex, looking towards downtown. The closer buildings there are about three miles away. Picture that time-line stretching all the way to them.

Looking at that time-line of Earth's history, and the flyspeck of our own existence upon it, the notion of asserting that ANY science has been "settled" strikes me as arrogance beyond comprehension (as in "only a politician could possibly believe that").

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