Thursday Morning

07:03 Saturday, 30 November 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 38.75°F Pressure: 1024hPa Humidity: 70% Wind: 8.05mph
Words: 233

Shot this with the iPhone as I went to get the car Thursday morning. Turned out pretty well. Unedited.

Was watching some YouTube videos of cars stuck in the snow south of Buffalo. Pretty bad.

One thing that's very helpful is the outside temperature reading. As long as the air temperature remained above 32°F I wasn't too worried. I was worried that if it dropped precipitously, we'd be facing a much different situation, with wet snow freezing to ice. I'm pretty sure they were salting the roads as they were plowing, but I'm not certain.

Snow, in modest accumulations, I can handle. Ice means get off the roads.

Another feature I'd like to see added to either CarPlay or the general instrument cluster is an elevation display. Below 1,000' we were seeing mostly rain, above 1,000' it was generally snow. I asked Siri once what my current elevation was, and I got a response that sounded reasonable, like 1,300' or something. I asked again later, and it prompted me to give Siri permission to use my location, which seemed weird. And then it couldn't tell me my elevation.

CarPlay would show yellow and red roads where there were no backups, or cars, for that matter. I'm guessing they were getting data from cars moving slowly in those stretches.

✍️ Reply by email

And Back Again

05:37 Saturday, 30 November 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 39.34°F Pressure: 1023hPa Humidity: 70% Wind: 9.22mph
Words: 1129

We made it to Mom's, and later my sister's, for Thanksgiving. A three and a half hour drive took five hours, under some very challenging conditions. Route 88 through the Catskills was mostly clear, but the snow was falling nearly faster than the plows were keeping it clear. The last part of 88 was at about 30mph, behind three snow plows.

It was more challenging on the side roads, where the plows either hadn't been yet, or had been through long before we got there, and accumulation had built up.

Before we got on 88, a wierd sound began at the back right tire. Increased and decreased in frequency as the car accelerated or slowed. We stopped at a red light, and no one was behind us so Mitzi jumped out to look at it. A piece of the plastic interior wheel well liner had come loose and was pressing on the tire, causing it to vibrate as the tire rotated.

As soon as we could, we pulled into a gas station and took a closer look. I don't know how it happened, but whatever retainer or fastener that clipped it to the body had either broken or unscrewed, and slush building up pushed it backward into contact with the tire. I was able to clear the icy slush and push it back into position, but I had no way to secure it.

Forty miles later, it did the same thing again. Again we stopped and pushed it back into place. We were supposed to take State Road 206 to get onto 88, but 79 was barely clear, and getting worse. We weren't confident that 206 would be clear at all. We ended up getting on Route 81 going south to pick up 88. 81 and 88 were passable. Visibility was variable. Fortunately, there was little wind.

We saw a semi had somehow slid off 88. A trooper was present and we pressed on. There were drivers with little confidence in their vehicle or their skills, driving at 20 to 25 mph, with their flashers on. The right lane was the clearest, but the left lane looked ok, so I passed the first one.

I was quite impressed with the RAV4 Prime. It handled magnificently. Never once did I feel as though it wasn't firmly connected to the road, and never sensed any wheel-spin. It just went where I pointed it as if the snow wasn't even there. That said, I never got much above 55 mph. I passed about three "convoys" of cars stuck behind slower vehicles but unwilling to pass.

The last portion of 88, as I mentioned, was in a large group of vehicles, all behind a three-abreast formation of plows. Smooth sailing, but slower than I'd have preferred.

Once off 88, it was back to very snowy, slushy roads. On a side road with a 40mph limit, there was a woman driving with her flashers on at 20mph. I passed her and this seemed to offend her, as she treated us to a very long blast on her horn. (Perhaps it was a celebratory salute to our conquest of the elements?)

We were to pick up Mom to take her to my sister's. When we arrived at her place, a tractor with a blade had just cleared the parking lot. We stayed and chatted for an hour, then got Mom into the car and headed to Diane's, which was only a few miles away. They'd left one side of the driveway clear so we could get as close to the house as possible. We were able to get her safely inside.

The good news was the lack of wind, and the temperature never went much below 33°F. Snow would accumulate and sort of melt, but nothing froze. Until that night. We had a lot of frozen slush on the roof of the car, and pieces would break off and slide off the back, hitting the deck-edge of the rear hatch with a loud bang.

Mitzi drove back to Burdett. From Albany, all down through the Catskills it was sunny and clear and the views were magnificent. We were able to take 206 this time, but it became overcast with light snow. Temperatures again hovered at 33-34°. We stopped in Greene, NY for a late breakfast, and I was telling Mitzi that I was getting this very powerful Groundhog Day vibe. The place, Bonnie's, was nearly full with the kinds of people you saw in the movie.

We gassed-up and pressed on for home.

It was snowing off and on as we approached Burdett, but it was clear that there hadn't been the kind of accumulation we saw out at the eastern part of the state.

My brother was driving in from East Syracuse and he turned around at Canajoharie because his pickup was fish-tailing and because of the number of accidents and disabled vehicles he was encountering on the Thruway. So it clearly snowed very heavily to the north of us, which was somewhat consistent with the forecast.

I'd expected to encounter rain, but we got snow. It all worked out, but it was a tiring drive. I ended up napping on the couch after everyone had left.

We had a lovely get-together with no family drama. My sister worked very hard to put on a wonderful meal and everyone had a nice time catching up. We FaceTime'd with my brother from Syracuse, and I checked in with my kids.

I'm glad we did this. Mom's Parkinson's is getting worse, and that's not going to change, so...

The weather seems to have cooled Mitzi's enthusiasm for moving here somewhat. But she's always insisted that if we did, she'd be wintering elsewhere. I'm pretty sure the plan is still viable, but this experience has been very useful in terms of knowing what to prepare for in coming years. For one thing, we're buying a snow brush/ice scraper today and leaving it in the garage when we head back to Florida.

This was an extreme event in terms of recent climate experience. To some extent, I worry that the state and counties may let their snow-removal infrastructure wither due to lack of use, and then something like this will happen. To be clear, the weather the past couple of weeks is quite familiar to me from my experience growing up in New York; but it seems to be a rare occurrence now. But that investment in equipment and supplies to keep the roads clear is just as important as it ever was.

Anyway, we enjoyed some leftovers last night, watched the Ted Lasso Christmas episode and then Groundhog Day, and I was quite content.

Feels like home.

✍️ Reply by email

On The Road

05:58 Thursday, 28 November 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 61.63°F Pressure: 1014hPa Humidity: 94% Wind: 4.61mph
Words: 76

It's not exactly "over the river and through the woods," but we've got a three and a half hour drive to Mom's this morning. Ordinarily, it's just a long drive; but this time it's into a winter weather advisory.

It's been raining until now, and it's expected to turn to snow. I'm more glad than ever that we got the new tires before we left.

Well, wish us luck.

Happy Thanksgiving to all the marmot readers.

✍️ Reply by email

The Tinderbox Files

09:32 Tuesday, 26 November 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 62.94°F Pressure: 1022hPa Humidity: 88% Wind: 5.01mph
Words: 225

Jack Baty has been doing some interesting things with Tinderbox lately. From self-contained html exports with embedded images, to file attachment management.

I'm looking forward to playing around with these ideas when I get back to Florida. Right now, I'm typing this on a folding table, seated in a piece of patio furniture. I suspect this is the reason why my back has been bothering a lot more the past few days. I'm hunched over this laptop too much.

But in this week of Thanksgiving, I'm thankful for smart people like Jack, who share their ideas and insights with everyone. The Tinderbox community is blessed with an abundance of such people, like Mark Anderson who maintains A Tinderbox Reference. Michael Becker, who hosts many of the Tinderbox meet-ups. And lots of regular participants at the forum.

Which is to say nothing of the generosity and engagement of the developer, Mark Bernstein, who is responsive to support requests, new feature ideas and always present in the community.

As disillusioned and cynical as I have grown about the value and utility of "personal computing," Tinderbox remains a bright spot that illuminates the promise of the vision many of us once had, now beclouded by bad actors, corporate greed, and the empowered worst aspects of human nature.

Anyway, I'm grateful for this app and this community.

✍️ Reply by email

Chili Today, Hot Tamale

07:59 Tuesday, 26 November 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 55.98°F Pressure: 1022hPa Humidity: 88% Wind: 6.26mph
Words: 772

The snow is nearly all gone. Just some remnants where it piled up. It's been in the 40s and raining since last night. We're driving to my sister's near Albany on Thanksgiving day, about three and a half hours. We'll be taking a southern route, and not the Thruway, which gives me some encouragement that the traffic won't be that bad. But the weather is going to suck, near-freezing rain. Because of course.

Next weekend is going to be downright cold. Highs Saturday, Sunday and Monday all projected to be below freezing. But who knows?

Spent much of yesterday doing some home automation additions. Added an Aqara hub to the network so I could add some flooding sensors. They get mixed reviews online, mainly centering on disappearing from the network. It's a roll of the dice these days with these IoT devices.

I bought a package of three, the smallest number you can buy. There's a dim blue LED inside the sensor itself, and that's the light you need to watch for when you're pairing it with the hub. I kept watching for a blue light on the hub itself. Once I figured that out, I got them all paired up. One is in the utility closet with the hot water heater, the well expansion tank, and the radiant heat boiler. One is under the toilet, and one is under the washing machine. (We replaced the rubber hoses with braided steel hoses, which I recommend to everyone. Especially since the shut-off valves are inconveniently located in our case, and the washing machine isn't easy to drag out.)

The toilet and washing machine are in the same room, but depending on how the water flows, which one alerts first should give us an idea of what is leaking.

Our only course of action is to call the neighbors and ask them to come over and shut off the water. We could do that before we leave, I suppose. But then the radiant heat boiler has a make-up feed system in case the water level goes low, and I don't want to lose heat if that happens during the winter. So the water stays on, and we'll hope for the best. I'll have a servo-controlled shutoff valve installed next summer and figure out how to wire that into the network.

I spoke to the original owner and his plumber about the weeping union. The plumber said to just go ahead and snug it up, that I didn't have to worry about hurting anything. I related that every time I try to do something related to plumbing that I think should be within my capabilities, I end up calling a plumber anyway. He laughed.

I don't have a combo wrench large enough to fit the union, and there's not enough space between the adjacent fittings for an adjustable wrench or channel locks. We're going back to Home Depot on Saturday to rent a van to pick up a table Mitzi found online, so I'll buy a few larger sizes, or a set, and try again. It's just a weep. There's no dripping, no water on the floor. It dries on the fitting and the upper part of the tubing. So it's not a potential catastrophe, it's just unsatisfactory.

Last September, I brought up one of two Apple iPod HiFi speakers that I have, and an AirPort Express. I got that added to the network yesterday, and connected them with a TOS optical cable, so now we can AirPlay music. I don't have anything to set the speaker on, so it's on the floor. I stuck some cardboard under the front edge to angle it upwards and it made a significant difference. I'll figure something better out next summer.

I also brought two Eve wifi-controlled 110 outlets that I'd bought for the house in Florida, for which I never found a use. We have two floor lamps here, so they're plugged into those controllers and now Siri can control the East Lamp and the West Lamp. I have to use my watch or my phone, since I don't have a HomePod that can listen for commands. I'll bring my office HomePod up next summer. Of course, then I won't need the iPod HiFi. Maybe it'll migrate to the garage for tunes out there.

Anyway, despite the weather and the power outages, still enjoying rural life. If we have another extended outage due to an ice storm, that assessment may change. We'll see. It's a challenge that can be overcome, but we're not well prepared at the moment.

The beat goes on...

✍️ Reply by email

Snow In Higher Elevations

07:52 Sunday, 24 November 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 48°F Pressure: 1022hPa Humidity: 66% Wind: 3.78mph
Words: 56

It'll melt rapidly with the sun shining again. Put the drone up to grab a quick shot of what may turn out to be a rare scene. I won't necessarily miss the snow, but I'm glad it happened while we were here.

✍️ Reply by email

Sunday A.M.

07:01 Sunday, 24 November 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 44.08°F Pressure: 1022hPa Humidity: 93% Wind: 0mph
Words: 146

I didn't plug in the RAV4 yesterday evening because we had no power. Mitzi reminded me this morning, so I went to the garage and plugged it in. Saw this on the way back to the house and figured I'd try getting a shot with the iPhone 16.

Studying the radiant heat contraption last night after the power came on, I noticed that one of the unions from the header to the tubes running under the slab has a minor weep. I could feel some wetness, and there is scale building up around it. Probably just needs to be tightened, but I'm not going to touch it.

I'll try and reach the previous owner and see if he recommends someone, preferably the installer, to come out and take a look at it.

✍️ Reply by email

Power Restored

21:48 Saturday, 23 November 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 52.07°F Pressure: 1020hPa Humidity: 75% Wind: 3.44mph
Words: 255

Came back on at about 2110. Checked all the house systems, and everything seems normal. Had to read the radiant heat boiler manual. "DFT" was showing in the LED display, so I had to look up what that meant.

It stand for "Dry Fire Test," and it's to make sure there's water in the "boiler" before it goes online. Cycled through the test and was apparently satisfied because the alert went away and the water temperature began rising.

We spent last night at my sister's in Buffalo. Partly to visit her new house, partly to not die of boredom. When we got back here this afternoon, it was 62°F in the house, which was quite warm compared to the 42°F outside.

Snow has begun melting, but quite a bit remains. Tens of thousands of people were without power, but most appear to have been restored. There's space in the utility room for some good-sized batteries. We'll need to wire in some kind of transfer switches for the pump and certain circuits. I'll be working on that solution this summer. Have to figure out the loads and capacity we'll need. As a rough estimate, we can use the electric bill and get kind of estimate of an "average" day's load.

This has been a good drill for figuring out what it's going to take to live here comfortably full-time. Mitzi's been a great sport and it hasn't seemed to diminish her support for moving here.

Something to be thankful for, I think.

✍️ Reply by email

Outage

13:53 Friday, 22 November 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 59.16°F Pressure: 1014hPa Humidity: 44% Wind: 18.41mph
Words: 107

Power went out a little over an hour ago. Looking at the outage map, it looks like it's going to be a while before we get it back. MBP is on battery, using the iPhone hotspot.

Still snowing pretty good. The driveway is white again. The neighbor came by and plowed it for us.

I think we'll get a generator before we spend another fall or winter up here.

Going to play it by ear and see how it goes. Can always get in the car if we have to.

It's still pretty!

✍️ Reply by email

Winterfell

09:55 Friday, 22 November 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 53.11°F Pressure: 1015hPa Humidity: 50% Wind: 13.8mph
Words: 257

Same name as another post, but felt appropriate.

We brought a shovel up from Florida, because we don't use it that often, just moving pygmy rattlers and I can use the rake for that. We didn't try to shovel the whole driveway because that would be insane. But I did have to clear the snow that the plow pushed into the entrance to the driveway.

The RAV4 Prime has a trail mode, where power goes to all four wheels. I was about to test it out when the guy came who was giving us an estimate on installing a garage door opener. He had a 4WD F150 and got up the driveway just fine. Had some trouble getting back down, but he made it.

I think I could get the RAV4 out if we had to, but I'm by no means certain. I got it out of the garage just as the door guy showed. No wheel-spin in about 10 inches of snow, but who knows?

We could hear limbs breaking from time to time. Snow packs well. I tried to make a snowman, but I seem to have lost all of my snowball rolling skills.

Power's out at my sister's place out near Albany, but all she had was wind and rain. No snow in Buffalo either.

Anyway, this is pretty amazing. One good thing is that people seldom end up dragging all their shit to the curb after a snowstorm!

✍️ Reply by email

Still Snowing

06:49 Friday, 22 November 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 47.48°F Pressure: 1014hPa Humidity: 62% Wind: 10.36mph
Words: 88

It's been snowing for about 15 hours straight. It's changed to smaller, more powdery flakes. The temperature continues to hover just at freezing. It may go up after the sun rises, but clouds may limit the amount of snow that melts.

I'd welcome clearer skies for a better shot, but I couldn't wait to get one posted.

This is a relatively rare event around here these days. Mitzi isn't thrilled. I think it's great.

✍️ Reply by email

So This Just Happened

16:25 Thursday, 21 November 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 64.96°F Pressure: 1012hPa Humidity: 33% Wind: 14.97mph
Words: 55

It is beginning to stick, but for how long is anyone's guess. Very large, wet flakes. Any accumulation is going to weigh heavy on tree branches.

It is pretty though. Saw a deer run across the street down by the pond.

✍️ Reply by email

Thursday Morning

09:08 Thursday, 21 November 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 55.92°F Pressure: 1016hPa Humidity: 56% Wind: 16.11mph
Words: 71

Rained hard last night, only .3", but it was often horizontal so I don't know how accurate my rain gauge is. 33°F this morning, but clear. We could see fog rising from Seneca Lake, but I had to wait a while before launching the drone and a lot of it had cleared.

It's so pretty here.

✍️ Reply by email

XZ-1 Sunset

16:39 Wednesday, 20 November 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 80.98°F Pressure: 1008hPa Humidity: 75% Wind: 8.05mph
Words: 352

Busy evening yesterday, installing an over-the-range microwave. We've been very fortunate here to encounter some remarkable people in the trades. Derrick Marsh is just the nicest guy. He was here for about two and a half hours getting this microwave wired and installed.

I'm loving it here. We took a little walk around "the property" (sounds very pretentious), and imagined where we might build another house, keeping this one as a guest house.

There may be some snow in the offing tomorrow night, we'll see how she feels then.

Got the weather station on the new network. YouTube is your friend here. Ordered some flood sensors. We're not here long enough for me to figure out setting up a solenoid valve to cut off the water in the event of a leak, but that'll be a project for this summer. As it stands, if we get a report of a leak, we'll ask the neighbors to check it out.

It's a gamble, buying these IoT devices. A significant number of the reviews are negative regarding connectivity issues, device malfunctions or battery life. I went with Aquara, as that's what I'm using for cameras. They're not ideal, but they seem to work and I was able to switch them over to the new network without developing a throbbing vein in my temple.

Spent a lot of money at Home Depot yesterday, adding tools to what I brought up here from home. Partly trying to anticipate price increases due to tariffs, and partly as a hedge against a potential SHTF scenario. I'm certain I don't have anywhere near what I'd need, but I'm in better shape than I was yesterday. Being friendly with the neighbors is probably the best investment in that regard.

It was cloudy most of the day, clearing a bit toward the afternoon. I'd put the little Olympus XZ-1 on charge earlier today and used it for this shot. It may be my imagination, but there's something about this landscape that "feels like home."

✍️ Reply by email

A Bit Later

07:18 Tuesday, 19 November 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 60.19°F Pressure: 1016hPa Humidity: 96% Wind: 4.61mph
Words: 16

Just because.

✍️ Reply by email

Morning Twilight

06:26 Tuesday, 19 November 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 60.04°F Pressure: 1015hPa Humidity: 90% Wind: 6.91mph
Words: 139

Got up early hoping to get a shot of the waning gibbous moon, but not early enough I guess. Just as I stepped outside, a line of clouds passed overhead. They were thin, and I could make out the moon, but it would have been a very soft shot.

The clouds were drifting south, so it would be a while before the moon emerged again. I came inside and checked my RSS feeds.

Stepped back out and the clouds had spread, thinner now, but the moon wasn't going to emerge from them anytime soon. I took a few shots, all soft. Looked behind me and saw this.

Always look behind you. "Never look back," may be good life advice, but it doesn't apply to photography.

✍️ Reply by email

Sunset In The North

16:59 Monday, 18 November 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 71.64°F Pressure: 1016hPa Humidity: 69% Wind: 5.75mph
Words: 108

Productive day today. Mitzi got some cabinets installed. Sold the old range that came with the house. Put stuff away in the cabinets. Microwave delivered. Car in the garage.

I got the Home app configured for the new wifi network. Stuck a suction-cup grab bar in the shower to reduce the risk of a fall. (Low probability/High impact event.) Charged the E-M1 Mk3. Took some pics.

I'll post something tomorrow that shows just how small this little place is. "Winterfell" may be delusional, but I already like this place a lot.

✍️ Reply by email

Winterfell

16:19 Monday, 18 November 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 73.17°F Pressure: 1015hPa Humidity: 68% Wind: 6.91mph
Words: 80

Put the Mini 2 up this afternoon for a few minutes. Glad I still have the iPod Touch, which I brought up to use with the Seek Thermal camera (Lightning connector). I thought I had the USB-C to USB-C connector in the bag, but alas, not to be found. Probably at home somewhere.

Decent sunset tonight. Not spectacular, but pleasing. Might post that next.

✍️ Reply by email

Arboretum

10:08 Monday, 18 November 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 74.07°F Pressure: 1019hPa Humidity: 65% Wind: 4.61mph
Words: 79

We spent part of Saturday walking around the National Arboretum. These pillars of the original capitol building were rescued from disposal by someone who valued history.

Felt especially evocative this time.

Just got fiber activated here. Named the network Winterfell, because why not? The installer thought it was cool. Nice guy. 500Mbps symmetrical. Figured we didn't need a gig. Maybe when we're here full-time.

✍️ Reply by email

A Moment In History

07:38 Monday, 18 November 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 56.17°F Pressure: 1018hPa Humidity: 98% Wind: 1.66mph
Words: 28

Heather Cox Richardson offers a fascinating snapshot of a moment that changed everything in America.

And it's not about politics, so it's probably not going to aggravate anyone.

✍️ Reply by email

Burdett

05:30 Monday, 18 November 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 56.84°F Pressure: 1017hPa Humidity: 93% Wind: 0mph
Words: 381

Arrived here yesterday about 4:00. We stopped in Watkins Glen to get some groceries at Walmart. The house was warm when we came in. Shocked to find what were probably hundreds of dead flies on the floor. How they got in may be something of a mystery, but Mitzi thinks she found the breach. Swept and vacuumed them out. It seemed odd that nearly all of them were on the floor, only one or two on the kitchen counters or furniture. Spoke to Mom later and she said it was because we have radiant heat floors, and they like to die where it's warm.

They should all move to Florida. They'd fit right in.

(There were quite a few on the window sills too, so I think Mom's right.)

Plugged in the car with the charger that came with it. Takes ten hours to charge, but we weren't going anywhere. Neither of the places that we rented last summer had outlets where we were allowed to park, so it's nice to be able to save gas and CO2 emissions up here again.

Fiber is being activated today, and Mitzi has someone coming by to hang a couple of kitchen cabinets. I think tomorrow the over-the-range microwave will be installed.

I'll look at reconfiguring the marmot to select post prototypes based on location, and then the weather data will reflect my experience. It's 10°F cooler here (47°F) than at home. Cloudy though. I brought the 75-300mm zoom with me, and I'd hoped to get a shot of the setting moon this morning. Alas, not today.

Talked more about moving here on the drive up. Among other improvements, I'd get to root for the Bills instead of the Jags, which, for the moment at least, is a far more rewarding proposition.

Very quiet here last night, and I didn't hear the neighbor's truck going to work this morning. Perhaps there's less work in the fall. Just heard a car go by, first one today. While it's cloudy out, I can see miles across the lake (which is invisible, below my line of sight) to the lights of houses buildings and some facility that has a flashing red light. It's not a lot of lights, but it's interesting.

✍️ Reply by email

On the Road

06:58 Sunday, 17 November 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 56.52°F Pressure: 1020hPa Humidity: 91% Wind: 0mph
Words: 180

In DC this morning with Mitzi's daughter and son-in-law. Back on the road later this morning. About six hours to Burdett, depending on how long we dawdle for gas and lunch.

It's been kind of depressing being here for me. We went to dinner last night and drove past the building that houses the Heritage Foundation. They had some kind of event and many of their members were standing around. A wave of revulsion overcame me.

Anyway, checked my feeds this morning, and I'm reminded that there's more here than meets the eye.

Commended to your reading are posts from John P. Weiss and Steve Makovsky.

All we ever have are moments to live, and the only power we have is the power to choose. I've been writing about these things for decades now. You'd think I wouldn't need to be reminded of them.

It's different, though. The shadow I cast lies before me now, and I can almost see it lengthen before my eyes.

What to do with the time left?

Not die in Florida is one.

✍️ Reply by email

A Place to Land

15:33 Thursday, 14 November 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 77.85°F Pressure: 1011hPa Humidity: 72% Wind: 8.05mph
Words: 261

I've been thinking about the Finger Lakes place was our climate haven. But as a pair of aging seniors with some health concerns, perhaps it's not ideal.

Before we get too committed, it's probably wise to review other options. Selling this place, makes many options available. We could leverage the sunk cost of the FLX house to our advantage, but it's not the only play.

You can download a pdf of a Cumulative Resilience Screening Index (CRSI) for Natural Hazards, and kind of survey the landscape. I was pleased to see Schulyer County in the top half of the 25 counties in EPA Region 2, while of the 25 highest-rated counties in EPA Region 4 (basically the southeast), only three of them were in Florida.

I'll have to study this document, because some of its analysis is unclear to me, and I wouldn't recommend anyone to jump to any conclusions. Region 4 has a 100% inland flooding risk, but only a 12% coastal flooding risk. It's unclear to me how that's reasonable.

Similarly, this is a 2020 update of a 2017 report. The Fort Lauderdale event (25" of rain in 24 hours without a hurricane) was in 2023. I don't know if the data set this analysis was based on includes these high-intensity/long duration rainfall events (HILDRE - I just made that up.) that are beginning to manifest all over the world. I'm guessing it doesn't and we're probably due for an update.

It's anyone's guess if one will be forthcoming with the new (old) administration coming into office.

✍️ Reply by email

ANSI Social Media In Emergencies

15:30 Thursday, 14 November 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 77.85°F Pressure: 1011hPa Humidity: 72% Wind: 8.05mph
Words: 27

Never thought I'd see something like this. Of course, at $124.00 for the pdf, it's very likely I never will.

You can view the table of contents.

✍️ Reply by email

Flood Insurance

08:04 Wednesday, 13 November 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 74.91°F Pressure: 1021hPa Humidity: 83% Wind: 11.5mph
Words: 154

This is kind of a "good news" story. FEMA is going to let you pay monthly installments for your flood insurance. I'm sure there'll be lots of rules and details in the implementation, but I think it's a good call and overdue. We just pay the whole nut upfront now. I can do that, many people can't.

But that's not why I'm embedding the video. If nothing else, skip ahead to the 50s point.

Florida is too risky for seniors. Get the hell out while you still can.

"We've never flooded. As long as I've been here, we've never had an issue."

Your house was never in this climate before.

Nobody's house was.

✍️ Reply by email

Toys

05:20 Wednesday, 13 November 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 73.22°F Pressure: 1019hPa Humidity: 81% Wind: 10.36mph
Words: 1218

The IIe I bought as a kind of self-care in the aftermath of the election debacle arrived yesterday. It held some surprises.

For the most part, I've been exceptionally lucky in my recent purchases from the auction site.

The only bad luck has been the damage in shipment to a IIc, which was a bargain since the listing was only for the external IIc disk drive. I'm still looking for a replacement space bar, though at some point I'll just have to figure out a way to attach the stabilizer wire to the space bar it does have. The bottoms of the two plastic clips that secure the stabilizer wire broke off, and you need that wire to be able to use your right thumb to hit the space bar.

Well, that and a replacement internal IIc drive that was supposed to arrive this week and I received a t-shirt! Got a refund, but wow. (The internal drive of the "bonus" IIc has a broken latch. Still works, but it's not very attractive.)

The first IIe I bought was a very early model, a REV A motherboard. But it came with a working Monitor III, the Apple monitor III stand for the Apple II, a Kensington System Saver, a Hayes (or CH) Mach 3 joystick, two 5.25" drives, and everything survived an otherwise unsatisfactory packaging effort. It was a bargain for the amount I paid for it, especially since the seller wasn't even certain if it worked.

Likewise, this IIe is also an early model, which means it's in a painted case. Neither of my IIe computers has yellowed due to exposure to UV light. They were dirty, but they cleaned right up. Very few blemishes, and the product badges on both machines are near-perfect.

This IIe is a REV B, so it has the motherboard modifications that permit double high-resolution graphics. (140x192, 15 colors - 16 if you count two grays). It also already has the 65c02 processor and "enhanced" ROMs.

But what came as a surprise were some items that weren't in the pictures or the description. The most significant one is a 1MB Applied Engineering RamFactor card. This was a clone of an Apple RAM disk designed to go in any slot of any Apple II. An enhanced IIe could even boot from it, once an operating system had been copied to it. The Applied Engineering clone added a unique feature. A power connection on the card that delivered 8vdc to the card to keep the RAM contents even when power was off to the cpu. So you could boot from the RAM disk at any time.

Power was provided by another Applied Engineering product, the RamCharger. It was a power supply and 8vdc battery, which maintained the contents of the card for several hours in the event of a power loss.

Well, in a small box inside this well-packaged purchase, was a RamCharger, complete with power cables! I'd never seen one back in the day, apart from ads of course. It appears to be in good shape, no swollen or leaking capacitors. The battery is likely useless, but a quick search revealed they're still being made and sold.

Now, there are modern replacements for the "Slinky" (Apple's code-name for the device.) RAM cards. Much smaller, and one even offered battery backup from a coin-cell battery. But they're not currently in stock. (The non-battery backed ones are.) Ideally, I'd like to have one of those. But it might be kind of fun getting this up and running, if I can.

The listing said it included a 5.25" disk drive. Well, again, apparently this was a naive seller. There was an original 3.5" 400K Mac disk drive (single-sided) included in the package. That puzzled me until I found out what an unidentified card in the computer was. I asked on Applefritter and quickly learned it was a Universal Disk Controller (UDC). The previous owner likely used it with the 3.5" Mac drive.

I have a modern replacement, the Yellowstone card from BMOW (Big Mess O'Wires). More about that in a minute. But nice to have one for each computer.

There were some other cards, a 300 baud Hayes Micromodem, a printer buffer, and a Sider HD interface card. None of those are especially interesting to me, but there was also an Apple 64K RGB video interface card that plugs into the Aux Slot. RGB monitors are a bit hard to find and pricey, and there's no guarantee they'll survive shipping, but the card intrigues me. Not a priority, but I expect there's an RGB monitor in my future at some point. It also has the updated Disk II interface card (the "IO Card") which will be useful with the //c external disk drive, though I could also use the UDC, if that's still functional.

I pulled all the cards out and turned the computer on and it beeped. I connected a monitor and ran the internal self-test and got a satisfactory response. I'll run a full suite of diagnostics at some point, but we're getting ready to head up to New York on Friday and I have some stuff I have to do for that trip.

I spent some time the past few days with the first IIe, plugging in some new cards I bought. I learned that at least one feature of one of the cards won't work in a REV A IIe. That's the A2FPGA, and the SuperSprite board won't work in a REV A. I wasn't able to get the Mockingboard feature to work either, so I don't know if that's a REV A incompatibility or something else. There's no audio connector on the card that I could find, so audio must come via the HDMI connection, so it may be the monitor. In any case, I was unable to test the Mockingboard function.

I also bought an old Echo II speech synthesizer and tested that. I learned that the Yellowstone Smartport emulator doesn't like it when the Echo card is installed, just like with the SpeedDemon accelerator. And I can't seem to boot the computer from a hard drive image on the Floppy Emu attached to the Yellowstone card. (If all that makes no sense, don't worry about it.)

What I can do, is boot from a 5.25" floppy into ProDOS, and then the computer can see the HD image on the Floppy Emu from ProDOS. So the good news is that I do have access to 32MB virtual HD images, which saves a lot of disk swapping.

In any event, the Echo II works fine. I enjoy the sound of those old TI speech synthesis chips.

I am experiencing something akin to happiness or a small amount of joy from playing with new (old) toys. I'm also causing more challenges for myself, in that I have no real space to set these things up. If I sell this 27" iMac and get rid of this desk, I may be able to reconfigure the office to accommodate at least one of the IIe computers.

I'm not sure how long we'll be here, so I'm reluctant to undertake anything very permanent.

But it's stuff that can distract me from the catastrophe unfolding around us.

✍️ Reply by email

Florida Men (and Woman)

05:06 Wednesday, 13 November 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 73.22°F Pressure: 1019hPa Humidity: 82% Wind: 4mph
Words: 301

While I make no effort to follow the news, it nevertheless finds me.

Michael Waltz will be the new National Security Advisor. Can't say he's a "neighbor" but he supposedly lives nearby. He's a "just the tip" seditionist. He had intended to object to the electors on January 6th, but changed his mind after the insurrection. He's also a veteran of the "storming the SCIF action" during the impeachment hearings.

Waltz is a veteran, a colonel in the National Guard. I was careful to write that military service gives one the opportunity to learn about meaning. It doesn't guarantee that anyone will.

In the absence of meaning, the emptiness at the heart of such men births ambition. A form of desire that aims to fill the emptiness within with rank, title, authority, wealth or achievement. This is what defines Waltz and Scott and probably Rubio. They have no character, per se. That is, no intrinsic sense of self or identity that keeps them upright. They will bend whichever way their blind ambition pushes them.

Susie Wiles is a familiar name. She's a veteran of Florida zero-sum politics. She has had some experience in governance, but the majority of her career has been in politics as sport. I'm not expecting great things in terms of ameliorating Orange Jesus' worst flaws, and I don't expect her to last very long. But who knows? Saturated in Florida politics, I don't detect much in the way of character. Choosing her boss is perhaps all anyone needs to know. Ambition. Position. Emptiness.

Winning an election isn't the same as governing, though all Florida Republicans make that mistake.

Florida is two states, one for the privileged and the other is ignored. Or it used to be ignored. Now it is targeted. America will be the same.

✍️ Reply by email

The Gospel According to Cohen

07:54 Monday, 11 November 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 71.56°F Pressure: 1015hPa Humidity: 97% Wind: 0mph
Words: 338

This is the hat I wear on my morning walks these days. You can see the sweat ring beginning to form, and the darkness of today's perspiration.

Anyway, Leonard Cohen's Suzanne came to mind as I walked this morning. I was thinking about encountering a neighbor who might "thank you for your service" me. (I didn't.)

As you may be able to tell, I'm coping with recent events by blogging a lot here. So, in that vein, let me say to all the hypothetical, insincere people who might feel as though they ought to "thank you for your service" me: Your thanks are not required.

It was an honor and a privilege to serve America under oath, in uniform for twenty-six years, twenty-two of them as a commissioned officer in the United States Navy.

And I am so very grateful to this nation for entrusting me with this honor and this privilege.

I would do it all again, in a heartbeat.

Finally, Leonard Cohen's Suzanne came to mind as I walked the sidewalks of this over-55 community, where probably two out of three of my neighbors voted for the man who is the antithesis of everything my service stood for. It came to mind because of the analogy I made of character as the vessel that conveys our souls.

I guess I'm feeling kind of religious.

Anyway, this came to mind:

And Jesus was a sailor

When He walked upon the water

And He spent a long time watching

From His lonely wooden tower

And when He knew for certain

Only drowning men could see Him

He said, "All men will be sailors then

Until the sea shall free them"

Finally, may I humbly request of my small audience, if you feel that any of today's posts have any worth or merit, today at least, please share them. (Use the permalinks. This will scroll off the home page tomorrow.)

Thank you.

✍️ Reply by email

Equality Before the Law

06:38 Monday, 11 November 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 71.64°F Pressure: 1015hPa Humidity: 96% Wind: 0mph
Words: 280

I had intended to include this in the preceding piece, but it slipped my mind as I went along and I don't wish to insert it there now.

As a member of our nation's armed forces, I swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. There is no oath to the commander in chief. We swear to obey the orders, the lawful orders of the commander in chief, but we swear no oath to him. (Or her. Someday.)

Foundational to the Constitution of the United States is the idea that all citizens are equal before the law.

We know from experience, as a practical matter, that this is often not the case. But that is not from design, it is from a failure to keep faith with the values imbued in the Constitution. So it is no excuse to abandon those values.

The Supreme Court ruled that the president is above the law, even in the limited circumstances that Justice Roberts seems to feel justifies this dishonorable betrayal of every veteran who swore an oath to support and defend Constitution of the United States.

How can all Americans be entitled to "equal protection under the law," if the law of the land is that one man is above the law?

This was a slap in the face of every veteran.

A sign of contempt for the value of their service and sacrifice.

And every bit congruent with the contempt and ignorance and narcissistic nihilism of the man who appointed three of those justices.

America is capsized. And it will take a long time before we right the ship.

And it may sink before we can.

✍️ Reply by email

Veterans Day

05:36 Monday, 11 November 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 71.71°F Pressure: 1015hPa Humidity: 96% Wind: 0mph
Words: 1124

Some of the most important lessons of my life were learned in the Navy. Not because the Navy taught them to me, in a pedagogical sense; but because military service can offer good opportunities to learn those lessons, if you're paying attention.

First, I should say why they were "important," that is, "of great significance or value."

Value. Definitions often become recursive, where words refer to synonyms to supposedly "define" meaning. One definition of value is, "the importance of something." Also, "worth" and "usefulness."

If you live long enough, and are blessed or privileged enough to do so with surplus in your life, you may become aware of a certain aspect of the experience of being. An interior emptiness, or disquiet as you regard all the effort and activity of your life, the material things that accumulate and surround it, and you wonder what it all "means." What it's all "for."

Most of us in America are blessed with surplus in our lives. Even many of those supposedly unhappy with their circumstances. I'm relatively confident that they experience this question too, perhaps often.

What does it all mean?

Meaning is important. It's like "stability" in naval architecture. Stability is that feature of a ship's design that determines its ability to remain upright among the forces the sea imposes on it. It may heel to port or starboard due to wind or wave action, but it resists that force and when it is removed, it returns to a level, upright orientation.

If a vessel is unstable, or lacks sufficient stability, it will capsize when subjected to forces other than buoyancy and gravity. It may not sink, though it probably will, but its utility as a ship is gone. If it doesn't sink, it becomes a hazard to navigation.

Meaning is what helps provide stability in the interior experience of our lives. It's what resists the vicissitudes of day to day existence, and keeps us upright and moving forward.

Habit can do the same thing, but not to the same extent, not with the same strength. People without meaning in their lives rely on habit, and are often capsized by the cruel fortunes of fate.

Where does "meaning" come from?

Some people find it in the tenets of a particular faith. This is perhaps one of the largest, if not to say "greatest," sources of meaning for many people. Others can find meaning in philosophy, education.

But these are external sources. Abstractions, ideas, that come from outside of our lived experience. We are embodied beings, and lived experience is the "reality" of our lives. And lived experience is where we have the opportunity to make "real" meaning.

Something that I learned, in part through my service as an officer in the Navy, in part through my service as a husband and a father, and in part through the facilitation of an experienced counselor, is that life is meaningless. That may come as a surprise to some.

We bring meaning to life.

We make meaning.

And I suppose I should point out here, that everything you're reading is an abstraction. It is the distillation of my lived experience, and it will remain an abstraction to you, forever. To know what I'm writing about, you'll have to live it yourself. Then it will become your reality.

So, Veterans Day. What is it about?

Ostensibly, it's a day set aside by our nation to honor veterans. A day when all Americans, presumably, acknowledge in some way the value and meaning of the service and sacrifice of those Americans who served this nation in its armed forces. Who wore the uniform of their country, and represented its values to the world.

Mostly I think it's just a Monday holiday for people. But maybe that's just me being cynical.

So another word that we have to define, "honor." I've done that before, but I'll do it again.

Honor is both a noun and a verb. I'll define the noun first, and I'll do it without looking it up in the dictionary.

"Honor" is that quality of individual character that is earned or accrued through the action of upholding the shared values of the group. Someone who has honor, has kept faith, with shared values. It is achieved in action, it is not accrued passively.

Honor is supposedly a good quality, a desirable one. We uphold honorable people as examples for how we should live our lives. As exemplars of the goodness of our values.

As we do on Veterans Day.

Presumably.

"Honor," the verb is a transitive verb. An action verb. You do it to something. My favorite kind of verb. Yours too, if you have a bias toward action.

When we "honor" someone, we call attention to them from the group. For a period of time, the attention of the group is directed toward the individual or people being honored. This is intentional. It has some importance, some value. The attention of the group is intended to be favorable, to be respectful, to be an affirmation toward the object of the attention.

It should be, it's intended to be, reciprocal. In one direction, it rewards the people receiving the attention. In the other direction, it affirms to the group, that this is an example.

Here is a life, or here are the lives, of people who upheld our shared values through action. These are people who can be examples, whose lives or whose actions are worthy (value) of emulating.

And by emulating those lives, those actions, we will make meaning in our own lives.

We will reify what formerly had only been abstractions. We will accrue honor in our lives. We will make meaning, and add stability and strength to our own moral character, the vessel that carries our immortal souls through the rocks and shoals, heavy seas, dark and lonely nights in the sea of existence.

I find this lacking in America. Some enormous part of America is lost. Capsized. A hazard to navigation.

The most recent election of a dishonorable man is a manifestation of the lack of meaning in American life. It's more akin to nihilism. That nothing matters, nothing means anything.

So it is with some bitterness that I come to today's Veterans Day.

This is not to shame anyone, though I wish that those who voted for him might have the capacity to feel shame.

This is just the sad, bitter reality we face today.

What helps me is the meaning I have found in my own life. I won't go and do anything stupid, because, while I may be heeled over at the moment, I know I'll return to an even keel. I don't need to panic.

"Just be cool, she'll hold." Perfect Tommy.

✍️ Reply by email

On A Lighter Note...

10:36 Sunday, 10 November 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 79.79°F Pressure: 1020hPa Humidity: 80% Wind: 13.8mph
Words: 300

Mitzi was waffling a bit this morning. She has worries about isolation in a rural area of New York in winter. I view isolation as advantageous if another pandemic arises. But I gather it may not be reluctance to leave Florida, so much as not wanting to move to a rural home.

My biggest objective is to get out of Florida. Rural is a secondary objective, though very much a desirable one for me.

In any case, I find myself thinking more about how to facilitate our departure.

One thought that came to mind on my walk this morning is getting rid of this 2019 27" iMac. I like it for editing photos, and watching videos. But the big screen requires managing all that real estate, and now Apple has decided to "help" with whatever it is that feature in Sequoia is called that grabs my windows and plays with them as I'm trying to arrange them. Maddening.

It's got a 3.6 GHz 8-Core Intel Core i9, and a Radeon Pro Vega 48 with 8GB of VRAM, and 128GB of RAM 2667MHz DDR4 RAM installed.

I seldom encounter RAM limitations, but the fans are spinning up all the time, and I still encounter the Spinning Pinwheel of Infinite Futility far too often.

I've got the 14" M3 MacBook Pro with 24GB of RAM ,and I suspect that it'll meet my needs as well, or better, than the iMac.

If I get rid of this enormous computer, I can get rid of this enormous desk. Then maybe I can put something in the office that'll accommodate one or more of the Apple IIs. Doesn't have to be anything fancy.

We wouldn't be moving this desk in any case, but having it out of the house might offer a psychological lift.

✍️ Reply by email

Reassessing

10:29 Sunday, 10 November 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 79.48°F Pressure: 1020hPa Humidity: 82% Wind: 12.66mph
Words: 70

This is the time of year when I often give some money to a number of Florida non-profits, chiefly in the environmental area. I'm reconsidering all of that now, as I think Florida is probably a lost cause at this point.

A lot of good, important work can be done, but it will ultimately prove futile. In any case, if Republicans value Florida's environment, let them pay for it.

✍️ Reply by email

The Writing On the Wall

10:21 Sunday, 10 November 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 79.23°F Pressure: 1020hPa Humidity: 83% Wind: 12.66mph
Words: 154

It may be behind a paywall for you, but in case it's not, this was an interesting read this morning.

A relevant quote:

The widely-held assumption about hurricanes and tidal surge has been that, if it hasn’t happened before, it’s unlikely to happen at all, and even if it has happened before, it’s less likely to happen again any time soon. But it is increasingly clear that Florida’s relationship with the natural environment is no longer what the past has led us to expect.

A more straightforward construction might have been, "Florida's relationship with the natural environment is no longer what it was in the past, so your expectations lack historical foundation."

Although it may be confirmation bias on my part, it seems to me that it is beginning to dawn on a significant number of people that Florida is facing a profound challenge, and one that it is ill-prepared to confront.

✍️ Reply by email

Internal Migration

05:54 Sunday, 10 November 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 73.51°F Pressure: 1019hPa Humidity: 94% Wind: 5.75mph
Words: 776

James responds to my somewhat intemperate critique of his post-election thoughts. (FYI, I know James is moving his blog to Substack, and I admit I haven't quite gotten around to making the change here. "Old habits," and so on.)

I think his idea about "group identification" is a bit thin, but perhaps that's an artifact of a brief blog post. The coalition that enabled a convicted felon to become president is by no means a monolith. Whatever Venn diagram that encompasses that group of voters, the only thing in common among the entire group is their selection of the prospective Felon-in-Chief.

Even among those celebrating his coronation, their happiness and joy likely comes from different sources. I'm sure at least some of them are looking forward to their tips and Social Security not being taxed. Others are hopeful that a nationwide abortion ban may be enacted. Some probably don't even know why they voted for him, other than they think Joe Rogen and Elon Musk are cool, so Orange Jesus must be cool too.

As a "group identity," I think it may be somewhat fragile, and there may be a way to chip off portions of the segments that gave him a majority. But, that may be wishful thinking on my part.

As regards how we interact with people in proximity on the "other side," we just don't talk about politics. That said, I also don't actively seek them out for casual social interactions. They're likely to be informants soon. (I'm sure there's a constituency of Karens who are likewise celebrating the elevation of the architect of insurrection. They're looking forward to having the DHS and ICE "deport-a-migrant" hotline on speed-dial.)

A couple of years ago, I wrote about meeting a couple who were enthusiastic supporters of Hannibal Lector's biggest fan. I suppose I had a greater reserve of empathy then, and lamented the binary, zero-sum mindset that divided us from one another. (No doubt an early "failure of imagination," that we would fairly soon find ourselves, once again, plagued by this huckster gifted with low animal cunning and a reality distortion field that makes Steve Jobs' OG-RDF look like a cheap parlor trick.)

Today, I'm not so magnanimous. I live in an area where the concentration of rightwing zealots has achieved a critical mass of self-sustaining chain reactionaries. I wave and say "Hi," but yeah, I'm not going go hang with these people. They're so confident that everyone around them thinks like they do, that it'll inevitably come up and I'll have to excuse myself.

Anyway, there are many ways to be an awful person, and we all share that in common.

So, migration.

Moving is such a pain in the ass that I don't know that I would leave Florida just because of its neo-fascist government. In many ways, it has become an ideal state to grow old and die in. We're surrounded with a wide array of medical facilities within a very easy drive. Because so many people retire to Florida to die here, there's a lot of hospice care available, as well as memory-care and assisted-living facilities.

Wherever we go, it won't be as convenient to grow old and die.

For me, probably 90% of the decision is climate vulnerability and risk. I have no wish to endure "recovery" as an old man. I'd rather deal with the day-to-day inconveniences of long drives to medical appointments, short days, cold winters and the occasional whiff of cow manure, than share the communal experience of dragging all our shit to the curb.

BTW, we are effectively disenfranchised here. Not just in St Johns County, but in most of Florida's counties, due to gerrymandering and closed primaries. Elections are won in the primaries where only Republicans can vote, having put up a straw-man "write-in" candidate on the ballot to close the primary. A "write-in" candidate is the cheapest way to get on the ballot. You're asserting that you'll raise no money, spend no money, you just want to be on the ballot. It think it costs $25. And, voila! Primary closed!

In those counties that might be competitive, Republicans put up sham candidates with similar names to the Democratic candidate, and then throw tens of thousands of dollars of advertising at them to dilute the Democratic vote.

It's not like they're interested in our ideas of how to make it better.

It's a horrible state. But it's been that way for a long time, and we're still here.

Not for long though. Mitzi was talking about "architects" yesterday...

✍️ Reply by email

It's Not Easy Being Green

21:09 Saturday, 9 November 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 73.15°F Pressure: 1020hPa Humidity: 94% Wind: 10.18mph
Words: 236

I'm not walking for pace yet, so I'm bringing along the OM-5 with the 14-150mm zoom mounted. Stepped outside the other morning and there were three of these guys on the wall. This one was the largest.

Mitzi had some exterior lighting mounted in the soffits and they attract bugs, making for a kind of buffet for tree frogs. So maybe it's a little easier, bein' green.

Shot a rose and a little blue heron this morning. Couldn't decide between the rose and the heron, so the frog was it.

And, huh...

Just noticed that I managed to lose the viewfinder eyecup on the OM-5. Bummer. I'm sure that little piece of plastic is going to cost $30 or more... Not the first time. Probably won't be the last. I'll order a new one when we get back in December.

Mitzi and I had dinner tonight with a couple I've known for more than 30 years.

We talked about my "risk assessment," and found that they agreed. They're looking at property in North Carolina, though Helene has altered their thinking regarding location, hydrology becoming a key element. North Carolina being "less red," also factors into their choice, along with an intolerance of northeast winters.

Anyway, life goes on.

And always remember...

No matter where you go, there you are.

✍️ Reply by email

Insurance

11:28 Saturday, 9 November 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 78.75°F Pressure: 1019hPa Humidity: 88% Wind: 13.8mph
Words: 107

This is a long video, but if you live in Florida, or are considering moving to Florida, you should probably watch it. This is the hellscape of risk you are entering. And please recall that the Republican Party has been completely in control of Florida's government for more than a generation.

We really need to get out of here. Hope we do it in time.

✍️ Reply by email

Ah, Florida

11:02 Saturday, 9 November 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 76.53°F Pressure: 1019hPa Humidity: 92% Wind: 9.22mph
Words: 81

The picture is starting to come into focus...

I shouldn't trash-talk this state so much. We'll need someone to buy our house. Hopefully we'll be out of here before it becomes so blindingly obvious that everyone flees the state.

✍️ Reply by email

Sore

07:36 Saturday, 9 November 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 73.09°F Pressure: 1019hPa Humidity: 97% Wind: 3.44mph
Words: 667

In my experience, muscle soreness is always worse the second day after the exertion. My experience holds.

Surprisingly, my biceps hurt more than anything else, as in, they're the only thing that hurts! And I thought they were the ones in best shape! Oy!

I'm still sore about the self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head the nation experienced on Tuesday too.

But I'm doing fairly well avoiding the news. Plenty of it shows up in the blogs I follow, and texts from people I know. Again, there's nothing I can do about it and so there's little reason to know about it. So call me a "know-nothing," I don't care. Knowing something doesn't seem to help.

I need to dig into Sequoia's settings to figure out how to turn off this new "window management" thing. I'm sliding windows around to do something I want, and they take on a life of their own, jumping here and there and expanding. It's infuriating. Fuck Apple! God damn it! Just fix broken shit! There's plenty of that!

Mitzi's beginning to enter the "concepts of a plan" phase. She's talking about not buying all new furniture again, so a storage unit is in our future while we figure out where we're actually going to land.

I'm letting her go at her own pace. Right now she's leaning toward finding another place up there and selling the one she already owns. I'm not in favor of that. I'd rather build on the two acres we've got. I like the location, the view and, so far, the neighbors don't scare me. But I might change my mind if she finds the right place. I'll have more of a say then because I'll have my stake in this place to work with. I think next summer is going to be a scouting and reconnaissance mission to establish the final objective.

Then the real planning will begin.

I hate moving. It's a pain in the ass. But it's less of a pain in the ass than losing all the furniture and dealing with the bureaucracy of "recovery."

Last night, during a small bout of insomnia, I kind of went over the risk assessment again. "Low-probability, high-impact." Significant cost to moving. May never have an extreme weather event that puts us in a "recovery" phase with thousands of other people.

That's the key thing. There are a lot of low-probability, high-impact events that can happen to us individually, anywhere. Those are the things we insure against, and if they happen we're dealing with our insurance company, some contractors and maybe the county.

In a (un)natural disaster, we may be among thousands of people impacted by the event. And while there may be more financial resources available, everything takes longer, is more bureaucratic. How do you vet your contractor? How do you guard against fraud? Do we live in New York and try to manage recovery remotely? How does that work? Where do we find temporary housing locally, with thousands of people looking for the same thing?

Then there's our age, our stage of life. Maybe nothing happens here for ten years. Then something does when we're in our late 70s. Or later. How are we prepared to cope with that situation at that stage of our lives? I'd have my kids relatively nearby to help, but they may be coping with the effects of the same event! How much assistance can they really be?

No, Florida is too vulnerable to large scale natural disasters. Every part of Florida is.

Concluded moving is the right thing to do. The sooner the better. Plus, this state is just awful, politically. Not just the ideology, or the cruelty. It's the incompetence. Again, gerrymandering guarantees you are going to get more extreme politicians, not necessarily more competent ones. Florida has been, and will be, made more vulnerable because of legislative stupidity. It's not going to cure itself.

Assessment affirmed.

Went back to sleep.

✍️ Reply by email

In Other News

10:24 Friday, 8 November 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 81.09°F Pressure: 1018hPa Humidity: 80% Wind: 6.91mph
Words: 624

Mitzi and I went to our intake evaluations with our new personal fitness trainer. It wasn't really an evaluation so much as just kind of an introduction to the equipment. All light weights, ten reps, two sets. He includes some cardio on the recumbent bike. He set the level at 2, which I wanted to increase and he objected.

Level 2 is too "easy" for me, so my cadence went up to 100, and then my heart went up to over 160bpm. (The bike reported 200, but that was wrong, so I used my watch.) We could still chat, but it was about at the limit for me.

The second time on the bike, I bumped the level up to 4 and that brought my cadence down to 85, and my heart rate in the 140s, reaching 150-something after three minutes.

The third time, I did level 5 and kept the cadence at 80 and kept my heart rate down in the 140s.

Anyway, it's hard for me to pedal at a lower cadence with no load, and it's the cadence that seems to drive my heart rate, more so than the load. When I'm biking on my bike, and kind of "making an effort," my heart rate is usually in the 140s. It's not exhausting and I can do it for an extended period of time, certainly for the 30 to 45 minutes I ride my bike.

Going by the usual rule of thumb that your maximum heart rate is 220 minus your age, mine should be about 153, and 80% of that is only 122. I think my max these days is probably above 170, not that I think that makes me any "younger." (140/.8 = 175)

They have "stretch" machines, which were unfamiliar to me. The good news is that I seem to be fairly flexible. On the hamstring stretch I was able to reach 95° (max is 110°) and on the quad stretch I basically max'ed it out, though I started to feel some cramping in my calf. I changed my foot flexion to be more perpendicular, stretching my calf, and that went away.

For having done almost no resistance training in years (I occasionally do some push-ups, just to make sure I still can.), it felt like a good workout. I'm a bit stiff and sore this morning.

I'm looking forward to doing this. I want to get in better shape so I can do more physical work, whether that's hiking in the Finger Lakes or doing chores, or dragging my shit to the curb if we get flooded out before we manage to escape.

It's pretty clear that life is going to be more challenging for everyone in the coming years, and being in better shape should help to endure those vicissitudes with a little less suffering.

And I also know that I'm far more successful in these kinds of sustained efforts when I have a partner or a group to do them with. Accountability seems to be an important motivator for me. We have good facilities, access to a personal trainer, the means to afford one, and so I want to try and take the most advantage of those things as part of our preparation for leaving.

Mitzi is still somewhat unsettled, but she's been talking about a number of different scenarios and approaches, so I know it's being actively considered as a live proposition. Hasn't transitioned to planning yet, but I think we'll get there.

For me, the primary impetus is climate vulnerability, and secondary is this is a hostile political climate. It seems to be the reverse for her. Whatever the case, both of us getting in better shape should help that effort.

✍️ Reply by email

Temperament

07:47 Friday, 8 November 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 73.9°F Pressure: 1017hPa Humidity: 95% Wind: 0mph
Words: 436

Any theory of mind must account for temperament. The innate disposition of individuals and how they relate to "the world," and perhaps their own interior experience.

I should preface by saying that I think temperament may be malleable over time. Experience can shape it. Some of it may be shaped epigenetically in the womb. But it exists.

Some people are more comfortable with the chaos and uncertainty of democratic forms of government. Others would prefer a more "orderly" form of government.

Some people are open to new experience, others find them discomforting.

Some people are extroverts, others are introverts.

Temperament doesn't determine whether people do "good" or "bad" things. But it can help shape the outcomes of large scale events.

I think a pronounced affinity for a "strong" form of government probably exists in about a third of any given population. They like certainty, action, clarity. That's a pretty significant constituency to build from, if you're an ambitious politician inclined the same way, or willing to exploit it.

It wasn't just the eggs. It wasn't just racism and misogyny. It wasn't just Gaza or Israel. It wasn't just the raw milk raid. It wasn't just that working class voters can't relate to college-educated voters. It wasn't just that the Democratic Party has ceased being the party of the working class and is now the party of the college educated.

It was all of the above, layered over temperament, media diet, selfishness, cynicism, ignorance, greed, ambition and a complex interior emotional state that tries to order all of that into conscious awareness that makes some kind of "sense."

I alluded in the first paragraph that temperament may also influence how one relates to one's own interior experience. Whether one is more inclined or less inclined to self-reflection or introspection.

We are complicated beings. Consciousness may be a complex, non-linear dynamic system.

Perhaps that should admit some room for empathy.

But then there's temperament again.

"Play stupid games, win stupid prizes," as the cool kids say.

This complicated consciousness is disinclined toward empathy; because regardless of how anyone feels about anything, it should have been clear that the President-elect is unfit for office. I mean, when a Marine four-star general who worked for him tells you that...

Yet, here we are.

Yes, I do get why people chose to ignore his manifest unfitness.

But it was a choice. And choices have consequences.

"Fuck around and find out," is the other popular idiomatic expression of that incontrovertible fact.

Choices have consequences.

And maybe those consequences will open a path to recovering the "muddy middle."

✍️ Reply by email

Theory of Mind

05:34 Friday, 8 November 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 74.19°F Pressure: 1016hPa Humidity: 96% Wind: 3.44mph
Words: 863

Over at On Deciding... Better, James writes:

I will say that it troubles me that we half the country looking at the other half of the country saying, “I can’t understand how you could have voted for him/her”. And really meaning it. That they cannot summon an empathy, a theory of mind that lets them imagine being someone on the other side.

I think this statement is too general. I, for example, have no problem at all understanding how they could have voted for the result we achieved. I do have a theory of mind that allows me to imagine being someone on the other side; and I've heard and read some pretty good analyses, which offer some very good ideas about theories of mind for all of the elements of what was ultimately a broad coalition of disparate minds that achieved that result.

I will admit that I have little empathy for those minds.

To the extent that some of them acted from ignorance due to being misled and deceived, I have some empathy. To the extent that people sometimes lose their way due to fear or its derivative, anger, I have less empathy, but some.

But I believe that somewhere between 35 and 45 percent of Americans, those who have been the President-elect's "base" since day one, haven't lost their way. They are on exactly the path they wish to be on, and their ignorance is willful, and celebrated. They have contempt for education, intelligence, expertise.

And for them, I have absolutely no empathy.

I have no quarrel with his views on the effects of a two-party system, and the "us and them" division that accompanies it. And we agree that much of this self-sorting is "by feel," an emotional response rather than a strictly cognitive, rational one.

But I've been seeing a fair amount of this as well:

To my way of thinking, honest empathy is the only way to improve our ability to engage others productively rather than simple cheering for our side and insults for the other side.

And I disagree strongly.

At least, I do so to the suggestion that the side that opposed the result must call upon resources of "honest empathy" and "engage others."

The theory of mind that most accounts for what I observed, and personal experience with people on that side, tells me that they don't wish to be "engaged," other than to argue, solely for the emotional response it stimulates for them.

They will welcome a fight, they're not interested in a discussion. They're uninterested in understanding. There is no wish to find common ground, to compromise, to work together. Their's is an absolute, zero-sum view of the world.

What James suggests smacks of "both sides" equivalency.

One side, our side, "scolds." The other side hates it. They feel it comes from a place of superiority, either moral or intellectual, and that they're being talked down to. Ok, there's perhaps some legitimacy to that. But criticism, opprobrium, vilification are appropriate responses to extreme rhetoric.

The other side bullies, with overt threats of violence, sometimes acts of violence, when they wish to reject or criticize the rhetoric of our side.

There is no curiosity on the majority side. Curiosity, empathy, the willingness to engage with others, those are the features that are representative of the losing side.

Willful ignorance, greed, cynicism, zero-sum thinking, a willingness to believe in conspiracy theories, bigotry, fear, anger, those are the qualities that are representative of the winning side.

To the extent that we may be able to "go forward" someday, it will only be after the "muddy middle," those who were misled and deceived, who can have their eyes opened, the ones who can still find their way out of the deep weeds they've wandered into, have an experience which prompts that.

Consequences.

This is a dangerous course. But I don't see any other way through. This gets worse before its gets better, because all other paths are closed to us.

How might we do better someday? That's a hypothetical that is likely to remain strictly hypothetical. But better education. More access to mental health services. Regulation of Big Tech and social media. Those would be a start.

We're unlikely to get the opportunity to do any of that. And it would be opposed every step of the way by that portion of the population that regards all those things with suspicion, and the ambitious and opportunistic who exploit them.

I live in a very deep red county. Public policy in Florida, for decades, since Republicans came to hold all the branches of government a generation ago, has been defined by a profound and malignant indifference to the suffering of others. And by "others," I mean "others." Anyone who lives in the margins. It has gotten worse as elections in a gerrymandered state are won in the primaries, and the only way to beat your opponent is to be more extreme for the only voters who turn out in primaries, the most extreme.

Opportunities for constructive engagement don't exist here. They are unwelcome.

We are unwelcome.

So we're going to leave.

✍️ Reply by email

Things to Consider

07:38 Thursday, 7 November 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 75.96°F Pressure: 1018hPa Humidity: 96% Wind: 3.44mph
Words: 307

I slept ok last night. I guess resolved uncertainty is conducive to better sleep.

In many ways, the election result is a windfall for the click-harvesting, eyeball-tracking media/advertising industrial complex. Four years of destruction, broken norms, shocking grift, incompetence, stupidity, collusion and decline are a rich source of click-bait.

So if we want to maintain our mental health, we're going to have to learn to tune most of this stuff out.

Yes, things are going to get worse. But do we need to know all of it, all the time? Especially when there's very little we can do about it?

I don't think so.

I have a predilection, maybe an addiction, to doom-scrolling, and I know it's not healthy.

How does being informed about the relentless degradation of our government and institutions change anything?

I have to believe they're actually looking forward to the first mass protests so they can deploy the National Guard and maybe shoot a few people. Establish expectations.

Anyway, in a reality where everything is going to be more challenging, looking after our own health is going to be very important, especially our mental health. It's attractive, perhaps, to have the notion that "I shall bear witness! I will not look away!" But I think "bearing witness" in this environment is like vowing to run an ultra-marathon, when maybe the most you've ever done before is a neighborhood 5K.

It'll kill ya.

So I'm going to try to read more books, take more walks, ride my bike more, and lift weights. Time spent doing that is time away from the news (except in the gym, alas),and an investment in myself and in a stronger array of personal resilience resources.

I'm not going to look away. But I'm not wasting my time staring into the abyss either.

✍️ Reply by email

How Do You Know When Democracy Is Over?

07:36 Thursday, 7 November 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 75.96°F Pressure: 1018hPa Humidity: 96% Wind: 3.44mph
Words: 18

Seems like a tell.

✍️ Reply by email

Ahead of The Curve

21:51 Wednesday, 6 November 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 77.09°F Pressure: 1017hPa Humidity: 93% Wind: 10.36mph
Words: 58

Another dimension of the multi-crisis. Hopefully, we're up on step. ("We" as in the first person plural, personal. My wife and I.)

Figure it out. Make a plan. Get there as soon as you feasibly can. The profiteers and money-grabbers will be there sooner than you think.

(Also, it's 77°F at 2200 in fucking November.)

✍️ Reply by email

Long video, but as good an analysis as you'll find, probably better, for early analyses. It's complicated. We're in a great deal of trouble. And we have got to figure this out and get it right.

Self-Help

16:20 Wednesday, 6 November 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 79.95°F Pressure: 1015hPa Humidity: 89% Wind: 13.8mph
Words: 14

This was an open tab from a couple of days ago.

Seems pretty solid.

✍️ Reply by email

Go Shopping

13:46 Wednesday, 6 November 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 80.1°F Pressure: 1016hPa Humidity: 89% Wind: 11.5mph
Words: 120

It does have a kind of 9/11 feel.

So I guess I'm taking my cues from that inspirational leader, W, and stress-buying.

If I were a good person, I'd be donating more money to non-profits. Right now, I'm just trying to "be still," and mostly failing.

So I bought another Apple IIe. This is how this hobby gets out of control. Started out just wanting a //c. Then I wanted a IIe to do some more robust interfacing with other devices. But, you know, seven slots in there...

Might as well fill 'em up!

Except, they don't all fit.

Solution? Buy another IIe!

I'm going to hell.

Not to worry, I'm sure I'll be in good company.

✍️ Reply by email

The Banality of Evil

13:09 Wednesday, 6 November 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 80.73°F Pressure: 1017hPa Humidity: 88% Wind: 12.66mph
Words: 212

I'm going to try to refrain from borrowing trouble, there'll be more than we could want soon enough. But as regards the title of this post, Hannah Arendt right.

Perhaps "good" and "evil" are merely emergent properties and not intrinsic ones. We all seem to possess the capacity for both to varying degrees.

To what extent, then, are we culpable? Is it all just contingent? Does being immersed in a capitalist media culture just make people evil? Or just push those inclined that way, farther along?

How many of our fellow citizens, our "neighbors," may find themselves one day, not too far from now, saying what so many Germans were saying in 1946?

"I was a 'good German'."

And is the evil we witness today, and will witness tomorrow, simply the evil we choose to see, while indulging our own self-delusions regarding our "goodness," when it comes to our culpability for the evil we choose to ignore? I trust I don't have to point out what that is.

Yeah, we're probably all sinners.

Doesn't seem like we take it seriously though.

I don't think the answer is in the Bible; because if it was, I don't think we'd be here today.

Anyway, introspection and self-reflection is for chumps, bro!

Winning!

✍️ Reply by email

One More Thing

05:33 Wednesday, 6 November 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 75.15°F Pressure: 1016hPa Humidity: 96% Wind: 11.5mph
Words: 69

My neighbor across the street was certain Harris would win. I guess I was "hopeful." The margins in Florida seem to confirm what I suspected, that people were going to vote for Trump, but they weren't as proud of it. No flags. No parades.

They'll be proud now.

For a while anyway.

There was something chilling about the grim faces I saw walking into early voting.

Winter is coming.

✍️ Reply by email

Chinese Farmer

04:37 Wednesday, 6 November 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 75.36°F Pressure: 1016hPa Humidity: 95% Wind: 11.5mph
Words: 767

I was going to link to the Taoist parable of the Chinese farmer. I thought I'd written about it here, but I guess that was in Groundhog Day.

In any event, if you Google it, it comes up a lot, and in many places I wouldn't wish to send anyone just now. It is interesting, though, how many different kinds of people see something in that little story to validate whatever their point of view may be.

Yesterday I wrote that one of the results of the binary choice we faced would be a catastrophe, and it appears that is what we're confronting this morning.

The collapse of this civilization has accelerated.

There would be suffering, as there is always suffering, whoever won. Now it will be different people, different times. Ultimately more people, sooner. I would not want to be in Ukraine today. Or Gaza. Or a Haitian in Springfield, Ohio.

One of the elder sages of the internet, a triumphalist who prides himself on the monetization of our social interactions through the pernicious construction that "markets are conversations," is blaming Democrats and the stories they tell, while holding himself as "above the fray." I have nothing but contempt for that guy. Textbook example of the power of self-delusion.

But even feeling and writing that is a waste of time and energy.

I think it's likely that our timetable for leaving Florida has also accelerated. Both the marijuana and abortion amendments failed and we are clearly redder than I expected.

For most of us, by which I mean the folks who hoped for a different outcome, I'd say it's time to kind of take stock and consider our immediate circumstances. Much of this has been outside of our power to control. "Do your best, the rest is not up to you." If you did your best, you have nothing to be ashamed of, nothing to regret.

The world is about to get more chaotic. Our capacity for collective action at the international level has been significantly diminished, if not destroyed. This has implications for public health and climate change. And the role of the federal government in mitigating adverse events in those areas has also been significantly diminished.

More than ever, we are on our own.

A lot of "self-sorting" has taken place with people moving to regions more sympathetic to their political perspective, though most of that seems to have been people on the right moving to red states. It's probably time for people on the left to consider moving to regions where they're more likely to encounter people whose views align more closely with their own.

We will have to work together at the very local level to establish resilient networks. I think that effort looks different depending on where you are on the political spectrum, and it will be easier and more effective if you're among like-minded people. If you feel like joining a local militia and carrying a weapon, then a red state will welcome you.

If you feel like working in a community garden, maybe you should think about moving to a blue state.

That's not to say that both of those things won't happen in either state, just that the emphasis and effort into each will differ by temperament.

You're less likely to encounter friction, and the chances for unfortunate and regrettable misunderstandings are less.

I am profoundly disappointed with my country this morning. But there is nothing to be gained by indulging those feelings. We need to figure out how to come together and work with one another, because things are going to get worse, faster now. It'll be easier and more effective if we share something of a common perspective with our neighbors. So a change of venue may be appropriate for many of us.

Rural New York is pretty red, but it's not the deep scarlet that exists in Florida. I think we can do ok in New York, even with winter.

I worry about my kids, but they're all adults and must make their own choices for their families.

I wanted to get out of here by 2026, 2027 at the latest. I think we'll make it by 2026. We need to take advantage of the opportunities we have here to get fit. The 2025 hurricane season is a risk, but I don't see us being ready to launch in six months. But we'll see. If we had to, I think we could.

Though we don't all see eye-to-eye, we are all in this together.

It's a shame that fear won.

✍️ Reply by email

I like his policies

06:44 Tuesday, 5 November 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 71.67°F Pressure: 1019hPa Humidity: 91% Wind: 3.44mph
Words: 666

There's an early scene in Battlestar Galactica where Gaius Baltar and Number Six are having a moment, and Number Six says something to the effect, "Your capacity for self-delusion is really exceptional. We should make a scan of your brain." (I could probably find the actual quote, but I want to get these thoughts down right now.)

We are not rational beings. That's perhaps the foundational delusion. We reason backward from our feelings. As embodied beings, our experience of "the world" generates "feelings." A kind of analog, biological heuristic network that our brain uses to orient its conscious experience.

Your "gut."

These feelings are accessible to the rational, cognitive part of our brain, but we seldom practice that sort of introspection or self-reflection.

Thinking is hard. It's energy-intensive, and most of the stuff going on in our heads is habituated anyway. It takes effort, and who really has the time?

My neighbor sent me a lengthy message he received from his pastor. Two excerpts:

This may be the reality described by political candidates and depicted by cable news, but it is not the reality we experience on a daily basis as we go about our lives. The people that live down our street, or that we stand in line with at the grocery store, or that we strike up a conversation with in a waiting room, or that we share a pew with in church are a far cry from the enemies that are demonized in our political discourse. Actually, Christians have a word for what these people are: neighbors.

This election is not a battle between good and evil; it is a contest among neighbors—neighbors who differ in their convictions but who are nevertheless united in their love for this country and their desire to see it thrive.

It's a marvelous sentiment, but it's wrong. It's self-flattery to believe that we have "convictions." We have reactions. Emotional ones.

"Neighbors" elected Nazis to the Reichstag. Hitler lost the only election he ran in, for president against Hindenburg in 1932. Yet German voters made his Nazi Party the largest party in the Reichstag, which ultimately led to Hindenburg appointing him Chancellor in 1933.

Self-delusion, rationalization, wishful thinking, whatever you want to call it, it's the mechanism we call on to resolve the tension between how we "feel" and what others seem to "think."

Trump voters, the "nice ones," most often say things like, "I don't like the things he says sometimes, but I like his policies."

"I like his policies."

Trump evokes an emotional response in them that is congruent with their own default interior state. One that seems to be aggrieved, fearful, or angry.

The pastor says the election "is not a battle between good and evil." Well, isn't it?

What does he think that looks like? WW II maybe? Concentration camps and carpet bombing? That's a battle between "good and evil"?

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men should do nothing.

I don't know what I should do. Love my neighbor? I can't talk to him. He has his feelings, he doesn't want to believe they're "wrong." He's not going to "do nothing," he's going to vote for evil. Why? Because of his "convictions"?

And they'll look the other way, and keep looking the other way, as people are "rounded up" and deported. Look the other way as political enemies are persecuted and jailed. Look the other way as the institutions that provide the foundation and structure of this civilization are systematically dismantled to give free rein to the wealthy and the hateful.

The Germans thought Hitler's rhetoric about the Jews was just that, rhetoric. Or, that's what they told themselves anyway.

It never ends well.

One of two results obtains today, though which result may not be clear for several days.

One will be imperfect, but better than the other.

The other will be a catastrophe.

Because my neighbors "liked his policies."

✍️ Reply by email

Not This Morning's Bird

11:36 Monday, 4 November 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 80.47°F Pressure: 1021hPa Humidity: 74% Wind: 9.22mph
Words: 83

But it is a bird. Red-shouldered hawk we spotted back on the 1st when we were out for a walk. I'm walking more slowly for now, so I'm bringing a camera along. The OMDS OM-5 with the mZuiko 14-150mm mounted. Edited and cropped in Photos. The little light spot to the left of the hawk's eye is the sunlight focusing from over the bird's (red) shoulder.

✍️ Reply by email

This Morning's Bird

11:30 Monday, 4 November 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 80.47°F Pressure: 1021hPa Humidity: 74% Wind: 9.22mph
Words: 63

Not a bird, and not this morning's.

Shot this back on the 30th. There are two blooming from this plant now. Other folks seem to have better luck with theirs than we do. These are dwarf or miniature, apparently. Mitzi's the gardener, so I don't know.

Anyway, a photo.

✍️ Reply by email

Seeing Spots

10:41 Monday, 4 November 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 79.79°F Pressure: 1021hPa Humidity: 79% Wind: 9.22mph
Words: 663

Working around a cluster of aura that just popped up. Significant enough to cause me to consult Dr. Google. This, from the University of Washington, kind of reassured me.

“Just one night of poor sleep can increase a patient’s likelihood of having a migraine attack,” Murinova says.

And I haven't exactly been sleeping well. Did okay last night, but I think I'm still in something of an overall deficit.

For those just tuning in, I've had aural migraines for many years, not knowing at all that's what they were. They come and go, usually after a few minutes. I've mentioned them to my doctor, who sent me to the eye doctor and my retinae are fine. This episode got my attention because there were three of them and they came on rather suddenly, as these things go. (They're fading now, one still active.)

Anyway...

To do something productive tomorrow (I've already voted for Harris and the straight Democratic ticket here in deep-scarlet St Johns County.), I'm giving blood. I figure it might relieve some of the pressure and reduce the likelihood of having a stroke. But maybe that's not how that works.

Tornado outbreaks in Oklahoma over the weekend seemed to get lost in the media coverage of the election. Hard for me to say, exactly, since we don't get network television anymore. Maybe it didn't. But another clue that we're not in Kansas anymore, Toto.

My brother lives in a tornado-prone area of Alabama, and he's had a shelter installed in his garage. Keeps all his important papers in there.

New York, historically, hasn't experienced a high incidence of tornados, though that may be changing. Nevertheless, I think that, given a choice, I'd rather prepare for the risk of a tornado than the risk of a hurricane. While a tornado may be more destructive in the immediate term, the scale of the damage is more limited and permits more rapid recovery in the affected area, I think. Just as bad individually, but collectively more resilient.

Pick your poison, I guess.

Getting out of Florida came up a few times while we were up in Georgia. Mitzi pushed back pretty hard, but I didn't debate her. I know the seed is planted. The house across the street sold a week or so ago, and the one two doors down is on the market. Mitzi was talking about the kinds of people that would buy those two, different, floor plans. Then she added, "Some couple is going to buy this house, and love it."

So I know the idea is still germinating.

It's all a matter of timing. Ideally, we will get out before we experience a hurricane loss. That's the whole idea. Doing so avoids the trauma of loss and "recovery." It also eliminates the requirement of disclosing whether the house has ever been flooded, and permits the continuing self-delusion that this region is somehow immune from hurricanes. So the sooner we sell and get out of here, the better. Ideally, before next hurricane season; but I suspect I may have white-knuckle it through 2025. Moving is an unwelcome challenge.

I've told her we wouldn't necessarily have to move to New York, but I would insist that we relocate to someplace with a low climate risk.

I spoke to another neighbor who I see frequently walking her dog. She said her husband has been looking for property in Connecticut. She's not enamored with moving because of northeast winters. Winter and no state income tax are Florida's two biggest draws. And maybe fascism for those so inclined. I know I wouldn't exactly welcome either (or any) of those, but I can deal with winter and taxes better than dragging all my shit to the curb and "starting over." Especially the sense of defeat I'd feel, because I know I could have avoided it if I'd gotten out of here in time.

Not exactly how I'd have envisioned my "golden years."

✍️ Reply by email

The Veneer of Civilization

07:11 Monday, 4 November 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 72.72°F Pressure: 1020hPa Humidity: 91% Wind: 5.75mph
Words: 60

"People can turn on you because of a label."

Watch the whole thing.

"Permission is very important."

✍️ Reply by email

Mom's Vote

12:13 Sunday, 3 November 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 79.63°F Pressure: 1020hPa Humidity: 81% Wind: 20.71mph
Words: 73

I spoke to Mom this morning, and we talked about voting. She voted last week. Her Parkinson's made it hard for her to insert her ballot in the scanner.

A poll worker, a woman, came over and helped her.

Because of the way the scanner and the ballot are arranged, she could see how Mom voted.

She smiled at Mom and said, "Thank you for voting."

It was a warm smile, Mom said.

✍️ Reply by email

Exhaustion

11:55 Sunday, 3 November 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 78.84°F Pressure: 1020hPa Humidity: 84% Wind: 17.27mph
Words: 206

Slept "better" last night, but still dragging today. I had a sudden infusion of energy watching last night's SNL cold open, followed by the news out of Iowa.

Dare we hope?

I don't know.

Something I supposedly know, isn't much comfort these days. But then, maybe being comfortable isn't what's important.

I'm supposed to have faith. "The way of the warrior is to say, 'Yes!' to it all." That whatever happens, everything is exactly the way it is supposed to be.

But fear seems to be close to getting the upper hand, and maybe that's an underestimate.

For me, that is. Can't speak for anyone else.

I don't often remember my dreams. Years ago, almost never. In recent years, more often. I remember having dreams last night. Navy dreams. Old shipmates. Trying to get gear fixed. Missing parts.

I'm tired though. I'm sick of Trump. I'm sick of what he's done to us. What we've allowed him to do.

Whatever happens Tuesday, it's not a punctuation mark. Well, it's not a period. It'll just clarify what we have to do next. Because nothing is ever over. Different, perhaps. Not over. Hell, the Civil War isn't "over."

Maybe Tim Walz is right.

"We'll sleep when we're dead."

✍️ Reply by email

Sleepless

07:31 Saturday, 2 November 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 69.44°F Pressure: 1021hPa Humidity: 96% Wind: 3.44mph
Words: 567

Been up since 0300. Read this whole thread at AppleFritters, because I just received the card and now I have to figure out how to play with it. Here's a video if you don't want to read several hundred posts. If you want to see an Apple II running Mac System 6, running an Apple II emulator, worth a watch. (Technically, it's an ESP32 running a Mac emulator, running II In a Mac. But the ESP32 relies on the Apple II for all of the user interaction.)

I'm creating something of a challenge for myself. The IIe is becoming more interesting than the IIc, because it is more expandable. I can work on it in the garage, but it's a little uncomfortable and the garage isn't the best environment for that machine. After we get back from our trip up north, I'll have to really put some serious effort into reconfiguring this office.

I've got another modern card coming for the IIe, an FPGA card that will output VGA video and emulate a Mockingboard sound card and a SuperSprite video board. I had a Mockingboard back in the day, and a fair number of games used it for music and sound effects. Will Harvey's Music Construction Set was a program that allowed you to create your own tunes for the card. The SuperSprite board used the same video processor from Texas Instruments that was in the TI-99. Very little commercial software was ever released for it, chicken and egg problem. But probably fun to play with.

Here's a video of how that project came to be, back in the early days of the pandemic. It's pretty amazing what smart people can come up with to pass the time. I'm intrigued by their implementation of the SuperSprite board, which supposedly originally contained an Echo II speech synthesizer and a General Instruments AY3-8912PSG sound chip. (The Mockingboard used two AY3-8910s.)

Mitzi and I binge-watched The Diplomat and enjoyed it very much. Now I guess we'll have to wait an eternity for another "season." Can probably do a season 1 and 2 re-watch, and see if we missed anything the first time. We watched the last two episodes of season 1 before we started the second one, because who remembers what the heck was going on that long ago? Worth your time. Suggest you do it soon to avoid the spoilers.

And we rented Twisters last night. Not sure why that movie seemed so popular or well reviewed. It was fairly entertaining, but probably not worth the effort as a re-make.

We also watched a "direct-to-streaming" movie, Canary Black, on Prime, Friday night. Derivative. Sloppy writing. "Pull up" is the only verbal directive for displaying a computer file, and they do it a lot. They cast a Scarlett Johansen-type as the lead (Kate Beckinsale), and found someone who resembles Alec Baldwin to play her boss. We made it through the whole thing, in part, because part of the attraction was identifying all the elements "borrowed" from other action movies, and there were so many that we didn't have to endure long stretches of boring "action" between them.

It wasn't as bad as another movie we started watching on Prime, Killer Heat. We stopped watching that one less than halfway through, it was that bad. Insufferable.

Guess I'll go take a walk.

✍️ Reply by email