What To Do About Aperture?

02:22 Wednesday, 6 August 2014
Words: 299

I was disappointed when I heard that Apple was ceasing development of Aperture. It’s the main application I use for organizing and editing my images. I’ve spent a lot of time learning how Aperture works, and there’s still a lot more I really need to learn about it. But now it’s going to be replaced by something called "Photos," which is expected to be a significantly less capable application.

Now, "less capable" doesn’t necessarily mean "less useful." And until we see a beta, or it ships, we don’t really know what the Mac app is going to do. So I’m keeping an open mind. Photos might turn out to be a better solution for me than Aperture, we shall see.

That isn’t stopping a lot of people from talking about a migration path to Adobe’s Lightroom, which puzzles me greatly.

We don’t know what Photos will look like on the Mac. It may give us everything Aperture gives us in the way of editing tools. If it doesn’t, there are a lot of photo editing applications out there. It may give us everything Aperture gives us in the way of storing, organizing, and otherwise managing our image collections. If it doesn’t, well, we can cross that bridge when we have to, which isn’t anytime soon.

Because Aperture 3.5.1 still works.

I don’t understand why people feel as though they have to abandon using an application that currently meets their needs, simply because the developer is ceasing development of it. At some point, the underlying parts of the infrastructure in the OS are going to cease to exist, and you’ll be stuck with the last version of the OS that supported the app, but that doesn’t seem likely to happen for a couple of years at least.

People are foolish.

Speaking of Images

02:46 Wednesday, 6 August 2014
Words: 121

It has been a relatively birdless summer at the retention ponds, though I’ve been seeing some Green Herons around here lately. This morning we had a Wood Stork and a Snowy Egret.

And the occasional Golden Silk Orb-Weaver spider (from a Sunday morning hike at Guana State Park):

The Bomb

21:49 Saturday, 6 August 2022
Current Wx: Temp: 84.99°F Pressure: 1022hPa Humidity: 80% Wind: 6.91mph
Words: 381

I finished reading The Making of the Atomic Bomb, by Richard Rhodes this week. Today happens to be the 77th anniversary of the first use of the "A-Bomb" on Hiroshima.

It's a good book. Maybe a great book. It left me feeling uncomfortable. Conflicted.

The story of the development of the bomb was fascinating, sometimes exciting. For much of the book, I was amazed by the ingenuity and intelligence of the people involved. I was astonished by the level of effort the federal government was able to bring to create sufficient quantities of enriched uranium and plutonium to build the bombs.

The book is also a really great introduction into the history and development of nuclear physics, and how the physicists doing the work and making the discoveries viewed the knowledge they were revealing.

Those parts of the book were wonderful.

Rhodes goes on to describe the use of the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

It's unsparing.

Whatever feelings of respect or admiration or awe I had up to that point were dispelled by the graphic descriptions of almost literally "unthinkable" horror. Unthinkable, until then I suppose.

Of the accounts of the survivors, the ones that really stood out to me were about how they didn't associate the event with the war at first. Many people, gravely injured, surrounded by horror, simply thought the world had ended, and that they were the only ones left alive. There was simply no context for what they'd experienced.

I suppose there really still isn't.

Some may wish to draw some relative comparisons in horror or inhumanity by comparing the use of atomic weapons with the deliberate fire-bombing of cities. I don't think there's any useful comparison, really. Yes, fire-bombing of civilian population centers with hundreds of thousands of innocent people killed is horrific. An obscenity.

I think the use of nuclear weapons is altogether different. I don't think you can simply say "dead is dead," "murder is murder." I think it's on the same level as the Holocaust, though I suppose that would be subject to violent disagreement from some. We were the "good guys," after all.

Well, we were the victors, anyway. So we get to settle the accounts.

Something to think about.

I encourage anyone to read the book.

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Progress

06:57 Wednesday, 6 August 2025
Current Wx: Temp: 62.47°F Pressure: 1028hPa Humidity: 83% Wind: 5.12mph
Words: 1130

Got a few things accomplished yesterday. HVAC at the Florida house is fixed. Condensate line was clogged. I'd forgotten to tell Mitzi to remove the cap to the drain line at the air handler to allow air to enter as condensate was evacuated. Only charged me $110 for the service call because they'd just performed the semi-annual service in May.

Next chore was to install a water line from beneath the kitchen sink to the refrigerator. Watched a YouTube video or two and went to the local hardware store, Watkins Supply. Found the necessary items and returned home. $51 for a 3/8" and 1/4" t-connector and 10 feet of steel-jacketed tubing seemed a bit pricey.

None of these little DIY jobs ever goes very smoothly for me. The shut-off valve is connected to PEX, and the valve itself was really stiff. So I had to hold the valve body with pliers while I tried to turn the handle. Success. Removed the cold water line to the faucet, added the t-adapter, reconnected the cold water and the water line.

Next step was to get the dishwasher out from under the counter. The house originally had a polished concrete floor, later tiled over, but not wall-to-wall. Makes for some interesting challenges with appliances. I had to spin the adjustable feet at the front of the dishwasher up to be able to get them over the tile. One turned easily, the other required some WD-40.

All of this is being performed by an overweight, mostly out of shape, 68-year-old, lying on his side on the floor.

I should mention that once we'd gotten the kick-plate removed and looked under the dishwasher, the array of spider webs was somewhat disconcerting. Spent a little time with a hand vac and hopefully removed any potential problems.

With the dishwasher out from under the counter (Don't forget the two screws at the top, screwed into a metal grid epoxied to the counter.), I was kind of relieved to see a hole already drilled into the adjacent cabinet, above the floor of the cabinet. I was thinking I might try to run the water line below the floor of the cabinet, but that meant much tighter confines, trying to get back behind the dishwasher. Since there was already an enormous hole drilled into the wall of the cabinet to permit the plug to get to the electrical outlet, I just ran the line through that, below the wire and over to the other wall of the cabinet, where I drilled a much smaller hole to get to the refrigerator.

Let me say this about LG refrigerators: Their documentation sucks. The owner's manual purportedly explains how to connect the water line, but I couldn't figure it out. Thankfully, there was a video on YouTube. The water line connection is covered by a rubbery, silicone nipple that gave me the impression it was some kind of refrigerant connection. Would it have been too much trouble to put a sticker on there that said "H2O"? Probably.

Anyway, got everything connected, the filter installed and tested everything. So far, no leaks. Fridge dispenses water. It has not made ice yet. Not quite certain why that's the case and again, the documentation sucks. I had the app installed on my phone and toggled it on and off from the app.

Later yesterday, Mitzi installed the app on her phone. After she got it installed she said it asked her if she wanted to "share" the device with me. I told her no because I already had the app installed and the fridge added to it.

This morning, with no ice still, I went to consult the app and the fridge was gone! Apparently, Mitzi adding it to her phone deleted it from mine. She "shared" it with me again, and I have it back but boy is that a shitty interface/user experience.

I've since gone into the control panel in the refrigerator and held the ice-maker button down for three seconds until something beeped and flashed. Then there was some clicking from the vicinity of the ice-maker. No sound of water filling it, but more activity than before and the light is on. We'll see what happens. So far, no good.

After I finished installing the water line and checking for leaks (none, amazingly), I figured I'd spend some time in the recliner. But just then Fedex showed up with the Makita telescoping hedge trimmer I'd ordered. So of course I had to go play with that.

I mainly wanted it to cut down overgrown areas that the string-trimmer either struggled with, or was really too small to be efficient. This hedge trimmer has an 18-inch blade, so I can get a swath of weeds at a time. It's heavier than I expected, but manageable. I spent an hour outside trying it out, which was probably about a half-hour longer than I should have. Between getting up and down off the floor repeatedly, contorting myself to get under the sink and behind the dishwasher, and then wielding that hedge trimmer, I managed to get my back into the same condition it was after moving all those boxes into and around in storage. Plus, I have this enormous bruise on my right arm, which I have no idea how I acquired.

Was planning to go to the gym this morning, but another "recovery" day is in order.

Still plenty to do. I've got an appointment for my flu and COVD shots later this morning, then a haircut at noon, maybe some lunch in between, depending on how long the shots takes. On my way home I'll stop by Walmart and pick up a rake. The hedge trimmer does a good job knocking growth down, now I need an efficient way to pick it up and dispose of it.

I've downloaded all of my medical history from the two portals I'd been in, and I still have to complete the medical history for the dermatologist to get that appointment scheduled. Still haven't finished the breaker panel documentation project. I need to add another entry for the dishwasher outlet in the kitchen, I managed to omit it the first time, even though I'd included all the other appliances. And I need to call a guy about a generator. Power went out for 10 minutes on Monday. I managed to get all the networking stuff plugged into the Bluetti AC70 and got the Internet back up before the power came back on.

So, still plenty to do around here. Likely to be that way for the foreseeable future.

La-dee-da-dee-dee

La-dee-da-dee-da...

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More Progress

16:10 Wednesday, 6 August 2025
Current Wx: Temp: 77.76°F Pressure: 1028hPa Humidity: 60% Wind: 4.36mph
Words: 591

Well, I got a couple of jabs, a haircut and a rake! Oh, and lunch. Holy Cow deli is right across the street from the barber. I figured for a $25 sandwich (chips, cookie and a canned soda), the Mav could stay in their lot while I got my ears lowered.

Came home and figured I'd try out the rake and one thing led to another and I got the hedge trimmer and the weed whacker out and kept telling myself, "Now, don't overdo it again, Dave." But you know how it goes, get to a point where you think you might quit and then you see another spot that looks pretty easy. Now I have a pretty nasty blister on my left thumb. My back isn't as jacked up, but it's complaining. I've got a bunch of debris to dispose of, but hopefully my neighbor is going to give me a hand with that.

And I've only put a dent in the amount of weeds and vines and overgrowth down there along the road. Our other neighbor offered to give me a quote to come over with a piece of equipment he has and mow the whole thing down, but I figure I can use the exercise and I need to know what's going on in there anyway. There are some black caps down there and I want to keep those and try to encourage them. They've got berries on them now and I've been eating some as I've been cutting. Not sure there's enough for jelly or anything, but there are a few and they taste good.

We haven't had the AC on since last week. It can get a little warm in the afternoon, but with the windows open and the ceiling fans on, it's comfortable. In fact, as I was sitting in here yesterday, it brought to mind being a kid up here. We didn't have air conditioning, and in the summer we just opened the windows. Of course, it wasn't humid very often, but there were some hot days when I'd just lay on my bed and read science fiction paperbacks with their covers torn off that I'd bought for $.10 down at the Clockville Superette. Too hot to do anything else. The mornings and evenings were usually cool though.

There was no air conditioning at Bancroft Hall at the Naval Academy either, though all the academic buildings were air conditioned. That was uncomfortable, because Annapolis is both hotter than upstate New York, and way more humid.

But ever since I graduated, I've always lived in a climate-controlled environment. It's kind of nice just having the windows open, listening to the birds chirping and singing. That seems to come and go through the day. They seem pretty quiet now, but there's usually something singing nearby. In Florida, I can only recall them being vocal in the morning, and then mostly silent throughout the day. Of course, you seldom have your windows open in Florida, so who knows?

I've enjoyed listening to the crickets the last couple of nights. I hadn't really noticed them before, but they've been pretty hard to miss the last two nights. And Mitzi heard the coyotes again the night before last.

I think there's a lot to be said for having your windows open to the outside. Of course, the air quality isn't the best right now. Still can't see the far hills for the smoke and haze in the air. (Just heard a bird sing.)

And the beat goes on...

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Framed

16:13 Thursday, 6 August 2026

Current Wx: Temp: 79.59°F Pressure: 1019hPa Humidity: 80% Wind: 7.11mph
Words: 240

Much progress yesterday and today. Builder Brad and Builder Bob were on-site with Bob's daughter and grandson, and Brad's right-hand-man Derrick to frame up the interior walls of the walk-out basement.

It looks different IRL than it does on paper. That long wall of doors for one thing. But it's a basement, it's not the main living space, so we'll get over it.

Met with Energy Vanguard yesterday to discuss details of the HVAC design. If there's one piece of advice I'd give to anyone building a custom home today, figure out how you want to heat and cool your house, and design the house around that system. I'm pretty confident we'll make this work, but there are a lot of ducts and pipes competing for the same space in the trusses.

I had my follow-up with the doc today. She's agreed to prescribe tirzepatide under the Medicare bridge program. That process is rather needlessly complicated, but it has begun. I also brought home a sleep study kit to learn if I have sleep apnea. I don't think so, but maybe? She said my hemoglobin was high, which can be a sign of sleep apnea. We shall see.

Weather permitting, tomorrow the crew will be back to set the floor trusses, and after that the sub-flooring. Then Brad can begin stacking ICF blocks for the main floor.

The beat, and the building, goes on...

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