! The Menu
08:45 Sunday, 22 January 2023
Current Wx: Temp: 60.26°F Pressure: 1009hPa Humidity: 93% Wind: 3mph
Words: 20
Watched The Menu last night. Brilliant. Loved it. Hard to say anything about it without spoilers, but definitely worth seeing.
✍️ Reply by emailLater Gator
Current Wx: Temp: 74.77°F Pressure: 1007hPa Humidity: 74% Wind: 7mphWords: 90
Friday was sunny and warm (Saturday was the opposite), so I took a walk in the afternoon and spotted this gator sunning itself by the back pond. Brought the 14-150mm zoom on the E-M10 Mk4 because I wasn't expecting to see a lot of birds and thought maybe there'd be something that might work with a wider angle than I could get from the 75-300mm. Turned out, there were a lot of bluebirds, some yellow-rumped warblers and an ibis.
The gator was the most interesting though.
✍️ Reply by emailAging In Place
06:31 Monday, 22 January 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 50°F Pressure: 1029hPa Humidity: 89% Wind: 16.11mph
Words: 744
One of life's inevitable realities for the lucky is getting old. Now, I'm 66 and in fairly good health, but it must be admitted, the margins are much slimmer, even if my waistline isn't.
We went down to Maitland last week to visit with a couple of Mitzi's sisters. One of them owns a condo there with her husband. They're all older than us. One of her sisters was supposed to fly back to her home in New York City on Friday, but tripped on some carpet at the Orlando airport, fell and broke her pelvis. She's being moved to an in-patient rehab center in Orlando today.
Her husband passed away not long ago, and she has no family in NYC, nor in Kingston, NY where she has a condo with stairs.
The Online Photographer, Mike Johnston, often writes of his health issues. He's having a pacemaker installed this week. He lives alone in the Finger Lakes with no family nearby. Friends though. We should all have friends.
I'm very ambivalent about over-55 communities. I feel as though in some ways they're a kind of, very nice, ghetto. We self-segregate of course, but it is "out of sight, out of mind" for younger people. There may be an advantage however, at least in terms of healthcare.
In this planned development (Development of Regional Impact - from back when Florida had sane development laws. Now they just do whatever they want.), Nocatee, our over-55 community is a Del Webb and it's one of the largest communities in Nocatee. Del Webb, a Pulte brand, is even building another, smaller, over-55 community immediately adjacent to this one. So there is a significant concentration of the older population in one relatively small geographic location. (Ghetto.)
One of the largest health systems in Florida, Baptist, has a significant presence here, catering to the Medicare eligible. I'm enrolled in their AgeWell program; and I learned at my last visit that I'll be seen once a quarter, alternating between my physician and a nurse practitioner. The idea, I gather, is to identify issues early before they require more expensive interventions.
That's fine with me, given how convenient their facilities are here. The local office is close enough to take the golf cart or even bike to, though I suppose biking there might skew my vitals. There's a hospital about 20 minutes away, an easy drive. They also specialize in stroke, which is nice.
As if this "planned community" thought of everything, there's also an assisted living facility here with an integrated memory care facility (lock-up). The only thing missing is in-patient hospice. This being Florida, there is no shortage of providers fairly nearby. It's not like you'll be commuting there anyway.
One of our neighbors has just moved into hospice, having lived mostly independently in her home. One of our other neighbors has moved into an assisted living center and her house is now on the market.
We've offered our home to Mitzi's sister, when she's released from in-patient rehab. There's a major rehab provider (Surprise!) also not far from here, if she needs continued rehab and we expect she likely will. There's no surgical fix to her break, just a very painful recovery. She'd not have to deal with NYC winter, and have family to help her get to appointments. We're pleased that she's seriously considering it.
In an odd bit of sad irony, Mitzi and I talked about trying to get her sister to relocate here to be close to us for just this reason on the drive down to Maitland.
Two of my three children live relatively nearby. Ideally, we'd live closer, but at least they won't have to fly in to visit me if I'm hospitalized or when I can't drive anymore.
We had a little dinner party the other night and one of the jokes was about the number of single women living on our street and what makes a single man a hot catch is if he can still drive at night!
Anyway, if you're in your fifties and haven't thought about such things, now may be a good time to start. Moving is a major pain in the ass, and you don't want to be like our next door neighbors who are on their third over-55 community because they couldn't stand their previous choices. Moving from Texas to Tampa and finally here, next door to us.
✍️ Reply by emailMourning In America
07:26 Wednesday, 22 January 2025
Current Wx: Temp: 33.64°F Pressure: 1027hPa Humidity: 95% Wind: 19.57mph
Words: 32
We have entered a new "Golden Age."
As in "golden shower."
Getting pissed on by rich people.
Winning!
If you sleep sixteen hours a day, four years is only one year. Right?
✍️ Reply by emailGAS
07:29 Wednesday, 22 January 2025
Current Wx: Temp: 33.64°F Pressure: 1027hPa Humidity: 95% Wind: 19.57mph
Words: 523
The only camera gear I've purchased recently was a used mZuiko 12-200mm super-zoom. It's right on the ragged edge of being too big for the OM-5. The 14-150 is a much better fit, but I like the extra 50mm (100mm equivalent) reach.
OMDS released the OM1 Mk2 some time ago, over a year by now? I haven't priced one lately, but I think they were around $2.2K, a bit rich for me. I think I'd enjoy the computational graduated ND filter and other improvements, but it wasn't a compelling reason to upgrade.
Well the rumor mill is grinding our attention, suggesting that OMDS plans to release an OM-3 camera, based on a retro-style OG OM-4 film body. Low resolution images, and OMDS marketing teasers suggest it'll have the "creative" switch on the front of the body where the shutter timer would have been on the film camera.
This suggests it's a successor to the PEN-F, which had a similar feature.
The PEN-F was the only Olympus PEN (rangefinder-style) with a built-in evf. It was an expensive camera and apparently didn't sell in large numbers. It has retained more value on the used market than any other Olympus digital camera. I have one. There are things I like about it, and there are things I don't care for. It's not the most comfortable PEN to hold, for one thing. (That'd be the E-PL7, though 5,6,9 and 10 are about the same. The E-PL8 had a single little vertical bar for a grip. It was more style than function so it's not in the list.)
The distinguishing feature of this new body will be the decidedly flat front of the body, with a faux-pentaprism hump for the evf. (No built-in grip.) I'm sure it'll look gorgeous.
Then I'll be somewhat in a pickle.
I'm sure it'll be expensive. It'll be incredibly cool.
And I'll want it.
But then I'll have to ask myself whether that money might be better spent on a used or refurbished OM-1 Mk2?
I can resist one new(ish) (to me anyway) out there in the marketplace.
But two?
Sigh.
I am so glad I bought an E-M1X. I bought mine new after the price had come down by about 50% or more. Not long ago, you could get them nearly new, with only hundreds of shutter activations for not very much money. Haven't seen any of those around lately. But that was a camera I wasn't sure I'd really enjoy using. It's far bigger than any other m43 body. But, I love it.
I like the OM-1. It's a remarkable camera, and between the E-M1 Mk3 and the OM-1, I'd pick the OM-1 every time. But around here, when I'm just shooting the moon or birds in the backyard, I'm grabbing the E-M1X because it handles the 100-400mm zoom so well, and it just feels so good in the hand.
Anyway, I expect there's a new camera in my future relatively soon. Not that I need one.
✍️ Reply by emailFix Or Repair Daily
07:52 Wednesday, 22 January 2025
Current Wx: Temp: 32.9°F Pressure: 1029hPa Humidity: 94% Wind: 19.57mph
Words: 302
There's a Ford dealer that has a YouTube channel that does weekly updates on Mondays. "Maverick Monday, " I think? Anyway, I've been following it for some time, hoping to hear about the rear camera recall hold.
For those just tuning in, the feds ordered Ford to stop delivery of 2024 Maverick pickups until they fixed a rear-camera freezing issue. So a lot of folks that had ordered Mavericks, couldn't take delivery. It's a popular vehicle and most folks waited months to get theirs, only to find out that they'd have to wait months more. The hold went into effect in late September, I believe. A lot of people walked away from their deals.
So there's a lot of 2024 inventory sitting on the lots, while the 2025s are beginning to appear in some numbers.
I put a $500 deposit on a 2024 XL (lowest trim level) and I'm waiting for the fix to be issued so I can buy it.
Well, on Monday I guess Ford held a call with its dealers and said that the fix they thought would be ready for this week, didn't work. And they did not offer a projected date. Previous guidance was Q1, with end of January being the likely timeframe.
Not a huge problem for me. If I don't go blowing a lot of money on new cameras, I won't have to finance as much if it doesn't get fixed until March or April. I would like to have it long enough to wring it out before we head to New York.
Camera issues aside, the Maverick remains a very popular vehicle. I haven't owned a car in years, and I've never owned a truck. Kinda looking forward to it. So I was a bit disappointed the fix didn't work.
The beat goes on...
✍️ Reply by emailBramble On
10:11 Wednesday, 22 January 2025
Current Wx: Temp: 32.56°F Pressure: 1030hPa Humidity: 93% Wind: 13.8mphWords: 203
Some discussion of "bramble" as a subject in photography.
I did a search in Photos for "bramble" and came up empty on the iMac (no Apple "intelligence"). My M3 14" MBP is running a beta of Sequoia 15.3 and is equipped to handle Apple "intelligence." I searched for bramble in Photos on that machine and got nonsense results.
Yesterday, someone in the m43 forum at DPReview started a thread featuring "noire" photos. I searched for "noire" in Photos on the iMac with zero results. Hello? Isn't an intel Mac supposed to have "machine learning"? Is "noire" not a thing a photo app should "know" about? Well, I figured I'd try searching on "b&w." Only images I'd explicitly tagged b&w came up. Searching on "monochrome" worked better, I suspect because that term is in the exif, even if Photos doesn't make that visible to the user, because why would they? That's so Aperture, you fucking élitist! (Kind of élitist to add the accent over the e too, come to think of it.) Anyway, don't get me started.
This came up though it's in fucking color.
And the photo filename is gobbledySQLgoop, probably because the library got rebuilt. Oy!
Anyway, bramble.
Or something.
✍️ Reply by emailPower Glitch
10:31 Wednesday, 22 January 2025
Current Wx: Temp: 32.95°F Pressure: 1030hPa Humidity: 93% Wind: 13.8mph
Words: 731
Well, it's cold in Florida, which is weird. I guess FPL's grid is irritable. We had two momentary power interruptions this morning and we're kind of in an unfavorable configuration here.
Powerwalls are at 20% capacity because there hasn't been any frickin' sun in the "Sunshine State" since a couple of days ago. They remain at 20% to provide backup power in the event of an outage. And our 7KW array is making about 500 watts because of this shitty weather.
It's hard to know how long the power was out, it was "momentary," though I don't know if that means seconds or a fraction of a second. Mitzi's and my iMacs both powered off. Previously, we've had interruptions where one or both machines would stay up. The heat pump was running, and that remained on. The glitch was enough to knock the fiberoptic connection offline, which wasn't immediately apparent.
The Tesla app kept showing power coming from the grid, but when the heat pump went off the power consumption didn't go down. The app usually updates within seconds of a load change. I'm trying to figure out what's going on. Is the power out, or is my system having a problem? In hindsight, it wasn't connected to the internet, so it couldn't update.
Eventually, the Tesla app updated, apparently the fiberoptic connection restored itself, and said an outage was underway and to reduce power consumption immediately because only 20% capacity remained. I turned the thermostat down to 66 and the heat pump shut off. I turned off the mini-split in the garage as well. That showed up immediately in the app. The array was making 500W and the house was using that much, so we were self-sufficient for the moment.
The app reported we had 3 hours of power at that rate of consumption. That seemed low, because it implies only 1.5kWh from the batteries at 20%. It should be about 4kWh at least, figuring ~2%/yr battery degradation, (5 years old now) minus a little extra because you can't run the batteries to exhaustion, they reserve some power to run themselves. But maybe it was using an average that included the heat pump running? I don't know how "smart" it is.
Then we had another hit. The led lights in my office flashed high, they're normally dimmed. This glitch took the router offline again, and I had to go in and reset it. I could see lights on in the neighbor's house, so now I'm worried that we've lost our grid connection. I went out and checked the meter and it's doing its thing.
I think the Tesla app just hadn't updated because we were offline, but it added to the confusion. After checking the meter, I checked the Tesla app and it was reporting we were drawing power from the grid.
One lesson here is to first verify internet connectivity before relying on information from the Tesla app. That will at least tell me if the app has current data. I think I can download today's data and it'll tell me how long the grid was down. Haven't done that yet, because it just occurred to me.
I'm still happy with the system. I suspect that had the heat pump not been running, both computers would have remained online. I think with the heat pump running, they saw enough of a voltage drop when the batteries took over to turn themselves off.
A little later, the local neighborhood know-it-all was posting on Facebook about two power interruptions and to prepare for an imminent outage, so that confirmed what we had, imperfectly, observed. Mitzi is on Facebook, I'm not.
All in all, it was a good drill.
Update: So I downloaded the data, and it's not granular enough to say for sure what happened. It only records at 5 minute intervals. There was only one five minute interval where we were drawing no power from the grid, and there wasn't enough solar to meet demand so we were drawing exclusively from the batteries.
Solar production is up though, making between 1 and 1.7 kW now and as long as the house loads are lower than production, it's charging the batteries. I don't expect we'll get much above 20% though, because the batteries will discharge to reduce grid demand whenever they're above 20%, which is normal.
✍️ Reply by emailToll Phishing
11:23 Wednesday, 22 January 2025
Current Wx: Temp: 34°F Pressure: 1030hPa Humidity: 92% Wind: 13.8mph
Words: 93
I follow a news service that covers the Finger Lakes and I noticed an article about the NY State Thruway Authority warning of phishing attempts from fake E-Z Pass accounts.
Which came in handy, because I just received one for Florida! We have an auto-load SunPass in the RAV4, so I know there are no outstanding tolls, and the car is registered in Mitzi's name, so they wouldn't be texting me anyway, even if, as I expect they do not, they texted people to collect tolls.
Stay sharp out there, folks.
✍️ Reply by emailOur Tools Shape Us
21:46 Wednesday, 22 January 2025
Current Wx: Temp: 35.92°F Pressure: 1028hPa Humidity: 87% Wind: 6.91mph
Words: 759
The first part of that is, "We shape our tools, then..."
Jack pointed to this piece, which I found worthwhile. I'll return to it in a moment, but Kottke pointed to this academic paper, which seems like a kind of formal analysis or examination of an idea that I've often referred to before as "social hygiene."
Attention is a finite resource, and it behooves one to pay attention to what one is paying attention to. Which is hard, because attention is mostly guided by habit. So, mindfulness.
Anyway, back to "seeing the software."
All media influence how we think, socialize, work, and participate in society. Language mediates our experience of the other. The clock, first analog then digital, mediates our experience of time. The book mediates our experience of knowledge and narrative. The car mediates our experience of geography. Project management software mediates our experience of our work(load). Zoom mediates our experience of meeting.
Perhaps more succinctly, "When all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail."
Glib. Trite, perhaps. But it's true.
But I loved her reference to the car, because it doesn't just mediate our experience of geography. It mediates our social experience on the road as well.
Put someone alone in a car, and they become much like someone alone behind a keyboard on the interwebs.
People are great. Drivers are assholes.
Same thing with social media.
We lose something when we're essentially isolated in an artificial environment, whether that's the freeway on the commute home, or in "cyberspace," (or in an online first-person-shooter). We lose sight of the people we're interacting with. We think we're alone, because all the physical cues indicate that we are. There's no other person here! There's just that asshole in the other car, or in that other post.
"That bastard cut me off!" Yes. He deliberately intended to offend you because he feels that his trip home is more urgent than yours.
Behind the wheel, behind the keyboard, we feel like the center of the universe and everyone else must conform to our expectations or experience the wrath of a jealous and angry god! (I could have typed that in all caps to drive home the point, but I think you get it.)
You see a lot of that going around these days. Road rage. Rage on social media.
We're not with the people we're angry at, there are no social cues or inhibitions that might mediate that interaction in other ways.
And shit gets stupid, really fast. People start shooting live rounds at each other, real and virtual.
It's seriously fucked up.
Do you see your software?
No. You don't. Nor do you see yourself. Nor do you see the person you're angry at.
How could you? You're the center of the universe.
You just have this feeling.
That bullshit I pointed to yesterday is still going on. You'd think lives were at stake. It's just bullshit, and people are making themselves ill and they don't even know it. They're making others ill. They think that interior experience they're having is some righteous energy that's flowing outward from them illuminating the darkness and burning all the evil that lies before them. Kill it with fire!
It's sickness. It is seriously fucked up.
Social media will make you sick. Just like a diet of highly processed food.
We have not evolved to handle the kinds of ersatz "social" interactions mediated by "social media."
And the facility and rapidity that one can engage with social media posts encourages all the worst behaviors in our repertoire.
Look, if you can't quit social media, then learn to pay attention to your feelings.
Because feelings pass!
Everyone has feelings. They're all valid in the moment. But they pass. And you are not required by morality, or honor, or anything else to act on a feeling. You're certainly free to, but you'll probably wish you hadn't.
If you're still so inclined, after the feeling has passed, then you can examine it. What were you feeling? What were you believing? Was that true? How do you know? If it was, what can you do about it? If it wasn't?
Then let it go.
The best thing you can do for yourself is to get off social media. Any platform that encourages easy, short posts in the heat of the moment. That offers instant "engagement" with likes or replies. Get away from that!
It will fuck you up.
Figure it out, people.
Because it's making a shitty situation so much worse.
✍️ Reply by emailA Light Dusting
08:54 Thursday, 22 January 2026
Current Wx: Temp: 30.33°F Pressure: 1014hPa Humidity: 75% Wind: 15.14mphWords: 377
It's a balmy 29°F out there, and the sun is shining for now. Windy though. Stepped out the side door to snap this shot to have something to post. It's pretty out there.
The cold snap is coming. I don't know if there'll be snow, or how much, but it will be cold. I'm going to be charging all the batteries to 100%, though at temperatures below zero, I'm not sure the mini-split will be of any utility. I don't think we'll lose power, we're not going to be having freezing rain, but who knows? I'll probably bump the in-floor radiant heating system up to 70° to heat up the slab for a bit of thermal mass. We can't run that system on batteries, it draws up to 12KW, and the batteries can only surge to 8KW.
Anyway, not worried. Should be fine.
Our enfeebled "chief executive" continues to embarrass us and alienate our friends and allies. His cult of sycophants and lickspittles degrade themselves trying to justify and rationalize his behavior. In any rational universe, well, Donald Trump wouldn't be president, but, otherwise, this conduct would precipitate a Twenty-fifth Amendment crisis. But we don't live in a rational universe.
Saw a piece in The Atlantic about Trump Exhaustion Syndrome. Something that stood out to me, and just added to that weight in the pit of my stomach, was the observation that Trump's 2016 election was viewed by many as something of an aberration. Now it appears that Biden's election was the aberration, and this is just what America is today. Ignorant, bigoted, hateful and divorced from democracy, decency and the rule of law.
Maybe so. Can't say it's not.
Anyway, if you want to do something positive, and imagine yourself flipping the bird to Vladimir Putin while you're doing it, you can send some bucks to the fine people at Pizza for Ukraine. It's a very hard winter for those folks, and your dollars won't be buying pizza, but trying to buy generators and batteries and the like. I've donated several times, most recently this morning. It's just something I can send out into the universe that says I want to help, and fuck Vladimir Putin.
Fuck Donald Trump too.
Carry on.
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