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WEEK 8 2007

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Saturday 24 February 2007

Saturday - a nice cool morning.



"An investigation by Florida election officials into an 18,000-vote gap in a 2006 Congressional district last November has concluded that the voting machines worked properly, but that Floridians once again could not comprehend the ballot."
 [via Captains' Quarters] (emphasis mine)

A first analysis using the Bell Curve for IQ would suggest that you need to have an IQ greater than about 80  to successfully fill out a ballot in Florida: 

x

So much for high tech voting methods. To mangle Schiller:
                                      Against stupidity, the gods - and geeks - struggle in vain.

Friday 23 February 2007

Friday - a storm blew through Thursday night, with rain here in the valley and leaving snow on the ground in Tehachapi. Indeed I got a call from some friends up there that the roads were closed due to snow and ice. Neat.

Still home sick. I could have gone in, but I want to be shed of this thing and get back to the boat work.

I've a lead on a used Monitor wind vane...



Heh. The Wiki link I mentioned yesterday, for the Dresden Files, mentions The Evil Overlord List.

Thursday 22 February  2007

Thursday - home sick with a bad cold. Bah. A mild fever and chills. And a very runny nose.

On the bright side, I'm getting caught up on TV. Star Trek: Voyager, now out on reruns, happened to play the episode with the first encounter with Seven of Nine.

Ratings apparently indicated that their geek audience might be willing to suspend disbelief about hot sci-fi babes in leotards and high heels wandering about star ships; it should be noted that Star Trek: Enterprise had a Vulcaness in a leotard, T'pol, from the very first episode.

Also watched: Special Unit 2 and The Dresden Files (both set in Chicago for some reason. Tax breaks?).

Wednesday 21 February 2007

Wednesday - 

Tuesday 20 February 2007

Tuesday - on the road, back to Lancaster.

Questions for prospective astronauts. [via Division of Labor]  

It starts:

1. Who of the following do you most resemble?

A. John Glenn
B. Scott Glenn
C. Glen Campbell
D. Glenn Close

The author also shed some insight on mountain rescues, with relevance to the Mt. Hood debacles of late. There's a term for the practice of people taking greater risks because of the probability of mitigating factors,  but I can't recall it (I mean, besides stoopid). People driving more recklessly because of seat belts, air bags and anti-skid brakes is an example that comes to mind.

 Monday 19 February 2007

Monday - relaxed some more. Took it easy.

Went over to Glen Cove to check on the old boat. It was dry and tight, a nice change from the Richmond slip. It needs paint and varnish though.

It was a nice day and I wanted to go out, but couldn't get the outboard started. With the wind and tide in the state they were in that made it very difficult to get out, and probably impossible to get back in through the narrow entrance and interior channels if I did manage to get out.

The Coronado felt small after the NorSea, a lot less intimidating.

But it was nice to sit on the boat and lunch, enjoy the sun, and walk down to the seawall and talk to the fishermen. They were catching stripers, sturgeon and sharks, same as always. Nice to know that river is still alive.

Sunday 18 February 2006

Sunday - not a lot to say.  It was a nice day, hung around with Dad.

Somewhere, and I can't find the link now, I read an article about how fewer books are butchered abridged when put into audio format. The occasion was the recent issue of a 62 hour recording of War and Peace. People are beginning to expect the whole book.

A book I mentioned recently, 'Six Frigates', was butchered by abridgment. Two of the most famous naval actions of the frigates - The Constitution vs Java, and Constitution vs Guerriere - were cut out completely. Very annoying.


Picture of the Week
dock lights at Christmas

Photo Notes: Christmas lights along the dock.

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