About those space beeps...

You know, those beep tones sent right as the folks at mission control unkey a mic when talking to a spacecraft.   They're called "Quindar tones" and are explained here, at the SWLing Post.  Huh, and I always thought they were simple confirmation beeps.

More can be found at Wikipedia, along with the more modern CTCSS system.  CTCSS is used on virtually everything radio now, from space comms down to common GMRS walkie-talkies.

Bridgetop Pic

Nothing amazing, just another pic from atop the BSL bridge.  This time it's panoramic:

The pathway is actually straight, it's just the pano view that makes it double-out like that.  Either that, or else it's a black hole in my bike jersey pocket.  Wait, damn, I knew I'd misplaced that thing again.  No wonder the jersey felt a little tight the other day.

New Buffett Album On the Way

Article:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/music/2020/05/27/jimmy-buffett-new-album-pandemic-virtual-tour-quarantine-margaritas/5252332002/

All for today.  It's been a week.

Another Book: Energy for Future Presidents

Written by the same Richard Muller who wrote Physics for Future Presidents, this 2012 book takes a deeper dive into energy issues: catastrophes (primarily the Fukushima meltdown and the Deepwater Horizon blowout), the bird's-eye view of the energy landscape, alternative energy sources, an optional side-bar chapter on "what the heck is energy anyway?", and a closing summary to bring it all together.

As to be expected in a popular work, Muller uses just enough numbers to tether things to reality.  For example, he spells out why hybrid cars are a pretty good idea, but why full-electrics don't pencil out.  (it mostly has to do with the cost of periodically replacing the batteries)  Particularly interesting was the section on nuclear waste storage.  Also, it was good to have a concise and coherent explanation of how "clean coal" can be made to work seamlessly with CO2 sequestration.  Just hard, practical, facts-based advice, and I love it.

Even though it was published in 2012, it remains remarkably up to date.  Muller recognizes that battery and solar technology will continue to improve, and works this into his back-of-envelope calculations.  Consequently, eight years later things still make sense.  His predictions for petroleum fracking turned out to be on the low side of where production actually zoomed to in early 2020, but were nevertheless substantially correct.

If you've been reading too much from Kunstler, Tverberg or other peak-oil believers lately, this is a good tonic.  According to the numbers Muller gives, yes, oil may peak, and probably fairly soon.  However, there are many, many other energy sources to fill in the gaps.  The net result is that, while there may be some depletions, shortages, and market dislocations, substitutions and solid engineering will ultimately keep things going, and overall we have a reasonably bright energy future.

Finally, a note on the structure of the book, and perhaps the order in which it should be read.  I'll recommend skipping ahead to the summary Chapter V, Advice for Future Presidents first, just to get the framework for the rest of the book in mind.  Then go back to the beginning and read it from the top, finishing by reading back through the summary chapter again.  It'll be easier to keep the key topics in mind this way, a la the old maxim "tell'em what you're gonna tell'em, then tell'em, then tell'em what you just told'em."  Things tend to stick better that way.

Anyway, this is an excellent book giving a constructive overview of energy policy that all voters should read.  Even though it is eight years old, it is still current (enough), and well worth your time.

And as always, consult your nearby cat-friendly bookstore (adjust for your local conditions) before reaching for the online retailers.

The Book You Need, Right Now

James Howard Kunstler's Living in the Long Emergency

From my review at a popular site (though you really should get your copy, if at all feasible, from here or from your very own cat-bedecked local book shop):

Over the past fifteen years, Jim Kunstler has written a series of books dealing with cultural, political, economic, and ecological declines.  Here is the latest non-fiction installment, which addresses (1) how some of the previous predictions are turning out and why some of them haven't quite yet, (2) how some people are coping with this changing world where a normal job is increasingly the exception, and (3) what's happening now and what is likely in the near future.  Not surprisingly, these correspond to the three major sections of this book, followed by a personal update that would have fit well into the second section if it were not autobiographical.

It's good, very good.  Take it as food for thought, not prophecy.  Make up your own mind, but even where you may disagree with Kunstler's views on things, they are at least informative and thought provoking.  As with any current affairs type work, it may not be a great tome for the ages, but it does have relevance for the here and now.

Finally, I have to say that it's a strangely uplifting read, if only to see that I'm not the only one having difficulties these past few years.  Ever since right around getting run rump over kettle by Katrina in 2005, something has felt not quite right in the world.  Call it the Era of the Continuing Resolution, call it a Fourth Turning, call it Mid-East war fatigue, call it skepticism over QE #N; it all amounts to the same thing.  The wheels have not yet come off, but what's that shimmy, and what's that weird noise?  Like a blues record on a bad day, it is good to hear that other people are feeling these things too.

Well hurry up and get reading.  Between covid-19 stalking the land and the current political situation, this roadmap has hit the bookstores just in time.

Don't go doin' nothin' stoopid

From Camping to Dining Out: Risks of 14 Summer Activities at NPR.

I should probably come up with something witty to say here, but the subject's getting old.  Not as old as it will probably feel in a couple of months though.

U.S. DoE pushes work on advanced nuclear reactors

Just a quick one for today: https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/05/us-department-energy-rushes-build-advanced-new-nuclear-reactors

Badly needed, let's get on with the research.  Will they work as intended?  Probably.  Will they work if we don't try?  0% chance of working if we take that path.  So... let's get on with this.

That is all for today's good news.  Back to your regular concerns.

How'd I miss this one?

A short sci-fi (I hope) about an AI controversy generator run amok: Sort by Controversial
Edit 6/23/20: Oh, did that take you to a deleted blog?  Blame the NYT, but first click through to the archived story at the Wayback Machine and read it there.  Because the NYT ruins everything.

I like to think that I'm up on these sorts of things, but evidently not, because it's been floating around for a year and a half.  Go on, read it, it's short.  It's also very relevant.

A Brief History of the Lockheed Skunk Works

... and how to apply the lessons learned to other fields, especially software development.

Video here, 53 minutes.

Lots of wisdom, cutting-edge horse sense, and general how-to/can-do.  Worth your time.

The BBC Asks: The last 'normal' photo on your phone

The last 'normal' photo on your phone before coronavirus hit.

It is interesting that most of those pictures featured crowds of people, and that's what is judged to be 'normal.'  Looking back through my phone, mostly I take pictures of landscapes and landmarks, with occasional documentation photos: "this is how I set up this gear" during a camping trip, or "this is what the inside of that plumbing looks like" before a trip to the hardware store.  When there's a person at all in a picture, it's usually solo or of a very small group.

Anyway, looking back, this street scene from Mardi Gras would qualify as 'normal' by the BBC article's standards.  The next weekend was Ham Camp #21, and while there were plenty of people there, somehow all that got photographed were tents, radios, and a plastic crow.  Go figure.

well file system check

Off to an early start this year.

How "Lord of the Flies" Went IRL

Better than you might expect.  Article at The Guardian: The real Lord of the Flies: what happened when six boys were shipwrecked for 15 months  Read it, and think a little better of humanity.  From the last paragraph:

It's time we told a different kind of story.  The real Lord of the Flies is a tale of friendship and loyalty; one that illustrates how much stronger we are if we can lean on each other.

It's good to have something a little uplifting right now.

BTW and on a personal note, I've never read LotF, even though I've always heard about it.  I'm guessing that I fell into that burned-over era where the book had been in vogue fifteen years before I was reading and had since fallen onto the has-been shelf.  Or maybe after some of the excesses of the Sixties, it was a warning that people felt had come and gone.

Anyway, go and read.  You'll feel better for it.

40 Years Ago: Sunshine Skyway Crash

Article at The Weather Channel.

Even though it was way down-state from home, I remember it well because most of my music listening (mainly heard above a howling Davidson 500 offset press) came from Tampa Bay area radio stations.  Naturally, this was the lead story for quite a while.

Also, I remember this picture clearly from the front of the daily paper.  It sticks in mind, because my high school H&MP teacher drove an identical car.

That... was a close one.

New Music On the Way: Buffett and Dylan

Not together though.  That would be awful.  Or at least, really hard to imagine.

Jimmy Buffet: Life on the Flip Side  May 29

Bob Dylan: Rough and Rowdy Ways  June 19

That is all.  What, like you could expect anything better?

Quick Note: Andy Serkis to do live online reading of The Hobbit tomorrow

Article at the BBC.  Of course it's for a COVID-19 related cause, read about it a the GoFundMe page.  

Starts at 10am BST – that's 4am CDT – tomorrow May 8th, and is expected to run about 12 hours.

I probably won't be up for it (I mean, 4am, come on), but maybe there'll later be a downloadable mp3.  Either way, it seems like a good and worthwhile listen.  Other than Tolkien himself, can you think of anyone better to do a live reading?

OK, that's all for now.  Back to it.

Right On Schedule!

The termite swarms return, same date as last year.  The cooler weather this spring doesn't seem to have much effect.  Hopefully this too will pass quickly.

How These Things Generally Roll

What Other Coronaviruses Tell Us About SARS-CoV-2 at Quanta magazine.

Sure, we're all bombarded with virus news lately.  But this one actually has some science behind it, and gives some educated guesses as to which way the winds are blowing.

Just wish we had some reliable mass testing going on.  This flying blind through an ice fog business is getting old.

Book Review: Natural Born Heroes

It's a WWII mystery thriller about an against-all-odds clandestine operation.  It's an ultra-endurance intro.  It's all about low heart rate training.  Low-carb too.  Wild animals and parkour.  Shadowy sheep thieves, blood feuds, and on-the-fly nutrition in the original Land of The Gods and Heroes.  It's about being chased by 80,000 hell-bent Nazi troops when all you've got is a ragged pair of boots and and borrowed donkey.  And it's all over the place, ping-ponging between ancient Crete and modern desert hermit fitness gurus.  I don't know how it all holds together, but it does.

It's called Natural Born Heroes by Christopher McDougall, the author of Born to Run.  If you've read that, and I highly recommend it, this one leaves it in the dust.  It's just one ripping adventure after another, and it points the way for your next adventure: reclaiming the fun in fitness.

As always, consult with your local cat-equiped book store for a copy.

And no, it's not a book about biking exactly, but in the overall scheme it fits so this gets the 'bike' tag, among several others.

More Tower Pics

Just because there's not a lot else going on, here's a pic of the WMEJ tower's base insulator and lightning arc-over rods:

WMEJ

You can see the feed line coming in on the right hand side.  Reaches Gulfport on a good day.  But enough of all that.  Let's look at a properly constructed and maintained tower:

W4ZNG

Works 6 shortwave bands, reaches Canada and Central America on a regular basis, Europe on a good day.  Now that's an antenna.  Also, as you can see in the middle background, powering this thing is never, ever a problem.