Didja hear about the octopus that was miffed by the bright light over its tank and so would short it out with well-aimed water jets? For fun, it would juggle hermit crabs, which probably stressed the hermit crabs out.
In other octopode news, it appears that their central nervous system is distributed such that their tentacles are capable of rather a lot of autonomous action without needing to pester the brain for instructions.
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Sunday, June 30, 2019
From an Away Game...
Someone asked me why I made a certain comment about Ken Rockwell's gear reviews, specifically a comparison he'd done on the Nikon D700 vs. the Canon 5D Mark II.
I replied...
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I replied...
Aside from his normal reviews which are superlative-laden, as you noted, this "comparison" has its own special Ken-ness...
An example would be "The D700 is sturdier but heavier, while the 5D Mark II is lighter, but flimsier." Flimsier? Everything's written in clickbait-y language.If you bought one or another of those cameras, the review will convince you that you probably made the right choice and the other camera is ate up with fatal flaws.
In order to understand Ken's language, you have to understand that most people do not read reviews or comparisons to make buying decisions. People read reviews and comparisons to justify the impulse buying decision *they already made*.
If someone googles "Is the CaNikon D9000 Mark X a [sucky/good] camera?", it's because they're sitting there at home with a freshly-unboxed CaNikon D9000 Mark X in their lap, needing something to do while the battery charges, and they're trying to assuage that tickle of buyer's remorse creeping into the edge of their psyche.
This holds for cameras, lenses, guns, cars, et cetera.
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Saturday, June 29, 2019
Automotif CXLIV...
Shot with the Canon EOS IX and some way expired Kodak Advantix C41 process B&W stuff that claimed to be cold-stored. Most was woefully underexposed... #apsfilm #believeinfilm #jaguaretype #canonusa #kodak pic.twitter.com/LgtkRzFfP7— Tamara K. (@TamSlick) June 29, 2019
I mean, it's true...
ZCQOTD: "Asking [$GUN_FORUM] what effect anything had on the Democratic Party primaries is like asking a bunch of mullahs about the finer points of Mormon theology."— Tamara K. (@TamSlick) June 29, 2019
Rannie update...
The vet's office called with her blood work results today. Her kidney function was no worse and apparently her pancreas is showing its age a bit, but nothing alarming.
Abdominal ultrasound will be scheduled for this week.
Abdominal ultrasound will be scheduled for this week.
It's the only play in the book...
The Debates: Government does horrible, sexist, racist, oppressive things and doesn't share the wealth equitably.— Tamara K. (@TamSlick) June 29, 2019
Also the Debates: So what we need to do is to give it a lot more power.
Imagine if the TSA was in charge of administering health care at the VA using the DMV's customer service model.
Now imagine the whole world like that.
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The Thousand Dollar Book...
So, I've been finishing up a second read-through of Straight Talk on Armed Defense: What the Experts Want You to Know, and I'm still impressed at what a useful compendium Mas Ayoob has put together here.
Mas wrote a book back in the Eighties, The Truth About Self Protection, that was a wide-ranging overview on the topic. Rather than a gun-fondling manual comparing foot-pounds and magazine capacities, it was full of practical lifestyle advice, from mindset tips to comparisons of deadbolt brands. (I mean, there was some gun stuff, too, but it wasn't the majority of the book.)
I asked him a couple years ago why he hadn't written an updated version, and he allowed as how putting together the research on such disparate topics and cramming into even a chubby 400+ page paperback to meet a promised deadline was an experience he wouldn't wish on anyone again. However, he suggested that I look into this newer book, as it was something of a spiritual successor to the old work. Best of all, he had corralle...er, talked some subject matter experts into submitting chapters on their fields of expertise.
Having shelled out my own hard-earned coin to learn from some of these folks, I can attest to the worth of the material.
John Hearne has turned the study of performance under pressure into an avocation. His presentation on the topic at Tac-Con or Paul-E-Palooza now stretches to an eight-hour lecture, and none of it dull. Basically John was curious as to why some people seem to just go to pieces under stress while others execute basic skills with mechanical precision, and the research he's uncovered on the topic of "overlearning", the importance of recency, and other factors is fascinating stuff.
The chapter he contributed, "Inside the Defender's Head", is a great intro to his findings.
Craig Douglas of Shivworks should need no introduction. His chapter, "The Criminal Assault Paradigm" is more or less extracted from a part of the lecture portion of his 2.5-day ECQC curriculum. It dives into the "how criminal assaults happen", and the key elements that are almost universal among them. (Hint: They rarely involve a stationary criminal squared up to you 21 feet away, yelling "Hey, throw your wallet over here!" followed by an electronic "BEEEEP!".)
Another contributor whose material I can't laud enough is William Aprill of Aprill Risk Consulting. At this point I've sat through...let me check my chart...some twenty hours or so of his various lectures. At the most recent class I attended, I was so sure I'd heard the material before that I cockily didn't bring pen and paper...and found myself frantically taking five pages of notes via the touchscreen keyboard on my iPad.
You'll find some of that material in the chapter he contributed: "Violent Actors/Violent Acts: A Conceptual and Practical Overview".
Mas himself contributed a chapter entitled "The Armed Lifestyle", which touches on a lot of territory, both legal and practical, that people don't consider when they apply for that toter's permit and decide to go strapped in their day-to-day life.
The chapter on "Finding Relevant Training" was written by Tom Givens, a dude who has provided more than his fair share of such. In it, he offers some thoughts on what to look for in the background of your prospective firearms trainer as well as their course curriculum and judging its suitability for your day-to-day needs.
One of the most interesting chapters is by "Spencer Blue", a dude I've met but who's contributing pseudonymously out of necessity. Having spent time as a major crimes detective for a large urban agency, he's built up a tremendous case file of incidents where armed citizens resisted violent criminals. Best of all, he's filtered out the obvious criminal-on-criminal, domestic violence, gang-related incidents and other obviously targeted incidents to give a look at the actual outcomes of random street crimes and what worked and what didn't when citizens resisted.
The book is definitely worth the asking price, especially when you consider how much it would cost to get the material delivered to you as separate power point presentations.
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Mas wrote a book back in the Eighties, The Truth About Self Protection, that was a wide-ranging overview on the topic. Rather than a gun-fondling manual comparing foot-pounds and magazine capacities, it was full of practical lifestyle advice, from mindset tips to comparisons of deadbolt brands. (I mean, there was some gun stuff, too, but it wasn't the majority of the book.)
I asked him a couple years ago why he hadn't written an updated version, and he allowed as how putting together the research on such disparate topics and cramming into even a chubby 400+ page paperback to meet a promised deadline was an experience he wouldn't wish on anyone again. However, he suggested that I look into this newer book, as it was something of a spiritual successor to the old work. Best of all, he had corralle...er, talked some subject matter experts into submitting chapters on their fields of expertise.
Having shelled out my own hard-earned coin to learn from some of these folks, I can attest to the worth of the material.
The chapter he contributed, "Inside the Defender's Head", is a great intro to his findings.
You'll find some of that material in the chapter he contributed: "Violent Actors/Violent Acts: A Conceptual and Practical Overview".
One of the most interesting chapters is by "Spencer Blue", a dude I've met but who's contributing pseudonymously out of necessity. Having spent time as a major crimes detective for a large urban agency, he's built up a tremendous case file of incidents where armed citizens resisted violent criminals. Best of all, he's filtered out the obvious criminal-on-criminal, domestic violence, gang-related incidents and other obviously targeted incidents to give a look at the actual outcomes of random street crimes and what worked and what didn't when citizens resisted.
The book is definitely worth the asking price, especially when you consider how much it would cost to get the material delivered to you as separate power point presentations.
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Friday, June 28, 2019
Poor Old Cat
Rannie has had kidney issues for a while now.
I'd hoped that last Friday's horrible nighttime vomiting incident was just the occasional normal bout of cat horking triggered by a combination of a hairball and overindulging at the water dish or food bowl, but she seemed worse over the last few days.
She was barely picking at her food, not drinking regularly, and seemed to be having a hard time pooping. This was pretty similar to the situation that had her taken to the vet in January.
During January's vet visit, the doc explained this was a likely consequence of a flare-up of her kidney issues. They gave her subcutaneous fluids and sent her home with a prescription for Miralax and Gabapentin.
So, this morning it was off to the vet again for Miss Wu.
She was poked and prodded and palpated. The vet said that her colon didn't feel full, but there was something she was feeling up in her intestines that the vet didn't like the feel of. At all.
An ultrasound was scheduled for early next week and subcutaneous fluids were administered, but I know the sound of a vet who's hinting that I'm not going to like the results of the ultrasound, yet trying to not sound too negative until she's sure.
When she got home, Rannie perked up a bit from the fluids, and was cuddly and affectionate for a bit, before heading to the futon to curl up on a quilt.
We'll see how she does with dinner here in a bit.
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I'd hoped that last Friday's horrible nighttime vomiting incident was just the occasional normal bout of cat horking triggered by a combination of a hairball and overindulging at the water dish or food bowl, but she seemed worse over the last few days.
She was barely picking at her food, not drinking regularly, and seemed to be having a hard time pooping. This was pretty similar to the situation that had her taken to the vet in January.
During January's vet visit, the doc explained this was a likely consequence of a flare-up of her kidney issues. They gave her subcutaneous fluids and sent her home with a prescription for Miralax and Gabapentin.
So, this morning it was off to the vet again for Miss Wu.
She was poked and prodded and palpated. The vet said that her colon didn't feel full, but there was something she was feeling up in her intestines that the vet didn't like the feel of. At all.
An ultrasound was scheduled for early next week and subcutaneous fluids were administered, but I know the sound of a vet who's hinting that I'm not going to like the results of the ultrasound, yet trying to not sound too negative until she's sure.
When she got home, Rannie perked up a bit from the fluids, and was cuddly and affectionate for a bit, before heading to the futon to curl up on a quilt.
We'll see how she does with dinner here in a bit.
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Thursday, June 27, 2019
Faux Fujifilm...
Given the nature of eBay and other more-or-less global marketplaces, this is worth passing along if you're a retro film-shooting hipster like me...
Apparently there's fake "Fujifilm" circulating out there. Worse, it's a 35mm movie film stock that can't be processed in C41 and could contaminate the chemistry if someone tried.
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The Shallows
As far back as 2013 I noted how my reading was being impacted by the fact that I was doing most of it via the Kindle app on an iPad.
But avoiding the distraction machine is hard. Worse, the distraction machine itself alters the way you think.
When your job requires extended focus, especially on a creative task, for hours at a stretch, tearing your mind away every fifteen minutes to chime in on a Twitter conversation or answer an email can really put a stick in the spokes. Marko threw his hands up and punched out of social media pretty much altogether. I don't blame him at all.
Unlike Marko, FB is still my primary means of communication with rather a few far-flung friends. (Twitter was never a problem for me, because I use it as a repository of throwaway one-liners and don't keep a feed open all day.)
I tend not to have really strong reactions to people being dumb on the internet; if they're annoying enough I just block them. But I definitely noticed the corrosive effect on my focus and concentration. How do I keep up with those friends and not see myself reduced to a rat obsessively checking Facebook for that latest food pellet reward?
A couple days ago I decided that there'd be no social media from 9-5, and when I hit the bed every night, it's just books and no Bookface. I've done pretty good so far. I was weak at lunch on Tuesday and spent five minutes looking at FB before shaming myself into closing it.
It's kinda like quitting smoking in some ways, in that there are a lot of linked behaviors. Sit on the toilet and out comes the smartphone; "My thumb was headed for the icon all by itself" is the digital "I had the lighter out and the cigarette halfway to my lips".
In that time I've written more, including more of the multi-paragraph blog posts of the sort I used to write. I've read an entire novel for fun in the last two days, something I hadn't done in eons. (Master and God by Lindsey Davis. Highly recommend.)
If this holds up, it should do wonders for productivity, which in turn should help with the endless funk in which I've found myself mired. I can still jump in for a quick FB discussion in the evenings or in the morning over coffee, and the people who need to get in touch with me during the day know how to do that.
I'll let y'all know how this experiment goes...
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"[T]he difference between reading on the iPad and reading a regular book is that on the Apple product, the distraction machine is built right in. Reading a history book and encounter something that tickles your hindbrain? Wikipedia is a button press and screen touch away! And while you're in there, better check your Facebook and Twitter, and see if anybody's posted in that forum thread you replied to, and your email account just chimed, and... where were we? Oh, yeah... page three. Still."In and of itself, ebook technology is a marvel; your whole library in your pocket!
But avoiding the distraction machine is hard. Worse, the distraction machine itself alters the way you think.
When your job requires extended focus, especially on a creative task, for hours at a stretch, tearing your mind away every fifteen minutes to chime in on a Twitter conversation or answer an email can really put a stick in the spokes. Marko threw his hands up and punched out of social media pretty much altogether. I don't blame him at all.
Unlike Marko, FB is still my primary means of communication with rather a few far-flung friends. (Twitter was never a problem for me, because I use it as a repository of throwaway one-liners and don't keep a feed open all day.)
I tend not to have really strong reactions to people being dumb on the internet; if they're annoying enough I just block them. But I definitely noticed the corrosive effect on my focus and concentration. How do I keep up with those friends and not see myself reduced to a rat obsessively checking Facebook for that latest food pellet reward?
A couple days ago I decided that there'd be no social media from 9-5, and when I hit the bed every night, it's just books and no Bookface. I've done pretty good so far. I was weak at lunch on Tuesday and spent five minutes looking at FB before shaming myself into closing it.
It's kinda like quitting smoking in some ways, in that there are a lot of linked behaviors. Sit on the toilet and out comes the smartphone; "My thumb was headed for the icon all by itself" is the digital "I had the lighter out and the cigarette halfway to my lips".
In that time I've written more, including more of the multi-paragraph blog posts of the sort I used to write. I've read an entire novel for fun in the last two days, something I hadn't done in eons. (Master and God by Lindsey Davis. Highly recommend.)
If this holds up, it should do wonders for productivity, which in turn should help with the endless funk in which I've found myself mired. I can still jump in for a quick FB discussion in the evenings or in the morning over coffee, and the people who need to get in touch with me during the day know how to do that.
I'll let y'all know how this experiment goes...
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Island of Misfit Toys...
Boy, if you thought the opening rounds of the 2016 GOP primaries were a veritable Lollapalooza of longshots, weirdos, and narcissists, you ain't seen nothin' yet.
I hadn't intended to watch Wednesday night's session, since Thursday (featuring Harris, Sanders, Biden, and Buttigieg) looked more interesting. I'm glad I did, though, because there was at least one moment that was like Tumblr Come To Life.
For the most part, there weren't many surprises. Klobuchar was composed but bland and staked out the Sensible Centrist position (Delaney kept trying to, but his inability to shut up didn't help him) while most of the rest of the stage galloped hard to the left. Gabbard came across as very genuine, which unfortunately tends to translate as "bad on television". Beto took a beating at the hands of Castro.
But the mayor of NYFC managed to come across as a stereotype of a New York F#&@ing City mayor. In addition to running over time on nearly every question, he interrupted every chance he got, and then had the unmitigated gall to drop this howler:
Twitter, predictably & justifiably, lost its collective mind...
I hadn't intended to watch Wednesday night's session, since Thursday (featuring Harris, Sanders, Biden, and Buttigieg) looked more interesting. I'm glad I did, though, because there was at least one moment that was like Tumblr Come To Life.
For the most part, there weren't many surprises. Klobuchar was composed but bland and staked out the Sensible Centrist position (Delaney kept trying to, but his inability to shut up didn't help him) while most of the rest of the stage galloped hard to the left. Gabbard came across as very genuine, which unfortunately tends to translate as "bad on television". Beto took a beating at the hands of Castro.
But the mayor of NYFC managed to come across as a stereotype of a New York F#&@ing City mayor. In addition to running over time on nearly every question, he interrupted every chance he got, and then had the unmitigated gall to drop this howler:
“Something that sets me apart from all my colleagues running in this race and that is for the last 21 years I’ve been raising a black son in America,” said de Blasio, who is white, referencing his son, Dante. “I have had to have very, very serious talks with my son…including how to deal with the fact that he has to take special caution.”Cory Booker was visible in the shot and just going off his facial expression, I was kinda worried dude wouldn't be able to finish the debate due to having bitten his tongue off. I think the moderators lost a shot at great television by missing the expression that flashed across Booker's features and not immediately allowing him to rebut.
Twitter, predictably & justifiably, lost its collective mind...
BILL DEBLASIO JUST BROUGHT UP THE FACT HE HAS A BLACK SON NAMED DANTE RIGHT AFTER BRAGGING ABOUT RUNNING THE LARGEST POLICE FORCE IN THE COUNTRY. he just i-have-a-black-friend-ed the democratic debate.— your supreme, dj franzia (@hawillisdc) June 27, 2019
I— pic.twitter.com/tNjKFa6ysy
I keep thinking about Bill DeBlasio saying “I’m the only one up here with a Black son” and Cory Booker—the only one up there with a Black body—looking like 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/d8aWzGM3CI— Ja'han Jones (@_Jahan) June 27, 2019
Wednesday, June 26, 2019
Amazing
"...take two pins or sewing needles and, at arm's length, cross them. The small square where the two pins overlap is approximately the visual area represented by the Hubble Ultra Deep Field photograph."Wonderful and awesome in the most literal senses of the words.
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The opposite of a polar vortex?
I guess this is a "Equatorial Burp"...
Advice from @EU_ENV and @eu_echo:— WMO | OMM (@WMO) June 25, 2019
By 27 June, the #heatwave is expected to peak, with extreme temperatures all over the continent, with many values over 36°C and locally above 40°C. Avoid fire hazards and take care of your health health. Daily map at https://t.co/M35bZjG4SG pic.twitter.com/lrQt3yMA2q
I do not think that word means what you think it means.
According to Aquiles Hopkins, president of the Confederation of Associations of Agricultural Producers of Venezuela, national production currently covers only 15%–20% of the country’s consumption needs. “Socialism is what you have in Norway, in Finland,” said Hopkins during an interview in his office in Caracas. “This is an autocracy.”No, socialism is not what you have in Norway and Finland. What you have in Norway and Finland is largely capitalism with generous social safety nets and public services supported by very high taxes on extremely productive economies (and North Sea oil revenues in the case of the former.)
This can work okay in a culture with strong social taboos against both ostentation and freeloading. How well it can continue to work with large influxes of people who don't have those same taboos remains to be seen.
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Tuesday, June 25, 2019
I warned you! But would you listen?
"We identify monkey stone tools between 2,400 and 3,000 years old and, on the basis of metric and damage patterns, demonstrate that capuchin food processing changed between [approximately] 2,400 and 300 years ago, and between [roughly] 100 years ago and the present day."Right now they've progressed from using little bits of quartz to get at the good parts of seeds and fruit to using bigger rocks to crack cashews. What happens when they progress to even bigger stones to eat people's faces?!?
This moves them up the threat matrix past vampires and werewolves to rough parity with killer space robots. At this rate, they'll be passing pirates and ninjas before you know it.
"If the monkeys follow a similar evolutionary process to humans, they will develop nuclear weapons at some point after the year 3,500,000.
We’re glad to report that the nightmare scenario of (another) nuke-crazed ape species running wild on our planet is unlikely to come to pass."
Odd Vessel
Pretty funky.
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Ripple Effects...
So, the first gun shop I worked at did probably 90% of its business with two wholesalers.
Chattanooga Shooting Supplies provided most of our ammo and a regularly restocked consumables like cleaning supplies. They weren't the cheapest on a strictly per-unit basis, but their truck came by once a week and kicked the boxes off and the convenience and savings on shipping for heavy items made up for that.
The other was Ellett Brothers, whose tagline "As Big As All Outdoors" was descriptive of their inventory. They carried pretty much everything. That's a lot of creditors...
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Chattanooga Shooting Supplies provided most of our ammo and a regularly restocked consumables like cleaning supplies. They weren't the cheapest on a strictly per-unit basis, but their truck came by once a week and kicked the boxes off and the convenience and savings on shipping for heavy items made up for that.
The other was Ellett Brothers, whose tagline "As Big As All Outdoors" was descriptive of their inventory. They carried pretty much everything. That's a lot of creditors...
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Still Running the Bluff...
Given the mountain of evidence that Chicago authorities have released, either Smollet is the cheekiest individual to walk the face of the earth, or he's pathological.
"Alright, Jussie, let's see them cards. I'm calling your bluff."
Jussie smiles confidently and fans three cards out on the table in front of him.
"Okay, let's see here... You've got 'Black', and 'Bisexual' and...wait, this isn't a card! You've just taken a 3x5 piece of cardboard and written 'VICTIM' on it in crayon!"
Not blinking, Jussie continues to smile and radiate confidence...
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Today In History: "Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of police action!"
On this date, sixty-nine years ago, North Korean troops launched attacks across the 38th parallel, triggering U.S. involvement in the first of our many post-WW2 not-a-wars.
Our military, shrunken from its WW2 size, was oriented on Europe and mostly configured with an eye toward nuclear combat, toe-to-toe with the Russkies.
Our initial response was haphazard and piecemeal, and included the stinging defeat of Task Force Smith, followed up by the 24th Division's HQ getting overrun and its commander captured by the Norks. The 24th Division's resistance at Taejon likely did buy time to get enough troops into Pusan to fortify the perimeter, though.
It was not the most auspicious of starts.
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Our military, shrunken from its WW2 size, was oriented on Europe and mostly configured with an eye toward nuclear combat, toe-to-toe with the Russkies.
Our initial response was haphazard and piecemeal, and included the stinging defeat of Task Force Smith, followed up by the 24th Division's HQ getting overrun and its commander captured by the Norks. The 24th Division's resistance at Taejon likely did buy time to get enough troops into Pusan to fortify the perimeter, though.
It was not the most auspicious of starts.
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