Security Cams
Yet another Big News Story that features Security Cameras.
We're told that there's several security cam videos being investigated for leads in the Boston Marathon Terror Bombing.
I watched some coverage Monday night, and viewed a fair amount of cell phone camera videos of the blast and immediate aftermath as well.
Many of these phone videos ended up on Cable News, Network News, Local News, and news and newspaper websites around the world.
The old catchphrase 'Elvis Is Everywhere' has been supplanted by 'The Hills Have Eyes', or more succinctly, "Big Brother Is Watching You'.
London swings to the beat of security cams now, it's the most surveilled city on Earth now.
Time will tell if the security cam footage actually helps to apprehend Boston's Marathon Bomber.
Authorities are asking The Public to submit any videos or photographs that may provide information leading to the arrest and conviction of the bomber or bombers.
Hopefully we can deduce that nobody was watching the security cams in 'Real Time' and saw the Bomber place the pressure cooker bombs into the finish line trash cans.
Dash Cams
The Russian Meteorite that exploded over Chelyabinsk in The Urals on February 15th went viral on the internet just minutes after the fireball exploded. Most of the early videos were made with dash cams. I'd never heard of dash cams before and I did a little searching and found out that in Russia dash cams are very popular among Russian motorists because corruption is rampant in the Post-Soviet Police Forces.
After viewing a few of the dashcam videos on YouTube, I concluded that the dash cams are necessary on Russian highways because I've never seen more crazy drivers since I went to a Demolition Derby at the County Fair! Yikes!
Mashable has a good overview of the Russian DashCam phenomenon.
PBS's NOVA did an hour on the Russian Meteorite. It aired March 27, 2013. Astronomers from University of Western Ontario gathered these dash cam videos, and using GPS they plotted the location of the cams and the time the event was captured, and plotted the meteorite's path. They went to their predicted impact area and found pieces of the meteorite in the snow! You can watch the episode 'Meteor Impact' online.
I found a story about the legality of dash cams in California. They're 'legal' but there's some hoops to jump through if you want to use your dash cam on Public Roads. You must display a legible sign inside AND outside the vehicle equipped with a dash cam warning that a camera may record people in and around the dash cam equipped vehicle. Privacy is taken seriously by California Lawmakers...
I find the contrast between 'The All Seeing Eyes' of the Citizens vs those of the Government, to be very filling 'Food For Thought'...and not a little chilling...
Irony is hard...
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
The Springtime of My Discontent
This darn wind is starting to weigh on me. Oh, the Weatherman hints that there might be a break later in the week...fingers crossed.
The San Francisco Giants had the day off after four exciting games at Wrigley Field against the Cubs. Hard to believe I'm getting withdrawal symptoms after only twelve regular season games...
Still, the Giants have been playing exciting ball...and winning, taking three of four games...two wins by one run, and a wild back and forth hitting...wild pitching...extra innings finale.
For the four game series in Chitown, only one game was truly 'Torture'...April can still be Winter on the exposed shores of Lake Michigan, and the Giants left an 85°F AT&T Park, only to be greeted by cold drizzle, temps in the 40s,and windchills in the low 30s!
I went to that 85°F game against the Colorado Rockies...official temp at game-time was 78°F , but it was a solid 85°F in my nosebleed seat! There wasn't a puff of wind until the 8th Inning...turns out it was the only 'Fishable' day last week.
After a quick trip through the Post Office this afternoon, I ran some errands as the winds 'filled in' as they say in sailboat racing. Gale Warnings prevail all along The Coast, and the tall, still green grasses on the Inland Valley's wild hillsides looked alot like wind waves on San Francisco Bay on a mid-summer afternoon.
These winds, coupled with a day of rain have totally stripped the Ancestral Digs' beautiful wisteria of it's impressive show of blooms...there's now 'petal drifts' on the patio. I swept them into a pile, making a clean path to the BBQ, so I wouldn't track in bare feet-fulls of petals into the kitchen when I grilled some cheeseburgers for dinner.
Sorry if I'm coming off kinda whiny...especially in light of the bombing of the Boston Marathon...Bostonians could use our prayers...My angst will pass...
The San Francisco Giants had the day off after four exciting games at Wrigley Field against the Cubs. Hard to believe I'm getting withdrawal symptoms after only twelve regular season games...
Still, the Giants have been playing exciting ball...and winning, taking three of four games...two wins by one run, and a wild back and forth hitting...wild pitching...extra innings finale.
For the four game series in Chitown, only one game was truly 'Torture'...April can still be Winter on the exposed shores of Lake Michigan, and the Giants left an 85°F AT&T Park, only to be greeted by cold drizzle, temps in the 40s,and windchills in the low 30s!
I went to that 85°F game against the Colorado Rockies...official temp at game-time was 78°F , but it was a solid 85°F in my nosebleed seat! There wasn't a puff of wind until the 8th Inning...turns out it was the only 'Fishable' day last week.
After a quick trip through the Post Office this afternoon, I ran some errands as the winds 'filled in' as they say in sailboat racing. Gale Warnings prevail all along The Coast, and the tall, still green grasses on the Inland Valley's wild hillsides looked alot like wind waves on San Francisco Bay on a mid-summer afternoon.
These winds, coupled with a day of rain have totally stripped the Ancestral Digs' beautiful wisteria of it's impressive show of blooms...there's now 'petal drifts' on the patio. I swept them into a pile, making a clean path to the BBQ, so I wouldn't track in bare feet-fulls of petals into the kitchen when I grilled some cheeseburgers for dinner.
Sorry if I'm coming off kinda whiny...especially in light of the bombing of the Boston Marathon...Bostonians could use our prayers...My angst will pass...
Monday, April 15, 2013
Opening Daze
I see I haven't pecked out a blog in six whole months. It would be disingenuous to claim 'Writer's Block' when I'm neither a writer or a blocked writer...
Sloth doesn't quite describe my failure to communicate either...indifference would be closer to the crux of the biscuit, actually.
Those who know me personally will find this hard to believe, but I haven't had a single bee in my bonnet in a half an Earth orbit around our star...unless you count Politics...
I'm not a pundit, and my folks were of the Old Fashioned variety...Politics and Religion are best kept to yourself in Polite Company they taught...
In the three years I blogged here, I strove to keep the partisan politics out of CorduroyPlanet, successfully I might add!
So why now you ask?
It's the middle of April...I'll be down at the Post Office today buying the Registered Mail/Return Receipt treatment for the Income Tax documents going to the Feds and Sacramento.
There's been a pair of Opening days in the past week or two, and I noticed a bunch of ski resorts closing for the season in Sunday's online newspaper editions.
"One in, one out..." Richard Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) 'Casablanca' 1942
Major League Baseball returned for another season on the last day in March, while Spring Training, the Cactus League and the Florida version have rolled up their tents and faded into memory for another year.
Salmon Season off the Central California Coast opened April 6th to good success for most out trying for them.
That was before this regime of high northwesterly winds set upon us...the Reno NWS Office says there may be snow in the High Country in the next few days.
So ends my first whole season wherein I did not set foot on My Mountain, or climb into my BR350 Groomer and grind around the slopes having way too much fun to realistically refer to my time spent at the sticks of said groomer as Work.
Truth be told? I'd do it for nothing if I had the bank account to sustain me! As much as I've missed the life, I'm sure glad I wasn't grooming this season...it looked exactly like work save for a few weeks of storm fighting in November and December!
Lots of weak, under-performing warm storms delivered rain at the base and glop on top. Days and nights of above freezing temperatures for weeks at a time doomed the slopes to thin sooner than the resorts would prefer...
So four months of dodgy conditions, and little Hero Snow...I'm broke, but my Soul wasn't exposed to the nightly heartbreak that would have broken it.
These windy conditions are trying my Soul...there's plenty of tasty Dungeness crab and Chinook salmon just offshore, but the weather is all Gale Warnings all the time so it seems.
Chin up! This too shall pass...I'm so ready for a crab/salmon combo...our own Captain's Plate, caught fresh...
Soon...
Sloth doesn't quite describe my failure to communicate either...indifference would be closer to the crux of the biscuit, actually.
Those who know me personally will find this hard to believe, but I haven't had a single bee in my bonnet in a half an Earth orbit around our star...unless you count Politics...
I'm not a pundit, and my folks were of the Old Fashioned variety...Politics and Religion are best kept to yourself in Polite Company they taught...
In the three years I blogged here, I strove to keep the partisan politics out of CorduroyPlanet, successfully I might add!
So why now you ask?
It's the middle of April...I'll be down at the Post Office today buying the Registered Mail/Return Receipt treatment for the Income Tax documents going to the Feds and Sacramento.
There's been a pair of Opening days in the past week or two, and I noticed a bunch of ski resorts closing for the season in Sunday's online newspaper editions.
"One in, one out..." Richard Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) 'Casablanca' 1942
Major League Baseball returned for another season on the last day in March, while Spring Training, the Cactus League and the Florida version have rolled up their tents and faded into memory for another year.
Salmon Season off the Central California Coast opened April 6th to good success for most out trying for them.
That was before this regime of high northwesterly winds set upon us...the Reno NWS Office says there may be snow in the High Country in the next few days.
So ends my first whole season wherein I did not set foot on My Mountain, or climb into my BR350 Groomer and grind around the slopes having way too much fun to realistically refer to my time spent at the sticks of said groomer as Work.
Truth be told? I'd do it for nothing if I had the bank account to sustain me! As much as I've missed the life, I'm sure glad I wasn't grooming this season...it looked exactly like work save for a few weeks of storm fighting in November and December!
Lots of weak, under-performing warm storms delivered rain at the base and glop on top. Days and nights of above freezing temperatures for weeks at a time doomed the slopes to thin sooner than the resorts would prefer...
So four months of dodgy conditions, and little Hero Snow...I'm broke, but my Soul wasn't exposed to the nightly heartbreak that would have broken it.
These windy conditions are trying my Soul...there's plenty of tasty Dungeness crab and Chinook salmon just offshore, but the weather is all Gale Warnings all the time so it seems.
Chin up! This too shall pass...I'm so ready for a crab/salmon combo...our own Captain's Plate, caught fresh...
Soon...
Friday, October 19, 2012
Pattern Change
Bay Area TV Weatherfolks rejoice, pattern change is coming!
This morning, the NWS Reno Office posted this graphic to Facebook:
Still three days out, they're forecasting more weather than they did a few days ago.
On Twitter I see @borealmtn still holding out hope for an October opening. A foot of natural snow would make it a lot easier...again, we'll see...
This pattern change may play havoc with the National League Championship Series which returns to AT&T Park Sunday should the Giants and Barry Zito win tonight's Must-Win Game 5 in St Louis.
Another 72 ft America's Cup racer having troubles on San Francisco Bay:
Sweedish Challenger of Record, Artemis Racing had a bit if trouble during Tow Testing it's new AC72 Thursday. As fast as these racing yachts are, so far they seem a little fragile to this observer.
Knock on wood...this could be the end of Fire Season...let's hope!
This morning, the NWS Reno Office posted this graphic to Facebook:
On Twitter I see @borealmtn still holding out hope for an October opening. A foot of natural snow would make it a lot easier...again, we'll see...
 |
| Boreal looking Autumnal, fans await snowmaking temps |
Another 72 ft America's Cup racer having troubles on San Francisco Bay:
Sweedish Challenger of Record, Artemis Racing had a bit if trouble during Tow Testing it's new AC72 Thursday. As fast as these racing yachts are, so far they seem a little fragile to this observer.
Knock on wood...this could be the end of Fire Season...let's hope!
Thursday, October 18, 2012
ENSO
So El Niño looks like a fading memory for 2012/2013 according to the Climate Prediction Center's October 90 Day Outlook Discussion published today.
I'm guessing we'll have another slow start to Ski Season...call it a hunch.
Wednesday we had widespread Red Flag Warnings for the Sacramento Valley, Inland Valleys, and Bay Area ridgetops.
Here in the Inland Valley our nights are cooling rapidly, but the forecast is for warming through the weekend. There is some buzz about "pattern change" on the horizon, but the jury's still out on that one. It's time for the local TV weathermen to get antsy...they've gotta be bored to death with the same ol', same ol' summer forecast regime...
Back to the Drawing Board:
My San Francisco Giants will fight to get back on track this evening in St Louis. Tim Lincecum makes the start, and looks like 2010's "I've Got This" Lincecum in the post season.
Also going backwards back on San Francisco Bay, TeamOracleUSA pitch-polled their new AC72 catamaran America's Cup racing catamaran. They dug both hulls while bearing away in 25 knot winds into the biggest ebbtide currents of the season. The fast current swept the overturned cat out under the Golden Gate Bridge and four and a half miles out to sea!
Fortunately all hands are accounted for and no major injuries to the crew were reported. It took most of the night to tow the cat back to TeamOralceUSA's Pier 80 base.
I'm no expert...but it looks like a total loss to my eyes...News reports place the value variously at $8-$10 million...the wing sail is a total loss, and the teams next AC72 won't splash until early next year. Ouch!
No forecast necessary here...this is a big setback for the Home Team
I'm guessing we'll have another slow start to Ski Season...call it a hunch.
Wednesday we had widespread Red Flag Warnings for the Sacramento Valley, Inland Valleys, and Bay Area ridgetops.
Here in the Inland Valley our nights are cooling rapidly, but the forecast is for warming through the weekend. There is some buzz about "pattern change" on the horizon, but the jury's still out on that one. It's time for the local TV weathermen to get antsy...they've gotta be bored to death with the same ol', same ol' summer forecast regime...
Back to the Drawing Board:
My San Francisco Giants will fight to get back on track this evening in St Louis. Tim Lincecum makes the start, and looks like 2010's "I've Got This" Lincecum in the post season.
Also going backwards back on San Francisco Bay, TeamOracleUSA pitch-polled their new AC72 catamaran America's Cup racing catamaran. They dug both hulls while bearing away in 25 knot winds into the biggest ebbtide currents of the season. The fast current swept the overturned cat out under the Golden Gate Bridge and four and a half miles out to sea!
Fortunately all hands are accounted for and no major injuries to the crew were reported. It took most of the night to tow the cat back to TeamOralceUSA's Pier 80 base.
 |
| Upside down at Pier 80 |
No forecast necessary here...this is a big setback for the Home Team
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Waiting
I'm late...15 hours late...
My Giants played Game 3 of the National League Championship Series at Busch Stadium in St Louis this afternoon.
I tuned in the radio at noon for the Giant's pre-game show on KNBR. The first pitch was at 1:07PM PDT (3:07 CDT in STL)
In the 7th inning, the forecast rains came and a Severe Thunderstorm Watch was issued by the local NWS Office...
What followed was a 3 hour and 28 minute Rain Delay...and some hilarious Time-Sucking via Twitter...@MLBJesus was comedy gold as he tweeted:
"Let all Fans confess for my Rain shall wash away thy sins."
Hours of LOL-ing ensued...alas, SF Giants' fan's prayers went unanswered and the Giants lost 3-1
While I was enjoying hours of puerile hijinx, @TahoeWeather tweeted his latest Weather Blog. Monday he posted Sitting In Neutral.... where he said there could be some high altitude snowfall in the Tahoe Basin next week depending on how deeply the trough digs.
Today he's updated Monday's theory: High Elevation Snow Event On the Way? Still too early to tell what might transpire Tuesday.
Looking deeper, I checked out September 20th's 90 Climate Outlook from the Climate Prediction Center. We are currently ENSO Neutral, that is neither El Niño or La Niña. Their October Outlook publishes Thursday 10/18.
I'm thinking it's gonna be another tough year on the forecasters...
It's mid-October and I took a gander at the Europe/Asia Snow Cover Page, and there's not much to see...you may remember when I wrote about discovering these data sets and how they might be a new prediction tool for North American seasonal snowfall based on October snow cover over Northern Europe and West Asia.
Not much to see there. My Citizens Of The World post from December 1, 2011 shows the Europe/Asia Snow Cover from Nov 30, 2010 preceding our last big Winter...yes, these images are six weeks deeper into Fall, but I'm not seeing much on the horizon...most metrics are on the down low now...time will tell...
My Giants played Game 3 of the National League Championship Series at Busch Stadium in St Louis this afternoon.
I tuned in the radio at noon for the Giant's pre-game show on KNBR. The first pitch was at 1:07PM PDT (3:07 CDT in STL)
In the 7th inning, the forecast rains came and a Severe Thunderstorm Watch was issued by the local NWS Office...
What followed was a 3 hour and 28 minute Rain Delay...and some hilarious Time-Sucking via Twitter...@MLBJesus was comedy gold as he tweeted:
"Let all Fans confess for my Rain shall wash away thy sins."
Hours of LOL-ing ensued...alas, SF Giants' fan's prayers went unanswered and the Giants lost 3-1
While I was enjoying hours of puerile hijinx, @TahoeWeather tweeted his latest Weather Blog. Monday he posted Sitting In Neutral.... where he said there could be some high altitude snowfall in the Tahoe Basin next week depending on how deeply the trough digs.
Today he's updated Monday's theory: High Elevation Snow Event On the Way? Still too early to tell what might transpire Tuesday.
Looking deeper, I checked out September 20th's 90 Climate Outlook from the Climate Prediction Center. We are currently ENSO Neutral, that is neither El Niño or La Niña. Their October Outlook publishes Thursday 10/18.
I'm thinking it's gonna be another tough year on the forecasters...
It's mid-October and I took a gander at the Europe/Asia Snow Cover Page, and there's not much to see...you may remember when I wrote about discovering these data sets and how they might be a new prediction tool for North American seasonal snowfall based on October snow cover over Northern Europe and West Asia.
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Yin and Yang
Night and Day
Beauty and Sadness
Give and Take
Many synonyms for balance or conflict. Depending on which side you're on, last night's NLDS Game 5 was really something. Though I'm just a San Francisco Giants fan, I couldn't pull myself away from the last hour of the St Louis Cardinals at the Washington Nationals long enough to make a quick dinner.
The score was Washington 7-St Louis 5 at the top of the ninth. Nationals' reliever Drew Storen came in to close the game for the win. The first batter he faced, Carlos Beltran quickly hit a double. Storen retired the next two batters, bam, bam.
Five times in the 9th Storen and the Nationals were one strike from winning a berth in the National League Championship Series. He walked catcher Yadier Molina (yes, ex-Giant catcher Bengie Molina's brother)
Storen walked the next batter, third baseman David Freese...bases loaded, two outs.
The next batter, second baseman Daniel Descalso hits the first pitch sharply to shortstop scoring Beltran and Adron Chambers pinch running for Molina. Game tied 7-7 still 2 outs!
Once again Storen takes the batter Pete Kozma to 2 strikes. This is familiar territory to Giants' fans...we named it "Torture" in 2012.
On the fifth pitch, Kozma singles in Freese and Descalso. Cards 9-7
What a roller coaster ride in Nationals Park. Extreme highs to extreme lows in the same inning. I still feel it twelve hours later...and I'm not a fan of either team.
As a result, my Giants have the home field advantage. The last two World Series Champions will battle for the National League Championship and a World Series berth beginning Sunday at AT&T Park.
One Pitcher's Park...AT&T Park, One Hitter's Park...Busch Stadium. I think I see torture on the horizon.
Beauty and Sadness
Give and Take
Many synonyms for balance or conflict. Depending on which side you're on, last night's NLDS Game 5 was really something. Though I'm just a San Francisco Giants fan, I couldn't pull myself away from the last hour of the St Louis Cardinals at the Washington Nationals long enough to make a quick dinner.
The score was Washington 7-St Louis 5 at the top of the ninth. Nationals' reliever Drew Storen came in to close the game for the win. The first batter he faced, Carlos Beltran quickly hit a double. Storen retired the next two batters, bam, bam.
Five times in the 9th Storen and the Nationals were one strike from winning a berth in the National League Championship Series. He walked catcher Yadier Molina (yes, ex-Giant catcher Bengie Molina's brother)
Storen walked the next batter, third baseman David Freese...bases loaded, two outs.
The next batter, second baseman Daniel Descalso hits the first pitch sharply to shortstop scoring Beltran and Adron Chambers pinch running for Molina. Game tied 7-7 still 2 outs!
Once again Storen takes the batter Pete Kozma to 2 strikes. This is familiar territory to Giants' fans...we named it "Torture" in 2012.
On the fifth pitch, Kozma singles in Freese and Descalso. Cards 9-7
What a roller coaster ride in Nationals Park. Extreme highs to extreme lows in the same inning. I still feel it twelve hours later...and I'm not a fan of either team.
As a result, my Giants have the home field advantage. The last two World Series Champions will battle for the National League Championship and a World Series berth beginning Sunday at AT&T Park.
One Pitcher's Park...AT&T Park, One Hitter's Park...Busch Stadium. I think I see torture on the horizon.
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