http://ignoregon.com/rss/hillsboro Aggregated Blog Posts From Hillsboro Tue, 7 Feb 2012 07:47:55 +0000 en http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/02/vindaloo-by-fat-les.html http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/02/vindaloo-by-fat-les.html Tue, 7 Feb 2012 07:00:00 +0000 This isn't much of a tune, it's more of a rabble rouser, which it does very well. It was written for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, which is like the Super Bowl of soccer.  Vindaloo is some kind of curry dish. Maybe it means something to Brits, I have no idea what it is. The video is a parody of Bittersweet Symphony by The Verve, which is pretty good tune itself. http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OregonLegalResearch/~3/HytsEgAJD8E/happy-birthday-charles-dickens-and.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OregonLegalResearch/~3/HytsEgAJD8E/happy-birthday-charles-dickens-and.html Tue, 7 Feb 2012 03:05:00 +0000 Yes, Charles Dickens was very hard on lawyers, but he also had at least one lawyer hero (albeit a rather reluctant one, but definitely endearing rather than greedy or diabolical) and maybe more than one. My favorite Dickens novel, “Our Mutual Friend,” has a nice-guy lawyer hero - 2 in fact - and as fabulous an array of characters as you'll find in any Dickens' writing. Visit: Charles Dickens Museum or Wikipedia Charles Dickens Or, use “The Google” to search for Charles Dickens or visit your local library or bookstore for some time traveling in Dickens' England. Happy Birthday Mr. Dickens (2/7/1812)! http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/02/mexico-usa-border.html http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/02/mexico-usa-border.html Tue, 7 Feb 2012 00:52:00 +0000 Tijuana is on the right, San Diego on the left. Via Burro Hall. http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/02/once-in-lifetime-by-talking-heads.html http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/02/once-in-lifetime-by-talking-heads.html Mon, 6 Feb 2012 07:00:00 +0000 David does a good job of playing the guy who has no idea what has happened to him. http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/02/i-want-candy-by-bow-wow-wow.html http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/02/i-want-candy-by-bow-wow-wow.html Sun, 5 Feb 2012 07:00:00 +0000 1982, and what's with those haircuts? Kids those days, I tell you what. http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/02/i-am-man-of-constant-sorrow-by-soggy.html http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/02/i-am-man-of-constant-sorrow-by-soggy.html Sat, 4 Feb 2012 07:00:00 +0000 O Brother Where Art Thou? is a great movie, and this is a great tune.. I found a couple of good versions on YouTube. This one suffers from being interrupted by a racist loudmouth. However, it more than makes up for it with the scene of said loudmouth being run out of town on a rail. I really liked the part where the men come clomping into the hall on the double carrying the rail. Just what the heck is this frieght train charging down the aisle? This other one plays the song straight through. It has a couple of bonus bits: George (Clooney) saying Cottonmillia*, and then stumbling over the word accompanist, and the old blind guy humming / squealing to himself while the boys are singing. IMDB (Internet Movie Data Base) page  *well, that's what it sounded like to me. http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/02/where-does-tungsten-come-from-daddy.html http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/02/where-does-tungsten-come-from-daddy.html Fri, 3 Feb 2012 18:55:00 +0000 This video is a little long (almost ten minutes) and, if you aren't in the tungsten business, rather boring, until you find out that the people who made this video just sold this mine for thirty times what they paid for it three years ago. That's kind of impressive. Of course, there are plenty of old, tapped out mines that aren't worth a plug nickel, and it you paid $1 for it and then sold it for $30, well, $30 is thirty times what you paid for it. Somehow I don't think that is the case here.      Could it be that they were able to model the ore deposits in this mine, and then use their computer models to convince someone of it's worth? Could be that no one knew until they came in and performed a careful, analytical assessment.       From a story on the Metal-Pages blog. http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/02/music-videos.html http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/02/music-videos.html Fri, 3 Feb 2012 12:49:00 +0000 Last month I came across a treasure trove of music videos on YouTube, a bunch of songs I had never heard before that I really liked. This along with my resolve to try and make something out of Pergelator, led me to posting one every day. Even if I don't have anything to say, anybody who stops by will at least see that I'm still alive and still posting. But I don't know if I will be able to keep this up, at least not without falling into the classic rock rathole. I swear, poking around on YouTube looking for something I enjoy is a first order time sink. I must have screened a thousand videos for every one I've posted. I was sure there was an unending supply of great tunes out there, now I'm not so sure. There is definitely an unending supply of dreck*. Of the 42 videos I have posted so far this year 29 were music. Of those 29 music videos: 12 were of the band playing 8 were full on theatrical productions 5 were montages of video clips 3 were videos that used the tune as the soundtrack 1 just had a single still image It's great when I find a video that is like a miniature movie and has a song that I like. There are a few of them out there, fewer than there are good movies. I wonder if they ever make any money off of these. Most of the songs were old. Some were more recent. The original dates of the tunes breaks down like this: 3 are from before 1970 3 are from the 1970's 4 are from the 1980's 1 is from the 1990's 7 are from 2000 through 2009 (the naughts?) 11 are more recent Well, eleven newish ones, that's better than I expected. In any case, maybe by posting these tunes I can help spread a little joy. The world can certainly use more joy. If you have a tune you like, send me the link, or leave a comment. Spreadsheet with all the gory details here. YouTube playlist for January tunes here. * Yes, I know, there is no accounting for taste. One man's dreck is another man's ambrosia, and vice-versa. Me, I don't like the new style pop and rap tunes, and I especially don't like those with the EXTREMELY LOUD POUNDING BASS. Maybe it's designed to drive old people away, kind of the inverse of the mosquito buzz used in Britain to drive away kids from stores patronized by proper folks. Whether or not that's true, it certainly has that effect on me. http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/02/walk-like-egyptian-by-bangles.html http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/02/walk-like-egyptian-by-bangles.html Fri, 3 Feb 2012 07:00:00 +0000 I think I have posted this one before. Those hip moves out to be illegal. http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/02/electricity.html http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/02/electricity.html Thu, 2 Feb 2012 23:37:00 +0000 The fluorescent light in the closet failed last week. I replaced the bulbs with some spares I had, but it didn't help. Ballast is probably shot, so I go to the store and pick up a new one. The ballast is like $23, while a new fixture is only $30. Hardly seems worth it to futz with the ballast, just buy a new fixture and save myself a lot of grief. However. The new fixture requires the new, smaller T-8 bulbs, which will probably add $10 to this project. But if I do that, how am I ever going to use up these extra T-12 bulbs? Then there is the problem of getting rid of the old fixture. Space in the trash can is at a premium. Sure, the sheet steel frame can be recycled, but that big plastic lens will have to go in the trash. So there are certain advantages to fixing the old one. Back home I open up the fixture and see the wires. I take a look at the new fixture and it has all the wires in the world. I was thinking I was going to have to cut, strip and splice the old wires to the new wires, but now I realize that if I can just unclip the old wires from the sockets, I will be able to just plug the new wires in and save myself a lot of grief. Except. The sockets are designed for one-time use only. There is no slot to release the wires. Bah, humbug. Go to bed. New day, sunny day, I'll try it again. I take the fixture down and pop the sockets loose from the frame. I find that I can pull out the staple in the back that is holding the insulating panel on. When I do that, the whole thing falls apart and wires fall out. Put the clips back in, put the cover back on and secure it with the staple, which actually holds. That surprised me. Put the whole thing back together along with the new ballast, and presto! We have light! The thing that got my attention was the contacts in the sockets. They are just little strips of brass, maybe a quarter of an inch wide and about as thick as a sheet of paper. When a wire is inserted in the socket, the end of the strip scrapes along the surface of the wire, and since it is at an angle, it locks it in place. The contact area between the strip and the wire is tiny, certainly no more than a few thousandths of an inch in either direction. Meanwhile the wires are like 60 thousandths of an inch. The wire has to be that thick in order to carry the load without overheating. But here we have a choke point that should provide considerable resistance to the current. It should overheat, melt the plastic, short out, start a fire and burn the house down. But it doesn't. This is standard wiring practice all over the house, all over all houses. Something funny going on here. The only thing I can think of is that since the resistance of a wire is dependent on the material (and its' inherent resistivity), its' length and width, then these connections don't overheat and fail because they are very short, on the order of infinitesimal. Still, there is a limit to how much current you can push through that tiny little contact patch before it does overheat. It would be interesting to experiment with conductor size and contact point shape to see how much current they could carry. For instance, would two wires with carefully squared off ends and one tiny contact point between them be able to carry more current than a wire whose ends were tapered like a sharpened pencil? http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/02/order-glory.html http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/02/order-glory.html Thu, 2 Feb 2012 22:44:00 +0000 I read something earlier this week about a speech someone gave to Congress. I don't think it was the state of the union. It may have been the Republican response to the President's speech. No matter. In any case, the speech started out talking about starting a war with Iran, which was greeted with thunderous applause. The speaker talked about something else, which was greeted with enthusiastic applause, and then another topic with was met with polite applause, and lastly he talked about some domestic issue, which was greeted with deafening silence. I think the problem we have here is people want a purpose, and not some make-everybody-feel-better and we will-all-get-along purpose, some kind of glorious purpose, full of smoke and thunder. War suits that desire to a T. War is irrational, war with Iran makes no sense, but by gawd, we can get stirred up about it! Smash those rag-heads! They want a fight, we'll give 'em a fight by gum! Providing medical care for the poor just doesn't generate that kind enthusiasm. I can think of three projects that might be able to generate some enthusiasm, maybe enough to distract the hot-heads from starting another war. Putting the space program in gear with the aim of exploring the asteroid belt for rare-on-earth metallic ores. Step one is establish a regular rocket launch schedule. Once a week maybe, loaded or not, off it goes. Start rebuilding our cities to eliminate traffic congestion. This would be massive and would require a design that wouldn't get clogged, which could be a bit of a trick. Start building nuclear power plants. This one has a lot of politics to overcome, but if done right could be a real boon. http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OregonLegalResearch/~3/2U8_UKjiyzI/oregon-access-to-justice-and-mandated.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OregonLegalResearch/~3/2U8_UKjiyzI/oregon-access-to-justice-and-mandated.html Thu, 2 Feb 2012 16:58:00 +0000 You can find a list of reports submitted to the Oregon State Legislature at an Oregon State Library website: Reports to the Oregon State Legislature The list includes these OJD reports, which you can find from the January 5, 2012, blog post: Oregon Judicial Department Outcomes-Based Strategies: Excerpt: “GOAL 1: PROTECT PUBLIC ACCESS TO JUSTICE Oregon’s courts are committed to providing equal access, ensuring fairness, and enforcing the rule of law. Everyone has a right to accessible justice. Our courts provide all people with the help and information that they need to resolve their disputes quickly and fairly, and at a reasonable cost. We help to secure legal representation for those who need it and to assist those who represent themselves. Oregon courts strive to be safe, easy to use, free from barriers, and culturally responsive. County courthouses will continue to stand as symbols of assurance that justice will remain available to everyone throughout the state. Our courts will use state-of-the-art technology to ensure that the services that we provide meet people’s diverse needs….” [Link to and read full report.] http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OregonLegalResearch/~3/SfYvpCH52Uk/how-to-address-former-speaker-of-house.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OregonLegalResearch/~3/SfYvpCH52Uk/how-to-address-former-speaker-of-house.html Thu, 2 Feb 2012 16:52:00 +0000 A former Speaker of the House is addressed, and referred to as, Mr. x, not Speaker x.  The current President of the United States is addressed, and referred to as, President, not Mr. x. Do not assume other public officials, candidates for public office, radio or TV news hosts, newspaper reporters, or others know correct forms of address.  Look it up yourself.  It’s fun! You will find authority for these pronouncements in any number of respected forms of address manuals, e.g. to name only two: 1) Protocol School of Washington website, How to Address Former Officials 2) My favorite print source: "Protocol: The Complete Handbook of Diplomatic, Official and Social Usage," Written by Mary Jane McCaffree, Pauline Innis and Richard M. Sand, Esquire http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OregonLegalResearch/~3/MR1nPAu94Mk/honda-loses-california-small-court-case.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OregonLegalResearch/~3/MR1nPAu94Mk/honda-loses-california-small-court-case.html Thu, 2 Feb 2012 12:14:00 +0000 "Honda loses Civic hybrid Small Claims Court lawsuit," by Jerry Hirsch, LA Times, Feb. 1, 2012 Link to the plaintiff’s website and twitter account and my previous posts. http://jennabayley-burke.blogspot.com/2012/02/month-of-love.html http://jennabayley-burke.blogspot.com/2012/02/month-of-love.html Thu, 2 Feb 2012 10:28:00 +0000 I think it's no accident we celebrate love with Valentine's Day in the winter. There is something about cold weather that makes you want to cuddle up. I'm trying to figure out how to spread my love obessession around my house.For my boys, Valentine's Day means candy. When they select their class Valentines, they always go for the one with the best treat. This year? Fun Dips, a stick of candy you lick and dip into a pixie stick powder. Gag!For my husband, Valentine's Day means a Hallmark holiday he'd rather not buy into. I once told him he should do an un-Valentine's Day where he did lovely stuff for me because he loved me. I've been waiting for years.For my girl, Valentine's Day means a party dress. A red one. This I can work with! I even found hair pretties with hearts on them for her piggy tails.For me, I'd love to have a romance novel Valentine's Day just once. Okay, that's not true. I'd like to have it once a month for the rest of my life! A beautiful dress, fab heels, flowers, a restaurant without a children's menu, champagne, truffles...maybe even dancing. Or at least spinning around together and an over-the-top dip kiss. And a he-went-to-Jared's moment. Le sigh. This year, I'll be with my GI doc dealing with the tempermental colon. Romantic. NOT! http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/02/french-song-by-joan-jett-blackhearts.html http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/02/french-song-by-joan-jett-blackhearts.html Thu, 2 Feb 2012 07:00:00 +0000 I really like Joan Jett even though she is out on the fringe, orientation wise. She's a doll*, she rocks, her band has a very cool name, and this video is not a bad piece of theater.  *At least she was a doll when this song came out in 1983. Geez, that's almost 30 years ago. We were all supposed to die before we got old, and old was anyone over 30. http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OregonLegalResearch/~3/I5imDgwuwro/justice-bedsworth-homeland-security-and.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OregonLegalResearch/~3/I5imDgwuwro/justice-bedsworth-homeland-security-and.html Wed, 1 Feb 2012 17:17:00 +0000 If U.S. Supreme Court Justices can rise above their Green Bag bobblehead replicas, and state court judges survive becoming piñatas, then surely the Department of Homeland Security can survive Justice Bedsworth’s forked tongue (and the Peter Principle)? "Weaponized Snow Cones," by Justice William W. Bedsworth, A Criminal Waste of Space, February 2012: "I am not cut out to be an administrator. I have neither talent for, nor interest in, things administrative. This admission has caused much weeping and gnashing of teeth in the Governor’s Office, since it means they’ll have to choose someone else for the Presiding Judge gig at our court �" and Tommy Lasorda has already turned them down..... .... The job just requires skills I don’t have. Exhibit A: I have a life-sized papier mâché piñata in my chambers. (There was a guy at the swap meet who would make you a piñata of anything for $50; Kelly couldn’t resist.) Perfect replica, right down to the beard, cowboy boots, silver-framed glasses, and six-pack abs. I thought I had the perfect idea: We get piñatas made of all the judges on our court. Then, after oral arguments, we hang ‘em up outside the courtroom and charge the attorneys $100 to whack ‘em with a stick. I figured we’d be the only court in the system that would make money...." [Link to full column.] Just in case you’ve made it this far: Lowering the Bar website http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OregonLegalResearch/~3/sRsAyNv1E6Q/oregon-revised-statutes-ors-2011-now.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OregonLegalResearch/~3/sRsAyNv1E6Q/oregon-revised-statutes-ors-2011-now.html Wed, 1 Feb 2012 14:34:00 +0000 The 2011 Oregon Revised Statutes (ORS) are now online - yay! You can find the 2011 ORS online at the Legislature’s website. http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/02/planet-claire-by-b-52s.html http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/02/planet-claire-by-b-52s.html Wed, 1 Feb 2012 07:00:00 +0000 I noticed a couple of videos using this song. This one is notable for the sustained notes produced by the redheaded Kate Pierson. They are just a little spooky. I don't think I've heard anyone produce similar sounds, except maybe by using a synthesizer. The lead singer's manner used to be kind of wacko, but I don't think it's aged well. He seems just plain gruff now. The tune is from 1979, this video was recorded in 2009. The other video is only available on YouTube. The video for that one is an amazing montage of old science fiction scenes. But it doesn't have the ethereal notes Kate is producing for this one. Thanks to Dustbury. The B-52s are one weird band. Their sound is almost discordant, and what's with the name of the band? Why would you choose the plane famous for laying waste to Vietnam for the name of your band? Yes, I know, Wikipedia says the name of the band comes from a hairstyle, but where does the name of the hairstyle come from? Tell me that, Bucky. http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/01/snow-capped-versus-snow-covered.html http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/01/snow-capped-versus-snow-covered.html Tue, 31 Jan 2012 19:20:00 +0000 We've had a bit of rain, enough to double the snow pack on Mt. Hood. Caught sight of it today and realized that it was all white. Usually you can see rocky sections, or you can't see it all, so this is a little unusual. http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OregonLegalResearch/~3/gYtdXpsXaZ0/caveat-scriptor-online-publishing.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OregonLegalResearch/~3/gYtdXpsXaZ0/caveat-scriptor-online-publishing.html Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:46:00 +0000 I heard this very interesting story on OBP radio last week.  You can read and hear it too: "On Amazon, An Uneasy Mix Of Plagiarism And Erotica," NPR, Jan. 29, 2012 And, follow the links to source articles, such as this one, among others: "Unmasking A Digital Pirate On Amazon," by Adam Penenberg, Jan 25, 2012 http://jennabayley-burke.blogspot.com/2012/01/twitter-me-this.html http://jennabayley-burke.blogspot.com/2012/01/twitter-me-this.html Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:50:00 +0000 It's all over fabulous Tweeps...the For Kicks Business Travel Tips Twitter Contest that is. Did you collect all 25 posts? (If not, you can cheat...just go through my Tweet stream to get them.)Up for grabs is a $25 e-giftcard. That's enough for my entire ebook collection, or a couple of the paperbacks...like PRIVATE SCANDAL, which will be released next week.Follow me on Twitter @jennabb to collect the tips (or just collect them from the Twitter feed on the sidebar of this blog if you don't tweet).Once you have them collected in the body of the email, send it to my gmail, jbayleyburke. I'll collect names until Friday, 2/3, then post the winner on saturday morning. Good luck all!Ex::1/6 ::  Don't panic about a toothbrush. You can buy anything you forget. http://amzn.to/xK9Az2 1/7 ::  Comfortable shoes are key. Don't spend the day 3 inches taller - think kitten heels. http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OregonLegalResearch/~3/oWv0cQS7kX8/2012-oregon-legislative-assembly.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OregonLegalResearch/~3/oWv0cQS7kX8/2012-oregon-legislative-assembly.html Tue, 31 Jan 2012 12:17:00 +0000 "The State of Oregon has a Citizen Legislature consisting of the Senate, whose 30 members are elected to serve four-year terms, and the House of Representatives, which has 60 members elected for two-year terms. The Legislature convenes annually in February at the State Capitol in Salem, but sessions may not exceed 160 days in odd-numbered years and 35 days in even-numbered years. Five-day extensions are allowed by a two-thirds vote in each house...." [Link to the Oregon Legislature's website.] http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/01/white-rabbit-by-jefferson-airplane.html http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/01/white-rabbit-by-jefferson-airplane.html Tue, 31 Jan 2012 07:00:00 +0000 What kind of name is Grace Slick? I dunno, but she shore sings purty. From 1967. http://jennabayley-burke.blogspot.com/2012/01/samhain-publishing-authors-experience.html http://jennabayley-burke.blogspot.com/2012/01/samhain-publishing-authors-experience.html Mon, 30 Jan 2012 11:47:00 +0000 One of these days, I want to be on this list...well, all of these lists actually :)Samhain Publishing Authors Experience Best-Selling Success in Increasing Numbers http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/01/nobody-loves-me-but-my-mother-by-bb.html http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/01/nobody-loves-me-but-my-mother-by-bb.html Mon, 30 Jan 2012 07:00:00 +0000 What a sad, sad song. No wonder they call it the blues. http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/01/word-for-day.html http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/01/word-for-day.html Sun, 29 Jan 2012 16:37:00 +0000 Perspectival, as in "Technologies of surveillance and control all aim to achieve a perspectival advantage over some adversary, but the vast quantities of data produced by these devices threaten to overload the system, thus defeating the original  goal." - Roger D. Hodge in Borderworld in this month's Popular Science. You're kidding, right? Perspectival isn't a real word, is it? Um, well, maybe so, maybe no. Methinks Mr. Hodge has spent too much time in the halls of American bureaucracy. But that's just a nit. The story is more than a little scary. The American-Mexican border situation is a fiasco. I think we have gotten to this state because of our success. If we weren't so successful, people wouldn't have the time or energy to spend on being insane (see Hilly Holbrook in The Help). OK, they would, but they wouldn't find as many people who have nothing better to do than listen to them, which is how we got our current drug laws. If we weren't so successful, we wouldn't have so much weight to throw around, screwing around with how other countries run themselves. I am convinced that the history of pervasive corruption in Mexico is entirely due to American businesses, in cahoots with the American government, meddling in Mexican affairs. OK, the American public is guilty as well, but only because of  passive neglect, not active involvement. http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/01/bumper-sticker-for-day.html http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/01/bumper-sticker-for-day.html Sun, 29 Jan 2012 16:05:00 +0000 http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/01/pot-metal.html http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/01/pot-metal.html Sun, 29 Jan 2012 15:44:00 +0000 This was drawer pull from one of our dressers. One end had broken off and I had saved it so that I would have something to show the guys at the furniture store when I went to get a replacement. I picked it up today, it slipped out of my hand and fell three or four feet to the floor, and this was the result. No wonder "pot metal", aka die cast zinc, has such a bad reputation. http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/01/barbara-ann-surf-ninja.html http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/01/barbara-ann-surf-ninja.html Sun, 29 Jan 2012 14:57:00 +0000 Baba Ram = Barbara Ann? Obviously an honest mistake. Daring daughter sent me the link along with this note: "only one of the best parts of one of the best movies of my childhood (along with The Goonies and Davy Crockett)". Darling daughter likes Davy Crockett?!? Who knew? http://jennabayley-burke.blogspot.com/2012/01/for-kicks-6-sentence-sunday.html http://jennabayley-burke.blogspot.com/2012/01/for-kicks-6-sentence-sunday.html Sun, 29 Jan 2012 11:02:00 +0000 “It is a date, Breeze.” He backed her up to her side of the car, stepping closer so she couldn’t duck away.“No, it’s not,” she said, a hint of laughter danced in her eyes.“Then why am I doing this?” He ran his finger along her jawbone and her breath hitched as he tipped her chin up. Her eyes darkened to a cobalt blue as he neared, long lashes fluttering closed as he lowered his mouth over hers.I've seen the #sixsunday hashtag all over Twitter, so decided to check it out. It's easy peasy - just post six sentences from your latest release, backlist, coming soon, WIP, whatevs. Not sure how to get listed on their website, but maybe they post about that during the week. http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/01/glenn-builds-forge.html http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/01/glenn-builds-forge.html Sun, 29 Jan 2012 10:58:00 +0000 Glenn has plans for making some fancy metal bits that requires heating them to high temperatures and then smashing them with a hammer. Marc gave him a hand with constructing the fuel-air mixing device (the plumbing sticking out of the top of the chamber). http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/01/one-by-aimee-mann.html http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/01/one-by-aimee-mann.html Sun, 29 Jan 2012 07:00:00 +0000 Funny how you can write a hit song about nothing at all. Aimee does a nice job of casting it in the light of someone who has gone off the rails just a bit. http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/01/help.html http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/01/help.html Sun, 29 Jan 2012 03:00:00 +0000 Cecila Foote and Minnie Jackson, both heroes. The could just as easily have called this movie America the Insane, but then it's about people, and it's set in America, so I guess that would be redundant. I have not been sleeping well lately which I suspect makes my emotions a little more volatile than usual. This movie ran me through the ringer. It starts off being tedious and boring. We've got a bunch of middle class housewives doing what middle class housewives did in the sixties: tedious and boring stuff. The first ten minutes or so were so bad I almost bailed. But then Skeeter shows up, and things start to get a little more interesting. In case you haven't heard about this film, it's about the black women who work as maids for these white housewives in Jackson Mississippi. The Hilly Holbrook character is a prime example of why some people should have jobs that keep them busy. If they aren't kept busy, they find ways to stir up shit, and boy oh boy, does she ever. Her mission seems to be running the Jackson social empire and screwing over people purely for amusements sake. She is evil incarnate. So we've got villains, heroes, victims, comic relief, compassion and courage. No wonder I'm exhausted. And don't forget Celia in the red dress. That alone was worth the price of admission. Movie page.(Music starts playing automatically) IMDB page. http://jennabayley-burke.blogspot.com/2012/01/more-for-kicks-reviews.html http://jennabayley-burke.blogspot.com/2012/01/more-for-kicks-reviews.html Sat, 28 Jan 2012 21:38:00 +0000 "Entertaining story filled with corporate intrigue, sensual temptations, and a slow seduction that will make your heart flutter." Sensual Reads"[Logan] pursued Breeze like "a Black Friday shopper" and it definitely added to the humor of this story, as didBreeze's attempts to always turn the tables on Logan. Although it had a slow build up in the beginning with was well worth it and I will definitely be recommending For Kicks to all of my friends." -- Guilty Pleasures, 4 stars"It's witty, sweet, and sexy." Mama Knows Books http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/01/offer-for-day.html http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/01/offer-for-day.html Sat, 28 Jan 2012 17:46:00 +0000 Just got an offer in the mail from ING Direct, which appears to be a branch of ING, which is some kind of big bank thing. The deal is they will send me $25 if I open a savings account with them. Well, okay, except I don't have much use for savings accounts because they don't pay very much interest. How little interest is ING paying? 0.85%. That's zero point eight five percent. That means if you give them $10,000 and let it sit there for a year, they will pay you $85. Well, good golly Miss Molly, we could buy a tank of gas for that kind of money! Christ on a crutch, what kind of idiot do they think I am? (OK, there is some evidence that they are correct in their estimation, but still, I'm going to argue about it.) According to the government inflation is running about 3% a year. According to me it's more like 6%. But stick with the government numbers. If inflation is running at 3% and ING is paying 0.85%, then you are losing 2.15% on your money every year. That's like paying ING $215 to hold onto your $10,000. Some people will sign up for this offer. It is better than stuffing your money under your mattress, but not by much. What I don't understand is why someone who has managed to save some money would put their money in a scheme with such dismal prospects. http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/01/game-for-day.html http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/01/game-for-day.html Sat, 28 Jan 2012 13:50:00 +0000 Circle the Cat. Via Scott. http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/01/my-clock-radio-antenna.html http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/01/my-clock-radio-antenna.html Sat, 28 Jan 2012 12:56:00 +0000 Michigan Mike reports: I still use a clock radio. This may not seem odd, but in case the technological world of hip trends has left me in the dust of obsolete behavioral control devices, it seems safer to announce it up front. In fact, I just got another one. This one has nice obvious controls, and the off button is right near the top right corner; cannot miss it. However, what prompts me to write this is not the functionality but the performance. I previously had a new Philips cd clock radio which I really liked, but it hit the floor too many times, as did the replacement Timex brand. This one far surpasses either one, in that it actually picks up radio stations, and not just strong local ones. When I moved here I was very disappointed in the poor radio reception. This one picks up and plays both AM and FM signals throughout the dial with no static or fade-in-and-out like my previous ones did. This is nice. I can listen to the radio better on this one than on even my pricy desktop Boston Acoustic system (although that one requires an external antenna which I haven't got around to, plus it's a lousy clock radio). I plugged it in and crawled into bed to read and listened to BBC America clear as day. I rowed around the dial, heard classic rock and classical, nutso political and religious talk. I thought it was my new location that caused such poor radio reception, or that radio had disappeared from the dial altogether or that due to de-regulation broadcasters were pounding the spectrum with noise in order to destroy each others signals, or something. Turns out it was the instrument, or in fact all three instruments that I had previously tried. The very odd thing about all this is that this new one is a thrift shop radio, a GE 7-4966A, that is so old it actually has a cassette tape player (there's one on ebay), and a "select" button that let's you choose time, alarm1 or alarm2. Yes it is dual alarm. And it has a replaceable backlight bulb. It's nice and clean. So what's going on? Why does this have the best reception. It was a cheap device even back then, surely not more than $35. Surely antenna technology has not reversed course? No rare earth materials are used, I don't think. It's just a piece of copper and some circuitry. Is solid state circuitry really becoming less performance oriented, toward cost savings? Could this be the manufacturers way of weaning us off free broadcast and onto something expensive? I'm telling you, it's suspicious. BTW my audio cassettes are so old some of them have lost magnetism. Pre-recorded ones seem to hold up better.  In case you are wondering, no, Mike does not live on the upper peninsula, a thousand miles from the nearest radio station, and no, he is not stuck in the bottom on some canyon. He lives in large city that is on relatively flat ground. http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/01/parkour-lunatics.html http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/01/parkour-lunatics.html Sat, 28 Jan 2012 07:00:00 +0000 The tune is Big Chief by Professor Longhair. http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2011/12/computing-pi.html http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2011/12/computing-pi.html Sat, 28 Jan 2012 02:30:00 +0000 A while back Stu put up a post that had a newish formula for computing the value of pi. Just for grins, I thought I would see if I could implement the formula in code, that is, write a computer program to compute the value of pi using this formula. I mean, you never know about these things. Sometimes you get formulas that look nice, but when you try and turn them into code you find out there is one piece of psycho-babble in the formula that cannot be implemented in any kind of straight forward manner. Anyway, I tried it and I was successful, and it did indeed compute an accurate value of pi. Bear in mind that accurate is a relative term. It is claimed that this particular formula is unique in that it can compute any digit of pi without having to compute any of the previous digits. I tried to figure out how this was being done. I failed. The formula computes a series of values and each value is added to the previous total. Each successive value makes the total a little bit more precise. Each successive value is several times smaller than the previous one, so if the first value computes the first digit, then the second value will have no effect on the first digit, but it will have an impact on the second digit, and so on. However, each value that is computed is an insane decimal number in it's own right, and so the string of digits to the right of the decimal point goes on indefinitely. So while computing the Nth value of this series will not effect earlier digits, the Nth digit is still going to be the sum of all the Nth digits from all the previously computed values. I eventually figured out what they meant. Typically these formulas include a section that needs to be repeated several times in order to achieve the required accuracy. Most of these formulas require that after you have completed the necessary number of steps and have arrived at some total, you now subject this total to another formula for further manipulation. This newish formula does not require this second step. I took a look at the article on Pi in Wikipedia and it has a whole list of formulas for calculating Pi. And that's when it struck me that although we have these formulas, we have no explanation for how they work. Matter of fact, all we have is someone's word that they do work. And how do you know what the 10,000th digit of Pi is anyway? You can only verify the value empirically (by measuring a physical circle) out to ten or maybe 20 digits. Beyond that we are talking the intellectual equivalent of peacock feathers: very pretty but totally useless. I imagine each one of these formulas was the result of someone's doctoral thesis in mathematics and the proof of each one is probably 400 pages of inscrutable squiggles. Presumably they can all be tested against each other by writing and running a computer program. One of the formulas was developed by an Indian prodigy about 100 years ago. It is able to compute the value of pi to the limits of my machine in three steps. The new formula takes about a dozen steps. So now I'm wondering if I can compute the value of pi straight up from nothing. The standard way to do something like this is to divide a circle into a bunch of triangles, like cutting up a pie, and then add the lengths of the bases of all the triangles. The smaller you make the triangles, the more closely the bases of these triangle will approximate the circle, and the closer you will get to the true value of pi. So I figured out how to calculate the base of ever smaller triangles using the pythagorean formula, and put it in a program, and in a couple dozen steps or so I had a pretty good approximation. Links: C Language source code for the demo program Output from demo program Explanation of geometry/algebra used for tangent computations Explanation of geometry/algebra used for chord computations An irrelevent Stu story about Srinivasa Ramanujan I could find Stu's story about BBP. http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/01/truth-behind-megavideo-takedown.html http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/01/truth-behind-megavideo-takedown.html Fri, 27 Jan 2012 19:10:00 +0000 Megavideo, aka Megaupload, head honcho Kim Dotcom was the bestest player in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. What is not so widely known is the Attorney General's daughter was the number 2 player and she has been trying to unseat Kim baby for eons (years, days, minutes, nanoseconds). AG Holder got tired of the whining and decided use his awesomest powers to put a stop to it. He signed a warrant for Mr. Dotcom's arrest. It's really true. Honest. I heard it at lunch yesterday. None of my friends would make somethng like that up, would they? http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OregonLegalResearch/~3/IYm8z2RSiPk/oregon-first-congressional-district.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OregonLegalResearch/~3/IYm8z2RSiPk/oregon-first-congressional-district.html Fri, 27 Jan 2012 13:27:00 +0000 Visit the Oregon Secretary of State's elections website for general information and links. Check with your county's elections office for drop-off instructions: 1) List of all County Election Officials 2) Washington County Elections http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OregonLegalResearch/~3/eIKZfUXCrp0/jurors-pay-attention-to-judges.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OregonLegalResearch/~3/eIKZfUXCrp0/jurors-pay-attention-to-judges.html Fri, 27 Jan 2012 11:35:00 +0000 From a 1/25/12, Law in the News link, we travel to this story from England: "Jurors: leave the information age�"or go to jail," by Peter Bright: Excerpt: "An English court has sentenced a juror to six months in prison for contempt of court after she performed research on the Internet and forced the abandonment of a criminal trial. Psychology lecturer Theodora Dallas, 34, was a member of the jury in the trial of Barry Medlock, accused of causing grievous bodily harm. She looked up certain information related to the trial on the Internet, came across information concerning Medlock, and told her fellow jurors what she had found. One of them informed the judge, causing the judge to abandon the trial. Medlock was later retried and found guilty...." [Link to full story.] You can read more about juries in England and jury service and selection, which is random in the English Courts (unlike the U.S. Courts), which makes for faster trials, but ... there are opponents to this system. http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OregonLegalResearch/~3/y4R1WzvDs-w/travel-tip-faa-mobile-app-for-travelers.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OregonLegalResearch/~3/y4R1WzvDs-w/travel-tip-faa-mobile-app-for-travelers.html Fri, 27 Jan 2012 11:21:00 +0000 Travelers and Aviation Buffs: FAA Mobile App Infodocket brings us news of the first release of the FAA Mobile app. News, travel advisories, updates, and more. You can also read about the the app at the FAA (Federal Aviation Adminstration) website. http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/01/play-that-funky-music-white-boy.html http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/01/play-that-funky-music-white-boy.html Fri, 27 Jan 2012 07:00:00 +0000 Another blast from the past, 1976 to be specific. The band is Wild Cherry. Rob Parissi, the singer, is still around. He wears a shirt these days. He is originally from Mingo Junction, Ohio, which is on the Eastern border of Ohio, on the Ohio River, just downstream from Steubenville. Steubenville and Cleveland were stand-out Ohio cities. Steubenville was famous for having the absolute worst air pollution in the country. Cleveland was famous for the Cuyahoga river which was so polluted that in 1969 it caught fire and burned down a railroad bridge. 1969 was the year I graduated from Utica high school in Utica, Ohio, which was about 100 miles from both Cleveland and Steubenville. http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/01/heavy-hauler.html http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/01/heavy-hauler.html Fri, 27 Jan 2012 04:36:00 +0000 Followed this guy from Highway 26 down to Evergreen Parkway where I snapped this pic the other day. Probably heading to Intel. Count the wheels. http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/01/3g-vs-4g.html http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/01/3g-vs-4g.html Fri, 27 Jan 2012 04:11:00 +0000 3G refers to third generation cellular telephone data transmission techniques, and 4G refers to, you guessed it fourth generation. A new generation appears about every ten years or so. 4G started appeared a year or two ago. 4G is roughly ten times as fast as 3G. That's nice. Why do I care? I don't even have a cell phone. I don't really, but it might upset the aircraft instrumentation apple cart, at least for private airplanes. I realize that in the grand scheme of things, it is not really a very big apple cart, but it is a bit of a revolution, technology wise.  BBFlight has an app for your tablet that can provide not just navigation aids in the form of maps, but also some basic aircraft instrumentation like compass, altimeter, artificial horizon, and airspeed indicator. I was a bit nonplussed when Marc told me about this today at lunch. How could it possible maintain an artificial horizon? I know smart phones have accelerometers that allow them to tell what angle they are at, but that isn't going to help in an airplane. When making a properly banked turn in an airplane, down is going to be down relative to the aircraft, not the earth. Artificial horizons use gyroscopes as a reference. Gyroscopes on gymbals maintain their orientation regardless of which way "down" appears to be. Seems BBFlight's software is doing inertial navigation. It watches the accelerometer constantly, and can tell when you turn or bank or change speed either horizontally or vertically. It starts on the ground and keeps track of every move you make, and by keeping a running summation of these moves, it can tell where you are and what angle you are at. Commercial aircraft using similar technology can fly from New York to London and know their location to within six feet. Tablets not only have cell phone connections, but they also have GPS, which can tell you where you are, so the program can compare the location it has determined inertially with what the GPS tells it. We can determine speed using our old friend "rate times time equals distance". If you know where you were five minutes (or five seconds) ago, and you know where you are now, it is a simple matter to compute your velocity. Of course, this is land based velocity, not your airspeed, which could be substantially different. You probably will still want to have a real airspeed indicator. GPS can also tell you your altitude. So you can do away with your altimeter, which is probably wrong anyway being as it is based on air pressure, which is always changing. So what's this all got to do with 4G cellphone communications? This same program from BBFlight can also display maps on your tablet. As you fly along, the maps are updated on the fly, so to speak. If you are flying in a circle looking for a place to land, like an airport, a tablet that only has 3G communications can't keep up. You get a map, but you are turning, so it needs to update the map, and by the time it has the update, you have turned even more so what you are seeing is a very jerky video. With 4G the map rotation is perfectly smooth. Rumor has it you can get cell phone coverage all the way from San Francisco to Portland (Oregon). I expect it's good anywhere along the I-5 corridor. 100 miles East it might be a different story. As for the apple cart: this program will run on an iPad or any Android tablet. The aircraft instruments they replace cost thousands of dollars. It will be a while, probably a long while, before this tablet type instrumentation is accepted by the aviation community, and probably even longer before the FAA approves it, but it will happen. http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OregonLegalResearch/~3/VBdzYLhqJjc/oregon-judicial-department-ojd-website.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OregonLegalResearch/~3/VBdzYLhqJjc/oregon-judicial-department-ojd-website.html Thu, 26 Jan 2012 12:18:00 +0000 Check the announcements and updates at the OJD website (and the Media Releases "What's New" site) for changes to this, but as of right now, here’s the announcement: "SYSTEM MAINTENANCE: The OJD website will be down Sunday, the 29th, from 5am-4pm. Due to system maintenance, the OJD website, including OJIN OnLine, OJD Courts ePay, and Appellate eFile, will be unavailable on Sunday, the 29th, from 5am until 4pm. In addition, Appellate eFile will be down for maintenance Friday, the 27th, from 6pm until Monday, the 30th, at 8am." Do something else fun on Sunday! http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/01/three-beats-for-beatbox-flute-by.html http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/01/three-beats-for-beatbox-flute-by.html Thu, 26 Jan 2012 07:00:00 +0000 I don't think I've ever heard anyone get beats out of a flute. It's really pretty cool. http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/01/hdmi-now-with-ethernet.html http://pergelator.blogspot.com/2012/01/hdmi-now-with-ethernet.html Thu, 26 Jan 2012 02:09:00 +0000 I stopped by PCH Cables the other day to pick up a couple of short HDMI cables, and I see this blurb on the label advertising Ethernet. My immediate reaction was that some buzz-word inflamed marketing guy had stuck that on there, and it was just baloney. I mean, why would anyone need Ethernet on an HDMI cable? Well, the future is here and I am wrong again. The HDMI spec does allow for Ethernet over HDMI cables. Don't know whether anyone is making any kind of equipment that uses it, but hey, everything is going to be on the internet soon, so we best be getting ready.