Weekend Activities

* Pipe hike
* Started the garden rehab
* San Elijo Lagoon hike - saw 3 deer between the flood control dike and the freeway, a buck and 2 does
* Easter at Grandma's

Weekend Activities

* "Horton Hears a Who"
* Called into work
* Pompeii exhibit at the San Diego Natural History Museum
* Jaya's piano test, the performance part
* Choctaw meeting

Weekend Activities

* Adventure Guides trip to Dos Picos

Encinitas Library

The new Encinitas Library recently opened after being closed for several years. Here is a panorama photo I took of the old facility shortly after it closed.

Art Theft

If you are thinking of getting into the business of armed robbery, don't bother with liqueur stores and watch shops where the proprietors are most likely better armed than you. Just head to the local private art museum, wave a gun around and walk out with $163 million worth of paintings. Its just that easy.
If I had an art collection worth that much, I would have better security than a few guys that roll over when "threatened with a pistol" and "forced to the ground."

Then & Now: FLOPS

FLOPS (floating point operations per second) are one way of measuring raw computing power.
Techreport has a review of a three-way SLI graphics card system. This system has 1.7 teraflops just in the graphics subsystem, not counting the CPU. This configuration would cost around $2,000 just for the graphics cards. A lot for a PC these days, but peanuts compared to the old days.
According to Wikipedia, in 1961, a single FLOP would cost you over $1,000. As recently as 2000, a $1,000 buys you a gigaflop; a billion-fold increase in cost efficiency.
With Moore's Law alive and well, who can tell what the future will bring.

Weekend Activities

* Very muddy pipe hike
* Encinitas library grand opening
* Cleaned rooms during another rainy weekend

Weekend Activities

* Attempt to keep dog alive after she ate a bunch of chocolate (she made it)
* Hike at Manchester Open Preserve
* Kids at Grandma's
* Clean carpets and other stuff around the house
* Jog along 101 from Java Hut to Chesterfield
* Lunch with wife
* Trail walk beside El Camino Real from Lavante to La Costa

Weekend Activities

* Walked dog at Viewpoint Park and checked out soon-to-be completed Encinitas Library. Went down D Street and strolled in the Seaside Bazaar.
* Kids had a piano recital and both did great.

SAN Tour (part 2)

Interesting things we learned about San Diego International Airport:

• There is a runaway plane catch area at the west end of the runway. It looks like a bunch of gray boxes in a big pit that is designed to stop a plane with little damage to it.


• The airport is home to very successful California least tern nesting sites. The areas have tiny fences around them to keep the chicks from wandering onto the tarmac and taxiways.


• There is a pet relief area between terminals 1 and 2.


• Human waste from airliners is disposed of in a little shack just off the east end of the runway. Trucks pump it out of the planes and then pump it into the sewer system.


• Due to their limited space, SAN is quite anti-general aviation. Since they accept FAA money, they have to allow GA aircraft, but they only have a small area for them. There is only one FBO which is a jet company. I counted only about 10 jets, 1 turboprop and zero piston aircraft.


• The runway can support large jets like the 747 and 777 but they takeoff with a weight penalty due to the hills of Point Loma directly in the takeoff path to the west. This means they can't carry a full fuel load and wouldn't be able to make it to Asia non-stop, thus they are not cost-effective for the airliners. They also don't see the A380 coming to SAN for similar reasons. They hope that the 787, with its greater fuel efficiency, would be able to make it non-stop even with the weight penalty.


• Another reason you don't see a lot of 747's is that they must taxi on the north side of the runway due to the narrow south taxiway. This means they have to cross the runway which is not good. Plans are in the works to enlarge the south taxiway by removing some of the old Teledyne-Ryan buildings in the southeast corner of the property.

SAN Tour

The kids and I took a tour San Diego International Airport. It was very interesting and informative. We starting in the commuter terminal and took a bus to terminal 2. When then walked though terminals 2 and 1 learning the history of them as well as the planned expansion. Terminal is interesting in that it was designed from the start to be expandable to two levels both inside and outside. We then took the bus around the entire runway. We even stopped near the tower to watch some takeoffs and landings. I highly recommend it to those interested in aviation.

Looking south from the north side of the tarmac. Commuter terminal on the right, UPS cargo plane on the left.

Southwest 737 landing; shot taken from near the tower

Batesville, IN

For some reason, I came across the website for Batesville, IN. Check it out here but please turn down your speakers or you will get a taste of the rave action that Batesville is famous for.

Then & Now: Magnetic Storage

Then

Here is how you used to have to move 5MB of storage:



Courtesy of Snopes

Now

Compare that with today's 8GB thumb drive:


Courtesy of Newegg

Israeli Air Strike on Syria Updated Yet Again

This story just doesn't die. It seems that almost everything is being linked to the mysterious air strike.
In a Defense Update article on the Russian navy in the Med, the author speculates that one of the reasons the Russian aircraft carrier is making a port call in Syria is to investigate the Israeli's EW usage during the operation. The Russian's are allegedly boosting their presence to increase their intelligence gathering in the region. Makes sense, seeing as the Russian navy has been in such a funk since the breakup of the Soviet Union. Although I doubt the Sixth Fleet is losing much sleep over a single small carrier that has no operational experience.

Amiga

I was never an Amiga user but an fascinated by its tale. It is a classic story of a superior technology that gets ruined by bad marketing and incompetent executives.

Rain

Why does it only rain on the weekends nowadays?

Clearance Jobs Spam

Read this spam I got from someone purporting to be using clearancejobs.com to find employees. Keep in mind that clearancejobs.com is for folks with US security clearances.

Good day,

Let me introduce myself. I am the Head Hiring Manager of Condor Company Viktor Horoshavin. At this moment we are seeking a new employee for the constant position in our Structure. In our search we addressed to Clearancejobs Administration like to one of the most professional and respectable organization helping to find employees who answer to all necessary requirements. It is not the first time when we resort to this organization during our work in the world market since the year 2004.
Your profile in http://www.clearancejobs.com/ answers to all criteria, needed to be embodied. If you are ready for responsible, professional and honest work then you can become a member of our Staff.
Our Company is specialized in producing and selling different kinds of office and home furniture answering to all requirements of taste, fashion and price. Condor Company was based in 2004. Since that time we have proved high quality and modern technologies of our goods and achieved world popularity in furniture industry. Our production is well-known among our customers in France, Germany, Great Britain, Netherlands and Sweden. At this stage we are interested in widening our market and now represent our Product in the United States of America. We need a Professional who will be our Official representative in the USA and serve our financial interests.

Our requirements: USA citizenship. Responsibility, diligence and honesty.

Job description: Financial operations with our company�s wholesale lots. Reception of payments for wholesale lots. Preparation of monthly reports.
Conditions: Beginning salary $ 2500, 00. After probation period 15 % salary raise. Possibility of career growth.
Our job proposal can be taken as a part time position and will not give any negative effect to your present job status.

Please feel free to ask any questions. Our managers will be glad to give you more information if you are interested. Contact us by e-mail:

condor.manager@gmail.com

Thank you. Best regards,
Condor Company.

Should I gamble on that juicy 15% salary raise? I wonder what kind of clearance I need to make furniture?

Israeli Air Strike on Syria Update

This story won't go away. Here are some more tidbits:

• Wired (and others) offer speculation that the target was a nuclear bomb factory and not a reactor. I don't know if this is a case of making the story match the facts rather that the other way around.


• Aviation Week has some more info on Israel's EW capabilities. Nothing shocking, since the IDF has always had the technological edge on its opponents. Of course the US will be eavesdropping; we do lots of SIGINT in the region.

Washington D.C. Trip

Went to Washington D.C. for a week to see the sites.

• Washington Monument - always awesome. We didn't have trouble getting tickets since we stopped by early in the day. Apparently there is a walking tour that shows off some of the interior; I will give that shot next time.
  

 

• World War II Memorial - a bit underwhelming; it seems as though the designers went for quantity over quality. While deserving of a memorial, this detracts from the view from the Lincoln Memorial to the Washington Monument.


• Lincoln Memorial - a classic.
  

• Korean War Memorial - having never seen this, I really liked it. The statues were impressive.


• Vietnam Veterans Memorial - goes without saying.


• Capitol Building - very worthwhile. Since we had to go through our Representative's office, we also got to visit his staff (although he was not there). Found out there is a staircase that leads up to the top of the Rotunda but is not open to the public. Make sure you find out about John Adams and how we use the acoustics in the original House chamber.

• National Mall - must have walked the Mall several times getting to all the places.
  
• White House - a difficult ticket to get and probably not worth taking little kids.


• National Gallery - didn't even get to a quarter of it; plan on spending days to see everything.


• National Portrait Gallery - unexpectedly nice.


• American Art Museum - ditto.


• Air and Space Museum - gets better all the time.

• Hazy Air and Space Museum - still a work in progress, but the sheer volume of historic aircraft make it a winner; the SR-71 is worth the trip just by itself.


• International Spy Museum - if you are interested in espionage, you can miss this. Don't expect much James Bond stuff, there is just a small homage to 007. The kids enjoyed it even though they didn't understand it.


• National Archives - first time here. They are trying to make it more than just the Charters of Freedom by adding some additional exhibits. Well worth it even thought the Magna Carta is no longer there.


• Natural History Museum - ours kids get to the San Diego version of this so this wasn't as big a deal to them.


• Marine Corps War Memorial - much more impressive in person.
  

• Flew in a helicopter (an R-22) with my uncle.
  

Fantasy Football Updated

My teams suck. I will be lucky to have a single one make the playoffs.