2011 archive
Lazy Hurricane Blogging 0
It’s been raining all day. The center of the storm is still about three hours south (about 50 miles) of here. It will arrive just in time for high tide, exacerbating the flooding in susceptible areas.
The rain has picked back up after a pause and the wind has increased significantly, but the storm is no longer maintaining hurricane force winds except perhaps at the side that is well out to sea.
Blind Justice 0
Steve Chapman discusses eyewitness identifications at the Chicago Tribune:
Alejandro Dominguez, age 16, had no tattoos or pierced ears, and he reportedly could speak only Spanish. The woman, however, said he was the attacker, and largely on the strength of her testimony, he was convicted. Not until 2002 did DNA analysis prove Dominguez was innocent.
It’s a dismally familiar tale: a victim making an eyewitness identification that later turns out to be horribly mistaken. This type of mistake is universally known as the most common cause of false convictions. Yet law enforcement authorities, courts and juries continue to treat it as pure gold.
He goes on to discuss recent appeals court cases that lean to more realism in considering eyewitness testimony, which, despite its cachet, is often the least reliable.
It’s not that persons can’t believe their eyes; they cannot remember them.
And police and prosecutors, even those of the best will, are rewarded for convictions, not for truth.
Freedom Fries 0
From the write-up:
America’s wealthiest could learn a thing or two from a nation across the pond. In my Daily Take – I’ll tell you why the wealthiest in France DIDN’T need a memo from Warren Buffett to do the right thing for their country!
“Neither Snow nor Rain . . . .” 0
The mail carrier is making his delivery here right now.
Hype-i-cane 0
Will Bunch wonders whether the media, and particularly the Weather Channel, over-hyped hurricane Irene.
Unnecessary question.
Of course they did.
They over-hype an April shower.
That’s one reason I don’t watch television news, even from “responsible” (that is, non-Fox) sources.
Also, isn’t “over-hype” redundant?
In reality world, it’s raining really hard right now, but reports are that wind speeds have dropped significantly in the eye, which is still hours away. There have been spotty power outages from downed trees, and the power here at PVF HQ has blinked twice.
Afterthought:
This doesn’t mean it’s not a big storm that persons should prepare for, but, really, the limit on “storm of the century” is one per century.
Ex Post Afterthought:
Speaking of hype, all the television stations are broadcasting pictures of reporters standing in the rain, so we’ll know that it is raining.
Even the NPR news and information outlet is piping the audio of one of the local television stations, so that public radio listeners will know that TV reporters don’t know to come in out of the rain.
Pah!
Happy Birthday to Me 2
Commemorating six years of electronic drivel in almost 11,000 individual droplets.
Ducks and Not Ducks 0
I find the interlacing of the wakes fascinating.
And this one, he’s the master of all he surveys:
Irene 0
To Sherlock Holmes, she was always the woman.*
Wait. That was Irene Adler. Wrong Irene.
The clouds started to move into the area about 3 p. m., low heavy clouds bringing with them a sharp rise in humidity. At times, the overcast has been complete, but the clouds keep moving. Fast.
Both propane tanks for the grill are full, the outdoor furniture is now indoor furniture, as are the potted plants, and the grill is securely lashed to the railing of the deck.
The cooler of ice is half-full as the freezer makes more and every available container is being filled with water. The pantry is full of canned goods that can be heated on the burner on the grill if the power is out for a significant time.
We are well away from any flood danger, so a power failure is my primary worry.
The picture was taken about half an hour ago.
__________________
*The opening line of “A Scandal in Bohemia.”
Seen on the Street 0
Open for business, closed to view:
They had also removed the parking lot corals for holding empty grocery carts.
The most surprising thing was that the store was not a zoo.
Coddled Yeggs (Updated) 0
Addenda:
Part II:
Part III:
Light Bloggery 0
Have to refill the propane tank and clear the decks.
Site Redesign, Tweaks 2
Yesterday, I changed the spacing between the lines (making it less) and paragraphs (making it more).
Here’s the CSS:
I added the 15px bottom margin to paragraphs (it was zero), increasing the space between them and reduced the line height from 1.6 to 1.3.
I hope this made the darn thing easier to read. Feedback welcome.
QOTD 0
Mark Twain, from the Quotemaster (subscribe here):
Loyalty to petrified opinion never yet broke a chain or freed a human soul.
Happy Birthday Linux, Thanks for All the Bits 1
Twenty years ago today, Linus Torvalds posted a message to the Usenet group, comp.os.minix, announcing his decision to design an operating system. Here’s a snippet from the text of his post:
Linux has a minimal market share in home computing (meaning laptops and desktops); this frustrates Linux users, who tend to have an evangelical streak.
In the world of cell phones, web servers, embedded devices, Linux is a major player. If you have a DVR or flat screen TV, it is likely powered by Linux. If you ever use Google to search the web, you use Linux. There’s a good chance that the websites you surf run on Linux servers.
Twits on Twitter 0
Political twits.