June 30, 2005

Survivor, but wet

Well we came through the big t-storms without any real damage.

Major lightning and thunder. At one point there was a flash every few seconds, and they were coming from all around us.

It rained like crazy. I don't have the stats, but it was pretty torrential, the closest thing to damage is a lot of gullying where the water ran down the hills.

The wind was pretty wild for a brief time, too. The NWS warning was for wind up to 65mph. I don't know if it got that high, but it was very fierce. They also forecast hail, but I didn't see any.

We didn't lose the power here, although we did have a couple of our patented 2-second blackouts. Just long enough to reset the cable tv box, and get all the digital clocks flashing.

The forecast is for another round of these this afternoon.

Posted by jackhodgson at 01:37 PM

June 29, 2005

Rock 'n Roll

I can hear the rumbling in the distance. We're about to get hit by a pretty impressive line of thunderstorms.

tstormradar

I'll report more later. Time to batten down the hatches.

Posted by jackhodgson at 02:08 PM

June 27, 2005

More detailed 72 game results

Here's more detail on the 4th inning results for the American League.

==================================================
AL EAST STANDINGS
After 72 games each.

W L GB
BOSTON           42   30
BALTIMORE        42   30
NY YANKEES       37   35    5
TORONTO          36   36    6
TAMPA BAY        25   47   17

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
# WINS BY INNING

TEAM          1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9
====          =   =   =   =   =   =   =   =   =
BOSTON       10  12   8  12  
NY YANKEES    7  10  10  10
BALTIMORE    11  12   9  10
TORONTO       9  10   9   8
TAMPA BAY     8   5   6   6

CHI WH SOX   14  13   9  14
MINNESOTA    10  11  11   7

TEXAS         9  10  12   7
LA ANGELS    10  10  11  12
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

# CENTRAL DIV
CHI WHITE SOX    50   22
MINNESOTA        39   33
CLEVELAND        38   34
DETROIT          36   36
KANSAS CITY      25   47

# WEST DIV
LA ANGELS        43   29
TEXAS            38   34
SEATTLE          33   39
OAKLAND          32   40

# WILDCARD
BOSTON/BALTIMORE 42   30
MINNESOTA        39   33
CLEVELAND        38   34
TEXAS            38   34
NY YANKEES       37   35

Posted by jackhodgson at 01:21 PM

June 26, 2005

2 and a half

Redsox won again today. Six in a row, 9 out of ten, 12 of the last 13. Baltimore lost, so the Sox are now in first by 2 1/2 games.

Posted by jackhodgson at 05:41 PM

June 25, 2005

Looking back...

By the way, in case I didn't make it clear in that last post, the Redsox are now alone in first place of the AL East division.

Posted by jackhodgson at 10:46 AM

End of the 4th inning

With last night's win against the Phillies, the Redsox finish the fourth 18-game "inning" of the season. Although we felt our play was mediocre for much of the period, overall the Redsox did quite well, with 12 wins, the best in the division. The inning results are helped by the fact that Boston has won 10 of the last 11 games.

After 72 games each, the Sox are tied with the Orioles with 42 wins. In realtime, the Orioles have already played their 43rd game, which they lost, thus putting them 1/2 game behind Boston.

The Yankees continue to struggle with only 10 wins in the inning, and are 5 games back.

Interesting thing: Tampa Bay only won 6 games during the inning. Three of those wins were against the Yankees.

(Third inning results.)

==================================================
AL EAST STANDINGS
After 72 games each.

                  W    L   GB
BOSTON           42   30
BALTIMORE        42   30
NY YANKEES       37   35    5
TORONTO          36   36    6
TAMPA BAY        25   47   17


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
# WINS BY INNING

TEAM          1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9
====          =   =   =   =   =   =   =   =   =
BOSTON       10  12   8  12  
NY YANKEES    7  10  10  10
BALTIMORE    11  12   9  10
TORONTO       9  10   9   8
TAMPA BAY     8   5   6   6

Posted by jackhodgson at 10:35 AM

June 24, 2005

Could be, might be

By midnight the Redsox could be in First Place alone.

Posted by jackhodgson at 07:06 PM

June 22, 2005

Good speech

I'd heard the news quotes from Steve Jobs' Stanford commencement speech, but I hadn't looked at the actual text. MGA, over on the Concrete Frog, pointed to it so I finally read it. It's good. I'd like to find a video of it so hear Steve present it.

I'd never heard the part about his initial cancer diagnosis being terminal. Scary.

I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.

More...

Posted by jackhodgson at 10:31 AM

June 17, 2005

Gordon "Bax" Baxter Dies

baxseatMy all-time favorite aviation writer is Gordon Baxter, "Bax".

He didn't write about equipment, or procedures, or regulations. He wrote about people, and flying, charismatic old airports, and kids getting their first rides, and seniors rediscovering the joy of flight.

For years he wrote a column, in the back pages of Flying Magazine, where every month he took us to another cool airport, or introduced us to another fascinating pilot, or regaled us with one of his flying adventures. His column was the first thing I wanted to read each month, but I always tried to save it 'til last. The dessert.

In the early days of the EAA's AirVenture show daily newspaper, Bax wrote an occasional column about the characters he knew and met there. When it became clear that he didn't have the time in his hectic Oshkosh schedule to continue the column I had the chutzpah to step up and say, let me give that a try.

Since 1998 I've written a daily column in the AirVenture Today paper called "Around the Field". I have no illusions that mine is anywhere as good as Bax, but every story is inspired by his example.

During that first year of my column I discovered, and reported, that Bax's health was failing, and that he would not attend the fly-in that year.

On June 11 of this year, Bax died. He will be missed.

Posted by jackhodgson at 04:34 PM

President Bush may be called to task for lies.

AP via Yahoo:

WASHINGTON - Amid new questions about President Bush's drive to topple Saddam Hussein, several House Democrats urged lawmakers on Thursday to conduct an official inquiry to determine whether the president intentionally misled Congress.

At a public forum where the word "impeachment" loomed large, Exhibit A was the so-called Downing Street memo, a prewar document leaked from inside the British government to The Sunday Times of London a month and a half ago. Rep. John Conyers (news, bio, voting record) of Michigan, the ranking Democrat on the
House Judiciary Committee, organized the event.

More...

Posted by jackhodgson at 11:12 AM

Free Katie!

Jo Ann, over in comments, calls our attention to this important mission.

www.freekatie.net

Posted by jackhodgson at 10:48 AM

June 15, 2005

First Flight

kpaoSatellite pic of the place where I learned to fly.

Can you tell that I'm starting to get excited about Oshkosh?

Oh, and here's where I lived for 7 years.

Posted by jackhodgson at 11:38 AM

It's so cute!

"Snakes are God's way of saying: 'Hey, look! A snake!'"

-- Andy Pierson, from Ruminations

Posted by jackhodgson at 11:15 AM

Be careful what you (I) wish for

A couple of days ago I was whining about how hot and humid it was here in southern NH. Well, today I had to dig out a sweater.

Yesterday morning a new air-mass moved into the area and cooled things off nicely. But today it is downright chilly. Two days ago it was in the 90s, today it is having a hard time reaching 50.

New England.

Posted by jackhodgson at 11:06 AM

Yup.

Wil Wheaton:

...when I want to rage about what a colossal fucking liar George W. Bush is, what a disgrace he is to my country, and how the mainstream corporate media have completely failed to hold him and his administration accountable for countless lies.
Posted by jackhodgson at 10:34 AM

June 13, 2005

Struggling but steady.

The Redsox finished up their historic return visit to Wrigley field by salvaging their only win in the three game series.

I don't mind that we only won one. I will be accused of being disloyal, or a woosie, but I was hoping we'd win one, and only one, game in this series.

The Redsox and the Cubs are kindred spirits. We've both suffered through multi-generation long World Series slumps. We both call home to historic, charismatic, personal ball parks -- the first and second oldest in baseball. We've both had imminent victory snatched from us by the oddest of baseball quirks.

But we finally won our World Series... and the Cubs are still working on theirs. It just seemed wrong to think that the new World Champion Redsox would come to Wrigley, play the Cubs, for the first time since we beat them in the 1918 Series, and beat them again in front of their home fans.

Out of respect for their suffering, which we know all too well, I felt it would be OK with me if we only won one.

Now on the other hand. To lose the first one the way we did was pretty embarrassing. Jerry Remy, of the Boston telecast, described it as one of the ugliest games he's ever seen. And in the second game, though the final score was at least close, giving up the lead is always discouraging.

The win in Game Three is doubly significant. Not only did it salvage some pride for us, but it will prompt some superstition about pitcher Wakefield and catcher Mirabelli.

For a long time, "backup" catcher Mirabelli has been the regular backstop for knuckleballer Wakefield. Earlier this season Wakefield was having a great start, winning left and right. Then Mirabelli went on the disabled list, and Wake started losing. He lost every game that Mirabelli was absent.

When asked, the team said there was no connection between Wakefield's slump and Mirabelli's absence. And I don't think there was. But it's a great coincidence that on the night Mirabelli returns, so does the old Wakefield. He pitches a great, seven inning, four hit, one run gem.

Let's hope Mirabelli stays healthy from now on.

Posted by jackhodgson at 10:46 AM

Sticky!

For over a week now, we here in Seacoast NH, have been in the throes of a humidity storm. It's been hot and sticky every day.

The forecast now is for the daytime hi temp to fall around 20 degrees from Tuesday to Wednesday. That's often a sign that the humidity will fall too. Let's hope.

Growing up in NE I didn't like the humidity, but I didn't find it oppressive. But then I lived for 12 years in the nearly humidity free SF Bay Area. Since returning I've found the period from early June to mid August to be very discouraging. I just don't tolerate these conditions now.

One waggish friend pointed out that in general, aging can lead to a reduced tolerance for these conditions. Ha ha.

Posted by jackhodgson at 10:25 AM

The end of VHS

800 pound retailing gorilla, Wal-mart, is in the process of discontinuing the sale of VHS products.

Hollywood Reporter, via Yahoo!:

Industry sources said Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will be out of the videocassette business soon after the 2005 holiday season.

In the mega-chain's next September "reset" -- a thrice-yearly process in which video department planograms are redrawn and between 20%-40% of titles are replaced -- the company will realign its chainwide VHS inventory based on customer demand.

"In some markets, there will be more (VHS), in some markets there will be less," according to one high-ranking studio source who asked not to be named.

At a subsequent reset in February, VHS most likely will be cut out, according to the source. After February, "it is unlikely there will be any VHS left in any Wal-Mart store," the source said. There are more than 3,600 Wal-Mart stores in the U.S.

Posted by jackhodgson at 10:18 AM

June 06, 2005

Too Bad

Apple marketing VP Phil Shiller from Apple's Press Release:

Shiller said the company does not plan to let people run Mac OS X on other computer makers' hardware. "We will not allow running Mac OS X on anything other than an Apple Mac."

So Apple is not planning to release a Windows killer version of OS X that can be used on generic Intel boxes. It would have been fun.

[via Macintouch]

Posted by jackhodgson at 04:01 PM

Apple switching?

The really big news today is that Apple is about to embrace the Intel CPU.

My big question is whether this means OS X will be able to be installed on a generic Intel box.

The reason that there have been no generic Mac clone machines is that the Mac OS has always required that the machine have a proprietary ROM, and Apple was the only source for that.

If this new thing means that a Windows user can now choose to replace, or dual boot, with OS X on their existing machine. Well that would be huge. It would be a direct attack on Windows. And Apple and OS X have so much positive buzz right now, that there just might be a lot of people who would go for it.

If Microsoft can make money just selling OSes, then why not Apple?

Posted by jackhodgson at 10:50 AM

June 05, 2005

End of an Era? Is Apple switching to Intel?

Macintouch is reporting that news.com is reporting that Apple is about to announce a change from using the IBM Power PC processor to using the Intel processors. Apple has used the Power PC for upwards of 10 years. Intel is the processor which is used by Windows.

Will this alleged new version of the Mac OS run on generic Intel boxes? Custom built -- eg Athlon, etc. -- boxes? Does this mark a move by Apple away from being in the hardware business?

If so, this is a direct attack on Windows. It means war.

Cool!

Posted by jackhodgson at 10:33 PM

June 04, 2005

Third Inning Rocky but Still Competitive

Last night's win against the Angels marked the end of the third 18-game inning of the 2005 baseball season.

The Redsox struggled in this third 18-game stretch of the season, winning only 8 times. But oddly, so did all the teams in the AL East.

In spite of beginning the inning in the midsts of an impressive winning streak, the Yankees only won 10 games. They remain in the lower half of the division standings.

Baltimore retains the division lead, but is starting to show signs of faltering, with only 9 wins, after 11 and 12 in the first two.

Starting this inning, I've added the current Wildcard contenders to the stats.

As we all know, Chicago and Minnesota are having a great season so far. The Whitesox won 14 and 13 in the first two, then they also faltered a bit in the third with only 9 wins. Minnesota won 10 and 11, and now have 11 wins in the third, with one game left to play.

The sportstalkradio consensus seems to be that the Whitesox will remain strong and likely win the Central. And that Minnesota will hang in to present a real challenge the the AL East's tradition of winning the wildcard.

(Second Inning results)

At the end of the third the standings are (check back tomorrow for the complete inning totals for Minnesota and Texas):


AL EAST STANDINGS
After 54 games each.

                  W    L   GB
BALTIMORE        32   22    -
BOSTON           30   24    2
TORONTO          28   26    4
NY YANKEES       27   27    5
TAMPA BAY        19   35   13

CENTRAL DIV
CHI WH SOX       36   18
MINNESOTA       *32   21

WEST DIV
TEXAS           *30   23
LA ANGELS        31   23

              1   2   3
              =   =   =
BOSTON       10  12   8
NY YANKEES    7  10  10
BALTIMORE    11  12   9
TORONTO       9  10   9
TAMPA BAY     8   5   6

CHI WH SOX   14  13   9
MINNESOTA    10  11 *11
TEXAS         9  10 *11
LA ANGELS    10  10  11

* Inning not complete

Posted by jackhodgson at 08:52 AM

June 02, 2005

Podcasting as Augmented Reality

Andy Grumet points to this interesting podcasting application.

New York Times:

If you soak up the Jackson Pollocks at the Museum of Modern Art while listening to the museum's official rented $5 audio guide, you will hear informative but slightly dry quotations from the artist and commentary from a renowned curator. ("The grand scale and apparently reckless approach seem wholly American.")

But the other day, a college student, Malena Negrao, stood in front of Pollock's "Echo Number 25," and her audio guide featured something a little more lively. "Now, let's talk about this painting sexually," a man's deep voice said. "What do you see in this painting?"

A woman, giggling, responded on the audio track: "Oh my God! You're such a pervert. I can't even say what that - am I allowed to say what that looks like?"

Posted by jackhodgson at 01:47 PM

Americans "Addicted" to Email

Computerworld.com:

U.S. residents are so hooked on e-mail that some check for messages in the bathroom, in church and while driving, a new survey sponsored by America Online Inc. has found. ... About a fourth of respondents acknowledged being so addicted to e-mail that they can't go more than two or three days without checking for messages.

"two or three days" !!! They call that addicted? Sheesh!

Posted by jackhodgson at 12:16 PM

Ayuh...

I've always said that if I didn't live in NH, the next NE state I'd like to live in would be Maine. Maine Dictionary:

The Laugh Maine Dictionary will become a helpful tool as your strive to become a "Mainah". I must repeat myself here to say that no matter how hard you try, you ain't never going to be a true Mainer. But and this is a big but, you can fool some people into thinking you are (no true Mainahs will be fooled but hundreds of "wannabes" will be) so this Mainah's dictionary will help.
Posted by jackhodgson at 10:21 AM

June 01, 2005

Slice and dice

Over on The Long Tail website, Chris Anderson writes about the decline of TV programs as multiples of 30 minutes.

I have a bet with a friend that within ten years most TV will no longer come in 30-minute chunks. When you think about it, there's nothing magical about half hours; they're simply an easy way to divide a broadcast programming schedule into segments that start and finish on the hour. Outside of the broadcast schedule, entertainment and news comes in all sorts of lengths, from 30-second clips to three-hour concerts; there's no premium on thirty minutes.
Posted by jackhodgson at 06:05 PM