All posts by Jack

Geek Stuff, General

Weatherbug

As an accident of having to install AOL IM on my PC at work, I ended up with the WeatherBug installed as well. I find it to be a nice little addition to my tool bar, showing the local temperature and alerting me if the forecast changes. So when I uninstalled the AIM, I decided to leave the WeatherBug.

Unfortunately, when the WeatherBug opens a window at bootup, it seems to corrupt my PC and prevents the other applications from running. So I decided it had to go. As I started to remove the software, WB kept shouting “Ohhhhh! Noooooo! Mr. Billlll!” and it asked me if I really wanted to go through with this. Soft-hearted chump that I am, I relented and agreed to keep the WeatherBug, as long as it didn’t open a window at boot-up. It can just maintain a presence on the toolbar and we’ll all be happy. Or will we? I shall see next week if I have to reboot the PC several times a day. (That was the nice thing about upgrading to the XP OS. I have only had to reboot maybe once a week. ) But, if the WeatherBug doesn’t crash your PC, it is a nice little toy to have.

General

Air Force Academy, Colorado Detailed Profile – travel and real estate info, jobs, hotels, hospitals, weather, schools, crime, …

I found this page on the Air Force Academy:Air Force Academy, Colorado Detailed Profile – travel and real estate info, jobs, hotels, hospitals, weather, schools, crime, …. Lots of interesting information there.

I was surprised at the average humidity. I thought it was a bit drier than that, myself.

I also doubt their sizing of the AFA at 10 sq mi, since it is roughly 6×5 miles, ( just a rough estimate from the map) or 30 sq mi.

Geek Stuff, General

Under the Weather

I found several weather stations that are nearby . Between these sites you may get a feel for our weather. The main reason I can’t point to one and say “our weather is like theirs” is because we are about 1.5 km from the mountains, to the west, and all these sites are 4-8 km from the mountains and varying distances from the Palmer Divide, all of which affect our local weather. (Palmer Divide is about 9 km North of us)

So, for your consideration,

    AR549, about 7 km to the NE, (5 km to PD)
    C2088, about 7 km E, I think on the hill behind King Soopers (8 km to PD)
    KAFF, the AFA Airport, about 12 km to the SE, (17 km to PD)

Be sure to check out that Palmer Divide link (above) That guy put some work into his pages. (Elaine thinks my referring to the Palmer Divide link (above) is too obscure since I have several other links also noted above, so I am including the link here.)

Geek Stuff, General

HWAS Data

If you want to know what the weather is like at our house, try this link: HWAS20Data, even though they are a few miles south of us. The Airfield is 12 km SE; the stadium is about 7 km SE. I don’t know where the rest of them are. I suspect that most are on the south end of the Academy; North Ridge and Lewis Palmer might be on the North side. I wonder if Aardvark is Jack’s Valley. If it is, that’s only a quarter mile away.

The academy has a lot of gliders, parachutists and small planes in the air all over the base, so they need weather info from a number of sources, especially since the mountains will twist the air at one end of the academy and the other end will never notice. (Watch out for wind sheers!)

Politics

Brought to you by…

This news article brought a thought to mind. The New York Times > Washington > It’s Inauguration Time Again, and Access Still Has Its Price

Why bother with the $250,000 cap on donations. Just imagine the inauguration stand with its banners : “President Bush; brought to you by Exxon”, “Bush: sponsored by the House of Saud”, “4 more years, from your friends at Citibank”. After the ceremony they can put the banners on the fence around the White House. Add a bit of color to a dull city. And they won’t get in trouble with the ‘truth in advertising’ laws; or any other laws, for a while.

General

Still waving

I was at the Post Office the other morning and noticed that the flag was at half-staff and I was wondering about that as I continued on to work since I hadn’t heard of anyone dying recently. Or, at least not a death that would cause the flag to be at half-staff (grunts in Iraq don’t count). When I got to work I noticed our flag was at-full staff and I checked with the security guy when I went in but he hadn’t heard anything. We both thought it was probably Pearl Harbor Day. He said he would check it out. I looked into it a bit later and found that yes, indeed, there are four times a year when the flag is flown at half-staff, as a matter of course. Peace Officer’s Day, Korean Armistice Day, Patriot Day and Pearl Harbor Day. ( When and How to Display Our Flag)

I checked later in the day and they hadn’t bothered to lower the flag. I guess they had better things to do.

And just to note, a Mast is on a ship, a Staff is on land.

General, Politics, Reviews

Long May It Wave

I thought “West Wing” opened with a nice bit by Penn and Teller last night. As part of a magic trick they were performing at the White House, they folded up an American Flag (correctly), wrapped it up in the Bill of Rights, went ‘poof’- ‘flash’, and the flag disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving the Bill of Rights unscorched. And one of the on-going sub-plots for the rest of the show was getting the “White House” to condemn the ‘burning of the Flag’ in the White House, at a private birthday party.

It might have been more political to have had them fold up the Bill of Rights into the Flag, and then, ‘poof’-‘flash’, the Bill of Rights disappears, and the flag is left unsullied. But that might be getting too obscure and would have ruined the following sub-plot. Hard to imagine the press corps getting worked up about the alleged destruction of the Bill of Rights in the White House.

I thought the writers missed a good, cheap shot when the Josh Lyman character is trying to jump on Penn (he’s a pretty big dude) to announce that they did not burn the flag and to explain how the trick was done and Penn denies him with a stirring speech on just what the Bill of Rights is all about. Josh then asks if Penn went to law school and Penn replies, “No, clown school.” And, what Josh didn’t say was, “Pretty much the same thing” or something like that. A missed opportunity.