Mitzi posted our old dryer for sale on Facebook (Marketplace?), explaining why we were selling it. We have a neighbor who is something of a know-it-all. (Which is really irritating to those of us who actually do know everything.)

Well, he decided to tell us that our heat pump dryer won't save any energy, and may end up using more energy than our conventional dryer. That they were only suitable in Europe where they don't rely as much on air conditioning and where it's often difficult to install vents because of older construction.

Because he's an insufferable know-it-all, he cites references. In this case, it was a 2015 study about energy conservation interventions in some south Florida homes. I know all this, not because I'm on Facebook, but because Mitzi is and she shared it with me. Doubt about the wisdom of our purchase was unspoken but detectable. She wanted something to reply to him.

So I read the study. I'm not qualified to speak to the validity of the study methods, but it did seem flawed to me. One of the data points that they relied on was that the temperature in the laundry rooms of homes with interior laundries spiked when clothes were being dried, up into the 90s in many cases. This obviously adds additional heat load to the home's HVAC system.

But the product they were using in the study was a Whirlpool ventless hybrid dryer. It had a heat pump for "eco" mode, but it also had a resistive heating element for those users accustomed to shorter drying times. It was also a typical American 7 cubic foot dryer. What wasn't clear to me from the data, was how often the resistive heating element was used. And a resistive heating element is not only going to heat the air going into the dryer, some of that will be radiated into the room, in addition to any radiant heat from the heat pump.

In any event, the "combined efficiency factor" for this 10-year-old product was 42% less than the LG we purchased (3.7lbs/kWh vs. 6.4lbs/kWh). I don't know if that's because of some consideration of the resistive heating element, or advances in heat pump design. In any event, the LG is much more efficient.

I gave Mitzi a blurb pointing this out and he responded something along the lines, "Well, time will tell." I later learned that he'd just gone through a laundry upgrade and considered and rejected a ventless heat pump dryer on the basis of that 2015 study.

He then felt it was necessary to point out that the largest electrical load in the home, after air conditioning, is the hot water heater and had we considered replacing that with a hybrid model? Mitzi was pleased to reply that we did so the day we moved in.

Anyway, all this did compel me to do some additional reading about washers and dryers. Mitzi is less keen on replacing her washer now, but she said she won't veto it if I do so, which means it's on my nickel. I read that these ventless dryers are almost always sold as pairs with a washer, often to be stacked, but also because of the size difference. It does look rather odd, such a small dryer next to our huge washing machine. But also because these heat pump dryers are even more efficient with the higher efficiency front-loading washers, that run at 1400rpm or greater during the extraction cycle.

We have a top-loading LG washer because Mitzi prefers those to front-loaders, and it spins at 950rpm during the extraction cycle. I've always thought that the clothes felt pretty "dry" coming out of the washer. For most of my life I'd been using the cheap, low-efficiency washing machines and clothes were definitely wet when you put them in the dryer. Our LG is rated as a "high efficiency" washer, it measures the load and only adds enough water as necessary to accommodate the size of the load. And I think 950rpm is still much higher than a conventional washer, and so more water is extracted.

But I'm inclined to "do my best," so I told her I'd go ahead and get the matching washer for the dryer when we get back from our summer vacation. It's back-ordered right now anyway, and we have something of a busy travel schedule coming up. When we get back, we'll have time and resources to do it properly. She can decide if she wants to stack them and remove one of the cabinets and maybe install a sink in the laundry room.

Originally posted at Nice Marmot 08:33 Wednesday, 3 April 2024

I wonder if I should have a glossary in the marmot that explains what I mean when I use certain words.

When I write "existential," I'm not referring to "existence" in the context of the human species. I'm afraid we're like cockroaches, we'll be hard to make extinct. I'm referring to this present civilization. A highly advanced, technology dependent, resource-intensive civilization that supports a population of 8 billion people.

Without this present civilization, we couldn't support that number of people.

And soon, we won't.

That's not a conspiracy. It's just a sober consideration of the facts.

At some point, probably before 2100, certainly not long after, there are going to be far fewer people on this planet.

How we get there is the critical question. There may be humane paths, but taking them is the problem.

People, especially authors, like to point out that there have been "doomsday" predictions for as long as this civilization has existed, and yet it's still here. They like to believe that the present predictions will likewise prove baseless as well. Paul Ehrlich wasn't wrong overall. The "green revolution" occurred where we could employ technology and resource-intensive agricultural methods to feed a burgeoning population. That works as long as you have resources, chiefly energy, though fertilizer and water and a stable climate can't be overlooked.

Some optimists like to point out that birth rates fall as standards of living rise, and that many parts of the world are experiencing problematic population declines. (But don't want immigrants.) So the thinking is economic growth will elevate standards of living, women will have fewer children and populations will decline naturally. Non-violently. Not through starvation and deprivation.

That's assuming there are enough resources remaining to offer that level of economic prosperity to the parts of the world that lack it, and that we can do so without inducing catastrophic climate consequences. (Personally, I'm not convinced 1.5°C of warming is "safe." We're not quite there yet, and things are looking pretty dire already.)

So, it's a race. The optimists don't believe it's already over, and we lost.

If they're right, they have an extremely narrow path.

We shall see, I'm afraid.

Originally posted at Nice Marmot 06:19 Wednesday, 3 April 2024

Watched the first episode of the PBS limited series, The Invisible Shield. It was both fascinating and depressing. I was also not exactly thrilled with the editing. Apparently documentary series now have to be edited like action movies, with constant visual changes every 2-3 seconds. It's fatiguing.

But it's still worth watching, and I'm looking forward to watching the two remaining episodes.

It brought back a lot of unwelcome memories, and it is profoundly troubling. I think the internet has been a net loss for humanity. While I'm certain it has brought about many useful things, I think it has also empowered the very worst of us.

We face existential risks from climate change, resource depletion and loss of the natural world, these are all magnified by the extraordinary power of the internet to sow chaos.

Perhaps it's possible to believe that "all people are basically good," but put a smart phone in their hands and watch what happens. It's not that everyone becomes a conspiracy theorist, or a hyper-partisan, but enough people do that the result is paralysis or chaos.

Paralysis and chaos that represent opportunity to the very worst of us.

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Originally posted at Nice Marmot 06:07 Wednesday, 3 April 2024

I asked ChatGPT what the heck these things are called:

Those yellow, bumpy pads at crosswalks are called "truncated domes" or "detectable warning surfaces." They are designed to assist visually impaired individuals by providing tactile feedback, indicating the boundary between the sidewalk and the street.

Shot it with the black E-PL7 the other morning. Didn't shoot anything this morning. Shot so many kite and cedar waxwing shots that I made too much work for myself. Just concentrated on walking briskly this morning.

Originally posted at Nice Marmot 12:01 Tuesday, 2 April 2024

Mitzi does the lawn care around here. It was part of the deal moving here. I bought a condo because I despise lawn care, and I made it clear I wasn't going to do it. She agreed, and for the first few years we had various services take care of our lawn.

They all suck.

Now, I'm against lawns as a general principle anyway, but it's a shame to spend money on them and still have them look like crap. These "lawn care professionals," don't care about your lawn. They spread every weed, fungus and parasite from every other lawn they damage to yours. They scalp the grass, break your sprinkler heads, foul the air and create the most godawful racket.

So Mitzi takes care of the lawn, and she uses all-electric lawn care tools. I tried to encourage her to use Makita brand products, since I already have a bunch of 18v Makita batteries and their chargers!

But, no. She did her research and decided on a particular brand of mower. Separate battery. She did buy a Makita string-trimmer (weed whacker), and tried to use it for edging, but she hated it. So she bought a dedicated edger from the same manufacturer who built the mower. But, smaller tool, smaller battery.

Different charger.

I wanted to recover some space on my workbench so I built a 24" shelf to hold all the chargers. They fit with no room to spare.

Now she's decided she can't stand the Makita string-trimmer, so she's going to get the Stihl. (I think all string-trimmers suck, and she'll be unhappy with the Stihl before long too, but I can't tell her that.)

Different charger!

I bought a 36" shelf, and I'm going to try and fit it in where the 24" shelf is.

But I also just wrote to the National Institute of Standards and Technology and asked them what they're doing about standardizing battery operated portable tool charging connections and chargers. They may not be the right people. It might be the Federal Trade Commission, I don't know. But it ought to be an international standard anyway.

I also wrote to ACEEE (American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy) and asked them what they're doing to encourage development and implementation of an international standard for portable tool battery connections and chargers.

This is madness. Every manufacturer wants to use its own proprietary battery connection to try to lock you into their tool line. Personally, I like Makita tools and I'd find a way to live with their products simply to avoid the proliferation of chargers. But Mitzi does the chores, so she gets to choose. I just have to figure out how to make it work.

But it's insanity.

I'm sure my little web-form communiqués will be little more than farts in a tornado, but at least I feel as though I did something.

Won't have to worry about it for long. But still. Every time I turn around I'm reminded of how monumentally stupid capitalism is and that stupidity is why we're going to lose this civilization.

Originally posted at Nice Marmot 10:52 Tuesday, 2 April 2024

Mitzi does the lawn care around here. It was part of the deal moving here. I bought a condo because I despise lawn care, and I made it clear I wasn't going to do it. She agreed, and for the first few years we had various services take care of our lawn.

They all suck.

Now, I'm against lawns as a general principle anyway, but it's a shame to spend money on them and still have them look like crap. These "lawn care professionals," don't care about your lawn. They spread every weed, fungus and parasite from every other lawn they damage to yours. They scalp the grass, break your sprinkler heads, foul the air and create the most godawful racket.

So Mitzi takes care of the lawn, and she uses all-electric lawn care tools. I tried to encourage her to use Makita brand products, since I already have a bunch of 18v Makita batteries and their chargers!

But, no. She did her research and decided on a particular brand of mower. Separate battery. She did buy a Makita string-trimmer (weed whacker), and tried to use it for edging, but she hated it. So she bought a dedicated edger from the same manufacturer who built the mower. But, smaller tool, smaller battery.

Different charger.

I wanted to recover some space on my workbench so I built a 24" shelf to hold all the chargers. They fit with no room to spare.

Now she's decided she can't stand the Makita string-trimmer, so she's going to get the Stihl. (I think all string-trimmers suck, and she'll be unhappy with the Stihl before long too, but I can't tell her that.)

Different charger!

I bought a 36" shelf, and I'm going to try and fit it in where the 24" shelf is.

But I also just wrote to the National Institute of Standards and Technology and asked them what they're doing about standardizing battery operated portable tool charging connections and chargers. They may not be the right people. It might be the Federal Trade Commission, I don't know. But it ought to be an international standard anyway.

I also wrote to ACEEE (American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy) and asked them what they're doing to encourage development and implementation of an international standard for portable tool battery connections and chargers.

This is madness. Every manufacturer wants to use its own proprietary battery connection to try to lock you into their tool line. Personally, I like Makita tools and I'd find a way to live with their products simply to avoid the proliferation of chargers. But Mitzi does the chores, so she gets to choose. I just have to figure out how to make it work.

But it's insanity.

I'm sure my little web-form communiqués will be little more than farts in a tornado, but at least I feel as though I did something.

Won't have to worry about it for long. But still. Every time I turn around I"m reminded of how monumentally stupid capitalism is and that stupidity is why we're going to lose this civilization.

Originally posted at Nice Marmot 10:52 Tuesday, 2 April 2024

Florida was in the news again yesterday. Given the ongoing circus/horror show in this state, I'm surprised we're not leading the news every night.

The good news: The Florida Supreme Court decided that two citizen ballot initiatives, state constitutional amendments, will be allowed to appear on the ballot this fall. One is to codify access to reproductive health services, including abortion; and the other is for legalizing recreational marijuana.

The bad news: The Florida Supreme Court also let a six-week limit abortion ban go into effect. Which is bad news for women's access to reproductive healthcare, but it does have the salutary effect of placing what's at stake on the ballot in bold relief.

Republicans have held a monopoly on power in this state for over a generation. Having achieved power in the 90s, they wasted no time ensuring they'd hold onto it in perpetuity. This has had the effect of driving the Republican Party ever rightward, as the only way to win elective office, for the majority of offices, is to be more Republican than your opponent. Essentially winning the election in the primary. Today we have many elected officials who are little more than sociopaths, because cruelty, bigotry and indifference to suffering are character assets to Republican primary voters.

The success of citizen ballot initiatives in granting returning citizens access to the ballot gave them a scare, and they've been working very hard to make it near to impossible for citizen ballot initiatives to succeed, but they're not there yet.

I was worried a state supreme court that's as thoroughly red as its "elected" state government would grant Republicans' wish to keep those two measures off the ballot this fall, because they will drive turnout.

I don't know when, if ever, we'll get a chance to elect a truly representative government in this state, but at least we've been given an opportunity to help keep Trump out of office by mobilizing otherwise disaffected voters in the state.

As April Fools days go, I'll take it.

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Originally posted at Nice Marmot 06:54 Tuesday, 2 April 2024

Florida was in the news again yesterday. Given the ongoing circus/horror show in this state, I'm surprised we're not leading the news every night.

The good news: The Florida Supreme Court decided that two citizen ballot initiatives, state constitutional amendments, will be allowed to appear on the ballot this fall. One is to codify access to reproductive health services, including abortion; and the other is for legalizing recreational marijuana.

The bad news: The Florida Supreme Court also let a six-week limit abortion ban go into effect. Which is bad news for women's access to reproductive healthcare, but it does have the salutary effect of placing what's at stake on the ballot in bold relief.

Republicans have held a monopoly on power in this state for over a generation. Having achieved power in the 90s, they wasted no time ensuring they'd hold onto it in perpetuity. This has had the effect of driving the Republican Party ever rightward, as the only way to win elective office, for the majority of offices, is to be more Republican than your opponent. Essentially winning the election in the primary. Today we have many elected officials who are little more than sociopaths, because cruelty, bigotry and indifference to suffering are character assets to Republican primary voters.

The success of citizen ballot initiatives in granting returning citizens access to the ballot gave them a scare, and they've been working very hard to make it near to impossible for citizen ballot initiatives to succeed, but they're not there yet.

I was worried a state supreme court that's as thoroughly red as its "elected" state government would grant Republicans' wish to keep those two measures off the ballot this fall, because they will drive turnout.

I don't know when, if ever, we'll get a chance to elect a truly representative government in this state, but at least we've been given an opportunity to help keep Trump out of office by mobilizing otherwise disaffected voters in the state.

As April Fools days go, I'll take it.

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Originally posted at Nice Marmot 06:54 Tuesday, 2 April 2024

The marmot created April 2024 correctly, and everything was set up for this morning, except the container was set for $HTMLDontExport (checked), which I have to uncheck. I'll look into correcting that. Otherwise, the export file was named properly, and the export folder was correctly set. Yay me!

Likewise, Captain's Log functioned properly. A new April 2024 container was created, the April 1 log page was created, and the Midwatch entry was made with the calendar summary in the $Text.

It's not a "glitch," but there is some odd behavior with the AppleScript. When I first log into the iMac, there's always an alert showing, "The action "Run AppleScript" encountered an error: "Can't get attribute "Text" of missing value."

The day's page is "closed," that is, the disclosure triangle points to the right. Clicking that reveals the Midwach entry, and the $Text is empty. A second or two later, it's populated with the calendar summary. And this is with the AppleScript that does not use the clipboard.

So it seems like there may be something in the way the object hierarchy is available to AppleScript (Or Automator, as it's part of an Automator application) in terms of being able to act on a particular attribute. It may be that the object must be visible (i.e. "disclosed."), not just exist. I saw the same thing when the AppleScript relied on the clipboard. If Midwatch wasn't visible in the outline, it wouldn't paste the summary. Once it was visible, it went on happily pasting the calendar summary every time the Edict ran. (That part is fixed, and I no long rely on the clipboard anyway.)

It's a cosmetic thing mostly, though I suppose if I didn't attend to a given day for more than a day, then I'm not sure if the script would fail entirely, or if it would skip the day that had never been disclosed.

I'll play with my test folder and make sure I can reproduce it and then pass it along to the developer.

Anyway, I'm still very happy with how things are working at the moment.

Originally posted at Nice Marmot 06:42 Monday, 1 April 2024

The only problem with having a nice camera that can take a lot of pictures is that you wind up creating a lot of work for yourself. On yesterday's walk, and Friday's too, the kites were playing above the preserve on the early part of my walk. In drive mode, I wound up taking hundreds of shots, which I had to go through and see if any were worth editing and sharing.

And I'm probably not the best judge of that.

But since these are still unusual for me, I still find them exciting. I suspect there are at least two nesting pairs nearby, because I've seen at least three wheeling around in the sky, seemingly chasing each other. It looks like they're playing, but I haven't looked into their behavior at all.

This one is illuminated from below because the sun was still very low on the horizon.

Originally posted at Nice Marmot 06:35 Monday, 1 April 2024

Pretty easy to spot this egg. Happy Easter to those who celebrate.

Originally posted at Nice Marmot 07:11 Sunday, 31 March 2024

Garret wonders about the appeal of military-style "bootcamps" as a form of male self-improvement.

Not speaking to Garret directly, but it's not such a mystery. We live in a society where there is little guidance about "meaning."

42 isn't such a helpful answer, it turns out.

Bootcamp is designed to take an individual and strip away much of what makes them "selfish" or "self-centered." To diminish the interior demands of the self, and to attend to another voice, the unit leader. The leader tries to shape the individuals into a team, the unit, where the goal, the objective, is the mission. Why you're here.

This works for teams with specific goals or missions. Sports and the military. Other occupations that involve close cooperation of highly trained individuals to achieve difficult objectives. It can instill close camaraderie, a sense of trust or faith in their fellow teammates. A relationship experience that people seldom experience apart from an intimate partner or an especially close friend.

This is absent in day-to-day life for most people. "The mission," is mostly to get through another day. Keep your job. Pay your rent. Put food on the table. Sit in traffic. Do it again, and again, and again...

For the rest of your life.

The mission is never "accomplished." You're not part of a "team." If you're lucky, maybe you have a close, functional relationship with a spouse or partner, maybe your kids, or a good dog.

There's no leader, no commander telling you what your mission is. Why it matters. What makes it worth the cost.

And there's nobody telling you how you're doing.

There's just that inner voice, an unreliable narrator, incessantly asking, "Is this it? Is this all there is?" Or demanding a new car, a new spouse, more money, a faster computer, a cooler camera. Or lying to you, "It'll get better when..." Your boss retires. You leave your wife. Your elderly parent dies.

(Pro tip: "It" never gets better until you do.)

So, yeah, a few weeks of playing soldier can offer some relief from that nagging inner voice. You come away with "an experience." Maybe you've assimilated some "lessons," about the value of teamwork.

But none of that stuff teaches you about meaning. What it is what matters. Why it matters.

And you return to a society that sends you messages from the void. Buy more stuff. Vote for this party. Hate those people. It's the water we swim in. I'm in here too.

Yeah, I understand the appeal of military style "bootcamps."

Along with all the other crises facing this civilization, perhaps the greatest is the absence of meaning.

We have lost the plot.

Life is meaningless. Your "mission" is to make meaning.

Not make yourself rich. Not make yourself beautiful, popular, more "fit," more "successful." Not to have more or better stuff than your neighbor.

Make your life mean something. And meaning is contingent. It only exists in the context of "others." Specifically, service to others. It may be just listening to someone sometime. It may be a kind word. It may be picking up trash along the road. Who knows? Pay attention for the opportunity, which means not paying so much attention to that nagging inner voice.

But don't do it looking for a reward. A "medal." You'll be disappointed. The rewards are all internal, and if you're not finding them, then you're doing it wrong.

'Cause it ain't about you, maggot!

Which is what happens in sports teams, and military units, where you're serving your teammates, your shipmates, your squad members. In a larger context, you want to believe you're "serving your country." You hope your country is worthy of your service. That your service means something.

Make your life mean something to the people around you. Do your best. Always interrogate what your "best" is. But don't get hung up on the results. Just keep doing your best. That's the only thing you're responsible for, but always be kind to yourself too.

Maybe "bootcamp" is better than drinking, or other forms of substance abuse. But it's a temporary reprieve at best. Because the emptiness remains, and the only thing that can fill it is some kind of meaning.

We are all in this together. Everything we "have" can be taken from us. Ultimately, it will be.

All we ever really have are these moments to live, and each other.

All of us.

(Best blog post I could come up with. I'm an authority on nothing. I make all this shit up. You're strongly encouraged to do your own thinking.)

Originally posted at Nice Marmot 18:03 Saturday, 30 March 2024

Back when I was conceiving of what I might want to include in my midwatch entry, I stumbled upon this book. I made a "mental note" to go look for it later, and fortunately it was one that didn't evaporate.

It's not cheap, but the subject matter is likely of specialized interest. I've read two of the entries, and it's well written and researched. I'll do a more thorough review after I've read the entire book.

My father was something of a poet as a young man of 18 in the Pacific aboard an LCS, a "Mighty Midget," dodging kamikaze attacks and firing rockets ashore at Iwo Jima. Dad had dropped out of school in the 8th grade to go to work full time to support his widowed mother. That's what he told us; but now I'm wondering what the laws were regarding child labor back then? Anyway, at 17, he enlisted in the navy and the rest is history. These poems were written by commissioned officers, many of whom appear to be Naval Academy graduates. Dad got his GED in 1967, at the age of 40. He was very proud of it, attending "night school" classes to prepare for it.

Anyway, I'm more interested in history these days than the future. Looking forward to this.

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Originally posted at Nice Marmot 06:54 Saturday, 30 March 2024

Mitzi saw this pic and had an idea. She wants to see if we can have a laundry sink installed in the laundry room. We'd remove one of the cabinets and buy a matching washer so we could stack the washer and dryer. She's not fond of using the kitchen sink to empty buckets or containers of water that was used to clean the floors.

Frankly, I don't know why we bought such a large washer and dryer in the first place, except we did it without thinking about it. It seems like our default setting is to "go big." I'm sure there will be times when we may wish we had the larger dryer. LG makes a 7-something cubic foot model, but I think yesterday showed it should be adequate for most of our regular needs.

I think the room can accommodate a sink, but it'd be a significant plumbing renovation. Obviously, water and a drain are present. The stack would go on the right. A lot of drywall would have to be removed to make the plumbing alterations, and I suspect water to the house would be off during that effort. Shouldn't take more than a day though. The drywall replacement would take another day probably. Her project though. I'm sure it'll be pricey and that may be the deciding factor.

Originally posted at Nice Marmot 06:41 Saturday, 30 March 2024

This guy was one of the first things I saw on my walk yesterday after having the dryer delivered and the Midwatch entry sorted.

Originally posted at Nice Marmot 06:18 Saturday, 30 March 2024

Because I had to.

Originally posted at Nice Marmot 06:11 Saturday, 30 March 2024

The ventless dryer works as advertised. In fact, I was impressed that I couldn't really tell anything different from using the regular dryer. The clothes maybe weren't quite as hot coming out of it, but they were definitely warm and dry.

I glanced at the Tesla app to see how much power the house was pulling during the drying cycle, and I'm guessing it was about 800 watts, which is a fraction of what the normal dryer load is. That'll be healthier, long term, for the Powerwalls, and allow us to be more self-sufficient or put more power on the grid.

I didn't install the optional drain hose because I wanted to see if it worked before I did all that. The drum was pretty near full, I suppose I could have added the tablecloth that was in the wash with the rest of that load, but I didn't want to go too far. At any rate, a nearly full drum extracted almost exactly 1.5l (that's "liters," since that was the side of the measuring cup I could see) of water. It collects in a reservoir at the top of the dryer that you have to empty between loads.

Once I was certain it worked, I wanted to connect the drain hose since Mitzi wasn't keen on emptying the reservoir. I wanted to use it to poor on the plants outside. But she's in charge of laundry, so what she says goes.

So, where's the hose? You'd think they'd tell you, but unless I'm blind, nowhere in the manual does it mention that it's in the accessories box. I found it there as a last resort. It wasn't like any hose I expected, which was good too, very thin; because I had to wedge it in with the drain hose from the washer, and there was just enough room to do it.

Removing the standard hose from the back of the dryer was tough. (The standard, internal hose, carries the water from the condenser to the reservoir.) Just pull really hard. Harder than you think you ought to. After that, the hardest part was finding a way to wedge it in with the washer hose, working in very close confines with little visibility.

I installed the LG Thinq app, and that was kind of a pain. Got the dryer on the network, so I can see what it's up to. I don't see a great deal of utility in it, but maybe it'll prove more useful going forward. I expect it's more a surveillance capitalism effort than anything else.

The big mystery is what happened to the little rack that went in the drum for drying things "flat." I'm certain it was in the drum when it arrived, the literature was sitting on it. But looking around after getting the drain all hooked up, I couldn't find it. Anywhere. I can't imagine the delivery guys took it with them, unless they thought it was part of the packing material. Anyway, chatted with a Home Depot rep by text and we're supposed to follow up on Monday and see what the status is.

Originally posted at Nice Marmot 16:09 Friday, 29 March 2024

At the end of my walk I spotted this "murmuration" (which I guess is most appropriately used with starlings) of cedar waxwings. It was very cool watching them wheel about as a flock. Not as huge as a flock of starlings, but beautiful nevertheless. This was one of a "spray and pray" effort as this was unexpected. Looking at the shots, I might have done better backing off on the zoom. But I thought this was cool, even if it's not a "great photograph."

Originally posted at Nice Marmot 10:43 Friday, 29 March 2024

Stuck my head out the door this morning, and it was there so I took the shot.

A shower, some laundry and then a few more chores are in store. Mitzi gets back tomorrow.

Originally posted at Nice Marmot 10:32 Friday, 29 March 2024

Well ok!

So far, so good. It's been over 30 minutes now and there haven't been any new additions to the event summary!

I think I got it licked.

I could've gone to the Tinderbox forum and someone would have pointed out my error immediately, regarding the parens. But I'm trying to learn this stuff, and as I think I mentioned before, I need to do it wrong, and then figure out how to do it right in order to learn anything. I've had people help me before, many, many times. But it didn't "stick." It seems like I have to go through the frustration and persistence in order for it to gain purchase in my memory.

Didn't always seem to be this way.

Well, if that's working correctly now, I'm going to try to figure out how to reformat that text to make it a little more attractive/useful.

Wish me luck. (I'm a glutton for punishment.)

...

Later.

Just as I went to post this, the delivery truck pulled up, about 0820. Dryer has been delivered. They plugged it in and verified that it turns on, but I haven't done an op test.

I started to look at the manual then remembered it was a beautiful day, so I went for my walk and I've just returned.

Midwatch has behaved itself throughout, and no extraneous summaries have appeared. I do believe this issue is resolved.

Hallelujah.

Originally posted at Nice Marmot 08:15 Friday, 29 March 2024

Time flies when you're debugging. Or something.

Anywho...

Ventless (heat pump) dryer arrives today. I've pulled the old one away from the wall and unplugged it, per directions from Home Depot. They're supposed to arrive between 0730 (a half hour ago) and 1100. My guess is closer to lunch. We'll see.

Took another look at the Midwatch thing while my brain was still "fresh." It's "working," but it seems to work too much. I needed to put a conditional in front of the runCommand action, and I probably constructed that incorrectly, omitting parens around the test, if ($Text==""), which should say, "If the $Text attribute is empty is true," then it goes on to runCommand. If it's false, i.e. there's a summary already in there, it should just exit.

I corrected it in the note that was giving me problems (it kept adding the summaries), when I should have corrected it in the prototype. Fixed that, then it still kept happening. Went back and looked at yesterday's Midwatch, and the Edict in that entry had been edited in my earlier efforts and it was still wrong, so it ran and the little Automator app that runCommand runs always looks for the latest Midwatch entry and adds the summary, so I figured that's where the additional entries were coming from. Fixed that.

Went back a few days and verified all the other Midwatch entries had inherited the corrected code from the prototype Edict, and they had. So far, it's been behaving itself.

But I'm almost afraid to look at it again.

Yesterday it was raining, and by the time it stopped I was waiting for some guys to come by to install new hydraulic cylinders in the Murphy bed Mitzi had installed. They were supposed to be here by 1100 too, but got hung up and didn't show until 1430. So I didn't walk yesterday, though by mid-afternoon it was a beautiful day. So no excuse, I guess.

It's beautiful out there today too. But I know if I go I'll get to the midpoint of my walk where it'll take me 30 minutes to get back and they'll show up. Hopefully they'll be here before lunch and I'll just take a late walk.

In the meantime, I guess I should post this and then go look and see if Midwatch is behaving itself.

Originally posted at Nice Marmot 07:57 Friday, 29 March 2024

I'm guessing we haven't priced in the risk of 100K-ton cargo vessels or tankers knocking down bridges into the cost of doing business.

If I were the All-Being, Master of Time, Space and Dimension, I'd issue a requirement that all vessels over a certain tonnage, transiting through channels passing beneath a bridge or power lines not only have a pilot aboard, but be escorted by a tug with sufficient power to wrestle the vessel away from any vital infrastructure in the event of a loss of power or rudder control. And such vessels travel at a reduced speed such that the mighty little tug can make its way between the unguided missile and a sudden economic downturn in time.

Engineers can compute the mass and velocity figures to determine what vessels would be required to observe the new regulations. Costs of dedicated tug escorts on standby 24x7 to be borne by shipping companies, passed along, as they inevitably are, to their customers.

Last time this happened was 44 years ago. What are the odds it's going to happen again anytime soon? Is it worth the risk? I'd say "Better safe than sorry," but what do I know?

Originally posted at Nice Marmot 12:51 Thursday, 28 March 2024

I replaced the batteries in the kitchen radio this morning. I use Eneloop Pros (the black ones) in it and some of the other radios and sensors around here. I logged it, as I've been logging replacing the air filter on the air handler, and will on the air purifier (BlueAir Pure 211+), and the water filter in the fridge, which went south last night.

I decided I wanted to have a container that gathered all those "replace" notes so I could quickly see when the last time was I replaced something. I want to get a better idea of the longevity of the Eneloop Pros in certain applications, and then compare that with using the regular (white) Eneloops. Likewise with the water filter in the refrigerator. The fridge usually reports that it's time to change the filter, but it hasn't this time. We had an additional person in the household for the past two months, so perhaps the extra demand caused it to expire early.

Anyway, I needed to create an Agent to look for notes that contain the word "replace" in the $Name. That's a pretty safe query for a comprehensive list, as I usually begin the log entry "Replaced batteries in..." or "Replaced air filter..." The entry records the action I performed, so it's unlikely I'll ever make an entry that doesn't include that word.

So the agent query looks like this:

$Name.contains("Replace")

This returned four entries:

Replaced batteries in ARANet4

Replaced batteries in air quality sensor (indoors)

Replaced batteries in kitchen radio

Ordered Replacement Water Filters

I don't know why I used title case on that last entry, because I was surprised to see it. The .contains dot-operator is case-sensitive. If I had written "Ordered replacement water filters," I don't think it would have gathered it. So I changed the $Name in the original to sentence-case, and indeed it vanished from the results.

Just to exercise my Tinderbox-fu, I changed the dot-operator to .icontains (case-insensitive), and sure enough, the sentence-case entry returned.

I'll leave it case-insensitive for now.

Just gonna high-five myself and go take a nap.

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Originally posted at Nice Marmot 11:26 Thursday, 28 March 2024

I've been pretty disengaged on local issues, apart from the occasional letter to the editor. Running for state representative pretty much exhausted whatever stores of public service desire I might have had. Made me more of a misanthrope than I already was.

But it's been a few years now, and my encounter with the North Florida Land Trust kind of sparked something.

I subscribe to an email list from the Jacksonville Climate Coalition, and I read about a meeting that was coming up called the Resilient First Coast collaborative. I didn't find out much about it, but I put it on the calendar and attended it yesterday.

It takes a lot to get me out of the house these days.

It was well attended, about thirty-some folks in a large conference room. Mostly government and public agency reps, a couple of non-profits. The chair of the Northeast Florida Green Chamber policy committee was there, and I'm a member of that committee.

I spoke up a couple of times, suggesting that they might seek more engagement from non-profits that serve vulnerable populations, in terms of any insights they may have regarding resiliency. Although there were a couple of reps of non-profits in the audience, they were not directly serving vulnerable populations like Feeding Northeast Florida, and HabiJax (Habitat for Humanity local chapter). I got the impression it might have been a new idea.

The other thing I mentioned, looking through the definitions section of the draft document they were circulating, was the absence of logistics as a key term. We learned from the pandemic that we ought to have a thorough understanding of the logistics supply chains that serve us, so we can think about or anticipate disruptions due to climate or other disasters. Toilet paper during the early part of the pandemic came to mind. I suggested they might focus on food, fuel and medicine.

I don't know how helpful that was. Logistics is very complicated, and not a great deal of it is under any one entity's control. But I think any understanding of "vulnerability" ought to include an appreciation of the "flows" of resources into the region.

I told one of their reps I'd send them an email.

My cognitive dissonance was high. These are all nice people. Public spirited. Aware there's an issue. Wanting to do something.

But there's no sense of urgency. Little in the way of leadership. Here's their web site. There are no years on those dates, so I have no idea if this is current. I'll ask. (Oh, here's the actual web site.)

Oh well. You do your best, and the rest isn't up to you.

At least it got me out of the house.

Originally posted at Nice Marmot 07:45 Thursday, 28 March 2024

I think.

Went back to the Automator application, which sole function was to populate the $Text attribute with a summary of the next three days' Calendar events.

I'm getting better, or at least more familiar, with Automator. I figured out how to set the value of a text variable from an input.

I learned earlier how to pass an Automator variable to an AppleScript in an Automator workflow.

So I did the whole thing in Automator, which means I don't need the function at all.

The prototype p_Day contains the edict

runCommand("open -a MidwatchEntry");

The AppleScript in the Automator application MidwatchEntry now creates the entire Midwatch entry. It doesn't just try to paste the contents of the clipboard into the $Text attribute of the Midwatch entry created by the function fMakeMidwatch, which is now defunct. It's the same AppleScript that creates entries for Mail items, except it doesn't query for the $Name and $Text, instead creating them from variables defined in the workflow.

But...

As I was writing this, Tinderbox blinked. I have four documents open, and that kind of suggested one of them had just done something, and I suspected I knew which one.

So, putting an Edict in p_Day to run MidwatchEntry wasn't a good idea. Scratch the above.

It was fine running strictly as Action code, Tinderbox wouldn't create another Midwatch note on its own. But AppleScript will.

(Hilarity ensued earlier as multiple copies of the Midwatch entry kept getting generated. Every time I'd delete one or two, another one would appear. Insert Sorcerer's Apprentice reference here. Every "touch" of deleting one stimulated the creation of another one. Oy.)

I was going to try and figure out a conditional, but then I had another thought. (It's morning and though I didn't sleep well, I think better.)

The OnAdd action will run precisely once. So I added the runCommand action to the onAdd attribute of p_Month. p_Month creates each new day, (And I'm about to learn if I'm an April fool.) and as it adds the new day it will run MidwatchEntry, which will find that new day and create its namesake in it with the calendar event summary, and then sit quietly until the next time it's called, roughly 24 hours later, not every few hours or every time some change occurs to the document.

At least, I hope so.

I've been wrong before.

So wrong, so many times before.

Originally posted at Nice Marmot 07:02 Thursday, 28 March 2024