Obama's characterization of Islamic terrorists...

Obama's characterization of Islamic terrorists...  This has been a big flap over the past few days, and several readers have asked what I think about it.  The answer is complicated, and I struggled to put it into words even for myself.  Fortunately for me, Ann Althouse has done a great job of it – I find very little in there to disagree with.  And it is complicated :)

Ten years ago today...

Ten years ago today ... I wrote the very first post on JamulBlog.  This post is the 11,327th post I've written since then – an average of over three posts per day.

I can scarcely believe I did that!

To the 12 or so people who regularly read this little blog: thanks for sticking with me!

Mumbling = phonetic reduction...

Mumbling = phonetic reduction...  And that's a form of data compression...

Recognize the objects at right?

Recognize the objects at right?  No?  They're maps...

If you're old enough...

If you're old enough ... then you'll remember that not so very long ago the biggest problems facing humanity in most of the world were starvation and disease.  Now a big problem everywhere is ... obesity.  I'm 62, and almost every day I read or see something that reminds me just how much the world has changed within my lifetime...

Five years of Solar Dynamics Observatory data...

Five years of Solar Dynamics Observatory data...  Happy birthday, SDO!  You will most definitely want to play this video back on full screen. 

When I first got interested in astronomy, back in the '60s, the Kitt Peak solar observatory was the pinnacle of solar astronomical tools.  It was hampered by all the usual problems of having an instrument under a blanket of obstructing atmosphere, plus it was completely dependent of silver halide photographic film, drastically limiting the wavelengths it could observe.  Now, 50 years later, the great solar observatories are all in space.  They have a completely unobstructed view of the sun, 24 hours a day.  They use electronic imaging sensors to observe at wavelengths stretching from HF radio all they way up to X-rays.  The difference in the quality (and quantity!) of the scientific data is almost unimaginably large.  The closest equivalent to this video that could be had in the '60s were a few grainy, noise-filled, low resolution sequences of filtered visible-light images taken a few seconds apart.  It's like the difference between daguerreotypes and a modern 4K TV image, only even more so!

Meet the new Bush, same as the old Bush...

Meet the new Bush, same as the old Bush...  Well, on foreign policy, anyway...

Quote of the day...

Quote of the day...  This time from Rudy Giuliani:

I do not believe, and I know this is a horrible thing to say, but I do not believe that the president loves America.

I hadn't quite voiced it to myself like that, but I do believe Rudy is right...

Interesting Martian rocks...

Interesting Martian rocks...  Curiosity has spied some layered rocks (click to embiggen photo at right).  I'm no geologist, but the only way I know of for rocks to develop layers like that involves water, repeatedly flooding and evaporating.  I haven't seen any analysis from the team scientists (aka the folks who actually have some idea what they're talking about) yet...

We live in a very quiet part of the country...

We live in a very quiet part of the country...  According to a recent paper from scientists at the National Park Service, the noise levels in various parts of the country vary widely.  The eastern part of the country is generally much noisier than the the western part.  Cache Valley isn't far from the geographic center of the quietest region.  Yet another reason to be happy in Paradise :)