Networking in Paradise...

Networking in Paradise...  I temporarily mounted (on a simple shelf) the shed's networking gear, outside my future second-floor office (photo at right).  The tiny red box is the amazingly powerful MikroTik RB2011UiAS-IN router.  It's far smaller than the Cisco SG300-20 switch it's sitting on, or than the TrendNet AC1750 wireless router standing vertically alongside it.  All this stuff is on the other side of the wall from where they'll eventually live.  Then I ran the networking wires on the ceiling of the first floor, up to this gear, and made correctly-sized patch cables for all the interconnects.  The result is a neat temporary installation, and a simple move once I figure out how I'm going to mount this gear inside the office.  It won't be a crude shelf like this, but I haven't yet decided what it will be.  I'm leaning toward an enclosed wooden cabinet, with some slow (quiet) fan driven ventilation and filtered air input.  Sounds like a nice little wood-working project, doesn't it?

Awesome breakfast and orange cake in Paradise...

Awesome breakfast and orange cake in Paradise...  Debbie's at it again – says she's breaking out the inner farm girl.  First she made me an awesome breakfast – simple, but really good: homemade hash browns, eggs over easy, applewood smoked bacon, and fresh squeezed orange juice.  I was stuffed by the time I finished that off!  Then she made a Moroccan orange cake, with orange icing.  Oh, my.  So good, especially with a nice glass of milk!

Why are blue (Democratic) states turning red (Republican)?

Why are blue (Democratic) states turning red (Republican)?  Interesting discussion from the perspective of a liberal.  The lead:

It is one of the central political puzzles of our time: Parts of the country that depend on the safety-net programs supported by Democrats are increasingly voting for Republicans who favor shredding that net.

The central conclusion of the writer (Alec MacGillis) is that the problem (from the Democrat's perspective) is different than it appears at first blush.  It's not that the welfare recipients are voting Republican against their own self-interest.  It's that they're not voting at all.

For me the most interesting bit in here was the frank admission of the dependency of the progressives (Democrats) on the essentially purchased vote of the welfare recipient.  It's also interesting, as always, to see the chain of thought of a dedicated progressive...

The doomed moon of Mars...

The doomed moon of Mars...  Via APOD, of course.  Click the thumbnail to embiggen.  Full resolution version here...

If this is “high fashion”...

If this is “high fashion” ... then I'm a fan of low fashion.  Otherwise, speechless, I am...

Well, we have a well in Paradise...

Well, we have a well in Paradise...  Elray is all finished with the well drilling, and yesterday afternoon he drove down (with his lovely wife, Laura) to start up his rig and drive it out.  It's been here for a month and a day, long enough that Elray seemed to become part of the family here – I joked to Laura that if he had been here any longer, we'd have to file the paperwork to adopt him.  :)

The well is producing 30 GPM at minimum, and the static water level is just 38 feet below ground level.  That means we have 283' of water column in the pipe, a modest cistern all by itself!  We're going to install a low-capacity pump (which Elray will install over the next few weeks) and pump it into a much larger cistern.  I'll run a pressure tank from that larger cistern, so the larger (and less reliable) pump will be easy to access and service.

For those interested in the underground geology, I've reproduced Elray's meticulous “drill log” in the screenshots below.  I've seen the log for my neighbor's wells (these are all public record here in Utah), and they're not nearly as detailed.  Elray does nice work!