Ponderosa Pine

#ThickTrunkTuesday

#SilentSunday

On today's hike I saw this little gremlin attached to a wooden post marking a mining claim. Thought it was cute.

#Hiking #Wandering

Hiking up the canyon.

#FootPathFriday

Was digging through a drawer full of disk drives and other such items, looking for a USB drive I could re-purpose, and found my old iPod.
I plugged it in and let it charge, then tested it out. I'm amazed that a 19-year-old consumer device containing a battery and an actual hard drive still works and still takes and holds a charge. They don't build them like they used to.

#Electronics

Shower thought this morning:
AI companies are attempting to build new infrastructure, and are clear in their marketing that they think AI systems embody some risk to humans.

Generally speaking, infrastructure projects which might pose risk to humans have to signed off by a registered Professional Engineer. I wonder what would happen if someone reported AI companies to the State Board of Engineering in whatever state they are incorporated?

Although I'm sure that for x millions of dollars they could get a registered PE to risk their career and sign off on the system...

#ShowerThoughts #Engineering #AI

Latest tech weirdness:

In my lab on campus, I have an analog seismometer connected to a datalogger, which is connected to a PC via wired ethernet. The seismometer and datalogger are powered from a LiFePO4 100Ah battery, which is charged weekly on Thursday afternoons.

When the timer kicks on and the battery starts charging, the charger creates so much EMI that the datalogger is unable to communicate via ethernet. It still collects data, but can't transfer the data until the charger turns off.

So I need a quieter charger. The problem is, how do I identify one which might emit less EMI? That's not something that manufacturers typically publish. I can start a loop of buy-try-return-buy-different, but that's not very efficient. Also I work remotely, the lab is 360 miles away. Every iteration requires a lot of windshield time.

I will also likely buy an assortment of ferrite cores and start clamping them on every available cable, but I don't have a lot of hope for that approach. I'd like to just wrap the charger in copper foil, but it would immediately overheat.

RF gurus, any suggestions?

I don't *even* know how to hashtag this...

#science #RF #EMI

Weird Tech Shit:
I often scroll Mastodon on a 10" Android tablet, using the web interface and the Vivaldi browser. Today it started misbehaving, if I click on the "like" star for a post with an image, it opens the image instead of liking it. And if I swipe up to scroll, it scrolls but also pulls up the bottom bar, showing about an inch of blank space below the bar.
So I opened Mastodon in the Duckduckgo browser, and it works normally, none of the above oddities.
Then I went back to Vivaldi. If I leave Mastodon open in Duckduckgo, it works normally in Vivaldi. When I close Duckduckgo, it misbehaves in Vivaldi.
WTAF??? Any ideas?

#Android #MastoHelp #Browser

NMDOT still reports the road as closed, but my neighbors drove it yesterday and said it's fine. So I'm going home, wish me luck.

Hmmm... what to do?
I'm in a different hotel in a different town, where I'm supposed to pick up a new trailer tomorrow. The highway that leads to my house is still closed due to flooding. Even if they open it, I don't know if the dirt road from the highway to my house will be navigable after 3.4 inches of rain. Normally I would solve this by going camping for a few days while the road dries out, but the roads to all potential camping spots are also flooded.
Maybe I just need to pick an interesting looking town and rent a room for a week while everything dries out? I'd really like some solitude, but right now I'm not sure how to accomplish that.

I'm not a fan of video, but this is just too good not to share. 5am yesterday morning, by moonlight, a black bear decides to take a bath in my stock tank.
For added entertainment value, watch the large white goldfish panic at this massive intruder.

#Wildlife

Mushroom forest growing in the horse arena.

#Mushroom #Desert

Frustrated. I just want to sit in the corner and cry.

A seismometer died that is used for an important outreach system (which I designed and built) at my university. That wasn't a surprise, the sensor was a crappy design and was at least 3 decades old.

Due to the current anti-science regime in the US, there is no money for replacements. I scrounged a replacement seismometer and data logger, negotiating with two often-at-odds academic departments for use of the hardware.

I spent this week installing and configuring the replacements, including building a custom data cable (a whole day hunched over a soldering iron), and rewriting the code that puts the data on a web site.

The system worked! I celebrated! It ran for 2 days plus about 40 minutes, then this afternoon the data logger refused to communicate over the network. All the status lights look normal. I've opened a ticket with the manufacturer, but they're in Canada. If we have to ship it back for repair in this Time of Tariffs, what then?

Also, I live 360 miles away. I have appointments near home next week. If the system needs my hands-on presence for troubleshooting, I'm going to spend a lot of highway time.

So yeah, if anyone needs me I'll be the blob of protoplasm and tears in the corner. 😢

Fediverse, meet Franklin. Franklin is a Savannah cat, and is my wife's latest catquisition. He's quite large (as Savannahs sometimes are), and seems to be well-behaved and is fitting in well with (most of) the other kitties.

#Caturday

#Fensterfreitag

I'm seeing a new bit of nastiness today, multiple friends sending emails titled "A SPECIAL DATE!" or "DON'T FORGET THE DATE!" with a "click on the invitation to see more details and to RSVP" button.

Apparently if you do so it commandeers your email account and sends similar messages to some or all of your address book.

So far I am only seeing it from gmail accounts, not sure if that is by design or coincidence.

DON'T CLICK THE MAGIC BUTTON!

#Scam #Virus

Was standing in the isle of the grocery store. Pulled out my phone, from which I use a multi-device synced open source notes app to access my grocery list (among many other things). The app informed me that I couldn't see my grocery list until I upgraded to the new version of the app. Upgrading takes half an hour, I only needed about six things from the store. I did NOT stand in the store waiting for the update.

Got back home, after shopping from memory. Got the same message on my linux desktop. Upgraded the app, the new version won't launch. There are two ways to install, I tried the second one and got an obscure Javascript error. It won't launch, either.

I swear that I'm going back to carrying a little spiral bound notebook and a pencil.

#Luddite

Currently: camping in the Gila National Forest, New Mexico, at 8600 ft elevation. Occasional rain, current temperature 57 F.
Tomorrow: driving to Scottsdale, Arizona. Elevation 1200 ft. Forecast high, 107 F.

Please send thoughts and prayers.

#Camping #Wandering

This unassuming lichen-covered boulder is the high point of Black Peak, elevation 9006 ft.

#MountainMonday #LichenSubscrube #Hiking

Seen on today's hike, the overall print is about the size of the palm of my hand.

I *think* this is probably mountain lion, with two overlapping prints, rear paw on top of the print of the front paw.

I'm certainly willing to be corrected if anyone has a better idea.

#hiking #wildlife