Archive for January, 2012

Nice to know I’m not alone, I suppose

Monday, January 16th, 2012

I’ve recently started using a “safe driving monitor” application for my smartphone. I thought it sounded interesting, and, for the most part, it doesn’t require any continuing attention. It beeps when it thinks I’m doing something wrong, so I can glance at it and see what it’s saying.

Tonight, we had snow in the area. There wasn’t much accumulation, but the roads were wet and visibility was reduced. I don’t like driving in those conditions, and neither did the app. It couldn’t determine accurately where the lanes were, so it gave me (according to the “end of drive” report) 35 warnings for drifting out of my lane. I can safely say that, apart from one warning that occurred when I was changing lanes, none of those were valid. Most of them occurred in a continual alternating right side/left side warning sequence when I was on the off-ramp from the highway. I don’t think I could have gone back and forth across the lane as quickly as the notices came.

So, yeah, I suppose it’s nice to know that I’m not the only one who has trouble driving at night when the road is wet.

Happy Birthday to …

Sunday, January 8th, 2012

Elvis Presley, who would have been 77 today.

The song of the day is not one of his, though. It’s an old fiddle tune written to commemorate a famous battle.

Happy Birthday to …

Saturday, January 7th, 2012

… Charles Addams, who would have been 100 years old today.

He’s one of my favorite cartoonists. I have most of the books that collect the Addams Family cartoons (Black Maria, Nightcrawlers, Favorite Haunts, Drawn and Quartered, Creature Comforts, Monster Rally, The Groaning Board, Addams and Evil), as well as a book that provides a lot of information about the Addams Family TV show (Addams Family Revealed). I’ve used a couple of the cartoons on housewarming invitations in the past. Perhaps that’s why very few people showed up?

Flames of the Chladni

Monday, January 2nd, 2012

I realize my post title sounds like the title of a low-concept fantasy novel, but it’s cooler than that. I presume physics imposes some maximum resolution and minimum spacing on the concept, but I can’t help wonder how far it could be taken.

Via.