Verdict: Duh . . .

You'll remember, loyal reader, that a week or so ago I embarked on a journey to read a book written by Albert Einstein meant to help the layman understand general and special relativity.

The verdict is in: Duh . . . 

I tried. I really tried.

Some of the concepts I recognized, such as relative motion over great, great distances making the speed of light "speed up" or "slow down" based on the perspective of the observer. I also recognized the idea that gravity bends light, and a few other things as well.

But when the book contains things that look like this, well . . . 

I'm certain if I really buckled down and studied I could get Ds in algebra all over again.

I'm such an Einstein.

Dark Sky at Night, Drivers Run Red Light

 

The Idaho Falls Astronomical Society* is pushing a petition to convince the city of Idaho Falls to adopt a local Dark Sky ordinance, with the aim of reducing light pollution in the area.

While I enjoy looking at the stars and other night phenomena myself, I'm not quite sure I can support this.

First of all - and maybe they look at this as a first step - it's not just Idaho Falls, but also Ammon, Iona, and Bonneville County they should be addressing, as there's plenty of light pollution to go around.

Addressing the issue on a county level makes more logistical sense, but I get the feeling they're either looking for the city to test the waters for a dark sky ordinance, or just aren't thinking big enough.

Also: This winter we visited Arizona, including Scottsdale, which has a dark sky ordinance. If it's truly being enforced there, I've got to say as a tourist I wasn't impressed.

The city is dark, natch. Meaning at night it's hard to see street signs, especially off the beaten path. We had to rely heavily on GPS navigation without the aid of many visual cues to get around. Combine this with what appears to be Scottsdale drivers' relaxed attitudes toward red traffic lights, the dark sky situation makes it interesting for visitors.

I also don't recall the night sky being any more visible there, though to be honest I was paying a lot more attention to the road since I couldn't see anything.

My experience is anecdotal, of course.

So I'll watch the local effort with interest, if not with much hope.

*Correction: The astronomical society is promoting the effort being pushed by the Southeast Idaho Dark Sky Alliance.

Curse You, Tiny Toilet!

Two of our toilets have been bad and have to be punished.

The story: The toilet in the kids' bathroom has been running for the last few weeks. I tried a new flapper, a new valve, but nothing was really working.

As I tinkered with it today I noticed a more serious problem: The toilet was leaking via the bolts that hold the tank to the bowl.

So I thought I'd be clever and replace it with the toilet from the basement bathroom I'm remodeling. Of course that toilet was also leaking from the bolts, probably because the seal dried out from disuse.

So we went to Home Depot, bought a new Kohler, and installed it. We're on a leak check for the next 24 hours, but I'm hopeful that problem is fixed. Now I just have to buy a new toilet for the basement.

The Sock

Allow me to introduce The Sock.

It arrived sometime in the recent past under mysterious circumstances. I say mysterious because no one who lives here will claim The Sock as their own. Yet it still shows up in the laundry and after everyone has claimed their clean clothes, The Sock remains on the table, abandoned and forlorn, until someone gets tired of seeing it and deposits it in someone else's bedroom, only for it to resurface again in the laundry a few days later.

So if you need a sock, let me know and I'll happily mail The Sock to you. You'll have to pay postage to get it back if it shows up again in our laundry, though.

Blame "Captain" Kook

If I had a nickel for every story told in our house with this ending, I wouldn't have to work anymore.

Funny thing, though. I have it in my head that it was "Captain Kook's" treasure. That's how I always say it. But I guess that's mandela effect.

Work today was . . . weird. My boss was gone, and other co-workers were at an all-day training session, so it was oddly quiet in our little corner of the world.

It was nice. The quiet is something I miss the most from working from home. Aside from the occasional trip to take the dogs outside, work from home was pretty quiet. No interruptions. No forced small talk in the hallways or restrooms (by the sinks, never by the urinals).

We'll See; I'm Pretty Dense

When I saw this at the local thrift, I knew it was coming home with me.

Not because I think I'll be able to understand any of it -- I peeked into the book before I bought it and saw algebra equations. But I'm gonna try.

Thus far, I'm on shaky ground. I understand the metaphor of lighting striking simultaneously in two different spots on train tracks and the light from the strike we're choo-chooing away from arriving later (relatively later) than the light from the strike we're approaching. On our minute scale the difference is less than negligible, but at interstellar distances, yeah, it makes sense.

But boy, with the first two chapters focusing - I think - on teaching me that we exist in a comprehensible three-dimensional space nearly going over my head, my hopes of understanding the rest aren't high.

Moronic Algorithm

 

Me: [hides a dozen Facebook groups offering AI-craptacular views of the lunar eclipse and the recent planetary alignment.]

Facebook: Oh, you must want MOAR low-effort, craptacular AI-related astronomy-adjacent groups to see.

Seriously, the algorithm is a moron.

Paris Waltz

I stumbled across this video on YouTube over the weekend. I'm a big fan of classical music and spent a few hours Sunday evening listening to various piano music.

I had no idea this was a modern composition by an "unknown" until I started reading the comments because I was unfamiliar with the artist.

Gotta say, well done.

One commenter said it didn't sound particularly Parisian, and I had to beg to differ. It reminds me of Erik Satie for one, and definitely has that vibe. It's got a lot of wonderful color to it, warm, yet spiky, maybe like a spring drizzle. I'd go to a concert or buy the album to hear more of this music.

Honors and Benefits - But A Middleman? No Thanks.

So we are members of AARP. That is supposed to bring us benefits.

One of the benefits is tax preparation help.

And I guess AARP member beggars shouldn't be choosers, but I'm not exactly thrilled with the help being offered.

Apparently, we can go to their tax prep center and they'll do our taxes for free. I would much rather, however, have an AARP discount on tax preparation software so I can not only continue doing my taxes at home as I've done them for many years past, but also help me kids with their taxes using the same software, getting a lot of bang for my buck.

Because with free tax prep help, all I'm really getting is a chose and a social interaction I'd much rather avoid.

With a discount on tax software, I'm getting a chore and the ability to amortize the cost of the software over a minimum of three returns, thus helping more people and not involving an extra middleman in my taxitude.

I'd rather not be Gil in this situation, rocking back and forth with my pathetic bag of receipts awaiting the doom the AARP taxman bringeth. I'd rather see the doom come myself.

I Hope I Got the Stupid Finger Pointing Right

Getting ready to film my own stupid scam Internet video