Late August: Seasonal changes in the Willamette Valley

High temps have mostly been in the 80s, but even when they have gone higher, it
hasn't been uncomfortable. The days are very noticeably shorter now, and high
temps haven't been sitting on a plateau until well into the night. They've been
at a high for 1-3 hours, and dropping after 1700 or so. Low temps have been in
the low 40s, not anywhere between the high 40s and low 60s.

Still dry as hell, and the late-summer landscape is a picture of devastation,
after this record-breaking warm year. The blackberries are mainly done, pears
are hitting the ground, the potted hydrangea bloom has mostly faded, etc.

The first mouse is in the garage, chewing up an old sweatshirt rag for nesting
material.

I have a very distinct sense of seasonal change. All those things that I wanted
to accomplish this spring and summer, but life intruded? Forget that stuff
until next spring. Better to remain in the moment, and focus on what I can
still accomplish, rather than what I did not accomplish. Though it might be
worthwhile to write a few notes on what did not happen, and why. And set an
alarm to review those note files in your calendar. So that it doesn't happen
next year as well, for the same reasons. Which would be a Bad Thing.

Control is So Very Old-School

I have no idea what this blog will be about. I do security things at fubarnorthwest, but this is intended for everything else. So, a catch-all. I have no intention of writing multiple blogs, divided by subject. There's the security blog, and this everything-else blog. Right now greg-freestyle, is about birds, because there's an interesting intersection between birds and citizen science. I love me some birds, but also some physics, astronomy, and data analysis. And there are a lot of social, and societal (not regarded as the same thing) issues that confuse the hell out of me. Plus a lot of clueless systems admins (and scientists, for that matter) that don't seem to have much of a grasp on reality.

Anything might turn up here; it's a dumping ground for random crap. Perhaps readers will supply me with a clue. Because, you know, having a clue is A Useful Thing. I do, however, reserve the right to beat on people when required. This is not a place for e.g. political diatribes, unless I am the author.

That might seem unfair, but it isn't, really. This is Blogger. The notion of bringing down the banhammer never did scale particularly well, and it's pretty much impossible on Blogger. Not being much of a control freak, this doesn't really bother me. I can just ignore you, or point out why I am ignoring you.

My blog, my rules, my rants and/or commentary. I get to be the judge of what differentiates rants, commentary, and thoughtful discussions. NOT. I expect to have most of my fun watching the weird places that human nature drives us toward, as humanity learns to deal with a very different future.

Here's Nirvana, on what may be the greatest copyright infringement mechanism known to man, YouTube, but is only the slightest taste of the societal disturbances to come. It may have been taken down by the time you read this. Fine. One of the things we need to think about is what we should just accept as ephemeral data, what should be preserved, and what time scales we are talking about. There is a large difference between clinical drug trial data and a Nirvana video.