BeachWeb_January

I've tried one additional time (a couple of days ago Wednesday, 13th I think)) with the boardsailing 'rig' at our local Sailing Center ( http://www.usscmc.org ) but the 'deck was stacked against me (water-depth, wind-angle, etc. etc. etc. . - Ms. May didn't go that day because there was too much wind - we will probably try again tomorrow (Saturday, 30th ) but not sure - depends a LOT on the wind strength and direction. However, we are both convinced we can do this..- wish us Luck!!!

this is a "Night Blooming Cereus" - very unique flower; I usually see then when I walk out (about 05:30-06:30)to the garage to go tricycling; however, the blossoms have usually closed by the time I come back from tricycling about 3-5 hours later - if you don't 'see it early' you won't see it at all...

I THINK that this boat washed up on the beach (near here) in the 'wee' hours of Sunday night, 8 December or Monday morning, 9 December,. However this is third-hand-information from some guy I met, who was also looking at the boat. This guy said he had a condo with an Atlantic Ocean View, and had witnessed a lot of lights and what he thought was an effort by both _SeaTow_ and the _US_Coast_Guard_ to rescue the boat and it's occupants... I have never been able to find any other evidence...

these stained-glass-items are something like 30 years old: - Ship and Tree These may be old but they are still worth looking at!

Index to the rest of the web-page:

- click on one of these 'section-titles' to go directly there...

Sensor Based Software - Something to THINK about

Movies - Videos (primarily Netflix and Amazon Prime Video):

Books I've read recently with a tidbit of a 'book-report' in case you're interested

Pokemoning

Learning

Tricycling & Bicycling

Pythoning

YouTube.com things (mostly music)

Kiln Building - last one in New York State, next one in Honolulu

Ansible - something to THINK about!

Archive / date / version / etc.

Sensor Based Software:

This is a 'concept' that - perhaps does not 'strike the hearts of many' but it does tend to 'bother' me... Think about what you KNOW and what you PERCEIVE about software that 'takes input from 'SENSORS' ' (temperature, pressure, proximity, GPS, salinity, blood-gasses, etc. etc. etc.), runs those 'numbers' through some algorithm, and then 'takes charges' (or takes control of (airplanes, cars, human bodies (Medical software / equipment), drones, telephone conversations) based on what it sees / hears / "senses") -

There has been a "public outcry" about sensor based software and the 'perception' that because of it's decisions -that people have died (will die?) Boeing's '737 Max' airplane is a 'good example' of this issue; self-driving / autonomous cars are a 'current' example of this issue. - Think also of 'drones' flying around with who knows what software in them. Think about medical equipment - luckily for us - MOST (though not ALL) medical equipment, though complex and expensive 'reports' the status of sensors but MOST medical equipment does NOT actually 'keep the body alive' - most medical equipment merely reports the status of the sensors and it is up to the medical staff to understand what the numbers mean and how the patient (and medical staff) should respond.

HOWEVER, as time goes by and as "AI" (Artificial Intelligence) becomes more commonplace in equipment and software, the future may be a society in which many decisions are made on our behalf, - do we really (REALLY) want to have our lives depend on AI?

BUT - in the short-term - we could probably have (AI / Smart / Autonomous) cars tomorrow - if we didn't have to go through this 'stage' of development where human beings (texting, putting-on-eye-shadow, shaving, eating breakfast, talking to kids and other passengers) - THOSE are the PROBLEMs, not the algorithms (that don't do any of those things (much less get lost and have to figure out where to turn, next?))

If we (as a society) didn't have to go through the 'transistion' stage with "humans" in the way - maybe we could do all this tomorrow.

AND - YES - we've got to fix a number of things - like the FACT that ALMOST ANY "Company" who has software in their product is going to tell people / governments / regulatory bodies that the software is 'Secret / Proprietary' - so there will be no 'option' for someone to REVIEW that software before it kills someone? - and this whole 'for profit' concept in the mind of a big company will NEVER go away as long as there are companies who feel more responsible to their shareholders than to their customer's lives...

Netflix and other video things (movies / series / other 'visual' experiences):

If this doesn't scare you to death - then you're sleeping: "Project Dark Chapter" - by: Alex Ryan - about - ultimately - how 'safe' are 'e-books'! - ! - !

the other one that is pretty 'stunning' (if you REALLY THINK ABOUT IT!) -is how can we manipulate our own dream-scapes - let alone how can we manipulate other people's dreams - and - then - further - capture the 'brain-cycles' in dreams and in dreams of dreams (and so-on and so-forth) - pretty good movie - has Leonardo DiCaprio and Ellen Page (who's AWESOME!) Movie is called "Inception" - directed by Johnathan Nolan (who's brother Christopher Nolan was a key person behind "Person of Interest" (we are all just 'bad code'!)

There is / are a 'series' running on Netflix - that I wrote about months ago - it's called "American Odyssey" - but in / on some 'venues' it's called just 'Odyssey'. it's VERY GOOD - starring 'Anna Friel' - and it's about a lady who was on a helicopter and gets shot-down and all her (military) 'unit' is killed, and she is not - It's about the deserts east and about world and American politics and it's VERY VERY good and VERY thought-provoking

TV series: on 'Netflix' something called "Unit 42" - about a cyber-crime-group in Belgium (yes, you must watch the sub-titles)... - but the lead-lady is a French actress - "Constance Gay" - she's quit good - you want to look for the sticker she has just below the screen of her laptop, "Grep Harder" - an attention to the most common piece of 'hacking' / 'subverting' software - something called 'Grep' - if you don't know what Grep is - try this wikipedia link: - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grep

And yet - one more Netflix (movie) this time - if you're a 'Hillary Swank' fan this movie is pretty good - it's called 'I Am Mother' - about a flesh and blood kid born in space, but raised by a '(she)bot' and the 'stress' and 'mis-understanding' that the child (as a 'teen') goes through when meeting another flesh-and-blood being - a VERY INTERESTING and very thought-provoking movie!

Netflix has some 'new' movies - well - maybe they are just movies that I 'glossed-over' before - the other 'movie service' we use is Amazon Prime (Video)

Netflix has one that is a 'follow-one' to the 'Spooks' TV series from several years ago. This movie is called "MI-5" - and it's VERY GOOD! - Stars Peter Firth as Harry Pearce, the 'head' of a department and how he has to 'cope' with a very politicially iffy decision he has to make - EXCELLENT MOVIE...

On Amazon Prime Video (but available in other places) is a much older movie about 'Hancock' (also the name of the movie) - but the lead character's name is 'Hancock' and he's a washed-up 'SuperHero' that a public-relations guy in Los Angeles takes under his wing and gives Hancock a number of lessons to be learned that Hancock was not doing things "Correctly" (the 'RIGHT' way) - so the Public Relations guy helps Hancock get his act back together - it's about LEARNING to CHANGE for the BETTER. - very interesting...!!!

Another from Amazon Prime Video - they have all the James Bond / 007 movies for 'free' - there's not a lot of them I wanted to see again - but there are a few... -

Books - MOST of the books I read are "e-books" on my iPad, but every once in a while I find a 'printed-paper' book that I really like:

This one I had a HARD TIME getting-through - it says a LOT of things about our (USA) military and what it does to 'do what needs to be done' and how sometimes that 'message' doesn't get where it wants to go and how many people might get put in 'harms way' - it's a revealing book and a story that one can relate to - though I must admit, fully that I have never been in the military.

CAUTION on this Book: - the lead character is 'quite the chauvinist' - and it shows - if you're 'queasy' - skip this one: the book is "The Deserter" by Nelson DeMille

If you're looking for 'real-time / real-world' adventure, you can't go wrong with these young ladies, - both defected from North Korea, and 'lived to tell about it':

Another 'set' of books comes from new author "Carolyn O'Doherty" - the first (of the trilogy) is called Rewind - about teens who can 'rewind' time and help the police solve crimes - the Second book is called "Unleashed" - same author - you can buy it in hard-copy, now, in book-stores; e-books - that's a guessing-game at this point - I've e-mailed the people I know that are authors and/or librarians, and all I can tell you after this research is Don't Hold Your Breath waiting for an e-book; AND the e-book thing, I think will look WAY WAY different in 12 months than it looks today - and even more changed in another 5 years?! and if you do a lot of e-books, you should definitely read "Project Dark Chapter" by Alex Ryan - will make you, maybe, not ever want to see another e-book as long as you live -- might change your whole reading habit?!

Another 'murder-mystery' - some blood-gore and some other 'dark' things: - Karin Slaughter "A Faint Cold Fear" - her fourth-book - published in (I think) 2003 - she's now written well over 20 books and is still 'going strong'... I read another book of hers, early this year, or late last year - it was a 'short-story' -I did it as an 'e-book' (I think) on my iPad - it was called 'Blonde Hair, Blue Eyes' (2015) - also dark but suspense-full

Bruce
            Schneier: “Click Here to Kill Everyone”,  “Data &
              Goliath” - both these books are 'scare-tactic' books, they
            will tell you stories about how your computer (phone, iPad, house,            car, kids, lawnmower, and garden irrigation system WILL GET HACKED
            and SOMETIMES will 'hurt' you? - either physically, emotionally,            financially or socially... - Read at your peril, and then when
            you're done cancel your Facebook, cancel your LinkedIN, cancel,            cancel cancel - and you MIGHT be better off...

Hohn: “Moby Duck” - this book is HILARIOUS... - Back YEARs and YEARs ago (now) there was a (containter) ship going from Asia to the US West coast, with, on it, a container of 'rubber-ducks' (theoretically for kids in their bathtubs)... - Anyway, said ship ran into 'stormy weather' (to put it mildlly) - lost a container overboard, and in the container were boxes and boxes and even more boxes of (yellow)rubber-bath-tub-toys. - to make a VERY LONG Story (about bathtub-toys (and about the author)) this guy became obsessed with bath-tub-toys, and traveled the earth (and oceans) to find out more - it is PHENOMENAL what MANY of the bath-tub-toys went through, where they ended-up and the stories they could tell if we could understand. A TERRRIFIC READ!...

Neil de Grasse Tyson: “Death by Black Hole”, “Accessory to War” - Mr. (actually a PhD) Dr. I believe, actually) NdGT has written quite a few books but these are 'special' - either is very well written and has subject-matter that maybe you won't find in other places - but here they are VERY VERY WELL DONE!...

Thomas Allibone Janvier: - "In the Sargasso Sea" - just what it says - though what might be interesting is that this was written in 1898 (over 100 years ago) and it is - supposedly - a 'children's' book - very interesting about a passenger on two ships and what the protagonist does in / on both ships and then what he does "IN the Sargasso Sea"....

Space here for a 'new-thing' - very heartwarming-book called "_Catnip_" - by Michael Korda

- something you may want to 'check-out'?

Miscellaneous: Other INTERESTING things...

Some YouTube.com things: _Lucia_Micarelli_1 _Lucia_Micarelli_2

NOW for the 'quiz' - what characteristic do you see in VIDEO of her playing on-stage - what does she do that no other violinist does? - You won't see this in still pictures, but you WILL see it in videos....

AND: - while researching Patents (for this, that, the other) found this little 'gem': https://patentpandas.org/

Pokemoning GO progress / setbacks / status: getting there! (Level 33.37 and still counting!)

AND AND AND - I'm told that "Ingress" is a 'better' on-line-game from the people who brought us PokeMon Go - that Ingress is more

for 'nerds'? (like me, perhaps?) I'm going to have to study Ingress - more and try it 'more' and see for myself

LEARNING - Learning - learning - no matter how you look at it - we SHOULD (many of us do NOT) - spend our WHOLE LIFE learning, - if we quit learning when we get out of high-school or college - where will society be in 30 years? - Harumph:

THIS is a way to keep-on-learning: - OCW by MIT - It's most (though not all) of MIT's lectures - by various & sundry professors and presenters - and their course-notes, video-lectures, etc. etc. etc. - and it is GOOD STUFF! - and it is FREE

if you have NOT sat through or listened-to or YouTube videod this stuff you owe it to yourself to do so - and ALLL sorts of different subjects are presented - it is NOT ALL Computers and Electrical Engineering - there is / are a WHOLE BUNCH of different subject-matter-areas / courses, etc.

check it out - it's pretty good stuff - especially for FREEEEEE!!!

Tricycling:

Other cycling, things - there's a State Park (Jonathan Dickinson State Park (JDSP) _ near 'Tequesta" (about a 20 minute drive south), that we use for 'off-road' trails - here in Florida we hesitate to use the word 'mountain' bike - feeling as that is an insult to places that have 'real' mountains... - I think the highest natural land in Florida is about 300 feet - somewhere near Tallahassee (a LONG way from here!) -

ANYWAY - JDSP is supposed to be 'fee-free' (well - we pay a once-a-year fee) - but when you ride certain trails there is a 'fee-taker' that one must contend with: - _individual_trail_fee_taker_1_ _individual_trail_fee_taker_2_

And the Software I've been using on my iPhone (to log rides, give me maps with track on them, and create statistics - is (or has been) something called "CycleMeter" from a company called 'Abvio'. - CycleMeter is pretty good but I've decided three things:

NO Software gives you 'everything you want' - some gives you this - the other gives you that - and so on and so forth

NO software support people will tell you WHY they make what seem to the ride like idiotic choices

NO software is going to give you everything in a 'free' package - you pretty-much always have to pay for the 'advanced' version

couple of recent rides: ride 1 ride 2

AND - Bicycling - been doing the 'off-road-thing' at Jonathan Dickinson State Park - recently - boy was I OUT OF SHAPE for off-roading!

Pythoning:

One thing I've been doing more of is 'generic' Python programming, not as much oriented towards the Rhino3D thing as just learning new Python things... ' and the 3.x stuff is becoming 'dominant' -- this really helps me - because most of what i do is now 3.8 - except for my Rhino3D scripting which is 2.x based...

BUT PLEASE NOTE: _ Rhino6 is now available on the Macintosh (HURRRRRRRAAAYYYY!!!!!!)- and Rhino7 for Windows

is being worked-on - so I'm Rhinoing also - as well as Pythoning - but using the two separately, for the most part...

HOWEVER, there is, also, the differences between Active-State Python, CPython and IronPython (Microsoft) and 'generic' Python , and then to confuse you even more there is something called IPython (really just an IDE)... - and - the Rhino people use IronPython (because of their 'ties' and 'background' with Microsoft, but I use something called "Entropy Canopy" (which is going away soon!) and it is based on CPython, and then there's Python 2.x and Python 3.x and all of this stuff continues to 'complicate my life' - but - well everything in life has a 'trade-off' - and in the Python world - this is it... BUT - I may go to Ubuntu for all my Python stuff, but I may just buy another Macintosh - since it has 'native' Python installed when you get it -

BUT BUT BUT Catalina 'changes everything - and there are a couple things (actually WAY MORE than a COUPLE) that I really REALLY do NOT LIKE about Catalina - I may give-up Macintosh, entirely and move to Ubuntu - the jury is still out but it is NOT
looking good for Macintosh...

BUT - I'm trying to learn how write 'generic' Python, and sometimes I do better than other times (probably, though, percentage wise I do better with Rhino3D-Python than 'generic' Python, though now I'm moving into 'big data' and though my six year old laptop sometimes 'chokes' on 4 GIGABYTE files - sometimes it does quite well

when I can keep the file under - say - 100 MEGABYTES - but - size does not ALWAY MATTER?

Some Python help web-sites:

http://www.socratica.com " - they are very good at what they do - a lot of science and other subjects for students. - the lady who presents the Python stuff is " Ulka Simone Mohanty " - and she's a very very good presenter... - the other presenter of note is Lilianna de Castro and she does some things with abstract algebra that are quite good... the people that own Socratica and do the video and the editing and the putting-together of all the 'parts' are REALLY GOOD, - they present VERY VERY LITTLE of what they produce, themselves, but they have people to present the material on-camera that are excellent at what they do...

http://www.tutorialspoint.com " - they, though, lump python with the other 'scripting' languages, so you won't find their Python stuff with "Programming" you'll find it in 'Scripting Languages'...

there are other web-sites that do pretty well, " http://www.lynda.com " is quite good and there are plenty of others.

The nice thing about being interested in Python to 'grow my skills' is that Python has been around for nearly 30 years in one form or

another and so if you can't find what you want here, or there, there is always some place else to look for good information and lessons.

YouTube.com things you might be interested in...

And a NEW SECTION: - YES - I've known about 'youtube.com' for YEARS - but - their music is pretty good as well as welding and

programming sections... HOWEVER, if you're going to be 'serious' about music from YouTube.com on your computer - best to invest in some really (REALLY GOOD (read this as 'expensive') speakers for your computer... - here's a few things you can click on:

When Christopher Tin does something with South Africa's "Angel City Chorale":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWR9vW8BUFI

this is what happens when you have too much time in an airport coffee shop:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EOnFqsT9NU

Here's another (female violinist who's QUITE GOOD!:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFafFNZdPhI

I've been watching this lady for about 5-8 years and she only gets BETTER:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5YDxDuyKDI

there are certain combinations that only these people can play:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZb-SVm7eLE

Now - here's the 'original' - sung by the author:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrLk4vdY28Q

Here's yet another 'improptu - in a public-venue:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDVXoHB6U8c

All 'reproduction-technology' is NOT created equal, I had 'thought' that the earbuds that Apple gave you with this or that or the other were pretty darned good earbuds - WRONG WRONG WRONG - even the INEXPENSIVE ($25) SONY earbuds are WAY WAY better!...

Talented People with even more talented FEET: the foot-players on a 'MAXI' piano (not built by Boeing!)

AND- If you like 'marching-band-drums and other things you find' - click on this one

In New York City (where the hell else) the 'Lucky Chops" play in the subway station.

One of my Favourite songs - Leonard Cohen - one-more-time (in London)

the Pentatonix version (shot in the desert, mixed in the Studio!)

and yet another version(2) (Jeff Buckley (enhanced electrified-acoustical-guitar

and one of my FAVOURITE YOUNG FEMALE VIOLIN STREET PERFORMERS (version)

and there are bunches more but I'll let YOU DECIDE: - put this string in your YouTube.com find window: Hallelujah

Some new music things you might find interesting - go to YouTube.com and try these artists:

Karolina Protsenko and/or Karolina Protsenko Violin

I have one question, and ONLY one question about this Young Lady: - HOW (where did she buy her memory chips) - HOW does she keep all the music for all these songs in that tiny, 11 year old brain?

Here's another excellent, young, violinist street performer: Sandra Cygan

MORE YouTube stuff - mostly music related:

ALSO: - try this one! song: Kukushka singer: Polina Gagarina https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeBYrwe2d8Q the movie (name: "The Battle for Sevastopol" (which really is NOT about Sevastopol)) isn't bad, either; about a Russian lady (Lyudmila Pavlichenko) who was a sniper - with 309 confirmed kills reputed to be the best in the world - of all time?

AND - if you're into 'Chinese' instruments: - Guzheng -

two options: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cult08Zzxs

or the other one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsshPNE9JCw

here's a question - these were done in Paris - but did you 'catch' what store they were done in front of?

if you want a more 'modern' or 'western' tune you can follow-along-with "Despacito' (Luis Fonsi) - try this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZfOdoLoAK

here's another, if you liked the previous one(s) (this one was taken in Melbourne, (Austrailia)... - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iX9BlLRvUlY

Kiln Building:

We built yet another kiln in New York state- it was a 10-day 'ordeal' but it is, I guess, something I do 'well' or they wouldn't keep asking me to go back and do it again.. We had one several months ago - it was very small and quite close to home. We have another 'being scheduled' so to speak, in late January...

more pictures will come - sometime in the future! picture1 picture2

Ansible:

- have you ever thought about this: - We (as a society or as Earth-Dwellers) can not 'populate the galaxy', or settle other 'worlds' UNTIL we can solve / re-solve two issues:

faster than light-speed TRAVEL for humans and etc?

faster than light-speed COMMUNICATIONS (for messages / e-mail / financial transactions / commercial traffice)

- some science fiction writers have used the term "Ansible" (for the communicatiosn device-system) - Ursula K. LeGuin (Wikipedia-link) was the first to use this term - but it is a REAL PROBLEM - as is brought-out in the above listed novels 'Saturn Run' - as well as in "The Kraken Project".. .

think about this, also - (yes - I might be accused (yet AGAIN)) at 'making a 'connection'' where none is warranted...???

Think about THIS:

Most Sci-Fi movie and book 'authors' or 'creators' BECAUSE they 'ignore' the FACT that ansibles and/or FTL travel or communications is not POSSIBLE - in most Sci-Fi movies and books , this 'failure to accept' that FTL is not possible, the earth's scientists and mission commanders become the 'default' decision-makers? - rather than allow 'intelligence and wisdom' to be resident on the space-shuttle-travel-pod-whatever, the writers / creators 'assume' (probably irrationally) that the people on earth are smarter than the people on a remote planet or on a remote space-station or travel-pod.

THIS PUTS the scientists / mission controllers on earth in an odd situation - but doesn't allow the people CLOSEST to the problem to solve it ????

for those of you out there who have nothing better to do (and lots of money to spend doing nothing): - Let's get our minds wrapped around this problem and SOLVE it NOW...???

AND - near our house, here in Stuart, over a little-tiny-creek (that my tricycle-path runs over) the government is 'replacing a bridge' - and all the 'attendant' 'public-works' that entails...

here's a 'couple' of pictures - bridge-work-picture-1 bridge-work-picture-2 bridge-work-picture-3 bridge-work-picture-4

Archive BeachWeb monthly (and other) site(s): Click here for a list of the archived months

updated: 15:00 p.m. (USA-EST) Monday, 07 January 2020 by:_Bill_Schell_{Apple MacBookPro(10.15.2 )} revID:1c

Opening Picture(s) - hope to have at least one each month...