Jamcleat » travel

Forbidden Fruit II

cbcalvin — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 10:50:25 +0000

I do not claim any understanding of Nelder-Mead or anything like it, also called a downhill method of finding a minimum for a system of equations, which, if you keep up with these things, may be old news. But consider the possibility of the inverse, nearing the summit realizing that whatever your strategy and method, the climb has led you up the wrong peak. Or more to the point, in the valley, you cannot realize or see that the adjacent (or some very distant) valley is lower but not chosen because the initial solution set off in the wrong direction. The desired goal is now distant. Maybe in Step n, there could be a global check for other minima. Or maybe this accomplishes that trick.

Portland Oregon Geologic Field Trip

cbcalvin — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 15:21:51 +0000

While looking for information on “splines”, I stumbled over an interesting article in the Community Resources section of the Resources Tab for the Geology Department of Portland State University. The pdf file is a Self-guided tour of Portland, Oregon’s geology. This field trip provides an introduction to the geology of the Portland, Oregon, area. Five field trip stops, all accessible by public transportation and walks of easy to moderate difficulty, provide opportunities to see outcrops of Columbia River Basalt, Troutdale Formation, Boring volcanic field flow and vents, Portland Hills Silt, and a small landslide. I have never had a chance to visit the Northwest but might like to some day. This paper is an exciting chance to visit the neighborhood of Mt. St. Helens vicariously. And a way to spend a day or two out and about in the Portland area.

Also exciting is the description of the floods in the Portland area on 20-15 thousand years ago. Water levels 150m higher than current sea level! What short memories humans have. Maybe the geologists should buy the climatologists a cup of coffee and fill them in on life on earth.

Seven Chinese Brothers

cbcalvin — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 11:26:49 +0000

Heard this song from REM on World Cafe. Had a flashback to the the library hour when the librarian read Five Chinese Brothers, a similar story, aloud to the gathered children including me. We read it to our kids. Younger folk may have heard the Seven Chinese Brothers with watercolor illustrations. If we recognize the talents of all of our neighbors and brothers, it will help us all to achieve our maximimum,

Honduras

cbcalvin — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 02:45:26 +0000

From various sources that I have seen, there was no coup in Honduras, rather an orderly execution of legal proceedings to enforce existing law. Honduras, having put up with dictators who cannot let go (Samoza family), put a clause in its Constitution that presidents serve 1 term. If the president tries to change the law, he is out. It is in the constitution. Former president Manuel Zelaya tried to have a referendum to change the law. When the referendum was was ruled unconstitutional, he was going to hold the vote anyway as a “non-binding” referendum. The Honduran Supreme Court ruled that the former president was trying to change the law and was therefore to be removed from office. He was removed. Previously scheduled presidential elections to follow.

The Obama administration seems kind of thick here. They lifted the visa of the Honduran Supreme Court Justice that signed the removal warrant along with the visas of a couple of others. President Obama may be on the wrong side of of the rule of law. Perhaps the President is getting bad advice from a poor lawyer on his staff. Perhaps that someone needs to be in private practice instead of messing up the hemisphere.

U2 Joyride

cbcalvin — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 20:29:38 +0000

In this YouTube clip, the host of the British Top Gear show gets a ride in an U2.

Rainbow Falls Hike

cbcalvin — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:49:32 +0000

Rainbow Falls

I went on a hike last Saturday to Rainbow Falls in Jones Gap State Park. The trail is 2.6 miles long from the parking lot with about 1000 feet of rise. It was a beautiful day, not to hot, partly cloudy, low humidity, light breeze, no bugs. What a difference from two weeks ago. The trail was different too. It was clear and well prepared with steps where required making the climb less difficult.

Non-News

cbcalvin — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 15:52:51 +0000

Governor Sanford was away for a while. I guess that I would not have noticed if it had not been for the tizzy that everyone seems to be in. He was in Argentina or on the Appalachian trail. Sounds like a game of “Telephone” may be responsible for the accurate information. If Assistant Governor Andre Bauer wandered away I doubt that anyone would notice. Unless he was trying to fly an airplane with the brakes on. Or land with the wheels up.

Headliner

cbcalvin — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 04:06:16 +0000

There is a sign posted on a power pole on a road that I travel. It says “Do you need a headliner replaced?” with a telephone number. I suppose I should call the number to find out if the person behind the advertising is a repairer of automotive interiors or an aspiring entertainer.

Michael Masley

cbcalvin — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 02:20:18 +0000

One of the CD’s that I just took off the player is by Michael Masley. I think that I bought this one near the corner of Jefferson and Hyde in San Francisco in 1999 when I was there for a SHARE conference. I guess that Michael Masley is still going strong as attested by his own web site and the number of Google entries. But most especially by the Wikipedia article. A very intense, dedicated, talented and interesting fellow. He played on the street outside Mac Expo in January.

Spread of Language

cbcalvin — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 02:42:18 +0000

By an interesting coincidence, I received a mailing from The Great Courses with a free sample lecture on the spread of language through Austronesia just as I was reading the chapters in Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs and Steel on the very same topic.

The lecturer is very good and maintains interest on the topic but he is also using an overhead or projected presentation as he seems to pause to point or indicate features. I suppose this is one good reason to pay $400 to $1000 to take the real college class as opposed to getting just the lecture for $40 to $80.