Spotted this guy (male red-bellied woodpecker) on a mid-day walk in the National Arboretum, in northeast Washington DC.
July 26, 2021 — 0
Red-bellied woodpecker
Photos
June 1, 2021 — 0
I like cicadas actually
Here in the northeastern United States there’s a big insect called a cicada, which makes very loud noise and moves very slowly. The most common ones here spend 17 years underground, then emerge each spring. Every year, their numbers are different, but the largest “brood” by far, last seen in 2004, is out now.
I live in central Washington, which is heavily paved and has few cicadas. My wife and I went for a walk yesterday in a park about 9 miles south of here, along the Potomac River, and there were clouds of them. They’re everywhere. They’re so dumb and clunky that they just fly into you:
And they’re loud. Their collective sound is like a sine wave, at the volume of a car alarm going off down the block:
I’m sure if the area around my house sounded like this, I’d be sick of them. But since I only hear them when I get to take a walk in the woods—and it makes the experience eerie and bizarre—I’m a big fan of the cicadas.
Oh also, we saw some bald eagles. This is the best I could do with my phone camera:
January 16, 2021 — 3
A walk around downtown Washington on the eve of inauguration
We live close to downtown Washington, the weather was cool but sunny, and my family and I finally had a few hours off. We took a walk to see what our city looks like, 10 days after the riot at the Capitol and 4 days before the presidential inauguration.
Stars and Stripes reporter Bob Reid put it well on Twitter. The city’s center doesn’t quite look like a war zone. Instead, “it looks more like a Cold War frontier zone in the ‘70s. Empty streets, barriers, bored armed troops.”
About half a mile from Pennsylvania Avenue, you walk past the first security perimeter, where National Guard Humvees or dump trucks are parked, along with arrays of jersey barriers, to block vehicles. A block or so before Pennsylvania Avenue, you hit the next ring of security, where pedestrians like us wait in line to be searched, then let in. From there, you can go all the way up to the metal fencing that blocks access to the National Mall and everything about 1,000 yards from the Capitol.
Here are some photos of what we saw. It’s grim. We’re so much worse off than we were four years ago.
And may I emphasize: f*** every one of my fellow Americans who has made this happen to my city and my country. You can all go straight to hell.
Click on each photo for full resolution. Like everything else on my site, these photos are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Yours to share and adapt, just give credit.
December 4, 2020 — 0
Friday afternoon
My wife took this photo of me working at home today. Why would I ever want to go back to the office? To have more mousepad space, I guess.
The microphone is for podcasting—got it 9 years ago for $100. I’m not sure what the cat is for—got it 17 1/2 years ago for free.
November 20, 2020 — 0
View from my home office this morning
June 20, 2020 — 2
Wearing this until Wednesday
On Thursday I had a metal plate screwed into the broken radius bone of my right wrist. Today (Saturday) I’m in only modest pain, but I’ll have this cast on my right arm until Wednesday.
I’m right handed, so don’t expect much from me that requires a keyboard for the next few days. On Wednesday, I should be going back to a brace that lets me use my fingers.
Thanks to the folks at Georgetown University Hospital who made it look easy on Thursday. I was in and out in less than 6 hours, 2 of them spent totally unconscious.
June 10, 2020 — 0
On the disabled list
You can barely see it in the picture, but I’ve slightly broken my wrist in two places while being an idiot in the park on Sunday, trying to jump from a tree stump to a high branch.
I’m not in horrible pain, which is why it took me three days to even schedule a doctor visit. But now I’ve got a fiberglass cast immobilizing my wrist and much of my right hand (I’m right-handed).
My output on this website is likely to slow down for a few weeks, because I can’t type anywhere nearly as fast as I’m used to typing. Bummer!
March 26, 2020 — 0
Photo
After many years of accumulating home office-type gadgets, working at home is tolerable.
In the frame: Mac Mini with dual monitors, MacBook Air, sheet-fed scanner, podcasting mic, HD camera, blu-ray burner, printer, mechanical keyboard, mouse, Hue lamp, amp, LED lighting, speakers, turntable, headphones.
If you find this horrifying, I totally understand. If it’s any consolation, there’s a washer/dryer and a litterbox behind me.
March 25, 2020 — 0
Photo
Can I afford it? Barely. But a 2014 laptop with a busted trackpad connected to a big monitor just wasn’t working as my main work machine.
This fully loaded Mac Mini arrived two days earlier than expected. You may hear a bit less from me over the next day or two while I set it up.
March 19, 2020 — 0
Photo
As an urban runner, I always notice the air quality difference when I get a chance to run in a forest or a rural setting.
On this morning’s solo run in Washington DC, that’s what the air felt like. The air really is noticeably cleaner.
March 11, 2020 — 0
Cleaned out
After seeing that Italy closed all stores except groceries and pharmacies due to the coronavirus outbreak, I said to the family, “Maybe we should go to Costco tonight.”
Virtually everyone else in DC had the same idea; the place was jammed on a Wednesday night. Here’s the “organic brown rice” display.
February 17, 2020 — 0
Betelgeuse, the rapidly fainting star
I just went outside here in Florida, where I’m visiting relatives, and yes, Betelgeuse, one of the most familiar stars in the northern night sky (it’s in Orion’s shoulder), is way dimmer than it used to be.
I took this shot with my phone. Betelgeuse used to be about as bright as Rigel, the star at the very bottom of the photo:
This all happened quickly: before October, Betelgeuse was near the top ten brightest stars in the sky. Now it’s lower than 20th. Some speculate that the red giant, 600 light-years away, might go supernova. But the dimming has slowed over the past week. Here’s a good explanation in the New York Times.