Never Forget End-Cretaceous!

Picture of the Day - Kiler Canyon Drought

This past Monday I toiled in the earth at Kiler Canyon Farm CSA out in the country several miles southwest of Paso Robles, CA. As always I thoroughly enjoyed the drive out there and back not to mention the atmosphere and vibe and scene at the farm including the wonderful people there. As some of you recall I am a member of that CSA (Community-Supported Agricultural) and have been out there before to help with the harvest. This week being the last week in January and one in which I was out there to help weed and plant, one would expect to see greenery and at least damp soil. As you can see from the image above there is no cover crop in place as there has been no rain and even the natural grasses have not germinated. The road out there was perhaps the dustiest I have ever seen it even compared to Spring into Summer in prior years.
Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Quote of the Day - Andrew Lang

I saw this quote for the very first time on a statistics tutor flyer in the cafeteria at Cuesta College day-before-yesterday. I was immediately struck by its profundity the moment I saw it, especially in light of encountering people of late for whom this well-applies.

"He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp posts... for support rather than for illumination." 

~ Andrew Lang

Godwin's Law Versus Photoshop

Godwin's Law:

"As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1."

Earlier tonight I noticed Twitter change during President Obama's State of the Union Address. The tone turned rapidly political and snarky from one side and the other side got political and was shamelessly doing apologetics and carrying the President's water. One of my Tea Party tweeps retweeted the image above. It shows an image of Adolph Hitler with Obama's head in place of Hitler's but the cap is a fusion of the Nazi original that the Fuehrer was wearing in the original image, but part of it has been altered to show some Soviet imagery thus making this one a hybrid. I found it both superficially comical and underlyingly distressing as it is unclever hyperbole that diminishes the victims of the Third Reich and Soviet Union and grossly miscasts the President's executive powers as framed by the U.S. Constitution and ignores the fact this man was elected fair and square.... TWICE unlike Adolph Hitler's and Joseph Stalin's bloody rise to power and consolidation thereof.

Upon seeing Obama-As-Uncle-Joe I thought of all the Bush-As-Hitlers that came out and were circulated during his Presidency. That was not the first U.S. Presidency to receive such comparisons but Photoshop had made that easier to generate and dissiminate by the 2000's as compared to during previous Administrations.

Of course, Barack Obama likewise gets framed as Hitler....

.....as was George W. Bush in his time also on Time.

Here we see Obama and Hilter's visages fused together...

.... as well as Bush and Hitler's visages.

Obama's and Bush's visages fused together....

...and finally... Bush and Obama side by side shown as Adolph Hitler.
All of this is quite juvenile and sophomoric and dishonors those who suffered under Nazi and Soviet regimes.
It also grossly distorts reality suggesting either man did not get elected peacefully and non-violently and in power acts in a homicidal and genocidal fashion.

An Idle Thought About An Apache

A U.S. Army Apache gunship just went right over my house in Paso Robles headed southbound low and in a huge hurry unlike how they seem to cruise most of the time (higher altitude and slower).... I had a sudden flash of how so many End of the Age movies start at the outset of the Zombie Apocalypse or Alien Invasion or Giant Monster's Advent in the region ..... the first signs of trouble often are military aircraft overhead or military vehicle(s) on a local highway doing something secretive, urgent, and atypical which we the viewer understand to be significant but to which the characters in the movie are not initially cognizant.

Arc of the Milky Way Covenant

"From the Northern (Cross) to the Southern Cross" as viewed from "Laguna Cejar in Salar de Atacama of Northern Chile". Photo courtesy of Nicholas Buer (all rights reserved).

Breaking Bad Behavior Breaking In Camera

Tonight I was next door watching the movie "Adaptation" with Nicholas Cage when I began to hear many sirens across town. I tried to ignore it for awhile, but then gave in and went next door to my house and checked my scanner and computer. There I discovered that there was a vehicle accident with injuries and the need for extrication at 13th Street and Chestnut Street which is only a few blocks southwest of my location. Having just purchased a new camera with my Christmas gift money from mom I took the new camera down to the accident scene and captured these images. Talking to the bystanders I discovered that this vehicle had been being pursued by the CHP at the time of the crash and ate it on this hillside at the end of 13th Street.

This pursuit began earlier in conjunction with another incident in town earlier. One couple I talked told me the driver nearly ran into them as it sped by them with the CHP hot on its tail. From these images it is clear this driver launched from the end of 13th and perhaps even went airborne a bit over Chestnut Street and went up the hill ultimately landing on the rocks which used to be part of the historic house being remodeled on that property. The driver took out the chain link fence that cordoned off the construction area.

Note: beneath the images below is the CHP CAD report of this incident. Clearly, it is a rather long, convoluted, and rather bizarre sequence of events that is still being disentangled at this hour.

Note the SUV up on the rock pile on the hillside. 

Note the Heavy Rescue unit at right. I do not know the unit designator for it.

The neighborhood turned out in force to check out the spectacle.

All photos by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Incident:  00175   Type:    Trfc Collision-Minor Inj   Location:   Crg14 / Nacimiento Lake Dr  Loc Desc:  1 MILE BEFORE    Lat/Lon:  35.640664 -120.699465

8:44 PM	25	[50] B9-004B 98 SOLO VEH 1181 - COP - PTY TRANS TO TCH - PGandE WILL BE DOING OWN 1184 WHEN TIME TO REPLACE THE POLE
7:32 PM	24	[48] UPDATED ETA FOR PGE 15-20
7:30 PM	23	[28] [Appended, 19:31:03] [19] 1039 PRPD
7:30 PM	22	[30] [Appended, 19:31:03] [17] 1B ROLL 1141
7:29 PM	21	[31] [Appended, 19:31:03] [16] 1B 13TH / CHESTNUT - VEH TC'D ROLL 1141
7:29 PM	20	[32] [Appended, 19:31:03] [15] 1039 AIROPS-NO PILOT AVAIL
7:28 PM	19	[35] [Appended, 19:31:03] [12] 1039 PRPD
7:26 PM	18	[41] [Appended, 19:31:03] [6] B9-001B CODE 4 - CRESTON / GOLDEN HILL OUT W/ VEH
7:26 PM	17	[42] [Appended, 19:31:03] [5] B9-008B 1B BEHIND VEH ON GOLDEN HILL - 7AMU421
7:25 PM	16	[43] [Appended, 19:31:03] [4] B9-008B OTHER VEH THAT TC'D TOOK OFF SV - DBL FORD EPD 7AMU421 - WENT SB GOLDEN HILL - 1B BEHIND HIM
7:21 PM	15	[44] [Appended, 19:31:03] [3] B9-008B WHILE ON STOP - A VEH PULLED OVER ON RHS AND BACKED INTO THE BMW 8B HAD STOPPED
7:01 PM	14	[27] ETA FOR PGE - 60 MIN
6:48 PM	13	[26] 1039 PG/E, WILL CB W/ ETA
6:43 PM	12	[25] B9-004B NEG LINES DOWN - POLE SHEARED OFF BUT STILL UPRIGHT
6:43 PM	11	[24] B9-004B PGandE POLE
6:43 PM	10	[23] B9-004B POLE SHEARED OFF - POLE #110517090
6:38 PM	9	[20] [Rotation Request Comment] 1039 ALLIANCE 805-226-9099
6:36 PM	8	[18] B9-004B ROLL 1185 FB TO HAUL - AND REG RIG TO GET IT OUT - 25 FT OTS
6:23 PM	7	[16] [Notification] [CHP]-PER ANOTHER RP, VEH HIT AND SHEARED OFF A PHONE POLE
6:18 PM	6	[13] VEH IN A DITCH OFF RDWY, XRAY CONSCIOUS and BREATHING, TRAPPED IN VEH
6:17 PM	5	[11] 1039 SLSO
6:17 PM	4	[9] [Notification] [CHP]-Problem changed from 1183-Trfc Collision-Unkn Inj to 1179-Trfc Collision-1141 Enrt by CHP
6:16 PM	3	[8] XRAY STILL IN VEH
6:16 PM	2	[7] VEH ON ITS ROOF
6:12 PM	1	[1] VEH OFF RDWY