Arecibo Drone and Camera Video of Collapse

 Just saw this on a random YouTube ramble.

These are separate videos; click to play.

Easy Round Trip To DIA

 Got SLW to the airport in plenty of time. It was very nice to see the mountains again, as last time we drove to DIA there was so much smoke from the fires that it was like Armageddon. 

BTW, all the fires I've been following have been declared 100% contained. "Trevor the Tree Carver" told me he took a drive up through there now that the roads are open, and some of the areas got singed, while other parts are just gone. He said in the hottest places the trees burned right down to the grass, and then the grass burned away. Nothing but dirt and rocks now. He also told me he's been trying to get some of the "Beetle Kill" wood from areas where the bugs got the trees, but it's quite difficult unless you know somebody. Some is on private land, and some is Forest Service land, and he's still trying to figure it all out. He said the wood is quite beautiful, with many different colors running through it.

And I finished up a work space in one of the unused basement rooms so the DIL could "work at home" from here. Her employer has had to severely cut back the number of people on-site due to Emperor Polis' latest Unlawful Edicts. So, most of the office staff is now telecommuting, and since she does some kind of customer service/liaison function, she can easily work from "home". It had previously been the desk with the weather station and mini-server, along with having all the gear I use to program radio gear with, so I had to pack up the PC I normally have sitting there, and rearrange the weather station and server, roll over a good chair from the workshop side of the basement. She brought over her laptop and docking station yesterday, and we set everything up and tested it. Worked fine, except that all these new fangled laptops ONLY have an HDMI video output, and one of the monitors I'm loaning here ONLY had regular video, and a DVI video port. She was supposed to bring another monitor and cable by tonight, but she hasn't shown up. Oh, well.....

So it's me and the dog for the next 10 days, and the "DIL-in-the-Basement" starting on Monday. She'll bring over TLG on Wednesday, so I've got to get cracking here to come up with some "Grandpa" stuff he and I can do.

And no, Beans, I still haven't bought a snowblower. We've got ZERO precip in the forecast for the next 10 days, and as soon as the model I wanted came in, it was gone. I may just have to order one on-line so I'm in the que for the next delivery.

And speaking of the weather, I just read where KFTG, the NWS Weather Radar in Denver, will be down hard for three weeks. The "Bull Gear" (like a giant-size ring gear) used to rotate the antenna in azimuth has failed. The parts are on-hand, and the specialists from the NWS Radar Operations Center in Norman, OK are either here, so since this is a well-known procedure, they should have it back up per the schedule.

I was about ready to spew some venom about this like geez, don't you guys inspect them at regular intervals, and then I read the story about how they did this to the weather radar in Binghamton, NY. The gear is buried inside the antenna pedestal, and doesn't appear to have any inspection ports you can use to look inside.

Le OUCH.....

Good thing the normal service life of this gear is 15~20 years, which is about how old most of the NEXRAD (rabbit hole alert!) sites are. The NWS is researching Phased Array Radars for the replacements, but I don't know the status of that program.

Areicbo Is Gone.......

 One of the three main support towers broke in half last night, sending the entire Receiving Platform down into the reflector.

You can see the failed tower to the lower left of the photo.

This is the Receiving Platform before it fell.

The remains of the dome can be seen resting on the reflector in the top photo, just left of bottom center.

And Now He Has A Friend.....

 The eagle, that is.

Here's some shots using my "real" flash unit, and not the wimpy little pop-up flash built in the camera.

Say hello to my little friend!

The owl is carved into a "bowl" shaped area. It's more of a "Relief" than just a carving.

And the "Toll House Morsels" I saw on the counter, hoping for chocolate chip cookies?

Nope, didn't happen.

We got FUDGE, instead!

Notice how carefully Spiderman is watching the uncanning of the evaporated, condensed milk. He's anxiously awaiting his next move to slip away with the fudge!

Hope you all had a blessed Sunday.....

The Eagle Has Landed.....

Well, it's a start! The young guy in all the PPE is Trevor, who lives down the street and has all kinds of hand-carved yard art made from sections of trees for sale. We stopped and talked to him about carving what's left of the cottonwood tree some time back while we were out walking Pebbles. He said he'd never done a whole tree before, and was looking for one to do, so he'd be willing to come by, look at it, and give us a quote.

He was supposed to go to carving contest using a felled tree early this year, but then The Virus hit, and they cancelled the competition. So he's using this to get his feet wet in the "Whole Tree" category, and we'll be getting a LOT more work done, at a rock-bottom price, as this will be one of his portfolio pieces. He's done some amazing work, and I'll have to go take some pictures at his place after he's done with this one.

He's also going to make a nice, flat, vertical section to bolt the antenna support back to the trunk, and since it will be mounted solidly into the trunk, I'll be adding another 5' section of mast to get the center up to slightly over 30' AGL. I'll also raise the end points another 5', which will be about as good as it's going to get for the wire antenna.

Meanwhile, back in the kitchen, we have.....

CUPCAKES!

And TLG is quite proud of his decorating abilities.

Well done, young man!

Happy Thanksgiving To All

 We were going to head up North in rural Larimer County for Thanksgiving, but SLW has a bit of a cold, some of the relatives attending are in their mid 80's and she doesn't want to expose them, and as she's headed to Kaliforniastan next week for a visit, she wants to lay low, rest up, and steel herself for the trip.

So we'll have a quiet dinner and take the dog for a walk, giving thanks for all we've been blessed with.

Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

A Very Sad Day For Radio Astronomy

 The Arecibo Radio telescope is being shut down.

Not just shut down, but decommissioned and dismantled.

The installation had suffered damage from the hurricanes and tropical storms, causing one of the feeds (the 70cm "Line Feed") to break loose, fall, and damaging about 30 out of the 38,000 aluminum panels used for the reflecting surface.

Then in August, one of the suspension cables broke, causing a 100' long gash to the reflector. Then in early November, a second cable snapped, causing much more extensive damage.

So rather than spend the money to repair and upgrade the facility, they're going to tear it down.

This is just as sad as when the 300' Green Bank Telescope collapsed.

I suppose you could say these "Old Dinosaurs" of Science are obsolete, but Very Large Aperture Antennas are extremely useful devices at radio frequencies. Unless you're a Radio Geek, or you grew up watching the transition from analog to digital electronics, you might not "get it". Yes, with today's Digital Signal Processing techniques applied to Very Long Baseline Interferometry, you can use hundreds (or thousands) of smaller dish antennas, and combine them into one extremely large Synthetic Aperture. Yes, the numbers are astounding, but I can't help but wondering what we've given up to get these extraordinary sensitivities and resolutions. Car and Driver recently comparison tested the new Corvette with a new Porsche Cayman. The Corvette generated staggering numbers on the track and in testing, but the drivers said it felt cold and antiseptic doing it, like it had sold it's soul for performance, while the Porsche seemed alive and worked with you so you both did your best. It's what I call "An Analog Thing", and I get it entirely. Maybe even grok it. That Porsche manged it pull it off in a car packed with more electronics than the Apollo Command Module is a very admirable thing.

Anyway.....it's too bad that it's being dismantled. It was a very useful instrument, and it will be missed.

Unusual Weather Event

 Not sure what caused the unusual "hump" in the weather recordings today, but a few things stand out.

 

The barometer took a "dip", while the wind speed and direction shifted dramatically. The temperature went up twenty degrees for about 2-1/2 hours, and the humidity took a corresponding drop.

I'd put this down to a "Downslope Wind Event", or Chinook, but the wind was from the Southwest this time, so not much "Downslope" from that direction.

Since I wasn't awake at the time, I don't know what the radar was showing.

Not Much Going On......

 Except it's been pretty windy here. We've had sustained winds of 25~30MPH with a few gusts hitting 40+ since last night. Our tree guy/arborist was supposed to come by today and trim the trees, but when he saw the winds today, he called and said he didn't think it was a good idea.

One thing he mentioned when he came out to give us a quote was that the 18' tall "stump" from cottonwood tree we had cut down needs some attention. Since we didn't get it carved, it's basically a big, DEAD tree in the backyard, and Mother Nature has started "reclaiming" it. He said there's now a colony of Carpenter Bees in it, and they need to be exterminated. or they'll bore out the tree enough to seriously weaken it. He says they can also attract termites, which will spread into the house. So, we have some chemical warfare to wage here, and then the stump has to be "sealed" to prevent further degradation. No estimate on the cost yet. If we have to get rid of the entire thing, though, it's going to cost some $$, and I'll lose my center antenna support.

On Veteran's Day we went down to the Candlelight Dinner Playhouse to see "The Denver Dolls", a female trio who perform 40's/50's/60's music. They put on a good show, with Veterans and active-duty people being admitted free. There was a 97 year old WWII vet in the audience, and he got quite a round of applause when he was asked to stand up.

A nice evening, and relaxing break from all the political turmoil going on.

Veteran's Day

 Ramirez says it far better than I can.

Thank you all for your service and sacrifice.

 

 

Light Snow Today

 NWS is forecasting up to an inch. Nothing sticking on the streets, but the yard is starting to get patches of white.

No, Beans (and Rev Paul), I haven't got a new snowblower yet. SLW was asking if we actually need to buy another one.  Well, if we could get somebody here to shovel what comes down, and do it RIGHT NOW, it would depend on how much they charged. The snowblower will cost about $1200 out-the-door. It should last at least ten years with the maintenance level I use on power equipment.

Can we find somebody to do the snow removal for $120 per year? Possibly, but she wants the snow removed RIGHT NOW, as she's paranoid about getting a ticket from the city for failing to clear the sidewalks within 24 hours.

Besides, I kinda like big noisy machines.....