George Zimmerman Found Not Guilty

The murderer walks:

As he had been throughout the trial, Zimmerman was impassive. He seemed not to move a muscle until the jurors were taken out of the courtroom. Then the tension drained out of his face. A small smile began at the corners of his mouth and very slowly spread.

KTVU FOX-2 Seriously Reports Fake Pilot Names

It figures it would be egregious FOX-2, the most unprofessional news organization in all of Northern California.

Enhanced Possibility Of Rain In NM On Sunday And Monday

It's been a pretty sorry monsoon season so far in NM - what rain there is has been going to AZ - but there's a really odd development that will improve chances soon. A low pressure system - a vort max - that was over Michigan on Thursday is heading WSW for bizarre reasons (the polar front is quite far north now, akin to the usual August pattern) and will arrive in NM late Sunday and park there for awhile. The chances of rain statewide will jump for a few days.

Mung Bean Pie

(Phone message)

E.: MMMMMAAAAAARRRRRCCCCCC! I wanted to apologize. There is a terrible smell in the house, like burnt plastic. I was heating up some mung bean pie in the microwave oven, and the package said heat it up for 10 seconds, but I thought that wasn't enough, so I heated it up for a minute, and the wrap, it's so thin, it burnt. So, I'm sorry.

And So Irrigation Deliveries End On The Rio Grande

Because, basically, the river is pretty much out of water.


Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District (MRGCD) Gage Schematic

Values in green, yellow, and orange boxes are latest discharges in cfs.
Click on green boxes for MRGCD gage plots.
Click on yellow boxes for USGS gage plots.
Click on orange boxes for links to Water Utility Authority (ABCWUA) Flow Data.

Fierce Funk Promo

I'm lost in the crowd in the Big Room here, but I'm here!

Jetta - "America's Got Talent" - July 10, 2013

Freakin' Hilarious!

Liberace - The Impossible Dream

I really liked the musical theater finale of "Behind the Candelabra", with Michael Douglas playing Liberace playing "The Impossible Dream", but it doesn't seem to be on YouTube yet.

Still, Liberace himself playing "The Impossible Dream" IS on YouTube!

Jetta Made It On "America's Got Talent"!

Jetta Linda Ostrofsky made it! She will be featured Wednesday night (the second night this week) on "America's Got Talent!" In Sacramento, on KCRA TV-3 (NBC)!

As the closest approximation to a manager that Jetta has, let me say in advance that no reasonable recording contract offer will be refused (provided an additional "0" is added to the original offer).

And many thanks to Howard Stern, who shows exceptional grace and forbearance throughout. I love how he has been using Jetta for a slow, month-long AGT promotional reveal, first on Katie Couric, then on Jimmy Fallon, and now on Bing. Jetta is now popping up on Google searches, including, improbably enough, from Finland.

Love the video!

Julissa Veloz Live - Los Angeles 2012

Benicia, Home Of California's First State Capital

The Carquinez Strait Bridge, as seen from Benicia.

California's first State Capitol building, at Benicia.

Senate chamber.

Senate chamber.  The pillars are made from recycled ships' masts.

Shoreline outside "Sailor Jacks"

Sailor Jack's clam chowder features a real, intact clam.

PEYTON @ Sydney Harbour Party 2013

Oh Ye Of Little Faith

I gave up on rain in Albuquerque today, but lo and behold 0.44 inches!

Tropical Storm Erick is in the perfect place right now to funnel moisture into the Southwest (as evidenced by the thunderstorms blowing up in Sonora right now). But will that moisture make it to New Mexico?

I Need To Get Over There And See Lydia Perform

"Carpe Diem! - A Memoir of the 2003 California Gubernatorial Recall Election"

I have published a book! It's my first book, actually!

On the tenth anniversary of the election of Arnold Schwarzenegger as Governor of California, "Carpe Diem! - A Memoir of the 2003 California Gubernatorial Recall Election" explores that strange and memorable event from the viewpoint of one of the lesser-known candidates. According to my blurb:

"Marc Valdez, one of the 135 official and 28 write-in candidates in the 2003 California Gubernatorial Recall Election, relates the (sometimes) heartwarming political tale of how, when faced with media scorn, the multitude of obscure candidates for governor banded together to enhance their visibility and advance each other's candidacies, despite vast differences in party, ideology, outlook and temperament."

I have placed an order for 50 books, so I can get you an owner's discount copy in about two weeks (provided we bump into each other, of course). Heck, I'll even autograph it!

Given the esoteric subject matter, regarding recent California history, I expect it won't sell that many copies: maybe ten copies total (five copies to people yet unborn). So, I will do book marketing the traditional way that musicians sell CDs, by selling them in supermarket parking lots and dusty flea markets from a box located in the trunk of my car.

Copies are for sale on-line for $20.00 here: Amazon and Kindle.

Great Article Today On Mike Leuthold

I use Mike Leuthold's products daily, and I'm very pleased with them, and with him:

University of Arizona meteorologists are using a sophisticated forecasting model, partially developed using UA research, to better understand the weather conditions that played into the tragic events that claimed the lives of 19 firefighters battling the Yarnell Hill Fire southwest of Prescott, Ariz. on June 30.

The UA is home only a handful of atmospheric science departments in the country that run a forecasting model in real time, just like the National Weather Service. The UA version of the Weather Research and Forecast Model, or WRF, offers about five to 10 times more detail than what is commonly available to the National Weather Service, and it is the only one of its kind in the Southwest.

"The following morning, we performed what weather forecasters call a 'post-mortem' – which is what we typically do in the aftermath of severe weather events," said Michael Leuthold, a meteorologist and computer expert in the department of atmospheric sciences. "We look at the weather data to get a better idea of the conditions leading up to that event and how well the model performed in forecasting it."

Such analyses not only help weather experts better understand the conditions leading up to extreme weather events, but the data are being used to improve the accuracy of short- and long-term weather forecasts.

How Could It NOT Rain In Albuquerque Today?

It's 'Lucy with the football' time again. We'll see.

Rachel Panay / Got To Be Love

Tropical Storm Erick Brushing Past Cabo San Lucas Today

Bring its moisture to New Mexico; bring its moisture to New Mexico; bring its moisture to New Mexico ....

My Book Is Now Complete Regarding The 2003 California Gubernatorial Recall Election

And, at least in principal, is available for $20.00 from Amazon. A Kindle version is available too. I haven't tried to order them yet, so the exact procedure is still a mystery, but I will figure it out.

Now, the hard part: marketing!

I have a blurb regarding the book, and it goes like this:

Marc Valdez, one of the 135 official and 28 write-in candidates in the 2003 California Gubernatorial Recall Election, relates the (sometimes) heartwarming political tale of how, when faced with media scorn, the multitude of obscure candidates for Governor banded together to enhance their visibility and advance each other's candidacies, despite vast differences in party, ideology, outlook, and temperament.

Elevated Portions Of Mare Island

Looking southeast from the heights of  Mare Island towards Carquinez Strait Bridge. 

We weren't supposed to drive up here, but Sally relied on her 'disabled' status (because of her knee surgery last year) to get past all that.

An Amtrak train zooming eastward along the water of Carquinez Strait on its trip from Emeryville to Martinez.

Vallejo in the distance, as seen from the flower garden.

A big vessel heads west into San Pablo Bay (the northern portion of San Francisco Bay) from under the Carquinez Strait Bridge.

Odd sculpture?  Alien sacrifice? Cargo cult?

Radio tower.

Looking west, past the tidal marshlands, across San Pablo Bay, into the haze, which obscures the hills of Marin beyond. 

Interestingly, the haze blended with the sky, so when the western-bound vessel entered the haze, it appeared to be suspended in the air above the water (which I found disconcerting).

Naval base in foreground; City of Vallejo beyond.

Boat.

Mare Island Shoreline Heritage Preserve Visitor's Center

Visitor's Center.  Sally and I had a picnic under the yellow-and-white umbrella.

A few items for sale.

Aerial photo of Mare Island (above strait) and the City of Vallejo (below strait).

A colorful jumble.

When these figures representing Mr. & Mrs, Vallejo aren't being used in the annual Vallejo parade, they are stored at the Visitor's Center.

Mare Island Historic Park Museum

Mare Island Historic Park Museum

Life-size Polaris missile mockup dominates the park across from the museum.

As I recall from when studied this stuff as a teenager, the Polaris missiles were propelled from the submarine tubes from just under the surface by steam.  The solid fuel of the missiles was ignited once they cleared the surface.  Range:  1,600 miles for the first generation (later superseded by the Poseidon missiles).

Knots.

The latest in WWII communications technologies.

A clandestine radio transmitter.

The Iwo Jima flag was made at Mare Island.

Racial history, with the Japanese and the African-Americans at Port Chicago, is given its due.

Hiring now!

A prosthetic leg.

A Mekong River Delta patrol boat.

Under construction - the control room of the submarine USS Vallejo.

More on the Vallejo.

Model of the USS Vallejo.

Figurehead from the USS Independence, War of 1812.

Michael Flowers Presents "One Beautiful Evening"

Michael popped this on the Web just ten minutes ago. Dark music and thoughts by Laurie Anderson.

Tropical Storm Chantal

TS Chantal is in a perfect place to mess around with Florida in about a week, should it stay strong. Current forecast shows it falling apart before it reaches Florida, though. Still, something to watch!

Deborah Is Always Up To Something

Plane Crash In San Francisco

These things are scary. Two teenage girls from China perished, one of them possibly by a stupid accident on the ground. I wonder if fatigue is a factor? Those trans-Pacific flights are L-O-N-G! It was interesting watching Wolf Blitzer getting irritated on CNN about the slow flow of information. He couldn't believe there were 60, or so, people "unaccounted for" for the longest time. The fact that they might have a limited staff chasing several hundred highly-agitated people didn't seem to occur to him. Or that what counts for "accounted for" might be different for officials than for CNN. Wolf got snippy with aviation expert Patrick Smith when Smith seemed to imply that news coverage of disasters by cable networks isn't always top-notch. In general, a sub-standard performance by Wolf. Condolences to the families of the Chinese girls, who deserved much better:

The two teen girls were close friends, each looking forward to a summer trip to California to improve their English. Ye Mengyuan excelled at the piano, just as she did in her academics. Wang Linjia enjoyed calligraphy and, according to local media reports, her work at the school's TV and radio stations. Classmates since junior high, the girls often ate lunch with each other at school, and few were surprised that they chose to sit together on the 10-hour flight that led to their deaths Saturday.

Shopping For The Baby Shower

I do not know what I am doing.

Is that how much this stuff costs? No wonder people have baby showers!

St. Peter's Chapel, Mare Island

Oldest naval chapel in the Pacific, and first interdenominational chapel in the Navy.