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The clouds didn’t clear this morning so much of yesterday’s heat couldn’t radiate to space and it’s 84°F outside at 06:40. 😳

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Sigh. Appears there’s another big fire on the Mendocino NF. Plume over Mount Linn. Slide Fire @ 1.5 miles N of Mount Linn - #SlideFire share.watchduty.org/i/10500

A plume of smoke rises above mountains
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macOS WeatherCat and Meteobridge with any Supported Wx Station

I figured out how to have WeatherCat work with my Meteobridge that connects to my Ambient weather station. Turns out it is easy to do with Meteobridge’s template system.

In the WeatherCat Station Communications dialog, for Station Type select Generic XML (HTTP) and then enter your Meteobridge’s IP address appended with a URL encoded XML template...

user:password@192.168.x.y/cgi-bin/template.cgi?%3Cvalue%3E%3Cname%3EAirTemp_C%3C%2Fname%3E%3Cdata%3E52%3C%2F[th0temp]%3E%3C%2Fvalue%3E%3Cvalue%3E%3Cname%3EIntTemp_C%3C%2Fname%3E%3Cdata%3E52%3C%2F[thb0temp-act]%3E%3C%2Fvalue%3E%3Cvalue%3E%3Cname%3ESolar%3C%2Fname%3E%3Cdata%3E52%3C%2F[sol0rad-act]%3E%3C%2Fvalue%3E%3Cvalue%3E%3Cname%3EUVIndex%3C%2Fname%3E%3Cdata%3E52%3C%2F[uv0index-act]%3E%3C%2Fvalue%3E%3Cvalue%3E%3Cname%3EBarometer_hPa%3C%2Fname%3E%3Cdata%3E52%3C%2F[thb0press-act]%3E%3C%2Fvalue%3E%3Cvalue%3E%3Cname%3EWindSpeed_ms%3C%2Fname%3E%3Cdata%3E52%3C%2F[wind0wind-act]%3E%3C%2Fvalue%3E%3Cvalue%3E%3Cname%3EWindDirect_deg%3C%2Fname%3E%3Cdata%3E52%3C%2F[wind0dir-act]%3E%3C%2Fvalue%3E%3Cvalue%3E%3Cname%3ERain_mm%3C%2Fname%3E%3Cdata%3E52%3C%2F[rain0total-act]%3E%3C%2Fvalue%3E%3Cvalue%3E%3Cname%3ERH%3C%2Fname%3E%3Cdata%3E52%3C%2F[th0hum-act]%3E%3C%2Fvalue%3E%3Cvalue%3E%3Cname%3EIntRH%3C%2Fname%3E%3Cdata%3E52%3C%2F[thb0hum-act]%3E%3C%2Fvalue%3E

 

If you want more information on this XML format, see the WeatherCat 2.1 Change Log for the XML definition. For more information on building Meteobridge templates and the various possible values, see this page.

I’d put this into the WeatherCat forums but I don’t feel like creating a new account right now.

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Session 3 of Only Murders in the Building is out on Hulu!

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A female Oriole having a nice evening Mantis snack in our backyard tonight. A female yellow and gray Oriole with a praying mantis in its beak. It is mostly yellow on the underside and gray on its wings. It is perched on top of a blue wire tomato cage with a tomato plant pushing through the top.

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Syrah grapes in Vina, California, at the New Clairvaux Winery are looking great! #California #Vineyards #Grapes

Many bunches of Syrah grapes that are nearly ripe dark purple hanging from lush grapevines during a sunny day.
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Drip line auto sprinkler diaphragm replace after it started leaking. Hope it clears leak checks throughout the day.

A green auto-siphon auto-sprinkler diaphragm cap is removed, held in my hand, its underside facing up at the viewer. The old diaphragm and spring can be seen where the cap was installed.
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Mercury News: “We may be the last maskers’: California COVID cases are rising. “

I’m still wearing a mask indoors (not at home of course) and I’m going to be extra vigilant for a while.

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New The Clientele album! I Am Not There Anymore by The Clientele https://album.link/us/i/1678797674

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Huge cooldown for Northern California this week. I’m about to get a lot less cranky 😂

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Nice! Photomator and Pixelmator Now Support Fujifilm Compressed RAW: https://petapixel.com/2023/07/21/photomator-and-pixelmator-now-support-fujifilm-compressed-raw/

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“Abortion bans and restrictions are known to increase infant deaths, maternal deaths, and maternal suffering. And the US already has the worst maternal and infant mortality rates of any other high-income country in the world.”

Infant deaths surge in Texas after abortion ban: https://arstechnica.com/health/2023/07/infant-deaths-surge-in-texas-after-abortion-ban/

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This morning, House Finches were breakfasting on ripe elderberries in our backyard. #HouseFinch #BirdsOfMastodon #BirdWatching #Fujifilm Two house finches are on top of two bunches of ripe elderberries, feasting on them. The upper most Finch has a Elderberry in its beak. The lower most finch is on a branch, reaching up into a bunch of berries. 

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Much as I dislike that my heat-pump requires a proprietary communicating thermostat, I do like that I can change some deep level settings to optimize things without dip-switches.

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Delta 767 (N1604R) SFO-JFK and flock of Brown Pelicans. #AvGeek #B767 #PlaneSpotting #BirdsOfMastodon #BrownPelican Brown Pelicans flying over quiet bay waters in front of a Delta 767 that was preparing for take-off.

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In more expected bird behavior, on the infill shores of the San Francisco Bay, here’s a Willet (a Sandpiper) snacking on a worm. #BirdsOfMastodon #Willet #SandPiper A Willet (Sand Piper) with mottled brown and white steps through the San Francisco Bay shore muck with a worn hanging from its beak.

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Back from a relaxing day of plane spotting at SFO. Here’s a series of aircraft landing and preparing for takeoff. Dang that’s a lot of 777s. #AvGeek #PlaneSpotting #SFO #B777 #B787 #B737 A United 787 prepares for take off, while above, a Qatar 777 airliner lands on an adjacent runway. A United 787 is turning on to SFO 28L, while above it, a British Airways 777 lands on 28R. A United 777 is holding short of 28R as a Southwest 737 lands. A Korean Airlines with Our Pride livery prepares for takeoff as another United 777 lands on an adjacent runway.

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Some real dinosaur stuff happened today at Bay Front Park just south of SFO. This Great Blue Heron caught a gopher, paraded around with it for several minutes, then swallowed it whole. Then the heron proceeded to hunt some more. 😬A Great Blue Heron stands in a dry grassy area with yellow flowers. It has a gopher’s neck in its mouth and the entire gopher is hanging.

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Volunteer Sunflowers in the backyard. The scrub jays garden really well. I continue to be impressed with the new Fujifilm XApp for transferring photos from my X-T5. #Fujifilm #Sunflowers #BloomScrolling

Two sun flowers, one at the bottom and nearby and one about 15 feet away. There’s vegetation surrounding the flowers and a weather station behind the forest Sunflower. The flowers are extremely yellow and well lit.A close up of a sunflower, brightly lit by the sun.

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Out of an abundance of caution, early this morning I’m watering my front yard native plants in case the neighbors get whacky with their fireworks.The Rachio smart hose timer is working well so far. Turned on at 3am while I was sound asleep.