Plex is nice. Random album radio FTW. Even better that I can augment my local library by adding albums from Tidal 🥳

The temperatures are in the 70s and it is quite overcast with clouds and smoke. So we took advantage of the fall-like weather and went to Black Butte Reservoir. Here are Western Grebes, a Double Crested Cormorant, a Robin, and an Osprey A group of Western grebes swimming in a body of water. The image is taken from a distance, showing the long, curvy necked white and black birds spread out across the water’s surface. A cormorant flying low over a body of water with its wings outstretched. The water surface appears calm with gentle ripples, reflecting the bird’s silhouette. A red breasted Robin sits in a bush with red berries and green foliage. It has a speckled white and black face. An osprey, white and brown, is perched high on top of a utility pole surrounded by power lines. The background is a green orchard with some dry grasslands. Large trees with dark green foliage is visible on the left and right of the bird.

I guess this is one way Scrubjays cool themselves off? All splayed & fluffed out with its beak wide open. This jay is very comfortable around us so it often hangs out under our patio messily gorging on seeds for caching elsewhere. It likes to bravely stare at us 😆 A blue scrub jay bird has its wings spread out, feathers fluffed out, near a rectangular container filled with birdseed on a sunlit concrete surface. Dried vegetation and gravel are visible in the background.

A better view of the Park Fire pyrocumulous from the other side of the Sacramento Valley. #ParkFire #CaWx A photograph taken from inside a vehicle shows a large agricultural field in the foreground, with rows of trees extending to the horizon. In the distance, plumes of pyrocumulous smoke rise into the sky, indicating a fire. The car’s side mirror is in view.

Park Fire from way across the west Sacramento Valley near Orland ☹️ #ParkFire #CAWx A suburban street scene featuring a gas station, several vehicles, and an American flag on a pole. The clear blue sky is contrasted by pyrocumulus clouds in the background. A red curb in the foreground reads “NO PARKING FIRE LANE.” Trees

Today’s Sonos app update restores most local library functionality. Here I go with app and firmware updates 🤞

At Medford, Oregon airport, two fire fighter tanker aircraft on final approach on July 17, 2024. A DC-10 (registered N522AX/TKR512) and a C-130 (registered N382CG/TNKR138). #AvGeek #C130 #DC10 #PlaneSpotting #TankerAircraftA three engine DC-10 firefighting aircraft is about to land with its landing gear out. The aircraft is painted in bright orange and white colors with the tail number “912” and near the nose a “10 TANKER” decal. An aerial view of a Coulson Lockheed C-130 firefighting aircraft on approach with its squat looking landing gear out, with visible registration number N382CG and tanker number 138 painted on the tail. The plane has “Coulson” written on the fuselage. It’s a hazy day.

Apple moving drivers away from kernel space to user space on macOS suddenly makes sense. #macOS

With all the CrowdStrike insanity, glad I’m off work today. But hoping my org didn’t get hit too hard!

Today I’m at Medford just for the evening. So here’s a photo straight out of the camera of tanker 912, a DC-10. #TKR912 #DC10 #Fujifilm #AvGeek A large DC-10 aircraft converted as a retardant drop tanker has three engines and is positioned on a runway, with mountains in the background. The airplane is close to a hangar, and a fence with a “No Trespassing” sign is visible in the foreground.

So my spouse noticed her Kindle Lock Screen is now trying to sell Large Language Model slop 😖 A Kindle screen displaying the cover of a book titled “The Science of Sleep.” The cover features a stylized landscape with mountains, a crescent moon, and stars under the title. Below the image, a button labeled “Read now” is present. There’s a subtitle the looks vaguely like “ullocking the secceltes fon resttfulll nights”

Finally, alternatives to Lithium batteries are on the market.

Undecided with Matt Ferrell: Solid State Batteries Are REALLY Here: Yoshino Power Station

Monsoonal moisture is invading the Northern Sacramento Valley. There are high level clouds now. Normally the wet bulb starts decreasing at daylight. Not today. People living in the South would shrug at 70° wet bulb but for me, it’s borderline intolerable. #CAWx Screenshot of a weather data table from mesowest.utah.edu, showing observations for 07/13/2024 at various times from 5:50 AM to 9:50 AM PDT. The table includes columns for time, temperature, humidity and wet bulb. It shows temperatures going up as humidity goes up resulting in ever higher wet bulbs. At 09:50 it was 86° with a relative humidity of 47% and wet bulb of 70.5°F.

If you like Watch Duty, the free (!) iOS app Calamity goes beyond wildfires into major airport delays, bad weather, earthquakes, solar flares & more. A decently presented aggregation of publicly available information.https://apps.apple.com/us/app/calamity-disaster-monitor/id6477748950

The highly unusual multi-day extreme heat of over 110°F took a huge toll on our Asian pears and nectarines. Worm food, now. #CaWx A cardboard box containing a mix of fruits, including pears and apples. Many of the fruits have dark, sunburnt spots on their surfaces. A single green leaf is also present among the fruits.

SFGate has a good round-up of the latest at KSFO (San Francisco International Airport): "Why the pandemic was the best thing to happen to SFO's reputation” #AvGeek

Rabbit at the refuge yesterday. #SacramentoWildlifeRefuge #Rabbit A small rabbit sits in the shade on a sunlit dirt path, surrounded by dry vegetation and a smidge of greenery in the background.

Today, before the heat got too extreme, we visited a nearby wildlife refuge. Here’s a Heron, King Bird, American Kestrel, and a Steel-Blue Cricket Hunter (a wasp!). #SacramentoWildlifeRefuge #Birds #Heron #AmericanKestrel #KingBird #SteelBlueCricketHunter A heron with outstretched wings flying against a clear blue sky.

A King Bird, gazing to the left, with yellow and brown feathers perched on a tree branch surrounded by green Willow leaves.

An American Kestrel is perched on a Eucalyptus tree branch, surrounded by green leaves against a clear blue sky.

A metallic blue wasp is navigating through dry scattered leaves and twigs.

Good morning from the westside of the North Sacramento Valley where, at 06:00, it was 79°F at 31% Relative Humidity. Today, highs could reach 118° but more likely 113-115°, depending on what the winds do.

It is 19:00 and the outdoor temperature is finally dropping. The high was 113°F at 7% relative humidity. I’ll take this dry heat any day.