Sign of the times

This sign is at a hospital entrance.

I thought that hospitals were for sick people.

Paradigms Lost and Regained

I just finished Paradigms Regained by John L. Castro ( ISBN 0-316-64816-7).  A great science read for the Big Questions. His conclusions-

1) Life arose out of natural physical processes here on earth, probably via an RNA world.

2) Human behavior patterns are dictated primarily by genes.

3) Human language capacity stems from a unique, innate property of the brain.

4) Didital computers can ( in principle ) think.

5) We cannot communicate with extraterrestrial intelligent beings in our galaxy even if they exist.

6) There is an objective reality independent of an observer.

The windscreen wipers are a-beatin' in time

Listening to ABC Country last night, I heard Slim Dusty singing.

It reminded me of visiting a record (i.e. analogue vinyl) shop in Mount Isa in 1984. The music was clearly divided into 2 sections - 1) Slim Dusty and 2) everybody else.

Backup required

As the pandemic lockdown gradually lifts we are permitted to travel further and further from home. 

We went on trip to an unfamiliar area. Of course we used the car navigation system. Wall's

But for the return journey the "Nav" screen on the car failed. This was a surprise as the car is about 11 months old.

Luckily the return journey was well signed as we were heading back to the Big Smoke.We also have a map book (2013 edition ) for our region sitting in one of the car seat pockets and our mobile phones ( 2 off )have map functions.

So three back-up in total.

And back at home there are two Tom-tom navigation devices. One is no longer supported and its suction cup device is broken but otherwise it still works. I trying to think of a use for it.

Reviewing it all having 3 systems dependant on GPS and the fourth system seven years out of date is not ideal. I will get updated maps for Queensland and New South Wales.

Update  - and Mazda replaced the faulty unit in the car- no worries.

Working in the light

Back in the early 2000's I had children to care for - my boss suggested that I work from home.

It was great, particularly during the school holidays. I used a mobile telephone for phone calls - I used a headset to ensure clarity. My computer connected back to work over a dial-up modem sometimes the modem call stayed up for a week. 

I was mostly running SQL on a database - the software was set-up so the only screen updates were sent to my computer not all the data (this was a thin-client) set up. Sometimes I would be testing user software, or sending email.

I could spend a lot of time working - work really benefited as did my children.

I remember that my computer mouse stopped working. After investigating I figured out that the sunlight coming in through the window was overwhelming the optical receiver inside the mouse - the plastic walls of the mouse were too thin to use in sunlight. I fixed it by adding aluminium foil shielding to the inside of the mouse. I wrote a mock report - the conclusion was that the organisation did not expect its employees to get close sunlight.

Decision diagrams

My suburb has a charity second hand bookshop.

Today I found -

The Decision Book by Krigerus & Tschäppeler (ISBN 978 1 84668 395 4).
Some of the models in it would have been useful to me long ago:
E.g. The Eisenhower Matrix - How to work more efficiency.
Some are useful to me now:
E.g. The Black Swan Model - Why your experiences don't make you any wiser.

As an engineer I love the diagrams.
As an Australian I object to the meaning attributed to the expression "black swan" - black swans are very common around here.

Black Plum Lover

I have a large fruit tree in my garden a burrpurr (also called Diospyros australis or black plum).

Unfortunately it gives no fruit - it only has female flowers. Today I went looking in a native nursery for another tree - a male.

The nursery is famous for its native plants and once featured on the national gardening show. Now it is a sad site - with a much reduced range and much empty space. So many plants looked half dead.
The healthiest plants appeared to come from a commercial wholesaler.
There were three Diospyros australis. I bought the only one that looked like it might survive, it could be male or female.