Two days before my 19th birthday. Incredible images to follow the successful Viking 1 lander in July. What a summer!
#Mars Geek: Sept. 3, 1976 #Viking2 lands on Red Planet
September 3, 2014
geek, Personal Mars, NASA probes, space exploration, Viking 2 1 Comment
#Mars hooey making rounds on #Facebook. Again.
August 27, 2014
geek, News death star, gallifrey, Mars, mars as big as the moon, Moon Leave a comment
Since most people know more about astrology than astronomy (and, no, they’re not the same thing), this nonsense has been making the rounds on Facebook recently. Needless to say (at least to anyone who paid attention in junior high school science class), Mars will not appear to be as big as the Moon.
The absolute closest distance the Earth and Mars can theoretically ever come to each other is 33.9 million miles. We’ve never observed that, due to the elliptical nature of the orbits of planets. An approach that close requires a coincidental alignment of orbits that is exceedingly rare. So rare, that it’s not been observed in human history.
For comparison, the orbits of Venus and the Earth can come within 24 million miles of each other. The diameter of Venus is 3,032 miles, while Mars is 4,212 (not much difference in the grand scheme of planets). Earth’s diameter is 7,918 miles. (give or take. It’s a bit more at the equator, less at the poles, due to the spin of the planet on it’s axis.) Venus, even at it’s closest approach, 10 million miles closer than Mars ever gets, never appears as more than a bright star in the morning or evening sky, so the idea that Mars will look like our Moon is, simply, hooey. Never going to happen.
If you ever do see something in the sky as big as the Moon (that’s not the Moon), we’re in deep shit. That’s either the Death Star, or Gallifrey.
Either one of those, and we’re screwed.
Ghosting
August 24, 2014
geek, Personal black light, ghost, Jim Reeves, jimmiejoe, kc6yru, lights2, north tower circle Leave a comment
I think I’m just not fully in the moment here. Or maybe I’m just slightly out of phase.
She couldn’t find the pick up window in the drive thru
August 11, 2014
commentary drive thru, pick up window, subway sandwich shop, woman can't find pick up window Leave a comment
I am stunned. Really. I went to my local Subway Sandwich shop for lunch today. As I pulled in, there were several cars in line at the drive thru, so I elected to go inside. That new menu kiosk ordering board throws a lot of people, and I was in a bit of a hurry. There was a woman ahead of me, picking up a sandwich. I couldn’t help but overhear, and what I heard left me feeling like this image of Don Knotts.
She had to come in to pick up the order she placed on that drive thru menu board, because she couldn’t find the pick up window!
She drove right past it, but did not see it. She was even looking for it, according to what she told the woman behind the counter. “That’s happened several times”, said the Subway employee. I really hope she was just trying to make the lady feel a bit less dimwitted. I’d hate to think it was all that common to have people walking among us who can’t find the pick up window in the drive thru while they’re in the drive thru!
I think what scares me even more is the thought that this woman is very likely someone’s mother! If I wasn’t an atheist, I might very well be saying “heaven help us!”
What Dreams May Come – breaker breaker
July 14, 2014
commentary, geek, Personal CB, Citizen's Band Radio, dream, Ham radio, HF, kc6yru, kcq 0821, kcq 0827, skip Leave a comment
I seldom remember my dreams. They fade as I wake, if I recall them at all. Today I awoke remembering the dream that just ended, and it starred my old CB radio.
I own a Cobra CAM 88 Citizen’s Band radio. It’s a 23 channel, tube type AM transceiver, and I have a Silver Eagle D-104 power mic connected to it. I bought the radio used in the mid-to-late 1970’s from my buddy Marc Cooper, who I believe got it from his uncle. It’s probably a mid-60’s radio.
In my dream, I was showing the radio to a friend, and hooked it up to try it out. Now, I haven’t even turned on a CB radio in probably ten years or more, let alone keyed one up and talked. But I did in this dream, and heard distant stations coming in by skip. (skip is when a radio signal bounces off the ionosphere and travels much farther than normal. When sunspot activity is high, you can hear stations from the east coast easier than you can hear locals. High power amplifiers add to the noise factor!)
The odd thing about this dream is More
July 5, 1994 – Communications Operator I
July 5, 2014
9-1-1, commentary, Personal 9-1-1, 911, dispatch, Jim Reeves, TCSO, tulare county sheriff, twenty years a dispatcher 1 Comment
I walked into the building at 7am, July 5, 1994, for the first time as an employee. Communications Operator I. Three months of training lay ahead, and a year’s worth of probation. The place was the Tulare County Sheriff’s Department, the room was in the basement, in a space originally designed to be a gymnasium / weight lifting room. As of today, I’ve put in 20 years in that cramped space.
#ThrowbackThursday El Paso Texas 1958
July 3, 2014
Personal, Pictures El Paso, father and son, Jim Reeves, jimmiejoe, throwback thursday Leave a comment
Early to mid 1958, El Paso, Texas. Dad is 19, and is stationed at Biggs Air Force Base. Big Jimmie and Little Jimmie.
#ThrowbackThursday Woodlake California 1958
June 26, 2014
Personal, Pictures family, Jimmie Joe Reeves, throwbackthursday, Wanda Bergman Reeves, Woodlake 1 Comment
Jimmie Joe Reeves, Sr. 20, Jimmie Joe Reeves, Jr. (me) not yet 1, Wanda Faye Bergman Reeves, 19
At my maternal grandparents home, outside of Woodlake, California
1958
Even just standing around can get you in the newspaper!
June 19, 2014
commentary, News, Personal centennial park, gay porterville, LGBT, porterville, Pride Month, pride rally 1 Comment
At Gay Porterville’s rally Tuesday, June 17, I got caught in the newspaper’s picture. This image appeared in the Porterville Recorder’s print edition today.
See my Alternating Currents blog for the story of the rally, here.
The entire photo after the jump.
JimmieJoe / KC6YRU 
Another crazy dream
August 12, 2014
Jim Reeves commentary, Personal bakersfield, dreams, ford ranger 1 Comment
I usually don’t remember my dreams, but when I do, they tend to be really odd.
Here’s a recap of this morning’s random neuron firings.
For some reason, I’m going to Bakersfield to see a person who may have been some kind of University-level instructor or counselor. When I get to Bakersfield, I’m in a crowded downtown area, and having difficulty finding a place to park. I finally locate a vacant spot, and end up having to walk a great distance to find the place I’m supposed to be. When I locate the person I’ve supposedly made an appointment with, he says “that’s next week. I can’t see you know”. We do this in the middle of a large public space, indoors, like a large entry pavilion area. I follow him outside, still trying to figure out why he won’t see me, when some other man makes a comment about More
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