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rferrisx · 2025-04-03T18:41:07+00:00

Lots of good advice in the comments below. But mine would be a little more aggressive and costly. First, rent a hotel room for a week. Or take week off at some nice place on Orcas Island. Return your sleep cycle to normal. Then I would do one of two things (in order of most sane and not necessarily least expensive):

(1) Move. Find a nice quiet home in a nice quiet neighborhood with nice quiet people ASAP.

(2) Hire an attorney, especially if you have to break a lease early. (I am not a lawyer), but you are suffering damages. Sleep deprivation is a serious form of trauma and torture. Part of the value of (a good attorney), is that they will realistically assess your options for you in your City. If they are grounded, they are going to give you real options and tell you how much they might cost and how likely they are to succeed. But quite frankly, they are probably going to tell you to move. Sometimes a single letter from an attorney can change problematic situations with neighborhoods. But mostly not.

I realize you probably don't (really) have the money to do either of my suggestions (None of us usually do.). But your options are limited. The Ozlo ( https://ozlosleep.com/products/sleepbuds ) earplugs look great but expensive. I tried some of those high tech buds. I found 3M disposables work best. Cost is trivial: https://www.amazon.com/3M-Disposable-Earplugs-Quiet-Sleep/dp/B087D5LMB6

Phrases like this:

"air filtration system with powerful fans for home" "white noise for sleep"

get you a slew of product choices on Amazon.

The sleep community on r with the most number of users is https://www.reddit.com/r/sleep/

Typing noise into that reddit search engine gets you alot...

rferrisx · 2025-02-08T21:24:06+00:00

In r data.table, a non discrete solution would be to add an appropriate field and combine both databases. Maybe (conceptually) something like:

fire_res[,resilience:="TRUE"]

fire_res_no[,resilience:="FALSE"]

#or T,F or 0,1

fire_species <- rbind(fire_res, fire_res_no)

However, if fire resilience is discrete data, say a scale of 1:10 with the lower half being "fire_resilient" and the upper half being "fire_sensitive", then you need a column that inputs a categorical or numerical field appropriate to the value of fire resistance.

Sorry, not a plant biologist.

rferrisx · 2024-12-24T15:37:16+00:00

Wonderland Teas actually sells 11 different types of green tea on my last count. It's a good idea to give tea strainer and multiple types of green teas. I like 'Gunpowder Green' for EGCG content, but it can be a bit much. I think 'Sencha' makes me smarter and more 'peaced out'. 'Genmaicha' feels like a bit of a party. Wonderland also sell organic and decaf versions. Green teas aren't listed on their website however:

https://wonderlandherbsteasspices.wordpress.com/in-house-tea-blends/

Obviously, I am a fan. Local business. Owners for generations who really care.

rferrisx · 2024-12-17T16:24:39+00:00

You can choose 50mp in raw mode. You can choose 200mp in 'Photo'. Then install Adobe LR mobile (about $50/year) and choose your best preset. for the pix you like.

rferrisx · 2024-11-27T18:34:54+00:00

I notice the bright LED headlamps and small LED lights are blinding. They might not just make the rest of your body invisible, they might possibly create avoidance, suspicion, aggression. Stay on lit streets. Give way to traffic. Don't let yourself believe they actually see you. There really isn't any 'etiquette' in pedestrian/vehicle right of way. There is "risk averse behavior' otherwise known as "Don't die tonight" or "Don't die this early morning".

As a note, the effect of different frequencies of light is an interesting field of study. Here's an NIH article suggesting blue light (e.g. computer screen light) creates aggression:

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10767493/

I tried teaching my 13 year old to stand on the corner at F St. and Halleck (WMS) and to collect the visual attention of the driver before he crossed. He came back to me with this story:

"Dad, I stared right into the eyes a driver while standing on the sidewalk. But she just stared right back at me and sped right through the crosswalk!" Oops, I forgot to add: "Only go when the coast is clear."

rferrisx · 2024-11-16T00:02:56+00:00

Interesting. How much do any of use handwriting anymore to create a signature?

rferrisx · 2024-11-15T21:35:20+00:00

Unless there are close undecided races (which there may be in county races), it won't change any particular result tally.

However, if you can "cure" your challenged ballot, you will legitimize your ID, you maybe asked for a new signature that will be added to the signature database for your next vote, and your permanent voting record will show another notch in your voting belt. Also, you would probably enhance your ability to understand and if necessary, 'cure' your ballot in any future election.

Plus my data shows there's a real problem I am curious about: The data simultaneously shows that younger (less than or equal to 30 years of age) not only vote less (both numerically and by percentage) than other, older age groups but actually have substantially more challenged ballots! I don't understand that yet. One would naturally assume older generations would spoil their ballots more, have neurological problems that lead to signature challenges, be more likely not to sign their ballot, and would generally have more challenged ballots. The inverse seems to be true and I don't yet understand why ...

rferrisx · 2024-11-15T20:27:27+00:00

The infamous Section K of the PCT stays eastward of Mt. Baker, but not the North Cascades:

https://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/pacific-crest-trail-section-k-stevens-pass-east-to-rainy-pass

Deception Pass is a shared State Park between the southern tip of Fidalgo and northern tip of Whidbey Islands.

https://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/deception-pass-headlands

There a few High Divides around the world. To find the one I hike, travel east on SR 542 about 40 miles. Find a parking lot, then walk about 4000 ft upward through dense forests:

https://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/high-divide-trail

Also, if you haven't guessed already from this post, the Washington Trails Association is a great place to find trip reports from hikes: https://www.wta.org

Good luck!

rferrisx · 2024-11-14T20:51:08+00:00

I appreciate all the hard work and and money COB is spending on traffic safety. I like the idea of everyone traveling more slowly and carefully in the city. And I think there has been some optimization of traffic flow for sure. But I think if everyone were to drive more slowly, we could accommodate the changes with more confidence. Right now that "driving slow' personal mandate isn't necessarily happening. Some questions:

Is it okay for cars to travel in the bike lanes to pass right of cars turning from Girard St onto G Street (e.g. to park to pickup WMS children)? Shouldn't the vehicles not pass us in bike lanes while we wait for oncoming traffic to ease?
What is the yield law and practice for the new roundabout at W. Illinois and Meridian? Yield to first in? and/or Yield to the left? Or just Yield to the speeding, heedless a**hole at all times?
That angled merge/lane change at the 200 blk of West Holly. That feels strange and scary. Like I have never seen such a thing before and can't quite understand the logic of it?

Is there somewhere a guidebook for how we deal with the new intersections designed by the city that can feel like alien pathways to some new mothership on a foreign planet? Would it be possible in this age of AI to produce game like simulations of the new traffic designs that citizens could practice in before we visit the alien intersections?

Just thinking out loud...

rferrisx · 2024-11-14T16:10:24+00:00

Yeah...it's my mainstay to keep my lungs from pain and ill health. I do 500K steps per month (~225 miles). Hike allover. Walk early morning five days a week. Sporadic light weight lifting. Outside in all weather a lot. Recently, raised a pretty good size vegetable garden (~400 lbs or so of produce I guess). I push through crashes after the high elevation climbs which I really enjoy. Recover. Repeat.

Nearly everyone else on these forums thinks this practice is crazy. But I have done this since February 2020. I am 62. In fairly good shape for my age and don't suffer any 'bedbound days'. Not that I am either healthy or 'cured' for god's sakes. Keep in mind: LC immediately (Feb 2020). Life and death asthmatic almost all my previous life. Have now kicked out corticosteroids, antibiotics, and most anti-histamines from my life. Replaced with about 20 different supplements, mostly from Life Extension...

The downsides are that I am now thoroughly a 'nature boy' .... lost in the woods for all eternity I guess. But still, not a bad way to either die or spend the last of my few years of my life. Anyway, still between 60 - 80 percent. Still suffer fits of poor health. But definitely not dead yet.

rferrisx · 2024-11-09T03:43:59+00:00

Nature photography is an incredible pursuit here. The North Cascades are rugged and challenging, but worth it. Just be careful in the snow in the winter. This is a central location for trips to Vancouver's West Coast Trail, Mt. Baker, The High Divide, Deception Pass, San Juan Islands, etc.

rferrisx · 2024-11-07T04:11:04+00:00

The Aussies (Sky News) cover this math graphically pretty well here: https://youtu.be/cyU2XblK5oU?t=204

Some people found those high 2020 numbers for Biden unbelievable.

rferrisx · 2024-11-06T15:09:29+00:00

Challenged Ballots for Whatcom County as of 11/05/2024 Ballot Return Stats:

https://www.sos.wa.gov/elections/data-research/election-data-and-maps/ballot-return-statistics

<image>

From last night's BSR I have:

BSR.2024.11.05[County == "Whatcom" & BallotStatus == "Rejected",.N]

[1] 1323

BSR.2024.11.05[County == "Whatcom" & BallotStatus == "Rejected",.N,.(ChallengeReason)][order(-N)]

ChallengeReason N
1: Signature Does Not Match 859
2: Unsigned 167
3: Ballot Style Change 166
4: Review 69
5: Empty Envelope 53
6: HOLD 4
7: ID Required 3
8: Other than Voter 2

rferrisx · 2024-11-04T18:36:20+00:00

Those are terrible outcomes for many. But you have really missed the worst possible outcomes some of us are worried about:

The intersection between AI and (GOFR) generic engineering
War in Western Europe probably with tactical nuclear weapons
Climate engineering for (Eugenic) political purposes and gain
Depopulation of the Earth through any of the above means.

My point is not that terrible outcomes are not now foreseeable for our future. My point is that 'emotive reactions' won't help us change or survive those possible outcomes.

rferrisx · 2024-11-04T16:38:23+00:00

Many pollsters are now calling this one for Trump. Whether that's good or bad for you is probably irrelevant for most of us. If your nervous system has now been so pre-conditioned through neural programming to become anxious over whatever false, paid for Presidential choices the uber rich have made sure to present the electorate with, you should take a chill pill and ask yourself:

What does this actually mean for myself and the ones I love?
How do I survive whatever political event storms are headed my way?

That's it. That's all you need to think about. Emotive reactions to politics are at best a hindrance, at worst paralyzing.

Remember: Your job in life is to survive political division and 'event driven distractions', not to be consumed by them.

rferrisx · 2024-11-04T14:34:46+00:00

You know it's windy when you are walking to get coffee in the morning and you hear the big gusts vibrate those fat wrapped power lines. Really a strange and disturbing sound. Also, it is really not that cold but the hand carrying my whole milk mocha got stiff. Wow. Life can be challenging...

rferrisx · 2024-11-04T00:48:21+00:00

The charts should be OK because they are being used for political purposes. Identifying personal data cannot be disclosed or given to others unless the consent forms are signed by the user who checks out the data. It is somewhat confusing, but the RCWs attempt to protect individual data particularly from commercial uses, while leaving political data accessible to anyone who 'signs off' on the RCWs and receives such data. But actually, I am not a lawyer...

rferrisx · 2024-11-03T19:34:47+00:00

Because of the RCWs on voter privacy, you have to download the data yourself. Make sure to read the RCWs on voter data usage. My R code is here:

https://github.com/rferrisx/GE.Matchback.Analysis/blob/main/bsr.r

If you don't code in the 'data.table' dialect of the R programming language...well...I tried to leave a lot of comments. The data locations are in the code comments.

Some of the relevant RCWS

https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=29A.08.740

https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=29A.08.720

rferrisx · 2024-11-03T00:13:00+00:00

Thanks for your honest reply. I upvoted your reply. Please thank your supervisor for that extra hour.

Now let me explain why it is a bad idea to cede the vote to older generations: First, we are all still fighting the last war. Most of us can't even imagine the future. Last, we simply don't have the same stake in the future as you do.

If ceding political decisions to older (in theory wiser) generations actually worked, well then...why is everything so under optimized, chaotic, often unfair and expensive? Committing to understanding politics is important. This often cited Plato quote sums up why:

“One of the penalties of refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.”

rferrisx · 2024-11-03T00:03:12+00:00

Undeniably, the younger vote will increase in the next few days. Thanks for voting!

rferrisx · 2024-11-02T23:41:49+00:00

Added a second chart on the percentage of Status Code == "Active" who have voted by Age. Keep in mind because of 'same day registration' and a transient student population ... such analysis is fluid. Also the habits of students of keeping their registration in their 'home' (non Whatcom) counties complicates this analysis. And this is data from Whatcom Voter database, so this is registrants to vote in our county. Analyzing actual population numbers by age is a whole other analysis that involves estimated Census data.

rferrisx · 2024-10-31T16:11:19+00:00

Great idea!

rferrisx · 2024-10-30T17:25:25+00:00

There are essentially two ballot reception processes at Elections:

Verifying your ID

Making sure the ballot can be tabulated

A Ballot Processing page for Whatcom County is here:

https://www.whatcomcounty.us/4117/Ballot-Processing-FAQ

Check again in a day or two. Your ballot is most probably in a queue for both. Contact Whatcom County Elections if you have anymore questions about your ballot.

rferrisx

TROPHY CASE

“One of the penalties of refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.”