Tech Check

 

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Test Drive Success!

We are able to capture a decent 5G signal from our hill-top, and a mobile-carrier switch to T-mobile is under way. Their Magenta plan does more for us at the same price we're paying now, and adding internet this way will save us quite a bit. The risk is out there for signal clogging in bad weather or too many trees, but for now we're giving it a shot!

It should be noted that we had ~5Mpbs with the old landline internet, and 5g to wifi isn't much faster here on the edge of civilization. Since access is more important than absolute speed, we feel no need to go for 5g phones on this system. Let competition increase¹ and prices fall, at once that happens we will likely dip our toes into the highest ends of tech speed on the road.

¹ In fact, my primary reason not to go 5g is that all manufacturers have decided to adopt 7-inch screens with a 20:9 screen ratio. Most people dislike it - I however, pretty much detest it. I've ordered a Moto e5 Plus for $39 with 4g,  a 6" 18:9 screen and a mix of specs that suit me better. It might have a decent camera and a bit less battery life² but I don't care. I'd like a small-body 5g Android phone, and I'll wait for someone to introduce one. I'm not the only person seeking a phone that doesn't reach my knees when in a pants pocket!

² No surprise since it's a smaller device. It needs less power to drive the smaller screen and also has less space to add a monster battery. It uses the prehistoric µUSB port but still has a speedy recharge cycle. Oh no, no USB/c.?!?  Surprise: I don't care.

An Unusual Heat Storm

In general, the pacific NW USA endures heat waves in 3-day snips. A lot like snow in that way - extended periods of heat or cold are rare. So we are living through an exception!We're on day seven of temperatures above 90° - and we're expecting one more. Portland's record for 95+ is seven days, and I think that record is at risk.

Our heat storms generally end in one of two ways. The transition that I remember mostly from my youth is a few nice thunderstorms (big ones only by NW USA standards), . Not a massive squall line like the rest of the US gets at the end of a heat wave, though; just storms that form along the Cascades and drift NW to valley-dwellers around sunset. The day after would be cooler as marine air slipped into the valleys.

Nowadays the t-stormy phase gets skipped for the valleys nearly every time, and a strong but dry west wind brings a Marine Push. Wind ramps up late one afternoon and rushes in with cool air, and a cloudless evening in the 60s replaces 80-100° heat. Less exciting but still dramatic. Living here for eight years (north of Portland, aligned with the long lower-Columbia estuary) this has become the default ending.

We had several of these late-day pushes this week, each causing temps to crash in the late afternoon -- but in each case the west wind was stymied and the heat resumed! Forecasts generally agreed that late-week break would arrive Saturday.. no Sunday. Now it is Saturday and it's expected late on Monday. Maybe?

Nearly every day was warmer than even the warmest forecast, and the week's slow cooling became a double peak on Tue and Fri. A couple of 90s then dropping.. well maybe 90 again Fri, or Sat. Oops, today we hit 105° - matching our high during last year's record-crushing Heat Dome, six degrees or more above the forecasts, and the new peak of the week. No push today until 7PM: too little, too late.

 

At least no nearby stations reached 116° like last year, thankfully.. But

 Ugh.

Tomorrow was supposed to be a pinch cooler. So is that 97, or 103°? 

Tune in & find out.

summer heat

Today has already overshot the forecast by several degrees. Thankfully the west continues to receive shallow west winds and should hang in the 70s all week. We're in the 90s and could be hotter through at least Tuesday, then slowly cool off through the weekend. Forecasts are a bit lower then they had been - but we'll still be feeling it, Portland especially more than us. Somehow we'll manage.

It's quite likely that a day trip west is in the cards, assuming our schedule will have a free day. 

Sure looks nice over there!

covid inflation and chaos, o my

First the Classic version, then Alpha, Delta, Omicron. And now the O-variants.

Many news stories about BA.4 and BA.5 taking over caseloads - and now stories of a throwback, BA.2.75 with massive mutations from an earlier variant! 

No more coordinated national mandates, no more direct reports of home-test results unlike tests made within the health-care system (fragmented as even that is) - so increases are mere blips on the Omicron-peak-scaled charts and unreported cases are a mere guess. Hospital visits are no longer at crisis levels at least, as so many are on 3rd and 4th injections. I just received my fourth before a gathering that caught my best buddy and his wife with three weeks of Covid lousiness (variant: unknown).

The upper graphic from ourworldindata.org shows the USA percentage of the original COVID virus and its variants over time. It does not deal with the variants within each variant, so Omicron still rules whether BA.4, BA.5 or BA.2.75

Once upon a time I had a daily record of cases and deaths for the US, and my state and county. Then small governments stopped giving daily reports so I moved to 5-day points; my chart and a 4-period moving average are at the bottom of the graphic. No doubt the 5-day spacing includes weekends now and then, leading to a pronounced zigzag; I put a 4-period average on the data (darkest line) to make trends clearer. Our current cases are around Delta-outbreak levels (fall 2021), which were frightening until Omicron 1.0 came on the scene. 

After nearly three years we've all been desensitized by the relentlessness and the scale of this pandemic, and the political spins that have made science just another variable in our rhetoric. No wonder fatigue is a symptom of the pandemic - even not catching the virus in this environment is exhausting!

In the meantime, the President and Congress have been stymied by the parity in the Senate and the bitterness of 21st-century partisanship. Add in big-time inflation that is rather independent of economics (supply issues still rule), a war in Ukraine and the impact of sanctions on Russia, various amounts of chaos elsewhere (e.g. the UK now choosing another prime minister) and the result is a bitter brew. It's a no-win situation for anyone, but blame is an irresistible sport in today's chaotic climate.

We'll deal with the topic of climate another time..

 

 

 

Jul-Jun 'water year' - are we done yet?

 My worksheet calculates weather on a July-June period. Most folks around these parts actually do Sep-Aug.. praps I should make a shift? In any case, I can do a 12-month report now and assume that the next week will be dry; if it isn't true it is quite close.

Our Jul-Jun total right now is 92¼ inches. That's absurdly higher than our almost-58" normal based on the new 30-year recent average, but it is not the highest - that still belongs to 2016-17 at 94 inches. The previous 30-year average (1981-2010) was 63.7 inches, so our expectations were lowered but then shattered by all the moisture. Sep-Jun featured only one month below average, and that was a 94% March. Five months were over 10.5", not bad when the wettest month should be 9.06" (November). June is at 188% of normal as of the 24th; the week could end with drizzle or some light showers, so it could creep up a bit more.

Our two wettest years, compared to the current 'normal' based on 1991-2020 amounts

p.s. Happy near-anniversary those who endured last year's Heat Dome. On June 28th our thermometer topped out at 105.6° - and that was among the lowest of the OR/WA stations I looked at that day! It reached 116° in Portland, an hour south and 750' lower. Elevation makes us snowier in the winter (April too!), and when it's hot it's better to be here than most valley locations. Today reached 101° so we're ahead of last year's 6/26 reading. Forecasts are for the marine push to begin tomorrow afternoon, so the next two records are not in jeopardy. Yay!

A new lens contest!

My somewhat clever swap of K-mount macro lenses has put me in a curious spot. My K-s2 will be far happier in its current (sick-solenoid) state with the Sigma 50/2.8 lens - but it also plays in the μ43 kit. In fact my Olympus 30/3.5 has two new competitors: the 50/2.8 as is, and a speed-boosted 36/2! The latter does add glass though, so optically it may have an effect that makes a difference.. but either way the sigma has a speed advantage.

Another good point: the Olympus can actually work at 1.25x macro! You won't get much light on the subject at that working distance though, so that 'advantage' needs to be evaluated as well.

We will check back soon with some results! :√)

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OK, some things are easily learned!

• For one, the speed-booster does not allow for 1:1 images. Closer to 1:5 than 1:1 in fact.
• Another obvious point: if you like any details with your macro images, you won't be shooting below f/8 and the speed contest becomes irrelevant. As a multi-purpose lens it could be helpful though.. and if you like color smears with a rim of sharpness then it's a very big deal!
• And yet again, I learn that for me a 1:2 closeup lens is more than enough magnification..

So for 1:2 and closer shots, who's the winner? 

Well, no surprise: both are very nice. I shot wide open since the wind was swaying the test roses; I'll try again soon with iso1600 and f/8 to see if any bokeh issues sway me. I'd expect two macros from companies with long experience to be pretty similar in any case.

In most cases users prefer a longer FL to keep from spooking live targets, and the 50mm left the front element about 2" from the text I shot. The 35mm was about an inch, and below that for 1.2x shots. So for me, if compact is my top priority the μ43 kit will come and the AF 30mm wins out. If the Pentax kit with primes is in play however, and even if both kits join me, the 50 macro can play for both.

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While I'm on that topic, note that I have Four 50mm lenses now: the Sigma f/2.8 1:1, Pentax smc-A f/2 & 1.4, and a Zonlai f/1.4 in native μ43 mount. 

Given my gear and my macro needs, I am likely best served by an extension tube or a diopter lens. We'll try that too! I have a short extension for μ43 so a K version should do nicely, and a few diopters should fit my current lenses.

geek reconciliation

It isn't just cameras. I've overdone other tech purchases as well! 

Phones are today's topic. 

My wife and I used to get matching phones, but as her iPod aged she thought we should become Apple-ites and we picked up 4c twins. I could not handle the Appleisms after a brief time, but she continued with it, and now has an XE or somesuch (like a compact iPhone 10.5?).

I had somehow managed to get into Mototypes and liked them. I cannot recall how I ended up with a white and a black E:2nd-gen, though somehow it made 'sense' at the time. Update! I believe the white E² went into our hot tub for 10-15 seconds, so I deemed it dead. It got better, going for a walk!

Team Moto - E² on top, e5Play below left,
G Power2020 below right

At that point I joined Home Depot and needed to use their app - frequently! Our local Target sold phones for my carrier, and I got a decent price on an e5/ Play. It's a bit larger than E² but not much, and it holds its own for power and storage. Not really much faster on the HD wifi though, as both are 4G capable.. but easier to read fine print on the larger screen!

Then I bought a camera with a usb:C port.

My wife was already transitioning from the wide port of the iPhone4 era to Lightning, and now I was in the USB micro-to-C changeover? Ugh! 

Beyond that, I was finding storage to be a problem on the new/improved phone, as more and more space is used by Android OS and updated apps. So I found a Moto G Power with more memory, more battery life, usb:C, and .. well to be nice, it's a large skinny beast that isn't in my comfort zone.

As Bill the cat said so well, and so often: GAK.

Long story short: the usb:C-ported camera is gone for now, and I'm back on the µUSB phone (in this case, the E5p). I'll also let the usb:C tablet go away as it's now the odd duck out of luck.

My wife and I are still trying to puzzle out how to get her CD xfers along with the Apple Music system to port across to the new phone so the iPod Classic can fail without a sonic catastrophe.

Ah the progress of technology. What did I learn profanity for, other than such times as these?

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2nd Update - the software for the eM1 will not function with Android 5.1 on the E², so the E5/play will take over instead. So close..

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3rd update! I found an archived copy of the v4.2 Olympus APK (it went to 4.4x before becoming OMD 1.0) and it works OK on the E²+eM1 - so I'm back at it again with the 'tiny' phone. I forgot how much I liked the Lollipop era of Android, where changing bluetooth/network devices wasn't four button presses away.