Geoff Fox: My Permanent Record

Richard Libertini died a few days ago. A character actor with a significant body of work, I remember him solely for his appearance in the In-Laws (1979 version) with Peter Falk and Alan Arkin.

He played General Garcia, the crazy South American dictator with a plan to topple the world’s currencies.

“I am a pacifist by nature with a deep Quaker belief in the sanctity of human life. I wish I had a choice but to kill you.”

I met Richard Libertini at least 25 years ago at Channel 8 in Connecticut. He was promoting something else, but I got a chance to tell him how he stole this scene. He did. Arkin and Falk were putty in his hands.

He was very gracious and it was obvious he knew this was his life’s most memorable work.

From the “It’s Always Something” department, I working with one eye today. Sometime Saturday my right eye began to hurt as if a piece of dust had gotten in. The pain continued into Sunday. I went to see the doctor.

Well, I thought I was seeing the doctor. I actually saw a nurse practitioner. I’m not sure my minor eye tsuris deserved more. Of course I’m not a doctor. Come to think of it, neither was she.

She was very thorough, numbing (something in the ‘caine family) and cleansing the eye, then dying it and looking under black light. No scratch. That’s good.

She prescribed antibiotic drops and sent me on my way. I’ve been taking the drops, but mostly I’ve been keeping my right eye shut.

This is something I’ve written about before. There are tiny muscles you never think about working in and around your eyes. They get sore if you overwork them. Ask the man who knows.

“He’s not a very good patient,” says everyone who’s ever met me. Hopefully, in a few days my malady will be gone.

Helaine was gone all day Friday. When she returned Doppler welcomed her as if she’d been stranded on a desert island! And, as it turned out, I was rolling video.

Greetings from not so sunny SoCal. El Nino has arrived and the child is cranky.

It’s pouring as I type this. Doppler, cradled in Helaine’s arms, is wearing her Thundershirt. We had two loud crashes this morning and another few tonight. Just a few. Storms are different here.

First things first. No individual storm can be attributed to El Nino. We understand some of the process, probably not all. El Nino indicates a probability, not a certainty.

OK — back to the scary stuff.

If you’ve never been here you’ve got to understand there are mountains in the east and there are MOUNTAINS in the west. Much of California is steep and exquisitely beautiful. When it rains water pours off the slopes in raging torrents.

We have flash floods, mud and rock slides. Houses tumble or are buried in mud.

TV news helicopters hovered most of the day over submerged cars, closed freeways and threatened homes. You hear the phrase “burn scar areas” a lot on a day like today.

Rain is covered here the way snow is covered in the East. And this is BIG rain.

The map above shows around 1.5″ at our house. This place is freshly engineered and built. No worries.

As nice as this rain is, the good news is the Sierras are getting snow by the foot. They averaged five to eight feet on-the-ground before this began. Even nearby mountains saw two feet over the past few days.

Nice start. The season’s not quite half over. This is when it should be stormy.

We need the rain. But, it’s tough to see everything the water brings.

The nearly always say they’ll rebuild.

GrADS is up and running. Until my Raspberry Pi can do the job I’ve dedicated another tiny computer, a Pipo X7S. The X7S is a totally silent, fanless Windows computer. It’s basically a Windows tablet without the screen or touchy stuff.

Over the past few days I’ve spent at least 20 hours pecking away at this keyboard, playing. I’m not ashamed to say that. The best way to learn is by playing.

GrADS is a complex program. To use it I am learning its language and syntax. Spelling and grammar count in programming!

The two maps above were produced at home using this free software and data. They are the very beginning of what can be done. I’m a neophyte.

If you’ve been following along you know I’ve become a little obsessed with GrADS. It’s a weather analysis and display program. It was written by scientists to do scientific research. It swallows data and spits out charts, graphs and maps.

Recently, Ryan Maue of WeatherBell demonstrated GrADS is capable of much more. He replaced the color tables with new ones created using a whole new design concept where the color spectrum is broken down in an unusual way. His maps are amazing.

I looked at all this and wondered if GrADS could be used to supplement what we get at work and for my other projects down the road?

The answers appears to be yes, but GrADS is proving itself an elusive conquest. GrADS doesn’t have a slick graphic user interface. It accepts typed or scripted commands using its own language.

Learning computer languages isn’t hard, but GrADS has old, often dated documentation. It’s like a highway where twenty mile stretches are missing from time-to-time.

Good grief I feel I’ve been on a treasure hunt! It’s a shame. What this program does is pretty cool.

I’ve written to and been in touch with a handful of people who understand it. Some helped. Others said they shared my problems.

As of tonight I know how to show observed data like temperatures and winds, plus computer model outputs. A stranger whose post I read on a discussion board is sending me scripts to ingest and display radar. I’m good to go.

My GrADS install is running on a little Raspberry Pi, the $35 computer I’ve written about. It’s more than enough power to handle the load I’ll give it.

Of course there is a problem. Well, actually a few problems.

The latest version of GrADS runs on Linux, but there’s not a version for the Pi’s Linux.

I know, complex. Hang in for another minute.

There is a GrADS version for another flavor of Linux. It’s possible that package can be converted. I’ve already installed a program called Alien to try.

If that doesn’t work the next step is compiling GrADS on my own. That’s best described as building your own software in kit form. And you have to supply a few of the parts, in the form of libraries.

It’s an arduous task with no guarantee of success… and it scares the crap out of me. It’s real propeller head stuff. I am deep in the weeds here, aren’t I?

You can’t screw up the Pi because everything runs off micro SD cards. Worst case, wipe the card and start again.

If everything works, I’ll soon have GrADS 2.1 on the Pi and begin to write scripts (little programs actually) to make maps and other graphics.

It’s such a challenge. I’m 19 again.

Cousin Michael called this afternoon. Uncle Murray died.

Murray is my father’s brother. His death was as sudden and unexpected as an 88 year old man dying can be.

The best way to describe Uncle Murray is to say he was a character. His voice was very gravelly and VERY Brooklyn. He sounded like my Grandpa Jack. He was a loud-talker.

Murray was like one-of-the ‘guys’ Damon Runyon created for Guys and Dolls, except 100% real.

He made friends easily. Uncle Murray was well known in Sunnyside, a section of Queens where he’d run a small store. He knew the cops, pols and the crooks. They all liked him.

Hidden under Uncle Murray and Aunt Eydie’s bed was the first Playboy I ever saw. I should have thanked him.

Like my dad, Murray was a natural born comedian. He always had a joke or story.

He also always had an opinion.

Murray and I had fierce political and ideological battles with voices raised and hands flailing. Helaine worried one day we’d go too far and leave angry with each other. Uncle Murray and I knew better.

Back in the seventies I brought a co-worker home for dinner at my parent’s little apartment in Queens. Summertime. No air conditioner. Low flying planes inbound to LaGuardia every 90 seconds.

Uncle Murray, who was bach’ing it that week, came by too. My mom was a great cook. She was making broiled chicken, skin on, basted with lots of butter. We judged only by taste back then.

My work friend, stereotypically rural and gentile, was about to experience his first stereotypically NYC Jewish meal. His life would be forever changed by the Foxes.

It was like we were having dinner in the Borscht Belt. Uncle Murray and my dad told every joke known to man. We could have invented “ROFL” on-the-spot.

That night stands out 35 years later. I can close my eyes and see Uncle Murray at the end of the small table in our dinette, his arm outstretched as he sold another punchline.

We lost Aunt Eydie a long time ago. Uncle Murray was living near his daughter, Judy and her family just outside Washington.

“He liked it when you talked about him,” she said on the phone this evening.

He liked it because I always made clear how special he was. How many lovable characters do you know?

Uncle Murray be missed.

A new piece of gear has been added to the studio. It’s a Novation Launchpad Mini. It’s usually employed to control electronics associated with music.

In my studio, the Launchpad is a shotbox. Each button can control a function or functions on the TriCaster. If properly programmed a shotbox will allow me to broadcast a more complex and spontaneous segment live, by myself. At least that’s my intent.

Even if it doesn’t live up to expectations, it’s still a box with 80 programmable color push button light switches. That alone should be enough.

I was just texting with my boss. There’s snow coming to Nebraska Monday. Our conversation was about how much.

Weather is a seven day a week job. You have to follow it daily or you lose the rhythm. I always look at maps on the weekend. More this weekend.

A weak low moving from Mexico into Texas begins tapping Gulf moisture and explodes. The central pressure drops, wind field intensifies and precipitation shield grows.

Now the storm turns to the north northeast (on a map, just right of straight up) and brushes Nebraska with snow on its trailing, colder, western edge.

Forecasting in the Plains is more straightforward than New England. This storm will have little Rocky Mountain or Atlantic Ocean influence.

A rule-of-thumb for snow, the temperature at 850mb (around 5,000 feet) must be less than 0ºC (32ºF). The 0C/850 line is often the focal point for the heaviest snow. Midday Monday the 850mb temperature is in -5ºC neighborhood.

Monday’s snow comes from an inversion layer. -5ºC at 850mb is actually warmer than air closer to the ground! That’s the opposite of normal.

Climatology says snow in Northeast Nebraska averages a 12:1 snow:water ratio. It’s fluffier and more susceptible to drifting than New England snow, especially with Nebraska’s propensity for wind.

QPF, quantitative precipitation forecasts, are among our least successful weather pursuits. Let’s say 2-4″ in Norfolk, our headquarters, with slightly higher amounts east and lesser amounts west. Your actual mileage may vary.

Tonight, Stef, Helaine and I celebrated the great Christmas tradition our ancestors brought from the old country–a movie and Chinese food!

OK, maybe not that long a tradition. Tradition nonetheless.

First stop, Adam McKay’s “The Big Short,” with Steve Carell, Brad Pitt, Christian Bale and Ryan Gosling. It’s the mainly true story of the Wall Street meltdown as seen by the few who forecast it correctly.

This is a director’s movie with the help of a very good cast–especially Steve Carell. I’ve liked him since The Daily Show, but didn’t know he had this range.

It’s a sad movie. Our heroes foresee then get rich off the tanking market, but a lot of people get hurt. That’s the sad part. Everyone involved knows they’ll bear no responsibility.

The theater, in the Marketplace off Jamboree Road in Irvine, was as crowded as I’d seen it.

We ran home so I could update the weather on NCN and walk the dogs. There’s snow in Nebraska tonight, but it looks like it’s following the forecast. It has tapered for flurries. Accumulation finished. I record again a little after midnight.

On a night like tonight I double check the highway cameras Nebraska has graciously placed across the state. Much of the state is rural. This is the only ground truth you get.

Can’t forget Chinese food. Out we go again.

Our local fav was closed tonight. Helaine found a place off Walnut just beyond the 405.

Irvine, where we live, has a very large Asian population. We turned into a small shopping center with a few Chinese banks and other stores with multilingual or simply Chinese signs and at least ten Chinese restaurants. That is not an exaggeration. This one little plaza had more Chinese restaurants than Philly’s Chinatown.

The place was jammed. We’re used to that in Chinese restaurants on Christmas. Tradition, remember? Except here every table, save ours and one other, were filled by Asian families.

Dinner at Chef Chen’s and the food was great. It’s obviously family run because each dish was served by someone else. Stuff came hot and quickly. The price seemed reasonable. Maybe a little less salt, but very tasty. The string beans served with sliced beef were delish.

We had them pack the leftover Hot and Sour soup then left it there.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

The Trump name has been on my radar a long time. My grandparents lived in a middle class co-op in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn called Trump Village. Donald’s dad Fred built it.

Donald himself first came to my attention in the early 80s. He was buying properties in Midtown Manhattan, buildings which were undervalued because of New York City rent control laws. One of those buildings was 100 Central Park South (photo above). Directly across from Central Park, it is on one of the most valuable pieces of property in the world!

Trump figured if he could remove rent control, charge market rates and convert the building to luxury co-ops, he could make a fortune. Problem is there was no way to do that without being morally repugnant and possibly violating the law.

He tried evicting the tenants, many older who had lived in the building for decades. They fought back in court.

The first witness was James Galef, an investment analyst who was born 28 years ago in the 12th-floor apartment where he and his brother still live. He described what he said were deteriorating conditions in the building, including faulty elevators and bare lightbulbs in hallways, and he showed a picture of mushrooms growing under a rug.

On Jan. 1, 1982, 10 months after Mr. Trump bought the 15-story building, Mr. Galef received a notice that said he had to restore the apartment to its original condition within 10 days or face immediate eviction. This meant, he said, that he had to replace a wall that had been torn down in 1955, before he was born.

Eviction wasn’t his only ploy. He also tried to change the makeup of the building’s tenants.

New York City was seeking to shelter hundreds of homeless people last year. Donald J. Trump, the realty developer, had a suggestion: put some in 10 vacant apartments in his building at 100 Central Park South.

He offered to let the city’s Human Resources Administration house the homeless at no charge. From the NY Times:

The apartments happened to be in one of Manhattan’s choicer areas. By another coincidence, Mr. Trump was seeking to empty the rentcontrolled building to put up a hotel. He said the tenants were ”multimillionaires” who should not ”be protected in rentcontrolled apartments.”

Robert Trobe, an H.R.A. deputy administrator, has refused the offer, a spokesman says, because ”it did not seem appropriate to house clients in a building slated for demolition.”

Trump was a schmuck. Money and his personal gain were more important than the safety and well being of his mainly older tenants. He knew the regulations going in. He wasn’t about to let them slow him down.

Nothing has changed. He is still a bully. He still doesn’t give a crap for anyone who stands in his way. He represents pretty much everything in life I hate.

Thirty plus years is a long time to stay pissed at The Donald. He hasn’t changed. I haven’t changed.

As relatively new Californian’s we’re anxious for the little ones, small earthquakes that do no harm but are fun to talk about. We’ve got no desire to see the destruction the proverbial “Big One” will bring.

There was a 3.1 quake, small enough to do no damage but large enough to feel, in Newport Beach. USGS says it was seven miles from Irvine. We’re on the far east side of Irvine, a mile or two farther.

Napping. I felt nothing.

Helaine, who was downstairs, felt nothing. Ditto for Doppler.

Cousin Melissa, a little closer, posted that she felt it on Facebook.

That’s a shame. Under ten miles away and over magnitude 3.0 should be felt.

There will be more opportunities.

My work from home would be impossible without computers. They have democratized video production. Ten years ago my garage would have been a million dollar plus studio. Now the cost is a teeny sliver.

I’m always looking for ways to harness technology in new ways. That’s what I’m working on now.

The Raspberry Pi I bought a few weeks ago continues to listen for airplanes and plot them on a map.

The Raspberry Pi is impressive because $35 buys a full fledged computer. And, at $35 (around $60 actually when you add WiFi, keyboard, mouse (Bluetooth), power, cables and a memory card) it’s perfect as a dedicated machine–a headless computer that silently does the same things over-and-over 24/7.

So, I bought a second Pi. My intended task is GrADS.

The Grid Analysis and Display System (GrADS) is an interactive desktop tool that is used for easy access, manipulation, and visualization of earth science data.

That means it makes custom weather maps and charts. I have ideas. This fits in.

GrADS is pretty mature. It doesn’t take much horsepower to run and I’ll only be running a small subset of what websites often do. Most of what it will produce will be done on a schedule and left waiting for me.

The Raspberry Pi OS is “Raspbian,” an offshoot of Debian Linux. Grads 2.0 (a “.1” behind the current main version) has been ported to Raspbian.

If (and it’s a big if) I can get this running it will produce maps and other weather graphics around the clock and on-demand. Its work will be hidden from sight. I’ll just pluck the fruit.

Here’s the trouble with all this. I desperately tried to learn GrADS before and failed miserably. It’s hard. It’s another new language with new syntax and peculiarities. For some reason it doesn’t like me.

My hope is having a dedicated machine for dev work will help me be more focused. Programs won’t have to be shut down to run something else. I can pick up exactly where I left off.

These very small, very cheap computers are a big deal.

In the analog days red was not a happening color. Between cameras, transmission equipment and the tube on your set, red was muddy and dull. It was avoided like the plague.

People would often specify red until shown how it would appear. It was only a good idea in the abstract.

We’re digital now. Red is back on top. It’s sharp. It’s penetrating. It’s usable.

It’s the kind of thing that sneaks up on you. It wasn’t until I took a look at the control room monitors that I realized how nice it is, especially this time of year, to have red on-the-team.

Dear Zajdel,

You don’t know me. You bought the little WD server I returned to Amazon. I hope it’s working better for you than me.

You may be wondering how I know you have my old server?

Following events are generated on your WDMyCloudMirror CloudZajdel.

Event title:Power Supply Failure

Event description:Power supply failed. Check power supply.

Severity:warning

Event code:1022

Event time:12-17-2015 08:46:56 PM

Firmware version: 2.10.310

Event title:Ethernet Port %1 Connected at 10/100

Event description:Connection speed limited to 10/100 Mbps rates.

Severity:Info

Event code:2041

Event time:11-21-2015 09:34:16 AM

Firmware version: 2.10.310

Event title:Network Link Down

Event description:The network link is down or has become intermittent. Check your network connection.

Severity:warning

Event code:1002

Event time:11-21-2015 09:33:24 AM

Firmware version: 2.10.310

Every time you have a problem I read all about it! From your IP address I know you’re near Pittsburgh and using Verizon.

Let me know if you see this. I can’t think of any other way to find you. In the meantime, this is the last of them I’ll see. Your server notifications are going to be filtered out.

All the best,
Geoff