Helene, the inland hurricane

Predicted, not actual, track:

The actual track ran east of Athens, hitting Augusta and Asheville.

Yes, that's a Category 4 hurricane heading into Georgia. It's expected to keep its hurricane status until north of Macon (the middle of the state).

That means my home town, Valdosta, in south-central Georgia, will be hit by a Category 3 or maybe 2 hurricane.

My location, Athens, is marked with a gray dot. I'm slightly east of the path, and the east side is stormier than the west. What's more, all day we've had a major rain event from an unrelated weather system.

Major tree damage and power outages are expected. (Why haven't power lines always been underground? It's as if they're inviting trees to fall on them.) Fulton County (Atlanta) already has substantial power outages; everything is OK here, so far.

Update: The storm made a right turn and hit Augusta rather than us; after veering into South Carolina it moved west again, into the northeast corner of Georgia. Both in Valdosta and in Athens, I'm hearing about a lot of flooding and a lot of trees down. (Atlanta, which is flood-prone, has had serious floods.) We didn't even have a power outage, except for some momentary flickers. But large parts of Valdosta, Augusta, and Atlanta are likely to be without power for several days.

Update: I am very sad to hear of the death of my cousin, Ann Miller, on Sunday (Sept. 29), while housesitting for her brother in Valdosta. Her death was not caused by the hurricane. The memorial service will be held several weeks from now, when conditions in Valdosta have returned to normal, or as nearly normal as they're going to get. May her memory be eternal.

As of October 2, most of Valdosta and several other cities are without power. I've seen pictures of the Valdosta First Baptist Church sanctuary with the pipe organ ripped out of the wall; I don't know what other damage was done to historic landmarks. The devastation in North Carolina was terrible. Much of the landscape up there consists of narrow valleys with a road running through the valley, and a town built along the road. Many of those were completely washed away. I-40 between Asheville and Knoxville will reportedly be closed more than a year, meaning we'll have to take a different route to Kentucky. Pray for the victims.

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First light with a new planetary camera (just barely)

We're not going to go a whole month without any astrophotography. I have another new toy, a ToupTek G3M678C planetary camera, which I use for gathering video sequences of planet images, although it can be used for all types of astrophotography.

It has a Sony IMX678C sensor, with 2-micron instead of the usual 4-micron pixels, which means it can render the full detail of an f/10 telescope without needing a Barlow lens or focal extender ahead of it. That, combined with the fact that its sensor is slightly larger than the one I had been using, means I have a much easier time getting the planet into the field of view. With the older camera, the field of view was so small that the planet was often outside it (even after finding and centering with an eyepiece) and had to be searched for. No more!

Then, to avoid creating enormous video files, I choose a region of interest (ROI) in the image and download just that.

There are IMX678-based cameras from all the major manufacturers now; I chose ToupTek because of the low price, and I ordered directly from China. There is a monochrome version of the 678, good for guiding, and I may put one in place of my iOptron iGuider camera at some point.

The first night out, I was dodging clouds, and in addition, I didn't realize the camera USB speed was set very low, so I ended up stacking only about 250 frames. Here's Saturn:

Later, back indoors, I found the camera speed setting in FireCapture; it's on the "More" menu here:

and raising the speed definitely helps. I am also getting excellent results with SharpCap (64-bit free version) and with ToupTek's own ToupSky software.

Update, Oct. 13: I am continuing to have problems using this camera with FireCapture 2.7.14 and have switched entirely to SharpCap. FireCapture's frame rates are lower, sometimes grossly so (like 0.7 fps), and it sometimes connects as USB 2.0 rather than 3.0, unpredictably. Setting the speed does not fix this. I hope a later version will.

Two more hints:

(1) Make sure to download ToupTek's latest toupcam.dll 64-bit file (which may arrive named toupcam_x64.dll or similar) and put it in place (named toupcam.dll) among the camera drivers that your software uses. It gives better frame rates than even slightly earlier versions.

(2) Do not install ASCOM drivers for cameras that do not require them. I had a brief experience that suggests that this camera gets set to USB 2.0 rather than 3.0, or gets switched to minimum speed, or both, when it is accessed by the ASCOM driver, and retains that setting until (physically) disconnected and reconnected. This is not confirmed and I present it only as a possibility. In any case, if possible, you do not want the same software accessing the same camera through more than one driver. ToupTek cameras are supported natively in FireCapture, SharpCap, N.I.N.A., PHD2, and other software; you are not likely to need the ToupTek ASCOM driver for anything.

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Continuing the video series

Christianity and the History of Science, Part 2:

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Christianity and the history of science

Uploaded early! Read tomorrow's news today!

The next thing I'm doing at church is an evening course on Christianity and the history of science, following (not too closely) the book The Soul of Science, by Pearcey and Thaxton.

At least parts of it are going to be videoed. Here's the first session. The first couple of minutes of the video will tell you more. Hint: This is not a creation-vs.-evolution course.

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The strangest e-mail I have ever received

Presented without comment. Others assure me that I am in fact not dead.

There is no context; I have never received any earlier e-mails that seemed to be related to this. Of course, I didn't reply.

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Who remembers Charter BT?

While looking at some fonts recently (and lamenting that Bembo is not bundled with Windows), I had my attention drawn to Charter BT, which I used extensively in the early days of laser printers (I think it came with WordPerfect). I hadn't seen it in a while, so I decided to track it down; it's available free.

Charter is a precursor of Microsoft Georgia, by the same designer. Of the two, I think Charter may win on legibility, especially for labels. I continue to use Georgia as my preferred font because it is bundled with Windows.

Back when laser printing was new, I chose Charter BT rather than the ubiquitous Times New Roman because Charter BT reminded me of the Adjutant monospace font that IBM offered on Selectric typewriters. A nice side effect is that I could recognize my printed documents easily — everybody else was using Times New Roman.

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Grumpy Facebook postings

My recent experience is that my most grumpy Facebook postings get the most "likes." Apparently other experienced participants are annoyed by the same things that I am. So here are some recent grumpy Facebook postings...

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Don't be a sucker

I keep running into people whose state of mind is, "I don't know whether to believe what I see on the news, so I'll just believe what I feel like believing, and you can't tell me I'm wrong." Often they mean a belief that justifies harming somebody.

Well, in epistemology we have a name for such people:

Suckers.

They're being manipulated (or manipulating themselves).

Anyone with a brain should realize that truth doesn't come from what you "see on the news," truth is about what actually happens. You expect the news to report what actually happens. You can check whether it is doing so. What evidence do the reporters cite? Who else can get the same evidence? Do they report it the same way? "Somebody said it on TV" isn't evidence. "Somebody says the news is all fake" is also not evidence. But the real world exists all around you, and there are many ways to find out about it.

So if you can't trust the news media, you might have to work a little harder to find out what is going on. But you can do it.

And you have a duty not to believe questionable, potentially harmful claims that you can't check out.

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Thou shalt not bear false witness, even about cat-eaters

Back story: In the debate, Mr. Trump said, referring to immigrants, "In Springfield [Ohio], they're eating the dogs. The people that came in. They're eating the cats. They're eating — they're eating the pets of the people that live there."

There was an unconfirmed rumor that Haitian immigrants were eating dogs and/or cats, but there has not been even one specific accusation (that some specific Haitian ate some specific cat or dog). Not one. Officials in Springfield had pointed this out in a public statement. The moderator challenged Trump, who said, "The people on television say my dog was taken and used for food." What "people on television" this refers to is not clear. But in a discussion after the debate, VP candidate Vance doubled down on the original accusation.

There was a confirmed case of one apparently mentally ill person, not an immigrant, not tied to Haiti, killing and eating a cat in Canton, Ohio, about 100 miles from Springfield. Some news media are now giving partial reports of this incident in the apparent hope that it will seem to back up what Trump said. It doesn't.

Now Springfield schools are getting bomb threats, and Trump has reportedly threatened "mass deportations" there. Harm has been done.

Reality matters.

Choosing to believe and spread what is false is wrong.

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The alternative is to keep your mouth shut

I pointed out yesterday that it is wrong to spread false or unsubstantiated accusations of wrongdoing. Even on Facebook. "Thou shalt not bear false witness."

If you don't KNOW it, don't share it.

What is the alternative? To keep your mouth shut.

Does this mean sometimes you can't entertain people with a juicy story? Yes, it does.

Facebook is not a game of pass-it-on, where you are always supposed to be repeating something you heard, whether or not it's true. At least, it shouldn't be.

Sadly, though, there are people who don't get information from anywhere but Facebook. For them, it is a game of pass-it-on. It's a way to be as ignorant and misinformed as a person who can't read and isn't smart enough to distrust gossip.

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Bogus lost-pet and missing-child notices

FRIENDS... Before you share a missing-person or lost-pet notice, at least read it.

If it doesn't say when or where they disappeared (hint: "last week" isn't a date, "downtown" isn't a location), and it doesn't say whom to contact when they're found, then — what good is it?

I'll tell you what good it is. It's how scammers build up mailing lists of people who will share stories without checking. Once you share it, you're on someone's list of suckers. No telling what you'll get next.

If you think it's worth sharing, first Google the name and the words and phrases in it. You'll often find that the "lost child" goes by 20 names and has disappeared in 40 states, or, if real, was found 3 years ago.

Facebook is not a children's game. Your postings reach the same size audience as a small newspaper. If you don't care to think about what you're posting, you don't need to be in the friends list of people who do.

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How to delete things on Facebook
(Don't use Facebook without knowing this!)

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Apalachee High School

School shootings are a cancer on our society. The cancer needs to be excised. This is more important than catering to foolish people's wishes and rants or fantasy politics.

Responsible gun owners, please hold each other to a higher standard. Obnoxious people with "ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ" and other taunts on their cars, people who talk and fantasize about killing human beings, should not be welcome among serious gun enthusiasts. Fifty years ago, they weren't. This is the biggest single cultural change that we need.

Also stop playing soldier. There is no reason your hunting rifle needs to look like a military assault rifle. I'm aware that "AR-15" often denotes little but the external style of the gun — but why do you want your hunting rifle not to look like a lawful hunter's weapon, but instead an instrument for mass killing of human beings? Why do you get enjoyment from that?

And why do hunters, or civilians wanting to defend themselves, need high-capacity semiautomatic weapons? If you need dozens of bullets to hit something, you're inept. Or your paranoid imagination says a whole army is going to attack you. Or a whole SWAT team. There's a reason machine guns are associated with crime and are banned. Maybe some bans should go a little further.

And stop the false narrative about "they're coming to get your guns." Every time any common-sense limitation on guns is proposed — or even enforcement of existing laws — some people start parroting a script about how Hitler started by confiscating all the guns. Nobody is proposing confiscation of all the guns. If anybody ever does, it will be because gun nuts provoked them. Ostracize the gun nuts.

And above all don't give guns to troubled young people. Investigation is incomplete, but it is reported that the Apalachee shooter was obviously having a mental health crisis, had been investigated for online threats last year, and yet had an AR-15-style rifle that his father gave him when he was 13.

I advocate heavy criminal liability for the owners of guns that are used in crimes, unless they can show they kept the gun locked up and it was stolen. I presumed, and it may still be the case, that the shooter's father was the legal owner of the gun. (Georgia does not have gun registration.) Prosecute the father as an accessory to the crime.

Notice that I didn't use the phrase "thoughts and prayers." In this context, that usually means little thought and no prayer. I am not the kind of fool who will pray for something to happen and stand in the way of it happening. We need changes.

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A Christian AI researcher's view of artificial intelligence

On to happier news... Here's a talk I gave at Alps Road Presbyterian Church last night. Feel free to share it.

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Meade and Orion defunct?

Two big names in amateur astronomy, Meade Instruments and Orion Telescopes, ceased operations in recent weeks without fully explaining themselves. The community is still waiting for more news.

The two were owned by the same company, and, indeed, there have been complex antitrust lawsuits that I don't understand.

Both of them had a large role in making amateur astronomy visible to the public. Meade products were in camera stores and even Wal-Marts. Orion, a dealer as well as a brand of equipment, was especially helpful to beginners and had been, from the beginning, a friendly dealer with an informative catalogue and (later) web site.

I bought my Celestron 5 from Orion in 1980 and, sporadically, various other things over the years. My main telescopes in 1987-1999 and 2001-2014 were Meade 8-inch SCTs (LX3 and "classic" LX200 respectively) and I was pleased with them.

That leaves Celestron as the only telescope company with a large visibility to people outside the hobby. Of course, we insiders still have good suppliers, but you won't know about them unless you read astronomy magazines and web sites. Three that I hold in particularly high esteem are Astronomics, Agena Astro, and High Point Scientific (not to mention Atlanta Hobby locally). And we can buy equipment direct from Chinese manufacturers (I just ordered a planetary camera from ToupTek).

It's rather like hobby electronics. We cognoscenti get excellent service from Digi-Key, Mouser, Adafruit, etc., and enjoy free professional software such as PSPICE and KiCAD. But there are no longer Radio Shacks in shopping centers, and as a result, people who haven't looked for it are no longer even aware that the hobby exists.

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RCA plugs aren't all the same size
Especially if made in China

RCA plugs are the cheapest coaxial connectors, invented by RCA in the 1930s when shielded audio cables were first coming into use. For about 30 years I've been using them for the DC power cables to my astronomical equipment, a practice I adopted from the Kendrick Dew Remover System.

Well, the other day, one of my cables was loose in its socket, causing an intermittent connection, and since it was a newly made cable, I investigated.

The pin in an RCA plug is specified as 0.125 inch (3.175 mm) in diameter. The pin in the gold-plated Chinese-made plug in the picture measures 3.12 mm. My colleague Andras Kornai suggested that this resulted from converting inches to millimeters using a factor of 25 rather than 25.4, an elementary mistake. It's just enough error to cause a loose connection in a jack that is also used with proper-sized plugs, regardless of which size it started out to be, because its center connector will bend to accommodate the plugs that are plugged into it.

Looking around, I found something worse. Some Chinese-made RCA plugs on Amazon have a spec sheet that gives the pin diameter as 3.0 mm. That is way too small — bad enough to cause seriously loose connections.

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