Paying down the debt

Saw an interesting tweet today about paying down the deficit by getting rid of Alaska.  We purchased Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million USD back in the 19th century.  Surely it's appreciated.

Of course if we focused on the gas and oil in Alaska (approximately 35 billion barrels of oil and 137 trillion cubic feet of natural gas according to this) then the value jumps somewhat.

Right now, a barrel of oil sells for @$84.  With 35 billion barrels, we would be looking at around $2.9 trillion in value.

Natural gas is a little more complicated as we have to convert the cubic feet to BTU's.  One cubic foot equals 1,020 BTU and the current price is $3.77/BTU.  So we wind up with $526 quadrillion in value.

Surprised that something out there actually dwarfs the real US deficit of around $86 trillion.  This includes the unfunded liabilities for Social Security and Medicare - not the cooked books the government typically provides.

Very cool Mac trick

So with my iMac and Magic Mouse I can do a two finger swiper on the desktop from left to right and open up Dashboard. I've had two things there that I've really enjoyed - weather radar and a map of the earth showing where the sun is shining and where it's night - the grey line map as it is called. Apparently, it's related to Ham radio tech. Very cool.

 Well these two widgets both broke and then I stumbled upon this link about rolling your own widgets for Mac. I decided to see if it worked on Mountain Lion and it turns out it does, but the technique is slightly different.

For example, I went to weather radar page that had my local radar and then somewhere on the page, I right clicked (or option click if you're so inclined) and brought up the context menu.  There's an option called 'Open in Dashboard...' - you will want to click that.  And then you click on the thing you want to add, in my cases this was the animated radar loop, and then click 'Add' in the bar at the top of the screen.  That's it.  Instant widget.

Earth View
Wunderground Radar Maps

Lyman Street is Gone

I find this video amazing.  Mantoloking is a small town in NJ that is a narrow strip of land between the Barnegat Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.  I spent a few summers down there.  One of the historical bits I found fascinating is that somebody once tried to cut a channel between the Ocean and the Bay there, it's so narrow.  Well sand filled it up and eventually it took the Army Corp of Engineers to build the Point Pleasant Canal which, anybody who has gone out of it in a boat, knows the kind of force the water exerts.  Riding a 20' power boat through there can be exhilarating.

Secret Agent and the Beastie Boys

I've had three Beastie Boys songs come on soma.fm's Secret Agent: Eugene's Lament, Electric Worm and Groove Holmes.  Electric Worm was the trickiest to pick up on.  But man, the Beastie's go off.

Getting healthier...or at least trying to

Been feeling very rundown the last week or so owing quite a bit to the congestion I seem to be fighting in my sinus.  Over the weekend I tried to sleep as much as possible but I ate like crap and felt the worse for it.

Pretty morning

Pretty morning, a photo by Jay Moran on Flickr.

Shot I took of the Philly skyline from my office this morning.

The walk

It's been almost a year since I moved into the city.  While the change has been awesome in terms of a more interesting environment, being in my own space and introducing my daughters to an experience they would not otherwise get, there is one area that I'm starting to get excited about.