Barometric pressure is lower at five feet off the ground than it is at four feet off the ground but the difference is small enough that it would seem negligible for all practical purposes. Yet it is that difference that makes a helium balloon rise.

Wikipedia:

Pen-tailed treeshrews are the only known mammals that consume alcohol every night, other than humans.

YouTube recommended composer/pianist Frederic Rzewski to me after he died last month. In particular, they recommended his The People United Will Never Be Defeated! which is a large set of variations on a theme, ranging from dense and gnarly to rather accessible. Good stuff.

For a taste, try starting at variation 13 in a performance by Rzewski.

Barometric pressure is lower at five feet off the ground than it is at four feet off the ground but the difference is small enough that it would seem negligible for all practical purposes. Yet it is that difference that makes a helium balloon rise.

Wikipedia:

Pen-tailed treeshrews are the only known mammals that consume alcohol every night, other than humans.

YouTube recommended composer/pianist Frederic Rzewski to me after he died last month. In particular, they recommended his The People United Will Never Be Defeated! which is a large set of variations on a theme, ranging from dense and gnarly to rather accessible. Good stuff.

For a taste, try starting at variation 13 in a performance by Rzewski.

I found a bug in Firefox recently, went to their web site to report it, and saw that someone had already filed a report for the same bug. None of that is remarkable. What impresses me, though, is that someone reported the bug ten years ago and it's still not fixed.

The fire calmed down a bit overnight but there's a ways to go before it's under control. This DC-10 was among the aircraft working on the fire today.

Another fire started by lightning, a couple miles southwest of Friday's fire, and now considerably larger. This one is in forest at a higher elevation. Aircraft have been fighting it for the past few days but it was windy today and the fire spread considerably.

Updates at https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7564/

It got even worse after sundown. The area on fire in the pic below is about six miles away and is over a mile wide. This is scary.

Yesterday's fire is under control. No more smoke, no more aircraft dropping stuff. I am impressed by yesterday's quick and thorough response, which included several helicopters and a couple jets.

I found a bug in Firefox this week and went to report it, which entailed first searching to see if it had already been reported. Yes, someone reported the same bug ten years ago and it is still unfixed. I've seen a browser bug languish for years before but ten years is impressive.

Happy nineteenth, everyone.

Wildfires started by lightning about six miles from my house. I got an automated phone call saying to prepare to evacuate. My guess is it won't reach my neighborhood but you never know. I'm putting stuff in my car. A helicopter dropping lake water on the fire: