Night sky memories

"When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars that thou hast ordained;
What is man, that thou art mindful of him?"
- Psalm 8:3-4

Here are some memories of night skies that I don't want to forget. One day, maybe, I'll add photos to the memories. But the words will suffice for now.

1. The Northern Lights from Pigeon Lake

My grandparents had a cottage on Pigeon Lake, southwest of Edmonton, Alberta. We spent many happy days and nights there when I was a boy.

One night, we were camping out on the front lawn. My cousins and I were lying there in our sleeping bags, gazing up at the night sky. Suddenly the sky filled with shimmering curtains of pale green light. Lying there, watching them billow and curl across the sky above us, reminded me of lying on the living room floor underneath Mom's sheer draperies, as the breeze from the open window blew them back and forth.

I know that the Northern Lights don't make a sound, but in my mind they made a faint metallic screeching noise as they drifted across the sky. I have since read that other people also sense sounds associated with the Northern Lights.

2. On the side of the road, in the dark, with Blair Muhlestein and the Boy Scouts

One Friday night, Blair Muhlestein and I were taking a bunch of Boy Scouts camping. It was deep winter, so in spite of our efforts, we didn't get on the road until after dark. While on the road, we needed to take a nature break, and so we pulled off on the shoulder.

This was at a high spot on a winding two-lane mountain road, high in the Colorado Rockies. As we stood on the embankment, making our offerings to the canyon hidden in shadow below us, I tipped my head back and looked up at a night sky full of stars. Even though the background was purest black, the entire sky was carpeted with pinpoints of light. The stars were more dense than sugar sprinkles on a gourmet Christmas cookie. This was what Linus Van Pelt meant when he told Lucy, "It's pitch-white outside."

3. Waking up at 3 in the morning, on a mountain top in the Rockies

Another time, I accompanied 30 or 40 Boy Scouts and their leaders on a short overnight trip. We backpacked a short distance from the lodge at Ben Delatour Scout Ranch, to the top of one of the surrounding mountains.

The summit was without trees, due to some pioneer foresting or land-clearing activities, but it wasn't totally barren. It was a mixture of bald granite floors and patches of soft grass. We found places to lay out our sleeping bags, and eventually everyone went to sleep under the Colorado sky.

In the middle of the night, I awoke. My watch said it was 3 a.m. The air was still and silent. The entire camp was silent. Nobody else was awake. Heck, nobody else was stirring, snoring, or even breathing loud. The campers and the earth were as silent and still as the air.

I slid out of my sleeping bag and, in my wool socks, climbed silently on top of a nearby boulder. 

The entire summit was illuminated by a faint, yet extremely sharp, light, which seemed to come from every direction at once. None of the boulders or sleeping campers had shadows, and yet they were all perfectly illuminated, in sharp contrast and great detail. There was no artificial glow from civilization on the horizon. I looked up at the sky, and there were no clouds, and no moon. For the first time in my life, I was seeing a world lit entirely by starlight.

And the stars! The Milky Way looked three-dimensional, like a giant bolt of fabric that had been pulled, twisted and braided, and frozen in motion across the sky. In the city, I've never been able to discern the colors of the stars, but out here, I could tell that Acturus was a bright red, and Sirius was a brilliant blue. And the double star in the handle of the Big Dipper stood out in sharp detail.

The air wasn't cold. I could have sat there all night, but I didn't want to be awake when the spell was broken. So after about 40 minutes, I slid back into my sleeping bag and went back to sleep.

4. Seeing Comet Hale-Bopp from the window of the HP corporate jet

I've always wanted to see a spectacular cometary display. Most of the comets that appeared in my lifetime were a disappointment. They didn't live up to the hype. Except for this one time.

In the spring of 1997, I was in San Jose, California, on business, and I flew back to Colorado on the Hewlett-Packard corporate jet. We took off at sunset, and because of flight restrictions in the Bay Area, the pilots had to fly the plane in a giant spiral above the south Bay until we finally reached cruising altitude. 

Once we reached cruising altitude, the pilots turned the plane due east. Then the cabin went dark, and the pilot leaned back into the cabin and said, "We turned off the lights for a few minutes, so that you can look out the port side windows and see Comet Hale-Bopp." So we all crowded to the left side of the cabin and looked out.

From our perch at 40,000 feet above the dust and haze and city lights, the comet was spectacular. This was one display that did not disappoint.

Three things Joe Biden must do immediately

 Here are three things Joe Biden must do immediately:

1. Have his lawyers file injunctions in a Federal court, forbidding anyone in the Trump administration from burning, erasing, or otherwise destroying anything, starting right now. An accounting of this administration needs to take place, and Trump and his minions have proven their willingness to hide or destroy evidence wherever they can.

2. Put safeguards in place to keep Trump, his families, his staff, and anyone else, from looting the White House like the Clintons did on their way out the door. Tag and inventory everything, and inspect every box, bag, briefcase, suitcase, purse, or container, exiting the White House. And do something to hold these people personally and financially accountable if anything is missing.

3. Have the FBI, CIA, or NSA take immediate steps to secure and protect executive branch electronic assets, right now. I suspect that Trump, and everybody who works for him, will try to sabotage these assets. (This includes that secure server with the Trump phone conversations on it.) I submit that their sabotage will be for two reasons: first, to protect themselves and The Boss from prosecution; and second, to maliciously make it difficult for the incoming administration to do their jobs.

Wisdom Acquired the Hard Way - Two New Rules for Life

Apologies to any of my friends who are sales professionals.

 I recently learned two new Rules for Life. I present them to you now.

Rule 1: Never trust anything a sales professional says.

Rule 2: Never work for a company run by a sales professional.

About Anonymous Memes on Facebook

 PREFACE: I got caught up in a flame war on Facebook, because I couldn't help myself. When I realized what I had done, I tried to apologize and make amends. I don't know if I was successful. But I spent all night thinking about it, and ended up posting this the next morning.

I get way too upset when I see people mindlessly reposting inflammatory memes about [[insert current topic of conflict here]]. It's a personal failing; I know, and I apologize for getting worked up over things which don't matter. (p.s. I'm working on it. Your advice is not needed; however, your nonverbal support is appreciated.)

It's not the content of the memes that bothers me so much, it's the fact that you keep reposting them. If you want to know why, keep reading. If you don't want to know why, I will understand if you stop reading now. One of the things that I'm doing to help me get over this personal weakness is this: if all I see from you is reposted inflammatory memes, then I will snooze you for 30 days. If, after 30 days, I'm still seeing that same garbage from you, I'll quietly unfollow or unfriend you. We'll still be friends in real life. I just don't want to see that stuff over and over on Facebook.

If you're still reading, I'm going to cover four more points.

1.Why? Because Big Brother is watching you!

2. Where do the memes come from?

3. What are you going to do about it?

4. Try lifting people up instead.

1.Why? Because Big Brother is watching you!

Now for the why: Facebook has algorithms (thinking machines, if you will) that follow your every move on Facebook (and beyond, I suspect). They know what you look at, and they make conclusions about what you like and what you want to see. So they tailor what will appear on your news feed. You'll end up seeing a lot of crazy memes which are intended to get people angry, and which amazingly support YOUR point of view. Often, you get emotionally stirred up by them, whether you realize it or not, and you decide to repost them, as if to say (again, whether you realize it or not) "See? Amiright? That's what I've been saying!"

This gives those memes new life, and gives them a chance to upset and motivate somebody else.

2. Where do the memes come from?

Ah, that's it. Nobody knows. There's no authorship attached. BUT! Have you heard about these "troll farms", in Russia and other countries? These are people, or groups of people, whose purpose is to destroy the U.S. by sowing division and discord from within, getting us all to argue with each other, to hate each other, and to actively work against each other. Remember what Abraham Lincoln said: "A house divided against itself cannot stand." If they can break up (or FURTHER BREAK UP) the unity that can and should exist in the U.S., then the country descends into chaos, and they win.

They're like those instigators on the playground in middle school who like to play "Let's you and him fight".

All of these anonymous memes, which are designed to sow discord and confusion, they don't do anything except tear down: they tear down society; they tear down our unity; they tear down good (albeit imperfect) people who are trying to make a positive difference in the world; and worst of all, they prompt us to tear down each other.

Nobody signs these memes, or maybe those who share them don't credit the authors like they should. Therefore, nobody's ultimately responsible for their content. Yeah, but if you share them, THEN YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR CONTENT, and you deserve all of the opprobrium and contempt that your respondents heap on you.

(Detour! "Troll" in this case doesn't refer to the fairy-tale creature, although modern trolls are as ugly and sociopathic as that creature. "Troll" in this case refers to the act of dragging a baited hook through the water, with the expectation that sooner or later a fish will take the bait and be hooked. Every time you repost an anonymous meme or reply to one, you've been hooked.

Now, back to the subject at hand.)

3. What are you going to do about it?

We are all involved, to some degree, in politics. We all have opinions about not just the political, but the social, issues of the day. These opinions move us to action.

If the only action you take is to repost memes of anonymous and unknown origin, then YOU ARE AMONG THE LAZIEST CREATURES ON EARTH. It doesn't take a lot of effort to click the "Share" button at the bottom of a meme, and to feel self-satisified, like you've done your part in Advancing the Cause. The Internet calls this "slacktivism".

If it really means that much to you, then for Pete's sake, GET OFF YOUR LAZY BUTT AND GO FIND SOMETHING TO DO ABOUT IT. You will not change the world by sitting there and clicking "Share". The world wants deeds, not clicks.

4. Try lifting people up instead.

Jenna Ames Crellin and Jason Wilson are two of my heroes on Facebook. They mostly repost stuff -- but everything they repost on FB is intended to lift somebody up, to put a smile on somebody's face, or to make somebody laugh out loud. (Or to get excited about football.)

Janis Ian posts a lot of original stuff, and the things she reposts are things that she has carefully researched to make sure they're for real. A lot of what she posts is entertainment, a lot of it is to lift up strangers or to say hi to her friends, and some of it is intended to make you uncomfortable, to make you think, and to make you take action. (Real action. See above.) I don't agree with everything Janis posts, but I read and think about all of it.

Jodi DeLong/bloomingwriter has a wicked sense of humour, a vicious command of the English language, and ... well, she always posts original stuff. I don't know if I've ever seen her repost an anonymous meme. And her original photographs of her flower garden, and of the beauty of the Maritime Provinces, brighten my day and lift my soul.

Jordyn Prestwich doesn't have time to repost garbage on Facebook. She's too busy just living in Ghana and making a difference in the lives of the people there. Props to #ghanamakeadifference .

I have some other friends whom I won't name, who are on journeys of self-discovery, and who feel comfortable posting about their progress. It builds me up to see them growing and getting stronger and wiser.

I have yet other friends, whom I also won't name, who are having fun just being alive, and who share their adventures with their friends. I've vicariously traveled the world and climbed mountains with these friends.

(I guess that, in order to be named in this post, your name must start with "J".)

All of that is what I come to Facebook to see. And that is what I myself aspire to contribute. Given a choice between building up and tearing down, I prefer to build up. You can, too. That's a choice you'll have to make for yourself.

Do you want a plague mask?

Have you ever wondered about the pictures of these 16th Century doctors and their strange masks? Why did they wear those beaked masks? Were they supposed to scare the Black Plague out of its victims? Would they help you avoid today's plague, the unstoppable virus known as COVID-19 or novel coronavirus?

A plague doctor, outfitted in the latest style

First, a short history lesson

The disease known as bubonic plague, the Black Plague, or the Black Death, originated in the Gobi Desert of eastern Asia in 1330. By 1346, it had spread to Europe, where it proceeded to kill, by some accounts, up to 60% of the population of Europe at the time. Then it disappeared.

... And came back. Several times. For centuries afterwards.

The plague was so contagious and so fast-acting that, it was said, a fishing boat would depart in the morning, with the crew healthy and symptom-free, and before nightfall the entire crew would be dead, leaving the ship adrift and disease-ridden.

Cities would hire doctors from out of town, or sometimes itinerants who were not even doctors, to come in and serve the cities as "plague doctors". As with today's pandemic, it was tough duty, as many of the plague doctors died of the plague themselves.

Plague doctors were constantly seeking for ways to isolate themselves from the contagion. In the 14th through 18th centuries, it was believed that diseases, such as cholera and (of course) plague, were spread by "bad air", also known as "night air" or miasma. The word miasma is Greek, and translates roughly to "pollution". And in Latin,"bad air" translates to malaria. Hmmmmm.

Since death, disease and decay are stinky processes, the miasma theory held that bad odors were a sure sign of "bad air". Flowers and other good-smelling stuff were believed to ward off disease because their good odors drove away the miasma. So well-meaning friends and family would fill a  sick person's room with fresh flowers, burning incense, and other good-smelling stuff.

That hasn't changed in 800 years, has it?

(Hey! Maybe that's where all of this "essential oil" pseudo-medicine came from as well!)

In the early 1600s, a French doctor named Charles de Lorme (who happened to be the chief physician to Louis XIII) created what you might call the world's first hazmat suit, and plague doctors quickly adopted it.

The plague doctor's outfit consisted of a lightly oiled cloak, purported to be impermeable to miasma, a broad-brimmed hat or oversized hood, purported to keep bad stuff from drifting down onto the doctor, leather boots and gloves, and a mask consisting of a long, hollow beak and eyeholes with glass lenses.

A plague doctor mask, made of white leather (Buy this mask on Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/listing/126798567/plague-doctors-mask-maximus-in-white)

The glass lenses offered the same effective protection as modern safety glasses or face shields. The beak, at least six inches long, and often longer, had nostril-like holes to allow the passage of air, and was stuffed with all manner of aromatic substances, in order to neutralize the miasma. Various sources list the aromatic ingredients, things like "ambergris, mint leaves, storax, myrrh, laudanum, rose petals, camphor, cloves and straw".

Records vary on whether the mask was effective. Remember that the miasma theory was the basis for the beak full of aromatic substances? 

Now, up to more or less modern times

In the 19th Century, the miasma theory of disease was supplanted by the germ theory, as doctors discovered that "germs", the microscopic organisms that really caused disease, can be spread from person to person through a wide variety of vectors, or transmission methods. One vector is aerosols, the technical term for the cloud of microscopic particles which an infected person coughs or sneezes into the air, and which other people then inhale. (That's pretty close to a miasma, isn't it?) 

The COVID-19 virus can be transmitted through skin-to-skin touch, through touching a contaminated surface, or through aerosols. And that brings us almost all the way to the 21st Century.

In 1910, a Chinese doctor (oh, the irony!) invented a face mask for use by medical practitioners, to filter bacteria from the air they breathe. One hundred and ten years later, that doctor's design has evolved into the N95 face mask, which blocks 95% of airborne particles. 

N95 face mask. By Hanabishi - Own work, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=26800840

Because of the magnitude of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is now a critical shortage of N95 face masks. The shortage is being backfilled by hobbyists, housewives, automotive manufacturers, and enterpreneurs, who are getting very creative in the design of the face mask. The critical part of the mask is compliance with the N95 standard; the rest of the design is up to the maker's creativity. 

A modern beak mask

And that creativity takes us full circle, all the way back to de Lorme's beak mask.

A modern plague doctor?

Arduino Project One: Secure communications through the firewall

Bad luck: I broke the camera connector on my Raspberry Pi Zero W, and then I think I zapped the Pi itself. It's dead, Jim. Fortunately, I have a Pi 3B lying around, waiting to be useful, so I think I'll press it into service.

My original plan was to set up a web page on the Pi, and to communicate with the Pi through a browser or a smartphone app. That would entail setting up port forwarding on my home network's router, or as they say, "punching a hole in the firewall." And that's always a network security risk.

Today, a co-worker gave me a better idea. It stems from the work I'm doing at FreeWave with MQTT.

Use MQTT to talk to the garage door

MQTT is a data communications protocol used widely in the Internet of Things (IoT) —the world of connected appliances, automobiles, doorbells, and so on. It's intended for sporadic communication of small amounts of data, perfect for this application.

MQTT follows a client-server model. However, the server doesn't really save the data: it just receives it from clients who send it data (that's called publishing), and distributes it to other clients that have asked to see the data (or subscribed to it). It doesn't actually save any data; it's just a go-between. For this reason, the server is more of a broker than a server.

A good, widely used, open-source MQTT broker is Mosquitto. Mosquitto is ridiculously simple to set up and run in the background. So I will set up Mosquitto to run on a cloud server somewhere.

The Raspberry Pi will subscribe to garage-door-opener messages received by the broker. It will publish a couple of messages of its own, in response to the messages it receives. I can use a Corona app, a webpage, or a Python or JavaScript script to publish messages to the broker.

By setting it up this way, I can totally bypass my router.

Messages to send to the Pi:

• Request status of the garage door (closed, or not closed)
• Push the button, Max.

Messages to be sent by the Pi:

• Status of the garage door is closed, or not closed
• ... including a camera image
• The button has been pushed 

Data security is still a concern

MQTT transactions can be sent as binary data or as plain text. Anybody who knows the MQTT broker's IP address can snoop on the MQTT messages. Once they know the message tags, they can subscribe to those tags and intercept the data. If they can intercept the data, there's the chance that they can hack the system. At the very least, they can know the status of my garage door and maybe see what's in my garage. At worst, they can open and close the door at will.

An MQTT message can contain one or more metrics, the data items being transmitted. I can encrypt the data, and then send both the encrypted data and an encryption key, so the subscriber will have to utilize the key to decrypt the data. But if I do that for the "Push the button, Max" message, then a hacker can just copy the message and use it as is to push the button. I need a key that will change regularly, and that only the Raspberry Pi knows.

So another idea is to use a challenge-response algorithm, something like this.

Me: Hey, garage door. I want you to—

Pi: Wait wait wait, here's a randomly generated key. Use it to encode your message.

Me: Here's a huge number, which I created from your randomly generated key to prove that I'm me, and my request, which I encrypted using your randomly generated key.

Pi: Good, that's the right number. Now I know that you're you. Here's a response to your message, also encrypted using the randomly generated key.

Me: Thanks. We're done.

The idea of the Pi generating a random key, and both the Pi and the client using that key to generate an encryption key, has some holes in it. The NSA can hack something like that pretty quickly, if they can figure out the key-generation algorithm. But it might be enough to defeat neighborhood hackers. I think it's at least as secure as the mechanical lock-and-key on my front door.

Counting cards

Even if a hacker can't decrypt the messages, he might be able to deduce from the pattern of messages that someone is trying to operate the garage door opener. Since the normal state of the door is closed, if a hacker sees two clusters of messages a few minutes apart, for example, he can reasonably deduce that the garage door was opened and then closed. And if the hacker sees only one cluster of messages, with no other action for a while, he can reasonably deduce that the door's status was checked, but not changed.

It's like counting cards at the blackjack table.

So it might be a good idea to have the client and the Pi swap some bogus messages once in a while, encoded, of course, and the same size as real messages, to confuse any hackers monitoring the broker.

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To read the other postings about this project, click here and scroll to the end.