Accuracy vs Precision

Fiddling with new toys - got a $5 oven thermometer and a $40 meat thermometer.  Set the oven to 350 - nice digital display, so it *should* be accurate and precise.

Testing that theory.  The $5 oven thermometer reads precisely 10 degrees low - the oven claims it's at 350 degrees; the thermometer reads 340.  The $40 meat thermometer shows the initial warmup overshot to 375 degrees, then cooled to 365, even after opening the oven several times to check the $5 thermometer.

After about a 10 minute 'rest' -- long enough to type up this blog post - the $40 meat thermometer has dropped to 351 degrees.  I think the oven agrees - I just heard the relays kick on to re-energize the heating elements.  The $5 thermometer still shows low - 342 or thereabout.

After a 20 minute 'rest' and a full heat cycle the oven thermometer now shows 160, and the meat thermometer shows 165 degrees.

So, which is right?  I don't know.  They are all precise - same measurements every time.  But until I can find a definitive answer, I'm out of luck for accuracy.

Update: Thought of a new test. We know how hot boiling water is - 212 degrees at sea level. Well, I'm 1,000 feet above that, but I pulled a pan of hot water (less dissolved solids) and set it to a rolling boil. The meat thermometer registered 212 degrees. So it is accurate and precise.  The oven thermometer isn't submersible, so no way to test it - but comparing against the meat thermometer it appears to read within 10% or so, just slowly.

The good news is that the oven display is right on the money, at least good enough for home use.

Messy basement

Messy basement
Originally uploaded by kcsporttour

Took this with the panorama feature on the touch pro. Pretty dang fancy.

--
Will England, 'travellin with the touch pro'
wengland@gmail.com

CNN misses, Google Hits.

Earlier today (yesterday, now) nuclear armed India invaded nuclear armed Pakistan -- quick action by Pakistani air force jets headed off the attempted invasion.  Ok, the news calls it 'airspace violations'.  At least some of the news.  CNN - not so much.  A search at 10:00 PM CST, Dec 13 shows zero hits for Pakistan Airspace on CNN:

pakistan airspace - Search results for pakistan airspace - CNN.com

The same search on Google News turns up 539 hits. 

What's CNN up to?  Or are they just bound and determined to go tango-uniform?  (toes (tits) up - Dead)

Cue pirate with tourettes.  

Good day for a ride

Good day for a ride
Originally uploaded by kcsporttour

--
Will England, 'travellin with the touch pro'
wengland@gmail.com

Grandstand burgers

Grandstand burgers
Originally uploaded by kcsporttour

--
Will England, 'travellin with the touch pro'
wengland@gmail.com

Kansas City Lunch Spots - great website

Kansas City Lunch Spots   advertises that "It shouldn't be this hard to find someplace to eat lunch."

Nice web blog site with reviews and info on local joints for lunch.  On my Reader list...

Alec wins Pack 3094 Pinewood Derby

Alec's had a great time building, racing and winning with Pine Car Derby and Cub Scout Pack 3094 in Overland Park, KS.

First Place!

First Place!
Originally uploaded by kcsporttour

Track record all day!

--
Will England, 'travellin with the touch pro'
wengland@gmail.com

Alec at pinecar derby

Alec at pinecar derby
Originally uploaded by kcsporttour

--
Will England, 'travellin with the touch pro'
wengland@gmail.com

Tiny PCs, Full-Size Problems

Rob Pegoraro - Tiny PCs, Full-Size Problems: "What to get instead? If you're buying a netbook as your sole computer, knowing that you'll only use it on the Web, Acer offers the best bet for now. If, however, you're buying it as a third or fourth computer and are willing to tweak it to fit your own needs, look at the MSI.

But it might be better to wait. If these manufacturers have the good sense to steal each other's best ideas, we should see significantly better choices before long."

Basic Handwriting for Kids - Manuscript - Alphabets and Numbers

Basic Handwriting for Kids - Manuscript - Alphabets and Numbers: "Basic Handwriting for Kids"

Karate Tournament

Karate Tournament
Originally uploaded by kcsporttour

Vlog - overview of my HAM antennas

Magical thinking

Neat: Magical thinking - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "magical thinking is nonscientific causal reasoning that often includes such ideas as the ability of the mind to affect the physical world, correlation equaling causation, the law of contagion, the power of symbols, and the meaningfulness of synchronicity."

Presidential Transition Info

Presidential Transition Team: "this online directory will introduce you to the operation of the Federal government and the resources available to help you begin your service in the new Administration."

Ahh, fall

Ahh, fall
Originally uploaded by kcsporttour

Guess Mom's gettin a new mac

Netflix now offers their 'Watch Instantly' feature for the Macintosh, but it requires:

Netflix: Watch Instantly: "Mac
An Intel-based Mac with OS 10.4.8 or later
Safari 3 or higher; or Firefox 2 or higher
1 GB RAM"

Mom's still running a G5 iMac - the original 17" model.  She's also a big fan of Netflix.  Hmm.  New mac?  Or Rokku netflix box for streaming over the TV? (and wifi network and receiver and speakers for switching between cable, DVD and Netflix and . . .)

Line for advanced voting

Line for advanced voting
Originally uploaded by kcsporttour

About a block long... Wonder if people think this is an important election?

Constitution Free Zone

American Civil Liberties Union : Surveillance Society Clock:

"Using data provided by the U.S. Census Bureau, the ACLU has determined that nearly 2/3 of the entire US population (197.4 million people) live within 100 miles of the US land and coastal borders.

The government is assuming extraordinary powers to stop and search individuals within this zone. This is not just about the border: This ' Constitution-Free Zone' includes most of the nation's largest metropolitan areas"

What in the hell am I talking about?

Normally under the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the American people are not subject to random and arbitrary stops and searches. The border has always been an exception. There, the longstanding view is that the normal rules do not apply. For example the authorities do not need a warrant or probable cause to conduct a “routine search.” But what is “the border”? According to the government, it is a 100-mile wide strip that wraps around the “external boundary” of the United States.

Border Patrol has been setting up checkpoints inland — on highways in states such as California, Texas and Arizona, and at ferry terminals in Washington State. Typically, the agents ask drivers and passengers about their citizenship. However, these stops by Border Patrol agents are not remaining confined to that border security purpose. On the roads of California and elsewhere in the nation – places far removed from the actual border – agents are stopping, interrogating, and searching Americans on an everyday basis with absolutely no suspicion of wrongdoing. Dozens of drug sniffing dogs are employed along southern borders in Arizona, resulting in thousands of arrests per year. Not for pounds and kilos of dope - for dust in a baggie; used pipes in the trunk; seeds and stems in the carpet.

They're setting up terrorist and immigration checkpoints in those hotbeds of radical violence, like Forks, Oregon. (Courtesy the Seattle Times)

This July, the government updated the Border Patrol policy to date regarding information searches: now documents and electronic devices can be detained for an unspecified period. They may now be copied without any suspicion of wrongdoing, the lowest legal standard. Any papers. Any electronic device. Any information. An example? An FBI agent asked Texas native Yasir Qadhi to come by. Qadhi said the agent cited the March 2006 stop, where his cell phone was confiscated, and said, "We went through your personal diary in your phone, and we discovered these numbers on there, and we want to know your relationship with these specific individuals." (Courtesy the Washington Post)

Discussion on Slashdot.org

(realistically, checking the Bill of Rights, the only one the current and past administrations have missed violating or simply eliminating by fiat is the 3rd amendment. 9 and 10 have been long gone since the 1930s.)

Indeed, I rather doubt that the framers of the Fourth Amendment would have considered 'reasonable' a program of indiscriminate stops of individuals not suspected of wrongdoing.

Justice Clarence Thomas, 28-Nov-2000 (City of Indianapolis v. Edmond, 531 U.S. 32 (2000))

CSS Inheritance

This is a nice tutorial on how CSS Inheritance works:

CSS Inheritance (Dorward Online): "An explanation of how inheritance works in CSS and why CSS doesn't need Object Oriented style inheritance."