Moth Monday: Tubeworm Moth

September 29th, 2008

Perched moth
Burrowing Webworm Moth, Acrolophus sp., perhaps Acrolophus variabilis
San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary, 2008-08-10

This moth is one of many I’ve found in the early morning outside the restrooms at the San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary. They leave the outside lights on most nights, so a lot of moths tend to still be roosting there come morning.
Read the rest of this entry »

Western Conifer Seed Bug

September 27th, 2008

Leaf-footed True bug on sidewalk
Western Conifer Seed Bug, Leptoglossus occidentalis
Harvard Ave., Irvine, 2008-08-10

California Mantid

September 23rd, 2008

Mantis upside down on beam

California Mantid, Stagmomantis californica
Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, Los Angeles County, 2008-09-01

Moth Monday: The Penitent

September 22nd, 2008

Today’s moth is #8771 in the Hodges Catalog, the Penitent Underwing Moth, Catocala piatrix dionyza

Moth on tree
Read the rest of this entry »

Time Machine Paranoia

September 19th, 2008

I love Time Machine. It’s the best designed, most reliable backup program I’ve ever seen. However, it’s got one major problem: it only lets you maintain one backup at a time. You can switch disks if you want, but then you only have one up-to-date backup and I want at least two. (Backup drives fail too, sometimes at the same time the main disk fails.)

Has anyone figured out how to make two independent backups to two different disks? Note that I don’t want to keep manually switching between disks. I want Time Machine to keep two (better yet three) backups up-to-date at all times.
Read the rest of this entry »

Hancock

September 17th, 2008

I caught Hancock at the $2 movie in Woodbridge last week. ($1.50 matinee actually.) That was about the right price. There were seeds of a couple of really interesting movies here. One you saw in previews: polishing the obnoxious superhero for modern media. The other story–well, I won’t spoil it for you.

Unfortunately there really wasn’t time to do both stories in 90 minutes or so. This story might have been better done as a TV series (Heroes?). But what really killed it in the end was a cliché that has lost all force.
Read the rest of this entry »

Currently Reading