Category: Technology

Posted on

Sunday/ a trip to the library 📚

I opted for the Seattle Public Library (instead of the bookstore) for my book fix today.

Notes for the pictures:
Black Tesla Model Y photobombs my picture of the William Kenzo Nakamura United States Courthouse on 6th Avenue.
The Courthouse is a federal courthouse and primarily used by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. It was completed in 1940.
I am not sure why the 13-star flag (for the original 13 colonies, used 1777-1795) is on the courthouse— possibly to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. (Any past official national flag can be legally flown or exhibited for historical and patriotic displays.)
Flags are flying at half-staff to honor the life and memory of country music legend and philanthropist Dolly Parton, who passed away Tuesday at the age of 80.
The yellow Lamborghini is a Lamborghini Huracán Spyder (the convertible Huracán, which is Spanish for hurricane).
Near the Hotel Sorrento off Madison Street is where I caught the G-line bus on the way back. The Hotel Sorrento was completed in 1909 and is Seattle’s longest-operating boutique hotel.
Gas prices are still high. The war with Iran is now 6 months old. The Strait of Hormuz is still closed, despite the insistence of the White House that it is ‘open’.

Posted on

Sunday/ more Blue Angels ☁️

The Blue Angels did fly today, to close out the Seafair Festival weekend.
I had my big digital camera at the ready to take a few pictures from the bedroom upstairs.

The last picture shows all six aircraft in the squad, with the numbers on their tail fins.

Posted on

Thursday/ a roaring overhead 💨

The U.S. Navy Blue Angels roared overhead today as they rehearsed their maneuvers for the annual Seafair Weekend Festival.  (The aircraft are F/A-18E Super Hornets.)

I ran outside, or to the window, a few times when I heard them, and took these pictures.

Posted on

Friday ☀️

Happy Friday.

I walked down to the Capitol Hill branch of the Seattle Public Library today to take back my two books that were badly overdue. I walked by the little car with the AFK BYE* plates again, and it made me smile.

*Away From Keyboard, Bye. AFK originated in 1990s chatrooms and gaming communities, and is now commonly used in mobile messaging to let someone know you will be temporarily unavailable to respond.
(Just make sure the other person knows what AFK stands for, or they might think you cussed at them and no longer want to respond! 😆)

These Black-eyed Susans (genus Rudbeckia) seem to seek out the sun. (Careful, or you will get scorched.) Today’s high here in the city was 80°F (27°C), so not bad at all.
Elsewhere on the North American continent here, it is much, much warmer. The planet’s strongest heat dome will soon tower over the Rockies and Plains, reports the Washington Post, pushing temperatures into record levels in 32 states. Yikes.
Posted on

Sunday/ pyrotechnics overload 🎆

Liam Bowman, Maia Nehme, Dana Hedgpeth and Joe Heim reports in the Washington Post:
For a while, it was uncertain whether the record-breaking fireworks show President Donald Trump had promised would even happen.
The nation’s 250th birthday celebration in Washington was beset by record heat, lightning strikes, an evacuation order and widespread confusion on the National Mall about whether the event would go forward. It had been a long, often stressful day.
But the fireworks display that began a stroke before midnight and lasted 40 minutes was a reward for those who stayed and may have provided a temporary respite for a capital and country riven by political anger, distrust and contempt.

[Headline and reporting from the Washington Post]
Just to add to the Washington Post’s reporting:
Washington, D.C.’s 4th of July celebration utilized roughly 850,000 individual fireworks, with an estimated total weight of over 85 tons of pyrotechnics.
And not to be a party pooper BUT:
Fireworks produce brilliant displays using heavy metals and toxic chemicals. When exploded, these compounds release toxic smoke, ash, and residue that degrade air quality, pollute nearby waterways, and harm human health. The massive smoke clouds are loaded with microscopic dust and soot. Breathing this in triggers asthma attacks, irritates lungs, and worsens cardiovascular diseases.
[Source: Google AI Overview]
Posted on

Friday/ drone show 🌈

Happy Friday and happy Pride Weekend!

Before tonight’s Egypt-Iran match at Lumen Field, the stadium held a moment of silence for the victims of the recent devastating earthquakes in Venezuela.

Later tonight, I headed down to Seattle Center for the post-game drone show. It only featured a few hundred drones and lasted just 12 minutes, but it was still great to watch.

Posted on

Saturday/ a very expensive EV 🤑

This Mustique Blue Rolls-Royce Spectre was parked across from Bar Cantinetta restaurant here on Capitol Hill tonight.

It is fully electric and styled with an illuminated-style, upright Rolls-Royce grille, a very long hood and fastback two-door coupe profile, slim split headlights with vertical daytime running lights and aerodynamic, partially covered wheels.
[Information from Chat GPT]

They start at a base MSRP of $397,750, but since Rolls-Royces are heavily commissioned and usually feature bespoke colors, veneers, and interior upgrades, you could easily end up paying between $450,000 and $550,000.

The Rolls-Royce Spectre is manufactured at the brand’s global headquarters and manufacturing facility in Goodwood, West Sussex, England.

Posted on

Friday/ fear of missing out? 🚀

Happy Friday.
The coverage of SpaceX’s gigantic IPO (initial public offering) on CNBC this morning was wall-to-wall, with hyperbole reaching the moon.
Could orbital data centers running on solar power one day beam information back to Earth using lasers?
Time will tell.

Here is Ron Lieber, writing for the New York Times about missing out on SpaceX’s IPO:

Elon Musk may be about to become a trillionaire.
Many of the people who work for him at SpaceX are about to hit seven-figure jackpots — or more — via the company’s initial public offering.
And individual investors are lining up for a chance to buy shares for the $135 opening price. There are so many of them that some brokerage firms are, in effect, running a lottery for $135 tickets.
Do you have fear of missing out? That’s natural, maybe inevitable. But this is a fine time to remind yourself that you can in fact win if you don’t play this week. JOMO, the joy of missing out, is a reasonable alternative to FOMO.

Lieber goes on to suggest that we revisit our medium- and long-term goals.
You might be surprised to find how many of them you have reached.
He mentions members of his immediate family that had survived cancer, that investing his savings in index funds over many years have paid off, that he has never bought shares in an IPO, and that he still works without boredom or fear of termination.

Illustration for Ron Lieber’s ‘Your Money’ column in the New York Times.
Posted on

Tuesday/ the ‘ceasefire’ 🔥

It is Day 102 of the war with Iran (the war that is not a war, right?).
More than two months have passed since Trump’s announcement of a  ceasefire.

We’ve been hearing every few days that the two sides are close to a deal .. but besides the Strait of Hormuz, there is the issue of Iran’s nuclear program and the spillover skirmishes and strikes elsewhere in the Middle East.

We’ve also been hearing that the price of oil may hit $150 per barrel ‘soon’, but instead it has stuck to a price ranging from $80 to $100.

Economists talk of ‘demand destruction’: if the world learns how to get by with 15 million fewer barrels of oil per day, the price of oil may not go up by much more.  (The world consumes about 103 million barrels of petroleum and liquid fuels every day). 

Reporting from the New York Times about the sea drones that rescued the two pilots from the helicopter that was shot down.  The sea drones are officially ‘Task Force 59 unmanned surface vessels’. 
The U.S. Army AH-64 Apache helicopter was struck and brought down by an Iranian Shahed one-way attack drone while patrolling international waters off the coast of Oman, near the Strait of Hormuz.
Posted on

Thursday/ sunset 🌇

Sunset is now at 8.55 pm here in the city.
It was summery today, with the high at 81°F (27°F ).

Clouds are moving in for a cooldown and a little rain tomorrow, though.
One can see Mark Zuckerberg’s megayacht on south Lake Union from the Melrose Avenue & East Harrison St overlook at Interstate 5, where I was.

Built in the Netherlands by Dutch luxury shipbuilder Feadship, the yacht is 387 ft (118 m) long and goes by the decidedly unromantic name (in my opinion) of Launchpad.

Looking out towards Queen Anne Hill.
Look for Climate Pledge Arena in the center, and the twin peaks in the Olympic Mountains called The Brothers (they are not the tallest peaks; the peak of Mt Olympus is).
Low at the right is Saint Spiridon Orthodox Cathedral, a Russian cathedral.
There she is: the megayacht called ‘Launchpad’.
Posted on

Sunday/ three departures 🚢

The newly built Star Princess made its maiden port of call in Seattle this weekend.  She was constructed in 2025 by Fincantieri in Monfalcone, Italy, with a capacity for 4,300 passengers and a gross tonnage of 175,500. The Star Princess is the second Sphere-class vessel for Princess Cruises, a sister ship to the Sun Princess.

The Star Princess was at Pier 91 with MS Noordam on the opposite side of the pier, and was scheduled to depart this afternoon at 3 pm.
Instead, it was MS Noordam that sounded her horn three times, and departed shortly after 3 pm.

I waited until after 4 pm for Star Princess to depart, and then gave up.
(I saw later online that she had departed at 5.25 pm).
I walked up to the Magnolia Bridge to take another picture or two, and right then the Norwegian Encore came by in the distance.
She had been at Pier 66.

Port of Seattle’s Pier 91 this afternoon at 3 pm.
From left to right: the Star Princess, the Arctic Fjord (a state-of-the-art, 325.8-foot/ 99-meter U.S.-built factory trawler designed for harvesting and processing Alaska pollock in the Bering Sea) and the MS Noordam.
A closer look at the Star Princess. The dome at the top is a multi-level, glass-enclosed top-deck venue. The structure directly in front of the dome is a relaxing, forward-facing outdoor area known as the Sea View. The bridge is located at the very front of the ship, situated on Deck 15 (the Sun Deck).
The MS Noordam, bound for Juneau, Alaska.
The MS Noordam had sounded her horn three times, backed away from the pier, and turned north. In the foreground in Elliot Bay Marina.
So now all of Star Princess is visible from my vantage point at Elliott Bay Marina.
I am not 100% sure, but I believe this tugboat is using its water cannon to produce a ‘water salute’ to the Star Princess prior to her departure.
Look at the Mountain looming in the distance, magnified by my telefoto lens.
By about 4.20 pm at Elliott Bay Marina, I gave up to see Star Princess depart. Her mooring lines were still in place. I walked up the Magnolia Bridge to get this view of Pier 91 for a final picture or two.  
The vessel to the left of Star Princess is Seaspan Baker, a bunkering tanker. These are specialized vessels designed to supply fuel (bunker) directly to other ships for propulsion and energy.
While I was on the Magnolia Bridge, the Norwegian Encore came by.
She had been at Pier 66 and had a scheduled 4 pm departure. She was a little late departing as well (this picture taken at 4.35 pm).
Posted on

Friday/ the splashdown 💦

Happy Friday.
It was great to watch the live feed of the splashdown of the Orion spacecraft.

A visualization by NASA of the Orion spacecraft after it had entered Earth’s atmosphere, here still some 30 miles from Earth.
(The Orion spacecraft seems to be kind of upside down, or— it seems an odd angle to present to the viewer for the visualization). 
Look at the Orion’s speed: 25,127 mph (7 miles per second). 
Superheated plasma (ionized atoms from atmospheric gases) builds up all around the capsule, not just at the bottom, creating a “fireball” effect. The ionized gas enveloping the craft caused a 6-minute data and communication blackout.
The first parachutes (drogue chutes) for the Orion capsule deploy at an altitude of 20,000 to 25,000 feet (about 6 to 7.6 km, 4 to 5 miles) above Earth.
The final three main parachutes for the Orion capsule deploy at an altitude of approximately 6,000 feet (about 1,800 meters, about 1.1 mile).
NASA’s Orion spacecraft with Artemis II crewmembers NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, commander; Victor Glover, pilot; Christina Koch, mission specialist; and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, mission specialist aboard is seen as it lands in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California, Friday, April 10, 2026.
NASA’s Artemis II mission took Wiseman, Glover, Koch, and Hansen on a nearly 10-day journey around the Moon and back to Earth.
Following a splashdown at 8:07 p.m. EDT, NASA, U.S. Navy, and U.S. Air Force teams are working to bring the crewmembers and Orion spacecraft aboard USS John P. Murtha.
[Photo and caption by NASA/Bill Ingalls, posted on NASA HQ photostream on flickr.com] 
Posted on

Wednesday/ a ride on the 2 Line 🚉

I walked down to the Capitol Hill light rail station this morning, and took the new 2 Line extension to Judkins Park station (it opened on Saturday March 28).

At Judkins Park station, my two amigos joined me, and we went on to Bellevue Downtown station to go to a movie theater there. (I will report about the movie later).

The map and the drone picture below it are from the Seattle Times.
The rest of the images are my snapshots from the roundtrip on the 2 Line from Capitol Hill Station to Bellevue Downtown, and back.

The Judkins Park station and Mercer Island station were the ‘missing link’ between the 1 Line and 2 Line.
These were the two that opened on Mar. 28, and now commuters can go from Lynnwood City Center all the way up north to Downtown Redmond, or to Federal Way.
A light rail train crosses the I-90 floating bridge during testing this month.
[Photo by Ellen M. Banner / The Seattle Times]
Here’s a new view of downtown from the light rail, from the 2 Line after it left the International District station. That’s Lumen Field stadium on the left, home field for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL), Seattle Sounders FC of Major League Soccer (MLS), and Seattle Reign FC of the National Women’s Soccer League.
Going under Interstate 5 along South Dearborn Street and the steel truss bridge called the Jose Rizal Bridge (constructed in 1911).
The platform at the new Judkins Park Station, looking where I came from, from Seattle downtown. Trains on this side go through Seattle downtown and up north to Lynnwood City Center.
Artwork at Judkins Park station.
My amigos arrived on foot at Judkins Park station, and here comes our train that will take us to Bellevue Downtown station.
We arrived at Bellevue Downtown station, and walked up to the little plaza above it. Here comes a train that started out at Downtown Redmond station.
The City Hall plaza by the Bellevue Downtown station has a new reflection pool. That’s the City Center Plaza building on the left.
The building with the orange accents is brand new and called Bellevue 600: a 43-story high-rise office building developed by Amazon.
We’re making our way on foot to Bellevue Square.
I am stopping to turn around and admire the vanishing edge of the Symetra Center: a 25-story office building built in 1986.
We went to the movie theatre to see Project Hail Mary, and went for a beer and a bite, and made our way back to Bellevue Downtown station.
Here comes our Lynnwood-bound 2 Line train that will take us back to Judkins Park station and Capitol Hill Station.
It’s nice to see people already lining up to take the train, even though it is still early (4 pm).
Inside the train.
A view of the intersection of Interstate 90 and Interstate 405, from the train.
The marina with its boat slips on the shore of Lake Washington that is called the Newport Yacht Basin.
Going through a tunnel on the way to Mercer Island station.
Arriving at Mercer Island station.
Going over the floating bridge on Interstate 90 that take us over Lake Washington. The Mountain was out today.
Almost across Lake Washington, and Judkins Park station.
I am spotting a Cybertruck on Interstate 90 (in the middle of the picture).
Posted on

Friday/ our blue planet 🌍

NASA posted this image of Earth on X, taken yesterday from the Orion spacecraft by Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman.

The picture was taken with a Nikon D5 with a wide-angle zoom lens (14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8) at ƒ/4.0 with focal length 22.0 mm at 1/4 s and ISO 51,200*.
*This is an extremely high ISO, necessary for the very low level of light. At this moment, this side of Earth is dark with the sun behind it. With the naked eye none of these colors would be visible, but the extreme sensitivity of the camera sensor produces this image.

The large brown mass visible on the left side is Africa (the Sahara Desert), with the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and the Mediterranean Sea in the lower-left quadrant of Earth’s disk.

The South Pole is oriented toward the top of the frame, so the prominent green glow at the top of the atmosphere is aurora australis (the southern lights). A second, fainter aurora (aurora borealis, the northern lights) is visible near the bottom-left edge of the planet’s image.

The image also captures zodiacal light (a faint glow from sunlight scattering off interplanetary dust) in the bottom-right corner, appearing as Earth partially eclipses the Sun from the perspective of the Orion spacecraft.

The bright rectangular cluster of spots in the middle of the image is probably a reflection of something from inside the Orion spacecraft.

Posted on

Thursday/ Day 2 of the Artemis II mission 🚀

From Google AI Overview:
The main event on Day 2 of the Artemis II* mission (April 2, 2026) was the successful Translunar Injection (TLI) burn, which sent the Orion spacecraft and its four-person crew out of Earth orbit and onto a trajectory toward the Moon.

*In Greek mythology, Artemis was the daughter of Zeus and Leto, and the twin sister of Apollo.
Artemis I was launched on November 16, 2022, at 1:47:44 a.m. EST. The uncrewed mission lifted off from Launch Complex 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, marking the first integrated flight test of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the Orion spacecraft.

Key Details of Day 2:
The Burn: The Orion spacecraft ignited its main engine for 5 minutes and 50 seconds, beginning at 7:49 p.m. EDT, 25 hours after launch.
Significance: This maneuver marked the first time humans have left Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in 1972.
Trajectory: The burn placed Orion on a free-return trajectory, ensuring the spacecraft would loop around the Moon and return to Earth.
Other Activities: The crew also worked on preparing the spacecraft, initiated early space-to-ground video communication, and began adapting to the space environment.

The Artemis II crew during a video-conference call today. 
The crew consists of four astronauts (from left to right)—NASA’s Reid Wiseman (Commander), the Canadian Space Agency’s Jeremy Hansen (Mission Specialist), Christina Koch (Mission Specialist), and Victor Glover (Pilot). 
Posted on

Wednesday/ will we all be vibe coding? 😎

vibe code

verb
writing code, making web pages, or creating apps, by just telling an AI program what you want, and letting it create the product for you. In vibe coding the coder does not need to understand how or why the code works, and often will have to accept that a certain number of bugs and glitches will be present.
– Merriam Webster online

From the New York Times online

November was, for me and many others in tech, a great surprise.
Before, A.I. coding tools were often useful, but halting and clumsy.
Now, the bot can run for a full hour and make whole, designed websites and apps that may be flawed, but credible.
I spent an entire session of therapy talking about it.

The tech industry is a global culture — an identity based on craft and skill. Software development has been a solid middle-class job for a long time.
But that may be slipping away.
What might the future look like if 100 million, or a billion, people can make any software they desire?
Could this be a moment of unparalleled growth and opportunity as people gain access to tech industry power for themselves?
– Paul Ford writing in a guest essay for the New York Times

Off the top of my head I can think of a few things I would like to vibe code:
A bot that can search Ebay and the half dozen online stores for me to find postage stamps that I am looking for (Ebay’s new terms ban the use of AI bots for searches— but my bot will outsmart Ebay and elude detection);
A bot that can teach me to speak a little bit of a foreign language before I travel to that country (Duolingo and AI chat bots can just about do that already);
A PC housekeeping app that can learn how I use the directories on my computer and organize my files accordingly, especially ones I download and have to forever —aargh— retrieve from the Download folder and move elsewhere, or remember to go and delete them;
An all-in-one weather app that will tell me at the end of the day what the day’s high and low was (in both the international standard unit of measure called Celsius and Fahrenheit), what the precipitation was (if any), high wind speed & direction, UV index, atmospheric pressure, sky conditions (cloud cover) and hey, throw in phase of the moon, so that I have a heads-up for when the full moon is coming;
A sports app that will track where and exactly when Carlos Alcaraz (world No 1 tennis player) is scheduled to be playing next, and alert me.

Posted on

Friday/ finals weekend at the AO 🎾

Happy Friday.
It’s finals weekend at the 2026 Australian Open.

World No 1 Carlos Alcaraz (22, 🇪🇸) survived his marathon 5½ hour 5-setter semifinal match against Alexander Zverev (28, 🇩🇪) 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), 6-7 (3-7), 6-7 (4-7), 7-5.
He will meet Novak Djokovic (38, 🇷🇸) in the final.
Djokovic was not supposed to beat world No 2 Jannik Sinner (24, 🇮🇹) in the semis, but he did: 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.

In the women’s final Aryna Sabalenka (27) will meet Elena Rybakina (26, 🇰🇿).

P.S. There are AI-animated versions of the matches posted on espn.com in addition to the real ones. Why? Just for fun, I guess. Alcaraz is in green.
The animated players play with an oversized tennis ball. The AI engine is still a work-in-progress when it comes to the finer detail, though— such as showing the hands of the players gripping the racquets.

Posted on

Thursday/ Amazon is making waves 🌊

Amazon is laying off 16,000 employees. That’s on top of 14,000 that were let go in October.
The company is America’s second-largest private employer, behind Walmart. It has over 350,000 corporate employees, so these recent rounds of cuts represent about 9% of the company’s overall office staff.

Amazon also announced just this week that they are closing all of their Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh grocery stores. (The Whole Foods franchise stays put and will be expanded. Grocery delivery for orders placed online will continue as usual).

Finally, there is the troublesome matter of Amazon foisting a documentary about First Lady Melania Trump on America.
Oy, Amazon. What the hell?

Here is what Nicole Sperling and Brooks Barnes write for the New York Times about it:
The film’s rollout is huge — a $35 million marketing campaign that includes television commercials during N.F.L. playoff games and a premiere simulcast in 25 theaters in the United States.
Starting Friday, the film hits 3,300 theaters worldwide.
Amazon’s all-hands-on-deck handling of “Melania,” follows Melania Trump, the first lady, in the days leading up to her husband’s second inauguration.
Ms. Trump produced the film, which was directed by Brett Ratner, who has not made a movie since 2017, when multiple women accused him of sexual misconduct. He has denied those accusations.
Amazon paid Ms. Trump’s production company $40 million for the rights to “Melania,” about $26 million more than the next closest bidder, Disney.

The front page of today’s Seattle Times.
Posted on

Tuesday/ at the airport ✈️

My time in Tokyo was up on Tuesday, and that’s OK.
It is time for me to go home.

I made one last run, on the Yamanote Line to Shibuya station and Shibuya crossing (picture), just three stops down from Shinjuku.
I checked in on Tower Records and ended up buying a music CD.
(Yes— I still like to buy music now and then. I do rent my music nowadays as well, on Youtube Music).

Late afternoon I took an airport limousine bus runs from Kabukicho Tower to Haneda airport— super convenient and for all of ¥1,400 (US$8.93).
I took the picture of the control tower at Haneda airport just before I hopped off the bus. That might just be Mt Fuji in the distance, in the bottom right corner of the picture.

Posted on

Monday/ Kabukicho Tower and Ginza 🌇

On Monday I went up to the 17th-floor observation deck of the Kabukicho Tower. It offers a nice view of the trains running into and out of Shinjuku station.

The other photos are from Ginza shopping district around sunset.
Everything in Ginza is art— the buildings, the lamp posts, the manhole covers in the pavement, all the way down to the metro stations below ground.
The clocks are from inside the Wako Building, owned by Seiko watch corporation.

I took the Marounochi Line back to Shinjuku just before the onset of rush hour (rush hour starts at around 5.30 pm).