OT: A winter morning in the arctic outback

I'm 100 km north of the arctic circle, it's daylight only 4 hours a day, 
the sun will not come above the mountains to the south for yet another 
month. During the last two or three days, half a meter of snow came down.
I just hate the thought of digging out my car from all that snow before 
returning to Trondheim over the weekend.

This morning at "daybreak" (around 10 AM) four mooses stood in the garden,
10 m from the house, feeding on the birches at the edge of the lawn. They 
stood just under that pine tree where I saw that white-tail Eagle last 
spring. I know, it's hard to believe but the Singular Valude Decomposition
and the Raised Cosine Windows kind kind of loose some of their charm in 
comparision... 

Happy New Year, everybody! 

Rune

allnor@tele.ntnu.no (Rune Allnor) wrote:

>I'm 100 km north of the arctic circle, it's daylight only 4 hours a day, 
>the sun will not come above the mountains to the south for yet another 
>month. During the last two or three days, half a meter of snow came down.
>I just hate the thought of digging out my car from all that snow before 
>returning to Trondheim over the weekend.
>
>This morning at "daybreak" (around 10 AM) four mooses stood in the garden,
>10 m from the house, feeding on the birches at the edge of the lawn. They 
>stood just under that pine tree where I saw that white-tail Eagle last 
>spring. I know, it's hard to believe but the Singular Valude Decomposition
>and the Raised Cosine Windows kind kind of loose some of their charm in 
>comparision... 
>

You live in, what I would view as, paradise.  That you are able to do
DSP work as well, makes you a blessed man.  Any areas in the US that
would come anywhere close to being the same in scenery and climate
would be a looooooonnnnnnggggg way from any sort of DSP work.

Regards,

Robert

www.gldsp.com


( modify address for return email )

www.numbersusa.com
www.americanpatrol.com

Rune Allnor wrote:
> 
> I'm 100 km north of the arctic circle, it's daylight only 4 hours a day,
> the sun will not come above the mountains to the south for yet another
> month. During the last two or three days, half a meter of snow came down.
> I just hate the thought of digging out my car from all that snow before
> returning to Trondheim over the weekend.

I'm in Florida. My office doors are open and I'm wearing shorts
and a t-shirt. The sun is out and there are no mountains; the
mean elevation is 1 meter and it doesn't deviate from that by
more than a few cm for a hundred km in every direction. We got
snow flurries once during a freak weather pattern in 1990. I
don't even own a warm jacket.
 
> This morning at "daybreak" (around 10 AM) four mooses stood in the garden,
> 10 m from the house, feeding on the birches at the edge of the lawn. They
> stood just under that pine tree where I saw that white-tail Eagle last
> spring. I know, it's hard to believe but the Singular Valude Decomposition
> and the Raised Cosine Windows kind kind of loose some of their charm in
> comparision...
> 
> Happy New Year, everybody!
> 
> Rune

We have a small lake in the industrial complex. I can see an
alligator sunning itself (honestly!) and a great blue heron
standing amid the reeds and palm trees. Rank-revealing QRD is
losing its charm.

It sounds like you live in a beautiful place, Rune. Idyllic and
much more "wintery" than my tropical surroundings. I'd love to
get north of the Arctic Cicle some time.

Happy New Year,

Glenn Zelniker


P.S. Although I've only been hanging around here in earnest for a
few days, it's a great group and a great resource. There's quite
a pool of helpful, verbose talent, and the discourse is extremely
civil. Much better than the rec.audio groups!

r_obert@REMOVE_THIS.hotmail.com wrote in message news:<0n26vv0fc1hjirj5920vcfs0qts5e4ln1f@4ax.com>...
> allnor@tele.ntnu.no (Rune Allnor) wrote:
> 
> >I'm 100 km north of the arctic circle, it's daylight only 4 hours a day, 
> >the sun will not come above the mountains to the south for yet another 
> >month. During the last two or three days, half a meter of snow came down.
> >I just hate the thought of digging out my car from all that snow before 
> >returning to Trondheim over the weekend.
> >
> >This morning at "daybreak" (around 10 AM) four mooses stood in the garden,
> >10 m from the house, feeding on the birches at the edge of the lawn. They 
> >stood just under that pine tree where I saw that white-tail Eagle last 
> >spring. I know, it's hard to believe but the Singular Valude Decomposition
> >and the Raised Cosine Windows kind kind of loose some of their charm in 
> >comparision... 
> >
> 
> You live in, what I would view as, paradise.  That you are able to do
> DSP work as well, makes you a blessed man.  Any areas in the US that
> would come anywhere close to being the same in scenery and climate
> would be a looooooonnnnnnggggg way from any sort of DSP work.

Huh, you inspired me to check the map. Coarse as it is, I'm apparently 
at the latitude of the northern coast of Canada, at least around the 
outlet of Hudson bay. Even Nome, Alaska, seems to be 200-300 km south 
of the arctic circle. Well, there's something new to learn every day.

Rune

allnor@tele.ntnu.no (Rune Allnor) wrote:

>r_obert@REMOVE_THIS.hotmail.com wrote in message news:<0n26vv0fc1hjirj5920vcfs0qts5e4ln1f@4ax.com>...
>> allnor@tele.ntnu.no (Rune Allnor) wrote:
>> 
>> >I'm 100 km north of the arctic circle, it's daylight only 4 hours a day, 
>> >the sun will not come above the mountains to the south for yet another 
>> >month. During the last two or three days, half a meter of snow came down.
>> >I just hate the thought of digging out my car from all that snow before 
>> >returning to Trondheim over the weekend.
>> >
>> >This morning at "daybreak" (around 10 AM) four mooses stood in the garden,
>> >10 m from the house, feeding on the birches at the edge of the lawn. They 
>> >stood just under that pine tree where I saw that white-tail Eagle last 
>> >spring. I know, it's hard to believe but the Singular Valude Decomposition
>> >and the Raised Cosine Windows kind kind of loose some of their charm in 
>> >comparision... 
>> >
>> 
>> You live in, what I would view as, paradise.  That you are able to do
>> DSP work as well, makes you a blessed man.  Any areas in the US that
>> would come anywhere close to being the same in scenery and climate
>> would be a looooooonnnnnnggggg way from any sort of DSP work.
>
>Huh, you inspired me to check the map. Coarse as it is, I'm apparently 
>at the latitude of the northern coast of Canada, at least around the 
>outlet of Hudson bay. Even Nome, Alaska, seems to be 200-300 km south 
>of the arctic circle. Well, there's something new to learn every day.

Yep.  :-)  I was not all that far from the the southern part of Hudson
Bay recently, while travelling.  It was a refreshing -38 C ( -26 
F ) for one morning!  

Maybe Barrow, Alaska is in the same neck of the woods as you, latitude
speaking.  Actually, that could be a bit further north.  But the only
engineering they're doing up that way has to do with removing
petroleum from the earth!

Maybe let me know if there is ever a need for a DSP Yank up your way,
since that could be the only way I'd ever be able to combine my love
of all things cold and wild, with an equal affinity for all things
DSP!  Ha. 

Robert


( modify address for return email )

www.numbersusa.com
www.americanpatrol.com

"Rune Allnor" <allnor@tele.ntnu.no> wrote in message
news:f56893ae.0312310532.6d3f17f4@posting.google.com...
> I'm 100 km north of the arctic circle, it's daylight only 4 hours a day,
> the sun will not come above the mountains to the south for yet another
> month. During the last two or three days, half a meter of snow came down.
> I just hate the thought of digging out my car from all that snow before
> returning to Trondheim over the weekend.
>
> This morning at "daybreak" (around 10 AM) four mooses stood in the garden,
> 10 m from the house, feeding on the birches at the edge of the lawn. They
> stood just under that pine tree where I saw that white-tail Eagle last
> spring. I know, it's hard to believe but the Singular Valude Decomposition
> and the Raised Cosine Windows kind kind of loose some of their charm in
> comparision...
>
> Happy New Year, everybody!


Rune and all,

Godt Nytt Ar / Happy New Year!  Well, it isn't quite midnight here yet -
actually a bit more than 12 hours away.

I'm doing DSP as usual from my home office overlooking the mouth of the
Columbia River.  As I type, I can see the ocean waves breaking in Oregon
inside the river, a large bay with a couple of islands, Astoria, Oregon and
mountains in the coastal range in Oregon.  Commercial fishing and crab boats
leave and arrive directly in front of the house on the near shore and we see
Great Blue Herons, Bald Eagles and lots of other birds.  Deer, raccoons,
porcupines, possums, coyotes, bears, cougars abound - some of them in our
yard.  Elk are prevalent nearby.  Oysters and clams are grown in salty bay
waters locally.  Salmon, sturgeon, halibut, tuna and ground fish are all
still reasonably abundant.  Razor clams are a local delicacy that can be dug
in the ocean beaches on the occasional regulatory opening (about 3 days per
month during the late fall, winter and early spring).  There are two
lighthouses within a mile or so. I'm inland of an ocean cape that's adjacent
to a barrier island type of beach peninsula where you can drive on the ocean
beach for 20 miles or so.  Lewis and Clark encountered the ocean for the
first time within a mile of my home.  Temperature around 43F and
considerable rain this time of year - about 90 inches/year total.

Somehow doing DSP here is easier - slower paced, more time to contemplate.

The area developed over 100 years ago on timber and fishing.  It's evolved
to be more a tourist and sport fishing area these days.  The mayor jokes:
"Ilwaco used to be a fishing village with a drinking problem.  Now it's a
drinking village with a fishing problem."

Fred Marshall
Ilwaco, Washington 98624

"Fred Marshall" <fmarshallx@remove_the_x.acm.org> wrote in message news:<qsedncfsksyYsG6iRVn-gw@centurytel.net>...

> I'm doing DSP as usual from my home office overlooking the mouth of the
> Columbia River.  

[... A description of great scenery snipped ...]
 
> Somehow doing DSP here is easier - slower paced, more time to contemplate.

Yep, I know what you mean. In the early 1990ies the oil company I worked 
with when I wrote my PhD thesis, put up a new R&D facility in the Trondheim 
area. It was a few km outside town, by a beach crowding with birds and
other wildlife. During one period I lived just a few hundred meters from 
this facility, and could walk to and from work along a walking path made 
up along the beach.

During those few months I lived in that flat, I had a number of small 
"encounters" with wildlife along that track. One was with an oystercatcher
[Lat.: Haematopus Ostralegus] who was teaching its young chicken to deal 
with molluscs just as I came out of the woods. The adult bird wanted to 
fly away, but was unable to make the youngster understand the "peril" 
they were in.

On another occation, just a few weeks before, I came across a young 
"r&#4294967295;yskatt" (hermin? [Lat.: Mustela Erminea]) on the path. The animal was 
very curious and playful having great fun with a twig in the middle of 
the path. He almost got itself tied into a knot as it turned and tumbled 
around the twig. When he discovered my shoelaces he came straight up to 
me and wanted to play with them. I had to step very carefully past him 
and sprint for a few meters to make sure not to hurt him and see to that 
he didn't follow me.

A few years later I had my office on the facade of the R&D facility, 
where some steel beams and gurders supported an extended roof above 
the main entrance area. A white wagtail [Lat.: Motacilla Alba] had found 
that the steelworks just under the roof would be a perfect place to nest. 
I followed this poor creature for days as he tried to build that nest.
He usually got the first two twigs or sticks to lie down on the steel 
gurder, but when he arrived with the third, and wanted to put it firmly 
in place between the other two, he pushed everything over the side 
of the slippery beam, and the whole thing fell to the ground. The fifth
time that happened, he sat down, watching his twigs as they fell, with 
a body language I afterwards always believed was a universal expression 
of disillusion. Still, a few minutes later he was back with yet another 
twig. He never got his nest up, though. 

After a few years I moved to the center of town. But even if there 
were busses going virtually from my front door to the entrance of the 
office building, I preferred to walk. 5 km in each direction. Only 
severe rain/snow or time pressure could persuade me to get on the bus. 
I found I had to walk that one hour to and and one hour back, just to 
sort out my mind, and get to see these kinds of things every once in a 
while. They were a completely essential contrast to that half-weird 
"DSP state" of my mind.

These days I prefer to travel by the coastliner http://www.hurtigruten.no/ 
when I go back and forth between work in Trondheim and my childhood home 
near Bod&#4294967295;. Outside the tourist season it's affordable, and on my trips I 
have seen schools of porpoises as well as packs of eagles. It's that slow
peace and quiet far away from the town and work that is so brilliantly 
relaxing. 

And, of cource, that I love being at sea.

Rune

"Rune Allnor" <allnor@tele.ntnu.no> wrote in message
news:f56893ae.0312310532.6d3f17f4@posting.google.com...
> I'm 100 km north of the arctic circle, it's daylight only 4 hours a day,
> the sun will not come above the mountains to the south for yet another
> month. During the last two or three days, half a meter of snow came down.
> I just hate the thought of digging out my car from all that snow before
> returning to Trondheim over the weekend.
>
> This morning at "daybreak" (around 10 AM) four mooses stood in the garden,
> 10 m from the house, feeding on the birches at the edge of the lawn. They
> stood just under that pine tree where I saw that white-tail Eagle last
> spring. I know, it's hard to believe but the Singular Valude Decomposition
> and the Raised Cosine Windows kind kind of loose some of their charm in
> comparision...
>
> Happy New Year, everybody!
>
> Rune

Well as I read your post, its 35*C(outside thermometer claims 37*c)
the dog(black and tan kelpie and rotwieller cross)  is lying flat out,
panting hard.

The beer is ice cold, but gets warm to quickly. :-(
Best way is to get it semi frozen.

As for wildlife most of the birds are quiet and resting in the trees
(don't get much else in the suburbs of Sydney except for occassional possum,
lizards, bats etc) any thing smart is taking it easy.

The saying(think it was from a poem or song)
Mad dogs and Englishman out in the midday sun
stands reasonably true.

Just starting to get a nice sea breeze.

Not doing dsp, but starting to prepare code examples
for next semester at uni,
tutoring Introductory digital systems.
Pic micros (16f877) and digtal logic.
Pic assembly language and Schematic programming of xilinx xl9572xc cplds.

Happy New Year and Good Fortune to All.

(now for Western new year and in advance for Chinese New Year on the
22/01/2004)
Moving from the Year of the Ram into the Year of the Monkey!
http://www.chinapage.com/newyear.html


Alex

On 31 Dec 2003 05:32:18 -0800, allnor@tele.ntnu.no (Rune Allnor)
wrote:

>I'm 100 km north of the arctic circle, it's daylight only 4 hours a day, 
>the sun will not come above the mountains to the south for yet another 
>month. During the last two or three days, half a meter of snow came down.
>I just hate the thought of digging out my car from all that snow before 
>returning to Trondheim over the weekend.
>
>This morning at "daybreak" (around 10 AM) four mooses stood in the garden,
>10 m from the house, feeding on the birches at the edge of the lawn. They 
>stood just under that pine tree where I saw that white-tail Eagle last 
>spring. I know, it's hard to believe but the Singular Valude Decomposition
>and the Raised Cosine Windows kind kind of loose some of their charm in 
>comparision... 
>
>Happy New Year, everybody! 
>
>Rune

Hi Rune,
  that was neat!

[-Rick-]

In article 3FF2F689.BD81CCCC@z-sys.com, Glenn Zelniker at glennz@z-sys.com
wrote on 12/31/2003 11:17:

...

i can't "one-up" Rune or Fred (but Burlington VT is kinda a cool town and
before a recent warming spell i wuz nordic skiing right outa my back door).

> P.S. Although I've only been hanging around here in earnest for a
> few days, it's a great group and a great resource. There's quite
> a pool of helpful, verbose talent, and the discourse is extremely
> civil. Much better than the rec.audio groups!

comp.dsp is not always civil (i might sometimes be the least civil) but our
spats get a little deeper and more objective than "my system sounds great,
your system is crap."

i've gotten into big-time incivility when conversing about the periodic
nature of the DFT, the units of the dependent variable of the dirac impulse
function, and the proper scaling of the Nyquist/Shannon sampling theorem
(the textbooks almost all do it wrong).  you'ld think it was too cut and dry
but we apparently disagree about the bottom line.

r b-j