Simplicity

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Simplicity 🛠

I think modern life is much too complicated with too many things to break and fail, needing to be discarded and replaced. Throwing away and buying new unnecessarily seems to be a core principle of the contemporary American economy.

I really get tired of all the broken things in my life and the constant need of repair and replacement. Some of it is my fault – my lack of a knowledge about repair – but a lot is the the cheap poorly thought out designs meant to be used for a short period of time and then sent to the scrap yard and landfill.

People celebrate advancements like instant hot water when you turn on a faucet or shower, high speed wireless internet in every room, perfectly climate controlled rooms, washing machines for home laundrying. Things like that seem to be overly complicated and break a lot.

The other day, one of my colleagues was out dealing with her broken water heater. I know I always have had issues with the one in my apartment – landlord seems to be constantly replacing it. Water heaters seem to be really problematic components – water corrodes them. Seems like my parents are always replacing and repairing their washing machines. Internet routers and computers quickly wear out and need replacement.

When I own my own land I want to do it differently. I really like the idea of using just a simple wood stove to heat a small cabin. Dish water can be heated on the wood stove or propane range. For hot water for showers, I would use a small instant on propane heater – they also have relatively short lifespans but are relatively small, inexpensive to replace. I know people celebrate the end of cold water flats, but I’m not sure it’s that much of a victory when you think of the constant stream of discarded water heaters and electricity or gas used to keep water hot for anytime use.

When I can’t totally avoid mechanical breakage, I’d rather outsource it. People complain about the cost of laundromats and the time wasted going there and doing wash. Maybe if you have a big family but for the individual the laundromat is a pretty good deal – a few bucks and your clothes get clean, you don’t have to pay for the water or electric or the constant discarding and replacement of the machines. Plus the laundromat is a much more effective use of resources – the washer and dryer is shared by many people in the community, it doesn’t sit idle for most of the week. I never saw the time waste as much – I often run to the store or library at the laundromat and at least my local one has free Wi-Fi. People warn of stolen clothes but my underwear aren’t that valuable and if you don’t leave clothes in the washer few people will interrupt your cycle midway through.

The same can be said about home internet and television. Why pay for an expensive home internet when a basic smartphone on an off brand network does nearly everything? For very data intensive services you can always find a free wireless hotspot like at a library in own. No need to waste all that energy at home or pay pricey membership fees. Television rots your brain and gives you violent thoughts, it does not belong in the home.

Maybe I’m a luddite but I thing the good life is a simple one room cabin with a woodstove for heat. No television, no hot water or central heat. Maybe a small instant on propane water heater for an outside shower but that only because hot water cleans better and makes showers better on cold days. But I am so off put by the modern suburban home.

Japenese Knotweed

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It's really out of control along the banks of the Batavia Kill in Windham. It's bad news.

Taken on Saturday September 11, 2021 at Windham Path.

Code I am using for Census Graphs

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Code I am using for Census Graphs

I am still figuring out how to do nice looking graphs with “R” and Python, but right now I am settling on Python’s matplotlib and seaborn themes, just because it’s a lot easier to work with then “R” with it’s weird syntax and because I think Python at this point has better developed libraries for data science, at least for less scientific things.

#!/usr/bin/env python
# coding: utf-8

import pandas as pd
import geopandas as gpd
import numpy as np
import censusdata as cd

# census table
cdcol='B19013_001E'

# census geography
cdf = cd.download('acs5', 2019,
           cd.censusgeo([('state', '36'),
                         ('county','083'),
                        ('county subdivision','*')]),
          [cdcol])

geoid=[]
geoname=[]

# convert geoname into more useful parts
for index in cdf.index.tolist():
    geopart=''
    for part in index.geo:
        geopart = geopart + part[1]
    geoid.append(geopart)
    geoname.append(index.name)

cdf['geoid']=geoid
cdf['geoname']=geoname

geosplit = cdf['geoname'].str.split(', ', expand = True)
cdf['muni']=geosplit[0]
cdf['county']=geosplit[1]

# load graphiing libraries
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import seaborn as sns
import matplotlib.ticker as mtick

# sort by town name
cdf = cdf.sort_values(by='geoname')

# x axis value, we are using the census data
# we obtained above
xAxVal = cdcol;

# 10 inch by 10 inch figure
plt.rcParams['figure.figsize'] = [10, 10]

# conservative but nice style
sns.set_style('whitegrid')

# call the Seaborn Wrapper, with basic information about the bar graph
# switch the x and y if you want a more traditional vertical graph
gx=sns.barplot(x = xAxVal, y = "muni", data = cdf, palette='Paired')

# set font settings
plt.rcParams['font.family'] = 'sans-serif'
plt.rcParams['font.sans-serif'] = 'Overpass Mono'
plt.rcParams['font.size'] = '18'

# nicer labels
plt.ylabel('Municipality', fontweight=700)
plt.xlabel('Median Household Income', fontweight=700)

# dollar formatting for x-axis
fmt = '${x:,.0f}'
tick = mtick.StrMethodFormatter(fmt)
gx.xaxis.set_major_formatter(tick) 

# add the labels on the individual bars -- change the +1.5 and horizonal alignment to on or before that bars
for i in range(len(cdf[xAxVal])):
    plt.annotate("${:,}".format(cdf[xAxVal][i]), xy=(cdf[xAxVal][i]+1.5,i), ha='left', va='center',  fontweight=1000)

# Include a title, shown in the center (50% from left), and near the top (91% from bottom)
plt.figtext(0.5, .91, 'Median Household Income in Renselaer County', wrap=True,  ha='center', va='center', fontweight=1000, fontsize=26)

# Include footer text, 90% from the left, text-aligned left, 3% from the bottom of the image
plt.figtext(0.9, 0.03, '2019 American Community Survey, 5 yr.', wrap=True, horizontalalignment='right', fontstyle='italic', fontsize=14, color='#00000088')
plt.figtext(-0.2, 0.03, 'Andy Arthur, 9/14/2021', wrap=True, horizontalalignment='left', fontstyle='italic', fontsize=14, color='#00000088')

# Save as a SVG or PNG for posting at 175 DPI. The BBOX inches tight setting avoids long
# y axis from getting cut off
plt.savefig('/tmp/ren.svg',dpi=175, bbox_inches='tight')

Neenah workers believe eagle dropped carp and damaged vehicle

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Neenah workers believe eagle dropped carp and damaged vehicle

EENAH – City workers stumbled upon a fishy situation last weekend in the parking lot across from City Hall.

A building inspector noticed significant damage to the hood of one of the cars Monday and contacted the police and insurance agents, according to the Neenah Community Development Department.

Police and the inspector found a dead carp several feet away and determined the damage was caused by an eagle or other large bird that dropped the fish.

“The police said there’s no way someone could have hit (the car) with the fish hard enough to do that kind of damage,” said Neenah office manager Samantha Jefferson. “It had to have come from way far up — it’s crazy.”

BALD EAGLES are BALD-FACED CRIMINALS destroying people's cars. 🦅