Month: October 2022

Using PG_CRON In PostgreSQL

The pg_cron extension allows you to schedule tasks from within your database (or, to those who didn’t know it was a thing, it allows you to hide {really well} jobs that mutate or remove data leading to absolutely inexplicable database content). While the project documents how to create or remove a scheduled job, I had quite the time figuring out how to see what was scheduled.

To see jobs scheduled in pg_cron:

To see the result of scheduled jobs:

Cornbread Waffles

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
2 tablespoons maple syrup
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 tsp ground chipotle pepper
1 3/4 cups buttermilk
2 duck eggs
4 tablespoons melted butter

Mix all of the dry ingredients together. Mix the buttermilk and eggs together and add to dry ingredients. Blend well, then drizzle in melted butter and mix to combine. Cook in a waffle iron.

The Kittens Returned

All of the stray kitties disappeared last Thursday — no Patches, no Cali-Kitty (although there may only be one grown up calico cat … still don’t know!), no Cali-Kitten, no Fritter, no Black Currant, and no Pebble.

We saw a calico girl yesterday — she ran by while we were getting the chickens and turkeys into the coop and ate — and saw Patches earlier today (she was really hungry!).

But, tonight, Anya was playing a video game and saw some movement outside. She thought there might be a raccoon or opossum … but looked again and saw the kittens.

Autumn Hive Inspection

We inspected our hive this afternoon — they need food! There are maybe three frames full of bees, so we consolidated down to one hive body and removed all of the empty frames. There are bees bringing in nectar and pollen, very little brood (research tells me this is normal for this time of year since rearing brood takes a lot of resources). Most importantly, though, we need to order winter bee food and get that into the hive quickly.

Rubber Mulch as Bullet Backstop

We found a video of someone firing different rounds point-blank into a barrel filled with rubber mulch. This seems like the worst-case depth of mulch you’d need in a backstop for different bullet types (i.e. there would be less energy if you were firing from ten meters or a hundred meters, so there would be less penetration). I wanted to record the round types and approximate depth

22 long — 10″
9mm — 14-15″
40 cal — 18″
300AAC — 20″

Reverse Electrification

Back when federal law phased out the sale of incandescent light bulbs, people stockpiled these bulbs instead of buying more energy efficient bulbs in the future. As I see California approve Advanced Clean Cars II — and Washington and New York looking to follow in California’s path — I wonder if de-electrification is going to become an industry.

Basically the reverse of buying a petrol vehicle with a blown motor and converting it to an EV … buying an EV (because that’s all that is available to be purchased as a new vehicle), buying a crate motor (also legal), and swapping the electric propulsion system for a petrol one. Eventually, reduced demand may well turn gasoline into an expensive, niche product produced in some small-batch refinery. Until then, I can absolutely see the incandescent bulb hording types going for re-petroliumed vehicles.

Kittens

We’ve been feeding a calico kitty or two — still not quite sure on that one! She wasn’t around for a few days, and voila … now there are kittens. An orange and white one, two gray ones, and a mini-calico kitty. We need to find someone who does low-cost spay/neuter so we don’t get overrun with cute fluffballs!