Cap'n Bob & the Damsel

Technobabble

What The Flock?

Two of Wickenburg’s Six Motorola ALPR Surveillance Cameras (Image Courtesy Damsel)

Lately, there have been a flurry of news articles, social media posts and You-Tube posts regarding “Flock Cameras.” The issue with most outlets is whether or not these Automated License Plate Readers (ALPR) violate the 4th Amendment to the Constitution Right to no unreasonable searches and seizures without probable cause.

I did a little research with GROK and found that there are three places here in town with Motorola ALPR cameras monitoring traffic in both directions. See the installation in the (clickable) image above for one of the locations. Two of the three locations monitor traffic along the main drag, Wickenburg Way ((Route 60). The third location monitors traffic on the southside of the main drag along Vulture Mine Road which runs north and south. According to Deflocktheusa.com”

Three ALPRs are in Wickenburg as of mid-to-late October 2026:

  • East Wickenburg Way — 1 reader
  • West Wickenburg Way — 1 reader
  • Smoketree Street — 1 reader

These are tagged as Motorola Solutions (Vigilant LPR cameras) devices under the Wickenburg Police Department. The first was reported in December 2025 and the most recent in July 2026. No Flock Safety cameras appear in the Wickenburg-specific reporting.

Note that each “1 reader” consists of two cameras.

Both the Motorola and Flock devices communicate records to a database that show the license plate number, the make and model of the vehicles and several other attributes. They do this day or night thanks to their built in IR illuminators.

So, is this a case of Big Brother watching us, or is it just a good thing that law enforcement uses to catch wrong doers? We take no position either way.

However, there have been multiple cases of abuse by some with access to the database.

There have been dozens of documented cases of police officers misusing Flock Safety and other ALPR systems to track current or former romantic partners, exes, and people connected to them. A Washington Post investigation found at least 50 such incidents nationwide; other tallies (Institute for Justice, 404 Media) put the number in a similar range, with many involving Flock specifically.

I guess that we will wait and see what happens with some of the court cases and some of the vandalism destroying, disabling or taking the cameras down. Meanwhile, drive safely.

28 Oct 2026 by Current Events Notions Technobabble 0

Acquisition of a New Camera Lens

I’ve been acquiring some new (to me) lenses for the Canon R-10 mirrorless camera. One used lens arrived today in seemingly like new condition. It is a Canon RF-16-28mm F2.8 IS STM lens. I tried out the lens for what it is supposed to do best which is wide-angle shots, close-ups, astro photography and panoramas. Other than astro which I have yet to attempt, all were very nice results.

The image above is looking west from our RV driveway showing the tops of our Paloverde and Mesquite trees, some clouds and the sun. The sunburst is clean, the clouds hold detail, and the desert trees read as Wickenburg rather than a generic blue sky. The nine-blade aperture on this lens makes a nice 18-point star when the sun is small in the frame.

I am overall pleased with the new lens and will be using it for more of what it does best in the future.

The image below is the lens. I haven’t seen lenses in the past that come with a stowed position on the zoom ring, but this one does have that and the camera puts up a message to select a valid zoom selection. Those choices appear on the right side of the barrel in the image. The zoom select is in the stow position in the image. Click on either image to enlarge.

09 Oct 2026 by Arizona Notions Photography Technobabble 0

2026 Autumnal Equinox

Happy Autumnal Equinox!

Astronomical autumn begins at 00:05 UTC on Wednesday, September 23, 2026 — that’s 5:05 p.m. Mountain Standard Time on Tuesday, September 22 here in Arizona. As you may know, most of Arizona stays on MST year around. Some of the reservations still do DST.

May this fall find y’all to be happy and healthy as we transition to our cooler months. God bless and stay armed, stay safe and stay alert.

Cap’n Bob and Damsel. 💖💖

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
—2 Corinthians 13:14

22 Sep 2026 by Arizona Environment Technobabble

Artificial Intelligence and
 the Resistance Thereto

Now that researchers in the US have made significant advances in Artificial Intelligence, there are hysterical cries about AI “destroying humanity.” What’s up with all of the crazy predictions?

The short version: most of those predictions are not about today’s chatbots turning into Skynet next Tuesday. They are about a hypothetical later system—something much more capable and autonomous than current models—getting goals that don’t stay lined up with human survival, then being competent enough to act on them. That idea is old, loud, and wildly contested.

As you might expect, the loudest opposition to AI is from the political left, who seem to want to destroy everything that President Trump is for. Moreover, they seem to want to destroy America, the Constitution, Christianity, the Family Unit and anything else that is normal and good about the country, AI destroying us is just the latest bullshit scam akin to Y2K, Covid19, etc.

Be sure to get out and vote this November. Stop the crazies from taking over. Stay armed, watch your six and pray.

Artificial Intelligence – a look into some of the terms being used.

Stage Meaning Status (2026)
ANI — Artificial Narrow Intelligence Good at specific tasks. Can be superhuman at chess, translation, or protein folding and still helpless outside that box. This is almost everything deployed today.
AGI — Artificial General Intelligence Roughly human-level across most cognitive work: learn new domains, transfer skills, handle messy real-world tasks. Contested. Some lab leaders say “we’re there or close.” Most researchers and independent tests say not yet.
ASI — Artificial Superintelligence Clearly beyond the best humans, and in stronger definitions beyond large teams of experts, across nearly all mental work. Still hypothetical.

Clickable image above from ChatGPT. Table from Grok.

And this from Cartoonist Gary Varvel:

15 Sep 2026 by Cyberspace Notions Technobabble Whacko Politics

New Mouse Pad

The old one was getting worn out so I replaced it with this one. Most armed patriots have the words pictured above committed to memory, but it’s nice to see them in the mouse pad format.

The old pad had a different message: I AM A VETERAN — MY OATH NEVER EXPIRES. It also had an image of an American Flag with silhouettes of several armed combat soldiers overlaid on the flag.

I thought about sending a couple of these 2A mouse pads as gifts to our anti-gun senators here in Arizona, but realized it would be a waste of effort and money. The pad cost about $12 after S&H +tax added.

Scanned image above is clickable.

09 Sep 2026 by Firearms Gun Grabbers Second Amendment Technobabble

Squall Line

We were expecting thunderstorms in our Arizona home which prompted me to look at the weather radar on-line. So, I pulled up the area radar and saw that we were likely clear (for the time being) of any serious weather.

As I usually do, I scanned elsewhere in these United States for what else might be going on when I saw this massive squall line over North Dakota extending into Canada in provinces Saskatchewan and Manitoba. It is highly unusual to see a squall line like this in North America. (Clickable) image above is screen capture of an Accuweather radar map of the area. I had a chat with Grok about squall lines in the area:

The most organized feature is the nearly north–south band of stronger echoes (yellows and reds) running through central North Dakota. It stretches from north of Minot, through the Bismarck–Mandan area, and south toward the South Dakota border near Mobridge. That is the classic look of a squall line / QLCS on radar: a relatively narrow, continuous line of thunderstorms rather than scattered individual cells. At the time of the image it was moving generally east.

A second, somewhat more broken area of stronger storms (also showing red cores) sits farther north and east across southeastern Saskatchewan into southwestern Manitoba, near Yorkton, Dauphin, and Brandon. That is the northern extension of the same larger system that produced the earlier severe weather and tornado reports in southern Saskatchewan.
The lighter green areas west of the main line are leftover lighter rain and weaker showers from earlier activity.

NWS Bismarck still had a Severe Thunderstorm Watch in effect until 11 p.m. CDT, and additional warnings were being issued as the line continued east (one around 8 p.m. CDT covered parts of Burleigh and Emmons counties with 60 mph wind gusts). The line was expected to weaken some as it moved into eastern North Dakota later in the evening.

We said a prayer for the people in the area to be granted the mercy of God’s grace. We pray for victims to be safe, sheltered, fed, clothed as required and given the ability to recover. We know that the volunteer organizations will see to their well being in time. Remember to donate to those charities.

30 Aug 2026 by Environment Science Technobabble

Starlink Surprise

I was alerted a couple of days ago by my Starlink App that a “Mesh Node” was trying to connect to the Router. I Had no idea why a mesh node might be trying to connect, so I asked Grok to explain it to me:

A new Starlink mesh node (or extra router used as one) will try to join your network automatically once you power it on. The Starlink app usually shows a “PAIR NEW MESH NODE” (or similar “New Mesh Node(s)”) notification within about 1–2 minutes if everything is working.

Grok then told me how to set up my new mesh node. Problem is that I don’t have a mesh node or anything else like that. Could it be that a neighbor has one?

Yes, it could be a neighbor’s mesh node.

Starlink mesh nodes broadcast a pairing request when they power up (or after a reset). Your app can detect a nearby unpaired node and show the “PAIR NEW MESH NODE” (or “New Mesh Node”) notification even if the hardware isn’t yours. The official Starlink Mesh Installation Guide includes this exact wording on the prompt:

“A new node is attempting to pair with your network. Please reject this request if you don’t own Starlink mesh nodes.”

What to do:

  • Deny / Block / Reject the request in the app. Do not pair it.
  • Check the Network > Nodes section afterward. You should be able to see previously blocked nodes if you need to manage them later.
  • The node will not join your network or use your bandwidth unless you explicitly approve the pairing.

I did as the AI instructed and blocked the node request.

Later, when I took Tucker out for a walk, I noticed someone finishing up installation of a Starlink Antenna on the house about 60 yards to the northwest of here (see the marked clickable image above for the circled locations of the neighbor’s antenna and our antenna).

Grok further instructed me that if I had the mystery node blocked, that I could just ignore it henceforth.

I looked into mesh nodes for possible use as a range extender for our use, but with our current setup, the range limitations for a barefoot Starlink Mini are sufficiently adequate for our needs, both at home and on the road.

22 Aug 2026 by Arizona Cyberspace Notions Technobabble

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