http://www.ringworld.org/~dieman/blog/ en Copyright 2008 Tue, 22 Jul 2008 02:48:22 -0600 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Google Maps: My Bottineau LRT Idea I sketched up what I feel would be perfect (or at least good enough) of an idea for LRT in this part of the metro. I also put in some of the bus routes to get an idea of how it would work out. Openhouse Meetings are this month, more information here.]]> http://www.ringworld.org/~dieman/blog/archives/2008/07/bottineau_lrt.html http://www.ringworld.org/~dieman/blog/archives/2008/07/bottineau_lrt.html Transportation Tue, 22 Jul 2008 02:48:22 -0600 comparison of charts between my perspective and my employers perspective.]]> http://www.ringworld.org/~dieman/blog/archives/2008/06/total_compensat.html http://www.ringworld.org/~dieman/blog/archives/2008/06/total_compensat.html Work management total compensation Mon, 23 Jun 2008 22:56:18 -0600 Dan Dorgan, who succeeded Flemming as state bridge engineer, acknowledged that "it appears that we made a choice not to push it that quickly." He said that MnDOT had competing priorities at the time, including building Minnesota's first light-rail line. Yes, the bridge guys were too busy with light rail to deal with bridges. This sounds like the classic "transit takes away from roads" argument. Why was it even printed? Dan Dorgan, who succeeded Flemming as state bridge engineer, acknowledged that "it appears that we made a choice not to push it that quickly." He said that MnDOT had competing priorities at the time, including building Minnesota's first light-rail line. ]]> http://www.ringworld.org/~dieman/blog/archives/2008/06/bridge_decision.html http://www.ringworld.org/~dieman/blog/archives/2008/06/bridge_decision.html Transportation 35w bridge collapse i35w light rail transit Fri, 13 Jun 2008 23:00:22 -0600 This response to this is exactly the sort of to and fro that doesn't help budding developers from caring about the project. I'd also like to get my hands on new maemo code, especially if I'm going to be using features that are upcoming -- Apple /does/ provide seed releases to developers. I'm honestly just 'developing' by writing some python glue, but its likely I'll do more in the future. Making this 'harder' and less accessible through hiding stuff from developers until its released is not helping. Getting cranky about it through blogs and/or mailing lists isn't going to help either, too. And re: ubuntu (and by some extension debian) working with developers on issues critical to follow-on development (in my case systems integration at the time) was not met with a 'one way' channel. I had /no/ problems working with developers of both projects (I am a Debian Developer) and fix problems right on the spot so things were working for release. Harnessing developers is hard. Harnessing outside developers is harder. [I may have the following wrong, but it is my perspective] My experience with Maemo is that much of the development is nokia driven. New code (ie: diablo) doesn't quite make it into any sort of firmware loadable onto any maemo-supported devices because nokia developed firmware includes non-free stuff. There is no really installable image aside from what nokia builds as far as I can tell, so the way maemo.org is setup it blurs the distinction between maemo and nokia. Sure, I installled the SDK on a machine, but it definately wasn't anywhere near the 'same' as my tablet. It was a very basic framework for developing apps on that can happen to run on the tablets. Palm at least had full-test-environments to run apps under that didn't feel so utilitarian. The Debian/Ubuntu/Canonical situation is more clear. Debian packages 'stuff'. Ubuntu takes 'stuff' and denotes some of it as part of their 'main' distribution for support by the Ubuntu core team. Canonical makes money by taking Ubuntu work (and funding it) and adding support contracts and OEM customization for pay. Canonical supports Ubuntu by deploying a novel project management system, launchpad. I don't see these easy-to-delineate boundaries with Maemo/Nokia. Maemo is the platform that Nokia uses to build up a set of software for use on the tablets, but much of the software is kept close to keep a competitive advantage. Developers are inconvenienced because of this management decision to hold back significant parts of the 'secret sauce' until firmware image release. Ubuntu/Canonical does not do such a thing. Sure, you can't go to LKML and ask when Ubutnu is getting Bug XYZ fixed -- but I can just plug a comment into launchpad or contact a developer on IRC and see if its on their radar. Likely I will even be able to start a dialog with developer on the issue, something substantive that helps Ubuntu harness my thoughts on the issue rather than telling us to go away.]]> http://www.ringworld.org/~dieman/blog/archives/2008/06/developer_dropp.html http://www.ringworld.org/~dieman/blog/archives/2008/06/developer_dropp.html Maemo blogwars flamewars maemo timeless Fri, 13 Jun 2008 16:06:57 -0600 Phase 1 of my project to bring GPS data from the Nokia N810 tablet to a Kenwood D700 radio for use with APRS is working. I've made a script that works on the command line to shuffle gps packets from the tablet to my radio. Next step is to get this script working with Roadmap to plot nearby information from APRS. http://www.ringworld.org/~dieman/blog/archives/2008/06/d700_aprs_succe.html http://www.ringworld.org/~dieman/blog/archives/2008/06/d700_aprs_succe.html Maemo Thu, 12 Jun 2008 01:21:30 -0600 I've been thinking, why aren't we seeing more people drive 55? I did it today and noticed a few people also driving 'slow' to save gas. MPG was much better than 'normal' drving, 32 vs 25. Pretty good for a mid-sized awd wagon like the outback. http://www.ringworld.org/~dieman/blog/archives/2008/05/driving_55.html http://www.ringworld.org/~dieman/blog/archives/2008/05/driving_55.html Activism Tue, 06 May 2008 23:45:35 -0600 Police Raid House and find only fish tank A CenterPoint contractor (never allowing them into my house, obviously, as they are happy to be mis-informants for the police) tipped off the Brooklyn Park police department to a chemical smell. Turns out it was common household chemicals used for maintaining a saltwater fish tank. I don't want to think what happens if someone smells some film developer or sees a 'strange room' without windows with lots of mixing tanks and trays. I think the city should issue an apology and train their officers to treat citizens with respect when investigating cases, especially for suspects with no prior conviction history. Beating down doors and ignoring citizens will only generate animosity towards our police department. Obviously something went wrong -- a door was beaten down based on limited evidence instead of just stopping by and saying that there was a concern and involving community policing techniques. This is not acceptable for our city. We should not accept this as standard operating practice. [via Consumerist]]]> http://www.ringworld.org/~dieman/blog/archives/2008/05/brooklyn_park_p.html http://www.ringworld.org/~dieman/blog/archives/2008/05/brooklyn_park_p.html Minnesota Thu, 01 May 2008 08:21:49 -0600 State not teaching what it practices in technology, math We're not offering enough serious choices for advanced learners in these subjects. I'll admit, I was bored out of my mind in AP Calc and it took 3 times to really beat it into my head -- but if I had a course that was more project driven like a combined Calculus and Physics course, I may have done better. I asked why such a course was not being offered at my High School back in 1998 (Maple Grove Sr) and was told flat out that it was due to available funding. I know two of the teachers available for the course were more than willing to teach it. Students were willing to attend it. There simply wasn't enough FTEs to go around to make it work. Instead I spent a significant amount of credit hours in my senior year playing system administrator as part of a 'tech team' that gained a ton of low level operational experience as desktop administrators. This let me get into some higher level work right out of High School while taking college courses. I'm still working on my degree (got sidetracked, but enjoying it) and consider myself successful because I was offered such an opportunity. ]]> http://www.ringworld.org/~dieman/blog/archives/2008/03/science_and_mat.html http://www.ringworld.org/~dieman/blog/archives/2008/03/science_and_mat.html Minnesota Wed, 26 Mar 2008 00:16:58 -0600 Like one of my friends said while we were lamenting that EU countries really know how to tax the hell out of driving to limit overuse and expose the full cost of that mode of transportation -- "where to begin, where to begin?". CARB standards in MN are a great place to start. One vocal detractor who can't possibly have /every/ dealer in Minnesota behind him thinks that trucks and minivans would be eliminated under the standards. One comment from me: How many HUMMER H1s did you see in LA last time you were there? Seriously? http://www.ringworld.org/~dieman/blog/archives/2008/02/carb_standards.html http://www.ringworld.org/~dieman/blog/archives/2008/02/carb_standards.html Minnesota carb wtf Mon, 18 Feb 2008 11:10:01 -0600 Letter of the day: Forget a White Christmas -- make it green In counterpoint -- my Christmas display uses way less energy being on 5hrs a day than many city homes (pre-80s) use on heating in the same month. I've bought a house with energy efficient features and spent way more to add a significant amount of efficiency to it. A lighting display isn't going to fix someones $200+ gas bill. I expect no gas heating bills for a 1800 sqft house over $120 this year, perhaps even below $100! The air source heatpump I use as part of our 'hybrid' heating system is driven by 100% windsource power, so we're not funding the decimation of our planet nearly as much as bozos who think that Christmas lights are evil. ]]> http://www.ringworld.org/~dieman/blog/archives/2007/12/christmas_lights_kill_the_ear.html http://www.ringworld.org/~dieman/blog/archives/2007/12/christmas_lights_kill_the_ear.html Nutjobs Mon, 03 Dec 2007 08:59:59 -0600 Toll lane could come to I-494 in Plymouth Has anyone at mndot checked out 169 or 252 in the mornings lately? Both of those are far worse than whatever Plymouth is worried about. Brooklyn Park, Anoka, Champlin, Coon Rapids, and Andover have been way more screwed than Plymouth in infrastructure development over the last decade. Plymouth has 2 connected freeways -- we've got a ton of half-built roads that need a ton of work!]]> http://www.ringworld.org/~dieman/blog/archives/2007/04/494_seriously.html http://www.ringworld.org/~dieman/blog/archives/2007/04/494_seriously.html Transportation transportation Tue, 24 Apr 2007 10:25:32 -0600 Saw a quick demo on crashplan. Looks interesting. It allows you to do automatic differential continuous backups to your friends machines. Linux version coming eventually. http://www.ringworld.org/~dieman/blog/archives/2007/04/crashplan.html http://www.ringworld.org/~dieman/blog/archives/2007/04/crashplan.html Computing crashplan minnebar Sat, 21 Apr 2007 13:57:13 -0600 Coming back around to the last conversation.... http://www.ringworld.org/~dieman/blog/archives/2007/04/questions_to_as.html http://www.ringworld.org/~dieman/blog/archives/2007/04/questions_to_as.html Computing minnebar Sat, 21 Apr 2007 12:35:44 -0600 pfhyper.com talking about minneapolis wireless mesh.]]> http://www.ringworld.org/~dieman/blog/archives/2007/04/net_neutralityc.html http://www.ringworld.org/~dieman/blog/archives/2007/04/net_neutralityc.html Computing minnebar Sat, 21 Apr 2007 11:46:17 -0600 [the minnecamp entries are basically going to be a pile of notes with some conclusions] Going over how SAN works -- rebuilding raid filesystems is slow, mirroring between multiple silos works, but is expensive. Large cache is expensive, but can help. Async file IO with multiple users stinks. Possible solution? http://www.ringworld.org/~dieman/blog/archives/2007/04/do_we_need_more.html http://www.ringworld.org/~dieman/blog/archives/2007/04/do_we_need_more.html Computing minnebar Sat, 21 Apr 2007 10:48:55 -0600