blogwaffe

Day 2: The Trident

2009-11-29T15:32$ svn del Chinstrap
D         Chinstrap
2009-11-29T15:32$ svn ci -m "Day 2: The Trident"
Deleting       Chinstrap
Transmitting file data .
Committed revision 3.
2009-11-29T15:32$ ls -h

Day 0: The Hirsute

2009-11-26T13:16$ cd /head/hair
2009-11-26T13:16$ du -ch . | grep total
 11.34g	total
2009-11-26T13:16$ svnadmin create /Repositories/hairectomy
2009-11-26T13:17$ svn import . file:///Repositories/hairectomy -m "init: the hirsute"
Adding         mustache
Adding         beard
Adding         hair

Committed revision 1.
2009-11-26T13:17$ ls -h

Day 1: The Chu Manfu

2009-11-27T13:02$ svn del 'Fu Manchu'
D         Fu Manchu
2009-11-27T13:02$ du -ch . | grep total
 10.49g	total
2009-11-27T13:03$ svn ci -m "Day 1: The Chu Manfu"
Deleting       Fu Manchu
Transmitting file data .
Committed revision 2.
2009-11-27T13:03$ ls -h

Michelle was off geocaching while I was working on a simple geo visualization project for work and looking up information on the 2009 Station Fire near La Cañada Flintridge and Altadena.

Those three actions in confluence got me thinking about how many geocaches have been affected by the fire.

Map of geocaches likely affected by the 2009 Station Fire. (Click for larger, more up-to-date, interactive map.)

The Los Angeles Times is providing a frequently updated Google map of local fire information which includes approximate fire perimeter (more precise geometry can be found at GeoMAC or InciWeb). With that data, it was fairly straightforward to search for all the geocaches affected. As of today at 2:30pm local time, 228 non-premium geocaches are within the station fire approximate burn area.

Notes for geocachers: The map does not show premium caches, and puzzle caches are assumed to be at their posted coordinates. Archived caches are not shown (though could, in theory, still be in the burn area), but disabled caches are.

While the map is interesting, the loss of a few hundred geocaches is insignificant compared to the destruction of homes. More significant still are the lives that have been lost and those that are still at risk. The fire fighting crews are literally battling the elements to keep us all safe.

I’m not sure what a community that has lost so little in comparison can do, but perhaps a station fire regrowth and memorial geocache offered in thanks and remembrance would be appropriate?

Update [2009-09-01]: The LA Times has updated its fire area geometry. As of 7:53pm local time there are about 180 non-premium geocaches in the burn area.

Update [2009-09-02]: I’m now using the same GeoMAC data InciWeb is using for the burn area geometry.

I thought this was a joke at first. I have not tried it.

Green Plant Drink

Hm… food beverage….

Every year around this time I think about how much the internet sucks.

I access all my financial stuff from each of various institutions online. I access my salary stuff online. I do my taxes online, and I eFile.

So when I do my taxes, why do I have to fill in a hundred little forms all by hand every year? Why can’t I just go to the IRS and say: here are the financial institutions I patronize, and here are my places of work, I will now click this button and you will generate my tax forms for me right here and now?

It’s all online, why can’t someone aggregate it?

PS: My taxes are simple, other people’s are more complicated. I get that.
PPS: Dear implementer of above idea, do it right. Do not give the IRS (or H&R Block or whomever) my account numbers. Love, Mike.

You know in Junior High when you saw one of your teachers in the grocery store and you were all surprised? “Woah! Teachers are real people?”

I have just discovered the adult equivalent. I saw one of the Amigo’s bartenders drinking shots at La Fiesta Grande.

After ascribing more than 50 separate identities to the culprit believed to be Ireland’s most reckless driver, who had accumulated speeding tickets all over the country but gave a different address each time he was stopped, Garda finally realizes “Prawo Jazdy” is Polish for “Driving License” and not the name of some dangerous road hog.

via @tellyworth.

Especially funny to me considering my visit to a lovely, countryside Polish castle in the spring of 2001. I saved my ticket, so that, upon my return to the States, I was able to label each of my photographs with the castle’s name as printed on the ticket: “Castle Jednorazowego Wstępa”.

Only later did I realize that I had painstakingly marked each picture as “Castle Single Admission”.

Castle "Jednorazowego Wstępa" a.k.a. Niedzica Castle

Inspired by Emily, we have, from the kitchen of ChefWaffe, a food blog.

Unlike her typical fare (such as Spinach, Peach and Walnut Salad and Winter Panzanella), the subject of my first entry is pizza. And fried. Fried Pizza. I think that pretty much sums up the differences between our respective levels of gastronomic health and culinary prowess.
Read more…