Josh's Not-a-Blog

Here's my old list of recommended movies.

• 12 Angry Men
• Airplane!
• A Beautiful Mind
• The Bourne Identity
• Brazil
• Cube
• Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
• Fargo
• High Fidelity
• In the Company of Men
• Joe Versus the Volcano
• K-PAX
• The Man Who Wasn't There
• The Matrix
• Memento
• The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc
• Moulin Rouge
• The Mosquito Coast
• The Music Man
• O Brother, Where Art Thou?
• Oleanna
• Ronin
• Run Lola Run
• Serendipity
• The Seven Samurai
• The Thin Red Line
• UHF
• WarGames

Courtesy of Google's "retro" search (they put their January 2001 index online in honor of their 10th birthday), I found this gem:

just wanted to stress how annoyed i am with the feep.org thing... i wonder how
long he's been on the internet... odds are... i've been known as feep longer

Sadly, the Wayback Machine doesn't have a copy of the page with the rest of the post.

Sorry, man, I didn't do an exhaustive search of people using the word "feep" back when I registered the domain name in April 2000.

I've officially moved. If you need my new address, please email or call.

My calendar said "65-90-minute walk" for this weekend. I put it off on Sunday, and regretted it on Monday. Nancy and I headed out in Laurium on Monday afternoon, and braved the 35° blowing rain for a total of 10 minutes. Happy spring. Ugh.

I got the planned 45-minute walk in last night, though at a slower pace due to a sore ankle. The shoes I've been wearing, Adidas Boreal Trail, seem to be very wrong for my feet. They roll my ankles inward, which puts a lot of strain on the outside of my lower legs. They're okay for bicycling or walking on softer surfaces, but they're killers on hard surfaces.

I ended up switching to my trusty Vasque Sundowners. If I had to walk across the country, I'd probably choose these boots. They're really sturdy and comfortable, but probably weigh 3-4 pounds, which can be a little annoying for normal walking. So I'm doing research on walking/running shoes, and will probably buy a new pair soon.

Great day for a walk. I meandered around Calumet and Swedetown, and included a short loop on the back of the ski trails. Nancy headed out earlier for her run, and I met her halfway into my walk.

I need non-100%-cotton socks, according to Nancy. Maybe my feet move around too much in my shoes, but there's a little chafing at longer distances. Of course, it could have something to do with my baby-soft feet.

Time: 1:09:09
Distance: 4.39 miles
Pace: 15:46/mile

The weather was a little better tonight, and Nancy and I took a nice walk on a loop starting at my office.

Time: 45:10
Distance: 2.82 miles
Pace: 16:03/mile

Nancy has a...compulsion...to keep track of all her fitness activities in great detail. Some of it might have rubbed off on me. I decided to add my fitness stuff to a Google Calendar, and then added a condensed version of it to the sidebar on the right. I use my own scripts to grab data from a GPS device and generate a track image, and then manually enter summary information in the description field for each activity.

Anyway, here's the track from yesterday evening's walk.

Frustrated by low-quality aerial photography on the free web-based mapping services (like Google Maps and TerraServer), I set out to find free sources of the USGS data itself. It comes from a government agency, so it should be simple for us taxpayers to find, right?

After much searching, I found some great resources at Michigan's Center for Geographic Information and the Michigan DNR Aerial Imagery Archive. A relatively complete listing of resources for other states can be found at lgalvin's site.

To use the Michigan CGI data, here's what I did:

1. Select a county from the County Geographic Extent page.
2. On the next page, select the aerial imagery you want to use. For Houghton county, I wanted the Digital Orthophoto Quads - 2005 series.
3. Select and download a quadrangle. These are typically compressed in standard zip format.
   
4. Unpack the file using the unzip command (this works even though the files are self-extracting Windows executables).
5. Download and install FWTools for Linux.
6. Convert the file to TIFF by running something like:
   gdal_translate LAURIUM_NW.ecw LAURIUM_NW.tiff

For the Michigan DNR data, I did this:

1. Select the 1998 series data from the Aerial Imagery Archive page.
2. Select a county of interest, and then a quadrangle.
3. Click on the map of the quadrangle to download the compressed image file.
4. Download and unpack MrSID Decode for Linux.
5. Convert the file to TIFF:
   mrsidgeodecode_linux -i laurium_nw.sid -o laurium_nw.tiff

Either way, you'll now have a high-resolution TIFF that can be used in any number of image manipulation programs. I found the CGI imagery to be the most detailed, and far better than web-based mapping services.

Rumors are flying that DCS wants to outsource email. Back in 2000, they outsourced our local Usenet groups, which was less than successful. James reminded me of my shenanigans back then:

Date: Wed, 06 Sep 2000 10:23:08 -0400
To: "Myles, Joshua A." <jamyles@mtu.edu>
From: Ann West <awest@mtu.edu>
Subject: Your e-mail service post
Cc: cjmacdon@mtu.edu

Mr. Myles,

It has come to my attention that you posted the following 
notice on mtu.announce regarding the outsourcing of
e-mail.

Joshua Myles wrote:
>
> Starting September 11, MTU's email system will undergo 
> changes intended to reduce the load on MTU's local mail 
> server. After September 11, all MTU mail will be handled
> by Hotmail, part of the Microsoft Network.
> 
> Since a very small amount of students actually use MTU's 
> email system, it was determined that email could be more
> efficiently handled by a commercial provider.
>                                                                    
> Any users who wish to continue receiving MTU email must
> register at http://www.hotmail.com/. Many desirable 
> usernames are available, such as
> fastredcar53982@hotmail.com.                                               
>                                                                
> This change in service is likely to cause a massive
> slowdown in service, and occasional service failures.
> MTU is not responsible for these service issues, and all
> technical problems should be directed to
> support@hotmail.com.
> 
> Thank you for your support.

While we all appreciate a bit of satire, do not post 
service-spoofing messages in mtu.announce. A number of 
readers mistook your note for an official announcement of
IT. This creates additional work on our part to address
rumors resulting from the satirical posting. Let me know
if you have questions or would like to discuss this
further.

Ann West

Today I stumbled across a web service that scrapes a website and converts it into an RSS feed. I used this service to set up a feed for the Daily Mining Gazette's local news section, since they don't provide their own feed:

• http://tinyurl.com/2tptpp

WLUC TV6 in Marquette has their own RSS feed:

• http://www.wluctv6.com/rss.aspx?feed=TV6_News
  

Tonight was my first "extended" ride on my new toy, a bicycle roller. I did about 20 minutes at an unknown speed (reasonable cadence on the middle ring and mid-high rear cog). This was my second time on the roller, and I'm getting the hang of it. I can now go for five minutes at a time without needing a quick "hand out" to balance myself.

I like the roller so far, and it seems sturdy enough for my clydesdale frame. It was completely an impulse purchase, as Performance had a good price ($90), and I had just found Grandma's Christmas check while cleaning.

I'm hoping to keep at this until spring. Getting a bike computer soon will help, since my normal odometer (GPS) doesn't seem to work very well here for some reason.

I might start looking for a truck again this summer. Here's the stuff I've jotted down so far.

• 1988-1991 Chevrolet/GMC Suburban V1500/2500
• 1982-1987 Chevrolet/GMC Suburban (K10/1500/20/2500)
• 1982-1987 Chevrolet K10/20 or GMC K1500/2500 pickup
• Prefer 3/4-ton (K20/K2500/V2500)
  
• 4WD (K- or V-series, not C- or R-series)
• Prefer manual transmission, but realize this isn't too common
  
• Prefer 350-ci V8, then other gas V8 (400, 454), then diesel
• Prefer TBI over carburetor (most 1986 and later)
  
• Prefer Custom low or other low-end trim packages; fewer features is better
  
• No or little rust
• Bad paint and minor dents fine
• No lift kit or amateur modifications
  

Today, Nancy, James, JP, and Danielle, and I went skiing at Swedetown Trails. I skied classic style along with James (my mentor), while the rest skied skate style. It was a lot of fun, but a heck of a workout, which I need anyway.

Phew. I'll definitely be back after I recover. Yay winter sports.

Oh, and James fell more times than I did, and he's the expert-looking guy in tights. Ha.

Dollars: 12
Kilometers: 5.8
Falls: 0

Don't bother ordering from Nashbar if you're concerned with customer service. For example, their Order Status page says to "check back soon". Well, don't hold your breath, since it's been broken since July 2006.

English (or "communications") classes at MTU were pretty tame. For most people, they were a joke.

I've been sorting through old paperwork, and came across a letter I wrote for a class assignment in 1999. Thankfully, the instructor had a sense of humor.