Misc

In any sufficiently aged bureaucracy, process overshadows product.

Take a look at: The Volcano and the Buffer It includes an example that uses CSV, GDAL/OGR VRT, QGIS, and fTools to figure out if I was in danger of being buried in a volcanic ash fall (not much danger but sounds dramatic).

Well it was a short summer here. Or perhaps we have defeated global warming. This is the view from the deck on Thursday evening: and this is the view Saturday morning: Of course nearly everyone in the country has removed their snow tires in anticipation of the upcoming May 1 deadline. As they say “Life is tough in the far north”. The good news is that now we can go directly from winter to summer…

Everybody who gets an Eee PC has to write about it–it’s required. I don’t really have much to add to the raft of reviews, except for one small point. I found myself wanting to print something and, based on my last experience, prepared for the ordeal of setting up a printer. I about fell out of the chair when I opened the Printer configuration and found that the Eee had already found the CUPS printer on my network and added it.

a great divide separates the typical open source developer and user. each has differing expectations, assumptions, and priorities. the interaction between developer and user can be helpful, cordial, confrontational, or antagonistic. of course this all stems from being on opposite sides of the fence. the key to a successful relationship is communication and understanding (not exactly a new revelation). unfortunately its not possible for one developer to communicate directly with thousands of users.

It amazes me how people fail to communicate when speaking about technical matters. I’m sure you have heard this refrain: “My computer doesn’t work” or perhaps “Program XYZ blows up”. Ok, in the general sense there is some information being conveyed here. Often times the speaker is not merely providing a fact but asking for help in a very oblique manner. Before you think I’m picking on the poor newcomer, I’m not.