CNN Satellite Video

My wife sent me this link:

CNN Satellite Video

I find it fascinating the turn around time on these images.  I also am happy that the major news outlets are making use of GIS in such a high profile way.  I really think this has become a boon for introducing GIS to the uninitiated.

Twitter References

I have been using Twitter for the last couple of months.  At first I was unsure how to best use Twitter and found it extremely frustrating.  What really changed my mind about Twitter were several articles and blogs I ran across.  One of the posts I read, A Minimalist’s Guide to Using Twitter Simply, Productively, and Funlyby Leo Babauta, contained a description of Twitter which really change how I percieved it.  The description was of Twitter as a river…

Twitter is like a river … you can step into it at any point and feel the water, bathe in it, frolic if you like … and then get out. And go back in at any time, at any point. But, you don’t have to try to consume the entire river — it’s impossible and frankly a waste of time in my eyes.

So that’s how I approach Twitter these days: I’ll just jump into the stream of incoming tweets and see what people are saying. I can ignore them or follow their links or reply if I want. Then I get out of the stream. I don’t try to read everything I missed, and if I miss a lot of stuff, I’m OK with that.

via A Minimalist’s Guide to Using Twitter Simply, Productively, and Funly | Zen Habits.

Here are some links to other posts about Twitter that I found intetresting and Helpful:

• 12 ways to use Twitter to increase your productivity
  
• 6 Tips for Using Your Twitter Profile to Get New Followers – The section on Twitter backgrounds is interesting and led me to the post I used to create a twitter background via a powerpoint template.
• WHY asking Questions are a Powerful Twitter Technique
  
• Do you Converse or Broadcast? How to Build (or Kill) Relationships on Twitter – Particularly for new twitter users, this post was particularly helpful.
• Twitter Guide: How To Do Things With Twitter
  
• TweetStats – In ur Tweets, Graphin’ Your Stats!
• Twitter Tools for Community and Communications Professionals

STEPL – Spreadsheet Tool for Estimating Pollutant Loads

Recently, I have worked on a Watershed Management Plan.  As part of a management plan, estimations have to be made for pollutant loads  and possible reductions by BMP implementation.  A tool that was highly recommend was STEPL:

Spreadsheet Tool for Estimating Pollutant Load( STEPL) employs simple algorithms to calculate nutrient and sediment loads from different land uses and the load reductions that would result from the implementation of various best management practices BMPs.STEPL provides a user-friendly Visual Basic VB interface to create a customized spreadsheet-based model in Microsoft MS Excel. It computes watershed surface runoff; nutrient loads, including nitrogen, phosphorus, and 5-day biological oxygen demand BOD5; and sediment delivery based on various land uses and management practices. For each watershed, the annual nutrient loading is calculated based on the runoff volume and the pollutant concentrations in the runoff water as influenced by factors such as the land use distribution and management practices. The annual sediment load sheet and rill erosion only is calculated based on the Universal Soil Loss Equation USLE and the sediment delivery ratio. The sediment and pollutant load reductions that result from the implementation of BMPs are computed using the known BMP efficiencies.

via EPA – STEPL – Spreadsheet Tool for Estimating Pollutant Loads.

STEPL (pronounced Step – L) was easy to use and was flexible for entering different BMP configurations.  My only issue with STEPL was compatibility with Office 2007.  If you plan on using STEPL and Office 2007 be ready for possible issues.

VirtualBox

I have been testing VirtualBox both at home and at work.  From the VirtualBox Website:

VirtualBox is a family of powerful x86 virtualization products for enterprise as well as home use. Not only is VirtualBox an extremely feature rich, high performance product for enterprise customers, it is also the only professional solution that is freely available as Open Source Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License GPL. See “About VirtualBox” for an introduction.

via VirtualBox

For running Linux, specifically Ubuntu, it has run pretty well.  At the office my experience has been a little more problematic.  I wanted to run VirtualBox in order to run different versions of GIS software.  Initially the software worked wonderfully, but problems arose with peripherals.  Many of our users are novice computer users and use USB drives and devices.  I thought I could configure VirtualBox to handle  a generic USB device and initail test seemed to confirm this.  Unfortunately, as my ussers started to conect various devices VirtualBox did not always recognize the USB connections.  With novice users it created a burden with support calls.

I have not given up using VirtaulBox, but I will need to do some additional research or find a better way to deploy it with my users.