November 2003

Las Vegas Metro Police Department SAR team

November 30, 2003

The LVMPD SAR team has a great site. Their mission summaries are very well organized. The mission we saw yesterday at Red Rocks was not covered on the site yet. Perhaps it will be in the next few days.

Cell Phone Post Part II

November 29, 2003

I posted the other day about having gotten the cell phone working. Indeed it works well. I have since found the Verizon modem script. Now the problem is that each time the machine boots it connects the first time just fine. After disconnecting however, it will connect a second time but is rendered useless by a near constant string of "disconnect-connect-authorize". It does all of this quickly enough that it continues to increment the counter and does not miss a beat. At times it will appear to stabilize and stay connected for a time but the next set of packets on the net can set the whole thing off again.

The good Elf

November 28, 2003

We went and saw ELF tonight. A throughly enjoyable movie. It is a bit slow in spots. Overall, however, it is a quite enjoyable movie.

Also enjoyable was a theater where they serve popcorn the right way. The practice of serving real butter on popcorn in the bag is the best. Too many theaters give you bags of popcorn that were made up some time ago and then you have to put topping on just the top.

Networking Question

November 25, 2003

Here's what I want to setup. If a packet is bound for the local network (say 123.45.x.x) then it should go via ethernet. If it is bound for a foreign network then send it via the modem. The challenge is that the local network is addressed using DHCP and I don't control the DHCP server. Anybody have ideas on the best way to set this up.

What a world

November 23, 2003

An interesting world we live in. - Adam Curry: "It's interesting to examine a culture that mounts cameras on smart bombs to view the kill on the 6 o'clock news, but freaks out if a nipple of a [female] breast is flashed on TV." via ;&;&;">Scripting News.

Application of UAVs?

November 23, 2003

There is an article on CNN about the increasing use of Unmanned Ariel Vehicles (UAV). The article mentions civilian uses but only brushes on them. I'd be interested in exploring the capabilities of remotely controlled helicopters in SAR applications. For the places I can think of using them they would need several miles of range, the ability to return to base on their own, a fuel supply for at least an hour at a time, the ablity to have video and infra-red imaging systems on them and to have the video controlled remotely as well and fed back to a remote station. It would be great to hear from some folks who have ideas on what is possible and how this could work.

First Snow in Denver

November 22, 2003

Raible designs has some photos of the first snow this year in Denver. I had planned a trip to work on some clients computers today but after a couple of futile hours on I-25 it had to be put off until tomorrow. One more day to recover from the cold/flu bug that has been going around. First Snow in Denver - It's really coming down right now - I wouldn't be surprised if we had 6 inches by nightfall. Click on the images below to zoom in.

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Don't do it

November 21, 2003

- Andrew's looking for a new laptop too. [Scripting News] - I have to agree with Andrew. Don't get the Think Pad. They are simply awful. The Viao is a much better choice. Of course a Powerbook is the best choice but Sony makes a fine machine.

Cell Phone Post

November 21, 2003

I've been looking for the best solution for posting from the road. The Aircard Page has some good info on using the Sierra Wireless 555 card. The downside is that it disables the normal serial interface for the PCMCIA card so it would mean switching back and forth to download images from the cameras. However the page at the bottom tells how to configure PPP for OS X to use National Access (formerly Express Network).

The next problem is the lack of a Motorola v.120e on the list of modems in 10.3. A few tries without success. Finally used the "Sprint PCS Vision" choice.

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