The Weatherman

I came across this GPL’d set of mapping tools called GMT or The Generic Mapping Tools. It’s amazing how quickly one can create a map with relatively decent detail. This is all I did to get up and running:

1. Download and install netCDF
2. Downloaded the install script
3. Ran install_gmt

They provide an online form for creating the parameters used by install_gmt - however I had problems getting it to work. So I just ran install_gmt in interactive mode and answered the questions on the command line. Finally I started using their tutorial and within minutes I ran the following command:

pscoast -R236.5/238.5/37/38.5 -JM6i -P -Df -Ia -V -B5g5 -G180/120/60 -Na -W > map.ps

and I used ImageMagick’s convert to create a png file that you see here:

Very impressive tool. You can add political borders, including state borders with one command line parameter.

So why would one want this? Well, organizations like the NWS provide tons of data but much of it is longitude and latitude. GMT allows you to create maps that you can later plot against with mapping data.

OK, so not the most interesting use, but it’s a start.

I received this via email today…pretty funny.

After every flight, Qantas pilots fill out a form, called a “gripe sheet,”
which tells mechanics about problems with the aircraft. The mechanics
correct the problems, document their repairs on the form, and then pilots
review the gripe sheets before the next flight. Never let it be said that
ground crews lack a sense of humor. Here are some actual maintenance
complaints submitted by Qantas’ pilots (marked with a P) and the solutions
recorded (marked with an S) by maintenance engineers.

By the way, Qantas is the only major airline that has never had an
accident.

P: Left inside main tire almost needs replacement.
S: Almost replaced left inside main tire.

P: Test flight OK, except auto-land very rough.
S: Auto-land not installed on this aircraft.

P: Something loose in cockpit.
S: Something tightened in cockpit.

P: Dead bugs on windshield.
S: Live bugs on back-order.

P: Autopilot in altitude-hold mode produces a 200 feet per minute descent.
S: Cannot reproduce problem on ground.

P: Evidence of leak on right main landing gear.
S: Evidence removed.

P: DME volume unbelievably loud.
S: DME volume set to more believable level.

P: Friction locks cause throttle levers to stick.
S: That’s what they’re for.

P: IFF inoperative.
S: IFF always inoperative in OFF mode.

P: Suspected crack in windshield.
S: Suspect you’re right.

P: Number 3 engine missing.
S: Engine found on right wing after brief search.

P: Aircraft handles funny.
S: Aircraft warned to straighten up, fly right, and be serious.

P: Target radar hums.
S: Reprogrammed target radar with lyrics.

P: Mouse in cockpit.
S: Cat installed.

And the best one for last..
P: Noise coming from under instrument panel. Sounds like a midget pounding
on something with a hammer.
S: Took hammer away from midget.

Do you know the origins of the Christmas Tree?

Wikipedia Christmas Tree

The Thanksgiving holiday is the best holiday we have. Food, Drink, Football, 2 days off, and no gifts! It’s perfect. Last year we went on a cruise…this year we stayed close to home. Zach spent Thanksgiving day with my folks and that was followed up with a traditional Thanksgiving dinner.

The next day starts the Christmas season in our household. The boxes of decorations came out of the attic and I picked up cartons of new lights. The day started with a yummy breakfast at Stacks in Burlingame with the Surma family. We then headed over to Santa’s Tree Farm and cut down a 7 foot Noble Fir.

End of the road at the tree farm.

Done with lunch, let’s cut a tree.

I’m busy.

Zach had a great time, as you can see from the pictures above at the tree farm.

Saturday was Steph’s 32nd birthday. We had planned to go to The Van’s, but little Zacher has had a cold. So we cancelled the reservation and had a lobster dinner (Steph’s favorite) at home anyway. Plus, Zach introduced mom and dad to projectile vomit on Friday night and we decided we didn’t want that risk at a restaurant.

I’m a little behind on my writing. We went to Lake Tahoe 2 weekends ago…actually we stayed at Donner Lake. We stayed at the Donner Lake Village Resort. Not a bad place located right on Donner Lake.

We hiked up into the desolation wilderness above Emerald Lake. We didn’t have the child carrying backpack, so we took him in the baby bjorn. That meant we couldn’t carry all of his stuff, so we just did a quick mile in and back (actually, not too quick, we still had to do some climbing). Zach loved it except for coming down since he bounced around alot.

Later we strolled along the Truckee River.

All these years I’ve always taken highway 80 over Donner Summit…but this time I ventured over historic highway 40 on Donner Pass.

Zach was a real trooper. We took him out on the town both nights in Truckee. He went to OBs and to the Bar of America. He also had breakfast at the Truckee Diner. I recommend all 3 of these for eating within Truckee. We also had lunch at Jakes on the Waterfront in Tahoe City - great lakeside restaurant.

He’s 20lbs 15oz and 28.75″ long. That puts him in the 95 percentile for weight and off the charts for height. He can start eating more solids and even have toast or a bagel…yummy

He’s been doing awesome…he goes to sleep around 8pm and we get him up between 6:15am and 7:00am (depends if daddy gets up at 6:00am or 6:45am). He generally naps for 1 to 3 hours at daycare.

He’s been rolling over some and he is starting to sit up on his own. He can hold things in his hands and pass items from hand to hand. Tonight, when I set him down in bed, he was reaching for his mobile and hitting it.

Because of his size, I suspect he’ll be playing in the NFL. His fallback will be MLB.

Propositions                      Yes Votes   Pct.   No Votes   Pct.

  73 N    Minor's Pregnancy          3,130,062  47.4   3,465,629  52.6  Map

  74 N    Teacher Tenure             2,987,010  44.9   3,662,932  55.1  Map

  75 N    Public Union Dues          3,092,495  46.5   3,551,011  53.5  Map

  76 N    Spending/Funding           2,522,327  37.9   4,115,388  62.1  Map

  77 N    Redistricting              2,673,530  40.5   3,920,487  59.5  Map

  78 N    Rx Drug Discounts          2,719,999  41.5   3,821,957  58.5  Map

  79 N    Rx Drug Rebates            2,523,803  38.9   3,950,763  61.1  Map

  80 N    Electric Regulation        2,189,126  34.3   4,182,374  65.7  Map

Not much to say…thanks Arnie for wasting millions of our dollars on this special election.

Today I had to setup iptables for doing some very basic ip filtering on two servers. There is quite a bit of information scattered around the internet, but it took a while to get some helpful pieces. I suggest starting with netfilter.org for a good selection of documentation, check out Mastering IPTables article, and this tutorial is a good beginner starting point.

iptables -F INPUT

use this to flush the INPUT chain. This is good to add to the beginning of any script you write. Otherwise, your old rules remain unless your script specifically replaces them. The INPUT chain deals with packets destined for the local machine. There are two other chains: OUTPUT and FORWARD. OUTPUT applies to packets originating locally, and FORWARD applies to packets coming into the server but not meant for the server. You can also make your own chains. See the linked articles for more information.

iptables -A INPUT -s [ip address, network] -p tcp –destination-port ssh -j ACCEPT

this sets up the server to accept ssh connections from a specific set of IP addresses or from a specific network. You can eliminate the -s paramater to allow ssh from any server. You can substitute the ssh for any port number or service that you need a rule for.

In addition, you can change the ACCEPT to DROP or REJECT. DROP will just drop the packets with no response. REJECT will actually provide the ‘connection refused’ error. For example, I may list some rules for accepting tcp traffic on port 9999 from certain IPs, then I can follow up with the following to reject the any other traffic.

iptables -A INPUT -p tcp –destination-port 9999 -j REJECT

If you want to check your progress then type

iptables –list

I also placed these statements into a shell script (/etc/firewall.sh) which I called from within /etc/rc.local. However, there are plenty of samples of more sophisticated startup scripts handling these rules. Be sure to check out other resources like Chapter 9, Linux Network Administrator Guide

Once again, I’m not a network or security expert…I just needed to block access to a few ports outside of a couple of servers. iptables proved to be a good, simple solution.

Our house was built in 1948 and the heating unit installed was a gravity heater. Basically a gas floor heater that uses some simple chemistry (cold air sinks, hot air rises) to propel heat into the room. Yes, room…it could heat our living room and that’s about it. This old furnace doesn’t have a fan. Basically, it wasn’t very good.

In mid October we had central heating installed by R & R Marcucci in San Mateo. Ralph came out in September to provide a free estimate and he was very thorough with evaluating our home, providing advice, and asking appropriate questions. I had 5 previous quotes but Ralph seemed like he knew everything just a little bit better. They scheduled the install for October 17th…and sure enough they began on October 17th. They quoted me 3 days for the installation…and guess what, it took 3 days. Getting this type of service is rare unfortunately, but it sure makes a customer feel good.

They did an excellent job with the installation - they completed each piece exactly as explained. If they had a question, they called. They left the house very clean after each days’ work.

I would highly recommend them to anyone looking for heating/AC work in the San Mateo area.

Never thought I would say that. Ever since Mac OS X hit the streets, the Mac is cool again. It has a strong UI backed by a solid OS. It beats Windblows easily. Even the press thinks so. Talk about a company hitting on all cylinders. Their stock was trading around $10/share at the beginning of 2004, now it’s around $60. They’e even had a share split.

I must admit that I never thought I would be a Mac fan. Over the last 4 or 5 years I’ve slowly become more sour about Windblows. I just figured that I would have Linux running on everything. There’s nothing wrong with that (typing this from my Gentoo desktop now), but Mac provides all of the benefits of Linux and excellent hardware support. So you end up with a great combination. Funny how things change…4 years ago Dell was at the top; trash talking Apple…now the tables are reversed. Well, that’s what you get for sticking with a crappy operating system.

My next computer will definitely be a Mac - either the IMac or G5, although I’ll wait for the Intel based Macs.

Obviously every large country has vulnerabilities. The US has shown many very recently - inability to provide timely aid after Hurricane Katrina, CIA leak, Iraq war - to name some of the recent ones. But we’ve also had our share of civil strife…the LA Riots after the Rodney King verdict. These are definitely not our finest hours to say the least. And many people will quickly point out our problems. But what about problems elsewhere…and I don’t mean the typical issues found in less developed countries. I mean things like the French Riots.

Riots in France? I thought Paris was the city of romance. Beautiful architecture. The world’s best art. Riots like these shouldn’t happen in France. So why is this happening.

I have naively just believed that European countries are far more liberal than the US. They are more accepting of all types of people, no matter what religion, race, ethnic background, or sexual orientation. While I think this is true of some areas…like Spain and the UK, it apparently isn’t par for the course everywhere.

I saw the following two items in separate Wall Street Journal articles that make me think otherwise, at least with regards to France.

In reality, minority groups suffer much greater rates of joblessness than the white majority, and France has no national political leaders of Arab or African origin. A few businesses and schools have only just begun experimenting, cautiously, with small affirmative-action programs.

(article)

However, the new law took some steps to address crime in France’s ghettos. It forbade gatherings of more than three people in the hallways of buildings in low-income neighborhoods and stipulated that youths who disobeyed could be sanctioned with big fines or jail time. Some say the approach backfired.

(article)

Unbelievable. They are just experimenting with affirmative action! No national political leaders of Arab or African origin? A law that prohibits gatherings in low income neighborhoods? This is not what one would expect from a progressive country…maybe from a depressive one. Even among the complaints about the US, at least we’ve worked hard to work out these basic equality issues.

No country should have to deal with rioting citizens…it proves nothing and only hurts those that have been hurt. But, France needs to come to grips with a clear difference in how they treat the minority vs the majority.

Ahhh…I can’t put my arms down!

We had 172 kids. Not too shabby. We gave out around 500 pieces of candy.

Our little turtle…