BBEOJ

Betsy & Hope are off to “bag a president” (i.e. climb a mountain in the Presidential Range of New Hampshire). And true to form,their motto for the trip is: Go Big or Go Home

Ten Highest Peaks of the Presidential Range

Yep, they’re going for Mt Washington. One of the most valuable tools for this trip has been the subscription to the White Mountain Guide Online.
They already knew they were going to be hiking from Pinkham Notch to the summit of Mt. Washington, so I searched for a route among the “suggested Hikes”. Going to the summit appears to be strenuous.
It’s pretty cool to see the whole of the Boott Spur Loop laid out on a map:
But you don’t feel that in your gut like this:

Hope, I’ve added waypoints and much trail description in this Google Earth file.

I’m posting this here so I have a place to point my cousin Jake Hodges. He gets the same kick out of driving racetracks as I do, but he does it in a real car. And I know he enjoys a good video game.

Jake, I love to race realistic sims as much as the next guy, but sometimes you want to stomp the pedal and hit 650km/h on the straightaway (that’s 403.9 mph for those playing along at home). I’ve been playing this game for a couple of years and they just came out with a new version. Trackmania has always put sim graphics on an arcade racer and given it to you full on. Dude, you can brake while you’re in the air!

Official Game Site of Trackmania Nations Forever

In case you’re still not convinced to give it a try - it’s FREE - here’s a trailer:

My wife hikes the Palmetto Trail with her childhood friend. They call me “Compass” because I get on Google Earth and map out their route then download it into the GPS. The maps provided by the Palmetto Conservation Foundation have UTM (Universal Transverse Mercator) coordinates, which are a whole other ballgame from Lat/Long.

After 10 long minutes of scouring the web, I found one site that converted the UTM coordinates to latitude / longitude: The Canadian Spatial Reference System’s GSRUG at http://www.geod.nrcan.gc.ca/apps/gsrug/utm_e.php

The link I found was broken (from a 2005 keyhole bbs post) - so here’s the product description from the CSRS website:

Geodetic Survey Routine, UTM/TM to/from Geographic coordinate conversion. Compute either Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) coordinates from the geographic latitude and longitude of a point or the reverse conversion.

or “Geeks are hard wired to one-up other geeks”

I suppose it would just illustrate my kinship with these souls to publish a formula from my hypothesis that “15 minutes of fame” is an outdated concept. Given that News 2.0 is presented on nearly ubiquitous media and is available on demand, the baseline fame “hang time” will vary as a function of the true mass appeal of the story. No longer will “15 minutes of fame” be awarded solely by media outlets - now spotlight seekers have the power to grab the attention of the media on the internet, who can pick up the story and award t minutes of fame. The formula is

t = (e^(1/x) + ln(x))
x = number of internet webpage views
f(10) = 3
f(100) = 6
f(1,000) = 8
f(10,000) = 10
f(100,000) = 13
f(1,000,000) = 15


Case in point, this story on WIRED caught my eye:

Star Wars-Obsessed Rocket Geeks Build and Launch an X-Wing Fighter
http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/magazine/15-12/st_xwing

But it’s only worth sharing because of this response:

What Really Happened to the Life Size X-Wing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgF9hBL-CuA

I’ve been browsing around checking out digital SLR packages (my current favorite is the Nikon D40x package at Best Buy) and came across this promo that Amazon is running for Black Friday 2007.

It’s the “Customers Vote” program. You vote on what deals you want to get and then Amazon will randomly select people who can then buy the item at the deal price. They keep using the word “ridiculous”, and I have to agree… (some folks will get a chance to buy a Wii for $79!!!!).

In the interest of full disclosure, I signed up as an Amazon Associate a while ago to check out their API - so if you use the links on this page and end up buying something, I get referral credit.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/holiday/amazon-customers-vote/?tag=bbeojcom-20

My latest custom plugin:

Provides simple data entry interface for 5 custom global meta tags (description, keywords, etc…). It works perfectly on the production site it was designed for. Please let me know if you encounter any issues.

Download the plugin: BBEOJs Simple 5 Custom Metatags Plugin for Wordpress

I was checking out the plugin generator interface at www.wp-fun.co.uk - it’s pretty cool for a work in progress - but don’t be fooled, it’s not for beginners. You still have to understand what goes where in a plugin file.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why doesn’t your plugin work on my site?

Probably your theme doesn’t implement the wp_head() hook.
To check this, switch your theme back to Kubrick, aka Wordpress Default 1.6

If all else fails, leave a comment on the plugin page.

This is one of the first things I ever posted on the internet, way back in June of 1998 on my worldnet.att.net home page.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb package ground beef (turkey works well with this recipe too!)
• 1 package chili seasoning
• 4 cans stewed tomatoes (I cheat with 2 mexican style, 2 chili style, DelMonte’s)
• 2 cans large red kidney beans
• 2 cans pinto beans
• 4 bell peppers (2 green, 1 yellow, 1 red - or one package of frozen “chinese vegetables” works well too!)
• 1 softball size spanish onion (yellow will do)
• up to 4 jalapeno peppers (with kids I use 0, and garnish as necessary)
• chili powder, cumin, cayenne pepper
• Optional: 1 can of beer (I recommend a light, fairly bland beer, like Natural Light)

Start the Sauce

• Open the cans of tomatoes and dump them in the pot.
• Rinse beans well, then drain and add to pot.
• Dice 1/2 of the jalapenos and toss them in as well. Leave out the seeds, and trim out the “seams” for a milder flavor
• Chop the onion and bell peppers into chunks
• Add 1/2 of the veggies in the crock pot on low

Meat & Veggies

• Start browning the meat in the frying pan
• Chop (not too small) onion, bell peppers, and the rest of the jalapenos
• When about 3/4 of the meat is lightly browned, dust with chili powder and cumin -
  about a tbsp. of each, but at least enough to lightly cover all the meat
• When completely browned, add the vegetables, and dust with chili powder, cumin, and cayenne to taste
• Simmer until the vegetables are pretty much limp (about 5-10 minutes)
• Mix in the package of chili seasoning (DON’T add water)
• Stir until the meat and vegetables are pretty well coated
• Cook for another 5 minutes on low, stirring continuously

Final Assembly

Add the contents of the frying pan to the crock pot and cook on low at least 2, but no more than 12 hours, stirring occasionally

As with most chili, this is extra good reheated after a night in the fridge. Don’t ask me why.

The running joke is that Betsy only surfs in Costa Rica - she only shreds the Pacific Juice. So this weekend we took the kids out to the Isle of Palms and all 3 kids rode waves on Ellie’s circa 1980 5′10″ twin fish. Of course Uncle Jeff and I also took our turns. I really have to get a leash plug added to that board…

IANAWF (I am not a weather forecaster) but it looks to me like the Southern Hemi Storm Train is lining up nicely for the Whiskey Tango Surf Club’s 2007 visit to Playa Guiones, Nosara, Costa Rica

Here’s what it looks like today (from the StormSurf website):

And here’s the forecast for a week from today (again from the StormSurf website):

So, using my magical power patented technique of Predictive Interpolation, I see us getting the tender juicy bits of storm system #2 when we arrive, followed by the long period high energy leading edge of storm system #3 nearer the end of the trip.

To summarize for the layman - the water will be wet and there will be much playing in it.

Pura Vida!

Scott Adams is the author of the Dilbert cartoon series. He also writes a daily blog where, as near as I can tell, he tries to instigate people into vehemently attacking or defending some point of view in an argument that cannot be resolved. The topics he presents are often thought-provoking, and he makes interesting (if inflammatory) arguments.

My guess is that this is one way he plumbs the public psyche for material - he can get a reasonable approximation of which topics generate the most emotional response. It would make the kind of television that I can’t bear to watch - people being goaded into espousing a position they haven’t fully considered, and then sticking to their guns as their argument is torn to shreds around them. But I can conveniently avoid that part of it by not delving into the comment strings.

“Aggravavor” is the term my kids use when one of their siblings is doing the psychological equivalent of poking them with a stick - as in “Daddy, Jack’s being an aggravavor. He won’t stop singing I want my mullet back.” Scott Adams is an aggravavor on his weblog.

But he’s an entertaining and sometimes informative aggravavor. I enjoyed his 3-part post on global warming, enough to share the links here:

• Global Warming - Part 1
• Global Warming - Part 2
• Global Warming - Part 3