Intriguing links from toxicology:

"Under our Skin"  2009 PBS documentary on Lyme disease.  It will open your eyes (1:45 long).
http://www.hulu.com/watch/268761
or
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2JgR_Jfbhv8

Some great videos by a paramedic friend:

Respiratory System and Pulmonary Edema
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5rhjTeBhsM

The Pump - CHF
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVWdnftP2RU

Electrical Conduction System of the Heart
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bALlIYO6LdA

Pneumothorax
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzIfiU0obKg


NOW SERIOUSLY I am not one of those people who does not believe in vaccinations.  I think people who don't vaccinate are nuts, BUT we can do it more safely.  The mercury-based preservative is the big danger.  Why can't we do better?

Safe Minds - the dangers of mercury
http://www.safeminds.org/

Smart Vax - vaccines and mercury
http://www.smartvax.com/

Google Book - Evidence of Harm: Mercury in Vaccines and the Autism Epidemic
http://books.google.com/books?id=JlCS2A9WkuoC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

Needing to be better

a better friend
a better student
a better employee

These are things I consciously have to work on.  They do not come naturally.

I am tired of being constantly down, stuck in a hole, struggling to get out.

It was everyone else, you see, that was getting me down.


Truth is I need an attitude adjustment.

And a ladder.

Days like these

Or maybe weeks like these?
It's been a few weeks of ups and downs; feeling good about myself and feeling like crap; considering changes and abandoning them; studying hard and working hard; feeling fulfilled in my work and hating it; and an endless bounty of frustration.
Yep, that's where I am.

What does it take to remove 185 ton dock washed up in a National Park?

Turns out, a lot of work and money.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRHV_Ekc84Q&list=PL8BmI4b96dKbvCW0Z1J0fU_kDIviNqrbZ&index=1

Japanese Dock Removed From Olympic Coastline By Rainey McKenna April 02, 2013

Workers prepare the dock for removal from the park's coastline. NPS photo. A 185-ton dock that washed out to sea during the March 2011 tsunami in Japan has been removed from a wilderness beach within the boundaries of Olympic National Park and the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary. The dock was first sighted by the U.S. Coast Guard on December 18th.  Grounded on a remote stretch of beach, it could only be accessed via a primitive three-mile trail. Removal of the dock was critically important to resource protection goals of both federal agencies.  If left in place, it could have done significant harm to the coastal environment. Most of the volume of the 65-foot long dock was a Styrofoam-type material, which was encased in steel reinforced concrete. “Although the dock stayed in the same general location since its arrival on the beach, there was potential for changing tides and waves to move the dock and batter the coastline,” said Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary Superintendent Carol Bernthal. “The intertidal area of the Olympic Coast is home to the most diverse ecosystem of marine invertebrates and seaweeds on the west coast of North America. By removing the dock, we hope to minimize damage to the coastline and marine habitat.” The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) contracted with the Undersea Company of Port Townsend, Washington, earlier this month to remove the dock. The Undersea Company worked with the both federal agencies, as well as local partners in Washington, to dismantle the dock on site. The dock was sectioned into small pieces, airlifted to an upland landing zone and then trucked offsite for disposal. This was determined to be the safest and most efficient method for removal in light of concern that the dock was no longer seaworthy. "This operation was challenging. Imagine opening up a 185-ton concrete package filled with foam packing peanuts while standing near a helicopter on an extremely remote coastline," said John Nesset, president and CEO of The Undersea Company. "We wouldn't have been successful in removing the dock without the hard work and dedication of everyone involved." The removal effort was supported by many state and federal agencies, including Washington's Marine Debris Task Force, the U.S. Coast Guard, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "Removing a piece of marine debris of this magnitude is possible only through the coordinated efforts of many agencies," said Olympic National Park Superintendent Sarah Creachbaum. "Without the support of our state and federal partners, the quick and effective response and removal of the dock from our wilderness coast would not have been possible." The cost for the $628,000 removal effort was paid by NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries and the National Park Service and with funds provided to NOAA from the government of Japan to help with cleanup of marine debris from the tsunami. Additional information about marine debris and the dock removal is available on the NOAA Marine Debris Website, http://marinedebris.noaa.gov/tsunamidebris, and Forks Docks Incident Website, http://marinedebris.wa.gov/incidents/ForksDock.html. Photos of the dock are available in the Washington Marine Debris Task Force photo gallery, http://www.flickr.com/photos/ecologywa/sets.  Time-lapse videos of the removal and other videos are posted on the Washington Ecology YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8BmI4b96dKbvCW0Z1J0fU_kDIviNqrbZ.

For you geospatial dorks out there (and everyone else)

Nothing is correct.
Sorry.
GoogleEarth is wrong
Bing is wrong
Tectonic plates are moving
The earth is rotating
NOTHING IS WHERE YOU THINK IT IS!!!!
(did I just blow your mind?)

The following is a long, well-written editorial about why datums are so important.
Enjoy

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nightmare on GIS Street: Accuracy, Datums, and Geospatial Data (editorial)

BY:  ERIC GAKSTATTER

Geospatial Solutions Monthly

05 March 2013

This subject scares me. I’m not a trained geodesist. I’m not a mathematician. Yet, I’d be derelict in my duty if I didn’t write about this subject. I know enough to be dangerous, and enough to know this subject is going to be a nightmare for people managing geospatial databases.

Headache today, nightmare tomorrow

The only reason it’s not a nightmare today is because most of you don’t know it’s even a problem. Or, you know it’s a problem, but let it slide because dealing with it is not easy. It’s going to get worse in the future, much worse. It’s going to get worse because sensors (GPS, GNSS, imagery, etc.) are getting much more accurate. The cost of acquiring high-precision (centimeter-level) data, whether it’s via GNSS, scanning or ?? is falling hard and fast. As I’ve written before, high-precision GNSS receivers are getting much cheaper. Geodata 2.0 is coming, and it is making existing geospatial databases look like my kids’ coloring books.

It reminds me of an experience I had nearly 20 years ago.

I was traveling through the southeastern U.S. demonstrating a new GPS mapping handheld that I helped develop. Mind you, this was in the early days of GPS mapping. WAAS/SBAS didn’t exist, sub-meter receivers didn’t exist, CORS didn’t exist, and real-time corrections were only a dream so almost everyone post-processed using a local base station, if they could find one — and achieving 1-3 meter accuracy was pretty dang good.

I was showing this new GPS mapping receiver to a forestry company that owned a lot of land in the southeast. We traversed a ~40 acre parcel of land, brought it back to the office and post-processed the data against a nearby GPS base station. After post-processing, the data looked very clean and I was eager to see it inserted into the company’s GIS, hoping it would slide into the right spot in the GIS and they would purchase a bunch of GPS units. No dice. When it was inserted into their GIS, the perfectly shaped polygon fit imperfectly into the GIS. It didn’t match up with the orthophotos and it didn’t match up with their existing vector data (point/line/polygon). It was offset enough to make you raise your eyebrows and think to yourself — hmmm, that’s a problem.

Of course, I did my due diligence by checking the integrity of the GPS base station data I used and verified its surveyed antenna location. Everything checked out. I was confident that my data was accurate. I started questioning the GIS manager about the horizontal datum used in their GIS database. It quickly became clear to me that the enterprise GIS database was referenced to something different than the modern horizontal datum of that era. It was also clear that there were varying types of accurate and less accurate data in the GIS. A mish-mash of geographic data with some of it based on the legacy NAD27 horizontal datum that was transformed to NAD83/86 using NADCON or something similar.

After discussing this a bit with the GIS manager, he admitted that my GPS data was likely more accurate than his GIS database, but he was clear that “I’m not going to readjust my entire GIS database for your GPS unit.” My counter-argument that “you’re going to have to do it eventually anyway” was met with “I honestly don’t see this happening anytime soon.”

I may have won the battle, but lost the war.

Later that same year, I had a similar experience in California. A major environmental consulting company wanted to delve into using GPS for mapping. I sent them one of my GPS units to try. After a few days of the company collecting GPS data and post-processing, I got the call.

“Your GPS unit isn’t accurate enough for our work.”

Whaaaat? From the outset, I was clear to them that the GPS unit would deliver accuracy within 1-3 meters, and they stated this was acceptable accuracy to them. I looked at the data. It was clean and point averages were tight. It looked very good. I verified the GPS base station they were using. No problems there.

“What are you comparing the GPS data to?” I asked.

“USGS 7.5’, 1:24,000 scale topo maps,” he replied.

Ruh roh.

Me: Wellllll, you know that USGS 7.5’ topos are referenced to NAD27 and have gross errors up to hundreds of feet in some places, especially rural areas, don’t you?

Him: We’ve used 7.5’ topo maps for many years and feel good about the accuracy they provide. Your GPS data is on the wrong side of the creek.

Me: Hmmm, how about you go occupy a survey mark with known coordinate and compare the GPS data to the survey mark coordinates? That will tell you how accurate the GPS is performing.

Him: We need it to work where we work, and it’s giving us data on the wrong side of the creek. Thanks for your time. Click.

Sigh, lost the battle, and lost the war.

After nearly 25 years in the GPS/GNSS and GIS industries, data mismatch (“my data doesn’t line up”) is still the #1 question I get from people.

The problem is two-fold.

People, even educated geospatial professionals, have a general lack of understanding of the different horizontal datums being used (not to mention vertical datums).

Software vendors (even the major ones), have generally done a poor job of keeping up with modern datum transformations. While most software makes it easy to transform data from one horizontal datum to another, they mostly do it wrong.

The errors can vary from a few centimeters to a few meters to tens of meters. In the world of GPS data collection, the most common datum transformation error is when software considers WGS-84 equivalent to NAD 83 and applies no transformation when, in reality, the difference between the latest version of NAD83 differs from the latest version of WGS-84 by more than a meter in most parts of the USA.

In this day of ever-increasing availability of public GIS data, it’s soooo easy to download an orthphoto (ortho-rectified aerial photograph), or GIS vector data from a public website and import it into your GIS. When importing, you’ll likely be asked to select the horizontal datum and the measurement units of the new data. More than likely, information about the new GIS data (metadata) isn’t readily obvious or available so you make your best guess from the list of choices presented. Is the data referenced to NAD83/86? Is it referenced to NAD83/HARN? Is it referenced to WGS-84? If so, which version of WGS-84? Your selection might significantly affect the accuracy of imported features of your GIS. What if you make the wrong selection with an aerial photo, then months or years later you have someone digitize (heads-up with a mouse) road centerlines, fire hydrants, manhole covers, etc., based on that aerial photo? Any transformation error you introduced when importing the original aerial photo will carry through to the digitized features.

The good news is that GIS software makes it very easy to import raster (images) and vector (points/polylines/polygons) data. That’s also the bad news. With a few clicks of a mouse, your GIS database can be infected with data you think is accurate to a certain level, but it’s really not, maybe due to the way you imported the data. I’m not saying that every piece of data imported into a GIS needs to be a certain (or the same) accuracy level. The problem is if you don’t keep track of the metadata for items that you import into your database, you will quickly lose a grip on the accuracy integrity of your GIS. As GIS data becomes more accurate, as I discussed above, the accuracy disparity among different layers in your GIS will increase. In other words, the problem will become bigger than it is today.

I’ll give you a scenario I’m involved with now that highlights this challenge. I used a pseudo-name for the company and have embellished a bit to emphasize some points, but the basic facts are correct.

ABC Company has tens of thousands of small infrastructure assets in the field across the U.S. It already has the desired location accuracy on some (within 30 cm, or 1 foot) on some of them. For the remaining assets, the company wants to improve the accuracy of the features. To do this, the company plans to use GPS/GNSS receivers to collect position and attribute information on the assets. A second requirement is to deploy GPS/GNSS receivers capable of sub-meter accuracy to navigate back to assets when necessary.

They are now in initial phase of testing various GPS/GNSS receivers.

Their first try was using a handheld GNSS receiver capable of “sub-foot” accuracy and post-processing against GPS CORS. It didn’t take long for them to figure out the workflow was a headache. I agree, the whole GPS post-processing workflow is so last decade (and mind you, I helped design one of the first Windows-based GPS post-processing software programs back in the 1990s).

For the second iteration, the workflow was much smoother. They used a GNSS receiver that utilized real-time WAAS corrections for sub-meter accuracy. The workflow was smooth due to real-time GNSS data being brought directly into ArcGIS Mobile in the field. The problem was accuracy. All of the coordinates collected during the testing were offset to the northwest by about 3 feet. Precision was great, but accuracy was unacceptable. Was it a problem with the GNSS receiver? No. When GPS/GNSS data is shifted consistently in one direction when compared to other data, it is almost always due to a difference in horizontal datums. In this case, it didn’t take long to determine that the difference was data referenced to ITRF (WAAS) vs. NAD83 (basemap). However, we had to do a little more investigation to understand which version of NAD83 was being used in order to find the best horizontal datum transformation choice in ArcGIS Mobile. It wasn’t obvious, not by a long shot. In fact, it was downright cryptic. There wasn’t a datum transformation labeled “WAAS” or anything close to it. As an example, one of the transformation names was cryptically named NAD_1983_To_WGS_1984_5. What does that mean? Which version of NAD83? Which version of WGS-1984? What does _5 mean?

With some investigation and experimenting with different transformation choices, we finally got it dialed in to a reasonable level. Remember, we were only looking for sub-meter accuracy so ~10 cm of datum transformation error here or there wasn’t significant. Even if we didn’t make the perfect transformation choice, we were close enough. However the investigation and experimenting drill was painfully time-consuming (locate a high-integrity survey mark nearby and occupy it), more than it should have been.

The next step, setting up the workflow for the “sub-foot” mapping GPS/GNSS receivers, wasn’t as easy. First of all, instead of using WAAS as a correction source (not accurate enough), they used an RTK network. The network base stations were tied to the latest version of NAD83, which is NAD83/2011. They really wanted to dial in the correct horizontal datum transformation. The challenges were a bit different than testing the datum transformation for the sub-meter equipment. They wanted to dial in the datum transformation as close as possible. Again, the datum transformation selection choices in ArcGIS Mobile were cryptic. But, this wasn’t the only challenge. Since they were using RTK GPS/GNSS receiver capable of 1-2 cm accuracy, errors within the different GIS layers emerged. Some layers were referenced to NAD83/2011, which was perfect, while other layers were referenced to much older versions of NAD83. To the software’s credit, an alarm popped up noting the difference in datums of the older layers, but didn’t give them any guidance as to how they should proceed. In that case, Cancel is the normal response and is what they selected.

After experimenting and testing the different datum transformations in ArcGIS Mobile, they found the one that seemed to produce the best results (confirmed by testing against a high-integrity survey mark). All in all, a very time-consuming process spread out over a few weeks.

A challenge that still remains is “hot-swapping” between using the RTK Network (NAD83/2011) or WAAS (ITRF08) as a source of GPS/GNSS corrections. ArcGIS Mobile doesn’t seem to deal with switching GPS/GNSS incoming datum changes very well on the fly (in the field).

If, after reading the above, you’re confused or feel the need to read it again to understand it, welcome to the club. Plenty of brainpower was spent sorting out this problem and verifying the solution. When your GIS has plenty of slop in it, no worries. When you start dissecting it at the centimeter level, you’ll really be forced to take a microscope to each data layer and all of the sudden metadata becomes very important.

This article is just an introduction to the challenge of dealing with disparate horizontal datums in your GIS. As the programmer for datum transformation at a major GIS software manufacturer said, “We are moving into a new era” in dealing with datum transformations. Although I mention Esri software in this article, other leading software vendors aren’t doing any better. I discussed the issue of supporting the 14-parameter transformation between NAD83/2011 and ITRF08 with another major software vendor late last year. Their CEO’s response? “Yeah, we just had an internal meeting on that and need to support it.” Whaaaat? I wonder how his thousands of users utilizing WAAS as a source of GPS corrections have been  handling this in the past 10 years. Not surprisingly, they aren’t the only major geospatial software that is falling down in this area. More than likely the software you use isn’t handling this correctly.

Lastly, in speaking with Michael Dennis at the U.S. National Geodetic Survey, he said that while the 14-parameter transformation algorithm is important, the step that people are leaving out is reconciling epoch dates of the data. Why is a date stamp of the data important? That’s the focus of my next article on this subject.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We will miss you, Bob

I considered him a friend, and some of my best days in the field were spent poking around for his sites.  Even when he couldn't manage to walk out with us, Bob would drive down and sit patiently waiting as we crossed the river.  He wanted to be with us every step of the way.

Losing Bob makes me cry, but I will always remember the stories he told and the places we went.

I will find that cabin on the Madison, Bob.  Promise.

Passing Of Bob Flather

http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=viewcommunityarticle&type=PeopleNews&id=3865

On behalf of Yellowstone National Park, the staff of the Yellowstone Heritage and Research Center (HRC) would like to mark the passing of Robert W. “Bob” Flather  on Sunday, January 27th, in Santa Barbara, California.
Bob was born in 1925 in Nashua, New Hampshire. He and his family relocated to Indiana during his childhood after the decline of the family business, Flather Lathes.  Bob attended Phillip Exeter Academy in New Hampshire. He enrolled in the ROTC when he was in Princeton University and served as an enlisted man with the Marines.  As a Marine, Bob participated in the Pacific invasion of Okinawa in WWII. When he came home from his tour of duty, he enrolled in the electrical engineering master’s program at Stanford University.  After graduation, Bob worked at Hughes Aircraft until Yellowstone called.
Bob started his NPS career in the park in 1971 as a fire guard (today’s wildland fire crew) in the fire cache. He worked as an LE ranger at Old Faithful, starting in 1972.  Bob was on call and responded to the tragic death of Harry Walker in 1972 in the Old Faithful area. In the mid-70s Bob received a Lee Commission.  At that point he started a near ten year run as a backcountry patrol ranger in the Upper Lamar area until 1982.
Bob once said he would have “chucked it all” if he had known about backcountry work in Yellowstone 20 years earlier. His interest in backcountry management was legendary and he was determined to curb the illegal elk antler trade and its associated poaching and trafficking of wildlife parts. He could swear like the ex-Marine he was and hated the notion of resource thefts from national parks. He went to extraordinary effort and sacrifice to protect Yellowstone. He was directly and indirectly responsible for the apprehension and conviction of many resource violators.
Between seasons Bob returned to California for the winter. He pioneered surfing in southern California and, by his own account, was the first person to surf a 14 foot board there. He enjoyed returning to California each winter to surf and play beach volleyball.
In 1982, at age 57, Bob began his volunteer service in the Tower area of the park. He had a brief hiatus from volunteering when he worked in fee collection in the 1990s, but he soon returned to volunteering, this time in the Yellowstone Fire Cache. He helped to pinpoint the locations of several culturally significant backcountry cabins where the cache could focus their efforts in the case of a wildland fire.
Bob’s HRC volunteer career began in 2003 and he came back every summer through 2012. Notable projects with the HRC staff were identifying people and places in the museum’s photo collection, specifically a set of subject specific albums begun as a CCC project and carried through the 50s, and identifying the Bannock Indian Trail. 
Bob’s steel-trap memory and accuracy with dates made him invaluable to staff as well as the many researchers he helped. He will be sorely missed.

Yes, let's cut the National Parks! That will fix everything!

Looming sequestration threatens national parks budget

http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/looming-sequestration-threatens-national-parks-budget/article_1ea87315-2906-5e92-93d0-45c7cbc3c546.html

The lunacy continues...

http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/judge-lets-wolf-season-resume-near-yellowstone/article_7ad60c84-3900-572c-9be8-20fdc7810153.html


Judge lets wolf season resume near Yellowstone

Wolf hunting and trapping can resume near Yellowstone National Park after a Montana judge on Wednesday blocked the state from shutting down the practice over concerns that too many animals used in research were being killed.

The restraining order from Judge Nels Swandal allows hunting and trapping to resume in areas east and west of the town of Gardiner in Park County.

State officials closed the gray wolf season in those areas on Dec. 10. That came after several wolves collared for scientific research were killed, drawing complaints from wildlife advocates.

The move prompted a lawsuit from sporting groups and a state lawmaker from Park County, Rep. Alan Redfield, who said the public was not given enough chance to weigh in on the closures.

In his order, Swandal sided with the plaintiffs. He said the lack of public notice appeared to violate the Montana Constitution and threatened to deprive the public of the legal right to harvest wolves.

He ordered the state "to immediately reinstitute and allow hunting and trapping of wolves in all areas of Park County."

A Jan. 14 hearing was scheduled in the case. The other plaintiffs are Citizens for Balanced Use, Big Game Forever, Montana Outfitters and Guides Association and Montana Sportsman for Fish and Wildlife.

A spokesman for the state, Ron Aasheim, said Montana wildlife commissioners followed proper public notice requirements before issuing the closures.

Wildlife advocate Marc Cooke said the lawsuit over the 60-square-mile closure area revealed the "irrational hatred" of some hunting and trapping supporters.

"You have 145,000 square miles in Montana, and they're fighting over a measly 60 square miles of land that is critical habitat for these animals. To me, it's very vindictive," he said.

Montana had an estimated 650 wolves at the end of 2011. Through Wednesday hunters reported killing 103 of the animals and trappers had killed at least 30 more.

State officials lifted quotas on wolves across most of Montana this spring in hopes of decreasing a predator population blamed for livestock attacks and driving down elk numbers in some areas.

But park officials said at least seven Yellowstone wolves — including five wearing tracking collars — were shot by hunters in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. Also shot were four collared wolves originally from the park but now living outside it. Three more shot in the vicinity of the park had unknown origins and were not wearing collars, park officials said.

The current season marks Montana's first experience with wolf trapping since the animals lost their endangered species protections last year under an order from Congress.

Wolf hunting has also been contentious in Wyoming this season. The state took over wolf management from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Oct. 1, and hunters killed 43 wolves out of a 52-animal quota before Wyoming's hunt ended Dec. 31.

Coalitions of environmental groups have filed federal lawsuits, now pending in Washington, D.C., and Denver, seeking to force the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to reclaim wolf management from Wyoming.

The groups say they're concerned that Wyoming's wolf management plan won't ensure long term survival of the species, which the federal government reintroduced into Yellowstone in the mid-1990s.

Wolves in Wyoming are classified as unprotected predators that may be shot on sight in most of the state. They're managed as trophy game animals in a flexible trophy hunting zone on the outskirts of Yellowstone.

Idaho also allows hunting and trapping of wolves, although it allows a maximum of 30 animals a year to be taken in a zone just outside Yellowstone. Through Wednesday, hunters and trappers in Idaho reported killing 154 wolves statewide, including 11 near Yellowstone.



Read more: http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/judge-lets-wolf-season-resume-near-yellowstone/article_7ad60c84-3900-572c-9be8-20fdc7810153.html#ixzz2GvoOtgDG

Saying goodbye to a faithful satellite

Colleagues, Landsat stakeholders,

On December 19, 2012, USGS Director McNutt authorized the decommissioning of the Landsat 5 mission. Decommission procedures will begin in January 2013. 

This is the end of an era for a remarkable satellite.  We can celebrate the impressive achievements of all those who designed, built, launched, and operated this now 28-year old satellite as well as all who downloaded, archived, distributed, and analyzed the massive amount of data derived from it.

Landsat 5 had been expected to operate beyond the launch of the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (Landsat 8) satellite in February 2013.  However, the recent failure of a Landsat 5 gyroscope introduced additional risk to ongoing operations.  If either of two remaining gyroscopes fails, control of Landsat 5 would be lost and the spacecraft would have to be abandoned, posing a risk to other Earth-observing satellites in the same orbital path (including the upcoming Landsat 8).

The USGS reviewed all options for continued Landsat 5 operations and concluded that decommissioning procedures should begin next month.  This is the earliest feasible opportunity to lower the spacecraft below the 705 km Landsat 8 orbit track.  The USGS also considered the science value of the data currently being collected by Landsat 5.  Given the diminished quality of the data since the satellite’s Thematic Mapper went offline in November 2011, the USGS concluded that continuing Landsat 5 imaging operations is less important than removing Landsat 5 from Landsat 8’s orbit track.

The USGS EROS Flight Operations Team will work closely with NASA personnel throughout a series of orbital maneuvers designed to gradually lower the spacecraft safely relative to other satellites and known space debris starting in mid-January 2013.  Applicable procedures and policies will be followed to limit the generation of space debris from this mission. 

  

By any measure, the Landsat 5 mission has been a remarkable success.  After meeting its 3-year design life in 1987, the satellite continued to provide high-quality land surface imagery for another 25+ years.

Press release: http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=3485

IKEA Hackers

I love IKEA (well, I love all things Swedish, but that's for another time)
And I absolutely LOVE making cool bits and pieces.

http://www.ikeahackers.net/

Making IKEA furniture even more interesting.

kewl

On Wolves

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyCZqkX-f_8

Uploaded by PBS on Nov 19, 2008

See the full episode at http://video.pbs.org/video/1069630535
In this Web-exclusive video, wolf expert Doug Smith discusses the Yellowstone Wolf Project. Started in 1994, the Wolf Project has taken advantage of the visibility of Yellowstone's wolves to explore wolf population dynamics. Of particular interest is how wolves interact with prey and scavenger populations in the park. Smith hopes that Wolf Project research can help replace common misconceptions about wolves with factual information.

"The Wolf That Changed America" aired on PBS Sunday, October 10, 2010 at 8pm as part of the 29th season of the Peabody and Emmy award-winning series produced by Thirteen in association with WNET.ORG for PBS. Major support provided by Canon U.S.A. Inc.http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/the-wolf-that-changed-america/introdu...

The Wind Map

It's an art project.
And one of the coolest maps ever.
http://hint.fm/wind/

Paramedic School - Overview

So it's taken me this long to get it straight in my own head, and read through all the documentation associated with our courses.  Ten months of courses, followed by clinical/field.

                                                                                                UNIVERSITY

                                                                        CLASS           CREDIT

COURSE                                                       HOURS          HOURS

A&P for Paramedic Practice                64                    3

Introduction to Advanced Practice                64                    3

Emergency Pharmacology                            40                    2

Patient Assessment & Airway Mgmt            64                    3

Cardiology                                                      112                  4

EMS Operations                                             64                    3

Trauma Management                                     64                    3

Medical Emergencies                                    66                    3

Special Populations                                       64                    3

Assessment Based Management                48                    2

Clinical – I                                                       250                  2

Clinical -II (Field Internship)                           250                  2

1150                33

The A&P class is taken "on the side" throughout the rest of the courses.  Ideally, we should use it should follow along with what we are doing in regular class.  Meaning that we should be ahead on the A&P reading (I am as yet, not ahead in this reading).  Speaking with one of the advisors, he said that in the past some people have left it for last.  We cannot start clinicals until it's done, so they seriously crammed at the last minute.  I get tachycardic just thinking about that (and getting through the rest of class will be much easier if A&P is done).

With classes on Tuesday and Thursday, I really cannot think about doing any “extra” reading between Monday and Thursday, so I guess A&P will live on the weekends.  I’m attempting to be a better student – actually setting up a schedule for studying – but that’s a constant struggle for me with my ADD/procrastination learning style.  I usually end up reading and doing quizzes on my breaks at work.

So, what does “Introduction to Advanced Practice” entail?  So glad you asked.  My life looks like this:

Class                Topic(s)

1                      Orientation and Course Overview

2                      Being a Paramedic

3                      Illness and Injury Prevention

4                      Legal Issues and Ethics

5                      Life Span Development

6                      Pathophysiology 1 (Cells and Tissues, Role of Electrolytes, Acid-Base Balance)

7                      Pathophysiology 2 (Genetics, Hypoperfusion, Types of Shock)

8                      Pathophysiology 3 (Immune System, Inflammation, Stress and Disease)

That’s a ton of work.  And about 300 dense pages of reading.  In four weeks.

I can totally do this.

Woman lives by the bible for a year...

http://rachelheldevans.com/

I will reserve any of my heathenish comments 'till I read the whole thing.

What have I gone and done? (or Paramedic class 1)

I'm a fairly busy person.  Work close to full time.  Master's degree seeking. Volunteer for EMS in local town.  Volunteer for gov. doing EMS administrative stuff.  EMT on call.

So why not add paramedic school to the mix?

I found a hybrid class - online "live" classes with a skills component where I will be flying to Massachusetts for skills training next year.

We had our first class on Thursday and I had my first (of what will likely be many) OMG-what-have-I-done? moments.

Well, maybe not my first.  The first came when I signed the loan papers for the class.  I will be paying this one off for 3 years.

Couldn't find a microphone with a mute button.  Running around like a headless chicken for 30 minutes on that one.  Got logged into the class web site.  Over 40 people signed in.  It's hard to tell the actual number since several people were logged in multiple times.

40, though.  That's a lot of students.

I thought back to some other courses I've heard about - 50% or more don't finish.  Yikes.  I have to make it.  I cannot fail this.

Some people were overly chatty - there's microphones, sure, but also a chat pane.  This isn't twitter for chrissake!  Some people would just not shut up.  Having conversations while our instructor was talking, blah, blah, blah.

We went through the basics - introductions of the instructors, what is expected, how to access the online quizzes, assignments, and tests.  The only pure moment of silence came when someone asked how much time outside of class would be needed to study.  Brad (owner/instructor) pondered this for a minute and said, "probably 15 hours."  SILENCE.  It's about what I figured, but most people probably have been out of student mode so long they really didn't put much thought into it.  Yep, folks.  2+ hours for every class hour.

I had forgotten the beginning of EMT class - it's all about EMS operations, ethics, and legal issues.  Paramedic is no different.  Not the most exciting stuff, but worthwhile.  I've got to get back at it!

Here I go...

So I'm visiting my relatives in the southwestern US, enjoying the sun and 90+ degree heat while we get a sifting of snow back home.  It's been a long time since I've been on what could be termed a vacation.  Most of my "vacations" consist of driving to a relative's house to get some sort of work done.  Moving.  House painting.  Bathroom remodeling.  This one was really no exception.

Grandpa is not doing well.  Dad needed help driving a truck and trailer south.  Vacation it is.

Three days on the road with pops.  Stop at grandpa's house in UT to get it set up for the winter.  Got to visit with my grandpa for a bit.  Unloading the truck and trailer.  Opening the 'rents house for the winter.

Today is my day.  I have done nothing but sleep in, eat, play in the pool, play on the computer.

Back to work and reality tomorrow -- a ridiculously hectic week assisting with a conference.  It will be 16+ hour days and little sleep.  Paramedic school starts on Thursday.

But today is mine.

Achievements of the day:

Made it through a 4-hour meeting of dubious value

Put out traps to kill bees collect pollinator specimens

Wooted a new mouse for my work computer, 'cause we have no money in the budget for such things

Continuing a 4-hour online defensive driving course (day 2)

Ha! I'm awesome!

Sad news

I had to have Mr. Bean put to sleep. He was diagnosed with "Fear-induced territorial aggression" which basically means he would attack people who entered his territory. After weeks of training and medication, it was determined that his behavior would only escalate. It would not get better. I couldn't let him live in constant fear, and his behavior had a detrimental effect on my friends and co-workers. If you had the unfortunate luck to see him in his bad phase, I am extremely sorry. He really was a kind dog. He suffered trauma before I adopted him and unfortunately moving him from owner to owner probably made his condition worse. I've had to put two friends to sleep this summer, and it's been the hardest thing I've ever had to do. I'm going off to cry somewhere for a while, so bear with me.

Time Lapse of Pine Creek Fire

http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-835513

Monday

(This is not taking into account the 4 other medicals in northern Yellowstone, and the fact we are down 2 ambulances...) Monday Incidents Keep Yellowstone First Responders Busy Yellowstone National Park rangers spent the day Monday responding to numerous incidents, including several involving significant injuries to visitors. Carl Dullmaier, 56, of Gernsheim, Germany, sustained a head injury when he was thrown from a horse near Tower Junction. He later died from his injuries after being lifeflighted to a Billings, Montana, hospital. A 37-year-old man from Provo, Utah, suffered thermal burns on the Solitary Geyser Trail in the Upper Geyser Basin. He was transported by ambulance to West Yellowstone, Montana, and from there by fixed-wing aircraft to the Salt Lake City, Utah, Burn Center. A 65-year-old male British national from Bangkok, Thailand, suffered injuries when he was thrown into the air by a bull bison at Mammoth Hot Springs. He was transported to Memorial Hospital in Livingston, Montana. Visitors are reminded to stay on boardwalks and designated trails while viewing all thermal features in the park. Scalding water underlies thin, breakable crusts; many geyser eruptions are unpredictable, and thermal features are near or above boiling temperatures. Park visitors are also reminded that intentionally approaching or disturbing animals is dangerous and a violation of park regulations. Park rules require that you stay at least 100 yards away from bears and wolves at all times, and at least 25 yards away from all other animals including elk and bison. Yellowstone officials respond to an average of 700 emergency medical calls each year.