A fews days ago I posted a statement that gun type should be restricted and purposeful. Matt Caron has kindly give me (and y'all) a primer on hunting and weapons used. Very helpful to understand an issue that is so often debated in the absence of facts. Please do take the time to read his comments.
Update: Matt has posted an updated version of his comments to his own blog at A primer on what constitutes "common" firearms in various market segments.
I spoke with Terry Murphy of the South Kingstown's municipal Parks and Recreation department today for an update on the disc golf course at the Curtis Corner athletic fields. DEM has advised them that the island should not have been used for a course hole nor should it have been bridged. The course hole has been removed. The bridged will be removed within a few days. The DEM said that the Town should just let the island return naturally to its previous state. And I hope the ducks return.
The DEM and Town are also reviewing other disc golf hole locations around the pond that would be in violation if built.
Terry also said that the Town is will not be continuing to clear the understory of the course. The design of the course calls for narrow paths connecting the holes. So, like the island, the understory will be left to grow back and for the needed paths between the holes to be shaped and preserved with normal course use.
I was making a 3' × 4' board for our Saga game next month and I wanted most of it to be dirt terrain. So I searched for what people use for "dirt." Well, it turns out people do not seem to use actual dirt. Really!? Well, being a rebel, I choose to. I dug up some clay from the yard, baked it for an hour at 450 F so as to dry it and kill the bacteria, and then sieved it on to the board coated with near full strength wood glue. It worked out well. (I then sort of ruined it with coats of clear acrylic unevenly applied. Damn.) So, my question is, why don't people use actual dirt for dirt terrain?
It was good to see so many parents at last night's School Committee meeting. Most were there to address the changes to the home schooling policy or in support of the dual language immersion program. Unusually, the chair (Maureen Cotter) asked that the parents addressing the policy change speak during that period of the agenda. I was not able to stay for that discussion: I really hope that all the parents were allowed to speak as as long as they needed.
The earlier part of the meeting was a first reading of the district's 2015-2020 strategic plan [1]. It is interesting to compare this plan with the 2010-2015 plan [2]. There no cohesion between the two. It is as if they were prepared for two different school districts.
During public comments I did ask for context to be added to the plan: What were the 2010-2015 goals achieved and goals unachieved? What are directions are we continuing in and what directions are we changing? I was heartened to hear Scott Mueller and Jonathan Daly-LaBelle reiterate this need. I was less hearted to hear Superintendent Stringfellow's defensiveness that this had already been covered in their retreats. She may have been speaking but clearly there was little communication. I have asked for the records from the July 21 retreat.
The draft strategic plan is a document for discussion, but its form does not aid that. I always find it bothersome when presented with a document for discussion that's content is not referenceable. Mr Mueller, nor any other Committee member, should have to fumble around to orient others to a specific part of the document. In a followup letter I noted that numbering lines or paragraphs is a feature of Microsoft Word and Microsoft Word is part of the $21,422.40 licensing fees authorized at the same meeting. Sigh.
[1] http://www.boarddocs.com/ri/soki/Board.nsf/files/A3ZRDX5D71B3/$file/StrategicPlanDraftNov2015.pdf
[2] http://www.skschools.net/Documents/SKSD%20Strategic%20Plan10-15.pdf
#!/bin/bash
date1=$(date -v -180d +'%Y-%m-%d')
date2=$(date -v -1d +'%Y-%m-%d')
svn='svn+ssh://.../branches'
svn log --revision {$date1}:{$date2} $svn | perl -e '
my %D = (); # dates
my %U = (); # users
while( <> ) {
if ( /\| (.*?) \| (\d\d\d\d-\d\d-\d\d) / ) {
my $u = $1;
my $d = $2;
$D{$d} ||= {};
$D{$d}->{$u} += 1;
$U{$u} = 1;
}
}
my @d = sort keys %D;
my ( $l ) = reverse sort map { length($_); } @d; # max length
for my $u ( sort keys %U ) {
printf( "%*s %s | ", -$l, $u, $d[0] );
for my $d ( @d ) {
print $D{$d}->{$u} ? "*" : "-";
}
printf( " | %s\n", $d[$#d] );
}
'
# END
Update: A failing of this script is that it only shows days with activity. Days without activity by any developer will be missing from the timeline. I replaced this script with this one#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;
use DateTime;
my $svn_url='svn+ssh://.../branches';
my $stop = DateTime->today();
my $start = $stop->clone()->subtract( days => shift @ARGV || 90 );
my %W = (); # week days
my %D = (); # dates
my %U = (); # users
# initialize the dates and the weekdays hashs with days between the start and stop dates
for ( my $next = $start->clone(); $next->compare($stop) <= 0; $next->add( days => 1) ) {
my $F = $next->strftime('%Y-%m-%d');
$D{$F} = {};
$W{$F} = $next->day_of_week();
}
# collect the svn usage data
if ( open( IN, "svn log --revision \{$start\}:\{$stop\} $svn_url |" ) ) {
while( <IN> ) {
if ( /\| (.*?) \| (\d\d\d\d-\d\d-\d\d) / ) {
my $u = $1;
my $d = $2;
if ( defined $D{$d} ) {
$D{$d}->{$u} += 1;
$U{$u} = 1;
}
}
}
close(IN);
}
my @d = sort keys %D;
my ( $l ) = reverse sort { $a <=> $b } map { length($_); } keys %U; # max user length
# output the chart
for my $u ( sort keys %U ) {
printf( "%*s %s | ", -$l, $u, $d[0] );
for my $d ( @d ) {
print $D{$d}->{$u} ? "*" : "-";
}
printf( " | %s\n", $d[$#d] );
}
# output the line of mondays
printf( "%*s %*s | ", -$l, "", length($d[0]), "" );
for my $d ( @d ) {
print $W{$d} == 1 ? "M" : " ";
}
printf( " |\n" );
# END
perl -e '$mx = $_ > $mx ? $_ : $mx for ( 1, 6, 2, 3, 5, 4 ); print "$mx\n"'
Early morning interesting readings:
Tim's response to my question as to whether I should tear my hair out at home or at tonight's School Committee meeting:
Challenge them on their policy regarding reptilians and shape shifters vis a vis chemtrails.
A colleague sent me this article written by the creative director of the New York Times Lab
THE FUTURE OF NEWS IS NOT AN ARTICLE
http://nytlabs.com/blog/2015/10/20/particles/
What a load of crap. I can't believe that this creative director can be as uninformed as this article makes him sound. I am sure he has read lots about hypertext and other forms of prose or code reuse, so something else must be going on.
The role of a good journalist is to be able to create a new, coherent explanation of an event or circumstances as facts are continued to be found and updated. As a reader I am greatly appreciative of this story telling. Of having the news story structure and the facts in context of time and place. This is a skill that takes lots of practice. And it makes journalists expensive. "They" need cheaper workers. Since this is a people problem let's solve the problem, once again, with software.
I am very hopeful that the combination of drones, 3D printing, and information processing will combine to make a less intrusive infrastructure for our needs. That is, if you don't need to the build a highway to get materials and workers to a site to build a facility -- dam, bridge, breakwater, broadcast tower, etc -- the overall impact can be less and, moreover, hidden from sight. The whole job can be done remotely. Core77 has some useful information/videos related to this this week. See 4 Drone Projects Change the Comtemporary Landscape.
The downside, of course, is that vandals can also use the same technology to break infrastructure. I am currently waiting for the first instance of skyscraper graffiti.
Update: I did not have to wait long! The Drone That Will Change Graffiti: An Interview with KATSU.
At the last minute I decided to attend today's Innovation Powered by Technology education conference presented by RIDE. What I came away with was 3 really important facts.
The first is that SK has been foolish to go about its 1:1 initiate without first drawing insight and action plans from the many successes and failures of other RI districts. West Warwick, for example, has 4,000 Chromebooks since 2013 and yet we are struggling with 500 Windows 7 laptops.
The second is that the RI school districts do not seem to actively cooperate with one another on anything. When I asked what model could be copied from another cooperation I was met with silence. I find this very odd and sad.
The third was an unexpected reassurance from, of all places, Providence's Village Green Virtual charter school. (Think kids in cubicles. But read on.) The 4 presenters gave a very clear description of the school's methodology and its successes and failures. What was reassuring was that even with all the technology available teaching works best one-on-one, in workshops, and in interdisciplinary school-wide projects.
Oh, and a fourth fact. Never expect 800 people gathered in a single, concrete floored room, and seated at 100 banquet tables to be able to hear the presenters. The RI convention center really is a poor facility.
Letter to the Town Council:
Where are the ducks?
I was distressed this morning to find that the Town has expanded the disc golf course at the Curtis Corner athletic fields around the small pond located between the tennis courts and the bike path. The peaceful walk in a small woods surrounding a pond with many its habitats is now gone. The island that once offered protection for several species of waterfowl is now vacant, having been cleared and bridged to hold a disc golf "target."
What once looked like
Now looks like
South Kingstown offers much in support of active recreation in the town. The "Parks & Recreation" department has quietly changed to just"Recreation." Not all recreation needs fields and equipment. Supporting a walk in the woods is a recreation and one that comes at almost no cost. This walk at Curtis Corner and the one at Old Mountain Field are the only 2 walks within the town. We are now down to 1.
I ask that you please reverse the expansion of disc golf course into the woods around the pond. (And not expand it further, elsewhere.) Remove the "targets." Remove the "tee boxes." Replant native underbrush. And leave it alone for a few years to recover.
Yours truly,
Andrew Gilmartin
I have never seen this painting trick before. The figure's eyes are painted as though they were bruised, ie they have "black eyes." This really look effective on Dark Age folks. Source
