Vitriolic Humor

I'm considering installing a Personal Weather Station with wireless sensors, but want to get feedback from anyone who has worked with or built their own interface into a commercial systems data for use with a Linux or other Unix-based operating system. I'd like to store the data in a database and massage the data as I please to analyze trends, MTD/YTD totals, etc. I want to present this information via the web, but I want to control the presentation completely.

Does anyone know of any commercially available weather station systems that can interface (via RS-232, USB, or any other supported method) to a box running Linux? So far I've run into a number of popular weather station vendors who insist that you use Windows only and can only access the data off your station via their closed-source software and are unwilling to provide any documentation or an open API to query data from the weather station (or data logger) you purchased from them.

This is the closed-minded, closed-source mentality at its worst. I simply want to access the data I've recorded with the device I purchased from the vendor. They seem more worried about protecting their proprietary interface than giving their customer the weather data off the device. What a mixed-up world. I'd reverse-engineer a solution and publish my finding here if we weren't sitting under the DMCA currently. (That and it seems obnoxious to have to reverse-engineer a $200+ toy just to make it meet your needs.)

If any weather station companies are developing such a solution, would like input into such development, or need someone to test an interface from a weather station to a Linux (or other Unix) platform, please feel free to get in touch with me.

Tags: closed source testing rain test personal weather station sensor reverse-engineer open source DCMA lawn interface sensors temperature history data linux reverse closedsource engineer barometric pressure development care reverse engineer opensource develop weather maintenance personal platform proprietary hygrometer station unix watering barometer humidity wireless software

Posted by speedeep at 12:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I am searching for more information on Mary M. Carmichael (1833-1848) who is interred in Pratt Cemetery in Prattville, Alabama. She posthumously made the local news headlines recently when her headstone was recently located by Tillie Jones being used as a ramp up the stairs at a private residence in Prattville. The last accounting for this headstone was in 1916 and no one realized it was gone until 1995. Her brother's headstone (Dougal Carmichael) remained in place in the cemetery.

This past Founder's Day, July 20th, 2006, the headstone was put back in the cemetery during the yearly graveside ceremonies. Of particular note, it is interesting that Mary and later her young brother Dougal Carmichael are both buried in Pratt Cemetery, which is a small cemetery located on a hill above downtown Prattville. Most of individuals interred in the cemetery were notable citizens of Prattville or business or family relations to the Pratt family. There doesn't seem to be much information on Mary M. Carmichael recorded publicly, so I thought I'd put this information and request online to see if it catches any family or genealogy researchers who might have more information. If anyone has any additional background or information I'd be happy to hear from you and record the information for history's ledger.

The headstone reads:

Two articles from the Prattville Progress:
Pre-ceremony
Post-ceremony

Tags: dougal research historical cemetery soundex headstone burial site montgomery burical mary m. carmichael south history alabama carmichael graveyard autauga carmichal al interment ancestry prattville genealogy society doogal mary carmichael c652 southern mary family

Posted by speedeep at 1:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Okay, so I've got all these fancy tools to write, link, and otherwise manage my blog postings. Great for me. How are all my readers supposed to keep up with my updates (or, more likely, all the updates to all the blogs they read?)

Unless you are already using a news reader/aggregator, somebody has already taken a couple steps ahead of you. When I publish a new blog entry (or post a new photo on Flickr, for example) the software managing the site updates a list of meta-data that it publishes. This is called usually done in a standard format called RSS (Really Simple Syndication) or ATOM. Both formats are XML, so if you really wanted to, you could look at the file and probably understand it. It simply provides a list of the last "n" number of changes to my blog (or site, photostream, podcast, etc.) This all sounds complicated, but remember, that part is automated.

Then, I publish my RSS feed (a link, for example the RSS feed for my blog is http://www.transmit.net/vh/atom.xml) somewhere where people can find it. If you take that URL (address) and put it into your favorite news reader/aggregator as a subscription, the news reader application will automatically track and collect changes on my blog and notify you of any changes I make to my syndicated content. Now multiply this across 10 or 50 websites and you start to see the power. Instead of loading each website and trying to determine what is new (10 or 50 times) you only see the updates. Once you start to exploit the RSS/ATOM data that is published out there, your web exploring will turn a corner.

There are all sorts of resources on the web that provide RSS feeds, from newspapers and blogs to photo sharing sites (Flickr) and new horizons in push marketing (Amazon and others.) The opportunity

I know, I know, what's a news reader/aggregator and where can I get one , right? The good news is that they are available in various flavors for just about any platform. There are client side news aggregators for all platforms and web-based aggregators to meet just about anyone's needs. Here are a few to get you started:

Non-technical description of RSS
Google Personalized Homepage (just paste a feed URL in under "Add Content")
BlogLines (web-based news aggregator/reader)
Mozilla Thunderbird (Windows/Mac OS/X/Linux e-mail and news client, free and open source)
Straw (Linux, free Gnome-based news aggregator)
SharpReader (Simple Windows news aggregator, requires .NET, donationware)
Net News Wire (Mac OS/X news aggregator)
Google Reader (Web-based news aggregator/reader))

If you find the list I provided doesn't provide enough variety, you can go loose yourself in the Wikipedia News Aggregator article.

Why aren't you using RSS?

reader news aggregator client web-based web content subscription rss atom xml rsd publication publish syndicate syndication howto guide content url feed blog photostream flickr web experience push pull browse browsing better manage feeds internet writing author tips blogging reading trends technology search discover firefox bloglines

Posted by speedeep at 2:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Syd Barrett (founder of Pink Floyd) died peacefully on Friday, July 7 at his home in Cambridgeshire at the age 60. His creativity was reigned only by his madness. A great creative spirit has moved on. Shine on you crazy diamond...

Links:
Wikipedia article on Syd Barrett
BoingBoing nod to Syd
NME
CNN
ABC

Tags: sid uk syd barrett music rock rick wright architectural mp3 history syd cambridgeshire the floyd roger waters floyd psychedelica brit pink david gilmour nick mason entertainment abdabs dave gilmour england psychedelic founder british death art progressive barrett memorium richard wright pink floyd flying atmospheric

Posted by speedeep at 2:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Photo Gallery >> 2006 Mayfly hatching on the Mississippi River

sm med lg sm med lg sm med lg sm med lg

Tags: ephemeroptera photography la crosse iowa exopterygota lacrosse aquatic hatching wisconsin life-cycle bug river mayflies insect swarm picture lacross east dubuque mississippi mississippi river midwest underwater mayfly insects illinois dubuque pictures

Posted by speedeep at 6:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)