“Plug the damn hole.”

Really, Obama? That’s your solution?

I suppose now that you’ve angrily chastised BP, they’ll magically find a way that works, because that’s what it really takes – a presidential missive to “plug the damn hole.”

Brilliant.

“If you could control an oil spill with lawyers and regulation-writers, and by signing papers and obtaining court injunctions . . . then maybe the U.S. government could do something,” said Byron W. King, an energy analyst at Agora Financial. “But really, Uncle Sam has almost no institutional ability to control the oil spill. For that, you need people with technical authority, technical skill and firms with industrial capabilities.”

Now that makes more sense. Yelling at people isn’t how you solve problems.

If the federal government thinks they can solve it, why don’t they just do so instead of complaining about how BP is handling things? Oh, that’s right, they don’t have a better solution, they just want to shout from the sidelines.

Seriously. This is how it works when you build with Lego.

Sorry if anyone had links to my old bblog installation. That software was too limited. WordPress is much, much nicer. Though for the amount of blogging I do, it’s probably super-mega overkill.

Oh well.

I have a 1998 Chevy Tahoe. It’s been a great truck. I bought it with around 90k miles, and it now has around 134k miles. I’ve driven it to Alaska, Minnesota, Colorado and other distant places. I love how capable it is off-road, while still being somewhat “luxurious” with its heated leather seats and cushy suspension.

However, there are times when I want to set the thing on fire and roll it off a cliff. Specifically, there have been two times.

The first time was in International Falls, MN, two summers ago. I was starting my journey home from a vacation, when the truck decided not to start. At first, I thought maybe the gas gauge had gone bad and I had foolishly run out of fuel. I got help from a kind stranger, who went to a gas station on his motorcycle and got me fuel and some Sea Foam to clean any residue from the bottom of the tank, if it was in fact a no-fuel situation.

No dice. The truck simply refused to start. So I called my roadside assistance program and they dragged the truck back to the Waschke Family GM Center in International Falls, MN. By this time it was late in the day and the service department was closed.

The next day, they diagnosed the problem as being rooted in the Passlock II system. This system is designed (ha) to prevent vehicle theft by making the ignition lock cylinder electronically tamper-proof. If you try to start the vehicle with a key it does not recognize, it will shut down the fuel injectors and disallow the vehicle to run. When this happens it is called “long tamper” mode.

The technicians at the GM shop ordered the parts from Minneapolis, which took a day and a half to arrive, and installed them the day after. The truck worked again, but had cost me around $500 in repairs, not to mention 2 additional unplanned nights in a hotel while waiting for the vehicle to be fixed. The total extra cost caused by this incident was probably close to $800.

Fast-forward to October 30, 2009. I am about to leave the grocery store, when the truck decides not to start again. This time, I recognize the tell-tale symptom, the dreaded flashing “Security” indicator on the dashboard.

!~)@(#&%$()!@#

!@)$*(&%!)*(@&#$)(!~@#$

!@#)*$&!)@#&%$)!@&#$)!&@#$&

I try the “10 minute relearn procedure” that the technicians at Waschke taught me, but to no avail. The truck stubbornly refuses to start even after several attempts. I give up and call my roadside assistance program again. They agree to tow my vehicle to my house, as I will be repairing it myself.

Tonight, I re-tried the 10 minute relearn procedure a few times, and finally, magically, wondrously, got the truck to start up. I also now have at my disposal some knowledge of this ridiculous system and how it works. I also know how to fool it into thinking it has failed so that it will never bother me again.

I have already torn apart the steering column so that the passlock wires are exposed. Once the truck is running, I cut the little yellow wire. As expected, the Security light on the instrument cluster comes on. The truck does not stop running.

I pause for a bit, thinking, “Maybe I should just leave the truck running and lock the door. I bet they make gasoline IV bags. I could just keep it out here running all the time, so I never have to worry about whether it will start.” I decide this is absurd, and it is time to test this “fix” I have done.

Slowly I turn off the truck, and am rewarded with silence. After a moment of silent prayer to the Dei Vehicularum, I turn the key and the engine roars to life.

Now I have a piece of black electrical tape in place to cloak the annoying Security malfunction indicator. I also have on order a bypass module which should cleanly make this whole situation go away forever. But for now, the truck is working and I am happy.

And to whomever was involved in the design and implementation of Passlock II: You may go straight to Hell. Your invention sucks and you are a moron. If I ever meet you in person, you will regret it forever.

When the Magellan Triton 2000 GPS came out, I was in the market for a new GPS unit, as my Garmin eTrex Vista had been stolen.

I was immediately frustrated with the lack of a useful base map on the unit, and with the cruddy TOPO Explorer software they provided. After some months National Geographic finally updated the software and made it usable. I downloaded some maps from their online map store, and though that was pretty cool. In fact, I was very impressed with the ability to get hybrid maps that included sattelite imagery as well. I used these on my recent trip to Colorado’s Flat Top Mountains.

What has vexed me with this device, as with so many other GPS units, is the inability to add custom maps that don’t come from Magellan, Garmin, National Geographic or some other costly source.

I recently became interested in trying it again, and found some tools which, when put together, provide a free, if technically cumbersome, way to put custom raster maps onto your Triton.

The first step is to get some digital map/chart content. Fortunately NOAA gives us that for free. You can download “BSB” files from them, which contain a combination of textual data and imagery, for use in a GIS. GIS, or Geographic Information System, is a piece of software that interacts with map and other data.

Once you select the area you are interested in, and download the charts you want, you can unzip them on your computer. Once unzipped, you will see a BSB_ROOT folder, which contains a numbered folder that corresponds to the number of the NOAA chart. In that numbered folder will be a .BSB file and one or more .KAP files. Each .KAP file contains a map image that we want to extract to a TIFF.

BSB files are a proprietery format, so it takes some doing to crack them open and get at their content. Fortunately, some people have already reverse-engineered the BSB/KAP format. You can download a set of BSB tools to convert the BSB files to TIFF format so they can be manipulated in normal image editor programs.

Run the following commandline to convert your KAP files to TIFF.
bsb2tif {input filename}.kap {output filename}.tif

You will then have high-resolution TIFF tiles which you can view in normal image tools.

The final step is to convert these TIFF files into a usable format for your GPS unit.

Once again, someone comes to the rescue with a very good free tool to generate the RMP (Raster MaP) files, which are Magellan’s proprietary format for raster maps. A raster map is simply a raster image (bmp, jpg, gif, etc) which has been calibrated to fit a given coordinate system. Triton Raster Map Maker is a tool that will generate RMP files.

At this point, you have already downloaded your NOAA charts, extracted the KAP files from the zip and converted the KAP files to TIFF. The next step is to import a KAP file into TritonRMP.

TritonRMP allows you to select spots on the map as reference points, which correspond to LAT/LON coordinates. Fortunately, the NOAA charts all have LAT/LON lines on them, so finding spots to use for calibration is easy.

After you have done the calibration, click on Generate RMP. You can name the file anything you like, as long as it is a valid Windows filename.

Copy the RMP file to the SD card you use in your Triton, in the MAP_DATA folder. When you re-insert the SD card, go to the Menu -> View -> Maps option, and select the named map you have added.

Sometimes, the maps won’t work correctly. I don’t know why. I have experimented with resizing the maps to a lower resolution, which seems to help. Unfortunately this process can take some trial and error, but it’s worth it to be able to put any kind of raster map you want on your GPS.

I extend a sincere thank-you to all of the people who developed the wonderful free tools that allow us to take full advantage of the Triton 2000 GPS’s raster map capability.

And as always, when navigating, remember that GPS is fallible, and should always be a back-up to your primary form of navigation. NOAA also states that the electronic charts are for reference only, not for navigation.

Happy trails!

I’m 34. Go me.

Not fun.

I decided to replace the faucet on my bathroom sink tonight. The old faucet was too short, too close to the back edge of the sink, and had some other design defects which have annoyed me for 2 years now. I was at Ikea tonight on other errands, and finally realized that the best place to find a faucet to fit my Ikea sink was at Ikea, not LowesDepot.

This is my old faucet, from Price Pfister.
[img]http://www.pricepfister.com/website/documents/Products/PRD_11rod_15664_42-h5fk-large.jpg[/img]

It does not extend high enough, or far forward enough. Worse yet, the way the head is designed, if I want less than FULL flow, it likes to make a big “bubble” of water instead of a nice stream. All that aside, I’m not really a fan of single control faucets.

I went with the Enskar:
[img]http://www.ikea.com/PIAimages/55497_PE160605_S4.jpg[/img]

It’s going on this Hollviken sink:
[img]http://www.ikea.com/PIAimages/27691_PE098055_S4.jpg[/img]

Which lives on this cabinet:
[img]http://www.ikea.com/PIAimages/23878_PE108603_S4.jpg[/img]

It’s all very nice. At least, I like it.

But what I discovered is that the stupid flex hose supply lines I have under there don’t fit the new faucet.

[b]&)(Q!@$&%()!$%[/b]

And of course, there’s nothing in the wordless pictogram instructions that Ikea gives you, that says anything about the size of the fittings. All I have to go on are the straight pipes they supplied, so I’m going to have to take those with me to my local (read: expensive) hardware store and get the right parts.

It never fails. I start into a project, and halfway through it I discover some stupid thing that prevents me from finishing it when I have both the time and inclination all gathered together in the same place. So now my bathroom is a shambles, I have no faucet at all, and I will have to rush around tomorrow to get the parts I need.

On Saturday I received these while hiking at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary.

[img]http://www.livingwaters.com/Merchant2/graphics/00000002/tuit.jpg[/img]

On the back, it said:

[quote]You have pacified your conscience by saying that you would find peace with God one day . . . when you get a round Tuit. Well, now you have one. This is why you shouldn’t wait any longer: If you have told one lie, you are a liar. If you have stolen anything (irrespective of value), you are a thief. If you have looked with lust, you have committed adultery in your heart. If you hate someone, you’ve committed murder in your heart. Your sin has angered God. The Bible teaches that you are His enemy. On Judgment Day, you will end up in Hell. But there’s good news: “God commended His love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.” Jesus Christ took your punishment, then He rose from the dead and defeated the grave. If you repent and trust Him, God will grant you everlasting life. Read your Bible daily and obey it. God will never let you down.[/quote]

[img]http://www.livingwaters.com/Merchant2/graphics/00000002/new_smart_card.jpg[/img]

The front of the card says:
[quote]Place your thumb firmly on the box for 15 seconds. If you are a “good” person, it will turn a bright green. Note: it must be for exactly 15 seconds.[/quote]

The backs reads:
[quote]Sorry . . . you’re just like the rest of us. The dictionary says “good” is to be “morally excellent.” Let’s check the standard–the Ten Commandments, to see how far we fall short: Is God first in your life? Do you love Him with “heart, mind, soul and strength?” Have you made a god to suit yourself? Have you used God’s name in vain? Have you kept the Sabbath holy? Have you always honored your parents? Have you hated anyone, and therefore committed murder in your heart? Have you looked with lust and therefore committed adultery in your heart? Have you lied (including “fibs”), stolen (the value is irrelevant), or coveted other people’s possessions? If you are honest, you know you will be guilty on the Day of Judgment. God, however, doesn’t want to send you to Hell. Jesus Christ suffered and died on the Cross in your place, so you could go free. That’s how much God loves you. We broke God’s Law, but Jesus paid our fine. Then He rose from the grave and defeated death. If you repent and trust in Him, God will forgive your sins and grant you everlasting life. Obey the gospel today. Read your Bible daily and obey what you read, God will never let you down.[/quote]

After doing some reading, I discovered that these two items are products made and marketed by [url=http://www.livingwaters.com]www.livingwaters.com[/url] which appears to be a Christian ministry based in Australia. I found it amusing that even the producers of these “fine” products acknowledge that tract recipients are often displeased. They go so far as to remark on the “excellent getaway time” of various tracts.

Personally, I have nothing against religion. Organized religion isn’t something in which I participate, but I have my own set of spiritual beliefs. I don’t appreciate religious folk who set about to push their belief system on other people [i]who haven’t asked them to[/i].

That last bit is key. If I want help or advice from a religious person, it seems appropriate that they could share their beliefs in that context. But to foist your beliefs on strangers unsolicited is extremely rude.

Why??? Seriously, why do people think it’s ok to go around stuffing their religion in other people’s hands?