Gneiss, Tuff, and a Little Wacke

Gneiss, Tuff, and a Little Wacke http://jimmetzger.net/ Welcome to JimMetzger.net en-US Copyright 2008 Wed, 27 Aug 2008 23:42:41 -0500 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification New Stream Feature - Day's Dispatches

I am still working on the way to get the audio to the server so bear with me. I hope to have it up sometime over the Labor Day Holiday weekend. Please leave comments and suggestions!
]]> http://jimmetzger.net/2008/08/new-stream-feature-days-dispat.html http://jimmetzger.net/2008/08/new-stream-feature-days-dispat.html Fire Service Scanner Stream fire service first responders Wed, 27 Aug 2008 23:42:41 -0500 Bring On November!

]]> http://jimmetzger.net/2008/08/bring-on-november.html http://jimmetzger.net/2008/08/bring-on-november.html Politics biden obama politics victory Sat, 23 Aug 2008 10:33:15 -0500 Stream Changes - New Frequencies Added scanner stream. The most evident one is Berks County and Reading, PA fire/EMS dispatch.With the new scanner on the stream, a Bearcat BCT15, sensitivity is greatly improved. I am working on a new antenna system that will hopefully also add Delaware County fire/EMS, as well as Montgomery County.

I am also using a new piece of software to control this scanner called bcTool. I am considering capturing dispatch and large fire/EMS event audio which you can then download from the web site for offline listening. bcTool is also working on an audio server component which I may be testing in the future, which will allow control of the scanner from the web as well.

Stay tuned and stay safe!
]]> http://jimmetzger.net/2008/08/stream-changes-new-frequencies.html http://jimmetzger.net/2008/08/stream-changes-new-frequencies.html Fire Service Scanner Stream fire service first responders stream Fri, 22 Aug 2008 12:36:27 -0500 PlurkBuds Widget for MT4 My Plurkmates. You will see the early version of my PlurkBuds widget for Movable Type 4.

At the moment, a cron-driven process, written in perl, creates the included module once every 30 minutes. I still have to manually rebuild the pages. The next version will pull the data on the fly. I am still fussing with format and other stuff. Click the picture and be transported to that person's timeline on Plurk.

More about it and future plans soon!
]]> http://jimmetzger.net/2008/08/plurkbuds-widget-for-mt4.html http://jimmetzger.net/2008/08/plurkbuds-widget-for-mt4.html Blog Vanity Geeky Stuff Social 2.0 movable type plugins plurk social networking Tue, 19 Aug 2008 20:28:21 -0500 Sink the Swift Boaters

With the latest piece of crap to come out about Barack Obama, the response from the campaign was even faster than the Swift Boats used during the Vietnam Conflict.

Take a moment now to download and read the 41 page response to Jerome Corsi's work of lack of fact fiction.

Share this link with all those who consider Fox Noise as factual and responsible reporting.

Amazing, too... all of the information is cross-referenced with Obama's books as well as media resources, unlike Corsi's book which mostly refer to, you guessed it, Corsi.

]]> http://jimmetzger.net/2008/08/sink-the-swift-boaters.html http://jimmetzger.net/2008/08/sink-the-swift-boaters.html obama politics us presidential elections Fri, 15 Aug 2008 20:48:53 -0500 Plurk Plop?

]]> http://jimmetzger.net/2008/08/plurk-plop-1.html http://jimmetzger.net/2008/08/plurk-plop-1.html Humor Social 2.0 plurk social networking Fri, 15 Aug 2008 09:36:13 -0500 Jaws of Sight Plurk earlier today, discussing web pages that featured lists of Web 2.0 applications. There are a number of them, some on Web 2.0 apps in general, some on specific areas, like Social 2.0. One of the pages that was noted in the thread was Go2Web20.net, self-termed as the complete Web 2.0 sites directory. It has the standard Flash(y) display of acres of scrollable logos that can be clicked for a further description of the Web 2.0 application.

I digress for a moment (read: rant). I looked at the first several entries (in alpha sort order) and found at least one typographical or spelling error in all but one of the entries. If you want your web site to really rock, take a few extra seconds and re-read what you type (or cut/paste) and correct it. We now return to our regularly scheduled entry.

The first thing I noticed about this web site was that there was no other way to review the list of hundreds of web sites that the creators have collected other than through the Flash interface. You could narrow the list by keyword and search it, but you were still left to poking your way with your mouse. What happens if you don't use a mouse and prefer keyboard shortcuts? More importantly, what if you cannot use a mouse or ever see the Flash application? Let me explain...

Editor's note: apologies in advance if I do not use the currently politically correct terminology for the ability differences described from here forward. In our ever-changing use of language, I may have missed a bulletin.

During my career in IT, I had the great fortune of working with a number of programmers and designers who had problems with vision, hearing, and motor functions. I was always amazed at how they adapted to a wide range of barriers that the world has placed into their path. Back in the early days of computing, programming required the three P's: pencil, paper (coding forms), and punchcard. Quite a challenge for a blind or quadriplegic programmer.

When we moved to more modern technology with terminals and, eventually, PC-based workstations, the challenge was still there, but the solutions were at least possible. One of the first was from Maryland Computer Systems (see some old articles via Google) that could read the screen and use a voice synthesizer to communicate to the blind user. The voice had a very monotone male characteristic, too, as if it came from a Class Z robot movie. The user could, however, adjust the rate at which the words were spoken. An adept user could get to a level of listening at several times the normal rate. Remember, in most cases, it was a string of characters, not words. Say the programmer was working in 360 Assembler - the load address instruction with a label, P100X001 LA R1,=A(JG00012), would come out as P ONE ZERO ZERO ZERO X ZERO ZERO ONE SPACE L A SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE etc. Additionally, keystrokes were read back, as well as positioning using cursor keys. This hardware attachment (yes, hardware) which cost in the thousands of dollars worked quite well on standard 80 x 24 (characters by lines) screens. Then came Windows...

With Windows, came such devices as the mouse, trackball, and expanded keyboards. The Maryland Talker could not handle much more that text and keyboards. The first product that I came in contact with was from a firm called Henter-Joyce, now Freedom Scientific. One of the founders, Ted Henter, learned to program after he lost his own vision in an auto accident. The company developed a product that eventually became known as Jaws for Windows. Our blind programmers found it to be a wonderful product embodying the company's slogan, empowering independence. It truly brought them to the technology level of their sighted peers. To experience what a screen reader sounds like, try this demonstration at WebAIM. Ironically, it uses Flash.

There are also adaptive technologies for those with limited or no motor function. We have all seen and heard Stephen Hawking. The most common product that we used was Dragon Dictate (now called Dragon Speaking Naturally) which can be used to not only type, but control a mouse using only your voice.

So, now that I have digressed through a bit of my history of assisting my programmers, what does this have to do with Web 2.0? It all has to do with accessibility. Web 2.0, actually most of the glitz in our world today, connected or not, is designed for the fastest, the slickest, the sexiest effect, something that will catch your eye or please your ears or fit in your palm. What if you can't see or hear or hold something?

According to the American Federation for the Blind, there are approximately 10 million in the US who are considered visually impaired (people who cannot see at all as well as those who have difficulty seeing with eyeglasses or contact lenses), 1.3 million who are legally blind. According to Gallaudet University, 9 to 22 persons out of every thousand have a severe hearing impairment or are deaf. Persons with motor impairments can be due to physical injury to or diseases that affect the muscular or nervous systems.

Although I am not different-abled in these areas (I do wear glasses and my hearing stinks), I could be tomorrow or in the future. That is why we have the guidance of laws like the Americans with Disabilities Act for not only things like handicapped parking spaces, but also for web site design. We have aids like the ATRC Web Accessibility Checker to see where our web pages fail and how we can improve them.

Funny, I often wonder why provide a full text RSS feed. Simple, it is pretty much 100% readable by a screen reader. I also think I will be taking some time over the coming weeks adding accessibility features through the web site. Stay tuned for details.
]]> http://jimmetzger.net/2008/08/jaws-of-sight.html http://jimmetzger.net/2008/08/jaws-of-sight.html Blog Vanity Geeky Stuff Thoughts accessibility ADA social networking web 2.0 Thu, 14 Aug 2008 21:09:04 -0500 Adding a Few More Tones to the Pager

Since I am in West Chester Borough during the daytime at school, I have been considering for a while volunteering at one of the West Chester Fire Departments.

After much cajoling from my mail carrier (also a firefighter), tonight I was voted in as a member of the Good Will Fire Company #2, one of the three stations in the West Chester Fire Department. Now just a matter of getting sworn in and getting acclimated to their SOGs and practices. Nice part for them is that I bring along my own gear and tools and I am already trained - saves their budget a bit. I still have to serve my time out as a probie but at least I won't need the usual probationary member care and feeding. A whole new set of faces to associate with names (and nicknames).

My first priority is, of course, to my home station. Nice part is the response distance to my new one is only a few miles further even from home. The bad part is my pager will now start its racket for three more stations, since I will have all three West Chester stations programmed in. Mary sleeps through it (luckily), kitty does not. So, let the calls begin!

]]> http://jimmetzger.net/2008/08/adding-a-few-more-tones-to-the.html http://jimmetzger.net/2008/08/adding-a-few-more-tones-to-the.html Fire Service fire police fire service first responders gwfc Mon, 11 Aug 2008 22:16:22 -0500 Go Team USA!

Feel free to take a copy of this graphics I made - the Free Tibet-related portions courtesy of oddsock and the Team USA logo from their web site.
]]> http://jimmetzger.net/2008/08/go-team-usa.html http://jimmetzger.net/2008/08/go-team-usa.html Politics Thoughts china free tibet olympics Fri, 08 Aug 2008 09:26:00 -0500 PlurkKoncert: Monterey Pop 1967
]]> http://jimmetzger.net/2008/08/plurkconcert-monterey-pop-1967.html http://jimmetzger.net/2008/08/plurkconcert-monterey-pop-1967.html Social 2.0 plurk plurkoncert social networking Tue, 05 Aug 2008 21:10:00 -0500 Chester Country Radio Problems read: broken). While dispatches are still coming through on your VHF pagers (setting A/B/D) and can be monitored on 160.185 MHz, you will not hear response/command communications on the Central/East (159.600 MHz) or West (159.735 MHz) simulcast or on setting "C" on your Minitor pagers.

Fire response and command communications have been temporarily relocated to the Inter-Ops frequencies, which use conventional, rather than trunked repeaters, for your appropriate area:

866.5125 MHz - INTEROPS1
867.0125 MHz - INTEROPS2
867.5125 MHz - INTEROPS3
868.0125 MHz - INTEROPS4

I have opened these frequencies to the online scanner stream. Country radio has been running some tests on the system over the past few minutes so the outage will hopefully be a brief one.

Update: Chester County Radio is back in service at 1055.

]]> http://jimmetzger.net/2008/08/chester-country-radio-problems.html http://jimmetzger.net/2008/08/chester-country-radio-problems.html Fire Service Scanner Stream Chester County Radio fire service first responders Tue, 05 Aug 2008 10:39:54 -0500 Plurk Badges hotlink to them here. A nice mention in your blog with a link back to here would be appreciated, too.

If you have any suggestions, ideas, whatever, please let me know!

]]> http://jimmetzger.net/2008/08/plurk-badges.html http://jimmetzger.net/2008/08/plurk-badges.html Blog Vanity Social 2.0 plurk social networking Sat, 02 Aug 2008 23:24:20 -0500 Don't Need No Internet, No Geography, What Next? watches the Internet with his grandchildren and says that there is a common border between Iraq and Pakistan. Next will he be saying that evolution is a bunch of bunk or that Obama must be a Muslim?

Now I know that those high up in politics have aides and drones to read and respond in their name to email messages and to glean information from Internet sources, but come on. It is the 21st Century and at least a tiny bit of familiarization about technology by a candidate expected to lead what is purportedly the richest, smartest, most advanced country on Earth would be appropriate. No, he does not have to blog or tweet or plurk or text, but a basic understanding of all of the above would be nice.

And geography... don't get me started, but here we are not talking rocket science. We're talking elementary school! He can't blame lack of access to Google Earth either. He could use a paper map, atlas, or a globe. Granted, he was making a speech to a group of people who probably can't find their way to the next county, let alone state, but what if he was standing next to the leader of a country and makes a gaff like that? So many are saying he is just Bush continued and this is just another example of that. Oh, he was just confused say the conservative pundits. Well, geez, what if he is confused while deciding whether to say bomb Kazakhstan or not. He might think... hmmm, sounds like Kansas and say well... bomb Kansas! Dorothy and Toto would not like that, Mr. McCain. I know that is an outlandish example, but if he cannot do basic geography or understand new technology, who's to say?

All of this lack of knowledge by the presumptive candidate of the Republican Party or of any party for that matter should be of concern to all Americans. Does this mean if he does not understand something that he will just let his advisors take charge? If he gets confused, we should just ignore it? Does this mean that if he makes a mistake that we'll all just say oops, nevermind? I feel that being the chief executive of my country requires at least a general knowledge of the world and what makes it work. McCain flunks miserably. Being a POW does not make you a commander in chief. Being a senator does not make you a leader.

Now that you are done reading, take a moment, print a blank outline map of the world (PDF file), and see how many countries of the world you can name correctly. Here you will find larger blank maps of the world's regions to make those tiny countries easier to see. Also, look at these blank US and Canada maps and see if you can label the states and provinces. Share this with friends and family... amazing how much fun it will be when you here mention of Bahrain or Moldova or Nunavut on the news and actually can place where it it. The whole collection of blank (and labelled - no cheating!) maps can be found at Houghton-Mifflin's Education Place.
]]> http://jimmetzger.net/2008/07/dont-need-no-internet-no-geogr.html http://jimmetzger.net/2008/07/dont-need-no-internet-no-geogr.html Geography Politics Thoughts geography Luddite McCain Wed, 23 Jul 2008 11:18:53 -0500 Follow Earthquakes via Plurk US Geological Survey to post to Plurk the latest earthquakes recorded worldwide greater than Magnitude 2.5. It uses the unofficial API to Plurk using Andy Armstrong's WWW::Plurk module.

You can view it at plurkquakes' public timeline - feel free to add it as a friend or just watch!
]]> http://jimmetzger.net/2008/07/follow-earthquakes-via-plurk.html http://jimmetzger.net/2008/07/follow-earthquakes-via-plurk.html Geeky Stuff api earthquakes geology perl plugins plurk Thu, 17 Jul 2008 09:42:01 -0500 We'll Miss You, Al

It is with great sadness to write about the passing of one of my dearest friends at the fire station. Special Fire Police Sergeant Albert P. Greenleaf, the last remaining charter member of the West Whiteland Fire Company, passed away this afternoon at the age of 88. Albie was a member of the company's active force as a Fire Police Officer for nearly 55 years.

He was recognized by West Whiteland Township for his service to the community on his 80th birthday by the establishment and recipient of the first Albert P. Greenleaf Outstanding Volunteer Award.

I still remember the first time that I met him. He walked up me, firmly shook my hand, saying welcome to the newest fire cop from the first one. During my time serving with him, I learned so much, especially about the history of the area of which he was a lifelong resident.

Our condolences and hearts go out to his wife Elsie and to his family. We at Station 6 have lost one of our dearest family members.

It was an honor and a privilege to learn from you, Albie... to talk with you, and to serve with you, Sergeant. You will always have a special place in this fire cop's life.

When viewing and funeral arrangements are finalized, I will post them as an update to this entry.
]]> http://jimmetzger.net/2008/07/well-miss-you-al.html http://jimmetzger.net/2008/07/well-miss-you-al.html Fire Service fire police wwfc Wed, 16 Jul 2008 19:03:38 -0500