News – White-knuckle Moment As Driver Weaves Through Four Moose.
How does GPS work?
The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a network of about 30 satellites orbiting the Earth at an altitude of 20,000 km. The system was originally developed by the US government for military navigation but now anyone with a GPS device, be it a SatNav, mobile phone or handheld GPS unit, can receive the radio signals that the satellites broadcast.
Wherever you are on the planet, at least four GPS satellites are ‘visible’ at any time. Each one transmits information about its position and the current time at regular intervals. These signals, travelling at the speed of light, are intercepted by your GPS receiver, which calculates how far away each satellite is based on how long it took for the messages to arrive.
Pleasant Valley Road
Driving along Pleasant Valley Road in Knox on a Martin Luther King Day. I was hoping for some beautiful skies but it was kind of gray at dusk.
DEC Region 1
Interactive Google Map consisting of federal, state, local, and non-governmental public lands and parks within the following counties in DEC Region 1: Nassau and Suffolk counties. Up to 8 additional counties (for a total of ten) can be added to the map. Data can be downloaded as KML and GPX Tracks and Waypoints for use in Google Earth or handheld GPS units.
‘Robot Lawyer’ Makes The Case Against Parking Tickets
It's easy to see why drivers would flock to this service. But how do city officials feel?
"Currently, we have four part-time field investigators to do the investigations for signs and curbs in the city of Los Angeles," says Wayne Garcia, parking operations chief for the city of Los Angeles.
He says he's anxious to see what will soon come through the mail, given how even a modest uptick in appeals could overload resources. But he admits there could be an upside.
"Our staff spend a great deal of time reviewing letters from motorists in trying to decipher what they're actually contesting," Garcia says.
And that's because most people just don't write like lawyers.
January 17, 2017 9 AM Update
Dark and gray are the best way to describe the conditions this morning. 27 degrees on our way up to the thirty-six. Rain possibly mixed in with some sleet later on today, although I think adverse conditions on the roads in the city should be limited.
Lots of interesting content to come on the blog this week. When I was sick I was able to fire up Quantum GIS and crank out some maps, plus I fed my political auto mapper some elections data. I almost have the updated social media sharing plug in working on my blog which will improve the appearance of shared posts in many ways.
The sun will set at 4:50 pm with dusk around 5:21 pm, which is 1 minute and 13 seconds later than yesterday. Today will have 9 hours and 29 minutes of daylight, an increase of 1 minute and 48 seconds over yesterday.
Tonight will rain and sleet before 1am, then sleet between 1am and 2am, then rain after 2am. Low of 32 degrees at 12am. 18 degrees above normal. East wind 3 to 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New sleet accumulation of less than a half inch possible. In 2016, it got down to 15 degrees with periods of snow. The record low of -19 occurred back in 1957.
Looking ahead for our next Tuesday holiday, there are 4 weeks until Valentines Day when the sun will be setting at 5:27 pm with dusk at 5:55 pm. On that day in 2016, we had sunny skies and temperatures between 8 and -13 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 34 degrees. We hit a record high of 63 back in 1946.
January 17, 2017 Morning
Good morning! Happy Tuesday. Back to work after the long weekend. Mostly cloudy and 23 degrees in Delmar, NY. Calm wind.The skies will clear Thursday around 9 pm.
Today will have a chance of rain, snow, and freezing rain before 2pm, then rain between 2pm and 5pm, then rain and sleet after 5pm. High of 36 degrees at 2pm. Six degrees above normal. Calm wind becoming southeast 5 to 7 mph in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 90%. Little or no ice accumulation expected. Total daytime snow and sleet accumulation of less than a half inch possible. A year ago, we had snow and a high of 34 degrees. The record high of 62 was set in 1889. 10.9 inches of snow fell back in 1994.