How AI and satellites are used to detect illegal manure spreading

How AI and satellites are used to detect illegal manure spreading

After a fresh February snow, a satellite about the size of a shoebox, busy snapping photographs as it circuited the planet at 17,000 miles per hour, captured something dark in Wisconsin.

About 56 tons of livestock bedding and manure had been spread atop Mark Zinke’s frozen alfalfa field.

The image eventually appeared on the computers of Stanford University researchers, who relayed it to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

Zinke, a Brownsville dairy farmer who cares for a herd of more than 1,300 cows, had forgotten about the whole thing until he later heard from the agency.

“Oh s—,” he recalled thinking at the time. “I guess we f—ed up. We gotta man up to it, right?”

Imagery collected by inexpensive satellites is ushering in an era of real-time monitoring. Some environmental advocates want the department to look down from the sky as it regulates livestock manure, a potential water contamination source.a

Is seeing believing? πŸ–ΌοΈ

I am skeptical with claims that many people will be persuaded by AI-generated fake images of political candidates behaving badly. For a long time, Adobe Photoshop and similar products have existed, and before then there was manual editing techniques for photos. I don’t think many people are gullible to believe whatever they see in an image, most people are aware that photos are often edited, taken from odd positions that crop and distort the meaning of what is shown.

What is a bigger concern is how the anti-AI folks are working to hold back technology and protect incumbent actors, on grounds that your uncle is too stupid and too deluded to question the validity of a photo. I have more hope for humanity then what the popular press with it’s incumbent protection agenda is claiming to be the latest danger to society.

Carrot πŸ₯• pancakes πŸ₯ž are good way to start a morning

Last night it was Johnny Cakes with onions and spinach and a bunch of Ms Dash salt-free seasonings, this morning its carrot pancakes with cherries and maple syrup. Salt is bad news, I am trying to stay away from it more these days.

Good morning! What day is it? Jumping the Hump Day, of course. Mostly sunny β˜€ and 32 degrees in Delmar, NY. Calm wind. Cold start to the morning but it’s not expected to last.

While it got cool last night and I had to close my windows 😴 which made sleeping a bit hard but they’re back open this morning. Should be a beautiful day for riding to work today 🚲 and it shouldn’t be as dang windy as yesterday. 🌬️ That wind was pushing hard against my face yesterday riding out of the gorge especially when I reached the level in Elsmere.

Today will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 68 degrees at 4pm. 24 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around May 4th. Calm wind becoming south 5 to 7 mph in the afternoon. A year ago, we had light rain. The high last year was 43 degrees. The record high of 70 was set in 2012. 22.0 inches of snow fell back in 1993.❄

I do like my carrot pancakes πŸ₯ž. Carrots are healthy and relatively cheap. It’s hard to get enough fiber in your diet, especially in America these days. Carrots when cooked are slightly sweet and excellent filler as part of hardy but soft pancakes. πŸ₯• I grind oatmeal and then carrots in my food processor. Add one egg and milk. Add Baking powder. Add cinnamon, ginger and sometimes vanilla. πŸ˜‹ For sweetness I’ll sometimes add a whole orange, peel and all or a banana. Then a little bit of whole red wheat flour and some water to smooth out the mixture. Top with fruit, honey or real maple syrup. 🍯

Solar noon 🌞 is at 1:06 pm with sun having an altitude of 44.7° from the due south horizon (-26.1° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 6.1 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour πŸ… starts at 6:23 pm with the sun in the west (261°). πŸ“Έ The sunset is in the west (267°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 7:00 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 54 seconds with dusk around 7:27 pm, which is one minute and 11 seconds later than yesterday. πŸŒ‡ At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Crescent πŸŒ’ Moon in the west-southwest (255°) at an altitude of 40° from the horizon, 230,863 miles away. πŸš€ The best time to look at the stars is after 8:01 pm. At sunset, look for partly clear skies πŸŒ„ and temperatures around 63 degrees. There will be a south breeze at 5 mph. Tomorrow will have 11 hours and 56 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 55 seconds over today.

I have my dental cleaning on Friday πŸͺ₯🦷 so I’ll probably end up driving to work that day. If it wasn’t like most of the roads are closed and possibly snow covered I’d consider going to the Green Mountains to camp after work. β›Ί I really could use a good fire πŸ”₯ to burn up some paper and things and to clear my mind. If I stay in town I’m thinking of cruising some roads in Coeymans and New Baltimore looking at land. 🏞 Some places down there might fit what I’m looking for based on my geospatial analysis.

Tonight will be partly cloudy πŸŒƒ , with a low of 40 degrees at 6am. 15 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around April 22nd. South wind 3 to 5 mph. In 2023, we had light rain in the evening, which became light snow by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 32 degrees. The record low of -6 occurred back in 1948.

I am thinking about bringing my laptop home tonight πŸ‘¨‍πŸ’» so I can continue to do some more research about land and property. That said, it’s going to be such a nice evening, I almost want to go to the park instead. 🏞 Maybe tomorrow I’ll bring it home. I don’t like to ride too much with my laptop on my bicycle due to the bumps, but I could bring it home tomorrow, work down at the library πŸ“š and then I’m driving in on Friday it seems most likely after my dental cleaning.

Today in 1991, the Justice Department announces that Exxon has agreed to pay $1 billion for the clean-up of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska. πŸ›’ Dawn dish soap made out well by donating some surfactants to clean off the oil soaked ducks πŸ¦†.

Looks like a fairly nice spring weekend though showers come Sunday. 🌦️Saturday, partly sunny, with a high near 53. Sunday, showers likely after 8am. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 54. Chance of precipitation is 60%. Typical average high for the weekend is 45 degrees. Maybe I’ll head out of town but I’m more thinking πŸ’­ about it for the Easter Holiday. 🐰

Looking ahead, there are 4 weeks until 8 PM Dusk πŸŒ† when the sun will be setting at 7:33 pm. On that day in 2023, we had sunny skies and temperatures between 67 and 30 degrees. Kind of like today. Typically, the high temperature is 57 degrees. We hit a record high of 86 back in 1922. Before my time. But certainly the weather records for this time of year is littered with examples of temperatures in the upper 80s.

Nice early spring day