I am often quite jealous of rednecks, because they know so much more about the land, mechanical things, and technology then I will ever know. They seem to make so much out of life and the things they own, and are able to fix and extend broken things that I have little choice to toss or take to someone else to repair. They have such a knowledge of land and natural systems, physical systems, and the way the world works, that I will never have a chance to fully understand.
A World Traveler Whose Barely Left New York
I am quite the traveler. I’ve been to Peru, Cuba, Poland, Russia, Bagdad, Ohio, Paris, Rome, Bethlehem, Bolivar, and Cairo.
I’ve been to Bliss and to Freedom. Driven past the turn for Podunk, but I’ve never been to Podunk.
Also been to Bliss. And I didn’t even have to leave New York State. But then again, I’ve driven through Manhattan many times on US Route 6 in Pennsylvania, and camped only like five miles from Manhattan on the Painter Run.
What is my favorite drink? 🥛
Milk, of course.
While in recent years I’ve cut back due to the calories in favor of water and cider vinegar, still nothing beats an ice cold glass of milk. Or on a cold night before bed, a warm glass with lots of cinnamon and ginger.
Not only is it healthy for the body, it’s good for the land that keeps it working. It keeps open space open, fields from becoming overgrown and supporting a wide variety of species. It keeps rural people employed, protects tradition and keeps land working producing feed and forage for cattle.
Smokers Are Cancer Denialists
Smoking causes lung cancer. Nobody disputes that fact. Yet, 1 out of every 5 Americans still lights up at least occassionally. Smoking feels really good, it’s really relaxing and awesome. Cigerettes with a glass of whiskey and coke, full of ice is so wonderful. That intense sensation from nicotine is out of this world. And by the way — it’s awful deadly.
There was a time when industry spokespersons downplayed the danger from smoking, and there were some doctors and other professionals that questioned the scientific consesus that smoking wasn’t bad for you. Those claims, while never particularly crediable, did give cover to some people who wanted to dig their heads into the sand, and continue to smoke because it felt so increadibly good.
Tobacco companies never forced anyone to smoke. People want their products because they are so damn pleasurable. Anybody is free to quit smoking at any time, but most don’t. There is no real function to smoking, justifying it rationally is very hard to do.
Fossil fuels are the exactly like cigerettes.
It’s so damn pleasurable to burn them.
I often ride my bicycle around town or catch the bus to work and shopping. It gets me where I need to go around town. But nothing is as fun as when Friday evening rolls around, I hop in my truck, slap it into gear, and I’m off to buy some beer or head up into the mountains. Hell, even the sound of the engine makes as it clunks into gear statisifies one’s ears. The feel of effortless 315 HP, as slap my foot on gas pedle (leaving rubber on the road if I so choose), and off we go. You can even push the accelerator harder, and it will speed up effortless — even going up hill!
When you drive, you can take any road you want to. You can drive out into the countryside, up into the mountains. It can take you to the wilderness, to a mountain lake, a farm, or some other remote place, at a rate of roughly 45-75 miles per hour. Cars are elegently styled, you are free to choose your music taste, they can provide solitude and a carefully controlled climate to your choice of temperature, such as 72 degrees, and they take you exactly to your destination. Cars are such wonderful things.
Let’s be honest, the sensation one gets driving is so awesome … even we all conceed its so deadly. Automobiles kill roughly 40,000 people nationwide in a year, and roughly 1,500 New Yorkers. It’s the most common cause of death for people under Age 40. It’s also warming the planet, and putting us rapidly on a course for a time when there will be no mankind, or certainly no mankind living in a world like today.
There will probably no action on climate change, until the damage is serious enough that it can no longer be ignored. A far higher percentage of Americans drive automobiles then ever smoked, and we are all quite happy denying climate change as we push our ways towards the cliff. Until it becomes so obvious that we are all in a sucide pact, Americans have started dying in mass, and their has been clear and unrefutable evidence on climate change, don’t expect a lot of action…
I sure like my truck. And hell, smoking cigerettes sure is a lot of fun. I guess we are all going to die one of these days at any rate.
I continue to look with much interest in the oft-advertised Northwoods Mapping on Facebook
I continue to look with much interest in the oft-advertised Northwoods Mapping on Facebook. This business makes custom farm, hunting, and property maps, printed and sells them over the internet. All of them pretty much use public, copyright-free data, namely state or federal (NAIP) orthophoto aerial imagery, and USGS 3D elevation program LIDAR bare earth data. I don’t know if they use a commercial ERSI product or the fully-open source QGIS program to make the maps, but there is nothing couldn’t be done with free software.
Their prices are quite reasonable – they might seem high at first glance – but it would actually be hard to undercut if you want to make any money for your time designing, laying out and printing maps. Large-format, full-color printing is expensive for small runs. I know I have printed a few large-scale maps, and the printing can easily set you back $50 or more. Add in the cost of high-quality paper and lamination and it really adds up. For example, the 24″ x 36″ HD Laminated Map that they charge $89 for probably nearly half the cost is printing and lamination. Maybe a little less, especially if you do a lot of business with your printer — but custom print jobs are expensive.
So that leaves you with $45 for everything else. As a small business, there are a lot of costs including taxes, marketing, web hosting, and possibly trying to recover some of your cost of using the computer, internet, and so forth. That ignores benefits or other expenses – they probably rely on a regular job for that. Then figure an hour of labor, and you can figure out the cost. Yes, it’s a job you can do from home, and basically anywhere you have an internet connection. But hardly free, despite the data and software free to use and put together.
It doesn’t take long to make a map with QGIS, especially with using Web Mapping Services, that automatically download the imagery for the scene you need into your QGIS client. But no one map is exactly the same, and while you can save the layout, often it requires fine tweaking to get a quality map out of every scene. Labels often require manual placement, the contrast and saturation of map adjusted for that perfect look. Adjustments to scale, additional data to hand-digitize. Plus time going back and forth with the customer to get them a product they are happy with before it goes to print shop. Probably an hour or more time, to get something that is really good quality, that somebody would pay for. It takes years of knowledge working with maps to build really good quality products.
The more time you can spend working on a map, the higher quality. Often revisions take a lot of time — sometimes the maps I post on the blog aren’t always the best quality, but that’s because they are done quickly and to experiment with new parts of QGIS. But it’s neat that they’re able to make a life in the great wilds of northern Minnesota, in a beautiful small town, the home of the Blue Ox, piecing together map making over the internet, and whatever else they do to sustain their family.
While I have done a handful of mapping projects for pay, I don’t really have a connection with a print shop. Most of my projects are done an as volunteer basis, continuing to learning the ins and outs of the software. Every map I put together is teaching me important skills, and I continue to learn the skills to make better and prettier maps. But I think it’s an interesting business opportunity, and if I learned more about print shops and shipping, along with all the other skills needed to operate a small business, it could offer future possibilities. People have certainly asked if I could provide them with that kind of printed map before — but I just don’t have that kind of connection with a local print or shipping shop.
Woodhull Lake – A Place to Visit Again
I was thinking the other day it’s been six years since I’ve last been out to Woodhull Lake in the Black River Wild Forest It’s a nice, mostly wilderness reservoir that is accessible most of the way by a one lane gravel road.
There are several roadside campsites along the two mile road, mostly very rustic and somewhat overgrown as they are lightly used.
The lake is quiet, especially on weekdays, and often very placid and quite clear.
There is a nice lean-to at Wolf Landing.
And it’s a nice hike back to Remsen Falls on Moose River.
Good fishing on the reservoir, and you might even spot a deer or two.
I’m thinking of getting back up there again this summer..
Trash species are wildlife habitat too… 🐰
Much like how junk food like hot pockets and candy bars are food and provide some substance, habitats with invasive species still offer a home to wildlife and are part of a healthy ecosystem. While invasive degrade an ecosystem they don’t destroy it like asphalt and buildings do.