Sometimes I wish I had studied cartography and remote sensing in college 📡🌎
Truth be told, it wasn’t really a serious option some 20 years ago. While a handful of colleges offered classes in GIS and remote sensing, it was very much in it’s infancy …
Back then computers had very limited memory, hard drive and processing power — hard drives were rated in gigabytes and memory in hundred megabytes — and no ultra-fast solid-state hard drives
With large GIS files, it would have been impossible to download them over a dial-up internet
The quality of GIS data back in 2000 was rather poor as sensors were crude, GPS recorders were a new and expensive technology, the Census TIGER/Line files were rather geographically inaccurate
In 2000, a lot of now-freely available on the Internet data was only available for purchase, and it was expensive and came on multiple CD-ROMs
While there was rather cryptic but powerful GRASS back then, there was no Quantum GIS, which has become a very powerful open-source GIS program in the past twenty years
The disadvantage to not having formal training, is one doesn’t see things in an ordered, formal way. I learned how to make maps and use GIS data in a hands-on-way, and only learned the minimal terminology and methods required to get desired output. I understand the doings of map making, but not so much the theory. I have been reading open college textbooks to pick up some more of the formal theory behind maps, but a lot of methods are crude and just based on experience of what works.
But I am kind of glad that I don’t do map making professionally. It really frees me up to do my own thing, on my own time, not having to worry about conflicts with work. If I do a map or GIS research for an activist group, nobody can say I’m utilizing work equipment, skills or data I acquired from my job. Instead, I am doing it totally on my own based on my own studies and knowledge.
I’ve looked a bit at college classes nowadays, but they’re rather expensive, and I’m not sure how much they would benefit me. I guess it would be something to put on a resume, but I am generally happy with my current career, and the cost is high for getting a certification in something I am fairly familiar with at least on a practical perspective. Plus, I often think any classroom learning would be out of date, compared to what I am using nowadays with Quantum GIS and other open source tools and data.
Good evening! Mostly clear and 23 degrees in Delmar, NY. There is a west breeze at 7 mph. 🍃. There are 2 inches of snow on the ground. ☃ ️Things will start to thaw out at tomorrow around noontime. 🌡️
Cold evening for the walk 🚶 but actually pretty normal for winter but after the January that was it feels even colder but truth is that I’m just not used to it. But by next week things will be pushing 50 again. 🏢 Ever since I stepped out of the office this evening it was so cold out, even though I feel comfortable inside as I turned on the space heater then the electric blanket.
Tonight will have increasing clouds ☁, with a low of 17 degrees at 12am. Two degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around February 11th. Maximum wind chill around 15 at 8pm; West wind 5 to 7 mph becoming south after midnight. In 2022, we had snow in the evening, which became light snow by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 20 degrees. The record low of -18 occurred back in 1961.
I had a rough day 😕 though I realize my problems are all inside my head. It’s a tough world out there, I have to do the best I can to navigate it and invest in my own future 🔮 and not take on other people’s problems. A lot of things are unfair and I often think I’m getting a raw deal 🤝 but I have it a lot better off then many people.
I watched somebody run a stopped school 🚸 bus this morning and then I found out that the state tightened who could free file this year, so I’m left studying my options for how to file my taxes. 📂 Maybe I’ll do paper 📄. But it made me angry 😡 especially after hearing how state leaders want to expand benefits for migrants. I think our state should encourage immigration but people should be working and encouraged to open businesses. Taxed enough already, especially when I’ve worked so hard and the government is handing out freebies left and right.
I never understood the anger 💢 of my dairy farming friend over government welfare benefits to the poor but when you work your ass off at 5 am, 🐮 and pay a shit ton of taxes on your land, you can understand the anger. Farms pay remarkably high taxes in New York even after all the programs. I know the feeling.
Tonight will have a Waxing Gibbous 🌔 Moon with 88% illuminated. At 7 PM, the moon was in the east-southeast (107°) at an altitude of 58° from the horizon, some 249,989 miles away from where you are looking up from the earth. 🚀 At the state speed limit of 55 mph, you’ll make it there by August 10th. Buckle up for safety! 💺.
The Snow ❄ Moon is on Sunday, February 5. The darkest hour is at 12:10 am, followed by dawn at 6:41 am, and sun starting to rise at 7:11 am in the east-southeast (113°) and last for 3 minutes and 9 seconds. Sunrise is one minute and 2 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌄 The golden hour ends at 7:52 am with sun in the east-southeast (120°).Tonight will have 13 hours and 56 minutes of darkness, a decrease of 2 minutes and 22 seconds over last night.
Tomorrow will be partly sunny, then gradually becoming sunny 🌞, with a high of 37 degrees at 4pm. Four degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around February 18th. South wind 6 to 11 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, remaining cloudy in the afternoon. The high last year was 27 degrees. The record high of 53 was set in 1981. 11.9 inches of snow fell back in 2015.❄
The truth is I’m just bitter about the cold today. 🌬️ The sun was nice but it was just such a nasty reminder about winter. I really want to get away from the long cold winters of New York but everything just takes so much longer financially and on my life then I would hope. I keep saving for a better tomorrow but I always feel like I’m treading on thin ice, if not falling through the ice gasping 😲 for air. Somehow at age 40 I thought I would be farther along in life, be more financially secure and have my own land 🚜. I just work so hard, and it’s such a slap in the face. But I’ll keep pushing, as I understand the power of compounding.
In four weeks on March 1 the sun will be setting in the west (261°) at 5:45 pm,🌄 which is 36 minutes later then tonight. In 2021 on that day, we had mostly cloudy, snow showers and temperatures between 41 and 17 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 40 and 22 degrees. The record high of 66 degrees was set back in 2017.
Looking ahead, March 🌨 is a month away, Ides of March ✝ is in 6 weeks, April Fools Day 🤡 is in 2 months, May 🕊 is in 3 months, Average High is 70 🐮 is in 14 weeks, Pack Rat Day 🐀 is in 15 weeks, 9 PM Dusk 🌆 is in 4 months, June 🍹 is in 4 months, Summer ️⛱️ is in 20 weeks, July 🏊🏿 is in 5 months, Hottest Time of the Year 😅 is in 22 weeks, Dog Days of Summer 🌻 is in 22 weeks, August 🌻 is in 6 months, Average High Falls To 79 ️Degrees ⛱️️️ is in 30 weeks, Average High 70 🎑 is in 7 months, September 🍎 is in 7 months, Labor Day Weekend Begins 👨🏭 is in 7 months, More Night then Day 🌌 is in 34 weeks, October 🎃 is in 8 months, Last Sunset After 6:30 PM 🌆 is in 35 weeks, Average High is 55 🍂 is in 9 months, November 🥧 is in 9 months, Day After Election Day 🛀 is in 40 weeks, December 🎄 is in 10 months and Saint Nicholas Day 🎅 is in 44 weeks.
The Federal Reserve raised interest rates by a quarter percentage point Wednesday, its eighth increase in less than a year as the central bank continues its crackdown on inflation.
The hike in the Fed's benchmark rate is the smallest since last March, and signals that policymakers are shifting to a more cautious approach, after spending much of last year playing catch-up and boosting borrowing costs at the fastest pace in decades. A recession might be coming. Here's what it could look like Economy A recession might be coming. Here's what it could look like
Higher interest rates have begun to have the desired effect. Consumer spending has cooled in recent months. And inflation had dropped significantly, although prices are still climbing faster than the central bank would like.
