As I pause this year, to reflect on the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I am wrestling with the notion that many Americans still hold: that today is primarily a African American or “black” holiday. While Dr. King’s struggles were rooted in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, his words can be read in any context for inspiration. His message of opposition to injustice through non-violence and civil disobedience, coupled with his optimism for humanity, spans all colors, religions and cultures.

It can seem easy to look back with disdain on now defunct institutions of injustice such as legalized segregation in the United States or apartheid in South Africa. However, there are many such unjust institutions that persist today which continue to strip dignity and rights from vast groups of people be it blacks, gays, Hispanics and even women. In the context of these modern injustices, we are often afraid as individuals to sound too political or divisive and so we as a society allow these inequities to continue.

If we do not teach our children the wider value of this holiday and we fail to impart the same fervor for justice for all people that Dr. King preached for the races divided in the 1960s, we ignore the context of what his words mean in the present. When we focus strictly on Dr. King’s speeches as they relate to segregation 45 years ago, we ignore what he would most definitely say about the injustices that persist today.

As we celebrate Dr. King’s legacy this year, let us not forget that his dream is not realized until all people, not just blacks and whites, have come together as brothers and sisters.

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As you can see, I have spent a time in California, New England, the Mid-Atlantic and Hawaii over the past year and my iPhone has recorded the whole escapade!  Even a couple quick connections through Denver International Airport have been recorded (I had to think about how that spot got on there, I’ve never really spent any time in Colorado other than to change planes).

The location data that iPhone Tracker was able to pull only went back one year.  I am not certain if more back-data exists in the hidden iPhone file.  The program is very basic and has few options but it gets the data and visualizes it, which is impressive.  I would not have a problem with this information being stored if I had opted into it.  It concerns me, however, that Apple is gathering this data in a hidden file that we are only now discovering and know little about.  With reports of Michigan State Police using forensic data downloaders to extract the contents of citizens’ phones without a search warrant during ordinary traffic stops, it is troubling to think about what else we carry around each day might end up in the wrong hands.

Apple claims that all will be fixed in an upcoming update to its mobile operating system iOS.  How Apple will address the data collection issue, either through an opt-in process or its total elimination is unknown.  The implications of the full-data-download by law enforcement also remains to be seen.  The ACLU is suing the Michigan State Police, charging the department violated data collection laws.

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Today broadcasting, both TV and radio, has become nearly totally consolidated among a small group of national broadcasting conglomerates (save for NPR and the few community-based broadcast outfits), leaving few independent voices to be heard.  Even cable TV, once a bastion of alternative entertainment, is now an expensive dumping ground for Viacom, Universal and Disney.

Will the cycle repeat itself with the Internet?  Will the Web go from the Wild West that radio once was to the sterile, corporate mouthpiece that is broadcasting today?  Early radio had its off-shore pirates, dissidents who were eventually quashed.  Today it is the MP3 pirates who are in the corporate crosshairs.  But all of the legal wrangling over the years begs the question: Who are the real radio pirates?

The image attached is a design I cooked up while staying up nights worrying about such banalities.  Contact me if you would like to order a 24″ x 36″ poster print.

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A Minotaur IV booster carrying a military space surveillance satellite lifted off from Vandenberg AFB this evening from South Base at 9:41 p.m. PDT.  A first-of-its-kind military tool to monitor satellites and space junk is aboard the rocket. According to the U.S. Air Force, the device will help keep better tabs on the more than half a million pieces of space junk that pose a potential hazard to operational satellites and manned spacecraft.

These photos were taken with a Canon 50D from Santa Barbara’s Westside.  Both exposures were more than 10 seconds long.

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Live view from the Santa Barbara webcam

After several months of mental planning I finally set up a companion weather webcam for my personal weather station. Over the summer I ran a few tests with a cheap USB webcam pointed out the front window, but the view of the yard proved to be rather uninteresting. What I really wanted to do was to capture the mountain-view I noticed from the roof while setting up the weather instruments. This view is not available from any interior portions of the house so I set out to design an outdoor wireless camera system for less than $100.

There are several options for outdoor cameras online. A simple Amazon.com search revealed many choices, but all of the all-weather WiFi units fell outside of the budget that I had restricted myself to. My requirements were that the camera and weatherproof housing be under $100. Given that the unit was to be mounted on the garage and the computer and wired Internet connections are in the main house I was also limited to a WiFi solution.  I decided on the D-Link DCS920 Wireless-G Internet Camera, as it is a free-standing unit that can actually handle the scheduled capture and uploading of the images without the help of a computer. Many retailers have the DCS920 in the $80-$90 range.

The DCS920 is not an outdoor camera so I needed an enclosure that would both keep rain out and allow the camera lens to poke through.  Camera in hand, I set off to Home Depot where a helpful employee knew right away what to use to keep it dry.  He directed me to the electrical department and the Cantex Inc. 6 X 6 X 4 Junction Box.  I was able to drill the necessary holes to mount the camera, make the power connection, and allow the lens to see the light of day.  An additional make-shift clear plastic covering lets the lens see out, without letting water in.  Home Depot also stocks a extension cord which was a near-match for the beige house color and made a less conspicuous power source than a traditional orange extension cord.  The camera’s power adapter fit nicely inside the Cantex box alongside the camera, concealing the electrical connection from the rain as well.

The DCS920 has a Web interface that can be setup via Ethernet beforehand in order to enable the wireless connection to a secure 802.11g network.  The interface is very basic, and does not readily allow one to keep local archives of images easily (there is an option to email a photo as well as upload it to one FTP server).  Aftermarket software is available that allows for greater flexibility over nearly any webcam including the ability to add on-screen captions and time stamps, however I have opted to keep it simple for now.

After plugging in the settings for my Wunderground.com account my weather camera was up and running with a view of the Santa Ynez Mountain range above Santa Barbara.  You will find time-lapse videos of the images gathered in the Wunderground archive.

Update October 2, 2010: It should be noted that the D-Link manual notes the following environmental specifications:

• Operating temperature: 0°C to 40°C (32°F to 104°F)
• Storage temperature: -20°C to 70°C (-4°F to 158°F)
• Operating relative humidity: 20% to 80% non-condensing

Update November 5, 2010: The DCS-920′s internal FTP client seems to be unreliable when set to the Weather Underground FTP server, however the FTP client built into the software package EvoCam 3.6.9 ($30) is able to maintain a reliable image upload schedule. After two weeks of using the wireless DCS-920 with EvoCam I have had good results. EvoCam gives you many additional options including the ability to save time-lapse movies, add time and date stamps as well as record video when motion is detected. View live video from my camera at the K6LCM weather page.

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We arrived at Santa Barbara’s Amtrak station on Sunday morning as the San Luis Obispo-bound Amtrak train pulled in the station.  The familiar sight of Amtrak’s polished steel train was interrupted by what I would soon learn was the trademark “Daylight” paint scheme of the old Southern Pacific line.  Our Pullman car dropped off a trainload of Los Angeles day-trippers bound for Santa Barbara’s urban wine trail – a prearranged combination train ride and wine tour – and we boarded the classically luxurious streamliner.

Our scenic trip on Southern Pacific railcar 2981 took us through the rarely seen Santa Barbara County coastline, obscured by private ranches, rugged terrain and the implicit secrecy of Vandenberg Air Force Base.  As photo opportunities whizzed by the large, crystal-clear windows, I tried my best to snap my shutter.  The train’s antique windows had an odd effect on the digital exposures, giving each shot a sort of vintage look and coloring.  All of the photos in the gallery were taken on Sunday August 29, 2010, but have a strange quality that, at a glance, might be mistaken for August 29, 1950.

The tracks wind past the infamous Point Conception and Point Arguello where the mostly southern facing coastline of Santa Barbara jogs northward toward the notoriously sharky and perilous waters of the California Central Coast.  Past Vandenberg the missile launch sites are clearly visible on the leeward side of the tracks, as is the gigantic 15,000-foot long runway on the base.

While the Santa Barbara to San Luis Obispo trip is relatively new, the Overland Trail car was purchased 23 years ago by Bill Hatrick and his wife Debbie. They restored the train to its original splendor, complete with stewardess’s quarters and a on-board barber shop. The Hatricks claim that they are just one year away from being the car’s longest-term owners, as their records indicate that Southern Pacific itself owned the 2981 railcar for 24 years.  Bill serves as conductor and host for the rides.  He beamed with pride as he explained the process of restoring the classic railcars to Amtrak’s modern specifications, complete with sanitary holding tanks, rendering quaint the original posted lavatory warnings about not flushing while the train is standing in the station.

When not gliding up the coast hitched to an Amtrak locomotive, the Overland Trail sleeps in Los Angeles Union Station where it is available for charter for a variety of occasions.  The Hatrick’s 2981 railcar was even featured in Clint Eastwood’s “Flags of our Fathers,” among other productions.

Visit the complete photo gallery for more images of our journey up the coast, including photos of the launch facilities at Vandenberg.  More information and a complete history on the Overland Trail Club Lounge Car can be found at larail.com. For booking information on the Santa Barbra  to San Luis Obispo route call Terry at 805.680.0397.

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The 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia disaster was the second in just more than 100 flights of the shuttle fleet. (photo: Wikipedia)

After 9/11 the Bush administration’s knee-jerk reaction was to attempt to stem immigration and tighten airport security.  After the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Gov. Schwarzenegger’s reaction was to stem off-shore drilling. While I personally agree with the decision not to drill in the ocean I am not in favor of knee-jerk reactions, even if they have outcomes agreeable to me. Knee-jerk reactions that are 180 degrees from one’s original stance show poor planning and imply to me that the original decision was made in haste.

Schwarzenegger has known the risks of off-shore drilling for years, yet he continued to support its expansion.  This BP spill in the Gulf didn’t change the risk ratio, it merely made it very real for many, many people.  It is politically wise for politicians to withdraw support for drilling after this incident but their motivations are suspect. It reminds me of one famous CalTech physicist who discovered that the risk of catastrophic failure of the Space Shuttle was greater than 1 in 100. So-called “NASA experts” at the time had put the risk much much lower saying the shuttle was safe and that the Challenger accident had resulted in serious safety improvements, suggesting that Feynman’s estimates were grossly overstated. Space Shuttle Columbia, the second shuttle to be destroyed in a catastrophic failure was the 113th flight. Had proper research been done and warnings been heeded in the first place the second disaster might have been prevented.  Draw whatever parallels you may to our current disaster in the Gulf.

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With the corporate board approval of the United and Continental airline merger the two companies launched a new Web site to promote the idea of creating the world’s largest airline.  For those of us in cities serviced by both airlines this might ultimately mean that there are fewer flight times and fares for our destinations, however that remains to be seen.  What is known is that if the merger is approved, the unified airline will be known (appropriately) as United but will bear the Continental globe logo and font.  Is it just me or does this look like an alternate reality from a Hot Tub Time Machine malfunction?  This livery design is not an upgrade.  The serif font and 1980′s AT&T-like logo is a side-grade from Continental’s current look and a downgrade from United’s relatively new branding.

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However, I find it ironic for Steve Jobs to compare Flash’s proprietary model to that of the iPhone/iPad, yet go on to say that being proprietary is ok for us (Apple) but not for them (Adobe). His crusade against Flash, while it has some merit, seems more like corporate bullying.  These are the same or similar tactics that Bill Gate’s tried early on in the browser wars of the last decade in a format held over from before the PC (see Gate’s Open Letter to Hobbyists which attacked open source before the term “open source” existed).

While I don’t agree with what I believe to be Job’s mostly self-serving  motivations, I am happy to see the creative ways that hackers and coders have make other technologies work for them in place of Flash.  On the Full Channel site that I maintain we have had a Flash slideshow on the main page for some time.  It has been an easy way to keep the site fresh and visually interesting, something we would not have been able to easily do without Flash just a few years ago.  However, our slideshow began showing up as a mystery box on more and more devices that did not support Flash.

With the release of the iPad and the ever-increasing sight of passersby engrossed in their iPhones it seemed that this Flash-disabled audience was reaching critical mass.  So, today I retired the site’s increasing incompatible .swf slideshow in favor of Jon Raasch’s very simple and elegant jQuery Slideshow.  I like that jQuery’s motto is “write less do more.”  jQuery is a lighter duty alternative to memory-intensive Flash and it works on many mobile devices including Apple’s.  That and I feel a special kinship with Raasch as he too must also be spending a lifetime explaining that in fact there are two “A’s” in his last name.

This dual may not be over between Apple and Adobe.  The fervor over Job’s letter is just beginning.

For more on this: Ars Technica has a nice piece today arguing that “Apple is presenting users with a false choice between Adobe’s proprietary software and Apple’s walled garden.”

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That being said, I am in Pasadena this week for The California STEM Innovation Network Summit which is being hosted by Caltech.  I thought that I should check out the book store here in hopes of finding a memento of my visit to Feynman’s campus.  I eventually found, after some fumbling, searching online and circling campus in my car, the illustrious (or rather elusive) Caltech bookstore (picture on the left in a photo from Wikipedia as I didn’t bring my camera).  I was surprised to find that the store contained little else than these few Feynman books and some “Caltech Dad” XXL T-shirts on a sale rack.  The entire remaining “book department” was bare-shelved and empty and the adjacent computer store was a ghost town.   I did found a couple Feynman books on this shelf that I hadn’t read,  a Caltech logo hoodie on a back hanger behind a XXS Jet Propulsion Laboratory sweater and at the checkout counter I picked up the prank MIT newspaper that Caltech students distributed at MIT’s 2007 Campus Preview Weekend.  While it wasn’t the shrine to Feynman that imagined it was a beautiful sunny campus.

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