Author Archive: klier

High-Resolution LED Display Graphics

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Since the time these high-resolution LED displays were installed in the Nomeland Gymnasium at the High School, I’ve been spending much of my spare time designing graphics, sponsor advertising, and program workflow for the system. It has already been used successfully for several volleyball matches, 9th grade orientation, and now an all-staff District workshop. The variety of technology I get to work with is one reason I love my job and this field!

A Tour of the National Weather Service Office in Chanhassen

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As Rice County Skywarn is a Weather-Ready Nation Ambassador, we got the opportunity to tour the National Weather Service in Chanhassen today! We talked to the meteorologists that forecast our weather and do such a good job updating the public over social media, without sensationalism. At 6 p.m., we watched a weather balloon launch with a radiosonde which measures temperature, humidity, and pressure all the way up to 100,000 feet. The data is used to create the models we use each day to predict the weather. The staff was so accommodating, informative, and polite! Afterwards, we stopped by Lion’s Tap for supper. It was a great afternoon away from the office!

 

Poor Sears

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Poor Sears. They are shutting down another 100 stores as their businesses continue to fail. Sears was perfectly positioned to monopolize computer-based sales since they had a 100-year head start with their mail order business.

Before almost anyone had Internet, CBS, IBM and Sears joined forces to create an online service called “Prodigy” in 1984. This actually allowed people to purchase things from Sears on their home computer some 10 years before Amazon was founded. Unfortunately, their vision was just too early as most people had to pay long distance phone charges to connect in addition to the monthly subscription.

In the mid to late 90s when Internet became more popular, Sears was gunshy about investing more money into the same idea. Unfortunately, this would be the beginning of the end since Sears never really did innovate again.

Enjoy this commercial for the Prodigy online service from 1990.

Bitcoin

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Since the increase in Bitcoin’s worth to almost $20,000 (before Christmas), I’ve been asked by several people about Bitcoin. Here are a few reasons why getting involved with them, in my opinion, is a horrible idea.

1. Your Bitcoin wallet is kept on your computer. If you lose the key to your wallet, or your computer crashes, you lose all of your money.

2. If you put your Bitcoin on an exchange, when that exchange gets hacked, you lose all of your money. This has already happened several times since there are only a handful of exchanges that deal with US currency.

3. In order to buy something with Bitcoin, you have to pay to have that transaction processed by all the Bitcoin “miners” in the world. This on average costs over $20 a transaction, and takes 2 hours to complete. The more you pay, the higher your priority in line.

4. This one transaction, according to https://digiconomist.net/bitcoin-energy-consumption, takes as much electricity to process as what is consumed by 10 average U.S. households in a single day. This is mainly due to inefficiencies in the Bitcoin protocol.

5. Refunds or chargebacks are impossible with Bitcoin. There is no turning back a transaction.

6. Since there is little value to using Bitcoin for everyday transactions, most of its current value (in my opinion) is only from its possible future prospective value (when will the bubble completely burst?)

Now that Bitcoin value is back down to under $15,000, some are wondering if it might be time to invest. Take a look at these graphs and ask yourself, is this the bull trap before the bottom drops out?

Like it or not, electric cars are the future.

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Anybody in their 30s or 40s now will definitely be living in a world where electric cars, charged by renewable energy such as solar or wind power, will be the majority of vehicles on the road. Major trucking companies have already put orders in for the Tesla Semi based on ROI for delivery in 2019. AND, they release an electric car that does an 8.9 second 1/4 mile with a 600 mile range at highway speeds.Gasoline and diesel engines will go the way of the steam engine in the next 30-40 years.

Digital Video Editor Certification is now Available!

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I am proud to announce that the Digital Video Editor Certification offered by Electronics Technicians Association, International (ETA) is now complete! I served as a Subject Matter Expert on this committee for the last half year, and we believe we have created a certification test that employers will value. The future job prospects for this field are expected to grow much faster than average, and median wages for a DVE were $30.18 an hour!

ETA is a US-based not-for-profit 501(c) 6 professional association which provides certifications in industries such as basic electronics, fiber optics and data cabling, renewable energy, information technology, photonics and precision optics, customer service, biomedical, avionics, wireless communications, radar, and smart home. ETA is also one of the 13 COLEMs (Commercial Operator License Examination Manager) for U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) testing. ETA works with technicians, educators, and military personnel. ETA also partners with companies such as Motorola Solutions to provide certification to their employees.

Fred Rogers melted Senator Pastore in about 6 minutes

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I very seldom share a video or a meme or something like that from another page on Facebook, because seldom do any of them get more than a few second response, be it a quick chuckle or a scroll-through. This video will stay with you throughout the weekend. I guarantee it.

In 1969, Mr. Fred Rogers gave the following emotional plea to a Senate Subcommittee. President Richard Nixon was trying to cut funding for PBS. Mr. Rogers was trying to save it. This speech is one of many fantastic memories that remind us just how fantastic a happiness hero this man really was.

Somehow using nothing but a few minutes of gentle words, Mr. Rogers was able to convince them not to pull funding from public television. The transition of the committee’s chairman from skeptical and dismissive at the beginning to having an attitude of outright admiration at the end is beautiful to behold. It’s amazing what you can accomplish when kindness and the happiness of others is your goal.

Facebook’s Artificial Intelligence and ALT Tags

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Facebook’s Artificial Intelligence, and ALT tags. #Engadget #alttags

I figured I would post something about this because I haven’t seen it discussed on any forum I am familiar with on the Internet.

Facebook reveals a little information about the information it collects from the pictures you post in the form of ALT tags. ALT tags are included in the raw HTML code of nearly every website you visit. They are primarily used to briefly describe a particular picture, image, or graphic for users that can’t view images, either because they are visually impaired, or their Web browser doesn’t support it.

By inspecting the HTML code of anyone’s Facebook profile, you can see some of what Facebook can recognize in your photos. Take for instance these examples on my own profile. In the first example on the thumbnail with my girlfriend and I in the car, Facebook believes it sees 2 people, smiling, sitting, outdoors, with sunglasses and a beard. This is amazingly accurate (it HAD been a few days since I shaved!) In the second example on the thumbnail of me jumping my four-wheeler at Jordan Supercross, Facebook believes it sees one or more people on a motorcycle outdoors. Again, not too shabby on Facebook’s part!

If you care to experiment a little, what other criteria can you find that Facebook’s AI can successfully identify? Share here!