Distant Traveler http://www.vesco.us On the road to nowhere and everywhere in between Tue, 24 Aug 2010 16:10:42 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Outdoor Rock Climbing: Top Rope Systems and Anchors http://www.vesco.us/2010/08/outdoors/outdoor-rock-climbing-top-rope-systems-and-anchors.html http://www.vesco.us/2010/08/outdoors/outdoor-rock-climbing-top-rope-systems-and-anchors.html#comments Tue, 24 Aug 2010 16:04:05 +0000 Robert http://www.vesco.us/?p=404 Below are some rough notes from a Top Rope Systems course I took with Earth Treks.

It is most likely wrong and dangerous to use these notes – so don’t. Take the course from professionals.

I will most likely modify these as time goes on, but if you notice anything particularly crucial let me know.

 


40413 420087814063 727339063 5011650 3619851 n 225x300 Outdoor Rock Climbing: Top Rope Systems and Anchors

Romeo's At Great Falls Park



—————————

Gear

  • Static rope
  • Webbing
  • Dynamic Rope
  • 2 Carabiners

 

Knots

  • Bowline
  • BFK (Big Freakin Knot)

 

Techniques

  • SRENE (Strong, Redundant, Equalization, No Extension)
  • Placing MasterPoint
  • Putting up rope to launch down mountain side
  • Tying up rope for it to look neat

 

Steps

 

  1. Find the rockface you want to climb up
  2. Decide on which anchors you want to use
  3. Decide on which strategy of setting up the system you want to use
  4. Setup anchors and masterpoint
  5. Evaluate equalization
  6. Evaluate MasterPoint Location
  7. Double check everything
  8. Wrap up rope for throwing down mountainside
  9. Perform check before throwing rope down
  10. Miscellaneous, Tricks

 

————————————————-

 

Find the rock face you want to climb

 

It’s unclear to me how to evaluate which rockface to setup at.

 

Check to see if you’ll be able to put the masterpoint down. Preferably without it touching the rock. If it has to touch the rock, then make sure there is not tri-axial loading (ie a bump, edge, or other protrusion that SeeSaws the carabiner.

 

Do you need someone down below? Do you evaluate from up above? Do you use tacit knowledge?

 

Anchors

 

After your choose the rock face (or simulataneously) check to see if there are good anchors. If they aren’t good anchors then you have to find another rock face.

 

Evaluating Trees

 

They must be at least 4 inches in DIAMETER, alive, and have a well-developed root system. They can be as far back as needed.

 

Even if they are alive, make sure that they are not hollowed out by some animals

 

The ropes or webbing should be tied to the base of the tree.

 

Evaluating Boulders

 

Evaluating boulders is harder than evaluating trees.

 

You want a boulder than is deeply embedded on the ground and not laying on top of it. This is often difficult to ascertain. Besides jumping on it, you want try to lift it up. A boulder should have no “hallow” sound either.

 

You also want to find boulders that are mushroom shaped as opposed to “bar of soap shaped”. The latter could cause the rope to move up and come off the anchor.

 

Lastly, with boulders as well as cliffs, you want to make sure there is nothing too sharp. Quartz can be a problem or other sorts of crystals.

 

TRICK. Another thing to look out for is a “pinch”. A pinch is two rocks pushed against another that create a hole. With this hole you can pass rope through the “pinch”. Again, you wan t to check that the rocks are firmly entrenced and make sure the pinch is strong. As a caution, webbing is known to get stuck within pinches.

 

Evaluating Angles between anchors and other consideration

 

Generally, you want to choose two anchors that have the smallest angle between them. The purpose of this is to divide the weight more effect. For instance, 1000lb force on a masterpoint will be put 500 lbs on each anchor at less than 20 degrees between them. Over 120 degrees between the anchors, may put up to 1000 lbs on each anchor.

 

A rule of thumb is to keep the angle between any two angles to less than 90 degrees between them. Also keep an eye out for trees

 

TRICK. Sometimes your ideal anchors may appear to be more than 90 degrees. In this case, you may want to check out to see if some boulders or trees can redirect your angles.

 

EDIQUETTE . If there is someone already has tied up to an anchor you want to use, you should ask them if it is OK. And if possible, tie down below then so that if they leave before you, there is less chance that they will mess with your knot.

 

MULTIPLE CLIMBS. You generally want to have one anchor that is not shared with anyone else.

 

Decide on which strategy to set up the system.

 

One strategy is to setup an anchor, then setup the master point, and then setup the last anchor.

 

The con with this strategy is that it may take longer to equalize and setup. The pro is that if provides more flexibility and is generally used when using tensionless anchors.

 

Another strategy is to flake the rope to find the middle. To setup the master point and then to use the remaining equally-distanced rope to setup the anchors. Once you setup one anchor, you setup the master point, and then setup the last anchor and then equalize

 

Obviously, if one anchor is significantly farther than another, this system may not work, but overall, for most situations, it will take a lot less time to setup. In addition, this setup is generally used with Bowline knots around the trees which are not as strong as tensionless knots, but they allow one to adjust them quickly for equalization purposes.

 

Setting up the master point

 

Toss the rope down to or close to the area where you want

 

You don’t want to have the master point too far down, especially on short climbs, as you may lose valuable climbing distance. On the other hand, sometimes a longer distance may make the rope more secure as the downward weight can keep the ropes from moving.

 

You also WANT the carabiners to be free floating if possible. This will minimize damage to the carabiners as well as minimize any risk of them getting opened.

 

If you cannot have the carabiners free-floating, then the second best is to have them laying flat on some rock as to minimize the risk of TRI-AXIAL loading. This kind of loading can occur when the carabiner becomes a “SEE-SAW”.

 

Another consideration is that you may want to set the masterpoint so that it can be seen from down below. The reason for this is to be able to assess if there are any problems with the masterpoint.

 

You need to account for the strechiness of the static rope and whether you were standing or laying down. Since static rope has about a 5% give sometimes you may want to place the rope a little bit above your intended location. Also, you need to give some extra distance to account for knot you are going to tie. If you are standing up, then you may need to account for that distance, as opposed if you were lying down while assessing distance.

 

Tie the BFK

 

Once assess where you want the master point to be, your bring the rope up and create a “double bite” by folding over the first bite.

 

You then grab the rope about 9-12 inches above the bottom of the double bite with ith your left hand. With your right hand, you take the tope of the double bite and create and overhand knot.

 

Know you should have two loop. They should be equal in length. If not, then you need to readjust.

 

Once they are equal, you need to create a another knot to pick up the remaining slack.

 

Attach the carabiners

 

You want to attach two carabiners to both the loops of the BFK knot.

 

In particular, you want the carabiners to be “OPPOSITE AND OPPOSING”. This means you want the latches of the carabiners face opposite directions and open in opposing directions. You may want to also keep the small and large sides of the carabiners together.

 

Attach the dynamic rope (while tied up) for weight and to help in equalization

 

Attach the carabiners to the bite of the wrapped up rope and SET IT ASIDE – do not toss it down just yet. But If you do toss it down, then make sure you have 1 side of the static rope in your hand.

 

Tieing Anchors

 

There are basically two anchors we were taught. For both them you want to make sure they are no more than 90 degree between them.

 

Tensionless Knots

 

Tensionless knots are the strongest knots that you use as anchors.

 

Start from the bottom and wrap the rope around the tree several times. The more wraps, the stronger the knot. 3 wraps is a good goal.

 

You don’t want the rope to criss-cross each. Each wrap should be next to each other (ie flush).

 

As a test, you know pull the rope hard. The wrappings around the tree should tighten up and the remaing rope should NOT move (ie it should be TENSIONLESS).

 

To keep the end of rope from unwrapping, you can create a RUNNING KNOT so that the rope can pass though to the master point without a problem. (HOW?) The running know should also have enough slack to that it allows some flexibility in moving the rope to the master point around. This is especially important, if you setup a tensionless anchor.

 

To setup the running know, you need to…. (unsure….)

 

ETIQUETTE.

Try not to rip the bark of the trees or compact the dirt around the trees.

 

Tie up the remaining rope or leave a tight bunch near the base of the tree to that people don’t trip or step on your rope.

 

Bowline knots

 

Bowline knots around anchors are not as strong as tensionless hitches, but they are easier to adjust when you are equalizing the system.

 

You start by creating a simple loop rabout 1 ft from the tree (the farther the distance the less stress on the rope so don’t make it too close to tree). You wrap the end of the rope (or even better, create a bite) around the tree.

 

Pass it through the bottom of the loop, like a bunny coming out of its hole.

 

Pass it beneath the rope, then bring up and back into the bunny hole. Stay to the left of the knot.

 

Then IMPORTANT: BACK UP the BOWLINE KNOT — ALWAYS. Use a stopper knot and then push the knot down to right behind the bowline knot.

 

Again, the benefit of the bowline is that it is fast to setup, strong, and is easily adjustable.

 

Equalization

 

Once your anchors are tied up and you’ve have you master point setup at it’s location you want to make sure your system is equalized (or that the slack between the two anchors are the same).

 

Using the dynamic rope attached to, but still scrunched up, the master point helps in creating sufficient tension to test equalization.

 

To test the equalization of the system, make sure the master point is completely down. Sometimes, it can get caught on rocks. Then pull both anchors above a couple feet above the master point. The rope between your hands and the master point should show no discernable slack for either anchor.

 

If you do see slack, you can try retying the BFK. Sometimes this is faster, especially if your are using the tensionless method.

 

If you are using the bowline knot, then you can adjust the appropriate anchor by moving the tongue of the bowline knot.

 

If you are using the tensionless, then you may have to putz around to readjust it.

 

Another Check

 

Once again, consider the SRENE principles: Strong, Redundant, Equalized, and No Extension.

 

Also, double check all your knots! Make sure they are backed up.

 

Preparing the dynamic rope for tossing down

 

There are a couple methods for this. I didn’t write down the easy method, but here is the more complicated one….

 

Untie the rope.

 

Throw the two ends far away from you and then start flaking the rope.

 

Once you get to the middle, attach the carabiners, lay the bite around your hand and let it hang.

 

Then pull up some rope and let the bite hand on the opposite direction.

 

Do this 5-6 times trying to make the bites as longs you can.

 

Once you can no longer hold any rope in your hand, create a bite and pass it underneath the tunnel.

 

Now, you’ve create the “NEXT LEVEL” . Then repeat the process.

 

You may have 3 or so levels.

 

Then with your right hand grab the BFK knot and get ready.

 

Tossing the rope down

 

Call out “ROPE”

 

Down below they should call out “CLEAR” or “STUCK” if the rope is stuck.

 

Once it hits the bottom, they should call out “DOWN”.

 

 

Another check

 

You may want to check the system again. Especially the master point.

 

Make sure it’s not resting improperly, lose or anything else.

 

Do another SRENE check.

 

You also want someone else to check out your system to make sure that everything is OK.

 

Likewise, if you didn’t make the system, you are going to want to ask the other person what they were thinking and what checks they made.

Gear

  • Static rope
  • Webbing
  • Dynamic Rope
  • 2 Carabiners

 

Knots

  • Bowline
  • BFK (Big Freakin Knot)

 

Techniques

  • SRENE (principles)
  • Placing MasterPoint
  • Putting up rope to launch down mountain side
  • Tying up rope for it to look neat

 

Steps

 

  1. Find the rockface you want to climb up
  2. Decide on which anchors you want to use
  3. Decide on which strategy of setting up the system you want to use
  4. Setup anchors and masterpoint
  5. Evaluate equalization
  6. Evaluate MasterPoint Location
  7. Double check everything
  8. Wrap up rope for throwing down mountainside
  9. Perform check before throwing rope down
  10. Miscellaneous, Tricks

 

————————————————-

 

Find the rock face you want to climb

 

It’s unclear to me how to evaluate which rockface to setup at.

 

Check to see if you’ll be able to put the masterpoint down. Preferably without it touching the rock. If it has to touch the rock, then make sure there is not tri-axial loading (ie a bump, edge, or other protrusion that SeeSaws the carabiner.

 

Do you need someone down below? Do you evaluate from up above? Do you use tacit knowledge?

 

Anchors

 

After your choose the rock face (or simulataneously) check to see if there are good anchors. If they aren’t good anchors then you have to find another rock face.

 

Evaluating Trees

 

They must be at least 4 inches in DIAMETER, alive, and have a well-developed root system. They can be as far back as needed.

 

Even if they are alive, make sure that they are not hollowed out by some animals

 

The ropes or webbing should be tied to the base of the tree.

 

Evaluating Boulders

 

Evaluating boulders is harder than evaluating trees.

 

You want a boulder than is deeply embedded on the ground and not laying on top of it. This is often difficult to ascertain. Besides jumping on it, you want try to lift it up. A boulder should have no “hallow” sound either.

 

You also want to find boulders that are mushroom shaped as opposed to “bar of soap shaped”. The latter could cause the rope to move up and come off the anchor.

 

Lastly, with boulders as well as cliffs, you want to make sure there is nothing too sharp. Quartz can be a problem or other sorts of crystals.

 

TRICK. Another thing to look out for is a “pinch”. A pinch is two rocks pushed against another that create a hole. With this hole you can pass rope through the “pinch”. Again, you wan t to check that the rocks are firmly entrenced and make sure the pinch is strong. As a caution, webbing is known to get stuck within pinches.

 

Evaluating Angles between anchors and other consideration

 

Generally, you want to choose two anchors that have the smallest angle between them. The purpose of this is to divide the weight more effect. For instance, 1000lb force on a masterpoint will be put 500 lbs on each anchor at less than 20 degrees between them. Over 120 degrees between the anchors, may put up to 1000 lbs on each anchor.

 

A rule of thumb is to keep the angle between any two angles to less than 90 degrees between them. Also keep an eye out for trees

 

TRICK. Sometimes your ideal anchors may appear to be more than 90 degrees. In this case, you may want to check out to see if some boulders or trees can redirect your angles.

 

EDIQUETTE . If there is someone already has tied up to an anchor you want to use, you should ask them if it is OK. And if possible, tie down below then so that if they leave before you, there is less chance that they will mess with your knot.

 

MULTIPLE CLIMBS. You generally want to have one anchor that is not shared with anyone else.

 

Decide on which strategy to set up the system.

 

One strategy is to setup an anchor, then setup the master point, and then setup the last anchor.

 

The con with this strategy is that it may take longer to equalize and setup. The pro is that if provides more flexibility and is generally used when using tensionless anchors.

 

Another strategy is to flake the rope to find the middle. To setup the master point and then to use the remaining equally-distanced rope to setup the anchors. Once you setup one anchor, you setup the master point, and then setup the last anchor and then equalize

 

Obviously, if one anchor is significantly farther than another, this system may not work, but overall, for most situations, it will take a lot less time to setup. In addition, this setup is generally used with Bowline knots around the trees which are not as strong as tensionless knots, but they allow one to adjust them quickly for equalization purposes.

 

Setting up the master point

 

Toss the rope down to or close to the area where you want

 

You don’t want to have the master point too far down, especially on short climbs, as you may lose valuable climbing distance. On the other hand, sometimes a longer distance may make the rope more secure as the downward weight can keep the ropes from moving.

 

You also WANT the carabiners to be free floating if possible. This will minimize damage to the carabiners as well as minimize any risk of them getting opened.

 

If you cannot have the carabiners free-floating, then the second best is to have them laying flat on some rock as to minimize the risk of TRI-AXIAL loading. This kind of loading can occur when the carabiner becomes a “SEE-SAW”.

 

Another consideration is that you may want to set the masterpoint so that it can be seen from down below. The reason for this is to be able to assess if there are any problems with the masterpoint.

 

You need to account for the strechiness of the static rope and whether you were standing or laying down. Since static rope has about a 5% give sometimes you may want to place the rope a little bit above your intended location. Also, you need to give some extra distance to account for knot you are going to tie. If you are standing up, then you may need to account for that distance, as opposed if you were lying down while assessing distance.

 

Tie the BFK

 

Once assess where you want the master point to be, your bring the rope up and create a “double bite” by folding over the first bite.

 

You then grab the rope about 9-12 inches above the bottom of the double bite with ith your left hand. With your right hand, you take the tope of the double bite and create and overhand knot.

 

Know you should have two loop. They should be equal in length. If not, then you need to readjust.

 

Once they are equal, you need to create a another knot to pick up the remaining slack.

 

Attach the carabiners

 

You want to attach two carabiners to both the loops of the BFK knot.

 

In particular, you want the carabiners to be “OPPOSITE AND OPPOSING”. This means you want the latches of the carabiners face opposite directions and open in opposing directions. You may want to also keep the small and large sides of the carabiners together.

 

Attach the dynamic rope (while tied up) for weight and to help in equalization

 

Attach the carabiners to the bite of the wrapped up rope and SET IT ASIDE – do not toss it down just yet. But If you do toss it down, then make sure you have 1 side of the static rope in your hand.

 

Tieing Anchors

 

There are basically two anchors we were taught. For both them you want to make sure they are no more than 90 degree between them.

 

Tensionless Knots

 

Tensionless knots are the strongest knots that you use as anchors.

 

Start from the bottom and wrap the rope around the tree several times. The more wraps, the stronger the knot. 3 wraps is a good goal.

 

You don’t want the rope to criss-cross each. Each wrap should be next to each other (ie flush).

 

As a test, you know pull the rope hard. The wrappings around the tree should tighten up and the remaing rope should NOT move (ie it should be TENSIONLESS).

 

To keep the end of rope from unwrapping, you can create a RUNNING KNOT so that the rope can pass though to the master point without a problem. (HOW?) The running know should also have enough slack to that it allows some flexibility in moving the rope to the master point around. This is especially important, if you setup a tensionless anchor.

 

To setup the running know, you need to…. (unsure….)

 

ETIQUETTE.

Try not to rip the bark of the trees or compact the dirt around the trees.

 

Tie up the remaining rope or leave a tight bunch near the base of the tree to that people don’t trip or step on your rope.

 

Bowline knots

 

Bowline knots around anchors are not as strong as tensionless hitches, but they are easier to adjust when you are equalizing the system.

 

You start by creating a simple loop rabout 1 ft from the tree (the farther the distance the less stress on the rope so don’t make it too close to tree). You wrap the end of the rope (or even better, create a bite) around the tree.

 

Pass it through the bottom of the loop, like a bunny coming out of its hole.

 

Pass it beneath the rope, then bring up and back into the bunny hole. Stay to the left of the knot.

 

Then IMPORTANT: BACK UP the BOWLINE KNOT — ALWAYS. Use a stopper knot and then push the knot down to right behind the bowline knot.

 

Again, the benefit of the bowline is that it is fast to setup, strong, and is easily adjustable.

 

Equalization

 

Once your anchors are tied up and you’ve have you master point setup at it’s location you want to make sure your system is equalized (or that the slack between the two anchors are the same).

 

Using the dynamic rope attached to, but still scrunched up, the master point helps in creating sufficient tension to test equalization.

 

To test the equalization of the system, make sure the master point is completely down. Sometimes, it can get caught on rocks. Then pull both anchors above a couple feet above the master point. The rope between your hands and the master point should show no discernable slack for either anchor.

 

If you do see slack, you can try retying the BFK. Sometimes this is faster, especially if your are using the tensionless method.

 

If you are using the bowline knot, then you can adjust the appropriate anchor by moving the tongue of the bowline knot.

 

If you are using the tensionless, then you may have to putz around to readjust it.

 

FINAL CHECK

 

Once again, consider the SRENE principles: Strong, Redundant, Equalized, and No Extension.

 

Also, double check all your knots! Make sure they are backed up.

 

Preparing the dynamic rope for tossing down

 

There are a couple methods for this. I didn’t write down the easy method, but here is the more complicated one….

 

Untie the rope.

 

Throw the two ends far away from you and then start flaking the rope.

 

Once you get to the middle, attach the carabiners, lay the bite around your hand and let it hang.

 

Then pull up some rope and let the bite hand on the opposite direction.

 

Do this 5-6 times trying to make the bites as longs you can.

 

Once you can no longer hold any rope in your hand, create a bite and pass it underneath the tunnel.

 

Now, you’ve create the “NEXT LEVEL” . Then repeat the process.

 

You may have 3 or so levels.

 

Then with your right hand grab the BFK knot and get ready.

 

Tossing the rope down

 

Call out “ROPE”

 

Down below they should call out “CLEAR” or “STUCK” if the rope is stuck.

 

Once it hits the bottom, they should call out “DOWN”.

 

 

Another check

 

You may want to check the system again. Especially the master point.

 

Make sure it’s not resting improperly, lose or anything else.

 

Do another SRENE check.

 

You also want someone else to check out your system to make sure that everything is OK.

 

Likewise, if you didn’t make the system, you are going to want to ask the other person what they were thinking and what checks they made.

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]]> http://www.vesco.us/2010/08/outdoors/outdoor-rock-climbing-top-rope-systems-and-anchors.html/feed 0 Webscraping with R http://www.vesco.us/2010/06/technology/r/webscraping-with-r.html http://www.vesco.us/2010/06/technology/r/webscraping-with-r.html#comments Wed, 09 Jun 2010 19:33:06 +0000 Robert http://www.vesco.us/?p=401 For those of you interested in R, I’ll be giving a talk at the DC Area R Meetup group.

I’ll give an “Introduction to Webscraping with R” and there will also be someone talking about “literate programming / Reproducible Research”.

Hope you can join us.

For more info:

http://www.meetup.com/R-users-DC/

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]]> http://www.vesco.us/2010/06/technology/r/webscraping-with-r.html/feed 0 R & Eclipse http://www.vesco.us/2010/01/technology/r-eclipse-2.html http://www.vesco.us/2010/01/technology/r-eclipse-2.html#comments Wed, 06 Jan 2010 04:57:09 +0000 Robert http://www.vesco.us/?p=399 R is an absolutely amazing statistical programming system. The more I work with it, the more impressed I become with what it can do. With the packages and tools it provides, I can scrape the web, manage databases, and perform analysis all from one platform. Once you get passed the initial learning curve it saves time and money. However, it sorely lacks a group of solid IDEs. By solid, I mean an IDE that has an object browser and debugging facilities.

Thus, I was initially excited by REvolution Computing’s Visual Studio based IDE, but they make it difficult to try the software and their lag time in returning questions gave me cold feet.

After trying several editors and quasi-IDE’s, I chose eclipse for several reasons:

  • It’s cross-platform and doesn’t install anything on windows.
  • Coupled with the Stat ET plug-in, it has an excellent object browser.
  • I can program C++, PHP, and Python scripts using the same IDE.

Installing Eclipse for the first time can be a time consuming process and I was skeptical that it would be worth it, but now that it’s done, I’m thrilled.

Here a pic of it’s object browser:

Browser 300x153 R & Eclipse

A pic of the entire editor (click to see full fize):

FullEditor 300x203 R & Eclipse

Resources:

For trouble shooting, rjava issue:

http://www.walware.de/it/statet/installation.mframe

For IN-DEPTH tutorial:

http://www.splusbook.com/Rintro/R_Eclipse_StatET.pdf

Gotchas:

On windows, make sure you have your path variables setup properly, else you may have issues. Vista can also be a pain, you may have to give administrator rights to Rcmd to make it run properly or allow users full control.

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]]> http://www.vesco.us/2010/01/technology/r-eclipse-2.html/feed 0 Save my MySQL? http://www.vesco.us/2009/12/technology/save-my-mysql.html http://www.vesco.us/2009/12/technology/save-my-mysql.html#comments Sun, 13 Dec 2009 15:19:33 +0000 Robert http://www.vesco.us/?p=389 The author of MySQL believes the current acquisition of SUN Microsystems by Oracle is just a ruse to kill off MySQL. For those who are unfamiliar with MySQL, it is one of the open source databases that power most of the web at the moment. IMHO, I agree that Oracle has every incentive to kill off MySQL and their past  behavior with InnoDB suggests this as well. Thus, if you love MySQL check out his post.

via Monty says: Help saving MySQL.

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]]> http://www.vesco.us/2009/12/technology/save-my-mysql.html/feed 0 How do I get the File Save or File Open dialogs to show details by default? http://www.vesco.us/2009/12/technology/how-do-i-get-the-file-save-or-file-open-dialogs-to-show-details-by-default.html http://www.vesco.us/2009/12/technology/how-do-i-get-the-file-save-or-file-open-dialogs-to-show-details-by-default.html#comments Sat, 05 Dec 2009 23:37:05 +0000 Robert http://www.vesco.us/?p=387 If you have a lot of files with unique timestamps or other details that you can quickly ascertain in “detail view” than you are probably frustrated with the fact that when opening the file dialog in a program you cannot set the “detail view” to be the default. Instead, each and every time, you need to switch from list view to detail view to find what you are looking for. The trick to have it keep the details view is this:

1) Open the file dialog from any application

2) Switch to “detail view”

3) Press the control button and sort on the name

4) Either open a file or press the exit button.

You may have to restart your computer, but in Vista 64, it held immediately.

via

How do I get the File Save or File Open dialogs to show details by default?.

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]]> http://www.vesco.us/2009/12/technology/how-do-i-get-the-file-save-or-file-open-dialogs-to-show-details-by-default.html/feed 0 Read the bill? It might not help… http://www.vesco.us/2009/09/politics/read-the-bill-it-might-not-help.html http://www.vesco.us/2009/09/politics/read-the-bill-it-might-not-help.html#comments Tue, 08 Sep 2009 14:00:10 +0000 Robert http://www.vesco.us/?p=373 Politico.com just published an article Read the bill? It might not help basically bemoaning the fact that the bills are complicated and arguing that it may not be an efficient use of time for legislators.

We live in the most technologically advanced country in the world and yet our congress (and government) for that matter still doesn’t know how to use readily available technologies!

How about WIKIs or online bills? Not only could these methods allow easy cross-linking within documents and other bills – but more importantly – like I argued here – with wikis you could track who made the changes and subscribe to them too! Imagine thousands of people being able to keep tabs on the latest sausage coming out of congress! If legislators don’t want to do their job, I’m sure there are plenty of Americans that would be happy to do it for them and hold them accountable.

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]]> http://www.vesco.us/2009/09/politics/read-the-bill-it-might-not-help.html/feed 0 Battery Stations Instead of Gas Stations? http://www.vesco.us/2009/09/uncategorized/battery-stations-instead-of-gas-stations.html http://www.vesco.us/2009/09/uncategorized/battery-stations-instead-of-gas-stations.html#comments Sat, 05 Sep 2009 18:31:54 +0000 Robert http://www.vesco.us/?p=368 I like this idea a lot and I think it has a of lot of potential.

One of the reasons why hydrogen fuel seemed so feasible (on one level at least) is that current investments in gas stations could be retained.

More radical approaches to fueling cars mean that owners of gas stations stand to lose their shirt.

via

Marty Nemko: Battery Stations Instead of Gas Stations?.

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]]> http://www.vesco.us/2009/09/uncategorized/battery-stations-instead-of-gas-stations.html/feed 0 Automate Excel » Backup Del.icio.us with Excel http://www.vesco.us/2009/09/technology/automate-excel-%c2%bb-backup-del-icio-us-with-excel.html http://www.vesco.us/2009/09/technology/automate-excel-%c2%bb-backup-del-icio-us-with-excel.html#comments Fri, 04 Sep 2009 03:52:48 +0000 Robert http://www.vesco.us/?p=357 A very cool tool to backup your delicious bookmarks. Also useful if you need to generate a list of links.

Automate Excel » Backup Del.icio.us with Excel.

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]]> http://www.vesco.us/2009/09/technology/automate-excel-%c2%bb-backup-del-icio-us-with-excel.html/feed 0 OECD/Census Seminar on Turning Statistics into Knowledge http://www.vesco.us/2009/08/research/oecdcensus-seminar-on-turning-statistics-into-knowledge.html http://www.vesco.us/2009/08/research/oecdcensus-seminar-on-turning-statistics-into-knowledge.html#comments Fri, 28 Aug 2009 05:27:36 +0000 Robert http://www.vesco.us/?p=355 In July the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development OECD and the U.S. Census Bureau hosted a two day seminar on turning statistics into knowledge.

There are some really nice presentations here, but you have to click on the hyperlinks in the PDF:

http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/29/15/42667493.pdf

via Kauffman – Presentations Available from OECD/Census Seminar on Turning Statistics into Knowledge.

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]]> http://www.vesco.us/2009/08/research/oecdcensus-seminar-on-turning-statistics-into-knowledge.html/feed 0 Economic Experiments and the Placebo Effect http://www.vesco.us/2009/08/uncategorized/economic-experiments-and-the-placebo-effect.html http://www.vesco.us/2009/08/uncategorized/economic-experiments-and-the-placebo-effect.html#comments Tue, 25 Aug 2009 23:23:49 +0000 Robert http://www.vesco.us/?p=333 Wired Magazine has an interesting article on how the placebo effect has been getting stronger over time. How does this bode for economic experiments – or randomized trials conducted for development projects?

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