USWTR Submarine OEIS is finally completed

My Environmental group has been working on the Undersea Warfare Training Range OEIS/EIS for supposedly 14 years and the final version is online here (USWTR Site). Keep in mind this website was started in like 1990. The design is very old school.

When working on large federal environmental projects there is such a disconnect between the day-to-day work and the final product that its hard to conceptualize how your work affects the big picture. Ultimately, the US Navy deemed it necessary to build an Undersea Warfare Training Range somewhere near the Atlantic coastal shelf. Along with a variety of consulting agencies, from both environmental and practical backgrounds, we completed an offshore environmental impact statement for the range.

Here's what Wikipedia explains about the EIS process components:

• Scoping: When a project is first proposed, the agency announces it with a notice in the Federal Register, notices in local media, and letters to citizens and groups that it knows are likely to be interested. Citizens and groups are welcome to send in comments helping the agency identify the issues it must address in the EIS (or EA).
• Draft EIS: Based on both agency expertise, and issues raised by the public the agency prepares a Draft EIS with a full description of the affected environment, a reasonable range of alternatives, and an analysis of the impacts of each alternative. The public is then provided a second opportunity to provide comments.
• Final EIS and Proposed Action: Based on the comments on the Draft EIS, the agency writes a Final EIS, and announces its Proposed Action. The public is not invited to comment on this, but if they are still unhappy, or feel that the agency has missed a major issue, they may protest the EIS to the Director of the agency. The Director may either ask the agency to revise the EIS, or explain to the protester why their complaints are not actually taken care of.
• Record of Decision: Once all the protests are resolved the agency issues a Record of Decision which is its final action prior to implementation. If members of the public are still dissatisfied with the outcome they may sue the agency in Federal court.

Summer and Murders in New York & Artie Lange: Too Fat To Fish

The New York Times released a great investigatory piece on the correlation between summertime and murders in New York City. There is also a really interesting interactive map that maps all the homicides from 2003 - 2009. Central Brooklyn, Bed Stuy and Crown Heights looks to have the highest concentration of murders but the article states that per capita, the Bronx has the highest murder rates.

Fresh Air recently interviewed comedian Artie Lange in regards to his new book Too Fat To Fish. The interview was hilarious and insightful into Artie's depression as well as his memories of childhood with his dad.

Infrastructure, Bonaroo and new album by indie frontmen

Read about getting infrastructure up to par in the latest issue of NY Times magazine.

Read reviews of Bonaroo here (PopMatters) and here (NYTimes)

And Pitchfork has confirmed that Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes), Jim James (My Morning Jacket) and M. Ward are releasing an album together.

Microsoft Bing & .kml's for ArcExplorer

Microsoft is coming out with a search engine to rival Google. In typical Microsoft fashion, the product has been announced without actually being up. See the awesome (insert sarcasm here) video of Bing in action here.

So in part of my company's merger our Environmental group has included some new folks from other company's who actually understand the concept of GIS and its tool for presenting spatial data. So I've developed an ArcExplorer solution (our Google licensing is terrible) that will show graphs of each monitoring point that can be used without internet (by adding aerials of the project area to the .nmf). Initially, I was using shapefiles and trying to get balloons and data to show but in actuality I ended up using .kml files because they are just so dam good for displaying balloons and really easy to use. I don't even bother with exporting the .kml from shapefile. It's much better to just get the x,y's of the data points and export a table that and convert that using the excel to .kml tools that are all over the web.

Jay Bennett passed away

Former Wilco guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Jay Bennett has passed away this weekend. He's was in the midst of trying to recoup compensation for his role in a film about Wilco and trying to finance a hip surgery, as musicians rarely have health insurance. Bennett and Wilco founder and frontman, Jeff Tweedy, often sparred over ideas in the studio but created some pretty incredible peices of art, most memorabily, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Tweedy had these words to say, "We will miss Jay as we remember him — as a truly unique and gifted human being and one who made welcome and significant contributions to the band's songs and evolution." Wilco is currently on tour in Spain and will tour this summer in support of their latest cd Wilco (The Album). Bennett has worked on solo material since leaving Wilco and has played in Titanic Love Affair and many studio sessions.

Folk Music Dead Again, Wilco & NYC loses its jazz (festival)

After a long end of semester, I'm done with my first engineering class. Now time to focus on more important stuff; music, festivals, beer & my new community garden plot in my new neighborhood of Brooklyn Heights.
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Robert Loss from PopMatters contemplates the Death of the Second Folk Revival. While I don't know if I agree completely with the idea of the death of folk due to increased technology, I do find the piece to be a great read. And I find that Loss's opinion of how Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska is something Hank Williams would view as authentic disagrees greatly with Wilco's frontman Jeff Tweedy's opinion from the new Wilco DVD Ashes of American Flags on Hank Williams and his view of him as a pop star in his time. Speaking of Wilco, I'm not thrilled with the new album but will continue to listen in hopes of it growing on me. Most Wilco albums are a slow burn but Wilco (the Album) has barely captivated me at all.

Unfortunately, NYC is losing its Jazz Fest due to lack of funding related to the economy. Though, for those interested with a few days to spare can attend the Rochester Jazz Festival.

Update: Phosphorus Loading GIS Application for Lake DeForest Reservoir, Rockland County, New York

My Phosphorus Loading GIS Application for Lake DeForest Reservoir, Rockland County, New York is in the works.

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