Ninth Circuit Proposition 8 Ruling

Posted on February 7, 2012 by weston

I am thrilled about the ruling that the 9th circuit handed down today. If you’d like a summary I would run over to thinkprogress.org. I’ve included a couple gems of quotes below and the full ruling hosted on scribd.com

“Proposition 8 serves no purpose, and has no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California, and to officially reclassify their relationships and families as inferior to those of opposite-sex couples.” page 5

“The People may not employ the initiative power to single out a disfavored group for unequal treatment and strip them, without a legitimate justification, of a right as important as the right to marry. Accordingly, we affirm the judgment of the district court.” page 7

“A rose by any other name may smell as sweet, but to the couple desiring to enter into a committed lifelong relationship, a marriage by the name of ‘registered domestic partnership’ does not.” page 37

“The designation of ‘marriage’ is [...] the principal manner in which the State attaches respect and dignity to the highest form of a committed relationship and to the individuals who have entered into it.” page 39

Ninth Circuit Proposition 8 Opinion Ruling

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It’s a Money Making Scheme

Posted on January 30, 2012 by weston

My roommate was trying to make a salient point in a facebook debate over climate change to which he received the abrupt rebuttal, “It’s a money making scheme.”

It took me a day to process but this morning I realized, “Yes it’s a money making scheme!” As much as the oil industry, or any industry for that matter is a money making scheme. Yes, a stuggling alternative energy industry is trying to become economically viable. Yes, it’s in their interest for everyone to believe in climate change. It’s also in the interest of the highly successful oil and coal industries for people to not believe, or at least not care about climate change. If governments make climate change issues into an economic interest for the oil industry then as good business people they’ll start caring.

The point of whose economic interest is at stake shouldn’t factor into the discussion of climate change. It is a matter of understanding the climatological changes that are happening on a global scale.

It is not a question of if the earth has gone through significant climate changes in the past. It is not a question of if we are on the precipice of significant climate changes in the near future (next 100 years). It is a question of how well we understand these changes. It is a question of how much impact we as humans have or can have on these changes.

If you’re interested in the century long history of exhaustive science that supports current theory I would highly recommend The Discovery of Global Warming (Dec. 2011). There is also a very brief and succinct introduction that gives an overview of the subject Introduction:
A Hyperlinked History of Climate Change Science (May 2010).

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Python Screenshot Server

Posted on October 5, 2011 by weston

Thought I’d share some code python. This is just a simple way to share a screenshot over a network.

"""
Serves screen shots at a specified interval.
Doesn't handle POST requests.

Based on code from:

http://www.blendedtechnologies.com/python-trick-really-little-http-server/220

Code source:

http://westonrenoud.com/?p=123

"""
import os
import time
import threading
import SocketServer
import SimpleHTTPServer
from PIL import ImageGrab

HOST = os.environ['COMPUTERNAME']
PORT = 80

REFRESH = 5 # refresh interval in seconds

class CustomHandler(SimpleHTTPServer.SimpleHTTPRequestHandler):
  def do_GET(self):
    self.send_response(200)
    self.send_header('Refresh','%s; url=http://%s:%s/' % (REFRESH,HOST,PORT))
    self.send_header('Content-type','image/jpeg')
    self.end_headers()
    f = open('screenshot.jpeg','rb')
    self.wfile.write(f.read())

def ScreenCapture():
  while 1:
    ImageGrab.grab().save("screenshot.jpeg", "JPEG")
    time.sleep(REFRESH)

ScreenCaptureThread = threading.Thread(target = ScreenCapture)
ScreenCaptureThread.setDaemon(True)
ScreenCaptureThread.start()

httpd = SocketServer.ThreadingTCPServer((HOST, PORT),CustomHandler)

print "serving at port", PORT
httpd.serve_forever()
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Original U.S.C.&.G.S.S. Fairweather Life Ring

Posted on October 5, 2011 by weston
Original U.S.C.&.G.S.S. Fairweather Life Ring

Original U.S.C.&.G.S.S. Fairweather Life Ring

Two of my shipmates found an old life ring from our ship at a Ketchikan, AK antique shop. I couldn’t pass it up. After hearing about it I made a trip to the shop and bought it, along with a 1928 nautical chart of our current working grounds in Chatham Strait.

Upon further inspection, the ship consensus is that the life ring was from the original commissioning in 1968. The stamped approval date on the ring is December 1966, which is only 3 months before the Fairweather’s launch date in March 1967.

There are several signatures on the ring dated 1972 indicating that it was likely “surplussed” that year to a local establishment or individual. The likely reason for the “surplussing” was the change in the ship’s designation when the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey became a part of the new parent organization, NOAA in 1970.

A fun find at the end of my service on the NOAA Ship Fairweather.

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Return to the Arctic

Posted on March 31, 2011 by weston
NOAA Ship Fairweather at anchor near the Bering Strait in 2010, courtesy of NOAA

NOAA Ship Fairweather at anchor near the Bering Strait in 2010, courtesy of NOAA

Last year, as a part of ongoing arctic research and, according to a news release from NOAA, due to “request[s] from the U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard, Alaska Maritime Pilots and the commercial shipping industry” NOAA Ship Fairweather made the first of what will be many voyages into the arctic. She surveyed “350 square nautical miles in the Bering Straits around Cape Prince of Wales.” For the ship this was a refocusing of her ongoing mission to “conduct hydrographic surveys in support of nautical charting.”

According to the article titled “Polar ice packs“ on Wikipedia, mid-summer ice area in the arctic has shown a decreasing trend over the last sixty years of recorded measures. In 2005 and 2007 the ice area minimum hit records 20% and 46%, respectively, below the 1978-2000 average minimum. The article also notes that in 2007 “for the first time in recorded history, the Northwest Passage opened to ships without the need of icebreakers.” Read more »

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Why?

Posted on March 8, 2011 by weston
Library of the Abbey of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme

Private library of the Abbey of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme - Rome, Italy

Over the last several years I have seen amazing things, had many an adventure and accumulated numerous stories. Before they drift too far from memory I want to preserve and share as much as I can. I hope to share future adventures and slowly add to the library of past adventures.

At the same time there are many social and political conversations happening that I wish to participate in. I have been increasingly finding the 140 character limit of so many social media services to be overly restrictive. So I hope to use this space to participate in the long form of those conversations.

Hope to see you around.

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