Humongous Megaload Turns 90 Degree Corner

Using a Nikon DSLR camera and shotgun mike I recorded the movements of the megaload as it turned the corner in Marsing Idaho on Saturday night December 28, 2013.

Megaload Parked in Idaho - 270 degree panoramas

For several days around Christmas the huge megaload shipment traveling secondary highways through Oregon, Idaho and Montana has been parked 2 miles west of Marsing Idaho.  The plan is to start moving the megaload again on Friday December 27, at 10 PM.  The megaload rig will have to turn a sharp corner in downtown Marsing as it moves toward the towns of Grand View and Bruneau, Idaho.

Visit this link to see the High Resolution panoramas on Picasa Web.

I also posted 8 still photos of the megaload area and people looking at the pull and push trucks and the haul rig.

Here is the link to that Picasa Web Album.

Citizen Exploration / far beyond Citizen Science.

Tim O'Reilly on Google+ "This piece is utterly brilliant, an important manifesto on how the DIY movement is enabling a new era of citizen exploration (far beyond the vision of "citizen science.") He is referring to this article titled: Makers: the New Explorers of the Universe by David Lang, 11/02/13 Tim provides One Sample: "People have been talking about the Internet of Things for years. But the aesthetic of the industrial internet always conjured up visions of connected devices that spoke quietly to each other: thermostats that never needed tending, plants that watered themselves and toasters that knew the day’s weather. It was always a promise of convenience (and automation and sleekness). What wasn’t obvious, to me anyway, was that an Internet of Things could usher in a golden age for curiosity. Where everyone, even a luddite like me, was constantly at the edge of what was possible. Where a new adventure — a new set of questions about our world and our place in it — was only a group friends and an internet connection away." Or as Stewart Brand said, in the memorable quote that opens the piece: “[In] the last century, discovery was basically finding things. And in this century, discovery is basically making things.”

Stellar Jays at Thanksgiving Tables

Using a GoPro camera, tripod and WiFi setup with iPhone I recorded these Stellar Jays coming to a bird feeder on Thanksgiving day, 2012.

Credits to David Dudley for building and placing the bird feeders.

I uploaded the same 1080p video to Vimeo and YouTube for comparison in various resolutions, including 1080p.

Video uploaded to Vimeo
Stellar Jays Thanksgiving Table from Gary O. Grimm on Vimeo.

Video uploaded to YouTube

 

Boise River Armchair Tour

Liz Paul, Idaho Rivers United, posted links to several Mountain Visions Google Earth Tours and Gigapans shown at the Boise River Armchair Tour last night, November 26, 2013.

These include the following:

Wild Upper Boise River (HD) YouTube Video using Google Earth to show photos and dams being considered on the wild and free North and Middle fork sections.

Grimes Creek/CuMo Mine A Google Earth 3D Tour of the Boise River headwaters where exploration for the potential CuMo Mine is ongoing.

4 Boise River Walks These include 4 different EveryTrail photo walks produced with the iPhone App.

High water google earth tour With Lighthawk we shot aerial photos of the Boise River at High Water on June 3, 2011 and produced a Google Earth tour showing photos juxtaposed on the 3D Map.

Barber Pool Conservation Area and Boise Foothills gigapan - Approximately 500 telephoto images create this interactive 3 Gigabyte photo.

Boise River Looking downstream at Barber Pool from Highway 21 Bridge Gigapan Approximately 250 telephoto images are used to create this 1.5 Gigabyte Interactive Image.

Guide to view Comet ISON in December

The Huffington Post has published the following graphic guide for seeing the Comet IOSN in North America starting December 1, 2013, assuming the comet is not destroyed by its close encounter with the sun.

Is "Glamour Camping" appropriate on the Middle Fork of the Salmon Wilderness?

Today, there was article in the Idaho Statesman titled "No roughing it: Go 'glamping' on the River of No Return" written by William Kronholm - The Associated Press.

Here are a few quotes to describe "glamour camping" or "Glamping" from the article.

"Stuffed morel mushrooms and braised free-range chicken with fennel puree and blackberry compote. Served on linen tablecloths with a carefully matched wine. Pineapple upside-down cake for dessert. This is wilderness camping? ...In other words: no roughing it."
"No wedging into a tiny backpacking tent for the night. Each couple has a stand-up six-person tent with cot, mattress and pillow, a lantern on the night table and a rug on the floor." "...Yoga sessions after breakfast...the masseuse awaits you at her streamside massage table...Want a hot shower? Just ask; it will be arranged." "And the food? Four-course gourmet dinners every night, with organic ingredients and a chef’s eye for presentation. Gourmet breakfasts as well. And a hot lunch on the river, unique among rafting companies that usually offer cold cuts."

I wonder how much of the gear necessary for this "Glamour Camping" is carried on the supply boats for each trip and how much of it is either cached at supply points along the river or flown in by aircraft to landing spots. It would also be interesting to know how much money a Middle Fork of the Salmon Wilderness "Glamping" trip costs each customer.

FYI, I am embedding a Gigapan image I produced at Boundary Creek, the put in point for all "private - commercial" river trips and most "public non-commercial" or common adventure river floating trips on the Middle Fork. ((For some reason the Federal agencies such as the Forest Service reverses these terms and designates non-commercial trips as private assuming that the expensive trips supplied by commercial outfitters are for the public.)

Daggar Falls is just upstream from this point and would require a portage for most float trips. Imagine portaging all of the gear necessary for the Glamping trip described in this article! I will add another Gigapan image of Daggar Falls too.

Megaload Google Earth Tour on Highway 12 in Idaho

On September 13 2013 Judge Winmill again rules that U.S. Forest Service can halt Industrial Megagloads ( Wider, higher and longer truck transports than the highway was built for) while studies are done and the Nez Perce Tribe is consulted. (See the Idaho Rivers United web site for details on this current ruling.)

I started creating this Google earth tour in the fall of 2010 before the first megaloads were due to start moving and created the KMZ file in February 2011. The tour showing the narrow Idaho Highway 12 along the Wild & Scenic Lochsa River. You can see the narrow bridges and canyon walls where the huge megaload trucks have to travel.

Download the 6GEMegaloadsTour.kmz file here.

An automated tour that lasts about 9 minutes is available when you double click the "Megaload Tour (Play this first!" icon just under the Google Earth KMZ icon which you should see in your "Temporary Places" in the Google Earth browser. You can pause (II) the controller bar that appears in the bottom left of the Google Earth map window and use the navigation tools to explore the map as you wish. When you hit the Play (>) button the tour will resume from where you paused it.

For example, in Google Earth you can turn on the street views and see panorama photos taken from the highway. You can also turn on the Panoramio photo layer to view photographs people have submitted over time.

Boise River Walk 5 - Idaho, United States

Liz Paul, Boise River Coordinator for Idaho Rivers United led another Greenbelt Walk for Health, Habitat and Heritage during the July 7, 2013 Boise Sesquicentennial Party at Julia Davis Park.  

I used the Everytrail Pro iPhone app to create a GPS track and photographs during the walk.  This was a similar walk to the one Liz led on April 5, when the leaves on the trees were starting to green.  Today was hot and the green trees provided much appreciated shade.  We also saw a lot of people floating the river.  At the end of the tour I shot one 30 second video of a band playing at the Bandshell with the EveryTrail app which reduced the size to 360p.

Boise River Walk 5 at EveryTrail
EveryTrail - Find the best Hiking in Idaho

Update 2 / Mobile device Google Earth view of 4 Boise River Walks

 I have been able to view kmz files on my iPhone in Google Earth and decided to try to load the new file combining kml files from 4 Google Maps and 4 kmz files from the EveryTrail app produced for the Idaho River United Boise River Walks for Health, Habitat and Heritage.  In addition I added polygon shapes around the 4 different walk areas and placed a name for each. 1.  Barber Area; 2. Julia Davis Park;  3  Willow Lane; and 4. Garden City.

Below is a Screen shot from Google Earth showing the 4 Boise River Walk areas.

Amazingly it works the same as it does on the desktop Google Earth Browser.

The easiest way to use the file below on your mobile device that has Google Earth (iOS and Android at least) is to send the file via email and open the mail on your mobile device.  Clicking on the file will allow you to open it in Google Earth on your mobile device.

BoiseRiverWalksHealthHabitatHeritage4.kmz

I am interested in how this works because it seems that it could be considerably faster,  less complicated  and more customizable to create a mobile virtual tour this way than to try to create a stand alone app.

One issue I see right away is that the EveryTrail tours do not automatically run from photo point to point as they do in the stand alone EveryTrail map.  However, the tracks and all of the photos are available to look at individually.  It would be easy to create a direct link to each EveryTrail file in order to be able to run the slide shows.

One assumption I would have to make is that people use Google Earth enough to feel comfortable exploring in this 3 D virtual world environment.

I would appreciate any comments about this idea.

Thanks,

Gary

Update / Boise River Walks for Health, Habitat and Heritage

I decided to try to add the Google Map kml files for each of the 4 Boise River Walks organized by Idaho Rivers United in the spring of 2013.

While doing this I also added a polygon line around the area of each walk and added a visible name to identify these areas from a distance in Google Earth. Now the pop up information windows from Google Maps show up in Google Earth.

 This is still a work in progress as images could be added to these windows and more detail could be added to the EveryTrail photos. It would also be possible to add video clips and other information to the tours.

 Here is a link to the new kmz file with new features noted above added.

"Boise River Walks for Health Habitat and Heritage"

Note this is a work in progress that will be improved as time permits.

I Collaborated with Liz Paul, Boise River Campaign Coordinator at Idaho Rivers United to create Google Maps and EveryTrail iPhone maps with photos for 4 walks along the river during the spring of 2013. The IRU web page below contains Liz's written description highlights of each of the 4 walks, her Google Maps identifying specific locations with pop up windows that provide the same information, and the EveryTrail maps with photos I produced for all 4 walks.

http://www.idahorivers.org/news/?id=342

Here is a KMZ file that provides a 3D Google Earth view of all 4 walks and related photos.

Free Landsat 8 Data Now Available

KML Tool on the following page provides overlay with transparency slider on Google Earth. (Via USGS Landsat Missions)

http://landsat.usgs.gov/LDCM_Landsat8.php

Data collected by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) and the Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) onboard the Landsat 8 satellite are available to download at no charge from GloVis, EarthExplorer, or via the LandsatLook Viewer.

Photo below is a screen shot of Google Earth showing April 27, 2013 Landsat 8 imagery near Boise, Idaho.

Mid 1980 to 90's Mountain Visions Multi-image productions

On the Internet Archive Wayback Machine from 1997 I found mid 80's to mid 90's listing of 23 Mountain Visions Northwest and Idaho Multi-image productions. http://web.archive.org/web/19971013085544/http://www.mtnvisions.com/MMShows.html

Boise River Morning Bird Walk. GPS tracking route and photos.

Using the EveryTrail Pro iPhone app I created a walking GPS tour with photos on the Boise River. This is the third "Boise River Walk for Health, Habitat and Heritage led by Liz Paul, Idaho Rivers United Boise River Campaign Coordinator. On this walk Liz described waterfowl, a heron rookery, talked about river channel dynamics, floodplain and native and invasive plants. Bring your binoculars. Below is a link to a Google Map with descriptions of locations of Interest that war visited:

http://goo.gl/maps/d2gFb

1. New Dry Creek Irrigation Diversion built in 1879. 2. Head of Eagle Island 3. Gravel Quarry 4. West Boise Wastewater Plant 5. Sensitive Bird Nesting Area

Boise River Morning Bird Walk at EveryTrail
EveryTrail - Find the best Hiking near Boise, Idaho

Monarch Butterflies Migration Google Earth Tour

Watched this very nice  Encyclopedia of Life HD Monarch Butterfly Migration Google Earth Tour.  Included in this YouTube video are citizen science projects and personal stories about the migration.  Also  a Google Earth KMZ file you can download is found in the Description area under  "Show More."

Interactive Map and Stories of Old Fort Boise

Interesting interactive map and stories of old Fort Boise in Idaho Statesman today.

http://legacy.idahostatesman.com/hype/fortboise/

  

Two Gigapans from the Robie Creek Area in Idaho

Last Saturday, April 20, 2013 I shot and uploaded two Gigapans of the Robie Creek area where the "Race to Robie Creek" ended.  One Gigapan shows a narrow view of the area and a second shows a wider view of some of the home sites on the volcanic plateau. 

 You can view these in full screen High definition and also view them aligned with the 3D terrain in Google Earth.

http://gigapan.com/gigapans/128180
http://gigapan.com/gigapans/128387

April 6, 2013 Approaching Evening Time Lapse

I have been trying to capture sunset tine lapse sequences near Boise Idaho this spring. I have not been able to capture a really nice colorful sunset yet, but I am getting some interesting effects anyway. This one was shot with a GoPro camera as the sun set over East Boise and the Foothills. As it got darker the house and city lights started coming on.

This HDTime Lapse video is on Vimeo.

The same HD video is also on YouTube.

 

Boise River Walk Tour Google Earth File

For the Everytrail iPhone App tour that I downloaded in the last two blog posts Everytrail also provides a KMZ file where you can fly down and see the detailed 3D map view, the location spots for all of the photos and open and view the photos and descriptions.



Here is a link to the KMZ file.

Test # 2 / Boise River Walking Tour

I am experimenting with the EveryTrailPro iPhone app to create a photo tour of a walk along the Boise River. Below is the non-Flash version link they provide. I notice that the photos do not play as a slide show right in the Blog window, but they are available to view if you roll over and click on one of the red location markers. Also note that the link to the Tour on Everytrail is functional and shows the full description of the project, a larger map view and a running slide show of all of the photos. Boise River walk for health, habitat and heritage at EveryTrail
EveryTrail - Find the best Hiking in Idaho

Test / EveryTrail Boise River tour

I am experimenting with the EveryTrailPro iPhone app to create a photo tour of a walk along the Boise River. Below is the Flash version link they provide that seems to play right inside of the Blog page, but does not provide a direct link to the EveryTrail map with the full description. I will post this now to see how it functions and may edit it later. (Note that there is also a non-flash version I can provide and I may do this is a separate blog post. Flash version

Boise River walk for health, habitat and heritage

EveryTrail - Find the best Hiking in Idaho

New Harrison Hollow Gigapan 2

Last night I uploaded two Gigapans I shot during the March 2, 2013 Trail Day at Harrison Hollow in Boise, Idaho  They are both showing the same area, but have different people doing different things in each. The link to the second Gigapan page is below.

http://gigapan.com/gigapans/125514

As I note in the description you should use the full screen option to see the highest quality image.  The "Snapshot" images do not show in full screen so you should use the normal screen first to zoom in and explore the snapshot views. Also, I have aligned both of these Gigapans in Google Earth.  Viewing each of them in Google Earth will take you to a fly in right to the ridge where I was standing and open up the Gigapan that you can zoom into and explore.

A small working version is embedded here, but the link above will let you see much more.

New Harrison Hollow Gigapans

Last night I uploaded two Gigapans I shot during the March 2, 2013 Trail Day at Harrison Hollow in Boise, Idaho  They are both showing the same area, but have different people doing different things in each. The link to the Gigapan page is below.

http://gigapan.com/gigapans/125509

As I note in the description you should use the full screen option to see the highest quality image.  The "Snapshot" images do not show in full screen so you should use the normal screen first to zoom in and explore the snapshot views. Also, I have aligned both of these Gigapans in Google Earth.  Viewing each of them in Google Earth will take you to a fly in right to the ridge where I was standing and open up the Gigapan that you can zoom into and explore.

A small working version is embedded here, but the link above will let you see much more.

Harrison Hollow Trail Day - March 2, 2012 - Boise, Idaho

I shot a few DSLR  time lapse 2 second interval, sequences  showing volunteers doing work at the Harrison Hollow Trail Day on March 2. 2013.  This is an experiment in combining these and playing at 30 frames per second.

Sage Grouse In The Schools - Emmett, Idaho

The Sage Grouse in the Schools video we produced with The Nature Conservancy and U.S. Fish and Wildlife will be shown at the the Annual Wild and Scenic Film Festival, in Boise Idaho on March 9. 2013.

Close up of Sage Grouse Strut display

Very good close up action and sound in this Male Sage Grouse strut display video.

(Via Cornell Lab of Ornithology)

The Record High Stock Market - How are you doing?

Contrary to what we usually hear, read, or see in the popular media, the stock market reflects the health of Corporate profits, not the overall health of the overall economy. The record high rating today, in view of the state of our current economy should verify this for all of us. Compared to big corporations,how many of the rest of us have any  in the influence in the status of the stock market?  Investments of the 99% are very small compared to big business. Yet when the stock market goes down, those with investments, no matter how small are disproportionally affected.

Robert Reich vis Huff Post Blog provides a view of how the lower income 99% compare to the "Big American Corporations in profits and how this relates to the record high stock market today. 

"Rarely before in American history have public policies so radically helped the most fortunate among us, so cruelly harmed the least fortunate, and exposed so many average working Americans to such widespread insecurity."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-reich/stock-market-record-high_b_2812590.html

School VS Individual and Community Learning?

My major interest in college through today has been the topic of learning and how an individual (human and others) gained survival knowledge and skills alone and within their community.  The article (and video) by Sugata Mitra, This years TED Prize winner "We Need Schools..Not Factories' makes sense to me. (Via Huffington Post)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sugata-mitra/2013-ted-prize_b_2767598.html

Free online access to taxer-funded research

 We The People e-petition asked for free online access to taxpayer-funded research and the White House responded. (Via O'Reilly Radar)

http://radar.oreilly.com/2013/02/white-house-open-access-research-online.html

Where is the outcry regarding federal spending cuts?

Good questions!   "So where's the outcry? Why aren't more people up in arms? Why aren't big businesses (including major military contractors) and Wall Street screaming into the ears of the GOP? Where's the outrage from Main Street?"   "Yet the silence is deafening."

"It's no time for showdown fatigue."  "It's time to fight."  

Quoting Robert Reich on Sequestration & massive cuts in federal spending. (Via HuffPost -The Blog)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-reich/showdown-fatigue_b_2741694.html

Read "How the State of the Union Worked"

President Obama's 2013 State of the Union Speech analyzed by George Lakoff, a Professor of Cognative Science and Linquistics at University of California at Berkley. (via BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT)

http://bit.ly/Wzbybt 

Following is one of the final statements in the article.

"President Obama, in this speech, created what cognitive scientists call a “prototype” — an ideal American defined by a contemporary progressive vision that incorporates a progressive market with individual opportunity and initiative.  It envisions an ideal citizenry that is in charge of the government, forcing the president and the Congress to do the right thing." 

2013 Global Protest against Iraq war ignored!

Do you remember, & did you participate in the biggest Protest in World History - 20 million people - 10 years ago? I do and I did in Boise, Idaho! 

 Why were we ignored?

(via Ishaan Tharoor, Time Magazine February 15, 2013)

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/02/15-7

President Obama Inauguration statement urging citizen involvement

"You and I, as citizens, have the power to set this country’s course..You and I, as citizens, have the obligation to shape the debates of our time – not only with the votes we cast, but with the voices we lift in defense of our most ancient values and enduring ideals."  President Obama, 2013 Inauguration speech.

In my opinion we all must become much more involved in public discussions about important issues that affect our families, neighborhoods, & communities on local, state, federal & global levels. Popular media, corporate and organizational lobbyists. religious and political groups all have a stake in trying to guide us toward their viewpoint. (is the word "Propaganda" appropriate?)  We, as citizens, should feel a strong obligation to try to search for information that is factual, truthful, and verifiable and share this with our friends, family and associates. 

http://www.whitehouse.gov/inauguration-2013

Winter Photos - Boise River 2013

I posted a Picasa Web album of some winter photos taken near the Boise River on January 12, 2013 during the Audubon Society Bald Eagle Count.

https://picasaweb.google.com/108466423567536607112/BoiseRiverWinter

Interesting new "Transparent Idaho" web site

Interesting new  "Transparent Idaho" web site provides state raw financial data, updated nightly, that can even be downloaded for independent analysis. (Via Magic Valley Times-News)

The trend for Federal and State governments to increasingly provide data transparency that also can be analyzed by independent interests is laudable.  As this kind of transparency is applied to environmental, ecosystem, and natural resources we should expect more informed public involvement in future decision making processes.

http://magicvalley.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/idaho-launches-financial-transparency-website/article_d28bf474-5b4e-11e2-bffb-0019bb2963f4.html