For some reason this morning the AMBER Alert parser went insane. It reposted every item in my RSS feed when there were only 3 updates. So, to keep that from happening again, I’ve added an RSS item to the left hand of every page on the site. I’m still working on how to refine the date so it isn’t all wonky, but it will work for now. As always, you can view the current active alerts by going to http://www.westendorf.us/special/emwin/amber.shtml and you can subscribe to an RSS feed of AMBER Alerts by subscribing to http://wxamberalert.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default.
Archive for June, 2007
Comments: 0June 30th, 2007 by Ryan Westendorf
Comments: 3June 25th, 2007 by Ryan Westendorf
Sometimes you can find random things on people’s computers. (No, not those random things.) So, it’s time for an interactive post. In the comments to this post, simply paste what is on the clipboard of the computer you’re currently viewing on. I’ll start, as this is what got me thinking about this.
"I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry"
I honestly have no idea why that was on the clipboard of the master control computer, and who knows for how long it’s been there since this machine hardly ever gets rebooted or logged off.
//edit// I guess if I Googled, I could have found the answer. I guess it’s a movie coming out this summer… but still, quite random. 
Comments: 0June 22nd, 2007 by Ryan Westendorf
You may have noticed this evening a barrage of posts for an AMBER Alert in Texas. I’ve been able to upgrade how posts go out and now post them to my website and my RSS Feed. The only downside is that large states… like Texas… often cause several alerts to go out at once. Usually when I come back home, and if the AMBER Alert has been cleared, I’ll delete them from the front page, but they will still exist on the Archive site. As always, I have the ability to send these sorts of messages out by email, so let me know if you are interested in receiving that service.
Comments: 0June 21st, 2007 by Ryan Westendorf
The NWS has issued a severe thunderstorm watch until 7PM for areas along and north of US-30 in Iowa. The Live Radar link will be up all day today.
Comments: 1June 14th, 2007 by Ryan Westendorf
The long awaited (well, probably not) arrival of PepperCam is back. You can see it to the right in its old home. Also, there is now a 24 hour timelapse of the action. The images are being uploaded as part of the Weather Underground webcam project. Eventually the site will host 24 hour lapses and images historically on the site. I’m still working out some problems with the camera, mainly that during the day the picture gets blown out. I assume it has something to do with the auto-iris but I’m not sure. I’ll keep working at it.
Comments: 0June 13th, 2007 by Ryan Westendorf
I’m not going to say this is the sole reason for the lack of posts lately, but it is a pretty good one. I’m already into day 12 of Big Brother UK 2007. What I’ve always said about the UK and the US versions still holds true… the UK version just knows how to make its program more marketable. Not only do they produce at least 2 shows per day, but they also forbid the housemates from discussion nominations, something the US version doesn’t do. This allows the housemates to interect more candidly rather than blatantly trying to manipulate the nominations. Sure, manipulation does play a part, but it isn’t as blatant and annoying as the US version.
Supposedly the US version this year has some “changes”, but I doubt they will be on the level of getting the program back to its roots and being more like the UK version.