Matt Burton-Kelly's home on the Web
Midsummer update: Lots of things going on here in science world. Mostly I’ve been working with PetroMod to create some basin history models of the Williston Basin, which is fun because I get to dig way into how PetroMod works and how different variables affect hydrocarbon generation and migration.
To import formation tops to Petra, your input file needs to be set up as one row per well, one column per formation top, and each value being the depth measurement. In the example below, I am trying to rough out the depths of formations in Wyoming using only the TD (total depth) and BOTFORM (formation at total depth). Not the most precise method of building structural maps, but it will work on a large scale.
Input file has one row per well, columns api_full, TD, and BOTFORM (at least).
Caution: I tried to run this on the full WY well dataset (111,000 rows) and R used all 36 GB of my RAM and then crashed. It’s advisable to subset first.
It does. And it can be hard. But that doesn’t mean that it needs to. What good are all these machines if we can’t use them to speed things up?
I’m not bored, so I won’t be today. Someone could, however, look at the early success of the Great Rides Fargo bikeshare program and compare:
That might be enough to start thinking seriously about bikeshare in other areas. Why not Grand Forks (another great hashtag)? Why not Winnipeg?
Sometimes, I read an article about awesome things happening somewhere else–usually in a smaller town in the northern midwest. At such times, I exclaim “come on, Grand Forks!”
This is one of those times. #comeongrandforks.
http://www.keloland.com/newsdetail.cfm/plans-released-for-pump-park-in-brookings/?id=177860
Photo from a local race, by Wes Peck.
Starting a map-based race calendar (even typing that feels weird) brings up a lot of questions from people who are used to finding races the old way. Here are a few complains, and my rebuttals:
I get it–you’re a badass, and you don’t want to waste your time. You travel far and pay big money to do races against other badasses. How did those races attract all those badasses? For the most part (well, for grassroots races I enjoy), it’s because some badass took a chance and entered it, even knowing he or she would win. If you’re a badass, you most likely know other badasses from racing them, repeatedly, at your regular badass races (which also happen to be far away). Take a chance on your local race and raise the bar–invite your badass friends to stay at your place (you get to sleep in your own bed), then get up and race. You’re adding to the local sport, and that’s a good thing.
So you’re a new athlete, or a “slow” athlete–or maybe you really are slow, by all measures (and I’m okay with that if you are). If you like racing for the sake of racing, doing something “above and beyond” what you’re used to is a great, fantastic way to get pumped beforehand and then go out and test yourself. Before you ran a mile, you’d never run a mile before. Use a nearby race as a way to try something new without having to shell out for the privilege.
I struggle with this one, because it’s become a problem in the last several years. Races that used to cost $15 and included food and prizes now cost $40 (or $100) and include food, prizes, a band at the finish, a fancy shirt, and a bunch of other stuff. I’ve outgrown wanting all that other stuff, but it’s okay if you like it–there are plenty of races out there that will gladly take your money and give you stuff in return, then tack on a race.
Local competition (meaning other, cheaper nearby races) ought to be the answer, but sometimes that’s not possible (or else you wouldn’t be asking this question). You may have to travel if you want to race on a certain date and can’t find anything local, but the key here is to tell the race why you aren’t entering. Race directors tend to only get positive feedback, and only then from people who actually did the race. If you would do it “except it costs too much,” drop them a line and tell them so (nicely). It’s only through this type of feedback that RD’s can learn that most of those pint glasses end up being donated to Goodwill at the end of the year.
A lot of times, there just isn’t a race that’s local, or near enough to be called local. The best way to fix this? Put on a race! Work with local clubs (running, cycling, whatever you have) to get something going. Maybe your local government will even chip in some money if it brings people to town. It will take some work, but you can start with informal events and go from there.
Good luck folks!
I wonder if this is fixed in 8 or 9?
To get the number of comments rendered on your node, you can add this to the template (e.g., node.tpl.php) for your theme.
<?php
echo "<a href='".$node_url."#comments'>";
print $node->comment_count;
if($node->comment_count==1) {
echo " comment ";}
else echo " comments ";
echo "</a>";
?>
When spammers sign up for your website, you get a lot of junk email addresses. If you then institute a newsletter module, you may get several hundred “mail delivery failed” messages.
In Apple mail, you can select all the individual messages and click “forward” to compile them into a single email. (If you use conversations, first do View->Expand All Conversations in order to select individual messages.) Then copy that, paste into http://eel.surf7.net.my/, and you’ll get a list of the email addresses that bounced, which you can then bulk unsubscribe. This works for me with the Drupal Simplenews module.
…without talking to them, of course. [Note: This has been sitting in my queue since September; I’m going to publish it as-is so it counts as “done.”]
Blogging is like talking to them, but what’s the impetus to get a blogging (internal or external) program going? The NSF problem: how do you know it will work (i.e., help everyone know what everyone else is good at) without doing it first? Blogging as a fun part of work, not as a chore.
Purpose:
Time commitments and return.
Personality of bloggers and readers–some people like to write, some like to read, some are a mix. Some would rather just talk to you.
Do some searching on this, maybe case studies are out there?
This is not what I am talking about (internal blogging for an external blog).
http://humancapitalist.com/the-future-of-corporate-learning-must-include-the-internal-blog/
Social media image for the Extreme North Dakota Sandhills Ultra Run Experience, produced by ENDracing.
Photo by Wes Peck.
Text by Matt Burton-Kelly.
