pablo estrada

Sounds of Las Vegas, or rather, inside a casino

This week I spent a few days in Las Vegas attending a work function. The event was held at the MGM Grand Hotel/Casino/… I don’t gamble much at all but I was amused by the sights and sounds while I walked the ~mile from my hotel room to the conference center. Naturally, one must navigate myriad gaming devices along the way, each with some flashy system that attracts and entertains the gambler. Some are cheesy, some are even a bit clever.

I used my phone to record some sounds as I walked around among the slot and video machines.

Vegas – soundscape #1 (00:54)

Vegas – soundscape #2 (00:42)

Sinkholes and Other Calamities

A volcano burps and then the year’s first tropical storm of the season washes out. It’s been a rough week for Guatemala. Last week the volcano Pacaya, located about 25 km (15 mi) from the capital city (Guatemala City) mildly erupted, spitting ash and sand all over the metropolitan area and forcing the evacuation of residents closest to its slopes. Pacaya is roughly in a state of continuous eruption, though usually it causes little or no incident. That may be hard to imagine but indeed, at night it’s often possible to see a faint red glow at its top or during the day see a plume or puff of seeping out. It’s a tourist attraction for brave souls who are able to scamper up to its top and peer over the edge, guard rails not included.
Read more from an AP article.
When I lived there in 1998, the same volcano coughed ash all over the city, causing some disruption and again threatening those who lived closest. Twelve years later, the effect is much less benign than it was back then. A thick layer of ash and mostly sand covered the city and families were forced to evacuate or lost their homes completely. Schools closed for a week as they were temporarily reappropriated to serve as emergency shelters. The airport was shut down and left hundreds, probably thousands, stranded. It’s not of the same scale as the effect of Eyjafjallajokull on northern European airspace, but for a small country it’s not trivial.

Less than a week later, tropical storm Agatha, the first named storm of the season, rumbled in from the Atlantic, bringing strong winds and dumping over three feet of rain fell in less than 24 hours. Three feet! Widespread damange was not limited to Guatemala: Honduras and El Salvador were also under Agatha’s wrath. Sadly, hundreds of homes were swept away, mostly in the interior of the country. It’s estimated more than 150 people were killed. The term interior refers, generally, to the less densly-populated areas outside the capital region. It’s also where poverty is highest and infrastructure is weakest. (CSM article)
from Spreadit.org

Continue reading…

Sadness

BP stream

Fluid Grids

If you have a handle on CSS but want a refresher on how to properly set type size and widths for a more flexible, fluid layout, check out this article from A List Apart, on Fluid Grids. The article explains how a site was designed with a fluid layout, but even if you’re not interested in that, it’s a succinct and simple guide on how px and em relate in type size and div widths.

Pro Tip: Glen Canyon Park is a Canyon

I learned this first-hand on Sunday, when I went for a bike ride with a friend to explore the park. Our plan was to meet at the 16th St BART station, stash some burritos into our packs, and ride out to Glen Canyon Park where we could have a leisurely lunch under the sun while my friend’s dog romped around the grass. Instead, there were hills, and then more hills, until finally we turned around and headed back to the base of the park and sat in the outfield of a ballfield watching a little league game. But fear not, all dogs were happy.

I’ve had my Garmin Forerunner 405 GPS watch since it came out in 2008, but until now I’ve only used it for running. I wore it for the ride and used the watch (and heart rate monitor) to track it all. Combined with the simply aweome Trailrunner application, it’s all a data geek wants, and more. I’ll save more details about Trailrunner for another day, since it deserves an entire post. The Garmin Connect website lets users view and edit their workout details online, and I much prefer it to their Training Center software, which I avoid if possible. They also allow for export of the map previews. It’s an iframe and not very customizable at all, but it works. This is what it looks like. Click on it to see more details and go to the Garmin Connect site which allows the viewer to play back the workout (upper right). Pretty cool!