scottcha

Hi, this is a side project I've been working on for the better part of the last year. Unfortunately we've also had 5 avalanche deaths in Washington (my home state) in the last week alone. Preventing these deaths is my primary goal.

I originally came up with this idea when I was working on another project to help the Ski Guides of Hokkaido Japan share snow and avalanche information as there is no avalanche forecasts there.

In the US (as opposed to Canada and Europe) our avalanche forecasting is generally only lightly funded. I wanted to find a way to increase the capability of our forecasting while also building a platform which allowed us to improve the forecast products themselves. The Open Avalanche Project is meant to both be a data and experimentation platform for this. Operationalizing the data and using ML to predict the aspects of an avalanche forecast seemed like a good way to begin to move towards that goal.

This goes beyond what existing avalanche forecasts do in that it has a gridded resolution as opposed to a regional estimate. It also has been built to operate at scale as I would like to cover every avalanche hazard area in the world with a forecast.

I'd love to answer any questions folks have about the approach taken or the goals of the project.

I think the main thing you need to realize is that is climbing with ropes there is a lot of overhead involved to do it safely. I'd say about 1/8th of the time is climbing the other 7/8 is spent with the logistics of the rope management, partner management and placing protection in the rock. With free soloing you can focus entirely on the climbing and not on the logistics. I honestly think its more about this focus and flow and less about the cheating death.

Looks like a daisy chain: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75XNCMKW7XE

At least in Washington there is a 1:1 mapping between your registered address and the envelope send your ballot in (I don't believe its to the ballot itself but I could be wrong). Once you send in your ballot you can verify on the county voting site that your ballot has been counted. I'm guessing this is the main way they check that fraudulent ballots aren't being submitted as you would then have > 1:1 mapping in many cases.

I've been gradually teaching my daughter (7 years old) to code. I've primarily focused on slow, self directed pace (when she has an idea I help tune it to something she is capable of and we do it together). So far the best resources I've had are: 1. Code.org: The Hour of code and Tutorials using Blocky are hands down the best intro to the basics I've seen. You get through iterative programming up to loops with great tutorials. Blocky also helps when you haven't yet learned to type. 2. MIT Scratch: Also using blocky but has a great playground in which keeps it focused for lots of things my 7 year old wants to do (she animates Birthday cards, codes little games). 3. Arduino: So far we've built a few things together. This really takes more work on my part since she is still too young to get all the concepts but the main thing I'm trying to develop with her is that she can approach any of these problems and solve them. She doesn't have to be intimidated by software or hardware. So far we've built a greenhouse opener (servo activated by temp sensor) and we are working now on a programmable clock.

Things I see recommended here but which I personally wouldn't do: 1. Drop her in to a Linux/Command prompt with a book and ask her to go to town. I think this may work for some folks but I'll wager the success rate would be pretty low as a general solution. Also I disagree that letting a kid walk through man pages or technical books like K&R is the most effective for this age given how many awesome resource there are to get started. Those things can come at their own time when they have an actual problem which requires it. 2. Don't start on a language other than blocky unless she can type. The typing will come but if you want a clean start and not have her too frustrated with doing the programming while also slow typing I would handle learning these separately. 3. Let her to go on her own. I'm fortunate (and most people on this site are) to know how to code so this applies only in this case. Its much more motivating her for this to be "our" project where I can help get her unstuck when there is a challenge and its something we spend time together on. I also get to model learning and debugging for her which is hard to learn by yourself. On the flip side though you have to be patient and not be tempted to do it all yourself as the idea is that she learns it all eventually.

Remember the big picture: keep this mind and realize that knowing this is incredibly powerful but at an early age there is so much to learn that keeping it fun and engaging is the best way to have her want to continue to come back to it. Also remember that these kids want to learn and helping them pick up the right tools to help them solve their problems will enable them to do that as an adult.

In my experience in using this with my Daughter (age 7) I think the main efficacy of blocks comes from making it easier for kids who don't know how to type to use the basic programming concepts we are used to (nesting, loops, conditionals). What other aspects of efficacy are you thinking should be considered?

I don't remember exactly the name of it but my local gym (Stone Gardens Bellevue) has an Android enabled climbing marker game in the kids area. You can pick from an elimination game or vary the routes and it times you. It uses some light sensor to determine if you touch the hold. The interface is a small android tablet on the wall. Its definitely an in-market product but a quick search didn't turn it up for me. Anyone know what its called?

Yes, this is my understanding.

National Strategic Computing Initiative (NSCI) is the initiative within the DOE.

More likely its for modeling nuclear weapons which I believe is the primary purpose of NSCI.

Personally I find it less about the techniques and more about framing the problem correctly. For example everything you mention are just subjects (means to an end) but you haven't told us what the end you are most passionate about is. I find college isn't well set up for this and I fell in to the same trap as you, lots of activities but very little focus.

It took me years but eventually I started focusing on what the outcomes I wanted to make happen and then started focusing bringing in the learning I needed to support this. This also helps when you have to make decisions about what not to learn as if its not supporting your outcomes then it becomes more clear you can drop it or save it for later.

Friction is higher in the cold. Especially for granite which faces the sun. You'll find lots of the hard routes are done in cold temps.v this is especially true in bouldering where the routes are very short 10-30 feet but with extremely hard moves.

Good clear explanation--your right totally different from what is happening on the dawn wall.

Here is a good article which goes a bit in to the most audacious free soloing link-up in Yosemite: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/16/sports/rock-climber-alex-h...

The graphic is amazing, definitely one of the better implementations which help put the scale in to perspective.

Couple of details which I think help put this route in to perspective for the non-climbers:

1. Caldwell, one of the best climbers in the world, has been working on trying to climb this since 2007--the combination of longevity and perseverance is hard to match.

2. The easiest pitch (out of 30 total for the route, a pitch being a rope length usually between 100 and 200 feet) is 5.11 which is pretty hard but the real kicker is that there are 5 pitches 5.14 and of those 2 are 5.14d which is was the upper limit of difficulty until the last decade. Most 5.14 routes are short single pitch routes which take pros sometimes weeks or months of practice to climb. Not every pro can climb every 5.14 since they are dependent on a high degree of specialization. There are 10s of 5.12 and 5.13 pitches thrown which makes the whole project together the hardest complete free route in history.

Essentially this route is an order of magnitude harder than anything which has yet been climbed in rock climbing.

I'm kind of amazed to see this much press (multiple NYT stories, new channel coverage) on a big wall climb (or any climb not involving someone dying) and can't really remember something equivalent.

This is a pretty good article with more specific details about the climb: http://www.adventure-journal.com/2015/01/why-is-climbing-the...

I see this miscommunication also extended to within the schools. Both my daughter's schools (elemetary and middle schools) have STEM specific programs but they are entirely focused on the Science or Math aspect (where job prospects are not easy to come by) with virtually no emphasis on technology or engineering (where job prospects are more available). When I asked my daughters teacher who is one of the STEM chairs how they would better incorporate technology she said she hadn't thought about it. We've created this acronym when really we need to be bumping up the TE as I feel the already existing availability in primary education of SM is sufficient.

I build an avalanche safety app http://www.ullrlabs.com and knowing your elevation is one key aspect of determining the avalanche risk (due to differences in altitude for wind effect, temp, and snow accumulation).

Typically barometric altimeters are accurate to about 10s of feet.

I've owned the entire collection including the Shelf Of Fiction. The main thing to consider is that for the works written originally in english or are hard to find these are good resources. For the works which have been translated there are usually much better translations available (and worth paying for).

Very glad to see these freely available though.

You don't really even need legislation. Most produce you buy from the supermarket are from F1 Hybrids [1] which if you plant the seeds are highly variant and lack vigor (i'm not sure of the % of tomatoes in supermarkets are F1s specifically though). This is one natural way things like this have not come to reality and one way most seed producers (especially ones focused on commercial use) use to protect their varieties.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F1_hybrid

It doesn't take gene splicing to create a new variety you just need to use selective breeding which anyone can do and people have been doing for 1000s of years [1]. My understanding is that most of the varieties produced by Universities are selectively bred and not necessarily genetically modified.

[1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plant_breeding

I believe temperature sensors are required to get barometric data to altitude[1]. That's why all altimeter watches also have temperature though its usually useless while wearing since its reading the temp of your wrist instead of the air.

On a second note I produce an app (http://www.ullrlabs.com) for avalanche danger evaluation and knowing your ambient air temperature is one factor which is helpful in that process. Though I haven't yet tried to read that value on android phones for the app.

[1]See pressure altimeter calibration equation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altimeter

I think its time to differentiate Science from Technology and Engineering (I'm not sure about mathematics) when talking about this. I think the problem you site is certainly true for Science majors but I don't believe its true for Technology (i.e., comp sci) or engineering.

I agree with the author that code may not be literature. Taken from the opposite line of reasoning there have been movements in the past to make literature more like code. Specifically I thinking of Oulipo (which included Calvino as probably the most famous) on bringing new structures to literature including some generative ones which could be thought of as programming or combinatorics.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oulipo

Interesting to see the hotspots in non-populated places. I took a look around the Washington Cascade Mountains and you can see photos aligning around the main trails, peaks, road turnouts and other sights.

Interesting analysis but I think the last sentence sums up my sentiments: "Even if all the other issues could be dealt with and mindfulness meditation did improve arithmetic, what is it a valid proxy for?"

  They didn't have much trouble
  teaching the machine to write poems:
  first they turned him on,
  then plugged in the keyboard
  (the text editor was already open).
  Then Dr. Bluespire leaned over his shoulder
  and typed in to the command line:
  "You look like a god sitting there.
  Why don't you try writing something?"

adapted from Teaching the Ape to Write Poems by James Tate real poem here: http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/poetry/ape.html

I know in our community here its easy to jump to try create a technical solution for both identifying and solving our issues. I've found that meditation is the mental tool you might be seeing. The main goal of meditation is to make what is unconscious conscious. And simply by making it conscious it brings it to the level where you can start to address it.

It looks like that is what you have been doing though without the benefit of an explicit meditation practice, keep it up.

There are lots of guides to beginning meditation out there and I happened to write one myself http://hackerhmb.tumblr.com/post/42240064528/hackers-guide-t...

Yes, as the author of the article I thought through the stigma associated with this before I posted. Ultimately it came down to leading with my heart and doing what I thought was right regardless of what others thought.

It is great that there has been a quite open and kind discussion as that is what is needed.

I'm the author of the article and I asked myself this question before I wrote it. I posted some data here which came out of that research: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5272763 but it didn't get much traction. When I compared across disciplines in the original dataset (using software programmer as the discipline) there wasn't a strong indication that they were more prone to suicide than other professional jobs. I don't remember exactly but doctors, lawyers, dentists were toward the top of that list.

One challenge is that the dataset I reference doesn't have data post 1998. Since our discipline has grown and changed since then a more recent dataset might show something more interesting.

Focus on getting better right now. You have your life in front of you and once you beat this you will have ample opportunity to pay back to the larger community. Please accept that you don't own anyone anything right now and the best you can do it focus on what you need to get better. Its ok to feel the kindness of others when you are in need.

Also, thanks for being so open. Continuing that openness and building a support group for yourself through that is something which helped me through a similar situation.