HansPeterson.com » GPS

Which why to pray?

Hans — Thu, 28 May 2009 23:17:55 +0000

I find it interesting that for most religions, the direction one faces when praying or worshiping is considered important. It is obviously a symbolic matter. By that I mean I find it unlikely that simply getting the direction wrong by 90° would make one’s prayer any less effective or sincere. And yet, it seems to be so important as to have become part of the daily rituals performed by a large number of the world’s faithful.

Without getting into an academic analysis of what scripture says, I’m just going to suggest a little thought experiment – or do it for real if you prefer. Imagine yourself on the phone with someone whose picture is in the same room as you. How much of the time speaking do you think you will spend actually looking at their picture? I’ve tried this, and I actually find it hard to not face the picture. To me this simply points to a natural human instinct to face a person who we are talking to. It’s such a strong instinct that even in without their physical presence we still try to do it. How much stronger then must that instinct when we are trying to get in touch with God?!

Many people are unaware that like the Muslims, the Bahá’ís also face a certain direction when saying their daily prayers. Whereas the Muslim practice is to face Mecca, and Jewish and Christian tradition focuses on Jerusalem, Bahá’ís face a point called the Qiblih. During his lifetime, the Qiblih was the location of Bahá’u'llah. When he died, this point became fixed at a place called Bahjí, north-east of Acre, Israel where He was buried.

So what makes me bring this up here and now? Well, given my well known preoccupation with maps, GPS, and the wonders of the internet, I just wanted to let you know about a super useful website for those Bahá’ís who are particularly fastidious about getting that direction right – or for anyone who is simply curious. Its called “Direction to Bahjí – Qiblih, Point of Adoration.” and it can be found at http://qiblih.com/.

Here’s a screen shot of what might be for some a little surprising at first. The site does a good job, I think, of explaining why Los Angelenos might face the Hollywood hills to the north even though Israel appears to be a straight shot East.

To Bahjí via Hollywood.

The good and the bad of being Location-Aware

Hans — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 15:46:33 +0000

Anyone who knows me knows that I love technology. They might also know that the segment of technology dealing with location is what’s got me all psyched up these days. I have a real-time tracking device in my car, often carry one on my belt, I geo-tag most of my photos, track all of my air travel, and the list goes on. And I am not alone. The GPS Revolution is well underway…but like all newly introduced technologies, we still don’t know exactly how to use it effectively, efficiently, politely, and safely.

So I’m glad to see Mathew Honan over at Wired Magazine giving the issue a little face time. So go get the low down on what it means to be location-aware and how broadcasting your position is going to affect your life. It’s not all bad – and it’s not all good. Then again, what is?

While were on the subject, check out 10 Applications That Make the Most of Location plus the one that you are sure to hear a lot more about this year: the DIWICON-M platform from the company I work for CASON Engineering. (The user name and password are both “demouser”.)

Finally, if you’ve got an opinion on the subject, let me know. Add your comment and get the discusion going.

CASON Grand Prix on Sport 1

Hans — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 23:39:18 +0000

In English (Narrated by John Iron):

In Hungarian:

Az egyszemélyes Balatonkerül? vitorlásverseny az egyén felkészültségér?l szól. A kiirásban is aláhúzzák: “A verseny teljes távját egyedül, helyettesités, kikötés és küls? segitség nélkül kell teljesiteni.”

Rick Gergely: “Itt 5 embernek a dolgát kell ellátni. Sokkal jobban át kell gondolni minden man?vert. Sokkal jobban kell összponositani.”

Ezt a különleges vitorlásversenyt ki más is szervezhetné, mint a teljesitménye okán legandaként számontartott Fa Nándor, aki évr?l évre el is indul a versenyen.

Fa Nándor: “Az általam ismert mez?nyb?l nincs jobb hajó az enyémnél. Tehát az, hogy idáig én még nem nyertem az nem a hajón múlik. Bár sokat kell rajta folyamatosan változtatni. Ugyanis én tengeri állitású hajót terveztem és épitettem, de ezek a beállitások a Balatonra nem jók, ez bebizonyosodott.”

“Tehát folyamatosan változtatom, ezzel együtt is azt gondolom, hogy a hajó mindent tud, amit itt tudni kell. De a verseny fogja ezt eldönteni. Már sok mindenkit gondoltunk nyer? esélyesnek ebben a versenyben. Az biztos, hogy olyan 5-6 hajó van, aki joggal tartja magát nyer? esélyesnek.”

Fa Nándor éjjel a „rapsic-hálók” és homokpadok között evickélve többször is elakadt és a versenyt végül feladni kényszerült. Bosszúságát azonban elhomályositotta a rendkivul éles és izgalmas verseny sikere.

A Kereked Vitorlázó Klub és a Fahajó Kft úgy szervezték meg a Balatont lehet? leghosszabban megkerül? szólisták küzdelmét, hogy azt nyomkövet?k segitségével is folyamatosan figyelemmel kisérhették az érdekl?d?k. Ez biztonsági szempontból is fontos volt.

Bagyó Sándor “A vizimentés feladatai egy egykezes versenynél. Ott d?l el, hogy mennyire tudunk gyorsan reagálni. Hogy a CASON Nagydijnak a névadója is pontosan ekkor került a képbe, amikor ezeket a nyomkövet?ket rendelkezésünkre bocsátotta évekkel ezel?tt.”

“Ma már annyira fejlett technológiáról beszélünk, hogy külön nyomkövet?t kapott ugye a versenyz?, illetve a hajó. Ha a kett? között nagyobb, mint 10 méter távolság van, akkor azonnal riaszt. Ez nagyon fontos, hisz méter pontos adatokat kapunk. A ment?hajóink ezen adatok alapján tudják megkezdeni a mentést.”

Komoly baj nem történt, de sokan elakadtak. Nem úgy, mint Finánczy György, aki a 8 méteres Déli Szél fedélzetén az els? napsugarakkal érkezett és 18 óra 42 perc 24 mp-s eredménnyel gy?zött.

De a mindössze 2 perccel kés?bb érkez? és a 10 méteresek között els? Németh Botond is büszke lehetett a teljesitményére.

Németh Botond: “Elégedett vagyok. Az én hajóm az egy nagyon melós hajó. A 8-ashoz képest is szerintem melósabb, de egyébként is. Elvileg ezen 7-8-an vannak egy versenyen és itt egyedül kell ugyanazt megcsinálni. Nyilván ez néha kisebb-nagyobb gondot okoz.”

Fináczy György: “Aki nagyon el?reszaladt, azt megnéztem, hogy hol állnak meg és arra nem mentem. Ez az egyszer? taktika. Én sose szoktam az elején vezetni. Tehát ha jól emlékszem ez az 5. verseny, amit megnyertem, de a keszthelyi bójánál még soha nem vezettem. Nem ott kell elöl lenni.”

Sokan próbáltak meg elöl lenni. Az abszolút dobogóra Rick Gergely fért még fel, de különdijat kapott a verseny „Benjaminja”, a pekingi olimpián is összetett 8. helyével itt is bizonyitó Berecz Zsmbor is.

Finánczy György pedig az eddigi 8 versenyéb?l 5-öt megnyerve mutatta meg ismét hogy a magyar tengert kevesen ismerik nála jobban, igy ? vihette haza a CASON nagydiját.

Szakács Ferenc: “Fa Nándor személye és az egész Balatonkerül? vitorlás verseny is a konokságról, a kitartásról, a profizmusról, a kemény munkáról szól. És úgy éreztük, hogy ez nagyon rokon a CASON Rt. világnézetével, mert a CASON is ugyanezekr?l az értékekr?l szól.”

A változó szélben vivott versenyen kivül ugyan, de kipróbálták magukat a katamaránok is.

És az is az egyszemélyes balatonkerül? rangját jelzi, hogy rengeteg fiatal szemlélte az embert próbáló küzdelmet.

The solo Balaton Roundabout Regatta is about the preparedness of the individual. The call for the race emphasizes: “The total distance of the regatta is to be covered alone, without a replacement, landfall or external help.”

Gergely Rick “Here you have to do the work of a crew of 5. Every manoeuvre has to be well thought out. You have to be much more focused.”

The organizer of this regatta is Nándor Fa, a man who is a legend for his outstanding performance and who himself enters the race every year.

Nándor Fa: “None of the ships I am familiar with in this lineup are better than mine. So the fact that I have never won is not the fault of ship. I have to constantly modify it and adjust it, because I originally designed and built it for the open sea, but such settings don’t work on the Balaton, that’s for sure.”

“Therefore, I continuously have to adjust them, but I still think that this ship has everything it needs. The race will prove if I’m right. We’ve had many favorites in this race. Basically, there are 5 or 6 ships that have all the right to consider themselves the potential winners.”

Nándor Fa got stuck several times in the night in poacher’s nets and on sand-banks, so ultimately he had to give up the competition. His disappointment, however, was extinguished by the success of the extremely tight and exciting regatta.

The Kereked Sailing Club and Fahajó Ltd. arranged the regatta so that spectators could follow the race with GPS trackers. It was also important from a safety point of view.

Sándor Bagyó: “The tasks of rescue teams during a single-handed sailing race is to see how fast we can actually respond. CASON, the main sponsor of the CASON Grand Prix, came into the picture several years ago when they provided us with these GPS tracking devices.”

“The level of technology is so advanced now that both the ship and the sailor had their own trackers. It immediately sets off an alarm if the distance between the two exceeds 10 meters. This is very important, because we receive data with a precision below one meter. Our rescue boats can begin a rescue operation based on the position data.”

There were no serious problems, although many boats ran aground. But not György Fináczy, who sailed his 8 meter long Déli Szél (Southern Wind) and finished first with the rays of the rising sun after 18 hours 42 minutes and 24 seconds of sailing.

But only 2 minutes behind him was Botond Németh, who came in second overall and first in the 10 meter category.

Botond Németh: “I’m satisfied. My ship is very difficult to sail. I think it is definitely it is more difficult than an 8 meter boat. Normally there would be 7-8 people on board during a race, and here, I have to do all the same work by myself.”

György Fináczy: “I watched those who rushed ahead and where they stopped, so I avoided those areas. Its simple tactics. I never lead at the beginning of the race. As far as I remember, this is the 5th race I have won, but I’ve never been first at the Keszthely buoy. That is not the place where you have to be first.”

Many tried to lead the race. Gergely Rick came in 3rd, while Zsombor Berecz, received a special distinction for being the yougest – but is also know for coming in 8th place at the Beijing Olympics.

György Fináczy won the 5th of his 8 races and received the CASON Grand Prize, thereby proving that nobody knows the “Hungarian sea” better than him.

Ferenc Szakács: “The personality of Nándor Fa – just like the whole Lake Balaton Roundabout Regatta – is about persistence, stamina, professionalism, and hard work. We identify very closely with this approach at CASON because these are the same values that our company stresses in our own work.”

Some non-competing catamarans also tested themselves against the variable wind.

Another aspect to highlight the prestige of the Lake Balaton Roundabout is that many young people followed this gruelling race.

AT&T Helps Prevent Hookey

Hans — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 19:27:55 +0000

With their typical tongue-in-cheek humor, Engadget has reported on an AT&T tracking system for school and although I’d love to hear what civil liberty advocates have to say, I personally think the system sounds very well designed. The combination of GPS outside, RFID inside, and a group of people who can’t refuse, provides an enviable level of ubiquitousness. The make-or-break point on this system – as usual – will be the ease of use for the interface. Of course, the issue of who has access to the interface should be an interesting point too…wouldn’t want just anybody hacking in to see where my kids are.