After returning home to Boise, Idaho, I exported the GPS data to several different formats, one of which I was able to launch with Google Earth. I was then able to trace the entire course from the comfort of my home half a world away and find a similar route to train on back in Boise. This capability along with having the elevation profile proved invaluable in my preparation for my Gold Medal race. It was also very nice to be able to show family members and friends the course from the excellent satellite views presented by Google Earth.

Post on Google Map team’s blog from Kristin Armstrong, 2008 Olympic Gold Medalist.

I’ve been drafting a post about open source software being used in big ways, in an effort to dispell the idea that utilizing open source is a security risk.  The PM’s site is a big addition to the list, and should show the detractors that if the PM’s office thinks WordPress is secure, you should too.

The idea and implementation is really simple.  You use Smart Keywords to search in Firefox and other browsers that you use, but how do you keep all the searches you do in sync?  What if you want to use keyword searches for the first time?

Go to the Shortwave page and drag the bookmarklet up to your browser’s bookmark toolbar.  If you don’t know what a bookmarklet is, try Wikipedia or this introduction by Matt Cutts.

Then when you want to search on, say, Wikipedia, just click the Shortwave bookmarklet and type w Earth.  This Wikipedia article will pop up.  Want to search the Internet Movie Database?  Click the bookmarklet and type imdb Top Gun.

Shaun added a lot of default searches (Google, Google Maps, Google Images, Amazon, Flickr, YouTube, whois).  Even better, you can upload your own search file to a server of your own and customize your search terms.  I added a Lifehacker search and some others to my Waves file.

The best part about Shortwave is you can use the same bookmarklet on any browser on any computer you use.  You can have the same search terms on your work and home computers, and on your iPhone or iPod Touch (as a webclip).

I emailed Shaun last week with an idea for Shortwave - I hesitated to use his contact form on his site because I hate bugging people through email, but he had closed the comments for posts related to Shortwave.  I had an idea to implement site searches with Shortwave, where you could perform a search within the site you are currently browsing on Google.  Shaun got back to me, and quickly posted this update to Shortwave implementing the functionality.  Now you can search gs Shortwave and find posts on ChrisMLindsey.com with the term Shortwave.

Hopefully you will find Shortwave useful.  If you implement any custom searches in your own Wave file, share them in the comments!

If you really want some laughs, compare his old picture to his post arrest picture.

The GIMP (The GNU Image Image Manipulation Program) is an open source image editor.  It’s almost a free version of Adobe’s Photoshop.  While it may look different, The GIMP is just as powerful as the expensive Photoshop.

GIMP Guru has a lot of excellent tutorials for The GIMP, but the one I have found the most helpful is Removing Red Eye with The GIMP.

I received the following text message on my cell at 4:34 AM:

Alert: KU Police (Lawrence campus) - Student found dead off campus.  Use caution w/ person of interest, Adolfo Garcia.  Go to www.ku.edu.

I also received the following email at 4:55 AM:

INFORMATION FROM Lawrence Police Department
Media Release-Death Investigation, July 4, 2008

Police ask anyone with information about Adolfo Garcia-Nunez, also known as Fito Garche, to call Lawrence Police at 785-843-7509 or Crimestoppers Hotline at 785-843-TIPS. He is a person of interest in the death of KU student Jana Lynne Mackey. He was last seen driving a white Ford F-150 pick-up truck.

Lawrence Police are attempting to locate 46-year-old Adolfo Garcia-Nunez, of Lawrence, in connection with an investigation into the death of 25-year-old Jana Lynne Mackey, of Lawrence. Lawrence Police initiated an investigation to locate Ms. Mackey after a friend reported her missing at 4:30 p.m. on July 3, 2008. At 6:30 p.m, Lawrence Police located Ms. Mackey’s vehicle in the Lawrence Memorial Hospital parking lot at 4th and Michigan Street. Following further investigation, Ms. Mackey was found deceased inside the suspect’s residence at 409 Michigan at 11:23 p.m. The death at this time appears to be suspicious.

Police are asking anyone with information regarding Adolfo Garcia-Nunez to call the Lawrence Police Department at 785-843-7509 or the Crimestoppers Hotline at 785-843-TIPS. Mr. Garcia-Nunez was last seen driving a white Ford F-150 pick-up truck. This investigation is ongoing and no further details are available at this time.

KU Public Safety suggests extreme caution if you have contact with Garcia-Nunez.

Additional information will be posted at www.lawrencepolice.org when available.

I really appreciate this information, and I hope that these emergency alert systems prove useful.  Something like this is especially important in a tornado-frequented zone like Kansas.  Hopefully this system will prove fast when the next tornado warning is issued (and so my mom doesn’t have to worry quite so much).

Smaller organizations (KU uses a big, outsourced system) could create a Twitter account and have people subscribe. Twitter updates can be sent to cell phones, as well as instant message accounts and other communication tools.  In fact, here are some good examples (and a Google search is helpful too).

In regards to the use of Twitter as an emergency tool, I really appreciate that social networking tools can be found to have uses other than with high-school kids.

But now, problem solved!

The Facebook application is fbCal, and it is magnificent.  You install it like any other application with Facebook, and it creates 4 different feeds you can use in any application you like (iCal and RSS feeds for both birthdays and events).  Snazzy!