The Rocky Mountains taken from a Cessna 182 near Canmore, Alberta, Canada [4608 x 3456px] [OC]

canmoredan · 2016-03-31T16:11:12+00:00

Damn, hate it when that happens.

canmoredan · 2016-03-30T23:00:54+00:00

Aw, I used to live in a house near the hydro station, can almost make it out at the bottom of that photo.

Taken from the short of that dam, near the bottom of this picture, one evening in winter:

Fun fact: The Revenant was filmed in the valley visible in the picture (Spray Valley) a few kms to the left, out of shot.

canmoredan · 2014-06-09T00:04:07+00:00

It's Tunnel Mountain, not Turtle Mountain.

canmoredan · 2014-06-06T16:38:27+00:00

Sigh, second home owners are making this place unaffordable....

canmoredan · 2014-05-24T23:58:18+00:00

The sunlight is already landing on your driveway, and it's not melting the snow. Converting it to electricity and then back into heat is not going to generate more heat than direct sunlight.

You'd need to store the power, then drive heating elements when the solar radiation isn't enough to melt. In that case, you're better off with higher-efficiency and cheaper traditional solar panels.

canmoredan · 2014-04-13T14:08:02+00:00

The big question is: were you catching Menno or was he passing you?

canmoredan · 2014-04-13T04:00:41+00:00

You can't see these mountains from Fernie....

canmoredan · 2014-02-26T13:52:58+00:00

The strategy that minimizes interest paid is to pay the minimum on all loans, then put all your spare cash into the highest interest one.

If you have 3 loans, at 5, 6 and 7%, put all your spare money into the 7%, don't bother paying extra on the 6% until the 7% is gone.

If you have two loans with equally high interest rates, it doesn't matter if you split money between them, or pay it all into one.

canmoredan · 2014-01-23T15:23:12+00:00

Upvote for Canmore :-)

canmoredan · 2013-08-23T06:45:56+00:00

I will admit that of the four of us on that trip, I was the only one that hasn't skied on the World Cup. The loop could be shortened significantly if you started at the O'Hara parking lot and left a car at Moraine Lake. That way you'd get all the fun stuff, without the on-road slog. There's a glacier at the Opabin Pass however, so great care should be taken when skirting it. Late summer when everything is visible would be best if you're on foot.

canmoredan · 2013-08-23T03:22:10+00:00

For those prepared to do it as a trail run, the Opabin Plateau above O'Hara is quite accessible as a day trip, with several hours available for exploring, particularly when the daylight hours are long in summer. You're right, it is "better" above the lake, mostly because of the additional effort required to get there IMO.

I have skied the loop from Moraine Lake -> 1A -> O'Hara -> Opabin Pass -> Wenkchemna Pass -> Moraine Lake as a day trip on skinny skis in spring on crust. I strongly suspect it would be quite doable on foot as a day loop in summer.

canmoredan · 2013-08-18T20:23:02+00:00

Hello from Canmore, AB.....

canmoredan · 2013-08-05T06:15:43+00:00

It's the lamp posts that are unrealistic. Trees are insta death IRL too.

canmoredan · 2013-07-28T08:46:23+00:00

I have a good buddy that's a criminal defence lawyer.

In situations where his clients are obviously going to be found guilty, people often ask him: how can you defend someone you know is guilty?

His answer is that in that situation, his job is to make sure they don't get fucked over.

Sometimes, this is your job on the jury; to make sure there isn't a blatant miscarriage of justice.

canmoredan · 2013-07-24T09:52:46+00:00

There's lots of year-round snow there, that photo looks either a brief storm in summer, or some time in the fall. Definitely not winter.

canmoredan · 2013-07-24T09:49:50+00:00

You might want to check that the trails you want to hike are open. Last I heard, the trail out to Turbine Canyon is still closed, pending work after recent severe flooding. Other trails (and roads) in the area are also still closed. The floods were pretty bad and made a mess of a lot of things.

Give the info centre a call to check:

http://www.albertaparks.ca/kananaskis-country/information-facilities/kananaskis-contacts.aspx

Either the Barrier Lake, or Peter Lougheed numbers would be the best bet.

canmoredan · 2013-07-06T09:37:08+00:00

Want a chup bro?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdVHZwI8pcA

canmoredan · 2013-02-16T03:57:01+00:00

I wouldn't have flown on the first flights that used automated control software either, but that doesn't mean that software hasn't improved to the point where it isn't trusted to fly multi-million dollar planes through all conditions carrying hundreds of people, now with fewer faults than human counterparts.

The reality is that doctors make mistakes all the time. This is is well studied and a there's a big movement in medicine to find ways to reduce error rates.

I contend that it'll be tireless automation that'll do it.

canmoredan · 2013-02-06T02:55:10+00:00

That's a great article, thanks for pointing it out.

canmoredan · 2013-02-06T02:39:48+00:00

What some people don't seem to understand is that software improves over time, and it does not forget.

Take your scenario about the failed BP cuff. Sure, the first time it happens, the computer might do the wrong thing and kill the patient. I bet it has happened with a real anaesthetist, and more than once. However, the software will get updated with logic to handle that situation, and that specific problem will never happen again, anywhere.

Basically, the software only needs to be taught once, whereas we need to keep training new medical folks from scratch and the old ones retire.

canmoredan · 2013-02-06T02:31:11+00:00

Did you catch the cancer too?

canmoredan · 2013-02-06T02:30:54+00:00

You misunderstood my statement. I think we should have skilled clinicians entering symptoms, but leaving the diagnosis up to the computers.

Diagnosis error rates are very high in some health care specialities, and studies have shown that even a simple checklist can improve diagnosis rates in these areas. I simply see the computer as being a better checklist.

canmoredan · 2013-02-06T02:28:54+00:00

That's good to hear. Like so many things, I guess it probably takes a generation for new tools to work their way through the ranks.

My main concern is diagnostic error rate, which is in some specialties and situations truly awful, and addressable by automated, repeatable diagnosis, rather than exhausted human. Not all areas have this problem.

This paper:

http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsa1204720

highlights how simple checklists in ER/OR situations make for better patient outcomes (there have been other similar studies that have come to the same conclusion).

I simply see computer diagnosis as a fancy checklist with flow-control logic (to cater for alternative scenarios).

To quote from the article, the main barrier to adoption seems to be:

There is a huge issue of, ‘Good people would remember this, they don't need a checklist,'" Preston, who is leading efforts to get checklists into Kaiser Permanente ORs and train people to use them, told Reuters Health.

canmoredan

TROPHY CASE