geofffox

Not like now. Sophisticated programs to do complex analysis.

I am a meteorologist and I know a little about how programming works. I'm going to be 75 this month. My last computer class was the '67-'68 semester of high school.

That being said, AI and I have written some amazing programs to produce beautiful graphics I use on-the-air. And it's all in Python, a language I can read and not write.

If I can do this you should be scared.

The original Taking of Pelham123. I grew up in NYC. I rode the subway to high school (Brooklyn Tech) every day. The movie is technically accurate and pretty close to the technically accurate book.

BTW - a friend 'in the system' explains the twisting action necessary in today's subway cars would make "The Gimmick" worthless.

I use Firefox... still.

I'm a meteorologist. Feel like sharing?

I am a meteorologist and I forecast for Nebraska. Those theories might be wrong, but agriculture has surely changed the weather, especially the summertime dew point. A single acre of corn can sweat 4,000 gallons of water a day. Those circular fields you fly over are around 130 acres each. It is noticably more humid in the summer than before pivot irrigation was used.

Worth it. No regrets. I am alive!

The article talks about only 9% surviving five years. That's probably me. I'm three years out from Whipple Surgery (the only fix in 2019) with no sign of a cancer return. My blood is tested and I get CTscans often enough to know everyone by name.

Because I'm a pancreatic unicorn people come to me all the time (a German camgirl recently approached me on her professional account when her uncle was afflicted).

It's very sad and I often feel survivors guilt because I know how it will end for them. Pancreatic cancer is not a pleasant way to die.

Once it has spread it is fatal 100%. When Alex Trebek said Stage 4, I knew his fate was sealed in spite of his positive vibe. Undoubtedly Alex knows too.

How did I get lucky? I got sick one night -- vomit and poop simultaneously. It had nothing to do with my cancer, but it got me the tests that found it. Once it was found I was on the medical conveyor belt.

I am 69 and I've never experience medical care close to this. The care was proactive. They made the referrals and appointments. I just had to show up.

To have my cancer removed (there is no cure) took around a half dozen small procedures where I was put out and an angioplasty where my cardiologist yelled, "Geoffrey, I'm trying to work" when I asked too many questions about the technology. This was followed by a six hour, two surgeon Whipple Surgery (consider small by Whipple standards), a week in the hospital, sixteen staples holding my belly together (and diabetes now that I only half half a pancreas), chemo, radiation and more chemo.

I currently receive NO TREATMENT for cancer. No one you know is luckier. I am playing on house money.

I am a pancreatic cancer survivor. It is considered incurable in 2019 and I'm here because of a 1930s era surgery called a Whipple procedure. Around 9% survive five years or more -- a number that hasn't really changed.

In a belt plus suspenders move I underwent 2 rounds (six infusions per round) of chemo plus 28 consecutive weekdays of radiation after surgery. All my doctors are amazed at my recovery, a few saying the best they've seen (though it came with diabetes and a different digestive pathway).

Chemo was awful. Mine came with a bag of steroids first to mask the effects for a few days. I scheduled my sessions for Thursday, knowing it wouldn't hit me until Friday night. One Saturday I slept around 20 hours.

However, by the end we had figured out how to minimize the effect of the chemo. I needed my wife who watched me diligently. Cancer is not a one person job! She made sure every time I opened my eyes I stayed hydrated and ate something.

Chemo should have gotten worse. It actually got easier.

My cancer never caused me pain. The treatment... that's another story. I left the hospital with my belly held together by 16 staples.

The first computer graphics program I used in the early 80s on Cromemco hardware running their "ix" flavor os was called Amazon.

I wonder if this was the inspiration for Michael Chricton's book "Airframe?" It seems so similar.

It is very cool for me to hear that something I did years ago was memorable for your family. Thanks for saying hi.

I work. That's common.

I haven't thought about it. I have a business in mind for the maps which would keep them in demand. More about that in my AMA I suppose.

I am very happy with my life and where we live. I really don't want develop a big business. Can I just be an artisinal meteorologist?

Scoggs knows.

I am blushing. The people of Connecticut were very kind to me and I will be forever grateful.

If you wrote code like mine you wouldn't want it seen. I have borrowed freely from others, especially the College of DuPage whose entire site (except satellites) is on github. Their code is well written and documented.

Sure -- It's a multistage process making a graphics sandwich. The meteo data is done by GrADS. I render these at full HD resolution-- 1920x1080.

The base map and overlay are both produced in QGIS using the NaturalEarth database. Because GrADS can't read geographical info from graphics they are built by hand and the parameters are entered into GrADS by hand.

Animations are made from still png frames using ffmpeg.

OpenSans is my font.

All of this runs on an i5 with 8Gb of RAM under CentOS7. I make around 40,000 maps a day (one per frame in the animations).

I am 68 years old. My only computer training came 51 years ago. This is all self taught.

Already found a great article on 'how-to.' I will.

It's second nature to me, but most people are sort of stunned when they see a broadcast quality studio in my (former) garage.

Point me in the right direction. I'd love to do an AMA -- except I'd take questions on the site and answer via YouTube live or something similar. That way I could demo any studio questions live.

Where can I get info on doing one?

Also, sneakily, I have other ideas for where my studio can be used beside traditional outlets, especially since I make a full suite of weather maps. This would give me a chance to explain.

Football Sunday. I'm multitasking.

We don't mention it on-the-air, but it's not hidden. You don't want to lie about something like this (or anything, actually). When you're caught you'll pay.

It's difficult to explain but what I do is designed for me. There's a lot I do because I understand both sides of the equation which means my studio isn't a turnkey solution anyone could walk into. You need to be able to understand 'why' when something doesn't work.

That being said, IMHO Sinclair did it the wrong way. The weather unit should be an autonomous production, not dependent on the regular studio being free. My all-in studio cost is around Hyundai money. It removes complexity and allows live production where needed and closer to air always.

I had a trip from SoCal to Milwaukee cancelled because a few guys who robbed a gas station decided to drive the getaway car to Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix -- where my first flight was headed. Random shit happens.

In three years of doing this what you describe hasn't ever happened.

We use the Internet for data. I have fiber to the wall.

The fact that we need GoFundMe campaigns for people who get sick or that veterans beg for charity through Wounded Warriors upsets me to no end. A modern, successful democracy should take care of its people.

OK. I can put on coffee.

Seriously, I was on TV in Connecticut for nearly 30 years. Where I lived was common knowledge. I'd often meet someone whose friend had told them I lived in their neighborhood.

Only once did someone knock on my door just to say hello. Most people are respectful and there are dozens of other clues to where I live since I run a business there.

I appreciate your concern, really.

https://www.geofffox.com/ -- Since July 4, 2003.

In response to Lane -- Pancreatic cancer is the worst. It is incurable in 2018! I was very lucky that it was found before it spread.

It was removed in a six hour, two surgeon operation called a Whipple. It was pioneered in the 1930s. Back then they lost about 1/3 on the table. Only about 1/3 of pancreatic patients can receive a Whipple and only about a third of those have my result. Only 9% live beyond five years.

The Whipple is considered the most difficult operation a surgeon can perform. The docs who do this are hospital all-stars.

On day one I told my doctors (with cancer you get an army of doctors) I wanted to aggressively go at it.

I had a catheter port inserted in my chest for IVs (like chemo or with my CTscans). It's been used over thirty times. When I take a blood test it's commonly a dozen vials or more.

My treatment ended around a year and a half ago. I am certifiably cancer free, though my body knows how to make pancreatic cancer and could do it again.

I am missing a few internal parts. Whipple surgery reconnects some parts of the digestive system differently than original factory specs. With half a pancreas I shoot insulin 4-5 times a day (no big deal). My right pinkie will be tapped for blood drops around 1,500 times this year.

I am the luckiest person you will meet today. And, it's a kickass diet. I lost 35 pounds.

Because I am old I am on Medicare. I subscribe to a Medicare Advantage program, which means I limit myself to an HMO's doctors in return for paying less for services. I would think my medical care had to cost over $500,000. I paid ZERO. I do pay for some drugs -- thousands a year -- but my army of doctors were paid by the government.

People shouldn't go broke or need GoFundMe because they get sick. The US needs Medicare for all. Insurance just means we all share the risk for the few that need it.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/JJXD1tXhHkRH81ja6

https://photos.app.goo.gl/wPD2M1yrGZ6ZsEFt7

We park on the street. :)

I am very unusual in that I'm comfortable on both sides of the camera. What I learned is building a studio is an IT project!

Maybe the most unusual part is, none of this would work unless I could run the show by myself. My TriCaster is programmable with macros which is what I've done. I am my own director while on the air.

Oh -- with a friend I created a map making system which runs on an i5 and produces ~ 40,000 maps a day. Here are some samples I threw together a few months ago. These are 100% produced using FOSS including the map databases and fonts! https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/172O4Xl35np8RnbRi07PD...

My last computer class was as a senior in high school, 1967-68 semester. This was BEFORE computers had screens.

I've been doing this over 35 years and have seven Emmys. They got someone they shouldn't be able to afford and working from home I could afford to accept it. I'm a pancreatic cancer survivor (Whipple) and this flexibility helps.

I am a professional. My job is to forecast their weather and I am diligent in that pursuit. Windows are overrated.

I am a meteorologist on TV. I work in front of a chroma key wall. I would love to have a simulator like this where I could swap in the background image... well, you get the idea.

This would especially be good for me as I do the weather in Nebraska from a studio I built at home in SoCal. As far as I know I'm the only regularly scheduled TV news anchor to work from home in the US and possibly the world.