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NEWS
DrJack Forum:
Latest: Thu Mar 11 09:50 "Re: BLIPSPOT pages: .txt vs. .html" [George Morford]
DrJack sez:
(Latest 5 news items)
Mar 1, 2010:
Scheicher pushes DrJack out of soaring:
Schleicher has now had my ASH-26e motor for 17 months, with no
repair date in sight.
Oct 21:
BLIPMAP future:
Options which continue BLIPMAPs without requiring my personal time may
emerge - for example, releasing my source code for others to run is a
definite possibility. I will take a six months respite, then see
what possibilities have emerged. While the planned scenario
would allow me to terminate BLIPMAPs in October 2010, I would want to
continue them (in "free" mode) until such time as alternate runs are
available. But the bottom line is that I must cease my active
involvement with BLIPMAPs: for the past three years, any sitting
beyond 2 hours per day has been painful and whereas I was willing to
accept some pain for this "labor of love" (hoping the condition was
ephemeral, with some diagnosis/solution eventually being found!), I am
no longer willing to program in pain and cannot spend the
computer-sitting time necessary to maintain the site.
Oct 17:
Subscription changes:
As of the end of last month, "expiring" subscriptions are no longer
being terminated. Also, any new subscriptions are at only half
the previous rate and are valid only for 6 months. After March,
BLIPMAPs will be "free", with the proviso that no further development
will occur. Thus I will have made no further fiduciary
commitments to users beyond October 2010 and could terminate BLIPMAP
forecasts at that time (see my previous" news" item for an
explanation).
Oct 17:
Schleicher woes and site termination:
BLIPMAP users have likely noticed that there has been little updating
or improving of the website or forecasts for over a year. Some
of you are also aware that 16 months ago I had an (unexplained)
in-flight fire in the engine bay of my Schleicher ASH-26e. The
two events are related. Schleicher has now had my engine for
over one year, without any repair - Schliecher says they cannot
get parts from the engine manufacturer. I am mentioning this
here as a "public service announcement" for those considering
purchasing an ASH-26e, or any plane with that engine, but also because
this affects BLIPMAPs. I have not flown since that time and find
I have lost my love of soaring - for me, "soaring" now only means
problems and hassles, so I have turned to more enjoyable recreational
activities. This website has been a "labor of love" but that
love has died and I have no motivation for contributing any further
time to the soaring community - for me this website is just another
soaring-related "problem". I will address this issue in future
posts, but the bottom line is probable termination of this website a
year from now.
Oct 1:
"Super" UniViewer now default:
I have now made the "super" univiewer, which has been under testing
for several months, the default univiewer. Note that it is
capable of "remembering" a multiple-BLIPMAP forecast sequence to be
automatically displayed at each startup, but on first use that is
non-existent so loading of a new BLIPMAP will be required. For
further info see the "Super" UniViewer revision posting
below. If you experience problems, please post its details to
the BLIPMAP forum
. The new features can be ignored/circumvented if desired,
but FWIW the old UniViewer is still available here.
View ALL recent news items here
REGISTRATION and SUBSCRIPTION:
Freely available forecasts are: "Thermal Updraft Velocity" BLIPMAPs, "Buoyancy/Shear
Ratio" BLIPMAPs, all "Previous Day" BLIPMAPs, and all BLIPSPOTs.
Other forecasts require a yearly subscription fee of
$13 for either NAM or RUC forecasts and $20 for
both.
Registration (free) is needed for direct (no-nag-screen)
forecast access and to obtain a subscription.
New users can
Register here.
Currently registered/subscribed users can
Logon (get new cookie) here
or
view registration (cookie) status here.
More info is available at the
Registration Information and
Subscription Information webpages.
EMAIL POLICY:
There are
many advantages to having one person's knowledge be shared and
available to others, so I expect most BLIPMAP issues to be handled through
the
DrJack Forum
and ask those who have a question or problem or experience which could
be of interest to others to post it there. This allows others to
comment on the matter if they have any personal experience and also
allows any response I make to be read by others. If you send me
an email, I will respond personally only if it's nature is not
appropriate for such posting - in other cases I will simply
reply with a request to post to the forum.
FEEDBACK REQUEST:
I only look at the webpages and maps that I use personally or that I
suspect might contain an error. If you notice a consistent
problem with either, please post a message on the
DrJack Forum.
T-SHIRTS:
Upon request, I've made available to others the T-shirts I created for myself.
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Heros:
I personally thank those whose support is listed on the
Contributors webpage.
