Saturday, October 5, 2013

Yes - More on Shutdown

My first confrontation with the Federal Government shutdown was the inability to access geologic maps. As I noted I had a work around at least on one project. On another this issue will cause delay of a project. This is more than an internet issue. In the "old days" one would mail in a request for a map with a payment. It took longer than the near instant approach that has become available. But this not a case of internet disruption as mail ordering maps would have to wait for the shutdown to end. 

The map thing is nowhere near as problematic as lack of access to a mapping program that I routinely have been using for an ongoing work/research project. The 1,000 point plus data point set I have been working on can not be used as long as the USGS servers are down.


Kim notified me that the USDA soil maps we routinely use are down as well.



Dylan Mathews points out this is not about debt or spending: you-probably-think-the-shutdowns-about-spending-it-isnt. Just because wonky folks know it is not about debt and spending does not mean our U.S. Congress understands the debt in the same way or what various spinners will say about this current government crisis. The very fact that Mathews put the article up indicates that there are a lot of confused people including the House GOP.



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