NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Celestial Tools zip file
From: Stan K
Date: 2014 Sep 9, 13:12 -0400
From: Stan K
Date: 2014 Sep 9, 13:12 -0400
Thanks, Frank. It's tough getting old ;-) You remember things from years ago but can't recall what you had for breakfast (or even if you had breakfast at all).
I'll be looking into other ways of making Celestial Tools available to the public. I don't think Dropbox can do anything but contain the file, i.e. no description, screen shots, etc., but the way to go might be to link to Dropbox from the current site. On the other hand, I currently have no plans for additional features and know of no bugs that need exterminating, so the program has been released to the USPS web site, where apparently is it accessible by anyone using the direct link I provided, so maybe there is no need for any other method of accessing the program.
Stan
I'll be looking into other ways of making Celestial Tools available to the public. I don't think Dropbox can do anything but contain the file, i.e. no description, screen shots, etc., but the way to go might be to link to Dropbox from the current site. On the other hand, I currently have no plans for additional features and know of no bugs that need exterminating, so the program has been released to the USPS web site, where apparently is it accessible by anyone using the direct link I provided, so maybe there is no need for any other method of accessing the program.
Stan
-----Original Message-----
From: Frank Reed <NoReply_FrankReed@fer3.com>
To: slk1000 <slk1000@aol.com>
Sent: Tue, Sep 9, 2014 1:52 am
Subject: [NavList] Re: Celestial Tools zip file
From: Frank Reed <NoReply_FrankReed@fer3.com>
To: slk1000 <slk1000@aol.com>
Sent: Tue, Sep 9, 2014 1:52 am
Subject: [NavList] Re: Celestial Tools zip file
Stan, you wrote:
"I thought we wanted to avoid attachments"
"I thought we wanted to avoid attachments"
No, not in quite a few years.
And:
"especially those of significant size. (Is 600KB significant by today's standards?)"
"especially those of significant size. (Is 600KB significant by today's standards?)"
No problem! Most photos straight off the cell phone cam are bigger than that these days. 600 KILObytes is no problem. I would say that the 500+ MEGAbyte size of that CDF viewer that was recently discussed is over the limit right now. Let's call the limit at "100 megabytes for a single file" for the year 2014. The issue at that size range isn't cost (one can buy a USB drive in the checkout at Walmart, e.g., with eighty times that capacity for five dollars or less), but other technical issues which will fade away soon enough. The size of any celestial navigation software application, including your CelestialTools, is typically a hundred times smaller than that "100 megabytes" limit --nothing to worry about.
Beyond NavList, there are thousands of sites that will host a small zip file at no cost. Why not use Dropbox, for example? Just forget about rar files. Also note that those anti-whatever programs complaining about "adware" are just showing off. There is no threat from (normal) adware. It may be mildly annoying, like commercials on tv, but adware is certainly not in the same category as viruses or other malware. But we need to bear in mind that celestial navigation enthusiasts tend to be shockingly illiterate on basic Internet technology and will panic at the slightest indication of trouble. You can either waste a lot of time trying to educate such folks, or bypass their paranoias some other way.
You also asked:
"Am I wrong in my recollection about attachments?"
"Am I wrong in my recollection about attachments?"
No. But what you're remembering was probably a couple of years ago. And time does fly... :)
-FER
