The Janke Family

Monthly Archive: May 2008

fractil

I have been asked a couple times about my online and computing moniker, fractil. Don’t confuse it with the mathmatical fractal, whose basic definition is fragmented, or a reduced portion of a whole. Now that I am thinking about it, that definition probably suits me better! Anyway, fractil is an acronym for the following:
FLIR (Forward Looking InfraRed) & Automatic Cuer Technology Insertion into LANTIRN (Low Altitude Navigation and Targeting Inrared for Night).
FLIRs are often used in naval vessels, fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and armored fighting vehicles. In warfare, they have three large advantages. First, the imager itself is nearly impossible for the enemy to detect, as it detects energy that’s already there, and doesn’t have to send out any energy of its own. Second, it sees heat, which is hard to camouflage. Thirdly, FLIR systems can see through smoke, fog, haze, and other atmospheric obscurants better than a visible light camera can.
LANTIRN is a system for use on the premier fighter aircraft. LANTIRN provides high-speed penetration and precision attack on tactical targets at night, at low altitudes, and in adverse weather. The navigation pod also contains a terrain-following radar and a fixed infrared sensor, which provides a visual cue and input to the aircraft’s flight control system, enabling it to maintain a pre-selected altitude above the terrain and avoid obstacles. This sensor displays an infrared image of the terrain in front of the aircraft, to the pilot, on a heads up display. The navigation pod enables the pilot to fly along the general contour of the terrain at high speed, using mountains, valleys and the cover of darkness to avoid detection. I’m a total geek!

Disneyland 2008

We just returned home from Disneyland! We had a great time! We flew from Salt Lake International to LAX on Tuesday morning (5/20/08), then caught the Disney bus which took us to the Disneyland Hotel. The whole setup they have there is, for lack of a better word, “magical”. From the hotels, to downtown Disney, to the parks, they make you feel like you are completely seperated from the rest of the world. Yet you are surrounded by one of the largest metropolitan cities in the world. We were at the Disneyland Hotel Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. We spent Wednesday in Disneyland, and Thursday at the California Adventures park. We picked a great time to go, we didn’t have to wait in a single line! Friday we checked out and rented a car and drove to the Marriot at Manhattan Beach. We attempted to spend the day at the beach, but the weather turned cold on us so an afternoon at the beach turned into an hour at the beach. The boys still thought it was super cool. Saturday (5/24/08) we drove ourselves to LAX and flew home. We had a great time, good weather, great flights, it was a blast! Here are a handful of photos from the trip:

Neff’s Canyon Cave

Tom, Jon & I grew up believing it existed, but others thought it was an urban legend. Tom & Jon’s dad (Parker Gay) is an MIT educated Geo-Physicist, and knew it “was up there somewhere”. Well Tom finally found it! Neff’s Canyon Cave, according to the USGS is the deepest cave in the US at 1,189 feet deep. Other non official sources (click HERE) state that the cave is the deepest in Utah, tenth deepest in the US at 1,165 feet deep. The cave is still not fully explored. Here are the exact coordinates of the Neff’s Canyon Cave.

GPS Coordinates:

Decimal Degrees
Lat: 40.671320, Long: -111.752770

Degrees, Minutes & Seconds
Lat: North 40 degrees 40′ 16.75″, Long: West 111 degrees 45′ 9.97″

USC Title 16 Chapter 63 § 4304

Canyonlands Photos

I found bins of old photos in Mom’s basement, I took some of them and have been slowly digitizing them to preserve them, also so all who wish a copy can enjoy them. The following photos are some photos of a “slightly” younger me 🙂 in Canyonlands National Park with Mom and Dad, and Doctor Dave. The Jeep photo is in Salt Creek. The lead Jeep is Rick and Tina, followed by The Yankee Dollar (Linda) and Paul, then you can see The Grizzly Bear (Grandpa Lee) bringing up the rear. The group photo (Granny is sitting on the sand, bottom right) is at the Squaw Flats group camp site where we would always camp, which is in the Needles District of Canyonlands. Canyonlands National Park itself is 527 square miles of very remote, very beautiful high desert plateau back country. The park itself is broken up into three distinct land districts. Island in the Sky, the Needles, and the Maze District. The districts are divided by the Colorado and the Green Rivers. These two rivers confluence (join or converge) in the park. The Elephant Hill trail (in the Needles District), through Devil’s Pocket, Devil’s Lane, down the Silver Stairs, and a short hike will take you to an overlook of the Colorado & Green confluence that will take your breath away. Not to mention give you butt tingles. It is about a 1200 sheer face cliff down to the river, no safety rails! Be very careful!