Videos

• A video of a guy doing a fairly cool magic trick involving pulling a salt shaker through a glass tabletop. Plus, it was fairly novel to listen to the magician's patter since it is in Japanese. I've seen a number of magic tricks, but this is the first one that I've ever gotten to listen to in another language.
• A group of what looks like college student in Atlanta created a video in which they lined up their cars on the outer belt and drove the speed limit. An act of public obedience which looks at the effects of exactly following the law. It's interesting to see the amount of havoc that can be caused simply by complying with the letter of the law.
• This video of juggler/performer Chris Bliss made the rounds through a number of people whose blogs I read. The video is of Mr. Bliss performing his juggling finale. He performs a three ball routine to the finale of the Beatles' Abbey Road. I found the entire thing very entertaining. The video made the rounds, however, because juggler Jason Garfield wrote a scathing review of Mr. Bliss's juggling and then proceeded to perform the entire routine using 5 balls. And you have to admit that Mr. Garfield' routine is much more technically challenging. But it's boring as sin. Sometimes, technical prowess needs to be ballanced with a little showman ship.
• In-cockpit video of a jet trainer sucking in a bird. The resulting engine failure forces the crew to eject and crash the plane. The most fascinating part is listening to the audio track. The pilots are frighteningly calm. It's very impressive to see how the training kicks in. If I was in a jet aircraft with no engine, I think that I might behave somewhat differently than the pilots on the video.
• Ryan Vs Dorkman. How could you go wrong with such a cool title? What you'll find is a suprisingly well done light saber fight. It's at least as good as the stuff that Lucas did in 1978 in the original Star Wars. What's impressive is that the same stuff that they had to create from scratch 30 years ago can be done by a few non-professionals and a computer.
• The Australian comedy group Tripod performs an excellent song about playing video games. And I guarantee that every male in my generation who had played games can relate to the ideas in the song.
• An excellent parody of what would happen if Microsoft had designed the packaging for the Apple iPod. What's so scary is how 'Microsoft-ish' the final package looks. As it turns out, the video was produced in-house at Microsoft in their marketing department. No one knows exactly why, but probably to share the marketing guys out of their stupor.
• Marketer Seth Godin speaks at Google. The video is 45 minutes long and I haven't watched all of it yet. But the parts that I have seen are amazing. I read Seth's blog and think that he's quite a smart guy. And having seen him talk, he's also quite interesting to listen to as well.

Cleaning out blog reader

I have a lot of blogs that I read. And occasionally, there will be a post that I want to save. When this occurs, I'll utilize the 'Keep New' option in bloglines to save that particular posting.

This works great for a little while. However, eventually, every single one of your links is cluttered with these posts that you want to keep. I think that all of them are interesting or funny and I want to keep track of them. So, I'm going to use this blog to post a bunch of stuff. Feel free to follow them and see the sort of stuff that I find amusing. I'm sure in the process you'll learn something, good or bad, about me as well. So, the next few posts will be housekeeping as I clear out my blog reader. Enjoy.

Waiting for Rita

In a year with many bad hurricanes, I find myself waiting for the landfall of potentially the biggest of the year. And it's hard waiting.

It's one thing to watch the devastation from Katrina and be moved. You would have to be very hard-hearted indeed to not be moved by the plight of the residents of NOLA whose lives have been devastated by Katrina. Even now, several weeks later, as Katrina is pushed out of the headlines by the 'next big thing', those residents are very far from a return to normalcy. And their stories continue to be heart wrenching.

At yet, it is easy not to dwell on them continually. For most of the US, the devastation did not affect us. Even during the life wrenching plight of others in our own country, life can and does continue on. It is easy for all of us to forget that lives are still broken in LA. Most of us have not been to NOLA and do not have family there, so the affect is only tangential. It's a sad commentary on us as humans, but if we continually dwelt on the all the devastation in the world, we would walk around unable to function.

Yet, as we wait for Rita to hit, the potential for devastation hits home. For in this case, I have been to Galveston and do have family there. My brother and his family are right now on the road, fleeing northward from the approaching winds. And they leave behind everything except family, pets, and those few important articles that fit in their vehicles. Hopefully, Rita will die down and there will still be something to come back to. We'll deal with that together, later.

As for now, we wait. Chris, Kim, Samuel and Benjamin, We're all praying for you and waiting together.

Engineering Washout?

I just got finished reading this article on Tech Central Station. Go ahead and read it. Then come back and we'll discuss.

Finished? I find it hard to believe that Mr. Kern actually got TCS to publish this bit of lightweight drivel. Usually, they publish much more substantive pieces dealing with economics and politics. In this case, what they got was the same type of rant that I used to hear from fellow students my first year in college. "The classes are hard. The teachers can't teach. This information is useless. They are just trying to weed out students." Wah, wah, wah.

I admit that my first year in college for an engineering degree was hard. But looking back on it, it was not hard due to any of the listed reasons. The course material was challenging, but certainly not as hard to comprehend or master as that of some of the material I learned in later years. The teachers may not always have been the best, but it's not ultimately their job to make sure that the students master the material. The best that teachers can do is present the information. Some do it better than others, but ultimately it is the student's job to learn. And I find it hard to swallow the argument that universities and professors are purposely trying to fail students out of their programs. They all know where their money comes from.

No, the hardest challenge as a first year engineering student is learning how to learn. High schools to some extent hand feed information to students. It is possible to simply show up at class and learn the material without putting in any outside effort. And that is the situation that Mr. Kern is complaining about. He is complaining that his university expected him to put in any significant amount of effort at all. Here's his description of his liberal arts pals:

Meanwhile, my friends majoring in the liberal arts pulled dandy grades
while studying little.

At the root, Mr. Kern seems to be complaining that he wants to be spoon-fed information and not have to learn it himself. And that seems to be the root of the issue.

In my career as an engineer, I've run into many of the same people. These people are often very smart and capable individuals, much as Mr. Kern appears to be. However, they lack the ability to take that step beyond and apply themselves. When presented with a well defined problem or difficulty, they are capable of solving it. However, they can't seem to make the intellectual jump from a nebulous, ill-defined problem to a problem that can be described and solved. In short, they are still looking for someone to hand feed them. And as anyone who has spent any time in the real world knows, it's very difficult to find someone to do that on a regular basis.

Mr. Kern ends his article with a plea that the field of engineering study to changed. I am firmly against that idea. What needs to be changed is the lazy assumption that the world should be easy. Students in a university should learn the value of hard work and the fact that almost any problem can be solved if enough effort is applied.

And those are exactly the lessons that the first year of engineering study supplies.

New Orleans officials dropped the ball

In the wake of Katrina and all the finger pointing that is going on, here is an interesting email from a structural engineer who worked on the levys. The short version of the story is that the Feds have been trying to fix the levys but the local officials kept diverting the money elsewhere. And it has come out from other sources that the state of Louisianna gets more money for the Army Corps of Engineers than any other state by a large margin. However, almost all of that money gets diverted into pet projects for politicians rather than used to shore up New Orleans.

And then when something bad happens, everyone wants to point fingers at the federal government. Now, I'd be the last person in the world to say that the federal government always does things right. But it seems that they take more than their fair share of criticism when things go wrong and are not given nearly enough credit when things go right.

Let's get a little perspective here people. The US of A is a really big country. And no single government entity can possibly cope with the task of taking care of the entire thing. That's why we have state and local governments that are a little closer to the problems. And they are expected to shoulder their part of the load as well. So, to the mayor of New Orleans and the governor of LA, I respectfully say, 'Shutup'. Quit complaining about how the federal government let you down, admit that you and your state and local governments share a large part of the blame, and get on with helping the people!

To me, that is the biggest tragedy of it all. So many people involved with the disaster are more interested in pointing fingers and diverting blame. There will be a time and place for that. However, the time for that is after the flood waters have cleared and all the people affected have food, water and shelter. Until then, I don't care whose fault it is.

Attack of the killer nuts?

I was watching the Ohio State Buckeyes game the other night (If you live in Columbus, Ohio, watching at least part of every important Buckeyes game is mandatory or you'll look silly at work the next day.), and was struck by how truly absurd the mascot for the university is. Look at so many of the other mascots in college football - Longhorns, Wildcats, Wolverines, Trojans, Hawks. These are all things that are deadly and menacing. However, the mascot for OSU is a non-edible nut. Granted, if you eat them raw, you will get a stomachache. However, a minor upset stomach doesn't seem to be in the same league as being mauled by a wild animal.

That's just my minor observation for the day. I look forward to when the Buckeyes face off against the deadly Georgia Pecans or the vicious California Almonds.

Bulldoze New Orleans?

I ran across a link to the NPR story that ran in 2002 regarding the loss of the wetlands in southern Louisianna. The forth part of that story deals with the hurricane risk to New Orleans. The disaster management people in NOLA were planning for the effects of a Class V hurricane hitting the city and were anticipating casulties of upwards of 100,000.

It looks like we avoided the staggering loss numbers that were predicted, but it appears that the city is basically gone. In the article, the disaster management people were quoted as saying that if the levees around the city break, the city will be flooded and basically unlivable. It seems like that is what has happened. They went on to say that the best course of action might be to simply bulldoze the city and rebuild somewhere else. I don't know if that is doable or if people who have lived there would even agree to it, but it still is damage on a scale that we haven't seen here in the US.

In any case, my heart goes out to the people who will have to live with the effects of this storm long after the media crews have packed up their bags on gone on to the next big story.

Just a test

Sorry for the useless comment folks. Nothing new here. I've been having some problems with my site feed in Bloglines and I'm just publishing to make sure that everything is working correctly.

How to destroy the Earth

Still cleaning out old links.

Someone went to the effort of compiling a handbook for How to Destroy the Earth. Definately a fun read.

(Thanks to Larry Osterman for the original link)

Realistic jokes

Still cleaning out old links folks.

Over at Something Awful, they have a list of jokes with realistic punchlines. What does it say about me when I find them all hilarious? Here's a small sampling to get you started:

How do you drown a blonde?Hold her head underwater until she can no longer
breathe and stops struggling.

A duck walks into a bar...
Animal control is promptly called, the duck
is then taken to a near by park and released.

(Thanks to Mike Pope for the original link)

Star Wars Episode III Review

Still cleaning out links from the old blog.

Rory over at Neopoleon.com has a hilarious review of Star Wars Episode III. Don't hold back now Rory, tell us what you really thought of the movie!

Game controller family tree

I'm just cleaning up some links from another blog that I had. (Sort of. It was DOA, but still has a few interesting links. So I thought that I would move them over here.)

I'm facinated that someone took the time to put together a complete family tree of all the game controllers from the early consoles until now. It makes me remember the days when the complete set of controls for a game consisted of the eight directions you could move the joystick and the fire button. I don't want to go back to those days, but I do like the fact that the learning curve was so nice and shallow. As I get older, I can't seem to master the timing dependant 19 button combos required by some modern games.

(Thanks to Coding Horror for the original link)

Some people just don't get it

In one of the message boards that I semi-regularly(1) read (Joel on Software's Off-topic board), there was a message thread talking about the devastation in New Orleans from hurricane Katrina. And one of the posters jumped in and said that the National Guard in Louisianna wasn't responding fast enough because so many units had been deployed. He went on to criticize this and basically said that the NG units should have been left in place to be ready for this type of situation. Huh??

I find it hard to believe that some people are so against the war and Bush that they will complain when National Guard units are used to guard the nation instead of sitting around waiting for a natural disaster. I think that it is wonderful when the Guard can help out in these terrible situations, but I don't think that this is their primary purpose. Sometimes I just don't understand people.

(1) - I used to read the JOS off topic board fairly regularly. However, all of the sensible people have been driven away and the remainder is so rabidly anti-Bush that it is difficult to read sometimes. I enjoy getting alternate viewpoints, but in this case, it's just such blatant contrarianism that there is really nothing of value to get from it.

The windy state

I went to a family reunion in North Carolina the other day. It was up in the mountains and very pretty. I have to say that I really enjoy the scenery in NC. However, one thing about the state really bugs me.

The state motto on the North Carolina license plates says "First in flight". To some extent that is true. Kitty Hawk, North Carolina was the site of the Wright Brothers' first flight. However, the Wright Brothers weren't natives of North Carolina. They were natives of Ohio. And they did most of their design in Ohio. They came to North Carolina just because of the nice windy hills that the state offered. As a native of Ohio, I'm somewhat offended that they are trying to steal the idea that flight originated in their state. After all, Ohio has the motto "Birthplace of aviation". I think that is a lot closer to the truth. As a service to the state of North Carolina, I will offer up a suggestion, free of charge, that more closely captures the essence of the truth.

Ohio - "Birthplace of aviation"
North Carolina - "Windy hills"

From Giant Leaps to Baby Steps

Here's a letter from Gene Kranz to the NY Times. He is one of the original mission control guys from the early days of NASA. It has his comments about the most recent Space Shuttle flight and all the fuss about it not being 100% safe. He conclusion is that going to space is never going to be completely safe and that we just need to accept that and move on. Some things in life are risky and we just need to be willing to face the risk and get on with our lives.

From Giant Leaps to Baby Steps - New York Times (Registration required. Or just us BugMeNot. It's a lot easier.)

Back again

Okay, I went through a long stretch without posting anything. I'm still new to the whole blogging thing. I thought about posting often, but never actually made the final effort to write the post. I'll try to do better.

Ever had one of those days...?

I found this the other day. Sick and twisted. I love it!
Ever had one of those days...?

Reasoning with terrorists

Over at the Times , they have an article discussing what the Islamic terrorists are after and whether or not we can reason with them. Here's the passage that really struck me:

But sorry, old chaps, you are dealing with an enemy that does not want anything specific, and cannot be talked back into reason through anger management or round-table discussions. Or, rather, this enemy does want something specific: to take full control of your lives, dictate every single move you make round the clock and, if you dare resist, he will feel it his divine duty to kill you.

I think that fundamentally this is the point at which the two major camps of opinion regarding terrorists and the war on terror differ. One camp believes that if we, the U.S. and its allies, can appease the terrorists by ceasing to interfer with world politics and just mind our own business, the terrorists will leave us alone. They believe that the terrorists are rational actors who are dedicated to a particular goal. And if that goal, an Islamic state in the Middle East, is met, that they will be happy.

The other camp, of which I am a member, believes reality to be more like that expressed in the article. I believe that the terrorists won't be satisfied until the entire world is converted to Islam. And until that day comes, they will continue to maim, kill, and terrorize innocent civilians. Since I don't support the entire world converting to Islam, the only solution is to fight back.

And I guess that is why I get so annoyed with people who seem to think that the terrorists are justified or have some sort of a valid excuse for their behavior. These are the people who think that at their core, all people are fundamentally good. As a Christian, I know that at our core, we're all fundamentally messed up sinners. And that some of the messed up sinners in the world are out to kill as many other people as they can.

Yes, Viriginia, there is evil in the world. Why can't people see that?

(Original link courtesy of Betsy's Page)

Insanity in the Himalayas

Fabio Rojas over at Marginal Revolution has a number of links detailing the war between India and Pakistan in the Himalayas here. Almost all of the casualties are caused by the weather. This is trench warfare at the same altitude as the climbers we see on National Geographic. They have to swap out rifles every hour because they freeze solid at those temperatures.

One of the links describes this conflict as two bald men squabbling over a comb. What on earth to they think that they have to gain if they drive the other county out? Farming rights at 20,000 feet? Perhaps a location for a new tourist attraction?

It just goes to show that idiocy respects no nationality.

London Bombings

I'm currently reading all the news posts about the bombings in the London Underground this morning. My heart goes out to the families of all those who were killed and those who are spending this morning waiting to hear word of their loved ones.

What I'm really wondering though, is what the terrorists think that they can accomplish by doing this? Maybe it's my American perspective, but do terrorists really think that they can force people to respect their views or knuckle under to their demands by blowing them up? In the US, if you try to punch someone in the face, you'd better be ready for the return shot. And WWII proved that the Brits are better than anyone at taking you best shot and then turning around and slapping you silly.

So Britain, whatever help you need, you've got it. And you sick freaks who think that blowing up innocent civilians on their way to work is a valid political statement, watch your back!

First post

This is the first post to this blog. Blogging is something that I've been meaning to try for a while, but have just never gotten around to. The main test will be whether or not I have anything useful to say. I suspect not, but that's why we're doing this experiment. :)